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Gov. Kate Brown of Oregon expressed anger Wednesday over the federal authorities handling of the occupation of a national wildlife refuge by an armed group and said she intended to bill the United States government for what the occupation is costing state taxpayers. She said the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge by Ammon Bundy and his armed group had cost Oregon taxpayers nearly a half-million dollars. People living in the area strongly voiced their views at a community meeting Tuesday night in Burns, 30 miles north of the refuge. Harney County Judge Steve Grasty said that Mr. Bundy, who is not from Oregon, should get the point that he and his followers needed to go back to their home states and leave Harney County alone. It seems like hes out of touch with reality, Judge Grasty said. The Bundy group wants federal lands turned over to local residents.
Ms. Lynch said that the increased funding for the F.B.I.s system for examining attempted gun sale purchases would allow it to expand to 24 hours a day from 17 hours. The background check system aims to weed out sales to people with certain types of criminal records and mental health issues, and officials said it had helped to stop more than two million sales since it began in 1998.

But Republicans indicated Tuesday that they were unwilling to approve any funding that would help the president put his plan in motion, and they showed little sign of finding any common ground with Ms. Lynch on solutions to gun violence.

The battle over guns between the Obama administration and congressional Republicans promises to be one of the biggest political fights in Mr. Obamas last year in office. He has frequently expressed his frustration at their unwillingness to act despite the string of mass shootings during his presidency, and said that Congresss refusal to do anything about gun violence had prompted him to act on his own authority this month.

One of the key pieces of his plan would clarify what it means to be a licensed gun dealer, and lays out a series of conditions and scenarios that could subject someone to background checks before being able to sell guns. Having a website, using a business card or selling guns in original packaging, for instance, could all be factors.
Income inequality and greedy billionaires are neither seen nor heard from in Senator Bernie Sanderss sober-minded new foreign policy ad, Defend This Nation.

On Screen

Mr. Sanders, identified in a caption, addresses the camera in a suit jacket (but no tie): As president, I will defend this nation, but I will do it responsibly, he promises. A white flashback drives home his point, showing George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald H. Rumsfeld in a meeting of Mr. Bushs wartime cabinet. Mr. Sanders says he voted against the Iraq war, and that was the right vote.

As moody documentary-style music and the sound of a camera shutter keep a brisk pace, photographs flicker by showing that war and its toll: bombed-out buildings, an infant being carried through a battlefield by a weeping mother, shouting Middle Eastern protesters, American soldiers in war-torn streets, and finally a triple-amputee Army sergeant who was wounded in Afghanistan, hunched over in rehabilitation. We must never forget the lessons of that experience, Mr. Sanders says.

ISIS must be destroyed, he continues, back in the frame, but we should not do it alone. An animated map shows black arrows slowly invading and constricting the Islamic States splotchy orange territory, as Mr. Sanders calls for an international coalition with Muslim boots on the ground, fighting with our support. He concludes: Its time to end the quagmire of perpetual warfare in the Middle East. As president, I will.
WHITEFIELD, N.H.  Ted Cruz did not have to say a cross word about Scott Walker. Rick Perry and Bobby Jindal faded on their own. And when Ben Carson briefly rocketed to the top of the Iowa polls, Mr. Cruz and his team stayed cool, confident that the neurosurgeons support would wither.

But after months of assiduously following his playbook, with expected rivals for evangelical and Tea Party support exiting the race or languishing in the polls, Mr. Cruz is being forced to confront the election seasons great mystery:

How do you solve a problem like Donald Trump?

For days, Mr. Cruz  convinced, at last, that Mr. Trump will not tire from throwing punches  has been testing several strategies in succession. True to form, when dealing with Mr. Trump, the path has been complicated.

During a long bus tour of Iowa, Mr. Cruz noted that he lacked a plane with his name on it  a barely veiled effort to cast Mr. Trump as anathema to the Iowa way of retail campaigning. But then the states six-term Republican governor, Terry Branstad  who preaches to presidential candidates the importance of visiting all of Iowas 99 counties  urged Mr. Cruzs defeat.
WASHINGTON  With sanctions, blacklists and other measures doing little to financially break the Islamic State, the United States has turned to a far simpler tactic to empty the groups coffers: It is literally blowing them up.

American warplanes have struck nine depots where the group is believed to have stashed tens of millions of dollars in cash, said Col. Steven H. Warren, a spokesman for the American-led coalition. The strikes began in the summer and the latest came Monday in Mosul, Iraq, he said, showing a video in which plumes of cash could be seen fluttering about in the moments after a building was demolished by a bomb.

Colonel Warren, who spoke via video teleconference from Baghdad, could not say how much money had been destroyed in Mosul  tens of millions of dollars was the estimate offered  or whether the bills were Iraqi dinars, American dollars or some other currency. But he did offer up a catch phrase for the tactic: Strike the Daesh cash, as we call it around here.

Daesh, the Arabic name by which many in the Middle East derisively refer to the Islamic State, may not actually rhyme with cash (its pronunciation is closer to da-ish than dash). But the military appears confident that bombing cash depots is helping to sap the financial strength of the Islamic State, which American officials and experts believe may be bringing in around $1.5 billion to $2 billion a year.
Lawyers for a Texas teenager who used a so-called affluenza defense in a fatal drunken-driving case have told the Mexican authorities that they want to drop their fight against his deportation to the United States, a Mexican official said Wednesday. Lawyers for the teenager, Ethan Couch, 18, presented a document to a court in western Jalisco State seeking to end the effort, although he must still sign the paperwork and have it ratified by the judicial authorities. That would pave the way for him to return to the United States to face charges that he violated his probation in fleeing to Mexico. Mr. Couch and his mother, Tonya, were arrested in Mexico last month after a manhunt of more than two weeks. His mother was deported to the United States last month. A migration official in Jalisco said Tuesday that once Mr. Couch dropped his deportation fight, it could still take another month before he was repatriated. In 2013, Mr. Couch, then 16, was given probation after killing four people while driving drunk. At his 2013 trial in juvenile court, he contended that his familys wealth had left him so spoiled that it impaired his judgment to tell right from wrong.
PHOENIX  When an unfamiliar car drives into the small neighboring towns of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah, private security agents working for the polygamist sect that dominates the towns ask the local marshals, who act as the police for both towns, to run the license plates to see who is passing through, federal prosecutors said.

Women wear ankle-length dresses. Children are taught to distrust strangers. Men think they need to have at least three wives to earn eternal salvation.

Most of the 10,000 people who live in these towns live by the rules of the cloistered world they inhabit and the dictates of a polygamous sect, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose prophet, Warren S. Jeffs, is serving a life sentence for the sexual assault of underage girls he said were his wives. And now, in Federal District Court here, 12 jurors will be asked to decide whether the two municipalities are run in a way that discriminates against outsiders, depriving them of their housing and civil rights.

According to the federal governments complaint, originally filed in 2012, the towns and their utilities have engaged in a pattern or practice of illegal discrimination against individuals who are not members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The university attacked by the Pakistani Taliban on Wednesday was named for a towering figure in Pakistani history  a nonviolent Pashtun activist who became known as the Frontier Gandhi for his advocacy of nonviolent resistance to British colonial rule.

The massacre was carried out on the 28th anniversary of the death of Abdul Ghaffar Khan, who became known as Bacha Khan, as the university prepared to hold a poetry recital in his memory.

Born in 1889, Mr. Ghaffar Khan rose to prominence in the 1920s when he founded a movement that the British called the Red Shirts, whose members walked through India to encourage civil disobedience. He was a Muslim who measured well over six feet tall and wore homespun white clothing. He first drew support from the traditional Pashtun areas along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, but became closely allied with Mahatma Gandhis Congress Party in the 1930s.

He led one of the biggest, widely accepted and followed social movements in a society that is known for violence, said Abubakar Siddique, a journalist and the author of The Pashtun Question: The Unresolved Key to the Future of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
WASHINGTON  President Obama has made it easier for the military to get approval for strikes in Afghanistan targeting militias that have sworn allegiance to the Islamic State, according to several government officials.

The change reflects growing concerns within the government about the militant groups emerging role in Afghanistan. Its militias are largely concentrated in several districts in Nangarhar Province, which includes Jalalabad, where the Islamic State took responsibility for a suicide bombing this month that killed at least 13 people.

The directive, which Mr. Obama sent to the Pentagon about two weeks ago, is another marker of how the American military has continued its fight in Afghanistan despite the official end to its combat mission in late 2014.

Under the change, American officials now need to show only that a proposed target is related to the Islamic States affiliated militias in Afghanistan. Previously, such a target could be approved only if it had significant ties to Al Qaedas remnants in the region, the officials said.
Singapore on Wednesday said that it had arrested and deported 26 Bangladeshi construction workers for forming a religious study group that spread the ideology of Al Qaeda and the Islamic State group. The workers were arrested in November and detained without trial under the Internal Security Act, the Ministry of Home Affairs said. It said the workers held weekly meetings to share jihadist-related materials and discuss armed conflicts involving Muslims. The Bangladeshis were not planning attacks in Singapore, but several of them had considered carrying out attacks overseas, the ministry said.
New Delhi: The current mood in the Congress is to fight the Tamil Nadu Assembly polls in alliance with like-minded parties. This view emerged in a meeting of Tamil Nadu Congress leaders called by party vice-president Rahul Gandhi here on Wednesday. We are unlikely to go it alone, said a Tamil Nadu Congress leader while others foresaw a grand alliance emerging on the lines of Bihar which saw the JD(U), RJD and Congress combine to check the BJP-led front in the recently-held Assembly polls.

The Congress cannot go with the AIADMK which has become friendly with the BJP at the Centre. But the real question is can it fight the electoral battle along with the BJP in a front and thus give space to the saffron party.

Mr Rahul held deliberations with Congress leaders from Tamil Nadu on the strategy to be adopted in the poll-bound state where the issue of forging an alliance holds the key to the partys prospects.

Everyone gave ideas and opinions to the leadership on how to face the elections, TNCC chief E.V.K.S. Elangovan said after talks with Mr Rahul.

The Congress had contested the last Lok Sabha election on its own and had drawn a blank. It had contested the last Assembly election along with the DMK but secured just five seats. The Assembly strength in the state is 234.

Mr Elangovan refused to elaborate on the stand of the state unit on the alliance issue, insisting that it was for the party high command to decide whether the Congress should fight as part of a tie-up with other like-minded parties or go it alone. Several former PCC chiefs and former ministers were present at the consultations.

Only last month, DMK chief M. Karunanidhi had said the Congress would be invited to join the alliance led by his outfit for the Assembly elections in TN.
Austria said Wednesday that it had put a cap on the number of refugees it wanted to accept  37,500 this year and a total of 127,500 through 2019. President Heinz Fischer called for a more fair and balanced asylum policy in Europe. Last year Austria received 90,000 requests for asylum, up from 25,000 a year earlier, Mr. Fischer said. Also, Serbia and Croatia said Wednesday that only refugees who wished to seek asylum in Austria or Germany would be allowed to enter the two countries and continue their journey toward Western Europe.
Hundreds of protesters broke through police lines in the capital, Chisinau, on Wednesday to storm Parliament after lawmakers approved a new prime minister in an effort to end months of political deadlock. Six police officers were injured in the scuffles. Moldova, a former Soviet republic, has been locked in political turmoil since up to $1.5 billion disappeared from three banks in 2014, a scandal that toppled the previous government in October. Some of the protesters said they feared that the new government, to be led by Pavel Filip, a member of a pro-European coalition, would not end endemic corruption and undertake reforms, while others said Moldova should remain in Russias orbit.
FLINT, Mich.  After four and a half years in an Iranian prison, Amir Hekmati will return to a community where people he never knew fought to make sure the world knew his name.

Mr. Hekmati, 32, a Marine veteran who was the longest-held American among those released this past weekend by Iran, became something of a celebrity not only in his hometown, Flint, but also in Michigan communities hours away, which held rallies and made signs and bumper stickers reading Free Amir. I am learning more about the grassroots support I received from ordinary people from across the world over the past four and a half years, he said in a statement on Wednesday from an American military hospital in Germany, where he and two other former prisoners, Jason Rezaian and Saeed Abedini, were taken on Sunday for medical evaluations after harsh imprisonments on what their supporters have described as baseless charges. They are expected to return home in coming days.

I wanted to take a moment to thank you for everything you have done to keep my name a part of the conversation and for the kindness and support that you have given my family during the darkest period of our lives, Mr. Hekmati said. God bless you all.

One of those supporters was Terry Spencer, a Navy and Army National Guard veteran who served in the Persian Gulf. He said he had first heard of Mr. Hekmatis arrest shortly after it happened and thought, that was a bunch of garbage. About a year later, he was sitting in a deer hunting blind, scrolling through news stories on his phone, when he saw another story about Mr. Hekmati and decided to do something.
In a delightfully perverse bit of programming, the esteemed pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin opened his Carnegie Hall recital on Wednesday evening, after a heros welcome from the audience, with Mozarts unassuming Sonata in C (K. 545)  in the composers words, a little piano sonata for beginners.

Mr. Hamelin, having spent much of his early career exploring pianistic showpieces on the fringes of the repertory, has a commanding technique. But there was no sense of slumming or condescension. As in his brilliant recordings of Haydn sonatas for Hyperion, Mr. Hamelin approached the relative simplicities with warmth and affection.

From there, he upped the ante repeatedly, starting with a fascinating take on Mozart, the Giga, Bolero e Variazione, by Ferruccio Busoni, a composer after any piano virtuosos heart. Mr. Hamelin made easy work of it, again showing his affection for Mozart, even once removed.

Then came Ravels Gaspard de la Nuit, the first of the evenings major pianistic tests. Ravel proves a supreme colorist in the works three movements, based on poems by Aloysius Bertrand: Ondine, with its billowing, watery flow; Le Gibet (The Gallows), desolate in its inexorable tread; and Scarbo, named for a tormenting dwarf.
Matt Gallaghers 2010 memoir, Kaboom: Embracing the Suck in a Savage Little War, grew out of a popular blog he wrote while stationed in Iraq for 15 months, beginning in 2007. By turns thoughtful and irreverent and darkly funny, that book possessed an electric immediacy  a you-are-there sense of what it was like to be a grunt in the hot desert sands outside Baghdad, hunting for I.E.D.s and bomb factories, negotiating with local sheikhs and frightened civilians, and grappling with the absurdities of military bureaucracy.

In his first novel, Youngblood, Mr. Gallagher also provides a visceral sense of what young American soldiers experienced during their Iraq deployments  the camaraderie, the fear, the exhaustion and boredom, and the sheer discomfort of being encased in 60 pounds of body armor, like a turtle, in triple-digit heat while keeping an eye out for snipers and roadside bombs. But Youngblood is a novel, written with more distance and perspective on the war than Kaboom. It possesses the retrospective knowledge of what happened in Iraq, as the hopeful days of the surge gave way to growing doubts about the war, and, as we know now, to the rise of ISIS after the full withdrawal of American troops in 2011.

Mr. Gallagher  who has been a contributor to the At War blog for The New York Times  writes here with the same verve and humor that made Kaboom such an engaging read, but the story he tells in Youngblood is a tragic one. If the war had a Groundhog Day-like feel to many American soldiers (who had to continually retake the same towns and streets from insurgents they had fought only months before), the Iraqis were even more aware of the Sisyphean nature of the endless conflict and bloodshed  losing loved ones in escalating clashes between Sunnis and Shiites, and deprived of essential services like electricity and clean water, and any sense of safety. In fact, the most powerful scenes in this novel provide a sad understanding of the fallout that the war had on ordinary Iraqis, reminiscent of Anthony Shadids harrowing 2005 nonfiction book, Night Draws Near.
After a monthslong delay, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Thursday named a new top financial regulator for New York State, nominating Maria T. Vullo, a prominent litigator with ties to his administration.

Ms. Vullo, a lawyer at the white-shoe law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, previously worked for Mr. Cuomo when he was the New York State attorney general.

For Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat who created the Department of Financial Services in 2011 to oversee banks after the crisis, Ms. Vullo is a logical choice. The agencys previous superintendent, Benjamin M. Lawsky, was also one of Mr. Cuomos top aides at the attorney generals office.

Under Mr. Lawsky, the agency shook up the sleepy world of financial regulation in New York, extracting hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties from banks that did business with Iran and manipulated benchmark rates. Mr. Cuomo said he expected Ms. Vullo to be tough on Wall Street, but she might also repair the agencys relationships with fellow regulators and prosecutors, some of whom bristled at the agencys headline-grabbing actions.
DAVOS, Switzerland 

The World Economic Forum suffers from no shortage of lofty goals  its theme two years ago was no less than reshaping the world  and the gathering of global power players still lends itself to high-minded ideals.

The Rockefeller Foundation plans to announce here on Thursday that it is kicking off a $130 million initiative to reduce food waste around the world. The wide-ranging plan will stretch from thrown-out crops to excess food at the dinner table.

The century-old foundation, which has already taken on challenges like making cities more resilient to the challenges of the 21st century, has estimated that food waste represents a $1 trillion drain on the global economy, stretching from farmers in developing countries to multinational corporations.

And that amount of wasted food, the foundation believes, could feed more than 1.5 billion people. From the Rockefeller Foundations cause alone, the no-waste movement has gained momentum lately and was a topic of discussion at the United Nations global climate conference late last year outside Paris.
DAVOS, Switzerland  President Obama may not be here at the World Economic Forum, shaking hands with fellow dignitaries as the snow flurries swirl. But another American president  albeit a fictional one  has been a talk of the town this week.

The actor Kevin Spacey has attracted attention at his first visit to the forum, as even high-powered business executives whisper about glimpses of the man who plays President Frank Underwood in Netflixs House of Cards.

Officially, Mr. Spacey is here for a session on Friday to discuss playing the Machiavellian Mr. Underwood and the drama unfolding in the race for the United States presidency.

But the actor has instead become quite the man about town.

There he was at an intimate reception hosted on Wednesday by the Alibaba Group, the Chinese e-commerce titan, breaking bread with Leonardo DiCaprio and Bono.
Dov Charney, the colorful ousted founder of American Apparel, made a last-ditch effort to wrest back control of the company on Thursday, accusing former partners of stealing away his multimillion-dollar empire and declaring that his new alliance with investors was the only way to save it.

There was a plan behind the scenes to steal the company from me, Mr. Charney testified in Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. Since then, its been a constant hide-the-ball.

Im a merchant, Im a creative artist, Im a photographer, Im a marketer, Im an industrialist, Mr. Charney said, adding: I dont want to hand over my company. This is coercion.

After two days of testimony from various witnesses and in the face of an impending snowstorm, Judge Brendan L. Shannon said that he would postpone his ruling on American Apparels bankruptcy until Monday morning. But he could still decide to extend proceedings even longer or postpone the retailers exit from bankruptcy.
The website has seed funding from the Arts Council, which invests government funds and National Lottery proceeds, and quickly drew the support of Ed Vaizey, the minister of state for culture and the digital economy. He noted that creative industries are the fastest-growing force in the British economy, pumping almost 80 billion pounds, or about $113 billion, into the countrys economy a year, accounting for 6 percent of British jobs and growing three times faster than any other sector.

Mr. Vaizey added that he hadnt thought twice about whether to host the event at the prime ministers office, a gesture that he said was a clear sign of our commitment to the movement, and the confident, empowered community it is trying to create for creatives across the U.K.

Mr. Cameron, although otherwise occupied in Switzerland, had prepared a statement to show his support for the project, too: From Asia to America, theyre dancing to our music, watching our films and wearing our designers latest creations, the statement said. With all this talent, its no wonder that our creative industries form the fastest-growing part of the economy.

I want us to build on that, he continued. And that means backing the best entrepreneurship in the sector, providing a focal point for the start-up support and resources creative people need. Creative Entrepreneurs does just that  and its website is the first of its kind. I hope this, alongside the other measures we are taking to boost businesses, will help make one of this countrys great success stories go from strength to strength.

The Conservative government, while traditionally an advocate for small businesses, has come under fire in recent months for policies that could have a negative impact on creative sectors, in which starting salaries remain low. For example, beginning in April, workers from outside the European Union who have lived in Britain for five years or more will have to prove annual earnings of at least 35,000 to stay in the country legally. And as a referendum looms on whether Britain should stay in the European Union, creative leaders have been quick to emphasize the importance of funding from the bloc and of ease of mobility for young artists between countries all of which could be lost if voters were to choose to leave the union.
New Delhi: A high-level French team is set to meet senior officials of the Navy soon to brief them about the naval version of fighter jet Rafale as India works on the design of its next indigenous aircraft carrier - Vishal.

Defence sources said that during the meeting, the French side will give a presentation on the various aspects of the naval version of Rafale and the benefits it will bring at a time when the Air Force will operate Rafale too.

The Air Force is set to acquire 36 Rafales under a government-to government deal. The development comes when the Navy is in the design phase for the next aircraft carrier.

Sources said that India has written to four countries, including France, seeking proposals for the design of the aircraft carrier that will have over 50 planes on board.

While India currently operates two aircraft carriers INS Vikramaditya and INS Viraat, the latter is set to be decommissioned soon. The country's first indigenous aircraft carrier Vikrant is already under construction in Kochi and is scheduled to be handed over by end of 2018.

Sources said that one of the basis for the design will be the aircraft component of the carrier.

"At this moment, we are doing with what we have," the sources said.

The Navy will deploy MiG 29K fighter aircraft on Vikrant. However, it is not clear if the Navy will stick to MiG 29K or go in for a new aircraft for Vishal.

As per the Navy's plan, Vishal would be a 65,000 tonnes aircraft carrier and will be about 300 metres long and about 70 metres in width.

While the exact propulsion system for it has not been decided, sources indicated it could well be a nuclear one.

"Given the long life cycle of a carrier, about 50 years, the cost of the nuclear propulsion will be recovered as nuclear means longer duration and better availability," sources said.
The cow in Queens was confused but determined.

It had escaped the slaughterhouse and made it to the streets. At noon on Thursday, it was spotted heading in the direction of the Jamaica Colosseum Mall before making a right onto Archer Avenue.

Calls poured into 911, the police said.

Cow on the run, was what the people reported.

It was not the first cow to try to escape the butchers knife. It was not even the first cow in the 103rd Precinct to make a run for freedom.

In 2011, a cow caused a commotion when it was seen sprinting along Liberty Avenue in Jamaica as motorists stopped to watch and record its desperate flight.

That cow was captured.

This cow, at least for the moment, was still at large. But the police in Jamaica were ready.
One year ago, as New York braced for what many experts said would be one of the worst winter storms ever to hit the city, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo decided to shut down the subway system for the first time in its 110-year history because of the threat of snow.

Mayor Bill de Blasio found out about the move as it was being announced on television.

When the storm shifted east, delivering only a glancing blow to the city, there were questions not only about the wisdom of the decision but also about how the fractious relationship between the mayor and the governor affected the decision-making process.

As the city prepared for the first powerful winter storm of the year, with 6 to 12 inches of snow expected to fall on Saturday, Mr. de Blasio vowed that communication between the state and the city would be better this time.

The lack of coordination was a real problem, and obviously decisions should have been different, he said. But this time theres going to be a lot more communication and coordination.
SCARSDALE, N.Y.  Robin Goldman was a doctor who made a career caring for children, and a teacher who showed young doctors how to do the same. But her own children said it was her role as mother that she seemed to covet most.

Hundreds of people gathered on Thursday at Young Israel of Scarsdale synagogue for a funeral service for Dr. Goldman, a pediatrician who was fatally stabbed at her home on Wednesday. Her three children shared stories of how she doted on them, even after they were grown. She made sure the refrigerator was stocked with the different kinds of milk each of them liked, they said, and kept files stuffed with mementos from their lives. Family, community and religion were the pillars you instilled in us, her daughter Alyssa said, and that you lived by every day.

But the children did not mention their father, Jules Reich, Dr. Goldmans husband. He was not at the funeral, but miles away, at the Westchester County jail, charged in her killing.

On Wednesday, just after 10 a.m., Mr. Reich, a partner in a financial services company, called 911 to say that his wife had been seriously injured, the authorities said. Three minutes later, Scarsdale police officers arrived at the couples home, a large white contemporary at 50 Lincoln Road, where they found Dr. Goldman, 58, lying in a shower with multiple stab wounds.
The budget proposal was nonetheless a departure from previous years, when causes at the heart of the mayors agenda took center stage, notably the citys prekindergarten program. It also included some cuts in that agenda, including an afternoon summer school program that city officials said cost $24 million. They said additional savings were realized by downsizing office space, or, in the case of the Transportation Department, switching from painting new bus lanes with red paint to using red asphalt.

In that respect, the proposed budget may dampen criticism that the mayor, who is midway through his term, has been spending too much on liberal causes, especially as the city prepares for what appear to be harder economic times on the horizon. It could also help in projecting a more nuts-and-bolts image of the mayor, who despite a recent bump in his approval ratings, is still battling a perception that he is more focused on pushing his agenda rather than running the city.

The 47-page summary released on Thursday included seven pages on the prospect of an economic downturn, including two pages that sounded almost apocalyptic. They bore the same heading, Impact of Recession, and one page warned of city revenues plummeting and greater demands on city services.

There are other possible hurdles, including Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and state legislators. New York City relies on the state for funds, and budget negotiations have only just begun in Albany. While the governors proposed budget earmarked billions of dollars in spending to help combat homelessness, it also called on the city to increase its contribution to the City University of New York system and to Medicaid costs. This move alone could cost New York City more than $500 million.

This cost shifting prompted another conflict between the mayor and the governor, who have long had a strained relationship. The mayor quickly vowed to fight the proposed cuts, after which Mr. Cuomo seemed to shift his position, saying his budget changes, in fact, wont cost New York City a penny.
For nearly a decade, keepers of Harlems historical flame have insisted  in the face of official skepticism  that a significant antebellum landmark lay beneath an enormous bus depot near the Harlem River.

They had plenty of documents to show that the 126th Street Bus Depot in Upper Manhattan occupied the site of a Reformed Dutch churchyard where New Yorkers of African descent had been buried from the 17th century through the 19th century. What they lacked were any remains.

Now, they have them.

More than 140 bones and bone fragments were found at the site last summer by archaeologists under contract to the New York City Economic Development Corporation.
To the Editor:

Re I Let You Down, Governor Says of Flint Crisis (front page, Jan. 20):

The devastating exposure of the Flint population to lead poisoning from a polluted water supply has produced a public health emergency that requires urgent action. Michigans governor, Rick Snyder, admits error, apologizes and promises to fix it.

Unfortunately, for some, particularly infants and children, there may be no fix possible, since this involves a neurotoxin that permeates the nervous system and can cause irreversible brain damage. Other body organs are also adversely affected, and lead poisoning can cause death.

The people of Flint deserved better. Their cries for help went unanswered for more than a year despite the obvious contamination of a water supply. The resulting lead exposure throughout the community is a tragic example of what can happen when established public health and safety principles are abandoned. Even after withdrawing their denial, state officials appear to have initially understated the extent of the harm caused by the lead in the water.

This week President Obama met with Flints mayor, Karen Weaver, who asked for more needed help. The president should adopt the recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics to declare a public health emergency in Flint, and appoint and dispatch a federal task force to Flint to deal comprehensively, in coordination with local and state officials, with all the ramifications of this disaster.
YANGON, Myanmar  When in November Sai Win Myat Oo, a candidate from the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, ran for a seat in the Parliament of Shan State, in southern Myanmar, he was confident in his chances of being re-elected. The people of his constituency had consistently voted for the local Shan party in the past.

Yet he lost to a candidate from the National League for Democracy (N.L.D.), the majority-Bamar party led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, which swept the general election last year, winning some 80 percent of contested seats in the national Parliament. Apparently, it was the ethnic Wa people of Shan State, many of whom resettled there from northern parts of country in the late 1990s, who cast the decisive votes.

Rumor has it they had received instructions to vote for the N.L.D. from the United Wa State Army  at 30,000-strong, the most powerful rebel group in the country  which is headquartered on Myanmars border with China. Chinese sources I spoke to in academe and the intelligence services denied that Beijing had anything to do with those directives. But one senior Shan politician and three Myanmar military insiders said they thought it was Chinese influence that had swung the Wa votes in Shan State.

Why would Beijing, which has long backed Myanmars military regime and refused to engage with pro-democracy parties, now support the N.L.D.? One reason is that in recent years it saw the political tide turning in Myanmar. Another is that it has come to think of Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi as a consummate pragmatist, and at a time when the Myanmar army, known as the Tatmadaw, was making political and military overtures to the United States and its allies.
JERUSALEM  Dizengoff Street in Tel Aviv is always bustling. Youngsters, families and tourists fill its shops, cafes and bars. On Jan. 1, this boulevard became the site of another terrorist attack on Israelis. First, two young men were gunned down in a bar; then, as he fled the scene, the terrorist killed a taxi driver. Several others were injured.

A week later, after a long pursuit, the terrorist, an Israeli-Arab citizen named Nashat Melhem, was encircled by security forces in his hide-out in the town of Arara, and was shot dead after he had opened fire at his pursuers. Nashat Melhems rampage in Tel Aviv was not his first attempt at terror, as he had a 2007 conviction for assaulting a soldier and trying to seize his gun.

A vast majority of Araras residents are law-abiding Israeli citizens, men and women who go about their daily lives peacefully and have nothing to do with terrorism. But not far from Arara, and less than an hours drive from Tel Aviv, is the headquarters of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, which is affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood.

In line with other radical Islamists throughout the region, the northern branch of the Islamic Movements followers preach an extremist message, seeking to sow discord among Jews, Christians and Muslims. Over the years, the organization, under cover of freedom of speech, began to abuse its democratic privileges by inciting violence. That was why I was among those in the government who led the move to ban it.
When you grew up in an unmapped, unwired world and find yourself in this one  observing the panic when GPS fails or the extent of online status anxiety  you cant help wondering if somewhere along the way freedom got lost.

Freedom is still out there. We all have our idea of it, the deferred dream. Your psyche builds layers of protection around your most vulnerable traits, which may be closely linked to that precious essence in which freedom resides. Freedom is inseparable from risk.

Technology increases choice, but its prime purpose is to increase productivity; that is the amount that can be extracted from you in any given time. Like debt, it never sleeps. It confines you. It distracts you. It binds you. It depoliticizes you through isolation and through the blurring, in the cacophony it delivers, of fantasy with fact.

I dont know if the world is freer than a half-century ago. On paper, it is. The totalitarian Soviet Imperium is gone. The generals who bossed Latin America are gone, generally. Asia has unshackled itself and claims this century as its own. Media has opened out, gone social.
The appeals are taking many forms. Airbnb and the American Hotel & Lodging Association are both leading sponsors of the winter meeting, for example. But perhaps the sharpest debate is over numbers and facts.

In the speech on Thursday, Mr. Lehane asked mayors to team up with the company. In turn, Airbnb would begin to collect taxes. It now collects hotel, tourist and occupancy taxes, totaling around $42 million, in 16 cities and jurisdictions. And, according to a study commissioned by the company that Mr. Lehane presented, if the 50 biggest American cities teamed up with Airbnb, that number would rise to $200 million a year in taxes.

We want to demonstrate a seriousness of purpose to city leaders, Mr. Lehane said in an interview. Im not aware of any company standing up at the U.S. Conference of Mayors and saying, Please tax us.

Katherine Lugar, president of the hotel association, on Wednesday presented a study her own group had commissioned. It said that an estimated $500 million in revenue had been collected by Airbnb hosts, whom the hotel group described as essentially professional landlords renting out rooms full time, a violation of many local laws.

Our data is showing a tremendous growth of commercial operators who are exploiting sites like Airbnb to avoid paying taxes, following zoning rules and following basic laws for health and safety, Ms. Lugar said in an interview.
Bengaluru: The French Consulate in Bengaluru has received an anonymous letter allegedly threat French President Francois Hollande from visiting India on Republic Day. Though the letter is being viewed as hoax by police and Intelligence agencies, it has reportedly escalated the heightened security threat to the VVIP, who is allegedly on the top of the hit list of Islamic jehadists, especially Daesh.

The French Consulate on January 11 received an anonymous three-lined letter from Chennai by post. The unsigned letter states that the French President should not visit India on the Republic Day. It is written in broken English and sentences are not well structured, said Additional Commissioner of Police (West) K.S.R. Charan Reddy.

"The senders address on the letter has been verified and found to be non existent. We have registered a case against an unknown person under Section 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at High Grounds police station," he added.

Though the City police remained tight lipped about any further information on the letter, Intelligence sources told this newspaper that the letter was posted by an unknown person from Triplicane area in Chennai.

It was posted from Triplicane area in Chennai but the address is wrong. The letter begins with salutations to Allah and contains the map of India and the warning, said an officer on condition of anonymity.

Bengaluru police have shared the letter with Chennai police and the Intelligence Bureau (IB).

Mr. Hollande will be the chief guest at this years Republic Day parade. New Delhi has turned into a fortress and has heightened the security alert for a possible lone wolf attack.
An associate professor at Kent State University in Ohio is under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation over possible involvement with the Islamic State.

The inquiry came to light as federal agents arrived at the campus this week to interview students and professors about Julio Pino, an educator in the history department known for making incendiary remarks on Israel.

Emily Mills, a journalism student who was questioned on Tuesday, said the agents told her they began scrutinizing Dr. Pino more than a year ago. They were looking into Professor Pino allegedly having ties to the Islamic State and recruiting students to join on campus, she said.

Ms. Mills said she was asked about her encounters with Dr. Pino as she reported articles about him for The Kent Stater, a student newspaper where she serves as editor.
WASHINGTON  Three Guantanamo detainees were slated to leave the American prison in Cuba this week after about 14 years in captivity. But early Wednesday morning, only two were willing to board the plane.

The third  Mohammed Ali Abdullah Bwazir of Yemen  balked at the last minute, even though he has a history of hunger striking to protest his indefinite detention without trial. In recent days, Mr. Bwazir was frightened to leave the prison and go to a country where he has no family, his lawyer, John Chandler, said. The country has not been identified.

Mr. Chandler also said his client  who was born around 1980 and brought to Guantanamo in 2002  was depressed. He compared his client to a character in the prison movie The Shawshank Redemption who has spent so much of his life behind bars that he cannot handle life on the outside after finally being paroled.

Can you imagine being there for 14 years and going to a plane where you could finally leave, and saying No, take me back to my cell?  Mr. Chandler said. This is one of the saddest days of my life.
One ad, to the humming and harmonies of the Simon and Garfunkel song America, shows Americans working, farming and excitedly flocking by the thousands to see Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont on the campaign trail. Hope, it projects.

Another ad shows the White House, the rubble of ground zero, a fighter jet taking off from an aircraft carrier and snapshots from Hillary Clintons career: reading to children as the first lady and staring down President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia as the secretary of state. Experience, it projects.

Two 60-second commercials. Two very different stories. Two very different campaigns.

With just 11 days until the Iowa caucuses, Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Sanders have each begun to make closing arguments to Democratic voters.

_____

On Wednesday, Mrs. Clinton went first, with a commercial in which a narrator points to her record as the first lady, as a senator from New York and as President Obamas secretary of state, and calls her the one candidate for president who has everything it takes to do every part of the job.
Nine months after leaving the Obama administration, Hillary Clinton sat on a stage under the life-size model of a blue whale that hangs in the American Museum of Natural History.

For a fee of $275,000, she had agreed to appear before the clients of GoldenTree Asset Management, the capstone of a lucrative speechmaking sprint through Wall Street that earned her more than $2 million in less than seven months.

Mrs. Clinton said the Dodd-Frank rules, while unpopular among some on Wall Street, were a necessary response to the financial crisis, according to one person who attended, while making clear she viewed Wall Street as a partner in securing the countrys economic future, not an enemy. We have to win together, she said, not divide ourselves.

But her paid speeches are now emerging as the central line of attack in an increasingly bitter primary clash with Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. In Sundays debate in South Carolina and at a series of campaign appearances in Iowa this week, Mr. Sanders has argued that Mrs. Clinton is too personally beholden to Wall Street to effectively rein in the industrys excesses.
WASHINGTON  The Obama administration on Thursday announced changes to a visa-waiver program that would make it harder for travelers to enter the United States from Europe if they had dual citizenship from Iran, Iraq, Sudan or Syria, or had visited one of those countries in the last five years.

Those travelers will now have to go through the more rigorous regular visa application process to enter the country. The Department of Homeland Security, which announced the changes, said they would take place immediately.

The administrations plan would provide limited exemptions for individuals who have to travel to any of the four countries as diplomats or for military service. Additional exemptions could be applied for humanitarian reasons or for journalists.

About 38 countries, mostly in Europe, participate in the visa-waiver program, which allows their citizens to visit the United States without a visa on trips of 90 days or less. About 20 million tourists use the program each year.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti  After spending more than $33 million on a widely discredited election in Haiti, the United States has been pressing the countrys leaders to go ahead with a presidential runoff election this Sunday, despite a growing chorus of warnings that the vote could lead to an explosion of violence.

Haitian leaders, political parties and others have denounced the first round of voting in October as a fraud-riddled fiasco and protested in the streets to stop the runoff. One of the two remaining candidates says he is boycotting, effectively making it a one-person race.

President Michel J. Martelly took to the airwaves on Thursday to warn that protests on Election Day would not be tolerated. Civic, business and religious leaders are engaged in tense back-room negotiations to broker a deal in an effort to avoid violence and put off the race. Eight election observer organizations have pulled out over the fraud accusations and chaos, including a Haitian group funded by the United States.

But the Obama administration  which spent the money to help ensure credible, inclusive, and legitimate elections here  has emerged as a central force, pressing Haitian politicians to move forward with the vote, however flawed the first round may have been.
BEIJING  For seven years, the young Swedish man had directed a nongovernmental organization in Beijing that offered legal aid to Chinese citizens in trouble. Now he was a captive of Chinas legal system, forced in police detention to speak on video about his so-called crimes.

I have violated Chinese law through my activities here, Peter Dahlin, 35, said in the video aired Tuesday night by China Central Television, the official state network. I have caused harm to the Chinese government. I have hurt the feelings of the Chinese people. I apologize sincerely for this, and Im very sorry that this ever happened.

The video followed similar jailhouse confessions by a Swedish publisher, Gui Minhai, two days earlier, and two other foreigners, Peter Humphrey and Charles Xue, in 2013.

Though foreigners in China have long been forced to make back-room confessions when detained by the police, this recent string of televised self-criticism, under the hard-line rule of President Xi Jinping, has struck many people here as remarkable because of the manner in which the videos were used as Communist Party propaganda for an audience of hundreds of millions. For many, they evoked Mao-era public self-criticism sessions. There have been notable televised confessions by Chinese, too.
The fall of a Chinese official is not easy to represent graphically. There are circles of hell that they pass through. First comes the announcement by the Communist Partys Central Commission for Discipline Inspection that an official is under investigation, often accompanied by an announcement of the officials dismissal. Many officials are then expelled from the party and referred to the criminal justice system for prosecution. Last comes the trial and the nearly inevitable guilty verdict. The ChinaFile Catching Tigers and Flies database aims to document each phase, as well as the links between those caught up in the campaign.

The eyes of journalists following China may glaze over each time Xinhua or China Central Television announces that yet another vice mayor of a regional capital has lost his or her job. But the same information viewed in aggregate, sorted by geography, chronology or sector, yields some fascinating  and newsworthy  patterns.

ChinaFiles visual tool can be sorted geographically by province, chronologically, by sector (military, politics, law, petroleum, and mining, for example), and even between tigers and flies.

Here is an example of how the database can be used to illustrate, or even anchor, journalism and scholarly research. Correlation does not imply causation, but the tool uncovers an interesting pattern: Provinces where Mr. Xi served for many years have not seen as many top officials fall in corruption campaigns as neighboring provinces.

In Fujian, a province racked by a widespread smuggling scandal in the 1990s, while Mr. Xi was rising in the ranks  on his way to the governorship by the end of the decade  only two senior officials have been toppled, and both only last year. In contrast, in neighboring Jiangxi Province, with a similar population, five senior officials have been toppled, the first in 2013.
KATHMANDU, Nepal  The police fired on ethnic Madhesi protesters in eastern Nepal on Thursday, killing at least three of them in the latest flare-up of political tensions over Nepals Constitution.

Members of the Madhesi group have been demanding changes to the new Constitution, which they say dilutes their political voice.

The protesters on Thursday tried to attack a pro-Constitution rally organized by the youth wing of the governing Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) in the town of Rangeli, said Toyam Raya, the chief district officer of Morang, which includes Rangeli. The police fired tear gas and then opened fire on the protesters in Rangeli and nearby Dainiya after they started throwing stones at the police, he said.

Mr. Raya said that eight protesters and 13 police officers were wounded in the clashes, but members of Madhesi parties said that 35 protesters had been injured.
LONDON  In the dank, dark days of November 2006, as Alexander V. Litvinenko, a former K.G.B. officer turned foe of the Kremlin, lay dying in a London hospital, he and his associates composed a deathbed missive to President Vladimir V. Putin.

In the letter, Mr. Litvinenko said he could hear the beating of wings of the angel of death and blamed Mr. Putin for his plight. But, he told the Russian leader, the howl of protest from around the world will reverberate, Mr. Putin, in your ears for the rest of your life.

Image Mr. Litvinenko in 2002. Credit... Alistair Fuller/Associated Press

The echo could be heard Thursday with the release of the final report of a lengthy public inquiry into Mr. Litvinenkos death. It was probable, said the report, by a retired judge, Sir Robert Owen, that Mr. Putin and his spy chief at the time, Nikolai Patrushev, had approved an operation to kill Mr. Litvinenko, using a highly toxic and rare isotope, polonium 210.
GUNTUR: IIT Madras student Lakshmi Pratyusha Vedantam hailing from Guntur went missing on Sunday. Her parents were saddened over her decision of going to the Himalayas. The parents on Wednesday got a call from their daughter that she would be leaving for the Himalayas. Her father Bhaskar Vedantam is working in the BSNL and is also a famous homeo doctor residing at Brodipeta in Guntur.

Mr Bhaskar said their family went into a shock with the decision of Pratyusha and they are praying to God for her safe return and her well-being. Pratyusha completed her B. Tech in RVR and JC College of Engineering at Guntur and later joined the IIT Madras for MS engineering in designing. She was found missing from January 17 from her hostel in IIT Chennai.



According to Pratyushas Facebook account, she was very much interested in religion and displayed Bhagavad Gita, Ramayana, Mahabharata and Chanakyas Chant as her favourite books. The teaching staff of RVR and JC College of Engineering recalled that Pratyusha was a tradition-bound girl and was brilliant in studies.

Mr Bhaskar said that they went to IIT Madras and enquired with her classmates and friends, but in vain. He added that they used to call her every night but for the past three days, Pratyushas mobile was switched off. Hence, they went to IIT Madras and lodged a complaint with the police.

Mr Bhaskar recalled that Pratyusha is a very bold girl and she used to inform everything to them. He said that she is a talented student. He said that Pratyusha is very much attached to Hindu religion. Mr Bhaskar said that they got a phone call from Pratyusha on Wednesday, and asked her to return back and informed the same to IIT Madras and were waiting for the return of their daughter.
Nikki Murphys son, Reuben, 4, was rejected by nine local schools in south Dublin last year because he was not baptized. Forced to delay Reubens formal education by a year, she is frantically seeking alternatives for next fall. But Ms. Murphy, who is 36 and describes herself as nonreligious, said she would not baptize her child simply to gain access.

I know lots of people who have gone down that road, but my husband, Clem, and I felt it wasnt for us, she said. I am very, very angry. We are almost out of options. We honestly dont know where Reuben will go to school.

The issue has come to the fore ahead of an expected general election next month. A petition set up by a lawyer in Dublin, Paddy Monahan, has attracted almost 20,000 signatures in favor of overturning the preference given to Catholic children. A recently formed advocacy group, Education Equality, is planning a legal challenge.

We believe the discrimination in entry policies and the religious ethos that permeates schools runs contrary to Irish law and certainly to international law on human rights, the groups chairwoman, April Duff, said, and as an organization we are planning to challenge their legality.

Ireland is also feeling heat on the issue from influential bodies outside the country.

When a delegation from Ireland appeared in front of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva last Thursday, the countrys minister for children, James Reilly, was asked to justify the continuation of preferential access to state-funded schools on the basis of religion.
ROME  When Her Majesty calls, the commoners hasten? Not necessarily.

Especially if the commoners in question are the proud representatives of the Palio, the famed horse race in Tuscany, who have said they will not join the festivities planned in May for the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II.

Invited to join others in an equestrian showcase, the Palio organizers had made special requests to maintain the prestige and decorum of the event in mutual satisfaction, they said. Those could not be fulfilled, however.

Mostly for organizational, but also ethical issues, the conditions were not there, the Magistrato delle Contrade di Siena, the body that oversees the 17 districts of Siena, where the race is held, said in a statement on Wednesday.

The debate over participating in the queens birthday celebrations had roiled the Tuscan city for months, ever since HPower Group, a British event management company, had invited the contrade, the citys competing districts, to perform at Windsor Castle in a parade that will feature 900 horses and 1,500 participants from around the world.
LONDON  High above a main thoroughfare in the city of Oxford, in an alcove framed by twirly columns, a statue of Cecil John Rhodes, the archimperialist who shaped Britains empire and the destiny of its far-flung subjects in Africa, peers down inscrutably on the people below. If you werent looking for it, you might miss it.

In recent weeks, though, the statue has provoked an acrimonious debate about whether it should be removed, as was another monument to him last year, in South Africa, where he built his fortune and power before his death in 1902.

But, as the debate has unfolded, it has sometimes been tempting to ask what it is all about  the unhealed wounds of Africas colonial heritage; or fears among Westerners that their version of history may be sacrificed on an altar of racially tinged revisionism, an echo of an equally fiery debate on some American campuses.

Certainly, it seems beyond dispute that colonialism, along with the slave trade and the encroachment of foreign faiths in lands that had not requested them, burned an enduring scar on Africas self-regard and self-esteem.
UNITED NATIONS  Diplomats have been working nonstop this week to set the groundwork for Syrian peace talks that were scheduled to, but will not, begin on Monday in Geneva. On Wednesday, Secretary of State John Kerry and Russias foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, met in Zurich to discuss the matter, but the meeting broke up inconclusively. On Thursday, Mr. Kerry said that the talks would take place soon, delayed by a day or two, but that the rivals would not sit in the same room. It was a stark measure of the gulf between them.

Q. Why is it so hard to get the talks started?

A. The latest hurdle is to decide who should represent the opposition. A coalition of disparate rebel and civilian opposition groups, with blessings from Saudi Arabia, insists that it alone can do so. Russia and Iran, allies of Syrias president, Bashar al-Assad, are not eager to see a united opposition bloc. They want to add groups that they say represent a broader section of society, but that the Saudi-backed coalition sees as closer to Mr. Assads government. Frederic C. Hof, a fellow at the Atlantic Council and a former Obama administration official who has called for greater American aid to the rebels, described the groups as Potemkin opponents of the Assad regime.

Russia and Iran also want to add certain Kurdish representatives, an idea that is anathema to Turkey, a crucial backer of the opposition.

The push to have the talks is driven by both hope and fear: hope because the regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran have, in principle, agreed to a road map for talks, and fear because a new dispute between the two countries could topple the negotiations altogether. The apprehension was voiced, albeit diplomatically, by the European Union foreign minister, Federica Mogherini, in a Twitter post this week: Window of opportunity wont be open forever. We cannot miss this chance.
Were not going to say we know where were going to end up, Ms. Madden said. What were saying is that we know this work, we have it in our pocket, we know how it works, we know the different performance sites and what that generates. We have her history.

In its three-day Proscenium run at the Brooklyn Academy, the company will perform Set and Reset (1983), Present Tense (2003)  a reconstruction  and Newark (Niweweorce) (1987). Ms. Lucas said she found it difficult to grasp that this might be the last time she would see Newark danced by the company but that she was trying to look ahead to the challenge of revisiting other pieces.

Were very committed to embracing new ways of performing the work, and even though its a bit undefined, Im feeling good about that, she said. It reminds me of Trisha a little bit  were learning from process. I want for the work that we do to evolve also so that were not going into a rut, so to speak, of presenting Trishas work in just one way.

After the performances in Brooklyn and Seattle, the company plans to focus on education and on organizing its archives as well as the In Plain Site initiative. Ms. Browns work will continue to be licensed and performed by other companies, including the Paris Opera Ballet, the Lyon Opera Ballet and the Pennsylvania Ballet; since those groups are not schooled in Ms. Browns approach, the licensing projects require extensive teaching. And in March, the Stephen Petronio Company will present Glacial Decoy, Ms. Browns first work for the proscenium stage, at the Joyce Theater. (Mr. Petronio, who joined Ms. Browns company in 1979, was its first male dancer.)
NORTH VANCOUVER, British Columbia  There they were in the midst of what looked like a spooky old-growth forest (Princess Park, actually, mere blocks from upscale suburban homes here), surrounded by clumps of moss, overgrown ferns and gigantic Douglas firs, looking for clues of yet another allegedly paranormal crime, the kind they used to solve almost every week. They addressed each other, as they always had, by only their last names.

Mulder, said Gillian Anderson, reprising her role as the F.B.I. agent Dana Scully, the look on her face instantly recognizable; part reprimand, part in-spite-of-herself affection.

Scully, David Duchovny responded in character, somehow managing to mock her just by saying her name.

They were shooting the much-anticipated six-episode revival of The X-Files, which begins Sunday, Jan. 24 on Fox, back in Vancouver, where the original seriess first five seasons were filmed. Its been 14 years since an original episode aired, almost 23 years since the show began. In 1993, the two actors had no idea they were about to start a phenomenon that would propel them to worldwide recognition, demonstrate the power of genre television and mark them, whether they liked it or not, as Mulder and Scully for the rest of their working lives.
What kind of reader were you as a child? Which childhood books and authors stick with you most?

I read everything as a kid: mysteries, romances, historical novels, reference books. Everything but comic books, to my shame. I was big on Judy Blume, big on Roald Dahl. I was in fifth grade when my teacher read us The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, by Agatha Christie. No spoilers, but the entire classroom gasped at the end. I thought it was the greatest trick ever invented. I remember thinking, I want to do that.

When you were an English teacher in Harlem, what was your favorite book to assign and discuss with your students?

Thats a funny question, because it assumes I had much choice in the matter. In fact, when I asked the assistant principal what I should teach, he told me to go up to the book room and see what novel we had the most copies of. The realities of the budget meant that I was basically obligated to teach whatever that book might be. He gave me the key to a musty closet on the fourth floor of the building, and I went up dreading what I might find, what I might be forced to teach. There were 110 students in 10th grade, and it was a happy surprise to find 80-something copies of The Bluest Eye. I hadnt read Toni Morrisons debut novel in maybe 10 years, and I really enjoyed diving back into it. As often happens, teaching a book, talking about it with young people, is the best way to fall in love with it.

What book that you read for school had the greatest impact on you?

Dostoyevskys Notes From Underground. I mustve been 16 or so when I read it, and it killed me. My first serious attempt to write fiction came just a few months after finishing it  an unreadable, overwrought psychological muddle that felt, at the time, very accomplished to my late adolescent heart, my very bad imitation of a truly great book. The mood and the atmosphere of Notes From Underground have stayed with me, even now, more than 20 years later, when I barely remember the details of the plot. The memory of what that book did to me is so strong, so powerful, Ive been unable to summon the courage to read it again, for fear of spoiling it.

If you could require the president to read one book, what would it be?

I guess that depends entirely on which president were speaking of. Obama? Whoever succeeds Obama? Their suggested reading lists might be so different as to exist in different wings of a very large library. On the other hand, the premise of this question  that literature can be edifying, and temper the crueler impulses of power  I wonder if thats even true. There was a plan a few years ago, during the crisis of unaccompanied minors arriving on our southern border, to send a copy of The Beast, Oscar Martinezs extraordinary account of Central American migration to the U.S., to every member of Congress. How many of them read it? And how many of those who read it changed their position? Did any anti-immigrant populist show an ounce of humanity or generosity as a result?

Disappointing, overrated, just not good: What book did you feel you were supposed to like, and didnt? Do you remember the last book you put down without finishing?
Cooking is not always about simplicity and ease. Sometimes, particularly when its cold outside and the dark comes early, what you want in the kitchen is a project, a culinary jigsaw puzzle to solve. There is no greater one than cassoulet.

The dish, a rich stew of white beans and meats, originated in southwestern France and is traditionally served in a wide, earthenware vessel called a cassole. What meats are used depends on where you learned to make the dish, and from whom  for some, duck or goose confit are central to cassoulet, along with garlic sausages and bits of pork; lamb or game birds play those roles for others. (At Le Village in the East Village, you can find a vegan version made with smoked portobello, oyster and shiitake mushrooms.)

The version that follows is one I developed at the shoulder of Philippe Bertineau, the chef at Benoit, Alain Ducasses elegant French bistro in Manhattan: rich and creamy, sticky with duck and pork, brightly spiced, with an astonishing depth of flavor. Bertineau has 25 years of professional cassouleting to his name and serves around 60 portions a week at Benoit. A few years ago, he was named one of six ambassadors of the Universal Cassoulet Academy, headquartered in Carcassonne, France, an honor that allows him to wear an impressive red gown and cap and to pass judgment on the cassoulets of others.

When we cooked, though, he eschewed the costume in favor of a plain white apron. His advice was simple: You need only to plan. Figure a few hours of shopping, followed by an evening of prep, then a few hours of cooking the next day and a glorious dinner to follow. None of it is really hard work. But it takes some time, same as building a model airplane or a radio does, same as knitting a scarf or a hat.
The result is that the fully polished look has become the norm, raising the standard for everyone else and normalizing what should really be a once-in-a-lifetime rite of passage.

The relentless rise of personal grooming is not unique to Dhaka. As the rise of blow-dry bars in major cities worldwide and the increasing popularity of on-demand beauty apps suggest, the pressure to look immaculately chic and coifed has dramatically increased in the age of Instagram. The idea that beauty should be accessible to all is evolving to mean that more and more women aspire to ever higher standards.

There may be some who will breezily declare the rise of the blow-dry an innocent, possibly even empowering, trend. But it rubs me the wrong way. The women of my mothers generation were revolutionaries; they called each other comrade and marched on the streets demanding independence for Bangladesh. And that feminist movement is one of the major reasons that today Bangladesh is still, against all the odds, posting impressive statistics on everything from girls enrollment in primary school to maternal health.

So I hold on to my feeling that there is no such thing as an innocent blow-dry. Yet there are subtle complexities to this social trend. I have a friend who is, by her own admission, a compulsive parlorgoer. If shes been abroad, the first thing she does when she gets home is visit the parlor. She brings gifts for the salon girls, and they shower her with attention.

Im addicted to the keratin blow-dry, she tells me. But its more than that: She likes being greeted by women who have watched her grow from an awkward teenager with kinky hair into an adult; she likes that they know exactly how her hair should be done; and she likes the expert, almost loving way they tend to her body. Its not quite a friendship, but theres an intimacy beyond the regular client-server relationship.

After a week in Dhaka, I succumb and pay a visit to my local parlor, Bliss. As I enter, Im hit by the smell of nail polish remover. I hover around the entrance for a while, but no one notices me. There is a row of chairs in front where women are getting their hair done, and another section toward the back for manicures and waxing. I spot an older woman who looks like shes in charge, and ask for a leg wax.

Im shown into a narrow booth and given a petticoat and instructed to fasten it under my arms. After a few minutes, a skinny young woman approaches with an implement that looks like a butter knife, a torn-off strip of towel and a bowl of wax, which is actually not wax at all but a mixture of melted sugar and lemon juice. She grabs my calf and smears the goo from knee to ankle. Its very hot. She presses the rag to the mix and pulls it off in one sharp movement. I wince.
People say theres a lot of scams on Craigslist, but I personally always have had good experiences, she said. If you have good judgment, you can see who is a scammer and who is not, so its up to you.

One possibility, for just $750 a month, was a room in a three-bedroom house with two other roommates on Seventh Street in Union City, north of Jersey City. The room was small and the distance to the light rail was far, Ms. Tsultsumova said. She preferred to pay a few hundred dollars more to secure what she really wanted, which was an amenity-filled high-rise.

Everybody told me you will never be able to afford a high-rise, she said. But, she thought, If one miracle happened to me  landing a job  maybe another miracle will happen, too.

She visited the Atlantic, a high-rise in Jersey Citys Newport section, where the bedroom in a one-bedroom apartment was available for $1,050 a month. Two sisters shared the large living room, which was divided with a shoji screen. The sisters paid the balance of the $2,535-a-month rent.

Ms. Tsultsumova liked it a lot, and the roommates seemed nice. We had a great conversation, she said. We tried to understand each others requirements. I am a pretty quiet person. I dont have parties. It is very important to have a conversation, so you can see if the person is your kind of person.
Rameswaram: Even as the consecration of the Sri Ramanathaswamy temple here was performed on a grand scale with utmost religious fervour on Wednesday, a controversy brewed over the alleged sidelining by the temple authorities of the visiting Sankaracharya of the Kanchi Kamakoti Mutt, Sri Jayendra Saraswathy.

While the pre-consecration rituals including the yaga saala pujas that commenced on Jan. 15 with invocations to Lord Ganesh (Vigneswara Puja), went off very well in front of the Amman shrine over the past four days, the seer attended the pujas on January 19. But due respects were not accorded to the Kanchi seer, sources said. Instead, temple functionaries kept a tab on his movement, which deeply hurt the Kanchi seer, sources said.

Consequently, Sri Jayendra Saraswathi on Wednesday morning kept away from the main consecration function.

After a brief meeting with Kanchi mutt functionaries here in the afternoon, the acharya merely went up to the Artha Mandapa in front of the presiding deitys sanctum, handed over the golden Naaga Kavasam (as gift to adorn the hood of the Shiva Linga) to the temple priest, offered prayers to the Lord and quickly left for Kancheepuram. The acharyas non-participation in the main function left devotees shocked.
Paul draws a line from his photograph in Somalia to 9/11 and two wars, said Mr. OBrien, who lived in Lower Manhattan during the 2001 terrorist attacks; he now lives in Los Angeles. That was part of what was so compelling about him  that somebody could feel that much responsibility. Hes very convincing when he lays it out like that. On the other hand, no one person could be responsible for what he sometimes feels like he is.

Though hes never visited a war zone himself, a sense of unfinished business dogs Mr. OBrien, 41, as well. Raised in Scarsdale, N.Y., as part of a large family from whom he is currently estranged, Mr. OBrien considers The Body of an American to be part of a trilogy of plays reckoning, in part, with his own still-unfolding family history.

Among other things, his relationship with Mr. Watson  first conducted entirely via email, then warily and occasionally in person  has helped him exorcise some of his own demons, including his childhood memory of a brothers attempted suicide.

He was so young when his brother went through that, said Jo Bonney, who directed the play in its current production, a co-presentation of Hartford Stage and New Yorks Primary Stages. He blames himself for not understanding it. Faced with the damage and depression he comes to recognize in Mr. Watsons character, Mr. OBriens character is given another opportunity to not run away  to step up or make amends, Ms. Bonney explained.

As her observation suggests, the lines between the real and the theatrical in The Body of an American arent so much blurry as fluid. With characters named Dan and Paul (played by Michael Crane and Michael Cumpsty), the play, Ms. Bonney said, could be considered a kind of biographical nonfiction, but not a documentary. Mr. Cumpsty, for instance, clasps his left hand into a fist to denote the fact that Mr. Watson was born without that hand, though in real life Mr. Watson regularly uses his left arm. The play is told, Ms. Bonney added, in a fragmentary, often impressionistic style, moving the way you actually think thoughts in your head, or the way you dream.

Mr. OBrien estimated that 95 percent of the text is culled from conversations or correspondence between him and Mr. Watson, with other material coming from recordings he provided, including sessions with his therapist and, crucially, a tense phone conversation with the brother of Sergeant Cleveland.
MAINQUE, Argentina  The flat, dry Rio Negro Valley on the northern end of Patagonia wont strike anybody as a glamorous wine region. For one thing, apple and pear orchards, along with platoons of poplar trees, far outnumber grapevines. For another, the restaurants, hotels and the usual camp followers of the winemaking life are nowhere to be found.

But glamour did not draw Piero Incisa della Rocchetta to the Rio Negro. The old pinot noir vines did, along with promising soils, a sparkling climate and a dream of creating a self-sustaining wine estate the way his grandfather the Marchese Mario Incisa della Rocchetta did in Italy 50 years ago. The marchese created Sassicaia, a paradigm-breaking cabernet blend that proved greatness could be achieved in Bolgheri, on the Tuscan coast.

Dreams and inherited wealth have fueled more than a few wine start-ups, but rarely in so unprepossessing a place and with so untested a notion as Argentine pinot noir. Unlike many start-ups, though, Mr. Incisas estate, Bodega Chacra, is producing wines that decisively earn whatever attention his family history initially brings him.

Argentina is known for one wine, malbec. The prevailing style of these wines, grown mostly in the province of Mendoza to the northwest, is the antithesis to good pinot noir; powerfully fruity, opulent and often highly alcoholic and oaky. By contrast, good pinot noir is known for its elegance and finesse, characteristics that Mr. Incisa has managed to achieve in his Chacra wines in just a decade.
The fries at Pravue Cafe and Albanian Grill taste as if they have taken a tumble in a perfect bowl of ramen and have somehow still emerged crisp. First fried, then baked, they arrive slightly sticky with a truffle glaze and pecorino Romano gone lax in the oven. But the verve comes from Vegeta, a synthesis of salt, sugar, spice and dehydrated vegetables engineered a half-century ago in Yugoslavia.

Sead Duraku, known as Sal, opened Pravue in June near the southeastern border of Ridgewood, Queens, a neighborhood with one of the largest Albanian populations in the city. Outside hovers a two-headed black eagle, wings outstretched on a red shingle. It is a descendant of the coat of arms borne into battle by Albanian noblemen in the Middle Ages, fighting for freedom from the Ottoman Empire.

Mr. Duraku runs the restaurant with his younger brother, Rizo, who is the manager. Their family, ethnic Albanians with roots in the region that is today Montenegro, came to the United States in 1994 in the wake of Yugoslavias dissolution, when the boys were children. The brothers share duties in the kitchen, alternating between dishes that look to the West (with at times questionable results: overdressed salads, a strangely sweet penne alla vodka) and those that stay true to home.

Among the family recipes is grosh, a dense soup of red kidney beans steeped for hours with smoked beef prosciutto from a halal Albanian butcher in Brooklyn. The meat, close to burgundy in color, is jerkylike in funkiness of flavor but more submissive in texture, and a distant cousin of bresaola from across the Adriatic Sea in Italy.
Kochi: Infopark Thrissur, the successful spoke of the Kochi hub, is set for major growth with the launch of the first building of the second phase on Thursday.

The single block building, developed on six acres, has a total built-up area of 3.3 lakh square feet and will have space for start-ups and SMEs.

Infopark CEO Hrishikesh Nair said the new building, named 'Indeevaram', has already been attracting interest from major companies in the IT space. "We have inquiries from KPOs to companies in the big data analysis," he said.

"Keys will be handed over to clients like the Dubai-based Almotahida Education, Spanish IT company Yoptimizo IT Solutions, Braddock Infotech, Uvionics tech and ICT Academy on Thursday itself."

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will inaugurate the building while opposition leader V. S. Achuthanandan and IT minister P. K. Kunhalikkutty, among others, will attend the function.

Mr Nair said that at present the ground floor has been readied as plug & play and the rest as warm shells. Unlike in the first phase, Indeevaram is notified under special economic zone (SEZ).

This is expected to boost the export oriented businesses. "Also, companies can expect a cost benefit of up to 30 per cent over the main hub at Kochi," he added.

"Apart from the ground floor, other floors have been prepared as warm shells. However, if we get more enquiries, we will convert the warm shells to plug & play areas," Mr Nair said.

Mr Nair said that Indeevaram was completed for a total cost of Rs 76 crore, taking the total investment in infrastructure and facilities in both phases to a total of Rs 100 crore.

Infopark Thrissur, located Koratty, is developed in a 30-acre land of which 12 acre is in non-SEZ land and 18 acre in SEZ category. The new building is expected to create 3,000 jobs and Infopark expects to generate 10,000 jobs as it develops further.

Mr Nair was upbeat about the prospects of Inforpark and said that for the fiscal year 2014-15, Infopark has clocked software exports worth Rs 3,150 crore.

This was a figure we were looking to achieve only in fiscal year 2015-16. So we are a year ahead. Even for the next year, we expect clock exports of around Rs 3,500 crore to Rs 3,700 crore.
ALAPPUZHA: Live it the king's style. Meet Nisham King; a Business King, a friend and an extremely wonderful human being who lives life the king size", these words were copied on April 24, 2013 directly from the currently defunct Facebook page of Muhammad Nisham.

Now, having been proved guilty of murdering security guard, Nisham's king-size life has shrunken to the size of a mousetrap at the tap of a gavel on the judge's desk.

The convict of Chandrabose murder case began to mark his trail of terror with light crimes like brawls and scuffle, but he was first kept on the tenterhook by a DC report published on April 13, 2013 where he let his 9-year-old son to drive a Ferrari F 430 Scuderia and then uploaded the video on You Tube.

That stunt took him to Kunnamkulam court for abetting underage driving and violating Motor Vehicle Act (MV Act).

One month after Ferrari episode, on June 13 night, he was caught by the Thrissur East Police on charge of roughing up women police Sub Inspector A.

P. Devi. Apart from this, he was accused in ten more cases including murder happened in Chavakad, Peramangalam and Thrissur east police station limits.

But, none of the case against him was proved as money helped him to make out-of-court settlements. If the cases had been properly handled , a life could have been saved.
Imagine the Arc Burger  the luscious steer-duck-pig combo served at Arc, the everything-from-scratch eatery at SoCo in Costa Mesa. The beef is hand-cut into itty-bitty pieces. The pig is crisp-cooked cubes of house-cured bacon. The fowl is rendered duck fat.

At Arc, everything is cooked over a wood-fueled fire; the burger is no exception, vigilantly supervised by executive chef and co-owner Noah Blom. The pattys exterior gets crisp and crunchy while duck fat sizzles around the edges of meat. Its cooked in a cast-iron skillet nestled in hardwood embers. The crust contrasts delectably with the moist interior, the juices rich in flavor and aroma.

Bloms culinary credentials are impressive. After starting at age 14 working for the late Hans Prager at the Ritz Restaurant in Newport Beach, Blom set out for San Francisco to attend the California Culinary Academy. Work followed in some of New York Citys most acclaimed restaurants, including Restaurant Daniel, where he spent five years, and BLT (Bistro Laurent Tourendel), where his work led to opening 14 BLT restaurants nationwide.

Skill and dedication team with innovation and style in Arcs open kitchen. Blom joined me in my kitchen and at the outdoor kettle barbecue to show me step by step how he creates his burgers. The process wasnt slap-dash quick, but the flavors and textures were worth the wait.

Recipe: Arc Burgers

Yield: 2 burgers

1 pound boneless short rib, finely chopped by hand

1 pound rib-eye strap, finely chopped by hand (or use 2 pounds boneless short rib)

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 large yellow onion, caramelized, see cooks notes

1/4 pound bacon lardons (3/8-inch cubes), cooked crisp

Seasoning: salt, freshly ground black pepper, fresh-cut chives, chopped fresh chervil

1/2 cup rendered duck fat (or melted butter or a high-end olive oil), divided use

Optional: shredded white cheddar, aged 5 years preferred

2 potato buns

Garlic aioli, enough to thinly coat both cut-sides of buns, see cooks notes

Shaved red onion

Handful of Red Oak lettuce, see cooks notes

2 large heirloom tomatoes, contrasting colors such as 1 red and 1 orange preferred, cut into 3/8-inch slices, one slice of each per burgerPickled red Fresno chilies, sliced crosswise, see cooks notes

Cooks notes: Note that ingredients and instructions in parentheses vary from the way burgers are prepared at Arc, but might be easier for home cooks. To caramelize onion, slice a yellow onion crosswise into thin slices. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a medium skillet on medium-high heat. Add onions and toss to coat with oil. Cook until starting to soften and turn brown. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cook until nicely browned, stirring occasionally, 15 to 20 minutes. Use half of onion in this recipe; reserve remaining onion for another use. Cool and chop before adding to meat.

At Arc, aioli is prepared in a mortar and pestle. To make it in a food processor, drop 2 peeled garlic cloves in feed tube with motor running. Stop motor once minced; add pinch of salt, 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, 2 egg yolks, juice of 1/2 lemon  then whirl to combine. With motor running, add 3/4 cup room temperature canola oil in a very thin steam. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

To pickle chilies, cut 5 into crosswise slices. In a saucepan, add 11/2 cups rice vinegar, 2 tablespoons sugar, 1 tablespoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon dried red chili flakes, l teaspoon whole coriander seeds and 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns. Boil on high heat until sugar dissolves. Add chili slices and remove from heat. Cool; refrigerate 12 hours or up to five days.

Blom lightly dresses the lettuce before adding it to the burgers. He makes vinaigrette with minced shallots, minced garlic, Sherry vinegar, canola oil, pepper and salt.

Procedure:

1. Hand chop cold beef and place in bowl (or have butcher do a coarse grind). Add garlic, caramelized onion, cooked bacon lardon; gently toss with fingertips. Add salt, pepper, chives and chervil; gently toss with fingertips. Add 1/3 of the duck fat, reserving remaining duck fat to use when cooking.

2. Form two large patties and refrigerate well-sealed, for 24 hours.

3. Heat briquettes in a charcoal grill. Top with chunks of wood. Let fire burn down until flames die down and surface is hot and more or less flat. Place a little duck fat in a cast iron skillet; place patties in skillet and ladle remaining duck fat over and around meat. Place skillet directly into the coals (no grate used). Cook until burgers are well crusted on bottom, about 10 minutes; pull out skillet using well-insulated barbecue mitts and cautiously turn meat. Return skillet to coals and cook until burger reaches the desired degree of doneness. Remove skillet from heat. If you want to add cheese, add it to the top of the burger. Grill cut sides of buns until lightly browned.

4. Spread a thin layer of aioli on cut sides of buns. Add meat, shaved red onion, lettuce, 2 lightly salted tomato slices, and a few slices of pickled chilies. Top with bun.

Source: Noah Blom, executive chef/co-owner Arc, Costa Mesa

Contact the writer: cthomas@ocregister.com
The mudslinging between the lodging industry and short-term rental broker Airbnb only got messier this week.

A study out of Penn State, funded by a hotel lobbying group, found that full-time landlords in a dozen of the largest U.S. metro areas, including Los Angeles and San Diego, generated 29 percent of Airbnbs revenue. (Orange County data were not included.)

The reports overarching message: Airbnb is increasingly becoming a vehicle for property managers, not for middle-class households trying to make some extra cash. Hotel owners have long argued that Airbnb and its operators should be subject to the same rules and fees as hotels.

Researchers concluded that:

 Nearly 2,700 full-time landlords  those who rent out units for more than 360 days a year  generated $378 million, or 29 percent of total Airbnb revenue.

 Those who listed three or more units on Airbnb generated roughly $34 million, or nearly 11 percent of the companys revenue.

San Francisco-based Airbnb makes its money by charging fees for every transaction: 3 percent from hosts, and 6 percent to 12 percent from guests. The upstart company maintains that the vast majority of its users are middle-class folks trying to create supplemental income, according to a statement to the Register.

Airbnb said the report was filled with misleading data and false claims. The company came back with a flurry of its own stats, though they didnt directly address the numbers spelled out in the study. Among Airbnbs claims: About 80 percent of listings in Los Angeles are booked fewer than 90 days per year.

Company officials also were quick to point out the fact the American Hotel & Lodging Association, one of the staunchest critics of the home-sharing industry, sponsored the study. Among the groups elite membership: the general counsel of Hyatt Hotels and an executive vice president of Hilton Worldwide.

You may remember the hotel interest group as the unlikely creator of Neighbors for Overnight Oversight, which rallied residents to campaign against short-term rentals, even providing them with letter-to-the-editor templates.

That kind of outrage has been palpable in pockets of Los Angeles County, where an increasing number of landlords are evicting residents to create mini-Airbnb hotels.

Such a scenario hasnt presented itself in Orange County, where the overwhelming number of complaints revolve around nuisances, says Nicholas Dunlap, president of the Apartment Association of Orange County.

Dunlap, whos a regular at council meetings where short-term rental measures are discussed, said he is not concerned that mega-landlords will clear apartment complexes and convert them into Airbnb listings, which has happened to some extent in areas including Venice Beach and San Francisco.

Theres plenty of (rental) availability for long-term tenants, Dunlap said.

Thats not to say the apartment industry as a whole isnt concerned about Airbnbs explosive growth.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Camden Property Trust, Equity Residential and AvalonBay Communities  three of the biggest apartment owners in the nation  have shown interest in pairing up with Airbnb for some kind of revenue-sharing model. All three have a presence in Orange County.

The idea, which surfaced in December, would let residents rent out their apartments on Airbnbs site without having to sneak around  and apartment operators would get a cut.

Contact the writer: 714-796-4976 or lleung@ocregister.com Twitter: @LilyShumLeung.
TUSTIN  Unless an investor in shining armor intervenes, theres no fairytale ending on the horizon for Once Upon a Storybook.

Finances will force the childrens bookstore in Tustin to shut its bright pink doors by the end of March  just a year and a half after they opened.

We are very disappointed, owner Susie Alexander, 52, said. But its been the greatest experience of my life. I mean, how many people can say theyve lived their dream?

Customers know Alexander as Miss Susie The Story Lady.

She worked in educational publishing for years. First it was freelance, while she homeschooled her four children. Then it was full time, until the company she worked for eliminated her position a few years back.

As the Anaheim Hills resident debated what to do with the second half of her life, a friend threw out the idea of opening a childrens bookstore. That night, Alexander ordered books on the subject and started pitching the idea to her husband.

She took a job at Barnes & Noble in Orange, working there a year to learn the industry from supportive bosses.

In January 2013, Alexander dedicated herself fully to her new business, flying to Florida for an independent booksellers workshop and taking classes through the Small Business Administration.

Market research and her heart pointed her to Tustin, near where her husband had grown up and the family attended church. With a boost from an Indiegogo campaign, Alexander opened the store in October 2014 in the Enderle Center along 17th Street.

MORE THAN A STORE

Customers enter past signs pointing to Hogwarts, Neverland and The Shire.

On a stair to the right, theres a tiny pink door so fairies can stop by.

In the back, theres a chalk wall signed by authors and illustrators whove made appearances at the store, with Salina Yoon  creator of the popular penguin pictures book series  one of their biggest supporters.

There are also reading nooks painted by Alexanders artistic son, 24-year-old Carter Alexander, to look like a fire station, a cave and a castle.

For half his life, Erin Brankovs son has frequented Once Upon a Storybook. The 2-year-old loves to walk with his mom from their Tustin home to the store, grab a book and climb inside the fire station nook until preschool storytime with Miss Susie starts.

They are such an important part of our lives, Brankov said.

The other part of that they is Tina Pomroy. The 67-year-old been with Alexander helping to run the store since day one, winning a bonus in December through author James Pattersons program supporting independent booksellers.

Pomroy, who worked in special education for 35 years, called Once Upon a Bookstore the best retirement job in the world.

Together, Alexander and Pomroy have held red-carpet Caldecott Soirees, celebrating the winner of the years most prestigious award for picture books. Theyve hosted Girl Scout meetings, financial workshops and sign language classes. And theyve thrown birthday parties and Polar Express Christmas parties in a room above the store.

The women have also kept a running book of quotes they hear from customers. One of their favorites came from a young shopper who said, Mom, when I grow up I can bring my children here, right?

RISKY BUSINESS

Opening any business is risky. And while childrens bookstores havent taken as hard of a hit, Alexander knew the independent bookstore business posed unique challenges given the digital transformation of the past decade.

Alexander predicted it would take at least a year to make a profit. That anniversary came and went in October. The store had a strong December and its customer base continues to grow, but it hasnt been enough to put the business in the black.

Really, what I need is $50,000 to drop from the sky, Alexander said.

Alexanders husband, who oversees finances for a company that makes cell phone camera lenses, has been writing checks each month to keep the store afloat. When he handed her a check for January, Alexander decided she couldnt do that to her family anymore.

As she started sharing news of the closing early this month, loyal customers started throwing out ideas and begging Alexander to start a crowdfunding campaign to keep the doors open.

Were just heartbroken, said Brankov, an avid reader. I dont know what were going to do. We just dont have other shops like that in the community.

MAKING MEMORIES

Alexander doesnt know where shell land either.

Once youve had the opportunity to live your dream, its very hard to say whats next, she said.

For now, shes focusing on living that dream for at least a few more weeks.

Theres no set closing date yet, but Alexander plans to start a liquidation sale March 1. She also hopes to throw a final big event to mourn the loss while celebrating successes of the last 15 months.

Through the store, children have been introduced to new stories. Theyve met Pete the Cat and Curious George. Theyve absorbed wisdom from famous authors and crafted stories of their own.

Most importantly, Alexander hopes the store has inspired customers to live its motto: Because stories inspire and books make memories.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7963 or bstaggs@ocregister.com
A 27-year-old woman was arrested outside a Santa Ana mall on Tuesday on suspicion of leaving her 4-year-old son inside a car while she went shopping.

A witness called Santa Ana police around 8:30 p.m. about an unattended child in a vehicle in the Main Place Mall parking lot, 2800 block of North Main Street, who had been there since 7:50 p.m., said Cpl. Anthony Bertagna of the Santa Ana Police Department.

Officers arrived and found the boy crying and screaming in a car seat and the doors unlocked. He said his mother, Arica Jenee Ayala, 27, had left him alone.

Mall security made several announcements over a loudspeaker, and officers checked the Anaheim address the vehicle was registered to, but could not find anyone.

Around 9:30 p.m., Ayala came out of the mall with shopping bags from Nordstorm and said she had left the boy inside the vehicle with her sister and was gone for only 20 minutes, Bertagna said.

She later said there was no sister, and she forgot her son was in the car, he said.

She was arrested on suspicion of willful cruelty to a child with possible injury or death. Investigators could not find the boys father or relatives and he was taken to the Orangewood Children and Family Center.

Court records show Ayala is charged with misdemeanor counts of shoplifting a value of less than $950 from June and petty theft for a 2014 offense. She has not entered a plea, and both charges are pending.

In 2014, she pleaded guilty to driving a vehicle without possession of a license, not using a seat belt and no evidence of current registration.

She was ordered to pay $105 in fines.

Contact the writer: 714-796-2478 or lcasiano@ocregister.com
An environmental group is criticizing Laguna Beachs recently adopted coyote-trapping program, claiming that it doesnt include proper notification for property owners who might be affected by the traps.

Jean Su, an attorney for the Oakland-cased Center for Biological Diversity, sent a letter challenging the City Councils Jan.12 decision to dedicate an additional $30,000 to its coyote-trapping and killing program  a program that has resulted in the trapping of six of the animals during a recent two-week period. The councils decision to move forward with its plan comes amid a rash of coyote sightings and encounters, including some pet snatchings, in Laguna Beach and other Orange County cities.

While we have concerns regarding the wisdom and efficacy of the trapping program itself, at a minimum, any such effort must be done in compliance with all legal requirements, said Sus letter, which claimed the city is required to have contractors acting under the program to get written consent from property owners whose properties are within 150 yards of a set trap.

Su also called for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to look into the citys program.

In their vote last week, City Council members decided to continue the trapping program despite pleas from some animal rights advocates, who said the plan was overkill and urged city leaders to into other methods to dissuade coyotes from coming into areas populated by people. Beyond the trapping effort, the city has put up coyote warning signs and stepped up a social media campaign to educate residents about keeping food sources  including pets  away from coyotes.

There has been a change here, Councilman Kelly Boyd said, detailing an incident in which a coyote had his dog in its mouth. There is a problem in Laguna Beach. Ive been here 71 years, and Ive never seen it like this. We have to take the next step.

Since September, Laguna Beach Animal Control has fielded 233 calls about coyotes. Since Dec. 21, six of the animals have been trapped and euthanized.

Jim Beres, civilian services supervisor for the Laguna Beach Police Department, said those trappings already have dramatically reduced reports of coyote activity.

State Fish and Wildlife Lt. Kent Smirl confirmed that written consent must be obtained from homeowners in an area where the traps  intended to catch a coyote by its paw or neck  are set.

The city is aware of the law, Smirl said. We are trying to give them education and a law where they can act in the best interest of the public.

But Beres said the city doesnt agree with the interpretation of the law. Instead, he says written consent from the homeowner is only needed when the trap is placed on the property.

Scott Gardner, who oversees Fish and Wildlifes Upland Game Programs, said the law was written to prevent non-target catch of other peoples domestic animals.

This is something thats not widely understood, Gardner said. Its an extra requirement. I would assume some pest operators are not aware of it.

Gardner and others from the state agency say education to prevent habituation is the most important aspect in keeping coyotes at bay.

Rebecca Dmytryk, president of Wildlife Emergency Services in Northern California, agrees.

Trapping and killing coyotes will not work, she said. Its foolish to think there will ever be a time when its safe for a small pet to be outdoors on walks without precautions taken  thats just not ever going to happen.

Dmytryk said that attempts to eradicate coyotes or manage their populations in an area will never be successful because new ones from the surrounding area will move into the vacant habitat.

Laguna Beach is not alone in grasping for tougher ways to address the coyote problem.

Seal Beach has had a trapping program in place for months, and Huntington Beach recently adopted a trap and kill option, albeit as a last resort, for dealing with the animals. The latter plan emphasizes educating residents, hazing or disturbing and scaring coyotes, removing food sources and other measures to dissuade coyotes. The new plan formalizes what previously had been an informal plan on how to handle the problem.

Contact the writer: 714-796-2254 or eritchie@ocregister.com Twitter: @lagunaini
Chennai: The Chennai corporation is free to go ahead with its cement concrete relaying work on Marina loop road after the principal bench of the National Green Tribunal refused to stay the project.

Dismissing a petition filed by S. Venkatesh of T. Nagar, the Bench, headed by chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar, judicial member Justice M.S. Nambiar and expert members D.K. Agarwal and Bikram Singh Sajwan, observed that the Tamil Nadu Coastal Zone Management Authority had not granted clearance to the project without application of mind, as claimed by the petitioner.

The major part of the project relates to relaying the road without any additions like fixation of lights and beautification of the area, the tribunal observed.

The Bench gave a clean chit to corporation on all three grounds raised by the petitioner and accepted the local bodys argument that ...there will be no change in land use in implementation of the project.

However, as the area is a prominent Olive Ridley turtle breeding zone, the bench instructed the corporation to stick to project elements for which approval was sought and received from the CZMA in December 2014, including the lights.

Lights of appropriate size would be fixed, while ensuring that least light is thrown towards the sea and they are to be put off every day between 11 pm and 5 am from December to February every year. There shall be no widening of the road and the footpath and the storm water drain shall be provided only towards the landward side, the bench said.

The NGT allowed the petitioner the privilege of approaching it once again in case of violation on the order.

Initially proposed in 2014, the Rs 47 crore Marina Loop Road beautification project envisioned erection of seating galleries, dedicated cycle tracks and footpaths besides converting the bitumen road into concrete road. It ran into rough weather as coastal conservation activists objected to development work on the seaward side.

The case which was initially before the NGTs southern bench here was transferred to the principal bench in April 2015.
SANTA ANA  The Santa Ana City Council has granted a 5 percent, $17,000 performance bonus to City Manager David Cavazos.

Cavazos, who is the highest-paid city manager in Santa Ana history, will receive the one-time bonus after the council approved it 5-2 Tuesday night in closed session. Mayor Miguel Pulido and Councilwoman Michele Martinez were opposed.

His salary is $372,165, including bilingual pay, a housing allowance and medical cash back, and he receives $107,450 in medical, dental and retirement benefits, according to city spokeswoman Alma Flores. In 2014, Cavazos was the highest paid city manager in Orange County and the sixth-highest paid city manager in California, according to figures reported to the State Controllers Office.

Councilman Roman Reyna said he brought the annual performance evaluation and bonus onto the agenda because he felt the quality of Cavazos work over the past two years definitely warranted it.

He truly is a high-quality city manager. Were lucky to have somebody of that caliber, Reyna said. When you want an all-star player, youve got to pay an all-star price.

The councilman noted that in the past year, Cavazos hired more law enforcement personnel through Department of Justice grants, acquired body cameras for cops, saw through a budget surplus and reopened library services on Sundays for the first time in decades. Thats on top of Cavazos prior leadership in the city averting bankruptcy, updating the downtown parking structures that generate revenue, closing the Santa Ana Jails deficit and passing a utility tax, Reyna said.

Cavazos asked for a bonus last year but residents spoke out against it.

Two years later, not one resident spoke up against it because they can see the work he is doing, Reyna said. You may not like everything hes doing, but you definitely cannot argue that the city is moving forward.

But council members who voted against the bonus dont take Cavazos other actions lightly, in particular, that the city has brought in an outside investigator to look into a number of personnel violations, according to Pulido, including a romantic relationship with a subordinate city employee.

The mayor said he could not support a performance bonus with the gravity of allegations from that investigation, and another investigation by the International City/County Management Associations legal counsel.

Cavazos couldnt be reached for comment Wednesday about the investigation, but the Voice of OC has reported that in a letter to the mayor Cavazos said he hadnt violated city policy or any laws.

There is a very real threat of liability that his actions may have imposed on the City of Santa Ana and its taxpayers, Pulido said in an email Wednesday. It would have been irresponsible of me to vote last evening to award him a performance bonus at this time.

Martinez said the main reason she voted no was a lack of criteria established for the bonus, and that this is not the time to grant one with the recent stock market plunge.

She added in a text message, We shouldnt give a bonus because he may leave.

Cavazos four-year contract expires in October 2017. His commitment beyond that is up in the air.

My track record in life has been to stay at a place until such time, until a certain amount of time is gone, Cavazos said. The only thing I told people  is that Santa Ana would be better off than when I got here.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7762, jkwong@ocregister.com or on Twitter: @JessicaGKwong
SANTA MARGARITA HIGH DANCERS WIN gold

The Santa Margarita Catholic High School Dance Team in Rancho Santa Margarita took home the gold medal in the medium and intermediate jazz divisions Jan. 9 at the Aliso Dance Classic at Aliso Niguel High School.

On the team are captain Alexis Hopper, captain Gracyn Maggio, Brittany LaCilento, Sofia Mendoza, Katherine Kerry, Louisa Suyanto, Sophia Angelici, Sophia Yacap, Elisabeth Tracy, Mia Ford, Lauren Frey, Natalie Hogue, Isabella Zintel, Gabrielle Jones, Audrey Eagan, Kyleen MacCartie, Tori Palenske and Isabella Mendoza.

Trabuco natives achieve in college

 Christina Garner of Trabuco Canyon has graduated with a Master of Science degree in health information management from The College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minn. She was among more than 530 graduates in the combined baccalaureate, masters and doctoral ceremony.

 Alec and Carlie McNiff of Trabuco Canyon have earned placement on the deans list of the University of Dayton, a Catholic research institution in Ohio that was founded in 1850. To be eligible, students need to achieve a minimum 3.5 grade-point average.

CAPo SUPERINTENDENT TO HOst TOWN HALL

Kirsten Vital, Capistrano Unified School District superintendent, is hosting a town hall meeting for parents and community members from 7-8 p.m. Jan. 25 at the district education center, 33122 Valle Road in San Juan Capistrano.

Vital will answer questions and discuss the districts Multi-Tiered System of Supports plan and give an update on district counselors and their impact in helping students achieve school and life skills.

FACULTY, STUDENTS will play AT sADDLEBACK

 The jazz faculty at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo is gearing up to show off its skills in a performance of eclectic and original jazz music at 7:30p.m. Jan. 25 in the McKinney Theatre.

The ensemble features Jerry Pinter on tenor saxophone, Ron Stout on trumpet, Adam Bravo on piano, Jamie Rosenn on guitar, Luther Hughes on bass, Paul Johnson on drums and director of jazz studies Joey Sellers on trombone. For tickets, visit saddleback.edu/arts.

 On Jan. 28, the Music Department at Saddleback College will offer a free concert hour, a variety of individual and ensemble performances, at noon in the Fine Arts Room 101 and the McKinney Theatre.

Yorgos Kouritas, director of instrumental studies, and staff accompanist Catherine Tibbitts will perform a duo violin and piano recital. The college is at 28000 Marguerite Parkway in Mission Viejo.

LAGUNA HILLS STUDENT lands on DEANS LIST

Dylan Helstien of Laguna Hills, who is majoring in professional writing, has been named to the Champlain College deans list.

To be eligible, students need to achieve a semester grade-point average of 3.5 or higher.

The college, a not-for-profit institution in Vermont, was founded in 1878.

Contact the writer: marieek@hotmail.com
San Clementes local government and the communitys health care provider may be on a collision course over the future of medical services in southernmost Orange County.

On a 5-0 vote Tuesday night, the City Council took steps to rezone the 6.6-acre site of Saddleback Memorial Medical Center San Clemente to require a state-licensed hospital there.

MemorialCare Health System, owner of the 73-bed hospital, has a plan to close it, demolish it and erect a $40 million comprehensive outpatient medical campus with advanced urgent care.

City officials, worried that closure of the emergency room would mean longer trips to the nearest ER, higher mortality rates and impacts on emergency response costs, said the new zoning is consistent with the citys mission to preserve critical medical services for residents. It would allow MemorialCare to develop an outpatient campus on the site as long as it also remains a hospital with an emergency room, Associate City Planner Adam Atamian told the council.

Attorneys for MemorialCare called the citys move illegal and said it will not assure continued operation of the 44-year-old hospital.

There is no way a municipal zoning decision can require any private business to stay open, Attorney Jason Koors said. At San Clemente, that decision will be driven by the realities of the regional health care needs and the practical and economic realities of operating such a facility.

Attorneys also suggested that the zoning change would remove options, and could render private property unusable and expose taxpayers to liability.

City Attorney Scott Smith suggested that the zoning move is appropriate in that the San Clemente General Plan considers hospital emergency services to be a critical resource.

The councils decision came a week after California Senate and Assembly health committees killed legislation authored by Sen. Patricia Bates, R-Laguna Niguel, and Assemblyman Bill Brough, R-Dana Point, that would have let MemorialCare continue to operate a standalone ER in its new facility as a satellite to Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in Laguna Hills.

MemorialCare said its plan reflects a dramatic shift in health care nationwide, away from hospitals and toward outpatient services that can offer patients more convenience with lower medical bills.

But under state law, ambulances cannot deliver 911 patients to an outpatient campus  only to a licensed hospital emergency room. MemorialCares announcement of the outpatient campus in August 2014 triggered a community outcry.

Its closure would leave nearly a 40-mile gap between public ERs at Tri-City Hospital in Oceanside and Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo.

MemorialCare officials say in-patient bed counts have fallen dramatically locally, and nationally, and it is becoming more difficult to sustain the hospital.

Dr. Steve Cullen, a leader with Save Saddleback San Clemente Hospital, suggested that MemorialCare has had a role in that by shifting medical resources and patients out of the San Clemente campus to its Laguna Hills hospital when, as a tax-exempt public-benefit corporation, it should be investing in improving the San Clemente hospital.

Mayor Bob Baker asked Tony Struthers, hospital administrator, to keep the hospital open for five years while the city finds another operator to open a hospital on another local site, and then MemorialCare can do what it wants on this site. Struthers said he could offer no such guarantee. The MemorialCare board is scheduled to meet next week, the City Council was told, to look at options in the wake of the bills failure in Sacramento and the rezoning.

A parade of speakers alternately called for saving the hospital, asserted that MemorialCares plan would better fit long-term community needs and debated the question of the city infringing on property rights or MemorialCare being insensitive to the communitys cry for 911 emergency services.

Some stated that most critical emergency transports already bypass San Clementes ER to go directly to specialty receiving centers. Others cited cases of lives saved at San Clementes ER by being stabilized there, then transferred.

Dr. Candice Basich said that once her patients and friends learn more about how Saddleback Memorials plan for comprehensive outpatient services with more affordability and emphasis on keeping people out of hospitals, their fears of change are eased.

Dottie Smith, a nurse, suggested that people could die with closure of San Clementes hospital requiring longer rides to sometimes overloaded outlying ERs in worsening I-5 traffic. It is just inhumane to leave a community without these resources, she said.

Contact the writer: 949-492-5127 or fswegles@ocregister.com

Mayor Bob Baker asked Tony Struthers, hospital administrator, to keep the hospital open for five years while the city finds another operator to open a hospital on another local site, and then MemorialCare can do what it wants on this site. Struthers said he could offer no such guarantee. The MemorialCare board is scheduled to meet next week, the City Council was told, to look at options in the wake of the bills failure in Sacramento and the rezoning.

A parade of speakers alternately called for saving the hospital, asserted that MemorialCares plan would better fit long-term community needs and debated the question of the city infringing on property rights or MemorialCare being insensitive to the communitys cry for 911 emergency services.

Some stated that most critical emergency transports already bypass San Clementes ER to go directly to specialty receiving centers. Others cited cases of lives saved at San Clementes ER by being stabilized there, then transferred.

Dr. Candice Basich said that once her patients and friends learn more about how Saddleback Memorials plan for comprehensive outpatient services with more affordability and emphasis on keeping people out of hospitals, their fears of change are eased.

Dottie Smith, a nurse, suggested that people could die with closure of San Clementes hospital requiring longer rides to sometimes overloaded outlying ERs in worsening I-5 traffic. It is just inhumane to leave a community without these resources, she said.
Thailands Criminal Court sentenced a man to six years in jail for making comments on his Facebook page that were deemed an insult to the nations monarchy.

Piya Julkittipan was found guilty of breaking the lese majeste law and Computer Crimes Act for insulting King Bhumibol Adulyadej in two Facebook posts between July and November last year, the court said in a statement. He plans to appeal.

Article 112 of Thailands criminal code mandates jail sentences as long as 15 years for defaming, insulting or threatening the king, queen, heir apparent or regent. Human Rights Watch said last month that use of the law had reached the absurd in Thailand, after a man was charged for allegedly insulting the kings dog.

The military junta that seized control of Thailand in a May 2014 coup has made a priority of pursuing lese-majeste cases. It has shifted authority for the cases from civilian courts to military tribunals, where record sentences have been handed down since the coup, including an initial 60-year sentence for a man convicted of committing lese majeste in multiple Facebook posts.
On a Monday morning in early December I drove a rental car out of Des Moines and eventually made my way down a slender country road that cut a forthright path through Iowa cattle pastures and cornfields not yet glazed by snow.

My destination was Winterset, the county seat of Madison County, whose covered bridges Robert James Waller immortalized more than 20 years ago in his best-seller, The Bridges of Madison County. Wallers treacly love fable is not my personal favorite, but I confess to detouring at the sign for Hogback Bridge and being stirred by the lonely spectacle of that wooden sentry crouched over the North River in an unprepossessing crease of Middle America.

My reasons for visiting Winterset, however, were more political than sentimental. Donald Trump had descended on the town a few months back, reportedly making a yuuge impression on the local Republican kingmakers.

The venue for Trumps remarks had been the John Wayne Birthplace and Museum, which another presidential candidate, Rick Santorum, would soon be visiting. I wasnt so much interested in joining Santorums Take Back America tour as I wished to bask in the magnetic force that Wintersets favorite son, the former Marion Michael Morrison, exerted on political hopefuls. And so I conducted my own hourlong tour of the small but strangely affecting museum, with its fake-blood-stained cowboy costume and movie posters of blockbusters (True Grit) and duds (Big Jake) alike. Tender and affable though the sendup was, the myth being evoked  that of the rugged individualist galloping to the worlds rescue  remains as politically potent as any in America.

Its again that season, occurring once every four years, when men and women who imagine themselves as the next president of the United States are obliged to make their case to the public in quiet swaths of Americas midsection that they would otherwise never deign to visit. Accompanying these candidates are campaign strategists and members of the political press who themselves are strangers to what some sneeringly refer to as flyover country. The collision of the two worlds is often abrupt and ghoulish  diners under siege, a crazed network of boom mics, a staged moment in search of actual momentousness.

But it can also be salient, an opportunity for the nations elite to confront their own ignorance as they see the expressions and hear the stories of people whose ordinary lives are directly affected by the bloodless everyday machinations of Washington.

This ritual encounter begins in Iowa  blessedly so, I might add, despite the frequent lament that the states Republican voters are too conservative, that its caucus system is too arcane and exclusionary. Lets put all that to the side for the moment. Iowa is not just a reminder that America is more than the sum total of its skyscrapers and safe spaces. It also reaffirms that our nation, beginning with Iowa, is full of unsung surprises.

Some may suggest that there are better times of the year to visit the state than in winter. But since my migratory patterns are keyed to the reporting I do during the election cycle, I associate Iowa with steely skies, skeletonized trees and humans bundled up like Michelin men.

Des Moines, to me, is the convivial bar in the lobby of the downtown Marriott, where the traveling press can reliably be spotted decompressing after filing their gaffe-of-the-day stories. It is Centro, the sleek and always-full Italian restaurant that has supplanted the citys grand steakhouse, 801, as the place to spot candidates. It is Raygun, the self-described printing, design and clothing company owned and operated by extremely attractive Midwesterners, where this years featured T-shirt is a montage of grimacing Bernie Sanders images.

Des Moines is also the Continental, a dark and dignified restaurant around the corner from Raygun in the citys East Village. I spent a recent evening there sipping a whiskey-and-egg-whites-based drink called the Filibuster with GOP communications specialist Tim Albrecht  formerly with Mitt Romney in 2008 and 2012, now with Jeb Bush  while he wistfully recalled Romneys last campaign rally before Election Day: Ten thousand people waiting for him at the airport. We thought we had it in the bag.

And Des Moines is Carls, a boisterous dive in the Sherman Hill neighborhood where Ronald Reagan once lived while working as a sportscaster for WHO Radio. Both the bar and the neighborhood are nowadays heavily populated by Democrats, I was told by a member of the loyal opposition, a longtime Iowa GOP strategist named Grant Young. I found him beside a steaming pot of chili drinking a Coors Light with a shot of whiskey and cinnamon  and, in mid-explanation, he fist-bumped an arriving patron, Matt Paul, the state director of Hillary Clintons campaign.

I woke up the next morning after that boozy evening and shuffled over to the edge of downtown, where Carly Fiorina was conducting a town hall in the conference room of an insurance company. Iowans are great innovators when it comes to caloric multiplier effects. In the town square of Oscaloosa later that morning, I stopped for a latte at Smokey Row Coffee, a theatrical cafe where, above one special table, an actual movie marquee announces who is sitting directly beneath it. (Happy birthday, Senator Grassley!) The soup of the day was cheeseburger chowder  literally, a burger half-submerged in a small ocean. I forewent this delicacy because I knew I would soon be having lunch in Iowa City, at the famed Hamburg Inn No. 2, a scruffily hip diner festooned with they-were-here photos of candidates  Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and others. My server there advised me to follow my cheeseburger with something called a pie shake  Try the pumpkin, its in season. True to its description, the experience was akin to drinking a pumpkin pie, complete with crust.

Just outside Iowa City, in the sleepy town of West Branch, is the presidential museum of its native son Herbert Hoover. The tourist site, housed in a building not far from the two-room cottage where Hoover spent his earliest days before becoming orphaned at the age of 9, is notable for its sparseness. Unlike the edifices dedicated to more recent or more beloved presidents, a visitor can stroll through the life of our nations 31st chief executive without anyone else around, lending poignancy to Hoovers experience as the man widely blamed for failing to prevent the Great Depression.

To its credit, the museum devotes significant space to Hoovers fall from grace following his landslide loss to Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932, and subsequent despondency, while reminding visitors that he ultimately regained his status as a statesman, working with President Harry S. Truman to help resuscitate Europes economy following World War II. Here in Iowa was another great national motif  that of America as the land of second chances.

I found the turnoff to Vedic City  or, rather (as a sign proclaimed it), Maharishi Vedic City: Capital of the Global Country of World Peace. Iowa, as it turns out, boasts one of Americas foremost Transcendental Meditation temples, shimmering on the plains like an alien spaceship. Filmmaker David Lynch was a habitue; Oprah Winfrey had paid a visit; Jim Carrey gave a commencement speech to the 2014 graduating class at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield.

The communitys other main attraction is the Raj, a rather sumptuous spa where the ancient healing rites of Ayurveda are practiced. I was tempted to book a room, but the Raj requires a three-day commitment. Instead, I found a hotel in neighboring Fairfield, a new-agey city ominously self-described in one sign as a cast of 10,000 as themselves. Ron Paul, I was later told, had a strong following in Fairfield.

Western Iowas unofficial corn corridor is Route 141, an Uberless world of uneven cellphone reception and agrarian infinity, gorgeous in its forlornness. In Coon Rapids, a quiet town of 1,300 astride the Middle Raccoon River, I went searching for the farm that an agriculturally curious Soviet premier, Nikita S. Khrushchev, came to visit in 1959. After a few fruitless turns, I pulled into the main square and walked into the newspaper office of the Coon Rapids Enterprise. A yellow Labrador puppy joyfully assaulted me as I walked in. Thats Margaux, the papers editor, Charlie Nixon, informed me as he restrained his pet. We name all of our dogs after wines we cant afford.

The newsrooms walls featured several vintage photos of prominent Iowa politicians, which Nixon narrated for me with a string of appropriate profanities.

He then showed me a framed photo of the bald Soviet leader standing beside a white-haired farmer. Roswell Garst owned a big seed company, he said, adding that the Iowan had visited the USSR to study its farming techniques at the behest of Khrushchev, who shared Garsts interest in preventing famine.

The editor directed me to the old Garst farmstead, a rustic, two-story, wood-framed structure on a 5,000-acre land trust that is now a bed-and-breakfast replete with plaques and photographs memorializing the rather astounding 1959 summit of the Garst and Khrushchev families, one that had earned Garst the epithet of Communist sympathizer rather than the capitalist visionary he actually was. Like the Maharishi temple in Vedic City, the Garst property utterly belied the political caricature of Iowa as an ecosystem of rural rigidity.

A few miles west of Coon Rapids, another wrinkle in the Iowa tapestry came into view: Templeton, home of one of the countrys most skilled Prohibition-era bootleggers, so goes the legend. Near the little towns center, I beheld a Christmas tree made entirely of whiskey barrels and realized that I had discovered the tasting room of Templeton Rye. The walls inside its handsome tasting room were covered with old newspaper articles describing how Al Capone favored the smooth moonshine crafted by this community of farmers, who had apparently turned to the illegal pastime when corn prices went south. Today, Templeton Ryes bottles bear the signature of Deirdre Capone, the mobsters grandniece who has a promoting agreement with the company.

We dont dabble in politics  just in our right to make whiskey, the tasting room operator, Lisa Halbur, proclaimed as she poured me a shot of the now-legal stuff.

That right, she admitted, was still prohibited in the controlled state of Iowa. As a result, her companys whiskey is in fact distilled in Lawrenceburg, Ind., and later bottled in Templeton. I guess we could use a good lobbyist, Halbur said.

I asked her if there was anyplace else in Templeton where one could find remnants of Iowas bootlegging trade.

Her answer led me to a small cemetery outside the towns one Catholic church. After wandering among the graves for a few minutes, I discovered the attraction in question. It was a monument to a former parish priest, a Father Schulte, with a little door on the tombstone featuring a chalice into which one would ordinarily place candles and pictures of the Virgin Mary  but which in Templeton was where customers knew to look to find their treasured bottle of hooch.

As I drove back to my hotel that night, I could not stop thinking of the many quirks I had encountered throughout my week in Iowa: a self-made cowboy, a remade statesman, a farmer who welcomed the worlds leading Communist into his home, Maharishi followers and bootleggers, pie shakes and cheeseburger chowder.

This was the Iowa I had not known, the America I knew in my bones was there all along. Its votes came first for good reason.

IF YOU GO

Where to stay: Marriott Des Moines Downtown, 700 Grand Ave.; marriott.com. This large and centrally located property is the states epicenter for visiting politicos. Double rooms begin at $139.

The Raj, 1734 Jasmine Ave., Vedic City; theraj.com. On a 100-acre complex of meadows and east-facing spaces established for the practice of Transcendental Meditation, this 18-room health spa attracts devotees of the ancient wellness treatment known as Maharishi Ayurveda. Rooms and treatment packages begin at $660.80, with a three-day minimum.

Whiterock Conservancy, 1436 Highway 141, Coon Rapids; whiterockconservancy.org. The former farmstead of the Iowa agriculture innovator Roswell Garst  and the site where Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev visited in 1959  is now a secluded country bed-and-breakfast that can accommodate up to 22 guests, with three nearby cottages. Double rooms begin at $85.

Where to eat: Centro, 1003 Locust St., Des Moines; centrodesmoines.com. Among both the political and nonpolitical class, the capital citys busiest, buzziest Italian restaurant features excellent pasta dishes, steaks and wood-fired pizzas. Dinner for two excluding wine, $80.

Hamburg Inn No. 2, 214 N. Linn St., Iowa City; hamburginn.com. A cheery and unoppressively hip diner festooned with the photographic images of visiting celebrities, from Bill Clinton to Mike Ditka. Its menu features several pie shakes, which are exactly what the name suggests and exactly as delicious. Lunch for two, $30.

Smokey Row Coffee, 109 S. Market St., Oskaloosa; smokeyrow.com. This indigenous chain of coffeehouses has several locations, but the most celebrated is in Oskaloosa, where one large table is positioned under a movie marquee. Excellent coffee and sandwiches, as well as high-calorie adventures like cheeseburger chowder. Lunch for two, $30.

Where to visit: John Wayne Birthplace and Museum, 205 John Wayne Drive, Winterset; johnwaynebirthplace.

museum. The Duke was born here, and the modest dwelling of his youth is preserved near a modern museum in which the famous actors memorabilia are enshrined, and an adjacent gift shop hawks all manner of Wayne-related merchandise. Admission, $15.

Templeton Rye, 209 E. Third St., Templeton; templetonrye.com. This sleepy farm-belt town was once a thriving community of bootleggers, and the modern version of the local moonshine can be sampled in a tasting room that is itself a small museum of Prohibition-era industry. Tours can be reserved on the company website.

Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum, 210 Parkside Drive, West Branch; hoover.archives.gov. The repository of Americas 31st president is a somber tribute to both the humble beginnings of West Branchs native son and his episodic career. Admission, $10.
SACRAMENTO  California officials have approved $1.1 billion in spending so far from a voter-approved initiative that closed a corporate tax loophole to generate billions of dollars for energy efficiency projects at California schools and community colleges, but most of the work is not completed, Senators learned at a hearing Wednesday.

The vast majority of spending from Proposition 39, about $973 million, has been allocated for K-12 schools, which have more than 9,000 projects in the works that are projected to save $38 million annually in energy costs, according to the California Energy Commission.

Most of the work is in the pipeline, with only 95 completed, testified the commissions executive director, Rob Oglesby.

The initiative was sold to voters in 2012 as a way to generate billions for green energy projects at California schools and create 11,000 jobs each year. The Associated Press reported last August that less than $300 million had been distributed to schools and only 1,700 jobs created in three years.

The state Legislative Analysts Office also reported Wednesday that Prop. 39 has brought in an estimated $780 million annually, lower than the $1 billion or more initially forecast.

The complex charts and graphs of approved spending presented Wednesday was insufficient for Sen. Mark Hertzberg, D-Los Angeles, who questioned why so much of the reporting relies on projections instead of actual spending.

This to me, its nice, but I mean, its government goo-goo. Come on man, this is a serious place. You could say this would be $7 billion if you want to project numbers and base it upon projections, he said. Im demonstrating a frustration because I have been in the private sector.  Ive seen the impacts and I do not accept the time frames, because it does not take a year to make an assessment.

Oglesby said the state was requiring actual reports from the affected agencies that are due 12 to 15 months after a project is completed. Right now the agency only has data from 17 completed projects.

A detailed accounting of how many jobs have been created is also many months away, as the state Labor and Workforce Development Agency prepare a comprehensive report on how many jobs were created at each jobsite. But a UC Berkeley forecast given to lawmakers Wednesday shows fewer jobs than voters were promised  from 2.5 to 8.9 jobs for every $1 million spent, compared to the 20 construction jobs-per $1 million proponents touted.

Community colleges were able to much more quickly spend the money because the system already had similar programs in place, testified Susan Yeager of the Community Colleges chancellors office.

The system has reported 180 completed projects, with another 432 in the works. They have also yielded the equivalent of 238 yearlong jobs. She said the work has saved enough energy to power about 4,000 homes.

These are verified energy savings for completed projects, she said.
LOS ANGELES  With just months until the states assisted suicide law goes into effect, the California Medical Association has issued guidelines to doctors on writing prescriptions of lethal doses of medication for terminally ill patients.

The 15-page guide released Tuesday outlines the complicated legal and medical steps that physicians must take before they can authorize drugs to hasten a patients death, the Los Angeles Times reported. It also helps physicians understand their legal rights to participate or not participate based on their own moral or religious values.

We are starting to get a lot of questions both from our members, the individual physicians, but also the public, said Francisco Silva, general counsel of the medical association. They are trying to understand how the act is going to work.

Citing the law, the medical association says patients who are at least 18 years old with the capacity to make medical decisions may request an aid-in-dying drug as long as their attending physician and a consulting physician have diagnosed a terminal disease that is expected to result in death within six months.

The patient is required to make two verbal requests at least 15 days apart and one written request that is signed, dated and witnessed by two adults, as well as provide proof of California residency.

The state request form is titled Request for an Aid-in-Dying Drug to End My Life in a Humane and Dignified Manner.

Physicians must inform the patient that he or she may rescind the request for an aid-in-dying drug at any time and in any manner.

The guide says doctors can list the cause of death that they feel is the most accurate  including the underlying terminal illness, or just write pursuant to the End of Life Options Act.

The law was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in October, but it does not take effect until 90 days after the end of a special legislative session on health care. That date has not yet been set, but the session must adjourn before November.
NAIROBI, Kenya  The attackers burst into the Kenyan military base in Somalia before dawn, blasting through the gate with a truckload of explosives.

Scores of al-Shabab militants then flooded through the flames, on foot and in trucks, firing heavy guns into the plastic-covered shelters where the Kenyan soldiers were sleeping.

That battle was over before it started, said one official in Nairobi with detailed knowledge of the attack. The Shabab did their homework and completely wiped them out.

Somali and Western officials now say that 80 to 100 Kenyan soldiers  and possibly more  were massacred during the attack, which took place Friday at the El-Adde forward operating base. Al-Shabab overran the base, held it for several hours and made off with sensitive communications equipment, artillery pieces that can fire 10 miles and several U.S.-made armored Humvees.

But since then, Kenyas leaders have refused to disclose the number of dead or other details, trying to soften the blow of what may be the worst military disaster in this countrys history.

This has been a shock, said Yusuf Hassan, a member of Kenyas parliament. Were not Burundi, were not Ethiopia, were not Uganda. Our country does not have a history of war. Weve never experienced anything like this.

The attack could mark a turning point for al-Shabab, one of Africas most violent militant groups. In recent years, al-Shabab have lost much of their territory, reduced to small bands of famished fighters creeping around Somalias rural areas and attacking soft targets in Kenya, including a university and a mall.

Now, it seems, they are training their sights on the hardest targets out there  military bases. In the past months, al-Shabab fighters have staged assaults against Ethiopian, Ugandan and Burundian troops, all members of a relatively loosely organized African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia. They have killed scores of soldiers and stolen their arsenals. Their propaganda videos show alarming amounts of guns, vehicles and overflowing buckets of bullets now in their hands.

This is going to end no time soon, said David M. Anderson, a professor of African history at the University of Warwick and a renowned expert on modern Kenya.

Al-Shabab may be hatching a renewed bid to take over Somalia, which remains in varying degrees of turmoil, depending on the area, with the national government widely reviled as corrupt and weak and small, clan-based city-states popping up across the country.

Or something else may be driving al-Shababs hunger for weapons, something the West is particularly worried about.

In recent months, Islamic State has planted its black flag in Somalias soil. The group is drawing a small trickle of disgruntled al-Shabab defectors who believe that al-Shabab should ditch its long-standing relationship with al-Qaida and join the worlds leading brand of militant Islam.

Already, al-Shabab and Islamic State fighters have clashed in northern and central Somalia, raising fears that some areas of Somalia could slide into an intra-Islamist free-for-all, like in Syria.

The Shabab are now mimicking the Islamic State, said Rashid Abdi, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, which studies conflicts worldwide. They are trying to regain public support by saying: Were not just chickens who go for soft targets. Were men who go after military bases.

The Kenyan public is steadily losing its appetite for the Somali military operation. Kenya sent troops across the border in 2011, saying it needed to create a buffer zone to protect tourism and other aspects of the economy. It did not quite work out that way. The Kenyan armys incursion simply brought al-Shabab deeper into Kenya, setting off a string of increasingly devastating suicide missions that have killed hundreds of civilians and hurt the economy, especially the tourism industry. Kenyan soldiers have also been accused of smuggling sugar, as well as other illegal activities inside Somalia.

Kenya has fought skirmishes with Somali bandits along its borders for years, but it has never lost a hundred soldiers in one battle, officials and analysts say. In past months, opposition politicians urged the government to rethink its Somalia strategy. Now even members of the governing coalition, like Hassan, are beginning to call for an orderly withdrawal.

We should spend another year or two training as many Somalis as we can and then get out, he said.

Boniface Mwangi, one of Kenyas leading artist-activists, said he was extremely frustrated that the government has refused to disclose any casualty figures. Why is the government hiding the truth? he asked.

Mwangi also criticized President Uhuru Kenyatta for attending political rallies in the Mombasa area last week. Its a national shame that our president is busy politicking while the dead bodies are coming home, he said.

Kenyatta has summoned security chiefs, ordered airstrikes and delivered a televised address, saying Tuesday, We are well aware peace and security have their price.

According to several analysts, the Kenyans at the El-Adde base, located about 50 miles from the Kenyan border, were extremely vulnerable. They were in hostile territory, surrounded by members of a clan deeply opposed to Kenyas military presence. Somali officials said the company of Kenyan soldiers, estimated to be about 150, had been there only two weeks, with few local sources of information.

Several analysts said the Kenyans had ventured out of their comfort zone along the coast, where the bulk of Kenyan troops are based, pushing deeper into the Somali hinterland because Ethiopia was preparing its own offensive. Although the two nations are allies on paper, Kenya and Ethiopia often dont coordinate their military operations and they have backed different factions of Somalis in a covert contest for influence.

There have been reports that small bands of Kenyan soldiers fled into the desert and survived the attack, but so far only four from the El-Adde base  all of them wounded  have made it back to Nairobi, Kenyas capital. The rest are dead, missing or captured.

I have a wife and two children back home, said one Kenyan prisoner of war in a recording that al-Shabab released. On 15 January, 2016, the camp was raided by the al-Shabab, whereby they overpowered us.

Before the recording cut out, the soldier said: Most of our friends were killed.
The financial world, and quite a few employees, were taken aback recently when Wal-Mart announced that it will be closing 269 of its 11,600 stores, including 154 in the U.S., although it still plans to open 300 stores worldwide in the coming year.

Oakland officials expressed shock at Wal-Marts decision, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, and Washington, D.C., leaders were furious, according to a Washington Post headline.

They only have themselves to blame.

While Wal-Mart President and CEO Doug McMillon was quick to dispel the notion that Wal-Marts voluntary investment in wages had anything to do with the store closures, some have noted a pattern among the more poorly performing stores getting the axe: they tend to be located in cities with high government-imposed minimum wages and other costly anti-business policies.

A San Francisco Chronicle report noted that Wal-Mart stores were closing in San Jose and Oakland, which each adopted minimum wages higher than the state rate  currently $10.30 and hour and $12.55 an hour, respectively  while the two stores in San Leandro, a city that did not increase the minimum wage, will remain open.

I think it really is a little discouraging, Oakland Councilman Larry Reid told the Chronicle. The minimum wage in the city of Oakland played a factor, was one of the factors, they considered in closing the stores.

Among the seven stores closing in Southern California are two in the city of Los Angeles (Chinatown and the Crenshaw District), L.A. County (Altadena) and Long Beach (on East Fifth Street). Both the city and county of L.A. adopted ordinances last summer that will hike the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020. Long Beach just approved a measure Wednesday that will raise the minimum wage to $13 an hour by 2019, and possibly to $15 by 2021.

City officials were also upset in the District of Columbia, where Wal-Mart is keeping its three existing stores but announced that it could no longer move ahead with plans for two additional stores in poor areas east of the Anacostia River, where the jobs they would bring were eagerly anticipated (as was the sales tax revenue they would generate for the district). The retailer had only been allowed to operate in the city by virtue of a handshake deal in 2013 whereby it agreed to open stores in poorer neighborhoods.

Its an outrage, former mayor Vincent C. Gray told the Washington Post. A deals a deal, snapped Councilman Jack Evans.

Such a deal is ridiculous on its face, however, since business owners in a free society are not blackmailed or otherwise coerced to operate or not operate in certain areas. They open their stores where they deem fit and profitable, and consumers make the ultimate decision about the wisdom of their location decisions.

As Councilman Evans related to the Post, Wal-Marts decision was influenced by the citys $11.50 hourly minimum wage  which could rise to $15 an hour if voters approve a ballot measure in November  and proposals to require a minimum number of hours for hourly workers and force employers to pay into a fund for employees family and medical leave.

It is unfortunate that those in poor neighborhoods who are most in need of the jobs, and wide selection of goods and produce at cheap prices that Wal-Mart offers will be deprived of these things due to the greedy and shortsighted policies of their governments, which make it too costly to operate at all. Wal-Mart is a business, not a charity. It is an employer, not a make-work jobs program.

For too long, big government elected officials and advocates have treated businesses as cash cows for their pet programs, many of which are used to buy votes at election time. It is time that they learned that they cannot keep biting the hand that feeds them without deleterious consequences.
Santa Ana police are asking the publics help identifying and finding a man suspected of being involved in a series of robberies in Orange County.

Detectives believes the suspect, a Hispanic man approximately 30 to 40, is responsible for seven robberies in Fountain Valley, Tustin, Westminster, Orange and Santa Ana, according to Cpl. Anthony Bertagna of the Santa Ana Police Department.

In many of the robberies he brandished and pointed a weapon at the victims, Bertagna said.

The latest happened in Santa Ana on Jan. 4 just before 4:30 a.m. at a 7-Eleven in the 1440 block of West MacArthur Boulevard. The suspect entered the store and kept his hand in his jacket pocket as though he had a handgun while demanding all the money in the cash register, Bertagna said.

After the employee gave him the money, the suspect also stole about 60 California lottery tickets, authorities said. He was seen leaving in a white 2007 to 2012 4-door Chevrolet Malibu.

About two hours later, a person matching the description of the suspect was seen on survielance video trying to cash in the stolen scratchers at an Als Market liquor store in Westminster, Bertagna said.

On one occasion, a female was seen driving the getaway car. Police said the pair should be considered armed and dangerous.

The man is described as 6 feet tall, 180 to 200 pounds and having pock marks on his face. At the time of the Jan. 4 robbery, he was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, blue jeans, brown work boots, white surgical mask, a San Francisco Giants cap and dark gloves.

Anyone with information about the suspect or car is asked to call police at 714-245-8408 or Orange County Crime Stoppers at 1-855-TIP-OCCS.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7865 or afausto@ocregister.com
Thrissur: With the trial court in Chandrabose murder case expected to announce the quantum of sentence to the convict Mohammed Nisham on Thursday afternoon, the focus has now turned on whether the business magnet will get the noose.

Speaking to DC, the special public prosecutor C P Udyabhanu said he was confident that it would be capital punishment.

I told the trial court after it found him guilty of murder that the convict with his criminal antecedents was a threat to the society. The courts often talk about the aggravating and mitigating circumstance before showing leniency to the convict.

"But in this case, a man from a poor family who struggle to make booth ends meet was used for pleasure hunting by a millionaire.

"The dying person was stamped on his head and chest at the parking lot, and the convict was then shouting to those who arrived to take the profusely bleeding victim to the hospital that this dog will not die, he said.

Meanwhile, Nishams wife Amal Nisham, the 12th prosecution witness, is facing a case for perjury after she deviated from the CrPC 164 statements that she had given to the magistrate.

She had said that Nisham was unwilling to take the victim to the hospitalbut later told the trial court that he was ready to take the victim to the hospital.

First prosecution witness K. C. Anoop, who turned hostile on the first day of the trial, turned loyal the subsequent days.
BRUSSELS  Russias campaign of airstrikes against opponents of President Bashar Assad of Syria has stabilized Assads government, Americas top general said Wednesday. That probably has given Assad a stronger hand to play next week, when negotiations toward a political solution to the conflict will begin in Geneva, U.S. officials said.

Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Russias entry into the crowded battlefield had not changed how the U.S. military was proceeding in Syria. He said the U.S.-led coalition battling Islamic State there and in Iraq had made significant gains, retaking an important dam on the Euphrates River and a large stretch of territory north of Raqqa, Syria, where the militant group has its stronghold.

The campaign to isolate Raqqa from other Islamic State-controlled territory  and in particular, from the Iraqi city of Mosul, whose fall to the militants in 2014 seized international attention  is well underway, Dunford said.

But the general also tacitly acknowledged that reaching a political solution in Syria will be hard because of Russias strengthening of Assad.

Because of Russian airstrikes, he said, Assad has regained some small amounts of ground and consolidated control in some areas where his forces had been under siege from opposition groups.
A 56-year-old Newport Beach man who eluded authorities for two years before being arrested was convicted Wednesday in Superior Court of stealing more than $3 million in a real estate fraud Ponzi scheme.

Thomas Franklin Tarbutton was convicted of nearly 40 felony counts, including grand theft and securities fraud, involving 11 victims.

Tarbutton, who is scheduled to be sentenced March 4, faces more than 34 years in prison, according to Senior Deputy District Attorney Pete Pierce.

Tarbutton was extradited to Orange County in December 2013 following his detention by Panamanian authorities as he attempted to fly from Brazil, where he was living, to Costa Rica, according to Pierce.

From 2004 through 2010, Tarbutton operated Irvine-based Villa Capital Inc., soliciting money from private investors for clients looking for loans from non-bank lenders, Pierce said.

The investors thought they were funding mortgages that would yield quick profits with a short turnaround, but in some cases the loans fell through and Tarbutton pocketed the money, Pierce said.

Some investors were given forged documents, making them believe the loans were guaranteed so that even if the borrower defaulted, they would get the property as security, Pierce said.

Tarbutton gave investors small interest payments from their initial investments to hide that the loans had not been repaid, the prosecutor said.

When the real estate market imploded, Tarbutton stopped all payments, Pierce said.
This weeks Cheapo Travel is a grab bag of tips from you readers  which I love to get  and a few things Ive been collecting.

Lets just launch right into it, OK? There are some great ones here.

Reader tip from Diana Enright: After living in Germany for two years and four marvelous trips to Europe, I drove a rental car through the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and France.

I have almost exclusively stayed in what is known as a Zimmer or Zimmer Frei, a room in a private home usually, but not always, found by a small, discreet sign tucked in the corner of a front window.

Every time I stayed in a Zimmer was a most enjoyable experience. Lovely families with a fabulous breakfast and quaint, super clean homes. The price was extremely low but as you mentioned (regarding family guesthouses), most of the time cash only.

I was always able to find my sleeping accommodations this way. Only on rare occasions did I follow another kindred spirit, the wonderful travel author Rick Steves Zimmer addresses, which I must say were unbelievable little gems. Examples: A working family farm just outside of Salzberg and Appenzell, Switzerland, and Zimmers right smack in the center hub of historic Munich, Rothenberg and Salzberg. Rick Steves pretty much recommends Zimmers all the time.

I would never do it any other way.

Also, in my experience, a Gasthaus was usually available above most inns/taverns without signage and inexpensive as well.

Marlas note: What a great tip! I want to learn more about these Zimmers! Also known as Privatzimmer or Gastezimmer. And read my column on why I love family guesthouses.

Reader tip from Gayle Posner: When you stop papers and put mail on vacation hold, be sure to enter as the stop date the day before you really want it stopped. This way, before you leave, you can be sure the mail delivery and paper delivery actually stopped.

Reader tip from George W. Ghindia: Regarding San Francisco, one of the very best, inexpensive attractions is riding the cable cars. Whether you pay per route ($5), or purchase a daily pass to ride several routes throughout the day, there is no better way to see the city. So uniquely S.F. I know you mentioned cable cars as a transportation option, but, in my opinion, it really should be highlighted as one of the 10 (cheap things to do in San Francisco).

Reader tip from Donald Mac Donald: Ive noticed a trend on a recent trip to Hong Kong and China with credit card purchases for hotel rooms. They attempt to charge my credit card in U.S. dollars. Dont let them do this, as hotel exchange rate is poor. Get the purchase in local currency and have your credit card do the exchange at bank rates. Capital One Venture (card) does not charge for currency exchanges.

Pizza, pizza, pizza: Are you hungry when you hit your hotel room or campsite? Well, you likely dont have to rely on pricey room service  or unpack the camp stove  to take care of that. If youve got phone service, you can probably get a pizza delivered, even to your campground. I saw one arriving at the ranger station at Bryce Canyon National Park. And I had one delivered to our um, lets say rustic, little motel in Wyoming, where we ate it while the kids splashed in the indoor pool. Join loyalty clubs to cut the cost. Just make sure your tip is commensurate with the amount of work the delivery guy had to do to get to you.

Readers: Im working on future columns about great free places to visit in a wheelchair, and also one on great places to take a day outing in a wheelchair in Orange County. Also preferably free. Got a tip for me? Please let me know! Youll be helping others.

Should you buy travel insurance?

Cheapo guide to Salt Lake City

Cheap ways to make your hotel room safer

Free things to do in Seattle

Play more, spend less in Palm Springs

Book a better hotel room for less

How to save money in Las Vegas

Yes, you can like tent camping

How to bid on Priceline

The truth about wine tastings

Cheap and free things to do in Hawaii

How to spend money to save it

Im scared of airport security and the TSA

How to go to Alaska cheaply

Travel essentials from the dollar store

12 ways to save money on family trips

Got a good travel tip for me? Or a suggestion? Email me at

mfisher@ocregister.com. I love to hear from readers.
NORWALK, Iowa  Wednesday marked the first day of Donald Trumps new partnership with Sarah Palin, the colorful conservative icon who endorsed him at a rally on Tuesday night. The two planned to travel together to two campaign stops: First a small venue in the Des Moines suburbs, then a big rally in Oklahoma, according to a campaign press release. An online invitation for the first event promised the appearance of a special guest.

Trump was alone as he took the stage at the Wright Place, a small venue in a strip of offices in Norwalk. Palin never showed up.

So we had a big day yesterday  yesterday was amazing in every way, Trump said to a crowd of about 300. Sarah came along and she said: We love whats happening. Its a movement, and no matter where we go, its a movement.

Trumps campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said in a text message on Wednesday morning that Palin was in Oklahoma City with him, ahead of the Tulsa rally, but he would not say why she did not join Trump in Norwalk, as was previously announced. Spokesmen for Palin have yet to return requests for comment.

Trump spoke for about 40 minutes, urging the crowd to caucus for him on Feb. 1 and attacking his closest competitor in the state, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. Trump promised that he will be in Iowa all next week, and he plans to continue spending money on some good commercials. He again pledged to win the caucuses and said he doesnt know what the impact of losing would be on his campaign.

If we can do well in Iowa, were going to run the table. If not, then I have to go, and weve got to win New Hampshire, Trump said. Now, New Hampshire has been really strong  but they say bad psychological things happen if you lose.

Trumps biggest challenge in Iowa right now: Cruz, who has been surging in early polls and collecting local endorsements. Trump warned his audience that if Cruz is elected, Democrats will likely sue and challenge his eligibility to be president, as Cruz was born in Canada to an American mother and a Cuban father. Trump also criticized Cruz for not properly disclosing two major bank loans he received, and accused him of purposely hiding the information.

What he wanted to do is say: I will protect you from Goldman-Sachs. I will protect you from Citbank. And I will protect you from the banks because Im Robin Hood, and Im this wonderful senator, Trump said. What he did was wrong because he didnt want you to know that hes dealing with banks. . . . If he puts that down, then hes just like all of the other guys. Its wrong. Its wrong. Its really wrong.

Trump said Cruzs explanations of the undisclosed bank loans and his duel-citizenship with Canada while serving as a senator are not believable.

Smart guy, he doesnt know that? Trump said. Yeah, thats worse than Hillary, when you think about it.

Trumps crowd on Wednesday morning was far smaller than the massive rallies he usually holds, as he continues to experiment with doing more personal events ahead of the caucuses. He spoke for just 40 minutes and did not take any questions from the crowd, as he often does at small events. Trump also told the crowd that he spent the night in Iowa on Tuesday, something he rarely does.

I stayed here last night, and I actually had good steak  you have good steak, Ive always heard that, Trump said. I had good steak last night. I mean, I should have: If you dont have good steak, whos going to have good steak?
Long Beach is poised to hike workers minimum wage to $10.50 an hour next year, 50 cents over the state floor, and gradually raise it to $13 by 2019.

The city council voted Wednesday to ask the city attorney to draft an ordinance, which will be voted on next month.

If approved, the measure would add Long Beach to a growing number of cities and states nationwide that are boosting minimums to counter the growing poverty of low-paid workers.

The city of Los Angeles new minimum wage of $10.50 an hour will take effect in July, gradually rising to $15 by 2020. A parallel measure will take effect in the unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County at the same time.

No Orange County city has raised its minimum wage above the $10 state floor, which took effect this month. The annual Orange County Community Indicators Report, issued in August by government agencies and charitable organizations, tallied a dramatic rise in local income inequality, homelessness and overcrowded housing.

Even as California and some other states have raised their wage floors, the federal minimum has remained at $7.25 an hour for the past seven years.

Under Long Beachs proposed ordinance, businesses with 25 or fewer employees, as well as all nonprofits, will have an extra year to implement the new wage.

It also would allow employers to pay a training wage worth 85 percent of the minimum wage to interns for the first 480 hours, or six months, of employment.

In a separate vote, the council also created a Pathway to $15, committing to a study of the new wages economic impacts in 2019. If no major negative impacts are found, the wage would move to $14 in 2020 and $15 in 2021.

A study by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., commissioned by the city, found if employers do not downsize as a result of the wage hike, 33,000 Long Beach workers would benefit from an additional $940 in annual pay under a minimum of $12 by 2017.

Under the new ordinance, however, the floor would not reach $12 until 2018.

The LAEDC survey found 10 percent of firms anticipate job cuts if city government were to raise the minimum to $15 an hour wage. Only 3 percent of firms said cutting employees hours is a likely response.

Some restaurant owners, testifying before the council, predicted the new ordinance would lead to higher prices, while fast food workers told the council it would help them make ends meet.

Rusty Hicks, executive secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor which helped lead a campaign for the Long Beach raise, predicted the new law would lift thousands of workers out of poverty.

Last week, labor and community activists submitted 600,000 voter signatures to state election officials to qualify a November ballot initiative to raise Californias minimum wage.

The measure would raise the states minimum wage to $11 in 2017 and then gradually increase it a dollar a year until it reaches $15 in 2021. Once the minimum wage reaches $15, it would automatically be adjusted each year to keep pace with the cost of living.

Contact the writer: mroosevelt@ocregister.com; Twitter @MargotRoosevelt
WASHINGTONThe crisis in Flint, Mich., a poor, mostly black city where lead has contaminated the drinking water, would not have been allowed to happen in a rich suburb, the citys mayor said Wednesday.

Its a minority community, its a poor community, and voices were not being heard, Mayor Karen Weaver said. And thats a part of this problem.

Weaver added her voice to a growing chorus arguing that officials found it too easy to disregard the concerns of an already disenfranchised community after the city started drawing its drinking water from the Flint River.

Hillary Clinton made a similar argument during the Democratic presidential debate on Sunday, saying that there would have been action had children in a wealthy Detroit suburb faced similar conditions.

Speaking with reporters at a meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington, Weaver said that she was grateful for the attention her city was receiving from the national news media and political leaders but that it had taken much too long for aid to arrive. And she noted that no one was sure how long it would take for her citys water supply to be safe.

We have been crying about this for almost two years  it will be two years in April  and thats what we want to know: What took so long? she said, surrounded by other mayors from around the country. Because it doesnt take a scientist to tell us brown water is not good.

Weaver spoke just blocks from the White House, where on Tuesday she met with President Barack Obama and members of his administration to discuss the continuing crisis. The mayor, who took office in November, said she had also met on Wednesday with members of Michigans congressional delegation.

Obama declared a state of emergency in the city and surrounding county on Saturday in response to the crisis, allowing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide up to $5 million in aid. He also sent Nicole Lurie, the assistant secretary for preparedness and response for the Health and Human Services Department, to lead the federal response in Flint.

Obama was scheduled to be in Detroit, an hours drive south of Flint, on Wednesday to meet with representatives of the auto industry and that citys mayor. The president was not scheduled to travel to Flint.

Weaver declined to comment on calls for the states Republican governor, Rick Snyder, to resign over his administrations response to the crisis, saying that she would wait for an investigation into the response.

She said all levels of government deserved criticism.

People will ask, Who do you blame? she said. Well, we know the buck stops with the governor. We know that, but if we want to start pointing fingers, theres enough blame to go all the way around.

Snyder used nearly his entire State of the State address on Tuesday to address the issue, offering a direct apology to Flint residents, acknowledging missteps by his administration in recognizing and addressing what has become a crisis, and pledging to push for millions of dollars in additional state funding to help support residents and updates to the citys damaged and aging infrastructure.

Flint had serious fiscal problems of its own, and from 2011 to 2015, its finances were under the control of a series of emergency managers appointed by Snyders administration. The decision to try to save money by switching water supplies was approved by one of the emergency managers.

From the outset, people complained. The water was found to have bacterial contamination, and then disinfectant used to kill the bacteria caused a kind of chemical contamination. But even after those problems were resolved, many residents said the color, smell and taste of the water were bad.

Within months of the switch, a General Motors engine plant in Flint found that the citys water had corroded parts, and stopped using it. A hospital saw that the water was damaging its instruments, and stepped up its own filtering and use of bottled water, as did a local university. But residents and most businesses remained tied to the Flint River, and the state insisted that the water was safe.

But it turned out that the water was so corrosive that it leached lead out of old pipes. The state Department of Environmental Quality later conceded that it should have required the city to add anti-corrosion chemicals to the water, but did not. There have also been allegations that the city failed in its own lead-testing duties.

It was not until September 2015 that evidence of lead poisoning became public, and officials began to acknowledge it.

Researchers at Virginia Tech who have looked into the lead poisoning contend that state health officials knew of the lead problem months earlier but that the Department of Environmental Quality suppressed the information and misled the public.

The recent report from a task force appointed by the governor said the environmental agency had taken a lax approach to enforcement, and responded to peoples concerns with aggressive dismissal, belittlement and attempts to discredit these efforts and the individuals involved.

The episode is under investigation by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Justice Department at the federal level, and by the states attorney general, Bill Schuette, who is widely expected to run for governor in 2018.

The state says it has identified 43 people with elevated levels of lead, which poisons the nervous system and can stunt brain development in children. In addition, state officials disclosed this week that in 2014 and 2015 there was an increase in Legionnaires disease cases in Genesee County, which includes Flint, including 10 fatalities, coinciding with the contamination of the water supply. The officials said they were investigating whether there might be a connection.

The city switched back to using Detroit water in October, but it is unclear how long the leaching will continue, and residents are still being advised not to use unfiltered tap water for drinking, cooking or bathing. Flint is expected to gain a new, safe water source later this year, when a pipeline from Lake Huron is completed after years of work.
Ronn Torossian

CNN and a host of reputable and disreputable media sources alike recently weighed in on an impending boycott of the Oscars. The planned boycott occurred after key players in Hollywood  both in front of and behind the scenes  spoke out against a lack of diversity in this years nominee lineup.

In spite of hiring African-American comedian Chris Rock to host the show, celebrities like George Clooney, and Spike Lee noticed that, for the second year, nominees were all Caucasian. On Martin Luther King Day, Jada Pinkett Smith released a video on her Facebook page, acknowledging the Academys freedom of choice, as well as her own, to neither attend nor watch.

This video added further controversy regarding nominees presented by the Academy, and how minorities should handle the situation.

The problem

Beacause many big hits this year featured strong African-American and Hispanic casts, theres a feeling that the nominees do not reflect the true make-up of blockbuster hits this year. And given that its happened for the second year in a row, its left a bad taste for many.

It begs the question of whether or not the Academy chose all-white nominees on purpose. Many are asking if it was an accidental oversight? Was it deliberate? Or did no one care when the nominees were decided? In truth, any and all of these situations could prove true in one form or another.

The Academys reaction

Fitting as it is ironic, the Academy now features its first African American president, Cheryl Boone Isaacs. Cheryl, who has worked with The Academy since 1988, released a statement shortly after Smiths video, where she acknowledged a lack of inclusion, and noted that it was time for big changes.

She also stressed that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had worked hard to create a more diverse membership, and agreed the organization needed to do more, and better, and more quickly.

This humble and apologetic response not only helped defuse the situation but also regained some of Smiths good favor. The artist posted the following day on her Twitter page, I would like to express my gratitude to the Academy, specifically Cheryl Boone Isaacs  for such a quick response in regard to the issue at hand. I look forward to the future.

Moving forward

As Smith represented the main voice behind the boycott, her respectful response to Cheryls statement shows that the Academy handled the situation well. However, the Academy will truly need to increase diversity if it is to come out with a nominee listing next year showing more inclusion.

In the meantime, the Academy should continue to remind the public of its progress towards further diversity, as it makes changes towards this goal. This helps to solve the problem while allowing the public to follow and become vested in the process of creating change. Cheryl made this very same promise last year, and this years results showed no change.

Why should next year be any different?



* * *

5WPR CEO Ronn Torossian has been named PR Executive of the Year by the American Business Awards. His agency is ranked as one of the 20 largest independent firms in the United States.
Steve Lombardo, identified as ex-Burson-Marsteller in the Jan. 25 New Yorker article on the Koch brothers but also previously with Edelman, is PR head of Koch Industries.

New Yorker writer Jane Mayer, who could not gain an interview with Lombardo, found quotes of his in a Dec. 7, 2012 piece written for ODwyers by Lombardo, then with Edelman/D.C., as corporate reputation strategist, and Jackie Cooper, vice chair of brand properties, Edelman/London.

The passage in the New Yorker is as follows:

Steve Lombardo

Lombardo believed that the key to creating a positive brand was to reach the publics subconscious mind, as he wrote in ODwyers, the public relations trade journal. The most effective pathway to the subconscious, he argued, was storytelling, in part because it tapped into emotions. He expanded on this in a Koch Industries newsletter. Building a brand is telling a story, he explained. It is about giving people a sense of who you are, what you believe in, and what you are doing to improve their lives.

Mayer called up senior editor John ODwyer who referred her to senior editor Jon Gingerich who is also quoted in the article. Mayer also obtained quotes from ODwyer columnist Fraser Seitel and contributing editor Michael Paul.

A current pattern in PR is for institutions to refuse to deal with media that are deemed to be hostile.

Jane Mayer and her new book Dark Money

Mayer Has New Book on Kochs

Mayer wrote a New Yorker profile of the Koch brothers in 2010 that described their efforts to raise more than $100 million to critique the policies of the Obama Administration.

She has just published Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right. The book asks, Why are we living in an age of profound economic inequality?

Richard Fink Key Strategist

Introduced as the grand strategist of the Kochs at a June 2014 summit meeting of donors at a resort near Laguna Beach, Calif., was Richard Fink, executive VP and a director of Koch Industries.

Richard Fink

He is also a director of Americans for Prosperity, which has 1,200 people involved full time, according to Politico. The Kochs have raised nearly $900 million for 2016 elections campaigns, more than twice as much as the sum spent by the Republican National Committee in the 2012 Presidential election.

The Mayer article quotes extensively from a tape of the secret session provided by blogger Lauren Windsor. Fink told the meeting that while the Kochs had been successful mobilizing one-third of the electorate, the conservatives and libertarians, they needed the support of the middle third who identified with liberals and saw big business as greedythey dont care about the underprivileged.

Kochs Make Public Appearances

Mayer reports on the appearance of usually reclusive Charles Koch at the Nov. 2, 2015 gala of the Wichita Chamber of Commerce as headline speaker.

One purpose, she said, was to publicize his new book, Good Profit, about his business philosophy.

The theme of the Mayer article is that while the Kochs are in favor of reform of the criminal justice system it has not worked hard enough to push this through Congress. A sticking point is that proposed additions to the legislation would make it harder to prosecute alleged corporate crimes.

The U.S. has the largest prison population in the world2.2 million people. About one in every 20 African-American adults is in prison.
This blog is my place to record and share what I see around me. Here you'll find my photographs, pictures, and artwork of Ohio's nature and wildlife. I welcome comments. Be sure to subscribe to my feed if you'd like to get the most latest updates delivered to the feed reader of your choice.Tom
KASARGOD: Raising the slogan of Food, land, water and job to all, the BJPs Vimochana Yatra, led by state president Kummanam Rajasekharan, kick started from Uppala here on Wednesday.

Union minister for parliamentary affairs Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated the Yatra by handing over the flag to Mr Rajasekharan.

Mr Naidu called for an end to the untouchability being practiced towards the BJP in Kerala. The BJP came to power in Muslim majority states like Kashmir and Andaman, and Christian majority states of Nagaland and Goa. It should be replicated in Kerala too, he said.

He alleged that the death of Rohith Vemula was being politicised for ulterior motives. Earlier, eight students had committed suicide in the same university. Rahul Gandhi never appeared at the Varsity then, he ridiculed.

BJP's senior leader O. Rajagopal presided over the function. Party leaders V. Muraleedharan, P. S. Shreedharan Pillai, P. K. Krishnadas and actor Suresh Gopi, among others spoke at the event.
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Pakistan has been actively investigating the Pathankot attack as Prime Minister Sharif conveyed to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi he will not allow anyone to derail the peace process. (Photo: AFP/File)

Islamabad: Pakistan was not playing any double game with India regarding investigations into the Pathankot airbase attack, Islamabad has told Washington.

A government official said the US was taken into confidence on the investigations conducted so far into the Pathankot incident. We have told them we are serious in finding out whether someone from Pakistan is involved in the terror act. There have been arrests and the investigations are ongoing. There has been no double game and there will not be any double game on the Pathankot issue, he added.

He said the Prime Minister and the foreign ministry both have got the message from Washington that Pres-ident Barrack Obama and his team were happy with Pakistan reaction to the Pathankot attack and hoped there will be fair investigations.

Another official said the US has convoyed to Pakistan that it is also pressing India to be patient.

Pakistan has been actively investigating the Pathankot attack as Prime Minister Sharif conveyed to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi he will not allow anyone to derail the peace process. The authorities took JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar into protective custody and sealed many seminaries run by the proscribed outfit.
Superintendent of Police Salwinder Singh arrives to appear before NIA in New Delhi for questioning in connection with the Pathankot terror attack. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi/Amritsar: The NIA, which is probing the Pathankot terror attack case, conducted searches at five places on Thursday including office and residences of Punjab Police SP Salwinder Singh and his friends.

Singh's residences in Amritsar and Gurdaspur were searched by the NIA officials, sources said.

The Gurdaspur office of the SP and residence of his jeweller friend Rajesh Verma, whose throat was slit allegedly by the terrorists after kidnapping them along with a cook, was searched by the NIA sleuths.

Residences of cook Madan Gopal and a woman friend of the SP and the jeweller were also searched by the NIA teams.

The development came after interrogation of Singh by the NIA for several days in Delhi.

Amritsar Police Commissioner Jatinder Singh Aulakh said that the NIA team had sought assistance of police which was provided to them.

NIA sleuths along with a police team reached the residence of Salwinder Singh at Chowk Jai Singh inside the walled city in Amritsar where the search operation was carried out.

A lie detector test on the Salwinder Singh was conducted yesterday by the NIA as part of the probe into the attack on Indian Air Force base in Pathankot. He will also be subjected to behavioural tests.

Singh is now posted as Assistant Commandant of 75th Punjab Armed Police after being shunted out as Superintendent of Police (Headquarters) Gurdaspur.

Sources said Singh is expected to be produced before a team of scientists soon. The panel will include a 'behavioural analyst' and 'psychoanalysts', which will give a scientific assessment of his personality.

The NIA is questioning Singh to ascertain the sequence of events that took place after he was allegedly kidnapped on the intervening night of December 31 and January 1 by terrorists of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).

Singh came under the scanner after he had said that he and the cook were released after their abduction whereas one of their friends, who was travelling with them -- Rajesh Verma -- had been left bleeding midway by the terrorists.

Also, his statement that he was returning from a shrine, which he often visited, was found to be allegedly incorrect after NIA questioned the caretaker of the dargah, Somraj, who told the probe agency that the police officer had come for the first time.

Terrorists had struck at the IAF base on the intervening night of January 1 and 2 in which seven security personnel were killed in the encounter that lasted for three days.

Four bodies of terrorists were recovered while two others are believed to have been burnt in the building where they were hold up during the encounter which lasted for 80 hours.
Several hundred ConAgra Foods employees will lose their jobs in March when the Omaha food manufacturer outsources a portion of its sales force to a Florida-based firm.

The sales employees, most of whom work outside of Omaha, learned of the layoffs last week, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke to The World-Herald on the condition they not be identified. The layoffs are part of the ConAgra job cuts announced in October.

ConAgra President of Sales Derek De La Mater discussed the changes in a video message sent to sales employees Friday. The World-Herald gained access to the audio portion of the video.

While major changes like this is never easy, the leadership team and I felt it was imperative that we make aggressive changes to our approach, to support the companys efforts to reduce SG&A (selling, general and administrative) spending, improve business results and deliver sustainable, profitable growth, De La Mater said on the video.

ConAgra confirmed the coming layoffs but wouldnt say the exact number of positions that will be eliminated. A spokesman said he thought 30 to 40 salespeople that would lose their jobs are based in the Omaha area.

The employees who will lose their sales jobs work across the U.S. in ConAgra offices and from their homes. They can earn more than $100,000 a year in salary plus benefits, including a performance-based bonus and the use of a company car and phone, according to employees.

ConAgra said affected employees could have the opportunity to work for the outsourcing firm, the ConAgra spokesman confirmed. ConAgra employees who talked to The World-Herald said pay and benefits might not be the same as they earned at the Fortune 500 firm.

The sales outsourcing is part of a larger restructuring of ConAgras sales and customer development departments into a new internal organization called Customer Leadership, De La Mater said in the video.

He said the goal is that ConAgra become a true strategic partner to supermarkets and other food sellers, working together on strategies to increase sales for the benefit of both manufacturer and retailer.

Two sales employees who said they are losing their jobs spoke about the changes with The World-Herald on condition of anonymity, saying they did not want to harm their careers or risk their severance packages.

They said ConAgra sales employees will continue to call directly on the headquarters of more than two dozen major national food retailers, including Walmart, Kroger and Costco.

Smaller, regional supermarket chains and wholesalers, such as Hy-Vee and No Frills operator SpartanNash, will now be served by Florida-based Acosta, an outside sales broker that specializes in grocery, convenience and drug stores. ConAgra already had used Acosta for some sales functions.

In the packaged food business, ConAgra and other manufacturers compete for limited grocery shelf space. ConAgra isnt automatically granted freezer space for pot pies at Walmart, for example.

Sales representatives, whether in-house or through an outside broker, work with retailers to create annual plans for which brands and products will find warehouse and shelf space. They also buy promotional space  like the caps at the ends of aisles  pitch new products and plan for coupons and deals at certain times of the year.

Then, lower-level salespeople make routine calls on retail stores for tasks like introducing new items and ensuring shelves are stocked correctly.

In ConAgras new model, Acosta will handle all those roles for all but the companys top customers, the employees said.

Thats increasingly common in the food industry, said Paul Weitzel, managing partner at grocery industry consultant Willard Bishop.

The food industry right now is like a lot of industries  its going through a tough time and theres not a lot of growth, he said.

ConAgras competitors have been moving toward more dependence on brokers for several years, including Campbell Soup. In 2011, Barclays Capital analyst Andrew Lazar said in a report that it was likely more would follow.

Companies dont employ a broker only to save money, said Rick Abraham, president of the Foodservice Sales & Marketing Association, some of whose members are big food brokers that serve retail customers. He said one broker might represent several manufacturers, and can have a more frequent presence with a retailer.

The ConAgra employees said benefits to keeping the positions in-house include the consistency of a retailer working with the same sales manager for many years, and the sales managers direct connection to ConAgra and its brands.

Weitzel said many manufacturers, which today are under intense investor pressure to cut costs, are weighing the advantages and disadvantages of the models and like ConAgra are taking a hybrid approach, with some accounts served by a broker and some kept in-house. They are also being more choosy about where they invest their sales budgets, and investing more heavily with those customers that are larger accounts or seeing faster growth.

The ConAgra employees said they had not been told how many people will lose their jobs, but estimated it in the hundreds based on the number of accounts that will be outsourced. They said their jobs will be eliminated as of March 25.

In the video, De La Mater told ConAgra workers they could apply for jobs with Acosta.

Acosta will hire a dedicated sales force to handle our portfolio, De La Mater said. Although we are not directly involved with their employment choices, impacted ConAgra employees are eligible to apply for those positions and be considered for those roles.

The employees told The World-Herald that for them, the layoffs cap a tumultuous four months, ever since a companywide sales meeting in Las Vegas was soured by the Oct. 1 announcement of mass layoffs and the headquarters move.

Both of the employees who spoke with The World-Herald said they attended the meeting, which they said took place at the Wynn Las Vegas resort. They said ConAgra paid for travel, food and lodging costs for three nights at the Wynn for hundreds of employees.

It was the first time in at least a decade ConAgra had planned a national sales meeting, and it was planned before new Chief Executive Sean Connolly joined the company in April. Employees anticipated Connolly would attend.

When everyone got there we soon realized that he was not coming, one employee said. We then found out the reason he did not come was he had flown to Omaha.

Amid a schedule of speakers and breakout sessions, employees watched via a video feed as Connolly, in Omaha, announced the mass layoffs.

The timing couldnt have been worse, another employee said.

What was supposed to be a motivational event had the opposite effect for some.

We walked out of there like, what the heck? the employee said. It was a total waste of money. They should have called the whole thing off.

Since the sales meeting, the employees had waited to find out how layoffs would hit sales teams, even as they heard about layoffs in other areas of the company.

ConAgra defended holding the meeting, saying it had been planned well in advance and that there was much to gain from getting employees together to discuss sales strategy and meet leaders in the sales division.

Youve still got to run your business while youre making these changes, ConAgra spokesman Chris Kircher said.

Contact the writer: 402-444-1336, barbara.soderlin@owh.com
BRIDGEPORT, Neb. (AP)  Two men have been fined and given probation for killing 25 antelopes in a western Nebraska field and leaving the carcasses to rot.

Taylor Mueller, 24, and Brent Hoerler, 21, pleaded guilty to several misdemeanor counts, including hunting without a permit and wanton waste. They were sentenced Wednesday in Morrill County Court to 18 months of probation and were fined $950 each.

Authorities say the antelopes were illegally shot and killed in a wheat field in early November.

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission officials discovered the animals while checking area residents reports about the killings.

Copyright 2016 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
LINCOLN  Peering into microscopes, three forensic scientists who were scattered around a large room examined pieces of evidence, looking for bodily fluids and other biological clues that could solve a crime.

At Nebraskas previous state crime lab, scientists had to wait their turn sometimes because the forensic biology unit had only a couple of work stations. That contributed to delays in processing evidence and a backlog of cases.

But at the states new lab, opened in late October, there are plenty of work stations for the units eight forensic scientists. There is no waiting, officials say, and evidence from a particular case can more easily be kept separate.

This is a dramatic improvement, said Jason Linder, the manager of the biology lab.

That was a comment heard over and over during the first media tour of the $9 million facility, located in Lincolns Air Park area.

Thursday morning, Gov. Pete Ricketts joined Nebraska State Patrol officials for a press conference to tout the new lab, two days after the news media were allowed to tour the beige-colored concrete building.

The new crime lab, at 28,000 square feet, is more than twice the size of the former facility in south Lincoln. It is filled with high-tech equipment that allows forensic scientists to uncover the obliterated serial number on a firearm, find tiny spots of bodily fluids on a garment, and produce a DNA footprint that can link someone to a crime, or clear them.

This facility will allow us to do a better job of catching the bad guys, Ricketts said.

He and State Patrol Superintendent Col. Brad Rice said the new lab will increase efficiency and reduce turnaround times for evidence testing. The current turnaround time is longer than the national average.

Right now, the labs turnaround time for DNA tests is five to seven months. For toxicology tests, its four months, and for drug tests, its three months. The lab has a backlog of 900 cases requiring drug testing, as well as 200 cases needing toxicology tests and 280 cases requiring DNA tests.

Rice said the patrol may need to add more forensic scientists to address the backlog and turnaround challenges, but first the agency needs to settle into the new crime lab before determining whether new staff are needed.

Pam Zilly, the crime labs director, said that she hopes to reduce the wait times for drug tests to four weeks by the end of the year but that improving the turnaround times for the other tests may take longer.

The crime lab recently hired a new scientist in the drug test unit and is installing some new equipment to speed such tests. The lab has 26 employees, one more than the old facility.

The lab handles between 3,500 and 4,000 cases a year, about 10 times the cases handled when the states first crime lab opened in 1973.

Physical improvements at the new crime lab are everywhere.

The firing range, used for test-firing weapons, is 60 feet long, about twice the length of the old range. An evidence collection room where scientists probe for latent fingerprints under a black light-like alternative light source can be divided in two, so two technicians can work at the same time. And a storage facility where criminal case files are kept has plenty of extra space.

Its a huge improvement over the other place, said Vicki Hopkins, the quality assurance manager for the lab.

Construction on the new lab began in October 2014. The building is owned and was built by the Lincoln Airport Authority, which is leasing the facility to the patrol so the states cost can be spread over several years.

The Nebraska Attorney Generals Office provided $2.5 million from legal settlements to help finance the structure. And the state committed $562,000 annually for the next 20 years from money forfeited by drug dealers and other criminals.

That latter funding source was thrown into doubt last month when the Justice Department, citing budget problems, suspended the sharing of such forfeiture funds with state and local agencies. Its unclear how long the freeze with last, but the feds had been sharing about $4 million a year with law enforcement agencies in Nebraska and Iowa.

On Thursday, Rice said the patrol has $4.4 million in its forfeiture account, so he doesnt see an immediate impact from the freeze.

He added, however, that the agency is reviewing the training programs and other functions funded in the past with forfeiture funds.

Contact the writer: 402-473-9584, paul.hammel@owh.com
COUNCIL BLUFFS - A group of University of Nebraska at Omaha students celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day by helping with a Habitat for Humanity of Council Bluffs home rehabilitation project.

The students helped put up drywall, cut and sanded boards for windowsills and trim, cleaned up debris and other tasks Monday at the house at 1822 Fourth Ave.

Hillary Lock, a masters student in management information systems, said she saw the project on the UNO website and thought it sounded like a good opportunity.

I want to learn about construction, she said.

Dave McNamara, a senior math student, also said he wanted to learn about construction. He said the service hours would not count toward any of his classes  just toward life, which is better, he said.

Anson DSouza, a masters student in MIS, said he had worked on affordable housing projects for Building Omaha Together and likes helping with construction.

Volunteers Sam Irwin and Jack Turner coached the volunteers on using certain building techniques and power tools.

Habitat for Humanity has been working on the house on Fourth Avenue for about two years, said Teresa Johnson, who supervises construction and the Habitat ReStore.

Weve kind of worked on it in-between other projects that were doing, she said.

Habitat has done extensive work on the house, Johnson said. It has had all new electrical, plumbing and heating systems installed in the house, Habitat patched holes in the basement walls, tuck-pointed the bricks there, sealed the floor and painted the upper section of brick  both inside and out,

Elsewhere in the house, the homes original woodwork has been refinished, and volunteers are putting in new drywall, Johnson said. The kitchen and bathroom were gutted and are being completely refurbished.

Itll have all new windows, she said. Well also be putting new siding on the outside later this year when it warms up.

When its all said and done, Johnson estimates the project will cost one-half to three-fourths as much as a new Habitat house  which is typical for a rehab, she said.

Habitat tentatively has a family lined up for the home, Johnson said. She hopes the project can be finished in May or June.

That helps us help someone whos a little lower-income, she said.
Bengaluru: Heavy rains lead to wall collapse; light showers in the next 5 days likely

Bengaluru: On the first day, 2K pillion riders fined for helmet rule

Bengaluru

oi-Staff

By Super Admin

Bengaluru, Jan 21: Flouters of fresh helmet norm faced tough time from the traffic officials monitoring the rule on the ground. According to traffic authorities, On Wednesday, Jan 21 they fined 2000 people for violating the rule.

The traffic department and Transport department jointly worked on ground and imposed fine on 2,000 two-wheeler commuters.

Authority said to a media that they jointly monitored in the first day for enforcing the rule. Bengaluru Traffic Police fined 1,520 two wheeler riders, while Transport Department officials caught 450 pillion riders.

Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah said to a news media that "we have no second thoughts on new compulsion". There is a clear directive by the Supreme Court to implement the rule across the country . The state government cannot do anything than strictly implementing it.

MA Saleem, additional commissioner of police (traffic) told media that very few pillion riders were moving without helmet. He estimated that as many as 50 % of city riders are wearing the helment and department is working hard for the total realization of the rule.

Saleem, however is of the opinion that implementing the rule is a quite hard task for the police and quipped that women riders are engaging in arguments with traffic personnel.

OneIndia News

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After Pathankot, Charsadda: 6 steps India & Pakistan must take now

Feature

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

Terror attacks have rocked both India and Pakistan, the two nuclear neighbours more known for their enmity than friendship, in less than three weeks' time. Can there be a better opportunity for the two countries to join hands now against the menace of terrorism?

But there are more than just objective truth when it comes to India and Pakistan. Following the attack on Bacha Khan University in Charsadda, Pakistan's former interior minister Rehman Malik accused India's Research and Analysis Wing for the attack while other hardliners linked the attack to India's Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar's statement in the wake of the Pathankot attack in which he said "those who harmed us will feel the pain".

Such stands clearly make the mission of those eyeing to spoil the peace initiative between India and Pakistan a success and the two neighbours hence should refrain from falling into such traps.

Recent reports have said India and Pakistan have decided to come out from the conventional mode of diplomatic talks which will not see an issue like terrorism overshadowing other bilateral issues like Jammu and Kashmir, trade and others.

Sources said while terror will only be taken at the NSA-level talks, other issues will be addressed at foreign-secretary level talks. Experts said such an effort was made when Manmohan Singh was the prime minister of India but as in several other cases pertaining to foreign policy, the compulsion of party politics didn't allow Singh to go ahead.

A much hence depends on the governments of Narendra Modi and Nawaz Sharif to take forward the peace initiative between New Delhi and Islamabad and breaking up the talks at various levels so that challenges to one don't hinder the others is undoubtedly a welcome development that can change the equations between the two neighbours' relations for good.

From temple of wisdom to soft terror targets, educational institutes face the line of fire]

The year 2016 offers a significant opportunity to both India and Pakistan to come closer and seal their peace initiative. Time is precious for both countries and they can't afford to let it slip without serving a purpose.

Indian & Pakistani PMs must make use of the time they have

First, both countries are now headed by two leaders who have still not run into the lame-duck period and are less burdened by the baggage of anti-incumbency.

Pakistan and India will go to elections in 2018 and 2019, respectively, which means this year is the best time for both the PMs, who want to leave a legacy behind, to deliver what South Asia has been hoping for over half a century now-a durable peace.

Improve defence infrastructure

Second, both countries need to upgrade their defence infrastructure to thwart attacks like those in Pathankot and Charsadda.

Both establishments came under serious criticism for the loopholes in their defence that led to such catastrophes.

Pakistan, particularly, has found its soft targets vulnerable to fierce terror attacks and the occurrence of Charsadda after the attack on the army school in Peshawar in December 2014 shows not much has progressed on the ground in the last 13 months.

Similarly, India just about managed to protect its strategic assets in Pathankot, something which it should have done with greater efficiency eight years after the 2008 attacks in Mumbai.

India, Pak must work on a joint defence plan against terror and gradually include other South Asian nations

Third, it is high time that India and Pakistan work on a joint anti-terror plan and not indulge in a purposeless blame game.

The reasons behind the terror attacks in the two countries are different and there would be obstacles to arriving at a common conclusion on how to define and deal with the menace, but still there is ample scope for New Delhi and Islamabad to take up the cause to erect a common defence against terrorism and gradually incorporate other South Asian countries in the scheme of things.

It should have been clear by now to all quarters that terrorism is ultimately nobody's friend, no matter what ideological inclinations you have.

Not just bring but also implement strict national anti-terror rules

Fourth, to tighten things domestically, both India and Pakistan need to have a strong unitary mechanism in place to deal with terror.

The Nawaz Sharif administration set up a National Action Plan in the wake of the Peshawar attack but has it been completely backed so far in terms of action?

Similarly, India requires something like the National Counter Terrorism Centre above political differences. The national security interest of the country needs to be the prime objective and cannot be allowed to be diminished by issues of electoral importance.

Stop playing politics with foreign policy

Fifth, the tendency to play politics with foreign policy must stop.

The political class of both countries find it convenient to make sensational statements on issues concerning national security to steal the headlines and attract a temporary applause but such act does enough harm to the end result, which is permanent peace.

The enemies of peace between India and Pakistan find an ally in the political class which easily falls into their trap and undo all the hard work in a few moments.

Addressing the Afghanistan problem

Sixth, for India and Pakistan to ensure peace between them now, must address the Afghanistan problem.

Neither of these two countries can tackle the Afghan issue alone (Pakistan for strategic and India for geographical reasons) nor they can ignore it for once the West withdraws from the war-ravaged country, the situation there will be too risky to be left void.

Pakistan needs to fill up the void there just like it had done with the US help after the Soviets had moved out in the late 1980s, but with a constructive purpose.

Its Taliban policy has backfired and is under a real test.

India and Pakistan need to cooperate in Afghanistan if they want the challenge of terrorism not multiplying.

New Delhi and Islamabad can't afford to see each other with suspicious eyes when it comes to Afghanistan. It is good now that Kabul is part of the Saarc now and the later regional mechanism should now aim an added objective of bringing back peace in Afghanistan, among other things.
You don't talk to me: Sonia Gandhi told Smriti Irani in Parliament over 'rashtrapatni' row

DGama's family says, 'absolutely no connection' with firm linked to Irani's family

Why Smriti Irani should stop saving her skin and work for students welfare

Feature

oi-Oneindia

By Maitreyee Boruah

When on Wednesday (January 20), the Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani tried to wash her hands of in the suicide of the Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula; she looked more like an angry school principal, who had failed to address the concerns of the student community.

Why so much anger, HRD Minister?

The Union Minister addressed the media in Delhi, all guns blazing, furious that the BJP-led NDA government and her Ministry had come under the scanner for the tragic and untimely death of Rohith in Hyderabad.

At a time when calls for her resignation are growing, the HRD Minister thought of dousing the revolt with a press conference.

The venue of her press conference--the capital city--is another anomaly. It is thousand miles away from Hyderabad, the epicenter of the controversy.

Personal image takes precedence over students' plight?

When journalists asked her when she would visit the Hyderabad Central University, Irani dismissed the idea.

"I'm concerned that my presence there will be interpreted as interference," she said.

Her answer clearly indicated that Irani was more worried about saving her job and the reputation of her government, than the welfare of the protesting students.

No mention about Dalit dilemma

Nowhere in her address, Irani expressed her concern over the allegation of rising intolerance and discrimination of Dalit students in higher educational institutions.

Forget about showing any sympathy towards the students fighting for justice for Rohith, rather she reprimanded the protesting youngsters.

The actress-turned-politician simply brushed-off all the allegations of subjugation of Dalit students as mere "misrepresentation".

Malicious intent to present Rohith Vemula suicide as a caste battle, the BJP leader told.

Breaking her silence for the first-time on the controversy, Irani said, "I am compelled to come out today because there has been a malicious attempt to present this as a Dalit versus non-Dalit issue to ignite passions. The student (ABVP leader Nandanam Susheel Kumar) who was attacked was himself an OBC student."

"I would also like to point out that the suicide note of the student does not mention any political organisation or MP except Ambedkar Student Association of which he was himself a member," she added.

Might is right?

In order to show her strength and support base in her own party, the minister was flanked by Social Justice Empowerment Minister Thaawar Chand Gehlot and Minister of State for Commerce Nirmala Sitharaman.

In the past few days, several students' protests have erupted across the country, demanding justice for Rohith, who took the drastic step after being expulsed by the Hyderabad Central University.

The agitating students are vehemently opposing the prejudicial suspension of five young Dalit men pursuing PhDs, which included Rohith also.

Passing the buck

Role of Irani, vice-chancellor Appa Rao and Minister of State Labour and Employment Bandaru Dattatreya, is under scrutiny, as they allegedly worked in tandem to rusticate the five Dalit students and ruin their careers.

Last year, Dattatreya wrote a letter to HRD ministry stating the Dalit students were "anti-nationals". The letter was written after one ABVP leader was allegedly beaten by a Dalit group in the University.

Irani told media that standard operating procedure was followed in dealing with the case. She refrained from answering questions on suspension of students, saying the matter was "sub-judice".

The BJP leader also refused to say anything about the protests in the university campus citing it was a law and order situation and "out of her jurisdiction".

If the country's HRD Minister is so cold and distant from the realities of students' issues, who would stand for the rights of the youths?
Activists of various student unions stage a protest in Vizag on Wednesday demanding sacking of UoH V-C Prof. Appa Rao and Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya. (Photo: DC)

Visakhapatnam: Activists, affiliated to various student unions of Andhra University, staged a protest near the Arts College of the varsity demanding sacking of University of Hyderabad Vice-Chancellor Prof. Appa Rao and Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya.

Alleging that caste-based discrimination and prejudice had led to the suicide of research scholar Mr. Rohit Vemula, hundreds of students blocked the road near the Arts College which brought the traffic to a standstill for a few hours.

State Chairman of AP Students and Youth JAC, Aareti Mahesh, said, Since the NDA government assumed office, there have been increased attacks on women, minorities, Dalits and students of deprived communities. The government should immediately sack the Vice-Chancellor and Mr. Dattatreya from the Cabinet.

Uttarandhra Mala Mahanadu convenor Dr. B.L. Suryanarayana said caste-based politics cost the life of Mr. Rohit and demanded an ex-gratia of Rs 5 crore to the family of Mr. Rohit. Marrivemula Srinivas, B. Kantha Rao, T. Ramesh, A. Sumanth and other student leaders were present.

Activists of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) had burnt the effigy of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday who made mocking comments against the ruling BJP and its ministers. Adari Kishore Kumar, a BJYM leader, demanded that Mr. Rahul Gandhi should render an apology to Mr. Dattatreya and others. Blaming BJP ministers for the suicide of a student is not all fair and we want Mr. Rahul Gandhi to withdraw his comments, Mr. Kumar added.
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27 aircrafts to fly over Rajpath on Republic Day

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Jan 21: At least 27 aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) will be part of the flypast over Rajpath during this year's Republic Day parade.

Leading the parade would be the traditional 'Ensign' formation comprising four Mi-17 V5 helicopters in an inverted 'Y' formation.

French troops to join Republic Day parade on Rajpath

The second and the main phase will be led by 'Chakra' formation of three Mi-35 helicopters in 'Vic' formation, followed by three C-130J Super Hercules aircraft. This will be followed by the Globe formation comprising one C-17 aircraft and two Su-30 MKI aircraft.

The first fighter formation would comprise five Jaguar aircraft in the shape of an Arrowhead, followed by five MiG-29 upgrade aircraft in similar formation. The Sukhoi formation comprising three Su-30 MKI aircraft will fly in the last phase.

The end of the parade will be marked by a single Su-30 MKI aircraft, pulling up vertically in front of the dais and carrying out the signature 'Vertical Charlie' rolls.

Besides the aircraft, the Air Force's marching contingent comprising four officers, including two women officers and 144 airmen, will also participate in the event.

The theme for the IAF tableau is 'Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Operations by the Indian Air Force: In Service of the Nation and Beyond'.

The design would showcase the IAF's role in Uttarakhand, Kashmir, Yemen and Nepal rescue and relief operations by displaying models of C-17, C-130 and Mi-17 V5 aircraft.

PTI
Islamic State bomber detained in Russia for attempting attack in India was recruited through Telegram

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Breakaway IM group Ansar-ul-Tawhid wakes up to ISIS call

India

oi-Vicky

New Delhi, Jan 21: The Ansar-ul-Tawhid, a break away group of the Indian Mujahideen (IM), is back in the spotlight with Intelligence Bureau officials finding banter on the internet suggesting that the group is attempting to carry out strikes in India.

In the month of August 2014, the Ansar-ul-Tawhid pledged support to the ISIS and promised to recruit at least 300 Indians.

However, the AuT which was founded by Sultan Armar hit a road block after he was killed in a strike at Syria recently.

Now that Intelligence Bureau officials confirm to OneIndia that Sultan a resident of Bhatkal is indeed dead, the mantle of running the show has fallen upon his brother Shafi Armar.

Scanner at Bhatkal's Nawayat Colony:

Intelligence Bureau officials have been on the trail of the Armar brothers since the past year. Sultan and his brother Shafi operated handles on Twitter such as @Sult, @Mulla, @Moulana, @Nakhwa, @Pandit, @Shekhu, @Sheikh-Ul-Hadees and @Pujari.

The brothers, who are residents of Haji Manzil, Nawayat Colony, Bhatkal, Dist- Uttar Kannada, Karnataka-581320, had ventured into the Indian Mujahideen at first at the behest of Yasin Bhatkal.

However, they broke away from the IM on the pretext that they did not want to be stooges of the ISI. In the ISIS they found a radical school of thought that felt that it was only this outfit which could set up an Islamic Caliphate while the rest were only playing into the hands of the Intelligence agencies in Pakistan.

Birth of the Ansar-ul-Tawhid:

Since the rise of the ISIS, the cadres of the Indian Mujahideen found it to be more lucrative. Basically Baghdadi was speaking the language which the IM always wanted to hear.

Armar and the rest of the Indian Mujahideen gradually began moving towards the ISIS and they actively began recruiting youth.

They had lost hope in the al Qaeda which had teething problems following the death of Osama Bin Laden.

Moreover, the al Qaeda was losing ground heavily to the ISIS. It was at this time that the Ansar-ul-Tawhid was formed.

This group comprised the ISIS, IM and the Tehrik-e-Taliban. A faction of the TTP also declared support to the ISIS openly only recently although they were always with the ISIS.

Armar who showed great potential was made the leader of the AUT. After he began his recruitment drive, it was Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi who endorsed him openly as the Emir.

In a video that was posted by the Al-Isabah which is a media unit of the ISIS, Baghdadi declared Armar as the emir. This message by Baghdadi was a wake up call for the Indian agencies who realized that Armar had grown too big.

Like his brother, Shafi operates several accounts online especially on Facebook. There is material that is posted online and under different ids, he scrutinizes the kind of messages that come in.

In his recent recruitment of a bunch of youth from Rajasthan, he was said to have interviewed them online and only after being very sure did he go about the recruitment.

OneIndia News
As similarities emerge in Lal, Kolhe murders, IB digs deeper into patterns by Islamists

Do RAW, others get a raw deal in the name of 'intelligence failure'?

The NIA, ED dossiers that led to the raid on the PFI

Keep it clean, keep it safe: How the federal agencies raided the PFI

Before speaking of covert ops provide legal protection to IB officers

India

oi-Vicky

New Delhi, Jan 21: On Jan 15, 2016, a former CIA employee of Indian origin was ordered by a Portuguese Court to serve out a six year prison term.

The court also ordered her to be sent to Italy so that she could serve that sentence. This was an important development, but went largely unnoticed.

This incident involving Sabrina de Sousa, who is of Indian origin and also a former CIA employee, raises the question of whether there is enough immunity officers with the intelligence enjoy.

Sabrina de Sousa was prevented from boarding a flight at Lisbon airport in Oct 2015 because of a 2009 conviction by an Italian court.

She was on her way to Goa to see her 89-year-old mother. On Jan 15, the Portuguese Court decided that she should be sent to Italy to serve her six year prison sentence.

Intelligence officers need immunity:

Intelligence officials at times work in the toughest of conditions. The covert operations that they undertake involves a great deal of risk.

In most of the cases when a spy is caught in a foreign land his government often does not do much to secure his release.

Former Officer with the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), V Balachandran tells OneIndia that those in the government, who speak loosely about covert operations, must consider providing basic legal protection to officers with the intelligence first.

The UPA government failed to consider this in 2014-15 when the CBI wanted to prosecute some IB officers.

Even the NDA government has not given it much thought. They have pushed the issue under the carpet by refusing to give sanction to prosecute, Balachandran says.

The case against Sabrina de Sousa:

Her case goes back to Feb 17, 2003, when the US-led "War on Terror" was raging. Abu Omar, an Egyptian cleric, was abducted by the CIA and Italian military Intelligence (SISMI) from Milan.

He was flown to Egypt and made to stand trial. However, the Egyptian court discharged him in 2007.

The Italian prosecutors, who do not take orders from the government, indicted 26 CIA officers, including the Rome station chief and senior SISMI officials for kidnapping.

Cell phone conversations were produced to prove their involvement. USA tried to evade this process by withdrawing all CIA officials before trial, including Sabrina de Sousa, then posted at Milan.

The Italian government initially refused the prosecutors' request to get all the 26 CIA officials extradited.

However, the prosecutors invoked the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) asking all EU member states to arrest them. The trial started in June 2007.

This was said to be the first trial questioning the US practice of "extraordinary rendition". The CIA officials were convicted in absentia on Nov 4, 2009 to varying degrees of prison sentences ranging from 3 to 10 years.

Their sentences were enhanced by the appeals court & finally confirmed by the Supreme Court in 2012. Later some of the SISMI officials were pardoned by the Italian government.

Following the Supreme Court order, the Italian government started pursuing extradition proceedings for securing presence of convicted CIA officials.

In July 2013 they asked Panama to stop the former CIA Milan Chief from going out of that country. However, Panama allowed him to leave citing technical grounds.

The officer had by then retired from the CIA.

Sabrina de Sousa who was working as a translator at Milan also retired from CIA in 2009.

Following her conviction she sued the CIA and US government for failing to protect her by not claiming diplomatic immunity. The suit failed.

Also there was no certainty that she would have been saved even if this was done. Three other US employees who were granted diplomatic immunity and who were acquitted in 2009 were convicted in absentia when the appeals court reversed the judgment in 2013. Two were sentenced to six years and the third to a seven-year term.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Thursday, January 21, 2016, 8:56 [IST]
BSF guns down Pakistan infiltrator at Pathankot

India

oi-Vicky

Pathankot, Jan 21: One person suspected to be an infiltrator from Pakistan has been shot down at the Tash village in Pathankot.

Two others managed to escape back to Pakistan. Three persons were attempting to infiltrate into India when the BSF spotted them.

There was heavy fog in the area and the infiltrators were attempting to take advantage of this and enter into India.

While one person was shot dead, the other two escaped and made their way back into Pakistan. There is still no clarity on who these infiltrators were barring the fact that they were from Pakistan.

They were attempting to make an illegal entry and hence action had to be taken.

There has been heightened vigil along the Indo-Pak border after the Pathankot attack. The BSF had been criticised for failing to curb the infiltrations and also not acting enough against the drug mafia which thrives along this border.

The BSF has decided to step up its vigil and ensure that infiltrations come to a halt. The defence ministry too after the Pathankot attack had said that those who fail in their duties along the border must be made accountable.

OneIndia News
Kharge vs Tharoor: Counting of votes today; Cong to get first non-Gandhi president in 24 years

Congress gives caste, communal angle to every incident: BJP

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

New Delhi, Jan 21: Hitting back at the Congress, the BJP on Thursday, Jan 21 accused the opposition party of "giving a communal colour or caste angle" to every untoward incident in the country.

"What has the Congress given us in 60 years? They target Dalits and non-Dalits for vote bank politics. They try to give communal colour or caste angle to everything. It is very unfortunate," Bharatiya Janata Party national secretary Srikant Sharma told reporters here.

"It is very sad to say that we've to invoke the caste issue even in 2016. It has become some kind of a compulsion," the party's media convenor added.

The Congress earlier on Thursday accused the central government of harbouring an "anti-Dalit attitude" towards Hyderabad University research scholar Rohith Vemula's suicide on January 17.

"The Congress never thought about social security. This is the first government which is working for social security. But, the anti-development people cannot digest the government's good work. Be it the incidents in Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka or other places, they have always blamed the Centre, whereas law and order is a state subject," Sharma said.

He added: "Those who indulge in vote bank politics must answer why they remain silent over the violence in Malda (West Bengal). Kejriwalji (Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal) went to Hyderabad, but did he go and meet even one family of the dengue victims in Delhi?"

"They are silent over law and order issues in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. But they blame the Centre for issues it is not even responsible for. This proves their dishonesty," said the BJP leader.

IANS
Dalit student issue: Congress demands apology from PM Modi

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Jan 21: Latching on to the revocation of suspension of four Dalit scholars of Hyderabad University, Congress today demanded immediate sacking of HRD Minister Smriti Irani and Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya and an apology by the Prime Minister for Irani's "misconduct".

"Belated decision of Hyderabad Central University to revoke the suspension of four dalit Ph.D. scholars (colleagues of deceased Rohith Vemula) proves the guilt, complicity and collusion of BJP-ABVP-University authorities in perpetuating anti-poor, anti-dalit agenda on the University campus".

"Regrettably, had this decision been taken prior to 17th January, 2016; Rohith Vemula would have been alive today," party's chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala said in a strongly- worded statement. He said that the decision to revoke order confirmed the "lies, deception and falsehood" meted out by the HRD Minister.

"It also establishes the completely illegal and unconstitutional pressure used by HRD Ministry earlier leading to suspension of five dalit Ph.D. scholars and consequent suicide of Rohith Vemula", he said.

Besides, he claimed that it "confirmed" the role of Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya; BJP MLC Ramachandra Rao; ABVP activists; University Vice-Chancellor Appa Rao and others.

Congress, he said, therefore, demands that Irani and Dattatreya as also Appa Rao should be immediately sacked.

He wanted a sitting High Court judge to inquire into the role of Irani, Dattatreya and University authorities. Fair and adequate compensation along with a job should be given to the family of Rohith, he said, adding that "above all, Prime Minister Narendra Modi must apologize to the Nation."

Earlier in the day at a press conference, he stepped up the attack on the HRD Minister demanding that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with his ministerial colleagues should apologise to the nation and dalits for her "misconduct of misleading the nation" "...Irani is lying through her teeth in a bid to protect the ABVP leader.

She is misleading the nation by giving false information," Surjewala said, seeking to dismiss the claims of Irani on the issue. Irani had yesterday said that the ABVP leader, who was attacked in student rivalry earlier, also belonged to the OBC community as was Dattatreya, who had written a letter to her about the attack.

In the statement later, he said, "HRD Minister shockingly and shamelessly lied to the Nation, manufactured non-existent facts and misstated the complete set of events, purely with a view to defend the illegal intervention by her ministerial colleague, Shri Bandaru Dattatreya...".

PTI
Don't stoke communal tension: Trinamool tells Rajnath

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Kolkata, Jan 21: Accusing Rajnath Singh of using a political meeting to "threaten" the West Bengal government, the ruling Trinamool Congress on Thursday said as India's home minister, he should not stoke "communal tension" over the Malda violence.

"You are using a political meeting to threaten the state. Which home minister with a conscience would do that?" Trinamool chief national spokesperson Derek O'Brien said, hours after Rajnath Singh castigating the Mamata Banerjee government over the January 3 violence at Kalichak of Malda district.

Addressing a Bharatiya Janata Party rally at Ashok Nagar in North 24 Parganas district, Rajnath Singh alleged that the state government was trying to shield those who attacked the BSF and torched several of its vehicles and remarked that none, including the police, was safe in West Bengal.

He also asserted that those behind the incident would be unmasked and brought to justice, and warned the state government that only a few arrests will not suffice.

In a strong counter, O'Brien said: "Mr. Rajnath Singh, Malda is your creation.

"As the home minister in the country, your should not be on a mission to stoke communal tension." He alleged that it was a well-known tactic of the BJP when elections draw near.

"And all this coming from a central government which is running the nation using 'agencies' to pursue its own cynical agenda," he said.

According to reports, protesting against remarks allegedly made to "hurt religious sentiments" in Uttar Pradesh, a large number of people on January 3 went on a rampage in Kaliachak, torching vehicles including those belonging to the Border Security Force (BSF) and also attacked a police station.

IANS
5G will take education to next level: PM Modi at the launch of Mission Schools of Excellence in Gujarat

FDI flows into India nearly doubled in 2015: UNCTAD

India

oi-PTI

Geneva, Jan 21: Foreign Direct Investment flows into India nearly doubled in 2015 while the US emerged as the top host country for FDI last year, the UN's trade agency has said.

Global FDI flows "unexpectedly" increased significantly by 36 per cent, according to the annual report of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

"Global FDI unexpectedly increased significantly to USD 1.7 trillion and this is closer to the pre-crisis level and it is the highest since the global financial and economic crisis," said James Zhan, UNCTAD's Director of the Division on Investment and Enterprise.

Just ahead of the release of the report on global investment in 2015 and forecasts for 2016, Zhan yesterday said, "The bad news is that part of this global FDI are not really in the productive sector and is due for either inversion or corporate reconfiguration."

Developing economies, as a whole, saw their FDI reaching a new high of USD 741 billion -- 5 per cent higher than 2014, the report said. Asia remained the largest FDI recipient region in the world, surpassing half a trillion US dollars and accounting for one-third of the global FDI flows, it said.

The US bounced back as the top host country for FDI in 2015 with FDI worth USD 384 billion, the report said.

The US is followed by Hong Kong (USD 163 billion), China (USD 136 billion), Netherlands (USD 90 billion), the UK (USD 68 billion), Singapore (USD 65 billion), India (USD 59 billion), Brazil (USD 56 billion), Canada (USD 45 billion) and France (USD 44 billion) as the top 10 FDI host economies of the world. FDI flows to the developed countries bounced back sharply reaching their second highest level ever at USD 936 billion.

In Africa, Latin America as well as transition economies there was a decline in FDI last year partly because of stumbling commodity prices and regional instability.

FDI flows are expected to decline in 2016, UNCTAD said. This reflects "the fragility of the global economy, volatility of global financial markets, weak aggregate demand and significant deceleration in large emerging economies", it said. Elevated geo-political risks and regional tensions could further amplify these economic challenges, the report said.

PTI
French consulate in Bengaluru gets letter warning against Hollande's India visit

India

oi-Vicky

Bengaluru, Jan 21: A letter warning against the visit of French President Francois Hollande to India has been sent to consulate in Bengaluru. The letter which originates from Chennai was sent to the consulate in Bengaluru on January 11th. A case was registered on January 14th by the Bengaluru police who are probing into the matter.

The letter sent from Chennai warns against the visit of the French President to India. He is the special guest at the Republic Day celebrations this year. In the letter it is stated that he should not visit India. The letter written in English warns against the visit of the French President to India.

Although the police have been able to ascertain that the letter was posted from Chennai, they have not been able to ascertain the exact location as yet. The Bengaluru Central Police which is seized off the matter is investigating the case.

Although the police suspect that it could be the handiwork of some mischief monger, they are not taking the letter lightly and say that the matter will be probed in-depth.

The letter comes in the wake of a recent alert by the Intelligence Bureau which stated that some groups may try and carry out an attack to protest the visit by the French President.

France has been involved in a battle against the ISIS for over an year now. The French were dealt with a major terrorist attack in Paris by the ISIS recently in which scores of persons had died.

OneIndia news
IBM techie was strangulated with a laptop chord in a fit of rage

India

oi-Pallavi

Bengaluru, Jan 21: The IBM techie- Kusuma Singla (31)- was murdered with a laptop cable, police reports. The man behind the murder is an ex-Yahoo and Accenture emloyee Sukhbir Singh (30) from Haryana.

He has been arrested from Haryana early this morning, said Banaglore police officer P Harisekaran. Sukhbir Singh was unemployed since 2013.

The duo had met each other on social media 3 months ago. Ms Singla, a devorcee, invited him home, but he started pestering her for money when he visited her. Initially Sukhbir had asked her for Rs 50,000, but later agreed to settle for Rs 5,000. When Singla refused to pay up, he strangulated her in a fit of rage. Police tracked Singh through social media.

Bengaluru: IBM techie found dead inside her apartment]

Police said that the duo had come in touch with each other on December 31, 2015. They exchanged phone numbers on January 9 and on January 19, Singh came to Bengaluru to meet her. Singh demanding money from her came as a surprise as she was yet to cope with the loss of Rs 5 lakh to a credit card fraudster. She had also lodged a case in this regard at the Kadugodi Police Station.

She explained everything to Sukhbir, but he did not budge and said that he would not leave unless she paid up. An altercation took place that ended up in murder. Singh may be brought to the city by Thursday evening.

OneIndia News
Chennai: As dusk sets in, railway premises adjacent to wine shops need extra scrutiny by security forces with cases of assault and offensive behavior on a rise these days.

The latest incident took place at Guindy railway station on Tuesday night when a passenger in an inebriated state abused and manhandled another commuter eventually led to blocking of Chengalpet bound trains till 11 pm.

I was shocked to see the manner the guy was thrashed yesterday after using foul language under the influence of liquor, said Faizal Ahammed, a commuter who witnessed the incident.

On a monthly basis at least 20 to 22 cases of altercations are reported and people involved are often drunk, railway officials at Guindy station said. The two wine shops adjacent to the station are about 20 meters from railway premises.

Since most of them come to the station after they are drunk with the bottles tucked beneath their shirts and kept in pockets, it is unable to detect them. Also, they go to the extreme ends of the station, consume and then create issues with passengers, said an official at Guindy station.

Villivakkam, Perambur, Pallavaram, Ambattur, Avadi, Thirumalai, Chetpet are other stations that are adjacent to wine shops and face similar issues of manhandling and rude behavior from people under the influence of booze.

In stations like Avadi, Ambattur, Thirumalai and Villivakkam that share a 100-meter proximity from the wine-shops, cases of intimidation and verbal abuse that lead to tussle is a common affair after 6 pm.

Last Friday, three people who were consuming drinks near Avadi station came to the platform and started abusing another guy and that eventually led to a fight.

Security people had to intervene to stop them, said N.Ganesh Babu, a social worker.

According to Government Railway Protection (GRP), the most vulnerable station on the MRTS stretch is Thirumayilai where at least 15 to 20 cases occur every month.
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ISIS in sub-continent: Operations in Afghanistan, ideology in Bangladesh

India

oi-Vicky

New Delhi, Jan 21: The threat of the ISIS is for real in the sub-continent and security experts point out that India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan would need to combine efforts in order to counter this menace.

Over the past few months it had become extremely clear that the ISIS was using both Afghanistan and Bangladesh to launch its operations in the sub-continent.

A report by the intelligence bureau in the possession of OneIndia states that while the ISIS would have its operations wing in Afghanistan, it would use Bangladesh as its ideological hub.

There are already enough outfits which subscribe to the ISIS type ideology in Bangladesh.

Ideology in Bangladesh, operations in Afghanistan:

It has become clear that over the past couple of months, the ISIS has been setting up shop in the sub-continent.

While it has not got any major success in India, the story has been very different in countries such as Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

In Afghanistan, the ISIS has been teaming up with former Taliban fighters. While it has not made any major gains as yet, the IB report points that it is gradually growing in strength.

In Bangladesh, the ISIS faced some stiff competition from the al-Qaeda. However, the al-Qaeda has been weakened largely for the want of a leadership and is facing a defeat at the hands of the ISIS like it did it in Iraq and Syria.

The Ansarullah Bangla Team, which is a radical outfit in Bangladesh, too has teamed up with the ISIS today.

In Bangladesh, the ISIS which has now teamed up with the ABT is spreading a reign of fear among the people by issuing fatwas in a bid to set up an Islamic Calipahate.

The ISIS sees an opportunity in Bangladesh and realizes that it could set up a module in order to achieve its dream of setting up a Caliphate.

In Pakistan, the ISIS has the support of the Tehrik-e-Taliban, Tehreek-e-Khilafat and the Ismamic Movement of Uzbekistan.

In Afghanistan it garners support from the Heroes of Islam Brigade in Khorasan and the al-Tawheed Brigade in Khorasan.

In India the ISIS has the support of the Ansar-ul-Tawhid or the erstwhile Indian Mujahideen. These alliances clearly point towards the fact that the ISIS does not have any known allies in Bangladesh.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Thursday, January 21, 2016, 8:40 [IST]
Mumbai police receives bomb threats at 3 locations; Security beefed up at several areas

'This may give sleepless nights to some': Eknath Shinde on sharing dais with Sharad Pawar

Maharashtra AAP workers disappointed with Kejriwal

India

oi-PTI

Mumbai, Jan 21: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders across Maharastra today expressed displeasure over Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal not meeting them while he was on a visit to the city yesterday.

Kejriwal had appeared before a local court in connection with a case for allegedly holding a rally without required permission during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

He had left shortly after the hearing. Local Aam Aadmi Party leaders said its chief has "no vision" for party's expansion in Maharashtra.

Suspended party leader and a former key face of AAP in Maharashtra, Mayank Gandhi accused Kejriwal of "demolishing party's base" in the state.

"Kejriwal wants its Delhi team to be kept intact while he wants no challenge from its leaders of other states. This is why he deliberately destroyed party's base in Maharashtra and Mumbai," he said.

Only party leaders Preeti Sharma Menon, Meera Sanyal along with a handful of supporters were present outside the Kurla court.

A senior state leader on condition of anonymity said, "Volunteers in the state and Mumbai are extremely discouraged because Kejriwal has ruined party's base in Maharashtra. Volunteers now feel that it is a wastage of time being associated with the party."

He said it has happened for the first time that there was no strong supporters' base behind the party chief during his visit to Mumbai.

Another leader said they had hoped that Kejriwal would give some time to meet them and discuss issues but it was dejecting that he did not even spare a single minute to meet party workers here.

Meanwhile, party spokesperson Preeti Sharma has said, "Mayank Gandhi, Sanjay Parmar (former treasurer) have been suspended, while Anjali Damania and Medha Patkar are no longer with the party, so there arises no question of these people accompanying Kejriwal."

"There were scores of volunteers and supporters along with Meera Sanyal, Kumud Mishra," she said.

PTI
Sorry, not sorry: Lalan Singh unapologetic about his remarks on PM's caste

Bihar: Girls protest after being asked to remove Hijab during exam

Central team roped in as dengue cases in Bihar rise to over 5000

Mob justice? Villagers chop off hand of man trying to flee after looting bank

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Patna, Jan 21: A mob chopped off the hand of a man who was trying to flee after looting a bank in Bihar's capital on Wednesday, police said.

Jitender Kumar was caught by villagers at Mahua village in Rupaspur area here when he was trying to flee after he looted Rs.1.70 lakh from the customer service centre of Bank of Baroda.

"First, the angry villagers beat him up badly and then chopped off one of his hands as an instant punishment," a police official said.

According to police, four armed criminals including Jitender Kumar, entered the bank's customer service centre and looted the amount.

"After that all four of them opened fire but villagers chased them and one of them was caught, while the other three managed to flee."

Patna Senior Superintendent of Police Manu Maharaj said that police rescued Jitender and admitted him to a hospital.

IANS

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Story first published: Thursday, January 21, 2016, 9:55 [IST]
Rahul Gandhi, Tamil Nadu Congress leaders discuss about alliance with DMK

India

oi-PTI

New Delhi, Jan 21: Rahul Gandhi on Jan 20 held deliberations with Congress leaders from Tamil Nadu on the strategy to be adopted in the poll-bound state where the issue of forging an alliance holds the key to prospects of the party.

"Everyone gave ideas and opinions to the leadership on how to face the elections," TNCC chief E V K S Elangovan after the parleys with the Congress Vice President.

Congress had contested the last Lok Sabha elections on its own and had drawn a blank. It had contested the last Assembly elections alongwith DMK but secured just five seats.

Assembly strength in the state is 234. Talking to PTI, Elangovan refused to elaborate on the stand of the the state unit on the alliance issue, insisting that it was for the party high command to decide whether the Congress should fight as part of a tieup with other like minded parties or go it alone.

Several former PCC chiefs and former Ministers were present in the consultations. Only last month, DMK chief M Karunanidhi had said that Congress would be invited to join the alliance led by his outfit for the upcoming Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu. Karunanidhi's statement had come nearly three years after snapping ties with Congress.

"We will not exclude Congress while inviting alliance parties (to join the DMK-led alliance)," he had said when the New Year was about to ring in. He was responding to queries if his party would invite Congress like it had reached out to DMDK.

In July last year, DMK Treasurer MK Stalin and Elangovan had said the two parties would "work together" to protect the interest of the people of Tamil Nadu, in particular the oppressed sections.

DMK had in early 2013 snapped ties with Congress over the Sri Lankan Tamils issue. The rupture had also come against the backdrop of the arrests of former Union Minister A Raja and Karunanidhi's daughter Kanimozhi, Rajya Sabha MP, in the alleged spectrum allocation scam.

Congress is out of power in the key southern state for nearly five decades and has generally been aligning with either of the Dravidian party- DMK or AIADMK. Sometimes, it had contested alone too but without much success.

PTI
Rohith suicide: 10 Dalit teachers resign from administrative posts over Smriti remark

India

oi-Pallavi

Hyderabad, Jan 21: Following Smriti Irani's statement yesterday, 10 SC/ST teachers in HCU are said to have resigned from administrative posts. Protesting against the Union HRD minister Smriti Irani's statement that Dalit teachers were also part of the probe that expelled the five research scholars, the teachers were planning to quit their jobs initially.

But they dropped the idea when they were told that the minority students will not have any support thereafter.

It was then decided that the teachers will quit from administrative posts, but continue to teach in the university.

Prakash Babu, Dean of Students Welfare and member of SC/ST Teachers and Officers Forum, said,"The minister is misleading the nation. We will not work under the administration as there has been no representation from the Dalits in the executive council since the university's inception. It is only by staying in system that we can build pressure on the administration."

The teachers, in a statement added that the statements by the HRD minister is bringing down the morals of the Dalits in the administrative positions in the university. A press release by UoH SC/ST Teachers and Officers Forum said,"the sub-committee of Executive Council was headed by an upper caste professor Vipin Srivastava and there are no Dalit faculty member in the sub-committee."

Several effigies of Smriti Irani were burnt inside the university campus as students shouted slogans against the Modi government and demanded immediate withdrawal of the four students.

OneIndia News
OPS in cahoots with DMK, alleges Sasikala, sacks him from party post

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Sack vice chancellor, Smriti Irani must apologize: Kejriwal

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Hyderabad, Jan 21: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday demanded the dismissal of the vice chancellor of Hyderabad University over the suicide of a Dalit research scholar.

Addressing a gathering of students at the campus, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader also asked Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani to apologize for "playing caste politics" over Rohith Vemula's suicide.

"The VC should be removed immediately," Kejriwal said to applause from the students who have been holding protests ever since Vemula took his life on Sunday after being suspended from the university.

"Our second demand is that Smriti Irani tried to play dirty caste politics (on Wednesday). She must seek forgiveness from the country."

Kejriwal said he was ready to stage a sit-in at Vice Chancellor P. Appa Rao's office to seek his ouster but was advised against it by the student community.

Vemula's suicide has sparked major protests in the university. He was suspended and his stipend blocked after he and his friends were accused of assaulting an ABVP student leader.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) is the student wing of the RSS and is allied to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Quoting medical reports and an affidavit filed by the university registrar, Kejriwal insisted that the allegation of assault on the ABVP leader was concocted.

He particularly blamed central minister and BJP leader Bandaru Dattatreya for calling Vemula and his friends "anti-national, casteist and extremist" -- allegations which led the university to act against Vemula.

"It is a matter of shame that a responsible central minister, without inquiring about the facts, had concluded that the Ambedkar student group of which Vemula was a member was casteist and anti-national."

Vemula was the son of a farm worker who joined the university on the strength of his academic merit, Kejriwal said.

"When such bright students have to commit suicide, it is a shame on the entire society."

IANS
Prashant Kishor claims Nitish Kumar in touch with BJP says don't be surprised if he joins hands with it again

7th Pay Commission: Revealed! Why Railway staff union up in arms with govt

India

oi-Mukul

New Delhi, Jan 21: After Army men, now Railway staff have expressed disappointment over Seventh Pay Commission. Reportedly, Railway Union is upset with government and threatened for an indefinite strike on the issue. They have demanded that some of the recommendations of pay commission must be changed as it will not be beneficial for them.

7th Pay Commission decoded: All you need to know about salary increment; past pay commissions

On Wednesday, the Northern Railway Men Union (NRMU) reportedly staged a protest against the BJP government over the issue. When asked why Union is not happy with CPC, Union line branch secretary Thakur Singh was quoted by the Tribune as saying , "We want pay commission report be rectified".

He further demanded that old pension scheme should be restarted in place of new pension scheme. Another demand of Union is that "the minimum wage should be increased from Rs 18,000 per month to Rs 26,000."

Earlier, All-India Railwaymen's Federation (AIRF) threatened to go on "indefinite strike" if their demands will not be met. Apart from grievances with pay commission, Union also wants filling up of large number of vacant posts in the railways.

"We will conduct a secret ballot on Februray 11 and 12 to decide the date and future course of action (on strike)," AIRF General Secretary Shiv Gopal Mishra said

Currently, he said, there were about 2.5 lakh posts including those of loco pilots, assistant station masters and track men lying vacant in railways.

On new pension scheme, he said, "it should be reviewed as there are many anomalies in it. We want the guranteed pension scheme should be implemented."

OneIndia News
Special cells arrest 4 students planning to attack Kumbh Mela

India

oi-Pallavi

Haridwar, Jan 21: The Special Cell of Delhi police has allegedly arrested four youths, all college students, from Uttarakhand's Haridwar, on charges of plotting an attack on the Ardh Kumbh mela.

In fact, they were also said to have planned an attack on the trains bringing pilgrims to the four-month long festival that started early this month. The four have been identified as Akhlaq-ur-Rehman, Mohammed Osama, Mohammed Azim Shah and Mohamad Mehraj.

While Akhlaq belongs to Bhagwanpur Chandanpur village, Mehraj and Azim belong to Landhura. Meanwhile, Osama is a resident of Jarosa of Haridwar district. All of them are between the age if 18-22. Arvind Deep, Special Commissioner, Special Cell says,"We have arrested the accused on January 19. It is too early to comment about which organisation they are from. However what we can say at this point is that Central Intelligence Agencies had received credible input about the possible attacks."

The youths have been booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, which does not include the Arms Act as no weapons were recovered from them. The accused were sent to a 15-day jail custody by the court today.

Not naming any terror group to which the four may belong, Deep further said,"The four suspects were tracked down with inputs from a central intelligence agency. They had planned to carry out terror attacks at the Ardh Kumbh mela, trains heading towards Haridwar passing through Roorkie and some strategic locations in Delhi."He further added,"The national capital faces threat until the entire module is busted."

All the four are studying in local colleges. Akhlaq is pursuing a diploma in polytechnic, and the other three are also pursiong their graduation for local colleges. IG Garhwal Sanjay Gunjyal said,"After collecting the information about key locations of Haridwar, the four were planning to purchase materials required for terror activity."

OneIndia News
Targeted killings in Kashmir: Do not react in panic and hurry for quick solutions

Successive govts sold false dreams to Kashmiri Pandits: Rahul

India

oi-PTI

Jammu, Jan 21: Batting for a debate on the future of Kashmiri Pandits, model-turned-actor Rahul Bhat today said successive governments have sold "false dreams" to them and offered "lollipops" instead of formulating a "comprehensive and inclusive road map" for survival of the community.

"Successive governments are selling false dreams to KPs (Kashmiri Pandits) over the years. They have been offering KPs lollipops and chocolates which we generally offer to our children to observe silence and remain mute," Bhat told PTI.

"There is need for a serious debate, particularly on the survival of the minuscule community, which is slowly dying. I don't think that the government is doing enough on various fronts and various problems confronting the community.

Serious thought should be given to it. How KPs can go back but for that the road map has to be comprehensive. It has to be inclusive, said the actor, who was here to take part in some events.

He said, "A day will definitely come when we will go back... Till then KPs should be compensated for the entire losses they suffered during last 20 years."

All politicians and political parties are selling "false dreams" and imbibing hopes among the community by saying that one day you will return, said Bhat, who left the Valley along with thousands of Kashmiri Pandit families in 1990s in the wake of rise of militancy.

"We left because of insecurity due to terrorism... The situation (in Kashmir) should improve, peace should return only then Kashmiri Pandits would be able to think over their next step," he added.

Rahul, who is shooting a film "To hell with Heaven" on the exodus of the Kashmiri Pandit community, hit out at the government for the faulty package and failure to link the return of young KPs to the Valley with employment.

The packages that have been made for the KPs are not only wrong but faulty as well. "Small ghettos here and there will not work and putting them in these dungeons will not work.

There is a need to have a well-thought out plan how are you going to bring Kashmiri youngsters back and link their return with their employment and livelihood," the actor said.

He also sought measures to preserve the Kashmiri Pandit culture, saying it is "slowly and steadily dying".

PTI
Why is Hizbul Mujahideen lying about Pathankot attack?

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

Pathankot, Jan 21: India is not attaching any credence to the statements made by Syed Salahuddin, the Hizbul Mujahideen chief who has claimed responsibility for the Pathankot attack. It is a desperate statement on his part says an officer part of the investigations into the Pathankot case.

Salahuddin, the chief of the Hizbul Mujahideen in an interview to an Urdu news portal based in Pakistan had claimed responsibility for the Pathankot attack. He also said that this attack was not aimed derailing the dialogue between India and Pakistan. He further stated in the interview that the Pathankot attack was part of their continued activity to target the Indian military.

The Hizbul Mujahideen needs attention:

The battle for the Hizbul Mujahideen has not been exactly hunky dory in Kashmir. It has attempted various things such as online campaigns and on many counts even replicated the style of the ISIS. Officers in India say that the claims by the Hizbul Mujahideen chief is just aimed at gaining some publicity and breathing life into the sagging morale of his soldiers.

It is very clear from the Pathankot attack that it had the signature of the Jaish-e-Mohammad and we are not taking his statements seriously the officer also added. There are many stake holders in the Kashmir battle today and the Hizbul Mujahideen feels that it is losing out to groups such as the JeM and the Lashkar-e-Tayiba.

What one must understand is that the JeM had left pamphlets in the car of the Punjab Superintendent of Police, Salwinder Singh which clearly quoted the name of Afzal Guru. This was just aimed at stoking passions in Kashmir. Moreover the Pathankot attack was a "spectacular" one and any terrorist group would like to claim responsibility for the same, the officer also added.

The probe is focused entirely on the JeM and every bit of evidence points to the hand of the outfit. Moreover Pakistan too is probing the Pathankot attack and have said that there is a hand of the JeM. In this context the claims by Salahuddin are just aimed at gaining some publicity, Indian officials say.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Thursday, January 21, 2016, 10:08 [IST]
Visakhapatnam: The BJP is looking at strengthening the Vizag unit before the civic polls. On Wednesday, Vizag MP K. Haribabu administered oath of office to M. Nagendra, who has been elected as the partys new city unit chief. Mr Haribabu asked the new city party chief and the cadre to strive to strengthen the party. Mr Haribabu, who is also BJP state president, has called upon the cadre to work hard for the victory of all the party candidates contesting the GVMC polls.

Mr Nagendra has been associated with the party for the last 15 years. He served the party in different positions. He led many agitations by the party during the Congress regime. Mr Haribabu lauded Mr Nagendras services and contribution to the partys progress in the city.

The partys membership has risen from 25,000 to 4.5 lakh in the 72 wards and four mandals. There are 800-2,500 active members. Mr Nagendra had worked hard during his earlier tenure of the party city chief even when the party was in the Opposition. He said the central government, headed by Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi, is keen on developing Andhra Pradesh at large and Visakhapatnam as a Smart City.

He called upon the party cadre to ensure proper implementation of welfare schemes meant for the common people, such as Mudra Loan and Insurance Scheme. He said the government was keen to provide CSR gas connection to every BPL family in the State. Modis governement is committed to provide housing for all. The central urban development ministry, headed by M. Venkaiah Naidu, has sanctioned a total of 1,93,000 houses to AP and of this, 20,000 houses have been allotted to Visakhapatnam city.

He also added that various projects were sanctioned to Visakhapatnam such as Indian Institute of Management, Metro Rail, National Institute of Pharma Education & Research (NIPER), etc. During last general elections, Mr Nagendra coordinated between the BJP, TD and Jana Sena, which gave an astounding victory to the BJP and TD. Mr Nagendra said he would continue to work hard for the growth of the party in the city in the coming days and campaign for the welfare schemes launched by the union and state governments.
Will unmask, punish those behind Malda violence: Rajnath

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Ashok Nagar (West Bengal), Jan 21: Castigating the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal over the Malda violence, union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday assured that those behind the incident would be unmasked and brought to justice.

Describing the January 3 violence in Malda district's Kaliachak, where a police station was attacked and several vehicles torched, as "not a small incident", Rajnath Singh said no one in Bengal including police were safe.

"The Trinamool government described itself as the government of 'Maa, Maati and Manush' (Mother, land and people). But neither Maa, Maati nor Manush is safe. No one is safe in Bengal. Even police are not safe here," Rajnath Singh said at a party rally here in North 24 Parganas district, about 50 km from Kolkata.

"The Malda incident is not a small incident, and I want to tell this state government and the chief minister that those who are behind this incident, they will have to be unmasked.

"Who are responsible for the Malda incident, that needs to be unravelled. Just a few arrests will not suffice," said Rajnath Singh, wondering why the state government did not make elaborate police arrangements to tackle the situation.

"Didn't the government know that such a large procession will be there? Was it not the state government's responsibility to make suitable police arrangement?" he asked.

The home minister said the situation could have been averted had a senior police officer been at the spot from the beginning.

"I assure you, all those behind the Malda incident will be unmasked, and their destination will be jail.

"The criminals have become so emboldened that they are now attacking police stations. Do the people of Bengal want such governance?" he asked.

Rajnath Singh also rejected Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's claim that the incident was merely a dispute between the BSF and the locals.

"This was not a dispute between the BSF and a mob. Can the attackers on the BSF be called a mob?

"This government is trying to shield those who attacked the BSF, a force which secures our borders and has been giving a befitting reply to Pakistan.

"But those who attacked the BSF personnel are roaming scot-free. How can this happen?" asked Rajnath Singh.

Malda violence: Nitin Gadkari lashes out at TMC

"That's why I assure you, this incident will be unravelled and we will do whatever it takes."

According to reports, protesting against remarks allegedly made to "hurt religious sentiments" in Uttar Pradesh, a large number of people on January 3 went on a rampage in Kaliachak, torching vehicles including those belonging to the Border Security Force (BSF) and also attacked a police station.

IANS
IMF cancels rule created in 2010 to bail out Greece

International

oi-PTI

Washington, Jan 21: The International Monetary Fund has abolished a rule created in 2010 that allowed it to participate in an international bailout of Greece despite doubts about the country's debt sustainability.

"Today the executive board of the IMF approved an important reform to the Fund's exceptional access lending framework, including the removal of the systemic exemption," IMF spokesman Gerry Rice said in a brief statement yesterday. The "systemic exemption" amounted to a loophole in the IMF's longstanding policy that required the crisis lender to judge a member country's public debt to be sustainable with "high probability" before it could provide financial assistance that exceeds a member's contribution to the institution.

Reeling from budget and banking crises in 2010, deeply indebted Greece did not meet the sustainability condition and the IMF decided that a debt restructuring could pose severe negative spillovers on the rest of the eurozone.

The IMF thus created the "systemic exemption" provision which paved the way for it to join the European Union and the European Central Bank in the so-called "troika" of international lenders throwing a lifeline to Greece. For the IMF, that amounted to 30 billion euros (USD 32.7 billion) in May 2010, then an additional 18 billion euros in a second bailout two years later.

The systemic exemption was used more than 30 times to permit loan payments to Greece but also for Ireland and Portugal, two other eurozone members receiving assistance from the troika, by end-May 2014.

Its use, nevertheless, has stirred criticism, notably from some emerging-market countries that saw it as giving favorable treatment to European states in response to pressure from Western powers.

With the elimination of the loophole, the IMF is seeking to close a controversial chapter in its recent history as it decides whether to join the EU and ECB in a third bailout of Greece launched last August. In a sign that the abolition of this "systemic exemption" was already effectively in place, the IMF is demanding this time, before unblocking any new loans, that the Europeans first agree to ease Greece's debt burden to ensure its sustainability.

AFP
Julian Assange to be questioned at London hideout in sexual assault case

International

oi-PTI

London, Jan 21: Wikileaks founder Julian Assange will be questioned by Swedish authorities at his Ecuadorean embassy hideout here, where he is holed up since June 2012 after being wanted in Sweden over allegations of rape and sexual assault.

Ecuador's President Rafael Correa confirmed that a deal has been struck with Swedish prosecutors that will see Assange face questions over allegations he sexually assaulted two women, without having to leave the diplomatic building.

President Correa said the Swedish authorities will submit questions to Ecuadorian officials, who will then quiz Assange about them, UK media reports said.

Assange, an Australian national, sought political asylum at the embassy in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden as he feared being transported to the US to be quizzed over the activities of WikiLeaks that caused considerable harm to the US foreign policy interests.

Assange, 44, is wanted for questioning in Sweden over sex assault allegations against two women, which he has always denied.

Negotiations began in June last year between Ecuador's acting foreign minister Xavier Lasso and the Swedish justice ministry's international affairs chief Anna-Carin Svensson.

An Ecuadorian government statement had indicated a deal in December 2015: "The agreement, without any doubt, is a tool that strengthens bilateral relations and facilitates, for example, the execution of such legal actions as the questioning of Assange, isolated in the Ecuadorian embassy in London."

PTI
Nasheed leaves for UK for urgent medical treatment

International

oi-PTI

Colombo, Jan 21: Mohamed Nasheed, the former Maldivian president serving a 13-year jail sentence on terror charges, today left for London for urgent surgery after a brief stop over in Sri Lanka, his party has said. Nasheed, 48, arrived here on January 18 after he was released by the Maldivian government to seek medical treatment in the UK following an international intervention.

"He left Colombo early this morning," Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) spokesman Hamid Abdul Ghafoor said.

Sri Lankan foreign ministry denied that Nasheed had met President Maithripala Sirisena and other government leaders during his two-day stay in Colombo.

Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera and Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake visited Male last week to broker the arrangement which was also supported by India, the UK and US, officials said.

Nasheed was supposed to leave on Sunday after a deal brokered by diplomats from India and Sri Lanka as well as Britain, but his departure was delayed as the government imposed new conditions on his trip.

The Maldivian government was insisting that he nominate a family member to stay in Male to guarantee his return. Nasheed initially refused this proposal, but finally agreed to the offer.

Mohamed Nasheed arrives in Colombo to fly to UK for medical care

According to Maldivian government, Nasheed had signed an undertaking to return after his treatment and his brother has agreed to act as guarantor. Nasheed, the country's first democratically elected leader, was sentenced to 13 years in jail in March over the arbitrary arrest of chief criminal judge Abdullah Muhammed during his presidency.

He was elected in 2008, ending three decades of rule by former strongman Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. Nasheed resigned as the Maldives leader in February 2012 after weeks of protests over the judges arrest on corruption allegations.

The former president had appealed his prison sentence after backtracking on his earlier decision and opted to go to the Supreme Court instead. In his appeal, Nasheed had sought a lesser penalty under the new penal code that came into effect in November.

The Supreme Court had also been asked to nullify the charges lodged against him in the lower court and the subsequent sentence. India, the US and the European Union had all expressed concern over Nasheed's imprisonment and conviction.

His conviction drew widespread criticism over the apparent lack of due process in the 19-day trial. The current President Abdulla Yameen was elected in controversial polls in 2013 and is the half-brother of Gayoom.

PTI
Terror in Islamabad: A top secret mission, all for the nation, all for the truth

Unlike Pakistan where 'fanatics are eulogised': India slams Islamabad over reaction on Prophet comment row

On move to extend China-Pak Economic Corridor, India says its inherently unacceptable

Pakistan says too early to say who attacked varsity

International

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Islamabad, Jan 21: Pakistani authorities on Thursday said it was too early to draw conclusions about who was behind sickening violence at the Bacha Khan University in northwest Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

"It is premature to draw any conclusion as to who may be behind the Charsada University attack before investigations are complete," Foreign Office spokesperson Qazi Khalilullah said here.

Pak University attack: Rehman Malik blames RAW & Manohar Parrikar!

"Initial investigations reveal that attackers were in contact with their handlers reportedly operating from Afghanistan," Khalilullah said during the weekly briefing here in Islamabad.

Islamabad was likely to renew its demand from Kabul to eliminate Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan's sanctuaries from Afghan soil, he added.

Following the attack on the state-run university, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) director general Lt Gen. Asim Saleem Bajwa said on Wednesday the Bacha Khan University attackers were in touch with their handlers in Afghanistan during the assault.

"The attackers were in touch with a number from Afghanistan," the chief military spokesperson told a news briefing in Peshawar.

He said the SIM cards used in the phones were of Afghan origin. He added that a mobile phone recovered from one of the attackers was receiving calls even after he had been killed.

Pakistan Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif called Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani and shared investigation details of the attack with him, Bajwa said.

After Pathankot, Charsadda: 6 steps India & Pakistan must take now

Asim Bajwa said Gen Sharif also shared these details with Afghan chief executive Abdullah Abdullah and commander of Resolute Support Mission and US Forces in Afghanistan Gen John Campbell.

He said investigation on the Charsadda university attack revealed it was "being controlled from a location in Afghanistan through an Afghan cell phone by a TTP operative".

Four terrorists, armed with sub-machine guns, pistols and hand grenades, launched the attack around 8.45 a.m. when the campus was enveloped in thick morning fog.

According to eyewitnesses and officials, the terrorists scaled the rear wall of the campus and entered the guest house of the vice chancellor.

At least 21 people, mostly students, were killed and dozens injured in the brazen attack at the university, claimed by splinter group of TTP, though the fugitive leadership of the umbrella group denied involvement.

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 University attack: Rehman Malik blames RAW & Manohar Parrikar!

International

oi-Preeti

Islamabad, Jan 21: Pakistan's former interior minister Rehman Malik on Wednesday, Jan 20, blamed India and India's defence minister Manohar Parrikar for the deadly terror attack at Bacha Khan University in Charsadda, northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, that claimed at least 30 lives.

Malik's startling claim came even when Pakistan's Tehreek-e-Taliban had claimed the responsibility shortly after the attack.

While talking to a Pakistani news channel Jaag TV, Malik said that Indian defence minister's statement can't be overlooked. [Whoever harms India should receive the pain in the same coin: Parrikar on Pathankot attack]

In a direct attack at India's Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), Malik said, "This joint terrorist attack by RAW, Afghan Intel and TTP should be an eye opener for the international community and note their double faces."

Malik also tweeted, "I salute the brave people of KPK who have always demonstrated courage in the most difficult moments. I salute and pray for the shuhdas of BK University."

Malik also denied that Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) is behind Pathankot airbase terror attack and went on to said that India itself is behind Pathankot attack, while adding that RAW does not want to see improved relations between India and Pakistan.

On Monday, Jan 11, without naming Pakistan, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had asserted that any individual or organisation causing pain to India should be paid back in the same coin but how, when and where "should be of our choice".

Rehman Malik on Charsadda attack, says Indian defence minister's statement can't be overlooked@SenRehmanMalik pic.twitter.com/jvlwkVAYoH  M Hassan Khan (@mhassan4468) January 20, 2016

This joint terrorist attack by RAW,Afghan Intel and TTP shd be an eye opener for the international community and note their double faces  Senator Rehman Malik (@SenRehmanMalik) January 20, 2016

Sir u mean he is tolerant to me?is it a direct threat to me from PM Modi.I do not care if he is no more tolerant https://t.co/faXPugxpIp  Senator Rehman Malik (@SenRehmanMalik) January 20, 2016

OneIndia News
What does the US actually want in Syria?

Syria peace talks expected to start 'in next few days': Lavrov

International

oi-PTI

Zurich, Jan 21: Syria peace talks are expected to begin within a few days, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday, adding that Moscow was ready to cooperate closer with the United States on Syria aid supplies.

Lavrov, who met his US counterpart John Kerry in Zurich today in a bid to give momentum to Syria peace talks due to begin on January 25, rejected suggestions the negotiations might be delayed until February amid disagreements over who will represent the opposition.

"We are sure that in the next few days, in January, these talks should begin," he told reporters. He stressed though that the United Nations was leading the process and the start date would ultimately be determined by UN chief Ban Ki-moon and his envoy on Syria Staffan De Mistura.

Kerry did not make any comments today, but his spokesman John Kirby said in a statement that the two men had "discussed plans for the UN-led negotiations between the Syrian parties on January 25 and the importance of maintaining progress toward a diplomatic solution to the crisis in Syria.

" Before leaving Washington today, Kirby had meanwhile acknowledged that "there is still quite a bit of work that needs to be done to get the meeting to occur" between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime and representatives of the opposition.

But disagreement over who will represent the opposition has cast doubt over whether the UN-brokered talks will begin on schedule.

The 17 countries pushing for a peace deal for war-ravaged Syria, including the United States, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Iran, have struggled to agree on the list of opposition delegates.

IS fighter blows himself up in Syria

Lavrov meanwhile said today that he and Kerry had discussed another thorny issue: Russia's air strikes in Syria. He said Moscow was ready to coordinate more closely with the US-led coalition to help facilitate aid deliveries inside the war-torn country.

"We spoke about how the Russian airforce, when planning its actions, takes into account the programmes that the UN humanitarian organisations, the Red Cross and other NGOs carry out," Lavrov said.

"We said that we will be ready to more closely coordinate our actions with the American coalition in this direction," he stressed. Earlier today, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Russian air strikes had killed more than 1,000 civilians, including more than 200 children, in Syria since they began in September.

AFP
International news brief: Trump rape accuser plans suit under new NY 'survivors' law and more

Fact Check: Did Trump thank Musk for welcoming him back to Twitter

Trump gets indirect backing of key Republican

International

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Washington, Jan 21; A day after winning the endorsement of Sarah Palin, Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump won the indirect backing of another establishment figure as he held a 20-point lead in a key primary state.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz would be even worse for the Republican Party than the real estate mogul Trump were he to win the presidential nomination, former presidential nominee Bob Dole told the New York Times on Wednesday.

Warning of "cataclysmic" and "wholesale losses" for the Republican Party if Cruz prevails, Dole, who unsuccessfully challenged then Democratic President Bill Clinton in 1996, said Cruz had made enemies in Washington.

"I don't know how he's going to deal with Congress," Dole told the Times. "Nobody likes him."

Trump, on the other hand, could "probably work with Congress, because he's, you know, he's got the right personality and he's kind of a deal-maker", Dole added.

Dole has endorsed former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and previously said he might "oversleep" on Election Day if Cruz ends up the nominee.

Questioning Cruz's commitment to the Republican Party, Dole called him an "extremist" and said Cruz chooses "conservative" as his label.

"If he's the nominee, we're going to have wholesale losses in Congress and state offices and governors and legislatures," Dole said.

Dole said only Trump seemed to be able to take Cruz on, and he added that the real estate mogul seems to have "toned down" his rhetoric.

He added that Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton was beatable -- but not for Cruz.

"I think she'd be a pretty easy target in the general, if we nominate the right person," Dole said. "If (Cruz) does it, I think she'll win in a waltz."

The 92-year-old former lawmaker is only the latest establishment Republican to express concern about Cruz's growing strength in the Republican primary polls, after Iowa Governor Terry Branstad on Tuesday said he hoped that Cruz was defeated.

Meanwhile, Trump, who won former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee Palin's endorsement on Tuesday, led by 34 percent to 14 percent over Cruz among voters in New Hampshire's February 9 Republican primary.

Bush and Florida Senator Marco Rubio are tied for the third spot with 10 percent each in the new CNN/WMUR Poll.

But Cruz has grown the most since a December poll: He's climbed from 6 percent to 14 percent, largely on the strength of a favourability rating that has jumped from 46 percent in December to 55 percent now.

Trump, though, dominates on the two issues that likely voters have identified as most important: the economy and the threat of ISIS.

Nearly half -- 48 percent -- of Republicans say Trump would best handle the economy, far ahead of Bush, Cruz and Ohio governor John Kasich, with just 7 percent each.

And 32 percent say he'd best handle the Islamic State, ahead of Cruz's 14 percent, Bush's 12 percent and Rubio's 10 percent.

IANS
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Thrissur: Business tycoon Mohammed Nisham was held guilty in the sensational Chandrabose murder case by the trial court here on Wednesday.

District Additional Sessions Court judge K.P. Sudhir will pronounce the quantum of punishment on Thursday.

The accused has been found guilty under IPC section 302 (murder), 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 506 (i) (death threat), 427 (destruction of property) and 447 (criminal trespass), the judge said while announcing the verdict.

During the trial, 79 hearings were conducted in the case in which Nisham was charged with brutally attacking the watchman with a Hummer at Shobha city here on January 30 last year. Chandrabose later died in the hospital.

Among the charges slapped by the police, IPC section 341 (forceful restraint), and 291 (for verbal abuse) were dropped by the trial court.

Nisham told the court after the verdict that he was suffering from bi-polar disorder and that he has an aged mother, two children and several employees and workers who were dependent on him. He sought leniency from the court while awarding the sentence.

Special public prosecutor C.P. Udyabhanu said Nisham was also slapped with Kerala Anti-social Prevention Act and was lodged in Kannur central jail for six months.

The manner in which the accused rammed his Hummer on Chandrabose, shows the arrogance and inhumanness of the business tycoon, he told the court.

For such a crime he deserves capital punishment," Mr Udyabahanu told the court.
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Opalesque Industry Update - The New York Hedge Fund Roundtable is proud to announce that Adam Weinstein has been named President-Elect for the 2016 year, effective immediately. As President-Elect, Weinstein will shadow the Roundtables current President, Timothy P. Selby, (a partner at Alston & Bird and head of its Investment Management Trading and Markets practice group) until he assumes the reins of the organization at some point later this year. Weinstein, who has served as the chief financial officer for the Roundtable for many years, is a Managing Director at New Mountain Capital, where he is both Chief Financial Officer and Chief Administrative Officer. Boasting more than 15 years of experience within the alternative investment community, he brings a wealth of industry experience to the Roundtable. Weinstein has been with New Mountain for more than 10 years. Prior to that was with Deloitte & Touches M&A group, having initially worked with blue chip private equity clients within the firms audit practice. One of the single most important decisions an organization can make is identifying a successor. I have worked with Adam for about eight years on Roundtable matters and I am confident that he will effectively lead the New York Hedge Fund Roundtable as it evolves during the next chapter of its evolutionary life cycle. It is with great pleasure that I will work with Adam on this transition and support his vision for leading the Roundtable. said Selby, who will remain a Director of the Roundtable and will stay actively involved with its leadership after Weinstein takes over as president. After more than seven years as president, I felt it was time to bring a fresh perspective to the day-to-day management of the Roundtable. I have enjoyed my tenure more than words can convey. There is no finer group of professionals committed to advancing the mission of a not-for profit organization. said Selby. Stanley Goldstein, who founded the New York Hedge Fund Roundtable in 2004 and serves as its Chairman, said he is excited about Weinsteins elevation on the management committee. Tim has done an incredible job helping expand the reach of the Roundtable beyond hedge funds and into other areas of the alternative investment community. He has really raised the bar when it comes to members expectations of the caliber of monthly events we hold, philanthropic organizations we support and industry matters we otherwise bring to the fore with our membership and the alternative investment community, said Goldstein. With Tims ongoing guidance and Adams fresh insights and ideas, I believe the Roundtable is positioned to become an even more valuable resource for individuals working within the alternative investment arena. Weinstein, who has been an active member of the Roundtable for 10 years, is excited to be part of the organizations leadership. The New York Hedge Fund Roundtable has been a valuable resource for individuals within the alternative investment community to discuss issues of importance within the industry and to network with their peers, he said. I am excited to become more involved with shaping our monthly events and the topics the Roundtable focuses on each month. Stanley Goldstein had a wonderful vision many years ago when he created an organization that has had such a far reaching and deep impact, and Tim has been an exceptional President over the past seven years as he has grown and built upon Stanleys initial vision. Following is a complete list of members of the Roundtables management committee for 2016: Directors: Stanley Goldstein, Chairman Founder, New York Hedge Fund Roundtable Jason Jones Founder, Portfolio Manager with HighStep Capital Timothy P. Selby Partner, Head of Investment Management Practice with Alston & Bird Timothy G. Sledge Director, Epoch Investment Partners Carol Van Atten Vice President of Programs at the Charles Hayden Foundation Officers: Timothy P. Selby, President Partner, Head of Investment Management Practice with Alston & Bird Adam Weinstein, President-Elect Managing Director with New Mountain Capital Carol Van Atten, Vice President Vice President of Programs at the Charles Hayden Foundation Kunjan Mehta, Treasurer Partner at Grant Thornton Sarah Tomolonious, Secretary Vice President of Marketing and Investor Relations at Arlon Group Management Committee: BJ Bellock, Monthly Forum Committee Chair COO and Director of Business Development, HedgeCo Dom DiPasquale, Monthly Forum Committee Director of Investment Manager Sales, Co-Head North America at Bloomberg Pierre DuPont, Membership Partner at HPM Partners Megan Flynn Harnett, Membership Senior Business Analyst at General Atlantic Ashley Groves, Education/Best Practices Committee Vice President of Key Accounts at AFEX Gabrielle Guttman, Industry Liaison Committee Founder & President, Connext Consulting Stuart Koonce, Education/Best Practices Committee Partner, Member of the Investment Fund, Advisors & Derivatives Group at Sidley Austin Eric Lazear, Industry Liaison Committee Chief Operating Officer and Chief Compliance Officer at IAM Limited Jonathan Luttwak, Membership Co-Chair Co-Head of Alternative Investment Services at Cushman and Wakefield Michael Medvinsky, Technology Committee Chair CEO, Nedelma Layne Moskowitz, Monthly Forum Committee Sales Manager, Hedge Funds in CT/NY, Bloomberg Susan Reph, Philanthropy Chair Sales Manager at Bloomberg Sachin Sawhney, Digital Marketing & Social Media Founder/Executive Director, New Energy Connect Peter Suhr, Membership President, Strategy and Distribution Inc. Alvarez Symonette, Membership MAK Capital Brian S. Toth, Sponsorship & Education Chair/Best Practices Committee High-Yield Credit Analyst, Independent Consultant Sarah Tomolonius, Corporate & Social Responsibility Chair /Membership Co-Chair Vice President of Marketing and Investor Relations at Arlon Group The Roundtable will continue to hold quarterly open meetings for members interested in contributing to the organizations initiatives. For more information about membership, or to apply to become a member of the Roundtable, please visit https://nyhfr.org/request_access.pl or email us at membership@nyhfr.org.
Israel confirmed on Thursday it was planning to appropriate a large tract of fertile land in the occupied West Bank, close to Jordan, a move likely to exacerbate tensions with Western allies and already drawing international condemnation. The appropriation, covers 154 hectares (380 acres) in the Jordan Valley close to Jericho, an area where Israel already has many settlement farms built on land Palestinians seek for a state. It is the largest land seizure since August 2014. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon denounced the move and Palestinian officials said they would push for a resolution at the United Nations against Israel's settlement policies.


Convicted Spy Jonathan Pollard Gets Released

(Image by Inside Edition, Channel: cbstvdinsideedition) Details DMCA





Freed Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard will be making his debut performance in front of major Jewish leaders next week  and has already won a fight to get a more Shabbat-friendly electronic monitoring bracelet, the Forward has learned. Pollard, who was released from prison in November after serving 30 years of his life sentence, will speak to members of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish American Organizations in New York. One purpose of the meeting, according to two sources informed about the event, is to discuss the status of Pollards legal battle to further ease his parole conditions. For the first five years after his release, Pollard is not allowed to leave the United States. He is required to remain in New York and is banned from entering certain places including airports and the embassies of Israel, China and South Africa.
Reprinted from Paul Craig Roberts Website

Several years ago a new commentator appeared on the scene. He writes under the pen name, The Saker, and describes himself as European born son of Russian refugees from the Bolshevik Revolution. He has two US college degrees and worked in Europe as a military analyst until his opposition to the US/NATO sponsored wars in Chechnia, Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo cost him his career. He retooled as a software engineer and began writing in response to the nonsense spewed by the Western media.

The Saker knows several languages which, together with his background, provides him access to information not available in the presstitute media. He has collected articles and essays from his website and published them as a book, The Essential Saker.

The Saker is an outside-the-box thinker. His analysis is interesting even if you disagree with it. He makes you think. He is knowledgable in many areas. His contrast of the "Russian civilizational realm" with the "AngloZionist Empire" contains many valuable insights into the real differences between Russia and the West.

His book is divided into parts: Russia and Islam, Russia and the Ukraine, Russia and the West, Anglo-Zionism, Russia and China, Syria and Iran, France, the Russian Military, Religion, the West and Sex, and a section explaining how he became a 9/11 truther.

The Saker's writings have many virtues. They are forthright and do not kowtow to political correctness and enforcement groups such as the homosexual lobby, the Israel lobby, and the neoconservative media.

The Saker points out that the role assigned to NATO by Washington is to isolate Russia politically and to threaten Russia militarily. This role originates in the neoconservatives' Russophobia, which is partly based in myths about Soviet oppression of Jews and overlooks that it was only Jews who had the right to emigrate from the Soviet Union. The Saker finds it astonishing that the West so lacks leadership that a medieval concept of ethnicity shared by a small group of neoconservatives is able to be the determining factor in the formulation of the West's aggressive policy toward Russia, a major military and nuclear power that does not have to tolerate the dissolute West.

The real competition between Russia and the West is the competition between the Russian/Chinese multipolar model and the Anglo-Zionist unipolar imperial model. When the characteristics of these two models are compared point by point, it is obvious that most countries are going to chose to align with the multipolar model. In other words, the stakes are high, because the West's days are numbered.

It did not have to be this way, but the neoconservative animus toward Russia forced Russia to "finally turn her face to her natural ecosphere -- the East" and to form the Eurasian Economic Union and alliance with China. China's participation in Russia's Victory Day parade, boycotted by the West, marked a turning point in history and sealed the defeat of the pro-Western "Atlantic integrationists" inside Russia. While Hillary Clinton calls the President of Russia "the new Hitler," the Saker notes that "the true heir of the Nazi regime is the Anglo-Zionist Empire, with its global hegemonic ambitions and never ending colonial wars."

The Saker is not taken in by false flag events. He recognizes the Paris attacks for what they are and correctly predicted that the French government would capitalize on the attacks to "crack down on their own population," just as 9/11 was used in the US to eviscerate constitutional protections and launch wars. He finds the West's hypocrisy over the Charlie Hebdo attack to be repulsive. Marching in support of 12 degenerate dead Frenchmen while ignoring the West's murder of hundreds of thousands of Muslims "made insulting others into some kind of noble feat."

The Saker thinks that perhaps the rising cost of being a component of the Anglo-Zionist Empire, such as the refugees from the West's wars that are overrunning European countries, could result in the decolonization of Europe. Regardless, he does not see hope in democratic elections given the propagandistic function of the Western media. He notes that the experts who comprise the 9/11 truth movement have "proven far beyond reasonable doubt that the Twin Towers and WTC7 were brought down by controlled demolition." Yet this fact has had no impact on the political order. Change is more likely to result from Western failures than from reforms.

The Saker has interesting things to say about Western cultural developments as well as foreign affairs. He notes, for example, that precisely the same argument that was used to normalize homosexuality also normalizes pedophilia. He wonders if all of the traditional paraphilia, the pathological sexual activities, including incest and necrophilia, are on their way to normalization. Perhaps it is already happening. The Saker quotes from a Canadian newspaper report: "Ottawa, Ontario, February 28, 2011. In a recent parliamentary session on a bill relating to sexual offenses against children, psychology experts claimed that pedophilia is a 'sexual orientation' comparable to homosexuality or heterosexuality." A definition of normal behavior is behavior that cannot be changed through treatment. The experts testified that pedophiles, just like homosexuals, "do not change their sexual orientation," and thus are normal.

There is much to be learned from the Saker. However, he is not always right. He gets both Ronald Reagan and Joseph Stalin wrong. As these are both subjects about which I am knowledgable, I am going to correct him. I have learned so much from the Saker that he can learn a little from me.

The Saker sees President Reagan as allied with the neoconservatives in support of monied interests, US military violence, illegality, American arrogance and imperial hubris, and systematic deception. Saker's impression of Reagan seems to have come from a left-wing screed. As I have explained many times, president Reagan had two goals. I know because I had assignments in both. One was to end the stagflation that was devastating the poor and the prospects for the government's budget. The other was to end -- not win -- the cold war.

These were difficult undertakings. Wall Street, the Republican Establishment, and even Reagan's own chief-of-staff and budget director did not understand his economic program. At the Treasury in order to get Reagan's program out of his own government we had to fight the Reagan administration. Anyone interested in this history can read my book, The Supply-Side Revolution (Harvard University Press, 1984). There were no neocons in the Treasury. Reagan's economic policy was based on the Kemp-Roth bill, which I wrote while a member of the congressional staff. The supply-side approach to macroeconomics became the policy of both House Republicans and Senate Democrats.

The Saker's focus is on Reagan's foreign policy, which Saker misunderstands along with the danger to Reagan of the politics of the policy. The military/security complex did not want the Cold War to end, because the cold war was profitable for the power and profit of the military/security complex. American conservatives did not trust the Soviets and did not trust presidents who negotiated with them. The wily Gorbachev, whom many called the anti-Christ, would take advantage of the old movie actor, and America would suffer the consequences.
On 26 January, one of the saddest days in human history will be celebrated in Australia. It will be "a day for families," say the newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch. Flags will be dispensed at street corners and displayed on funny hats. People will say incessantly how proud they are.





For many, there is relief and gratitude. In my lifetime, non-indigenous Australia has changed from an Anglo-Irish society to one of the most ethnically diverse on earth. Those we used to call "New Australians" often choose 26 January, "Australia Day," to be sworn in as citizens. The ceremonies can be touching. Watch the faces from the Middle East and understand why they clench their new flag.





It was sunrise on 26 January so many years ago when I stood with Indigenous and non Indigenous Australians and threw wreaths into Sydney Harbour. We had climbed down to one of the perfect sandy coves where others had stood as silhouettes, watching as the ships of Britain's "First Fleet" dropped anchor on 26 January, 1788.





This was the moment the only island continent on earth was taken from its inhabitants; the euphemism was "settled." It was, wrote Henry Reynolds, one of few honest Australian historians, one of the greatest land grabs in world history. He described the slaughter that followed as "a whispering in our hearts."





The original Australians are the oldest human presence. To the European invaders, they did not exist because their continent had been declared terra nullius: empty land. To justify this fiction, mass murder was ordained.





In 1838, the Sydney Monitor reported: "It was resolved to exterminate the whole race of blacks in that quarter." This referred to the Darug people who lived along the great Hawkesbury River not far from Sydney. With remarkable ingenuity and without guns, they fought an epic resistance that remains almost a national secret. In a land littered with cenotaphs honoring Australia's settler dead in mostly imperial wars, not one stands for those warriors who fought and fell defending Australia.





This truth has no place in the Australian consciousness. Among settler nations with indigenous populations, apart from a facile "apology" in 2008, only Australia has refused to come to terms with the shame of its colonial past. A Hollywood film, Soldier Blue, in 1970 famously inverted racial stereotypes and gave Americans a glimpse of the genocide in their own mythical "settlement." Almost half a century later, it is fair to say an equivalent film would never be made in Australia.





In 2014, when my own film, Utopia, which told the story of the Australian genocide, sought a local distributor, I was advised by a luminary in the business: "No way I could distribute this. The audiences wouldn't accept it."

He was wrong -- up to a point.





When Utopia opened in Sydney a few days before 26 January, under the stars on vacant land in an Indigenous inner-city area known as The Block, more than 4,000 people came, the majority non-Indigenous. Many had travelled from right across the continent. Indigenous leaders who had appeared in the film stood in front of the screen and spoke in "language": their own.





Nothing like it had happened before. Yet, there was no press. For the wider community, it did not happen. Australia is a murdochracy, dominated by the ethos of a man who swapped his nationality for the Fox Network in the US.





The star Indigenous AFL footballer Adam Goodes wrote movingly to the Sydney Morning Herald demanding that "the silence is broken." "Imagine," he wrote, "watching a film that tells the truth about the terrible injustices committed against your people, a film that reveals how Europeans, and the governments that have run our country, have raped, killed and stolen from your people for their own benefit.





"Now imagine how it feels when the people who benefited most from those rapes, those killings and that theft -- the people in whose name the oppression was done -- turn away in disgust when someone seeks to expose it."





Goodes himself had already broken a silence when he stood against racist abuse thrown at him and other Indigenous sportspeople. This courageous, talented man retired from football last year as if under a cloud -- with, wrote one commentator, "the sporting nation divided about him." In Australia, it is respectable to be "divided" on opposing racism.



On Australia Day 2016 -- Indigenous people prefer Invasion Day or Survival Day -- there will be no acknowledgement that Australia's uniqueness is its first people, along with an ingrained colonial mentality that ought to be an abiding embarrassment in an independent nation. This mentality is expressed in a variety of ways, from unrelenting political grovelling at the knee of a rapacious United States to an almost casual contempt for Indigenous Australians, an echo of "kaffir" -- abusing South Africans.





Apartheid runs through Australian society. Within a short flight from Sydney, Indigenous people live the shortest of lives. Men are often dead before they reach 45. They die from Dickensian diseases, such as rheumatic heart disease. Children go blind from trachoma, and deaf from otitis media, diseases of poverty.





A doctor told me, "I wanted to give a patient an anti-inflammatory for an infection that would have been preventable if living conditions were better, but I couldn't treat her because she didn't have enough food to eat and couldn't ingest the tablets. I feel sometimes as if I'm dealing with similar conditions as the English working class of the beginning of the industrial revolution."





The racism that allows this in one of the most privileged societies on earth runs deep. In the 1920s, a "Protector of Aborigines" oversaw the theft of mixed race children with the justification of "breeding out the colour." Today, record numbers of Indigenous children are removed from their homes and many never see their families again. On 11 February, an inspiring group called Grandmothers Against Removals will lead a march on Federal Parliament in Canberra, demanding the return of the stolen children.





Australia is the envy of European governments now fencing in their once-open borders while beckoning fascism, as in Hungary. Refugees who dare set sail for Australia in overcrowded boats have long been treated as criminals, along with the "smugglers" whose hyped notoriety is used by the Australian media to distract from the immorality and criminality of their own government. The refugees are confined behind barbed wire on average for well over a year, some indefinitely, in barbaric conditions that have led to self-harm, murder, suicide and mental illness. Children have not been spared. An Australian Gulag run by sinister private security firms includes concentration camps on the remote Pacific islands of Manus and Nauru. People often have no idea when they might be freed, if at all.





The Australian military -- whose derring-do is the subject of uncritical tomes that fill the shelves of airport bookstalls -- has played an important part in "turning back the boats" of refugees fleeing wars, such as in Iraq, launched and prolonged by the Americans and their Australian mercenaries. No irony, let alone responsibility, is acknowledged in this cowardly role.





On this Australia Day, the "pride of the services" will be on display. This pride extends to the Australian Immigration Department, which commits people to its Gulag for "offshore processing," often arbitrarily, leaving them to grieve and despair and rot. Last week it was announced that Immigration officials had spent $400,000 on medals which they will award their heroic selves. Put out more flags.









Notes:



On January 26, Indigenous Australians and their supporters will march from The Block in Redfern, Sydney, to the Sydney Town Hall. The march will begin at 10 am.





On Thursday February 11, Grandmothers Against Removals will address a rally in Canberra. This will start at 12 noon at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, then march to Parliament House.
Reprinted from Smirking Chimp

The independent senator from Vermont says the economic system is rigged against working-class Americans. He's right.

The electoral political system is a subsidiary of those who rule the economy. Which is why Bernie Sanders never stood a chance. The political system was rigged against him.

And yet, despite the formidable institutional obstacles stacked against him, Sanders is doing great: largely considered a shoo-in to win New Hampshire, leading in Iowa, closing the gap nationally. Surprised pundits are marveling at his popular momentum, ground organization and fundraising prowess. There is now a credible path to the Democratic nomination and, if he runs against GOP frontrunner Donald Trump, to the White House.

Center-right Hillaryworld wants to know: how did this happen?

Leftists wonder: is this cause for hope?

It is an amazing story. Everyone in a position to block Sanders' campaign did everything they could to sabotage him.

Knowing that coverage is the essential oxygen of politics, the media mostly ignored him. By one measure, corporate media gave Trump 23 times more coverage than Sanders! On the few occasions when they spilled a little ink on Bernie, it was to insult him and his socialist politics. (My personal Exhibit A was a New York Times piece that carried a photo that emphasized his bald spot.)

Marginalization always used to work. Remember John Edwards? His 2008 primary campaign was doomed because TV networks refused to cover him. But the media's cold shoulder isn't hurting Bernie.

In the bag for Hillary Clinton and remembering the lesson of 2008 -- the more voters hear from her the less they like her -- the Democratic National Committee fed her aura of inevitability by refusing to give Bernie the exposure and legitimacy offered by a robust round of debates. Debates, the few of them the manipulative DNC chair and Hillary toady Debbie Wasserman Schultz allowed to take place, were scheduled for the nights known for low television viewership.

That tactic backfired. Hillary did better than Bernie in the first three debates. But no one saw her flex her foreign-affairs muscles.

Bernie got nothing but chicanery from the DNC, to the point that the Sanders camp had to sue to access its own voter data. Which only reinforced his image as a rebel -- not easy for a U.S. senator -- and further endeared him to his supporters.

Despite everything, Sanders could win.

Moreover, it's not just Sanders the candidate who is doing well. His "unusual" politics are becoming usual.

Sanders' self-labeling as a democratic socialist -- universally considered political suicide in the United States -- is catching on. In one of the most surprising poll results of the 2016 race, a recent survey of likely Iowa caucus-goers finds that more of them call themselves socialist (43%) than capitalist (38%).

Where did Iowa's socialists come from? They certainly weren't indoctrinated by the mainstream system. No ideology, not even radical Islam, has come under heavier systemic assault than socialism. From the Palmer Raids of a century ago to McCarthyism to the Tea Party's (sadly mistaken) insinuations that President Obama is a secret red, socialism has been the bete rouge of mainstream American politics: reviled in ridiculous movies, misrepresented and excluded from acceptable public debate, even on the watered-down liberalism that passes for a "left." Even in schools, socialism and communism are lied about -- if they're mentioned at all.
Reprinted from shadowproof.com

The objective of the week for liberals appears to be to make clear Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is some kind of pariah. Despite how his candidacy has transformed into a phenomenon over the past months, establishment liberals maintain the U.S. senator from Vermont should not be considered a "serious" candidate. They believe it would be a huge mistake if a Democrat with unapologetic socialist leanings won the nomination, especially over Hillary Clinton.

But these cases against Sanders are really arguments against citizens voting their conscience. The uncertainty and dismissiveness toward Sanders serves to silence any critics of the corporate-driven politics entrenched in the Democratic Party. It suggests a fear that Democrats might actually stand against corporate power for a change.

The New York Times reports "alarmed Hillary Clinton supporters" are warning Sanders "would be an electoral disaster who would frighten swing voters and send Democrats in tight congressional and governor's races to defeat." Supporters cast Sanders as "unelectable" and attempt to present him as the Republicans' favored nominee because super political action committees run by operatives like Karl Rove would supposedly prefer to see the Republican nominee run against Sanders.

Liberal columnist Jonathan Chait published what is being touted as the definitive case against Sanders. Another liberal columnist, Michael Cohen, penned a shrill op-ed for The Boston Globe, entitled "Bernie Sanders doesn't know how politics work." Vox's Matt Yglesias urged Democratic voters to take Sanders "seriously," by which he means it is time to recognize all Sanders has to offer America is "half-baked" plans and populist slogans.

This rhetoric fits a playbook the American liberal class has followed for the past decades. As writer Chris Hedges argued, "The liberal class' disposal of its most independent and courageous members has long been part of its pathology." After World War I, and especially after World War II, corporations gradually sought more and more control of the state. Corporations now hold government completely captive and the liberal class, which "purged itself of the only members who had the fortitude and vision to save it from irrelevance," bears some responsibility.

Those in power expect liberals to police others on the left who would threaten their supremacy. So, when a political elite such as Clinton is faced with a formidable opponent, liberal pundits wittingly or unwittingly devise arguments for why Americans should vote against their interests and support someone who would likely manage government in a manner suitable for the corporate state.

Chait has had off-the-record meetings with President Barack Obama, where he gets to flatter himself with the fact that a president trusts him to represent his views in columns written for Americans. So, let's focus on deconstructing some of Chait's arguments against Sanders.

The White House's favored pundit confesses he does not support Sanders' policy vision, but even if he did, it would be an "unusually poor time" to make this policy vision the "centerpiece of a presidential campaign." Democrats, who support Sanders, "risk losing the presidency by embracing a politically radical doctrine that stands zero chance of enactment even if they win."

Back in October, Chait called Clinton the "all-but-certain Democratic nominee," and he is panicking because his certainty was wrong. How Chait can claim to know what stands "zero chance of enactment" when he so misjudged the potential of Sanders' campaign is flabbergasting. But the argument, which most deserves to be challenged, is the notion that Sanders imperils Democrats' chances in the 2016 election at each level of government because politicians will have to defend his socialist leanings.

Citizens are not managers of democracy. They do not need to concern themselves with political strategy and cynical concepts like "electability." To the extent that voting actually matters, a citizen's job should be to vote their conscience. After voting, citizens should participate or return to direct actions and grassroots organizing, which can grow movements that provide the momentum to make enacting policies Sanders supports possible.

Chait refuses to contemplate the role grassroots organizations might play during a Sanders presidency. He does, however, acknowledge Sanders has mobilized a "mass grassroots volunteer army." Yet, Chait maintains Obama organized volunteers on a larger scale than Sanders, "tried to keep his volunteers engaged throughout his presidency, and that "failed," which is not true.

Once Obama was elected in 2008, as Rolling Stone's Tim Dickinson reported, "Obama's grass-roots network effectively went dark for two months after Election Day, failing to engage activists eager for their new marching orders." David Plouffe, Obama's former campaign manager, took the network and made it a part of the Democratic National Committee.

"The move meant that the machinery of an insurgent candidate, one who had vowed to upend the Washington establishment, would now become part of that establishment, subject to the entrenched, partisan interests of the Democratic Party. It made about as much sense as moving Greenpeace into the headquarters of ExxonMobil," according to Dickinson.

What about the idea that Sanders poses an "enormous obstacle" because Americans respond to "socialism" with "overwhelming negativity"?

Such an argument rests upon a legacy of red-baiting and hysteria toward all things labeled socialist or left-wing. The negativity would not necessarily be impervious to the proposals of Sanders if he was the nominee and the news media had no choice but to constantly cover and discuss his socialist-leaning plans.
Reprinted from Alon Ben-Meir Website

The timely implementation of the Iran deal and Tehran's full compliance with its various provisions to date should not be viewed as just an accomplished goal, but as a continuing process that could take several years to determine its viability and the extent to which it impacts Iran's foreign and domestic policy. I believe the deal will encourage Tehran to continue its customary underhanded activities to advance its strategic interests. Conversely, it will intensify the restiveness of many of the Western-oriented Iranian youth, who are resentful of the regime's heavy-handed social and political policies.

Given Iran's domestic political volatility and regional ambition, Tehran should not be expected to choose a single strategy to advance its national interests. Instead, it will pursue a mixture of policies consistent with its self-perception and drive to become the region's hegemon.

Iran perceives itself as the most significant regional power by virtue of its rich culture and long history extending over four millennia in one of the most geostrategic locations in the world. Iran has a huge pool of natural resources and a multi-faceted economy with an industrious population of nearly 80 million people (larger than the combined Sunni population in the Gulf), and a landmass bigger than the entire Arabian Peninsula.

Notwithstanding the Iran deal, Tehran remains determined to acquire nuclear weapons and views the deal only as a temporary strategic pause. Iran's resolve to possess a nuclear arsenal is driven by its sense of insecurity and vulnerability because it is surrounded by unstable states including Afghanistan and Pakistan. In addition, a nuclear Iran would allow it to assert itself regionally, neutralize Israel's nuclear capacity, prevent forcible regime change by outside powers, and domestically present itself as a significant global power to be reckoned with.

As such, Tehran feels it has not only the inherent right to be the region's hegemon, but also the right to protect itself not only militarily, but by any other methods including cheating on the nuclear deal, subversion, and supporting terrorism.

This explains why the lifting of sanctions and the billions of dollars now at its disposal will not change Iran's behavior neither domestically nor in relation to other countries. In fact, it might even further embolden Tehran to intensify its direct and indirect involvement in the countries in which it has a unique strategic interest:

Syria: Iran will join the conference on January 25 to find a political solution to Syria's civil war as long as it can maintain its influence in Syria with or without President Assad. For Iran, Syria provides a contiguous crescent extending from the Mediterranean to the Gulf, making Syria indispensable to Tehran's regional ambition which is at odds with Saudi Arabia, who wants to deprive Iran from maintaining a foothold in Sunni-dominated Syria.

Iraq: Since the start of the Iraq war, Saudi Arabia and Iran have been engaged in a proxy war between the Iraqi Sunni minority and the Shiite majority, in which the stakes for both countries are extremely high because they see it as a fight for the soul of Islam. Although ISIS poses a threat to both Iran and Saudi Arabia, and they have a common interest in defeating it, they do not view ISIS as an existential threat having any effect on the intrinsic Sunni-Shiite conflict, which is one of the main sources for continuing regional instability.

Yemen: The civil war in Yemen provided Iran a momentous opportunity to interject itself into the Arabian Peninsula by supporting the Houthis (a religious group affiliated with the Zaydi sect of Shiite Islam), who are fighting against the Saudi-backed Sunni government of Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi. With tens of billions of dollars in its pocket, Iran will likely increase its financial support for the Houthis in an attempt to bleed the Saudis.

Lebanon: For Iran, Hezbollah in Lebanon is an indispensable Shiite force which Tehran supports financially and militarily, even more so at this juncture as the group is fighting on Assad's side in Syria. Iran also views Hezbollah as the conduit to threaten Israel from the north. Once the civil war in Syria ends and ISIS is defeated, Hezbollah may well move to implement its long-term plans to establish (with the support of Iran) an Islamic state in Lebanon, which is bound to further destabilize the entire region.

As long as the mullahs in Tehran view their revolution as still in the making, and with more money at their disposal, they will undoubtedly continue to export terrorism and increase their support of Islamic extremists such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad to further advance their revolutionary agenda beyond their country's borders.

The Obama administration, which championed the Iran deal, speculates that once the sanctions are lifted, Iran might become a prominent and constructive player on the global stage. This in my view is farfetched; even though Iran aspires to become such a power, its revolutionary and religious zeal will trump even its lofty aspirations. For this reason, the US, along with its allies, must stand fast in dealing with Iran by:

Taking whatever action necessary, including military, if Iran is caught cheating on the nuclear deal; enforcing UNSC resolutions that forbid Iran from research and development of ballistic missiles; imposing tough new sanctions (as President Obama has just done, albeit more forcefully and immediately); tracking Iran's subversive activities and making it clear that there will be serious consequences should it continue to support extremist groups and terrorists; requiring Iran, through quiet diplomacy, to end its public acrimony against Israel; and pressuring Iran to help mitigate the Sunni-Shiite conflict, knowing full well that this is not a conflict that either side can win.

Regardless of how Iran pursues its foreign policy objectives, the greatest danger the regime faces is from within. Whereas the government will spend a considerable amount of money to improve the economic conditions of ordinary Iranians, that in and of itself will not stifle the public's cry for freedom of speech and press, respect for human rights, and an end to draconian laws.

Indeed, the lifting of the sanctions will encourage the public, especially the young, to voice their discontent as they will no longer feel the need to rally behind their government, which was battling the West over the sanctions. This is the Achilles' heel of the regime. The 2009 Green Revolution will not be an aberration; a new uprising may now become inevitable. I believe the question will be only when.
Mumbai: The state government has for the first time recognised surrogacy and granted childcare leave for 180 days to all women who opt to have a child through surrogacy. However, activists and lawyers have expressed their concern over the decision and point out that it could impact adoptions in the state. There is a provision of 90 days leave in case of adoptions at present.

A government resolution (GR) issued by the finance department said that women employees would be granted with childcare leave of up to 180 days in case of surrogacy.

The employees should demand for leave in advance and submit proper documents of the surrogacy process like agreement, doctors certificate. The norms by Indian Council of Medical Research should be followed and a certificate from a gynaecologist is required. The leave is applicable from the birth of the child and can be availed only once. This leave is applicable only to women who have no children and are not opting for adoption, the GR said.

The All India Democratic Womens Association (AIDWA) leader Kiran Moghe said that the decision was promoting commercial surrogacy. The decision by the government seems to be promoting commercial surrogacy and not adoption.

Surrogacy is nothing but having a child of a particular genetic material. This is different from adoption and has no legal framework. The government of India had also proposed to ban surrogacy. So, it is surprising that the Maharashtra government is promoting surrogacy, Ms Moghe said.

Womens rights activist and lawyer Flavia Agnes also questioned the protection of surrogate mothers. It is unclear from the decision who is going to benefit. Usually, the doctors are the beneficiaries in surrogacy. The state governments decision might sound very progressive, but there is no mention of protecting surrogate mothers who are exploited in the process most of the time, she said.

Shiv Sena MLC Neelam Gorhe welcomed the decision but said there are bigger issues to be tackled in women welfare. This decision might have come from a few pending cases before the government. But there are bigger issues like not having facilities for delivery, no institutional deliveries etc. Also, no maternity facilities are granted to women working in the unorganised sector. I feel the government should take a holistic approach towards women welfare, Ms Gorhe said.
Coming upon the above information, that voter IDs as part of the suffrage experience have been around since 1970, was a surprise. I am including below a draft from chapter 1 of my forthcoming book, Ballots or Bill$: The Future of Democracy? Or, Why Does Evil Genius Always Win?

Continental Europe, the UK [i], and other democratic countries throughout the world must look askance at the United States where certain states to this day do not require ID at the polls. Most of these countries' governments issue national IDs used for various purposes including voting. [ii],[iii]

But this form of the idea did not spread to the United States. The voter ID requirement here, first only requested, and then, when required, allowing many different non-photo or photo forms, evolved from there to a very different purpose--to eliminate Democratic voters, who comprise the expanding majority of qualified voters. [iv] The huge majority of those favoring this device are Republicans; witness the first two states to require the strictest form of photo ID, the red states Georgia and Indiana. [v] According to Lorraine Minnite, except in two states, Louisiana and Washington state, the stringent requirement was "enacted only when Republicans achieved unified control over state government."[vi] Devices toward keeping Democrats from voting are numerous and varied but, for the time frame this book covers, voter ID tops them all in terms of the challenge it poses to U.S. democracy and its institutions and governing documents. [vii]

To sum up a sinuous saga in a few words, justification for voter ID rests on the premise that it prevents voter fraud--a specific form of it anyway, in-person impersonation of one voter by another. Study after study has proved that this event is virtually nonexistent. [viii] You are more likely to be struck by lightning than to commit this category of voter fraud, according to research by the Brennan Center for Justice. [ix]

Beginning in 1950 [underlining mine] with South Carolina, five states initiated the necessity for identification at the polls, with or without a photograph. In most cases those lacking ID were allowed to vote if they signed an affidavit swearing that they were who they claimed to be, which had to be confirmed by other voters who knew them. Hawaii, decidedly a blue state, followed South Carolina in 1970, the first state said to have required a photo ID [x]; Texas followed in 1971; then, ironically, progressive Ruben Askew's Florida in 1977; Alaska in 1980; and New Hampshire in 1988. By 2000, fourteen states comprised this group--including Arkansas, Georgia, Michigan, and North Dakota--only four of which requested photo-based identification and all of which again permitted voters lacking IDs to sign an affidavit swearing that they were who they claimed to be, which in some states had also to include confirmation by other voters who knew them. [xi],[xii], [xiii]

Late in 2002, with the passage of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), an attempt to provide more uniform and up-to-date voting standards throughout the country, the vote-by-mail (VBM) ID requirement, for first-time voters, was codified for the first time as not requiring but accepting a valid, current photo ID or instead, far more accessible documents such as a "utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or other government document that shows the name and address of the voter."[xiv] Without these documents, the voter must proceed with a provisional ballot. [xv]

HAVA's influence was apparent in 2004, when Arizona attempted a dual voter ID requirement. [xvi] Potential voters were to present proof of citizenship to register and then a photo ID to receive a ballot at the polls. Proposition 200, as the relevant regulation, voted in by the public, was called, did not become an issue until the next federal election, in 2006, when actual implementation caused problems. Opponents to the measure claimed that it violated the Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment in that it had the potential to discriminate against ethnic groups.

A month before Election Day 2006, the two requirements were suspended by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, but then, after another two weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated them. [xvii] Litigation continued through 2013, when a Supreme Court decision of 7-2 eliminated the registration requirement of proof of citizenship in federal elections, finding it incompatible with the 1993 National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). Where a federal election is concerned, federal law trumps state law. [xviii] But, as of 2014, litigation favoring the proof of citizenship requirement continues for state and municipality-based elections in Kansas and Arizona, because of the influx of immigrants from Mexico and through Mexico from farther south.

The first government-issued photo ID requirement in Indiana became law in 2005, taking its cue from a recommendation issued by the Carter-Baker [nonpartisan] Commission in 2005. [xix],[xx] This more stringent requirement had appeared earlier that year in Georgia. [xxi] The Indiana requirement was challenged all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2008, which returned the verdict that the voter ID requirement is constitutional. [xxii] Both states' relevant laws were activated and became operative. [xxiii]

As discussed in Chapter 2, two justices, one at the district court level and the other a SCOTUS Justice, had second thoughts about their decisions in favor of the measure. [xxiv] Even after the April 28, 2008, Supreme Court decision, the voter ID law was once again challenged that same year by the League of Women Voters on June 20, and discord persists to this day. [xxv]

. . .

All told, between the passage of HAVA in 2002 and the election of Barack Obama in 2008, the number of states requiring voter ID shot up to 24. Besides Indiana, Georgia, and Arizona's attempt, others joining this group were Alabama [xxx], Colorado, Michigan, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Washington state. Three other states among the first group "tightened" their requirements: Florida, Georgia, and Missouri. [xxxi] Lorraine Minnite writes that HAVA's seemingly buried and minimal ID requirement for first-time voters by mail was specified as not meant to limit lower-level governmental units from establishing additional, stricter administrative and technological provisions as officials saw fit,[xxxii] and that they did--their first target voter ID before they turned to limitations on early voting, same-day registration and, with these, other forms of partisan, self-serving finagling that will be highlighted below. [xxxiii]

But according to the Brennan Center, "between 2006 and 2011 no state passed a photo ID [underlining mine] law."[xxxiv] Between 2002 and 2009, in some states other categories of voter ID did not become law because it was blocked by state legislatures. Most notoriously, perhaps, in Wisconsin then state legislator Scott Walker (governor since 2010) first made this a project in 2002. It was vetoed three times between then and 2005 by the governor, Jim Doyle, a Democrat. The similar law in Kansas was vetoed in 2008 by its Democratic governor, Kathleen Sebelius. Other states with similar scenarios were Texas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, and Rhode Island.

But between the January 2010 SCOTUS rulings on Citizens United v FEC and SpeechNow.org v FEC (see above, Chapter 2, on these) and the strong ideological influence wielded by the Tea Party, as well as dissatisfaction with the Affordable Care Act, the economy, and other lower-profile accomplishments of the Obama administration, Election 2010 handed the House of Representatives over to the Republicans, who also gained several seats in the Senate (see Chapter 2 above and Chapter 5 below). The GOP also made sizeable gains among state legislatures--domination over twelve new states, for a total of 26 states to Democrats' 17, with five legislatures split--and governors--12 new Republicans now occupied the capital mansions so that the GOP was in full command over 21 states, compared to the Democrats' 11. [xxxv]

It was therefore no coincidence that in 2011 a large swath of states either passed for the first time or tightened already-extant voter ID legislation. In 2011, at least 34 state legislatures considered the photo voter ID requirement. . . .

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When I consider what Hillary Clinton is likely to say in a presidential debate, I have one guiding principle, namely, that electing her to the position of U.S. president is rationally indefensible. Her appeal to voters will inevitably involve lies or sleazy diversionary tactics. Such was my prediction for Sunday night's presidential debate, and I was hardly disappointed.





Debater Hillary Clinton--a sistah with no soul

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The nature of the candidate and the timing and venue of the debate, should have alerted me more clearly to the nature of the forthcoming sleaze. As the pin-up girl for identity politics, debating in largely black South Carolina on the eve of Martin Luther King Day, Clinton decided to play the racial identity card, a "blaxploitation" move designed to keep black voters on the Democrat's corporatist plantation.

Now, of course, it was totally fitting, and given the timing and venue, politically obligatory that all three candidates' introductory remarks should pay tribute to Dr. King, a morally heroic exemplar for Americans of any race. But for "Sistah Hillary," that was only the start of her evening's blatantly racial appeal; an appeal that honored King's pigmentation vastly more than his principles.





The lion's share of Clinton's night was spent schmoozing African Americans over her unequaled love for the first black president Barack Obama, to the exclusion of considering at all whether his presidential agenda, while undoubtedly pleasing to plutocrats, could have more greatly profited actual black people. The Black Agenda Report,a very worthwhile black leftist publication, apparently begs to differ from Sistah Hillary on this subject. Consider, for example, BAR's rather scathing appraisal of Obama's legacy. Also to the exclusion, apparently, of remembering her own 2008 campaign's racist dog whistles against that same Barack Obama. But hey, the chance to wax distantly indignant, an identity-liberal specialty, over the genuinely reprehensible water crisis in Flint, Michigan, which is a black-majority city, gave Clinton a chance to drown out 2008 with a more decorous sort of dog whistling, and Hillary's whistle was certainly up to the task.

To sum matters up, Sistah Hillary decided to debate in black face. While Clinton's political-correctness police, her identity-politics brownshirts, will predictably scream racism or sexism over my precise, if acerbic language, no Democratic debate tactic could more deeply insult, or undermine, the legacy of Dr. King than Clinton's Orwellian minstrel show performance.





Now, in describing my talk of "blackface" and "minstrel shows", I of course realize I am way off base in one particular respect, Clinton's intended audience. Whereas minstrel shows' performers donned racially demeaning blackface to regale white audiences, Sistah Hillary assumed her own racially demeaning blackface to seduce black ones. And while the demeaning of blacks is the one factor Clinton's minstrel show had in common with earlier ones, I can only devoutly hope such identity-politics minstrel shows soon have something in common with historical ones: that both are tabooed by society as racially insulting farces.

Identity politics is itself a farce, and far more often than not a cynical attempt to hoodwink the identity groups whose interests it supposedly exists to protect. Let's face it, identity politics routinely harms its political client groups in four crucial senses. First, it demeans identity group members, denying their often vast individual differences and their ability to think in broadly human categories that transcend group identity. To anyone familiar with MLK's life, it's obvious that his success depended crucially on his simultaneous ability to self-identify as an African American and to reason in universal moral categories that utterly transcended his identity as a member of any particular nation or race. Second, it's manipulative, encouraging identity group members to think in terms of racial, ethnic, and gender identities for their manipulators' purposes, when in fact it might be far more beneficial for them to think in terms of other ones, say as victims of economic injustice. Third, it inflames the "us vs. them" racist, sexist, or xenophobic hostilities from which they already suffer, needlessly angering poor whites, who feel their own very real problems neglected amidst the canonization of approved identity groups and their own demonization. Last but hardly least, it frequently stymies the human development of identity group members, subjecting them to the low expectations of officially recognized victims, while sparing them the constructive criticism that is essential to individual growth.

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Not the day after in the movie about a fictional war between NATO forces and the Warsaw Pact but the Day After the Implementation of the Iran Nuclear Deal, America was quick to acknowledge Iran's commitment by imposing sanctions on it for its defense capabilities.

If we all share a common dream of some balance in this world, which would hopefully lead to more security for all, here is what must happen. With the nuclear-related UNSC sanctions against Iran lifted, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) must IMMEDIATELY include Iran in the SCO as a full member. Failing to do so would not bode well for the future of the region and the world.

While some Iranian 'reformists' have written that 'America needs Iran', the truth of the matter is a more just and balanced world needs Iran, foremost Russia and China. The United States has not abandoned its aspiration to become the global hegemon. It has never sought peace which is incompatible with expansion/domination . Only last month it was revealed that the Pentagon was planning on more 'enduring bases' around the world's most volatile regions.

In 1941, Isaiah Bowman, a key figure in the Council on Foreign Relations wrote: "The measure of our victory will be the measure of our domination after victory." True to this, after the Cold War, Prominent Americans such as Wolfowitz and Rostow opined that it was important to contain Russia (the Heartland -- Defense Planning Guideline 1992, 1993). It was felt that the domination of the Heartland (Eastern Europe, Russia, Central Asia) would lead to the domination of the World. Events in the past several years confirm the implementation stages of the plan.

As recently as April, 2015, during a speech at the Army War College Strategy Conference, Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work elaborated on how the Pentagon plans to counter the three types of wars supposedly being waged by Iran, Russia, and China. These goals have been facilitated by the Nuclear Deal. Let us consider.

The deal buys America time. Let us remember that the sanctions are suspended for 6 months with Obama's Executive Order. Under the Deal, the United States is required to take legislative action to remove the nuclear-related UNSC sanctions. In an election year and with the Republican majority House, it would be easier for pigs to fly.

Let us also recall the budget bill signed into law by Obama awarded millions of Iranian funds to victims of the 1983 Lebanon and the 1996 Kobar tower terrorism incidents. In addition, "The Congressional Budget Office projects an additional $1.5 billion will go into the fund over the next decade from criminal and civil fines from pending cases related to Iran sanctions violations." So what will America do with the time it bought (and didn't pay for!)?

Iran's strength has been its ability to retaliate to any attack by closing down the Strait of Hormuz. Given that 17 million barrels of oil a day, or 35% of the world's seaborne oil exports go through there , incidents in the Strait would be fatal for the world economy. Enter Nigeria (West Africa) and Yemen.

In 1998, Clinton's national security agenda made it clear that unhampered access to Nigerian oil and other vital resources was a key US policy. In early 2000s, Chatham House was one of the publications that determined African oil would be a good alternative to Persian Gulf oil IN THE EVENT OF OIL DISRUPTION.This followed a strategy paper calling for the US to move toward African oil. The push for African oil was on Dick Cheney's desk on May 31, 2000. In 2002, the Israeli based IASPS suggested America push toward African oil. In the same year Boko Haram was 'founded'.

In 2007, AFRICOM helped consolidate this push into the region. In 2011, a publication titled: "Globalizing West African Oil: US 'energy security' and the global economy" outlined the 'US positioning itself to use military force to ensure African oil continued to flow to the United States'. This was but one strategy to supply oil in addition to or as an alternate to the passage of oil through the Strait of Hormuz.

Enter Yemen. To understand the geopolitics of the Saudi war against Yemen, it is imperative to read "The Geopolitics Behind the War in Yemen: The Start of a New Front against Iran" written by Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya, who correctly states: "[T] he US wants to make sure that it could control the Bab Al-Mandeb, the Gulf of Aden, and the Socotra Islands. The Bab Al-Mandeb it is an important strategic chokepoint for international maritime trade and energy shipments that connects the Persian Gulf via the Indian Ocean with the Mediterranean Sea via the Red Sea. It is just as important as the Suez Canal for maritime shipping lanes and trade between Africa, Asia, and Europe."

In 2012, several alternate routes to the Straits of Hormuz were identified, which at the time were considered to be limited in capacity and more expensive. However, collectively, West African oil and control of Bab Al-Mandeb would diminish the strategic importance of the Strait of Hormuz in case of war.

A very important consideration is the stark fact that the fallout from bombing an operating uranium enrichment facility with several hundred kilograms of enriched uranium would create an environmental catastrophe that would dwarf all nuclear accidents to date killing millions of people. The Iran Nuclear Deal greatly reduces the likelihood of such a disaster, should such steps be taken.

All this is of course speculation. There is no doubt that the primary goal of the United States is to install a Washington friendly compliant regime in Iran. But what if they fail? Has Washington spent billions of dollars to undermine and destroy the Iranian revolution, decades in demonizing the people only to change its mind? Isn't this the same scenario we hoped would be the outcome of the end of the Cold War, only to learn that Washington continued a covert war against Russia?
Congress Switchboard: 202-224-3121

"Rob Kall has certainly acquired the firsthand experiences and knowledge gained through interviews to deliver some interesting insights about the "bottom-up" information revolution. Whereas the old 'top-down' systems created stove-pipes and excessive secrecy that blocked information sharing and led to the 'failure to connect the dots' before 9-11, the bottom-up approach should be the main fix. Kall's concept would seem to interface equally well with the founding fathers' idealism in setting forth their democratic theory of governance as with the realism that makes the multi-sourced, bottom-up Wikipedia work. As someone who shares my support of both government and corporate whistleblowing -- which is nothing more than encouraging greater horizontal sharing of information, I commend Rob Kall's important work on this topic."



Coleen Rowley, former FBI special agent and named one of TIME Magazine's "Persons of the Year" in 2002)
Reprinted from Media Matters

I'm warning you, tread very f*cking lightly." Trump attorney Michael Cohen threatening a reporter.

It's sad that Donald Trump is normalizing so many unsavory traits with his presidential push this season. He's normalizing bigotry and xenophobia in the campaign arena, for instance. He's also mainstreaming the manhandling of the press.

Just ask Trip Gabriel.

The New York Times reporter was tossed out of a Trump event in Iowa last week. He was thrown out by a Trump staff member and a local police officer who suggested he was following the orders of Trump's Iowa campaign chief. (Days earlier, Grabriel had written a piece that raised questions about Trump's ground game in Iowa.)

On the surface, that's a shocking event: the Republican frontrunner's campaign singling out a Times reporter and having him physically ousted. But since last summer, this type of bullying behavior has become quite common, and the media's response has become nearly mute. Indeed, Gabriel's ejection was noted in the media but didn't seem to set off any loud alarm.

Covering Trump today means being confined to metal barrier press pens at events. It means rarely being allowed to ask the candidate questions and being the target of vicious insults from the candidate and his fans. (One CBS reporter covering a rally was recently asked by a Trump supporter if he was taking pictures on behalf of ISIS.)

Trump and his campaign push the press around at will and they pay no real price. If anything, Trump gets showered with more press attention despite calling out reporters as "scum"; despite denouncing them as liars and cheats at his campaign rallies.

On and on the bullying goes and the pushback remains minimal. This is a profound embarrassment for the national press corps. It's a profound embarrassment for editors and producers in positions of influence who have voluntarily acquiesced their power in order to bow down to Trump and his campaign road show.

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Reprinted from American Herald Tribune

There was an underwhelming sense when Pentagon boss Ashton Carter met this week in Paris with other members of the US-led military coalition supposedly fighting the ISIL terror group.

The US-led coalition was set up at the end of 2014 and in theory comprises 60 nations. The main military operation of the alliance is an aerial bombing campaign against terrorist units of IS (also known as ISIL, ISIS or Daesh).

At the Paris meeting this week, Secretary of Defense Carter was joined by counterparts from just six countries: France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Australia. Where were the other 54 nations of the coalition?

Carter and French defense minister Jean-Yves Le Drian patted themselves on the back about "momentum"in their campaign against the terrorist network. However, platitudes aside, there was a noticeable crestfallen atmosphere at the meeting of the shrunken US-led coalition.

One telling point was Carter exhorting Arab countries to contribute more. As a headline in the Financial Times put it: "US urges Arab nations to boost ISIS fight."

Carter didn't mention specific names but it was clear he was referring to Saudi Arabia and the other oil-rich Persian Gulf Arab states, including Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.



When the US initiated the anti-IS coalition in 2014, fighter jets from the Sunni Arab states participated in the aerial campaign. They quickly fell away from the operation and instead directed their military forces to Yemen, where the Saudi-led Arab coalition has been bombing that country non-stop since March 2015 to thwart an uprising by Houthi revolutionaries.

But there is an even deeper, more disturbing reason for the lack of Arab support for the US-led coalition in Iraq and Syria. That is because Saudi Arabia and the other Sunni monarchies are implicated in funding and arming the very terrorists that Washington's coalition is supposedly combating.

Several senior US officials have at various times admitted this. Democrat presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton labelled Saudi Arabia as the main sponsor of "Sunni extremist groups"in diplomatic cables when she was Secretary of State back in 2009, as disclosed by Wikileaks.

Vice President Joe Biden, while addressing a Harvard University forum in late 2014, also spilled the beans on the Persian Gulf states and Turkey being behind the rise of terror groups in the Middle East.

So there is substantial reason why the US-led anti-terror coalition in Iraq and Syria has not delivered decisive results. It is the same reason why Carter was joined by only six other countries in Paris this week and why there was a glaring absence of Saudi Arabia and other Arab members. These despotic regimes -- whom Washington claims as "allies" -- are part of the terrorist problem.

Not that the US or its Western allies are blameless. Far from it. It was Washington after all that master-minded the regime-change operations in Iraq and Syria, which spawned the terror groups.

In fact, we can go further and point to evidence, such as the testimony of Lt General Michael Flynn of the Defense Intelligence Agency, which shows that the US enlisted the terror brigades as proxies to do its dirty work in Syria for regime change.

The US and its Western allies conceal this collusion by claiming that they are supporting "moderate rebels" -- not extremists. But the so-called moderates have ended up joining the terrorists and sharing their US-supplied weapons. The distinction between these groups is thus meaningless, leaving the baleful conclusion that Washington, London and Paris are simply colluding with terrorism.

US Republican presidential contenders and media pundits berate the Obama administration for not doing enough militarily to defeat IS. Or as Donald Trump's backer Sarah Palin would say to "kick ass."

The unsettling truth is that the US cannot do more to defeat terrorism in the Middle East because Washington and its allies are the source of terrorism in the region. Through their meddling and machinations, Washington and its cohorts have created a veritable Frankenstein monster.
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Blaine and Melissa Cooper have been with Ammon Bundy from the start of his campaign to overthrow the federal government. Blaine Cooper was with the Bundy family during their standoff in Nevada and both Blaine and his wife, Melissa, followed Ammon Bundy to Oregon to manage the latest armed standoff with the government.





Although Blaine Cooper never served in the military, he often posts photos of himself dressed to the max in military garb. During the standoff at the Bundy Ranch in Nevada, Cooper did a national news interview and repeatedly allowed the interviewer to refer to him as a Marine. This caught the attention of real, live, actual Marines who quickly called "stolen valor." Blaine Cooper (his real name is Stanley Hicks Cooper) was quick to apologize, saying he didn't want to correct and embarrass the television host on national television.

When Ammon Bundy called, Cooper and his wife jumped at the chance to play fake soldiers and "patriots." They dropped their two children off with a family friend or family member and headed off to Oregon. Apparently Blaine Cooper's parents became increasingly concerned about the long absence and the prospect that the children would soon be joining their increasing radical parents at an armed government standoff and they asked Child Protective Services to get in involved. They were seeking to have the girls move in with them or another family member so they could continue with school and have some normalcy. When Blaine and Melissa Cooper got wind of their parents' plan, they freaked out. The militants were able to get a private plane to send Melissa, with the help of at least one armed man and a videographer, to take the girls in the cover of darkness.

Oregon militant supporter and conspiracy-loving radio host Pete Santilli posted video of the children being removed from a home on his YouTube page last night, along with a string of nasty comments and Nazi comparisons about the grandparents, who were trying to keep their grandchildren from the refuge. Watch as the girls are taken by their mother, crying out that they don't want to be on television. A shadowy figure can be seen around the :12 second mark of the video and appears to be carrying a long rifle while he escorts them to a waiting car.

Although the accounts aren't verified, it appears grandparents Terry and Randy Cooper allegedly took to the comments section of the YouTube page to make their case. After a nasty back-and-forth exchange with Pete Santilli and other commenters, Randy and Terry Cooper's comments were deleted. But, not before we were able to get screen grabs of a few of them.





Terry and Randy Cooper commenting on the video of the girls being taken to an unknown location

(Image by Screenshot from You Tube comments) Details DMCA



This video leads to several troubling questions. Where are the girls now? The grandparents certainly made the case that they should be in school, not in the center of an armed standoff. Who were the armed men helping her? "Militia" group expert JJ MacNab, a fellow at the George Washington University Center for Cyber & Homeland Security, Program on Extremism, believes the man behind the camera is Gianluca "Luca" Zana, who was also a key participant at the Bundy Ranch standoff in Nevada.

Pete Santilli makes reference to a "private plane" being dispatched with Melissa to get the girls from the family member. Just days ago, militants LaVoy Finicum and Ryan Bundy were able to travel to Cedar City, Utah to rally support for their cause. The men were not gone from the refuge for very long, despite the minimum 10-hour each way drive from the refuge. Do the Oregon militants now have a plane at their disposal? Who owns it? Last week they released video of the militants cleaning out a large equipment building at the refuge. They giddily said they were "expecting a large delivery." Did the Malheur Wildlife occupiers get a new plane? Stay tuned.


Man In Stocks

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Anarchists are frequently accused by non-anarchists of having nothing practical to offer and of living in the remotest of irresponsible fantasy worlds. And that's when the non-anarchists are being really nice. Anarchy is such a dirty word (maybe the dirtiest of all seven-letter words) that even the hippest of 'progressives' still employ it to suggest mere desolate chaos. Everyone knows that formerly all anarchists wore long black coats under which were hidden knives, guns, bombs, and vials of poison. And they had no families or real friends. They just sprouted like mutant mushrooms from black concrete cracks in the foulest of dank urban shadows. Even low-end criminals were more human. And the current crop of anarchists are not even good anarchists; they're just mentally ill parasite punks who live in mom's or grandma's basement. And never even take out their trash (from which they themselves become more and more difficultly distinguished).

When former Yale University anthropology professor David Graeber describes himself as an anarchist (having been one since the age of 16) it simply either doesn't compute (a joke or misappropriated term) or he immediately becomes suspected of being a strictly untrustworthy substance-less character who in some inexplicable fashion snaked his way up into a Yale professorship. Graeber was also an influential figure in the Occupy Wall Street movement, and probably coined the slogan, "We are the 99 percent". Watch this short video as an introduction to him:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/video/2015/oct/28/david-graeber-what-government-doesnt-want-you-to-know-about-debt-video

And here is a Graeber quote:

In the year 1930, John Maynard Keynes predicted that, by century's end, technology would have advanced sufficiently that countries like Great Britain or the United States would have achieved a 15-hour work week. There's every reason to believe he was right. In technological terms, we are quite capable of this. And yet it didn't happen. Instead, technology has been marshaled, if anything, to figure out ways to make us all work more. In order to achieve this, jobs have had to be created that are, effectively, pointless. Huge swathes of people, in Europe and North America in particular, spend their entire working lives performing tasks they secretly believe do not really need to be performed. The moral and spiritual damage that comes from this situation is profound. It is a scar across our collective soul. Yet virtually no one talks about it.

It was this very fact referred to by Graeber that led me to write one on my novels, Bartleby, The Anarchist (not in print -- only one of my novels remains in print -- anarchist novels don't sell well enough to satisfy capitalist publishers). What politicians does Graeber support? None. He's an anarchist; he sees politics as a degenerate form of social relations and tries to educate and encourage people to not cooperate with such social structures and create their own more healthy social relations. But this article is about my proposals (and confessions), not Graeber's. So let me begin again.

I was born into American poverty. If you think that such poverty isn't real poverty then let me tell you that when I was a small boy my mother and I (abandoned by my father -- a pool-hall hoodlum) lived in an Army barracks unit that was no longer in use. Two rooms. One sink. One toilet. No hot water. No electricity. There were days when we had literally nothing to eat (not a good thing for small bones trying to grow). My mother finally found a job paying 90 cents an hour and we moved into a tiny apartment. Because my mother worked she had to find someone to watch me. She did find someone, but she picked me up after work one day and discovered what were, clearly, bite marks on my arms. I don't know how she did it, but somehow she got the money to get us on a train to another state and to the city where her sister lived. We arrived in the new city absolutely penniless. My mother found another job and we were able to move out of her sister's place and into another tiny apartment. And I proceeded to grow up in an environment of poverty and violence.

When I was 14 years old, one of my friends was killed by the police - a bullet in the brain. I still marvel at the fact that I was able to convince myself that I was worthy of anyone's respect. People who have not experienced poverty and violence as a young person have no idea what it does to your feelings about yourself. But there was something in me that refused to be crushed and humiliated. I grew up very suspicious of authority figures, especially male ones, but I wasn't crazy about the female ones either. I simply did not believe that they really cared about me. But I eventually realized that I really did care about me and it was this that taught me to really care about others.

By the time I was in my late teens I knew that the essence of human reality is personal growth and relationship. Anything else is secondary. I always had a hard time with the idea of 'God' even when I wanted to believe, but I never had a problem with the 'sacredness' of the human essence and at the same time I was tormented by the reality of human corruption which I eventually saw was a matter of fear. Fear of what? Fear of Reality. Fear of the deeper demands of life: the demand of facing the contradictions of being human and of needing that humanness to have meaning apparently in spite of itself. Fear of death. Fear of the fact that life and death are inseparable and that to embrace one is to embrace the other. Fear of learning how to embrace both. Fear of knowing that when you embrace both no one can have power over you ever again. Fear of knowing that when you embrace both then you will be free to go back to the beginning and start over correctly being able to love without sentimentality and without fear of that fear in others that always leads to the desire for power over others.

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Reprinted from Campaign For America's Future

"If the kids in a rich suburb of Detroit had been drinking contaminated water, we would have done something about it."

-- Hillary Clinton "There are no excuses. The governor long ago knew about the lead in Flint's water. He did nothing. As a result, hundreds of children were poisoned. Thousands may have been exposed to potential brain damage from lead. Gov. Snyder should resign."

-- Bernie Sanders

You might have heard that there is lead in Flint's water. You're not going to believe how much. And you're not going to believe how bad lead exposure is for people. But you'll probably believe it happened because government-hating Republicans set aside democracy so Flint's residents couldn't stop them from running government "like a business" and cutting government spending.

Trade Policies Sent The Jobs Away

Michigan is one state that has been hard hit by our country's trade policies. Once considered the center of the automobile industry, factories and jobs were sent out of the country to places where people are exploited and barely paid, and the environment is not protected. (Yes, we let them do that.)

The result has been absolutely devastating (see "ruin porn") to Michigan cities like Detroit and Flint as jobs disappeared and people who could afford to move to try to find jobs did just that. The rest of the city's residents are left in poverty amidst miles of boarded-up, abandoned and falling-down buildings and homes, empty storefronts, and absolutely overwhelmed and underfunded public services. Help from the state and federal governments is not forthcoming.

Run Government Like A Business

Rick Snyder is a businessman (CEO, venture capitalist) who in 2010 campaigned for governor on running government like a business, promising to be the CEO governor who would create jobs. Michigan was starved for jobs, first from Wall-Street-sponsored deindustrialization, then from the Wall-Street-caused crash and recession/depression. So any promise of jobs went a long way. Maybe it was time to try turning government over to someone wealthy from outside government who said he knew better than government how to run government. Daily Beast noted at the time, "there is a more than a hint of plutocrats-know-best in Rick Snyder's campaign pitch."

But government in a democracy is nothing like a business. It is supposed to organize itself to deliver services and make people's lives better, not profit off the people. Managing government and business requires entirely different skill sets and mindsets. (Also, that thing about businesses "creating jobs?" That's not what businesses strive to do; they strive to cut costs and eliminate jobs. According to the Daily Beast, "While Snyder was on the board of Gateway [a U.S.-based computer company that had its heyday in the 1990s but ceased independent operations in 2007], the company's workforce contracted from 21,000 American workers in 2000 to 7,400 workers in 2003.")

Emergency Manager Law, Setting Aside Democracy

In 2011, Republicans passed a controversial law allowing the governor to run government like a business and appoint a CEO-style "emergency manager" when a city is considered to be financially irresponsible (i.e., too black). Under the law, it does not matter that the people of the city already elected a mayor, council and other leaders. The governor sets the election aside, brings in an emergency manager to take control of the local government, reduce its size and cost, and privatize public property, no matter the effect on the people there.

Like a turnaround CEO brought in from another company, the emergency manager has few connections to the community. Cut services, cut costs, strip, streamline, just like a business would do. (Such cities are typically surrounded by well-off "white-flight" suburban areas that are not required to financially or otherwise participate in solving the problems.)

The affected communities didn't like that, and, unlike a business, could still do something about it. Michigan's emergency manager law was repealed by referendum in 2012. So Republicans re-passed it in a lame duck legislative session. But this time they included a small appropriation, which under Michigan law meant it cannot be subject to a voter referendum. That's that; the board has spoken, everybody get in line, all row in the same direction, play on the same team, run the ball down the field, just like in a business, or get out. Except unlike in a business there is no "get out" -- you still live there.
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Court rules in favor of David Miranda, detained for nine hours at Heathrow airport in 2013 while transporting journalist documents on NSA revelations



In a landmark ruling, a British appeals court on Tuesday found that the UK's terrorism law violates the European Convention on Human Rights -- a decision that came in the case of David Miranda, who was detained and searched at London's Heathrow airport in 2013 while carrying encrypted documents related to U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden.

The ruling means government ministers will have to reevaluate a controversial provision in the Terrorism Act, known as Section 7, which gives law enforcement officers the power to stop, question, detain, and search people in airports and certain other transit areas, whether or not they are suspected of terrorism.

Individuals who refuse to answer questions or hand over any requested documents or information may be fined, imprisoned up to four months, or both.

"If journalists and their sources can have no expectation of confidentiality, they may decide against providing information on sensitive matters of public interest," the ruling states. "The court of appeal ruling rejects the broad definition of terrorism advanced by government lawyers. The correct legal definition of terrorism, the court of appeal has now ruled, requires some intention to cause a serious threat to public safety such as endangering life."

The decision was handed down by Lord Dyson, the court's most senior judge. "The stop power, if used in respect of journalistic information or material is incompatible with article 10 [freedom of expression] of the [European convention on human rights] because it is not 'prescribed by law'," Dyson said.

Miranda, who is the partner of journalist Glenn Greenwald, was interrogated for nine hours at Heathrow in August 2013 while transporting documents to Greenwald from journalist Laura Poitras, both of whom were reporting on the National Security Agency's (NSA) mass surveillance program. Miranda attempted last year to challenge his detention, but the High Court in London ruled that police had been justified in stopping and searching him.

The government argued at the time that Miranda met the definition of a terrorist because he was carrying documents that "would endanger people's lives" if released.

Tuesday's decision overturns at least part of that ruling.

On Twitter, Miranda said he was "Thrilled with the court ruling! My purpose was to show U.K.'s terrorism law violates press freedoms. And journalism isn't 'terrorism.' We won!"

Kate Goold, who represents Miranda, welcomed the decision, stating, "Today's ruling emphasizes the importance of interpreting terrorism with its ordinary natural meaning to ensure that legitimate public interest journalism is not stifled through the use of draconian powers because of the fear of remote consequences. The notion of a journalist becoming an 'accidental terrorist' has been whole-heartedly rejected. We welcome this court's principled and decisive ruling that Schedule 7 needs to come in line with other legislation to ensure that the seizure of journalistic material is protected by judicial safeguards."

Goold's colleague John Halford added, "In short, this Court has decided that taking effective action against terrorism involves using instruments that are fit for purpose, rather than those that are so blunt that they inevitably damage the interests of democratic societies based on free speech and the journalists that are their champions."
Dar was among four youths including a policeman who reportedly joined the LeT group together on January 15 after the policeman deserted the force and ran away with four AK assault rifles and some ammunition. (Representational image)

Srinagar: A 20-year-old youth, who allegedly joined Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT) militant outfit a week back, was arrested by security forces from his house in Shopian district of south Kashmir.

Gazi Fayaz Ahmad Dar was arrested during a joint raid by the troops of 62 Rashtriya Rifles and police from his house at Kundlan village, 60 kms from here, last evening, a police official said on Thursday.

He said an AK assault rifle with a magazine and 90 rounds of ammunition were recovered from Dar's possession. Dar was among four youths including a policeman who reportedly joined the LeT group together on January 15 after the policeman deserted the force and ran away with four AK assault rifles and some ammunition.

Constable Shakoor Ahmad Parrey who was posted as Personal Security Officer (PSO) of Sub-Divisional Police Officer Bijbehara, and two others are still absconding and efforts are on to nab them, the official said.
I'm beginning to believe Bernie Sanders can win the Democratic nomination and then the presidency.



Sunday night, January 17th, I watched the Democratic presidential debates with my wife, a Hillary Clinton supporter, and stepson, an Edward Snowden fan. After two hours -- of a real debate -- they concluded Bernie Sanders had won. (That was the critical consensus.)

Since Bernie announced his candidacy, I've been torn. On the one hand, I've long admired Sanders. It's hard not to respect someone who was born the same year that I was and has paid his dues as a liberal activist and politician. On the other hand, I feel it's time for a woman to be President and I like Hillary. And, given the slate of truly dreadful candidates, any Democrat is preferable to whomever the GOP eventually nominates.

For the past eight months I've told anyone who asked me, "I believe Hillary will win the Democratic nomination. But, Bernie's candidacy serves a useful purpose: it will push Hillary to the left." Meanwhile, the contest exposed Clinton's weaknesses and demonstrated Sanders can harness the energy of the "activist" part of the Democratic base.

On issues such as economic justice, environmental sanity, and racial equality, there's no doubt Hillary has a liberal perspective and is miles apart from any Republican presidential candidate. And, of course, on gender equity and reproductive justice, Clinton is on a different planet than are Trump, Cruz, et al.

Nonetheless, my decision whom to support for the Democratic nomination does not come down to policies or gender or age (although in an ideal campaign I would prefer to support a younger progressive woman); it's refusing to be satisfied with the Democratic Party "business as usual" process.

There's two wings of the Democracy Party: an activist wing filled with "do gooders" who, each day, slog through the peace and justice trenches taking on issue after issue. And an establishment wing composed of "people of privilege," the Democratic portion of "the one percent."

The two wings co-exist, but they have different access to the leaders of the Democratic Party. When Obama was in San Francisco more than a year ago, Dems demonstrated against approval of the Keystone XL pipeline; but wealthy local, Tom Steyer, got to the President when Steyer hosted a democratic fundraiser.

In 2016, Bernie represents the activists and Hillary the establishment. On May 6th, when I saw Hillary in San Francisco, she talked about the role of money in American politics, "fixing our dysfunctional political system and getting unaccountable money out of it even if that takes a constitutional amendment." However, since then Hillary has run as an establishment Democrat. Bernie Sanders has made money in politics his central issue.

In the January 17th debate, Sanders pounded on this theme: "we have a corrupt campaign finance system where millionaires and billionaires are spending extraordinary amounts of money to buy elections." When each candidate was asked what she or he would do to bring the country together, Bernie replied, "The real issue is that Congress is owned by big money and refuses to do what the American people want them to do."

When asked about his Wall Street policy, Bernie Sanders responded: "The first difference [between him and Clinton] is I don't take money from big banks. I don't get personal speaking fees from Goldman Sachs" But here is the issue, Secretary [Clinton] touched on it, can you really reform Wall Street when they are spending millions and millions of dollars on campaign contributions and when they are providing speaker fees to individuals? [$600,00 to Clinton in one year.]"

In 2016, Hillary Clinton is running the same campaign as Barack Obama in 2008. Obama was an establishment Democrat, a person of privilege, running on progressive policies but not addressing the issue of money in politics.

Clinton has three weaknesses: First, she does not have a central campaign theme, a core message. (On Sunday night she offered, "I want to be a president who takes care of the big problems and the problems that are affecting the people of our country everyday.")

Second, she's identified as a Washington insider. Likely Republican nominee, Donald Trump, has surged to the lead of the Republican pack by running as an outsider. He's effectively channeled voters' anger at Washington by positioning himself as a maverick who doesn't need to accept contributions from big money. If Clinton were the Democratic nominee, Trump could attack her as part of the Washington establishment and as someone beholden to big money.

Finally, a lot of voters don't like Hillary Clinton. The latest national poll shows Sanders up 15 points in a head-to-head contest with Trump. Clinton is up 10 points. Sanders does better against Trump because he has much better favorability ratings. (Trump and Clinton are negative.)

Don't misunderstand me. If Hillary Clinton is the Democratic nominee then I will support her. But now that I think Bernie Sanders has a chance to win the nomination, I'm going to push him (even if he is an old white guy) because he's got a winning message, strong progressive values; and is most likely to ignite the Democratic activist base.
At least 25 people including students, teachers and security guards lost their lives Wednesday when armed militants broke into Bacha Khan University in Pakistan's northwestern province known as Khyber-Pakhtunkhwah where Pakistan's mercenary army is conducting a brutal operation against militants.

Media reports said all four terrorists, who had stormed the university, have been killed and the security forces have taken control of the University in Charsadda near Peshawar, capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwah.

The News reported that the heavily armed terrorists scaled one of the boundary walls from the backside of the university with an aim to carry out an attack like the one on Army Public School, Peshawar in December 2014 killing 144 people most of whom were students.

The alleged mastermind of the Army Public School Peshawar attack, Umar Mansoor, of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Geedar group has claimed the attack through a post on his Facebook page, saying that four attackers were sent to the university.

However, a spokesperson from the TTP, Mohammad Khorasani, was reported issuing a conflicting statement shortly after Mansoor's claim, in which Khorasani condemned the attack, terming it "against Shariah". Khorasani also warned that those "using the naming of TTP will be brought to justice".

Director General of Military Public Relations, Lt Gen Asim Bajwa on Wednesday told a press conference that there were a total of four terrorists who were contained and killed at the hostel's stairs and rooftop. He said two cell phones which were in terrorists' use have been seized. He said even after the terrorists were killed, one of the mobile phones were still getting calls from an Afghan SIM. "We also have information where the instruction to the terrorists were being made," he said.

The Indian Factor

The attack took place four days after India's Minister for Defence Manohar Parrikar said "those who attacked us will also feel the same pain, the place and type of response would be of our choice". On January 17, just two days ahead of today's attack, Parrikar repeated his threatening statement in some other words. "Our patience at Pakistan's move against terrorists - who carried out Pathankot and Mumbai attacks - is running thin. The world will see the results in the next one year," he had said.

Former Interior Minister Rehman Malik told The News that it is an international conspiracy and RAW and India are behind this. "After Pathankot attack, the Indian Minister said that Pakistan will face its consequences in the coming month," he said. "The new wave of terrorism is the proof of this conspiracy," he added. He said the attack on Bacha Khan University is a continuity of the attack on the army public school in December 2014.

The Daily Times quoted a private TV channel as reporting that the Indian consulate in Afghanistan's Jalalabad city provided Rs 3 million ($ 30,000.00) to the militants in order to carry out Charsadda attack.

However, the government of Pakistan did not issue any statement implicating India in the attack.

Who is Bacha Khan?

Bacha Khan University was founded in 2012 and named after Abdul Ghaffar Khan, a Pashtun nationalist leader known famously as Bacha Khan. Wednesday (Jan 20) was his 28th death anniversary. The Chardadda attack coincided with his death anniversary.

Bacha Khan was a close friend of Mahatma Gandhi who strongly opposed the Muslim League's demand for partition of India and creation of Pakistan. When the Indian National Congress declared its acceptance of the partition plan without consulting him he felt very sad. He told the Congress "you have thrown us to the wolves."

He was closely identified with Mahatma Gandhi because of his non-violence principles.He is known in India as the 'Frontier Gandhi'. In 1929 he founded a non-violence Khudai Khidmatgar (Servants of God) movement. He told its members: "I am going to give you such a weapon that the police and the army will not be able to stand against it. It is the weapon of the Prophet, but you are not aware of it. That weapon is patience and righteousness. No power on earth can stand against it."

After independence of Pakistan, Bacha Khan pledged allegiance to Pakistan and demanded an autonomous "Pashtunistan" administrative unit within the country.

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Giving tree painted on activity center lobby wall The Community Activity Council of Orchard Park was the driving force behind a new addition to one of the walls in the lobby of the Brush Mountain Park community activity...

Sanitary sewer lining work set to begin again in town Work is set to begin again over the next few weeks on the Town of Orchard Parks aging sewer infrastructure. Highway Superintendent Andrew Slotman notified the Town Board, during its...

Police Department seeking to hire two public safety dispatchers Finding public safety dispatchers has become a bit of a challenge for the Orchard Park Police Department. Currently, the department is looking to fill two full-time dispatcher positions. Because of...
Industries Minister R.V. Deshpande with a delegation from Israel headed by Yael Hashavit, Consul General of Israel, at Karnataka Udyog Mitra Office

BENGALURU: Though the Congress screening committee for Hebbal Assembly constituency recommended multiple names, the name of Byrathi Suresh, MLC, topped the list.

Party insiders told Deccan Chronicle hours before general secretary, Digvijay Singh, landed in the city for consultation with state leaders in order to finalise the names of candidates for three Assembly constituencies where bypolls would be held on February 13, the committee headed by minister for Bengaluru development, K.J. George, gave its report after eliciting the opinion of party workers of Hebbal.

Sources said though the committee recommended a panel of names, the party likely to consider Byrathi Suresh, whose name tops the list. Explaining the reasons for selection of Mr Suresh, sources said, One, though party MLC and former minister, H.M. Revanna has been trying hard to get the ticket, no leader including Mallikarjun Kharge is backing him.

"Two, he got nominated to the Legislative Council because he was not given a ticket in Assembly elections in 2013. Since he has been handed justice, there is no need to field him again from Hebbal.

Two other factors, sources added, also seemed to have worked in his favour. Whenever states ruled by Congress witness Assembly by-polls, the high command would go by the choice of candidate of the Chief Minister.

Mr Suresh was backed by Mr Siddaramaiah, so his candidature might be finalised.

The target is clear. One who pumps in resources and wins the election will be considered. Since Mr Suresh has come forward to do so, he may get the party ticket, sources added.

BJP may declare its candidates today

Bengaluru: The state BJP, which held two of the three Assembly seats going to polls on Feb. 13, is likely to announce its candidates on Friday. While BJP won Hebbal and Bidar in 2013, Devadurga was bagged by Congress.

Before finalising candidates, the party top brass is trying to take into confidence leaders and aspirants in Hebbal and Bidar.

BJP MLC from teachers constituency Narayanswamy has emerged as a strong contender for Hebbal.

Sources close to Union minister Sadananda Gowda said Narayanswamys chances have improved since local strongman, Katta Subramanya Naidu, has not made up his mind to contest.

Earlier, the party planned to field Lalitha, wife of late Jagadish Kumar, BJP MLA who represented Hebbal.

But family members of Jagadish are not interested in his wife entering the fray. BJP leaders held a meeting with Sangh parivar leaders on Thursday to finalise candidates for Hebbal and Bidar.

In Bidar, Suryakanta Nagamarapalli is keen on contesting but party cadre want former MLA Prakash Khandre to enter the fray.
AARPTaxAide.jpg

Beaverton will host free tax assistance to low- and middle-income families from Feb. 2 to April 16.

(City of Beaverton)

CORRECTION, 11:26 a.m.: This post has been updated to reflect the correct starting date of Feb. 2.

The City of Beaverton, in partnership with AARP Tax-Aide and Creating Assets, Savings and Hope (CASH) Oregon, is making free tax help available to area residents. The annual program runs from Feb. 2 to April 16 at the Beaverton Activities Center, 12500 SW Allen Blvd.



More than 60 IRS-certified volunteers will assist low- and middle-income residents through the process of determining the tax credits that they are eligible for, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Last year's program volunteers filed 2,077 tax returns, resulting in more than $2.4 million in tax refunds back into the community.



Eligible low-income working families may be entitled to up to $6,242 in tax refunds with the EITC, but the IRS reports that one in five workers fail to claim the EITC they earned. In 2015, more 425 local taxpayers were able to receive the EITC through Beaverton's tax assistance program, which meant additional money back that they can use for groceries, rent, and other bills.



CASH Oregon and AARP Tax-Aide provide free tax preparation and filing to thousands of low- and middle-income families and individuals throughout the Portland metro area. The partnership provides a city-sponsored site at the Beaverton Activities Center from Feb. 1 to April 16. For additional tax preparation sites, call 211 or visit www.CASHOregon.org.



Tax assistance will be offered in Beaverton from Tuesday to Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on a walk-in basis only. Assistance will be offered in English, Spanish, and several other languages.



What to bring for tax assistance:

* Picture identification

* Copy of 2014 tax return, if available

* Social Security or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) for all persons on return

* Form W-2 from every employer

* Other forms and receipts, such as 1099s from bank

* Child and dependent care information

* Health Insurance documentation: Form 1095-A, if you or anyone on your tax return had coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace



For more information, visit www.BeavertonOregon.gov/taxprep.

-- City of Beaverton
marissa greer.jpg

Marissa Greer, 4, died Monday after being swept up in a sneaker wave while on vacation in Mexico. Fundraising accounts have been set up to help the family with expenses. (Courtesy Katie Greer)

A 4-year-old girl from Canby died Monday after being caught in a sneaker wave while on vacation in Mexico.

Katie Greer and her daughter Marissa were walking on the beach in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico when the wave snagged them and two others from the shore. Greer said it happened within seconds.

"We went into the water together and the waves just kept crashing," Greer said in an interview with The Oregonian/OregonLive. "She slipped out of my hand."

The group was rescued from the waves and Marissa was later pronounced dead at a local hospital, Greer said. Her lungs had filled with water.

The Greers returned home to Canby on Tuesday night.

Marissa attended Canby Community Preschool, where Greer volunteers, and was already learning to read, her mother said. She loved playing dress up, dancing, animals and her 2-year-old brother, Trenton.

"She loved so much," Greer said. "She loved life. I was honored to be her mother."

Greer and her husband, Kyle, both grew up in Canby and were high school sweethearts, she said. Her husband works as a pharmacist at Fred Meyer.

Greer said the support and kindness from the community has been "incredible."

"My house looks like a florist. My pantry looks like a grocery store," she said.

"The outpouring of love from everyone is what's getting us by."

Family friends have since started two separate online fundraisers to help cover expenses, Greer said. One on GoFundMe has so far raised more than $20,600 and a fundraiser on YouCaring has raised another roughly $2,000.

"There are no words to express our sorrow and heartbreak for our dear friends and nothing can replace sweet Marissa," the YouCaring account reads. "She was a brilliant and vibrant young girl. She lit up every room she walked into and loved her friends."

Large, powerful and unexpected waves, sometimes called sneaker waves or sleeper waves, can occur without warning, according to Oregon Parks and Recreation. A sneaker wave was blamed for critically injuring a Beaverton boy last year and in the death two Eugene high school students in 2011.

--Laura Frazier

lfrazier@oregonian.com

503-294-4035

@frazier_laura
Tapalaya

The crawfish etouffee at Tapalaya, where chef Anh Luu has introduced Vietnamese flavors to the cajun/creole menu.

Here are the food events happening this week from submitted news releases and websites:

"Making Gumbo" release party: Tapalaya will celebrate the release of "Making Gumbo," a new short film paying tribute to Louisiana's rich historical and culinary culture, using gumbo as the lens. The film will be aired on Jan. 27 from 9:30 - 11 p.m. at Tapalaya. Cocktails and gumbo tastings will be served prior to the film and there will be a Q&A with the staff of Tapalaya featured in the film afterwards. Gumbo will be offered complimentary and the cocktails will be available via cash bar.

Jenn Louis' Israeli dinner: Portland chef Jenn Louis' downtown Los Angeles Israeli restaurant is expected to open this fall. For those who want a taste of the new menu without the wait (or flight), Louis will be hosting a family-style Israeli dinner at Lincoln on Jan. 27.

Upcoming events

Maysara wine dinner at Swank & Swine: On Jan. 28, Swank & Swine will host a four-course dinner with Maysara Winery pairings. Dinner is at 6 p.m. for 16 seats and is $79/person. Reservations are required and can be made by emailing kayla@swankandswine.com.

Game over Flame wine dinner at Urban Fondue: Also on Jan. 28, Urban Fondue will host Troon Winery for a four-course dinner from 5 - 8 p.m. for $60/person. Reservations are recommended and can be made by emailing dominic@urbanfondue.com.

Finnriver Cider Social at Bushwhacker Cider: Celebrate CiderCon's 2016 arrival in Portland with Finnriver Cider Social hosted at Bushwhacker Cider from 6 - 9 p.m. on Feb. 3. Finnriver will be pouring limited release draft offerings, including "Frog Eye Roll Cider," made with organic ginger and Oregon water-grown wasabi from Frog Eyes Wasabi. Flights of Finnriver's Crew Selection ciders will also be available, as well as a Finnriver's Pommeau Hot Toddy. Jeff and Erin Smith, owners of Bushwhacker Cider, will be present and copies of Jeff's new book, "Craft Cider: How to Turn Apples into Alcohol," will be available for sale and signing.

Five Mile February launch party: For the month of February, Southeast Clinton's Lucky Horseshoe Lounge will tap only beer and cider made within five miles of the bar. The launch party, on Feb. 5 at 7 p.m. will feature DJ Towncraft and beer samples from Gigantic, Ecliptic, Baerlic, Upright and Hopworks. Throughout the month, beers from Commons, Base Camp Brewing, Burnside Brewing, Cider Riot! and Grixsen Brewing will rotate through the tap lines.

Dumpling Week 2016: Starting February 6, The Oregonian/OregonLive.com will host Portland's second annual Dumpling Week, seven days dedicated to all things wrapped in dough. Throughout the week, 12 Portland restaurants including Kachka, Bollywood Theater and Smallwares will offer special dumplings not available on their regular menus. Keep an eye out for dumpling recipes and features -- including an epic 82nd Avenue dumpling crawl -- online and in print. The readers who fill their Dumpling Passport by eating their way through a certain number of dumplings will be eligible for prizes, including gift certificates ranging from $50-$200.

Beer, Cider, Love: Arch Bridge Taphouse in Oregon City will host a collaborative Fort George Brewery and Finnriver Cidery event on Feb. 11 from 5 - 8 p.m. The third annual event will showcase a flight of Pacific Northwest beers and ciders, paired with offerings from Cheese Bar and Sweet Masterpiece Chocolate.

-- Samantha Bakall

sbakall@oregonian.com

Follow @sambakall
BENGALURU: The French Consulate in the city has received an anonymous letter allegedly threatening French President Francois Hollande against visiting India as the Republic Day guest.

Though the letter is being viewed as a hoax by the police and Intelligence agencies, it has reportedly escalated the heightened security threat to the VVIP, who is allegedly on the top of the hit list of Islamic jehadists, especially Daesh.

The French Consulate on January 11 received an anonymous three-line letter from Chennai by post. The unsigned letter states that the French President should not visit India on Republic Day. It is written in broken English and sentences are not well structured. The senders address on the letter has been verified and found to be non-existent. We have registered a case against an unknown person under Section 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code at High Grounds police station, said Additional Commissioner of Police (West), K.S.R. Charan Reddy.

Though the City police remained tight lipped about any further information on the letter, Intelligence sources told this newspaper that the letter was posted by an unknown person from Triplicane in Chennai.

It was posted from Triplicane area in Chennai, but the address is wrong. The letter begins with salutations to Allah and contains the map of India and the warning, said an officer on condition of anonymity. Bengaluru police have shared the letter with Chennai police and the Intelligence Bureau (IB).

Hollande will be the chief guest at this years Republic Day parade. New Delhi has turned into a fortress and has heightened the security alert for a possible lone wolf attack.
Oregon standoff: Alfalfa farmer Rudy Thompson goes about his business

Neil Sigurd Wampler (center, green coat), 68, is among the protesters taking part in the armed occupation at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge outside Burns. Here is pictured here behind Ammon Bundy, who is speaking at a morning news conference. According to court records and authorities, Wampler has a murder conviction in California from 1977.

(Thomas Boyd)

Updated on Feb. 15, 2016: Neil Sigurd Wampler wrote an op-ed for the Cal Coast News responding to The Oregonian's story and acknowledging the murder conviction.

One of the protesters taking part in the armed occupation at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is a 68-year-old former woodworker and, according to court records and authorities, a convicted killer.

Neil Sigurd Wampler drove to Oregon from his home on the California coast earlier this month to join those protesting the arson convictions of father and son ranchers outside Burns.

In August 1977, Wampler, who was 29, was convicted of second-degree murder in the killing of his father, Forey Edward Wampler, in Lake County, California, according to the district attorney's office there and police reports.

During an interview with The Oregonian/OregonLive, Wampler denied he is the same man.

But his unusual name and date of birth matched court and prison records. A commander at the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office also confirmed that the man at the refuge is a convicted murderer he knows as Neil Wampler in California, said Tony Cipolla, a sheriff's office spokesman. The commander identified him by watching a YouTube video of Wampler speaking from Oregon, Cipolla said.

Sheriff's officials are familiar with Wampler, who lives in the California county, because they've talked to him about whether he can possess a firearm, Cipolla said.

The Oregonian/OregonLive has published several short profiles of the protesters who took over the refuge Jan. 2. Wampler's felony is the most serious criminal conviction among the militants profiled so far.

During the past two and a half weeks, as the militants have settled into the refuge, there have been moments of tension. Residents have claimed to have been intimidated by some of the protesters and one was arrested last Friday and accused of stealing a refuge truck.

Occupation leader Ammon Bundy and spokesman Robert "LaVoy" Finicum both have said they weren't familiar with Wampler or his past.

"I don't know him," Finicum said. "Never heard of him."

But Wampler was a ubiquitous presence at the start of the occupation, often seen roaming the compound and talking to reporters.

He said he drove to Oregon from his home near San Luis Obispo after seeing an online call for people to support the cause in Burns.

California and federal law generally prohibit felons from possessing firearms. Wampler told The Oregonian that he can legally possess a gun. Cipolla, the San Luis Obispo Sheriff's Office spokesman, said Wampler cannot have a gun because of his murder conviction.

Wampler said about 75 percent of protesters at the refuge are armed. Asked if he was armed, he replied, "Oh yes," but wouldn't identify his weapon or say whether it was a gun.

Wampler was accused of killing his 62-year-old father who was asleep in bed at his Lower Lake, Calif., residence, according to police reports and newspaper stories from the time. Wampler had been staying at his father's home for eight days before the killing and had a troubled relationship with him, according to police reports.

Wampler was accused of hitting his father in the head with an eye bolt - a 16-inch rod -- which police found on his father's body, news and police reports say. Wampler left the residence, walked a few miles, hitchhiked and wound up at a liquor store, where he became upset and told an employee to call the sheriff's office, police reports say.

"I have killed my father," he told a deputy over the phone, according to the reports.

He pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity to a murder charge in court, and a judge ordered two psychiatrists to evaluate him, news stories say. The stories say Wampler was initially charged with first-degree murder.

During a change of plea hearing in July 1977, Wampler told the court that he and his father were drinking and his father insulted Wampler's girlfriend, according to a news story. His girlfriend, who also had been staying with Wampler and his father, told police the father had ordered her to leave, according to reports.

On Aug. 8, 1977, Wampler was convicted of second-degree murder after pleading guilty, according to the Lake County District Attorney's Office in California. Wampler was sentenced to serve five years to life in prison, said Dana Simas, a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman. He was released from prison July 11, 1981, on parole, Simas said, and his parole supervision ended the following July.

Public records list Wampler as a current resident of Los Osos, Calif.

Wampler has been outspoken about gun rights. In 2013, he wrote a letter to the editor in The San Luis Obispo Tribune commending the local sheriff's stance "against any federal infringement of our Second Amendment rights..." In the letter, he wrote, "We gun owners in San Luis Obispo owe a big thank you" to the sheriff.

Since arriving at the refuge, Wampler said, he has served as a camp cook. He made the trip because he has been concerned about the federal government "encroaching" on the rights of states and citizens.

From inside the Burns compound, Wampler appeared in a YouTube video wearing a State of Jefferson hat, referencing the state once proposed as a union of rural southern Oregon and northern California counties.

Asked why he came to Burns, Wampler replies on camera, "I am here to support my compadres in this effort against federal overreach."

Wampler also attended the standoff with federal authorities at the Nevada ranch of Cliven Bundy in 2014 and was at the Sugar Pine Mine confrontation last year in southern Oregon.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal quoted him saying at the Bundy ranch standoff, "I myself am willing to be shot and killed for constitutional rights and principles."

The story said Wampler was a member of the Oath Keepers, a self-described nonpartisan group of veterans and current and former police officers sworn to uphold the U.S. Constitution, but he told The Oregonian/OregonLive he is not. Nancy Larned, who serves as a contact for the Oath Keepers of California, said Wampler is not a member, but declined to say whether he had been in the past.

Stewart Rhodes, founder and director of Oath Keepers, said Wampler has never been a member.

Wampler said he headed to Bundy ranch after seeing a video online of federal agents using a stun gun on protesters there.

"That got me moving," he said.

Wampler also came to Oregon last spring as part of a protest involving armed protesters challenging the federal government at Sugar Pine Mine in Josephine County.

In the YouTube video, Wampler makes note of how peaceful participants have been at other armed demonstrations. He said no one has been injured or killed by gunfire and no one has fired any shots because they were mad. He said the group plans to be peaceful at the refuge as well.

"We are peaceful people, I certainly am," he says. "And the only circumstance, the last extremity, I think that any gunshots would be fired is if the federalists tried to root us out of here. They would find out then, that we are not playing. We're not gonna give an inch. And I say that very seriously."

Lynne Palombo, Fedor Zarkhin, Kelly House and Rob Davis contributed to this report.

-- Rebecca Woolington

503-294-4049; @rwoolington
As we enter Day 20 of the standoff at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, here are the latest developments:

* One of the protesters taking part in the armed occupation at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is a 68-year-old former woodworker and, according to court records and authorities, a convicted killer. Neil Sigurd Wampler drove to Oregon from his home on the California coast earlier this month to join those protesting the arson convictions of father and son ranchers outside Burns. In August 1977, Wampler, who was 29, was convicted of second-degree murder in the killing of his father, Forey Edward Wampler, in Lake County, Calif., according to the district attorney's office there and police reports.

* Gov. Kate Brown on Wednesday had harsh words for the federal government's handling of the occupation, calling the response too slow and saying it's left neighbors in Harney County lacking as tensions worsen. Brown, speaking at a news conference where she also laid out her 2016 policy agenda, also said Oregon officials should "scrub" the state's budget next month to help offset the costs of the standoff. She put those ongoing expenses at $100,000 a week, with even more money spent during the first week of the standoff.

* A fundraising campaign in protest of the occupation has raised more than $50,000 in 72 hours, the Oregon brothers behind the crowdfunding site announced Wednesday.

* The staff of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge posted a lengthy open letter on Facebook early Wednesday, addressing the 19-day occupation of the refuge. The letter says the staff has not commented on the occupation partly because staff members "want to ensure our words do not inflame an already heated situation." It thanks supporters and says staff members "hope to be back soon and pick up where we left off."

* The Oregonian Editorial Board weighed in:

Follow The Oregonian/OregonLive team from the scene today on Twitter:

Les Zaitz @LesZaitz

Kelly House @Kelly_M_House

Mark Graves @markwgraves

Hashtag: #OregonStandoff
Missing Fisherman

U.S. Coast Guard boats search the Pacific Ocean off the mouth of Coos Bay, for two missing fishermen, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2106, in Coos Bay, Ore., after their boat sank the night before. A crabbing boat collided with a jetty off the Oregon coast, killing one fisherman and triggering a search for two others, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday. A fourth man aboard, the vessel's captain, survived. (Lou Sennick/The World via Associated Press)

(Lou Sennick)

The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended its search for two fishermen who went missing near Coos Bay after their commercial fishing ship crashed.

The men disappeared about 9 p.m. Tuesday, when their boat, the Eagle III, plowed into a jetty and sank amid strong winds and high waves, the Associated Press reported. The crash killed one fisherman, but the boat's captain managed to make it to shore.

Officials have not released the names of those aboard the boat, which was based in Port Orford, the Associated Press reported.

The search was suspended at 2 p.m. Wednesday, the Coast Guard said in a news release.

Capt. Michael Trimpert, commander of Coast Guard Sector North Bend, told AP the wind was blowing at more than 30 mph when an emergency beacon alerted the Coast Guard of a boat in distress. The seas were 8 to 10 feet.

"I speak for all of our Coast Guard men and women that stand the watch on the Southern Oregon coast when I say our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those we have lost," Trimpert said in a news release.

-- Jim Ryan

jryan@oregonian.com

503-221-8005

@Jimryan015
Ballari: Can a government officer be punished for keeping the phone call of a minister on hold and attending to another call?

There is no rule of the kind but reliable sources say a woman officer of the rank of deputy superintendent of police, Ms Anupama Shenoy, posted at Kudligi police sub-division in the district, has been shunted out of the district for keeping the phone call of district-in-charge and labour minister P.T. Parameshwar Naik on hold and speaking to her higher-officer, within a day.

Sources said that Ms Shenoy received a call on her mobile phone Monday evening (January 18) from an unknown number and the person at the other end said, District in-charge minister (wants to) talk to you.

She reportedly waited for 25 to 30 seconds but there was no response from the other side. In the meantime, she got a call from her higher officer and cut the call of the ministers aide to speak to her higher-up.

Within few minutes, she received a call again from the unknown number and district in charge minister Mr Naik spoke to her saying, Cant (you) hold the phone call for a minute when the district in charge minister is on the line.

The conversation between them reportedly continued for about 25 minutes and finally, the minister warned her of serious consequences.

The next day, (January 19) night, she got an order transferring her to Athani in Belagavi district and on January 20, she got another order transferring her to Indi in Vijayapura district.
A Clatsop County judge Thursday ordered that Jessica Smith, accused of drowning her youngest daughter and attempting to kill her oldest one in a Cannon Beach hotel, be evaluated to determine whether she's able to assist in her own defense and proceed to trial.

Smith's lawyers, Lynne B. Morgan and William Falls, had filed a motion earlier this month asserting that Smith was mentally unfit and asked that she be evaluated by a psychologist. The lawyers also submitted a report from a defense psychiatrist to back up their assessment.

Morgan told the court that there's a possibility Smith "could be made whole'' at some future time with proper medication.

"Our first concern is for Ms. Smith to get the help we feel she really needs,'' Morgan said Thursday.

Clatsop County District Attorney Josh Marquis countered that the state's psychologist, who met with Smith last month, found nothing that would indicate she wasn't able to understand the proceedings or assist in her defense.

"The only real mental deficit she discussed was her claim that she had little or no memory of the events of July 31, 2014,'' Marquis wrote in a court memo.

Circuit Court Judge Cindee S. Matyas said she didn't notice anything unusual in Smith's behavior during court hearings, in her review of a videotaped meeting between a state-hired psychologist and Smith last month, or from Tillamook County jailer notes about their observations of Smith.

Matyas said she found that Smith was attentive, cooperative, focused and appropriately responded to the state psychologist's questions, only noting some problems in her memory about her history and some stated health concerns in her past. She's also been compliant in jail and involved in programs during her custody, the judge said.

Yet Matyas said the defense psychiatrist, Elizabeth Howell, cited concerns about Smith's thought processes, including instances of her refusing to cooperate with her lawyers, severe mood changes beginning last summer, impaired cognitive abilities and untreated health diagnoses.

"I have really no option than to conclude the question has been raised to a degree where it would be appropriate to have an evaluation,'' Matyas ruled.

Smith, 42, has pleaded not guilty to allegations of aggravated murder stemming from the July 31, 2014, drowning death of her daughter, Isabella, and attempted aggravated murder in the slashing of 13-year-old Alana in the Surfsand Resort. Alana, who suffered cuts to her throat and wrists, survived the attack. Now 14, she's living with her father in Washington.

Smith sat between her lawyers Thursday. She showed no emotion and did not speak during the 30-minute hearing.

Both Smith's lawyers and prosecutors submitted to the judge potential names of psychologists to conduct an evaluation.

Since the Oregon State Hospital is "inundated'' with aid and assist evaluation requests and it likely would take 60 to 90 days before an evaluation report would be available, Matyas said she would consider having Smith evaluated by a psychologist she selects while Smith remains in custody at the Tillamook County jail.

The judge said she'll be inquiring with the local mental health director to determine whether the county has the resources to provide medication or any help that Smith might need, if she's determined unable to assist in her defense.

A trial is set for late June.

Smith's attorneys argued for their right to be present during an aid and assist evaluation, while Marquis urged the court not to allow lawyers from either side to be involved.

Morgan said she and her co-counsel would not interfere with the evaluation but have an obligation to defend their client. "She has a constitutional protection against self-incrimination,'' Morgan said.

The judge said she'd ask the expert selected how he or she would prefer to proceed. Matyas said she expects to select a psychologist in the next several days.

The defense said in court last year that Smith suffered a mental "implosion'' or breakdown and provided the state with more than 140 pages of discovery that included psychology journal articles on postpartum psychosis. But her lawyers hadn't indicated until this month that Smith wasn't capable of assisting in her defense.

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonian
dallas high.jpg

A Dallas High School freshman asked to use the boys locker room after coming out as transgender.

(Casey Parks/The Oregonian)

In the months since Dallas School District leaders agreed to allow a transgender student to use the boys bathroom, parents in the rural Oregon community have prayed and protested.



Tuesday night, in front of a crowd of 250, the school board invited lawyers to explain publicly. What would happen, board members asked, if they barred transgender students from using the bathrooms they want to use?



You will be sued, lawyers from Salem-based Garrett Hemann Robertson said, as a district and perhaps as individuals. You will spend six figures fighting it -- hundreds of thousands of dollars that should be spent in classrooms.



And you will lose.



"There is real liability," said attorney Paul Dakopolos, "in not following the law."



Districts across the country, including many in Oregon, have wrestled over decisions about which locker rooms and lavatories transgender students should use. Oregon Department of Education officials plan to issue rules on the issue next month. In Dallas, a town of 15,000 30 minutes west of Salem, the debate began last fall when a transgender student asked to use the boys locker room.





District administrators spent "countless hours," board chair Lu Ann Meyer said Tuesday night, calling lawyers and other districts. Lawyers told Dallas board members that enforcement of federal Title IX regulations had changed "significantly" in recent years: The law passed in 1972 to ensure women had equal access to education now protects transgender students from discrimination.



Dallas administrators agreed to let the 14-year-old freshman begin using the boys locker room in November.



Parents and students packed a December meeting to complain. Students signed petitions protesting the policy. A few asked to be removed from the transgender student's PE class. Parents met for prayer sessions, asking God to help board members change their mind. They did their own research, reading court decisions from across the country about transgender students. The law didn't seem so clear to them.



It's true, Dakopolos said Tuesday night, that courts have issued conflicting verdicts. In Virginia, a U.S. District Court district court judge ruled that a transgender teenager did not have the right to file an injunction under Title IX.



"I think it's important as we throw around case law tonight to remember that we're in Oregon," Dakopolos said. "Oregon law is different than a lot of the states that have reached these decisions. We're in the 9th Circuit. That circuit is headquartered in San Francisco. It's known as a more liberal federal circuit. That's just the reality in which we live."



Kelly Noor, an attorney who works with Dakopolos, said that while no Oregon court has addressed transgender student rights, her firm believes federal and state laws would protect those students. And the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights set a precedent in November when it ruled that an Illinois school district violated Title IX when administrators prevented a transgender female from using the girls' facilities.



Parents, in questions they submitted Tuesday via note cards, asked the lawyers why a transgender student's rights trumps their religious rights. They don't, the attorneys explained. The district has to respect the rights of all students.



If a student objects to sharing a locker room with a transgender student, Dallas High School administrators allow those students to undress somewhere else. The principal can also change a student's schedule so he takes PE during a different period.



Still, parents yelled from the audience that they feared their kids would not be safe.



"Can you guarantee," one wrote, "that my seventh-grade daughter is safe to change and shower in a girls locker room while a grown man who claims to be a transgender decides to use the same locker room at the same time?"



Dallas High principal Steve Spencer said he had hired a new staff member to supervise the girls locker room.



The Dallas School Board could listen to parents and decide to challenge the federal Department of Education, Dakopolos said, by not allowing transgender students to use the bathroom they prefer.



"Then get sued," Dakopolos said. "You can challenge them in court. You'd probably lose that fight. If someone doesn't sue you, you can tell (the federal department's Office of Civil Rights) that you're not going to follow their rules. Then you can get involved in an OCR complaint, and you can go through an investigation. You won't win that either. Their rules are the rules. They're not going to change them because you disagree with them."



When a school board breaks "known law" to discriminate against a student, Dakopolos said, individual board members can also be held personally liable. If they refused to admit students of color, for instance, parents could sue each board member individually. The rights of transgender students aren't as well established as those of ethnic minorities, Dakopolos said, but that liability could come to pass.



Of course, Dallas parents who object to the policy could always opt to sue the district, too.



"All you need is about a $500 filing fee," Dakopolos said. "I suppose here the claim would be that the school district, by following what we understand to be the law, violates the privacy rights of students by making them uncomfortable in being in a locker room or the restroom. I think that's a largely untested right in Oregon. We've seen case decisions where a judge talks about a student right of privacy. I think it's an interesting argument. I just don't think it would go very far in a court in Oregon."

You can listen to the meeting:

-- Casey Parks

503-221-8271

cparks@oregonian.com; @caseyparks
Jackson County is two years into its ban on genetically-engineered crops.

Elise Higley thinks it's going well.



"People are excited about the ability to be able to grow in a safer environment and not have the risk of cross-pollination and contamination with GE crops," Higley said.



Higley wants other counties to be able to do the same - a patchwork approach. But the Oregon Legislature passed a law in 2013 to stop that very thing from happening. The law barred local governments outside Jackson County from being able to decide their own rules on genetically-engineered crops.



Instead, legislators touted a statewide approach they hoped would figure out how farmers who use genetically modified organisms can exist alongside those who don't. Former Gov. John Kitzhaber created a committee of farm advocates, organic growers, biotech companies and other interests with a sizeable budget, but no compromises were ever reached, no rules ever agreed upon.



Now, some farmers are back to pushing for that county-by-county approach. Rep. Paul Holvey, D-Eugene, introduced a bill for the short session in February that would repeal sections of that bill that stops counties from making local GMO rules, and "family farmer" groups are throwing their support behind it.

Holvey's office did not respond to a request for comment.



"At a local level, we as a community know what our agricultural needs are better than they do in Salem," Higley said. "I think it makes more sense for us to decide these things."

But the agricultural interests that worked to pass the bill, including the Oregon Farm Bureau, plan to strongly oppose any change to the "pre-emption" law, as it was called at the time.



"We want to preserve the right of farmers to make decisions on their own farms, without every single entity in the state getting to determine what farmers can and can't raise on their farms," said farm bureau president Barry Bushue.



A fight already fought



Fights over GMOs in the fields and on tables are heating up nationwide. The U.S. Congress is currently haggling over a law that would require companies to label whether their food products contain GMOs, something food industry groups have long opposed.



Oregon lost a statewide version of that fight in 2014.

Jackson County's GMO ban was quickly challenged in court by farmers who grow GMO alfalfa. The measure was upheld in court. Still, the county settled another dispute with the farmers, allowing them to complete the lifecycle of their crops that were in the ground when the ban passed, rather than having to rip up their fields immediately.



Josephine County, Jackson County's neighbor to the west, also passed a ban on genetically-engineered crops, but was stuck in limbo when the Oregon Legislature's pre-emption law was passed. The law won bipartisan -- but not unanimous -- support, bolstering the hopes of those seeking a repeal.



The law was packaged with bills on public pensions and taxes in 2013's special session, and came with an emergency clause that let it go into effect immediately to quash work underway in Benton and Lane counties to push for their own ban from going farther.



Benton County kept trying, though. Advocates there tried to pass a GMO crop ban in the form of a "bill of rights" for nature. Nature, not being able to hire an attorney on its own, would rely on Benton County residents to stop farmers using genetically-engineered crops in court.



The measure did not pass.



Good business sense



In Jackson County, Higley worked hard on the campaign to drum up voter support for the rule that would outlaw genetically modified organisms from being cultivated within county lines. The measure passed 2-to-1 despite a large Republican voting base that some expected to oppose the measure.



But Higley says that banning genetically-engineered crops was not about organic versus conventional farmers, young farmers versus old ones, liberals against conservatives. It was about geography.



"We grow a lot of corn, we also grow corn seed for contract," Higley said of the farm she and her husband own. "If there's another GE corn seed field in a mile from us, we're at risk of cross-pollination and contamination."



Many countries ban or regulate GMOs more stringently than the U.S., and farmers can be hurt if food or seeds they bill as non-GMO tests positive for genetic modification. Higley said that many farmers saw the ban as good business sense, whether they have a problem with GMOs or not.



Other counties might not see it as necessary.



Ivan Maluski, policy director for advocacy group Friends of Family Farmers, served on the committee that was created to envision a statewide approach.. He is frustrated a solution was never found and doesn't believe one ever will be.



"It just makes no sense to us, after two years of inaction, to not allow local communities to set rules on their local conditions to protect farmers who are at risk for contamination," Maluski said.



While many agricultural groups say the risk is low for genetically-engineered crops to cross-pollinate or hurt a neighbor's business, Maluski points to a 2013 highly-publicized case in Oregon where a non-GMO wheat field was found to be contaminated, and a recent case in Washington, in which alfalfa was turned away when it tested positive for GMOs.



"Let's allow these protections to be put in place now instead of waiting until we have to respond to another crisis."

-- Molly Harbarger

mharbarger@oregonian.com

503-294-5923

@MollyHarbarger
schrader-willis.jpg

U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader, D-Ore., left, and Colm Willis, former political director for Oregon Right to Life, right.

Colm Willis, the former top lobbyist for Oregon Right to Life, released polling data Thursday that puts him within striking distance of U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader in a potential matchup this fall.

Calls this month to 838 likely voters showed Willis receiving support from 37 percent of respondents -- just six points behind Schrader, a four-term Democrat. A fifth of respondents said they were undecided. The margin of error in the poll, by Magellan Strategies, is plus or minus 3.4 percent.

Willis, who's never held office before, is one of three Republicans who've either announced a campaign or filed paperwork ahead of the May primary. Schrader's seat in Oregon's Fifth Congressional District covers parts of Clackamas, Polk, Marion and Lincoln counties.

"The bottom line is voters in the district are willing to consider an alternative candidate at high enough levels to make this election competitive," David Flaherty, Magellan Strategies' CEO, said in a statement.

The polling results are somewhat expected given the district's close partisan divide, said Jim Moore, a political science professor at Pacific University. And because the didn't test how well voters know either Willis or Schrader, Moore said, that means it serves almost as much as a measure of partisan enthusiasm.

"That particular district is the closest we have to a swing district," he said. "It shows the close division."

But Moore also said the margin is close enough that the poll should serve as a warning shot for the incumbent.

He's "a known quantity," Moore said, "but he's not a superstar."

Schrader's campaign didn't immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

-- Denis C. Theriault

503-221-8430; @TheriaultPDX
Jackie Winters

Sen. Jackie Winters, R-Salem, asks a question to Sen. Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene, on April 14, 2015.

(Ian K. Kullgren/Staff)

SALEM -- State Sen. Jackie Winters, R-Salem, is awaiting a doctor's recommendation on whether to return to the Capitol for the February legislative session after undergoing surgery earlier this month.

Winters had surgery Jan. 7 to clear a blockage in her aorta, the main artery that carries oxygenated blood.

"She's doing remarkably well," said Pam McLain, Winters' chief of staff. "We hope she's back, [but] we just don't know."

At 78, Winters is the eldest member of the Senate and a decorated veteran of Oregon politics. Her career began in 1969 when she joined then-Gov. Tom McCall's administration as a supervisor in the Office of Economic Opportunity. She was elected to the House in 1998, then to the Senate in 2002.

A steadfast moderate, Winters is one of two African Americans in the Legislature. In 2015, she helped Bud Pierce launch his Republican gubernatorial bid.

-- Ian. K. Kullgren

503-294-4006; @IanKullgren
Portland isn't the only city where Florida businessman George Levey has been linked to a bribery investigation.

In Illinois, an executive who oversaw a Chicago parking deal has now been accused of accepting $90,000 in bribes from an unnamed individual who oversaw an unnamed company.

Chicago media have widely speculated about the identity of the unnamed businessman: Levey.

Philip "Felipe" Oropesa, who worked for a company called LAZ Parking, met with an unnamed chief executive officer at a Florida restaurant in 2008, according to the Chicago Tribune's review of an unsealed FBI search warrant affidavit.

There, the unnamed executive offered bribes in exchange for business for his company.

"Authorities have not named the CEO, who has cooperated in the federal investigation, but details from the FBI affidavit appear to confirm he is George Levey, who heads Tampa, Fla.-based Cale Parking Systems USA," the paper reported this month.

The Chicago Sun Times reached the same conclusion in connection to a $22 million contract.

"But those details appear to fit the case against George Levey, whose Cale Parking Systems USA Inc. provided parking meters to Chicago Parking Meters LLC," the paper wrote this month.

The Chicago Sun Times also provided additional details. The $90,000 bribes were paid in three installments in 2010.

In July 2011, "Oropesa's wife allegedly wrote an email to the businessman whose company had paid the bribes that read: 'Hi George. Do you need me to send you an invoice for 2011?'" the paper reported. "The businessman believed she was asking for more money, according to the feds' affidavit. By then, the contract had apparently turned out to be far less lucrative than expected."

In August 2011, the FBI raided the office of Portland parking manager Ellis K. McCoy, who later pleaded guilty to accepting bribes from Levey, an independent distributor of Cale machines. McCoy received a two-year prison sentence.

Levey in 2015 pleaded guilty to his role bribing McCoy. His sentencing, once scheduled for last year, has been delayed to Feb. 10.

Oropesa is now set to be arraigned Jan. 22 in the Chicago investigation.

Officials for the city of Portland and Cale America have said they've thoroughly investigated contract manipulation in Portland by Levey and McCoy in 2006.

The city of Portland ended its Cale contract in 2013 and launched a competitive bidding process. Cale America -- a subsidiary of Sweden-based Cale Group -- went on to win.

Privately, Cale America agreed to give Levey a share of its operating profits until 2016, although that deal is now being arbitrated following Levey's guilty plea.

Meanwhile, Portland officials announced Wednesday that they would keep buying Cale meters.

Neither Cale America nor Portland had previously disclosed any concern about bribes tied to Chicago meters.

An email to Anton Kaya, Cale's chief executive, was not immediately returned Wednesday.

John Brady, a spokesman for the Portland Bureau of Transportation, said city officials learned about Chicago issues last fall from media reports but never asked Cale America about the issue.

"Our position is that we were focused on Cale's relationship with Portland," he said.

-- Brad Schmidt

503-294-7628

@cityhallwatch
centralprecinctpixjpg-1b34e009d9dbdb86.jpg

The Portland Police Bureau's January summary report of police misconduct cases, filed on its website with no public notice, revealed a 2014 case in which a patrol officer was allowed to quietly resign in early 2015 after having had sex on duty multiple times at the home of a woman he'd met on a call and then lied about his encounters. (Maxine Bernstein|The Oregonian)

A 16-year Portland police veteran was allowed to quietly resign last year after he met a woman on a police call, had sex with her on and off duty and then lied about his behavior.

The officer was found to have lied to emergency dispatchers about his whereabouts, claiming he was taking a statement when he actually had driven to the woman's hotel room for sex in 2014, according to bureau reports made public for the first time.

George R. Holloway Jr., 54, resigned Jan. 6, 2015, according to bureau and state records, months before a police review panel unanimously recommended that he be fired.

The Police Review Board, made up of community representatives and police, also recommended that a "Do Not Rehire'' warning go into the officer's personnel file.

Portland police declined to identify the officer in response to a public records request, but information from the Police Bureau and the state Department of Public Safety Standards and Training indicated it was Holloway.

His name wasn't included in material released by the bureau summarizing the case.

"You are correct that there was no public release about the investigation,'' police spokesman Sgt. Pete Simpson said in an email Wednesday.

Holloway's case was reviewed "both criminally and internally," Simpson said. Police discussed the case with a Multnomah County deputy district attorney and determined a criminal prosecution "could not proceed based on the available information,'' he said.

Beyond discussions with a state prosecutor, the bureau never presented a formal, completed criminal investigation to the district attorney's office for review, according to Chief Deputy District Attorney Don Rees.

The bureau may not have been able to prove that Holloway engaged in sex on duty with the woman during its criminal investigation, a source said.

The Portland Police Bureau's redacted summary of the misconduct involving a patrol officer who had sex with a woman on duty multiple times and lied about it. This is part of the bureau's Police Review Board report issued this month. (Portland Police Bureau)

The woman contacted police in 2014 and reported that an officer who met her on a police call about eight months earlier had visited her at her home multiple times while on and off duty, according to a bureau summary of the case.

The visits involved "intimate sexual acts,'' and the officer frequently gave her money, the summary said.

An internal police investigation found the woman's complaint credible and Holloway untruthful, according to a bureau summary. On one occasion, GPS from the officer's patrol car showed that the officer had driven to meet the woman at a hotel, though the officer had told dispatch that he was headed elsewhere to pick up a statement, the summary said.

A unanimous Police Review Board recommended last June that the bureau fire the officer. The board found that he exhibited a "repeated pattern'' of misconduct. It described the woman who made the complaint as a "vulnerable citizen'' but didn't explain what that meant.

The bureau found that the officer's payments to the woman didn't amount to prostitution, a source said.

After resigning, Holloway permanently surrendered his Oregon police certification in July, said Linsay Hale, director of the Professional Standards Division in the state's Department of Public Safety Standards and Training.

Holloway could not be reached for comment. Portland Officer Daryl Turner, president of the Portland Police Association that represents the rank-and-file officers, declined to comment on the case.

The Police Bureau distinguished Holloway's case from other police sex cases - including the 2007 conviction of former Officer Jason Faulk on misdemeanor official misconduct charges for having sex on two occasions with an autistic woman he had met on duty.

A criminal investigation is continuing into another Portland officer, accused of taking a woman's domestic assault complaint in July and then meeting her hours later at her hotel and coercing her into unwanted sexual contact.

Holloway's sex-on-duty case was one of 14 cases summarized in the bureau's January report on police misconduct. It covered Police Review Board examinations between November 2014 and last December.

The bureau posted the review board summaries on its website without any public notice. The summaries don't identify the date of the alleged misconduct, or the gender or name of the officers investigated. The summaries are posted twice a year.

Other unnamed officers resigned or retired as investigations were pending.

-- One officer resigned for not conducting a child abuse investigation properly.

-- A supervisor, who negligently fired a Taser stun gun in a police office in the presence of other officers and failed to report it to a commanding officer as required, retired.

Other officers faced lengthy suspensions without pay.

-- For example, one officer made false statements in a sworn affidavit in a child custody case with his ex-wife and was suspended for 120 hours without pay.

-- Another accepted overtime pay for hours not worked after he'd been released from a required court appearance. Four review board members recommended the officer be fired because of a history of past discipline, lack of remorse and the officer's inconsistent explanations for the unearned overtime. But then-Acting Chief Donna Henderson gave the officer a 120-hour suspension without pay instead, concluding there wasn't enough evidence the officer "intentionally misled'' the bureau and the city.

-- Another officer was suspended without pay for 120 days for failing to inform a supervisor that an informant used in a drug case was facing domestic violence and weapons charges, and for failing to properly search the informant's car, which was later found to have contained drugs. The review board members recommended the officer be prohibited from working with informants in the future.

The five who have votes on the Police Review board include one community member, a peer officer, an assistant chief who supervises the officer, the director of the Independent Police Review Division or a designee, and a commander or captain who supervises the officer.

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonian
iannarone.jpeg

Restaurant owner Sarah Iannarone announced her mayoral candidacy Jan.21, 2016.

(Brad Schmidt/The Oregonian)

Portland's latest political hopeful, Sarah Iannarone, announced her mayoral bid Thursday while depicting herself as a thoughtful leader who will seriously challenge the established frontrunners, Jules Bailey and Ted Wheeler.

Iannarone, a restaurant owner and assistant director of First Stop Portland, said she hopes to raise $100,000 in the next two weeks and $250,000 for the May 17 primary.

"I'm certainly in it to win it," she said in an interview Thursday before formally announcing her candidacy outside Portland City Hall.

Iannarone's entry is the latest twist in a mayoral race that has repeatedly evolved since September, with each new development casting doubt over who will emerge to lead the city in 2017. If she gains momentum -- and right now that's still an "if" -- Iannarone's candidacy could further divide Portland voters and extend the election season beyond the May primary to a November runoff.

The 42-year-old has no political experience, has yet to hire a fundraiser and is something of an unknown commodity. But her decision to jump into the mayor's race is noteworthy not only because she's the only woman among a field of 10, but also because she hopes to capitalize on business and political connections to mount a viable, late-to-the-game candidacy.

Iannarone (pronounced I-an-a-rone) owns the Arleta Library Bakery Cafe and works with Mayor Charlie Hales' wife, Nancy, at First Stop Portland. She made headlines last year for helping Nancy Hales in a celebrity baking contest later dubbed "Cakegate."

But her job with First Stop, a tour-coordinating group run by Portland State University, may provide important connections to key business groups and well-heeled donors.

Already, Iannarone says she's "well on my way" to hitting her short-term fundraising goal of $100,000. And if that happens, she'll seemingly solidify her status in the race against Wheeler, Oregon's treasurer, and Bailey, a Multnomah County commissioner.

"I believe that we deserve a real choice in our election. I don't think that inevitability is something that Portlanders accept," she said. "And I also don't think they want options that don't reflect our values, our culture and our aspirations."

Iannarone, who lives in the Mt. Scott-Arleta neighborhood with her teenage daughter, said she's received encouragement from Portland's outgoing mayor and his wife. But Charlie Hales -- who last year dropped his re-election bid -- "did not approach me to run," she said.

"He supports my decision," she said.

Iannarone is undeterred by her lack of political experience. True, Wheeler is a state executive and former chairman of the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners, while Bailey is a county commissioner and former state legislator. But she said it's "entrenched" political thinking to assume viable candidates must have held office.

"Neither of them have been mayor of Portland before," she said. "And neither have I."

But Jim Moore, director of the Tom McCall Center for Policy Innovation at Pacific University, said he'll remain skeptical until Iannarone delivers on her initial fundraising goal.

"We want to see the actual $100,000," Moore said. If Iannarone makes good on that and establishes herself as viable, "then it changes the dynamic" of the race, he said.

The city's mayoral campaign has taken many surprising turns in recent months.

It had been shaping up as a battle royale between Wheeler and Hales, the first-term incumbent. But Wheeler came out swinging in September, and a month later, Hales dropped his re-election bid.

That vaulted Wheeler to heir-apparent status until Bailey changed his mind and decided to run, formally announcing his campaign this month.

It appeared to be a two-man race until Iannarone's entry.

Iannarone said she'd been closely watching the campaign for months, hoping to see a person of color or a woman enter. After no one stepped up, Iannarone said, she decided to run.

Now, Portland's crowded mayoral field will square off in the May 17 primary. To win, a candidate must secure more than 50 percent of the vote. If that doesn't happen, the top two from the primary will advance to the Nov. 8 general election.

That's something Iannarone said she's prepared for, indicating a need to raise up to $600,000 if that happens.

Wheeler's campaign welcomed Iannarone into the race Thursday, while Bailey's camp said her entry doesn't change Bailey's self-proclaimed grassroots campaign.

Although rumors of Iannarone's pending candidacy emerged this week, her team is not yet fully organized. A newly hired aide sent out an email to reporters Wednesday night announcing the kickoff, misspelling Iannarone's name in the process.

Iannarone said she's yet to hire a fundraiser, although she will. And she said she doesn't have a political consultant, but has spoken to "wise elders" in Portland.

Iannarone didn't offer a specific platform during her City Hall speech Thursday morning, speaking instead in generalities about becoming a "smarter city" and needing to "rethink Portland together." Eight times during the first part of her speech, she said she loved Portland or things about living in the city.

And yet Portland is experiencing intense growing pains, she said, with an affordable-housing crisis, snarled traffic and widespread homelessness. However, the city is fully capable of tackling those issues "the Portland way, through innovation and collaboration."

"As Portland mayor, I will address these challenges by creating avenues for developing home-grown solutions to the problems we face," Iannarone said, "and cultivating new partnerships for financing them."

-- Brad Schmidt

bschmidt@oregonian.com

503-294-7628

@cityhallwatch
Mideast Iraq Monastery Destroyed

This Nov. 7, 2008, photo shows St. Elijah's Monastery on the outskirts of Mosul, Iraq, about 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad. St. Elijah's served as a center of the regional Christian community for centuries, attracting worshippers from throughout the region to pray with its priests. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

(Maya Alleruzzo)

IRBIL, Iraq -- The Obama administration and the Vatican condemned the Islamic State group Wednesday for razing Iraq's oldest Christian monastery, a 1400-year-old structure that survived assaults by nature and man for centuries before it was deliberately destroyed by extremists.

At the United Nations, UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova said reducing St. Elijah's monastery in Mosul to a field of rubble was malicious and misguided. The Associated Press confirmed the news with exclusive satellite images published early Wednesday.

"Despite their relentless crimes, extremists will never be able to erase history," said Bokova, who called the demolition a war crime. "It also reminds us how terrified by history the extremists are, because understanding the past undermines the pretexts they use to justify these crimes and exposes them as expressions of pure hatred and ignorance."

St. Elijah's monastery on the outskirts of Mosul was a place of worship recently for U.S. troops, who worked to restore it. In earlier centuries, generations of monks tucked candles in the niches and prayed in the cool chapel. The Greek letters chi and rho, representing the first two letters of Christ's name, were carved near the entrance.

During a press briefing in Washington on Wednesday, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the Obama Administration condemned the destruction by IS. "They continue to carry out these kinds of depraved acts, and it really symbolizes or exemplifies their bankrupt ideology," he said.

In his office in exile in Irbil, Iraq, the Rev. Paul Thabit Habib, 39, stared quietly at before- and after-images of the monastery that once perched on a hillside above his hometown of Mosul. Shaken, he flipped back to his own photos for comparison.

"I can't describe my sadness," he said in Arabic. "Our Christian history in Mosul is being barbarically leveled. We see it as an attempt to expel us from Iraq, eliminating and finishing our existence in this land."

The Islamic State group, which broke from al-Qaida and now controls large parts of Iraq and Syria, has killed thousands of civilians and forced out hundreds of thousands of Christians, threatening a religion that has endured in the region for 2,000 years. Along the way, its fighters have destroyed buildings and ruined historical and culturally significant structures they consider contrary to their interpretation of Islam.

Those who knew the monastery wondered about its fate after the extremists swept through in June 2014 and largely cut communications to the area.

Now, St. Elijah's has joined a growing list of more than 100 demolished religious and historic sites, including mosques, tombs, shrines and churches in Syria and Iraq. The extremists have defaced or ruined ancient monuments in Nineveh, Palmyra and Hatra. Museums and libraries have been looted, books burned, artwork crushed -- or trafficked.

"A big part of tangible history has been destroyed," said Rev. Manuel Yousif Boji. A Chaldean Catholic pastor in Southfield, Michigan, he remembers attending Mass at St. Elijah's almost 60 years ago while a seminarian in Mosul.

"These persecutions have happened to our church more than once, but we believe in the power of truth, the power of God," said Boji. He is part of the Detroit area's Chaldean community, which became the largest outside Iraq after the sectarian bloodshed that followed the U.S. invasion in 2003. Iraq's Christian population has dropped from 1.3 million then to 300,000 now, church authorities say.

At the Vatican, spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi noted that since the monastery dates back to the time Christians were united, the place would be a special one for many. He said it was the first news he had had of the destruction.

"Unfortunately, there is this systemic destruction of precious sites, not only cultural, but also religious and spiritual. It's very sad and dramatic," Lombardi said.

The loss of the monastery is a blow for U.S. troops and advisers who served in Iraq and had tried to protect and honor the site, a hopeful endeavor in a violent place and time.

Suzanne Bott, who spent more than two years restoring St. Elijah's Monastery as a U.S. State Department cultural adviser in Iraq, teared up when the AP showed her the images.

"Oh no way. It's just razed completely," said Bott. "What we lose is a very tangible reminder of the roots of a religion. Now it's gone."

Army reserve Col. Mary Prophit remembered a sunrise service in St. Elijah where, as a Catholic lay minister, she served communion.

"I let that moment sink in, the candlelight, the first rays of sunshine. We were worshipping in a place where people had been worshipping God for 1,400 years," said Prophit, who was deployed there in 2004 and again in 2009.

"I would imagine that many people are feeling like, 'What were the last 10 years for if these guys can go in and destroy everything?'" said Prophit, a library manager in Glenoma, Washington.

This month, at the request of AP, satellite imagery firm DigitalGlobe pulled a series of images of the same spot from their archive of pictures taken globally every day.

Imagery analyst Stephen Wood, CEO of Allsource Analysis, reviewed the pictures for AP and identified the date of destruction between Aug. 27 and Sept. 28, 2014. Before it was razed, images show a partially restored, 27,000-square-foot religious building. Although the roof was largely missing, it had 26 distinctive rooms including a sanctuary and chapel. One month later, "the stone walls have been literally pulverized," said Wood.

"Bulldozers, heavy equipment, sledgehammers, possibly explosives turned those stone walls into this field of gray-white dust," he said. "There's nothing to rebuild."

Congressman Eliot Engel, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs committee who authored legislation to crack down on the Islamic State group's trafficking of looted artifacts, called the destruction "just another tragic step in the slow disappearance of that population and another brutal abuse by ISIS.

"It's sickening to see ISIS terrorists try to wipe away history and pocket millions by trafficking artifacts looted from these sites, resources they are using to support their campaign of terror," he said.

The monastery, called Dair Mar Elia, is named for the Assyrian Christian monk -- St. Elijah -- who built it between 582 and 590 A.C. It was a holy site for Iraqi Christians for centuries, part of the Mideast's Chaldean Catholic community.

In 1743, tragedy struck when as many as 150 monks who refused to convert to Islam were massacred under orders of a Persian general, and the monastery was damaged. For the next two centuries it remained a place of pilgrimage, even after it was incorporated into an Iraqi military training base and later a U.S. base.

Then in 2003 St. Elijah's shuddered again -- this time a wall was smashed by a tank turret blown off in battle. Iraqi troops had already moved in, dumping garbage in the ancient cistern. The U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division took control, with troops painting over ancient murals and scrawling their division's "Screaming Eagle," along with "Chad wuz here" and "I love Debbie," on the walls.

A U.S. military chaplain, recognizing St. Elijah's significance, kicked the troops out and the Army's subsequent preservation initiative became a pet project for a series of chaplains who toured thousands of soldiers through the ruin.

"It was a sacred place. We literally bent down physically to enter, an acquiescence to the reality that there was something greater going on inside," remembered military chaplain Jeffrey Whorton. A Catholic priest who now works at Ft. Bragg, he had to collect himself after viewing the damage. "I don't know why this is affecting me so much," he said.

The U.S. military's efforts drew attention from international media outlets including the AP in 2008. Today those chronicles, from YouTube videos captured on the cell phones of visiting soldiers to AP's own high resolution, detailed photographs, take on new importance as archives of what was lost.

One piece published in Smithsonian Magazine was written by American journalist James Foley, six years before he was killed by Islamic State militants.

St. Elijah's was being saved, Foley wrote in 2008, "for future generations of Iraqis who will hopefully soon have the security to appreciate it."

-- The Associated Press
LAS VEGAS -- A 24-year-old Oregon native accused of mowing down a crowd of pedestrians with her car on the Las Vegas Strip was charged Wednesday with an additional 71 felonies.

Lakeisha N. Holloway already stood accused of murder and child endangerment charges in the deadly Dec. 20 crash. Police say Holloway drove for several blocks on the sidewalk with her 3-year-old daughter in the back seat and hit more than 30 people, including members of the Pacific University men's wrestling team.

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said he filed the new charges -- 34 counts of attempted murder and 34 counts of battery with a deadly weapon -- to reflect injuries to people struck by Holloway's car outside the Planet Hollywood and Paris Las Vegas resorts.

Holloway's defense attorney, Scott Coffee, said the new charges had been expected.

The murder and child endangerment charges were lodged against Holloway shortly after her arrest. Jessica Valenzuela, 32, of Buckeye, Arizona, died in the crash. The latter charge stems from Holloway's daughter being in the car at the time of the crash. She was not injured and has since been placed with family.

Police and firefighters said the injured were from Oregon, Washington, California, Colorado, Florida, Pennsylvania, Mexico and Canada. One man remained in serious condition Wednesday at University Medical Center in Las Vegas, hospital spokeswoman Danita Cohen said.

A charge of leaving the scene of a crash was dropped, and Wolfson decided not to charge Holloway with driving under the influence of marijuana despite blood test results finding that she had pot and its metabolites in her system shortly after the crash.

If convicted of all the charges against her, Holloway could spend the rest of her life behind bars, the district attorney said.

Holloway will plead not guilty, her attorney said.

"We are reviewing the case as things come in, and will determine what we'll do going forward," Coffee said.

He also said Holloway has been taken off suicide watch at the Clark County jail, where she is being held in a solo cell pending a Feb. 4 court date.

Police say Holloway arrived in Las Vegas from Portland, Oregon, and told investigators that she and her daughter had been living for at least a week in the car that she parked at casinos.

Records in Oregon show she changed her name in October to Paris Paradise Morton, but Coffee said she has been using the name Holloway in Las Vegas.

-- The Associated Press
Students take out a rally to protest the January 17 suicide of PhD scholar Rohith Vemula at the University of Hyderabad.

Hyderabad: The University of Hyderabad on Thursday terminated the punishment imposed on dalit students with immediate effect, but made the decision conditional upon the outcome of two court cases and a police investigation.

The decision with three riders angered the students who vowed to continue their fight.

Of the two cases, both in the High Court, one is the writ petition (No. 28073/2015) moved by Ms Vinaya Kumar, mother of ABVP leader Susheel Kumar, seeking action on students who allegedly assaulted her son and the other is the petition (41516/2015) filed by D. Prashanth and other research scholars seeking revocation of their suspension.

The UoH decision is also conditional on the outcome of the police investigation into the assault complaint filed by Mr Susheel Kumar.

The University had on December 18 suspended five students  D. Prashanth, Rohith Vemula (who later committed suicide), P. Vijay Kumar, C. Sheshaiah and V. Sunkanna  from the hostels till the completion of their studies.

The decision was taken at a special meeting of the executive council held under the chairmanship of vice-chancellor Appa Rao Podile and put out in a press statement issued by students welfare dean Prof. Prakash Babu.

The executive council said it had taken the decision due to the extraordinary situation in the campus. Mr Zuhail, a student union leader, took serious objection to the manner in which the decision was announced.

Instead of the vice-chancellor issuing orders, it came from the dean which is not acceptable to us. What do they mean by extraordinary situation? Are they belittling our protest? he asked.

Had this decision been made before Rohiths death, we would have agreed. Not now. We want action against culprits responsible for the suicide, including the vice-chancellor, action against Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya, ABVP leader Susheel Kumar, `50 lakh compensation for Rohiths family and a job for his brother, Mr Zuhail said.
Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve could be getting a new name - not the "Craters of the Moon" part, but rather "national monument and preserve," a title advocates want to change to a simple and stately "national park."

That's the goal of a group of locals in Butte County, Idaho - home of Craters of the Moon - who plan to petition government officials to grant the site the prestigious "national park" title, an honor they hope will bring more people to their sparsely-populated neck of the woods.

"It's really about a marketing strategy for it," Butte County commissioner Rose Bernal, a leading advocate for the park status told Magicvalley.com. "It's sad how many people get there (by) accident ... They don't know how awesome it is."

The 54,000-acre monument is part of an ancient lava field, formed 2,000 to 15,000 years ago. Today, visitors can hike up desolate cinder cones, crawl through year-round ice caves and hike along paved and rugged wilderness trails.

If named a national park, it could bring more tourists and more money to an area that could use the financial boon. Population and income have both declined steadily since 1970, according to an economic study by the University of Idaho, leaving the town with a 23.3 percent poverty rate as of 2009.

"Perhaps abundant beautiful scenery and recreational opportunities should drive the economies" of the counties around Craters of the Moon, the study said. "But they don't."

Advocates hope getting the monument designated as a national park would turn the area's poor fortune around, but they still face a steep road to getting that done.

Getting the park designation requires an act of Congress, which in turn requires action from the Idaho state legislature. A resolution did pass the Idaho Senate in 2015, but stalled in the state House after some lawmakers - nudged by local ranchers and the Idaho Farm Bureau Federation - raised concerns about how the new status would affect current land uses.

Proponents in the legislature promise a second effort in 2016, but those who helped shoot it down last year are still wary of the changes it could bring to rural Idaho ranchers.

The Farm Bureau is primarily concerned with the possibility of new federal limits on grazing around the park, a bureau spokesman said - not unlike the primary issue brought up by the militants who took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, six hours away in eastern Oregon.

Advocates assure those changes won't happen, but the anti-government sentiment now building throughout the region may be enough to sway lawmakers against the plan. That would be a big blow to the hopes of establishing Idaho's one and only national park.

National park or national monument, Craters of the Moon is worth a visit either way - even if you're just stopping by on your way out to Yellowstone.

--Jamie Hale | jhale@oregonian.com | @HaleJamesB
When Gary David Currie posted a video from his hike along Eagle Creek to Facebook on Saturday, he didn't expect a swift and sudden backlash.

"Hate people like this," one of more than 150 responses said. "This is a tragedy waiting to happen," wrote another.

His sin? Hiking a precipitous trail with his dog off-leash - a common sight around the Pacific Northwest that has sparked a feisty debate among hikers. Everybody seems to have a firm opinion about whether or not they care to see dogs running free along trails, but the regulations surrounding the issue are much hazier.

Leash laws

One question circulating through the comments on Currie's Facebook post was whether or not it's actually legal to walk with dogs off-leash along trails.

"Each place is different," said Stephen Baker, regional spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service. But on many hikes around the region - including Eagle Creek - the law strictly requires dog owners to leash their pets up if they take them along.

A lot of trails are fine for off-leash dogs, Baker said, and some parks are even designed for that purpose, but others are dangerous for humans, let along pets. Every hike that requires keeping dogs on leashes will say so on a sign at the trailhead.

Those are laws off-leash dog walkers should follow, said Bruce Johnson, chairman of the board for Oregon off-leash recreation group DogPAC.

"I'm a strong proponent of off-leash recreation," he said. "But with responsibility."

That responsibility comes not just for the dog owner and dog, but for everyone else on the trail - including other dogs on leashes. A leashed dog on acts very differently when it encounters a fellow canine running free, Johnson said, and can become a hazard to everybody involved.

It's rare for any offending dog owner to actually see a fine for skirting the leash law, but that won't stop local, state and federal agencies from pushing the rule, encouraging people to police themselves.

"The bottom line for us is this is just a safety issue," Baker said. "Most dog owners are responsible and most dogs are well behaved, but there's a handful who are not."

Doggie search and rescue

No dog owner wants to think their pup is going to fall or run off the side of a trail, tumbling down a steep cliff face to either injury or demise, but it does happen frequently on hikes around the area.

It happens often enough, in fact, that the Oregon Humane Society has a dedicated search-and-rescue operation for trapped and stranded animals, a group dubbed the Technical Animal Rescue team.

The team of volunteers is dispatched regularly to calls of dogs falling off trails, upwards of once every few weeks, said team member John Thoeni.

"We don't really have an exact number," he said. But "we do too many of them."

The team has actually rescued two dogs recently from Eagle Creek - where Currie shot his infamous video - who had taken 150-foot tumbles off the side of the trail. Thoeni himself was present for a Christmas Day rescue in 2014 to pull a 3-year-old yellow lab, Sandy, from a spot nearby.

The owner did everything right, he recalled, but even walking Sandy with a retractable leash wasn't enough. The pup got spooked by something on the trail, broke into a run and snapped the cord. She rounded a corner and fell off the edge of the trail, landing on the narrow ledge far below.

Late that night, Thoeni rappelled down the cliff and fitted Sandy into a harness, which his fellow volunteers hoisted up to the trail above. Miraculously, the dog was able to walk back down the trail without help.

The team of volunteers charges nothing for rescues, and doesn't pull funds from local taxes, but Theoni said he'd rather not have to make these kinds of rescue attempts at all.

"We recommend you always keep your dog leashed. We recommend not going on trails that have a giant cliff on one side," he said. "We're not here to judge, at the same time, we can offer advice based on way too many experiences."

'On-leash is not the answer'

Amid all the vitriol and condemnation on Gary David Currie's Facebook post were a group of comments that spoke up in support.

If Currie knows his dog well, they argued, if he knows the risks of hiking with his dog and is alone on the trail - as he appeared to be on that wet winter day - what's the problem? Who is he endangering?

That's a pretty good representation of the mentality among off-leash dog walkers, Johnson said. While DogPAC always stresses caution and following the letter of the law, the group tends to trust experienced dog owners to make decisions for themselves.

"Being on-leash is not the answer," he said - it's about being aware of your surroundings and being prepared to leash up your dog when and if the situation calls for it. "In my opinion, (Currie's) dog being on-leash or off-leash wouldn't make a difference."

But in a region of hikers often divided on the matter, an online video of a treacherous off-leash excursion can easily turn into a powder keg of impassioned debate.

Theoni saw the viral video himself, but decided not to add to the comments. If he had, he promised he would have been more gentle.

"As a member of a team that frequently rescues dogs that were on the very trail you were on, I highly recommend that you leash your dog," Thoeni said he would have written. "Then I would leave our team's number."

That number, should any pets need a rescue, is 503-849-5655. Hike safely, humans and pups.

--Jamie Hale | jhale@oregonian.com | @HaleJamesB
police_car02.png

Applications are now open for Tigard Police Department's Citizens Police Academy, which begins April 6.

(Tigard Police Department)

The Tigard Police Department operates a nine-week Citizens Police Academy once a year. The Department is presently recruiting interested citizens who want to learn about their police department. The next session is slated to begin on April 6, 2016. The academy is conducted on nine consecutive Wednesday evenings from 7:00 PM to 9:30 PM at Tigard City Hall located 13125 SW Hall Blvd.



The purpose of the academy is to create better understanding and communication between citizens and police through education. The intent is not to produce citizens trained in law enforcement, but rather help citizens better understand their City's police department. When the community knows and understands the limitations and abilities of law enforcement, the police can then better serve the community.



The academy subject matter covers a wide range of law enforcement topics such as investigations, patrol, training, community policing, crime analysis, narcotics, defensive tactics, firearms and more. All sessions are conducted by members of the Tigard Police Department. A graduation on June 1st will conclude this year's program. The 2016 academy will mark over 525 citizens who have participated in this perennially popular program.



If you are interested and able to commit to attending most, if not all of the sessions, you are encouraged to apply. A criminal history background check will be conducted to determine eligibility. Apply early as enrollment is limited to 25 participants.



Application deadline is March 25th. You can find an application online by visiting our website. Completed applications can be returned to the Tigard Police Department, faxed to 503-718-2645 or emailed to tigardpolice@tigard-or.gov For more information, please call (503) 718-2561 during normal business hours.

-- Tigard Police Department
If we had more than one, they'd all have names. That's all they're saying on an online blog where a group of moon fans are trying to get traction on a social media campaign to name the moon.

The group hopes to convince the International Astronomical Union (IAU) to give Earth's moon a name. Many other celestial bodies have proper names. Jupiter has 63 moons! And each one has a name (seems a bit overkill, maybe just number them).

On the group's website you can donate a dollar to suggest a name. No word on how they'll choose which ones to submit to the IAU. A small percentage of the donated dollar goes to water-specific charities.

According to Wikipedia, the moon already has a few historic "names" including Luna (Latin), Selene (Ancient Greek) and Diana (Roman). Those are all pretty good. But if you'd like to call the moon Clyde (and mess up millions of years of romantic poetry, music and verse), now's your chance to suggest that.
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The terrorist attack at the Bacha Khan university campus in Charsadda near Peshawar killed scores of young students, including girls in their dormitories. The death of innocents is specially painful and is an aspect of crime against humanity. This one in particular was reminiscent of the strike by the Pakistan Taliban on a Peshawar school in December 2014 in which 141 people, mostly children, became cannon fodder in the bigger game that Pakistani state power has played in nurturing jihadi terrorism in pursuance of its foreign policy aims, especially against India and Afghanistan, in recent decades.

Yet Pakistan lives in denial and officially seeks to paint itself as a victim of terrorism as much as those countries to which its state-sponsored terrorists are despatched  as was the case with the 26/11 Mumbai attacks or the strike at the IAF base at Pathankot at the commencement of this year. Even so, it is evident that encouraging jihadis to flourish  some estimates suggest that the numbers of the trained irregulars under arms, usually raised through the madrasa system in what has come to be known as Pakistans mullah-military alliance, could be as high as around a tenth of the Pakistan Army  has compromised Pakistans internal security over the years.

A truly volatile situation has emerged. Tackling it has proved difficult because members of the security forces themselves are said to have been bitten by the jihadi bug. When the Peshawar schoolchildren were shot in cold blood by the terrorists, the narrative that was sedulously promoted was that India was behind the attack, although the attackers had themselves said they were the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan which has had a close nexus with Al Qaeda and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (whose fighters are still permitted to remain in Pakistan). It wasnt so long ago, we may recall, that the TTP was said by the Pakistan Army to be a force multiplier in combat against India. We hope that the same anti-India narrative will not be surreptitiously peddled again. This time, a faction of the TTP has claimed responsibility, for fights sometimes do break out among jihadi gangs, usually over money and resources, or leadership questions.

The situation can be transformed only if Pakistan can summon the political will to root out jihadism, and that means its military has to change. If Islamabad can help with catching those responsible for the Pathankot attack, instead of stalling on technicalities, it would suggest that it is no longer differentiating between good and bad terrorist. That will be a great start in its own fight against extremism  and evolution.
Geneva: Foreign Direct Investment flows into India nearly doubled in 2015 while the US emerged as the top host country for FDI last year, the UN's trade agency said on January 20. Global FDI flows "unexpectedly" increased significantly by 36 per cent, according to the annual report of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development released.

"Global FDI unexpectedly increased significantly to USD 1.7 trillion and this is closer to the pre-crisis level and it is the highest since the global financial and economic crisis," said James Zhan, UNCTAD's Director of the Division on Investment and Enterprise.

Just ahead of the release of the report on global investment in 2015 and forecasts for 2016, Zhan said, "The bad news is that part of this global FDI are not really in the productive sector and is due for either inversion or corporate reconfiguration." Developing economies, as a whole, saw their FDI reaching a new high of USD 741 billion -- 5 per cent higher than 2014, the report said. Asia remained the largest FDI recipient region in the world, surpassing half a trillion US dollars and accounting for one-third of the global FDI flows, it said. The US bounced back as the top host country for FDI in 2015 with FDI worth USD 384 billion, the report said.

The US is followed by Hong Kong (USD 163 billion), China (USD 136 billion), Netherlands (USD 90 billion), the UK (USD 68 billion), Singapore (USD 65 billion), India (USD 59 billion), Brazil (USD 56 billion), Canada (USD 45 billion) and France (USD 44 billion) as the top 10 FDI host economies of the world. FDI flows to the developed countries bounced back sharply reaching their second highest level ever at USD 936 billion.

In Africa, Latin America as well as transition economies there was a decline in FDI last year partly because of stumbling commodity prices and regional instability. FDI flows are expected to decline in 2016, UNCTAD said. This reflects "the fragility of the global economy, volatility of global financial markets, weak aggregate demand and significant deceleration in large emerging economies", it said. Elevated geo-political risks and regional tensions could further amplify these economic challenges, the report said.

About USD 200-USD 250 billion of the USD 1.7 trillion global FDI was in the form of reconfiguration of business when companies restructure themselves by changing their headquarters from one region to another due to change in family ownership, avoiding tax or for political reasons. The assets of that company is then counted as FDI in the original country.

"If we discount this part of the FDI which reflects corporate reconfigurations then global FDI still increased between 15-17 per cent in 2015 and the main reason for this increase was the sharp growth of cross border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) which increased by 61 per cent," Zhan said. "FDI flows are not sufficient in productive sector. That's our major concern," the UN official said.

India's FDI investment increased from USD 33.9 billion to USD 59.4 billion which marks a 75 per cent increase while green field investments have increased from USD 25.4 billion to USD 64 billion recording an increase of 152 per cent, the report said. "Measures taken by the government to improve the investment climate have had an impact," the report stated.

"But bear in mind when we talk of greenfield investment we talk about announced deals and that means that actual FDI flows are in the future or in the making. And some of them may not realise also," Zhan said. However, globally cross-border M&As were largely responsible for the increase in FDI while greenfield investments registered little change in value terms -- 0.9 per cent -- from 2014. Greenfield investments still remain larger than cross border M&As -- this is because of the low level of M&A in 2014.
The new Kroger store being proposed at the corner of Jefferson Avenue and Joe Mann Boulevard will not affect the current location on Ashman Street, according to a Kroger official.

Ken McClure is with the Michigan Division of The Kroger Co. and confirmed to the Daily News on Thursday that there are no plans to close the existing Kroger at 2808 Ashman St.

This store would be a new location in addition the one that exists, McClure said.

Site Plan No. 343 was submitted to the city by LSG Engineers & Surveyors in early December on behalf of The Kroger Co. of Michigan, and shows a 124,942-square-foot building on the property along with a fuel station. The new marketplace would face east towards Jefferson, with multiple access points for shoppers.

McClure said the new location would feature many upgrades featuring the very best Kroger has to offer.

While it is too soon to comment on exactly what it will contain, greater variety, better shopability, an increased emphasis on fresh departments, and natural and organic foods are always strategies at the epicenter of our latest remodels and new store builds, McClure said.

He added that he did not have information as to why the location at the corner of Jefferson and Joe Mann was chosen, but said Kroger likes to place a fuel center at their locations when possible, as it is one of our customers favorite promotional offerings.

"Total investment costs, timeline to start and finish will be determined in the weeks ahead, McClure said.

The site plan for the new Kroger will be reviewed by Midlands Planning Commission. The site plan is not on the agenda for the commissions regular meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 26, and McClure said the discussion would occur at the Feb. 9 meeting.

Brad Kaye, assistant city manager for developmental services, said the site plan was submitted in late December, and required the petitioner to do a traffic impact analysis because of the heavy traffic already recorded in the area. The agenda for the Jan. 26 meeting of the Planning Commission includes a paragraph for postponing the site plan discussion, and reads:

"This item has been postponed due to concerns about traffic impacts in the subject area. The applicant has submitted a traffic impact study which is currently under review by the citys traffic consultant. Staff is waiting until the results of the consultants review are known and can be considered with the applicant."

During the Midland City Councils planning retreat last Saturday, the topic of traffic in the mall area and possible solutions were discussed at length. City Engineer Brian McManus and Kaye both talked about the logistics of the area developing and the impact on motorists.

Kaye showed a map of the site plan, and talked to members of city council through the logistics of the property. The new Kroger would be to the south of Chemical Bank, with the intent to align the Kroger property with that lot and both businesses share a driveway out to Joe Mann.

The new Kroger would also have driveway access to Jefferson Avenue, which the fuel station would be placed next to, and connect to a driveway for the nearby ATMs.

A cell tower on the site would stay in place during construction, along with the roadway created to access it.

Kaye said he was told the new Kroger would utilize new methods of delivery, such as a pick-up lane for customers who order their groceries ahead of time.

McManus said the Michigan Department of Transportation is re-estimating traffic projections on Eastman Avenue and along Joe Mann Boulevard, in addition to the petitioners traffic study near the proposed site of the new Kroger.

It wont be on that agenda until we can complete that review properly; we are sitting down with them to talk about that, Kaye said about when the site plan may be scheduled to allow for public input through the Planning Commission. Its in the process of being considered.

The property for the proposed site plan is zoned regional commercial district and allows for grocery stores, Kaye added. Because it is a site plan and not a conditional land use, the site plan would be approved if the petitioners submit factual information on time to the city.
Photo provided

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Foundation have awarded Isabella Citizens for Health a $100,000 grant to help uninsured and underinsured people obtain critical, specialty health care services.

Isabella Citizens for Health will use the grant to streamline care delivery by using a nurse case-manager model to better connect underserved patients with the services they need. The grant will help the clinic oversee referrals, ensure patients keep appointments and follow treatment plans, as well as improve tracking of patient results and outcomes. Through the grant, Isabella Citizens for Health aims to help more patients control, treat and prevent conditions including diabetes, obesity, asthma, heart disease, colorectal cancer and high blood pressure. Funding will also be used to help expand cervical cancer screenings.
SASEBO, Japan (NNS) -- Virginia-class attack submarine USS Texas (SSN 773) arrived at Fleet Activities Sasebo Jan. 20 for a visit as part of its Indo-Asia-Pacific deployment.

The visit strengthens the already positive alliance between the U.S. and Japan through the crews' interaction with the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force. It also demonstrates the U.S. Navy's commitment to regional stability and maritime security in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations.

"The ship and crew have performed exceedingly well," said Cmdr. Todd Nethercott, commanding officer. "The ship's motto, 'Don't mess with Texas,' clearly depicts the ship's capabilities and the crew's spirit. The crew is looking forward to experiencing Sasebo and working with our close regional allies."

Texas is the second Virginia-class attack submarine commissioned by the United States. 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.

"Texas Sailors are professionals at sea and in port," said Master Chief Machinist's Mate Daniel Kloepfer, chief of the boat. "Our stop in Sasebo is exciting and the crew is ready to get out and see all of the interesting sites the country has to offer."

Many crew members said they are excited to experience the rich culture of Japan.

"I had a great time the last time I visited Japan," said Electrician's Mate 1st Class Charles Ward. "I'm looking forward to experiencing a whole new set of adventures in Sasebo."

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.

Built in Newport News, Virginia, from 2002 to 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.
BLOOMINGTON  Fourteen parcels of land once owned by Judge David Davis remain for sale after the owners rejected bids made at an auction Wednesday.

The 1,448 acres owned by the descendants of Davis, a friend and campaign manager for Abraham Lincoln, were auctioned off before a crowd of about 350 people at the Parke Regency Hotel and Conference Center in Bloomington.

Shortly after the auction ended, however, the four buyers were told that all bids were rejected by the sellers.

This is an unusual situation for Murray Wise Associates, said Carl Carter, a spokesman for the company that oversaw the auction. It does happen from time to time.

Included in the auctions information brochure were the terms and conditions. Under the heading Acceptance of Bid Prices, it reads, All final bid prices are subject to acceptance or rejection by the seller.

Efforts by The Pantagraph to reach the bidders Thursday were unsuccessful. Auctioneer Russell Seneff did not respond to a request for comment.

The land in McLean and DeWitt counties had been divided into 14 tracts, ranging in size from 79 to 161 acres. Final tallies indicated the land would have sold for a total of $15.85 million, or an average of $10,946 per acre.

Following the conclusion of the 90-minute auction, auction officials contacted the sellers and were told to reject the bids.

All sales are subject to confirmation, Carter said. As of right now, that land has not been sold.

Should anyone, including those who bid on the property, wish to make an offer, Carter said Murray Wise Associates will contact the sellers for approval.

There were 142 people who registered to bid on the property on Wednesday.

Carter said Murray Wise officials were disappointed the sale was not finalized.

We had a great event with a great crowd, he said. We were very impressed with the number of people there and the attention this sale received.

The land, which has been passed down from generation to generation in Davis' family, included 400 acres about 6 miles southwest of LeRoy, 728 acres south of Gridley and 320 acres in DeWitt County.

Davis moved to Bloomington in 1836 and married Sarah Walker in 1838. He practiced law and later was elected a state legislator and circuit judge. Lincoln appointed him to the Supreme Court in 1862, and he was elected to a single term in the U.S. Senate in 1877.

Along the way, he accumulated one of the largest landholdings in the state. He paid about $8 to $10 per acre for much of it, said William Butler, a great-great-great grandson of Davis.
BLOOMINGTON  Tuesday's snowfall aside, the mild winter Central Illinois has been experiencing should continue, say forecasters with the National Weather Service in Lincoln.

Our next system isnt expected until Monday night and it could be a possible mix of snow and rain, said meteorologist Heather Stanley, reminding residents, "Its still January. We are still going to see some snowy days before the winter is over. We still have a long way to go."

Tuesday's winter storm dropped between 3 and 4 inches across most of Central Illinois; the Twin Cities saw about 3.5 inches.

Historically, the Twin City area sees about 14.5 inches of snow in December and January. So far, less than 5 inches have been recorded since Dec. 1.

From November through early March, the area records, on average, about 25 inches of snow.

"Right now, if you are looking at an average winter, most of the Central Illinois area has more than a 50 percent chance of having average or below-average snowfall the rest of the year, said Stanley.

The daily high temperatures will rise over the next few days and through the weekend to about 35 degrees before the precipitation on Monday, Stanley said.

There are a lot of variables with that system and it is too early to tell whats going to happen with it, she said.

Snow started falling late Tuesday night and at that time forecasters were calling for 2 inches of snow or less, a significant amount because on-street parking bans in Bloomington and Normal are triggered following a snowfall of 2 inches or more.

The weather service said 3.5 inches of snow fell by Wednesday morning in Bloomington, and 3.4 inches fell in Normal.

Neither city issued a ban, however.

That was mostly about timing, said Normal Streets Supervisor Scott Dennewitz.

The parking ban was discussed but discarded when the latest forecast called for 1.3 inches Tuesday night, he said. "When we went to bed Tuesday, there was no need."

"We got a heavy band of snow at about 1:30 a.m. but we didnt expect it to last very long," said Dennewitz. "We had the crews out and we were making good progress.

Bloomington Public Works Director Jim Karch said the parking ban should have been issued in Bloomington.

If we get 2 inches, it is supposed to be put into effect and for some reason, it must have slipped through the cracks because we normally do, he said. It was a quick storm, but even so, it makes a big difference in helping us clear those side streets.

Dennewitz said a lack of wind helped snowplow drivers clear the streets quickly.

By the time 7 a.m. was here, we felt pretty good about the condition of the streets, he said.
The findings were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Miami: Routinely assigning people with mild to moderate Parkinson's disease to physical or occupational therapy offers no improvement to their quality of life, said a British study.

The findings, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Neurology, suggest that the current standard of care for early-stage patients may be a waste of time and money.

Parkinson's disease attacks the central nervous system, and affects about seven million people across the world, including about four percent of those over age 80.

The randomized trial involved 762 patients with mild to moderate Parkinson's disease, recruited from 38 sites in Britain.

All the patients were experiencing some difficulties with daily activities such as buttoning shirts or brushing teeth.

Half were assigned to physical therapy and the other half to occupational therapy -- both practiced in hour-long sessions that took place several times over the course of the study.

Physical therapy tends to focus on diagnosing and treating injuries, while occupational therapy aims to help patients adapt to injury and improve life skills.

After three months, researchers at the University of Birmingham found "no difference between the groups" in their ability to perform daily tasks or in their answers on a health-related quality of life questionnaire.

Furthermore, there were "no clinically meaningful short- or medium-term benefits" from either therapy for those in the study, the researchers added.

Therefore, more time should be spent on exploring "the development and testing of more structured and intensive physical therapy programs in patients with all stages of Parkinson's disease," the study said.

An accompanying editorial by J. Eric Ahlskog, a doctor at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, pointed out that doctors for all the patients in the study had already decided they were unlikely to benefit from such therapies.

"Thus, one may conclude from this investigation that blanket referrals of all patients with earlier-stage PD for routine physical or occupation therapy appears to be cost-ineffective," he wrote.

But more targeted physical therapies to help exercise immobilized limbs or improve balance can benefit patients, and these were not the focus of this particular study, Ahlskog said.

Currently in Britain, all patients with Parkinson's are allowed access to both types of therapy.

"This shows that there is an urgent requirement to review current guidelines for patients with Parkinson's disease," said lead author Carl Clarke, a professor at the University of Birmingham.

"The resource that is committed towards these therapies, that do not appear to be effective, could be better used in patients with more severe problems with their Parkinson's disease."
BLOOMINGTON  Illinois Wesleyan University physics professor Linda French has hiked to the top of all 48 peaks above 4,000 feet in the White Mountains in New Hampshire and along paths nearly 200 years old in England, but she also finds beauty right here in Central Illinois.

My current favorite is Clinton Lake State Recreation Area's North Fork Trail, French said at a recent Lunch and Learn lecture at the McLean County Museum of History. I recommend this highly.

The 9.3-mile trail is rated primitive and difficult, with many steep ups and downs in and out of ravines.

French said the trail is particularly beautiful in spring when wildflowers bloom in the woods. Parts of the trail also pass through prairie areas.

She uses the trail to train for her more ambitious goals, such as hiking to the top of all 67 peaks over 4,000 feet in New England. For those training hikes, French usually carries a fully loaded pack, wears supportive hiking shoes and uses trekking poles.

I have come to love my poles, she said.

But hiking doesn't need to be complex or require a lot of special equipment.

What I love about hiking is you don't need a lot of specific skills. You just walk, French said. There are no rules.

And as much as she likes the challenge of peak bagging and wild trails, French said, We are very blessed here to have access to Constitution Trail.

Other favorite places she recommended were Moraine View State Recreation Area, near LeRoy, particularly its Tall Timber Backpacking Trail, and Starved Rock State Park.

French said she turned to hiking as a student when I got burned out and needed a break, and it's something she expects to continue doing. She's not alone. French quotes figures from statista.com indicating that 36 million Americans went hiking in 2014.

She emphasized the importance of preserving and appreciating wild areas, quoting Henry David Thoreau from his essay Walking, in which he wrote, In wildness is the preservation of the world.

The Lunch and Learn series is presented by IWU, the museum and the Collaborative Solutions Institute.
Imagine the solitude if the only people who could speak about politicians were the people who voted in elections.

Few of Illinois' registered voters actually cast votes. Even worse, not everyone who is eligible does, in fact, register. That means government, which oversees the rules by which we live, and spends our money on schools, health care and more, is only determined by the few who visit a polling place.

Voting for our government leaders is one of Americans' most precious rights, yet far too many people fail to give it proper attention. Given the clamor among fans of presidential candidates  and sometimes among candidates at the county level  you'd think election judges would have to work a 26-hour day to get everyone in and out of a precinct on Election Day.

Not so. And that is a sad reflection on our country and the rights upon which it was built.

The primary election on March 15 gives voters the opportunity to choose the men and women who will appear on the Nov. 8 general election ballot. That includes the people who want to be president, represent Illinois in the U.S. Senate, become coroner in two counties or join a county board.

In some cases, if a political party has not fielded a candidate or an independent chooses not to run, the person with the most primary votes becomes the likely winner of the general election.

Presidential election years usually bring out the highest number of voters for both primary and general elections. The 2008 election, from which Illinoisan Barack Obama was ultimately elected as the nation's first black president, drew thousands of new voters to the polls.

Election-watchers hoped his election would continue to spur interest, but that has not happened.

Consider this: In McLean County, the 2008 primary drew 40.3 percent of the county's registered voters. That was up from 31.3 percent in 2004, but the trend did not continue. Just 26.6 percent cast ballots in 2012.

The swing was the same in DeWitt, LaSalle, Logan, Tazewell and Woodford counties. Voters in Ford and Livingston counties showed almost the same turnout numbers for 2008 and 2012, mainly because of high interest in local races.

It's important to vote, and it's easy to register and to cast a ballot. If you're not sure where to start, contact your county clerk or election authority.

Casting a ballot is one of the most important acts you can make as an American.

Make it count.
As a representative of the Global Citizen Initiative, international actor Freida Pinto is all set to host a special dinner on Jan 21 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The special guests at this dinner would be Melinda Gates and the legendary musician Bono along with Oprah Winfrey and Sheryl Sandberg.

If sources are to be believed, Freida will be hosting the dinner and speaking to the gathering on Global Goals with a special focus on India and the plans ahead. The dinner will be attended by major HNIs and influencers including Heads of State, CEOs and other key voices and opinion leaders.
The world's oldest man died at age 112 on Tuesday. Born March 13, 1903, Yasutaro Koide of Japan missed only two months to make it to his 113th birthday.

Koide was born in the historical period of the Wright brother's first flight in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The Russo-Japanese War also started in that era. He received the Guinness Book of World Records recognition last August.

Koide revealed that his secret to long life was not smoking and drinking. However, he received series of treatments at a Nagoya hospital due to heart problems, according to the Ministry of Health Labor and Welfare. Five months after receiving the Guinness recognition, the said treatments ended when the oldest male centenarian succumbed to chronic heart problems, according to USA Today.

Erika Ogawa, vice president of Guinness World Records Japan said, "I felt very honored that I have had a chance to meet Mr. Yasutaro Koide last summer, surrounded by his warm family and relatives." She further added, "The stories of his adolescent years encouraged all of us who were there. I would like to express my sorrow and condolences to him and his family".

Guinness said that Koide moved from Tsuruga Japan, where he was born to Nagoya to be with his daughter five years ago. He still managed to attend a day care center last summer.

The new record holder of the oldest man alive is still in verification and will be revealed once the process is completed. Susannah Muhatt Jones, 116 of Brooklyn New York holds the Guinness record for being the oldest woman alive. She has also been recognized as the only person born on 1800's still living today. Jeanne Calment of France on the other hand holds the oldest person record who died at the age of 122 years and 164 days in 1997, according to CNN.
Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton was happy to know that her favorite maternity brand Seraphine has curated a baby line inspired by her daughter Princess Charlotte. The baby line is also to honor the late Princess Diana.

According to Daily Mail UK, Cecile Reinaud the brainchild of Seraphine teamed up with Diana Award to produce the clothing line called "The Diana Collection". The collection features Princess Diana's famous Pastel Tartan that was made in Scotland in memory of her.

Reports have claimed that 12 percent of the sales of the collection will be donated immediately in order to support charities that help young people who are eager to change their communities. Reinaud said that she's always been giving back to the communities.

"As a successful entrepreneur," Reinaud said. "I am always looking for ways to give back to the community and I am delighted to help raise vital funds for the Diana Award and the associated Anti-Bullying and Mentoring Programmes, whilst creating a unique baby wear line."



The price range of the collection pieces ranges from 25 to 89 which compromises dresses for baby girls and romper suits for baby boys. The collection also has baby accessories such as hats and booties - all inspired by the Duchess' children.

The French expat Reinaud launched the brand Seraphine back in 2002 in a small shop on High Street Kensington. Then, she became successful and was known for maternity clothing.

"Fashion has always been in my blood," Reinaud explains. "My grandparents supplied fabrics to some of the top fashion houses in Paris but it wasn't until my friends started to fall pregnant that the idea for Seraphine came about."

Kate Middleton has been spotted wearing Seraphine during her pregnancy. Reports say that she once wore a 195 coat and 95 floral dress at Kensington Aldridge Academy in January last year. She also sported the brand and wore a 225 plum boucle Marina coat while making a debut in New York.
For the first time in the voyage history of the world's largest ocean liner, Queen Mary 2, a baby boy was born on board. Benjamin Brooklyn was safely delivered by the ship doctors the night before it docked in Brooklyn, NY.

The mother, a German woman, who was named as Johanna by her brother, was due to give birth in three weeks. However, just as their voyage was already near its end, her water broke and she just had to deliver the baby onboard Queen Mary 2.

Yahoo News reported that according to Johanna's brother, "She turned to me and said, 'It's starting!'" This sent the panicky brother to seek the help of the ship's crew, who immediately rushed the woman in labor to the ship's small hospital.

After the ship has docked, the woman and her newborn baby boy were rushed to the New York Methodist Hospital. Johanna said, "I am doing well, and the baby is incredibly healthy. I am also thankful how good the people of New York were to us."

In a report by Fox News, Benjamin Brooklyn was the third child of Johanna and coincidentally her first baby boy. The birth therefore was historic for bith the mom and for Queen Mary 2 as well.

With regards to Benjamin's citizenship, his uncle said that since he was born in American territory, then he is naturally an American citizen. This is pursuant to the "jus soli" principle followed by American laws where babies born on American territory, which would include American waters, are automatically considered as American citizens.

The Queen Mary 2 voyage which started in Southampton, England will be memorable for the new proud German mom and her family. It will also be remembered by the other passengers of the 2,620 passenger vessel.
Charity is one thing that Pope Francis is known for and he has shown it again in a recent heart-tugging incident which occurred right outside St. Peter's Square. The Pope has offered a free one-year accommodation to the homeless woman who gave birth to a baby girl on a cardboard box right outside the Vatican.

The Pope, made the offer through Monsignor Konrad Krajewski, the head of the Pope's charity office, to the Romanian homeless woman. The offer will allow the woman and her baby to stay in the church-owned apartment for free for one whole year.

Yahoo News stated that at approximately 2:30 am and in freezing temperatures, the woman already went into labor. She was only a few meters away from St. Peter's Square when she was suffering from labor pains.

Luckily, there were good Samaritans in the form of several officers who helped the poor woman, reported Daily Mail. Maria Capone, one of the police officers who responded said that, "When I got close I saw that the baby was already born and was still attached by the umbilical cord to the mother." She further added that, "With my colleagues we tried to warm them up. We covered them with our uniform jackets."

Capone also mentioned that she thinks the temperature was close to zero when they found the mother and baby. According to another police officer, "The baby regained color on her face after we covered her." Capone and the other police officers also called up an ambulance so that the mother and baby could be taken to the hospital to receive proper medical care.

A spokesman for the Vatican said that Archbishop Krajewski is familiar with the woman, as she and her Romanian partner were among those who benefited from the food services offered by the Vatican to the homeless. The woman is in the process of considering the one-year free accommodation offer but has not yet confirmed her acceptance of the same.
Patient's safety is always the priority of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The increasing concern of the industry led the agency to urge the manufacturers to tighten the cyber security of the medical devices they produce.

Medical devices such as heart's pacemakers and infusion pumps are usually linked on the internet or in the hospital's network which made them vulnerable to hacking, that might put the safety and security of the patients in danger.

The U.S. FDA instructed the manufacturers to regularly track their products and act on the cyber security threats immediately -- of which they are encountering, as posted on Tech Times. They will allow the manufacturers to fix the issues raised to them without informing the agency within 30 days after notification of the threat.

However, they are required to inform the federal agency as soon as possible, especially if the cyber security threat can potentially compromise the patient's safety. FDA also recommends that aside from the manufacturers -- being vigilant about the safeguard of their products -- health care facilities and hospitals must also evaluate the security of their network to protect their hospital system.

Furthermore, according to Information Week Dark Reading, to intensify cyber security, the FDA issued draft guidelines for medical device makers that focus on cyber security threats intelligence-sharing through Information Sharing Analysis Organizations, which include security best practices, vulnerability disclosure and remediation programs.

The FDA guidance will be explained thoroughly during a cyber security workshop -- titled as "Moving Forward: Collaborative Approaches to Medical Device Cybersecurity" -- scheduled on Jan. 20 to 21 at the health agency's Silver Spring, Maryland headquarters. The consumers are allowed to comment regarding the content of the document for 90 days.

On the other hand, the "I Am The Cavalry" group also published the "Hippocratic Oath for Connected Medical Devices," which aims to encourage medical device makers to ensure that their equipment is safe and that healthcare providers must also see to it that they purchase a secured equipment and they know how to store it accordingly.
American Express has sued Tori Spelling after she failed to settle her credit card debt. Although the actress is currently facing a financial difficulty, her mother Candy Spelling said she won't help her daughter to fix it.

The 42-year-old actress, who is the daughter of multi-millionaire TV producer Aaron Spelling is currently facing a lawsuit after American Express sued her for failing to pay her $37,981.97 balance since summer. According to the legal documents obtained by ET, Spelling hasn't made any payment since June 26, 2015.

Thus, American Express demands that Spelling should pay the entire balance, including the interest. The mother-of-four is also due to appear for a hearing in Van Nuys, California on June 1, as per Page Six.

Meanwhile, Tori's mom, Candy Spelling, 70-year-old, appears to be blaming her daughter's "extravagant lifestyle" despite her financial crisis. She also said that she's been helping her daughter for the past months, but not this time!

"I've been helping her out," Tori's mom told TMZ, in response to the lawsuit. She also revealed to the publication that she's been paying all of her daughter's bills, including the kids' tuitions, house, food and other expenses. Hence, she said she will not release any money to settle Tori's debt case.

It was in 2013 when Tori admitted through her memoir that she's struggling financially and it was because of her spending habits.

"It's no mystery why I have money problems," Spelling revealed at that time. "I grew up rich beyond anyone's dreams. Even when I try to embrace a simpler lifestyle, I can't seem to let go of my expensive tastes ... And then there's my little shopping problem ... I can't afford to live like this anymore. Our circumstances have changed. They say admitting the problem is the first step."

Hence, Tori is yet to comment about the debt accusations.
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Secret albums are all the rage these days.

From Beyonce to Eric Church to Prince, weve seen several secret albums come to surprise fruition fairly recently.

Now you can add Iggy Pop and Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age) to that list, who have been working with Matt Helders of Arctic Monkeys.

The LP is called Post Pop Depression, and according to the New York Times, the theme of the album asks two questions. What happens after your years of service?, asked Iggy Pop. And where is the honor?

Josh Homme, a sometimes-member of Eagles of Death Metal, said working on this album helped him cope with the Paris attacks at the Bataclan last year. Although he wasnt there, all of his friends were and its been hard on him.

The fact that I had this to work on, it saved me, Homme told the Times.

The album will be out in March and tonight, according to the Queens of the Stone Age Twitter, Iggy Pop and Josh Homme will be performing on The Late Show.
A jetset lifestyle doesnt have to be all private planes and decadent digs. In Paste Travels Jet-Set Bohemian series, we blend the best of high and low for just the right balance  enticing everyone from backpackers to luxury boutique hotel lovers to come along for the ride.

Take a glance

around Miami and youll see a city with a very distinct yet very split personality. Looking at photos of my mom standing on Miami Beach in the late 70s, only a few low-rise buildings sprouted behind the sand, but now high-rises hug Collins Avenue. In Downtown and Brickell, skyscrapers compete for attention, each climbing higher than the next, with one big-name brand after another joining the neighborhood ( SLS Brickell Hotel & Residences is slated to open this year). But despite the growth of these hotels with their mega-clubs and multiple dining options, more hoteliers are looking at Miamis Art Deco past, with 800 historically significant structures on South Beach swathed in a sea of pastels that maintain the same tropical resort-style motifs (and original facades and signs) as when they were built in the boom following the Great Depression. The latest wave of hotels opening up in these Art Deco beauties is bringing back a sense of Miamis golden days just as the city celebrates its centennial, literally draping buildings in gold and antique-inspired furniture for a Great Gatsby-meets-Marilyn Monroe-style experience.



Photo courtesy of Faena

One of this years most anticipated openings, Argentinian developer Faenas new Miami Beach hotel set up shop in the historic Saxony Hotel, built in 1948 by architect Roy F. France. From the outside, the hotel looks just as it did in the 1940s, but inside tells a different story, with filmmaker Baz Luhrmann and Academy Award-winning costume and production designer Catherine Martin tackling the redesign. The husband-and-wife duo behind whimsical films like Moulin Rouge! and The Great Gatsby brought this same pops of color and old-world glamour to the 169 rooms at Faena, adding subtle tropical touches with golden palm tree lamp stands, pillows emblazoned with coral and seashells, and soap dishes in the shape of sea urchins. Rooms overlook the sea and are bathed in shades of red and teal, balanced by animal print ottomans, vintage-inspired light fixtures and furniture etched in gold.

During Art Basel, the wraparound penthouse suiteaccessed by a private elevatorplayed host to a Perrier Jouet party with Champagne sitting everywhere from the bar to the bathtubs in a style that Gatsby would definitely be proud of. The Roaring Twenties vibe continued post-party downstairs at the Living Room, or lobby bar, with cocktails under the piece de resistancethe Alberto Garutti-designed chandelier that flashes in tune with lightening storms happening over 4,000 miles away in the plains of La Pampa, Argentina. As if this all isnt decadent enough, step outside and admire another piece of artwork in the form of Damien Hirsts 24-karat gilded woolly mammoth skeleton, Gone but not Forgotten, sold at the Cannes amfAR gala in 2014 for $15 million, standing regally in a case of hurricane-proof glass.



Photo courtesy of The Drawing Room

Another 1940 landmark, the 200-room Shelborne Wyndham Grand South Beach reopened in the Art Deco District in 2014 following a $150 renovation. Rooms bring back elements of the Rat Pack days with mid-century modern furniture and fabrics inspired by cars of the same era. Youll still find elements of the original design scattered throughout, such as Art Deco architect Igor Polevitskys iconic diving board, but now the pool staff has uniforms to match, with 1950s-themed looks by costume designer Carol Ramsey. In the original 1940s lobby, mixologist Albert Trummer put down roots for his first permanent cocktail bar in Miami, The Drawing Room, serving up apothecary-style concoctions (lab coat included) in a setting that looks like a glammed up version of Mad Men with its brass cocktail carts, plush leather couches and terrazzo floors. The only hint of the 21st century here is the very Miami-style sign hanging behind the bar next to the shelves of prescription-looking potions that reads too much is never enough.

While these spots show off more of Miamis glitz, the new Nautilus, a SIXTY Hotel, which opened last fall before Art Basel, reflects the mid-century European jet-set style, even placing vintage travel chests in rooms to which serve as well-stocked mini-bars. Designed by Morris Lapidus in the 1950s, the 250-room hotel looks like it couldve been the set for Monroes Some Like It Hot with a cabana-lined saltwater pool (updated with an underwater sound system) and retro-style white parasols shading sunbathers. The sunken lobby bar with its muted mustard and violet velvet chairs is throwback Miami, but head deeper into the hotel and youll see that Driftwood Room restaurants dining room (pictured at top) teeters more on the modern side, while still incorporating wood and brass Art Deco accents. Of course the spot wouldnt fit into the beachs fine dining hotel scene without a celeb chef at the helm, and Food Network star Alex Guarnaschelli has earned this title, fusing elements of Miami and Southern France into Driftwood Rooms dishes.



Photo courtesy of Carillon

Mid-Beach (between 23rd and 63rd streets) continues to grow with new hotels taking over Art Deco digs, but developers are looking further north past landmark spots built in the 1950s like Fontainebleau and Eden Roc, the one-time playground for the likes of Lauren Bacall and Frank Sinatra. The former Canyon Ranch is the perfect example. Undergoing a $25 million renovation set to be complete by the end of the year, the 1958 hotel is returning to its roots and original name, Carillon Miami Beach. Staying true to its original design, the architects son, Ira Giller, is spearheading the redesign bringing the all-suite Carillon back to its former glory that he experienced first-hand growing up around the hotel.

Lane Nieset is Pastes Jet-Set Bohemian columnist and a freelance writer covering all things travel from her home base in Nice, France.
Whimsy can be difficult to pull off in adult fiction. It requires a deft hand and careful attention to detail to make a few whimsical elements fold easily into an otherwise everyday story. But when whimsy is the cornerstone of a novel that tackles remarkably heavy and important issues, it can all start to feel like a prolonged, unfunny joke. This is the trap into which Elizabeth McKenzies The Portable Veblen falls.

Veblen Amundsen-Hovda is a temp working in the neurology department at Stanford University and spending her spare time translating Norwegian documents. One day she meets Paul Vreeland, a gifted doctor working on a groundbreaking device that could help soldiers who suffer brain injuries in the field, and the two begin a whirlwind love affair that results in their engagement within a few months of meeting. But when Paul receives a significant job change abd the two learn about each others family baggage, chaos threatens to tear them apart.

The novel is far reaching, a fact that could make The Portable Veblen illuminating. Sadly, it feels clunky and disorienting instead. Veblen is named after her hypochondriac mothers hero, obscure economist and writer Thorstein Veblen who objected to the vapid materialism of the Gilded Age. Veblen herself admires her namesake immensely, and seems to consider him an almost religious figure, complete with a framed portrait of the thinker hanging on her wall. But she also has a lifelong obsession with squirrels, a relationship fostered by a lonely childhood overshadowed by the needs of her emotionally volatile and manipulative mother. Veblen and one particular squirrel, implied to have followed her since childhood, seem to have an almost telepathic relationship that drives her and Paul apart, as the squirrel subtly hints that the two arent ready for marriage.

As for Paul, hes quickly swept up in the military-medical complex after a major pharmaceutical company learns about his device. Though he was raised by hippies, Paul is thrilled with the material gains and promising future offered by his position with Hutmacher Pharmaceuticals, but the reality of working in the high-risk high-reward world of military contracts is different from the life he imagined for himself. By the middle of the book Pauls on edge, volatile and at times cruel to anyone who pushes back against his materialistic dreams.

The book touches on a lot of important issues, from Paul and Veblens troubled relationships with their parents to cronyism in military-medical cooperation. The book is set in Palo Alto, and a long explanation of Veblens small home touches on the rapid development thats come to the once quiet area turned tech hub. Consumerism, environmentalism, languageall are given a turn in the spotlight as the novel unfolds. But McKenzie doesnt linger long enough to make clear connections or get at the heart of any of these topics. Instead, they make up the backdrop of an otherwise shallow and one-dimensional story.

The characters remain strikingly uncomplex until the very end of the book, at which point the sudden resolution of every problem feels completely hollow. Everyone bounces between highs and lows, anger and calm without anything deeper than a surface-level exploration. Veblens role as keeper of the peace for her motherand increasingly, for Paulisnt looked at critically, and as a result she feels more like vehicle for reading the subtle changes in behavior in those around her that could signal yet another outburst. Pauls all-out rejection of his parents way of life reads too reactionary to be interesting, and he comes off as selfish and uncompassionate. Veblens mothers hypochondria and extreme emotional swings, as well as Veblens fathers institutionalization and erratic behavior, are treated solely as baggage for the young woman, baggage she just has to learn to carry.

On top of all of this is the squirrel. Among the first things the reader learns about Veblen is that she talks to squirrels and appears to believe they can talk back, which causes the first disagreements she and Paul discover in their relationship. The idea of Veblen anthropomorphising squirrels and other animals as a young girl in response to her mothers volatility is interesting, but McKenzie never looks at Veblens talking to squirrels as more than a quirk. As an adult, Veblen is a child-like pseudo-Disney Princess who befriends the local woodland animals and takes them on roadtrips. In an otherwise grounded novel, it doesnt fit or feel realistic.

Littered with pictures and relying on an appendix of faux-documents to serve as an epilogue, The Portable Veblen simply doesnt follow through on its own potential. Its a surface-level book in which the good guys ultimately come through and the bad guys are punished, with little room for reflection or deeper exploration of the books themes. Overly cluttered with ideas and ambitions, The Portable Veblen ends up falling disappointingly short.
On Friday January 29, 2016, The Short Movie Channel in collaboration with Magnolia Pictures will screen The Oscar Nominated Short Films 2016 in more than 400 theater screens across the United States, Canada, Europe and Latin America. This is the only opportunity for audiences to watch the nominated short films prior to the 88th Academy Awards ceremony on Feb. 28, 2016.

The Oscar Nominated Short Films 2016 includes the following nominated short films:

LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM NOMINEES

Ave Maria

Directors: Basil Khalil and Eric Dupont

Synopsis: Five nuns living in the West Bank find their routine disrupted when the car of a family of Israeli settlers breaks down outside the convent. Unable to use the telephone due to Sabbath restrictions, the family needs help from the nuns, but the sisters vow of silence requires them to work with their visitors to find an unorthodox solution.

Country of origin: France | Germany | Palestine

Total Running Time: 15

Language: Arabic | English | Hebrew

Day One

Directors: Henry Hughes

Synopsis: On the heels of a painful divorce, an Afghan-American woman joins the U.S. military as an interpreter and is sent to Afghanistan. On her first mission, she accompanies troops pursuing a bomb-maker, and must bridge the gender and culture gap to help the mans pregnant wife when she goes into labor.

Country of origin: United States

TRT: 25

Language: English | Dari

Show

Directors: Jamie Donoughue

Synopsis: In Kosovo in 1998, two young boys are best friends living normal lives, but as war engulfs their country, their daily existence becomes filled with violence and fear. Soon, the choices they make threaten not only their friendship, but their families and their lives.

Country of origin: United Kingdom | Kosovo

TRT: 21

Language: Albanian | Serbian

Stutterer

Directors: Benjamin Cleary and Serena Armitage

Synopsis: For a lonely typographer, an online relationship has provided a much-needed connection without revealing the speech impediment that has kept him isolated. Now, however, he is faced with the proposition of meeting his online paramour in the flesh, and thereby revealing the truth about himself.

Country of origin: United Kingdom

TRT: 12

Language: English

Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut)

Directors: Patrick Vollrath

Synopsis: Michael, a divorced father devoted to his eight-year-old daughter, Lea, picks her up for their usual weekend together. At first it feels like a normal visit, but Lea soon realizes that something is different, and so begins a fateful journey.

Country of origin: Germany | Austria

TRT: 30

Language: German

ANIMATED SHORT FILM NOMINEES

Bear Story

Directors: Gabriel Osorio and Pato Escala

Synopsis: Every day, a melancholy old bear takes a mechanical diorama that he has created out to his street corner. For a coin, passersby can look into the peephole of his invention, which tells the story of a circus bear who longs to escape and return to the family from which he was taken.

Country of origin: Chile

TRT: 11

Language: No Dialouge

Prologue

Directors: Richard Williams and Imogen Sutton

Synopsis: 2,400 years ago, four warriors  two Spartan and two Athenian  battle to the death in an intense struggle witnessed by a little girl, who then runs to her grandmother for comfort.

Country of origin: United Kingdom

TRT: 6

Language: English

Sanjays Super Team

Directors: Sanjay Patel and Nicole Grindle

Synopsis: Young Sanjay, a first-generation Indian-American, is obsessed with television, cartoons and his superhero action figures. He is reluctant to spend time in daily prayers with his devout Hindu father, but a flight of imagination helps him develop a new perspective that he and his father can both embrace.

Country of origin: United States

TRT: 7

Language: English

World of Tomorrow

Directors: Don Hertzfeldt

Synopsis: A little girl named Emily is taken on a fantastical tour of her distant future by a surprising visitor who reveals unnerving secrets about humanitys fate.

Country of origin: United States

TRT: 17

Language: English

We Cant Live Without Cosmos

Directors: Konstantin Bronzit

Synopsis: Two best friends have dreamed since childhood of becoming cosmonauts, and together they endure the rigors of training and public scrutiny, and make the sacrifices necessary to achieve their shared goal.

Country of origin: Russia

TRT: 16

Language: No Dialouge

DOCUMENTARY SHORT NOMINEES

Body Team 12

Directors: David Darg and Bryn Mooser

Synopsis: In Monrovia, Liberia, Garmai Sumo is the only female member of Body Team 12, one of the many teams collecting the bodies of those who died from Ebola during the height of the 2014 outbreak. Despite the perilous nature of her job and the distrust with which she is often met, Garmai remains dedicated to her work.

Country of origin: Liberia

TRT: 13

Language: English

Claude Lanzmann: Spectres Of The Shoah

Directors: Adam Benzine

Synopsis: Thirty years after the release of the documentary SHOAH, filmmaker Claude Lanzmann discusses the personal and professional difficulties he encountered during the more than 12 years it took to create the work. Lanzmann also discusses his relationships with Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre, and his teenage years spent fighting in the French Resistance during World War II.

Country of origin: Canada | United States | United Kingdom

TRT: 40

Language: French

Chau Beyond the Lines

Directors: Courtney Marsh and Jerry Franck

Synopsis: Chau, a teenager living in a Vietnamese care center for children born with birth defects due to Agent Orange, struggles with the difficulties of realizing his dream to become a professional artist and clothing designer. Despite being told that his ambitions are unrealistic, Chau is determined to live an independent, productive life.

Country of origin: United States | Vietnam

TRT: 34

Language: Vietnamese

A Girl in the River

Directors: Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

Synopsis: Every year, more than 1,000 girls and women are the victims of religiously motivated honor killings in Pakistan, especially in rural areas. Eighteen-year-old Saba, who fell in love and eloped, was targeted by her father and uncle but survived to tell her story.

Country of origin: Pakistan

TRT: 40

Language: Panjabi

Last Day of Freedom

Directors: Dee Hibbert-Jones and Nomi Talisman

Synopsis: When Bill Babbitt realized that his brother Manny had committed a crime, he agonized over the decision to call the police, knowing that Manny could face the death penalty but hoping he would instead receive the help he needed. Manny, an African-American veteran who served two tours in Vietnam, suffered from PTSD and had found it difficult to obtain healthcare.

Country of origin: United States

TRT: 32

Language: English
Earlier this morning we posted a report titled "Apple to Open New Canadian Office in Automotive Industrial Park," that was noted as possibly being a new research center. Now Apple has just posted a press release titled "Apple Opening Europe's First iOS App Development Center in Italy."

Apple announced the creation of Europe's first iOS App Development Center in Italy, to give students practical skills and training on developing iOS apps for the world's most innovative and vibrant app ecosystem.

The iOS App Development Center, to be located at a partner institution in Naples, will support teachers and provide a specialized curriculum preparing thousands of future developers to be part of Apple's thriving developer community. In addition, Apple will work with partners around Italy who deliver developer training to complement this curriculum and create additional opportunities for students. Apple expects to expand this program to other countries around the world.

"Europe is home to some of the most creative developers in the world and we're thrilled to be helping the next generation of entrepreneurs in Italy get the skills they need for success," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "The phenomenal success of the App Store is one of the driving forces behind the more than 1.4 million jobs Apple has created in Europe and presents unlimited opportunities for people of all ages and businesses of all sizes across the continent."

Apple is a powerful engine of growth across Europe and the company's ecosystem now supports more than 1.4 million jobs, including 1.2 million attributable to the community of app creators, software engineers and entrepreneurs building apps for iOS, as well as non-IT jobs supported directly and indirectly through the app economy.*

The unprecedented growth of the App Store has helped developers in Europe earn over 10.2 billion from selling their apps around the world.

In Italy, over 75,000 jobs are attributable to the App Store and the developer community is vibrant. IK Multimedia launched its first app in 2009 and since then has had over 25 million downloads. Musement, launched in 2013, is now available in seven languages and 300 cities across 50 countries, making it easy for people to book travel and excursions on the go.

Roberto Macina, CEO and founder of Qurami, said: "Apple's continued innovation inspires us to create the best mobile experiences and make our customers' lives just a little bit easier. Apple's app ecosystem is the anchor for our business, and developing across Apple's operating systems has enabled us to easily and quickly bring the Qurami experience to iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch users."

Thousands of companies are expanding because of their work with Apple, which supports hundreds of thousands of jobs in communities large and small across Europe. Milan-based Laboratorio Elettrofisico makes some of the most sophisticated magnetization equipment in the world and their technology enables some of the industry-leading magnetic features found in Apple products. Apple also works with Europe's leading manufacturers of Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems, which create tiny components that power some of the incredible sensor and audio technologies found in iOS devices.

*Job creation estimate based on research by Dr. Michael Mandel, Progressive Policy Institute. "App Economy Jobs in Europe," January 21, 2016.

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Last week we posted a report titled "Could Apple's iPhone 6s be the Last iPhone Model to Offer End-to-End Encryption?" In that report we noted that "First there was the UK's proposed Investigatory Powers Bill that Apple's CEO slammed and the thought of a similar bill coming to the U.S. had Tim Cook lashing out at the Government last week. It's now being reported that a bill is currently making its way through the New York state assembly that would require smartphone manufacturers to build in the ability for law enforcement to decrypt or unlock phones on demand. The bill requires that "any smartphone manufactured on or after January 1, 2016, and sold or leased in New York, shall be capable of being decrypted and unlocked by its manufacturer or its operating system provider." It now appears that California, the home to all leading tech companies, could be next in line with a similar bill.

According to a new ZDNet report by Zack Wittaker, California assembly member Jim Cooper (D-9th) introduced the legislation -- bill 1681 -- which requires any smartphone manufactured "on or after July 1, 2015, and sold in California after that date" to be "capable of being decrypted and unlocked by its manufacturer or its operating system provider." (Hmm, should that read July 1, 2016?)

The bill states that "Any smartphone that couldn't be decrypted on-demand would subject a seller to a $2,500 fine." It should be noted that that's the same fine amount as listed in the New York bill.

Wittaker notes that "If the bill becomes law, there would be a near-blanket ban on nearly all iPhones and many Android devices across the state."

The bill must pass the assembly and the state senate, and be signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown (D). For more on this, see the full ZDNet report here.

About Making Comments on our Site: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit any comments. Comments are reviewed daily from 4am to 6pm PST and sporadically over the weekend.


There's to be a new election in Ireland within the next three months and some, like Goldman Sachs is a little worried that the party Sinn Fein, once the political wing of the Irish Republican Army, is on track to double its support from the 2011 election to about 19 percent, polls indicate. In Davos today, Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny sought to portray the political campaign as a battle between stability and chaos, adding that Sinn Fein in power could "devastate" the economy. Although the election is of no concern to us in North America, Sinn Fein's views of Apple are less favorable than those held by the standing Fine Gael Party.

In October we posted a report titled "Fiery Irish Finance Minister Says they'll fight any negative Ruling Regarding their Tax Deal with Apple." Sinn Fein on the other hand has a different take. While Sinn Fein stated in general that they have no interest in raising taxes for tech companies like Google and Facebook, they noted that "In government, Sinn Fein may pursue Apple for the taxes it could owe Ireland should the European Commission find against the company and the government in an ongoing probe," Doherty said.

Sinn Fein's finance spokesman Pearse Doherty added that "It's ridiculous in the extreme for the government to say no matter what the commission finds, no matter how stark the evidence may be, that they're going to appeal this. This would be tax that would be due from a company that is more wealthy than the entire Irish state." For more on this, read the full BloombergBusiness report here.

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It's generally understood that Apple's future rests in making sure its premium-priced products keep, or regain, their status as a must-have purchase for a younger generation in the U.S. and internationally. It's equally understood that Apple's iPhone 6 sales smashed all previous records for Apple in the 2014-2015 timeline and so it's understandable that they might have had a slight slowdown in sales momentum with their follow-up model the iPhone 6s. But once rumors start chipping away at Apple with doom and gloom, everyone wants in with their crystal ball. The latest to take a stab at Apple is Chegg, a company based in Santa Clara, California that specializes in online textbook rentals, homework help and online tutoring, who is claiming that a new study of theirs for USA Today points to Apple beginning to lose its cool factor with students regarding devices.

The first poll asked the question: Who has the coolest device? The survey revealed that out of the small 567 college student pool participating in the study, 67% said that the coolest devices were Android based. Yet the second question posed was "Do you prefer Apple or Android? And the answer was flipped, with Apple being at the top with 60% and Android at 40%. Chegg noted that 67% of the students acknowledge that Android is 'gaining ground' on Apple in 'cooler' new features. What those 'cooler' features were exactly was conveniently absent from the report.

The USA Today report further noted that "Heightened expectations of iPhone sales, particularly the runaway success of iPhone 6, have masked cracks in a product lineup that either is running out of steam (two years of declining iPad sales) or being met with indifference (so-so reaction to Apple Music and Apple Watch), say analysts. The iPhone juggernaut product line makes up two-thirds of Apple's revenue.

The pullback in its stock is a shock after a decade-long rise that made Apple investors nearly 25 times richer and Apple the biggest stock in the U.S. stock market.

Apple is in a "turbulent" period, says Daniel Ives, an analyst at FBR Capital: "It's a nerve-wracking transition for Apple and investors" until the expected big sales from iPhone 7.

Frank Catalano, a veteran tech analyst and former marketing consultant added that "Apple's brand is being nibbled to death by many ducks." USA Today's report takes a number of other stabs at Apple and you could read all about it here.

Of course Apple is in its quite period and so we won't be hearing from Apple's executive team about the state of iPhone 6s sales and market conditions until next week during their January 26 financial conference call that you could follow along with live here at 2:00 p.m. PT/ 5:00 p.m. ET.

About Making Comments on our Site: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit any comments. Comments are reviewed daily from 4am to 6pm PST and sporadically over the weekend.
A new report this afternoon states that tensions are now rising between governments and big U.S. technology companies over widening surveillance demands, part of a broader debate over how to reconcile online privacy with the fight against terrorism. The battle resurfaced today at the World Economic Forum, after a year in which terrorist groups including Islamic State killed hundreds in attacks around the worldin some cases, officials say, using popular online tools to recruit followers and communicate. The photo above shows Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella and Facebook's COO Sheryl Sandberg sitting on a panel on this subject in Davos, Switzerland.

The Wall Street Journal reports today that surveillance demands are rising sharply. Governments and law-enforcement agencies in the European Union made nearly 63,000 requests for information about users to Microsoft, Google, Apple, Facebook and Twitter in the first half of 2015, up 24% from a year earlier.

The pressure goes beyond the EU. In Turkey, government requests for user data from Facebook rose 141% in the first half of 2015, from the year before. In Russia, requests for user information from Google rose 122% in the same period.





Governments, particularly in Europe, want U.S. tech firms to turn over more information to them directly. Law-enforcement and intelligence officials say firms should build ways to turn over conversations into encrypted chat programs like Facebook's WhatsApp.

Tech firms respond that weakening encryption could damage security on the Internet, and say new laws demanding access would put them in an impossible position.

Brad Smith, Microsoft Corp's chief legal officer, who is among the tech executives debating surveillance at Davos stated that "You could be placed in a situation where you have to decide what law to break. It isn't a comfortable place to be."

Firms including Apple and Google have started encrypting mobile phones by default, often in ways that mean the firms don't have keys to decrypt them. So Silicon Valley companies are lobbying officials in Davos. They contend that changing their architecture to thwart encryption would open their systems to hackersand not stop criminals from building their own end-to-end encryption systems anyway.

Yet telecommunications executives who have had to contend with surveillance requests for some time now and say that the decision should be left to governments. AT&T Chief Executive Randall Stephenson said earlier today that he doesn't "think it is Silicon Valley's decision to make about whether encryption is the right thing to do." For more on this, read the full Wall Street Journal report here.

About Making Comments on our Site: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit any comments. Comments are reviewed daily from 4am to 6pm PST and sporadically over the weekend.

Other Reports on this Subject

Story of the Week: Law Enforcement Challenges End-to-End Encryption & The Tech Industry's Response

New UK Law to Forbid Apple & Google from Creating Encryption that Can't be Opened for Law Enforcement or Spy Agencies

Apple & 140 Tech Companies Sign Letter Urging Obama to Support Encryption
The logic of the Inferno has always seemed simple enough. It arrives without drama, by way of a boring syllogism. I am made to be with God in an eminently personal relationship. As with all loving relationships, I must freely enter into it. Being-coerced or being unable to do anything but love God contradicts the nature of love. I can no more be forced to love then draw a square circle or rip out the hair of a bald man. The possibility of a loving relationship with God necessarily includes the possibility of not entering into a loving relationship with God. This not-being-with-God we call Hell.

If I am going to effectively deny the possibility of Hell, I must deny that my relationship with God can ever really be one of love. I must deny my ability not to choose Him. This would avoid the problem of Hell, but only by making human existence hellish. It would make a good God easier to believe in, but only by making Him unworthy of worship  and thus no God at all. I, at least, will not bow to a God who damns me to paradise, deludes me into the experience of being-free, and acts, in the final analysis, as a rapist of souls.

This is why I have never been particularly impressed by those who dont believe in God because of the doctrine of Hell: For my part, I refuse to believe in God (or at the very least I defy him) unless there is the possibility of Hell. Different strokes, I suppose.

Regardless, here I am, free to enter into loving relation with God despite John Calvin and Sam Harris. Entering into this loving relationship requires one thing only: That I love. I hardly deny that it is a complicated affair, figuring exactly how to love my Creator. (It is not enough, it seems, to love him in the same manner that I love my cat.) But this much is certain: To be in a relation of love, one must love.

The above premises are hotly contested, but again  the logic seems simple. Hell is a possibility I may choose by not loving God.

The paradox is this  I am the only person I may know, with certain knowledge, as not loving God. I do it rather often. I resent him, ignore him, insult him, delight in what he detests, detest what delights him, and I do it willfully, as a free choice of the will, a choice present to me by virtue of the nature of the God-relationship. Whether my neighbor loves God or not is not data given to me in the same manner. I do not know whether my neighbor did, does, or will love God with any certain knowledge. The evidences of her words and actions, no matter how strong, do not provide me the same certainty by which I know my own choice not to love God  for choosing and willing are secrets of the human heart. I may fear her eternal destination, I may hope for the same, but I cannot judge it with certainty.

The flippancy with which swaths of Christians condemn hordes of humanity to Hell becomes particularly bizarre when one considers it in this sense. Its as if the Westboro Baptist Church were to translate their Gays Are Going to Hell signs to read I know with certainty that this particular gay person has willfully and knowingly chosen not to enter into a loving relationship with God. The certainty of their proposition becomes dubious even as their rhetoric becomes completely pointless: Really, what is the point of condemning someone to Hell if Hell is attained precisely by willfully and knowingly choosing it over life with God? Its as if scores of enraged minions stood outside of a grocery store holding signs that read Youre in a grocery store! expecting shoppers to flee on the basis of their rhetoric. Of course were in a grocery store! We willfully and knowingly chose to be in a grocery store! (a philosophically adept mob of shoppers might respond.)

Surely, unless the Church can convince the world that being-with-God is good and that being-without-God is bad, the mere indication of who is with and who is without God (besides being epistemologically stupid and taking a hammer to the commandment of Christ to judge not) is an ineffective means of attaining the professed desire of the Church, namely, the salvation of all mankind. Hell is properly believed and feared only insofar as God is loved. The preaching of Hell only makes sense in the context of this love, in which the glory of his presence makes his absence something that sears the flesh. Only love can make fear intelligible, for we only fear to lose what we love, and the more we love, the greater we fear the loss. Preach Hell, and Hell becomes unintelligible. Preach the love of God, and Hell will follow, properly contextualized as the necessary possibility of an eternal, malignant solipsism that the radical gift of human freedom demands.
One of the best things about the Academy Awards is the way they can shine a light on films and filmmakers who would otherwise not get much attention.

Case in point: the short film awards.

Every year, the Academy nominates five animated shorts, five live-action shorts, and five documentary shorts  and every year, the ShortsHD cable channel packages them together and sends these programs to theatres around the world, thereby allowing moviegoers everywhere to catch up on these otherwise obscure categories.

This years nominees will start playing in theatres on January 29, nearly one month before the winners are announced February 28.

And this year, there are at least two short films that deal with religious themes.

You might have seen one of them already: Sanjays Super Team, the first Pixar film to be nominated in this category in four years, played in theatres before The Good Dinosaur last year and concerns a first-generation Indian-American boy who would rather watch superhero cartoons than join his father in Hindu prayers.

The other religious-themed short film is a live-action nominee: Ave Maria concerns a family of Israeli settlers who seek help from some Palestinian nuns when their car breaks down. Two slight problems: the religiously observant Jewish settlers cannot use the phone on the Sabbath, while the nuns have taken a vow of silence.

Here are the trailers for the nominees. First, the dramatic live-action shorts:

Ave Maria, directed by Basil Khalil and Eric Dupont:

Day One, directed by Henry Hughes:

Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut), directed by Patrick Vollrath:

Shok, directed by Jamie Donoughue:

Stutterer, directed by Benjamin Cleary and Serena Armitage:

Second, the documentary shorts:

Body Team 12, directed by David Darg and Bryn Mooser:

Chau Beyond the Lines, directed by Courtney Marsh and Jerry Franck:

Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah, directed by Adam Benzine:

Last Day of Freedom, directed by Dee Hibbert-Jones and Nomi Talisman:

And A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness, directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy.

And last but certainly not least, the animated films:

Bear Story, directed by Gabriel Osorio and Pato Escala:

Prologue, directed by Richard Williams and Imogen Sutton:

Sanjays Super Team, directed by Sanjay Patel and Nicole Grindle:

We Cant Live Without Cosmos, directed by Konstantin Bronzit:

World of Tomorrow, directed by Don Hertzfeldt:

The five animated nominees come to only 57 minutes or so combined, so its possible that ShortsHD will pad out the program by including some of the other shortlisted films that werent nominated. The list of potential bonus films includes:

If I Was God, directed by Cordell Barker:

Love in the Time of March Madness, directed by Melissa Johnson and Robertino Zambrano:

My Home, directed by Phuong Mai Nguyen:

An Object at Rest, directed by Seth Boyden:

And Carface, directed by Claude Cloutier.

January 22 update: Heres a trailer for the short-film programs as a whole:
The Silversternacht attacks.

Groping in swimming pools and at a welcome party.

Now an account in Die Welt, a respectable (non-tabloid) German paper, by an utterly disillusioned worker in a refugee shelter in Germany. Heres a translation into English (yes, this is Pamela Gellers site, but the translation is legit if a bit clumsy). She reports (a few sentences out of a much longer piece):

They come to me and demand that I immediately give them an apartment and a fancy car and most also want me to procure them a really good job, and I am supposed to say yes. . . . To an originally Arab colleague of mine they have at times yelled We will behead you!. . . . There was, for example, a resident who came with his deportation notice and wanted to know what would happen now. I explained it to him and he then went. Soon after he came to my colleague and suddenly showed completely new identity documents with a different name and said he was the man with the different name. . . . And part of them do not respect us women. They do not take us seriously at all. If I tell them something or want to give them a statement, then they hardly listen to me. They immediately dismiss us as unimportant and then call for a male colleague. For us women, they often only give us contemptuous or even intrusive glances. . . . Of the officials I expect no great help. Neither in this case nor in the other problems that exist with us, neither from the Interior Ministry nor the local Federal Office for Migration and Refugees. If you call these offices they often no longer answer the phone.

So, its good that this is all being openly discussed, right? Ceasing to sweep it under the rug is the first step towards finding a solution.

But according to Deutsche Welle, this is all irrational, a collective fear sweeping the nation due to a mob mentality based on the insights of social pyschologists which the site reports uncritically. Germans, supposedly, are simply tapping into their racist roots in their opposition to the new migrant arrivals.

Rolf van Dick, head of Goethe Universitys social psychology department, is quoted: Sexual attacks happen every year at the Oktoberfest, but you wont read about them in the paper, because this is a positive environment. Uh, no  I have never heard any claims that coordinated mob-style attacks occur at Oktoberfest, and if there truly are more than minor cases over the two weeks, then isnt it more appropriate to bring them to light, too, than to use them to minimize the concern over the Silvesternacht attacks?

And, more appallingly DW says, not as a quote but stated as a fact:

The peculiar aspect of the current situation is that the collective fear in question is vicarious. Nobody  apart from the men and women victimized on New Years Eve  has any rational reason to fear migrants as a result of the attacks.

Really?

This statement  if it is true of more than one author and an editor who let it pass  is appalling. Either its meant to claim that, surely, the attacks on New Years Eve came out of nowhere and vanished into nowhere and will never happen again, or that these women somehow deserved what they got but no one else is at risk if they behave more properly. Which is horrible either way.

(Picture: Germans behaving irrationally  that is, at a PEGIDA demonstration. from Wikipedia:

PEGIDA DRESDEN DEMO 12 Jan 2015 115723941 by Kalispera Dell  http://www.panoramio.com/photo/115723941. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 via Commons  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PEGIDA_DRESDEN_DEMO_12_Jan_2015_115723941.jpg#/media/File:PEGIDA_DRESDEN_DEMO_12_Jan_2015_115723941.jpg)
The first time I visited Savannah, my family drove from Augusta early on a Saturday morning to attend a Mass at the cathedral. I was twelve years old and I remember very vividly being struck by the beauty of the church. That year my parents celebrated their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, and Bishop Lessard celebrated a diocesan-wide Mass honoring those celebrating silver and golden jubilees. I recall that during the celebration, Bishop Lessard shared that a new bishop had been recently appointed and that Father Kevin Boland would be the next bishop of the diocese.

At twelve and not being a Catholic school student at that time, little did I know that Bishop Boland would sign my high school diploma from Aquinas High School in Augusta, and nine years later, my ordination certificate. I could not have imagined either that twenty-one years after attending that Mass, I would be present at the same cathedral for the funeral services of Bishop Lessard.

Click aqui para espanol

Several years ago during a wedding rehearsal dinner, some of those who raised a toast for the couple spoke of fate bringing the husband and wife together. That night I quickly changed my homily and decided to speak about providence the next day. I encouraged the couple to recognize that Gods providence had brought them together, not fate or chance. I mentioned that God brings people into our lives for a reason, never acting willy-nilly, but rather, with purpose and meaning. In His desire to be a loving father, God foresees our needs, and provides whatever is necessary.

Every day we encounter many people who come into our lives momentarily or just for a brief moment. The encounter may be positive as when a stranger paid for my sisters groceries last month, or it can be negative as when a man pulled out my collar as I crossed a bridge and flung it into the river. As Christians, we believe that all the events of our lives are ordered by a provident God who desires good things for us. It is then possible to take every moment, encounter, conversation or thought, and ask a simple question, Lord, what are you doing here?

Pope Benedict expressed that the origin of life in a Christian worldview is Reason itself, the logos, Jesus Christ, through whom all things were made. All creation is reasonable because its origin is reason and is not the mere byproduct of chance. Jesus says that even the hairs of your head have all been counted, do not be afraid. In the good times and the bad, God the Father watches over us, and in his providence, draws all of our life experiences to Him where they are enriched with meaning and purpose.

Pictures are mine, all rights reserved.
Last night Jan & I went to the Long Beach City Council where they were among other things going to vote on whether to raise the minimum wage in steps up to fifteen dollars an hour.

Jan put on her Standing on the Side of Love t-shirt and I put on the clerical version. While as far as the clerical shirt goes I admit Im not the biggest fan of the color. On the other hand I only wear it for events like this and it does brand us, showing the Unitarian Universalists are here. And that I believe is more important than the fact I feel a bit like a large pumpkin when wearing it.

As happens in these situations there was a lot on the agenda and things began to run long. So long in fact my colleague who was scheduled to be one of the speakers on behalf of the local church and a progressive clergy group had to leave. She thrust her notes in my hand and left me to do the speaking. As is only right. Then as things dragged on some in the galleries began to get restless and one person did some shouting. The energy levels were pretty high.

Finally, finally, they called for the public comments on the subject. I managed to be one of the first of what turned out to be two and a half hours of people making their comments. They ranged from a polished presentation from a representative of chamber of commerce (they accept the need for a raise but oppose fifteen dollars) to heart breaking stories of decades of working at minimum wage, to small business owners, particularly restauranters who were adamantly opposed, to union and human rights activists. The most moving were the stories from the minimum wage workers themselves. Heartbreaking.

When I got to the podium I found myself overcome with emotion. Frankly, I was taken aback, after all my trade is largely about speaking in public. and the couple of hundred people present were barely more than the regular Sunday crowd at my last settled ministry. But, I felt the blood rushing to my head, and instead of my normal adrenaline infused clarity, I felt my vision field close in, making me feel like I was witnessing everything through a red ringed periscope.

I made my points with a quavering voice but I did get them out. The employers are not, for the most part, monsters. In fact most are to be admired for their entrepreneurship and their humanity. But the tales of wage theft that run a current through the anecdotes related by the minimum wage workers are in part an expression of how the wages they are paid legally right now should be seen as wage theft. It is disgraceful. I noted I was not repeating the statistics, theyd already gotten a belly full of that. But, the conditions for minimum wage workers, most of whom are working full time and supporting families are horrendous. And, that, bottom line, this is a moral issue. And that they, the council, are the people at hand who can address this mess and do something to help. Right here. Right now.

Jan said I wasnt as much of a mess in my delivery of this message as I felt, but I know I wasnt at my professional best, or anywhere near. I was and am embarrassed.

Then this morning while going through Facebook I found a pointer to an article published a couple of years ago at the Buddhist Peace Fellowship website by Nathan Thompson, titled The Failure of Now: How Eckhart Tolle Coddles the Status Quo and Why it Matters.

The article is essentially a criticism of spiritualities that are completely inward turned, in this specific case the problem with seeing the solution to all problems as being inner. For the most part I agreed with Mr Thompsons thesis, criticizing being too inward turned to see whats happening in the world, or thinking that just thinking differently is enough, without falling into the other trap of being all about action and embracing your rage.

In this moment, for me, the article was more a reminder as to why I feel a need to participate in the public forum. As a Zen Buddhist teacher as well as a Unitarian Universalist minister most of my life is concerned with the inner life, with watching what I think and feel. And frankly, getting out in the world and attempting to manifest what I have found within can be a harsh teacher. (As an aside I just learned the other day that the expression the proof of the pudding is in the eating was actually coined by a translator of Don Quixote adapting an entirely different image to that point)

For me going out into the world, particularly last night, was definitely an experience of that old Zen saying one continuous mistake. I blush at my ineptitude. And fear my eloquence failing me was also failing the people who are in such desperate need and are relying on their allies to be there.

And it was the best I could do. At the time.

So back to the pillow, as it were, back to watching.

And, of course, from there, back to engagement.

Inward looking. Learning. And reaching out. Learning.

One continuous mistake.

It really is a dance

Oh, and if you want to know how it all turned out, here you go. And heres another story. I expect in November there will be a ballot measure for a statewide vote here in California on raising the minimum wage. And so it continues
This is the sort of breaking news that I dont usually blog about, but in this case its personal.

Prof. Yaakov Malkin, one of the great leaders of Secular Humanistic Judaism in Israel (and father of Rabbi Sivan Malkin Maas), woke up this morning to find his Jerusalem home vandalized.

From Haaretz:

A Star of David and the phrases Psalms 139: 21-24 and Destruction of Amalek were scrawled on the fence surrounding his home. A knife and an envelope containing a threatening letter were also found at the scene, reading a Jew whose hands are bloody resides in your street. This Jew received a severe warning. The letter to Malkin said, among other things, that this is a warning for you to immediately end all atheist and heretic activity that you take part in or lead. You must absolutely and immediately stop your actions to dismiss and incite the people of Israel from their God. Should you continue your actions following this warning, know that you are yourself choosing to forsake your fate and future. Do not cross the line. This isnt a futile warning, it is completely and absolutely serious, treat it as one. You will not receive another warning, it said. The letter was signed, your brother who brings to you the word of God your creator and king, the father still waiting for your return to him.

Prof. Malkin was a dear friend of Rabbi Sherwin Wine who worked closely with him to build Secular Humanistic Judaism in Israel. His daughter, Rabbi Sivan Malkin Maas, is the dean of Tmurah, the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism  basically the Israeli arm of our movement  in Israel.

The movement has not been the subject of too many such attacks. Rabbi Maas told Haaretz:

 that the family hasnt received threats in recent years and that it is unaware of people who are harassing them. However, she said that last Yom Kippur, we published an article on the ways to mark Yom Kippur in a secular manner, and it made a very big impact. We are now engaged in activity relating to a secular Tu Bishvat. You never know what could wake these extremists. The word fear isnt one that I relate to, but there definitely is concern. We will continue to focus on positive Judaism, she added.

Since those early days when Prof. Malkin and Rabbi Wine worked together, Tmurah has grown by leaps and bounds. Obviously, its increasing prominence and attractiveness to secular Israeli Jews is threatening to religious extremists. Hopefully, more moderate religious voices will condemn this attack.
Patna: Police in Patna on Monday arrested a man for trying to pass Rs. 16,000 in counterfeit money when he tried to deposit it in the Exhibition Road branch of the United Commercial Bank.

As reported, Samir Kar, a resident of Hooghly district in West Bengal, handed over Rs. 26,000 in cash to the bank clerk for deposit in his account.

The cashier, however, identified sixteen notes in Rs. 1,000 denomination as fake. Upon close inspection, his doubts were confirmed. The remaining Rs. 10,000 were said to be genuine.

Kar was taken into police custody.



Authorities are questioning Kar about the source of his money and to establish whether he is an innocent victim in the crime or has connections with note smugglers, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Jitendra Rana said.

Police said that only last week it had arrested two men from under Gardanibagh police station with Rs. 11,500 in counterfeit money. Both were said to have come to Patna from Veerpur in Nepal.
Patna: Deputy Chief Minister and the heir-apparent to the Yadav throne in Bihar, Tejaswi Yadav on Wednesday took part in a protest against the Modi government at the Center holding it responsible for the suicide of a PhD student at the University of Hyderabad last Sunday.

Defying the no-protest zone promulgation of his own government at the Dak Bungalow Crossing, Yadav and other members of the student wing of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) waved the picture of Rohith Vemula, a 26 year dalit student and an activist who committed suicide after being expelled from the university, and demand the resignation of Union Human Resources Minister Smriti Irani and Minister of Labor and Employment Bandaru Dattatreya for 'creating an atmosphere that led Vemula to commit suicide'.

Blocking the busy intersection for more than 45 minutes, the Deputy Chief Minister said that with the suicide of Vemula, the NDA government stood exposed of his anti-dalit mindset and policies.

"The Modi government is anti-students and anti-dalits. If Irani and Dattatreya are not asked to resign, we will intensify our stir across the nation," Yadav said.
Patna: Mob justice seems to have returned in Bihar with the return of crime in the state as an angry crowd in Rupaspur caught hold of a fleeing bank robber and after giving him a brutal thrashing, slit his wrist in a swift street justice before law enforcement officials could reach the spot.

The incident took place in Mahuabad village under Rupaspur police station in Patna district on Wednesday afternoon.

As reported, four men held up Bank of Baroda, Mahuabad village branch, at gun point and escaped with roughly 2.5 lakh rupees in cash. While three men managed to give the slip to the crowd, one robber who was identified as Jitendra Pandit of Jamui was caught by the mob.

First he was beaten up by the crowd and then one man using a sharp knife tried to chop off one of his hands from the wrist though he only managed to cut the veins and damage the bone seriously. Police took him to a nearby hospital but was sent to the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) for treatment.

Patna Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Manu Maharaj, along with other police officials arrived at the crime scene but by then the mob had already dispersed.

Interestingly, the bank neither had an armed guard nor surveillance cameras to monitor the activities inside or outside the bank.

Police have recovered Rs. 1.5 lakh from Jitendra Pandit's possession and claimed to have identified the other three criminals.

This is the eight such case of bank heist in Bihar since the Lalu-Nitish government came into power a little over two months ago, officials said.
Patna: It was supposed to be a somber day for those attending a function in honor of veteran Communist leader A. B. Bardhan who passed away at the age of 91 on January 2 but Bihar leaders instead used the event to politicize the death of the departed soul.

Turning the event into an anti-BJP campaign, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his political partner and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Lalu Prasad Yadav took shots at the Modi government at the Center while calling for a wider political alliance to include all left parties and smaller regional outfits to ensure the defeat of the NDA in the next Lok Sabha elections.

"Cornering the fascists and false idealists from all sides would be the best tribute to Bardhan Saheb," Kumar said adding the goal of all non-NDA parties was the same and therefore, it was imperative to unite at this juncture of the Indian history.

The Chief Minister, like other non-NDA parties, accused the Modi government for the much-publicized suicide of a dalit student in Hyderabad.

Echoing Kumar's sentiments, Yadav said the Grand Alliance was more in tune with the Communist ideology as its goals were similar.

"There has never been any difference between us and the leftists. Like Jaya Prakash Narayan, Communists also talk about the development of the poor, downtrodden, and socially oppressed. It is due to the split in the secular-minded parties that a fascist and communal party like the BJP comes into power. If we all unite, the country would not go in wrong hands," Yadav, former Bihar Chief Minister, Union Railway Minister, and a convict in the multi-crore rupees fodder scam, said.
Ageing Imprisoned Iranian Human Rights Lawyer Should Be Released on Medical Grounds, Wife Says

01/21/16

Source: International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran

The wife of the prominent lawyer Mohammad Seifzadeh, who has been imprisoned since April 2011 for his work defending human rights and political prisoners in Iran, is hoping the appeal for his release from Rajaee Shahr Prison on humanitarian grounds will be heeded by the authorities, given his extremely poor health.



Iranian human rights lawyer Mohammad Seifzadeh



With the approval of the Medical Examiner [Legal Medicine Organization], Mohammad has been transferred for examination by several doctors, including heart, lung and orthopedic specialists. The tests have not been completed yet but we are hoping that the Medical Examiner and the Tehran prosecutor will approve his early release because of his physical condition and advanced age, Fatemeh Golzar told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.

In addition to heart, lung, and kidney ailments, Mohammad Seifzadeh, 67, is also suffering from severe neck, back, and limb pain, his wife said.

In October 2010, Mohammad Seifzadeh, a founding member of the Defenders of Human Rights Center, was sentenced to nine years in prison and a ten-year ban on practicing law on charges of acting against national security through establishing the Defenders of Human Rights Center. He was arrested in April 2011 in the city of Orumiyeh on charges of exiting the country illegally, resulting in a second case against him. An appeals court reduced the sentence from his first case to two years in prison, which he served until March 25, 2013. However, while in prison, Seifzadeh was charged with collusion and assembly against national security for writing critical letters and signing several group statements, which resulted in a third case against him.

Four court sessions were held to review these charges, but each time Seifzadeh refused to appear in court to present his defense, because he does not consider the Revolutionary Court qualified to judge the case. In March 2013, the court announced an additional six-year sentence for the charges in the third case, but an appeals court ruling on sentencing is pending.

According to Fatemeh Golzar, the case pertaining to Seifzadehs alleged illegal exit from the country has been dropped. He is serving his sentence inside Rajaee Shahr Prison in Karaj.





The Universal Declaration of Human Rights


Is Europe Choosing Iran over Saudi Arabia?

01/21/16

by Eldar Mamedov (source: LobeLog)



Sigmar Gabriel



On January 19, the European Parliament (EP) debated the escalating crisis between Iran and Saudi Arabia following the execution by Riyadh of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr and the attack in response on the Saudi embassy in Tehran by angry mobs .The debate, kicked off and wrapped up by the EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, has highlighted a shift in European attitudes toward Iran and Saudi Arabia that has been taking shape for a while.

In her opening remarks, Mogherini praised the start of the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and the lifting of the nuclear-related sanctions against Iran as of January 16, a process in which she and the EU3 (France, Germany, UK) played a key role. Careful not to be seen as taking sides, she condemned both the execution of al-Nimr and Iran's failure to protect Saudi diplomatic legations in Tehran and Mashhad. At the same time, she made it clear that the EU sees the nuclear deal not as a goal in itself but as an investment in a more constructive relationship with Iran.

Indeed, the EUs actions since the nuclear deal convey exactly such an impression. Even before the implementation day of the JCPOA, the EU established the Iran Task Force with the aim of identifying potential areas of cooperation. The EU is also exploring the possibility of opening a long-overdue delegation in Tehran. On a diplomatic level, the EU supported Irans participation in the Vienna peace talks on Syria, seeing it as crucial to end the civil war in that country. And on the economic front, the EU business community is actively exploring opportunities in Iran following the lifting of the sanctions.

Relations with Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, while still firmly anchored in a web of trade, financial, military, diplomatic, and security ties, have eroded over the last year. Multiple crises in the Middle East and their effects on Europe, such as a terrorist blowback and a surge in migration, have triggered an unprecedented scrutiny of Saudi foreign and domestic policies. For the first time, a real debate is emerging in the EU on its relations with the Kingdom.

Yesterday's parliamentary debate highlighted in particular the Saudi intervention in Yemen and the European role in enabling it. Richard Howitt, the foreign affairs spokesman for the social-democrats (the second largest group in the Parliament) and the EP rapporteur on Iran, welcomed the agreement with Iran for having averted the nuclear arms race in the region but also questioned the legality of the conventional arms sales by some EU member states to Saudi Arabia. Those sales appear to be in breach of the EU common position on the arms trade, which explicitly bans them when there is a risk that these arms will be used to violate international humanitarian law. Yet this is exactly what is happening in Yemen. Another concern is that Saudi actions in Yemen, by targeting the Houthis, actually facilitated the re-emergence of al-Qaeda in that country.

The Saudi-led coalitions intervention in Yemen already was a focus of a EP resolution in 2015. Another highly critical resolution took the Saudis to task for spreading Wahhabism worldwide and compared their rights practices to those of the Islamic State. Over the same period, the EP adopted no resolutions critical of Iran.

Even the traditionally much more cautious governments of the EU member states have joined in the criticisms of Riyadh. German Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel accused Saudi Arabia of fomenting jihadist extremism. The German intelligence service BND has published a memo about the threat posed to the Middle East by a naive, arrogant Saudi prince in reference to Mohammad bin Salman, the minister of defense and son of King Salman. The Paris terrorist attacks only accelerated this trend by highlighting concerns among European elites and public over support for extremist ideologies and terrorism from within the Kingdom. None of this was conceivable even a year ago.

Although the trajectory in the EU seems to favor Iran over Saudi Arabia, the fears in Riyadh that the EU is tilting toward Tehran are exaggerated. As Mogherini reminded MPs, the EU rejects the zero-sum game where one state's gain is another's loss. It seeks not to take sides but to help create cooperative security architecture in the Middle East, along the lines of the EU itself.

As official contacts and Track II level discussions involving academics and think-tankers show, Iran seems to be more receptive to such ideas than Saudi Arabia. There are certainly forces in Iran that act on unilateralist impulses, as exemplified by a recent unnecessary and provocative missile test. But it is Saudi Arabia where aggressive unilateralism now seems to dominate the state policy. The recent New York Times op-ed by Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir, calling to confront Iran, looks as if it were taken straight from US neoconservative bullet points. One leading Saudi commentator, Jamal Khashoggi, a former media adviser to the Saudi ambassador in Washington, echoed George W. Bush by declaring that all other nations are either with us against Iran, or against us. Saudi actions match these words, as seen in an ill-fated attempt to establish an Islamic anti-terror coalition excluding Iran. Needless to say, in such a context Riyadh is hardly interested in EU ideas about cooperative security in the region.

These hard realities of Middle Eastern power politics might frustrate the EU's even-handed approach. Even worse, some of its own member states might undermine the Union's broader interests by pursuing their narrow agendas in the region favoring some actors over others.

Yet the twin surges in terrorism and refugees, the political implications of which threaten to unravel the very fabric of the EU, have shown the extent to which the security of the EU and Middle East is intertwined. Playing favorites among the regional powers has proved disastrous for the West. It is in the best interests of the EU, then, to help forge a more inclusive regional security environment in the Middle East, which would integrate both Iran and Saudi Arabia.





This article reflects the personal views of the author and not necessarily the opinions of the European Parliament.





About the Author

Eldar Mamedov has degrees from the University of Latvia and the Diplomatic School in Madrid, Spain. He has worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia and as a diplomat in Latvian embassies in Washington D.C. and Madrid. Since 2007, Mamedov has served as a political adviser for the social-democrats in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament (EP) and is in charge of the delegation for inter-parliamentary relations between the EP and Iran.
Iran nuclear deal proves power of diplomacy: Zarif

01/21/16

Source: Press TV



Iranian daily Star of Davos (World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland). According to Ghanoon, after the implementation of Iran nuclear deal, many people are lining up at the WEF meeting to speak with Zaif.



Iranian daily Ghanoon has dubbed Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif as the(World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland). According to Ghanoon, after the implementation of Iran nuclear deal, many people are lining up at the WEF meeting to speak with Zaif.

Irans Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says the landmark nuclear deal between Tehran and the P5+1 proved that regional disputes can be resolved through diplomacy.

Regionally I think it sends a message that if we can resolve that something everybody thought was impossible to resolve, with countries who were - obviously at least Iran and the United States - were hostile for at least 37 years, then there's no impediment in resolving regional issues, Zarif said while addressing the World Economic Forum (WEF) in the Swiss city of Davos on Wednesday.

Zarif said that regional nations, who're bound by a common region, common faith, common history, common culture, common values, can work together to address a very serious challenge in our region, and that is the challenge of extremism.

The top Iranian diplomat said that through the nuclear agreement, the Iranian nations right to peaceful nuclear technology has been restored because our nuclear program was always for peaceful purposes.

I think the deal is not a perfect deal. No deal is ever perfect. But it deals with our requirement, that is removal of sanctions and at the same time respecting our right to have our nuclear program for peaceful purposes, because our nuclear program was always for peaceful purposes, he said.

On January 16, Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China - plus Germany started to implement the nuclear agreement, dubbed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), they had reached in the Austrian capital, Vienna, on July 14, 2015.

After the JCPOA went into effect, all nuclear-related sanctions imposed on Iran by the European Union, the United Nations Security Council and the United States were lifted. Iran in return has put some limitations on its nuclear activities.

Zarif further expressed Irans preparedness to show even greater transparency in order for the International Community to know what we already know, that our program is nothing but peaceful.

Saudi Arabia concerned about Iran deal

Pointing to Saudi Arabias expression of concerns about Irans nuclear deal, Zarif said, Since the agreement in Geneva in 2013, our Saudi neighbors have been panicking. There is no need to panic, our friends. Iran is there to work with you. Iran does not want to exclude anybody from this region. There is no need to engage in a confrontation.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told Reuters on Tuesday that the removal of sanctions on Iran as a result of its nuclear deal with world powers will be a harmful development if it uses the extra money to fund nefarious activities.

Saudi Arabia has been calling for tough inspections of Irans nuclear program and the possibility for resuming sanctions against the country.

Syria has no military solution

The Iranian foreign minister further dismissed any military solution to the devastating crisis in Syria, saying the conflict must be settled through diplomatic means.

There is no military solution to the (Syrian) crisis. We need a political solution, he said.

He said that a ceasefire in Syria was needed before a national unity government could be formed and elections based on a new constitution held.

We are determined to provide every contribution and encouragement that we can in order to bring people to the negotiating table. I think what is necessary to make sure [is] that those who believe that there is a military solution are also brought to their senses and brought to the negotiating table, he said.

Over 260,000 people have reportedly been killed in Syria since foreign-backed militancy erupted in the country in March 2011.
The best 2-in-1 laptop 2022: our picks of the best convertible laptops

These are the best 2-in-1 laptops you can buy right now
Apple is opening its first European iOS App Development Center in Italy.

Based at an unnamed partner institute in Naples, the new program will churn out the next generation of iOS developers. A specialized curriculum will build "practical skills and training" and prepare "thousands of future developers" to be part of Cupertino's community, Apple says.

"Europe is home to some of the most creative developers in the world and we're thrilled to be helping the next generation of entrepreneurs in Italy get the skills they need for success," CEO Tim Cook said in a statement.

Apple says it currently supports more than 1.4 million jobs in Europe1.2 million of which are app creators, software engineers, and other entrepreneurs. In Italy alone, more than 75,000 jobs are attributed to the App Store.

And while rival Google Play continues to hold the No. 1 position as the top app store in 2015 (in terms of download numbers), developers are making more money on Apple's platform, analytics firm App Annie reported this week. Last month, Apple announced it had doled out $40 billion to developers since the App Store's inception.

Most of that cash comes from games, which accounted for 75 percent of revenue on the iTunes App Store last year. Moving forward, TV and wearables will likely be the next frontier in apps.

Cupertino intends to expand this program to other countries around the world, but did not elaborate. According to VentureBeat(Opens in a new window), Apple operates one other iOS App Development center in Brazil.
A U.S. judge this week ruled that part of a lawsuit against Oculus founder Palmer Luckey can proceed.

Luckey's former employer, Total Recall Technologies, is suing the entrepreneur for breach of contract. The Hawaii-based company hired Luckey in 2011 to build a prototype virtual reality head-mounted display, according to the suit(Opens in a new window) filed last year. Luckey signed a nondisclosure agreement and pledged "not to use confidential information for his own benefit."

But, Total Recall argues, Luckey "took the information he learned as well as the prototype that he built and other confidential information and materials and passed it off to others as his own."

That, of course, refers to the Oculus Rift Kickstarter campaign, which surpassed its crowdsourcing goal by almost $2.2 million.

Luckey denies the claims, telling Reuters(Opens in a new window) that Total Recall just wants to get its hands on some Facebook cash; the social network acquired Oculus for $2 billion in 2014.

Neither Facebook nor Total Recall immediately responded to PCMag's request for comment.

Still, as PCMag sister site Geek.com notes(Opens in a new window), an email exchange between Total Recall and Luckey could be damning.

"Just so we are on the same page. With the initial payment to you I would like exclusive rights to your design unless we decide not to use it," Total Recall's Thomas Seidl wrote. "I need to cover myself if we pay for development and then end up paying for a competitor."

"Yes, we are on the same page here," Luckey responded. "I am sure we can put together a contract of some sort to finalize it all."

Luckey, however, did secure dismissal of other civil claims, including fraud.

This isn't Oculus VR's legal battle, though. In May 2014, ZeniMax Media sued the firm for misappropriating ZeniMax trade secrets.

Facebook, meanwhile, is reportedly(Opens in a new window) eyeing an Oculus Research center in Pittsburgh, where the company has leased an office.
Still waiting for your favorite Xbox 360 game to work on your Xbox One? Your wait may be over.

Microsoft just announced a new batch of backwards-compatible titles launching today, including: The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, Sam & Max Save the World, Aegis Wing, Counter-Strike: GO, Age of Booty, Space Giraffe, Soulcalibur, Skullgirls, Jeremy McGrath's Offroad, and Small Arms.

If you've never played The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, you can now download it for free on Xbox.com. The offer is available for Xbox One and Xbox 360 owners in the U.S., Canada, U.K., France, and Germany now through Feb. 5.

For the uninitiated, the second installment in the Witcher saga lets you "assume the identity of Geralt of Rivia, a professional monster slayer, or witcher, as he becomes entangled within the political turmoil that has engulfed Temeria while hunting down a treacherous assassin," the Xbox team wrote in a blog post(Opens in a new window). "Featuring an intense and emotionally charged, non-linear story and using your skills with the sword and magical abilities, experience the complex and expansive adventure that leads up to the events of 2015's  The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt."

Meanwhile, Microsoft is changing up the way it launches new Xbox One backwards-compatible titles in the future.

"Starting today, we'll release titles as they become available, rather than a set monthly launch date," the Xbox team wrote. "What this means for you is that you won't have to wait to find out the latest titles; we'll release whatever is available  once each title has received the engineering and publisher stamp of approval."

If you're still waiting for a certain game to make the cut, cast your vote here(Opens in a new window).

Since Microsoft released its first list of backwards-compatible games in November, Xbox gamers around the world have played more than 21 million hours of Xbox 360 games on Xbox One, the company said.
Just how many people ran afoul of Google's advertising policies in 2015? A lot. According to a new blog post(Opens in a new window), Google had to block 780 million "bad" ads last year.

It also blocked advertising on more than 25,000 mobile apps after app developers violated Google's policies, and it outright rejected 1.4 million apps from websites and app developers who wanted to show Google's ads but not play by the company's rules.

"When ads are good, they connect you to products or services you're interested in and make it easier to get stuff you want. They also keep a lot of what you love about the weblike news sites or mobile appsfree," Google said.

"But some ads are just plain badlike ads that carry malware, cover up content you're trying to see, or promote fake goods. Bad ads can ruin your entire online experience, a problem we take very seriously. That's why we have a strict set of policies for the kinds of ads businesses can run with Googleand why we've invested in sophisticated technology and a global team of 1,000+ people dedicated to fighting bad ads."

A "bad" advertisement, as described by Google, can come in a variety of forms. Rejected ads include those that attempted to sell blatantly counterfeit merchandiselike fake purses or watchesas well as ads for pharmaceuticals that either weren't approved for people to actually use (not good) or made blatantly false claims about their efficiency compared to prescription-backed alternatives. Google also went after misleading weight loss ads that were just phishing scams ads that tried to encourage users to download malware or other spammy software.

Ads whose content was fine, but whose practices were not, also found themselves targeted by Google.

"We've all been there. You're swiping through a slideshow of the best moments from the Presidential debate when an ad redirects you even though you didn't mean to click on it. We're working to end that. We've developed technology to determine when clicks on mobile ads are accidental. Instead of sending you off to an advertiser page you didn't mean to visit, we let you continue enjoying your slideshow (and the advertiser doesn't get charged)," reads Google's blog post.

Going forward, Google will be going after weight-loss advertising a bit more and beefing up its targeting of advertising that encourages people to visit or install malware. Google likely has a few other tricks up its sleeve to combat bad advertising, but it did not elaborate.
Intel has to keep a close watch on China, where an architectural battle could break its dominance in servers.

Intel chips based on its x86 architecture are used in most servers worldwide. But the Chinese market is growing, and could kick-start emerging server architectures like ARM and IBM-backed OpenPower.

Intel took a step to defend its server chip business in China on Thursday, saying it will deliver custom processors to Chinese companies through a partnership with Tsinghua University and Montage Technology Global Holdings Ltd.

Intels announcement comes days after Qualcomm said it had forged a $280 million alliance with Guizhou Huaxintong Semi-Conductor Technology to license ARM-based server chip technology to Chinese companies.

Partnerships or joint ventures are the easiest ways for hardware companies to do business in China. Its almost a prerequisite, said Jim McGregor, principal analyst at Tirias Research.

The Chinese server market has the potential to be much bigger than that in the U.S., where Facebook, Google and Amazon are building mega data centers. Chinese companies like Tencent, Baidu and Alibaba have comparable data centers, and demand for data center equipment is growing at an amazingly fast pace, said Nathan Brookwood, principal analyst at Insight 64.

China is on its way to becoming the worlds biggest computer market, and theres a growing demand for PCs, tablets and mobile phones. A huge back-end infrastructure is still being built out to serve those devices, so theres an opportunity for companies making chips based on ARM and OpenPower to grab a piece of this growing market and erode some of Intels dominance, analysts said.

More specifically, China represents a big opportunity for chip makers to sell processors used in the communications, networking and storage equipment that are being manufactured to meet those growing data-center needs. Right now ARM and OpenPower are in just a few servers. But as Chinese manufacturers ramp up to meet growing demand, they could expand their use of ARM and OpenPower chips.

Unseating Intel will still be a big challenge, but ARM and OpenPower have some advantages in China.

ARM and OpenPower are based on open architectures, so manufacturers who license these architectures to create customized designs could then, in turn, license such designs to Chinese chip companies. This is an attractive proposition for Chinese companies: chip makers could license the designs and then undercut Intel, and server makers would then have alternative sources for processors, which they could then use as leverage in negotiations with Intel.

China-based server makers are important customers for Intel because Chinese companies prefer buying from local manufacturers for pricing and security reasons.

Another issue for Intel is Chinas crackdown in recent years on monopolies. For instance, the government fined Qualcomm, which dominates the mobile chip market, $975 million for anticompetitive behavior. Intel needs to treat competition in the server market cautiously, leaving some space for the adoption of ARM and OpenPower architectures. To help fend off trouble, Intel has built goodwill with the Chinese government by building a chip factory in Dalian and helping build a strong PC and tablet ecosystem in Shenzhen.

Intel has also partnered with Chinese companies like RockChip to make mobile chips, a further sign that the company is not resting on its laurels in the server market, McGregor said. Over time, the China chip battle will only get interesting.

Theres room for all the players, McGregor said.
Kelly J. Fredericks, a Rhode Island airport executive, has been nominated to run the operations of Ontario International Airport as it returns to Inland control.

Fredericks nomination was announced Wednesday, Jan. 20, by a search committee for the Ontario International Airport Authority.

Fredericks nomination concludes a five-month search.

His proposed annual salary is $398,500.

UPDATE: Fredericks eager to rebuild airport traffic

Fredericks is currently president/CEO of the Rhode Island Airport Corp., overseeing the operation and economic development of a six-airport system.

Fredericks was in Rhode Island Wednesday, reporting the nomination to his board, as it was being announced on the West Coast.

The full OIAA Committee will consider hiring him once final negotiations are complete and recommended.

Even though we have this great opportunityits still a risk to attract anyone to an airport in transition such as Ontario, authority board member Curt Hagman commented. He said Fredericks, with 33 years of experience in the aviation industry, was leaving a more settled situation to take on the job of overseeing Ontario International Airport as its ownership and control moves from Los Angeles to the OIAA.

This is an opportunity for someone to set their own path for this great airport. I think this gentleman is perfectly situated for it, Hagman said.
March cant come soon enough, according to Kelly J. Fredericks.

Fredericks is nominated to take charge of the Ontario International Airport Authority as it completes the process of taking over the airport from the Los Angeles Airport Authority.

I cant wait to get out there, Fredericks told journalists in a conference call from the East Coast on Thursday morning. Im trying to control my enthusiasm, but its really hard.

The day before was a long one for Fredericks. The airport authority announced his selection as chief executive officer after a five-month search, and his current employer, the Rhode Island Airport Corporation, announced his imminent departure.

Also on Wednesday, the Providence Journal reported that passenger traffic dropped. 0.2 percent in 2015 at T.F. Green Airport, which is under his leadership as president and CEO of RIAC.

Fredericks said he is all about growing traffic and making money for ONT in Thursdays conference call.

He plans to take on his new role around March 1 and focus on completing Ontario Airports separation from LAWA around July 1.

He made his first visit to the airport earlier this month. Among the things that impressed him was the amount of logistics traffic in the region.

I went from zero to 60 in a relatively short period of time, he said. Been to L.A. a number of times, but never to Ontario. But it absolutely amazes me  the opportunity.

Fredericks has more than 30 years in the airport industry, both in operation and property development.

This is a career and a hobby for me, he said. Ive worked with some amazing people. Its allowed me to work in senior management positions and also lower level positions in non-hub, small hub, medium hub, large hub airports. Ive just had some great industry peers and mentors.

He expects to take a team approach to rebuilding airport traffic, but conceded that the industry has changed since peak years before the recession.

Theres over 100 million seats less flying less, on an annual basis, than there was a decade ago. Its far more competitive than it was.

Fredericks had similar goals for T.F. Green and said that part of the reason traffic fell short in 2015 was 74 cancellations in December. He said his long-term strategy is sound.

Weve had a downward trend for almost a decade, like a lot of places, but were turning the corner.  Ill tell you anyway, and I think a lot of consultants out there would agree, I think we had the most aggressive air service development program going around out there, and I fully expect to carry that over to Ontario.

He conceded that his tenure will begin with a grinding, nonsexy stage but expects to see successes along the way.

Do I expect to hit some singles and doubles and a home run or two? I certainly do.

Contact the writer: fbuck@pressenterprise.com or 951-368-9551
The Golden State has another chance to rein in lawsuit abuse. On Tuesday, the Assemblys Judiciary Committee approved Senate Bill 269, a substantive reform meant to encourage small business owners to bring their businesses into compliance with disability accessibility law while protecting those proactive about doing so from frivolous lawsuits.

Introduced by Sen. Richard Roth, D-Riverside, the bill is virtually identical to last years Senate Bill 251, which overwhelmingly passed the Legislature before being inexplicably vetoed by Gov. Jerry Brown, who objected to the inclusion of tax credits to help offset the cost of making properties more accessible.

California has unfortunately been a hotbed of lawsuit abuse, particularly with respect to the well-intended Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Meant to protect and enhance accessibility for those with disabilities, as implemented in California the law has been turned into a money-maker for serial plaintiffs.

Under current state law, any violation of disability access laws, even minor, harmless, technical violations like the exact wording of parking signs, is considered a violation of civil rights law. This makes it easy for plaintiffs who often prey on immigrant- and minority-owned businesses to make big money on the most trivial of errors.

Meanwhile, accessibility has suffered from a lack of outreach by policymakers to help educate property owners about the importance of bringing properties into compliance with the ADA.

Mr. Roths proposal strikes a useful balance. It empowers small business owners to correct technical violations within 15 days of being notified without threat of a lawsuit. It also gives small businesses a period of protection from liability if construction-related violations are identified and that business seeks an inspection from a Certified Access Specialist.

To accommodate the objections of some in the disability community and Mr. Brown, the latest iteration of the proposal reduces the definition of a small business from a business with up to 100 employees to a business with up to 50 employees and strikes the tax credits from the bill.

While the California Chamber of Commerce considers the bill a job creator, and SB269 is backed by organizations like the Consumer Attorneys of California and the Civil Justice Association of California, not everyone is happy. At Tuesdays hearing, representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union and Disability Rights California condemned the proposal, arguing it still puts the disabled at a disadvantage.

As we see it, the only people the proposal disadvantages are serial plaintiffs who use the cover of disability and civil rights law to line their pockets.
Free state college educations would be offered to the spouses and children of the 14 persons slain during last months terrorist massacre in San Bernardino, under a proposal that a High Desert legislator says he is co-authoring.

Assemblyman Jay Obernolte, R-Hesperia, made the announcement Wednesday, Jan. 20, saying he would help write the tuition waiver in Senate Bill 893.

Under SB 893, the dependents of those who lost their lives will be granted a tuition-free undergraduate education at the California Community Colleges, the California State University, and the University of California.

In a written statement, he called the proposal a small token of sympathy for the surviving family members.

The bill is a response to the Dec. 2 shooting spree by a husband-and-wife terrorist team who killed 14 victims and wounded 22 others during a holiday celebration at the Inland Regional Center. The suspects were killed hours later during a shootout with law officers.

RELATED: All the latest developments related to the San Bernardino shooting
Riverside officials met their goal of finding homes for all the citys homeless veterans by the end of 2015, the city announced this week.

Mayor Rusty Bailey was taking part in President Obamas challenge to mayors to end veteran homelessness. Between June and Dec. 31, the citys community and economic development department, police and homeless outreach team worked with other agencies to house 89 veterans, according to a city news release.

During the effort, officials gave a high priority to helping the chronically homeless and other especially vulnerable veterans. The city also took a housing first approach, seeking homes for veterans before or at the same time as addressing employment, substance abuse and other issues.

Its unacceptable for anyone who has selflessly served our country to be living on the street, Bailey said in the release. Now that we have achieved this milestone, we must work to ensure that such efforts continue.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9461 or arobinson@pressenterprise.com
Corona City Councilman Randy Fox has announced his plan to run for congress this November, pitting himself against 41st District incumbent Mark Takano.

At this point it is David versus Goliath, Fox said Wednesday, about an hour after opening his campaign account. But remember how that story ends.

Fox, a Corona resident, was elected as city treasurer in November 2012. He won his bid for a four-year city council seat in November 2014. If he lands a spot in the House of Representatives next year, he would forego the final two years of his city post.

The 41st District includes Riverside, Jurupa Valley, Perris and Moreno Valley, but not Corona. Federal law does not require a representative to live in the same district they are running for. They must, however, live in the same state as the district.

Takano, a Riverside native, is serving his second term in the House. He has been an outspoken advocate of immigration reform and worked to keep federal funding for the Perris Valley Line during the 2013 government shutdown, according to his website.

Fox said the Dec. 2 terrorist attack in San Bernardino was the tipping point in his decision to run.

After that event I really felt a compelling need to enter into a larger arena to protect our community from terrorism, Fox said.

Other issues Fox plans to tackle: fixing Southern California highways and attracting high-level jobs to the district.
A Corona man died Tuesday, Jan. 19, in a train v. car crash at a railroad crossing in Mecca, according to a Riverside County Coroners Office news release.

Bryan Wright, 29, was pronounced dead at 5:51 p.m. Tuesday at the scene near the intersection of Highway 111 and Cleveland Street, the news release said. Wright was the only occupant in the vehicle when it was hit by the train, according to a Cal Fire /Riverside County Fire Department news release.

This story is developing. Check pressenterprise.com for more information.
The California Supreme Court will not take up the Colonies corruption case for a second time.

The court announced Wednesday, Jan. 20, that it had rejected a request from prosecutors seeking to restore conspiracy charges.

The San Bernardino County District Attorneys Office and the state Attorney General had appealed a lower courts decision to throw out conspiracy charges against Rancho Cucamonga developer Jeff Burum and former county officials Paul Biane, Jim Erwin and Mark Kirk.

That decision was upheld in October by the 4th District Court of Appeal in Riverside. In a brief notice on its website, the state Supreme Court stated Wednesday that it was denying prosecutors petition of the appellate court.

In its ruling, the appellate court found that conspiracy charges must be filed within three years after authorities discover an alleged crime. Prosecutors had argued that another provision of the law allowed for a four-year statute of limitations, which would have allowed them to file conspiracy charges.

Other charges, including those related to bribery and misuse of public funds, remain in the case which is set for trial in October.

The dismissed conspiracy count was the core of this indictment, and the Supreme Courts decision affirms that, as a matter of law, it should never have even been presented to the Grand Jury, let alone acted upon, Burums attorney Stephen Larson said in a statement.

District Attorney spokesman Chris Lee declined to comment. Last week, in a statement on a separate hearing on the case, District Attorney Mike Ramos stated his office was ready to proceed to trial.

Prosecutors allege that Burum paid $400,000 in bribes to sham political action committees controlled by the former county officials to win three supervisorial votes in favor of a $102 million settlement paid to his company in November 2006.

The four defendants have pleaded not guilty and deny wrongdoing.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9558 or ighori@pressenterprise.com
A fourth and final suspect was arrested Wednesday, Jan. 20, in connection with the killing of a 56-year-old man in Hemet during a home robbery.

Willie Louis Thomas, 32, was booked into jail after Hemet police teamed with the California Department of Corrections Fugitive Task Force to arrest him in San Bernardino. Hemet police Lt. Dean Evans said Thomas was hiding in San Bernardino and was located after investigators collected information pointing to his whereabouts.

There are no outstanding suspects in the investigation, Evans said in an interview Thursday. Two weeks prior to Thomas arrest, 22-year-old Sandra Warner and 23-year-old Giovanni McMilan were arrested in connection with the killing.

Shortly after they were taken into custody, 30-year-old Anthony Dale Rattler was also arrested for the homicide.

Details about the incident remain limited. Hemet police found victim Martin Mitchells body inside a home in the 4000 block of Bariloche Lane about 10:20 a.m. Dec. 12.

Investigators determined that Mitchells killers targeted his home for a robbery.

Police believe this was not a random attack  Evans said.

Court records show McMilan pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the commission of a robbery. Warner was charged with aiding the principal in a felony in escaping arrest and illegally possessing a firearm. Warner pleaded not guilty to both charges.

Rattler also pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder.
Re: Families file claims over attack [News, Jan. 13]: The incident in San Bernardino was a tragedy.

The outpouring of support from all communities was reflective of the goodness and caring of our citizens. Ms. Wetzel, who lost her husband, has been supported in so many ways, including  a crowdfunding account that generated hundreds of thousands of dollars, and I am sure she qualifies for the death benefit in workers compensation insurance.

You cant put a price on a lost life, but evidently she is. She is now suing San Bernardino County for $58 million because she lost her husband. While this is tragic, how are the taxpayers of the county responsible and liable for this loss? Why do we have to pay for the actions of others that could not have been prevented?

I am afraid any legacy left behind by Mr. Wetzel is now tarnished. Ms. Wetzel has turned a horrific situation into a much more horrific situation.

Patrick Flaherty

Highland

Protect public lands

Re: Oregon standoff latest in dispute over Western lands [News, Jan. 4]: The federal land article was very good, but you can also add state land and possibly county land. The people in the East often fail to see what it is really all about here in the West because they have so very little federal land.

More can be explained.

Most federal and state lands in the West are not preserves, but reserved economic resources  a system created during the Great Depression and World War II. It was an emergency measure that was so convenient that industry lobbied to make it permanent after the war.

All sorts of ranching and logging (and other productive activities) take place on these lands, which are leased to various private interests at far-below-market rates.

Finally, just because land belongs to the feds and state doesnt mean it is managed in an ecofriendly manner. People in the West have seen plenty of public land clear-cut, overgrazed and even strip-mined.

Protecting this land is important. Money-interested groups wanting to use this land need to follow rules to protect the land, not destroy it. Too much has already been destroyed.

Susan McCormick

Norco
One down; two to go. Redlands Symphony Orchestra is in the throes of the daunting task of finding a suitable conductor to take the baton from the retiring Jon Robertson. At 8 p.m. Saturday, the second of three final candidates will lead the orchestra in a concert that features music of Ralph Vaughan Williams, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Igor Stravinsky.

Conductor and composer Benjamin Wallfisch comes to Redlands with an impressive resume including conducting the London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra and others in London, and in 2009, he made his debut conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl.

Wallfisch also brings a touch of the movies. His work in film music spans 10 years and 45 movies. This segment of his career has earned him multiple international awards and nominations, including an Ivor Novello Award nomination for best original film score in 2009 (for Rupert Wyatts The Escapist), a nomination in the 2009 Emmy Awards and nominations as Discovery of the Year in the 2005, 2008 and 2013 World Soundtrack Awards.

All of the candidates were scrutinized very closely, said Redlands Symphony Association President and Chief Executive Paul Idecker in a recent interview. Wallfisch represents a new generation of music conducting, as he is the youngest of the three conductors we are bringing to our audience.

Idecker said the orchestra viewed Wallfischs varied experiences as significant.

He has extensive experience conducting around the world and a connection to the music industry in the U.S. that is particularly compelling, he said. We will be very interested in seeing how all that translates with our orchestra.

Wallfisch was asked to build his program around Tchaikovskys Symphony No. 4, a piece similar in scope to works given to the other two candidates. He selected Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis and Stravinskys Pulcinella Suite.

We are performing three of the most exciting, visceral and powerful pieces in the repertoire, Wallfisch said in an email. Vaughan Williams work is a deeply eloquent and striking melding of the well-known pastoral school of English string music and a glance back to traditional 16th century melodic forms and harmonic colors, while Stravinskys piece represents some of the most witty and engaging music of his so-called Neoclassical period.

According to Chris Myers, the orchestras general manager and program note author, the Tchaikovsky symphony, like much of the composers work, embodies grief and tragedy but with a hopeful, optimistic note. Myers called this Tchaikovsky work the most personal of all his large-scale works.

Russian music is probably the closest to my heart, said Wallfisch when asked about the two Russian composers for this program. My great-grandfather was the Russian conductor and composer Albert Coates, who was the music director of the Kirov Opera at the turn of the 20th century. He in fact met Tchaikovsky when he was a young boy of only 6, at a family gathering. Albert was improvising at the piano and Tchaikovsky apparently gave him some warm words of encouragement. It blows my mind to even imagine that happening, but it did.

Contact the writer: features@pressenterprise.com
While introducing Gov. Jerry Brown at the State of the State address on Thursday, Jan. 21, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom pointed to terror attacks around the world and the chaos of todays world.

Newsom mentioned Californias diversity, saying that despite the tragedy in San Bernardino, the world looks to us.

What makes California great today is that we dont tolerate diversity, we celebrate it, Newsom said.

When Brown took the podium, he also mentioned how world events affect California, using San Bernardino as an example.

Below is the text as prepared for delivery:



Edmund G. Brown Jr.

State of the State Address

Remarks as Prepared

January 21, 2016

It was 41 years ago that I first spoke in this chamber. At that time, my father was rather surprised to see me make it to the governorship at such a young age. Now Im kind of surprised that I am still here  and three more years to go.

Back then, California was amazingly dynamic and it still is. We, who live here, love and know this land as a unique place which draws people from every part of the world because of the tolerance, the creativity and the sheer openness. There is much to be thankful for.

And yet we live today in a world that is profoundly uncertain. What happens far away can touch us very directly. A slowdown in China or turmoil in Iraq or Syria or virtually anywhere can send the stock market reeling and put California jobs and state revenues in jeopardy. And the battles far away sometimes come right here to our soil, as the unprovoked and brutal attack in San Bernardino so clearly showed us. What occurs daily in so many different parts of the world could occur here. That is why we have to be prepared and vigilant. I wish it were not the case but it is.

Here at the state Capitol we often think we have more control over things than we actually do. But the truth is that global events, markets and policies set the pace and shape the world we live in.

The challenge is to solve todays problems without making those of tomorrow even worse. We face a future that is partly determined and yet in many ways unknown. Our job is to clearly face the facts we do know and prepare for the many unknowns as best we can.

In that spirit, you are not going to hear me talk today about new programs. Rather, I am going to focus on how we pay for the commitments we have already made.

Budget

Lets start with the budget. What we do know is that since the Second World War, we have experienced 10 recessions, none of them expected or accurately predicted. Economists are unable to pinpoint when a recession will begin or how long it will last. Historically, California budgets have been built around forecasts that assume uninterrupted growth. Just looking at the last two recessions, we notice that ongoing state spending accelerated right into the downturn.

That is why if you add up the deficits and surpluses between 2000 and 2016, you find that the total deficits were seven times as large as the surpluses, resulting in painful and unplanned-for cuts. Schools, child care, courts, social services and other vital state programs were deeply affected. So too were our universities which had to reduce classes and double tuition.

I dont want to make those mistakes again.

According to economists at the Department of Finance, the next recession, even if it were only of average intensity, would cut our revenues by $55 billion over three years. That is why it is imperative to build up the Rainy Day Fund  which was recently overwhelmingly approved by the voters  and invest our temporary surpluses in badly needed infrastructure or in other ways that will not lock in future spending.

We must also be realistic about our current tax system. California has a very progressive but volatile income tax that provides 70 percent of General Fund revenues. If we are to minimize the zigzag of spend-cut-spend that this tax system inevitably produces, we must build a very large reserve.

Inequality

We also know that inequality has risen sharply in recent decades. We have seen the disappearance of many middle class jobs and the growing share of income taken by the top 1 percent and even more so by the top .01 percent. In fact, the proportion of income earned by the 1 percent has almost tripled. This contrasts sharply with the virtual stagnation in the wages of so many ordinary Americans. And CEO pay has risen from 22 times the average worker pay to 352 times.

Such inequality is reinforced by national regulatory and tax policies and driven by globalization and the relentless influx of cheaper goods and outsourcing of higher-paying jobs. Technological change also plays its part through sophisticated software, robotics and global communication. Of course this creates jobs, keeps inflation low and makes available phenomenal amounts of information and undreamed of conveniences. But it also makes for higher pay at the top and a huge number of low-paying service jobs below.

In the face of this growing inequality, California has not been passive. We have enacted or expanded many programs to counteract these powerful trends:

We raised the minimum wage;

We now have our first Earned Income Tax Credit;

We strengthened our already strong prevailing wage laws;

We made sure that 6.5 million workers will now get paid sick leave;

And with respect to helping low-income students, we provide over $2 billion in Cal Grants and we pay the enrollment fees for 65 percent of community college students;

We have added back hundreds of millions of dollars to our CalWORKs, foster care and child care programs; and

In May, we will start providing full health care coverage to the children of undocumented workers.

Health Care

Most importantly  and this is truly monumental  we have wholeheartedly embraced the Affordable Care Act. As a result, we are now enrolling 13.5 million Californians in Medi-Cal and another 1.5 million in Covered California. This is an historic achievement. It will provide health security to so many who could not otherwise afford it.

Another area where we are leading the nation is how we provide health services to people in their own homes and, in the process, give jobs to their providers. Over the past two years, we have expanded this In-Home Supportive Services program by serving more recipients, giving current recipients more hours of care and by giving  for the first time  overtime pay to those workers who provide the services.

While the benefits of these programs are enormous, so too are the costs  both now and into the future. In four years, total Medi-Cal costs have grown by $23 billion. As the state begins to pay for its share of the millions of new enrollees, the cost to the General Fund will also rise. In 2012, the General Fund paid $15 billion for Medi-Cal, but by 2019, that number is expected to be $25 billion, an increase of two-thirds. For In-Home Supportive Services, in just two years, total spending will jump by $2 billion  to $9.2 billion  a 28 percent increase.

As the economic recovery reaches its end point and turns downward, it is crucial that we honestly face and plan for these increased costs. In this regard, I ask you  Republicans and Democrats alike  to seriously consider the newly revised MCO financing reform. Other states have taken advantage of this federal program and California should not shortchange itself. This is not a tax increase, no matter what anyone tells you. The arithmetic is simple: California comes out a clear winner.

Education

With respect to education, the strong economic recovery and the passage of Proposition 30 has allowed us to increase spending on public schools and community colleges from a low of $47.3 billion in 2011, to $71.6 billion this budget year. That is a 51 percent increase in overall spending, with significant sums allocated under the Local Control Formula to provide for the unique challenges that face low-income students, English learners and those in foster care.

This pattern of educational spending reverses the historic practice of assuming that all students encounter similar circumstances. They do not. The Local Control Formula, now in its fourth year, recognizes this fact with extra funding to enable educators to overcome the barriers that confront non-English speaking families and those with low and very modest incomes.

I am proud of how California has led the country in the way it is returning control to local school districts. For the last two decades, there has been a national movement to micromanage teachers from afar, through increasingly minute and prescriptive state and federal regulations. California successfully fought that movement and has now changed its overly intrusive, test-heavy state control to a true system of local accountability.

Other Commitments

We also know that the state has made other commitments  ones that we have yet to fully pay for. Our retirement liabilities  for pensions and lifelong health benefits for state and university workers  total $220 billion. Each year, the budget must allocate billions to slowly chip away at these obligations. Since 2012, we have taken steps to reduce the future costs of these pensions and put the teachers system back on solid fiscal footing. Still, we have more work to do. To date, we have set aside only a token amount to pay for $72 billion in future retiree health benefits.

These liabilities are so massive that it is tempting to ignore them. We cant possibly pay them off in a year or two or even 10. And there is little satisfaction in the notion of chipping away at an obligation for three decades to pay for something that has already been promised. Yet, it is our moral obligation to do so  particularly before we make new commitments. We have promised our workers these benefits in exchange for careers spent serving the public. If we fail to acknowledge and pay for these obligations, we will unfairly burden future generations of Californians with these debts.

Infrastructure

Another long-term obligation we have to face is our deteriorating infrastructure. From state office buildings here in Sacramento to levees and facilities in our parks, universities, prisons and state hospitals  serious deficiencies abound. In this years budget, I am proposing that we use $2 billion of our temporary surplus on one-time investments to repair and replace aging structures. Neglecting what we have built over many years and letting it further deteriorate makes no sense and will just pile up costs in the long run.

But that is not all. Our overall state deferred maintenance is staggering, estimated to total $77 billion. Most of that is in our roads, highways and bridges. Here is our challenge: We have no choice but to maintain our transportation infrastructure. Yet, doing so without an expanded and permanent revenue source is impossible. That means at some point, sooner rather than later, we have to bite the bullet and enact new fees and taxes for this purpose. Ideology and politics stand in the way, but one way or another the roads must be fixed.

Water

One of the bright spots in our contentious politics is the joining together of both parties and the people themselves to secure passage of Proposition 1, the Water Bond. That, together with our California Water Action Plan, establishes a solid program to deal with the drought and the longer-term challenge of using our water wisely. Our goal must be to preserve Californias natural beauty and ensure a vibrant economy  on our farms, in our cities and for all the people who live here. There is no magic bullet but a series of actions must be taken. We have to recharge our aquifers, manage the groundwater, recycle, capture stormwater, build storage andreliable conveyance, improve efficiency everywhere, invest in new technologies  including desalination  and all the while recognize that there are some limits.

Achieving balance between all the conflicting interests is not easy but I pledge to you that I will listen and work patiently to achieve results that will stand the test of time. Water goes to the heart of what California is and what it has been over centuries. Pitting fish against farmer misses the point and grossly distorts reality. Every one of us and every creature that dwells here form a complex system which must be understood and respected.

Climate Change

Besides the immediacy of the drought, there is the overarching threat of a warming climate. Incredibly  though last year was the hottest on record  there are still those, particularly in Washington, who are in denial. But even the deniers cant deny the carbon pollution that exists all over the world. It is causing serious injury and respiratory disease to people of all ages, but especially the young and very old.

Thankfully the rest of the world has heard the message: Humankind must change its ways and radically decarbonize the economy.

The Paris climate agreement was a breakthrough and California was there leading the way. Over 100 states, provinces and regions have now signed on to our Under 2 MOU. The goal is to bring per capita greenhouse gases down to two tons per person. This will take decades and vast innovation. But with SB 350, were on our way.

Finally, we know that in life, disasters happen. Fires, floods, earthquakes  they will occur and we must be prepared to respond. That too  by the way  requires that we save and maintain a solid reserve.

Closing

This morning I have talked a lot about the difficulties that lie ahead, but lets not forget how far we have come.

In 2011, the state deficit was $27 billion, our credit rating was the worst in the nation and unemployment was 12 percent.

Now:

The budget is in surplus;

Standard and Poors has raised our credit rating three times;

We have paid down accumulated debt  $26 billion worth;

We created a solid Rainy Day Fund to offset the next economic downturn;

We have increased funding for schools 51 percent;

We are covering, under Medi-Cal, 13.5 million people, a 74 percent increase;

We enacted  for the first time  an Earned Income Tax Credit;

We raised our minimum wage, to $10 an hour, and thats 38 percent higher than the federal minimum; and

Two million new jobs have been created and unemployment has dropped in half.

Yes, it is clear that California is still The Great Exception. We dare to do what others only dream of.

Difficulties remain, as they always will. That is the human condition. And finding the right path forward is formidable. But find it we will, as we have in the past and as we will again  with courage and confidence.

Thank you.
Life in the military did not prepare Jose Rivera for life outside of it.

The Army veteran, who grew up in Orange County and served in South Korea, eventually found himself living on couches and in his car following his divorce in 2008.

A federal housing voucher helped Rivera get back on his feet, and the 35-year-old Rivera is set to graduate from UC Riverside with an anthropology degree this spring. But many other veterans live on the streets.

Helping them was the subject of a special congressional hearing that took place Wednesday at Riverside City College. Rivera was one of five witnesses who testified at the field hearing by the economic opportunity subcommittee of the House Veterans Affairs Committee.

The subcommittee, which includes Rep. Mark Takano, D-Riverside, met at RCC because Takano is the ranking member of the minority party. A similar hearing will take place in the district of subcommittee Chairman Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio.

Inland Reps. Raul Ruiz, D-Palm Desert, and Norma Torres, D-Pomona, also attended the hearing.

Those testifying included officials from Riverside and Riverside County. Emilio Ramirez, deputy community and economic development director for the city, said its not enough just to put a roof over a veterans head.

We cannot say, Heres the place you are going to live and think weve done our job, Ramirez said. Job training and other services are needed to make sure veterans dont end up homeless again, he said.

Riverside was able to find solutions  affordable housing, supportive housing, substance abuse treatment or reuniting with family  for 89 homeless veterans in the city in the second half of 2015, city officials said.

The effort was part of a national Mayors Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness, in which hundreds of cities participated.

In 2013, Riverside County supervisors approved a special program to help homeless veterans. Since then, more than 1,000 have found housing, said Carrie Harmon of the countys Economic Development Agency.

Like Ramirez, she argued for more funding for veterans programs as well as flexibility in how they are run.

Other topics included bureaucracy and unintended consequences. Stephen Peck, a Vietnam veteran and president and CEO of U.S. VETS, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping veterans, said theres a subset of veterans who choose to take a housing voucher rather than undertake the difficult work of putting their lives back together.

The Inland Empire division of U.S. VETS served 819 Inland veterans families, including 222 kids, in 2014, said Eddie Estrada, the Inland divisions executive director.

The nonprofit organization opened temporary bridge housing in Barstow in December; a safe haven project for vets with substance abuse and mental health issues will open soon in Loma Linda and a 138-unit affordable housing complex at the former March Air Force Base is under construction, with completion expected in spring 2017.

The need to better prepare military personnel for the transition to civilian life came under scrutiny. Peck compared it to moving abroad.

We wouldnt send a Peace Corps volunteer to a foreign country without learning a language, he said.

Torres said its hard for many veterans to ask for help. And Ruiz and Takano said veteran homelessness is a complex problem that requires a coordinated solution involving job training, drug treatment and other services to tackle what led to a veteran living on the streets.

It seems as though there are a lot of spokes, Ruiz said. But we need that hub.

Staff writer Alicia Robinson contributed to this report.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9547 or jhorseman@pressenterprise.com
Add Zika, a virus suspected of causing thousands of birth defects in Brazil, to the growing list of mosquito-borne diseases Inland officials are concerned about.

The Zika virus is emerging on the global scene as the tropical black-and-white-striped mosquito capable of transmitting it, Aedes aegypti, has been discovered in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

I would say that we are certainly alarmed about any of the viruses that the Aedes aegypti can vector, said Doug Osborn, Riverside County Vector Control Program supervisor. Because we have now found this species of mosquito, we are alarmed about the mosquito.

No cases of Zika have been transmitted in the U.S., though there have been cases of travelers returning to the country with it  including a Texas resident who recently visited El Salvador, Reuters reported Tuesday.

There is concern for any diseases that can be caused by the more aggressive mosquito  and Zika virus is one of them, said Barbara Cole, director of disease control for the Riverside County Department of Public Health.

However, local officials and California mosquito experts say the odds of contracting it in the Inland region are low.

Thats largely because travelers are going to areas with low numbers of newly diagnosed Zika virus cases. The odds could change if area residents travel to a region with many new cases, said scientist Chris Barker, whose research group at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine studies invasive mosquitoes and mosquito-borne virus outbreaks.

All it takes is just the right chain of events, he said. If you have those mosquitoes, which Southern California now does, theres a risk for transmission to other people.

World health officials more or less ignored Zika, which was identified in 1947 in Uganda, until 2007, when it started spreading beyond Africa and Asia.

Until then, more attention had been paid to dengue and chikungunya, the two diseases more commonly transmitted by the Aedes aegypti or yellow fever mosquito.

But Zika  which prompted travel warnings after spreading to Mexico in November and Puerto Rico in December  is making its way toward becoming a fear-inducing household name.

Health officials in Brazil are investigating whether Zika is to blame for more than 3,170 cases of children born with microcephaly. The rare, incurable neurological disorder is associated with small head size and impaired brain development.

Public health officials working on an international level are very concerned about Zikas spread and are watching that very closely, Barker said.

With the regions warm temperatures and international travelers, it seems likely Zika could be transmitted in Southern California by people whove been in South America or other places with the virus, he added.

Inland residents should be concerned because the mosquitoes that can carry Zika  the Aedes aegypti and the Aedes albopictus, or Asian tiger mosquito  have been found in the region, say officials and experts.

The Aedes aegypti first appeared in San Bernardino and Riverside counties, in the cities of Montclair and Riverside, in late September and early October, and have since also been found in Colton and San Jacinto. The Aedes albopictus were spotted in Upland in San Bernardino County on Oct. 15.

Unlike the regions native mosquitoes, which transmit the West Nile virus, the tropical mosquitoes feed on humans during the day and can breed indoors, spawning tiny eggs in houseplants containing less than half a thimble of water.

They also can breed in containers with no water because their eggs can survive dry conditions for up to a year. Local native mosquitoes tend to breed in underground storm drains, abandoned pools and wetlands, and they bite outdoors at dusk.

But Aedes aegyptis presence in the Inland area doesnt mean the diseases it carries are here, too. To transmit viruses, the mosquitoes first have to bite someone who is infected, typically a traveler returning from a country where the virus is circulating, then spread that disease by biting someone else.

Its probable the virus will come to California through infected travelers, said Scott Weaver, director of the Institute for Human Infections and Immunity at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.

Thats how chikungunya arrived in the country. Yet that virus spread locally, from mosquitoes within the country, so far only in Florida, which has many tropical mosquitoes, two years ago, Weaver said.

Mosquitoes spread chikungunya, which causes fever and joint pain, to a dozen Florida residents in 2014, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Osborn said residents should be more concerned about being bitten by mosquitoes that can carry diseases than about any particular virus.

Whether its West Nile or Zika or chikungunya or dengue  if youre not bit by it, you cant really get it, he said.

Even if Zika arrives in the U.S., a big outbreak like the one in Brazil is unlikely, Weaver said.

We just dont expose ourselves to mosquitoes in the same levels as in Southeast Asia, where, for example, its not common for people to screen in their homes, he said.

Its unknown why the Zika virus might cause birth defects when similar viruses, including dengue, chikungunya and West Nile  which killed six people in Riverside County and three in San Bernardino County in 2015  are not known to.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it is not aware of any published reports of increased numbers of microcephaly associated with other viruses similar to Zika. It also emphasizes that while some babies in Brazil with microcephaly have tested positive for Zika, several other affected babies have tested negative.

However, chikungunya and West Nile virus have, in a small number of cases, been passed from an infected mother to her child. When West Nile is passed on, it very rarely makes the baby ill. Chikungunya can make a baby sick in the form of a sepsis-type illness, but thats also very rare, said Dr. Matthew Zahn, the top epidemiologist with the Orange County Health Care Agency.

Weaver said data suggest Zika has been passed on to babies in Brazil during the first or second trimesters, or during childbirth.

We really have very little idea why these viruses are different. (With Zika) it probably has something to do with the ability of the virus to infect cells in the placenta that allow it to cross from mother to fetus, Weaver said.

He advised pregnant women to postpone plans to travel to any country where the virus is circulating.

If they travel to the Caribbean or Latin America, they should be very concerned. If the virus does circulate in California, then they should be very concerned. But I dont think in the meantime theres cause for a lot of alarm.

Contact the writer: jchandler@ocregister.com or shurt@pressenterprise.com
Petty Officer 1st Class John Zion was recently selected 2015 Sailor of the Year for the USS Decatur. He is a native of Ohio and graduated from Temecula Valley High School.

Zion enlisted in the Navy in June 2001 and attended Recruit Training Command in Illinois, after which he went to Interior Communications A school. He then reported onboard the USS SHILOH (CG-67), where he was deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. After he attended several follow-up schools he deployed again in 2005 when Shiloh participated in Operation Unified Assistance, rendering aid to those impacted by the 2004 tsunami off the coast of Indonesia. After a Ballistic Missile Defense modification and a successful missile test in 2006, he deployed to Japan for a crew-swap with USS Chancellorsville (CG-62).

Zion then transferred to the Navy Operational Support Center in New York, where he served as assistant training officer, before he shipped out to Italy in 2010. Working for the American Forces Network as a broadcast engineer, he provided radio and television service to soldiers, personnel and families during operation Rapid Trident in the Ukraine.

In 2012, Zion reported onboard USS Decatur (DDG-73) and was quickly deployed to the Arabian Gulf.

Zion recently completed his associates degree in general studies.

Have your own military accomplishment to share?

Send items for possible

inclusion in the column to

community@pressenterprise.com.

Contact the writer: community@pressenterprise.com
Actor-comedian Santhanams next film with debutant director Anand Balki has been titled Server Sundaram! Speaking to DC, producer Selva says the story revolves around a mechanical engineer who becomes a master chef.

So, why did the crew choose that title? Santhanam is a huge fan of Nagesh sir and we all know that Server Sundaram, directed by K Balachander sir, was a huge hit when it was released in the 60s.

"Just like how Nagesh sir started as a comedian in his career and attained stardom over time, so has Santhanam, now, he adds, and tells us that the story doesnt have any similarity with that of the original.

We have officially got the permission from AVM Productions to use the title and we are in fact, proud to have Nagesh sirs film title for ours. Santhanam plays a chef in the film. Its an urban script laced with equal doses of sentiment and comedy.

"We have given Santhanam a complete makeover for this film. Its a different script, which hasnt been handled in Tamil cinema previously, be it the storytelling aspects or the way we have integrated the commercial elements into it. The heroine hasnt been decided yet, he explains with a smile.

Santhosh Narayanan has been roped in to compose music and Server Sundaram will be extensively shot in Chennai, Goa and Dubai.
Kicking off the states legislative session, the South Dakota GOP announced plans to propose legislation requiring all welfare applicants go through (and pay out of pocket for) drug testing. Obtaining the test will cost welfare applicants anywhere from $25 to $30 placing yet another administrative hurdle between families and desperately needed assistance.

While most states have been forced to employ inventive ways of avoiding federal rulings striking down drug testing as unconstitutional (such as administering questionnaires and drug testing only those who self identify), South Dakotas welfare drug testing legislation doesnt seem too complex.

Saying every applicant across the board will be tested, GOP state Rep. Lynne DiSanto  the primary lawmaker behind the bill  said, I would say with just about any employer that you apply for a job with you have to submit to a drug test, and I dont see how this is any different from that. She added, It is not that youre being forced to submit to a drug test. Its elective. You have the option.

While its an option to apply for welfare, it is not an option to opt out of testing for anyone who may apply for assistance through the states welfare program  a factor thats played heavily into federal courts striking down similar laws in other states. By singling out welfare applicants out of every potential group applying for taxpayer money, such legislation illegally violates that groups civil rights.

Also, applying for federal taxpayer assistance is completely different from applying for a job in the private industry; different rules, laws, and constitutional requirements exist making an apples to apples comparison between the two nearly impossible. A more apt comparison would be placing welfare recipients side by side with politicians, veterans, and students  all of which receive taxpayer money in one form or another.

Speaking to local radio station KCCR, DiSanto rationalized her legislation arguing it will ensure that people who are applying for welfare are not going to be using that money theyre receiving from the taxpayers for their drug addiction or drug use.

Contrary to her statement, low income families and welfare recipients and applicants in general are no more likely purchase or take drugs than the general population. The rationale for singling out the population simply doesnt exist.

Furthermore, money diverted to testing and fighting lawsuits related to drug testing has cost states several times more than any potential savings. More importantly, testing positive for drugs doesnt mean children or other family members in that household should be punished.

Several studies have gone on to demonstrate that those denied benefits for whatever reason (including drug use) fall deeper into poverty and dont adequately address the real problems keeping them in that situation.

Based on the current direction of DiSantos legislation, the entire discussion may be moot as it lacks a reasonable suspicion clause or mechanism required to maintain constitutional privacy. Florida found out the hard way you cant require blanket testing of all applicants based on poverty being a trigger.

Judge Mary S. Scriven of the United States District Court in Orlando said it succinctly in her condemnation of Floridas blanket welfare drug testing when she said, The court finds there is no set of circumstances under which the warrantless, suspicionless drug testing at issue in this case could be constitutionally applied.

Peacock Panache readers:

Tim Peacock is the Managing Editor and founder of Peacock Panache and has worked as a civil rights advocate for over twenty years. During that time hes worn several hats including leading on campus LGBTQ advocacy in the University of Missouri campus system, interning with the Colorado Civil Rights Division, and volunteering at advocacy organizations. You can learn more about him at his personal website.

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MAD Sandwiches

MAD Sandwiches will participate in the Linglestown Food Truck Festival.

(Sue Gleiter, PennLive.com)

If you love food truck festivals, mark this on your calendar.

The Linglestown Food Truck Festival will pull into the Lower Paxton Township community from noon to 9 p.m. on May 14. Individual businesses in Linglestown will host trucks at their place of business during the event.

"Linglestown has the capability of becoming that great town like Lititz has become with people and small businesses like Mud Queen Pottery and Mellow Minded Cafe really taking the reins. It's just that quaint little area everyone wants to call home," said Jenna Liebermann, sales operation manager of Spring Gate Vineyard and former co-owner of Smoke BBQ in Lower Paxton Township.

Food truck festivals have become a popular event in central Pennsylvania. There's Foodstruck York held annually in September in York City, and last year's Wish Upon a Food Truck Festival held at Gander Mountain in Lower Paxton Township.

Spring Gate is one of the organizers of the Linglestown Food Truck Festival which will raise proceeds for a Linglestown area non-profit group.

So far, the following trucks have been secured for the event - MAD Sandwiches, All Greek To Me and Z&D Fries. Participating businesses include Made to Keep, Packers Pizza & Sub Shop, SpringGate in the Village, St. Thomas Roasters and Mellow Minded Cafe.

"What better way to promote the town than a food truck festival? It's kind of like the draw of things like Kipona at the river. People go for the food," Liebermann said.

All together, about a half-dozen or more trucks will participate in the festival, she said.

Parking for the event will be available at Linglestown Life church at 1430 N. Mountain Road. In addition, the Linglestown Fire Company will hold a chicken barbecue on the day of the event.
Restaurant Startup

Josh White, who operated Smoke BBQ in Lower Paxton Township, and his friend Alex Stone compete on "Restaurant Startup" for a $200,000 investment and a 25 percent stake to open a new restaurant. (Photo by: Frederick Brown/CNBC)

(NBC)

It probably wasn't chef/restaurant owner Josh White's most memorable day in the kitchen on the latest episode of "Restaurant Startup."

Two months after divorcing his wife, Jenna Liebermann, White may have let his raw emotions get the best of him on the CNBC show that was taped last year and aired on Wednesday. The couple operated Smoke in Lower Paxton Township for two years and closed it in January 2015.

"It was definitely not a right time to be on national television," White said earlier this week. "It was a very eye-opening experience."

Smoke was the latest victim on the realty television show that gives aspiring restaurants an opportunity for "Shark Tank" style funding if they can prove themselves.

Unfortunately, White and his pal, Alex Stone, failed to impress television personality Joe Bastianich and chef and restaurateur Tim Love, enough to give them a $200,000 investment to open a restaurant.

Since the show was taped, White opened a Smoke restaurant in Cockeysville, Maryland in September. It has been well-received in the Baltimore region.

The show was filled with the usual realty show drama that included raw chicken, under smoked wings and a crashed point-of-sale system. But it was probably White's divorce and personal baggage that touched off the most emotion.

"Losing the restaurant was extremely devastating. That was everything I put my soul, and all my blood, sweat and tears into and it was taken away from me completely out of the blue," White said, with tears welling up in his eyes.

He laid it on the line describing how the divorce left him without the restaurant, his house and bulldog, Boss. Bastianich interjected, "It sounds like a country music song. She took my house, my restaurant and by bulldog, Boss."

They badger White about his inability to tally food costs and grasp the business side of operating a restaurant. White vows to make it work.

Smoke makes it through the first hurdle and is picked over Chas Germain to launch a restaurant concept for one night in Los Angeles.

White and Stone design a modern barbecue restaurant, and then prepare favorite dishes including the Boss Dawg pork sandwich - named after White's dog - to a packed dining room.

"You set up a great room. It couldn't have gotten any better in my opinion," Love said, adding 90 percent of the guests said they liked the room and 80 percent liked the name and logo.

But the flattery soon comes to a halt.

"Here's the problem, and you're not going to like the sound of this - only 40 percent of the diners liked the food. And it's the lowest number we've ever had on 'Restaurant Startup,'" Love said.

It's easy to see where this is all headed. Both Bastianich and Love refuse to give White an offer.

"I didn't think it would go this way. I really wanted to win and open this restaurant back up and show everyone I can do it again. Everything they said was true. I can't argue with them. This hurts. This hurts. I have nothing," White said.

In the end, Love gives White a chance to work at his Woodshed Smokehouse, an offer White accepts. But as the show winds down, we learn White doesn't accept the opportunity and instead moves to Baltimore where he opens Smoke.

"Just to hear the words from those guys was deflating," White said, adding he can come up with a million excuses why it didn't work out. "It was definitely hard to hear."

He said he spent the next couple of months doing nothing. It wasn't until a road trip through the south with stops at barbecue restaurants that White was inspired to open Smoke.

"If anything," White said about the show. "It's like a don't-give-up opportunity."
WEST CHESTER, Pa. (AP) -- A man has been charged with first-degree murder in the stabbing death of his 81-year-old grandmother in suburban Philadelphia.

Authorities in Chester County said the 23-year-old defendant is also charged with the attempted rape of his mother and the victim. District Attorney Tom Hogan called the crime "a brutal attack" that had "traumatized" the family.

Prosecutors allege that the suspect argued with his mother after returning home early Tuesday. They allege that he attacked his mother and then his grandmother and stabbed the older woman more than 20 times. Prosecutors said he was voluntarily committed to Brandywine Hospital last month after threatening to harm himself.

Court documents don't list an attorney who could respond to the charges and a message left at the defendant's number wasn't immediately returned.
dickinson_college.jpg

Approximately 145,000 Pennsylvania college students at Dickinson and elsewhere saw the lockbox opened on their 2015-16 state tuition grants Thursday as the PHEAA board completed an appropriation to make the grants initially promised last May whole.

(Dan Gleiter, The Patriot-News/2008)

Pennsylvania college students are the latest group that has jumped clear of this year's budget stalemate.

With a final allocation of funds approved by the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency board Thursday, all 145,000 recipient students will soon see payment in full of the tuition grants promised last May.

PHEAA spokesman Keith New said the grants - which are actually awarded to students but paid directly to colleges and universities - should begin to flow in about two weeks.

Full funding of the tuition grants was in some doubt after Gov. Tom Wolf, in his enactment of a partial budget on Dec. 29, reduced the state grant line from $362.1 million to $305.2 million, a cut of 15.7 percent.

The $305 million figure, according to House Appropriations Committee worksheets, was the tuition grant figure contained in the $30.8 billion spending package Wolf negotiated with legislative leaders last year, but that stalled in the state House.

If it stood, that reduced appropriation could have seen this year's maximum tuition grant cut from $4,340 to $4,214, New said.

But the PHEAA board, which already kicks in $75 million derived from the agency's separate student loan servicing business, took care of that Thursday by authorizing an additional internal contribution from $11 million to $50 million, to ensure that the projected awards are made whole.

The motion passed without objection or debate.

The news was applauded by Don Francis of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Pennsylvania.

"College and university leaders will be thrilled to learn that the PHEAA Student Grant commitments made to their students last May will be fulfilled by today's action of the PHEAA Board," Francis said.

But he also expressed frustration with the relative lack of support for the program from Wolf this year, and his predecessors in the recent past.

Francis noted that the state's funding for the student tuition grants hit a high of $407 million in 2009, and have dropped steadily in the years since.

If PHEAA's business lines took a downturn and couldn't be tapped to supplement the state's appropriation, Francis warned, the grants might have to be sliced significantly, forcing students to borrow more.

As it stands, the average student tuition grant for 2015-16, New said, will be $3,204.

That breaks down as follows among the four major school categories: private colleges and universities, $3,759; state-related universities, $3,694; state system universities, $3,143; community colleges, $1,599.

The average grant size has actually been ticking up in recent years even as funding has remained flat, because of steady declines in the numbers of Pennsylvania's college-age students.
WILLIAMSPORT -- A former Pennsylvania College of Technology student has been acquitted of all charges relating to a plot to break into three bank automatic teller machines in 2013 to steal money.

A Lycoming County jury Wednesday deliberated less than two hours before finding Meade Hamilton Lewis, 22, of Port Matilda, not guilty of charges that included a weapon of mass destruction.

Lewis wept as the verdict was read. Earlier in the day, he denied involvement in the scheme to break into ATMs using an explosive device and welding equipment.

Two of his former college roommates, Jordan Christopher Smith, 22, of West Hanover Township in Dauphin County, and Neiko Alexander Pratt, 20, of Moreland, Montgomery County, implicated him in their testimony.

Smith and Pratt have been charged in connection with two of the attempted break-ins and are scheduled to plead guilty. They testified their cooperation does not preclude them being charged with the third.

The attempts to steal money failed, but banks incurred thousands of dollars in damage to their ATMs.

Lewis testified he did not know how to make an explosive device and explained he bought gunpowder just before an attempted break-in at a Montoursville ATM because he has had an interest in shooting and he has guns at home.

Lewis, an emergency medical technician who said he had hoped to become a doctor, admitted he bought an oxygen tank but denied it was for use with welding equipment.

He claimed he planned to take the tank home in case he had to use it to resuscitate a younger sister who suffers from a condition that affects her breathing.

Lewis described himself as "a tool of extortion."

He contended any help he may have given Smith and Pratt was because he was afraid of Pratt, who portrayed himself as a member of the Bloods street gang.

Lewis testified Pratt threatened to kill him, his family and his then-girlfriend after raping her. Pratt denied this.

Although the threat was not reported to police, Lewis' father, Spencer Lewis, said his son told him about it and the family took precautionary measures.

Lewis' testimony differed from that of Smith and Pratt, who said the three were good friends and did things together.

They said Lewis made the bomb that failed to detonate at the Muncy Bank & Trust ATM in Montoursville on Nov. 1, 2013, and was involved in planning the other two attempts.

Welding equipment was used in attempts to break into the ATM at the Wyrope Williamsport Federal Credit Union in South Williamsport on Dec. 4, 2013, and at West Milton State Bank near the West Milton interchange of Route 15 four days later.

State police arrested Smith and Pratt shortly after the West Milton attempt because the ATM alarm system had been activated.

Besides the weapons of mass destruction count, Lewis was acquitted of possession of explosive material and an instrument of crime, recklessly endangering another person and conspiracy to commit theft, criminal mischief and reckless exploding.
U.S. courthouse

The federal courthouse in Harrisburg

(Matt Miller, PennLive)

A Harrisburg man is destined for federal prison after a jury convicted him of selling heroin in the city.

The only question is how long Daleo G. Powell, 32, will have to spend behind bars. His heroin distribution conviction could allow U.S. Middle District Senior Judge William W. Caldwell to impose a jail sentence of up to 20 years.

U.S. Attorney Peter Smith said Thursday that the jury deliberated three hours before convicting Powell,

in December 2014. Investigators said he was found on 15th Street with a loaded gun and nine bundles of heroin. The jurors acquitted him of a charge of illegally possessing firearms.

Powell's case, in which the FBI also was involved, is part of a coordinated push by federal, state and local law enforcement to curtail heroin trafficking in the Middle District, Smith said.
A Dauphin County prosecutor said Thursday that an appeal is likely after a county judge granted a new trial to a Harrisburg man who was sentenced to life in prison for a March 2011 murder outside a city bar.

Eric Small

Judge Scott A. Evans concluded that newly-found evidence - a woman's belated testimony that another man admitted to the killing - required him to void the first-degree murder conviction of Eric Small.

A county jury convicted Small, now 29, in 2012 for the slaying of 25-year-old William Price Jr. outside the now-closed Club Egypt at Second and State streets. Price was shot in the head at close range.

Christopher Dreisbach, the attorney who mounted Small's appeal, said he is convinced is it "highly likely" the newly-secured testimony implicating another man for the slaying would sway a jury to acquit Small at a retrial.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Johnny Baer countered that "I'm 100 percent sure that Eric Small is the person who killed this guy."

Evans' ruling probably will be appealed to the state Superior Court, he said. "I just don't see how we don't do that," Baer said.

Evan's decision hinged on testimony Dreisbach secured from Kenosha Tyson, who testified for the prosecution at Small's trial. Tyson was the girlfriend of Pedro Espada, the man the defense claimed was the actual killer. At trial, Tyson said nothing about knowing who shot Price.

However, Dreisbach presented a sworn affidavit from Tyson in which she stated that Espada, the father of her children, had admitted to her right after the slaying that he had shot Price. The killing was in retaliation for an incident in which Price had shoved her, she said.

She said she didn't come forward with that evidence at trial because she feared losing custody of her children and threats were being made to witnesses about talking to the police.

Evans also cited testimony Tyson gave during a court hearing on Small's appeal. She said she asked Espada why he killed Price over such a trivial matter and he replied that "everyone was 'in his ear the whole night about how he should get him'."

"When asked why she has now come forward with this information, Ms. Tyson said it has been stressful, that she has been praying a lot, and feels like it is one of the things that was causing stress in her life and she just did not want it there anymore," Evans wrote.

Baer argued during the trial that Small, an associate of Espada, shot Price in revenge for the slight to Tyson. Witnesses placed Small at the murder scene, although none testified to seeing the actual shooting. Two of his prison cellmates testified that Small admitted killing Price.

Evans noted that witnesses also reported seeing Espada running from the scene of the shooting. "The evidence against (Small) was certainly not overwhelming, especially when there was also evidence supporting Mr. Espada's involvement," the judge found.

Tyson's "recantation of silence" could convince another jury to acquit Small, he concluded in granting a new trial. "In light of the circumstantial evidence at trial, and not a shred of forensic evidence to support (Small) as the shooter, a different outcome is probable," Evans wrote. "If credited by a jury, Ms. Tyson's statement and testimony regarding Mr. Espada's admission to her would likely result in a different verdict."

Small has consistently maintained his innocence. He spent 20 minutes declaring it to Evans and to Price's family during his October 2012 sentencing hearing. He also told the judge the gunman was a relative of his whom he wouldn't give up to police.

Evans' grant of a new trial comes more than two years after a state Superior Court panel upheld Smalls' murder conviction.
Washington: Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir has refused to publicly speak on reports that Riyadh was trying to buy nuclear weapons from Pakistan, but said the Kingdom will do whatever it takes to protect itself.

"I am not going to get into details of discussions we have with foreign governments, and certainly not allied governments. I'm sure you understand," he said.

"I would not discuss these things in a public forum, certainly not on television," he told CNN when asked about nuclear cooperation with Pakistan.

His remarks came a day after US Secretary of State John Kerry warned both Saudi Arabia and Pakistan against indulging in trade of nuclear weapons, saying there will be "all kinds of NPT consequences" if Riyadh went ahead with any such plan.

The warning from Kerry came amid media reports that Saudi Arabia is trying to buy nuclear weapons from Pakistan.

Top Pakistani leaders have in recent weeks warned Iran of serious consequences if it attacked Saudi Arabia, which many analysts see as a nuclear threat from Islamabad to Tehran.

"Saudi Arabia is committed to two things. I always say two things we do not negotiate over, our faith and our security. Saudi Arabia will do whatever it takes in order to protect our nation and our people from any harm. And I will leave it at that," Al-Jubeir said.

"I discussed the bilateral relationship with Pakistan, which is a strategic one. We discussed the regional situation. We discussed ways to promote security and stability in the region. We discussed the negative and aggressive Iranian interference and the affairs of the region," he said.

Responding to a question, the minister said Iran should seize interfering in the affairs of other regional countries. "Iran should cease to support terrorism. Iran should

cease to assassinate diplomats and blow up embassies. Iran should cease to support militias whose objective is to destabilise countries in the region. Iran should cease its policy of negative propaganda in the region. Other than that, things should be fine with Iran," he said.

Al-Jubeir said most countries are concerned over Iran getting billions of dollars as a result of the nuclear deal. "I think most countries in the world are concerned that Iran will use these funds in order to fund its nefarious activities rather than use them to develop its country and improve the living standards of its people. I hope I'm wrong," he said.

Lashing out at Iran, he said Tehran harbours the leadership of al-Qaeda, including one of Osama bin Laden's sons, and this is a country that has been aggressive and has demonstrated no inhibitions in using terrorism. "This is a country that has provided troops and recruited troops in a sectarian war in Syria that has allowed Bashar al-Assad to murder more than 250,000 of his people and to render 12 million of them refugees or displaced persons," he said.
hero-911-operator-charged-with-sexting-pa-boy-age-14-derek-horneman.jpg

Derek Horneman, 23, a 911 dispatcher hailed as a hero in western Pennsylvania, is now accused of a far different kind of communication: allegedly sexting a 14-year-old boy and seeking "sexual favors," authorities say.

(screen shot/KDKA)

A 911 dispatcher hailed as a hero in western Pennsylvania is now accused of a far different kind of communication: allegedly sexting a 14-year-old boy and asking for sex, according to WPXI and KDKA in Pittsburgh.

The television stations report that Allegheny County 911 operator Derek Horneman, 23, faces misdemeanor and felony corruption of minor charges in the case in Armstrong County.

Horneman is accused of texting a 14-year-old boy and seeking "sexual favors," WPXI reports.

But the man's attorney tells the news station that his client is actually a hero for recently helping rescue a woman from a burning home as a volunteer firefighter:

"This young man is a hero," lawyer Al Lindsay told WPXI. "He did a tremendously heroic act several weeks ago and as a result of what he did, this case has received more attention than it would otherwise receive."

On Wednesday, the attorney waived the case to trial and told KDKA that he hopes Horneman's prior good deeds will aid his cause in court.

However, Lindsay declined to say whether a plea deal could eventually be on the table, KDKA writes.

Horneman is suspended without pay from his 911 job.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi shaking hands following a meeting in the Egyptian capital Cairo. (Photo: AFP)

Cairo: Chinese President Xi Jinping signed a slew of trade deals with Egypt's leader on Thursday as part of a regional tour aimed at bolstering Beijing's economic ties and clout in the Middle East.

After arriving late Wednesday from Saudi Arabia, Xi held talks with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and was to address the Cairo-based Arab League.

State television broadcast live the signing of 21 bilateral agreements at a presidential palace in Cairo in the presence of the two leaders.

Earlier Thursday state-run newspaper Al-Ahram reported that the deals were worth $14 billion in the electricity, transportation, agriculture, civil aviation and housing sectors.

In an article in Al-Ahram ahead of his visit, Xi expressed China's backing for Egypt running its affairs without outside interference.

"China supports the people of Egypt in making independent choices for the future of their own country," he wrote.

He also said China supported Egypt "playing an active role in regional and international affairs".

Xi's regional tour, his first to the Middle East as president, will take him next to Iran.

Beijing has long taken a backseat to other diplomatic players in the Middle East but analysts say the region is crucial to Xi's signature foreign policy initiative known as "One Belt One Road" touted as a revival of ancient Silk Road trade routes.

China, the world's second-largest economy, also relies heavily on oil and gas imported from the energy-rich Middle East.

Xi's visit to Egypt comes just ahead of the January 25 anniversary of the 2011 revolution that toppled longtime Egyptian autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

Saudi-Iran row

Mubarak's ouster was followed by unrest and eventually a military overthrow of his Islamist successor Mohamed Morsi, the country's first freely elected president, by then-army chief Sisi.

As well as addressing the Arab League, Xi was to visit Egypt's newly convened parliament, which was sworn in earlier this month after elections dominated by pro-government candidates.

In Saudi Arabia, Xi met with King Salman and oversaw the opening of a joint-venture oil refinery in the Yanbu Industrial City on the Red Sea.

Saudi Arabia is China's biggest global supplier of crude.

Few details have emerged of Xi's talks with leaders in Riyadh but he had been expected to seek to ease tensions between Saudi Arabia, the region's main Sunni power, and Shiite rival Iran.

Saudi Arabia and a number of its Sunni Arab allies broke diplomatic ties with Tehran earlier this month after protesters angry over Riyadh's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric ransacked Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran.

Iran and Saudi Arabia back opposing sides in a range of Middle East conflicts, including in Syria and Yemen, and there are fears the row could derail diplomatic efforts to resolve them.

Xi was expected Friday in Iran, just days after sanctions were lifted when Tehran implemented its historic nuclear deal with world powers.

China, with the United States, Britain, France, Germany and Russia, was among the countries that reached the agreement with Iran in July to curtail its nuclear activities in exchange for ending international sanctions.
Dusk falls outside as the motorcade waits for U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry while he speaks inside with members of the traveling press during the 2016 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. Kerrys trip is expected to last nine days and to encompass stops in Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Laos, Cambodia, and China. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)
London: Women in Iran are protesting laws that require them to wear full hijab while driving by filming themselves laughing as they throw off the visible symbol of oppression.

Since May 2014, Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad has been encouraging women to share pictures of themselves flouting strict rules requiring women to remain covered up in public.

Her Facebook page My Stealthy Freedom has since ballooned to near a million followers, and from her exile in New York she told The Independent the use of new laws to impound cars exposed just how big the issue of the hijab remains.

She shared one video of a group of women in a car throwing off their full hair coverings and laughing.


Feds: Enbridge can stop some crack inspections on Straits oil pipelines

U.S. DOJ agrees that the inspections delayed would identify cracks that do not pose a risk to the pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac.
TT Energy Conference: The country is positive and focused on Energy





Prime Minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Dr. Keith Christopher Rowley addressing the TT Energy Conference and Trade Show which took place at the Hyatt Regency, Port of Spain, this week. PORT SPAIN

Petroleumworld.com 01 21 2016 In contrast to the depressed state of global energy markets, the mood was generally upbeat at this week's Trinidad and Tobago 2016 Energy Conference.



Whatever their anxieties about the free fall in oil prices, public sector and industry leaders kept their focus on re-affirming the positive. This is not a time for ceaseless moaning and complaining, said Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, striking the can-do attitude needed to energise the national response to recessionary conditions.



Energy Minister Nicole Olivierre had a stern message for companies who are cutting back on exploration activities: This is a time for resolve, she declared as she warned against any impulse to defer or fall short on agreed work programmes. Talking tough, Ms Oliverre threatened that the State would reclaim and re-tender blocks on which companies had failed to start work.



Against the background of BP's recent announcement of plans to slash 4,000 jobs across its global exploration and production operation, regional president, Norman Christie, focused squarely on the positive: We remain very positive about the remaining resource potential in our acreage We must continue investing.



To further accentuate the positive, bpTT has stepped up promotion of its continuing US$2 billion investment in the Juniper deep-water natural gas project which is expected to come into production by next year. The hard reality, however, is that T&T cannot expect to be spared some of the rough consequences of BP's hefty cutback. As Mr Christie told the conference, downturns like the one we are in result in major dislocations for employees, contractors, communities, partners and the country.



The challenge of scenario planning for such dislocations is becoming increasingly acute. When he presented the Finance Bill 2016 to the House, Finance Minister Colm Imbert shared a number of income estimates based on oil prices from US$45 to US$30. Yesterday, just ten days later, oil prices were already heading towards US$25.



Amid such uncertainty, it is important to ground the national perspective in experience. T&T has survived enough collapses in the price of oil to know the importance of making an early adjustment for riding out the storm.



Companies should work hard to involve employees in strategies that focus on increased productivity rather than cost-cutting. The best companies know that when conditions improve, they will need their staff.



The situation calls for real leadership. The Prime Minister's decision to lead talks with BHP Billiton is to be welcomed as an opportunity for T&T to press its own agenda. As is often the case with multi-national companies, decisions made at global headquarters can be taken without adequate reference to local situations. In engaging energy companies, Dr Rowley must be forceful in stating T&T's case and in outlining the national interest.



Trinidad and Tobago has been good for the global energy giants which have operated on its land and in its waters for over 100 years. In such times as these, the people of T&T will expect them to be willing partners in negotiating the turbulence and not use the opportunity to further advantage. Read the complete speech delivered by Prime Minister





Story by Aleem Khan from Daily Express. trinidadexpress.com | 01 18 2015



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More than 80 drug and diagnostic firms have united under a new commitment to tackle the antimicrobial resistance crisis, and also call on global governments to go beyond statement of intent and take concrete action to improve the business case for developing new antibiotics.

The groups have agreed a common set of principles and commitments, set out in a new Declaration released at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that provide a roadmap guiding further collaborative efforts between industry, governments and NGOs in the fight against antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

The looming threat of AMR is now a high priority for global leaders, with some experts fearing that medicine could return to the dark ages - with ten million lives lost every year and $100 trillion in lost productivity by 2050 - if the situation is not addressed. These fears were recently heightened with the discovery of bacteria resistant to last-resort antibiotics in China.

The industry says global governments must now work hand-in-hand with companies to support investment in the development of products essential for the prevention and treatment of drug-resistant infections.

Better conservation of antibiotics and improved uptake of rapid point-of-care diagnostics to increase correct prescribing have been singled out as key priorities, as well as updating incentive structures within healthcare systems that directly reward doctors, pharmacists and vets for prescribing antibiotics in greater volumes.

The Declaration also asks that governments help develop new and alternative market structures providing more dependable and sustainable models for antibiotics - particularly in the form of R&D incentives that overcome the significant technical and scientific challenges inherent in the field - and commit the cash needed to implement them. New mechanisms must also ensure that the pricing of antibiotics better reflects their benefits, and novel payment models should reduce the link between the profitability of an antibiotic and the volume sold.

Industry commitments

On their part, companies have committed to: reducing the development of drug resistance, including through work to support antimicrobrial stewardship; increasing investment in R&D that meets global public health needs, with greater focus on research into new antibiotics, diagnostics, vaccines and other alternative treatments; and improving affordable access to high-quality antibiotics for all.

Antibiotic resistance is the sort of global healthcare challenge that this industry should be using its expertise to tackle, said Andrew Witty, GlaxoSmithKlines chief executive. Im hopeful that todays declaration will encourage governments to work with us on new economic models that can help to secure a new supply of antibiotics for the future.

Also commenting on the Declaration, Margaret Chan, director general of the World Health Organisation, noted that AMR is beyond the capacity of any organisation or country to manage or mitigate alone, and that the challenges of AMR can be addressed only through collaboration and global collective action.

The Declaration will be updated every two years.
The device has got an expandable storage capacity of 2TB, which is one of its distinctive features.

Mumbai: A recent update suggests that Motorola will launch the Moto X Force (Motorola Droid Turbo 2) in India on February 1.

Motorola India GM Amit Boni revealed the news of the smartphones India launch at the Lenovo-Motorola event in Delhi. After releasing the Moto X Play, followed by the classy Moto X style, the company is now looking forward to release yet another premium-class device for the Indian Smartphone market.

One of the biggest USPs of the device as claimed by the company is the shatterproof glass, which will not crack for a period of four years. The Moto X Force employs an ingenious Moto Shattershield technology, which has multiple layers of glass material that helps in absorbing shocks.

The handset will be Motorolas first smartphone to be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 chipset in 2015. The company is so sure about its technology that they are offering a four-year long warranty on the Moto X Forces screen.

The Moto X Force, which is know as the Droid Turbo 2 in the US is priced at $624 for the 32GB variant and $720 for the 64GB variant. The device has got an expandable storage capacity of 2TB, which is surely one of its distinctive features.

The handset has a 21MP rear camera sensor along with a dual LED flash, and is definitely Motorolas best camera offering by far. The device uses a 3,760mAh battery, supports fast-charging, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. The Moto X Force will unfortunately run on Android Lollipop 5.1 instead of the latest Marshmallow OS.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.
Hyderabad: Several houses have failed to get twin-bins. The bins have not been distributed in the Secunderabad Cantonment Board area and in some areas of the new city (Madhapur, Gachibowli and Miyapur). The GHMC commissioner has directed zonal commissioners to stop distribution as per election commission regulations. However, since it is an ongoing scheme it should not be stopped.

In the SCB area the GHMC has given a few sample bins to SCB authorities and they are awaiting the full stock.

Ms. R. Leelavati of Temple Rock colony in the SCB area said, When our residents enquired with the SCB sanitation staff they said the bins would be distributed after the GHMC election as SCB has not received stocks.

Many gated communities in Rolling Hills Gachibowli, Kondapur, Serilingampally, Pancherruvu and Mani-konda have not received the bins. However, they have been distributed in slums and weaker section colonies.

No official is available at the zonal office for inquiry. Everyone is on election duty. We have no clue when we will get the bins, N. Shradha of Manikonda said.

GHMC authorities said the twin bins were handed over to resident associations and ward committee members for distribution. Over 70 per cent of the households have been provided with bins and collection has also begun.

The twin-bin scheme was launched by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on November 9 at the People's Plaza free of cost. For door-to-door collection of garbage the GHMC has provided 2,000 auto trolleys under the owner-cum-driver programme.

Over 44 lakh bins (green for kitchen waste and red for plastic waste) have been arranged for distribution. The collection of garbage is being privatised and the vehicle driver is allowed to collect a fee from every household. One driver will cover 600-800 houses. The monthly fee is `50 a house.
Security guards stand alert around schools and colleges following an attack on Bacha Khan University, in Peshawar, Pakistan (Photo: AP)

Islamabad: Pakistan army chief Raheel Sharif on Thursday called Afghan leaders, including President Ashraf Ghani, and chief of US military mission there to seek cooperation against handlers of a deadly Taliban assault at a university after initial probe linked the attackers to Afghanistan.

The attack at Bacha Khan University in northwestern town of Charsadda yesterday killed 21 people, mostly students.

Army spokesman Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa in a series of tweets said that General Sharif called "President Ashraf Ghani, CEO Dr Abdullah Abdullah and Command Resolute Support Mission in Afghan Gen John Campbell and shared details with them."

"As investigations and leads so far, Charsadda terror attack was being controlled from a location in Afghanistan through Afghan cell phones by a Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan operative," he said.

"The COAS (the Chief of Army Staff) asked for their cooperation in locating and targeting those responsible for this heinous act and bring them to justice," Bajwa said.

Bajwa indicated yesterday that soil of foreign country was used in the attack but did not blame Afghanistan.

Militant leader Umar Mansoor, who masterminded Peshawar school attack of December 16, 2014 which killed 150 people mostly students, claimed responsibility for yesterday's attack.

Foreign Office (FO) spokesman Qazi Khalilullah said that the investigation into the attack will be completed shortly and action will be taken against terrorists and their facilitators involved in attack.

He said the terror attack has further strengthened the country's resolve for elimination of terrorism.

Pakistan maintains contacts with the Afghan government at various levels to find a solution to different issues related to the security, Radio Pakistan quoted Khalilullah as saying.

He said Pakistan desires peace in Afghanistan and the recent Heart of Asia conference in Islamabad was a big step in that direction.

He said meetings of four-nation group on Afghanistan will continue and all issues related to the reconciliation process involving the Afghan government and Taliban would be resolved within its framework.
Peshawar: Police said they caught a man planting a bomb at a crowded bus station in Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar today, a day after Taliban gunmen attacked a nearby university, leaving 21 people dead.

"We caught a man planting a bomb at Peshawar Bus Stand," senior police official Rokhan Zeb told AFP.

A bomb disposal team safely defused it, he said, adding that some 2,000 people were near the bus stand when the device was found.

"A big disaster has been averted due to police alertness, had the bomb exploded it could have killed and wounded scores of people," Zeb said.

Analysts have said Wednesday's attack on the Bacha Khan university in Charsadda, some 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Peshawar, shows that a national crackdown has failed to quell extremism and militants can hit targets at will.

The rampage, which saw gunmen target students and staff with grenades and automatic weapons, threatened to destroy a sense of security that had been slowly growing in the area more than a year after a 2014 assault on a Peshawar school that left more than 150 people dead in Pakistan's deadliest ever extremist attack.
Meditation means becoming aware of all these things on the periphery of our being and looking deeply within our consciousness  which is essentially a witness to this play of likes and dislikes, opinions and judgements.

We live in the world of images. We have a certain image of everybody who may come in contact with us. The image as the word is more to do with imagination than the real person. While a person changes, our image of that individual remains fixed. This is true about us. Unconsciously, we begin to form our own image with the comments, criticism and appreciation that we receive from our relatives, friends and strangers.

We tend to become fixated on this image. We become imprisoned in this image that has been created with the help of others. This becomes our identity and we consider it as our reality. We get into all kinds of conflicts and troubles to protect this particular reality based on fabricated images. Any criticism of this image is disturbing. But theres a limit to criticism. Osho points out that everybody likes to criticise others but cannot take criticism in ones stride.

When somebody praises your beauty, intelligence, or your uniqueness, you feel happy and accept it. But when someone criticises you, you are unable to accept the criticism.

Meditation means becoming aware of all these things on the periphery of our being and looking deeply within our consciousness  which is essentially a witness to this play of likes and dislikes, opinions and judgements. In The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Osho says: Every morning, early in the morning when you read the newspapers, it always gives you a good feeling  so much happening all over the world, so many ugly things, so much violence, murder, suicide, rape, robbery, that compared to all this you are a saint. Hence people dont like to read the Bible in the morning, or the Gita, but the newspaper!

Reading the Gita you feel like a sinner, reading the Bible you start feeling a trembling, that hell is bound to happen to you, that you are on the way... Learn the art of acting of your own accord.

Dont be worried about criticisms and dont be interested in compliments and praise. Remain aloof. Then praise or criticism, success or failure will be the same for you.
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Chennai: Governor K. Rosaiah on Wednesday said phase-II of Chennai Metro Rail project covering 88 km is being fast-tracked and outlined progress in other schemes including infrastructure projects.

Preparatory works for Phase-II of metro rail project covering a total length of 88 km along three corridors at an approximate cost of Rs 44,000 crore is being fast-tracked for JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) assistance, he told the Assembly adding this would help the state to further strengthen the Metro Rail network in Chennai

NATIONALISE RIVERS: He also said all inter-state rivers should be nationalised on a priority basis so as to optimally utilise the water resources.

He also urged the Centre to constitute the Cauvery Management Board and Cauvery Water Regulation Committee immediately for effective implementation of the final order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal. Recognising the importance of interlinking rivers, he sought the Central Governments intervention to link peninsular rivers - Mahanadhi-Godavari-Krishna-Pennar-Palar-Cauvery-Vaigai and then on to Gundar.

On other infrastructure projects, he referred to the Comprehensive Road Infrastructure Development Programme under which sanction was accorded for Rs 14,841 crore worth projects in the last four and a half years. Also, a World bank assisted TN Road Sector Project-II is being implemented at an outlay of Rs 5,171 crore, he said.

Under the Chief Ministers Solar Powered Green House Scheme, work for construction of three lakh houses was taken up at a cost outlay of Rs 5,940 crore in the past four and a half years.
Out and About Audio Article Atascosa County Anti-Bullying Rally Oct. 19 Poteet Strawberry Festival grounds, main pavilion, 6-8 p.m. Guest speaker Batman & Co. and...

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Until 2003, no tourists visited the remote community of 500 inhabitants high in the mountains, which had no roads and was accessible only by foot. (Photo: AFP)

Mawlynnong, India: In the tiny hamlet of Mawlynnong in Meghalaya, plastic is banned and spotless paths are lined with flowers -- but its reputation as Asia's cleanest village has proved a mixed blessing.

Until 2003, no tourists visited the remote community of 500 inhabitants high in the mountains, which had no roads and was accessible only by foot.

Home to the Khasi tribal people, Mawlynnong is famous for being a rare matrilineal society, where property and wealth are passed on from the mother to her youngest daughter and children take their mother's surname.

In recent years, the village has become known for another reason -- its exceptional cleanliness, far removed from the noise and dirt of big cities.

Bamboo dustbins stand at every corner, volunteers sweep the streets at regular intervals and large signs order visitors to throw away plastic packaging: littering is sternly frowned upon.

"We clean every day because our grandparents and our ancestors have taught us how to clean the village and the surrounding area, because it's good for our health," said Baniar Mawroh, a teenager sitting at the entrance of her small but gleaming family home.

After the village built its first road 12 years ago, a journalist from Discover India travel magazine wrote a now-infamous article naming it the cleanest village in Asia.

The trickle of tourists became a flood, with visitors now reaching 250 a day in high season, swelling the village's population by 50 per cent.

The village was hailed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a radio address last year for its "mission of cleanliness." But the accolades have brought several downsides.

"Now there is noise pollution. I've talked to the village council which has written to the government to build a new parking lot further away." said Rishot Khongthohrem, 51, a guesthouse owner.

Deepak Laloo, a former official of the Meghalaya Tourism Development Forum, advised the village in the early stages of its tourism development. "There's no more privacy. A woman is washing her clothes, she's being photographed," he said.

In Mawlynnong, bamboo dustbins stand at every corner, volunteers sweep the streets at regular intervals and large signs order visitors not to litter. (Photo: AFP)

Mawlynnong's concern for hygiene emerged about 130 years ago when an outbreak of cholera struck. With no medical facilities in the village, cleanliness was seen as vital to prevent the spread of disease.

"Christian missionaries told our ancestors: you can protect yourself from the plague (cholera) only if you maintain good hygiene, be it at home, with food, on your land, in the village, or for your body," Khongthohrem said.

Mawlynnong maintained its fastidious habits and has gone on to other achievements, eradicating open defecation -- prevalent across much of rural India -- with toilets for each of its approximately 95 households.
(Photo: Facebook)

The next trial of a Baltimore police officer in the death of Freddie Gray could begin as early as next month after a judge on Wednesday rejected a request from prosecutors that could have tied up the cases in the state appeals court indefinitely.

Judge Barry G. Williams questioned prosecutors' motives for asking him last week to compel Officer William G. Porter to testify against all five of his fellow officers who are facing trial. Until then, they had said Porter was a witness against only two officers.

Williams said prosecutors appeared to have a "dual purpose" for making their request  one being to stall the trials. He denied the motions.

Porter has been ordered by Williams to testify in the trials of Officer Caesar R. Goodson Jr. and Sgt. Alicia D. White, and Porter's appeal to block that order is tied up in the Court of Special Appeals. That court will not hear his appeal until March, and could take months to decide, the Baltimore Sun reports.
Most everyone at the Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed that the First Amendment protects a public employee in a non-political job from being fired or demoted for supporting a political candidate.

But in a case alternatively described as "bizarre" and more "like a law school hypothetical," the question was what happens when the boss retaliates against an employee on the mistaken belief that the employee has asserted such support, reports the Washington Post.

By the end of the hour-long argument, it seemed clear that Paterson, N.J., police officer Jeffrey Heffernan would have had a better case if he had endorsed his friend running for mayor rather than maintained his neutrality.

He was a detective in the police department, assigned to a division headed by the police chief. His boss supported the incumbent mayor in the 2006 election; Heffernan was a close friend of former police chief Lawrence Spagnola, who was the challenger.

One day, while on his own time, Heffernan was observed by another officer picking up a yard sign at the Spagnola campaign headquarters. The sign was not for him, Heffernan explained later, but for his bedridden mother (Heffernan didn't even live in Paterson and was ineligible to vote.)

Nevertheless, Heffernan was demoted to patrol officer the next day and told it was because of his "overt" involvement in a political campaign.

Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. said that Heffernan's case might be what the court likes to call a "one-off."

"How often will it be the case that an employee will be unable to allege any expression or any association that is protected by the First Amendment?" he asked. "It seems to me quite rare."

The case is Heffernan v. City of Paterson.
Dr. Mikhail Varshavski, 26, is a second-year family medicine resident at Overlook Medical Center in Summit, NJ as well as an entrepreneur and philanthropist. (Photo: Instagram)

After winning the moniker of the Sexiest Doctor Alive, Dr. Mikhail Varshavski, who has over one million followers on Instagram is auctioning off a date for charity.

The 26-year-old hunk, who is a second-year family medicine resident at Overlook Medical Center in Summit, NJ is also an entrepreneur and philanthropist.

The lucky winner of the date will also get a trip to New York City, a stay in a 4-star hotel and a dinner at a Michelin-starred restaurant, reports Tech Insider. The donations will go to Varshavskis own charity, The Limitless Tomorrow Foundation, which offers assistance to needy students.

Check out Dr Varshavskis pictures to see how doctors would look in Greek god mode:

A photo posted by Dr. Mike (@doctor.mike) on May 12, 2015 at 7:42pm PDT

A photo posted by Dr. Mike (@doctor.mike) on Nov 18, 2015 at 11:15am PST

A photo posted by Dr. Mike (@doctor.mike) on Dec 14, 2015 at 5:17pm PST

A photo posted by Dr. Mike (@doctor.mike) on Aug 31, 2015 at 6:36pm PDT
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DEVILS LAKE, N.D.  The July shutdown of a straw pulp manufacturing and molding facility in Devils Lake, N.D., has raised questions about who is going to clean up molding bales at the company's former site.

Ultra Green Packaging planned to use wheat straw to make recyclable materials, such as serving utensils, plates and bowls. The plant shut down three years after opening, and molding bales are piled behind the facility. The mold commonly grows on wheat is known as fusarium. The U.S. National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health say symptoms from exposure can include pneumonia and allergic disease.

Ultra Green Packaging had attempted to eliminate the mold problem by giving away the bales of straw, then by burning the material, the Devils Lake Journal reported.

A letter dated Dec. 28 from North Dakota's Division of Waste Management to Ultra Green Chief Financial Officer Jon Peters addressed potential regulatory violations at the site. The letter said according to complaints and "our investigation," there were "very large accumulations of moldy straw emitting odors, potentially causing or contributing to respiratory issues for nearby business owners and harboring rats."

The bales were "determined to be a trade waste," the letter said. It also said it "appears" Ultra Green Packaging "is in violation of the North Dakota Solid Waste Management Rules and may be subject to enforcement."

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Steve Tillotson, of the Division of Waste Management, said for the material to be burned legally, a burn variance would have to be issued by the state.

"We wouldn't issue a burn variance because the material is within city limits," Tillotson said.

The city is in litigation with the company regarding the waste disposal cost and millions of dollars of incentives the city budgeted to lure Ultra Green to Devils Lake.
Why the war in Iraq was fought for Big Oil

It has been 10 years since Operation Iraqi Freedom's bombs first landed in Baghdad. And while most of the U.S.-led coalition forces have long since gone, Western oil companies are only getting started.



Before the 2003 invasion, Iraq's domestic oil industry was fully nationalized and closed to Western oil companies. A decade of war later, it is largely privatized and utterly dominated by foreign firms.



From ExxonMobil and Chevron to BP and Shell, the West's largest oil companies have set up shop in Iraq. So have a slew of American oil service companies, including Halliburton, the Texas-based firm Dick Cheney ran before becoming George W. Bush's running mate in 2000.



Oil was not the only goal of the Iraq War, but it was certainly the central one, as top U.S. military and political figures have attested to in the years following the invasion.



"Of course it's about oil; we can't really deny that," said Gen. John Abizaid, former head of U.S. Central Command and Military Operations in Iraq, in 2007. Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan agreed, writing in his memoir, "I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil." Then-Sen. and now Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the same in 2007: "People say we're not fighting for oil. Of course we are."



For the first time in about 30 years, Western oil companies are exploring for and producing oil in Iraq from some of the world's largest oil fields and reaping enormous profit. And while the U.S. has also maintained a fairly consistent level of Iraq oil imports since the invasion, the benefits are not finding their way through Iraq's economy or society."

Are you really afraid to admit I'm right that you think documented quotes from the past magically disappear after a few years? Are you really that shallow panther? The American and foreign private companies profit like crazy from Iraq's oil resources. Excluding the fact that was stated as a motive before we invaded. Here's an update.Although the date doesn't matter because it's documented history, this is 2013. U.S. companies profits are in the billions. Why the war in Iraq was fought for Big Oil - CNN.com
Wisconsin prosecutor Michael Griesbach believes Steven Avery was wrongly convicted  but you may disagree on how many times.

Many viewers finished the final episode of Netflix documentary "Making a Murderer" feeling aghast, angry. The documentary tracks the initial 1985 wrongful conviction of Avery, who spent 18 years in prison for a sexual assault that DNA evidence later proved he didn't commit. A few years after his exoneration, he was arrested again, this time for the 2005 murder of 25-year-old Teresa Halbach.

Warning, spoilers ahead.

Avery was convicted of Halbach's murder in 2007 and remains in jail. Earlier this month, he asked to be released on bond, filing an appeal claiming an improper warrant and that a juror was out to get him, the Associated Press reported.

Griesbach wrote "The Innocent Killer" for the Chicago-based Ankerwycke, a publishing imprint of the American Bar Association. The book tracks the Avery case, from wrongful conviction to his eventual conviction and imprisonment for the Halbach killing. Griesbach appears in the documentary's first episode, surprised by a former prosecutor's reaction to the exoneration.

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Now, Griesbach is a prosecutor in Manitowoc County, where the events occurred. And he is sure Avery was innocent one time.

"Lightning did not strike twice," he said.

He hopes the case will inform citizens and law students alike about the criminal justice system. He appears on panel discussions on wrongful convictions, even crossing paths with Dean Strang, Avery's former lawyer and now online celebrity due to the documentary. As Griesbach pointed out, Wisconsin is a small world.

What's it like to see a case you wrote about explode in popularity?

It's very strange. Part of (the filmmakers') mission I feel like I share, in terms of drawing attention to some issues in the criminal justice system. What's interesting is they say, correctly, that truth is elusive in the Steven Avery case. And it really is. (But) they sort of adopt what they believe to be the truth. And they present it as the truth. And the disturbing part is they don't present it even close to thoroughly. And I understand that TV, and dramatic portrayals, you're going to approach it with a specific angle. But I think they went overboard.

(For example), they didn't include very much of, if any, the cross-examination by the prosecution and the rebuttal. That's the time when evidence is really tested on both sides. They call that in the law, the truth-seeking engine.

Many viewers who watch the documentary finish it feeling Avery was wrongfully convicted twice, not once. What do you think was left out, if anything?

There were bleach stains on (Avery's nephew and also convicted in the murder) Brendan Dassey's blue jeans. People are wondering if there's a gruesome murder there, where's the blood, where's the hair? And Avery and Dassey, especially Avery I think, had a week to clean things up. That there's bleach on his pants is pretty telling, at least something that should be included, for viewers to at least know.

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They refer back to this cat burning. What they don't tell you, (Avery) was 22, first of all, he wasn't just a kid. They make it sound like it was just sort of horse-playing with some friends, that the cat got accidentally dropped in the fire. But in fact, Steven Avery doused the cat with gasoline and intentionally threw it in the fire. It's pretty disturbing stuff.

They portray this incident when he rammed his pickup truck (into a woman's car). And then he did approach her at rifle-point, they included that. (But) they portrayed it as nothing more than Steven Avery being upset at this woman because she was spreading rumors about him and his family. Now, for the rest of the story. (According to court documents,) he had been stalking, well, observing her down the road with binoculars as she got into her car early in the morning. He even ran into the road naked one time. This is one disturbed guy. That incident was very different than how it was portrayed.

You write in a Wisconsin law journal that Avery bears responsibility for Halbach's death. What convinces you?

All those viewers, they only know what's in the documentary. They don't have any other information about the Avery case. So you watch that, you're thinking lighting struck twice, he was wrongly convicted again. I totally get that, how if you knew nothing else about the case you would be absolutely convinced that he was wrongly convicted a second time.

Back up and look at the basics. He's the last one to see her; specifically he asks her to come there. Then, you have his blood, and I guess they're saying it's planted, and I can see why people believe that after only seeing these facts. But you have to believe a lot of stuff. His blood's in her car. Her blood's in her car. His DNA is on her key, in his bedroom. All those things as a prosecutor, usually when I have a case with that kind of strong both physical evidence and circumstantial evidence, it's the kind of case that guilt is just so obvious. It's an incredibly strong case for the prosecution.

Many viewers are troubled that some of the main physical evidence was found by Manitowoc County officers.

(That was) some really bad judgment, in retrospect especially, but even at the time. They should have entirely removed themselves from anything having to do with the case.

Upsetting to a lot of people is the confession of Dassey (a developmentally disabled teenager interviewed under what many call coercive interrogation techniques).

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That was legitimately troubling to a lot of people. Those interrogation techniques that police use, those are the same techniques that are used all across the country. The whole thing assumes guilt, and then it's designed to elicit a confession instead of objectively designed to elicit the truth, or what happened. So that's problematic right off the top.

What do prosecutors take into account about someone's developmental abilities in these kinds of situations?

I'll be honest. If we have a confession, we assume it's the truth. (And) 99.9 percent of the time, the confession is true. We're supposed to do justice. So if we have even a hint that we don't believe that the confession is legitimate, we've got to back away. But I've never come across a case where the confession is false  99.9 percent of people don't generally confess to something they didn't do.

If we're convinced that the evidence shows some guilt, we have a confession, what are we supposed to do, ignore our best evidence? If so much other evidence points to guilt, I don't think it's our job to say, "We're not going to believe that confession."

You hope people can learn lessons from this case, both citizens and attorneys. Talk about following evidence versus gut instinct during investigations.

The whole job of police investigations would be to follow the evidence wherever it leads. And that's exactly what did not happen in the first Avery case. In fact, it was worse than that. This wasn't one of the wrongful convictions that happened by mistake. Within a couple days of arresting Steven Avery, evidence suggests that they not only knew he didn't do it, but they knew who did do it. And that's pretty scary stuff.

(In the Halbach case), it wasn't unreasonable to at least have a suspicion that Steven Avery, to have him as the most likely suspect. He's the guy who called her. He's the guy who was the last person known to see her alive.

What do you think of everything coming out now  a juror saying he felt threatened, a new attorney for Avery. Are there any open questions, do you think, for the future?

I don't think the juror thing's going anywhere. That is troubling, that maybe there was some intimidation. But maybe there was, maybe there wasn't, I don't think that's enough for a new trial. (The court proceedings surrounding) Dassey's confession, that'll be really interesting to see how that goes.

I wouldn't be surprised if there's a filing for a new trial. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
Hillary Clinton, through a spokesperson, has accused Charles McCullough III, the Intelligence Community Inspector General, of working with Republicans to attack her. Referring to McCulloughs statement to Senators that at least several dozen of the emails Clinton sent and received while she was secretary of state contained classified material at the highest levels, the Clinton spokesperson told CNN:

I think this was a very coordinated leak. Two months ago there was areport that directly challenged the finding of this inspector general, and I dont think he liked that very much. So I think that he put two Republican senators up to sending him a letter so that he would have an excuse to resurface the same allegations he made back in the summer that have been discredited.

I think that what a Clinton flack thinks doesnt count for much. I think reputation and background count for more.

Anita Kumar of McClatchcy considers McCulloughs reputation and background. They turn out to be, respectively, unsullied and impressive:

McCullough was nominated by President President Barack Obama in August 2011 to be the first inspector general for the 16 intelligence agencies and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. He was unanimously confirmed by the Senate Intelligence Committee that October. The full Senate agreed by unanimous consent in November.

Democrats supported the nomination enthusiastically:

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat who used to head the intelligence committee, described McCullough as well-qualified. He has long experience conducting investigations both as an inspector general and a FBI agent, Feinstein said in a floor speech in November 2011. He is an attorney and is well-familiar with the intelligence community. Other Democrats agreed. Weve heard good things about you and Im looking forward to supporting you when Chair Feinstein moves ahead with the vote, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon said in September 2011. You clearly have been able to operate in both the civilian and the military sectors which will, I think, prove to be a very valuable set of experiences, if youre confirmed, Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colorado. said in September 2011.

McCulloughs official biographical blurb, a good portion of which was cited by the Obama administration when it nominated him, supports these assessments:

Mr. McCullough was most recently the Deputy Inspector General at ODNI. Prior to coming to the ODNI, Mr. McCullough served as a member of the Defense Intelligence Senior Executive Service for eight years as the Assistant Inspector General for Investigations at the National Security Agency/Central Security Service (NSA/CSS) Office of Inspector General (OIG), where he oversaw internal investigations involving fraud, ethics, intelligence oversight and whistleblower reprisal matters. Prior to joining the NSA/CSS OIG, Mr. McCullough served as the Senior Counsel for Law Enforcement and Intelligence in the Office of the General Counsel of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, providing legal advice on enforcement and national security matters to senior officials. He was the Treasurys lead counsel in the Enron and Moussaoui matters, and played a key role in drafting the intelligence-sharing provisions of the USA PATRIOT ACT. While working at Treasury, he received a commendation for his service on detail to the White House, where he helped establish the Department of Homeland Security. Before his time at Treasury, Mr. McCullough had a ten-year career in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), where he served as a Special Agent, Supervisory Special Agent, Associate Division Counsel, and Special Assistant United States Attorney. His work in the FBI included high-profile investigative and legal assignments in New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., and West Virginia.

From all that appears, McCullough has been untouched by scandal during his long and distinguished career. No destruction of emails, no lost billing records turning up near his office, no fired travel office workers replaced by his friends, no enrichment through speaking fees from interests having business before him. Nothing of the sort.

In any event, attacks on McCullough do not overcome his conclusion that, contrary to what Clinton has said in the past, at least several dozen of emails she sent and received while she was secretary of state contained classified material at the highest level as top secret/SAP or special access program. Nor are such attacks likely to impress the FBI.
Ted Cruz is campaigning on the idea that the establishment is uniting behind GOP frontrunner Donald Trump. He told reporters in New Hampshire:

Were seeing something remarkable happening in this Republican primary. Right now, the Washington establishment is abandoning Marco Rubio, theyve made the assessment that Marco cant win this race, and the Washington establishment is rushing over to support Donald Trump. Were seeing that happen every day, and Mr. Trump is welcoming that support.

The great thing about railing against the Washington establishment is that you never have to identify whom you mean. Thus, you can say pretty much whatever you want about it without fear of being proven wrong.

Cruzs allegation tests the limits of this proposition. The only major figure Im aware of who has rushed to support Trump lately is Sarah Palin.

Who better embodies the establishment than the folks who gather in Davos for the World Economic Forum? This years participants include Eric Cantor, the former Republican House Majority Leader and now vice chairman of Moelis & Company. Cantors defeat in the Republican primary last year was widely viewed as a stunning repudiation of the establishment (albeit a repudiation by a relatively small number of voters).

How does the Davos gathering view the rise of Donald Trump? With dismay. Bloomberg Business reports:

The prospect of Trump in the White House is ratcheting up anxiety among the 2,500 business and political leaders gathered at the Swiss ski resort for the annual World Economic Forum. With less than two weeks before voting in primaries gets under way and Trump in the Republican Party lead, those who fear a rise in protectionism and economic mismanagement are speaking out against the billionaire property developer.

Cantor expresses the establishments dismay:

Unfortunately I do think that if there were to be a Trump administration the casualty would likely be trade. Thats a very serious prospect for the world.

Personally, Im not convinced that trade would suffer in a Trump presidency. But then, Im not part of the establishment under any sensible definition (nor am I supporting Trump).

If one takes what Trump says seriously, though, the establishment has every reason to oppose him, even if doing so entails supporting Cruz (which, as I argue below, is not the case yet). Trump is running as a populist. The establishment has more to fear from populism than Cruzs Reagan-style conservatism. Kenneth Jacobs, chairman and chief executive of the international investment bank Lazard, warns:

The history of populism in democracy is not great, and its not self-correcting in a lot of cases. You only have to look to Europe between the two wars and to a number of the Latin American countries prewar and postwar to see that.

The establishment has always feared no one more the man on a white horse. They fear him now, even if hes actually a fat-cat in a stretch limo.

Cruz would argue that the establishment thinks it can cut deals with Trump, whereas he (Cruz) is incorruptible. There may be some in the establishment who believe they could deal with Trump (and they may well be right). But the evidence from Davos suggests that this is not the prevailing view.

Moreover, no one knows for sure how Trump would behave as president. Thus, at a time when not one voted has been cast and when Trump and Cruz combined poll only slightly better than 50 percent, it would be rash for the establishment to view all alternatives to the two poll leaders as hopeless.

The time may come when the establishment feels it must choose between Trump and Cruz. When that time comes, my guess is that the establishment will divide. But it has not come yet.

UPDATE: Chuck Todd, in an article called The GOP establishments risky bet on Trump, cites Bob Doles statement that, if forced to choose between Ted Cruz and Donald Trump, hed pick Trump. But Doles statement supports neither Cruzs claim nor Todds headline. Dole didnt say hes supporting Trump; only that he prefers Trump to Cruz.

Todd also relies on Jonathan Chait (yeah, that guy) for the proposition that other parts of the GOP establishment that have warmed up to Trump  including the Wall Street Journals editorial page and Rupert Murdoch. But the quote from the Journal that Chait points to says only that Mr. Trump is a better politician than we ever imagined, and he is becoming a better candidate. Thats obvious. It doesnt signal a warming up to Trump, much less support. I agree with the Journals observation, and Im certainly not warming to Trump. I much prefer Cruz and nearly everyone else in the field.

As for Murdoch, Chait says hes gone from calling Trump an embarrassment to praising his crossover appeal. Murdoch cited Trumps appeal in a tweet criticizing Cruz for betting that white conservatives and evangelicals can carry him to victory. So Murdoch may well favor Trump over Cruz. But again, this is not the same thing as supporting Trump for the nomination.
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lets take a look at the flint city council of 2013FLINT, MI  The newly elected Flint City Council includes a convicted killer, a man who served probation for felonious assault and two people who have gone through personal bankruptcies.Wantwaz Davis, who beat incumbent Bernard Lawler by 71 votes to win the Fifth Ward seat, served 19 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in 1991.Wantwaz Davis.JPGWantwaz D. DavisDavis said he didn't hide his murder conviction from voters and openly talked about the conviction with residents, but it never was publicly reported. The Journal learned of the conviction Wednesday and Davis confirmed it when asked."The council people are elected. They're going to get sworn in on Monday. Nothing you write about it is going to change it now," Council President Scott Kincaid said. "It's not something that was hidden or should be a surprise to constituents in the Fifth Ward."Davis was 17 years old in August 1991 when Kenneth S. Morris, 27, was killed at his home on Grace Street. Morris died after being shot three times -- once each in the hip, abdomen and mouth, according to The Flint Journal archives."He went and reached in his pocket, so I reached in my pocket and I shot him," Davis said Wednesday, Nov. 6. "When I found out he later died, I turned myself in. I never intended to shoot Mr. Morris. To this day, I am very remorseful."Also on the nine-member council are: First Ward councilman-elect Eric Mays pleaded guilty to felonious assault in 1987 and served a year of probation. Mays said the man had been threatening his life before Mays threatened him with a gun. Second ward Councilwoman Jackie Poplar filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy in federal bankruptcy court in 2004, a year before first being elected to City Council. She repaid nearly $21,000 to her creditors over six years.Monica Galloway.jpgMonica Galloway Newly elected Seventh Ward councilwoman Monica Galloway and her husband filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 1999, according to federal court records.The newly elected council comes as the city looks to regain local control after one year, 11 months under a state takeover.ok so the people of flint elected these people to be their representativesjust let that one sink in....
The art exhibition, Equal Rights: Unule Unuile Ozese, featuring multi-media works on paper and canvas, by Mike Omoighe, will open to the public on January 25th at the Wheatbaker, Ikoyi, Lagos.

The collection of 33 works would feature pieces like Eki Philosophy, Merciless Rider, Igbabonelimi on the threshold, Ilo Masquerade, and Imon Obhio: I am blessed, among others.

Omoigho says he depicted traditional performance art found in the masquerade culture.

I have used the symbol of the masquerade to shed light on its role in traditional dispute settlement, says Omoigho, 58, a lecturer at the Yaba College of Technology.

It is my way of commenting on how our political history of greed, power and corruption can be checked by tapping into our rich traditional philosophy of equal rights.

Born to a sculptor father, Omoighos early days were spent around an uncle who was a photographer and another who worked as as architect.

However, his artistic journey began at St. Gregorys College where he was taught by Bruce Onobrakpeya as well as at Yaba College of Technology under the tutelage of Yusuf Grillo.

Onobrakpeya and Grillo, both master artists, started the renowned Zaria Rebel art movement in the 60s while they were students at the Ahmadu Bello University, alongside the likes of Demas Nwoko and the late Uche Okeke.

But it is not only master artists who influenced me, he says.

My students are also great influences. I have come to realize that when you make up your mind to teach what you think you know, it is a great pleasure because as you are teaching the students, they also influence you with their thoughts and their viewpoints.

I have also been influenced by my family, and by the environment in which I grew up. Nigeria as a country and the changing landscapes are a great influence; over the years I am reminded of them in narratives, talks and engagements. So I would say the whole of life has influenced me, he said.

In line with this deep knowledge of Nigerian culture and a career of producing abstract modernist works, Omoighos solo art exhibition explores the delicate balance of love and power by highlighting traditional forms of conflict resolution, vis a vis an exploration of Nigerias political history, according to the organizers.

The artist presents two viewpoints from his sketches and notebook; first is the implication of military rule on a country struggling towards democracy, and second is the cultural object of Ukpo-Esan art in the Igbabonelimi masqueraders costumes.

These narratives give his work subtle and profound complexity, says Sandra Mbanefo-Obiago, the exhibitions Curator.

He is a master of form, space, and minimalist understatement. His works oscillate from heavily painted canvases that are full of colour, patterns, sweeping movements and loads of energy, to works which are playfully void of too much talk.'

John Ogene, as associate professor, describes Omoigho as an activist of sorts who demands that resources be made available to all and sundry since everyone in the society cannot compete equally on a tilted playground.

Unule Unuile Ozese foregrounds that one should eat and let others eat too, says Ogene, the acting Head of the Department of Fine and Applied Arts, University of Benin.

Omoighos previous exhibitions include a 2005 outing Survival Romance, followed by Portrait of Nigerian Nation seven years later.

According to Mbanefo-Obiago, Omoigho had not yet been given his rightful place in Nigerias contemporary art scene.

My hope is that this exhibition re-introduces his amazing talent to a growing generation of art enthusiasts at the helm of social media, by shedding light on an art teacher who has greatly influenced the growth and character of contemporary art in Nigeria, says Mbanefo-Obiago.

The Equal Rights exhibition is sponsored by the Wheatbaker and Veuve Clicquot, and will be on display until March 20th.
The management of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas on Wednesday reacted angrily to latest reports by a non-governmental organisation, ActionAid Nigeria, that Nigeria lost about $3.3 million (N650.1 billion) to alleged dubious agreement granting excessive tax incentives to the company.

The NLNG, in a right of reply issued in Lagos described ActionAids report as false, misleading and hypothetical.

But ActionAid Nigeria says it is standing by its report, insisting the NLNG exploited the incentives granted it by the Nigerian government by neglecting to resume tax payment at the due time.

The companys General Manager, External Relations Division, Kudo Eresia-Eke, described as incorrect claims in the report alleging that tax breaks totalling $3.9 billion for NLNG had impacted on social services in Nigeria.

The reality was that the Federal Governments initial investment of US$2.5billion, bolstered by the associated tax incentives, has so far yielded over US$33 billion in the form of dividends, taxes and feed-gas purchases for the country over the past 16 years, with additional US$ 5 billion accruing through corporate spend on local goods and services during the same period, Mr. Eresia-Eke explained.

The company paid $3.6 billion in Company Income Tax and Education Tax between 2014 and 2015. This is in line with NLNGs corporate vision to help build a better Nigeria, he added.

The Nigeria LNG Limited, he noted, was established at a period the LNG technology was still very new in Africa, pointing out that the establishment of the plant made Nigeria the first country in Sub-Saharan Africa to possess such new technology and the second such country in all of Africa.

The pioneering nature of such a company in Nigeria as well as the huge investments required, running to several billions of dollars in foreign investments, Mr. Eresia-Eke said, were the reasons considered by the Nigerian government in granting the company a 10-year tax holiday.

The incentive was granted under the provisions of the Nigeria LNG (Fiscal Incentives, Guarantees and Assurances) Act, CAP. N87, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 (NLNG Act).

According to Mr. Eresia-Eke, the concept of tax holidays was a global business practice, with Oman, Malaysia, Qatar and Trinidad offering up to 10 years tax holidays, (Angola 12 years) to attract LNG investments.

NLNGs tax holiday period, he explained, covered the period between 1999 and 2009, which was provided for under Section 2 of the NLNG Act.

During that period, he said the company grew from an initial investment of two trains to a six-train facility, with current total valuation of the plant at $16 billion.

At the expiration of the tax holiday period, the General Manager said NLNG did not have taxable profit for the 2010 to 2012 financial years due to unrelieved Capital Allowances on qualifying fixed assets acquired during the pioneer period.

Regardless, he said the NLNG paid Education Tax of $65.08million, $107.04million and $118.59million for the 2010, 2011 and 2012 financial years, respectively.

However, ActionAids Policy & Campaigns manager, Tunde Aremu, insisted the figure of $3.3 billion loss in the report were very conservative as they neither covered the initial five years guaranteed the company by the pioneer status provisions, nor include calculations of various other taxes the NLNG was exempted from.

The incentives, as the finding has shown, were really an unnecessary generous handout to the companies. Before the project took off, there were already subscriptions by companies from different countries for their product, Mr. Aremu said.

He said there was evidence that the partners in the project exploited the incentives received, to the extent that although the 10-year tax holiday granted it in the NLNG Act ended in 2009, the NLNG refused to commence payment of corporate income tax until 2012.
The global Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) has named former Swedish Prime Minister, Fedrik Reinfeldt, as its new Chair, as Clare Short prepares to step down from office next month.

Mr. Reinfeldt emerged at the end of elections recently during the 31st International Board Meeting in Kiev, Ukraine. His election is expected to be ratified in February at the 7th global conference in Lima, Peru.

He would succeed Mrs. Short, a former member of the British House of Commons, whose four-year tenure as Chair of the 50-member world body, would lapse next month.

The out-going EITI Chair is scheduled to pay a farewell visit to Nigeria on February 7 to consult with President Mohammadu Buhari on the need to support and strengthen EITI implementation process in Nigeria by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI.

The Acting Executive Secretary of NEITI, Ogbonnaya Orji, said Mrs. Shorts visit to Nigeria would provide an opportunity to share with the Presidents global experiences on how the EITI framework could be used as a tool to fight corruption and reduce poverty in resource-rich countries like Nigeria.

The outgoing Chair would be accompanied on the visit by the incoming Chair, who would hold consultations with top government officials, public and private sector executives, representatives of extractive industry companies and civil society groups.

Mr. Orji, who described the out-going Chair as an asset to the EITI and close friend of NEITI, said she used her position to advance the NEITI implementation process in Nigeria.

He was optimistic that the coming of the two EITI top officials to Nigeria would strengthen NEITIs comprehensive plan to align its mandate in natural resource governance with the on-going reforms in the sector by the Muhammadu Buhari administration.

Mr. Reinfeldt, an economist and politician, is a native of Stockholm. Born in 1965, the new EITI Chair, who became the Prime Minister of Sweden in 2006, was the former Chairman of the Liberal Conservative Moderate Party and the last rotating President of the European Council in 2009.

In his acceptance speech after his election, Mr. Reinfeldt said: Questions about openness, transparency and accountability have always been close to my heart. It is important that the worlds major resources are used in an equitable manner for the benefit of all citizens. I look forward to working with the EITI in parallel with other commitment and lectures.

Meanwhile, the acting NEITI scribe said Nigeria has nothing to fear over the expiration of the December 31, 2015 deadline by the EITI for Nigeria to publish the NEITI 2013 oil and gas and solid minerals audit reports.

Although Mr. Orji said the reports were ready, he explained that they were presently awaiting the approval of the incoming National Stakeholders Working Group expected to be reconstituted soon, prior to their formal publication.

Besides, he said NEITIs request for extension of reporting deadline was still receiving attention by the global EITI.

Nigeria is not in violation of any EITI reporting deadline. Nigeria is not in any danger of validation by the international EITI, Mr. Orji assured.

He said EITI was currently reviewing the validation process and modalities following divergent views by multi-stakeholders involved in the process, namely civil society groups, implementing countries and investors.

Mr. Orji said at various implementing countries meetings in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, Yamoussoukro, Cote dIvoire and Dakar, Senegal, it was agreed that the validation process should be reformed by the EITI Board, to make it country specific, implementation friendly, progressive and promote country learning experiences and ownership.

The civil society groups, investors and supporting countries equally have their separate views on how the validation process should be conducted in order to achieve the desired impact.

Consequently, the EITI has set up a committee to examine the various views and interests with a view to harmonizing them.

We expect the EITI Board to come out with a clear position and modalities at its next meeting slated for Lima, Peru in February, 2016. So Nigeria is not in danger over EITI Validation, Mr Orji said.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Thursday morning slammed a fresh two-count charge on the spokesman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Olisa Metuh, over an alleged attempt by the politician to destroy a confessional statement made to its operatives.

The new charges came less than 48 hours after the Federal High Court, Abuja, granted him bail over a seven-count charge of corruption.

The EFCC drove the embattled politician into the premises of the FCT High Court on Thursday morning, preparatory to slamming fresh charges on him.

Like on Tuesday, Mr. Metuh was in handcuffs when he was brought into the court.

The handcuffs were later removed as he waited to be taken before a judge.

He was later brought before Justice Ishaq Bello, and accused of attempting to destroy information provided during his cross examination at the office of the EFCC.

Count one of the charge contains allegation of destruction of a statement he had given at the commission, to prevent it from being produced, while count two of the charge revolves around allegations of mischief, all punishable under section 327 of the Penal Code Act.

After pleading not guilty to the said charges, counsel to the EFCC, Sylvanus Tahir, asked for more time to allow his team present witnesses and evidence in support of the allegations against the politician.

Justice Bello, who is the chief judge of the FCT High Court, noted that the EFCC must produce three witnesses during the next sitting, without fail.

He noted that it was needless to have the case brought before him if it was already ongoing at a Federal High Court.

But EFCC counsel, Mr. Sylvanus, explained that the new charges, filed on January 18, were not the same as those currently being heard at the Federal High Court.

The matter was adjourned till January 25, for hearing of an application for bail, while hearing on the substantive suit will be on February 26.

Mr. Metuh was also asked to return to Kuje Prison.

The EFCC had on January 12 accused Mr. Metuh of shredding a confessional statement he made to its operatives, indicating it would charge him separately for attempting to destroy a major evidence in the case against him.

The tearing of statement is tantamount to willful destruction of government property and it is a serious offence, the official had told this newspaper at the time. Also the fact that he obstructed operatives from performing their job is also a criminal offence. We will explore the possibility of filling a separate charge against him at the Federal Capital Territory High Court.

In the original case for which he is standing trial at the Federal High Court, Mr. Metuh is facing a seven-count charge of corruption.

He is accused of receiving N400 million from former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki. The amount is part of the allegedly diverted sum of $2.1 billion meant for the purchase of arms.

On Tuesday, Justice Okon Abang granted him bail.

To regain his freedom, however, Mr. Metuh, Justice Abang said, must deposit N400 million bail bond  same amount he is accused of illegally receiving; two sureties who must have properties in Maitama area of Abuja, and who must also deposit N200 million each.

It is unclear whether Mr. Metuh met those bail conditions.
The Nigerian Air Force has established a Special Forces command to bolster its operations in the North-East and other internal security operations across the country.

The Chief of Air Staff, Sadique Abubakar, disclosed this on Thursday while delivering a lecture titled: Nigerian Air Force: Challenges and Future Perspectives, at the National Defence College, Abuja.

Although Mr. Abubakar, an Air Marshal, did not give details of the establishment of the new command, he said it was part of the planned restructuring of NAFs operational command to conform with contemporary demands on national security.

The Air Force is not only fighting in the air, and therefore, whatever it is that we need to have to fulfill our mandate in the face of the present challenges is what we are working toward putting on the ground.

We are establishing a new command known as the Special Forces Command as part of ongoing restructuring of our operations.

The establishment of the Special Forces Command would facilitate the development of NAFs response capability in both internal and external security operations, as well as increase Nigerias self-reliance in strategic security operations, he said.

Mr. Abubakar said that NAF had upgraded some combat units and established new ones as part of its review of its combat operations across the country.

He also announced the establishment of a Base Defence Coordination Centre which would become operational by the end of Jan. 2016.

The Nigerian Air Force has taken some policy decisions to enhance our operational capabilities some of which include the upgrade of units and establishment of new ones.

Among the upgraded units are the 305 helicopter group and 95 helicopter combat unit.

The new ones include the establishment of the 89 Combat Group to be located in Bauchi to aid combat operations with air logistics in the North-East, he said.

Going forward, Mr. Abubakar said, warfare in the Nigerian Air Force would be dictated by advancement in technology and appropriate manpower development.

He said though paucity of funds and other challenges had affected NAFs operations in the past years, the present Buhari administration had improved its operational capability with additional platforms.

The chief of air staff identified internal and external security threats as political indiscipline, insurgency, militancy, state of the economy, unguarded Nigerian borders and proliferation of arms as some of the challenges facing NAF.

Earlier, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Solomon Arase, advocated for alternative funding for the Nigerian Police Force to actualise its mandate of protecting lives and property.

Mr. Arase said multinational companies and other corporate bodies operating in Nigeria should be taxed a percentage of their profits to augment government funding for the police.

He said the proposed alternative funding for the police could be managed by credible Nigerians to avoid a repeat of the past experience where such trust fund was mismanaged.

The IGP, who spoke on the topic Nigerian Police Force: Challenges and Future Perspective, said the usual government budgetary allocations to the police could not address its increasing needs.

He said there were 3,756 police posts, 1,579 police stations, 1,329 divisions and 37 state commands with over 314,000 policemen and women competing for the meager resources allocated by government to the force.

Mr. Arase said the present management of the police was working on improving service delivery in the force through enhanced community policing strategy and introduction of various incentives particularly for the rank and file.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the presentations were part of the lectures series on Strategy, Statecraft and National Security for participants of course 24 of the National Defence College, Abuja.

(NAN)
In Nigerias ongoing war against corruption, President Muhammadu Buhari will not spare anyone who has a case to answer, and his predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan, would face justice if guilty, presidential spokesperson, Femi Adesina, has said.

Mr. Adesina told PREMIUM TIMES on Thursday, when he visited the newspapers office in Abuja, that Mr. Buhari has no accord to shield any corrupt person from prosecution.

There is no accord, he said, if the corruption fight needs to get there (making Mr. Jonathan face justice), it will get there.

Several top officials who served under Mr. Jonathan, as well as his political associates in the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party, are currently being tried, or investigated by the Economic and Financial crimes Commission, for corruption.

A major case involves a former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, accused of diverting $2.1 billion arms money, and sharing same to politicians and cronies of the former president.

According to investigators, Mr. Dasuki said he was authorized by Mr. Jonathan to release the money for the nations security programmes, and for the 2015 presidential campaign.

The spokesperson for the PDP, Olisa Metuh, also said he received payment from Mr. Dasuki after carrying out some assignments for the former president.

Those claims have raised questions regarding whether Mr. Jonathan, whom Mr. Buhari assured during transfer of power in 2015, that he had nothing to fear, would face prosecution should it be proven he has a case to answer.

Mr. Buhari has also been accused of bias against the PDP.

That allegations gained traction last week after his associate and party member, Jafaru Isa, was released by the EFCC despite facing what appeared a similar allegation as that against Mr. Metuh, the PDP spokesperson.

But Mr. Adesina denied the allegations against the president.

There is no accord that if corruption is proven, it will not be tried, he said of the former president. With this president, nobody will be protected. And I underscore it, if it needs to get anywhere, it will get there.

He emphasized that there was no agreement prior to the March 2015 presidential election that Mr. Jonathan would not be made to face trial if corruption allegations were proven against him.

Mr. Adesina denied Mr. Buharis involvement in the release of Mr. Isa after the APC member reportedly returned N100 million out of N170 million he was accused of unlawfully receiving from Mr. Dasuki.

If the President had wanted to protect him, he would not have been arrested in the first place, Mr. Adesina said.

He said investigations into other sectors, such as banking, and petroleum, would soon start.
The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, John Odigie-Oyegun, on Thursday said Nigerias present economic downturn could be an act of God to remind Nigeria of the need to implement and embrace radical change, particularly in the countrys current economic model.

Mr. Odigie-Oyegun made the disclosure when he hosted a 15-member delegation of an APC support group, Change Agents Foundation (CAF) led by its Director-General, Felix Felix at the partys National Secretariat in Abuja.

I think God has a hand in the current economic predicament of the country. Imagine the sudden fall in the price of crude oil, the mainstay of the Nigerian economy, from its heights in 2014, averaging $112 per barrel down to the current price of $28 per barrel  lower than the $38 per barrel which the proposed 2016 budget is predicated on, Mr. Odigie-Oyegun said. It is an object lesson for us. It tells us that we must embrace radical change in our economic model.

He said the drop in oil price had taken its toll on the revenue and expenditure of the Federal Government and as a result was having a severe effect on the economy.

The APC chairman said, The concept of change is a difficult one. Nigeria must be ready to adapt to new ways of doing things. As a party, we know and understand it calls for tremendous sacrifice, there is no other way. Yes the economy is in a bad shape, but maybe that is the kick we need to be innovative and find ways to drive the economy out of the woods.

The luck we have is that we have as president a man committed to personal probity and sincerity of purpose to the project of developing Nigeria. Today, we must think and be innovative in ways of fashioning out new economic models which diversifies from the present over reliance on oil.

We are in the process of organising a three-day dialogue which will bring the party, government and stakeholders for an exposition on the realities facing the country, particular the economy. It will provide an opportunity to exchange ideas so that we go home with a clear direction on how to go forward.

Also speaking at the meeting, the Director-General, Change Agents Foundation, Mr. Felix, congratulated the Mr. Odigie-Oyegun for leading the APC to victory at the last presidential election that ushered in the Muhammadu Buhari administration.

He said, We are here to identify with you in this success and to say that while achieving success is a difficult thing, sustaining success is even more difficult. It is this realisation that prompted our coming together to form the Change Agents Foundation.

Mr. Felix said the fight against corruption being waged by the Buhari administration was already yielding results.

Our party promised Nigerians Change and this change Nigerians have already started experiencing through the unprecedented simplicity and transparency our leader, President Muhammadu Buhari has brought to governance of Nigeria, he said.

The fight against corruption has already started yielding results as looted public funds are being exposed and returned while everybody occupying public office today is conscious of his actions knowing that there would be consequences for any inaction or wrong action.

Mr. Felix requested the national secretariat of the APC to register the organisation to enable it to contribute its quota to the efforts being made to deliver on the Change Mantra and objectives of the APC.
An Abuja High Court has adjourned hearing in the case of alleged diversion of N19 billion by embattled former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, following the absence of his counsel.

Mr. Dasuki is standing trial in various courts to answer charges bordering on alleged diversion of $2.1 billion meant for the purchase of arms in the last administration.

At Thursdays court session in one of his trials, counsel to Mr. Dasuki, Ahmed Raji, wrote to the court that he could not attend the sitting as he was attending to an election matter in another court.

But Mr. Yusuf noted that even with the presence of Mr. Raji, the case would only proceed if Mr. Dasuki is produced in court.

Based on the insistence of the judge for Mr. Dasuki to personally appear in court before continuation of hearing, the EFCC brought the former NSA to court 40 minutes after.

Upon Mr. Dasukis arrival, the judge adjourned the matter based on Mr. Rajis absence.

He said hearing in the matter would continue at 10am on January 22.
Governors of the Peoples Democratic Party have described as a new low the handcuffing of the National Publicity Secretary of their party, Olisa Metuh, stating that the APC regime was a step away from full blown fascism.

The PDP Governors Forum said the action was meant to deride not only Mr. Metuh but the PDP as well as cast the party in bad light before Nigerians as a party of corrupt individuals even when they were yet to be convicted by any competent court.

In a statement on Thursday in Abuja Osaro Onaiwu, coordinator of the forum, the governors said the APC regime was yet to learn from history, therefore its banal exhibitionism and Telemundo antics of subjecting accused persons like Mr. Metuh to inhuman treatment.

The only reasonable conclusion we have reached is that the anti-corruption agencies and other institutions of state have allowed themselves to be dictated to by a single vindictive authority which takes pleasure in using power anyhow and in anyway in gross abuse of the constitution, African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights and human liberty.

The cuffing of the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP exemplifies a terrible decay of power by the APC regime which sees itself bigger than the democratic state, Nigeria, which brought it to power.

For the avoidance of doubt, the Forum is not against the anti-corruption mantra of the present regime of President Muhammadu Buhari, but we insist it must be within the ambit of our constitution and appropriate laws.

Any other means is a descent into fascism with its attendant consequences in the long run, the statement reads.

Mr. Osaro further observed that Section 34 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended, frowns at all forms of degradation of man particularly inhuman or degrading punishment and treatment, of which Metuh was subjected to.

The governors called on security and anti-graft agencies to be mindful of how they take instructions from political office holders as the tide of power was constantly moving, as the APC will not be in power forever.

They also urged civil society to resist such ultra-constitutional actions before Nigeria becomes the private estate of the APC.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is set to slam fresh charges on the spokesman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Olisa Metuh, less than 48 hours after the Federal High Court, Abuja, granted him bail over a seven-count charge of corruption.

The EFCC drove the embattled politician into the premises of the FCT High Court on Thursday morning, preparatory to slamming fresh charges on him.

Like on Tuesday, Mr. Metuh was in handcuffs when he was brought into the court.

The handcuffs were later removed as he waited to be taken before a judge.

Details of the new charges are unclear at this time, but the anti-graft commission had on January 12 accused Mr. Metuh of shredding a confessional statement he made to its operatives, indicating it would charge him separately for attempting to destroy a major evidence in the case against him.

The tearing of statement is tantamount to willful destruction of government property and it is a serious offence, the official had told this newspaper at the time. Also the fact that he obstructed operatives from performing their job is also a criminal offence. We will explore the possibility of filling a separate charge against him at the Federal Capital Territory High Court.

In the original case, Mr. Metuh is facing a seven-count charge of corruption.

He is accused of receiving N400 million from former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki. The amount is part of the allegedly diverted sum of $2.1 billion meant for the purchase of arms.

On Tuesday, Justice Okon Abang granted him bail.

To regain his freedom, however, Mr. Metuh, Justice Abang said, must deposit N400 million bail bond  same amount he is accused of illegally receiving; two sureties who must have properties in Maitama area of Abuja, and who must also deposit N200 million each.

It is unclear whether Mr. Metuh has so far met his bail conditions.
A prosecutor called last week's killing outside a Corvallis restaurant a "planned hit" during a bail hearing Wednesday for one of the two people accused of the crime.

Forest Grove residents Michael A. Deyette II, 43, and Brooklyn Shepard, 35, face a variety of charges in the Jan. 15 killing of Corvallis resident Jason Scott Williams outside the Shari's Restaurant on Ninth Street.

Prosecutors successfully asked the court to seal records of the case while it is ongoing, but Amie Matusko, assistant district attorney, revealed some details about the case during the bail hearing for Shepard.

She said the case involved a premeditated act of vigilante justice, taking the law into their own hands over someone they believed hadnt been properly punished by the law.

A search in the electronic records system used by the majority of Oregon counties showed only one case with a defendant whose full name and birth year matched Williams: a second-degree criminal trespassing charge, a violation, in Benton County from 2005 in which the defendant pleaded no contest.

The bail for both Deyette and Shepard was left at $1 million, but Judge Locke Williams scheduled status checks for the cases, and the attorneys discussed the potential for reducing that amount after a review of the evidence. Deyette's status check is Thursday; Shepard's is Feb. 4.

However, in the case against Deyette, Ryan Joslin, chief assistant district attorney, said the prosecution both had fingerprint evidence against Deyette and he was identified in the vicinity of the crime.

The evidence is strong in this case, Joslin said.

The probable cause affidavit  which includes a report of the incident and arrest  has been sealed from public view after a motion by the Benton County District Attorneys Office. Judge Williams approved the motion. Joslin told the Gazette-Times Wednesday following the hearings that he expects to file a motion to unseal the documents soon.

Its really up to the discretion in the court, but it wont remain in effect for a long term, Joslin said. Im going to remain intentionally vague on that but I would say we plan to file (a motion to unseal) in a fairly short term. Were talking a number of days rather than number of weeks.

Shepard has a prior conviction of second-degree theft in 2014, according to court records. Deyette was previously arrested for assault in Washington state in 1996, but was not convicted. Joslin noted that he was not aware of Jason Williams having a prior arrest record.

Court-appointed defense attorney Mike Flinn, who is representing Deyette in the case, declined comment Wednesday. Court-appointed defense attorney John Rich and attorney Holly Ferrioli are representing Shepard in the case. Rich did not immediately return calls seeking comment Wednesday. Ferrioli declined comment.

While authorities have not yet released a possible motive in the shooting, Lt. Cord Wood of the Corvallis Police Department has said that Jason Williams and Shepard were acquaintances, and that Shepard and Deyette are romantically involved with one another.

Deyette pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, first-degree assault, unlawful use of a weapon against another, and second-degree criminal mischief. Prosecutors believe Shepard aided and abetted Deyette in the crime, and have charged her with murder and conspiracy to commit murder. She has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
A London Court has registered a judgement delivered by a Nigerian court against the military following the bombardment of the Gbaramatu communities in Delta State by the Joint Military Task Force operating in the state in May 2009.

Justice Timothy Holroyde of the Queens Bench Division of the Royal High Court of Justice England and Wales, on January 18, acceded to the request of the communities to register the judgement which ordered the federal government to pay them N99 billion damages over the attack.

He however rejected the request by the communities to register the judgement against the president of Nigeria and the attorney general of the federation and minister of justice, who were the first and second defendants in the suit.

In their request, the communities had also sought to obtain a worldwide freezing injunction against the assets of the federal government.

The Federal High Court, Asaba, Delta State, had ordered the federal government to pay the communities N99.9 billion damages for gross violation of their rights by the force then coordinated by Sarkin Yakin Bello, a retired major general.

Counsel to the communities, Selekeowei Larry, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, filed the case.

However, two years after the judgement was delivered, the federal government neither complied nor appealed against it, forcing the communities to request the London Court to register it.

Before applying to the Queen Bench Division High Court of Justice in London, to register the judgment, the communities wrote twice to the then Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke, asking the government to comply with the judgment.

On May 5, 2009 the task force invaded Gbaramatu communities in Warri South West Local Government of Delta State killing and maiming residents and also destroying properties worth billions of naira.

They however filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Asaba on June 22, 2009 against the president, the attorney general of the federation and Mr. Bello.

In the suit, the communities also asked the court to declare the bombardment unconstitutional and a gross violation of their rights.

Delivering the judgement, Justice Ibrahim Buba said the bombardment of the communities by the military resulting in the demolition/destruction of houses, household furniture/wares, boats, canoes, domestic animals and displacement of members of the communities is in violation of section 217 (2)(c) of the 1999 constitution and is therefore unconstitutional.

Mr. Buba added, That the sum of N49 billion is awarded in favour of the plaintiffs as special damages against the defendants jointly severally.

That the sum of N50 billion is also awarded as aggravated and punitive damages against the defendants jointly and severally for the unlawful bombardment and sacking of the plaintiffs communities which resulted in wanton destruction of their houses, household furniture and other wares, their domestic animals, canoes, boats, sacred places, artifacts etc and which resulted in total displacement of members of the communities for minimum of three months from 15th May 2009, the effect of which was that members of the communities were living in the swampy mangrove forests in subhuman conditions while others were in a concentration camp and suffered loss of income, disease, and mental torture and the education of their children of school age was disrupted.
Protest erupted Wednesday night after a police officer allegedly shot a lorry conductor to death at a checkpoint in Ozara village in Okene Local Government Area of Kogi State.

A witness, who gave his name as Bashiru, told PREMIUM TIMES that the incident occurred at about 10pm after a lorry conductor refused give a N100 bribe.

Bashiru, a truck driver, said the trigger-happy policeman demanded for bribe from the driver of the truck, and the driver, in turn, asked his conductor if there was N100 with him to settle the policeman.

According to the witness, when the conductor said he had none, the police officer asked him to alight from the vehicle, and then shot him dead on the spot.

Sources said after the shooting, truckers  numbering more than a hundred  plying the highway barricaded the road since 10pm Wednesday night.

The truckers barricaded the only way linking North to West and Eastern parts of Nigeria.

As at last count, more than a hundred truck drivers are participating in the protest on the Lagos Okene Abuja road, one witness said.

Bashiru said he and his colleagues would not vacate the route until authorities decisive action stopping uniformed men on the road from collecting bribes.

Reports said the divisional police officer in charge of Okene area visited the scene of the incident on Thursday morning and explained to the protesters that the policeman who shot the conductor had been detained.

The spokesperson for the Kogi State Police Command could not be reached for comments Thursday morning.
If the bar on creation of new states, as contained in our 1979 and 1999 constitutions, had been lowered, Anioma...
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has arraigned Ali Abdullahi, a personal assistant to the chairman of the Code of conduct Tribunal, Danladi Umar, for alleged fraud.

Mr. Abdullahi is facing a two-count charge for allegedly providing false information to the EFCC during the commissions investigation of a case of false asset declaration by a former official of the Nigerian Customs Service, Rasheed Owolabi.

According to the first count of the charge, Mr. Abdullahi told the EFCC that N1.8 million collected from Mr. Owolabi was meant to assist his (Mr. Abdullahis) fathers medication.

But during a cross-examination, Mr. Owolabi said he paid the sum to the tribunals chairman, Danladi Umar, through a Zenith Bank account belonging to Mr. Abdullahi, with the account number:  1002849471.

Mr. Owolabi said he paid the money after Mr. Umar demanded N10 million to influence his case before the tribunal.

The charges read: That you Ali Gambo Abdullahi, sometimes in August 2013 at Abuja within the judicial division of the court did make a statement to one Abdulmajeed Ibrahim, a detective with the EFCC, while in the course of the exercise of the duty of his office that the sum of N1.8m paid into your Zenith Bank Account Number 1002849471 on December 12, 2012 by one Rasheed Owolabi was a payment made to assist you to settle your fathers hospital bill; which statement you knew to be untrue and thereby committed an office contrary to section 39(2)(a) of the EFCC Act, 2004 and punishable under section (39) (2) (b) of the same act.

That you Ali Gambo Abdullahi, sometimes in August 2013 at Abuja within the judicial division of the court did make a statement dated 13th August 2013 pertaining to N1.8m paid into your bank account by one Rasheed Taiwo, which is inconsistent with the statement you made on August 12th, 2013 to one Abdulmajeed Ibrahim, a detective with EFCC while in the course of the exercise of the duty of his office and thereby committed an offence contrary to section (39) (2) (b) of the EFCC Act 2004.

The case was adjourned to March 15.
Traditional rulers from Eastern Obolo Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom state, have asked the federal government to withdraw the operating license from an oil firm, Amni International Petroleum Company Limited.

Amni, an indigenous oil firm in Nigeria, operates the Okoro and Setu East fields (OML 112) located offshore in the Atlantic Ocean, less than 12 km from Eastern Obolo.

About 30 village heads, in addition to several family heads, assembled at Okoroete, the headquarters of Eastern Obolo, to address journalists on Wednesday on their grievances against Amni Petroleum .

The chiefs said they were angry with the continuous pollution and neglect of their communities and the deteriorating relationship between the oil company and the people of the area.

Ayituk Isaiah Ayituk, the Assistant Secretary, Eastern Obolo Council of Chiefs, who spoke on behalf of the chiefs told journalists that the communities had hired a consultant, John Ukpatu, to engage Amni on the environmental and development challenges in the local government area, but that the company ignored the consultant and the chiefs.

The chiefs also accused Amni of refusing to recognise the Community Relations Committee set up by the chiefs, the elders and the youths of Eastern Obolo to liaise with the company for the purpose of effective communication with the community.

The chiefs said a representative of Amni walked out on them in the middle of a peace meeting that was held in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state, on March 5, 2015.

They narrated how they travelled to far away Niger State in November 2015 to hold another peace meeting with Amni with the hope that such meeting was going to bring peace between the oil firm and the communities, but at the end, the company refused to implement the decisions that were agreed upon in the meeting.

The chiefs listed the following as some of the grievances they have against Amni: (1.) Embarking on Okoro Further Field Development Project without consultation with the host community of Eastern Obolo, (2.) Refusal to comply with the provisions of the MOU that stipulate 25 per cent human resources development from the host community, and (3.) Refusal to review the MOU that had expired six years ago.

The chiefs said Amni hasnt replied any of the 60 official letters they have sent to company.

We are wondering what a company stand to gain when its activities cause crisis in its host communities, and the same company turned around to close every available channel of peaceful communication with the communities.

We dont understand why the company has chosen to exhibit this level of disrespect for the traditional rulers of Eastern Obolo, the chiefs said.

There is no single project in the whole of Eastern Obolo that could be traced to Amni. The only evidence that shows we have oil in our communities is our polluted water, our polluted farmland and our polluted air.

We challenge you to go round all the communities here if you can see any clean portable water.

The traditional rulers, who were visibly angry, said they were demanding for the withdrawal of the operating license from Amni as a necessary step to prevent the crisis between the company and the local community from degenerating into something else.

The consultant for the Eastern Obolo communities, John Ukpatu, said the local government area recorded 143 oil spills since the beginning of oil exploration in the area.

But he didnt say how many of the oil spills were caused by Amni.

Mr. Ukpatu, who holds a Ph.D in fisheries and aquatic sciences, said the people of Eastern Obolo were identified by the United Nations Development Programme to be among the poorest of the poor in the world.

Mr. Ukpatu said it was unfortunate that oil, which ought to be a blessing, had become a curse to the people of Eastern Obolo.

He appealed to Amni International Petroleum Company Limited to respect the traditional rulers and the people of Eastern Obolo by accepting to work with the new Community Relations Committee in the area, as well as review their MOU with the local government area, and also pay royalties to the chiefs as the custodians of the land.

The new CRC chairman in Eastern Obolo, Ezekiel Uneadasi, told PREMIUM TIMES that he couldnt be blamed for the strained relationship between Amni and the local government area because the company hasnt even accepted to work with him and his committee.

For one year now, since we were constituted by the chiefs and the community, Amni has refused to accept us; the company is saying that they (Amni) are the ones that should appoint members of the CRC, Mr. Uneadasi said.

The Community Affairs Manager, Amni Petroleum, Gafar Olagunju, declined to comment on the issue when PREMIUM TIMES contacted him on phone.
A popular Islamic leader of the Ansar-ud-deen Society, Ijebu-Ode chapter of Ogun State, Olayinka Oshinkoya, has been kidnapped.

Mr. Oshinkoya, said to be in company of his younger brother, was kidnapped on Tuesday while on his way to attend a meeting with the chairman of Ogun State Local Government Service Commission in Abeokuta, his brother said.

The victims brother, Abolore Oshinkoya, said the abductors, driving an unmarked Honda Accord car, cornered his brother at a gunpoint near Paramount F.M Radio along Kobape-Abeokuta.

He added that Mr. Oshinkoya, who is a leader of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria, was thereafter taken away by the abductors.

He said the abductors were yet to make any contact with the family.

The younger Oshinkoya said the family reported the incident to the Trade Fair Police Post, but were directed to Ibara police division.

On Thursday, members of the Mr. Oshinkoya family, joined by members of the Ansar-ud-deen Society, converged on the societys headquarters in Ijebu-Ode to pray for the release of the kidnapped cleric.

The chairman of Ibadan Garage chapter of RTEAN Ijebu-Ode, Ahmed Kuku, described the incident as disturbing, just as the zonal secretary of the union, Adenike Onasanya, said Mr. Oshinkoya does not deserve this kind of treatment.
Logan Thrasher, a 4-year-old boy from Cape May Court House in Middle Township who was diagnosed with leukemia two years ago, died early Thursday morning, according to family friends.

Friends of the Thrasher family reported that he was surrounded by loved ones when he passed away. He returned to live in hospice care on Jan. 14 after a bone marrow transplant failed to work.

There are no words to explain how we are feeling right now. Logan passed away early this morning. Thank you everyone for all the prayers please continue to pray for the family as we mourn this precious little angel, reads a post on the Love for Logan Facebook page.

When Thrasher was hospitalized at The Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, a pipe burst in the familys trailer and flooded the home. His parents, Katie Thrasher and Charles Beaudoin, received the news while they were staying with their son at the hospital.

Community members rallied to help the family rebuild their home so that Thrasher could spend his last days there. The last coats of paint and new carpet installation were enough the finishing touches and the family hoped to move in Friday.

The Thrashers had been staying with his grandparents while repairs were made.

While Thrasher was not able to return to his home in Delsea Woods before he died, the family formed new friendships with neighbors, companies and even strangers in the community who have come to aid the family in rebuilding their home.

Something greater than us is making this happen, Susan Morris, a family friend, said earlier this week. So many people on so many levels have taken this family under their wings.

On Jan. 17, Thrashers wish to pet and feed a pony came true. Morris said she reached out to individuals in the community whom she knew owned horses. Pembroke Farms, in Woodbine, sent a pony to Thrasher that morning.

The owner, Eleanor (Robinson-Valtri), who was out of town, had her children fulfill his wish on the familys desired day and time, complete with carrots to feed Tigger, the pony, she said.

A Go Fund Me account was set up for the family and has since raised more than $6,500.
The campaign for Ann Roe, who is running for Congress against Lyin' Bryan Steil has come out with the best one-liner of this cycle so far: I can't argue...

11 months ago
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.




By: hq@devildogshirts.com

DDS046C- Spartna- Helmet- DDS- Site- 300x400

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-- Our Spartan apparel draws its roots from an ancient time when warfare was rudimentary and brutal. The personal bravery of each warrior was relied on equally. Their shields formed an impenetrable wall, their spears a fine tip. The enemy that marched unto a battle-ready formation of Spartan surely signed their own death warrant before marching blindly to their death.The Spartan coin and apparel, symbolizes the incredible fighting spirit forged in every Marine. The moment the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor is placed unto the calloused hands of the tired recruit, the transformation is made. Not in title, but in spirit. This same spirit will drive Marines to excel on the field of battle and instill fear unto our enemies!Spartan King Leonidas, who in August, 480 B.C., took a contingent of 300 of the best Spartan warriors to lead a greek coalition against the Persian King Xerxes. The Greeks were no stranger to the Persian style of warfare. This was the second (yet not the last) war with the Persian Empire. The coalition of Greek forces, under the command of Leonidas, decided to meet the Persian horde head-on at a narrow mountain pass of Thermopylae. There the Persian numbers would give way to skill and cold hard steel.King Leonidas and his Spartan 300 held out against onslaught after onslaught of enemy hordes and did not give ground except to let their enemies fight upon their own dead. This made the enemy unstable, broke up their formations, guarded against a fast advance or charge, and psychologically disrupted the Persians who had to tromple not only their own dead, but dying. The Persian King Xerxes would soon entice a rival Greek city-state to guide them around the dangerous pass, ultimately allowing them to become enveloped.The Spartans knew exactly what had to be done and King Leonidas then ordered the rest of the coalition to retreat, while they held the rear. Many Greeks walked away in tears as they left the remnants of the brave 300 behind. The Spartans continued to fight, even as King Leonidas fell. They were eventually defeated and the battle won by the Persians, but at an enormous price. The Greek coalition of only 7,000 men to include the Spartan 300 faced an enemy that modern scholars estimate to between 300,000-700,000 men strong (although the legend says 2.6 million). They took such a tremendous loss that it forced the Persian King to eventually leave Greece.The ancient Spartans were so glamorized that they became almost mythical. Yet this would serve a purpose throughout time. It would give militaries everywhere an example to emulate to include our beloved Corps. Many Marines by their example time and time again in the field of battle have proven that they carry the mantle of the ancient Spartans. From killing fields of Europe, to the island citadels of the Pacific, in the blistering ice of the North Korea, to jungles of Vietnam, in the urban mire of Iraq, and the rivers of the Helmand US Marines have embodied the ancient warrior ethos of their Spartan predecessors. Much like the ancient Spartans, who raised their shield high in unison to protect their brother to the left and right of them.Devil Dog Shirts strives to honor not only the Marines of the present, we work diligently to honor the Warriors that came before us. This challenge coin commemorates the "Hard-Chargers"that gave life, limb, and a mass amount of testicular fortitude in the killing fields of Thermopylae. The battle and warrior class would serve as an example to be emulated throughout the history of warfare.It was they who started the legacy, and us who continue to carry it on, any clime or place! Semper Fi!USMC military challenge coins are a central part of the quality products created at Devildogshirts.Com. Their original artwork which is licensed by the United States Marine Corps trademark and licensing office depicts the strength, courage, commitment and undying loyalty US Marines have with America and America with them. At the heart of a Marine are the freedoms and way of life of America and the preservation of peace and freedom. The USMC will fight and die to preserve this American birthright. Each coin created by Devildogshirts.com is a testimony to this incredible dedication and love for our country! OO-RAH!Find this USMC Spartan coin at https://devildogshirts.com/ product/doggy- bag/usmc-spartan... and enjoy this Marine Corps coin for decades to come!For More information on Marine t-shirts or challenge coins contacthq@devildogshirts.com
personality, Nick Digilio & Bob Madia will air on January 27th at 2 am to talk about what's new

By: Claude Reid Productions

Media Contact

Claude Reid

***@nuconceptsproductions.com

7084657501 Claude Reid7084657501

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--FORBIDDEN Logline: five college co-eds are trapped in their sorority house one stormy night by an Internetdemon the conjured up from a "forbidden website.About Bob MadiaBob Madias screenplay work has won awards and been praised by Tom Hanks, Dan Aykroyd and Dennis Dugan.Bob was also a contributing author to the Writer's Digest bestseller "On Writing Horror."About Claude ReidClaude Reid is an actor, producer, director, and the founder of Claude Reid Productions. Ever since he was five years old, heknew he wanted to be an actor. Claude started his career as a producer and director over ten years ago. The Producer/Director says auditions will takeplace in Chicago for Forbidden in the near future, so feel free to log on the website peridically. You can learn more about the production by logging onto www.claudereidproductions.com
By: Three Square Market

Contact

Three Square Market

Patrick McMullan

***@tkc32m.com Three Square MarketPatrick McMullan

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-- Three Square Market (32M) and TurnKey Corrections (TKC) announce critical new hires for the first quarter of 2016. These incredibly important additions are a big step towards the continued growth and excellence of our companies commented COO Patrick McMullan. These hires are going to allow our executive management team to further specialize in aspects of our business. Todd Westby, our CEO and Founder, will work in conjunction with his brother Tim, to be Co-Chairman and work with our Board of Directors to fine-tune our products and market presence to position our company for major growth in 2016 and beyond.Curt Giles: The new President of 32M, Curt joins 32M after spending nearly the last decade working for two different vending companies in the Twin Cities area. In the past two years, he has opened and operated nearly 20 markets with 32M and has been a major advocate for them in the vending community. Born and raised in Manitoba, Canada, Curt graduated from the University of Minnesota-Duluth, and played for over a decade in the NHL. After retiring from the NHL, he built a successful warehouse operations business for a large company in the MSP area until entering the vending business with Breaktime Beverages. He built their portfolio for nearly five years until recently joining Taher where he opened the majority of his 32M locations. Curt has strong business connections in many industries and his diverse experiences will be a major asset for 32M in 2016 and beyond. Curt is a winner in many aspects of life and it is those characteristics we want to continue to instill in our businesses  he is a natural fit for our business added McMullan.Stewart McMullan: Stewart joined us as the new Chief Financial Officer in December of 2015. Stewart comes to us from the University of Minnesota, where he was CFO of the Medical School. Stewart spent over two decades working in Economic Development and Financial Management positions for the State of Minnesota and the University of Minnesota. As we enter a new level of growth in our company, we needed someone who was well versed in managing large budgets for multiple initiativesadded Patrick McMullan. We didnt have to look beyond the family dinner table for these skills. Stewart has a Masters Degree from the University of St. Thomas and is well-respected in government agencies across the Midwest.Gina Washburn: Gina joins 32M from the State of Idaho Blind Enterprise Program. Gina oversaw the growth of the visually impaired vending program in Idaho. Idaho is a nationally recognized leader in the visually impaired arena, and Gina is well known as a leader in this field. The visually impaired vending program, a part of the Randolph-Shepard Act, gives visually impaired entrepreneurs priority on federal property. Most states have expanded this to include state, city and county locations. Growing this sector of our business is a major initiative for our company  and Gina is going to lead this charge added McMullan. We currently serve as the tech provider for nine states, and we are the largest supplier to the visually impaired community. We intend to double if not triple in 2016 and also work with BEP operators to enter the corrections business using our TKC brand.Clint Moxey: Clint has joined 32M and TKC as the Western U.S. Regional Sales Manager. Clint is based in Reno, NV and has operated Moxey Machines for nearly a decade. He purchased an existing vending machine repair and distributor business about six years ago in addition to running a highly successful vending business. As 32M started to grow, Clint became a highly successful distributor and also become instrumental in helping TKC land accounts in Nevada. Clint knows both companies, and we expect Clint to make a significant and fast impact in the Western U.S. for both TKC and 32M added McMullan. Prior to opening his vending business, Clint proudly served our nation for over a decade as a pilot in the U.S. Navy.Kurk Johnson: Kurk will be joining 32M as the Vice President of Sales starting February 1st. Kurk worked as the first official distributor of Three Square Market under the Lieberman Companies in the MSP area. Kurk has been our leading sales representative and promoter of 32M for the past three years. Having worked for years in the industry, Kurk is incredibly knowledgeable in both vending and micro market products. "We are very fortunate to have Kurk heading off our sales team. Kurk has been a major advocate for not only 32M, but micro markets as a whole. With Liebermann selling their business, we wanted to ensure that without question, Kurk remained as a critical piece for our growth plans and we are fortunate to have him on our team added McMullan.Jim Bergstrom: Jim has joined us as our new Purchasing Manager. Jim comes to us with a great deal of purchasing experience, having been in this line of work since 1998 for companies like Target, NAPCO, and Precision Coatings. Most recently, Jim has been a Project Manager at Floor Store, Inc. since 2011. Jim will be working on purchasing projects for all three of our companies, 32M, Turnkey Corrections and our rapidly expanding institutional supply division, American Institutional Supply added Patrick McMullan. We have developed both domestic and international relationships in the production and sale of products and we felt his expertise would help improve both our acquisition costs and quality.To learn more about Three Square Market visit their website 32Market.com or follow them on social media Learn more about TKC by visiting TurnKeyCorrections.com or follow them on social media. Learn more about AIS by visiting Amerisup.com.
Company briefs officials on plans to prevent future drilling blowouts with new shear ram BOP with the power to cut the thickest drill pipe and other drilling components.

Contact

Linda Le

info@boptechnologies.com Linda Le

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-- Houston-based BOP Technologies has launched a series of meetings with members of Congress and Administration officials to make them aware of the companys advances in offshore safety and the potential creation of new energy jobs. The company has created a new design for shear ram blowout preventers that can deliver 5 million lbs. of force, enough to shear, seal and control anything in a wellbore. According to company CEO Khoa Pham, the purpose of our visits is to make officials aware that our technology offers the best option yet to prevent another blowout and environmental damage like the kind we experienced in the Deepwater Horizon incident in 2010.One of the lessons of the 2010 incident was that existing shear rams may not shear and control a well under some of the extreme conditions that are often found in a blowout. The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement is developing regulations to address that problem and industry is working to develop new procedures and technologies to provide better reliability. The BOP is the last resort to protect the crew and the environment,said Pham. Our message is that, the shear ram BOP needs to have enough force to cut any drill pipe, collars or other drilling components, so that you can make sure that the system will work when the crew needs it.BOP Technologies is also using these visits to stress the potential for new jobs in both the Houston area and along the Gulf Coast. In addition to the new shear ram design, the company has launched a subsea service wing and a manufacturing joint venture to build any components that are needed for offshore projects. At a time when Houston and the rest of the oil patch has lost thousands of jobs, BOP Technologies sees an opportunity to hire some of the most experienced offshore professionals to fill the need for manufacturing, service and engineering that exists whenever energy companies are forced to cut back.
Several scholarships available to high school seniors whose parents are serving or retired from a Morris County emergency services agency

By: 200 Club of Morris County

Contact

Doug Fenichel, APR

(201) 575-1538

***@inhousepr.biz Doug Fenichel, APR(201) 575-1538

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-- High school seniors whose parents are police officers, firefighters or emergency medical services responders in Morris County have until March 1 to apply for one of several college scholarships from the 200 Club of Morris County, an organization that supports the men and women who protect and serve Morris County residents.An education beyond high school is essential today, said James M. Gannon, president of the 200 Club of Morris County. Its also expensive. This is one way we can help our first-responders take care of their families, and were always thrilled to see their children accept these scholarships.The scholarship is open to children with a parent actively serving with a Morris County police department, fire department, ambulance squad, the New Jersey State Police or as a paramedic with a Morris County-based hospital. Students whose parent has retired from one of those agencies or students whose parents are actively serving with a federal or state law enforcement agency also are eligible, as are students who, themselves, volunteer as firefighters or EMTs. Students may be planning to attend college or post-high school vocational school.The 200 Club began sponsoring the scholarships in 1982. Since then, hundreds of students have received the awards. Awards are given on a one-time basis for the 2016-2017 academic year.This is one of the truly pleasurable programs we offer, said Gannon. The parents of these children put their lives on the line to protect us. Not only are these scholarships one way we help them, but we know that a safe and secure society counts on well-educated leaders.Complete program criteria and an on-line application form are available at http://www.200clubofmorriscounty.com/ scholarship.html . Applications must be received by March 1, 2016. Award criteria include academic performance, community service, extracurricular activities and financial need. Winners are announced in April and the scholarships are awarded at the 200 Club of Morris County Annual Awards Dinner in May.Since its inception in 1971, the 200 Club of Morris County has distributed more than $4.3 million in survivor benefits and scholarships to families. Survivor benefits go to families that have lost a spouse who was a police officer or state trooper, a firefighter, or an emergency medical services provider in the line of duty. The organization also recognizes the heroic actions of those who keep the public safe and secure.Information about membership in the 200 Club and its various programs is available by calling 973-630-7933 or by clicking on http://200clubofmorriscounty.com -30-
Beau A. Cross is now Board Certified in Estate Planning and Probate

By: Burdett, Morgan, Williamson, & Boykin, LLP

Burdett, Morgan, Williamson & Boykin Logo

Contact

Beau A. Cross

***@bmwb-law.com Beau A. Cross

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-- Burdett, Morgan, Williamson & Boykin, LLP is proud to announce that Beau A. Cross, one of the firms Amarillo, Texas, probate and estate litigation attorneys, has earned the designation of Board Certified in Estate Planning and Probate from the State Bar of Texas. Only a small percentage of attorneys ever earn this distinct designation, which is given only to those qualified, experienced attorneys who have passed a rigorous written examination.For more information on Mr. Cross, please visit http://www.bmwb-law.com/beau-cross.html Parties interested in learning more about probate and estate litigation services provided by Burdett, Morgan, Williamson & Boykin should call the firm at (806) 358-8116.Beau A. Cross is a recognized expert lawyer in the areas of wills and trusts, estate and gift tax planning, entity formation, business law, and estates and probates. Beau earned his law degree from the Texas Tech University School of Law in Lubbock, Texas, in 2009, before returning to Amarillo, Texas, to practice law. Beau is a member of the State Bar of Texas, the Amarillo Area Bar Association, Amarillo Area Young Lawyers Association, and Amarillo Area Estate Planning Counsel.Burdett, Morgan, Williamson & Boykin, LLP began in 1985 in Amarillo, Texas. The firm has lawyers that practice in many diverse areas including: estate planning, wills and trusts, commercial litigation, real estate law, trademark, oil and gas, and many other areas. The firm has built a strong reputation by combining a high quality product with personal attention.
Story about Holocaust victim presents broad point of view on human rights, Nazis and World War II

By: Dallas Holocaust Museum

Contact

Emily Chandler

***@piercom.com Emily Chandler

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-- The Dallas Holocaust Museum/Center for Education and Tolerance recently presented the opening of Anne Frank  A History for Today, their newest exhibit running Jan. 9 through May 31. Director of Outreach and Exhibitions, Anne Frank Center USA Hilary Stipelman and Dr. Charlotte Decoster, on staff at the Museum, discussed the importance of the exhibit.At 15-years-old and one of more than a million murdered Jewish children, Anne Frank is one of the most discussed victims of the Holocaust. Her memoir, The Diary of a Young Girl which documents her life in hiding for 25 months during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II, is one of the worlds most widely known books after the Bible. The basis for several plays and films, the diary has been translated into 67 languages with more than 30 million copies sold.Sponsors of Anne Frank  A History for Today are Clampitt Paper, Dallas Tourism Public Improvement District, Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs and The Catholic Foundation. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit http://www.dallasholocaustmuseum.org/
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-- Applications for the Barney S. Fujimoto Memorial Scholarship are now available online for Hawai`i Island, O`ahu and Kaua`i high school seniors who are planning on attending any University of Hawai`i institution.For over 30 years the annual Barney S. Fujimoto Memorial Scholarship has promoted academic achievement and excellence to high school students. Barney Fujimoto, a past officer of HPM, strongly valued the importance of higher education. Today, HPM continues to express these same values through this scholarship.Last year HPM awarded scholarships to two high school seniors: Maya Kottwitz (Hawai`i Academy of Arts and Sciences) and Heidy Espejo (Farrington High School).Scholarships will be awarded to students who are able to show a history of strong community service and a GPA of 3.0 or higher. Preference will be given to children of HPM Building Supply owner-employees.Applications are being accepted online via the University of Hawai`i Common Scholarship Application. Deadline to apply is March 1, 2016. Visit, hpmhawaii.com/about/scholarship ( http://www.hpmhawaii.com/ about/scholarship ) for more details.Since starting out 95 years ago as a small family-owned lumber mill, HPM Building Supply  now 100-percent employee owned  has grown to include full-service building supply centers and four lumberyards of the Island of Hawai`i, O`ahu and Kaua`i, with the ability to supply projects statewide. The company manufactures pre-engineered trusses and wall panels, metal roofing and pre-hung doors, and treats its own lumber.
Schools make transformation when parents and school leaders link together to form a partnership to prepare them for careers in the automated world of today and tomorrow.

Contact

Uplift, Inc.

Ida Byrd-Hill

***@upliftinc.org Uplift, Inc.Ida Byrd-Hill

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-- Uplift, Inc. created Automation Workz, a live competitive scavenger hunt where families solve challenging missions, to expose them to the enormity of the computer software industry and its impact on every facet of our economy, including the Automotive industry. Automation Workz, powered by a mobile app, will occur 1/23/2016 1-5pm at the North American International Auto Show. With the generous support of our sponsors, Automation Workz provides hands-onactivities, auto show tickets, and Cobo Hall shuttle service FREE of charge to parents and teens ages 13-19. (JM Harackiewicz, 2012) When parents encouraged students in Science Technology Engineering, and Mathematics,of those children matriculated in those subjects in college compared to thewho did not receive such encouragement. This data was reported in Longitudinal Study of American Youth where 4000 Generation Xers were followed 1987-2012.Schools are a collection of families- parents and students- their good habits, their bad habits, their values and home training that meets qualified educational leaders. Parents and school leaders are the Kings and Queens of the Education regime. The desire to transform the Detroit educational landscape begins at home with parents followed by innovative caring tech savvy school leaders."Yesterday, I visited a school to market Automation Workz. I was horrified to see that both school leaders and parents have abdicated their thrones to children, who do not understand the value nor power of education in this technological world."School leaders have the responsibility to create a peaceful cutting-edge culture to meet corporate demands for skilled employees. Teachers are overwhelmed dealing with chaos daily. They are drained from wrestling mentally and physically with out-of-control students. Teachers feel they deserve every dollar of salary to endure such conditions.Parents have a responsibility to ensure students become productive adults to secure job opportunities in todays and tomorrows automated world. Education takes 24 hours a day 7 days a week to ensure students have the ability to compete with their foreign counterparts. Every waking moment must be spent in the learning process, both formal and informal.Automation Workz attempts to refocus our community where technology education begins. Reserve your spot and tickets atSee you Saturday 1/23/2016 1-5pm at Cobo Hall Room 140A.
There are many jobs if you have credentials to enter the world of Automation.

Event Logo

Contact

Ida Byrd-Hill

***@upliftinc.org Ida Byrd-Hill

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-- There are three million jobs in America today with many right here in Southeast Michigan. Yet many young people cannot find a job.Employers are looking for employees who have skills to expand Automation - the process of computerizing job functions. Every industry is going through this process led by the Automotive industry. MIT Technology Review reports an Oxford research study that 45 percent of Americas occupations will be automated within the next 20 years.Computers will start replacing people in transportation/logistics, production labor, administrative support, services, sales, and construction.Today, I viewed the Toyota Mirai with its Kymeta satellite system. Drivers will have access to 1 Terabyte of internet service to utilize for 3d mapping, videos, gaming etc. It expands the connected car concept to the nth degree. It also reinforces the need for computer programming classes in every middle and high school in Michigan, especially in inner cities where students are dying for a job.The computer software industry is a 300 billion plus industry that employs millions of people in jobs such as computer programmers, computer systems analysts. The industry cannot find enough skilled individuals to employ.Our nonprofit, Uplift, Inc. created Automation Workz to expose families to the enormity of the computer software industry and its impact on every facet of our economy. Automation Workz is a live competitive scavenger hunt where families solve challenging missions. It occurs 1/23/2016 1-5pm at the North American International Auto Show. Our hope is that Automation Workz will inspire parents and students to matriculate to the industry as there are a plethora of high paying Automation jobs.Join us in ensuring Automation Workz empowers our community. Become a donor at http://www.upliftinc.org/ donations.aspx . Attend event. Register at http://www.upliftinc.org/ automationworkz.aspx We thank our generous sponsors for supporting this event.
Local Business Consultants help business owners with time management, social media, and how to go from burnt out to inspired.

Contact

Business Success Solution

info@businesssuccesssolution.com

541708-3933 Business Success Solution541708-3933

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-- Local Southern Oregon businesses are positioned for growth this year. Business owners seek resources to increase their productivity and revenue. Local business consultants, Loren Fogelman, founder of Business Success Solution and author of The Winning Point, an Amazon #1 best seller, Ryan Mallory, founder of Oregon Marketing Pros, Ingrid Edstrom, founder of Polymath and Audrey Isbell, founder of AVA Virtual Assistance, have teamed up to host a local event which emphasizes advanced strategies and tactics to help position business owners for growth and success.The event is on Thursday, February 4from 1pm to 4:30pm at RCC/SOU Higher Education Center  Presentation Hall RM100 101 South Bartlett Street in Medford.is an opportunity for local business owners to meet, mingle and receive business building strategies.Business owners whove been short staffed are experiencing burn out, claims Fogelman. When working more closely with business owners we identify what theyre tolerating in their business. Various distractions impact time, reduce revenue and add frustration. We want to help them shift from tired to inspired.Heres what business owners and professionals can expect during the Accelerate Your Business Growth event: How towithout compromise Steps to easilyviewers How tospark and passion Secrets to successfullyRegister now at http://businesssuccesssolution.com/events/This is an opportunity for growth minded business owners and leaders to gather.Too many professionals forget to value their own time through effective work delegation says Isbell. They either forget that its an option because theyre trying to keep up, or theyre not quite sure how to lay the groundwork enabling them to assign work tasks, beneficiallyDiscover tools, systems and best practices for the unique circumstances impacting small business owners in the Rogue Valley. This local event saves busy business owners the time and expense of travel to comparable seminars outside of the area. Business owners will identify key growth and revenue generating activities.Fogelman, Mallory, Edstrom and Isbell are all nationally recognized experts focusing on business growth strategies. Heres an opportunity for growth minded business owners to gather. This event will keep participants captivated throughout the entire event.To learn more or register for Accelerate Your Business Growth go to BusinessSuccessSolution.com/ events Media Contact:Business Success SolutionLoren Fogelman541-708-3933
Learn to capture breathtaking night-sky images and time lapse video at Timelapse Moab with Time lapse Specialist and Award-Winning Cinematographer Ron Risman

By: Timelapse Workshops

Media Contact

Ron Risman

timelapseworkshops@ gmail.com Ron Risman

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-- TimelapseWorkshops.com announces three night-sky Timelapse Moab photography workshops in southern Utah, home to Arches and Canyonlands National Park. The National Parks will be celebrating their 100th Anniversary this year, making this a milestone year to capture the beauty of some of the few remaining places left to view and capture a truly dark sky.Timelapse Moab combines daily classroom sessions with hours of on-location shooting each night of the workshop. The workshops focus on teaching the skills needed to capture breathtaking time lapses - with a focus on capturing the night sky in motion! The workshops are open to photographers and cinematographers of all levels."Every year our Moab workshops sell out, so this year we have added a third workshop designed for photographers seeking the ultimate night sky experience. Our spring workshops will give photographers the opportunity to choose from 4-night workshops or our new 6-night advanced motion control time lapse photography workshop." says Timelapse Workshops founder, Ron Risman.May 27-30, 2016 (4-Day, 4-Night)This workshop is ideal for those that are new to time lapse photography and will teach you the skills needed to produce professional quality time lapses.June 1-4, 2016 (4-Day, 4-Night)This workshop will take your time lapse skills to the next with advanced techniques and advanced motion control camera movement.June 6-11, 2016 (5-Day, 6-Night)The newly added 6-night workshop will feature more in-field instruction and with a slowly waning crescent moon we'll have the luxury of shooting dark skies while the sliver of moonlight will illuminate the landscape - helping to bring context to our locations. We'll also have time to visit some fantastic locations outside of the Moab area.Southern Utah is home to Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, Dead Horse Point State Park, the La Sal Mountain Range, and thousands of acres of backcountry canyons that will take your breath away with their red rock arches, spires, and cliffs. A Gold-Tier status was recently awarded to Canyonlands National Park in honor of having some of the darkest skies in the world.The workshop is led by time lapse specialist and award-winning cinematographer Ron Risman. Risman has been a photographer for over 30 years and his time lapse work has appeared in both television and films for The Discovery Channel, HBO, Land Rover, FOX News CT, WFTV Orlando, Berklee College of Music, iTTQ Japan, Liberty Mutual, Restoration Hardware, and more.Get more information at: http://www.TimelapseWorkshops.com
Sync Task Software, the SharePoint Project Management firm, has announced a strategic shift to focus on small businesses. Also announces shift to educational content over promotions.

Contact

Philip Murphy (Co-Founder)

***@synctasksoftware.com Philip Murphy (Co-Founder)

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-- Sync Task Software, the SharePoint Project Management firm that serves major clients like the US Army, Southwest Airlines, ADM, University of Tennessee and LAPD, has announced a strategic shift to focus on small businesses.Co-founder Philip Murphy said, We want to give small businesses access to the same tools that we've given major corporations and governments over the last ten years. We've adjusted our pricing to make our SharePoint Project Management Templates available to even the smallest companies.In addition to making products available to small businesses, Sync Task Software is requiring all of its employees read David Meerman Scott's Book: The New Rules of Marketing and PR. From this day forward, we are ceasing all purely promotional content creation in favor of educational and value-added informational content, and DM Scott's book is the gold standard for teaching employees how to make that shift, added co-founder Murphy.A brief summary of the announced changes:SharePoint Project Management Templates will be made available to small businesses through a new pricing plan.The PRO Edition has been priced at $199 (previously $899).A new Business Edition contains all of the features of the previous Enterprise Edition for $299 (previously $1,199).The Enterprise Edition now refers to a custom product for corporations and enterprises with custom pricing options.Promotional content and posts have been discontinued throughout the firm.Company will now focus on educational and informational content only.About Sync Task Software: Sync Task Software is based in New York, NY and is a division of Appreciate Media Inc. For more than ten years, they have been helping corporations, governments, and educational institutions manage projects in SharePoint.Links:
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-- Diabetes Tools has been nominated for Best Mobile Innovation for Health in the GSMAsfor its TriabetesClinic online decision support service that puts medical apps at the heart of diabetes treatment for insulin-dependent children, both in hospital and remotely at home.TriabetesClinic for Children combines mobile apps for patient self-care and on-ward mobility with online tools to simplify and digitally rearrange the care around each child with diabetes, said Diabetes Tools Chief Executive Officer Anders Weilandt. To be chosen by the Glomo Awards judging committee shows that the digital health sector is gaining ground. However, digital health still has a long way to go. This nomination energizes our teams already considerable persistence and dedication to go the distance."Congratulations to all of the nominees for the 2016 Glomo Awards, said Michael OHara, Chief Marketing Officer, GSMA. With more than 930 entries this year  a new record  the competition is greater than ever, reflecting the tremendous diversity and pace of innovation across the mobile world. We are particularly excited to be celebrating the 21st year of the awards with a dynamic new format that will recognise and honour achievement throughout Mobile World Congress.The Glomo Awards highlight achievements and innovations across the mobile industry and include more than 40 awards in eight categories. The 2016 winners will be announced during Mobile World Congress, the worlds largest mobile industry exhibition and conference, in Barcelona, Spain (22-25 February). For more information, visit http://www.globalmobileawards.com/ nominees2016/ Triabetes and TriabetesClinic are registered trademarks of Diabetes Tools Sweden AB.Diabetes Tools is a Swedish medical technology company that simplifies daily life for everyone involved in diabetes care. The TriabetesClinic software service securely combines apps (for smartphones and tablets), online accounts and web interfaces to change diabetes healthcare for the better.Diabetes Tools was named MedTech Company of the Year 2014 by the Swedish Medtech Association. The company holds an ISO 13485 certificate, a compliance standard for creating medical devices and related services, and sells CE-marked medical software products in the European Union. Diabetes Tools is privately held and located in Stockholm, Sweden. For more information, visit http://www.diabetestools.se
Top selling author Frank F. Fiore has signed with Outlaws Publishing to release his new western Gunfight at Black Ridge.

"Gunfight At Black Ridge"

Contact

Nick Wale

***@nickwale.org Nick Wale

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-- It was announced today that Frank F. Fiore has signed an exclusive contract with Outlaws Publishing to release his highly anticipated new western novel Gunfight At Black Ridge. The western outfit is currently having huge success with western author John D. Fie. Jr.Fiore, who has sold tens of thousands of books, has been working on a western since October 2015. His current novel Murran has been lauded by the critics, and his previous works have all been top sellers.Gunfight At Black Ridge tells the story of Civil War veteran Colson Rodgers returning to his hometown, Black Ridge, to live a peaceful life. Once he gets there he finds that Black Ridge has been changed by a roving gang of murderers.This first book is said to be the first in a series of western novels that include Colson.Outlaws Chairman J.C. Hulsey is extremely excited at the prospect and said that he was happy to have Fiore onboard and looked forward to seeing his inevitable many years of success.Gunfight at Black Ridge will be available for pre-order on Amazon in February. Early review copies can be ordered through Outlaws Publishing.You can learn more about Frank Fiore by visiting his website www.frankfiore.com . You can contact him through his office by emailing Nick@nickwale.org . You can also discover more about Outlaws Publishing by visiting their website at www.outlawspublishing.com.
RepUPress.com has launched a new Social Media Search Engine that will help individuals navigate the vast realm of social networks more easily and help businesses better measure their marketing efforts.

By: RepUPress.com

Media Contact

Rep U Press - Rob Gelhausen - Founder

***@repupress.com

(877) 595-0982 Rep U Press - Rob Gelhausen - Founder(877) 595-0982

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-- RepUPress.com, an Indianapolis based tech company, has launched a new Social Media Search Engine in cooperation with search giant Google (http://www.repupress.com/social-search). The free search engine allows visitors to quickly access results from all major social media networks in an aggregated view, as well as, search each individual network by simply clicking a tab at the top of the results. The results can also be further customized by either popularity (relevance) or by date.When asked about the benefit to users, Founder Rob Gelhausen had this to say, We believe the application for a dedicated Social Media Search Engine is abundant. Individuals can more easily find what they are looking for within and across their favorite networks, companies can gauge their marketing impact, and students can do more effective, as well as efficient research. These are just a few of the current benefits and uses.According to a report published by the Pew Research Center 52% of adults have at least 2 social media accounts across various networks. That means as many as 1.26 million US citizens over the age of 18 visit multiple social media networks to search and post content. The idea of a way to search from a single source is an intriguing and time saving proposition.The Social Media Search Engine was built on top of and with the cooperation of Googles Web Index. With the recent deal between Twitter and Google to allow access and indexing of all 200 billion plus Tweets being generated every year, the incredible categorization of the vast amount of Facebook content, the fact that YouTube is owned by Google, as well as, many additional strategic reasons, Founder Rob Gelhausen said It was a no brainer using Googles index to power our search.Rep U Press is a digital media company that offers an array of solutions which include SaaS Applications, Marketing Services and even eLearning Video Tutorials Courses. Their latest endeavor is sure to make waves. The web search industry is dominated by three major players who are Google, Yahoo and Bing. Google currently controls approximately 65% of the search share in the US with Bing and Yahoo combing for approximately 24%. All other search engines make up the remaining 11%.Harking back to the days of Mark Cuban selling Broadcast.com to Yahoo for 5.7 Billion Dollars leaving the door open for Google to crush them in search, it seems as though Yahoo has always been one step behind in the race for online user search acquisition. It is amazing that there has not already been some sort of play like this by either of the two second tier search options. Will the Rep U Press solution take even more of the market share? Well, that remains to be seen.
The language services provider announces its official certification to participate in the US Small Business Administrations (SBA) 8(a) Business Development Program.

President of River Linguistics, Jennifer Charlton-Jones

Contact

Sulochana Abeid (Development Specialist)

***@riverlinguistics.com



Photo:

https://www.prlog.org/ 12526921/1 Sulochana Abeid (Development Specialist)

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-- River Linguistics, Inc. , has been granted official certification to participate in the US Small Business Administrations (SBA) 8(a) Business Development Program. A Native American Woman-Owned Small Business, River Linguistics, Inc., offers global operations support to businesses and US Government agencies by providing translation, interpreting, multimedia and process management consulting services. The 8(a) certification enhances the companys existing arsenal of federal certifications, which includes the HUB- (Historically Underutilized Business) Zone certification and third-party Economically Disadvantaged Woman Owned Small Business (EDWOSB) certification obtained in 2015.We are appreciative of the SBA for offering this vital support to disadvantaged businesses, and look forward to making the most of it, said Jennifer Charlton-Jones, President. Awarded by the US Small Business Administration , the 8(a) Business Development Program helps small, disadvantaged businesses to compete for federal contracts that have been set aside for private sector industries. The program provides assistance over a span of nine years, and will assign a Business Development Specialist to work closely with River Linguistics on implementation of its business plan and strategy in pursuing those contracts. Benefits also include but are not limited to marketing, counseling, and access to specialized financial assistance and sole-source contracts. River will be able to bid on contracts in cooperation with other businesses or as a stand-alone prime contractor.River Linguistics, Inc., brings twenty years of localization industry experience to the table, providing an array of language services, including written word translation and telephonic interpreting, together with complete multimedia services for print, audio, video, and digital formats. Capabilities also include ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations)and HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) compliance. The company currently contracts with the International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA)-Roswell
Contact

Katie Thacker, Communications Manager

Vitech Corporation

***@vitechcorp.com Katie Thacker, Communications ManagerVitech Corporation

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-- Vitech today launched GENESYS 4.0, the latest generation of model-based systems engineering (MBSE) software that makes it easier than ever before to design and manage complex systems from first concept of operations through requirements, architecture, and design to validation and verification. Bringing Vitechs unrivaled systems engineering expertise to modern project development, GENESYS is equipped to integrate the systems development process while offering full connectivity to the greater enterprise environment including analytical engineering, project management, and stakeholder engagement. The refined and user-friendly interface of GENESYS has been designed for anyone who is working on complex problems, ranging anywhere from defense technologies to policy development. Engineers, scientists, project and program managers, and corporate facilitators can now experience real-time up-to-date system information, producing financial and time savings on any project, maximizing opportunities for innovative solutions and reducing system design risk.Building on the capabilities first introduced with Vitechs CORE ( http://www.vitechcorp.com/ products/CORE.shtml ), GENESYS ( http://www.vitechcorp.com/ products/GENESYS.shtml ) takes engineering to a new level and is a must-use for anyone managing or designing complex systems. Like CORE, GENESYS features a fully integrated atmosphere for managing requirements, behavior, architecture, and reporting, but adds the power of a completely open architecture, integration to Microsoft products such as Project, PowerPoint, Word, and Excel, and interface possibilities with analytical engineering tools including MatLab Simulink, LabView, and AGI Systems Tool Kit.Key features include:Enable data sharing and communication with team members, management, and stakeholders with add-in connectors to Excel, PowerPoint, and Project plus support for the OSLC data interface.Enhance project visibility with the easy-to-browse static HTML representation of your project database, complete with diagrams and property sheets, for publication to an intranet or sharing with stakeholders.Accelerate the initial requirements phase by parsing documents into GENESYS using key words to create requirements and other entities.Lower the barrier to entry and leverage the power of truly integrated, model-based systems engineering through automated model assistance. Model Assistant pays attention to the framework details, enabling you to focus on the substance of the design.Utilize a variety of new and/or improved diagrams and reports (as always, generated real-time, on-demand from the project repository) to bring more insight to todays systems challenges.The complexity of todays systems require that we not only fully equip the systems engineer with the tools to understand the problem and architect the system but that we effectively engage the greater project team and engineering enterprise,said David Long, Vitech President. GENESYS 4.0 delivers the integrated capabilities needed to effectively engage the engineering team, ensure alignment, and leverage their insights to deliver the right solution. Screencast Library (http://www.vitechcorp.com/resources/screencasts.php) Webinar Archive (http://www.vitechcorp.com/resources/video_archive.php) Product Information PDF (http://www.vitechcorp.com/products/files/vitechproductslick.pdf) Solution Training (http://www.vitechcorp.com/services/training.shtml) Vitech Blog (http://community.vitechcorp.com/home/post/Risks-and-Concerns-Explained-Using-Turkey-Talk3.aspx)Vitech GENESYS is available immediately for upgrade and purchase. To check your eligibility for upgrade or to speak to an account executive about the GENESYS solution package that is right for you, contact Vitech at info@vitechcorp.com or 540.951.3322.In business since 1992, Vitech provides systems engineering solutions including software, services, training, and support for global customers with diverse applications. Headquartered in Blacksburg, Virginia, the company has satellite offices across the U.S. and global business partners in Australia, Korea, and South Africa.Vitech Corporation is best-known for their software solutions integrating requirements management, system architecture, and model simulation to bring clarity to complex designs, including the CORE and GENESYS product lines.Vitech maintains industry affiliations with the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE (http://www.incose.org/)), the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA (http://www.ndia.org/Pages/default.aspx)), and the Systems Engineering Society of Australia (SESA (http://www.sesa.org.au/)). Vitech Corporations president, David Long, also serves as the president for INCOSE. 2016 Vitech Corporation. All rights reserved. Vitech, the Vitech logo, CORE, and GENESYS, are trademarks of Vitech Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Animal Defenders International launches its Watch List to track trainers who have been exposed abusing animals

By: Animal Defenders International

Screen shot 2016-01-21 at 9.15.27 AM

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-- In a dramatic move, Circus Bouglione in France has dropped elephant trainer Lars Holscher following protests and negative publicity after Animal Defenders Internationals (ADI) undercover video revealed Holschers abuse of elephants during his Great Britain tour a few years ago.ADIs hidden cameras filmed Holschers act in 2009, when he was touring in the Great British Circus with three elephants, Vana Mana, Sonja and Delhi. ADI exposed a staggering level of casual violence, including elephants hit in the face with a metal elephant hook, broom, brush, and pitchfork, and a worker cruelly twisting an elephants tail. The elephants are seen and heard on screen afraid, retreating and crying out. Holscher himself was seen striking the elephants with a metal bar, using a small concealed hook to control the elephants during performances, forcing a lame elephant to continue performing and overseeing the chaining of the elephants for 11 hours a day  while the circus claimed they were never chained. https://youtu.be/ h4L6EahWjoQ Holscher fled the UK, but has since appeared in at least seven European countries and even supplied an elephant to one of this years Academy Award nominees.Jan Creamer, President Animal Defenders International:By their nature, circus acts are able to change location easily and often change the names of acts and the animals they use. We have been shocked with the lack of background scrutiny that circuses and filmmakers employ when hiring animal acts. With ADIs Watch List we work to ensure that trainers and suppliers cant escape their abusive history. [CS1] [CL2]While Holscher was touring with Cirkus Scott in Sweden, Vana Mana (then known as Ghandi) joined the set of the Felix Herngren comedy The 100-year-old man who climbed out the window and disappeared.Co-produced by Buena Vista International Sweden, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company Nordic, the film has been nominated for a 2016 Academy Award for Makeup and Hairstyling.When Cirkus Scott became aware of the abuse Vana Mana and her companion Sonja (known as Baby) endured, they announced they would stop using wild animals altogether, after 76 years of doing so.This ADI footage was already in the public domain along with a damning report by experts, including Professor Donald Broom, MA, PhD, ScD Emeritus Professor of Animal Welfare Science, Cambridge University; Samantha Lindley, BVSc. MRCVS, Edinburgh University, veterinary expert, behaviourist;Dr Joyce Poole, expert in elephant welfare and communication;and Simon JR Adams, BSc, BVMS, MRCVS, zoo & wildlife veterinarian. Still, Holscher continued to use the elephants. https://www.ad- international.org/ media/GBC_Elephant_ Repor... At the time, Dr Mel Richardson, a renowned wild animal vet with 40 years experience with captive elephants, noted: Sonja, Vana Mana, and Delhi are being caused unnecessary suffering. the day-to-day existence of these elephants is a living hell.. LH Holscher is not using the bull hook [ankus] as a guide to communicate his desire for the elephant to move up or move back or stand still (steady). He is using it as a club to beat the animal. He is inserting the hook into the ear and on the ear flaps to torment the poor animal with maximum effect for the least effort on his part.In the United States, Have Trunk Will Travel became Americas most notorious elephant act supplier after an ADI undercover investigation in California revealed staff beating, hooking, and electric shocking the elephants to force them to perform tricks. The company had supplied Hollywood films including Water for Elephants, Zookeeper, and Operation Dumbo Drop. bit.ly/1PhBKFUMost facilities in California have severed links with the company, including fairs and zoos that employed Have Trunk Will Travel to give rides, but last year the company trekked elephants right across the country to Southwicks Zoo in Massachusetts.Jan Creamer said, These trainers use such abusive techniques because the elephants never forget, trainers then rely on seemingly harmless gestures in public to control animals who know all too well what will happen if they disobey. This is a national problem because these acts move from state to state with ease. ADIs Watch List will provide a valuable resource for people wishing to challenge the claims of discredited trainers but we really need the Traveling Exotic Animal Protection Act to be reintroduced to Congress to eliminate this suffering.The Lars Holscher video is the first ADI Watch List video, with more to be released.
Collier Child Care Resources (CCCR) offers seminar for early childhood educators and pediatric therapists: "Meeting the Motor Needs of All Children"

By: Collier Child Care Resources

Contact

Dianne Reed

***@collierchildcare.org Dianne Reed

End

-- Collier Child Care Resources (CCCR) will hold a symposium, Meeting the Motor Needs of All Children, on Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2016 from 6:00-8:00 p.m. at Hodges University, 2647 Professional Circle, Naples Florida.Keynote speaker, Dr. Julia Harper, PhD, MS, OT/L, nationally recognized for her work with therapists and children, will address the detection and remediation of neuro-developmental delay in children with specific coordination and movement concerns and/or learning difficulties. Harper will offer educators, pediatric therapists and others a better understanding of the neurological issues faced by children with developmental disabilities such as autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), auditory processing disorder, and dyslexia. Harper will focus on how to support all children in acquiring motor skills, while supporting those students who require additional attention.Cost is $40; CEUs available 0.2; and a certificate given upon completion. To register, please visit www.collierchildcare.org or email alexv@collierchildcare.org for more information.CCCRs mission is to provide high quality early childhood care, education and resources to children, families and early learning professionals in Collier County. Our organization currentlythrough our three child development centers: NCEF Early Childhood Development Center, and A Step Up Child Development Centers located at Golden Gate and Immokalee High Schools operated through CCCR. At NCEF Early Childhood Development Center,. A Step Up Child Development Centers focus on children of teen mothers by offering free valuable child care and parenting classes while they continue their high school education; this allows for a better future for them and their child, without worry of needing to pay for childcare. We also offer training workshops for early learning professionals and an early childhood conferences once a year. In 2014, we served over 1,750 people with training and educational resources.
High Achieving Honors Students Will Have Opportunity to Select Advanced Studies in Engineering, Economics and Finance, Health Sciences or Law

By: Archbishop Stepinac High School

Contact

Frank Pagani, Pagani PR

***@paganipr.com Frank Pagani, Pagani PR

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-- Continuing its leadership position in curriculum innovation to prepare students for success at college and beyond, Archbishop Stepinac High School has announced plans to establish an Honors Academy which will be the first-of-its-kind in the region.The three-year personalized learning program, which will get underway in the 2016 fall semester, will enable high achieving students to pursue advanced studies in either engineering, health sciences (medicine), economics/finance or law.Principal, said, Our Honors Academy will help foster the development of skills that the honors students will need to become globally competitive at the college level and beyond.To qualify, honors students in their freshmen year will need a cumulative average of 90% or higher and will be required to apply for acceptance with the knowledge and support of their parents., Vice Principal for Curriculum and Academic Studies, noted, The Honors Academy will better prepare students for their chosen college major as the curriculum framework design is based on undergraduate core courses in the chosen concentrations. Students will develop and use complex algorithms to explore the major theories and principles associated with each discipline. A primary goal is to empower students to see the relationship between their academy studies and their application to the real world.The program will culminate in the senior year with an internship and a final capstone research project and presentation that will be judged by a panel of faculty members and outside professionals in the fields that correlate with the respective academy.Internships and work-based learning will be a key component of the program.Since our schools alumni boast individuals who are leaders in their own right in a host of sectors including engineering, technology, healthcare, finance, accounting and law, we will develop partnerships in our community that will allow our students maximum exposure to numerous resources and real-world work experiences.Each student will be assigned a faculty mentor as well as an outside mentor for the capstone project.Carty noted, In an increasingly competitive college admissions market, it is important that Stepinac continue on the path of innovative learning to ensure our students remain highly competitive at the post-secondary level, adding, The Honors Academy is the latest initiative that Stepinac has undertaken to accomplish that goal. It follows on the heels of the ground-breaking personalized blended learning platform including the first-of-it-kind all digital text book library that Stepinac launched three years ago, establishing our school as a standard bearer of curriculum innovation with educators across the nation and around the world.The mission of Archbishop Stepinac High School is to offer young men of the Archdiocese of New York a highly competitive academic and extracurricular program that will prepare them for college and leadership roles. The faculty and staff accomplish these objectives by pursuing excellence and creating a supportive, disciplined atmosphere with a strong sense of camaraderie and Christian values that is unique to the Stepinac experience. For more information, visit www.Stepinac.org.
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-- Fair & Square Imports is the only store in Texas hosting a Fair Trade Oriental Rug Event in 2016.Fair & Square Imports, a fair trade shop in downtown McKinney, is hosting a Fair Trade Oriental Rug Event, one weekend only February 4-7 that aims to change the way rugs are made and sold, featuring rugs that provide opportunity and security directly to adult artisans.Each of these amazing rugs accomplishes a lot of good. Through the artisan group Bunyaad,every rug purchase supports education, adult literacy, housing and more for over 850 families throughout Pakistan.Through Bunyaads Rug Program, several schools have been built to reach students in remote areas of Pakistan. Working with Bunyaad gives their mothers and fathers an avenue for true social change for themselves, their family and their entire community.Our artisans always know they have a job that pays them a living wage, a wage that allows them to send their kids to school, eat proper food and plan for the future, said Yousaf Chaman, Bunyaad Rug Program Director. Families are allowed to work at home, which allows for flexibility in schedule and increased employment of women.Fair trade allows artisans to take the time they need for quality and durability,said Fair & Square Imports owner Kate Jones. A fine hand-knotted Oriental rug can take many months to make, with some taking over a half a year to complete. The end result is an exquisite yet functional art piece for your floor that will last for generations.When Director Chaman was growing up in Pakistan, his mother used to yell at the children to stop playing on the floor and to get on the rug. She didnt want them to ruin the cement floor and she knew that her young children couldnt harm the Oriental rug!During the event, individuals can select from over 300 hand-knotted Oriental rugs in several different sizes, colors & designs including Tribal, Bokhara and Persian rugs from 2x3 to 10x14 and runners. Each rug is made of 100% wool or silk knots, most with considerably high knot counts.The Fair Trade Oriental Rug Event will be held at Fair & Square Imports, located at 219 E. Louisiana St. in Downtown McKinney, Feb 4-7: Thursday 106, Friday 108, Saturday 108, and Sunday 125.Visit www.fairandsquareimports.com/ oriental-rug- event to learn more.--Contact Name: Andrew Jones, OwnerCompany: Fair & Square ImportsAddress: 219 E. Louisiana St., McKinney, TX 75069Phone: 469-343-4421 (store); 219-246-6958 (cell)Email: info@fairandsquareimports.comWebsite: http://www.fairandsquareimports.com/ oriental-rug- event Pictures for Media: http://goo.gl/ w0ho0Q
RMI Corporation will be bringing their premier business management software, RMI ADVANTAGE, and a super show special to the ARA's 60th annual trade show, "The Rental Show" in Atlanta, GA

"The Rental Show's" 60th Anniversary

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-- On February 21through 24, the nationally recognized American Rental Association (ARA) will be celebrating the 60anniversary of their annual trade show, The Rental Show, at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, GA. RMI will be attending for the 14th time as a vendor, alongside hundreds of other companies, amongst thousands of attendees.The RMI ADVANTAGE Solution is the most comprehensive business management software designed for the equipment rental, sales, and service industry. RMIs cloud-based features include the Full Business System User, Mobile User, integrated Customer Portal, and Business Intelligence reporting. This system is a must-see in Booth 2940 at the 2016 Rental Show.RMI is always excited to see what a new year at The Rental Show will bring says Executive VP, David G. Richards. For 2016, we have a great show special that were eager to share with new and existing customers alike.With the vast majority of attendees coming with intent to buy, this years show in Atlanta promises to be yet another industrious one and hales the coming of a productive year for the rental industry.Founded in 1983 and headquartered in Avon, CT, RMI Corporation is the leader in Enterprise Rental, Sales, and Service Solutions for mid-market companies. RMI offers an industry standard solution that includes: software, implementation, training, consultation, support, and so much more to help clients maximize efficiencies and reach their full business potential. For more information on the ADVANTAGE Solution and RMI Corporation, please visit their website at www.rmiusa.com
For highest revenues, most clients overall from 100+ North American offices

Sean Fox

Contact

Tori Sutton

***@schooleymitchell.com Tori Sutton

End

-- Sean Fox came home with several accolades from the recent Schooley Mitchell Annual ConsultantsConference in Cancun, Mexico, including the top honor for being the most successful consultant in the Schooley Mitchell network of 100+ offices.The Cincinnati-based consultant received the Highest Billings Award for saving his clients nearly $4 million in 2015. He was also recognized for having the most clients overall.Once again, Sean has led the way amongst Schooley Mitchell franchisees,said company founder Dennis Schooley. The service and value he provides to his clients is outstanding. We congratulate him on his hard work and dedication to his business. Sean is an excellent consultant.Along with the prestigious awards, Fox also took home a Special Recognition Award for his inclusion on INC Magazines List of Americas Fastest Growing Companies for two years year in a row. His business experienced an impressive 99 percent growth during that time.For the last 12 years Ive had the good fortune to lead an incredible team of people dedicated to making telecom and merchant services easy to manage while ensuring that our clients dont pay more than what they should, said Fox. Clients we work with dont want to be in the cellular phone or credit card processing business so they trust us to give them objective advice on making the best decisions for their company.The recent honors celebrate Foxs continued success, which includes being a two-time finalist on the Cincinnati Business Couriers Fast 55 list of Greater Cincinnatis fastest growing companies in 2013 and 2014.Schooley Mitchell provides independent telecom and credit card processing cost reduction services to over 17,000 clients across North America. In addition to an average savings of 28 percent, Schooley Mitchell acts as a single point of contact for all telecom, cellular and merchant services account management. For additional information about Schooley Mitchells services, or to contact Sean Fox, call 513-683-8881, email sean.fox@schooleymitchell.com or visit http://www.schooleymitchell.com/ sfox
Media Contact

Leslie Allen

lallen@themarxgrp.com

615-378-1198 Leslie Allen615-378-1198

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-- VIPAR Heavy Duty is sponsoring a Northwood University student intern during Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week (http://www.hdaw.org/)(HDAW) 2016, Jan. 25-28 at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas.John Wilson from Ramsey, Minnesota is a senior in the aftermarket management program at the Midland, Michigan-based school and will actively participate with VIPAR Heavy Duty personnel in all HDAW activities. In addition, Wilson will help staff the VIPAR Heavy Duty booth #118, walk the show floor, shadow various VIPAR Heavy Duty personnel in sales, program management and marketing, and learn more about how the industry works including the role of distribution groups in the heavy duty aftermarket.We enthusiastically support programs like this with a mission of building the talent pool of future industry leaders, said Jeff Paul, director of marketing, VIPAR Heavy Duty. As a company that feels a responsibility as a steward of the industrys future, we are excited to participate in HDAWs internship program. An immersion program like this is a great mechanism for students to be exposed to all the opportunities available to them in the heavy duty industry.Donna Wagner, assistant professor and chair of the aftermarket management program at Northwood University said the HDAW intern program is an excellent way to expose Northwood University aftermarket management majors to all of the career opportunities available in the heavy duty aftermarket.Students get to learn about the industry, their sponsor company and gain real-world trade show experience all in four days, explained Wagner. Students attending HDAW end up being ambassadors for the heavy duty industry. In turn, sponsoring companies get to know potential new employees. Its an excellent example of how industry and education can work together.VIPAR Heavy Duty has been a longtime supporter of Northwood University and we are excited to extend our relationship with the school through the HDAW internship program, said Steve Crowley, president and CEO of VIPAR Heavy Duty.The HDAW internship program is a joint project of the Heavy Duty Manufacturers Association (HDMA), GenNext and Northwood University. Now in its second year, 21 students were chosen to receive scholarships to the 2016 program. Each company sponsorship covers their interns airfare, airport transport, hotel stay, meals and HDAD and HDAW registration.For more information on VIPAR Heavy Duty, visit www.vipar.com , or email: info@vipar.com VIPAR Heavy Duty is North Americas leading network of independent aftermarket truck parts distributors. VIPAR Heavy Duty distributors serve the needs of their customers from over 500 locations across the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and Mexico. VIPAR Heavy Duty distributors are specialists who understand the demands of their local, regional, and national customers for quality parts and exceptional service. For more information, visit www.vipar.com.
http://donpolson.blogspot.com/ Bringing you the very best information, analysis and opinion from around the web. NOTE: For videos that don't start--go to article link to view.
LONDON, January 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

UK car manufacturing reaches 10-year high, growing 3.9% to 1,587,677 vehicles.

More cars exported than ever before, up 2.7% on 2014 at 1,227,881.

Domestic production surges 8.1% to meet increasing demand for British-built cars.

British manufacturers made more cars in 2015 than any year since 2005 when 1,595,697 vehicles were produced, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). Production increased 3.9% on 2014, with output at 1,587,677 overtaking pre-recession levels for the first time.[1]

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160118/323200LOGO )



A record number of cars - representing 77.3% of production - were for export, with 1,227,881 units destined to leave the UK, up 2.7% on 2014. Challenges were experienced in some global markets such as China and Russia, but given the economic recovery in Europe, the UK's biggest trading partner has boosted demand for UK-built cars. In 2015, exports to Europe grew by 11.3%.

Meanwhile, production for the home market grew 8.1% on the previous year, with one in seven new cars registered in the UK in 2015 made in Britain.

Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive, said, "Despite challenges in key markets such as Russia and China, foreign demand for British-built cars has been strong, with record exports in 2015. This is down to vital investment in the sector, world class engineering and a committed and skilled UK workforce - one of the world's most productive.

"Continued growth in an intensely competitive global marketplace is far from guaranteed, however, and depends heavily on global economic conditions and political stability. Europe is our biggest trading partner and the UK's EU membership is vital for the sector to secure future growth and jobs."

UK automotive is performing very differently to overall UK manufacturing, where output has slowed recently according to Office for National Statistics figures.[2] Eight brand new car models[3] were produced in Britain in 2015, and with 2.5 billion of investment committed to the sector in 2015, more are set to follow.

UK car manufacturing Dec-14 Dec-15 % Change YTD-14 YTD-15 % Change Total 108,721 114,842 5.6% 1,528,148 1,587,677 3.9% Home 22,535 19,656 -12.8% 332,952 359,796 8.1% Export 86,186 95,186 10.4% 1,195,196 1,227,881 2.7% % export 79.3% 82.9% 78.2% 77.3%





Notes to editors

SMMT data, 2007: 1,534,567 ONS: http://bit.ly/1NfHj08 Bentley Bentayga, Infiniti Q30, Jaguar XE, Jaguar XF, Land Rover Discovery Sport, McLaren 570S, MINI Clubman, Vauxhall Astra.

About SMMT

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) supports the interests of the UK automotive industry at home and abroad.

The automotive industry is vital to the UK economy, accounting for 69.5bn turnover, 15.5bn value added, 799,000 jobs and 11.8% of total UK export of goods. More than 30 manufacturers are supported by 2,500 component providers and some of the world's most skilled engineers.

More detail available at http://www.smmt.co.uk/facts15.

Broadcasters : SMMT has an ISDN studio.

SOURCE The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders
CARDIFF, Wales, January 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

MIRA Technology Park, the UK's leading automotive Technology Park and UK Enterprise Zone, near Hinckley has today announced the latest international tenant to take up residency in bespoke full-service office suites on the site.

DriveRight, the leading independent supplier of international automotive, wheel and tyre data, founded 15 years ago, has established its UK R&D team and wheel and caliper consultancy within a secure and newly-finished building within the Technology Park.

DriveRight has been an integral part of the global automotive industry since 2001 and works alongside some of the leading manufacturers of wheels and tyres on an international level. The company recently announced plans to expand further, and the move to MIRA Technology Park (now part of the HORIBA MIRA group) is the first step in its expansion plan.

Richard Bailey, CEO at DriveRight, said: "We're very pleased to establish our R&D and wheel and caliper consultancy services at MIRA Technology Park. We have enjoyed successful business relationships with many of the leading manufacturers, not only within the wheel and tyre industry, but also major vehicle manufacturers - many of which also enjoy close links with HORIBA MIRA; something we consider very beneficial in our move to the Technology Park.

"We see MIRA Technology Park becoming the focal point for the automotive industry, and we hope the ability to collaborate with our neighbours also based on the Technology Park far more easily than before will open doors for all parties."

Terry Spall, Commercial Director at HORIBA MIRA, said: "DriveRight is a welcome addition to MIRA Technology Park, and we're delighted to see yet another international firm set up its R&D facility on the site. The team at DriveRight are already seeing the value in being based at the Technology Park, and are taking advantage of the extensive facilities and proximity to many OEM and Tier 1 R&D teams right on their doorstep; both key USPs for companies basing themselves at the Technology Park."

Since 2010, MIRA Technology Park has welcomed a number of globally-recognised businesses to the site, including Aston Martin, Bentley, GKN, Bosch, Continental and Goodyear, amongst others.

For further information, please visit http://www.wheelwizards.net or http://www.miratechnologypark.com .

About DriveRight

DriveRight is a globally recognised leading independent supplier of wheel and tyre specific data for the automotive industry and its aftermarket. DriveRight specialises in global tyre and wheel data solutions with data on more than 50,000 vehicles and fitment details such as original tyre and wheel sizes, offset, PCD and nut and bolt requirements. Operationally, DriveRight helps the automotive industry reduce training costs and potential rework and improves quality and management of inventory. DriveRight fitment data is regularly updated and is accessed globally over 8.5 million times every month supporting 8,000 customer websites, and it is used internationally by business partners such as eBay, Goodyear-Dunlop, Bridgestone, Momo, Oxigin, Nokian and OZ. DriveRight internationally supports projects promoting tyre safety. The company is also a member of the UK tyre safety organisation TyreSafe. DriveRight, founded in 2001, is headquartered in Cardiff, UK. CEO and founder is Richard Bailey. For more information visit: http://www.wheelwizards.net

About HORIBA MIRA

HORIBA MIRA Ltd is a world-leader in advanced engineering, research and product testing. Over 70 years it has grown into a truly international organisation with facilities located around the world. MIRA's work spans the Automotive, Aerospace, Rail and Defence industries and includes the development of ground-breaking low carbon and autonomous vehicle technologies. MIRA Technology Park was established in 2010 and has already attracted over 30 major global OEM's, Tier 1 and specialist automotive technology companies. In 2010 it was granted planning approval for its Masterplan which extends to a total of 1.75million sqft set within the 842 acre site. It has also been recognised by the UK government and was awarded Enterprise Zone status in 2011.



Company Name HORIBA MIRA Ltd. Address Watling Street, Nuneaton, Warwickshire, CV10 0TU, United Kingdom Founded 1st January 1946 Business domain Engineering Consultancy, Test Consultancy, Transport Technology Park Representative Dr George Gillespie OBE Web address http://www.horiba-mira.com

SOURCE DriveRight
LONDON and BOSTON, Massachusetts, January 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Today iTrinegy, the Virtual Test Networks, Application Performance Measurement and Application Risk Management specialists, has announced that it is expanding its channel program to help meet the demand for its solutions. Previously, iTrinegy had run a limited partner program, however, this has now been expanded into a full channel program across Europe, USA Middle East, Latin America and Asia Pacific.

"The decision to expand into a full channel program and engage with distributors and resellers around the world has been driven by the emergence of Application Risk Management and the market demand for our software and appliance-based Virtual Test Network (network emulation) and Network Profiling solutions", said Graham Wood, CEO iTrinegy. "As networked applications are integral to everyday life it is imperative that they are able to work over any network environment. Our solutions enable developers and businesses to test performance in real world network conditions, enabling them to get their applications to market quicker and more cost effectively.

Application Risk Management (AppRM) is a new and emerging process that helps software architects, developers and testers ensure they have properly assessed and managed risk throughout the application development and deployment lifecycle. It is a process for identifying, qualifying and mitigating potential failure and performance issues, from design through to the launch of the application. iTrinegy's solutions are critical to the successful execution of AppRM.

iTrinegy now has two categories of channel partners: Value Added Reseller and Authorised Resellers. Value Added Resellers will have a proven competency in AppRM and be recognised as experts in the use and implementation of iTrinegy's products and services, providing the highest level of service including consultancy, product deployment, training and support services. Authorised Resellers have entered into a contractual relationship with iTrinegy to sell its products and support services.

Wood continued, "Our new Channel Program offers our partners opportunities to increase their revenue and enhance the value they bring to their customers. Our partners are able to go to market with the industry's best and most comprehensive portfolio of Network Profiling and Virtual Test Network Solutions supported by first class technology and marketing support".

For more information about how to become an iTrinegy Channel Partner go to http://www.itrinegy.com/index.php/partners/partner-program or email us at partners@itrinegy.com.

About iTrinegy

iTrinegy develops products that enable organizations to address the whole Networked Application Performance Lifecycle  from initial design & development, through testing, QA, to production rollout and on-going performance monitoring.

Many leading organizations deploy iTrinegy technology including Alcatel, Aviva, BT, Boeing, Cisco, Fidelity Worldwide Investments, IBM, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, National Australia Bank, Raytheon, Thomson Reuters, Salesforce and Starbucks.

iTrinegy has offices in the UK and USA together with a network of specialist resellers. For more information, please visit http://www.itrinegy.com

Channel Programme Benefits

Authorised Value Added Benefits Reseller Reseller Brand Usage Y Y Deal Registration Y Y Product Discounts Y Y Sales Leads N Y Demonstration Units N Y Regular Communications Y Y Joint Marketing Campaigns N Y Pre-sales Support Y Y WebEx Training Y Y On-site Training N Y

Contacts:

James Harrison

James@touchpaper.uk.com

+44-7904-160-840



SOURCE iTrinegy
AURORA, Colo., Jan. 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- American Sentinel University launched a new a four-part blog series: 'The Nursing Shortage', available at http://www.americansentinel.edu/blog/2016/01/12/the-nursing-shortage-where-are-we-now/ as part of the university's 'The Sentinel Watch' healthcare blog examining the various aspects of the nursing shortage.

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The blog series discusses the question, "Is healthcare facing a serious deficit of RNs with advanced education? If yes, what are the key factors contributing to the shortage and what should be done to best address the issue?"

"Education has always been the cornerstone to career advancement in nursing," says Judy Burckhardt, Ph.D., MAEd, MSN, RN, Dean and Professor, Nursing and Healthcare Programs at American Sentinel University. "In today's dynamic healthcare landscape, there will always be a market for experienced and well-educated nurses."

Dr. Burckhardt believes that because industry forecasts influence health policy decisions, and nurses' career choices, it's important for nurses to understand the forces at play in today's healthcare job market.

'The Nursing Shortage' blog series will run through Feb. 2, 2016, and covers these important topics of interest for nurses:

-Where We Are Now: the current state of the nursing shortage and trends that will affect the coming years

-Experience Matters: how to get a job without experience

-Expanding the Education Pipeline: the role of education in meeting the demand for qualified nurses

-Factors-Affecting Supply & Demand: the role of each factor that impacts the demand for nurses in the workforce

"The increased emphasis on specialization may contribute to specific types of shortages in nursing," says Dr. Burckhardt. "For instance, trends stemming from the Affordable Care Act have created an increased demand for nurses with specialized skills in case management, informatics, nursing education, leadership, and infection prevention."

As employers seek to fill these specialized roles, they will offer appealing salaries and benefits to nurses with these skills sets, education, and experience. This may move seasoned nurses away from the bedside into these emerging roles, thus creating shortages in personnel who provide direct patient care.

To learn more about the nursing shortage and understand the forces at play in today's labor market, visit 'The Nursing Shortage' blog series on American Sentinel University's 'The Sentinel Watch' healthcare blog.

Learn more about American Sentinel University's accredited online Nursing programs (RN to BSN, MSN, or DNP) at http://www.americansentinel.edu/nursing or call 866.922.5690.

About American Sentinel University

American Sentinel University delivers accredited online degree programs in nursing (BSN, MSN, and DNP) and healthcare management (MBA Healthcare, M.S. Information Systems Management, and M.S. Business Intelligence and Analytics). Its affordable, flexible bachelor's and master's nursing degree programs are accredited by the Commission for the Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE), of One Dupont Circle, NW Suite 530, Washington, D.C., 20036. The DNP program is accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN) of 3343 Peachtree Road NE, Suite 850, Atlanta, Ga., 30326. The University is accredited by the Distance Education Accrediting Commission, DEAC, 1101 17th Street NW, Suite 808, Washington, D.C. 20036, (202) 234-5100, www.deac.org

For required student consumer information, please visit: www.americansentinel.edu/doe

Contact:

Renee Hewitt

Hewitt PR for American Sentinel University

845.382.9152

Email

SOURCE American Sentinel University

Related Links

http://www.americansentinel.edu


NEW YORK, Jan. 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital Asset Holdings, LLC, a developer of Distributed Ledger Technology for the financial services industry, today announced that it has raised more than $50 million in funding from a broad range of leading firms from all corners of the international financial ecosystem consisting of ABN AMRO, Accenture, ASX Limited, BNP Paribas, Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc., Citi, CME Ventures, Deutsche Borse Group, ICAP, J.P. Morgan, Santander InnoVentures, The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) and The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.

"These investments represent a tremendous endorsement of Digital Asset from banks, exchanges, settlement and clearing firms, central securities depositories, and market infrastructure and professional services providers," said Blythe Masters, CEO of Digital Asset. "Our strategic investors have come together from across the financial services industry to help drive global adoption of transformative solutions which enhance the vital services that they provide."

Launched in 2015, Digital Asset's mission is to improve efficiency, security, compliance and settlement speed while reducing costs through the implementation of Distributed Ledger Technology. Its products serve the entire financial ecosystem through the creation of tailored business logic applications using privately permissioned networks that employ a cryptographically secure and shared infrastructure. Digital Asset software has the potential to significantly improve post-trade processing efficiency and security, while reducing cost, latency, errors, risk and capital requirements.

Digital Asset also announced that it is expanding its Board of Directors to nine members. The Board will be comprised of Catherine Flax, Head of Commodity Derivatives and Foreign Exchange & Local Markets, Americas of BNP Paribas, Ashwin Kumar, Group Head of Product Development of Deutsche Borse Group, Sanoke Viswanathan, Chief Administrative Officer of J.P. Morgan's Corporate & Investment Bank, and Mike Bodson, President & Chief Executive Officer of DTCC, who will join Blythe Masters, Donald Wilson, Sunil Hirani, Cristobal Conde and an additional director who will be named shortly.

J.P. Morgan: "We are proud to be a lead investor in this round of financing," said Mr. Viswanathan of J.P. Morgan. "Distributed Ledger Technology has the potential to transform the way our industry does business, and we believe Digital Asset has the right talent and technology to make it a reality."

ASX Limited: Mr Elmer Funke Kupper, ASX Managing Director and CEO, said: "ASX believes that Australia can be a world leader in the development of innovative post-trade solutions. Our investment in Digital Asset represents a commitment to sizing the potential of Distributed Ledger Technology to reduce cost, risk and complexity for ASX's broad stakeholder base, including issuers, investors, intermediaries and regulators."

BNP Paribas: "In today's digital economy improving efficiency, security, compliance and settlement speed are key. BNP Paribas is excited to be partnering with Digital Asset and we look forward to working together to explore how this technology can help shape the future for financial services," said Olivier Osty, Global Head of Sales & Trading, Global Markets at BNP Paribas.

Deutsche Borse Group: "We look forward to working closely with Digital Asset and other stakeholders in this innovative technology. This relationship will leverage our ambitions to utilize Distributed Ledger Technology to bring effective solutions to our clients," said Carsten Kengeter, CEO of Deutsche Borse Group.

Accenture: "Early on, Accenture recognized the potential benefits that blockchain-enabled distributed ledgers could offer to the capital markets and wider financial services industry," said Owen Jelf, Global Managing Director of Accenture's capital markets business. "By investing in Digital Asset, we're working to help banks and other leading financial institutions around the world bring more efficiency to their front, middle and back office trading operations and unlock new revenue opportunities. We believe this is a technology that has the potential to dramatically change the financial services landscape."

Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc.: Tim Gokey, Chief Operating Officer, Broadridge Financial Solutions said: "The financial services industry is undergoing significant transformation and innovative technologies like Distributed Ledger Technology have the potential to usher in a new era of automation, efficiency, process reengineering and operational excellence across the financial ecosystem. We are delighted to be a strategic investor in Digital Asset and we look forward to continuing to build differentiated solutions that will help our global clients achieve their growth and operational goals."

DTCC: Stated Mike Bodson, President & CEO of DTCC, "Distributed Ledger Technology offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to re-imagine and modernize the industry's infrastructure to address long-standing operational challenges. This investment positions DTCC to play a leading role in fostering industry-wide adoption and helping to introduce the standards, governance and technology to support distributed ledger implementations. We look forward to working with our partners at Digital Asset to explore opportunities to improve upon the existing infrastructure in certain defined areas where automation is limited or non-existent and where the technology provides a clear benefit over existing processes."

ABN AMRO: Johan van Hall, member of the ABN AMRO Managing Board, said: "The participation of ABN AMRO in Digital Asset demonstrates our belief that new technology will play an important role in innovations in the financial system. It will be key to develop new products and services and to make global financial markets operate more efficiently in the interest of our clients. Digital Asset is uniquely positioned in this emerging technology."

Sandler O'Neill + Partners, L.P. served as Digital Asset's placement agent in the transaction, and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP served as Digital Asset's legal advisor in the transaction.

About Digital Asset Holdings

Digital Asset builds distributed, encrypted straight through processing tools. Our technology improves efficiency, security, compliance and settlement speed.

The New York headquartered firm has offices in San Francisco, Tel Aviv, Budapest, and recently announced the addition of a London office. Since launch, Digital Asset has sought complementary talent and technology by acquiring three companies. The new funding will support Digital Asset's continued expansion and enable it to better service its global client base.

Website: digitalasset.com

Media Contact: Brett Philbin - E: [email protected] T: 212-704-8263

SOURCE Digital Asset Holdings, LLC

Related Links

http://digitalasset.com


PHOENIX, Jan. 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Mosaic451, a bespoke cybersecurity services provider and consultancy, announced today that they have been named a finalist for the 12th Annual 2016 Global Excellence Awards in the Best Security Company of the Year (Services) category. These prestigious global awards recognize security and IT vendors with advanced, ground-breaking products and solutions that are helping set the bar higher for others in all areas of security and technologies. Winners will be honored in San Francisco on February 29, 2016 during the annual awards dinner and presentation.

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The Mosaic451 team provides key security services for government and private sector regulations such as FISMA, CIP, SOX, NIST and PCI. The majority of its senior staff and technical staff have held leadership and senior analyst positions in the DOE National Nuclear Security Administration's (NNSA) Information Assurance Response Center (IARC) in Las Vegas, NV; and NNSA's Office of Secure Transportation's (OST) Transportation and Emergency Control Center (TECC), which, among other things, are responsible for defending the US nuclear arsenal against cyber-attacks.

Mosaic Hybrid is an industry first solution, providing specialized staff onsite during business hours to work alongside current technology and security staff that may already be in place. The use of human understanding and intelligence coupled with their "converged view" of networks gives Mosaic451 the unique ability to empower security analysts to provide advanced data analysis and determine threat vectors, threat actors, and intelligent root causes for every incident.

By utilizing a hybrid approach, staff across the multiple Mosaic451 Security Operations Centers (SOCs) has the ability to view real-time security trends from every customer. It is only with this "world-view" approach that a security team can be effective, according to Mosaic451.

"We are proud to be recognized as one of the best security companies by Info Security Products Guide," says Mike Baker, Principal at Mosaic451. "Cybersecurity continues to be a critical issue that sees massive threats to both the private and public sector. Only through rethinking the way we approach security can we begin to make headway against the various actors who seek to do harm. Mosaic's unique hybrid approach ensures the best qualified personnel are onsite to maximize efficacy, and Mosaic's team includes professionals with qualifications second to none in the industry."

Learn more about Mosaic451 Hybrid at www.mosaic451.com.

About Mosaic451

Recently named 'Top 10 Managed Security Service Providers 2015' by CSO Outlook, Mosaic451 is a bespoke cyber security service provider and consultancy. Our organization has specific expertise in building, operating and defending some of the most highly-secure networks in North America. Unlike others, we are not peddlers of magic; technology alone cannot fully protect our clients' data, networks, or interests. Technology, if deployed correctly, is a force multiplier for intelligent humans. Mosaic451 aggregates and empowers intelligent humans in the service of information security and IT operations excellence for our clients.

For more information, visit www.mosaic451.com.

Media Contact: Sara Gardner, 1-888-317-4687 ext. 702, Email

SOURCE Mosaic451

Related Links

https://www.mosaic451.com


ENLARGE The U.S. military-run detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. PHOTO: BRENNAN LINSLEY/ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Obama administration in recent days has proclaimed a milestone in its efforts to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, after achieving its long-held goal of reducing the remaining population to fewer than 100 detainees. With the expedited release this month of 14 detainees, the total now stands at 93.

This is nothing to celebrate.

In reducing these numbers, the White House has freed dangerous terrorists and set aside military and intelligence assessments warning about the risks of doing so. The Obama administration has deceived recipient countries about the threats posed by the jihadists theyve accepted. And President Obama has repeatedly misled the American people about Guantanamo, the detainees held there, and the consequences of releasing them.

On Jan. 6, as part of the Obama administrations accelerated Guantanamo process, Mahmmoud Omar Mohammed Bin Atef was transferred to Ghana, along with another detainee named Khalid Mohammed Salih al Dhuby. Ghanas government portrayed the deal as an act of humanitarian assistance, likening the Yemeni men to nonthreatening refugees from Rwanda and Syria, noting that they were detained in Guantanamo but have been cleared of any involvement in terrorist activities, and are being released.

That description isnt true for either of the men. Mr. Atef, in particular, is a cause for concern. Long before his transfer, the intelligence analysts at Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) assessed him as a high risk and likely to pose a threat to the US, its interests and allies. (The JTF-GTMO threat assessments of 760 Guantanamo detainees, many written in 2008, were posted online in 2011 by WikiLeaks.) It is easy to understand the analysts worry about Mr. Atef. He was, they said, a fighter in Usama bin Ladens former 55th Arab Brigade and is an admitted member of the Taliban. He trained at al Farouq, the infamous al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan, participated in hostilities against US and Coalition forces, and continues to demonstrate his support of UBL and extremism.

Most ominously, the report warns that he has threatened to kill US citizens on multiple occasions including a specific threat to cut their throats upon release.

The obvious question: Why did officials in Ghana claim that Mr. Atef had been cleared? Perhaps because that is what the Obama administration led them to believe. Jojo Bruce-Quansah, the information minister at Ghanas embassy in Washington, D.C., told us that the U.S. government provided assurances that Mr. Atef was never involved in terrorism and presented little risk. If that assurance was not there, he said, there is no way his government would have taken the detainees.

How does the White House square the intelligence assessment of Mr. Atef with the assurances the administration gave Ghana? Myles Caggins, a spokesman for the National Security Council, wouldnt address that question directly, instead telling us that Mr. Obamas Guantanamo Review Task Force, which included officials from six government agencies, approved him for transfer nearly six years ago. Mr. Caggins declined to address the damning JTF-GTMO assessment.

But there is another problem with Mr. Cagginss explanation. The presidents Guantanamo task force, which finished its work in January 2010, didnt clear either Mr. Atef or Mr. Dhuby of involvement in terrorist activities, nor did the task force recommend their release.

The Obama administration is understandably reluctant to be forthcoming about the risks associated with closing Guantanamobecause the risks are significant. If the two detainees released to Ghana, or any of the 10 Yemeni men sent from Guantanamo to Oman on Thursday, return to waging jihad, they will hardly be alone among their former fellow detainees. According to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, 196 ex-detainees are now confirmed as, or suspected of, having returned to the fight; 122 of these recidivists are currently at-large.

Mr. Obama has failed in his effort to shut Guantanamo, in part, because Congress has blocked efforts to move the detainees to the U.S. mainland. For now, the president simply keeps shipping detainees elsewhere, reiterating excuses for emptying Guantanamo that are entirely without merit. To counter the Whites Houses inaccurate claims, let us review some basic facts:

 President Obama inherited a population of high-risk detainees.

In its leaked threat assessments, JTF-GTMO gauged the threat posed by each detainee, based on his intent and capability, and then divided the population into three risk categories: low, medium and high.

By the time Mr. Obama took office in January 2009, 240 detainees remained at Guantanamo. But nearly all of the low-risk detainees and most of the medium-risk ones already had been transferred or released. Of the detainees left, the joint task force deemed approximately 180 (or 75%) to be high risk. In other words: If released, they were likely to pose a threat to the US, its interests and allies. Fifty-eight (or 24%) were considered medium risk because they may pose a threat. Just two of the detainees (1%) were low risk.

Today, 93 detainees are held at the facility. At least 83 of themalmost 90%are high risk, according to the JTF-GTMO reports.

 President Obamas own task force didnt find any innocent goat herders or charity workers in Guantanamo.

Upon taking office, Mr. Obama created a panel to re-evaluate the detainees. The findings of the Guantanamo Review Task Force, which completed its work in January 2010, were broadly consistent with those of JTF-GTMO. The task force grouped the 240 detainees as of January 2009 into one of five categories: Leaders, operatives, and facilitators involved in terrorist plots against U.S. targets (10% of the detainees); Others with significant organization roles within al-Qaida or associated terrorist organizations (20%); Taliban leaders and members of anti-Coalition militia groups (10%); Low-level foreign fighters (55%); and Miscellaneous others (5%).

It is important to note that just because a detainee was designated low-level doesnt mean he posed little threat. Low-level fighters carry out suicide attacks, or they can graduate to more important roles. JTF-GTMO deemed many low-level fighters to be high risk for this reason.

It is often reported that a detainee has been cleared for release, implying that he is no longer thought to be a threat. This is not true. Mr. Obamas task force did not recommend that a single detainee be freed. Nor did the task force clear any detainees of wrongdoing. Instead, the task force used the phrase approved for transfer, meaning release from confinement subject to appropriate security measures. This key distinction is often lost.

The task force also placed 30 Yemeni detainees in conditional detention, meaning they were approved for transfer under certain circumstances, but not back to their home country unless the security situation there dramatically improved. Both Mr. Atef and Mr. Dhuby were placed in this conditional detention category. They were not supposed to be outright released, as Ghana claimed. Mr. Obamas task force envisioned that some sort of security assurances would be implemented in whichever country ultimately accepted the pairprocedures that often fail on the rare occasions that they are actually put in place.

 Detainees transferred by the Obama administration have gone back into the fight, and some have become senior al Qaeda leaders.

In many cases, the Obama administration relies on foreign governments to keep tabs on jihadists who are transferred. But the rising number of recidivists shows that, in practice, this is nearly impossible. As noted above, the intelligence community acknowledges that 196 ex-detainees are confirmed or suspected recidivists; that number is almost certain to rise as we learn more about detainees activities after being freed.

One notable example: In July 2010, Ibrahim al Qosi, a high-risk detainee who had served Osama bin Laden in a variety of roles, accepted a favorable plea agreement from military prosecutors. Two years later, he was transferred to his home country of Sudan. By 2014 he had joined al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which has repeatedly tried to strike the U.S. Last month AQAP revealed that Mr. Qosi has become one of its senior leaders.

Most of the Guantanamo recidivists were freed by the Bush administration. But by transferring Mr. Qosi and other high-risk detainees, Mr. Obama is repeating his predecessors mistakes. Under President Bush, dozens of high-risk detainees were transferred, including Said Ali al-Shihri, who helped establish AQAP in early 2009. He was killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2013. Mr. Qosi has effectively taken his place.

 Guantanamo is not a recruitment brochure for jihadists.

President Obama has repeatedly attempted to justify the transfers by describing Guantanamo as a major recruiting tool for Islamic State and al Qaeda. The existence of Guantanamo, the president claimed in 2009, likely created more terrorists around the world than it ever detained. At his year-end news conference in December, Mr. Obama called the prison a key magnet for jihadist recruitment. His administration has not offered any evidence to support this assertion. A careful review of jihadist propaganda reveals that it is simply not true.

We reviewed more than 200 videos produced by Islamic State and al Qaeda since 2014 and failed to find a single one that focused on Guantanamo. The 12 extant issues of Dabiq, Islamic States English-language magazine, contain only four references to Guantanamo. None of these mentions it in the context of recruiting. On the occasions that Inspire, al Qaedas English-language magazine, has mentioned Guantanamo, it has done so mainly to note that some of the groups most senior leaders were once held there. If anything, Inspire highlights the dangers of Mr. Obamas policy. Guantanamo has held far more terrorists than it ever created.

Mr. Obamas obfuscation is not limited to his specious claim about Guantanamos importance for jihadist recruitment. In an interview last month with Yahoo News, the president said he expected that a handful of detainees would return to the fight once freed. The bottom line, he said, is that the strategic gains we make by closing Guantanamo will outweigh, you know, those low-level individuals who, you know, have been released so far.

As the numbers from the Director of National Intelligence and the examples above make clear, thats simply not true. Nearly 200 former detainees have returned to jihad or are suspected of having done so, and they include senior leaders of al Qaeda and the Taliban.

In a quest to burnish his record by fulfilling a campaign promise to close Guantanamo, President Obama is courting a dangerous legacy.
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Dr. Jamie Guenthoer We are honored to continue our support of Dr. Guenthoer. She is a relentless worker and her passion shows in her work." Colleen's Dream President Billy Cundiff.

As part of their 2015 end-of-year funding strategy, Colleens Dream Foundation, with the help of the Tri-Cities Fever has gifted $5,000 to Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center to fund ovarian cancer research being conducted by Dr. Jamie Guenthoer, according to Colleens Dream Foundation President Billy Cundiff.

We are honored to continue our support of Dr. Guenthoer, says Cundiff. She is a relentless worker and her passion shows in her work. As an organization, we feel like she is a great fit with our mission and we are excited to see the results of her research.

Dr. Guenthoer says her research focuses on identifying new biomarkers for the early detection of ovarian cancer.

The goal of my research is to identify novel markers of ovarian cancer, she says. My aim is to detect the presence of a tumor earlier in progression, prior to dissemination, when patients have a significantly better prognosis.

She says early detection is the key to beating ovarian cancer.

One of the most significant factors in dictating prognosis for individuals with cancer is early detection, she says. Unfortunately, when it comes to ovarian cancer, only 15 percent of all cases are detected at an early stage, when the disease is confined to the ovaries. I believe that for ovarian cancer, there is a dire need to identify and develop novel tools to improve early detection, and I think those tools could make a significant impact on minimizing mortality.

Dr. Guenthoer adds her interest in fighting cancer is personal.

My interest in cancer research first came through personal experience, she says. My mom had breast cancer for eight years. That experience revealed to me that there is still a lot of ground to make up in our ongoing battle with cancer.

She says the gift from Colleens Dream Foundation is just that  a gift.

Having continued support from Colleens Dream Foundation allows me, as a young investigator, to make greater strides in establishing my career and to try to make an impact on this too often deadly disease.

Cundiff adds he is very appreciative the Tri-Cities Fever help in making this gift possible.

ABOUT FRED HUTCHINSON CANCER RESEARCH

At Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, home to three Nobel laureates, interdisciplinary teams of world-renowned scientists seek new and innovative ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer, HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening diseases.

Fred Hutchs pioneering work in bone marrow transplantation led to the development of immunotherapy, which harnesses the power of the immune system to treat cancer with minimal side effects. An independent, nonprofit research institute based in Seattle, Fred Hutch houses the nations first and largest cancer prevention research program, as well as the clinical coordinating center of the Womens Health Initiative and the international headquarters of the HIV Vaccine Trials Network.

Private contributions are essential for enabling Fred Hutch scientists to explore novel research opportunities that lead to important medical breakthroughs. For more information visit http://www.fredhutch.org or follow Fred Hutch on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube.

ABOUT COLLEENS DREAM FOUNDATION:

Colleens Dream Foundation started in 2012 and supports research for early detection and improved treatment for ovarian cancer. The story of Colleens Dream started in 2007 when Colleen Drury Nicole Cundiffs mother and Billy Cundiffs mother-in-law- was diagnosed with late-stage ovarian cancer. The family became aware of a new world that was filled with invasive surgery, harsh chemotherapy, and lots of uncertainty, and realized they needed to help others who were dealing with ovarian cancer.

Colleens Dream Foundation believes it is important to raise money for research that will lead to reliable early detection testing and improved treatment for ovarian cancer. Because so little is known about ovarian cancer in proportion to other womens health issues, there is an incredible opportunity for research and education.

Go here to find out more about Colleens Dream Foundation.

Colleen's Dream Foundation is a qualified 501 (c)(3) tax exempt non-profit organization based in Phoenix, Arizona.
WSTA 3/19/15 Data Seminar

The WSTA is pleased to welcome the following vendors to its 2016 Affiliate program:

Platinum: Akamai Technologies, Inc., BMC Software, Inc., EY, Qlik, and Xerox Corporation

Gold: illusive networks, Intralinks, Solstice Mobile, and Tekmark Global Solutions

Silver: Ciena Corporation, Citrix, NTT DATA, Inc., Telstra, and Time Warner Cable Business Class

Bronze: Pegasystems, QED National, Verizon Enterprise Solutions, and Xceed Group

The WSTA Affiliate Program is an integral component of the association. Affiliates contribute significantly to the WSTA by sponsoring educational and networking programs for WSTA financial firm members. These programs strengthen the bond between the WSTA members and companies that serve the technology needs of the financial community. Platinum Affiliates participate on the Content Advisory Committee to provide insight and direction on topics covered at WSTA seminars, roundtables, and panels, as well as in the Ticker e-Zine.

Profile

For almost 50 years, the Wall Street Technology Association (http://www.wsta.org) has provided financial industry technology professionals, vendors, service providers, and consultants forums to learn from and connect with each other. The WSTA facilitates educational seminars and networking events where members meet and exchange ideas and best practices that assist them in effectively capitalizing on technology advances and dealing with financial industry business challenges. Founded in 1967, the WSTA is a not-for-profit association with a long history of evolving to meet the needs of its members.

The WSTA hosts seminars, panel discussions, roundtables, and social events. These events offer many opportunities to stay on top of leading technologies, as well as network and share information with industry colleagues. The WSTAs quarterly educational Ticker e-Zine and LimeLight e-Newsletter provide additional content and information about the WSTA and industry-related activities. The website is a dynamic resource for keeping on top of the latest information and offers access to additional resources including white papers, blogs, videos, and information about other industry events.

Financial Firm Members

WSTA financial firm members are employed at banks, brokerages, hedge funds, insurance companies and other financial firms. The WSTA currently has about 2,400 members from over 50 different firms; 81% of the members hold senior titles such as CIOs, CTOs, Vice President, Director and Manager. The remaining 19% hold other titles such as analysts, engineers, architects, etc. The WSTA also reaches over 3,200 prospective financial firm technology professionals with information about educational and networking opportunities.

Affiliates and Sponsors

Affiliates and sponsors are an integral component of the WSTA. As a not-for-profit organization, they contribute significantly by providing the resources needed to run the educational and networking programs for WSTA financial firm members. These programs strengthen the bond between members and companies that serve the technology needs of the financial community.

The WSTA currently has approximately 100 technology firms that participate in the WSTA as an affiliate or sponsor. Companies that provide cloud, big data, mobility, security, software, infrastructure, networking, social, telecom and other industry-related solutions find the WSTA an invaluable forum to create awareness, educate and develop relationships with financial industry professionals.
70 acres of prime commercial land ready for development in Kalama Port of Kalama will begin development of the 70-acre Spencer Creek Business Park located north of Kalama River Road right off of Interstate 5.

The Port of Kalama Board of Commissioners has awarded a $1.1 million contract for the site preloading and ground improvement of the Spencer Creek Business Park. The contract goes to family-owned Scarsella Brothers Inc., a heavy civil construction company based in Seattle.

Preliminary work at Spencer Creek Business Park will include moving 250,000 cubic yards of sand from the North Port to the business park for filling, grading and compressing soil to make way for new commercial development. The site preload contract requires Scarsella Brothers to supply all labor, materials, tools, equipment, permits, testing, and project supervision. The project is scheduled to begin immediately and is expected to be complete by spring of 2016. General business activity at the Port will not be interrupted during this time.

The Port of Kalama will begin development of the 70-acre Spencer Creek Business Park, located north of Kalama River Road right off of Interstate 5. The facility will support a mix of light industrial, office, commercial and retail uses including:



Light industrial

Commercial/retail

Hotel

Convenience store

Dining

While East Port will be built out over many years, business park construction and operational activities are projected to support more than 1,000 jobs and millions of dollars in new local economic activity.

About Port of KalamaWhere rail and water meet

The Port of Kalama is located in Southwest Washington on the Columbia River and immediately off of Interstate Highway 5. The port exists to induce capital investment in an environmentally responsible manner to create jobs and to enhance public recreational opportunities. Port of Kalama's industrial area includes five miles of riverfront property adjacent to the 43' federally-maintained deep draft navigation channel of the Columbia River. The Port is served by the Burlington Northern/Santa Fe and Union Pacific railroads. There are over 30 businesses located at the Port of Kalama, employing over 850 people. Port of Kalama offers all the superior facilities businesses need to thrive, and an unsurpassed quality of life. The port offers shovel ready sites, a new Industrial Park, state of the art Marine Terminals and transportation accessibility to rail and highway all just a 30 minute drive to the Portland International Airport. Port of Kalama also offers high-bandwidth communications, with dual access fiber-optic service to Seattle and Portland. Properties currently available at the port for businesses wishing to expand and thrive: Visit http://portofkalama.com/available-properties/.

Contact: Liz Newman, marketing manager, Port of Kalama, 360-673-2379 or Claudia Johnson, PR, 503-799-2220.
Compassion child in Ecuador I'm thankful that, through Compassion, I can come alongside other moms and watch children in need have the opportunity to dream big with great hope for the future. Past News Releases RSS Forbes Names Compassion...

Compassion International Begins...

Compassion International Launches...

Three passionate blogging moms will travel to Ecuador, Jan. 30 - Feb. 4, with Compassion International to experience life among some of the worlds poorest children. Their tween sons will accompany the women on a six-day journey to the South American cities of Quito and Otavalo. The trip will reveal the real life stories of children enrolled in Compassions holistic child development-through-sponsorship programs.

To date, more than 7,800 children living in poverty have found caring sponsors through the efforts of Compassion bloggers. Each day, the mother-son duos will visit Compassion child development centers and nearby poverty-stricken areas in Quito and Otavalo. Through stories and captivating photos and videos, the writers will share their personal encounters with the realities of extreme poverty on their blogs:



Ashley Ann Campbell and son, Corbett, of Broken Arrow, Okla., blogs at ashleyannphotography.com/blog/.

Shannan Martin and son, Calvin, of Goshen, Ind., blogs at flowerpatchfarmgirl.com/.

Ruth Simons and son, Caleb, of Los Ranchos, N.M., blogs at gracelaced.com/.

"Once you become a mom, you no longer see a child as just a child. You see every child through the powerful lens of motherhood, said Campbell. I'm thankful that, through Compassion, I can come alongside other moms and watch children in need have the opportunity to dream big with great hope for the future. I'm equally thankful for all that wells up within my own kids as they forge relationships through the letters and pictures they exchange with kids from around the globe.

"As Compassion sponsors for almost a decade, we have watched our Compassion kids flourish despite hardship," Martin said. "The purity of their faith has shown us the fine line between suffering and hope, reminding us to lean heavy toward our need for Jesus. Though our offering is small compared to what we've gained, it's enough to widen our circle and make us all family. I'm so excited to see first-hand the redemption at work through Compassion in Ecuador."

Follow the bloggers trip at compassionbloggers.com/trips/ecuador2016/.

ABOUT COMPASSION INTERNATIONAL

Compassion International is the worlds leading authority in holistic child development through sponsorship. Compassion revolutionized the fight against global poverty by working exclusively with the Church to develop children out of poverty to become responsible, fulfilled Christian adults. It is the only child sponsorship program to be validated through independent, empirical research. Compassion partners with more than 6,900 churches in 26 countries to release over 1.7 million babies, children and students from poverty in Jesus name. Compassion has been awarded the highest rating for financial stewardship and transparency for 13 consecutive years by Charity Navigator, Americas largest charity evaluator. For more information on the ministry, visit compassion.com or follow them on Twitter at @compassion.
Center for Patient Safety logo This report strives to increase awareness, open dialogue, and promote actions to improve patient and provider safety in EMS.

A new report from the Center for Patient Safety (CPS) highlights the ten safety topics that will move EMS Forward in 2016. The emergency medical services (EMS) safety report was released this month in conjunction with the annual National Association of EMS Physicians conference in San Diego.

EMS, as a profession, is called to change in light of new laws and a changing healthcare system. To meet new expectations, the advancement of safety in EMS must be a focal point of EMS leadership across the nation.

The ten areas in the report reflect topics identified as risks to patient and provider safety as well as topics forecasted to be of greater concern in EMS in 2016. The report is not an all-inclusive list of safety concerns but rather a tool to complement current patient safety and quality programs and provide resources.

CPS is committed to improving safety and quality, said Alex Christgen, interim executive director. This report strives to increase awareness, open dialogue, and promote actions to improve patient and provider safety in EMS.

For more than 10 years, CPS has worked to improve safety for both patients and providers. CPS was one of the first organizations in the nation to be certified as a Patient Safety Organization (PSO), offering the benefit of protected sharing and learning with other EMS providers. CPS was also the first in the nation to provide EMS PSO services.

In collaboration with its EMS participants, CPS developed a data system specific for capturing the details of medical errors that occur in EMS care environments. The data from the PSO provides supporting evidence for the topic selections in this report.

The ten topics in the patient safety report will be combined with education and resources throughout the year to help every EMS provider move EMS forward in 2016 as well as the coming years. Upcoming webinars will be announced with subject matter experts who will address the 10 areas in the report.

CPS invites all providers to engage in the conversation further on social media to support the campaign. Join the #EMSForward movement and receive a free copy of the report at http://www.emsforward.org.

About CPS:

The Center for Patient Safety is a private, not-for-profit corporation dedicated to fostering change throughout the nations healthcare delivery systems and across the continuum of care. The Centers vision is a healthcare environment safe for all patients and healthcare providers, in all processes, all the time. Find the Center on Facebook and Twitter @PtSafetyExpert and @PtSafetyEMS

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Wellness Counseling Center, a continuing addiction treatment facility, has launched their new website and brand to better reflect their mission and improve client interaction. The new site allows clients to better understand Wellness Counseling Centers program offerings, distinguishing features and nurturing environment.

The new website boasts full-screen images, clean and simple layouts and a highly functional user experience. Its subtle design provides an unobstructed view of Wellness Counseling Centers mission, programs, facility and admissions process while successfully representing the organizations personality and values.

Wellness Counseling Center aims to restore the dignity of those suffering from chronic addiction relapse by removing the enabling behaviors that condone destructive actions and providing love and guidance that ends addiction, saves lives and puts families back together. Their personalized treatments reflect the unique needs of their clients and instill a sense of camaraderie and confidence where there once was loneliness and pain. Wellness Counseling Center helps men and women transition from residential recovery into their new, sober lives through treatment, education and tough love.

Through their new website and brand, Wellness Counseling Center hopes to touch the lives of even more men and women by rebuilding families and saving lives.

About Wellness Counseling Center

Based out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Wellness Counseling Center is a continuing care facility that provides addiction treatment to adults that ends chronic relapse by building true independence. With intensive outpatient, outpatient and sober living programs, they are able to provide a variety of levels of care to match their clients needs. Wellness Counseling Center specializes in repairing relationships, fostering personal growth and developing the life skills needed to live happily and independently. For more information, please contact Miriam Barkley, CEO, at (954) 593-7312 or barkleymiriam(at)att(dot)net.
I wanted to challenge the students to recognize and address the issues that modern pharmacy is facing and see if they could come up with informatics solutions to help address those issues.

KGI School of Pharmacy second-year students recently participated in a Shark Tank event. Industry guests were invited to serve as panelists and evaluate the viability of each team's pharmacy technology application pitch. The event was part of the PHAR 430 Introduction to Pharmacy Informatics class, taught by Associate Professor Armen Simonian, PharmD, assistant dean and chair of clinical and administrative sciences at the KGI School of Pharmacy.

The course in pharmacy informatics focuses on medication-related knowledge, data, and associated technology within healthcare systems and consists of the acquisition, storage, analysis, use, and dissemination of data to help provide safe, efficient, evidenced-based patient care. In bridging the gap between traditional and more hands-on learning, Professor Simonian decided he would create a competition that would require students to work in groups and create relevant applications that could address current gaps in technology and apply new technologies to the practice of pharmacy. This "App Competition," described as "Hackathon" meets "Shark Tank," was devised as an opportunity for students to participate in an active learning exercise and was introduced on the first day of class in fall 2015.

As Simonian explained: "Technology is changing so rapidly. We can introduce the current commercially available applications, but by the time our students graduate and start practicing, the technology landscape might look quite different. I wanted to challenge the students to recognize and address the issues that modern pharmacy is facing and see if they could come up with informatics solutions to help address those issues. We mentally stretched our students to employ recently learned management and informatics concepts and develop realistic business plans for developing and marketing their new applications. We created a real-world situation that translated into a meaningful and interesting learning experience."

As part of the competition, students were asked to develop app ideas as core informatics concepts were taught. The class was divided into 11 teams, each with six to seven students. The competition brought five industry leaders to KGI's campus to serve as "Sharks," judging the student presentations. Each team had five minutes to present their app idea and five minutes to respond to questions from the panel. Panelists then followed with an evaluation of each team using a standardized rubric. Based on the highest scores, teams were awarded first, second, and third place.

For students, the event was a welcome challenge. KGI School of Pharmacy student Ariana Ayon Verduzco explained: "Shark Tank is only one of the avenues in which professors challenge us to rise to the issues in pharmacy. This (competition) was a phenomenal opportunity for us to employ our creativity, work as a team, and be entrepreneurial. The classes leading up to the event were like a think tank where we exchanged ideas, offered feedback, and encouraged one another's creativity. Perhaps the best part of the project was engineering a solution to the world of third-party payer issues! Our app, inSUREassist, is a patient-centered multi-faceted application that puts patient's third-party benefits in the palm of their hands. I loved presenting our project and only wish we had more time to do more market research and enhance our product."

KGI School of Pharmacy Student Carolyn Woodside shared a similar sentiment: "The Shark Tank competition was an amazing opportunity for P2 Students. It was an exciting day that involved collaborating with my team to be creative and innovative in developing a new product and application. The event had been more than I had anticipated, and I am grateful to have been involved."

Results were as follows:



1st place: Team 9, 6 Essential Vitamins, MedITS

2nd place: Team 12, 12x (Rx), SpeakRx

3rd place: Team 7, Rx Scripts, OTCare

Full Listing of Teams:

Team 1, Alpha Blockers, PocketSurance

Team 2, Daily Dose, OTCme

Team 3, League of Extraordinary Pharmacists, InSUREassist

Team 4, DJHawks (Jocks), inSTARx

Team 5, Judgemoxins, SCANHealth

Team 7, Rx Scripts, OTCare

Team 8, KangaRxoos, Check & Protect

Team 9, 6 Essential Vitamins, MedITS

Team 10, Apothecary, SpecCheck

Team 11, Kapsulz Gone Intelligenz, MedTrac

Team 12, 12x (Rx), SpeakRx

Judge Panelists:

Paul Grand serves as the Managing Director at RCT Ventures and head of MedTech Innovator. Prior to joining RCT, Grand was co-founder and VP of Operations of Imagine Pharmaceuticals, which developed a platform to selectively deliver therapeutics and other compounds across the blood brain barrier. He was also co-founder and CEO of MicroSurgeon, which developed a microwave thermal ablation device for the treatment of solid tumors.

Donald Jones serves as Chief Digital Officer for Scripps Translational Science Institute and advises companies, governments and foundations on digital health. He is globally recognized for his expertise in wireless technologies, mobility and network effect for fitness, health and healthcare products, apps and therapies.

Leonard Lee is a program director at IBM Watson Health, and manages strategic partnerships and solutions for health and wellness. He is focused on deriving meaningful insights from our daily interactions with mobile devices, biosensors, and wearables. Prior to this role, he managed IBM's portfolio of software solutions for healthcare, life sciences, and defense, with responsibilities spanning strategy, mergers and acquisitions, and solution development. Along the way he has worked on healthcare portals, predictive medical systems, and drug discovery. In a past life he worked on interactive toys, data visualization, and other strange things at IBM Research. Leonard is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, where he researched pervasive computing systems, and virtual and augmented reality. He also studied computer science at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland.

Dev Mazumdar has been a serial entrepreneur and currently, the CEO of PacketBio - a medical devices startup focused on building Internet enabled medical devices and developing data analytics software to analyze massive volumes of medical data.

John P. Wareham served in several roles for Beckman Coulter, Inc., which include Chief Executive Officer, President and the VP of Diagnostic Systems Group. He also served as chairman of Beckman. Prior to joining Beckman Coulter, he served as the President of Norden Laboratories, Inc., a subsidiary of Smithkline Beckman Corporation. Mr. Wareham began his career with Smithkline in 1968 serving in a variety of positions spanning operations research, corporate planning and development and group finance positions in the ultrasonic and pharmaceutical businesses.

KGIs mission is to enrich society with breakthrough approaches to education and translational research in the life sciences. The KGI School of Applied Life Sciences is dedicated to education and research aimed at translating into practice the power and potential of the life sciences for the benefit of society. The School of Pharmacy is dedicated to the education of innovative pharmacists who will serve the needs of individual patients, the healthcare system, and the bioscience industry. Our program emphasizes interprofessional collaboration, systematic problem solving, the safe, efficient and ethical use of technology and biotechnology, and personalized patient care.
Revision Military, a world leader in protective eyewear solutions, has developed and patented a laser dye for a dual-band laser protective lens that blocks 99.9% of green laser energy and over 99% of the most powerful Near-Infrared (NIR) component of commercially available green lasers. Revisions patented dye is used in the companys new LazrBloc GF-8 Laser Protective Ballistic Lens. The LazrBloc GF-8 lens is a unique ballistic lens that blocks green laser emissions and the high-risk NIR energy that exists outside the visible spectrum. Importantly, this lens delivers greater visible light transmission and color recognition as compared to other laser lenses on the market, making GF-8 lenses ideal for day or nighttime use.

Around the globe, reports of lasers used against law enforcement officials, military personnel, and pilots have spiked in recent years. Lasers have been used against riot police in demonstrations as widespread as Canada, the U.S., Ireland, Thailand, Greece, Egypt, and Italy, to name just a few effected regions. The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) and BALPA (British Airline Pilots Association), among other worldwide aviation officials and agencies, have recorded dramatic increases in malicious and inadvertent laser strikes on commercial airlines as well. According to the FAA, for 2015, laser strikes on commercial aircrafts topped 6,624 reported incidents, up from 3,894 in 2014. And, BALPA has found that half of all pilots experienced a laser attack in the past 12 months. Two trends are increasingly clear: these occurrences are on the rise and are more organized.

We have always prided ourselves on our advanced protective eyewear solutions, said Jim Hester, Vice President, Optics at Revision, and this means identifying and adapting to new and more complex threats. Laser strikes are no longer just a military concern, they are an increasingly prevalent reality for many operating in the private sector. Revision is leading the way by providing an efficient and leading solution with the new LazrBloc GF-8 laser protective ballistic lenses. Hester notes that these new laser protective lenses, like Revisions previous eyewear successes in ballistic spectacles, goggles, and laser protection technology, are the result of rigorous and highly-developed design, engineering, and manufacturing processes that are constantly evolving in line with market needs. Accordingly, he adds that in this emerging industry, Revisions LazrBloc GF-8 laser protective lens is unmatched in its combination of ballistic protective properties, green laser blockage, Near-Infrared protection, and visible light transmission, striking an optimal balance in a single, remarkably effective, integrated solution.

Reports indicate that illuminations by handheld lasers are primarily green (91%) in color. The wavelength of most green lasers (532 nm) is close to the eyes peak sensitivity when they are dark-adapted, and green lasers appear brighter than other laser colors of equal power output. Inexpensive and easy to obtain laser devices may not filter and/or align the optics, or can be maliciously altered, contaminating the green laser with a potentially harmful NIR component at 808 nm. The human eye is highly sensitive and strong emissions of directed light containing hazardous wavelengths can cause permanent ocular injury in an instant. Revisions LazrBloc GF-8 laser protective lenses are designed to block this NIR wavelength, which is undetectable by the naked eye, while still maintaining superior light transmission, color recognition, and situational awareness as compared to other dye-based laser lenses. Revisions GF-8 lens formulation provides an interchangeable, situation-adaptable solution that can be manufactured for Revisions StingerHawk Spectacle System and Exoshield Extreme Low-Profile Eyewear, as well as for Revisions other Rx-compatible military spectacle and goggle lines.

Revision Military has long been at the forefront of ballistic laser protective eyewear. Hundreds of thousands of Revisions laser protective lenses have been sold globally over the last 10 years, including to the U.S. Army, U.K. MoD, Dutch DMO, Belgium MoD, the Canadian DND, Greek MoD, Swedish MoD, the German MoD, and the South African Air Force. Seeing the increase in the malicious use of green lasers to distract or blind law enforcement, military, and aviation personnel, among others, Revision set out to design the most protective and functional laser eyewear available. The LazrBloc GF-8 ballistic lens represents an elevated level of innovation in this field. Revision has tested the GF-8 laser lens in the companys Research & Development laboratory and has certified many of its lenses at 3rd party testing laboratories. Revisions in-house R&D, molding and coating facility ensures that the company is able to meet customers specific laser protective requirements. For additional information on this product and Revisions capabilities, or for purchase inquires, contact sales(at)revisionmilitary(dot)com.

ABOUT REVISION

Revision develops and delivers purpose-built protective soldier equipment for military use worldwide. The company, which began with eyewear, has expanded to face, head and torso protection as well as energy storage and power management products, continues to develop innovative capabilities for integrated, performance-enhancing soldier systems. To that end, Revision brings together the most advanced expertise, state-of-the-art facilities and finest technical minds. Privately owned and ISO 9001:2008 certified, Revisions operational headquarters is located in Essex Junction, Vermont, USA, with additional offices in Montreal, Canada, The UK, and Luxembourg. For more information, visit http://www.revisionmilitary.com, write media(at)revisionmilitary(dot)com, or call +1 802-879-7002.
Lucy Stem cell therapy provides a less invasive and less expensive alternative to joint replacement to get pets back on their feet and enjoying life

Dr. Hughes has been certified in Regenerative Cell Therapy by VetStem Biopharma since 2009. She recently opened OC Mobile Surgery and is now offering Stem Cell therapy for dogs and cats who suffer from orthopedic conditions such as osteoarthritis and tendon and ligament injuries. The therapy is performed by Dr. Joanne Hughes at local veterinary hospiatls in conjunction with VetStem Biopharma.

Dr. Hughes has been utilizing Regenerative Cell Therapy since 2009, using adult derived stem cells to treat patients at her previous clinics, one of those patients being Lucy, a 1 year old American Bulldog suffering from severe osteoarthritis in her hips. Lucys owners said their general practice vet said that on a scale of good to bad Lucys hips were horrific and that hip replacement may be the only option. They were worried about such an extensive surgery and consulted Dr. Hughes, a veterinary surgeon, for other options. Dr. Hughes suggested stem cell therapy and Lucys owners are glad they took her advice. At the time of the surgery, Lucy could barely walk around the block. Within 9 months of the stem cell injections Lucy was able to do things she had never been able to before. She could run in the dog park and play Frisbee.

Dr. Hughes started her mobile surgery service to provide orthopedic and soft tissue surgeries in general practice facilities. OC Mobile Surgery allows veterinarians to offer more complicated surgeries to their current client base without sending them to a referral clinic. Stem cell therapy provides a less invasive and less expensive alternative to joint replacement to get pets back on their feet and enjoying life said Dr. Hughes.

Stem cells are regenerative cells that can differentiate into many tissue types as well as being able to reduce pain and inflammation, thus helping to restore range of motion and stimulate regeneration of tendon, ligament and joint tissues (http://www.vetstem.com/science.php). In a study using VetStem Regenerative Cell Therapy on dogs with osteoarthritis of the hip joint, it was found that regenerative cell therapy (adipose-derived stem cells) decreases patient discomfort and increases patient functional ability.

Once a patient is identified as a good candidate for stem cell therapy the procedure begins with a fatty tissue collection from the patient. The tissue sample is sent overnight to VetStems lab in San Diego for processing. Once processed, the stem cells are quality checked and then injectable doses of the patients stem cells are sent overnight, back to Dr. Hughes. Within 48hrs of collecting a fat sample from a patient Dr. Hughes is able to inject stem cells into (arthritic or injured) affected areas and healing can begin.

About VetStem Biopharma

VetStem Biopharma is a veterinarian lead company that was formed in 2002 to bring regenerative medicine to the profession. This privately held biopharmaceutical enterprise, based near San Diego (California), currently offers veterinarians an autologous stem cell processing service (from patients own fat tissue) among other regenerative modalities. With a unique expertise acquired over the past 12 years and 11,000 patients treated by veterinarians for joint, tendon or ligament issues, VetStem has made regenerative medicine applications a therapeutic reality beyond the realm of research. The VetStem team is focused on developing new clinically practical and affordable veterinary solutions that leverage the natural restorative abilities present in all living creatures. The companys stated mission being to extend and enhance the lives of animals by improving the quality of recovery in acute conditions, but also by unlocking ways to slow, stop and ultimately revert the course of chronic diseases. In addition to its own portfolio of patents, VetStem holds exclusive global veterinary licenses to a portfolio of over 55 issued patents in the field of regenerative medicine.

About OC Mobile Surgery

OC Mobile Surgery offers surgery services for general practice veterinarians in Southern California (Orange County, North San Diego County, Riverside and Temecula Valley). Dr. Hughes is the surgeon and has extensive years in a general practice so she is familiar with the difficulties that can arise from referring patients out for surgery. She started OC Mobile Surgery to allow general practice veterinarians to serve their clients orthopedic surgery needs in their own clinics. Dr. Hughes has extensive training for surgery in orthopedic conditions and is a graduate of UC Davis. Dr. Hughes and her technician provide all the care and medications needed to perform the required surgery. Their approach is to work in the background as to not disrupt the regular flow of your practice. They offer Fracture repair, TPLO / TTA, soft tissue surgery as well as Stem Cell Therapy.

CONTACT INFORMATION

OC Mobile Surgery

http://www.ocmobilesurgery.com

Dr. Joanne Hughes

949-614-5005

ocmobilesurgery(at)gmail(dot)com
The United States Coast Guard Auxiliary ("USCG Aux") , Pompano Beach Flotilla 34, announced today the USCG Aux Flotilla 34 Public Education and Vessel Examination schedules for 2016.

Mr. Jim Lamb, Flotilla Public Affairs Officer, released the schedules to South Florida media via the Internet today.

"USCG Aux Flotilla 34 strongly encourages recreational boaters to take advantage of our public education classes and vessel safety inspections. Our Flotilla leadership is proud to to announce implementation of an outreach program in 2016 that will focus on promoting boating safety to area teens and young adults," Lamb said.

PUBLIC EDUCATION

USCG Aux "Boating Safely" classes are held on Saturdays from 9AM to 4PM at Imperial Point Medical Center, 6401 N Federal Hwy, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33308

The following are tentative dates for monthly Flotilla 34 Public Safe Boating Education classes in 2016:

Feb 13

Mar 19

April 16

May 21 (National Safe Boating Week)

June 18

July 9

August 13

Sept 17

Oct 15

Nov 19

VESSEL INSPECTIONS

The most cautious boaters can sometimes experience unexpected problems on the water. That's why the U.S. Coast Guard recommends that all recreational boaters, including personal watercraft and paddle sport users, take advantage of the no-cost Vessel Safety Check program every year.The courtesy Vessel Safety Check (VSC) is performed at your boat - whether in a slip, at the launch ramp, or in your driveway - by a certified Vessel Examiner, at a mutually-convenient time, and usually takes 30 to 45 minutes, depending upon the size of your boat. Boats that pass the examination are awarded a distinctive VSC Decal that alerts the Coast Guard, Harbor Patrol, and other law-enforcement agencies that your boat was found to be in full compliance with all Federal and State boating laws. Frequently, such agencies will not detain or board boats displaying a current-year decal that are otherwise operating safely. You are left with the peace of mind that your boat meets minimum safety standards and that in an emergency, you will have the necessary equipment to save lives and summon help. Finally, your insurance rates may be lowered - check with your agent.

Bi-weekly Vessel Exams will be held in 2016 at Alsdorf Park in Pompano Beach from 8AM to 12PM

January 9 &16

February 13 & 20

March 12 &19

April 9 &16

May 14 & 21

June 11 &18

July 9 &16

August 13 & 20

September 10 &17

October 8 & 15

November 12 & 19

For more information, email Flotilla34@uscgauxpublicaffairs.us or call Public Affairs Officer Jim Lamb: (305) 509-9034.

ABOUT USCG AUX & FLOTILLA 34

The United States Coast Guard Auxiliary is the volunteer, civilian arm of the United Stated Coast Guard. Our mission is to assist the United Stated Coast Guard by focusing on recreational boating safety. In essence we are your volunteer lifesavers. The four cornerstones of the Auxiliary are Member Services, Recreational Boating Safety, Operations and Marine Safety, and Fellowship.

See: https://www.uscg.mil/auxiliary/administration/aux-history.asp

Flotilla 34 is currently lead by Mr. Jack Dolye, Flotilla Commander and Mr. Bob Uleski, Vice Commander. The Flotilla performs many functions within the realm of boating safety, including, but not limited to: boating safety courses, complimentary vessel safety examinations, regular visits to marine dealers to promote boating safety, boating safety patrols and many community events to further educate the recreational boating public about safe boating. As a volunteer organization we are not all work and no play. One of the cornerstones of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary is fellowship. Our flotilla has a quarterly dining out event held at a different local restaurant where we have the opportunity to socialize and bring our guests to meet the members we serve with. In addition, we hold picnics and other social outings as well. If you would like to join the USCG Aux, please contact our public affairs officer.

See: http://wow.uscgaux.info/content.php?unit=070-03-04

ABOUT USCG AUX PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Public Affairs Directorate Mission Statement

The Public Affairs Directorate engages and communicates with the public and stakeholder groups. It encompasses creative services, public affairs, publications, training and Web services. The Directorate serves the auxiliary and active duty Coast Guard by developing and distributing stories, photos and video to members, the public, and promotes a positive image of the United States Coast Guard. It reaches the right audience, with the right message, using the right communication tools, at the right time. It builds awareness, understanding, credibility, trust, and mutually beneficial relationships with external publics with whom the Auxiliarys success depends.

See: http://wow.uscgaux.info/content.php?unit=a-dept
I am filled with hope and optimism for the future and the possibility of great medical breakthroughs coming out of this process.

Peer review advocate Barrett OConnor recently participated in the evaluation of research applications submitted to the Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program (PRMRP) sponsored by the Department of Defense (DOD). Ms. OConnor was nominated for participation in the program by the Hydrocephalus Association located in Bethesda, MD. As a consumer reviewer, she was a full voting member, along with prominent scientists, at meetings to help determine how the $247.5M for Fiscal Year 2015 (FY15) will be spent for the Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program and its 41 topic areas of research.

Consumer reviewers are asked to represent the collective view of PRMRP survivors and patients, family members, and persons at risk for the condition/disease when they prepare comments on the impact of the research on issues such as disease prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment, and quality of life after treatment. Commenting on serving as a consumer reviewer, Ms. OConnor said, "I am thrilled that hydrocephalus is listed as a condition under the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program and to have the opportunity to represent the hydrocephalus community in the peer review medical research process. I am filled with hope and optimism for the future and the possibility of great medical breakthroughs coming out of this process.

Consumer advocates and scientists have worked together in this unique partnership to evaluate the scientific merit of PRMRP research applications since 1999. To date, over 180 consumer reviewers have served on Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program panels alongside scientists in the review process. Colonel Wanda L. Salzer, M.D., Director of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP), expressed her appreciation for the perspectives of the consumer advocates in the scientific review sessions. The Consumer Reviewers on each panel are instrumental in helping the scientists understand the patients perspective and provide valuable insight into the potential impact of the proposed project. They bring with them a sense of urgency and remind all of the human element involved in medical research.

There was approximately eleven hundred (1,100) research applications reviewed for PRMRP 2015 fiscal year funds. Scientists applying propose to conduct innovative research aimed at addressing pressing needs of research in one of PRMRP 41 program areas. The DOD CDMRP PRMRP fills important gaps not addressed by other funding agencies by supporting groundbreaking, high-risk, high-gain research while encouraging out-of-the-box thinking.

More information about the Department of Defense Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program is available at the Website: http://cdmrp.army.mil. More information about hydrocephalus is available at the Hydrocephalus Association Website: http://www.hydroassoc.org.
The 10th Class includes the 100th Rabbi of the Jewish Spiritual Leaders Institute It matters to us. When we do it from the heart, we get it right.

Jewish Spiritual Leaders Institute (JSLI), the Online Rabbinical School of Sim Shalom, concluded a milestone ordination weekend on January 17th in Delray Beach, Florida, as it ordained nine new Rabbis and celebrated the diversity of the paths travelled by its new and past clergy and the pluralism of Jewish Universalism.

The nine Rabbis, who fulfilled a spiritual calling from across the United States, completed traditional Rabbinic studies deep in Jewish history, Judaic texts, prayer and Rabbinic Law with a nod to the future. The JSLI classroom was held solely online with Torah parsha studies and weekly video conferencing led by JSLI Dean, Rabbi Steven Blane. Each Rabbi was granted semicha by the Bet Din as part of the festivities. The Certificate of Ordination confers the Rabbinical authority to offer pastoral care, interpret Jewish law, lead services and perform the myriad of Jewish life cycle blessings.

The ordination was a joyous weekend which melded blissful music, accompanied by the guitar of Rabbis and Cantors, and lively discussion by the participants. Also celebrated was the commitment of JSLI and the clergy to inclusiveness; the students came from Conservative, Orthodox, Reform, and Reconstructionist backgrounds. The Rabbis adhere to the world view of acceptance, demonstrated by the JSLI tenet that Rabbis should be permitted to marry outside their Jewish faith, a controversial issue in many Jewish communities.

The music harmony performed throughout the weekend reflected the wholeness of JSLI's doctrine. The 10th class of Rabbis included two Jews of color, two Cantors, and one Jew by choice. They hailed from California, Illinois, Florida, New Jersey, Wisconsin, New York, Massachusetts, and Kentucky. The retreat incorporated Sim Shalom's weekly Friday Shabbat service where the global online Sim Shalom community was able to participate and interact via the chat feature. The congregants both present and virtual were led in musical prayer and treated to beautiful Cantorial solos by the soon-to-be ordained Cantors and a meditation inspired by the renowned late Rabbi Joseph Gelberman, a mentor to Rabbi Blane. Using symbolic water, all were asked to bring water to their eyes so that they may only hear the truth, and to their mouths to only speak of love and joy. Rabbi Richard Perlman, who was part of the Bet Din, expressed it this way "It matters to us. When we do it from the heart, we get it right."

The new clergy were challenged to continue their journey to spread their light.

About Sim Shalom & JSLI

Sim Shalom is an interactive online Jewish Universalist synagogue which is liberal in thought and traditional in liturgy. Created in 2009 by Rabbi Steven Blane on Manhattan's Upper West Side, Sim Shalom offers a means of connecting the unconnected. Rabbi Blane leads accessible and short Kabbalt Shabbat services every Friday night using a virtual interface and, additionally, Sim Shalom provides online education programs, Jazz concerts, conversion and life-cycle ceremonies along with weeknight services at 7:00PM EST led by Rabbis and students of this online community.

Rabbi Blane is also the founder and director of the Jewish Spiritual Leader's Institute, the online professional rabbinical program.

Sim Shalom, a non profit 501  (3) tax-exempt organization, nurtures a Jewish connection through its mission of innovative services, creative education and dynamic outreach to the global community.

For more information, email us spiritualleaders(at)gmail.com or call 201-338-0165..
EKOOR Proximity Beacons "Eco-Friendly Proximity Beacons to Reduce Home Energy Costs "

EKOOR, a Green Energy Promoter in IoT, has launched a series of Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons that are aimed towards many applications including smart home automation. The Beacons are primarily powered by ambient light and need no battery swap for many years. EKOOR is currently running a Kickstarter campaign to support the production of these beacons in what would be an effort to keep the units market price as low as possible.

What are Proximity Beacons?

They are small Bluetooth low energy devices that broadcast small radio signals known as iBeacon or eddystone which many smart phones can pickup and interpret information, such as the approximate distance to the Beacon. Knowing such proximity information opens up possibilities to a whole new set of applications including smart home automation and proximity advertising to name a few.

Proximity Intelligence to Smart Homes?

Beacons can provide an additional proximity intelligence layer to smart homes to activate/deactivate devices depending on someone's presence with their smart phone in different regions in a home. Such automation could also save energy costs by activating smart devices when the occupants really need them.

EKOOR Beacons can now be combined with the Beecon IOS App from Beaconsandwich or BeaconThigs App from Samsung Smartthings, to control literally any smart home device automatically depending on someone's presence in different regions in a home.

Eco-Friendly Beacons:

The Beacons themselves are Eco-friendly as they harness indoor light through a highly efficient photovoltaic cell to power the Beacon. An additional backup battery is in place when sufficient lighting conditions are not available for a long time.

With EKOOR proximity beacons relying on ambient light, they go around the complexity of having to change batteries every one or two years. While such a battery change might be trivial to a home owner in a home automation product, EKOOR believes its innovation will make life simpler to many IoT verticals that can have a large network of such devices. The cost savings of such large deployments will be significant. On another angle why not green energy, when it is possible with todays technology.

Longest Lifespan in the Industry:

According to Gayan Gamage, EKOORs CEO and founder, the proximity beacons ability to transmit multiple protocols such as iBeacons and eddystone together under ambient light conditions makes EKOOR Beacons superior than any other Beacons in the market in addition to having many years of lifetime.

Multiple Beacon Types:

EKOOR beacons come in two varieties. EKOOR-B beacons suitable for short ranges (up to 50m) and EKOOR-LR that are suitable for long range deployments. By combining these powerful beacons with an equally smart and adaptable management and developer platform, EKOOR has managed to come up with a system that will not only allow lights in living rooms to activate when occupants arrive, but also power strategic advertisement and collect vital business intelligence in large indoors like shopping malls and retailers etc.

Order a pack of Eco-friendly Beacons today and see what proximity intelligence can do to smart homes by visiting the campaign and selecting a pledge. The Beacons are scheduled to ship by end of April 2016.

For more information, visit Kickstarter or email info(at)ekoor(dot)io
Singled out for 'Outstanding Chromatic Harmony and Use of Color'

iDogi 2015 International Architecture and Design Award in Venice, Italy has honored artist and designer Stef-Albert Bothma for his outstanding contribution to architecture and design.

As a classically educated pianist holding a Doctorate in Music, it is no coincidence that the iDogi jury, consisting of international experts and scholars on classic architecture and design, singled him out for Outstanding Chromatic Harmony and Use of Color.

Dr. Bothmas knowledge of harmony, proportion, composition, balance, and color combination is a major influence and is uniquely prominent in his work. iDogi saluted Stef Albert for the creation of a diplomatic embassy in Classical Style, which he conceived from the ground up, from structure through every last architectural and decorative detail. The expansive residence was built using the finest materials and state- of-the-art technology and security to house a vast collection of art, antiquities and period furnishings. Designed with the main aim of diplomatic entertaining, the end result is classic, timeless and uniquely Stef Albert.

iDogi presented Dr. Bothma with a precious, hand-blown Venetian glass egg decorated and painted by hand with the winged lion, a Venetian symbol of creative mastery.

Stef Albert offers comprehensive design and project management services to clients in the private and corporate sectors. From pre-construction planning to renovation and refurbishment of existing spaces, Stef Albert works with clients worldwide to create and enhance exceptional spaces. Originally hailing from South Africa, Stef Albert is based in New York and has completed projects across the US and around the globe, including Los Angeles, Montecito, New York, Reno, Seattle, Aix-en-Provence, Dubai, London, Morocco, Moscow, Paris, Rome and Singapore. To find out more, please visit http://www.stefalbert.com

Media Inquiries:

Leslie Davidson

contact(at)stefalbert(dot)com

(212) 726-2167
Atif Malik, M.D., Sandeep Sherlekar, M.D, and Said Osman, M.D. just returned from a humanitarian mission to provide medical care and consultation to Iraqi hospitals. Dr. Hayder Al -Hamzawi of Definitive Care invited the American Spine physicians to Erbil, Iraq. Dr. Al-Hamzawi is an Iraqi physician whose family owns a number of hospitals in the Middle East and Iraq. Dr. Al-Hamzawis company, Definitive Care, works closely with the Ministry of Interior of Iraq to help Iraqi hospitals find specialists who can help provide much needed specialty care to patients with complex medical conditions.

Since the end of the Iraq war, the country has been on a mission to build up the health care industry and provide care to patients affected by disease and disability. Dr. Al-Hamzawis area of interest has been to establish a world class spine and orthopedic specialties clinic. We have been working with doctors from local countries in South Asia. However, having American doctors come to Iraq to help us with minimally and less invasive surgeries of the spine has been our main goal. We are very excited to work with the American Spine team, especially Dr. Malik, Dr. Sherlekar and Dr. Osman. It really is a great honor. said Dr. Al-Hamzawi.

We just didnt know what to expect when we started communicating with Dr. Al-Hamzawi and obviously our colleagues and families were very concerned about us going to Iraq," said Dr. Said Osman.

"We arrived in Erbil, Iraq and saw that this is nothing like we imagined. There are new buildings going up everywhere and people really are working hard to establish a modern Iraq. However, the healthcare situation is still in its infancy," says Dr. Sherlekar.

"Since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, there has been a mass exodus of doctors from Iraq. People often cannot receive the medical care they need, forcing them to seek treatment elsewhere in nearby countries including India, Iran, Turkey, Germany and Pakistan. For many, the answer is found in the Kurdistan Region, which lies about 350 kilometers north of Baghdad and remains violence-torn Iraqs only oasis of calm and economic growth even though the situation seems to be changing for the better overall," explains Dr. Al-Hamzawi.

There are very few doctors and many patients, so we must wait a long time to get treatment, which is a big problem if you have an emergency," explains Omar Ali, a friend of an ill patient who has traveled to Kurdistan from Baghdad. Mrs. Jalalvand, a nurse at the Turkish Private Hospital, said some patients end up in critical condition by the time they reach Erbil. Dr. Al-Hamzawi says, We dont want patients to leave Iraq for treatment, for example to Turkey, Jordan, India or other countries. Erbil is much closer for patients when they need treatment immediately and we want to build a coalition with world class doctors to come here and treat patients while helping us establish a state-of-the art healthcare system. 

While there are many excellent and experienced resident doctors in the Kurdistan Region, specialists are brought in from other countries when needed for difficult cases, which helps make it easier for patients to remain in Iraq for comprehensive care.

"We saw some very interesting cases in Erbil," Dr. Malik explains. We treated children and adults with blast injuries resulting in spinal cord paralysis, cerebral palsy, spinal disc herniations, severe osteoarthritis, sequelae from trauma and even rare conditions including aplasia of the cervical spine. Many of these patients have had very rudimentary care and they are eager to be evaluated by American doctors. We are told that most of the patients have traveled from all over Iraq and some from Syria to get medical care. What is most heart-breaking is when we see injuries where there is either no treatment or those that require complex interventions which are not available at the present time in Iraq,"

American Spine doctors intend to work with Dr. Hayder Al-Hamzawi of Definitive Care to establish a center of excellence in spinal care in Iraq. Drs. Malik, Sherlekar and Osman will be working closely in the weeks and months ahead to help Definitive Care acquire the latest equipment and will then begin building a team of doctors who are experts in minimally invasive and endoscopic surgeries of the spine to travel to Iraq to treat patients and train their staff of doctors.

For more information on American Spine news please visit our website http://www.americanspinemd.com or call #240.629.3939 to schedule an appointment.

Or for personal attention, please contact Laurie Pantezzi of American Spine, 301.471.4795 or laurie(at)americanspinemd(dot)com.
Insurance Business America recently named Kathy Post, Owner, Agent, and CEO of Post Insurance in Port St. Lucie, as one of the Top 40 insurance professionals in the country.

This Elite Women in Insurance Award acknowledges Posts exemplary leadership, expertise and commitment to insurance. During her 30-year career, Post has met the insurance challenges that come with weather, population shifts, and the creation of new industries. Thirty years ago, my business customers didnt need to worry about things like cyber-liability or drone protection. But today I regularly build insurance packages to include these important protections, says Post. She's also a leading residential insurance agent, advising customers on home, car, boat, and recreational vehicle protections.

In addition to staying on top of emerging threats, shes also in-tune with the multi-national residents and businessowners moving to Florida. She has a multi-lingual employee fluent in English, Portuguese, and Spanish dedicated to helping these clients.

Post regularly serves on advisory councils of insurance companies she represents. When Im at the table with the insurance companies, its the faces and names of my customers that are foremost in my mind. Im proud to be their voice, says Post.

Founded in 1979, Post Insurance offers residential and business insurance from a range of high-quality insurance companies for every need and budget. For more information about Kathy Post and the Elite Women in Insurance, visit http://www.ibamag.com/rankings/elite-women-2015/kathy-post-25124.aspx; or http://www.InsureWithPost.com.

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From Rape Survivors to artists, this album represents how our music therapy program contributes significantly to results in our overall holistic healing model, as envisioned by Dr. Denis Mukwege.

The Panzi Hospital and Foundations and Make Music Matter, with support from the Humanitarian Innovation Fund released the second album from their joint music therapy program today. "My Body is Not a Weapon" (francais: Mon corps nest pas une arme) presents a vivid and compelling voice for the artists who began their journey at Panzi Hospital as patients, many of whom are survivors of sexual violence.

Make Music Matter CEO Darcy Ataman said, "I am immensely excited to share the second album from our music therapy program at Panzi. We are proud to witness the patients transform into artists. Through this program we witness the inherent healing power of music."

The title track, "My Body is Not a Weapon" features Swedish musician and rapper, Timbuktu, who spent time at Panzi Hospital and worked directly with participants in the music therapy program, and visited with Sweden's PMU, one of Panzi's partner organizations.

Naama Haviv, Executive Director of Panzi's USA Foundation focused on the power of the program not only for the patients, artists, and Panzi staff but also "how the impact of this program will strengthen the fabric of families and communities."

Haviv continued, "This program contributes significantly to results in our overall holistic healing model, as envisioned by Dr. Denis Mukwege. Medical treatments, followed by psychosocial care and innovative therapies like music therapy, and the literacy and vocational training, microfinance, legal assistance, and other components we provide, heal so much more than one person. The music from this program is more than inspiring. It's life affirming."

Make Music Matter's Ataman noted the impact could be felt at community concerts held at Panzi, where the artists performed on two separate occasions. "Being in the room, witnessing their resilient strength and sharing in that moment for them as artists, reinvigorates the program and renews all our spirits."

The copyright for all lyrics and music are held by the artists who have given the Panzi Hospital and Foundations and Make Music Matter permission to share and disseminate the songs on their behalf. The music is available on Soundcloud, and at http://panzifoundation.org. Lyrics and production information may be found at http://panzifoundation.org/media, and will be provided upon request. Additional information regarding the Panzi Hospital and Panzi Foundation DRC may be found at http://panzihospital.org and http://www.fondationpanzirdc.org.
Ideal Credit Union has paid over $2 million dollars back to its members through its award-winning VIP Program. The VIP Program is designed to encourage members to bring all of their accounts to Ideal Credit Union, and when they do, Ideal rewards their loyalty by paying an annual VIP dividend. - Brian Sherrick, Ideal CU President/CEO

Ideal Credit Union has returned 11% of its 2015 earnings to members through its exclusive VIP Program, the fourth consecutive year for the generous payout to VIPs. Ideal is the only credit union in Minnesota offering this type of rewards program, believed to be the first of its kind in the state.

The VIP Program rewarded 14,917 Ideal CU members with cash dividends between $5 and $605. The dividends were automatically deposited into members savings accounts in January 2016. A total payout of $528,935 was returned to Ideal CU members as a result of the VIP Program. In addition, 3,759 members achieved VIP Plus status, which entitles them to a variety of perks and cost-savings benefits throughout the year. In the past four years, Ideal CU has paid out over $2 million to VIP members since the programs inception in 2012.

The VIP Program is designed to encourage members to bring all of their accounts to Ideal Credit Union, and when they do, Ideal rewards their loyalty by paying an annual VIP dividend, said Brian Sherrick, Ideal CU President/CEO. Throughout the year, our staff works with members to help them identify opportunities to grow their relationship with us and ultimately increase their payout.

The payout to members was calculated based upon several factors. Those members who had a personal Ideal checking account and conducted a set number of transactions in 2015 received a $5 payout. Some members also received a Deposit Bonus Dividend based on their average deposit balances throughout the year, while others earned a Loan Rebate Dividend, calculated on the amount of interest paid in 2015. Many members were eligible for more than one reward based on qualifying relationships. The highest amount paid to a member in 2015 was $605.

Last fall, Ideals VIP Program was selected the winner of the OnApproach Big Data & Analytics first ever Credit Union Industry Analytics Best Practices Competition.

Founded in 1926, Ideal Credit Union is a member owned financial institution that specializes in providing excellent member service, great rates and convenience. Ideal CU offers a complete range of services, including a full suite of electronic banking products, savings, checking, loans, mortgage, exclusive VIP member payback, business services, investment services and more. Visit http://www.idealcu.com for details and locations.
The Commission has confirmed today the members of the Industry Advisory Group (IAG), linked to the EU Energy Platform.
We are so pleased to be partnering with the YWCA Columbus. Many of the women who live there are recovering from mental illnesses. Creating a space that is warm and comfortable will enhance their environment and have a positive influence on their recovery.

Melissas House, a non-profit organization whose mission is to create comfortable, nurturing environments for adults living with mental illness, has joined forces with the YWCA Columbus to announce a significant grant agreement. Melissas House has pledged $100,000 to help transform the Griswold Building, the YWCA Columbus downtown home at 65 S. 4th Street. The Melissas House grant will be used to renovate a third-floor residential lounge, which will have a major impact on the lives and families of more than 90 women living in the buildings residences.

We are so pleased to be partnering with the YWCA Columbus,  said Jeff Knupp, Melissas House Chairman of the Board. Many of the women who live there are recovering from mental illnesses. Creating a space that is warm and comfortable will enhance their environment and have a positive influence on their recovery.

Since 1986, the YWCA Columbus has provided affordable housing for women in transition. Last March, work began on the YWCAs $20 million renovation plan to update the Griswold Building and create efficiency and one-bedroom apartments.

Melissas House has restored hope for so many women in this community who struggle with mental illness, said Elfi Di Bella, President and CEO of the YWCA Columbus. Were honored that the organization is bringing its healing environment to our women residents, and we look forward to the positive impact this will have on them.

The Melissas House Residential Lounge is expected to be completed by July 2016.

In the meantime, Melissas House is wrapping up its work at the Briggsdale Residence in southwest Columbus. Here, enhancements are focused on the kitchen, dining area, lounge, and outdoor gathering space, as well as the construction of a new fitness center. Laurel & Wolf, the leading online destination for professional interior design services, generously donated its services to this project.

Tweet This: Pleased to collaborate w @YwcaColumbus. Our grant will create comfortable lounge for YWCA residents & their guests. http://tinyurl.com/ho8evqt

About Melissas House

Melissas House is committed to creating loving and welcoming living spaces for adults living with mental illness. We collaborate with organizations to renew existing residences with enhancements that positively impact the well being of those who live and work there. Creating comfortable, nurturing environments advances healing and recovery while restoring hope. Please visit http://www.melissashouse.org.

About YWCA Columbus

For more than 128 years, YWCA Columbus has served our community  from advocating for child labor laws to advancing civil rights and womens rights. This historic Griswold Building in downtown Columbus has become a hub of advocacy since opening in 1929  serving as a place for thousands of women who have found opportunities to grow and make an impact in the Columbus community. Please visit http://www.ywcacolumbus.org or more information.
AssuredPartners The passion and devotion of these three individuals is unsurpassed as they are truly insurance professionals. said Jim Henderson, CEO of AssuredPartners, Inc.

AssuredPartners, Inc. has announced three platform agency Presidents have been promoted to roles within AssuredPartners, Inc. as Regional Presidents. These individuals have proven their leadership abilities within their own organizations and will now take on corporate and regional responsibilities.

Randy Larsen, Assured SRA Platform President

Randy joined Schifman Remley Associates, now Assured SRA, in 1998 and became an agency partner in 2007. Before assuming a leadership role in the agency, Randy served as Sales Executive.

Prior to joining Schifman Remley Associates, Randy spent 14 years in the banking industry in commercial lending. Randy began his banking career with American National Bank in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Randy will oversee the Central States operation for AssuredPartners in his new role. The growing Central States Platform currently consists of offices in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, and Missouri.

Kyp Ross, Dawson Insurance Platform President

Kyp began his career at Dawson Companies in April of 1997 as a Producer. Since that time he has become the largest producer of commissioned income within the Dawson organization. Kyp was named Vice President of the Construction Division in 2002 and then President of Dawson Insurance  Cleveland. In 2006 Kyp was then promoted to President of Dawson Insurance for all of Ohio.

Kyps dedication, industry knowledge and experience soars above all else. He approaches the business with unique ideas and a structure to achieve his goals. In his new role he will be AssuredPartners Regional President with the territory assignment of Northern Ohio and West Virginia.

Larry Schaefer, Assured Neace Lukens Platform President

Larry Schaefer is the President of Assured Neace Lukens, overseeing the strategic growth and expansion of the company while maintaining the day-to-day operations. Larry brings more than 37 years of insurance related experience to Assured Neace Lukens, with a background in property and casualty operations, including commercial lines, large accounts, captives and alternative markets. Larry supports the mission statement by leading the activities that contribute to Assured Neace Lukens becoming the leading and most trusted supplier of cost-effective insurance, risk management services, surety bonds, and third party administration in the region.

In this expanded role with AssuredPartners, Larry will be responsible for Kentucky, Southern Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana regions.

The passion and devotion of these three individuals is unsurpassed as they are truly insurance professionals, said Jim Henderson, CEO of AssuredPartners, Inc. Randy, Kyp and Larry without a doubt bring their experience and drive with them to work every day and that spirit is helping to guide the growth of our culture and our overall organization.

It is a great pleasure to work with this team of individuals who work tirelessly to continue to cultivate our organization, said Tom Riley, President and COO of AssuredPartners, Inc. AssuredPartners is pleased to promote Randy, Kyp and Larry to a level that is in alignment with their achievements.

ABOUT ASSUREDPARTNERS, INC

Headquartered in Lake Mary, Florida and led by Jim Henderson and Tom Riley, AssuredPartners, Inc. acquires and invests in insurance brokerage businesses (property and casualty, employee benefits, surety and MGUs) across the United States and in London. From its founding in March of 2011, AssuredPartners has grown to over $500 million in annualized revenue and continues to be one of the fastest growing insurance brokerage firms in the United States* with over 125 offices in 30 states and a London office. Since 2011, AssuredPartners has acquired more than 110 insurance agencies. For more information, please contact Dean Curtis, CFO, at 407.708.0031 or dcurtis(at)assuredptr(dot)com, or visit http://www.assuredptr.com.

*As ranked by Business Insurance in the July 20, 2015 edition, featuring the 100 largest brokers of U.S. business.

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STANLEY COHEN, MD, of Dallas was honored with the designation of Master by the American College of Rheumatology (ACR). Recognition as a Master is one of the highest honors that the American College of Rheumatology bestows.

The designation of Master is conferred on ACR members who have made outstanding contributions to the field of rheumatology through scholarly achievement and/or service to their patients, students and the rheumatology profession. Dr. Cohen has devoted his career to furthering rheumatology research and improving clinical standards in the treatment of rheumatic diseases.

I feel honored and humbled to be recognized for my commitment to fostering excellence in the care of people with arthritis and rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases. said Dr. Cohen. It is a privilege to become a part of such a distinguished group of rheumatologists.

ACR Masters must be highly accomplished individuals. As a member of the Executive Committee of the American College of Rheumatology from 2005-2008, Dr. Cohen dedicated his time to advancing rheumatology through programs of education, research, advocacy and practice support. He has been an author or coauthor of book chapters, articles and abstracts that have been published in many leading journals and presented at national and international medical and scientific symposia. He also received the Howard C. Coggeshall Lifetime Achievement Service Award from the North Texas Arthritis Foundation in 2006 for longtime support of the Foundation and its programs.

He is also a Past-President of the American College of Rheumatology, a Past-President of the American College of Rheumatology Research and Education Foundation and he served on the Board of Directors of the American College of Rheumatology from 2001-2004.

Dr. Cohen is a Clinical Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School and in private practice at Rheumatology Associates, Dallas, Texas. He is Co-Director of the Division of Rheumatology at Presbyterian Hospital, Dallas and is Co-Medical Director of Metroplex Clinical Research Center. Dr. Cohen is actively involved in the teaching of medical students and residents during their clinical rotations in the office.

About The American College of Rheumatology

The American College of Rheumatology is an international medical society representing over 9,400 rheumatologists and rheumatology health professionals with a mission to Advance Rheumatology! In doing so, the ACR offers education, research, advocacy and practice management support to help its members continue their innovative work and provide quality patient care. Rheumatologists are experts in the diagnosis, management and treatment of more than 100 different types of arthritis and rheumatic diseases. For more information, visit http://www.rheumatology.org.

About Rheumatology Associates

Rheumatology Associates was founded in 1975 and is now one of the largest single specialty Rheumatology groups in the United States. Our physicians have extensive experience in clinical practice, clinical research and basic science research. Our group provides care to patients throughout the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex with convenient locations in Arlington, Dallas, Duncanville, Grapevine, Irving, Lewisville and Plano. For more information, visit http://www.arthdocs.com.
The PATH Act has the potential to add one trillion dollars to the market cap of food companies over the next 10 years

On the heels of the December 2015 PATH Act, Bullpen Food has released its online calculator to evaluate the trade-offs between donating and selling excess food inventory. This new tool includes support for the recently passed, 231-page federal tax legislation called the PATH Act that extends existing enhanced deduction tax code for food companies. Enhanced deductions allow companies to deduct up to twice the standard amount for donations they make to food banks and related charities.

Previously, these types of deductions were only available to the largest corporations. The new PATH Act includes provisions allowing small and mid-size companies to enjoy the same benefits  a huge boon both to the food industry and to the 50 million Americans who are often uncertain where their next meal is going to come from.

However, these tax rules are complex and it is often unclear whether a donation or sale will yield a better outcome for a company. Companies must not only consider direct economic value, but also qualitative issues such as brand risk and goodwill that can tip the scales in favor of donation. Larger companies may also need to simultaneously evaluate multiple sell/donate opportunities to maximize overall business performance. The result of this complexity is that many companies simply throw up their hands and guess.

Now companies can use the interactive calculator found at http://www.bullpenfood.com/calculator to help answer their sell/donate questions. Requiring only eight inputs, the calculator creates recommendations by applying its knowledge of tax code and trade-offs between selling and donating. Results are delivered graphically with supporting text where appropriate and can be used on both computers and mobile devices. While Bullpen always recommends seeking professional tax counsel before making decisions, the calculator provides a simple and free way to explore each inventory situation.

We work extensively with companies both to donate and to liquidate excess inventory, and we were a bit frustrated with the lack of good tools to rapidly evaluate these situations, said Jon Brill, President of Bullpen Food. Being located in the middle of the worlds technology capital we did the only thing we could  we built one. Were now happy to share it with the world.

Bullpen estimates the annual deduction opportunity to the food industry at around $14B based on the PATH Acts deduction limit of 15% of a companys pretax income. This delivers over $5B in annual tax savings to US food manufacturers and has the potential to add over one trillion dollars to the market capitalization of these companies over the next ten years  all the while improving the lives of the countrys most vulnerable.

About Bullpen Food

Bullpen Food helps food manufacturers and distributors liquidate and donate excess inventory. Founded in 2011 by 20-year industry veteran Jon Brill, Bullpen specializes in an on-off approach to food & beverage closeout liquidation: purchasing inventory and then distributing very broadly to discount retailers who quickly sell through thin inventory, thus protecting the manufacturers brand. In late 2015, Bullpen added food donation advisory services, directing over one million pounds of wholesome food to a number of Americas food banks. More information can be found at http://www.bullpenfood.com.
ETCO Incorporated announced the publishing today of a case study that addresses the effects of vibrations in vehicles in the on and off highway, trailer and vehicular lighting industry. While the effects have been well known for some time, the solution from the perspective of connectors within these vehicles has been a less studied and covered topic. To that end ETCO published a fuse clip terminal study that looks at how its engineers solved the problem of vibration

ETCO engineers sought to solve a problem specific to connectors that accepted wire ranges of 18-14AWG and 22-18 AWG. The primary issue involved connections becoming loose, electrical arcing and danger of overheating and fires within trailers and heavy duty wiring harness connections. An ETCO customer came to the company to obtain help in engineering a solution that would address the problem within this heavy duty application. ETCOs engineers developed the solution within months. The solution, covered in the case study involved creating a stainless steel insert that provided better conductivity, a tighter, more secure fit for the connectors. This eliminated the loose connection issues and allowed ETCOs customer to roll out the connectors to major truck manufacturers eventually selling in excess of 20 million connectors. Jack Young, Fargo Manager states, ETCO has been an excellent partner in serving our engineering and manufacturing needs for components and wiring harness connectors. The company engineers attention to detail and ability to quickly solve a major issue is the reason why we come to them every time. High quality solutions and cost savings means were able to provide the same level of service to our customers while passing the cost-savings on to them.

The Fuse Clip Terminal case study is available for download by visiting https://www.etco.com/fuse. It gives visitors a view on ETCOs engineering processes and provides information on the Fuse Clip Terminal product as well as similar connector products.

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Founded in 1947, ETCO is a privately owned company. The Company manufactures precision stampings and rubber and plastic molded products used principally by major automotive and appliance manufacturers. ETCO also has major customers in a variety of other industries in the USA and over 30 countries throughout the world. ETCO has factories and a research complex in Bradenton, Florida and a factory and engineering center in Warwick, Rhode Island.

For more information on ETCO, visit the Company website online at http://www.etco.com
Mark Cuban and Stephan Aarstol on ABC's Beyond the Tank Defying convention is part of the Tower brand ethos, so we moved to a concentrated 5-hour work day, 8am-1pm. Then we live.

Southern California entrepreneur, Stephan Aarstol, and his stand up paddle board ("SUP") company Tower Paddle Boards will be featured on ABC's Beyond the Tank at 8/7c on Thursday, January 28th, 2016.

Since partnering with Mark Cuban and landing $150,000 in funding on ABC's Emmy Award winning Shark Tank in 2012, Tower has done over $17 Million in sales. In the December 2nd, 2013 issue of People Magazine, Stephan was featured as one of Shark Tank's Biggest Winners. In 2014, the San Diego Business journal crowned Tower as the #1 Fastest Growing Private Company in San Diego. A year later, Tower ranked #239 on INC Magazine's "Inc 500" list of Americas fastest growing companies with a 3-year growth rate of 1853%.

Leveraging the popularity of stand up paddle boarding, Stephan landed Tower on Season 3 of ABC's Shark Tank. From there Tower's annual revenues have grown over 2500% in the last 4 years. With only $100,000 in lifetime sales at the time of his investment, Mark Cuban has been quoted in Forbes saying that Tower Paddle Boards is one of his best Shark Tank investments.

In May of 2015, Tower moved to a 5-hour work day. "While growth is important, our essence is we create tools for the human spirit," Aarstol explains, "Defying convention is part of the Tower brand ethos, so we moved to a concentrated 5-hour work day, 8am-1pm. Then we live."

The Beyond the Tank segment includes Cuban meeting with Stephan in San Diego to discuss different areas of the company to see what they can grow and improve, as well as Stephan traveling to Seattle for a potential business development deal with senior Amazon.com executives.

About Tower:

As a purveyor of the beach lifestyle, Tower creates tools for the human spirit. They disrupt markets with their value proposition of producing and selling high-quality products at low cost by leveraging their online marketing expertise and factory direct online business model. Beyond selling paddle boards at TowerPaddleBoards.com, Tower now operates "Tower Magazine," a beach lifestyle magazine living digitally online at http://Tower.Life, and sells handcrafted wood sunglasses at SunglassesByTower.com.

About Beyond the Tank:

Beyond the Tank is the companion series from the producers of the Emmy-winning reality series, Shark Tank. Each episode of Beyond the Tank features captivating and surprising outcomes, and examines the highs and lows after the Sharks strike a deal with the entrepreneurs on Shark Tank.
The Presser Law Firm, P.A., Asset Protection Attorneys For every 60 minutes you spend making money, spend 60 seconds thinking about how to protect it!

Hillel L. Presser, Esq., MBA of The Presser Law Firm, P.A. offers tips on how captive insurance can be used in asset protection planning. Captive insurance companies (commonly referred to in short as "captives") are insurance companies established by a parent group or groups with the specific objective of covering the risks to which the parent is exposed. With captive insurance, companies are not attempting to make a profit; their purpose is to provide low cost insurance coverage. Captive insurance is more flexible than traditional insurance because the company can adjust the proportion of assumption of risk or the amount of reinsurance depending on how soft or hard the market is. Most of the large businesses in the world have at least one captive insurance company. For instance, Exxon-Mobils captive insurance company is Ancon Insurance Company.

1. Captive Insurance Defined

Captive insurance is insurance or reinsurance provided by a company that is formed primarily to cover the assets and risks of another company. Captive insurance is essentially an in-house insurance company with a limited purpose and is not available to the general public (open market). The insurance covers risks that are very real, however, have a low probability of occurring. These risks could also not be insurable on the open market or too costly to insure.

2. Using the Captive Insurance Company as an Investment Option

A captive insurance company is often used as an investment option. For instance, if you pay your captive insurance company for five (5) years and there are no claims  that money has essentially become an investment to you since you own the company. This is unlike car insurance, where if you pay for five years and have no claims  you have no right to get that money back.

3. Recognize the Advantages of the Captive Insurance Company

One benefit of captive insurance is in claims management. With in-house insurance, a company cuts through the red tape and bureaucracy associated with traditional insurance companies. Captive insurance companies can be based domestically or internationally. The parent company can dictate the procedure by which claims are processed. Perhaps one of the biggest benefits is that excess net premiums can be recouped by the parent company when claims are low, and the they can increase reinsurance in riskier areas. Types of risks that are typically covered include: public and product liability, physical property damage, professional indemnity, reputational harm, technological malfunction, loss of key customers, loss of hospital privileges for doctors, employee benefits such as medical aid and employers liability as well as many other risks. Another benefit of the captive insurance company is that you can save money on insurance since you underwrite the policy yourself and retain the underwriting profits. You can also draft your own policies that fit the exact needs of your business. Custom tailored policies can be much more efficient. A final benefit is that you can choose your own counsel in the event of an insurance claim. That way, your chosen attorney is looking out for your best interests, rather than a large caseload of many other insurance companies interests.

4. Reward Key Employees by giving them Equity in the Captive Insurance Company

Business owners can reward key employees by giving them stock in the captive insurance company as part of an overall strategy to retain those employees for the benefit of the business. Giving key employees stock in the captive is simpler than giving them equity in the business itself. This could also become part of your business succession plan.

5. What Makes a Business the Right Candidate for the Captive Insurance Company

The ideal candidate for a captive insurance company would be a business owner with a privately held business. Professionals, such as doctors and lawyers could also benefit from captive insurance. Businesses who have premiums for workers compensation, general liability and automobile insurance that exceed $250,000 are ideal applicants. Finally, businesses with strong financials and healthy banking relationships are great captive candidates.

The Presser Law Firm P.A., Asset Protection Attorneys, represents individuals and businesses in connection with the establishment of comprehensive Asset Protection plans that incorporate both domestic and international components.

Visit the Law Firms Visit the Law Firms website (http://www.AssetProtectionAttorneys.com) for access to educational material on asset protection, business law, estate planning, and probate including webinars, articles and detailed legal explanations.

Contact The Presser Law Firm, P.A., Asset Protection Attorneys for a Complimentary Preliminary Consultation with one of our attorneys or to receive complimentary copies of our latest best-selling books on Asset Protection.

For every 60 minutes you spend making money, spend 60 seconds thinking about how to protect it! states attorney Hillel L. Presser, Esq., MBA regarding the importance of protecting your assets proactively.
Each year, our seminar focuses on current and upcoming industry trends and presents solutions that enable industry stakeholders to better serve investors, operate more efficiently, and prepare for emerging EB-5 compliance requirements.

During the month of February, NES Financial will be presenting the 2016 EB-5 Innovation Summit for EB-5 Regional Centers, developers, attorneys, and other stakeholders. Speakers at the event will include some of the most respected experts in the industry who will discuss strategies to prepare for impending reform measures and market trends.

This is the only seminar series of its type in the industry, said Reid Thomas, NES Financial Executive Vice President. Each year, our seminar focuses on current and upcoming industry trends and presents solutions that enable industry stakeholders to better serve investors, operate more efficiently, and prepare for emerging EB-5 compliance requirements.

Through the legislative efforts of 2015, it became clear that a longer term extension is attainable if paired with specific program reforms and integrity measures. As one of the first events taking place after the recent short-term extension, this seminar series will allow attendees to learn about the likely reforms and hear firsthand from industry experts about solutions and best practices that could ease the implementation process in 2016.

The NES Financial 2016 EB-5 Innovation Summit seminars are scheduled to take place in key markets across the country  February 4th in Los Angeles, CA, February 9th in San Francisco, CA, February 11th in New York, NY, and February 19th in Miami, FL.

Please contact an NES Financial representative for more information.

About NES Financial

NES Financial provides technology-enabled services for the efficient middle and back office administration of highly specialized financial transactions. Our custom solutions include EB-5 administration, 1031 exchanges, and fund administration services. Many of the worlds largest financial institutions and corporations rely on our proprietary technology, unparalleled expertise, and outstanding services to ensure the secure, transparent, and compliant management of funds. Recognized by Artisan Business Group as the 2013 and 2015 EB-5 Service Provider of the Year and by Inc. Magazines 500|5000 as one of the fastest growing private companies in America two years in a row, NES Financial helps companies lower operational costs, reduce risk, and improve ROI. For more information, visit nesfinancial.com.
The National Insurance Restoration Council (NIRC) welcomes Ross Hail, co-founder of CMR Construction & Roofing, to the 2016 NIRC Advisory Board. Hail will serve as the NIRC Executive President of National Member Services. The NIRC is an independent non-profit that aids both property owners and insurance restoration companies in the event of storm damage. The NIRC is an advocate for improved case law and legislation to protect both consumers and contractors when dealing with insurance claims.

Ross Hails vast experience and superb reputation make him an valuable member to our Board," says Joe Radcliff, CEO of National Insurance Restoration Council.

The NIRC Advisory Board is comprised of industry professionals including top-level executives from various sectors including manufacturing, supply, service providers, technology, law, public adjusting. NIRC Advisory Board Members are committed to the vision of the NIRC, advocate for property owners and contractors nationwide, and pave the way to lead fair and accurate practices, advocacy and ethics in the insurance restoration industry.

Im proud to become a member of the NIRC Advisory Board. This organization is paving the way in industry reform, says Ross Hail, co-founder of CMR Construction & Roofing.

Hail has over 25 years in the construction and insurance restoration industry. Hail launched his first construction company in 2002 and has helped tens of thousands of property owners with residential and commercial property repairs and construction in 32 states with roofing, siding, gutter repairs.

About the National Insurance Restoration Council

Headquartered in Orlando, Florida, the National Insurance Restoration Council (NIRC) is a non-profit organization devoted to protecting and educating property owners and restoration contractors when dealing with insurance claims. The NIRC acts as the principal advocate for improved legislation and case law to protect consumers and contractors when dealing with insurance claims throughout the nation. The NIRC serves the common interest of insurance restoration contractors and protects consumers from unethical contractors. Vetted and certified NIRC certified contractors adhere to a strict code of professional conduct, educate property owners about the insurance restoration process, and give back to communities in storm damaged areas. NIRC certified contractors go through an extensive background check to become members of the Diamond Standard code of business. The NIRC as a self-regulated entity and cooperates with the Department of Insurance (DOI) and other regulatory authorities throughout the United States to improve the ethics of the industry through education and high standards. Learn more at http://www.NIRC4Change.org.

About CMR Construction and Roofing

CMR Construction & Roofing (CMR) takes great pride in our exemplary performance as roofing contractors and pay close attention to customer satisfaction. CMR is a national company licensed in 20 states with a solid reputation of exceptional work and customer satisfaction. CMR has completed thousands of roof installations since 1989. CMR is proudly accredited with the Better Business Bureau and carry an A+ rating; and hold esteemed certification levels of Platinum Preferred Contractor with the National Insurance Restoration Council (NIRC), Platinum Preferred Contractor with Owens Corning, and memberships with Slate Roofing Contractors Association (SRCA) and the Center for the Advancement of Roofing Excellence. Learn more at http://www.CMRConstruction.com/ or call 855-766-3267.

Media Inquiries:

Vera Anderson

Elev8 Consulting Group

Ph: 386.243.5388

Web: http://www.elev8cg.com
SES Environmental (http://www.sesadvantage.com), a full service environmental, health and safety compliance firm with six offices in the United States, announced today that it has transferred 100% ownership of the company to its employees via an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP).

An ESOP is a qualified retirement plan that buys, holds, and sells company stock for the benefit of the employees, providing them with an ownership stake in the company.

The company has been privately owned since its founding 27 years ago, said Dave Nystuen, President. This transition to employee ownership goes beyond just providing a retirement plan. The core of our success has been the dedication and hard work of each and every employee, and their commitment to our clients. In recognition of these efforts, we are rewarding our employees with full beneficial ownership of the company.

About SES Environmental

Founded in 1988, SES is a full service environmental, health and safety compliance firm that provides a diverse range of services across industrial, legal, financial, government, and real estate market sectors. The company has completed projects in 35 states and Puerto Rico, as well as projects in Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Hungary, and Austria. Headquartered in Fort Wayne, Indiana, SES has regional offices in Indianapolis, Indiana, Grand Rapids and Lansing, Michigan, Louisville, Kentucky, and Reno, Nevada.

About ESOPs

Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) are qualified retirement plans that buy, hold, and sell company stock for the benefit of the employees, providing an ownership stake in the company. There are many significant tax and cash flow benefits of selling to an ESOP. An ESOP also allows for a better-managed ownership transition, preservation of local jobs, and the maintenance of a companys legacy in the community. According to the National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO) there are approximately 7,000 ESOPs in place in the U.S., covering 13.5 million employees.
Tracy Craig, Owner and Principal of Craig Communications, started her public affairs firm in Pinole, California in 2000. I am deeply honored to receive this award recognizing our companys many efforts to mentor the next generation of women.

Enterprising Women magazine inducted Tracy Craig, Owner and Principal of Craig Communications, to its class of 2016 Enterprising Women of the Year. The annual Enterprising Women of the Year Award is a prestigious award for women business owners who are recognized as community leaders, entrepreneurs, and role models to women and girls. I am deeply honored to receive this award recognizing our companys many efforts to mentor the next generation of women, stated Craig.

Craig started Craig Communications in 2000 as a way to stay home with her children and earn a living. She found that being a mother comes with a wealth of skills that help her excel as an entrepreneur, including creativity, managing a budget, problem-solving and balancing a wide-range of responsibilities. Craig leveraged these skills and now manages a staff of eleven diverse employees and operates two offices, including a new corporate office in Oakland, California that opened in October 2015. Today, Craig Communications is a California Public Utilities Commission and Womens Business Enterprise National Council-certified public affairs agency with a broad array of success stories and satisfied clients.

In 2015, Craig and her team supported 70 environmental projects for northern and central Californias largest utility provider, six of which were multi-million dollar, active remediation projects. Each project was recognized on a local level thanks to the well thought-out and executed programs that Craig designed, which allowed the projects to proceed unencumbered by community issues. Further, Craig Communications supported a number of highly-visible commercial and residential redevelopment projects last year for various developers across the San Francisco Bay Area. Craig and her team ensure community members feel valued, heard and important when voicing project-related concerns, and this empathetic approach has contributed widely to the companys success in stakeholder engagement and conflict resolution.

As the owner of a small business, Craig understands the value in supporting other small, minority businesses and creating positive change in communities. Craig contracts small businesses whenever possible and also makes a significant effort to find local, unemployed individuals to work directly on the client projects her company supports. Regional Director of Marin County Downtown Streets Team Andrew Hening recently recognized Craig Communications local hire efforts on behalf of a multi-million dollar construction project in downtown San Rafael, stating that, in an incredible display of community awareness and involvement, Craig recruiters worked directly with Downtown Streets Teams Employment Specialist to fill a number of local jobs in our community. Over the past four years, Craig Communications has helped 17 individuals secure employment in Bay Point, Lodi, Oakdale, San Rafael and a number of other cities across Northern California.

In her own community of Oakland, Craig hires and mentors individuals who are new to the workforce, providing internships and job development opportunities while sharing her experience and passion for community relations work. Craig recently set up a scholarship fund to provide at-risk Oakland high school students with monies to further their education in the trades, at community college, or at the university level. To be considered for a scholarship, students are recommended by a teacher and approved by a four-person board  no applications or unnecessary paperwork required. This simplifies the process for students who may not have the means to fill out cumbersome scholarship paperwork.

In addition to winning this award, Craig Communications was named PG&Es 2014 Small Business Supplier of the Year and was nominated again in 2015. Craig is proud of how far her company has come and looks forward to its continued growth, stating, personally, as a single mother that raised two kids and started my company as a way to be home with them, to be here now fifteen years later means the world to me.

About Craig Communications:

Founded in 2000, Craig Communications is a certified, small, woman-owned, full-service communications agency known for innovative public outreach programs that provide measurable results. Craig Communications specializes in stakeholder engagement, risk management, regulatory negotiations, and public affairs for complex environmental and land use projects. For more information visit http://www.craig-communications.com.
uBiome logo

uBiome, the leading microbial genomics company, welcomes highly-respected pediatric gastroenterologist Dr. Michael Docktor to its Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Docktor is one of MedTech Bostons 40 under 40 in Healthcare and has been a practicing gastroenterologist, specializing in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), at Boston Childrens Hospital since 2008. He is currently the hospitals clinical director of Innovation and is also the co-founder and lead of Hacking Pediatrics, the first hackathon focused on pediatric healthcare, sponsored by Boston Childrens Hospital.

Dr. Docktors professional interests include the microbiome of inflammatory bowel disease and the use of fecal microbiota transplantation in IBD and other pediatric illnesses. He is a champion of bringing consumer technology, informatics, and design into healthcare through his role as the director of Clinical Mobile Solutions and his work as the clinical director of the Innovation and Digital Health Accelerator at Boston Childrens Hospital.

uBiome is the worlds leading microbial genomics company, using next generation high-throughput DNA sequencing technology to deliver detailed analysis of the human microbiome, the rich and diverse diverse ecosystem of bacteria which coexist in and on the human body. Individuals can have their own microbiomes tested by providing a straightforward self-swabbed sample, which they return by mail. A one-site test costs $89, and tests are currently available for six sites  gut, oral, dental, nose, genitals, and skin.

Trillions of microbial cells live in the microbiome, many playing crucial roles in supporting life. For example, gut bacteria aid with digestion and the synthesis of vitamins. However, on the other hand pathogenic bacteria are associated with a range of conditions, some very serious, such as celiac disease, inflammatory bowel disease  including both Crohns disease and ulcerative colitis, irritable bowel syndrome, esophageal reflux and esophageal cancer, Clostridium difficile infection, colorectal cancer, and many others.

Dr. Docktor is looking forward to his new role with uBiome. He says: The microbiome is the next frontier and we are just scratching the surface with our understanding of its impact on health and disease. Ive followed uBiomes progress closely since their 2012 launch. Conditions like inflammatory bowel disease hit children particularly hard but traditional healthcare research practices make understanding the disease incredibly slow and difficult to scale. We need a healthcare revolution which brings disruptive new thinking, new technology, and innovative approaches to the table. This is exactly what uBiome is doing, so Im thrilled to be joining their advisory team.

Jessica Richman, co-founder and CEO of uBiome, says: Dr. Docktor has a remarkable track record in pushing at the boundaries of gastroenterology and has championed our work from Day 1, so its a true honor to welcome him to our scientific advisory board. uBiome is playing an increasingly big part in revolutionizing healthcare, so Im incredibly inspired to have Dr. Docktor  such an enlightened and gifted professional  joining us on our journey.

Dr. Zachary Apte, CTO and co-founder of uBiome adds: Dr. Docktor is on record as saying that he loves seeing what happens when brilliant people from different disciplines get together to solve problems, and thats exactly whats going on at uBiome. Our own team already has expert microbiologists working alongside talented data scientists, and our ever-growing board of scientific advisors is expanding our horizons every day.

uBiome was launched in 2012 by scientists and technologists educated at Stanford and UCSF after a crowdfunding campaign raised over $350,000 from citizen scientists, around triple its initial goal. The company is now funded by Andreessen Horowitz, Y Combinator, and other leading investors.

uBiomes mission is to use big data to understand the human microbiome by giving users the power to learn about their bodies, perform experiments, and see how current research studies apply to them.

Contact:

Orli Kadoch

orli(at)ubiome.com
We provide focused intelligence to identify the patient populations that benefit from real-time virtual care and its effectiveness to decrease costly inpatient and emergency services.

AMC Health, the leading provider of real-time virtual care, today announced a new offering  Business Intelligence Services  aimed at providing healthcare organizations the ability to understand their virtual patient population better, address care delivery and patient behavior challenges, and ensure that patient services are prioritized effectively. The addition of business intelligence complements AMC Healths end-to-end approach to program development, including population analysis, patient engagement, clinical support, and in-home logistics  building on 12 years of successfully extending care outside the hospital setting.

We provide focused intelligence to identify the patient populations that benefit from real-time virtual care and its effectiveness to decrease costly inpatient and emergency services, said Nesim Bildirici, CEO of AMC Health. He further added, Healthcare is an open market. There is new knowledge that is created every day. By conducting population health analysis, both providers and payers have a better chance of achieving quality goals in risk-based health programs. We dont only put health data in the right context and make it meaningful, we also use our experience and best practices to provide clinicians with better tools to maintain and improve quality of life for patients, while simultaneously helping payers manage their members more efficiently.

AMC Healths Business Intelligence Services help healthcare organizations turn patient data into organization knowledge, enabling them to improve outcomes for complex patients with chronic conditions in a cost-effective manner. Beginning with analyzing what has happened (Reporting) all the way to predicting what will happen (Prediction/Simulation), AMC Health has the ability to improve both clinical and financial health of patients and organizations. Opportunities for learning currently exist for population health  reduction in readmission factors, decreased utilization potential, and reduction in costs of care. There is also the opportunity to learn how to better prevent patient decompensation and when to intervene.

The reports provided by AMC Health have been valuable. The information delivered has allowed us to closely monitor our progress and comprehend the experience that is happening. We currently are using the reports to enrich the initiative experience and our member participation as it progresses, said Denise Streible, program manager/product development of Humana.

AMC Health worked closely with St. Marys Healthcare System for Children to design a customized reporting tool that is both powerful and user-friendly. The portal enables us to track a wide variety of variables and to understand program outcomes with impressive nuance and detail, shared Jonah Cardillo, senior director of grants and program innovation of St. Marys Healthcare System for Children. Our staff can more effectively track and understand exactly what is happening in real time. Our increased capacity for outcomes analysis will ensure increased responsiveness and continued programmatic improvement in the months and years to come.

AMC Healths expertise in customizing and implementing chronic care management programs has contributed to significant improvements in health outcomes and reductions in costs of care that have been validated in peer-reviewed publications. AMC Health solutions have been proven to reduce all-cause hospital readmissions by 20 percent[1], reduce costs of care for patients with heart failure by 11 percent[2], improve HbA1c levels for patients with diabetes by 1.8 points[3], and improve blood pressure levels for patients with hypertension by 11/6 mmHg[4]. AMC Health leads the industry in proven clinical outcomes, and their Remote Patient Monitoring and Engagement Solutions have earned the exclusive endorsement of the American Hospital Association[5].

About AMC Health

AMC Health offers at-risk healthcare organizations an FDA-cleared remote patient engagement solution supporting care program effectiveness, behavior change, and clinical efficiencies for chronic and post-acute populations. Its strategic approach, services suite, and technology platform help healthcare organizations reduce utilization, better manage risk, and achieve aggressive quality goals in risk-based and population health programs. AMC Healths remote patient engagement solutions have been proven in several peer-reviewed, published journals to improve patient outcomes, improve quality of care and reduce overall healthcare costs. http://www.amchealth.com/

AMC Healths remote patient monitoring and engagement solutions have earned the exclusive endorsement of the American Hospital Association.

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[1] Graham J, Tomcavage J, Salek D, Sciandra J, Davis D, Stewart W. Postdischarge Monitoring Using Interactive Voice Response System Reduces 30-Day Readmission Rates in a Case-managed Medicare Population. Medical Care. 50(1):50-57, January 2012.

[2] Maeng D, Starr A, Tomcavage J, Sciandra J, Salek D, Griffith D. Can Telemonitoring Reduce Hospitalization and Cost of Care? A Health Plans Experience in Managing Patients with Heart Failure. Population Health Management. DOI: 10.1089/pop.2013.0107, December 2014.

[3] Stamp K, Allen N, Lehrer S, Zagarins S, Welch G. Telehealth Program for Medicaid Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Lowers Hemoglobin A1c. Journal of Managed Care Medicine 15(4), October 2012.

[4] Margolis K, Bergdall A, Asche S; Sperl-Hillen J, Maciosek M, Schneider N, Kerby T, Pritchard R, Sekenski J, O'Connor P. 5. Outcomes at Six Months of a Randomized Trial of Home Blood Pressure Telemonitoring with Pharmacist Case Management Circ Cardiovasc Qual Outcomes. Vol 310 No.1; July 2013.

[5] http://www.amchealth.com/news/the-american-hospital-association-exclusively-endorses-amc-health-remote-patient-monitoring-and-engagement-solutions/
The Eden Prairie Ice Castle Giant archways, tunnels, slot canyons, ice slide, caverns, glacial waterfalls and a frozen throne.

Eden Prairie, Minnesota's Ice Castle is set to open Saturday, January 23, 2016. The popular winter attraction is expected to draw tens of thousands during its two-and-a-half month run. More details on dates, times, location and tickets are as follows:

What: Acre-sized, all-ice castle returns to Eden Prairie, Minnesota. One of only three Ice Castles in America. Features include giant archways, tunnels, slot canyons, ice slide, caverns, glacial waterfalls and a frozen throne. Amazing light show set to music at night.

Where: 17970 East Miller Parkway, Eden Prairie, MN 55347

When: Opening day: Saturday, Jan. 23, 2016, noon-10 p.m.

Open through March 5, 2016 (weather permitting)

Cost*:

M, W, Th, 3-9 p.m.

General admission when purchased online (ages 12+) $9.95

Child admission when purchased online (ages 4-11) $6.95

Fridays, 3-10 p.m.

General admission when purchased online (ages 12+) $12.95

Child admission when purchased online (ages 4-11) $8.95

Saturdays, 12-10 p.m.

General admission when purchased online (ages 12+) $12.95

Child admission when purchased online (ages 4-11) $8.95

Sundays, 12-8 p.m.

General admission when purchased online (ages 12+) $12.95

Child admission when purchased online (ages 4-11) $8.95

Tuesdays

Closed

Tickets are limited and should be purchased in advance at icecastles.com/EP/

*Children 0-3: Free. Tickets purchased online are cheaper than tickets purchased at the gate. Prices do not include sales tax.

Standby tickets are sold on a very limited basis. If we are sold out of online tickets, then standby tickets are not available.

Standby tickets are available by cash or credit card, but not debit cards. Weekends are considered to be Friday-Sunday.

More info: See beautiful photos and videos or learn more at icecastles.com, instagram.com/icecastles_ or facebook.com/IceCastlesNH/.

About Ice Castles

Ice Castles is a Utah-based company, led by ice artist Brent Christensen and CEO Ryan Davis, which creates acre-sized, all-ice castles at venues across the United States and Canada. Over 750,000 guests have visited an Ice Castle since the company's establishment in 2009.

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For 130 years, McGaw YMCA has strengthened the foundations of community by encouraging the development of spirit, mind, and body for all. Now, as the organization looks toward another century of meeting community needs, it is pleased to welcome two new leaders who will advance the organizations mission.

Scott Lorenz will become the Vice President, Philanthropy & Leadership Gifts and will concentrate on major and planned giving, as well as developing relationships with individuals, foundations, and government entities. Deborah Bloom will be the Vice President, Communications & Donor Engagement and will focus on annual giving, grant writing, and the overall communications strategy.

McGaw YMCA has long been a leader in the education and development of children and youth in the Evanston community, said McGaw YMCA President and CEO Mark A. Dennis, Jr. With their vast expertise, Scott and Deborah will heighten the communitys awareness of our programs and services, and stimulate even more support for our crucial work.

Scott Lorenz brings 25 years of experience in the not for profit, private, and public sectors. Most recently Scott served as Senior Vice President and Chief Advancement Officer for the YMCA of Metro Chicago, where he supervised a fundraising team responsible for raising $6 million annually. Previously, he served in executive leadership roles at Boys and Girls Clubs of Chicago, Chicago Cares, and Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.

Scott spent the first eleven years of his professional career with JIS Options Corporation, a local trading company, trading primarily in equities and related derivatives. Here, he regularly generated and identified profitable trading strategies, and frequently interacted with high net-worth individuals. Through is work, Scott has secured the support from and the trust of some of Chicagos most prominent business leaders and philanthropists to significantly increase the impact of the organizations he served. Scotts role with McGaw YMCA will be to focus on establishing and building long term relationships as they relate to building a culture of philanthropy.

Deborah Bloom brings 20 years of experience in the nonprofit and association sectors, as well as early career experience as a strategic communications agency account executive. Since 2008, Deborah has been employed at The Hadley School for the Blind, most recently as Vice President, Development and Communications where she managed a combined team of communications and development professionals.

Before joining Hadley School, Deborah held leadership positions at American Heart Association and American Library Association, where she managed the execution of a new brand through national partnerships. Deborahs focus will be on McGaw YMCAs communications strategy and implementation priorities particularly as they relate to building membership and donor engagement in the work of the Y.

Both Lorenz and Bloom with be part of McGaw YMCAs new Advancement team, which will include philanthropy and leadership gifts, as well as communications and donor engagement.

The McGaw YMCA (http://www.mcgawymca.org) is a cause-driven, charitable organization that seeks to strengthen community with a focus on youth development, healthy living, and social responsibility. Our programs for children and teens support them academically, emotionally, and socially. Through these programs, the McGaw YMCA has positively impacted the Evanston community for nearly 130 years.
Ideator, the worlds first platform for turning an idea into a business, chose TrustMesh out of 100s of applicants for Ideator's $10K award to help turn TurstMesh's idea into a successful endeavor. TrustMesh offers a service for companies to share the status of their published APIs with stakeholders, meeting the needs of developers and marketing departments who often have trouble communicating with customers.

Runners-up in this contest include an app that displays real-time data on available parking spots. Already implemented at UC San Diego, they plan to launch at other campuses and parking structures around the country.

Another runner-up was a startup that enables easy wishing and giving. Users can make a wish happen for someone else and/or submit their own wish for family and friends to fulfill.

Dozens of other innovative ideas received help from Ideator's advisors and investors to be able to grow their businesses and turn them into game-changers. Ideator's judging team included leaders from top notch companies and are listed on the Ideator site.

Ideator's site allows people behind great ideas to collaborate with trusted professionals who will offer insight and strategies on how to help a $0 idea become a multimillion dollar business. This platform is open to users anywhere in the world, in any industry and at any stage. Choose from private or public circles depending on whether ideas are ready to be shared publicly. When inviting an advisor to view an idea, an NDA is automatically generated.

Ideator is based out of San Francisco and San Diego and they have helped people all over the globe. Advisors include experts from Google, Facebook, SalesForce.com, LinkedIn, AOL, Goldman Sachs and more.

For more information, visit: https://www.ideator.com/

Contact:

ChicExecs PR

820 Los Vallecitos Ste A-C

San Marcos, CA 92069

310.569.6586

ChicExecs PR is an out of the box PR company which represents over 70 clients. ChicExecs has created an innovative approach to PR dedicated to helping small-medium businesses receive media coverage. Our revolutionary automated system is changing the face of PR. To learn more about ChicExecs visit http://www.chicexecs.com.
CWS, Inc's new location in Phoenix, AZ. Not only does Phoenix have a vibrant and growing economy, but it also has an excellent pool of web talent. With our category expertise in healthcare and technology, we are bringing innovation and best practices to the Phoenix market.

Rochester, Minnesota-based tech company, Corporate Web Services, Inc. (CWS), is expanding services to the Phoenix region. CWS will provide the greater Phoenix area with web design and digital, inbound, and traditional marketing services, along with custom application and mobile development. CWS is also a high-end provider of web hosting services, including HIPAA, HITECH, and PCI compliant hosting.

Alan De Keyrel, owner of CWS, has had his eye on the Phoenix metro area for a number of years. Phoenix is a natural choice for expansion of CWS, says De Keyrel. Not only does Phoenix have a vibrant and growing economy, but it also has an excellent pool of web talent. With our category expertise in healthcare and technology, we are bringing innovation and best practices to the Phoenix market.

The expansion to Phoenix will be headed up by Todd Tamcsin, a Phoenix resident with an extensive background in digital development and marketing leadership. Tamcsin has previously worked for global media companies such as Gannett and Hachette, as well as agencies serving national accounts including Tenet Healthcare, Citrix, LexisNexis and Norwegian Cruise Line. Most recently he has worked independently providing content marketing and digital development solutions for his clients throughout the Southwest. CWS brings highly unique digital development capabilities and Im excited to be part of their expansion into Phoenix, says Tamcsin.

The CWS regional office is located at 1 E. Washington St. and plans are in place to add up to 20 employees in the Phoenix area over the next 5 years. For more information on the expansion into Phoenix visit our blog.
"We are thrilled about this budding partnership with one of the most vibrant entrepreneurship centers in the world. Brett Flener, Vendor Coordinator, The Contributor

The Nashville Entrepreneur Center (EC) has awarded five scholarships to members of the middle Tennessee community today. Among nearly forty scholarship applications, five individuals were chosen to represent the ECs initiative and take their startup idea through the PreFlight pre-accelerator program, beginning on January 25th.

Scholarship winners represent diversity in age, gender, ethnicity and industry. Recipients include Domonique Townsend (Minority Founder), Ayumi Bennett (Female Founder), Paul McNeil (Student Ambassador), Dave Lannom (Veteran Entrepreneur) and Donna Reeves (Social Impact). More information and profiles of these individuals will be posted soon at ec.co/diversity.

We are thrilled by the communitys interest in our inaugural diversity and inclusion scholarship program, stated Stuart McWhorter, CEO of the Nashville Entrepreneur Center. After reviewing over forty applications from creative, passionate and skilled entrepreneurs, we selected five recipients with strong startup concepts that we can surround with critical resources to help launch their business. We are excited to work together with these recipients to increase the rate of entrepreneurship throughout the community.

Alongside support from Google for Entrepreneurs and the Kauffman Foundation, the EC partnered with The Contributor to introduce the Social Impact scholarship as part of the Diversity and Inclusion Initiative. The Contributor is a Nashville social enterprise that prints and publishes a weekly newspaper and recruits and trains homeless and formerly homeless vendors to distribute the paper.

"Our vendors are micro-business owners with the responsibility of maintaining their business growth, says Brett Flener, Vendor Support Coordinator for The Contributor. Our partnership with the EC is mutually beneficial in that our vendors will receive education and guidance for their business while ensuring diversity in culture and background as part of the EC community. This is one of the many ways The Contributor creates economic opportunity with dignity by investing in the lives of people experiencing homelessness and poverty. We are thrilled about this budding partnership with one of the most vibrant entrepreneurship centers in the world.

All scholarship recipients will receive a one-year Launch membership at the EC and tuition for the PreFlight program. EC membership provides unlimited co-working space, admittance to weekly events and programming, and access to the ECs robust advisor program. PreFlight is the ECs four-month pre-accelerator for early stage businesses. Entrepreneurs learn and apply skills in ideation, customer development, product-market fit, pitch building and more. The program is built on entrepreneurial education for those who want to turn their ideas into a reality, but may not be able to commit full time yet.

About the Nashville Entrepreneur Center:

The EC, with offices at 41 Peabody Street in the Rutledge Hill area, was founded as an economic development initiative of the Nashville business community with a vision to become the best place in America for entrepreneurship. Its mission is to connect entrepreneurs with the critical resources to create, launch and grow businesses.

The EC fosters innovation and entrepreneurship by helping to start businesses and create jobs. As a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, the Center is funded through sponsorships, partnerships, donations and grants. The EC relies on support from leading corporations, successful entrepreneurs and those who have a vested interest in the Centers success. For more information, visit our website at http://www.ec.co

About The Contributor:

The Contributor creates economic opportunity with dignity by investing in the lives of people experiencing homelessness and poverty. One of the largest street newspapers in the world, The Contributor trains and creates opportunity for 250+ street newspaper vendors who are pushing the boundaries on conventional stereotypes of poverty and work. Find more information at thecontributor.org.

About Google for Entrepreneurs:

Google for Entrepreneurs provides financial support and the best of Google's resources to dozens of coworking spaces and community programs across 125 countries. The organization also creates Campuses: physical hubs where entrepreneurs can learn, connect, and build companies that will change the world. To learn more about Google for Entrepreneurs, visit google.com/entrepreneurs or follow us on G+ (+GoogleForEntrepreneurs) and Twitter (@GoogleForEntrep).

About the Kauffman Foundation:

The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is a private, nonpartisan foundation that aims to foster economic independence by advancing educational achievement and entrepreneurial success. Founded by late entrepreneur and philanthropist Ewing Marion Kauffman, the Foundation is based in Kansas City, MO., and has approximately $2 billion in assets. For more information, visit http://www.kauffman.org, and follow the Foundation on http://www.twitter.com/kauffmanfdn and http://www.facebook.com/kauffmanfdn#

Press Inquiries:

Zach Hunt | 615-321-3110 | zach(at)tsgnashville.com

Kelli Nowers | 615-873-1257 | kelli.nowers(at)ec.co
Kara Bombach, a shareholder in the Global Trade & Investment and Export Controls practices at the Washington, D.C. office of international law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP, will present at C5s U.S. Defence Trade Controls Under State and Commerce Conference on Thursday, Jan. 21st at the Grange City Hotel in London, U.K.

The presentation, titled Impact on Iranian Accord and Russian Sanctions on Defence Trade: Financial Transactions and Services, will discuss the following topics:



How to balance the U.S. sanctions against Iran vs. the rest of the world lifting the sanctions

What are the pitfalls of doing business with Iran for aerospace/defence companies

-Exporting services

-Less than 10% threshold of U.S. product



How to comply with EU sanctions on Russia

How to ensure the buyer wont pass the goods on to Russia

Bombach assists companies in numerous industries to lawfully export goods, technology and services around the globe. Her practice focuses on compliance with anti-corruption and anti-bribery measures (U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and OECD Convention), export control laws (EAR and ITAR), anti-boycott laws, and special sanctions (embargoes) maintained by the U.S. government (OFAC and other agencies) against various countries (including Iran, Russia, Cuba and Sudan), entities and individuals. Bombach represents clients in foreign trade-related matters before U.S. government agencies, including the Departments of Commerce, State, Treasury and Defense. She has significant experience advising clients on best practices in the development and delivery of compliance policies and procedures, training, and risk assessments, as well as executing cross-border export, sanctions and anticorruption due diligence in mergers and acquisitions, targeted internal risk assessments, and compliance investigations.

About Greenberg Traurigs Export Controls Practice

Based in Washington, D.C., Greenberg Traurig's Export Controls team advises and represents clients on the full range of international goods, software and technology transfer issues. The attorneys have broad experience providing export controls and related regulatory counsel to both U.S. and foreign businesses. Industry-specific experience includes assisting companies in a wide range of industries such as aerospace, defense, firearms and ammunition, electronics, software and information technology, food, consumer products, biotechnology, medical device, and engineering services.

About Greenberg Traurigs Global Trade & Investment Practice

Greenberg Traurig helps clients promote global trade and lower trade barriers. The Global Trade & Investment Practice Group works throughout numerous countries on trade policies, remedies, negotiations, disputes and other commercial issues as part of Greenberg Traurig's International Practice. The group is marked by a combination of experience and insight in strategic trade consulting and representation on issues relating to the World Trade Organizations global trade rules. The attorneys offer strategic advice to assist clients in both sustaining and enhancing their competitiveness in the ever-changing world economy. Members of the group also have experience in the growing array of global trade dispute proceedings. The group's Global Trade Monitor blog addresses the many crucial facets of international trade, including the latest developments, laws, treaties, policies and politics that shape global relationships.

About Greenberg Traurig, LLP

Greenberg Traurig, LLP is an international, multi-practice law firm with approximately 1,900 attorneys serving clients from 38 offices in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. The firm is No. 1 on the 2015 Law360 Most Charitable Firms list, third largest in the U.S. on the 2015 Law360 400, Top 20 on the 2015 Am Law Global 100, and among the 2015 BTI Brand Elite. More information at: http://www.gtlaw.com.
Troy Gill, co-author and manager of security research, AppRiver The goal is to prevent future attacks by sharing threat intelligence.

AppRiver, LLC, a leading provider of email messaging and Web security solutions, today released its year-end Global Security Report, a detailed summary and analysis of the malware and spam trends of 2015.

In total, AppRiver quarantined 944 million messages containing malware from January to November, and an additional 705 million in December alone, doubling the number of malware messages from 2014. The security vendor also quarantined 26 billion spam messages in its filters.

The Protecting Cyber Networks and National Cybersecurity Protection Advancement Acts will incentivize companies to share cyber threat information with U.S. government agencies, says co-author and manager of security research, Troy Gill. The goal is to prevent future attacks by sharing threat intelligence through joint efforts of government agencies and companies.

While the cybersecurity bills have been passed, there were plenty of troubling attacks that kept security professionals busy:



Attacks: Macros, ransomware, wire transfer fraud, JavaScript obfuscation constituted some of the most prevalent attacks on consumers and businesses in 2015. These attacks often came directly to individuals inboxes through spear phishing and spoofing attempts. The report also devotes special video segments focused on macros malware attacks, wire transfer fraud, and ransomware.

Data Breaches: Anthem, Premera, LastPass, Ashley Madison, Experian, and the Office of Personnel Management were some of the biggest breaches of 2015. The OPM data breach resulted in more than 18 million current and former federal employees records being breached, while the insurance company breaches resulted in more than 90 million patients health records being compromised.

Report co-author, Jon French, adds, This year featured personal attacks on consumers, as cybercriminals favored personal data, such as health insurance records, online dating profiles, and HR files over financial information, such as credit card accounts and routing numbers. Cybercriminals are likely using this information to form detailed consumer profiles on the Dark Web for future attacks, like spear phishing and blackmail.

To read more, visit AppRivers 2015 Global Security Report at https://www.appriver.com/en-us/quienes-somos/informes-de-seguridad/global-security-report-end-of-year-2015.

About AppRiver

AppRiver is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) provider offering award-winning email and Web security solutions to businesses of all sizes. Understanding the need to protect networks from today's increasingly complex IT threats, AppRiver offers businesses a comprehensive, yet affordable subscription-based solution that incorporates the latest spam and virus protection, email encryption and Web protection on the market. In addition, the company provides a complete managed service for Microsoft Exchange, as well as a bundled Office 365 solution. Since its inception, AppRiver has sustained an impressive 93% customer retention rate while growing its customer base to more than 47,000 companies and 8.5 million mailboxes worldwide. The company maintains offices in Florida, Georgia, Texas, New York, Switzerland and Spain, and is led by an Ernst & Young Florida Entrepreneur of the Year award winner. To learn more, visit AppRiver online, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
First Choice Emergency Room

First Choice Emergency Room opened its new Cypress-Fairfield facility at 7am today. The new facility is located 28606 Northwest Freeway, Cypress, Texas and is open 24-7.

We are pleased to bring a facility to the Cypress community and look forward to continuing to deliver the highest quality emergency medical care here, said Dr. Pinkstaff, Facility Medical Director of First Choice Emergency Room Cypress-Fairfield.

To celebrate the opening, First Choice Emergency Room made a donation to Cypress Woods High School at First Choice Emergency Rooms ribbon cutting with Cy-Fair Chamber of Commerce. Following the ribbon cutting, First Choice Emergency Room hosted a medical community open house.

On Saturday from 10am-12pm, First Choice Emergency Room will host a community event and the Cypress Woods High School band will perform.100.3 The Bull will be on-site giving away prizes from 10am-12pm. The Houston Texans cheerleaders will also be there signing photos and taking pictures.

First Choice Emergency Room facilities are equipped with a full radiology suite, including CT scanner, Digital X-ray, Ultrasound, as well as on-site laboratories certified by the Clinical Laboratory Improvements Amendments (CLIA) and accredited by the Commission on Office Laboratories Accreditation (COLA). The facilities are staffed exclusively with board-certified physicians and emergency trained registered nurses.

To learn more about First Choice Emergency Room and the new Cypress-Fairfield facility, please visit http://www.fcer.com/locations/houston-map/cypress-fairfield/.

About First Choice Emergency Room

First Choice Emergency Room (FCER.com) is the nations leading network of independent freestanding emergency rooms; it is both the largest and the oldest. First Choice Emergency Room is revolutionizing the delivery of emergency medical services for adult and pediatric emergencies by offering patients convenient, neighborhood access to emergency medical care. First Choice Emergency Room facilities are innovative, freestanding, and fully equipped emergency rooms with a complete radiology suite of diagnostic technology (CT scanner, Ultrasound, and Digital X-ray) and on-site laboratory. All First Choice Emergency Room locations are staffed with board-certified physicians and emergency trained registered nurses. First Choice Emergency Room has facilities in Austin, Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio. According to patient feedback collected by Press Ganey Associates Inc., First Choice Emergency Room provides the highest quality emergency medical care and received the 2013, 2014 and 2015Press Ganey Guardian of Excellence Award for exceeding the 95th percentile in patient satisfaction nationwide. First Choice Emergency Room is an Adeptus Health (NYSE:ADPT) company.
Water related issues are increasingly putting strains on our political, economic, and social systems, so the challenge for students is to understand how businesses, governments and society will be impacted in the future and ways to mitigate those impacts

Water security is one of the defining global challenges to society in the 21st century. Absent or unreliable water and sanitation services, unpredictable floods and droughts, and degraded ecosystems threaten the lives of many of the worlds communities and pose increasing risk to businesses, governments and societies. Recent news of the crisis in Flint, Michigan has highlighted how supplies of the commodity are vulnerable to risk.

MBA students at Said Business School, University of Oxford have been studying these issues as part of the Global Opportunities and Threats: Oxford (GOTO) programme. They were set the challenge of understanding the global water crisis and exploring a water related issue which was of personal interest to their team.

340 students worked for 5 months on 64 projects. Focusing on a particular geographical region, the 64 groups each chose a specific element of the water crisis; ranging from sanitation issues and the impact of water scarcity on agriculture, to water access in rural areas and the pressure of aging water infrastructure in urban environments. Three winning projects were identified based on their depth of understanding of the problem and the gaps in current solutions.

The three winning teams are:

Increasing access to water in Mumbais slums

In Mumbai, 50% of the citys 12.4 million population live in slums and the number looks set to double by 2050. The combination of this rapid urbanisation, poor quality infrastructure and the expansion of notified (legal) and non-notified (unregulated) slums have caused continued problems of access to clean water; an increase in disease and illness; and the growth of a black-market trade in water for Mumbais poorest communities. The team set out to identify the root causes of the issues and built a set of scenarios that would enable them to recommend next steps to fill the gaps in the current proposed solutions. Their recommendations included considerations for increasing the number of licenced water merchants, implementing rainwater harvesting initiatives, and facilitating mobile payments for water purchasing.

Arsenic Poisoning in Bangladesh

It is estimated that over 70 million people in Bangladesh have been exposed to water contaminated with naturally occurring arsenic in excess of WHO guidelines, as a result of drinking from aid-funded wells. The team identified a number of problems with the current solutions: the markers for identifying safe wells had deteriorated over time; a lack of education programmes meant that many people didnt fully understand the long term health consequences of arsenic poisoning; and many of the development projects working to create solutions only address one of the two types of prevalent arsenic. The team examined the various stakeholders including aid organisations, technology providers, community organizations, and education providers, as well as businesses affected by and implicated in the issue including the agriculture and textile industries. The team researched other global solutions to drinking water purification and proposed the consideration of a market-based solution, by which water filtration technology was franchised to communities via water ATMs. This community action would ideally lead to increased community buy-in to the solution, and would help to ensure that a sustainable supply of clean water was available to impacted communities.

Below The Surface - Water In London

Despite external appearances, London is a water-stressed city. One of the causes, said the team, is the Thames Water monopoly that perpetuates an unsystematic, inefficient, and wasteful water-supply and disposal network, through lack of investment in infrastructure. Structured as a foreign privately-held company, the team demonstrated the extent to which interest and dividend payments exceeded its profits in recent years and how tax payers were bearing the burden of the negative impacts. Their recommendations were to bring about the systematic modification of ineffective regulations, and to restructure the company to a publicprivate partnership, via a financed partial buyout  similar to other successful schemes such as with BerlinWasser, 2013. The result would be to curtail dividend pay outs and initiate much-needed reinvestment in infrastructure, ensuring efficiencies for tax payers and a continuity of supply for Londons continually expanding population.

GOTO, launched in 2012/13 to the MBA and EMBA classes, is a unique part of studying at Oxford Said. Focusing on a different problem each year, the module challenges the entire MBA cohort to examine current global issues that are far-reaching and increasingly complex, including big data, demographic change, and resource scarcity. The programme is created, convened, curated and moderated by academics at Oxford Said and the broader University of Oxford; providing students with the opportunity to work and debate with experts in the field.

Water related issues are increasingly putting strains on our political, economic, and social systems, so the challenge for students is to understand how businesses, governments and society will be impacted in the future and ways to mitigate those impacts, said Peter Tufano, Dean of Oxford Said. By uniting our students with academics, engineers, social scientists, development economists, hydrologists, modellers, and statisticians from across the University of Oxford and beyond, the GOTO project enabled our students to understand the underlying problems and future scenarios in which new business models can manage water for the collective good.

Visit the GOTO website for more information: http://goto2016.com/

For more information or to speak to the winning students please contact the press office:

Josie Powell, Senior Press Officer, Said Business School

Mobile +44 (0)7711 387215; Tel: +44 (0) 1865 288403

Email: josie.powell(at)sbs(dot)ox(dot)ac(dot)uk or pressoffice(at)sbs(dot)ox(dot)ac(dot)uk

Emily McDonnell, PR Coordinator, Said Business School

Tel: +44 (0)1865 614489

Email: emily.mcdonnell(at)sbs(dot)ox(dot)ac(dot)uk

About Said Business School

Said Business School at the University of Oxford blends the best of new and old. We are a vibrant and innovative business school, but yet deeply embedded in an 800 year old world-class university. We create programmes and ideas that have global impact. We educate people for successful business careers, and as a community seek to tackle world-scale problems. We deliver cutting-edge programmes and ground-breaking research that transform individuals, organisations, business practice, and society. We seek to be a world-class business school community, embedded in a world-class University, tackling world-scale problems.

In the Financial Times European Business School ranking (Dec 2015) Oxford Said is ranked 10th. It is ranked 10th worldwide in the FTs combined ranking of Executive Education programmes (May 2015) and 22nd in the world in the FT ranking of MBA programmes (Jan 2015). The MBA is ranked 7th in Businessweeks full time MBA ranking outside the USA (Nov 2014) and is ranked 5th among the top non-US Business Schools by Forbes magazine (Sep 2013). The Executive MBA is ranked 2nd worldwide in the Economists Executive MBA ranking (Sep 2015) and 9th worldwide in the FTs ranking of EMBAs (Oct 2015). The Oxford MSc in Financial Economics is ranked 14th in the world in the FT ranking of Masters in Finance programmes (Jun 2015). In the UK university league tables it is ranked first of all UK universities for undergraduate business and management in The Guardian (Jun 2015) and 2nd in The Times (Sept 2015). For more information, see http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/

ENDS
Fly-All-You-Can, Members Only Private-Class Air Service Simplified Air Travel;No lines, No Tickets, No Stress

MySky Aviation (MySky), a members only, private-class air service, announced their plans to debut an unlimited flights service between; Atlanta, GA; Charlotte, NC; and Jacksonville, FL in the summer of 2016. MySky brings the innovative, fly-all-you-can membership subscription model to the Southeastern U.S. Today's announcement launches membership pre-sales. Membership is limited; select companies and individuals will receive a Platinum Boarding Pass Invitation to reserve their membership ahead of MySky's first flight.

MySky was founded by Elliot Mintzer, owner/operator of Boomerang Air Charter along with a select group of aviation experts. The team possesses expertise in operations, finance, legal/regulatory compliance, marketing and human resources. Founders are all commercial pilots with strong backgrounds in corporate and commercial aviation.

"We are excited to offer this type of private air travel in the Southeast. In today's fast paced business climate, helping travelers achieve a better work/life balance is our goal" Mintzer added "Utilizing the PC-12 aircraft to provide this type of private service is a perfect fit."

MySky simplifies air travel. For as low as $1,750 per month, MySky members will experience private-class service. There are no lines, no tickets, no stress. Arrive just minutes before your flight, check-in with your concierge and prepare for take-off. MySky members will fly from private terminals in executive aircraft with an average time savings of three hours over current, commercial airline service.

Members will be able to book their travel via the MySky mobile app, MySky Website or through a private concierge in under thirty seconds.

"The MySky membership/subscription business model hits the sweet spot between fractional ownership and charter as needed flight options. For individuals who find themselves traveling between the same groups of cities regularly, subscription flying will actually prove to be more affordable than commercial options. For the corporate customer, this model is far more efficient than having personnel tied up in airports several times a month trying to get between cities they travel to often." -Thomas F. Brandvold, CWT, PREMIER WATER & ENERGY TECHNOLOGY, INC.

MySky will change the way business and leisure travelers fly in the Southeast. Inaugural memberships are expected to fill quickly. Please contact a MySky representative before they are gone. The company plans to expand service to popular destinations throughout the Southeast as they roll out private-class membership service. Corporate membership plans will also be available.

MySky will provide an exciting alternative to commercial airline service, reducing travel time and hassles, while improving the entire travel experience, all at a reasonable cost for the time-sensitive traveler" -Al Spain, Co-Founder, JetBlue Airlines.

To learn more about MySky and private-class membership please visit http://www.iflymysky.com (https://www.iflymysky.com)

About MySky Aviation Solutions:

Located in Saint Augustine, Florida, MySky Aviation Solutions ("MySky") has been providing travelers with cost effective alternatives to the hassle of commercial air travel since 2009. In the summer of 2016 MySky will begin its members only, private-class air service. MySky is bringing the successful fly-all-you-can member subscription service to the Southeast. Starting at $1,750 per month members can simplify their regional air travel with service between Atlanta, Charlotte and Jacksonville. MySky makes membership easy:

*On-site concierge

*Easy booking

*Private aviations terminals

*Executive aircraft

*Arrive minutes before your flight

*No TSA or security lines

MySky will change the way smart executives and leisure travelers fly. To learn more about MySky or private-class membership please visit http://www.iflymysky.com, https://www.facebook.com/myskyaviation, https://www.linkedin.com/company/mysky-aviation.

+MySky is a veteran owned company

+ +MySky acts as an agent for its members, and does not own or operate the aircraft used for its service. All flights are operated by air carriers holding the necessary government authorizations. If you would like more information about this topic, please contact Sandi Capra at 1-800-905-9456 or email at scapra(at)iflymysky(dot)com
Together we are shaping the next generation of digital media entrepreneurs in Latin America.

Splash Media, a two-year partner of the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) and the U.S. Department of State, is proud to continue its international work through their exchange program A Digital Path to Entrepreneurship and Innovation for Latin America.

Kelsey McFarland, senior regional community manager at Splash Media, will spend two weeks in Nicaragua working with local journalists, teaching them best practices and offering insights based on her U.S. work experience in social media and digital marketing. She will meet with local media organizations and start-ups to help develop regional digital communication strategies.

The goal of the exchange program is to promote professional relations between various countries and develop plans for mass communication. The exchange program is organized by ICFJ and funded by the U.S. Department of State through its Professional Fellows Program. The program is working to develop new digital media business models across Latin America, including Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.

The International Center for Journalists has worked to empower journalists from around the world with cutting-edge technologies and best industry practices for over 30 years. More than 92,000 journalists and media managers from 180 countries have received training and assistance from the ICFJ.

Over the past two years, Splash has been a proud partner of the ICFJ exchange program, first hosting Taha Amiar from Morocco in the spring of 2014, then sending Dennis Wilson, director of production services, to Morocco for the Unlocking the Economic Potential of Digital Media program. In 2015, Splash hosted Daniel Perez Suarez from Colombia and Yamil Gonzales from Honduras before sending Rob Howe, director of strategy, to Colombia as part of the first leg of Digital Path to Entrepreneurship and Innovation for Latin America program.

One of ICFJs goals is to drive news innovation, and having strong partners such as Splash Media allows us to reach that goal in a powerful way, said Johanna Carrillo, senior program director for ICFJ. The skills and information our fellows have learned - on everything from community engagement to social media best practices - have been applied back home, and the journalists have made changes in their media organizations that they never thought possible. Together we are shaping the next generation of digital media entrepreneurs in Latin America.

The exchange program has been beneficial for both parties, helping spur Splash Medias international growth and development. Learning about regional and cultural differences is important in understanding how to effectively communicate and market around the world.

I'm thrilled I have the chance to travel to Nicaragua and learn from various media companies and publications who are shaping the way Latin Americans consume digital media. As digital marketers focused on curiosity, learning and collaboration, we have a unique opportunity to work through ICFJ and alongside leading media outlets to bridge gaps between traditional and digital medias, McFarland said upon learning of her participation in the program.

During her time in Nicaragua, McFarland will be hosted through Universidad Americana (UAM), the local partner organization for the program, and visit with local newspapers, media outlets and journalists. She will enjoy weekend travels and sightseeing in Granada and San Juan del Sur (Nicaragua) before completing her trip at the U.S. Embassy.

Follow McFarlands adventure on social media using #SplashTravels or follow Splash Media to keep up with the latest in digital marketing news.

About Splash Media Group

Based in the North Dallas suburb of Addison, Texas, Splash Media Group has leveraged its expertise in video and television production since 2005 and launched a social media practice in 2010 that has evolved into one of the leading social media agencies in the world. Splash Media Group provides comprehensive social media services from consulting to full outsourcing. Services include online marketing strategy development, online reputation management (ORM), search engine marketing (SEM), search engine optimization (SEO), community management, content marketing (video and blog creation) analytics/reporting, paid media and PPC just to name a few. For more information, visit http://www.splashmedia.com.

About ICFJ

The International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) is at the forefront of the news revolution. Its programs empower journalists and engage citizens with new technologies and best practices. ICFJs networks of reporters and media entrepreneurs are transforming the field. ICFJ believes that better journalism leads to better lives. For more information, visit http://www.icfj.org.
Moving Migration Patterns in the U.S. and Canada by State

According to one of the nations leading movers, the 2015 Atlas Van Lines Migration Patterns study found that 12 U.S. states, along with the nations capital, experienced a shift in migration status in 2015. The study also found that 20 states, in addition to Washington D.C., registered as balancedmeaning that moves in and out of the states were roughly equal18 as outbound, and 12 as inbound. Additionally, the data showed the overall number of moves was up from 2014. The company has conducted the study since 1993 to track the nations interstate (or between states) moving patterns year to year as reflected in moves handled by Atlas.

For the fourth consecutive year, the states with the highest number of total moves were California (14,973), Texas (12,403) and Florida (10,534). The states with the highest percentage of inbound moves included Oregon (64 percent), Idaho (63 percent), North Carolina (61 percent), Alaska (60 percent), and North Dakota (59 percent). The states with the highest percentage of outbound moves included Hawaii (62 percent), New York (61.8 percent), Illinois (61.7 percent), South Dakota (60 percent) and Wyoming (59.5 percent). Oregon is the studys inbound leader for its first time since 1995, and Hawaii the outbound leader since its same classification in 1997.

Former inbound states New Hampshire and Mississippi became balanced in 2015, along with Washington D.C. This marks the first time in more than 13 years that Washington D.C. has not classified as inbound. After spending 2014 as balanced states, Hawaii, Louisiana, Wisconsin, Iowa and South Dakota became outbound while Maine, Rhode Island, Alaska and Alabama became inbound. Missouri shifted from outbound to balanced.

In 2015, the total number of interstate and interprovincial moves reached 77,705, up from 76,979 in 2014.

"Our annual migration patterns study is not only a resource for the relocation industry, but it provides invaluable insights into the nations economic landscape, said Jack Griffin, president and COO of Atlas World Group. We are excited to utilize the data to identify interesting shifts both nationally and regionally this year, and it is promising to see moves increased in 2015."

Northeast Region

The Northeastern states saw three major changes from 2014 to 2015, with Maine and Rhode Island going from balanced to inbound. Also, New Hampshire went from an inbound to balanced. The remainder of the states did not undergo any status change in 2015. New York and New Jersey have been outbound for more than 13 years.

South Region

The Southern region experienced four changes among three states and Washington, D.C., with Alabama going from balanced to inbound, and Louisiana shifting from balanced to outbound. Mississippi and Washington, D.C. both changed from inbound to balanced. This is the first time Washington D.C. has not registered as inbound in more than 13 years.

Midwest Region

The Midwestern states experienced a major shift to outbound moves, with Wisconsin, Iowa and South Dakota going from balanced to outbound in 2015. Missouri, however, shifted from outbound to balanced. Similar to 2013 and 2014, North Dakota was the only state in the region to register as inbound.

West Region

The Western states experienced two changes in 2015, with Alaska going from balanced to inbound, and Hawaii shifting from balanced to outbound. Hawaii registered as the most outbound state in the U.S., with 62 percent of moves leaving the state. Wyoming was the only other outbound state in the West region, with the majority of the Western states registered as balanced.

Canadian Provinces

Seven of the 10 Canadian provinces remained outbound, including Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan. The three additional provinces, including Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, shifted from outbound to balanced in 2015.

How status is determined

Each state's or province's status is determined by its threshold value, which is the total number of shipments multiplied by 0.55 (i.e., in a state with 100 moves, at least 55 must be outgoing to be considered outbound). All other states or provinces in which outbound or inbound numbers don't exceed the threshold are classified as balanced. Shipments noted for Canada are cross-border to the U.S. or from the U.S. (not inter-provincial).

To view full results of the 2015 migration patterns, a map and annual histories for each state, visit http://atlasvanlines.com/migration-patterns/. For an infographic illustrating the results, visit http://www.atlasvanlines.com/atlas/infographics/2015-migration-patterns/.

About Atlas Van Lines

Atlas Van Lines, a national moving company, is the largest subsidiary of Atlas World Group, an Evansville, Ind.-based company. Atlas World Group companies employ nearly 700 people throughout North America. Nearly 500 Atlas interstate moving agents in the United States and Canada specialize in corporate relocation, household moving services and in the specialized transportation of high-value items such as electronics, fine art, store fixtures and furniture. For more information, visit http://www.atlasvanlines.com.
OmniVere today announced the addition of two industry leaders, Yin Lu, Vice President of Discovery, and Pete Smith, Vice President of Sales in the East, to their growing New York office.

Mr. Lu is an accomplished eDiscovery expert with demonstrated expertise in assisting law firms and corporate clients with document collections, processing, hosting, production, and leading technologies. He is widely recognized for his proven ability to manage and consult on eDiscovery and data management projects. Yins extensive experience includes domestic and international matters involving complex commercial litigation, anti-trust and class action lawsuits, bankruptcy, product liability cases, intellectual property disputes and post-acquisition disputes, as well as internal investigations such as FCPA and other compliance investigations, SEC and DOJ investigations, and various other regulatory oversight matters. As a CFE and recipient of a Masters of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University, Yin brings a critical and analytical mindset and a profound awareness of key issues to OmniVere and its clients.

Pete Smith has built and led some of the most successful sales teams in the eDiscovery space over the past twenty-plus years. Mr. Smiths teams have worked with clients on many of the largest national and international matters requiring intense client service. His business development teams have been widely recognized for their consultative approach and attention to client satisfaction. Mr. Smiths career in the legal document business began with Xeroxs outsourcing division in sales and sales management. After close to fourteen years in the document management space, he transitioned to the legal specific marketplace in 1996 as the Vice President of Sales at Quorum Litigations Services, one of the first document management companies dedicated solely to the legal digital document.

We are excited to have Yin and Pete on board, said Dan Bellopede, OmniVeres Chief Sales Officer. Yins leadership and practical knowledge will provide our clients with access to the highest levels of industry expertise and support. Pete brings unmatched experience, industry knowledge, energy and leadership. Both of them will be key contributors to OmniVeres continued expansion and development.

About OmniVere:

OmniVere is a global services firm responding to the most difficult data risk management challenges. With decades of experience in all stages of the corporate data lifecycle, from pre-matter consulting through legal hold, trial and ultimate disposition of data, OmniVere is uniquely positioned to minimize corporate risk while delivering unparalleled efficiency before, during, and after legal, regulatory and compliance proceedings. The firm provides services to companies in the energy, financial services, healthcare, insurance, technology and government sectors and to their legal counsel. For more information about OmniVere go to http://www.omnivere.com or follow @OmniVere on Twitter.

Media Contact:

Dan Bellopede

Dan.Bellopede(at)OmniVere(dot)com
David P. Hersh

Burg Simpson Eldredge Hersh & Jardine, P.C. has announced that shareholder David P. Hersh has been inducted as a Fellow to the Colorado Bar Foundation. The Colorado Bar Fellows are selected from nominees recommended by their colleagues based on factors such as their prominence, reputation and good standing in the legal community, outstanding contributions in their communities, and contributions to advancing justice. The Colorado Bar Foundations Bar Fellow Program was established in 1977.

Davids induction as a Fellow to the Colorado Bar Foundation demonstrates his strong commitment to his clients, the legal community, and the continued advancement of justice. We congratulate him on this well-deserved recognition, said Kerry N. Jardine, managing shareholder of the firm.

Mr. Hershs appointment as a Fellow, an honor bestowed to no more than five percent of Colorado lawyers, was recently acknowledged at the Colorado Bar Foundations Annual Bar Fellows Dinner. Burg Simpson shareholders Michael S. Burg, Scott J. Eldredge and Diane Vaksdal Smith are also Colorado Bar Fellows.

David P. Hersh focuses his practice on civil trial work and complex commercial litigation. Admitted to practice before both the Colorado and Wyoming Supreme Courts, as well as numerous Federal Courts, Mr. Hersh has tried well over 130 civil jury trials to verdict throughout the United States. Mr. Hersh has served as lead counsel in both state and federal courts throughout the United States in a substantial number of complex commercial litigation cases as well as a number of catastrophic personal injury cases, including cases involving claims for paraplegia/quadriplegia, brain injury, severe burns and disfigurement, and limb loss.

About Burg Simpson

With offices in Denver, Cincinnati, Phoenix, Cody, and Steamboat Springs, Burg Simpson Eldredge Hersh & Jardine, P.C. is a firm of award winning trial lawyers practicing in the areas of personal injury, class action, mass torts, medical malpractice, dangerous drug litigation, defective products, insurance bad faith, employment law, workers compensation, commercial litigation, and construction defect litigation.

Media Contact

Corey Wheeland

Marketing Director

(303) 792-5595

cwheeland(at)burgsimpson(dot)com
French Wine Explorer's New Logo Our guests will find our new website easy to navigate, aesthetically pleasing and informative.

Luxury wine tour company French Wine Explorers begins 2016 with a newly designed website that will enhance viewers' experiences, and truly reflect everything the U.S.-based company offers guests: unique, client-focused, immersive tours to French wine country and beyond.

Creating a user-friendly website that elegantly portrays our brand was a top priority for me, explained Pascale Bernasse, President of French Wine Explorers.

Bernasses vision is translated into a modern, sleek website with a beautiful background acting as the perfect canvas for luscious landscapes of French wine country and vibrant images of Paris, Bordeaux, the Loire Valley, Provence, and Champagne.

Our guests will find our new website easy to navigate, aesthetically pleasing and informative, said Bernasse. We have updated the look of our award-winning blog and video pages; and our tour offerings are sure to whet the appetite of any wine lover.

French Wine Explorers has been offering both group and customized private tours to Bordeaux, Burgundy, the Loire Valley, Provence, Champagne, and Paris for the past 15 years.

Creating once-in-a-lifetime trips for our guests is my passion, she said. We strive to respond to whats trending and stay on top of consumer demand. That is why they determined that early 2016 was the ideal time to launch their newly redesigned website.

Bernasses attentiveness, hard work, and superlative connections in the world of French wine tourism has garnered awards and recognition from many prestigious travel industry insiders, including Travel and Leisure, Conde Nast, and Atout France, among others.

Indeed, Conde Nast Traveler sums up what makes French Wine Explorers the envy of their competitors: Serious oenophiles seek out Bernasse for her access to top winemakers, estate owners, and landmark private castles not open to the public.

About French Wine Explorers:

French Wine Explorers is the leading boutique travel firm specializing in intimate luxury wine vacations to France. Travelers can choose from group tour itineraries or plan custom-designed wine tours. All packages include deluxe air-conditioned motor transportation, luxury hotels, gourmet meals with premium wines, all wine tastings, sightseeing, and the services of a bilingual wine expert guide throughout.

For more information, call (877) 261-1500, or visit their website at http://www.wine-tours-france.com/
The Honorable Alcee Hastings, United States Congressman Each year, it is a pleasure to share in the joy and excitement of our graduates who have taken the steps to empower themselves and improve their quality of life by pursuing a college degree. Past News Releases RSS Keiser University Recognizes...

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On Saturday, Jan. 23, Keiser University will hold its fourth annual statewide commencement ceremony to celebrate the accomplishments of its graduates from throughout Florida and students who attended classes online across the nation. Over 250 graduates and 2,500 guests are expected. The ceremony will be held at the Lakeland Centers Youkey Theater, located at 701 West Lime Street, in Lakeland. It begins at 11:00 a.m. with the doors opening at 10:00 a.m. for guests to be seated.

Keiser University is pleased to welcome Congressman Alcee L. Hastings as the keynote speaker for the 2016 statewide commencement ceremony. Hastings was first elected to represent his native state of Florida in 1992 and is currently serving his 11th term in the Congress. He was born in Altamonte Springs and attended Floridas public schools. Hastings graduated from Fisk University before earning his law degree from Florida A&M University. In 1979, President Carter appointed Hastings as the first African-American Federal Judge in Florida. Hastings is a senior member of the House Rules Committee, Senior Democratic Whip, and Co-Chairman of the Florida delegation.

Each year, it is a pleasure to share in the joy and excitement of our graduates who have taken the steps to empower themselves and improve their quality of life by pursuing a college degree, said Belinda Keiser, Vice Chancellor. We are thrilled to welcome Congressman Hastings as a part of this landmark day in the lives of our students. They are entering into their professional paths and a journey of lifelong learning with the knowledge they gained at Keiser University and we look forward to the contributions they are sure to make in their communities, she added.

Valedictorian Joseph Cristofaro is from Lakeland and has earned his bachelors degree in Criminal Justice. Cristofaro also earned his associate degree in criminal justice from KU. He is a combat veteran and retired as a Master Sergeant from the United States Army, where he supervised the mentoring and combat training of over 15,000 Reserve and National Guard military members en route to Iraq and Afghanistan. He retired as a Senior Police officer for Plant City Police Department, where he worked as a vice detective, property detective, and street patrol officer. After retiring from the Plant City PD, he began working for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission as a law enforcement officer, and continues to do so. Cristofaro was also a member of Alpha Phi Sigma, a national honor society for students of criminal justice. While earning his degree, he had the support of his wife of 27 years, Denise, and his supervisors at Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Keiser University has developed strong partnerships with many Florida businesses serving on its Advisory Boards, employing its graduates, or providing clinical and externship sites. Three of these companies will be recognized at the statewide graduation ceremony for their work in preparing graduates to lead in their professions. Representatives from Florida Hospital (Orlando), Lee Memorial (Ft. Myers), and Treasure Coast Urgent Care (Port St. Lucie) will be present to receive Employer Choice Awards for their continued commitment to the professional preparation of Keiser University students.

Commencement ceremonies are also held each summer at 17 Keiser University campuses honoring approximately 5,000 graduates per year. The winter statewide event is a second opportunity for eligible Keiser students from any Florida campus, across the nation, and internationally, to graduate with their classmates in one convenient location.

About Keiser University: Keiser University is a private, not-for-profit University serving nearly 20,000 students and offering 100 degrees at the associate through doctoral levels on 18 Florida campuses, online and internationally. It employs 3,800 staff and faculty.

Keiser University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award certificates and degrees at the associate, baccalaureate, masters, specialist, and doctoral levels. Contact the Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097 or call 404-679-4500 for questions about the accreditation of Keiser University.

For additional information regarding Keiser University, go to http://www.keiseruniversity.edu
MRIS CEO David Charron Recognized Among Inmans Top 101 in Real Estate. Thousands of capable and purposeful professionals are changing the course of the industry, but this is our pick of 101 we are watching closely as they face and forge a constantly shifting landscape.

MRIS, the industry-leading Mid-Atlantic Multiple Listing Service (MLS) that facilitates nearly $140 million a day in real estate transactions, is proud to announce that its President and CEO David Charron has been named by Inman News to the Inman 101 for driving industry change.

Through the list, Inman News, the nations leading source of real estate news, recognized 101 real estate industry doers whose ingenuity, outspokenness, strength, conviction, power and persistence have successfully changed the course of the industry. Charron was recognized for his strategic thinking around the future of the MLS, willingness to try new tools, pioneering unlikely partnerships and pushing for new business practices.

This past year Charron has been a key figure in the conversation around the evolving role of the MLS and has been instrumental in leading the charge to promote the expansion of an orderly and efficient marketplace to provide brokerage firms greater control of their listing content.

Honorees were selected based on nominations and recommendations from Inmans readership, Ambassadors, the editorial team, outside advisors and industry experts. The Inman editorial and conference content team compiled a list of 400 eligible prospects that were narrowed down to the final top 101.

Thousands of capable and purposeful professionals are changing the course of the industry, but this is our pick of 101 we are watching closely as they face and forge a constantly shifting landscape, said Inman Editor Amber Taufen.

Charron has been well recognized in the industry and was most recently named the first recipient of the Peter Shuttleworth MLS Executive Award of Excellence by the Council of Multiple Listing Services and a co-honoree of RISMedias National Homeownership Award. Charron was also elected to serve on the board of directors for CMLS and as a strategic director on Midwest Real Estate Datas (MRED) Board of Managers. Inman News previously recognized Charron nine consecutive times as one of its Most Influential People in Real Estate.

In addition, Charron will lead the conversation for the MLS Track panels at Inmans Real Estate Connect in New York, NY. Real Estate Connect, hosted by Inman News from Jan. 26  29, brings together the nations real estate thought leaders to discuss the top issues, ideas and new technology affecting the real estate industry.

Charron will facilitate five MLS Track panels on Jan. 27 from 2-5 PM. He will be leading high-level discussions on major challenges facing MLSs, the evolving nature of the MLS, MLS consolidation, the relationship between NextGen real estate professionals and their MLS, and Upstream.

To view the complete Inman 101 list please visit, http://www.inman.com/inman101/.

ABOUT MRIS

MRIS is a leading provider of real estate information technology and one of the nations leading multiple listing services (MLS), facilitating nearly $51 billion in system wide sales in 2015. The company supports over 45,000 real estate professionals in the Mid-Atlantic region, including Maryland, Northern Virginia, Washington, D.C. and parts of Pennsylvania, Delaware and West Virginia. MRIS provides its customers with a portfolio of best-in-class desktop, mobile and cloud-based technologies to improve the real estate transaction process for both real estate professionals and homebuyers and sellers. For more information, please visit MRIS.com or MRIShomes.com to search for thousands of available homes in the Mid-Atlantic region.
NAPCO, a Skokie, Illinois-based supplier of products and equipment to bath, tile and counter resurfacers, is hosting an Oscars contest for the 88th annual awards. The 4 entries with the best score will win a $50.00 Visa gift card. NAPCO is staffed by a fun group who likes spreading good cheer.

Jackie Stuckert, Marketing Director, said, I approached Steve Coven, owner of NAPCO, with this idea and he liked it right away. He is an avid movie buff and thinks this is a great way to have some fun and promote the NAPCO brand.

Anyone can enter the contest by going to the contest site on the web or from the NAPCO Facebook page. Employees of NAPCO are not eligible. Participants select their choices of the winners in each category including best picture, best actor, best actress and best director, to name only a few. The 4 entries with the top score will win a $50.00 Visa gift card. Ties will be decided by first to enter. Complete rules are available on the contest pages on NAPCOs Facebook page. There is no fee to enter.

Last year NAPCO hosted an Oscars contest that was only open to customers. This year they decided to let anyone enter. We hosted a Halloween contest last year and everyone really had fun. We thought, why not open the Oscars contest up to whoever wants to get in. according to Stuckert. Entries can be submitted up to 5 PM central time on February the 28th, 2016.

About NAPCO, Ltd.

NAPCO Ltd is a 35 year-old company providing equipment, supplies and training to professional kitchen and bathroom refinishers. A leader in the green remodeling movement, they offer sound alternatives to replacement of counters, sinks, tile and bathtubs. NAPCO is located in Skokie, IL and services all 50 states and 5 foreign countries. If you are interested in refinishing your tub, tile or counter top instead of replacing, call 1-800-888-1081 or visit http://www.napcoltd.com today.
Doctors on Liens and Inland Chiropractic are bringing Riverside a distinguished team of doctors to care for personal injury patients The care these doctors provide is of the highest quality. I have no doubt that the patients of Dr. Veirs and Dr. Garcia will be greeted with a warm welcome and the chiropractic expertise necessary to quickly heal any injury.

Doctors on Liens, the leading network of medical providers working on a lien basis, is proud to welcome Dr. Richard J. Veirs second location, Inland Chiropractic in Riverside, to its network of over 150 offices. Doctors on Liens prides itself on offering the best doctors who deliver the finest care for personal injury and workers compensation patients and Dr. Veirs has exemplified that role since becoming a member in 2010. Dr. Veirs is a third generation chiropractor who has seen the many benefits of chiropractic care since the time he was born. A graduate of Cleveland Chiropractic College  Los Angeles, Dr. Veirs provides the highest caliber of chiropractic care in his state-of-the-art office, as well as available orthopedists and neurologists who help treat all types of personal injury patients on a lien basis.

Dr. Veirs is joined by his colleague, Dr. Arlan K. Garcia, a chiropractor who also studied at the renowned Cleveland Chiropractic College of Los Angeles. He furthered his experience under Haven Chiropractic Clinic, a leader in chiropractic care in Southern California and is a Qualified Medical Examiner appointed by the state of California.With close to 20 years of experience between Dr. Veirs and Dr. Garcia, these doctors and their compassionate staff treat all injuries with expert knowledge to ensure an expedited recovery to those suffering from the pain of injury.

Samantha Parker, founder and president of Doctors on Liens comments, "The care these doctors provide is of the highest quality. I have no doubt that the patients of Dr. Veirs and Dr. Garcia will be greeted with a warm welcome and the chiropractic expertise necessary to quickly heal any injury. Were thrilled that the legal community in Riverside now has access to the care patients have come to depend on at Inland Chiropractic."

Doctors on Liens is an innovator in the medical lien specialty referral industry and has forged close relationships with both legal firms and medical practices over the past 20 years. Doctors on Liens features medical specialties including board certified orthopedic surgeons, neurologists, general practitioners, psychologists, and chiropractors. Each medical office is independently owned and operated and all appointments can be conveniently scheduled directly with the facility. Doctors on Liens lists medical professionals who offer medical services on a lien basis throughout Southern California and Nevada.
Human Capital leaders need high quality academic programs with relevance to current workforce challenges.

James F. Sheegog, the founder of Rowhill Consulting Group joins the faculty team at George Mason University responsible for delivering the inaugural Executive Chief Learning Officer (ECLO) certificate program. This ECLO course is the only university program of its kind.

http://business.gmu.edu/eclo/

Drawing on the expertise of world-class faculty from the School of Business and the Learning Technologies Division of the College of Education and Human Development, this six-month program is grounded in cutting-edge research and proven practices from industry thought leaders with a solid track record linking learning and development to business goals.

Mr. Sheegog will teach strategic thinking dimensions, which examines real case studies from nearly 30 years of advisory work around the globe. The program blends distance-learning technologies with residential faculty sessions at the Arlington, VA campus. Other topics address in the ECLO program includes, financial decision making, quantitative evaluation, learning analytics, learning technology innovations, and leadership.

This is not Mr. Sheegog's first foray into pioneering educational models.

In 1996, as the Assistant Dean at Duke Universitys Fuqua School of Business, he launched the Global Executive MBA degree program- the first ever MBA degree delivered through both online learning technologies and with international residencies in Munich, Shanghai, and Sao Paolo.

In 1999, as CLO at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Mr. Sheegog led the worlds largest professional services firm to web-based learning technologies that provided high value continuing education to over 28,000 of the firms staff.

In 2003, Mr. Sheegog was asked by Royal Dutch Shell to refresh their global leadership development efforts for nearly 5,000 of their top managers in Africa, Asia, South America, and the Middle East Regions.

In 2005 he was asked to build an intensive six month development experience for senior managers at Gulfstream Aerospace as the company moved into a rapidly shifting global market.

In 2014, his firm developed a human capital approach centered on both talent management and corporate culture change for a global petrochemical corporation headquartered in the UAE.

As part of the ECLO faculty, Mr. Sheegog plans to bring the lessons learned from these strategic engagements to emerging human capital leaders participating in the six-month course at George Mason University.
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Celebrated author and poet Marilyn Nelsons numerous books for young people include Newbery Honor-winning Carver: A Life in Poems, Coretta Scott King Award winner A Wreath for Emmett Till, her memoir How I Discovered Poetry, and most recently, My Seneca Village. Nelson spoke with PW about her latest verse novel, American Ace, which chronicles one Italian-American mans discovery, after his mothers death, that his father was not really his father, and he was most likely the son of an African-American pilot in World War II. Inspired by her knowledge of the Tuskegee Airmen (her father was one of the last Airmen), Nelson relays information to young readers who may be unfamiliar with the groups story through a teens thesis on the subject. Nelson shared her thoughts on empathy, writing about historical figures, and what she sees as the deeper issue beyond just publishing more diverse books for children.

In your authors note to American Ace, you talk a lot about your reasons for writing this story the way you did. What was your biggest challenge?

Probably the biggest challenge for me was shoehorning all the info about the Tuskegee Airmen into one digestible piece so I could explain it clearly to someone who might not know anything about these men.

Were you worried at all about writing from the perspective of someone so different from yourself (i.e., a 16-year-old Italian-American boy)?

That was a trial because I didnt want to put a lot of social media and contemporary music and things like that into it because I dont live in the world of 16-year-old boys. Im the age of Connors grandmother trying to imagine what his life might be like. Teenagers today, their lives are very different from the life of 16-year-old kids when I was a 16-year-old. That was a long time ago, and so I kind of shied away from talking about sexuality, for example. I dont know what 16-year-old kids are about. I have them having a little romance, but I didnt want to write about it in too much detail because I frankly dont know how to imagine it.

I will say I just pulled out M.T. Andersons Octavian Nothing and I dont know if anybody attacked him for writing an African character, but what Ive been steeling myself for is the possibility that I may be attacked for allowing this Italian-American kid to have a share in African-American history.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to write about a group or person not of their same gender, race, or culture?

I dont know that I have any particular advice except to read other examples of people who have made that kind of stretch.

I was working with a couple of middle school students about three years ago and they had done historical research and were going to write poems based on their research. One of the girls had done her research about slavery  this is a white girl in Providence, Rhode Island  and that is what she was going to write about, but she had left her research notes in another classroom and the classroom teacher wouldnt let her go into the room to get her notes. And she was crying. And I said, Well youve done the research. Why dont you just try to imagine a girl your age and just put her in the context that you read about? And she sat down and wrote a poem about a white girl her age who had just had a birthday  she was in eighth grade so she would have been 13 or so  and had received a gift of cash for her birthday. And in her poem the girl takes this to a slave auction and buys twin girls her age with the plan of freeing them. She read her poem to the rest of the students, and at the end everybody was clapping and crying because she had put herself into that context.

I think I once heard the novelist Jonathan Franzen interviewed on television and the interviewer asked him something about his genius. And he said he didnt think he was a genius but he had a genius for empathy. He could empathize his way into characters who were different from him. And frankly thats what I do: I write about history and what I have done for the last 15 or 20 years is to empathize my way into the imagined experiences of people whose experiences are not mine. But, informed by research and imagination, I have just taken a leap of faith and done that. I mean Ive written about girls who were students in Prudence Crandalls Connecticut school for African-American girls and that was a stretch, imagining myself into the 1830s, so at least writing this book [American Ace] was closer in history to my own time period.

What draws you to historical stories like My Seneca Village and the myriad others youve written?

Im interested in history and Im interested in the experiences of other people: what we have in common, what we share through the years and across lives which are thought to be dividing lines, and Im more interested in writing about other peoples lives than I am in writing about my own life, which is in my opinion not all that interesting.

A young adult editor asked me to write My Seneca Village because she had seen an exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York and she wrote and asked me if Id be interested in writing a book about the history of the village and I started doing research. I wrote a draft of the manuscript, which took me a year and a half. After that I sent her what I had, but she had left the publishing house and nobody there had ever heard about this story, I didnt have a contract, and they said this was not a young adult book because a young adult book has to have a young adult protagonist. So this manuscript was looking for a home for a couple years before it finally went to Stephen Roxburgh at namelos. Everybody now knows the story. Theres even been a play about Seneca Village. But at the time this manuscript was first produced nobody knew what I was talking about. And thats why in the authors note of American Ace I say that there are some people who believe that a young adult book has to have a young adult protagonist. That is really based on my profound disappointment of having this publisher tell me that this was not a young adult book.

How do you figure out what type of verse and structure to use in a particular book youre writing?

Well I write mostly iambic pentameter lines and I guess the main decision is whether to use rhyme or not. I like rhyme but it takes a lot of time to rhyme well. For American Ace, I just arbitrarily decided on sort of a structure for each scene. I wanted to use the same form all the way through so every scene is two stanzas of 12 lines of iambic pentameter, but its completely arbitrary. I didnt want it to be sonnets because Ive written a whole lot of sonnets and I didnt want to write any more. I didnt want it to rhyme because it would have taken me five years to write it. And I wanted it to be individual scenes telling the story so that each scene kind of highlighted something in the storyline or in Connors life. Youre feeling your way and the first decisions I made in this case were how to structure the plot and then the second ones were how to structure the individual scenes.

Was it important to you that there is a visual aspect to this story? And where did the photos come from?

It was kind of a decision I made with my editor, Lauri Hornik. At some point when we were talking she said, Well, we could use photos, and that seemed like, Oh well, duh! Yeah! But it was something we just fell into accidentally; it wasnt a plan from the beginning. But as soon as it was suggested, it seemed like a wonderful idea. Then Lauri and other people at Dial found the photos and we had a little bit of back and forth about which ones to use, but I was very, very glad that they agreed to include them.

Can you talk about your process with Hornik on this book?

I had asked Lauri if I could do a Tuskegee Airmen book using poems I had already written and published and then just adding to what already existed. I was looking for an easy way out. And she said no, she wanted me to write a new book from scratch for people who werent familiar with [the Airmen], and that was a real challenge. And I came up with this idea of doing a novel essentially, which was not her suggestion, and which I think surprised her.

Other than that, when I sent her the final manuscript there were some points at which she would ask Would he really think that? or Would they really say that? and Id say Well you know, I dont know. Ive never been in a white group without a black person in the group. I have no idea. Im just imagining here. We had a couple of little exchanges like that where I had to confess that I wasnt sure and that I was just using my imagination, and she was very easy to work with and willing to accept on faith my imagining of the characters. She was very helpful and supportive, and I really appreciated working with her.

I also talked to a friend of mine who was from a large Italian-American family and he sat down with me and told me about his family: who they were and what they were like, and so a lot of the extended family is based sort of on my friends family.

Youve written such a wide array of stories: is there one in particular that has really stayed with you?

I suppose Carver, because it occupied my life for a long time. And I loved learning about Carver  he was a very deep man  and researching his life and writing about him required me to go to some real depths, so that was very enriching. But Ive really enjoyed writing all of them, especially the historical stories: each one of them is an homage to someone and it felt as if I was really connecting with them. Its hard to describe but every one of them means a lot to me. I think its a privilege to write about historical figures.

Writing American Ace was kind of like Carver in a way because I had to stay with the same story for a long time and really learn something about the character. I decided early on that I wouldnt have written about Connor and his family if I hadnt liked them. And the more I wrote about them the better I liked them. I really enjoyed writing about the boy and his relationship with his younger sister, for example, and maybe its Pollyanna-ish to imagine a family with so few hang-ups and theyre so untwisted, but I liked them, and I dont think I would have written about a family I couldnt like.

Did you learn anything new about the Tuskegee Airmen or your own father while working on this book?

I did research to be able to tell individual stories, but for the most part I didnt learn anything that I hadnt already encountered at some point. Maybe there were little details, but for the most part I knew the stories.

Theres one poem about a much-decorated pilot and I describe the day when he shot down three German planes. And I had already written and published another poem about this guy, so I had to come at it from another angle because this story had to be told again; I wouldnt have wanted to write about the Airmen without including that story.

One of the pieces that I learned that I mentioned in passing is that I came across somebody who had been shot down twice, and taken as a prisoner of war twice, and escaped from P.O.W. camp twice, and walked alone back to the base in Italy twice. I hadnt read about that before and I think its just such an amazing story. Another one I hadnt written about before was a story that was told to me personally by Connie Napier. When he was doing training in Alabama, something went wrong with his plane and he had to land in a cotton field. There was a chain gang out picking cotton and he saluted them. But other than that, most of the remaining living Tuskegee Airmen are very old now, and I wasnt able to get any new stories, so I had to rely on things that were already in print somewhere.

Is there a particular way you often find the inspiration for your stories?

It really depends story to story. Several of them are about things that happened in Connecticut, and I did those because I was the Poet Laureate of Connecticut for five years and I was hunting for projects to do. And so I think three or four books were Poet Laureate state projects.

And then with the Carver book, I was about to start writing a book about Hildegard of Bingen and a family friend came to visit. It was literally the day I was sitting at my desk to start writing Hildegard. I had been to Germany to do research and I was at my desk and the phone rang and this man, one of my fathers old friends whom I hadnt seen in probably 30 years, called and asked if he could stop by. And he stopped by and had a glass of lemonade, and as he was leaving he handed me a brochure from one of the George Washington Carver museums and said, I think you should write a book about George Washington Carver. And it felt like he was sent there to give me this message. So I stopped the Hildegard project immediately and started working on Carver. So that was a case where literally somebody asked me to do it.

And this last year the minister from the church I belong to in Connecticut asked me if I would be willing to write about the church history because it is about to celebrate its 350th anniversary. So I spent roughly a year learning and writing about the history of this church. Somehow things fire your imagination and in a way it never matters where the initial spark comes from; what matters is whether your imagination takes fire. So every one of my projects has come to me in a different way.

Whats your take on the current plea for more diverse books being written for children?

I just add my voice to those who are pleading for more diversity, but I think it goes beyond that. I think what happens is that there are books that are about minority or ethnic characters/children, but they tend to be read only by members of that group. And I dont think the problem of diversity is addressed until we start learning each others history. Ive been to festivals of African-American childrens literature at which the only people in the audience are African-Americans. And Im thinking: You know, if I were a white parent, I would go to these festivals and buy books for my children so that they would know something about their classmates. But that does not seem to happen. So I plead for diversity not only in the writing and publishing of childrens books but also in the reading of childrens books. I have a friend who works at a bookstore in New Hampshire  a big chain bookstore in New Hampshire  and they will not carry my books because there are no African-Americans in their city. And they argue that nobody is going to read these books. Well, theres something really wrong with that.

Youve written about, among other topics, Emmett Till, George Washington Carver, your own childhood, and now the Tuskegee Airmen. Are there other African-American stories you still hope to tell?

Oh I dont have any projects right now. The next thing is this church history, which is about a church in a very upscale community in Connecticut. And my son has been teasing me that what Ive done in this book will surprise people because everyone expects me to keep finding African-American stories to tell and this is not an African-American story, it is essentially a white story.

I dont know how it will be published. I have my hopes but I cant speak yet because I havent gotten an official acceptance yet. But its a wonderful story. The church was founded in 1666. The first minister of this church kept slaves in the attic of the parsonage. And this was in New England. This is American history. And I carry it through to the present day when this church has partnerships all over the world. Its a tremendously progressive church, but it started with slaves in the parsonage attic. I think it has something to say about the country, our history, our people, how much weve grown, how much weve learned.

At one point I wanted to write about a very great Paiute holy man named Wovoka, and one of my publishers I very much like encouraged me to write this book about Wovoka, who was the founder of the Ghost Dance religion, which was a really important movement all over North America. And it was the Ghost Dance movement that caused the massacre at Wounded Knee. The people massacred were unarmed dancers who believed the Ghost Dance was going to bring their ancestors and the buffalo back. And the American Army just went out with Gatling guns and mowed them down. And Wovoka, who had started the religion, my heart goes out to him because he saw a religion, a movement he started, fail. I havent written it  although nobody else has done it  because of the politically correct movement. Im afraid if I tried to write the story I would be criticized for cultural appropriation. But its a story that needs to be told. Its a beautiful, heart-rending story. I dont know whether I will pick it up, but its still a story that I believe should be told.

And finally, what are you reading now?

Ive been pulling books out of my bookcases that Ive bought over the last 10 years and never opened. Today I was reading a science fiction book by Octavia Butler. And right now on my coffee table is Martin Espada, hes a Puerto Rican-American poet, a very great poet, and my family is getting ready to go to Puerto Rico for vacation so I was rereading him. Then theres Elizabeth Alexanders memoir about the death of her husband  I have a pile of books everywhere. Gabriel Garcia Marquezs memoir Living to Tell the Tale is on my bedside table. Im reading a wide variety and its completely a hodge-podge. You know you go to a bookstore and you say Oh, this looks good, or you read a review and you think, Oh, I really should read that, so I have bookcases full of books that Ive purchased like that.

American Ace by Marilyn Nelson. Dial, $17.99 Jan. ISBN 978-0-8037-3305-3
Why anti-Zionism is always driven by antisemitism
CHICAGO -- For some Midwesterners, the presidential campaign brings the kind of New York values they can appreciate.

Later this month, Manhattan hotel prices will arrive in downtown Des Moines, part of the financial windfall Iowa enjoys every four years as host of the first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses.

During the final week before the Feb. 1 caucuses, when thousands of reporters, campaign staff, volunteers and others will flood the state's capital city, rooms that normally rent for $200 or less have, in some cases, fetched $600 or more.

"Every four years, this is the Super Bowl for Des Moines," said Andrew Hollen, director of operations at the downtown Marriott, a top hotel for both media and candidates that's sold out the week before the caucuses.

The spending influx extends beyond hotel rooms and includes television ads, event production, office space, rental cars, restaurants and more.

Years like this one, when there's no incumbent president running for re-election and Democratic and Republican parties have competitive contests, are especially good for business. That hasn't happened since 2008.

The Greater Des Moines Partnership -- essentially the area's chamber of commerce -- estimates that year's caucuses brought 2,500 members of the media and $25 million in visitor spending to the state's biggest metropolitan area.

In 2012, when the caucuses were only competitive on the Republican side because incumbent President Barack Obama didn't face a serious challenge, the partnership estimates the final week before the caucuses brought in 1,500 media representatives and $17 million in visitor spending, just to the Des Moines area.

In smaller ways, the economic reach of the caucuses touches almost every corner of the state. Many of this year's Republican candidates are making it a point to visit all 99 of the state's counties, meaning their campaigns will spend at least something virtually everywhere.

Tina Hoffman, the marketing and communications director for the Iowa Economic Development Authority, said she's never seen a comprehensive statewide study that spells out the caucus campaign's full economic impact.

"There is no doubt that it has a huge economic impact for our state, in terms of hotel rooms, restaurants and television advertising," she said. "It puts an international spotlight on our state and it gives us an opportunity to talk about issues important to Iowa."

Using Federal Election Commission data in 2008 to track expenses directly paid to Iowa recipients, an Iowa State University economist found that the major presidential campaigns had a direct economic impact of $15.5 million in the six months that preceded the January 2008 caucuses.

That was about one-hundredth of 1 percent of the state's $130 billion gross domestic product in 2007, the report found. Still, for individual businesses the windfall can be significant.

Some of the biggest spending in the state lands in the coffers of the state's television stations, mostly owned by conglomerates based outside Iowa. During 2015, more than $23 million in presidential campaign advertising ran on broadcast television in Iowa markets and those adjacent to the state, according to estimates from Kantar Media's CMAG.

Federal Election Commission records are filled with spending -- small and large -- by the presidential campaigns in Iowa.

Hillary Clinton's campaign paid an Iowa-based company, Elite Productions Services LLC, more than $234,000 during the second quarter of 2015 to produce staging, seating and sound for her events.

Donald Trump, the national Republican front- runner, paid $8,114 in June to rent Hoyt Sherman Place, a theater on the edge of downtown Des Moines, for his first appearance in the state as a declared presidential candidate.

The campaign for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio spent $200 for food and beverage at Alba, a trendy restaurant west of the state capitol in Des Moines.

The final week before the caucuses is when competition for seats in restaurants and space in hotel rooms in downtown Des Moines will be especially intense. And it won't be just political junkies hogging those rooms.

The Iowa Pork Congress, an industry convention and trade show, meets Jan. 27-28 at the downtown Iowa Events Center. The gathering typically draws about 5,000 participants from the Midwest and beyond.

Supply and demand is hard at work: The Residence Inn in downtown Des Moines, located near occasionally noisy railroad tracks on the southern edge of downtown, is a Marriott-brand property that normally rents for less than $200 a night.

The rate there soared earlier this month to as high as $619 for the final week of January, for those who didn't make earlier reservations. Later, prices dropped to $419. Guests do get free breakfast and Internet access.
HILLSDALE -- Already under investigation for alleged misuse of village funds, the village now has its police chief under investigation.

At Tuesday's village board meeting, Rock Island County Sheriff Gerry Bustos confirmed the investigation but would not discuss its details.

Before Sheriff Bustos spoke, Mayor Mike Lambrecht announced the village received a 911 call accusing Hillsdale Police Chief Paul Garza of "conduct which would violate criminal laws of the state of Illinois." Mayor Lambrecht said the sheriff's department found no evidence to believe a crime was committed and determined no further investigation was necessary.

Sheriff Bustos, however, said Mayor Lambrecht was incorrect.

"We are investigating a complaint made against the chief," Sheriff Bustos said. "There's been absolutely no determination right now. It's just under investigation."

Chief Garza, who was at Tuesday's meeting, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

At the end of Tuesday's meeting, trustee Chris Dillin asked that, at its February meeting, the village board look at disbanding its police department. Alternatives include contracting with the sheriff's department or forgoing additional coverage for at least a year to save money.

"Eventually, we're going to be shut down because we have no money," Mr. Dillin said. The police budget of about $90,000 is about a third of the entire village budget, according to village clerk Jane Lundquist.

Village officials invited Sheriff Bustos to Tuesday's meeting to discuss alternative police coverage for Hillsdale, which now has its own police department. Sheriff Bustos said the county now provides free coverage of the village of 500 but could provide expanded coverage for a fee.

He said his department currently has such contracts with Cordova, Port Byron, Andalusia and Carbon Cliff but reiterated it's not a requirement. "We already provide police protection for you," he said.

"We're not here to try and talk this board into contracting with the sheriff's office or somehow going with the sheriff's office," he said. "Your requirement as a village is pretty minimal; whether you have a police department or not, frankly, is up to the village board."

In other action, trustees discussed a lack of money to pay for a forensic audit underway and bills from Chicago attorney Paul Keller. Hillsdale owes about $12,800 to Sikich LLP, of Naperville, for the audit and $1,300 to Mr. Keller's law firm.

The board agreed to pay $2,000 to Sikich and accept a finance charge of 1.5 percent per month for past due amounts.

Mr. Keller was hired to represent Hillsdale in a civil case brought by Ms. Lundquist when Mayor Lambrecht and Chief Garza removed her from her office last year during an investigation of money from the former Hillsdale Sanitary District dissolved in 2010.

Hillsdale officials hired Mr. Keller to replace village attorney Virgil Thurman who recused himself from the case to avoid a conflict of interest. On Oct. 5, village officials agreed to permanently restore Ms. Lundquist to her post.

"We will have to pay the (Keller) bill," Mayor Lambrecht said. "If we do not pay the bill, we will pay the penalties and, eventually, we will be sued."
Augustana College on Thursday will screen a documentary on the risks, results, stigma and prevention of a common sexually transmitted disease.

The human papilloma virus may be "the most widespread, misunderstood and potentially dangerous epidemic that most people hardly know anything about," according to a release about the 2014 film "Someone You Love: The HPV Epidemic." The virus can cause six types of cancer.

The 80-minute documentary, narrated by Vanessa Williams, will be shown for free at 6 p.m. today in Room 102 of Augustana's Hanson Hall.

Kim Tapia, women's health educator for Edgerton Women's Health Center, Davenport, said she has seen the film, and it's important for people to know HPV and cervical cancer are entirely preventable.

Since HPV and early stages of cervical cancer are symptom-less, annual screenings are recommended for women when they become sexually active or starting at 21, Ms. Tapia said.

"It is very affordable," she said, with Iowa's form of Medicaid letting anyone earning up to three times the poverty level receive preventive exams for free. Men cannot be tested for HPV but unknowingly carry and spread the virus, according to the film's website, hpvepidemic.com.

Ms. Tapia said the film "helps address the stigma, people battling the HPV virus, that they're promiscuous, overly promiscuous, and that's not always the case." The college-age audience is a common population for the virus, she said.

"That age group doesn't keep up-to-date on their annual preventive checkups," she said. "It's still, you think you're indestructible. ... It can happen to anybody is more the moral."

Ms. Tapia said all children 11 or 12 years old should get vaccinated with the HPV vaccine. Nearly 80 million people in the U.S. -- about one in four -- are infected with HPV, according to the Centers for Disease Control. About 14 million become infected each year; more than 27,000 are affected annually by a cancer caused by HPV.

Those who smoke, have a different virus that lowers their immune system response (e.g. HIV/AIDS), use birth control pills for more than five years or are sexually active with several partners are at risk for HPV, according to CDC. In 2012, Hispanic women had the highest rate of cervical cancer, and black women were the most likely to die from it.

Edgerton Women's Health Center is presenting the Augustana screening. For more information about Edgerton, call 563-359-6633 or visit qcwomenshealth.org.
ORION  School board members discussed three superintendent candidates in closed sessions held before and after Wednesdays regular board meeting.

Board president Peter Nedved announced there would not be any official action taken after the second closed session.

He explained that, if the board settled on a candidate, two members would go to the individuals current district and see truly if everything matches with the interview weve had. He said a special board meeting would be called sometime yet this month if everything falls into place.

Superintendent David Deets, who is retiring this year, said the districts attorney has worked on a contract for the new superintendent and would share something this week.

The Illinois Association of School Boards took the initial field of candidates and narrowed the number to five. Orion board members have narrowed those to three, meeting three nights last week.

Id like to say thank you for the process, Mr. Nedved told the other board members. One candidate said we were doing it in the right manner, getting to know candidates and the candidates getting to know the district.

With the year at the halfway point, Mr. Deets said it was a good sign that the education fund -- out of which salaries are paid -- was at 52 percent of the total budget. He said the operations and maintenance fund is at 50 percent of budget and the transportation fund at 53 percent, including an $80,000 outlay for activity buses.

Were controlling our spending the way our budget dictates we should, he said.

This years budget called for a $63,000 deficit on total expenditures of $8.8 million.

The board also:

-- Hired Thorian Twyner as special education aide for the rest of the school year.

-- Learned the schools FFA soil judging team is being honored at the Henry County Soil and Water Conservation District banquet for its first place at sectional.

-- Noted kindergarten roundup is Feb. 24 and 25 and preschool screening is March 22.

-- Learned the Wyman Coulter Trust gave the high school $8,250 for After Prom, the Huddle program and girls softball

-- Noted the Orion Education Foundation gala is March 18.
ROCK ISLAND -- The third annual deer hunt in Rock Island resulted in 37 deer being taken.

The bow hunt, from Oct. 1 to Jan. 17, took place on eight private sites and three public sites, according to police department deputy chief Jason Foy.

He said the number of deer taken is down from 50 during the 2014-15 hunt; six were taken during a partial five-week hunt in the program's first year of 2013-14.

"I do think it has been successful," Mr. Foy said. "We're down a few from last year. I think some of the guys that hunted last year didn't see the deer this year that they saw last year."

Only bow hunters are allowed to participate in the harvest, which is aimed at reducing Rock Island's deer population. The hunt has been approved each year by the city council.

"Of course, we have had deer-vehicle accidents and still have them," Mr. Foy said. "We'll never get away from that. I know some citizens are concerned with the overpopulation.

"Some came to the council about deer herds overpopulating the city."

Mr. Foy said some sites saw significant decreases from the prior year.

An aerial survey conducted in the winter of 2012 estimated the herd of deer inside Rock Island's city limits to be about 400. Mr. Foy said he expects numbers will start to fall if the harvest continues at a similar rate for a few years.

Regulations for the hunt include that all arrows must be fired downward, and hunters must not knowingly direct an arrow across the boundary of, or off, a designated site. All hunters must have a license from the city and must possess a valid deer archery permit issued by the state of Illinois.
Message to first time readers:

Optimism and an open mind are the most radical political acts there are.



We have thousands of energy options that can save our economy and planet without sacrificing our resources or lifestyles.

The general public only hears of the few options that line the pockets of the few that result in the suffering of the many.

The public information on this website makes it easy for anyone to clearly understand how viable and abundant our future can really be.

We are not activists, treehuggers or politicians... we are EHS professionals who have thoroughly enjoyed everything this planet and its people have offered us and want to extend the quality of life for both.

NOTE:

I post articles because I think they are of interest. Doing so doesnt mean that I necessarily agree with everyor anyopinion in the posted article. And a lthough I often blog about disagreements, it is VERY important to understand that I agreed more with the ideas of President Obama and Dr. Chu than disagreed. (it is just part of democracy, it gives balance and is vital)

Quote of the year:

"If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years there'd be a shortage of sand." - Milton Friedman



Word of the year:
NORWALK, Iowa (AP)  Donald Trump brandished the endorsement of conservative Republican firebrand Sarah Palin at an Iowa rally Wednesday in the increasingly intense 2016 GOP presidential sweepstakes.

"We're almost at the finish line," Trump said Wednesday, where he implored his supporters to be sure to cast their vote at the lead-off Feb. 1 caucus.

The billionaire businessman touted Palin's support, as well as some setbacks facing his main rival, Sen. Ted Cruz, describing Tuesday as "a good day for Trump." But Palin, who was expected to campaign alongside her new political ally Wednesday, was a no show at the Iowa rally. A campaign spokeswoman did not immediately respond to questions about why she was not in attendance.

Palin, the former governor of Alaska and 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee, erupted onto the stage in Ames, Iowa, Tuesday, announcing her support for Trump and echoing his campaign's mantra that it's time to "Make America Great Again."

"No more pussy-footing around," Palin told a fired-up crowd.

The endorsement comes as Trump is locked in a dead heat with Cruz in Iowa. The two have been ramping up their attacks against one another as the Feb. 1 caucuses have neared.

In the statement announcing the endorsement, Trump's campaign described Palin as a conservative who "helped launch the careers of several key future leaders of the Republican Party and conservative movement." The statement also quoted Cruz as once saying he "would not be in the United States Senate were it not for Gov. Sarah Palin. ... She can pick winners."

Campaigning in New Hampshire, Cruz said, "Regardless of what Sarah intends to do in 2016, I will remain a big, big fan of Sarah Palin."

Palin endorsed Cruz in his 2012 Senate race and said as recently as last month that he and Trump were both in her top tier of candidates, making the endorsement a symbolic blow to Cruz.

Earlier Tuesday, Cruz faced another blow to his efforts in Iowa, after the state's Republican Gov. Terry Branstad said at a renewable fuels conference near Des Moines that Iowans should reject Cruz because he supports phasing out the fuel standard. Asked if he wants to see Cruz defeated in Iowa, Branstad responded: "Yes."

Palin's endorsement speech combining the folksy charm and everywoman appeal that initially made her a GOP superstar with defiant taunting of a "busted" GOP establishment that she slammed for counting both Trump and herself out.

Palin offered her full-throated support for Trump and slammed President Barack Obama as the "capitulator in chief." Trump, she said, would be a commander in chief who would "let our warriors do their job and go kick ISIS' ass!"

She also took aim at the Republican establishment for "attacking their own front-runner" and offered a challenge to those who have suggested that Trump, whose positions on issues like gun control and abortion rights have shifted over the years, isn't conservative enough.

"Oh my goodness gracious. What the heck would the establishment know about conservativism?" she said. "Who are they to tell us that we're not conservative enough? ... Give me a break."

Trump, whose team had been touting a major, surprise announcement, praised Palin as "a friend, and a high-quality person whom I have great respect for" in a statement.

"We're going to give' em hell," he said after her speech.

Palin will also be joining Trump at two events Wednesday, including a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Palin was a virtual newcomer to the national political arena when 2008 GOP presidential nominee John McCain named her as his running mate. She has since risen to prominence as one of the most outspoken conservatives in the party. She signed on as a Fox News commentator after resigning as Alaska's governor in 2010, a job she held until last year.

Trump and Palin did not discuss how the endorsement had come about, but Trump's national political director, Michael Glassner, previously worked for her. Trump said earlier Tuesday that he doesn't typically put much stock in endorsements, but said of this one, "I think it could very well result in votes."

GOP consultant Kevin Madden said the timing will likely help Trump crowd out Cruz's message as the Iowa caucuses approach.

"I think it helps Trump overwhelm the news cycle with Trump coverage at a critical time," he said.

Madden also said Palin's support could help shield Trump from charges that his past positions make him too liberal to be the GOP nominee, "giving Trump some rhetorical cover from a conservative validator in the eyes of many grassroots conservatives."

The event came a day after Palin's oldest son, Track, was arrested in a domestic violence case in which his girlfriend told police she was afraid he would shoot himself with a rifle. Track Palin was charged with assault, interfering with the report of a domestic violence crime and possessing a weapon while intoxicated in connection with the incident.
Kerry said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum there is little the U.S. or others can do to prevent the now-unfrozen assets from getting into the hands of the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps or "other entities" that Iran has supported in the past. But since nuclear-related sanctions were lifted on Iran last weekend, Kerry said, there is no evidence yet to suggest such transfers have occurred.

"I think that some of it will end up in the hands of the IRGC or other entities, some of which are labeled terrorists," he told CNBC television in an interview. "You know, to some degree, I'm not going to sit here and tell you that every component of that can be prevented. But I can tell you this: Right now, we are not seeing the early delivery of funds going to that kind of endeavor at this point in time."

In fact, Kerry later told a small group of reporters he understands the Revolutionary Guards are "already complaining that they are not getting the money." And he said there will be consequences if Iran is caught using the money to support terrorism.

"If we catch them funding terrorism, they're going to have a problem in the U.S. Congress and other people, obviously," he said.

"Whatever amount may flow to them, I am just trying to be honest, I can't tell people that, 'No, some amount might not,' but we don't believe that that is what has made the difference in the activities of Iran in the region," he said. "It is not money-based, and a whole lot of money isn't going to make a difference in a whole lot of places."

Kerry also said the administration believes the amount of money that might flow to terrorist groups will be limited because "the demands of Iran and of the Rouhani administration and of the supreme leader for development in their country are such that there is no way they can succeed in doing what they want to do if they are very busy funding a lot of terrorism and if they are putting money into that kind of enterprise and not into things they need to do to fund their economy."

Kerry repeated the Obama administration's argument that many critics of the Iran deal are inflating the amount of money that Iran now has access to. He said estimates of $100 billion to $150 billion are incorrect  $55 billion is more accurate, he said  because large chunks of that money is obligated to satisfy foreign debt.

In addition, he said Iran has more than $500 billion in infrastructure and development needs and must invest at least $100 billion to modernize its energy sector.

Earlier Thursday, Kerry rejected Iranian criticism of Washington's use of economic sanctions, saying they are imposed when appropriate.

Kerry said U.S. penalties against Iran and other nations have been "used judiciously and effectively" and will continue to be used in the future.

"We have made it very clear that we use sanctions when we think they are appropriate in order to counter behavior that we believe has broken the law or has challenged the United Nations Security Council or threatened the United States and we stand by our sanctions," Kerry told reporters.

"We think they have been used judiciously and effectively and we are looking to move on now to put to test the willingness of Iran and other countries in the region to try to reduce tensions and move in a different direction."

His comments came in response to a complaint lodged a day earlier by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who told The Associated Press in an interview that new U.S. sanctions over Iran's ballistic missile testing are "illegal" and an example of an American "addiction to coercion." The penalties were imposed Sunday, a day after the U.S. and other nations lifted sanctions over Iran's nuclear program.
The radio news landscape is very different to just a few years ago. Newsrooms have contracted and bulletins networked, leaving journalists to work smarter.

Thanks to the Smart Phone, traditional journalism (including radio) has morphed into MoJo  Mobile Journalism. Were no longer studio-bound. Were no longer reliant on the media release or the AAP copy to generate stories.

With all the apps available, the Smart Phone has become the Swiss Army Knife for journalists. Everything from audio recording to file sharing.

Theyve become part of my working life and I thought Id share some of the more useful ones.

Recording phone calls:

There are a number of phone call recording apps out there. But there can be a few strings attached, including having to buy credit to make calls. Thats on top of the cost of the call.

Ive found Tape-a-Call particularly valuable. While you have to buy it from the app store, you can make as many calls as you want.

You can record incoming and outgoing calls and the quality is fairly good. There are no special devices needed and once completed, the audio file is sent back to your phone.

There are recording pips as a default setting, but they can be switched off. Its available on Android and iPhones.

Recording media conferences or interviews

The days of the bulky kit bags are long behind us, people! Plug in a microphone and youre ready to go. Most smart phones come with the voice memo app already pre-loaded. Its not bad and fairly easy to use in the edit mode.

There are, however, apps that have been built with journalists in mind.

AudioNote is useful as you can record directly into your phone or onto an iPad (if your lead is long enough). What makes this app so handy is that you can mark grabs and attach notes and email it off.

You can buy the full app or download the free version AudioNote Light.

iTalk is another nifty app with really good audio quality. It allows for file sharing between devices. Its really easy use. Press the big red button to record. Press the big red button again to stop recording.

And its free.

Ive only stumbled across Audioboo quite recently. Its a social networking application and web platform, allowing users to upload and share audio.

Think Twitter for audio. You set up a profile, upload your audio and share with other users or those you are following.

The obvious:

There are so many that we use every day that deliver story ideas or news. The obvious ones are FaceBook, Twitter and Instagram. Der! Who doesnt have them on their phone these days?

DropBox and Evernote are great for file sharing.

LinkedIn is a great one if youre looking for dial-a-quote.

Currency Convertersare another great one. I use XE Currency App because its FREE.

Dictionary.com because sometimes we need to know how to spell properly. Even on radio.

Street Maps preloaded on most phones, but there are some others that are worthy of a look including Citymapper and CityMaps2Go.

This list is not meant to be definitive. These are just a few at the very tip of the iceberg, so feel free to share any that you use.
Remember the drill of your first day at work?

Brisbanes Nova 106.9 has a unique way of welcoming new staff members, which Tim Wong See their new arvo guy got to discover.

The Nova Brisbane team like to literally roll out the red carpet for their new recruits and make a song and dance about them joining their family. Take a squiz.

Tim has moved to Brisbane from Nova Sydney to do 12pm-4pm.

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Walini will be the location of one of the eight stations on the 142.3km line which will be designed for 250km/h operation. Construction is scheduled to be completed in 2018 allowing high-speed services to start in early 2019. A 40-minute journey time is envisaged, compared with around three hours on the existing 173km line.

China Development Bank will provide 75% of the funding for the $US 5.5bn project, with the remainder coming from PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia-China, the joint venture of four state-owned Indonesian companies and China Railway International, which will construct the new line.

The construction contract was signed in October 2015 following a chaotic bidding process caused by the Indonesian government repeatedly changing its mind over the project.
The Russian S-400 TRIUMF (NATO designation SA-21) surface to air missile (SAM) entered the global media spotlight late in 2015 when Moscow deployed the system after Turkey's shoot-down of a Russian Su-24 FENCER airplane near the Syria border on Thanksgiving Day. The Russian deployment compelled Turkey to pause its air operations and reportedly impacted the execution of U.S. and coalition air operations in the region, demonstrating the considerable reach and influence of this advanced air defense system.

This episode demonstrated the S-400's potential as a weapon with strategic effects, a role that China, the first export recipient of the system, may seek to exploit in future crises. In April 2015, Russia announced the sale of four to six S-400 battalions to China. It remains unclear where China will deploy the assets. However, deployment of the system could influence the regional security order and dramatically impact the ability of the United States and its allies to respond to crises related to Taiwan, the Koreas, and the East and South China Seas....

The remainder of this commentary is available on warontherocks.com.

Timothy Heath is a senior international defense research analyst at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation.

This commentary originally appeared on War on the Rocks on January 21, 2016. Commentary gives RAND researchers a platform to convey insights based on their professional expertise and often on their peer-reviewed research and analysis.
Zodiak Media has sold Rachel Hunter's Tour of Beauty to Atresmedia's Hola! TV, which is to air the format across the Spanish-speaking Latin American and US markets.





Globosat has acquired the rights for Hola! for Brazil and Scripps Network' Fine Living Network has acquired the rights for Europe, Africa and the Middle East.The 13x30 episodes, produced by Imagination Television and distributed by worldwide Zodiak Media , have already been broadcast by New Zealand's TVNZ, which premiered the format worldwide, Ovation in the US, Discovery Networks Asia Pacific across Asia, Australia's Foxtel, AMC International for Spain, and SKY Italia.The success of the series has driven Imagination Television to produce a six-episode spin-off: Rachel Hunters Tour of Beauty: The Collection Series which will mix newly shot material with highlights from the original series.I am absolutely delighted that Hola! TV audiences in Latin America and the US will be able to accompany Rachel Hunter on her extraordinary tour of beauty. Hola! TV feels like a perfect and natural fit for this show, said Elliott Chalkley, sales VP, Zodiak Rights. Rachel Hunter is an Hola! personality and Im confident that the network's audiences will enjoy watching Rachel on her global quest to discover the secrets to long life and beauty.Rachel Hunter is an internationally recognised personality whos no stranger to Hola!, and her show brings that wow factor that our viewers have come to expect, said Adolfo Alvarez, VP, on-air programming, Hola! TV.
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Live TV remains the primary medium to consume video in the US, where adults 25-54 in leading designated market areas (DMAs) view more than three hours per day, says Nielsen's latest Local Watch Report.





Some markets are more TV-focused than others: Cleveland remained No 1 in total TV viewing, with five hours and 47 minutes.TV watching also varied by ethnicity. In nine of the top ten LPM markets, African-Americans watch more than five hours of live TV per day. Among the top ten Hispanic LPM markets, Hispanics' live TV viewing averages more than three hours per day, with those in Denver and Phoenix tuning for more than four hours.The report also revealed key trends regarding young voters and their media usage . Millennials, that highly coveted group of adults 18-34, now constitute 26% of US adults registered to vote in their districts. Understanding their media habits, lifestyles and voting trends is key to capturing their attention, Nielsen pointed out. Of the top 25 local people meter (LPM) markets, nine are in battleground states. In six of them, young voters comprise at least 25% of adults registered to vote in their districts."While young voters are heavily connected to new technologies and social media, they are also still heavily engaged with live TV," said Matt O'Grady, executive vice president and managing director, local media, Nielsen. "Local broadcasters have a great opportunity to capture these young voters, as 78% watch broadcast TV weekly and 49% typically tune in to local news."Half of young voters are either independent or do not identify with a political party; 29% are Democrats and 21% are Republicans. And nearly 40% of young voters come from an ethnic background (18% Hispanics, 13% African-Americans and 8% Asian/other).The report also took a look at digital trends. Over-the-top (OTT) viewing options grew 2% to 8%, depending on the device, compared with November 2014 (smart TV ownership across the US is at 20%; tablet penetration is at 56%; and smartphone penetration in the US is at 82%). Baltimore is the No 1 LPM market in multimedia usage (Apple TV, Roku, Chromecast, etc) with 18 minutes per day.Subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) offerings like Netflix reach nearly half of the US population, and markets like Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Dallas experienced gains of up to 15% in one year.
Snowplow driver involved in Total CEO plane crash presented with final charges

MOSCOW, January 21 (RAPSI)  The Investigative Committee of Russia on Thursday brought final charges against snowplow driver Vladimir Martynenko, who collided with Total CEOs plane at Vnukovo Airport, lawyer Alexander Karabanov told RAPSI on Thursday.

Other suspects in this case have already been presented with the final charges.

Christophe de Margerie died in a plane crash at Vnukovo airport on October 21, 2014, when his planes wing hit a snow plow. Among the victims were three crew members, all French citizens.

Lead airfield service engineer Vladimir Ledenev, air traffic controller Alexander Kruglov, airport flight manager Roman Dunayev, and dispatcher Natalya Arkhipova stand charged in the case along with Martynenko.

Last week, the Investigative Committee said that charges against traffic control trainee Svetlana Krivsun had been dropped.

Ledenev is reportedly the only one who pleaded guilty to charges.

The airport employees stand accused of violation of air traffic rules that resulted in the death of two or more people.
British judge names Lugovoi and Kovtun as culprits behind Litvinenkos murder

MOSCOW, January 21 (RAPSI)  Alexander Lugovoi and Dmitriy Kovtun were named as murderers in 2006 killing of ex-KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko in a report which was made public on Thursday.

"I am sure that Mr Lugovoy and Mr Kovtun placed the polonium 210 in the teapot at the Pine Bar on 1 November 2006. I am also sure that they did this with the intention of poisoning Mr Litvinenko," the report reads.

The inquiry into Litvinenkos death was established on July 31, 2014. Sir Robert Owen, the former judge of Londons High Court, was appointed to chair the inquiry.

The public and closed hearings into Litvinenkos death were completed in 2015.

Litvinenko defected to the UK in 2000. He died in 2006 after drinking tea laced with radioactive polonium-210 with former colleagues Lugovoi and Kovtun at the Millennium Hotel in London's Grosvenor Square.

Litvinenko was said to have worked for British secret service MI6 during his time in the UK.

Britain has accused Kovtun and Lugovoy of carrying out the poisoning. Both men deny any involvement in the murder as politically motivated.

Russia's Investigative Committee reported in November 2011 that Lugovoi had been poisoned with polonium-210 himself. As a result, he was claimed to be a victim in the murder case.
Russian Supreme Court upholds sentence for members of BORN extremist group

MOSCOW, January 21 (RAPSI, Artem Ponomarev)  The Russian Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the sentence for three members of a notorious extremist movement BORN convicted of masterminding multiple killings, RAPSI reported from the courtroom.

The defendants have filed appeals seeking vacating of guilty verdict. Prosecutors asked the court to dismiss the complaints.

In April 2015, the Moscow Region Court sentenced two BORN members, Vyacheslav Isayev and Maxim Baklagin, to life behind bars. The third member of the group, Mikhail Volkov received 24 years in jail.

The fourth member of the group, Yury Tikhomirov, was acquitted.

Young men were charged with racketeering, illegal weapons trafficking and several counts of homicide, including the deaths of lawyer Stanislav Markelov, federal judge Eduard Chuvashov, and several leaders of Russian anti-fascist movements. The jury found Isayev, Baklagin and Volkov guilty of killings and attempted murders in March.

According to investigators, nationalists Ilya Goryachev and Nikita Tikhonov created the Military Organization of Russian Nationalists (BORN) in Moscow in mid-2008.

Tikhonov, who is believed to be one of the groups leaders, was convicted and sentenced in May 2011 to life in prison for the murder of Markelov and Novaya Gazeta journalist Anastasia Baburova. He got 18 extra years in prison in September 2014 for killing Chuvashov.

Tikhonovs accomplice Yevgenia Khasis, who was given 18 years behind bars, said in her testimony that Goryachev was a murderer because he ordered the murders.

Goryachev was sentenced to life in prison for masterminding murders in July 2015.
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.
Russian MP suggests banning foreign companies from using Vodka brand - report

MOSCOW, January 21 (RAPSI)  State Duma lawmaker Mikhail Degtyaryov (LDPR) has requested that Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov raise on the level of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and international court instances the issue of prohibiting foreign companies from using Vodka trademark, Izvestia newspaper reported Thursday.

According to Degtyarov, foreign firms must not produce these alcoholic drinks without consent of the Russian party because the word Vodka and beverage processing first appeared in Russia.

Brand Vodka has been assigned to Russia by dozens of independent studies, the newspaper quoted the lawmaker as having said. In 1982, the International Court of Arbitration confirmed the Soviet Unions right to create original Russian vodka as a drink.
The Killid Group, January 21, 2016

In Badghis, a nine-year-old girl was sexually attacked by 11 men including four policemen. Fareed Akhizai, head of Badghis provincial council, says the incident was in Jowand. The girls father is dead. Armed men forcibly gave her in matrimony for 750,000 Afs (10,900 USD)after she was sexually harassed. The mother and grandmother came to the Badghis capital to complain to the police commandant and provincial council, says Akhizai.

Abdul Rauf, police commander of Badghis, also confirms the case and promises speedy investigation but no assurance on whether the perpetrators would be arrested.

Civil society groups held a press conference. Fardeen Fedayee, head of Afghanistan Youth Civil Society, commenting on the recent crimes against women and girls says he fears violence will only keep rising. He blames the government for not acting against criminals. The incident in Badghis is a big crime. The government should try the criminals otherwise we will launch country-wide demonstrations.



NPR, Sep. 6, 2015: According to Human Rights Watch, there has been an increase of such incarcerations: "The number of women and girls imprisoned for 'moral crimes' in Afghanistan has increased by 50 percent in the period from October 2011 to May 2013." , Sep. 6, 2015: According to Human Rights Watch, there has been an increase of such incarcerations: "The number of women and girls imprisoned for 'moral crimes' in Afghanistan has increased by 50 percent in the period from October 2011 to May 2013."

Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) considers the current year, starting Mar 21, 2015 to Mar 19, 2016, shocking from the viewpoint of violence against women. AIHRC has recorded some 2,950 cases of brutalities in the first seven months of the year. Dr Rafiaullah Bedar, spokesperson, says the incidents include beating and cutting off body parts of the victims. Women and children have been sexually harassed. There were murders  so-called honour killings, he says.

On the basis of information, Bedar says Herat, Badghis, Baghlan and Takhar provinces seem to have been most dangerous for women and children.

Latifa Sultani, the coordinator for womens rights in AIHRC, says there were 190 murders in the name of family honour including three cases where women were stoned to death. These cases were reported from areas under Taleban control.

Record suicides

Hospitals in Herat have received a record number of attempted suicide cases. In the first two months of the year, there were 60, all but three were women. Mohammad Rafiq Sherzoy, the spokesperson of Herat regional hospital told Killid, Some tried to kill themselves with rat poison.

The most recent case, he says, is of a 35-year-old pregnant woman who was brought to hospital for rat poisoning but died of knife injuries. Her husband had attacked her with a knife seconds after she ate rat poison.

Will her husband be tried for murder? Mary Maihanyar, the prosecutor in the office for elimination of violence against women in the Herat Attorney-Generals says, There were 22 honour murders in the first nine months of the year. The figure was 18 for the same period last year. Arrests have been made in 80 percent of the cases.

There are women in prison whose only crime was they fled their homes. Human rights activists say there are 28 such cases in Baghlan prison. They complain of harassment from prison officials and other prisoners with influence. These women (those who have links with government officials) get other prisoners to do their work. They trade in mobile phones and beat up anyone who does not listen to them. There are also instances of male prison officials sexually harassing prisoners. They dare not complain, says Arzo, a womens activist who visited Baghlan prison and interviewed prisoners.

She cites another case of a 20-year-old prisoner, a married woman who fled the violence at home. She was arrested and has been in prison for a year. The woman faced constant harassment from a fellow prisoner. I cannot complain because the prison officials support her, she told Arzo.

Presidential intervention

President Ghani has said that a neutral commission of women lawmakers and civil society activists should be formed to monitor the processing of cases of women prisoners. The Supreme Court has appointed a delegation to follow-up on all complaints from prisoners. Chief Justice Abdul Salam Azimi has promised a comprehensive investigation into all complaints and results will be submitted to the presidents office. The president directed the authorities concerned to form a commission of women lawmakers and civil society activists to monitor trial of women cases. He said a special court would be formed to stop the influence of some people on the trial of cases.

The Afghan president visited the Badam-e-Bagh womens prison following a representation from Anjoman e Paiwand e Afghanha which had conducted a survey of women prisoners and found they did not have access to legal facilities and lawyers. The research was conducted in Balkh, Helmand, Herat, Kandahar and other provinces. The study concluded judicial offices, Ministry of Justice, and Supreme Court dont give priority to cases of justice for women. Women detained in cases are victimised from the time of their arrest till their release. There are roughly 280,000 women prisoners in Afghan jails.

According to media reports, President Ghani said that the order to release 40 women inmates was almost complete.

He said that he was monitoring implementation of such decrees himself to avoid wrong use of these orders. He said he had also ordered the relevant agencies to restart trials of prisoners.

Originally published on Jan. 17, 2015
realclearworld Newsletters: Europe Memo

Some of the most enduring positive changes in politics occur slowly. The development and expansion of the European institutions that eventually brought about the European Union can be seen as an encouraging example of that precept, to the extent that their gradual evolution has been positive for the Continent since the end of World War II -- and to any extent that it still might in the future.

Author Robert Kaplan expounded on this theme when he and I sat down for an interview in December. We were discussing Kaplan's latest book, "In Europe's Shadow: Two Cold Wars and a Thirty-Year Journey Through Romania and Beyond," which hits bookshelves on Feb. 9 and provides an incisive, tactile introduction to the politics and potential prospects of Central and Southeastern Europe -- a region that finds itself once again caught in the headwinds of history. Unlike neighbors such as Poland and Hungary, Romania at the end of the Cold War did not rush to take its place in an integrated Europe. Nor, however, did it fall apart, as it well could have. Kaplan:

"Romanians will argue with me. But I believe that the fact that after the coup against [Romanian dictator Nicolae] Ceausescu, it was taken over not by democrats but by Reformed Communists, was actually a good thing, because it gave the country about six years of stability without which Romania could have descended into violence -- like Yugoslavia did. Remember, Romania didn't have a normal communist society, it had a Stalinist society. it was much further back than Poland and Czechoslovakia. Therefore it needed another layer of transition, which the Reformed Communists provided. Yes, they stalled a lot of reforms, but they kept things stable. The worst never happened."

Kaplan, as he is wont, turned to philosophy to bolster the idea.

"Edmund Burke wrote that most historical change that is gradual tends to work out better than anything sudden or dramatic. Poland and the Czech Republic were ready for sudden change, because they had bourgeoisies, they had nascent middle classes. They had Reformed Communists in many cases. They had a history of that, whereas Ceausescu had eliminated most people who were Reformed Communists. Romania has been slowly breaking out of the gate simply by being stable, and by chalking up growth rates that while may be bad in a worldwide historical sense, are very good given Europe over the last six years."

Romania's gradual reform, and its slower pace of integration with the European Union, has left Bucharest sitting outside of the Union's most ambitious projects -- the euro common currency and the Schengen passport-free zone. Kaplan argues Romanians are all the luckier for it, and it sure is hard to disagree with him. Indeed, Bucharest in October 2015 withdrew its bid to join Schengen.

Portrait of a nation

"In Europe's Shadow" provides a portrait of a country that flies beneath most people's radar and yet in many ways serves as a microcosm of the region at large, and a key to understanding it. Kaplan's relationship with Romania is intensely personal. The author was, as he described himself, "drifting in my late 20s" and reaching the end of his service with the Israel Defense Forces, when, aspiring to build a resume as a journalist, he bought a ticket to Ceausescu's Romania. His own personal and professional evolution, as Kaplan returns to Romania time and again over the course of decades, mirrors a heartfelt, exhaustive rendering of the historical aspirations of a land indeed always caught in the shadows -- of Byzantium, of the Ottomans, of Russia; of gothic spires, Carpathian ranges, and the contemplative magic of an Orthodox church.

Kaplan's is travel writing at its contemporary finest, weaving in the sights and sounds of a faraway land alongside interviews with its philosophers and politicians. He juxtaposes the brutality of Romania's history with the hopes for its present. Crossing the Prut River into Moldova, he also provides a detailed account of what it is like, in the Europe of the 21st Century, to look across a border that still has very real meaning.

Shaking hands with the return of geopolitics

If Ukraine's rapprochement with Europe, and Russia's subsequent takeover of Crimea, have marked the return of geopolitical concerns in the halls of Western European capitals, that concern is existential in Bucharest. Kaplan notes the difference as he talks to Romanian officials, remarking that the Ukraine crisis has made the governing class that much more serious, though the crisis has yet to pose a demonstrable threat.

That threat is far more direct in neighboring Moldova, however. The tiny country is occupied at its eastern end by the separatist enclave of Transdniestria, which hosts Russian troops and abuts the border with Western Ukraine. While a full-scale invasion of Ukraine likely carries too high a cost for Moscow, tiny Moldova could provide a soft, easy target for Russian meddling. (At the same time, the idea of Moldova joining Romania carries strong political currency on both sides of that border.) Traveling in Moldova, Kaplan refers to what he terms the Pontic Breach: the hinterland of the Black Sea that offers an invasion route to or from the Balkans or the Mediterranean. Moldova occupies that territory, and Transdniestria sits close to the strategic Ukrainian port of Odessa. These are the concentric circles of European geopolitics, as identified by Kaplan: Moldova is key to Ukrainian security; Ukraine is key to Russia's.

While Europe struggles to acquire a more strategic outlook, its greatest tool in the struggle against Putinist authoritarianism may still be its oldest: the draw of its soft power, rooted in the supremacy of the rule of law in its member states. Returning to a theme he addresses in the book, Kaplan told me about the vastly different attitude Romanians hold toward the European Union:

"I find in Eastern Europe, the EU is not looked upon with the same level of cynicism as in Western Europe. The cynicism you find in Washington, in Western Europe, about the EU is much more profound than in Romania. In Romania you still have this sense that the EU constitutes national survival. It's our way out of history, our way out of ethnic nations into rule-of-law states that protect the individual. That's felt very strongly in Romania."

In other words, Eastern Europe sees now what Western Europe saw 20 years ago -- a chance to declare that history can be defeated. But as history stretches its long arm across Europe once more, its cold touch is felt far more intimately in Warsaw and Bucharest, and in Belgrade and Skopje, than it is in Brussels. Kaplan:

"Historically, the Balkans were always a zone of massive migration from Eurasia and the Near East into Europe. So in a sense the Balkans are resuming this role. Not only are they less developed, and less stable in the case of Macedonia, Kosovo, and Bulgaria, than Central Europe, but now they're being cut off. Fences are going up in Slovenia and Hungary that are separating off the Balkans again.

"But it's a mixed picture. Romania is on track to have 4 percent economic GDP growth. They're hoping to lead Europe [in that category]. Romania is very stable, its economy has handled the last 10 years better than almost any place in Europe. It has no fascist pro-Russian parties. It's healthier than Poland politically. Romania's doing well. Albania is doing about as well as could be expected considering how poor they were. NATO has taken Montenegro in, which is something that helps. So the Balkans are not going to descend into violence like in the 1990s, that's not going to happen.

"What's going to happen is more of a nuanced picture of a place that's more beset with refugees, that's poorer than the rest of Europe, that continues to have its own otherness, but to a much lesser degree than in the 90s. I don't see a return to that at all."

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By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 01/21/2016



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2 star Kailyn Lowry and 3 star Briana DeJesus both underwent major plastic-surgery procedures by the infamous "Dr. Miami" in Florida.Kailyn, 23, and Briana, 24, participated in what turned out to be a spectacle broadcast live on Michael "Dr. Miami" Salzhauer's Snapchat on Sunday.The big event Salzhauer dubbed "Super BBL Sunday Party" -- which means Boobs, Brazilian Butts, Liposuction and Labiaplasty, according to TMZ -- also included Briana's 21-year-old sister Brittany DeJesus. He worked on all three girls simultaneously."TherealdrmiamiSuper BBL Sunday!!! Tune in to the @therealdrmiami Snapchat Sunday, January 17th starting at 8AM Eastern time," Salzhauer captioned a photo of the three girls together on his Instagram."Find out whose getting which procedures.... Tummy Tuck, BBL, Fat Transfer to Breast; Breast Implants and Labiaplasty. Plus.....Special Musical Guests....courtesy of Surg Recordz.....contests...prizes and more #1738 #drmiami #beautywarriors #love #beautyispower #tmz."Salzhauer told People that Brittany was the first girl to approach him about plastic surgery and, after hearing from Kailyn as well, he decided to work on the three girls together. Dr. Miami also confirmed exactly what each girl went under the knife for."Kailyn had a Brazilian butt lift and a tummy tuck. Briana had the Brazilian butt lift, labiaplasty and breast implant exchange -- she had implants and she wasn't happy with them so she went a bit bigger," Salzhauer, who's also worked on OG star Farrah Abraham, told the magazine."And Brittany had a Brazilian butt lift and fat transfer to the breasts, she didn't want implants, she wanted a more natural augmentation."Snapchat photos were captured of Kailyn's before and after appearance, which sparked a lot of buzz on social media. The mother of two can be recognized through the large tattoo on her back featuring vines and flowers. Kailyn denied rumors she specifically had "butt implants" on Twitter but basically confirmed getting plastic surgery."I actually Only care about the attention I get from husband. @JaviM9," Kailyn tweeted Salzhauer revealed Kailyn wanted to complete her surgeries while her husband Javi Marroquin was deployed overseas. He thought it was "sweet" she wanted to "look great" for his return.As for Briana and her little sister Brittany, they reportedly told Dr. Miami they wanted to get work done because they'll both be appearing on the VH1 show Family Therapy. Brittany can also occasionally be seen on 3."All three girls had different issues with their bodies that they'd been dealing with, and really there is no way to improve what they wanted to improve through the gym," Salzhauer claimed in his interview with People."People look at women in their early 20s having plastic surgery and they say, 'Oh they're too young for that,' but really that's not true, it's not about age. It's about what has your body been through and what can we do to improve it. If you have kids when you're a late teen and you're done having kids, at least for a while -- you pretty much missed your whole teenage years."All three girls are reportedly recovering now from their procedures and doing well.
Things finally fall into place now that New York City reached a deal to keep the horse-drawn carriage industry alive. In addition, there will be new park-in stables built in Central Park. However, there is a catch -- the number of licensed horses will be reduced.

According to ABC News, it was last Sunday that New York City officials announced about the deal. Mayor Bill de Blasio had a joint statement along with City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito as well as the Teamsters union and he said, "We are pleased to have reached an agreement in concept on the future of New York's horse carriage industry."

The mayor also said in his statement, "We look forward to working together on the final details of this legislation and getting this passed."

Daily Mail said that the agreement came after Mayor de Blasio made a promise two years ago to abolish the rides. Carriage rides are one of the main tourist highlights in the city. This is very popular to couples as well as in movies but then, other people call it inhumane.

It has been reported that the deal made will also reduced the number of licensed horses from about 180 to only 95. This will happen once the permanent home for the horses are built on Central Park by Oct. 1, 2018. Aside from that, the agreement made will also limit the operations for horse-drawn carriage. But with an exemption that they will only be allowed to travel to and from their existing stables to Central Park starting June 1.

Reportedly, as soon as the stables are completed, all operations will only be allowed inside the Central Park. Officials said that this will ensure enough space for 68 carriages and 75 horses. It was also stated that starting Dec. 1 the number of hours per day a carriage to operate will only be limited to 9 hours in any 24-hour period. Carriages will also be allowed to make an extra charge of $5 for trips after 6 p.m. between Nov. 15 and Jan. 5. This is also applicable on Valentine's Day and Easter.

Meanwhile, The New York Times reported that yesterday Nyclass said that the mayor's deal was promising. However, it was not "far enough" and that they still demand for further protections for the animals. As the group said, "We will settle for nothing less."
The real estate industry has been shocked due to the sudden and untimely death of a known real estate firm owner, Donald Baker. The 59-year-old Baker was aboard a two-engine private jet together with his wife, Dawn Hunter, 55, when it reportedly crashed in Cedar Fort, Utah.

According to Tucson website, there were no other passengers aboard the plane, which was on the way going to Tucson from Salt Lake City. Suddenly, the witnesses said, there were flames that came out from the engine of 1999 Cessna Citation 525. The plane erupted, killing the two passengers.

There were evident debris of the burned jet left in the crash site. Since the time of the incident, the investigators have been gathering evidence and facts to determine the main cause of the crash.

Baker was a known real estate personality. He was the co-owner of Larsen Baker LLC. In Arizona, he was said to be the owner of about more than 2.5 million square feet of retail space property.

Baker and Hunter were believed to have been engaged in 2012. A report from Daily Mail said the couple owned a house worth $3.2 million.

Meanwhile, according to aviation records, the co-owner of Larsen Baker LLC had acquired his pilot's license since 2008. Before the incident, he had filed a flight plan to leave Salt Lake City International Airport.

The cause of the crash, as of now, is believed as a mechanical error of the engine. Reports said the two had tried but failed to go back to Salt Lake City.

Hank Amos, president of Tucson Realty & Trust Co., expressed his sympathy, saying: "Don was truly well-respected in the commercial real estate industry. He had an amazing run in Tucson, especially in retail. It's obviously a big loss."

The Cessna plane left at 9:51 a.m., and at 10 a.m., the Utah County Sherriff's department quickly responded to the reported plane crash.
According to the six-page documents from the British Columbia Finance Ministry, the province could be sacrificing $1 billion in residential real estate sales and almost 4,000 construction jobs if the government would implement regulations that would discourage foreigners from investing in the housing market.

The written analysis comes following the proposal in a University of British Columbia (UBC) study that, as previously reported, suggests implementation of a special 1.5 per cent tax on property owners with limited or no residential connection to the province. In turn, that surcharge on residential real estate could yield up to $90 million per year, in Vancouver alone, which then would be dispersed as lump-sum payments to every residents who file taxes in the collecting region. Such proposal aims to address housing affordability.

The proposal also followed the recent decrease in rental-vacancy rates in Vancouver slipped below one per cent last year and the continuously soaring prices of housing unit in the city's west side region. According to Vancouver Sun, this "housing affordability fun" would lessen overseas speculation as B.C. would become less attractive for investors looking to park their cash in residential real estate. Premier Christy Clark has said that the idea is good but might be difficult to implement.

Thus the analysis from British Columbia Finance Ministry has thoroughly looked into the disadvantages of the proposal and, according to CBC Canada, concludes that the proposed special tax that would curb foreign investments would not make so much difference in home values because these foreign investors are only less than five per cent of Vancouver's sales market. The six-page document also stated that if prices drop by 10 percent because of the new policy each Vancouver homeowner could lose about $85,000 in home equity.
Major U.S. hotel chains are extending outside of significant Japanese urban communities and into distant territories in an offer to catch the interest created by the developing convergence of remote visitors, some of whom are hoping to go out of the way.

Hyatt Hotels works 10 properties principally in Tokyo, Osaka and other expansive urban communities. The chain will open Japan's first Hyatt Centric - another brand focusing on vacationers and business customers - in Tokyo's Ginza region in 2018. The company is investigating an opening somewhere around 10 and 20 hotels in Japan throughout the following decade, which will incorporate Centric and different brands in provincial urban areas, for example, Kanazawa in western Japan, and additionally Kagoshima, Hiroshima and Kobe in the south.

Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, situated in the U.S., opened three establishments in Hokkaido before the end of last year. Another area is set to open in Okinawa this June.

Notwithstanding having local administrators and others run the hotels, the company will tackle establishments bearing its name. Hirohide Abe, senior VP of Hyatt in Japan said that they will work together with neighboring organizations, in addition to workmanship and social offices.

Hilton Worldwide says it might open 10 establishments in the following decade. The chain has 12 hotels by and large in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and different spots. In July, it will launch the DoubleTree by Hilton Naha Shuri Castle hotel in Okinawa. The company is reflecting on opening more DoubleTree by Hilton and Conrad hotels in areas, for example, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Sapporo.

More sightseers are likewise anticipated that would visit Japan with the 2020 Tokyo Olympics drawing closer. Regardless of reports of China's softening economy, Timothy Soper, Hilton's VP of operations for Japan, Korea and Micronesia says that the volume of Chinese travelers will stay noteworthy and prop up interest.

Significant domestic administrators with hotels in local regions are getting ready for the surge in rivalry by enhancing their Japanese-style services.
This year may be a challenging one for Dubai real estate but despite headwinds, the market remains resilient and opportunities still exist, according to Trade Arabia, based on Deloitte Corporate Finance's second annual Real Estate Predictions Report for Dubai, an entity that is regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority.

Trade Arabia adds that the report has an economic overwiew of the city's residential, hospitality, office and retail markets last year and as well the laters trends the market has, including what is to be expected this year.

Robin Williamson, managing director of Deloitte Corporate Finance says, "Over the past 13 years Dubai has experienced development on a scale and to a standard like no other real estate market globally. Along with other regional and international markets, it has suffered the effects of the global financial crisis."

On the residential market, the forecast is that about 40,000 units will be done this year, however, it seems that the more realistic expectation would be about 10,000 units based from consultations made with key developers. A 10 percent decline in prices was recorded last year and it seems the same can be expected this year.

When it comes to the hospitality sector, the expectation would be around 70 percent to 75 percent compared to last year's 77.5 percent.

Williamson added, "Serviced apartments are likely to be an area of focus in 2016, driven by key source market trends, growing visitor demand for longer average lengths of stay and better value accommodation."

Meanwhile, on the office sector, the rental growth is seen to be slow this year while retail would have a moderate sales growth due to strong a dollar and weakening demand from Russia, China and parts of Europe, the international source markets of Dubai.

Williamson concluded, "Despite the decline in average residential sales prices in Dubai during 2015, price growth over the last four years reflects a compound annual growth rate of 11.6 per cent, which outperforms other leading global cities such as London, Paris and Singapore."
New money laundering rules have been announced by federal authorities this week which aims to prevent criminals "from using luxury real estate to hide their illegal proceeds," a report from NBC News said.

According to the report, the new rule will require title insurance companies to expose the people living in some of the most expensive homes in Miami and New York, which are known to be the hotbeds of expensive real estate markets.

"FinCEN is concerned that all-cash purchases -- i.e., those without bank financing -- may be conducted by individuals attempting to hide their assets and identity," the government agency said in a press release.

In a statement, Jennifer Shasky Calvery, who runs the U.S. Treasury Department's FInancial Crimes Enforcement Network said, in a statement, "We are seeking to understand the risk that corrupt foreign officials, or transnational criminals, may be using premium U.S. real estate to secretly invest millions in dirty money."

Calvery said that the new federal rule will "seek to plug a large gap in the agency's efforts to make the real estate market less susceptible to fraud and money laundering." It was said that all the information that will be gathered via the "Geographic Targeting Orders" and will be officially disclosed to the law enforcement officials.

The report state that the federal rule was triggered by The New York Times investigation that revealed the modus operandi of rich foreigners including high-profile politicians who alllegedly used several shell companies to purchase real estate properties in Manhattan.

"The series prompted calls for more regulations by groups that advocate for better transparency in the real estate industry, which has won exemptions from scrutiny imposed on other industries through the Patriot Act.The new regulations, however, are only temporary. They are due to expire in August," the report said.
New York City tenants have complaints about the elevators in some of the city's popular buildings. They believe that this problem should be immediately solved as the number of violations are increasing, a report from Amny said.

According to the report, the three elevators of the Broome Street in the New York City Department building are among the worst elevators that New York tenants complain about. The management said that the elevators in the building have been fixed back in 2011 to make it "modern" and more safe for the public.

The New York City Buildings Department released last year a list of the five buildings that have accrued more than 10 violations and complaints from the public within the 12-month period. The department also said that the owners of the said buildings have a history in the past of elevator problems.

540 Jackson Ave., Bronx

According to the New York City Department, the six-story building's elevator is not functional and has been out of service for more than 20 years. In fact, the department has summoned the owner of the building back in 2012 because of the elevator problem. The building is owned by 540 Jackson Realty Corp and considered to be the highest offender in the metropolis.

1839 University Ave., Bronx

The elevator in this six-story residential building has incurred a total of four violations back in 2014. It was said that the elevator has been out of service for 15 years and has received complaints that were filed before the New York City Department of Buildings. The department said that the owner of the building is now facing a criminal case because of the elevator violations. The owner of the building is the Soto Corp.

657 Crotona Park North, Bronx

The elevator in this building has been out of service for more than 20 years, according to the New York City Department. The building is owned by 653-567 LLC, and the company has a pending criminal proceeding because of the defective elevator in the building.

New York Post has identified other 10 buildings for having the "worst elevator offenders, based on complaints, violations, maintenance filings and field inspections."
Cambria Hotels & Suites is scheduled to open in Morristown, New Jersey in July 2017, after City Sunstone Properties signed a franchise agreement with Choice Hotels International, Inc. for the development of the 120-room Cambria property. It will be located one-half block away from Morristown Green at 19 Market Street.

"There are numerous corporations based around Morristown, and we are confident their clients and partners will be pleased once they experience the Cambria brand," said Rod Atamian, managing partner at City Sunstone Properties. "The development of the Morristown Cambria is consistent with our efforts to own the most attractive commercial properties in a given region."

According to the press release of Choice Hotels International, Inc. in PR NewsWire, the new Cambria Hotels & Suites in Morristown will be designed as a business travel and leisure brand that will feature a larger lobby to give guests a more social atmosphere, oversized rooms with flexible spaces, and the latest technology that allows guests to stay connected while they travel. In addition to the contemporary bistro, Social CircleTM, the Morristown property will also offer its clientele with amenities that include a spa, a large indoor swimming pool, a fitness center, and 2,500 square feet of meeting space.

"The Cambria Hotels & Suites brand had a strong year in 2015, with numerous openings, ground breakings and new property signings to key markets across the country, and we're thrilled to continue that momentum by bringing the brand to business and leisure travelers visiting Morristown," said Michael Murphy, senior vice president of Upscale Brands, Choice Hotels International.

City Sunstone Properties was founded in 2012 as a commercial real estate investment company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. The founder's intent was to take advantage of severely dislocated markets, primarily in Southern Nevada and the western United States. In just a few years, City Sunstone Properties has become a leading player in Nevada's commercial real estate market, having acquired 10 properties, including shopping centers, office complexes, and tracts of land that are planned for future development.
Accessories: Fully articulated short female body with 30+ points of articulation

Authentic likeness of Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia

Detailed costume including:

Hooded Gown Belt Boots

Accessories including:

Blaster pistol Stormtrooper Blaster Death Star plans SIDESHOW EXCLUSIVE - Wrist Binders

12-Inch Figure Display Base with Star Wars logo Comments: Vehemently opposed to the corrupt and oppressive Empire, Alderaan's Princess Leia Organa is one of the most proactive young leaders in the Rebel Alliance. Beautiful and intelligent, Leia has made a name for herself in the Imperial Senate and has a reputation for levelheaded politics and maturity far in excess of her years. Under the cover of her diplomatic errands, the headstrong young noble carries out the work of her father and his allies, surreptitiously coordinating Rebel activity right under the noses of Coruscant's Imperial elite. The risks to both Leia and her family can hardly be understated. While Leia and her father Bail Organa, Alderaan's senator and the husband of Queen Brea, go to lengths to conceal their activities and avoid openly attacking the Emperor, their discreet opposition to his policies is known to the Empire. When the Princess is apprehended by Lord Vader on a secret mission to find lost Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Emperor's lieutenant believes he finally has the proof he needs to arrest Organa and her Rebel allies. Wily Leia, however, hides the stolen Death Star plans he seeks in a plucky astromech droid and instructs him to deliver them to Kenobi at all costs. Though thwarted, Vader nonetheless detains her as a traitor and an enemy of the Empire and attempts to extract information from her through intimidation and fear. But, with a will every bit as strong as the Sith's, Leia resists giving up the rebels, even faced with such terrible sights as the obliteration of her homeworld and her family. Leia's scheduled termination by the Imperials is also prevented when the Princess is rescued from her Death Star prison cell by Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Chewbacca, thanks to her foresight and trust in Artoo. It would be a fateful meeting of heroes that would see unlikely friendships formed, love kindled, a scattered family reunited and ultimately, free a galaxy from tyranny.



Points of Interest:

The Sideshow Exclusive version of the 12-inch Princess Leia figure includes a unique accessory available nowhere else, the set of wrist binders used during her detention on the Death Star! Photography by D Martin Myatt
Participants of last months anti-discrimination march met Sunday at the Athens-Clarke County Library to discuss what is next in their goal of creating a enforceable anti-discrimination ordinance andHuman Relations Commission to combat claims of discrimination at businesses in downtown Athens. The organizers, Mokah Jasmine Johnson and Knowa Johnson, held a march through downtown Jan. 18 to raise awareness of the alleged issue.
University of Georgia students are likely to see their costs of living increase next year  both on and off campus.
On Wednesday, Jan. 20, Parker Gispert was locked out of the trailer in Nashville, Tennessee, containing all of his clothes and musical equipment. He had planned to make the drive to Athens the day before, but then came the snow, postponing his trip another day.
The school year begins, and students line the halls of the Zell B. Miller Learning Center, walking to class or just burning time. Many of these students go to school on some form of the HOPE Scholarship, the legacy project of the buildings namesake.
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Bank deal approved by regulators

Redding Bank of Commerce announced Wednesday that its deal to purchase five Bank of America branches in Northern California has been approved by federal and state regulators.

The bank will purchase certain assets of the five branches, including about $258 million in deposits and $421,000 in loans. The branches are in Colusa, Corning, Orland, Willows and Yreka.

The deal was first reported in late October.

Conversion of the locations to Redding Bank of Commerce branches will occur after the close of business on March 11. The branches will reopen March 14.

Simpson bike ride to raise scholarship money

The inaugural Simpson University Red Hawk Ride will take place 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 9.

The ride seeks to raise scholarship money for students who need financial help to complete their education.

The Red Hawk Ride is for all ages and skill levels and will include routes of 6, 18, 38 and 64 miles that start and finish on campus at 2211 College View Drive. Breakfast and lunch are available for purchase. The event also will feature vendors and live music.

Entry fees range from $10 to $65 for early registration, which ends Feb. 29. Go to www.simpsonu.edu/redhawkride for more information or to register.
Armando Mejorado, center, with servers Heather Jimenez, left, and Leah Pender

SHARE The soup course at Armandos Salad course at Armandos Gallery House in downtown Redding Dessert came with a glass of port wine

By Marc Beauchamp

To quote Monty Python, Now for something completely different  dinner at the new Armandos Gallery House on Butte Street in downtown Redding.

Artist Armando Mejorado (Shasta High class of 1996) has created a dining venue and experience that replicates the parties he and his late partner threw at their north Redding home (if you were lucky enough to attend one).

The dining area feels more like a living room with couches, comfortable chairs and Tiffany-style lamps. A projector casts a video of an aquarium full of tropical fish on one wall. Mejorados art is everywhere. He rearranges the furniture almost weekly.

Dress code? Whatever you want, Mejorado said.

Servers (aka "gallery girls") Leah Pender and Heather Jimenez, dressed in a sort of geisha chic, are delightful.

A creative multi-course prix-fixe dinner is served on Friday and Saturday evenings, prepared by Chef Eusebio Torres. But you can order a la carte or just sip a glass of wine and nibble on a fruit and cheese plate.

On Thursday evenings there are appetizers, wine and beer and art classes taught by Mejorado.

The Red Room in back is where wine tastings featuring local vineyards are held at a long wood table. The 1901 brick building housed the Bank of Shasta County, founded by Redding businessman C.C. Bush.

Last Friday we arrived around 5 p.m. (Reservations are strongly recommended.) We opted for the $50 prix-fixe dinner: a frisee lettuce salad with prosciutto and goat cheese, tomato basil soup, a New York steak imaginatively prepared with asparagus, mushrooms and a quail egg sunny side up, and a dessert that featured strawberries, a light cake, chocolate and a glass of 1998 port. It was all superb.

And I loved the eclectic music. The soundtrack for the evening included Pink Martini, Wax Tailor and Avadhoot Gupte.

My sister-in-law, an art teacher and quite the interior decorator, quipped: Im going to go straight home and hang more things from the ceiling.

We felt completely at home. As we passed the three-hour mark my wife told server Leah Pender, Well be your first overnight guests! No you wont, she jokingly replied.

In Spanish, mejorado means improved or enhanced. I would say thats an apt description of what Amandos Gallery House has done for downtown Redding.

go now 

Name: Armandos Gallery House

Street address: 1350 Butte Street

City: Redding

Phone: 768-1241

Hours: Thursday, Friday and Saturday 4 to 9 p.m.

Social media: Facebook

Owner: Armando Mejorado

Established: Fall 2015

Sample menu items:

Dinner on Friday and Saturday

Prix-fixe and a la carte

Menu changes weekly (check Facebook)

Thursdays: beer, wine, appetizers and art classes
Downtown parking rates going up? An update on vacation rental rules

Public Works Director Chuck Aukland said the new rates should go into effect by the first of the year.
Doug Wright announces Wednesday his entry into the congressional race against Doug LaMalfa at Shasta Venture Hub in Redding.

SHARE Doug Wright, center, talks to Ron Conley and his wife, Marie Conley, of Burney on Wednesday after announcing his entry into the congressional race against Doug LaMalfa at Shasta Venture Hub in Redding. Ron Conley was Wrights high school football and baseball coach at Burney High School. Paul Cain of Anderson holds a campaign sign Wednesday at Shasta Venture Hub in Redding after Doug Wright announced his entry into the congressional race against Doug LaMalfa.

By Jenny Espino of the Redding Record Searchlight

U.S. Rep. Doug LaMalfa will have a challenger in the California primary.

After months of consideration, Doug Wright, a Redding attorney and past board chairman of the Greater Redding Chamber of Commerce, on Wednesday made his entry into the race for 1st Congressional District against his fellow Republican official.

The Shasta Venture Hub for tech start-ups, which he hailed as an example of what can happen when people work together, served as his backdrop.

In an eight-minute speech, Wright, 41, of Millville presented himself to some 100 campaign supporters as the kid from Burney who wants to put constituents in the rural district above partisan politics. He pledged to work harder than anyone they have seen and to not forget where he came from.

Wright contends it would be a departure from the representation the district presently receives. He spoke of spending recent years working with community organizations and civic and local government officials to improve the North State's way of living. But he said LaMalfa has been absent from the talks.

"To me, this represents a true failure in government and leadership. This failure isn't about the government not having a role in our daily lives," Wright said. "The failure is of our congressman not engaging in a meaningful way, being absent from those discussions that matter the most. Photo opps is not leadership."

Dave Gilliard, LaMalfa's campaign consultant, brushed aside the attacks and said the Republican lawmaker is involved with the district, regularly meets with constituents and works on the issues important to the district's way of life.

That is why LaMalfa does so well in elections, he said and called attention to his work to make a reality the Sites Reservoir on the west side of the Sacramento Valley. When built, it will improve water management in the state, Gilliard said.

Regarding other legislation he has been involved with, Gilliard said, "Just because your name is not on the bill doesn't mean he was not" a part of it.  "He has done a great job for the district, and he is home every weekend as his schedule in Washington allows him."

Wright's campaign event brought out local prominent business leaders, a sign that may bode well for his uphill bid against an incumbent who trounced Democratic opponents in the past two congressional races.

Among those in attendance were Marcus Partin, Ed Rullman, Mark Lascelles, Matt Moseley and Matt Morgan. Also present was Michael Dacquisto, a Republican who ran for the open seat in 2012.

"The difference between 2012 when I ran and 2016 is that we have four years of a record from our current Representative LaMalfa that we can look at," Dacquisto said. "When you look at his record, you see it is woefully lacking in anything that is meaningful for the North State.

"I think he's into photo opps as opposed to anything substantive," he said.

At the start of his speech, Wright invoked the names of Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan as heroic figures. He said he can't imagine children in Burney today growing up looking to anyone sent to Washington as their hero.

Nonetheless, he told the crowd the time has come for better results and new expectations.

Sitting behind him were his wife, Heather, and their three children. Next to him were his two high school teachers, Ron and MaryLou Schmidt, who introduced him at the event.

The retired couple recalled a bright, competitive student and athlete who was unafraid to speak up in defense of others.

"It's a very big day for us," said MaryLou Schmidt, flattered Wright thought to ask her and her husband, instead of someone more prominent, to introduce him.

In an interview with the Record Searchlight before his announcement, Wright said he was selected to challenge LaMalfa by Run for America. The consulting firm, whose focus is on getting millennials to run for Congress, contacted him via LinkedIn. He said he was told the firm was targeting districts it did not agree were being represented effectively.

Wright was hesitant for many months, not wanting his young family to be exposed to the rough-and-tumble of politics. But he said he was persuaded after talking to people from different industries, across party lines and throughout the district who shared his opinion about the lack of representation from LaMalfa.

As word spread about his run, he said he has been contacted by community and local government leaders from other counties who want to meet with him, Wright said.

At his announcement, he criticized the lawmaker for not doing enough to bring economic opportunity to the area.

"For years, he has claimed to be one of us, but no one seems to be able to identify anything he has actually done for us," Wright told the crowd.

He blamed LaMalfa for Congress' failure to approve a pact that would have ended decades of disputes on the Klamath River. The deal needed to be approved by Dec. 31.

Gilliard chalked up the challenge from Wright to differing opinions within the GOP. "It's a conservative district. There are a lot of Republican households. They are not going to agree on everything," he said. "But (LaMalfa) is able to bring the party together."
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Officers named in fatal shooting

The Redding Police Department has identified the nine officers involved in the fatal shooting of Stephen Bukwich on Jan. 5.

They are Ryan O'Hern, Samuel Llamas and Boun Kongkeoviman, all hired in 2006; Joe Labbe, hired in 2007; Joanna Bland, Paul Slagle and Garrett Maxwell, all hired in 2012; Josh Tracy, hired in 2013; and Mike Caldwell, hired in 2015.

All nine officers are back on duty after being placed on paid administrative leave immediately after the shooting, Lt. Pete Brindley said.

The Shasta County Sheriff's Office is still investigating the shooting.

Officers have said Bukwich had a gun on him and was shouting about President Obama  whose latest gun-control plan was announced that day  outside his Boulder Creek Drive apartment before police shot him.

Friends of Bukwich have said that he suffered from mental health problems for years, but a police report on an earlier incident in which he allegedly fired at a fence said that Bukwich apologized and attributed his strange behavior to a thyroid problem.

Woman who died in fire identified

The Shasta County Coroner's Office has identified the woman who died in a Paynes Creek house fire early Tuesday morning.

The victim was Marian Glenn, 45, of Paynes Creek, Deputy Coroner Dustin Reynolds said.

Glenn's autopsy was conducted Wednesday, but a cause of death is pending a toxicology report.

The fire broke out about 1:45 a.m. Tuesday on the 29000 block of Wildcat Road.

Officials say a man and two children escaped.

The man had no injuries, while the 5-year-old had minor injuries and the 8-year-old suffered moderate injuries and is being treated at UC Davis Medical Center, officials said.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection is still investigating the fire.

Seminar planned on drone safety

A free seminar for hobby drone operators will take place 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at Benton Airpark.

The event is sponsored by the Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter 157. The airpark is in west Redding at Placer and Gold streets. Seating is limited so preregister at www.eaa157.org.

Speakers will include representatives from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the California Highway Patrol's Northern Air Operations, the local Federal Aviation Administration team, city of Redding's airports division and local pilot groups.

Among the topics discussed will be places to fly a drone legally and safely, how high drones can be flown, and how to avoid interfering with other aircraft.
About 75 people turned out Wednesday afternoon to hear from public safety and elected officials discuss the newly released Blueprint for Public Safety.

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By Joe Szydlowski of the Redding Record Searchlight

About 75 people turned out Wednesday afternoon to hear from public safety and elected officials discuss the newly released Blueprint for Public Safety.

The meeting of the Redding Merchants Crimewatch group at the Red Lion Hotel also included a question-and-answer session with Redding Police Chief Rob Paoletti, Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko and Redding Fire Chief Gerry Gray.

City Councilman Brent Weaver and Shasta County Supervisor Leonard Moty also spoke about the blueprint and the back-and-forth with Matrix Consulting, which put together the analysis.

"There were some differences of opinion, but I think that's healthy," Weaver said of the blueprint.

He also said the city and county have an implementation team and are moving forward with some of the Tier 0 ideas, which don't require any more money or resources.

Among those ideas for the Redding Fire Department are allowing businesses to perform self-inspections and compiling an annual report, Gray said.

But he added that his department also has struggled with staffing levels  the report noted they're below national standards.

Another idea that's already in the works and will fix many problems is a new computer system for law enforcement agencies, Paoletti said.

That will allow real-time crime analysis so his department can find problem areas and target them, he said. Currently it takes two to three weeks to put together his crime stats, the chief said. The new $2.5 million system should be in place by the end of 2016.

But Paoletti also outlined what he disagreed with in the report  a recommendation that the department doesn't need to add more sworn officers.

"I don't need more sergeants. I need more cops ... more (community service officers)," he said, adding that four of the 102 current officers are temporary positions.

The consultants also should have considered that Redding is a hub for Northern California  so during the day its population swells, he said.

He also disagreed with the recommendation that community service officers, who aren't armed, could take some calls involving transients, which he considers a safety issue.

His officer who cleans up transient camps has found more and more combative people, Paoletti said. He also thinks the consultants should have used response times, not the amount of time an officer has to be proactive, in its analysis.

Moty, who used to be Redding's police chief, said when he left before the recession the typical response time was 12 minutes. It has risen to 16, he said.

"That's a 33 percent increase," he said.

The panel also noted that the county needs to also consider how much substance abuse and mental health contribute to crime.

Paoletti said his officers had 304 "5150" arrests  those are people who are experiencing a mental health crisis  and more than 950 arrests for public drunkenness in the previous year.

As far as the Shasta County Jail, Bosenko said it has programs to help people with mental health, addiction and to get a GED. But he also noted that some of those in custody are illiterate or don't have a good education, so that hinders their ability to rehabilitate.

"They still make their signature with a mark," he said.

Bosenko also said that incarceration is an expensive option and is only part of the solution to Reddings crime problem  criminals need to be rehabilitated. Nonetheless, the county does need more jail space, Moty said.

Paoletti also noted that authorities need a sobering center  a place to take people who are impaired instead of the jail  where they would also have information on treatment centers.
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By Nathan Solis of the Redding Record Searchlight

A group of citizens concerned with sex trafficking in Redding drafted their own ordinance that would regulate how massage parlors function in the city, including a background check from the Department of Justice and a personal visit from the police chief.

The group presented the ordinance to the Redding City Council at its Tuesday meeting. It is asking the city to pass the law that targets massage parlors that act as fronts for sex trafficking, according to Matt Moseley, one of the co-authors of the ordinance and a local businessman.

"We have started becoming more aware of sex trafficking in our community," said Mosely, who is part of the community group Northern California Anti Trafficking Coalition.

The 18-page draft ordinance is a string of regulations from other cities, according to the coalition, regulations Moseley feels should be in place in Redding to deter illegal massage parlors and to stop sex traffickers from passing through Redding.

Under the proposed ordinance a massage establishment permit would be issued by the Redding police chief after an onsite inspection. The permit process would mirror the nonprofit group California Massage Therapy Council's own certification process, which requires fingerprints and a background check from the Department of Justice.

Redding Police Chief Robert Paoletti said his department has been discussing the topic of regulations with the ordinance authors but he has not had time to review the document. The ordinance suggests that enforcement of the new rules would fall on the Police Department, not code enforcement.

"We don't have a vice unit and the staff is currently not allocated to the Police Department," Paoletti said.

City Councilman Brent Weaver said he is excited about the ordinance and that a community group took the initiative to draft a document on an issue it sees as a problem.

Weaver said the newly formed Neighborhood Police Unit that will target downtown Redding and Hilltop Drive could be used to weed out problem massage parlors residents could point out. But he said city code enforcement would remain involved in the process.

How that would look is still to be determined by the city and the various departments named in the draft ordinance, which details prohibited acts and products that would be found within an illegal massage business, including adult-oriented merchandise. It also would limit business hours to 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. and prohibit provocative advertising.

Existing massage businesses would have six months from the time the law was put in place to get the proper permits, according to the ordinance.

Jean King of One SAFE Place, shelter for victims of domestic violence, said her staff members have treated victims of sex trafficking and prostitution in the past. King, who has been in talks with the ordinance authors, said it would benefit victims of sex trafficking to have counselors in place when an illegal operation is broken up and the victims require assistance. When asked whether she has seen an influx of sex trafficking victims, she said no, but remarked that she believes Redding does have a reputation for runaways who fall into prostitution.

Among the regulations in the ordinance is a requirement that massage therapists undergo a Department of Justice background check. California already has that requirement in place through its certification process for massage therapists.

The nonprofit group California Massage Therapy Council has a certification process that individual massage therapists can obtain, but that group does not have authority over businesses that are not certified.

In Redding the Urban Retreat Day Spa staff confirms all massage therapists are certified before being hired, according to general manager Danica Susich. The process is extensive and all new hires are vetted. Susich does say that the business does this, despite lax regulations for massage therapists compared to nail and other aesthetic services.

Tammi Hotchkiss is familiar with the state's certification process, as she has been a licensed massage therapist for over a decade in Shasta County. Based in Redding, Hotckiss said she does not mind a stricter regulative process for massage businesses in the city.

"But I'd frown if I have to pay another fee to have my business in the city," Hotchkiss said. "I am a sole business owner and that would add to my costs."

Read the ordinance here.
Michael Bay is not known for movies that will tug on your emotions. I sometimes enjoy his films, but even the ones I like are popcorn fluff.

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi is hands down the best Michael Bay film I have ever seen. He told a powerful story through the eyes of the warriors who experienced it and while it isnt perfect he did such a good job developing who each of these men were that you forgive him the inaccuracies.

13 Hours is about the six contractors who responded to the attack on the American ambassador in Benghazi. These men were Navy SEALS, Army Rangers and Marines who were working for a private security company. The company was hired by the CIA to protect and escort its agents in Libya. Supposedly no one knew a secret CIA station was in Benghazi, however, by the end of the movie the audience will know that the locals at least suspected all the white, blue-eyed foreigners werent just there on vacation.

Ambassador Chris Stevens, played by Matt Letscher, was in Libya to give whatever aid he could to help the country go from a dictatorship to a democracy. Libyan rebels had just overthrown Muammar Gaddafi, with the help of airstrikes by the U.S. and NATO.

The secret CIA station was about a mile from the ambassadors compound where he was protected by three contractors and local security. When the attack started, the local security left the ambassador unprotected.

The six men protecting the CIA could hear and see the attack and had to decide whether to follow protocol and wait or go against orders and try to rescue the ambassador and his small security team.

These warriors were led by Tyrone Rone Woods, portrayed by James Badge Dale. His colleague and good friend Jack Silva, played by John Krasinski, is new to the team and the audience is shown that while this man enjoys his job he also is worried about his wife and daughters at home.

The other team members include Pablo Schreiber as Kris Tanto Paronto, David Denman as Dave Boon Benton, Dominic Fumusa as John Tig Tiegen and Max Martini as Mark Oz Geist.

The interactions between all these men and how they take care of each other is felt throughout the film.

Many people may say this is a political film, but I feel it is a film that shows the audience the dangers private contractors are facing when they are hired by our government to work in dangerous places throughout the world.

This film may make you angry and if you are like me, some tears may be shed by the end, but overall this film is worth watching.

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi is rated R for strong combat violence throughout, bloody images and language.

Rating for 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi: 4 popcorns out of 5
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Among this country's richest places, open to the public, are the nature sanctuaries known as "wildlife refuges."

Wildlife refuges began in 1903 when President Theodore Roosevelt designated Florida's Pelican Island the nation's first bird sanctuary. For decades, "market" hunters were decimating bird populations (and many mammal species), mainly to sell their plumage. Roosevelt acted to stop our nation's wild heritage from being obliterated, creating 51 wildlife refuges in all.

Today there are 550 national refuges (thousands of state, city or other public refuges and preserves also exist). Belonging to all Americans, they primarily protect wildlife but are also precious places for people to hunt, fish, observe wildlife (especially birds), photograph and engage in education programs. More than 41 million people annually visit the national refuges, generating $1.7 billion in income and 27,000 jobs for regional communities.

The Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon was created by Roosevelt in 1908. It is one of the most important bird habitats in the Pacific Flyway, with over 350 bird species being residents or annual migrators. As many as 120,000 persons come to Malheur yearly, bringing in $15 million to the region and supporting over 140 jobs.

The recent takeover of Malheur is yet another example of anti-government zealots seeking to overturn democracy and impose their view of the world. It is the work of Ammon and Ryan Bundy, sons of Cliven Bundy, the Nevada rancher who refuses to pay $1 million in federal grazing fees he owes.

Despite the Malheur refuge having been in place for over 100 years, the Bundy boys are demanding that it be returned "to the people" so it can be used for grazing, mining, logging and unregulated water use, all for private profiteering. To enforce their agenda, they came armed with military-style weapons, stating their willingness to die for the cause, if necessary.

Historically, such land-use and resource extraction practices often ravaged the lands and waterways, and destroyed wildlife at will. The owners of such enterprises, e.g. mining and logging companies, typically reap the financial returns, while taxpayers are left with cleanup costs. Ranchers in particular have benefitted enormously from the heavily subsidized "welfare" practice of grazing on public lands, which the Bundys and most other ranchers see as their inalienable right, while somehow still being rabidly antigovernment. (To be sure, most ranchers are responsible stewards, as seen by several in Shasta Country.)

Many historical parallels to the Malheur takeover exist. The prime example is the Civil War, incited by secessionists who fought to defend their "way of life," which was based on slavery. The nation fought a costly war that established once and for all that states, groups, regions or individuals cannot establish a separate entity free from federal laws.

In another historical comparison, author Jon Krakauer traces the views of the Bundy clan to that of religious fundamentalists, whether Christian, Mormon, evangelical Christian, Muslim or Jewish. (The Bundys and some of their supporters are Mormons; the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has disavowed their actions.) Ammon Bundy indeed stated that he "prayed to God for direction" before embarking on his mission.

According to Krakauer, fundamentalists adhere to a stringently literal reading of their religious treatises, e.g. Book of Mormon, Bible, Koran and so forth. Such literalism encourages a closed view of the world, one in which "we" are possessed of truth, virtue and goodness and "they" of falsehood, depravity and evil. Believing that the laws don't apply to them, fundamentalists are often fiercely antigovernment and capable of violence, often in the name of their God. Death equates to "martyrdom."

All this recycled anarchy fervor and rampant lawlessness are manifest by the Bundy gang, and they should be dealt with accordingly.

A final word here. California is blessed with many national and state wildlife refuges, including the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge (near Willows), Gray Lodge Wildlife Refuge (near Gridley), and Ash Creek Wildlife Refuge (near Bieber). They are truly inspirational places to visit, particularly this time of year when thousands upon thousands of our most splendorous aviary creatures are occupying the wetlands. The Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is also a wondrous place to visit, once the outlaws are gone and in prison, where they belong.

Bob Madgic lives in Anderson.
Rajat Gupta was freed from Federal Medical Centre Devens, a federal correctional facility in Ayer, Massachusetts, on January 5.

Image: Rajat Gupta started serving a two-year prison term from June 2014.

Photograph: Reuters

India-born former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta - freed early after receiving credit for good behaviour - will stay confined to his apartment until March with an ankle bracelet that will monitor his movements.

Convicted in 2012 on insider trading charges, the IIT and Harvard-educated 67-year-old former McKinsey began serving a two-year prison term in June, 2014.

He was freed from Federal Medical Centre Devens, a federal correctional facility in Ayer, Massachusetts, on January 5 to serve out the rest of the sentence at home after receiving credit for good behaviour, The New York Times reported.

"Even though Gupta is no longer at Devens, he will remain a federal inmate until March 13, confined to his apartment and required to wear an ankle bracelet that monitors his movements," the paper said.

Joel Sickler, the founder of the Justice Advocacy Group, a company that advises inmates on prison stays, said that an inmate in good standing is eligible for home confinement for 10 per cent of a sentence, up to six months.

"Many white-collar inmates like Gupta argue for an early release so they can go back to work and pay off the mounting financial obligations they face in the form of fines and restitution," the paper said.

Gupta last year applied to corrections officers for an early discharge from Devens.

Under the rules governing home confinement, Gupta can go to work, visit a doctor's office or attend religious services, Sickler said. "With permission, you can go shopping or get a haircut," he said.

In June 2012, a Manhattan jury found Gupta guilty of tipping Raj Rajaratnam, a onetime business associate and founder of a New York hedge fund known as the Galleon Group, to corporate secrets that he had gleaned in his position as a director of companies like Goldman Sachs and Procter & Gamble.

Since returning to his Manhattan apartment, Gupta has been fielding calls from former associates who say he is in good spirits and looks back on his spell in prison philosophically, the NYT said.

Gupta's March 13 release date falls on a Sunday, so "they will release him on Friday," the paper quoted Sickler as saying. "He will turn his bracelet that Friday afternoon."

At the age of 45, Gupta became the first Indian CEO of the consulting giant McKinsey.

He co-founded the prestigious Indian School of Business with fellow McKinsey executive Anil Kumar, who had pleaded guilty to insider trading and testified as a government witness against Gupta in his trial.

Gupta had filed several appeals, including to the US Supreme Court, to overturn his conviction and prison term but the courts rejected his arguments and affirmed his sentence.
IMAGE: Students protest against Rohith Vemula's suicide at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. Photograph: Subhav Shukla/PTI Photo

Rohith Vemula's suicide exposes us as a nation, argues Syed Firdaus Ashraf.

Yun toh Syed bhi ho, Mirza bhi ho, Afghan bhi ho, tum sabhi kuch ho, batao to Musalman bhi ho? (You are known as Syeds, Mughals, Pathans. But can you truly claim that you are Mussalman as well?)

Pakistan's spiritual founder, the poet Muhammad Iqbal, wrote these lines, addressing Muslims in the 19th century, when he witnessed how Muslims fought each other.

Iqbal was not alive to see the putative nation's Pakistan, being coined by Chaudhary Rahmat Ali in 1940, having died two years earlier.

The idea of Pakistan and the unity of Muslims -- Iqbal's dream -- was to materialise nine years after his death, on August 14, 1947.

It is obvious that the unity of the Muslim ummah, which Iqbal wanted or had envisioned, was just a myth and far removed from reality. Muslims never were a nation in the Indian subcontinent, as Iqbal wanted, a fact proven after regional aspirations made Bangladesh a reality following Pakistan's humiliating defeat at India's hands in December 1971.

We in India feel proud that India has stood united as a nation despite our many differences.

As a teenager, I saw two issues dividing our country: The Ram Mandir-Babri Masjid issue and the Mandal Commission recommendations, which Prime Minister V P Singh accepted in August 1990.

Caste politics was being resorted to thwart religion-based politics, it was said then.

Unfortunately, the only entity that suffered was the Idea of India itself.

The Mandir movement engulfed India and there were riots across the country as then Bharatiya Janata Party president L K Advani set out on his rath yatra, demanding the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya.

Advani's yatra was meant to counter the political impact of the Mandal fire, which had spread across north India in September 1990 when anti-Mandal supporters felt that reservations for the backward castes would deprive them of much valued opportunities and jobs.

The argument the V P Singh government gave when it accepted the Mandal Commission's recommendations was that certain castes in India were backward and so needed to be uplifted economically.

"India needs social engineering," a pro-Mandal activist had told me then. I was in sync with this argument till I visited Uttar Pradesh to cover the 1998 general election. I realised then how dangerous 'social engineering' could be if it was misused.

In 1995, the Bahujan Samaj Party's Mayawati had become UP's chief minister and introduced a controversial legislation called the Harijan Act.

Under this Act, a Dalit/Harijan could file a police complaint against any upper caste individual if s/he felt harassed. As with some laws, this became a tool for blackmail and harassment.

Frivolous cases were filed across the state against the upper castes and if they didn't pay up, they would be put behind bars. (Read Firdaus's 1998 report here)

In other words, since the upper castes had tortured the lower castes for centuries, it was now payback time. And if the backwards were out of power, then the upper castes would tell them it was payback time.

The television news channels and other media have highlighted Rohith's death as the death of a Dalit student. It is a sad and tragic death, but nobody says an 'Indian' student has died.

The uproar over Rohith's suicide harks back to the Mandal days that haunted upper caste and Dalit politics for long.

The BJP has drawn itself into the controversy by stating that the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad student Susheel Kumar (who was allegedly attacked by Rohith and other students, which led to their suspension and eventually to Rohith's suicide) is himself an OBC.

Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani also fell into the caste trap, stating that Union Minister Bandaru Dattareya (who has been charged with abetment of Rohtih's suicide) is a Yadav, that is, from an OBC community.

Is this what we have come to as a nation after 68 years of Independence, 65 years of being a Republic?

Nobody is concerned about the larger picture, of how Indians are spreading hate among themselves and how we don't think of ourselves as one nation.

We are all upper castes, backward castes, Hindus or Muslims, but not Indians.

Iqbal's question needs to be reframed for today's times:

Yun to Dalit bhi ho, Brahmin bhi ho, Musalamaan bhi ho

Tum sabhi kuch batao tum mein koi Hindustani bhi ho?

(You are a Dalit, Brahmin or a Muslim. You are everything, but is any of you Indian?)
IMAGE: The Rafale fighter aircraft. Kind courtesy: Dassault Aviation

While the Rafale deal seems to be the main order of business during French President Francois Hollande's visit, other aspects could help sweeten the deal, says Claude Arpi.

There was a time when head of States could leisurely travel abroad and spend a couple weeks visiting one or two friendly foreign countries.

The times have changed. Like CEOs, they fly for a meeting at one corner of the planet and rush back the next day to deal with the complexities of domestic issues. Francois Hollande is no different.

On December 16, the Elysee Palace, as the France presidency is known, issued a short communique announcing that President Hollande would be the chief guest for India's Republic Day celebrations: 'This invitation conveys the excellent quality and dynamism of the strategic partnership between India and France, which will be further strengthened on this occasion. This visit will also follow on from the Paris Climate Conference, at which India played a decisive role in reaching an ambitious agreement.'

Well, let us be clear, Hollande does not come to discuss the weather with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The outcome of the Paris Conference, for which France worked hard for several months, was vague enough to leave to each country to be a good pupil if it wants, and to fulfill its promises.

Hollande comes to India to take the next step in the Rafale deal; of course, France like India has lately been the victim of terrorism.

As the French government was recovering from the November 13 horrific attack and commemorating the killings of several journalists at Charlie Hebdo, the symbol of the French 'Liberte' of expression, attackers from the other side of the Indian border, stepped into the Pathankot airbase and created havoc for nearly three days.

On January 4, France condemned 'the attack perpetrated against the Indian military base in Pathankot', adding: 'We extend our condolences to the victims' families as well as to the Indian government. France stands alongside India in the fight against terrorism.'

The Rafale deal remains nonetheless the raison d'etre of the busy French president's visit to New Delhi.

For Hollande, it is important at a time when his popularity is again tumbling down (12 points in one month according to Le Figaro), despite an unexpected surge following November 13.

For Modi, it is also crucial to demonstrate that he not an impotent prime minister, only capable of 'declarations' followed by nothing concrete.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi with French President Francois Hollande on a boat ride down the Seine, April 2015.

What is the situation about the Rafale deal as I write this?

A defence ministry source quoted by The Times of India said that there is 'still some distance to go'for the final contract for the 36 fighter planes to be delivered in a 'flyaway condition, off-the-shelf.'

One of the problems is that it is 'off-the-shelf' with Indian characteristics -- a tortuous process of offset policy and other procurement niceties.

On January 11, though the defence acquisitions council, under Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, reviewed the progress of the negotiations for a final government-to-government agreement, nothing is certain. 'It's unlikely the actual contract will be inked during Hollande's visit,' a source told the ToI, adding: 'Though all the complex technical and contractual issues have virtually been settled now, the commercial negotiations will take at least another 2-3 weeks. Then, it will require clearance from the finance ministry, and the final nod from the Cabinet Committee on Security.'

Everyone knows that in India days can easily become months, if not years.

While Parrikar made a vague remark, 'it's closer to completion,' refusing to go into the details, French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is quoted by Reuters saying 'nothing has been finalised as yet.'

It means that the deal is far from being concluded.

It probably explains National Security Advisor Ajit Doval's sudden rush to Paris 'to talk about terrorism.' Well, it is doubtful if the NSA's brief was 'terrorism' alone, especially since he cancelled an important 'border meeting' with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi.

Nine months ago, Modi decided to be pragmatic and buy 36 Rafales 'in flyaway condition'; that was wise, but the price which should include not only the aircraft, but also the cost of the maintenance facilities, training of pilots and technicians, some armaments and spares has never been finalised.

The sad fact is that the initial Request for Information had been issued in 2001. It was only six years later that the Request for Proposal was published, as the then defence minister A K Antony wanted to add new clauses, such as the total life-cycle costs, in the Indian defence procurement policy. This is where the 'complications' started.

On January 2012, Dassault Aviation was selected for supplying to the IAF after a long five years competitive process with the American F/A-18 and F-16, Russian MiG 35, European Eurofighter and Swedish Saab Gripen in the race.

Realising the difficulty with the transfer of technology to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and to avoid going back to the starting blocks, Modi opted for 36 planes only.

One important factor is that France has always been India's privileged partner. Between 1947 and 1962, France, though not an ally (only a 'friend' in General de Gaulle's words) supplied a large quantity of crucial armaments to India. Even though the Indian Air Force did not directly take part in the conflict with China, 49 Ouragan (Toofani) fighter planes (produced by Dassault Aviation), 110 Mystre and 12 Alizee (of Breguet Aviation) were in service in 1962. Further, 150 AMX 13 light tanks were sold to India after an agreement signed in 1957 (some were even dropped in Chushul in Ladakh in October 1962).

Although the purchase of 150 Mirages 2000 was announced in December 1981 (in order to counter the American F16s ordered by Pakistan), the first agreement was for 40 planes only. On April 17, 1982, according to Le Monde, a preferential credit rate of 9.25 per cent was offered to India.

Since India needed the fighter aircraft quickly, the first part of an initial batch of 26 single-seaters and four two-seaters was shipped in 1985.

Ultimately by 1986, India had purchased 51 Mirages and in March 1998 an agreement was reached between HAL and Dassault Aviation authorising HAL to offer over-hauling facilities for Mirage and global customers.

Today, the tragedy remains that India had lost 15 years in reaching a decision to finally buy planes 'off-the-shelf', but with the cost escalation involved.

It would be a great pity if now the occasion of President Hollande's visit to India was not seized.

For any decent French meal, an hors-d'oeuvre (appetiser) is required before le plat de resistance (the main dish). In this case, it will be the French president's visit to Chandigarh, the first (and the last?) 'Smart City' in India.

Nehru once told a gathering of town planners about the famous French architect of Chandigarh: 'There is no doubt that Le Corbusier is a man (with) a powerful and creative mind, he may become extravagant occasionally, he may produce extravagances occasionally, but it is better to have that than have a person with no mind at all.'

Despite the fact that 'smart city' is becoming a fashionable slogan (it is one of the prime minister's pet projects), how many town planners are today ready to follow in Le Corbusier's steps?

If not extravagant heads, creative heads will be required to make the main dish really delicious. Perhaps France can help.

But what about the dessert?

For the first time, foreign troops will participate in the Republic Day parade. It could boost Hollande's failing popularity at home, if, when he returns to Paris, he can show pictures of French soldiers walking down the majestic Rajpath. One remembers how proud India was when her troops marched down the Champs Elysees on July 14, 2009 on the occasion of Bastille Day.

And the cherry on the cake (a digestive is not required in India) could be a closer collaboration in the field of solar energy, and perhaps, why not a TGV (Train a' grande vitesse or bullet train) between the city of Le Corbusier and the Indian capital. That would be very smart.
'Parading French troops alongside Indian military personnel, says Rajeev Sharma, turns India's non-alignment policy on its head!'

IMAGE: French soldiers rehearse for India's Republic Day parade, January 20, 2016. Photograph: Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters

The Republic Day parade of 2016 will be unique for the fact that it will be the first time a foreign -- French -- military contingent will be a participant.

Why France? Why have the French been co-opted by Prime Minister Modi for this unprecedented diplomatic favour?

By doing this, Modi is signalling to the West as well as India's detractors that India has come of age in having a truly strategic partnership with a P-5 country like France.

Also, the clever Modi is returning a favour to France as an Indian military contingent had participated in the French equivalent of India's Republic Day parade on July 14, 2009.

It is Modi's way of conveying to French President Francois Hollande that the honour being extended to him as the chief guest at the R-Day parade is indeed a special and unprecedented honour that neither of his two predecessors at the Palais de l'Elysee in Paris received.

It conveys lots of things to lots of interlocutors, primarily from the strategic and diplomatic viewpoint.

Never before has a foreign military contingent taken part in India's Republic Day parade.

This was unthinkable in the Nehruvian concept of India's non-alignment policy, but then it is 2016, not the '50s or '60s when the country's first prime minister unravelled his non-alignment policy for India.

That time is long gone. This is 2016. This is the Narendra Modi era. India's foreign policy is run by a non-Congress prime minister and he cares no hoots about Nehruvian policies.

In effect, Modi has broken off from the Nehruvian approach and proclaimed to the world that he is here to redefine policies.

Parading French troops alongside Indian military personnel would virtually mean turning India's non-alignment policy on its head! It would also mean signalling a new approach in India's foreign policy here on.

The development should be seen in the larger and more long-term Indian foreign policy context. It shows that the Modi-led India is quite an iconoclast and not scared of breaking age-old myths about India's foreign policy.

Extending such an honour to a country like France which has been selling state-of-the-art military hardware like submarines to Pakistan means that Modi's India is willing to bid goodbye to the decades-old Indian foreign policy of non-alignment.

Modi's detractors may well see a red rag in this move. They may well question Modi and ask whether this won't lead to diplomatic awkwardness and heartburn among other powers in the world, particularly the United States.

Be that as it may. For now, Modi is running his foreign policy with guts and innovations.

France has been a dominant force on the world stage for decades. But Indo-French synergy at a time when the Chinese economy is going down spells new equations as far as India is concerned.

The Modi government has clearly aligned its strategic interests with a major world power like France. The signals are loud and clear: India and France are on the verge of a spectacularly big strategic partnership.

From the Modi government's viewpoint, a French kiss is on the cards.

Rajeev Sharma is an independent journalist and strategic analyst who tweets @Kishkindha
IMAGE: Kummanam Rajasekharan launches his Vimochana Yatra.

'What authority has a secular government to administer Hindu temples? When Hindu temples are ruled by secular governments, what religious freedom do Hindus have?'

Kummanam Rajasekharan was the first full time Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh pracharak Amit Shah appointed as president of a Bharatiya Janata Party state unit, a trend the BJP president apparently wants to follow all over the country.

Kummanam replaced V Muraleedharan as Kerala's BJP boss, just ahead of the assembly election in the state.

The BJP plans to form a third front with the help of Vellapally Natesan, who heads the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalan, which represents the largest Hindu caste -- the Ezhavas -- in Kerala.

To promote the idea of a third front to voters, Kummanam began a Vimochana Yatra on January 20. The yatra started in Kasargod in north Kerala and will end in the state capital, Thiruvananthapuram, on February 10.

The always-busy Kummanam spoke to Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com after he embarked on the yatra.

You were in Sabarimala on Tuesday (January 19). With the Supreme Court asking why women cannot go to Sabarimala, the issue is being debated everywhere again. What is your opinion?

One thing I can say, even now the place is overcrowded and cannot handle the millions of male pilgrims that come there for lack of proper infrastructure.

The traditions and rituals followed in Sabarimala have to be discussed by all those who are connected with the temple, and nobody else.

If there is a problem, you have to find a solution, but the solution cannot be unilateral. There are tantris (head priests) associated with the temple, there is a Devaswom Board, there are priests and there are Hindu organisations. All these people can sit together, discuss the issue, and find a solution.

You mean, there is a problem and there should be a change in the tradition followed till now by the temple.

I have no authority to say that there should be a change in what the temple follows. There are people associated with the temple, and only they can come out with an answer and a solution. My personal opinion has no relevance here.

I am of the opinion that it is not the role of the State or the court or the government to interfere in religious matters. I am not talking about Hindu religion alone; if it concerns Muslims or Christians also, there are people associated with that particular religion. Let those people take a decision.

If the court or government takes a decision on religious matters, it will not be everlasting or acceptable to the concerned people. If they take decisions on religious matters, it will lead to disintegration.

The Supreme Court recently delivered a judgment that temples should allow all Hindus as priests, irrespective of caste so that they can perform the agama sastras at temples.

That is one fact all the pandits and tantris accepted long ago; it's nothing new. Even Chattambi Swamikal (a Hindu sage and social reformer: 1853-1924 who was a contemporary of Sri Narayana Guru) had said quoting the Puranas that it was not by birth but by knowledge that one acquires the right to perform pujas.

I have always been fighting for this and I am happy about the judgment.

At the first press conference you gave after you became BJP state president, you said that temples in Kerala should not be under the control of the Devaswom Board and the state government. Why?

What authority has a secular government to administer Hindu temples?

A secular government is beyond all religions and they have no role in administering religious places.

Every religion has the right to ask for religious freedom.

When Hindu temples are ruled by secular governments, what religious freedom do Hindus have?

In this secular state, only the Hindus are denied the freedom to take care of their religious places. It is not right on the part of a state government to interfere in the affairs of Hindu temples.

The believers or those who go to temples and donate money should have a say in the running of the temples.

That is what I call democracy, but in Kerala, the state runs the temples. I want the power to be transferred to the devotees.

How can it be possible?

Even if there is a Devaswom Board, only those who are elected by temple goers should be there in the board. Let such people take care of the temples, definitely not the state.

The state government can audit or check, but they have no right to administer a temple.

There are 2,000 members in the Devaswom Board, but there are around 13,000 temples in Kerala. Temples administered by devotees run beautifully. There is no politics involved in the running of those temples.

The temples administered by local people run much better than the temples controlled by the Devaswom Board. These temples survive, not because of the government or the Devaswom Board, but because of the local people.

IMAGE: Kummanam Rajasekharan on his Vimochana Yatra.

What do you plan to do as BJP state president?

There is a K P Sankaran Nair commission report, which says how temples should be run. This was constituted by the then state government in 1983 and the next government has to only implement this.

If the BJP comes to power, we will definitely do this.

The BJP has not been able to open its account in the Kerala assembly. How hopeful are you of a third front led by the BJP coming to power in the assembly election?

We are quite hopeful. We work amidst the people and we get the feeling that the people of Kerala are looking for a change, a change from the UDF (United Democratic Front and the LDF (Left Democratic Front). There is a strong wave against both the fronts which we want to capitalise on.

Like Vellapally Natesan says, is it through Hindu unity that you are planning to form a third front?

We are not looking at Hindu unity at all. When we talk about a third front, it is a front that unites all those who want a change from the UDF and the LDF. It has nothing to do with Hindus. The third front will have various political parties and not just Hindus alone.

Natesan says if the two major Hindu communities join hands, it will be a major force in Kerala and it will help the third front. Can such a unity be possible?

There is still time and it is possible to talk to all the Hindu organisations. There can be Hindu unity. We are sure that a majority of Hindu organisations will join hands. But the third front is not about Hindus joining hands alone.

The Ezhavas and Nairs form the majority in Kerala among Hindus, but even though the SNDP is ready to join hands with the Nair Service Society, the NSS president vehemently opposes it.

Is it the caste hierarchy (the Nairs are upper castes while the Ezhavas are Other Backward Classes) that prevents the NSS from joining hands with the SNDP?

We have not had proper political discussions so far. They may not have joined hands right now, but that does not mean they will remain enemies always.

We have time before the elections. We have not had any talks on alliances so far. You wait and see what happens in the coming days.

How successful will the third front be without the NSS?

Didn't we get 15 per cent votes in the local body elections without their support? We are hopeful of getting another 10 per cent votes. How many per cent votes does the Congress party have?

The assembly election is round the corner. What is your strategy for Kerala?

Because of the rampant corruption, the people of Kerala are fed up of the UDF and LDF. They are looking for change and we want to project ourselves as the change.

What we are going to talk about is positive politics while the others are talking negative politics.

Are you going to use the development slogan which Narendra Modi used in the Lok Sabha election?

Exactly. Our agenda in front of the people will be food, water, earth, employment and equality in justice. We want Kerala to develop.

Even though it has all the potential, nothing is happening here. You see only total inertia and disintegration everywhere, in all the fields. We want the state to be a vibrant one, true to its potential.

My yatra will help Kerala come out of this inertia and disintegration.

Who will be the leader of the third front?

We are yet to discuss the issue of a leader, the poll strategy, etc. The first thing we are planning is the Vimochana Yatra to place these issues in front of the people of Kerala hoping that they would accept what we say.

Was it because of the organisational skill of RSS pracharaks that Amit Shah has chosen many state party presidents from among the pracharaks?

I don't think there are many party presidents who are RSS pracharaks. I just happened to be one, that's all.

What was Amit Shah's instruction to you after choosing you as state president?

Just this: We have to rule Kerala!
The storm over the suicide of a Dalit student in Hyderabad University intensified on Thursday despite the revocation of the suspension of four of his co-research scholars as the controller of examinations and 12 other faulty members belonging to SC/ST communities gave up their administrative posts in solidarity.

A student holds a banner and a photograph of Rohith Vemula, as he sits with others during a hunger strike to demand justice in Hyderabad on Thursday. Photograph: PTI

Wilting under relentless pressure from the students agitating for the removal of the Vice Chancellor Appa Rao and punishment for those responsible for the suicide of Rohith Vemula, the varsity Executive Council met and decided to "terminate" the punishment imposed on the students.

But the protesting students were not satisfied with the revocation of the suspension and burnt copies of the EC decision.

In solidarity with the students, the controller of examinations, chief medical officer and chief warden were among the 13 faculty members belonging to SC-ST communities who gave up their administrative posts which they were holding as an additional responsibility.

Vijaya Kumar, one of the students, whose suspension was revoked, said this was not enough.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal addresses students of Hyderabad University who were protesting the death of Dalit student Rohith Vemula, in Hyderabad on Thursday. Photograph: PTI



"The VC must go. This (revocation) is a welcome decision. But we can't celebrate it because Rohith is not there. We are not able to accept your decision. We have other demands like appropriate compensation and a job for one of the members of Rohith's family."

University Dean Prakash Babu said the revocation of suspension is the first step that is subject to proceedings in the High Court and appealed to the students to accept the decision saying more announcements will follow on issues like the compensation.

"The VC will meet the students action committee and talk to them. The primary demand was revocation of the suspension and they should accept it," he said.

Earlier, members of Dalit (SC/ST) faculty of Hyderabad University said in a statement that it is unfortunate that the HRD Minister Smriti Irani "misrepresented" the facts of the case by stating that the senior most Dalit professor actually headed the executive council sub-committee which took the decision to suspend the students, while it was headed by an "upper caste" Professor Vipin Srivastava.

"Such a baseless and misleading statement coming from Honourable Minister of HRD amounts to bringing down the morale of the Dalits holding administrative positions in this university as well as other universities...In response to the Honourable Minister's fabricated statements, we the Dalit (SC/ST) faculty and officers will lay down our administrative positions," the statement said.

When contacted, a senior faculty member told PTI, "We (faculty and other officials) are going to give up our administrative posts if the minister doesn't correct her statement."

The faculty body further said that it is unfortunate that since its inception, no Dalit representation has been given in the Executive Council of University of Hyderabad.

They said it was just a coincidence that the chief warden was a Dalit and he only implemented the orders of the higher authorities that proclaimed of suspension of five students, including Rohith.

"By deflecting this issue, the Honourable HRD Minister is absolving herself and the Honourable Minister Bandaru Dattatreya from being responsible for the death of Rohith Vemula," the teachers' body alleged.

Expressing solidarity with the agitating students of the varsity, they demanded immediate revocation of suspension and withdrawal of all police cases filed against the students.

The HCU had in September last year suspended the five students, including Rohith, for six months (entire semester) for allegedly assaulting ABVP leader Susheel Kumar in August.

But, the suspension was later revoked. However, in December, while allowing them to attend classes, the HCU had denied them access to the hostel.

Members of NSUI and ABVP scuffle at a protest over the death of a Dalit student Rohith Vemula in Hyderabad, in front of RSS and ABVP office in Bengaluru on Thursday. Photograph: PTI

The five research scholars, under the umbrella of a Joint Action Committee, had termed their "expulsion" (except classrooms and workshops related to subject of their study) from hostel as "undemocratic" and a "social boycott" and were forced to sleep in a make-shift tent on the campus.

After the alleged suicide of Rohith, the issue sparked strong reactions on the campus.

In the statement, HCU Vice-Chancellor Prof Appa Rao Podile, who is under attack over the issue, appealed to the university community to maintain calm and harmony under the extraordinary circumstances prevailing on the campus and repose faith in the internal mechanisms to resolve the issue.

He urged all in the university to contribute to resuming regular class work, research activities and administrative work without further delay.

Adding further political thrust to the agitation, which saw non-BJP party leaders making a beeline to the campus in the last few days, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal reached the campus on Thursday and called for removal of Union ministers Smriti Irani and Bandaru Dattatreya.

The research scholar's alleged suicide following his suspension snowballed into a major row with BJP's rivals wading into it and demanding the removal of Irani and and Labour Minister Dattatreya, accusing them of being responsible for the death.

The agitating students have been demanding resignation of Dattatreya, removal of Vice Chancellor, Rs five crore compensation to Rohith's family and employment to a member of his family, besides revocation of suspension of four students.

There are about 50 SC/ST faculty and officers working in the university, out of which 13 are holding administrative positions.

"We (13) have laid down our positions. We have sent letters to that extent. But the letters are yet to be accepted. This should not be called resignation", HCUs Chief Medical Officer Ravindra Kumar said.

Rejecting the order of termination of suspension of four research scholars from hostel, the agitators said they will continue their protests as they burnt a copy of this order.

The protesting students insisted that the termination of suspension appeared to be conditional and that action should be taken in the case, involving Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment Bandaru Dattatreya, Vice-Chancellor Prof. Appa Rao Podile and others named in the FIR, besides fulfilling the demands like Rs five crore compensation to Rohit's family.

They noted that this order seemed to be just a circular from the Dean of Student Welfare in the backdrop of "extraordinary situation" in the university and asked if the suspension would be invoked again if the "extraordinary situation came to an end".

The HCU had in September last year suspended the four students D Prashant, P Vijay Kumar, Sheshaiah Chemudugunta and V Sunkanna -- and Vemula Rohit Chakravarthi, who committed suicide in a hostel room on the campus on January 17, for six months (entire semester) for allegedly assaulting ABVP leader Susheel Kumar the previous month.

But the suspension was revoked later. However,last month while allowing them to attend classes, the HCU had denied them access to hostel.

The five students had termed the "punishment" against them barring entry into hostel (they were however permitted to attend classes and workshops related to the subject of their study) as "undemocratic" and a "social boycott" which forced them to sleep in a make-shift tent on the campus.

Lending further political weight to the agitating students, who are demanding the resignation of Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment Bandaru Dattatreya, removal of the Vice-Chancellor, Rs five crore compensation to Rohits family and an employment to a member of his family, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal interacted with the agitating students and extended his support to their protests.

Members of NSUI and ABVP exchange heated arguments at a protest over the death of a Dalit student Rohith Vemula in Hyderabad, in front of RSS and ABVP office in Bengaluru on Thursday. Photograph: PTI



Senior CPI leaders Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy and D Raja were among the politicians who visited the campus to support the protesting students.

Accusing Irani of trying to play "dirty caste politics", Kejriwal demanded her removal from the Cabinet, along with Dattatreya.

Smriti Irani lied yesterday and tried to play dirty caste politics and try to play with emotions of students. We demand that she seek an apology from the entire country for that. We appeal to the Prime Minister to remove Irani and Dattatreya from his Cabinet", he said.

Kejriwal further demanded that Iranis name be included in the FIR booked in connection with the case, and all those who figure in it be arrested. He alleged that Irani tried to play caste politics to make the ongoing row in the University as a "Dalit verses non-Dalit" issue.

In the HCU statement on revocation of suspension, the VC also appealed to the University community to maintain calmness and harmony under the extraordinary circumstances prevailing on the campus and repose faith in the internal mechanisms to resolve the issue.

He urged everyone to contribute to resuming regular class work, research activities and administrative work without further delay. He also called upon all the teachers, students, officers and supporting staff to rise to the occasion.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal addresses students of Hyderabad University who were protesting the death of Dalit student Rohith Vemula, in Hyderabad on Thursday. Photograph: PTI

When asked why it took so long to revoke the suspension of the research scholars from the hostel, HCU Dean (Students Welfare), Prakash Babu, said: "Since the matter is pending before the High Court, we sought legal opinion from our lawyer for revocation. However, due to holiday for Sankranthi, we could not get legal opinion so quickly. Meanwhile, this unfortunate incident (Rohits suicide) happened".

"Now that we got the legal opinion and today the Executive Council decided to revoke the suspension, he added, and claimed that he was not in agreement with the decision of the Proctorial Board which recommended punishment for the students.

"I told them it (the punishment decision) will work against the students. I requested all committee (Council) members to consider this when they were drafting the resolution, Prakash Babu added.
A former television journalist was allegedly attacked by a convict in the 2002 Naroda Patiya riot case, who was out on parole, when she went to meet him regarding a book she is writing.

The city crime branch has arrested the attacker, Suresh Chhara, who had been awarded life sentence by a court for his role in the attack on minority community in Naroda Patiya area on February 28, 2002 during the Gujarat riots in which 96 people were killed.

The incident occurred on Wednesday evening, the victim, Revati Laul, claimed, adding she had given a police complaint regarding it.

"We have arrested Chhara for assault on former journalist and some other cases," crime branch ACP Rahul Patel told PTI.

Laul said, "I was attacked by 2002 Naroda Patiya attack convict Suresh Chhara, who is out on parole, when I went there to meet him regarding my book yesterday evening.

"Actually, I know the family of Chhara as I have been working on a book for the last one year. He and his wife had issues and they are living separately. His wife had filed a rape complaint against Chhara. This incident happened during his earlier parole. I had helped his wife in getting a lawyer," Laul said.

"So yesterday as he had again come out on parole for finding his missing daughter, I met him, where he attacked me without any provocation when I asked some question," she alleged.

"I was not hurt much as others present their intervened," she said.

Image: Revathi Laul who was assaulted on Wednesday. Photograph: ANI/ Twitter
Students protesting at Hyderabad Central University on Thursday. Photograph: PTI Photo



The report of the two-member fact-finding committee set up by the Union Human Resource and Development ministry to look into the suicide by Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula in Hyderabad University is learnt to be in the final stages of preparation and is likely to be submitted on Friday.

"It is expected that the report would be handed over to HRD Minister Smriti Irani on Friday," sources said.

It is learnt the panel spoke to a cross section of stakeholders including 70-80 individuals, including students, academicians and others during its Hyderabad visit.



The report, sources said, would dwell on the role of the university authorities, who have been blamed for the suicide, and systemic aspects to ensure such incidents do not recur.

Meanwhile, protesting students on Thursday refused to talk to faculty members who went to the protest site.

"We came here to talk to the protesting students, but they refused, so we are going back," said Sanjay, a faculty member.

Earlier on Thursday, at least, 13 faculty members -- including Professor V. Krishna, controller of exams, Chief Medical Officer Dr Ravendra Kumar, 10 hostel wardens and chief warden Nagaraju -- put in their papers from their respective posts.

"We are deeply hurt by Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani's press conference, on Wednesday, where we got labelled as Dalits," said Dr Ravindra Kumar, adding that its like rubbing salt on our wounds.

Moreover, the Joint Action Committee for Social Justice and the University of Hyderabad Teachers Association rejected an appeal made by the varsity vice chancellor Prof Appa Rao Podile to restart the classes and restore normalcy.

'At a time when the legitimacy of Prof Appa Rao to continue as a VC is in question, without attending to the protesting students, who are on indefinite hunger strike, the absconding VC and Executive Committee met today (not inside the campus) and issued a circular. We reject this illegitimate circular outright since it came through a committee headed by the VC, who, in our opinion, is not the legitimate VC anymore, but in fact a criminal on the run,' the JAC for Social Justice said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janat Party accused the Ambedkar Students Association -- the group to which Rohith belonged -- of being a part of Hate-India campaign chain and alleged ultra-Left bodies have created a camouflage student fora to conceal nefarious objectives.

The BJP also attacked the Congress for joining Leftists to create an 'orchestrated campaign' against the Modi government and was making Hyderabad varsity a big issue keeping in view Hyderabad corporation elections in mind.

It asked why going to Malda, Kashmir, Pathankot was not a priority for Rahul Gandhi.

BJP general secretary P Muralidhar Rao claimed police investigations have revealed that the caste of both the parents of Vemula was Vaddera, which is an OBC in Telanagana.

"Organising Beef Festival, celebrating Mahisasur, Hiranya Kashyap, conducting prayers for Yakub Memons death, supporting terrorism in various parts of the country shows for what these organisations stand for. Divisive forces organise these in campuses. Ideologies which want to see India as weak are promoting Divide India Campaigns. ASA in HCU is part of this chain," Rao said on Twitter.

In reply to a question, Rao said, "Police investigation has revealed Rohiths parents belong to Vaddera caste which comes under Other Backward Castes in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana."

Asked again, he confirmed, "Yes, both belong to Vaddera it is on record by the parents.

He said Rohith's suicide note is self-revealing.

"Connecting suicide to ideological adversaries is baseless and all the forces will be exposed in days to come," Rao said.

Rohith's mother, meanwhile, said that those responsible for her sons death should be punished.

"It should be known who they are. They should definitely get punishment," she said.

She also said that she would even go to Delhi for the sake of my son's ideals. "If not here, I will go and sit in Delhi," she added.
ELKO  The County will ask the states Attorney General for an opinion on setting the salary for the second Elko justice of the peace  including whether the position can be part-time.

Elko Justice of the Peace Mason Simons told the commission in October that a second judge would be needed. According to Nevada law, when a judicial township exceeds 34,000 people, a second justice of the peace is required, unless the sitting judge does not think another judge is warranted.

Because of the way the law is written, commissioners dont have any authority to stop the new position from being formed. However, the County is trying to determine what it can do to limit the amount of money spent for the new court.

During Wednesdays meeting, the commissioners unanimously voted to request an opinion from the AG regarding options for the adjustment of the justice of the peace salaries for both of the Elko Justice Court Judge positions.

I think this is a concern that this whole board has had, said Commissioner Cliff Eklund. Economically, wheres the money going to come from to pay for all of this?

The additional cost to the County could be as much as $300,000 for the judge and staff. According to Simons, the annual salary of the Elko Justice of the Peace is $133,289.

The County already approved to set the salary for the second judge Dec. 2.

In 2013, the annual pay rate for the judge was $125,639.

Commissioner Rex Steninger said he doesnt think the County can change the sitting judges salary, but he does think the new position could be set as a part-time position. Chief Civil Deputy District Attorney Kristin McQueary recommended the commissioners get an AGs opinion.

Theres very little guidance in the statute and the way the statute is written, theres really only a 52-year-old attorney generals opinion that kind of touches on it briefly, she said. It would be very difficult for me to say yes or no about changing (it).  I dont know what the minimum is or how the minimum was established.

According to the law, the County cannot set the salary below the minimum that has been established, McQueary said. The County has until July of the election year to set the salary.

Thats my biggest question, Commissioner Glen Guttry said. What is the minimum? Who set that? When?

Eklund said the County doesnt have $300,000 floating around just to do this.

We dont have the option of saying no, we dont want the JP, but if we do have some options on the budget end of it, it would certainly be frugal to find out what we can do, he said.

Assistant County Manager and CFO Cash Minor said in his 19 years with the County, it was the commissioners who established the minimum wage for justices of the peace. He said all the courts are set at different minimums.

Commissioner Delmo Andreozzi said it might be helpful to look at previous commission meeting minutes to see how the minimums were set.

He also said while the County is waiting on an AG opinion, its budget committee should come up with ways to close the gap on the funding.

I think thats the fundamental issue with the way the statute is written is that there should be some type of justifications provided beside the population threshold, Andreozzi said. So they can evaluate that and then maybe theyre part of the solution, part of that funding solution.
A British website, set up to catalogue the last days of Subhas Chandra Bose, has released the evidence given by a Taiwanese official who claimed to have prepared Netaji's body for cremation after his death in a plane crash in 1945.

The testimony, contained in UK Foreign Office file No FC1852/6 and dating back to 1956, is among the last few documents to be released by www.bosefiles.info set up to establish that the Indian freedom fighter died in the crash on the outskirts of an airfield in Taipei on August 18, 1945.

"Taiwanese official Tan Ti-Ti, who was in charge of issuing cremation permits in Taipei, together with that of other local officials, put to rest any controversy about the last rites performed on Subhas Bose's body," the website said.

There has been controversy for decades as to whether the account of the plane crash is true, despite two Indian government investigations concluding that is how Bose met his end.

The proof contained in the Taiwanese police report sent to the British Foreign Office was, the file indicates, forwarded by the British high commission in Delhi to the Indian government in July 1956.

Albert Franklin, British consul general in Taiwan, wrote to the Taiwanese government requesting an investigation into the death of Bose on May 15, 1956.

In response, C K Yen, Chairman of the Taiwan Provincial government, sent a detailed police report dated June 27, 1956.

This included an interview with Tan Ti-Ti, who said the cremation took place on August 22, 1945.

A Japanese army officer who accompanied the body told Ti-Ti: "The deceased was Bose, the Indian leader (on occasions he mentioned him as the Indian commander) who, proceeding to Tokyo on important business, was injured when his plane was involved in an accident."

The previous day -- August 21, 1945 -- the same Japanese officer, according to Tan Ti-Ti, "submitted the death certificate of a certain Ichiro Okura."

Yen clarified to Franklin that during World War II in the case of military personnel (Bose was then Supreme Commander of the Indian National Army) without family members in Taiwan, "permission for cremation was granted on the strength of a certificate from a military hospital."

This appears to have occurred in the case of Bose.

The police findings based on a report prepared by Taiwan's department of health said: "There is a register of cremations at the municipal health centre (formerly under the welfare section of the Taipei municipal government) and the officers of the health centre are of the opinion that the entry (regarding cremating Bose) was made in the name of Ichiro Okura."

Tan Ti-Ti confirmed that on the day of the cremation the same Japanese army officer "came to the crematorium in a car in the company of an Indian," believed to be Bose's ADC Colonel Habibur Rehman, who survived the crash.

Tan Ti-Ti asserted he and another person, called Lin Sui Mu, opened the coffin as the body had been "put into a coffin for conveyance to Tokyo but the coffin was too big for aeroplanes available at the time."

It was, therefore, cremated in Taipei.

The next day (August 23, 1945), the Indian (Col Rehman) and the same Japanese army officer came to collect the ashes, Tan Ti-Ti added.

His version of events matches with Col Rehman's statement recorded on August 24, 1945, which said "the body (of Bose) was cremated on 22-8-1945 at Taihoku (Japanese name for Taipei) under the arrangement of the (Japanese) Army authorities. The ashes were collected on 23-8-1945."

On January 23, this year, the Indian government is slated to declassify a set of hitherto secret documents relating to Bose.

"I would be surprised if the government of India files contradict anything our website has claimed," said Ashis Ray, creator of bosefiles.info.

Bose's daughter, Professor Anita Pfaff, who lives in Germany, has gone on record to say she finds the story of the air crash to be credible.
A court in Andhra Pradesh has dismissed the bail pleas of YSR Congress MP P Mithun Reddy and another party leader who were arrested for allegedly assaulting an Air India official in November last year.

Fifth Additional Sessions Judge Shyam Prasad in Tirupati dismissed the bail applications of Mithun Reddy and another YSR Congress leader Madhusudan Reddy on Wednesday on the ground that they did not cooperate with the investigation official, Renigunta Circle Inspector K Sainath said.

Mithun Reddy and Madhusudan Reddy were arrested by the AP police last Sunday. They are at present lodged in judicial custody till January 30 in Nellore district prison, Sainath said.

A petition seeking their police custody for further examination for two days will come up before another court in Srikalhasti on Thursday, he said.

The MP, having received a notice from the investigating official in connection with the case, had given an assurance that he would appear before the police, but had gone abroad and thus "did not cooperate" in the investigation, the CI said.

Another ground for rejecting their bail pleas was that the MP's followers and others created law and order problem by causing damage to public property after their arrest on January 17, he said.

Earlier, a lookout notice was issued against the MP. He was detained by immigration officers at Chennai airport after he returned from Bangkok on Sunday. The immigration officers later informed the Andhra Pradesh police.

A team of the AP police travelled to Chennai and brought Mithun Reddy to Chittoor district and placed him under arrest along with Madhusudan Reddy.

Mithun Reddy, who represents Rajampet constituency in Kadapa district, was booked for allegedly slapping a station manager of Air India at Tirupati airport on November 26, 2015, and a criminal case was registered against him and several others.

According to the police, Mithun Reddy went to the cabin of AI manager Rajasekhar at the airport and picked up an "argument" with him regarding boarding passes for his relatives for a flight before allegedly slapping him.

The parliamentarian, however, had refuted the charge, saying that there is some ulterior motive behind the entire episode.

A case was registered against Mithun Reddy and others under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 448 (house trespass) of IPC.

During the course of the investigation, the police had identified alleged involvement of 19 people, including the MP. Out of the 19 people, 16 have already been arrested and released on bail.

As the MP had gone abroad, the AP police had approached the home ministry for initiating a look out notice against him at all international airports in the country, the CI said.
These images from across the globe show that it is a crazy world out there.

Women practise yoga at a hot spring in Luoyang, Henan Province in China. About one hundred participants performed a yoga show in -4C at a local hot spring yoga culture festival. Photograph: Stringer/ Reuters

A model presents makeup creations during a show by Maybelline New York at the Berlin Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2016 in Berlin, Germany. Photograph: Fabrizio Bensc/Reuters

Contestants take part in a cold enduring competition in temperature of -6C at an indoor ski resort in Changsha, Hunan province in China. Photograph: China Daily/Reuters

A guest views Echoue au seuil de la raison by artist Virgile Ittah at the Champagne Life exhibition held at the Saatchi Gallery in London, England. The exhibition celebrates the 30th anniversary of the Saatchi Gallery and is the first all-women exhibition held at the gallery. Photograph: Ben Pruchnie/Getty Images

An Elvis tribute artist prepares to board the Elvis Express at Central Station in Sydney, Australia. The Parkes Elvis Festival is held annually over five days, timed to coincide with Elvis Priestly's birth date in January. Photograph: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

Guests view a sculpture entitled Moje Sabz by artist Soheila Sokhanvari at the Champagne Life exhibition held at the Saatchi Gallery in London. Photograph: Ben Pruchnie/Getty Images

A man counts coins collected from coin-operated laundry machines, at a warehouse in Zhengzhou, Henan province, China. A man running a coin-operated laundromat service had failed to exchange 3,00,000 yuan (About Rs 29 lakh) worth of coins into banknotes to pay his employees salaries for three months, according to local media. Local banks said they are unable to process the exchange in a go, the reports added. Photograph: Stringer/ Reuters

A vulture stands during an exercise for the Vultures Detect programme at Huachipa Zoo in Lima. Residents of Lima would be wise to follow the proper guidelines when taking out their trash. Vultures are being equipped with GPS tracking devices and GoPro cameras to help environment officials crack down on illegal waste dumps surrounding the Peruvian capital. Photograph: Mariana Bazo/Reuters

People ride bicycles along an embankment of the Moskva river during the so-called winter bicycle parade in central Moscow, Russia. Photograph: Maxim Zmeyev/Reuters

Members of an ice swimming club take a dip in the lakeOrankesee during the annual carnival swimming meeting in Berlin, Germany. Photograph: Hannibal Hanschke/Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin "probably approved" the murder of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko who died in a London hospital in November 2006 from radioactive poisoning, a British public inquiry concluded on Thursday.

Litvinenko died days after being poisoned with radioactive polonium-210, which he is believed to have drunk in a cup of tea.

The finding by Robert Owen, a retired High Court judge, in a 328-page report represented by far the most damning official link between 43-year-old Litvinenko's death and the highest levels of the Kremlin.

Two Russian men, Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun, have been accused of his murder. They deny killing him.

There is a "strong probability" they were acting on behalf of the Russian FSB secret service, the inquiry found.

Owen said that taken as a whole the open evidence that had been heard in court amounted to a "strong circumstantial case" that the Russian state was behind the assassination.

But when he took into account all the evidence available to him, including a "considerable quantity" of secret intelligence that was not aired in open court, he found "that the FSB operation to kill Litvinenko was probably approved by [Nikolai] Patrushev [head of the security service in 2006] and also by President Putin".

Marina, Litvinenko's widow, welcomed the report's "damning finding" and called for the UK to impose sanctions on Russia in a statement read outside the Royal Courts of Justice, where the inquiry took place. But she said that she been given indications that the UK would do nothing.

"I'm also calling for the imposing of targeted economic sanctions and travel bans against named individuals ... including Mr Putin. I received a letter last night from the home secretary promising action. It [signalled] that the prime minister would do nothing in the face of the damaging findings of Sir Robert Owen," she said.

She called on the UK to expel all Russian intelligence operatives, to impose economic sanctions, and for travel bans on individuals, including Putin.

UK home secretary Theresa May is due to give the UK government's response to the findings in a statement to the House of Commons later on Thursday.

The findings will cause a significant diplomatic headache for the British government.

Litvinenko, a former agent in the Russian FSB federal security service or secret police, had acquired British citizenship shortly before his death, after fleeing Russia six years earlier.

British Prime Minister David Cameron will come under pressure to respond robustly to the state-sponsored assassination of a UK citizen on the streets of London, The Guardian reported.

While he lay dying in a London hospital bed, Litvinenko had pointedly told Scotland Yard that the Russian president had given the orders for his killing.

At the time of his death, Litvinenko was working for the British intelligence service MI6 and also for Spanish intelligence, passing on information on Russian organised crime networks and their links to the Kremlin. Litvinenko was due shortly to become a star witness in a number of trials.

The poison used in the killing -- the radioactive isotope polonium-210 -- is exceptionally toxic and posed a huge potential public health risk, after traces of it were left in multiple locations around London by the murderers.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday attacked the Trinamool Congress government over law and order in West Bengal, claiming that women, people and even policemen are not safe in the state and also questioned its version on the recent violence in Malda.

Singh also took a dig at the Mamata Banerjee government over its global business summit held earlier this month and said that holding such programmes will not be able to bring in investments in the state unless the government improves law and order and ensures good governance.

"Despite TMC's slogan for ushering in change, Ma-mati-manush (mother, earth and people) and even police are not secure in West Bengal. The TMC government has not been able to bring in any change in Bengal," Singh told a Bharatiya Janata Party rally in poll-bound West Bengal.

Referring to the violence in Malda, he refuted Chief Minister Mamata Banerjees statement that it was a result of tussle between Border Security Force officials and locals.

"The incident in Malda is not a small incident. I want to tell the TMC government that the Malda case should be solved. Whoever may be involved in the incident should be arrested. Only few arrests can't solve the case," he said.

"Let me assure you, whoever is behind the Malda incident will not be spared. They will be arrested and booked," Singh said.

He said, "It is being said that the (Malda) violence was a result of tussle between BSF and locals. But it is not true. Are they (state government) trying to safeguard those forces which attacked the BSF official?"

"Will those who attacked BSF roam free? This is the same BSF which had given befitting reply to Pakistani forces in the Indo-Pak border," Singh said.

Responding to Singh's attack, TMC national spokesperson Derek OBrien said, "Mr Rajnath Singh, Malda is your creation. As the home minister of the country you should not be on a mission to stoke communal tension."

"The country knows this is a well-known tactic BJP uses when elections are at hand. And all this coming from a central government which is running the nation using agencies to pursue its own cynical agenda," he added.

"You are using a political meeting to threaten the state. Which home minister with a conscience would do that?" O'Brien said.

Seeking people's support in the coming assembly elections, Singh said, "There will be assembly elections in West Bengal very soon. There will be change in Bengal too. I appeal to you that give us strength in the state assembly. We will do everything to change the situation in the state."

"The people from Bengal tell us that they want change. But what will they do? Polling booths are looted. As the home minister of the country, I want to assure you that you all will be able to exercise your franchise in a free and fair way," he said adding he will tell Election Commission that the required number of central forces for Bengal will be made available.

Image: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh during a rally at Ashok Nagar in North 24 Parganas on Thursday. Photograph: Ashok Bhaumik/ PTI Photo
Pakistan's nuclear warheads which are estimated to be between 110-130 are aimed at deterring India from taking military action against it, a latest Congressional report has said.

The report also expressed concern that Islamabad's "full spectrum deterrence" doctrine has increased risk of nuclear conflict between the two South Asian neighbours.

"Pakistan's nuclear arsenal probably consists of approximately 110-130 nuclear warheads, although it could have more. Islamabad is producing fissile material, adding to related production facilities, deploying additional nuclear weapons, and new types of delivery vehicles," Congressional Research Service (CRS) said in its latest report.

In its 28-page report, the CRS noted that Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is widely regarded as designed to dissuade India from taking military action against it, but Islamabad's expansion of its nuclear arsenal, development of new types of nuclear weapons and adoption of a doctrine called "full spectrum deterrence" have led some observers to express concern about an increased risk of nuclear conflict between Pakistan and India, which also continues to expand its nuclear arsenal.

CRS is the independent research wing of the US Congress, which prepares periodic reports by eminent experts on a wide range of issues so as to help lawmakers take informed decisions.

Reports of CRS are not considered as an official view of the US Congress.

"Pakistan has in recent years taken a number of steps to increase international confidence in the security of its nuclear arsenal," said the CRS report authored by Paul K Kerr and Mary Beth Nikitin.

Moreover, Pakistani and US officials argue that, since the 2004 revelations about a procurement network run by former Pakistani nuclear official A Q Khan, Islamabad has taken a number of steps to improve its nuclear security and to prevent further proliferation of nuclear-related technologies and materials, it said.

A number of important initiatives, such as strengthened export control laws, improved personnel security, and international nuclear security cooperation programmes, have improved Pakistan's nuclear security, the CRS said.

"However, instability in Pakistan has called the extent and durability of these reforms into question. Some observers fear radical takeover of the Pakistani government or diversion of material or technology by personnel within Pakistan's nuclear complex," the CRS said.

"While the US and Pakistani officials continue to express confidence in controls over Pakistan's nuclear weapons, continued instability in the country could impact these safeguards. Furthermore, continued Indian and Pakistani nuclear weapons development could jeopardise strategic stability between the two countries," it concluded.

According to CRS, Pakistan has asserted that continued exclusion of the country from the NSG "would adversely affect regional peace, security and stability," as well as "undermine the global non-proliferation regime."

According to the US law, the United States could apparently advocate for Pakistan's NSG membership without congressional approval.

Ambassador Olson testified on December 16, 2015, that the Obama administration is "not negotiating... a civil nuclear cooperation agreement with...Pakistan."

However, press reports indicate that the United States is considering supporting Islamabad's NSG membership in exchange for Pakistani actions to reduce perceived dangers associated with the country's nuclear weapons programme.
Backing the agitating students of the Hyderabad university, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday called the suicide of a Dalit research scholar at the premier institute a "national shame" and accused the Centre of trying to indulge in "casteist politics".

Coming out all guns blazing against Humna Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani, the AAP leader -- addressing the agitating students -- said her statement on Wednesday about Rohith Vemula's death as well as subsequent agitation by university's students was a clear attempt to make it a caste issue for which she must apologise.

"Rohith was a very bright student. He was Dalit, but he did not come from reserved quota. He came on merit. When such bright students have to commit suicide, I think it is a shame on the entire nation and society," he said.

Demanding immediate sacking of the university's vice chancellor, Kejriwal said Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya's letter to HRD Msinister Smriti Irani seeking action against Ambedkar Students Association was an example of coming to judgement before enquiring about the issue.

"It is shameful that a responsible minister without inquiring into the facts has already concluded that Ambedkar Students Association is casteist. He mentioned three words about the students -- anti-national, casteist and extremist," said Kejriwal.

He said the students were considered innocent till Dattatreya intervened.

Kejriwal said anyone who discusses Ambedkar's thoughts can never be casteist and anti-national, saying there can be "nothing more national than that".

Kejriwal accused Irani of misleading the country on the issue saying "attempts are being made to paint it as a caste issue. Irani must apologise for trying indulge in casteist politics."

He further said "her statement was disgraceful. She spoke lies after lies. She was even trying to create confusion over his (Rohith) caste."

Irani had on Wednesday alleged that a malicious attempt was being made to project it as a "Dalit versus non-Dalit issue to ignite passions" for political gains and strongly refuted allegations of interference or putting pressure on university authority to take action against the Dalit students.

Expressing solidarity with the students, Kejriwal said the whole country was with them and that whatever is needed will be done to ensure justice to them.

The Delhi chief minister said he offered to sit on a dharna to press for VC's sacking but the students have asked him not to do so as now the fight is to ensure justice to Vemula.

The Congress party too escalated its attack on the Centre on Thursday, demanding immediate sacking of Irani and Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya.

"...Irani is lying through her teeth in a bid to protect the ABVP leader. She is misleading the nation by giving false information," Congress chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala said, seeking to dismiss the claims of Irani on the issue.

Insisting that the HRD Minister "justified the unfairness" meted out to Rohith Vemula, who committed suicide, and four other suspended Dalit students, Surjewala said, "She is the custodian of all universities. She committed the unpardonable sin of lying to the nation. She spoke a number of lies to cover up a lie."

"We demand that Union Minister Smriti Irani should be sacked for attempting to hide facts along with Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya, against whom an FIR has been lodged," he said, a day after the Congress seemed to have piped down its attack on the Centre.

Dattatreya and Hyderabad University Vice Chancellor Appa Rao and three others have been named in an FIR lodged with the Cyberabad police over the alleged suicide of 26-year-old PhD scholar Rohith who was found hanging at the Central University's hostel room on the campus on Sunday.

Alleging the Proctorial Board's report was changed due to pressure by BJP, Surjewala said, "Just on the basis of the ABVP leader's statement five Dalit PhD scholars were suspended."

He claimed that following pressure from the university authorities and the HRD Ministry, and statements of ABVP leaders, the Board was forced to overturn their decision.

Surjewala's remarks indicated that the main opposition party was stepping up its offensive on the issue. Only on Thursday, the Congress had climbed down from its demand for resignation of Irani in connection with the case but had insisted on a probe by a sitting high court judge against her.

"The culpability of Irani should be investigated by a sitting high court judge and the labour minister should be immediately sacked," another party spokesman Deepender Singh Hooda had said on Wednesday, when asked whether the party stood by its demand for sacking of Irani.

Tearing into the arguments put forth by the HRD minister, Surjwala said she spoke a "blatant lie" that the decision of the Proctorial Board declaring the five Dalit students not guilty was an "ex-parte decision".

He said that the security officer on duty and Dr Anupama Rao had appeared before the board.

Besides, he said Irani's claim that the executive council's sub-committee that justified punishment to Rohith and four other students had a dalit professor was not correct.

He said that the university's SC/ST Professor forum has stated that the statement of the minister was "false and fabricated".

"Third lie was when she justified hostel suspension of the students by saying that it was hostel warden's decision. Doesn't she know that warden only implements the decision of the University authorities and the executive council," Surjewala asked.
Accusing HRD Minister Smriti Irani of misrepresenting facts in Rohith Vemula suicide case, Dalit faculty members of Hyderabad University have threatened to quit their 'administrative positions' even as agitating students on Thursday said they plan to enlist support from campuses across the country to expand their stir.

The members of Dalit (SC/ST) faculty of Hyderabad University in a statement said that it is unfortunate that the Union minister "misrepresented" the facts of the case by stating that the senior most Dalit professor actually headed the executive council sub-committee which took the decision to suspend the students, while it was headed by an "upper caste" Professor Vipin Srivastava.

"Such a baseless and misleading statement coming from Honourable Minister of HRD amounts to bringing down the morale of the Dalits holding administrative positions in this university as well as other universities...In response to the honourable minister's fabricated statements, we the Dalit (SC/ST) faculty and officers will lay down our administrative positions," the statement said.

When contacted, a senior faculty member told PTI, "We (faculty and other officials) are going to give up our administrative posts if the minister doesn't correct her statement."

The faculty body further said that it is unfortunate that since its inception, no Dalit representation has been given in the executive council of the University of Hyderabad.

They said it was just a coincidence that the chief warden was a Dalit and he only implemented the orders of the higher authorities that proclaimed of suspension of five students, including Rohith.

"By deflecting this issue, the Honourable HRD Minister is absolving herself and the Honourable Minister Bandaru Dattatreya from being responsible for the death of Rohith Vemula," the teachers' body alleged.

Expressing solidarity with the agitating students of the varsity, they demanded immediate revocation of suspension and withdrawal of all police cases filed against the students.

Rohith, whose body was found hanging in a hostel room on January 17, was among the five research scholars who were suspended by university in August last year and also one of the accused in the case of alleged assault on the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad leader.

Seeking to step up their protest over the issue, the agitating students of the university said they would organise a "Chalo-HCU" programme on January 25 and urged their colleagues from other universities across the country to join the campaign.

They have also called for burning effigies of Smriti Irani across the country.

The indefinite fast started by a group of students on the HCU campus seeking "justice" for the student entered the second day on Thursday.

Meanwhile, ABVP leader Nandanam Susheel Kumar, who is named as an accused in the case of abetting suicide of Rohith, demanded a "fair" inquiry into the incident and denied that he had lied about being manhandled by Rohith and other students of Ambedkar Students' Association on August 3 last year.

"Reasons for Rohith's suicide should be thoroughly examined. When a person like Rohith could confront so many people like us (and) also there was hearing by the high court in two days, what made him go into depression?" Kumar told reporters in Hyderabad.

"Why did these people send Rohith to some other person's room without sending someone along with him? There are many issues in this. There should be a fair inquiry. And whoever is the culprit, let it be me or let it be anyone else, the culprit should be punished," he said.

Buttressing his claim that he was manhandled, the ABVP leader said he can produce records that he was admitted to hospital and underwent operation.

Vemula's alleged suicide following his suspension has snowballed into a major row with the Bharatiya Janata Party's rivals wading into it and demanding the removal of Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani and Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya, accusing them of being responsible for the death.

The agitating students are demanding resignation of Dattatreya, removal of Vice Chancellor Appa Rao Podile, Rs five crore compensation to Rohith's family and employment to a member of his family, besides revocation of suspension of four students.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday reiterated that his government is committed to enforce liquor ban or prohibition in the state. M I Khan/ Rediff.com report from Patna.

"We are committed, we will implement a liquor ban in Bihar," Nitish Kumar said after he launched an anti-liquor campaign to create awareness to encourage voluntary prohibition in Patna.

The anti-liquor campaign kicked off by Nitish Kumar will involve women and children to create awareness of ill effects of liquor and help them to encourage voluntary prohibition.

Nitish Kumar said the state government will ban liquor in phase wise.

"Total liquor ban in Bihar is part of our seven resolves that will have to be implemented as promised to people during the last assembly polls," he said.

Nitish Kumar reiterated that liquor ban will be enforced across the state from April 1, but total ban will be made in phase wise. Bihar will first ban country-made liquor followed by Indian-made foreign liquor.

"We want help, cooperation and participation of all to make it a social movement," Nitish Kumar said.

"Do not hesitate to destroy 'bhattis' (manufacturing units of country liquor) if need arises and complaint to the call centre," Kumar said while launching a campaign to make prohibition a mass movement in the state.

The chief minister said a designated cell would be set up in Patna for strict monitoring of prohibition decision and its telephone numbers would be advertised so that citizens could inform, if they see illegal trade in liquor after prohibition comes into force.

Urging women to make the liquor ban in Bihar a mass movement, Kumar said he decided to go for it to fulfil his poll promise that if he returned to power, their wish to stop sale of liquor which ruins families would be fulfilled.

Prohibition will be imposed in Bihar in phases as part of which there would be a total ban on country liquor from April 1, Kumar said.

However, India Made Foreign Liquor would be available in municipal and town council areas at limited government outlets run by Bihar State Beverages Corporation Limited, which operates under the state excise department.

"After six months, sale of IMFL will also be stopped and there will be a complete ban on liquor," he said.

On the criticism by opposition on rationale in allowing sale of IMFL while banning country liquor from April 1, 2016, Kumar said this decision has been taken to make the plan practical and implementable.

In an apparent dig at states where prohibition is in place, Kumar said, "We don't want to go like them where there is prohibition on liquor but alcohol is available at home on payment secretly."

Bihar government has written to neighbouring states requesting them to order strict vigil on bordering districts to ensure illegal transportation of liquor to Bihar do not take place after April 1, 2016, he said.

Special care would also be taken on porous Bihar-Nepal border to check illegal trade of alcohol.

Kumar asked state police chief P K Thakur, who was present at the programme, to ensure that police extends all assistance in enforcing the ban on liquor.

"Its known that no illegal trade of manufacturing hooch can take place without the knowledge of the police station. Hence, police have a special role to put an end to this surreptitious trade," he added.

The department of mass education is working as the nodal agency along with six other departments, to reach out to millions of families across 8,444 panchayats spread in 38 districts.

Nitish Kumar on November 26 announced a ban on alcohol from April 1 in view of demand of the women.

According to officials, the ban decision was expected to impact the state government's financial health.

Bihar gets around Rs 3,650 crore in revenue from liquor sales annually.
'My age? It keeps changing every year. I can't remember it. I don't like ageing at all,' the legendary dancer Mrinalini Sarabhai, who passed into the ages on Thursday, told Jasmine Shah Verma in October 2004.

Reproduced with kind permission from Harmony  Celebrate Age magazine. Photographs: Saurabh Dutta.

IMAGE: A generational shift: Mrinalini Sarabhai with grandson Revanta.

As a beautiful Japanese parasol emerges from a distance in the spacious complex of the Darpana Academy of Performing Arts, Ahmedabad, students tighten their dupattas and roll up their sleeves. Their guru, Mrinalini Sarabhai, or 'Amma', as she is referred to, is on her way. The parasol is present everywhere she goes, there's even one in her car.

"I have always loved using parasols and umbrellas," she says. "I have about 25 to 30. I bought some of them, and many have been gifted by friends."

Her fetish for parasols and hand fans is perhaps one of the few things that people don't know about 86-year-old Mrinalini Sarabhai -- dancer, choreographer, poet, writer, environmentalist, humanist and teacher. Her autobiography, scheduled by HarperCollins for an October release, will fill in the rest of the gaps.

Sarabhai's close friend Vijaya Mehta, reputed film and theatre director and director of the National Centre for the Performing Arts, Mumbai, says: "In most people there is a clear divide between their creative life and what they are as a person. But Mrinalini is a total human being."



"I hope my autobiography interests people," says Sarabhai. The story of her life, peopled by stalwarts she has learnt her craft from, is likely to be a good read.

She has learned Bharata Natyam in the Pandanallur tradition from Sri Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai, considered the master of this classic style; Kathakali from the great Asan Kunja Kurup; Mohiniattam from Kalyanikutty Amma, the doyenne of this ancient tradition; and her worldview from Rabindranath Tagore in Santiniketan.

Born Mrinalini Swaminathan, she married scientist and industrialist Vikram Sarabhai, called the 'father of the Indian space programme', in 1942. In 1948, the couple set up Darpana, an academy of dance, drama, music and puppetry, in Ahmedabad.

As a dancer, Sarabhai was the first classical dancer to turn to choreography. "New dance forms evolve," she once said. "But I would prefer that while you evolve a new form, there be some classical traditional behind it. A tree may grow in many directions, but it must grow with roots. This is what I think I have done."



Sarabhai calls dance her stress-buster, and at 86 still dances for two hours every morning. Earlier this year in Mumbai, she performed Two Lives in Dance and One More (Samabhavana) with daughter-dancer-choreographer Mallika and her daughter Anahita, a biographical dance drama where the three interact, sing, and dance, telling the story of their lives. Grandson Revanta, who studies in the US, also performs with the family whenever he's home.

"My mother unknowingly started a legacy," says Mallika. "The atmosphere of Darpana all around them when they were growing up certainly influenced my children." And her? "There is a little of the guru-shishya aspect in our relationship, but we are partners and co-creators too. We respect each other's creativity though we may not agree on the form."

For this family, dance is the language of life. "Dancing breathes new life into me every day," Mrinalini Sarabhai believes. "It is an experience of rejuvenation."

Another thing that rejuvenates her is the outdoors -- Sarabhai is claustrophobic. "It may have been a result of my childhood. I used to be locked up in the bathroom when I was naughty," she says with a chuckle. Former student and a dancer in her troupe, Poornima Kantawala, 65, say, "When we travelled by air for performances, she would be the first out of the door once the place had landed. She always looked for fresh air and open spaces."

Natarani, the open-air theatre at Darpana, is a culmination of this search. "Mallika designed Natarani to reflect my personality with its vast open spaces, peepul tree and the rivers beyond."

Like Natarani, Sarabhai's lavish home in Ahmedabad echoes her taste with its assortment of Indian handicrafts, and finely sculpted Ganesha and Nandi idols.

In her study, posters from her performances tower on the wall behind her busy writing desk while Sarabhai tends to the paperwork of the academy, sitting in a commanding pose. She is in charge here, and doesn't like it one bit if you talk about uncomfortable topics like age.



"My age? It keeps changing every year. I can't remember it." And then she adds: "I don't like ageing at all." She's quite happy when you steer the conversation to her slim figure, though.

"I've managed to retain it because of constant practice. It's important for a performer to look good. That doesn't mean have to do a lot of make-up."



But clothes, that's a different matter. She is noted among friends for her exclusive sari collection and unusual jewellery. For footwear, Sarabhai swears by the flat Kolhapuris and simple Gandhi chappal bought from the Sabarmati ashram. "I think it stems out of a dancer's need to have comfortable feet at all times."





When she's not dancing, Sarabhai reads. "I have read all the English classic and love authors like Jane Austen, Dickens and, of course, Shakespeare." Today, she enjoys light novels by Dick Francis and John Grisham, Hindu and Buddhist philosophy, and cookbooks.

Ask her some favourite recipes, and she tells you to wait for her own cookbook. When, and if, that materialises it will be one in a long line of books she has written -- on dance, mythology, poetry, and even a collection of letters exchanged between Sarojini Naidu and Mahatma Gandhi.



"Writing and dancing are two parts of my personality," she says. Sarabhai has also set up the Centre for Non-Violence through Performing Arts at Darpana, which seeks to spread the message of peace and non-violence through the arts, and heads a nature club named Prakriti, which encourages tree planting and forestation among children.



She spent the last Makar Sankranti (the festival of kites) standing on a terrace under the hot Ahmedabad sun, flying kites with street children. "You have to go beyond yourself and reach out to others who need you," she says.



Mallika, though, has her own take on her mother: "I believe she only really lives when she dances."
Sept. 1

Nicholas Felipe CdeBaca, 21, of Elko was sentenced by Acting Elko Justice of the Peace Barbara J. Nethery to pay $1,255, transferred from cash bail, and serve 10 days in jail, suspended for one year on the following conditions: serve two days, with credit for six hours; completion of DUI school and a victim impact panel and maintain a good conduct clause; after pleading guilty to DUI of alcohol and or drugs and failure to drive carefully or prudently.

Sept. 2

Keoni Kamuela Miles, 22, of Elko was sentenced by Elko Justice of the Peace Mason Simons to pay $1,540 and serve 70 days in jail, suspended for two years on the following conditions: serve 10 days, with credit for eight hours; pay $1,000 in restitution; completion of a victim impact panel, 48 AA meetings, DUI school and counseling; and maintain good conduct and no alcohol or drugs clauses; after pleading no contest to evading, eluding or failing to stop on the signal of police  amended from eluding police endangering a person or property  and DUI of alcohol and or drugs.

Oct. 27

James Street, 60, a transient, was sentenced by Acting Elko Justice of the Peace Patricia Calton to serve 39 days in jail, with credit for 39 days served; after pleading guilty to disturbing the peace.

Nov. 3

Vickie Lorraine Garcia, 28, of Elko was sentenced by Elko Justice of the Peace Mason Simons to serve 90 days in jail, with credit for 31 days and six hours served; a total of 60 hours of community service; and maintain good conduct and no alcohol or drugs clauses; after pleading guilty to possession or use of drug paraphernalia, obstructing a public officer and possession of a hypodermic device.



Jesus Moreno Morones, 46, of Elko was sentenced by Elko Justice of the Peace Mason Simons to pay $640 and serve 32 days in jail, 30 days suspended on the following conditions: serve two days in jail, with credit for 11 hours served; and maintain good conduct and no alcohol or drugs clauses; after pleading no contest to violation of a domestic protective order.

Nov. 10

Samuel Arthur Jones, 31, of Blowing Rock, North Carolina, had $252 in bail forfeited by the court on a charge of speeding 11 to 15 miles over the limit.

Nov. 13

Jacob Ryan Billips, 23, of Elko was sentenced by Elko Justice of the Peace Mason Simons to pay $640 and serve 30 days in jail, suspended on the following conditions: attend 104 meetings AA meetings; and maintain good conduct and no alcohol or drugs clauses; after pleading guilty to battery.

Nov. 17

Jeremy Moon, 23, of Spring Creek was sentenced by Acting Elko Justice of the Peace Brian Boatman to pay $215, transferred from cash bail; after being found guilty of speeding 11 to 15 miles over the limit.
Lesotho: Army chief cannot continue to disobey a court's order

Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 20 January 2016 Cite as Amnesty International, Lesotho: Army chief cannot continue to disobey a court's order, 20 January 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/569ff06f5172.html [accessed 20 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.

Lesotho's Defence Force (LDF) chief should not be allowed to continue to disobey a court order, Amnesty International said today ahead of his court appearance for failure to comply with a High Court order to release 18 soldiers from military detention.

Lieutenant-General Tlali Kamoli has been charged with contempt of court after failing to honour a court order requiring the release of soldiers on "open arrest", a form of military bail. The soldiers were detained between May and June 2015 for their alleged participation in a mutiny. He is due to appear at the Maseru High Court tomorrow.

"The continued detention of the 18 soldiers despite the court ruling ordering their release shows a blatant disregard for the rule of law," said Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International's Director for Southern Africa.

"By ignoring a judicial ruling the army is behaving as if it is accountable only to itself."

The soldiers are also facing a court martial on mutiny charges due to resume on 1 February. All were put in solitary confinement during their detention. Amnesty International is calling for their release on military bail, as per the court's ruling.

The organisation is also calling for a full and impartial investigation into the allegations of torture against some of the 18 soldiers and five others who were released earlier.

"This is an important moment for Lesotho's justice system to demonstrate that no one is beyond the law and hold Lieutenant-General Kamoli to account for his inaction," said Deprose Muchena.

"When the country's most senior military commander ignores a court order, it sets a dangerous precedent which cannot be allowed to go unchallenged."

Background

A total of 23 members of the LDF were arrested between May and June 2015 for suspected mutiny and detained at Maseru Maximum Security Prison.

They were arrested for their perceived support for slain LDF commander, Lieutenant-General Maaparankoe Mahao, who was killed by four members of the LDF on 25 June 2015. They appeared before the court martial on 1 December 2015 on mutiny charges. The court martial was postponed until 1 February 2016.

Five of them were released during early December 2015 on open arrest.

The High Court declared their continued detention unlawful and ordered their release on "open arrest" on 5 October 2015.

Copyright notice:  Copyright Amnesty International
Burkina Faso: Devastating news of the deaths of Leila Alaoui and Mahamadi Ouedraogo

Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 19 January 2016 Cite as Amnesty International, Burkina Faso: Devastating news of the deaths of Leila Alaoui and Mahamadi Ouedraogo, 19 January 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/569ff142763.html [accessed 20 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.

It is with great sadness that Amnesty International has learned of the tragic death of photographer Leila Alaoui and driver Mahamadi Ouedraogo, as a result of the Al Qaeda attack in Ouagadougou on Friday.

Leila was shot twice, in the leg and thorax, but was quickly taken to hospital and was initially in a stable condition following an operation. A medical evacuation was being prepared when she suffered a fatal heart attack.

Leila was a talented French-Moroccan photographer who we had sent to Burkina Faso to carry out a photographic assignment focusing on women's rights.

Mahamadi was killed in his car. A father of four, he was a great friend to Amnesty International having accompanied staff and consultants on missions in the country since 2008. Our thoughts are with his wife, children and family. He will be sorely missed.

Amnesty International's absolute priority is to ensure the best possible support for Mahamadi and Leila's families. The organization's representatives are at the hospital liaising with her family, doctors and all necessary officials.

Mahamadi and Leila were parked outside the Cappucino cafe, opposite the Hotel Splendid when the attack occurred.

Ouagadougou was not considered to be a high risk destination and Leila was being supported by colleagues from our national office in Burkina Faso during her assignment and accompanied by Mahamadi, a national of Burkina Faso.

The organization condemns the vicious attack on civilians in Ouagadougou, which has killed and injured dozens of people of many nationalities and faiths.

Copyright notice:  Copyright Amnesty International
Failed EU relocation plan leaves refugees in limbo

Publisher IRIN Author Andrew Connelly Publication Date 18 January 2016 Cite as IRIN, Failed EU relocation plan leaves refugees in limbo, 18 January 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/569ff3072500.html [accessed 20 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.

"Relocation does not work."

With these words on Thursday, EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos finally admitted that the bloc's September agreement to relocate 160,000 asylum seekers from the frontline states of Greece and Italy to other EU states over two years has been a dismal failure. After the Commission revealed recently that only 272 asylum seekers had been relocated in the past four months, few could deny it.

Yet such candour is of little comfort to Maher Dahood, 40, a dental technician from the besieged Syrian city of Deir Ezzor, who is spending his 51st day awaiting relocation in an Athens hotel room. As night falls, he tucks his three-year-old son Mohamed into bed and descends to the hotel's mirrored lobby to sit at a table where groups of other refugees linger in shared limbo. Some are waiting for a country to accept them; others have been accepted but are waiting for onward travel.

Aral Kakl, 29, an Iraqi-Kurdish journalist and former producer for Sky News Arabic, fled Iraq with his wife and brother after threats to his family in retaliation for his journalistic work. All three have been accepted for relocation to Finland, but 19 days later they are still in Athens with no idea when they will be moved.

"I heard 24 of us have been accepted to Finland, and we have to go together. But some of them were accepted 45 days ago. What does that mean? I have to stay here two months, three months?"

Losing family

Although the refugees cannot choose their ultimate country of relocation, they can list their preferred countries, and family ties are supposed to be taken into account. Dahood is determined to be reunited with his brother in Germany after a devastating boat journey from Turkey. He swipes at his phone revealing a ghostly aerial photo of a submerged boat in cobalt blue waters.

"We were twenty-five metres from the island of Samos, but the driver crashed into rocks on the sea bed. My wife and two daughters were trapped in the hull of the boat."

All three drowned. Dahood buried them in the Islamic cemetery on the nearby island of Kos before leaving for the Greek mainland.

"I still haven't told my son exactly what happened. We just quickly need a place for a new life and then I will tell him everything."

Dahood says he and his family initially tried to cross into Greece using the land border but were apprehended by Greek police and pushed back to Turkey. He says a Greek policeman stole his phone, and with it the only photos he had of his wife. Everyone at the table shakes their head and tuts.

"Why don't they open an office in Turkey for this relocation? No smugglers, no boat, no death," says Kakl.

Fewer options

There were hopes that the relocation scheme would result in a more even distribution of asylum seekers across the 28 EU member states and relieve some of the burden not only on Greece and Italy, but also on countries like Germany and Sweden that have taken in the majority of the new arrivals.

But if the relocation programme was a hard sell in September, security concerns following the terror attacks in Paris and the New Year's Eve sexual assaults in Cologne have only hardened Europe's attitude towards refugees.

Austria has suspended its participation in the relocation scheme, hardliners Hungary and Slovakia are challenging the numbers they are supposed to receive in court, and Denmark and the UK opted out from the beginning. Overwhelmed Sweden has reversed its involvement, asking to be a sending rather than a receiving country.

Refugees themselves have been ambivalent about the scheme or simply don't know about it. Only six nationalities are eligible: Syrians, Iraqis, Eritreans, Yemenis, Bahrainis, and Swazis - based on the high percentage of asylum seekers from those countries who receive refugee status in the EU. Afghans, who represented around 20 percent of Europe's refugee arrivals in 2015, are notably absent from the list as their likelihood of getting refugee status is well below the 75-percent threshold required for the programme.

Fear of the unknown

Kakl says those who do qualify for relocation often wait for weeks, only to be told they will be sent to, for example, Cyprus or Bulgaria - countries they know nothing about. Many subsequently opt to leave the hotel and make their own way to a country of their choice.

"In the morning, some people get accepted to a country they don't like; by night they will have gone. Every night the same story."

Daniel Esdras, head of the International Organization for Migration in Greece, says refugees will only be encouraged to go to lesser-known countries once they hear positive reviews from other refugees who are already there.

"What we tell them is not enough. Let's say you are coming from Syria, and I tell you that you are going to Latvia. They say 'What is Latvia? Am I going to be put in prison there?' They have to be convinced, and the only trustworthy source is the refugees already there to say: 'this is nice, we are getting school for the children, we have a house'."

Germany, no matter what

After the Paris attacks, host countries have been insisting on more security checks, which further delays the process and paradoxically often results in refugees quitting the programme and heading for northern Europe unchecked. But trekking up through the snowy Western Balkans is not feasible for everybody.

Mahmoud Khelife - a 53-year-old electrical engineer from Aleppo - and his wife have three teenage children who all have severe learning difficulties. Abdul Malik, 16, Aya, 18, and Mohammed, 19, bounce around the confines of the family's hotel room. After 47 days, they are still waiting to be accepted by a country for relocation.

"My dream is to go to Ireland," says Khelife. "I hear the doctors are good there, and they speak English. But no problem - I just need an answer from any country soon. I'm an old man. It doesn't matter about me. It's all about my children. Where will they go? They need special treatment."

Dahood says he understands countries' security concerns but insists he is set on reaching his brother in Germany, either through the relocation programme or on his own if he has to.

"It was never my plan to go to Europe but we don't have any other choice. In Syria I managed to dodge bombs by the regime and capture by ISIS, only to lose my family metres from Europe. We will get to Germany, even if they close every border."
Ex-Tamil Tigers go jobless in Sri Lanka

Publisher IRIN Publication Date 18 January 2016 Cite as IRIN, Ex-Tamil Tigers go jobless in Sri Lanka, 18 January 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/569ff3778f0c.html [accessed 20 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.

Almost seven years after the end of Sri Lanka's decades-long civil war, the majority of former Tamil Tiger rebels are struggling to find jobs despite billions of dollars of extra investment in their regions.



Sivalingam Ruvendradass, who spent three years in a government "rehabilitation" programme, which is compulsory for former Tamil Tigers and provides them with education and vocational training, now looks back at wartime with some fondness.



"Then at least I was getting something from the Tigers," he told IRIN.



Despite his training in carpentry, steady work was impossible to find when Ruvendradass returned home to Vallipuram, a village near the Tigers' former political and administrative centre of Kilinochchi.



"There are new highways, new railroads, new electricity and phone lines, but no jobs," said the father-of-three, who makes a living by rearing chickens and doing odd jobs.



Billions invested



This wasn't how it was supposed to be.



The previous government under Mahinda Rajapaksa poured $3.5 billion into Northern Province alone, most of it into large infrastructure projects like roads, railways and electricity, according to the Central Bank. The spending was meant to promote reconciliation through economic development in the war-torn region.



"It would show our resolve for co-existence," said former president Rajapaksa in a 2011 speech inaugurating the construction of a new railway line to the north. "What we are attempting now is to breathe new life into the heart of the nation, to start the journey that would unite the entire nation."



Analysts say the government programmes to develop the war zone have largely failed to stimulate the job market. That's because most of the money has gone toward infrastructure projects, while neglecting employment generation initiatives such as tax breaks to encourage factories to move into the area, and moves to boost business development like low interest loans and training.



"I have always maintained that the focus needs to be on promoting private enterprises within the region - supporting small and medium entrepreneurs there (to) grow through finance, technology and market access," said Anushka Wijesinha, chief economist at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.



Central Bank figures show that between 2010 and 2012, when the large construction projects were at a peak in the former war zone, only 5.8 percent (24,303) of the 422,111 jobs created nationally were in Northern Province.



Muttukrishna Sarvananthan, who heads the Point Pedro Institute of Development, a research institute in the northern city of Jaffna, criticised the former government for employing mostly military personnel as labour in public projects. The strategy "deprived jobs for local people, especially youths," he said.



Jobless former fighters



There are around 12,000 former combatants, mostly in the Northern Province, who have been released after undergoing rehabilitation programmes, according to the Commissioner General of Rehabilitation. Only around 3,000 have gained permanent employment, most in the civil defence force under the police department.

Two of the worst hit districts during the conflict, Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi in the Northern Province, have been plagued by high unemployment since the fighting ended in 2009. Kilinochchi suffers from the highest national unemployment rate at 7.6 percent, compared to the national average of 4.3 percent, according to national the Department of Census and Statistics.



Officially, the unemployment rate is 5.3 percent in Northern Province and 4.9 percent in Eastern Province, another former Tamil Tiger heartland that is struggling to recover from the war. True unemployment rates in both provinces are likely far higher.



Even the department itself warns that the numbers are untrustworthy. "These figures are to be treated with caution as the corresponding CV (coefficient of variation) values are high," it said in a labour force survey published last September.



Economists also point out that the department uses a very low threshold to tabulate the employment rate. Anyone working at least one hour during the week in which the survey was conducted is considered to be employed.



"Such a low threshold gives an artificially higher employment rate which is deceptive," Sarvananthan said. "Moreover, unpaid family labour is considered employed, which also overestimates the employed population."



What next?



Experts agree that promoting the development of small and medium-sized businesses is key to creating jobs in the former conflict zone. "The real game changer will be bringing in substantial new private investment into these regions," said Wijesinha of the Chamber of Commerce.



The new government of President Maithripala Sirisena, which took power a year ago, is promising programmes to stimulate employment, although it has yet to launch any.



"We want make the North and East part of a larger national development programme," government spokesman Rajitha Senarathana told IRIN. "We want to attract foreign investment while providing livelihoods training. There are also plans to provide loans and other assistance with donor funding."



Ruvendradass hopes the government will launch programmes to specifically create jobs for those who fought in the war. Former Tamil Tigers like him find it extra hard to gain employment. "We carry a certain stigma," he said.
Can the UN patch things up in Congo?

Publisher IRIN Author Habibou Bangre Publication Date 15 January 2016 Cite as IRIN, Can the UN patch things up in Congo?, 15 January 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/569ff7862f3f.html [accessed 20 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.

A year ago, the Congolese army and MONUSCO, the UN peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of Congo, were supposed to launch joint operations to take on Rwandan Hutu rebels. Everything was planned down to the last detail, before a major difference of opinion stopped the effort in its tracks.



What fouled everything up?



The Congolese government was already highly irritated by MONUSCO's criticism of its poor human rights record and its democratic shortcomings when the head of the mission at the time, Germany's Martin Kobler, demanded that two Congolese generals, Bruno Mandevu and Fall Sikabwe, be replaced before operations began due to suspected human rights violations.



Kinshasa refused to change the commanding officers it had selected for the mission and strongly denounced what it decried as an intrusion into Congolese sovereignty.



The result of this diplomatic tussle: the UN headquarters in New York announced that MONUSCO was pulling its support for the Congolese army, which responded on 28 January by attacking the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) rebels on its own.



According to several military and civilian sources, the FDLR - believed to then number about 1,500 fighters, including some Congolese nationals - largely refused to be drawn into the fight and succeeded in dodging most of the army's offensives.



What threat do the rebels pose today?



While UN experts stressed in October that the FDLR's capacity was intact, Kinshasa announced on 12 January that the army had neutralised "more than 1,000" rebels in 2015, and claims fewer than 400 are still on the run.



Although it is now drawing down, MONUSCO has become one of the largest missions in the world with around 20,000 peacekeepers, a budget of $1.35 billion, and sophisticated equipment like surveillance drones. Since March 2013, it has also had the Force Intervention Brigade at its disposal. This separate 3,000-strong combat force is comprised of South African, Tanzanian, and Malawian soldiers with a unique mandate to go after rebel forces, but operates under MONUSCO's command and control.



Since the bust-up, the Congolese army and MONUSCO have carried out several joint operations, notably in June against the Front for Patriotic Resistance in Ituri (FRPI), and in November against Ugandan rebels from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) in response to an unprecedented wave of attacks that left at least 24 dead, including eight civilians, four soldiers, and one UN peacekeeper.



But there has still been no official joint offensive against the FDLR, whose leaders participated in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda before fleeing to eastern Congo. Concerned about the general stability of the Great Lakes region, infected for the past 20 years by the poisonous presence of these rebels, the international community is urging renewed cooperation and a return of the "strategic dialogue" that MONUSCO and Kinshasa began in March 2015.



This dialogue must define the future objectives of the UN mission, deployed since 1999, in the midst of the Second Congo War (1998-2003). It must also draw up the parameters for its withdrawal. This is expected to be gradual and dependent on the situation in the east, where dozens of armed groups, both local and foreign, are waging myriad conflicts for ethnic reasons, land, or for control of valuable natural resources like minerals and wood.



How active are the rebel groups?



The FDLR is mainly active in the provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu. Over time, it has lost a number of fighters to MONUSCO's Disarmament, Demobilisation, Repatriation, Reintegration and Resettlement (DDRRR) programme, which in 2002 repatriated more than 12,500 ex-FDLR fighters and as many again of their family members.



See: Sapping the strength of DRC militias



The rebels - who deny accusations of murder, rape, child enrolment, and of generally pillaging Congolese civilians - have been weakened by several military offensives, including Umoja Wetu (Our Unity, in Swahili) in 2009, when the Congolese and Rwandan militaries acted in concert. Congolese and UN operations followed: Kimia (Peace, in Swahili) and Amani Leo (Peace Now, in Swahili).

The Congolese army says the hunt for the FDLR, with whom some officers allegedly collude to traffic minerals, was derailed by the creation in North Kivu in May 2012 of the March 23 Movement (M23). According to UN experts, this Congolese Tutsi rebellion was backed by Rwanda and Uganda, although both countries deny this. In November 2013, after the defeat of the M23 by the army and MONUSCO, the Congolese government announced the FDLR as the next target.



Instead they went after the ADF. Since October 2014, the supposedly weakened Ugandan rebel group has been blamed for killing some 500 men, women, and children in Beni Territory in northern North Kivu, where its founders - opponents of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni - have hidden out since 1995.



At the end of 2013, the FDLR earned a reprieve after announcing it would lay down its arms and commit to peace. In exchange, it hoped to obtain the support of the international community to return to Rwanda and open up a dialogue with Kigali, which categorically refuses to offer an amnesty. Ultimately, the surrender plan has been a failure: barely 200 fighters have turned themselves in.



How is the MONUSCO drawdown going?



The UN has taken some measures to try to encourage the Congolese government to reopen dialogue. Maman Sidikou, of Niger, has replaced Kobler, and a South African general, Derrick Mgwebi, has relieved Brazil's Carlos Alberto dos Santos Cruz as MONUSCO's commanding officer. Kinshasa is understood to be happy about the choice of the two Africans, reckoning that there will be fewer "misunderstandings" now.



In another olive branch, in his MONUSCO report to the Security Council dated 24 December, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he planned to retool the mission by giving it rapid response units, greater mobility generally, and boosting its surveillance and intelligence-gathering capabilities.



In this context, he added, a reduction in MONUSCO personnel should not weaken civilian protection: the core of the UN peacekeeping mandate. The plan foresees the withdrawal of 1,700 soldiers in addition to 2,000 whose departure was already decided in March 2015 - against the demands of the Congolese government, which originally pushed for the withdrawal of 7,000 before revising this number downwards.



If the UN Security Council decides - possibly in March, when MONUSCO's mandate is up for renewal - to withdraw the additional 1,700 peacekeepers, this will perhaps be a way to "keep to the blueprint proposed by Kinshasa," a high-ranking Congolese officer told IRIN, on condition of anonymity. He therefore welcomed what he called "a first encouraging step" from the UN, but underlined that "some officials believe the threshold of 7,000 must be achieved by the end of the year".



Too soon to draw down?



Whatever the number, Juvenal Munubo, a lawmaker and member of the Congolese parliament's Defense and Security Commission, is wary. "The reduction in MONUSCO numbers must not have as its sole justification the desire of the Congolese government to boast about its sovereignty," he said. "It must be the result of actual progress in the reform of the Congolese security sector - something that is far from being the case today."



Munubo's point was underlined by a recent massacre. In the night of the 6th and 7th of January, some 15 people of the Nande ethnic minority were killed by men armed with knives in the Miriki area of Lubero, a territory in the northwest of North Kivu Province. The identity of the perpetrators remains unclear but the killings have been widely blamed on the FDLR, despite its denials.



The massacre occurred near MONUSCO and Congolese army positions, prompting angry demonstrations against both. Bullets were fired, apparently by the Congolese army, and one demonstrator was killed.



Shortly after the massacre, an army spokesman announced that reinforcements had been deployed to Miriki to keep people safe and track down the FDLR. His statement implied that the army and MONUSCO were preparing the launch of a joint operation against the Rwandan rebels. A defense department official confirmed this, although the UN would only allude to unofficial collaboration until an official announcement on the resumption of such a partnership by Congolese President Joseph Kabila.
Women in Southeast Afghan Province Shut Out of Public Life

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Author Ahmad Shah Publication Date 18 January 2016 Citation / Document Symbol ARR Issue 533 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Women in Southeast Afghan Province Shut Out of Public Life, 18 January 2016, ARR Issue 533, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/569ff8ebcc.html [accessed 20 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.

Women activists in the southeastern province of Khost complain that they being excluded from communal occasions, accusing local officials of having no interest in anything more than a token female presence at public events.

This lack of representation extended to important consultative meetings, said Kamila Akbari, the head of a women's capacity building organisation in Khost.

She said that when the president visited the province a few months ago, only male representatives were invited to meet him.

"As far as I know, the governor of Khost and the tribal leaders raised issues people face in the province, but there was no woman there to present gender concerns in Khost to the president," she continued, adding sarcastically, "No-one provided any information to the president about the problems faced by women in Khost, so I think that the president might have thought that the people of Khost are very good and behave perfectly towards women and respect all their rights."

Khost activist Zohra Jalal noted the example of a video conference call the president held with the Khost governor and other public figures earlier in 2015 to discuss challenges facing the province.

Women were neither invited to attend the meeting nor were any issues related to gender equality raised in the event, she continued.

This meant that women who voted in the presidential elections last year now felt betrayed.

"The president has forgotten us, and he hasn't asked the former governor what kinds of problems the women of Khost face," Jalal said.

Nadia Bawari, head of the local women's union, added, "Unfortunately, I have to say that there is a great deal of discrimination towards women in Khost."

Social affairs expert Ershad Raghand said that any meeting that did not include women was a waste of time.

"Half of human society is missing in such gatherings as well as in their conclusions. [Women's] needs, problems, and opinions remain unsaid."

Women in the province have long complained that they are shut out of public life. Only a tiny proportion of civil servants are female, despite attempts to introduce positive discrimination into local government hiring practices.

According to official figures, just 240 women work in government offices in Khost province, compared with close to 8,000 men. Six more women work with the Afghan military there.

(See also Women Shut Out of Civil Service Jobs in Southeast Afghan Province ).

Civil society activist Naat Bibi said that this exclusion extended to local celebrations as well as political meetings.

She highlighted the festivities held each year on August 20 to mark Independence Day and the defeat of the British army in a landmark 1880 battle.

These were attended by thousands of men, but women had little involvement and only a handful of female representatives were invited to the official ceremonies, Bibi said. This was particularly galling as it was a female folk hero who played a central in the decisive battle the celebrations commemorate.

"Malalai of Helmand had the major role in independence,' she said, explaining that this young Pashtun woman had carried the Afghan flag and rallied the troops as they fought in the battle of Maiwand, before she was mortally wounded.

"However, the men have forgotten this. They still discriminate against us. But why? are we not from this homeland? Don't we have rights? What does the law say? Not inviting women to these gatherings is a cruel response to the sacrifice made by Malalai."

Mubarez Mohammad Zadran, the spokesman of the Khost governor, said such allegations were without foundation.

"Every week, the head of the provincial department of women's affairs, along with other departmental heads, meet with the governor and share information on the development and problems of the women of Khost," he said.

The two female members of the provincial council also held monthly meetings with the governor, Zadran said, adding that the governor's door was always open if women had problems they wanted to raise with him.

Malalai Wali, head of the department of women's affairs in Khost, also said that she was invited to events.

"If female members of civil society are not invited to the meetings, this is not the responsibility of the department of women's affairs," she continued.

However, the dozens of female activists working in Khost say that the token presence of women official at official meetings was not enough.

"Women are seen as having no value in this society," said provincial council member Waghma Arzo. "People still have this belief that women were created to stay inside the home and men to work outside the house."

"I am upset with the authorities," she continued. "They ensure the support of young men in every gathering, however young womenare neither invited to meetings nor supported by anyone. Isn't this evidence of biased behaviour?"

Women also complain that tribal leaders also exclude women from decision-making processes, even when they are directly relevant to their lives.

Khost resident Rahima noted that several huge tribal gatherings had been held to decide on restricting or eliminating the payment of dowries.

These sums are often so large that young men must delay their marriage for years and some never marry at all.

Not a single female representative was invited to these gatherings, she continued, which meant that the rulings on the dowry were bound to fail.

Mothers insisted on the payment of a hefty pride price, she added, "so they violate those tribal decisions".

Zeba Barakzai, head of the Khost branch of the Afghan Women's Network, said that her organisation's central office was very keen for her to participate in high-profile events and so raise awareness about gender equality issues. The problem is that she was not invited, Barakzai explained.

"Our administration wants a monthly report about meetings held by the women's network, the problems and issues we recorded, and in how many events have we participated. However, no one invites us to the events and so we are unable to report back."

Bostan Walizai, head of the Civil Society and Human Rights Organisation in the province, was also concerned.

"Women's insignificant representation in Khost government offices, men not valuing women and low capacity have led to women being denied even more rights," he said.

Legal expert Najibullah Alokhail said that gender equality was, in theory, enshrined in Afghan law.

He compared female participation in social affairs with a bird in flight.

"Man and woman are like the wings of the bird; if one wing of the bird is missing, it will never be able to fly. Similarly, the development of society without women's participation is impossible."

This report was produced under IWPR's Promoting Human Rights and Good Governance in Afghanistan initiative, funded by the European Union Delegation to Afghanistan.

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Afghanistan's High Peace Council: Five Years On

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 18 January 2016 Citation / Document Symbol ARR Issue 533 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Afghanistan's High Peace Council: Five Years On, 18 January 2016, ARR Issue 533, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/569ff95d11.html [accessed 20 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.

Afghanistan's High Peace Council has come in for some tough criticism in Kunduz, where militants briefly captured the provincial capital last year.

The Council was set up five years ago to handle attempts at reconciliation with the Taleban. Although it has persuaded hundreds of former insurgents to come over to the government's side, speakers at IWPR debates last month emphasised that there was still a long way to go.

Taleban forces seized control of the northeastern provincial capital for a few days in September 2015. Although the militants withdrew from Kunduz city on October 3, their actions were a major propaganda coup and they remain active in the surrounding countryside.

"If the high peace council had been effective in Kunduz, then Kunduz should not have fallen," said Abdul Wase Basil, the spokesman for the governor of Kunduz. He added that the funds dedicated to reconciliation efforts would have been better spent on infrastructure projects.

Debate participant Sanaullah Sayedzada asked Basil what the governor was doing to hold the work of the Council in Kunduz to account.

"The provincial departments submit their reports every week to the governor's office. So if the reports submitted by the high peace council to you over the past five years showed that they were unsuccessful, what actions have you taken as the monitoring entity?" he asked.

Basil said that the provincial governor had consistently criticised the Council's actions, but said that the management of peace efforts was under the jurisdiction of the central government in Kabul.

"Generally speaking, we have not been satisfied with the performance of this council," he said.

Civil society activist Abdul Shukoor Dost said that ordinary villagers and armed thugs had been presented as former Taleban members to the council.

The whole programme needed to be rethought, he added.

"In my view, the policy designed and developed for bringing peace in Afghanistan is not a well- thought strategy that matches the problems on the ground," Dost continued. "It has had no success, not only in Kunduz, but in all of the provinces of Afghanistan."

Young men joined the insurgency partly due to unemployment, Dost said. In addition, the role of Pakistan in fuelling the conflict could not be ignored, he continued.

"Peace will not be ensured in Afghanistan, unless and until our government convince Pakistan [to take action]," Dost concluded.

Kunduz provincial council member Gulam Rabani Rabani agreed, adding, "In order to bring peace to Afghanistan we have to reach an understanding with Pakistan and other world powers."

He went on to claim that the Council's achievements had been negligible.

"We have officially investigated this matter," he said. "Throughout this period, no one from the armed opposition nor a member of Taleban has joined the peace process."

Rabani gave the example of one militia group that he alleged were still operational even though they had formally surrendered to the National Directorate of Security.

At another debate about the reconciliation process, in Badakhshan, a High Peace Council representative said that their work had had a real impact.

Amrullah Habibi, head of the Council's provincial public awareness committee, said that their data showed large numbers of insurgents had laid down their arms.

"If we look at the figures, there is no doubt that 20,000 trained and armed fighters joining the peace process is a huge achievement."

Zofnoon Natiq, head of the department of women's affairs in Badakhshan, agreed that the Council's achievements should be recognised.

"Over the past five years, the high peace council has organised public awareness events for women in the provincial capital and in the districts of Badakhshan, which benefit the women financially and they are involved in planning and deciding such events."

But Badakhshan provincial council member Ahmad Jawed Mujaddidi accused the Council of being dominated by factional politics.

"I think that most of the members of the peace committee have connections to a single political party," he continued, adding that the Council's three representatives from Badakhshan "have not participated and have had no achievements".

University student Shafiq also said the Council's performance had been lacklustre.

"This council can claim no successes," he said. "Just that 700 million US dollars was spent with nothing effective done to peace closer."

In Bagdhis, the provincial head of the Council's secretariat pointed to specific programmes implemented in the local community.

Mohammad Akbar Hotak said that the Council had rolled out more than ten projects to bring individual fighters into the peace process.

An ongoing lack of security and tribal tensions were the main challenges they faced, he added.

"[For example] people in Muqur district who joined this process are currently living in Qala-e nau, the provincial capital, due to security problems," Hotak explained.

Mohammad Afzal Afzali, head of Muqur's development council, said that the Council needed to focus on building public trust.

"People have collaborated with the High Peace Council and their projects have been effective, to some extent," he continued. "It's the duty of everyone to work to bring peace to the region."

His colleague Abo Bakr Azimi, the executive officer of Muqur district, was less complimentary. He said that Council officials had failed to cooperate with the district administration. A close level of collaboration with local officials was essential for programmes to have an impact, he added.

Civil society activist Sher Aqa Ehsas said that Council had just wasted public money. The real solution to the conflict lay elsewhere, he said, adding, "The government should really be negotiating with Pakistan, which controls the leadership of the Taleban."

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace Reporting
Afghan Rivers Need Better Management

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 12 January 2016 Citation / Document Symbol ARR Issue 533 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Afghan Rivers Need Better Management, 12 January 2016, ARR Issue 533, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/569ff9d732e6.html [accessed 20 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.

A national strategy to manage Afghanistan's abundant water reserves is urgently needed, according to debates organised by IWPR in three Afghan provinces.

The events in Nangarhar, Paktia, and Kunar provinces heard that, although home to five river systems that also feed large parts of Iran, Pakistan and Central Asia, Afghanistan lacks adequate water-sharing agreements.

Decades of war have also destroyed important infrastructure that needed to irrigate vital agricultural land, leaving large parts of the country vulnerable to drought.

Nangargar was one a centre of agriculture. In the 1960s, the now-dilapidated 70-kilometre Nangarhar Canal was built to be a huge income generator for eastern Afghanistan, providing irrigation for local fruit and olive producers.

Sadiq Sapai, head of the rivers department in Nangarhar province, said work was ongoing to try and rehabilitate the province's resources.

"Our ministry, with the help of the World Bank and Japan, has built 150 main dams for managing waters in Nangarhar province alone," he said.

Nangarhar university professor Basheer Dodyal said that nonetheless, national action was needed to safeguard a resource that could potentially help develop the country's economy.

"Billions of cubic metres of water are currently flowing to the neighbouring countries for no return; if this was properly managed, just think how rich the country would have become," he said.

Akbar Sher, an economic advisor to Nangarhar's governor, agreed that Kabul had yet to make full use of this precious natural resource.

He suggested the creation of a water management research centre to assess how best to manage water supply.

"The ministry of higher education and private universities have not invested enough in the area of geology," Sher continued. "Unless they help develop this field, we will not have the internal capacity to manage our waters."

Sher also said that the government needed to address issues surrounding the waters of the Kunar River, shared with neighbouring Pakistan.

In Paktia, speakers also highlighted the poor state of local infrastructure.

Hedayatullah Salari, a lecturer in agriculture at Paktia University, said, "We don't have the necessary equipment to make use of the water; our channels, pools, and dams are in ruins which all lead to wasted water."

Salari compared the situation to that across the border in Iran, where he had received his education.

"A lot of wheat in Iran is grown in the state of Sistan, which is wholly watered by the Helmand River. In Mashad province, the Harirod River feeds agriculture. The government of Afghanistan has not fulfilled its responsibilities."

Noor Mohammad Ahmadzai, an economics professor in Paktia University, also said that Afghanistan should look to best practice abroad.

"There are international water treaties in other countries; Afghanistan also should make use of these treaties," he said.

Provincial council member Taj Mohammad Mangal said that the relevant ministries had failed to tackle this issue ever since the fall of the Taleban in 2001.

"There has been a need for a proper plan for the better use and regulation of water, but this has not been met over the last 14 years," he said.

In Kunar, participants differed on whether the government could have taken effective control of water resources with the help of the international community.

Shafiullah Sultanzai, a lecturer in Kunar's Institute of Administration and Accounting, said that Afghanistan's natural resources should have made it a rich country by now.

It was government mismanagement that was holding back progress, he said.

"Afghanistan has received billions of US dollars in aid," Sultanzai continued. "If these funds had been spent on long-term projects, then possibly Afghanistan would have become better developed. But the funds were spent on short term projects."

Abdulghani Mosammim, the spokesman of the governor of Kunar, said that the problem was just too massive for Kabul to tackle.

"According to surveys by the ministry of energy and water, it would take 30 billion US dollars and 30 years of work to control water supply in Afghanistan," he said. "At the current time, this kind of expense is outside of the ability of the government."

This report is based on an ongoing series of debates conducted as part of the IWPR programme Afghan Reconciliation: Promoting Peace and Building Trust by Engaging Civil Society.

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace Reporting
More Doctors Needed in Afghan Districts

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Author ARR Issue 533 Publication Date 12 January 2016 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, More Doctors Needed in Afghan Districts, 12 January 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/569ffa22870e.html [accessed 20 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.

Central government needs to increase health provision in more outlying districts of the country, according to speakers at recent debates organised by IWPR.

Events in Logar, Khost, Uruzgan and Paktika provinces heard that medical care tended to be concentrated in cities, leaving many people in isolated parts of the country struggling to access help.

Logar activist Anahita Alamyar said that women were particularly badly affected by this unequal distribution of facilities.

"In remote areas of Logar province, women have problems during pregnancy and in childbirth for which they need expert medical care," she said.

"The population of Logar province is high, but the number of healthcare centres are low," added Abdul Rahman Tawakuli, head of the regional council in the eastern province. "And what health clinics we currently have don't have sufficient medicine."

Ashiqullah Majidi, head of Logar's central hospital, said that there were 50 health centres spread across the province, but agreed that these were not enough to meet public health needs.

In Khost province, the provincial public health department also said that while maternal mortality had fallen, women and children remained extremely vulnerable.

"Every year 250 to 300 mothers and children die in Khost province," said Hedayatullah Hameedi, the acting head of the department of public health. "We are trying to control the situation."

Hameedi said that the poor provision in more remote areas of the eastern province posed a real danger to women and their children.

Khost provincial council member Nurshah Nurani called on the ministry of public health to increase the budget for healthcare in the province and provide more medical professionals to work in its clinics.

The event in Uruzgan also heard that services were not distributed around the province.

"We need more basic healthcare facilities now," said Faridullah Farhan, a lecturer at the Uruzgan Institute of Higher Education, a branch of Kandahar University. "The services offered in most of the remote areas of this province are minimal, which has led to many public health issues."

Civil society activist Ataullah Afghan warned of a lack of professionalism among medical staff.

"In this province, medical doctors do not stick to their own speciality and many times [for instance] a gastroenterologist will work as an orthopaedic doctor. This causes many problems for people," he said.

A local journalist, Hameedullah Watani, said he had heard many reports of medical negligence.

"Many times patients lose their lives because of doctors' carelessness," he said.

Debate participant Abdul Wali raised the problem of doctors writing prescriptions for medicines available at only one pharmacy, a practice he complained encouraged corruption.

Uruzgan's deputy head of public health, Mohammad Eissa, said in response that such actions should be reported immediately.

"If any doctor writes such a prescription for a patient, you can bring it to the department of public health and we will take action," he said.

Eissa also defended healthcare provision in outlying parts of the province.

"Currently, besides the provincial capital, people in the districts and more remote areas have access to medical centres," he continued. "Almost everyone can visit a medical centre when they need to."

In southeastern Paktika, provincial health council head Sayedullah agreed that there was a local health crisis. He noted that there was only one female doctor covering the entire province.

"Paktika is a large province. However, in most places, the healthcare services offered are almost non-existent," he said.

Sayedullah added that the province had been long neglected when it came to infrastructure development and there was a desperate need for doctors.

Tribal council head Abdul Manan accused local parliamentarians of failing to bring the attention of central government to the health crisis in Paktika.

Asadullah Rasooli, deputy head of the provincial public health department, agreed that the public needed better health services. It was hard to attract professionals to come and work in the remote province, he explained.

"Together with donor organisations we have advertised many jobs here, but no one is willing to come to Paktika province to work and if they do, they want more benefits."

His department was doing the best they could with limited resources, Rasuli continued.

"It's true that we only have one female doctor in Paktika province, but there are trained midwives in every clinic who help women during childbirth," he said.

Civil society activist Ghulam Rahman disputed this, adding that he had heard of many cases in which mothers and their infants died while travelling along dirt roads to try and get medical help.

"We have a 60-bed hospital in the provincial capital Sharana which has insufficient staff and is only semi-functional, so just think what the healthcare services in remote districts are like," he concluded.

This report is based on an ongoing series of debates conducted as part of IWPR'sAfghan Youth and Elections programme.

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace Reporting
Dust, Blood and Death in a Syrian Playground

Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 22 December 2015 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Dust, Blood and Death in a Syrian Playground, 22 December 2015, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/569ffdd1207f.html [accessed 20 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.

I felt the tremor before I heard the blast. A government plane had just fired a missile at my street. By the time the sound of the explosion reached my ears, I had been momentarily blinded by dust, smoke, and ashes.

Moments earlier, I had been looking out of the window, watching my ten year-old son Dia playing with my neighbour's children. War had not yet robbed them of their innocence and naivete.

My late brother's wife, who had moved in with us after he was martyred, distracted my attention from the children with her chatter.

She was telling me how she wanted to leave Ghouta but her son Mohammad was refusing to leave. She asked me to talk to him and try to change his mind, but I knew that would be futile. Ever since her son-in-law was arrested in Damascus, Mohammad lived in fear of the same thing happening to him.

A little after midday on December 27, 2014, the sound of the explosion and shattering glass drowned out my sister-in-law's voice.

I ran to the window and looked out, but I could not see Dia, his friends, or my nephew Mohammad, who, I had just sent out to the local store to buy groceries. All I could see was dust.

I called out Dia's name. My sister-in-law called her son Mohammad. My bedridden husband shouted out their names, too, but there was no reply. All I could hear was screaming.

I put my headscarf on as I ran outside, and found my neighbour Safaa there calling out the names of her children. Some men from the neighbourhood were already searching through the rubble. We frantically joined them. All I could smell was blood.

All of a sudden I heard the voices of Dia and Mohammad. The explosion had thrown them backwards into a shop, saving them from certain death. But the other children they had been playing with had not been spared.

Safaa's daughter Maryam and two of her sons lay dead in the rubble, their young bodies torn apart by shrapnel. When Safaa's eyes took in the horrific scene, she fell into a faint.

I stood there staring at this catastrophe in horror. Around me, paramedics and neighbourhood volunteers joined efforts to save the injured and remove the dead.

An ambulance took Dia, Mohammad and his mother to a medical centre. I went back home to tell my disabled husband what had happened, then rushed after them.

At the medical centre, life seemed to be in a state of suspension. All around me, there were people in hysterics, crying and screaming. Even the doctors were upset. One of them was so angry that he started shouting at people. It had been a major attack.

I approached a young nurse and asked her about my son and nephew. She told me Dia had suffered bruising and needed an X-ray, but first they would have to attend to those with severe injuries. Mohammad had sustained a bad leg injury and was undergoing an operation at that moment.

I walked around the centre looking for my neighbour Safaa, but she wasn't there. I asked a security guard about martyrs, and he told me five children had been killed - three of them Safaa's children.

No longer strong enough to suppress my emotions, I broke down in tears and left the medical centre to go to Safaa's side and offer her some support.

When I walked into her house, I felt as if my heart was being wrenched out of my chest at what I saw.

Safaa was sitting next to three bags. They had been knotted at the bottom but were open at the top, revealing the faces of her martyred children.

I could not begin to imagine what she was going through. She had single-handedly raised them after their father died, only to have them cruelly taken from her two years later.

The bereaved mother, barely 30 years old, sat helpless and confused in front of the three torn bodies.

I felt immense anger at the injustice of what had happened, but I sat down next to Safaa and tried to console her for the loss of her three children.

The other two children who had been martyred turned out to be my friend's son Amjad, and a friend of Dia's. My son had been playing with them, but God had protected and saved him.

I left Safaa's house and went back home to check on my husband, then gathered some clothes for my son and nephew and headed back towards the medical centre.

My house had been damaged by the explosion, but I barely noticed. All I could think about was the women who had lost their children that day.

As I walked towards the medical centre, I wept for them. One second their children had been laughing and playing, the next they had become lifeless corpses.

Qamar al-Said is the pseudonym of a woman from Douma who had begun writing for IWPR's Damascus Bureau before her death on November 19. She and a cousin were killed when a rocket landed near the farmhouse she was living in. Qamar was in her forties, married with three daughters and three sons, one of whom was killed while working as a photographer with the Free Syrian Army.

We are publishing articles written by her as a tribute to her memory. Qamar is a pseudonym which we are continuing to use in the interests of her family's security.

This story was produced by the Damascus Bureau, IWPR's news platform for Syrian journalists.

Copyright notice:  Institute for War & Peace Reporting
ELKO  A former Elko police captain and teacher of law enforcement spoke to the Free Press about why he is running and what he hopes to bring to the newly created Department B of the Elko Justice Court.

This was originally my long-term career plan, said Will Lehmann.

He was employed at the Elko Police Department  giving almost 23 years of service and retiring as a captain.

Lehmann then planned to run for sheriff, which he did twice, and then run for the Justice of the Peace seat.

He explained besides having many years of law enforcement experience that includes teaching criminal justice students at Great Basin College and, through law enforcement agencies, he gave officers a deeper background in the criminal justice system.

Additionally, he also has knowledge of how the justice court works and operates.

Describing himself as fairly intelligent and unbiased, he explained his demeanor as an officer. While everyone has a particular inclination toward certain biases, when it comes to people, he treats that individual with respect. Lehmann used the example of inviting people he arrested to church.

What the Court Needs

I think our money could be better spent, he said, explaining he would like to implement more efficiency in the Elko Justice Court.

Lehmann said he researched other courts in the state, looking at how they conduct preliminary hearings.

This type of hearing, he said, is to establish the likelihood of whether or not the individual committed the crime he or she is accused of.

Most courts have a 15-minute time limit. Here they have a mini trial, said Lehmann, who called this a waste of time and money.

During his time as an officer, he once sat for eight hours and was not called to the stand. He said he read an entire book and estimated, due to overtime, to have been paid $400 of the Citys money.

This is the most important thing in a persons life at that time, he said, explaining a person is entitled to a fair trial and the necessary time should be taken to determine the guilt or innocence of a defendant, but he thinks things can be done with greater efficiency and still produce quality judgement.

Lehmann has previously spent close to $25,000 on his campaigns. He will not spend that kind of money this time around. He said his money goes to more important things such as his grandchildren.

I dare say, about 80 percent of the county knows who I am, said Lehmann, discussing his almost 40 years as an Elko resident and how he will not have a lot of campaign signs.

Candidates and History

Elko County Clerk Carol Fosmo confirmed Tuesday that six candidates filed. The others are Andrew Andy Mierins, Dennis Parker, David Loreman, Elias Goicoechea and Anthony Wade Leiker.

Judge Mason Simons notified the county on Oct. 2 that the creation of a second, full-time justice of the peace position was warranted because of caseload, county population, voter accountability, the number of search warrant applications and more.

At their Jan. 6 meeting, County commissioners stated they didnt have a choice in establishing the new position and they have concerns about funding it.

By Wednesdays commission meeting, with a July deadline looming ahead, the County voted to ask for an opinion from the attorney generals office to aid them in setting a salary.

The winner of this election will hold the justice of the peace position for a six-year term.

The position will become effective January 2017.
New militia violence drives more South Sudanese to Uganda

Publisher UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Publication Date 20 January 2016 Cite as UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), New militia violence drives more South Sudanese to Uganda, 20 January 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56a0759b4.html [accessed 20 October 2022]

When I stormed out of my house on August 3, 2014, I was angry with my husband. We had argued about the meal I had cooked and I was so upset with him that I was in tears.

Our financial position had deteriorated since the revolution began in Syria. The siege of the Eastern Ghouta region by government forces had made matters even worse.

We used to own a factory, a car and considerable savings for our retirement, but all that was gone. We had sold every valuable item we owned to survive, even the factory machinery.

As our money disappeared and the cost of living grew higher, other troubles also increased.

Life was treating us harshly. We were all still suffering the fresh pain inflicted on us by the martyrdom of our son Khalil. The very foundations of our home seemed to be crumbling into pieces.

As I wandered aimlessly through the streets that day, the tears streaming down my face, I felt helpless. I didn't know what to do or where to go. I thought of my elder brother - he would have looked after me; he always had. But he too was martyred a year ago.

I came out of my reverie at the sound of a loud explosion. Government forces had launched another air strike on our town, Douma.

"I wish I had been killed by it and relieved of my misery," I thought.

I looked around, trying to figure out where the sound originated from, and realised it had come from my neighbourhood.

I ran back home, all thoughts of sorrow replaced by fears for my family. Another air strike hit the area, and the sound of ambulance sirens filled the streets.

When I finally reached my street, I was horrified by what I saw. Everywhere I looked, I saw destruction. I couldn't believe this was the same street I had walked out of a short time earlier.

Smoke billowed out of the building where a coat shop had stood.

"Dear God, please let its kind young owner Mohammad be safe," I mumbled in prayer. "Please God, let my family be safe, too."

I ran to my own building and rushed up the stairs, colliding with my daughter who was running down. She was so traumatised that I found it difficult to understand what she was saying.

"We were all inside the house when the first raid happened," she said as she wept. "We heard men calling out for medical assistance, and Father ran down to help them. Then the second raid struck, and I don't know what happened to him."

I asked her about the rest of our family. She assured me they were safe, so I ordered her to go back upstairs, and ran out to search for my husband.

There was no sign of him on the streets, so I made my way towards the local medical centre. A large crowd had gathered at the entrance, but the guards were not allowing anyone in. They didn't want to obstruct the work of the paramedics.

They had a list with the names of those wounded persons who had been identified. I frantically searched for the name of my husband, but it wasn't there.

My neighbour Abu Subhi was there, too, so I asked him whether he knew where my husband was. He told me he had been transported to a different medical centre and offered to drive me there.

When we arrived, Abu Subhi asked me to wait in reception, and went looking for my husband. He came back soon after with grim news. My husband had been seriously injured and was undergoing surgery.

I almost fainted, and sank down in a chair, weeping. The pain I felt was unbearable.

As I sat there, I thought about what would happen to me if my husband died. How would I cope with another loss? How would I endure another tragedy?

I thought of the happy memories I had shared with my husband, the joy, the love, and the laughter.

I blamed myself for arguing with him earlier and leaving our home when both of us were still angry with one another. I had a vision of my martyred son smiling and greeting his father, taking him into his arms.

I thought of my remaining children, and realised they would be anxiously waiting for news of their father, so I found Abu Subhi and asked him to call them and explain what had happened.

Four hours later, a nurse came and told me my husband's operation was over, and he was now in a ward where I could see him. She warned me that his injuries were the most severe they had dealt with that day.

I went to the ward and found him lying there, tubes protruding out of his body.

The doctor told me he had lost one eye and both of his legs from the knee down, and had a broken shoulder.

He told me that in addition to medical care, my husband would need psychological support to deal with the trauma he would suffer once he awoke from the anesthetic.

I sat down at my husband's bedside and started crying. All I wanted was for him to wake up so I could apologise, tell him how much I loved him, and promise to stand by him.

I had been taught a cruel lesson that there was no longer space for anger in our lives. The risk of losing a loved one while not on speaking terms was simply too high.

Qamar al-Said is the pseudonym of a woman from Douma who had begun writing for IWPR's Damascus Bureau before her death on November 19. She and a cousin were killed when a rocket landed near the farmhouse she was living in. Qamar was in her forties, married with three daughters and three sons, one of whom was killed while working as a photographer with the Free Syrian Army.

We are publishing articles written by her as a tribute to her memory. Qamar is a pseudonym which we are continuing to use in the interests of her family's security.

This story was produced by the Damascus Bureau, IWPR's news platform for Syrian journalists.
Harsh winter poses additional hazards to child refugees and migrants arriving in Europe  UN

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 19 January 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Harsh winter poses additional hazards to child refugees and migrants arriving in Europe  UN, 19 January 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56a0996640b.html [accessed 20 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.

19 January 2016 - With children now accounting for more than one in three of the tens of thousands of refugees and migrants flooding into Europe, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) today voiced concern at the impact recent sub-zero temperatures and snowy conditions were having on them.

The children arriving into a harsh winter in south-eastern Europe are physically exhausted, scared, distressed and often in need of medical assistance, UNICEF spokesman Christophe Boulierac told the regular bi-weekly news briefing in Geneva.

The conditions are exacerbating the poor physical condition of the children, as many lack access to adequate clothing and age-appropriate nutrition, a situation worsened by lack of shelter and inadequate heating in some reception centres, as well as on buses and trains, he said.

The proportion of children amongst refugees and migrants has continued to increase over the past three months. According to national sources, in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the ratio in December was 37 per cent, compared to 23 per cent in September. In Serbia, the figures were 36 per cent in December compared to 27 per cent in September.

In December most children transiting through UNICEF spaces in Serbia were babies, infants and those between five and nine years old. In 2015, more than one million refugees and migrants crossed the Mediterranean, arriving on Europe's shores, of which an estimated 253,700 were children, one in four people.

In a press release, UNICEF's Special Coordinator for the Refugee and Migrant Crisis in Europe, Marie-Pierre Poirier said that children are particularly susceptible to respiratory infections, digestive problems and diarrhoea. Non-controlled use of baby formula may also seriously affect babies' health.

UNICEF warned that there remains insufficient cross-border information-sharing and follow-up on the most vulnerable children, mainly d to the speed of the population movement.

Ms. Poirier said UNICEF was engaging with its partners and counterparts to develop contingency plans for population movement slow-downs and an increasing number of people being stranded along the route.

In the past three months, UNICEF and its partners have provided 81,000 children with services in UNICEF-supported winterized child-friendly spaces in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Croatia. In addition, nearly 18,000 babies and infants had received specialized services through UNICEF mother-and-baby care spaces.
Azerbaijan: UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention condemns prisoners of consciences' jailings

Publisher Forum 18 Author Felix Corley Publication Date 20 January 2016 Cite as Forum 18, Azerbaijan: UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention condemns prisoners of consciences' jailings, 20 January 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/56a09b314.html [accessed 20 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 UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has found that two female Jehovah's Witness prisoners of conscience in Azerbaijan, Irina Zakharchenko and Valida Jabrayilova, are being punished for exercising freedom of religion or belief and called for them to be freed and compensated, Forum 18 News Service has learned. The Working Group also condemned the use of conscientious objection to military service as an excuse to detain the two women. A Judge has prevented the Working Group's opinion being attached to the case file, but lawyers are calling for the court to act on the Working Group's opinion. The secret police cell where one was held for 10 months has been described by her as a "cage" with no privacy, where the smell of sewage was "suffocating". Jehovah's Witnesses are concerned for the women's health as their detention "has damaged their health", stating that "the pointless delay in proceedings amount to further mistreatment." The trial is due to resume at 12 noon on 28 January.

Judge Akram Qahramanov, who is leading the criminal trial of two female Jehovah's Witness prisoners of conscience in Azerbaijan's capital Baku, has postponed the case yet again, Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18 News Service. The hearing - over whether the two should be released to house arrest because of their poor health - was postponed because one was too ill to attend. The trial is due to resume at 12 noon on 28 January.

Irina Zakharchenko, a 55-year-old disabled widow who is in poor health, and 38-year-old Valida Jabrayilova were arrested by the then-National Security Ministry (NSM) secret police in February 2015. They face a fine or imprisonment of between two and five years if convicted of offering religious literature to others without state permission (see F18News 18 December 2015 http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2135). (The NSM is now the State Security Service SSS.)

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found in December 2015 that the two women are being punished for exercising their right to freedom of religion or belief and called for the two to be both freed and compensated.

"The delay further harms the women, as the postponement denied their lawyers the opportunity to argue motions for their release," Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18 on 19 January 2016. "Since it is the 11-month detention that has damaged their health, the unnecessary requirement of Irina Zakharchenko's presence in court and the pointless delay in proceedings amount to further mistreatment."

Forum 18 was unable to seek comment from officials on the trial of prisoners of conscience Zakharchenko and Jabrayilova on 20 January, as it is a public holiday commemorating the indiscriminate killing in Baku of at least 200 people by Soviet forces in 1990.

Torture hearing also postponed

The postponement of the trial of the two women came the same day that a Judge in another Baku court postponed yet again the complaint of 31-year-old Shia Muslim theologian and prisoner of conscience Taleh Bagirov (also known as Bagirzade). He was arrested along with at least 13 others during an armed raid by the authorities on Muslims praying in the village of Nardaran on 26 November 2015, during which at least seven people were killed (see F18News 1 December 2015 http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2127).

Prisoner of conscience Bagirov is complaining about torture in prison - including a broken nose - as well as denial of access to his lawyer and contact with relatives. The hearing has been rescheduled for 22 January (see forthcoming F18News article).

Bagirov was last previously tortured by the authorities a week before consideration of Azerbaijan's record under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) by the UN Committee Against Torture (see F18News 12 November 2015 http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2120). The Committee made 22 critical recommendations in its Concluding Observations, five of which were described as "a matter of urgency", including that Azerbaijan should "apply a zero-tolerance approach to the continuing problem of torture, and to the practice of impunity" (see CAT/C/AZE/CO/4 http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CAT%2fC%2fAZE%2fCO%2f4&Lang=en).

Under the Convention against Torture, Azerbaijan is obliged to arrest any person suspected on good grounds of having committed torture and try them under criminal law which makes "these offences punishable by appropriate penalties which take into account their grave nature" (see Forum 18's Azerbaijan religious freedom survey http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2081).

A wide-ranging state crackdown continues on people exercising human rights Azerbaijan's government has solemn international obligations to protect, including the arrest and jailing as prisoners of conscience of many lawyers, journalists, human rights defenders and public figures the government dislikes (see http://www.nhc.no/en/countries/europe/azerbaijan/).

The many prisoners of conscience include Muslims and Jehovah's Witnesses exercising their freedom of religion or belief (see eg. F18News 16 December 2015 http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2134), and a conscientious objector to military service (see eg. F18News 19 November 2015 http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2123). The UN Working Group also condemned Azerbaijan's failure to provide a civilian alternative service for conscientious objectors to military service (see below.)

UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention condemns jailings

Following the two women's arrests, Jehovah's Witnesses brought the case of prisoners of conscience Zakharchenko and Jabrayilova to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. As well as detailing in their complaint the lack of legal basis and due process in the arrest and detention of the two prisoners of conscience, Jehovah's Witnesses also commented on government suggestions that it had to give permission for people to exercise their freedom of religion or belief.

They noted that former UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief Asma Jahangir had in her 2010 annual report reiterated that "governments should widely inform the population, including appropriate law enforcement agencies, about the principle that registration does not constitute a precondition for practicing ones religion or belief" (A/65/207).

In an opinion, adopted on 2 December 2015 (A/HRC/WGAD/2015) and transmitted that same month to Azerbaijan's government, which Forum 18 has seen, the Working Group condemned the arrest and continued detention of the two prisoners of conscience. It found that Azerbaijan has broken three articles of both the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

"Ms. Zakharchenko and Ms. Jabrayilova have been deprived liberty for peacefully exercising the rights to freedom of religion and belief, as guaranteed under article 18 ["Freedom of thought, conscience and religion"] of the UDHR and article 18 ["Freedom of thought, conscience and religion"] of the ICCPR."

The Working Group also found that the two prisoners of conscience "have been deprived liberty for the reason of discrimination based on their religion in violation of article 7 ["Right to equality and non-discrimination"] of the UDHR and article 26 ["Right to equality and non-discrimination"] of the ICCPR."

It also considered that the "non observance of the international norms established in article 9 ["Freedom from arbitrary arrest, detention or exile"] of the UDHR and article 9 ["Liberty and security of person"] of the ICCPR is of such gravity as to give the deprivation of liberty of Ms. Zakharchenko and Ms. Jabrayilova arbitrary character."

In conclusion, the Working Group called on Azerbaijan to release both prisoners of conscience, "and accord them an enforceable right to compensation in accordance with article 9(5) of the ICCPR".

ICCPR Article 9(5) states that "Anyone who has been the victim of unlawful arrest or detention shall have an enforceable right to compensation". Azerbaijan ratified the ICCPR in 1992.

Postponed again

On 14 January, Judge Qahramanov of Baku's Pirallahi District Court again postponed the trial of prisoners of conscience Zakharchenko and Jabrayilova. He claimed that he could not hold the hearing without Zakharchenko, whose poor health did not allow her to appear in court.

Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18 that they see no reason why a hearing to decide on prisoner of conscience Jabrayilova's request to be transferred from prison needs to be delayed. She has her own lawyers and is available to attend court.

Prisoner of conscience Zakharchenko's lawyer Konul Talibova intends to ask the Court to comply with the UN Working Group's call for her to be released from prison and compensated. "The postponement of the hearing to deal with a motion for release on the ground that she has health problems and hence cannot be physically present in person is somewhat disingenuous in these circumstances," Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18.

The defence team for both prisoners of conscience have already asked the Court to free both women in line with the Working Group's opinion, but have been denied the opportunity to do this in person (see below).

Long-running trial

Prisoners of conscience Zakharchenko and Jabrayilova have been in pre-trial detention since their arrest in February 2015 and are being tried under Criminal Code Article 167-2.2.1. Article 167-2 bans: "Production, sale and distribution of religious literature, religious items and other informational materials of religious nature with the aim of import, sale and distribution without appropriate authorisation", and Article 167-2.2.1 applies this "crime" to an "organised group" with a punishment of a fine or imprisonment for two to five years. Both prisoners of conscience deny any guilt in exercising their right to freedom of religion or belief.

The criminal trial began with a preliminary hearing on 10 December 2015. The next hearing - on 17 December - was open and was attended by a number of local Jehovah's Witnesses and immediate relatives of both women (see F18News 18 December 2015 http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2135). The prisoners of conscience were represented by their own lawyers, plus a state-appointed defence lawyer for Zakharchenko.

Prisoner of conscience Zakharchenko's state-appointed lawyer asked for a copy of the religious publication she is accused of distributing, a booklet called "Teach Your Children". The judge refused to satisfy this application, arguing that the problem was not in the publication, but in distributing it without proper permission.

Prisoner of conscience Jabrayilova's own lawyer, Yashar Musayev, applied for her to be able to sit beside him rather than in the courtroom's metal cage. Judge Qahramanov refused this, claiming it would violate security rules.

"Exhausted and manifestly under considerable emotional stress"

Prisoner of conscience Zakharchenko's own lawyer Talibova applied for the prisoner of conscience to be transferred to house arrest, referring to the UN Working Group's 2 December opinion. Judge Qahramanov refused to attach the lawyer's letter to the case file, claiming this was because it was a copy rather than the original.

But Talibova did succeed in getting prisoner of conscience Zakharchenko transferred on 2 January 2016 to a prison hospital, Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18. They are pleased Zakharchenko is receiving some medical treatment in the prison hospital, but expressed continued concern over Jabrayilova as she is "exhausted and manifestly under considerable emotional stress".

The next trial hearing was held on 7 January, but lasted for only about 10 minutes. The trial was then adjourned to the morning of 14 January.

The alleged reason for the 7 January adjournment was that Zakharchenko was not present and Judge Qahramanov did not want to proceed without her. The adjournment meant that the prisoners of consciences' lawyers were unable to file for the women to be freed and compensated, based on the UN Working Group's opinion. So the defence team had to lodge the application to Pirallahi District Court by post.

Smell of sewage in cage cell "suffocating"

Prisoner of conscience Jabrayilova described conditions in the then-NSM secret police Investigation Prison as bad. The two women were held there from February until 4 December 2015 (see F18News 4 December 2015 http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2135). "She called her confinement room a 'cage', rather than a cell, in that there was no privacy and everything was exposed to the sight of others," Jehovah's Witnesses note. "The smell of sewage in this 'cage' was suffocating."

Conditions in the then-NSM (now SSS) Investigation Prison are known to be harsh and Azerbaijan has refused to allow publication of a UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) report on a visit in late April 2015 (see Forum 18's Azerbaijan religious freedom survey http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2081).

Officials constantly demanded money. Prisoners who shared the cell stated that they had been asked to pay bribes of 30,000 Manats (about 166,430 Norwegian Kroner, 17,230 Euros, or 18,800 US Dollars) to get out.

Jabrayilova noted that conditions at the Justice Ministry's Kurdakhani Investigation Prison, to which they were transferred in early December 2015, were much better than at the secret police Investigation Prison. The Justice Ministry Investigation Prison is in Kurdakhani, in Sabunchu District in north-eastern Baku. Its address is:

AZ-1104, Baki shahari

Sabunchu rayonu

Zabrat-2 qasabasi

Baki Istintaq tacridxanasi

Azerbaijan

Conscientious objection excuse condemned

The Working Group's December 2015 opinion also condemned Azerbaijan's use of conscientious objection to military service as an excuse to detain the two prisoners of conscience, as well as the absence of any alternative civilian service provision.

"The Government's argument that because the State 'has not adopted legislation on alternative service, legal action has been taken against some followers of this community refusing to serve in the army' is irrelevant to the deprivation of liberty of Ms. Zakharchenko and Ms. Jabrayilova," the Working Group notes.

"In this regard, the Working Group also notes that more than six years ago, the Human Rights Committee expressed concern that no legal provision in Azerbaijan regulates the status of conscientious objectors to military service. Accordingly, in 2009, the Committee recommended Azerbaijan to adopt 'at an early date' a 'law exempting conscientious objectors from compulsory military service and providing for alternative civilian service' [see CCPR/C/AZE/CO/3 http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CCPR/C/AZE/CO/3&Lang=En]."

Also in 2009, the Human Rights Committee called on Azerbaijan to "take steps to ensure full respect for the right of freedom of religion or belief and ensure that its legislation and practices conform fully to the requirements of article 18 of the Covenant".

Before its accession to the Council of Europe in January 2001, Azerbaijan promised "to adopt, within two years of accession, a law on alternative service in compliance with European standards and, in the meantime, to pardon all conscientious objectors presently serving prison terms or serving in disciplinary battalions, allowing them instead to choose (when the law on alternative service has come into force) to perform non-armed military service or alternative civilian service".

One conscientious objector, 20-year-old Kamran Shikhaliyev, is serving a one-year sentence in a military disciplinary unit in Salyan Region south of Baku. This is his second consecutive sentence on the same charges (see F18News 19 November 2015 http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2123).

There are no signs that the government has any intention of keeping this promise and it has repeatedly prosecuted Jehovah's Witnesses for refusing to do compulsory military service. This has resulted in cases brought to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg (see Forum18's Azerbaijan religious freedom survey http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=1690). (END)

For more background information see Forum 18's Azerbaijan religious freedom survey at http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2081.

More coverage of freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Azerbaijan is at http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?query=&religion=all&country=23.

A compilation of Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) freedom of religion or belief commitments can be found at http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1351.

For a personal commentary, by an Azeri Protestant, on how the international community can help establish religious freedom in Azerbaijan, see http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=482.

A printer-friendly map of Azerbaijan is available at http://education.nationalgeographic.com/mapping/outline-map/?map=Azerbaijan.

All Forum 18 News Service material may be referred to, quoted from, or republished in full, if Forum 18 is credited as the source.
A Florence, Montana, physician charged with 400 felonies told a judge Wednesday that he plans to file bankruptcy and will again seek a public defender.

Dr. Chris Christensen appeared without counsel in Ravalli County Judge Jeffrey Langtons court Wednesday during a brief status hearing.

Christensen was arrested in August for allegedly providing hundreds of illegal prescriptions to patients, including two who died from an overdose.

Following his arrest, he was initially appointed a public defender, but the state Office of Public Defenders rescinded the appointment in November following a review of Christensens financial records.

Langton concurred with the OPDs decision following his own review of the records. In a ruling, the judge said Christensen does not even come close to meeting the definition of indigent under the law.

On Wednesday, Christensen said he had not yet hired a new attorney.

Instead, Christensen said he was waiting on a formal letter of withdrawal from the OPD that he claimed he needed before he could begin seeking alternative counsel.

Christensen said he has retained an attorney to help him file bankruptcy, which he expects to file within the next three weeks. Once that is completed, Christensen said he plans to resubmit an application for a public defender.

Christensen said he no plans to serve as his own attorney.

Its not my intention to represent myself in a case of this complexity and seriousness, he said.

Ravalli County Deputy Attorney Thorin Geist told Langton that he had requested Wednesdays status hearing to determine how Christensen was faring in finding a new attorney.

Geist said he did not want to end up in a situation where Christensen was going to take a long period searching for an attorney and then make a request to continue the trial.

I have no problem giving Mr. Christensen some time here, Geist said. I want it on the record and I want the court to confirm that this trial is not going get continued.

Langton told Christensen that he had already accepted a request to extend the trial date to October. Given that fact, Langton said Christensen should have enough time to seek out another attorney.

The trial date is set, Langton said. Its been extended already. So you cant count on any additional extensions.

Langton set another status hearing for Feb. 10 so we can get a better fix on what the attorney situation is.

Geist challenged Christensens request for a public defender during his initial appearance last year.

A 16-month investigation found that Christensens business in Florence operated almost exclusively in cash, earned about $2,500 a day and grossed more than $500,000 annually, according to an affidavit filed in the case.

The 400 felony charges filed against Christensen include two counts of negligent homicide that stem from the death of two of his patients who were prescribed methadone.

Christensen faces a maximum penalty of 388 life sentences, plus 135 years in prison and fines of $20 million.

Christensen, 67, remains free on a $200,000 bond.
Fighting flu starts with a shot, and it's time for Texans to get one
Joey Light doesn't anticipate much change to the Wylie Independent School District's day come next year.

While final decisions concerning a state law changing reported instruction time from days to minutes have yet to be made at many of the districts throughout the state, including Wylie, Light, the district's superintendent, said any change would be minimal and at the lower grade levels only.

"We've had a lot of discussions about it," Light said following Tuesday's State of the City address. "What we're going to try to do is keep it similar to what our previous calendars have looked like. In our lower campuses, we'll probably add 10 minutes to the day so we'll go from seven hours to seven hours and 10 minutes. It's my understanding we have to cover for weather days."

Light and superintendents across the state have been reacting to the implementation of House Bill 2610, which changed the way instruction time across an entire year is reported to the Texas Education Agency. The law, which went into effect this past August, requires districts provide 75,600 minutes of instruction.

Previously, schools had to provide 180 instruction days, though Wylie uses staff development waivers from TEA to shrink the attendance to 175 days. Doing the math, 180 days multiplied by a seven-hour school day and multiplied again by 60 minutes per hour, the total is 75,600 minutes, which is where the state's figures developed from.

Faculty must attend 187 days, according to employment contracts, with that extra time mostly allocated toward staff development. This does not change under the new law.

TEA Information Specialist Lauren Callahan said Light's thinking, that districts would be responsible for budgeting weather days into the year, is correct. How they schedule that time is what's different.

Under the previous law, and possibly carrying forward in this new reporting system, she said, districts must schedule for two make up days, which is now 840 minutes of instruction. Waivers for missed time beyond those two days are expected to be granted going forward, she said.

Some school districts, like Abilene ISD, have scheduled school in the past on Memorial Day in May and another day later that week to serve as those make up dates. The change is that schools can now increase the school day length to cover this instead of holding a day of school on a holiday.

"We are encouraging districts to continue scheduling in the 840 minutes of missed instructional time into their calendars just to be safe," Callahan said, "because bad weather and emergencies are almost always inevitable from year to year."

Like in Wylie, Abilene ISD intends to take advantage of this change, but Superintendent David Young said what his schools do will be more noticeable.

Young, in an email to the district's entire staff Jan. 13, said conversations with teachers, principals and parents led him to believe a 30-minute increase per day would be best across all grade levels. He said the flexibility the increase provides will allow for handling weather issues but also academic intervention and offering holiday breaks to teachers and students.

"We're going to spend the next month considering all feedback we've been receiving from faculty, staff, students parents and community members," Young said, adding an email address  calendarfeedback@abileneisd.org  was created to collect thoughts, as was a page on the district's website found at www.abileneisd.org describing the possible changes.

Young said he's already consulted with parent-teacher groups across Abilene and local businesses, parents and taxpayers. He said staff has provided roughly five of every six responses he's received.

He said he'd like to have a proposal ready for the district's school board at the March meeting, which is set for Monday, March 14. All changes would go into effect for the 2016-17 school year.

AISD DAILY BREAKDOWN

A breakdown of what the extra time would look like at each level in the Abilene ISD under a still-developing calendar change for the 2016-17 school year adding 30 minutes to the school day. Information is provided by David Young, Abilene ISD superintendent:

ELEMENTARY

8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.: The additional 30 minutes at elementary school will be used to build an intervention/tutorial/enrichment time into the school day. This will dramatically cut down on the amount of time needed for after-school tutorials and interventions at the elementary level as well as ensure that all students can participate in needed activities.

MIDDLE SCHOOL

8:15 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.: The additional 30 minutes at middle school will be used to build an advisory time to allow for intervention/tutorial/enrichment during the school day. This will dramatically cut down on the amount of time needed for after-school tutorials and interventions at the middle school level as well as ensure that all students can participate in needed activities.

HIGH SCHOOL

8:10 a.m. to 3:40 p.m.: The additional 30 minutes at high school will be used to lengthen each class period to at least 51 minutes and ensure that additional time is added to the period of the day that includes the campuswide announcements.

Twitter: @TimothyChippARN
DES MOINES  Its pretty clear things have changed in the Democratic presidential race when Hillary Clinton does a sky-is-falling routine for donors.

There are not one, but two new public polls out this week that have us down in Iowa, Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook wrote in an email to small contributors Thursday. Now, you should always take public polling with a grain of salt. But if you thought this race wasnt going to be close, well, it is. This isnt me claiming the sky is falling  these are just the facts.

Of the six polls taken most recently here in Iowa, Sanders leads in the two Mook mentioned  by Quinnipiac and ARG  while Clinton has progressively smaller leads in the others. Back in December, Clintons margins over challenger Bernie Sanders in the polls were 18 points, or 14 points, or 22 points. Today, theyre two or three points.

The bottom line is that in Iowa, Clintons lead over Sanders is within the margin of error, and in New Hampshire, she trails Sanders by several points. Which leads to a question: Could Clintons entire theory of the race be wrong?

The theory is this: Of course Clinton wants to win Iowa and New Hampshire, but if she doesnt, she will still win the nomination because the race will move on to South Carolina and other states with a significant black population. African-Americans are a critical part of the Democratic coalition, and Clinton is undeniably strong with them. So in the long run, she will win.

Its a persuasive theory; Sanders has tried and failed to make any real inroads into Clintons black support. But now theres the question: If Sanders were to vanquish Clinton in the first two contests of the campaign, would that change the dynamics of the race?

It does change the dynamics of the race, Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs told me by phone from a campaign event at Dartmouth College. If you do well in Iowa and notch a victory in New Hampshire, youre going to see more and more people take Bernies campaign seriously, and that will change the dynamics.

But how specifically? The theory  the hope  is that the work Sanders has done trying to connect with black Democrats will start to pay off if Sanders comes out of the early states a winner. (Notice Briggs said do well in Iowa, not win.) Sanders has always conceded that as a senator from a nearly all-white state, he doesnt have deep roots in African-American politics. But hes tried hard to reach out, stressing not just his record but civil rights work that goes back to student days.

I suggested to Briggs that all that reaching out hasnt paid off, since black Democrats still seem strongly behind Clinton. Its not that it hasnt worked, Briggs answered. People didnt know about it. If Sanders wins early contests, the theory goes, later-state Democratic voters, black and white, will take a look at him. And thats where, again theoretically, the dynamic changes.

Truth be told, that still seems unlikely to happen. But it seems less unlikely than it did a few weeks ago, which explains Clintons increasing attacks on Sanders. It also explains the emergence of Chelsea Clinton, who is pretty much universally admired by Democrats, as one of the attackers. Chelseas hit on Sanders health proposal  that it would somehow enable Republicans efforts to repeal Obamacare  struck a lot of Democrats as not just out of character, but flat wrong, as well.

Still, as a sign of Clinton anxiety, it was pretty accurate. I think theyre panicking, Briggs said of the Clinton campaign.

Things are moving fast; Iowa Democrats are choosing quickly. In The Des Moines Register poll, 70 percent of Hillary supporters, and 69 percent of Sanders supporters, say theyve made up their minds. Just a month ago, those numbers were quite a bit smaller. More minds will be made up each day.

Voters will caucus in Iowa in 18 days, and the Sanders campaign is outspending us on TV, Mook wrote in that alarmed email to small donors. Hillarys been fighting for families for decades  if youre with her, this is the time to show it. Mook then asked the recipient to Chip in $1 now.

Its not surprising to see a campaign send out a poor-little-old-me appeal, asking for donations to fight a big, bad opponent. But for Hillary Clinton, the unstoppable, inevitable, Democratic nominee-in-waiting, to say that about Bernie Sanders? Now, thats a change.
Three displaced Scouting groups have found new homes after Zion Lutheran Church voted not to renew their charters, citing "doctrinal integrity" over gay adults being allowed to serve as Scout leaders.

Two units, Scout Troop 258 and Venturing Crew 258, will meet at the Episcopal Church of the Heavenly Rest and Cub Scout Pack 260 will meet at Beltway Park Church's south campus.

All host sites, whether houses of worship or other locations, must renew their charter annually, said Mark Conrad, Scout Executive/Chief Executive Officer with the Texas Trails Council, which includes Taylor County.

Deadline for renewing, or voting not to renew, is Jan. 31. Members of Zion Lutheran Church voted in November not to renew the church's charter, which came as a surprise to Conrad. He had not heard of discontent before the vote but was philosophical about the outcome.

"Life goes on," he said.

Heavenly Rest and Beltway Park both quickly stepped up to fill the void, he said. At Heavenly Rest, two church members approached Luke Back, the church's rector, and suggested taking in the Scouts.

"I was very enthusiastic," Back said.

David McQueen, pastor of Beltway Park, declined to comment over concern that any remarks might be construed as disparaging to Zion Lutheran, "which is in no way our intent," he wrote in an email.

The decision by members of Zion Lutheran not to renew the church's charter with the Boy Scouts came after the national Boy Scouts governing body voted in July 2015 to lift restrictions on openly gay adult leaders and employees.

It was the final straw for Zion Lutheran, which faced a similar challenge when the Boy Scouts voted in 2013 to allow gay youths as members. Clyde Kieschnick, the church's pastor, said in a November article in the Reporter-News that the church voted for 2014 and 2015 to retain the Scouts charter, although it was a challenge. In November, the decision not to renew the charter for 2016 passed by two votes, Kieschnick said.

"It was to protect doctrinal integrity and what the Scriptures say," Kieschnick said in the article, "that God definitely opposes the homosexual agenda."

Zion Lutheran is a member of the Missouri Synod, the conservative branch of the denomination. Kieschnick described his congregation as "very conservative."

At the Episcopal Church of the Heavenly Rest, two groups  a Boy Scout troop and a Venturing Crew  will meet in newly remodeled digs in the lower level of the church's parish hall. Back, said renovations already were underway as the upper level of the parish hall is being renovated to served as a sacred music center. The lower level will be used for outreach efforts such as the church's food pantry.

"We were able to do those renovations with the Boy Scouts in mind," Back said.

Also, an old house on South Sixth Street near the church has been donated and may possibly be renovated for a Scout hut. Back said a total of about 50 Scouts will meet on separate nights at the church. One is a traditional Scout Troop and the other, a Venturing Crew, is for youths and young adults ages 14 to 20.

A Venturing Crew is for Scouts who have earned their Eagle Scout award and have nothing left to achieve in Scouting, said Conrad, the local Scouting executive. They are involved in community activities and "high adventure" outdoor activities.

Response at Heavenly Rest to take in the Scouts has been positive, Back said, from the church's governing board to its members.

"No one has indicated any resistance to welcoming them," Back said.

Ironically, just last week the Episcopal Church was chastised over its stance on human sexuality issues at a meeting in England of the leaders of the worldwide Anglican Community, which includes the Episcopal Church in the United States. The communion's 38 primates or archbishops voted for sanctions against the Episcopal Church for three years, including not allowing Episcopalians to represent the Anglican Communion on ecumenical and interfaith bodies

The decision for sanctions came as a result of a vote in June 2015 by the Episcopal Church's General Convention to change canonical language that defines marriage as being between a man and a woman and to authorize two new marriage rites with language allowing them to be used by same-sex or opposite-sex couples.

Both the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States, Michael Curry, and the bishop of the Diocese of Northwest Texas, Scott Mayer, responded immediately, supporting the Episcopal Church's stance on issues of human sexuality.

Mayer, who was rector at the Episcopal Church of the Heavenly Rest 14 years before being elected bishop of the Diocese of Northwest Texas, posted a message on the diocesan website. He noted that for more than 40 years, "the Episcopal Church has worked to respond faithfully to the work of the Spirit in the context of where we live and move and have our being. We will continue to do so. All will be well."

Back, who succeeded Mayer as rector at Heavenly Rest, noted the church's tradition of having "an inclusive, welcoming attitude toward everyone."

He believes the opportunity to invite the displaced Scouts to meet at the church provides a way to continue that tradition.

"It's divine timing," he said.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, R, is pushing nine constitutional amendments, and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, R, wants one setting term limits for the Supreme Court and Congress, so I figured I'd roll out my own wish list.

The right to vote: It doesn't appear in the Constitution. It should.

Statehood for the District of Columbia. There's no legitimate justification for disenfranchising citizens in the U.S. capital. This can be fixed without an amendment, but the best way would be through the Constitution.

As long as we have the Electoral College, get rid of the loopholes, mainly by getting rid of the electors. Each state's electoral votes should automatically be cast for the candidate who wins them according to the laws of that state. I'd include wording to make it clear that the state must hold an election and apportion the electoral votes based on whatever the rules were going in. Eliminate both the problem of disloyal electors and the chance that a state Legislature would change the rules after the fact (or even, as they can do now under the current wording of the Constitution, cancel the election entirely and appoint electors themselves).

Eliminate the 'natural born citizen' requirement for presidents. Any citizen should be eligible; I trust voters (and the parties and the press) to avoid electing a disloyal immigrant president as much as I trust them to avoid other poor choices.Remove the minimum age requirements for federal office. I don't worry that voters would elect a 15- year-old president, but citizenship means the opportunity to govern as well as to be governed.

Two more to think about:

Term limits for Supreme Court justices  probably 18- year terms, staggered so that one opening comes up every two years. I can see arguments for and against  but if we did it, the amendment should formally set the nine-justice limit, ending the possibility of future court-packing (currently there's no constitutional provision specifying the court's size).

Public financing of elections. Don't require it, but make it clear it's allowed. I oppose amendments to restrict private money to candidates and parties, or to restrict what parties can do with their money, but I support partial public financing  and fear the court may rule against it in the future.

This one is even more unlikely than the others, and deserves its own category:

Address the malapportionment of the Senate. There's no justification in democratic theory for giving Wyoming (population of less than 600,000) the same number of senators as California (population: 40 million) has. But absolute proportionality isn't necessary, and the Senate should stay small. Suppose we keep two senators for each state, but weigh their votes differently. Wyoming's senators would each get half a vote, for example, for a total of one, and California's two senators would be given five each  10 total. Alas, Article V of the Constitution guarantees 'that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.' And Wyoming, Vermont and the Dakotas will make sure it stays that way.

Jonathan Bernstein is a Bloomberg View columnist covering U.S. politics.'
WASHINGTON  The British Parliament set out Monday afternoon to debate a question that is often argued on this side of pond but has never before been taken up in the halls of Westminster: Is Donald Trump dangerous? Or is he merely a buffoon?

The man who would Make America Great Again, it turns out, has already done a great job of unifying Great Britain. Members of Parliament from across the political spectrum took turns insulting the American billionaire.

'Daft and offensive.'

'Ridiculous xenophobe.'

'Impulsive, not well-informed.'

'Objectionable and hateful.'

'Buffoonery.'

'The orange prince of American self-publicity.'

'What is under his hair?'

British legislators giggled as a colleague read aloud some of the puffy plutocrat's utterances on global warming ('It's freezing and snowing in New York') and on the 'great' and 'inexpensive' border wall he wants to build.

'Let's be clear: Donald Trump is an idiot,' said Gavin Newlands, an MP from the Scottish National Party.

A Tory MP, declaring Trump 'crazy' with 'no valid points to make,' said he would like to see Americans challenge Trump with the words that brought down Joe McCarthy: 'Have you left no sense of decency?'

'I don't think Donald Trump should be allowed within 1,000 miles of our shores,' said Labour MP Jack Dromey. 'Trump is free to be a fool, but he is not free to be a dangerous fool in Britain.'

Still, the result was good news, of sorts, for the Republican presidential candidate: While there was universal consensus that the billionaire developer is appalling, there was little interest in banning him from entering Britain  if only because that would make him a martyr.

Half a million Britons, reacting to Trump's pledge to ban Muslims from entering the United States, had signed a petition calling for Trump to be banned from Britain. A travel ban is up to the Home Office, not Parliament, but legislators decided to have a debate because, as Labour MP Paul Flynn said in introducing the topic, 'it is very difficult to ignore a vox pop.'

Flynn was apologetic about the debate because it 'might well be interpreted as disrespect' to America. But for Americans watching, it was useful proof that Trump is a reviled and preposterous figure to our most important ally and that America would be the laughingstock of the world if we elect him.

MP Sarah Wollaston, who represents Dartmouth, noted that the Pilgrims sailed from there four centuries ago 'to escape the kind of religious persecution that we are addressing today.' She argued that if Britain were to ban Trump, it 'would send a very clear message to the people of the United States about what we feel about those who demonize an entire people for no reason other than their religion.'

On Monday, Trump was at Liberty University in Virginia, warning his evangelical Christian audience that 'our country is disappearing fast.' Across the Atlantic, in the Grand Committee Room of Westminster Hall, Tulip Siddiq, a Muslim and an MP, was at that moment speaking about the 'need to stop a poisonous, corrosive man from entering our country.' She listed some of his many attacks on women, his racist 'dog whistles' and his proposed ban on Muslims.

Some Tories lamented the sad state of the Republican Party. Conservative Steve Double said he was 'surprised' by Trump's support because he 'seems to cut right against the heritage and the values that I understand the Republican Party to have.'

But while there was no defense of Trump in the House of Commons, most in the debate thought it counterproductive to ban him from Britain, rather than employing, as one put it, 'a classic British response of ridicule.'

That British natural resource was in abundant supply in Parliament on Monday.

Conservative Paul Scully, though calling Trump's conduct 'not acceptable for an aspiring world leader,' said travel bans to Britain are issued for 'incitement and hatred, but I've never heard of one for stupidity.'

Gavin Robinson, from Northern Ireland, described Trump's style of discourse: 'He throws a dead cat on the table, and people stop and listen to him.'

One of the most powerful contributions came from Naz Shah, a 'proud British Muslim woman' who called Trump 'evil' and a 'demagogue.' But she said she wouldn't ban Trump from Britain but rather 'invite him for a curry.'

'Given that it is Martin Luther King Day,' she said, invoking the American holiday, 'I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.'

Follow Dana Milbank on Twitter, @Milbank.
Sunday's fourth Democratic presidential debate, from Charleston, South Carolina, gave voters a surprisingly clear look at what the candidates are itching to do in the White House. With Sen. Bernie Sanders surprisingly ahead of Hillary Clinton for both the Feb. 1 Iowa Caucuses and the Feb. 9 New Hampshire primary, according to several recent polls, the former first lady followed him to the left on policy issues.

The third candidate, Martin O'Malley, complained he was being ignored and stressed his record when he was governor of Maryland. But with the increased violence in Baltimore, where he also was mayor, his track record isn't gaining traction, keeping the focus on the two top candidates.

Sanders called for a 'single payer' national health system, meaning the government would replace private insurers. He promised, 'I believe that a Medicare-for-all, single-payer program will substantially lower the cost of health care for middle-class families.'

That sounds like President Barack Obama's pledge during the 2008 campaign that Obamacare would 'cover every American and cut the cost of a typical family's premium by up to $2,500 a year.' In reality, coverage for most families is down even as costs have soared.

Clinton said she would 'build on' Obamacare by 'putting a cap on prescription drug costs.' But that could destroy the profits of drug companies, making them reluctant to run the gaumut of Food and Drug Administration regulations that have brought the cost of getting a new drug to market to $1.3 billion, according to Joseph Dimasi of the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development. A better idea would be to reform the FDA to reduce that cost.

The candidates promised both more gun control and higher taxes, the opposite of what Republican candidates advocate. And they supported Obama's nuclear treaty with Iran, which all the Republicans opposed. Of course, few of these proposals could make it through Congress, even if Republicans lose control of both houses, which seems unlikely.

'Feel the Bern' is Sanders' top campaign slogan. But for him and Clinton, a better theme would be: 'Feel the tax bite.'

The Orange County Register
Today in history: On Jan. 21, 1977, President Jimmy Carter tries to soothe the wounds of the Vietnam War by pardoning those who evaded the draft. About 100,000 'draft dodgers' left the country during the 1960s and 1970s to avoid serving in the war, most to Canada. There also were about 1,000 deserters who went to Canada. Formally, almost 210,000 men were accused of violating U.S. draft laws. While campaigning, Carter promised to pardon the group to heal war wounds. Not all chose to come back.
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Whats the duty of an elected public official?

Three years ago, when Ron served on the board of regents, Nevadas elected body that governs public higher education, that board held a big discussion on system governance at one of its meetings. It was facilitated by a woman with a long background in higher education administration, including having been a college president.

A major point she pushed that day was that, once the board acted on a matter, it became the duty of regents to advocate that policy or decision, to speak with one voice and not take contrary or separate positions publicly.

Ron said he had a duty of integrity to advocate for positions on which he had committed to voters and not simply abandon them because some other regents disagreed.

Also, a duty of intellectual integrity not to abandon positions he took after research, analysis and deliberation and merely go along to get along if he was not convinced by others arguments and evidence.

As time for the discussion expired, she played her trump card, plaintively screeching, What about your fiduciary duty?! Setting aside the typical statist liberal habit of turning a question into a whiny personal attack, she had indeed raised the central issue: fiduciary duty.

But she was dead wrong in implying that fiduciary duty compelled the vapid groupthink ethos too much followed in politics and bureaucracy.

Her position was that regents owe a fiduciary duty to the Nevada System of Higher Education. That is, a duty of care, prudence, diligence and loyalty, of candor, full disclosure, good judgment free of conflicts of interest and advocating only the best interests of the system.

The duty of an elected official includes all those high-sounding words encompassed in fiduciary duty. But that duty requires not that one stifle his dissent, subjugating it to the errors of the majority or the interests of an institution or its leaders; instead, one should voice them loud and clear.

The issue is not whether the main duty of elected officials is a fiduciary duty; it certainly is. The problem is that pontificating with such words blinds people to the profound error in her answer to the key question: To whom is the duty owed? She was a higher-ed lifer who had moved into the cushy post-retirement gig of consulting to the next generation of people like herself who manipulate elected officials, the press and voters for their benefit and that of their enterprise and its constituencies.

The fiduciary duty of elected officials is owed to the voters, the taxpayers and the broad public interest. Not to an institution that is a mere instrument with which to pursue the interests of voters, taxpayers and the public good. Thats worshiping a false god.

People controlling and staffing such institutions, plus those benefitting from its services  that is, the provider bureaucracies and clients of all public-sector institutions  being human, often become selfish special interests that will be as predatory upon the voters, taxpayers and public interest as they are allowed to be by regents, legislators, governors, controllers, school boards, etc. This is a central problem of government, politics and public administration.

Special-interest advocates are very clever in seeking to relieve voters and taxpayers of their money and rights for the benefit of the provider bureaucracy. Often, they and their political allies hide behind the beneficiaries of the services of their institution or agency. Thus, advocates of throwing ever more money at teacher unions and administrative bloat always bleat, Do it for the children.

Or they wrap themselves in the flag of some noble cause. Even though we revere and promote education, when someone says hes advocating for education, we know hes almost certainly advocating for taking resources from voters, taxpayers and the efficient and generally fair private sector to give them to the privileged folks who live off the often inefficient and unfair political allocation of resources.

Another day well explain why the public interest in human wellbeing and fairness is served mainly by promoting economic growth  that is, enlarging the social pie so that all may benefit  and discuss other aspects of officials duties. Meantime, be wary of their noble and indignant self-serving words.
Journalist Li Xin, who went into exile to protect his family in China, in an undated photo.

UPDATED at 3.45 P.M. EST on 03-02-2016

A rights activist and former columnist at a top Chinese newspaper who had tried to defect to India four months ago has been missing for 10 days after boarding a train in Thailand en route to Laos on a quest to reach western countries, where he planned to apply for political asylum, his wife said Thursday.

Li Xin, a writer for the cutting-edge Southern Metropolis Daily newspaper, fled to New Delhi last October after being recruited by Chinas state security police to spy on other activists, with the threat of spying charges hanging over him.

The formerly active campaigner for democratic reform and human rights said authorities pressured him to become an informant after he posted comments online in support of blind Shandong rights activist Chen Guangcheng.

After arriving in India, Li made public confidential documents from his time at the newspaper, revealing the inner workings of the ruling Chinese Communist Partys propaganda machine, which included a secret list of topics and sources off limits to media outlets.

Li could not be granted political asylum in India, because the country does not accept applications from Chinese nationals. He then applied for a tourist visa at the American embassy in New Delhi so he could go to the United States and apply for asylum there, but his application was rejected.

Li traveled to Thailand on Jan. 1 and boarded a train nine days later to the northeastern border town of Nong Khai where he tried to enter Laos, but suddenly lost contact with his wife He Fangxian, she told RFAs Mandarin Service.

A friend tried to report the case to the Thai police, but the report was rejected, she said.

They asked, Why you didnt you report this to the Chinese embassy, said He Fangxian, who remains in China.

But I am not in Thailand, so there is no way to get to the Chinese embassy, she said. After all, I cannot leave, so I have no choice.

Lao authorities

If He Fangxian cannot get any information about Lis disappearance from police in Thailand, she will try to get information from Lao authorities, she said.

But now the situation is that Thai authorities have refused to accept Lis case, so how can I go to Laos? He Fangxian said.

He Fangxian telephoned Lis family on Wednesday, hoping they had reported the disappearance to local police, but was unable to reach them, she said.

Later, Lis aunt told He Fangxian that Lis father had received her message about the disappearance, He Fangxian said.

I requested that she accompany Lis father to report it to the police, she said.

Last December, authorities in the southern Chinese province Guangdong prevented He Fangxian and the couples infant son from leaving the country to join Li after his attempted defection.

Border officials in Shenzhen stopped the two as they tried to cross into neighboring Hong Kong, which has maintained its own internal immigration border since its 1997 handover to Chinese rule.

At the time, Li said he believed authorities slapped the exit ban on his wife and child as a form of retaliation after he leaked information about the inner workings of the Chinese governments propaganda machine.

Reported by Qiao Long for RFAs Mandarin Service. Translated by Ping Chen. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story identified Li Xin's wife as Shi Sanmei. Her name is He Fangxian.


Placards showing missing bookseller Lee Bo (L) and his associate Gui Minhai (R) are shown by members of the Civic party outside the China liaison office in Hong Kong, Jan. 19, 2016

A Paris-based press freedom group on Thursday called on the European Union (EU) to initiate sanctions against state media controlled by the ruling Chinese Communist Party, in the wake of a string of televised "confessions" by detained rights activists and dissidents.



Reporters Without Borders (RSF) wants the EU to implement sanctions against China Central Television (CCTV) and the state news agency Xinhua over a string of recent broadcasts of televised "confessions."



"RSF is appalled by the growth of this practice by Chinas state media, which poses an alarming threat to freely reported news and information," the group said in a statement on Thursday.

Recent detainees paraded on CCTV in prerecorded "confession" videos include Hong Kong publisher Gui Minhai, owner of the Mighty Current imprint and Causeway Bay Books.



The publishing houses are popular with mainland Chinese tourists for their selection of political books that are banned across the internal border in mainland China.



Gui, who holds a Swedish passport, appeared on CCTV on Sunday confessing to having killed a student in a drunk-driving accident, after disappearing while he was on vacation in Thailand.



Just three days later, Swedish national and China-based human rights worker Peter Dahlin appeared on CCTV, apologizing for "hurting the feelings of the Chinese people."



Propaganda outlets



Dahlin, who founded the Chinese Urgent Action Working Group to help train rights lawyers and other activists, was accused by Xinhua of "encouraging the masses to oppose the government."



"We are outraged by the dissemination of forced confessions that have no informational value," RSF Asia-Pacific spokesman Benjamin Ismail said in a statement on the group's website.



"By knowingly peddling lies and statements [that] were presumably obtained under duress, CCTV and Xinhua become mass propaganda weapons and cease de facto to be news media," Ismail said.



He added: "These two organizations represent a threat to freely produced news in the public interest. We call on the European Union to urgently adopt a resolution sanctioning these practices."



According to RSF, there is precedent for the EU to adopt sanctions against a media organization that uses forced confessions, because they violate the right of detainees to a fair trial.



Recent reports of the growing international reach of Chinese media organizations have sparked fears that such practices could exert a chilling effect on freedom of expression globallyespecially on topics concerning China.

U.S.-based veteran rights activist Yang Jianli said the practice shows that the administration of President Xi Jinping has scant respect for due process.

"This sort of political show trial is against the law," Yang said. "He thinks that the slightest action on the part of his citizens is more of a threat to him than corruption."

"The final outcome will be an ever-widening gap between government and people, and eventually he will be public enemy No. 1," he said.



Forced confession

Veteran Chinese journalist Gao Yu, who also appeared in a "confession" on CCTV before being jailed for "leaking state secrets overseas," later said that the confession was forced from her when the Chinese threatened her son.

She was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment, which was reduced on appeal to five years, and is currently serving her jail time outside prison on medical grounds.

Other detainees have reported being offered more lenient sentences in return for "pleading guilty" and showing a "cooperative attitude."

The practice has most frequently been used against journalists in recent years.

In May 2014, independent journalist Xiang Nanfu appeared on CCTV 13 confessing to "smearing the party and government," while New Express journalist Chen Yongzhou also confessed in a video aired in November 2013.

In the same month, CCTV producer Wang Qinglei was dismissed from his post after criticizing the state broadcaster over a "confession" by "Big V" social media commentator Charles Xue.

China is ranked 176th out of 180 countries in the 2015 RSF press freedom index.



Reported by Hai Nan for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by He Ping for the Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.
Authorities in the northwestern Chinese region of Xinjiang have jailed a Han Chinese rights activist for 19 years on subversion and spying charges after he openly criticized government policy in the troubled region.



Zhang Haitao was handed a 15-year prison term for "incitement to subvert state power" and five years for "providing intelligence overseas" by the Intermediate People's Court in Xinjiang's regional capital, Urumqi.



He will serve 19 years in total in a sentence that one overseas rights group described as "extraordinarily harsh."



His wife Li Aijie, who was informed on Jan. 18 of the court's decision and had just given birth to the couple's baby son, told RFA she was "stunned" by the sentence.



"I am really just in a state of shock right now," Li said. "I just went and kicked up a huge fuss at the court, calling them shameless."



"Even shameless people should have some limits," she said.



Li said she had expected a sentence of perhaps 2-3 years, based on the jail terms of six years handed down to prominent rights lawyers Pu Zhiqiang and Guo Feixiong.



"Now they have sentenced my husband to 19 years in prison," she said. "This government acts without reason. Is it just because he is in Xinjiang?"



"Do they hand out heavier sentences in Xinjiang?"



Critical articles online



Zhang was accused of "incitement to subvert state power" after he posted articles online that were critical of Beijing's record in Xinjiang, home to the mostly Muslim Uyghur ethnic group, and where hundreds have died in a string of violent incidents in recent years.



The court said it had handed down a longer jail term because Zhang had "colluded" with overseas organizations.



According to the Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) network, which collates reports from rights groups inside China, such a lengthy jail term is usually only used in cases where the defendant is the "ringleader" of a subversive group.



By comparison, jailed Nobel peace laureate Liu Xiaobo is service an 11-year sentence, while other prominent dissidents have received sentences of between seven and 10 years on the same charge, CHRD said in a statement on its website.



'Weak evidence'



Zhang was initially detained on June 26, 2015 on suspicion of "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble," but the charges against him were later changed to the more serious subversion and spying charges.



"[This] suggests weak evidence against the activist and even the possibility of a coerced confession," CHRD said.



It said Zhang had frequently posted online his opinions critical of government policies and comments on current events, and gave interviews to overseas media, as well as writing articles for a human rights website.



"These activities have been cited in the court verdict as evidence for 'providing intelligence overseas,' which stipulates a sentence of not more than five years 'if the circumstances are minor'," CHRD said.



Heavy sentences



Zhang's lawyer Li Dunyong said he too was shaken by the length of the sentence.



"I had guessed maybe 11 or 12 years," Li Dunyong said. "But here in Xinjiang, a lot of things are unpredictable."



"It's like an independent kingdom out here, not like the rest of China, and ... they hand down heavy sentences to Uyghurs and Han Chinese alike here."



"The charges were basically based on stuff he wrote online; there wasn't much evidence otherwise," he said, rejecting the spying charges.



"He's just a regular guy," Li Dunyong said. "Where would he get his intelligence reports from?"



He said he had advised Zhang to lodge an appeal.



Reported by Lin Jing for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Xin Lin for the Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.




Unidentified gunmen shot up a passenger bus in northern Laos last week in an incident that officials and witnesses said was the work of bandits in an attack that was thwarted by the actions of the alert driver.

The midnight attack on Jan. 14 on Route 13 North in Kasy district, 175 km (105 miles) north of the capital Vientiane, left one of about a dozen passengers in the vehicle injured, but caused no deaths.

While the bus was moving up a hill, the bandits fired about 50 shots at the vehicle. At first they shot front of the bus, then the side and back of the bus, said a passenger who was on the bus when it was attacked and spoke to RFAs Lao Service on condition of anonymity.

The driver sped up the bus after he realized the bandits were shooting at us, added the passenger.

The bus, which was plying the route between Vientiane and Luangnamtha province in northern Laos, was attacked at Namkhean village near Phoukhoun Mountain, he added.

At first I heard the front window breaking and thought it was the explosion of a tire, said the passenger.

Meanwhile, the driver steered the wheel away from the shooting and passengers fell out of their seats, he said.

An official in Kasy district said the local government had heard of the incident but had not officially confirmed it. Police are investigating, he added.

This was done by a group of bad people who might be ordinary robbers, because no one was killed, the official told RFA.

If they had wanted to create unrest, the incident would have been worse than it was, explained the official. According to the investigation by officials, it seems that they are not skillful with their weapons.

The bus attack in Kasy follows a series of attacks on vehicles passing through central Laos that were revealed to RFA by a retired Lao soldier.

In the first incident on Dec. 15, 15 bandits shot two motorcyclists in the Anouvong district of Xaysomboun province, killing one and injuring another.

In another incident three days later, bandits shot at a truck transporting beer in Anouvong district, injuring two people in the vehicle, one seriously.

Xaysomboun Province had imposed a curfew last month after a spate of violence in November which three government soldiers and three civilians were killed, according to police and other sources.

Reported and translated by Ounkeo Souksavanh for RFAs Lao Service. Written in English by Paul Eckert.
Prison authorities in a southern prefecture of Chinas far-western Xinjiang region physically abused a Uyghur petitioner while he was serving a three-year jail term for illegal petitioning," knocking out three of his teeth because they believed he intentionally refused to read and speak Mandarin Chinese, the prisoner said.



Ghojimemet Abdujappar, 52, had served a three-year sentence at a detention facility in Hotan (Hetian, in Chinese) prefecture because he and some family members traveled to Beijing in May 2010 to complain to central government authorities and foreign diplomats about inadequate compensation for the confiscation of his land.



After the group visited the United Nations office and the U.S., British and German embassies, police took them to the Xinjiang regions administrative offices in the capital before sending them back home.



After Abdujappar returned to Hotan, authorities arrested and jailed him for three years for illegal petitioning.



The prison guards beat and kicked him because they believed he could read and understand spoken Mandarin Chinese, although his language abilities were poor, he told RFAs Uyghur Service last week from Manglay town in Qaraqash (Moyu) county, where he is under house arrest in a rented dwelling.



My mistake was that I couldnt read the regulations of the detention center in Mandarin Chinese, because I never went to a Chinese school, he said, adding that authorities believe he was faking.



They said, You could go Beijing without a translator and complain about your situation to the central government, so how is it that you cannot read the regulations of detention center? he said.



Abdujappar said he had translated his documents into Chinese from the Uyghur language at a translation center and used a translator when he arrived in Beijing. Uyghur is a Central Asian language in the same family as Turkish and has no relation to Chinese.



But the guards still pushed me to speak Chinese, he said.



At first when he was detained, he counted aloud from one to 10 in Chinese in front of prison authorities to show that his language skills were poor, he said.



One Han Chinese guard asked Abdujappar why he was lying to them about his ability to understand and speak Chinese, but yet traveled to Beijing to petition, he said.



How could you have you been in front of a foreign embassy in Beijing? the guard asked Abdujappar, before punching him in the mouth. While Abdujappar was on the ground, another Han Chinese guard kicked him the face, he said.



In the beginning, I was wondering why these people hated me so much and why they treated me so inhumanely, although there was no personal animosity between us, he said.



But Abdujappar added that he was aware that the guards could keep their jobs only if they treated prisoners ruthlessly.



The map shows Qaraqash county in Xinjiang's Hotan prefecture. RFA graphic Petitioning against an injustice



Abdujappars grievance against local authorities began in 2008 when they confiscated his house and farmland to make way for a government office without paying him fair compensation, he said.



I wasnt against it, but I should have been compensated fairly, because I had to buy another house and more land to continue my life, he said. My request was so simple, but it was rejected.



When Abdujappar and his three brothers and one sister traveled to Beijing to petition authorities about the situation two years later, they expected central government officials to believe them and take up their case. But instead, the authorities called the police to transfer the Uyghurs to the Xinjiang regions administrative office in Beijing.



Three months later, authorities in Hotan jailed Abdujappar and his brothers on sentences of one to three years for illegal petitioning, he said. His sister was held in detention for 48 days, then released without being charged.



Mettursun Yasin, the chief of the village where Abdujappars family is from, told RFA that he was at the Hotan Middle Court when the four men were sentenced.



Ghojimemet Abdujappar was so healthy, and his teeth were [intact], Yasin said. He did not have a criminal background except for his continuous petitioning.



Higher-up authorities had ordered village officials to compensate Abdujappar very well, Yasin said, but the village was so poor that it did not have any sources of income or bank savings.



The higher-up authorities must pay him properly instead of transferring the case to us, Yasim said.



The mostly Muslim Uyghurs have complained about pervasive ethnic discrimination, religious repression, and cultural suppression and other injustices by Chinese authorities under its series of strike hard campaigns in Xinjiang in the name of fighting separatism, religious extremism and terrorism. Authorities are quick to quell all forms of dissent, including petitioning.



Reported by Shohret Hoshur for RFAs Uhyghur Service. Translated by Shohret Hoshur. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Workers setting up decorations in front of the main venue for the upcoming Vietnam Communist Party's 12th National Congress in Hanoi, Jan. 18, 2016.

The unprecedented political jockeying that is engulfing the Vietnamese Communist Party as it selects new leaders this week is a reflection of the struggles the party is facing as it deals with new pressures that are buffeting the nation from both inside and outside its borders.

While the choice of the Vietnam's political leaders is generally a foregone conclusion in the one-party state, the 2016 National Congress which officially begins on Thursday isn't so cut-and-dried. Party leaders are dealing with a population that is increasingly restless with corruption, a business community seeking market reforms and an emboldened China that is making incursions on Vietnam's sovereignty.

RFAs Vietnam Service reports that the partys central committee will allow party chief Nguyen Phu Trong to stay on as a place-holder general secretary for what might amount to half of a five-year term. That would put Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on the political sidelines.

At the same time, the committee tapped General Tran Dai Quang, now national police chief, to become state president while it promoted Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc to prime minister, the sources told RFA. This new line-up, which also elevates National Assembly Vice-Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan to chairwoman, could not be independently confirmed.

If true, the choices, put the nation's hard-line leaders in control, even as the party gives them a short leash to address the nation's problems.

Corruption an issue

"One of the issues addressed at this congress is to cleanse the party," Hanoi economist Ngo Tri Long told RFA.

Corruption issues are a rising concern with the Vietnamese people, particularly businessmen who are seeking foreign investment and more market-oriented approach, he said. The issue is a sore spot for Dung, who had been accused of turning a blind eye to corruption.

"There have been a number of measures introduced to cope with corruption but have not yet showed any effect, and that is why the people think that they party hasn't really paid much attention to this issue," he said. "Once the goal is achieved, it will pave the way for the development of economy. By then the economic reform will go into orbit, but corruption is the biggest obstacle for the economic development of Vietnam."

The fight for the top slots exposed a rift within the party that pits conservative apparatchiks who back Trong against Dung, who is viewed as more open to the West and particularly the United States.

The intra-party squabbling reflects the political and economic changes that are forcing the nation to reassess the strategic balance it must strike between China and the United States. China and Vietnam may be ideologically aligned, but Hanois party elites see the United States as an important counterweight as relations with Beijing have been strained.

China and economic reform

Vietnam's next leader will play a key role in deciding Vietnam's economic reforms, which have brought a flood of foreign investment, a fledgling stock market and helped triple per capita GDP in 10 years. He will also help craft the country's relations with China which has raised Vietnamese ire by building islands with airstrips and moving oil rigs in the South China Sea.

Dung won praise when he denounced the Chinese in May 2014 for moving an oil rig off the Vietnamese coast, and many Vietnamese object to Chinas island-building projects in disputed waters, and they resent Chinas economic influence as they feel it smacks of Chinese imperial conquests. China moved the same oil rig moved on Saturday to a location where both countries' continental shelves overlap, Reuters reported.

"Vietnam requests that China does not conduct drilling actions and withdraw Hai Duong 981 from this area," Vietnam's Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh said on Tuesday, referring to the rig by the Vietnamese name.

Vietnam formally accused China of violating its sovereignty after Beijing landed airplanes on islands it newly created in the South China Sea earlier this month.

While Vietnam and China are at odds in the South China Sea, Vietnam's options appear to be limited. The issue is expected to come up during the party congress. A draft of the party's political report admits that "there appear to be very complicated and unpredictable evolutions in the East Sea."

"It is not easy to solve this issue, said Nguyen The Ky, deputy head of the central committees propaganda department said: "We just cant always shout our protest even though protest is necessary."

While the Vietnamese body politic is experiencing a touch of schizophrenia don't expect its leaders to make a big swing to the west. Instead, the country's leaders are using the external and internal challenges to buttress the communist doctrine.

"Hostile forces are pushing up their sabotages against our country with their 'peaceful evolution' strategy and facilitating 'self-evolution' and 'self-transformation' aimed at removing the Partys leadership and socialism in Vietnam," the draft political report reads. "For this reason, in the time to come, the task of party building should be strengthened."

Reported by RFA's Vietnamese Service. Translated by Viet Ha. Written in English by Brooks Boliek.




Imprisoned Azerbaijani journalist and RFE/RL contributor Khadija Ismayilova has confirmed that prominent human rights lawyer Amal Clooney will represent her at the European Court of Human Rights.

Ismayilova lawyer Fariz Namazli said in an exclusive statement on January 21 that the reporter, who was sentenced to more than seven years in prison last year on dubious economic-crimes charges, had agreed to Clooney's offer because of the "courage" she had demonstrated while defending Al-Jazeera journalistMohamed Fahmy in 2014 when he was imprisoned in Egypt.

Clooney, who has represented WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in recent years, will serve as co-counsel for Ismayilova.

The case seeks to challenge Azerbaijan's detention of Ismayilova -- who was in pretrial detention for nine months after her arrest in December 2014 -- as a violation of the European convention.

The initial charge, that she had prompted a former colleague to attempt to commit suicide, was dropped, but she remained jailed and was later charged with embezzlement, tax evasion, and abuse of power. In September, the 39-year-old Ismayilova was sentenced by an Azerbaijani court to 7 1/2 years in prison.

The legal actions against Ismayilova are widely considered to be retribution for her reporting that linked the family of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to extensive business and real-estate holdings, and have come under intense criticism from international rights groups and Western states, including members of the European Union.

"Amal Clooney's decision to take the case is a powerful affirmation of Khadija and her journalism," RFE/RL editor in chief Nenad Pejic said following Ismayilova's announcement. "It's a triumph for media freedom already, and I know that with their combined strength they will win."

WATCH: Ismayilova Accepts Clooney As Lawyer

News earlier this week that Clooney, the wife of Hollywood actor George Clooney, might get involved in Ismayilova's case sparked scathing criticism in state-run media in Azerbaijan.

At least one outlet suggested that she was biased against Azerbaijan as evidenced by her work representing ethnic Armenians against Turkey pertaining to the 1915 mass killings of Armenians under Ottoman rule.

http://haqqin.az/news/61660

Under Aliyev, the oil-rich former Soviet republic has turned increasingly authoritarian in recent years, jailing independent reporters, human rights activists, and civil-society advocates.

The country has also recently seen an outburst of civil unrest in recent weeks due to low global oil prices, which have squeezed its oil-dependent economy.

With reporting from RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service
In many ways it all began with the assassination of Aleksandr Litvinenko.

Not that Vladimir Putin's Russia was exactly a model global citizen before the November 2006 killing of the former KGB spy who defected to Great Britain.

But when Litvinenko was lethally poisoned after drinking tea laced with polonium in a London hotel in November 2006, it heralded Russia's transformation from being a mere international pain in the ass to being a full-blown outlaw state.

When former KGB bodyguard Andrei Lugovoi and his accomplice Dmitry Kovtun killed Litvinenko, most likely with Putin's approval according to an official British investigation, it was the moment when Russia fully went rogue.

It was the point where the Kremlin stopped even pretending to play by international rules.

It was the point where Moscow's gangster state truly went international.

In fact, at the time he was killed, Litvinenko was preparing to testify in a Spanish investigation into ties between Vladimir Putin's inner circle and Russian organized crime groups operating in Europe.

And after Putin's agents whacked a British citizen on British soil and got away with it, Russia truly started breaking bad.

Months later, in April 2007, came Russia's cyber attacks on Estonia that hit that country's parliament, banks, and government ministries. And the following year, in August 2008, came the invasion of Georgia.

Litvinenko's killing was also a prologue to the more recent litany of bad behavior and law breaking: the little green men and the annexation of Crimea, the hybrid war in the Donbas, and the downing of Flight MH17 by Moscow-backed separatists.

It was a harbinger of Moscow's new fondness for hostage taking, a wave that has seen Estonian law enforcement officer Eston Kohver, Ukrainian Air Force pilot Nadia Savchenko, and Ukrainian filmmaker Oleh Sentsov kidnapped from their home countries and hauled before show trials in Russia to face ridiculous charges.

It was a prelude to the recent wave of cyberattacks on targets including a French television network, a German steelmaker, the Warsaw stock exchange, The New York Times, the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. State Department, and the White House.

The British investigation, which concluded that Litvinenko was probably killed on Putin's personal order, is important because it provides by far the most damning confirmation of a link between the assassination and the Kremlin's inner sanctum.

It gives an official imprimatur to what has long been widely suspected. It reminds us of the utter outrageousness of what happened nearly a decade ago.

There were, of course, signs before Litvinenko's killing that Putin's Russia was headed for the dark side.

A month earlier, investigative journalist and Kremlin critic Anna Politkovskaya was gunned down in the stairwell of her Moscow apartment building -- on Putin's birthday.

And in 2004, Russia brazenly interfered in Ukraine's presidential election, and is widely suspected of being involved in the poisoning of the eventual winner, Viktor Yushchenko.

There was also the February 2004 assassination of Chechen separatist leader Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev in the Qatari capital, Doha.

But the Litvinenko killing -- which was described by a lawyer for the London police as "a nuclear attack on the streets of London" -- crossed a line.

Nine years and two months ago, Putin learned that he could get away with murder -- even of foreign citizens on foreign soil.

And we've been living with the consequences ever since.

WATCH: The Daily Vertical -- It All Began With Litvinenko
A court in Russia-annexed Crimea has issued an arrest warrant for the veteran leader of Crimean Tatars, Mustafa Dzhemilev.

The Kyiv District Court in Simferopol issued the warrant on January 21 and added Dzhemilev on its wanted list, saying three investigations had been launched into his activities.

Details about the charges were not made public.

In April 2014, just weeks after Russian annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, Russian authorities barred Dzhemilev from entering the region for five years.

Dzhemilev, a Ukrainian lawmaker, and other Crimean Tatar activists have said that Crimeas indigenous Tatar population will never recognize the peninsula's annexation by Moscow.

The 72-year-old Dzhemilev is a well-known Soviet-era human rights activist who served six sentences in Soviet prison camps from 1966 to 1986.

Based on reporting by RIA-Novosti and Interfax
Russian President Vladimir Putin has introduced martial law in four of Ukraine's regions, parts of which are under the control of Russian troops, as Ukrainian forces continue liberating occupied territories in the country's east despite another barrage of air attacks across the country.

Putin said at an online session of the Security Council on October 19 that he signed a decree declaring martial law in Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhya -- all of which Russia illegally annexed last month.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's ongoing invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, Russian protests, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.

He didnt immediately describe the steps that would be taken under martial law but said his order was effective starting at midnight on October 20. His decree gives law enforcement agencies three days to submit specific proposals.

The package of moves, which come nearly eight months into the war launched by the Kremlin in late February, marked the latest escalation by Putin to counter a series of defeats to Ukrainian forces since the start of September.

By extending the decree to regions beyond Ukraine, the move ensures that more Russians, already angered by a military mobilization announced last month, will more deeply feel the consequences of the war in their own lives.

Mykhaylo Podolyak, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidential office's head, called Putin's move "a pseudo-legalization of looting of Ukrainians' property."

"This does not change anything for Ukraine: We continue the liberation and deoccupation of our territories," Podolyak tweeted shortly after Putin announced martial law in the four Ukrainian regions.

U.S. President Joe Biden, speaking at the White House, said Putin is trying to get Ukraine to give up.

"I think that Vladimir Putin finds himself in an incredible difficult position and what it reflects to me is it seems his only tool available to him is to brutalize the individual citizens in Ukraineto try to intimidate them into capitulating. They are not going to do that," Biden said.

U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel said earlier the declaration of martial law was a desperate tactic and any claim by Russia over the regions was "illegitimate."

Putin's move came as the Russia-installed leader of Ukraine's southern Kherson region said the evacuation has started of tens of thousands of civilians and Moscow-appointed officials in the face of a Ukrainian military advance.

Vladimir Saldo said 50,000-60,000 civilians would leave four towns on the west bank of the Dnieper River in an "organized, gradual displacement" over the next five or six days.

All of the Moscow-installed administration in the city of Kherson would evacuate, too, Saldo said.

Russian television showed footage of a number of people queuing for boats on the Dnieper River bank although it was not immediately clear how many were leaving. The forced transfer or deportation of the civilian population by an occupying power from the territory under its control is considered a war crime.

Saldo's statements came after General Sergei Surovikin, the new commander of Russian forces in Ukraine, said the situation in the southern city of Kherson is "difficult" and residents facing Ukrainian bombardment are to be evacuated.

WATCH: Ukrainian forces first got their hands on FH70 155-millimeter howitzers courtesy of Italy in May and received training in Estonia. RFE/RL journalists met with a frontline FH70 crew and watched them in action against Russian forces.

"The Russian Army will above all ensure the safe evacuation of the population" of Kherson, Surovikin said.

But Kyiv on October 19 accused Russia of staging a propaganda show in an attempt to "scare" the Kherson residents.

"Russians are trying to scare the people of Kherson with fake messages about the shelling of the city by our army and are also staging a propaganda show with evacuation," the Ukrainian president's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, wrote on Telegram.

Kherson was the first big city to fall to the Russian forces in February after the start of Moscow's unprovoked invasion, but Ukrainian forces have been steadily retaking nearby territory in recent weeks.

They have pushed as far as 30 kilometers south along the Dnieper River, threatening to trap Russian troops.

Meanwhile, fresh explosions were heard in Kyiv and other areas on October 19, with a missile strike hitting a major thermal power station in the city of Burshtyn in western Ukraine.

The coal-fired Burshtyn plant in the region of Ivano-Frankivsk, which supplies electricity to three western regions and to five million consumers, was hit and on fire, according to Svytlana Onysshchuk, the regional governor. There were no casualties in the strike at the plant, which was hit by four missiles nine days earlier as well.

Serhiy Borzov, governor of the Vinnytsya region in western Ukraine, said Russia had also carried out attacks on energy facilities in his region. Russian bombardment also cut power and water in some parts of Enerhodar in the Zaporizhzhya region on October 19, said Dmytro Orlov, the mayor of the southern city located near the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant that's been a flashpoint of the nearly eight-month conflict.

A power plant in Kryviy Rih, a city in south-central Ukraine, was also seriously damaged by Russian shelling, leaving villages, towns, and a city district without electricity, the regional governor reported.

Russian forces also targeted Ukraine's southern Mykolayiv region again with kamikaze drones early on October 19.



The Ukrainian military's southern command said in a statement on October 19 that its forces shot down 12 drones overnight.

More than a week of air attacks has destroyed almost one-third of Ukraine's power stations and cut electricity in more than 1,000 settlements.

With Ukraine gaining momentum in the war that is now nearly eight months old, European lawmakers on October 19 recognized the country's "brave" citizens by awarding them the 2022 Sakharov Prize.

"This award is for those Ukrainians fighting on the ground. For those who have been forced to flee. For those who have lost relatives and friends. For all those who stand up and fight for what they believe in. I know that the brave people of Ukraine will not give up and neither will we," European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said in the statement.

The annual prize is named after the Soviet physicist and dissident Andrei Sakharov and was established in 1988 by the European parliament to honor individuals and organizations defending human rights and fundamental freedoms.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP
SALT LAKE CITY (AP)  Two Utah congressmen unveiled a draft of their long-awaited plan Wednesday to manage about 18 million acres of Utahs public lands, but critics said the proposal touted as a grand compromise actually favors energy development over conservation.

Republican Reps. Rob Bishop and Jason Chaffetz spent three years on the effort and held more than a thousand meetings with local officials, energy developers, ranchers, environmentalists and others. The congressmen held a press conference Wednesday to discuss a draft of the plan, which protects 4 million acres in exchange for freeing up more than 1 million acres for recreation and oil and gas development.

There is something in this for everyone to like. There is something in this for everyone to hate, Bishop said.

Gov. Gary Herbert, a Republican, joined them at the press conference at Utahs Capitol building and praised the effort, saying it resolves many disputes among conflicting interests.

But conservation groups and Democrats said the proposal would weaken protections for wilderness areas.

On the protection side, the proposal would create a new Jurassic National Monument at one of the largest collections of Jurassic Period fossils. Arches National Park near Moab would be expanded to include about 19,000 acres to the east and west.

Among highlights for recreationalists is a new 93-mile ATV trail would link Moab to Grand Junction, Colorado and other outdoor hotspots.

The proposal would also remove protections from about 80,000 acres currently treated as wilderness and speed up drilling and mining permits in areas designated as open for energy development.

David Garbett, an attorney with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, said areas designated as wilderness under the plan would receive less protection than they currently would have because officials would not be allowed to cut back any grazing thats already going on.

Some tribal leaders said they stopped meeting with Bishop and Chaffetz because their concerns about protecting an area of southwest Utah were not taken seriously.

American Indian and conservation groups say the area is under constant threat and are petitioning President Barack Obama to designate a 1.9 million-acre Bears Ears National Monument.

Bishop and Chaffetz instead proposed a smaller conservation area where local and state officials would have significant input on how the land is managed.

For the seven counties covered, the proposal seeks some kind of guarantee that the federal government wont upend the deal. That could mean restricting the presidents broad authority to designate new national monuments in one of those areas.

A guarantee against future national monuments could be key to earning support from locals and conservatives, many of whom cite President Bill Clintons designation of 2 million acres in southern Utah as the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument as an overly broad decree that closed off too much area to development.

Officials with the U.S. Department of Interior appreciate Bishop and Chaffetzs plan to find a way to protect Utahs natural resources, but its important that conservation tools as the Antiquities Act are not rolled back, Interior spokeswoman Jessica Kershaw said in a statement.

Kershaw said the department will review the details of the proposal but we remain concerned by the assertion from tribes that their voices are not reflected in this proposal regarding their ancestral lands.

Bishop said he plans to introduce the plan as legislation in Congress within weeks.
An international human rights group has condemned a January 20 Taliban suicide attack that targeted employees of the Afghan news network Tolo TV, killing seven people.

Human Rights Watch said on January 21 that the attack on a minibus carrying Tolo TV employees was an atrocity designed to undermine Afghanistans still-fragile media freedom.

The suicide bomber drove an explosives-laden car into the minibus as it was passing near the Russia Embassy in Kabul.

Twenty-five people, many of them employees of Tolo TVs Kaboora Production affiliate, were injured.

In a statement claiming responsibility for the attack, the Taliban declared Tolo TV a spy agency.

Tolo TV is an independent Afghan media organization that includes television, radio, and online news affiliates.

The Taliban declared the media organization a legitimate military target in late 2015.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, and AFP
Iran's president has criticized the mass disqualification of candidates in next month's parliamentary elections, suggesting the decision could make the vote pointless.



The comments by Hassan Rohani signaled continuing tensions between the president, who has presented himself as a moderate, and powerful hard-liners who control key bodies in the Islamic republic.



Rohani made the comments following reports that the powerful Guardians Council had barred about 60 percent of candidates from running in the February 26 vote.



Reformers, who were hoping to make a comeback in the upcoming vote, have said that only 1 percent of their hopefuls have been allowed to stand in the vote for the 290-seat Majlis.



If only one faction is present in the vote, and the other is not, then why are we holding elections? Rohani was quoted as saying on January 21 in a meeting in Tehran.



Another pro-reform politician, Hossein Marashi, said over the weekend that only 30 out of 3,000 reformist candidates have been qualified to run.



The Majlis, which is elected every four years, has the power to draft and debate legislation, which must be formally approved by the president before becoming law.

In practice, however, unelected bodies like the Guardians Council, which is made up of six clerics and six jurists, hold vast power over what legislation gets passed and gets the final word on who can run in elections.



It's been unclear why the council has moved to strike so many candidates from the elections, though in the past it has disqualified pro-reform candidates and those who are not deemed fully loyal to the clerical establishment and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.



In addition to reformers, some conservatives have been also barred from running, including outspoken lawmaker Ali Motahari, who's been critical of the house arrest of opposition figures.



"The parliament is the house of the nation, not the house of one faction," Rohani said in a January 21 speech to governors and election officials.



"Let's allow the house of the nation to truly reflect our nation and belong to all people," he said.

Supreme Intervention?



Those who have been disqualified can appeal against the decision and, in recent days, Iranian media have published some of the appeal letters by those disqualified.

Former Culture Minister and presidential candidate Mostafa Moeen said the decision to bar him went against Iran's constitution and national interests.



Rohani has reportedly assigned Vice President Eshagh Jahangiri to discuss the disqualifications with the Guardians Council, and Amir Mohebbian, a well-known political analyst aligned with hard-liners, said Rohani could ask Iran's supreme leader to intervene.



"Rohani could use his prestige and, for example, ask the leader to use his status regarding the disqualifications," Mohebbian was quoted as saying by the news site Fararu.com. "But whether the demand will be achieved is another issue."



Another Tehran-based political analyst, Sadegh Zibakalam, said the disqualifications have been so extensive that even some "moderate conservatives" are concerned that it would undermine the vote's legitimacy.



Meanwhile, Mohammad Reza Aref, a reformist politician and former presidential candidate, said he's hopeful that some of the banned candidates will be allowed to run. Aref is among the very few reformists who've been reportedly approved by the Guardians Council.

"So far, we've had good discussions with the Guardians Council and others; I'm hopeful in the review of the disqualifications," Aref was quoted as saying.



Earlier this month, Khamenei called on all Iranian citizens, even those who don't accept him and the clerical establishment, to vote in the February elections, which will also select members of the Assembly of Experts -- which is in charge of picking the country's next supreme leader.


Iran's reformist political parties have called on the country's Guardians Council to reverse its decision to disqualify large numbers of moderates from being candidates in upcoming parliamentary elections.

Nine parties issued a statement on January 20 noting that only 30 of the some 3,000 reformist candidates who applied to be candidates in the February 26 election were allowed to run by the Guardians Council, a constitutional watchdog controlled by hard-liners.

But Guardians Council chief Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati was quoted by the semiofficial ISNA news agency as saying the council "will not be influenced by pressure."

His deputy, Siamak Rahpeik, said on the counci's website that it's likely that as many as 15 percent of those who were disqualified by the Guardians Council will be reinstated during a review process.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told state TV that "enthusiasm" should be drummed up ahead of the elections to increase voter turnout.

Rohani has vowed to use all his constitutional powers to reinstate those candidates who have been barred.

The 290-seat parliament is currently dominated by conservatives.

Based on reporting by AP and Reuters
BISHKEK -- A Kyrgyz police officer has been arrested on charges of selling weapons to terrorists.

The Kyrgyz State Committee for National Security (UKMK) said on January 21 that the police officer was detained on January 17 in the southern region of Jalal-Abad after a suspected terrorist who was detained with guns and ammunition named the officer as a weapons supplier.

Kyrgyz authorities have raised concerns about an increasing number of attacks against police that have been carried out by Islamic extremists in recent months.

Authorities in the mainly Muslim former Soviet republics of Central Asia say hundreds of their citizens have fought alongside Islamic State (IS) militants and other extremists in Syria and Iraq.
Moldova is celebrating the completion of a natural-gas pipeline from Romania that will reduce its reliance on Russia for energy supplies.

The Iasi-Ungheni pipeline will link the small former Soviet republic's gas transport system with that of EU-member Romania.

The Romanian and Moldovan prime ministers along with EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger are near border town of Ungheni for a ceremony inaugurating the pipeline.

Moldovan Prime Minister Iurie Leanca said Bucharest and Chisinau still must negotiate a price for natural gas, which he said he hoped "will be lower than Russian Gazprom's price."

Moldova depends on Russia for almost all its energy needs.

The pipeline cost some 26 million euros ($35 million) and took one year to construct. The EU paid 7 million euros of the cost.

Officials said a pipeline from Ungheni to Chisinau is also planned.

Based on reporting by ITAR-TASS and Mediafax




Luka Kalandarishvili, an intern with RFE/RL's Georgian Service, and RFE/RL's Moldovan Service contributed to this report

Moldova announced earlier this month it was on the cusp of concluding a landmark trade deal with the European Union. But the day before the pact was inked, the Russia-backed breakaway region of Transdniester unilaterally and unexpectedly adopted a law transforming the administrative line separating it from the rest of the country into a "state border."The law enraged Chisinau, as President Nicolae Timofti told reporters on June 17."Somebody wants to destabilize Moldova," he said. "We already know that whenever the Republic of Moldova is close to solving problems related to EU accession, some provocative actions are taken  either by the Transdniestrians or by those who support that region."The heightened tensions in Moldova have been echoed in Georgia, where late last month Russian troops along the administrative line separating the breakaway region of South Ossetia began erecting barbed-wire fences, sometimes several hundred meters further into the territory of Georgia proper.In both cases, the provocative moves by the breakaway regions and their Russian sponsors appear aimed at countering Chisinau and Tbilisi's respective efforts to mitigate the conflicts by intensifying direct relations with the regions while making reunification more attractive by aggressively pursuing EU integration and domestic reforms.Vladimir Socor, a senior fellow with the Jamestown Foundation in Washington, sees analogies between developments in Transdniester and South Ossetia."Now with [Transdniester leader Yevgeny] Shevchuk's decree that attempts or purports to define a 'border,' we have a parallel process [to what happened in South Ossetia] and I'm pretty sure the source of inspiration is a common source in Moscow," he says.Giorgi Khutsishvili, director of the International Center on Conflicts and Negotiation in Tbilisi, adds that the move in South Ossetia was intended to undermine public confidence -- and the confidence of Georgias Western partners -- in the central governments new approach."Russian policy consists of maintaining control levers over their neighbors," he says. "Sometimes the Russians put their opponent countries in situations that shock them. For instance, the barbed-wire fence and moving the administrative line [deeper inside Georgia proper] negatively affected the Georgian people's mood. Why? Everybody thought that relations with the Ossetians were getting better and that Russians wanted this too. But now the situation turned out to be completely different."Since 2009, Moldova has followed a policy dubbed "small steps," which seeks more direct engagement with Transdniester's de facto authorities.Likewise, under Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, Tbilisi has adopted a "de-isolation" policy toward breakaway South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which it is implementing in conjunction with an effort to improve relations with Moscow.Moldova's concerns about possible provocations are intensifying because Chisinau expects to sign an Association Agreement with the EU at the summit of Eastern Partnership countries in Vilnius in November.Officials there have not forgotten that Russian and Transdniestrian separatist forces launched the 1992 war that gave the region its current de facto independence on the very day the United Nations voted to accept Moldova as a full member.According to Socor, neither the de facto Transdniestrian authorities in Tiraspol nor their patrons in Moscow want to see Moldova intensify its relations with the European Union. As the Vilnius summit approaches, he sees Moscow ramping up ties with Transdniester."Moscow's reaction is not so much to create incidents -- although it might, but this is not a primary tool," he says. "The primary tool is to cement relations between Moscow and Tiraspol in a way that [ensures] Transdniester's separation from Moldova becomes irreversible."Socor suggests that Moscow is doing this by opening a de facto consular office in Tiraspol, which is issuing Russian passports at an accelerated rate, by pressuring Chisinau to pay its debts to Gazprom while doing nothing to collect the $3.5 billion that Transdniester owes, and by establishing branches of numerous Russian organizations in Tiraspol and thereby "multiplying ties" between the two.Moreover, Socor adds that Moscow and Tiraspol are simultaneously using Moldova's charm offensive for their own ends."If this process is not handled competently or firmly by Chisinau and its Western partners, it risks leading to the de facto recognition of Tiraspol by Chisinau," he says. "Tiraspol is skillfully trying to exploit the two processes of confidence-building and small steps to elicit this sort of de facto recognition."Socor says Tiraspol is pushing for such creeping recognition by, among other things, trying to get acknowledgment of its vehicle license plates or trying to get its own international telephone dialing code.Dmitry Trenin, director of the Moscow Carnegie Center, thinks Moldova's and Georgia's outreach to their respective breakaway regions is unlikely to lure them back. And he adds that Moscow is not concerned."They have noted those policies but I don't think that they believe those policies will change the situation in any meaningful way," he says.Moscow and the breakaway regions know that many in the European Union take a dim view of moving too close to countries that host protracted conflicts.German member of the European Parliament Werner Schulz is the deputy chairman of that assembly's EU-Russia delegation. He maintains that keeping the territorial conflicts frozen is "counterproductive" for Chisinau and Tbilisi's efforts at EU integration."[The Russians] keep these countries preoccupied, and in the EU there is the opinion that as long as these conflicts are not solved they cannot be candidate states," he says. "We cannot accept a country into the EU that has such internal tensions, such internal problems."
Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Moldova's capital for a second-straight day on January 21, calling for sweeping reforms amid widespread anger against what is perceived as a profoundly corrupt political elite.

The protests have grown despite parliament's approval of a new pro-European government on January 20. The latest rallies took place as new Prime Minister Pavel Filip, a member of the ruling Democrat Party, held his first cabinet meeting.

As night fell on January 21, demonstrators gathered in large numbers in central Chisinau, demanding snap elections and a referendum to change the constitution.

They want the constitution to be amended to provide for direct presidential elections, the reduction of the number of lawmakers from 101 to 71, and the scrapping of parliamentary immunity for lawmakers found guilty of crimes.

Earlier in the day, the movement attracted some 7,000 demonstrators to the center of the capital, most venting their anger at controversial oligarch Vlad Plahotniuc, whom they accuse of controlling the mass-media and manipulating the political elite.

Billionaire Plahotniuc, a former legislator with close ties with the ruling Democratic Party, has been the main target of public ire since a massive banking fraud scandal shook Moldova -- one of Europe's poorest countries -- and triggered the current crisis.

Some $1 billion -- one-eighth of the country's gross domestic product -- disappeared last year from Moldova's banking system, prompting the fall of the government in October.

"One two, one two, we want our billion back from you!" was among the slogans chanted by protesters on January 21.

The main three protest leaders are Igor Dodon and Renato Usatii -- the heads of the pro-Russian Socialist Party and Partidul Nostru (Our Party), respectively -- and Andrei Nastase, the chief of the pro-European Dignity and Truth (DA) party.

The three leaders also held talks with parliament speaker Andrian Candu at the president's residence on January 21. It was not clear whether President Nicoale Timofti attended.

The three gave Candu until 1 p.m. on January 22 to rescind the January 20 parliamentary vote that approved the new, pro-European government.

A large protest rally was called for 10 a.m. on January 22.

According to opinion polls, snap elections could be won by Dodon's and Usatii's pro-Russian parties.

They want to renegotiate Moldovas Association Agreement with the EU and develop stronger ties with Moscow, which bitterly opposed the signing of the agreement in 2014.

WATCH: Former Acting President MIhai Ghimpu Assaulted In Protests

Meanwhile, neighboring Romania, Russia, and the European Union appealed for dialogue and restraint after protesters broke into the parliament building and clashed with riot police after the January 20 vote.

At least 15 people were injured in the scuffles, including nine police officers. Former acting President Mihai Ghimpu was also assaulted by protesters.



"The European Union calls for calm and restraint from all sides," EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said in a statement. "We encourage all stakeholders in the country to engage in a dialogue and find, together, a way forward for the Republic of Moldova."

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis urged Moldova's government to undertake reforms.

On January 20, 57 of the 101 deputies voted in favor of Filip's cabinet in an attempt to bring a three-month-old political crisis to an end.

Several opposition lawmakers briefly interrupted the proceedings, displaying banners demanding "early elections," and blew vuvuzelas -- plastic horns that were popular with the public at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Timofti on January 15 nominated Filip to be the country's prime minister, after two previous nominees failed to gain the office.

The first was Plahotniuc -- whose candidacy, although rejected by Timofti -- sparked protests that grew over the last week.

The second, presidential office staffer Ion Paduraru, withdrew his name shortly after he was nominated by Timofti.

Media controlled by oligarch Plahotniuc last week broadcast reports that pro-Moscow opposition leaders and Russian security forces were planning a coup in Moldova.

But Usatii, who is also mayor of Balti -- Moldova's second-largest city -- denied the reports, labeling them as "nonsense."

With reporting by RFE/RL's Moldovan Service correspondents in Chisinau
Moldova's Council for TV and Radio has suspended the broadcast license of Rossiya 24 (Russia 24) TV channel.

The council on July 4 also placed sanctions on four Moldovan broadcasters.

The council crticized the channels for "not having pluralism of opinions during news programs."

Council member Dinu Cokan said Rossiya 24 was the worst offender with analytical programs presenting only one viewpoint on the Ukrainian conflict,.

"Only one source exists," he said. "Such a TV channel should not be on the list of channels broadcasting in Moldova."

The Moscow Union of Journalists has criticized the measure.

Pavel Gusev, the union's head, told ITAR-TASS, "A ban on the transmission of Rossiya-24 channel, popular with the Russian-speaking population, is a highly unfriendly act against our media."

Based on reporting by Interfax and ITAR-TASS
Moldova's opposition Socialist Party has said it is "deeply outraged" by Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta's statement about his intention to pursue the reunification of Romania with Moldova.

Ponta, who is the ruling Social Democrats' presidential candidate and the favorite to win the November election, told a campaign rally last week that a "second great unification of Romania" should be accomplished by 2018.

The first unification occurred in 1918, when most of present-day Moldova became part of Romania alongside Transylvania and other territories.

The pro-Moscow Moldovan Socialists said in a statement that Ponta "has thrown off the moderate politician's mask"

It said his remarks demonstrated that all Romanian politicians have the same objective: "To destroy and take over Moldova."



Russia has also expressed concern over Ponta's remarks.

Ponta said on September 17 that he meant "Romania's reunification with Moldova within the European Union, and not otherwise."

Romania has been an EU member since 2007, while Moldova initialed an Association Agreement with the 28-member bloc in June.

With additional reporting by hotnews.ro and Interfax
A daughter of slain Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov has rejected conclusions by the chief of Russia's Investigative Committee about her father's shooting death.

Zhanna Nemtsova told Interfax on January 21 that Nemtsov's murder has not been solved because the Investigative Committee "is not interested in fully solving the case."

Nemtsova's remarks came hours after Investigative Committee chief Aleksandr Bastrykin said Nemtsovs murder case had been fully solved.

The Investigative Committee arrested five Chechen men in connection with killing Nemtsov as he was walking outside the Kremlin on February 27, 2015.

They were later charged with his murder.

The Investigative Committee said Ruslan Mukhudinov, the suspected organizer of the killing and a member of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov's security forces, remains at large.

Nemtsov's relatives and lawyers have expressed skepticism about the investigations, insisting the killing must have been ordered by high-ranking Russian officials.

Based on reporting by Interfax, and TASS
Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez, whose party came in second in Spains December 20 general election , is closer than ever to the prime ministers office as a result of his ongoing coalition talks with other parties that oppose four more years of conservative government. But not everyone in the Socialist Party (PSOE) is necessarily happy about the progress being made with anti-austerity party Podemos and regional groups that support separatism in places such as Catalonia and the Basque Country.

Pedro Sanchez in San Sebastian on Wednesday. J.Etxezarreta (EFE)

Podemos itself included the right to a Catalan referendum on self-rule in its platform.

Some regional Socialist leaders are wary of such coalition partners, and are privately advising Sanchez not to compete for the post with the incumbent, Mariano Rajoy of the Popular Party (PP).

Internal opponents to such an alliance talk about the instability that it would mean for Spain at a difficult juncture.

Fears of a Socialist-led government that would be dependent on its associates demands are leading regional officials to demand transparency in the negotiations, so that party members and the public is made aware of the conditions for supporting the PSOE.

The Extremadura premier said his party must not negotiate with other parties that defend referendums on self-rule until they drop these aspirations

These officials also want any cross-party agreement to be first greenlighted by the PSOEs Federal Committee before Sanchez formally bids for office at the upcoming investiture vote.

You cannot negotiate recklessly, and everyone needs to have clear positions, said the Socialist premier of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano Garcia-Page, on Wednesday.

Garcia-Page said it should come as no surprise that it is the Socialists themselves who are putting limits on the negotiations.

Not doing so would be dangerous, he added, speaking at the Fitur tourism trade fair in Madrid.

Garcia-Pages own successful bid for the regional premiership last year was made possible by support from Podemos after both parties entered into public negotiations.

The same holds true for Guillermo Fernandez Vara in Extremadura, Ximo Puig in Valencia, Javier Lamban in Aragon, Javier Fernandez in Asturias and Francina Armengol in the Balearics.

However, Podemoss support only extended to the investiture and did not include the rest of the political term, forcing premiers to seek backing for their initiatives on a case-by-case basis. The system has been working unevenly since June 2015, with some regional houses finding themselves blocked on the budget.

Extremadura premier Guillermo Fernandez Vara, who was also at Fitur, said his party must not negotiate with other parties that defend referendums on self-rule until they first drop these aspirations.

Building bridges to reach out to separatism is fine, as long as you know that both parties are standing on different sides of the bridge, he said.

English version by Susana Urra.
Pakistan was observing a national day of mourning on January 21, one day after a deadly attack by Islamic militants who stormed a university in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, gunning down students and teachers before the four gunmen were killed by Pakistani soldiers.

Meanwhile, the death toll from the January 20 attack on Bacha Khan University in the town of Charsadda rose to 21 when a geology student who was injured died in a hospital early on January 21.

Flags on official buildings and Pakistans parliament were flying at half-staff, and police have increased security at schools across the country, including schools in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province that defiantly remained open.

Provincial Education Minister Arif Khan said only Bacha Khan University and its sister school, Abdul Wali Khan University in the nearby town of Mardan, were closed.

A breakaway faction of Pakistans Taliban took responsibility for the university attack, which resembled the December 2014 Peshawar school massacre by Taliban militants who killed more than 140 children and staff.

With reporting by AP and AFP
WASHINGTON -- The announcement by international human rights lawyer Amal Clooney that she will defend RFE/RL contributor Khadija Ismayilova before the European Court of Human Rights has raised the profile of the case along with hopes among media freedom advocates that the additional attention will help secure Ismayilovas release.

Ismayilova told RFE/RL today through her Baku lawyer that she accepted Clooneys offer because of the courage Clooney demonstrated while defending imprisoned Al-Jazeera journalist Mohamed Fahmy in Egypt in 2014.

RFE/RL Editor in Chief Nenad Pejic welcomed the announcement, saying Amal Clooneys decision to take the case is a powerful affirmation of Khadija and her journalism, adding, Its a triumph for media freedom already. I know that with their combined strength they will win.

Ismayilova, an internationally recognized investigative journalist from Azerbaijan, was sentenced in September, 2015 to over seven years in prison on spurious tax and finance-related charges that are widely believed to have been brought in retaliation for her reporting on corruption linked to members of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyevs family. Not a single witness testified against Ismayilova in a trial that rights groups called a "sham."

International criticism of the Azerbaijani government and Ismayilovas imprisonment reached a high point in December, 2015 with the introduction of H.R.4264, the Azerbaijan Democracy Act. Introduced by Chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe U.S. Rep. Christopher Smith (R-NJ), the bill would impose sanctions on Azerbaijani officials implicated in human rights abuses.

Clooney will represent Ismayilova together with Nani Jansen, head of the London-based Media Legal Defence Initiative.
A court in Russia's northwestern city of Murmansk has fined a local activist for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights on charges of propagating "nontraditional sexual relations" among minors.

The Murmansk-based LGBT rights group Maximum said on January 21 that activist Sergei Alekseyenko was fined 100,000 rubles ($1,200) for his former organization's statement regarding a probe against a gay-rights group in another Russian city.

Alekseyenko says he will appeal the ruling.

He noted that his organization, The Murmansk Center -- which worked for social and psychological assistance to bring legal support to victims of discrimination and homophobia -- was shut down in October 2015 after the Justice Ministry placed it on the official register of organizations "operating as foreign agents."

In 2013, the Russian Duma passed a controversial law banning the promotion of gay "propaganda" to minors.

The law has sparked criticism by domestic and international rights defenders.
MOSCOW -- Upon receiving long-awaited news related to the assassination of a former Russian security agent in London, the popular Moscow-based radio station Vesti FM was among the few state media outlets not to bury it.

There were, however, some glaring omissions in its reporting on the findings of a British public inquiry into the 2006 poisoning of Aleksandr Litvinenko.

Vesti FM completely missed the bombshell allegation of the day: that none other than Russian Vladimir Putin had "probably approved" the killing. It also failed to note that British Judge Robert Owen said the poisoning was "probably" part of an "FSB operation," and made no mention of the "probable" role of then-FSB chief Nikolai Patrushev.

In the West, the report was anxiously awaited as an opportunity to bring closure to a case that left a radioactive trail in London, soured relations with Moscow, and prompted accusations of Kremlin involvement.

Even though the British findings gave credence to the allegations, there were signs even before their release that they would receive scant coverage in Russia's state-dominated media, which closely follows the Kremlin line.

On the eve of the report's publication, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in no uncertain terms that the Russian establishment would not be preoccupied with its conclusions.

WATCH: British Inquiry Points To Putin In Litvinenko Killing

"This investigation is under way in Great Britain, and in this case it is not an issue that is interesting for us and on our agenda," Peskov was quoted as saying on January 20.

Switching Gears

In step, state television networks the next day opened their coverage on political unrest in Moldova, the sharp decline of the ruble, and a meeting of the presidential Council of Science and Education.

When the state television channel Vesti did switch gears, it led with a denial from Andrei Lugovoi, the man accused of carrying out the brazen poisoning involving the use of radioactive polonium-210.

Again, no mention of President Putin's alleged complicity. But there was a follow-up statement from Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, who denounced the report as "politicized," "biased," and set to "darken the mood" in bilateral relations.

Back on Vesti FM, the official commentary was just getting going.

State Duma lawmaker Leonid Kalashnikov told listeners that the public inquiry was a politically motivated attack by London on Russia. "If it hadn't been this, then it would have been something else," he said, pointing without explanation to the critical response to the jailing of members of the punk group Pussy Riot and to the arrest and death in custody of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.

Kalashnikov attacked the wording of the report, saying the findings were couched in inconclusive words like "probably" and "possibly."

The radio station then reported that Lugovoi was "dismayed by the lies" in the report, which he called a "theatrical farce."

Federation Council lawmaker Andrei Klimov took the opportunity to float a new conspiracy theory -- that the report was the product of clan wars in British politics, and was initiated by anti-Russian forces trying to sabotage British partnership with the Kremlin over Syria.

"British political life should not be simplified," Klimov warned on Vesti FM. "There are a lot of players there. And these players sometimes compete with one another. Therefore, perhaps the party of war, the hawks, and the Russophobes are trying to take advantage of all their opportunities."

The Perm region representative also compared Litvinenko's killing to the 1963 assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, which he said was erroneously blamed on Moscow amid a Cold War atmosphere.

'Fine British Humor'

Elsewhere in Russian media, parliamentarians widely denounced the British report.

Ivan Melnikov, the deputy speaker of the State Duma, called the report a "humoristic miniature" in comments carried by Interfax.

"I haven't gone into the details particularly, but I've looked at extracts of the report from this [Judge] Robert Owen," he told the news agency. "It reads like a humoristic miniature: it's 'possibly' and 'maybe' from start to finish. Hypotheses and evidence are two different things."



By late afternoon, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, head of the nationalist Liberal Democrat Party of Russia, had placed blame for Litvinenko's assassination squarely on Boris Berezovsky, the tycoon, Duma member, and Putin critic who left Russia for the United Kingdom, was subsequently stripped of his assets in Russia, and was found hanging dead at his U.K. home in 2013.



In comments carried by Vesti FM, Zhirinovsky claimed that two months before Berezovksy's death, the embattled tycoon told him that he would withdraw his testimony on the Litvinenko investigation so the case would collapse.

"So here the main organizer is Berezovsky, and he also used all of this to somehow take revenge on Russia," he said.

By day's end, the report even triggered a reaction from Peskov, despite the Kremlin spokesman's previously expressed disinterest. Speaking to reporters in Moscow, he concluded that the findings could most likely be "attributed to fine British humor."


The U.S., British, and French defense ministers have criticized Russia's role in the Syria conflict and called on Moscow to stop targeting the opposition forces who are fighting the Islamic State (IS) militant group.

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on January 20 that the Russians "are on the wrong track strategically and also in some cases tactically."

He spoke after a meeting in Paris of the seven defense ministers who are part of a coalition fighting against IS in Syria and Iraq.

"We don't have a basis for broader cooperation [with Russia]," Carter added.

His British counterpart, Michael Fallon, said that he was "very concerned" by Russia's use of unguided weapons that have caused "several hundred [civilian] casualties."

"We've seen Russian strikes on [moderate] opposition forces, on towns and villages, particularly in the south of Syria, which simply prolonging the Syrian war...[and] propping up [Syrian President Bashar al-] Assad," said Fallon.

Russia's Defense Ministry spokesman, Major General Igor Konashenkov, rejected Fallon's claims as "slanderous lies."

Russia insists it is bombing "terrorists" in Syria and has not caused any civilian casualties.

French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Paris hopes that "Russia will concentrate its efforts against [IS] and stop bombing the groups of the uprising [against Assad] who themselves are fighting [IS]."

Based on reporting by AFP and AP
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Julia de Jodar along with Josep Manel Busqueta in the Catalan parlament. Albert Garcia (EL PAIS)

Catalonias anti-capitalist CUP party on Thursday played down revelations that one of its top leaders flew to Caracas in December 2014 aboard a Venezuelan Air Force jet sent to Madrid by President Nicolas Maduro. They were accompanied by a Podemos official and the father of a convicted ETA terrorist.

Antena 3 broadcast exclusively images of passengers boarding the Venezuelan jet in Madrid

The story was broken on Wednesday by Spanish TV channel Antena 3, whose news report broadcast a video of CUP Deputy Anna Gabriel and Maria Jose Aguilar, who is in charge of Podemos in Castilla-La Mancha, boarding the plane at Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas International Airport.

Also traveling with them was Ignacio Gil de San Vicente, father-in-law of ETAs former top leader David Pla and father of terrorist Kizkitza Gil de San Vicente. Pla was arrested last September in France.

The video was taken in early December 2014, Antena 3 said.

We have never tried to hide our sympathy for Venezuela, said former deputy Josep Manuel Busqueta in a radio interview. We have shared many measures with Venezuela.

According to the television network, the video is another example of the ties that exist between the Maduro government and the anti-capitalist movement in Catalonia, ETA and Podemos.

Who are CUP? CUP has made regular headlines since the September regional elections in Catalonia, which saw them end up with the key to power in the region given that no party secured a majority in parliament. In an 11th-hour deal earlier this month, they agreed to vote in favor of the investiture of Carles Puigdemont as premier, having rejected voting Artur Mas, of the Junts pel Si group, back in to power. Both CUP and Junts pel Si are in favor of independence for Catalonia, but share few other policies in common. The small anti-capitalist party supports Catalonia leaving the euro zone and NATO.

Podemos has repeatedly denied that it has received any financial backing from Venezuela. But some members have acknowledged that they had worked as private consultants to the government in Caracas.

When asked by Antena 3 what she did on the trip, Gabriel, who is the CUP spokeswoman in the Catalan parliament, replied: Many interesting things.

Busqueta explained that Gabriel took part in an international meeting of intellectuals and artists in defense of humanity.

Besides the three, about 30 other passengers from other countries also boarded the Venezuelan Air Force jet, which was located in the private area of Madrids airport, Antena 3 said.

English version by Martin Delfin.
A pair of legislators from opposing parties are trying once again to get the state involved in a regional cap-and-trade program they say would help the environment while raising money to deal with rising sea levels at the coast and to fund programs aimed at making homes more energy efficient.

Sen. A. Donald McEachin, D-Henrico, and Del. Ronald A. Villa-nueva, R-Virginia Beach, said Wednesday that their recently introduced bill would generate $250 million in new state revenue if Virginia becomes the 10th state to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

The bill, called the Virginia Alternative Energy and Coastal Protection Act of 2016, leaves open the option for the state to create its own coalition for a cap-and-trade system for carbon dioxide emissions. A similar bill filed by Villanueva last year died in committee.

At least half of the money raised as part of the cap-and-trade agreement would help coastal communities dealing with rising sea levels, while 30 percent would go toward programs aimed at making homes waste less energy.

Trying to do the right thing by the environment is not a Democratic issue; its not a Republican issue. Its something we should all be concerned about, McEachin said during a news conference Wednesday morning with Villanueva and energy efficiency groups to promote the bill.

Dominion Virginia Power, the states largest utility, has been opposed to a move requiring the state to join the nine-state greenhouse gas initiative, noting that it could result in higher electricity rates. Those states have energy bills that are on average much higher than those in the Dominion Virginia Power territory. The carbon-cutting targets within the initiative are more aggressive than the new federal rules known as the Clean Power Plan, for which the state and utilities are in the midst of planning.

We are reviewing the bill, but at first blush it looks like it would raise rates considerably in Virginia  at a time when Dominions residential rates are currently 32 percent below the average of states under the RGGI structure, said Dominion Virginia Power spokesman David Botkins. RGGI states have a very different energy situation, including higher costs, different usage patterns, lower growth rates, and different generation mixes.

Dawone Robinson, Virginia policy director for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, said the energy-savings programs that are part of the legislation would help the states poorest residents. A recent study at Virginia Tech found that efficiency upgrades could save many renters up to $54 a month in heating and cooling costs.
A delegation of journalists who cover the state Capitol met with key state senators Wednesday to discuss the removal of reporters access to the Senate floor.

There was no resolution of the issue at the meeting, which lasted about an hour, but the journalists and senators aired their concerns and expect further discussions.

The Virginia Capitol Correspondents Association appreciates the opportunity to discuss the issue of media access with Senate leadership, the groups president, Richmond Times-Dispatch political reporter Jim Nolan, said in a statement on behalf of the organization.

It was a productive dialogue, and we are continuing our efforts to restore press access to the chamber floor, where reporters have kept Virginians informed of the workings of their government for more than a century.

Jeff Ryer, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment Jr., R-James City, said in a brief telephone interview that the discussions were cordial, informative and productive.

This was the first meeting, he said. Im sure there will be another.

On Jan. 13, the first day of the General Assembly session, the Senate, in which Republicans hold a 21-19 edge, voted along party lines for a change in Senate rules that removed reporters access from the floor, where journalists have covered the state Senate for decades.

Press tables that had been on opposite sides of the rostrum had been removed. Reporters now must cover Senate sessions from the gallery above the floor, a vantage point that journalists say makes it harder to observe senators interactions and to get copies of floor amendments and vote tallies.

Senators attending the meeting Wednesday in a conference room off the Senate chamber included Norment; Senate Minority Leader Richard L. Saslaw, D-Fairfax; Senate Majority Whip William M. Stanley Jr., R-Franklin County; and Ryan T. McDougle, R-Hanover, chairman of the Senate Republican Caucus.

Topics that were discussed included Republican senators concerns about limited space on the Senate floor and about reporters adherence to long-standing rules governing when journalists can interact with senators on the floor, Stanley said in a phone interview.

He said the discussion also touched on the issue of who should be entitled to credentials permitting access to the floor  traditional, or all types of media, including bloggers.

Media has changed, Stanley said. Internet journalism holds many forms.

The discussions are ongoing and certainly moving in a positive direction, Stanley added. I thought it was a very good start to what we hope will be a resolution that will benefit everyone involved.
Using a drone to help fix power lines is OK. Using a drone to spy on a sunbathing neighbor is not OK. But drawing a legal distinction between good drones and bad drones may be a tricky task for the Virginia General Assembly.

Several legislators have proposed new laws to give property owners more privacy from proliferating eyes in the sky. The patrons seemed to have difficulty Wednesday convincing a House of Delegates subcommittee their proposals were narrow enough to outlaw creepy stuff, a term used throughout the meeting, without hurting a fast-emerging industry.

Proponents said their bills were aimed at surveillance and harassment, but committee members pointed out that, as written, some of the bills would make it a crime to use a camera-rigged drone in your own backyard if the photos also showed a neighbors property, even if the drone didnt cross the property line.

Its just not illegal, said Del. Robert B. Bell, R-Albemarle, the chairman of the House Courts of Justice subcommittee on criminal laws, which took up a block of eight drone-related bills. Its not actionable. Its not anything.

Committee members asked whether strict drone regulation would affect such things as Google Earth and Amazons planned drone delivery service.

As you go forward, I would not reject the fundamental premise of trying to protect the privacy of people, like my kids in my backyard, said Del. L. Scott Lingamfelter, R-Prince William, the patron of a bill to make capturing or disseminating unauthorized drone images a misdemeanor offense.

Using a drone to look in someones window is already covered by the states anti-peeping law.

Representatives from several industries spoke at the meeting to request exemptions for activities such as newsgathering and the inspection of power lines. Most bills already include utility exemptions.

Looming over the discussion is the lack of clarity on airspace rights, which Del. David B. Albo, R-Fairfax, hopes to remedy with a bill that would give property owners rights up to 500 feet, the maximum flying height for drones under rules set by the Federal Aviation Administration.

It seems from our research that Thomas Jefferson and John Smith and all the people before them knew that you would get rights to the grass and everything underneath because you could mine, Albo said.

But apparently they never predicted that there might be these aerial drone things that could be controlled by things called computers. They really missed the mark on this one.

The idea of establishing a 500-foot no-trespassing zone above homes raised more questions. A representative from quarry company Luck Stone asked how it would apply in a 400-foot-deep quarry. Would the air column begin at the bottom? Or the top?

Speaking on behalf of Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who attended the first-ever drone delivery of medicine in Wise County last year, Secretary of Technology Karen Jackson said the bills could hurt the economy.

We are very, very concerned about all these bills, Jackson said.

One exception to Jacksons statement was a bill filed by Del. Terry G. Kilgore, R-Scott, that would prohibit localities from enacting their own drone regulations, an idea widely supported by the subcommittee.

The subcommittee took no action on the bills and said it would revisit them next week.

A visibly frustrated Del. C. Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah, said the body couldnt do anything because it hadnt been offered any solutions.
Diegos parents, Carmen and Manuel Gonzalez.  Carlos Rosillo (EL PAIS)

The parents of an 11-year-old boy who killed himself by jumping from the window of the familys fifth-floor apartment in Madrid are hoping his moving suicide note will convince the courts to reopen the case.

I will never forget you, Diego wrote to his mother Carmen Gonzalez, 52, and father Manuel Gonzalez, 57, before ending his life on October 14 of last year. He also dedicated words to his grandfather, uncle and half-brother, before explaining: I am telling you this because I cannot stand going to school and there is no other way not to go.

A court closed the case after it was unable to determine if third parties had been involved in the boys death

Diegos parents believe the note shows that school bullying may have been to blame for their son deciding to take his own life and are calling for the case to be reopened, according to sources.

A court in the Madrid satellite town of Leganes closed the investigation in December after it was unable to determine if third parties had been involved in the boys death.

In their own investigation, Madrid school inspectors had previously ruled out bullying as the cause but are now set to review the case after the parents made the letter public in Spanish daily El Mundo this week.

During their initial inquiry, inspectors failed to speak to the family because, a regional education department spokesman explained, their work is confined to the school environment unless the parents file a complaint.

Madrid regional premier Cristina Cifuentes is now set to meet Carmen and Manuel Gonzalez, while the education department is not ruling out a new investigation.

I ask you not to split up, mum and dad, only seeing you together and happy will I be happy, Diego wrote

The couple had no evidence to prove that their son was being bullied. Carmen Gonzalez recalled this week that Diego had been very anxious for several months and had not wanted to go to school. The day before he died he came out of school looking very pale, but she had been unable to get anything out of him, she said.

Diego was an intelligent, very special and very affectionate child, she added.

Mum, Dad, these 11 years I have spent with you have been very good and I will never forget them as I will never forget you, he wrote to his parents. Alone the two of you are incredible, but together you are the best parents in the world. [] I ask you not to split up, Mum and Dad, only seeing you together and happy will I be happy. I will miss you and I hope that one day we will be able to see each other again.

School inspectors failed to speak to the family during their initial inquiry into Diegos death

The familys lawyer, Robinson Guerrero, says that more than a dozen parents from the Catholic public-private school that Diego attended have been in contact to tell them about other cases.

With a matter as serious as the suicide of a minor, the investigation has to be followed through to the end, he said.

We want the truth to come out, added Manuel Gonzalez.

Mariano Cano is one of the parents who runs the Nuestra Senora de Los Angeles school in the Madrid working-class district of Villaverde: We are shocked and shaken, he said. We have not detected even the slightest sign of bullying, nor was there any problem with this boy. From the beginning, we have been in contact with the family and are collaborating with the police investigation and the education department.

English version by Nick Funnell.
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Drivers on Madrid's access roads observing the 70 km/h speed limit. Alvaro Garcia

The city of Madrid has approved a stringent new protocol to deal with high pollution levels.

In a worst-case scenario of persisting and acute air contamination, city officials could ban all vehicles from entering the downtown area contained within the M-30 ringroad.

The rules, which the city council will debate next week, are set to go into force on February 1.

The biggest pollution problems are in the 41 km2 contained within the M-30 ringroad, home to 1.1 million people

The original protocol was designed by the previous conservative administration of Ana Botella, but has been toughened up by the current government led by Manuela Carmena, of the leftist coalition Ahora Madrid, due to the persistently high pollution levels in the city.

Residents of the Spanish capital are already familiar with the effects of the air-improvement plan after drivers were instructed to observe 70km/h speed limits on the M-30 and other access roads on several occasions last fall.

Additionally, parking in downtown metered areas was banned altogether for a couple of days  with exceptions made for delivery trucks, ambulances, taxis and local residents with parking permits.

Gran Via going under? B. G. G. The city of Madrid is considering whether to take part of Gran Via and Princesa streets underground, as part of an urban renewal plan for the iconic Plaza de Espana square. On February 28, city officials will publish an 18-point questionnaire that residents will be able to respond to for the next 40 days to express their views on the matter. The answers will be taken into account when the city calls a public competition in April to select a project for the area. Several Madrid associations and members of the political opposition have rejected the plans, when so many neighborhoods are in need of urgent measures. Socialist councilor Mercedes Gonzalez said that reforming Plaza de Espana is not a priority because so many other parts of the city are in a very worrisome state of deterioration.

Under the new rules, exceptionally high pollution levels could lead authorities to ban the circulation of vehicles within this area altogether. Another scenario contemplates a system of allowing cars on roads alternately depending on whether their license plates are odd- or even-numbered.

Madrid has been exceeding the nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) threshold set by the European Union since the creation of the monitoring system in 2010. Besides the serious health issues raised, the city could also face a hefty fine from Brussels if it fails to address the problem.

Nitrogen dioxide, which originates chiefly in diesel engine emissions, had been decreasing in Madrid for a couple of years, then spiked again in 2015 due to a rise in traffic (itself, presumably, the effect of Spains improving economy).

Madrid is divided into five areas. The biggest pollution problems are in the 41km2 contained within the M-30 ringroad, an area that is home to 1.1 million people.

The EU established a single alert level of 400 micrograms of NO 2 per cubic meter, for two straight hours, at three separate measurement stations. These conditions have never been seen before in Madrid.

Former Mayor Botella created two other levels that come before this one  warning (250 micrograms) and pre-warning (200 micrograms). Under the new rules, there are four possible scenarios of escalating gravity. The first and second ones have already been implemented with the speed limits and parking bans.

Scenarios 3 and 4 have not been invoked yet, and would involve banning road traffic depending on the car plates, or even altogether.

English version by Susana Urra.
RICHMOND  A delegation of journalists who cover the state Capitol met with key state senators Wednesday to discuss the removal of reporters access to the Senate floor.

There was no resolution of the issue at the meeting, which lasted about an hour, but the journalists and senators aired their concerns and expect further discussions.

The Virginia Capitol Correspondents Association appreciates the opportunity to discuss the issue of media access with Senate leadership, the groups president, Richmond Times-Dispatch political reporter Jim Nolan, said in a statement on behalf of the organization.

It was a productive dialogue and we are continuing our efforts to restore press access to the chamber floor, where reporters have kept Virginians informed of the workings of their government for more than a century.

Jeff Ryer, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Thomas Norment, R-James City County, said in a brief telephone interview that the discussions were cordial, informative and productive.

This was the first meeting, he said. Im sure there will be another.

On Jan. 13, the first day of the General Assembly session, the Senate, in which Republicans hold a 21-19 edge, voted along party lines for a change in Senate rules that removed reporters access from the floor, where journalists have covered the state Senate for decades.

Press tables that had been on opposite sides of the rostrum had been removed. Reporters now must cover Senate sessions from the gallery above the floor, a vantage point that journalists say makes it harder to observe senators interactions and to get copies of floor amendments and vote tallies.

Senators attending the meeting Wednesday in a conference room off the Senate chamber included Norment; Senate Minority Leader Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax County; Senate Majority Whip Bill Stanley, R-Franklin County; and Ryan McDougle, R-Hanover County, chairman of the Senate Republican Caucus.

Topics that were discussed included Republican senators concerns about limited space on the Senate floor and about reporters adherence to long-standing rules governing when journalists can interact with senators on the floor, Stanley said in a phone interview.

He said the discussion also touched on the issue of who should be entitled to credentials permitting access to the floor  traditional, or all types of media, including bloggers. Media has changed, Stanley said. Internet journalism holds many forms.

The discussions are ongoing and certainly moving in a positive direction, Stanley said. I thought it was a very good start to what we hope will be a resolution that will benefit everyone involved.
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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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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

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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

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The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022

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This criminal act is another proof that the Armenophobia policy. Tatoyan

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Student protesters look out from a prison vehicle as they are transported to a Letpadan court in March 2015.

 2015 Reuters





By Human Rights Watch

January 18, 2016





Students, Land Rights Activists, and Journalists Face Bogus Charges





(Bangkok)  Burmese authorities should immediately drop all politically motivated charges against hundreds of detainees and unconditionally release them, Human Rights Watch said today. President Thein Sein should fulfill pledges he made over three years ago to free all of the countrys political prisoners.





Burmas growing number of political prisoners is the most glaring indictment of President Thein Seins human rights record, said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director. In the waning days of his administration, the president could leave a positive legacy by immediately and unconditionally freeing all of those unjustly held.





Organizations of former political prisoners in Burma estimate that there are 128 people who have been convicted and are serving time for political offenses. Another 472 are currently facing apparently politically motivated charges, including 23 arrested since the November 8 election. Many are students, land rights activists, journalists, and an increasing number of people charged with criminal defamation for social media posts or allegedly insulting religion.





Many activists have been charged and convicted for violating section 18 of the seriously flawed Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law , which requires prior police approval for public assemblies.





Several prominent cases of current political prisoners include:





- More than 50 Burmese students will again appear in court in Tharawaddy, Pegu Region on January 19, 2016, after being arrested in March 2015 following the polices violent crackdown on their protest over the National Education Bill. They are charged under several provisions of the Penal Code for rioting and abuse of officials; no police officers have been charged for unnecessary or excessive use of force. Authorities have brought the students to court more than 30 times since their arrest. The group includes prominent student leaders Honey Oo and Phyo Phyo Aung , both of whom were imprisoned previously for peaceful political activities.





- Social worker Patrick Kum Jaa Lee who has been charged under section 66(d) of the Telecommunications Law for defamation connected to a Facebook post in October that allegedly mocked the military. He remains jailed without bail despite his declining health. Youth activist Chaw Hsandi Tun was sentenced in December to six months in prison for a Facebook post from October comparing the color of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyis skirt with the uniform of the military commander in chief.





Interfaith activists Zaw Zaw Latt and Ma Pwint Phyu Latt from the Mandalay Interfaith Social Volunteer Youth Group were arrested in July 2015 and charged with offenses under article 17(1) of the Unlawful Associations Act as well as immigration offenses for visits they made to the headquarters of the Kachin Independence Army in 2013. Both face a prolonged trial, and many local activists believe the authorities are prosecuting them because of their efforts to promote religious tolerance among all religions in Mandalay.





- Writer and former National League for Democracy (NLD) information officer Htin Lin Oo was sentenced to two years hard labor in June 2015 for allegedly insulting religion in a speech at a literary event in which he called for religion not to be tainted by politics. The ultra-nationalist Buddhist movement, the Association for the Protection of Race and Religion, or Ma Ba Tha, allegedly urged local officials to file charges against Htin Lin Oo. Three others were sentenced to two years hard labor in late 2014 on the same charges of insulting religion after posting an image of Buddha wearing headphones to a Facebook event page, which was deemed to demean the image of the Buddha.





- Several journalists including the chief executive officer of the now defunct Unity news journal, Tint San, and four of his reporters, Yarzar Oo, Paing Thet Kyaw, Lu Maw Naing, and Sithu Soe, were sentenced in 2014 to 10 years for disclosing state secrets and trespassing as a result of a story Unity ran alleging the Burmese military was manufacturing chemical weapons. Their sentence has since been reduced to seven years.





The rising number of activists wrongfully detained shows the urgent need to revoke the numerous rights-abusing laws used to target them, Robertson said. That such a wide cross-section of Burmese civil society voices have been locked up for exercising the freedoms the government touts as progress demonstrates the continued intensity of intimidation and repression in Burma.





Prior to United States President Barack Obamas visit to Burma in November 2012, President Thein Sein had pledged to free the remaining political prisoners throughout Burma. Soon thereafter, he formed a Remaining Political Prisoner Scrutiny Committee, which included government officials, parliamentarians, and former political prisoner advocates. The committee made considerable progress, and by early 2014 there were only approximately 25 political prisoners remaining behind bars. But that number soon grew again as the government arrested and jailed people protesting on land rights, education, and other government policies and actions. In early 2015, the government formed a new political prisoner review committee and appointed as its leader a hardline deputy minister for home affairs, an army general. The committee excluded former political prisoners working as rights activists.





In January 2016, a senior official of the incoming NLD government, which won a landslide victory in the November 8 nationwide elections , pledged that their government would ensure there are no political prisoners during their term. The party also issued a definition of a political prisoner in order to guide decisions on releasing individuals from prison: a political prisoner is anyone arrested, detained or imprisoned for their direct or indirect activities to promote freedom, equality, and human and civil rights, including ethnic minorities, as well as for involvement in anti-government protests. The NLD has large numbers of former political prisoners among its members following decades of repression by the former military government.





The party will come under intense domestic pressure to release all remaining political prisoners and rein in local officials who still target activists.





Thein Sein shouldnt wait for the new government to take office in late March to free those who should never have been imprisoned in the first place, Robertson said. Their charges should be dropped and they should be released now.




NKR National Assembly calls upon PACE colleagues to refrain from adopting documents jeopardizing stability and peace in the region

The inclusion of the two draft resolutions based on Robert Walters report Escalation of violence in Nagorno Karabakh and other occupied territories of Azerbaijan, and Milica Markovics report Inhabitants of frontier regions of Azerbaijan are deliberately deprived of water in the agenda of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Winter Session has caused major public concern in Artsakh as well as among the political forces represented in the National Assembly. The Karabakhi side has always been willing to cooperate with international structures; however, we deem unacceptable prejudiced and tendentious reports and the language referred therein. It is obvious that, in violation of the norms and principles of the PACE, aforementioned reports and draft resolutions reflect solely the views of one party to the conflict i. e., Azerbaijan, and ignore the proposals of the Armenian sides as well as the position of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship, the only international mediation structure mandated to deal with the conflict between Azerbaijan and Karabakh. Against the background of the growing tensions along the Line of Contact between the armed forces of Azerbaijan and Karabakh, adoption of resolutions supporting the bellicose stance of Azerbaijan will allow Baku authorities to continually disregard the proposals made by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs to reduce tension and can also be interpreted by it as a carte blanche to resolve the conflict through the use of force. Any predisposed action, which has not been discussed and agreed in advance with the mandated international mediators, might upset the fragile balance and lead to unleashing a full-scale war. In view of the aforesaid and considering the Council of Europe a leading organization protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms, as well as promoting the principles of legal state and the rule of law; We, Members of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic National Assembly representing all parliamentary factions, call upon our distinguished colleagues in the Parliamentary Assembly, to respect the Council of Europes goals and missions and to refrain from adopting documents that will jeopardize the stability and peace in the region. "Motherland" "Dashnaktsutyun" "Democracy" "Movement-88" "Renaissance" factions of the NKR National Assembly 21 January 2016 Stepanakert
The action does not mean the AUMF will come up for debate any time soon, a point that was repeatedly emphasized by senators and staffers on Thursday.

The president is calling on the Congress to stand up, be counted. Im gonna stand up, be counted, Graham told reporters. If our Democratic friends dont want to give this president and other presidents the ability to go after ISIS without limitation to geography, time and means, be on the record.

The former Republican presidential candidate said he disagreed with Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corkers decision not to take up a draft AUMF in committee unless it already had strong bipartisan support.
In every presidential race, there invariably comes a moment when the pundits and predictors realize, to their horror, the favorite could lose. That moment came in the past week for Hillary Clinton.

It wasnt a single event, but rather the slow chipping away of her aura of inevitability until she was revealed as a political mortal like everyone else. One factor was her uneven debate performance Sunday night that was only saved by her passionate invocation of the Flint, Mich., water crisis. Also contributing to the media buzz kill was a new CNN/WMUR poll that showed her losing New Hampshire by almost 2 to 1.

These are, quite possibly, just blips. All New Hampshire polls should come with the reminder that 48 percent of Granite State Democrats said in 2008 exit polls they had only made up their minds in the past week. To update Mark Twain: If you dont like the polling in New Hampshire, just wait a few minutes.
Nairit will work: promises of Deputy Minister inspired Nairit employees (video)

12:20 Deputy Minister Levon Shahverdyan met with the Nairit employees outside the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources. He spoke to them and also touched upon Nairits debt, which was written off by the Interstate Bank. The Deputy Minister noted that there are already 3 Russian organizations, which are interested in the reopening of Nairit, negotiations are underway. He also assured that if the plant reopens, the best former employees will restore their jobs. The words of Deputy Minister inspired Nairit employees. The new meeting is planned on January 27 near the Government building. 12:00 Former employees of Nairit plant today gathered outside the Government building with the demand to reopen Nairit plant. In the interview with us they noted that today they wouldnt hand over any claim or letter to the Government, they werent waiting for any representative of the Government. They came to discuss organizational issues. They decided to move to the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, where at present Minister Yervand Zakharyan is giving a press conference. Nairit employees will try to enter in order to present their demands personally.
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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

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
Media conglomerate Viacom Inc. (VIAB,VIA) disclosed in the filing that its Founder and Executive Chairman Sumner Redstone's annual compensation in fiscal 2015 declined 85% to $2 million, versus a total of $13 million in 2014.

The company specified that Redstone's salary was unchanged in fiscal 2015. The company added that 92-year-old billionaire became ineligible to receive a bonus beginning in fiscal 2015 and has not been eligible to receive an annual equity award since fiscal 2012.

Viacom also said President and Chief Executive Officer Philippe Dauman's bonus declined 30% to $14 million in fiscal 2015, versus $20 million in the prior year and his contractually provided salary and annual equity award were substantially unchanged.

Dauman received a salary of $4 million in fiscal 2015, versus a salary of $3.9 million in fiscal 2014, and an annual equity award valued at $18.9 million in fiscal 2015, compared with an annual equity award valued at $19.9 million in fiscal 2014.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
Taiwan's Foxconn has offered about 625 billion yen to take over Sharp Corp.(SHCAY.PK), the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Japanese electronics maker Sharp, which has been bailed out repeatedly by banks, is set to review a competing offer from Innovation Network Corp. of Japan, a government-backed investment fund.

Foxconn and Sharp declined to comment. INCJ couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

The Nikkei newspaper reported this week that the fund was weighing a bid that could top 300 billion yen.

In December, Kyodo News reported that Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., proposed to buy the struggling Japanese electronics maker for about 300 billion yen or $2.5 billion.

U.S. buyout firm KKR & Co (KKR) is apparently taking an interest in Sharp Corp, Nikkei reported in December. Japan Display, whose top shareholder is the government-sponsored Innovation Network Corp. of Japan, is looking to acquire Sharp's liquid crystal display business, the Nikkei added.

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Mosquito-borne Zika virus, which had a devastating outbreak in Latin America, has begun cropping up in the US as Florida, Texas, and Illinois have recorded cases of the disease for the first time, reports quoting officials said.

A traveler returning to the United States from El Salvador in November fell ill with fever, rash and joint pain. Following month-long tests and investigations, it was confirmed that he had brought the virus into the country.

A Hawaiian newborn was confirmed by the health officials last week as the first case in the US. He was born with microcephaly, a Zika-associated condition involving a malformed skull and brain. The mother likely had Zika infection when she was residing in Brazil in May 2015 and her newborn acquired the infection in the womb. However, Hawaii health officials said in a statement Wednesday that neither the baby nor the mother is infectious and there was never a risk of transmission in Hawaii.

All of those diagnosed with Zika in the US were reportedly infected in countries overseas where Zika began circulating, health officials said. Two of the Florida cases occurred in Miami-Dade County from where residents traveled to Colombia in December. The third case is a resident from the Tampa area in St. Petersburg, who contracted the disease in Venezuela in the same month. Blood tests were confirmed by the state public health laboratory in Tampa. No official tally of US cases is available, according to officials.

Locally transmitted Zika has not been reported elsewhere in the United States, but cases of Zika have been reported in returning travelers, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said. It issued a yellow travel alert Friday, advising pregnant women to consider postponing travel to Mexico, Puerto Rico and more than a dozen other countries in South America, Central America and the Caribbean where outbreaks of Zika have been registered. The agency warned all travelers to these areas that they take precautions and avoid mosquito bites.

The virus has quickly spread across South America and the Caribbean in recent weeks. Over 3,800 cases of microcephaly have been reported in Brazil, where the virus has already killed five babies, while another 44 deaths are being investigated.

Brazil, which is experiencing the largest known outbreak of Zika, has seen a further rise in the number of babies born with abnormally small heads to mothers infected with the virus.

Zika virus is spread to people through mosquito bites. It cannot spread among humans. However, for pregnant women, it can be transmitted to the fetus which can cause microcephaly in which the brain and skull are abnormally small.

The Aedes aegypti mosquito is the insect that transmits the viruses that can spread zika fever, dengue fever, chikungunya, and yellow fever. The Aedes Aegypti mosquito is common in warm climates, including Southeast Asia, Africa, South America, Central America, the Caribbean and the Southeast US. Zika virus often produces flu-like symptoms like fever, headaches and joint pain as well as skin rashes and conjunctivitis (red eyes).

CDC has warned that because the Aedes species mosquitoes that spread Zika virus are found throughout the world, it is likely that outbreaks will spread to new countries.

Since there is no vaccine to prevent or medicine to treat Zika, CDC advised travelers to protect themselves from this disease by taking steps to prevent mosquito bites. When traveling to countries where Zika virus or other viruses spread by mosquitoes have been reported, people are advised to use insect repellent, wear long sleeves and pants, and stay in places with air conditioning or that use window and door screens.

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Business News
Our unholy rotten soulless criminal America destroying government killed 4 Americans in Banghazi. Period! What sort of... Posted by Ted Nugent on Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Musician and conservative stalwart Ted Nugent wants President Barack Obama and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton tried for treason and executed for their supposed role in the 2012 Benghazi attacks.

Republicans are doing their best to revive the fading Benghazi scandal, hoping to dent Clinton's campaign.

Political analysts say Democratic rival Bernie Sanders would be easier for the GOP to defeat in the general election.

Tens of thousands recently showed up in Dallas for a stadium screening of "13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi," the Michael Bay movie based off the book "13 Hours," written by Mitchell Zuckoff and the surviving members of the Annex Security Team.

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Sarah Palin blames President Barack Obama for her son's arrest on domestic violence charges.

During a campaign stop on behalf of Donald Trump, the failed VP candidate said Track Palin was suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder fueled by the president's "disrespectful" treatment of veterans.

On Tuesday, Track Palin was arrested for beating his girlfriend and then threatening to kill himself.

"I guess it's kind of the elephant in the room - because my own family, going through what we're going through today with my son, a combat vet having served in a Stryker brigade, fighting for you all, America, in the war zone. But my son, like so many others, they come back a bit different. They come back hardened," Palin said.

So when my own son is going through what he goes through, coming back, I can certainly relate with other families who feel these ramifications of some PTSD and some of the woundedness that our soldiers do return with."

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Senate Republicans fell short of the votes needed in an attempt to override President Barack Obama's veto of a bill disapproving of the Environmental Protection Agency's efforts to expand its regulatory authority over small waterways.

The Senate voted 52 to 40 in favor of a procedural motion to move forward with the override attempt, short of the 60 votes needed. An override would have required a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate.

The vote largely came down along party lines, as just three Democrats voted for the motion and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, was the only Republican to vote "nay."

Eight Senators, including presidential candidates Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Tex., Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., did not vote.

Last Wednesday, the House voted 253 to 166 to pass a resolution that would prevent the implementation of the EPA regulation known as the "Waters of the U.S." rule.

Obama subsequently vetoed the resolution on Tuesday, calling the rule critical to efforts to protect the nation's waters and keep them clean.

"We must protect the waters that are vital for the of our communities and the success of our businesses, agriculture, and energy development," Obama said in his veto message. "As I have noted before, too many of our waters have been left vulnerable."

He added, "Because this resolution seeks to block the progress represented by this rule and deny businesses and communities the regulatory certainty and clarity needed to invest in projects that rely on clean water, I cannot support it."

Supporters of the rule claim it would clarify which waters are protected by federal law and eliminate uncertainty about the reach of the Clean Water Act.

However, opponents describe the "Waters of the U.S." rule as a unilateral expansion of federal authority that will hurt job creation.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ken., claimed the rule would grant federal bureaucrats dominion over nearly every piece of land that touches a pothole, ditch, or puddle.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
Japan will on Friday see preliminary January results for the manufacturing PMI from Nikkei, highlighting a light day for Asia-Pacific economic activity.

The PMI is expected to come in with a score of 52.8 - up from 52.6 and further above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

Taiwan will release December figures for unemployment and industrial production. The jobless rate is called at a seasonally adjusted 3.85 percent, up fractionally from 3.84 percent in November. Output is tipped to slide 5.6 percent on year after losing 4.94 percent in the previous month.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
Saudi aggression destroys 136 mosques in Sana'a





SANA'A, Jan. 21 (Saba)  The Saudi-led coalition has destroyed 136 mosques in all districts of Sana'a province.



More than 49 mosques have been targeted directly and others damaged indirectly, said Ayman Abdulqader, director general of endowments and guidance office in Sana'a province.



Abdulqader explained that 19 mosques have been destroyed in Sanhan and Bani Bahlol districts, 13 mosques in Hamdan, five mosques in Belad al-Aros, three in each of Bani Matar and Nehm, four mosques in Khawlan and al-Haimah al-Dakhelia and one mosque in each of Jihana and Bani Hushaish.



He affirmed that over 80 per cent of the destroyed mosques are part of the heritage and religious history of Yemen, especially those have exceeded hundreds of years old, like the mosque and shrine of Imam al-Sana'ani.



The director general of Endowments office called on the humanitarian organizations and the international community to quickly intervene to stop the brutal Saudi aggression on all the elements of life in Yemen.



HA/BA



Saba

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[21/January/2016]
Russian Embassy didnt accept activists letter (video)

Action in support of Hayk Kyureghyan and Gevorg Safaryan; about twenty citizens gathered near Myasnikyan Statue with posters in their hands. In the interview with A1+ member of the Founding Parliament Gagik Yeghiazaryan noted, Now we have information that violence was used against Gevorg Safaryan, and they want to transfer him to another prison, where there are criminals. He highlighted that it is done by the authorities in order to create atmosphere of fear. Activist Syuzi Gevorgyan, who was attacked days ago, noted, They still continue persecuting me near the house, yard; the authorities try to frighten me, but if you have clear goal, nothing can hinder you. The statement of the activists also reads that Hayk Kyureghyan has been holding thirst strike for already 4 days. With their letter they want to draw the attention of the foreign diplomatic representations in the RA to the issue. The participants of the action hand over a letter to the Embassy of France and moved to the RF Embassy, but their letter wasnt accepted there. Activists threw the letter into the letter box of the Embassy. They are also planning to go the US Embassy and the UNO office.
EU-Armenia framework agreement is compatible with approach promoted within the Eastern Partnership: Strasbourg

Next Meeting of the EU-Armenia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee Ends in Strasbourg: Final Statement and Recommendations are Adopted On January 21, the next sixteenth meeting of the EU-Armenia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee (PCC) ended in Strasbourg, where the RA NA Delegation composed of the NA deputies Samvel Farmanyan (Head of Delegation), Alexander Arzumanyan, Aghvan Vardanyan, Nikol Pashinyan, Vahe Enfiajyan, Edmon Marukyan and Levon Dokholyan, took part. There were discussions on the perspectives of Armenia-EU relations, the new legal document regulating those relations, regional security, the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and Armenia-Turkey relations. At the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs, moderated by the Committee Chairman Elmar Brok, an exchange of thoughts took place over agenda items, and the members of the Armenian Delegation answered the questions concerning the MPs of the European Parliament. At the end of the two-day debates a joint Final Statement and Recommendations were adopted. In the adopted document, among other problems the concerning debates going on over the Nagorno Karabakh conflict in other inter-parliamentary organisations were also touched upon. In that connection, the European Parliament has stated that it fully supports the negotiating process going on under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, which is the only internationally recognized format of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement, and in this direction greatly encourages the Pan-European and other international organisations and institutions to be in consonance with the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs' statements in their motions and resolutions on Nagorno Karabakh in order to contribute to the peaceful resolution in that way. *********** EU-Armenia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee, Sixteenth Meeting 20/21 January 2016, Strasbourg Final Statement and Recommendations Pursuant to Article 83 of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement The Parliamentary Cooperation Committee

welcomes the high-level opening of EU-Armenia negotiations on 7 December 2015, in view of a new comprehensive framework agreement that would cover political, economic and sectoral cooperation; recalls that the PCC had already recommended, on 20 March 2015, to use the experience acquired in the scoping exercise to establish a legally binding contractual basis in order to replace the outdated 1999 Partnership and Cooperation Agreement; recalling the work carried out in negotiating the AA/DCFTA trusts that the technical result of these talks, which was safeguarded for future reference at the time, will facilitate the swift completion of the EU / Armenia negotiations which are now re-launched; expects to see firmly enshrined in the new agreement a strong commitment to rule of law, democracy and human rights, which should be cornerstones of the text; further underlines that the respect for these shared values can only enhance and further facilitate cooperation in all other issues expected to be covered by the agreement, from energy, transport, or the environment to investment and trade; reminds that Armenia remains covered by the preferential GSP+ trade scheme, with an enhanced role played by the EP in its reformed monitoring procedure; believes that a new, ambitious EU/Armenia framework agreement is compatible with the progressive differentiation approach promoted within the Eastern Partnership, particularly taking into account the revised European Neighbourhood Policy; reminds that enhancing citizens mobility in a secure and well managed environment remains a core objective of the Eastern Partnership, and welcomes the overall good implementation by Armenia of the Visa facilitation and Readmission Agreements, stressing that continued and sustained progress is crucial in order to further proceed with a Visa Liberalisation Dialogue; underlines the need for a strong parliamentary dimension to be included in any future agreement, encouraging legislators to develop procedures allowing them to be duly informed throughout the negotiation process, and fully involved in its subsequent implementation and monitoring; recalls the outmost importance and value of the annual EU-Armenia Human Rights Dialogue, as a unique format allowing to constructively focus on issues such as fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of assembly and association, the development of civil society, the rule of law, mobility, judicial reform, the continued fight against corruption, the independence of the media and the fight against torture and inhuman and degrading treatment; welcomes the considerable effort recently undertaken by the Armenian National Assembly to align national legislation with the UN Convention Against Torture and looks forward to further progress on the ancillary measures currently under examination to avoid torture and fight impunity; further welcomes the review of the Judicial Code and the strengthening of the independence of the judiciary provided by the Constitutional Amendments as supported by the Venice Commission, particularly the Council of Justice; stresses the importance the EU attaches to ICC ratification worldwide; takes note of the 6 December Constitutional Referendum results, recalling the first and the second opinions delivered by the Venice Commission on the draft Amendments to the Constitution, and the local EU Statement issued on 10 December 2015 which urged the authorities to fully investigate in a transparent manner the election fraud allegations; underlines that the full implementation of existing recommendations already issued by previous OSCE/ODIHR election observation missions remains a key to increase the confidence in the integrity of the electoral process, and expects that the necessary amendments, particularly pertaining to the electoral code, will be adopted well before the 2017 general elections; recognizes that the EUs support over the years has been instrumental for the effective implementation and sustainability of Armenia's reform process and institutional capacity building; thus welcomes the EU adopting, on 16 December 2015, a new support programme of 30 million to enhance further efforts in the areas of quality employment, fiscal governance and civil society participation in the democratic decision making process; notes the decisive role civil society can play in enhancing transparency and accountability in all fields of public life, but also in monitoring GSP+ implementation, through dedicated EDIHR-funded projects; supports and encourages Armenian full participation in the COSME and Horizon 2020 programmes ; deeply regrets the continued -and rising-human cost of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and the increasingly serious violations of the cease-fire agreement, including by the use of heavy artillery/mortars, which repeatedly led to the loss of life even amongst the civilian population; stresses there can be no justification for the death and injury of innocent civilians on all sides, supporting the creation of a mechanism to investigate ceasefire violations, as repeatedly called for by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs; reminds that the Minsk Group Co-Chairs noted on 26 September that Armenia has agreed to discuss the details of this mechanism, urging Azerbaijan to do the same; expects from the EU to play a more active role in supporting further confidence building measures to spread the ideas of peace, reconciliation and trust; believes that the recent escalation proves beyond possible doubt that the status quo has become unsustainable and that th ere can be no alternative to a peaceful solution in accordance with the UN Charter, Helsinki Final Act and relevant principles of international law; firmly supports the negotiation process under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, as the only internationally agreed format for the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, in this regard, strongly encourages pan-European and other international institutions and bodies to align with the OSCE Minsk group co-chairs statements in their motions and resolutions on Nagorno-Karabakh in order to contribute to the peaceful resolution of the conflict; calls for a greater political commitment from all parties involved; calls on the European Union to include in its exchange and mobility programmes students and teachers hailing from conflict areas, such as Nagorno-Karabakh, as outlined in the Bologna Process communique of May 2015[1] adopted also by all EU member states and the European Commission;

welcomes the steps taken by the Government of Armenia in accepting around 20,000 Syrian refugees and calls on the European Commission and the EU member states to consider in a positive light any support request from the Armenian authorities in carrying out relevant programmes aimed at the further social integration of the Syrian refugees in Armenia. recalls the commemorations of the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide which took place in Yerevan in April 2015, and commends the participating EU institutions and their Office-Holders ; encourages all Member States and EU Institutions to contribute further to the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, noting that the issue has, in recent years, become the focus of open and public debate in Turkey itself; echoes the call of the EP Plenary, which, on 10 June 2015, urged the normalisation of Armenia - Turkey relations by the ratification, without preconditions, of the protocols on the establishment of diplomatic relations, and by the opening of the unilaterally closed border; supports initiatives aimed at promotion of regional cooperation, in the belief they can contribute to the ending of isolation of any country in the region; strongly hopes such developments will help to overcome the legacy of the past and face it courageously.

Adopted 21 January 2016
By SA Commercial Prop News

RDDA AWARDS WINNERS with Sponsor, Ken Reynolds, Regional Executive Nedbank Corporate Property Finance, Greg Azzopardi (SACSC) Image gallery



Middelburg Mall, Sandton City, Kagiso Mall, Tribeca Standard Restaurant at Lynnwood Bridge and Hackett London at Sandton City all won top honours at the annual South African shopping centre industry awards.

Winners of the Retail Design & Development Awards (RDDA) 2012, a South African Council of Shopping Centres (SACSC) initiative, were announced today at the SACSCs Annual Congress, held in Durban.



The RDDA awards recognise exceptional shopping centre design, and economic success, within the South African property industry. The awards, sponsored by Nedbank Corporate Property Finance, celebrate shopping centre development excellence.



Amanda Stops, General Manager of SACSC, says: Retail plays an essential role in the South African economy and shopping centres are the bases for this significant economic activity. Furthering excellence in retail is of wide benefit. The competitive display of entries received in 2012 is a first-rate sign of retail sector innovation and business strategy in South Africa. It also shows the industry holds the hotly-contested RDDA Awards in high esteem.



The adjudicators, a panel of recognised and respected retail and property professionals, were challenged to select the best-of-the-best from developments of the highest calibre in the SA retail property industry. They approached the task by looking at the complete package: excellent design resolution, overall development objective, response to environment and market, innovative solutions and sustainability.



Saluted for its outstanding design and function, Middelburg Mall in Mpumalanga won the RDDA Award for a shopping centre larger than 20,000sqm, to the credit of architect MDS Architecture and developers Flanagan & Gerard and Moolman Group. In this category, judges also commended Greater Edendale Mall in KwaZulu-Natal, developed by McCormick Property Development with architect MDS Architecture.



Victory in the category for new centres smaller than 20,000sqm went to Redeveloped Kagiso Mall, developed by Old Mutual Property and designed by KMH Architects.



Taking the crown in the retail centre expansion or renovation category is Sandton Citys Repositioning Phase 1. Developers Liberty Group Limited & Pareto Limited with MDS Architecture and MMA Architects gave rise to this ambitious project.



Two commendations were declared in this category: the extension and alteration of Liberty Promenade by Liberty Property Developments and Vivid Architects, and Ballito Lifestyle Centre Edgars extension by developers LAHAF (Pty) Ltd T/A Lifestyle Centre Ballito and Evolution Architects.



For the design of a shop or restaurant in a shopping centre, the quality of entries left judges hard-pressed to select a single champion. Instead, they pinned stars on two winning designs: Tribeca Standard Restaurant at Lynnwood Bridge designed by Braam De Villiers and Hackett London at Sandton City, Designed by Michael Carey.



Frank Berkeley, Managing Executive of Nedbank Corporate Property Finance, says that the bank is proud of its role in supporting the retail sector in its capacity as sponsor of the 2012 Retail Design and Development Awards. Our funding criteria for the retail sector, looks beyond the numbers, as we take into account the level of detail and consideration that has gone into the design, amongst others. We are pleased with the effort that goes into this aspect, evidenced in the hard time that the judges had in deciding on winners.
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
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Judge denies conspiracy-laden effort to stop Kansas ballot drop boxes

A federal judge in Kansas Wednesday denied a conspiracy-laden effort to stop the use of ballot drop boxes and electronic voting machines.
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United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe
Pune, India -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/21/2016 -- The report "Feed Pigment Market by Type (Carotenoids, Curcumin, Caramel, Spirulina & Others), Carotenoids Source (Natural & Synthetic), Livestock (Swine, Cattle, Poultry, Aquatic Animals & Others), & by Region - Global Trends & Forecasts to 2020", The feed pigments market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 3.2% from 2015 to reach USD 1.07 Billion by 2020



Browse 107 market data tables and 46 figures spread through 180 pages and in-depth TOC on "Feed Pigment Market - Global Trends & Forecasts to 2020"



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The feed pigments market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 3.2% from 2015 to 2020. Quality, appearance, and nutritive value of the meat products have been of importance to the growth of the feed pigments market. Feed pigments offer great help to rise the commercial value of the meat products by enhancing the appearance of the animal products, acting as antioxidants to help cure multiple diseases in the animals and to increase the palatability of the feed, making the animals healthy. Hence, feed pigments 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 feed pigments.



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Significant growth in carotenoids observed in Europe



The feed pigments market is mainly driven by the fact that they help enhance the appearance and palatability of the feed, making the animals healthier and thereby increasing their commercial value. These feed pigments are driven by increasing customer demand for quality of meat products.



Strong product platform provided by the aquaculture industry



Feed pigments can be added to the feed of swine, ruminants, poultry, aquatic animals, and pet animals. Their demand is driven by consumer's awareness about the quality of meat products, and industrialization of pork, poultry, and aquaculture business.



Innovative, natural, and cost-effective solutions key to success in Europe region



France and Germany constituted the largest country markets in the European region in 2014. Increasing awareness about the benefits of feed pigments is leading to the growth in this region. Also, adding feed pigments is an economical option which has led to increased sales of meat products in the European market. Europe dominated the market and accounted for the largest market share globally in 2014, as these products have been achieving acceptance even among fish farmers in this region.

This report includes a study of marketing and development strategies, along with the product portfolio of leading companies. It includes the profiles of leading companies such as BASF SE (Germany), Royal DSM N. V. (The Netherlands), Kemin Industries, Inc. (U.S.), D.D. Williamson & Co., Inc. (DDW) (U.S.), and Guangzhou Leader Bio-Technology Co., Ltd (China).



In terms of insights, this research report has focused on various levels of analyses industry analysis, market share analysis of top players, and company profiles, which together comprise and discuss the basic views on the competitive landscape, emerging and high-growth segments of the global feed pigments market, high-growth regions, countries, and their respective regulatory policies, government initiatives, drivers, restraints, and opportunities.



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Bend, OR -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/21/2016 -- Annual census reports reveal natural gas remains the primary heating source for 50 percent of homes across America with wood heat rapidly gaining ground among states in the northeast. Though each has its benefits, a recent Environmental Protection Agency increase in emissions regulations left the nation's homeowners scrambling to meet compliance standards. In light of these developments, Matthew Farrell of RaisStoves.com has announced the release of the company's latest selection of home heating options.



Farrell confirmed, "Our new lineup includes a couple of our most popular models. The Rais Gabo Gas 3 is being re-introduced after gaining re-certification from the EPA and comes with all the features making its predecessor a favorite among customers. Our wood-burning alternative that burns natural gas or propane offers high efficiency, beauty, ease and convenience."



The Rais Q-Tee 2 Wood Stove is said to have the lowest EPA rated emissions of any wood stove available in the United States at 0.9 grams per hour, meeting even the strict emissions standards held by cities with extremely strict air pollution regulations like Fairbanks, Alaska. The Rais Gabo Wood also meets these most strict emissions requirements, making Rais the manufacturer of two of the three models of wood stove to be certified to install in Fairbanks.



With a larger-than-average firebox, the Rais Q-Tee 2 model is capable of burning logs up to 16 inches in length while requiring minimal space. Despite its small size, the Q-Tee 2 features a large glass window for full view of the fire within. Operating on a convection basis, the stove draws in cold air, which passes through a hyper-efficient heat exchange system, and then is silently and effectively circulated throughout a living space. This model can be purchased for insertion in a fireplace or with an accompanying base for free-standing functionality.



For homeowners who prefer heating fuel over wood, the Gabo Gas 3 incorporates ceramic logs and embers with clean-burning technology. This version provides the highly sought after visual elements of wood stoves without the associated maintenance drawbacks. Efficiency of the stove's components is heightened through use of a fully sealed firebox. While the basic model is designed for use with natural gas, a complimentary propane conversion kit is available, as is an array of additional accessories.



Concluded Farrell, "Rais Stoves have become synonymous with style, efficiency and quality. Our mission statement revolves around selling only the highest caliber of heating solutions with unrivaled affordability. Rais design, craftsmanship, and functionality are the highest in the industry, and our company prides itself on bringing beauty and warmth to homes throughout the country. Both of these models are now available for purchase via our website, along with the full lineup of Rais stoves."



About RaisStoves.com

RaisStoves.com is a nationwide dealer of Rais Stoves imported from Denmark. RaisStoves.com focuses on providing the best purchasing experience and customer service with the lowest prices on Rais stoves anywhere.
"A child's learning is the function more of the characteristics of his classmates than those of the teacher." James Coleman, 1972
[MANILA] Technological growth, globalisation and climate change are redefining what work means in todays world, presenting huge challenges for countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

The region played a critical role in the spread of globalisation in the 1990s but a new report by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) points to a shift in the types of jobs that are now outsourced and offshored towards ones with higher skills, particularly in information and communications technology (ICT).

The demand for tomorrows labour force cannot be met with the knowledge of yesterday, Selim Jahan, lead author of the report and director of the UNDPs human development report office, tells SciDev.Net. There is a scope for retraining younger people.

The report notes that wider access to technology through South-South cooperation along with pertinent skill sets and adequate finances will help the region move closer in line with sustainable development.

But as of 2014, 2.5 billion people living in the Asia-Pacific region did not have access to the internet. The poorest and most disadvantaged people are usually the ones left out. Youth unemployment in South-East Asia and the Pacific ranges from 0.5 per cent in Cambodia to 54 per cent in Kiribati.

Emphasis on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education, particularly with regards to women, can help young people develop skills that are in demand, notes Jahan.

Imelda Nicolas, chairperson of the Philippine Commission on Filipinos Overseas, agrees on training the youth in desired skill sets particularly on STEM.

No matter what, science and technology can cross borders, she says even as she remains hopeful that the younger generation will find decent jobs and stay home.

Roughly, about 10 per cent of the Philippine population live or work abroad as many are forced to leave due to poverty and lack of adequate job opportunities.

But aside from employment, setting up their own businesses that is adaptive to the times is another way out of poverty.

Jahan says that many of the millennials interviewed for the report expressed an interest in owning their own business, whether a start-up or self-employment, that focuses on mitigating the effects of climate change, greening the economy and promoting renewable energy.

Some of the successful entrepreneurs are even going back to social enterprises, he adds.

Jahan encourages the creation of a one-stop shop where young entrepreneurs can get information on marketing and training as well as access resources, including credit facilities, that they might otherwise struggle to obtain.

This piece was produced by SciDev.Nets South-East Asia & Pacific desk.
Water shortages and a warmer climate could slash the efficiency of power plants in coming decades, meaning developing countries must prepare their power systems to cope, researchers warn.



Using data on water-dependent power plants and climate change projections, scientists demonstrated that fossil fuel plants could see a 30 per cent drop in efficiency by 2070 due to lack of cooling water. This is because river flow in large parts of regions such as Africa, South Asia and South America is projected to drop drastically because of global warming.

Energy planning requires collaboration with water planners and climatologists as well as timely decision-making. Fadiel Ahjum, University of Cape Town

Hydropower stations  which make up 63 per cent of South Americas power generation  could see their efficiency fall by about a quarter, they write in a paper published in Nature Climate Change earlier this month (4 January).



We were quite surprised about the order of magnitude. It could become a major issue, says Keywan Riahi, a researcher at Austrias International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, who cowrote the paper. It means that important investments made in the developing world now must factor in adaptation possibilities, because many of the issues we present will be relevant to power stations built today.



Nearly all power stations, including hydropower, nuclear and fossil fuel plants, need lots of water to power the plants or cool them. Warmer water will reduce cooling efficiency, while water shortages could force entire power stations to shut down, the researchers warn.



The team suggests building more power stations close to the sea, but acknowledges that this makes them prone to damage from floods and storms. It also calls on developing countries to look at innovative technologies such as air cooling for future plants.



Refitting existing plants with air cooling is expensive, the researchers say, but might still be the most cost-effective option for the ten per cent of plants under most severe threat.



South Africa experiences severe droughts during El Nino, a recurring Pacific Ocean warming phenomenon that upsets global weather patterns, and already uses air cooling on 30 per cent of its coal power plants, says Fadiel Ahjum, an energy systems researcher at the University of Cape Town. Many plants also use cascade-type cooling systems that save water by reusing it several times, he says.



But Ahjum points out that such efforts require long-term planning and strong governance, which some developing countries may struggle to provide.

You need expertise to ensure that water supply is efficiently allocated, costed and managed to minimise the impact of pollution on future supply, he says. Energy planning requires collaboration with water planners and climatologists as well as timely decision-making, because outcomes are only evident several years after these decisions are made.Riahi adds that financing is also a barrier, even for solar and wind power  another proposed solution to the projected efficiency crisis. Adapting your energy system requires high upfront investment and long-term decisions, but a lack of short-term capital in developing countries makes this difficult, he says.
[COTONOU, BENIN] A new research centre that will help African countries promote innovation in the agricultural sector to combat rural poverty and hunger has been inaugurated.



The Green Innovation Center, which was inaugurated at AfricaRice in Benin this month (3 January), aims to boost agricultural productivity, increase the incomes of smallholder farmers and create job opportunities, particularly for youth and women in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Togo, Tunisia and Zambia.

The main gap that the centre seeks to close is the low capacity of the present extension service. Bernard Marc Winfried, AfricaRice

The Green Innovation Center is supported by the Federal German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), in partnership with other institutions such as Benin Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, and AfricaRice.



BMZ has given 2.7 million euros (almost US$3 million) to AfricaRice to implement the centres activities in 2016 and 2017, according to Bernard Marc Winfried, a knowledge management specialist at AfricaRice.

Gerd Muller, minister for BMZ, said during the inauguration that agriculture does not only need water and fertiliser but also knowledge and innovation.



Wilfried added that in Benin the initiative will facilitate the exchange of knowledge and interaction between researchers and development experts in 17 communities.

He explained that the centre will focus on strengthening the agricultural innovation system by promoting partnerships and developing an operational framework for innovation.



According to Winfried, researchers will develop a set of services and innovation that will serve as youth training tools and help increase sustainable productivity and incomes of agricultural producers.



The main gap that the centre seeks to close is the low capacity of the present extension service. The activities will decisively improve access for farmers and traders to advisory, technical and business development services, Winfried says.



David Arodokoun, the director-general of National Agricultural Research Institute of Benin, praises the creation of the centre, noting that the centre could address hunger and aid growth because a development without innovation technology is a blind development.



Arodokoun adds that African countries have not understood and managed to develop innovative technologies, and hopes the centre could also help create innovations that are friendly to the environment and can address climate change-related impacts.



Winfried tells SciDev.Net that the new centre will initially focus on four key commodities  rice, soybeans, small ruminants and poultry  but is open to work on other commodities upon request.

As in many African countries, rice is a staple food for the people of Benin and the demand is growing rapidly, and the country produced 150,000 tonnes in 2015, Winfried says, adding that despite the increased rice production Benin still imports more than 50 per cent of rice consumed in the country.According to AfricaRice, through the development of lowlands and irrigated areas and the adoption of improved varieties and technologies, Benin has the potential to increase domestic production and to diminish its dependency on rice imports.This piece was produced by SciDev.Nets Sub-Saharan Africa English desk.
Hurricane Sandy became the second costliest hurricane to hit the United States when it blew ashore in October 2012, killing 159 people and inflicting $71 billion in damage. Informally known as a "superstorm" after it made landfall, Sandy was so destructive largely because of its unusual size and track. After moving north from the tropical waters where it spawned, Sandy turned out to sea before hooking back west, growing in size and crashing head-on into the East Coast, gaining strength when it merged with an eastbound mid-latitude storm.

A new study led by the University of Maryland's Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center (ESSIC) suggests that a warmer Atlantic Ocean could substantially boost the destructive power of a future superstorm like Sandy. The researchers used a numerical model to simulate the weather patterns that created Sandy, with one key difference: a much warmer sea surface temperature, as would be expected in a world with twice as much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This simulated warmer ocean generated storms that were 50 to 160 percent more destructive than Sandy. The results appear online January 19, 2016 in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

"This kind of experiment is not necessarily a realistic simulation, but it is along a similar path that the future climate might expect to evolve," said William Lau, a research scientist at ESSIC and senior scientist emeritus at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Lau added that sea surface temperatures could reach such elevated levels within the next 50 to 100 years.

In the model scenarios, the pool of warm water (greater than 82 degrees Fahrenheit) in the tropical Atlantic grew to twice its actual size. The larger warm pool gave the simulated hurricanes more time to grow before they encountered colder water or land.

In the five simulations conducted by Lau and his colleagues at NASA Goddard, two hurricanes followed the same track as Sandy, hooking westward and merging with the mid-latitude storm as they hit the coast. Because of their longer exposure to the large warm pool, their winds had 50 to 80 percent more destructive power, and they brought 30 to 50 percent more heavy rain.

"We expected the storm would definitely get stronger because of much warmer sea surface temperature," Lau said.

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Each of the other three hurricanes followed a surprising and even more destructive course. In these simulations, the hurricane grew so strong that it followed a different track and didn't collide with the mid-latitude storm. Instead, the hurricane went farther east into the open ocean before turning westward. Next, the hurricane and the mid-latitude storm rotated counterclockwise around their combined center of mass--a phenomenon known as the Fujiwhara effect. As the mid-latitude storm rotated east, the Sandy-like storm gained strength from the Fujiwhara effect and swung westward, making landfall between Maine and Nova Scotia.

"These events are somewhat rare in occurrence, but they do exist in nature," Lau said. "While they're turning about each other, they interact. One just took the energy from the other."

As a result, the three Fujiwhara-enhanced hurricanes' destructive power peaked at 100 to 160 percent higher than Sandy, and brought as much as 180 percent more rain. And while they made landfall farther north, Lau said, their impacts could be farther-reaching and more devastating than Sandy.

"Because the size of the storm is so large, it could affect the entire Atlantic coast, not just where it makes landfall," he predicted. "The rainfall itself is probably way out in the ocean, but the storm surge would be catastrophic."

Lau said the usual approach to simulating a storm in a warmer climate would be to impose a prescribed sea surface temperature, and then adjust the atmospheric conditions such as air temperature, moisture and winds. The model would then be run many times, making adjustments each time in hopes of creating a Sandy-like storm. But this approach is tedious and does not guarantee meaningful results, Lau explained.

"When confronted with the question whether or not global warming contributed to Sandy, many scientists would just throw their hands up and say, 'We cannot address the question of how hurricanes will behave in a future climate because the myriad factors affecting storm behaviors are too complex and impossible to simulate'," Lau said. "This is the first time it was done by using known atmospheric initial conditions that gave rise to Sandy, and simply changing one important variable--in this case, the ocean temperature."

By using this approach, Lau and colleagues created an informative--if only plausible--scenario that could help to understand how storms might behave in a future warmer climate.

Lau noted that Sandy was most likely a "perfect storm" brought about by a series of improbable coincidences. As such, it's hard to make any definite conclusions about whether and how global warming contributed to Sandy and other recent destructive storms, he said.

"However, studies like ours can help provide informative answers to the more tractable question of how a perfect storm like Sandy would behave under warmer ocean temperatures," Lau said. "It's a very important line of investigation for better understanding the future of our planet."
In fairytales, it's usually the damsel who is in distress. When it comes to the marine world, however, it seems it's the damsel that can cause some distress.

Damselfish are some of the most beautiful fishes in the ocean, and that's why they are so attractive to those who want a saltwater aquarium in their home or place of business. But there's a bit of a concern when it comes to one damselfish species -- it is starting to pop up in a part of the ocean where it doesn't really belong.

"While you wouldn't immediately think of the regal damsel as a dangerous fish, the fact is they are now in places where they are not native and they're spreading, which makes them potentially an invasive species," said Matthew Johnston, Ph.D., a marine researcher at Nova Southeastern University's (NSU) Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography. "They may not be as impactful as say the lionfish has been, but these fish can also have a negative impact on their new habitats -- it could throw the ecosystem out of natural balance."

Johnston is part of the group of researchers working out of NSU's Guy Harvey Research Institute. An author of many scientific studies, Johnston's research has provided fundamental insight into the spread and impact of invasive species, including the lionfish, in western Atlantic, Caribbean, and Gulf of Mexico marine waters.

The fish in question is the diminutive, non-native regal damselfish (Neopomacentrus cyanomos), which was recently discovered inhabiting coral reefs near Veracruz, Mexico. While it's not exactly a "fish out of water," given its native waters are the Red Sea and the Indo-Pacific, clearly this fish is a bit out of its normal neighborhood. The proliferation of these fish in non-native waters, and the fact that the invasion risk posed by this fish hadn't been fully assessed, Johnston set about creating a forecast to see just how impactful this damselfish could be to the area.

Johnston and Lad Akins of the Reef Environmental Education Foundation used computer simulation to forecast the spread of this tiny fish from where they were first found near Veracruz, Mexico. In their model, Johnston and Akins factored in oceanic water flow, the tolerances known to the damselfish in the ocean environment and their reproductive strategies -- all of which have a direct impact on how fast they can spread. The good news is that they anticipate most of the Gulf of Mexico won't see this fish swimming in their waters anytime soon. The bad news is that reefs in the southern Gulf of Mexico are likely to see a lot more of them.

Johnston said there's a couple of ways a non-native species like this damselfish could get into new waters. One could simply be people getting rid of their fish tanks and literally dumping the fish into the ocean or canals that feed into the ocean. Another scenario could be that large ships that navigate the open oceans accidentally "sucked" these fish into their ballast tanks and then when arriving in other areas, discharged them into the new waters as they emptied their ballast tanks.

"The discovery of the regal damsel in Mexico highlights that we need to be very careful not to let our pets escape or release them into the wild," Johnston said. "This fish is just one of at least 40 marine aquarium fish that have been documented in the tropical Atlantic. You don't have to be an apex predator, have huge teeth or venomous spines to be a negative force on a reef -- you just have to be where you're really not supposed to be and compete for the reef's limited resources."

The research paper was published in the journal Marine Biology. Please visit the USGS-NAS to learn more about the regal damselfish and other invasive species in our marine waters.
Leveraging publicly available social media posts could help disaster response agencies quickly identify impacted areas in need of assistance, according to a Penn State-led team of researchers. By analyzing the September 2013 Colorado floods, researchers showed that a combination of remote sensing, Twitter and Flickr data could be used to identify flooded areas.

"FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency), the Red Cross and other response agencies use social media now to disseminate relevant information to the general public," said said Guido Cervone, associate professor of geography and associate director of the Penn State's Institute for CyberScience. "We have seen here that there is potential to use social media data from community members to help identify hotspots in need of aid, especially when it is paired with remote sensing imagery of the area."

After a disaster, response teams typically prioritize rescue and aid efforts with help from imagery and other data that show what regions are affected the most. Responders commonly use satellite imagery, but this on its own has drawbacks.

"Publicly available satellite imagery for a location isn't always available in a timely manner -- sometimes it can take days before it becomes available," said Elena Sava, graduate student in geography, Penn State. "Our research focused on identifying data in non-traditional data streams that can prove mission critical for specific areas where there might be damage. We wanted to see if social media could help filling the gaps in the satellite data."

The 2013 Colorado flooding was an unprecedented event. In nine days in September, Boulder, Colo., received more than 43 centimeters, or 17 inches of rain -- nearly the amount of rainfall it normally receives in a year. Officials evacuated more than 10,000 people and had to rescue several thousand people and pets.

Because the flooding occurred in an urban setting, the researchers were able to access more than 150,000 tweets from people affected by the flooding. Using a tool called CarbonScanner, they identified clusters of posts suggesting possible locations of damage. Then, they analyzed more than 22,000 photos from the area obtained through satellites, Twitter, Flickr, the Civil Air Patrol, unmanned aerial vehicles and other sources.

Responders need information in real time during disasters, so the researchers developed an innovative approach to collect and analyze images from numerous sources in near real time. They developed a machine-learning algorithm to automatically analyze several thousand images, which allowed them to quickly identify individual pixels of images that contained water.

"We looked at a set of images and manually selected areas that we knew had water and areas that had no water," said Sava. "Then, we fed that information to the algorithm we had developed, and it allowed the computer to 'learn' what was and wasn't water."

The team's findings, published in the current issue of the International Journal of Remote Sensing, confirmed that Twitter data could serve to identify hotspots for which satellite imagery should be acquired.

The team also found that satellite imagery on its own was not always reliable, and that social media can be fused with remote sensing imagery to help identify the extent of the flooding.

"If you look at satellite imagery, downtown Boulder showed very little flooding," said Cervone. "However, by analyzing Flickr and Twitter data, we could find several cues that many areas were underwater. People would mention a 'river in the road' or mention how they can't get to their house because of the water. Those posts are indicators that we cannot rely on satellite data alone, and we must integrate satellite data with additional data from unmanned aerial vehicles, airplanes and social media to identify the impacted areas."

The team is now fine-tuning their algorithms and assessing whether they can be applied to future flooding events. They are also investigating whether other social media platforms, such as Facebook or Instagram, could provide useful data to emergency responders. Collaborators on this study included Emily Schnebele and Nigel Waters, Penn State; Qunying Huang, University of Wisconsin, Madison; and Jeff Harrison, The Carbon Project. The team performed their analysis with supercomputers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.
People who are under high levels of stress are more likely to lose a great amount of weight. However, a new study revealed the opposite of this common belief, saying that those who experiences high levels of stress actually find it harder to lose body weight.

A team of researchers from the University of Florida conducted a study regarding the effects of high stress levels on a person's weight. After conducting a test on a bunch of lab mice that were under great metabolic distress during the time of the experiment, the researchers were able to observe that high levels of stress in them have led to a massive production of a particular protein called betathrophin.

According to Dr. Li-Jun Yang, a professor and lead investigator in the University of Florida's College of Medicine, betatrophin is a chemical that is responsible for reducing the body's ability to lose weight. And with stress being a major factor of its production, this particular protein acts like a bridge between the two.

Betatrophin first made its debut back in the headlines in 2013 when a research work from the Harvard University suggested that it can increase the number of insulin producing cells that are present in the bodies of diabetes patients. However, other studies proved that this particular protein had no such effect on the patient's condition.

The team of researchers then decided to study the properties and capabilities of Betatrophin where they discovered how it slows down the body's process of burning fat. Their findings showed that this protein suppresses an enzyme called "adipose triglyceride lipase" that is responsible for breaking down the body's stored fats.

Although the exact effect of betatrophin on humans is still something that they're unable to observe, the researchers suggested that the results they got proves that by reducing the high level of stress a person is feeling, he or she will most likely be able to lose weight. The study authors then proceeded to remind the public that chronic stress is never good for someone's health.

Dr. Yang added that their findings showed how important it is to solve a stressful situation before it intensifies and affects the body negatively.
Virtual reality has other uses aside from video games and other forms of entertainment. Google recently offered another virtual reality tour of historic site, Buckingham Palace, one month after the tech giant released a White House virtual reality tour. The virtual reality version of the Great Barrier Reef is also released along with the Buckingham Palace.

Google's new Expeditions Pioneer Program allows students to take field trips all over the world without living their rooms through virtual reality. Google recently released two locations for the program, namely the Buckingham Palace (London) and the Great Barrier Reef (Australia).

Children will now be able to swim around the world's largest coral reef system and they do not need to suit up any diving equipment. Sir David Attenborough and Alchemy VR created the virtual reality version of the Great Barrier Reef.

"The Great Barrier Reef is a wonder of the natural world and I've been fantastically privileged to visit twice," Attenborough said.

The Buckingham Palace Expedition allows viewers to explore the royal residence's interior. There are guides that will give information about the secrets of the place. Master of Household to the Sovereign Admiral Charles Anthony Johnstone-Burt is available for interested students who wants to have an intimate moment at the home of the Queen of England.

Anna Reynolds also joins Master Johnstone-Burt in guiding the virtual visitors. Anna Reynolds is Buckingham Palace's official curator of paintings.

The Expeditions Pioneer Program was first launched in September, and there are already 500,000 students who had experienced the program. There are lots of requests for many more locations like Buckingham Palace.

The Buckingham Palace Expedition is duly created in partnership with the Royal Collection Trust. The Buckingham Palace is also available for Cardboard customers outside of the education market exclusively on YouTube.

There is also an Android app dedicated to streamline the program's service.
New findings published in JAMA Pediatrics reveal that making water more available in New York City public schools through self-serve water dispensers in cafeterias helped students with weight loss.

The findings are based on an analysis of one million students in 1,227 elementary and middle schools across the city, is the first research to establish a link between schools with water dispensers, known as "water jets" and weight loss.

Though New York City public schools have stopped allowing the sale of sugar-sweetened beverages before the study began, students can still bring them to school--and the findings suggest that water would server as the healthier substitute against drinks like chocolate milk, etc.

"This study demonstrates that doing something as simple as providing free and readily available water to students may have positive impacts on their overall health, particularly weight management," said study senior investigator Brian Elbel, PhD, MPH, an associate professor in the Department of Population Health at NYU Langone and NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. "Our findings suggest that this relatively low-cost intervention is, in fact, working."

In 2009, New York City's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and Department of Education began introducing water jets -- large, clear electronically powered jugs with a push lever for dispensing water -- into schools. Each water jet costs about $1,000, according to the study. Researchers noted that about 40 percent of schools received a water jet over the course of the study period, including the academic school years 2008-2009 through 2012-2013.

Researchers compared BMI and overweight status for all students before and after the introduction of the water jets into the schools. Findings revealed that schools with water jets showed a reduction in standardized body mass index (zBMI) of .025 for boys and .022 for girls, compared to students at schools without water jets. Adoption of water jets also was associated with a .9 percentage point reduction in the likelihood of being overweight for boys and a .6 percentage point reduction for girls.

For more great science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).
A team of scientists found that super-continent Pangaea, from 300 million years ago, had a major role in the formation of coal, which was used during the Industrial Revolution and even today, according to a study at Stanford University.

Many previous studies have indicated that formation of Carboniferous coal could have been broken down by wood-eating microbes and bacteria. The researchers looked into the "evolutionary lag" hypothesis, where they examined the biochemical and geological aspects of coal formation.

"Our analysis demonstrates that an evolutionary lag explanation for the creation of ancient coal is inconsistent with geochemistry, sedimentology, paleontology, and biology," Matthew Nelsen, coauthor of the study, said in a news release.

The team carried out their research by examining old organic-rich sediments in North America, which indicated that not all plants from the Carboniferous period (360 million years ago) contained high levels of lignin, a cell wall polymer that gives plant tissues their rigidity.

Lignin is a biochemical compound that could not be broken down by ancient fungi and bacteria. The researchers found that changes in lignin in ancient fossils had no effect on the formation of coal.

"Central to the evolutionary lag model is the assumption that lignin is the dominant biochemical constituent of coal," Nelsen said. "However, much of the plant matter that went into forming these coals contained low amounts of lignin."

The researchers found that the coal deposits during the Carboniferous period were tied to a combination of tectonics and climate conditions while Pangaea was being formed. They also found that coal formation required large amounts of space where organic material can accumulate over a period without disintegrating. During the Carboniferous, massive landmasses were combined which became the super-continent Pangaea. As mountain ranges rose, basins were formed and deepened, which created the means and time for organic material to accumulate.

"With enough time...that plant matter was eventually transformed into the coal that powered the Industrial Revolution and helped usher in the modern age," said Kevin Boyce, a geobiologist and coauthor of the study. "Coal accumulation is largely dictated by geological processes that operate on timescales of many millions of years that are entirely independent of the biology."

The findings of this study were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham called Wednesday for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to release records of a 75-year-old dam that blew out last fall on Fort Jackson as a major storm socked the Columbia area.

The Corps has refused to release the records, arguing that terrorists or criminals could use the information against the public.

But Graham, one of the militarys biggest boosters in Congress, said in a letter to the Corps that making the information public could clear up questions about whether the Army properly maintained the Semmes Lake dam.

The 22-foot-high earthen dam crumbled Oct. 4. Numerous homes and businesses near the base flooded that same day, raising questions about whether the Semmes Lake failure contributed to the problem.

In order to remove any further speculation, I ask that you release all maintenance records, along with any additional pertinent information associated with the Semmes Lake dam to the public, Graham, R-S.C., said in his letter to Corps commanding general Thomas P. Bostic.

Grahams letter, released after 6 p.m. Wednesday, said the failure to release the records has prevented a thorough accounting of deficiencies in the dam.

Corps emails obtained by The State newspaper under the Freedom of Information Act show that, in 2013, inspectors had rated the dam as a serious hazard, one of the worst ratings that can be given. The newspaper reported on these problems Jan. 10.

The Corps, however, denied the newspapers request for inspection reports, which would provide more detail about deficiencies noted in the emails. The Corps says the records should remain secret for security reasons. Fort Jackson also has not said whether it fixed problems cited by inspectors in 2013. In contrast to the Corps, the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control has released records of dams it regulates in Columbia neighborhoods and other parts of South Carolina.

I have serious concerns with the Corps decision not to release the maintenance records of the dam to the public, Grahams letter said. The decision to withhold these records has fueled speculation that the Army did not heed the concerns of the Corps and did not take the necessary corrective measures to ensure the safety and effectiveness of the dam.

The State contacted the Corps Vicksburg, Miss., office this week to determine whether the agency would reconsider its decision to deny access to the records. Agency attorney Bill Woodard said the newspaper would have to formally challenge the decision with an appeal.

Late last year, Woodard denied access to the full inspection reports. Terrorists or criminals could use that information to determine whether attacking a dam would be worthwhile, Woodard said in a letter to The State.

Property owners in Kings Grant, a gated neighborhood next to the base, are considering whether to sue the fort. Property owners have said they suspect that a rapid rush of water the morning of Oct. 4 came from the Semmes Lake dam failure. That morning, water spilled over the banks of Wildcat Creek, which flows out of Semmes Lake, and flooded homes along the stream.

The Army could be liable for millions of dollars in damages if it is determined that the Semmes Lake dam failure contributed to flooding off the base.
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Cosco announced to the stock exchange that Wan Min, a non-executive director, has been appointed as chairman and a member of the executive committee.

Cosco said the the resignation of Ma is due to change of work positions and that Ma has confirmed that he has no disagreement with the board.

Ma had assumed the leadership position at Cosco back in July 2013 when his predecessor Wei Jiafu quit due to his retirement age.

Wan had held various senior roles at Cosco including the groups container shipping units and freight department.

The latest changes in Coscos executive committee follow closely the merger deal between the two state-owned shipping conglomerates Cosco and China Shipping Group.
The agreement is a second deal with the port operator after an earlier announcement of a partnership to explore the development of a fabrication and marine facility in Batam, Indonesia.

Under the latest agreement, according to Otto Marines announcement, if the port operator requires marine or offshore vessel services for their projects, it will issue a request for quote to Go Offshore as preferred service provider.

As oil prices continue touching new lows and recovery for the offshore and marine industry remains remote, we are exploring all feasible opportunities to optimise revenue stream, said Michael See, group ceo of Otto Marine.

Further to our announcement earlier on the partnership with a renowned port operator to explore the potential development of a fabrication and marine facility, we are pleased to see that Go Offshore becomes this partners preferred offshore and marine service provider, See added.

He further pointed out that the partnership will offer significant business opportunities for Go Offshore, and enhance the utilisation rate of our fleets and capabilities.
For a body which prefers remain out of the limelight when fighting the industrys corner the powerful Union of Greek Shipowners (UGS) has issued a four-page statement powerfully rebutting the European Commission's assertion some provisions of Greek tax law fall foul of rules on state aid.

The Theodore Veniamis-led UGS issued the statement in reply to the EC's decision C(2015)9019 dated December 18, maintaining it attacks the current Community Guidelines on State Aid to Maritime Transport (SAG). The Piraeus-based shipowners body notes the EC said its decision will be used as a precedent for the assessment of other EU shipping regimes". The UGS said this would seriously disrupt the shipping sector in the EU after 20 years of successful growth".

The SAG [State Aid Guidelines] deliberately provide a flexible soft law which can take account of the different characteristics, size and importance of shipping in the member states, said the shipowners.

The UGS said the EC started an informal investigation into Greeces shipping tax regime back in 2012. The EUs competition authorities usually start such investigations after receiving a formal complaint from third parties, but in this case, they seem to have acted on their own initiative and have now endangered the entire industry.

As the official representative of the Greek shipping sector, the Union of Greek Shipowners has the duty to point out there is no effective distortion of competition in the maritime field in the EU and that any fundamental changes to the institutional and fiscal framework in which the Greek shipping community is presently operating, would have unforeseeable consequences which would be detrimental not only for Greece but also for the rest of the EU as they would seriously undermine one of its most important strategic sectors which remains prominent internationally in the face of fierce competition," said the UGS.

In the case of Greece this is not the first attack by the Commission on the countrys shipping tax regime, under which local shipmanagement companies pay tonnage tax but are exempted from corporate taxes on their profits or dividends. Last year the EU forced Greece to pledge to gradually dismantle shipping companies tax privileges, as part of the countrys latest international bailout.

Indeed, till now little has been done by the leftist coalition government, other than imposing a 4% increase on tonnage tax.

The UGS has always maintained the shipping industry "was never part of the debt problems of the Greek state".

In its 21 January statement, the union said: The UGS is concerned that the negative climate created by the decision regarding Greece risks severely undermining one of the Greek economys primary pillars at a time of exceptionally high unemployment and urgently needed growth and the EU may lose a substantial part of its fleet and maritime cluster.
Press Release

January 20, 2016 Duterte and Cayetano vow to fight chaos, restore order

and promote real change At the first presidential forum leading to the 2016 election, presidential aspirant Davao City Mayor Rodrigo "Rody" Duterte and his running mate Senate Majority leader Alan Peter Cayetano stressed that only by being firm and strong in fixing the country's broken system can peace and stability be realized. The tandem also said that cracking down on crime and corruption will lead to more investments and jobs and bring the country real change and progress that is needed now. Duterte explained that the platform is a comprehensive and bold response to the lack of peace and order in the country. "There is so much disorder. People don't have security. Sobra na ang gulo at pahirap na dinadanas ng tao. Sino ba naman ang hindi mapapamura kung pag-gising mo pa lamang sa umaga hanggang sa pagtulog mo sa gabi, walang tigil ang pahirap at gulo sa ating bayan," Duterte said. Duterte pointed to the chaos in the country - worsening traffic problem, rising crime and illegal drug trafficking, lack of job opportunities and social injustice. They said the only way to fix the system is to remove chaos swiftly and decisively. "This is the reason why I am angry. This is the reason behind my constant cursing. Behind my curses is the tragedy and suffering of the Filipino people," Duterte said. For his part, Cayetano asserted that it is the tandem's duty to fight for those who cannot stand up on their own and are struggling everyday. He said he and Duterte have the experience and principles necessary to fight injustices committed by those benefiting from the country's chaotic system. The senator highlighted the need to end corruption in the country's police force through harsh penalties for the corrupt and increasing salaries for police officers, removing excuses for corruption and helping to attract the best and brightest to the Philippine National Police (PNP). Cayetano also underscored the need for the country to transition to federalism to democratically decentralize governance and resources. He specifically mentioned the need to spread development to the regions by providing P 1 billion to every region for the next ten years to fund micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). In addition, the vice presidential aspirant also said that he and Duterte will phase out contractualization and exempt workers with salaries P 20,000 and below from paying personal income taxes. "Kaya nandito kami ngayon ni Mayor Duterte. Kailangang kailangan nang baguhin ang sistema. Ang kailangan natin ay lideratong may tapang at malasakit para tapusin ang hirap at gulo," Cayetano said. Duterte, however, said that they do not offer themselves as the saviors of the Filipino people. He said they will need the help and support of ordinary people to realize radical change. "Marami tayong kalaban. Maraming ayaw ayusin ang gulo dahil maraming nakikinabang dito. Pero sa tulong ninyong lahat, kakayanin natin ito," Duterte said. For his part, Cayetano said what is needed is an overhaul of the chaotic system. "Hindi na pwede ang pwede na. Hindi na pwede ang konting pagbabago. At lalong hindi na pwede na magpatuloy ang ligaya ng mag nang-aabuso. Ang kailangan ay matapang na solusyon at mabilis na aksyon para tapusin ang gulo. This is what Mayor Duterte and I will bring," Cayetano ended. "Last men standing." This was how Maria Ressa of Rappler described Duterte and Cayetano, which is the only tandem who showed up at the forum hosted by the media outfit held at the De La Salle University's (DLSU) Teresa Yuchengco Auditorium on Wednesday. Ressa reported that after confirming their attendance to the forum, all of the tandems vying for the May presidential polls backed out of the forum. "Maraming nadismaya at hindi dumalo ang iba pang tambalan sa forum na ito. Their absence to this first presidential and vice presidential forum is quite bothering," Cayetano said. At the event, Duterte and Cayetano responded to questions on a wide range of problems, from traffic to national security to internet speed.
Press Release

January 21, 2016 Only Duterte, Cayetano attend election forum;

Other candidates got scared, a no-show "Last men standing." This was how Davao City Mayor Rodrigo "Rody" Duterte and Senate Majority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano were described by the host of an election forum organized by Rappler held at the De La Salle University's (DLSU) Teresa Yuchengco Auditorium on Wednesday. It was reported that Duterte and Cayetano were the only candidates who attended the forum. Sources said that after confirming their attendance to the forum, all of the tandems vying for the May presidential polls backed out of the event. "Maraming nadismaya at hindi dumalo ang iba pang tambalan sa forum na ito. Their absence to this first presidential and vice presidential forum is quite bothering," Cayetano said. Nonetheless, the duo presented their platform, which they said is a comprehensive and bold response to the chaos in the country. They pointed to the worsening traffic problem, rising crime and illegal drug trafficking, lack of job opportunities and social injustice that need to be addressed. Duterte and Cayetano said the only way to effect real change is to end the country's chaos swiftly and decisively. "There is so much disorder. People don't have security. Sobra na ang gulo at pahirap na dinadanas ng tao. Sino ba naman ang hindi mapapamura kung pag-gising mo pa lamang sa umaga hanggang sa pagtulog mo sa gabi, walang tigil ang pahirap at gulo sa ating bayan," Duterte said. "This is the reason why I am angry. This is the reason behind my constant cursing. Behind my curses is the tragedy and suffering of the Filipino people," Duterte said. Cayetano said he and Duterte have the experience and principles necessary to fight injustices committed by those benefiting from the country's chaotic state of affairs. The senator highlighted the need to fight crime and corruption in the police force through harsh penalties for the corrupt and increasing salaries for honest police officers, removing excuses for corruption and helping to attract the best and brightest to the Philippine National Police (PNP). Cayetano also underscored the need for the country to transition to federalism to democratically decentralize governance and resources, and attain lasting peace. He specifically mentioned the need to spread development by infusing the regions with the necessary funds for development. "Hindi na pwede ang pwede na. Hindi na pwede ang konting pagbabago. At lalong hindi na pwede na magpatuloy ang ligaya ng mga nang-aabuso. Ang kailangan ay matapang na solusyon at mabilis na aksyon para tapusin ang gulo. This is what Mayor Duterte and I will bring," Cayetano stressed. Link to the video: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=988824467877001&id=368498793242908
Press Release

January 21, 2016 Sen. Marcos wants De Lima, NBI director to testify at reopening

of Mamasapano probe Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" R. Marcos, Jr. has asked the Senate Committee on Public Order and Illegal Drugs to invite former Justice Secretary Leila De Lima to the reopening of the investigation on the Mamasapano massacre. In a letter dated January 20, 2015 addressed to Senator Grace Poe, chairman of the Committee, Marcos also sought the presence of Atty. Virgilio Mendez, Director of the National Bureau of Investigation, as another resource person in the hearing that would be held on January 27. "Their presence during the hearing is extremely important as they can inform the Committee of the status of the cases involving the 44 fallen members of the Special Action Force (SAF) of the Philippine National Police (PNP)," said Marcos. Marcos has been urging the DoJ to speed up its preliminary investigation against the named respondents in the January 25, 2015 Mamasapano massacre. Despite government guarantees to give justice to the victims of the massacre and their families Marcos noted that no case has been filed in court to prosecute the suspects almost a year after the incident. "The families of the SAF 44 do not ask anything from the government except for justice for their loved ones," Marcos reiterated. Earlier, Marcos also said that at the re-opening of the Mamasapano investigation he would also seek to clarify reports of complaints of at least two widows of the SAF 44 that they have not yet received the promised aid from the government. The leadership of the PNP subsequently denied the allegation and released a report detailing the assistance they have given to the families of the SAF 44.
Press Release

January 21, 2016 Scrapping of Magna Carta benefits in SSL might trigger protests - Recto Instead of a pay hike, 99 percent of Department of Science and Technology (DOST) personnel will get a pay cut on the first year of the implementation of the proposed Salary Standardization Law IV (SSL IV), due to a provision there which threatens to repeal all Magna Carta for scientists, engineers, researchers and other science and technology (S&T) personnel benefits. On the second year of SSL IV's effectivity, 97 percent of the DOST workforce may still be punished with pay cuts. Senate President Pro-Tempore Ralph Recto disclosed the above examples in appealing to Congress "to revisit a provision in the SSL IV which could erase so-called Magna Carta benefits, not just of scientists, but of social workers, health workers and other government employees." Both the House and the Senate had passed the Malacanang-proposed SSL IV. But because their respective versions differ from each other, a Bicameral Conference Committee (Bicam) will meet next week to reconcile the differences. "Siguro tingnan ng Bicam kung ano ang epekto ng maaaring pagtanggal ng mga Magna Carta benefits ng mga social workers, nurses, doctors, scientists natin sa pamahalaan," Recto said. "There is a tempest brewing in the public sector on the issue of the removal of Magna Carta benefits. I hope we can find ways on how this can be averted from becoming a full-blown storm. I am optimistic that a win-win solution will be found to the satisfaction of all parties," Recto added. Section 8 of the bill passed by the House and the Senate states that "these are the benefits authorized for specific officials and employees under Magna Carta laws that may be categorized in the Total Compensation Framework in accordance with the guidelines, rules and regulations to be issued by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM)." "In other words, existing Magna Carta allowances may be considered part of the increases authorized under SSL IV. It means that Magna Carta benefits may be folded into the new salary rate," Recto explained. And who will determine what Magna Carta benefits will be scrapped? According to the bill, it is solely the DBM, Recto said. While Section 8 of the draft SSL IV tasks the DBM to coordinate with agencies concerned, it also removes the power of "consultative councils, departments and officials previously authorized to issue the Magna Carta benefits," Recto explained. This intent is reiterated in Section 20 which states that Magna Carta laws inconsistent with the SSL IV provisions "are hereby repealed, amended or modified accordingly." Specifically deemed amended are: RA 4670, the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers; RA 7305, the Magna Carta for Public Health Workers; RA 8439, the Magna Carta for Scientists, Engineers, Researchers and Other S&T Personnel; and RA 9443, the Magna Carta for Social Workers. Under the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers, teachers assigned in hardship stations shall get a hazard pay equivalent to at least 25% of their monthly pay. RA 7305, on the other hand, grants public health workers "on call" pay, night-shift differential, subsistence allowance, remote assignment and hazard allowance, among others. Government scientists and researchers are entitled to hazard pay, longevity pay, royalties from their invention, as prescribed by RA 8439. Magna Carta for Public Social Workers grants frontline DSWD personnel "on call, hazard, and overtime pay" plus subsistence and transportation allowance, to name just a few. Recto has written to the Senate conferees to the Bicam to consider inserting a provision in the SSL IV which calls for the "non-diminution of benefits currently received under existing Magna Carta laws." In his letter to Sen. Sonny Trillanes, chair of the Senate Committee on Civil Service and Government Reorganization, and head of the contingent, Recto urged the insertion of the following section: "Nothing in this act shall be interpreted to reduce, diminish or, in any way, alter the benefits provided for in existing laws on magna carta benefits for specific officials and employees in government, regardless of whether said benefits have been already received or have yet to be implemented." From mere coordination, Recto also proposed that the DBM "jointly" work with the agencies in determining qualifications, conditions and rates in the grant of SSL IV and Magna Carta benefits. Recto recalled that SSL III contained a provision "which provided that SSL III shall not reduce, diminish or in any way alter the benefits provided by the Magna Cartas." "I am calling on the Bicam to consider retaining this," Recto said. A study made by DOST employees said the scrapping of Magna Carta benefits will result in 98.72 percent of S&T personnel getting pay reduction in the first year of SSL IV's implementation. "Kasi kung scientist ka at sweldo mo, halimbawa, P24,000 and you get P 8,000 in benefits, so you gross P32,000. Pero kung tanggal ang benefits at ang sweldo mo itataas sa P30,000, may kaltas ka nga," Recto said.
Cloaked in fog, there's no city on earth as noir as San Francisco.

All conversations about San Francisco noir start with 'The Maltese Falcon,' but that's hardly the only crime thriller set in the city. San Francisco was a favorite of directors throughout the 1940s and 1950s, from Orson Welles to Delmer Daves, who used the city's dark corners to hide their smooth-talking villains. 'The Lady from Shanghai,' 'D.O.A.' and 'Impact' are just a few of the post-war films to shoot scenes in the city.
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The family of Andy Lopez, the 13-year-old boy fatally shot by a Sonoma County sheriffs deputy in October 2013 while holding a toy rifle, can take their wrongful-death suit to a jury, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

Lawyers for the county and sheriffs Deputy Erick Gelhaus argued that the suit should be dismissed because Gelhaus believed the toy was an AK-47 assault rifle and reasonably feared for his life when the youngster turned around and started to raise the gun.

But U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton of Oakland said there was no evidence that Andy was pointing the gun at the officer, made any sudden movement toward the weapon or was acting aggressively before he was shot.

The county and Gelhaus have not established that Andy actually threatened the officers with the gun, Hamilton wrote. Whether Gelhaus use of deadly force was reasonable depends on disputed facts, the judge said, and the question of reasonableness is best resolved by a jury.

Hamilton said the family could sue Gelhaus and the county for wrongful death, and could also sue the officer for allegedly using excessive force. She dismissed a claim that the officer had deliberately violated the youths constitutional rights, saying Gelhaus had no time for reflection and believed he was acting for legitimate law enforcement purposes.

The trial is scheduled to start April 11.

Gelhaus and another deputy, Michael Schemmel, came across Andy on the afternoon of Oct. 22, 2013, as the youngster, who stood 5 feet 4, was walking on a sidewalk past a vacant lot near his home. He was carrying a replica AK-47 from which the orange plastic tip, which would have identified it as a toy, had been removed.

The officers stopped their patrol car 35 to 40 feet away from Andy, and, according to their account of the incident, Gelhaus shouted at him to drop the gun. He turned toward them and, the officers said, started to raise the gun, which had been pointing downward. The family disputed that account in its lawsuit and said Andy kept the gun at his side.

Gelhaus opened fire and continued shooting at the youth while he lay on the sidewalk. His body had seven gunshot wounds, the familys lawyer said.

The boys family has alleged that the officer should have known the gun was a toy. In her ruling, Hamilton said the shooting would not necessarily have been justified even if Gelhaus reasonably believed it was a real gun.

The federal appeals court in San Francisco has ruled that the mere possession of a weapon is not sufficient to justify the use of deadly force, Hamilton said.

Gelhaus, a sheriffs deputy since 1989, was briefly suspended with pay but returned to patrol after the county district attorney declined to file criminal charges against him.

Hamiltons ruling should end all claims that Deputy Gelhaus was anything but a well-trained, experienced, professional law officer, said Steven Mitchell, a lawyer for the deputy and the county.

We will continue to vigorously defend Deputy Gelhaus because, as tragic as the outcome was, based upon what he saw, his life and the life of his fellow officer were in danger, Mitchell said.

The familys lawyer, Arnoldo Casillas, was not immediately available for comment.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter:@egelko
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The oldest man ever, 116-year-old Jiroemon Kimura of Japan, is said to have died two years ago, according to Guinness World Records officials.

But they may have had the wrong man.

Oakland resident Andrew Hatch died at his daughters home Monday, and she says he was 117 years old. That might have have made him the oldest person on the planet before his death.

Hatchs daughter, Delane Sims, said he was born Oct. 7, 1898. She called her father a man who embodied a culture of acceptance and tolerance of all people at a time when it wasnt very popular.

One of the things that Ive always been proud of is that my dad didnt allow the hatred that he saw perpetrated on a group of people just for the color of their skin to dictate his love and embrace when it came to everybody, Sims said through tears Tuesday night.

He was a respecter of people, he saw their humanity. He didnt allow the pain and the hurt he experienced to ever stop him from loving people. Thats why I think its so poignant that he passed on Martin Luther Kings birthday. He embodied that spirit.

A birth certificate stands in the way of the title as oldest man ever. Sims said she believes he was born in Louisiana. At that time, she said, it wasnt uncommon for poorer blacks in the rural South to have no birth records. He may not have even been born at a hospital.

That injustice, that disparity that existed then, affects my father now, she said.

Although he started life in the segregated south, Sims said her father was a free-thinking black man who traveled and experienced more than expected in that era.

He lived a good part of his life in Houston and in the 1920s, he lived in Mexico for several years, where he taught himself Spanish and quickly became fluent.

Hatch ended up in California in the early 30s, drawn to the culture of Oakland.

It was pretty bustling, Sims said. It was considered sort of a Harlem of the West. For African Americans, it was a real Mecca.

Sims said her father could fix anything, and remained self-employed throughout most of his life  another factor making it hard to verify his age.

As a blacksmith and auto-mechanic, he never worked for a large company, she said.

We never had an opportunity to confirm his age, even though we had his drivers license, and we checked in with social security, Sims said.

Sofia Rocher, a spokeswoman for Guinness World Records, said a management department reviews entries to name the official record holder. The process usually takes 12 weeks, and without proof of age, Hatch has little chance of being approved, Rocher said.

Without a birth certificate, I dont see that it might be feasible. Its the main proof of evidence, she said. Its one of our most popular records. We get entries from all over the word.

While Sims took an interest in her fathers age, she said he didnt crave the attention.

He was never really interested, she said. he was a pretty low-key person. He didnt like a lot of fanfare.

Always independent, Hatch lived on his own until two years ago, when he suffered a fall at his residence.

He moved in with Sims and her husband, Jerry, and remained bedridden. One of the problems, Sims said, is when she began to ask him more detailed questions to look into his age, some dementia had already set in.

He suffered a stroke a week before his death, and his daughter cared for him in his final days. She was born when he was in his 60s, and Sims said their relationship stayed strong throughout the years.

We had a very special bond, she said. Were very, very close  almost telepathic. I will miss him ... and what he stood for as a man.

In addition to his daughter, Hatch is survived by his son-in-law, Jerry Sims, nine grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren.

A memorial for Hatch will be held at Chapel of the Chimes on Piedmont Avenue in Oakland on Jan. 30 at 4 p.m.

Jenna Lyons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: jlyons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JennaJourno
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Search crews in Marin County returned to Rodeo Beach Thursday morning to look for the body of a missing 40-year-old surfer, who was hit and knocked out Wednesday by a large wave, officials said.

Dan Dafoe, a San Rafael resident, was knocked unconscious while he surfed Wednesday just after 5 p.m. People who were surfing with Dafoe saw him in the water face down and tried to bring him to shore when they were hit by a large wave, too, and lost track of Dafoe, the National Park Service said in a statement Thursday.
Devon Ravine/Associated Press

An ocean search for two missing college students from the Bay Area was called off Wednesday, three days after they were knocked off a rock by a wave and swept into the water near Santa Cruz, U.S. Coast Guard officials said.

The search was suspended after rescuers on the ground and in helicopters and boats combed 46 square miles over 22 hours.
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A surfer believed to be unconscious and tethered to his board went missing off of Rodeo Beach in Marin County on Wednesday night, authorities said.

A 911 call came in about 5:30 p.m. reporting the victim was missing, said Marin County Fire Battalion Chief Bret McTigue.
House lawmakers have issued a subpoena to compel former Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli, reviled for price-gouging, to appear at a congressional hearing Tuesday.

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is investigating several companies for exorbitant drug price increases, including embattled Canadian drugmaker Valeant Pharmaceuticals.

Shkreli became notorious after his company, Turing, raised the price of Daraprim, the only approved drug for a rare and sometimes deadly parasitic infection, by 5,000 percent. Since then, Shkreli has been deluged with criticism from patients, politicians and the media, with some labeling him the most hated man in America.

Last month, the 32-year-old former hedge fund manager was arrested in New York and charged with securities fraud and conspiracy related to another pharmaceutical company he previously ran called Retrophin. Shkreli was released on $5 million bail and said he had resigned as CEO of Turing, which he founded.

Puerto Rico

Secretary Lew

wants action

Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew stressed on Wednesday during a visit to Puerto Rico that congressional action is the only solution to pulling the U.S. territory out of its worsening economic crisis.

He called on Congress to approve a restructuring mechanism to help the island deal with its $72 billion public debt. He also said some kind of oversight authority that respects Puerto Ricos system of self-government is needed.

Now is the time to act, and Im here to further that effort, Lew said after meeting with Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla. It would be a mistake for anyone to think theres a plan B that comes anywhere near to being as effective.

Trade secrets

5 accused

of scheme

Five people have been accused in federal court of taking part in an alleged scheme to steal biopharmaceutical trade secrets from GlaxoSmithKline and sell them to competitors in China.

Charges in the indictment include conspiracy to steal trade secrets and conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering. Prosecutors said many products allegedly stolen were designed to treat cancer or other serious diseases.

Prosecutors allege that 45-year-old GlaxoSmithKline employee Yu Xue e-mailed and downloaded confidential information and a former employee also e-mailed material, and the defendants also set up corporations that would sell the material.

Las Vegas

Auditors rip

taxi charges

If the cash you doled out for a Las Vegas cab ride hurt your wallet, its not all in your head  auditors in Nevada also think taxi rates are outrageous.

Cabs are overcharging customers to the tune of $47 million a year, according to an audit released Tuesday of the Nevada Taxicab Authority.

Auditors for the governors finance office blamed increased fuel charges as gas prices are tanking and a $3 credit card processing fee that they say probably shouldnt exist.

The (taxi) boards decision is a windfall for the industry, which is able to pass additional operational costs on to the public, the audit says. These are mostly tourist/visitor dollars that would otherwise likely be spent elsewhere in the local economy.

Media

Gawker sells

minority stake

Gawker Media has sold a minority stake to the investment company Columbus Nova Technology Partners, a move that founder Nick Denton said was driven by the need to fund growth and to bolster the company for a lawsuit by wrestler Hulk Hogan over a sex tape.

Both Gawker and Columbus Nova declined to describe the specifics of the deal. Jason Epstein, the managing director at Columbus Nova, will take a seat on Gawkers board.

Denton said the deal concludes several months of meetings about outside investment. The company had been independent since its founding in the early 2000s, Denton said, but digital media is a serious business. This is not a blog collective anymore.

Chronicle News Services
WASHINGTON  In a victory for class-action plaintiffs, the Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled 6-3 that courts may not dismiss lawsuits simply because a defendant has offered to give the lead plaintiff everything he sought. A contrary decision would have allowed companies accused of minor but mass wrongdoing to pick off plaintiffs one by one, frustrating their ability to band together to sue over their claims.

Once unaccepted, the offer is off the table, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said in summarizing her majority opinion from the bench.

In dissent, Chief Justice John Roberts said that approach gave plaintiffs too much power. If the defendant is willing to give the plaintiff everything he asks for, there is no case or controversy to adjudicate, and the lawsuit is moot, he wrote.

The case, Campbell-Ewald Co. vs. Gomez, No. 14-857, arose from a text message on behalf of the Navy sent to Jose Gomez in 2006. Get a career, the text said. An education. And a chance to serve a greater cause. Gomez was 40 at the time, well above the age range for Navy recruits.

Gomez sued under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which allows people who receive unwanted text messages to recover up to $1,500, and he sought to represent a class of people who had received the message.

A Navy contractor, the Campbell Ewald Co., offered to settle the case for $1,503 for each unsolicited text, court costs and a promise to stop sending such messages. Gomez did not respond to the offer.

The company argued that the case should have been dismissed as moot because it had capitulated and offered Gomez everything he had asked for.

Ginsburg said the companys true aim was to avoid a potential adverse decision, one that could expose it to damages a thousandfold larger than the bid Gomez declined to accept.

While a class lacks independent status until certified, she wrote, a would-be class representative with a live claim of her own must be accorded a fair opportunity to show that certification is warranted.

Justices Anthony Kennedy, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan joined Ginsburgs opinion. Justice Clarence Thomas voted with the majority but did not adopt its rationale.

Roberts, joined by Justices Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alito, said the majority had run afoul of the constitutional requirement that federal courts may hear only live cases and controversies.

The problem for Gomez is that the federal courts exist to resolve real disputes, the chief justice wrote, not to rule on a plaintiffs entitlement to relief already there for the taking.

The majority left the door open to procedures in which defendants did more than make an offer.

We need not, and do not, now decide whether the result would be different if a defendant deposits the full amount of the plaintiff s individual claim in an account payable to the plaintiff, and the court then enters judgment for the plaintiff in that amount, Ginsburg wrote.

Roberts welcomed that aspect of the majority opinion, calling it good news on the assumption that there are other plaintiffs out there who, like Gomez, wont take yes for an answer.

In a separate dissent, Alito said he had not joined the majority only because there was no question that the company could and would pay. He urged courts to be wary of dismissing cases where there was a risk that the defendants failure to follow through on its promise to pay would leave the plaintiff forever empty-handed.

He suggested two acceptable procedures.

The most straightforward way is simply to pay over the money, Alito wrote. Alternatively, a defendant might deposit the money with the district court (or another trusted intermediary) on the condition that the money be released to the plaintiff when the court dismisses the case as moot.

The decision was the first in the three class-action cases the court has heard this term. A second, Tyson Foods vs. Bouaphakeo, No. 14-1146, concerns an attempt by thousands of workers at an Iowa pork processing plant to band together in a single lawsuit seeking overtime pay. The third, Spokeo vs. Robins, No. 13-1339, asks whether Congress may authorize lawsuits by plaintiffs who cannot prove they suffered a concrete injury.
Michael Macor/San Francisco Chronicle

Two suspects, one a teenager, were arrested in Vallejo earlier this week on suspicion of pulling a series of armed robberies, including several at toll booths at Bay Area bridges, authorities said Thursday.

On Monday, the California Highway Patrol, working with Vallejo police, served arrest warrants at multiple locations in the city after a months-long investigation into the robberies, said Officer Daniel Hill, a CHP spokesman.
A state appeals court has answered a critical question for hundreds of California prisoners serving life-without-parole sentences for crimes committed when they were juveniles, ruling that a judge must consider their good deeds in prison in deciding whether they should be eligible for parole.

The inmates, sentenced as youths for killings that might have been punishable by death for adults, are entitled to new sentencing hearings because of rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012 and the state Supreme Court in 2014. The 2012 ruling prohibited states from automatically sentencing juveniles to life without parole for particular crimes.

Although California law did not make such sentences mandatory, the law created a presumption for no-parole sentences for certain crimes, and the states high court said in the 2014 ruling that judges must reconsider those sentences without tilting either way. Neither ruling said what evidence a prisoner could present at a new hearing in seeking eligibility for parole.

In this case, prosecutors argued that the clock must be turned back to 1996, when 20-year-old Elizabeth Lozano was originally sentenced for a gang-related robbery and murder of a 13-year-old girl four years earlier. In February, the judge agreed with the prosecutor, disregarded evidence of Lozanos apparent rehabilitation in prison, and reimposed a life-wthout-parole sentence.

Distinction with minors

Last week, the Second District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles disagreed. In the states first appellate ruling on the issue, the court said the U.S. and California Supreme Court decisions had emphasized that juveniles were different from adults in maturity and responsibility, and that judges must consider all evidence relating to the distinctive attributes of youth before imposing harsh sentences.

All relevant evidence, in our view, includes what Lozano asserts is 15 years of rehabilitation in prison, Justice Sandy Kriegler said last Thursday in a 3-0 ruling ordering a new hearing.

Lozano, a 16-year-old member of a Los Angeles street gang, fatally shot Tayde Vasquez and took her jewelry in January 1992 after hearing that the girl had accused her of plotting with members of a rival gang. She was tried and sentenced as an adult in 1996, violated prison rules repeatedly for four years, and was convicted of a drug crime. But she has been discipline-free since then and has apparently turned her life around, the court said.

Lozano earned a high school diploma and a two-year college degree in prison, was elected to an inmate council that works with prison administrators, took part in an outreach program to help juveniles stay crime-free, and has won praise from a former prison warden and numerous staff members, the court said.

When she tried to present that information to the judge who was ordered to reconsider her sentence, prosecutors objected. They argued that evidence of good behavior in prison can be presented only at a separate hearing, authorized by a recent state law, that juveniles sentenced to life without parole can request after 15 years in prison.

Akin to death penalty

But the appellate court recognized that juveniles shouldnt have to wait 15 years before asking for the hope of future parole, said one of Lozanos attorneys, Heidi Rummel of the University of Southern Californias Post-Conviction Justice Project. She said the separate hearing cited by the prosecutors wasnt an adequate alternative because judges can decide not to hold such a hearing, not all juveniles convicted of murder are legally eligible to request hearings, and most are unable to take part in education and job-training programs because of prison restrictions.

For those sentenced as youths, life without parole is akin to the death penalty for adults, with little incentive for rehabilitation, Rummel said.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko
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Amid the cheers and whoops that dominated the latest graduation ceremony for a unique San Francisco charter school that includes jail inmates and people on probation, tears fell quietly down Gwendolyn Woods face.

Her son, Mario Woods, would have been among the young men and women at St. Marys Cathedral on Wednesday strutting down the aisle in black caps and gowns, mugging for photos, and waving at loved ones. Instead, she accepted his high school certificate from Five Keys Charter School on his behalf, as the crowd stood and applauded.

Woods was killed Dec. 2 in the citys Bayview neighborhood by five San Francisco police officers in a shooting that ignited community outrage after a video of the encounter suggested that the 26-year-old was walking away from officers, not trying to attack them, when they opened fire.

Police officials said Woods was surrounded by officers because he was a suspect in a stabbing, and that the officers shot him after unsuccessfully trying to subdue him by pelting him with beanbag rounds. Chief Greg Suhr said soon after the shooting that the officers did their best.

Woods absence was noticeable throughout Wednesdays joyous ceremony, which boasted the highest number of community graduates since the schools inception. A former teacher asked for a moment of silence in his honor, and keynote speaker Lateefah Simon made a point to acknowledge his mother in her speech.

Gwendolyn Woods said her son did not need to earn his diploma from the charter school, which the Sheriffs Department established in 2003 with the idea that education was a key part of rehabilitation, and which has since expanded from criminal offenders to include other adult learners and at-risk youth.

Already had a GED

Her son had already earned his GED, she said, but he told his teachers that a diploma is what my mother would want, and I want to make her proud.

God had something great for him, Gwendolyn Woods said after the ceremony. He deserved to be happy, and this is one of those things where he was beginning to realize all his potential. He got his drivers license, he got jobs, his first bank account. He should be here. And I just miss him, but Im so proud of him, and Ive always been proud of Mario.

Tyson Amir, a Five Keys teacher, said he taught Woods in math class in 2009 and 2010. Woods restarted his education in March, according to his mother, fulfilling the credits needed for his diploma.

The first time I had him, he wasnt really with the program. I had to try and adjust his behavior gently, get him back on track, get him to focus, Amir said. He did what he needed to do, but what I saw in him was that he had an amazing potential. Brother was smart. He completed my class with a B+. What that represented was that when Mario was focused, he could accomplish anything.

Woods was arrested in 2008 for a robbery and was sentenced to seven years in state prison in 2010. He was released in 2014.

Many who attended Wednesdays ceremony also had difficult or troubled backgrounds, whether run-ins with the law or social or economic issues that interrupted their education.

Sometimes all people need is a second chance to be great, said graduate Mercedes Chante Lackey, who spoke at the ceremony.

Several graduates said they looked forward to putting their education to use.

On top of a mountain

Its been a journey, but now you see me standing at the top of a mountain, said Joshua Luarte. Im a smarter, wiser man, smart enough now to realize that I have everything to learn. I can now see my whole life ahead of me, and Im going to make it positive.

Newly elected Sheriff Vicki Hennessy said that after the school started in 2003, it had only seven graduates in its first year. Steve Good, the schools executive director, said he had expected to expand to 20 a year. Wednesdays ceremony had 85 graduates.

Hennessy said after the ceremony that the idea to offer Woods diploma to his mother posthumously came from the school officials. She said she thought it was a good idea, despite the politics tied to it.

Keeping politics out

The police officers union, which supported her throughout her campaign, has been rallying its members to speak in support of the officers who killed Woods.

Im trying to take politics out of it and trying to be humane and compassionate, Hennessy said.

She said her focus was on all of the graduates.

I wanted to make sure that this was done to honor the many people of all ages and a variety of different circumstances who worked very, very hard to earn their diplomas, Hennessy said. The fact that Mario Woods was one of those people, I thought it was justified to have his mother receive his diploma. We would have done it for anyone else as well.

Vivian Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: vho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @VivianHo
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Dozens of members of the San Francisco Police Officers Association packed the Police Commission meeting Wednesday night, heeding a call from the union president to show support for the five officers involved in the fatal shooting of Mario Woods.

Within an hour, and with just three officers being able to speak, they left, trailing out of the room en masse to the same boos and jeers that drowned out much of the officers comments.

Because for as many officers who showed up, there were just as many activists and community organizers, outraged over the Dec. 2 death of Woods.

Commission President Suzy Loftus repeatedly had to threaten to adjourn the meeting if attendees refused to stop chanting and talking over speakers, and at one point called the meeting into recess when a speaker walked up to the panel and questioned the two-minute speaking limit.

The shooting of Woods garnered nationwide attention after a video of the encounter was posted on social media, showing what critics said was Woods walking away from officers, not posing a threat as the police said he was.

His death has led to fiery meetings similar to Wednesdays gathering, with many calling for Police Chief Greg Suhrs resignation and for a federal investigation.

The Police Officers Association has staunchly denounced the public outcry over the shooting, with President Martin Halloran writing to each member calling for a show of support at Wednesdays meeting.

Under our current justice system, we are innocent until proven guilty, Officer Shante Williams tried to say during public comment before he was drowned out with boos and calls of, Why did they shoot Mario then?

We are not a diverse firing squad, Williams got out before the crowd overtook him. We put our lives at risk every day.

Police officials said Woods was armed with a knife he was suspected of using in an earlier stabbing and that the five officers involved in the shooting  Charles August, Nicholas Cuevas, Antonio Santos, Winson Seto and Scott Phillips  had no choice but to use lethal force after unsuccessfully trying to subdue him with beanbag rounds and pepper spray.

To me, I want all the facts, just like everybody here, said Sgt. Tracy McCray.

One more sergeant spoke before they left, to heckling from attendees waving signs calling for justice for Woods and for the firing of Suhr.

It was a horse and pony show, and I think it was disrespectful to the family and to the community because we all came out here with open ears to hear what they had to say, said Perry Jones, 32. Theyre separating themselves from us, and that was what the walkout was about.

Attendee Sharen Hewitt said she tried to ask some of the members why they were leaving. Their response, she said, was to block her away as if she was a threat.

Whats happening today is that the Police Department is acting very much like some of the gangs on the street, she said.

Halloran did not immediately respond to requests for comment after the officers left the meeting. McCray said afterward that the officers can take only so much in terms of what the community members were shouting at them.

We have some thick skin, but even thick skin only goes so far, she said. They wanted to come and say what they wanted to say. Obviously we cant have a dialogue where people can discuss their feelings back and forth without getting shouted down. At a point, we dont want the meeting to shut down. If they feel like its more important for them to speak, then let them speak.

Vivian Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: vho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @VivianHo
Justin Eldridge's family will never fully understand why nothing seemed to ease the anguish of the young Marine and father of five, as he wrestled with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury after a deployment to Afghanistan in 2004-05. Despite stints in VA hospitals and an array of medications, he killed himself in his Waterford home on Oct. 28, 2013. He was 31.

"He did his part -- he followed the treatment they gave him," said his widow, Joanna Eldridge, who is now raising their children alone. "It just wasn't enough, in terms of following up with him and figuring out why he wasn't getting better. ... We just have to do better at helping these guys after they get home."

A new study suggests that the suicide risk for veterans who served in the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is significantly higher -- 41 to 61 percent higher -- than for the general population. The study, led by Department of Veterans Affairs and Army researchers, is the most comprehensive look to date at the suicide risk for veterans who were on active duty during the recent wars.

The analysis -- to be published next month in the journal Annals of Epidemiology -- found the suicide rate was the highest among veterans during the first three years after leaving military service, and that the risk was elevated for both deployed and non-deployed service members. Suicide rates were not significantly different for those who deployed once, like Eldridge, and those who deployed multiple times.

The study notes that before the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the suicide rates among active duty and former military personnel had been 20 percent to 30 percent lower than the U.S. general population. But the recent wars are "substantially different" from Vietnam or the first Gulf War, with veterans serving longer tours, deploying multiple times, and suffering different kinds of injuries, many from blasts.

In addition, absent a draft, the recent conflicts may have attracted more volunteers "who may have a higher level of risk-taking behaviors" and who face economic stress and employment problems when they transition home.

The study comes as U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., pushes efforts to revive a suicide-prevention bill that died last year. The bill, which passed the House earlier this month, would require an outside review of existing suicide-prevention programs at the Department of Defense and the VA to gauge their effectiveness, and make recommendations for improvement. It also calls for more online and community outreach mental health services and includes incentives to attract psychiatrists to work with veterans.

The new study does not propose reforms to stem veterans' suicides, but instead examines patterns within the 1,868 suicide deaths of veterans who had served between 2001 and 2007 and who left the military during that time. It identified suicides through Dec. 31, 2009.

Male veterans were three times more likely than females to kill themselves, the study found. But the suicide risk for women veterans, when compared to women in the U.S. population, was greater than the difference in risk between male veterans and civilians.

Joanna Eldridge, who was in Washington on Tuesday to attend the State of the Union address as Blumenthal's guest, said she supports the proposed bill and wants to help bring attention to the need for more resources for veterans with PTSD.

In the five years before Justin's death, she said, he struggled with depression and alcohol and drug addiction. After his first suicide attempt in 2008, the VA told the couple that Justin would have to wait three weeks for specialized treatment, she said. She contacted her congressman, U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, and Blumenthal, then the state's attorney general, to intervene. The VA admitted Justin three days later.

While she is grateful for the help her husband did receive, Joanna said, "I just don't feel like he got the correct treatment. There was a lot of changing his medications -- sometimes he'd be in a zombie state."

She became his full-time caregiver, supporting him as he kicked alcohol and drugs -- but watching helplessly as he spiraled into despair.

"I think he just had enough of the pain," she said. "He didn't want to see it and feel it anymore."

This story was reported under a partnership with the Connecticut Health I-Team (www.c-hit.org).
The Dowager Countess of Grantham has taken to relieving herself into plastic bags.

Its taken 16 years for Alan Bennetts play The Lady in the Van to make it to the big screen, but the film capitalizes on the attention afforded its star, Maggie Smith, as her role as the Dowager Countess in TVs Downton Abbey comes to an end.

Moving as far from the formidable countess as possible, Smith stars as a cantankerous, seemingly unhinged old woman who lives in squalor in a van that she has parked in an upwardly mobile middle-class neighborhood of London. Ursula (Frances de la Tour), the widow of composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, resides in the area, as does playwright Bennett (Alex Jennings), who lives to regret extending a helping hand to the ornery and malodorous woman who calls herself Mary Shepherd.

The story is narrated by Bennett, or, to be precise, one of the two Bennetts in Nicholas Hytners film. As in the original play, there is the Alan Bennett who lives his life and the Alan Bennett who writes about it  a gimmick, to be sure, but somewhat useful since, as the narrating Bennett says, writing is talking to yourself anyway.

Mary has moments of complete clarity, but they are fleeting. Most of the time, shes disagreeable and eccentric as she moves her battered home from parking spot to parking spot in the neighborhood. If questioned about why she has to park herself in front of one particular residence, she replies that shes had guidance. From whom? The Virgin Mary. I spoke to her yesterday. She was outside the post office.

Whenever she encounters someone who disapproves of what shes doing at the moment, shes likely to announce that I am a sick woman. Dying, possibly.

A Camden social worker brings her three coats to keep her warm inside the van. She tosses one to the ground, declaring, Green is not my color.

Bennett wishes he could be as indifferent to Mary as his snobby neighbors Rufus and Pauline (Roger Allam and Deborah Findlay) are, but Mary has a way of ignoring whatever impediment is thrown her way, and shes decided Bennett will be her benefactor.

Yet there is more to Mary than meets either the eye or the nose. She claims to have been a nun at one point and to have studied music. No one believes her, of course, but perhaps she is telling the truth. Does she have any family? No one knows, any more than whether Mary Shepherd is really her name.

Hytners direction is adequate, which is to say he knows enough to get out of the way and let Smith do her considerable thing. Jennings is quite good as the supposed voice of reason. His writing self constantly reminds his alter ego that he isnt really living much of a life, and over time, in her own way, Mary inspires him to consider whether there is any advantage in playing it safe.

While The Lady in the Van is one of those quaint and quirky little films of which the British are inordinately fond, Americans will find it equally endearing, with the exception of the hideously over-the-top final scene. Then again, there will always be an England, bless its little heart.

Bennetts screenplay enables him to add useful details to the story that he could only imply in the original play, but both onstage and onscreen, Smiths performance is not only virtuosic but indispensable in grounding the various loose threads of the story. By the end of the film, we have learned several key details of Marys life, but they arent really necessary in endearing her to us. Like Bennett, we find her impossible to resist from the outset.

David Wiegand is an assistant managing editor and the TV critic of The San Francisco Chronicle. E-mail: dwiegand@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @WaitWhat_TV

The Lady in the Van: Comedy. Starring Maggie Smith and Alex Jennings. Directed by Nicholas Hytner from a screenplay by Alan Bennett. (PG-13. 103 minutes.)
Restless

Dont expect this British spy thriller, winner of the Royal TV Society Award, to follow any of the standard cliches of the espionage genre. It grabs you and doesnt let go for three hours. Based on a best-selling novel by William Boyd, who also did the telescript, Restless is broken into two time zones: It begins in 1977 when Ruth Gilmartin (Michelle Dockery, Downton Abbey) visits her mother, Sally Gilmartin (Charlotte Rampling). Shes stunned to learn Sally was a British spy during World War II under the name Eva Delectorskaya, and now Eva/Ruth fears that a murderer is stalking her. In flashbacks to 1940-41 England and America, we see Sally (now played by Hayley Atwill, often provocatively dressed to lure men and learn secrets) as she is drawn into convoluted assignments handed to her by undercover agent Lucas Romer (Rufus Sewell), who also becomes her lover. Interspersed are sequences set in 1977 as daughter Ruth finds herself also drawn into intrigue when her mother asks for help to resolve her fears. These scenes, past and present, are intercut to build suspense about what is really happening. The only bonus feature is a behind-the-scenes photo gallery. Too bad screenwriter Boyd didnt give us some background as to how he wrote such a uniquely compelling mystery.  John Stanley

RESTLESS

2012

NOT RATED

ACORN MEDIA

$19.49
BOGOTA, Colombia  Colombia released a group of imprisoned rebels this week, marking another milestone in a peace process that could end Latin Americas longest-running armed conflict.

President Juan Manuel Santos said late last year that he would pardon a group of 30 rank-and-file members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, as a unilateral confidence-building gesture.

The pardons were slow to arrive, generating some friction with the rebel group.

On Wednesday night, nongovernment organizations working with the rebels and a government official confirmed that a contingent of those prisoners had been released. It was not immediately clear how many of the 30 had left government custody.

The fighters had been convicted of nonviolent crimes including rebellion, illegal possession of weapons and false use of army uniforms. Several were weeks away from completing their sentences.

Four of the newly freed men and women are expected to travel to Cuba in the coming days to participate in formal peace talks there.

The rebels have been in talks with the government for three years, working toward a cease-fire that would end a half century of drug-fueled fighting.

On Tuesday, the government and FARC marked another milestone, jointly requesting that the United Nations establish an international observer mission to monitor a disarmament process that could end in a matter of weeks.

Negotiators for the two sides announced at peace talks in Havana that the 12-month mission would be made up of unarmed observers from Latin American and Caribbean nations. It would monitor adherence to an eventual bilateral cease-fire and resolve disputes that emerge from the expected demobilization of some 7,000 FARC fighters.

A formula for the rebels demobilization and handing over of their weapons remains to be negotiated.

But in calling on the United Nations to begin preparing for the observers deployment, analysts say both sides are signaling that a March deadline to wrap up talks could be within reach.

Todays announcement isnt only the start of an international process, its the unequivocal demonstration of our desire to end confrontation, said lead government negotiator Humberto de la Calle.
The states plan for single-drug executions in California would give prison officials a choice among four lethal chemicals. But two of them are no longer available from the manufacturers, and the other two have never been used for executions.

The proposal by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is not based on sound research and amounts to experimentation on human beings, said Megan McCracken, an attorney with the Death Penalty Clinic at UC Berkeley Law School. Lawyers from the clinic and the American Civil Liberties Union said the department has failed to disclose where the drugs would come from or how they would be tested.

But the department says the drugs can be produced by its own pharmacies, or by private pharmacies if necessary. And a leader in the campaign to resume executions in California said Thursday the source of the chemicals is irrelevant.

If it can be confirmed that a drug is what its supposed to be, that the substance in the bottle is of a given concentration and no impurities, it doesnt matter where it came from, said Kent Scheidegger, legal director of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation.

Scheideggers organization filed a lawsuit on behalf of families of murder victims that the state settled in June by agreeing to switch from three-drug executions, which it has used since 1996, to a lethal dose of a single sedative, the method now employed by many states.

The change is intended to satisfy concerns raised by a federal judge, who halted executions at San Quentin State Prison in 2006 after finding that flaws in injection procedures and staff training raised an unacceptable risk of a botched and agonizing execution.

Members of the public, who have already submitted thousands of written comments on the one-drug proposal, will have a chance to speak out Friday in Sacramento at the only public hearing scheduled on the issue. After another month of written comments, prison officials will have until November to respond to the public and submit a final proposal to a state legal office for review.

But the plans future could be determined at the ballot box before it has a chance to take effect. An initiative being circulated for the November election would repeal the death penalty and replace it with life imprisonment without parole. A competing initiative would seek to speed up executions by imposing new deadlines on courts and lawyers, and would also eliminate the need for administrative review, or public comment, on the single-drug proposal.

In the meantime, execution drugs are in short supply nationwide, and opponents of the California proposal are questioning the availability and reliability of the four proposed lethal sedatives.

One of the drugs, thiopental, which has been used in the states three-drug executions, is no longer manufactured commercially. A second drug, pentobarbital, is produced by a single U.S. manufacturer that has prohibited the use of its product in executions.

The other two drugs, amobarbital and secobarbital, have not been used in executions. Amobarbital is manufactured as a powder and is the active ingredient in the barbiturate amytal sodium. Secobarbital is sold in pill form as the prescription drug Seconal.

The corrections departments proposal says the department has pharmacies that can produce the drugs in lethal doses, and if problems arise, it can obtain the drugs from private compounding pharmacies that would prepare them to order. Texas, Missouri and Georgia have carried out recent executions with pentobarbital from compounding pharmacies.

But Jennifer Moreno, an attorney at the UC Berkeley Death Penalty Clinic, said those pharmacies are lightly regulated and have produced some contaminated drugs, like the one responsible for an outbreak of meningitis in Massachusetts in 2012.

State prison officials havent specified how they will choose the pharmacy, what guidelines the pharmacy will use, what testing will be done, if any, Moreno said. They havent given any information about doses, concentration and other critical details, she said.

Department spokeswoman Terry Thornton said details of the proposal are available on the departments website, www.cdcr.ca.gov. Scheidegger, of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, said he wasnt concerned about the fine points.

I doubt that the level of regulation has much to do with the reliability, he said. The type of contamination that led to the meningitis outbreak is irrelevant if the drug was intended to cause death.

If medical knowledge about a drug tells us that it produces anesthesia and in a higher dose causes death, thats really all we need to know, Scheidegger said.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko
It happens all the time. You start out the day with great intentions to get that financial report done or to work on your marketing plan only to find its 3pm and youve barely scratched the surface. Every time you sit down to work on something, a ping, ding or dong stops you in your tracks.

Social media and email are our biggest distractors, according to Cal Newport, author of Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World. While turning off devices may seem a simple solution, Newport says the problem runs much deeper. Our attraction to digital devices has created a permanent fracturing of our attention, affecting our ability to maintain focus and be present.

Cultivating our ability to focus means engaging in a practice Newport calls deep work.

Deep work is when you focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task, he says. You work on it as hard as your brain is capable for an extended amount of time without any distractions. Working on something while in deep work mode will produce much better results than working with distracted, fragmented attention  what most of us do every day. Most people dont go five or ten minutes without glancing at their phone or inbox, says Newport.

Related: Stop Paying Attention to the Non-Urgent in Your Life. Learn How to Single-Task.

Engaging in deep work isnt as simple as setting aside a chunk of time to work on something. You have to treat your attention with a lot of respect, like a professional athlete might treat their body, says Newport. This also means training your brain to focus.

In order to engage in deep work, Newport says you need to develop a few habits:

Block out time.

Schedule time on your calendar to work on something. If youre engaging in a cognitively demanding task, Newport recommends no less than a 90 minute chunk. Once its in your calendar, treat that time like an important meeting or appointment. If someone asks to meet at noon and thats in the middle of your deep-work time, schedule the meeting for another time.

Embrace boredom.

Be wary of the habit of never being bored, says Newport. Many of us fall into the habit of whipping out our phones every time we feel a little bit bored. Your brain loses its tolerance for boredom and lack of stimuli which means when it comes time to do deep work its going to have a hard time staying focused, says Newport. Improving your ability to focus means training your brain to be a little bored. Try it next time youre standing in the line at a bank. Reduce the urge to whip out your phone and be ok with being a little bit bored.

Related: 5 Distractions That Stunt Your Business

Productive meditation.

Train your brain to focus by thinking of a single problem that you want to solve and hold that problem in your mind for a set period of time. Newport says this works best if you go for a walk. Just as in mindful meditation, when you see your mind wandering from the problem, notice it and bring your mind back to the problem that youre working on.

Adopt a zero-tolerance policy.

When youre engaged in deep work, dont allow for distractions. Even glancing briefly at your inbox will reduce your cognitive capacity to focus.

Prepare for deep work.

Just as a long-distance runner stretches her muscles before a run, you may need to adopt some rituals to prepare for deep work. Your deep-work ritual could be as simple as cleaning off your desk and hanging a "Do Not Disturb" sign on your door -- anything that tells your brain that its time to shut off the rest of the world and focus on the task at hand.

Know the outcome.

Having a fixed outcome that youre striving for lets your brain know what its supposed to be working on and will pool its resources towards that task.

The '20 percent less rule.'

Whatever deadline you set for yourself, cut it by 20 percent. Now you have to scramble with as much intensity to get this thing done, says Newport. Adding a sense of urgency to the task is like doing interval training for your mind. It forces you to work just a little bit harder.

Related: 6 Ways to Wrest Back Control of Your Life From Your Cell Phone

Related:

Finding Your Focus Through 'Deep Work'

How to Create Freedom Through Focus

Stop Paying Attention to the Non-Urgent in Your Life. Learn How to Single-Task.



Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
If you wanted to, you can become a millionaire in under five years.

I was able to do it sooner than that, but it wasn't that easy. There have been many sacrifices to make and obstacles to overcome, but I was determined to make it happen. Dealing with adversity was my greatest teacher and it allowed me to build the type of resilience that helped me walk through the fire.

Dealing with People

Eventually, I became fireproof. In the process of reaching the seven-figure mark, I've learned dealing with people is the most important attribute. No one can become a millionaire without knowing how to deal with people assertively. You must be prepared when your best friends turn on you or your family betrays you. Sometimes, it will happen at the most unpredictable times.

Forgiving People

I had to let old friends and family members know that I was moving on in my life. One time, I pulled a cousin over to the side at a family gathering and told him the truth about how I felt. Strangely enough, he unexpectedly died the next week. If I had not forgiven him for his transgressions, it would have haunted me for years.

Forgiveness is the best revenge. - Unknown

Handling Finances

In my first year of business, I barely scraped by financially. That same year, I faced dozens of overdraft fees and late charges on almost every bill. I had to sell my car to keep moving forward. I learned I still had to keeping show up and handle my business, despite the failures and discouragement. Soon enough, I began to prosper and my income skyrocketed 10 times in the next year.

Making Sacrifices

Those experiences were hard. The night before I received a payment of $10,000 to speak to a large audience in Delaware, I had to sleep in the car in the freezing cold by myself! At the time, my account was severely overdrawn by over $200 and I couldn't afford a hotel. It's a good thing I had a wool suit that night!

Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards. - Oscar Wilde

Dealing with Embarrassment

Another time, I was stuck at the grocery line with nearly $100 of goods. When I swiped my card, it was declined. After fumbling with other credit cards, I looked behind me and there were at least 10 carts behind me. I had to go home and eat tuna that day--with no bread or mayonnaise. My water was shut off that night, too, so I washed the food down with a few teaspoons of rain water!

Related: 5 Ways to Reach Millions of People

Asking for Help

At a certain point in my business, I couldn't grow any further until I hired a few key people. Asking for help wasn't my forte, but I had to make it happen. Within months I had a lawyer, editor, personal trainer, part-time chef, and other personnel. It cost me a fortune at first, but eventually helped push me into the million-dollar mark. Most people won't ask for help because their ego is in the way.

Overcoming Fears

I failed English class three times in high school. One college professor told me that I shouldn't even bother writing and failed me in her class. For years, I believed that my gift of writing could never come to fruition, even though I had so many ideas. However, once I started writing books and articles, it changed my confidence. Today, I reach millions of people with my words.

Your gift will make room for you. - Ancient Proverb

Fixing My Attitude

Creating excuses was one of my greatest obstacles. I used to blame my environment and upbringing. I allowed my circumstance to dictate my life, instead of taking control of my life. Eventually, I had to let go of these excuses and limitations. Many times, I had to submit myself into the "attitude shop," where I would sit in my study to renew my mind and change my perspective.

Trusting Others

When I became emotional, I'd have to check in with my confidants, telling them the brutal truth about my situations. In the process of making myself vulnerable, I was able to gain freedom, releasing myself from false pressures and anxiety. By sharing myself with others, I was able to maximize my efforts and make major breakthroughs in my life.

Taking Risks

Before reaching the seven-figure mark, you must take many risks. Taking risks requires much faith in yourself and others, but it must be done. Faith is knowing that what you want will eventually happen as long as you believe it. You'll have to take major leaps in your life, sometimes not even knowing where it will lead. However, it will pay off once you get to the other side, even if you burn a bridge or two in the process.

Showing Up (On Time)

If I showed up, I would come in "fashionably late." However, I realized I had to stop this behavior once I missed an international flight. That day, I sat in the airport and looked at my watch: I was only 2 minutes late. After facing that great disappointment, I vowed to be early for the rest of my life. I've kept true to that promise.

Becoming Professional

There's a great difference between an amateur and a professional. In my amateur days, I would design my own websites, cut my own hair, and change my own oil in my car. All of this would take up valuable time and effort, causing major frustration in the process.

Nowadays, I leave these duties to the professionals since that's what they do best. This way, I maximize all of my talents, which allows me to reach my highest potential. Today, I only keep the best people around me. It costs a little bit more, but I've learned the value in "paying the price." That's what professionals do.

If you really want to do something, you'll find a way. If you don't, you'll find an excuse. - Jim Rohn

Studying Relentlessly

Each year, I faithfully read more than 100 books. I also skim dozens every month. In order to become an expert, I've learned that amassing knowledge in my field requires at least four hours per day. Along with this, I learn from everyone I meet, studying their intent and purposes, doing my best to understand human nature.

Related: 7 Steps to Achieving Financial Independence

Acquiring Skills

You need the skills to pay the bills. I'm always practicing my keynote. I'm writing a minimum of 3,000 words per day. I'm sending out hundreds of emails each week and making at least a dozen calls on my busiest days. Do my skills increase? Substantially. That's why I'm continually adding more value to more people in less time.

Embracing Opportunities

Early on, I would travel for hours to make a "free" appearance. Time after time, this was worth it since I was learning about the world of business, shaking hands with people from all over the world. Some of my greatest opportunities came from philanthropic endeavors when I expected nothing from those I visited.

Declining Opportunities

With hundreds of inquiries every week, I need to constantly keep track of which ones are most important. I cannot afford to take $10,000 opportunities when $1,000,000 opportunities are available. By using great discernment, I must turn down parties, movies, award shows, speeches, and deals of all different kinds. Does it bother me? Not at all. I just pass along to those who need these opportunities.

Think Bigger

One of the greatest decisions I ever made was switching from consumer to producer. Here's the difference: consumers eat the pizza, producers make the pizza; consumers watch the videos, producers make the videos. You get the point. Instead of selfishly pleasing my own desires, I sought out ways to help those who were in need.

Give Relentlessly

As a teenager, I naturally scoffed at people who volunteered in my community. By my early 20's I became the biggest volunteer in town! My life was changed once I learned the value of giving my time, energy, money, and creativity to others. When you give, you get far more in return. I discovered that the richest people give the most, that's why they get the most! The secret of living is giving.

From what we get, we can make a living. What we give, however, makes a life. - Arthur Ashe

Set Big, Juicy Goals

You must also set goals that scare you. You must become ultra-specific when you set your big, juicy goals. In my first year of business, I shed blood, sweat, and tears to achieve these goals. I had many sleepless nights, doing whatever it took to get the job done. Today, I've achieve far more than I would have imagined for myself.

Following Your Purpose

I was deeply enlightened when I learned this fact: when you become bigger than your purpose, you can't do anything. However, when your purpose becomes bigger than you, anything is possible. This means that if you take part in a purpose greater than yourself, you can achieve every goal you put your mind to!

Let me simplify how you can become a millionaire in under five years: be true to yourself. Only take opportunities that allow you the greatest chance to promote explosive growth in your life. Usually, it's by taking a sales position or starting your own business. If you have the desire and potential to make it happen, you can become a millionaire before you know it!

Related: 10 Secret Mindsets of Multi-Millionaires

Related:

How to Become a Millionaire in Under 5 Years

5 Secrets Most People Don't Know About Money

62 Percent of American Billionaires Are Self-Made



Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
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STAMFORD  A day before his trial is set to begin for allegedly using a pump sprayer full of gas to set his multi-family apartment building on fire, Anthony Manousos rejected an offer Wednesday to plead guilty to first-degree arson and spend the next seven years in prison.

Manousos now risks a sentence of up to 25 years in prison if hes found guilty of setting the apartment building on fire with a female tenant inside.

At a hearing in a fourth-floor courtroom at the Stamford courthouse, Judge Richard Comerford went over the plea deal with the 34-year-old Manousos, who was detained Dec. 3, 2014, about 300 feet from his burning multi-family home on Highland Avenue.

Manousos was found carrying a hooded sweatshirt stinking of gas, police said. One pocket of the sweatshirt held two burnt matchsticks, identical to those that police said started the fire.

Police later found a pesticide pump sprayer filled with gasoline in the back seat of his car, which was parked nearby. The vehicles trunk contained a five-gallon plastic gas container with gas, police said.

Comerford asked Manousos if he understood that if he didnt take the seven-year plea deal, he was risking up to 25 years in jail if found guilty by the jury. Manousos said he understood what was at stake and declined the offer, allowing the trial to go forward.

When asked in the court hallway why Manousos wouldnt take the deal, his attorney Frank DiScala replied, Because he is innocent.

In other developments in the case, DiScala and his partner defending the case, Michael Skiber, finally turned over a critical report to the prosecutor in the case, Senior Assistant States Attorney Paul Ferencek. The report details their fire investigators analysis of the cause and origin of the fire.

Despite police reporting that the foyer of the multi-family home smelled of gasoline when firefighters and police arrived and found the burnt matches, DiScalas fire investigator Michael Higgins said the cause of the fire was a faulty electric heater, Ferencek said.

On Tuesday, after DiScala did not produce either Higgins or his report for questioning by Ferencek, the trial judge in the case, Gary White, said he would either prohibit Higgins from testifying or limit his testimony.

From what White said Wednesday, Higgins appears to be cleared to take the witness stand for the defense.

Tenant Brenda Ortiz, 36, was napping that afternoon when she was awakened by the smell of gasoline. She opened her door and saw the floor of the landing leading to a staircase soaked with gas.

Ortiz then called her husband so he could call Manousos to figure out what was going on. Ortiz said she heard someone upstairs and called up to them, warning them of the danger.

Suddenly, there was an explosion upstairs and a man came running out the front door, wearing a dark hoodie and painters mask, just like the one Ortiz said she saw Manousos wear when he was painting in the home.

When Ortiz was brought up to where police were holding Manousos, she identified him as the man who came running out of the house.

jnickerson@scni.com;
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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Irbil, Iraq

The Obama administration and the Vatican condemned the Islamic State group Wednesday for razing Iraq's oldest Christian monastery, a 1,400-year-old structure that survived assaults by nature and man for centuries before it was deliberately destroyed by extremists.

At the United Nations, UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova said reducing St. Elijah's monastery in Mosul to a field of rubble was malicious and misguided. The Associated Press confirmed the news with exclusive satellite images published early Wednesday.

"Despite their relentless crimes, extremists will never be able to erase history," said Bokova, who called the demolition a war crime. "It also reminds us how terrified by history the extremists are, because understanding the past undermines the pretexts they use to justify these crimes and exposes them as expressions of pure hatred and ignorance."

St. Elijah's monastery on the outskirts of Mosul was a place of worship recently for U.S. troops, who worked to restore it. In earlier centuries, generations of monks tucked candles in the niches and prayed in the cool chapel.

The Greek letters chi and rho, representing the first two letters of Christ's name, were carved near the entrance.

During a press briefing in Washington on Wednesday, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the Obama Administration condemned the destruction by IS. "They continue to carry out these kinds of depraved acts, and it really symbolizes or exemplifies their bankrupt ideology," he said.

In his office in exile in Irbil, Iraq, the Rev. Paul Thabit Habib, 39, stared quietly at before- and after-images of the monastery that once perched on a hillside above his hometown of Mosul. Shaken, he flipped back to his own photos for comparison.

"I can't describe my sadness," he said in Arabic. "Our Christian history in Mosul is being barbarically leveled. We see it as an attempt to expel us from Iraq, eliminating and finishing our existence in this land."

The Islamic State group, which broke from al-Qaida and now controls large parts of Iraq and Syria, has killed thousands of civilians and forced out hundreds of thousands of Christians, threatening a religion that has endured in the region for 2,000 years. Along the way, its fighters have destroyed buildings and ruined historical and culturally significant structures they consider contrary to their interpretation of Islam.

St. Elijah's has joined a growing list of more than 100 demolished religious and historic sites, including mosques, tombs, shrines and churches in Syria and Iraq. The extremists have defaced or ruined ancient monuments in Nineveh, Palmyra and Hatra. Museums and libraries have been looted, books burned, artwork crushed  or trafficked.

"A big part of tangible history has been destroyed," said the Rev. Manuel Yousif Boji. A Chaldean Catholic pastor in Southfield, Michigan, he remembers attending Mass at St. Elijah's almost 60 years ago while a seminarian in Mosul.
File photo

A proposal for a new building for New Lebanon School is set to face a vote by the Board of Education at their meeting 7 p.m. Thursday at New Lebanon School.

Known as Option 3, the plan calls for a new building to be built entirely in the wooded ravine next to the current school building on Mead Avenue. The new plan was endorsed last week by the New Lebanon building committee.
The leader of an armed group who took over a national wildlife refuge in southeastern Oregon weeks ago joined hundreds of area residents at a tense community meeting  listening quietly as many loudly chanted at him to go.

Ammon Bundy, who has been trying to drum up support for his cause, didnt speak at Tuesday nights meeting in Burns where residents discussed the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge which began earlier this month.

Some of the several hundred community members spoke to Bundy directly. One woman thanked him for raising awareness around issues of public lands, but told him its time to go home to his family.

Ammon, you need to go home to your family; thank you, said local resident Jennifer Williams. Ive heard so many things I didnt know before. Now Im aware.

Other speakers were less congenial and at times angry and emotional in comments directed at the armed group as well as at local government officials and federal government, in part for not doing more to end the occupation.

Harney County Judge Steve Grasty took the microphone over to where Bundy sat in the bleachers and told Bundy he would drive him wherever he wanted to go, as far as Utah. He also offered to meet with him anytime.

Bundy and his small posse left after the meeting without incident.

Rallies also were held in Portland and Eugene, Ore., and in Boise, Idaho, Tuesday, with hundreds of people calling for Bundy to end the occupation and pointing out that federal management allows all kinds of people to enjoy public lands.

Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward reiterated in a statement before the Burns meeting that law enforcement wants the armed group to vacate the refuge.

Bundy and his group are demanding that the refuge be turned over to local residents. Bundy is a son of rancher Cliven Bundy, who was involved in a 2014 Nevada standoff with the federal government over grazing rights.
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The group of Greenwich women that sent a 40-foot-long container of donations to Syrian refugees in Macedonia last November just received word that the donations have arrived.

The shipment, which included more than 16,000 Mylar blankets, arrived safely on Jan. 14 at the SOS Childrens Villages warehouse in Skopje, Macedonia. Unloading began last Friday afternoon.

Organized by Greenwich residents Kirsten MacDonald, Margaret Anker, Anne Ferguson and Sue Parkin, the donated items came from scores of Greenwich residents and beyond, extending to residents of Norwich, Conn., and Westchester County, N.Y.

Katerina Ilievska, the SOS Childrens Villages liaison in Macedonia, said in an email that theyre currently scheduling several deliveries from the warehouse to a transit center in Tabanovce, Northern Macedonia, where items will then be distributed to the refugees.

When we got that message, it brought tears to our eyes, said MacDonald.

Ilievska sent photos of the boxes and some of the refugees who would be benefiting from the donations.

We could recognize the boxes in our packing endeavors and recognized our writing on our packages, said MacDonald.

Ive seen the pictures of the loading on your end, but, to be honest, I couldnt even imagine the amount you managed to raise and ship until I saw it with my own eyes It is impressive, it is incredible, Ilievska wrote in the e-mail.

She also wrote that the weather is one of the main concerns for the refugees. Though the first days of 2016 have been warmer than usual, the forecast looks bleak, with temperatures reaching below zero degrees Fahrenheit.

Meanwhile, Ilievska said, refugees continue to pour in, many of them children. As of this week, of the 3,062 people who entered Macedonia as refugees, she said 1,163 were children.

She said that on the Tuesday early afternoon train entering Macedonia, nearly half of the approximately 450 people were children.

Please convey my deepest gratitude and the gratitude of my colleagues to everyone in your community who contributed to this amazing endeavor! said Ilievska in the last paragraph of her email.

The fact that theyre working so hard in the field, and their dedication to helping these people in need, is truly amazing, said MacDonald. And I dont say that as a cliche. We think weve done a great part here, but when you read what shes doing and what theyre doing, on the ground, every single day, under those circumstances  they deserve every medal they can get.

SFoster-Frau@scni.com; @SilviaElenaFF
The University of California will add beds for about 14,000 more students by 2020  not only to accommodate increased enrollment it has promised, but also because students say they already have trouble finding affordable places to live.

UC President Janet Napolitano announced the new student housing initiative Wednesday as the regents met in San Francisco. She acknowledged there have been concerns as UC prepares to open its doors to 10,000 more students by 2018, including 5,000 next fall alone.

Student housing is the top issue the UC Student Association leadership has raised with me, she told the regents. Not only is housing related to enrollment growth, but many of our campuses are located in some of the most expensive real estate markets in California.

Although it isnt clear how many students across the 10 UC campuses have inadequate housing, the UC Student Association recently invited students to anonymously send in their housing horror stories. Within hours, nearly 300 students had responded.

I struggle with rent every month, wrote a student at UC Davis who is considering food stamps.

Housing is a complete nightmare wrote another student from an unidentified campus who spent four months looking for housing. As soon as an ad gets posted, landlords get between 20 and 40 calls in the first 24 hours.

One sad tale came from the president of the student association himself, Kevin Sabo, a UC Berkeley senior who couldnt afford housing at all in fall 2014, and had to sleep at a friends apartment. But on weekends when her boyfriend or her conservative Muslim parents would come up from Southern California, I had to leave, said Sabo, who slept in his student government office on campus on those nights.

Sabo gave Napolitanos new student housing initiative a mixed grade.

Her action gives me relief, knowing that future UC students will not have the same concerns in their search for affordable housing, he said. But for students on campus today, 2020 is too long to wait.

UC hasnt figured out how much it will cost to add 14,000 beds, but much of the money will come from borrowing or fundraising, Napolitano said. Some new housing will be built or bought, while projects already under construction or in the planning stage will be fast-tracked, she said, and graduate students as well as undergraduates will be accommodated.

Nanette Asimov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: nasimov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @nanetteasimov
A man shot dead in front of an East Side home after an argument has been identified by the Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office.

Roger Soto, 34, was in an argument with another man in the front lawn of the house when he was fatally shot at about 1 p.m. Jan. 15 in the 900 block of Poinsettia Street, according to San Antonio Police Department Chief William McManus.
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Two guys driving from California to Montana with about 20 pounds of marijuana ended up in jail after violating one of the oldest rules in drug dealing: never get high on your own supply.

The men, Leland Ayala-Doliente, 22, and Craig Holland Sward, 23, had just crossed the Nevada-Idaho border last January when things started to get weird.

The paranoid pair  thinking they were being followed  pulled over their car, which was loaded down with 20 bags of marijuana that weighed about a pound each, and called the police to report themselves. The 911 call was obtained by EastIdahoNews.com on Wednesday and posted to YouTube.

RELATED: 'Too high' man calls 911, is found lying in pile of Doritos

Hi, uh, were the two dumb asses that got caught trying to bring some stuff through your border and all your cops are just driving around us like a bunch of jack wagons and Id just like for you guys to end it," Doliente told the 911 dispatcher.

The dazed duo, who were travelling with a dog, proceeded to tell the dispatcher they believed undercover officers had been following them but refused to arrest them (no police were following them.)

RELATED: Man calls 911 because girlfriend won't have sex with him

After providing an address for the dispatcher, police arrived to find the two with their hands on their head and the 20 pounds of pot tied up in a garbage bag that was inside a dog kennel on the side of the road near the car.

The two were arrested and charged with felony drug trafficking. Both tested positive for marijuana.

According to RT, Sward received a sentence of 30 days in jail but Doliente, who tested positive for marijuana, cocaine and oxycodone on his sentencing day, got one-and-a-half to eight years in prison.

RELATED: Drug smugglers put 2,500 pounds of pot into these fake carrots on the Texas-Mexico border

kparker@mysa.com

Twitter: @koltenparker
Michelle King was appointed earlier this month as superintendent of Los Angeles Unified, Californias largest school district. But can we really trust her to lead Los Angeles schools? After all, shes from L.A.

Actually, that understates how suspiciously local King is. She attended L.A. Unified schools, sent her own kids to them, and served as teacher, principal and top deputy to the last two superintendents. If she were any good, wouldnt she have worked someplace else?

Is that question ridiculous? Yes, but it mirrors L.A.s reaction to her appointment. Politicians, pundits and education professors expressed disappointment that L.A. Unified had hired someone so achingly local. Our elites had wanted a star from the outside  a major political figure like the Obama cabinet member Julian Castro, or a high-profile superintendent from a city like Miami or St. Louis  both of which, it should be noted, have far fewer residents than L.A. Unified has students.

This is supposed to be the era when we celebrate the local  local produce, local bookstores, local governance. But in Southern California, were not so excited about locally grown leaders. We have for so long been a city of stars from someplace else that we have little faith in those local grinds who pay their dues and think they might one day run things.

Our Police Chief Charlie Beck, for all his progress in crime-fighting and diversifying his force, labors under the sense that he was an internal candidate not in the same class as out-of-town predecessors. And no matter who you are, making the New York Times has always been a far bigger deal than getting written up in the Los Angeles Times  even before the paper was downsized by out-of-town owners. Hollywood has organized itself as an exclusive club so distant from the diversity around it that it has turned the Academy Awards, with another slate of all-white acting nominees, into a joke.

L.A. also has a habit of outsourcing thorny problems: When our big institutions get into trouble, we dont knuckle down and fix them ourselves. We bring in outsiders to fix them. Over the past generation, our Sheriffs Department, our Police Department, the Dodgers and various other institutions have been the subjects of outside takeovers.

So the reaction to Kings appointment is hardly surprising. Given her success as a teacher, principal and administrator, you could argue that shes the best prepared L.A. Unified leader of the last generation. (The district has had eight superintendents in 20 years, including a clueless Navy admiral.) And while elites dont know her well, regular people do. As the L.A. School Report site pointed out, King was the most frequently mentioned person in the districts online survey of parents and teachers preferences in a superintendent.

This community support, however, counted as a strike against her in editorials by the L.A. Times and L.A. Daily News after her appointment. Both papers damned her credentials with faint praise (the Times editorial called her obviously capable twice) and advised her to pick fights  the tactic that backfired on several previous superintendents. Times columnist Steve Lopez wrote that the school board chose a good, low-profile soldier rather than a strong, independent voice, and for now at least, I find that disappointing.

And I find maddening Lopezs notion that a good local cant be independent.

The reality: With all our diversity and strange ways of governance (from ballot initiatives to our hundreds of commissions), Californias institutions are getting more complicated  making it harder for outsiders to step in. And with all of L.A. Unifieds challenges, from its impoverished student population to its fiscal troubles, there may be no California government more complicated and important.

In other school districts, local leaders have succeeded. There may be no better big-city school district in the state than Long Beach, run for the last 14 years by Chris Steinhauser, who was both student and teacher in the schools he leads. In San Diego Unified, Cindy Marten, an elementary school principal elevated to superintendent, has made political mistakes but also has made dramatic improvements in training and personnel, including the replacement of more than 70 principals and vice principals.

Of course, L.A. Unified presents a bigger challenge. Which is precisely why a woman tough enough to negotiate the L.A. district as parent, teacher and administrator for 30 years stands a better chance of succeeding than just about anyone else.

Joe Mathews writes the Connecting California column for Zocalo Public Square. To comment, submit your letter to the editor at www.sfgate.com/submissions.
Two years ago, Thumbtack  a South of Market startup that connects consumers with local contractors  conducted a survey to see what they thought of proposals to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10, as per President Obamas bid to give America a raise. The survey found that that a plurality of the small businesses that used Thumbtack thought a wage hike would be good for the economy. Most thought that a minimum-wage increase would have no effect on their hiring or firing decisions. But what happens if Washington passes Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders proposal to more than double the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour  or Californians pass a ballot measure to raise the state minimum wage to $15 from $10?

One piece of news this past weekend suggests a big minimum-wage hike could cost low-skilled workers their jobs.

More for you Oakland Walmart store among 269 set to close

Walmart closed its Oakland store amid speculation that the citys $12.55 minimum wage played a role. Oakland City Councilman Larry Reid told The Chronicle the citys wage law was a factor in the closure. Its hard to think otherwise when Oakland was one of 269 stores slated to be shuttered across the country, while in nearby San Leandro, where the $10 state wage floor prevails, two stores will remain open for business. The Washington Post reported last week that Walmart was withdrawing plans to build two superstores in the nations capital. A city councilman told the Post that behind closed doors Walmart blamed D.C.s minimum-wage rules (currently $11.50 per hour, but the wage could rise to $15 if voters pass a ballot measure).

Thumbtack chief economist Jon Lieber finds it amazing how the $10.10 plan blossomed into a $15 floor, which may make sense in high-cost urban areas, but would put a hard squeeze on employers in places like Laramie, Wyo. The vast majority of the small businesses surveyed by Thumbtack already pay well above the minimum wage, which is not surprising as many provide professional services. There is one group, however, that the survey found was most likely to be hardest hit  employers who paid more than $7.25 but less than $10.10. Walmart falls into that category.

In April, the retail giant raised its nationwide minimum wage to $9. In October, Walmart announced that the increase in labor costs cut into its profit margin. This month came store closures. Lieber expects to see retailers install more automated checkout machines as the cost of labor rises.

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf endorsed Oaklands minimum-wage increase, which 82 percent of voters supported. I got no comment from Schaaf, but her office noted that Oaklands unemployment fell from 6.1 percent in February 2015, before the wage hike went into effect in March, to 5.3 percent in September. The Walmart closure, however, means 400 fewer jobs and the loss of revenue from one of the citys top 25 sales-tax produc ers.

In 2014, former GOP gubernatorial candidate and Silicon Valley entrepreneur Ron Unz worked the conservative case for a higher minimum wage. (Short version: Make work pay more than welfare.) When we talked Tuesday, I asked Unz about Oakland. He told me, I could see Oakland having possibly made a mistake trying to match San Francisco. Note to Sanders and state unions: Beware what you promise; it could kill entry-level jobs.

Debra J. Saunders is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. E-mail: dsaunders@sfchronicle.com.
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SACRAMENTO  California needs to stay focused on building a reserve fund for an inevitable recession and anticipate that new taxes will be needed to pay for crumbling roads and bridges, Gov. Jerry Brown said in a State of the State speech Thursday that was big on chores, short on glamour.

The states $77 billion in deferred maintenance  primarily for fixing roads, highways and bridges  is a problem that must be addressed, the four-term governor told lawmakers in his 14th State of the State speech.

That means at some point, sooner rather than later, we have to bite the bullet and enact new fees and taxes for this purpose, Brown, 77, said. Ideology and politics stand in the way, but one way or another the roads must be fixed.

Brown spent much of his 20-minute speech recounting what California has accomplished in recent years, telling lawmakers he would not propose new programs. Instead, Brown said his focus this year will be on how the state will pay for commitments it has already made and brace itself for the next recession.

Since World War II, he told lawmakers, there have been 10 recessions none of them expected or accurately predicted, Brown said.

He spoke of the widening gap between the rich and poor and highlighted the states raising of the minimum wage and introduction of an earned income tax credit for low-income families.

Undaunted by problems

Difficulties remain, and they always will, said Brown, who has three years remaining on his final term as governor. That is the human condition. And finding the right path forward is formidable. But find it we will, as we have in the past and as we will again  with courage and confidence.

The governor last year asked lawmakers to address the states transportation funding needs, calling a special session to hammer out a deal that has not yet been reached.

Republicans widely praised the governors calls for building reserves and paying off debt, but said they did not agree that new taxes are needed to fix the states transportation troubles.

Assembly Republican Leader Chad Mayes, R-Yucca Valley (San Bernardino County), said the state first needs to ensure that transportation funding already being spent is used wisely.

Lets have that conversation first, then lets see where we are at, Mayes said.

Earlier this month, Brown unveiled his record $122.6 billion budget proposal for 2016-17, with large charts showing the likelihood of an economic downturn prominently displayed around him. The same boom and bust charts have been a fixture at Browns news conferences, and printouts were included in press packets passed out at the State of the State.

I dont want to say hes in a doom-and-gloom mood, but hes very sensitive to a recession, said state Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco.

Infrastructure spending

In his State of the State, Brown proposed using $2 billion in temporary surplus money in this years budget for a one-time investment to repair aging infrastructure, from state office buildings in Sacramento, to levees, prisons, state hospitals and parks.

Brown warned about the rising cost of Medi-Cal, which has grown by $23 billion in four years for the state and federal government. In-home Supportive Services is expected to jump from $2 billion to $9.2 billion, Brown said.

As the economic recovery reaches its end point and turns downward, it is crucial that we honestly face and plan for these increased costs, Brown said.

Noticeably missing from Browns speech was any mention of high-speed rail, one of the largest infrastructure projects in the state that has a long list of detractors. Brown skimmed over another project hes championed  the controversial delta tunnels  although he said the state needs a wide range of investments in water reliability, including reliable conveyance.

Brown pledged to work with lawmakers on water issues to achieve results that will stand the test of time.

Governor criticized

Democratic lawmakers said more can be done to help the most vulnerable in the state. Outside the Capitol, advocates blasted Brown for not providing more funding for the developmentally disabled.

We can make targeted investments that make sense, said state Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles. The greatest asset we have here in California are the people, and we have to make sure we educate them and give them opportunities.

Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is running to replace the termed-out Brown in 2018, said he agreed with the governors overall message of restraint, but that there remain many needs in the state, from the hardships students face to gaps in prenatal care.

Newsoms take

It was very sober and contextualized a reality that only someone like Jerry Brown can appreciate through experience, Newsom said. Its a consistent speech. This has been the message of the governor.

Newsom said hed propose similar restraint if elected governor.

Maybe Id add a little here or there, Newsom said. But look, I like what he said. Its a starting point.

Melody Gutierrez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: mgutierrez@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @MelodyGutierrez
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An all-out push to fire the executive director of Californias most powerful coastal protection agency was revealed Wednesday, infuriating environmental groups and other coastal advocates who fear a power grab by a cabal of government appointees backed by developers.

The California Coastal Commission said it will hold a public hearing Feb. 10 to consider the possible dismissal of Charles Lester, executive director of one of the most powerful conservation and land-use agencies in the nation.

Lester, who has held the job since 2011, was told about the 12-member commissions intentions in a letter last Thursday from the commissions chairman, Steve Kinsey. In response, Lester requested the public hearing, officials said.

It was the first outward sign of a serious political rift within the agency, which regulates development, housing and other projects along 1,100 miles of coastline from San Diego to the Oregon border. At stake, according to Lesters defenders, is control over an agency that upholds the California Coastal Act of 1976, which regulates development and protects coastal resources, habitat and wildlife.

No reason was given for the proposed ouster, which is purportedly being led by commission member Wendy Mitchell, who was appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Mitchell said she could not talk about a personnel matter, and Lester was unavailable for comment.

Management style

Insiders say there have been questions about Lesters management style, including complaints that he has been unresponsive to commissioners. Some critics have also said the Coastal Commission staff, which Lester oversees, lacks diversity.

Coastal advocates who have worked for years with the commission and count Lester as an ally discounted those allegations.

We are absolutely befuddled on why this would happen, especially given that under Charles Lesters leadership there have been some pretty great accomplishments, said Stefanie Sekich-Quinn, coastal preservation manager for the Surfrider Foundation.

One of Lesters successes, she said, was the agencys recent release of its Sea Level Rise Guidance Document, a framework for adapting to global-warming changes that took 2 years to complete and was highly praised by commissioners. Gov. Jerry Brown also augmented the Coastal Commissions budget by $3 million this year, which could allow the agency to permanently hire 25 staff members, now on temporary status, who are working on issues involving rising sea levels.

We feel this is a power grab to ultimately control an independent staff, Sekich-Quinn said. This is not really about the executive director. This is a micromanagement attempt.

Seeking power

The commission has 12 voting members appointed by the governor, the state Senate Rules Committee and the Assembly speaker. The fact that different agencies appoint the commissioners means no single person, not even the governor, has control over its activities.

As a result, the executive director has long been a target of political operatives trying to exercise more control over the agency. Many pro-development critics say the commission has been too strict, capricious and dismissive of property rights.

Lester, a former political science professor, was the handpicked replacement for Peter Douglas, who held the position for 26 years until his retirement in August 2011. Douglas, who died of lung cancer in 2012, co-wrote the legislation that created the California Coastal Commission in 1972. He also helped to draft the California Coastal Act.

Douglas, a tough, politically savvy operator, fought hard to protect the coastline and rein in development, leading to major battles against offshore oil and gas leasing, housing developments and efforts to cut off beach access.

He was so effective in halting coastal development in the 1990s that then-Gov. Pete Wilson tried to oust him, prompting a public outcry that saved Douglas job.

Like deja vu

Sara Wan, a former commissioner who now runs a conservancy group, said this latest attempt to fire the executive director is happening for the same reason  developers want more influence over the coastal agency.

Its kind of like deja vu, Wan said. The real issue here is the independence of the commission and the ability to turn the coast over to energy and development interests. Thats what this is all about.

One source of friction as the drought took hold were regulations making it harder, and more expensive, to build desalination plants along the coast. So far only the $1 billion Carlsbad Desalination Project, which will convert as much as 56 million gallons of seawater each day into drinking water for San Diego County, has been approved.

Management style, not being responsive to the commissioners  these are the things that were brought up before when the governor wanted to oust Douglas, Wan said. Its pretty clear to me that Charles, just like Peter, is not the issue.

Peter Fimrite is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: pfimrite@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @pfimrite
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In the heat of battle, when tempers were flaring, Sylvia McLaughlin would often tell her troops, You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

The bromide wasnt one you would hear from Gen. George Patton, but it worked for the co-founder of the nonprofit Save the Bay, who had no qualms about barging into smoke-filled rooms and charming the all-male political titans of the day into capitulating to her wishes.

Ms. McLaughlin spent a half-century fighting to save San Francisco Bay from the ravages of development, dumping, toxic pollution, sewage and environmental degradation and, using her special blend of kindness and toughness, did exactly that.

The last survivor of a legendary feminist triad of environmentalists  the others were Catherine Kay Kerr and Esther Gulick  died Tuesday at her Berkeley home. She was 99.

If there were a Mount Rushmore of Bay Area environmentalists, Sylvia should be there, said Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates. Words are hardly adequate to convey her profound influence on protecting the environment, restraining runaway development around the bay and providing a powerful role model for those whose power is based not on wealth or inside political connections, but on determination and a just cause.

Grew up in Denver

Ms. McLaughlin, whose work is credited with setting off a grassroots environmental movement that spread across the country, had gentle beginnings in Denver, where she developed a passion for wild landscapes and the outdoors. She eventually made her way to the East Coast, where she received a bachelors degree in French from Vassar College in 1939.

She married Donald McLaughlin, a professor of mining engineering at UC Berkeley, in 1948, and the couple settled in the Berkeley hills. She had two children with Mr. McLaughlin, who died in 1985.

From the window of her study, Ms. McLaughlin had a sweeping view of the bay. But close up, she was shocked to see cities dumping their garbage on the shoreline in Berkeley and elsewhere, marshlands being filled and raw sewage being piped into the water. By 1961, a third of the bay had been filled or diked off, and only 10 percent of the original wetlands remained.

Smell of sewage in bay

I remember seeing garbage burning out there, she told The Chronicle in 2011. And people who lived here then remember the smell of sewage. It was not very nice.

At that time, less than 6 miles of shoreline was accessible to the public. Developers were planning to fill in 60 percent of what remained of the bay, something that would have turned the greatest estuary in the United States into little more than a shipping canal.

Ms. McLaughlin, Kerr and Gulick, whose husbands were all UC Berkeley administrators or faculty, decided something had to be done.

Saving the bay

The three formed Save San Francisco Bay Association in 1961 while sitting around their kitchen tables munching almond cookies and sipping tea. It was the first organization devoted exclusively to protecting San Francisco Bay and one of the first modern grassroots environmental movements in the country.

They were up against powerful development interests and local politicians with tax dollar signs in their eyes, but they didn't back down. They mobilized thousands of residents to stop a plan to double the size of Berkeley by filling in 2,000 acres of the bay. The women then galvanized support around the Bay Area to stop similar projects.

Landfill moratorium

Ms. McLaughlin, friendly and engaging, handled most of the public speaking, hauling her children to meetings and organizing busloads of activists to lobby politicians in Sacramento. Before long, the women attracted the attention of radio personality Don Sherwood, who rallied people to their cause.

Save the Bay, as it is now called, soon had members all over California and from other states. In 1965, the state acknowledged that San Francisco Bay belonged to the public. The McAteer-Petris Act, which created the Bay Conservation and Development Commission, put a moratorium on landfill.

Rockefeller: You win

In 1968, Save the Bay and the bay commission challenged a plan led by real estate mogul David Rockefeller to fill more than 10,000 acres along the San Mateo County coast with dirt shaved off of San Bruno Mountain, a 27-mile-long development dubbed New Manhattan. The fight lasted for a decade, but the proposal finally was defeated.

I was introduced to David Rockefeller after the final decision, Ms. McLaughlin recounted later, and he held out his hand and said, You win.

Save the Bay is now the largest organization dedicated to the protection and restoration of the bay. Some 35,000 employees, members and volunteers work on cleanup and restoration projects, monitoring development, keeping tabs on politicians and filing lawsuits against projects that they believe might harm the bays ecosystem.

Her story is really the Bay Areas story, said David Lewis, executive director of Save the Bay. San Francisco Bay is now roughly 18,500 acres larger than it was in 1961, Lewis pointed out, and more than half of it is ringed with public trails and shoreline parks.

This national treasure

If Sylvia and her colleagues hadnt saved the bay from being filled in, we wouldnt have this national treasure in the midst of the bustling Bay Area, Lewis said. The move to save the bay inspired other urban preservation projects in the Bay Area and throughout the world. They didn't just save the bay. They really started the modern grassroots conservation movement in urban areas.

Ms. McLaughlin served on the boards of virtually every environmental organization in the Bay Area, and was active almost until the day she died. In 2007, she was among the protesters who perched high in an oak tree in an unsuccessful attempt to keep UC Berkeley from clearing a grove for a new student athlete training center.

Her efforts to create parks along the bay were recognized in 2012 when the state designated 8 miles of shoreline from Richmond to Oakland as McLaughlin Eastshore State Park.

Unfinished projects

Ms. McLaughlin died in her hillside home, the paperwork of unfinished projects still scattered on her desk. It was here that she sat by a corner window a few years ago and gestured toward the gleaming blue San Francisco Bay.

It's beautiful, she said, admiring the sailboats, the brilliant sun shining on the water and the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance. We should save these beautiful places.

Ms. McLaughlin is survived by her daughter, Jeanie Shaterian of Berkeley; son George McLaughlin of Berkeley; a stepson, Donald McLaughlin Jr.; and four grandchildren, six step-grandchildren and 10 step-great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 4 p.m. Feb. 2 at St. Marks Episcopal Church, 2300 Bancroft Way in Berkeley. Memories and condolences may also be left at www.saveSFbay.org/rememberingSylvia.

Peter Fimrite is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: pfimrite@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @pfimrite
Get ready to learn about eight dynamic visionaries in the Bay Area. Starting on Sunday, Jan. 24, The Chronicle will begin profiling nominees for its second annual "Visionary of the Year Award."

The profiles, to be featured in the Sunday Bay Area section and on SFGate.com, will set the stage for the award presentation on March 29 at a gala dinner in San Francisco.

The VisionSF program was established in partnership with the St. Mary's College School of Economics and Business Administration as a way to honor the innovators among us and to inspire future generations to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams. This is complementary to both The Chronicle's mission as a community leader and to the School of Economics and Business Administration's commitment to produce graduates who "Think globally. Act responsibly."

I am confident you will be favorably impressed with the demonstration of ingenuity and social purpose by the eight nominees. They represent a diversity of backgrounds and endeavors, but share one very common trait: excellence of results.

The nominations were made by a committee of Bay Area residents who are visionaries in their own right. In fact, one of the members, Evan Marwell, won the inaugural award for his work on a nonprofit group, Education SuperHighway, which has been integral in expanding high-speed Internet access to schools across America. The other distinguished committee members included Pam Baer, founder and CEO of For Goodness Sake, a nonprofit foundation that created an e-commerce site to connect consumers with curated brands and nonprofits; Ron Conway, an angel investor and philanthropist; Ben Fong-Torres, a noted rock journalist, author and broadcaster; Pamela Joyner, founder of the strategic marketing consulting company Avid Partners LLC; and Zhan Li, dean of the St. Mary's School of Economics and Business Administration.

I had a chance to catch up recently with Marwell, whose nonprofit venture has made impressive progress in the past year. He said there has been a "dramatic increase in the numbers" of schools that have been outfitted with the fiber-optic cable required for high-speed Internet  and, equally important, the gap between wealthy and poor districts has been narrowing.

Marwell's project embodies the can-do spirit that VisionSF was established to honor. He brought the startup sensibility of Silicon Valley to an area of critical need in society. He is determined to have Education SuperHighway complete its mission and "go out of business in 2020." He said the national attention given to his 2015 award helped advance that goal, especially as he met with governors about wiring schools in their states.

"It was a real credibility builder for us," he said. "We're a small organization compared to others that these governors are dealing with. As one governor said to me: 'Your job as governor is to figure out who you can trust. You're having to deal with making decisions on issues you know very little about ... all the time.'

"I gotta tell you: The Visionary of the Year award has helped our organization garner that trust."

The winner will be selected by Publisher Jeff Johnson, Editor in Chief Audrey Cooper and me. I can assure you that it won't be an easy choice  and I have no doubt that their stories will remind ourselves, and the world, how and why this region is such a remarkable hub of entrepreneurship and social purpose.

As Joyner so rightly observed, "We are all fortunate to be living in a special place at a rarefied moment in time."

John Diaz is The San Francisco Chronicle's editorial page editor. E-mail: jdiaz@sfchronicle.com On Twitter: @JohnDiazChron
IDOMENI, Greece  Turkeys coast guard says 12 migrants have drowned after a boat taking them to the Greek islands capsized in rough weather.

A coast guard statement said 26 others were rescued on Thursday off the Turkish Aegean resort of Foca, near Turkeys third-largest city, Izmir.

One of the survivors, 31-year-old Iraqi national Yusuf Ali, told the state-run Anadolu Agency that he lost his wife and child in the incident.

Ali was quoted as saying: The boat started to take in water. We just couldnt stop it. My daughter and my wife drowned in the water.

Anadolu said security forces had detained two alleged human smugglers.

About 40 migrants have died so far this year off Turkeys coast while trying to cross into Greece, the coast guard says.

Also Thursday, Macedonian authorities have reopened their borders to asylum-seekers heading north to wealthier European countries, but are only letting in people whose stated final destination is Germany or Austria.

About 1,700 people had been stranded for up to two days in freezing temperatures at Greeces northern border with Macedonia.
BAGHDAD  Two powerful Shiite militias are top suspects in the abduction of three Americans last weekend in a southern neighborhood of the Iraqi capital, an Iraqi police commander and a Western security official in Baghdad said Thursday.

The Americans were abducted in Dora, a mixed neighborhood that is home to both Shiites and Sunnis, on Saturday. It was the latest in a series of brazen high-profile kidnappings undermining confidence in the Iraqi governments ability to control state-sanctioned Shiite militias, which have grown in strength as Iraqi security forces battle the Islamic State group.
BEIJING  The Facebook page of Taiwans president-elect was flooded Thursday with tens of thousands of pro-China comments following a campaign by young mainlanders to jump the countrys Great Firewall into normally forbidden overseas social media to express displeasure over the recent election.

President-elect Tsai Ing-wen is from a party that is less friendly toward Beijing and the notion of eventual reunification than the previous one, angering many residents in China, which considers Taiwan part of its territory.

A youth-dominated online forum on the mainland with millions of members launched the crusade late Wednesday to flood Tsais Facebook page as well as news sites, including Taiwans SETN.com and Hong Kongs Apple Daily, with comments and conversation. Thousands of mainland Web users appear to have answered the call.

One of Tsais Facebook posts drew 42,000 comments, with most warning that China firmly opposes any independence. Some taunted the island to declare formal independence so Beijing has an excuse to annihilate the bandits.

Though some Chinese have long chafed at Internet restrictions aimed at insulating residents from forbidden, harmony-eroding ideas from outside, this is the first major public groundswell to scale the wall in the opposite direction, for Chinese Internet users who want to flaunt their unswerving nationalism abroad.

Though Chinese authorities tolerate eruptions of nationalist sentiment, they also do not like to see them spiral out of control. Beijing is wary of efforts to break out of the confines of the Chinese cyberspace and has hinted that the use of virtual private networks, or VPNs, to access banned websites could be considered illegal.

Beijing journalist Zhang Heng said the outpouring among Chinese was the result of youthful exuberance and being brainwashed for more than a dozen years by thought and politics courses in school.

The crusades silver lining was that many young people are learning how to access the global Internet, he said.

I think thats a good skill to have, Zhang said. At least some of the young people will see a more colorful world on the other side of the wall. When they are exposed to more information, they wont be easily manipulated by a single political thought.

Supporters have cheered the online aggression as a spontaneous manifestation of the will of Chinas young generation, while critics have derided them as little pinkos who blindly follow the Communist Party.
Here is some stuff in the news today...[Content Note: Terrorism; death] Goddammit: "Armed militants stormed a university in volatile northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing at least 20 people and wounding dozens a little more than a year after the massacre of 134 students at a school in the area, officials said. A senior Pakistani Taliban commander claimed responsibility for the assault in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, but an official spokesman later denied involvement, calling the attack 'un-Islamic.' The violence nevertheless shows that militants retain the ability to launch attacks, despite a country-wide anti-terrorism crackdown and a military campaign against their strongholds along the lawless border with Afghanistan. A security official said the death toll could rise to as high as 40 at Bacha Khan University in the city of Charsadda. The army said it had concluded operations to clear the campus six hours after the attack began, and that four gunmen were dead."[CN: Climate change] In unsurprising news: "2015 smashed the record for the hottest year since reporting began in 1850, according to the first full-year figures from the world's three principal temperature estimates. ...Experts warned that the record-breaking heat shows global warming is driving the world's climate into 'uncharted territory' and that it showed the urgency of implementing the carbon-cutting pledges made by the world's governments in Paris in December."[CN: Misogyny; carcerality] Rage seethe boil: "Incarcerated California women are denied abortion services, prenatal care, and even menstrual pads, according to a scathing American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of California report released Tuesday that finds some county jails deny, delay, and ignore prisoners' reproductive health care. ...'Jails are putting people's health at risk by denying, delaying, and ignoring crucial reproductive health care,' Melissa Goodman, one of the report's authors and director of the LGBTQ, Gender & Reproductive Justice Project at the ACLU of Southern California, toldin an interview. A jail has 'a legal obligation to provide medical care to the people it incarcerates, but sadly that often ignores reproductive health,' Goodman continued."[CN: White privilege] "Activist DeRay McKesson was a guest on on Monday (January 18), and he pulled no punches in his discussion of police violence and white privilege. The co-founder of Campaign Zero, which seeks to eliminate police violence against citizens, discussed the backlash to the Black Lives Matter Movement" and police violence. And "things got really interesting when Colbert asked for tips on identifying and dismantling his privilege," prompting McKesson to educate Colbert "about using his privilege to be an ally to the movement."[CN: White supremacy] "Oscar-winning actor George Clooney has accused the Academy Awards of 'moving in the wrong direction' amid controversy over lack of diversity. ...Clooney, who has won two Academy Awards, said: 'We need to get better at this. We used to be better at it.'" Oh. Well, Mr. Clooney, you're a producer, so maybe you could start byat producing films with people of color in them.[CN: Extreme weather] Oh shit! "The latest forecast data are insistent that a severe winter storm will unleash [debilitating] snow and strong winds over much of the D.C. area Friday through Saturday night. The National Weather Service has issued a Blizzard Watch for the entire metro region due to the potential blinding combination of snow and powerful winds. 'Potential life-threatening conditions [are] expected Friday night into Saturday night,' the National Weather Service says. 'Travel is expected to be severely limited if not impossible during the height of the storm Friday night and Saturday.' While there is still time for shifts in the exact storm track, which could alter snow totals some, the consensus of forecast models indicate more than a foot of snow will fall in many areas." Fuck.[CN: Creepy-crawlies] " According to a new study , our houses can contain more than 500 different kinds of arthropods, a category that includes insects, spiders, mites and centipedes. The most commonly identified critters in the study were flies, spiders, beetles, and ants. How did the researchers determine this great abundance of biodiversity inside human dwellings? By scouring them from top to bottom and collecting over 100,000 specimens." I am not creeped out by bugs (obviously, since I have two tattooed on me) so that sounds like a super fun job to me![CN: Video may autoplay at link] Welp! " New evidence suggests our solar system contains a ninth planeta strange body far more massive than Earth lurking at a mind-boggling distance from the sun, scientists said in a study released Wednesday. Astronomers have been looking for a so-called 'Planet X' for decades and have proposed any number of candidates, only to be shot down. But a ninth planet is now 'much more of a possibility with this new work,' said astronomer Scott Sheppard of the Carnegie Institution of Science in Washington D.C."Cute Overload takes a bow . Thank YOU for the decade of cute!And finally! " 3 Huskies Become Best Friends with a Cat After Saving It from Dying ." Awwwwwww. I bet those dogs never let that cat forget it, either. "You're in my favorite seat EVEN AFTER I SAVED YOUR LIFE?!" Dogs.
The New Zealand dollar rose to a week high as commodity-linked currencies returned to favour after European Central Bank president Mario Draghi signalled a willingness to ease policy further to stimulate growth.

The kiwi touched 65.37 US cents and was trading at 64.95 cents at 8am in Wellington, from 64.35 cents at 5pm yesterday. The trade-weighted index advanced to 71.68 from 71.20 yesterday.

Investor sentiment improved after European Central Bank president Mario Draghi suggested the ECB might add monetary stimulus as soon as the central banks next policy meeting in March. That fuelled a recovery in European and US stock markets, and spurred a rebound in oil prices. Commodity currencies benefited.

"A rebound in oil prices and hints of further easing by ECB President Draghi led a rise in risk appetite and this has supported commodity currencies over the past 24 hours," Bank of New Zealand currency strategist Jason Wong said in a note. "With the rebound in commodity prices and improved market sentiment, the New Zealand dollar has been one of the best performing currencies."

China also signalled it will keep doing whats necessary to stem a slide in its stock market. Calling the countrys market not yet mature, Chinas Vice President Li Yuanchao told Bloomberg that the government would boost regulation in an effort to avoid too much volatility.

The New Zealand dollar lagged behind other commodity currencies, slipping to 92.92 Australian cents from 93.09 cents yesterday, and easing to 92.88 Canadian cents from 93.18 cents.

The kiwi rose to 59.67 euro cents from 59.10 cents yesterday, gained to 45.68 British pence from 45.40 pence, increased to 76.32 yen from 75.35 yen, and advanced to 4.2733 yuan from 4.2329 yuan.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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Wellington City Council is subsidising the new Singapore International Airlines direct service between Wellington and Canberra at close to $9 per passenger in a 10 year deal to secure the number three-ranked carrier's presence in the capital for direct international flights.

A presentation thought to have been made by Wellington City Council chief executive Kevin Lavery to city councillors was leaked to news media and reveals some 90,000 passengers are expected annually on the route between the two capital cities annually and that the cost to the city is "less than $9 per passenger", funded by the city's Destination Wellington tourism body, "within budget" and with "no impact on rates".

BusinessDesk understands WCC has signed a 10 year agreement with SIA, taking an annual subsidy of around $800,000 a year to a total of $8 million, assuming the route continues. SIA is also likely to be receiving incentives from the Australian Capital Territory to establish the first direct service between Canberra and any long-haul destination. Incentive payments to help persuade airlines to try untested or unprofitable routes are common internationally and account for the ability of budget airlines to offer deeply discounted fares to cities seeking tourist growth.

WCC and Infratil, its joint venture owner of Wellington International Airport, are ramping the SIA decision to fly Canberra-Wellington as a proof-of-point for their plans to extend the capital's runway to allow long haul flights by wide-bodied jets from Asia and the US west coast in a scheme that would require most of the funding to come from Wellington ratepayers and central government.

So far, government ministers have poured cold water on the scheme, one of a clutch of infrastructure projects that WCC has identified as crucial to reinvigorating the Wellington economy.

"The argument that direct flights will not be commercially feasible is now redundant," the slides say. "It proves the runway case has substance. We have secured a tier one airline partner investing millions of dollars now."

"This is much more powerful than a Memorandum of Understanding promise to come when built. This is a major step towards realising our dream of direct flights to Asia and Europe."

SIA is understood to be willing to fly Canberra-Wellington in part because it avoids the airline leaving the plane on the ground in Canberra between return flights to Singapore and attracting airport fees.

Aviation consultancy Intervistas produced the forecast passenger numbers and expects 19 percent of the payload to be flying to Canberra only, another 11 percent flying Wellington to Singapore, with 7 percent coming from the rest of New Zealand and 63 percent of passengers will be heading beyond Canberra to Asia and Europe. The four times a week flights will begin in August.

Numerous trans-Tasman direct flights are already operating between Wellington and the Australian cities of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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DAVOS: India has emerged as one of the five most promising markets for businesses globally as it offers one of the best opportunities for both domestic as well as global companies, says a survey.

According to the annual global CEO survey of consultancy giant PwC released here at the WEF Annual Meeting, the top five markets considered as most important for overall growth prospects by the respondents are USA, China, Germany, the UK and India.

India, which has continued to do well under Prime Minister Narendra Modis pro-business government, is now among CEOs five most promising overseas markets, said the survey which covered 1,409 CEOs spread across 83 countries.

It further noted that the confidence level among Indian CEOs remains higher than the global average although they have also become less confident since last year about the growth prospects of their own companies.

As per the findings, CEOs are less optimistic about prospects this year and those who think global growth would improve over the next 12 months have declined to 27 per cent from 37 per cent seen in 2015.

Further, those who think the situation would worsen have increased to 23 per cent from 17 per cent.

Against this tide of pessimism, CEOs in India (64 per cent), Spain (54 per cent) and Romania (50 per cent) stand out as more optimistic, it said.

PwC India Chairman Deepak Kapoor said CEOs in India have given strong indication of general uplift in sentiments by showing much more confidence than their global counterparts when it comes to revenue growth for their companies.

Recent policy reforms and a consequent pick up in investment and the governments aim to boost infrastructure are also playing a role in boosting CEO confidence, he noted.

However, Kapoor said the CEO community continues to be concerned by lack of infrastructure and over-regulation.

As many as 90 per cent of the Indian CEOs cited inadequate basic infrastructure as a major threat and 80 per cent mentioned exchange rate volatility and 77 per cent cited over-regulation.

Of business threats, 81 per cent stated availability of key skills, 79 per cent stated speed of technological change, 78 per cent stated bribery and corruption, the survey said.

With India as the fastest growing large economy in the world, it offers one of the best opportunities for both Indian and global companies in a world that is still coming to terms with a slower growth paradigm and increasing geopolitical uncertainty, he added.

With respect to the global economy, 39 per cent of Indian executives expect an improvement whereas the global average is 27 per cent.

Around 75 per cent of Indian CEOs believe there are more growth opportunities for their companies today than three years ago.

About countries most important for their companies growth in the next one year, 54 per cent said it was the US while 29 per cent respondents mentioned China and 23 per cent went for the UK.

As many as 56 per cent of the Indian executives plan to implement a cost-reduction initiative over the next 12 months.

While 70 per cent anticipate increase in head count during the same period.

When it comes to disruptive trends in their industry most likely to transform wider stakeholder expectations over the next five years, 80 per cent of the respondents cited technological advances followed by demographic shifts (64 per cent) and shift in global economic power (55 per cent).

Around 64 per cent of Indian CEOs felt the government had been ineffective in achieving greater income equality.

About 51 per cent thought that the government had been ineffective in reducing environmental impacts as well as in achieving a clearly understood, stable and effective tax system.

93 per cent of Indian CEOs agree that tax is a business cost that needs to be efficiently managed like any other business cost... 87 per cent agree that a stable tax system is more important than low rates of tax, it said.

Around 81 per cent agreed that reducing administrative burden of tax is as beneficial as reducing tax rates.

With 79 per cent of CEOs concerned about over-regulation, it remains the biggest concern and is followed by geopolitical uncertainty.

The latter comes at a time when terror attacks are increasing and touching every part of the world, many linked to the heightened conflict in Iraq and Syria.

Global conflicts are also connected to anxieties about social instability and readiness to respond to crises, named by 65 per cent and 61 per cent of CEOs, respectively.

Cyber security is also a worry for 61 per cent of CEOs, representing as it does (pose) threats to both national and commercial interests, the survey said.

As many as 66 per cent of the CEOs see more threats for their companies than it was three years ago, the report said.

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BANGALORE: IBM announced that it has entered into a seven year strategic relationship with BTI Payments Private Ltd, Indias fastest growing White Label ATM (WLA) operator, to transform its IT Infrastructure. BTI Payments, which runs over 3000 India1 branded White Label ATMs will leverage IBMs managed services solution to deploy and manage an incremental 4,000 Automated Teller Machines (ATM) across the country. IBMs solution will manage, monitor and maintain the ATM Infrastructure providing BTI better visibility and control of its operations and enabling its maximum efficiency.

According to industry estimates, 60percent of Indias rural population does not have access to formal banking and financial services, resulting in financial inclusion serving as a key government policy imperative for the country. In Feb 2014, BTI Payments was awarded a license by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for WLA deployment to drive ATM penetration in rural India.

BTI Payments seeks to rapidly expand its network of India1 ATMs across the country, to exceed the RBI target of 9000 ATMs by March 2017. Under this agreement, IBM will take up the maintenance and service of ATM assets, including feasibility, supply and installation, performance monitoring, availability management, reporting and analysis. This collaboration with IBM will help the client significantly scale technology deployment to roll out enhanced functionality in shorter timeframes and also improve customer experience.

We are committed to supporting the governments initiative of serving the rural under banked population in the country and redefine financial services delivery in India. With technology being the core of financial services business, we needed a strategic partner like IBM with proven service management expertise in the financial sector, said K. Srinivas, MD, BTI Payments. This strategic tie-up with IBM will help us build a robust and resilient ATM infrastructure providing improved availability through centralized monitoring, thus enabling us to scale operations and build an agile technology environment.

IBM has longstanding relationships in the financial services segment and has in-depth understanding of the business challenges and dynamics of this vertical. We are committed to transforming this sector with our technology and global industry experience. said Sanjay Khare, Country Manager  Technical Support Services, GTS, IBM India / South Asia. This strategic relationship provides BTI instant access to country wide infrastructure support giving them single point of accountability, control, and automation of its IT operations, enabling them to focus on their core business.

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MUMBAI: Actor Akshay Kumar is "delighted to inform" that his forthcoming film Airlift has been cleared for release in the UAE.

The Khiladi actor also adds that the film, which is based on Kuwait-based Indians' evacuation during the 1990 invasion of Kuwait by Iraq, will be releasing across 70 screens in the Middle East.

Akshay Kumar. YouTube ScreengrabAkshay Kumar. YouTube Screengrab

"Delighted to inform fans of #Airlift in UAE that our film has been cleared for release. Its releasing across 70 screens in the Middle East today," Akshay tweeted.

This is not the first time that Akshay has featured in a film that promotes the spirit of patriotism. Baby, Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty and Gabbar are some of the films in which he has essayed a responsible countryman.

Airlift also stars Nimrat Kaur and Purab Kohli in key roles. Directed by Raja Krishna Menon, the film will release in India.

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BANGALORE: Preparations are going on in a full swing at Delhi as India would celebrate its 67th Republic Day. This day the Constituent Assembly of India came into force declaring our nation republic. People have their eyes set on the biggest Republic Day celebration at Rajpath, Delhi has in-store for them this year.

In India, this day of becoming a sovereign nation is celebrated either by attending the parade in person or by watching the live action on TV. Last year marked important as the one of the most powerful person in the world, U.S. President, Barack Obama attended the event as the chief guest.

Every Indian awaits the ceremonial tableaux on display during the celebration and this year is no different. Heres what you can look forward to Republic Day 2016.

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BANGALORE: As human beings we all have various situations in life which makes us feel like giving up on our dreams. Some people go through unfortunate incidents which turns their lives in to something that they never even imagined of. There are millions of people in this planet who are blessed with talents but not physically fit enough to showcase them.

The physically disabled people lack confidence and other people pour them with sympathy. But there are a few people who challenge the hurdles that come across their lives and prove us all that passion is all we need to be successful. Thus let us look at 7 inspiring Indians who made the country proud even with their physical disabilities as compiled by HOMEGROWN.

Kamlesh Patel



Kamlesh Patel often referred as The pride of Baroda. The physically handicapped dancer has conquered the heart of millions and till date has managed to pull of excellent dance moves over 1,000 venues in the country and abroad. He was paralyzed at the age of five because of a wrong injection provided by a doctor. But his disability could not shake his confidence and determination thus he gave auditions for the dance reality show Dance India Dance. He has managed to inspire millions of people to not give up on their dreams.

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On a daily basis the world around you is changing. From terrorist attacks in France to conflicts happening on the other side of the world, staying informed could just be a matter of life and death. So, how can you stay up-to-date with todays news? Checking in daily with DainikBhasker is one way, but here are some other tips and tricks that will keep you cognizant without turning you pessimistic.

After the Newspapers

The rest of the world has fallen behind India when it comes to newspaper reading, so you have an advantage from the start. According to the BBC, India is number one in the world for newspaper sales. Suffice to say that Indians are interested in what is going on with the world, and have the newspaper sales to prove it. But what do you do when you have read all the information available in the newspaper and want more?

Of course, your computer, laptop or smartphone is an excellent gateway to the world when it comes to breaking news. Your local newspaper or news show will only have what news that was current before their deadlines, but world news is available in real time over the internet. In order to make sure you have all of this information readily available to you, set your homepage to your favorite online news source.

Global News versus Infotainment

As much as youre interested in whats happening with your favorite celebrity, it really doesnt count as global news. At times it may be easy to tell the difference between real news and soft news, but often those lines really are blurred. For example, many stories about crime may seem like real news, but are sensationalized to make them appeal to the viewer. You should seek out news that will help you to build global awareness and helps you to understand multifaceted issues better.

If you really want to stay informed, try to focus on the news stories you can find about war, economic policies, politics and sociological matters. These stories will serve to further your knowledge about subjects that could, one day, have an impact on you and your family. You just never know.

How to Stay Positive

Many people find news to be discouraging. Keep in mind this is because negativitysells. Remember, for every negative news story you see reported, there are probably a dozen other stories about the triumph of the human spirit and the good that lies in people that will never get reported.

If you are reading current events and begin to feel overwhelmed, make an effort to seek out positive articles. Find news sources that give you the fresh perspective you need on a topic and try to dig deeper into the news you read.

Staying informed is about more than just being a great conversationalist at your next dinner party. The world is interconnected and because of that every citizen of the world should strive to stay plugged in and know what is going on not just in their own backyard, but all over the world.
WASHINGTON: Donald Trump received a big boost to his presidential ambition after Sarah Palin, top Republican leader and former vice presidential candidate, endorsed the candidature of the real estate tycoon just 13 days before the caucuses in the key U.S. state of Iowa.

"I am proud to endorse Donald J Trump for President of the United States of America," Palin, a Tea Party icon, told a cheering crowd of Trump supporters at a rally in Iowa on Tuesday.

"Media heads are spinning! This is going to be so much fun!... Are you ready to make America great again?" Palin asked cheering crowd making her surprise announcement.

Her support is the highest-profile backing for Trump so far.

It came the same day that Iowa's Republican governor, Terry Branstad, said he hoped that Texas Senator Ted Cruz would be defeated in Iowa. The February 1 caucuses are a must-win for the Texas senator, who is running neck-and-neck with Trump in state polls.

Trump said he is proud to receive Palin's endorsement.

"Sarah Palin's support is a testament to my message to 'Make America Great Again'," he said.

Palin served as the Governor of Alaska before being selected as Senator John McCain's Vice Presidential nominee in 2008.

As the first ever female Vice Presidential candidate for the Republican party, Palin is a highly influential, decorated public figure having been named as one of the Smithsonian Institute's 100 Most Influential Americans of all time.

CNN said although Palin's national clout has diminished since her last time on the presidential campaign trail, she remains a popular political icon on the right and her support marks a significant seal of approval as Trump seeks to woo conservative voters.

In his speech, Trump said he would "love" to have Palin serve in as a Cabinet member in his administration.

"She really is somebody who knows what's happening and she's a special person. She's really a special person and I think people know that," he said.

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Source: PTI
WASHINGTON: Less than two weeks before the primary election season to elect a new U.S. President kicks off from Iowa, real estate tycoon Donald Trump has consolidated his position over his nearest Republican rivals.

According to the latest CNN/WMUR poll in New Hampshire, Trump (69), has a popularity rating of 34 percent as against 20 percent of his nearest Republican presidential rival Ted Cruz (45).

On the other hand, the popularity lead of Clinton, 68, the former Secretary of State and the First Lady, appeared to have dwindled over his nearest Democratic rival Bernie Sanders, 74.

The primary in New Hampshire is scheduled for February 9 and the Iowa caucus is on February 1.

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, 62, and Florida Senator Marco Rubio, 44, are tied at third position with 10 percent each.

The latest polls are good news for Bush as his popularity rating is in double digit in New Hampshire.

According to the same poll, Sanders outperforms Clinton in head-to-head match-ups with top GOP presidential candidates in New Hampshire.

Sanders leads Trump and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, 53, by 23 percentage points.

In New Hampshire, Sanders (51.6 percent) leads Clinton (39 percent), while in Iowa Clinton (46.8 percent) has a narrow lead over Sanders (42.8 percent), as per Real Clear Politics.

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Source: PTI
garcia.JPG

St. John's standout Pariis Garcia earned her second big honor of the week Wednesday.

(Staten Island Advance/Derek Alvez)

Pariis Garcia has been awarded her second weekly honor in as many days as the ECAC office announced Garcia as the ECAC Track & Field Division I Athlete of the Week Wednesday.

The graduate student's accolade comes on the heels of her earning BIG EAST women's track Athlete of the Week honors Tuesday. A set of strong performances at the Great Dane Classic on Saturday earned the Silver Lake resident the accolades.



Performing in her hometown at the new Ocean Breeze comple, Garcia took home a first-place finish in the 400-meter dash after running a 55.26 second race in heat one of the competition. This time currently ranks 29th-fastest in NCAA Division I track & field this season.



Garcia went on to anchor the St. John's 4x400-meter relay team which finished second. Garcia teamed with Claire Mooney, Shenika King and Raquel Ricketts to run a 3:45.26, currently the 33rd-fastest time nationally.



St. John's went on to finish fifth among all NCAA Division I teams at the meet, much in part to the performance on Garcia. The Red Storm travels back to Ocean Breeze this weekend to compete in the NYC Gotham Cup Friday.






Carla ponders the meaning of Love in episode 3 of VH1's "Mob Wives"

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Love hurts.

The VH1 "Mob Wives" learned this cold life lesson Wednesday when they were forced to reconcile some rather harsh statements made by someone whose name is literally Love.

A few seasons ago, Love whacked Carla. When Love ran into the wives at the Mermaid Parade two episodes ago, Love told them Drita made her do it, like any grown-up woman would say. This may or may not just be one big Odyssian allegory about love.

So, everyone's all mad at Drita in this episode and they go to the Hamptons to take some shots and talk about how mad at Drita they are. But whatever, it's cool, Drita didn't even want to go because they're "a bunch of dildos."

Young Marissa and Young Brittany aren't getting along because Marissa called Brittany a lush, and honestly that's pretty judgmental if you ask me. *Sips hot toddy* But that's none of my business.

The wives get wasted at a pool party and then the next morning, Big Ang awakes to some terrible news: They're doing yoga. She-devil Carla ordered a yoga instructor to arrive at some ungodly hour and the wives are too old and too hungover for this tomfoolery. Still, like the trooper she is, Ang attempts to rally the sleeping beauties.

"I'm not yogering," Renee informs us. She proceeds to sit nearby and laugh at their poses, which is just delightful.

In yoger, Ang transports us to a state of nirvana with her Oms -- the sound of the universe. And if you've ever wondered what it looks like to watch someone of Ang's proportions try and do a downward dog, well, dear reader, you are in for a treat with this episode.

Bourgeoisie personal chef

So they're having some post-yoga-mimosas and eating a brunch cooked by some bougie personal chef with a stupid mohawk when the topic of Drita comes up. Renee encourages Carla to figure things out with her. But then you know what? On second thought, they hate Drita. Screw Drita. Yeah!

Later, Renee and her son, AJ, go to Daddy O's BBQ in Tottenville, where AJ's girlfriend, Andrea, works. Renee arranges for them to wed. They're like, fine. Then she requests that they move in with her because that's how normal relationships for 20-year-olds progress. They politely decline. Why? Because they want to grow in their independence? Because they're afraid of getting walked in on? Because Renee never removes the hair from the drain? Wrong, wrong and wrong.

"We think your house is haunted," Andrea says, in possibly the show's most brilliant moment.

Oh but that's not a problem. Renee knows a good ghost-hunter. Great reviews on Yelp.

Renee invites the ghost hunter over for a little ghost party. The hunter identifies a pesky girl ghost running around the house. Look, sometimes I just want to talk to Renee. You know? Have a glass of wine together and tell her about my emotions. But I'll leave alright? I'm leaving.

Karen and Drita meet up at Fort Wadsworth, perhaps for an educational tour, perhaps to fight. Maybe a bit of both. Drita denies the Love Story. Then they pretty much just decide to not be friends. If only all friend break-ups were that simple.

The rest of the episode is spent establishing alliances. Karen stops by Young Marissa's house to just casually have a little wine, which Marissa of course judges her for. The two are now best friends.

Meanwhile, Drita and Young Brittany hit the gym to pump some iron, get yolked. So they're bros now, too. Brittany tells her all about visiting her dad in jail when she was a kid and how messed up that was. Drita starts to feel guilty, because she brought her daughters to the jail to visit their dad.

With these alliances made, Angela "Big Diplomat" Raiola, as I like to call her, tries to broker the peace between the rest of the wives and Drita, reminding them that Drita really isn't so bad. Carla, remember that time Drita comforted you when your ex was physically abusing you?

Oh, she wasn't supposed to tell anyone about that very personal issue? Yikes, Drita's busted.

And scene! I hope next episode Love returns and asks the wives for help after getting sprayed by a skunk. And then they're all:

EPISODE 3 STANDOUTS:
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Police Officer Jennifer Hadley loves her job, and the kids at Staten Island's PS 3 love her and her partner, Officer Michele Steinhauser.

"I love my job; I care about these kids. I want to make sure they're getting the right message," said Hadley. "They get it."

The two NYPD officers, assigned to the South Shore's 123rd Precinct, teach anti-drug and substance abuse prevention to fifth-graders at PS 3 in Pleasant Plains, one of the first Staten Island schools to participate in Borough President James Oddo's "Too Good for Drugs" initiative, which pairs classroom teachers with police officers during the school day.

The program had been in place at five pilot schools, but this year received city funding to expand to 47 Island schools.

PS 3 also received funding to hire a substance abuse prevention and intervention specialist (SAPIS), who came on board in September, thanks to additional state and city funding through the Department of Education, at Oddo's insistance. There had been 12 SAPIS assigned to cover Staten Island's 75 public schools, from Pre-K through high school, but this year a dozen new counselors were added.

Oddo, accompanied by City Councilman Joe Borelli (R-South Shore), paid a visit to PS 3 Wednesday, where they dropped in on a fifth-grade class with Hadley, and talked with students and Principal Elmer Myers about the success of the Too Good for Drugs program. They also visited a fourth-grade class taught by SAPIS counselor Jessica Echavez.

Alternately standing in front of the classroom, and sitting themselves at student-size desks, the pair talked earnestly with students.

"You guys really get the point," Oddo said.

"Every time you open the newspaper, you read about someone else who has died from drugs," he told the 9- and 10-year-olds.

As the Advance has chronicled in numerous stories, some told in first-person naaratives, the drug epidemic is deadly and has torn Island apart families.

Staten Island has the highest opioid overdose rate in New York City, according to city Health Department data, and the second-highest rate of heroin overdose deaths per 100,000 residents.

Statistics show that alcohol and substance abuse among adolescents and teens is higher on Staten Island than the city average. That applies to all categories of use, including alcohol, marijuana, heroin, cocaine, opioids and other prescription drugs.

"We put these programs in your school so we could work with you to get the message out," Oddo said. "You can't learn it here and just forget about it when you move on. You've been given the tools to help yourselves, and now you can go on to help your friends and others help themselves."
nws immigration council

Members of the Staten Island Immigrant Council held a vigil to urge the Supreme Court to consider the case, during their annual dinner Thursday, January 13, at Temple Israel. (Photo courtesy of El Centro del Inmigrante)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- More than 50 undocumented immigrants living on Staten Island gathered at El Centro del Inmigrante's Community Job Center in Port Richmond on Tuesday night to discuss their future if the Supreme Court allows President Obama's executive order regarding immigration to move forward.

Obama issued an executive order, acting without congressional approval, for the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans program, which would spare millions of immigrants nationwide from deportation and allow them to work legally in the United States.

If the program is OK'd by the highest court, thousands of Staten Islanders will no longer face deportation.

"We welcome the Supreme Court's decision to hear this appeal," said Favio Ramirez-Caminatti, executive director of El Centro del Inmigrante.

Parents of citizens or lawful permanent residents would then be eligible to apply for a program called Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA). It would spare them deportation and provide legal work permits.

"They work hard, pay taxes, study, go to church and fundamentally they contribute daily to make America a great country," he said.

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) also affects thousands of Staten Islanders. DACA is a 2012 executive order that allows children under the age of 16 who meet specific criteria to retain limited legal status in the United States.

"We look forward to the Court's consideration of this case. We believe DACA and DAPA are expressions of the compassion and justice of the United States, and best prove we live in a country with liberty and justice for all," Ramirez-Caminatti said.

President Obama announced DAPA 14 months ago, and said he was taking executive action because Congress failed to overhaul the immigration system.

Texas immediately challenged the program on behalf of 26 states and has won in court thus far. The case was sent to the Supreme Court in November after the 5th U.S. Circuit of Appeals ruled in favor of the states.

The Supreme Court announced that the case will be heard before July.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A 20-year-old West Brighton man is the latest person to be charged in the heartless robbery of an armless teen.

Vincent Popalardo of Henderson Avenue faces felony and misdemeanor charges that include robbery and attempted robbery, grand and petit larceny and criminal possession of stolen property, according to court papers. The address for Popalardo supplied by police is in the West Brighton Houses.

Carlos Simon, 18, who was born without arms, had his cell phone stolen by robbers who ganged up on him outside a store in Port Richmond around 8:30 p.m. last November 30.

"Make this easier on yourself and give us your money," said two teen accomplices as they rifled through the victim's pockets, according to court documents.

The story of the robbery that was chronicled in the Advance and exploded on the Internet prompted many offers of help and expressions of concern from shocked Staten Islanders.

Following a request by police for tips, a 13-year-old boy was arrested on Dec. 16 and a 15-year-old girl was cuffed on Dec. 14 for the crime and both were charged by police with felony robbery, said a spokesman for the NYPD's Deputy Commissioner of Public Information. Police declined to release the names of the suspects due to their ages.

Simon of Elm Park told the Advance that he was waiting outside the Dunkin' Donuts, located at 1351 Forest Ave., when a group of troublemakers approached him.

Popalardo, the 13-year-old and the 15-year old allegedly all worked together to steal the cell phone, according to court documents.

Popalardo removed Simon's cell phone from a ledge where the victim had placed it, those documents allege. The 13-year-old and the 15-year-old then surrounded Simon and prevented him from walking toward Popalardo to get his phone back. The teen accomplices allegedly searched Simon's pockets for money.

The NYPD formally arrested Popalardo on Tuesday at the 120 Precinct in St. George.

GoErie.com said that NYPD detectives, assisted by Erie police detectives, took Popalardo into custody in Erie and that he was later arraigned on a fugitive from justice charge by Erie Judge Dominick DiPaolo.
nws jeff rivera

NYC Deputy Sheriff Jeff Rivera, a New Dorp resident, helped escort a woman who had delivered a baby in the back of an Uber cab to a hospital Tuesday. (Photo courtesy of Department of Finance)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.-- New York City Deputy Sheriff Jeff Rivera, a New Dorp resident, helped to rush a Brooklyn woman to the hospital after she gave birth to a baby in the back seat of an Uber cab.

Rivera was on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway on Tuesday morning when he noticed the gray vehicle parked on the shoulder. The driver was frantically waiving his arms trying to flag someone down for help at about 10:10 a.m., the sheriff said.

"I asked him what was wrong and he said, 'There's a baby in my car,'" Rivera said

Rivera said he initially thought there was an accident before he approached the cab and saw a woman holding a baby girl wrapped in a coat close to her chest.

The mother was in the back seat, which was covered in blood, with her husband and another woman. He believes the pregnant woman was already in labor when she hopped into the cab, but then got stuck in traffic.

"I wanted to make sure she was OK, and she said she was and that she needed to get to a hospital," Rivera said. "She was pretty calm. Considering everything she was going through, she did well."

The mother, who had just delivered baby Hazel, looked drained and Rivera told the driver to turn up the heat and to follow him to the hospital.

Rivera then put his lights and sirens on and escorted the cab through heavy traffic to New York Presbyterian Hospital in lower Manhattan.

The ride, which would have been a more than a half hour in traffic, took only seven or eight minutes, the sheriff said.

"It ended well, thankfully," Rivera said. "They were very appreciative. When we got to the hospital, the father thanked me."
NWS VISION ZERO

Transportation Alternatives Executive Director Paul Steely White, right, at a press conference at City Hall's steps on Wednesday, Jan. 20, calling for an increased investment in Vision Zero. Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez and transit advocates look on. (Staten Island Advance/Vincent Barone)

CITY HALL, N.Y. -- Vision Zero advocates have denounced the Staten Island district attorney's office for its "outright disregard" for pedestrian safety in 2015.

The office received an "F" letter grade in Transportation Alternatives' annual "Vision Zero Report Card," which offers grades and criticism of officials and agencies that are "responsible for preventing traffic fatalities and injuries on city streets."

"Until January 2016, the Staten Island district attorney's office was managed with an outright disregard for the number of people killed and injured on local streets," the report reads. "As a result, while every other borough has brought about significant reductions in pedestrian fatalities in the past 30 years, on Staten Island this number has remained largely unchanged, and even increased in 2015."

The transit advocacy group ranked the Staten Island district attorney's office as the worst-performing among Vision Zero leaders in 2015. The office's flunking grade was a drop from 2014's grade of a "C+" and one of two failures doled out in its report -- the other given to the commissioner-less Department of Motor Vehicles.

Both of which "have largely bowed out of the effort to eliminate traffic deaths," the report reads.

The criticisms come just a few weeks after newly elected District Attorney Michael McMahon assumed office and after an especially deadly year on Staten Island roads.

Advocates hope the former congressman and city councilman will bring some changes to the offices' prosecution methods.

Douglas Auer, spokesman for District Attorney McMahon, declined to comment on the report. Though in an Advance story on Vision Zero enforcement that ran on Jan. 12, Auer said that "pedestrian safety is of paramount concern" to the new district attorney.

The report follows a joint announcement from the city officially titling 2015 as the safest year for New York City streets. A total of 231 traffic deaths were recorded last year -- the lowest since record-keeping began in 1910.

Since Vision Zero launched in 2014, citywide traffic deaths have dropped 22 percent. And each year has brought a new record low for pedestrian fatalities.

With signs of improvements, Transportation Alternatives has called on all Vision Zero leaders graded in its report to increase investment in the initiative.

Transportation Alternatives has called on all Vision Zero leaders to increase investment in the initiative to meet the mayor's 2024 goal of zero traffic deaths. (Courtesy of Transportation Alternatives)

"Vision Zero is working, but Vision Zero is not working fast enough," said Paul Steely White, Transportation Alternatives executive director, during a Vision Zero press conference at City Hall on Wednesday. "If we continue that rate of 10 of 12 percent [decline] per year, we won't reach Vision Zero until 2055," 31 years after the mayor's 2024 goal.

The investments, White said, are especially needed on Staten Island, where, in 2015, traffic fatalities doubled, from 11 in 2014 to 22 in 2015. The Island was the only borough to experience an increase in traffic fatalities last year.

"What we can say for certain is that Staten Island has a speeding epidemic," said White at a City Hall press conference on Wednesday. "Traffic on Staten Island is lawless. You see speeding at every turn. Staten Island has more of a legacy of those wide, dangerous arterial streets than anywhere else in the city. And unfortunately it tends to be a place where traffic improvements are widely politicized, for various reasons."

The mayor and Polly Trottenberg, the commissioner of the Department of Transportation, have said they're taking Staten Island's traffic safety seriously.

"Vision Zero is working, but we've got a lot more to do on Staten Island. There's no question about it," de Blasio said on Tuesday, in regards to the borough's uptick in traffic deaths. "I'm not satisfied with what's happening on Staten Island. We need a lot more change and we need it quickly."

The city has pledged an additional $115 million in new capital funds for citywide redesign efforts and is examining potential Vision Zero capital projects for Staten Island's Victory Boulevard, Bay Street and Hylan Boulevard.

In addition, Trottenberg said her department is looking to make more smaller-scale improvements to Hylan Boulevard, like adding pedestrian fencing to deter mid-block crossing and adjusting signal timing to make intersections more pedestrian-friendly.

"And we're going to continue our education and enforcement," Trottenberg said.
The Little Ape That Could

Posted on 21 January 2016 by Glenn Tamblyn

The little Ape that Could

(with apologies to Arnold Munk)

A couple of years ago, on a panel TV show about climate change on the BBC, an audience member commented that they thought the idea that humanity could influence something like the earth's climate was arrogant. There is an important insight here if we unpack this thought a little.

Is it arrogant to think we should seek to influence the climate? Yes, possibly, depending on your point of view. But that wasn't their point I think. Their point was that thinking we could influence the climate is arrogant. But it isn't arrogant; neither is it humble.

It is a measurement.

How powerful does 'something' have to be to influence the climate? And how powerful are we now? Both of these are questions that we can estimate quantitative answers to.

The simple fact is, that over my lifetime - I was born in 1957 - or somewhat longer, humanity's power has grown enormously, and we haven't really noticed. This has been called the Great Acceleration and it has happened in one lifetime.

So lets look at some measurements, some data on just how powerful we have become.

More People.

For most of human history the world's population was less than one billion people. In the time of Christ it was perhaps 200-300 million. We only reached one billion around 1800, two billion around 1925, three billion around 1960. We have added a billion people every 14 years or so since then.

"Population curve" by El T - originally uploaded to en.wikipedia as Population curve.svg. The data is from the "lower" estimates at census.gov

For a child born after the end of WWII, the world's population tripled in their lifetime. This has never ever happened to any other generation before them in all of history, and is unlikely to ever happen again. They, we, are a unique generation in history.

My parents, their children and grandchildren have lived through the most momentous change in all of human history. Not simply the rise of technology, the electronic revolution, space travel. But more importantly sanitation, medicines and contraception - my grandfather was one of 8 children, only 4 survived to adulthood. Today we would be appalled by this. For all of our ancestors this was normal.

Our ancestors would be utterly astounded; ours would seem an alien world where such change is possible.

Because for them things changed little in a lifetime. A citizen of the 6th century would see little different if they traveled 100 years into the future; kings and princes come and go, perhaps lines on maps change, but ordinary daily life hardly changed in a lifetime.

But for us it feels normal that such vast change occurred because that is just what happened. We don't have a frame of reference, deep inside, to know that today is utterly astonishing; we have stepped outside of everything our ancestors called normal.

Yet unconsciously we possibly still project our ancestors view of themselves onto our lives today as well; that is the view we inherited from them. We don't realize that we are alienated from them, to them we are 'strangers in a strange land'.

If the power of humanity depends on how many of us there are, our power has tripled in a single lifetime. If ever there were to be a day when we had the power to significantly impact the planet, surely it is today; our power has grown 25-30 fold since the time of Christ, just on numbers alone.

And more powerful people.

But we haven't just multiplied in numbers. So many of us, as individuals, are far, far more powerful than our ancestors could ever have dreamed of being.

Recently I added a veranda to my house. I needed a machine to drill the post holes for the veranda posts. I drove a small SUV with a trailer to a nearby town to hire a machine to excavate the post holes and return it the same day. The machine had a 25 horsepower (HP) motor. My car had a 130 kW engine - roughly 175 HP.

Just to drill some holes in the ground, I had access to the average power of 200 horses! In centuries past what would you have called someone who could muster 200 horses to a task when they needed to? A very wealthy and powerful man; it probably would have been a man back then. But I, as an ordinary citizen, could now muster that just because I needed it.

When you are ironing a shirt, look at the rating plate on the iron. Usually the iron is 1400-1600 watts - two HP. Two horses available to you just so you can iron a shirt!

When Australia was being settled by Europeans (native Australians rightly prefer the word invaded) the journey from the city of Melbourne to my town took around 10 days on foot. Now I can commute that distance for work in 1 1/2 hours.

There are so many more of us, and we are so much more powerful than all of our ancestors. But we don't notice because that is all just normal now. The utterly extraordinary is just mundane to us.

Some numbers, from the big world perspective.

Do you eat meat? A hamburger, chicken risotto, roast lamb, bacon? Drink milk, eat eggs, cheese, yoghurt? All obtained from our domesticated animals. Just how much of the world is made up of us and our domestic animals? How much is still 'wild' animals?

Here are some examples of the numbers of different species:

Species Number per species (approx) Domesticated Apes & Primates Homo Sapiens 7,300,000,000 Yes? Borneo Gibbon 250-375,000 No Chimpanzee 170-300,000 No Western Gorilla 95,000 No Orangutan 45-70,000 No Most small primates 1000's to 10's of 1000's No Carnivores Dogs 400,000,000 Yes Cats 600,000,000 Yes American Black Bear 900,000 No Brown Bear 200,000 No Bush Dog 110,000 No Sea Otter 100,000 No Leopard 75,000 No Lion 30-40,000 No Polar Bear 20-25,000 No Tiger 4,000 No Sea Lions and Seals 10's of 1,000,000's No Ungulates - Hoofed Animals

Cattle & buffalo 1,400,000,000 Yes Sheep & Goats 1,900,000,000 Yes Pigs 980,000,000 Yes Mules 10,000,000 Yes Donkeys 40,000,000 Yes Horses 58,000,000 Yes Impala 2,000,000 No Springbok 2,000,000 No Zebra 660,000 No Elk 1,500,000 No Blue Duiker 7,000,000 No Wildebeest 1,500,000 No Hippopotamus 125-148,000 No Giraffe 80,000 No Elephant ~ 500,000 No Most other ungulates 100's of 1000's. No

And there are nearly 20 billion chickens!

All told, it is estimated that, of the mass of all land vertebrates, humanity and our domesticated animals make up over 95%. By weight, of all higher land animals - mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians - less than 5% are 'wild'. We have nearly domesticated the wild.

So how much land do we have available?

Humanity has a population of around 7.3 billion people. The land surface of the earth is around 15 billion hectares. So that is roughly 2 hectares per person (5 acres). Not all that land is usable; some is ice caps, mountain ranges, deserts. So perhaps 1.75 hectares per person.

The land area isn't growing, but our population has. When I was born that figure was more like 5 hectares per person. If as projected world population climbs to 10-11 billion people by later this century, that figure will fall to not much more than 1 hectare per person (2.5 acres).

Imagine you had to survive on 1 hectare of 'average land'.

Some typical farmland near Canberra, Australia

Grow all your food, produce your clothing, have a home, possessions, tools and utensils, water supply for yourself and to grow your food just from the rain that falls on your land, provide power, heating and cooling for yourself, dispose of all your wastes and rubbish - when you use the lavatory, throw out the trash, it doesn't leave your land. You need to filter the water you use, even replace the oxygen you breath with the plants on your land.

And you need to do this in perpetuity; when you die (and are buried or cremated on your 1 hectare) it needs to be passed on so the next person can live off it, and the next. You need to maintain the nutrient levels in the soil so you and they can keep on growing food. You need to limit soil erosion and drying so that soil isn't lost faster than new soil can be created.

Could you do it? Could you survive completely, permanently, on just one hectare of 'average' land? Or do you survive by using up your hectare and leaving nothing left for later? Suddenly the difference between 5 hectares per person when I was born and only 1 hectare per person later this century sounds very 'challenging'. At the time of Christ the figure was more like 50 hectares per person.

Still confident we don't have much impact?

How much energy do we use?

Humanity's total rate of energy consumption, how fast we use it, is estimated at about 18 trillion watts. And if every person on the planet had the lives and energy consumption of we in the developed nations that figure would be more like 60-80 trillion watts.

That's a big number; how big? For comparison, the total flow of heat from within the earth, all of geothermal heat, is estimated to be 44-47 trillion watts. And that is the heat flow that drives geology - mountain building, continental drift, eruptions, earthquakes.

Our use of energy is now at a geological scale. Potentially rising to nearly double all of geothermal heat. Because there are so many of us, and we have access to so many 'horses'.

Some more energy numbers.

If we just ignored 'incidental' issues like climate change, that humanity would still be able to burn all the coal we have there might be enough for maybe several centuries before we used it all up. This coal has been laid down over 100's of millions of years. The peak of coal formation was during the Carboniferous period but some coal has been laid down over much of the last 400 million years. And we could use it all up in a few centuries!

So a quantity of coal that took centuries to be laid down - we burn that in one DAY!

How fast is CO2 rising?

We can examine the data from ice-cores to look at how fast carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations in the atmosphere changed over past glacial cycles over 100's of 1000's of years as the vast ice sheets expanded and contracted.

Vostok Antarctic ice core records for carbon dioxide concentration (Petit 2000) and temperature change (Barnola 2003). For comparison, today's levels of 400 ppm are more than twice the height of this graph.





The fastest rate of change in concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere was around 1 part per million (ppm) per century.

Today CO2 concentrations are changing at around 1 ppm every 23 weeks!

When we look back through the deep geological record, going back 500 million years or so, only one period appears to have perhaps seen changes in CO2 concentrations as fast or faster than we are changing them today. That was around 250 million years ago at the end of the Permian Period. This was the time of the greatest mass extinction event in history. 75% of all species on land went extinct; 96% of species in the ocean. Ocean temperatures near the equator peaked at nearly 40 C, the land was hotter. Possibly no new coal was laid down for 10 million years after this event - the so called 'Coal Gap' - because the forests of the world were decimated. Vast amounts of soil flooded into the seas as erosion scoured the continents.

No other event from the past matches what we are doing to CO2 levels today.

Because with so many people, and so many 'horses', and so much technology, we can excavate and burn things far, far faster than Mother Nature ever created them.

We are very, very good at 'digging stuff up'!

Here is a back-of-the-envelope calculation; just how much 'stuff' do we dig up each year?

We mine around 9 billion tonnes of coal each year, 3.5 billion tonnes of iron ore. Maybe 1 billion tonnes of copper ore, 300 million tonnes of aluminium ore. Then there are the dozens and dozens of other minerals and ores we mine in quantities of 100's and 10's of millions of tonnes. To make my wedding ring somewhere in the world there are many, many kilograms of slag left over from mining the gold ore.

So maybe 20-30 billion tonnes of all ores in total.

But as any mining engineer or geologist will tell you, you don't just dig up ore. First you have to get to it. You have to remove ordinary rock to get to the ore-body. This is called, perhaps disparagingly, 'overburden'. Typically one needs to remove 2-3 times as much overburden as there is ore to be mined. For example, in the recently cancelled expansion of the Olympic Dam uranium and copper mine in South Australia, the plan required the removal of 40 billion tonnes of overburden to get to the ore.

So 20-30 billion tonnes of ore a year and 2-3 times that in overburden; that is perhaps 60-120 billion tonnes a year.

Now what about cement? World production of cement is around 4 billion tonnes a year. And as any DIY Dad will tell you, the recipe for concrete is 1 part cement, 2 parts sand, 4 parts gravel. So 24 billion tonnes of sand and gravel is needed to turn that cement into concrete. But it doesn't stop there; we use 'aggregate' - sand, gravel, rock - to be the base of roads, back-fill for dam walls, retaining walls, gravel driveways, sea dikes, you name it. World quarrying production of aggregate is around 40-50 billion tonnes a year.

So each year we dig up 100-170 billion tonnes of 'stuff'; that's not counting 'minor' things like plowing fields etc.

So what is this 100+ billion tonnes of rock that we dig up each year, what is that equivalent to?

Lets consider the Himalayas.

They, with the Hindu Kush, cover an area of around 1 million square kilometers. And they are rising at around 5 millimeters a year. That is 5 billion cubic meters of extra rock being raised every year; the power of geology at work.

Rocks vary in their density but a typical value is around 2.7 times the density of water. So the Himalayas are pushing up around 13.5 billion tonnes of extra rock every year.

But human mining and quarrying is digging up 100-170 billion tonnes a year; 7-11 times as much. So if we sent all the worlds miners and quarriers to the Himalayas and said 'go for it', what would they be able to achieve? Instead of the Himalayas rising at 5 mm a year, they would start to fall at 30-50 mm a year! Doesn't sound like much does it? That's only 30-50 meters every 1000 years; 3,000 to 5,000 meters in 100,000 years. Hmmm, maybe not so trivial.

Our mining and quarrying activities around the world, today, are the equivalent of leveling the Himalayas in 100-200,000 years. And they have been rising for 10-20 million years! We are moving rock 100 times faster than the forces that are raising the Himalayas. If we set our miners and quarriers loose on all the worlds mountain ranges - not just the Himalayas but the Andes, the Rockies and Sierras, the Alps and Pyrenees, the Atlas, Ural and Karakoram mountains - they would level them all in 1 to 2 million years.

Gratuitous photos of wonderful scenery

All the world's great mountain ranges, that have taken 10's of millions of years to form, we could level them in much less than 1/10th of that time.

That is the scale of what we are doing right now, today!

We are now the most powerful geological force on the planet. Because there are now so many of us, and we harness all those 'horses', and all our technological knowledge, and all the energy from all those ancient fossil fuels, to move mountains. All of them if we want.

A little known commission, the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), is currently deliberating on a name. The ICS sets the exact description for the names and time definitions of every geological age and time period; 'this time period is defined by these strata at these locations between this time and that time'.

And currently they are considering the most recent geological time period to be defined. It has been in colloquial use since around 1980. But they want to formalise it.

The time period is called the Anthropocene. The geological Age of Man. When humanity became so powerful that we left our mark on the rocks themselves.

For future geologists will see the changes we wrought. The ore-bodies strangely truncated and missing, the vast holes in the earth filled with newer sediments, the signatures of chemical changes from the oceans and the atmosphere, our fossilised technological rubbish. That some great upheaval, as great as many geological events of the past, and happening in the blink of an eye geologically speaking, transformed the earth.

We are now truly powerful. Yet deep inside, we haven't noticed, we haven't 'groked' it. Mainly we still live out our days, projecting our personal lives and day-to-day experiences onto the wider world around us, finding it hard to grasp how changing the scale of our actions changes everything else.

A chihuahua in a china shop can't do much damage. A bull can. So the bull has to be so much more careful. And we are like that bull now. We need to be so careful because we have grown so powerful.

When you look around the world, at how we live our daily lives, how everything is organised and managed, do you see that need for care reflected in all our choices and actions? For strength, power, can do wonderful things, it can also do terrible things; power is neutral. It is the care we take in our choices that determines what happens.

Or are we like that chihuahua; happy, and exuberant and careless, because it doesn't realise how strong it has grown? Smashing up the china shop.

We now truly are the 'Little Ape That Could'. But most of us haven't noticed.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Greg Craven has some thoughts about this subject here.

Some compelling data on how our ability to 'change stuff' is impacting many species can be found here.

Hans Rosling has some good insights into the role of population size and what we can, and can't do about it here.

To get a sense of timescales, magnitudes, and how we fit in, try this.

And just as I finished drafting this article, the following was published in the scientific literature

Abstract:

Human activity is leaving a pervasive and persistent signature on Earth. Vigorous debate continues about whether this warrants recognition as a new geologic time unit known as the Anthropocene. We review anthropogenic markers of functional changes in the Earth system through the stratigraphic record. 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. Rates of sea-level rise and the extent of human perturbation of the climate system exceed Late Holocene changes. Biotic changes include species invasions worldwide and accelerating rates of extinction. These combined signals render the Anthropocene stratigraphically distinct from the Holocene and earlier epochs.

Some graphs from the paper, indications of the scale of some things we are doing:




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South32 investors say the miner's earnings will not provide much support for its diminished share price but are hopeful its strong balance sheet and low leverage will.

The $4.7 billion Perth-based coal and manganese miner said on Thursday it had cut its minimal net load further to just $US115 million ($167 million), in stark contrast to much of the rest of the industry, which is struggling with gearing woes.

South32 CEO Graham Kerr says the company is committed to an investment grade credit rating. Credit:Jesse Marlow

But South32 could post a loss in the current year at spot prices, and the following year looked dimmer.

Andy Forster, senior investment officer at South32 shareholder Argo Investments, said the miner's share price was "clearly disappointing but a reflection of market conditions, earnings won't provide much valuation support but hopefully their balance sheet will".
Federal Major Projects Minister Paul Fletcher will announce on Friday the next round of local road projects in western Sydney to be funded as part of the Western Sydney Infrastructure Plan, a 10-year strategy aimed at increasing road capacity around the proposed Badgerys Creek airport site.

The second round of projects are worth about $65 million, a significant portion of the $200 million allocated to the five stage Western Sydney Local Road Package by the federal government.

Upgrading Western Sydney Roads: Round two of the Local Roads Package.

Four of the nine announced local road upgrades are located on Erskine Park Road, dividing the suburbs of Erskine Park and St Clair. A further two will be located at intersections on Camden Valley Way.

Both roads will serve as arterial roads leading to major road projects, the Northern Road and proposed M12 motorway, adjacent to the Badgerys Creek site.
Seven newborn babies have been handed to the wrong mothers in shocking mix-ups in the NSW health system.

The number of babies given to the wrong mothers for breastfeeding in cases of mistaken identification has reached seven in the past four years, according to a statement by the NSW Health Minister, confirming News Limited reports.

Jillian Skinner, the NSW Minister for Health, said that the occurrence was extremely rare.

"Almost 100,000 babies are born in NSW public hospitals each year and over the past five years there were seven occasions where this error occurred," she said in a statement. "The error was soon discovered."
Jerusalem: Israel confirmed on Thursday it was planning to appropriate a large tract of fertile land in the occupied West Bank, close to Jordan, a move likely to exacerbate tensions with Western allies and already drawing international condemnation.

In an email sent to Reuters, COGAT, a unit of Israel's Defence Ministry, said the political decision to seize the territory had been taken and "the lands are in the final stages of being declared state lands".

The appropriation, covers 154 hectares in the Jordan Valley close to Jericho, an area where Israel already has many settlement farms built on land Palestinians seek for a state. It is the largest land seizure since August 2014.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon denounced the move and Palestinian officials said they would push for a resolution at the United Nations against Israel's settlement policies.
A Canberra court has found Westpac is not liable for post-traumatic stress disorder suffered by a customer who thought he would be gunned down during a Fyshwick bank robbery.

The ACT Supreme Court lawsuit by Gary Nigel Roberts alleged Westpac breached its duty of care owed to its customers during the failed armed hold up in February 2010.

Mr Roberts was being served by a teller at the Wollongong Street bank, about 12.45pm on February 1, when a balaclava clad offender, who was armed with a gun, demanded cash.

The offender pointed the gun at a number of people and repeatedly threatened to kill Mr Roberts, saying: "Put the f---ing money in the bag or I'll f---ing shoot him. Someone is going to get shot. Put the money in the bag. Don't press the button."

Mr Roberts pleaded with the teller to hand over money and said to the man: "Please don't kill me. I've got two kids."
Air New Zealand is ramping up its new Auckland-Houston route faster than anticipated as it benefits from high demand from cashed-up tourists from the US east coast and oil executives travelling to and from Australia.

As a result, the airline has reduced the number of flights on the Auckland-Los Angeles and Auckland-San Francisco routes, which will become increasingly competitive due to the entry of American Airlines and United Airlines into the New Zealand market from June and July respectively.

Air New Zealand has experienced strong demand for oil industry executives flying from Perth to Houston. Credit:AP

Macquarie Equities said scheduling data showed an 11 per cent decline in Air NZ's capacity to Los Angeles and a 8.8 per cent decline to San Francisco in the current half relative to a year ago, with a 17 per cent fall to Los Angeles expected in the second half of the calendar year. Air NZ will not be running a third daily Los Angeles flight during the peak June/July travel season this year.

Air NZ had initially planned to fly to Houston up to five times a week when the route was announced, but it now plans to have five weekly flights on a permanent basis from March.
Clive Palmer has promised to write to every home in Townsville to "tell the truth" about what happened with his struggling nickel refinery in the north Queensland city.

But not just yet.

The businessman-turned-politician has been unusually quiet since his company Queensland Nickel (QNI) announced in the past week that it had made 237 workers redundant at its refinery and entered voluntary administration.

Mr Palmer says he had deliberately kept quiet because "this issue is not a political one", but would open up following a creditors' meeting in Townsville next week.
Nestle has lost a long-running court battle to trademark the four-finger shape of its KitKat chocolate bar in Britain.

The Swiss food giant first tried to register the trademark in 2010, but the application was opposed by rival chocolate maker Cadbury, the biggest UK chocolate maker.

Have a break, have a KitKat... the chocolate bar's four-fingered shape is as well known as its slogan. But not distinctive enough to warrant its own trademark, a court ruled. Credit:Jason Adlen

The case was previously dismissed by other courts including the European Court of Justice. Britain's High Court on Wednesday upheld those decisions, ruling that the shape of a KitKat bar has not "acquired a distinctive character" enough to satisfy trademark requirements.

Nestle said it was disappointed by the ruling and planned to appeal the decision.
And confidantes of Credlin say that, in fact, the opposite is true and she is actually urging the former PM move on with his life and leave. Illustration: Cathy Wilcox Regardless, there are other signs that Abbott may be leaning towards staying on in politics. The former prime minister has been one of the very few MPs in Canberra this week, working from his Parliament House office (Bronwyn Bishop has also been seen in the big, empty building), meeting advisers and receiving briefings. Abbott is, also, a young 58 and keenly aware that Australia is not much good at making the best use of the political and diplomatic expertise of its former prime ministers in a formal capacity.

Life in the private sector, on an advisory board or three or with a big corporate is unlikely to be enough in itself, nor would a return to journalism. As a friend of Abbott puts it, he is not a "portfolio of interests" guy as he "likes the scraps too much". Similarly, speculation that he could head to London to be the next High Commissioner remains just that. Perhaps the clearest sign that Abbott intends to remain in Parliament comes from his apparent willingness, along with conservative backers such as former cabinet minister Kevin Andrews, to chip Turnbull and his team over national security and the challenge posed by Islamic extremism. Turnbull has little choice but to grin and bear it when the former leader chooses to speak his mind on this or any other issue; conversely, Abbott would have received, as PM, the same briefings as Turnbull receives now from security agencies about the dangers of divisive language.

His warnings about "massive problems" in Islam play well with the Liberals' conservative wing, but probably benefit Turnbull politically as they underscore the new prime minister's more centrist instincts. Abbott speaks for a Liberal Party constituency, and more to the point, wants to continue to speak for that constituency; being an MP provides an excellent platform for the former leader to articulate his views. There are even some in the Liberal Party who speculate that, like Robert Menzies, John Howard and Winston Churchill, Abbott believes after a period in the political wilderness, the times will come to suit him again and he could reclaim the leadership. That seems unlikely, but stranger things have happened in politics. One astute Liberal observer explains Abbott's situation like this: "He is probably in that awful period, still, that all former leaders go through after being replaced. It's not a happy place. He will be torn between the views of his supporters, mates and relatives".

"There is a small core of supporters saying he can come back as prime minister. Others will be saying he can still be [a] strong, constructive contributor from the front bench, that he is good at politics and can re-emerge; some will be saying to him to retire, while others will be saying he has time to forge a new career. "On balance, I think he will re-nominate now to settle things down but he might pull the pin later in the year." That's a view shared by many in the parliamentary Liberal Party, though it remains entirely possible that Abbott will surprise colleagues and after spending time with family over summer, discussing his future, decide to quit. While Abbott keeps mum about his future, his office promises that, once a decision is taken, it won't be secret for long. For Turnbull, an Abbott exit would not solve the disquiet within the conservative wing of his party, which is alarmed by the ascent of a moderate PM who some describe as "Labor lite", but it would remove a lightning rod for that discontent.

Another senior MP, perhaps cabinet minister Peter Dutton, will emerge as a standard bearer for conservatives eager to ensure their party does not move too far to the left or go "soft" on national security. If Abbott remains in the Parliament, he has two choices. The first is to be a bomb thrower from the back bench, using the megaphone available to all former prime ministers to articulate his views and values, setting himself apart from Turnbull and the leadership team in the process, causing untold damage to the party he so recently led and giving a leg-up to Bill Shorten in an election year. The second is to bunker down and, while remaining true to his values, rebuild his standing within and outside the party by tempering his urge to intervene, establish himself as an elder statesman and, over time and if he so desires, make clear he has more to contribute from the front bench. This Abbott could be a valuable contributor to Team Turnbull as, for example, defence minister or in a newly-created Homeland Security type portfolio.
The State Fiscal Service of Ukraine and PJSC Ukrnafta have been in litigation at the Higher Administrative Court over the legality of distraint of the company's property caused by delinquent taxes, the fiscal service's press service reported.

"Ukrnafta has been taking measures to protract the process of tax debt collection and block all attempts by the State Fiscal Service to recover the debt through court. In particular, the company challenged the State Fiscal Service's tax claim and decision to impose tax lien on the company's property. The process of tax debt recovery is under way. Now the case is being considered by the Higher Administrative Court," the report said.

As reported, the State Fiscal Service conducted an inventory of Ukrnafta's property to the tune of UAH 9.3 billion in September 2015.

At present, Ukrnafta's delinquent taxes exceed UAH 10.2 billion, while its accounts receivable are estimated at more than UAH 18 billion.
Aussie diggers clear buildings prior to the Iraqi soldiers starting their night time activities. Credit:Gary Ramage But the battalion will be fighting on home soil under a strong commanding officer, a dapper, middle-aged man with a fastidious appearance and a proclivity to speak lyrically. [To avoid reprisals against families in Mosul, Australian reporters have agreed not to name soldiers from the battalion.] "He's quite a charismatic chap, probably not quite the typical commanding officer we've encountered thus far," Colonel Gavin Keating, the commander of the Australian and New Zealand training forces of Task Group Taji, said. Soldiers form the Iraq Security Forces Ninewa Operations Command-NOC-Commando Battalion at the rifle range. Credit:Gary Ramage "He takes an active interest in their training. He's much more actively involved than most of the other commanding officers that we've encountered. He regularly addresses the soldiers and seems to know them quite well."

For his part, the Iraqi officer vows that he will plant the Australian and Kiwi flags alongside Iraq's when he and his men help liberate their city from IS, whose fighters in Mosul number anywhere from about 2000 to 10,000, according to varying estimates. M16 rifles and helmets from the Iraq Security Forces Ninewa Operations Command-NOC-Commando Battalion at the rifle range. Credit:Gary Ramage "The city where we were born means a lot to us. That's where we grew up, that's where we were raised," the officer said. "So we need to do anything to liberate it. We have friends, we have brothers ... All the families and all the friends will go back to the homes they're used to." He said his men respect and love him because they know he will be there behind them when they go into combat. A critical reason why Iraqi forces broke in the face of IS advance in 2014 was that many officers were the first to run. Iraqi soldiers plant the nation's flag at the range. Credit:Gary Ramage

One of the battalion's warrant officers is a big man, 1.93 metres and with a sturdy build. His farm is now part of IS's "caliphate". On a chilly evening this week waiting for a night exercise, he was enforcing discipline like a man who has been pushed off his land and is determined to get it back. Many soldiers of the NOC battalion said they had family members still in the city. A 27-year-old sergeant major said his father was there. He hasn't spoken to him in six months. The commander of the Australian Army Task Group in Taji, Colonel Gavin Keating. Credit:Gary Ramage "I don't know much about him because the communications are shut down in Mosul. I just know he is still alive," he said. "[My father] said the situation was bad and getting worse since Daesh [IS] took control. The morale of the citizens is bad because the grocery stores are shutting down because of how IS has treated the civilians. "I can't wait to go there and beat IS."

However bold their rhetoric, the fight will be long and bloody. While individual soldiers were vague about how they left Mosul in the first place, it is likely many of them were members of units routed when militants swept into the city in a lighting offensive in 2014. The commanding officer, however, said his troops had received a major confidence boost from the Anzac training. Colonel Keating said of the commanding officer: "He's a pretty seasoned campaigner. He knows that Mosul's going to be a pretty hard nut to crack." Unlike Ramadi, which was fought largely by elite Iraqi special forces, regular troops such as the Ninewa battalion will "100 per cent" be heavily involved in the fight for Mosul simply because it will be far too big for the special forces alone, Colonel Steve Warren, spokesman for the coalition's operations against IS, said. IS, whose commanders include former officers from Saddam Hussein's army, has long been seen as a serious conventional military foe rather than just a terrorist insurgency. Colonel Warren, speaking to Australian reporters this week, described it as "a hybrid-conventional war rather than a terrorist insurgency".
It's not every day a new artist is discovered at the age of 91.

In May 2013, a colour print by Melbourne photographer Angus O'Callaghan, called Melbourne Milk Bar, sold for $2928, including buyer's premium, at a Leonard Joel auction. At the same sale, another of his prints, Coffee Lounge, sold for $2440 IBP, as did a black-and-white photo called Block Arcade.

Melbourne photographer Angus O'Callaghan with his camera. Credit:Eamon Donnelly

Leonard Joel managing director John Albrecht nominates this as the time when O'Callaghan's work officially "went gangbusters". His prediction was that these photos  reprinted in limited numbers  would at least double in value over the next decade. It didn't take that long. Later in 2013, another photo, Princes Bridge, Evening, sold for about $11,000, the current record price. This was one of a limited edition of five in the "supersize" (160 centimetres by 160 centimetres) format.

The Angus O'Callaghan phenomenon is one of the most inspiring to have happened in the past decade. It began modestly enough in 2008, when O'Callaghan was still a spritely 80-something, at a Brighton Primary School art fair fundraiser.
Tip: House hunters competing with Chinese buyers should study Feng Shui so they can do the opposite.

We all know the Chinese have a large presence on the Australian property scene today. Chinese buyers snap up nearly one in five new properties in Sydney, and one in seven in Melbourne, according to research by Credit Suisse. Sometimes they pay very high prices for seemingly average places, like the unremarkable house in Eastwood, a Sydney suburb with a large Chinese community, that sold for a million dollars over its reserve in 2013.

Followers of Feng Shui believe the number four is bad luck. Credit:Ken Irwin

Chinese areas have also experienced strong growth in recent years, with popular areas like Chatswood and Epping outpacing the Sydney median price growth rate. We have the stability, land, convenience and time zone that many Chinese buyers crave. This situation is pretty scary for a buyer. You could pay for building inspections, get a solicitor and then be trumped by more money than you'll ever earn in your life.

Luckily there's a whole selection criteria for homes that means nothing to many Australians. That discipline is known as Feng Shui and it's something that buyers in Chinese influenced markets should know about, simply so they can do the opposite. Studies by the Asian Real Estate Association of America have found that 79 per cent of Chinese investors there will pay more for a house with good Feng Shui, so avoiding this premium is critical in finding a bargain.
Let me share with you parts of my story. It may be unfamiliar to those who have been born and grown up in a peaceful Australia. To those who have come as refugees from the world's trouble spots, parts of this story will be too familiar. A point of this story is to emphasise how very lucky we are to enjoy freedom from fear, and how very unlucky are many, many others who neither choose, nor deserve their fate. A still from the Western Sydney University video about Deng Adut. Credit:Youtube / Western Sydney University I was born in a small fishing village called Malek, in the South Sudan. My father was a fisherman and we had a banana farm. I am one of eight children born to Mr Thiak Adut Garang and Ms Athieu Akau Deng. So the parts of my name are drawn from both my parents. My given name is Deng which means god of the rain. In those parts of this wide brown land that are short of water my name might be a good omen. I have a nickname: Auoloch, which means swallow. Alas I couldn't fly and as a young boy, about the age of a typical second grader in Sydney, I was conscripted into an army. As they took me away from my home and family I didn't even understand what freedoms I had lost. I didn't understand how fearful I should have been. I was young. I was ignorant. I lost the freedom to read and write. I lost the freedom to sing children's songs. I lost the right to be innocent. I lost the right to be a child. Instead, I was taught to sing war songs. In place of the love of life I was taught to love the death of others. I had one freedom  the freedom to die and I'll return to that a little later.

I lost the right to say what I thought. In place of 'free speech', I was an oppressor to those who wanted to express opinions that were different to those who armed me, fed me, told me what to think, where to go and what to do. And there was something else very special to me that was taken away. I was denied the right to become an initiated member of my tribe. The mark of 'inclusiveness' was denied to me. I had to wait until I became an Australian citizen to know that I belonged. As an Australian I am proud that we have a national anthem. It's ours and to hear it played and sung is to feel pride, pride that we are a nation of free people. It has a historical background that is familiar to those who grew up here, but which is not easily understood by newcomers. I found it useful to take some lines from our anthem to bring together what I want to share with you. To be here today, talking about freedom from fear, about the rewards that come from thinking 'inclusively', rather than thinking 'divisively', is to achieve something that the child conscript Deng could not imagine.

I came to Australia as an illiterate, penniless teenager, traumatised physically and emotionally by war. In Sudan, I was considered legally disabled, only by virtue of being black or having a dark skin complexion. As you can see I am very black and proud of my dark skin complexion. But in the Sudan my colour meant that my prospects could go no further than a dream of being allowed to finish a primary education. To be a lawyer was unthinkable. Australia opened the doors of its schools and universities. I would particularly like to thank the Western Sydney University where I received my Law degree and the University of Wollongong where I obtained my Masters degree in Law  an experience which enabled me to realise my dream of becoming a court room advocate. Australia educated me. How lucky I became. How lucky is any person who receives an education in a free land and goes on to use it in daily life. In 1987, the year before the Australian Bi-Centennial celebrations, I was among many young children forcibly removed from their homes and families and marched to Ethiopia, for reasons that were unknown to me at the time. I walked thousands of kilometres without shoes or underwear. What do we take for granted as Australians? Free education, food, clothing (more than shoes and underwear), shelter , health care and personal safety. We take those things for granted until we don't have them. I witnessed children like myself dying as we made our way, bare]foot and starving. As a child, witnessing the death of a relative is something that stays with you for life. Even today, I remember the deadened face and the gaunt skeletal body of one of my nephews lying on a corn sack. I saw too much abuse and death among my friends during the war. I sustained physical abuse from my superiors because of my inability to follow orders and for demanding decent treatment. I was a child soldier and I was expected to kill or be killed. Within a year I was plagued by disease and malnutrition. I felt isolated and deserted. I remember being told off by one of my close relatives in 1989 because I was poking him with my protruding bones. He too was a forced conscript. We were stationed in a camp in Western Ethiopia that was disguised as though it was a refugees' camp. He told me I should just die. I understand now that he too was suffering from depression and by caring for me he was unable to improve his own situation. By this time, I could only take fluids. I feel sorry for my relative. I do not believe that he was trying to be cruel. He was just a child too, unable to properly look after me or himself.

In those days, what I needed was a loving parent. What child, taken away from the care of his or her parents will not suffer some form of psychological trauma? What child, merely seven years of age and ordered to witness deaths by firing squads will not suffer a lasting injury? What child, upon seeing dead bodies, lying in pools of moving blood, will not suffer some sort of long term psychological damage? Around 1993, I watched some boys, only 10 or 11 years old, as they picked up their AK47s, put the gun to their heads, squeezed the trigger with their own fingers and blew out their brains. In a better world those fingers might have made music in a place such as this hall, built homes, operated the equipment of scientific discovery. Instead their short lives were as nothing  innocents destroyed. I, consumed by fear, couldn't pull a trigger myself, because I was too scared. Yes, fear saved me. But I understand why they did it. For my fellow child soldiers, pulling the trigger was the quickest way to die and for them the thought of dying was better than the reality of living. I wonder what their spirits would have thought if they saw that I would become a practising lawyer in Australia some 18 years later. I grieve for them. For them the freedom from fear was death. I was lucky. You are too. Freedom from fear is about acceptance of our common identity. For we Australians in 2016 freedom from fear is almost taken for granted. We had better take care to keep it. Let me turn now from memories of death to messages of hope, first for new arrivals to these shores and then to those who have long called Australia home. To those recently arrived, do not give up the dream that brought you here. Within every Australian community there are people who were immigrants or whose parents were immigrants. Treat the experiences that brought you here as tough training for the journey of establishing new lives, new families, new careers.

Clover Moore in that same speech I mentioned earlier noted that, 'The Australian national anthem has promised that, for those who've come across the sea, we've boundless plains to share'. Surprise! Surprise! Australia is a nation where most of us, most of the time, seek to give and receive a 'fair go' and 'respect democracy'. It's that 'fair go' that you see in every new Australian success story. That is the 'Advance Australia Fair' in the anthem. I know that some who are watching and listening will be wondering why I, so black, am ignoring that the ruling majority appear to be white. I don't ignore it, just as I don't ignore that the colours and faces of the Australian community are such a rich palate. Take a trip around an Australian city, visit a building site, walk around an educational campus, look at the names in our sporting teams, and hear, see, smell, and taste the richness of the cultures in any of our shopping centres. White is a colour to which so much can be added. I remind every youthful migrant to remember and cherish where you came from. It is your grounding, just as important to you as this land is to the traditional owners of this place. Your parents and relatives made sacrifices for your freedom to be here without fear. You must have a dream that takes you up and beyond any past trauma and turmoil. We are special, each and every one of us. You are special to this nation and you ought to listen to your heart and take hold of opportunities. Of course fears arrive unbidden and unwelcome. We all experience that from time to time. Can we get and keep a job? How do we keep our cherished cultural traditions alive? Can we earn respect? Will we be listened to? But don't fight your fears alone. Here we have the freedom to seek help from new friends, the elders, even a stranger who can be your friend at the time you need them. Remember, fellow immigrants, we begin as strangers in this land and we have much to learn. But the freedoms of this place mean that most of the time, from most people, there is a welcoming hand. So fear not. That leads me to those who are settled Australians. This past few years there have been unexpected fears, the fears that random atrocities such as those that took place in Bali, and more recently in London, Paris and Istanbul will come here. We scarcely notice the frequency of such acts in other places where terror, not freedom from fear, is the norm.

Fears and doubt are the ideal environment in which to breed misguided obsessions and grand delusions. There is nothing new in such manipulation. It was done to me. Such manipulation of the confused and searching spirit of youth is essential for those who use others in their quest for power. In responding to tragedies in which the lives of victims and perpetrators alike have been snuffed out to serve some demagogue, we must all be careful not to let local opportunists exploit our emotions with simplistic solutions. What seems new for we Australians is that the physical barriers to terror such as distance and sea are now irrelevant. But this is just the shortness of memory. These barriers became irrelevant for the traditional owners of this land when the winds and the currents brought the ships of the First Fleet up this Harbour. More recently these barriers were no barriers at all when a midget submarine entered Sydney Harbour during the Second World War. Then as now freedom from fear is something that must be fought for. It can never be taken for granted. Fighting must sometimes be physical and our War Memorials are testament to those who fought and gave their all. But the first line of defence against consuming fear is always our collective hearts and minds. And collectively what makes this Nation one to be proud of is the willingness of most in our communities to be accepting, tolerant, inclusive and welcoming. Our anthem speaks of the courage needed to let us all combine. Now is the time.

The fears among us are not limited to terrorism. It is all too clear that partner abuse and child abuse flourished in families where the victims were afraid to speak out. It is not so long ago that gays and lesbians lived in fear of exposure. Attitudes and actions needed to change and that has happened, but there is still more to be done. This afternoon, I delight in thanking all those whose support for 'freedom from fear' never wavers. These are the people, the people all around us, who freely gave me hope and sustained it. They understand the journey that has brought new arrivals to these shores from war, famine, oppression, and which then becomes the new journey that follows a new path, a path of 'freedom from fear'. The spirit of giving walks that same path to remind us all about the less fortunate. The reward of freedom from fear has a price: to willingly give for others without hope of anything beyond 'thanks'. This is an obligation that never ends. One of my early Australian friends illustrates this point. He bought me my first bicycle and got me a job to mow lawns. Geoff died a decade ago, and I shall always remember him for his encouragement, his faith, and his investment in me. There are now so many friends, colleagues, and teachers who all in different ways have led me here. I thank you all, not only for your help to me but the likely help you have given others too.

Last but not least, my gratitude is to fellow Australians for opening the door, not only to me but to all the other migrants like me. Without your spirit of a fair go, my story could not have been told. We acquire our community wisdom from our collective, shared experiences. It's that wisdom, which underlies our entitlement to sing in joyful strains how proud we are today to be Australians. Let's look at the future. My guru told me to live so that I can build a living memorial for my departed loved ones. There will be a charitable foundation in the name of my murdered brother, John Mac. We will raise funds and take action to alleviate poverty, bring education and better health to the lands where I was born and he died. I will try to follow in the footsteps of a man who wanted to make things right.
"I was a child soldier and I was expected to kill or be killed."

Deng Thiak Adut's extraordinary words, carefully told to an audience of dignitaries, business people, civil leaders and Australia Day Ambassadors at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music on Thursday, were as vivid as they were salutary.

This year's Australia Day Address celebrated the immense and prized freedom that the young Australian, who arrived in Sydney as a refugee in 1998, will never take for granted. Because, as the Sudanese immigrant explained, "to appreciate the value of freedom one must first be denied it."
A man has been arrested after allegedly stabbing his parents at their home in Sydney's west.

Emergency services were called to the house on Blairgowrie Place in Oatlands just after 4am on Friday to reports that a 21-year-old man had stabbed two people inside the home.

NSW Ambulance paramedics arrived to find a 55-year-old man, understood to be the man's father, with numerous stab wounds. He was taken to Westmead Hospital in a serious but stable condition.

Paramedics also treated a 53-year-old woman, understood to be the man's mother, for wounds to her face. She was also taken to Westmead Hospital, in a stable condition.

Officers from The Hills Local Area Command arrested the 21-year-old at the house and took him to Parramatta police station, where he was being questioned on Friday morning. No charges have been laid.
Dangerous surf conditions, storm activity and temperatures as high as 45 degrees are forecast for parts of Queensland in the lead up to Australia Day.

Meteorologists are tipping an almost even chance of rain in south-east Queensland for the day itself.

Residual effects of a tropical cyclone over the Fijian islands are causing instability along the southern Queensland coast, expected to persist over the weekend.


Since publishing this article, an enormous amount of feedback on social media has made me realise it was poorly written and insensitive. This has been unfair on those with a mental illness and their loved ones. This was never my intention. My intention was to achieve the opposite. At this I clearly failed. I'm genuinely sorry.*



In recent years, awareness of mental health in the workplace has ramped up  and rightly so. An employee's job can often be a source of mental illness or, if not the source, then an aggravator of it. So it's great that initiatives such as RUOK Day are becoming widespread. This, however, has given rise to the type of employee willing to take advantage of the heightened sensitivity: the employee who fakes a disorder for their personal benefit.

Faking mental illness is known as 'malingering'.

There a number of ways this becomes manifest. There's the employee who goes on stress leave the moment he's placed on a performance management plan. There's the employee who makes allegations of bullying or harassment just because a manager provided some harsh feedback. There's the employee who, on account of her questionable anxiety, demands she be given more breaks and a lighter workload.

Lest you think those cases are exaggerated, I assure you they're not. I've heard dozens of variations from leaders over the past couple of years. And those are just the mental claims; physical ones also abound. The consequence is that every inauthentic assertion detracts from the individuals who genuinely endure those mental illnesses but are unfairly confronted by misplaced cynicism.
Jakarta: The Indonesian government has vowed to tighten anti-terrorism laws in the wake of Jakarta's deadly attacks but it faces a delicate task given the history of repression under the Suharto regime.

President Joko Widodo said there was an urgent need for police to be given more power to take preventative action.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo, centre, visits the site of last week's terror attacks in Central Jakarta.

No decision had yet been made but Mr Joko said one popular option was to strip Indonesians who commit a terrorist attack of their citizenship. Proposed changes include prohibiting Indonesians from joining radical groups such as Islamic State overseas and greater powers to detain suspects.
Russian Andrey Lugovoy, a former KGB agent, allegedly spiked the tea of Alexander Litvinenko with highly radioactive polonium 210 at the Pine Bar of the Millennium Hotel in Mayfair, London, on November 1, 2006. Credit:aklugovoy.ru The men were Andrey Lugovoy and his associate Dmitri Kovtun  former Russian army officers. Lugovoy was a former KGB agent. Forensic evidence showed the Pine Bar was "heavily contaminated" with polonium 210, the inquiry found. Marina Litvinenko, the widow of former Russian intelligence officer Alexander Litvinenko, outside a pre-inquest review in London in 2012. Credit:AP "The highest readings were taken from the table where Mr Litvinenko was sitting and from the inside of one of the teapots. No comparable levels of contamination were found in any of the other places that Mr Litvinenko visited that day," the report said.

Sir Robert said he was sure that Lugovoy and Kovtun placed the polonium in the teapot at the Pine Bar. They had tried to kill him with the same poison at a meeting a few weeks earlier. Alexander Litvinenko, former KGB spy and author of the book Blowing Up Russia: Terror From Within, at home in London in 2002. Credit:AP/File Kovtun and Lugovoy are wanted by British authorities on suspicion of the murder of Mr Litvinenko. A warrant has been issued for their arrest but Russia has not extradited them. Both have denied killing Mr Litvinenko. Forensic scientists found "widespread radioactive contamination" at locations linked to Lugovoy, Kovtun and Mr Litvinenko in the weeks before he fell ill. There were also high levels of radioactive contamination on the British Airways plane seats Kovtum and Lugovoy used when flying to Moscow two days after the murder, and in placed visited by Kovtun in Germany the week before he took met with Litvinenko.

The inquiry rejected a "chemical fingerprint" theory that definitively traced the polonium to a Russian factory in Sarov, though it "unquestionably" could have come from there. Sir Robert also cast doubt on a claim by a 'Mr Potemkin' that the polonium came from an August 2006 shipment to the FSB in Moscow. However, given the amount of polonium possessed and used by the assassins, it "strongly indicated" the involvement of a state, Sir Robert said. "Ordinary criminals might have been expected to use a straightforward, less sophisticated means of killing the polonium 210 used to kill Mr Litvinenko must have come from a reactor and such reactors are in general under state control." The evidence in open court was strong circumstantial evidence of Russian state involvement, and the 'closed evidence' made it a strong probability that the FSB directed Lugovoy to poison Mr Litvinenko.

"There were powerful motives for organisations and individuals within the Russian state to take action against Mr Litvinenko, including killing him," Sir Robert said. "Mr Litvinenko was  regarded as having betrayed the FSB,  was an associate of leading opponents of the Putin regime and he had repeatedly targeted President Putin himself with highly personal public criticism." In one article, published the year he was killed, Mr Litvinenko claimed Mr Putin was a paedophile. Evidence suggested Russia had previously killed a number of opponents of the Putin administration, through bombings and poison including radioactive poison. Sir Robert said he was sure that Lugovoy and Kovtun were acting on behalf of others, probably the FSB.

Though they did not know the precise nature of the poison, they knew it was deadly, Sir Robert said. During the inquiry Mr Putin awarded Lugovoy an honour for "services to the fatherland". He is now a member of the Russian parliament. In a deathbed statement Mr Litvinenko accused Mr Putin of direct involvement in his murder. The inquiry heard evidence from several of Mr Litvinenko's associates that the assassination could not have been done without Mr Putin's knowledge and approval. "This is a KGB rule number one, cover your back," said one associate, Yuri Shvets.

An independent expert, Oxford University's Professor Robert Service, who studies Russian history, told the inquiry it was "inconceivable" that FSB head Mr Patrushev would not have had advance knowledge of the operation. Professor Service said Mr Putin had "some oversight" of FSB operations, and Sir Robert concluded that Mr Patrushev probably would have told Mr Putin about an operation such as the murder of Mr Litvinenko, though it was at present "unprovable". It was widely reported  and claimed by Mr Litvinenko's widow and associates  that Mr Litvinenko had worked for British intelligence service MI6 after his arrival in Britain. Sir Robert said the British government had not provided any evidence on the question in the "open" part of the inquiry  but had not denied it, either. Sir Robert said in any case it was more important whether the FSB believed he was working for British intelligence agencies, and "that is precisely what the FSB believed" according to Lugovoy.

Mr Litvinenko's former superior at the Russian secret service, Alexander Gusak, had agreed in an interview in 2007 that Litvinenko deserved to be executed because "when (he) defected abroad, he naturally handed over the undercover experts who had been its contacts". Mr Litvinenko was born in December 1962 and was an officer in the KGB and then the FSB. He was dismissed in 1998 after making public allegations of illegal activity within the FSB. He was granted asylum with his wife and son in Britain in 2001 and worked as a journalist and author and producing 'due diligence' reports on Russian individuals and companies. He fell ill on the evening of November 1, 2006 and died on November 23. Just before his death, experts realised his body was highly contaminated with radioactive polonium 201.

Sir Robert said he had made one recommendation as a result of his inquiry, but he could not reveal it publicly as it concerned the 'closed' evidence he had heard. Mr Litvinenko's widow Marina said she was "very pleased" with the inquiry's findings. She called for the British government to expel all Russian intelligence agents, "either FSB or other Russian agencies based in the London embassy". She also called for immediate, targeted economic sanctions and travel bans against the people named in the report, including Mr Putin. "It's unthinkable that the prime minister would do nothing in the face of (these) damning findings," she said.

Home Secretary Theresa May revealed she had also written to her counterparts in the EU, NATO and 'Five Eyes' countries - which includes Australia - drawing their attention to the report and the need to take steps "to prevent such a murder being committed on their streets". She told parliament the report's finding that the Russian state was probably involved in the murder was "deeply disturbing" and a "blatant and unacceptable breach of fundamental international law". She announced new asset freezes on the two alleged killers, saying Russia's "continued failure to ensure they are brought to justice is unacceptable". The government had summoned the Russian ambassador to the Foreign Office to demand an account of the FSB's role in this case. Lugovoy calls accusations 'absurd'
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk asks the Ukrainian law enforcement agencies to accomplish investigations into notorious corruption crimes in Ukraine.

"First of all, we are talking about the need to focus on key cases," he said at a meeting with heads of the law enforcement agencies on anti-corruption investigations in Kyiv on Thursday.

In particular, Yatseniuk mentioned the confiscation of $1.5 billion belonging to ex-president Viktor Yanukovych. The Ukrainian premier said that the 2016 national budget already included these funds.

He also called to solve the case of illegal siphoning of the funds borrowed by the State Food and Grain Company of Ukraine against the government's guarantees and bring those responsible to accountability.

Yatseniuk also assured that nobody in the incumbent government enjoys immunity and should corrupt conduct be proven, the offender must be taken to court.
Brussels: Russia's campaign of airstrikes against opponents of President Bashar Al-Assad of Syria had stabilised Assad's government, America's top general said on Wednesday. That had probably given Assad a stronger hand to play next week, when negotiations toward a political solution to the conflict would begin in Geneva, US officials said.

General Joseph F. Dunford Jr, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Russia's entry into the crowded battlefield had not changed how the US military was proceeding in Syria. He said the US-led coalition battling the Islamic State there and in Iraq had made significant gains, retaking an important dam on the Euphrates River and a large stretch of territory north of Raqqa, Syria, where the militant group has its stronghold.

The campaign to isolate Raqqa from other Islamic State-controlled territory and in particular, from the Iraqi city of Mosul, whose fall to the militants in 2014 seized international attention was well underway, General Dunford said. The main highway between Raqqa and Mosul had been cut and coalition troops were working to block smaller roads that linked the two cities. That would impede supplies from reaching Islamic State fighters in Mosul, the objective of an expected Iraqi offensive.

While "there's still freedom of movement between Mosul and Raqqa, current operations are designed to cut them," General Dunford told reporters travelling with him to a meeting of the chiefs of staff of the militaries of NATO countries.
Last year, a video featuring former Iraqi member of parliament Taha al-Lahibi appeared online and showed Lahibi reasoning that Obama's "Shiite background" had led him to work with Iran. Around the same time, Syrian writer Muhydin Lazikani told the London-based al-Hiwar television channel that Obama was the "son of a Shiite Kenyan father". The rumour goes back as far as the 2008 election, when state-run Iranian papers published articles that suggested Obama was a Shiite Muslim. There were even celebrations in Iraq's Shiite strongholds when he won the election in November 2008.

"Many people felt, Now we have a brother in the White House," one resident of Sadr City, a Shiite enclave in Baghdad, told Time magazine shortly after.

The evidence in favour of Obama being a Shiite or having much Shiite influence on his upbringing is thin to nonexistent. His middle name is Hussein  also the name of Shiite Islam's most revered martyr and a common name among Shiite Muslims  but plenty of Sunnis and non-Muslims have that name, too. Obama's estranged father, whom he has described as a Muslim who later became an atheist, came from Kenya, a country where Sunnis far outnumber Shiites. Obama did spend a few years in Muslim-majority Indonesia after his mother remarried, and his stepfather was a Muslim, though by most accounts he adhered to the Sunni stream of Islam  as almost all Indonesians do. While in Indonesia, Obama attended a Catholic school and later a Muslim-majority state school that has been described as a "secular institution" by reporters from the Associated Press.

But this distinct lack of evidence doesn't matter to Tamim and other proponents of the "Obama is a Shiite" conspiracy theory. It also doesn't seem to matter that the theory is contradicted by other, just-as-unlikely theories. For example, many in Iraq believe that America, under the orders of Obama, is supporting the Sunni extremist Islamic State group. "It is not in doubt," Mustafa Saadi, a commander in an Iraqi Shiite militia, said recently.

And, yes, some Shiites argue that Obama is secretly a Sunni and works against Shiites.
PHILIPSBURG:--- On Monday, January 18th the Democratic Party of St. Maarten (DP) held its first press conference for the New Year. Party Leader, MP Sarah Wescot-Williams, touched on a number of important topics during her talk with reporters, as outlined below.

Public Health Ordinance passed by Parliament on January 15th, 2016

MP Wescot-Williams reflected on the public meetings held at Parliament last week on the now passed public health ordinance which was presented by Minister of Public Health, Social Development and Labor, Mr. Emil Lee (DP) and the team of his ministry. MP Wescot-Williams understands how the talks came to be dominated by the debate on the St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC). The MP firmly believes that in any discussion on public health, the medical center is very much involved and should be part of any such discussions as a most relevant topic. According to MP Wescot-Williams, The information provided by Min. Lee should have served to dispel the smoke-screen launched by the UP Faction about the lack of urgency for the medical center from this coalition. She further observed that It was important for the public to understand where were at with the SMMC and to understand that before any talks of expansion can be entertained, the SMMC first has to be placed on a good footing in regard to its finances. The MP is confident that the public of St. Maarten was able to understand why certain steps have been taken and that this government is adamant about receiving all of the information and that any plans must be substantiated, with foremost the needs of St. Maarten are as it relates to healthcare of our people.

The MP was not pleased with the stunt that members of the opposition tried to pull during the public meeting by presenting a motion identical to another one that had been previously presented in January 2015 and was shot down, because of its shortsightedness. The motion would have Parliament instruct the Minister of Health to execute a portion of an ordinance (law), which had not yet been received by Parliament. While she concurs that the proposed ordinance might have offered extended coverage to some groups in the community, she queried at what cost this would come and what current benefits would be lost.

"This draft ordinance is not only about extending health coverage, it is also about cutting costs in the area of health, the MP stated, And if were going to look at extending the coverage by means of that draft ordinance, we need to look closely at those areas which the draft suggests that be cut in the area of healthcare.

As for the opposition MPs' motion, the deliberations and voting were put off as allowed by Parliament's Rules of Order. MP Wescot has also requested the VSA Minister to provide parliament a chronology of this draft law wherever it is, as it appears that not even the Council of Ministers has yet approved this draft law. Yet, the opposition wants the parliament to allow the minister to partially carry it out.

Electoral Reform

MP Wescot has assured the general public that she has not gone quiet on the topic of electoral reform, but neither will she double up on efforts in this respect. She points to the indications of the government that they have picked up this matter and have started to work on it. The MP is pleased that proposals that she presented to Parliament during her tenure as Prime Minister will be part of the research, along with other proposals that have also been submitted and are being considered. As a parliament we need to decide how far we can realistically get in seeking to have reform and to have it passed before the next election. She said, Time is critical and this government and coalition are fighting against time to get certain things done. Election without reform is voting for instability. However, as critical as the issue of time is, she assured that no new election date was been sought, though she will be keeping a finger on the pulse of how government is dealing with the matter.

Tax Law changes that affect all foundations and associations.

MP Wescot-Williams expressed her appreciation to Finance Minister Richard Gibson for accepting the proposal she presented him and coalition partners with respect to some changes in the tax laws. These changes make it obligatory for foundations and associations to now register and file taxes. The MP had asked the Minister to consider a time extension for associations and foundations to register and to launch a public campaign to educate associations and foundation on the new requirements as far as registration and filing are concerned. The Finance Minister has given his full support to this matter.

Institute for Financial Education

MP Wescot-Williams is quite pleased to learn from a recent meeting with Central Bank representatives that a proposal made to the President of the Central Bank during her tenure as Prime Minister in 2014 is diligently being worked on. The proposal centered around the consideration of an institute for financial education on St. Maarten. This proposal came about when as Prime Minister she was appraised of plans for renovations of the current Central Bank building on St. Maarten and the plan to build a new Central Bank building. With the MPs first thoughts being the possible opportunities for St. Maarteners to benefit and work in the bank, she realized the need for persons to be educated in the areas that the central bank is responsible for. The MP inquired back then and was told that in Curacao there is a program in place wherein different stakeholders participate. Based on a request for a proposal from the Central Bank, it was established that the institute could be established under the legal form of a foundation consisting of representatives of at least the following entities: the Central Bank, St. Maarten Brokers Association, St. Maarten Bankers Association, the St. Maarten Insurers Association and the Government of St. Maarten. The main task of the institute would be to provide financial institutions and individuals with the most relevant education program such as trainings, courses and workshops, both as open enrollments and as customized programs, exams, seminars and conferences on a wide array of financial subjects throughout the year. This could be achieved through collaboration with University of St. Martin, and the training institute for the Dutch Banking, Insurance and Investment Sector. Stakeholders have been approached on St. Maarten and some have already given their consent to be part of this initiative. Hopefully it wouldn't be too long before this initiative can be realized.

MP Wescot-Williams has revealed that like previous IPKO meetings. at the recent IPKO and Tripartite meetings earlier in January there were talks regarding St. Maartens constitutional court and the feasibility of a common constitutional court. Sint Maarten is the only Dutch country with such a constitutional court, where legislation passed by Parliament can be scrutip for inconsistencies with our constitution. The islands, especially Curacao have indicated that they would like to have a similar court operational on their island. A Curacaos initiative (private bill) proposes such a court, but goes further and looks at disputes between government entities to be advised upon by the constitutional court.

MP Wescot thinks it is worthwhile to look at also broadening the scope of the constitutional court of St. Maarten to render an advisory "verdict" should there be a constitutional dispute amongst governmental bodies. E.g Governor and Council of Ministers or Council of Ministers and Parliament.

Workings of the coalition

The coalition is currently working on a plan to present what the priorities are for the coming months, realizing that both time and resources are limited. The DP plans to maintain its priorities and vision that we have outlined before, however taking into account that these limitations exist and in addition, we are part of a coalition, consisting of 3 parties and 2 independent members of parliament.

A summary of the issues that the Democratic Party will focus on for the short term include healthcare, social development and labor/immigration, as well as integrity and transparency, timeshare legislation, electoral reform, the elderly and a general pension scheme, tax reform and general education as building blocks. A healthy and active population, a responsive government, employment and business opportunities, social cohesion and dialogue, and social safety nets for those unable to participate (fully).
Smart Grid, Battery/Storage and Efficiency Companies Raise $1.7 Billion in 2015

AUSTIN, TX  (Marketwired)  01/20/16  , llc, a global clean energy communications and consulting firm, released its report on funding and (M&A) activity for the Smart Grid, Battery/Storage and Energy Efficiency sectors for 2015.

(VC) funding (including private equity and corporate venture capital) for companies increased to $425M (million) in 57 deals, compared to $384 million in 74 deals in 2014. Total corporate funding, including debt and public market financing, equaled $527M.

Chart:

The Top VC funded company in 2015 was SIGFOX, bringing in $115M.

Chart:

There were 103 VC investors in the Smart Grid category in 2015. Top VC investors this year included GE Ventures, Bpi France, E.ON, EnerTech Capital, Idinvest Partners, Khosla Ventures and Maryland Venture Fund.

Smart Grid Communications companies, including Home and Building Automation technology companies, attracted the largest share of VC funding with $183M in 16 deals, followed by Data Analytics companies with $63 million in 11 deals.

The only this year was the $98M raised by Alarm.com.

There were 20 Smart Grid M&A transactions (10 disclosed) for $5.3B (billion). The top disclosed transaction was Honeywells $5.1B acquisition of the Elster Division of Melrose Industries.

/ companies brought in $397M in 37 deals compared to $431M in 34 deals in 2014. Total corporate funding, including debt and public market financing, came to $676M. Flow Battery companies received the most funding with $120M.

The top VC funded company was VionX Energy which raised $58.1M.

Chart:

A total of 57 VC investors participated in Battery/Storage deals in 2015. Three investors were involved in two deals each including AltEnergy, DBL Partners and Pangaea Ventures.

Bloom Energy raised $130M via convertible debt. Energy announced a project finance fund of $30M.

There were 11 M&A transactions in Battery/Storage (four disclosed) totaling $2.4B. The largest transaction was the $2.2B acquisition of Polypore Internationals energy storage business by Asahi Kasei.

VC funding for the sector increased to $852M in 67 deals compared to $797M in 80 deals in 2014. Total corporate funding, including debt and public market financing, increased to over $2B.

The top VC funded company was View (formerly Soladigm) which raised $150M.

Chart:

Lighting technology companies captured the most funding with $187M in 23 deals. A total of 123 investors participated in funding deals.

There were five deals this year in the sector for $801M.

Two IPOs raised a combined $168M. There was almost a two-fold increase in activity in the efficiency sector this year with 45 transactions, 22 of which disclosed amounts.

The largest disclosed transaction was the $2.8B acquisition of an 80.1 percent interest in Lumileds by GO Scale Capital Investment Consortium.

Lighting companies were the most active this year with 19 transactions

To get a copy of the report, visit:

Mercom Capital Group, llc, is a global communications and research firm focused on cleantech. Mercom advises companies on new market entry, custom and strategic decision-making. Mercoms communications division helps companies build powerful relationships with media, analysts, local communities, and strategic partners. About Mercom: .
SEB Corporate Updates

MISSISSAUGA, ONTARIO  (Marketwired)  01/20/16  Smart Employee Benefits Inc. (TSX VENTURE: SEB) (SEB or the Company) announces the following corporate updates:

Bristol Capital to Provide Investor Relations Services

SEB is pleased to announce that it has retained Bristol Capital Ltd. (Bristol) to provide investor relations services, with the objective of creating greater investor awareness. Bristol and SEB are unrelated and unaffiliated.

Bristol will facilitate introductions to key financial institutions, fund managers, money managers and analysts, in addition to arranging investor meetings, roadshow presentations and conference calls.

Under the terms of the agreement (the Agreement), with an effective date of January 18, 2016, Bristol will receive compensation of $6,000 per month. Subject to approval from the TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV), Bristol will also receive 200,000 options in accordance with the Companys stock option plan. The options will be exercisable at $.40 per share, and will vest at the rate of 50,000 shares per quarter. The stock options will expire and terminate upon the earlier of: (i) 36 months from the date of issuance; and (ii) 30 days after Bristol ceases to provide services as set forth in the Agreement. Bristol and its clients may have or may acquire a direct interest in the securities of the Company.

The Agreement is for an initial one year term and shall be automatically renewed for subsequent one year terms unless terminated earlier by 30 days prior written notice by the Company or Bristol within the first four months of the Agreement, or 60 days prior to renewal.

BBS Securities to Provide Market Making Services

SEB is also pleased to announce that it has retained BBS Securities Inc. (BBS) to provide market-making services. BBS will trade securities of the Company on the TSXV, in accordance with applicable TSXV policies, with the objective of contributing to market liquidity of the Companys shares.

Under the terms of the agreement with BBS, with an effective date of July 22, 2015, BBS will receive compensation of $1,500 per month. BBS will not receive shares or options as compensation; however, BBS and its clients may have or may acquire a direct interest in the securities of the Company. SEB and BBS are unrelated and unaffiliated entities. BBS is a member of the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada, a participating organization of TSX and a member of TSXV. The capital and securities required for any trade undertaken by BBS as principal will be provided by BBS.

The agreement with BBS is for an initial term of 180 days and shall be automatically renewed for subsequent 180 day periods unless terminated earlier by 30 days prior written notice by the Company or BBS.

Osprey Capital to be Issued 500,000 Warrants for Corporate Advisory Services

In addition, SEB announces that in connection with the closing of its $8,775,000 credit facilities with a major Canadian Schedule I Bank, as previously disclosed in a press release dated March 10, 2015, the Company will be issuing 500,000 warrants (the Warrants) to Osprey Capital Partners Inc. (Osprey) upon final approval from TSXV for such Warrant issuance. The Warrants are partial payment to Osprey for acting as an advisor to SEB on a credit facilities transaction and each Warrant will have a two year term and will entitle Osprey to acquire common shares of SEB at $0.50 per share. Osprey is a registered dealer and an arms length party to SEB.

Board of Directors Change

Keith Harris, a Director of SEB since it was first listed on the TSXV in 2012, has resigned as a Director effective January 19, 2016. Mr. Harris was a Director of the Capital Pool Company with which SEB completed a reverse takeover to become a public company. We thank Mr. Harris for his contribution as a Director.

Management Changes

Investor Relations  Eduardo Baer, Executive Vice President, Capital Markets, is no longer working with SEB. The Company has elected to have this activity provided by external resources.

Technology Division  The Company has created a National Technology Leadership Team headed by Mark Hustak of our Regina office. The leadership team is comprised of senior management personnel, including Mr. Hustak, with participation from both Toronto and Ottawa offices. This team will be responsible for the strategic direction of the Technology Division, which, in 2016, is expected to generate over $100.0M in sales, with an EBITDA in the 8% to 9% range. This division has over $300.0M of backlog and expected renewals. Brian Deeks has been appointed as Chief Operating Officer of the combined operations of Somos Consulting Group and the recently acquired Maplesoft Consulting Group. The Technology Division has a strong base of profitable business, with over 85% of 2016 forecasts in backlog. The expertise and infrastructure in this division is critical to expediting growth strategies in the Benefits Division.

Benefits Division  John Jackson, Executive Vice President, Benefits Division, has relinquished his role as EVP and may move to a transitional consulting role of up to 6 months, on terms to be negotiated. The Company is finalizing the engagement of an executive recruiting firm to source a new executive to lead the growth opportunities in this division. The Company is also actively reviewing acquisitions and joint venture opportunities, together with strategic partnerships, as drivers of the Benefits Divisions growth strategy. The growth focus in 2016 is the Benefits Division. Prior to 2016, much of the focus had been on the Technology Division. SEBs competitive advantage is technology, and it was imperative that the Company have a strong, profitable Technology Division to enable SEB to capitalize on growth opportunities in its Benefits Division.

Financial Progress since Fiscal 2014  SEB has grown since November, 2014, from reported revenue of $20.1M and an EBITDA loss of $6.1M, to trailing proforma (including Maplesoft) revenue of $102.9M and a proforma adjusted EBITDA of $5.4M for fiscal 2015. With the closing of the Maplesoft transaction, announced on December 4th, 2015, backlog and expected renewals have grown to over $360.0M. With over 500% growth in revenue since 2014, the management structure of SEB is being re-aligned to address the Companys market opportunities.

About SEB

Smart Employee Benefits Inc.s global infrastructure is comprised of two Divisions: Technology and Benefits. The Technology Division currently serves corporate and government clients across Canada and internationally. The Benefits Division delivers SaaS and BPO processing solutions to both corporate and government funded health benefit environments. The Technology Division is a critical competitive advantage in supporting the implementation and operation of SEBs benefits processing solutions in client environments. The core expertise of SEBs Technology Division is building and operating fully integrated data processing and business process solutions. Health Benefit environments is a high growth specialty area.

SEBs core benefits technology solutions automate health benefits processing. They tie the administration and processing of all benefit types into one environment and integrate seamlessly with all legacy client systems to allow real-time, self-serve access of data. These Modular Solutions operate as an integrated environment or stand alone. SEBs technology solutions and expertise fall into six categories as follows:

1. Health Benefits Administration and Claims Processing Platform  Modular, fully integrated, end-to-end Administration/Adjudication/Payments/Billing/Reporting software platform provided on a SaaS or BPO model. SEB issues its own benefit cards.

2. Health & Wellness Integrated Platform  Modules include content library, Personal Health Assessment, education modules, over 80 applications for managing health initiatives, personalized report card and action initiative, integrated reward platform, integrated organization health assessment, prevention/intervention programs, integrated real time reporting, personal health record, etc. The focus is on education and prevention.

3. Disability Management Platform  Modules include: Benefits & Disability Portal, Absence Management Module, Audit Workflow Module, Case Management Module, Predictive Analytics Module. The Modules are implemented within a Best Practices environment and automate the work flow in managing disability cases.

4. Predictive Analytics and Fraud  Algorithms that analyze historical data and provide big data analytics that allow creation of fraud identification rules which are incorporated, real-time, into adjudication environments. Analytics also assist in pricing.

5. Enterprise Service Bus  Business Process Data Management Module for tying legacy data systems to new technology solutions and automating access to legacy data systems.

6. Technology Infrastructure and Expertise  Extensive data management expertise including data centres, PCI certified security, systems integration, business intelligence, software development, CRM, BizTalk, PeopleSoft, BPO, ITIL, Big Data Analytics, Professional Services, Hosting, Project Management, etc. This infrastructure and expertise make everything work as an integrated solution.

For further information about SEB, please visit .

Disclaimer in Regards to Forward-looking Statements

Certain statements included herein constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including but not limited to statements regarding SEBs areas of focus and service offerings. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management at this time, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, SEB does not intend, and undertakes no obligation, to update any forward-looking statements to reflect, in particular, new information or future events.

Neither TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Contacts:

Smart Employee Benefits Inc.

John McKimm

President/CEO/CIO

(416) 460-2817

Bristol Capital

Glen Akselrod

(905) 326 1888 ext 10
TUV Rheinland: Experts discuss shared infrastructures for smart grids in Europe

Posted by Publisher Telecommunication

How can we work hand-in-hand with the telecommunications and energy sector in Europe to successfully further develop and operate smart grids (intelligent energy networks)? What possible scenarios in terms of a shared future are conceivable, what strategic barriers need to be overcome and how can the collaboration be launched successfully? These questions are the focus of this second Energise workshop held by TUV Rheinland on 3rd and 4th March 2016 in Berlin. The workshop for high-level stakeholders from the European telecommunications and energy sector is part of the Energise study which has been conducted by TUV Rheinland since the beginning of 2015 on behalf of the European Commission. It focuses on whether the EU states should use the existing infrastructures of telecommunications companies or whether new networks should be set up when expanding smart grids. You can find out more at http://project-energise.eu

As part of the second stakeholder dialogue within the Energise project, TUV Rheinland will also present the current results from the first project year. The first comprehensive survey of shared use communications infrastructure for smart grids amongst participants from the telecommunications sector and from the energy sector within the EU is unique in this form: It includes basic information, estimations on use cases and models of cooperation for smart grids from all of the 28 EU Member States. This has given rise to the first extensive EU wide inventory. TUV Rheinland and its project partner WIK-Consult (Wissenschaftliches Institut fur Infrastruktur und Kommunikationsdienste GmbH) questioned various interest groups, including telecommunications companies and device manufacturers, as well as energy network operators and research facilities. The aim was to determine specific concepts and possible solutions and to find out more about the different potential of digital networks in the individual countries.

One of the most important findings was that both the energy market and the telecommunications sector undergo a significant dynamic change. Despite the very different general conditions in the two sectors, a sharp rise in convergences is expected. Shared use infrastructures are an important success factor for digital transformation in Europe, explained Prof. Dr. Kai Hohmann, Global Business Field Manager Telco Solutions, Business und Engineering Services at TUV Rheinland. For this reason, it is even more important that the EU states develop a practical approach for shared smart grid infrastructures which takes into account the various strategic interests both of the telecommunications sector and the energy sector, and of the individual countries and the consumers. With the stakeholder dialog, we are creating the necessary conditions for this, explained Prof. Dr. Hohmann.

TUV Rheinland is a global leader in independent inspection services, founded more than 140 years ago. The group maintains a presence in 69 countries with 19,300 employees; annual turnover is more than EUR 1.7 billion. The independent experts stand for quality and safety for people, technology and the environment in nearly all aspects of life. TUV Rheinland inspects technical equipment, products and services, oversees projects and helps to shape processes for companies. Its experts train people in a wide range of careers and industries. To this end, TUV Rheinland employs a global network of approved labs, testing and education centres. Since 2006, TUV Rheinland has been a member of the United Nations Global Compact to promote sustainability and combat corruption. Website: www.tuv.com
Sidense Hires Industry Veteran Ken Wagner as Senior VP Engineering

OTTAWA, ON  (Marketwired)  01/21/16  Sidense Corp., a leading developer of Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) One Time Programmable (OTP) IP cores, today announced that Ken Wagner has joined Sidense as the Companys Senior Vice President of Engineering. Ken will be reporting to Sidense President and CEO Xerxes Wania and will assume responsibility for all of Sidenses engineering activities.

We are very pleased to have Ken join the Sidense team and help shape the next exciting chapter in Sidenses continued growth, said Sidense President and CEO Xerxes Wania. Ken brings considerable depth in terms of semiconductor development, engineering management, and executive management expertise that spans a broad range of technologies, products, and markets.

Dr. Ken Wagner has over 25 years of experience in electronic systems as a hardware and embedded software engineer, researcher and senior manager in Silicon Valley, New York and Canada. Ken has held senior management positions for companies such as IBM, Stream Machine, Siemens, S3 and Synopsys, working in processor, storage, telecom, video and imaging domains.

Most recently, Ken was Vice-President of Engineering for the Communication Products Division at PMC-Sierra, leading R&D teams in Canada, the U.S., Israel and India. He also held the title of Distinguished Engineer and led PMCs low-power initiatives. From 2000 to 2006 Ken was Director of Design Services at PMC-Sierra. Ken is an expert in design, verification, and implementation methodologies, leading to over 60 tape-outs of PMC telecom and storage ASICs and standard products.

Previously, Ken worked as Design and DFT Director for several Silicon Valley fabless IC startups designing video, graphics and imaging devices. At Synopsys, he managed software CAD development. At IBM, he was a Senior Engineer in EDA, consulting worldwide for IBM product development. Early in his career he designed mainframes at Amdahl.

Ken holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University and B.Eng. from McGill University in Montreal. He is an Adjunct Professor at McGill University, is a Past Editor-In-Chief of IEEE Design & Test magazine, and is a Golden Core/Senior Member of the IEEE Computer Society & Circuits and Systems Society. He holds multiple patents from his employers including a First Plateau Patent award from IBM Corporation. Ken spent 1992 as an AAAS/IEEE Congressional Science Fellow in Washington, DC.

Joining Sidense is an extremely exciting opportunity and I look forward to contributing to their excellent engineering team and their innovative memory IP portfolio, said Ken Wagner, Sidense Senior VP of Engineering. As embedded memory and security assume an increasingly important role in our interconnected world, Sidense will continue its substantial growth as the industry leader in reliable, secure, and power-efficient memory IP for all key market segments.

Sidense Corp. provides very dense, highly reliable and secure non-volatile one-time programmable (OTP) Logic Non-Volatile Memory (LNVM) IP for use in standard-logic CMOS processes. The Company, with over 120 patents granted or pending, licenses OTP memory IP based on its innovative one-transistor 1T-Fuse bit cell, which does not require extra masks or process steps to manufacture. Sidense 1T-OTP macros provide a better field-programmable, reliable and cost-effective solution than flash, mask ROM, eFuse and other embedded and off-chip NVM technologies for many code storage, encryption key, analog trimming and device configuration uses.

Over 150 companies, including many of the top fabless semiconductor manufacturers and IDMs, have adopted Sidense 1T-OTP as their NVM solution for more than 500 designs. Customers are realizing outstanding savings in solution cost and power consumption along with better security and reliability for applications ranging from mobile and consumer devices to high-temperature, high-reliability automotive and industrial electronics. The IP is offered at and supported by all top-tier semiconductor foundries and selected IDMs. Sidense is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada with sales offices worldwide. For more information, please visit .

Susan Cain

Cain Communications for Sidense

Tel: 408-393-4794

Email:

Jim Lipman

Sidense

Tel: 925-606-1370

Email:
Presbyterian Foundation Chooses ViaWest for Hybrid IT Services

DENVER, CO  (Marketwired)  01/21/16  , a leading Hybrid IT solutions provider in North America, today announced that the has selected ViaWest as its cloud and colocation services provider. By migrating to ViaWests private cloud platform and leveraging ViaWests IT solutions and consulting services, Presbyterian Foundation will increase the security of its IT assets and free up time and resources for its IT staff to focus on more strategic issues.

Presbyterian Foundation will utilize ViaWests Virtual Private Cloud service, which will give employees in nine offices across the country fast and reliable VPN access to the Foundations data. The platform also will allow Presbyterian Foundation to scale its capacity and performance dynamically based on demand.

Based in Jeffersonville, Ind., Presbyterian Foundation is a 216-year-old nonprofit organization that raises, manages and distributes funds to churches across the country to support their mission work around the world. The Foundation has more than $1 billion under management and distributed $59 million to churches last year.

We are a nonprofit that deals with complicated financial issues and transactions, so our IT infrastructure is quite complex, said Andy Keeney, director of Information Technology at Presbyterian Foundation. We found in ViaWest a trusted partner that could provide us with a cost-effective way to improve our technology environment and free up our IT resources so we can focus on strategic issues instead of being mired in low-value tactical issues.

Presbyterian Foundation does important work and is an instrument for good, and we are proud to work with them to create a truly hybrid IT solution that will make them more efficient and secure, said Dan Curry, director of Sales for ViaWests Minnesota region. Presbyterian Foundation needs a reliable, cost-effective and flexible partner to create a custom solution, and it speaks to our approach that we were judged to be the best provider based on those metrics. We look forward to a long-term relationship helping the Foundation continue to grow.

ViaWests Hybrid IT Solutions allow customers to combine traditional colocation services with cloud computing, managed services and security to create powerful, flexible solutions that best fit their specific IT needs. With 30 data centers in North America, including in the Minneapolis area, and a broad product portfolio of IT solutions and consulting, ViaWest works with companies of all sizes across multiple industry sectors to optimize their IT platforms.

For more information about ViaWests Hybrid IT Solutions, please visit . The ViaWest website also has additional information about Presbyterian Foundations .

A vital part of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Foundation gathers, stewards, and disburses financial resources of individuals and institutions in service of Christs mission. More information is available online at .

ViaWest is a leading Hybrid IT solutions provider offering cloud, colocation, compliance services and security solutions, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Shaw Communications, Inc. (NYSE: SJR). With more than 16 years of experience, 30 North American data centers and nine cloud nodes, ViaWest offers IT and infrastructure solutions that solve business challenges while balancing cost, scalability and security requirements. ViaWest delivers tailored solutions designed for maximum reliability and flexibility backed by our 100% uptime commitment.

For additional information on ViaWest, please visit or call 1-877-448-9378. Follow ViaWest on and .

Jeremy Story

GroundFloor Media

720-984-2730
The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagarde, has expressed a favorable view about the prospect of giving Ukraine yet another IMF tranche.

Lagarde told reporters on Thursday after talks with Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko in Davos that in her view it was a very positive discussion.

The IMF chief said she hopes the discussion will bring the parties closer to the signing of a memorandum and that this process will end successfully.

She said the meeting was productive, the talks focused on Ukraine's economic development and the approval of its 2016 budget.

The four-year Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program, which opened in March 2015 and totaled SDR12.348 billion (around $17.11 billion according to the current exchange rate), with the first tranche of $5 billion, initially involved quarterly reviews of the program, disbursing three SDR1.18 billion (around $1.63 billion) tranches in 2015, and reducing quarterly tranches in 2016-2018 to SDR0.44 billion ($0.61 billion).

Ukraine was able to get only the first two tranches, the first one was partly ($2.7 billion) used to support its national budget; the rest of the funds went to the traditional recipient, the National Bank.

According to Ukraine's Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko, before making a decision on whether to grant Kyiv yet another tranche the IMF will be assessing compliance with all pre-conditions and structural 'beacons' that were to have been met before the end of December 2015. If these conditions were fulfilled successfully, IMF directors could meet to discuss disbursement of a third EFF tranche in late January-February.
Marielle D. Marne | JANUARY 20, 2016

Come on in to Out West for leather furnishings and hacienda-style splendor

CAVE CREEK  Redecorating doesnt have to be a huge undertaking. Beverly Sexton, an Arizona interior designer, explained, You can take out a few pieces, buy a few new pieces and it changes the whole look of your house.



The Sexton Team



For the classic hacienda-style vibe, visit the Out West Showroom, owned and operated by Beverly, her husband Robert and their son Zack. Currently, the Sextons are expecting a shipment of leather furniture, so this is an ideal time to get that new look youve been dreaming about. Of course, at Out West you can complement your newly purchased top-grain leather sofa with coffee/end tables and/or buffets adorned with saguaro ribs, desert twigs, inlaid turquoise (a customer fave) or copper. All handmade by 30 different (and primarily local) artists who can customize any piece to size or other personal preference, such as wood type.

Additionally, Robert Sexton is an experienced and skilled upholsterer who can refinish those dated club chairs or reupholster any seating available at Out West to match or complement whats already in a home. The talented folks at Out West can help clients accessorize and even offer window coverings so your casa becomes a castle. Some good deals are to be had with the change of inventory, so take advantage of any markdowns on already competitive pricing. Beverly is available for a free in-store design consult, so stop in before the sale ends at 38252 W. Jacqueline Dr.



When customers see the quality, American-made furnishings at Out West, they want to fill more than their dining or living rooms. The beds (head- and footboards), iron lamps with leather shades, vintage, one-of-a-kind accents and area-inspired artwork are must-have items. Out West is ever-evolving, ever-changing so neighbors and part-time residents are encouraged to stop in often to see what treasures they can uncover.



For details, phone 480-575-8000 or visit www.outwestinteriors.com.
JANUARY 20, 2016

Black Mountain Campus expansion celebrated



Aquila Hall project adds classrooms, labs, amphitheater, and astronomy viewing deck.

PHOENIX-Paradise Valley Community College is celebrating the newest enhancement to the PVCC Black Mountain campus  completion of the $10 million, 20,000 square foot construction of Aquila Hall.



The public is invited to join Dr. Paul Dale, PVCC president; MCCCD Chancellor Rufus Glasper; architectural and construction partners Dick & Fritsche Design Group (DFDG) and Austin Commercial; and college personnel at a ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday, January 29, at 10 am. The program will be followed by an open house and building tour.



PVCC at Black Mountain is located at 34250 N. 60th Street, Scottsdale, AZ, 85266, just off East Carefree Highway.



Aquila Hall is the second instructional building on the PVCC at Back Mountain campus, joining Orion Hall. The new building is a stunning, light-filled space nestled in the heart of the desert property. It includes three multi-purpose classrooms, two Science labs and a Science classroom, computer lab, tutoring center, high-powered astronomy telescope and viewing deck, student study and collaboration areas, faculty offices, and classrooms. An outdoor amphitheater has also been added.



The addition of laboratory science courses completes the Black Mountain campus transition to a comprehensive site where students can now earn their AA or AS degree in one location.



The building is named Aquila in reference to the clear night skies at Black Mountain and the regular star parties hosted by the campus. A constellation in the northern sky, Aquila is Latin for eagle, and it represents the bird that carried Zeus/Jupiters thunderbolts in Greco-Roman mythology. The brightest star in Aquila is Altair, a white star that is about 17 light-years from Earth.



PVCC at Black Mountain, serving the north central and northeast Valley communities, is situated on 10 developed acres of an 82-acre parcel of land at the foot of iconic Black Mountain. The initial 10,000-square foot facility, Orion Hall, opened in the fall of 2009, in a public/private/non-profit partnership with the Foothills Community Foundation (FCF ) and Desert Foothills YMCA.



The Aquila Hall project was funded by the 2004 MCCCD General Obligation Bonds.
JANUARY 20, 2016

Desert Foothills Library presents 8th Annual Gala A Magical Evening on February 6

Music performed by acclaimed vocalist Khani Cole

CAREFREE/CAVE CREEK/N. SCOTTSDALE (November 30, 2015) - The Desert Foothills Library invites the Valley community to its 8th Annual Gala A Magical Evening on Saturday, February 6, at 5:30 p.m. The much anticipated charity event will take place at the Library, 38443 N. School House Road, in Cave Creek.



Tickets are $175 per person and are available by contacting Executive Director David Court at 480-488-2286 or dcourt@dfla.org. Sponsorship opportunities and donations for the silent auction are welcomed. All proceeds benefit the library.



This years fundraiser includes hosted cocktails, a silent auction, wine event, and gourmet dinner, followed by a performance from celebrated vocalist Khani Cole. Based in Scottsdale, Cole is renowned for her lyrical versatility and harmonic depth. She has performed throughout the country as well as internationally.





For more information on the 8th Annual Gala A Magical Evening visit the library online at www.dfla.org or by calling 480-488-2286.



The Desert Foothills Library celebrates their 62nd anniversary thanks to the loyalty of its donors and volunteers. The Library is open to everyone, seven days a week and supports the entire Foothills community with culturally enriching programs, educational events, and quality services.



The Desert Foothills Library is a 501(c)3 non-profit, privately funded public library  the only privately funded library in the state of Arizona. All proceeds benefit the Library.
Guest Editorial





By Matt Barber | january 20, 2016

Every Muslim will bow before Jesus

My goal here is not to offend. Or to persuade. In matters of the spirit, there is but One capable of opening the eyes of the heart. My objective is to sow seeds of Truth so the Holy Spirit might, according to His perfect pleasure, purpose and will, cultivate the soul as He deems just.



We Christ followers are admonished to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us (see Matthew 5:44). This obliges us to at once love and pray for, among other antichrist subsets, the 1.2 billion Muslims worldwide, including the hundreds-of-millions who faithfully embrace Muhammads myriad commands to commit violence against the Christian, the Jew and all other non-Muslims.



It is impossible to do this in our flesh and can only be accomplished through the supernatural grace and power of the Holy Spirit. It is, indeed, our great hope and prayer every Muslim  every human being  might surrender self and come to the saving knowledge and grace of Christ Jesus, who, alone, is the way and the truth and the life. For, No one comes to the Father except through [Him] (see John 14:6).



To be sure, it is the express desire of both God the Father and Christ His Son that each and every Muslim on earth should abandon Muhammads broad path to perdition, turnabout and move toward Christs narrow path to eternal life. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).



The rest of us, in order to become Gods children, must be adopted and grafted into the vine by, in and through the One who is the Son  He who is the Vine: Christ Jesus (see John 15:5).



Those who are not adopted by God are not children of God.



And so the Muslim is not a child of God.



Indeed, to become a child of God, we must ask God, through Christ, to adopt us. We mustnt just believe upon Him  for Even the demons believe that (see James 2:19)  we must also receive Him as Lord and Savior. We must follow Jesus, the one true God, as our only God. But to all who believed him (Jesus) and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God (John 1:12).



The pluralist notion that, There are many paths to God, is an insidious lie spread by the father of lies himself. Jesus said, Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it (Matthew 7:13).



Jesus is the narrow gate.



Merriam Webster defines pluralism as a theory that there are more than one or more than two kinds of ultimate reality.



To embrace pluralism is to embrace certain death.



The aim of pluralist philosophy is to muddy the waters and divert mankind from the narrow gate that leads to eternal salvation (Jesus), while, at one go, herding us along the broad road to eternal damnation (anything and everything that denies the singular and exclusive deity of Christ, or that rejects the certainty that He alone can save us from hell).



Pluralism is a non-starter. It is inherently self-contradictory and, therefore, self-defeating. Each of the worlds major religions fundamentally contradicts the other. They cannot all be true. Either one is true or none is true.



Christ is both tolerant and intolerant, utterly exclusive and wholly inclusive. Romans 10:13 promises, Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord (Jesus) will be saved. And John 3:36 warns, Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for Gods wrath remains on him.



Not only do Muslims reject Christ, the Son of God, but those who are faithful to the teachings of their prophet Muhammad persecute, under flame and sword, His very body: the Christian faithful.



As Ive said before, Islam is Christianitys photo-negative. While Christianity brings eternal life to those choosing to surrender to Jesus, who, as He declared in no uncertain terms, is, alone, the way and the truth and the life, Islam brings eternal death to those who surrender to Allah, who, as declared Muhammad, is the best of deceivers ([A]nd Allah was deceptive, for Allah is the best of deceivers. [see Surah 3:54])



Its worth again mentioning here that The Bible similarly calls Satan a deceiver. Revelation 12:9, for instance, explains that he deceives the whole world. Even though it is often claimed that Muslims, Christians and Jews worship the same God, this is so very much not so. Allah is not God. Allah is the deceiver, and, insofar as Christianity, true Christianity, spreads peace, love and truth  Islam, true Islam, spreads violence, hate and deception. Allah definitely exists. Hes just not God. Though he wanted to ascend above the tops of the clouds and make [himself] like the Most High (see Isaiah 14:14), Allah, most assuredly, is not God.



Indeed, the best of deceivers cares not whether we worship the idol of self, as do the secular-progressives, the deceiver himself, as do the Muslims, or some other false god. The deceptive one cares only that we deny God the Father, Christ His Son and the Holy Spirit, three in one.



To the Muslim, to everyone, know this: You may deny Christ until the day you die. But soon after, you will deny Him no more. Hate Him you may still, but deny Him you will not. Philippians 2:10-11 assures us, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.



The die was cast before time began. Every Christian, Jew, atheist and pagan, to include each and every Muslim on earth  or, like Muhammad, who once walked the earth  will, in the end, bow a knee in worship to Jesus.



Because in the end is just the beginning.

Yet, whether you bow first in this life, or first in the next, you will bow.

And the when and how will mean much.

For it will decide the where and how of your eternity.



Matt Barber is founder and editor-in chief of BarbWire.com. He is an author, columnist, cultural analyst and an attorney concentrating in constitutional law. (Follow Matt on Twitter: @jmattbarber)
Guest Editorial





By Lawrence Sellin, PhD | january 20, 2016

Ted Cruz is a U.S. citizen at birth, natural born is a different question

According to Public Law 414, June 27, 1952, An Act: To revise the laws relating to immigration, naturalization, and nationality and for other purposes [H.R. 5678], Title III Nationality and Naturalization, Chapter 1 - Nationality at Birth and by Collective naturalization; Nationals and citizens of the United States at birth, the relevant section being:



SEC. 301. (a) The following shall be nationals and citizens of the United States at birth:



(7) a person born outside the geographical limits of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents one of whom is an alien, and the other a citizen of the United States who, prior to the birth of such person, was physically present in the United States or its outlying possessions for a period or periods totaling not less than ten years, at least five of which were after attaining the age of fourteen years: Provided That any periods of honorable service in the Armed Forces of the United States by such citizen parent may be included in computing the physical presence requirements of this paragraph.



With the stipulation that:



(b) Any person who is a national and citizen of the United States at birth under paragraph (7) of subsection (a), shall lose his nationality and citizenship unless he shall come to the United States prior to attaining the age of twenty-three years and shall immediately following any such coming be continuously physically present in the United State for at least five years: Provided That such physical presence follows the attainment of the age of fourteen years and precedes the age of twenty-eight years.



Ted Cruz fulfilled those requirements and is, therefore, a US citizen at birth and meets the Constitutional test outlined in the Supreme Court decision Rogers v. Bellei, 401 U.S. 815 (1971).



According the Department of State, Ted Cruz's parents should have applied at a US Consulate for a Consular Report of Birth Abroad of a Citizen of the United States of America (CRBA) and/or a U.S. passport to have registered him as a U.S. citizen. Failure to promptly document a child who meets the statutory requirements for acquiring U.S. citizenship at birth may cause problems for the parents and the child when attempting to establish the child's U.S. citizenship and eligibility for the rights and benefits of U.S. citizenship, including entry into the United States. By law, U.S. citizens, including dual nationals, must use a U.S. passport to enter and leave the United States.



Ted Cruz has not released any documents directly related to how and when he obtained US citizenship.



Being a US citizen at birth does not necessarily make you a "natural born citizen" and eligible for the Presidency.



Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution states that Congress shall have the power to establish a uniform rule of naturalization. That raises the question whether Ted Cruz can be a "natural born citizen" at all if he obtained citizenship through an act of Congress, which regulates naturalization?



The definition of "natural born citizen" itself is presently disputed depending on whether you make an "originalist" interpretation of the Constitution based on the wording and historical context at the time of its writing or consider the Constitution a "living" document interpreted based on changing societal and cultural circumstances.



The "originalist" interpretation was described as recently as September 2008 in a Michigan Law Review article entitled "Originalism and the Natural Born Citizen Clause" written by Lawrence B. Solum, then John E. Cribbet Professor of Law at the University of Illinois College of Law:



"What was the original public meaning of the phrase that establishes the eligibility for the office of President of the United States? There is general agreement on the core of its meaning. Anyone born on American soil whose parents are citizens of the United States is a natural born citizen."



Donald Trump, for example, is clearly a "natural born citizen" by the "originalist" interpretation because he was born in the United States of parents both of whom were US citizens at the time of his birth.



Only since 2008 and the candidacy of Barack Obama, have those believing in a "living" Constitution interpreted "natural born citizen" as simply a citizen at birth of one US citizen parent. There are no Supreme Court decision describing it in that way, but many decisions including statements referring to natural born citizens as US citizens of two US citizen parents, for example: The Venus, 12U.S. 253(1814), Shanks v. Dupont, 28 U.S. 242 (1830), Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393 (1856), Minor v. Happersett, 88 U.S. 162 (1875).



Many "living" Constitutionalists have also used statutory law to buttress their arguments, often incorrectly in my opinion, such as citing the Naturalization Act of 1790.



The Act established US citizenship of children of citizens born abroad without the need for naturalization:



"And the children of citizens of the United States that may be born beyond the sea, or out of the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural born citizens: Provided That the right of citizenship shall not descend to persons whose fathers have never been resident in the United States."



The Citizenship Act of 1795 (Act of January 29. 1795, Section 3, 1 Stat. 414, 415) repealed the 1790 law and replaced the phrase "natural born citizen" with "citizen:"



"And the children of citizens of the United States that may be born out of the limits and jurisdiction of the United States shall be considered as citizens of the United States: Provided That the right of citizenship shall not descend to persons whose fathers have never been resident in the United States."



To demonstrate transparency, Ted Cruz should release documents directly related to how and when he obtained US citizenship, such as a CRBA.



Separately, there should be a resolution by proper adjudication of the dispute over the definition of "natural born citizen" and, thereby, eligibility for the Presidency; not simply amending the Constitution by press release or via the pronouncements of talking heads.



Lawrence Sellin, Ph.D. is a retired colonel with 29 years of service in the US Army Reserve and a veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq. Colonel Sellin is the author of "Restoring the Republic: Arguments for a Second American Revolution." He receives email at lawrence.sellin@gmail.com.
Guest Editorial





By John Traynor & Jim Van Allen | january 20, 2016

Commissioner Hitchons misguided missiles

Just when you think some sanity could creep into Carefree, warheads fly. Ms. Hitchon, who happens to be a voting member of Carefrees Planning & Zoning Commission, and a long-time cheerleader for Carefree Town Administrator, Gary Neiss, used her blog / not-quite-the-truth email to initiate a personal attack. Apparently she was very distraught over two CFM Newsletters which we sent out, one prior to the P&Z meeting and the other as a summary of that meeting. Her attack included words and phrases like inflammatory, highly editorialized, couldnt hear, sketchy notes, and incendiary assertions. Needless to say those words and the other half-truths she imparted along with them were clearly intended to motivate her ardent followers; I can already visualize the names on the forthcoming letters she will publish shortly. I wonder if those chosen followers would agree to allowing construction of 50, 60, or 70 foot tall buildings in Carefree (I doubt even Ed Morgan would go along with that). Or, will they simply agree with her hate words and completely ignore the real issue. Haters hate, and Ms. Hitchon seems to hate anyone who disagrees with her or the Town Administrator & Planner.



If you had the misfortune to see her recent missive, you were treated to numerous forms of misinformation, a word she featured in her personal attack. I must admit to being seriously hard of hearing (not by choice and not selectively - I do wear hearing aids), and I dont always take perfect notes. That is why I have made a number of mild complaints about the Carefree Council Chamber sound system and recording quality in the past. The new system is better, but with my hearing, not perfect - I do try to be accurate, honestly Lyn. As she knows very well, minutes of the P&Z meetings are, and have been, historically thin and generally devoid of useful information as are the agendas. There are no voice recordings of those meeting posted on the town website as there usually are for council meetings. I also confess that I did not go to steno school and I do not have a photographic memory. My non-apologetic confession is finished.



That said, what her followers did not read or hear from her was a denial that higher building heights, up to 5 stories (14 or 15 feet per story) had been presented at the 10/19 P&Z meeting. Even Ms. Hitchon should be able to figure out that 14 x 5 = 70. Jim Van Allen may have been one of the few (perhaps only) spectators present at the October meeting when building height was discussed. He made a strong case against that proposal. He urged the commissioners to permit residents to vote on building height, (even if informally). The Option B - More intense plan which contained that 70 foot potential height was not discussed at the recent meeting. It was mysteriously absent. In fact, and as I stated in our meeting summary, the mention of 70 feet in this recent meeting (with about 40 people in attendance this time), was poo-pooed as if it never happened. The Option A  Less Intense plan that was presented by staff this time around still allows for 50 foot height, with the potential to go to 60, or as allowed by the Development Review Board, which just happens to be the P&Z Commissioners. By the way, all other commercial height limits would be raised from the current 24 to 30 (like the Galleria) elsewhere in Town. Sure the P&Z was not expected to act/vote during the recent meeting, but they will. Hearing no objection from elsewhere, I have little doubt they would have endorsed staff recommendations at their next opportunity as they typically do. They would then recommend that the Council approve the text amendment.

Nobody from the public could have known that the 70 foot height would not be discussed again this time around since details for the discussion packet was not even posted on the town website. Once Ms. Hitchon received information about our alert on Sunday, she certainly had ample time to advise her inside staff source to prepare for intense public scrutiny and comment about their sky-high building ideas. She even had her husband along to video record the meeting, something that never happens at P&Z meetings.



It is true that several comments were made (and supported by rounds of applause) during the meeting to allow residents to vote on the issue of building height in their own town. And contrary to what Ms. Hitchon perceives, I know the difference between the General Plan and a general Zoning change. I also know that certain members of the staff like to hide behind codes or regulations when it suits them. They ignore it when it doesnt, as with the Eastwood high-density development project recently approved even though the parcel in question did not meet the 10 acre minimum requirement as stipulated in their code. 9 out of ten citizens opposed the General Plan amendment and up-zoning. Ms. Hitchon voted to approve that recommendation from staff too. A few years back she didnt want Walmart in her neighborhood and spoke out against it during a Cave Creek meeting. I wonder how shed vote on an Eastwood-like project near her home in Sentinel Rock.



If you love Carefree and are against raising commercial building height limits in Carefree, as we are, wed urge you to weigh-in on this matter by sending an email to Council@carefree.org and let them know.



John Traynor & Jim Van Allen, Carefree

Co-Authors of Carefrees Future Matters, CFM
By Linda Bentley | january 20, 2016

MCRC resolved to endorse anyone but McCain

Dr. Kelli Ward, the former Arizona State Senator who is challenging McCain in the primary, received a standing ovation

PHOENIX  During Saturdays statutory meeting, elected precinct committeemen of the Maricopa County Republican Committee, representing over 710,000 registered Republican voters in Arizona, passed a resolution by a vote of 921 to 582 to support anyone but Sen. John McCain in the upcoming primary election.



The resolution will also be submitted to the Arizona GOP for a vote at their upcoming Jan. 23 meeting.



The resolution, titled AZGOP State Committeemen Endorse Anyone BUT Senator John McCain, and is worded as follows:



We state committeemen of the Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP) fully support our Party platform and the candidates in the general elections that support that platform. However, in the primary elections we are free to endorse and support the Republican candidates of our choice. Since the AZGOP members overwhelmingly censured Senator McCain in January 2014, we had hoped he would have returned to our Partys values. He has not. So with conviction we rise and declare:



WHEREAS, Senator McCain is a self proclaimed Republican, but is actually a RINO, that was censured by the Arizona Republican State Committeemen on January 25, 2014; and

voted for DHS funding that included money for Obamas illegal amnesty for illegal aliens; and

campaigned on securing the border but co-sponsored legislation giving pathway to citizenship to millions of illegal aliens; and



actively worked to purge the party of grassroots conservatives using out-of-state funding via the Arizona Grassroots Action PAC; and



voted to kill an amendment requiring certification that Iran has not directly supported or carried out an act of terrorism against the United States before sanctions can be lifted; and

demeaned Republicans who stand for the Constitution, calling them crazies and wacko birds; and



voted to support funding for the Iran Nuclear Deal, Obamacare, Executive Amnesty and Planned Parenthoods selling of body parts.



BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED that the AZGOP state committeemen endorse anyone BUT Senator McCain in Arizonas 2016 Republican primary election for the U.S. Senate.



Last year McCain was booed by a majority of MCRC precinct committeemen who also turned their back on him, symbolic of what he has done to his constituents.



It was their hope McCain, who will turn 80 this year, would decide to finally step down and not to run for reelection.



However, that is not the case.



Dr. Kelli Ward, the former Arizona State Senator who is challenging McCain in the primary, received a standing ovation during Saturdays meeting.



MCRC also voted in a slate of anti-establishment members at large: Linda Brickman, Wes Harris, Tom Morrisey and Mark Spencer with an endorsement from Sheriff Joe Arpaio, along with establishment candidate John Ashley, all of whom were sworn in by Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell.



Chairman Tyler Bowyer was retained as MCRC chairman by a vote of 1037-636, while First Vice Chair Jeni White and Second Vice Chair Aaron Borders were both ousted by votes of 1083-692 and 1070-640, respectively.



Bowyer stated, The Anyone But McCain sentiment expressed by the grassroots Republicans perfectly mirrors the dissatisfaction of the millions of everyday Arizonans who are tired of an out-of-control federal government. From the commentary of many activists, Senator McCains recent vote to increase the national debt to more than $20 trillion, while fully funding Planned Parenthood was a clear message that he is more inclined to choose President Obama and Harry Reid over the will of the Arizona voters in order to retain his D.C. establishment power.



All resolutions presented on the ballot passed, including a resolution to strengthen the Republican Party, calling the Party merely a mechanism to enable likeminded individuals to work together in advancing common goals, in the direction as determined by its members and recorded in the Republican Party Platform.



MCRC also resolved to fully repeal Obamacare, which it says has already proven we cannot keep either our doctors or insurance plans if we like them, costs will not be decreased as promised, it will be a massive tax increase on Americas middle class as well as on the poor, and has already become a drag on our economy depressing job creation and stagnating wage growth.



It points out Republicans have several alternative plans that return control of healthcare decisions to patients and their chosen doctors, along with several options that both increase competition and decrease regulation among providers and insurers to force costs down.

MCRC also passed a resolution to repeal medicinal use of marijuana, previously adopted in November 2010 as Prop. 203.



The resolution claims there has been lax oversight, weak medical rationale for prescriptions being written and widespread marijuana use for purposes other than those anticipated following the passage of Prop. 203.



Another resolution, authored by Tristan Manos, addressed the Rightful (original natural law) understanding of the meaning of U.S. Constitution Article 2, Section 1, Clause 5 natural born Citizen.



It states the U.S. Declaration of Independence was strongly guided by Laws of Nature and Natures God.



Further, it notes our Founding Fathers/Framers of the Constitution were strongly guided by Emerich Vattels Law of Nations (1758, Book 1, Chapter 19, Section 212): natural-born citizens are those born in the country of parents who are citizens and states, meaning person born in the U.S. to two U.S.-Citizen parents.



It goes on to state it was the first Supreme Court Chief Justice John Jay who recommended the natural born citizen clause directly to President and Commander-In-Chief George Washington as a strong check to admission of foreigners into administration of our national government, and which ultimately passed unanimously at the Constitutional Convention.



MCRC also passed a Human Life Amendment, explaining the Republican Party came into existence to enfranchise a sector of humanity - people of African descent - legally deprived of equal protection under the law.



The resolution cites the Supreme Court, through cases Roe vs. Wade and Doe vs. Bolton, conditionally deprived preborn humans of equal protection under the law, that condition being that the personhood of the preborn not being recognized.



The resolution seeks to mandate equal protection for preborn humanity and establish a consistent definition of humanness.



Russell Pearce authored a resolution supporting Sheriff Joe Arpaio, declaring the Partys support and thanks to Arpaio for keeping his oath of office and enforcing our laws, despite attacks by liberal courts and the open borders crowd, noting the sheriff is the last line of defense to preserving the constitutional laws of the land.



The resolution also condemned the unconstitutional actions of U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow and the Obama administrations non enforcement policy.



Pearce also authored several other resolutions seeking to: prohibit participation in federal violations of the Second Amendment; defund Planned Parenthood, nullify Obamas non-enforcement/backdoor amnesty policies by demanding worksite enforcement to protect American jobs, end the reign of activist judges and judicial corruption, and one in support of Kim Davis First Amendment rights relating to the free exercise of religion.



Michael Loverine authored a resolution opposing the legalization of marijuana, stating teen use of marijuana has been on the rise in Arizona since 2007 and has been found to be harmful to the adolescent brain.



It states, [T]eens who smoke marijuana can see an eight point drop in IQ putting a person of average intelligence into the lowest third of the IQ range, and can lead to poorer academic performance, while claiming [T]eens who use marijuana heavily are more likely to develop mental illnesses such as schizophrenia.



According to the 2012 Arizona Youth Survey, 2012 was the first time in Arizonas history that past 30-day use of marijuana by teens surpassed their use of cigarettes and is one of only two substances whose use is on the rise among Arizona teens.



It also notes legalization of marijuana, which is the second leading substance for which people seek drug treatment and increased emergency room visits, would lead to increased marijuana consumption, can negatively affect workplace safety and productivity, and lead to higher health and safety costs.



Joel Alcott of the Tenth Amendment Center authored a resolution in support of protecting Arizonas state rights, resolving to have the Arizona State Legislature and governor pass and sign into law legislation that protects U.S. citizens from warrantless spying by federal and state agencies, asserting county sheriffs having constitutional jurisdiction over federal agencies, pro-property rights laws to protect Arizona citizens from unconstitutional federal land acquisitions, pro-Second Amendment laws, anti-Affordable Care Act laws, and any legislation specifically protecting due process and the Bill of Rights.
By Linda Bentley | january 20, 2016

Texas governor offers constitutional amendments to restore rule of law



Calls for Convention of States to fix the cracks in our Constitution

AUSTIN, Texas  Gov. Greg Abbott unveiled his Texas Plan while delivering the keynote address at the Texas Public Policy Foundations Annual Policy Orientation.



As part of the plan, which Abbott says can be achieved through a Convention of States, he offered the following nine constitutional amendments that he says will restore the rule of law and return the Constitution to its intended purpose:



1. Prohibit Congress from regulating activity that occurs wholly within one State.

2. Require Congress to balance its budget.

3. Prohibit administrative agenciesand the unelected bureaucrats that staff themfrom creating federal law.

4. Prohibit administrative agenciesand the unelected bureaucrats that staff themfrom preempting state law.

5. Allow a two-thirds majority of the States to override a U.S. Supreme Court decision.

6. Require a seven-justice super-majority vote for U.S. Supreme Court decisions that invalidate a democratically enacted law.

7. Restore the balance of power between the federal and state governments by limiting the former to the powers expressly delegated to it in the Constitution.

8. Give state officials the power to sue in federal court when federal officials overstep their bounds.

9. Allow a two-thirds majority of the States to override a federal law or regulation.

Abbott stated, The increasingly frequent departures from Constitutional principles are destroying the Rule of Law foundation on which this country was built. We are succumbing to the caprice of man that our Founders fought to escape. The cure to these problems will not come from Washington, D.C. Instead, the states must lead the way. To do that I am adding another item to the agenda next session. I want legislation authorizing Texas to join other states in calling for a Convention of States to fix the cracks in our Constitution.



Abbott asserts the dysfunction in Washington, D.C. is primarily caused by the federal governments refusal to follow the Constitution.



He said, Congress routinely violates its enumerated powers, while taxing and spending its way from one financial crisis to another. The President exceeds his executive powers to impose heavy-handed regulations. And the Supreme Court imposes its policy views under the guise of judicial interpretation.



In his 92-page Texas Plan, Abbott quotes James Madison from the Federalist: If men were angels, no government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.



Abbott goes on to state the Constitution and rule of law are under unprecedented attack today in our nations capitol, where Obama has touted his unilateral power to change the law when he does not like the result of the democratic process.



He stated, Congress is full of members who care more about the trappings of power than actually performing their constitutional roles. And the Supreme Court is dominated by individuals who substitute their personal policy preferences for the Constitution and laws of the United States.



While there have been numerous casualties suffered by Washingtons war on the rule of law, Abbott believes states have lost the most as he quoted from the Founders original design for our nation: the States will retain, under the proposed Constitution, a very extensive portion of active sovereignty.



The original intent was to create a government of laws, and not of men, preserving the states as coequal and sovereign governments because they were the closest  and hence the most accountable  to the people.



The way the Framers saw it, the States would be stronger than the national government.

Abbott stated Madison rebutted the principal complaint by the Anti-Federalists that the Constitution would turn States into useless and burdensome relics, by insisting the States would remain the most powerful and important organs of American government.



Abbott wrote, If only we had heeded Madisons solutions to the Anti-Federalists concerns, our Nation would not be mired in this constitutional conundrum today. But over the last 227 years, in fits and starts, through baby steps and giant leaps, our government lost its way; it left the Constitution in its rearview; and it pushed States into the roadside ditch.



He points out how Americas faith in Congress has dwindled over the past 40 years from about 42 percent to right around zero.



Abbott provides detailed history of the Founders discussions in the Federalist, including concerns that the proposed Constitution would tend to render the government of the Union too powerful, and to enable it to absorb those residuary authorities, which it might be judged proper to leave with the States for local purposes.



Alexander Hamilton dismissed such concerns as conspiracy theory and said, I confess I am at a loss to discover what temptation the persons intrusted with the administration of the [federal] government could ever feel to divest the States of the authorities of that description.



Abbott wrote, While Hamiltons disbelief in the inevitability of an all-powerful federal government seems naive today, it was anything but in the Eighteenth Century. Back then, the States were the only game in town.



Part of Abbotts Texas Plan would prohibit Congress from taxing its way to a balanced budget and would freeze the federal governments income as a proportion of the GDP at todays 18 percent level.



His plan would also prevent administrative agencies  and the unelected bureaucrats that staff them  from creating federal law.



Abbott states we are where we are today because of our collective decision to abandon the rule of law.



He said, For the first 140 years of our Nations history, things worked largely as the Framers envisioned they would and should. Congress passed laws using bicameralism and presentment, and because members of Congress had to stand for periodic elections, the people and democracy imposed accountability on that lawmaking process. The President more or less faithfully executed the laws without writing his own. And the courts stood ready to police the line between lawmaking (Congresss job) and law-execution (the Presidents job).



According to Abbott, our constitutional framework began to unravel in the New Deal era with massive delegations the New Deal Congress gave to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, including the unilateral power to write codes.



The Supreme Court held that constituted an unconstitutional delegation of Congresss lawmaking powers to the president, emphasizing the Constitution requires Congress to make the tough policy decisions; it cannot simply punt those to the president.



In one case, where it struck down the Live Poultry Code as a violation of the non-delegation doctrine, the Supreme Court, once again, held it is Congresss duty to write laws and cannot abdicate or transfer its essential legislative functions to the President.



After providing numerous examples of how Congress has gone astray, Abbott discusses, in depth, how a Convention of States can rein it back in.



Visit www.gov.texas.gov/news/press-release/21829 for more information about the Texas Plan.
Ukraine in November 2015 imported natural gas from Europe at an average price of $237.4 per 1,000 cubic meters, which is 4% less than in October 2015 ($247.2).

According to the State Statistics Service, in November natural gas in the total amount of 752.1 million cubic meters worth $178.548 million was delivered from Europe.

At the same time, if earlier the State Statistics Service indicated the countries of counterparty companies selling gas to Ukraine, including those having no borders with Ukraine, the November data indicate exclusively suppliers from Slovakia, Hungary and Poland.

In November, Slovakia supplied 727 million cubic meters of gas to Ukraine for $172.299 million (the average price is $237), Poland 13.5 million cubic meters for $3.291 million (the average price is $243.8), Hungary 11.6 million cubic meters for $2.958 million (the average price is $255).

In general, in January-November 2015 Ukraine imported 9.896 billion cubic meters of gas worth $2.732 billion from Europe.
Logic Tips & Techniques DAWs > Logic By Geoff Smith

Learn to map custom touch controllers with an iPad and Duet Display in Logic Pro X.

If you are a Logic user looking to expand your control surfaces to include your iPad, Apples Logic Remote application is a great place to start. The features of the original version were covered in July 2014 (http://sosm.ag/jul14logic), since when Apple have released a 1.2 update which brings with it some fantastic additions.

Open Logic and create a new software instrument track. On your iPad, open Logic Remote, and from the top-left View menu, choose the Mixer. The mixer capabilities have now been expanded with a new plug-in view that allows you to edit the parameters of any plug-in from your iPad. Press the Audio FX 1-8 button, and from the Insert view, tap an empty plug-in slot. Go to the Choose Plugin option then, from the menu, navigate to Delay and select the Echo plug-in. Once the plug-in is instantiated, either tap the Echo plug-in and choose Open Plugin to bring up the plug-in editor, or double-tap.

When working with plug-ins, you often have more parameters than can fit on a single page. In such cases, you can navigate through the pages at the bottom of the screen by swiping. You can also bypass plug-ins whilst the editor is open, using the on/off button in the LCD area at the top of the screen. In addition to working with insert effects, you can also instantiate and edit virtual instruments and MIDI effects by simply tapping on the I/O or MIDI FX buttons.

As great as Logics Remote application is, it lacks a user-definable touch interface. For example, it would be great to use the touchscreen for two-dimensional gestural input for controlling effects with an XY pad and other custom controls. Although we cant yet do this in Logic Remote, there are some more experimental ways to achieve these things.

Duet Display (www.duetdisplay.com) is a paid-for iPad application (11.99$15.99) written by ex-Apple engineers, which turns your iPad into a touchscreen monitor enabling it to display anything that a normal Mac monitor can. The difference between Duet Display and other virtual monitor iPad apps is that it relies on the iPad being connected via a Lightning or 30-pin cable, giving you virtually latency-free operation. The app itself boasts retina display capability with a maximum frame rate of 60 frames per second, but for use with music apps, you can configure this to be less demanding to save on CPU cycles. Using Logics Environment and the touchscreen capability that Duet and an iPad provide, you can create your own custom control surfaces. Back in June 2009s Logic column (http://sosm.ag/jun09logic), I wrote about using touchscreens with Logic to create custom Environments to interact with. We can apply the same principles to Duet, since it essentially allows your iPad to work like a touchscreen monitor. Lets have a look at a simple example.

We are going to create an XY pad that controls the Echo plug-in and a low-pass filter in a more interesting way than is possible with the sliders alone. First, create a new project with an audio track, and drag an Apple loop or song onto the track to give you something to process. I am using the 2-Step Back Flip Beat 01 loop. To make our processing environment open to any source, we will create it on a bus. Route the drum beat to Bus 1 so that we can use this as a test source. On the bus, add Logics Echo plug-in in slot 1. Next, open the Environment and navigate to the Inspector on the left. From here, ensure the Layer field is set to Mixer. The first thing we need to do is to find out what messages we need to send in order to control our Echo plug-in. From the New menu choose Monitor, then cable the output of the Aux 1 object to the input of the Monitor object. Now move the four sliders of the Echo plug-in. You will see that each parameter has a different identifier: for example, the Repeat slider displays F 2 17 0-127, which means Fader message on channel 2, number 17 has a range of 0 to 127. We will use these messages in a minute.

Go to the New menu again, and this time, go to the Fader section and choose Vector. Logics Vector object is perfect for touchscreen fun, giving you X and Y axes that you can set to control different parameters. Next, go to the New menu and choose Transformer, then Alt-click-drag to copy the Transformer object twice so that you have three of them. Cable the output of the Vector object to the inlet of the first Transformer and label it Dry. Once this is done you will see that the Vector object creates another outlet. Cable this to Transformer 2 and label it Wet, then repeat the process to cable outlet 3 to Transformer 3 and label this Repeat. Create one more Transformer object, cable all the other Transformer outputs to it, and label it Sum. Lastly, cable the output of the Sum Transformer into the input of our Aux 1 bus.

Now lets configure our Vector object and the Transformers to send the appropriate messages. Click on the Vector object, and in the Inspector, set it as per Screen 2. The crucial thing to understand here is that we have set each axis to send a different MIDI message.

Next, set the Dry, Wet and Repeat Transformer objects as per Screen 3. We are taking the output message from the vertical axis and turning it into the different Fader messages we saw earlier in the Monitor object, in order to control the Dry, Wet and Feedback parameters. Once you have set the Transformers, hit Play on Logic and click into the Vector object. Drag from the top down to the bottom and hear the Delay effect grow and increase in feedback as you move downwards.

Now, lets control a different effect with the X axis of the Vector object. On the Aux 1, bus add a Channel EQ to insert effect slot 2. Turn the low-pass filter on and set its Q to 2.60 so that it has a resonant peak at the filter cutoff. As you move the low-pass filter cutoff, look at the Monitor object and note it has the message format F 3 29 0-127. Now create and cable another Transformer object between the Vector and the Sum object and label it Filter. Set the Filter Transformer as per Screen 3 so that the X axis will output the Fader message we have just seen for the filter cutoff. Once again, try the Vector object.

Its time to tidy up the Vector object ready for use with Duet Display. Go to the Environment Inspector and click on the Layer menu, and choose Create Layer. From the same menu, rename the layer XYPad. Go back to the Mixer layer, highlight the Vector object and press Command+C to copy it. Now change Layers to XYPad and press Command+V to paste in the Vector object. You will receive the prompt Do you want to replace the current selection? Choose Dont Replace. Now increase the size of the Vector object so it will be easy to interact with on your iPad. From the View menu, choose Protect Cabling/Positions and untick Cabling. Lastly, go back to the View menu and choose Frameless Floating Window, load Duet and move the Frameless Floating Window onto the Duet Display. You can now use the iPads touch interface to interact with the XYPad.

Using the Environment and Duet Display you could create all sorts of specialist touch control surfaces, from a digital monitor controller to a crazy touch-focused multi-effects processor. If this article has tempted you to purchase Duet, though, bear in mind that its not yet perfect; sometimes it misinterprets the initial touch and can end up selecting the wrong window. However, even with this occasional annoyance I find the benefits of using custom touch interfaces with Logic to outweigh any reliability issues. If you are interested in experimentation and dont mind working around a few quirks, Duet Display and Logics Environment can be great fun.
Keyboard Controller & Synthesizer Keyboards

Controllers > MIDI Controllers

Synthesizers By Robin Bigwood

With its familiar interface and enormous potential for expressive control, is the ROLI Seaboard the future of the keyboard?

With a thousand years of evolution behind it, and having underpinned the development of most Western music, its fair to say the piano keyboard is something of a success. For all its strengths, though, keyboard players generally find it hard to achieve the same degree of realtime control that is possible with other instrument types. Aftertouch, release velocity sensitivity, knobs and sliders, pedals, breath control and sample keyswitching certainly help, but even all these used in combination dont guarantee immediate, intuitive and naturalsounding expression.

And thats where the subject of this review, ROLIs Seaboard Grand Stage, comes in. Its a keyboardlike instrument whose original conception was driven by the search for more expressivity from the playing action itself. To that end it dispenses with any moving key levers or buttons, has no conventional wheels, knobs or sliders, and instead is based around a squidgy shaped silicone rubber playing surface. Its equivalent of keys, keywaves, are sensitive to initial strike force, pressure and leftright finger placement, and it can do true polyphonic aftertouch and independent note fingerwobble vibrato, amongst other things. Itll work as a MIDI controller but also has a builtin sound engine thatll let you use it as a standalone synth, and which harmonises perfectly with a dedicated OS X (and, shortly, Windows) soft synth. ROLI call the Seaboard the future of the keyboard, and its already been garlanded with praise from mainstream press and industry pundits alike. The company have also received millions in venture-capital backing, and have dozens of staff members working out of office and manufacturing premises in north London. The hype is huge  does the reality live up to it?

ROLI supplied me with a fiveoctave 2399$2999 Seaboard Grand Stage for this review. Inside the box is the Seaboard itself, a really good-quality lightweight reinforced polypropylene case, a power supply, USB lead, a printed quick start guide, and a software suite provided on a little USB flash drive.

Though its a firstgeneration product, the Seaboard is nevertheless a beautifully manufactured thing. The body of the instrument is black aluminium, all elegant corners and chamfers. The silicone playing surface, strangely spookylooking in some lights, sits flush with the top panel. Apart from this, the only other obvious means of interaction is via the centrally placed User Dial (also called the SoundDial), a circular touch interface that recalls former generations of iPods. Its outer section is aluminium and physically rotates. Inside is a coinsized button, and outside, a slim ring of recessed white LEDs whose light pierces through to the front panel in a mesmeric way. All in all, the Seaboard has something of a stealthbomber look to it: rather serious, and more than a little mysterious.

With the whole unit being not quite 26mm thick, the rear panel is a slimline affair. However, it manages to pack in three pedal inputs, two quarterinch audio outs, a volume wheel, a minijack stereo headphone socket, USB type A and B sockets, a receptacle for the compulsory 912 V DC power supply, and a rocker power switch. The sockets are not firmly anchored to the aluminium chassis, but fully inserted plugs sit in them sturdily enough. I had a small issue with the slightly recessed headphone socket, which did not want to fully accommodate the minijack of my Sony 7509s. Smaller and slimmer jack assemblies seemed to work fine, though.

Lets cut to the chase: what about these keywaves, the silicone, the squidge?

A first touch of the Seaboard may easily elicit a whoah!  it did from me. The silicone offers firm resistance tied to a fibrous, inert texture that allows fingers to slide over the surface without it feeling slippery. Raised keywave ridges corresponding with natural notes can be depressed by a good 4 or 5 mm, sharps seemingly a little more, and the surface instantly reforms its original shape when finger pressure is released. Octave spacing is nominally the same as on a full-size conventional keyboard.

Keyboard players like me are, to begin with, inexorably drawn to those raised parts of the playing surface, but in fact they just act as guides. Keywaves are actually sensitive across their full depth, from in front of the raised sections to behind them too. Its just as valid, and sometimes even more musically fruitful, to play the troughs or the flat ribbons in front of and behind the ridges. Youve got to start somewhere, though, and my first explorations with various factory electric piano, synth pad and lead sounds were, well, interesting  in all sorts of ways.

The aftertouch behaviour was the first thing to grab me, with changes in pressure frequently modulating level or timbre with delightful immediacy, and complete independence of other held notes. Weve all heard the whispered tales of legendary tanksized synths that offered that Holy Grail of expression, polyphonic aftertouch... Well, the Seaboard makes it a modern-day reality, and the effect is supercontrollable. Many factory patches let you squeeze in smoothly from absolute silence, a wonderful capability that no conventional keyboard instrument I know of gets close to.

Next comes pitch modulation. Wobble a finger sideways, and there emerges a vibrato with a responsiveness and humanness that is a million miles from whats possible with a modulation wheel. And, of course, you can do this for one right-hand melody note, for example, without affecting other notes held in the left hand. Pull or push off a keywaves ridge, or use a thumb to transfer touch to the front or rear ribbons, and you can fall off or gliss up from held pitches, up to an octave from the starting point. Two hands can be combined to do the same thing, for monophonicstyle solo playing. Stay on the ribbons entirely and youre into Theremin, pedal steel guitar or comedy trombone territory. It requires you to dream up a new technique, but opens up all sorts of interesting possibilities.

Some short time later in my Seaboard initiation came another raft of realisations. One is that theres no responsiveness at all to Yaxis, frontrear gestures. Pushing and pulling the silicon achieves nothing, apart from temporarily rucking it up slightly. To be clear about this, only two modulation data streams can be generated from a held touch: Xaxis leftright pitch movements, and Zaxis pressure changes. Some competing products (see the Alternatives box) do respond to this third frontrear dimension, and use it to generate another modulation source.

Another is that the Seaboard will not, for most people, be a viable replacement for a conventional controller keyboard. Fast, intricate classical or jazz playing, and to some extent rockstyle comping or soloing, proves challenging. I found rapid runs, scales and patterns could be littered with notes both wildly accented and barely audible. Its not that Strike sensitivity (the Seaboards equivalent to velocity) isnt well graded and offers great repeatability. Its just that those keywave ridges are nothing like as forgiving of glancing touches, and dont provide the same level of tactile feedback as a conventional key lever. Theyre simply harder to hit accurately at speed. Similarly, arpeggiated patterns or shifting chord sequences can easily end up out of tune, if a held finger position shifts inadvertently over the course of a note. My little fingers were particularly prone to shifting and drifting, and in the end I stopped using them. In fairness, I think ROLI would be the first to say they didnt design the Seaboard as a direct replacement for normal keyboard controllers. And I dont want to give the impression that a Seaboard is unplayable: on the contrary, it inspires all sorts of interesting new technical approaches, and in any case, accuracy of general play does improve with continued practice and familiarity.

Theres one last thing I must mention before we crack on and look at sounds and software, and thats the Seaboards inherent semitone pitchbend behaviour. It goes like this: if you play any two notes, a semitone apart, one after the other, with a legato or sustaining touch, the Seaboard bends the first into the second. Detach the second from the first, though, and itll sound as normal. But its actually impossible to sustain two adjacent semitones, other than by using a detached touch combined with the sustain pedal. For solostyle playing its an unexpected and characterful eccentricity. At other times it felt, to me, like a terrible limitation. I was constantly being caught out playing arpeggiated chords and riffs, and I never quite adjusted enough during the test period to avoid unwanted bends. Fur Elise and Flight Of The Bumblebee freaks had better be especially careful. I asked ROLI if it was possible to turn this feature off, and got a couple of different answers, ranging from possibly via a pedal toggle in a future software revision, to unfortunately not. I hope very much that it may one day be defeatable or, even better, only triggered when an actual fingerslide gesture is used. I wonder, though, if its actually a designbased limitation related to how the keywave playing surface is underpinned by an array of discrete sensors beneath it, in which case we might be stuck with it.

What makes it extremely easy to get down to business with the Seaboard is that its not just a controller, but has an embedded synth engine, Equator. That means you can play it standalone and connect it directly to a mixer or amp, with nary a computer in sight.

The embedded engine is Linuxbased, and that accounts for a Seaboard bootup time of approximately 50 seconds, during which the User Dial LEDs spin hypnotically. If you make it through that without either wanting to quit or take up smoking then youve instant access to 48 preset patches, selected by spinning the dial. LED patterns then indicate, somewhat sketchily, the currently selected bank (14) and preset (112). Any sort of alphanumeric display or touchscreen is notable by its absence, so recalling specific presets relies on memorising their position. There is absolutely no way to edit or tweak them.

Pressing and holding the User Dial button accesses an octave transpose mode, and here a slightly different LED display pattern, with broader arcs, denotes transpositions of up to two octaves up and down. Note that only octaves are available, and not semitones (for transposition) nor smaller divisions (for fine-tuning). That seems an unfortunate omission of a basic functionality that any instrument with gigging pretensions ought to have.

Level adjustment, incidentally, is via a mostly recessed dial on the rear panel next to the quarterinch audio output sockets. As this is effectively invisible (though quite accessible from a playing position) its not easy to set a level other than maximum with any kind of repeatability. Its a digital control, and theres hidden functionality, in that turning it down all the way disables the internal synth. Thats also the only way to achieve a Local Off state when you use the Seaboard as a MIDI controller  another feature Id personally prefer to have seen incorporated into the User Dial somehow.

The sounds that emanate from a standalone Seaboard are fundamentally the same as those offered by the Mac version of Equator, of which more in a minute. They range from acoustic simulations like double basses and wind instruments to fullon synth fantasies exploiting the keywave touch response to amazing effect, and dripping in effects.

However, the hardware audio outs are unfortunately not without some problems, at least in the Seaboard (and its firmware revision) I had on test. On headphones I could hear the noise floor decrease markedly any time I finished playing, after the last note went silent, as the sound engine seemed to go into some sort of idle mode. I could live with that, but not so much the occasional digital splat that would intrude for no apparent reason every now and then, and certainly not the behaviour of the quarterinch outputs. From these, that noise-floor fluctuation was much more pronounced. Also, any note that woke up the Seaboard sound engine from idle had the first milliseconds of its attack cut off, accompanied by a little digital glitch. Final notes segued back into idle accompanied by an ugly and unacceptably loud click (or two, separated out on left and right channels) that had my audio interface meters jumping. Also notable was a slight increase in general noise floor when the Seaboard had an active USB connection. This audio behaviour taken all together, the unit I tested wasnt suitable for serious standalone use, but although a software fix wasnt forthcoming in the test period, ROLI say that they are aware of the issues and that they will be fixed in an update.

Lets turn now to using the Seaboard with a computer. At the time of writing the software suite was Mac-only, but Windows support is imminent, and may already be available by the time you read this. For more on the intriguing software side of ROLIs business, see the Industry Moves box.

Prior to actually trying it out in my own studio, Id wondered if the Seaboards computer communications would be via some fiendish proprietary protocol. Not a bit of it. On the Mac the Seaboard shows up in the Audio MIDI Setup utility just like any other MIDI controller, and the messages it generates are all standard and entirely comprehensible.

Overseeing operations is the ROLI Dashboard application. Appearing as a relatively small window, and designed to be left running while you work, it governs fundamental aspects of the Seaboards behaviour as well as interactions with virtual instruments running on the computer.

Octave Shift transposition can be set here, and semitone transposition too (hooray). Pitch Correction quantises all initial keywave touches, so beginnings of notes, at least, sound in tune. When its off things get funkily microtonal, which is good for some styles and effects. The three rear-panel pedal inputs, which are freely assignable here between switch and continuoustype pedals, will generate MIDI Continuous Controller values from CC0 to 119, and all the pedals I tried worked perfectly.

Moving to the Channel Settings panel, we get to the heart of the aftertouch and pitch-bend behaviour. The Seaboard achieves its note independence by constantly assigning freshly triggered notes to separate MIDI channels. For soft synths that can handle this (and that of course includes the ones included in the Seaboard software package) youll want to choose MultiChannel mode. Channel Range then has to be set to match the synths current polyphony setting, or individual keywaves will seem to become unresponsive.

The thing is, only a relatively small number of soft synths actually do support the necessary multichannel operation, which is why Single Channel mode is available as a fallback. Played like this though, the Seaboard is the same as any other polyphonic MIDI controller: any pressure or pitch-bend data generated will affect all notes. The mode provides quick-and-dirty compatibility with some software, but its a far cry from the full experience.

Mirroring the embedded sound engines capabilities but offering full programmability via a singlewindow interface, the heart of the ROLI synth experience is to play Equator running on the computer, controlled by the Seaboard.

Equator is a monotimbral (but multichannel) soft synth, capable of massive modulation complexity, and touting an array of sampled, virtual analogue and pink-noise oscillators. There are two separate multimode filters, masses of modulation options from LFOs, multimode envelope generators and keywave touches, a really flexible mixer scheme, and onboard effects. The outputs of the conventional oscillators can also be combined to generate FM and ring-modulated tones.

The sample oscillators are interesting, not only because they have built-in filters, but because the 16 preset samples, mostly representing acoustic and electroacoustic instruments, are actually multisamples. Theres currently no way to deconstruct these, via looping, manipulating playback start points or reversing, but allowing users to load their own audio snippets is apparently high up on ROLIs todo list.

The wavetable oscillators offer 49 waveforms each, ranging from conventional squares and sawtooths to complex and glassy tones, but none is an actual wavetable in the PPG or Waldorf sense. That is apparently another thing in the pipeline.

As Id already established by playing the embedded version of this app running inside the Seaboard, Equator is a pretty potent synth: complex, shiny and contemporary in character, more VSynth than Jupiter 8, if you catch my drift, but flexible too. Its cool, flat interface is lovely to work with, with programming of modulation particularly quick and intuitive. Assignments can be made with a couple of mouse strokes, but theres a verbose matrix listing available too. The UI can also be animated, to display modulation levels and parameter values in real time.

Thankfully, the Mac version did not suffer the glitchy audio behaviour of its embedded counterpart, but I was a little concerned by its CPU usage. At a 256-sample buffer setting, an idle Equator grabbed 1314 percent CPU use on a single core of my i7 MacBook, and with many patches, just a few sounding voices asked for 70 percent or more. That makes it the most CPUhungry soft synth Ive ever used. Itd be great to see some serious efficiency gains here in future.

Running decidedly leaner is the other virtual instrument provided by ROLI, a special version of FXpansions DCAM Synth Squad. The easiest way to work with this interesting and varied trio of synths is via a dedicated application called SynthSquadPlayerForSeaboard. This puts up 48 patches, selectable from the User Dial or a popup menu, that for the most part are rather darker, more serious, and perhaps ultimately more generally useful than the Equator factory selection. Its also possible to work with Synth Squads host application, Fusor, to get access to the whole shebang of parameters and multiple synth layers. For the most part, though, only the specially produced presets in the ROLI collection really take advantage of the Seaboards keywave pressure capabilities. Many others respond to aftertouch, but almost none allow swelling in from silence using a gradual increase in pressure. Its possible to adapt patches, though.

To go beyond Equator and Synth Squad is to enter uncharted waters, to a varying degree. Soft synths out there that are Seaboardready, and can accept the Seaboards multiMIDI channel note allocation out of the box, include Uhes Diva, Ace and Bazille. SonicCharges wonderful Synplant is also compatible, but the lack of a mod wheel hits a fundamental aspect of its operation hard.

Youll also get mileage out of virtual instruments built with multichannel, multitimbral capabilities that can load the same sound to replay on multiple channels. Omnisphere, Trilian, Kontakt, MachFive and Halion play ball; SampleTank 3, I found, didnt quite.

Most other synths were never designed with multichannel triggering in mind. You can, of course, play them with the Seaboard in Single Channel mode, but the experience is lacklustre. There is, however, a solution in the form of another ROLI utility, PolyThru. On the Mac this is essentially a VST and AU host, which loads as many instances of an otherwise incompatible synth as you want available polyphony (up to a maximum of 16). You interact with the user interface, calling up presets, tweaking parameters, as you normally would. But any changes you make are harmonised by PolyThru, in a fraction of a second, across all instances.

Having to choose synths directly from OS Xs Librarys Components and VST folders, amidst all the effects plugins installed in the same location, isnt particularly elegant. But PolyThru is a nifty solution to an otherwise intractable problem. Fears of colossal CPU hit and perhaps some general weirdness in having multiple soft synth instances running in parallel failed to materialise; the crosssection of synths I tested it with, including NI Absynth 5, GForce Oddity2 and several Arturia models, all worked swimmingly. CPU use was quite reasonable too (and a whole lot less than with Equator).

Just as the Seaboards compatibility with a range of soft synths is variable, so it is with the many DAW applications out there.

To cut right to it, the best experience of using the Seaboard as a controller for your DAW is available to users of Logic Pro X, Cubase, Reaper and Tracktion. These (and also, Im told, GarageBand and Bitwig Studio) let you load a Seaboardready synth or the plugin version of PolyThru on an instrument track, recordenable it, and get straight down to business. They vary somewhat in how recorded MIDI is subsequently edited, but usually the situation is at least workable.

In Studio One, Digital Performer, Pro Tools and Live, life is nothing like as straightforward. You have to host your synth on an instrument track, then create additional instrument or MIDI tracks, each listening to a single MIDI channel from the Seaboard, and also driving a single channel of the synth. So for every virtual instrument in your sequence youre having to set up five, eight or perhaps even more tracks  tedious, and potentially a nightmare to edit, with your note and controller data scattergunned over loads of tracks.

The situation for Logics native synths like Sculpture is even worse. They arent Seaboardready and PolyThru cant access them, so your only solution is to open one, choose a patch, copy it to additional instrument tracks, and set them up to listen to different Seaboard MIDI channels. The problem is that all instances are separate, so tweaking or selecting a new patch on one does not cause the same thing to happen on all the others. This makes them close to unworkable for anything but ultrabasic use.

If youve been with me up to this point youll already have gathered that life with the Seaboard can be quite an adventure, with some less welcome aspects of operation and unexpected thirdparty compatibility issues tempering the really good stuff.

Whats for certain is that this bold, groundbreaking new instrument has capabilities and a character that nothing else quite matches. There are other multitouch and even squidgyfeeling controllers out there, but none that offer the familiarity of the piano keyboard layout combined with a large pitch compass. Allied with compatible synths and wellprogrammed patches, the Seaboards silicone supports playing of a flexibility and expressiveness that makes conventional keyboard controllers feel wooden. And because you dont have to play on the raised parts of the keywaves, whole new types of interaction and creative possibilities beckon.

Its just as important, though, to be clear about what the Seaboard cant do. It wont render all your soft synths, and even less your sample libraries, suddenly supple and revitalised. It probably wont do duty as your only MIDI controller, and is a particularly poor option for those who like lots of knobby control of synth parameters, or who work with certain DAWs. And in its current incarnation, its potential as a standalone performance synth is beset with shortcomings.

The fairest conclusion to draw, ultimately, is that the Seaboard is not just a keyboard with an expressive layer stuck on, so to speak, but a genuine attempt to establish a new class of fingerdriven musical tools. The results that naturally flow from it have a distinctive character that will leave some people captivated and others cold. Its got quirks that are either magical or maddening, depending on your viewpoint. And its not cheap. In all these respects its like any other serious musical instrument...

With the Seaboard ROLI have produced a daring and individual product. The company is well funded, teeming with talent, enthusiasm and confidence, and they clearly believe they can alter the fabric of the synth and controller market. Itll be really interesting to see if they succeed.

Alternatives Its quite remarkable how many products are already out there that bear comparison with the Seaboard. Roger Linns LinnStrument is a MIDI controller that has a flat 2mm-thick silicone surface divided into eight rows of 25 squares. Various tunings and scale patterns can be programmed, and the squares backlit in one of six colours. Theres sensitivity on X, Y and Z axes and you can pick it up to play, keytarstyle. Keith McMillens KBoard and QuNexus take some cues from Korgs tiniest MIDI controllers, but use Smart Fabric to detect velocity, pressure and key tilt  all generating separate MIDI data types including polyphonic aftertouch. Then theres a couple of more expensive, boutiquestyle products made in small quantities. The Madrona Soundplane is a MIDI controller that has a flat, wooden 150-note keyboard. And for even more money you can snag a Haken Continuum Fingerboard which, like the Seaboard, has an integrated synth engine.

Industry Moves ROLI have some serious ambitions in the industry, without doubt. For starters, they told me theyre working with a number of manufacturers, as well as the MIDI Manufacturers Association, to establish a whole new protocol called MPE (Multidimensional Polyphonic Expression). Itd presumably aim to standardise and improve the way multichannel and overtly expressive instruments like the Seaboard interact with synths and DAWs. And they have already acquired JUCE, which is an audio and user interface development platform used throughout the music-tech world and beyond. The Seaboards Mac and embedded Linux software is already built on it, and with strong crossplatform chops, itll doubtless support Windows, and possibly iOS too, before long.

The Bends Its essential that any virtual instrument driven by the Seaboard has its pitchbend values set to 12 semitones for vibrato as well as semitone and ribbon pitch-bend to work correctly. On patches designed for use with conventional pitchbend wheels, typically set to 2 semitones, Seaboard bends are far too subtle. For this reason, and others, its worth building up your own library of Seaboardspecific patches for instruments you use a lot.

Pros The pianolike layout ensures instant familiarity.

Remarkably controllable polyphonic aftertouch.

Many accessible gestures for vibrato and pitchbends.

Potential for standalone use.

Distinctive, bespoke soft synths provided. Cons Achieves its full potential only with a subset of virtual instruments and DAWs.

Embedded synth engine is currently plagued with noise and glitches.

User Dial is no replacement for a display and some realtime controls.

Idiosyncratic semitone handling may drive you nuts.

Summary With the layout of a piano keyboard but expressive characteristics closer to wind or string instruments, the Seaboard is a fascinating new synth and controller. If you can utilise polyphonic aftertouch and fingeroperated vibrato youll be in your element, but make certain your favourite software is compatible before splashing out.
Here's what IndyStar investigation of worker safety amid pandemic found

Factory workers that make up the backbone of Indiana's economy told a similar story: Managers pressured employees to show up even when they were sick.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and U.S. Vice-President Joseph Biden have discussed a 'roadmap' of constitutional amendments in Ukraine at their negotiations in Davos.

"We have had a separate discussion of the 'roadmap' of constitutional amendments," Poroshenko said early on Thursday morning, after negotiations with Biden.

According to the president, the sides coordinated their efforts to boost the political process, including the elaboration of modalities of the Donbas elections, "in line with Ukrainian laws and with the broad participation of international observers."
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu discussed preparations for a number of important bilateral events planned for 2016 at a meeting on the sidelines of the ongoing World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday.

"The parties discussed the status of preparations for a number of important bilateral events, primarily the fifth session of the High Level Strategic Council between Ukraine and Turkey, which is to take place in Ankara, and also the Turkish prime minister's visit to Ukraine," the Ukrainian presidential press service reported following the meeting between Poroshenko and Davutoglu.

The parties also discussed Russia's economic policy toward Ukraine and Turkey and shared the opinion that "the restrictions imposed by the Russian Federation are not only unfounded but also go against international law and Russia's WTO obligations," it said.

Poroshenko and Davutoglu exchanged opinions on the situation in Crimea and Donbas. The Turkish prime minister reaffirmed his country's continued support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders.

The Ukrainian president and the Turkish prime minister also addressed the situation in the Black Sea and Middle East regions and agreed to step up coordination between the two countries in opposing common external challenges and threats.
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.
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A rise in information attacks are expected through the last two weeks on the Dutch poll's decision whether to ratify Association Agreement between the EU and Ukraine, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry's Ambassador-at-Large Dmytro Kuleba said.

"The number of provocations in the information space will increase as we come closer to the referendum day. The culmination of information attacks is expected in the last two weeks prior to the referendum," Kuleba said at briefing in Kyiv on Tuesday.

With this regard, he urged journalists and all those, who follow this subject to be attentive with the emerging information, noting that "this is the moment when it is better to triple check before pressing ENTER button once and releasing the information for a wide audience."

Kuleba said that opponents of the Association Agreement would use "the arguments of war and corruption."

The diplomat stressed that "the referendum would not kill the Association Agreement, however, would definitely create a political and legal background, so that the agreement won't completely and officially enter into force; although, its application still would run under the same procedure as now."

According to Kuleba, the planned referendum "is rather against the EU than Ukraine; it's an attack against the European values."

In the same line he added that Russia would try to use all those Euro-sceptics as an instrument and would play into the hands of anti-Ukrainian and anti-European sentiments before the referendum.

"We don't know exactly what type of assistance Russia provides, they don't publish their reports on respective support to Dutch forces on Facebook. However, together with our Dutch partners we monitor this issue, and we will continue to do so and take adequate measures," Kuleba said.
Artists concept of Planet Nine, a hypothesized world about 10 times more massive than Earth that may orbit far from the sun.

If Planet Nine really exists, astronomers have a pretty decent chance of spotting it.

On Wednesday (Jan. 20), scientists announced that a planet about 10 times more massive than Earth likely lurks in the distant outer solar system, orbiting perhaps 600 times farther from the sun than Earth does on average.

The evidence for the existence of this "Planet Nine" is indirect at the moment; computer models suggest a big, undiscovered world has shaped the strange orbits of multiple objects in the Kuiper Belt, the ring of icy bodies beyond Neptune. But direct evidence could come relatively soon, in the form of a telescope observation, Planet Nine's proposers say. [Evidence Mounts for Existence of 'Planet X' (Video)]

"It's actually not obscenely faint," said Mike Brown of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena. Brown and lead author Konstantin Batygin, also of Caltech, wrote the new paper laying out the evidence for the putative planet's existence.

"In fact, it's bright enough over a lot of its orbit that we should have seen it already, if it's in the closest approaches to the sun," Brown told Space.com. Indeed, at closest approach, "you could almost see it with some backyard telescopes," he added. (Planet Nine's orbit likely brings it as close as 200 to 300 astronomical units, or AU, to the sun, and takes it as far away as 600 to 1,200 AU, Brown said. One AU is the average distance from Earth to the sun  about 93 million miles, or 150 million kilometers.)

Finding Planet Nine

Researchers say an anomaly in the orbits of distant Kuiper Belt objects points to the existence of an unknown planet orbiting the sun. Here's what we know of this potential "Planet Nine." (Image credit: by Karl Tate, Infographics artist)

Planet Nine is therefore probably not too close to the sun at the moment, said Brown, who has discovered or co-discovered a number of distant solar system objects, including the dwarf planets Eris and Sedna. But powerful ground-based telescopes can probably still detect the object, wherever it may be, he added. [The Case for "Planet Nine" in Pictures]

"Even at its most distant, and at the smallest guesses of how big it is, it's like 24th or 25th magnitude," Brown said, referring to the brightness scale astronomers use, in which higher numbers denote fainter objects. "It's not crazy; this is the kind of stuff people are finding all the time. We just need to go out and cover a good swathe of the sky."

Just how big a swathe? Astronomer Scott Sheppard, of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C., has come up with a rough estimate: between 2,000 and 4,000 square degrees. (For perspective, the full moon as seen from Earth covers about 0.5 degrees of sky.)

That corresponds to about 50 nights of observations using a powerful instrument such as the Subaru Telescope in Hawaii, said Sheppard, who has a lot of experience finding far-flung objects in the solar system. For example, in 2014, he and Chadwick Trujillo of the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii discovered an object called 2012 VP113, whose orbital characteristics hint at the presence of a Planet Nine.

The 27-foot-wide (8.2 meters) Subaru Telescope is the go-to observatory for the search, because Planet Nine is predicted to be visible in the Northern Hemisphere sky, both Brown and Sheppard said. (Many other big, powerful scopes are in Chile, south of the equator.) [World's Largest Reflecting Telescopes Explained (Infographic)]

Sheppard stressed that it's tough to know just how detectable Planet Nine would be, considering the uncertainties surrounding the putative world's size, orbit and composition  all characteristics that affect brightness.

But, Sheppard told Space.com, "if it's not on the extreme ends of the orbit or the size, then Subaru should be able to find it."

The hunt is on

Sheppard and his colleagues have already covered some parts of Planet Nine's possible orbit using Subaru, as part of a larger, years-long survey for more objects such as 2012 VP113. (The broader survey also employs a telescope in Chile, which spotted 2012 VP113.)

The researchers will likely use Subaru to narrow in on more promising possible locations, now that Batygin and Brown have given them a better idea of where to look, Sheppard said. But the hunt for smaller bodies such as 2012 VP113 will continue as well.

"We're trying to find many more of these smaller objects, which could lead us to the bigger object," he said.

A planet with 10 times the mass of Earth may be orbiting the sun beyond Neptune. This image shows the theorized orbit of the giant planet and six other solar system objects beyond Neptune. (Image credit: Caltech/R. Hurt (IPAC))

The hunt for Planet Nine will also probably send astronomers back to their archives; it's possible that the undiscovered world has already been photographed by powerful telescopes, but researchers didn't spot it, Brown said. (Confirming the planet's existence will require more than one image, because astronomers will need to see the object move to know it's not a background star or other extremely distant object.)

Sheppard said that he had pegged the odds of a big planet lying undiscovered beyond Neptune at 50-50, but the new study by Batygin and Brown boosts his confidence in the existence of Planet Nine to about 75 percent.

Brown seems even more confident.

"I find this really compelling," Brown said. "I think it's there. But, like everybody else, I want to see it."

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.
An artist's view of NASA's New Horizons probe passing through the Pluto-Charon system. This week (Jan. 19) marks 10 years since the probe was launched from Earth.

What a difference a decade makes. Ten years ago, Pluto was a blurry picture in even state-of-the-art telescopes. Today, we have high-definition photography flowing in from New Horizons' flyby in July 2015.

Tuesday (Jan. 19) marked the 10th anniversary of the launch of New Horizons from Florida. It took 9.5 years for the probe to reach Pluto, traveling 3 billion miles to its destination. And it's still operational today at the edge of our solar system.

"With that flyby, New Horizons completed a long-held goal of the scientific community and also five-decade-long quest by NASA to explore all the planets known at the start of the space age," New Horizons principal investigator Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute in Colorado, said in a statement. [Destination Pluto: NASA's New Horizons Mission in Pictures]

When it launched, New Horizons made the fastest departure ever from Earth, at 36,000 mph. This was possible using a standard Lockheed Martin Atlas V with an unusually powerful third stage, supplied by Boeing.

The spacecraft got even faster when it made a pass by Jupiter in 2006, gaining another 9,000 mph. The Jupiter flyby also served as a practice run for the team to take pictures and do measurements with the spacecraft's instruments. Despite getting only a very quick look at Jupiter, New Horizons did find firsts: the first close-up look at lightning at Jupiter's poles, and the first sequence of pictures showing an eruption on the volcanic moon Io.

Pluto and its moon Charon began getting bigger in New Horizons' pictures in January 2015. At first the worlds were used for navigational purposes, but as New Horizons drew closer it was possible to see details of the terrain.

The probe is now speeding farther into the Kuiper Belt, and has been targeted to fly by another object in that belt in 2018, if sufficient funding is available.

Follow Elizabeth Howell @howellspace, or Space.com @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
An artist's image of the most luminous galaxy ever observed, which is destroying itself from within. If all the galaxies in the universe lay at the same distance from the sun, this one would shine the brightest.

The most luminous galaxy ever observed is tearing itself apart from the inside out.

A new study reveals that the black hole at the center of this galaxy, which is responsible for making the galaxy so incredibly bright, is also generating turbulence throughout it.

"The galaxy is tearing itself apart," Roberto Assef, an astronomer with the Universidad Diego Portales in Santiago, Chile, said in a statement from NASA. The momentum and energy of the light coming from the region around the black hole "are so great that they are pushing the gas out in all directions," he said. [The Strangest Black Holes of the Universe]

Tearing itself apart

Located 12.4 billion light-years from Earth, the galaxy W2246-0526 was identified in 2015 as the most luminous galaxy known, based on data collected by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). With the highest light output of any galaxy observed to date, it would shine the brightest of all the galaxies in the universe if they lay at an equal distance from the sun, the statement said.

As with most galaxies, the center of W2246-0526 hosts a supermassive black hole, a powerful engine that gorges on gas and dust. The material that flows toward the black hole creates an accretion disk around it, and according to NASA, the friction in this disk creates a powerful glow that shines more brightly than 300 trillion suns.

The galaxy's extreme luminosity may be a sign of what is tearing it apart.

Some of the material in the accretion disk streams away from the galactic center in the form of cosmic "winds." While many supermassive black holes have winds, they usually flow in a specific direction, but the researchers say their results show that in W2246-0526, "winds" of turbulent material have been found throughout the galaxy.

"It is like a pot of boiling water being heated up by a nuclear reactor in the center," lead author Tanio Diaz-Santos, a postdoctoral fellow at the Universidad Diego Portales in Santiago, Chile, said in a statement from NASA. Diaz-Santos was part of a team led by Assef that used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile to examine the galaxy known as W2246-0526.

"The 'boiling' gas is not [only] in the accretion disk," said WISE project scientist Peter Eisenhardt. "The whole galaxy is being disturbed."

Whether the gas is being blown completely out of the galaxy or will fall back into it remains unknown.

"A likely finale would be that the galaxy will blow out all of the gas and dust that is surrounding it, and we would see the accretion disk without its dust cover  what we call a quasar," Assef said. A quasar is a galaxy with a bright region around its central black hole.

A rare "dog"

W2246-0526 is one of a rare class of objects called hot, dust-obscured galaxies, or Hot DOGs, which make up only about 1 out of every 3,000 galaxies observed by WISE. These powerful collections of stars host a supermassive black hole at their center (which is typical of most galaxies). What makes Hot DOGs unique are clouds of dust that obscure most of their light, blocking much of the visible light emitted by the galaxies.

With its infrared instruments, WISE was capable of observing the objects before its mission ended in 2011.

The research was published online in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Follow Nola Taylor Redd on Twitter @NolaTRedd or Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebookor Google+. Originally published on Space.com. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
The Ukrainian army is prepared for a change of tactics by the Donbas militia and can deter a possible offensive, Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak has said.

"We demand that the Minsk agreements be strictly fulfilled, and we are fulfilling them ourselves. As for the activity of the terrorist group, as you know, it is very hard to predict. But we are preparing for a change of their tactics, we are ready, and we will not wait for them to launch an offensive. If they breach the Minsk agreements and behave in an aggressive fashion, launch an offensive, we will be able to deter them," Poltorak told reporters in Minsk on Thursday.

He underlined that the Ukrainian army was not preparing an offensive itself. "I have not said that we are preparing an offensive, I have said that we are ready to deter the enemy if it [launches] an offensive," the Ukrainian defense minister said.
Kaliya, who was working as a hotel doorman in the beach resort town of Sousse at the time, took a few days off and drove home to Kasserine to see his family and friends. He earned good money at the beach resort, and he liked to show off. He told his friends that they should make something of themselves, and that they should leave Kasserine, where life had come to a standstill and seemed directionless.

Like many others, Kaliya also talked about the need to sweep away the regime. But he was no revolutionary, and he had no thoughts or ideas about overthrowing the government, and certainly no plan. All he had was a hatred of the regime.

On Jan. 3, he was stopped by the police, who asked to see his identification papers. "I had money in my pockets and I was good looking," says Kaliya. Perhaps it was his expensive boots, or perhaps the way he walked, the swagger of a doorman, a kick-boxer, that the policemen didn't like. It was certainly the big ring a Frenchman had given him in Sousse, the ring with the big cross on it. When he saw the ring, says Kaliya, one of the policemen said to him: "Do you know why we're here? To fuck guys like you."

A Mistake in a Dictatorship

And then, according to Kaliya, the policeman slammed his fist into Kaliya's stomach. He vomited and fell to the ground, where he lay in his vomit as the policemen laughed. He filed a complaint at the police station the next day -- a mistake in a dictatorship. Or an act of rebellion.

Three days later, Kaliya saw the same police officer as he was walking past the bus station. The cop mentioned Kaliya's complaint, and then started beating him with his baton, hitting his face and hands, Kaliya recalls.

This time Kaliya fought back. It was his second mistake. Other officers appeared immediately and seriously roughed him up. In the end, they also emptied a canister of tear gas into his face. "When they left me lying there, I felt like an insect that they had stepped on."

He pulled himself together and staggered to one of the many illegal gas stations that are equipped with just a barrel and a hand pump. Smugglers use them to sell cheap gasoline from Algeria. Kaliya took a bottle of gasoline and went back to the bus station. "I wasn't myself anymore, and I didn't know what I was doing." He didn't want to be a hero and he wasn't sending a political message. He simply could no longer bear the humiliation.

For a moment, says Kaliya, he thought he could light the bottle on fire and throw it at the police officers. "But I didn't have a chance. There were too many of them, and they were armed." Instead, he lifted the bottle over his head, turned it upside-down and allowed the gasoline to run over his body. Then he pulled out his lighter.

He remembers hearing the sound of burning fat, a hissing sound, like drops of grease falling from a barbecue grill into the hot coals. He staggered toward the policemen, but everything went black after that. The news of what he had done spread quickly in Kasserine.

'Nothing But Criminals'

"We all thought that Hosni Kaliya was dead," says Ali Rebah, one of the young intellectuals of Kasserine. He went to the family's home, where others had already gathered. That night, car tires were set on fire in the streets of Kasserine.

Rebah, a sound engineer, also wanted to do something, as best he could. "The government media characterized all the demonstrators as nothing but criminals. So we needed something of our own: independent information. No one was being told what was happening here." On the same day, he used an Internet streaming service and Facebook to spread the news of Kaliya's self-immolation.

The violence escalated over the next three days. Protestors threw rocks and Molotov cocktails. The special government units that were brought in aimed at the head and the heart, killing more than 20 demonstrators and injuring dozens. It was the first massacre of the Arab spring. And Rebah was one of those who ensured that the world learned about what had happened.

Kaliya wasn't aware of any of this: He was in a coma in the burn unit of a Tunis hospital. Mohamed Bouazizi had died in the same hospital three days before Kaliya's self-immolation, and others apparently tried to set themselves on fire during the same period. Dictator Zine El Abidin Ben Ali visited Bouazizi at his hospital bed. He had tried to soften his tone, spoke of an end to the violence and promised hundreds of thousands of jobs for young people. But it was too late. A week after Kaliya set himself on fire, the dictator fled the country.

The spark of revolution immediately jumped to other countries in the region. The uprising against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak began on Jan. 25, 2011, Yemenis rebelled against President Ali Abdullah Saleh a few days later, in mid-February the Libyans revolted against Moammar Gadhafi, and in March the Syrians began their revolution against President Bashar Assad.

During this period, Kaliya was operated on multiple times. Skin was transplanted from one part of his body to another, and his throat was reconstructed. A few times, doctors had to resuscitate him. Kaliya recounts a nightmare he believes he had at the time. In the dream, he was walking along a street when the buildings suddenly flew toward him and crushed his body.

A Stalemate

He only regained consciousness after eight months. At first he could only hear muffled sounds, because he was wrapped in bandages, like a mummy. His eyes were also bandaged. He didn't know where he was, and he had forgotten who he was. Then the doctors removed the bandages from his eyes.

A short time later, Tunisia held its first free and democratic election. When the Islamist Ennahda Movement won the vote, many liberal Tunisians felt it was a disaster. Still, the Islamists were unable to govern alone but were instead forced to share power with two other parties. An Islamist served as prime minister, but human rights activist Moncef Marzouki became the country's president.

It was a stalemate, and the country was soon on the brink of emergency rule. The Islamists wanted to enshrine Sharia law in the constitution and limit the rights of women. They did not prevail, but then Salafists engaged in street battles with the police and tens of thousands demonstrated against the Islamists, in part due to rising unemployment. Protestors also accused Ennahda of supporting Ansar al-Sharia, a Salafist terrorist organization.

For Kaliya, these events were far away. His mother Zhina, who had only been allowed to look at her son through a window for many months due to the risk of infection, told him about everything that was happening in the world. She also told him about friends and relatives. Eleven had died in the uprising. A psychologist also went to see him every day. She told him his name, and she spoke with him about Kasserine, the policemen and the gasoline.

As Kaliya slowly regained his memory, he began to understand the enormity of the storm he and the fruit vendor had triggered.

Still, President Marzouki ensured that those who were wounded in the revolution were properly looked after. Kaliya's mother was given an apartment in the capital, so that she could care for her son.

'Not Accustomed to Freedom'

In the summer of 2013, Tunisia was on the brink of civil war. Two opposition politicians had been murdered, probably by Islamists, and Ennahda feared a military coup like the one that had occurred in Egypt. At that moment, an unusual quartet of four organizations, led by a federation of trade unions, intervened to mediate between the opposing groups. Ennahda agreed to a transitional government and new elections, and the quartet was last year awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts.

But the party that won the new election, in October 2014, was Nidaa Tounes, which included many of Ben Ali's former cohorts. Beji Caid Essebsi, 89, a former interior minister in the Ben Ali dictatorship, became president and made his son the party's deputy leader. For many Tunisians, this marked the beginning of a new political dynasty. Is the country back where it was when he, Hosni Kaliya, set himself on fire?

"We were hopeful, but we Tunisians are not accustomed to freedom," says Kaliya.

Surviving heroes can become a burden when they criticize the heirs of a revolution. Under the new regime, Kaliya was shunted off to a home for unwed mothers and he has been waiting for several urgent operations for months. The surgeries must be approved by a committee, but the committee is dragging its feet. "They are letting me rot in this home," says Kaliya. He feels like a phantom, someone the government doesn't want anyone to see or hear.

He cannot return to Kasserine, because the only doctors that can help him in an emergency are in Tunis. He occasionally visits his friends and his mother in Kasserine. When he looks around today, he says, he sees nothing to suggest that it was all worthwhile.

"There was no Arab spring," says Kaliya. Various factions are fighting each other in Libya, while the self-proclaimed Islamic State captures town after town. In Egypt, former General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi rules in much the same way as Mubarak did. Saudi Arabia is bombarding Yemen, where Shiite and Sunni militias are at war. And then there is Syria, where more than 250,000 have died. Is it presumptuous to accept the blame?

A Hotbed of Jihad

Tunisia, of course, is in better shape and is still viewed as a shimmer of hope in the Arab disaster. At least Tunisians cast their ballots instead of shooting at each other. But the peace is fragile. There is high unemployment, especially among young people, and several thousand Tunisians are fighting for Islamic State in Syria, Iraq and Libya.

Or they are carrying out attacks at home. Last March, Islamist militants murdered 20 tourists at the national museum in Tunis. In June, a gunman killed 38 tourists at a beach resort hotel in Sousse . Terror groups aligned with Islamic State claimed responsibility for both attacks. Finally, two months ago, a suicide bomber blew up a bus carrying presidential guards in Tunis, killing 13 soldiers. The series of attacks has all but destroyed the tourist industry, a significant source of revenue for Tunisia.

Kasserine and the canyons of Jebel Chaambi are now considered a hotbed of jihad, an unsafe area that is said to be prime recruitment territory for terrorists. "Terror emerges in places where people are marginalized," says economist Hizi Med Raouf. He returned to his hometown of Kasserine from Tunis a few months after the uprising began.

Raouf believed that everything would change, and that entrepreneurs would create new businesses now that the dictatorship was gone and he rented a small office on the main street of Kasserine. In Los Angeles or Berlin, his company would be referred to as a start-up incubator. He advises prospective entrepreneurs, prepares feasibility studies and facilitates business relationships. But he constantly encounters the old networks from the Ben Ali-era in banks and government agencies, men with little interest in change.

Raouf has studied the numbers. Half of the educated young people in Kasserine are unemployed, he says, while smuggling is -- just as it has always been -- the most important business in the region due to the proximity of the border with Algeria. "I'm an optimist, or else I couldn't do what I do. Even if nothing is working, I want to keep believing that everything will improve."

Nothing Better to Do

A few buildings down the street from Raouf's office, Ali Rebah runs the radio station that he started on the Internet on the day Kaliya set himself on fire. The station, KFM, has grown and now has 70 employees and transmits its programs to a region with a population of 400,000 people. But none of the people who work for KFM is paid a single dinar, including Rebah, because the small amount of advertising revenue only covers operating costs. Besides, says Rebah, most of his people are unemployed anyway and have nothing better to do.

"Anyone can speak his mind in Tunisia now. Aside from that, not much has changed," says Rebah. "We need more time. Much more time." That's why KFM works together with schools. Children help produce radio programs and, in the process, learn how elections work, that different opinions count and, most of all, that it is possible to bring about change. Rebah is pinning his hopes on the next generation. He no longer believes that change will happen quickly, and probably not for his generation, the one that triggered the Arab spring in the first place.

But not everyone is as patient. Hosni Kaliya had a younger brother, Saber. He was 35 and worked as a custodian. He made a decent living and even managed to support his mother. But Saber lost his job last summer. Many in Kasserine are losing their jobs, because businesses are going under or shifting production to the coast, and because new projects have become bogged down, and because the revolution, which Hosni Kaliya helped trigger, brought democracy but no jobs.

Saber fought for his job, spending three months begging his employer not to let him go. He had no other job prospects. When he felt that there was no longer any hope, he bought himself a bottle of gasoline, just as his brother had done, and set himself on fire, not far from his home. When his mother heard the screams, she ran out of the house and saw Saber lying on the ground, engulfed in flames. He died on Oct. 14.

"I curse this revolution. I want my sons back," says the mother, weeping into a piece of cloth, already wet and dark from her tears. "More will die, more will fight and more will set themselves on fire. They have no future."

Hosni Kaliya sits quietly next to her. He wasn't even able to weep properly at his brother's funeral, because the flames destroyed his right tear duct.
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 8That Text Was Not Meant for Josh!  (8:00-9:00 p.m. ET) (TV-14, DL) (HDTV)REBECCA ACCIDENTLY SENDS A REVEALING TEXT TO JOSH  Rebecca (Rachel Bloom) mistakenly sends Josh (Vincent Rodriguez III) a text meant for Paula (Donna Lynne Champlin) and takes drastic measures to ensure he never sees it. Meanwhile, Paula and her husband (guest star Steve Monroe) attempt to rekindle their relationship, only to be thwarted by Rebecca. Santino Fontana, Pete Gardner and Vella Lovell also star. Daisy Mayer directed the episode written by Elisabeth Kiernan Averick (#111). Original airdate 2/8/2016.Chapter Thirty-Three  (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET) (Content Rating TBD) (HDTV)A PROPOSAL?  Janes (Gina Rodriguez) crush on Professor Chavez (guest star Adam Rodriguez) is popping up in her dreams and she needs to evaluate her feelings towards him. Xo (Andrea Navedo) and Jane find Lilianas engagement ring and think that Rogelio (Jaime Camil) is going to propose. Rogelio IS planning to propose, but with a different ring, one that gets swallowed accidentally by Mateo! Michael (Brett Dier) comes to a realization about Rose and Mutter. Justin Baldoni, Yael Grobglas and Ivonne Coll also star. Uta Briesewitz directed the episode written by Michael J Cinquemani. (#211). Original airdate 2/8/2016.TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9Welcome to Earth-2  (8:00-9:00 p.m. ET) (Content Rating TBD) (HDTV)BARRY VISITS EARTH-2  Barry (Grant Gustin), Wells (Tom Cavanagh) and Cisco (Carlos Valdes) journey to Earth-2 to rescue Wells daughter, Jesse (guest star) from Zoom. Barry is stunned when he runs into Earth-2 Iris (Candice Patton) and Joe (Jesse L. Martin), but nothing prepares him for meeting Killer Frost (Danielle Panabaker) and Deathstorm (guest star Robbie Amell). Meanwhile, back on Earth-1, Jay (guest star Teddy Sears) has to take over the Flashs responsibilities when a meta-human nicknamed Geomancer (guest star Adam Stafford) attacks Central City. Millicent Shelton directed the episode written by Greg Berlanti & Andrew Kreisberg and Katherine Walczak (#213). Original airdate 2/9/2016.Physician, Heal Thy Selfie  (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET) (Content Rating TBD) (HDTV)#TeamZ  Detective Babineaux (Malcolm Goodwin) and Liv (Rose McIver) are investigating a triple homicide, and Liv is shocked to learn that the victims bodies are missing their heads. A very hungry Liv is forced to consume the brain of an unfortunate social media hungry soul who was recently run over by a bus. Meanwhile, Peyton (guest star Aly Michalka) leans on Ravi (Rahul Kohl) for support, and things get interesting when Blaines (David Anders) worlds start to collide. Robert Buckley also stars. Zetna Fuentes directed the episode written by Bisanne Masoud & Talia Gonzalez (#212). Original airdate 2/9/2016.WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10Sins of the Father  (8:00-9:00 p.m. ET) (Content Rating TBD) (HDTV)NYSSA MAKES OLIVER AN OFFER - Oliver (Stephen Amell) receives an offer from Nyssa (guest star Katrina Law) that is hard to refuse. Meanwhile, Thea (Willa Holland) continues to battle the blood lust, Malcolm (John Barrowman) steps in to help his daughter, and Laurel (Katie Cassidy) has a heart to heart talk with Nyssa. Gordon Verheul directed the episode written by Ben Sokolowski & Keto Shimizu (#413). Original airdate 2/10/2016.Love Hurts  (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET) (Content Rating TBD) (HDTV)WHO DO YOU LOVE? - Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) investigate a set of murders on Valentines Day and discover they are dealing with an ancient curse. Once kissed by the curse, the person is marked to die. Phil Sgriccia directed the episode written by Eric Charmelo & Nicole Snyder (#1113). Original airdate 2/10/2016.THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11White Knights  (8:00-9:00 p.m. ET) (TV-14, DV) (HDTV)STEPHANIE CORNELIUSSEN (MR. ROBOT) GUEST STARS AS VALENTINA VOSTOCK  When Vandal Savage (guest star Casper Crump) retreats behind the Iron Curtain in the early 1980s, a string of nuclear scientists begins to mysteriously disappear. The team follows Vandals trail straight into the heart of the Soviet Union in an attempt to find his next target. Ray (Brandon Routh) tries to bond with a beautiful Soviet scientist, Valentina Vostock (guest star Stephanie Corneliussen), in the hopes of finding out Vandal's next move. When Valentina rejects him, its Snart (Wentworth Miller) to the rescue. Stein (Victor Garber) pushes Jax (Franz Drameh) to be better, which frustrates Jax and ultimately threatens the Firestorm matrix. Rip (Arthur Darvill) asks Sara (Caity Lotz) to train Kendra (Ciara Renee). Antonio Negret directed the episode written by Sarah Nicole Jones & Phil Klemmer (#104). Original airdate 2/11/2016.Watch the Thrones  (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET) (TV-14, LV) (HDTV)BRENDA STRONG (DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES) GUEST STARS  Clarke (Eliza Taylor) discovers the mastermind behind a devious plan. Kane (Henry Ian Cusack) struggles to keep the peace. Meanwhile, Jaspers (Devon Bostick) grief drives him to reckless behavior. Paige Turco, Isaiah Washington, Bob Morley, Marie Avgeropoulos, Lindsey Morgan, Christopher Larkin, Ricky Whittle and Richard Harmon also star. Ed Fraiman directed the episode written by Dorothy Fortenberry (#304). Original airdate 2/11/2016.FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12Postcards from the Edge  (8:00-9:00 p.m. ET) (TV-14, LV) (HDTV)DAMONS DARK DESCENT  When his experience in the Phoenix stone leads him to do the unthinkable, Damon (Ian Somerhalder) finds himself without a care in the world, spiraling out of control and under the influence of a dangerous and reckless Julian (guest star Todd Lasance). Refusing to give up on his brother, Stefan (Paul Wesley) attempts to reason with Damon only to uncover the devastating reason for his descent. Elsewhere, Caroline (Candice King) begins having some dangerous side effects as a result of her supernatural pregnancy and is forced to turn to Valerie (guest star Elizabeth Blackmore) for help. Meanwhile, Bonnie (Kat Graham), Nora (guest star Scarlett Byrne) and Mary Louise (guest star Teressa Liane) attempt to track down a ruthless vampire hunter named Rayna (guest star Leslie-Anne Huff) after they suspect that she has reemerged. Zach Roerig and Michael Malarkey also star. Pascal Verschooris directed the episode written by Rebecca Sonnenshine (#712). Original airdate 2/12/2016.Dead Angels  (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET) (Content Rating TBD) (HDTV)KLAUS FACES OFF WITH AN UNLIKELY FOE  When a powerful weapon that could take down the Mikaelsons for good ends up in the wrong hands, Klaus (Joseph Morgan) finds himself in a tense standoff with an unlikely foe. Meanwhile, Elijahs (Daniel Gillies) attempt to reclaim control of The Strix leads to a violent showdown and the emergence of a potential new leader. Elsewhere, when a new coven of witches tries to influence Davina (Danielle Campbell) into helping them locate the elusive weapon, she quickly realizes she may be in over her head. Charles Michael Davis, Phoebe Tonkin and Yusuf Gatewood also star. Darren Ganet directed the episode written by Kyle Arrington and Michael Narducci (#312). Original airdate 2/12/2016.
Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Head Vasyl Hrytsak and representatives of the NATO Communication Office in Ukraine and the EU Advisory Mission for Civilian Security Sector Reform Ukraine, have agreed during their meeting to create a permanent international advisory group on the SBU reform.

Representatives of the EU Advisory Mission for Civilian Security Sector Reform Ukraine, foreign advisors at the NATO Communication Office in Ukraine, employees of the

NATO Centre for information and documentation in Ukraine, and other international organizations will join the group, as well as leading foreign and Ukrainian experts in this field, the SBU press service said in a report.

"The main goal is [to organize] expert support of the process of the Security Service reforming by way of holding permanent consultations on improvement of legal regulation, development of an advanced SBU model with consideration of the best political and legal practices of EU member states and NATO, and to lay out an agreed package of proposals (a plan) with regard to stages of the reform," the report says.

The group will start its work with a due diligence of the existing legal regulation in the area of national security. "In this context, SBU expresses gratitude to the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces for the preparation and publication of English versions of the statutory acts regulating Ukraine's security sector," it says.
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In the 1970s, when Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth made their introductions at the Rhode Island School of Design, they were very intent on becoming well-known artists. They got their wish, but not as they expected.

Frantz and Weymouth met at the renowned Providence design school at a time when both were aspiring artists of the oil-on-canvas variety. Instead, the multitalented couple  who eventually married, came to live in Fairfield and had two sons  became professional musicians, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.

Their lives have been extraordinary and successful as members of the Talking Heads and as founders of the Tom Tom Club  Weymouth noted for her wizardry on bass guitar and Frantz for his drum and percussion work. (Self-taught for the most part, Frantz, 64, is considered by many as among the greatest rock drummers of all time.)

And now were enjoying the fruits of our labor, said Frantz, laughing, during a recent telephone chat.

By that he means lots of globe-trotting for pleasure to such spots as Morocco, New Orleans, Barcelona and Frances Brittany region, in which Weymouths heritage is rooted. They also have the leisure to perform for causes and organizations they support. One of those causes is the nonprofit Fairfield Theatre Co., which for one night only will reunite the Tom Tom Club for a We Built the Warehouse party. The Tom Tom Club has not performed together for about two years as members became more involved in diverse projects.

But on Saturday, Jan. 23, the gang comes together again, with Weymouth on guitar and vocals; Frantz on drums and vocals; Victoria Palagy on vocals and guitar; Bruce Martin on keyboards, percussion and vocals and Pablo Martin on guitar. The couples son Robin, also known as Kid Ginseng, will be responsible for turntables and samples.

More Information Fairfield Theatre Co. Warehouse, 170 Sanford St., Fairfield. Saturday, Jan. 23. Doors open at 7 p.m., show at 8. General admission $95. Seating is on a limited first-come, first-served basis. All others will stand. 203-259-1036, fairfieldtheatre.org See More Collapse

Frantz said the Tom Tom Club will perform our most well-known hits  Genius of Love and Wordy Rappinghood  as well as a couple of Talking Heads hits, including Psycho Killer and Take Me to the River.

Weve had such a good rapport with FTC over the years, performing there (in the 250-seat StageOne) many times. Were honored that weve been asked to officially christen the recently completed open-space Warehouse, which can accommodate about 640 seats, depending on the concert.

Tina and I have been in Fairfield for about 30 years, and we remember a time when downtown Fairfield offered virtually nothing at night. Now we have lots of restaurants and a great venue like the FTC, which is positive for the town and the region.

By helping out, we can do good for the community, good for FTC and good for ourselves, he added.

On Saturday, Feb. 6, Frantz and Weymouth will return to the FTC to perform with other local musicians at a fundraiser for the Kennedy Centers programs that help those with disabilities and special needs.

In an announcement, FTC said that in order to complete the Warehouse, the theater and the community worked together to raise funds and made history. The party is an opportunity for us to come together with all of you who shared the vision and provided the financial backbone for this amazing performing arts venue.

It is also an opportunity to celebrate with the Tom Tom Club, whose members have become an integral part of the FTC family and community over the years, thus turning this celebration into an epic party.

pasboros@ctpost.com;

Twitter: @PhyllisASBoros
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STAMFORD  A time-honored tradition made a rare appearance at Stamford police headquarters Wednesday when badges one through five were reissued to the five longest-serving patrolmen.

In nearly 37 years on the job, patrolman Carl Franzetti, the new recipient of badge No. 2, said he remembered the honor only taking place twice.

The ceremony took place in the departments roll call room. Sgt. Clifton Weed, the longest-serving officer in the department, pinned the badges on everyone except Franzetti, whose son, patrolman Michael Franzetti, did the honors.

Weed will celebrate his 50th year in uniform next month.

All these guys worked for me, said Weed, 77, to laughs all around as family, friends and fellow cops crowded into the small room to see a piece of department history unfold.

The first officer in Stamford to wear badge No. 1 was Arnold Kurth, who is memorialized standing next to his bicycle in an 1892 photograph displayed in the police commissioners meeting room at police headquarters.

Receiving badge No. 1 was the departments most decorated officer Patrick Conetta, 71, who began his career in December 1971 when Richard Nixon was in his first term as President of the United States. The badge was previously held by George Scarano, who retired in October 2015.

The departments No. 2 badge went to Franzetti, 65, while No. 3 was pinned onto Mark Kane, who began working in the department in April 1979. The No. 4 badge went to Neils Murer, 62, who started in July 1980, and the No. 5 badge went to Ed Rondano, 60, who began serving in November 1980.

I like traditions, said Assistant Chief Tom Wuennemann, who came up with the idea of reissuing the badges to honor he departments most senior officers.

Before former Chief Brent Larrabee came to Stamford in 2005, shield No. 1 would get passed from hand to hand. When one officer retired, he would turn it over to the next in line.

But Larrabee allowed retiring officers to take their badges with them when they left, so that tradition went on hiatus and badges were no longer exchanged, Wuennemann said.

Wuennemann said that he would like to include the next five longest-serving officers and every time a retirement occurs, the patrolmen would exchange their badges accordingly.

Conetta, who formerly held badge No. 11, wears a medal of valor on top of his medal array pinned above his left breast pocket and shiny new badge.

The medal came from his off-duty capture of a man and a woman in February 1984. The couple robbed a West Side bank where Conetta happened to be cashing some checks on his day off.

After chasing the couple down Interstate 95 and into Greenwich and back into Stamford with his brand-new Dodge Aries, Conetta was shot at by the man.

I just wanted to catch them. After the first shot, they probably anticipated that I would back off, which I didnt, Conetta said.

A little farther along, the gunman  now sitting on the car door with the window rolled down in order to get a better shot  fired again.

Conetta, with his little four-cylinder motor revving up, fired back with his five-shot Smith & Wesson snub-nosed revolver. Conetta didnt have a police radio, and without it, the department was in the dark about what was happening.

They had no idea what was going on. There was no police radio, no cell phone. I was on my own, Conetta said.

Conettas voice turned quiet and shaky when he recalled the bank-robbing couple just by chance turning up his own street, Whitmore Lane, where his sons Patrick, 4, and Joseph, 2, were at home with his wife, Marie.

My wife just assumed I was at the bank cashing checks, he said. We went right by my house, which is only 20 feet off the roadway.

Finally, at the end of the street, the couple pulled over and gave up, allowing Conetta to handcuff the man to the car and detain the woman until his fellow officers arrived.

Conetta said wearing the first badge didnt feel strange to him.

It doesnt feel different. It is just something that I guess evolved into me being here longer than any other patrolman, he said. Its an accomplishment that I was fortunate enough to receive.

Franzetti, a Special Resource Officer at the Academy of Information Technology and Engineering, was moved by the gesture.

This is quite an honor. Ive been here a long time," Franzetti said. I really appreciate Chief Wuennemann taking the time to do this right.

Franzetti said he is not sure when he will hang up his pistol belt.

It depends on my wife. When she retires, Ill retire, he said.

When Murer was asked what it meant to him to get badge No. 4, he aid, Im old.

Maybe so, but Murer still appreciated getting the shield.

Its nice. A little recognition from the department. Its nice to have the seniority, he said.

Rondano, who has been working in the crime scene investigation unit for a quarter century, said he too was happy to have the badge.

It means I have been here a long time. Its nice, Rondano said. I remember when I first came on and I would see a guy walk down the halls with 20 years and Id say, Oh my God, that guy has been here for 20 years.

Now, Ive been here for 35. It doesnt seem like 35 years, but it is. But I like my job. I like what I do.

jnickerson@scni.com;
BATON ROUGE, La. (WDSU-TV)  Days after the city announced the contractor hired to remove four Confederate monuments in New Orleans quit due to death threats, authorities are investigating after a Lamborghini was found burned Tuesday morning at the contracting business.

The discovery was made in the parking lot of H&O Investments in Baton Rouge. The company belongs to David Mahler, who is a contractor for the city of New Orleans.

Mahler was initially hired to perform the work to remove the four Confederate monuments in the city, which include Robert E. Lee monument, at Lee Circle, the Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard statue, at City Park, the Jefferson Davis monument, in Mid-City and the Liberty Monument, in the CBD..

During a hearing Thursday, city attorneys said Mahler's company had received harassing phone calls and death threats related to the removal of the monuments. They said Mahler decided to remove himself from the removal process.

Related gallery: The fastest cars of their time

WDSU reporter Travers Mackel spoke to Mahler's attorney about the burned-out vehicle. He said the Lamborghini, valued at over $200,000, was unrecognizable when it was found in the parking lot after it was left there overnight.

Mahler's attorney said the Baton Rouge Fire Department was notified about the incident. He said while the investigation has only begun, the discovery of the burned out vehicle is "extremely suspicious" in light of the city's announcement that Mahler quit the Confederate monument removal project.

Related: City attorneys say general contractor quit after death threats

WDSU has not received any information about the incident from BRFD. Mahler's attorney believes Tuesday's incident "could be connected" to the death threats given the timing of last week's court hearing.

Mahler's attorney said while the contractor decided he no longer wanted to participate in the monument's removal, his company is still working with the city on other projects.

This story originally appeared on WDSU.com
A bill supporting continued restoration of Long Island Sound is moving closer to a vote in the U.S. Senate.

U.S Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, both D-Conn, said Wednesday the bipartisan legislation passed the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, bringing it one step closer to full Senate passage.

The Long Island Sound Restoration and Stewardship Act combines two complementary water quality and shore restoration program authorizations at previous authorization levels of $40 million and $25 million per year. The legislation also provides additional focus, oversight and coordination of federal activities related to the restoration of Long Island Sound.

This historic measure helps protect and preserve one of our nation's most precious and important natural treasures-- providing immense environmental and economic benefits to Connecticut and the country, Blumenthal said.

Sen. Murphy added Were one step closer to ensuring the restoration and long-term health of Long Island Sound.

The Sound is an unparalleled economic driver for Connecticut, generating billions for the state annually in tourism, fishing and boating. Its home to hundreds of diverse species of wildlife, and its 1,300 square miles of coastline are the site of happy memories for my family and countless others across the state, Murphy said.

In 1985, the EPA, in an agreement with New York and Connecticut, created the Long Island Sound Study, an office under the Environmental Protection Agency charged with advancing efforts to restore the sound and address low oxygen levels and nitrogen levels that have depleted fish and shellfish populations and have also hurt shoreline wetlands. In 1990, the Long Island Sound Improvement Act was signed into law, providing federal dollars to advance Sound cleanup projects, including wastewater treatment improvements.

Federal funding has enabled significant reductions in the amount of nitrogen entering the Long Island Sound from sewage treatment plants, by 35,000,000 lbs. per year as of 2013. It has also restored at least 1,548 acres and protected 2,580 acres of habitat land.

N.Y. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY, added The beaches and waters of the Long Island Sound are a natural treasure and an economic engine for the whole region that draws families, boaters, tourists and anglers to our shores. That is why we must do everything we can to pass this legislation that will restore and protect the Long Island Sound for current and future generations.

Over 9 million people live along the Sounds coast and 24 million people live within 50 miles of it. Although decades of overdevelopment, pollution, dumping of dredged materials and releases of untreated sewage have severely hurt the Sounds water quality, the Sounds economic contribution, including from sport and commercial fishing, boating, recreation and tourism, is estimated to be between $17 billion and $37 billion annually.
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A New York man is accused of threating to shoot employees and blow up the Home Goods store in Norwalk unless management fired his ex-girlfriend.

The bizarre incident happened Tuesday at the 380 Connecticut Avenue store after management reported receiving a call from a male who threatened to blow the business up if they did not terminate his girlfriends employment. The caller also threatened to come to the store and shoot employees, Lt. Terrence Blake said in a release.
STAMFORD  A city man was allegedly caught trying to throw his gun into Mill River as police served a search warrant on him in connection with charges he stabbed a woman on Stamfords West Side earlier this month.

But Jordan Young, 19, didnt know his own strength. Standing in his boxer shorts on the balcony of his West Forest Lawn Avenue apartment next to the river - with police watching - Young pegged the semiautomatic pistol right over the river and onto the far bank, where the weapon containing six slugs in the magazine and one in the chamber was seized by police.

Capt. Richard Conklin said Young is the suspect in the Jan. 11 stabbing of a young woman on Hillhurst Avenue. At the time he was already out on parole after being convicted of robbing a pizza delivery man.

At first the woman, who was stabbed in both hips and upper right arm, told police that several men in dark clothing jumped her and stabbed her on upper Spruce Street, and she did not know who they were.

But three days later she went to police headquarters and made another statement, saying that she was actually on nearby Hillhurst Avenue when she felt a punch to her right lower back rib area. She turned around and noticed two black males, and immediately recognized Jordan Young, according to Youngs arrest affidavit. She said she was stabbed a few more times and while the knife was puncturing her skin, she heard Young say, I hope you die.

After getting away from Jordan and his accomplice, she phoned a friend who brought her to Stamford Hospital. The woman explained that Young has bothered her brother in the past and the stabbing may have been retribution for an incident when she stabbed Young on November 21. She said Young came up to her and punched her in the chest that day, and, thinking he was going to beat her like he has done in the past, she used the knife to protect herself and escape from Young, the affidavit said.

Conklin said the woman may have been fearful that Young was going to hurt her after police were sent to the hospital to investigate the Jan. 11 stabbing, and so made up the story about several men in dark clothing attacking her.

Conklin said police obtained an arrest warrant for Young, who was sentenced to two years in jail for pistol whipping and robbing a pizza delivery man in Stamford in February 2014. When they went to serve the warrant, Young opened the door, saw it was the police and slammed the door shut again.

He then ran up to the second-floor balcony and tried to get rid of the gun, which he is not allowed to have because he is a convicted felon.

He was charged with first-degree assault for the stabbing and criminal possession of a firearm and interfering with police. He was held on a $175,000 bond, but his parole officer remanded him to custody making the bond issue moot.

jnickerson@scni.com; stamfordadvocate.com/policereports
Lukoil wants to increase its operations in Nigeria, the company's chief, Vagit Alekperov, told reporters.

"I had a meeting with the Nigerian oil minister today. We also agreed that in the next two or three months, a Lukoil delegation would visit the country and hold meetings with its president and oil minister about expanding our activity further," Alekperov said.

"Today we're working on two projects: one with Chevron, and we are also a major supplier of petroleum products to the Nigerian market from our European refineries. Of course we'd like to expand in that country," he said.
Six Ukrainian servicemen suffered injuries in the army operation zone in Donbas over the past day, Ukrainian Presidential Administration spokesman Oleksandr Motuzianyk said.

"None of our soldiers died in the past 24 hours but six servicemen suffered injuries," he said at a press briefing in Kyiv on Thursday.

No hostilities were [seen] in the Luhansk sector, and most provocations were staged by the enemy in the Donetsk area, including one incident in Troitske, one in Luhansk, and three sniper attacks in Zaitseve, Motuzianyk said. Militants and the Ukrainian army had two engagements in Pisky, he said.

"A series of minor provocations were observed between Avdiyivka and Pisky," the spokesman said.

Five sniper attacks were observed in the Mariupol sector, and militants briefly shelled the army positions in Talakivka, he said.

Two hostile drones were seen flying in Shyrokyne, he said.
EP welcomes first steps of Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine on implementation of agreements with EU

The European Parliament on January 20 adopted a resolution welcoming the progress of Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine in implementation of association and deep and comprehensive free trade agreements (AA/DCFTAs) with the EU highlighting remaining reform tasks for each country.

According to a press release posted on EP website, success of Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine becoming closer to political and economic integration with the European Union "depends on many factors, including stable and economic situation, strategic thinking, definite reform planning and proper use of international financial and technical support."

MEPs also pointed out that still EU financial support must be matched by concrete progress on reform.

Besides, the EP condemned Russia's suspension of its free trade agreement with Ukraine at the very moment when the EU-Ukraine free trade deal entered into force.

They deplored the "heavy trade restrictions" on Ukraine's exports to Russia, voice concerns about Ukraine's economic and financial standstill and repeat the need for further EU financial assistance.

They called on EU member states to avoid building new gas pipelines from Russia that bypass Ukraine, such as "Nord Stream II", reads the document.

In a resolution MEPs said they expect Ukraine's leadership to fulfill its commitments to fight "endemic" corruption, which, they say, remains the biggest challenge to its reform efforts.

The MEPs pointed out that Georgia's exports to the EU rose by 15%, and Moldova's by 62% in the first year, and said they expect to similar growth in those from Ukraine.
B arclays is cutting another 1,200 jobs from its investment bank, while rival Deutsche Banks boss John Cryan warned of another two years of hard work and restructuring there.

Todays job cuts from Barclays come on top of the 7,000 announced by former chief executive Antony Jenkins almost two years ago.

That total was reached by the middle of last year and now new chief executive Jes Staley is going further.

The bulk of the new cuts will come in the Far East as Barclays gets out of Australia, South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand altogether.

It will also end local share trading in Japan, Hong Kong, India, Singapore, Greece and seven other smaller countries.

In 2014 Barclays was fined 26 million for rigging the gold fixing. It got out of most commodities trading two years ago.

Staley is expected to give an update on his plans for the whole bank at its full-year results next month, including what it might do with its African business.

In the meantime decisions about bonuses for Barclays bankers have been pushed back at least a month to March.

Wielding the axe: Barclays boss Jes Staley (Picture: AFP/Getty Images) / Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

Rival Deutsche said it now expects to make a post-tax loss of 6.7 billion for 2015 after taking an extra 1.2 billion charge for legal issues and 800 million on restructuring.

Its new chief executive John Cryan said: This will be the banks first full-year loss since 2008, and it is sobering. We expect the next two years to consist of hard work, burdened by the costs of restructuring the bank and making much-needed investments.
T he head of the UKs biggest property company Land Securities has warned that a vote to leave the European Union could potentially cripple the London office market.

Rob Noel, chief executive of the firm whose 15 billion estate includes the Citys Walkie-Talkie skyscraper, said a no vote in the referendum would have a disruptive impact as demand for space collapses.

He warned: A no vote will weigh very, very heavily on occupier demand and the reason for that is you will have a whole load of business leaders who simply will not for quite some period of time be able to really work out what their business environment is going to be in the short term and that will stifle decision making.

Certainly in terms of the London office market, to say it would be not good news would probably be an understatement.

The firm reported healthy London lettings as well as record footfall at its shopping centres, which include Bluewater in Kent.
A French jewellery brand popular with celebrities, APM Monaco is moving into the capital with a debut London standalone shop.

The luxury goods group whose designs have been worn by actresses Joan Collins and Blake Lively has just signed a deal to move into 3 South Molton Street in the West End next month.

Advised by the property agent Savills, APM Monaco said it could open up to three more stores in London by the end of 2017.

Prior to this it has only had concessions in the UK. The firm has a large presence in France and Asia but said it had been waiting for the right location before investing here.

Laura Salisbury Jones, associate director at Savills said the store is in an ideal location  an established retail destination with retailers such as Thomas Sabo, Sandro and Links nearby.

The debut comes at a buoyant time for the UK jewellery sector according to research body Key Note. It has forecast growth of 13.8% to 4.3 billion in 2019.


I t's been an unhappy new year for anybody hankering after a sensible debate on immigration.

David Cameron gained a few cheap headlines by threatening to kick out Muslim women who fail English language tests after two-and-a-half years.

In Germany, which accepted more than a million refugees and immigrants, the debate has been inflamed by Colognes mass attacks on New Years Eve, intensifying pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkels open-door policy.

In Middlesbrough, meanwhile, asylum seekers are cowering behind their red front doors.

So three cheers for London School of Economics professor Alan Manning, whose lecture on migration came as a welcome reminder of its economic benefits when the discussion has been gripped by hysteria.

Immigration must be one of the most furiously debated but massively ill-informed topics in national discourse. Frankly, most of the British public havent got a clue about it, and their ignorance is so firmly entrenched that it cant be shaken. Unfortunately, politicians by and large dont stand up to this prejudice because it costs votes, so they pander to it instead.

Lets take an example. The Royal Statistical Society asked the public in 2013 what proportion of the UK population was foreign born and the answer came back 31%. But in 2014, the last full year for which figures are available, the actual answer is 12.5%.

In the survey, quoted by Manning, nearly half of the people refused to change their mind even when they were told the right answer.

But despite their apparent lack of knowledge on the subject, almost half of British respondents thought it is one of the top two issues facing the UK, a change in attitude broadly tracking the steep rise in net migration weve seen in the past 20 years.

It is true that over the broad sweep of the past 100 years, the rise in net migration seen since the early 1990s to levels well above the 300,000-a-year mark is unprecedented.

But is that necessarily bad for the indigenous UK workforce?

"Forget the old saw of 'theyre nicking our jobs'. In fact, the more people there are in the labour force, the more people go into employment."

Migrant workers can be a substitute  potentially bad news  or somebody you work with, potentially an advantage. But more indirectly, if immigration means certain goods become cheaper, that disadvantages competitors while benefiting complementary industries.

If those goods become cheaper, as the professor explains, weve all got more money to spend on other things, and the demand for labour overall goes up.

And dont forget, as Bank of England Governor Mark Carney pointed out this week, immigrants spend money and work as well.

The trouble is that these indirect benefits are largely invisible, whereas the losers tend to be concentrated, visible (and often vocal).

Despite the public being convinced that high immigration is very bad news, academic studies disagree and either way the effect one way or the other is far smaller than the wider population believes.

Myth debunking: Bank of England governor Mark Carney (Picture: Getty Images) / Getty Images

A look at the evidence shows the employment rate of UK-born workers now virtually back to pre-crash levels while the canard about the wages of lower-skilled workers being hammered by a flood of immigrants simply isnt backed up by the evidence.

The hourly earnings of the lowest 10% as a share of the median have in fact increased by nearly six percentage points in the past 20 years, largely thanks to the minimum wage.

That compares with a near-10 percentage point decline to the mid-1990s under almost 20 years of Conservative rule.

And forget the old saw of theyre nicking our jobs. As any economist will tell you, theres no such thing as a fixed amount of jobs in an economy; thats known as the lump of labour fallacy. In fact, the more people there are in the labour force, the more people go into employment.

Of course the main effect of migration is on population, which in turn builds pressure on housing supply and public services. It also underlines our chronic failure to build enough homes over the past 20 years.

Changing neighbourhoods can also be disconcerting for locals and it is up to the Government to share the initial burden of new arrivals while sending out a much more positive message on the upside of migration.

Nowhere do you hear a politician arguing that higher net immigration is actually boosting growth, as the Office for Budget Responsibility pointed out in November.

In Mannings words, if you want to get rid of net migration, the most successful way to do it would be to get the economy to crash spectacularly.

Around 25 million people want to come to the UK, not because were a soft touch, but because were a relative success story. In a wobbly few months for the economy, thats something we should be proud of.
T wo former workers for drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline and three others have been charged with attempting to steal secrets and sell them to China.

The five were charged in the US late on Wednesday, with charges including conspiracy to steal trade secrets, theft of trade secrets and wire fraud.

Prosecutors claim the stolen information, which contains confidential details of new cancer drugs and other major diseases, potentially could be sold for millions of dollars to rival pharmaceutical companies.

They added the alleged conspirators set up three China corporations, under the name Renopharma to sell the stolen information to.

One of the five, Yu Xue, was a senior-level manager and biotechnology expert at a GSK research facility in Pennsylvania with access to a wide range of secret information. She was fired this month.

Tian Xue, Yu Xues twin sister, Lucy Xi, a GSK scientist who left the company in November, Tao Li, and Yan Mei are also named.

GSKs boss Andrew Witty told an audience in Davos he could spin out the companys consumer health unit, which includes Sensodyne toothpaste and Panadol painkillers, as he considers investors demands to split up the group.
D avid Cameron is finally urging British business leaders to speak out in favour of staying in Europe, and well he may.

So far, it seems foreign bosses are more vocal than our own.

Overseas-based multinationals from Nissan to BMW have voiced Brexit concerns for years, and today it emerges that our American friends at Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan are bankrolling the in brigade.

Well-intentioned it may be, but this latest sign of support doesnt help pro-Europeans.

Brits have not yet learned to love investment banks, let alone one still known in some quarters as the vampire squid.

Its surely far better to hear voices like that of Land Securities Rob Noel warning of the threat of Brexit to UK jobs and the economy.

While property developers may not be up there with nurses and firemen in the hearts of voters, at least hes an Englishman.

British execs have so far been reluctant to pipe up for the in campaign largely because Business Secretary Sajid Javid told them last year to keep quiet.

That left the field open for the Brexit crew and their noisy friends in the media.

Now, with a referendum possibly only months away, its time for big businesses to forget Javid, heed the Prime Minister and pump up the volume.
E ducational publisher Pearson is to cut 4,000 jobs, or 10% of worldwide workforce, in a bid to return the group to growth.

In the meantime it said profits will be flat at 720 million for last year and fall to around 600 million this year with an upturn to 800 million in 2018.

Part of that fall comes from the sale of the Financial Times and Economist and separation of Penguin, which together accounted for 180 million of operating profit.

But big changes in its top three education markets  the US, UK and South Africa  have knocked 230 million from profits in the last three years, according to chief executive John Fallon.

In Pearsons biggest market, the US, rising employment has meant lower college enrolments which are now back down to 2008 levels.

In the UK former Education Secretary Michael Gove pushed schools away from the kind of vocational courses provided by Pearson offshoot Edexcel, where enrolments in some areas have halved from the peak.

In South Africa sales of text books, where Pearson has 40% of the market, have declined by 70% on two years ago.

Fallon said: We need to make sure that every part of Pearson is pulling its weight and generating growth. That means cutting the cost base and focusing on fewer bigger opportunities.

Around 500 jobs are expected to go in the UK.

Pearson shares rose 53.5p, or 8%, to 711p partly because it committed to continue paying the same dividend for the next couple of years even while its earnings fall.
A s I cycled to work this morning, Kensington High Street had the whiff of a smoking lounge. Ive had a cold and I later found myself coughing at my desk, sounding like a consumptive Bronte sibling.

A fellow cyclist came to commiserate: he too has been struggling with the air this week.

London is getting choked. Yesterday, pollution in the City hit the highest level it can: a 10/10 black alert on Upper Thames Street. That means youre supposed to refrain from doing strenuous exercise outdoors. It comes after the capital breached its annual pollution limits a single week into 2016. If the monitoring station on dirty-aired Oxford Street had been working, wed probably have broken it even earlier.

The Airpocalypse  caused in large part by diesel vehicles  is a stealth assassin: unseen yet devastating. It is killing around 3,000 Londoners a year  more than 20 times the number who die in road traffic accidents. A Pandoras box of associated health complaints include asthma, diabetes and heart disease. Its hurting children too. Research by Dr Ian Mudway at Kings College London suggests the lung capacity of youngsters in Tower Hamlets and Hackney has been reduced by living or going to school near main roads.

So why arent we fuming about the fumes? Why arent we outside City Hall now in Bane from Batman masks demanding not only that we receive better public warnings about the threat, but an air quality revolution?

Its invisibility makes us complacent, no doubt. But I think our apathy also stems from the fact that  bar a noble few who score an A* in earth love  were all part of the problem. We suffer from environmental akrasia: knowing were poisoning the air rarely stops us jumping in that taxi. The lungs are willing but the legs are weak.

Of course many diesel drivers dont want, or cant afford, to fork out for a new vehicle. Some will have bought their cars thinking them less likely to melt ice-caps, only to find theyre poisoning the air instead. Which is why incentives from government are needed to help rid our streets of diesel.

A broader problem is that were still, as a city, far too reliant on the car. And the housing crisis is entwined with that: as people are priced out and have to live ever further from their workplaces, theyre much more likely to want to drive for their commute.

The rest of the world does offer solutions, though. In some German cities diesel cars without particulate filters are banned entirely. We need more vehicle-sharing and a cleaner taxi fleet. Most of all though, we need attitudinal change, a willingness to confront the problem.

Its easy to shrug our shoulders and assume air pollution is a cost of living in the city. But I dont want my children, hypothetical as they may be, to have to dress like Darth Vader to play hopscotch in the schoolyard one day. Lets take a deep breath  and act now.

Let subtlety trump sensationalism at the Oscars

There are two survival stories up for Oscars. While The Revenant is like an extreme Ray Mears episode, Room is

a subtler, smarter exploration of psychological strength. And while Leonardo DiCaprios performance as the almost-invincible Hugh Glass has made him a favourite to get the nod from the Academy, Id be happier to see Rooms Brie Larson clutching a gold statuette come February 28.

Larson is perfectly cast as Joy, an everywoman trapped in hell: she was kidnapped at 17, imprisoned in a shed and routinely raped. She has fashioned a fairy tale out of her horror story so that her five-year-old son Jack doesnt realise what hes missing.

Whats so clever is that Room is shot both to convey Joys claustrophobia at her confinement and Jacks belief that their world isnt truncated: the wardrobe is a refuge; the loo cistern the sea.

Room is based on Emma Donoghues 2010 novel, itself inspired by the Josef Fritzl case. What was remarkable about that novel is that Donoghues delicate handling prevented it feeling exploitative. As scriptwriter for the film, shes achieved the same feat. Like Jack, the viewer is protected from the worst of the suffering Joy endures  though the hints of it make you shudder.

Perhaps The Revenants director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu could take note: sometimes making the audience imagine a horror is even more powerful than putting it on screen.

A worthy cause for a concerned Prime Minister

This week, David Cameron proclaimed a need to help Muslim women. He says they must all speak English. He wants to end forced marriage. He argues a lack of integration helps foster extremism.

Well, theres a charity in north London,the JAN Trust, that should seem like a panacea then. It holds language classes. It helps those whove been compelled into marriage. It combats extremism by teaching mothers to identify signs of radicalisation, as well as computer skills so they understand what their children are up to online. Its also set to close on March 31.

Thanks in part to Government cuts, charities like the JAN Trust face growing competition for the scraps philanthropic organisations can spare. But as Cameron was surely acknowledging, the cost of not helping these women is far higher. Rather than grandstanding, shouldnt he make himself the saviour of the JAN Trust?

* A celebrity Ive never heard of because Im not 16  Jake T Austin  has this week given false hope to obsessive groupies everywhere.

The Disney star (I Googled) posted a photo of himself snogging a fan who has bombarded him with messages of adoration for five years. Without wishing to dampen her joy, I cant help thinking life has already given us a be careful what you wish for tale here. As a teenager, Katie Holmes had a poster of Tom Cruise on her bedroom wall ...
Monitors of the Special Monitoring Mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE SMM) came under fire not far from the Maryinka locality in Donetsk region on January 16; no one was hurt, OSCE First Deputy Chief Monitor Alexander Hug said.

They were staying not far from Maryinka near Donetsk in order to conduct monitoring and assist in the restoration of important infrastructure for civilians, who live on both sides of the dividing line; despite this someone fired upon them, Hug told a press briefing in Kyiv on Thursday. Whilst monitors fell under fire, luckily no one was injured, he said.

He recalled that a similar incident took place in Horlivka a week ago. OSCE SMM monitors were taken out of their cars and were forced to lie down on the snow, he said, noting that all this was happening at the barrel of assault rifles and that their lives were in danger.
A London man with a penchant for quad-biking, dressing David Beckham and cooking for Kate Moss, Kim Jones is the major menswear player that you may well have never heard of.

While studying at Central Saint Martins for an MA in fashion, a substantial chunk of his 2001 graduate collection was bought by John Galliano, giving Jones the funds to launch his eponymous label a year later.

Alongside his own collection, Jones has also designed and worked for the likes of Uniqlo, Topman, Mulberry, McQ by Alexander McQueen and Hugo Boss, and was appointed Creative Director of British mens luxury goods brand Alfred Dunhill in 2008.

In 2011 Jones was called on to replace Paul Helbers as the style director of Louis Vuittons mens ready-to-wear division.

Showing in Paris this season, Jones revealed his autumn/winter 2016 collection for the fashion powerhouse.

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Regular attendees of Jones' runway shows include the likes of Kate Moss, Georgia May Jagger and Louis Hamilton.

A long-term supporter of the brand, Moss is also a dear friend to the designer.

Giving a candid insight into his private life to ES Magazine, the designer said: It was really nice this weekend - we did a Sunday roast and Kate was our server!

Despite revealing that the supermodel, David Beckham and Will Smith are still his main group, Jones shows no sign of having ever been star-struck.

Louis Vuitton at Paris Fashion Week SS16 1 /24 Louis Vuitton at Paris Fashion Week SS16 Louis Vuitton Alicia Vikander AP Photo/Zacharie Scheurer Louis Vuitton Italian fashion blogger Chiara Ferragni EPA/Caroline Blumberg Louis Vuitton Michelle Williams AP Photo/Zacharie Scheurer Louis Vuitton Italian fashion editor Anna Dello Russo AP Photo/Zacharie Scheurer Louis Vuitton Christian Louboutin and former top model Farida Khelfa EPA/Caroline Blumberg Louis Vuitton A model walks the spring/summer runway Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Louis Vuitton A model walks the spring/summer runway Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Louis Vuitton A model walks the spring/summer runway Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Louis Vuitton A model walks the spring/summer runway Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Louis Vuitton A model walks the spring/summer runway Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Louis Vuitton A model walks the spring/summer runway Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Louis Vuitton A model walks the spring/summer runway Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Louis Vuitton A model walks the spring/summer runway Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Louis Vuitton A model walks the spring/summer runway Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Louis Vuitton A model walks the spring/summer runway Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Louis Vuitton A model walks the spring/summer runway Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Louis Vuitton A model walks the spring/summer runway Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Louis Vuitton Nicolas Ghesquiere acknowledges his applause Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty

Suggesting a modest love for functionality within his designs, Jones revealed the compliment he most treasures from customer, David Beckham.

David Beckham came. He really wanted a suit for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

He put one on and was like, This is the most comfortable thing Ive ever worn. Its nice to have that sort of reaction from someone who is a customer, technically.
Review at a glance









I t took the great Catalan artist Joan Miro a long time to have the studio he wanted. From his early days in Barcelona through several years in Paris in the company of the Surrealists, Picasso and others, he flitted about from studio to hotel to apartment, never really putting down roots. The only consistent hub for his art was the family home at Mont-roig del Camp in the Catalan countryside, where he would return each summer.

Indeed, in 1938, living in exile from Spain because of the civil war and about to be uprooted again by the Second World War, he wrote: My dream, once I am able to settle down somewhere, is to have a very large studio, not so much for reasons of brightness, northern light, and so on, which I dont care about, but in order to have enough room to hold my canvases, because the more I work the more I want to work.

He spoke of experimenting with sculpture, poetry and print-making so that he could bring myself closer, through painting, to the human masses I have never stopped thinking about.

He had to wait a while. Only in 1956 was that dream studio realised. But what a studio it is: designed by another Catalan genius, the architect Josep Lluis Sert, it stands outside Palma in Mallorca, with an undulating vaulted roof and a concrete structure dominated by the clean, tough lines and reductiveness of Modernism, and brightly coloured glass inspired by the primary hues that dominate Miros painting.

Yet its also infused with the Mediterranean traditions of whitewashed walls, stone and ceramic. This fusion of the innovative and the timeless befits Miros character.

Working home: the artist in his actual Mallorca studio, in 1978 Jean Marie del Moral / Jean Marie del Moral

The 60th anniversary of the birth of the studio has prompted Mayoral, a gallery based in Barcelona, to rent a space in St Jamess and recreate the Sert studio. The real thing has been preserved as Miro left it when he died aged 90 in 1983, just as he wished, with unfinished works remaining in the space  he didnt want these incomplete paintings to go to a museum because in the studio these works are alive, he said.

This, together with photographs and documents in Barcelona and Mallorca, has given the gallerists Jordi and Eduard Mayoral, working with Elvira Camara, director of the Miro Foundation in Mallorca, and the artists grandson Joan Punyet Miro, plenty of material to research for their reconstructive project.

The result is undeniably rich in detail, all of it recreated rather than borrowed from the foundation. Facsimiles of the pages cut from magazines and newspapers that Miro kept  from a shot of a fashion model, a photo of an eye and an image of Marcel Duchamps bicycle wheel torn from a newspaper, to a postcard of a painting by the Italian quattrocento painter Baldassare Estense  are pinned to the wall just as they were by the painter. Meanwhile, a hanging evokes the studios vast wall of sandstone boulders.

Everywhere are the painters tools: clusters of paint tubes, watercolour palettes and brushes, together with the cups he would fill with paint and prop brushes in. They sit on the tables and trolleys that punctuated the organised chaos of the studio. A sun face made of palm leaves hangs over the space, just as it did in Mallorca, and the tiled floor is also evoked, complete with splashes and drips of paint based on those visible in photographs.

Rustic furniture sits on a canvas sheet, Miros improvised rug, in the middle of the room, and shelves nearby hold sundry items he bought or picked up on his daily country or beach walks, such as stones or shells  the flotsam and jetsam that washed up in his imagination.

He arranged them in his studio as a cabinet of curiosities, which he called a pinacoteca. Lots of them are folkish, such as the caganer, a diminutive defecating figure that features in Catalan nativity scenes, and some siurells, crudely fashioned earthenware figures that served as whistles.

In a video made late in Miros life, shown in an archival display in the gallerys basement, he mischievously and rather movingly blows one of the whistles, his face lighting up. They meant a lot to him, and filtered into the symbolism of his work, creating an intoxicating mix of high Modernist sophistication and a raw directness born of naive traditions.

Does the show document this effect in his art? Well, yes and no. Inevitably, the major works that were created in the Sert studio, such as the great triptychs of the early Sixties, are in major collections already, and there isnt space for them anyway. Neither are there any sculptures. But 25 unique Miro works feature (many for sale), mainly works on paper, with a few paintings.

They are not masterpieces but they are significant in that they capture the energy of the artists activity and the burst of creativity that followed the studios completion, even though Miro was in his sixties, which continued for another quarter of a century.

Time and again, looking at these playful works on paper, card or canvas, I was reminded of a great Miro quote: For me, a painting must give off sparks. It must dazzle like the beauty of a woman or a poem.

Women, Birds (1978) is exemplary: a bold figure drawn in with a brush surrounded by the birds, sketched in scratchy pencil over patches of white, probably filled in with a palette knife and Miros fingers, with little eruptions of pure, electric colour. He was a great improviser  works feature thrown everything from splashes of paint to hand prints, lyrical lines and delicate constellation-like spatters.

His occasional forays into darker territory are reflected, too. As the great Tate Modern show in 2011 reminded us, Miros political convictions would occasionally rise to the surface. He was a devout anti-fascist and made works supporting the Spanish Republic against Francos invading army in the Spanish Civil War. He ended up living in a form of exile within Spain under Francos fascist dictatorship, and as late as the Sixties he had his passport removed for joining a demonstration against the dictator.

A work simply called Painting, made in 1977, seems to be a dark memory of one of his great Thirties wild paintings, Rope and People I, at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, with its ominous coiled rope intercutting two gloomy figures: the wild paintings were a grotesque response to the chaos beginning to envelop his native country.

There are problems in this reconstruction, particularly in that this is a smallish room, lit only from the street window. Sert created for Miro a vast space, lit by huge windows at the top of the walls, complete with a mezzanine which allowed Miro a birds-eye view over his creative world. The presence of a booth with an Apple computer in the corner somewhat bursts the illusionary bubble, too. The fake tiled floor is the tackiest part of the installation.

But importantly, this show doesnt feel like window dressing, as has been the case in the kind of theatrical presentations that are becoming de rigueur at art fairs, which smack of a sly attempt to make up for the works lack of quality. There is genuine purpose in this project, in drawing attention to the studio as a laboratory, a place for experiment and play.

Many of the items accompanying the artworks, and particularly the photographs of the bric-a-brac that filled his pinacoteca, throw compelling light on Miros ability to seize on the modest objects around him and transform them into protagonists in his world of symbols.

Flawed though it is in places, theres much to learn here; you do gain precious insight into the imagination that created some of the greatest art of the 20th century.

Miros Studio is at Mayoral at 6 Duke Street, SW1 (8133 4306; galeriamayoral.com) from tomorrow until February 12

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C hristopher Hitchens, nearly five years after his death, seems in his writings as pertinent as he ever did. This, the latest  and, we are told, the last  edition of his essays written for periodicals such as The Atlantic and Slate, touches on a remarkable range of subjects and those that arent timeless such as his literary criticism have the knack of being all too relevant.

His diagnosis of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogans xenophobic demagoguery (in the context of the Armenian question) is even more valid now than it was in 2010  one would love to have his take on the EUs present courting of the man  while his amusing essay on Ian Fleming and his taste for the southern hemisphere (bottoms, and the spanking of same) could easily have been written to coincide with the recent release of the latest Bond film Spectre.

His polemic against Islamic fundamentalism had al Qaeda in mind but the sentiments are equally true of the so-called Islamic State, only more so. Actually the one theme that hasnt worn well is his support for the Iraq war, but this accounts for only a few essays in this collection.

The Case against Hillary Clinton may have been written in 2008 but bears repeating now, in the light of her presidential campaign. In fact, one would wish for a larger readership for his trenchant conclusion: Indifferent to truth, willing to use police-state tactics and vulgar libels against inconvenient witnesses, hopeless on healthcare, and flippant and fast and loose with national security; the case against Hillary Clinton for president is open-and-shut. You dont have to buy every element of his demolition of the woman to be struck by the force of others.

This is very much a book by the American Christopher Hitchens, since it focuses on how he came to see himself as an American rather than a Brit  a feeling that crystallised when he was interviewed by the conservative Pat Buchanan and accused of being a foreigner bringing alien atheist values to the US; he never tires of reminding us of the counter-Christian views of Thomas Jefferson.

Some of the reasons for his embrace of the US seem curious from the other side of the Atlantic  the libel laws here may be often preposterous but do they seriously impede the practice of his trade? The one thing that he did bring with him from Britain  wonky teeth  got tidied up and whitened when his colleagues at Vanity Fair decided he should be beautified and weaned off fags, which leaves us a comic account of the horrors of male depilation, Brazilian-style.

More book reviews 1 /24 More book reviews Recovery by Russell Brand Will Russells brand of self-help prove quite so addictive? By Nicholas Lezard. Read review A Life in Questions by Jeremy Paxman Paxo refuses to answer all the really good questions, says David Sexton. Read review Politics: Between: The Extremes by Nick Clegg The basis of this book makes it impossible not to warm to Clegg, says Melanie McDonagh. Read review Serious Sweet by A L Kennedy Thank heavens for London in this tale of self-obsessed lovers. Read review The Last Royal Rebel: The Life and Death of James, Duke of Monmouth by Anna Keay Born a kings b****** and destined for a traitors death. Read review Man Up: Boys, Men and Breaking the Male Rules by Rebecca Asher Getting to the bottom of why boys will be boys. Read review The Course of Love by Alain de Botton A philosophical novel that does run smooth, says Johanna Thomas-Corr. Read review The Tree Climbers Guide: Adventures in the Urban Canopy by Jack Cooke How I gave this book a proper test and ended up with a broken ankle. Read review Reader, I Married Him: Stories Inspired by Jane Eyre Brontes classic tale in the imaginations of other writers, says Claire Harman. Read review Moranifesto by Caitlin Moran Caitlin comes clean about politics  the world according to our funniest feminist. By Rosamund Urwin. Read review Spark Joy An Illustrated Guide to the Japanese Art of Tidying by Marie Kondo Theres no messing wih Marie, says Katie Law. Read review Cockfosters Stories by Helen Simpson After 50, a womans life gets better not worse. By Katie Law. Read review Stalins Englishman: The Lives of Guy Burgess by Andrew Lownie Joker in the spying pack. By Richard Bassett. Read review Even Dogs in the Wild by Ian Rankin The darkness that lies at the heart of the novel is offset by a lightness of touch, says Mark Sanderson. Read review Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink by Elvis Costello Elvis proves not quite so lyrical on the page, says Nick Curtis. Read review The Importance of Elsewhere: Philip Larkins Photographs by Richard Bradford His poetry paints better pictures than any camera, says David Sexton. Read review Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith Morality wins out over macabre murders, says Melanie McDonagh. Read review The Grownup by Gillian Flynn Calling all Flynnies: the con girl whos like gone girl. Read review

At one point he writes of the literary critic Edmund Wilson that one test of un homme serieux is that it is possible to learn from him even when one radically disagrees with him and that is true of Hitchens too. And there is much to disagree with.

His broadsides at religion, at least here, are cheap if not cheerful. While there can be few Christians who wouldnt agree with him  as he acknowledges  on the interminable duration and relentlessness of commercialised Christmas, you cant help feeling repulsed by his insistence that any public celebration of the feast should be more severely curtailed. He is very much a Protestant atheist. Indeed, his vigorous defence of another, George Orwell, from his critics  his exculpation of Orwells blacklist of Communist fellow-travellers is masterly  suggests a fellow feeling with the great man: we often praise the qualities in others we like in ourselves. It is Orwell whom he most strongly recalls  can there be higher praise?

Must this really be the last of his posthumous works? One hopes not. But if it should be, And Yet ... serves to remind us of what a splendid journalist and essayist he was.
G iven the gruesome fate of the last Tsar, Nicholas II, and his family, and the fact that five of the previous 12 Romanov rulers were also murdered, it is easy to regard Russias imperial dynasty as cursed. Yet as Simon Sebag Montefiore reminds us in this wonderfully compelling and insightful 300-year narrative, the Romanovs were actually the most spectacularly successful empire-builders since the Mongols. Under them, Russia expanded at a rate of 20,000 square miles a year and, by the late 19th century, covered a sixth of the earths surface.

The first Romanov ruler was just 16 when he was crowned Tsar Michael I in Moscow in 1613, thus ending the Time of Troubles sparked by Ivan the Terribles death. A political neophyte, Michael sensibly shared power with his father and boyars  feudal lords  and began the contract between ruler, Orthodox religion and people (chiefly peasants) that would characterise the dynasty.

The political talents required of Michaels autocratic successors were many: they needed to be simultaneously dictator and generalissimus, high priest and Little Father, with liberal doses of personal magnetism and wisdom. Only two, in the authors estimation, were political geniuses: the Greats, Peter and Catherine. Even they would have struggled to deal with the twin predicaments of revolution and world war that brought down the dynasty in 1917. But it was doubly unfortunate that the Romanov who faced the darkest crises  Nicholas II  was the least capable and most narrow-minded.

Sebag Montefiore provides fabulously revealing pen-portraits of the 20 Romanov tsars, as well as their spouses, mistresses and senior advisers. The giant Peter the Great (1682-1725)  bibulous and libidinous  was a born autocrat, as visionary as he was meticulous and industrious, compulsively regulating every detail of every enterprise. He founded St Petersburg, defeated the Swedes at Poltava and established Russia as a European power.

Catherine the Great was even more extraordinary. The German-born wife of Tsar Peter III, she replaced him after a palace coup in 1762 and ruled effectively for more than 30 years. During that time her armies  ably led by her lover Prince Potemkin  conquered the Crimea, Ukraine and the Caucasus (thus explaining Russian vital interests in those areas that remain to this day).

As for her legendary antics in the bedroom, they are mostly myth. Far from being the nymphomaniac of legend, writes the author, she was an obsessional serial monogamist who adored sharing card games in her cosy apartments and discussing her literary and artistic interests with her beloved.

More book reviews 1 /24 More book reviews Recovery by Russell Brand Will Russells brand of self-help prove quite so addictive? By Nicholas Lezard. Read review A Life in Questions by Jeremy Paxman Paxo refuses to answer all the really good questions, says David Sexton. Read review Politics: Between: The Extremes by Nick Clegg The basis of this book makes it impossible not to warm to Clegg, says Melanie McDonagh. Read review Serious Sweet by A L Kennedy Thank heavens for London in this tale of self-obsessed lovers. Read review The Last Royal Rebel: The Life and Death of James, Duke of Monmouth by Anna Keay Born a kings b****** and destined for a traitors death. Read review Man Up: Boys, Men and Breaking the Male Rules by Rebecca Asher Getting to the bottom of why boys will be boys. Read review The Course of Love by Alain de Botton A philosophical novel that does run smooth, says Johanna Thomas-Corr. Read review The Tree Climbers Guide: Adventures in the Urban Canopy by Jack Cooke How I gave this book a proper test and ended up with a broken ankle. Read review Reader, I Married Him: Stories Inspired by Jane Eyre Brontes classic tale in the imaginations of other writers, says Claire Harman. Read review Moranifesto by Caitlin Moran Caitlin comes clean about politics  the world according to our funniest feminist. By Rosamund Urwin. Read review Spark Joy An Illustrated Guide to the Japanese Art of Tidying by Marie Kondo Theres no messing wih Marie, says Katie Law. Read review Cockfosters Stories by Helen Simpson After 50, a womans life gets better not worse. By Katie Law. Read review Stalins Englishman: The Lives of Guy Burgess by Andrew Lownie Joker in the spying pack. By Richard Bassett. Read review Even Dogs in the Wild by Ian Rankin The darkness that lies at the heart of the novel is offset by a lightness of touch, says Mark Sanderson. Read review Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink by Elvis Costello Elvis proves not quite so lyrical on the page, says Nick Curtis. Read review The Importance of Elsewhere: Philip Larkins Photographs by Richard Bradford His poetry paints better pictures than any camera, says David Sexton. Read review Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith Morality wins out over macabre murders, says Melanie McDonagh. Read review The Grownup by Gillian Flynn Calling all Flynnies: the con girl whos like gone girl. Read review

By comparison, Catherines successors were decidedly second rate. Her grandson Alexander I played his part in the Allies defeat of Napoleon but he was no soldier and relied instead on talented generals such as Suvurov and Kutuzov. Alexanders son Nicholas I dreamed of a Russian Constantinople and, in attempting to bring this about, provoked the disastrous Crimean War against the Ottomans, Britain and France. As a Slavophile who idealised the Russian World of peasantry, villages, ritual and Orthodoxy, while disdaining the flaccid decadent West, Nicholas was typical of the inward-looking later tsars who tried and failed to square the circle of autocratic nationalism that still bedevils modern Russia.

Even a moderniser like Alexander II  who emancipated the serfs in 1861  had no intention of devolving real power. His aim, like the perestroika unleashed by Mikhail Gorbachev to reinvigorate Communism, was not to destroy autocracy but to fortify it. Such political inflexibility, mirrored in the averagely intelligent Nicholas II, would eventually provoke revolution and destroy the dynasty. The only surprise is that it took so long.

The author has already written excellent books on Catherine the Great and Stalin. This one is even better, combining as it does his expert knowledge of Russian history with the narrative wizardry displayed in his previous bestseller, Jerusalem. The Romanovs is the gripping and scarcely credible tale of the most successful royal dynasty since the Caesars, and Sebag Montefiore tells it brilliantly.
O ften people are very confused about what I might be. People will say, All right, mate sir girl madam,  says Ray Filar. A 27-year-old performer and writer from Brockley, Filar has short, brilliant-green hair and alternates between dressing in trousers, shirts and braces and, occasionally, in a skirt or dress. Filar identifies as non-binary gendered, meaning that they dont feel either male or female, and would rather go by they than he or she. For Filar, gender is pushed on to us by society when we are babies, in line with our biological sex, before we have the chance to question it: I dont believe theres anything innate about gender. I respect people who say that they feel its innate, but thats just not my experience. Filar isnt alone in this opinion. According to recent research by YouGov, 41 per cent of people in the UK view gender as a social construct, while half of those aged 18-24 claim they are not totally heterosexual  implying, perhaps, that gender is becoming less of a factor in where we direct our affections.

If 2015 saw a series of breakthroughs for the transgender community  Caitlyn Jenner posing on the cover of Julys Vanity Fair; the Danish transgender pioneer Lili Elbe immortalised on screen in The Danish Girl; and model Andreja Pejic named the face of Make Up For Ever  we can expect 2016 to be the year we question the validity of gender itself. Or at least embrace the notions of gender neutrality (not identifying as any gender) and gender fluidity (feeling that your gender identity varies).

Gender fluid: Jacob Mallison Bird

Last week, the Women and Equalities Committee, chaired by the Conservative MP Maria Miller, suggested the words male and female should be removed from official forms, recommending a gender x option instead. Miller also suggested that different school uniforms for boys and girls were unhelpful, and that the legal age at which people could decide to change their gender without parental consent should be lowered from 18 to 16. In a recent interview, Miley Cyrus claimed not to relate to being boy or girl, and both rapper Angel Haze and Orange is the New Black actress Ruby Rose have come out as gender neutral. So many independent labels have sprung up offering gender-neutral clothing that last year Selfridges opened a dedicated Agender section, while in Kennington the Open Barbers offers gender-neutral hairdressing services.

Whats prompted this? The idea that gender is constructed is not new, says Professor John Howard, a Kings College London academic specialising in gender and sexuality. But since the 1970s, second-wave feminism, queer theory, LGBT activism and intersex organising have proven crucial in broadening our understanding.

The internet has connected those who may have struggled alone with gender labels. George  formally Georgina  is a 13-year-old from Soho who, like Filar, asks to be referred to by the pronoun they. George came across the term gender fluid (having a gender that varies over time) on an LGBTQ website and learned about it by watching YouTube videos in which young people use the platform to talk about their myriad identities.

George describes the online community as very friendly; without it, they wouldnt have heard about terms such as pansexual (not limiting your sexual choice to biological sex, gender or gender identity) or gender fluid. I started thinking, Could I be these things?  says George. I never really found myself to feel particularly feminine or masculine all of the time, so I decided to go with gender fluid as a blanket term. I have both male and female days now, sometimes a combination of the two and sometimes agender days, which is the feeling that you dont have a gender or identify as a specific gender at all. Georges mother says she sometimes finds it hard calling George they. It feels a bit distancing, like calling your child it, she jokes. (Georges mother, who doesnt want to be named, says that Georges classmates are equally well-versed in the new terminology, with Georges best friend identifying as pansexual.)

While George found a term to describe their gender online, Jacob Mallinson Bird, 22, who lives between Knightsbridge and Oxford, where hes studying music, started identifying as gender fluid at the age of 19 after a trip to New York inducted him into the world of drag queens, transgender people and androgynous club kids. I was overwhelmed by the possibilities, he remembers. Once back in England, he considered that maybe he wasnt cisgendered (when your gender identity matches the sex you were born with). He started presenting in a more feminine way, with silk shirts, long nails and lipstick. Now, he says, he fits into the gender fluid category because he doesnt mind defining as either gender, choosing to be one or the other as he pleases.

Given the broader message that gender is an unhelpful concept, arent terms such as gender fluid and gender neutral counterintuitive in that they are putting yet another label to something amorphous? George doesnt think so: Looking up terms is a fun thing to do because you can figure out where you fit in. Youre always discovering yourself, especially as a teenager, and it helps to have ways to identify what youre feeling. Bird argues that gender fluid is a useful term precisely because it accounts for these shifts: Ive got friends who used to dress more female, then separated that off into drag and dressed more masculine during the day, then went back to dressing more feminine. Your feelings towards your own gender and the way you act on them can evolve.

Bird has the privilege of being able to pass as a boy, meaning that if he wanted to present himself as a cisgender male, he could hide his effeminacy and appear masculine: I can wipe off the make-up and go out the next day without worrying about getting shouted at on the Tube. This isnt the case for everyone; some peoples perceived gender doesnt match their lived gender. According to the Home Office, there were 605 hate crimes committed against transgender people in 2014-15; figures for the gender-neutral community arent known.

Non-binary: Ray Filar

Travis Alabanza, a second-year student at Kings College London and performer from Vauxhall, identifies as non-binary and femme. That is, they do not identify as male or female but their gender expression  the way they enact their gender  is very much feminine. This, says Alabanza, puts me in immediate danger, particularly because I am black and working-class, so there are certain expectations of my masculinity. While wearing black lipstick, gold hoops and mascara on the Tube, Alabanza has been met with heckles, people moving away from them and even someone asking what kind of genitalia they have.

Alabanza believes that the ideal solution would be to do away with gender labels. Thats also the view of transgender campaigner and journalist Paris Lees: I dont believe were going to suddenly overturn thousands of years of human history and live in a completely degendered society, but that doesnt mean we cant relax the rules a bit more... gender should never be compulsory, coercive or oppressive.

Whether we move past gender altogether remains to be seen, though there are signs that we might one day. As well as the passport debate, a growing number of universities (including Lancaster and Northampton) are, following campaigns from students, introducing gender-neutral toilets. Further afield, Australia has already introduced a legal third gender category, indeterminate, for passports; while in Sweden, there even exists a gender-neutral pronoun, hen  which falls somewhere between han, meaning he, and hon, she  as well as gender-neutral schools that aim not to condition children to act like a boy or girl, but rather, encourage them to behave however they feel comfortable.

That were talking about gender like this now is really great, says Filar. Will 2016 be the year we truly move towards doing away with gender labels altogether? For the time being, gender still exists, says Filar, but it would definitely be cool if it didnt.

Portraits by Andrew Woffinden
A butcher claims to have created the "world's most expensive haggis", with an eye-watering price tag of 4,000.

The famous Scottish delicacy is traditionally made with lamb heart, lungs and liver, oats, onions and spices but butchers Macsween sought more exotic ingredients to create the posh pudding.

Included in the decadent recipe is Highland wagyu beef from hand-reared cattle in Perthshire; white summer truffle from France, tellicherry black pepper from India, which Macsween said can only be grown at over 2,000ft above sea level; and 24 carat gold sprinkled on top.

Macsween's managing director James Macsween said: "Robert Burns's famous poem transformed the humble haggis into a world icon and this year we wanted to put a luxury twist on the occasion.

"This latest creation demonstrates the dedication and craft that go into every single one of our products. Good haggis-making is an art and we wanted to highlight this.

"At Macsween we're passionate about offering all of our customers only the best high-quality, delicious products made to the family recipe.

"Don't worry if your budget doesn't stretch to 4,000 this year. Our diverse range of quality, versatile, award-winning products offer something for everyone. Haggis is a delicious dish which can be enjoyed by the family all year round."

2015 food trends 1 /12 2015 food trends Seaweed Seaweed can be turned into fashionable sea spaghetti which has half the fat of traditional pasta, and is gluten free. Sprouted grains They are lower in starch and have higher proportions of other needed nutrients like protein, vitamins, and minerals Pronut They use ingredients such as courgettes, whole eggs, whey protein isolate and organic coconut flour Souping Londoners are replacing juicing and are on the hunt for something warmer, heartier and lets face it, more filling Courgetti fresh vegetables are being transformed into noodles, so you can have pasta without consuming a bowl of carbohydrates Raw baking Sweet treats without the guilt Bugs They are high in protein and are generally more sustainable and environmentally friendly than other animal proteins Fruit infused water Water with a slice of lemon is for amateurs. Instead drinking our five a day as gained momentum and is thriving in London Preserving Th popularity is largely down to the perceived health benefits - fat-free but flavour-rammed - theyre a dieters dream.

The 4kg haggis is being made to order and comes in a handmade wooden cask.

Yet despite causing a stir in the culinary world, the chefs say they are now waiting for their first commission.

Follow us on Twitter: @eslifeandstyle
P olice will today request instant emergency powers to close roads in the City if there is intelligence of a potential terror attack.

Britains first anti-terrorism traffic regulation order (ATTRO) will be one of the most significant powers sought for the Square Mile since the introduction of ring of steel checkpoints, blanket CCTV and number plate recognition readers after IRA bombings in the Eighties and Nineties. City of London Police commissioner Adrian Leppard warned in a letter that the threat to crowded public areas and places of economic and symbolic importance in the Square Mile was particularly acute.

He said an ATTRO would allow police to control the movement of pedestrians and vehicles on City streets as part of a package of measures aimed at improving the security of people... and protecting damage to buildings from a potential terrorist attack.

This would include road closures in extreme circumstances to back up physical security measures preventing vehicles and/or pedestrians from entering or proceeding along a highway.

The City force believes the ring of steel is inadequate to stop a suicide bombing and wants the City of London Corporation to grant the permanent order.

This could be activated by a senior officer to meet operational requirements. The request for powers that are permanent, but contingent by nature, follows talks with the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure, which reports to the director-general of MI5.

It is due to be approved in principle at the Guildhalls police committee today before a consultation period.

Operationally, the new power seeks to override the European Convention on Human Rights on the peaceful enjoyment of property, as police believe its public interest outweighs any interference with private rights.
A London trio who trafficked 13 Thai people into the UK before pimping them out for sex have been jailed for a total of 16 years.

Southwark Crown Court heard how the victims, all female or transgender, were recruited in their native Thailand by the organised gang before being brought into this country, where their phones and official papers were confiscated.

They were taken to buildings in Kensington and Chelsea or Westminster and made to work long hours, handing over a large amount of their earnings.

The victims, who spoke little or no English, were forced to become prostitutes, in some cases providing unprotected sex to increase their popularity on seedy websites, the court heard.

When they complained, the victims were threatened by the gang with being exposed to the authorities as illegal immigrants.

This week, gang member Rashid Ahmed, 68, from Hounslow, was jailed for a total of six years after being found guilty of controlling prostitution and two counts of trafficking for sexual exploitation.

Hamall Amiri / Metropolitan Police

Kensington 27-year-old Hamall Amiri, also convicted of controlling prostitution and trafficking for sexual exploitation, was jailed for a total of five years.

Female Thai national Nattakarn Budcha, 36, from Marylebone, was given a five-year sentence for controlling prostitution and trafficking for sexual exploitation following a retrial.

All three were handed Slavery and Trafficking Prevention Orders.

Rashid Ahmed / Metropolitan Police

Detective Inspector Clare Murray, of the Mets Organised Crime Command, said: "This has been a lengthy and complex 18-month investigation with 13 extremely vulnerable Thai nationals trafficked into the UK and forced into prostitution.

"The sentences given by Judge Tomlinson today, alongside London's second Slavery and Trafficking Prevention Order, send a clear message and hopefully a deterrent to anyone thinking of taking part in this abhorrent crime.

"I would like to commend the bravery of the victims, several of whom were bought back to London to give evidence, in securing these convictions as well as the charities that provided vital support to those involved."
A man was chased and arrested for carrying a knife after his car hit a lamppost in south London, police say.

Officers were called to Selsdon Park Road in Croydon on Tuesday at 11.37am and found the damaged silver Vauxhall Insignia in the middle of the street.

The car driver had left the vehicle behind and gone into a nearby building, witnesses claimed.

Officers from south Croydon police later tweeted they had chased and arrested the driver who was carrying a knife.

Yesterday after an accident in #selsdon #heathfield officers chase & arrest driver who had a knife. #mpscroydon pic.twitter.com/loiaGL7xmB  South Croydon Police (@MPSSouthCroydon) January 20, 2016

A 28-year-old man was arrested and later bailed on suspicion of failing to stop at the scene of a collision and possession of an offensive weapon.

Anyone with information should call police on 101.
P olice have arrested a man in connection with a series of attempted abductions of schoolgirls in north London.

Scotland Yard said a 28-year-old man was held on Wednesday on suspicion of attempting to take a child.

He was taken into custody and bailed until a later date pending further enquiries.

Police said patrols are taking place in Hornsey and Crouch End with some officers stationed at schools following the incidents.

On Tuesday, Scotland Yard said a bogus police officer attempted to abduct four girls during the schoolrun in Hornsey.

The girls, all between the ages of 11 and 14 years old, were reportedly approached by the same man in a number of locations between 8am and 9am on Monday.

A fifth case was reported on Tuesday. None of the girls were injured.

The man was not wearing a police uniform but allegedly told the girls he was a police officer.

He has been described as black, aged between 20 and 30. He was seen wearing a grey or black hooded top and dark jeans.

Detective Chief Inspector Paul Trevers, from Haringey CID, said: "Haringey does not see this type of offence very often and I want to reassure the community that such instances are incredibly rare.

"Notwithstanding the development of an arrest, I urge any witnesses to come forward so that my team can be sure to identify and prosecute the offender of these awful crimes.

"If you believe you or a loved one is a victim of such a crime, please contact us via 101 and be assured officers will treat you with care and sensitivity and we will do all we can to support you."

Anyone with information should call police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 11.
Ukraine's Interior Minister Arsen Avakov has asked Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk to draw attention to the problems with Megapolis and Ukrenergo companies, whose decisions are within the competence of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMC).

"This is not the competence of the Interior Ministry to react to the social movement conflict, for example, with Megapolis company, which is a monopolist in the cigarette and tobacco business with a huge participation of Russian capital. This is the competence of the AMC. I would like to move these accents from the power street situation to the sphere of the AMC and would ask Yatseniuk to intervene [in the situation]," he said during a government meeting.

Avakov added he cannot deal with the situation with the complaints of Hyundai with respect to Ukrenergo's actions during the next purchase of transformers.

"This is again in the competence of the AMC. Because I do not know how to react to people's deputies, the crowd of "titushki" on the one hand, and traders who crowd around the AMC's decisions on the other hand," the minister said.
M oped-riding robbers from across London are targeting leafy Crouch End to carry out street robberies on unsuspecting locals, police said today.

Gangs of riders have been mounting pavements around the popular Broadway to snatch mobile phones and handbags from the hands of passers-by.

There have been more than 30 robberies in the area in the past year.

Police held a public meeting at Hornsey Town Hall last night to urge residents to be vigilant.

Inspector Matt Cox said: Its quite dramatic when it happens. It generally involves people on mopeds or scooters riding onto the pavement, which can be incredibly frightening in the first place, and taking things out of peoples hands then making off.

Its an intimidating tactic to use.

The suggestion is they are coming from Southwark, Westminster, Camden and Islington which are the real hotbeds. They travel around London and then go back to their boroughs.

Officers are advising people not to check their phone as soon as they get off the bus, but to leave it for a while until they get home, or use it in a nearby shop.

Alternatively, they are recommending that people stand with their back to the wall when using their phones.

They advise people not to text while they are walking, as that makes them less aware of their surroundings.
A lmost 30,000 London teenagers failed to pass enough good GCSEs last year following a crackdown on re-sits.

Figures released today show the percentage of London pupils who failed to meet the benchmark of five A* to C GCSEs including English and maths has risen to 39.1 per cent.

It means more teenagers are leaving school without reaching the minimum standard expected by employers.

This is the first year that only first attempts at any GCSE are counted. Previously re-sits were included in the league tables for many subjects.

GCSE results for every school in the country were published today by the Department for Education.

Evening Standard analysis of the data found that 32 schools in London risk being branded as failing and taken over by an academy because fewer than 40 per cent of pupils there reached the five A* to C target. Further analysis by this newspaper shows:

29,592 London pupils failed to pass five A* to C GCSEs including English and maths, up from 29,125 last year.

The GCSE five A* to C pass rate in London is 60.9 per cent, down from 61.5 per cent last year.

London continues to outperform the national average of 53.8 per cent.

The percentage of children who passed the English Baccalaureate in London has risen slightly to 30.5 per cent, up from 30.2 per cent last year.

Sweeping changes to school league tables were introduced last year, when IGCSEs and vocational subjects were stripped out and re-sits in the academic EBacc subjects were not included. These were extended further this year, with re-sits in any subject banned.

From next year schools will be measured on Progress 8, which assesses the progress between Key Stage 2 tests at the end of primary school and the performance in eight subjects at the end of secondary school.

The Department for Education said: The change in the rules around early entry is working, meaning more pupils are taking these exams at the right time. The proportion of pupils entering English and maths has remained stable, while the overall number of entries has fallen, suggesting fewer pupils are being entered for exams in these subjects more than once.

The Department for Education said concerns were raised about white working class boys who continue to perform poorly. Schools minister Nick Gibb said: We refuse to accept second best for any young person and must now focus on extending opportunity for all.

A-level results show for the first time more than half of entries are in the key facilitating subjects which universities and employers prefer. More girls are studying science and maths, and more pupils are staying on for post-16 study.
T he mother of a woman who died from a brain tumour today called for more to be spent fighting a cancer which kills more people under 40 than any other.

Georgie Beadman left behind a husband and two young children when she died last February, seven years after learning she had a low-grade glioma.

The formidably talented potter, 41, was diagnosed with an inoperable tumour the size of a walnut after suffering terrible headaches and waking to find no sensation on her right side.

Today her mother Anne Hobson backed a bid to gather 100,000 signatures on an e-petition by February 3 to secure a parliamentary debate on state funding for brain tumour research.

We must do all we can to prevent anyone else going through the suffering which Georgie endured, she said. We were unable to help Georgie but I am sure that we can help others.

Ms Beadman, who had featured as a debutante in Tatler and Country Life, grew up in Notting Hill. She lived in Oxfordshire with her husband, Antiques Roadshow auctioneer Cristian Beadman, and children Alfred, 13, and Jemima, 10, but returned to London for surgery to reduce the impact of her tumour.

Six years after her diagnosis came the discovery of a major tumour at the back of her head. Brain tumours kill more people under 40 than any other cancer. Less than 20 per cent survive for more than five years after diagnosis. In 2014 only 7.7 million of the 498 million government spend on cancer research went on brain tumours  a figure campaigners want to hit 30-35 million a year.

Mrs Hobson also revealed her daughter was the inspiration for the mayor of Kensingtons successful charity appeal to raise 250,000 for new brain scanning equipment at Charing Cross Hospital. Mrs Hobson  who was chosen by her friend, mayor Christopher Buckmaster, to be mayoress  said: Very few people knew that Georgie was the inspiration for that appeal.

Cristian, [her sister] Julia and I feel so strongly now that her life must not have been in vain and think how wonderful it is that we can help others.

The Department of Health said the National Institute for Health Research awarded funds on the basis of open competition and the importance of the topic to patients and the NHS, value for money and scientific quality.

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/105560
S upreme Court judges are to decide on a multimillion-pound compensation fight between London Mayor Boris Johnson and insurance companies following rioting in the capital more than four years ago.

The row centres on damage caused to a Sony warehouse in Enfield, during "widespread civil disorder" in August 2011 - and the terms of a piece of Victorian legislation, the 1886 Riot Damages Act.

Justices are being asked to rule on what compensation is available for damage done to buildings and any resulting loss of profit, and are analysing legal arguments at a Supreme Court hearing in London.

Mr Johnson has asked for a Supreme Court ruling following hearings in the High Court and Court of Appeal.

Trail of destruction: Riots spread across London and beyond 1 /12 Trail of destruction: Riots spread across London and beyond Croydon2.jpg Firefighters battle a large fire that broke out in shops and residential properties in Croydon as riots spread across the capital for a third night Rioting-in-Hackney.jpg Riot police line up in Hackney Youth.jpg A hooded youth walks past a burning vehicle in Hackney Croydon.jpg A police officer looks on as a fire takes hold in Croydon. Residents from flats above a row of shops fled for their lives after the building was set alight lOOTERS.jpg Looters rampage through a convenience store in Hackney Woolwich.jpg A fierce blaze guts a store after looters rampaged through a shopping mall in Woolwich Ealing.jpg Ealing was also caught up in the destruction Birmingham.jpg The violence spread outside London. Here, a group are pictured trying to kick in the window of a jewellers shop near the Bullring shopping centre in Birmingham Merseyside.jpg There were further disturbances in Toxteth on Merseyside

Judges have been told the legislation says compensation for "damage by riot" should be paid out of police funds, and a number of insurance companies have argued the destruction and looting of the Sony warehouse fell into that category.

However, Mr Johnson - whose office funds the Metropolitan Police - disagrees.

A High Court judge had ruled the Sony warehouse was damaged during "widespread civil disorder".

Mr Justice Flaux said the damage - and resulting financial costs - were caused by "persons riotously and tumultuously assembled", and should be paid for out of police funds.

However, he decided there was a limit to liability and said "consequential losses", including loss of profit and rent, were not "in principle recoverable".

His decision on the "extent of liability" was challenged by the insurers, and the Court of Appeal ruled in their favour.

Appeal judges said the meant they had a right to compensation for "all heads of loss proximately caused by physical damage to property for which the trespasser is liable."

Mr Justice Flaux had said insurers were claiming losses of more than 60 million, including 9.8 million for lost profit and 1.6 million for lost rent.

The warehouse was destroyed late on August 8, 2011 during "the widespread civil disorder and rioting which took place in London and elsewhere", after Mark Duggan was shot and killed by police in Tottenham.
I rresponsible dog owners in Barking and Dagenham who do not clean up after their pets could be tracked down and fined under a new animal DNA testing programme.

Under scheme, people who walk their dogs in the boroughs parks will be required to have their DNA tested. From today it will be voluntary but later this year it will become compulsory.

Council tenants will be forced to have their pets undergo the tests under the terms of their tenancy agreement.

Council workers will then take samples of dog faeces from streets and parks and send it for analysis. If it matches a dog on the database the owner will be traced and fined 150.

The council plans to introduce a public spaces protection order that would make it an offence to take a dog into a public park unless it is DNA registered.

Local enforcement officers carrying microchip scanners will conduct spotchecks in parks.

From April, all dog owners will be required to have their dogs microchipped which costs 15-30 and Barking and Dagenhams DNA testing will cost 30 and is free to the first 1,000 who register.

Councillor Darren Rodwell, council leader, said: This pilot scheme will be the first of its type in the UK.

Its about asking considerate dog owners to register their pets DNA so we can wipe out dog mess in Barking and Dagenham and make a better, cleaner, safer borough.

The three month-long pilot scheme, which starts from 21 January, will cover three wards Abbey, Mayesbrook and Longbridge.

Gary Downie, managing director of animal DNA specialists PooPrints UK, said: We are very pleased to be introducing PooPrints to the UK with Barking and Dagenham Council. In this age of austerity local authorities are being encouraged to look towards innovation to help deliver important services including ensuring that pavements, parks and open spaces are kept clean.

Dog DNA registration has been proven in other countries to reduce uncollected dog waste by up to 95% and ensure dog owners who do clean up after their pets are not tarred with the same brush by the actions of those dog owners not playing by the rules.
A n east London family were left in shock after a car ploughed through a wall and ended up on their drive.

Legal secretary Sophia Pittaway, 19, of Heath Park Road, Romford, said she was at home watching television with her parents, grandmother and brother on Wednesday evening when she heard a massive crash.

The stunned family peeled back their curtain to find a silver Mercedes had smashed a wall and stopped on their drive.

Miss Pittaway told the Standard: "At first we didn't know what had happened we just jumped up.

"Massive crash": Sophia Pittaway said the family jumped up after the car hit the wall / Sophia Pittaway

"As we are on the main road we do see quite a few crashes but we thought the car was in our house.

"Then we looked outside and saw it on our drive. Our wall has been demolished and the gates were flung open."

Miss Pittaway said no-one was in the car when she went outside but said witnesses saw three people running from the scene.

One neighbour said the crash may have been the result of a high speed chase.

Miss Pittaway said those inside the car at the time of the crash were lucky to avoid serious injuries.

Police were called at 9.35pm and said an investigation is under way.

A police spokesman said: "It was reported that three people were in the car at the time of the collision. They left the scene prior to police arrival.

"Enquiries are underway to trace anyone involved."
D rivers are being urged to avoid the Whetstone area this evening as more than 60 firefighters continue to battle a blaze at a home.

A fire broke out at the house, which is undergoing refurbishment works, in Totteridge Lane shortly after 4.30pm on Thursday.

Nine fire engines and 65 firefighters from Finchley, Barnet, Southgate, Mill Hill, Hendon and Stanmore were called to the scene.

London Fire Brigade (LFB) said the whole roof and half of the first floor of the property was alight, with part of the roof having collapsed.

Steve Dudeney, LFBs borough commander for Hackney, said: "Firefighters are working hard to contain the fire and are tackling it from all sides of the property as well as from above using an aerial ladder platform.

Blaze: London Fire Brigade were called to the scene at 4.30pm on Thursday @GBCINTHEVITO / @GBCINTHEVITO

Totteridge Lane is closed in both directions and motorists are advised to avoid the area while emergency services remain at the scene.

There are no reports of any injuries.

The cause of the fire is currently unknown.
D avid Cameron appeared to give a concession to Cabinet Eurosceptics today by agreeing to let them speak out freely soon after any deal is struck with the European Union next month.

The Evening Standard revealed that he was being accused by ministers of giving himself a clear run to trumpet a deal, while other ministers would be gagged for about four days.

A memo from No 10 made clear that sceptics must keep silent until the full Cabinet meets, usually on the Tuesday after the EU summit. One possible solution would be for a special weekend Cabinet meeting to lift the gag.

Downing Street this morning said Cabinet would be held soon after the conclusion of negotiations.

A source said: The Prime Minister has said there will be a Cabinet meeting. That will take place soon after any deal has been reached. However, the source declined to say which day it might meet.

Mr Cameron was today urging big business to back his EU renegotiation as he launched a three-day diplomatic offensive at the World Economic Forum. But talks could be derailed by emergency proposals to axe rules that allow Britain to deport would-be asylum-seekers.
L abour MPs accused Jeremy Corbyns allies of thuggery today after one of Londons most respected political figures unexpectedly left his post in the partys senior leadership team.

Neale Coleman was today in discussions after quitting as executive director of policy after just four months.

A major figure at City Hall until he joined Labour in September, Mr Coleman helped with preparations for the Olympic Games and was awarded a CBE. He was the only key lieutenant of Mayor Ken Livingstone to be kept on at the same level by Boris Johnson.

His departure raised questions over whether Simon Fletcher, Mr Corbyns chief of staff, was losing influence. Both men are said to have clashed with Mr Corbyns powerful new press chief, Guardian journalist Seumas Milne. Mr Coleman is said to have had an argument last weekend after allegedly being kept in the dark about Mr Corbyn announcing that Labour would ban firms from paying dividends unless they paid workers the living wage.

Graham Jones, Labour MP for Hyndburn, said Mr Coleman was a competent Lefty a good guy, and the one good appointment Jeremy made. He added that to brief against him as not well suited is thuggery.

Mr Livingstone said: Neale must be in his sixties now. Perhaps he is thinking of easing up.

Mr Coleman issued a statement blaming his departure on the demands and pressures being greater than I had foreseen. The statement did not deny reports of arguments within the partys inner circle.

Party sources said Mr Coleman might take on an advisory role.
P rotesters behind an attack at an Israeli student society event have been condemned as neo-fascists by a former Conservative cabinet minister.

Former communities secretary Sir Eric Pickles said the scenes at Kings College London were similar to Kristallnacht, known as Night of Broken Glass, in 1938 when Nazis attacked Jewish people and their property.

On Tuesday, police were called to the university after an event planned by students from the KCL and LSE Israeli societies was disrupted by demonstrators.

Israeli peace activist Ami Ayalon had been invited by students as a guest speaker.

Police were called to Kings College London after a disturbance broke out at an Israeli society meeting / Russell Langer

However, trouble flared as students reported windows were smashed, chairs thrown and one woman claimed she was assaulted as the building was evacuated by police.

Students from KCL action Palestine were blamed by one student writing on her Facebook page.

Speaking in the Commons on Thursday, Sir Eric said: "(Labour MP Wes Streeting) mentioned that we travelled together to France in the autumn of last year to look at anti-Semitism there and I vividly recall meeting with Jewish students and their talk of how frightened they were, of how wary they were on campuses.

"I can't help but reflect at the disgraceful attack upon Jewish students in King's College in London just two nights ago, where a peaceful meeting - literally about peace - was broken up with obscenities and with the breaking of a window and the breaking of glass and the offering of violence.

"Frankly, we've seen this before - we have seen broken glass, we have seen Crystal Night and if we need to know where the neo-fascists are then they truly represent the neo-fascists in that attack that occurred in King's College."

Police said no arrests were made following the disturbance but the university launched an urgent investigation into the violence.
P olice faced a race against time to detect a trail of radioactive contamination left across London by Alexander Litvinenkos killers.

The inquiry into his death heard that senior detectives and public health officials were left with the dilemma of either ordering the immediate clean-up of affected areas  risking the loss of crucial evidence  or sending in forensic experts first to take samples.

The lives of hundreds of Londoners were put at risk by Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun, who were today found to have killed Mr Litvinenko by poisoning him with Polonium-210 at the Millennium Hotel in Mayfair in November 2006.

The radioactive trail they left was the most damning evidence against them, linking them to the scene of the crime, with traces also found at restaurants and hotels, on planes, and even at Arsenals Emirates stadium.

Inquiry chairman Sir Robert Owen described the detectives work as unprecedented in British criminal history.

Police were faced with competing requirements, on the one hand to clean up the sites in the interest of public safety, but on the other hand to obtain forensic evidence of the contamination for the purposes of their investigation, he said.

The white porcelain teapot  from which Mr Litvinenko drank just a few mouthfuls of green tea in the hotels Pine Bar  was found to have been contaminated, as were toilets at the venue which were visited by both killers.

Readings were also detected in a room Kovtun shared with another businessman at the hotel.

Primary contamination was found in a sediment trap below the plughole in the bathroom, according to one expert, suggesting Polonium-210 was poured down it.

There was secondary contamination in the room shared by Lugovoi and his wife.

However, mystery surrounds why Lugovoi told his eight-year-old son to shake hands with Mr Litvinenko after the poisoning.

One theory is that while the former FSB agent knew he had just poisoned Mr Litvinenko, he was unaware it was radioactive material.

The trail also revealed how the killers had previously made a botched attempt to assassinate the Russian dissident.

The green baize in a meeting room at offices in Grosvenor Street, where Mr Lugovoi and Mr Litvinenko had sat on October 16, was found to be contaminated.

During their visit to London in October, the two killers had stayed at the Best Western hotel in Shaftesbury Avenue.

In Lugovois room  number 107  primary contamination was found in the U-bend of the sink.

Secondary contamination was found at a table at Pescatori restaurant in Dover Street, and the Dar Marrakesh bar near the hotel  including on one of its shisha pipes.

Lugovoi and his family also went to watch Arsenal v CSKA Moscow at the Emirates stadium.

Secondary contamination was found in a block of seats which matched evidence that Lugovoi had bought tickets in that section.

The manner of Litvinenkos death put many hundreds of other people at risk, David Miliband, foreign secretary at the time, concluded in 2007.

Sir Robert praised the Metropolitan police for its investigation, describing it as exemplary in its breadth and depth.
M ore than 2000 photographs have been whittled down to to a shortlist of just 41 ahead of this year's UK Picture Editors' Guild Awards.

The pictures, which will compete to win in several categories, capture some of the most notable news events of the last year including the Tunisia terror attack in June, the refugee crisis and the days leading up to the general election.

Chair of the Judges Sophie Batterbury, Picture Editor of the Independent Newspaper said The overall calibre of entries was exceedingly high this year, in several categories it was very difficult to choose a winning entry.

Over 380 photographers entered, and fifty per cent of entries received in the last few hours of the entry period. Established figures in press photography joined Keren Sachs of Shutterstock and Ray Wells of the Sunday Times to sift through the entries to put together the shortlist.

The winners will be announced at the UK Picture Editors Guild Awards that will be held on February 25th at a black tie event hosted by journalist and broadcaster Kate Silverton at the headquarters of the Honourable Artillery Company in City road London.

Follow us on Twitter: @eslifeandstyle
A Ugandan warlord has today been accused of using rape and brutality to turn abducted children into sex slaves or soldiers to fight against the countrys Government.

Dominic Ongwen, a former commander in Joseph Konys Lords Resistance Army, faces 70 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court.

The former child soldier, who rose through the ranks of the rebel group, was accused by prosecutors of using violence against children to help the LRAs campaign against the Ugandan government.

He is charged with slaughtering civilians and ordering cannibalism.

Prosecutors outlined the charges at The Hague on Thursday in the hope judges will order a trial after Ongwens surrender last January.

Prosecutor Ben Gumpert said: Witnesses tell of how he instructed his personal escorts to administer dreadful beatings and even, on at least one occasion to kill, cook and eat civilians who had been abducted in attacks.

Mr Gumpert told judges Kony found children easiest to shape by a process of brutalisation into the fighters he needed and Ongwen played a role in this.

Ongwen, who pleads not guilty, appeared ill at ease in the court and rose to say he did not need to hear the charge sheet.

He said: "It is all going to be a waste of time.

His lawyers will argue for the charges to be dropped next week.

Kony was indicted by the court in 2005 and remains one of the world's most notorious fugitives from justice.

Additional reporting by Reuters
A British man has died after falling from the balcony of a hotel at a popular resort in Tenerife.

The 43-year-old victim is reported to have plunged from the second floor of a hotel complex in Bruselas Avenue, Playa de las Americas, at about 3am on Thursday.

The victim has not yet been identified, with police in the Canary Islands referring to him by his initials G.R.

A police spokesman told The Sun that the man was alone when he fell and the incident is still under investigation.

An emergency services spokesman said in a statement: A British national aged 43 has died.

We received a call just after 3am this morning alerting us to the fact a man had fallen from the second floor of a tourist complex and was injured.

We activated an immediate emergency response and sent an ambulance to the scene with trained paramedics.

However the victim died at the scene before of the severity of the injuries he had suffered.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: We are providing support to the family of a British national following their death in Tenerife on January 21.
A n elderly man has been cleared of any wrongdoing after he was faced a trial for following North Korea's official Twitter account.

The 73-year-old journalist, identified only by his surname Lee, was charged with sympathising with the Pyongyang regime after he was found to follow the official @uriminzok account.

But he was found guilty of blogging positively about North Korea - an offence for which he was given a one-year suspended prison sentence.

The Seoul Western District Court ruled that, because Lee only followed North Korea on Twitter and did not re-tweet or mention any of the posts on his own account, he had not broken the law.

"It can't be said that he 'distributed' those posts as they were only shown on Lee's own account and were not shown to other people, such as Lee's followers," the court said in a statement according to the AFP news agency.

North Korea joined the global social media networks in 2010 and has posted more than 17,500 tweets since then, mostly criticising its enemies South Korea and the U.S whilst praising its ruling Kim family.

Its Twitter account has over 18,500 followers.


A Met police officer whose baby is at the centre of an eight-month transatlantic tug-of-war today begged US authorities to allow her son to be returned home.

Louise Fielden, 42, a Tower Hamlets-based PC, was on holiday in New York in April last year when Samuel, then six months old, was taken into care.

Staff at their hotel called in social services alleging she had left Samuel unattended in the lobby while she made breakfast. They also alleged the she had abandoned him for 30 minutes in her hotel room, when she says she was sterilising his bottles.

Samuel has since been placed in foster care in the US and his mother, who lives in Battersea, has spent more than $75,000 on the case.

Criminal charges were dropped earlier this month but she faces a family court hearing in the US today over the allegations of neglect.

She will represent herself by phone from London at the hearing in which her lawyer Andrew Spinnell will request the case is dropped in line with a recommendation from the Federal Court.

But Ms Fielden said she was very worried the court may ignore the request and continue proceedings that could lead to her son being placed into US foster care permanently.

She said: I have serious concerns that my son might remain in the US. I care for my son immensely and believe I have done nothing wrong.

I hope the court will see this today and not put in further barriers to him being brought home.

The action by the US authorities up to this point has been completely disproportionate and it is malicious that they continue to block his return.

In court papers she has claimed her son is being held hostage and kidnapped in a foreign country.

Brooklyn Federal Court heard on Friday that Ms Fielden had agreed to cooperate with social services on both sides of the Atlantic so that the infant, who was born via IVF and an anonymous sperm donor, could be returned to the UK.

Ms Fielden said: Any child welfare issues should be decided here. I have done nothing wrong and criminal charges have been dropped against me. Yet the US social services seem to be doing everything to keep my son.

She claims the foster carer currently caring for her son, Susan Sena, now wants to adopt him. She has already said she is a not appropriate carer as she is a member of a gay rights support group.

Before returning the London last month, she could only see her son for a few hours a day, three times a week, under the observation of a social worker.

She is now attempting to enlist help of British authorities as she prepares a 30million lawsuit against the City of New York.
A man was arrested in Florida after allegedly decapitating his pet dog which looked at him weird.

Javier Orelly, 28, was detained after police were told a man was seen kicking and throwing his dog around, according to reports.

The anonymous caller told the Palm Beach County Sheriffs Office that they believed the man was going to kill the animal.

Officers attended an address and found Orelly digging a grave in front of his apartment, according to the police report.

Deputies said a dogs head was on top of rocks, while the body of a large black dog was on the floor next to the makeshift grave.

According to the police report, two large knives, a small medieval axe and some money were placed on a red towel near the dogs body.

Orelly was charged with two counts of animal cruelty following the incident on January 14.

He initially told police that the dog bit him but later said the dog looked at him weird, so he stabbed it in the neck.

WPTV reported Orelly told officers he had difficulty cutting off the dogs head, so proceeded to use the medieval weapon.

The television station said Orelly told deputies he was "stressed out and needed to sacrifice animals to cleanse himself".

Orelly appeared in court on Wednesday where a judge ordered him to have a mental health evaluation before he appears in court again on Friday.
A three-year-opld girl died after allegedly choking on a Kinder Egg toy.

French media reported that the toy became trapped in the girl's airway, preventing her from breathing, in the incident in Toulouse.

Although firefighters rushed to the aid of the girl in the suburb of Saing-Elix-le-Chateau, she could not be saved.

The girl, who was with her mother at the time of the incident, died from brain damage caused by lack of oxygen.

The chocolate eggs, which contain small toys encased in a plastic capsule, within the chocolate are banned in the United States as it is thought they could pose a choking hazard.

The eggs, made by Ferrerro, contain warnings to parents about the danger the small toys pose to children aged three and under.

A spokeswoman for Ferrerro said: "Following the tragic death of a little girl of three and a half years in Haute-Garonne (France), the Ferrero Group has been informed by the public prosecutor of Saint-Gaudens that an investigation has been opened in order to understand the specific causes of this tragedy and to determine whether or not the toy came from a Kinder Surprise egg.

"Faced with this tragic accident, and pending confirmation of the origin of the toy, the Ferrero Group and its employees express deepest condolences to the family of the little girl.

"In agreement with the prosecutor in charge of the investigation, Ferrero will cooperate fully with the investigation.

"The safety of consumers and especially children is Ferreros number one priority and the Group strives to provide the safest products possible, going beyond regulatory requirements, and that all products placed on the market are tested by bodies recognized by the EU Commission."
U S actor Will Smith has revealed he will join his wife Jada Pinkett Smith in not attending the Oscars, saying it would make him feel uncomfortable.

Smith, 47, made the announcement during a discussion about the lack of diversity among the nominations for this years Academy Awards.

Speaking on Good Morning America, Smith  who was expected to receive a nomination for his role as Dr. Bennet Omalu in Concussion  said he would feel uncomfortable if he attended the ceremony.

My wifes not going, he said. It would be awkward to show up with Charlize [Theron]. We've discussed it. We're part of this community but at this current time, we're uncomfortable to stand there and say that this is OK."

Smith, a two-time Oscar nominee, also reinforced George Clooneys belief that the awards are going in the wrong direction.

For me, when I see this list of nominations and, everybody is fantastic - thats the complexity of this issue everyone is beautiful and deserving - but it feels like its going the wrong direction, he said.

"When I look at it the nominations reflect the Academy. The Academy reflects the industry, reflects Hollywood, and then the industry reflects America.

Oscar nominations 2016 1 /13 Oscar nominations 2016 The Martian Matt Damon in The Martian. He plays a stranded botanist who must fend for himself on the Red Planet 20th Century Fox The Revenant Leonardo DiCaprio as Hugh Glass in The Revenant Carol Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara in Carol Bridge of Spies Tom Hanks in Bridge of Spies, the Spielberg film based on Charmans script Brooklyn Saoirse Ronan and Emory Cohen Steve Jobs Kate Winslett and Michael Fassbender in Steve Jobs Joy Jennifer Lawrence as a mum on a manufacturing mission Room Ma (Brie Larson) and her 5-year-old boy Jack Jacob (Tremblay) Mad Max: Fury Road Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron Warner Bros Spotlight This photo provided by Open Road Films shows, Michael Keaton, from left, as Walter "Robby" Robinson, Liev Schreiber as Marty Baron, Mark Ruffalo as Michael Rezendes, Rachel McAdams, as Sacha Pfeiffer, John Slattery as Ben Bradlee Jr., and Brian d'Arcy James as Matt Carroll, in a scene from the film, "Spotlight."

"It reflects a series of challenges that we are having in our country at the moment, theres a regressive slide towards separatism towards racial and religious disharmony and thats not the Hollywood that I wanna leave behind. Thats not the industry, thats not the America I wanna leave behind."

Smiths comments come days after his wife recorded a video calling for change, and explained that she would be boycotting this years event.

The Oscars diversity problem explained

Speaking about his reaction to Pinkett Smiths video, the Men in Black star said: I was out of the country at the time and I came home and went what happened?.

"She's deeply passionate and when she is moved she has to go. I heard her words and I was knocked over. I was happy to be married to that woman.

"There is a position that we hold in this community, and if we're not part of the solution, we're part of the problem, he added. It was her call to action, for herself, and for me and for our family to be a part of the solution."

Spike Lee has also confirmed that he will boycott the ceremony while stars including Lupita Nyongo, Whoopi Goldberg and David Oyelowo have all spoken out against alleged bias.

TODO: define component type apester

The 88th Academy Awards will take place at the Dolby Theatre on February 28.
Chief of the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces Viktor Muzhenko has held a meeting with U.S. Commander of Special Operations Command in Europe (SOCEUR) Gregory Lengyel.

"The meeting addressed the further bilateral cooperation in the development of the Special Operation Forces of Ukraine's Armed Forces," Muzhenko wrote on his Facebook account on Wednesday.

He also thanked the U.S. for the support which it provided to the Ukrainian army in the establishment of the Special Operations Forces (SOF), and also for the help in engaging foreign advisers and instructors into the training of the Ukrainian SOF experts.

"For his part, Major General Gregory Lengyel stressed that Ukraine will soon have its own training system for special forces based on its own battle experience, and the U.S. will take every efforts to help our army in the training of special operations experts," Muzhenko wrote.
Western Nebraska Community Colleges Student Veterans Organization will host a Blue Star Flag Ceremony in honor of Derrick Perkins on Thursday, Jan. 21. The event will take place at 8:45 a.m. in front of WNCCs main campus building.

Perkins, who is originally from Mitchell, is an active member of the Wyoming Air National Guard and is stationed at Kandahar Airbase in Afghanistan in support of Operation Freedoms Sentinel. Since 2001, Perkins has been deployed four times. He is a current student at WNCC and plans to resume classes next fall to continue in the nursing pre-professional program.

The raising of the Blue Star Flag will be flown to recognize and honor Perkins for his service. The flag is an official banner authorized by the Department of Defense for display by families who have members serving in the Armed Forces during any period of war.
While you may have heard about the research and development (R&D) tax incentive  the Australian Governments tax incentive to encourage innovation  you may be unsure how to apply for the incentive, or...
| By Michael Gillings, Darrell Kemp, and Martin Hilbert

Living things accumulate and reproduce information. Thats really the driving principle behind life, and behind evolution.

But humans have invented a new method of accumulating and reproducing information. Its digital information, and its growing at an astonishing speed. The number of people using the internet is growing, as are the devices connected to it through the Internet of Things.

Digital information can copy itself perfectly, increases in copy number with every download or view, can be modified (mutated), or combined to generate novel information packets. And it can be expressed through artificial intelligence. These are characteristics similar to living things. So we should probably start thinking about digital technology as being like an organism that can evolve.

Digital information replicates with virtually no energy costs, and has rapid generation times. Artificial intelligence can beat us in chess and on game shows. Whats more, its faster than us, smarter than us in some arenas, and is already in charge of activities that are too complex for us to do efficiently.

To biologists, that sounds like the digital world might be able to out-compete us, as we argue in a paper published in Trends in Ecology & Evolution.

Information growth

Any newly evolving entity can cause upheavals for life on Earth. In fact, all the major evolutionary transitions in the history of life have come about via changes to information storage and transmission.

And the digital revolution has certainly changed the way information is stored and transmitted.

The current storage capacity of the internet is approaching 1024 bytes and is growing at 30% to 40% per year, showing no signs of slowing down.

In the 3.7 billion years since life began, information in living things (DNA) has reached the equivalent of about 1037 bytes. Digital information will grow to this size in 100 years. Thats an evolutionary eye-blink.

Winners and losers

During each evolutionary transition, there have been winners and losers. And we need to start asking if the digital transition poses a danger to humanity. We do have the advantage of hindsight to answer this question.

We know that each of earths evolutionary transitions essentially resulted in the enslavement of the old information carriers. RNA was the original carrier of information. When DNA came along, the role of RNA was relegated to simply relaying messages from DNA to the cell.

When complex cells arose, they subsumed simpler bacterial cells. These became power generators (mitochondria) or solar panels (chloroplasts), serving the needs of the new cell types.

The next transition resulted in organisms with multiple cells. Most of these cells did not pass their information to the next generation, but existed simply to support those few cells that did.

The development of nervous systems that collected information from the environment provided huge advantages for animals. This activity reached its peak in human societies, with transmission of information between generations, via language and culture.

This allowed humans to dominate the planet, such that we have triggered a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene.

Extinctions

So the lessons of evolutionary history are clear. Transitions in the way information is replicated and stored often make existing organisms extinct, can lead to parasitism, or in the best case scenario, lead to a co-operative, mutual relationship.

Global leaders are already warning about the danger of autonomous military robots taking over the world, reminiscent of horror science fiction such as The Terminator.

We are increasingly connected to the digital world via devices, and direct connections to our brains are on the horizon. If we fuse our brains with the internet we may gain new sensory and cognitive capabilities.

But we may also lose our grasp of what is us and what is real (The Matrix, Inception), or expose ourselves to digital parasites.

As our activities and physiological states are increasingly being monitored, tracked and analysed, our every thought and action could be predicted (George Orwells 1984 or the Minority Report). Biological information systems might then become a predictable cog in a digitally governed social system.

Decision systems and artificial intelligence networks mimic human brains, and coordinate our everyday interactions. They decide on what internet advertisements we are exposed to, execute the majority of stock exchange transactions and run electric power grids. They also have a significant role in human mate choice via internet dating sites.

While we do not necessarily feel that we are the mere flesh-bots of our digital overlords, the merging of humans with the digital world has now passed the point of no return.

In biological terms, fusions like these between two unrelated organisms are called symbioses. In nature, all symbioses have the potential to turn into a parasitic relationship, where one organism fares much better than the other.

We need to start thinking about the internet as an organism that can evolve. Whether it cooperates or competes with us is cause for considerable concern.

Michael Gillings, Professor of Molecular Evolution; Darrell Kemp, Senior Lecturer in Biological Sciences, and Martin Hilbert, Professor in Communication, University of California, Davis





This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
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Scientists say they finally have 'solid evidence' for Planet X, a true ninth planet on the fringes of our solar system.

The gas giant is thought to be almost as big as Neptune and orbiting billions of miles beyond Neptune's path - distant enough to take 10,000 to 20,000 years to circle the sun.

This Planet 9, as the two Caltech researchers call it, hasn't been spotted yet.

The gas giant is thought to be almost as big as Neptune and orbiting billions of miles beyond Neptune's path  distant enough to take 10,000 to 20,000 years to circle the sun.

They base their findings on mathematical and computer modeling, and anticipate its discovery via telescope within five years.

The two reported on their research Wednesday in the Astronomical Journal because they want people to help them look for it.

'We could have stayed quiet and quietly spent the next five years searching the skies ourselves and hoping to find it.

'But I would rather somebody find it sooner, than me find it later,' astronomer Mike Brown told AP.

'I want to see it. I want to see what it looks like. I want to understand where it is, and I think this will help.'

Researchers inferred Planet X's presence from the peculiar clustering of six previously known objects that orbit beyond Neptune.

They say there's only a 0.007% chance, or about one in 15,000, that the clustering could be a coincidence.

Instead, they say, a planet with the mass of 10 Earths has shepherded the six objects into their strange elliptical orbits, tilted out of the plane of the solar system.

During the solar system's infancy 4.5 billion years ago, they say, the giant planet was knocked out of the planet-forming region near the sun.

Slowed down by gas, the planet settled into a distant elliptical orbit, where it still lurks today.

Once it's detected, the researchers insist there will be no Pluto-style planetary debate.

'This would be a real ninth planet,' says Brown, the Richard and Barbara Rosenberg Professor of Planetary Astronomy.

The six most distant known objects in the solar system with orbits exclusively beyond Neptune (magenta) all mysteriously line up in a single direction. Such an orbital alignment can only be maintained by some outside force, Batygin and Brown say. Their paper argues that a planet with 10 times the mass of the earth in a distant eccentric orbit anti-aligned with the other six objects (orange) is required to maintain this configuration.

'There have only been two true planets discovered since ancient times, and this would be a third.

'It's a pretty substantial chunk of our solar system that's still out there to be found, which is pretty exciting.'

They ought to know; one of them, Mike Brown, is the so-called Pluto killer.

'My daughter, Lilah, has suggested that we call it Pluto.

'That way Pluto can be a planet again,' he said of the discovery.

'We have found evidence that there's a giant planet in the outer solar system,' Brown told Popsci.

'By 'giant' we mean the size of Neptune, and when we say 'outer solar system' we mean 10 to 20 times farther away than Pluto.'

Brown and Konstantin Batygin, a theoretical astrophysicist at Caltech who specializes in solar system dynamics, think Planet X formed in the early stages of the solar system, some 4 billion years ago, when the large planets (including Planet X) were still rocky cores.

If Planet X's core had been able to stay in the inner solar system and carry out the rest of its formation, it could have accumulated enough gas or ice to become another giant like Jupiter or Neptune, the pair told Popsci.

But because the large cores of the other planets were packed so tightly in the inner solar system, there wasn't enough room for them all to develop, and Planet X was 'kicked out.

'There would have been a gas nebula around the solar system at the time that would have slowed it down as it plowed through the gas, putting it into this eccentric orbit,' Brown said.

'I could not imagine a bigger deal ifand of course that's a boldface 'if'if it turns out to be right,' Gregory Laughlin, a planetary scientist at the University of California (UC), Santa Cruz told Science.

'What's thrilling about it is [the planet] is detectable.'

The team has time on the one large telescope in Hawaii that is suited for the search, and they hope other astronomers will join in the hunt.

Subaru, an 8-meter telescope in Hawaii that is owned by Japan. It has enough light-gathering area to detect such a faint object, coupled with a huge field of view75 times larger than that of a Keck telescope.

'Although we were initially quite skeptical that this planet could exist, as we continued to investigate its orbit and what it would mean for the outer solar system, we become increasingly convinced that it is out there,' says Batygin, an assistant professor of planetary science.

'For the first time in over 150 years, there is solid evidence that the solar system's planetary census is incomplete.'

Meanwhile, Brown and other colleagues have begun searching the skies for Planet Nine.

Only the planet's rough orbit is known, not the precise location of the planet on that elliptical path. If the planet happens to be close to its perihelion, Brown says, astronomers should be able to spot it in images captured by previous surveys.

The putative ninth planetat 5,000 times the mass of Plutois sufficiently large that there should be no debate about whether it is a true planet.

If it is in the most distant part of its orbit, the world's largest telescopessuch as the twin 10-meter telescopes at the W. M. Keck Observatory and the Subaru Telescope, all on Mauna Kea in Hawaiiwill be needed to see it.

If, however, Planet Nine is now located anywhere in between, many telescopes have a shot at finding it.

'I would love to find it,' says Brown.

'But I'd also be perfectly happy if someone else found it. That is why we're publishing this paper. We hope that other people are going to get inspired and start searching.'

In terms of understanding more about the solar system's context in the rest of the universe, Batygin says that in a couple of ways, this ninth planet that seems like such an oddball to us would actually make our solar system more similar to the other planetary systems that astronomers are finding around other stars.

If, however, Planet Nine is now located anywhere in between, many telescopes have a shot at finding it.

First, most of the planets around other sunlike stars have no single orbital rangethat is, some orbit extremely close to their host stars while others follow exceptionally distant orbits. Second, the most common planets around other stars range between 1 and 10 Earth-masses.

'One of the most startling discoveries about other planetary systems has been that the most common type of planet out there has a mass between that of Earth and that of Neptune,' says Batygin.

'Until now, we've thought that the solar system was lacking in this most common type of planet. Maybe we're more normal after all.'

Brown, well known for the significant role he played in the demotion of Pluto from a planet to a dwarf planet adds, 'All those people who are mad that Pluto is no longer a planet can be thrilled to know that there is a real planet out there still to be found,' he says.

'Now we can go and find this planet and make the solar system have nine planets once again.'
Wednesday, 20 January 2016 00:47:52 (GMT+3) | Sao Paulo

Sources told SteelOrbis that Argentinian HRC prices have declined by the end of December and the beginning of January.





SteelOrbis learned late in December that pre-painted steel sheet prices declined up to 28 percent in the domestic market. A trader based in Buenos Aires confirmed the same trend was seen in the nations HRC market.





A service steel center said it is buying HRC from Ternium Siderar for $600/mt CFR, as opposed to a traders quote in late December of $850/mt CFR. The same source said it bought CRC from Siderar at $700/mt CFR.





A second source confirmed reduced prices for HRC in the domestic market in January. Prices have been declining, as Siderar is operating with just one blast furnace, a trader said, adding it expects prices to recover in H2.





1 USD = ARS 13.45 (January 20)








Thursday, 21 January 2016 17:05:40 (GMT+3) | Istanbul

According to market sources, Turkish steel producers' merchant bar export prices have remained stable week on week in the range of $370-410/mt FOB. Meanwhile, demand for Turkish merchant bar in the export market has remained quiet and buyers are in no rush to conclude new transactions.



Export offers from Turkish merchant bar producers are at the following levels:

Product Price ($/mt) FOB Angle 370-380 IPN-UPN 380-390 Flat bar 400-410 IPE 380-390

All prices are on FOB basis and for January shipment.
It's often been quoted as the one certainty in life - and now it's possible to find out exactly how you're likely to die.

An interactive chart has been created which calculates the likelihood of a person dying from the likes of cancer, infection or external causes based both on a person's current age and how old they are when they go.

Using information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, UCLA statistician Nathan Yau has created the colourful graphic revealing what you are most likely to die from once factors such as gender and race have been considered.

The test, which can be taken by clicking here, works by asking users to enter details including age, gender, and ethnicity before they can watch how their life and death may unfold.

It shows how the age you are today can affect what you are most likely to die of at various stages in your life.

So while a baby born today is most likely to die in the first few years of life from a congenital problem, a man who is 30 today who dies at the age of 80 is most likely to be killed by a circulatory problem - such as a heart attack or stroke - or by cancer.

30-year-old women, who die in 50 years time aged 80, can expect to succumb to similar causes with circulatory at 39 per cent and cancer, 29 per cent, compared to lesser causes such as infection at five per cent.

Writing on his Flowing Data website, Professor Yau explains how the different dots relate to the various causes of death, listed right.

'Colour corresponds to cause of death, and the bars on the right keep track of the cumulative percentages. By the end, you're left with the chances that you will die of each cause,' he writes.

By changing the age, the number of dots changes with a much lower mortality rate among children leading to fewer colourful circles.

For example, the leading causes of death in someone who is less than 12 months old are perinatal or congenital i.e. a condition inherited from birth.

However, this compares to circulatory problems, such as heart disease and stroke, being the most likely cause of death for both men and woman in their 50s.

The infographic, based on data from US death certificates between 1999 and 2014, shows how an-eight-year-old boy is most likely to be killed by an 'external factor,' such as an accident, if they die at the age 18.

The chart calculates this cause to be behind 67 per cent of deaths in these circumstances, compared to respiratory causes like asthma coming in at 17 per cent.

The older people get, the more likely they are to die from disease with anyone over the age of 80 having a 40 per cent or higher change of dying from a circulatory problem, regardless of the demographic.

'This surprised me, because it seems like cancer would be the leading cause just going off general news, said Professor Yau.

'This is certainly true up to a certain age, but get past that and your heart can only keep going for so long,' he said.

Across the globe, heart disease and stroke are the leading causes of death, accounting for 31 per cent of the total figure, according to the American Heart Association.

The coloured dots show that a female born now who dies at the age of one is most likely to succumb to a perinatal cause, which is behind 60 per cent of deaths, a congenital cause, at 30 per cent and the nervous category making up the remaining 10 per cent.

Interestingly, a 25-year-old man who dies at 30 is far more likely to die of an external cause (68 per cent) - like a car crash - than cancer (11 per cent) or an infection (five per cent)

Figures issued by the World Health Organisation for 2012 revealed that 68 per cent of all deaths globally were from what are known as noncommunicable - rather than infectious diseases.

The main four noncommunicable diseases are cardiovascular diseases (such as heart disease and stroke), cancers, diabetes and chronic lung diseases.

Infectious diseases, pregnancy and childbirth and nutrition conditions collectively were responsible for 23 per cent of global deaths, while injuries caused 9 per cent of all deaths

Deaths from often preventable causes - such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes and lung conditions - were most common in high-income countries, where they accounted for 87 per cent.

Tobacco use is a major cause of many of the worlds top killer diseases  including cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive lung disease and lung cancer.

The World Health Organisation estimates that tobacco use is responsible for the death of about 1 in 10 adults worldwide. Smoking is often the hidden cause of the disease recorded as responsible for death.

If a 50-year-old man died in five years time, he could expect it to be caused by any of the above but circulatory problems and cancer remain the leading reasons, accounting for more than half of deaths between them.

If a white female who is 50 now dies at the average age of 88, she will probably die of either circulatory causes or cancer, the chart shows.
Decision reflects importance regional bloc attaches to Beijing, commerce minister says

China and the Gulf Cooperation Council have resumed frozen negotiations on their free trade agreement and will conclude the pact later this year, both sides said on Wednesday.

Observers hailed the move, which will open an extremely rich market for China, as a "big breakthrough" made during the visit by President Xi Jinping to the Middle East.

Xi arrived in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, on Tuesday at the start of the first visit to the country by a Chinese head of state in seven years. He will also visit Egypt and Iran.

News of the breakthrough came after Xi met with GCC Secretary-General Abdul Latif bin Rashid Al Zayani on Tuesday in Riyadh.

Xi told Zayani that China is willing to be a long-term, stable and reliable energy market for the bloc. Zayani said all GCC members expect to raise the bloc's ties with China to the level of "special strategic partnership".

Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng said on Wednesday that the free trade agreement talks were restarted as the GCC's talks with another 16 countries remain frozen, reflecting the importance the regional bloc attaches to Beijing.

Gao added, "We believe this is an important move for the GCC to further strengthen its strategic partnership with China, and also a key decision to further improve China's comprehensive cooperation with the GCC."

Li Guofu, head of the Middle East Department at the China Institute of International Studies, said the agreement, once signed, will open up to China a market of six rich countries, which mainly rely on imports.

The GCC is a political and economic union of six Gulf Arab states  Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Li said, "Chinese goods will be very competitive there, and will be transferred to neighboring regions through the bloc."

Li Shaoxian, a senior expert in Middle East studies at Ningxia University in Yinchuan, the Ningxia Hui autonomous region, said, "I expected President Xi's visit to push forward the FTA talks, but I didn't dare to hope they would restart immediately. ... It's a big surprise."

A news release issued by the Ministry of Commerce and the GCC Secretariat on Wednesday said the Chinese government and the GCC "resumed negotiations on Jan 16 and substantively concluded in principle the negotiations on trade in goods on Jan 19".

China and the GCC have decided to "accelerate the pace of negotiations" and hold the next round in the second half of February. They will also "conclude a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement within 2016".

Gao said the GCC is the largest source of China's oil imports and the second-largest market for construction projects for China. "That's why China and the GCC decided to start bilateral FTA talks in 2004," he said.
LONDON  Japan's Asahi Group Holdings and Thai Beverage have made it through to the final stages of an auction to buy SABMiller's Peroni and Grolsch beer brands, several sources with knowledge of the matter said on Thursday.

Private equity firms PAI Partners and Bain Capital have also moved to the next round of bidding, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

European buyout fund EQT emerged as the fifth bidder to be shortlisted by the seller, Anheuser-Busch InBev, two of the sources said.

Peroni and Grolsch are valued at more than 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion), but the two Asian brewers could offer up to 3 billion euros to snap up the assets, one of the sources said.

The sale, which the sources said A-B InBev wants to wrap up by the beginning of March, is aimed at easing antitrust approval for A-B InBev's $100 billion-plus takeover of SABMiller.

The Belgian brewer with operations in St. Louis faces paying SABMiller a $3 billion break-up fee if the deal fails.

Binding offers are expected in mid February, the sources said, with one adding that some of the parties have been given a chance to sweeten their offers by a deadline of next week.

Reuters reported on Jan. 15 that Spain's Damm and buyout funds KKR and BC Partners had submitted non-binding bids for the brands.

A-B InBev, SABMiller, Asahi, ThaiBev, PAI, Bain Capital and EQT declined to comment.

ASIA PREMIUM

The Asian suitors could justify paying a higher price, one source said, based on the cost benefits they would extract and the ability to use the brands to boost their international sales.

At 3 billion euros, Peroni and Grolsch would be valued at up to 15 times their combined earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of 180-200 million euros.

Nirgunan Tiruchelvam, a director in the research unit at Religare Capital Markets, estimated that Asian consumer companies would make a return on investment of about 8 percent from the acquisition of Peroni and Grolsch, while benefiting from the low cost of capital in Europe which is about 2 percent.

"You can borrow so cheaply in Europe that it would work in your favor," Tiruchelvam said.

Thai Beverage, also known as ThaiBev, is no stranger to multi-billion mergers after a $11 billion deal in 2013 to take control of Singapore-listed Fraser and Neave (F&N).

The Thai firm is held by Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, Thailand's second-richest man, and ranks as one of Southeast Asia's largest beverage companies.

Asahi is Japan's biggest brewer with 38 percent market share but it is not widely sold overseas.

Known for its Super Dry beer, Asahi is looking to access growth outside Japan, which has seen two decades of declining beer sales due to a shrinking population and the growing popularity of wine.

As part of the deal, bidders will also secure control of Britain's craft beer brand Meantime Brewing, which SABMiller acquired last year.
Updated at 5 p.m. with comment from spokesman Brad Dugard

One of the largest commercial real estate firms in St. Louis, Cushman & Wakefield, is paring its area workforce.

Company executives told employees Wednesday that human resources and accounting positions based in Maryland Heights would be handled by an outside firm, Accenture.

A company spokesman said Thursday morning that Cushman & Wakefield was not disclosing the number of affected employees.

Later Thursday, spokesman Brad Dugard said certain functions within the companys finance and human resources departments had been identified for further review. No direct employee impact will happen until later this year, the spokesman said in an email.

In September, New York-based Cushman & Wakefield was acquired by Chicago-based DTZ for $2 billion. The merged companies, which kept the Cushman name, had 43,000 employees companywide and $5 billion in revenue as of Sept. 2.

At the time of the acquisition, DTZs largest operational hub was based in the St. Louis area, with more than 800 employees in seven offices.

In todays increasingly competitive business environment, companies must be efficient and agile, Duncan Palmer, Cushman & Wakefields chief financial officer, said in the statement.

This program is about introducing world-class financial processes and controls through technology-based services, enabling us to innovate and make highly informed business decisions on behalf of our clients around the globe.

Cushman & Wakefields announcement follows recent news of a sizable layoff in St. Louis County. Earlier this month, Cincinnati-based retailer Macys said it would close this spring a call center in nearby Bridgeton that employs 750.

Tim Bryant of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report
CHICAGO  Monsanto Co. stepped up its defense of a widely used weed killer on Thursday by filing a lawsuit in California seeking to prevent glyphosate, the main ingredient in its Roundup herbicide, from being added to the states list of known carcinogens.

The Creve Coeur-based seed and agrochemicals company said it filed the suit against the states Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment and the agencys acting director, Lauren Zeise, in California state court, according to the filing seen by Reuters.

California law requires the state to keep a list of cancer-causing chemicals to inform residents of their risks.

OEHHA said in September that it planned to add glyphosate to the list after the World Health Organizations International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified it last March as a probable human carcinogen.

Monsanto has disputed the assessment, citing decades of studies deeming glyphosate safe, including a 2007 study by OEHHA that concluded the chemical was unlikely to cause cancer.

The IARC classification of glyphosate is inconsistent with the findings of regulatory bodies in the United States and around the world, and it is not a sound basis for any regulatory action, said Phil Miller, Monsantos vice president of regulatory affairs.

Monsantos lawsuit argues that listing glyphosate under Proposition 65, as the states law is known, based on IARCs classification cedes regulatory authority to an unelected, undemocratic, unaccountable, and foreign body that is not subject to oversight by any state or federal entity.

Monsanto argues that the lack of oversight violates the companys right to procedural due process under California and U.S. law.

A listing would also require Monsanto and others offering products containing glyphosate to provide a clear and reasonable warning to consumers that the chemical is known to cause cancer, damaging Monsantos reputation and violating its First Amendment rights, the company said.

An OEHHA spokesperson declined to comment, saying the agency had not seen the lawsuit.

Roundup is used by farmers around the world, generating Monsanto $4.8 billion in fiscal 2015 revenue.

Genetically modified seeds designed to tolerate glyphosate are immensely popular among corn and soybean growers.

But questions from environmentalists and other critics about the safety of the herbicide have dogged Monsanto for years.

Since IARCs classification last year, Monsanto has been named in numerous lawsuits accusing the company of having known for decades of the dangers of glyphosate.
A trader from an Atlanta suburb admitted to involvement in what U.S. authorities have called a more than $100 million international insider trading scheme that involved hacking into networks that distribute corporate news releases.

Igor Dubovoy, 28, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, according to U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman in New Jersey.

Dubovoy, of Alpharetta, Ga., became the second defendant to admit criminal wrongdoing related to the alleged theft from February 2010 to August 2015 of more than 150,000 press releases from Business Wire, MarketWired and PR Newswire.

The defendant entered his plea before U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo in Newark, N.J. He faces up to 20 years in prison, and according to his plea agreement agreed to make $3 million of restitution to the newswires.

Another trader from Alpharetta, Alexander Garkusha, pleaded guilty last month in Brooklyn, N.Y., federal court to the same charge as Dubovoy.

Seven other individuals, including accused hackers from Ukraine, also face criminal charges, and 34 defendants face related U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission civil charges.

Lawrence Lustberg, a lawyer for Dubovoy, declined to comment.

Authorities said traders would give hackers "shopping lists" of press releases they wanted to see in advance, and then made trades based on them in such companies as Caterpillar Inc., Home Depot Co. and Panera Bread Co.

Prosecutors said Dubovoy admitted to buying stolen press releases that he knew contained non-public earnings data for publicly traded companies, and that he made trades based on their contents after sending them to another trader to review.

Business Wire is a unit of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. PR Newswire is a unit of Britain's UBM Plc, which last month said it will sell the unit to Chicago-based Cision.

None of the newswires was accused of wrongdoing.

The case is U.S. v. Dubovoy, U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey, No. 15-cr-00390.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) meets with Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail in Cairo, Egypt, January 20, 2016. Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Cairo Wednesday for a state visit to Egypt, the second leg of his three-nation Middle East tour. (Xinhua/Zhang Duo)

CAIRO, Jan. 20 -- Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Wednesday that the Chinese government encourages and supports qualified enterprises to participate in large-scale projects in Egypt.

Xi made the remarks as he met with Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail at a hotel in downtown Cairo. The Chinese president arrived in Egypt Wednesday afternoon for a state visit.

"My visit to Egypt is to cement and deepen the China-Egypt relationship in an all-round way and advance practical cooperation between our two nations for new achievement," said the president.

"China and Egypt are true friends and good brothers," Xi said, adding that the establishment of a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2014 lifted bilateral ties to new height.

Noting that the China-Egypt relations face unprecedented opportunities and broad prospect, he proposed that the two sides make more efforts to link up their development strategies and step up cooperation within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, so as to turn their consensus into concrete results as soon as possible.

"China stands ready to boost cooperation with Egypt in infrastructure construction and continue pushing ahead industrial capacity cooperation," Xi said.

The president also suggested the two sides promote exchanges between their youths and encourage more tourists to visit each other's country.

Echoing Xi, Ismail said Egypt cherishes the traditional friendship with China and will bolster cooperation with China in various fields.

The prime minister said Egypt supports the Belt and Road Initiative and will play an active role in the cooperation within the framework, becoming a corridor connecting trade between China and Europe.

During the meeting, Xi and Ismail also agreed that the two countries should strengthen coordination in international affairs.

After their meeting, Xi and Ismail visited a China Science and Technology Exhibition, in which 15 Chinese enterprises participated.

Later on Wednesday, Xi met with 10 people awarded for their outstanding contribution to the China-Egypt friendship, including former UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali.

>>>Related:

Chinese president starts Egypt visit to synergize development plans

"My visit to Egypt is to cement and deepen the China-Egypt relationship in an all-round way, and advance practical cooperation between our two nations for new achievements," Xi said when meeting Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail shortly after his arrival in Cairo in the afternoon.
EDWARDSVILLE  Six months into the budget standoff, Illinois elected leaders have kept the public in the dark as to when they might start funding the grants and scholarships promised to college students.

On top of that, college employees face the aggravation of paying for health insurance but being turned away from doctors offices. The inability to agree on a budget means health care providers arent getting reimbursed by the state, and, therefore have begun refusing patients who cant pay their full bill upfront.

The uncertainty over scholarships and health care makes for an uneasy atmosphere on campuses where faculty, students and staff put on a brave face publicly and say they are optimistic everything will work out.

But privately, many of the same people are panicked and afraid over a political deadlock that has spilled out of the state Capitol and is now hurting them financially.

So far, some Illinois colleges and universities have stepped in to minimize the pain for students.

At Southern Illinois Universitys campuses in Carbondale and Edwardsville, administrators have agreed to pay low-income students the equivalent of what they would normally get from the state as part of the scholarship program known as MAP  the Monetary Award Program.

SIU President Randy Dunn called it the right thing to do.

We really had no choice, he said. If we were to turn our backs on those students it would be devastating for them.

Across both campuses, roughly 5,000 students are expected to receive MAP each semester at a cost of roughly $19 million for the 2015-16 school year.

To pay for it, Dunn said SIU had delayed payments to certain vendors, cut back on discretionary spending, including travel and purchasing, and raided certain reserve accounts, including one set aside to pay claims stemming from lawsuits.

If the budget stalemate continues past the spring semester, several SIU administrators said it would be hard to see either campus continuing to pick up the states obligation much longer.

And any future budget deal should include retroactive payments to reimburse schools for MAP funding, or Dunn said schools such as SIU would have to look hard at requiring students to set up payment plans to pay the university back.

That would be a worst-case scenario, because MAP awards are given by the state as grants, not loans. Dunn said he understood that would be an extreme hardship for the states poorest students.

Each year, MAP provides assistance to about 130,000 students.

And while many schools have stepped up in the states absence and covered the cost of MAP for students, a number have said they cant continue to do so.

An informal survey conducted by the Illinois Student Assistance Commission, in which 84 of 133 schools responded, showed that 49 percent of schools that paid for MAP last semester are not planning to pay it during the current semester.

If there is anger over the situation students at different schools find themselves in, Dunn says it should be directed to the state of Illinois which basically abandoned our students.

The lack of a budget has been just as nerve-wracking for faculty.

Laura Pawlow, a professor of psychology at SIUE, has twin daughters, 7, one of whom suffered a series of strokes as an infant. Because of that, her daughter regularly sees multiple health care providers.

Pawlow said her family got a distressing letter in October from their longtime pediatrician informing them they would either have to start paying their full bill upfront, or find a new doctor.

Pawlow said she didnt blame her daughters pediatrician for sending the letter. The big practices can absorb not being reimbursed by the state; a local, private practice cant, she said.

Whats frustrating is that my health insurance is still coming out of my paycheck, she said. Our state has to get it together.

Pawlows colleague, Jeffrey Sabby, an associate professor of physics, said what was most distressing was the lack of urgency he sees from the governor and the Legislature, coupled with a lack of media attention.

Its like the public doesnt really know about whats going on in higher education in this state, he said. We are the ones educating the future generation of Illinois and its like no one cares about us.

Legislators reached this week disputed that and said they did care. None, however, offered any optimism over when the budget impasse might end.

Gov. Bruce Rauner, a Republican, has been fighting with the Democrat-controlled Legislature over state finances and business policy.

Democratic leaders are calling for a tax increase. Rauner says hell consider a tax increase, but only if the Legislature will pass a significant portion of his list of pro-business policy changes, including property tax freezes, stricter workers compensation laws and limits on the power of unions.

Democrats have argued that Rauners demands are not related to the budget. What it boils down to is a six-month standoff with no end in sight.

This week, Sen. Dave Luechtefeld, R-Okawville, said he didnt see either side blinking anytime soon.

Rauners office did not return a request for comment.
Washington University announced Thursday that it will likely reach its $2.2 billion fundraising goal earlier than the July 2018 target date.

As of December, the Leading Together: The Campaign for Washington University fundraising drive had raised $2.12 billion, drawing dollars from more than 120,000 alumni, parents and friends of the university.

The university is scheduled to announce a new goal  expected to be in the neighborhood of $2.5 billion  on Friday.

In an email to university stakeholders, Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton said the new goal will enable the university to have even greater impact on our community, our nation and our global society.

Wrighton said WashU would need a total of $4 billion to fully accomplish the university's plans for the future.

Over the next 30 months, Wrighton said the university will increase contributions to preparing the leaders of tomorrow, advancing human health, inspiring innovation and entrepreneurship and enhancing the quality of life for all, Wrighton said.
JEFFERSON CITY  In his final State of the State address, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon is highlighting milestones during his tenure and outlining priorities for his final year in office.

Nixon, a Democrat, is giving the address to a Republican-led Legislature, and is presenting his proposed budget for the 2017 fiscal year, which begins in July. You can watch the address here.

Nixon reminded the entire Legislature, gathered in the House chamber, of his first State of the State speech in 2009, where he outlined five goals: job creation, fiscal responsibility, college affordability, expanding healthcare and ethics reform.

He said Missouri has "taken huge strides" on four of the five goals  all except ethics reform.

"The fifth goal I set was ethics reform. Lets get real ethics reform on my desk this session so I can sign it into law," Nixon said. "Honest, transparent and accountable state government starts with remembering what were here to do, and who were here to serve."

Nixon listed the economic milestones the state has crossed during his time as governor.

"In 09, Missouris unemployment rate spiked to nearly 10 percent; today, its down to only 4.4 percent," Nixon said. "Thats lower than the national average, and the lowest its been in 15 years."

He also said Missouri's automotive manufacturing sector is thriving and that the state is attractive for entrepreneurs.

"GDP is up, home prices have rebounded, and personal income continues to rise," he said. "The state of our state is strong  and getting stronger each day. But we cant let up."

Nixon also said that he's been committed to fiscal responsibility as governor  lowering the state's debt, keeping a AAA credit rating and shrinking the state's workforce.

"In an election year like this, there are folks out there who claim the size of government has grown, and that spending is out of control," Nixon said. "Maybe thats true in Washington. But not here in the Show-Me State."

Nixon also said that during the Great Recession, the state funded education as best it could. In this year's budget, Nixon proposed a "record funding" increase of $150 million for local public schools.

Nixon also said that the budget he proposed Wednesday would invest $400 million more in the K-12 foundation formula than when he became governor.

"These investments in our future are possible because over the last seven years  even in the throes of the Great Recession  we kept our fiscal house in order and made smart decisions about our priorities, like education," he said.

Nixon said the state is number one in the country for holding down tuition increases. He said that under his budget, public college students next fall wouldn't see a tuition increase.

"My budget includes an additional $56 million in performance funding," Nixon said. "And with this historic investment, our public colleges and universities will once again freeze tuition for Missouri undergraduates this fall. They wont pay a penny more."

He also proposed expanding the state's A+ scholarship program to keep up with increasing demand.

Nixon said that the state had made progress on his fourth goal  expanding healthcare  but said the state needs to expand Medicaid, something the Republican-led Legislature has been adamantly opposed to.

"More than 30 states already have expanded Medicaid, including ten with Republican legislatures," Nixon said. "This should be the year that we find a way forward, with a Missouri solution that rewards work, demands personal responsibility, brings our tax dollars home, and gives health care to 300,000 working Missourians."

Ethics reform was Nixon's fifth goal he laid out in 2009. He implored lawmakers to pass "real ethics reform" this session. He thanked Speaker of the House Todd Richardson, R-Poplar Bluff, for making ethics reform a priority this year.

"The people of Missouri are nobodys fools," Nixon said. "They understand that a donor who writes you a fat check expects something in return."

Without bringing up last year's contentious right-to-work debate, Nixon also mentioned the state's union autoworkers, who he said are thriving right now because of high demand.

"Next time you see one of those shiny new Colorados or F-150s, remember who built them: skilled union workers, making good union wages, and keeping the American dream alive right here in the Show-Me State," he said.
JEFFERSON CITY  Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, spent his eighth and final State of the State address Wednesday highlighting his accomplishments while in office and calling for increased education and mental health spending.

When he took office in 2009, the economy was in shambles: Unemployment was high, business creation was low and the auto industry was on life support, Nixon said Wednesday.

But that has changed, he said, and his $27.3 billion operating budget proposal for the 2017 budget year that begins July 1 will continue to move the state forward.

Nixons proposal would increase the Foundation Formula, which funds K-12 public schools, by $85 million. Though that would leave it $425 million short of being fully funded, Brent Ghan with the Missouri School Boards Association said the organization was pleased with Nixons proposed increase given the budget constraints facing the state.

Nixons budget also would dump an additional $55.6 million into public higher education institutions based on performance funding. This increase would allow those institutions to freeze tuition  the fourth time since Nixon took office.

One of Nixons goals when he became governor was to make college better and more affordable, because education is the key to our future, he said. Today, Missouri is No. 1 in the country for keeping a lid on tuition increases, and under my budget well stay No. 1 this year.

His proposal also includes $13.9 million more to keep the waiting list for in-home Medicaid services for developmentally disabled people at zero.

When I took office, Missourians with developmental disabilities had to wait years for in-home Medicaid services, Nixon said. Under my budget, it will stay at zero.

The budget also would include $54.1 million for a 2 percent pay raise for state employees starting July 1, but would decrease the state workforce by 48 jobs. That workforce reduction would bring the total number of positions cut while Nixon was governor to more than 5,000, which he said was about the size of my hometown of De Soto, or all of Putnam County.

House Speaker Todd Richardson, R-Poplar Bluff, said he was pleased the governor was following the lead of the House, which had suggested worker raises last year.

Im happy to see he heeded that call, Richardson said.

But Nixons ability to accomplish these goals is questionable at best given that lawmakers have to approve the budget before any of his ideas can go into effect. Lawmakers have until May 6 to agree on a budget.

Republicans have a tight grip on the Legislature, wielding solid veto-proof majorities  they control 117 seats in the House and 24 in the Senate.

Dave Robertson, political science department chairman at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, said the composition of the Legislature would make it very difficult for Nixon to accomplish anything, especially because of the approaching elections.

Lawmakers will be inclined not to provide him with policy successes he can claim, Robertson said.

Nixon also hasnt cultivated many friendships in his eight years as governor, with legislators lambasting him for failing to communicate with them.

Rep. Paul Curtman, R-Union, noted that problem Wednesday on Twitter: Tonight marks the annual event where (Nixon) allows the (Legislature) to see him before disappearing for another year.

Nixon based his budget proposal for next year on projections that state general revenue will grow 4.1 percent, or $9.3 billion, in the coming budget year. His office anticipates that revenue will grow 2.8 percent, or $8.9 billion, in the current year. Legislative budget leaders have not released their projections.

State Budget Director Dan Haug said Wednesday that Nixon and legislative budget leaders basically agreed on the revenue growth rates but that there is still some discussion over what the process would be if those numbers needed to be revised at some point.

General revenue comes mainly from state income and sales taxes and is the main pot of money that legislators control. The rest of the budget comes from federal and earmarked funds.

In his speech Wednesday, Nixon urged lawmakers to pass comprehensive ethics reform, saying the state has got to clean up its act.

Missouri is the only state with no campaign contribution limits, no lobbyist gift limits and no laws governing when a lawmaker can become a lobbyist.

After a year of scandal that led to the resignations of two lawmakers because of inappropriate dealings with interns, Republicans leaders have been moving at break-neck speed to pass an ethics reform package. The House already has approved several ethics bills and sent them to the Senate.

Missourians know that if a lobbyist showers you with gifts, or takes you to the country club for cocktails and the surf-and-turf, hes going to lean on you before dessert, Nixon said. They know its wrong for legislators to launder campaign contributions by paying each other for political advice.

Campaign contribution limits, however, are unlikely to be part of the discussion.

Senate Majority Leader Mike Kehoe, R-Jefferson City, said the Senate and the House had taken steps to address the Capitol culture by acting on legislation to rein in lawmakers and lobbyists.

We are moving things forward, Kehoe said.

Nixons speech also highlighted a need to fix Missouris transportation budget woes. Because of funding shortfalls, the state Department of Transportation has outlined ways it would need to pare back on construction and maintenance.

Nixon and numerous lawmakers have suggested increasing the states 17-cents-per-gallon gas tax, in place since 1996. Richardson, however, is not optimistic such a measure will make it through the Legislature and has said the House will try to find other revenue streams in the budget.

Ive been clear about my position: If you use the roads, you should help pay for them, Nixon said. What I dont support is taking money that should go to schools, law enforcement and mental health, and using it to patch potholes.

Senate Minority Leader Joe Keaveny, D-St. Louis, said many of his constituents wouldnt mind paying more for gas if it meant better roads and bridges  especially with current low gas prices.

If they have good roads and good bridges, theyre willing to pay for that, he said. I think we need to send that message throughout the state.

Nixon also called for Medicaid expansion, saying that inaction has real consequences.

Its time to stop playing politics with peoples lives, Nixon said. Do the right thing and give them access to health care.

Under the Affordable Care Act, Congress offered states federal money to add working-age adults who make up to 138 percent of the poverty level, which is about $16,200 for a single person, to Medicaid rolls.

Nixons administration estimates that 300,000 Missourians could gain coverage under the expansion. The federal government would pick up the full tab for the new participants through 2016, when the federal share gradually would begin dropping to 90 percent. Some form of expansion has been adopted in about 30 states.

But Republican leaders have said for years that expansion is a nonstarter in Missouri.

Nixon is still withholding $46.1 million of general revenue he slashed in October from the current years budget. The cuts were necessary, he said, because the state did not receive $50 million in tobacco settlement funds lawmakers had banked on in the budget.

Richardson has said lawmakers could exercise a new constitutional power by overriding Nixons withholds with a two-thirds majority in each chamber.

The budget proposal assumes the state will lose some general revenue because of a tax cut passed by lawmakers in 2014, which Haug said would probably begin going into effect Jan. 1.

Kurt Erickson and Jack Suntrup of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
JEFFERSON CITY The departure of the St. Louis Rams means state lawmakers and Gov. Jay Nixon will have about $10 million less to work with when it comes to crafting a state budget.

Although Nixons budget office contends revenue growth in other areas of state government will help Missouri absorb the tax loss, the money represents one more example of the financial implications of the team leaving for a new stadium in Los Angeles.

Documents released Wednesday as part of Nixons spending plan for the fiscal year beginning July 1 outline the hit on state coffers.

The reductions reflect the anticipated loss of athletes and entertainers tax due to the relocation of the St. Louis Rams, the proposal notes.

Dan Haug, Nixons acting budget chief, said the decrease will not interfere with plans to continue paying debt service and upkeep payments worth $12 million a year on the Edward Jones Dome. Those payments are part of a deal that originally helped bring the team to St. Louis.
Updated at 2:18 p.m. with details from the Thursday votes.

JEFFERSON CITY  The Missouri House gave final approval on Thursday to two measures requiring that voters show photo identification before casting a ballot.

The first measure, a joint resolution sponsored by Rep. Tony Dugger, R-Hartville, would ask voters this year to amend the state constitution to require photo identification. That measure passed the House 116-40.

Were sending this to the voters to let the voters decide this issue, Dugger said.

The second measure is a bill that dictates how the amendment would be enforced. To go into effect, the bill would have to be signed by Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat. If he vetoes the bill, the Legislature would have to override Nixon. The bill passed with enough support to override a potential veto.

Rep. Judy Morgan, D-Kansas City, said that voter photo identification proposals have been debated every year that she has been in the House. Republican proponents had yet to provide evidence that voter impersonation fraud is a problem worth solving, she said.

"That's why I've voted against these bills in the past, and that's why I'm voting against it today," she said.

Rep. Justin Alferman, R-Hermann and sponsor of the bill, said that ensuring integrity at the polls is the intent.

"Elections are the purest form of participation in the political process that we have in Missouri," Alferman said. "We need to make sure our elections are held to the highest standards."

The bill carves out some exemptions. People with physical or mental disabilities, people born before 1946 and people with religious beliefs against photo identification would not be required to show photo ID.

In addition, the Legislature would have to appropriate funds so that election authorities could pay for the cost of obtaining an ID or source documents such as a birth certificate.

Democrats cite figures from Secretary of State Jason Kander's office stating more than 250,000 registered voters don't have photo IDs. Kander is a Democrat.

The estimated cost to implement to bill is based on those numbers. The bill would cost an estimated $10.7 million during its first year of implementation, and an additional $6.5 million the following two years, according to the Office of Administration.

Rep. Mike Colona, D-St. Louis, took issue with the expense.

"Where's the money going to come from?" Colona said on the House floor. "Do you want to take it from education? Do you want to take it from mental health? ... Do you want to take it away from the Department of Conservation?"

Alferman disputed the fiscal note because the cost of the bill was based on a 2009 count of registered voters without an ID, which he considered outdated.

"The argument that this bill is going to cost $10.7 million is false," Alferman said.

Rep. Stacey Newman, D-Richmond Heights, took issue with the language of the appropriation requirement. While it's true that the state would have to appropriate funds to enforce photo ID, the bill language doesn't state how much lawmakers would have to appropriate.

"It doesn't say in the bill it has to appropriate all the funds necessary," she said. "You can appropriate $10 and say you appropriated money."

Other Democrats wondered why the Republicans want to amend the state constitution to put the bill into effect. In 2006, then-Gov. Matt Blunt signed a voter identification bill, but the state Supreme Court struck the bill down, saying it disenfranchised voters.

Newman said after the vote that if the voter ID requirement was enshrined in the state constitution, voters unable to obtain an ID within three days after the election wouldn't be able to vote, with no legal recourse.

"When the Supreme Court says it's unconstitutional, then their answer here is 'well, let's change the constitution,'" Newman said. "Voters (without ID) would be out of luck. It's a poll tax written into the constitution."

Other Democrats spoke of the bill's potential impacts on the black vote. Rep. Joe Adams, D-University City, said the bill is an attempt to suppress it.

"This is a piece of discrimination," he said. "It is Jim Crow in its worst form. And I would be embarrassed if I voted for this piece of legislation. I would be embarrassed to look at my children."

But Republicans have said that's not the intent.

I think that in this day and time that everyone has a photo ID, Dugger said Wednesday on the House floor. Those who dont, I think that we can provide a route in which that they would still be able to vote so that were not disenfranchising any voter in this state.

To go on the ballot, the Senate would still need to approve the resolution. Putting measures on the ballot doesn't require the governor's signature.

Alferman's proposal is House Bill 1631. Dugger's is House Joint Resolution 53.
The event is intended for those who were unable to make the trip for the Generation Life march. Instead, Carlson and the Office of Youth Ministry of the Archdiocese of St. Louis are planning to be at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis at 2:30 p.m.
On January 19, Chinese President Xi Jinping started a state visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Arab Republic of Egypt, and Islamic Republic of Iran at the invitation of Saudi Arabia King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al Sisi, and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

Xis Middle East tour marks China's first major diplomatic event in 2016, which is of great significance, and the world is paying much attention to it.

The New Year comes with wishful thinking. 2016 marks the first year of Chinas 13th Five-Year Plan and a crucial year for implementing the Belt and Road initiative.

Xis Middle East visit reinforces Beijings comprehensive diplomatic policy. The Middle East countries stand at a key junction along the Belt and Road and are China's important partners for building a community of energy cooperation.

Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran are major states in the Middle East. The three countries and China share common development expectations that are intersecting with the Chinese Dream and aligning their development strategies.

Middle East people and the Chinese expect Xis visit to be successful, acting as a bridge opening a new chapter for regional relations.
Strange as it may seem, the United States Congress has decided to work together. The issue is education, and the bill in question is the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, whose most recent iteration was the much-applauded and then much-derided No Child Left Behind.

After passing the House by a razor thin 215213 margin, it sailed through the Senate 8117. Then, for the first time in recent memory, House representatives and senators actually went to a conference committee (like you learned about on Schoolhouse Rock) and hammered out a compromise. That conference bill then easily passed the House 35964 and the Senate 8512. President Obama signed the bill into law on Dec. 10.

The key elements of the new law, now named the Every Student Succeeds Act, are as follows:

 In order to receive federal funding, states will have to test every student in Math and English Language Arts in grades 38 and once again in high school. The scores must be made public, disaggregated by subgroups like race and poverty status. But, in a departure from No Child Left Behind, states will no longer have to define adequate yearly progress for schools or punish schools according to a standardized federal list of remedies.

 States will have to develop accountability systems for schools, but they have wide latitude in what indicators they want to use in those systems and how they want to apply them. They will be required to intervene in the bottom 5 percent of schools and high schools that graduate less than two-thirds of their students, but they will have the freedom to determine what those interventions will be.

 The role of the secretary of education is greatly curtailed. Specific language in the bill prohibits him or her from pushing states to adopt particular standards (the Common Core is named specifically as an example), and given the freedom states have to create their own accountability system, the secretary will have little say over what standards are adopted.

This represents one of the most significant reductions of the federal role in education since the Reagan administration. It is clear that people across the country (and on both sides of the political aisle) realized that the federal government had overreached into Americas classrooms, and that it was time to return authority to people closer to the children being educated.

So what does this mean for Missouri?

First, the days of federally prescriptive testing and punishing of schools are over, as is federal pushing of policies like test-based teacher evaluations and the Common Core state standards. The state is now free to administer tests and must create a system to hold schools accountable, but the key details are left up to us. We can set the standards, we can pick the tests, and we can decide how to use them.

This means we have more control over our education policy than we have had in almost 15 years. This is a great opportunity, but also a tremendous responsibility. No longer can we blame poor policy on Uncle Sam  we get to decide, but we also have to live with our decisions.

I hope this ushers in a new age of experimentation, customization, improved performance and real accountability for families and communities. If it does not, the bill is slated to be up for reauthorization in 2020, and believe me, Uncle Sam will come calling.

Michael Q. McShane is director of education policy at the Show-Me Institute.
Actress-turned animal rights activist Pamela Anderson has caused a stir in France by speaking out against foie gras, the fatty duck and goose liver delicacy which producers say is an integral part of French cuisine.

The former 'Baywatch' star spoke in France's Parliament at the invitation of a Green Party politician who's spearheading a bid to ban "gavage," a process where food is pumped into the birds' stomachs to engorge the liver.

Anderson, who is known for her risque methods of drawing attention to wildlife conservation, urged legislators to "evolve beyond barbarism and ignorance" and ban the practice.

Foie gras production employs 100,000 people in France, according to industry figures.
BEIJING, Jan. 21 -- Chinese President Xi Jinping's ongoing visit to the Mideast marks a milestone in building a "community of common destiny" between China and the Arab world.

The two civilizations covered themselves in glory in ancient times and are now on a path of modernization, sharing similar problems as well a common destiny that they can become mutually prosperous through deeper cooperation.

The history of China-Arab relations dates back to more than two thousand years ago.

Situated in the center of Eurasia, Arabs acted as intermediary agents between China and Europe on the ancient Silk Road. Through this conduit, Westerners learned about diverse cultures very different from their own.

But in modern history, both Chinese and Arabs suffered Western colonial aggression, and later achieved hard-won independence -- shared experience lending strength to their bilateral ties.

There is now nobody in China or the Arab world that does not want to see a revival of their former glory after a long period of decline. China is aiming for a "great rejuvenation," and the Arab world also longs for better economy, society and more global influence.

Therefore, development is the top priority of both China and the Arab world, and fortunately the two sides have many complementary characteristics. China has funds and technology to build infrastructure, and Arab countries have energy resources, a big market and industries that need to be upgraded and diversified.

Development will strengthen China-Arab relations in all respects and achieve a win-win deal for the two sides. With this as the top priority, the two civilizations can go far.

Xi has stressed that the world is a community of shared destiny and that no country can address global issues on its own. In terms of their shared challenges China and the Arab world face terrorist threats.

In its Arab Policy Paper issued before Xi's tour, China said it is ready to strengthen anti-terrorist cooperation with Arab states, including policy dialogue, information exchange and personnel training.

Other common challenges for the two sides include climate change and non-traditional security threats such as pirates.

Addressing these challenges requires closer ties between China and the Arab states, and the community of common destiny can help promote new ideas for the two sides to advance cooperation.
LONDON MARKET CLOSE: Stocks pull back as pressure on BoE to hike rates

Wednesday, October 19, 2022 - 17:20

The optimism in equity markets in London faded on Wednesday, with stocks pulled back as consumer inflation in the UK was hotter than expected.

The FTSE 100 index closed down 11.75 points, or 0.2%, at 6,924.99. The FTSE 250 ended down a heftier 281.76 points, or 1.6%, at 17,247.55. The AIM All-Share lost 9.51 points, or 1.2%, at 785.97.

The Cboe UK 100 closed 0.2% lower at 692.60, the Cboe UK 250 fell 1.5% to 14,806.44, and the Cboe Small Companies closed 0.7% lower at 12,369.96.

In European equities on Wednesday afternoon, the CAC 40 in Paris lost 0.4%, and the DAX 40 in Frankfurt gave back 0.2%.

The pound fell to $1.1242 Wednesday evening from $1.1291 late Tuesday.

New data showed consumer inflation in the UK was shoved back into double digits in September, which turns the spotlight firmly onto the Bank of England.

The consumer price index rose by 10.1% in September from a year before, according to the Office for National Statistics. The inflation rate picked up from 9.9% in August and returned to the same rate as recorded in July.

The latest figure came in marginally hotter-than-expected, with a reading of 10% expected, according to FXStreet.

AJ Bell's Danni Hewson said stretching household budgets to cover the "basic necessities of life has become harder and harder".

"Cutbacks have already been made. Big name brands ditched for value lines in the weekly food shop, thermostats have been dialled down, non-essential journeys put off or abandoned altogether," she continued.

"The fact that food and energy costs were the main drivers for September
BEIJING, Jan. 20 -- For far too long, some Middle East countries have been persistently haunted by turbulence and bloodshed -- civil wars in Syria and Yemen, the fight against the Islamic State (IS), and the great exodus of refugees.

Middle East countries, which are currently undergoing reform and change, urgently need guaranteed political stability and dynamic economic growth.

Experts believe that as a main driver of the world economy with its robust growth, China could share some successful development experience and provide real opportunities for win-win cooperation with its partners in the Middle East.

CHINA OPPORTUNITIES

Chinese achievements and the fruits of cooperation with the Middle East could provide local people with another choice, with benefits and a promising future, said Liu Baolai, former Chinese Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.

The past decades have witnessed China's robust economic growth, attracting the attention of the Middle East countries, mostly developing nations sharing similar development pursuits and tasks with Beijing.

Ihab al-Desoky, head of the economic department at Sadat Academy in Egypt, said China, with its stable economic policy and rapid growth, has created an excellent model by using its huge population as power for development rather than a source for pressure.

Xue Qingguo, head of the Arab school of the Beijing Foreign Studies University, suggested three things that Middle East countries could learn from China: first, explore a development path that suits the domestic situation of each individual country; second, settle relations properly using stability, reform and development as guidelines; and third, overcome divergences for the greater good of the countries and their peoples.

"The Middle East is in bad need of cooperation on infrastructure construction and capacity building, which China stands ready to provide. Meanwhile, the region's energy and market could also drive Beijing's economic growth," Xue said.

The huge market and capital, high-quality talent training mechanism and mature systems of attracting foreign investment have proved that China can definitely benefit its partners of cooperation, said Liu.

"The boundless potential in industry, energy, project contracting, technology and tourism show the Middle East in bad need of cooperation with China," he said.

Yao Kuangyi, former Chinese Ambassador to Turkey, shared similar views with Liu. He stressed China had established cooperation in production capacity with the Middle East countries years ago, which has built a solid foundation for future development.

"China and Sudan launched cooperation projects on oil exploitation as early as 1995, which created more than 80,000 job opportunities for local people," he said.

China-Sudan oil development projects, he said, have set a good example of sincere cooperation characterized by mutual benefit, paving the way for production capacity cooperation with other Middle East countries.

PROSPECTS FOR COMMON DEVELOPMENT

Chinese President Xi Jinping's first overseas visit in 2016 takes him to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iran, showing the strategic significance that Beijing attaches to the region.

During Xi's highly anticipated trip, which is the first one by a top Chinese leader in more than five years since the start of the region's turmoil, China's proposed "Belt and Road" initiative will be the subject of discussion.

Khald Abdle Khaliq, expert with Egypt's Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, is among many who believed Xi's visit could result in some agreements for the implementation of the development strategy.

Referring to the "Belt and Road" initiative, he said it was warmly welcomed by the Middle East countries and that Saudi Arabia and Egypt had expressed their willingness to restructure their ports and roads in order to join that huge project.

Furthermore, the initiative could solve the chronic problem of high unemployment by providing numerous job opportunities in the region, creating a strong base for China-Arab cooperation and thus paving the way for boosting the already strong mutual ties and cooperation, he said.

Yao agreed with the idea that Xi's trip will further boost the "Belt and Road" initiative, saying that "infrastructure construction, high-end manufacturing, labor-intensive industries and the financial sector are four major aspects where the two sides are carrying out open and equal cooperation."

The main projects involve high-speed rails, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, satellites, nuclear power, new energies, and the Silk Road Fund, he added.

However, the turmoil in the region has worsened in the past year, with the direct and indirect aftermath spreading to a growing number of countries. Many doubted whether the region can provide a secure environment for bilateral cooperation.

Zhu Weilie, a Middle East expert with the Shanghai International Studies University, called on the region to reduce security risks and come up with a long-term political settlement so as to end the conflicts and wars as soon as possible.

His suggestion is in line with China's just-published Arab Policy Paper, issued ahead of Xi's Mideast tour, which reiterates Beijing's commitment to boosting peace and stability in the region and its political solution to regional hotspot issues. (Xinhua reporters Zhong Ya, Zhang Xu and Deng Xianlai in Beijing, Liu Chang and Ma Yan in Cairo, Egypt, also contributed to the story.)
Illustration by Zhang Nan

President Xi Jinpings trip to the three Middle Eastern countries - Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iran - is the first in years for top Chinese leader personally getting involved in state diplomacy in this region. The trip is significant both for China and the regional countries in substantial terms in the areas of energy, security and economic matters.

For one thing, the tree countries are all heavyweights in the volatile region and play critical roles in the stability in the Middle East. Egypt is traditionally the biggest player in the Arab world and remains a force to reckon with despite the volatility following the Arab Spring revolution three years ago. Saudi Arabia is the Sunni leader in the Islamic world and currently leading a coalition of muslim countries fighting terrorism. Iran, as the leader of the Shiite community, has a population of nearly seventy million with a potentially tremendous market and is a major player both in fighting the IS terror organization and the Syria crisis.

The Chinese leaders tour also came at a critical juncture. The IS is spreading its terror to Europe and Asia such as France and Indonesia, despite the intensification of US air raids and the participation of Russian forces. Saudi Arabia and Iran recently have been at a diplomatic war and literally severing their ties, partly due to long-term religious differences and political distrust. At the same time, Iran is enjoying newly found fresh air following the lifting of international sanctions.

On a bilateral level, the significance of President Xis visit is mutual - theres every reason for Beijing to further its ties with the Middle East and the regional countries are also warmly welcoming a stronger Chinese presence in this region.

China relies on overseas market for 60% of its annual oil consumption and the Middle East is the major source of its energy import. As China works to reduce its reliance on coal to against increasingly intolerable air pollutions, the consumption of oil and gas is expected to increase. A reliable relationship with oil-producing countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran is naturally a necessity.

China also needs to work with those countries in pushing for its grand initiative of One Belt One Road, which is to build road and economic links from China to Europe by focusing on infrastructure investment and manufacturing capacity building. China is handling with an overcapacity in its manufacturing sector, which can potentially be exported to developing countries who desperately need to strengthen such a sector.

Xis trip to Iran is especially well-timed, right after the removal of economic sanctions on Iran by the international community over its controversial nuclear program. The Presidents direct engagement with Iranian leaders will give China leg up in doing business in this investment-hunger country. China is the largest trading partner of Tehran and is now also the first country which sends its top leader to the new land of opportunities.

For regional countries, they have been calling for a greater Chinese role in the region, given China rapidly becoming the second largest economy and the largest trading nation of goods in the world. Saudi Arabia is even looking at a prospect that, as the US reduces its oil import with more and more self-reliance, China will inevitably become the largest importer of Saudi oil products. Strengthening the all-round relationship with China is completely in the national interests of Saudi Arabia. No wonder the local media is urging the country to learn from their rivals including Israel and Iran to educate more Chinese-speaking researchers and establish China study centers to better understand China.

Egypt, following years of chaos, is struggling to secure financial assistance and investment, something few countries but China can offer. Egyptian Ambassador to Beijing Madgy Amer said the two Beijing and Cairo will sign deals worth at least 1.7 billions of US dollars to support Egypts dwindling foreign reserve and financial lending ability to businesses.

Many observers have admitted that China enjoys strong soft power in the Middle East thanks to Chinese non-intervention policy and respect for individual countries to explore their own way of development. Besides, China emphases stability above almost everything, refusing to engage itself in games of playing one against another in a region of multiple players.

Therere calls for China to play a larger role, even a military one, in maintaining the regional order and fighting terrorism. That thinking is not entirely unjustifiable. For example, China is the largest investor in Iraq but theres little it can do when the country is savaged by the IS and its interests under threat. But it is a demonstration of habitual mentality which stresses very much the employment of military power, something China loathes.

China will certainly encourage countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran to seek reconciliation in stead of confrontation, as thats the common interest for every nation including China as well as the regional rivals. Stability is necessary for economic growth, which in turn boosts stability. Given time, the Chinese approach of diplomacy and negotiation could prove more impactful than bombing and regime changes.
Global supply chains are under increased scrutiny and facing mounting pressure to prove they are demonstrating social responsibility.

The United States federal government recently held the President's Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons annual meeting where the group outlined the steps that have been taken to minimize human trafficking cases. Last month, in the wake of unfair labor conditions in the Thailand fishing industry being uncovered, Rep. Carolyn Maloney introduced a bill requesting Congress amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and require businesses to publicly release the actions taken to remove all occurrences of forced labor from supply chains.

And while lawmakers are doing what they can to address the issue of modern slavery, their efforts are of little use if the companies do not comply with their regulations.

Anti-Slavery non-compliance

Earlier this week, Amnesty International revealed that a number of major technology companies, including Samsung and Apple Inc., are failing to cooperate with supply chain inspections and allegedly equipping products with batteries that contain cobalt sourced from child-labor mines in the southern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Similarity, a recent survey conducted by the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply found that many supply chain managers in the United Kingdom are failing to adhere to the Modern Slavery Act 2015, a new policy created to address the problem of forced labor and trafficking.

The Act, which was adopted in March of last year, forces global companies generating more than $51 million to disclose what measures have been taken to eliminate modern slavery throughout supply chain operations, according to the source. The CIPS research showed that most business managers did not feel they would be able to satisfy the new policy.

In its announcement, the CIPS found 19 percent, or one in five, supply chain leaders are unfamiliar with the new requirements and 27 percent aren't clear on what specific steps should to be taken. Furthermore, 38 percent don't know when the first public disclosure statement should be released and 40 percent "have not even read the government guidance."

Unclear and ineffective government guidance

An additional issue seems to be, judging by what the supply chain managers indicated in the study's findings, a lack of definitive direction on the policies. The source added that the majority of the executives agreed they were unsure about what should be done if modern slavery was found in the company's operations which is why, perhaps, one in every four managers was unable to identify a solid measure taken to comply with the Act.

"Our findings suggest that good intent is not yet translating into action," CIPS Group CEO David Noble said in the statement. "With little motivation and no sanctions to speak of, this requirement rests on goodwill and general awareness. Consumers, communities and businesses deserve better."

Although there are currently no existing penalties for noncompliance, the survey found that 68 percent of respondents agreed that failing to adhere to the policies should result in financial and legal sanctions.

Erica Phillips, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, pointed out that the U.K. law resembles one passed in California in 2010, which was aimed at retail and manufacturing companies accumulating more than $100 million. However, a study conducted by KnowTheChain found that 47 percent of these businesses were failing to properly release the necessary information, according to Phillips.

The research conducted by the CIPS showed that supply chain managers are also insufficient at providing workers with information on modern slavery. Less than 28 percent of companies have trained team members and partners on the subject. This is a problem, considering 25 percent of the procurement executives attributed non-compliance issues with "lack of skills."

"The Modern Slavery reporting requirement means that businesses can no longer afford to ignore slavery issues, morally and commercially," Noble explained. "If they are unable to convincingly outline the steps they are taking to eradicate human exploitation from their supply chain, they risk damaging both their reputation and their bottom line."

The source also added that the research and data gathered by the CIPS suggests that more supply chain managers would be likely to take action if, rather than relying on "goodwill and general awareness," lawmakers enforced penalties and sanctions against those that do not comply with the policy.
In China the 2015 military reforms were difficult for the mass media to report on because the more important changes had to do many administrative things, like who reports to who. It is much easier to report on stuff like the movement, disbanding or creation of units but the 2015 reforms had little of that. Most of the changes had to do with support units and headquarters. All these changes were important because they streamlined the chain of command (the number of people an order has to get through before it reaches the unit that must act). The need for these reforms arose because most of the changes in the military since the 1980s had to do with upgrading weapons and equipment. This was very much needed because in the 1980s most of Chinese troops were equipped with gear several decades behind what Western forces had. But now that the equipment upgrade has largely been accomplished, and new generations of gear are appearing. It was now time to upgrade command and control systems as well as how intelligence is collected, analyzed and distributed. That meant tinkering with the chain of command and related items.

Until now most of the organizational methods of the Chinese military were based on the system established in the 1950s to make the military more capable of defending China. Back then the military was mainly the PLA (Peoples Liberation Army) which was largely infantry with some supporting services like artillery, aircraft and some coastal and riverine warships. By the 1960s China had nukes, but it was still the same old PLA and the defensive strategy was still based on widespread and persistent guerilla war to wear down and swallow an invader. That meant command and control was still the traditional East Asian model. That is, it was strictly top down. Subordinates kept silent and simply followed orders from above. There was little opportunity for subordinates to make suggestions.

Observing and studying Americans at war from 1991 to the present impressed Chinese military leaders. This led to many of the new reforms which implement a more "American" command style (subordinates that can talk back, with different opinions and interpretations of battlefield situations). The new reforms make this possible, as this flood of information is now handled by new, more efficient, communications systems and a less convoluted command structure. The new system enables subordinates to provide feedback that does not break any of the ancient taboos about embarrassing the boss, but does clearly spotlight rapidly developing bad news. Hey, it's just a bunch of stuff on a big flat screen display. The boss will know what to do.

But now the boss has many more obvious resources literally at his fingertips. Staffs and specialists are concentrated in fewer headquarters and report to fewer (often only one) boss. The high command now has fewer headquarters to deal with and everyone knows who can do what and when they are doing it. The PLA is no longer the army with a lot of support units (like the navy and air force) haphazardly attached and often developing their own plans in conflict with what the general staff is looking for. The Chinese military now consists of quite distinct army, navy, air force and rocket (ballistic missiles, some with nukes) forces.

The 1950s system decentralized the military so that the high command had control of some specialist units (and nuclear weapons) while the eleven military regions was each a separate armed force ready to fight on by itself if China were nuked and invaded. Since the 1980s everyone has received new equipment but were still organized to fight like it was the 1950s. It had become obvious that the older approach was truly obsolete and not making the most of modern transportation and communications technology.

The one support service that will benefit the most will be intelligence. China has a huge military intelligence capability but before the new reforms it was scattered and compartmentalized and the supreme command (general staff) had a difficult getting and organizing all the information everyone was collecting. Now the goal is to use computerized analysis and modern communications systems to quickly (often in real time) collect, analyze and present all (or most) of that information. For anyone expecting to fight China that is a scary prospect because the new reforms make the dragon is a lot more aware and faster to react.
The visit of President Xi Jinping to Saudi Arabia, Iran and Egypt will mark a major boost to Beijing's engagement in a region riven by war and political unrest.

China has historically been cautious about becoming embroiled in the politics of regions such as the Middle East, which lie beyond its immediate sphere of influence. It has pursued a firm anti-interventionist stance at the United Nations and other forums.

However, in the face of the destabilizing impact of the Syrian civil war and the rise of the so-called Islamic State (ISIS), it has moved to the forefront of international efforts to resolve the conflict.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi flew to New York for a one-day visit in mid-December specifically to participate in a rare unanimous vote of the United Nations Security Council that backed a roadmap for peace in Syria.

His speech to the Council lamented a conflict that had brought ruin to a "time-honoured civilization" and displaced large numbers of its people. "What is worse," said Wang, "it has become a hotbed where radical ideas breed and spread as well as a playground for terrorists, posing a grave threat to the peace and security of the region and beyond."

That amounted to a recognition that even China is not immune to the spillover of unrest in the Middle East. The previous month, President Xi made his first public reference to ISIS when he condemned the group's murder of Chinese captive Fan Jinghui.

"Terrorism is the common enemy of humanity," Xi said in a statement issued at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Manila. "China resolutely opposes terrorism in any form and resolutely fights against violent, terrorist, criminal activities that challenge the bottom line of human civilization."

Beijing's stance on Syria was spelled out in a joint statement issued this month following talks between Foreign Minister Wang and Philip Hammond, the visiting British foreign minister. The two sides agreed to "advance counter terrorism and a political settlement in parallel. Both our countries face threats from terrorism, and have a shared interest in defeating all terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq."

President Xi's visit will nevertheless underline China's new readiness to become engaged in high-level diplomacy in a region in which the U.S., Russia and others are already active.

His decision to visit Egypt is uncontroversial. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the Egyptian president, has made two visits to China since December 2014 during which a number of economic agreements were finalized.

The focus will be on the Chinese leader's visits to Saudi Arabia and Iran, rival regional powers that are locked in a bitter dispute after Riyadh executed a senior Shia cleric and demonstrators in Tehran retaliated by storming the Saudi embassy.

Xi can be expected, privately at least, to support the efforts of other world leaders to try to cool the hostility between the two sides at a time when consensus is required to confront ISIS.

Foreign minister Wang assured the Security Council in December that "China neither has nor does it pursue self-serving interests on the Syrian issue." Beijing nevertheless has an interest in peace and stability in the Middle East.

Chinese oil companies operate in potentially vulnerable areas of Iraq and also did so in Syria before the war there shut them down.

China is also a major buyer of Saudi and Iranian oil, and Iran is currently pressing to increase its crude exports to China and elsewhere ahead of the lifting of international sanctions linked to its nuclear program.
It has been a disappointing year for the Taliban. I n early 2015 the Taliban undertook a major military effort against the Afghan security forces now that that foreign troops were 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, especially there is not much alternative employment available in the countryside and the Taliban pay well.

Being part of an organized army is s different matter. American advisors believe that losing nearly three percent of its strength a year to combat deaths or crippling wounds, as occurred in 2014, 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.

The drug gangs provide the enormous quantities of the cash the Taliban need to operate as they do. Nearly all the 30,000 or so Taliban are paid and the Taliban leaders are paid much more. Moreover the drug gangs provide enough cash so the Taliban can compensate the families of Taliban killed in action. The drug gangs also bribe, and then control lots of government officials (civilian, military and police) and even some tribal leaders. The bribed officials will do things for the Taliban as well as the drug gangs.

The Taliban need all the money they can get because their 2015 plan was to eliminate Afghan security forces in the south (mainly Helmand province, where most of the worlds heroin is produced), the east (where most of the Helmand heroin is moved out via Pakistan and the Pakistani port of Karachi to the rest of the world) and parts of the north where heroin is also moved, mainly via Kunduz province to Central Asia.

The northern offensive failed, which is not surprising because in late 2001 the Taliban had still not been able to conquer all the northern tribes. The north never forgets and local tribal militias up there will go after any Taliban who come too close. Eastern Afghanistan is also increasingly hostile to the Taliban and other Islamic terror groups like the Haqqani Network. But there are so many Islamic terror groups in the eastern provinces along the Pakistani border, including a thousand or so ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) men and over 5,000 Pakistani Taliban and other Islamic terrorists pushed out of North Waziristan by the Pakistan Army in an operation that began in mid-2014 that the Taliban has a hard time maintaining any control in the east. These rival Islamic terror groups will often fight back if the Taliban tries to assert any control.

In the south the Taliban had some success in Helmand, where most of the 10,000 Taliban fighters lost in 2015 were killed. About 20 percent of Helmand is now under Taliban control and the government wants more American air power (bombers and surveillance) to enable the reinforced Afghan forces to push the Taliban out quickly and with fewer dead soldiers and policemen. Its the drug gangs that finance all the mayhem in Helmand, as well they might because Helmand is where most of the opium poppies are grown and where the portable labs use chemicals smuggled in from bordering Pakistan to convert the sap of the poppies into heroin. The drug gangs would prefer to bribe the army and police to stay away but that has not worked because the heroin (and much cheaper opium) is hated in most of the country because over five percent of the population has become addicted to opium or heroin. So the troops and police from other parts of the country face disgrace back home if they do not attack the drug operations when they have a chance. Most Afghans dont care if some tribes produce and export illegal drugs, they do care of the drugs are sold inside Afghanistan to Afghans. The Taliban understand this and have been living off the drug gangs since the late 1990s and justify this by promising to return to the system they imposed during the 1990s where the gangs were forced to export nearly all their production and were severely punished if any of the opium or heroin got out to the locals. That restriction disappeared along with Taliban control of most of Afghanistan in late 2001. It only worked back then because the Taliban offered security for the drug gangs in return for a large share of the profits and keeping the drugs away from Afghans. Some in the current Afghan government see that as a possible option now that the Westerners are gone. The Western donors have made it clear that the aid will disappear (and the bombs will return) if Afghanistan turns into a narco state (the national government is on the drug gang payroll). Many current government officials are already bribed by the drug gangs and the Afghans will keep wheeling and dealing with drug lords and foreign diplomats in order to keep the cash, but not the bombs, coming.

The drug angle has made most of the tribes hostile to the Taliban and the drug gangs. Westerners often lose sight of the fact that most of the violence in Afghanistan is all about the drugs and the disruption they causes to Afghan society and culture. Most of the 3,000 Afghan civilians killed in 2015 were because of this war against the drug lords and their hired guns (mainly the Taliban). The Afghan countryside has always been a dangerous place but it has become more dangerous because all that drug money has equipped many tribesmen with automatic weapons and fast vehicles.

Another largely ignored (outside the region) element is the growing number of casualties suffered by Islamic terror groups because of factionalism, feuds and infighting. By the end of 2015 the Taliban was fighting ISIL as well as some other anti-Taliban Islamic terrorists and a growing number of dissident Taliban factions. ISIL and factionalism are growing problems for the Taliban mainly because ISIL tends to persuade many very capable Taliban leaders to defect. The dissident Taliban factions survive by making deals with a local drug gang. It must be remembered that there is no one organization running the drug business in Afghanistan but dozens of drug gangs (many tribe or clan based) that tend to remain at peace with each other (for business reasons) and will hire the best mercenaries they can.

During 2015 only 27 foreign soldiers died (22 American, two British and thee from other countries) in Afghanistan. Most of these deaths occurred in the last three months of the year. In 2014 75 foreign troops died in Afghanistan and the peak year was 2010 when 710 died. Since late 2001 3,512 foreign troops (68 percent American) have died in Afghanistan. During the 1980s over 15,000 Russian troops died in an attempt to gain control of the country.

In Kabul a Taliban suicide bomber attacked a bus carrying employees of Afghanistans largest TV network. This killed seven people and wounded 25. At first it was believed the attack was directed at the nearby Russian embassy but it soon became clear that this was another attack on the media, to discourage coverage (especially unfavorable stuff) of Islamic terrorists or the drug gangs. The Afghan media, finally free after decades of war, is often outspoken in its criticism of Islamic terrorists and drug gangs. The Islamic terrorists dont need media coverage as much as they used to because now anyone can get their message out via the Internet, especially if it is accompanied by videos of people being tortured and killed.

January 20, 2016: The Afghan Air Force received the first of four used Mi-25 helicopter gunships from India. Afghanistan, India and Pakistan already operate some M-24s as well as the upgraded version (Mi-35). The Mi-25 is an export version of the Mi-24. India is replacing its Mi-25s with American AH-64s.

January 15, 2016: The Afghan Air Force received the first four of twenty A-29 Super Tucano aircraft. These will be used for training and air support of soldiers and police. The Super Tucano is a single engine turbo-prop trainer/attack aircraft that is used by over a dozen nations. This aircraft carries two internal 12.7mm (.50 caliber) machine-guns along with 1.5 tons of bombs and rockets. It can stay in the air for 6.5 hours at a time. It is rugged, easy to maintain and cheap. The U.S. is paying $17.7 million for each Super Tucano, which includes training, spare parts and support equipment and giving all this to Afghanistan as military aid. These aircraft are more useful to the Afghans than jet fighters (which the Afghans would like to have, if someone else would pay for them.) All twenty are to be in service by the end of 2017. The Afghans want to expand their air force with more attack aircraft and armed helicopters. While the Americans are bringing in more warplanes these tend to be used against ISIL first, and then whatever Afghan security forces need. The U.S. sees ISIL as a more serious threat to the United States while Afghanistan is more concerned with all the other Islamic terror groups and especially the Taliban. For example most of the American UAV operations (surveillance and missile attacks) is directed at ISIL and senior Taliban and Haqqani leaders. The Afghans are more concerned with the battles soldiers and police fight every day against Taliban and other Islamic terrorist gunmen.

January 13, 2016: In the east (Jalalabad) ISIL attacked the Pakistani consulate. Three attackers and seven security personnel died. This was the first time ISIL went after a Pakistani government target in Afghanistan. Apparently four suicide bombers were involved in this attack and the fourth one got away.

January 12, 2016: Mohammad Ali Jafari, the commander of the IRGC (Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps) boasted that the IRGC was responsible for training (and often recruiting, arming and paying) 200,000 fighters in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Pakistan and Afghanistan. At least a quarter of these are in Syria, followed by Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen. Pakistan and Afghanistan were not happy with the IRGC publicly admitting that Iran has sponsored local (and often illegal) Shia militias. Iran had to do some diplomatic fence mending over that. Jafaris comments confirmed Afghan suspicion of Iranian meddling in western Afghanistan and secret support for some Afghan Shia tribes.

January 11, 2016: Officials from Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and the United States met in Pakistan to try and restart the peace talks with the Taliban. But it soon became clear that the real problem was not Taliban peace talks (not likely because of factionalism within the Afghan Taliban) but the growing hostility between Pakistan and its neighbors Afghanistan and India. Pakistan is accused of harboring Islamic terrorists who make attacks on Afghanistan and India. Officially Pakistan denies any involvement but unofficially Pakistan says it tolerates Islamic terrorists who help it deal with Indian threats, especially those done via a growing alliance with Afghanistan. India insists, and the historical record backs them up, that they have no such designs on Pakistan. A perusal of Indian media over the last half century confirms that. Indians dont really care what happens in Pakistan as long as it does not hurt India. Thus Pakistani Islamic terrorists who attack the few Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan is an issue inside India, but a minor one. The dispute over Kashmir is a bigger deal in Pakistan than in India but there is nothing to indicate Indian enthusiasm for war with Pakistan over Kashmir. Then there is Afghanistan, where Pakistan has been meddling well, forever. When Pakistan was created out of British India in 1947 the new Pakistan government continued, like the British and before that many Indian Empires, in Afghanistan. Many Pakistanis openly declare this to be a Pakistani right and obligation because Pakistan considers Afghans incapable of governing themselves and in need of Pakistani guidance. This view is not appreciated in Afghanistan and bothers India as well.

January 9, 2016: In northwest Pakistan (North Waziristan) an American UAV missile attack killed five members of the Pakistani Taliban. Just across the border in Afghanistan a similar attack killed at least twenty members of ISIL.

January 3, 2016: Afghanistan accused Pakistan of organizing the attack on the Indian consulate in the north Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif. The attack failed, but only after a 25 hour siege of a building near the consulate that the attackers were firing from. The attackers were heard speaking Urdu (the language of Pakistan) rather than the languages common in Mazar-e-Sharif (Dari or Pushtu). The attackers also displayed a discipline and tactical skill lacking in the usual suicidal Islamic terrorist attacks in Afghanistan. One reason the attack failed was the Afghanistan allows India to bring in highly trained security personnel to guard diplomatic facilities and major Indian aid projects. This discourages most Islamic terrorist groups and explains why the Pakistanis sent in four professionals for this attack. Apparently one of the reasons for this attack was the successful Indian crackdown on Pakistani sponsored Islamic terrorism in Kashmir. All four attackers and an Afghan policeman were killed while four civilians were wounded during the operation.

Since the security forces went after the Taliban who had entered the northern city of Kunduz on September 28th over 1,300 more Islamic terrorists have been killed in the city and then Kunduz province. The September Taliban attack on Kunduz left 289 civilians dead and 559 wounded. The fighting inside the city continued until October 13th and after that the additional police and soldiers sent north remained and kept hunting Taliban in the area. The Taliban consider Kunduz province a major route for smuggling heroin out of the country via Central Asia. The Taliban are still a threat in parts of Kunduz province, as can be seen in the areas where cell phone companies comply with Taliban demands and that cell phone service be turned off at night (so locals cannot alert police to Taliban activity). If the companies do not comply the Taliban will attack the cell phone towers and company personnel.

December 31, 2015: Pakistan established a hotline with Afghanistan so officers can use it to contact each other quickly when there are border incidents that could escalate into more violent incidents. The hotline was tested today and worked.

December 28, 2015: In the west (Kandahar) gunmen fired on two female polio vaccination volunteers (a teenage girl and her grandmother) killing the older woman and wounding the other. Despite attacks like this Afghan polio cases were at a record low (eight) in 2015. This compares to neighboring Pakistan where there were 108. In both countries Islamic terrorists (especially the Taliban) tried to ban polio vaccinations. Islamic terrorists in general tend to believe the vaccination teams are spying for the government and that the vaccinations are a plot to sterilize Moslems. In early 2014 Afghanistan suffered its first known case of polio in since the Taliban were overthrown in late 2001. The 2014 outbreak was alarming because many people can catch polio and not become sick so it was unclear how far polio has spread. There had been no polio in Afghanistan after 2001 because the Afghan Taliban changed their policy of opposing polio vaccinations once they were out of power after 2001. But Pakistani Islamic terrorists did not. This became a problem for Afghanistan because of the large number of Pakistani Pushtuns fled to Afghanistan to get away from the 2014 Pakistani offensive into the terrorist sanctuary of North Waziristan. Most Taliban, on both sides of the border, still believe the polio vaccination program is really a Western plot against Moslems. Thus even though the Afghan Taliban support vaccinations there is still violence. Despite that the government has been able to continue the vaccination program and contain the outbreak caused by Pakistani refugees. The 2014 offensive there was a success and the Pakistani vaccination teams are now able to visit nearly all the people who had earlier been inaccessible because of Taliban death squads. For over a decade the Pakistani tribal territories were one of the few places on the planet where people are still being infected. This caused small outbreaks in countries where people from the tribal territories visit (including Syria, where many Pakistani Islamic terrorists have gone and triggered at least dozens of polio cases so far).

December 21, 2015: Near Kabul six U.S. air force personnel patrolling outside Bagram Air Base were killed when attacked by a suicide bomber on a motorcycle.
Wellesbourne Airfield

The survey, which was available online, by email or by post, asked the public the following question: Are you willing to spend an extra 31 pence per monthfor an average B and D property in order to maintain frontline policing levels? The consultation was promoted online, through the local media and via social media throughout December until its closing on Monday 18th January.

A total of 1,026 people responded, with 1,013 identifying that they lived within Warwickshire. Among the Warwickshire residents, 839 82.82 per cent were in favour of the proposed increase, with 174 17.18 per cent voting against the rise.

The 1.99 per cent increase, if approved, would only apply to the police precept element of the council tax bill. The overall council tax bill includes council and fire precepts, which are decided separately by their relevant authorities.
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Wellesbourne Airfield

Also in this week's Herald:

- A former Broadway star's offer to Stratford of a Shakespeare statue.

- The latest on the Hatton Park murder trial.

- Details of possible solutions to Stratford's traffic problem.

- GP supports retired farmer's cabin campaign.

- We speak to a friend of astronaut Major Tim Peake.

- Second candidate declared to be the next Warwickshire Police and Crime Commissioner.

- Public meeting to discuss new waste plant in Preston-on-Stour.

- Three more Pride of Stratford Award finalists are profiled.

- An interview with young Blues musician, Jack Blackman.

- Gateway development moves forward.

Plus lots more - all for just 65p.
Wellesbourne Airfield

And the Stratford Herald is offering readers the chance to win a family ticket to the 7pm performance on Tuesday, 16th February.

But not only that  were also throwing in a free souvenir programme, interval refreshments for four people, plus a copy of the original book signed by best-selling childrens author, David Walliams.

The lucky winner will also be given the chance to go behind the scenes of Gangsta Granny with an exclusive cast meet-and-greet after the show.

See page 10 of this week's paper to enter.
HEVC Advance Begins Issuing Licenses

The HEVC Advance licensing program is actively accepting license requests

BOSTON( )

HEVC Advance, an independent licensing administrator, today announced it has begun accepting requests for licenses to the HEVC/H.265 worldwide essential patents of its licensor companies.

"After receiving a positive response from market participants to our recently announced updated royalty rate structure, we are excited to facilitate accelerated adoption of HEVC/H.265 patented technology," said HEVC Advance CEO Pete Moller. "Our efficient licensing process will allow organizations of any size to quickly and easily secure necessary patent rights to integrate HEVC/H.265 technology into their products and services."

In addition, HEVC Advance announced its participation at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona February 22-25 and DVB World 2016 March 14-16. We invite attendees interested in learning more about the HEVC Advance licensing process to e-mail us at licensing@hevcadvance.com in order to arrange a conversation with an HEVC Advance representative.

HEVC Advance also announced the selection of Profirm, also known by its brand name Adminius, to provide worldwide services to HEVC Advance and its licensees and licensors for royalty reporting, royalty invoicing, royalty collection, royalty distribution and withholding tax management.

"Adminius has proven that it has highly skilled staff, customized systems and efficient processes capable of managing the most complex licensing contracts," said Moller. "The firm's premium quality services make it the ideal partner for HEVC Advance."

About HEVC Advance

HEVC Advance is an independent licensing administrator company formed to lead the development, administration and management of an HEVC/H.265 patent pool for licensing essential patents. HEVC Advance will provide a transparent and efficient licensing mechanism for HEVC patented technology. For more information about HEVC Advance, visit hevcadvance.com.
Owens Corning (NYSE: OC) announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire the glass non-wovens and fabrics businesses of Ahlstrom, a fiber-based materials company headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, for 73 million (U.S. $79.5 million). The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approvals, is anticipated to close in the first half of 2016.

The planned acquisition of Ahlstroms glass non-wovens and fabrics businesses is a winning combination for our customers, our markets, and our employees, said Arnaud Genis, group president of Owens Cornings Composite Solutions Business. This is a highly complementary acquisition that will provide new revenue, technology, talent, and access to markets.

The addition of these businesses demonstrates Owens Cornings commitment to capital efficient growth in its Composites business, while at the same time creating scale for investments in new technology and capacity to help our customers grow, Genis added.

Marco Levi, President and CEO of Ahlstrom, added, We are happy to have found Owens Corning as the buyer as its vertically integrated and has ample resources to develop the glass fiber business further. We also believe this is a good solution for the units employees transferring to the new owner.

The assets to be acquired by Owens Corning include operations in Karhula and Mikkeli, Finland, and Tver, Russia. Collectively, the facilities employ approximately 260 people and reported 2014 sales of 77 million (U.S. $85 million). The operations in Karhula and Tver produce glass non-wovens, primarily for flooring applications, and the facility in Mikkeli produces fabrics, primarily for the wind energy market.

The addition of the Ahlstrom assets will strengthen Owens Cornings position as a global leader in the non-wovens and wind energy, high-modulus glass, and specialty fabrics segments. In doing so, it will also provide a broader, multi-region supply base across Europe, North America, and Russia to serve customers efficiently. The transaction also reflects Owens Cornings ongoing commitment to growing its downstream composites businesses and is consistent with its investment in the construction of a new glass non-wovens facility in Gastonia, N.C., USA, which will begin production in early 2016.
Ted Cruz speaks during a campaign stop at one of former U.S. Senator Scott Brown's "No BS Backyard BBQ" events in Rye, New Hampshire, January 19, 2016. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

By Luciana Lopez and Grant Smith

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Presidential hopeful Ted Cruz has in the past week been answering questions about a loan he got from Goldman Sachs in 2012. But he is far from alone among Republican candidates in having a financial relationship with the Wall Street investment bank in recent years.

A Reuters analysis of the financial disclosures of the 12 Republicans left in the race to be the partys candidate in the November presidential election shows that funds run by Goldman have been a favorite investment destination for them.

It shows that the Republican candidates and their spouses collectively held 57 Goldman investments, that is more than double the 28 they had from the second most popular source, Vanguard Group, which is one of the world's largest investment management firms.

For a graphic of the Goldman and Vanguard investments by the candidates and their spouses, see http://tmsnrt.rs/23cVSNJ

Last week, the New York Times reported that Cruz, whose wife Heidi Cruz is on leave from her job as a managing director at Goldmans wealth management arm, had borrowed as much as $500,000 from Goldman to help him in his successful campaign for a Senate seat in 2012 and didn't disclose it in campaign finance reports.

Cruz, who is currently second to Donald Trump in a Reuters/Ipsos poll of Republican voters and is ahead in polls for the Iowa caucus on Feb. 1, has paid back the loan in full. Cruz told reporters last week that the loan didnt violate any campaign financing rules, and if his disclosure to the Federal Election Commission wasnt complete then it was a technical and inadvertent error and he would offer to amend the filing.

Eight of the Republican presidential hopefuls, Trump, Cruz, Ben Carson, Jeb Bush, John Kasich, Carly Fiorina, Chris Christie, and Jim Gilmore said in financial disclosures that were largely filed between June and August last year that they had owned Goldman funds or Goldman stock, and in some cases both. The disclosures mostly cover the period from the beginning of 2014 to the middle of last year.

Reuters was unable to determine if they still own the funds.

There is no indication that there is anything improper about the way the candidates came to invest with Goldman.

Goldman declined to comment on the Reuters analysis.

It's not clear from the candidates' financial disclosures whether Goldman is managing anyone's portfolio or whether the aspirants simply bought Goldman products on their own. Goldman also declined to discuss how the candidates came to own the funds, other than to point out that most of them are available through other firms as well as through Goldman.

Spokespeople for Cruz and Bush declined to comment. Representatives for the other six candidates owning Goldman products did not respond to requests for comment.

Four candidates, Marco Rubio, Mike Huckabee, Rand Paul, and Rick Santorum had no Goldman funds, according to their financial disclosures last year.

REVOLVING DOOR

The popularity of the Goldman funds shows that the candidates are prepared to trust Goldman to manage their money even as some of them have criticized the investment bank for having too much influence in Washington. Cruz told Bloomberg earlier this year, for example, that Goldman got special favors from government.

Senator Bernie Sanders, who is fighting Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination, said last Friday that it is time to shut the revolving door between Goldman and the government that has seen many senior former Goldman officials end up in top federal jobs in Washington.

He made the statement the day after Goldman had agreed to pay more than $5 billion to settle claims from the federal government, New York and Illinois states, and other agencies, that it misled mortgage bond investors during the financial crisis.

Goldman declined to comment on the criticism from Cruz and Sanders.

Sanders didn't own any Goldman funds, based on his filings.

It is unclear precisely how much the candidates owned in each fund as the disclosures only provide wide ranges for asset values, for example from $1,001 to $15,000 or $1,000,001 to$5,000,000. In many cases, there is no indication about when they acquired the funds or whether they held onto them, though a small number of the investments are marked as sold in the disclosure forms.

MORE EXOTIC CHOICES

Three Republican candidates in particular have owned multiple Goldman funds: former Hewlett-Packard Co (NYSE: HPQ) (NYSE: HPE) CEO Fiorina and her husband Frank owned 21, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and his wife Mary Pat held 14, while Ted and Heidi Cruz also had 14.

Family connections and other close links may have played a role in the investments, which are mainly managed by the firms Goldman Sachs Asset Management arm.

Heidi Cruz began working for Goldman in 2005, and was most recently a managing director of private wealth management for the firm in Houston.

Carly Fiorina may not have such a close family connection to Wall Street but she does have long-term ties with Goldman. The firm was Hewlett-Packard's financial advisor for its brutal and ultimately successful struggle to buy rival PC company Compaq in 2002 when Fiorina was HP's CEO.

And Christies wife, Mary Pat, worked on Wall Street as a managing director at alternative asset manager Angelo, Gordon & Co until leaving her job last year.

Many of the funds that the Republican candidates have invested in at Goldman, Vanguard and other fund companies are plain vanilla U.S. stock and fixed-income funds available to other investors.

Some have made more exotic choices.

Ted and Heidi Cruz, for example, owned several high-yield funds, an Asian equity fund, an investment in Goldman Sachs shares, and what appears to be an emerging markets debt fund. Many of the funds have lost value in the past year in line with the recent plunge in the value of stocks and many other financial assets.

Fiorina owned a group of private equity and specialist investment funds that are usually only available to high net-worth individuals or institutional investors. They included: private equity funds that sponsor the leveraged buyout of companies, mezzanine funds that lend to companies, with some specializing in companies in financial distress, and specialized real estate funds.

For some of the candidates, the funds are only a small part of their overall wealth  Trump, for example, has his real estate empire and owned many individual stocks, and Fiorina also owned a large portfolio of stocks.

The second most popular firm, Vanguard, is best known for providing low-fee index funds that match market moves, and their funds are particularly popular with mom-and-pop investors across the country, with little of the controversy that critics of Wall Street would see in a Goldman relationship.

(Reporting by Luciana Lopez and Grant Smith in New York; Editing by Martin Howell)
Wang Xiaoying/China Daily

President Xi Jinping started his first tour of the Middle East on Tuesday, during which he will visit Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iran. After fully assuming the country's leadership in March 2013, Xi has visited many countries, which signify China's increasingly maturing all-round diplomacy. And that is precisely why Xi's visit to the Middle East, which is also his first foreign tour in 2016, has acquired additional importance.

The visit, to begin with, highlights the strategic importance of the Middle East for China's Belt and Road Initiative. The initiative, comprising the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, is aimed at creating a community of shared economic dividends and destiny along both the routes. The Middle East, which is a bridge between China and Europe, is a vital link in the success of the initiative.

Besides, the Middle East has about 60 percent of the world's energy reserves and encircles the most important shipping route. The importance of the Gulf of Aden, the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz for the global economy is often compared with that of a throat for a human body.

In addition, the Middle East has a lot of potential to deepen cooperation with China. Middle East countries in general have economic structures that are complementary to that of China's. For example, the Middle East lags behind in infrastructure and manufacturing industries but has huge oil reserves while China is just the opposite. Therefore, China needs the Middle East to secure its energy supplies and implement its strategic projects. Moreover, since the Middle East is important for the rest of the world too, any volatility in the region will have a global impact, including on China.

China is committed to strengthening its energy and industrial cooperation with Middle East countries, and since Iran and Saudi Arabia both are major energy suppliers for China, some new oil agreements with them can be expected during Xi's visit.

Egypt may not be as rich in energy resources, but it has a population of 80 million. And since youths account for quite a high percentage of that population, the country's growth potential is high.

All the three countries on Xi's itinerary have huge demands for infrastructure construction, such as railways, expressways and power stations. And China can help them meet these demands both in the short and long terms. That's partly why Xi is paying a visit to the Middle East at a time when Iran and Saudi Arabia are involved in a diplomatic row, which started when Riyadh arrested and executed Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr on charges of terrorism. However, the political row between Teheran and Riyadh is not expected to influence their separate friendly ties with China.

China enjoys a unique advantage in the Middle East, because unlike other powers it has never sought to portray itself like an empire. It treats Middle East countries as equal partners instead of imposing its own logic upon them, which allows it to play a bigger role in helping prevent regional disputes from escalating into major conflicts, if not settling them for good.
Union flags and the Big Ben clocktower cover notebooks are seen on sale in London, Britain, Thursday December 17, 2015. REUTERS/Luke MacGregor

By Sinead Cruise and William James

LONDON (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan are making large donations to the campaign to keep Britain inside the European Union, sources said, highlighting the concern among some of the world's biggest banks over the impact of a British exit.

Goldman Sachs has agreed to donate a "substantial six-figure sum" according to one source, while JPMorgan was preparing to make a similar donation, another source familiar with the matter said.

Another U.S. bank, Morgan Stanley, is also likely to make donation but has yet to decide a sum to contribute, a source said. The bank declined to comment.

In the face of growing Euroscepticism among the British electorate and political pressure from within his own party, Prime Minister David Cameron has promised to hold a referendum on Britain's EU membership by the end of 2017.

On Thursday, Cameron urged business leaders at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos to speak up about the benefits of Britain staying in a reformed EU.

Cameron is hoping to head off the threat of a British exit, or 'Brexit', by negotiating a deal on reforms to the bloc that address concerns about immigration, sovereignty and competitiveness at an EU summit next month.

He received some support on Thursday from French President Francois Hollande, who said none of Britain's EU reform demands were "insurmountable", but that they must not prevent the euro zone from pursuing further integration.

Cameron said very good progress had been made with the EU but that they were "not there yet".

With British public opinion finely balanced and renegotiations with Cameron's EU peers meeting resistance, multinational businesses in Britain are facing up to the risk that the vote could sever links with the country's biggest trading partner.

The donations by three heavyweight U.S. banks with heavy European presence reflect the financial sector's acute concerns that Britain's role as a global financing hub and major trading center for the euro could be under threat if it gives up its membership.

British banks were more circumspect in pledging their support. A source familiar with Barclays said the firm had a policy not to make political donations, while a source with knowledge of Royal Bank of Scotland said the bank was waiting for clarity on the government's position.

"THE ESTABLISHMENT"

A spokesman for pro-EU group Britain Stronger in Europe, the expected recipient of the donations, said it had a broad range of backers: "This includes many small donors, philanthropists and businesses worried by job losses and price rises if we were to leave."

Until a date for the referendum is set, campaigns on both sides can accept and spend donations without restriction. However they may be required to declare details of prior donors once the government sets a referendum date. Spending will be capped during the period immediately before the referendum.

The donations were dismissed as "no surprise" by Leave.EU, one of several pro-Brexit campaigns, which says the EU works against ordinary Britons and protects vested political and commercial interests.

"The referendum will be a campaign of the British people against the establishment of international bankers, multinational corporate tax dodgers and out-of-touch politicians," said Arron Banks, the group's co-founder.

Arch-Eurosceptic Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence Party whose popularity put pressure on Cameron to make the offer of a referendum, described the donations as "the unholy alliance of big banks and big politics."

Cameron, however, is keen to enlist the support of businesses to help his reform agenda clear political hurdles in other European capitals, and to illustrate the damage that he believes leaving the bloc would do to the country's economy.

"If business backs my reforms ... I would argue get out there and support those things," he said in Davos.

"The sooner you can start to look at your own businesses and come up with the examples and the ideas about the benefits and the problems that there are with Europe the more that you are able to help to explain and set the context for this vitally important question."

(Additional reporting by Elizabeth Piper in Davos, Rachel Armstrong and Kylie MacLellan in London, Writing by William James; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge/Jeremy Gaunt)
Martin Shkreli (C), chief executive officer of Turing Pharmaceuticals and KaloBios Pharmaceuticals Inc, departs the U.S. Federal Court in New York December 17, 2015. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

By Nate Raymond and David Ingram

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli was on a collision course with Congress on Thursday as lawmakers warned he could be prosecuted for contempt if he does not appear next week for a hearing about drug prices.

A lawyer for Shkreli informed the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of his intent not to answer questions and asked that he be excused from appearing, committee chairman Jason Chaffetz wrote in the letter dated Wednesday.

The plan to remain silent contrasts with Shkreli's prolific use of social media, where he has been outspoken on Twitter and livestream video even after his indictment last month on criminal charges of securities fraud.

The Oversight Committee subpoenaed Shkreli to appear on Tuesday to discuss his decision as chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals to raise the price of a life-saving medicine, Daraprim, by more than 5,000 percent.

Shkreli, 32, has said he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. On Twitter, he told followers it was "disgusting and insulting" for lawmakers to try to subvert that right.

The Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution says that no person shall be compelled in any criminal case "to be a witness against himself."

The dispute appeared likely to end in one of two ways: with Shkreli appearing in Washington on Tuesday to invoke that right, or with Shkreli staying home in New York, prompting the committee to vote to hold him in contempt and setting off a potential criminal prosecution.

Shkreli resigned as chief executive officer of Turing last month after his arrest on the fraud charges. Turing had acquired Daraprim, a 62-year-old drug, and caused a public furor when it drastically increased the price.

Fights over congressional testimony are common, especially when potential witnesses are facing criminal prosecution and their testimony could later be used against them.

Some well-known witnesses, such as former IRS official Lois Lerner and former Enron chief financial officer Andrew Fastow, refused to answer questions from Congress but were required to appear in person in front of lawmakers and cameras before invoking that right.

It was unclear on Thursday whether Shkreli would make the trip to do the same. His release on bond restricts him to certain parts of New York state, and he is required to ask a judge for a waiver to travel.

One of Shkreli's lawyers has informed the Oversight Committee that Shkreli has taken no steps to seek a travel waiver, said Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the committee's top Democrat.

"If he plans on trying to use his own intentional inaction as some kind of bogus excuse for not showing up at Tuesday's hearing, people will see right through such a juvenile tactic," Cummings said in a statement on Thursday.

Chaffetz, a Utah Republican, warned in his letter to Shkreli defense attorney Baruch Weiss that Shkreli could face criminal prosecution for contempt if he fails to appear.

"Mr. Shkreli is uniquely qualified to answer questions about rising prescription drug prices," Chaffetz wrote.

The threat of prosecution is more than theoretical. In 1952, mobster Frank Costello was convicted of contempt of Congress for failing to appear as a witness when he said he had laryngitis.

Chaffetz in his letter held out the possibility of a compromise, writing that the committee may agree to hear testimony in a non-public session or to immunize the testimony so that it could not be used in the criminal prosecution. Immunizing the testimony, though, would require the support of two-thirds of the committee.

Complicating the dispute is Shkreli's decision this week to seek new lawyers, replacing a team from the law firm Arnold & Porter with others still to be named.

The criminal charges against Shkreli stem from his prior management of hedge fund MSMB Capital Management and biopharmaceutical company Retrophin Inc (NASDAQ: RTRX).

Prosecutors said Shkreli engaged in a Ponzi-like scheme, defrauding hedge fund investors and then misappropriating $11 million in assets from Retrophin to repay them.

Shkreli, who was also until recently chief executive of KaloBios Pharmaceuticals Inc has pleaded not guilty, and on Twitter has called the allegations "baseless and without merit."

(Reporting by Nate Raymond and David Ingram; editing by Andrew Hay, Jeffrey Benkoe, Noeleen Walder and Bernard Orr)
Jack Lew, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, speaks during the session 'Global Financial Priorities for 2016' at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland January 21, 2016. REUTERS/Ruben Sprich

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is ending its policy of opposing most lending to Argentina from multilateral development banks, the U.S. Treasury Department said on Thursday.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew informed Argentine Finance Minister Alfonso Prat-Gay of the move on Thursday when the two met in Davos, Switzerland, the department said in a statement. It said the United States will consider each Argentinian project on its own merits.

The policy had been in place since 2011 as part of a larger U.S. campaign to pressure Argentina to pay debts and other obligations to American investors a decade after the South American country defaulted on more than $81 billion of government bonds. It meant the U.S voted against new loans to Argentina at the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank.

Argentina's center-right president, Mauricio Macri, has made swift reforms since taking office in December, including resuming talks to reach a deal over the unpaid debts with U.S. hedge funds.

Macri also has eliminated capital controls and cut onerous export taxes as a way of improving the investment climate.

Lew said the United States was ending it policy in light of the new government's "progress on key issues and positive economic policy trajectory," the Treasury statement said.

In a tweet, Prat-Gay called the decision by Washington "a concrete example of how to stop fighting with the world" and said it would "allow us to have better roads, more schools, more (social) inclusion."

Despite the U.S. stance, Argentina secured some multilateral lending after it reached a deal in 2014 with the Paris Club of creditor nations on repaying overdue debts and promised to improve its economic statistics.

The World Bank approved $1.5 billion in loans to Argentina in fiscal year 2015, with $3.5 billion expected in 2016 through 2018. Last month the Inter-American Development Bank talked of providing Argentina $5 billion over the coming years.

(Reporting by Lindsay Dunsmuir in Washington and Hugh Bronstein in Buenos Aires; Editing by Richard Lough and Bill Trott)
NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

BROOKFIELD , News, January 21, 2016  Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners L.P. ( TSX: BEP.UN; NYSE: BEP ) (" Brookfield Renewable ") today announced that, in connection with its previously announced offer to exchange each issued and outstanding Class A Preference Share, Series 5 of Brookfield Renewable Power Preferred Equity Inc. ( TSX:BRF.PR.E ) with an annual dividend rate of 5.00% (collectively, the " Series 5 Preferred Shares ") for one newly issued Class A Preferred Limited Partnership Unit, Series 5 of Brookfield Renewable with an annual distribution rate of 5.59% (the " Exchange Offer "), it has extended the expiry date of the Exchange Offer to 5:00 p.m. (Toronto Time) on February 8, 2016 and waived the Exchange Offer's minimum tender condition (the " Minimum Tender Condition "). As of 5:00 p.m. (Toronto Time) on January 20, 2016, a total of 2,805,911 Series 5 Preferred Shares have been validly tendered to the Exchange Offer, representing approximately 40.08% of the issued and outstanding Series 5 Preferred Shares.

Following expiry of the Exchange Offer, any and all Series 5 Preferred Shares tendered will be taken up, regardless of how many Series 5 Preferred Shares are tendered, provided that the remaining Exchange Offer conditions have been satisfied or waived and the expiry date of the Exchange Offer has not been further extended. The waiver of the Minimum Tender Condition and the extension of the Exchange Offer enable holders of Series 5 Preferred Shares (the " Series 5 Preferred Shareholders ") who have not yet tendered their Series 5 Preferred Shares to accept the Exchange Offer . All other terms and conditions of the Exchange Offer remain the same. Series 5 Preferred Shareholders who have validly tendered (and not withdrawn) their Series 5 Preferred Shares pursuant to the Exchange Offer need take no further action to accept the Exchange Offer.

The Exchange Offer is being extended pursuant to a second amendment and restatement of Brookfield Renewable's prospectus supplement dated November 9, 2015, as amended and restated on December 23, 2015, to its short form base shelf prospectus dated May 12, 2015 (the " Second Amended and Restated Prospectus Supplement "). Full details of the Exchange Offer are contained in the Second Amended and Restated Prospectus Supplement, which will be filed with securities regulatory authorities in each of the provinces and territories of Canada and mailed to Series 5 Preferred Shareholders as required under applicable Canadian securities laws on or about January 27, 2016. Copies of the Second Amended and Restated Prospectus Supplement will be available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on Brookfield Renewable's website at www.brookfieldrenewable.com at such time. Series 5 Preferred Shareholders are urged to evaluate carefully all information in the Exchange Offer, including risk factors, and to consult their own investment, tax and legal advisors.

[email protected] ; or to the Information Agent at 1-800-332-4904 (toll free in North America) or 1-201-806-7301, or by e-mail at [email protected] .



Computershare Investor Services Inc. is the Depositary for the Exchange Offer and D.F. King Canada, a division of CST Investor Services Inc., is the Information Agent. Any questions or requests for assistance concerning the Exchange Offer or further information about tendering to the Exchange Offer should be directed to the Depositary at 1-800-564-6253 (toll free in North America) or 1-514-982-7555, or by e-mail at; or to the Information Agent at 1-800-332-4904 (toll free in North America) or 1-201-806-7301, or by e-mail at

Copies of the Second Amended and Restated Prospectus Supplement may be obtained free of charge upon request to the Depositary or the Information Agent. Series 5 Preferred Shareholders whose Series 5 Preferred Shares are registered in the name of a broker, investment dealer, bank, trust company or other nominee should contact such nominee for assistance in depositing their Series 5 Preferred Shares to the Exchange Offer.

This news release shall not constitute an offer or a solicitation to any person in any jurisdiction in which such offer or solicitation is unlawful. The Exchange Offer is not being made to, nor will tenders be accepted from or on behalf of, Series 5 Preferred Shareholders in any jurisdiction in which the making or acceptance of the Exchange Offer would not be in compliance with the laws of such jurisdiction. However, Brookfield Renewable may, in its sole discretion, take such action as it may deem necessary to extend the Exchange Offer to Series 5 Preferred Shareholders in any such jurisdiction. The offer and sale of the securities has not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or the securities laws of any state of the United States and may not be offered, sold or delivered, directly or indirectly, in the United States or to, or for the benefit of, United States persons, except in certain transactions exempt from registration under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable U.S. state securities laws.




UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, DC 20549

FORM 8-K

CURRENT REPORT PURSUANT

TO SECTION 13 OR 15(D) OF THE

SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported): January 20, 2016

ASB Bancorp, Inc.

(Exact Name of Registrant As Specified in Its Charter)

North Carolina

(State or Other Jurisdiction of Incorporation)

001-35279 45-2463413 (Commission File Number) (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)

11 Church Street, Asheville, North Carolina 28801

(Address of Principal Executive Offices) (Zip Code)

(828) 254-7411

(Registrant's Telephone Number, Including Area Code)

Not Applicable

(Former Name or Former Address, if Changed Since Last Report.)

Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions (see General Instruction A.2. below):

 Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425)

 Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12)

 Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17CFR 240.14d-2(b))

 Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c))

Item 1.01 Entry Into a Material Definitive Agreement

On January 20, 2016, ASB Bancorp, Inc. (the Company) and the Companys wholly owned subsidiary, Asheville Savings Bank (the Bank), entered into an Agreement (the Agreement) with Seidman and Associates, L.L.C. (SAL), Seidman Investment Partnership, L.P. (SIP), Seidman Investment Partnership II, L.P. (SIPII), Seidman Investment Partnership III, L.P. (SIPIII), LSBK06-08, L.L.C. (LSBK), Broad Park Investors, L.L.C. (Broad Park), Chewy Gooey Cookies, L.P. (Chewy), 2514 Multi-Strategy Fund, L.P. (2514 MSF), CBPS, LLC (CBPS), Veteri Place Corporation (Veteri), JBRC I, LLC (JBRC), and Lawrence B. Seidman, an individual (Seidman and collectively with SAL, SIP, SIPII, SIPIII, LSBK, Broad Park, Chewy, 2514 MSF, CBPS, Veteri, and JBRC, the Seidman Group), and Kenneth J. Wrench (Wrench), an individual who was recommended by the Seidman Group for appointment to the Boards of Directors of the Company and the Bank. The Seidman Group owns approximately 6.7% of the outstanding shares of the Companys common stock.

The Agreement provides that Seidman will be appointed by the Company to the class of directors whose term expires at the Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be held in May 2016 (the 2016 Annual Meeting) and will be renominated at the 2016 Annual Meeting to a term to expire at the Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be held in May 2019. Seidman will also be appointed to the Board of Directors of the Bank for a similar term.

The Agreement further provides that Wrench will be appointed by the Company to the class of directors whose term expires at the Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be held in May 2018 (the 2018 Annual Meeting) and will be renominated at the 2016 Annual Meeting to a term to expire at the 2018 Annual Meeting. Wrench will also be appointed to the Board of Directors of the Bank for a similar term.

During the term of the Agreement, which, with respect to the Seidman Group, is scheduled to continue for so long as Seidman (or his replacement director as provided under the Agreement) remains on the Board of Directors of the Company or the Bank and, with respect to Wrench, is scheduled to continue for so long as Wrench (or his replacement director as provided under the Agreement) remains on the Board of Directors of the Company or the Bank, the Seidman Group and Wrench will not, among other things, solicit proxies in opposition to any recommendations or proposals of the Companys Board of Directors, initiate or solicit shareholder proposals or seek to place any additional representatives on the Companys Board of Directors (other than any replacement director as provided under the Agreement), oppose any proposal or director nomination submitted by the Board of Directors to the Companys shareholders, vote for any nominee to the Companys Board of Directors other than those nominated or supported by the Board of Directors, seek to exercise any control or influence over the management of the Company or the Boards of Directors of the Company or the Bank (although nothing in the Agreement will prevent either Seidman or Wrench from expressing their views to other members of the Board or management or otherwise engaging in lawful acts in their capacities as directors), propose or seek to effect a merger or sale of the Company, or initiate litigation against the Company.

In addition, during the term of the Agreement, the Seidman Group and Wrench have agreed to vote in favor of the nominees for election or re-election as directors of the Company selected by the Board of Directors.

The foregoing description is qualified in its entirety by reference to the full text of the Agreement, which is attached hereto as Exhibit 10.1 and is incorporated herein by reference.

Item 9.01. Financial Statements and Exhibits.

(d) Exhibits.

The following exhibits are filed herewith:

Exhibit No. Description of Exhibit 10.1 Agreement, dated January 20, 2016, by and among ASB Bancorp, Inc., Asheville Savings Bank, Seidman and Associates, L.L.C., Seidman Investment Partnership, L.P., Seidman Investment Partnership II, L.P., Seidman Investment Partnership III, L.P., LSBK06-08, L.L.C., Broad Park Investors, L.L.C., Chewy Gooey Cookies, L.P., 2514 Multi-Strategy Fund, L.P., CBPS, LLC, Veteri Place Corporation, JBRC I, LLC, Lawrence B. Seidman, and Kenneth J. Wrench.

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.

ASB BANCORP, INC. By: /s/ Suzanne S. DeFerie Name: Suzanne S. DeFerie Title: President and Chief Executive Officer

Dated: January 21, 2016

EXHIBIT INDEX

Exhibit No. Description of Exhibit 10.1 Agreement, dated January 20, 2016, by and among ASB Bancorp, Inc., Asheville Savings Bank, Seidman and Associates, L.L.C., Seidman Investment Partnership, L.P., Seidman Investment Partnership II, L.P., Seidman Investment Partnership III, L.P., LSBK06-08, L.L.C., Broad Park Investors, L.L.C., Chewy Gooey Cookies, L.P., 2514 Multi-Strategy Fund, L.P., CBPS, LLC, Veteri Place Corporation, JBRC I, LLC, Lawrence B. Seidman, and Kenneth J. Wrench

Exhibit 10.1

AGREEMENT

THIS AGREEMENT (the  Agreement ), dated this 20th day of January, 2016, is by and among ASB Bancorp, Inc. (the  Company ) and Asheville Savings Bank (the  Bank , and collectively with the Company,  ASB ), Seidman and Associates, L.L.C. ( SAL ), Seidman Investment Partnership, L.P. ( SIP ), Seidman Investment Partnership II, L.P. ( SIPII ), Seidman Investment Partnership III, L.P. ( SIPIII ), LSBK06-08, L.L.C. ( LSBK ), Broad Park Investors, L.L.C. ( Broad Park ), Chewy Gooey Cookies, L.P. ( Chewy ), 2514 Multi-Strategy Fund, L.P. ( 2514 MSF ), CBPS, LLC ( CBPS ), Veteri Place Corporation ( Veteri ), JBRC I, LLC ( JBRC ), and Lawrence B. Seidman, an individual ( Seidman  and collectively with SAL, SIP, SIPII, SIPIII, LSBK, Broad Park, Chewy, 2514 MSF, CBPS, Veteri, and JBRC, the  Seidman Group  (each a  Seidman Group Member )), and Kenneth J. Wrench, an individual ( Wrench ).

RECITALS

WHEREAS, ASB, the Seidman Group, and Wrench have agreed that it is in their mutual interests to enter into this Agreement.

NOW THEREFORE, in consideration of the Recitals and the representations, warranties, covenants, and agreements contained herein and other good and valuable consideration, and intending to be legally bound hereby, the parties hereto agree as follows:

1. Representations and Warranties of the Seidman Group Members. The Seidman Group Members represent and warrant to ASB as follows:

(a) The Seidman Group has fully disclosed in Exhibit A to this Agreement the total number of shares of common stock of the Company, par value $0.01 per share ( Company Common Stock ), to which it or Wrench is the beneficial owner, and neither the Seidman Group nor any Seidman Group Member nor any of their affiliates has (i) a right to acquire any interest in any capital stock of the Company, or (ii) a right to vote any shares of capital stock of the Company other than as set forth in Exhibit A ;

(b) The Seidman Group and the Seidman Group Members have full power and authority to enter into and perform their obligations under this Agreement, and the execution and delivery of this Agreement by the Seidman Group and Seidman Group Members has been duly authorized by the Seidman Group and the Seidman Group Members. This Agreement constitutes a valid and binding obligation of the Seidman Group and each Seidman Group Member, and the performance of its terms will not constitute a violation of any limited partnership agreement, articles of incorporation, bylaws, operating agreement, or any agreement or instrument to which the Seidman Group or any Seidman Group Member is a party; and

(c) There are no arrangements, agreements, or understandings concerning the subject matter of this Agreement between the Seidman Group or any Seidman Group Member and ASB or between the Seidman Group or any Seidman Group Member and Wrench other than as set forth in this Agreement.

2. Representations and Warranties of the Company and the Bank.

(a) The Company and the Bank hereby represent and warrant to the Seidman Group that the Company and the Bank have full power and authority to enter into and perform their respective obligations under this Agreement and that the execution and delivery of this Agreement by the Company and the Bank has been duly authorized by the Board of Directors of the Company and the Bank. This Agreement constitutes a valid and binding obligation of the Company and the Bank, and the performance of its terms will not constitute a violation of their respective articles of incorporation, charter, or bylaws or any agreement or instrument to which the Company or the Bank is a party; and

(b) The Company and the Bank hereby represent and warrant to the Seidman Group that there are no arrangements, agreements, or understandings concerning the subject matter of this Agreement between the Seidman Group or any Seidman Group Member and ASB other than as set forth in this Agreement.

3. Covenants.

(a) During the term of this Agreement, ASB covenants and agrees as follows:

(i) Upon receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals for the appointment of Seidman, the Company will take all necessary and appropriate corporate action to appoint Seidman to the class of directors thereof whose term expires at the Annual Meeting of Shareholders expected to be held in May 2016 (the  2016 Annual Meeting ) and to renominate him at the 2016 Annual Meeting for a three-year term to expire at the Annual Meeting of Shareholders currently expected to be held in May 2019. Upon receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals for the appointment of Seidman, the Company and the Bank shall take all necessary and appropriate action to appoint Seidman to the same terms of office on the Board of Directors of the Bank. The parties hereto understand and agree that any new director of the Company and the Bank, including Seidman, must receive all necessary regulatory approvals and non-objections, including those of the North Carolina Commissioner of Banks ( NCCOB ), before commencing service as a director of the Company or the Bank. The parties hereto agree to act in good faith and cooperate with each other in promptly submitting all necessary notices to the NCCOB contemplated hereby. The parties hereto acknowledge and agree that they anticipate that Seidman will be added to the Boards of Directors of the Company and the Bank starting with the March 2016 meetings of the Boards of Directors of the Company and the Bank;

(ii) Upon receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals for the appointment of Wrench, the Company will take all necessary and appropriate corporate action to appoint Wrench to the class of directors thereof whose term expires at the Annual Meeting of Shareholders expected to be held in May 2018 (the  2018 Annual Meeting ) and to renominate him at the 2016 Annual Meeting for a two-year term set to expire at the 2018 Annual Meeting. Upon receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals for the appointment of Wrench, the Company and the Bank shall take all necessary and appropriate action to appoint Wrench to the same terms of office on the Board of Directors of the Bank. The parties hereto understand and agree that any new director of the Company and the Bank, including Wrench, must receive all necessary regulatory approvals and non-objections, including those of the NCCOB, before commencing service as a director of the Company or the Bank. The parties hereto agree to act in good faith and cooperate with each other in promptly submitting all necessary notices to the NCCOB contemplated hereby. The parties hereto acknowledge and agree that they anticipate that Wrench will be added to the Boards of Directors of the Company and the Bank starting with the March 2016 meetings of the Boards of Directors of the Company and the Bank;

(iii) Upon their appointment and qualification to the Companys and the Banks Boards of Directors, Seidman and Wrench shall be treated on a consistent basis with other members of the Companys and the Banks Board of Directors with respect to compensation and benefits; and

(iv) Should Seidmans position (or the position of any replacement appointed pursuant to this Section 3(a)(iv)) as a director of the Company or the Bank be terminated during the term of this Agreement due to his resignation, death, permanent disability, or otherwise, or should Seidman (or any such replacement) fail to receive the necessary regulatory approvals for his appointment, the Company and the Bank shall each appoint a replacement director, selected by Seidman (each, a  Seidman Replacement Director ), subject to the approval of the Company, which approval shall not be unreasonably withheld, and such Seidman Replacement Director shall, subject to his or her agreement to honor the provisions of Sections 3(d) and 3(e) hereof and any required regulatory approval, be appointed promptly (within 60 days) to the Boards of the Company and the Bank.

(v) Should Wrenchs position (or the position of any replacement appointed pursuant to this Section 3(a)(v)) as a director of the Company or the Bank be terminated during the term of this Agreement due to his resignation, death, permanent disability, or otherwise, or should Wrench (or any such replacement) fail to receive the necessary regulatory approvals for his appointment, the Company and the Bank shall each appoint a replacement director, selected by Seidman (each, a  Wrench Replacement Director ), subject to the approval of the Company, which approval shall not be unreasonably withheld, and such Wrench Replacement Director shall, subject to his or her agreement to honor the provisions of Sections 3(d) and 3(e) hereof and any required regulatory approval, be appointed promptly (within 60 days) to the Boards of the Company and the Bank.

(b) During the term of this Agreement, the Seidman Group and each Seidman Group Member covenant and agree not to do the following, directly or indirectly, alone or in concert with any affiliate, other group, or other person; provided, however, that nothing herein shall prevent or limit Seidman from (x) expressing his views or positions on matters related to the Companys or the Banks business, operations, or policies to other members of the Companys or the Banks Board of Directors or management, or (y) otherwise engaging in lawful acts in his capacity as a director of the Company or the Bank in such manner as may be necessary or appropriate in order to fulfill his duties as a director:

(i) acquire, offer, or propose to acquire or agree to acquire, whether by purchase, tender or exchange offer, or through the acquisition of control of another person or entity (including by way of merger or consolidation) any additional shares of the outstanding Company Common Stock, any rights to vote or direct the voting of any additional shares of Company Common Stock, or any securities convertible into Company Common Stock (except by way of stock splits, stock dividends, stock reclassifications, or other distributions or offerings made available and, if applicable, exercised on a pro rata basis, to holders of the Company Common Stock generally); provided, however, notwithstanding anything to the contrary set forth herein, the Seidman Group may acquire additional shares of the outstanding Company Common Stock provided that the Seidman Groups Beneficial Ownership will not exceed 9.9% of the outstanding shares of Company Common Stock;

(ii) without the Companys prior written consent, directly or indirectly, sell, transfer, or otherwise dispose of any interest in the Seidman Groups shares of Company Common Stock to any person the Seidman Group believes, after reasonable inquiry, would be the beneficial owner after any such sale or transfer of more than 5% of the outstanding shares of the Company Common Stock;

(iii) (A) propose or seek to effect a merger, consolidation, recapitalization, reorganization, sale, lease, exchange, or other disposition of substantially all the assets of, or other business combination involving, or a tender or exchange offer for securities of, the Company or the Bank or any material portion of the Companys or the Banks business or assets or any type of transaction that would result in a change in control of the Company (any such transaction described in this clause (A) is a  Company Transaction  and any proposal or other action seeking to effect a Company Transaction as described in this clause (A) is defined as a  Company Transaction Proposal ), (B) seek to exercise any control or influence over the management of the Company or the Boards of Directors of the Company or the Bank or any of the businesses, operations, or policies of the Company or the Bank, (C) present to the Company, its shareholders, or any third party any proposal constituting or that could reasonably be expected to result in a Company Transaction, or (D) seek to effect a change in control of the Company;

(iv) publicly suggest or announce its willingness or desire to engage in a transaction or group of transactions or have another person engage in a transaction or group of transactions that would constitute or could reasonably be expected to result in a Company Transaction or take any action that might require the Company to make a public announcement regarding any such Company Transaction;

(v) initiate, request, induce, encourage, or attempt to induce or give encouragement to any other person to initiate any proposal constituting or that can reasonably be expected to result in a Company Transaction Proposal, or otherwise provide assistance to any person who has made or is contemplating making, or enter into discussions or negotiations with respect to, any proposal constituting or that can reasonably be expected to result in a Company Transaction Proposal;

(vi) solicit proxies or written consents or assist or participate in any other way, directly or indirectly, in any solicitation of proxies or written consents, or otherwise become a participant in a solicitation, or assist any participant in a solicitation (as such terms are defined in Rule 14a-1 of Regulation 14A and Instruction 3 of Item 4 of Schedule 14A, respectively, under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the  Exchange Act )) in opposition to any recommendation or proposal of the Companys Board of Directors, or recommend or request or induce or attempt to induce any other person to take any such actions, or seek to advise, encourage, or influence any other person with respect to the voting of (or the execution of a written consent in respect of) the Company Common Stock, or execute any written consent in lieu of a meeting of the holders of the Company Common Stock or grant a proxy with respect to the voting of the capital stock of the Company to any person or entity other than the Board of Directors of the Company;

(vii) (A) initiate, propose, submit, encourage, or otherwise solicit shareholders of the Company for the approval of one or more shareholder proposals or induce or attempt to induce any other person to initiate any shareholder proposal, (B) seek election to, or seek to place a representative or other affiliate or nominee on, the Companys Board of Directors (other than with respect to the provisions of Sections 3(a)(i), (ii), (iv), and (v), providing for the possible election of Seidman, Wrench, a Seidman Replacement Director, or a Wrench Replacement Director), or (C) seek removal of any member of the Companys or the Banks Boards of Directors or any executive officer of the Company or the Bank;

(viii) form, join in, or in any other way (including by deposit of the Companys capital stock), participate in a partnership, pooling agreement, syndicate, voting trust, or other group with respect to Company Common Stock, or enter into any agreement or arrangement or otherwise act in concert with any other person, for the purpose of acquiring, holding, voting, or disposing of Company Common Stock;

(ix) (A) join with or assist any person or entity, directly or indirectly, in opposing, or make any statement in opposition to, any proposal or director nomination submitted by the Companys Board of Directors to a vote of the Companys shareholders, or (B) join with or assist any person or entity, directly or indirectly, in supporting or endorsing (including supporting, requesting, or joining in any request for a meeting of shareholders in connection with), or make any statement in favor of, any proposal submitted to a vote of the Companys shareholders that is opposed by the Companys Board of Directors;

(x) vote for any proposal, nominee, or nominees for election to the Board of Directors of the Company other than those nominated or supported by the Companys Board of Directors;

(xi) except in connection with the enforcement of this Agreement, initiate or participate, by encouragement or otherwise, in any litigation against the Company or the Bank or their respective officers and directors, or in any derivative litigation on behalf of the Company or the Bank, except for testimony which may be required by law;

(xii) request, or induce or encourage any other person to request, that the Company amend or waive any of the provisions of this Agreement; and

(xiii) advise, assist, encourage, or finance (or arrange, assist, or facilitate financing to or for) any other person in connection with any of the matters restricted by, or otherwise seek to circumvent the limitations of, this Agreement.

(c) In the event that Seidman breaches Section 3(b), he shall promptly resign his positions as a director of the Company and the Bank or withdraw his name from nomination; in the event that Seidman fails to resign or withdraw his name after a breach in accordance with the provisions of this Section 3(c), the Seidman Group agrees that the remaining directors of the Company and the Bank, by majority vote thereof, may remove Seidman from his directorship positions with the Company and the Bank or remove his name from nomination, as the case may be. Any resignation by Seidman pursuant to this Section 3(c) shall not trigger the right to appoint a Seidman Replacement Director as provided in Section 3(a)(iv).

(d) (i) Wrench agrees that during the term of this Agreement he will not take any action, directly or indirectly, which, if Wrench were deemed to be a Seidman Group Member, would be in violation of or inconsistent with any of the covenants and agreements made by the Seidman Group in Section 3(b) hereof; provided, however, that nothing herein shall prevent Wrench from acquiring additional shares of Company Common Stock in order to meet at least the minimum requirements for Company directors under the Companys policies; and provided, further, that nothing herein shall prevent or limit Wrench from (x) expressing his views or positions on matters related to the Companys or the Banks business, operations, or policies to other members of the Companys or the Banks Board of Directors or management, or (y) otherwise engaging in lawful acts in his capacity as a director of the Company or the Bank in such manner as may be necessary or appropriate in order to fulfill his duties as a director; and

(ii) In the event that Wrench breaches clause (i) of this Section 3(d), he shall promptly resign his positions as a director of the Company and the Bank or withdraw his name from nomination; in the event that Wrench fails to resign or withdraw his name after a breach in accordance with the provisions of this clause (ii), Wrench and the Seidman Group agree that the remaining directors of the Company and the Bank, by majority vote thereof, may remove Wrench from his directorship positions with the Company and the Bank or remove his name from nomination, as the case may be. Any resignation by Wrench pursuant to this Section 3(d) shall not trigger the right to appoint a Wrench Replacement Director as provided in Section 3(a)(v).

(e) During the term of this Agreement, each Seidman Group Member and Wrench agree not to disparage the Company, the Bank, or any of their directors (including nominees supported by the Companys Board of Directors), officers, or employees in any public or quasi-public forum, and the Company and the Bank agree not to disparage any Seidman Group Member or Wrench in any public or quasi-public forum.

(f) During the term of this Agreement, at any Annual Meeting of Shareholders of the Company, the Seidman Group, each Seidman Group Member, and Wrench, if applicable, covenant and agree, and shall require each of their affiliates, to vote all the shares of Company Common Stock beneficially owned by them in favor of the nominees for election or re-election as directors of the Company selected by the Board of Directors of the Company and otherwise support such director candidates.

4. Notice of Breach and Remedies. The parties expressly agree that an actual or threatened breach of this Agreement by any party will give rise to irreparable injury that cannot adequately be compensated by damages.

Accordingly, in addition to any other remedy to which it may be entitled, each party shall be entitled to seek a temporary restraining order or injunctive relief to prevent a breach of the provisions of this Agreement or to secure specific enforcement of its terms and provisions.

The Seidman Group and each Seidman Group Member expressly agree that they will not be excused or claim to be excused from performance under this Agreement as a result of any material breach by ASB unless and until ASB is given written notice of such breach and allowed 30 business days either to cure such breach or seek relief in court. If ASB seeks relief in court, the Seidman Group and each Seidman Group Member irrevocably stipulate that any failure to perform by the Seidman Group and/or any Seidman Group Member or any assertion by the Seidman Group and/or any Seidman Group Member that they are excused from performing their obligations under this Agreement because it would cause ASB irreparable harm, then ASB shall not be required to provide further proof of irreparable harm in order to obtain equitable relief and that the Seidman Group and each Seidman Group Member shall not deny or contest that such circumstances would cause ASB irreparable harm. If, after such 30 business day period, ASB has not either reasonably cured such material breach or obtained relief in court, the Seidman Group or each Seidman Group Member may terminate this Agreement by delivery of written notice to ASB.

ASB expressly agrees that it will not be excused or claim to be excused from performance under this Agreement as a result of any material breach by the Seidman Group or any Seidman Group Member unless and until the Seidman Group and each Seidman Group Member is given written notice of such breach and allowed 30 business days either to cure such breach or seek relief in court. If the Seidman Group or any Seidman Group Member seeks relief in court, ASB irrevocably stipulates that any failure to perform by ASB or any assertion by ASB that it is excused from performing its obligations under this Agreement because it would cause the Seidman Group and each Seidman Group Member irreparable harm, then the Seidman Group or any Seidman Group Member shall not be required to provide further proof of irreparable harm in order to obtain equitable relief and that ASB shall not deny or contest that such circumstances would cause the Seidman Group and each Seidman Group Member irreparable harm. If, after such 30 business day period, the Seidman Group or the Seidman Group Member has not either reasonably cured such material breach or obtained relief in court, ASB may terminate this Agreement by delivery of written notice to the Seidman Group and each Seidman Group Member.

5. Term. This Agreement shall be effective upon the execution of the Agreement and, with respect to the Seidman Group, will remain in effect for so long as Seidman (or a Seidman Replacement Director) remains a director of the Company or the Bank and, with respect to Wrench, will remain in effect for so long as Wrench (or a Wrench Replacement Director) remains a director of the Company or the Bank.

6. Publicity. Attached as Exhibit B is the mutually agreed upon disclosure the Company shall include in its Form 8-K reporting the entry into this Agreement. In addition, during the term of this Agreement, ASB and the Seidman Group shall each provide to the other party for such partys prior review and approval any additional disclosure proposed to be made by ASB or the Seidman Group concerning this Agreement, unless such additional disclosure is substantially identical to or consistent with the disclosures mutually agreed to in Exhibit B . During the term of this Agreement, no party to this Agreement shall cause, discuss, cooperate, or otherwise aid in the preparation of any press release or other publicity concerning any other party to this Agreement or its operations without the prior approval of such other party.

7. Notices. All notices, communications and deliveries required or permitted by this Agreement shall be made in writing signed by the party making the same, shall specify the section of this Agreement pursuant to which it is given or being made and shall be deemed given or made (a) on the date delivered if delivered by electronic mail, by facsimile, or in person (with receipt confirmed), (b) on the third business day after it is mailed if mailed by registered or certified mail (return receipt requested) (with postage and other fees prepaid) or (c) on the day after it is delivered, prepaid, to an overnight express delivery service that confirms to the sender delivery on such day, as follows:

Seidman Group: Lawrence B. Seidman Seidman and Associates, L.L.C. 100 Misty Lane, 1st Floor Parsippany, New Jersey 07054 Facsimile: (973) 781-0876 Email: [email protected] With a copy to: Michael R. Neidell, Esq. Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP Park Avenue Tower 65 East 55th Street New York, New York 10022 Facsimile: (212) 451-2222 Email: [email protected] Nominee: Kenneth J. Wrench 10602 B Bailey Road Cornelius, North Carolina 28031 Facsimile: (704) 892-7244 E-mail: [email protected] ASB: Suzanne S. DeFerie President and Chief Executive Officer ASB Bancorp, Inc. Asheville Savings Bank 11 Church Street Asheville, North Carolina 28801 Facsimile: (828) 252-6710 Email: [email protected] With a copy to: Neil E. Grayson, Esq. Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP Poinsett Plaza, Suite 900 104 South Main Street Greenville, South Carolina 29601 Facsimile: (864) 250-2359 Email: [email protected]

8. Governing Law and Choice of Forum. Unless applicable federal law or regulation is deemed controlling, North Carolina law shall govern the construction and enforceability of this Agreement. Any and all actions concerning any dispute arising hereunder shall be filed and maintained in the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina or, if there is no basis for federal jurisdiction, in the Buncombe County Superior Court. The Seidman Group, the Seidman Group Members, and Wrench agree that the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina and the Buncombe County Superior Court may exercise personal jurisdiction over them in any such actions.

9. Severability. If any term, provision, covenant, or restriction of this Agreement is held by any governmental authority or a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, void, or unenforceable, the remainder of the terms, provisions, covenants, and restrictions of this Agreement shall remain in full force and effect and shall in no way be affected, impaired, or invalidated.

10. Successors and Assigns. This Agreement shall be binding upon and shall inure to the benefit of and be enforceable by the successors and assigns, and transferees by operation of law, of the parties. Except as otherwise expressly provided, this Agreement shall not inure to the benefit of, be enforceable by, or create any right or cause of action in any person, including any shareholder of the Company, other than the parties to the Agreement. Nothing contained herein shall prohibit any Seidman Group Member from transferring any portion or all of the shares of Company Common Stock owned thereby at any time to any affiliate of Seidman or any other Seidman Group Member but only if the transferee agrees in writing for the benefit of ASB (with a copy thereof to be furnished to ASB prior to such transfer) to be bound by the terms of this Agreement (any such transferee shall be included in the terms Seidman Group and Seidman Group Member).

11. Survival of Representations, Warranties and Covenants. All representations, warranties and covenants shall survive the execution and delivery of this Agreement and shall continue for the term of this Agreement unless otherwise provided.

12. Amendments. This Agreement may not be modified, amended, altered or supplemented except by a written agreement executed by all of the parties.

13. Definitions. As used in this Agreement, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated, unless the context otherwise requires:

(a) The term acquire means every type of acquisition, whether effected by purchase, exchange, operation of law, or otherwise.

(b) The term acting in concert means (i) knowing participation in a joint activity or conscious parallel action towards a common goal, whether or not pursuant to an express agreement, or (ii) a combination or pooling of voting or other interests in the securities of an issuer for a common purpose pursuant to any contract, understanding, relationship, agreement, or other arrangement, whether written or otherwise.

(c) The term affiliate means, with respect to any person, a person or entity that directly, or indirectly through one or more intermediaries, controls or is controlled by, or is under common control with such other person.

(d) The term beneficial owner shall have the meaning ascribed to it, and be determined in accordance with, Rule 13d-3 of the Securities and Exchange Commissions Rules and Regulations promulgated under the Exchange Act.

(e) The term change in control denotes circumstances under which: (i) any person or group becomes the beneficial owner of shares of capital stock of the Company or the Bank representing 25% or more of the total number of votes that may be cast for the election of the Boards of Directors of the Company or the Bank, (ii) the persons who were directors of the Company or the Bank cease to be a majority of the Board of Directors, in connection with any tender or exchange offer (other than an offer by the Company or the Bank), merger or other business combination, sale of assets or contested election, or combination of the foregoing, or (iii) shareholders of the Company or the Bank approve a transaction pursuant to which substantially all of the assets of the Company or the Bank will be sold.

(f) The term control (including the terms controlling, controlled by, and under common control with) means the possession, direct or indirect, of the power to direct or cause the direction of the management, activities, or policies of a person or organization, whether through the ownership of capital stock, by contract, or otherwise.

(g) The term group has the meaning as defined in Section 13(d)(3) of the Exchange Act.

(h) The term person includes an individual, group acting in concert, corporation, partnership, association, joint stock company, trust, unincorporated organization or similar company, syndicate, or any other group formed for the purpose of acquiring, holding, or disposing of the equity securities of the Company.

(i) The term transfer means, directly or indirectly, to sell, gift, assign, pledge, encumber, hypothecate or similarly dispose of (by operation of law or otherwise), either voluntarily or involuntarily, or to enter into any contract, option or other arrangement or understanding with respect to the sale, gift, assignment, pledge, encumbrance, hypothecation or similar disposition of (by operation of law or otherwise), any Company Common Stock or any interest in any Company Common Stock; provided, however, that a merger or consolidation in which the Company is a constituent corporation shall not be deemed to be the transfer of any common stock beneficially owned by the Seidman Group or a Seidman Group Member.

(j) The term vote means to vote in person or by proxy, or to give or authorize the giving of any consent as a shareholder on any matter.

14. Counterparts; Facsimile. This Agreement may be executed in any number of counterparts and by the parties in separate counterparts, and signature pages may be delivered by facsimile or electronically, each of which when so executed shall be deemed to be an original and all of which taken together shall constitute one and the same agreement.

15. Duty to Execute. Each party agrees to execute any and all documents, and to do and perform any and all acts and things necessary or proper to effectuate or further evidence the terms and provisions of this Agreement.

16. Termination. This Agreement shall cease, terminate and have no further force and effect upon the expiration of the term as set forth in Section 5, unless earlier terminated pursuant to Section 4 or Section 5 hereof or by mutual written agreement of the parties.

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IN WITNESS WHEREOF, this Agreement has been duly executed by the undersigned and is effective as of the day and year first above written.

SEIDMAN AND ASSOCIATES, L.L.C. ASB BANCORP, INC. By: /s/ Lawrence B. Seidman By: /s/ Suzanne S. DeFerie Lawrence B. Seidman Suzanne S. DeFerie Manager President and Chief Executive Officer SEIDMAN INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIP, L.P. ASHEVILLE SAVINGS BANK By: Veteri Place Corporation By: /s/ Suzanne S. DeFerie General Partner Suzanne S. DeFerie President and Chief Executive Officer

By: /s/ Lawrence B. Seidman Lawrence B. Seidman President SEIDMAN INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIP II, L.P. By: Veteri Place Corporation General Partner By: /s/ Lawrence B. Seidman Lawrence B. Seidman President SEIDMAN INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIP III, L.P. By: JBRC I, LLC Co-General Partner By: /s/ Lawrence B. Seidman Lawrence B. Seidman Managing Member LSBK06-08, L.L.C. By: Veteri Place Corporation Trading Advisor By: /s/ Lawrence B. Seidman Lawrence B. Seidman President

BROAD PARK INVESTORS, L.L.C. By: /s/ Lawrence B. Seidman Lawrence B. Seidman Investment Manager CHEWY GOOEY COOKIES, L.P. By: /s/ Lawrence B. Seidman Lawrence B. Seidman Investment Manager 2514 MULTI-STRATEGY FUND, L.P. By: /s/ Lawrence B. Seidman Lawrence B. Seidman Investment Manager CBPS, LLC By: Veteri Place Corporation Trading Advisor By: /s/ Lawrence B. Seidman Lawrence B. Seidman President VETERI PLACE CORPORATION By: /s/ Lawrence B. Seidman Lawrence B. Seidman President JBRC I, LLC By: /s/ Lawrence B. Seidman Lawrence B. Seidman Managing Member LAWRENCE B. SEIDMAN /s/ Lawrence B. Seidman Lawrence B. Seidman KENNETH J. WRENCH /s/ Kenneth J. Wrench Kenneth J. Wrench

EXHIBIT A

The Seidman Group beneficially owns as of the date hereof 265,674 shares of Company Common Stock.

Kenneth J. Wrench beneficially owns as of the date hereof 300 shares of Company Common Stock.

EXHIBIT B
UNITED STATES* SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20549 SCHEDULE 13G Under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Amendment No. 6)* PowerShares International Corporate Bond Portfolio ------------------------------------------------ (Name of Issuer) Common ------------------------------ (Title of Class of Securities) 73936Q835 -------------- (CUSIP Number) December 31, 2015 ------------------------------------------------------- (Date of Event Which Requires Filing of this Statement) Check the appropriate box to designate the rule pursuant to which this Schedule is filed: [ X ] Rule 13d-1(b) [ ] Rule 13d-1(c) [ ] Rule 13d-1(d) *The remainder of this cover page shall be filled out for a reporting person's initial filing on this form with respect to the subject class of securities, and for any subsequent amendment containing information which would alter the disclosures provided in a prior cover page. The information required in the remainder of this cover page shall not be deemed to be "filed" for the purpose of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ("Act") or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that section of the Act but shall be subject to all other provisions of the Act (however, see the Notes). - 1 - CUSIP No. 73936Q835 1. Names of Reporting Persons, I.R.S. Identification Nos. of above persons (entities only): First Trust Portfolios L.P.: 36-3768815 First Trust Advisors L.P.: 36-3788904 The Charger Corporation: 36-3772451 2. Check the Appropriate Box if a Member of a Group (See Instructions) (a) [ ] (b) [ ] 3. SEC Use Only 4. Citizenship or Place of Organization of each Reporting Person: Illinois, U.S.A. Number of 5. Sole Voting Power: 0 Shares Bene- ficially Owned by Each 6. Shared Voting Power: Reporting Such shares are held by the following entities in the Person With: respective amounts listed: First Trust Portfolios L.P.: 0 First Trust Advisors L.P.: 85,685 The Charger Corporation: 85,685 7. Sole Dispositive Power: 0 8. Shared Dispositive Power: Such shares are held by the following entities in the respective amounts listed: First Trust Portfolios L.P.: 666,140 First Trust Advisors L.P.: 752,445 The Charger Corporation: 752,445 9. Aggregate Amount Beneficially Owned by Each Reporting Person: 752,445 10. Check if the Aggregate Amount in Row (9) Excludes Certain Shares (See Instructions) - 2 - 11. Percent of Class Represented by Amount in Row (9): 10.83% 12. Type of Reporting Person (See Instructions) First Trust Portfolios L.P. - BD First Trust Advisors L.P. - IA The Charger Corporation - HC ITEM 1. (a) Name of Issuer: PowerShares International Corporate Bond Portfolio (b) Address of Issuer's Principal Executive Offices Attn: Legal Department 3500 Lacey Road Suite 700 Downers Grove, IL 60515 USA ITEM 2. (a) Name of Person Filing First Trust Portfolios L.P. First Trust Advisors L.P. The Charger Corporation (b) Address of Principal Business Office or, if none, Residence First Trust Portfolios L.P. 120 East Liberty Drive, Suite 400 Wheaton, Illinois 60187 First Trust Advisors L.P. 120 East Liberty Drive, Suite 400 Wheaton, Illinois 60187 The Charger Corporation 120 East Liberty Drive, Suite 400 Wheaton, Illinois 60187 (c) Citizenship of each Reporting Person: Illinois, U.S.A. (d) Title of Class of Securities Common Stock (e) CUSIP Number 73936Q835 - 3 - ITEM 3. If this statement is filed pursuant to Sec. 240.13d-1(b) or 240.13d-2(b) or (c), check whether the person filing is a: (a) x Broker or dealer registered under section 15 of the Act (15 U.S.C. 78o); (b) Bank as defined in section 3(a)(6) of the Act (15 U.S.C. 78c); (c) Insurance company as defined in section 3(a)(19) of the Act (15 U.S.C. 78c); (d) Investment company registered under section 8 of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80a-8); (e) x An investment adviser in accordance with Sec. 240.13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(E); (f) An employee benefit plant or endowment fund in accordance with Sec. 240.13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(F); (g) x A parent holding company or control person in accordance with Sec. 240.13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(G); (h) A savings associations as defined in Section 3(b) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1813); (i) A church plan that is excluded from the definition of an investment company under section 3(c)(14) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80a-3); (j) A non-U.S. institution in accordance with Sec. 240.13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(J); (k) Group, in accordance with Sec. 240.13d-1(b)1(ii)(K). If filing as a non-U.S. institution in accordance with Sec. 204.13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(J), please specify the type of institution: _____________________________________________ ITEM 4. Ownership Provide the following information regarding the aggregate number and percentage of the class of securities of the issuer identified in Item 1. (a) Amount beneficially owned: 752,445 (b) Percent of class: 10.83% (c) Number of shares as to which the person has: (i) Sole power to vote or to direct the vote: 0 (ii) Shared power to vote or to direct the vote: 85,685 (iii) Sole power to dispose or to direct the disposition of: 0 (iv) Shared power to dispose or to direct the disposition of: 752,445 - 4 - Instruction. For computations regarding securities which represent a right to acquire an underlying security see Sec. 204.13d-3(d)(1). ITEM 5. Ownership of Five Percent or Less of a Class If this statement is being filed to report the fact that as of the date hereof the reporting person has ceased to be the beneficial owner of more than five percent of the class of securities, check the following [ ]. Instruction: Dissolution of a group requires a response to this item. ITEM 6. Ownership of More than Five Percent on Behalf of Another Person This Schedule 13G filing is jointly filed by The Charger Corporation, First Trust Portfolios L.P. and First Trust Advisors L.P. pursuant to Rule 13d-1(k)(1). The Charger Corporation is the General Partner of both First Trust Portfolios L.P. and First Trust Advisors L.P. First Trust Portfolios L.P. acts as sponsor of certain unit investment trusts which hold shares of the issuer. The total number of shares of the issuer held by these unit investment trusts is set forth in Row (8) above with respect to First Trust Portfolios L.P. No individual unit investment trust sponsored by First Trust Portfolios L.P. holds more than 3% of any registered investment company issuer's shares. First Trust Advisors L.P., an affiliate of First Trust Portfolios L.P., acts as portfolio supervisor of the unit investment trusts sponsored by First Trust Portfolios L.P., certain of which hold shares of the issuer. Neither First Trust Portfolios L.P., First Trust Advisors L.P. nor The Charger Corporation have the power to vote the shares of the issuer held by these unit investment trusts sponsored by First Trust Portfolios L.P. These shares are voted by the trustee of such unit investment trusts so as to insure that the shares are voted as closely as possible in the same manner and in the same general proportion as are the shares held by owners other than such unit investment trusts. The difference, if any, between the aggregate amount of shares beneficially owned by each reporting person, as set forth in Row (9) above, and the number of shares of the issuer held by the unit investment trusts sponsored by First Trust Portfolios L.P. represents shares of the issuer which are either held in other registered investment companies, pooled investment vehicles and/or separately managed accounts for which First Trust Advisors L.P. serves as investment advisor and/or investment sub-advisor. Each of First Trust Portfolios L.P., First Trust Advisors L.P. and The Charger Corporation disclaims beneficial ownership of the shares of the issuer identified in this filing. ITEM 7. Identification and Classification of the Subsidiary Which Acquired the Security Being Reported on By the Parent Holding Company or Control Person See Item 6. ITEM 8. Identification and Classification of Members of the Group Not Applicable. - 5 - ITEM 9. Notice of Dissolution of Group Not Applicable. ITEM 10. Certifications By signing below I certify that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, the securities referred to above were acquired and are held in the ordinary course of business and were not acquired and are not held for the purpose of or with the effect of changing or influencing the control of the issuer of the securities and were not acquired and are not held in connection with or as a participant in any transaction having that purpose or effect other than activities solely in connection with a nomination under Sec. 240.14a-11. SIGNATURE After reasonable inquiry and to the best of my knowledge and belief, I certify that the information set forth in this statement is true, complete and correct. FIRST TRUST PORTFOLIOS L.P., FIRST TRUST ADVISORS L.P. and THE CHARGER CORPORATION Date: January 21, 2016 By: /s/ James M. Dykas --------------------------- James M. Dykas Controller of First Trust Portfolios L.P., and Chief Financial Officer of First Trust Advisors L.P., and Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of The Charger Corporation - 6 -

Exhibit 99.1 EXHIBIT 99.1 - JOINT FILING AGREEMENT The undersigned hereby agree that they are filing this statement jointly pursuant to Rule 13d-1(k)(1). Each of them is responsible for the timely filing of such Schedule 13G and any amendments thereto, and for the completeness and accuracy of the information concerning such person contained therein; but none of them is responsible for the completeness or accuracy of the information concerning the other persons making the filing, unless such person knows or has reason to believe that such information is inaccurate. In accordance with Rule 13d-1(k)(1) promulgated under the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, the undersigned hereby agree to the joint filing with each other on behalf of each of them of such a statement on Schedule 13G and any amendments thereto with respect to the equity securities (as defined in Rule 13d-1(i)) of the issuer, beneficially owned by each of them. This Joint Filing Agreement shall be included as an exhibit to such Schedule 13G and any amendments thereto. Date: January 21, 2016 First Trust Portfolios L.P., First Trust Advisors L.P. and The Charger Corporation By: /s/ James M. Dykas ----------------------------- Name: James M. Dykas Title: Controller of First Trust Portfolios L.P., and Chief Financial Officer of First Trust Advisors L.P., and Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of The Charger Corporation
Isaac Noble with his daughter Renee Jones in the 1970s.

An Australian woman found her long-lost Kiwi brothers and sisters in less than 36 hours thanks to the power of social media.

Renee Jones posted an appeal on New Zealand Facebook pages to find her brother and sister who had no idea a half-sibling existed in Australia.

"I am on a mission, albeit somewhat of a difficult one, to find a long lost brother and sister in New Zealand who are unaware of the existence of a little sister they have in Australia," it read.

Supplied Renee Jones (right) with her children Noah 14, Macy 13 and Xavier 2. She used Facebook to find her half-siblings in New Zealand.

The message was shared 13,000 times and Jones found herself staying up all night to trawl through 200 personal messages.

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"I could never imagine how things would transpire. I knew it would reach New Zealand, but not that it would go viral," she said.

Supplied Australian Renee Jones (right) is no longer an only-child thanks to social media.

"I checked every new message because what if it had been the next big lead. I didn't leave the computer for hours."

The life-changing social media post did not just locate her half-siblings, but also a huge whanau that welcomed her into their family.

Jones went from being an only-child with just a few relatives to having a huge family including a niece, uncle, cousins and siblings.

The emails and phonecalls from long-lost family began and Jones discovered the tragic story of her dad's childhood.

Her father Isaac Noble was taken away from his birth parents as a child and sent to live with a NZ-European middle-aged couple.

"It removed him from everything he should have known. That played a part in the man and father he became," she said,.

"We have got this generation who lost all their connections to their Maori culture."

Noble died believing he was given up for adoption by his parents. He never knew his mum searched for him for years before her death, Jones said.

His past explained why he wasn't always a great father, she said.

Noble had fathered two children in Northland in 1971 and 1973 before moving to Australia and having Jones in 1976,

He left Jones's mother when she was two-years-old, but the father and daughter remained close until his death in 2008.

Jones said she always longed to connect with his family, but her dad had forbid her from getting in touch in case she wasn't warmly accepted.

"It was a strange feeling to have siblings who don't know you exist."

On January 12, Jones, who lives in Wollongong south of Sydney, decided to share her appeal online.

First-cousin Glenda Waru, who lives in Brisbane, was one of the first relatives to get in touch.

Jones said the pair share the same sense of humour and her cousin supported her through the emotionally-taxing journey.

A second cousin, Aucklander Busby Noble said the family never knew Jones existed.

Through thousands of social media shares, the pair found each other and were soon sharing numerous messages.

"It's always nice to connect with your DNA. We're over the moon to have family back in the fold," Noble said.

Jones has gained an entire tribe, Busby said.

"She's thousands of kilometres away, but for us it's just a heartbeat.

"Now we've made the connection there's no lightning or thunder which can break us apart."
The view over Porirua Harbour and Mana Island from Plimmerton Farm.

A multimillion-dollar development described as Wellington's next suburb is back on the drawing board after being halted by the global recession.

Plimmerton Farm, a 386-hectare block beside State Highway 1 north of Porirua, is for sale, with the potential to be divided into about 1600 sections, 90 lifestyle blocks and 11 hectares of commercial land.

It is thought to be the largest area of land destined for housing to be offered for sale as a single purchase in the Wellington region.

SUPPLIED Plimmerton Farm is up for sale in an attempt to kickstart future housing development in the wider Wellington region.

If all goes to plan, the first sod could be turned by 2019 and, when complete, the value of the land and development is expected to be more than $400 million.

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In 2006, a detailed assessment was undertaken by a subsidiary of Macquarie Bank, but the sale fell through because of the global financial crisis.

Porirua Mayor Nick Leggett said he was excited the hear the development was back on the cards after work halted in 2011.

"I think there is more confidence in the city, and more generally in Wellington.

"The point is, this will be Wellington's next suburb. It's just a matter of when, but we are really keen for this to happen."

The land is currently zoned for farming, but is part of the Porirua City Council Northern Growth Structure Plan. It has a rateable value of $3m, but has previously been assessed as being worth more than $60m.

Gollins Commercial principal Chris Gollins, who is marketing it, said the sale could not have come at a better time, as Wellington was heading towards a section shortage.

The appeal of residential development north of Porirua was expected to increase substantially, with the Transmission Gully motorway taking State Highway 1 traffic off the Plimmerton road from April 2020.

"It's an ideal spot for development and growth in the city," Leggett said.

"It offers a really good lifestyle option, with quite a bit of variety and choice over the next few years."

The land, on the eastern eastern side of State Highway 1 between Plimmerton and Pukerua Bay, has been owned by the Benge family since the 1960s.

Martin Benge said they were selling for a number of reasons, including the cost of keeping the land pest-free while running it as a sheep and beef farm.

"It's been very difficult to get a return on investment ... these things take up quite a lot of financial resources."

He had noticed subdivisions had stopped at the southern boundary, and knew development of their land was inevitable. "We knew it would happen one day.

"We as a family have spent time there over many many years ... and every day you are there you are captivated by the view and you think, 'Gee, I want to share this with other people'."

Gollins said: "The family's timing in deciding to sell is perfect. Wellington's heading for a scarcity of new sections from 2020 forward, and this land is terrific."

The average demand for Porirua sections is about 250 a year, but in 2006 topped 300, he said.

He expected demand to return to those levels, especially if a merger of Wellington and Porirua proceeded.

"The hugely successful Whitby subdivision ... is almost complete. So come 2019-20, the options for new homes, in the area of Wellington with the most appealing climate, will be limited ...

"This will probably be the only option for people who want to build new homes and lifestyle blocks."
Ric O'Barry (Photo/Wechat)

U.S. animal right activist Ric O'Barry who featured in "The Cove", a documentary about dolphin slaughter in a Japanese town which won the best Oscar documentary award, has been detained in Tokyo by immigration authorities after being denied entry to the country on Monday.

According to his lawyer, O'Barry arrived at Tokyo's Narita International Airport for investigating the current dolphin slaughter situation in Japan and travel around Kyoto. He planned to go back in early Feburuary. However, he was denied entry to Japan on a tourist visa, detained by immigration officials at the airport and interrogated repeatedly.

76-year-old O'Barry is a famous dolphin activist who appeared in "The Cove", the Oscar-winning documentary which drew worldwide attention to the annual dolphin hunt in the small Japanese town of Taiji. However, the movie led to the protest of furious local fishermen, as they consider hunting and killing dolphin is part of the "traditional culture."

The crew of "The Cove". (Photo/Wechat)

It is not the first time O'Barry has been detained by Japanese authorities.

Last September he was arrested near Taiji on the eve of the start of the controversial six-month dolphin hunt, for allegedly failing to carry his passport after being stopped by police. He was released the following night.

O'Barry's lawyer argues that O'Barry always visits Japan in this time of the year with the same purpose. It is unreasonable that he was denied entry this time.

The last social networking post by O'Barry himself is an Instagram photo with the comment: "Here we go again...", showing an immigration sign apparently at a Japanese airport, dated Sunday.

O'Barry has raised an objection for being denied entry according to Kyodo News Service's report. Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau refused to respond to it since it was considered as an "individual case" which needed to be processed based on Right to Privacy.
Trade Me says Auckland landlords appear content to leave rents low while they make capital gains.

The rental market continues to favour tenants, as new data indicates rents ended the year at the same level they began it.

According to Trade Me Property, median asking rents advertised on its website nationwide were $420 a week, the same level they were in January, and in stark contrast to the rising property market.

In Christchurch, the rental market weakened 6.7 per cent as more houses came on the market and the rebuild effort slowed.

"Christchurch began 2015 with an average weekly rent of $450 but fell to end the year at $420," Jeffries said.

Rents were now down to similar levels two years ago, although they had grown by nearly a third since 2010.

In Auckland rents ended the year at $495, up 7.6 per cent on December 2014.

Excluding Auckland, the typical median asking rent was $370 a week, 5.7 per cent higher than a year ago.

Trade Me Property head Nigel Jeffries said he expected a rent correction in January or February when many people tended to shift and forecasted a jump of about $20 or 5 per cent.

"This means Auckland will probably break $500 again [as it did in November] but this time it will stay there.

"It certainly won't even come close to matching the 'for sale' market however."

A trickle down effect was also showing up in provinces near Auckland, such as the Bay of Plenty. Weekly asking rents in the Bay have risen 8.8 per cent rise over the last 12 months, settling at $370.

The largest rent rise was in Manawatu/Wanganui, up 21.7 per cent year-on-year to a new high of $280, after several years of no movement. Listings in the region were down by a fifth.

Wellington's rental market continued to modestly creep upwards, rising 3.87 per cent to $410

Jeffries said the figures showed rents had risen modestly in comparison to the real estate market over the past five years.

Auckland rents rose from $390 to $495 a week over that time, up 26.9 per cent.

Asking prices for properties for sale over the same period topped 60 per cent.
Les Mills Extreme in Taranaki St, Wellington, was the scene of a police search on Wednesday.



Police and customs have searched a Wellington gym after a personal trainer was arrested for alleged drug smuggling.

Yoram Kalev, 48, was a contractor at Les Mills Extreme gym in Taranaki St when he was arrested at Wellington Airport on Wednesday morning in connection with the discovery of 1.5kg of methamphetamine inside two neck pillows.

After his arrest, Kalev's locker at the gym was busted into by police and customs officials, the gym confirmed.

SUPPLIED Yoram Kalev's locker at Les Mills gym in Wellington was searched after he was arrested at Wellington Airport and charged with smuggling $1.5m worth of methamphetamine.

He had worked from the gym as a trainer since 2009, specialising in bodybuilding.

READ MORE: Methamphetamine worth $1.5m found in neck pillows at Wellington Airport

Police executed a search warrant on the gym after Kalev was arrested at the airport. Nothing was found in the locker.

Police also searched his home address, taking some electronic items and documents for analysis.

On Wednesday, Kalev appeared at Wellington District Court on two methamphetamine charges related to importing and distribution. He has been remanded in custody until next week.

Detective Senior Sergeant Scott Miller said the search was routine, and the workplaces of people in whom police were interested were often searched.

"This was part of normal policing. There's no connection between Les Mills and this at all, or the bodybuilding or the fitness industry." There's no connection between Les Mills and this at all, or the bodybuilding or the fitness industry."

On Thursday morning, Les Mills removed Kalev's profile from its website.

National operations manager Brett Sutton said the gym became aware of his alleged involvement in a major drug bust only when police asked for its help locating his locker.

Kalev was not employed by Les Mills, he said.

"He was a contractor who ran his [personal training] business from Les Mills since May 2009. His contract has now been suspended while this matter is before the courts."

A gym insider said three officers turned up at about 4.45pm on Wednesday, demanding certain lockers be "busted open".

"Staff were banned from entering during this time. Another staff member was seen with them and large bolt cutters to bust open lockers searching for drugs."

In 2014, another Les Mills personal trainer and bodybuilding world champion, Steven Orton, 24, was convicted for importing packages of methylone, an illegal party drug, and sentenced to seven months' home detention.

Orton claimed he thought the packages were full of steroids but realised they probably contained something more serious when Customs investigators burst into his home.
Planned one-bedroom social housing units in Hanson St, Mt Cook. A vacant building will be demolished midway through this year, and construction should start later in the year.

Housing New Zealand has announced plans for two new apartment-style social housing complexes in central Wellington, geared towards people living alone.in Wellington to help meet demand for smaller homes in the central city.

Twenty one-bedroom units are to built at Hanson St, in Mt Cook, and a further 36 one-bedroom units in blocks of four at Britomart St, in Berhampore.

Construction was likely to start later this year, and be finished by early 2018, HNZ acting asset development general manager Patrick Dougherty said on Thursday.construction on at 20 one bedroom units at Hanson Street in Mt Cook and 36 one bedroom units in blocks of four at Britomart Street in Berhampore was likely to start later this year and should be finished by early 2018.

SUPPLIED Housing New Zealand's new social housing units at Britomart St, Berhampore. A total of 36 one-bedroom units will be built in blocks of four.

The new units would be ideal for people living alone, and were close to public transport and shops, he said.

HNZ homes were in relatively high demand in Wellington, particularly smaller one-bedroom properties. Dougherty said the prospect of having modern, warm, dry, fit-for-purpose homes for people in need was great news for the capital.



"We're excited about plans for the new developments, which are for one-bedroom homes built to modern standards, fully insulated with carpets and curtains and designed to maximise the sun. They will be properties that anyone would be proud to call home."

Both complexes would also have communal spaces for tenants' use.



"Our focus is on making sure we have the right homes in the right places to meet demand for social housing," Dougherty said. "These developments are a great example of Housing New Zealand reconfiguring it's portfolio to align with demand and better meet the needs of its tenants."

Neighbours, businesses and other community groups would be given a chance to hear more about the plans in due course, he said.



A vacant building at 28 Hanson Street will be demolished midway through 2016.

The Britomart St site is already vacant after 38 leaky HNZ units were demolished last year.



Dougherty said HNZ had just over 1900 properties in Wellington. Over the past six months, 137 families had been housed in the area, and taken from the Ministry of Social Development-managed social housing register.
An inmate is in hospital with serious injures after being attacked with a broom in Christchurch Men's Prison, a union leader says.

The injured prisoner was believed to be Michael Scott Holdem.

Emergency services were called to the prison, off West Coast Rd near Templeton, about 9am on Thursday.

A St John Ambulance spokesman said a man, aged in his 30s, was transported to Christchurch Hospital. He was in a serious but stable condition.

Corrections Association industrial officer Beven Hanlon said the prisoner was hit from behind with a broom in what was believed to be a gang-related attack.

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"That prisoner's now in hospital and is now in a very serious condition," Hanlon said.

In 1999, Holdem was jailed for eight years for living off the prostitution earnings of a 14-year-old, having sex with her, and administering morphine. The girl developed hepatitis C due to Holdem and another man's actions.

In 2009, three years were added to his jail term after he tried to get his mother to smuggle drugs to him in prison. In April, he admitted having unlawful possession of a shotgun.

Thursday's attack prevented a prisoner, charged with assault and breaching a protection order, from appearing via video link in the Christchurch District Court. It was understood he was the attacker. The case was remanded to February.

Detective Elliot Western said police were investigating an assault involving two prisoners. The alleged attacker was yet to be formally interviewed.

Christchurch Men's Prison director John Roper confirmed an inmate had been assaulted by another inmate.

"Corrections manages some of New Zealand's most difficult and challenging citizens. Violence in prison is not tolerated and any prisoners who use violence will be held to account."

In the six months between January and June last year, there were 67 assaults at the prison. Two were considered serious. Inmate Benton Parata died after he was bashed in his cell on March 25.

Department of Corrections figures showed 40 assaults during the six month period were not serious, and 25 were non-injury.

Hanlon was supportive of a recent Corrections decision to kit out staff with stab-proof vests. He believed it would help officers intervene in attacks.

He wanted to see the department go further and allow prison officers to wear pepper spray on their hips for further protection.

Corrections figures show there were 38 "serious" prisoner-on-prisoner assaults in New Zealand prisons during the 2014/15 financial year, including eight at Christchurch Men's.

There were nine "serious" prisoner-on-staff assaults the same year, one of which was at Christchurch Men's.

Prisoners deemed to be at risk of violence could be segregated from the mainstream prison population for their safety and security. Prisoners could ask to be placed on voluntary segregation if they felt they were at risk from other prisoners, Corrections acting national commissioner Jeanette Burns said.

An internal misconduct system meant if a prisoner pleaded or was found guilty of misconduct, they were disciplined in a fair, just and humane manner, she said.
A 15 year old was held to the wall of a police cell in Taupo.

A police officer who pinned a teenage boy to a cell wall by the throat used excessive force, the Independent Police Conduct Authority has found.

The officer's actions were "excessive and contrary to law".

About 10.30pm on November 21, 2014, police were alerted to two boys acting suspiciously south of Taupo, who had subsequently hitched a ride from a passing vehicle.

Two officers stopped the vehicle and, concerned about the safety of the two boys, decided to take them home.

One boy was taken home but the other refused to give police his address and was taken back to the Taupo station.

On the way there officers discovered the 15 year old had a full can of pre-mix alcohol with him.

According to the IPCA report one officer stopped the patrol car and held the boy down on the back seat to remove the can, search and handcuff him due to safety concerns for both officers.

Back at the station the boy was told he was going to be taken to his mother's house.

He became upset and told the officers he did not want to go. He then went into an empty cell, followed by the Officer A, who grabbed the boy as he was sitting on a bench and held him against the cell wall by his throat.

Officer B witnessed the incident, and felt that the use of force was excessive, and reported their concerns to a supervisor.

The report found police were justified in detaining the boy and taking him back to the station to find his current address, and using reasonable force to remove the can of alcohol, search and handcuff the boy in the back of the patrol car.

But grabbing the boy by the throat, amounted to excessive force and was contrary to law, said IPCA chair, Judge Sir David Carruthers.

"The authority is satisfied that the boy was only verbally resisting going to his mother's house when he was grabbed by Officer A and held against the cell wall by his throat.

"This degree of force was not justified in the circumstances. Officer A's actions escalated the situation rather than resolved it."

The incident occurred two months after a similar incident at Ngaruawahia. In that case a Waikato officer was convicted and sentenced for choking a teenager against a cell wall in September 2014.

Bay of Plenty police have accepted the findings.

In a written statement, Taupo area commander, Inspector Warwick Morehu, said staff are encouraged to speak up if they have concerns.

"This demonstrates that police will take action to question and improve its own processes, even when the individual involved makes no complaint and suffers no injury.

"This matter is now the subject of an employment enquiry under the Police Code of Conduct and therefore we are unable to provide further comment."
Gwydyon 'The Wizard of World's End', hanging with his friends on Trafalgar Street, Wednesday morning.

It will mean walking more than a marathon a day for the next two weeks, but Gwydyon the self-styled Wizard of World's End is determined to get to Auckland on foot to protest the signing of the Trans Pacific Partnership agreement.

Gwydyon, of Golden Bay who gave no other name, sat on Nelson's Trafalgar St on Wednesday morning collecting enough money to catch the ferry to Wellington that afternoon.

Hemi, his travelling partner, sat next to him strumming a guitar.

ALDEN WILLIAMS/FAIRFAX NZ Gwydyon 'The Wizard of World's End', on Trafalgar Street, Wednesday morning.

In his earthy robe and combing his fingers through his long grey beard, Gwydyon said he became a wizard "well before Peter Jackson started writing", and he was using his wizardry to fight for New Zealand's sovereignty.

Surrounded by New Zealand and Maori flags and placards to legalise cannabis  and with Nelson's full-time council critic and vagrant Lewis Stanton, aka Hone Ma Heke, in tow in full wizard attire  Gwydyon had collected a couple of notes and a small pile of coins in a hat sitting on the pavement in front of him.

He and Hemi were marching to stop the TPPA in its tracks, Gwydyon said. From there they were travelling to Waitangi on foot to "fight for the sovereignty of New Zealanders" and to uphold the premises of the Treaty of Waitangi.

ALDEN WILLIAMS/FAIRFAX NZ Lewis Stanton aka Hone Ma Heke, centre, on Trafalgar St, dressed as a wizard.

The pair attracted a small crowd supporting their efforts. Others were just curious to find out what was going on.

Gwydyon said he came to Golden Bay in 1991 after life as a traffic officer in Timaru. The stress of the job, he said, led him to a reclusive lifestyle near Takaka where he practiced permaculture and adopted life as a wizard.

He said the march to Auckland and Waitangi was primarily to protest the TPPA, but he was also using it as a chance to support the legalisation of cannabis.

"We're marching in support of the anti-TPPA movement and in the support of cannabis, a relaxing of government interference in everyday life," he said.

"Any negotiations done in secret cannot be good for the general population, if the general population knew the details then there wouldn't be a problem with the TPPA because the clauses in there that attack our sovereignty would not be in there, the people would not permit it."

Cannabis, he said, was the answer to New Zealand's failing "rockstar economy". The country was being damaged by dairy farming and small businesses were falling prey to large corporations.

Gwydyon has to be back in the region for a court date on February 16, he said, after he was caught in possession of cannabis.
Government funding is not keeping up with the expectations on schools to provide education outside of the curriculum, South Canterbury principals claim.

Government funding for schools in the Timaru District has risen by 7.5 per cent in the past five years, from $61 million in 2010 to $65.6m in 2014.

The Ministry of Education said local schools were managing well with their funding, and had reported no financial issues in recent years.

Principals said that while funding had risen, so too had the expectations placed on schools.

South Canterbury Principals Association president Carmel Brosnahan-Pye said schools were only able to run on their allocated government funding because of good management by principals and boards of trustees.

READ MORE:

* Decile 10 schools take lions share

* 'Free' education costs $1b this year

* Numbers reveal donation discrepancies

Schools relied very heavily on donations, she said.

"Without that money, we'd be in a much worse position."

Donations paid for most of the "extras" that schools offered, including outdoor education, swimming, and performances, she said.

Support staff were also funded out of school operations budgets rather than teacher salary budgets, so salary increases for support staff could have an impact on school spending, she said.

"We're always cutting, we're not adding."

Gleniti School principal Steve Zonnevylle also criticised government funding, saying donations made up a "huge component" of school finances.

"Hekia Parata says the ministry gives us enough money, but the reality is that they don't."

While principals said they often relied on school donations, the amount of money being donated to South Canterbury schools was on the decline.

Ministry of Education figures show a drop in donations made to South Canterbury schools by parents over the past five years.

While some schools have bucked the trend, overall South Canterbury schools received $328,000 less in 2014 than they did in 2010.

Some principals blamed that decrease on worsening financial circumstances for some families in South Canterbury.

Ministry acting head of sector enablement and support Susan Howan said the Government paid the "lion's share" of education costs, with donations making up a small part of school budgets overall.

For every $1.80 parents donated to schools, taxpayers contributed about $100, she said.

"In terms of schools in the Timaru area, schools in the area seem to be managing well with their government funding.

"We haven't had any schools come to us recently seeking help for financial issues."

The government funding for the schools in the Timaru area included operational grants, teacher salaries, and other government grants.

Labour Education spokesman Chris Hipkins claimed the underfunding of New Zealand's school system was placing the "whole notion of an equal shot at education at risk".

"By law, our young people are guaranteed a free school education. The pressure on parents to pay schools 'fees' dressed up as donations shows the Government is failing to live up to that legal commitment.

"No one is saying parents shouldn't be able to chip in for optional extras if they can afford it, but when schools say they can't even deliver the basics without donations, it's time to sit up and take note."

Education Minister Hekia Parata said the wide-ranging review of the education system, which is currently underway, would also cover all types of funding, including grants, staffing, and property.

"In addition, our system allows parents who are able to, and want to, to provide extra to get extra. As a mother I fundraised for every school my children went to, decile 1 and 10, public and private.

"But fundraising and donations are voluntary. It was my choice. I was not compelled to do so and I have no plans to change that as minister."
Oamaru woman Lesley Sweeney and her partner Henry Watson have been told they will be allowed to stay in the state house Lesley has occupied for 35 years.

An Oamaru pensioner will be allowed to stay in the state house she has called home for 35 years.

The Ministry of Social Development (MSD) confirmed in December that it was reviewing the tenancy of 67-year-old Lesley Sweeney, who shares the Taward St house with her partner, 76-year-old Henry Watson.

While MSD initially said no decision had been made about Sweeney's ongoing eligibility for social housing, she claimed she was told by staff on several occasions that she would definitely have to leave her home.

To her relief, a letter arrived last week informing her that the couple would be allowed to stay in the house.

Their tenancy would be reviewed again in three years, she said.

READ MORE:

* Pensioners may be evicted

* Political stoush over eviction threat

"We're very pleased, very relieved," she said.

At the time, an MSD spokesperson said MSD spokesperson said reviews were expected to take on average six months to complete.

"Following a review, a three-month transition period is put in place if it is found that the tenant is no longer eligible for social housing."

Sweeney said she was surprised by how quickly the decision had been reached.

The issue sparked a political war of words at the time, with Labour Housing spokesman Phil Twyford describing the potential eviction as "the height of callousness".

At the time, Twyford said the government's social housing criteria was too tight and the couple were being evicted to allow the house to be sold off.

Legislation determining that Housing New Zealand tenants would face a review every three years, to ascertain whether their income or circumstances had changed, came into effect in April 2014.

Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett fired back, saying putting someone in a state-owned house and leaving them there for decades "without any aspiration to support them back into independence" was not a responsible thing to do.

Bennett said reviewable tenancies looked at people who were paying market rent, or near market rent, and assessed whether they might be able to move into a private rental or even purchase their own home.
Several doctors of traditional Chinese medicine participate in the free clinic activity in Los Angeles on Jan. 17, 2016. (Photo/Xinhua)

Several doctors of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) participated in a free clinic in Los Angeles on Jan. 17, which was jointly managed by the American Chinese Medicine Academy of Sciences and the Traditional Chinese Medicine Association of Los Angeles. Doctors shared knowledge of and advocated for Chinese traditional medical culture. The one-day free clinic attracted hundreds of patients for diagnosis and treatment.

California is one of the earliest states in the US to develop and spread TCM. In the 1970s, Jerry Brown, the governor of California, began to promote acupuncture therapy. Since 2013, acupuncture has been officially recognized in the national health care system.

Promoted by US president Barack Obama, the healthcare reform bill have made a solid start in removing prejudice against alternative treatments by insurance agencies. Wu Baolin, the chairman and a famous doctor of the American Chinese Medicine Academy of Sciences believes that Chinese medicine has been gaining more and more popularity in the US, with over 40 states making it a legal treatment.

"Medical reform and national health insurance are being implemented in US. Lower price and convenience give Chinese medicine the advantage in overseas development. Only when it really steps into people's lives will it have a strong basis of overseas development," said Wu.




A car crashed into a train in Xian, north Chinas Shaanxi province on January 21, injuring at least one person. The incident took place only 100 meters away from the west of Xian International University. Fire fighters and a team of special rescue workers rushed to the scene where a car driver was trapped tightly below his waist in the distorted wreckage. The victim was rescued and hospitalized after hours of operation.
Taurangas Midge Munro has been awarded a bursary to attend the 2016 PMA Emerging Leaders Programme, to be held in Arizona, USA.

This bursary has been supported by Horticulture Innovation Australia, PMA Australia-New Zealand Limited and Nuffield Australia for a young emerging leader from the horticultural industry.
Trade Minister Todd McClay can now confirm that the Government is planning to host the signing of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in New Zealand on Thursday 4 February.

New Zealand has issued invitations to TPP Ministers to sign the Agreement in Auckland.

Signature will mark the end of the TPP negotiating process, says Mr McClay.

Following signature, all 12 countries will be able to begin their respective domestic ratification processes and will have up to two years to complete that before the agreement enters into force.

For New Zealand, following signature the Government will submit the final text of TPP and the National Interest Analysis to Parliament. The legislative changes to implement TPP will then go through normal policy and Parliamentary procedures.

During this period before TPP enters into force, the Government will be running a series of roadshows throughout the country.

The roadshows are for interested members of the public to learn more about TPP, and to assist businesses identify and plan for new export opportunities when TPP comes into force, says Mr McClay.

The TPP region accounts for 36 per cent of the global economy, and over 40 per cent of New Zealands exports ($20 billion goods, and $8 billion services).

Once TPP is fully phased in, tariffs will be eliminated on 93 per cent of New Zealands trade with our new FTA partners: the United States, Japan, Canada, Mexico and Peru.

TPP will ultimately give New Zealand around $260 million of tariff savings a year, says Mr McClay.

Source: Office of Todd McClay.


File photo: E-2D Advanced Hawkeye AEW Aircraft

The first E-2D Advanced Hawkeye AEW Aircraft Japan ordered from the U.S. is to begin manufacture, thepaper.cn reported on January 21.

As the most advanced carrier-capable tactical aircraft in the Northrop Grumman E-2 series, E-2D is an all-weather, airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft. It will meet the Japanese Defense Ministry's requirements for a future airborne early warning platform.

The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded Northrop Grumman the contract for its planned foreign military sale of the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye to Japan at 285 million USD on January 5, 2016.

The E-2D Aircraft is part of a $1.7 billion Japan-U.S. deal inked in June, 2015, in which Japan is to acquire 4 E-2D aircrafts, 10 T56-A-427A engines, 4 AN/APY-9 radars, relevant spare parts, and also the maintenance services.

As the very first E-2D aircraft customer for the U.S., Japan will include one E-2D aircraft per year in its yearly budget in four consecutive years.
Cutting through red tape, dodging arrows of criticism Tauranga Deputy Mayor Kelvin Clout is bringing all the political cliches when he becomes a target at the Tauranga Medieval Faire.

For a small fee, (two tokens) the public, friends, family and political opponents will be able to take pot shots at Kelvin with a bow and arrow.

The arrows will be blunts  rubber headed, that apparently, feel a bit like getting hit by paintball rounds. Kelvin will be wearing armour  but not as much as he would like.

I was hoping for a shield, but I find out now that I only have a sword, he says at a rehearsal before the live event on Saturday.

But that will make it interesting. As a local politician, Im used to dealing will ill meaning and ill-informed arrows of dissent, so this will be something that Im used to.

Kelvin is one of the targets in the Shoot the Knight event from 11am till 12pm on Saturday at the combined Faire and A&P Show.

For the practice round at Memorial Park yesterday afternoon, Kelvin was kept safe from the arrows by about 15kg of steel, a chainmail hauberk or shirt.

On Saturday he will have added to that a gorget to protect his throat, a visored helmet, and some leg armour  all supplied by the Tauranga medieval re-enactment group The Northern Horde.

It will keep me very hot, says Kelvin. In the heat of summer its going to be quite a challenge. I do applaud these guys for the effort they go through putting that heavy and hot armour on and I have seen them down here frequently battling away.

Kelvins knowledge of medieval armour and combat is gained from the TV programmes and the occasional movies that featured medieval fighting.

Im hoping theres a lot less blood on this occasion than I have seen in the movies.

Because of a hint from his Northern Horde armourers Charlie Tapsell and Tridyn Berben, there may well be an invitation to Kelvin to step into the ring and do a round of full contact sparring with a member of the New Zealand Historic Medieval Battles team  wearing full armour, hes going to be watching more movies before the faire.

Im willing to do that. As deputy mayor you get to some interesting things, challenging things. So I will immediately go home now brush up on Youtube videos on how to combat in that arena, so I will have to study up on that.

The Tauranga Medieval Faire at the Tauranga racecourse is over three days, opening to the public Friday afternoon at 12.30pm. Saturday and Sunday the Faire is open from 9.30am till 4pm. Theres a provisional schedule on the Faires Facebook page.

I like the way the A&P show and the Medieval Faire have combined resources, and I think its going to be good for both events having them on together I think thats a really positive thing, says Kelvin.



Tridyn Berben, left, and Charlie Tapsell from Taurangas Northern Horde prepare Kelvin for target practice.


Kiwi Regional Air, which begins direct South Island flights from Tauranga next month, has the first flight more than half full already.

The first flight into Tauranga from Nelson will be on February 15, says the airline CEO Ewan Wilson.
Moving from welfare into work means a better life for the people of the Bay of Plenty and their families.

In recent years there has been widespread reform of the welfare system, aimed at increasing independence where possible. This reform is working well, nationwide there are 38,000 fewer people on welfare since this time 3 years ago, says Todd.

Locally sole parents are leading way. There are 45 fewer Bay of Plenty parents collecting Sole Parent Support since December 2014. These numbers coincide with the Bay of Plenty region showing the most significant growth in the country in employment with the area at 6.1% contrary to a nationwide softening.

Parents moving into full time, sustainable employment helps to break the cycle of welfare dependency because we know that children who grow up in benefit dependent homes are more likely to end up on welfare themselves.

Sole parents do a tremendous job and its great they are taking up opportunities made available by local businesses and organisations who are creating jobs due to their confidence in the regions future, says Todd.

Progress is being made across New Zealand with the number of people receiving a main benefit falling by 2.5 per cent in the last 12 months. The number of parents collecting Sole Parent Support has fallen by 5.7 per cent for the same period.
A Kiwi living overseas who refused to repay his student loan has been arrested at the New Zealand border.

This is the first time the sanction has been used.
A 7.5 metre tall sculpture and memorial wall will be dedicated to the men of the New Zealand Engineers Tunnelling Company in Waihi today.

Organised by Waihi Heritage Vision, the commemorations kick off with a street parade through the township at 11am, before moving to Gilmour Reserve for the dedication at 1pm.
With berths overlooking the finish line, the event offers a unique opportunity to watch the yacht racing action at ultra-close quarters while enjoying the lavish environs of your yacht.

If you need any more convincing, just listen to Sam Hollis, Chief Operating Officer for the Americas Cup Event Authority, and Bill Hanbury, CEO of the Bermuda Tourism Authority, who spoke to us at the recent Superyachts.com Top 100 event in London.

Superyachts are a really important part of our event, Mr Hollis told us. We have the Americas Cup Family, some key stakeholders as we take this event around the world, and the superyachts are right up there, from the owners through the rest of the superyacht community.

So for us its really about contriving really special experiences for those stakeholders and that can come in the form of berthing packages right in the heart of the Americas Cup venue. So we offer berths that will literally overlook the finish line, we offer VIP flags for premium locations, dedicated locations, for those yachts or their tenders right on the edge of the race course in special locations. Were offering experiences and insights and access to press conferences, to hospitality, to some of the parties, so for us its really about those special packages.

And were also doing a couple of other things. Youll have heard of the J-Class coming and running their own regatta, bridging the first weekend of the Americas Cup Finals. So their first race will be on the Friday before the opening Saturday and theyll continue on the Monday, Tuesday afterwards. We think and believe that well have the biggest fleet of J-Class thats ever raced when they come to Bermuda in 2017.

And alongside the J-Class regatta, of course, well have the Americas Cup superyacht regatta, which we staged in San Francisco too, and that will be an opportunity for some of the biggest sailing superyachts in the world to come race on the Americas Cup race course right in front of the venue.

You can watch the full video interview with Sam Hollis and Bill Hanbury above this article.
Q.: I was creating an email but was not ready to send it yet so I closed the email to work on it again later. When I did, I was prompted by the program to "save" or "discard" the message. I hit "save" but when I went to my drafts folder later to finish this email, it wasn't there. Is there a way to retrieve this message?

 Angela Minicola, Vero Beach

A.: Unfortunately, the chances of recovering this message are slim.

That doesn't mean it's a lost cause, but retrieving the message may require more effort than what it will take to compose the message again from scratch.

To see if it's still around, first give your drafts folder a thorough check. Many email programs, as well as popular webmail services like Yahoo! Mail and Gmail, automatically save a message you are working on to your drafts folder.

If it's not there, some email programs move draft emails to your deleted items folder after a certain point.

If you still cannot find the message, then call your ISP support line, or the support line of the program or webmail service you are using for email to see if they know of any tricks to recover the message. If you commanded the program to save the message, then there may still be a possibility that it's available somewhere.

However, if those means don't prove successful, then odds are the message has been lost and you'll need to recreate it.

Keep in mind email profiles typically get saved collectively as single database files; you essentially view all the pieces of that file in a single interactive view when you open your profile in your email program. In other words, your sent messages, folders and the like are all saved as one file.

In this mix, draft emails get classified as temporary objects, because they are not expected to be around for a long period time.

While some people keep unfinished or in-progress emails in this folder for a long period of time, the folder is really meant for temporary recovery of messages  not for long-term storage. Even if you command your program to save a draft, that folder may still get purged sometimes during updates or similar housekeeping processes.

As such, if you are composing an important email, it may be best to draft the correspondence in Microsoft Word, or similar program and save it before copying and pasting the text into an email to send out. While this is an extra step, it ensures the message will be saved in the long run.

UNTANGLING THE WEB

youtube.com/user/cookingwithdog

Do you miss the early days of "Iron Chef," where the show's quirks far outweighed its culinary pretensions? Then make a point to watch the episodes of the captivating YouTube channel "Cooking with Dog," which centers on the cooking demonstrations of a kooky Japanese chef and her expressive gray poodle, Francis. Recipes (presented in English with heavy Japanese accent and with English subtitles) are easy to follow and include everything from authentic Asian dishes to French-inspired desserts and more. All the while, Francis looks on with wide eyes and approving grin.
SHARE One of the broken windows is seen Jan. 15, 2014, where St. Lucie County Sheriff's deputies tossed pepper spray canisters into the house the previous day during the standoff with Gregory Vaughn Hill Jr. in the 1500 block of Avenue Q in Fort Pierce. Hill was fatally shot by deputies during the standoff. (FILE) Gregory Hill Related Photos Family of Gregory Hill Files Lawsuit

By Will Greenlee of TCPalm

An attorney for the mother of a man fatally shot by a St. Lucie County Sheriffs deputy two years ago filed a wrongful-death lawsuit, writing the Sheriffs Office used unreasonable, negligent and excessive tactics.

Attorney John Phillips on Wednesday discussed the legal action at the Avenue Q home where Gregory Hill Jr., 30, died after deputies Jan. 14, 2014, were called to a loud music complaint.

This case has kind of gone out of sight, out of mind, Phillips said. This family wants and deserves answers. According to sheriffs accounts, deputies went to Hills home after an obscene loud music report.

The call came from a parent in the pickup line of Frances K. Sweet Magnet School across the street. Deputy Christopher Newman and another deputy got no response after a knock on the front door. They knocked on the garage door, and as it opened they saw a man holding a handgun at his side.

Deputies ordered the male to drop the gun. Instead of complying with the deputies commands, the male raised the gun toward the deputies as he simultaneously pulled the garage door closed, according to a sheriffs statement.

Newman fired, his bullets penetrating the garage door. Phillips said the fatal shot was to Hills head. Phillips said Hill was in his man cave listening to music.

We all have our own little getaway time, and because he was drinking beer and listening to Drake (a rapper) I dont think that makes him a threat, Phillips said.

Phillips said there was no evidence that Hill raised a gun, saying the weapon was in his back pocket. Phillips and Hills family spoke at the home where the incident happened and noted areas inside where they said tear gas had been fired.

A large banner reading We Want Justice and I am Greg Hill Jr. with a portrait of Hill hung from the roof. A grand jury in March 2014 cleared a deputy in the case. Toxicology reports from Hills autopsy showed his blood-alcohol level was nearly 0.40, almost five times the legal limit to drive, sheriffs officials said.

Investigators identified his weapon as a 9mm handgun, which was later found to be unloaded. Hill was on probation for cocaine possession, according to the Sheriffs Office. Sheriffs Deputy Bryan Beaty, public information officer, said via email that agency policy indicates they dont comment on active lawsuits.

Phillips said Hill had misdemeanor convictions and he didnt believe Hill was prohibited from having a weapon. Hills mother, Viola Bryant, 59, said it was painful to be here, saying her son loved his family. She said Hills three children are ages 5, 8 and 11.

All I want is justice for my child where his soul can rest in peace, she said. Hills fiancee, Terrica Monique Davis, 32, said she hopes the lawsuit brings justice.

This is something thatll stick with us for the rest of our lives, Davis said. Ill never forget January 14, 2014.

The wrongful death lawsuit, filed Jan. 8, seeks more than $15,000 in damages.

This isnt about money, Phillips said. We dont have any offers. Theyve barely communicated with us and Ill leave that up to a jury.
Gov. Rick Scott plans to sign a water policy bill Thursday that changes Lake Okeechobee pollution regulations, despite veto pleas from some environmentalists and a former governor. (AP Photo/Steve Cannon)

By Isadora Rangel of TCPalm

TALLAHASSEE  Gov. Rick Scott plans to sign a water policy bill Thursday that changes Lake Okeechobee pollution regulations, despite veto pleas from some environmentalists and a former governor.

SB 552 is a priority of Speaker Steve Crisafulli and was one of the first bills the Legislature passed this session. It changes water policy across Florida, from springs to water supply. It also changes Lake O pollution regulations, from a permitting program that sets standards farmers should follow for water running off their farms to a cleanup plan that requires them to follow so-called "best management practices," such as using less fertilizer or changing irrigation practices. Similar plans are in place for the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers.

Some lawmakers and some environmentalists who opposed the bill last year now support it because sponsors added provisions that say the best management practices are enforceable and the Department of Environmental Protection can change them if they aren't reducing pollution.

Former Democratic Gov. Bob Graham, who also served in the U.S. Senate, asked Scott Wednesday to veto the bill. The Sierra Club and three other environmental groups organized a news conference last week also asking for a veto. They said the bill creates loopholes that exempt many farmers who use groundwater from monitoring how much they are withdrawing; puts water supply ahead of conservation; and delays the implementation of cleanup plans because state law requires the Legislature to ratify the new enforcement if it has an economic impact on small businesses of more than $200,000.

A coalition of 106 environmental and civic groups delivered a letter to the Legislature asking for significant changes to the bill, but lawmakers didn't want to make any changes to the bill that would delay its passage.

Scott will sign the legislation in a ceremony in his office with Crisafulli and Senate President Andy Gardiner present, Scott's office said. He also will sign bills pushed by Gardiner to increase education and employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

Follow Isadora Rangel, Arek Sarkissian and Tampa news partner Jeff Schweers for updates on all the legislative action.

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A Senate committee will hear a bill that allows coastal communities with a population of fewer than 100,000 to establish a pilot program to regulate or ban the use of disposable plastic bags.

By Isadora Rangel of TCPalm

TALLAHASSEE  California wants to do it; Hawaii is doing it; but Florida still prohibits it.

A local government that wants to restrict the use of plastic bags is prohibited under Florida law from doing so, even though those bags can choke marine life, breed mosquitoes and clog flood control systems.

That could change under a bill that cleared a Senate committee Wednesday.

The legislation pushed by activists allows coastal cities with less than 100,000 residents to create a two-year pilot program to regulate the use of plastic bags. The cities could restrict or ban the bags.

Treasure Coast communities from Jupiter Island to Sebastian could qualify for the program, but no one has considered taking action, so the One Florida Foundation will be lobbying local officials to do so if the bill becomes law, foundation director Nyla Pipes said. The nonprofit environmental organization often finds plastic bags during cleanups of local waterways, such as Moores Creek in Fort Pierce, which flows into the Indian River Lagoon, Pipes said.

While it might be inconvenient not to have bags for your groceries, Pipes said Florida needs to go through a "paradigm change" as did progressive states such as California, where the legislature imposed a statewide ban in 2014. The ban is on hold pending a ballot referendum in November. All Hawaii counties prohibit stores from handing out plastic bags at checkout, although there's a loophole that allows reusable plastic bags.

The Florida Chamber of Commerce, the lead business lobbying organization, opposes SB 306 and its companion HB 143 because it would increase costs for businesses and consumers. Other pro-business critics also said if the Legislature wants to tackle the issue it should do so on a statewide basis instead of leaving it up to small communities because plastic bags can travel from one community to another.

Sen. Alan Hays, R-Umatilla, said he's against increased business regulations and was the only dissenting vote in the Environmental Preservation and Conservation Committee, which approved the bill 8-1 Wednesday. He also questioned whether the state should leave it up to businesses to stop using plastic bags.

Yet plastic bags still are cheaper for businesses, therefore regulations would be the only way to make a change, said Sen. Dwight Bullard, the Miami Democrat who sponsored the bill.

The idea for the legislation came after elementary students in Cutler Bay, a small municipality in Miami-Dade County, found several plastic bags during an environmental cleanup, Bullard said. When they asked the town to draft an ordinance, officials found out Florida law pre-empts local regulations. Bullard's bill lifts that pre-emption to allow the pilot program from January 2017 through July 2019. The bill also requires municipalities to submit a report on the impacts of the program.

Americans use approximately 100 billion plastic bags every year, each typically discarded after a single use, according to a Senate staff report. Production of the bags requires both petroleum and natural gas use and each bag can last more than 1,000 years. Wind can carry them from garbage trucks, the tops of landfills and trash receptacles, resulting in the littering of streets and waterways, where animals mistake them for food.

The Florida Legislature in 2008 attempted to address the issue by requiring the Department of Environmental Protection to conduct a study while also prohibiting local governments from adopting any rules until lawmakers adopted the recommendations of the study. The DEP finished the study in 2010 and came up with several options, ranging from more education to a ban. The Legislature didn't revisit the issue again.

The city of Stuart, which sits on the St. Lucie River, hasn't thought about regulating plastic bags, but City Manager Paul Nicoletti said he's open to the idea.

"I'd like to think we are progressive enough that we would examine this," Nicoletti said.

Follow Isadora Rangel, Arek Sarkissian and Tampa news partner Jeff Schweers for updates on all the legislative action.

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STUART  During an era of sweeping changes, and in the face of increasing government resistance, local media must continue to fight for journalism, Washington Post Editor Marty Baron said Wednesday at Temple Beit HaYam.

Baron  one of the journalists portrayed in the Oscar-nominated film "Spotlight"  addressed more than 500 attendees during a 90-minute question-and-answer session that touched on issues including democracy and freedom of the press, and Baron's newfound "celebrity journalist" status.

The event was moderated by Treasure Coast Newspapers Editor Mark Tomasik and included questions submitted by the audience, several of which touched on the status of Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, who on Saturday was freed from an Iranian prison after more than a year of confinement.

Rezaian, the Post's Tehran bureau chief, last year was convicted of espionage in a closed-door trial, and while Post reporters and editors brought attention to Rezaian's case and consistently advocated for his release, there was a real concern that he "could be in jail for many years," according to Baron.

The reunion between Rezaian and his family and Washington Post editors on Monday was emotional but happy, according to Baron.

"We hadn't seen him in a long time. He'd lost some weight and looked extremely tired, but it was a very joyful moment. We spent several hours with him and mostly just let him talk. We weren't going to grill him," said Baron about Saturday's reunion in Germany. "I've taken a lot of trips in my life, but this was the best."

Several questions from the audience pertained to "Spotlight," a film that portrays how The Boston Globe  under Baron's leadership  investigated and reported widespread sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

Baron said he was pleased with the execution of the movie  the filmmakers were meticulous in their research  and with its potential to bring greater awareness to the importance of quality journalism.

"I hope it causes the public to reflect on the importance of investigative journalism and what it takes to do it right," Baron said. "I hope it encourages everybody  journalists and others  to listen to the voices of people who have been pushed to the margins of society because they have a lot to say."

Asked about the media's coverage of the upcoming presidential elections, Baron warned against lumping all media outlets together.

"Different outlets cover the elections differently. It's like generalizing about all doctors or all lawyers," he said.

Though Baron has not been in Stuart for many years, he's well acquainted with the community: He began his career here as the Miami Herald's Martin County reporter.

Since then, Baron has held top positions with the Herald, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times and The Boston Globe, helping his newsrooms win multiple Pulitzer Prizes.

His visit was organized by Jerome and Phyllis Rappaport  Sewall's Point residents and friends of Baron  and is intended to be the first in an ongoing speakers series.
TALLAHASSEE  The Senate on Thursday unanimously passed Stuart Sen. Joe Negron's bill that prohibits the state from contracting with companies that boycott Israel.

Negron filed SB 86 after hearing from Treasure Coast constituents concerned about a movement that lobbies companies and universities to sever ties with Israel in support of Palestinian refugees. The bill cleared the Senate with a 38-0 vote. The House version, HB 527, still needs to clear two committees before it's ready for a floor vote.

The legislation requires the State Board of Administration to create a list of companies that boycott Israel and also prohibits the Florida Retirement System pension plan from investing in companies on the list. The state could not contract for goods and services of $1 million or more from a company on the list.

The bill shows Florida's commitment to Israel and "boycotts of democracies ... will not be tolerated," said Sen. Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood.

Florida already prohibits contracts with companies that do business in Iran and Sudan, both on a federal list of state sponsors of terrorism, involving the petroleum or energy sectors. The state also prohibits any contracts for more than $1 million with companies with operations in Cuba or Syria. The federal government took Cuba off the terrorist sponsors' list in 2015 after President Barack Obama reopened diplomatic relations with the country, but Syria remains on it.

The Israel boycott movement, called "Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions," started in 2005 and has picked up steam in recent years with a growing web of volunteers and support from some European governments, churches and student movements, causing Israel to label it a threat.

The movement's goals are for Israel to return land captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War and to allow Palestinian refugees to return to land they lost in the war surrounding Israel's creation in 1948. Israel argues that would undermine the Jewish character of the state. Negron has said he is against the movement's goals, adding surrounding countries should recognize Israel's existence.

Follow Isadora Rangel, Arek Sarkissian and Tampa news partner Jeff Schweers for updates on the legislative session.

Tweets about from:IsadoraRangel2 OR from:ArekSarkissian OR from:jeffschweersTBO
One Treasure Coast city ranked in the top 100 of the most Bible-minded cities in America.

Fort Pierce joined West Palm Beach in the No. 57 spot in the ranking, according to a study by the American Bible Society. No other Treasure Coast city was in the top 100.

The highest Florida city on the list was Jacksonville, at No. 24.

Birmingham, Alabama, ranked No. 1. Last on the list was Providence, Rhode Island/New Bedford, Massachusetts.

America's Most Bible-Minded Cities 2015, the third consecutive study, showed that states in the Bible Belt continued to perform strongly, while East Coast cities continued to rank last as the least Bible-minded in 2015.

For more, go to the American Bible Society's website.
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By Laurie K. Blandford of TCPalm

PORT ST. LUCIE  The cause of death for the 54-year-old Port St. Lucie woman whose body was found behind a dumpster Tuesday likely won't be known for several weeks, said police spokesman Sgt. Frank Sabol.

Lisa Marie Gavaris, of the 5400 block of Northwest Moorhen Trail, was found near her home at the Sanctuary Apartments about 8:50 a.m. Tuesday after a maintenance worker found her lying between the complex's dumpster and the wall that shields the dumpster from public view, Sabol said.

Her body was taken to the Medical Examiner's Office in Fort Pierce, where a cause of death will be determined after getting toxicology results in four to six weeks, Sabol said.

There was no evidence of foul play, Sabol said, so police detectives aren't investigating her death as a homicide.
Manuel Guerra-Casas speaks out about immigration reform at a town hall in 2011.

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By Janet Begley

PORT ST. LUCIE  Manuel Guerra Casas, a champion for immigration reform in the United States, died suddenly on Jan. 18 at St. Lucie Medical Center. He was 32.

Guerra Casas fought hard for the federal "Dream Act" that would grant permanent residency to some students who are in the United States illegally. Had the legislation become law, individuals who arrived in the United States as children, and who had finished high school here and are younger than 35, would have been able to apply for conditional permanent residence.

After coming to the United States illegally from Mexico at age 16, Guerra Casas understood the plight of those who wanted to better themselves. He graduated from South Fork High School in Martin County but was unable to attend college, the seminary or the military because of his undocumented status.

He worked as a landscaper for several years, and spoke frequently on the Treasure Coast about the need for immigration reform in Florida and throughout the rest of the United States.

Guerra Casa's activism throughout the country brought attention to his status as undocumented and he was scheduled for deportation.

However, changes to immigration policy in 2011 allowed him to stay in the country after his deportation case was dropped.

Candalaria Guerra, Manuel's sister, said her brother had been ill for about a month, but put off seeking medical attention.

Doctors at St. Lucie Medical Center said he died from toxoplasmosis, a parasitic infection he contracted from a pet cat, and he simply waited too long before going to the hospital, she said.

Another sister, Alicia Guerra, said her brother was "her angel" and she wanted people to know him as a good man and brother.

Guerra Casa is survived by his parents in Mexico and 12 brothers and sisters.

IN MEMORIUM

Donations to help with funeral arrangements to send Manny's remains to Mexico can be made at a site established by the family.

A mass in honor of Manuel Guerra Casa will take place Jan. 21 at 6 p.m. at Holy Cross Catholic Church, 15939 SW 150th St., Indiantown. Friends are invited to attend.

A "Salsa Party" fundraiser for the Guerra family will be Jan. 29 at 10 p.m. at the Dance Crush studio, 2677 Forest Hill Blvd., Unit 112 and 113, West Palm Beach. For information, call 561-291-2906.
The Vero Beach Municipal Power Plant. (ERIC HASERT/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS)

By Larry Reisman

Almost eight years after being elected, Debbie Mayfield prepared for her final opportunity to pass legislation that ultimately would ensure accountability among municipal power providers. It's the reason she was sent to Tallahassee as Indian River County's state representative: to continue the efforts of her late husband, Stan.

The Mayfields began their efforts on behalf of the 61 percent of Vero Beach electric customers who live in Indian River Shores or unincorporated Indian River County and cannot elect the folks who set rates: Vero Beach City Council. Those rates: more than 25 percent greater than other Indian River customers pay FPL.

Mayfield's battle now is on behalf of similarly disenfranchised customers statewide.

So last week, two hours before presenting her latest bill to the House Energy & Utilities Subcommittee, it looked like Florida Municipal Power Agency lobbyists, including a former powerful and slick House speaker, killed her legislation. FMPA is owned by and provides power to Vero Beach, Fort Pierce and 29 other municipalities.

Agency lobbyists said her plan to have the Office of Public Counsel  the public's watchdog over investor-owned utilities  review the agency would increase municipal electric rates statewide.

Mayfield was forced to take this key provision out of her bill in a desperate effort to keep it alive. Doing so gutted the bill of its key provision.

She and her supporters continued to wonder: What more does the agency have to hide? Their first review last year by the state auditor general uncovered all sorts of contractual anomalies and financial boondoggles  the costs of which were passed along to city ratepayers.

After gutting the bill, Mayfield and supporters who traveled to Tallahassee to testify endured almost two hours of tough questions from subcommittee members. Lobbyist and former House Speaker Dean Cannon and mayors whose cities allegedly benefit from agency electricity added histrionics and half-truths.

In the end, the bill squeaked by in a 6-5 vote. It would require cities to be represented on the power agency board only by elected officials. As for the agency, it would have to provide the Public Service Commission copies of its financial statements and  something new  a statement of the market value of its investments.

This provision is critical. As Vero Beach and Green Cove Springs taxpayers have tried to get out of contracts with the agency, it has declined to tell them what they'd have to pay to exit.

The other provisions, given that the agency is subject to the sunshine and open-government laws, are weak. But four members of the subcommittee (including two who voted against the bill) last week were interested in key issues discussed locally for years: disenfranchised customers who live outside the city and a person's inability to choose his own power provider.

Rep. Eric Eisnaugle, R-Orlando, suggested the agency was an unregulated monopoly.

"It's a captive audience," he said. "There is no place to go (for noncity residents receiving power).  There shouldn't be one person without recourse. That's just not right."

Rep. Mike La Rosa, R-St. Cloud, took it one step further, suggesting residents or counties should have the right to opt out of getting service from their power providers.

Eisnaugle and La Rosa are right. Still, I doubt there's a statewide appetite now for electric deregulation as practices in several other states  where residents pick their own power provider. But Reps. Matt Hudson, R-Naples, and Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda, D-Tallahassee, who rejected the bill, seemed concerned by noncity residents without representation.

Maybe there's a hybrid plan.

Allow outside governments, such as Indian River Shores and Indian River County, to get electricity elsewhere when their deals with cities expire. The Shores and county are litigating this issue now, having lost twice in preliminary battles.

There should be interest statewide. After all, Indian River County Commissioner Tim Zorc told legislators, about 26 percent of customers of government-run electric operations in Florida live outside city limits. In 10 cities more than 30 percent of customers live outside.

"This is not a local issue," Mayfield told me last week, noting she'd start working on a way to get public counsel oversight passed in the Senate version of her bill. She also should work with Eisnaugle and La Rosa to help residents who live outside city limits.

Last week's news wasn't good for Indian River County. Meantime, the hard work to fix the House bill and get it passed in the Senate is just starting. Admittedly, as Mayfield said, though, bill passage meant, "We lived to fight another day."

Let's hope so.
Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart (right) confers with Sen. Alan Hays, R-Umatilla, during the 2014 session of the Legislature in Tallahassee.

By Editorial Board

Ever wonder why wealthy individuals and corporations have so much influence in state politics, while the interests of average citizens are ignored?

Here's one explanation.

Money buys influence. Lots of money buys greater influence. And state officials have created a system that allows wealthy individuals to make campaign contributions with virtual anonymity.

"In some ways, Florida's campaign finance laws seem designed to encourage money to flow into the more secretive and less transparent parts of the system."

So says an August report by Integrity Florida and the Leroy Collins Institute on campaign finance in the Sunshine State.

One of the least transparent parts of the system is the so-called "LLC Loophole." Treasure Coast Newspapers' investigative reporter Lucas Daprile found that the Limited Liability Company Loophole makes it difficult for voters to track campaign contributions to their source.

State law allows wealthy contributors to establish LLCs. For a nominal startup fee of $125 and an annual fee of $138.75, each LLC becomes a vehicle to give $3,000 to gubernatorial and statewide candidates and $1,000 to legislative candidates.

Some political benefactors create numerous LLCs, thereby skirting the $3,000/$1,000 individual contribution limits. And here's the kicker: They are required to disclose only their business names and addresses, not the owners' names.

This mechanism enables political donors to obscure their identity while skirting state campaign contribution limits.

And it's all perfectly legal in the Sunshine State.

For this and other reasons, Florida garnered an "F" for political financing in the 2015 State Integrity Investigation by the Center for Public Integrity.

At least $343,000 in LLC contributions went to Gov. Rick Scott and our region's three senators and five representatives in their last political races.

The problem arises, in part, out of Florida's overly broad definition of "person." The state's campaign finance law defines a person as "an individual or a corporation, association, firm, partnership, joint venture, joint stock company, club, organization, estate, trust, business trust, syndicate or other combination of individuals having collective capacity."

If Florida is going to persist in defining "person" as something more than an individual, it should require the owners of the various, aforementioned LLCs to identify themselves. By name.

Better yet, the state should allow political contributions only from people, not from corporations, associations, et al. In Wisconsin, only individuals can donate money to candidates, and only to candidates' official campaigns.

Presumptive Senate President Joe Negron, R-Stuart, has benefited from LLC contributions. Negron said there is nothing wrong with accepting money from "legal entities that make legal contributions."

Here's the rub: When it comes to campaign finance in Florida, "legal" is what state lawmakers say it is. And the LLC mechanism they've created is an affront to transparency and accountability.

Our editorial board calls upon Negron to use his considerable influence to eliminate this loophole in state law.

If you agree, let Negron know. Call his legislative office in Stuart (772-219-1665) or Tallahassee (850-487-5032); or email him at negron.joe.web@flsenate.gov.

INTERACTIVE MAP | Click icons to see what a few other states have done to crack down on the LLC Loophole.
Florida's criminal justice system has fallen into a mess of our own making.

The U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision last week finding serious flaws in Florida's death penalty sentencing procedures.

Suddenly, there's considerable uncertainty about the sentences imposed on the 389 condemned prisoners on Death Row. Except for the absolute certainty that their lawyers are about to flood Florida courts with petitions demanding reconsideration of their cases. And that even more time and money and paper and patience will be devoured by Florida's death penalty process.

All of which was utterly predictable. Utterly avoidable.

State legislators were warned by the Florida Supreme Court back in 2005 that the state's singular sentencing scheme needed fixing: "We ask the Legislature to revisit it to decide whether it wants Florida to remain the outlier state."

Then-Gov. Jeb Bush urged the Legislature to heed the court and revisit the death penalty statute.

Legislators ignored the state Supreme Court and ignored Bush.

A year later, an American Bar Association panel of experts released a Florida Death Penalty Assessment raising similar concerns about the sentencing procedure and "Florida's failure to require jury unanimity when recommending a death sentence, in addition to the state's practice of allowing judges to override jury sentencing recommendations."

Again, there was no legislative response.

But lawmakers could hardly ignore the U.S. Supreme Court's 8-1 decision handed down on the very opening day of the 2016 legislative session.

"The Sixth Amendment requires a jury, not a judge, to find each fact necessary to impose a sentence of death," Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in the prevailing opinion. "A jury's mere recommendation is not enough."

Of the 33 states with the death penalty, Florida had been one of only three that allow a judge to override a jury recommendation. But here's the confounding thing behind the tough-on-crime Legislature's obdurate refusal to fix the problem. A change would have had no practical effect.

A Florida judge hasn't overridden a jury recommendation for life imprisonment and imposed the death penalty since 1999. A Broward jury had voted 8-4 in favor of a life sentence for Jeffrey Weaver, who had been convicted in the 1996 murder of Fort Lauderdale Police Officer Bryant Peney. But Circuit Judge Mark Speiser, perhaps responding to public outrage around the case, imposed the death penalty. That was the last time a Florida judge ignored a jury recommendation for life. In 2004, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that Speiser had erred. Weaver was resentenced to life without possibility of parole.

But who knows how the courts will deal with the 384 men and five women in Florida who were sentenced to die under a statute found constitutionally wanting? Florida judges must now wrestle with questions of whether last week's Supreme Court ruling applies retroactively. Not to mention the logistics associated with hauling dangerous convicts around the state to resentencing hearings.

All of which could have been avoided if Florida's legislative leadership, terrified of looking soft on crime, had not been so pigheaded.

Fred Grimm is a columnist for the Miami Herald. Readers may reach him at fgrimm@miamiherald.com.
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By Cynthia Trone

In celebration of Jupiter's local history and the old Florida charm of Suni Sands historical homes, this exhibit is free and open to the public.

Plein Air artists and faculty from the Lighthouse ArtCenter School of Art have captured the colors and atmosphere of this gorgeous bastion of a time gone by.

Paintings were created among the motor home community that has been located in this pristine area of Jupiter since the 1940s.

Situated on the south shore of the Jupiter Inlet, the residents of Suni Sands enjoy views of the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse, the oldest existing structure in Palm Beach County.

Home to senior citizens, veterans and native Floridians, this community was carefully built upon sacred Native American ground. The coastline is ripe with manatee, sea turtles, seagrass and local fishing boats. The famed Sperry Boathouse along the shore has hosted decades of community coastal activities.

Ted Matz, the chair of Painting and Drawing at the Lighthouse ArtCenter, has said, "It was such a pleasure coordinating this group of plein air artists who produced a wonderful body of work that documents our local history, recording the past and present for the future to see.

"As part of the School of Art's commitment to bring you the best in plein air painting, the Lighthouse ArtCenter's 3rd Annual Plein Air Festival, March 10-13 will bring together the finest plein air painters in the country. We look forward to sharing all of these extraordinary plein air art experiences with the public."

The plein air paintings in this exhibit were created on location by artists, including Lighthouse ArtCenter faculty Ted Matz, Ralph Papa, Manon Sander, and students Nancy Goldman, Beth Brecher, Margaret Mullins, Barbara Roehl, Jean Chase and Coree Erneston.

Photographs of Suni Sands residents and their stunning vistas are by local photographer Cat Slatinsky.

The power of art and observation creates dialogue, connection and conversation. The public is invited to be a part of this community celebration, all ages welcome.

For more information, contact Cynthia Trone, Director of Education at the Lighthouse ArtCenter School of Art, cynthia@lighthousearts.org, 561-748-8737.

The Lighthouse ArtCenter is a member-supported nonprofit 501(c)(3) community arts organization, providing excellence in art exhibitions, instruction, education and outreach for all ages. For more information on the Lighthouse ArtCenter Museum, School of Art, exhibitions, programs and events, visit LighthouseArts.org or call (561) 746-3101.

The exhibit opened Jan. 4, and will be at the School of Art through March 4; open Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Location: Lighthouse ArtCenter School of Art, 395 Seabrook Road in Tequesta. Information and directions: go to LighthouseArts.org.
Residents in the area surrounding Hope Rural School select food during a recent Mobile Pantry visit. Treasure Coast Food Bank's Mobile Pantry is making visits throughout Martin County to increase the number of people and the amount of food reached in Martin County

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By Angie Francalancia

Treasure Coast Food Bank is putting more food in the hands of hungry people throughout Martin County through several new collaborative efforts.

The results: Treasure Coast Food Bank already has doubled the amount of food distributed throughout the county over the previous 12 months, increasing the output from about 500,000 to more than 1 million pounds.

The Mobile Pantry visits distribute food to areas that may not be served by any existing food pantries and where people don't have ready access to healthy and affordable food. Target communities include Golden Gate, Port Salerno, Hobe Sound, Indiantown, and Jensen Beach/Rio.

"This is a collaborative effort where we provide our Mobile Pantry and our partners provide the resources and volunteers. The end result is more food in the hands of people who need it," said Treasure Coast Food Bank CEO Judith Cruz. "We already have doubled the amount of food distributed in Martin County, and we're still three months from the end of the fiscal year."

Mobile Pantry, a national program of Feeding America and its partner agencies, was created to provide food to people in neighborhoods where they live, and it fills gaps in the existing structure of feeding programs. Treasure Coast Food Bank, a partner organization of Feeding America, initiated the first Mobile Pantry on the Treasure Coast two years ago. The program has been critical in delivering food to people living in food deserts, which are neighborhoods in which the opportunity to buy healthy, affordable groceries is scarce.

According to a 2009 study done in collaboration with the United States Department of Agriculture, significant portions of Martin County and throughout the Treasure Coast are identified as food deserts. In some cases, the areas lack grocery stores, but in others, the residents lack transportation.

Treasure Coast Food Bank provides an average of 25 Mobile Pantry visits each month, distributing about 312,500 meals per month to people who otherwise are without easy access to healthy food. Each Mobile Pantry delivery includes meats, breads, fresh fruits and vegetables and non-perishable goods.

For more information about Mobile Pantry or other efforts to stop hunger, call Treasure Coast Food Bank at 772-489-3034.
Forget 3D and 4K; television makers are hawking a new acronym in 2016: HDR. Short for high dynamic range, HDR was ubiquitous at this years CES. Every major TV brand, from LG to Samsung to Sony, had at least one HDR set to show off. Many vendors even displayed their HDR TVs side-by-side with standard ones, with the formers bright lights and vivid colors making a single point: You want this technology in your next TV.

But as weve learned from HD and 3D and 4K, new television features can mean new pain points and confusion. Not all TVs treat HDR equally, for instance, and not all HDR content is handled in the same way. The risk for TV buyers is that their hardware might not be compatible with future HDR hardware and content, or that it look not look as good as it could.

To sort it all out, I spent a good portion of CES talking to some of HDRs key purveyors. Heres what I learned, and what you need to know before buying into HDR yourself:

HDR explained

On a basic level, high dynamic range is about boosting brightness to provide more range between dark and light. When a biker gang member revs his flamethrower in Mad Max: Fury Road, the pyrotechnics in HDR seem to pop off the screen in radiant shades of orange and red. Watch it in todays standard dynamic range, and youll see only blown-out whites.

To my eye, the difference between SDR and HDR is far more impressive than the jump from 1080p to 4K, and the barrier to enjoying it is much lower than that presented by 3D TV. In fact, HDR doesnt even require 4K video resolution, but not a single vendor at CES offered a 1080p HDR TV.

TV makers have been bragging about more vibrant displays for years, but HDR isnt just an incremental improvement. Its a major increase in terms of brightness output, with HDR TVs hovering around a brightness level of 1000 nits. Thats more than double what you see in current non-HDR sets.

Samsungs 2015 SUHD TVs were among the first to play Amazon HDR content.

HDR also involves a new kind of video signaland thus, entirely new HDR-enabled contentallowing filmmakers to redefine how colors appear on television. Instead of making major compromises for the living room, theyll be able to achieve a look thats similar to theatrical releases.

I might want to make the whole show darker and explore the shadow detail, or I can make the whole thing brighter, or I can take advantage of the new reds and greens that Ive got, and make creative decisions that way, said Mark Turner, head of business development and relationships at Technicolor. Were great believers that the HDR file is a different creative process.

Because of its allure for filmmakers, the TV industry is optimistic that well see plenty of HDR content in the years ahead. But how that content is created, and what it looks like on individual TV sets, is where things get complicated.

A format war looms, but the stakes arent too high

Right now, two companies are trying to advance HDR content in Hollywood. Dolby Labs is one. It introduced an HDR system called Dolby Vision a couple of years back. With this system, Dolby works with filmmakers to create an HDR master copy on high-performance displays, and then packages it for distribution to televisions. On the TV side, Dolbys technology unpacks the master copy and maps it to the characteristics of that specific television.

What that means is the software can take the Dolby Vision master and make it look as good as it possibly can on that specific television, said Giles Baker, senior vice president of Dolbys broadcast business group.

Among streaming services, Dolby Vision will be supported in content from Netflix and Vudu. As for TVs, new sets from LG and TCL will support it, as will future Roku-powered smart TVs.

Vizios 120-inch, $130,000 R-Series TV helped introduce Dolby Vision to the world at CES 2014, though it didnt go on sale until last year.

For these TV makers, the attraction to Dolby comes down to both quality and marketing appeal. Theyre the gold standard, said Chris Larson, TCLs vice president of sales and marketing. So when you think of who can do this right, Dolby represents a firm line in the sand in everything they want to do.

But Dolby is not alone in this effort. Technicolor, already a major player on the Hollywood post-production scene, wants in on the HDR business, too; and its come up with its own system for creating and delivering video. Technicolors main pitch is the ability to convert between SDR and HDR in a single file. That could be a big draw for cable and satellite providers, who might not want to dedicate lots of bandwidth or new satellites to what is not yet a widely adopted format.

Blair Hanley-Frank LG has pledged to support both Dolby and Technicolor with its high-end OLED TV.

What we want is content thatll play everywhere, and a delivery system that fulfills what pay-TV operators and broadcasters specifically are looking for, and the most important feature for them is backwards compatibility, Technicolors Mark Turner said.

Turner also criticized Dolby Vision for being a proprietary format, though its worth noting that both approaches involve licensing technology to TV makers and requiring specific silicon on HDR-enabled TV sets. From a consumer perspective, the end result may not be all that different.

The good news is that this isnt a winner-take-all battle akin to Blu-ray versus HD-DVD, in which consumers who made the wrong choice got shafted. For one thing, TVs that support Dolby or Technicolors methods also support a more standardized format called HDR-10 that will appear on 4K Blu-ray players. Streaming services are likely to support HDR-10 as well, which means users will always enjoy a baseline level of HDR quality.

Everything supports HDR-10, basically, Turner said. Think of it as the new base layer. Its the default, its easy, its low-complexity, everybodys doing it.

In the long run, its entirely possible for TVs and streaming services to support both Dolby Vision and Technicolors system as well. This is already the case with the OLED TV that LG announced at CES. In terms of future-proofing, users could reasonably worry that theyre not getting the best possible HDR signal, or that their TVs might not support future cable HDR channels, but they wont be completely starved for content.

Not all HDR TVs are equal

Content isnt the only concern with HDR. On the TV side, theres also the issue of quality control. An unscrupulous TV maker, for instance, might advertise the ability to play HDR content, but that doesnt mean the TV delivers peak brightness thats high enough to make that content look good. Unlike 4K, which is rigidly defined as displaying 3840 by 2160 pixels, HDR is more open to interpretation.

Fortunately, this is a problem TV manufacturers seem willing to solve. At CES, we heard about a new consumer-facing standard called Ultra HD Premium, which aims to distinguish exceptional TVs from the rest. LCD/LED TVs that carry the Ultra HD Premium label, for instance, must achieve a brightness of at least 1000 nits. Although the label doesnt solely address HDRit also specifies things like black levels and color gamutit does guarantee a certain level of HDR quality. LG, Panasonic, and Samsung all announced Ultra HD Premium sets during CES.

The Ultra HD Premium logo is an industry-wide indicator of high quality.

Its an aspirational goal for the CE manufacturers to meet these requirements, and now that they know how far the goal line is, theyll try to meet it, said Hanno Basse, President of the UHD Alliance.

Beyond just hardware, the Alliance hopes to stamp this label on HDR content. 4K Blu-ray discs, which are HDR-enabled by default, will all have the Ultra HD Premium label, and Technicolor says any HDR content it produces will meet the requirements as well. The idea is that users can match the TV and the label together and know theyre getting top-notch video.

The problem, at least for 2016, is that a lot of TVs will occupy a middle ground: They wont achieve the lofty criteria to be designated Ultra HD Premium displays, but they will able to handle the HDR aspect of Ultra HD Premium content. This raises the question of how TV makers can communicate those capabilities in a trustworthy way.

Maybe theres a way for TV manufacturers to say, Okay, I can take a piece of Ultra HD Premium content and represent it well, but what the specific requirements around that are, whether there would be a logo for that, what the logo would say is all unclear, Basse says.

Whats a TV buyer to do?

Its understandable if your eyes glazed over at all the HDR details above. Ideally, users shouldnt have to do a ton of research to grasp what HDR is and what they need to enjoy it.

But its still an early-adopter technology, which means things arent going to be so simple in 2016. So before you head to the store, here are some key takeaways about HDR this year:

Getting the best picture from an HDR TV will require HDR content. Amazon offers HDR for some of its shows already, while Netflix, Vudu, and YouTube are planning to offer HDR this year. The first 4K Blu-ray players are also coming soon, and theyll support HDR by default.

Some TVs will advertise themselves as HDR-enabled, but that alone is not an indicator of quality. Ideally, you can pick up a TV with an Ultra HD Premium label, but theyll be expensive for at least a couple years.

Until Ultra HD Premium becomes more affordable, a TV that advertises Dolby Vision support should be a safe bet in terms of HDR quality, because Dolby plans to enforce some of its standards on TV makers. (We definitely dont want a TV with Dolby Vision to look like crap, said Dolbys Giles Baker.)

If all else fails, shoot for a TV that hits or comes close to 1000 nits brightness, which is what the UHD Alliance recommends for Ultra HD Premium TVs. (OLED TVs have lower nit requirements due to a lack of backlighting, but theyll also be some of the priciest TVs you can buy.)

The HDR situation for cable, satellite, and telco TV services is a lot murkier compared to streaming and Blu-ray, which means its hard to say if an HDR television bought in 2016 will work with HDR content from these providers, whenever it arrives.

Currently, there are no game consoles or streaming boxes on the market with HDR built in, so users will have to access HDR content directly through their smart TVs. To prepare for future HDR set-top boxes, youll want an HDR TV that supports HDMI 2.0a.

The abbreviated version of this abbreviated conclusion? Its safe to buy an HDR TV in 2016, and youll enjoy immediate benefits if you do. But before you plunk down thousands of dollars on a new set, look for more than the acronym alone.
Two white-hat hackers, Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek, made headlines last year when they demonstrated how they couldhijack the control systems of a moving motor vehicle over the Internet. The move got the attention of the auto industry, and last weekGeneral Motors put in place a program to encourage more digital dabblers to alert the company when they find bugs in GM vehicles.

Working withHackerOne, GM published a set of guidelines for submitting flaws to the company. The guidelines, though, mostly describe what a bug finder must do to avoid prosecution.

For example, it advises researchers that they must not cause harm to GM customers or others; compromise the privacy or safety of customers; violate any criminal laws; reveal bugs until GM fixes them; be a resident of Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Syria or Crimea; and be on the U.S. Treasury Departments Specially Designated Nationals List.

Theres no mention in the guidelines that GM will compensate researchers for the hours of work typically spent uncovering vulnerabilities in software.

Demonstrating Leadership

Working with hackers begins by having a clear way for potential vulnerabilities to be responsibly reported, said HackerOne CTO Alex Rice.

A vulnerability coordination process is an important security best practice for every technology company, he told TechNewsWorld. General Motors is demonstrating leadership in their field with this commitment.

Ben Johnson, chief security strategist forBit9 + Carbon Black, also praised GMs initiative.

Its a wise move to try and get a whole community to crowdsource the problem, he told TechNewsWorld.

However, the popularity of the program remains uncertain, he said. It will be interesting to see how many contribute versus how many take their chances and go rogue.

No Rewards Program

The GM initiative lacks an important component of bug-bounty programs.

Its not a bug-bounty program unless youre offering rewards, said Casey Ellis, CEO ofBugcrowd. To call something a bug-bounty program when theres no reward devalues the work that the researchers are doing.

GMs initiative is a vulnerability disclosure program, he told TechNewsWorld. Its creating a way for researchers to let GM know when a bug is discovered.

They want to show theyre not hostile to what the researchers are doing, Ellis said. Thats a step in the right direction, but rewards would be better because they place the proper value on the research thats being done.

Bribe Bounties

While GM may not be paying bounties for bugs, it may be paying for them though other means, maintained Johannes Hoech, CMO ofIdentity Finder.

Someone should ask GM how much theyre paying in bribes already, he told TechNewsWorld.

Companies pay this money all the time. Legit bug-bounty programs are essentially an attempt to legally harness what otherwise would continue to be illegal activities, Hoech said.

Beating the PR drums around suing researchers is useless and ineffective, because the folks that might respond to that threat are not the ones GM has to worry about anyhow, he noted.

In the meantime, Hoech continued, they miss out from the near-free intelligence that could be gathered via legit bug-bounty programs.

DDoS Extortion

Europol last week announced that it carried out a major operation in December against a criminal gang thats been combining two popular cyberthreats: distributed denial-of-service attacks and digital extortion.

During a worldwide operation against a group called DD4BC, Europol arrested a main target, detained another suspect, and, through multiple searches, seized an extensive amount of evidence, the agency said.

This particular group is notorious and well-known in the security community, said Rene Paap, product marketing manager atA10 Networks.

Theyre talented cybercriminals with vast resources, he told TechNewsWorld.

Theyve been drawing attention to themselves because theyre doing DDoS for ransom compared to hacktivists who do it to draw attention to a cause, Paap added.

Mitigation Cheaper Than Ransom

DD4BC launches DDoS attacks against targets that are dependent on their online presence for their main revenue streams. After proving what they can do, the cybercriminals make a ransom demand, he said.

They say if you dont pay up today, the attacks will continue and the ransom will double, Paap said.

Paying that ransom doesnt make a lot of sense, noted Tim Matthews, vice president of marketing atImperva.

First, there is no guarantee that the criminal will honor the agreement. Second, paying will only identify you or your organization as a mark, and the criminal may come back and ask for more, he told TechNewsWorld.

Once identified as an organization that will pay, others may catch wind and come your way, Matthews added.

In general, he said, DDoS mitigation services are available for monthly fees that are less than ransom amounts.

Breach Diary

Jan. 11 KOIN TV in Portland, Oregon, reports U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has asked some of its employees to relocate from their homes due to a data breach at the Malheur Wildlife National Refuge, which is being occupied by unauthorized people calling themselves Citizens for Constitutional Freedom.

Jan. 11. TaxAct warns an undisclosed number of users that their personal information may have been accessed by unauthorized parties. It believes its systems were compromised by an intruder who used username and passwords obtained from a source outside TaxAct.

Jan. 11. Interxion is warning its users that a breach of its CRM system has put at risk information on 23,200 customer records, The Register reports.

Jan. 11. ISACA releases survey of 2,920 members in 121 countries that finds 63 percent oppose giving governments backdoor access to encrypted information, and 59 percent believe privacy is being compromised in order to implement stronger cybersecurity laws.

Jan. 11. SC magazine reports that Citrix has been compromised by w0rm, a Russian hacker known for his attacks on the BBC, CNET, Adobe and Bank of America.

Jan. 12. eBay confirms it has patched an XSS vulnerability that placed the personal data of millions of users at risk.

Jan. 12. The personal data of some 18,000 fans of Faithless was stolen from the dance acts website, The Independent reports.

Jan. 12. A Turkish court sentences Onur Kopak, 26, to 334 years in prison by for operating bogus banking websites used to steal credit card numbers and bank credentials.

Jan. 12. Microsoft discontinues support, including security patches, for Internet Explorer 8, 9 and 10.

Jan. 13. A Cloud Security Alliance survey of 209 security and high-tech professionals finds nearly a quarter of the respondents (24.9 percent) would pay a ransom to prevent a cyberattack, and 14 percent would pay more than US$1 million to do so.

Jan. 13. A survey by Cloudmark and Vanson Bourne finds the average cost of a spear phishing attack an a U.S. business to be $1.8 million.

Jan. 14. OpenSSH releases a patch for a critical vulnerability that could be exploited to expose private encryption keys. The flaw was found in an undocumented feature called roaming that supports the resumption of interrupted SSH connections.

Jan. 15. Affinity Gaming, an operator of 11 casinos in the United States, sues Trustwave for failing to stop a data breach it was hired to close, the Financial Times reports.

Jan. 15. Hyatt Hotels reveals that 250 hotels were affected by an attack on its payment card systems from August 13 to Dec. 8. The company said it did not know yet how many customers were affected by the attack.

Jan. 15. MaineGeneral Medical Center announces that an additional 2,000 people may have had their personal information compromised, including Social Security numbers, from an attack on its computer network in September. The facility originally estimated 118,000 people were affected by the attack.

Upcoming Security Events
Amnesty International and African Resources Watch (Afrewatch) on Tuesday issued a report alleging that the supply chains of major electronics companies  including Apple, Sony and Samsung  included cobalt mined by child laborers in Africa.

The companies have failed to make basic checks to halt the practice, the report claims.

The report traces the harvesting and sale of cobalt in the poverty-stricken Democratic Republic of Congo  where children as young as seven work the mines  for use in lithium-ion batteries that power smartphones and electric cars.

The extracted cobalt is sold to Congo Dongfang Mining, which is a unit of China-based Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt.

Amnesty would like to see the home state countries  U.S., China, Japan, etc.  conduct human rights due diligence on their cobalt supplies, report author Mark Dummett told TechNewsWorld, to identify the source of the cobalt, monitor working conditions, and address human rights abuses.

Amnesty International contacted 16 companies listed as customers of the battery manufacturers that reportedly sourced processed ore from Huayou. One company admitted the relationship, four companies said they were not sure if they were buying from the company or the DRC, six companies said they were investigating the claims, and five companies denied sourcing from the firm. Two multinational firms denied sourcing cobalt from the DRC.

Amnesty said none of the firms contacted could provide documentation to prove where their cobalt originated.

DRC a Huge Supplier of Cobalt

Half the worlds cobalt comes from the DRC, and Huayou Cobalt sources more than 40 percent of its cobalt there, according to Amnesty.

There were at least 80 documented cases of artisanal miners dying in the southern DRC between September 2014 and December 2015, the report notes.

There were 40,000 children miners in the DRC in 2014, according to Amnesty.

Miners typically put in 12-hour shifts for US$1 to $2 a day, based on researchers interviews with a total of 87 current and former workers, including 17 children.

Huayou sold cobalt to three battery component makers  Ningbo Shanshan and Tianjin Bamo of China, and L&F materials from South Korea  who bought $90 million worth of cobalt from Huayou in 2013, Amnesty said.

Companies Insist on Compliance

Underage labor is never tolerated in our supply chain and we are proud to have led the industry in pioneering new safeguards, Apple wrote in a letter to Amnesty International, which was provided to TechNewsWorld by Apple spokesperson Ben Kobren.

We not only have strict standards, rigorous audits and industry leading preventative measures, but we also actively look for any violations, the letter continues.

Any supplier hiring underaged workers must fund the workers safe return home, fully finance their educations, continue to pay their wages, and offer them jobs when they reach legal age, Apple told Amnesty.

Apple has been auditing workers for 10 years, and out of 1.6 million workers covered in 633 audits in 2014, a total of 16 cases of underage workers were found  and all of them were addressed successfully, Apple maintained.

Ningbo Shanshan was not one of Daimlers suppliers, according to spokesperson Andrea Berg.

The company neither sourced directly from the DRC nor from suppliers in the DRC, she told TechNewsWorld, adding that its supplier standards impose strict obligations on working conditions, social and environmental standards, and business ethics.

These standards are an integral part of the contracts that Daimler concludes with its suppliers, she told TechNewsWorld.

Samsung SDI does not have any transactions with Huayou Cobalt, the company said in a statement provided to TechNewsWorld by spokesperson Joann Cho.

The company operates its S-Partner Certification Program as a way to diagnose and improve corporate social responsibility issues across its supply chain, it said.

For all suppliers, Samsung SDI conducts written evaluations and on-site inspections in areas such as human rights, labor, ethics, environment, and health and safety on a two-year basis, and awards them with certification, the company noted.

Everyones Problem

The DRC is listed in the U.S. Department of Labors Worst Forms of Child Labor report, and goods made under those conditions are listed in the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act.

An effective lasting solution to a complex problem such as this is going to require a collaborative approach with government, civil society, subject matter experts and multiple industries, Deborah Albers, vice president of social and environmental sustainability at the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition, told TechNewsWorld.

Companies must operate in full compliance with the laws of the countries where they operate, the EICC said, and the fight against the use of child labor is the responsibility of everyone involved in the process.
German-based package delivery specialist DHL hoped to demonstrate its latest aerial drone prototype for a group of international journalists this week. The postal company had even convinced German authorities to close local airspace for the test. Mother Nature, however, had other plans.

As The Wall Street Journal recounts, DHL's aerial drone is capable of transporting a two kilogram (nearly five pound) payload several miles. The company said its drone was well-suited for use in mountain regions where snow, wind and cold temperatures are prevalent.

Ultimately, the courier postponed the flight due to a sudden drop in temperature and accompanying snow which would make piloting the drone unreliable (so much for it being-well suited for those conditions).

The setback highlights a very real but perhaps overlooked obstacle in the unmanned aerial delivery business. While traditional delivery drivers are able to push ahead in all but the harshest of inclement weather, it will likely take far less to ground small aerial drones. In climates that deal with lots of precipitation, heavy winds or extreme temperatures, will delivery drones even be an option?

This isn't the first time DHL has had to postpone a planned drone flight. In late 2014, high winds forced the company to call off a flight to an island off the coast of Germany. In that instance, the drone was going to be used to deliver medicine to the remote island of Juist.
Pluto saw its status as the ninth planet in our solar system stripped in 2006, a demotion that angered people worldwide. As it turns out, that reclassification may have been justified after all.

Michael E. Brown and fellow California Institute of Technology professor Konstantin Batygin presented evidence on Wednesday of the existence of a true ninth planet. Ironically enough, Brown is the man largely responsible for demoting Pluto from a planet to a dwarf planet a decade ago.

It's worth clarifying that Brown and Batygin haven't actually located the new planet, having instead only inferred its presence based on the strange elliptical orbits of six known objects that orbit beyond Neptune.

The scientists say there's only a 0.007 percent chance that the clustering of objects is a coincidence. What they believe is happening is that a planet that has yet to be discovered with the mass of 10 Earths is influencing their orbits via gravitational pull.

Brown and Batygin prepared for the inevitable skepticism with months of computer simulations and detailed analyses of the orbits. After all, this isn't the first time people have claimed to find "Planet X" but what makes this different, Brown says, is simply that they're right.

Alessandro Morbidelli of the Cote dAzur Observatory in France agrees, telling The New York Times that he believes they're onto something real and that he'd bet money on it.
Windows 10 Mobile has been available on new phones like the Microsoft Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL since November 2015, but the mobile operating system's roll out to older handsets has been repeatedly delayed.

The latest reports suggest that Windows 10 Mobile won't become available to Windows Phone 8 devices until the end of February. The roll out was previously supposed to begin in January, but for unknown reasons, it seems like Microsoft has delayed the update once again.

The news originates from French carrier Bouygues Telecom, who originally stated that Windows 10 Mobile would begin rolling out in the week of January 18th. Since then, the information provided to the carrier has changed, and although they're waiting for "more precise communication", they believe the update won't be available until late February.

This information also seems to gel with the latest information from Vodafone Australia, who say that they've finished testing Windows 10 Mobile and are only waiting on "confirmation of rollout schedule" before they proceed. It seems that the OS was originally going to be distributed this week, but Microsoft has now pushed the launch back, leaving carriers waiting for release approval.

For Windows Phone fans waiting patiently for a Windows 10 Mobile upgrade, this latest news will come as a disappointment. There is a chance that Microsoft is using the delay to polish the operating system for public release, but the company could also be waiting for MWC 2016, held in late February, to announce a roll out during their press conference.
It's common knowledge that ISIS doesn't shy away from using social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram - alongside messenger service Telegram - as a way to spread propaganda online. Now, a Google executive has spoken out about this practice, saying that the only way to stop the terrorist group from expanding its digital reach is to limit ISIS' online presence to the confines of the dark web.

During a talk with the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London, Google's Head of Ideas, Jared Cohen, said that while it won't be possible to stop ISIS from using Tor and the dark web, the key to battling the group in the online space is to remove it from the open web.

"What ISIS is doing is reflective of the times, as opposed to some sort of new sophistication that magically appeared," Cohen said. "What is new is that they're operating without being pushed back in the same Internet we all enjoy. So success looks like ISIS being contained to the dark web."

ISIS has utilized the power of the web to spread its message more effectively than any terrorist organizations that came before it, but Cohen said that this is because of today's 'connected' society, and not an indication of the group's technical abilities.

"What ISIS is doing is reflective of the times, as opposed to some sort of new sophistication that magically appeared," Cohen said. He added that ISIS is "not a tech savvy organization."

Choen said that Islamic State "has managed to create an exaggerated sense of their size online," by creating more accounts on sites such as Facebook and Twitter than there are actual members of the group. He explained that in order to stop people making contact with ISIS recruiters, these accounts must be removed at a faster rate than they are produced.

A study conducted by George Washington University showed that to have a Twitter account suspended meant "a badge of honor" for an Islamic State follower. Another study found that there were anywhere between 46,000 to 90,000 accounts supposedly belonging to ISIS members.

One suggestion put forward as a way to battle ISIS' influence on the open web is to use targeted advertising. Yasmin Green, a Google ideas employee, suggested using the technique to "connect, distract, disrupt and maybe sell a different product" to web users who show an interest in ISIS propaganda material.
Back in September last year, Apple announced a partnership with high-fashion design house Hermes to produce a new Smartwatch. The Apple Watch Hermes went on sale a month later, but it's only available in a handful of Apple Stores, Hermes Boutiques, and high-end department stores. As of this Friday, however, anyone who wants to get their hands on the luxury timepiece can purchase one from Apple.com and Hermes' website, according to Fashionista.

"Mark your calendars for this Friday, Jan. 22.," writes the fashion site. "Instead of having to visit a select boutique in a major city like New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco or Miami for an Apple Watch Hermes, you'll be able to easily shop for one online at both Hermes.com and Apple.com."

The device features a stainless steel Apple Watch, with Hermes providing straps that are made in its French tannery. The face itself uses Hermes typeface and will display the company's logo.

There is a variety of Apple Watch Hermes models and designs available, all placed toward the luxury end of the smartwatch range - which means they aren't cheap. Prices range from $1100 to $1500.

The cheapest device in the range, the Single Tour, is available for $1100 with either a 38mm or 42mm Apple Watch body. The traditional strap design comes in either fauve (brown) or noir (black) colors, with a Capucine (red) version available on the 38mm model.

Next is the $1250 Double Tour. This model features an extra long strap that can be wrapped around the wrist twice. It's only available in a 38mm stainless steel case but comes with two extra colors: Etain (gray) and Bleu Jean (blue).

At the top of the range is the $1500 Cuff. As this model's design is fairly large, it only comes with the 42mm case. The leather in the Cuff model has been adapted to allow the Apple Watch's heart rate sensor to stay in contact with the wrist. This version is only available in fauve.

Anyone who would like to buy one of the Hermes bands without the Apple watch is out of luck - the bands and watch will only be sold as a complete set, at least for the foreseeable future.

Hermes is another in a line of companies known for their high-end, luxury products that have moved into the smartwatch space. Tag Heuer's $1500 Android Wear device proved so popular that the firm had to ramp up production of the device, while Breitling released the $8900 Exospace B55, a smartwatch aimed firmly at those in the aviation industry.

Header image credit: TechCrunch
There may be an effective method to combat the Zika virus woes in Brazil: new test results reveal genetically modified mosquitoes developed by a British biotech firm can do the job.

Brazil has been struggling to contain the spread of the Zika virus, which has been linked to a rise in cases of babies born with birth defects, within the country. One of the birth defects is microcephaly, a rare condition where the baby's head is smaller than normal and the brain does not develop properly.

The self-limiting, genetically modified strain of the Aedes aegypti mosquito was created by United Kingdom-based company Oxitec, which is a subsidiary of the United States biotech company Intrexon.

What Oxitec Has Done and What It Plans to Do

Oxitec has partnered with Brazilian authorities to introduce the genetically modified mosquitoes into the wild to lower the population of the virus and reduce the threat to humans.

The company currently produces the modified mosquitoes in Campinas and will construct a second facility in Piracicaba, Sao Paulo.

"Oxitec is initiating a new mosquito production facility in Piracicaba that will have capacity to protect over 300,000 people," wrote the company.

The genetically modified mosquitoes, which are called OX513A mosquitoes, do not have the capacity to spread the Zika virus because only female mosquitoes bite. About 25 million OX513A mosquitoes were released in April and November last year.

Strong Results in Controlling the Aedes Mosquito Population

Controlling the population of the Aedes vector in Piracicaba showed strong results as there was a big drop in dengue cases in the area.

The OX513A mosquito effectively reduced the population of the wild Aedes mosquito larvae by 82 percent in the area. Officials in Piracicaba confirmed the tests and their results.

"This is a powerful and versatile tool that can dramatically reduce the levels of infestation, which is the core of Brazil's prevention strategy right now," said Glen Slade, Oxitec business development director in Brazil.

The OX513A mosquito was approved by Brazil's National Technical Commission for Biosafety (CTNBio), but it still needs authorization from Anvisa, a health surveillance regulatory body, in order to be moved into commercial production.

Technical Adviser Joseph Conlon of the American Mosquito Control Association said the results from the Oxitec method were novel and potentially effective.

Conlon said the procedure has yet to be 100 percent effective but, if allowed as a full measure, it could lower the mosquito population below disease transmission levels and have minimal effect on the environment.

Current Measures to Protect People from the Mosquito

Last week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a travel advisory that warned pregnant women to avoid going to 14 affected countries and territories in the Caribbean and Latin America. Meanwhile, the Brazilian army has been helping in efforts to control the Aedes mosquito population by eliminating stagnant water.

According to Brazil's Health Ministry, many of the 3,500 babies born with microcephaly since October are located in the nation's poorest regions. Residents in wealthier cities, such as Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, are stocking up on mosquito repellent over worries that the virus might spread there.

Photo : U.S. Department of Agriculture | Flickr

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The Indian Ocean is an ecological desert in the works, warned scientists who sounded the alarm not just on overfishing but also on the pernicious effects of global warming.

Overfishing is not the sole cause for the lowered catch in the region  food sources for fish are increasingly becoming scarce because of global warming.

Warming in the Indian Ocean has been decreasing phytoplankton by up to 20 percent, revealed Roxy Mathew Koll, a scientist working at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology. Along with other scientists, Koll put out related research in December.

Rising water temperatures appear to have been decreasing the number of phytoplankton  microscopic plants located at the base of the marine food chain serve as food for fish  for more than six decades now.

This scarcity of phytoplankton is feared to affect the whole food chain and likely turn the Indian Ocean into an ecological desert, according to Koll.

This situation will hound food security not just in the region but also international fish markets that get their supply from such countries.

Fifty-four-year-old Anslem Silva, for instance, has been fishing for 40 years from a harbor on the west coast of Sri Lanka. However, for about five years now, it has been tough for him to fill his boat.

Where there were fish for decades, now there is very little. It is strange, but all of us have been noticing that.

Waters in sections of the Indian Ocean have warmed over the past century by 1.2 degrees Celsius or 34.16 degrees Fahrenheit, leading to a slower integration of surface water and nutrient-dense deeper waters. This has barred nutrients from getting to plankton, which mostly find themselves in surface waters.

This vertical mixing, according to scientist Raghu Murtugudde of the University of Maryland, is a critical procedure to bring nutrients into upper zones that harbor sufficient light for photosynthesis.

According to data, phytoplankton amounts are also declining in regions that typically shelter large schools of fish, including areas near the coasts of Kenya and Somali.

There is already up to 30 percent decline in the western part of the Indian Ocean, which is among the most biologically sound regions and home to 20 percent of the tuna catch worldwide.

The researchers are not so optimistic as fish stocks will likely decline even further in the face of overfishing and warming of the oceans, bending under the pressure of increased greenhouse gases. Countries such as India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and import partners United States and Europe could experience the negative blow.

Photo: Flowcomm | Flickr

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Samsung formally announced that it started to mass-produce the first 4 GB DRAM package, which uses the latest bandwidth based on the second-generation High Bandwidth Memory (HBM2) interface.

According to the OEM, the HBM2 gives as much as 256 GBps of bandwidth, more than double the size of the previous HBM1 module. The South Korean manufacturer aims to increase its presence in the enterprise and gaming industry, via the new DRAM packages. Possible uses include, but are not limited to machine learning needs, network systems, servers and PCs involved in parallel computing.

According to the company's press release, the new memory makes use of the proprietary 20-nanometer process and the advanced chip design, virtually multiplying the DRAM's data transmission speed seven-fold.

To reach such breathtaking speeds, Samsung stacks the 4 GB HMB2 package against four 8-gigabit core dies, sitting over a buffer die.

The package is assembled using Through Silicon Via DRAM (TSV DRAM) technology. This means that every chip die in the module only has several dozen micrometers in length and it uses electrodes that pass through hundreds of holes to connect vertically with others. The positioning allows for significantly improved signal transmission when compared to conventional memory chips that connect using wire bonding.

So far, the Seoul-based company manufactures 4 GB HBM2 DRAM and it projects the start of 8 GB HBM2 RAM manufacturing in the second part of this year.

Gaming enthusiasts should know that the DRAM package should enable graphics cards to save over "95 percent" space on their graphics cards, while retaining a high efficiency and low power consumption.

This simply means that Nvidia and AMD will be able to use Samsung's memory chips to enhance their potential, while also creating slimmer and thinner gaming systems.

Sewon Chun, senior VP Memory Marketing, Samsung Electronics, talks about the new direction in the press release.

"By mass producing next-generation HBM2 DRAM, we can contribute much more to the rapid adoption of next-generation HPC systems by global IT companies," Sewon says.

He goes on to add that by using the company's 3D memory technology, Samsung meets the multilateral multifaceted needs of the global IT market. There is a good deal of hope that HBM DRAM will set the tune for future growth of the DRAM market, according to Sewon.

As a reminder, Samsung also announced back in November 2015 that it started volume production of 128 GB DDR4 TSV RAM for enterprise customers.

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The next-generation Surface Pro could come with an enhanced, rechargeable pen with a magnetic dock, according to a report.

The new patent filing, spotted by Patently Mobile earlier this month, was published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The patent shows that the company is cooking up two notable changes for its Surface Pen: the battery and the dock.

To date, the Surface Pen is powered by one AAAA battery, which actually is just fine since it can last for several months, and perhaps even a year. Judging from the leaked patent, however, Microsoft may be working on a rechargeable Surface Pen.

Moreover, Microsoft could also be working on a Pen charger that may look like a "dock."

"As a stylus may be easily misplaced due to the typical size and shape of the stylus (e.g., a thin, rod-like shape with at least one tapered end), the stylus charger may take the form of a dock that holds the stylus in a particular location during charging and/or while the stylus is not being used," says Microsoft.

At this point, though, it is not clear yet as to where the dock is going to be placed.

Earlier, the company hinted that Surface Pens will not be included with the tablet since the pen is thicker than the Surface Pro unit. Rumor has it, however, that the dock could be treated as an accessory.

For now, let us file this story under the rumors category. We'll be sure to keep you updated once more details become available.

The latest version of the Microsoft Surface Pro, the Surface Pro 4, was unwrapped alongside Microsoft's new laptop, the Surface Book, last year. Later that month, the two devices became available for purchase in the United States and Canada.

The Surface Pro 4 touts a 12.3-inch display. Microsoft claims it is 30 percent faster than its predecessor, thanks to the sixth-generation Intel Core M, i5 or i7 processors under its hood. The hybrid tablet runs on Windows 10. In terms of its price, interested consumers need to splurge $800 to get their hands on it.

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Google saw the truth in the "less is more" saying, so it adapted its compression algorithms to allow its Google Chrome mobile users to spend as little mobile data as possible, when streaming.

Two years ago, the Mountain View-based company released a compression algorithm dubbed Zopfli which was warmly received by the IT community. The algorithm was so efficient that it started showing results in a myriad of areas, ranging from web content preprocessing to compression solutions for image optimization.

Google lately announced that it learned a lot from Zopfli and from the current needs of web developers around the world, and decided to open source a new algorithm to prove it.

Meet Brotli, the newest compression algorithm baked in Google's laboratory, that the company boasts can outclass Zopfli by 20 to 26 percent.

As the company previously explained, Brotli is no less than "a whole new data format" that is able to pack significantly more data while also decompressing it at a competitive speed.

"The smaller compressed size allows for better space utilization and faster page loads," the team that compiled the algorithm points out.

The only drawback of the technology is that data-squeezing is rather slow, but web developers overcome this via static elements.

Google underlines that mobile users who surf the web via Chrome are at an advantage, as Brotli will enable "lower data transfer fees and reduced battery use." The search engine company notes that web font compression gets handled much easier thanks to Brotli.

Google did not say exactly when the new compression algorithm will land on our systems, but it did announce that the code is in "intent to ship" state. This means that there is a fair chance to see it embedded in the next Chrome version.

However, Chrome is not the only mobile web browser that implements advanced compression algorithms.

In October 2015, Opera Max introduced video saving algorithms for Netflix and YouTube apps. One month later, Opera followed-up with features targeted at data savings for music apps. Users who played music through Gaana, Saavn, YouTube Music, Pandora and Slacker Radio noticed that their mobile data packages offered them a lot more music for the same data plan.

To be precise, the latest version of Opera Max offered its users a decrease of up to 50 percent in data usage when streaming music through the apps, effectively doubling their mobile data packages' worth.

"We have added audio compression for these music apps so that people will feel free to stream music without having to look constantly for available, free Wi-Fi coverage," Sergey Lossev, product manager at Opera Software, said at the time.

Google might have something to learn from Opera Max's data saving feature, which can function on both cellular data connections and Wi-Fi. This means that Opera users are able to save data whenever it suits them, regardless of where they are.

The latest version of Opera Max can be downloaded from Google Play, and its developers estimate that the browser will top the 100 million downloads by 2017.

There are no official numbers on Google Chrome's expected download numbers, but compression algorithms seem to make a difference when users' data (and money) are concerned.

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The Consumentenbond (Dutch Consumers' Association) filed a lawsuit against Korean OEM Samsung for failing to properly release updates to its Android devices.

According to the agency, at least 82 percent of Samsung phones that are available in the Dutch market did not receive any updates on the latest Android version in a span of two years. The said failure in providing the latest update leaves the devices vulnerable to issues on security and others, the agency added.

The consumer group has therefore accused Samsung of unfair trade practices.

"On buying a Samsung Android device, consumers are given inadequate information about how long they will continue to receive software updates," said [pdf] Bart Combee, director of the Consumentenbond. He added that the agency demands Samsung to provide users with clearer information on the updates.

Moreover, Samsung should provide enough information on certain vulnerabilities that are critical to the device's security. This includes the infamous Stagefright vulnerability on Android devices, which was found in July 2015. Lastly, the agency demands that Samsung should provide regular updates to its handsets.

Samsung is notoriously known for not being able to release Android updates as soon as they become available. The Dutch agency's concern, however, is not merely about getting the newest and most advanced Android version along with its latest features. Rather, the focus is more on the users getting regular updates that fix significant issues on a device's security and performance.

Samsung has 80 percent of the smartphone market share in the Netherlands. While the lawsuit is focused mainly on the Korean OEM, the agency has also acknowledged the fact that other manufacturers are just as guilty as Samsung in terms of keeping their devices updated.

"The Consumentenbond is focusing on Samsung first because Samsung is the undisputed market leader in Android phones in the Netherlands," said the agency. "However, other manufacturers are also failing to provide proper updates for their devices."

It remains to be seen how Samsung would respond to the lawsuit, which seemed to be the next best move that the agency could think of following its failure in getting the desired results after it held talks with the OEM in December.

The Consumentenbond is a Dutch association that has almost half a million members. It was formed based on the commitment of upholding and improving the rights of every Dutch consumer, protecting these rights whenever they are at risk.

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Wang Gaofei, CEO of Sina Weibo, recently revealed that the Chinese social network will abandon its 140-character limit starting Jan. 28.

People familiar with the matter say that the "revolutionary" change was triggered by rumors indicating that rival microblogging platform Twitter is set to remove its famous 140-character limit. As speculations on larger tweets have been making rounds for some time on social media, Weibo's leaders decided to be the first to make the move and beat Twitter to the punch.

According to a report from the Shanghai Daily, the Weibo format will remain the same, but with a twist. This means that it still displays 140 characters in one's user feed, while offering an attached link for those who want to read the full content of the post. In other words, your followers will be able to read the first 140 words of your longer posts.

Sina Weibo is a social network that emulates Facebook to some extent, and Twitter to a bigger level, and is on the peak of popularity in China. Since it was released in 2009 by Sina Corporation, Weibo amassed about 200 million active users.

Last year, information about changes in Twitter's character limit permeated the media. Jack Dorsey, the co-founder and CEO of Twitter, took the reins on a project named "140 Plus." The name is pretty self-explanatory, as the project investigates ways to extend Twitter's 140-character limit. However, heated debate exists within the company and on social media whether or not this is a good idea.

Insiders who wanted to keep their anonymity reported that Twitter could expand the character limit to as much as 10,000 characters. One argument in favor of this is that more and more users simply post screenshots containing huge chucks of text, signifying that the regular users would welcome the expansion.

Last year, Twitter faced pressure from investors as its shares plummeted to a worrying level. Changing the character limit could be a strategy to increase its monthly active users, whom the company is in dire need of if it wants to attract the investors' trust.

Weibo's character limit will be lifted from Jan. 28 to Feb. 28 for its open platform, a place reserverd for outside developers and third parties. After Feb. 28, regular users will find themselves free to type how much they please on the Chinese microblogging platform. Considering the country's heavy censorship, users will still have to be careful with the content of their posts.

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Premature births are often associated with maternal factors. Now, a new study found that even expectant fathers can also influence the birth of their child.

Swedish scientists have found a link between paternal depression and their babies being born prematurely.

The results of the study have shown that expectant fathers with newly diagnosed depression heighten the risk of very premature birth by 38 percent. Those who had recurrent depression, however, did not increase the risk.

Meanwhile, mothers with new or recurrent depression increase the likelihood of having moderately premature births by 30 to 40 percent.

"This study highlights the importance of treating depression for both men and women, and the impact untreated depression can have on the health of offspring," said John Thorp, the deputy editor-in-chief of BJOG: an International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, where the study was published.

To come up with their findings, the researchers examined more than 350,000 births from 2007 to 2012. They focused on two types of premature births. The first one is very premature birth or those born between the 21st to the 31st week of pregnancy. The second category is the moderately premature or those born between the 32nd to the 36th week of pregnancy.

The expectant parents were classified as clinically depressed if they had taken anti-depressants or have received hospital care 12 months before the child was conceived or before the second trimester.

Anders Hjern, from the Centre for Health Equity Studies in Stockholm said that paternal depression may affect the quality of sperm, the baby's DNA and the quality of placenta. He added that the absence of link between recurrent paternal depression and premature birth signifies that receiving treatments for the condition may perhaps reduce the risk.

Stress in expectant mothers may lead to premature birth. Likewise, Hjern said that paternal depression is a significant source of that maternal stress.

The researchers said that a depressed father may have limited support to his partner and eventually to the baby.

Unlike women, men's depressive symptoms are characterized by extreme irritability and anger, which may be perceived as particularly more stressful.

The researchers also pointed out that men are less likely to consult a professional for help. With this, they think it would be beneficial to have a proactive approach toward improving wellness among expectant fathers. "No-one should suffer in silence - there is help and support available," said Dr. Patrick O'Brien from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

Photo: Chris Connelly | Flickr

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Prime numbers are quite extraordinary. They're like "special snowflakes" - unique in the way that they don't have any other positive divisors other than the number 1 and the prime number itself.

Believe it or not, there are infinitely many prime numbers.

Because 1 is neither a prime nor a composite number, 2 is considered as the smallest prime number. Ironically, 2 is the only even prime, making it the "oddest" or the most unique prime number. Meanwhile, all sets of primes excluding 2 are odd primes.

If 2 is the smallest prime, is it possible to calculate for the largest prime number?

Yes, it is. A collaborative project dedicated to finding world record primes has been established since 1996. Now, in its 20th anniversary, this particular organization of prime number experts achieved another amazing feat in the field of Mathematics.

The Largest Prime Number

The Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search or GIMPS is a project with the sole mission of uncovering Mersenne primes, which are prime numbers that can be written in the form Mn = 2n - 1, where n is a number.

Named after 17th century French Minim friar Marin Mersenne, the formula for a Mersenne prime translates to a prime number that is one less than a power of two, where 2 multiplies itself and 1 is subtracted to the product.

As of today, there are exactly 49 known Mersenne prime numbers. Dr. Curtis Cooper, an expert at the University of Central Missouri, used one of the university computers to uncover the largest and the 49th Mersenne prime number ever found.

The prime number, which is newly-christened as M74207281, contains a number of digits twice the count of the population of Australia. This prime number is comprised of 22 million digits in total, with the shorthand version of 2^74,207,281-1. This means the number 2 multiplied by itself 74,207,281 times and then subtracted 1.

Experts say that if a person can speak two digits per second, it would take more than 100 days or about four months to speak or pronounce the largest prime number.

Dethroning Past Record Primes

M74207281 dethrones the 48th known Mersenne prime number by about five million digits. This 48th Mersenne prime number, which has the shorthand version of 2^57,885,161-1 and has 17,425,170 digits, was also discovered by Cooper in 2013.

So far, M74207281 is Cooper's fourth record prime. He and his team's first record prime was discovered in 2005, while their second record prime was found in 2006.

This second record prime was shattered by experts at the University of California, Los Angeles, but Cooper and his team's discovery of the 48th Mersenne prime made them re-claim the record.

"I think I still have the same excitement as when we were lucky enough to find the first one. The fourth time here is as exciting as the first time," said Cooper in an interview with mathematician Matt Parker.

Cooper and his team's discovery of the 49th Mersenne prime is eligible for a $3,000 GIMPS research discovery award.

While Cooper's computer detected the 49th record prime, the team of GIMPS volunteers sifted through the numerous non-prime candidates. David Stanfill and Andreas Hoglund each verified the prime through the CUDALucas software running on NVidia Titan GPUs in order to make sure there were no errors in the prime discovery process.

Interestingly, the GIMPS computer hardware used to calculate the 49th Mersenne prime was discovered through the Prime95 software on an Intel i7-4790 @ 3.60 GHz. The prime was actually reported to servers on Sept. 17, 2015, but a bug notification prevented the email notification from being sent.

Meanwhile, Mersenne primes have no practical use, but they are integral to the number theory which was first discussed by Euclid about 350 BC.

Other Fun Facts About Prime Numbers For The Numberphile

Aside from the largest prime and smallest prime, there are other things that experts have uncovered about these numbers.

For instance, no prime number greater than 5 ends in a 5. Any number greater than 5 that ends in a 5 is not a prime number because it can then be divided by 5.

There is no known pattern that dictates which numbers will be prime or how far apart these numbers are from each other.

The person who discovered the first prime number with more than a million digits was awarded with $50,000 in 1999.

Lastly, the largest known right-truncatable prime is 73939133. This means that even if you take away the last right digit, the number is still a prime number.

Watch Cooper's interview below.

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The number of new drugs being developed and the demands of people for better health continue to increase. However, this should not be a reason to overtreat patients. In fact, Scotland's chief medical officer urges clinicians to prescribe fewer medicines.

In Dr. Catherine Calderwood's first annual report on the country's state of health, she says overtreatment is a serious concern especially in the time of limited budget. Fewer treatments may actually result in more improved quality of life for some people, she says.

At present, the trend is to address risks instead of existing symptoms. While this may result in improved condition such as in gestational diabetes, it may also lead to a rise in patients being given more harmful treatments such as in low-risk prostate cancer or taking drugs and undergoing diagnostic tests for conditions that may not actually exist.

The aging population in particular has increasingly complex needs, which may contribute to Scots taking massive volumes of medicines each year. According to statistics, about 20 percent of adults take more than five drugs daily.

Calderwood's solution in mind is to ditch the "doctors know best" approach.

"Doctors often fail to take into consideration patient preferences in suggesting and providing treatment," the report reads.

The report adds that clinicians should acknowledge their powerlessness at times. They must also ensure that a letdown on their part in accepting the inevitable does not thoroughly affect the patient's experience of death.

Calderwood says it is time to give way to realistic medicine, which allows patients to be fully engaged in the entire care process. She notes, however, that this would only be possible if patients are willing to have this level of discussions with their doctors.

Dr. Brian Robson, the executive clinical director of Healthcare Improvement Scotland, says Calderwood is right to say that patients and their families are at the core of their own care. He also says that the report contains the new skills, attitudes and behaviors that doctors nowadays must posses. For this, he describes the report as a "must-read" for clinicians.

The government of Scotland has presented its vision for the year 2020 to provide longer and healthier lives for all Scots in the home setting. In line with this, officials are working together to provide safe, effective and personalized care to all people. To achieve this, all doctors must be empowered to instigate changes according to how the government designs and delivers care to those who avail of its services.

Photo : Kiran Foster | Flickr

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Samsung has reportedly patented a smartphone case that would allow non-Note Galaxy devices to use an S Pen.

The patent, which was awarded in South Korea, shows that Samsung might soon release a smartphone cover with a built-in S Pen, so Galaxy phone users can transform their device into a Note.

The Samsung-patented case is a front panel, which could be freely attachable or detachable from a device. Judging from the image, the case boasts a glass front which is curved on the right, just like the Galaxy Note Edge's face.

It also features cutouts for the device's earpiece, home button, selfie camera, microphone and USB charging port. The most interesting part is a sophisticated panel on the right side of the gadget that houses the stylus (possibly an S Pen).

Word has it that this removable case could be equipped with a Wacom digitizer to enable a non-Note device to work with the S Pen. It is worth noting that Note smartphones have a Wacom digitizer beneath the glass.

While Galaxy S phones have the ability to run the S Note app, they do not have the ability to detect input from the S Pen.

At the moment, it is not clear yet whether the smartphone case will work with the regular Galaxy S variants or the larger Plus models.

Furthermore, the patent is dated March 2015, which signifies that Samsung could already be working on this gadget and that the release date may be just around the corner.

A possibility exists that Samsung could take the wraps off this new gadget at the Mobile World Congress this year, alongside the new Galaxy S7 devices.

Speculation is rife saying Samsung could be planning to scrape its Galaxy Note series. This freshly leaked patent seems to add fuel to this rumor.

Not so long ago, another rumor suggested that Samsung may unveil the Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 edge and the Galaxy S7 edge+ in a big launch event early this year, most likely this coming March.

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Dogs are man's companions for thousands of years now and sometime within the time period, playing fetch was invented. Fetch is a game played with a dog wherein an object, such as a stick or ball, is thrown a moderate distance away. It is the dog's objective to grab and retrieve the item but veterinarians warn that this game could pose risks for injuries.

Leading vets in the United Kingdom warn dog owners against the dangers of throwing sticks for their pets. More than 60,000 dogs are treated each year for what they called "horrific" injuries linked to the famous game of fetch.

"We don't want people to stop owners from playing and exercising with their dogs. We just want them to know they can protect their pets by using safe dog toys," Sean Wensley, president of the British Veterinary Association said.

He added that throwing sticks for dogs to fetch can be potentially life-threatening. The latest warning comes after a collie dog named Maya underwent emergency surgery when a 4-inch stick punctured her tongue and displaced her voice box. The owners of the dog weren't sure what happened until she stopped eating.

"We took her to the vet and they sedated her and then pulled out this long stick from her throat," Cath Pryde, Maya's owner, said.

"We had no idea that was the problem. There had been no blood or any other clues," she added.

In Maya's case, the stick went through the underside of her tongue. It caused pain and the dog was unable to eat or drink.

Sarah Stevenson, one of the nurses who attended to Maya at Bishopbriggs Veterinary Centre, said that she had seen an increasing number of dogs admitted due to fetch-related injuries.

"Stick injuries may not be initially obvious and may cause long-term problems," she added.

Dogs suffer two main types of injuries when they play fetch. According to Dr. Wensley, one type of injury happens when the stick is thrown and the dog was not able to stop in time causing serious injuries. The common injuries associated with this type of accident are penetrative wounds to the mouth, neck and chest which can cause serious damage to blood vessels and the spinal cord.

He added that even small fragments of the wood that penetrates the mouth or throat cause infections which can be fatal. Dogs enjoy playing fetch and Dr. Wensley said that he is not advising owners to stop throwing sticks, but instead, they should improve safety.

"What we absolutely don't want is to stop dogs enjoying exercise and play, as the benefits from those are really important for physical health and mental well-being, for both dogs and owners," he said. He recommends dog owners to use safe dog toys instead of sticks.

Photo: Sheila Sund | Flickr

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Samsung surprised many of us with the release of the Galaxy S6 edge around the same time last year.

No longer made of the usual plastic that had dominated Samsung's design language the past few generations, the S6 edge was beautiful, fresh, and with all pun intended, it was edgy.

Now that it's nearly time for a product refresh, it would be safer to assume that the Korean conglomerate will continue to ride the wave of the S6 edge's success and replicate a very similar design with the usual upgrade bump in specs.

We've heard rumors before that the next Galaxy edge model would indeed be truly "edgy" in that both the top and bottom parts of the phone would have a curved glass design just like the left and right sides of the unit. Internet rumors remain quiet on that front so far, however.

What we do know now though thanks to a leak from AnTuTu is what the upcoming Galaxy S7 will be sporting on the inside. There will be two versions of the S7  one powered by a Snapdragon 820 processor and another by Samsung's own Exynos 8890.

The Snapdragon model will most likely be headed over to North American shores while the Exynos variant should be hitting Asian shelves instead. Along with the leaked processor info, details about the unit's screen size, camera, storage and memory were also unravelled.

If all of the leaks hold up by next month's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, we should expect to see the Galaxy S7 with the same 5.1-inch display pushing a 1,140 x 2,560 resolution.

On the back there will be a 12-megapixel camera and on the front a 5-megapixel selfie cam. Keeping all of the activity in the phone in place is a roomy 4 GB of RAM, and hopefully, 64 GB of default storage saving all of our memories in the S7.

Ultimately, what the device will actually look like and how it'll feel in the hand is the last tantalizing piece of info keeping gadget fiends on the edge of their seats for now. Let's hope Samsung doesn't disappoint.

Photo : Karlis Dambrans | Flickr

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Childhood obesity, which affects both kids and teenagers, is one of the top concerns among parents in the United States.

In 2015, a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that about one in every five children in the United States is suffering from obesity.

While the obesity epidemic in the country is remaining steady, some states still have high obesity rates. According to the CDC, more than 30 percent of adults in 25 states were considered obese, while the rate for kids was 17 percent.

With that, many experts have been looking for effective ways to help kids and adults lose weight and reduce obesity rates. One of the measures that experts have found beneficial is by offering "water jets" in school cafeterias.

How Water Can Help Combat Obesity

Using water to combat obesity doesn't require any medication or state-of-the-art technology, but fresh and clean water is definitely a must.

About seven years ago, experts in New York City first installed inexpensive water dispensers or water jets that provided filtered water in schools. These electronically powered water jets were clear and large, and contained a push lever for dispensing water.

Each water jet is worth about $1,000, experts said. About 40 percent of schools in the city received a water jet during the academic years 2008-2009 through 2012-2013.

Now, in a new study focusing on the effects of water jets, a team of researchers -- from different affiliates of New York University such as NYU Langone, as well as from Syracuse University -- found that installing water jets resulted in moderate but significant levels of weight loss in children.

"This study demonstrates that doing something as simple as providing free and readily available water to students may have positive impacts on their overall health, particularly weight management," said Dr. Brian Elbel, senior investigator of the study.

Elbel said that their findings, which are featured in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, suggest that the relatively low-cost intervention is indeed working.

Increasing Water Consumption

Before the installation of water jets, public schools in New York City were no longer allowed to sell sweetened beverages. Replacing them instead are self-serving water jets that allowed the easy access to water during lunch.

This easy access to water may lead kids to substitute it for sweetened beverages such as juice, soda and milk, researchers said.

In fact, a 2015 study by Elbel and his colleagues discovered that water consumption by kids had increased three times just three months after schools introduced water jets. Between academic years 2008 and 2013, milk purchases in cafeterias with water jets decreased by about 12 half-pint cartons for each student annually.

Why Are These Findings Important?

Professor Amy Ellen Schwartz of NYU's Institute for Education and Social Policy said reducing the amount of caloric beverage intake while at the same time increasing water consumption is vital in promoting children's health and lowering the prevalence of childhood obesity.

"Schools are a natural setting for such interventions," said Schwartz.

Researchers of the new study said that just about 40 percent of kids in New York City are obese.

Along with installation of water jets, officials in the city enacted policies to fight against obesity and support children's health by improving nutrition standards, removing soda from vending machines, expanding vegetable and fruit offerings and replacing whole milk with low-fat milk.

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FreedomPop, a telecommunications company that is on a mission to provide fast and free mobile services to all the people in the United States, said that it has raised $50 million in financing.

The capital raising, which follows the closing of $30 million in financing six months ago and the successful launch of the company's service in the United Kingdom, brings the total funding to FreedomPop to over $109 million.

According to the company, it will be using the raised funding to fuel the growth of its disruptive free mobile service and hasten FreedomPop's expansion internationally into markets in Asia, Europe and South America.

The money will also go towards the launch of FreedomPop's new Global Hotspot and SIM, which initially covers the European region.

FreedomPop states that the Global Hotspot combines available cellular networks from all over the world to provide users with a free and seamless data connection. The service will initially provide free global data to users from the United States and the United Kingdom when they visit a list of 25 countries, which includes the two aforementioned nations, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Ireland, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

The global data plans, which are completely free, automatically allow the user data of up to 200MB monthly in any of the listed countries, and subscribers can use it with any smartphone or connected device. For users that will require more global data, they can purchase that at $10 per 500MB.

FreedomPop said that the Global Hotspot is now available for a launch price of $49.99, while the SIM will be sold for $10.

"FreedomPop has proven that new Internet business models work in the telecom space and has developed the technology to scale it globally," said FreedomPop co-founder and COO Steven Sesar, adding that the newly received financing both validates the company's capabilities and ensures that it holds the needed capital to ascend into the top 10 global communications service providers.

A couple of months ago in November, FreedomPop revealed that it is working to offer the first phone that will work with the company's Wi-Fi-based communications service, wherein users will be able to enjoy a free mobile carrier service that runs on existing Wi-Fi networks.

The phone is being developed by FreedomPop in conjunction with Intel, with the device due to be released within the year. The phone will be powered by the Sofia chipset of Intel and will have the capability to switch connections between cellular and Wi-Fi without causing any interruptions to calls and text messages.

The upcoming device will be taking advantage of the expanding number of free Wi-Fi hotspots, of which FreedomPop itself owns about 8.8 million within the United States.

Since the initial launch of the company, FreedomPop now features over 1 million subscribers. Over the next several months, the company said that it will be expanding its service into more counties and will announce new partnerships with global mobile carriers.

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About 10,000 years ago, a group of attackers massacred a band of Stone Age hunter gatherers tying them up like captive animals, killing them with clubs, arrows and stone blades and dumping their brutally murdered remains into shallow waters.

The skeletons of these 27 people, which were found at Nataruk west of Lake Turkana in Kenya, now offer the oldest evidence of human warfare.

The discovery, which was published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, offers graphic details of how this group of people including at least eight women and six children were massacred to their death.

A woman in the last stage of her pregnancy was bound by her hands and feet. One man sustained wounds and a crushed skull which appear to have been inflicted by blows of a club. Another man's skeleton had a sharp blade made of volcanic glass known as obsidian still implanted in his skull.

"The remains from Nataruk are unique, preserved by the particular conditions of the lagoon with no evidence of deliberate burial," the researchers wrote in their study.

"They offer a rare glimpse into the life and death of past foraging people, and evidence that warfare was part of the repertoire of inter-group relations among prehistoric hunter-gatherers."

Study researchers Mirazon Lahr, paleoanthropologist from the University of Cambridge, said that evidence suggests the massacre was a premeditated attack by a troop of raiders, who possibly hailed from another region. The victims, on the other hand, may have been members of an extended family.

The researchers added that the extreme violence appear to be a typical occurrence. The mass murder, according to Lahr, was a standard antagonistic response when two social groups encounter during that time.

The Nataruk massacre could be the result of an attempt to seize resources such as food stored in pots, territory, women and children. The researchers likewise said that the brutality of the murder was not a remote incidence. Attacks appear to be common among nomadic hunter gatherers.

"The deaths at Nataruk are testimony to the antiquity of inter-group violence and war," said Lahr.

"These human remains record the intentional killing of a small band of foragers with no deliberate burial, and provide unique evidence that warfare was part of the repertoire of inter-group relations among some prehistoric hunter-gatherers."

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Republican lawmakers are also trying to alter the Arizona's Medical Marijuana Act and pushing for tougher measures for patients to get access to medical marijuana. The Republicans' proposals call for limited types of doctors who can prepare recommendations for medical marijuana. They also want to toughen the limitations of the patients who are qualified to receive the referrals and have existing patients secure new ones more often.

However, the Republicans' proposal is against the Arizona Constitution which states that the legislature cannot change a voter-approved initiatives. The Medical Marijuana Act currently includes about 88,000 qualified patients.

Representative Kelly Townsend (R-Mesa) proposed for the removal of pregnant women from the list of qualified patients. Representative Jay Lawrence (R-Scottsdale) proposed the removal of doctors who practice alternative medicine including homeopathy and naturopath, leaving only osteopathy and medicine doctors to issue recommendations for medical marijuana.

According to the Arizona Department of Health report, over 87 percent of all recommendations for medical marijuana came from homeopaths and naturopaths within the budget year that started on July 1, 2015. Lawrence's proposal also includes that qualified patients should get a new referral every six months instead of just once a year.

Medical Marijuana In Illinois

Meanwhile, in Illinois, there are about 4,000 people qualified to obtain medical marijuana through dispensaries. Two months ago, medical cannabis trade became legal in the state and so far has generated over $1.7 million in sales.

However, the highly debated medical cannabis program is far from being called a successful endeavor just yet. Industry experts expressed that the current list should include more illnesses and health conditions that would determine who can purchase medical marijuana in Illinois.

"Unless more patients are added to the potential pool of people who can purchase medical cannabis, I'm not quite sure how the program will sustain itself," said Medical Cannabis Advisory Board co-chair Michael Fine whose experience with medical marijuana happened after a car accident that lost him an arm. Fine suffered from chronic residual limb pain and, after taking a series of narcotics, he wanted to try a holistic treatment for the pain.

Governor Bruce Rauner selected Fine as co-chair of the Medical Cannabis Advisory Board who came up with a list of eight medical conditions to be added to the 40 conditions qualifying for medical cannabis. The Board's list included Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Unfortunately, Rauner turned down previous proposal similar to the Board's current pitch. This led medical marijuana advocates to turn to social media for support. They launched a social media campaign called "Approve the A8" wherein they share testimonies from patients who say medical marijuana help improve their life quality.

Photo: Dank Depot | Flickr

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FireEye, Inc. announced on Wednesday, that it had acquired iSIGHT Partners in a deal that closed on Jan. 14. The merger is said to boost FireEye's cyber intelligence capabilities to a whole new level.

The deal will combine two of the world's leading cybersecurity firms. FireEye is known for its Mandiant forensics unit, which aids companies to investigate cyber attacks. Meanwhile, iSIGHT has been recognized to uncover large cyber campaigns from Russia, Iran and other countries.

FireEye's chief executive officer David DeWalt says the merger increases the company's lead with a promise that none in the industry can match.

Now, clients of both firms will be able to enjoy having low business risks via higher fidelity alerts and strategic insight for proactive preparations against threats.

FireEye provides real-time threat protection against advanced cyber attacks while iSIGHT tracks threat development.

FireEye's chief financial officer Michael Berry believes that higher quality alerts and the idea of being able to prioritize the most critical attacks with a touch of fingertip makes them a vital part of their clients' security framework.

"By delivering nation-state grade threat intelligence to commercial customers, we create new cross-sell opportunities that will drive new subscription revenue and increasing renewal value for existing customers," Berry says.

Under the terms of the agreement, FireEye will pay about $200 million for 100 percent of the outstanding shares of former iSIGHT shareholders. The said price, which will be paid in cash, is still subject to various adjustments with respect to transaction-related costs.

The former iSIGHT shareholders may also earn an additional $75 million in equity and cash if the merger will receive threat intelligence bookings on or before the second quarter of 2018.

The agreement is anticipated to slightly increase FireEye's income in 2016. As of Dec. 31, 2015, the company's balance sheet amounted to $1.7 billion in cash, equivalents and short-term investments.

FireEye currently has 4,000 clients across 67 countries. Among these clients, more than 650 are included in Forbes Global 2000.

iSIGHT has 350 staff members that includes over 250 cyber intelligence experts in 17 countries and speaking 29 languages.

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Seems there is no getting away from lawsuits for Oculus VR's founder Palmer Luckey. Not only is Palmer embroiled in a legal tussle with ZeniMax  the parent publisher of Fallout  but it is also entangled in a lawsuit with Total Recall Technologies.

A district judge in San Francisco has now decided that part of a lawsuit against Luckey can proceed. Total Recall Technologies is Luckey's ex-employer and the lawsuit alleges that he breached his contract. The company claims that Luckey took confidential information and represented it as his.

On Saturday, U.S. District Judge William Alsup ruled that the claims of a breach of contract against Luckey could proceed. However, the judge dismissed several other civil claims made by Total Recall technologies, including those alleging that Luckey defrauded the company.

For the unfamiliar, in May 2015, the Hawaiian-based company  which creates head mounted displays  sued the Oculus VR founder for the violation of a confidentiality and non-disclosure agreement signed by him when working for Total Recall Technologies in 2011.

The lawsuit claims that Luckey built the Oculus Rift VR headset based on feedback and data collected from the prototype head-mounted display he created for Total Recall Technologies.

Luckey, however, denies the allegations and says that the legal tussle is more to do with companies wanting a slice of the $2 billion, which Facebook shelled out in March 2014 when it acquired Oculus VR.

He said that Total Recall Technologies's claim is "a brazen attempt to secure for itself a stake in Oculus VR's recent multi-billion dollar acquisition by Facebook."

Luckey is also embroiled in a legal battle with ZeniMax Media (as we reported previously). This lawsuit too claims that certain trade secrets made their way to Oculus VR by way of an ex-employee of ZeniMax Media. These trade secrets were instrumental in the development of the Oculus Rift VR headset.

Even as Total Recall Technologies and Luckey are locking horns over whether the latter stole pertinent information that aided in the creation of the Oculus Rift, it is safe to assume that whatever the Oculus VR founder may or may not have learnt at the time of creation of the prototype head-mounted display for the company will not be relevant for the current Rift model that Oculus will be retailing.

Facebook-owned Oculus is set to ship the first-ever consumer model of its Rift VR headset in March this year, which will cost $599.

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Although Star Wars: The Force Awakens earned five Oscar Award nominations this year. The actors of all the films so far, have not been recognized with Academy Award nods for their work on the saga. Daisy Ridley, however, the star of the seventh movie, will be getting her very own Oscar Award in February  An Oscar Wilde Award, that is.

The Oscar Wilde Awards are given out the non-profit US-Ireland Alliance to recognize the contributions of Irish men and women in the film and television industry.

Daisy Ridley, who is of Irish ancestry, will be receiving the Oscar Wilde Award at a grand bash on Feb. 25 in Santa Monica, California which will be hosted by Star Wars director J.J. Abrams.

The new young Hollywood star not only plays the protagonist in the highest grossing movie of all time, but is also the first female to headline a Star Wars movie. Many are seeing Rey, her character in The Force Awakens, as a great role model for both young girls and boys as a strong yet approachable female lead in a science fiction/adventure movie.

Ridley's voice is featured in the English-dubbed release of Studio Ghibli's Only Yesterday (Omohide Poro Poro) as Taeko, which was also lauded for its woman-centric theme. The anime film opened on New Year's Day at the IFC Center in New York and will be released nationwide on Feb. 26.

Prior to her Star Wars fame, Ridley also played a part in an innovative, interactive film Lifesaver in which the audience got to decide if she would save the victim in the movie or walk away.

Filming for Episode VIII of the Star Wars has already begun with scenes on the Irish Island of Skellig Michael. This was also where the final shots of The Force Awakens were shot when Rey first meets Luke Skywalker who has been in hiding for 20 years.

Although the official release date of the next installment of the trilogy has been pushed back several months to December 2017, fans can't wait to see Ridley take up her light saber again and how her relationship with newly found Luke will unfold.

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General Motors is looking to lure people who do not own vehicles with the launch of its car-sharing service dubbed Maven.

With the Maven brand, GM is eyeing people who look to rent cars and with its foray into this sector, the company joins the ranks of other automakers who are aggressively looking to devise new ways to attract consumers.

The launch of maven comes barely a week after GM's purchase of Sidecar, the defunct ride-sharing service. GM bought Sidecar for an undisclosed amount. At the time it was rumored, GM was possibly looking to launch its own car-sharing service Maven, which was registered in November 2015.

GM also invested $500 million in another ride-sharing service - Lyft - a couple of weeks ago. With the launch of Maven, it seems GM is looking to foray deeper into the ride-sharing space and creating a viable commercial business.

"GM is at the forefront of redefining the future of personal mobility. With the launch of our car-sharing service through Maven, the strategic alliance with ride-sharing company Lyft, and building on our decades of leadership in vehicle connectivity through OnStar, we are uniquely positioned to provide the high level of personalized mobility services our customers expect today and in the future," said GM President Dan Ammann.

Unlike competing car-sharing services such as Zipcar and Car2Go, Maven would not be charging a membership fee. The service will enable customers to rent cars starting for as little as $6 an hour.

Shelling out $6 per hour will enable one to rent the Chevy Spark or Chevy Volt. The bigger Chevy Tahoe or medium-sized Chevy Malibu will cost $12 or $8 per hour, respectively.

To reserve a car, customers merely need to use the compatible app from their smartphone to seek out. They can make reservations on the basis of the car type or location and then pick-up the vehicle and drive it away from the designated spot.

The app will also be able to unlock the car's door, remotely start it, heat it or cool the car. The cars will also come equipped with Android Auto and Apple's CarPlay. The vehicles will also boast OnStar - GM's in-car communication system, 4G LTE wireless and SiriusXM radio.

The Maven car-sharing service will initially kick off at Ann Arbor, Michigan. Customers will have 21 cars to choose from at the outset. GM also plans to extend Maven's services to other cities in the U.S. In the first quarter 2016, Maven's car-sharing service will also be launched in Chicago.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
More and more business travelers are choosing to use ride-sharing services, such as Uber and Lyft, over taxi fares and car rentals, according a new report by the travel and expense management firm Certify.

According to Certify's third annual SpendSmart report on business travel spending trends, 41 percent of employees who went on business trips during the last quarter of 2015 used Uber for their rides over rental cars (39 percent) and taxis (20 percent).

The figures are based on an analysis of 9 million receipts and expense reports these workers submitted to their employers.

Despite accounting for only a small percentage of total rides during the period, Uber's chief rival Lyft experienced a growth of more than 700 percent last year.

"It's really incredible that ride-hailing services are getting huge growth but also the satisfaction [ratings from users]," Certify president Bob Neveu said.

"If it was just because it was cheaper, there may not be staying power there. But this tells you that the rental industry better pay attention. There is disruption happening."

Certify's data shows that Uber has an average rating of 4.46 out of a possible five stars. This is considerably higher compared to the 4.01 rating of rent-a-car services and 3.68 for cabs.

Neveu said this change can be attributed to the "frictionless" model used for ride-hailing apps that is more convenient for business travelers. The service frees up riders from the burden of having to haggle with cabbies or keep receipts.

Uber's massive growth during the third quarter of 2015 convinced Certify to monitor the development of other sharing economy services. The company discovered that these services were also experiencing significant increases in their commercial use as well.

Lyft's expensed transactions increased by 712 percent to match Uber's growth of 417 percent during 2015. Use of lodging website Airbnb grew by as much as 259 percent, while use of shared-working space WeWork ballooned to 900 percent.

Jeremiah Owyang, chief executive officer of Crowd Companies, a group that helps brands understand the use of on-demand and collaborative space, said that the findings of the Certify report is accurate.

"Business travelers are budget conscious, but more importantly seek speed and efficiency rather than rely on taxis to ensure a ride home," Owyang said. Most of these startups are integrated with American Express as well as Concur business travel software, easing the transactions."

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
In a major expansion of its corporate philanthropy efforts, Microsoft announced Tuesday plans to donate about $1 billion worth of cloud-computing services to nonprofits during the next three years.The program, which goes well beyond Microsofts current software donations, will make many of Microsofts next-generation Web tools available to select nonprofits. It also extends Microsofts existing donations that support academic projects and Internet connectivity initiatives.The philanthropic push comes as the Seattle-area company works to grow its businesses of selling the Web-based computing power and data storage, collectively termed the public cloud. In outlining the new programs, executives say the goal is to open up the fast-growing realm of online software to groups that might not otherwise have access to the latest technology.Its really important for the public cloud to serve the public good, Brad Smith, Microsofts president and chief legal officer, said in an interview. We see philanthropy as complementing our core business and helping Microsoft achieve its mission, he said.The announcement was timed to coincide with this weeks World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, which Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella will be attending along with a host of business, governmental and nonprofit leaders.Nadella was to speak on a panel Tuesday alongside Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg and Rwandan President Paul Kagame, among others.Microsoft already donates its mainstay Office suite and Windows operating system to nonprofits. By its calculations, the company donated $922 million worth of software and services to nonprofits during its most recent fiscal year, which ended June 30.Those donations in many cases involve Microsoft giving nonprofits a copy of software already on the market. Such arrangements eliminate the recipient as a potential paying customer, but dont add any significant cost to Microsoft.Tuesdays announcement, the first since Microsoft announced expanded ambitions for its philanthropic efforts under the Microsoft Philanthropies banner, is different.Microsoft is offering nonprofits access to its Azure cloud-computing program, along with a slate of software programs run on Microsofts network of data centers. That means that when a nonprofit stores a large chunk of data on a Microsoft server, it is adding to Microsofts electricity and upkeep costs and tying up that slice of its network, making it unavailable for other customers.Theres real cost, Smith said. Were using up the computational power of our servers. We see this as a new investment.In addition to Azure, Microsofts soon-to-be ramped-up nonprofit software donation program also includes the Office 365 Web-based productivity suite and Power BI analytics tools. Smith said Microsoft hopes to reach 70,000 nonprofits with those services over the three years.I would hope and expect that wed meet this and exceed it, Smith said of the $1 billion figure, which is an estimate of the market value of projected donations during the next three years.Not all constituents of the giant nonprofit sector, itself a major software buyer, will be eligible for free software. Smith said the limits on eligibility are still being determined.Microsofts existing limits on traditional, out-of-the-box software offer some clues. In some cases, the number of users who receive free software at any organization is capped. Meanwhile, big international governmental organizations like the United Nations are ineligible for Microsofts existing software donations. So are most educational institutions and health care organizations, which can get software through Microsofts bulk sales programs.Microsoft also announced on Tuesday that it would expand by 50 percent its donations of cloud-computing resources to faculty research at universities. The program currently supports more than 600 research projects worldwide.Among them is the work of Parker MacCready, a professor at the University of Washington School of Oceanography. MacCready, in research funded by the State of Washington, develops models that simulate the flow of water and its conditions, with a particular focus on the coastal waters of the Pacific Northwest.The results of his daily forecasting models, calculated with the use of dozens of university-owned computer processors working as one, are stored free in Microsofts Azure data centers.It gets it off my servers, which is helpful to me, MacCready said. Anybody can access it because its freely available.MacCready, who spent four months a couple of years ago as a visiting researcher with Microsoft Research, said hes hoping to make greater use of Azure, eventually using Microsofts own processing power to run the models themselves.The third element Microsoft announced on Tuesday commits Microsoft to donating cloud services and training, and investing in low-cost Internet access projects. Microsoft plans to invest in 20 projects, in at least 15 countries, by mid-2017.We put these three things together (because) we see this as a major way to ensure the cloud serves the broadest array of public needs, Smith said.
Rumored name, features and release dates of Googles Android N revealed

Following the trend of naming Android updates with desserts by alphabetical order, Googles Android N is going to be the successor to Android Marshmallow.

Android enthusiasts are fascinating over what name the N will stand for even though Android M has not been updated by a lot of users. If one has to go by the rumors, the name is likely to be Nutella and here is the list of features and changes that might come with it.

The first feature that Android N is rumored to have is multi-window feature, just like iOS 9 has this feature for iPads. Andrew Bowers from Google said that wed spoil the surprise of N if we shared all of them. Split screen is in the works! Currently, it is said that multi-window is a highly experimental feature in Marshmallow, but Google is working on improving it and it will be officially released, it will be pushed to the Android tablets. If this happens, not only will it be useful for larger Android devices, but also pit against Apples iPad and their new software features.

The second feature might be a new messaging application, but its unclear whether or not this means that Hangouts will be pushed aside in order to make room for Messaging, the application which already reached India and parts of Africa and its competing against WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. The Wall Street Journal has reported a number of times that this new messaging app would be smarter and more like a blending of Hangouts and Google Now, with answers available for whatever people ask it.

Lastly, the third and most important change will affect Chrome OS, as it has been rumoured that the two operating systems will become one with Chrome folded into Android. This is something Google has apparently been working on for a long time and, while it has recently made some progress, the single OS isnt expected to be ready until 2017, making it more likely that if any Android OS is to kill off Chrome OS it will be Android 8.0 O. For now the company has confirmed that both operating systems will continue to exist.

But Google wants to do more than put Android on more devices, Lockheimer revealed during his Fast Company interview. Google wants smart Android devices to talk to each other better in order to offer new features that right now arent possible. In terms of actual new features in Android N its a bit too early too tell, especially given that most Android users are still waiting for the Marshmallow upgrade. However, we will continue to update this article until Android 7.0 Ns release, including new rumours and information as we hear it.

Android N is expected to get its first outing at Google I/O 2016, which has now been confirmed to run between May 18, 2016 to May 20, 2016. Google will offer an Android N Developer Preview, which you will be able to install on its 2016 line of Nexus devices.
Elon Musks Hyperloop Transportation is all set to become a reality soon

Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT), a Los Angeles-based startup working to make the supersonic transportation system a reality, announced on Wednesday that it has filed official paperwork with Kings County, California, to start construction of a test track later this year.

The track will be built around Quay Valley, a proposed 75,000-resident solar-powered community halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Hyperloop Transportation says it plans to start off construction in the second quarter of 2016, with the estimated cost of the track said to $100 million. HTT had secured the land in Quay Valley, California in early 2015 with the plan of breaking ground this year.

After over two and a half years of research and development our team has reached another important milestone. This will be the worlds first passenger-ready Hyperloop system, said HTT CEO Dirk Ahlborn in a statement. Everyone traveling on Californias I-5 in 2016 will be able to see our activities from the freeway.

This will be the worlds first passenger-ready Hyperloop system, Ahlborn wrote in the release.

HTT is not the only company aiming to have the first passenger-ready Hyperloop. The similarly named Hyperloop Technologies is currently working on two separate test tracks.

The Hyperloop works by propelling people in pods through a tube-like system at speeds that could top 700 miles per hour. This would get passengers from L.A. to San Francisco in less than 30 minutes.

One track, which is being built in North Las Vegas, Nevada, is unenclosed and shorter than the proposed full scale system. Testing is slated to take place during the first quarter of this year on that system.

Hyperloop Technologies has yet to pick another location for its full-scale, two-mile test track, but the Hyperloop tubes for that system have arrived in Nevada. Last month, Hyperloop Technologies announced it had acquired 50 acres of land in North Las Vegas on which to construct its own test track.

We have the whole company riveted around achieving our own Kitty Hawk moment, Rob Lloyd, the companys new CEO and former Cisco executive, told CNN this month, referring to the town in North Carolina where in 1903 the Wright brothers achieved the first airplane flight.

Similarly, in building its test track, Hyperloop Transportation will test the soil around Quay Valley to determine the best locations for the pylons to support the tube. Once thats finished, the company will map the terrain with drones to mark the corridor, pylon positions, and station location. The mapping is needed to calculate both the horizontal and vertical alignments required as part of the building permit.

Founded in 2013, HTT has 400 team members working on the project. These are engineers from places like NASA, Boeing, and SpaceX, who donate time to HTT in exchange for company stock.

This is not science fiction, HTT writes in a recruiting message to engineers on its website. Our feasibility study is nearly complete, and we are planning to build a full scale prototype.

This year, three companies have promised to build tracks to test their versions of this futuristic transportation system, called Hyperloop. The idea was first promoted by Elon Musk in 2013, who is an indomitable builder of rockets (SpaceX) and luxury electric cars (Tesla).

Though Mr. Musk decided not to commercialize the Hyperloop, instead has challenged other private companies to do so. However, his aerospace company, SpaceX, will build a one-mile test track near its Hawthorne, Calif., headquarters. It will be up in time for the summer finale of SpaceXs year-long Hyperloop design competition for student and independent engineering teams.
Largest prime number ever found in Missouri is a record-breaking 22 million digits

The largest prime number to date has been discovered by the researchers at the University of Central Michigan  its got more than 22 million digits, or almost 5 million digits larger than the previous record prime, which was discovered three years ago. A text file containing the entire number takes up 21.7 MB of space.

A prime number is a whole number greater than one that can only be divided by itself and one. The best known primes are the small ones such as 2, 3, 5, and 7. New, very large ones are difficult to find and of great interest to mathematicians.

The newly calculated prime number is 274,207,281 1, and it comes in at around 22 million digits in length. That makes it almost 5 million digits longer than the previous record-holding prime number, which was discovered three years ago.

This mathematical monster was discovered by Curtis Cooper at the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg as part of the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS), a project that harnesses the power of hundreds of thousands of ordinary computers, volunteered by their owners, over the internet.

It took the PC 31 days of non-stop computing to prove that the number was prime. That happened back in September, but it remained unnoticed until routine maintenance data mined it, GIMPS reported.

Once it was noticed, the discovery was verified independently by other people with different software and hardware, and announced on January 7, when GIMPS celebrated its 20th anniversary.

I think I still have the same excitement as when we were lucky enough to find the first one, Cooper said in a YouTube video published by Australian mathematician and stand-up comedian Matt Parker. The fourth time here is as exciting as the first time.

Curtis Cooper, a mathematician at the University of Central Missouri, won US$100,000 for discovering the previous highest prime back in January 2013. In February 2013, the previous record holder was 257,885,161  1, a number with more than 17 million digits, along with two other older records.

The new largest prime number has 22,338,618 digits. It belongs to a special class of extremely rare prime numbers known as Mersenne primes, named for Marin Mersenne, the 17th century French monk and mathematician who first studied these integers more than 350 years ago.

The new record prime starts with 300376, then carries on with millions upon millions of other digits, and eventually ends with 43651. Also referred to by its mathematical shorthand, M74207281, the number is calculated by multiplying together 74,207,281 twos and then subtracting one.

So is the gigantic new prime of any use? Mathematicians gladly confess that the discovery has no real practical use.

Its just something interesting. Its just a huge scientific and mathematical achievement, Parker said in his video.

The new record-breaker is part of a rare group known as Mersenne primes, which means that it can be written as one less than a power of two. There are only 49 known Mersenne primes so far, but mathematicians have honed in on them in their search, as theyre easier to find and test than other primes.

This is Coopers fourth record-breaking prime find, and hes up for a $3,000 prize for this discovery. The next big goal is a $150,000 award, which will be given to whoever finds the first 100-million-digit prime number.

GIMPS bills itself as the largest continuously running grassroots supercomputing project on the internet. The project has discovered all 15 of the largest known Mersenne primes, including one found by a volunteer in Canada in 2001.

Anyone who wants to participate can download software called Prime95 that allows the project to use their work or home PC. In return, if your computer makes a new discovery, you can win a cash reward of up to $50,000.
Do you know that the kind of #vehicle you drive goes a very long way in affecting your #image? Yes, your vehicle tells people, including your #prospective #clients, how #comfortable you are. #Comfort is directly proportional to #competence. Of course, if you are competent in what you do, you will be comfortable enough to afford at least a #brand #new vehicle. Have you ever wondered why #banks and other #financial #institutions give their #marketers brand new cars? Your level of comfort goes a long way in determining if your prospective clients will trust you. The reason why you have not won those contracts or deals could be because your prospective customers think that you are incompetent owing to how worn-out your car is. Yes, the onus is on you to acquire brand new cars. Top sales people buy new cars every year. Do you know what? That worn-out vehicle that you currently drive can look like a brand new one. We, at GOF AUTOS LIMITED can make it possible via total #body #work, #refurbishing, #priming, #painting with the best #paint in the #world called #SIKKENS #PAINT, #OVEN #BAKING with a world-class oven and #BUFFERING. #Blue-chip #companies, #CEOs and top #managers give us all their worn-out vehicles for body work. You, too, can enjoy our world-class services. For details about GOF Autos Limited, click: http://www.tectono-business.com/2017/06/gof-autos-limited-best-automobile.html
A 40 anos de Malvinas

"Revisar el pasado es pensar el futuro". La frase de la presidenta de Telam, Bernarda Llorente, resume el espiritu del documental coproducido entre la agencia de noticias y el canal publico de TV sobre la cobertura que los medios de comunicacion hicieron del conflicto, plagada de censura y mentiras. Una autocritica necesaria para mirar hacia adelante en un (ya viejo) contexto de fake news y negocio informativo.
There have been many times I pulled up and he was within 4 yards of my car, and he would just lie down and chew his cud, she said. I think he saw cars so much he just became accustomed to it.
Whether technological advancements can help us live longer is not in question  weve already proved its possible. In 1900, youd be lucky to live until 50; today, the average Briton lives until 81 years old.

Although scientists do believe that there is a maximum cap on how long human bodies can function, research suggests that this significant previous jump is due to medical technologies and social innovations, rather than an evolutionary change. If we can hack the ageing process of cells, and reverse it, we could potentially live indefinitely.

But forget immortality. Living beyond 100 years old will be routine in the near future; the new generation of supercentenarians is likely alive today, and will still be around in 2100.

And as our productive years extend far beyond current retirement ages, corporations and governments need to start preparing for the inevitable shake-up of the global workforce.
On Wednesday, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) raised Venezuela's growth projection to 12 percent by 2022 and 5 percent next year. | Read More
Kejriwal targets Irani, demands VC's removal

Hyderabad, Jan 21 (INN): Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday accused Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani of playing caste politics over suicide by Rohit Vemula, a Dalit research scholar of University of Hyderabad.



Addressing a gathering of students at the UoH campus, Kejriwal also demanded the dismissal of University's Vice- Chancellor P. Appa Rao for Rohit's suicide. Alleging that instead of sacking the VC, Smriti Irani played "dirty caste politics", he demanded that the Union Minister tender an apology for her acts. He said he was ready to stage a sit-in at VC's office seeking his ouster. However, he said he was advised against it by the student community.



Kejriwal also dismissed the reports that some ABVP students were assaulted by Rohit and his friends which consequently led to their suspension. He quoted medical reports and an affidavit filed by the University Registrar which proves that the allegation of assault was concocted. He also condemned Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatraya for calling Rohit and his friends as 'anti-national, casteist and extremist' in his letter to the Union HRD Minister. 'It is a matter of shame that a responsible central minister, without inquiring about the facts, had concluded that the Ambedkar Student group of which Vemula was a member was casteist and anti-national.'



The Delhi Chief Minister said Vemula was the son of a farm worker who joined the university on the strength of his academic merit. 'When such bright students have to commit suicide, it is a shame on the entire society,' he said.









News Posted: 21 January, 2016








Congress leaders undertake padayatra in Old City

Hyderabad, Jan 21 (INN): Leader of Opposition in Telangana Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir said that the Congress party would weed out communal politics from the lanes and by-lanes of Old City of Hyderabad.



Addressing hundreds of activists of Old City who quit BJP and MIM to join Congress, Shabbir Ali said that the people, especially youth, of Old City have realised the dangers of communal politics being pursued by MIM and BJP. Therefore, people of Old City are extending huge support to Congress party which is leading a wave of change. He said that the Congress party would take the Old City on the path of growth and development.



Shabbir Ali, accompanied with Congress candidates Mohd Sohail (Shalibanda), Rajender (Jangammet) and Vani (Gowlipura), Telangana Youth Congress presdient Anil Kumar Yadav, GHCC Minorities Department Chairman Shaik Abdullah Sohail, GHCC General Secretary Syed Nizamuddin and other senior leaders, led a massive padayatra in Shalibanda, Gowlipura and Jangammet divisions. He conducted door-to-door campaigning in Laldarwaza, Rooplal Bazar, Syed Ali Chabutra, Shakkerganj and other areas under these divisions. He interacted with the local residents and enquired about their problems.



Addressing street corner meetings, Shabbir Ali exposed the failures of MIM and TRS. He said it was ridiculous on the part of MIM to blame other parties for the backwardness in Old City. "MIM leaders always complain that the government was responsible for not developing Old City. Are MPs, MLAs, MLCs and Corporators not part of government? MIM had absolute control over GHMC Standing Committee, the highest decision making body. But they deliberately neglected Old City so that they could continue to rule by exploiting people's sentiments," he said.



Later, Shabbir Ali, along with other Congress leaders, halted at a popular Irani cafe at Shalibanda. He interacted with the local residents over a cup of 'Irani Chai'.



Speaking to media persons later, Shabbir Ali said that hundreds of BJP workers have joined the Congress today by closing down two oldest BJP offices near Lal Darwaza.









News Posted: 21 January, 2016








1499 candidates in fray for GHMC polls

Hyderabad, Jan 21 (INN): GHMC Commissioner and Election Authority Dr. B. Janardhan Reddy informed that a total of 1499 candidates are in fray for GHMC elections scheduled to be held on 2nd February.



Speaking to media persons here on Thursday evening, Dr. Janardhan Reddy said that of 2,713 valid nominations, a total of 1,214 have withdrawn and therefore, as many as 1,499 candidates are in fray for the GHMC elections.



Those who have withdrawn from elections include TRS - 307, TDP ' 252, BJP ' 182, INC ' 230, BSP ' 16, AIMIM ' 6, CPI ' 2, CPM ' 2, YSRCP ' 2 and Independents ' 192. He said that figures pertaining to other parties were yet to be received.



Dr. Janardhan Reddy said that in the presence of Election Observers and representatives of various political parties, the first randomonisation of EVMs would be taken up at the GHMC Head Office at 10AM on Friday. The second level of randomonisation will be held on 28th and 29th of January at circle levels.



The Election Authority said that so far 891,183 voter slips have been distributed to the households at their door step. So far nearly 218,305 voter slips have been downloaded through website and mobile app. There are around 7,792 total polling stations including 35 Auxiliary Polling Stations.



Meanwhile, the State Election Commission has informed that the notification for the election of Mayor and Deputy Mayor would be issued on 6th February and Mayor and Deputy Mayor elections will be held on 11th February.



Additional Commissioners Surendra Mohan, Bhaskara Chary and Jayaraj Kennedy and senior officials from GHMC have participated.









News Posted: 21 January, 2016








Googles autocomplete function provides suggestions derived from common Google searches by other users.

Comparing autocomplete results for searches on different countries reveals how certain places are perceived by people around the World.

It turns out that Google searches for the cost of something vary widely depending on the country of interest.

For example, people are most interested in the cost of a passport or a patent in North America.

As for Europe, many are concerned about practical things like the cost of living, studying, or buying a beer. Google users are interested in basic necessities such as food, livestock, and fuel in Africa.

But if you look closely, you will find some more controversial search results, such as prostitution in Brazil, Thailand, Ukraine, Hong Kong, and Latvia; slaves in Mauritania; a kidney in Iran; in vitro fertilization in Australia; and rhinoplasty in Korea.

Fixr searched for How much does * cost in ( X country) in order to find out the most Googled for items according to Google Autocomplete.

A few interesting findings:

People in Europe are very practical and are concerned about the cost of beer, living, and studying.

In Africa, people most searched for basic necessities: livestock, food, and fuel.

Brazilians like to get down. Their most searched product was prostitutes.

How much does it cost to fly a MiG was the most commonly searched term in Russia. Im not surprised.

Kuwait is quite curious about the cost of a Lamborghini.

Cost of Food, beer and hookers most Googled in Thailand

According to the data, Google users in Thailand were most interested in finding out the cost of a food, beer and prostitute.

Some of the popular searches from users in Thailands neighbouring countries also made for interesting reading.

With the exception of Myanmar, where most users searched for things related to travel, beer and prostitutes were also among the top searches in Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia.

In Malaysia, users were most interested in searching Google to find out the cost of a tattoo, whilst the cost of hiring a maid was the most searched in Singapore.

Source: Cost Obsessions Around the World
After confronting serious technical and economic difficulties, Russia has dramatically cut back its air force program to field its first radar-evading stealth fighter jet. By delaying large-scale acquisition of the Sukhoi T-50 fighter, the Kremlin is tacitly acknowledging a truth that the U.S. military learned decades ago  and that China might also learn in coming years: developing stealth fighters is hard.

But fortunately for the Russian air force, and unfortunately for Washington and its allied air arms that are Russias chief rivals, Moscow has a backup plan. Instead of counting on a new stealth jet to outfit its fighter squadrons, the Russian government is buying heavily upgraded versions of older planes  an approach the Pentagon has dismissed as wasteful. It could, however, help Russia maintain its aerial edge.

The T-50, like practically all stealth aircraft before it, has proved expensive to develop, although exactly how expensive remains a closely guarded secret. Radar-evading warplanes require careful design work, extensive testing and exotic materials for their construction  all features that can double or triple their cost compared to conventional, non-stealthy planes.

Even with their high cost, air forces all over the world are scrambling to acquire stealth aircraft because their ability to avoid detection can, in theory, offer a big advantage in air-to-air combat and during bombing runs.

But a competing theory of aerial warfare argues that stealth is overrated  and its better to buy greater numbers of cheaper, non-stealthy planes. Moscows troubles in developing the T-50 have compelled it to adhere to the competing philosophy.

A F-22 Raptor fighter jet of the 95th Fighter Squadron from Tyndall, Florida, flying over the Baltic Sea to a new NATO airbase in Aemari, Estonia September 4, 2015. Photo: Reuters.

Russia arrived late to the stealth-warplane party. The U.S. Air Force fielded its first radar-evading warplane  the F-117 attack jet  in 1983. It added the B-2 stealth bomber to its inventory in 1997 and then the F-22 stealth fighter in 2005. The Marine Corps, meanwhile, was the first U.S. military branch to introduce the latest F-35 stealth fighter, in July 2015. The Air Force anticipates declaring its own F-35s operational in 2016.

The F-117 retired in 2008, but the Pentagon still possesses hundreds of stealth planes and plans to acquire hundreds more in coming years via large-scale purchases of F-35s and the new Long-Range Strike Bomber, a successor to the B-2. Its economy and military crippled by the Soviet Unions 1991 collapse, Russia didnt begin serious work on the T-50 until 2002. The first prototype took off on its inaugural flight in January 2010, a year before Chinas first stealth prototype  the J-20  made its debut.

All the U.S., Russian and Chinese stealth aircraft possess special features for minimizing their detectability on radar and other sensors. These include rounded or angular shaping that can scatter radar waves, plus special materials that absorb radar instead of deflecting it.

Stealth plane design is a balancing act. The aircraft must be able to avoid detection while also flying fast and far enough, and carrying a big enough payload, to make them militarily useful. They cannot be so expensive that an air force cant actually afford to buy them in meaningful numbers. In the 40 years it has been working on stealth technology, the United States has never stopped struggling with this balance.

B-2 bombers were part of the NATO force attacking Serbian military targets, October 8, 1998. Photo: Reuters/Archive.

The B-2 is hard to detect and flies well, but at more than $2 billion each, it proved too expensive for mass purchase. The U.S. Air Force managed to buy 21 of the bat-shaped planes from manufacturer Northrop Grumman. Lockheed Martin designed the F-35 to be affordable, but that compelled the company to cut back on the fighters stealth features. In any event, developmental difficulties have driven up the F-35s cost to more than $100 million a plane  hardly cheap.

Neither the Russian government nor Sukhoi, the company that makes the T-50, have said how much the twin-engine, single-seat supersonic fighter has cost to develop or how much it might cost to buy once the design is complete. Its safe to say, however, that development could consume tens of billions of dollars. And each plane could set back the buyer $100 million.

And thats assuming the T-50 actually works. There are signs that it doesnt  at least not very well. In six years, the six T-50 prototypes have completed just 700 test flights, according to a recent article in Combat Aircraft magazine by Piotr Butowski, an expert in Russian military aviation. By comparison, Lockheed and the U.S. Air Force built eight F-22 test planes and flew them 3,500 times between 1997 and 2005. It looks like the T-50s arent even reliable enough to undergo intensive testing.

That was dramatically apparent on June 10, 2014, when the fifth T-50 prototype  then less than a year old  suffered a catastrophic engine fire while taxiing on the ground. The damage was so bad that Sukhoi had to halt production of the sixth prototype and use its parts to rebuild the burned plane. The Indian air force, which is considering buying a version of the T-50, complained of shortfalls  in terms of performance and other technical features

Events overtook the T-50s slow and costly development. With many foreign governments imposing sanctions in the wake of Russias 2014 annexation of Ukraines Crimea, and oil prices plummeting amid a global supply glut, in 2015 Russia entered a recession that saw its economy shrink 3 percent in one year. Perhaps not surprisingly, in March 2015, Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov announced that Russia would reduce its order. The Kremlin said it would buy just a dozen T-50s by 2020, instead of the 60 it originally planned.

An aircraft reported to be a Chinese stealth fighter in Chengdu, Sichuan province, January 7, 2011. Photo: Reuters/Kyodo News Agency.

By then the United States should have more than 500 stealth planes in frontline service. China finished the first production-standard J-20 in December 2015 and is expected to acquire dozens more in the next few years  though its unclear how much the J-20 costs and how happy Beijing is with its performance.

To make up for the cuts to Russias T-50 program, the Kremlin has boosted production of the Su-35 and Su-30, the latest upgraded versions of the Cold War-vintage Su-27, a powerful twin-engine fighter whose various models are now the standard warplanes of the Russian, Chinese and Indian air arms. The Su-35 and Su-30 arent stealthy, but they are fast, far-flying and capable of carrying heavy payloads of missiles and bombs.

The Su-35, in particular, is a very capable warplane. Moscow ordered 48 planes in 2009 and is widely expected to soon place a second order for another 48. It would be fair to describe this aircraft as the pinnacle of current conventional-fighter design, wrote Carlo Kopp, an analyst with the Air Power Australia think tank, blending a superb basic aerodynamic design with advanced engine, flight control and avionic technology

A SU-35 military jet flies during the opening of the MAKS-2009 international air show in Zhukovsky outside Moscow, August 18, 2009. Photo: Reuters.

Based on a proven design, the Su-35 is reliable. Its also comparatively cheap, as low as $50 million a plane. Which is half as much as a T-50 or F-35. An upgraded classic fighter is at a disadvantage compared to a stealth plane in one regard: the ability to avoid detection under certain circumstances. But the classic fighter actually holds the advantage over a stealth plane when it comes to reliability and cost and some performance parameters, including maneuverability and payload.

Whether the stealth jets advantage is worth its disadvantages is a philosophical question for military planners. The Pentagon decided in favor of stealth planes, even cancelling upgrades to older F-15s and F-16s to free up more money for more F-35s. In Russia, circumstances largely settled the issue, forcing the Kremlin to bet on classic fighters over their stealth counterparts.

The world might never know whos right unless Russia and the United States go to war against each other  a proof of concept no one actually welcomes.
Signs that point to the best time for retirement Ive been thinking a lot about retirement lately. One of our amazing staff members, who has been with Senior Concerns for the last 13 years, retired last month. It just doesnt seem real. I always thought of Dana as young. Certainly not the person to...

Rethinking the mandatory retirement age How old is too old for working at a job? Last week a news story hit my inbox and it really got me to thinking about age and retirement. The article noted that Target Corp. abandoned its mandatory retirement age of 65 for its CEO,...

Tips to promoting a healthy nights sleep for children Question: Help, please. My daughter is almost 2 years old and has been an easy child to put into her own bed. Yet in the past few weeks she is purposefully stretching out the bedtime routine longer and longer. She wants more: more stories, more...

Everyone wins with acts of kindness If you need to be reminded of the beauty of humanity, you only need to look at acts of compassion. Recently I was eating lunch at a restaurant that plays sports on its TVs. I normally pay little attention to television as I like to...
Half a century on, Wallaces daughter Peggy says Trump is, if anything, more extreme. Yet, astoundingly, he remains the Republican frontrunner, a success for which many credit his adept media manipulation, especially social media. (Trump tweets personally, complete with caps-lock and spelling errors. Cynics note that this is entirely strategised by 29-year-old Justin McConney, who has grown Trumps Twitter following to 5.7 million. But still it lends Trump an air of authenticity that suits both his real man positioning and his demographic.) Yet theres another, more sinister possibility. Perhaps Trump is popular not despite his relentless hate-peddling and Islamophobia, but because of them. Perhaps Trumps cartoon conception of goodies and baddies is precisely what appeals. This is where ignorance matters. Were familiar with IS faux-religious propaganda, but propaganda is also Trumps weapon-of-choice, and propaganda always calls to ignorance. Dog-whistle politics needs biddable puppies. When Trump insists we should have a lotta systems to track all Muslims in America; when he answers the question when can we get rid of Muslims? by saying were gonna be lookin at that and plenty of other things; when he plays the natural born issue, or insists that Mexican immigrants are criminals, drug-traffickers and rapists, or that thousands of New Jersey-ites cheered the 9/11 attacks, or supports the attackers of a Black Lives Matter protester at one of his rallies, he plays deliberately to the un-nuanced world view of ignorance.

When he quips I dont like losers; when he tells cheering audiences the press are liars, theyre terrible people or politicians are weak and incompetent or that he would bomb the shit out of" IS, ring them with troops and send Exxon in to take their oil  when he says I would do things that would be so tough I dont know that theyd even be around to come to the table  this, too, is propaganda. Yet Trump claims gold-class religious credentials. His own book is his second all-time favourite because, naturally, the Bible is top. I have a very great relationship with God, he told CNN. I have a very great relationship with evangelicals. He doesnt ask Gods forgiveness, he explains, because he doesnt need it. I am good. I dont do a lotta things that are bad. Theres a dangerous chosen-people-ism here. The 2015 American Values survey (tellingly titled Anxiety, Nostalgia and Mistrust) showed that 62 per cent of Americans believe God gave America a special role in human history. The same survey showed that most US Christians think Islam is incompatible with American values, including 73 per cent of white evangelical Protestants, 63 per cent of white mainline Protestants and 55 per cent of black Protestants (compared with only 40 per cent of non-Christian Americans).

Similarly, 72 per cent of all white Christians (evangelicals, Protestants and Catholics) believe that police killings of African American men are isolated incidents, not part of some broader pattern. American Christians, it seems, are much happier to tolerate their own intolerance than other peoples. As theologian and activist Jim Wallis notes, If white Christians acted more Christian than white, black parents would have less to fear for their children. IS, of course, displays similar religious intolerance, with equally scant foundation and more extreme expression. Both religions, Islam and Christianity, have a fine tradition of reverence for education, yet both, now, seem in danger of relinquishing this in favour of a world ruled by fear, hatred, unreason and untruth. The appeal of Trumps stark us-and-them-ism suggests a populace besieged by danger on all sides. In fact, says the Washington Post, the cross-border flow from Mexico has fallen by 75 per cent since 2000, much of that during the Obama years. At the same time, Muslim refugees are often the very same civilians who face the indiscriminate violence and cruel injustice in lands controlled by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
Not recognising overseas same-sex marriages is anachronistic and offensive, government frontbencher Christopher Pyne has said, as he denounced the recent case where a British man's marriage wasn't acknowledged when he died on his honeymoon in Adelaide.

South Australian Labor Premier Jay Weatherill has apologised to British man Marco Bulmer-Rizzi, whose husband David died while the pair were on holidays and weren't allowed to have their marriage recognised on the death certificate.

David and Marco Bulmer-Rizzi were on their honeymoon in Adelaide when David was killed in a fall. Credit:Facebook

On Thursday, Mr Pyne was asked whether it was time to change laws in some state and territories that prevent same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions from being recognised.

"I haven't studied the issue. I did see the story and I agree with Jay Weatherill that that is outdated and anachronistic and I think it's offensive to the man involved, obviously," the South Australian MP told ABC radio. "I agree with him on that."
It is hard to find similarities between the grim industrial backblocks of Thomastown and the grandeur of dress-circle Kew. Almost as hard as finding human bones under 4000 cubic metres of dirt, more than a decade after they were buried.

What these suburbs have in common, however, is links to a pair of gangland killings that police suspect were ordered by slain drug lord Carl Williams.

Terrence Blewitt specialised in robbing armoured cars.

And on Thursday, detectives from the anti-gangland Purana Task force believed they were edging closer to solving them.

Terrence Blewitt is suspected of being part of a hit squad assembled by Williams to kill Graham "The Munster" Kinniburgh outside his house in Belmont Avenue, Kew, on December 13, 2003.
More than 330 fires have been deliberately or recklessly lit in Victoria this summer it has been revealed as authorities investigate two suspicious fires that claimed one house each.

Emergency Management Victoria and police command are focusing on recent fires at Crib Point and Kyneton that threatened local communities.

Police are also searching for an arsonist following a spate of suspicious fires in Dallas on Melbourne's northern outskirts in the past seven weeks. They are looking for a man riding a bike who was seen near several of the fires.

Police believe a firebug is responsible for at least 25 fires lit deliberately in bush and grass land at Laura Douglas Reserve in Dallas over the past two months.
ACT Policing are seeking witnesses to an aggravated robbery and attempted aggravated robbery in Melba involving a gun and knife.

Police say at about 8am on Wednesday December 30, two men holding the weapons demanded the car keys off a driver outside the 7-Eleven on Melba Circuit.

One of the men police say were involved in an aggravated robbery and an attempted aggravated robbery in Melba on December 30.

The offenders unsuccessfully tried to enter the 7-Eleven store after the driver refuses to hand over the keys.
A woman, injured in a disturbance that left a man dead, remained in hospital on Thursday as police continued their probe into the Kambah incident.

Nearby residents reportedly heard a woman scream for help and one neighbour called police after hearing a loud argument at the Everard Place home about 2.20am on Wednesday.

Forensic teams were still at the house on Thursday morning. Credit:Graham Tidy

When officers arrived they found the man dead and the woman injured inside the home.

She was taken to Canberra Hospital with serious injuries and was helping police with their inquiries.
Former Hawthorn premiership player Jonathan Simpkin has agreed to join Essendon as a top-up player.

Simpkin, 28, was a member of Hawthorn's 2013 premiership team and narrowly missed selection in the 2014 team. Essendon will be his fourth club, the midfielder having played for Geelong, and been a rookie-list player in Sydney, where he never played a senior game.

Jonathan Simpkin was let go by Hawthorn last year. Credit:Sebastian Costanzo

Simpkin's recruitment, set to be announced by the club soon, follows the signing of ex-Docker tagger Ryan Crowley and decorated former premiership Cat James Kelly.

Simpkin, who played 33 games for the Hawks from 2013-2015 during their flag treble, was an obvious short-term pick up for Essendon. He was arguably unlucky not to be picked up as a delisted player in either the national or rookie drafts.
Barclays plans to wind up its operations in Australia as chief executive Jes Staley starts a fresh round of cuts at the investment bank, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The savings push includes plans to eliminate more than 1000 jobs worldwide and exit several Asian countries.

Apart from Australia, the bank will also exit operations in Taiwan, South Korea and Malaysia, sources say. Credit:Asim Hafeez

The UK bank plans to cut about 230 jobs in the Asia Pacific, including winding up its cash equities business in the region, one of the people said, asking not to be identified because the decision isn't public. Apart from Australia, it will also exit operations in Taiwan, South Korea and Malaysia, while it plans to maintain offices in Hong Kong, China, Japan, Singapore and India, and keep its prime brokerage and derivatives business in Asia, the person said.

Staley, a former JPMorgan Chase banker who took over last month, is seeking ways to boost earnings growth and restore investor confidence by focusing on the bank's most profitable businesses. He and Chairman John McFarlane are scheduled to present a broader strategic update alongside the bank's full-year results on March 1.
When Cathie and Demetrio Scarfone applied for a bank loan and were knocked back, they were shocked. They soon discovered incorrect credit default listings against their names.

In haste, they filled out an online "credit repair" form to have their names removed. They were charged $2200 by a debt management firm for a service they ended up receiving for free through the courts.

"I asked them for a refund because the local court had taken off my credit listing, not them. But they said I couldn't get my money back," said Ms Scarfone, a nurse assistant from Griffith, NSW.

"I'm really angry at them. I feel like they're robbers. I feel like I was scammed."
A 7-Eleven pay deal for workers has been rejected because it would have underpaid workers by about $80 a week.

The Fair Work Commission has rejected an enterprise agreement proposed by a 7-Eleven franchise in Sydney because it failed the commission's test to ensure workers are better off overall, compared with award wage rates.

Commissioner Julius Roe gave the franchise, trading as 7-Eleven Rozelle and 7-Eleven Bexley, an opportunity to ensure that proposed weekend rates would provide adequate compensation for any loss of award entitlements.

Given that 7-Eleven stores operate 24-hours a day, Commissioner Roe said the potential for employees to work a large proportion of hours at night and the weekend was "not fanciful".
Britain's Royal Society of Arts is a large, long-established social research body, which seeks to find innovative, practical solutions to today's social challenges. In December 2015, the RSA released an important discussion paper based on 12 months of research, entitled "Creative citizen, creative state; the principled and pragmatic case for a Universal Basic Income".

The 51-page report describes succinctly, the background to the idea of a government-provided, obligation-free universal basic income to all its citizens; its practicability and its feasibility. The authors believe it offers a response to the difficulties that face countries everywhere, as they struggle with increasing unemployment, inequality and the intrusiveness and unsustainability of the modern welfare state.

Australia should be joining the international movement to consider the practical feasibility of providing a universal obligation-free income to all.

Mykayla Novak ("Welfare experiment may have applications in Australia", canberratimes.com.au, January 8) wrote about the growing interest around the world in this possibility of giving every citizen an obligation-free basic income and the fact that Finland is currently running a pilot study of this concept. Novak recognised both potential benefits and difficulties of such schemes and acknowledged the shortcomings of the current approach to welfare. She said that the idea appeals to people on both the progressive and conservative sides of economic policy and that it is being considered to eliminate the implicit poverty traps that come when welfare subsidies are circumscribed by extensive rules and bureaucratic limitations.

The RSA report argues strongly for the trial of a universal basic income in England. It points out that the spread of intelligent machines and new technology will affect the world of work in unpredictable ways, and that many people, through no fault of their own, will be unable to obtain adequate work to meet their basic needs. The scheme would impose no financial penalty on people for topping up their basic income entitlement with various forms of paid work. Indeed, the incentive to increase income through training, entrepreneurship, and part-time or full-time paid work would if anything, be greater. But, the worst kinds of inequality and poverty would be avoided. Carers, the handicapped, the disabled, and retired people would all be treated equally. The massive costs of policing welfare payments and entitlements would disappear. No means test would apply to the allowance, which would be at a level that would enable basic sustenance, shelter and education.
They had run from bars in fear during violent police raids and read newspaper accounts of their mates being hunted down on clifftops. They had lost jobs for being who and what they were; they had been shredded and stigmatised by disease.

David and Marco Bulmer-Rizzi were on their honeymoon in Adelaide when David was killed in a fall. Credit:Facebook

I stepped out from the closet on the heels of those who had worked incredibly hard to ensure I wouldn't stumble while I did.

There is a school of thought that says that white, middle-class "first world" gay men don't have a lot to be angry about any more. And as a white, middle-class, "first world" gay man, I often find myself sympathising.

Then they had marched down our streets with anger, and pride, to declare that they would not be running any more.

By the time I joined the ranks, within the last decade, in hip and liberal Sydney, all I had to endure was the occasional schoolyard taunt about my lilting "girl voice" and a slightly irritating number of fashion-related questions from female friends.

The cultural wars had not ended, but their pitch seemed more mellow. "Were we going to be able to walk down the aisle?" was the question being asked, not "Will we ever have a place to exist in this world?"

It turns out I would walk down the aisle, although not in this country, marrying the person I love last year.

Even in Australia, though not allowed to marry, I was allowed to bring my partner over on a de facto visa for several years. It didn't feel fully fair, but it was something.
A former newspaper reporter, Peggy Anderson believed nurses were not portrayed fairly in films and TV shows. "They were never taken seriously," said Anderson. "They were either cruel, like Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, or silly like the nurses in MASH." So Anderson, daughter of a nurse but never fancying the career herself, wrote a best-selling book to clear the air on the nursing profession.

In order to write the book Anderson recruited a 27-year-old nurse from Philadelphia, gave her the pseudonym Mary Benjamin, conducted scores of interviews with her and produced a first-person narrative in 1978 titled simply Nurse, which recounted eight weeks of her often gruelling, conflicted, undervalued and immensely gratifying job.

The book sold millions of copies in hardcover and paperback and inspired a TV movie and a series starring actress Michael Learned, who had played Olivia Walton on the CBS show The Waltons. Learned earned an Emmy in 1982 for her role in Nurse, which also starred Robert Reed.

The nurse, who received $2000 of a $15,000 advance and five per cent of the profits, adamantly declined to be identified (St. Martin's Press hired a New York nurse to promote the book) and retired from nursing after the book's publication.

Despite the bland title (Anderson had rejected a friend's suggestion of Scar Wars), the book offered revealing insights into the job's challenges, such as warding off a patient's sexual advances and drugging dying patients to ease their pain.

Margaret Joan "Peggy" Anderson, who has died aged 77, was born in Illinois. Her father, Wilbert Anderson, had been a toy buyer for Montgomery Ward in Chicago and was running a plumbing and heating company in 1970 when he was murdered during a robbery there. Her mother, Catherine, was a nurse. She is survived by a brother, Peter Anderson, and a sister, Kathryn Pamela Anderson.
The 50th anniversary of Sir Robert Menzies' retirement from politics this Australia Day has aroused plenty of interest within the party he founded and outside about his legacy to the liberal and conservative strands of Australian politics as well as to the country as a whole. It also coincides with a growing row within the Liberal Party about the direction the party is taking.

That is the significance of the fighting over the selection of candidates for the next federal election which is now erupting in many electorates. The turmoil has two causes. First, a redistribution has deprived NSW of one seat, with the abolition of Charlton, held by Labor. Despite that loss, the redrawn boundaries benefit Labor: according to the election analyst Antony Green, the voting patterns recorded at the 2013 election would win Labor 20 seats on the new boundaries (up from 18), and the Liberals 20 also (down from 23). Three sitting Liberal members are thus at risk, and may be looking to replace other members elsewhere. The second factor is the change from Tony Abbott to Malcolm Turnbull, which the dominant moderate faction within the NSW party sees as an opportunity to rejuvenate the ranks of MPs  and also, it appears, to sideline or remove those who are either thought too old, or from the opposing right faction. These moves are causing ructions in far more seats, including those held by Philip Ruddock, Bronwyn Bishop and even Abbott.

Sir Robert Menzies lost the job of prime minister in 1941, but came back in 1949 to run Australia for another 17 years. Credit:R. L. Stewart

As we have reported, an email sent to party members expresses the exasperation of the Liberal right at the domination of the moderate tendency within the party. A Liberal member on Penrith Council, deplores the party's "direction in regard to conservative values" and claims there is now little difference between the Liberals and Labor. The most worrying issues seem to include Muslim immigration, the United Nations' influence on Australia, the possibility of action on climate change, the republic, and changes to the flag.

The email will certainly strike a chord with some in the party, but it prompts the thought that the NSW Liberals have a problem rather like that within the US Republican Party. An energetic and vocal section of the Republicans wants to take that party further to the right on many issues. But the rest of the US electorate is far less enthusiastic about what that would mean for them. The result: success for the group seeking to return the party to ideological rectitude will keep it out of office. Here, those on the right of the Liberal party see Abbott as their  and by extension Australia's  natural leader, because he supported all the causes they espouse. But Abbott proved fatally unpopular with the rest of the electorate, and was replaced for that very reason. That lesson ought to have been learnt; it appears to have been missed. Nonetheless, under the guise of standing up for unshakable principles, right-wing MPs are vowing to fight on, whether as Liberals or, if deselected, as independents.
Consolidated democracies in Asia are rare. India and Japan democratised after World War II, and Taiwan and South Korea did so from the late 1980s. Countries such as Indonesia, the Philippines and Mongolia have made important first steps but democracy remains fragile.

Taiwan has just undergone its third change of government since 2000. Unfortunately for the Taiwanese people, the administrations of presidents Chen Shui-bian (2000-2008) and Ma Ying-jiu (2008-2016) promised much but delivered little.

Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan's president-elect, right, and Chen Chien-jen, vice-president-elect, left, wave to supporters after delivering a victory speech in Taipei, Taiwan, on January 16. Credit:Maurice Tsai

In the January 16 elections, Tsai Ing-wen, the presidential nominee of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), won 56 per cent of the vote in the race with three tickets. Tsai led the DPP to win an absolute majority in the legislature, gaining 68 of 113 seats.

This is the first time that the DPP has controlled the legislature and promises that Tsai will lead a unified government.
The most important education discussion that we must have is what should the profile of an Australian teacher be in the 21st century? Who should we be encouraging to study teaching and how can we get the best and brightest into the profession that moulds our future thinkers?

When it comes to education nothing is simple, everyone wants the best and most stakeholders aren't satisfied. Australian students need to be internationally competitive and also globally aware and empathetic. Most importantly, every Australian student should appreciate and value their education and feel proud to be Australian. In order for this to happen we must ensure we attract the best and brightest minds to the teaching profession.

As a high school teacher and Oscar Wilde fan, I am challenged by Wilde's remark that "Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught." The more I teach the more I realise that teaching in the 21st century is no longer about being an oracle but a facilitator of curiosity and critical thinking skills. It is our job to prepare students for the ever changing world in which they will live and work.

Can teachers be taught how to do this or are people born to be teachers? Do some people simply have more empathy, the ability to transfer knowledge better and engage classrooms more easily? Should we be looking to professionals to become teachers rather than recent school leavers or undergraduates who don't know what to do next?

We must ensure we stop trying to train people who are unsuited to being teachers in the first place and focus more energy on unearthing the endless teaching talent that must be out there in the workforce today - people who may be good at their current job but dissatisfied. These are the people we want to attract to teaching. Though many teachers know it is their calling from an early age, many do not. Teaching is not for those who want long holidays or don't know what else they are going to do with their lives.

From my personal experience I believe teaching is up there with the most rewarding careers on offer. It is a career of indescribable satisfaction and limitless learning. It requires endless curiosity and no day is the same. There is no hum drum day at the office as a teacher.

Australia must ensure it remains competitive by encouraging our best and brightest to consider teaching. We need our best minds to inspire the minds of tomorrow.
Australia Day is our Confederate flag. It's not that a better date can't be found  a worse date can't be found. The great historical divide in this country is between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. No day brings that divide into sharper or deeper focus than January 26, and an occasion which supposedly exists to bring us together serves each year to drive us apart.

The pity of the Australia Day controversy is that it needn't have happened. Originally it was a celebration confined to New South Wales which went by names such as Anniversary Day or First Landing Day or Foundation Day. Victoria, which prided itself on embodying a different notion of Australian identity from the old convict colonies of NSW and Tasmania, didn't come aboard with the Sydney idea of January 26 being Australia Day until 1931.

John Howard showed he had elements of a statesman during the gun debate and East Timors bid for independence from Indonesia. Credit:Louie Douvis

The next date considered significant in the growth of Australia Day is 1994 when it became the occasion for declaring the Australian of the Year award. But by then the "history wars" were getting underway and soon after, encouraged by the Howard government and under the shadow of Hansonism, the European narrative of Australian history was aggressively promoted and Australia Day exploded in popularity, most significantly among the young. The day has now merged with rock events such as Big Day Out, enhancing their populist appeal while at the same time further obscuring the fundamental dilemma with the date.

Nations can address such matters. Sooner or later, they have to. New Zealand is in the process of changing its flag which, up until now, has had the Union Jack in the corner. Presumably, if the Scots had won their bid for national independence last year, the Union Jack would have ceased to be flown in what remained of Great Britain or at least the blue of Scotland's flag would have been taken out. What would we have done here in Australia? Would we have continued as we were with, as part of our flag, a flag that no longer existed? You'd like to think not but, then again, around that time we did make Prince Philip a knight.
On January 15, the International Atomic Energy Agency determined that Iran had fulfilled the requirements under the nuclear understandings reached last year (also known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA) necessary to begin implementation of the deal to delay its nuclear weapons program.

This announcement paves the way for the removal of sanctions worth hundreds of billions of dollars to Iran. Western companies, including many in Australia, are lining up to capitalise on business opportunities in the lucrative Iranian market.

The lifting of sanctions should be a boost to Iran's citizens. Credit:Getty Images

However, while the IAEA's report detailing Iran's co-operation in the deal may appear encouraging, now is no time to celebrate. Grave risks lie ahead, not only for businesses and investors, but for world stability.

Given that the West has surrendered its greatest source of leverage on Iran while simultaneously supercharging Iran's economy and approving the removal of the arms embargo on the country in five years and the ban on transferring ballistic missile technology in eight  Iran must be now treated with greater caution and scrutiny than ever.
Netflix has already begun locking out some Australian customers who circumvent its geographical blocks to access content from overseas catalogues, just days after it announced a crackdown on the practice.

Melbourne based service uFlix, which configures a user's DNS settings and IP address to make it look as if they are connecting from a different country, said a small number of its customers had received notices from the popular streaming service telling them to switch off their unblocking service.

"You seem to be using an unblocker or proxy," Netflix said to its customers, according to uFlix.

"Please turn off any of these services and try again."
How many times do you shower a week? Twice? Every second day? Every day? Twice a day?

With 90 per cent of women and 80 per cent of men from Australia showering every day it turns out that daily cleanliness is a myth.

Average showers and shampoos by countries Credit:Euromonitor

Research has shown that Australia is one of the cleanest nations with a new study showing that four out of five women in Britain don't shower every day.

But what is the right amount? It turns out there's actually no amount that is right for everyone, it simply comes down to sweat.
"My mother was a devout Catholic and I was an altar boy," he said.

Keaton became visibly emotional as he discussed a scene where Rachel McAdams' character tells her devout grandmother about the reality of her church.

The 64-year-old plays Boston Globe journalist Walter "Robby" Robinson, who led a team of reporters to expose widespread child abuse and systemic cover-ups in the Catholic Church in Boston.

Michael Keaton has told how he was deeply affected by new film Spotlight as he discussed his own Catholic faith.

"My mum went to mass every day and when I think of what [those revelations] would have done to her ... I think that's big, it's one thing to do, but crushing someone's faith is another level."

The actor, who said he still "drops in" to church, denied that the film's aim is to "beat up" the Catholic faith.

He said: "I haven't been Catholic since I was an altar boy, there's no pretending, I'm lapsed ... But as much as I hate what's happened in the world based on organised religion and people's alleged faith, I'm a defender and think it's good for people.

"I'm totally cool with my vision of what people call God and I'm good there, but what this movie's about is not religion, but institutions. It's about people who take power and seek power and use that power to disadvantage the disenfranchised and the powerless and it happens in a lot of places, literally all over the world."

The actor was speaking alongside Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Robinson and Michael Rezendes, co-star Mark Ruffalo and the film's director Tom McCarthy.
Yes, that is Robert De Niro rolling through spring break in Daytona Beach with Zac Efron, in trailers for Dirty Grandpa.

With a battle cry of "Party 'til you're pregnant", De Niro has rejoined the road trip genre he previously drove to perfection in 1988's Midnight Run.

Robert De Niro, left, and Zac Efron revive the classic road trip movie in Dirty Grandpa.

But the MA-rated Dirty Grandpa joins 2013's Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa as players in a far raunchier road trip resurgence.

"Hollywood likes to come back to these films, which are getting cruder and cruder," says Jeff Bock, box office analyst for Exhibitor Relations. "That's how they are selling this one; come see Robert De Niro as grotesquely rude and crude. That's either a master stroke or desperate times."
The undisputed facts are that episode VIII was initially slated for release sometime in May 2017, then Disney shifted that release date back to December 15 that year.

Cue: a thousand online jokes about a great disturbance in the force and a flurry of activity from Star Wars geeks speculating as to why.

Disney has announced that the release of the untitled second film in the third Star Wars trilogy, Episode VIII, will be delayed by seven months.

It's also a fact that the first six Star Wars films were released for the mid-year US summer blockbuster season. But episode VII, The Force Awakens was the first in the series out at the end of the year - and it's become the third highest-grossing movie of all time with earnings of $US1.88 billion.

That has led to inevitable speculation Disney aims to again corner the Christmas release window in 2017, but most movie and fan sites seem to accept that the delay is because the script, written by the film's director Rian Johnson (Looper), is being partly rewritten. It is rumoured Johnson's initial screenplay is being revamped to include more of the key new characters, Rey (played by Daisy Ridley) and Finn (played by John Boyega).

Episode VIII is due to start filming in London in February and is expected to continue the tale of new characters Rey, Finn, Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) and the villainous Kylo Ren (Adam Driver).

Most of the cast of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, aka Episode VII, have signed on to reprise their roles, while Benicio Del Toro has joined the production. Franchise veterans Carrie Fisher (General Leia) and Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) also are expected to return, although Disney did not comment on casting.

Oddly, Harrison Ford's Han Solo, who appeared to have been killed off by his son Kylo Ren in The Force Awakens, is listed as a cast member for Episode VIII.
Western Sydney is not waiting for Greg Hunt's trees.

This week, the acting Cities Minister announced a federal government pledge to increase tree coverage in Australian cities each decade to 2050, an effort to "green" and "cool" the city.

Amid the decade-by-decade goals to develop urban canopies, the commitment will see the government "look at building rooftops with green cover".

But in western Sydney, where the heat is worst felt, councils aren't waiting for the Turnbull government's plan. In fact, many have already got their own strategies well under way.
Dick Smith has added another layer of complexity to the Liberal Party's brawl over preselections, offering a guarantee he will not stand for election in Mackellar as long as Bronwyn Bishop is not re-endorsed as the Liberal candidate for the blue-ribbon seat.

Mr Smith said he would walk away from his threat to take on the 73-year-old former speaker if the Liberals stood a younger candidate with an "open mind" on issues like economic and population growth.

Fairfax Media revealed on Wednesday that the entrepreneur and former Australian of the Year, 71, had been approached by figures in the aviation industry with a plan to run and win in Mackellar.

"It's much more likely if she is preselected that I will stand. If they pick someone younger, I won't," Mr Smith told Fairfax Media on Thursday.
The NSW corruption watchdog says its high-profile inquiry into a company linked to Labor and Liberal figures including Arthur Sinodinos has not yet been completed, amid reports the Turnbull government minister has been cleared of corruption findings.

Senator Sinodinos, a former chairman of controversial infrastructure company Australian Water Holdings, was called as a witness during the Independent Commission Against Corruption's public inquiry into the company in 2014.

Senator Arthur Sinodinos is a former finance director and treasurer of the NSW Liberal Party. Credit:Rob Homer

The NSW Senator and cabinet minister was not expected to face corruption findings.

Submissions from counsel assisting the ICAC, sent on December 18 and apparently leaked to News Corp by a third party, have reportedly indicated that he will not face such a finding.
Apple is pushing back against a European tax investigation that could force the iPhone maker to pay more than $US8 billion ($11.42 billion) in back taxes.

CEO Tim Cook met with the European Commission's antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager in Brussels on Thursday to press the company's case. After the meeting, Cook sent out a tweet highlighting figures showing that the company's products support more than 1.4 million jobs across Europe. Meanwhile, government officials on both sides of the Atlantic have come to the company's defense to lobby against a penalty.

An Apple logo on a sign at Apple's campus in Cork, Ireland. Credit:Bloomberg

Apple is being scrutinised by European officials, who accuse the company of using subsidiaries in Ireland to avoid paying taxes on revenue generated abroad. While Apple generates about 60 per cent of its sales outside the US, its foreign tax rate is about 1.8 per cent, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Matt Larson.

"If the commission follows its own precedent" from recent cases "and effectively requires Ireland to impose the statutory tax rate, Apple will be looking at around 10 percentage points of tax on substantially more than a hundred billion dollars of profit from a decade of sweetheart deals," said Alex Cobham, director of research at the Tax Justice Network.
Daughter Alison Ridge, 54, describes the past 12 months as a roller coaster ride where every day they were presented with new challenges. Her mother was physically and emotionally exhausted.

But as the symptoms of memory impairment, Parkinson's, hallucinations, slurred speech and shuffling took their grip on the former Uniting Church minister it became increasingly difficult to provide the constant care he needed.

For several years they managed in their home of 25 years with four hours a week of professional help though a government-subsidised Home Care Package .

When Barry Ridge, 87, was diagnosed seven years ago with Lewy body dementia his wife Edith, 87, and family knew that his care needs would steadily increase.

"We could put his walker in front of him and he'd see it as a hedge trimmer. He'd need to go to the toilet but would have trouble remembering there was a toilet let alone where it was," Alison says.

"It got to the stage where the only way we could manage Dad at home was for me to give up my nursing job and move in with Mum and Dad. I wasn't prepared to do that and my family wasn't keen either," she says.

The dementia type means that Barry is mostly aware of what is going on, even if it isn't 100 per cent clear.

They discussed as a family the point at which they would look at residential care before finally making the move a week before Christmas. A lot of tears are still being shed.

"It has not been an easy decision and it is not something we are 100 per cent OK with, but it is the right decision for Mum and Dad. At the end of the day it was not being fair to Dad to not give him the care he needs," she says.
America's powerful pro-gun lobby group the National Rifle Association has again taken aim at Australia's gun laws, this time targeting the buyback scheme launched in the wake of the Port Arthur massacre.

The NRA posted a video on its official YouTube page on Thursday featuring President Barack Obama and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton discussing Australia's gun laws.

"Certainly, the Australian example is worth looking at," Mrs Clinton says in the clip.

The clip then uses a series of government advertisements from Australia's 1996 gun buyback, to show "what they're talking about when they're talking about Australia".
The MySchool website will soon include information showing the level of disability inclusion at schools around Australia, with every state and territory education minister in agreement.

Fairfax Media can reveal that the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, the body responsible for the website, has been in talks for "months" to implement the changes.

MySchool will show a disability inclusion rating. Credit:Michele Mossop

"All [state and territory] education ministers have agreed to it and we're working on all the paperwork as to how it may look at the moment," said Dr Stanley Rabinowitz, ACARA's head of assessment and reporting.

A spokesman for the NSW Department of Education confirmed that the department was working with the Australian government to improve disability support, including the "implementation of the new national data collection and funding measures".
Mr X said he had made detailed confessions to the NSW Crime Commission about Blewitt's involvement in 2000. He also said he had implicated Blewitt in an induced statement to a detective from the NSW Police Special Crime and Internal Affairs.

"They had admissions, I was there on the day when a bloke is murdered in the street, it was pretty heavy shit at the time," Mr X said. "It amazes me it only went as far as it did."

Blewitt was neither charged nor arrested. He was sentenced in 2000 for a minimum of three years' jail for conspiracy to commit an armed robbery, then released shortly before the murder that may have been his downfall.

Victorian police believe Blewitt was part of a group that killed organised crime figure Graham 'The Munster' Kinniburgh in 2003. Kinniburgh, 63, had been implicated by a coroner in the 1998 death of Alphonse Gangitano, an early fatality in the Melbourne gangland killings. Carl Williams, a key figure in those killings, was murdered in Barwon prison in 2010.

Police are yet to formally identify the bones found at Thomastown using dental records but believe they belong to Blewitt.
A 24-year-old Brisbane man is under investigation following his release of a video on Facebook in which he appears to bite the head off a live rat and swallow it.

The RSPCA seized 17 rats and a python from a home in Albion after a video was posted to Facebook seemingly depicting Matt Maloney biting the head off the animal.

Matt Maloney allegedly bit the head off a live rat in a Facebook video posted on Tuesday. Credit:Mad Matts vids

The video, since shared more than 200,000 times on Facebook, showed Mr Maloney storm into a room, get hit by a fluorescent tube, allegedly bite a rat's head off and wash it down with three shots of vodka, get punched in the face, and have a chair broken over his back.

RSPCA Queensland spokesman Michael Beatty said the seized rats and python would stay at the RSPCA pending possible charges under the animal care and protection act.
An Adelaide fishing shop has run into trouble from the Fair Work Commission after making roster changes without considering a father's family responsibilities.

Divorced dad Jaymon Hocking worked as a sales assistant at Tackle World Adelaide Metro and cared for his children every second weekend.

The Fair Work Commission found a small business was in breach of its award after making roster changes without considering a father's family responsibilities.

His usual roster was Wednesday to Saturday but, after three years, Mr Hocking was shown a draft eight-week roster that scheduled him on for six of the next eight Sundays.

After Mr Hocking objected, Tackle World owner Tom Treloar texted him, saying, "Please don't stress mate. We'll work it out. You will see your kids. Don't think anymore of it."
After Peggy Bush's husband, David, succumbed to lung cancer in August, she liked to play card games on their iPad to pass the time. The 72-year-old resident of British Columbia was on an app one day when it suddenly stopped working and she was unable to reload the device without providing a password for their Apple ID account.

Bush's husband never told her the password, and she hadn't thought to ask. Unlike so many of the things David had left for Bush in his will  car ownership, the title of the house, basically everything he owned  this digital asset followed him to the grave.

Your iPad and all your apps could be inaccessible if you don't know the password. Credit:Bloomberg

According to reporting by the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., the journey to procure the password proved more difficult than any other process involved in David's passing.

"I thought it was ridiculous," Bush told CBC. "I could get the pensions, I could get benefits, I could get all kinds of things from the federal government and the other government. But from Apple, I couldn't even get a silly password."
Comedian Greg Fleet has admitted in court his regret at stealing from a friend to fund his heroin addiction, saying it had helped prompt him to steer clear of drugs since.

The well-known funnyman fronted Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday, having previously admitted to stealing jewellery worth $2800 from Fairfax Media columnist Wendy Squires in 2014 to fund his drug habit.

Greg Fleet.

He was spared a conviction under the court's diversion program, which allows first-time accused to apply to have charges resolved without a formal court hearing.



Known for his work in radio and television, Mr Fleet, 53, has battled a much-publicised addiction with heroin and ice and written about his fight in his autobiography.

Mr Fleet missed a previous court date in December and a magistrate issued an arrest warrant, but the comedian later wrote he got his court dates wrong.
The Port of Melbourne privatisation is facing a tough national security hurdle, with the federal government set to gain new powers potentially allowing it to bar foreign bidders.

The news calls into question the windfall the Andrew government hopes to gain from the port sale, a projected war chest of at least $7 billion that the government has earmarked to pay for its ambitious project to replace 50 level crossings across Melbourne.

The new owners of a 50-year lease over Australia's busiest port, the Port of Melbourne, plan to put in a place a business plan to bolster productivity. Credit:Paul Rovere

Foreign governments wanting to buy state infrastructure are automatically scrutinised by Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board, private foreign companies are exempt.

But Treasurer Scott Morrison has confirmed the government plans to dump the exemption for foreign companies wanting a stake in state-owned "critical infrastructure" in the near future.
The former dealer principal of prominent Perth car business Big Rock Toyota has avoided jail time over an indecent assault charge.



Frank Delli-Benedetti was given a spent conviction and a $5000 fine after he was charged with indecently assaulting his then 19-year-old employee in 2011 at the Balcatta car yard.

When handing down the sentence, the District Court judge said there was an inappropriate work culture at the dealership at the time of the incident, led by Mr Delli-Benedetti.

Frank Delli-Benedetti, centre, was fined $5000 and given a spent conviction over a 2011 indecent assault. His lawyer Tom Percy QC, right. Credit:Alex Riddell

The judge also said despite Mr Delli-Benedetti showing no remorse over the crime he had already suffered as a result of the charges, including a breakdown of his marriage, loss of his job and significant financial loss.

During the trial the District Court heard the victim was asked to stay back at work later than usual before being called into the boardroom by Mr Delli-Benedetti.
Islamabad, Pakistan: After terrorists killed about 134 students at a school in northwestern Pakistan 13 months ago, officials started arming teachers and gave them weapons training.

Like the debate over guns in schools in the United States and elsewhere, the move was controversial and divided parents and academic officials. But a Pakistani teacher armed with a pistol is being credited with saving lives during a terrorist attack on Wednesday at Bacha Khan University in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

According to Agence France-Presse, Syed Hamid Husain, an assistant chemistry professor, pulled out his pistol and began firing at two of the attackers as they neared a classroom. But the 27-year-old teacher was outgunned by the militants, who were armed with assault rifles. After a gun battle, Husain was killed, students said.
Cairo: China signed a raft of economic deals with Egypt during a visit by President Xi Jinping on Thursday, including $US1.7 billion ($2.5 billion) in loans to the banking sector, and said it supports Egypt's efforts to maintain stability and set its own course.

Mr Xi arrived in Egypt on Wednesday, the second leg of a Middle East tour, just ahead of the January 25 anniversary of the 2011 uprising that ended autocrat Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, right, shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Credit:AP

Meeting Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi  who last month warned critics not to hold protests to mark the anniversary  Mr Xi said China and Egypt had developed a deep friendship based on mutual respect.

"What path a country or people chooses cannot be separated from historical and cultural traditions or the reality of economic development and should be set and orderly advanced by the country or people themselves," Mr Xi said, according to China's foreign ministry.
But she was soon embroiled in controversy when the charges against her 26-year-old son, who served in Iraq, emerged.

The former vice-presidential candidate returned to the political spotlight on Tuesday when she threw her weight behind Donald Trump's White House campaign at a rally in Iowa.

Washington: Sarah Palin accused President Barack Obama of ignoring service veterans after it emerged her former soldier son had been arrested on domestic violence charges.

Track Palin is accused of punching his girlfriend in the face and threatening her with an assault rifle in an incident Mrs Palin suggested was due to post-traumatic stress disorder.

Former Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin hugs Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Credit:AP

Discussing the charges against her son for the first time at a rally for Mr Trump, Mrs Palin seized the opportunity to attack what she called Mr Obama's lack of "respect" for military veterans.

"My son, like so many others, they come back a bit different, they come back hardened, they come back wondering if there is that respect for what it is that their fellow soldiers and airmen and every other member of the military so sacrificially have given to this country," Mrs Palin said.

"It starts from the top," she added. "It comes from our own President, when they have to look at him and wonder  do you know what we go through, do you know what we're trying to do to secure America and to secure the freedoms that have been bequeathed us?"
President Barack Obama, right, arrives in the snow on Air Force One at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport. His helicopter, Marine One, was cancelled when he arrived back in Washington, DC due to the snow. Credit:AP Washington, DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan and Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe declared states of emergency Thursday ahead of the storm. In all, at least 50 million people will be impacted by the storm from Arkansas to southern New England. Winter weather warnings, advisories and blizzard watches were in effect Thursday morning from southern Arkansas to Long Island, New York, a distance of more than 1600 kilometres. This National Weather Service Weather Prediction Centre image shows an early computer model forecasting the chances of a windy, strong sleet-snow storm hitting the East Coast this weekend. Credit:AP At least 30 million people live in the blizzard watch area, which encompasses all of the Washington, DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York City metro areas.

The hardest-hit area could be around the Baltimore-Washington DC metro region, where a less than one-inch snowfall Wednesday night crippled nation's capitol and caused traffic chaos. Visitors to the Martin Luther King, Jr Memorial in Washington stop to photograph the quotes etched into the memorial's back wall while it snows in the Nation's Capital. Credit:AP Countless drivers were stuck behind the wheel for up to nine hours in the evening rush two days before the new storm is forecast to dump up to 24 times as much snow. Even President Obama's motorcade got stuck in the mayhem on the way back to the White House, local media reported. Bowser apologised for the traffic snarls, tweeting Thursday: "Last night the District failed to deploy the necessary resources in response to the snow - for that I am sorry." She pledged the city will be ready for this weekend's storm.

New York City is also under a blizzard watch for Saturday and Sunday, where up to a foot of snow is predicted. "We're bracing for the first big storm of the winter," Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a news conference conducted at a city salt shed. "And I want to let all my fellow New Yorkers know that we are prepared, that the agencies here are ready for what's coming up ahead." De Blasio asked residents to watch out for their neighbours and call 911 if they see someone in danger. "When the storm hits it is crucial for people to stay off the streets to the maximum extent possible," he said. "If you need to move around, use mass transit." Significant icing is also likely for portions of Kentucky and North Carolina. Farther south, on the warmer side of the storm, severe thunderstorms and even a few tornadoes could lash portions of the Deep South and the Gulf Coast into Friday.

Along the mid-Atlantic and New England coast, a period of rough seas, coastal flooding and beach erosion is likely, according to AccuWeather. The worst conditions will be from Virginia to New Jersey. The weather service in Washington warned there was a chance of "hurricane-force wind gusts" for a short time along the coast. The Weather Channel has named the storm Jonas. Traffic chaos after light snow And the scene proved once again (though no proof was needed) that Washington, when taken by surprise, is woefully unprepared, not just for a blizzard but for any "snow event." It also showed how little it takes for the region to descend into a long night of traffic chaos: more than 1000 reported fender-benders (unofficial numbers via Waze), six- and seven-hour trips home, jammed arteries and impassably frozen exit ramps. That was compounded by road-treatment crews desperately but slowly trying to make things right and by emergency vehicles responding to calls about countless accidents. Most were said to be "minor" as cars slid into one another, but there were also reports, with little detail, of more serious crashes.

Overnight, every major highway appeared to be backed up in some spot, many in numerous places. Those roads bearing the letter "I" in their names- interstates 66, 295, 495, 395, 95, 695, 270 - were the worst of all. With many exit ramps blocked, there was no escape. Silean Eaves, an assistant principal at School Without Walls in the District of Columbia, told The Washington Post in a telephone interview from the road that she spent more than 6 1/2 hours on I-66 West before she reached the Dulles Toll Road on her way home to Herndon, Virginia. "It's a mess," she said at 3 am, still en route. "Just pure ice. You can't even go up any of the ramps. You pretty much have to stay on 66 and ride it out." Plus she would have to make the reverse journey in just a few hours. "We have to go to school tomorrow at 7:30," she said, wondering how conditions could possibly be better in the morning as 66 East was "a parking lot." She added: "There's a spelling bee. By the grace of God, we'll get some rest and get out there." "Horrible," said Maryland State Police Sergeant Brandon Gosnell when he answered the phone at 2:42 am. "It's basically a parking lot - the entire county," he said of Prince George's County. "We're just playing catch-up." The same was true across the region, according to traffic reports, police and motorists who took to Twitter and WTOP's all-night hotline to vent.

"One inch of snow did this tonight," tweeted Rebecca DiLuzio. "I can't even think of what this weekend's storm will do." "I left Fairfax at 6:20. It is 1:40 in the morning," said a hotline caller. Another: "I am on Indian Head Highway. It has not been treated. This is unbelievable. This is pathetic. This is not managed government." Another: "I am sitting on the Beltway in Oxon Hill at a complete stop for an hour and a half. This is really painful." The night summoned the memory of a snowstorm in 2011 that trapped commuters for as many as 13 hours. Robert Fletcher, 57, left his Farragut Square law office before 7 pm and headed toward a usually 30-minute, 20-kilometre commute to his Falls Church home. More than four hours later, he was calling his wife from behind the wheel of his Infiniti, hopelessly mired in a kilometres-long backup on Interstate 66 just west of Rosslyn, inching less than half a mile in four hours.

"This is an unbelievable situation," he said by phone. "It's just a dangerous situation, and the authorities are doing absolutely nothing. I just don't understand." DC Mayor Muriel Bowser appeared to miss the potential hazards of a slight amount of snow. At a midday news conference Wednesday, she focused on the impending weekend storm, not mentioning at all the possibility of snow affecting the city during the evening commute. Kellie Boulware, a Maryland State Highway Administration spokeswoman, said the roads were not pre-treated because the forecast was calling for no more than a squall. She said that as the snowfall continued, the highway agency pulled in additional crews, which were to work through the night to treat slick roads in preparation for the morning rush. In Virginia, state transportation officials did not pre-treat roads because forecasts called for temperatures so low that the treatment might freeze on roads, making them more hazardous.
The number of reported deaths of deformed babies rose to 49, officials said.

The Brazilian Ministry of Health said the number of suspected cases of microcephaly, a neurological disorder in which infants are born with smaller craniums and brains, increased to 3893 by January 16 from 3530 cases 10 days earlier.

Brasilia: The cases of babies born with unusually small heads continue to rise in Brazil, where researchers say they have found new evidence linking the increase to the Zika virus spreading through the Americas.

So far, health authorities have only confirmed six cases of microcephaly where the infant was infected with the mosquito-borne Zika virus.

Angelica Pereira waits with baby daughter Luiza at Mestre Vitalino Hospital in Caruaru, Brazil. Credit:AP

The surge of cases since the new virus was first detected last year in Brazil led the ministry to link it to the fetal deformations and warn pregnant women to use insect repellent to avoid mosquito bites.

On Tuesday, Brazilian researchers took another step towards proving Zika causes microcephaly. The Fiocruz biomedical centre in Curitiba announced it had found Zika in the placenta of a woman who had had a miscarriage, proving the virus can reach the fetus. Until now, researchers had only found Zika in the amniotic fluid of two pregnant women.

"This is a significant advance, but we still cannot scientifically state that Zika is the cause of microcephaly," said Jean Peron, an immunology expert who is experimenting on pregnant mice at the University of Sao Paulo's Institute of Biomedical Sciences.
DETROIT -- January 20, 2016: As Martin Luther King Jr. Day was recently recognized and the country educates and celebrates his great dream of a vibrant and united multicultural nation, a first ever Diversity Volume Leadership Awards ceremony showed the tremendous impact that ethnic car buyers have on the economy and brought awareness to the lack of diversity that still remains present in the automotive industry.

MORE INFO The Best Car Research and Buyer's Guide

"30% of new vehicle purchases are made by multicultural consumers but only 6% of dealerships are minority owned," said NAMAD President, Damon Lester. "That means 18,000 dealerships exist in the USA and 1,100 are minority owned."

With ethnic car buyers growing at rapid rates, the dealer body is still lacking accurate representation from minorities. The National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers (NAMAD) and IHS Automotive, partnered to celebrate brands that are driving sales leadership with ethnic consumers while also addressing and educating the industry about the necessity of dealer ownership increasing to reflect a diverse population during the Diversity Volume Leadership Awards (DVL Awards) on January 10, 2016 in Cobo Center. The private ceremony was hosted by Dariany Santana and brought together over 200 of the top automotive executives including Perry Watson, Chairman at NAMAD, Drew Slaven, Chief Marketing Officer at Mercedes-Benz, Marc Burt, Assistant Vice President of Inclusion & Diversity at Honda, and Bill Faye, Group Vice President and General Manager at Toyota.

Winners of the prestigious DVL Awards demonstrated the highest new vehicle registrations with ethnic, women, and millennial consumers. This year's awards were based on an analysis of more than 13 million personal new vehicle registrations.

"Minorities are changing the course of events in the automotive industry," said Watson. "This is the first of many initiatives to inform ethnic consumers which automotive brands are helping and which are not."

This year, National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers and IHS Automotive honored Toyota Motor Sales with the "Top Overall Ethnic Vehicle" DVL Award. "Top Overall Ethnic Vehicle" is the most sought-after Diversity Volume Leadership honor for automotive brands dedicated to driving sales leadership with Asian, Native American, Hispanic and African American car buyers. Toyota also took home 10 of 20 DVL Awards earned that night. It is not by coincidence that Toyota's sales leadership with ethnic consumers is also reflected in the amount of minority owned Toyota dealerships that exist. Bill Faye, Group Vice President and General Manager at Toyota, Alva Mason, Diversity Strategy, Corporate Communications at Toyota and Jim Colon, Vice President of African American Business Strategy at Toyota were present to accept their awards.

NAMAD and IHS Automotive also presented awards for sales leadership in the following categories: Ethnic Volume Leaders by IHS Automotive Regions, Volume Leaders with Millennials and Women, and Volume Leaders by Ethnic Consumer Group.

"What if the automotive industry kept up with ethnic growth?' said Bland. "There would be an incremental value of $20 billion."

The best automotive brands that have dedicated marketing resources to ethnic consumers and are focused on capitalizing on the rapid growth of the industry were in attendance to collect their awards. It is important to note that several of the nominees that did not receive awards were still extremely competitive contenders. Those who did not receive an award now have the insight and motivation to develop an improved strategy for 2017.

Winners of the 2016 Diversity Volume Leadership Awards are as follows:

Ethnic Volume Leaders by IHS Automotive Regions Great Lakes Region Chevrolet Equinox Mideast Region Honda Accord New England Region Toyota RAV4 Plains Region Toyota RAV4 Rocky Mountain Region RAM Ram Southeast Region Toyota Corolla Southwest Region Chevrolet Silverado Western Region Honda Civic

Volume Leaders  Millennials and Women Top Women's Vehicle Honda CR-V Top Women's Luxury Vehicle Lexus RX Top Ethnic Millennial Vehicle Honda Accord

Volume Leaders by Ethnic Consumer Group Top Vehicle  African American Toyota Camry Top Vehicle  Hispanic Toyota Corolla Top Vehicle  Asian Pacific Islander Toyota Camry Top Vehicle  Native American Chevrolet Silverado Top Luxury Vehicle  African American Mercedes-Benz C-Class Top Luxury Vehicle  Hispanic Lexus IS Top Luxury Vehicle  Asian Pacific Islander Lexus RX Top Luxury Vehicle  Native American Buick Verano Top Overall Ethnic Vehicle (Luxury or Non-Luxury) Toyota Corolla

The Diversity Volume Leadership Awards would not be possible without the generous sponsorship from the following organizations:

CORPORATE SPONSORS EVENT SPONSORS MEDIA SPONSORS Cox Automotive American Honda Black Enterprise Ford Motor Company BMW/Mini of North America Latino Magazine General Motors Fiat Chrysler Automobiles

Nissan Hyundai Motor Company

Toyota Motor Sales Kia Motors America

Volkswagen Group of America Mercedes-Benz, LLC



Connect with DVL Awards:

Hashtag: #DVLawards and #DVLawards2016

Website: www.namad.org and www.ihs.com/automotive

Twitter: twitter.com/NAMAD_USA

Facebook: facebook.com/NAMAD_USA-468806139894019

About The National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers

The National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers' (NAMAD) objective is to pursue the meaningful presence and participation of minority businesses and diverse employees across all aspects of the automotive economic sector, including:

Increasing the number of minority-owned dealerships in communities across America.

Advocating workplace and supplier diversity in the automotive manufacturing environment.

Supporting minority engagement in the automotive retail sales and service sectors.

We are committed to developing strategic relationships and advocating for the advancement of business policies and practices that ensure diversity and economic parity remain a priority in all aspects of the American automotive industry.

NAMAD is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, tax-exempt organization headquartered in the Washington, D.C. area. For information on National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers visit: www.namad.org
Honda HR-V Named "2016 Green SUV of the Year" by "Green Car Journal"







2016 HR-V delivers unsurpassed fuel economy in the subcompact crossover segment in combination with fun-to-drive performance, sporty design and spacious, versatile packaging

- HR-V is third Honda model honored by the magazine within the last five years

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WASHINGTON -- January 21, 2016: The 2016 Honda HR-V (Honda HR-V), the brand's stylish and versatile crossover vehicle, has been named "2016 Green SUV of the Year" by Green Car Journal. The "Green SUV of the Year" award recognizes the all-new HR-V for its class-leading environmental performance  a top fuel economy rating of 35 mpg highway1 (2WD CVT) and additional designation as an Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle (LEV2 ULEV).

"The Honda HR-V is a truly unique new subcompact crossover, delivering the space, utility, comfort and feature content of a larger vehicle, with the sporty driving dynamics and class-leading fuel economy ratings on par with a small car," said John Mendel, executive vice president of Auto Sales for American Honda. "All of us at Honda truly appreciate Green Car Journal for recognizing the HR-V as Green SUV of the Year and as the latest in a growing lineup of products with class-leading efficiency and low emissions."

"With its active styling, smart features, and fuel economy leadership, the 2016 Honda HR-V gives car buyers an entirely new option in the small SUV category," said Ron Cogan, editor and publisher of Green Car Journal and CarsOfChange.com. "The HR-V brings true environmental performance to this fast-growing category, and drivers are taking notice, as are we here at Green Car Journal, making HR-V the perfect choice to take home 2016's 'Green SUV of the Year' honor."

The 2016 HR-V is the third Honda brand vehicle honored by the magazine in the past five years, joining prior Green Car of the Year Award winners, the 2012 Civic Natural Gas and the 2014 Accord.

2016 Honda HR-V The 2016 HR-V is available with an all-new continuously variable transmission (CVT) that delivers both fuel efficiency and fun-to-drive performance at a high level. When equipped with the available CVT, the HR-V has an EPA city/highway fuel economy rating1 of 28/35 miles per gallon when equipped with front-wheel drive, and 27/32 miles per gallon when equipped with Real Time AWD. With a 6-speed manual transmission and front-wheel drive, the HR-V has an EPA city/highway fuel economy rating1 of 25/34 miles per gallon.

About Green SUV of the Year The award-winning Green Car Journal has focused on the intersection of automobiles, energy, and environment since its launch in 1992. As part of its mission, the magazine hosts events, produces ride-and-drives of advanced and clean fuel vehicles, and conducts various outreach efforts to educate consumers on better and more environmentally positive vehicle choices. The magazine's content is featured online at CarsOfChange.
Jaguar Land Rover Leads Automotive Manufacturing League Table







Jaguar Land Rover becomes Britains largest automotive manufacturer

Firms three UK manufacturing plants break the 500,000 production milestone in 2015

Companys UK production output more than trebles since 2009

Growth is driven by unprecedented investment in new products and UK manufacturing plants to meet global consumer demand.

MORE INFO Jaguar Research and Buyer's Guide Guide

MORE INFO Land Rover Research and Buyer's Guide Guide

WHITLEY, COVENTRY, UK -- January 21, 2016: Jaguar Land Rovers growth sees UK workforce more than double to 35,000 in 5 years

Jaguar Land Rover has become the largest automotive manufacturer in Britain. The news follows todays announcement from the SMMT that UK car manufacturing has had its best year in a decade producing 1,587,677 vehicles in 2015. Jaguar Land Rover produced more than 500,000 cars and commercial vehicles at its three vehicle manufacturing plants in Solihull, Birmingham and Liverpool.

Under Tata Ownership, the company has seen a dramatic transformation in its business since 2009 when total annual production stood at 158,000 units. Since that time, Jaguar Land Rover has become the fastest growing UK automotive manufacturer with annual output rising by almost 70% thanks to more than 11bn of R&D investment to create an expanded and enhanced range from the two iconic British marques. In 2015 alone, Jaguar and Land Rover brought 11 new and refreshed cars to market, including the Jaguar XE and XF and the Land Rover Discovery Sport.

The news of Jaguar Land Rovers achievement can also be attributed to the companys unwavering commitment to its three British vehicle manufacturing plants which have each welcomed considerable investment to drive up capacity, capability and quality*. In addition, the company has invested 1bn in a state-of-the-art Engine Manufacturing Centre to build the high technology, low emissionIngenium engine. Together these facilities have created more than 10,000 manufacturing jobs in just 5 years, with the overall UK workforce more than doubling to 35,000.

Jaguar Land Rover's Executive Director of Manufacturing, Wolfgang Stadler said Britain is the beating heart of our business, so becoming the countrys largest vehicle manufacturer is a remarkable achievement, demonstrating our steadfast commitment to the UK manufacturing sector.

2015 was a challenging year for the industry against a backdrop of socio economic instability, but it is a testament to our strong product range and dedicated team of employees that Jaguar Land Rover has delivered year on year growth, with more exciting products to come.

Jaguar Land Rover, who was last week named the best place to work in Britain by Bloomberg, delivered record sales in its home market in 2015 with over 100,000 vehicles registered for the first time in its history. This strong performance was also reflected in the US, where Land Rover was named the fastest growing car brand in the country. More than 80% of Jaguar Land Rovers UK based production is exported to over 160 markets and this year the company will see further new products including the Jaguar F-PACE and Range Rover Evoque Convertible hit its global network of retailers.

It is the increasing global demand for its products that has seen Jaguar Land Rover announce plans to expand its international manufacturing footprint to support sustainable global growth. But with plans to invest a further 3bn in its products and facilities in the 2015/16 fiscal year, such as, the expansion of its Whitley and Gaydon R&D centres, the UK remains at the very heart of Jaguar Land Rovers business.

*Jaguar Land Rovers three UK vehicle manufacturing plants are as follows:

Solihull

The Site: 300-acres site.

Workforce: 10,000 - doubled in 5 years

Products: Home to the iconic Defender, Solihull is on three-shift, 24 hour production to meet the global demand for Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Discovery and Jaguar XE.

Production has almost trebled in five years.

Investment: 1.5bn invested in the Solihull plant in the last 5 years including:

370mn to extend our expertise in light weight vehicle manufacturing with Range Rover & Range Rover Sport.

500mn on Europes largest Aluminium Body Shop and state-of-the-art Final Assembly Hall to support the production of the Jaguar XE & F-PACE.

21mn on a brand new, 31 acre, despatch facility to meet global demand for our vehicles

Castle Bromwich

The Site: 112-acres site.

Workforce: 3,700

Products: An all-aluminium line-up including the Jaguar F-TYPE, XJ and all-new XF.

Investment: 400mn invested in the Castle Bromwich plant in support of new XF - the largest single investment in the history of the Castle Bromwich plant includes:

320mm state-of-the art aluminum body shop - the most flexible and versatile of its kind throughout Jaguar Land Rover, capable of switching between Jaguar's entire range of models mid-production

16m on a new blanker line

50mn on a new Aida press line.

30m on significant upgrades in the trim and final assembly hall.

Halewood

The Site: 300-acres site.

Workforce: 4,200 (trebled in five years)

Products: The fastest selling Jaguar Land Rover product of all time  the Range Rover Evoque and new Discovery Sport.

Investment: 500mn invested in the Halewood plant since 2010 including:
Owner of bed manufacturer found guilty of human trafficking

THE owner of collapsed bed manufacturer Kozee Sleep Beds has been found guilty of human trafficking after a trial at Leeds Crown Court.

The business failed last May, with the loss of 180 jobs and owing 10.3m, after it lost major contracts with John Lewis and Next in the wake of police investigations into staff at the Dewsbury factory.

Mohammed Rafiq was found guilty of conspiracy to commission a breach of UK immigration law.

Hungarian men were employed, sometimes being paid just 10 a day, and were forced to live in houses with dozens of other workers.

Last year Ferenc Illes and Janos Orsos were jailed after being found guilty of human trafficking offences related to the supply of workers to Kozee Sleep Beds.

Mr Rafiq will now be sentenced on February 12.

Clearly we welcome the conviction of Mohammed Rafiq, said Det Ch Insp Warren Stevenson, of West Yorkshire Polices human trafficking unit.

A great deal of time and effort has been invested by police and partners in mounting this prosecution and in securing todays outcome in court.

I hope this conviction demonstrates to victims of human trafficking that the police and authorities will act on their behalf and are prepared to support victims throughout the legal process to secure justice for them.

Mr Rafiq was a director of Kozee Sleep Beds until one month before it appointed Jonny Marston and Howard Smith of KPMGs restructuring practice as administrators last May, by which time the business was insolvent.
600,000 fine for Yorkshire Water over sewage leak

WATER supply company Yorkshire Water Services has been fined 600,000 over a sewage leak that devastated wildlife in the area of a Wakefield lake.

At Leeds Crown Court earlier this week, the company was sentenced after pleading guilty to the charge of causing a water discharge that was not authorised by an environmental permit.

Judge Guy Kearl QC found that the company had been negligent and the incident had caused significant pollution.

The incident occurred in October 2013 at Walton Colliery Nature Park in October 2013.

At an earlier hearing, the court heard that a rising main sewage pipe from the companys Shay Lane pumping station burst and its contents flowed into Drain Beck, which feeds into a Walton Park fishing lake, itself a subsidiary of Barnsley Canal.

860 dead fish were removed from the lake, and water samples confirmed that the pollution was significant enough to be fatal to aquatic life. In 2014, a survey found that the lake and canal were almost totally devoid of fish. It was predicted that it will take many years to fully restore the ecosystem.

The court heard that there had been four bursts on this rising main in the previous two years, and on each occasion Yorkshire Water had put the failure down to age deterioration of the pipe.

Yorkshire Water was ordered to pay investigation and prosecution costs of 24,000 to the Environment Agency.

Mark West, environment management team leader at the Environment Agency, said after the case: This pollution incident had a significant impact on the ecology of the lake and the canal and it could have been avoided had the company taken action to replace the pipe following earlier bursts.
High Court gives four-finger judgement to Nestle Kit Kat case

NESTLE has failed in its efforts to trademark its four-finger chocolate bar.

Cadbury successfully argued that there was likely to have been a number of similarly shaped products produced by other companies.

Mr Justice Arnold dismissed Nestles appeal on the issue of

acquired distinctiveness, with the existence of a Norwegian product that has been around for nearly as long as the 80-year old Kit Kat weakening its case.

Nestles York factory produces up to 7m Kit Kat bars a day.

In a statement, Nestle said: KitKat is much loved and the iconic shape of the four-finger bar, which has been used in the UK for more than 80 years, is well known by consumers.

We believe that the shape deserves to be protected as a trade mark in the UK and are disappointed that the court did not agree on this occasion.
For Dogs, its Trick and Treat Its almost Halloween, a great time to teach your dog a trick and give him a treat. Most trainers are fans of trick training. Its not as silly as it...

Muzzle is not a bad word If you see a dog in a muzzle, you immediately think the dog is aggressive. Right? Well, this is not always true. Unfortunately, seeing a dog in a muzzle carries...
When four Americans were released from Iran last week as part of a prisoner exchange, Robert Levinson, a retired FBI agent and contractor for the CIA, was notably not among them. Levinson was kidnapped while working in Iran in 2007, and after appearing three years later in a video and then a series of photos made by his captors, he hasnt been heard from since.

Unusually, the Obama administration made no public statements last week calling on Iran also to free Levinson, and theres at least one reason for that: Senior officials in the U.S. intelligence community and the administration believe that Iran doesnt actually know where Levinson is, current and former officials with knowledge of his case told The Daily Beast.

I think its nearly certain that they dont know where he is, one former official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the U.S. is still working with Iran to find out what happened to Levinson.

They arent relying merely on the word of Iranian officials, whove said for years they dont have information on Levinsons whereabouts or who took him. Intelligence that the U.S. has collected on Iran and government officials has helped to persuade some whove been working to find Levinson that Tehran has lost his trailif it ever had it.

The conclusion among senior officials that Iran doesnt know how to find Levinson helps to explain why he wasnt part of the recent swap that ended with four Americans, including Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, being freed.

For years, competing theories about what happened to Levinson have only deepened the mystery surrounding his case. Some have speculated he was kidnapped by organized criminals while working on a private investigation on Irans Kish Island, or that he was taken by a rogue faction in the Iranian security services, or in the countrys Revolutionary Guard Corps, which operates with considerable autonomy.

The fact that some U.S. officials now believe that the central government doesnt know where Levinson is may bolster those theories.

Brett McGurk, a top U.S. diplomat who worked on the prisoners release, told CNN that if the U.S. knew Bob Levinson was in a prison cell in Iran, I think you know wed have a different outcome here.

In fact, it appears that hes not being held in Iran, McGurk added, echoing statements from top administration officials over the years, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, that Levinson was moved out of the country years ago. In 2011, Clinton said publicly that recent information indicated Levinson was being held somewhere in southwest Asia.

In an interview last Sunday with CBSs Face the Nation, Clinton seemed to put herself in the camp with those who think Levinson is either dead or beyond Tehrans reach.

I regret deeply that Robert Levinson was not on his way home either, Clinton told host John Dickerson, who asked if she thought the Iranians know where he is.

And I hope and expect that the Iranians will continue to be pressed very, very hard to give up any information they have and, if possible, to return Bob Levinson to his home and family, she added.

The phrase if possible was telling on a few levels. First, it implied that the Iranian government might not be able to say where Levinson is. It also suggested that he may no longer be alive.

U.S. officials have said they never stopped trying to find Levinson. More than a year ago, the Obama administration opened a separate channel of discussion with Iran devoted exclusively to repatriating Americans, which ended in the prisoner swap. Levinsons status was also central to these discussions, a senior administration official told reporters on Sunday.

Weve also agreed to continue a dialogue with Iran through multiple channels for missing persons, in particular for Bob Levinson, the official added. And we made some progress in that case, but thats a case that we are never going to quit and never going to give up on, and hes central to our minds every single day. And were going to continue to do everything we possibly can to find Bob and bring him home.

But Levinsons son, speaking on behalf of the missing Americans family, rejected the notion that Iranian officials couldnt locate his father and said he feared the captive was already being forgotten.

I think its absolutely ridiculous to think that the Iranians dont know, Dan Levinson told The Daily Beast. He was picked up by the Iranian security forces and the Iranian state media reported that There are people in the Iranian government who know exactly where my dad is.

And there are people within the U.S. government who believe that, too. They tend to work in the FBI, where Levinson was once an agent, the current and former officials said.

CNN reported on Wednesday that FBI investigators believe Levinson, if he is alive, is still being held in Iran.

Levinsons son said he thought it was plausible that top leaders in the Iranian government, including Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and President Hassan Rouhani, dont know how to find Levinson.

It might be other people in rogue factions of the Iranian government that actually have him, the younger Levinson said. But he insisted that the Obama administration needs to press harder to speak to those people, and to anyone else who might have information on his father. Levinson said he worried that if many officials conclude theres no real hope of finding his dad, the momentum to finally bring him home will stall, and hell be forgotten.

Levinson said his family already felt neglected. They only found out that U.S. hostages had been freed from watching news reports. Levinson said Secretary of State John Kerry had spoken to his mother last Tuesday, just a few days before the swap, but he gave no hint of any imminent release.

When the family heard the news, they immediately began calling their contacts in the administration, demanding to know why Levinson wasnt among those returning to the U.S.

You left him behind again!! My family is in tears, Levinsons mother wrote to one administration official in an email that her son read to The Daily Beast.

Levinson said he wants the administration to use that new channel that proved so successful in freeing the four other Americans to help his father.

Everybodys won. The only people who are suffering now are my family, Levinson said. Were the ones who are just left behind. Were the forgotten ones.
In his quixotic quest to win the Iowa Caucus later this month, Donald Trump has begun to pull out all the stops to court evangelical voters. On Monday, the candidate visited Liberty University in Virginia, where he quoted his favorite passage from Two Corinthians and compared the Bible to his book, The Art of the Deal. And then, of course, he got Sarah Palins coveted endorsement.

All of this seemed pretty transparent to The Nightly Shows Larry Wilmore, who remarked, If Trump and God have a great relationship, its probably because they never see each other.

Wilmore employed an elaborate Star Wars analogy to demonstrate just how clueless Trump sounds when he talks about Christianity. Lets say youre a big Star Wars fan, and someone comes to speak to your Star Wars group, he said. They say theyre a huge Star Wars fan, that they have a great relationship with Star Wars.

Then they say, OK, I want to talk about the farce, right? Were all strong with the farce, right? Thats what you guys like, the farce, right? he joked. The farce is strong with Luther Vandross Skywalker, right?

Please stop him from talking, I cant take it anymore, Wilmore said. Come on, God, are you out of lightning bolts? Dont you smite anymore?

Ultimately, Wilmore decided he needed to convey his message more evangelically, rising from his chair as organ music swelled. Before a stained glass backdrop, the host put on his best preacher voice and told voters that Trump is a snake in the grass who they must cast out like the Devil.

What I challenge you to do, evangelicals, is smite down Donald Trumps campaign, Wilmore declared. Smite it down!
LONDON  A prominent Russian dissident was assassinated in London with a deadly dose of radioactive poison because he had claimed that Vladimir Putin was a pedophile, according to an independent British inquiry.

The hit was probably carried out on the personal orders of the Russian president.

The allegationthat Putin had used his position as head of the Russian intelligence service to destroy video evidence of himself having sex with underage boyswas the climax of an increasingly bitter personal feud between Alexander Litvinenko and the Kremlin leader.

Sir Robert Owen, a retired High Court judge, found that this personal animosity, combined with Litvinenkos continued criticism of the Kremlin and the FSB, of which he was once a senior member, was the motive behind his brazen murder in a Mayfair hotel via a pot of green tea laced with the radioactive isotope polonium-210 in November 2006.The FSB operation to kill Mr. Litvinenko was probably approved by Mr. Patrrushev, then head of the FSB, and also by President Putin, Owen told the Royal Courts of Justice on Thursday.

There was undoubtedly a personal dimension to the antagonism between Mr. Litvinenko on the one hand and President Putin on the other, he wrote in his report. Mr. Litvinenko made repeated highly personal attacks on President Putin culminating in the allegation of pedophillia in July 2006.

The claim was made in an article on the Chechen separatist website Chechenpress shortly after Putin was filmed lifting the T-shirt and kissing the stomach of a young boy at the Kremlin.

Litvinenko claimed this display of affection was the first public sign of a secret that had long been known by some within the KGB. He said Putin had been denied a place in the foreign intelligence division as a young recruit because, shortly before his graduation, his bosses learned that Putin was a pedophile.

Many years later, when Putin became the FSB director and was preparing for the presidency, he began to seek and destroy any compromising materials, Litvinenko wrote. Among other things, Putin found videotapes in the FSB Internal Security directorate, which showed him making sex with some underage boys.

Thursdays announcement has been 10 years in the making. The British government rebuffed Marina Litvinenkos pleas for an inquiry into her husbands assassination for eight years because diplomats feared that Londons improving relationship with Moscow would be severely damaged.

A secret letter written to Owen by the Home Secretary Theresa May in 2013 explained why no inquest had been allowed. It is true that international relations have been a factor in the governments decision-making, she admitted.The government would change its mind a year later, when Russias conflict with Ukraine and the shooting down of passenger jet MH17 ended diplomatic niceties.The explosive conclusion of the report will do little to calm relations between the nations, even though Owen stops short of saying he has conclusive proof that Putin ordered the hit directly.

The inquiry heard that two Russians, Andrei Lugovoy and Dmitry Kovtun, carried out the killing a few yards from the U.S. embassy in London by pouring polonium-210 into a pot of tea they offered to the former Russian spy.

Neither man still worked for the Russian state directlyLugovoy had left the FSB and Kovtun was no longer employed by the Army. But Owen quoted an old Russian saying in his 300-page report: There is no such thing as a former KGB man.

On day 22 of the inquiry, when ample evidence had already been heard that Lugovoy was behind the killing, President Putin gave him a national award for services to the fatherland.

Owen wrote: Mr. Lugovoys award, given in particular its timing and public nature, can only be interpreted as a deliberate sign of public support made by President Putin... It can be inferred from these facts that the Russian State approves of Mr. Litvinenkos killing.

On Thursday, Marina Litvinenko spoke on the steps of the court to welcome the verdict. I am of course very pleased that the words my husband spoke on his deathbed when he accused Mr. Putin have been proved by an English court.

But she was less complimentary about the British government, which has been briefing journalists that it will not levy severe sanctions against Moscow at such a sensitive time in negotiations over the future of Syria, ISIS, and President Bashar al-Assad.

The widow wants a British version of the Magnitsky Act, which President Obama signed in 2012 imposing sanctions against the killers of Sergei Magnitsky.

Im also calling for the imposing of targeted economic sanctions and travel bans against named individuals... including Mr. Putin, she said. It is unthinkable that the prime minister would do nothing in the face of the damning findings of Sir Robert Owen.

The British government announced Thursday that it would freeze the assets of Lugovoy and Kovtun and issue international arrest warrants, even though Russia has made it clear the men will not be extradited.

For a litany of reasons, Alexander Litvinenko was not a popular man in Moscow. As he lay in ward T16 at University College Hospital on Nov. 18, 2006, two Scotland Yard detectives on the graveyard shift were about to discover why.The pale patient, who was experiencing excruciating but unexplained pains, had been booked into the hospital as Edwin Redwald Carter. After two weeks at a smaller hospital in North London, he had been moved to the citys top medical facility by doctors who could not work out what had made him so sick.His symptoms were consistent with radiation poisoning, but Geiger counters showed no sign of radiation. As his condition worsened, thalium was another suspected cause, but no trace was found.Clueless as to what substance was gradually destroying his body from the inside, Edwin Carter and his wife were increasingly convinced that he had been poisoned. They called in the police.Detective Inspector Brent Hyatt and Detective Sergeant Chris Hoar arrived at around midnight to ask why they thought poison had been used. They were stunned by what they were about to hear.

In Russian, I have [another] name: Alexander Litvinenko, Carter began, in faltering English. I am former KGB, FSB officer.1997, I sent to top secret department of KGB my, my department has duty killing... political and high business men without verdictjudge verdict.He said the first target of these extrajudicial killings was to be Boris Berezovskya fallen ally of Putin.After I, I had this order, I said to my boss, Im, I refuse take this.... Its not right, is not justice.

And so began Litvinenkos post-FSB career, which included a series of lurid claims about Russias mafia state. Once he had escaped Russia and was granted political asylum in Britain in 2001, he claimed the KGB and the FSB had been run through with corruption, accused it of murders, kidnappings, and drug-dealing and, most extraordinarily of all, staging a false-flag terror operation in Moscow.He alleged that the 1999 Moscow apartment bombings, which killed some 300 people, were masterminded by Russian security forces in order to justify a full-scale war against Chechnya and bolster the popularity of a young, hardline prime minister named Vladimir Putin.Litvinenko was paid $2,800 a month as an informant for MI6Britains foreign intelligence service. He also took a salary from Berezovsky, the man he says he was once ordered to murder. The oligarch had also fled Russia and was granted asylum in the U.K. in 2003.Berezovsky, who was found hanged in March 2013, paid Litvinenko to help him research and write articles and publications that were critical of Putin. Litvinenko also offered himself for hire to private intelligence companies, and the inquiry heard that he had been working for the Spanish authorities, who were trying to crack down on Russian crime syndicates operating there.In the spring of 2006, Litvinenko met the famous activist journalist Anna Politkovskaya in a coffee shop in London. He asked her to leave Russia and continue to fight against Putins regime from outside the country.She decided to stay in Moscow and was shot dead in the elevator inside her apartment block on Oct. 7. In the following weeks, Litvinenko told a gathering at the Frontline Club, a foreign correspondents association in London, that Putin had ordered her assassination.A month later, he was gravely ill and recounting his own extraordinary tale to a pair of confused Scotland Yard detectives.

The inquiry heard several theories about who had ordered two former Russian agents to strike him down in what was described as a nuclear attack on the streets of London. In one theory, he was silenced before he could publicly describe links between Spanish criminal networks and senior Russian officials.

The inquiry also heard that Litvinenko had written a report that claimed that Viktor Ivanov, the head of Russias narcotics agency, had links to the Russian mafia and was engaged in drug trafficking and money laundering while working closely with Putin in St. Petersburg in the 1990s.

Litvinenko himself seemed relatively unconcerned about which one of his public statements had ultimately cost him his life.

He told the detectives at his bedside: I have no doubt whatsoever that this was done by the Russian Secret Services. Having knowledge of the system, I know that the order about such a killing of a citizen of another country on its territory, especially if it is something to do with Great Britain, could have been given by only one person.

Detective Inspector Hyatt: Would you like to tell us who that person is, sir?

That person is the president of the Russian Federation: Vladimir Putin, Litvinenko replied.

Thanks to a radioactive breadcrumb trail that led all the way back to Moscow, the manner in which he was murdered also became obvious in the end.

As Litvinenkos condition deteriorated, doctors decided to send a sample of his urine to the U.K. Atomic Weapons Establishment to see if they could detect any radioactivity. There, scientists discovered massive alpha radiationthe substance emitted by polonium-210, which would have been undetectable by medical staff, pathologists, or law enforcement.

Once the nuclear scientists had discovered its presence, it was easy to retrace the steps of Lugovoy and Kovtun.
Rahm Emanuel lectured a group of mayors from the stage of the Presidential Ballroom in the Capital Hilton on Wednesday, on how to build trust between communities and police.

Yes, this actually happened.

But the glitzy surroundings and friendly company of the United States Conference of Mayors couldnt protect him from pointed criticism.

That kind of protection takes security guards, who kept Black Lives Matters protesters from entering the hotel ballroom where he spoke.

Emanuel may have come to D.C. to address the group of fellow mayors, but in the process, he got a press conference wrecked, derailed the events messaging focus, and reminded everyone that Chicago news is national newsand that politicians who associate themselves with him (read: Hillary Clinton) should be very, very cautious about it.

Emanuel has long drawn excoriating criticism from the city he helms. And last April, long-shot challenger Chuy Garcia forced him into a runoff before he could get re-elected as mayor. Many charge that Emanuels deputies deliberately hindered the release of video that showed police killing teen Laquan McDonaldshot 16 timesto protect the mayors reelection effort.

When a journalists FOIA lawsuit got the city to finally release the video of McDonalds killing, protests rocked the city. Subsequent reports have painted a jarringly ugly picture of Chicagos mayors office and police department.

Emanuel has had good luck finding defenders, though. And the most powerful might be Hillary Clinton. On Meet the Press on Jan. 17, she staunchly refused to criticize the mayor.

Weve got to do a lot more to deal with the systemic racism and the problems that policing has demonstrated, she said. Mayor Emanuel has said that he is committed to complete and total reform, and I think he should be held to that standard.

And last month, she praised Emanuel at an Iowa campaign event.

He loves Chicago and Im confident that hes going to do everything he can to get to the bottom of these issues and take whatever measures are necessary to remedy them, she said.

Clinton isnt alone in that confidence, and confidence in Rahm brings consequences. Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Blake learned that today when she and a group of mayors held a press conference Wednesday morning to open the Conference of Mayors Winter Meeting

Their messaging efforts on various benign issues went completely off the rails when a handful of Black Lives Matter protesters unfurled signs shortly after the mayors press conference began. Divest from police, invest in black communities, read one sign. Another listed names of men killed by Baltimore police and said, Mayor SRB Whos Next?

Its worth noting that regardless of her association with Emanuel, Rawlings has faced criticism from these protesters. But the Chicago mayor was the focus of criticism from the protester at the event who was literally front and center. That was April Goggans, who stood in front of the mayors with a sign referring to McDonalds killing and calling for Emanuels resignation. Security didnt remove her, and a visibly uncomfortable Rawlings Blake continued with the press conference in the background of her protest.

The protesters involvement forced the mayors to curtail their press conference.

Hillary Clinton, Rahm Emanuelits the Democratic Party, said Duane Shorty Davis, who held a sign during the press conference and spoke with reporters afterwards. And every major black city where Democrats run it, its like plantation-type politics.

Not a Hillary Clinton fan at all, he added.

He added that he isnt a Bernie Sanders fan either.

Protesters were blocked from entering the ballroom where Emanuel spoke. Flanked by Rawlings Blake and New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, Emmanuel made the kind of comments about personal responsibility that critics direct at his own administration.

He said the city needs to reinforce positive choices its inhabitants make, punish negative ones, and communicate to Chicagoans that You dont get a pass when it comes to the decisions you make.

Theres a place where we, collectively, in the publics eye, can reinforce personal responsibility, he told the audience, boasting about the citys practice of hiring people who have served time for crimes to work in its public transportation system.

He also had tips for police department management.

We can either patrol or be part of a community, he said. And if were patrolling it, youre gonna have a limited impact. If youre part of a community, youre gonna build the trust and cooperation thats essential for safety and legitimacy of the police department.

These are both extraordinarily curious things to say. Rahm Emanuel doesnt want the people of Chicago to get a pass for their bad choices, and he wants mayors of other cities to get their acts together and build trust to keep their cities safe.

By the way, Emanuels decisionin concord with the U.S. Conference of Mayorsto position himself as an expert on safety and trust is especially interesting in light of the fact that violence, shootings, and homicides all went up in the Windy City in 2015.

You never want a serious crisis to go to waste, Emanuel said shortly after Obama won the 2008 election, when he was serving as his chief of staff. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.

And now, the protesters targeting Rahm have found an opportunity to push for changes in the midst of Chicagos crisis.
The most cynical observers of the 2016 American elections are in it for the moneyand many of them dont even live in the United States.

Ten months before Election Day, members of the U.K.-based gambling site Betfair have spent over $4.4 million betting on the outcome of the U.S.s primary and general elections.

Its a market in which Vice President Joe Biden, who swore off a presidential run in October, currently has better odds to win the presidency than Chris Christie or Martin OMalley. On some sites that accept bids on the 2016 election, Elizabeth Warren, Al Gore, and Michael Bloomberg currently have a far better shot at the presidency than a 509-to-1 bet on Ben Carson, the Republican polling at 11 percent in Iowa.

According to gamblers, betting markets are more accurate than polls for predicting elections. A majority of Betfair users correctly predicted the winners of the 2004, 2008, and 2012 general elections after the races were reduced to two candidates. Whereas polls fluctuate by week, by location, or by polling agency, betting markets tend to exhibit more stable trends.

But this election cycle has thrown even the most statistically-minded gamblers for a loop.

Today, a dollar bet on a Donald Trump primary victory will turn a profit of $1.52 on Betfair. His odds are ranked the best of any GOP candidate on the site.

Trumps share price to win the entire election reached its all-time high Wednesday on PredictIt, a site that allows users to trade futures on candidates chances. Trumps price sits tied with Bernie Sanders for second place at 27 cents, and 16 cents behind leader Hillary Clinton.

At 48 cents per share at press time, Trump holds a 23-cent lead over Marco Rubio for the Republican nomination. Trump is now surging on the site, up 11 cents week over week and 5 cents on Wednesday alone.

But while Trumps poll numbers have charted sky-high since his summer campaign launch, the betting markets have been slow to invest. Earlier this summer, a dollar bet on Trump would earn a return of nearly $350 on Betfair, while first Jeb Bush then Marco Rubio led as the betting mans favorite.

For 30 or 40 weeks in a row, we saw Jeb Bush ahead, then Rubio pulled ahead of him. Around Dec. 1, trading on the site went up significantly and, recently, Trump pulled ahead, said PredictIt spokesperson Brandi Travis. It says that people didnt really think he would get the nomination until around now.

According to prediction markets experts, these late-in-the-game lead changes reflect unusual volatility in the betting market, one that suggests a deeper divide in GOP politics.

I think that whats different about this year is that you have people with strong but incompatible opinions, says Rajiv Sethi, a professor at Barnard College who has published a study on patterns in political betting markets.

There are people who have felt, people who have publicly expressed the view that Trump couldnt possibly be the nominee. They felt very strongly about that and very comfortable betting against that outcome. And really that view has started to change. The rise of Trump in the prediction markets has been driven by the breakdown of the narrative that he couldnt possibly win.

For a market that prides itself on objectivity, political gambling has tripped over the same judgement as television hosts: that something would inevitably lead to Donald Trumps downfall, be it his attacks on immigrants, his criticism of John McCains war record, his anti-Islam rhetoric, or that he once tried and failed to sell extremely greasy frozen steaks at the Sharper Image.

David Rothschild, an economist who runs prediction tracking site PredictWise, says the betting markets finally came to terms with Trump at the beginning of the new year.

You really see this kind of crossing sometime around Jan. 1, where Trump started to really shoot up, Rothschild says.

According to PredictIts internal data, Trump and Sanders both moved into 2nd and 3rd place respectively right around Christmas. Trump has enjoyed a consistent lead over Ted Cruz for the GOP nod since Jan. 6.

Rothschild links Trumps upshot to his comeback after a brief polling drop in Iowa.

In the polling, for a little bit, I think people saw it as, Its finally going to happen, the first time he lost after leading somethingbut then he bounced back in the polls in Iowa and continued to hold firm in New Hampshire, he said. I think in many senses, its just a matter of time slipping away.

Trumps new acceptance in betting markets also indicates a trend toward a broader acceptance of anti-establishment Republican candidates, Rothschild believes. He classifies the GOP race as not one election, but two semifinal battles between establishment candidates like Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio, and anti-establishment candidates like Trump and Ted Cruz.

You saw a sense of stability in the sense that as Jeb Bush went down and Rubio went up. They kind of traded off that weight, he says of earlier betting markets. And similarly youll see now that as Trump has held on firm in the last few weeks against Cruzs charge, you see them kind of trade off support in the market. Overall, you see the markets tend to give incrementally more weight to the non-establishment as the candidates have progressed into the year 2016.

As time dwindles in the primary competition, a bet against Trump is becoming a true gamble. And even those who believe he will fail in the general election (where Betfair values Hillary Clinton at overwhelming odds) would rather bet on Trump than risk on Rubio.

But for those looking to predict the next president, Sethi cautions that reading the betting markets can be a chicken and egg situation.

We dont know yet whether the prices moved first or the change in public perceptions of the race, he says. Its an interesting question but will take some time and careful empirical work to answer.

Its worth noting that these sites skew toward a particular kind of person: an Internet-savvy gambler with some money to spare and an interest in national politics.

We skew heavily male, with most of our users between the ages of 20 and their late thirties, said PredictIts Travis.

According to data sent to The Daily Beast from PredictIt, 9,939 of the sites 19,247 tradesor 52 percentwere made by users between the ages of 20 and 30. Over 4,300 of those trades came from users in either New York or California.

Even with its homogenous userbase, Travis says PredictIt is a much better indicator than one might think. It is, after all, the only U.S.-based online prediction market, since InTrades shutdown in 2013. And since real money is on the line, Travis says shes learned users are more likely to bet with their wallets than with their hearts.

I talk to the traders who show up to [PredictIt] events and they say, Theres no way I would ever vote for, say, Hillary Clinton, but thats who I would put my money on, she said.

And the numbers back that up: A 2008 University of Iowa study concluded that prediction markets are 74 percent closer to the actual outcome than polling, and the results get even more accurate 100 days out from a vote.

Its what you think is going to happen, said Travis. Not what you want.
Chelsea Handler is crying. Tucked in the back corner of the restaurant at New Yorks Mark Hotel, Handler is dabbing away her tears when a waitress with perhaps the most awkward timing in serving history approaches. She stands dumbstruck at the scene she just walked up to.

Hes breaking up with me. Can you believe it? Handler deadpans, still verklempt, gesturing with her snotty napkin across the table at the reporter shes having brunch with. When the waitress finally walks away, she lets out a big sigh and giggles. This is like an Oprah Winfrey moment.

In the grand tradition of Ms. Winfrey, a long conversation about the next phase in the comedian, author, and TV hosts career has meandered through her lifes biggest milestones, striking a surprising emotional chord in the celebrity best known for doling out acid-tongued critiques of Hollywoods most vapid tabloid mainstays.

Whether its in her five New York Times best-selling books, her sold-out stand-up comedy tours, or her seven years hosting the hit E! channel late-night talk show, Chelsea Lately, its abundantly clear to both fans and detractors of the 40-year-old performer that Chelsea Handler does not suffer fools. And fools: beware.

As she climbed the ranks, becoming not just the only female talk-show host in late night but among the highest paid people in comedy, Handler honed a brand around her very pointed, very funny comedic middle finger.

She gave it to those who found her style of comedy too acerbic, too sloppy, too edgy, or too whatever to enjoy. She gave it to the Hollywood establishment that was writing her checks, capping off a run on Chelsea Lately noted for her frequent skewering of employer E! by calling the show seven years of ridiculous stupidity in its final episode.

And she gives it to everyone who thought she had some responsibility to continue her run as late-nights only woman by taking over for Dave Letterman, Craig Ferguson, or any of the other men who vacated their late-night seats in the last two yearsor assumed that she would even want to.

Annoying, she says. Those assumptions are annoying. Like asking me what its like to be a woman in late-night. Like how many times are you going to belittle me as a woman by asking me that question? Its just like stop talking about it already. It was never an interest of mine. I was never pursuing that at all. So for everybody to be constantly speculating about it was super annoying.

So its understandable that its a little jarring to see that middle finger drying tears on a Monday afternoon as we discuss life post-Lately over brunch. (She had a tuna burger. Enjoy your bowl of cum! she says as my Greek yogurt arrives.) But it might not be shocking for much longer.

I feel like theres a tougher exterior thats been torn down, Handler says about herself at one point in her new Netflix documentary series Chelsea Does, a collection of four documentaries hitting the streaming service Saturday. Consider them Handlers own spin on Anthony Bourdain or Morgan Spurlockcultural anthropology by way of personal exploration.

The four documentaries center on hot-button topicsMarriage, Race, Drugs, and Silicon Valleyand feature a mix of interviews (the CEO of Ashley Madison is grilled in Chelsea Does Marriage, Al Sharpton appears in Chelsea Does Race), roundtable conversations with famous friends and even Handlers family, and confessionals by the comedian herself.

Part of a lucrative Netflix deal that also includes stand-up specials and an upcoming talk show set to launch later this year, Handler executive-produces Chelsea Does, which as she says, finds her more vulnerable and exposed than weve ever seen hera tall order following her recent topless Instagram crusade.

When youre yourself on TV all the time, you think people are getting to know your full personality, she says. Whereas that personality that was being represented on my old show was very one-dimensional: Im in charge, Im a bitch, Im going to tell you when to shut up, and blah blah blah.

Enter Chelsea Does.

This is real, and this is the full spectrum of me, she says. Its me being silly, and stupid, and funny, and bright, and smart, and everything that is embodied in my personality.

Chelsea Does Marriage, for example, finds her visiting a Las Vegas drive-in chapel, and attending a bachelorette party. Chelsea Does Silicon Valley has her pitching an app.

Chelsea Does Race has Handler traveling to the Deep South to uncover lingering racial tension, patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border, traveling to Israel, and tackling the culture of political correctnessan issue she wrote an op-ed about for The Daily Beastby facing a firing squad of propriety police featuring representatives from the Anti-Defamation League, the NAACP, and other organizations to glean what they find offensive and why.

While happily deferring to director Eddie Schmidt (This Film Is Not Yet Rated) and producer Morgan Neville (20 Feet From Stardom) for much of the filming, Handler says she really took the lead on Chelsea Does Drugs, which has her sharing a catered meal of marijuana-infused food with friends and spending a night on camera after mixing Ambien and alcohol.

But even then she didnt entirely get to do or show everything she wanted to do. Because it was illegal.

I was like, Lets do mushrooms! Lets do cocaine, to show everyone what its like being on coke! she says. They were like, Thats illegal! But they let us go to Peru and do ayahuasca. What network is going to say yes to that? Only Netflix.

Does Handler have an agenda, or at least a perspective guiding her fact-finding mission? Of course, and thats sort of the point of Chelsea Does.

Ive never ever had the feeling ever, to be like, Oh my god I want to be in a wedding dress. And I want to walk down an aisle, she says in the early minutes of Chelsea Does Marriage, for example. Like that to me is nausea-inducing. But Im questioning things about it that I never did before.

Handler has been in serious relationships. A long-term boyfriend she had while she was in her twenties is interviewed in Chelsea Does Marriage. She dated Ted Harbert, who oversaw E! as the former CEO of Comcast for nearly four years, and afterward was attached on-and-off to hotel manager Andre Balazs for two years.

She also briefly dated rapper 50 Cent, a curio that will likely follow her to the grave.

I know, and we only dated for two months, she says, rolling her eyes. Its, like, mentioned in every article. Its so funny. Its probably more annoying to himactually, he probably loves it.

Theres an obvious fascination about Handlers personal life given her own admitted public candor about itone of her books was called My Horizontal Life, after allbut also because of her views on marriage. What Chelsea Does Marriage does, however, is make a distinction: Just because she doesnt want to walk down the aisle doesnt mean that she doesnt value a partner and commitment.

Before I think my problem with marriage was that I didnt want to do anything that was expected of me, she says. Making through the years of when-are-you-going-to-get-married-and-have-kids? needling felt like a victory lap. When I turned 40 I was like, Look! Not married! Not divorced! No kids! Just like I said I wanted to be.

Now that shes made it to that 40-year-old milestone, her feelings about have gotten a little more complicatedand somehow clearer, too.

I was like, OK, now the pressures off, she says. Now I would do something, because its unexpected. I would do it if I met somebody. I think I was pairing the showcase of it, the whole pageantry of weddings, with commitment rather than realizing they could become two separate things.

Not that shes aggressively in the market for someone now.

My minds not even there lately, she says. When you do something like these projects that are so fulfilling, Im like, OK, what can we do next? My friends are like, Do you want to meet this guy? and Im like, Not really. If Im going to meet them Ill meet them when Im supposed to.

She lets out a big laugh: Like all of a sudden I believe in fate.

If not fate, partnering with Netflix was certainly kismet for Handler. To see her treating the streaming service as a haven of sorts shouldnt shock anyone who sensed her very palpable exasperation with making fun of celebrities on E! for seven years. She didnt exact conceal it. In fact, she aggressively vocalized it.

Handler landed her late-night gig in 2006, after years of working the Los Angeles stand-up circuit and making a quiet mark in the Oxygen network hidden camera show Girls Behaving Badly. She had reservations when E! wanted to reformat a weekly sketch show she was hired to star in into a daily wrap-up of TMZ tabloid stories, a genre she loathed, but leaned into the series with her own acerbic sense of humor.

It quickly became one of E!s highest-rated programs, turned Handler into one of the most recognizable figures in Hollywood, and, over the course of seven years and more than 1,000 episodes, eventually made her miserable.

I didnt want to be there, she begins, saying that it was around the fifth year of Chelsea Lately that she ran out of enthusiasm. Everyone was annoying me. My staff was fighting about who was going to be on air all the time. They were catty. I was like, This is so childish.

Still, a sense of responsibility for the staff she employed, even if they got on her nerves, guilted her, in a way, into keeping the show runninguntil she realized how ridiculous it was to make decisions based on that.

So I think the last go round, I didnt even really decide, she says. I just said it on Howard Stern, like, Yeah, I guess Im not going to do that again, and I figured that since I had thought it I had already said it. (Former staff members have said they were blindsided by the announcement.) I was just like, Thats a wrap on this.

Chelsea Does serves a bridge between what she used to do on Chelsea Lately and her new show that will debut on Netflix later this year. Its not going to be a talk show that you usually see, she says, apologizing that Netflix has forbidden her from revealing more specific details. Its not going to be a late-night show. Im done with that. Im not doing that again.

And at the very least, Chelsea Does proves that anyone who judged Handler based on the celebrity-focus of Chelsea Lately has been underestimating what shes capable of. I hope so, she says. I think I underestimate myself.

As she tells it, each phase of her career seems accidental. But each memory is accompanied with a quip about what hard work it was.

When I start something new, Im like, I wonder if I can write a book. All right, lets do that, she says. I wonder if I can write another one. Lets do it. And I also kind of feel like, the book stuff Im done with right now. I dont care about that. Stand-up Im done with. Been there, done that. Ive done as much as you can do as a stand-up. And I did it so much, four huge tours, that I got good at it and Im done. I want to get good at other stuff.

In the year and a half since shes been off TV, she briefly wondered if, after at one point verging on overexposure, she had become irrevelant. It was a fleeting thought when, as hard as she was working on Chelsea Does, she relished a break from it all.

She was exhausted from flying to the next comedy tour stop on Thursday nights after taping Chelsea Lately. She took a breath. She bought a house in Spain, and learned Spanish. She spent time with her family without feeling the pressure of work in the back of her mind. That was important.

She remembers when she graduated from high school, the youngest of six kids to a Jewish father and Mormon mother in New Jersey. All of her siblings had gone to college. Her father told her it would be a waste of time to do the samein the loving, we-know-what-your-future-holds waysuggesting that she head to California instead.

She waited tables while auditioning for random acting jobs and doing stand-up on the weekends. She was brokefor a very long timerelying on her parents and siblings to send her money. Still, they never doubted that she was going to make it in an industry where almost no one does.

I thought my family was going to be like, Fuck, when are you going to get a grip and get a real job? she says. But they never once did. Im 26, borrowing money and waiting tables, partying, not having my act together. But they never once said, Get your shit together. And thank god they believed in me because I dont know if I would have.

Understanding her connection to her family is key to understanding Chelsea Handler. When she was 10, Handlers brother died while he was hiking the Grand Tetons, a formative experience for the baby of the family and something that, over the years, fiercely bonded the Handlers together.

Then, in 2006, Handler lost her mother, Rita, to a battle with breast cancer. I grew up at that moment, Handler says.

She returned from her book tour in London to be by her ailing mothers bedside, arriving aghast that no one in her family was capable of handling the situation. I was the only person that could be like, Let her die! She doesnt want to be remembered like this.

There was a woman smoking in the bed next to Ritas, and her brother and father were just sitting there. My mother just looked at me because I was such a fucking shit-kicker, Handler says. She cursed out the nurses, got her mother a private room, screamed on her behalf when she needed more morphine, and slept on a cot next to the hospital bed for the next 10 days.

My brother was like, Oh my god. Ive never seen you take charge, she says, her voice cracking as her eyes well with tears. I was like Its because you guys arent being responsible. Shes dying. Let her fucking die. She grabs a napkin and starts dabbing her eyes.

I cant believe Im crying about this, its not even noon, she laughed before continuing her story.

At my moms funeral, my brother gave this beautiful eulogy. It was so beautiful. Hes such a great public speaker. And you know, were all in our own worlds. And he said about me and my sister, Ive never seen my two kid sisters grow up right before my eyes. Theyre both women now. And hes right. I stepped up and was not the kid and became an adult. And it was a beautiful time. Even though it was tragic, it was beautiful.

When the startled waitress who stumbled on a celebrity crying over her tuna burger walks away and Handler makes her joke about me breaking up with her, I bring up how shes so often characterized in Chelsea Does by the people in her life: strong, intimidating, powerful, abrasive. Thats not all of what Im seeing. Does she wish other people saw the other things, too?

When youre a woman and youre forthright, people are like, Oh, shes a bitch. Well then, Im a bitch, you know? she says.

But everybody is a bunch of different things. You can be a bitch and be wonderful. You can be a wonderful bitch.
Ted Cruz has made a lot of enemies in Iowa. Chief among them is the ethanol industry. Now several of Cruzs important Iowa allies may be exacerbating his problems and opposition by unwittingly dragging him into a long-running internal Iowa Republican civil war.

The conflict is a fight over the future of the Iowa Republican Party, but it may prove decisive in the future of the national party. It may even make Donald Trump the nominee.

Cruzs newest critic in Iowa is none other than Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, who told reporters after a renewable fuels summit in Altoona on Tuesday that he hopes Cruz is defeated in the Iowa Caucus. Its not often a governor explicitly tells his party to oppose the leading candidate in a primary.

While Cruzs desire to end the Renewable Fuel Standard ethanol mandate prompted the comments, theres a lot more to this dynamic between Branstad and Cruz.

It seems like theres something beyond ethanol thats animating the issue for him to so directly go after Cruz, suggested Jeff Patch, an Iowa Republican operative. Its not a big secret that theres no love lost between Branstad and [Cruz endorser] Vander Plaats, and it seems like its a broader proxy war for the direction of the Republican Party in Iowa.

Many Republican insiders view Cruzs role here as yet another chapter in the seven-year-long saga that includes Iowas 2009 gay marriage ruling, Congressman Steve King, religious warrior Bob Vander Plaats, a takeover of the state party by Ron Paul supporters, and even Sarah Palin.

The conflict dates back to April of 2009, when the landmark Varnum decision by the state Supreme Court legalized gay marriage, making Iowa the first in the Midwest to do so. That rallied evangelical voters to action, who have always held a strong influence in the state.

Meanwhile, Branstad kicked off his return to politics as he ran for a fifth gubernatorial term. His main competition in the primary was Bob Vander Plaats, the head of the Family Leader, a social conservative advocacy group.

Vander Plaats ran entirely on an executive order to basically tell the Iowa Supreme Court thanks for you opinion, but you dont get to make laws, recalled Craig Robinson, the editor of TheIowaRepublican.com, who has documented the GOP conflict the most. It would have created a constitutional crisis.

Vander Plaats lost to Branstad 50% to 40% in the primary, but he remained Branstads biggest antagonist.

The Branstad governing style is to emphasize the economic side, while still being socially conservative, explained Jeff Angelo, a former Republican state senator. Bob Vander Plaats is definitely a social conservative issue-first sort of guy. The guy who talks about revival and righteousness and repentance and getting back to God.

Those differences caused multiple flare-ups over the years. Several Republican lawmakers backed by Vander Plaats pushed a Personhood abortion amendment in the Iowa Statehouse, to the chagrin of party leaders. The two sides clashed in primaries, with Vander Plaats candidates winning several state legislative victories, while Branstads team helped Joni Ernst emerge in the 2014 Senate primary. They fought bitterly over defunding Planned Parenthood last year as well.

There was also a weird Ron Paul interlude for about two years, when backers of Paul essentially took over the Republican Party of Iowas state central committee and the party headquarters itself. The takeover became a disaster as they ran the state partys finances into the ground and burned bridges with many activists and party leaders.

During that time the Vander Plaats crowd, though not ideologically the same, was happy to assist the people giving Branstad fits. Branstads allies made a major push in 2014 to fight back and successfully recaptured the state party.

Now Vander Plaats has joined Congressman Steve King and conservative radio talk show host Steve Deace in endorsing Cruz in the Iowa Caucus.

Cruz has stepped into that role as chief Branstad antagonist, Patch noted.

Of the 10 Republican operatives, insiders, and activist interviewed for this article, all believed that the primary cause of Branstads hit on Cruz was over Branstads sincere support for ethanol. And some pointed out that Branstad was responding to a reporters question, as opposed to placing the Cruz criticism in a speech.

Theres no harder worker for Iowa farmers than Dad is, added Eric Branstad, the governors son who is helping run Americas Renewable Future, the pro-RFS group targeting Cruz. He is seeing the numbers, he is seeing the land value, and he is seeing the price of corn. A hit to the RFS would be a hit to all of those factors. So he sees this as looking out for Iowa. That is his sole focus, nothing to do with politics.

But most still felt that long-standing frustrations with Vander Plaats helped fuel the division.

I was very surprised by the personal nature of the attack, Robinson observed. Those two sides never really trust each other.

In addition to ideological differences, Branstad loyalists have long viewed Vander Plaats with a skeptical eye for his personal style. They see his Family Leader organization as bigger on pontificating and raising money than achieving results. They believe Vander Plaats makes outrageous statements to attract media attention so that he can rally donors. And Vander Plaats himself even tried to get nominated as Branstads lieutenant governor from the state convention floor after losing in the primary, a tactic Branstads team saw as self-promotional.

Those concerns have emerged this caucus cycle as well. Steve Kings son is employed by a Cruz super PAC. Many allege Vander Plaats runs a pay-to-play system with his earlier candidate forums, saying he only allows questions from donors.

So Branstad has plenty of reasons to pressure Cruz. Branstad himself wont endorse in the caucus, though many see him helping Chris Christie behind the scenes. Many of Branstads former top staffers run Christies Iowa operation. Bruce Rastetter, a top Branstad ally and wealthy agribusiness leader, endorsed Christie. But speaking out solely against Cruzs campaign is quite the move.

Robinson suggests it may be payback for when Vander Plaats Family Leader specifically came out against Branstad in 2010.

I could see how someone could say this is Terry Branstads revenge, Robinson said. He is now anti-endorsing a candidate, much like that organization did to him.

Will it have an impact? Cruz has shrugged off overwhelming criticism in Iowa before. But eventually its going to add up. And the main beneficiary very well could be Donald Trump.

What Branstad is doing, at least in Iowa, could potentially benefit Trump, which a lot of Republicans in the Branstad coalition would not want to help, said Patch. I dont think Branstad is doing that on purpose.

In Iowa, if you want to vote for an anti-establishment candidate, you could listen to Governor Branstad and vote for the anti-establishment candidate whos also for the RFS, Angelo concurred. Donald Trump was all over that yesterday.

Actually, Sarah Palins endorsement of Trump on the same day Branstad bashed Cruz might have given Vander Plaats flashbacks to 2010. In 2010 Vander Plaats had the backing of James Dobson and Chuck Norris, and was close to nationalizing his race in a way that could have galvanized Tea Party supporters to give him the upset over Branstad. But then Palin came and endorsed Branstad about a week out from the primary, blunting Vander Plaatss momentum. Now he has to watch as his chosen candidates main rival gets the Palin nod just before the caucus.

The strategy here could be to damage Cruzs momentum and let Trump win. Then some candidates will drop out after New Hampshire and voters could coalesce around one of the more center-right or establishment alternatives to Trump, like Marco Rubio or Christie. Thats a big risk, however, and might just end up letting Trump cruise to a quick victory.

Iowa has held a huge role in the presidential process for decades now. The choices by the 100,000 to 200,000 Iowans who show up on a cold caucus night has determined the eventual nominee for the parties several times. In 2016 it could be a single long-standing grudge between the leaders of the two major factions of Iowa Republicans that swings the entire race.
There would be no Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders boom without Citizens United.

The infamous Supreme Court case, decided six years ago today, banned limits on corporate spending in elections. That money has heavily favored establishment candidates, even keeping some alive when they would otherwise be dead (like Jeb Bush). No wonder the grassroots left and right get more angry that politicians seem to respond to billionaires whims instead of their needs. No wonder a democratic socialist and a wealthy demagogue are doing well in the polls.

Citizens United didnt just unleash corporate spending; it enabled the creation of a whole new vehicle for influencing elections: super PACs. These pseudo-corporations dont have to disclose their donors and can spend unlimited amounts on elections, as long as theyre not officially coordinating with specific candidates (which has turned out to be a joke).

Once the floodgates were opened, super PACs deluged local and national elections with money. In 2014s Senate races, outside groups spent $486 million, twice the amount they spent in 2010 before Citizens United. In 10 elections tracked by the left-leaning Brennan Center for Justice, super PACs actually spent more than candidates did, by 47-41 percent.

Not only is there more money in politics, but it is coming from fewer people.

In 1980, the top 0.01 percent of the population contributed 15 percent of total political contributions. In the 2014 election cycle, the top 100 donors gave nearly as much as everyone else in the country put together. Between 2010 and 2014, 195 donors funded 60 percent of super PAC spending, according to a new report published by the Brennan Center. They arent the top 1 percent, or even the top 1 percent of one percenttheyre the top 0.00013 percent.

The radical change in campaign financing has radically increased the power of the most powerful, contributing to the alienation of everyone else.

While this all may sound like a Feel the Bern commercial, the effects of Citizens United have been felt on the right as much as on the left.

Take the case of Mitch McConnell, leader of the Senate GOP, and a perceived moderate widely loathed by the Tea Party. Sure, McConnells Tea Party challenger in the 2014 primary, Matt Bevin, got about $1 million from outside groups like the Senate Conservatives Fund, the Madison Project and FreedomWorks. Bevins campaign itself raised about $4 million.

But super PACs supporting McConnell raised $10 million, including $300,000 from the countrys largest privately owned coal company, Murray Energy Company. The Kentuckians for Strong Leadership super PAC spent $2 million on TV ads alone. Super PAC cash went to a wildly negative ad campaign against Bevin, including not just the usual lies and mischaracterizations, but bogus mailings that looked like official government notices defaming him. All this in addition to the $21 million McConnell raised directly, half of which he spent on the primary. Bevin was crushed.

When you add up spending in McConnells general election campaign against a Democrat, its estimated that this single election saw more than $100 million spent.

Its hard to say super PAC money won the day for McConnell, but he seems to think it did: Last year, McConnell started a new super PAC (headed by a former aide, but of course, officially independent) to help Senate Republicans in 2016. Its already raised $5 million.

The worst part of Citizens United, in Rumsfeldian terms, is the known unknowns.

In 2012, almost $320 million was spent without disclosure of donors. Only 40 percent of outside spending was disclosed in 2012, down from almost 100 percent in 2004. This isnt just big money: its big, dark money.

Dark money in Senate elections has more than doubled between 2010 and 2014, according to the Brennan Center, and the winners of 11 of the most competitive races in 2014 got twice as much of it as the losers. All in all, of the $1 billion that outside spenders put into Senate elections over the last three cycles, $485 million, came from mystery donors.

So despite all the statistics, we have no clear sense of which elections have been swayed by super PACs and anonymous donors. In many cases, we dont even know who has given what to whom. Its a mystery, by law.

Short of a Constitutional amendment, theres not much that can be done.

Ironically, the Supreme Court that will one day hear a challenge to Citizens United will be nominated and confirmed by the politicians that big, dark money swept into power. And even if that Court is persuaded that Citizens United has turned the U.S. into a plutocracy and overturns the case, the problem goes deeper. As the new Brennan Center report indicates, the Court has issued a series of opinionsusually by a 5-4 marginthat have created the current mess.

In fact, the Court would need to go all the way back to 1976s Buckley v. Valeo when it reached two terrible conclusions. First, that money is a form of speech; and second, that restrictions on that speech could only be for extremely narrow reasons, like preventing corruption. A host of terrible Court decisions have sprung forth from these two holdings: ensuring a free and fair election doesnt justify limiting speech; limiting corporations but not individuals isnt allowed; money is speech, corporations are people.

Over 40 years, not just six, the Court has taken a laissez faire attitude not seen since the anti-New-Deal Lochner era, hamstringing any efforts to curb the effects of big, dark money. The result has been not just a crop of establishment candidates propped up by billions of corporate dollars, but their radical challengers as well.
There is no greater irony in American politics than the birther madness swirling around secondary presidential frontrunner Ted Cruz (and to a lesser extent, distant thirdster Marco Rubio).

The Republican establishment loathes Cruz even more than they hate Donald Trump. Hes been nothing but a thorn in their side since he arrived in Washington in 2013, fresh from annoying the Bush family in Texas. And yet its got to be dawning on them, with the Iowa caucuses looming, that despite the best efforts of the fulminating fist shakers vying to be the voice of the Ragin Establishment, Cruz is the only Republican candidate who has a prayer of keeping the nomination out of The Donalds hands (and Sarah Palins hands off the Department of Energy). If it turns out hes not eligible to serve as president (or vice president)and some heavy-hitting legal and legal historical minds, none of whom are crazy conspiracy theorists, say hes notwell, doesnt that just beat all.

The Cruz birther controversy, now the subject of a Texas lawsuit , offers multiple layers of schadenfreude for Democrats, who no doubt recall grimly how the president of the United States was essentially made to show his papers, while some states pondered laws that would have forced any presidential candidate who wanted to get on the ballot to do the same.

In fact, the Obama birthers went beyond claiming that his birth in the state of Hawaii was a fiction.

Some of them also floated the idea that Obamas late mother colluded with unnamed others to fake an American birth for her Kenyan baby in order to foment a dark conspiracy to place a Mau Mau Marxist Manchurian Candidatewho also was a clandestine Muslim hiding in plain sight inside a scary, black Christian Chicago churchinto the White House to destroy America. (Similar insane right-wing conspiracy theories haunted John McCain in 2000, tethered to the time he spent in a Vietcong gulag, as did questions about his eligibility given his birthplace in the Panama Canal Zone.) Birther intellectual and convicted felon Dinesh DSouza even made a documentary in which he claimed to ferret out Obamas secret African-anti-colonial leanings; apparently unencumbered by the detail that Americas British-born founders were pretty anti-colonial themselves.

One and three-quarter Obama presidential terms later, the Grand Old Party finds itself between a Trump and a punch face. And the man Bill Maher would like to throttle, backed by cantaloupe calves birther Steve King, is getting hoisted on the far rights petard by an O.G. birther and occasional conservative with New York values.

Like it or not, its a perfectly reasonable strategy for Trump, if anything he says or does can be called reasonable. It keeps him consistent with his pox on both houses outsider brand. If Trump demanded to see the Democratic presidents birth certificate, why wouldnt he hold a potential future Republican president to the same standard?

Even more to the point, Trumps candidacy is at its core a blue-collar revolt against unlawful migration and demographic change. His loyal subjects hate a lot of things, including Barack Obama, but they hate illegal immigration most of all. If it turns out that the half-Cuban Cruz, who until he renounced his Canuckness 15 months ago was a dual U.S.-Canadian citizen, is just another brand of sneak thief, the wrath of the Trumpites will, and probably should, be upon him.

Meanwhile, the Republican establishment has to be wondering, deep in the depths of its collective soul, whether the machine-gun-voiced Texan, who has spent his entire brief Senate career blowing up his own partys battlements, maligning Republican leaders, luring House Tea Party freshmen into taking fruitless votes to try to sink Obamacare, and even goading his party into shutting down the governmentwrecking the Republican brand in the processmight actually be a Manchurian Candidate of sorts; or more accurately an Ontarian Candidate, sent by mysterious forces north of the border to destroy the Republican Party forever. If the next time we see Mitch McConnell, hes zombie-faced and calling Cruz the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being Ive ever met in my life, I think well know the deal.

Oh, the irony.
Stephanie Rader, a 100-year-old woman who worked as an undercover spy in Poland at the end of World War II, may still get the Legion of Merit that eluded her for nearly 70 yearsbut it will be a posthumous honor. Rader died Thursday, after fighting Parkinsons disease, a family friend told me.

I wrote about Rader in a long profile last month. At the time, a group of neighborhood friends who were caring for her every daytaking Rader to doctors appointments, out to dinner, reading to herhad also taken up the cause of pushing through a Legion of Merit recommendation that was approved by Raders senior officers in 1946. The War Department, though, thought she should get a lesser award.

Rader perhaps had two strikes against her. First, she was a woman. Second, she was a member of the newly formed Office of Strategic Services, the United States first central intelligence service and the precursor to the CIA. The OSS didnt have the clout of todays spy agency. It seems that though her service was undeniably heroic, the military bureaucracy that decides who gets awards wasnt on her side.

Rader, then Czech, was just one of two OSS members serving in Poland in 1945 and the only one who spoke Polish fluently. That meant she was given the most important assignments and the most dangerous ones. She monitored Russian troop movements and gathered information from a network of agents. In one harrowing operation, she evaded capture by Russian security forces, who, she was sure, would have sent her to a prison in Siberia, never to be heard from again.

Rader, like so many men and women of her generation, didnt talk much about her wartime service. Her husband, a celebrated WWII aviator, went onto an illustrious career as an Air Force general and himself won the Legion of Merit. But Rader kept her story mostly to herself. One friend recently told me that he wondered if Rader thought many of the details of her work were still classified and that she shouldn't talk about it even seven decades later.

"When OSS founder General William Donovan said that OSS personnel performed some of the bravest acts of the war, he must have had Major Stephanie Czech Rader in mind, Charles Pinck, the president of the OSS Society, told me Thursday morning. The group throws an annual gala, where Czech was recently honored.

Like many of those who served so heroically in the OSS...she was never properly recognized for her heroism during her lifetime. I hope the Army will award the Legion of Merit to her posthumously, Pinck said.

And it looks like they just might. A spokeswoman for Sen. Mark Warners office told me that he was terribly saddened to learn about Stephanie Raders passing. She was an exceptionally courageous American who served her country with honor and distinction, and he will continue to push for the recognition that she deserves.

Though she wont be here to see that award, Im left thinking that Rader wanted it and believed she would get it. When I met her at the recent OSS gala, she was too frail to speak. But as Pinck recognized her from the podium, and the crowd of hundreds came to their feet to applaud her and urge her on in the medal campaign, Rader raised up her hand, with the help of a friend, and ever so slightly made the shape of a fist, pumping it in the air.
The honeymoon is over.

Same-sex marriage was legalized nationwide last year in a landmark Supreme Court ruling but, as we enter 2016, new data from GLAAD shows that many Americans believe Obergefell v. Hodges was the finish line for LGBT equality.

Half of all non-LGBT Americans believe that gay people currently have the same rights as everyone else, according to a Harris Poll survey of over 2,000 adults commissioned by GLAAD for its second annual Accelerating Acceptance report.

The findings only get more disheartening from there. Nearly 30 percent of non-LGBT respondents said they feel uncomfortable when they see a same-sex couple holding hands or learn that their childs teacher is LGBT. A quarter of them believe that high rates of depression and suicide among LGBT people are not serious and 27 percent said the same about violence against transgender people.

These numbers are an improvement from last year but not by much. Many fell by only a few percentage points and somelike discomfort with LGBT history lessons being taught in schools or at seeing an LGBT co-workers wedding photowere virtually unchanged. In 2016, it may be legal for a lesbian to get married but she will still likely pause before planting a picture of her spouse on her desk.

Over a third of non-LGBT respondents to the Harris Poll survey36 percentsaid that social acceptance of LGBT people wasnt a serious problem, even though many of their own survey responses ironically prove that it still is.

Complacency is the enemy of social progress, said GLAAD CEO & President Sarah Kate Ellis in a statement accompanying the report. 2015 was a monumental year for the LGBT community, but marriage equality is a benchmarknot a finish line. The hard work of legislative change must go hand in hand with that which cannot be decided in a courtroom: changing hearts and minds.

The facts about the current state of LGBT acceptance are easy enough to consult: Over half of all states have no statewide employment non-discrimination law covering sexual orientation or gender identity. Lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth are four times more likely to attempt suicide than straight kids, and a quarter of transgender youth have made an attempt. Twenty-one transgender people, primarily young transgender women of color, were murdered in the U.S. last yearthe highest recorded number in history. Those numbers dont lie, and there are plenty of other sobering statistics where they came from.

But the bitter truth is that we saw this apathy coming.

When same-sex marriage was legalized by the Supreme Court last June, leaders of major LGBT organizations in the U.S. told The Daily Beast that their fight was far from over, citing a wide range of remaining issues including employment discrimination, anti-transgender violence, school bullying, detention of LGBT immigrants, bisexual acceptance, and LGBT youth homelessness.

I have been doing this work long enough that I can predict the future, Lambda Legal Executive Director Kevin Cathcart said at the time. The victories will be sweet and some people will declare the movement overbut they will be wrong.

Whats concerning now is just how many people think its over, and just how wrong they are. Somewhere between 20 and 40 percent of homeless youth are LGBT but 37 percent of non-LGBT respondents to the Harris Poll survey said the problem wasnt serious. That includes 10 percent who said it was not at all serious.

Almost a quarter said they dont think HIV in the LGBT community is a serious issue and yet the rate of new infections has remained relatively stable over the last decade per CDC data, disproportionately affecting gay and bisexual black and Latino men.

Our LGBT neighbors to the north also warned The Daily Beast last July that marriage could lull the U.S. into a false sense of security.Canadas largest and oldest LGBT national LGBT organization, Egale, nearly folded in the years after same-sex marriage was legalized nationwide in 2005, said Executive Director Helen Kennedy. Egale has since thrived but Kennedy noted that she runs up against a certain amount of apathy and exhaustion in her current work.These are issues that are pressing, theyre very concerning, and they need attention, she said of Egales current work. But everyone says, You have marriage.

The Coming Gay Rights Letdown, as The Daily Beast labeled it at the time, is here.

In 2012, same-sex marriage was a critical social issue at the heart of the U.S. presidential election. In 2016, LGBT issues have largely been absent from even the Democratic primary debates. Marriage was definitely not the most important issue facing LGBT Americans, but it was certainly the most discussed. The current silence is telling.

GLAADs findings point to a culture of complacency, wherein the non-LGBT public is under the false and potentially dangerous impression that the work for LGBT equality is done, the report notes.

Even non-LGBT people who described feeling very or somewhat comfortable in various situations involving LGBT peoplehaving an LGBT family member, going to church with LGBT people, etc.had some striking apathy issues. Thirty-seven percent of this subset neither agreed nor disagreed with the following statement: It is best for a child to be raised by a mother and a father as opposed to two fathers or two mothers. Once again, this misperception only takes a few clicks to debunk: Columbia Law Schools What We Know Project found that 73 of 77 scholarly studies on this subject concluded that children of gay and lesbian parents fare no worse than other children.

GLAAD believes that the furor around the legalization of same-sex marriage may have even stalled public knowledge of LGBT issues, at least temporarily. Their report on the Harris Poll data speculates that people may believe gay people have more rights than they do [p]erhaps because marriage equality was so widely covered by the media in 2015. If the media treats marriage as a synonym for civil rights, then why wouldnt public perception follow suit?

In a related finding, respondents who were more uncomfortable with LGBT people were much more likely to say that they receive more attention today than other minority communities, suggesting that some bristle at the continuing coverage of these issues post-Obergefell.

But however much media attention LGBT people receive, its apparently not enough to convince Americans that their problems are real. Fifty-one percent of this uncomfortable subset said that LGBT social acceptance was not a serious problem. Surprise, surprise.

There is still hope, however distant, at the end of the rainbow: Younger Americans are much more likely to be accepting of LGBT people.

GLAADs report divided non-LGBT respondents into allies, detached supporters, and resisters based on their self-described comfort level with LGBT people. Younger generations were disproportionately more likely to be allies, with those aged 18 to 24 comprising 5 percent of all resisters in the sample despite making up 10 percent of the population at large.

Adults between the ages of 45 and 64, on the other hand, were disproportionately more likely to be categorized as resisters. In fact, adults between 45 and 54 constituted a quarter of all resisters even though they are only 16.4 percent of the total population.

Given these trends, the eventual acceptance of LGBT people seems inevitable. How slowly we get there is a different story. At the current rate, a future when a same-sex couple can hold hands in public with perfect ease is still years away.
There is lots of dust, it is very easy to catch colds, and we hurt all over.

The statement, delivered by a 15-year-old in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), marks the foundation of a new report from Amnesty International. Released this week, it reveals a working situation so terrible for those that mine minerals used in smartphones that it borders on slavery.

Titled This Is What We Die For, the report traces the cobalt from lithium batteries that Apple, Sony, and 14 other companies use in their devices to unregulated mines in the DRC. The 88-page account builds on earlier reports that miners in this region risk abuse and death to make just $2/day mining cobalt.

But on top of hazardous, unethical work conditions, it exposes an overlooked fact about the miners themselves: at least 40,000 of them are children. If tech companies are making billions churning out better and faster smartphones, they may be doing it on the backs of African kids.

***

To conduct the report, Amnestyin partnership with African Resources Watch (Afrewatch)visited five mining sites in the southern portion of the DRC, from April-May 2015. The country, with a population of at least 67 million, is one of the poorest in the world. In 2014, the World Bank ranked it second to last on the Human Development Index.

But if there is one thing thats plentiful in the DRC, its cobalt. Experts estimate that more than half of the worlds supply comes from that one country alone, with 20 percent of it from what are called artisanal mines. For Congolese who are able to tolerate the work, it is plentifulhowever it seems rarely, if ever, a choice.

The vast majority of the 100 miners that the researchers interviewed said it was the only job available; one said they had to do in order to eat. Those whose children were working said they couldnt afford to send them to school. A handful that was able to send their kids to school had to ask their children to work on the weekends.

Artisanal mines, where most work, are smaller, independent mines where an industrial-sized operation is not an option. Without a large corporation behind it, artisanal mines are somewhat of a free-fall. They are not a part of the countrys Mining Code and Regulations, meaning they are often unauthorized and extremely dangerous.

As a result, the workers are subjected to dangerous conditions that include poor ventilation, lack of protective gear, and frequent accidentsmany of which prove deadly. But its not just adults that are risking their lives. Of the almost 100 mine workers the organization interviewed, 17 of them were children.

Working in high temperatures, rain, and storms, Amnesty found kids as young as 7 carrying sacks of mineral ore heavier than themselves. Many suffered from breathing problems, others from sickness and disease. At least half reported being beaten for not working fast enough. None, it seemed, had a way out.

One former worker, Loic, reported severe back pain from the grueling work he did, beginning at age 9. A 14-year-old told the researchers he hardly left the tunnel he worked in, hundreds of feet below the ground. [I spent] 24 hours in the tunnels, he told them. I arrived in the morning and would leave the following day. One more, aged 15, said he worked for food. All the money I earn in the mines I spend on food, he said. Because at home we dont eat.

Among the potential long-term effects the children can suffer from include joint and bone deformities, respiratory issues, and musculoskeletal injuries. Most complained of excruciating back and hip pain, others of chronic illness. But beyond physical risks are less visible dangers. Chronic exposure to cobalt can be fatal, resulting in a condition called hard metal lung disease.

Despite the prevalence of studies confirming this, Amnesty found no evidence of protective equipment at the minesno gloves, masks, or even work clothes. The workers had never been provided safety equipment nor given directions on what to do in a crisis. Without any sort of armor against the hazardous conditions, death is common.

While Amnesty could not find an official death toll, an independent radio station in the DRC reports at least five to six accidents a monthsome of which kill dozens at a time. According to their reports, 15 miners died in a fire near Kasulo on Dec. 26, 2014; on Sept. 13, 2015, 14 more were killed after a tunnel collapsed in Mabaya.

Many miners told them that the numbers are much higher but that many of the bodies, due to the poor structure of the tunnels, are never recovered. There are many accidents. Many tunnels collapse, said 32-year-old artisanal miner Emmanuel. The bodies are still there.

***

After witnessing the conditions at the mines, Amnesty and Afrewatch followed the route of the cobalt, which brought them to a large corporation called Congo Dongfang Mining International (CDM). CDM is a subsidiary of the China-based company Huayou Cobalt, which supplies batteries to the most prestigious tech companiesincluding Apple, Sony, Samsung, and Dell.

The researchers reached out to all 16 companies connected with Huayou Cobalt, and got a variety of replies. The report says just one of the 16 admitted the connection, while four others said they were unable to say. Five denied sourcing from Huayou (despite documents proving otherwise), and six said they were launching investigations.

Apple, who has been criticized for labor practices in the past, said it was currently evaluating dozens of different materials, including cobalt, in order to identify labor and environmental risks as well as opportunities for Apple to bring about effective, scalable and sustainable change. Microsoft said it was working with an organization that is addressing this issue.

The authors of the study arent satisfied with the responses. Mark Dummett, Business and Human Rights Researcher at Amnesty International points out the unsettling juxtaposition. The glamorous shop displays and marketing of state of the art technologies are a stark contrast to the children carrying bags of rocks, and miners in narrow manmade tunnels risking permanent lung damage, he says.

While he doesnt accuse the companies of ignoring these facts outright, he does consider it their job to make sure the children are removed from the mines and the other working conditions for everyone else are improved. Millions of people enjoy the benefits of new technologies but rarely ask how they are made, he says. It is high time the big brands took some responsibility for the mining of the raw materials that make their lucrative products.

In a video about the working conditions, published on Monday, Dummett criticizes Sony, Samsung, Microsoft, and Volkswagen (who allegedly use the batteries for its smart cars) for implying (or, in Samsungs case, outright stating) that its impossible to trace where the cobalt comes from.

Dummett responds, aptly: If Amnesty International can do it, they can do it.
Presidential candidate Marco Rubio once proposed seizing money from sex workers and awarding it to the whistleblowers who ratted them out to the cops.

Its an original idea that sheds light on how Rubio views on morality, sex, and prostitutionand, surprisingly, its one that could help build up his bona fides with the religious right. But the proposal, if enacted, could have endangered and isolated already-marginalized prostitutes and incentivized false claims against innocent individuals, advocates from sex workers charge.

After Rubio became speaker of the Florida House in 2006, he compiled a list of 100 Innovative Ideas for Floridas Future. The 43rd idea involved targeting those who profited from prostitution.

Whistleblower status should be afforded to everyone who reports these crimes, even if they are involved in the act, Rubios book read. As an incentive for reporting the illegal activities, whistleblowers should also receive half the proceeds from any forfeiture actions brought in the case.

The proposal was targeted at allowing prostitutes to report themselves, thus assisting our women and young girls to escape prostitution.

But Rubios proposal could be interpreted to mean that everyonethe prostitutes, the clients, even the pimpscould be given this immunity.

Rubio further argued that those who use websites that promote illegal sexual activity should have their names placed in a registry. That would discourage people from patronizing businesses and websites that promote criminal activity. The new law would also be coupled with a large-scale advertising campaign to shame those who promote illicit sex in Florida, encouraging people to come forward with information relating to these destructive, demeaning crimes.

A version of prostitution legislation reflecting these ideas passed the Florida House but stalled in the Senate.

The Rubio campaign did not respond to a question on whether this 2006 proposal reflects his current view. But the whistleblower idea could win him praise from social conservatives, a critical segment of the Republican presidential primary base.

I will give Marco Rubio credit for caring and trying to think creatively about the issues of human trafficking and prostitution. He has consistently fought for the least of these when, to be honest, most politicians could care less. These women and children cant do one thing for him probably ever, said Penny Nance, the CEO of Concerned Women for America, a conservative Christian womens activist group.

Among sex workers and those who have studied the industry closely, however, proposals like Rubios are dangerousextending the controversial powers of asset forfeiture, which has come under fire from civil libertarians due to abuse.

Sex workers dont have a great deal of money to begin with, and property forfeiture is not a major feature in most prostitution cases. But if it were, the amounts would mostly be tiny to the state, but still crippling to the sex worker, thus forcing already low-income people deeper into poverty, said Mistress Matisse, a columnist for the Seattle-based alternative newspaper The Stranger. Such a law would do nothing to decrease sex work, it would simply encourage people to accuse women of being prostitutes out of greed, which will thus make sex workers more fearful and thus more isolated.

And while the proposal was meant to encourage reporting of illegal activities, it also contained possibly perverse incentives.

The extension of whistleblower protection even to persons involved in prostitution is a bit strange, suggested Ronald Weitzer, a George Washington University sociology professor who studies the sex industry. So, a client can purchase sexual services and then turn around and inform the authorities and thus benefit materially from their illegal activity.

Sex-worker advocates are worried that a proposal like this, with its promises of monetary rewards, would lead individuals to make untrue accusations.

It would incentivize false claims, said Maggie McNeil, a former sex worker who now writes about prostitutes and their rights.

Alison Bass, author of Getting Screwed, Sex Workers & the Law, called the proposal a silly gesture, especially since police would be reluctant to share the proceeds of forfeiture.

Rubio [was] barking up the wrong tree. Its completely counterproductive... it encourages people to snitch on what should be an adult, consensual behavior. And I dont think we want that in this country, Bass said. It makes people into rats on things that should be private.
After months of student protests demanding that Oxford University remove a statue of British imperialist Cecil Rhodes, the Rhodes Must Fall movement clinched a victory late on Tuesday with a telling vote from Oxford Union, the universitys famous debating society: 245 ayes to 212 nos.

The vote landed after proponents of the Rhodes Must Fall movement sparred for hours with detractors, including Oxford theology professor Nigel Biggar and Sophia Cannon, a well-known English barrister.

Proponents have argued that the statue glorifies Rhodes, a businessman who contributed to racial segregation in South Africa and supported policies that later manifested in the apartheid system.

Critics have condemned their desire to impose todays cultural mores on historical figures like Rhodes. They maintain that expunging historical monuments promotes intolerance.

Ntokozo Qwabe, a South African undergraduate student who is himself a Rhodes Scholar, has been spearheading the Rhodes Must Fall movement since October and argued on its behalf Tuesday night. (They successfully campaigned for the removal of a plaque honoring Rhodes at Oxfords Oriel College, which is also home to the contested statue.)

In December, Qwabe wrote on his Facebook page that the open glorification of racist murderous colonialists in academic spaces is offensive & violent to students who are descendants of those who suffered at the crimes of these colonialists, and violates the universitys own policies on equality & inclusiveness.

Qwabe did not return requests for comment from The Daily Beast.

Yasmin Kumi, a masters student at Oxford who debated alongside Qwabe on Tuesday, told The Daily Beast she supports the Rhodes Must Fall movement because it represents a bigger cause, which is to find avenues to combat institutional racism and decolonize higher education at a prestigious institution like Oxford.

Kumi stands behind the campaign to dismantle the Rhodes statue, but believes the escalating debate over the statue has detracted from the movements central message.

At the end of the day its about the symbolic aspect of removing the statue, said Kumi, who is president of Oxfords Africa Society and is pursuing a double degree in African Studies and Business. Taking down the statue is the first important step for the school to show students that theyre willing to engage and take action on issues like racism and decolonization.

A recent poll by Cherwell, the universitys newspaper, found 54 percent of Oxford students were in favor of letting the statue stand. But Tuesday nights vote suggests a majority of students stand behind Rhodes Must Fall.

During Tuesday nights debate, Professor Biggar argued that if Rhodes must fall, so must Churchill, whose views on empire and race were similar. And so probably must Abraham Lincoln.

While Lincoln liberated African-American slaves, he doubted they could be integrated into white society and favored their separate developmenttheir apartheidin an African colony.

If we insist on our heroes being pure, we arent going to have any, he added.

Unsurprisingly, Kumi disagrees. Theres a difference between a lot of people having had the wrong idea about race at the time and those people who helped build an entire ideology, she told The Daily Beast, and I would definitely put Rhodes in the second camp.

More importantly, she suggests that we listen to the people who are around these statues in public places. If there is such a large number of people who have a problem with a statueI dont care whether its Rhodes or another statue like Churchillit should be removed.

Whats troubling about this line of thinking is that it places a pivotal, game-winning importance on the strength of numbers, rather than in a nuanced debate about history, and how we confront its more troubling and fraught legacies in the present day.

Kumi maintains its not just about following the wishes of the voting majority of pro-removal supporters.

Its also the ideology that is being supported [by people who want to keep the statue]. The fact that there are so many people who are against this ideology demonstrates that it must be wrong.

Well, it demonstrates that the majority of Oxford Union voters believe what Rhodes embodied was wrongand they are absolutely right.

Voters who dissented probably dont think Rhodess racism is in any way acceptable, but they may have questioned whether expunging symbols of history is the best way to account for what Rhodes stood for, and what to teach future generations about him.

Removing a statue will not cancel Rhodess ideological perniciousness from historyand it wont help eradicate racism from our future either.
US whiskey aged in Japanese Mizunara casks

Bainbridge organic distillers is introducing the worlds first non japanese whiskey aged exclusively in virgin Japanese Mizunara casks.

Only 200 bottles of this inaugural bottling of Bainbridge Yama Mizunara Cask Whiskey, inspired by the small village of Yama founded on Bainbridge Island by Japanese immigrants in the 1880, will be available globally from Spring 1016 at a select group of retailers and the distillery directly.

It is claimed to be the first non-Japanese whiskey to be aged exclusively in hand-crafted barrels made from rare Mizunara oak, which is harvested from the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. Mizunara oak trees (Quercus crispula) are hand selected for harvest based on the vitality of the tree and the quality of the wood. After harvest the Mizunara oak is quarter-sawn and then air-dried in Japan for at least three years. When the rough wood has fully seasoned Bainbridge Organic Distillers imports the wood to the US.

Once the Mizunara oak arrives in the States it is inspected by master distiller Keith Barnes. Following inspection the wood is transported to a family-owned fourth generation custom barrel cooperage.

The whiskey begins its journey from grain to glass in Washington states Skagit Valley where organic Full Pint and Alba barley is grown on a small third generation family farm near the saltwater confluence of the Skagit River and the Puget Sound. After harvest the barley is trucked 77 miles to Bainbridge Organic Distillers facility, where the un-malted grain is milled and mashed. Fermentation takes place in one of the distillerys four 550 gallon stainless steel fermentation vessels. Yeast used in the production of Scottish malt whisky is used to develop the set of flavour notes that makes this whiskey so special and unique. After fermentation the mash is distilled on the grain where small head and tail cuts are made, and then a second time where the distilling team monitors the run continuously so they can make the cuts at precisely the right moment. As with all of Bainbridge Organic Distillers spirits, cuts are made by hand and based on the qualities of the spirit as it flows into the spirit receiving tank, no computers or electronic equipment are used.

After the second distillation the whiskey is diluted to 126.5 proof and allowed to marry with the water for a period of one to two weeks. While this is happening the virgin Japanese Mizunara oak barrels are readied for filling. The casks are filled with hot water to allow the wood to swell sufficiently to achieve a watertight state and any leaks are addressed before whiskey is introduced into the barrels. Mizunara oak has a well-earned reputation for being brittle and prone to leakage and this is especially true when working with barrels that have never been used. Once the Bainbridge team is satisfied that the barrels are tight and sound the casks are filled with the new-make Yama whiskey.

The whiskey will rest in 100% virgin Japanese Mizunara oak cooperage until it is mature and ready for bottling. The finished whiskey, a ruddy copper in colour, is un-chill filtered and free from additives, flavour enhancers and colouring agents, and bottled at 90 Proof or 45% ABV. RRP for a 750ml bottle is US$495.

Obtaining stocks of this rare and sought-after wood, and bringing this special whiskey to fruition, has taken more than six years and the efforts of many people both here in America and in Japan, says distillery owner and master distiller Keith Barnes. It has been an effort fueled by friendship, passion, determination and an unbelievable amount of hard work by all those involved. But once we stood back to look at the accomplishment, and taste the whiskey, its been worth every effort weve made.

Bainbridge Organic Distillers products are currently available in Washington, Oregon, California, Massachusetts, Virginia and Washington DC. The distillery will be expanding distribution to Georgia, Idaho, Colorado, New York, the UK and the EU in 2016.

21 January 2016 - Felicity Murray The Drinks Report, editor
For those in Bryan and College Station who depend on buses provided by the Brazos Transit District, Director of Operations Larry Purifoy said it would not be possible without the assistance the organization receives through the Texas Department of Transportation and federal grants.

"If it wasn't for these assistance programs, the bus system wouldn't exist," Purifoy said. "The fare box system really doesn't even generate enough to cover even the driver's salary basically. These programs help us to buy the bus and just keep the operation going."

Purifoy was among several local representatives who attended one of two TxDOT hosted workshops Wednesday, during which TxDOT employee Darla Walton delivered a presentation on the procedural changes that were made to the long-running grant process last year.

Walton specifically focused on the grants available that aim to increase the mobility and independence of those community members who are either senior citizens or are living with disabilities.

"This program for the elderly and disabled helps us assist entities like Brazos Transit, the Brazos Valley Center for Independent Living and several other groups to get vehicles that are handicap accessible," Walton said during the presentation.

In most cases in the Bryan-College Station area, Walton said smaller organizations -- such as MHMR, the Boys and Girls Club and the Crestview Retirement Community -- that were interested in starting transportation assistance programs have partnered with Brazos Transit to achieve their goals.

By doing so, Walton explained the groups were able to facilitate a smoother process by allowing Brazos Transit to act as the point of contact between the organization and TxDOT.

She continued that Brazos Transit would then use the funding it had received from the grants to set the organizations up with smaller vehicles -- usually ones that carry up to nine passengers -- that were big enough to accomplish its mission, but not so big that it required a commercial driver's license to operate.

"It really helps those entities, because they don't have to have someone on their staff that has a CDL," Walton said. "When you have to have a CDL, that's a whole other can of worms as far as regulations of what you can do."

Purifoy said in addition to helping fund the Brazos Transit's buses that run across the Bryan-College Station area between 5 a.m. and 7 p.m. on weekdays, the grants also allow the organization to operate a shuttle service for those who are unable to get to the designated pick-up zones for the fixed-route buses.

"If you are house-bound and need a ride or a wheelchair lift, call the dollar ride and we'll come to the house, pick you up and take where you need to go," Purifoy said. "Then we'll come back in a few hours, pick you up and take you home."

The number for Brazos Transit's ride service is 979-778-4480.

For more information on the grants, go to txdot.gov.
Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates will be at Texas A&M University for the launch of his new book A Passion for Leadership: Lessons on Change and Reform from Fifty Years of Public Service.

"We are very excited about him coming back and stopping in College Station for his book tour," said Anna Beda, director of events and communications at the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation. "Everybody is really enthusiastic, and the people who cannot make the event are really bummed about it."

The event, hosted by the William Waldo Cameron Forum on Public Affairs, will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday in the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center at the Bush Center Complex.

Gates is expected to participate in a book signing as well as a discussion of "his insight on operating and reforming major organizations."

Copies of Gates' book will be available for purchase at the event.

Gates served as secretary of defense under George W. Bush and Barack Obama from December 2006 to July 2011. Before that, he served as the president of Texas A&M from August 2002 until December 2006. He is the chancellor of the College of William and Mary.

The event is only open to members of the Bush Library and Museum. Annual memberships are $41 for adults.

While Beda said that the event has about 30 seats remaining, the foundation is prepared to set up an overflow area to accommodate more guests.

For more information visit bush41.org/gates.
Robert (Bob) Wayne Field was born April 19, 1933, in Pasadena, Texas to Robert Crase Field and Estelle Wigley Field. Growing up on the coastal plains of Southeast Texas, Bob developed a life-long love of animals and the outdoors. He graduated from Pasadena High School, where he was a tremendous athlete and was voted "Mr. Pasadena High School" and "Most Handsome." Prior to being drafted in the Army after graduation, he met the future love of his life, Jeanette King. Upon his discharge from the Army, they were married on August 3, 1956. He moved his young family to College Station, Texas to attend Texas A&M University Veterinary School. He graduated in 1961. Bob started practicing veterinary medicine in Tomball, Texas. He later started his own practice in 1964, in Katy, Texas. He became legendary in the tri-county area, especially in the large animal realm. In 1977 he was recruited by his alma mater to become an associate professor and Director of Field Services. He worked tirelessly and passionately teaching future young veterinarians how to work, prosper and survive in the real world of large animal practice. He was awarded the Faculty Distinguished Achievement Award in Teaching by Texas A&M University in 1987. He retired in 2006. Bob's life was defined by his faith in God, and he was a long-time member of College Heights Assembly of God in Bryan. Bob was preceded in death by his wife of 58 years, Jeanette. He is survived by his children Bobby of El Paso, TX, Cindy of Longview, WA, Mike of Charlotte, NC, and Scott of Austin, TX; along with their spouses, Tellene, Jeff, Denise and Melinda. He is also survived by his joy, his grandchildren: Emily Conry, Cullen Field, Courtney Doub (& Tim), Jonathan Leopard, Kara Leopard, Whitney Leopard, Kyle Leopard, Britt Field, Wesley Field, Chloe Field, Harrison Field, Carson Field and Keeton Field, and great grandchildren: Rosalyn Conry, Faye Conry, Logan Conry, Abigail Doub and Grace Doub. He is also survived by nephews, nieces, cousins and by many loving friends. Funeral services are being handled by Hillier Funeral Home located at 4080 State Hwy 6 South, College Station Texas. Visitation will be held Friday, January 22, from 6 pm-8pm. Funeral services will be held on Saturday, January 23, at 1:30pm. In lieu of flowers, donations are most welcome in his honor at Pleasant Hills Children's Home, 170 Private Road 292, Oakwood, TX 75855 or Hospice Brazos Valley, 1600 Joseph Drive, Bryan, TX 77802. Donations can also be made to the establishment of the Dr. Robert Field Memorial Scholarship by making a check payable to the Texas A&M Foundation and mailing it to Dr. Robert Field Memorial Scholarship, c/o Dean's Office, Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine, College Station, Texas 77843-4461. Please share condolence's with Bob's family at www.hillierfuneralhome.com
Government employee groups shouldn't back candidates

Last week, a political sign appeared on William Fitch Parkway in front of the Pebble Creek subdivision. The sign stated "Fire Fighters Support ...," naming a candidate for the state legislature.

I hope everyone who sees this political message understands the danger of public employees attempting to influence an election. It makes you wonder if an issue similar to fire fighters' pensions will be voted on in the next legislative session.

It would certainly be okay if the fire fighters placed the political sign with their individual names, but it becomes a very different issue if done as a government employee group.

JIM KEBLINGER

College Station

Selective Service is a type of program that should be dropped

Recently, I heard a radio ad that startled me. The ad reminded young men that they are required to register with Selective Service. This brought two questions to mind:

First, with the opening of all positions in our armed forces to women, why are they not required to register? Obviously, it would require a change in the law and likely would not be possible in today's political atmosphere.

Second, why does the law still exist, with all-volunteer armed forces? This simply shows why it is so difficult to eliminate government programs, even when the original reason for program ceases to exist. Unfortunately, too many such programs exist in our federal and state governments.

KEITH ARNOLD

Bryan

Representative has served students, community well

As a student, it is often hard to quantify the importance of the state representative who represents your university. You are, after all, a resident in your university's hometown likely only for a handful of years. But, the effect of a meaningful and effective state representative such as John Raney can -- and often does -- have a direct impact on our beloved Texas A&M.

I got to know Rep. Raney in 2012 during my senior year at Texas A&M while serving in student leadership positions. Since taking office, Rep. Raney has fought tirelessly to ensure Texas A&M remains at the forefront of higher education in our state.

Rep. Raney understands immensely the complex ways the legislative process in Austin effects Texas A&M and Blinn students, and has been a persistent and thoughtful advocate for the interests of Brazos Valley students. I experienced first-hand during my time at Texas A&M that Rep. Raney is quick to engage and meet with students to understand the issues students face in their daily lives. Rep. Raney is a thoughtful listener, who works diligently to deliver tangible results on the issues that concern his constituents -- a somewhat rare, but valuable quality in today's elected officials.

A representative who is willing to engage with students to be an effective and prudent advocate in the Texas Capitol is a tremendous asset, one that the students at Texas A&M and Blinn, and all of the residents of House District 14, are fortunate to have in Rep. Raney.

I commend Rep. Raney for his tireless commitment to the students of Texas A&M and Blinn, and the Brazos Valley community as a whole.

MARSHALL BOWEN, '12

San Antonio
Economic and industrial data released today by the Chinese government's statistical agency indicates the country's carbon emissions likely fell by around 3%.

It also shows the contraction of key heavy industry sectors and the continued expansion of renewable energies are driving a wedge between total energy demand and coal use.

According to the data, China's coal output fell by 3.5% in 2015, thermal power generation by 3%, coal imports by 30%, pig iron output by 4%, coking coal output by 7%, and cement by 5%.

All this suggests that both power sector coal consumption and total coal consumption probably fell by more than 4%. Total oil consumption grew only 1.1% in the first eleven months, gas consumption by 3.7% while cement production (which releases CO2 directly) fell by 4.9%. This indicates a fall of 3-4% in China's fossil CO 2 emissions - roughly equal to Poland's total emissions.

This is now China's second year of declining pollution. As reported last year, 2014 carbon emissions were down about 0.7% and the country's coal burn was down some 3%. That was the first fall in China's emissions since the Asian economic crisis more than 15 years ago.

Key drivers ...

The main factors driving China's declining carbon emissions include:

Shrinking heavy industry. Nobody knows for sure how much China's economy grew in 2015, but what seems clear is that heavy industry declined while services and private consumption grew significantly.

Debt overhang. In response to the global financial crisis, China created the largest credit boom the world has ever seen, which ultimately led to the massive energy overcapacity and rapidly growing debt that are now weighing down on the economy.

Booming renewable energy generation. China was able to reduce fossil fuel fired power generation by 3% while overall power demand increased 0.5% by adding 30GW of wind power and 17GW of solar capacity - a new world record for any country ever.

Airpocalypse. The war on pollution continued to impact industry, and it's reasonable to expected that action will be amplified following the horrendous air pollution episodes Beijing experienced this winter. As reported on Energydesk, the notorious China smog was 10% less intense in 2015 than it was the year before.

China has also acted this year to clamp down on coal mining, closing many smaller mines and banning new ones. in an effort to prevent over-supply. Over 1,000 small mines will be closed and the ban on new mining permits will last for three years.
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Anger selling in GOP race

There are two Republican parties right now. One is angry, pessimistic, often nativist, and winning in the polls. The other is optimistic, inclusive, reformist  and losing.

Candidates who make anger an explicit part of their messages  Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and, increasingly, Marco Rubio  are doing well. Candidates who have tried to offer a sunnier vision  Ben Carson, John Kasich and Jeb Bush, who promised to campaign with "joy in [his] heart"  are sinking.

The angriest candidates appear to be doing the best of all. The dyspeptic mood among GOP voters isn't a new discovery. Pollsters  and reporters at campaign rallies  have been stumbling across it for more than a year.

"Republican primary voters are angry and unhappy with the direction of the country, the leadership and performance of the Congress, and especially with President Obama," pollster Peter D. Hart reported after talking with GOP voters in Indianapolis last year. "These people have done a better job of figuring out what they are against rather than what they are for."

What's new is the stampede of candidates to reflect that anger, guided partly by Trump's example.

In terms of issues, the debate has been framed mostly around illegal immigration, fear of terrorism and trade policy. But in a brilliant essay last week in National Review, conservative writer Yuval Levin argued that voters' anxiety has a much deeper cause: their loss of confidence in traditional politics as a way to solve the country's problems.

"It's a debate about how to handle the public's collapsing faith in the establishment  that is, in our political elite and our core governing institutions," Levin wrote. All the leading GOP candidates "describe the hollowing out and decay of America's elite, its core institutions and its political leadership."

Trump, he noted, derides the leaders of both parties as "stupid people." Cruz charges that they have been co-opted by moneyed interests in Washington. Rubio, more restrained, merely criticizes them as "anachronistic and stuck in the past."

The case of Rubio is instructive: He began the campaign as an optimistic reformer  but when the voters' mood became clear, he switched sides.

Last summer, Rubio said Trump's message wasn't positive enough to win the presidency. "I think our nominee is going to be someone that embraces the future," he said. He called for broadening the GOP's appeal to minorities, and proposed "reform conservative" ideas including an expanded tax credit for the working poor.

But in recent weeks, Rubio's rhetoric has grown darker  more like Trump's. "As I travel the country," he said in last week's debate, "people say what I feel. This country is changing. It feels different. We feel like we're being left behind and left out."

He also toughened his position on immigration reform, again moving closer to Trump. Because of the threat from Islamic State, he said, "The entire system of legal immigration must now be reexamined for security first and foremost."

Although "reform conservatives," who sought to remake the GOP message to focus on poverty and inclusiveness, have virtually disappeared from the campaign, they haven't died out entirely. They still have a champion in House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), who said he wants Congress to work on innovative conservative ideas  so that when the party chooses a nominee, a positive program will be ready.

And a leading conservative thinker, Arthur C. Brooks of the American Enterprise Institute, argued that broadening the party's message was not only the right thing to do, but a political necessity.

"We know that if conservatives capture the traits that are typically associated with liberals, empathy and compassion, that fact will swing independent, persuadable voters," he said. "That's not something that can win; it's the only thing that will."

That may be wishful thinking. The GOP campaign has turned into a scramble for what Trump called the mantle of anger. And the angriest man appears to be winning.
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New Duke, a talented eight-piece contemporary jazz ensemble, merges the music of jazz giant Duke Ellington with modern sounds, like rock, reggae and hip-hop. The band's musical mash-up takes center stage at the Pequot Library in Southport at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 24, as part of the Westport Arts Center's jazz series.

Expect to hear the legendary bandleader's compositions combined with the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, and Jim Morrison. "I wanted to give a new sound to Ellington's music by injecting modern rhythms and musical mash-ups," explained Brian Torff, bassist, composer and Professor of Music at Fairfield University. The band was conceived by Torff after a colleague of his at the university, Dr. Laura Nash, obtained a grant from the National Endowment of the Humanities in 2011 to present an educational workshop for teachers from kindergarten through high school. He formed a 7-piece band for the workshop, then added vocalist Darryl Tookes when he repeated an NEH sponsored event in 2014. Since the original workshop, New Duke has concertized as jazz festivals and concert halls, most recently appearing at Yale.

"I come from the horn-based jazz-rock era and kept hearing possibilities in this area," said Torff. Those directions can take the band into unusual territory and demonstrate how versatile the music of Ellington can be when put in the right hands. "Ellington's music is classic and both danceable and esoteric as the same time," continued Torff. "He played dances and concerts, not unlike James Brown and other great contemporary artists." So it's not surprising to hear shades of Morrison, Marley and Hendrix as part of the mash-up. "Hendrix was a master like Duke who played earth music and ethereal, spiritual music," said the bassist. "He was moving towards jazz until his untimely young death."

New Duke consists of Torff on bass, harmonica and vocals, Darryl Tookes on vocals, Jamie Finegan on trumpet, Rick Sadlon on saxophone and flute, Steve Moran on tenor and baritone sax, John Fumasoli on trombone, Dave Childs on keyboards, andGreg Burrows on drums. Look for recordings of the band in 2016.

Torff serves as the curator of the Westport Arts Center's jazz series and is also director of jazz and popular music at Fairfield University. He will give a special talk as part of Pequot Library's event, discussing the influence of Duke Ellington and New Duke's mash-up style. The audience will be welcomed to take part in one of the pieces in the program, "Mandela Freedom Suite," an original tribute to the South African leader, in which participants can join in with chanting and hand clapping. The Pequot Library is located at 720 Pequot Avenue in Southport. Tickets are $30 for non-members and $10 for students. Call (203) 222-7070, or visit www.westportartscenter.org

Music Mondays returns to Fuji of Japan in Darien with vocalist Nicole Pasternak and guitarist Michael Coppola performing this Monday, Jan. 25, and every 2nd and 4th Monday of the month. The pair rotates with vocalist Maria Tiscia and pianist David Oliver on the 1st and 3rd Mondays. Special guest artists appear on the 5th Monday. Music takes place 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Fuji of Japan Restaurant is located at 111 Old King's Highway North, in Darien. Call (203) 655-4995. No cover; $10 minimum.

The Music & Arts at Christ & Holy Trinity series in Westport continues with the world-renowned American Boychoir performing at 8 p.m. next Sat., Jan. 30. Last Spring, the American Boychoir, based in Princeton, New Jersey, starred in a Hollywood feature film, entitled "Boychoir," with Academy Award winners Dustin Hoffman and Kathy Bates. Part of that movie was filmed on the campus of Fairfield University. Saturday's program features music by Felix Mendelssohn, Samuel Barber, Javier Busto, and Ola Gjeilo, among others. The church is located at the corner of Myrtle Avenue and Church Lane in downtown Westport. Tickets are $45 preferred seating; $35 general adult; $15 general child under 18. Visit www.chtwestport. org/tickets or call (203) 227-0827.

Mike Horyczun's Sound Surfing column returns Feb. 4. Got music news? Send it to news2mhgmail.com
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NORWALK -- "The Nose", Nikolai Gogol's satirical short story of 1837, follows a Russian bureaucrat's attempts to locate his missing nose -- only to discover that the nose has taken on a life of its own, ascending the rungs of the Russian hierarchy to outrank its onetime owner.

A new exhibition at Center for Contemporary Printmaking features a suite of prints chronicling the nose's exploits created by renowned South African artist William Kentridge in collaboration with printmaker Jillian Ross of Johannesburg's David Krut Print Workshop.

Titled "The Nose Series" and on view through March 19, a placard in the exhibit notes that Kentridge and Ross's prints imagine "an adventure with the protagonist of 'The Nose' through modern Russian history, literature and art, with side trips into Cervantes, Sterne and Russian film."

With illustrations rendered in Kentridge's loose, playful lines, the suite's thirty pieces depict episodes in the adventures of the itinerant nose as it rides horses, poses for a mugshot, gets drunk and squares off with a Russian police officer.

The prints were originally created by Kentridge and Ross to serve as studies for an operatic adaptation of "The Nose"; in 2006, Kentridge was commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera of New York City to design and direct a production of "The Nose" opera by celebrated Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich (based, of course, on Gogol's tale).

A video of the opera, which features a lavish set and projections of animations by Kentridge, plays in the Center for Contemporary Printmaking exhibition.

Kentridge is known in the art world as a creator of multimedia installations combining his works in varied disciplines, often featuring projections of animations that are made by filming illustrations as they are drawn.

According to Center for Contemporary Printmaking Executive Director Laura Einstein, the prints of "The Nose Series" reflect Kentridge's interdisciplinary approach.

"(Kentridge) studied mime in Paris as well," Einstein told The Hour. "He's just fascinated with -- and incorporates -- a number of different media in his printmaking."

"Landlocked City", an exhibition of prints by another South African artist, Stephen Hobbs, is on view at the Center simultaneous to the Kentridge exhibit; both are on loan courtesy of David Krut Projects in New York, Einstein said.

"William Kentridge: The Nose Series" is on view at Center for Contemporary Printmaking from Jan. 10 through March 19. Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday.

Mezzo-soprano Wendy Gerbier will perform operatic selections in the exhibit with her students from Norwalk Housing Authority on Feb. 11 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Fairfield County-based performance troupe Play With Your Food will perform "Political Meets Theatrical: Staged Readings from the Edge" at the Center for Contemporary Printmaking on March 6 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Tickets are 40 dollars for members, 30 dollars for non-members, and must be reserved by Feb. 26.
NORWALK -- An engineer presented to the Norwalk Housing Authority (NHA) Board of Commissioners Wednesday evening conceptual drawings of how Colonial Village might look after a major overhaul.

The drawings showed gables and dormers added to the building exteriors, and interior walls knocked out to create open, inviting spaces inside apartments at the public-housing complex off West Cedar Street.

"The biggest change you'll see is we're really going on the first floor from a very closed-in and tight kitchen area to opening up all of these walls and making it a much more open floor plan downstairs," said Douglas Richardson, general manager with Marous Bros. Construction of Willoughby, Ohio. "We're going to go through all the units in terms of interior upgrades with finishes, upgrade all the finishes and flooring. The mechanical systems will be upgraded as well."

Outside, asphalt sidewalks would be replaced with concrete sidewalks, and 40 additional lights would be added, according to Richardson.

Colonial Village, a 200-unit public housing complex, was built in 1951 and houses upward of 531 people, including 236 children, according to NHA officials.

On Wednesday evening, Richardson of Marous Bros. and Arthur Greenblatt of Vesta Corp., a Weatogue-based developer and operator of affordable housing, showed the NHA Board of Commissioners how the 64-year-old complex might look after an overhaul.

The conceptual drawings also showed a two-story, 20,000-square-foot community center built on vacant land at Colonial Village.

The building could house a gymnasium, offices and learning center, Richardson said.

If built, the community center would provide needed space for residents. At present, a small building exists on the property for use as community space, according to NHA Deputy Director Candace E. Mayer.

"This would be a larger community center and it would have the opportunity to have more kids, more activities, more diversity and make better use of the students' after-school time," Mayer told The Hour.

NHA officials described the plans presented as in the preliminary phases and the drawings as conceptual.

Members of the organization's Board of Commissioners reacted favorably to the drawings but asked how residents would be accommodated during construction.

"What's the turnaround time from when you move them out?" said Lisa Nuzzo, a newly seated member of the NHA Board of Commissioners.

Trailers or modular homes would be brought on site and professional movers would help relocate residents during construction.

The work would be sequenced without impacting the entire complex at once and residents wouldn't be displaced for long periods, Greenblatt said.

"The entire construction (would last) probably about 18 months," Greenblatt said. "A family will likely be out of that particular unit for three weeks."

Mayer said residents would be allowed to return and rents would not increase.

NHA Board Chairman Cesar Ramirez afterward called for a special meeting to delve further into the plans.

"I love what you have presented so far, but before we get a little too far, I want to ask a lot more deep questions," Ramirez said. "Before we get the residents involved, let's have this special meeting. I don't want to disturb anybody, giving hope or not giving hope."

A decade ago, the NHA advanced a $16 million plan to expand the complex, but the plan never materialized for lack of funding in the wake of the Great Recession.
NORWALK -- A New York man was charged on Wednesday with allegedly threatening to blow up the Home Goods store on Connecticut Avenue and shoot employees if his ex-girlfriend's employment there wasn't terminated.

Darryl Anderson, 24 of 2105 Prospect Avenue Bronx, N.Y. was charged with first-degree threatening, second-degree stalking, third-degree criminal trespass, and breach of peace.

At approximately 11:20 a.m. Norwalk Department of Police Services responded to Home Goods at 680 Connecticut Avenue in response to a threatening complaint.

Police said that store management reported receiving a call from a male who threatened to blow the business up if they did not terminate his girlfriend's employment.

The caller also allegedly threatened to come to the store and shoot employees.

According to police, investigators identified the caller as Darryl Anderson. Police said that officers secured Home Goods and with the assistance of the Stamford Police Department Bomb Squad K-9 rendered the business free of any explosive devices.

Officers and Detectives then stood by at the business and at an address on Lenox Avenue, where the ex-girlfriend was residing.

A short time later Detectives assigned to the Lenox Avenue location reportedly observed Anderson hiding behind a tree in the yard.

Detectives approached Anderson and took him into custody.

NPD Chief Thomas Kulhawik commended the Patrol and Detective Divisions for their work on this case, stating that there is no doubt their work prevented Anderson from committing any of the acts threatened.

Anderson was issued a $75,000 bond and given a court date of Jan. 21.

If anyone has information on this case, they are asked to contact Norwalk Police by any of the following methods:

Norwalk Police Tip Line at (203)854-3111

Anonymous Internet tips can be sent to Norwalk Police website at: www.norwalkpd.com

Anonymous text tips can be submitted by typing "NPD" into the text field, followed by the message, and sending it to CRIMES (274637).
DONIPHAN  Dale LaVerne Grams, 98, of Doniphan passed away Sunday, Jan. 17, 2016, at Grand Island Veterans Medical Center in Grand Island.

Services will be at 10:30 a.m. Friday at First Presbyterian Church in Hastings, with Pastor Don Canady officiating. Burial with military rites by North Platte Honor Guard will be at 2 p.m. Monday, Jan. 25, in Fort McPherson National Cemetery at Maxwell, Neb.

Memorials may be given to the family. Visitation will be from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday at Livingston Butler Volland Funeral Home & Cremation Center, and one hour prior to service at the church. Private condolences may be sent to the family at www.lbvfh.com.

Dale LaVerne Grams, son of Albert J. and Ruth (Feis) Grams, was born Aug. 18, 1917, in Campbell, Neb. He received his formal education in the public schools of Franklin and Webster Counties of Nebraska and the University of Denver in Denver, Colo.

He was employed during the late 1930s by the Leyden Lignite Company of Denver and the Boswell-Mead Dairy Company of Lincoln. He voluntarily enlisted for one year in the U.S. Army in 1940.

He married Luella G. (Messman) Grams on July 8, 1941, in the First Presbyterian Church of Little Rock, Ark. She preceded him in death on June 13, 2013. Two sons, Kenton L. and Kevin D., were born of this marriage.

He was inducted into active duty with the U.S. Army on Dec. 23, 1940, and served before and through World War II. His foreign service was in North Africa, the Mediterranean area and Italy. He was awarded a Battle Field Commission while serving in combat duty during the Italian Campaign of 1944. He returned to Lincoln in November 1945. He was honorably discharged on Jan. 6, 1946.

He and his wife moved in 1946 to Denver, Colo., where he became employed as an accountant with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. He and his family returned to Nebraska in 1951 and engaged in farming operations in Franklin County until 1959. He was also employed part-time in the grain business, insurance business, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture until 1960, at which time he was appointed as a rural mail carrier of the U.S. Postal Department. He was assigned to Rural Route No. 1 in Campbell. He subsequently served rural mail patrons in the Nebraska counties of Franklin, Hall, Hamilton, Phelps and Webster. He retired in 1983, after serving Rural Route No. 1 in Doniphan since March 1977. He was employed part-time, following retirement, by Keltgen Seed Co. and Pioneer Seed Co. He served as secretary of the Campbell Public School Board for many years, and as Village Clerk for a time with the Village Council of Axtell. He served local churches of different communities for many years, while holding the offices of Elder, Secretary, Treasurer and Trustee. He was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Hastings, National Order of Battlefield Commissions, American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and numerous other Christian, fraternal, political and social organizations.

Dale was preceded in death by his parents; his wife, Luella Grams; an infant sister; sisters, Verna Bryant and Wilma VanEngen; and a brother, Ivan Grams.

Survivors include two sons, Kenton L. Grams of Hastings and Kevin D. Grams of Lincoln; brothers, Elger Grams of Upland and Orlan Grams of Minden; sisters, Melzie Rademaker of Lincoln and Norma Kroese of Firth; grandchildren and spouses, Braden Grams and Aaltje Baumgart, Kendra and Ted Carroll; and two great-grandchildren, Tobias Carroll and Luella Baumgart-Grams.
One of the most talked about subjects in India has been the foreign visits of Indias Prime Minister Narendra Modi who visited 35 odd countries in about two years. Not that other Prime Ministers did []
Looking for the big games to watch in Week 9? We have them right here.
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Linkedin Hans Nicholas Jong (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, January 21, 2016

A group of Aceh citizens will lodge a civil lawsuit against the Home Ministry at the Central Jakarta District Court on Thursday in a bid to preserve the Leuser Ecosystem Zone (KEL), which they consider a unique and irreplaceable natural environment.



The group, called Gerakan Rakyat Aceh Menggugat (GERAM), has accused the ministry of failing to fulfil its duty of including protection of the KEL in the Aceh Provincial Spatial Plan (RTWT-P).



'We are an alliance of concerned citizens who have been fighting for nearly two years, since the Aceh government legalized a new land use plan that would effectively dissolve protection of much of Aceh's remaining tropical rainforests, whitewashing crimes of the past and paving the way for a new wave of catastrophic ecological destruction,' said one of the plaintiffs, Farwiza Farhan.



The KEL spans the provinces of Aceh and North Sumatra. Over 35 times the size of Singapore, this majestic and ancient ecosystem covers more than 2.6 million hectares of lowland rainforest, peat land, montane and coastal forests and alpine meadows.



Globally recognized as one of the richest expanses of tropical rainforest found anywhere in Southeast Asia, the KEL is also one of Asia's largest carbon sinks.



To the community living in the area, the local forest is a source of livelihood. Therefore, more recent laws have served to strengthen the protection of the KEL and place the responsibility for managing its preservation and restoration with the Aceh provincial government.



The KEL also has special legal status as a national strategic area for its environmental protection function (under Law No. 26/2007 juncto Law No. 26/2008), prohibiting any activity that would reduce that function, including cultivation and infrastructure development.



However, the Aceh administration failed to mention the KEL's status as a national strategic area in its land use plan issued through Qanun (Islamic bylaw) No. 19/2013.



'The Aceh administration cannot contest the inclusion of the KEL in its spatial plan because it exists as a protected area in three legal regulations: Law No. 11/2006 on Aceh governance, Law No. 26/2007 on spatial planning, and its derivative, Government Regulation No. 26/2008 on the National Spatial Plan,' said Nurul Ikhsan, the lawyer representing the plaintiffs.



The Home Ministry has reviewed the Aceh spatial plan and found numerous legal infringements that need to be resolved before it is accepted. Under Indonesian law, the Aceh government is required to revise the regulation and in the absence of revisions, the home affairs minister is required to reject it.



The Wildlife Conservation Society reports that from 2000 to 2009, the Mount Leuser National Park (TNGL) lost 18,839 hectares of its forest area annually. Furthermore, half of the 60,000-ha area of Tripa Swamp, a part of the KEL, has been converted into palm oil plantations.
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Linkedin Kuan-Hsiung Wang (The Jakarta Post) Taipei  Thu, January 21, 2016

Rising tensions in the South China Sea are threatening peace and stability in the region, which is one of the world's most important shipping channels. In recent months, amid growing concern in the international community, there has been considerable media coverage of the arbitration filed by the Philippines at the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) concerning the legality of mainland China's claims in the South China Sea.



Thus far, two hearings have been held by the Arbitral Tribunal ' one concerning jurisdiction and admissibility in July 2015, with the Tribunal subsequently ruling on Oct. 29 that it had the power to hear the case, and another on the merits in the last week of November 2015.



In the arbitration, the Philippines challenged the status of Taiping Island (Itu Aba), which is part of the sovereign territory of the Republic of China (Taiwan). By claiming that Taiping Island constitutes a rock rather than an island, the Philippines is undermining efforts to resolve disputes and promote stability.



In 1946, the Republic of China (Taiwan) recovered islands and geological features in the Nansha (Spratly) Islands from Japan, including the largest naturally formed island ' Taiping Island.



According to transcripts from the two hearings, the Philippines attempted to characterize Taiping Island as a rock by indicating that it has an area of less than 0.43 square kilometers, no permanent population, no potable water, and is capable of generating limited quantities of agricultural produce.



Contrary to Philippine statements, however, Taiping possesses adequate water supply. It has several groundwater wells, some of which were in use long before Taiwan's Coast Guard Administration took over its management in 2000 from the ROC military.



Taiping Island, which has a land area of 0.50 square kilometers, has consistently sustained more than 100 people, and is home to a functioning farm that produces a wide variety of fruits and vegetables including corn, sweet potatoes, mangoes and guavas.



Furthermore, it has a hospital to provide emergency treatment to the personnel stationed there as well as foreign fishermen operating in the area.



Evidently Taiping Island qualifies as an island in accordance with Article 121 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). So why then does the Philippines argue that it is a rock?



The distance between Taiping Island and the Philippine island of Palawan is about 199.6 nautical miles. As each is entitled to an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of 200 nautical miles, this would create a wide area of overlap.



Furthermore, if Taiping Island is deemed capable of generating a 200-nautical mile EEZ and a continental shelf, a delimitation of maritime boundaries would need to be conducted for the entire overlapping area, which is not within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal.



Obviously, the claim that Taiping Island is a rock is fallacious. The Philippines raises the issue so it can contend that the EEZ around Palawan does not overlap with any maritime zone that could be generated by other maritime features.



Under this claim, the Philippines argues that Taiping Island's maritime area should be confined to 12 nautical miles by citing judgments from Nicaragua vs Columbia (2012), as well as St. Martin's Island and Abu Musa (Delimitation of the Maritime Boundary between Bangladesh and Myanmar, 2012), jumping to conclusions on the definition of the maritime area for Taiping Island.



The Philippines deliberately ignores the fact that these cases are concerning maritime delimitation.



The Philippines' argument regarding Taiping Island is simply a legal tactic that does not contribute to the practical resolution of disputes in the South China Sea. In addition, its position might further escalate tensions.



In its statement to the Tribunal, the Philippines also misrepresents quotes by ROC President Ma Ying-jeou. In one case, it alleges that the President wrote the ROC government claimed sovereignty over islands south of the Shisha (Paracel) Islands for the first time in 1935.



In fact, in the source for these quotes, the President states that the ROC issued a map of the islands in 1935 that for the first time divided them into four different groups.



In the same passage, President Ma clearly states that the ROC government defended its sovereignty over the islands through diplomatic means in the early 20th century.



By challenging the legal status of Taiping, the Philippines is in fact undermining its own case for the fair and just application of UNCLOS.



In order to ensure long-term stability in the region, all parties concerned must respect the principles and spirit of international law and pursue peaceful cooperation for mutual benefit, as outlined in President Ma's South China Sea peace initiative.

__________________________________



The writer is a professor at Graduate Institute of Political Science, National Taiwan Normal University
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Linkedin Suchat Sritama (The Jakarta Post) Manila  Thu, January 21, 2016

In order to build a real sense of community, Asean will for the first time launch a regional tourism campaign to promote 600 destinations to boost arrivals and income when the regional grouping turns 50 next year.

Pongpanu Svetarundra, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, said officials of national tourism organisations from the 10 nations had agreed at a meeting in the Philippines to introduce "Asean at 50" as the new regional tourism campaign.

The campaign will be announced Friday at the Asean Tourism Forum in Manila and there will be a grand opening at the International Tourism Berse (ITB) in Germany in the first quarter of this year.

"Asean promotes itself as a single-market tourist destination as all members were integrated into an economic community at the end of last year. The campaign will be part of Asean's 50th anniversary celebrations," Pongpanu said.

Asean will be promoting 600 attractions located across the region, which will be divided into 12 different categories under the theme of "50 Best...".

The dozen categories will be the 50 best of cities, hotels, restaurants, food, festivals and celebrations, beaches, shopping, historical sites, adventure tourism, small towns and villages, markets, as well as unforgettable experiences.

Pongpanu said each Asean member would propose their attractions and products to a central committee, which should complete the selection procedure before the grand opening in Germany.

Thailand is assigned to lead the selection of two categories: festivals and celebrations, as well as unforgettable experiences, he said.

"The new campaign should boost tourism income and total arrivals in the region by 15 per cent from 100 million to 115 million," he added.

Officials from national tourism organisations also approved another 10-year Asean Tourism Strategic Plan (ATSP) set for 2016-25, while Asean tourism ministers adopted the ATSP 2011-15 that focused on 19 measures.

Plan for tourism professIonals

The 10-year plan is also expected to boost tourism earnings for the entire region from 10 to 15 per cent in 2025, while employment in the sector should rise from 3 to 7 per cent, travellers' length of stay will climb from 6.3 days to eight days and average spending per trip per visitor will rise from $900 to $1,500 or Bt 27,000 to Bt45,000.

According to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation, the total number of international arrivals in Asean is expected to rise to 123 million by 2020, 152 million by 2025 and 187 million by 2030.

Pongpanu said Asean will be also focusing on other developments such as improving infrastructure, enhancing competency, labour transfer, a single visa for all nations in the grouping as well as maintaining major tourism markets such as China, India and Russia.

On January 19, all 10 Asean tourism ministers signed an agreement on the establishment of the Regional Secretariat to support the implementation of Mutual Recognition Arrangement on Tourism Professional (MRA-TP.) The secretariat will be based in Jakarta and will commence operations this year.

Signed by Asean Tourism Ministers in November 2012, MRA-TP was developed to facilitate mobility of tourism professionals in the region.

Dr Ong Hong Peng, secretary-general of Malaysia's Tourism and Culture Ministry, said the MRA-TP marked a significant milestone for tourism development in Asean.

"Moving forward, Malaysia, as chairman of the Asean Tourism Professional Monitoring Committee, will fully support and contribute towards the realisation of the objectives and targets of the Asean MRA-TP," he said. (kes)
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta  Thu, January 21, 2016

Local taxi drivers and transportation associations held a rally in Denpasar on Thursday against car-booking applications Uber and GrabTaxi.



According to the Bali Taxi Drivers Association (Pesotab) and Bali Alliance of Local Transportation Drivers, the ride-hailing and taxi-booking services are illegal and destructive to the livelihoods of independent local taxi drivers.



"The government cannot simply stand by and ignore the fate of thousands of drivers. It has to be firm and shut down illegal companies," said rally coordinator Ketut Witra in Denpasar as quoted by kompas.com.



In a statement sent by the associations to the Bali Provincial Legislative Council (DPRD), the government was urged to look beyond large-scale projects when issuing operation licenses.



"[The DPRD] should not only allow foreign capital to benefit, and leave us local transportation players aside as spectators,' Ketut added.



The demonstrators rallied for only a few minutes in front of the Bali DPRD before being invited in to meet speaker Nyoman Adi Wiryatama.



Taxi services equipped with booking applications have been spreading rapidly across Indonesia, as people seek more reliable means of transportation, given the country's poor public transportation facilities.



GrabTaxi incorporates thousands of selected drivers from five leading taxi fleets and assigns available taxis to nearby commuters using mapping and location-sharing technology. Meanwhile, Uber partners with licensed chauffeur-driven cars or rental car companies, but the legality of its operations has been repeatedly brought into question. (kes)(+)
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Linkedin Grace D. Amianti (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, January 21, 2016

State-owned lender Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) expects higher profits in 2016 than in the past two years as it banks on a speedy economic recovery in the country.



BRI president director Asmawi Syam said the bank was convinced it could achieve its net profit target this year.



'I think our net profit this year will be above the 2014 realization, which means it will be more than Rp 24 trillion,' he said after a meeting at the State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Ministry on Wednesday.



Asmawi attributed his upbeat assessment to what he sees as a better overall situation in Southeast Asia's largest economy.



Despite the weak economy last year, BRI, the country's most profitable bank, posted Rp 24.2 trillion (US$1.73 billion) in net profit in 2014, an increase of 14.3 percent from 2013.



Its performance in 2014 also made BRI the company with the highest profit among the country's state-owned firms.



Entering 2015, continued economic weakness affected the bank's net profit, which grew by only 1.41 percent year-on-year (yoy) to Rp 18.29 trillion in the first three quarters of the year, from Rp 18.03 trillion in the same period of 2014.



The impacts of global uncertainty and a weak domestic economy affected loan growth and the quality of credit last year.



BRI vice president director Sunarso said previously the bank's net profit would probably grow by at least 5 percent this year based on its loan-growth target of about 13 percent.



However, Sunarso added that net profit growth would not exceed that of previous years, when the bank was able to book double-digit increases thanks to the country's booming economy.



Meanwhile, the bank's loan target is slightly more optimistic than in 2015, when growth of 11 to 13 percent was targeted.



BRI was still able to post loan growth above the industry's average as its loan business grew by 11.8 percent year-on-year (yoy) to Rp 518.9 trillion in the first nine months of last year.



The bank's main engine of loan growth was the micro business segment, which contributed 32.8 percent to the bank's total loans and grew by 14.7 percent yoy to Rp 170.2 trillion as of the third quarter.



Despite expecting a faster increase in net profits this year, Asmawi said the bank's net interest margin (NIM) would probably increase only slightly from last year as the lender targeted an NIM of 8.09 percent, compared to 8.08 percent in September last year.



The bank's NIM as of the third quarter last year was down from 8.78 percent a year earlier.



'Besides the trend of declining lending rates, we will put greater focus on enlarging our volume [of interest income], rather than increasing our profit margin,' he said, adding that the more important thing was to ensure that profits grew this year.



SOEs Minister Rini Soemarno said on Tuesday that the ministry was expecting the country's 118 state-run firms to increase their combined net profits to Rp 172 trillion this year, up 15 percent from Rp 150 trillion recorded last year.
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Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, January 21, 2016

Human rights activists slam the government's plan to revise terrorism laws to expand the authority of the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) because it may allow abuse of power and harm civil freedoms.

In the wake of an attack that struck the capital city on Jan. 14, BIN chief Sutiyoso has asked the government to give his agency wider authority to preemptively arrest and detain people suspected to be terrorists.

"Such a suggestion may harm Indonesian citizens. It will allow BIN to arrest and detain anyone under the assumption [that person is] threatening national security," Wahyu Wagiman, the executive director of the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (ELSAM), told thejakartapost.com on Wednesday.

Under Indonesian Law, only the National Police have the authority to arrest people suspected to be connected to acts of terrorism. Police are allowed to arrest suspected terrorists for seven days for investigation.

In the planned revisions of the 2003 and 2013 laws on terrorism prevention and eradication, the government is considering allowing the police to detain suspicious people for up to two weeks.

If BIN is given the authority to arrest, Wahyu fears that the suspected citizens would face difficulties in proving themselves innocent before the courts because BIN's verification process is different from that of other law enforcement bodies.

The discussions of the revisions began after Jan. 14's terrorist attack on Jakarta's main street of Jl. MH Thamrin that left eight people dead, including four of the terrorists, and left 25 people injured.

Critics fear the revisions could bring back the New Order regime when Indonesians were subject to a draconian anti-subversion law passed in 1963 under the dictatorship of then president Soeharto. The law was often abused to silence political activists and critics of the government. It was revoked under the administration of president BJ Habibie following the downfall of Soeharto in 1998.

Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) chairman Haris Azhar also criticized BIN's request and urged the agency to strengthen its intelligence cooperation with the police instead.

He said arresting suspected terrorists must also be carried out carefully with evidence by highly skilled law enforcement officers.

"That is to prevent any false arrest that may happen to anyone suspected to be a terrorist," Haris said.

For example, he said, Indonesian people returning home from Syria could not all be suspected without valid evidence.

The chairman of the human rights advocacy group Setara Institute, Hendardi, also expressed similar concerns as he believed the current laws on terrorism were enough to handle terrorism issues in the country. He said the revision was a reactive step taken by the government and would only spoil BIN.

Separately, a police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity also implied police disapproval of the idea of widening BIN's authority.

The officer said that under the current law enforcement practices of the police, the rights of people suspected to be terrorists could still be respected.

"With another approach, such as through intelligence and the military, human rights are likely to be violated," the source said on Wednesday.

Keeping the police as the only law enforcers able to arrest suspected terrorists and bring them to court would help combat terrorism, the source claimed.

"Bringing the suspected terrorists to court can simplify the issues. The public will see terrorists as common criminals, not as notable people," the officer said. (rin)(+)
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Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, January 21, 2016

A requirement to build data centers in Indonesia will be eased as it incurs high costs and threatens competitiveness, the communications minister has said.



According to Government Regulation No. 82/2012 on the management of electronic transactions and systems, data and disaster recovery centers for public services must be located within the country.



Communications and Information Minister Rudiantara said the government was preparing a draft revision based on input from industry players such as banking and aviation firms as it aimed to increase competitiveness and lower prices for consumers.



Previously, IDC Financial Insights research manager Agus Kurniadi said the regulation had a significant effect on Indonesian banks as it required customers' data to be stored on Indonesian soil. Thus, Indonesian banks that previously operated overseas data centers must repatriate the information.



Based on an IDC data center index ranking released in 2014, Indonesia was included in the bottom three for data center building, surpassing only the Philippines and China. Hong Kong and Singapore, meanwhile, ranked first and second among all 13 Asia-Pacific countries, excluding Japan.



A lack of adequate infrastructure and uneven electricity distribution were cited as the main challenges for enterprises looking to build data centers in the country. (kes)(+)
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Linkedin Erika Anindita (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, January 21, 2016

Indonesia's attorney general insists that death penalties must be maintained in the country's judicial system as a shock therapy against serious crime.



"I'm confident that the death penalty is a kind of therapy. It is an unpleasant action, but we must do it," said Attorney General HM Prasetyo in a working meeting with the House Commission III overseeing law and human rights, on Wednesday evening.



The statement came in response to a question raised by a Commission III member from the Democratic Party, Ruhut Sitompul, who asked about the spirit behind the death penalty in Indonesia.



In November 2015, the government suspended executions of death row convicts amid an economic slowdown. At that time, the government wanted to focus on improving the economy, which was expanding at a slow pace of 4.73 percent in the third quarter of 2015.



"The death penalty has no connection with the economy," Prasetyo said, adding that the reactions of foreign countries about the issue are excessive.



Foreign countries and human rights groups have slammed Indonesia for implementing capital punishment against convicts, as stipulated in the Criminal Code (KUHP). President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo had two groups of convicts, totaling 14 people, executed in January and April 2015.



Two of the convicts were Australian drug smugglers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, who were executed in April 2015, causing bilateral tension and leading to Australia recalling its ambassador from Indonesia.



"We need a similar policy to fight drug crimes," Prasetyo said, adding that Commission III should issue a statement to put to death some convicts who already on death row. (ags) (+)
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Linkedin Ahmad Junaidi and Slamet Susanto (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta/Yogyakarta  Thu, January 21, 2016

Security authorities have been condemned for failing to prevent the violent eviction of about 1,000 former members of the Light of Nusantara Movement (Gafatar) from their homes in Mempawah regency, West Kalimantan.



'Police intelligence officers should have been able to detect and prevent the mob attack [on the homes of the ex Gafatar members],' National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) commissioner Sandra Moniaga said on Wednesday.



Sandra said the police should protect the rights to live in peace and move freely of all citizens, including the ex-Gafatar members.



Gafatar spokesperson Wisnu Windani said the former members of the organization, which was banned by the Home Ministry in 2012, moved to West Kalimantan to engage in farming.



'We don't bother anyone, let alone engage in terrorism. What have we done wrong?' Wisnu, who is a former executive of the Gafatar national board, said as quoted by tribunnews.com in Yogyakarta.



The organization, which was established in January 2012, was widely reported as being a successor to Al-Qiyadah Al-Islamiyah founded by Ahmad Musaddeq.



Ahmad, who reportedly claimed to be a new prophet, was sentenced to four years for blasphemy in 2008. Gafatar executives have repeatedly claimed that their organization was not based on or affiliated with any religion, but rather to the state ideology of Pancasila.



The former members of Gafatar, some of them coming from cities in Java and Sulawesi, were being sheltered in military barracks in neighboring Kubu Raya regency, West Kalimantan, Antara news agency reported on Wednesday.



Under heavy rain, the members of Gafatar, including children, were evacuated using police trucks as thousands of residents began to besiege their settlement in Mempawah on Tuesday.



After the camp was abandoned, the angry residents stoned and burned the houses. A car belonging to one of the former Gafatar members was also set on fire.



Social Affairs Minister Khofifah Indar Parawansa said her ministry would send a team to visit the ex-Gafatar members in their shelters in West Kalimantan.



'The team will evaluate whether we need to send experts to help evacuees to heal their trauma,' Khofifah said in Jakarta on Wednesday, stressing that the evacuees were in safe hands.



Meanwhile, the Yogyakarta Police on Wednesday sent 100 Mobile Brigade (Brimob) personnel to West Kalimantan to collect Gafatar ex-members who are originally from Yogyakarta province. Yogyakarta Police chief Brig. Gen. Erwin Triwanto said the deployment of the Brimob personnel was at the request of the West Kalimantan Police.



Separately, Central Java Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Liliek Darmanto revealed that three Naval vessels had been scheduled to transport the evacuees from West Kalimantan.



Liliek said the ships would arrive in Pontianak on Sunday and were expected to reach Tanjung Emas Port in Semarang with the evacuees on board next Wednesday.



Separately in Surakarta, Central Java, a student of state-run Sebelas Maret University's (UNS) Faculty of Engineering, Jagis Rama Wijaya, was reported as missing, it is believed he may have joined Gafatar.



Suherdjoko in Semarang and Ganug Nugroho Adi in Surakarta also contributed to the story
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Linkedin Haeril Halim (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, January 21, 2016

The Jakarta Corruption Court found on Wednesday former Udayana University official Made Meregawa guilty of corruption in a graft case centering on the procurement of medical facilities worth Rp.18 billion for an academic hospital owned by Bali's largest university in 2009.



A panel of judges at the court sentenced Meregawa to four years behind bars over his decision to directly appoint PT Mahkota Negara, a company owned by graft convict and former Democratic Party treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin, in the project.



Meregawa is the university's former administrative and financial division head.



The court also ordered him to pay Rp 100 million (US$7,160) in fines for his offenses in the case, which caused Rp 5.7 billion in state losses.



'If he cannot afford to pay the fine then he will have to serve an additional two months behind bars,' presiding judge Singung Hermawan said while reading out the verdict on Wednesday.



The court met the prison sentence demand of Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) prosecutors, while also ordering the convict to return Rp 10 million in restitution. The KPK, however, has been ordered to return the Rp 5.7 billion it seized from Meregawa during its investigation.



The restitution obligation is lower than the Rp 1 billion sought by KPK prosecutors.



The court found Meregawa guilty of enriching himself, other people and corporations in the case, as stated under Article 3 of Law No. 31/1999 on corruption.



The article carries a maximum sentence of 20 years behind bars for a state official found guilty of enriching himself, other people and corporations while in office.



While maintaining that he was a victim in the case, Meregawa said that he accepted the verdict and would not challenge it at a higher court.



The antigraft body, however, said that it may challenge the verdict at the Jakarta High Court to annul the court order to return the Rp 5.7 billion to Meregawa.



'I see the sentence as something that I have to face in life. This is not the only case that I have been implicated in,' the former university official said.



Meregawa begged KPK prosecutors not to challenge the verdict because he was also being investigated by the antigraft body in another graft case.



After hearing Meregawa's request, KPK prosecutors said they would take the seven days given by the court to decide whether they would move to challenge the verdict. In addition to the health facilities graft case, the KPK has also named Nazaruddin's confidant, Marisi Matondang, a suspect. Marisi is the director of Mahkota Negara, a subsidiary of PT Permai Group, which is owned by Nazaruddin, who has yet to be named a suspect despite having been grilled several times in the case.



Meregawa has also been named a suspect by the KPK in its investigation into alleged irregularities surrounding the construction of a hospital worth billions of rupiah for Udayana University between 2009 and 2011.
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Linkedin Raras Cahyafitri (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, January 21, 2016

The government will extend the export permit of PT Freeport Indonesia despite the copper and gold mining giant not having made significant progress in the construction of its new smelter plant in Gresik, East Java.



Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said unveiled on Tuesday that Freeport's six-month export permit, due to expire at the end of this month, would be extended on the condition that it agrees to pay a 5 percent export tax and sets aside a guarantee fund for the construction of the smelter plant.



Freeport will need to meet these two requirements because the construction of its smelter plant is behind target.



Despite the government's ban on the export of raw mineral in 2014, a mining company is still allowed to export partly processed mineral products as long as it commits to the construction of smelting plants and agrees to pay export tax.



The export tax rate is linked to the progress of the construction of their smelting plant. An export tax of 7.5 percent is imposed on those companies whose disbursement for a smelting plant is at 0 to 7.5 percent of their total investment. A 5 percent export duty is applied to a company whose spending is at between 7.5 and 30 percent.



A company is exempt from export tax when smelter development spending has progressed past 30 percent.



In addition to 5 percent export tax, US miner Freeport McMoRan Inc is required to pay a certain amount in guarantee funds for its smelting plant, according to Sudirman.



Under the existing export permit, Freeport Indonesia pays 5 percent export tax and guarantee funds of US$20 million for the smelting plant.



The company is still working on site preparation, basic engineering and land clearing, according to its director, Clementino Lamury. 'Late last year, we signed an engineering and procurement contract. We are expecting the groundbreaking to occur this July, followed by construction,' Clementino said.



According to Clementino, the smelter plant construction progress has reached 30 percent.



The sluggish progress of Freeport Indonesia's smelter in Gresik East Java indicates that the company is not serious about building the smelter, said Dito Ganinduto, a member of House Representatives' Commission VII overseeing energy.



'If the company is not serious, there is no need for us to discuss the possibility of extending its contract,' Dito said during a hearing at the commission on Wednesday.



Freeport Indonesia holds a contract of work that is due for extension in 2021. The firm is reported to be seeking an early extension of its operation beyond this period. However, it is unlikely that it will be able to get an early extension because, according to the existing regulation, a request for extension can only be made two years before the expiry date.



Freeport's president director Maroef Sjamsoeddin announced his resignation from the company on Monday, leaving the company with several unresolved issues, including its mandatory divestment plan and the soon to expire export permit.



Under current regulations, Freeport Indonesia is obliged to relinquish the balance of a 30 percent stake to either the government or national companies. Due to a previous divestment scheme, the government already holds a 9.36 percent share. The divestment of the remaining 20.64 percent will occur in two stages and 10.64 percent should be sold this year.
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Linkedin Ayomi Amindoni (The Jakarta Post)  Thu, January 21, 2016

House of Representatives Commission VII overseeing the energy sector has described a share value that PT Freeport Indonesia offered to the Indonesian government as unrealistic.



Freeport Indonesia must explain the basis of valuation for the offering price of US$1.7 billion (Rp 23.69 trillion) for 10.64 percent of its shares to the government, said Commission XI member Ramson Siagian.



"We want a realistic calculation. They must give a realistic offer, by taking into account the updated market situation," Ramson said in a meeting with Freeport Indonesia at the legislative complex in Jakarta on Wednesday.



The price, he continued, was too high as the market value of Freeport McMoran was currently around $4.8 billion, amid a fall in the share price in the market to around $3.85 per unit.



Likewise, Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) lawmaker Fallah Amri urged the government to review the price as it was made based on the company's assumption.



The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry's minerals and coal director general, Bambang Gatot Ariyono, said the government would form a special team to calculate a fair price for the stake.



"The $1.7 billion was based on the assumption the company made. However, that is not the government's benchmark. It will be evaluated by the team," Bambang said.



Meanwhile, Freeport Indonesia vice president Clementino Lamori confirmed that the share price offered to the government was calculated assuming Freeport Indonesia continued operations after the contract was renewed in 2021.



"Including the investment of $4.3 billion for underground mining and $15 billion for the development of underground mining," he said.



Freeport Indonesia must sell the government a 10.64 percent stake in the huge Grasberg copper and gold mine in Papua as part of the process to extend its operating contract beyond 2021.



Under current regulations, the central government will be first in line to purchase the shares, followed by Papua's provincial and regency/municipal administrations, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and local administration-owned enterprises.



They have to express their interest within 60 days after Freeport's offer. If none are interested, the right to buy the shares will be taken over by private Indonesian companies. (ags)(+)
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Linkedin Fedina S. Sundaryani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, January 21, 2016

The Culture and Education Ministry has enlisted a number of higher education institutions and information technology firms to train teachers in the latest technology trends.



Ministry research and development unit head Totok Suprayitno said that the ministry could not work alone as there was an estimated 2.7 million tenured and contract teachers in the 2013-2015 academic year.



'We are willing to work with any institutions, agencies, universities and practitioners to work together with the government so that we can ascertain what are the best practices,' Totok said on Wednesday.



Ministry Educational Evaluation Center (Puspendik) head Nizam said that the revision of the 2013 curriculum, which is currently underway, would also include topics about the use of information technology.



He said that the syllabus relating to information technology would also teach students to take a critical stance toward technology.



'These skills will be valuable no matter how technology develops [']. We must first build the character of our children so that they are not just consumers of technology, but also contribute to creating new technology and knowledge through technology,' he said.



Nizam said that current teacher training did not equip them with the skills need to adapt to new technology.



Indonesia's number of internet users continues to rise dramatically each year. In March last year, the Communications and Information Ministry reported that at least 73 million people in the country, around 29 percent of the population, had access to the internet. Access to social media was reportedly the highest online activity.



Furthermore, 58.4 percent of internet users were between 12 and 34 years old and were online five hours a day on laptops or personal computers; and around two hours via mobile devices.



Education expert Darmaningtyas said the government should first provide infrastructure for students living in remote areas to use electricity for computers and other gadgets, before tackling the job of improving teachers' tech skills.



'The main problem is outside of Java where human resources are scarce and there is limited access

to electricity and infrastructure. This is why they can't rely on technology to aid learning,' he told The Jakarta Post.



He said that a significant number of teachers in urban areas would not need further training as they already had various methods of using technology to teach their students, but that the problem was older teachers who had no experience with new technology.



'On the other hand, most of the older teachers are hesitant to innovate. Hopefully, with the demand for constant innovation they will be motivated to develop their skills or be left behind,' Darmaningtyas said.



Meanwhile, secretary-general of the National Education Commission (Komnas Pendidikan), Andreas Tambah said that the government must work together with private schools to deliver progress to the country's remote regions.



'Our government is currently unable to provide the same standard of education to everyone so they must work together and support public schools. The government must work together with private schools who are more able to provide the same quality of education and equipment if the government can't set up public schools there,' he told the Post.
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Linkedin Fedina S. Sundaryani and Ina Parlina (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, January 21, 2016

The government is currently considering several options that may be included in possible revisions to the current antiterror laws, including one that would prevent jihadists who have fought with the Islamic State (IS) movement abroad from returning to Indonesia.



President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo said on Wednesday that a provision that would allow authorities to strip the citizenship of Indonesian nationals fighting in foreign lands, would be part of a draft of new policies that aimed to improve terrorism prevention.



'Yes, we will include such a provision [...] Nowadays there is an urgent need [to implement such a policy], so that the police can take preventive action,' Jokowi said.



Jokowi also reiterated that the government was still preparing the details of the new provisions that could be included in the revision of Law No. 15/2003 on terrorism eradication, a government regulation in lieu of law (Perppu) or a new law focusing on terrorism prevention.



Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung said Jokowi would have another limited Cabinet meeting on the subject on Thursday at the Presidential Palace.



Meanwhile, National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) chief Comr. Gen. Saud Usman Nasution said that an amendment to the 2003 Terrorism Law would have at least four provisions, including a change in the definition of 'treason' that would allow authorities to criminalize individuals who joined radical groups or declared 'caliphates' abroad.



'The problem right now is that those who leave the NKRI [the Unitary Republic of Indonesia] to join a caliphate abroad can't be categorized as someone who has committed treason, because IS does not have a sovereign territory,' he said.



Saud said that by adding such a provision, Indonesians who joined caliphates or took part in paramilitary training abroad could be prosecuted and have their citizenship revoked.



Saud also said that any amendment to antiterrorism laws should also cover de-radicalization efforts ,as the existing regulations did not touch on measures to ensure that civilians and former terrorists would not return to radicalism.



Saud added that improvements to the witness protection program that allowed individuals to testify via video call or use written statements in court would also be of great importance.



'There is also the problem of intelligence data that currently can't be used as evidence. For the time being, we propose that intelligence information be allowed in court and judges can then decide whether it is legally admissible,' he said.



Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Tito Karnavian backed the proposal, saying that intelligence information should be included as a legitimate form of evidence.



Tito, who is a former head of the police force's counterterrorism unit Densus 88, also asked for the police to be given the authority to charge groups who held gatherings based on their adherence to radical ideology.



'We [currently] can't press charges, against those who declare their support for IS,' he said.



Tito, however, rejected any proposal that would allow the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) or the Indonesian military (TNI) to arrest and detain terrorism suspects.



'If we allow the military or intelligence community to be involved, then rights violations might be likely. Also, using the military requires a political decision and we don't want terrorism to be seen as a political movement. Therein lies the danger,' Tito said.

Separately, the director of Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC), Sidney Jones, agreed that a revision of anti-terrorism laws must not give institutions other than the National Police the authority to arrest and detain terrorism suspects.



'Neither BIN, BNPT nor the TNI should be given powers that should be [the] exclusive role of the police. If more agencies are included, it could increase interagency rivalry and potential for abuse,' she told The Jakarta Post.



Jones also agreed that the police should be given the power to arrest and detain terrorism suspects before they committed attacks as long as they could collect enough evidence about an attack plot.



Jones also backed a proposal made by National Police chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti who requested a month-long detention period for potential terrorism suspects, instead of the current seven-day period.



'It would be acceptable if they can guarantee that family members are notified immediately about their arrest and whereabouts; that they have access to legal counsel from the time of arrest; and that no excessive force is used in interrogation,' Jones said.

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Linkedin Farida Susanty and Ina Parlina (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, January 21, 2016

The government will go ahead with the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway project, the first in the country, despite problems with permits, especially concerning the Environmental Impact Analysis (Amdal).



The groundbreaking ceremony is slated to take place Thursday in Walini, a small town in the regency of West Bandung, West Java, after Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar confirmed the ministry had approved the Amdal documents for the project on Wednesday.



Although the ministry has given approval, the company that will develop the high-speed railway, PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia China (KCIC), is required to improve certain documents within one month, including the Environment Management Plan (RKL) and the Environment Monitoring Plan (RPL).



'Well, we can issue the permit; at the same time we will provide room for improvement in a month,' Siti said on Wednesday, adding that bureaucratic procedures should not get in the way of projects that benefit the people.



Similar leeway was given by Agrarian and Spatial Planning Minister Ferry Mursyidan Baldan, who said the absence of the project in the provincial spatial planning (RTRW) of some cities would not hamper the railway construction in the future, as the office would maintain the balance of spatial planning.



The Environment and Forestry Ministry's environment partnership director general Widodo Sambodo previously said only three of the eight cities on the route of the high-speed railway, including Bekasi and Purwakarta, had included the project in their spatial planning.



Siti confirmed on Wednesday evening that the Amdal documents had been received by the Transportation Ministry on the same day.



Permit issuance has been the elephant in the room for the flagship project between Indonesia and China, with numerous permits issued at the last minute and many steps in the process reportedly rushed or skipped altogether.



The Transportation Ministry only issued the route permit a week ago, followed by the operational permit for the Indonesian-Chinese joint venture KCIC about a day later. Meanwhile, the Amdal and building permit issuance was crammed in on Wednesday, a day before the groundbreaking.



Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung said President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo would ensure the completeness of all required paperwork and licenses before pushing ahead with the groundbreaking, although he maintained that some leeway was possible with regard to recommendations from regional administrations and permits from related ministries.



Construction of the high-speed service, which will see trains run at more than 250 kilometers per hour, is supposed to begin this year and finish by 2018. The project cost is estimated to reach US$5.5 billion, with three quarters of the financing coming from the China Development Bank (CDB).



However, the sped up issuance has been met with criticism from officials at the Environment and Forestry Ministry. Widodo, who was also a member of the ministry's Amdal assessment team, said the Amdal issuance process had been 'irregular', with the data gathering for the documents cut to one week from the required six months.

_____________________________________

High-speed railway project ' Timeline



* November 2011: Preliminary feasibility study of Jakarta-Bandung high speed train started with a grant from Japan worth US$500,000.



* January 2014: Feasibility study phase 1 started with a grant from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) worth $3.5 million.



* March 27, 2015: SOE Minister Rini Soemarno and Chinese National Development and Reform Committee chairman Xu Shaoshi sign MoU on feasibility study with a grant worth $5 million.



* April 2015: JICA submits feasibility study to the coordinating economic minister.



* July 10, 2015: A special delegation from Japan, including Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, meet President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo to reaffirm Japan's commitment to Indonesia's infrastructure projects.



* Aug. 10, 2015: Xu submits a feasibility study to build the high-speed train to Jokowi.



* Aug. 26, 2015: Hiroto Izumi, a special advisor to Abe, pays a visit to Jokowi at the State Palace to offer additional terms for Japan's high-speed train proposal.



* Sept. 4, 2015: The government announces that the high-speed train project worth billions of dollars is being scrapped for technical and financial reasons.



* Oct. 6, 2015: The government issues Presidential Regulation No. 107/2015 on the acceleration of infrastructure for the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway project, in a bid to expedite the process.



* Oct. 16, 2015: Chinese and Indonesian state-owned companies sign a $5.5 billion deal to build Jakarta-Bandung high-speed train.



* Jan. 4, 2016: The President holds a meeting about the project that is attended by VP Jusuf Kalla and West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan. The groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for Jan. 21.



Source: The Jakarta Post
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Linkedin Tassia Sipahutar (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, January 21, 2016

The government plans to revise the recipient list of state capital injections (PMN) in the state budget, to focus more on state firms with special assignments.



The amendment will form part of the upcoming revision of the 2016 state budget, which will most likely occur in the second quarter.



'We are going to revise the list, putting priority on state firms with special assignments, such as [state electricity firm] PLN, [construction firm] Hutama Karya and [state logistics agency] Bulog,' Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro told The Jakarta Post in a recent interview.



As much as Rp 40.42 trillion (US$2.91 billion) in PMN for 24 state firms was put on hold when the budget was passed last October, as lawmakers at the House of Representatives said that the funding allocation was excessive and poorly targeted. They argued that it should instead be directed toward other more pressing issues.



However, many have expressed concern that the on-hold capital may retard economic growth as the work of firms in question is expected to have a multiplier effect on the economy.



The state budget shows that PLN is slated to receive Rp 10 trillion to develop 10,000 megawatts of electricity capacity across the country.



Hutama Karya stands to receive Rp 3 trillion to construct the trans-Sumatra toll road and Bulog should receive Rp 2 trillion to assist with the procurement of rice.



The three state firms were also on last year's PMN recipient list, obtaining Rp 5 trillion, Rp 3.6 trillion and Rp 3 trillion, respectively.



Several other infrastructure-related state firms are on the list, including infrastructure financier Sarana Multi Infrastruktur and construction firm Wijaya Karya.



Other firms are involved in, among other areas, fisheries, airport services, housing, finance, steel production.



According to State Owned Enterprises (SOE) Minister Rini Soemarno, the ministry has not yet decided which state firms are to be proposed to the House and it will hold a discussion with the Finance Ministry first.



Meanwhile, Achmad Hafisz Tohir, chairman of House Commission VI overseeing state firms, said that it would only approve some capital injection proposals for the 2016 state budget revision.



'Commission VI has agreed that it will support state firms in food security, energy security and infrastructure. Those are the sectors that we will prioritize,' he said in a text message.



Hafisz said that the commission would not approve proposals for firms outside those three sectors, as they were less urgent.



Separately, Hutama Karya president director I Gusti Ngurah Putra said that the capital injection would be crucial for securing the trans-Sumatra toll road's future, citing the company's limited equity.



'Our equity stand at about Rp 800 billion, while the project is estimated to cost Rp 34 trillion for the first phase only. We need the PMN to give our capital more leverage,' he said.



The toll road consists of 24 sections. The first phase is made up of eight sections, which Hutama Karya must complete by 2019 at the latest, as stipulated by a government regulation.



' Anggi Lubis contributed to this story

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Linkedin Khoirul Amin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, January 21, 2016

The government's mandatory biodiesel mix policy is at risk of not being fully implemented this year as it may face funding issues against the backdrop of low-commodity prices, according to an industry group.



The Indonesian Palm Oil Producers Association (Gapki) urged the government to review its target of blending 20 percent biodiesel into public diesel because the Indonesian Oil Palm Estate Fund (BPDP) may see difficulties in collecting funds from palm oil companies already suffering from low prices.



Crude palm oil (CPO) prices may be dragged by a drop in global oil prices, which have dropped about 21 percent this year amid volatility in Chinese markets and speculation the removal of restrictions that capped Iran's crude sales would help prolong a global glut, Bloomberg reported.



'If global oil prices remain low, then the BPDP fund will no longer be sustainable. It may not be enough [to cover biodiesel subsidies]. This is a problem,' said Gapki executive director Fadhil Hasan.



The BPDP is estimated to pocket Rp 16 trillion (US$1.15 billion) from levies on palm oil exports to subsidize the so-called B-20 program this year that requires a minimum of 20 percent palm oil content in diesel for the public ' a policy aimed at reducing the country's carbon footprint and dependence on oil imports.



However, the total subsidy for the program is forecast to hit Rp 18 trillion this year, creating an Rp 2 trillion gap. Furthermore, decreasing oil price may widen gap between production cost and consumer prices, enlarging the subsidies that must be paid by the government.



Fadhil suggested that the government scale back its program or use part of the state budget to provide additional funds for the CPO fund.



'On the other hand, the CPO fund should also be used for other purposes like replanting and plasma farmer training,' he added, in reference to the government's initial plan for the palm oil fund to support replanting and training of farmers, on top of for biodiesel subsidies.



The government started collecting levies from palm oil exports in July last year to develop the palm oil industry and pay for biodiesel subsidies, having appointed the BPDP to manage the CPO funds.



According to the BPDP advisory board's guidance, around 90 percent of the total CPO funds should be used for eco-friendly biofuel subsidy, said BPDP partnership director Antonius Agustinus.



The government expects to subsidize more than 4 million kiloliters of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) for the program this year alone, according to him.



The government has ordered the blending of diesel fuel with a portion of biofuel in a move to reduce the country's growing dependency on petroleum-based fuel and carbon footprint. The mandatory biofuel blend into diesel fuel has increased from around 10 percent in 2013 to 15 percent in 2015 and 20 percent this year.



Fadhil said that while his association supported the government's attempt to reduce its carbon footprint, it hoped that the government would also considered other uses of the CPO fund, particularly amid a challenging business environment for the country's palm oil industry.



Gapki chairman Joko Supriyono said that the association projected palm oil prices would remain flat this year and that production would likely remain the same or increase slightly.



The output of Indonesia's CPO and its derivative products hit 32.5 million tons last year, or a 3 percent increase from 31.5 million tons in 2014, according to Gapki data.



The country's palm oil exports increased 21 percent to 26.4 million tons last year from 21.76 million tons in 2014. The export value, meanwhile, slumped 11.67 percent to $18.64 billion last year.



A number of analysts have previously estimated, meanwhile, that CPO prices would rise this year as it is forecast that there will be a lack of supply due to a prolonged El Nino.
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta  Thu, January 21, 2016

Investigators from the Jakarta Police could not find the pants that Jessica, one of the key witnesses in the death of Wayan Mirna Salihin, wore at the Olivier restaurant, Central Jakarta, when they raided her house recently, according to Jakarta Police general crime detective chief Sr. Comr. Krishna Murti.



Krishna said that when investigators asked Jessica about the pants she wore when visiting Olivier with Mirna and another friend, Hani, she said her maid had dumped them in a trash bin near the house.



'We searched for the pants in the bin but could not find them,' he said. 'She said her maid had dumped the trousers because they had been torn when she helped rush Mirna to the hospital [prior to Mirna's death].'



Krishna refused to comment when asked whether investigators were trying to find cyanide traces on the pants.



'But it's okay [if we cannot find the pants]. We can still search for other evidence,' he said.



Jessica's lawyer, Yudi Wibowo Sukitno, previously said that the police had confiscated a laptop, a credit card and several items from Jessica's house after the raid. 'They checked if there was any record of a cyanide purchase,' he said as quoted by wartakotalive.com.
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Linkedin Safrin La Batu (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, January 21, 2016

Mulyadi, a Muslim preacher at Sindang rusunawa (low-cost rental apartment) in Koja, North Jakarta, talked about his ideas to tackle juvenile delinquency-related issues in his neighborhood when Marco Kusumawijaya, an independent gubernatorial hopeful, visited him at the rusunawa recently.



'Juvenile delinquency can be prevented only if we utilize a soft approach. Young people actually realize that what they are doing is wrong. They just don't want to comply if we force them to do so,' he said. 'Here, in my preaching, I want them to avoid juvenile delinquency, but I want them to do it voluntarily.'



Anang, the head of Koja neighborhood youth organization Karang Taruna who joined Mulyadi in the casual conversation, also expressed concerns about the local youths. He said that they showed little interest in youth-related activities in his organization because the activities were designed by local authorities such as the subdistrict head office, not the young people themselves.



'Youths should be allowed to propose their own activities. In this case, the authorities should only act as facilitators,' he said.



The casual conversation was held with the three sitting cross-legged on the terrace of Mulyadi's house. The discussion looked more like a friendly reunion with occasional laughter than a discussion about serious local issues.



The urban planning expert, who is also the director of the Rujak Center for Urban Studies, said he preferred to listen to the opinions of residents rather than offering his own solutions to their problems.



'Having different solutions is good [governance]. Having different solutions is possible as long as there is a system for it. For example, when dealing with [flooding around] the Ciliwung River, people in Kampung Pulo [a riverbank community in South Jakarta] have their own opinion on the matter, while other communities on other parts of the river will likely have other solutions. People with differing opinions should be encouraged and empowered,' he explained.



Marco has so far visited 11 communities in Jakarta, ranging from street vendors in Ancol and young people and their music groups in Warakas, both in North Jakarta, traditional ojek (motorcycle taxi) drivers in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, to evicted residents of Jl. Kunir and rusunawa residents in Daan Mogot, both in West Jakarta.



His visits to the community were part of his campaign to gain support in his effort to challenge incumbent Jakarta Governor Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama, who up to this point has also not been endorsed by a political party.



Ahok has received support from volunteer group Teman Ahok, which has opened dozens of booths at malls to garner support for him to run as an independent. The campaign has garnered more than 600,000 signatures, still short of their 1 million target.



Marco has yet to formally gather residents' support for his candidacy, with the Jakarta General Election Commission (KPUD Jakarta) setting the deadline for submitting support in the form of residents' ID card documents in June this year.



The election law requires an independent candidate in a city with six to 12 million voters to secure a minimum support base of 7.5 percent of the city's total voters, verified by copies of ID cards.



With around seven million voters currently registered at the Jakarta KPU, an independent candidate must secure the support of at least 525,000 citizens.



'Of course, that poses another challenge for an independent candidate like me,' Marco told The Jakarta Post recently.



KPUD Jakarta head Sumarno previously said that the current minimum support requirement was already low compared to what was stipulated by the previous regulations, which calculated minimum support levels by population not registered voter numbers.



However, KPU commissioner Hadar Nafis Gumay said the current minimum support requirement was still too high. 'However, as the election organizing body, we have to comply with the current laws,' he told the Post recently.



Jakarta's gubernatorial election is scheduled to be held simultaneously with several regions in the archipelago in February next year.



Securing their candidacy already poses a big challenge for less popular potential independent candidates like Marco, whose name was not even listed in several recent polls.



For Marco, however, his visits to Jakarta's diverse communities, were precious to him, not only because they might shore up support, but also because the people gave him energy and inspiration.



'Seeing all the diverse solutions and ideas from the residents themselves has greatly boosted my spirits,' Marco said.
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta  Thu, January 21, 2016

Actress Revalina S. Temat has given birth to her first child, who she has named Rihga Sadiwasakti Rabbani.



'Reva gave birth on Sunday. The baby boy weighs 3.9 kilograms and is 52 centimeters long,' Reva's manager, Rangga, said as quoted by tribunnews.com.



'She planned to have a natural birth, but because the baby was too big, a C-section was carried out instead,' he said.



He said that both Reva and baby were doing well and had been released from the hospital.



'They only stayed in the hospital for two days.'



Revalina, who starred in Assalamualaikum, Beijing!, married Rendy Aditya after dating for two years. The couple celebrated their nuptials in Uluwatu, Bali.
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Kuala Lumpur  Thu, January 21, 2016

A High Court in Malaysia has struck out a civil suit filed by Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and five others against Prime Minister Najib Razak, implying that he had acted corruptly and illegally in receiving RM2.6 billion in his personal accounts.



The Election Commission (EC) succeeded in its bid to convince the court to struck out the civil action against it aimed to nullify the results of the 13th General Election and set aside the results of each of the 222 parliamentary seats.



The Barisan Nasional (BN), through its secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, also managed to get the court to strike out the suit intended to deregister the political party.



1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) also succeeded in its bid to strike out the suit against it to get a declaration that 1MDB corruptly and illegally paid RM2.7 billion of its monies to the prime minister.



Judicial Commissioner Mohd Zaki Abdul Wahab held that the plaintiffs could not defend the civil claim under the law and allowed for the four defendants to summarily strike out the suit against them without going for a trial.

JC Mohd Zaki ruled that PKR has no legal standing to bring the action against the prime minister.



"In this claim, PKR is not represented by its public officer or any office-bearers of the party, so it has no locus standi (legal standing) to bring the action," said JC Mohd Zaki.



Besides that, he said five other opposition leaders have to show that they have interest to bring the legal action against Mr Najib.



"They want to get a relief which is criminal in nature, to declare that Najib has committed a criminal act, but this civil court has no jurisdiction to order for such criminal declaration," he said.



JC Mohd Zaki said further that only the Attorney General is vested with the power to initiate criminal proceedings.



On the part for EC, he said, only the Election Court could make declaration over election disputes.

He said Article 118 of the Federal Constitution clearly stated that the only method to question an election to the House of Representatives is by way of an election petition presented to the High Court to decide the matter.



On the part of Barisan Nasional, JC Mohd Zaki said that the civil court has no jurisdiction to deregister the political party and to declare it to be allegedly involved in unlawful activities.



"I find that this court has not been given the power under the Societies Act 1966 to issue a declaration to deregister a party over criminal activities," he said.



He said only the Registrar could declare a society to be illegal under Section 41 of the Societies Act.



On the part of 1MDB over alleged conspiracy, he said the plaintiffs could not support the claim which was clearly based on "hearsay".



"The plaintiffs did not have facts which could be used to deny the contention of 1MDB. There are no clear aspects on conspiracy," said the judicial commissioner.



He said he found that the claim against 1MDB was an abuse of court process.



He ordered the plaintiffs to pay RM15,000 in costs to Mr Najib, BN while another RM10,000 each to 1MDB and the EC.

Speaking to reporters here, lead counsel Datuk Mohd Hafarizam Harun, for Mr Najib and BN, said he hoped that all issues relating on the RM2.6 billion donation will now be put to rest.



Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar said they would discuss further whether to appeal against the court ruling while Batu MP Tian Chua said they would seek for a public donation to pursue the case.



PKR and several opposition leaders sued Mr Najib for alleged breach of election laws following the expose by the Wall Street Journal that RM2.6 billion was deposited into his personal accounts.



In the lawsuit filed on Aug 12 last year, the other plaintiffs are jailed former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, former Parti Islam SeMalaysia MP for Kuala Selangor Dzulkefly Ahmad, PKR election director Saifuddin Nasution, Ms Nurul Izzah and Mr Tian Chua.



The defendants are Mr Najib, BN (through Tengku Adnan), 1MDB and the EC.



In the suit, the plaintiffs, among others, sought for a declaration that by reason of the commission of corrupt and/or illegal practices, Barisan is an unlawful society under Section 41 of the Societies Act 1966 and a consequential order be made deregistering it.



They applied for a declaration that 1MDB corruptly and illegally paid RM2.7 billion of its monies to the prime minister and that the premier was holding the money as a constructive trustee.



The plaintiffs sought for a declaration that the Prime Minister, Mr Tengku Adnan, 1MDB and the EC acted individually or in conspiracy with each other, practiced fraud on the electorate of Malaysia by the commission of corrupt and or illegal practices in the 13th General Election.

Alternatively, they wanted an order for the EC to conduct free and fair fresh elections for all 222 parliamentary seats and the Federal Government continues to remain in office as a caretaker government with limited powers until results of fresh elections are known. (kes)(+)
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Linkedin Ina Parlina (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, January 21, 2016

President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo has established a new government body, called the National Economic and Industry Committee (KEIN), whose role will be to support the President's plan to boost domestic manufacturing of natural resources.



The body, chaired by businessman and National Mandate Party (PAN) advisory council chairman Soetrisno Bachir, is made up of 20 businesspeople and economists who are tasked with providing feedback on industry and the economy to the President.



Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) chairman Hariyadi Sukamdani, businessman Sudhamek AWS, economist Hendri Saparini and Arif Budimanta, a former member of Jokowi's economic advisor team during his presidential campaign, were among the 20 members of KEIN ' which replaces the National Economic Committee (KEN).



Jokowi believes that input from such entrepreneurs and experts as make up the body is essential for the development of effective economic policy.



'Such a combination will provide [us with] better planning, whether for the short term, mid term or long term,' Jokowi said after the swearing-in ceremony at the State Palace on Wednesday.



Jokowi said the new body was indeed different to KEN ' which was formed by his predecessor Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ' since KEIN would focus more on industry and measures to develop the manufacturing of natural resources.



'Industrialization can provide added value. We will no longer export raw materials.'



Article 5 of the 2010 Presidential Regulation No. 31 on KEN ' which was promoted by tycoon Chairul Tanjung ' stipulates that the committee's tenure would expire after the completion of Yudhoyono's administration.

____________________________



'Industrialization can provide added value. We will no longer export raw materials,' Jokowi added.



Sutrisno said his team was seeking to draft a kind of economic industry roadmap soon, in order to provide them with better guidelines for assisting the President amid the global economic downturn.



'We are certain that now we have momentum for Indonesia to start industrializing [more quickly]. So that we are no longer a country that exports raw materials, but a country [that benefits from exporting],' Sutrisno added.



Sutrisno asserted that the new body did not have an overlapping role with other existing bodies, such as the presidential advisory board (Wantimpres), arguing that the committee's membership of entrepreneurs would give the President expert opinions on industry and the economy.



Shortly after the inauguration ceremony, Sutrisno, along with other KEIN members, held a meeting with Jokowi at State Palace, in which the President told them to only provide him with 'concrete recommendations', said presidential spokesman Johan Budi.



The plan to replace KEN with KEIN was mulled by Jokowi in September last year after he invited Sutrisno to a closed-door meeting at the Palace, in which Sutrisno proposed to Jokowi several names to sit on the committee.



Sutrisno's appointment was made amid speculation that PAN would be given positions in the Cabinet as a reward for its recent move to partner with the government's coalition.



Yet, Sutrisno insisted that his appointment had no connection with PAN, adding that he would immediately step down from his post in the party.



'I am here not as a representative of PAN, but as a professional entrepreneur,' he said.
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Linkedin Ruslan Sangadji (The Jakarta Post) Palu  Thu, January 21, 2016

The Central Sulawesi Police have not yet identified a suspected terrorist killed in the Poso forest, but he is believed to have been part of a frontline team deployed by Santoso, Indonesia's most-wanted terrorist, for direct attacks to spread terror.

The person was killed on Tineba Mountain, Taunca Village, on the southern shore of Poso on Friday during a raid to hunt for Santoso, also known as Abu Wardah, the leader of the radical East Indonesia Mujahidin (MIT).

Central Sulawesi Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Hari Suprapto said police believe they know the identity of the deceased, but they were waiting for confirmation by having the family identify the body, which is being kept in Bhayangkara Hospital in Palu.

"The intelligence team is tracking the location of his family. We hope we can find them and ask them to come to the police in the near future," Hari told reporters.

Early rumors that the body bore a resemblance to Santoso himself were later denied by police, who said the fugitive terrorist leader was still at large.

The MIT's frontline executor role is one of several layers that make up the structure of the radical group, which is believed to have been behind attacks on police officers in Central Sulawesi.

Santoso, Hari said, was in the command team at the top of the MIT hierarchy, along with Basri, also known as Bagong, and two Chinese Uighurs.

The task of the command team is to build communications with outside parties to gain support, arrange terrorism tactics and strategies, arrange attacks against those they consider enemies and also to train frontline executors, including in bomb ensemblage.

The second level of the hierarchy is made up of the executors, who are believed to number in the dozens. The executors are in the frontline of every gun battle against the police and the Indonesian Military (TNI) during raids.

Police also suspect that the members of this second layer kill civilians who help law enforcement, Hari said.

The third level of the MIT structure is made up of numerous supporters who are believed to be spread throughout Poso, Palu, Makassar and several other areas.

The supporters connect donors with the MIT, mobilize aid, such as clothes, food, money, weapons and bomb materials, for the main group and the executors. The supporters also help publicize MIT's mission over the internet and are involved in recruitment.

"Their targets [for attack] are people they call anshorut thogut (people who disobey God's rule], like the authorities and civilians," he said.

The police, in cooperation with the TNI, have intensified their operations in 2016 to hunt for Santoso, especially after the attack in Jakarta on Jan. 14 that claimed the lives of four civilians and left 25 people injured. (rin)(+)
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta  Thu, January 21, 2016

A human rights group has castigated the House of Representatives for its reaction to a recent Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) raid of the legislature in search of graft-related evidence.



Human rights advocacy group Setara Institute chair Hendardi said House Deputy Speaker Fahri Hamzah had overreacted to the raid.



"The KPK need not answer the House's summons, since it breached no laws. The substance of corruption cases should take precedence over technicalities in search procedures," Hendardi said on Wednesday in Jakarta.



Last week, the KPK searched the office of legislator and House Commission V member Damayanti Vishnu Putranti, who had been named a graft suspect; on the same occasion, and without a clear warrant to do so, KPK investigators conducted additional searches of the offices of Golkar Party politician Budi Supriyanto and Commission V deputy chairman Yudi Widiana of Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).



During the search, Fahri, also a member of the PKS protested that the search was 'in contempt of the legislature' because the KPK had brought in armed personnel from the police's elite Mobile Brigade (Brimob).



Fahri asked the KPK to send away the Brimob officers, sparking an argument that was recorded and subsequently went viral on social media. A few days later, the House sent a letter asking the KPK to come to the House to discuss search procedures.



KPK spokesperson Yuyuk Andriati said the commission was prepared to meet House representatives to explain standard search procedures, stressing that there had been no deviation from the process.



"[Being accompanied by] fully armed Brimob officers is standard procedure, and is intended to secure the search process as well as maintain order," Yuyuk said on Thursday as quoted by Tribunnews.com.



The presence of armed Brimob officers during a search was, she added, in accordance with the law as stipulated in articles 127 and 128 of the Criminal Law Procedures Code (KUHAP). (liz/ags)(+)
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Linkedin Tama Salim (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, January 21, 2016

Lawmakers have expressed reservations about the government's plan to amend antiterrorism legislation, saying the plan is a knee-jerk reaction to the recent terror attack.



Members of the House of Representatives' commissions overseeing legal affairs and defense and security issues have spoken out against a recent deal reached between the executive and legislative branches to bolster the country's counterterrorism efforts by amending antiterrorism legislation, saying that the solution lies in improved coordination.



'I think that discussions between the House leadership and the President don't substantially represent the [opinion of the entire] House, especially without prior consultation with the relevant commissions,' said Mahfudz Siddiq, chairman of House Commission I overseeing defense and intelligence, in Jakarta on Wednesday.



Mahfudz said both his commission and House Commission III overseeing legal affairs, human rights and security had agreed to host a joint-session with the Office of the Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister and relevant institutions next month to review the implementation of existing provisions, in an attempt to find solutions in the fight against terrorism.



Mahfudz said it was 'too early to support' the government's plan to introduce new provisions into anti-terror laws in the aftermath of last week's attack in Central Jakarta.



The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) politician urged the government to formally propose the revisions to be included in the House's 2016 national legislation priority list, which is currently undergoing deliberation by the House Legislative Body (Baleg).



'Unless the government is willing to go in a different direction by having the President issue a Perppu [government regulation in lieu of law]. Even then I would suggest they do a comprehensive review of the situation ' there's no need to be reactive or divisive,' he said, adding that discussions should involve all relevant stakeholders.



A commitment was made on Tuesday following a meeting between President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo's administration and members of legislative and judicial bodies, with the aim of introducing new legal guidelines to strengthen the country's counterterrorism efforts.



Jokowi said that his government was still mulling whether to propose an amendment to existing laws or issue a Perppu.



The government will press ahead with revisions to Law No. 15/2003 and Law No. 9/2013 on the prevention and eradication of terrorism, despite concerns that the changes would infringe on civil liberties and reinstate New Order-era intimidation tactics.



One of the provisions in the amendment would grant the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) the authority to carry out provisional arrests that would allow intelligence officials to detain suspects for up to two weeks.



Senior lawmaker TB Hasanuddin, a member of Commission I from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said such powers could lead to human rights violations. 'It would be unfair if citizens had to covertly undergo questioning or trial [by intelligence officials],' Hasanuddin said at the House complex on Wednesday.



Commission III deputy chairman Desmond J. Mahesa of the Gerindra Party concurred, saying there was no need to give authority to more institutions in the fight against terrorism.



Under the existing antiterrorism legislation, only the police are allowed to hold suspects for one week based on preliminary evidence, which is obtainable from intelligence sources.



The new chairman of Baleg, Supratman Andi Agtas of the Gerindra Party said the strengthening of inter-agency coordination between BIN and the National Police would be enough to combat terrorism without having to amend the country's existing antiterrorism laws.



'[Gerindra] is convinced that the current antiterror laws are still very relevant, legitimizing the police force as the leading 'pro jusiticia' law enforcement institution for handling terrorism,' the former prosecutor said on Wednesday.

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Linkedin Adam Fenton (The Jakarta Post) Darwin, Australia  Thu, January 21, 2016

The attack that analysts have been predicting for months has happened ' a coordinated terror strike in Jakarta, for which the Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility.



Whereas over the past six years terrorists have almost exclusively targeted police, this incident combined an attack on a symbolic western target (a Starbucks next to a Burger King, a Pizza Hut and a McDonalds) with an attack on a police post. It marks a sinister return to the random targeting of civilians, and Westerners, which has not been seen for many years.



The IS is just the latest in a long list of groups, which derive their inspiration from the same extremist interpretations of Islam, and the attacks, or attempts to attack, will no doubt continue.



Densus 88, among the world's most successful civil anti-terrorist unit, have built up an impressive body of intelligence regarding extremist individuals and networks and have been fearless in infiltrating, apprehending and engaging in forceful actions against terrorists. They have arrested or neutralized over 1,000 terrorists since 2003.



Unfortunately, law enforcers have been let down by law makers, and the courts. It has been revealed that at least two of the attackers had done prison time for terrorism-related offences. Afif or Sunakim participated in a terrorist training camp in Aceh in 2010. He was sentenced to seven years and released after less than five.



Bahrun Naim, an Indonesian who allegedly directed the attacks from Syria, was caught and prosecuted for a plot to attack US President Barack Obama during his visit to Indonesia in 2011. When he was apprehended by police he was in possession of a cache of illegal ammunition. He was not convicted of terrorism offences, rather of offences under the State Emergency Law and sentenced to two and half years imprisonment. After parole and remissions, Bahrun served one year in prison.



Now calls have re-emerged to strengthen the anti-terrorism laws. The law could be improved, but this discussion must be based on an accurate representation of the law and the facts. And it should keep legal measures in step with the gravity of the threat.



Claims that police are unable to act or arrest individuals who they suspect of terrorist-related activity are not exactly accurate. Giving a greater counter-terrorism role to the military, or granting intelligence agents, and other authorities, the power of arrest seems like an unnecessary over-reaction.



In the past, police have not acted to arrest suspected terrorists until they have acquired some level of lethal capacity. But last year, they did arrest individuals suspected of supporting IS where no weapons were present.



Indonesia's primary Anti-Terrorism Law No. 15/2003, has not been revised or updated since it was enacted, following the 2002 Bali bombing. There is nothing in the law that makes it a criminal offence to join a terrorist group.



Nor does it criminalize participating in, or organizing, paramilitary training. However police and prosecutors have improvised a bit ' which leads to uncertain legal outcomes. In 2015, police arrested individuals charged with supporting IS; Afif Abdul Majid was charged with 'conspiracy to attempt to commit terrorism'. The court threw out the IS charges and convicted him of financing the Aceh camp.



On appeal to the Jakarta High Court however the IS charges were affirmed and Afif's sentence was increased from four to six years. His lawyers announced that they would appeal to the Supreme Court.



Other IS supporters were arrested and charged in late 2015 of supporting IS. None of those arrests related to specific or imminent terrorist attacks in Indonesia, and none allege that the defendants had acquired weapons in Indonesia.



Though the outcomes of these cases are unclear, it shows that under existing laws, police can take actions ' but the results are uncertain.



That uncertainty could be avoided by revising the terrorism law, or better yet, enacting a Perppu ' an interim law in a state of emergency ' to criminalize joining a listed terrorist group, or engaging in any acts of support to such a group, and participating in, or organizing, paramilitary training.



The law could also clarify other grey areas such as hate speech. Indonesia does have a law against vilifying ethnic groups or religions, but it is rarely enforced. Another issue could be citizenship. Arguably under existing law an Indonesian who joins a foreign military loses their citizenship automatically.



It could be a neat solution; simply revoke the citizenship of all those who travel to Syria to join IS ' except, for instance to allow selected persons to return for intelligence or deradicalization purposes.



The government could alternatively make it a strict liability offence to travel to a 'conflict zone' without a valid reason. Issues of cyberterrorism and perhaps mandatory minimum sentencing could be clarified in a new law.



But the more controversial it gets the more unlikely it will get through parliament.



One area that does need attention is sentencing and parole. The soft handling and lenient sentences handed down by Indonesia's courts fail to send a strong message of moral condemnation and general deterrence for terrorism offences. Afif Abdul Majid, Bahrun and Sunakim are all cases in point. Around 90 percent of Indonesia's convicted terrorists have received sentences of 10 years or less.



And, after serving two-thirds of the head sentence, the prisoner can apply for parole, and will usually get it. Prosecutors, and judges in particular, need further special training in the handling of terrorism cases.



Given the escalation of the war in Iraq and Syria, attacks in Paris, San Bernardino and now Jakarta ' few would doubt a move by the President to use his constitutional power to enact a Perppu.



But the new law should not grant new policing powers which may jeopardize hard-won rights such as extended incommunicado preventative detention by unidentified intelligence agents. The terrorism law already allows seven days of pre-charge detention, compared to one day under the criminal law. And intelligence agencies can work with police in making arrests.



The current law allows an intelligence report to be used as evidence for arrest. If police or intelligence has information regarding any terrorist danger they have ample legal basis for acting. The position with regard to supporting or joining a group such as IS is not so solid, and hence should be clarified.



Further, these criminal law reforms should be clearly communicated to the public and combined with integrated government and community dialogue to identify communities at risk and take measures to counter the violent narratives of such groups.

________________________________________



The writer is researching counter terrorism laws for his PhD in law at Charles Darwin University Australia.
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Linkedin Wawan Sobari (The Jakarta Post) Malang, East Java  Thu, January 21, 2016

The 2015 simultaneous local elections succeeded in opening up opportunities for a number of underdogs through a few dramatic victories. A former graft convict defeating an incumbent in Solok, West Sumatra, is one example, as well as the success of non-party contenders who crushed incumbents in Bontang, East Kalimantan and Bukittinggi in West Sumatra.



The victories of young candidates in Trenggalek, East Java, Dharmasraya, West Sumatra, and Tanjung Balai in North Sumatra against incumbents were also surprising. Moreover, the failure of an incumbent in Bantul, Yogyakarta, ended a 15-year political dynasty.



Finally, the achievement of 24 female candidates was significant compared to the previous election period. The People's Voter Education Network (JPPR) recorded that from 2005 to 2008, only nine female candidates were elected regional heads in 466 local elections.



These crucial facts indicate that democracy has succeeded in opening up opportunities for potential challengers to obtain public office, especially the creative candidates. Democracy provides political space that encourages prospective challengers, specifically independent candidates, to compete and even gain victories.



To explain these odd political spaces, we can adapt the misfit philosophy in economic practices, particularly in business.



According to a noted book last year, The Misfit Economy: Lessons in Creativity from Pirates, Hackers, Gangsters and Other Informal Entrepreneurs, the misfit philosophy can be found among individuals or groups who dare to oppose the stability of old habits.



The writers, Alexa Clay and Kyra Maya Phillips, explain them as non-conformists who are more open to ambiguity, uncertainty and possibilities rather than reality.



Both authors also remark that this logic is fundamentally opposed to the established practice of the incumbent institutions.



The odd political space provides opportunity for political innovators to alter public's view about candidates who were previously underestimated. The eccentric challengers were able to form alternative ideas to attract voters for the sake of change in the regions.



The success of alternative figures in the elections was demonstrated by Ramlan Nurmatias in Bukitinggi and Neni Moerniaeni in Bontang.



Both independent candidates thrived to create an individual candidacy as a misfit political space in the elections and undermine the incumbents' effects on voters.



These candidates were able to symbolize the non-parties nomination as a starting point of change for their regions.



The ability to exploit the misfit political spaces in the elections was also demonstrated by contenders in Trenggalek. Although the young winning pair had been accused of vote-buying in previous elections, Emil E. Dardak-Mohammad Nur

Arifin, won over voters who preferred alternative candidates to incumbents. Since the first local election in Trenggalek in 2005, no incumbent has been able to survive a second term ' a challenge to Emil-Arifin themselves.



In a more optimistic view, the phenomenon of misfit democracy provides new opportunities for democratic accountability issues to get more attention. The elected leaders should be able to bring various breakthroughs in regional development.



The leaders can benefit from their ability to look for creative solutions to short term and long term local problems, together with local government offices, civil society, educators, health practitioners and the business community.



The phenomenon of misfit democracy offers a more optimistic perspective on democracy in the country. Amid strengthening local authoritarianism in the post-direct local election, Indonesia still has prospects as reflected in several distinguished leaderships.



Tri Rismaharini's prominent leadership in Surabaya, East Java, Nurdin Abdullah in Bantaeng, South Sulawesi, Ridwan Kamil in Bandung, West Java and Hasto Wardoyo in Kulon Progo in Yogyakarta are examples of the success of electoral democracy that can promote better local leadership with fruitful public policies.

_______________________________



The writer is a political science lecturer at Brawijaya University in Malang, East Java.
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta  Thu, January 21, 2016

The Jakarta Corruption Court sentenced Medan State Administrative Court (PTUN) judge Dermawan Ginting to two years in prison on Wednesday for accepting bribes in return for a ruling in favor of suspended North Sumatra governor Gatot Pujo Nugroho in July last year.



Dermawan was found guilty of accepting US$2,000 from Gatot's lawyer OC Kaligis for annulling a letter to start an investigation issued by the North Sumatra Prosecutor's Office against Gatot.



Prosecutors had launched the probe into alleged irregularities surrounding the disbursement of social aid funds worth billions of rupiah by the North Sumatra administration to ineligible recipients.



'The court also orders the defendant to pay a fine of Rp 200 million [$14,320],' said presiding judge Ibnu Basuki while reading the verdict at the court on Wednesday, adding that Dermawan would serve an additional two months in jail should he fail to pay the fine.



The sentence is lighter than the four years sought by Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) prosecutors, who also wanted the court to order Dermawan to pay a fine of Rp 200 million or serve another six months behind bars.



KPK investigators arrested Dermawan along with two other judges, Amir Fauzi and PTUN Medan head Tripeni Irianto Putro, for allegedly accepting bribes from Kaligis' aide Yagari 'Gary' Bhastara.



Last year, the KPK arrested Gatot and his wife Evi Susanti as well as Kaligis and Gary in the case.



Kaligis and Tripeni have been sentenced to five and two years behind bars, respectively. Meanwhile, the trials of Gatot, Evi, Gary and Amir are ongoing.
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Linkedin Imanuddin Razak (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, January 21, 2016

President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo's administration and the House of Representatives have proposed measures in response to the Jan. 14 terror attack in the heart of Jakarta.



In the immediate wake of the attack the government came up with a number of options, but eventually decided to revise the 2003 Terrorism Law to effectively and comprehensively combat the terrorist threat at home. The existing law was enacted over a decade ago in the aftermath of the 2002 Bali bombings.



In general, the government's decision to resort to the legal approach in dealing with the matter is unquestionably the most appropriate choice. By doing so, the government shows its commitment to the universal principle of the supremacy of the law in furthering its antiterrorism campaign.



However, the government has yet to unveil details of the proposals to amend the 2003 law. Bits of those proposals have only been hinted at by a number of Cabinet ministers and the National Police chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti, following an executive-legislative coordination meeting chaired by the President on Tuesday.



Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan has revealed that the government is seeking to grant the National Police more time to detain suspects for preventive and investigative purposes. He said on Tuesday that the government was also looking into the possibility of giving the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) and/or other security institutions the same powers that the police will have.



Echoing Luhut's statement, Badrodin said the police wanted the power to detain terrorist suspects for up to a month for questioning. He reiterated his support for an amendment to the 2003 law, saying that under the existing law, the police could only monitor people who had returned home from Syria after joining the Islamic State (IS) movement, but lacked the authority to arrest them for further investigation unless they were believed to have committed an actual terrorist offense.



Earlier on Monday, Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly revealed that he had proposed to President Jokowi a number of measures to improve the government's antiterrorism campaign. They included efforts to tighten security and control in penitentiaries, particularly those that house terrorist prisoners, and restrictions on visits to such prisons.



Yasonna's proposals also include giving the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) greater authority to make arrests and strengthening the powers of immigration officials to revoke the passports of people who have gone abroad to fight for IS.



All the revelations and arguments provided by the Cabinet ministers and the police chief are not without good grounds. Yasonna has emphasized that none of the proposed measures are intended to limit people's rights, but are for their own benefit and for the sake of the security of the country. Meanwhile, Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung said the government had learned from the recent attack that the existing law did not give authorities enough power to take 'preventive measures' against potential terrorists despite strong indications of their involvement in terrorist activities.



The question is whether the proposed measures are actually what the authorities need.



First, the idea of extending the detention period of terrorist suspects to at least one month for questioning is something of a non-issue. Most citizens, including rights activists, would have little argument with this proposal, as it could be used for thorough investigation and the securing of evidence to build a legal case against suspects. Reasonable concerns, however, might be expressed about the unlawful arrest and questioning of alleged perpetrators, such as the use of torture to extract confession of involvement or interrogation without the accompaniment of lawyers.



Second, the proposal to grant other security institutions the same authority to detain terrorist suspects is against the universal principle of criminal investigation that such power of detention is the exclusive domain of the police. Granting such authority to other institutions will only create complexity of investigation, including when it comes to deciding which institution should be held responsible when abuses occur during the investigation.



In general, the government's concerns, particularly in reference to the terror attack last week, have essentially been accommodated in the existing 2003 law. Any revision, therefore, should not overly change its content.



In regard to the lack of preventive measures on the part of the police ' and perhaps other security institutions, last week's terror attack had little to do with loopholes in the 2003 Terrorism Law. It came about in many ways as a result of the poor monitoring of terror suspects and a lack of preparation on the part of the security authorities, particularly the police.



Take the case of Afif, aka Sunakim, for instance. He was a convicted terrorist, who had served a jail term but refused to take part in the deradicalization program. He should have been the subject of extra attention by the security services and yet he was able to carry out his act of terror before he was killed in a gunfight with the police.



Another was the revelation by Deputy House Speaker Fahri Hamzah of the lack of foreknowledge by the state's intelligence authorities. As quoted in the media, Fahri said that fellow deputy House Speaker Fadli Zon had communicated with BIN chief Sutiyoso the night before the attack. 'But, what I heard from Fadli [Zon] was that Sutiyoso said nothing about any plan by terrorists to launch an attack [on the following day].'



The point here is that the police ' as well as other branches of the security apparatus ' need to improve and increase their vigilance, rather than seeking a major overhaul of the existing law.
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Linkedin Trisha Sertori (The Jakarta Post) Gianyar  Thu, January 21, 2016

Today, a once shoddy huddle of food carts along Gianyar's main drag glows, warm and inviting, in the cool evening.

Stretching into the distance down the street in Gianyar are dozens of carved wooden food carts laden with the best of Bali's street food. Arching overhead is a roof that extends the length of the open-air food market, transforming this public space into a culinary magnet each evening.



A recent renovation, taking the market up a level in comfort and appeal, was undertaken by the Gianyar regency administration with input and the supply of carved food carts from the food-cart vendors' organization, Senggol Graha Sari Bojo. This organization's members include food-cart vendors across the road at Gianyar's public market, explains I Wayan Agus Sudi Muradana.



Agus serves the iconic Indonesian dish nasi campur (mixed rice), almost a tapas style dish with titbits of rice, vegetables, tahu (tofu) and seafood or meat.



Just 29 years of age, Agus opened his food cart back in 2007 after learning the trade from his parents.



'We serve around 50 portions of food each evening. I think the food market has become more popular since the renovation. More people are coming here to eat, including foreigners. They are interested in Bali's traditional foods,' says Wayan on the benefits to his business from the renovation.



'The night market looks great, the food is good and there is lots of choice.' Wayan added that his business would continue to grow because the Gianyar food market had also stepped up in quality and style.



A customer, Budi from Gianyar city agrees. 'I am getting take away for the family. The food here is delicious and I come often because I can get sambal bawang mata (shallot and chili sauce), which is a Balinese specialty,' says Budi as he waits for his meal to be freshly cooked.



A few carts away is the open-air kitchen of Areip, a cook who has been selling lalapan (vegetables with sambal) for the past decade. Spiced chicken and catfish are being fried in his great roiling wok of oil before being served with spicy sambal and salad. His food could not be fresher, from the wok to the table in just minutes.



'I am originally from Surabaya, [and I lived there] 20 years ago, so I make lalapan, a Javanese dish,' says Areip. He believes the renovations, while not yet greatly improving sales, have certainly improved his work space and customer satisfaction.



'Business is up and down as usual, but customers are happier and far more comfortable. The renovations have made this market neat and clean. It's much better than it was in the past,' says Areip serving a dish of fried catfish to Ni Nyoman Warani from Tegalalang.

The mother of two says she comes to Areip's lalapan stall as a treat for her children.



'We come here occasionally to eat when we take the kids for an outing. I had the fish. It was pretty good. The sambal is really good and the renovations make this a clean and comfortable place for dinner,' she said.



A stroll past these carts delivers different aromas and sensations that draw diners in, each cart glistening with fried chicken, fresh vegetables, fish and pork. As the evening darkens the foods glisten under twinkling electric lights and tables in front of the food carts begin to fill with hungry customers.



At Wayan Wirasadi's suckling pig stall, the tables fill early. Wirasadi averages 150 portions an evening says his younger sister who calls herself simply Adik (younger sibling).



The crisp crackling of a golden suckling pig rests on a platter as Adik prepares another serve of the hot pork and vegetables they sell from the carved food cart. Her hands, clean but greasy with pig fat, work fast as she serves out pork, crackling, vegetables and a spicy sauce. 'We have been cooking suckling pig here for a very long time. The new space we have is much better than before, much cleaner,' says Adik who learned to prepare suckling pig from her grandmother.



'Our family has always been in this business.'



Seated at a table in front of the suckling pig stall, Komang Ayu and her family are just finishing their meal.



She has made the 30 minute drive south from Klungkung to eat at the newly renovated night market.



'We drove down to have the suckling pig, because it is so good here. It's that good, so we come often. Also the renovations have made this night market so clean and comfortable. It's inviting,' says Ayu.



Next door is the ayam betutu stall, serving slow-roasted chicken. Like suckling pig, the spicy dish is a Balinese favorite.





Agung Hadi from Mengwi has stopped by for an early dinner. 'The ayam betutu here is good. I eat here if I am passing on my way home from work. I like it because after the renovations it is very clean, and that makes it enjoyable,' says Hadi tucking into his plate piled high with chicken, nuts and vegetables.



For anyone in search of classic Balinese food in a clean, comfortable, yet traditional environment, Gianyar's night market is the place to head.



' Photos by JP/JB Djwan
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Linkedin Kevin Freking (The Jakarta Post) Detroit  Thu, January 21, 2016

President Barack Obama hailed the revival of the nation's auto industry on Wednesday while acknowledging the water crisis in nearby Flint, Michigan, saying the detection of high levels of lead serve as a reminder that the government can't shortchange basic services.

Speaking to auto workers after taking in the North American International Auto Show, Obama said he would be beside himself if his children's health were put at risk. He said he met with Flint's mayor the day before and promised federal help.

"I told her we are going to have her back and all the people of Flint back as they work their way through this terrible tragedy," he said.

Obama sought to highlight how his administration provided the auto industry with billions of dollars in capital during the heart of the Great Recession even as many others were calling for the government to focus its resources elsewhere. He said the outcome of his administration's bet is evident through a much-improved economy. Americans purchased nearly 17.5 million vehicles last year, a record.

"What's true of Detroit is true of the country," he said. "I want people to remember how far we've come."

Obama spoke at the UAW-GM Center for Human Resources, the national headquarters of the joint relationship between the United Auto Workers union and General Motors. His visit took place as longstanding problems with the drinking water in Flint have begun to capture the nation's attention.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder asked Obama on Wednesday to reconsider his denial of a federal disaster declaration to address the drinking water crisis, saying its severity poses an "imminent and long-term threat" to residents. Obama declared an emergency ' qualifying the city for $5 million ' but determined that it is not a disaster based on the legal requirement that such additional relief is intended for natural events, fires, floods or explosions.

The president spent nearly an hour at the auto show, looking at crash avoidance technology from ZF TRW and sitting in a 2017 Chevy Bolt EV, an all-electric car that will be available late this year. He also looked at a new Chrysler Pacifica minivan.

"You guys remember, 'Get Shorty,' right?" Obama said to reporters and photographers. "It's cool driving a minivan."

After arriving in Detroit, Obama had lunch at a brewery with Mayor Mike Duggan, a GM employee and others, then stopped at watch maker Shinola before heading to the show. He eventually veered off in the direction of a bright yellow 2017 Chevrolet Corvette.

"That one is juiced up a little more," he said.

The White House clearly intended to shine the spotlight on Detroit, but problems in Flint have intervened. The federal emergency declaration allows up to $5 million in assistance and requires a 25 percent match in funding from the state. The White House also appointed a Health and Human Services official to coordinate federal help provided to local responders and the state.

The crisis began in 2014 when a state-appointed emergency manager switched Flint from Detroit water to Flint River water to save money. The corrosive water caused lead to leach from old pipes. Flint returned to the Detroit system in October after elevated lead levels were discovered in children.

As to the auto industry, the US treasury invested about $80 billion in it during the last recession. After counting loan repayments, dividends and stock sales, the federal government recovered $70.5 billion.

Obama can't take all of the credit for the government's help. President George W. Bush initiated the auto bailout with more than $17 billion in short-term loans. Under ordinary circumstances, Bush said he wouldn't have favored intervening to prevent auto makers from going out of business, but in the midst of a financial crisis and recession, allowing the industry to collapse would send the country into a deeper and longer recession.

The Obama administration also provided additional capital to help Chrysler and GM continue operating as they restructured operations before and during a Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding. The companies shuttered plants, laid off workers and cut ties with thousands of dealerships.

Associated Press writer David Eggert contributed to this report.
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Linkedin Jill Colvin & Sean Murphy (The Jakarta Post) Tulsa, Oklahoma  Thu, January 21, 2016

Conservative firebrand Sarah Palin joined Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in Oklahoma Wednesday as part of her endorsement pledge in the increasingly intense race for the Republican nomination.

"Are you all ready to work to make America great again?" Palin asked a crowd of thousands packed into an arena at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, echoing Trump's campaign mantra.

Palin, who was absent from Trump's Wednesday morning event in Norwalk, Iowa, despite an expected appearance, rejoined the Trump campaign in Tulsa, warming up the crowd ahead of the candidate's speech. But Palin also struck a personal tone, alluding to problems her son and other returning military vets endure when returning to civilian life and suggesting that President Barack Obama's lack of support for veterans was related.

"It's kind of the elephant in the room," she began, addressing her family's struggle.

Palin's oldest son, Track, was arrested earlier this week in a domestic violence case in which his girlfriend told police she was afraid he would shoot himself with a rifle. Track Palin was charged with assault, interfering with the report of a domestic violence crime and possessing a weapon while intoxicated in connection with the incident at Palin's home. Track Palin enlisted in the Army on the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and spent a year deployed in Iraq.

"My son, like so many others, they come back a bit different, they come back hardened," said Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee. "They come back wondering if there is that respect for what it is that their fellow soldiers and airmen and every other member of the military so sacrificially have given to this country. And that starts from the top."

The experience, she added, "makes me realize more than ever it is now or never, for the sake of America's finest, that we have that commander in chief who will respect them and honor them."

The White House declined to comment on Palin's remarks. A spokeswoman for Trump's campaign did not respond to questions about why Palin was a no-show at the Iowa event.

Palin, the former governor of Alaska, announced her support for Trump on Tuesday, hours after Track Palin's arrest became public. She erupted onto the stage in Ames, Iowa, clad in a sparkly jacket, singing Trump's praises and declaring that, with his election, there would be "no more pussy-footing around."

"Yesterday was amazing in every way," Trump told supporters Wednesday.

He bragged later that "Everybody wanted her endorsement," but she'd chosen him. "She said what you're doing, Donald, is amazing. It's a movement."

The endorsement, which gives Trump a boost of conservative, anti-establishment credibility, comes as the billionaire businessman is locked in a dead heat with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in Iowa, where the caucuses will be held Feb. 1. Palin endorsed Cruz in his 2012 Senate race and said as recently as last month that he and Trump were both in her top tier of candidates, making the endorsement a symbolic blow to Cruz. (rin)

Associated Press writer Josh Lederman contributed to this report.
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Linkedin Indra Budiari (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Thu, January 21, 2016

Most Jakarta neighborhoods have their own go-to guys and errand boys to repair leaking roofs, cut tall bamboo for fences, repair clogged sinks and paint walls.



But a rising number of startups riding the digital wave are offering more 'reliable and qualified' professionals for your home improvement projects, from cleaning air conditioners to fixing the pipes.



Lazuardy, a lawyer in his late 20s, is one of the people that started using internet services to find professional helpers to work on house improvement jobs.



In November he moved out of his parents' house in Bekasi, West Java, and rented a house in Bintaro, South Tangerang, Banten. One day, he tried to look for a repair person on the internet after his old refrigerator broke.



'I had just been here a month and did not know anyone in the neighborhood yet,' he told The Jakarta Post recently, adding that it was impossible to ask his parents' go-to-guy to come all the way to Bintaro.



'The repairman came to my house only one day after I ordered via the website,' he continued.



With an increasing number of people experiencing similar problems in the capital, a number of startup companies have started offering services that link professional helpers with potential clients.



Online services include seekmi.com, carijasa.co.id, sejasa.com and handyhome.in. The companies also offer benefits to clients, emphasizing that the service will find the best person for the job.



For example, seekmi.com, asks clients to submit a request form via their website, as well as their location, a contact number and the allocated budget for the work.



Seekmi co-founder Clarissa Leung said she believed there was a high demand in Indonesia and especially Jakarta, for workers for home improvement jobs, while residents also experienced difficulties finding qualified workers.



'We know that finding a qualified repairman in your area and within your budget is not an easy job,' Clarissa told the Post. 'You can ask your neighbor to fix the broken electronics but who knows about their qualifications, and you cannot always rely on your parents to clean your house.'



Most Indonesian middle-class households have domestic helpers and therefore many children in Jakarta grow up without ever having to do any chores and are thus often clueless when faced with household problems.



Clarissa said that despite the fact that a lot of people were still asking neighbors to get their hoursehold jobs done, people's behavior was rapidly changing, and sometime in the future most residents would prefer to hire a professional worker instead of a 'local hand'.



While most of the jobs requested on seekmi.com are air conditioning repairs, the company also provides various professional workers in accordance with clients' needs, including yoga teachers, photographers and Protestant priests.



Some Protestants sometimes require priests to hold prayers at family events such as a housewarming.



Dhani, a customer of Go-Clean, a house cleaning service that was recently launched by motorbike taxi app company Go-Jek, said that the app was really helpful as she lived in a house in which all family members worked long office hours



'My domestic worker recently passed away and we don't want to hire another one, the selection process is too troublesome,' she said. Dhani added that she paid Rp 200,000 (US$14.30) for three hours of cleaning at her four-bedroom house. 'It is quite expensive, but for now it's the best option for me,' she said.

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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta  Thu, January 21, 2016

The Ansor Youth Movement (GP Ansor), Nahdlatul Ulama's youth wing, reported a kindergarten textbook reportedly containing radical Islamic teachings to the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) on Thursday.

Formerly used at a kindergarten in Depok, West Java, the Anak Islam Suka Membaca [Muslim Kids Like Reading] textbook reportedly contains 32 sentences that have the potential to spread radicalism among children.

KPAI secretary-general Erlinda, who reported the finding to the National Police, said the dissemination of radicalism through textbooks should be of utmost concern to everyone as it violated children's rights.

"Violence against children is not only physical but can also be in the form of teachings such as radicalism," Erlinda said as quoted by tempo.co.

On Wednesday, GP Ansor found 32 sentences that it claimed promoted radical teachings in a textbook on spelling, following a report from parents of a kindergartner in Depok.

The textbook, which was compiled and published in Surakarta, Central Java, apparently contains sentences such as "sahid di medan jihad" [die as a jihadist], "rela mati bela agama" [willingly die for religion], "hati-hati zona bahaya" [warning, dangerous zone] and "bahaya sabotase" [danger of sabotage].

"If this continues, we will be penetrated [by radical teachings]," Erlinda said.

Parents and teachers should be more aware of the content of school textbooks by reading them before giving them to their children to make sure they are not exposed to inappropriate and radical teachings, she added.

Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Anton Charliyan said the police would investigate KPAI's report to find the person responsible for the book's circulation. (afr)
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Linkedin Khoirul Amin (The Jakarta Post)  Thu, January 21, 2016

Indonesia's textile industry players are hoping a free-trade agreement with four non-EU countries will give local garment and footwear manufacturers greater access to the European market.



Indonesian Textile Association (API) chairman Ade Sudrajat said on Tuesday that the agreements with Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, collectively known as the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), were expected to open more widely the door to other European countries as well.



'While the countries are small in size and population, their per-capita income is relatively high ['], and there's a chance for an agreement between the EFTA and the EU that will ease the flow of our products,' he said.



According to Ade, Indonesian textile products are currently subject to import tariffs between 11 and 30 percent in the four countries. Reducing tariffs to zero percent would make Indonesian goods more competitive.



Indonesian Footwear Association (Aprisindo) chairman Eddy Widjanarko, meanwhile, said an agreement with the EFTA would definitely help increase shoe exports to the four countries, but he said he did not expect too much.



Footwear and apparel are among Indonesia's foremost export goods to the EFTA countries. Indonesian footwear exports to the EFTA countries rose from US$46.87 million in 2010 to $93.26 million in 2014, when they accounted for almost 18 percent of total Indonesian exports to the four countries, according to EFTA data. Woven and knitted apparel contributed a further 20 percent of Indonesian exports to EFTA countries.



Ade from the textile association added that EFTA markets harbored great potential for Indonesian textile products, as the countries' four seasons encouraged fashion trends.



Meanwhile, Mahmud Syaltout, an international trade law and policy expert with the University of Indonesia (UI), argued that the government needed to aim for a wider partnership with the EFTA countries, as trade links were 'already good'.



According to Mahmud, the government could lobby for more investment from the four countries, transfer of technology and greater involvement in the global value chain.



The Trade Minister's special staff member for international trade policy, Iman Pambagyo, said the government would resume talks on Indonesia-EFTA trade this year and that it would seek for lower tariffs on processed agricultural goods as well as bigger investment in various sectors.



EFTA countries currently imposed price compensation measures in addition to import tariffs on processed agricultural goods, subjecting Indonesian agricultural products to total levies of 40 percent, he said.




Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 21

Trend:

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev met with head of the Administration of the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mohammad Nahavandian in Davos Jan. 20.

The current high-level of bilateral ties between the two countries which have dynamically developed over the last years was praised at the meeting.

Nahavandian conveyed greetings and best wishes of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to President Aliyev.

President Aliyev congratulated President Rouhani and people of Iran on the occasion of the lifting of sanctions imposed on the country. President Aliyev said this would contribute to rapid development of cooperation between the two countries in all fields.

President Aliyev noted that Azerbaijani-Iranian relations served the best interests of both countries, and would contribute to the strengthening of stability and security in the region as well.

The sides broadly discussed the implementation of joint projects. The existence of wide opportunities for developing economic cooperation in banking, transport and other spheres was emphasized.

Nahavandian said the lifting of the sanctions opened up broader opportunities for Iran, adding Azerbaijan and Iran can take advantage of this to realize new projects and further deepen the cooperation through involving other countries.

They underlined the importance of developing Azerbaijani-Iranian cooperation in the transport sector for the region.

The sides also discussed opportunities for implementing new projects in the fields of industry, construction of power stations, investment making and other areas. They also emphasized the significance of combining efforts against terrorism in terms of cementing security and stability in the region.

President Aliyev thanked for the greetings of President Rouhani, and asked Nahavandian to communicate his greetings to the Iranian president.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 21

Trend:

The close US-Azerbaijan partnership can be better explained by three major strategic factors: Azerbaijan's significance as an energy transit point linking Central Asia to Europe; the country's resistance to Russian sovereignty violations in Georgia and Ukraine; and Azerbaijan's solidarity with the US against both terrorism and Shiite radicalization, said the article by Samuel Ramani published in the Washington Post.

"Azerbaijan has extensive offshore oil reserves on the Caspian Sea and is an important link in the energy trade between central Asia and Europe," said the article. "US companies have invested substantially in developing the oil and natural gas industry in the Caspian Sea."

Both the Bush and Obama administrations have treated the stable and expanded flow of energy from this region as vital to the US geopolitical interests, Ramani said in his article, adding that stable Caspian Sea energy trade dilutes Europe's dependence on Russian gas and restricts Iranian influence, thereby strengthening US allies relative to its long-standing adversaries.

In 2008, the Republican Senator Richard Lugar, then head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee described Azerbaijan as the US sole friend on the Caspian basin, a friend valuable as an oil supplier to US allies, according to the article. Lugar also expressed the need for the US to appoint a special representative tasked with preserving long-term US interests in the Caspian Sea, Ramani added in his article.

Azerbaijan would become an even more important player in the global energy trade if Turkmenistan manages to build its proposed Trans-Caspian Gas pipeline, the author said. This pipeline would link Turkmenistan, which holds the world's fourth largest natural gas reserves, to the European Union, placing Baku at the center of the energy transit network, according to the article.

In response to increased Western interest in Azerbaijan, Baku has since 2004 rhetorically supported Azerbaijan's increasing integration with Europe, the article said.

For much of the post-Soviet period, Azerbaijan has carefully balanced its foreign policy between Russia and the West, the author said.

"Azerbaijan's refusal to join the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) in favor of pursuing closer economic ties with the West took its long-standing balancing act between Europe and Russia to a new level," according to the article.

Western countries seeking allies in the post-Soviet region have had few choices, the article said. Armenia is a staunch Russian ally, Ramani said in his article, adding that Georgia's sovereignty has been undermined by Russia's incursions at its border. And so the US and NATO have expanded military cooperation with Azerbaijan, especially in the Special Forces and navy, to maintain a foothold in the Caucasus, said the article.

Ramani said in his article that Azerbaijan also works with the West against terrorism.

Since September 2011, Azerbaijan has cooperated with the US on counterterrorism efforts, the article said. "Many US allies in Europe and the Middle East opposed the 2003 Iraq War - but Azerbaijan opened its airspace for US planes working to topple Saddam Hussein's regime," the author said. "And Azerbaijan was a transit hub for more than one-third of the fuel, food and clothing used by US military personnel in Afghanistan."

Azerbaijan has also helped preempt a major terrorist attack against the US and Israeli embassies in Baku in 2012 by arresting 22 Azerbaijanis for alleged cooperation with Sepah, an Iranian terror group, Ramani said.

Azerbaijan is also working against the terrorist group "Islamic State", the article said.
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Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 21

Trend:

Information on losses provided by the Armenian defense ministry is unfounded and fictitious, the press service of the defense ministry of Azerbaijan said Jan. 21.

In accordance with the information of Armenian media outlets alone, the losses of the country's armed forces amount to 83 people dead and 100 wounded.

The information spread by the official representative of the Armenian defense ministry that allegedly the losses of the Armenian armed forces amounted to 57 people in 2015 doesn't coincide with the official information provided during the year.

According to approximate calculations, Armenian losses in 2015 exceeded 276 people, said the Azerbaijani ministry.

Armenians also started the year 2016 with losses, and they have been trying to cover them up. As an example, Azerbaijani defense ministry brought up the case of Armenian soldier Edgar Avetisyan, who shot himself accidentally on Jan. 19, 2016, but the Armenian side decided not to disclose the issue.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the UN Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 21

Trend:

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev met with the European Commission Vice-President for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic in Davos Jan. 21.

They expressed satisfaction with the level of cooperation between Azerbaijan and the European Union in various areas, including in the field of energy.

The sides stressed the importance of Azerbaijan`s role in ensuring energy security of Europe, and the significance of the Southern Gas Corridor in this regard.

Successful realization of the Southern Gas Corridor project was emphasized, and the European Commission`s full support for the implementation of this project was stressed during the meeting.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 21

By Aygun Badalova - Trend:

Trend Agency's exclusive interview with Amos J. Hochstein, US Secretary of State's Special Envoy for International Energy Affairs, Bureau of Energy Resources.

Can you please share your views on the current state of the U.S. - Azerbaijan relationship?

The United States and Azerbaijan enjoy a strong relationship, working together for the last 23 years since Azerbaijan's independence. We have strengthened this bilateral relationship though our partnership on regional energy security. As is often the case with friends, we don't always agree on all things but we clearly understand the importance of the relationship. Both our countries work hard to ensure that whatever differences we may have don't affect our shared strategic interests both regionally and internationally.

You are known as a strong supporter of the Southern Gas Corridor. Can you please tell us what you think about Azerbaijan's contribution to regional and global energy security?

Azerbaijan plays a critical role in global energy security and in particular a key role for real energy security in Europe. In the 1990s, when the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, or the BTC, pipeline was being conceptualized, it was the vision and understanding of the leadership of Azerbaijan, who in sharing that vision with then President Clinton, at that time recognized that this pipeline was about more than just oil in a pipe, it was about the strategic nature of Azerbaijan as a member of the international community and the world energy community.

This pipeline allowed for oil from the Caspian region, for the first time, to reach international markets on a free market basis. I see the Southern Corridor as completing the circle that began with President Heydar Aliyev in the 1990s with BTC and being completed by President Ilham Aliyev with the Southern Gas Corridor.

Europe today suffers from a legacy of infrastructure that commits several countries to an untenable position of being forced to buy gas from Russia, a single dominant supplier who uses that position as political leverage for economic and political coercion. The Southern Corridor bringing gas from Azerbaijan all the way into Europe, is the only true diversification project in Europe today because it brings new gas through a new route providing real option for competition.

That is why I believe Azerbaijan's role in energy security in Europe is so critical and since energy security is the foundation of economic security and national security for every country, that means Azerbaijan plays a critical role in the overall national and economic security of Europe.

Secretary of State Kerry and other high-level officials often mention the Southern Gas Corridor in their speeches. Everyone also remembers the strong support of the US for the strategic and successful Baku Tbilisi Ceyhan oil pipeline. What does the US do in support of the Southern Corridor? What is your own role in this process?

As the Secretary of State's Special Envoy for International Energy Affairs, I've dedicated a significant portion of my time over the past nearly five years I've been in this job, to ensuring the success of the Southern Corridor. Many years ago, at the beginning of the BTC discussions, most people doubted the possibility of translating the BTC from a vision into a reality because of the political challenges such a pipeline posed and yet it has become a reality.

Compare that to the ambition of the Southern Corridor which is an even more complicated pipeline. It requires the building of infrastructure from Azerbaijan, through Georgia, Turkey, Greece to Albania and ultimately to Italy with an interconnection from Greece into Bulgaria.

This involves several governments, several systems of governance, different regulations, and a wide variety of legal issues; not to mention the technical complexity of such a pipeline. The United States, who has no companies involved in this project and has nothing to gain economically, believes that this critical project is so important that we have followed it from day one until today.

We have worked to ensure that we do whatever we can, on an almost weekly basis, to offer the kind of support that smooths out differences when they arise and helps figure out the way forward when difficulties present themselves.

While I can't go into details of diplomatic engagements, I can assure you that not a week goes by when I or my team are not having discussions on these issues. And I want you to know, the commitment to this project is shared beyond my efforts but also by Secretary Kerry, Vice President Biden and President Obama; all have supported this project with action, not just speeches and words.

Recently, a bill driven by the Armenian lobby was introduced by Congressman Chris Smith. This bill does not just hurt the U.S. - Azerbaijan relationship, it also undermines strategic projects such as energy security and transportation that the US supports and has a negative impact of US allies in Europe as well as Israel and Turkey. What is your view on this bill? Some say the US Administration is against the bill, while some believe the State Department is behind it. Is there a clear answer to these questions?

It must be understood that the United States has three branches of government and that our Congress plays its own role. Every member of Congress has the prerogative, the right, to introduce legislation.

The process is a long one requiring adoption of proposed legislation by both our House of Representatives and Senate; only then can it be signed into law by the President if he or she so chooses. I don't comment on what is and is not appropriate for Members of Congress to do. Each Member is entitled to express their views and propose legislation. But I will remind you that at this time it is a proposed legislation. The U.S. Department of State is not involved in legislation as that is the purview of the United States Congress.
Fear and freedom: What driving a car brings for Afghan women

AFGHANISTAN: Since Rokhsar Azamee began driving the streets of Kabul last year, she has endured condescension, ridicule, and even threats to her life with some men deliberately causing accidents to harass her. But she will not be deterred.

transportculturereligion

By AFP

Thursday 21 January 2016, 11:57AM

Afghan woman, Rokhsar Azamee, 23, drives her car as Afghan youths stare at her in the streets of Kabul. Photo: Wakil Kohsar/AFP

The 23-year-old journalist learned to drive to avoid aggravation from men in the street as she waited each morning for a taxi with a driver who would not hassle her on the way to work.

But even the purchase of her own car has not shielded her from condemnation in the male-dominated, ultra-conservative society of Afghanistan.

For many men, she says, it is a new thing to see a woman drive a car, they will harass you. One way to do so is by causing an accident.

Once as she was heading home in her white 1997 Toyota Corolla, she was followed by a group of four or five men driving an SUV.

Her anxiety growing, she kept driving until they blocked her in a semi-deserted street in downtown Kabul, forcing her to pull over.

But as the men began to clamber out of their vehicle, she saw her chance to escape  reversing quickly then hitting the accelerator.

It was very horrible experience for me, she says.

It was not always like this. Up until the 1990s Afghan women were commonly found behind the wheel  even driving buses, in the big cities at least.

But in 1992, when the communist regime in Kabul collapsed and civil war broke out, women drivers were slowly discouraged.

And as the extremist Taliban group swept to power in 1996, women were banned not only from driving, but from even leaving their homes without a burqa or the company of a male chaperone.

Change did not come again until the US invasion toppled the Taliban from power in late 2001 and a government backed by Washington took over.

Gender equality was enshrined in the Afghan constitution, and millions of women came out from the shadows to attend schools and universities and work in offices again.

Fourteen years on, however, the idea of a woman driver is still seen as controversial, provocative and even immoral.

Islam does not prohibit women from driving, but laws and cultural norms vary throughout the Islamic world, from Saudi Arabia  where women are banned from driving entirely  to Iran and Pakistan, where women drivers are more common.

In Afghanistan, woman drivers are seen as a Western imposition and a rejection of Muslim values, Babrak, an Afghan man in his fifties said in a recent interview.

Women, especially young girls, driving can increase immorality and even lead to prostitution in Islamic societies, he says.

These women driving encourage our devout Muslim sisters towards immorality. It is becoming intolerable.

His view is not uncommon in Afghanistan where ultra-conservative men fear such freedoms increase womens independence and the lack of a male chaperone will result in increasingly liberal behaviour.

But in big cities like Kabul women are attempting to shift change into high gear. The increase in the number of women drivers has been growing at a steady rate: Kabuls traffic department estimates show that up to 1,000 women each year now apply to join driving schools in the Afghan capital alone.

In the early years after the end of Taliban rule that figure hovered around 50, Kabuls traffic police chief General Asadullah said.

The women have the right to learn, they have the right to drive, and we encourage them for that, he says.

Social activist Sohaila Sama, 25, looks forward to driving her own car to the green plains of northern Afghanistan without persecution.

I have felt better, more confident since I learned how to drive, she says.

When I see other women drive their vehicles, I feel like our country is moving forward towards a better future, a more civilised one.

The progress is promising, but it may not be enough.

A Taliban resurgence in recent months has UN officials and rights activists fearing that the fragile gains women have made could be further eroded when international forces eventually leave.

Testimony from womens rights activists who fled the Talibans recent brief capture of the northern city of Kunduz revealed harrowing stories of death squads methodically targeting women  an ominous blueprint of what could happen should the insurgents ever return to power.

Azamee  who, bareheaded and with the radio blaring, who took a ride through the streets of the capital  is frustrated but determined she will not back down.

I am proud, because when I started driving, I think I set an example for other women, she says.

Yesterday one of my friends called and said, You have to come to my office.

I said, Why? She said, I have bought a car and I will take you around the city.

I was like, that is cool!
Five illegal tour guides arrested in Phuket

PHUKET: In a joint operation, officials from Bureau of Tourism Business and Guide Registration, Southern Region 2; Royal Thai Navy Third Area Command and police yesterday (Jan 20) arrested five men for allegedly working as illegal tour guides.

tourismcrimeMyanmar

By Eakkapop Thongtub

Thursday 21 January 2016, 02:50PM

The five men were arrested when the vehicles they were travelling on were stopped and cecked at the Tha Chatchai checkpoint.

The five men were arrested when the vehicles they were travelling on were stopped and cecked at the Tha Chatchai checkpoint.

The five men were arrested when the vehicles they were travelling on were stopped and cecked at the Tha Chatchai checkpoint.

The five men were arrested when the vehicles they were travelling on were stopped and cecked at the Tha Chatchai checkpoint.

The five men were arrested when the vehicles they were travelling on were stopped and cecked at the Tha Chatchai checkpoint.

Santi Pawai Chief of Ministry of Tourism and Sport Phuket office speaks to the media following the arrests,

The arrests have resulted in their employers licences being suspended for 15 days.

The operation saw the team carry out searches of 66 tour buses and minivans as they passed through the Tha Chatchai checkpoint when returning to Phuket from Phang-nga as it has been found that a number of tour vehicles that pass through the checkpoint often have illegal tour guides on board.

We checked their job orders, tour guide licences and also tourist safety measures according to the provincial policy, said Santi Pawai Chief of Ministry of Tourism and Sport Phuket office.

We found five illegal tour guides, one from Myanmar and four hill tribe people who are classed as aliens, he said.

The five were named as Ar-lu Sae Chee, 27, (non Thai citizen); Tun Lungchuay, 28, (non Thai citizen); Ar-maw, 27, Burmese; Siripong Sae-Chao (non Thai citizen) and Kaisiang Sae-li (non Thai citizen).

As this is the first time they have been caught working illegally we suspended their employers [tour guide companies] licences for 15 days as a warning. If we find them working illegally a second time we will suspend the businesses for 30 days. If they are found a third time their licences will be revoked for good, Mr Santi said.

We want all tourists to feel secure while traveling in Thailand and also to send a message to every tour company that we are serious about our regulations. So do not lure or cheat the tourist and follow the rules please, he added.

The five men are to be charged with working illegally as tour guides, the punishment of which is a fine of not more than B100,000 and/or imprisonment of not more than one year.
Phi Phi park official returns B100,000 to tourist

PHUKET: A national park officer on the popular Koh Phi Phi Don has returned B100,000 to an Iranian tourist who lost his wallet on a beach.

tourism

By Bangkok Post

Thursday 21 January 2016, 08:53AM

Mr Wuthichai (right) shakes hand with the cheerful Mr Karamari while handing the lost money to him. Photo: Bangkok Post

Wuthichai Prathumthong, chief of a forest protection unit of Hat Noppharat Thara-Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park, found a pair of trousers with a wallet full of money in the pocket on Ao Maya beach on Tuesday (Jan 19). The wallet contained Thai and US dollar banknotes worth more than B100,000 He kept the items at his office at Ao Maya and reported the find to park chief Sarayut Tantian. A tour company contacted the park late in the evening and asked if any officer had found a pair of trousers with a wallet inside belonged to its 36-year-old Iranian customer Mozen Karamari. The smiling Mr Karamari picked up his belongings from Mr Wuthichai at his office yesterday (Jan 20), saying he was very glad to have his money back. Read original story here.
Phuket charter yacht grounds halfway to Phi Phi

PHUKET: A yacht that drifted offshore from Phi Phi Island yesterday evening (Jan 21) was found washed onto rocks at Koh Keow, halfway between Phuket and Phi Phi Island, this morning.

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By The Phuket News

Thursday 21 January 2016, 06:00PM

The yacht was found grounded on rocks on Koh Keow, halfway between Phuket and Phi Phi Island, this morning. Photo: O. Khudoleev / RU-DIVING Dive center

No people were on board the stricken yacht when it grounded, confirmed Maj Col Seksan Boonlert of the Krabi City Police.

We received a report from the yacht captain at 9pm last night reporting that his yacht was missing, he told The Phuket News today.

He said that no people were on board the boat. He had taken his passengers ashore by longtail at 7pm, and when he returned a couple of hours later, the boat was gone.

At this stage it seems the yacht drifted off anchor from strong winds last night, he said.

We received a report at 10:30am today that the yacht had been found grounded on Koh Keow, Col Seksan added.

Col Seksan did not name the captain or the boat, but did report that the captain said he had chartered the yacht from Phuket-based company Sail Active.

Right now, I am waiting to hear their plans of how they are going to recover the boat, he said.
The promised land? The struggle for Rastafaris in Ethiopia

ETHIOPIA: They came from across the world to Ethiopia in search of their promised land, but for many Rastafarians, struggling to win even basic rights, the dream never materialised.

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By AFP

Thursday 21 January 2016, 04:20PM

A 500-hectare (1,200-acre) plot of land in the Ethiopian town of Shashamene, was offered to descendents of slaves who wanted to return home. Photo: Justine Boulo/AFP

How did we survive so far? I wonder, said Reuben Kush, the grey-bearded president of the Ethiopian World Federation, a branch of Rastafarianism.

Mr Kush left his home in Birmingham in Britain a decade ago to join a Rastafarian community based in the southern Ethiopian town of Shashamane, 250 kilometres south of Addis Ababa.

But in decades of existence, the settlements around 500 members have failed to win legal rights to property, education or work.

Celebrating the 85th anniversary last month of the 1930 crowning of their messiah, Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie, the dreadlocked group sway in a circle chanting to a drum beat Emperor Selassie I, Jah Rastafari.

Rastafarianism  which jettisoned to worldwide notice in the 1960s and 70s with the music of reggae stars and committed Rastafaris Bob Marley and Jimmy Cliff  first emerged as a spiritual movement in the 1930s among descendants of African slaves in Jamaica, who adopted Haile Selassie as their leader at a time when he stood out as the only independent black monarch in Africa.

They even took their name from his pre-coronation title, Ras for head and his birth name Tafari Makonnen. The King of Kings was deposed then killed by a military junta in 1974.

A supporter of decolonisation and cooperation among African states then largely under European control, Haile Selassie in the 1950s set aside 500 hectares in Shashamane to welcome back descendants of slaves seeking to return home.

Ethiopia is our land, for we blacks in the West, said Mr Kush.

Rastafarians say it was the divinity of the land that drew them to Ethiopia, mentioned in the Bible more than 30 times and believed to be the birthplace of the Queen of Sheba, who visited the wise King Solomon.

In the late 1970s, Mengistu Haile Mariams Marxist-Leninist regime confiscated the Shashamane plot, prompting most Rastas to flee its authoritarian rule.

When Mengistus rule was toppled in 1991, some returned. But life in the promised land remains a struggle, with exile followed by exclusion.

The Emperor had given us 500 hectares - today we live on six or seven hectares, said Mr Kush. Today, we have no control over our property.

Though many turned their backs on their country of origin by not renewing their passports, they have not been granted Ethiopian nationality, leaving them effectively stateless.

In tightly controlled Ethiopia, still run by Communist-inspired ex-rebels, land is a sensitive issue with Rastas neither allowed to file building permits or own property.

Nor can they work, pay taxes or send their children to university.

Whats disappointing is that I have to confess to my relatives back home that we arent integrated here either, Mr Kush said.

On the recent anniversary of the emperors coronation, Rastafarians gathered as reggae music played and psalms were sung in a church painted red, yellow and green  the colours of both the Ethiopian and Rastafarian flags.

The smell of marijuana hung in air.

We want to be identified as natural Ethiopians now  not as Jamaican, nor American! said Paul Phang, a Rastafari leader, without fully clarifying what he meant.

The Rastas political wing, the Ethiopian World Federation, started in the 1930s but is still lobbying for their basic rights.

Were here to stay. We havent been kicked out of Ethiopia after all these years, that means we are accepted, Mr Kush said.

But they remain in legal limbo.

Our needs are basic human rights needs, Mr Kush added. We need to be able to tell our children that they have a state. Children are being born here and being classed as stateless  not able to get identification here and not able to get IDs from the countries where their parents come from. So were in a limbo.

But with each Rastafarian church celebrating its own way, there are political divisions within the movement too.

If every one of us was in accord, then these natural rights would have been granted to us already, said Mr Phang, a priest from the Bobo Ashanti Rastafari group.

So because of this different ideology, different thinking, its like we cannot approach the government in our oneness.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 21

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President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev met with President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Suma Chakrabarti Jan. 21.

The level of cooperation between Azerbaijan and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development was praised at the meeting. Views on economic reforms carried out in Azerbaijan were exchanged.

The existence of great potential for further deepening cooperation between Azerbaijan and ERDB was emphasized and new opportunities were discussed in this regard.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 21



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President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev met with Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Susan Hauser in Davos Jan. 21.



The parties noted that the information and communication technologies system is successfully developing in Azerbaijan. It was also noted that this sphere was of great importance. Microsoft's attention to this area in Azerbaijan was underlined.



The sides noted the role of information and communication technologies in modernizing Azerbaijan's economy, adding education and space industry were priority areas in this regard.



The implementation of pilot projects in the field of agriculture with the application of the information and communication technologies in Azerbaijan was emphasized.



The sides also discussed how to expand cooperation between Azerbaijan and Microsoft.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 21



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Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev made a phone call to his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani Jan. 21, the Azerbaijani president's press service said.



President Aliyev conveyed congratulations to President Rouhani and Iranian people in connection with lifting of the sanctions imposed on Iran and wished success.



"Azerbaijan has always been against these sanctions and made official statements on this issue," President Aliyev said.



He once again expressed gratification with lifting of sanctions.



President Rouhani thanked President Aliyev for the congratulations and kind words and expressed confidence in the successful development of relations in the future.



The presidents discussed the development of friendly and partnership relations between the countries, energy issues, the connection of railways of the two countries, the construction of the Astara-Astara railway, implementation of investment projects and other issues.
Pierre, Tea Area lives up to hype and more from HS football week nine
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 21

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Azerbaijan's economy is stable and sustainable, said President Ilham Aliyev Jan. 21, speaking at 'The New Energy Equation' session held as part of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The president said it is difficult to expect the oil price going lower, but having this situation today, a decrease in oil price will not be surprising.

He also said that despite the decrease in oil prices, Azerbaijan has kept the social package in place.

Talking about coordination with OPEC, President Aliyev said that Azerbaijan is ready to do it, and actually that was a part of the discussions with some of OPEC members.

The president added that though Azerbaijan is not a big oil producer, more coordination between OPEC members and large non-OPEC members with respect of the reduction of production can bring results.

Unfortunately, after every OPEC meeting the price of oil goes down, noted President Aliyev. He further stressed the necessity of coordination between large non-OPEC countries and OPEC members, and increasing the level of mutual trust.

"If it doesn't happen, OPEC itself will not make a decision, and without it we will have this situation and just wait when the oil price will reach its bottom," he said.

The president added that this is very exhausting, also from a psychological point of view, not to mention Azerbaijan's needs to balance the budget, to have funds for investment and not only into oil and gas.

President Aliyev noted that Azerbaijan needs to invest in social infrastructure, industrial infrastructure, and at the same time to maintain the level of production needed to invest in oil and gas.

He also noted that Azerbaijan has started fundamental reforms of its financial sector, economic reforms, focusing on export-oriented non-oil economy production and forgetting about the oil factor.

"We were trying to prepare ourselves for this period [to come] in 15-20-25 years, but we have to do it now, and I think that we will cope with this situation," said the president.

President Aliyev also noted that the economic situation in Azerbaijan is stable.

"Our foreign debt is only 12 percent of GDP, and our foreign currency reserves are almost the same level as our GDP. I am sure we will manage the crisis, but of course we want to have a predictable future, and to plan our budget for the next year," President Aliyev said.

As for the decline of Azerbaijan's national currency, the manat, President Aliyev said there were several factors for that, such as the drop in oil prices.

The president noted that Azerbaijan's national currency during the last 10 years gained weight against the US dollar, which was a little bit artificial.

President Aliyev went on to add that previously one manat was $1.3, so the first change in the national currency rate was to bring one manat back to $1.

He further said the second change in the rate was mainly due to devaluation of national currencies in neighboring countries, and Azerbaijani goods became non-competitive, adding that this was an additional burden on the country's budget.

"We tried to resist as much as we could, we lost some of our national bank reserves, but we had to take this measure. There were of course some concerns about that, because it immediately reflected in the rise of consumer prices, which we import, since we are still goods-import dependent country. So the increase in prices created certain concern," said the president.

He further said that there was some minor concern based on stress situation, people weren't prepared for that.

"But now it is over, and I believe that the economic development in Azerbaijan will be sustainable," Ilham Aliyev said.

The President said he believes that Azerbaijan had one of the fastest growing economies in the world with 300-percent growth in the last 10 years.

"It was too much, I think, so now the cycle goes down, and I think that with the currency reserves we will manage the situation," President Aliyev said.

Talking about further dynamics of the global oil prices, Azerbaijani president said that he believes that they are close to dropping $3 more, and then, in the second half of the year, the market will grow.

It is a cyclic system, said Ilham Aliyev.

"I remember the time when we launched our main oil development project in 1994, the oil price then was $12, and it seemed to be very normal. And when we were planning the development, I remember, we thought about an optimistic scenario, which was $22 dollars," President Aliyev said.

"Now we are very close to that optimistic scenario," the president said, expressing hope that the market will stabilize, because the oil sector needs investments.

Azerbaijani president said that last year the world experienced the highest percentage of drop of investments in the oil sector.

"So, without that the price will definitely go up," he said.

Ilham Aliyev added he believes that for companies, for investors, for governments, the price at $60-70 per barrel will be perfect.

When asked about the possibility of oil prices rising again, sometime by 2017, Ilham Aliyev agreed that it is indeed possible.

"This second half of this year will be the period of stabilization, and I hope that we can see the growth," President Aliyev said.
A multi-media campaign aimed at teaching young girls how to spot early signs of luring and sex trafficking.

Education for hoteliers, condominium concierges, even taxi drivers about how they can intervene, if  and often when  they come into contact with this crime in action.

And, 24-7 help for victims of this large, and growing urban problem.

These are just some of the new programs Covenant House has begun rolling out as part of its coordinated attack on human sex trafficking.

At a press conference in the agencys College St. headquarters Wednesday, executive director Bruce Rivers announced a $10-million fundraising campaign called Just Like a Girl You Know, to support and further develop the new initiatives.

Sex trafficking is a growing public issue, he says. Homeless youth are particularly vulnerable. But this could happen to any girl.

A Toronto Star investigation into The Game  sex trafficking by so-called Romeo Pimps  revealed numerous cases of girls and young women who were trafficked out of fine hotels and dodgy motels. An accused pimp told the Star how easy it is for a trafficker to lure a young person with the promise of love and a future. The Star stories also revealed the lack of social supports for victims of trafficking and the low conviction rate for those charged under the law.

The fundraising campaign, Rivers says, has already raised about $6.5 million from large donations but still needs about $3.5 million more to help get many of the initiatives off the ground, and make sure they are effective.

The new initiatives, together called the Urban Response Model, takes a three-pronged approach to combating sex trafficking. It includes prevention and early intervention programs aimed at educating potential victims and those who, unknowingly, come into contact with the crime, such as concierges and taxi drivers. It also helps with crisis response, getting victims what they need immediately, such as court support, trauma counseling and transitional housing.

Toronto Community Housing announced last year it would give a building, at an undisclosed location somewhere in the city, to the initiative for a $1 annual lease. The City of Toronto is renovating the building, which will have enough room to temporarily house seven victims of human trafficking, officials say, and it is slated to open this spring. The Star stories revealed that trafficked victims from Ontario have had to be sent to British Columbia to take advantage of supports that Ontario lacks.

The third piece of the initiative is research, conducted in real time to evaluate program effectiveness and identify any gaps in service.

A largely domestic crime, which is growing in Canada, sex trafficking is a particular problem in Toronto and targets girls between 13 and 17 years old, authorities say. Last year alone, local police investigated 319 occurrences, arresting more than 120 pimps and intervening with 63 victims, says Toronto Police detective Joanne Bevin-Desjardin.

The girls are coerced, beaten  sold by pimps to other pimps across Canada, she said. Their basic human rights stripped away.

Already, Bevin-Desjardin said, the new programs are having a positive impact. A few days ago, when local police found a sex-trafficking victim, they called Covenant Houses new 24-hour hotline and trained workers came right away, she says.

In the past, the police would have had to find and coordinate all the services for the victim. Now, she says, victims have access to appropriate help and trained professionals right away, who can provide a more fulsome wrap around service.

Before, there wasnt a coordinated model, Bevin-Desjardin says. This allows us to be more proactive and get back out there; look for more victims. We are thrilled to be part of this.

Casandra Diamond, a sex-trafficking survivor, who spoke at the press conference, described how difficult it is for victims to leave sex trafficking and how, sometimes, it takes more than one or two tries to get them out. These new initiatives, she says, will give more trafficked persons a better chance at reclaiming their lives

Calling sex trafficking an urgent problem and one that we as a society may not think about enough, Toronto mayor John Tory said its a very important cause for us to take on.

And he said it is time for everyone to do their part. This city has a big heart, he says. Im optimistic people will step up.

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UNITED NATIONSDiplomats have been working non-stop this week to try to set the groundwork for Syrian peace talks. The United States and Russia hope they can begin as early as Monday in Geneva, but agreement on even that first step has so far proven elusive.

Why is it so hard to get the talks started?

The latest hurdle is to decide who should represent the opposition. A coalition of disparate rebel and civilian opposition groups, with blessings from Saudi Arabia, insists it alone can represent the antigovernment side. Russia and Iran, allies of Syrias president, Bashar Assad, are not keen to see a united opposition bloc and want to add people who they say represent a broader section of society  but who the Saudi-backed group sees as closer to Assads government  along with Kurdish fighters, to whom a crucial backer, Turkey, objects.

Diplomats say the United States and Russia are hoping to get the talks started soon. Whether they can get their regional partners on board is another matter. At the moment, both sides are wary of the other trying to load the conference in their allies favour.

As long as the slate of attendees remains unclear, the Monday start date for the talks is still in jeopardy.

What exactly can be achieved around the negotiating table?

The talks were originally aimed at getting representatives of the Syrian government and the opposition to discuss a broad national ceasefire and negotiate a political transition, ending with elections. Those goals have been tamped down.

Diplomats now say they have more modest goals: a reduction in the fighting, the ability to deliver food and medicines to besieged towns, and the opportunity to evacuate the wounded, starving and sick.

Whether the regional powers will go along even with that limited agenda remains a mystery. Saudi Arabia, which has long sought the Assads exit, is seen as the most resistant.

Who are the duelling sets of opposition delegates?

One group, selected last month at a meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, includes antigovernment fighters and civilian political figures. The civilians are drawn mainly from the exile dissidents and businesspeople who have represented the opposition at international conferences from the beginning. It has the backing of Washington as well as Riyadh.

The other group, calling itself the Democratic Council of Syria, consists mainly of Kurdish organizations and secular, nonviolent opposition groups. It includes dissidents who have spent years in jail for opposing the Assad government. Some, but not all, of its members are on yet another list of opposition delegates proposed by Russia, by far Syrias most powerful ally.

The Riyadh group objects to some of the members of the council, like a representative of the main Kurdish militia, the YPG, which controls large portions of territory in the northeast and works closely with the United States fighting the Islamic State. Its objection is that the Kurds are not directly fighting Assads government. It also objects to others on Russias list who belong to officially tolerated opposition groups and have even served in Assads Cabinet.

What are their demands?

The Democratic Council wants to be included as its own delegation. It argues that it represents a grey area of mostly secular Syrians who support neither Assad nor the insurgent groups and who are under-represented, they say, in groups with backing from regional powers like Saudi Arabia.

But the Riyadh group insists on being the sole delegation. In an interview Thursday, Mohammad Alloush, who was named as the groups chief negotiator, said the opposition was willing to welcome other members under its umbrella, but not to sit alongside a second opposition delegation approved by Russia. Russia has insisted on several additional representatives.

Some of the people Russia wants to include are pro-regime, he said, so let them be represented in the regimes delegation.

To be included as opposition, he said, they should agree with the Riyadh groups main demand: the formation of a transitional government and the departure of Assad.

Me, he said, Im not in a rush to go to Geneva.

UN diplomats say privately that they want to avoid a reprise of the last round of Syria peace talks, in January 2014. One Security Council diplomat said there would be a strong push to hold the talks in January.

We dont want stillborn talks, said the diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the diplomatic negotiations. But the second factor is that we want to maintain the momentum.

What if the talks fail?

Even as U.S. and Russian officials press their proxies to start negotiating an end to the war in Syria, both countries are stepping up military activities, with Russia intensifying airstrikes to shore up the government of Assad and the Pentagon shipping weapons to opposition fighters.

The backers of both the government and the rebels are likely to continue to bolster their surrogates on the battlefield to gain the greatest leverage at the negotiating table.

The reality is that it is a recipe for continuing the conflict, Gordon said. Proponents of escalation on behalf of the opposition should realize that, so far, escalation has not led to regime capitulation, but has led to more escalation by Russia and Iran.

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The mayor of Vancouver has apologized. A veteran Canadian journalist who reports on terrorism has apologized. Many Canadians who have heard the story of three British tourists who were unnecessarily caught up in a police investigation have expressed sadness and regret. The Vancouver Police Department seems to acknowledge it lost control of the incident, but it has offered no apology.

Of course, its tough to atone for a mistake you dont acknowledge or understand. The VPD doesnt see the problem with its repeated description of the innocent men as Middle Eastern. The force offered to chauffeur the men around town for the remainder of their visit. Its a fluffy gesture that obscures the VPDs role in reinforcing racism and xenophobia. The VDP needs to set an example for police across the country and simply say, Were sorry.

Last week the Vancouver police received information about three suspicious men, described as looking Middle Eastern, who were allegedly taking photos of entrances and exits at the Pacific Centre mall in Vancouver. As police were looking into the tip, an unknown source within the police or security apparatus leaked photos of the individuals to a local media outlet. News reports and social media soon exploded with the images.

Almost everything initially reported about the trio was inaccurate. One of three men was actually a 14-yea- old boy named Salahuddin Sharaz, who was in the company of his father Mohammed. The younger Sharaz and family friend Mohammed Kareem were taking pictures of the sights at the mall, as tourists do  they werent casing the building doors. And the three tourists, who were described as Middle Eastern, are actually residents of Manchester, England.

VPD Chief Adam Palmer addressed the media after the visitors photos had gone viral. He began his remarks by saying police received information about three suspicious men, described as Middle Eastern, who were seen in Pacific Centre mall. He immediately added, Theres no information to believe these men have committed a crime, nor do we have information that the public is currently at risk.

Wait a minute. What does a Middle Eastern person look like, and why did Palmer see fit to repeat such a vague description? After all, he noted, police were not going to circulate the tourists photos of the men out of respect for their privacy. However this courtesy was not extended to all persons who, whether born in mainland B.C. or Manchester or Medina, fall into the useless category of Middle Eastern.

A reporter asked Palmer if his description, which police also included in their press release of the incident, amounted to police racial profiling. We release that [information] all the time, Palmer countered. We always say if theyre white, if theyre South Asian, if theyre Middle Eastern, and these folks look Middle Eastern  its as simple as that.

No, chief constable, it isnt that simple at all. Police dont routinely release a single, vague descriptor of people who are not wanted for any crime, and nor should they. If police are after a suspect, they release all information about a persons appearance: his estimated height, weight, age, his clothing, his hair and eye colour. It is dangerously wrong-headed for police to describe three British dudes as Middle Eastern just because someone at the mall did.

The younger Sharaz and Kareem are visually impaired, and were visiting Canada to receive treatment from a Vancouver doctor. But this shouldn't really matter. There is nothing inherently suspicious about people taking photos inside a shopping mall. By insisting on the term Middle Eastern, Palmer and the police are perpetuating the racist, xenophobic idea that the trio were more suspicious and worthy of investigation because someone stereotyped them as scary, bearded brown men who endorse a violent, fundamentalist religious dogma.

Sharaz the elder said that after the incident, he and his companions were afraid to roam around Vancouver for fear of being targeted. Their fear was understandably shared by thousands of Vancouver residents who, regardless of their birthplace, nationality or religious beliefs, are perceived by Canadians as Middle Eastern and automatically treated with greater suspicion. Whether intentionally or through ignorance, the VPD played into this stigma and needlessly implicated residents who, at this particular time in Canada, are particularly vulnerable to hatred and mistreatment. Police need to acknowledge their prejudicial use of language, and apologize for it.

Desmond Cole is a Toronto-based journalist. His column appears every Thursday.

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Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 21

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Nadir Namazov was born on November 24, 1997 in Baku. He started education in primary school in 2004 and in 2011 he continued his education in Chemistry and Biology Lyceum. During his studies Nadir was awarded numerous honorary certificates on the part of the school administration. In 2015, Nadir participated in Chemistry Contest and took the third place. In addition, he also took part at the classification phase finals of International Chemistry Contest. After graduating the secondary school with gold medal Nadir was admitted to BHOS Petroleum Engineering Department with 695 points gathered during the entrance examination held by the State Students Admission Commission (SSAC).

How did you find the entrance examination? What was your impression before and after the exam?

I was very nervous before the exams, but that was a kind of a pleasant feeling, as it was the time for me and family and teachers to see the results of my long-time efforts. I was very happy when I learned that I gathered 695 points. When I was awarded the Presidential Scholarship after admittance to BHOS, I realized all the responsibilities and duties that should be fulfilled on my part from now on.

What were the results of the trial exams? Did you and your family believe you could gather high points during the university entrance examination?

During the trial exams organized by SSAC my scores were usually high and the last ones made up 675 points. However, I never gave up my studies what helped me to have faith in my capabilities during the entrance examination.

What should a prospective student do to get more than 600 points and how should the specialization selection be made?

Some students treat school classes carelessly relying on private lessons conducted by hired tutors. But it is impossible to master education program of six-seven years within one-two year period. I think that in order to gather more than 600 points students should study hard right from the junior classes. However, to be even more advanced, perspective students should study regularly. They should resort to diverse resources, systematically return to the topics they had already looked through, and in case of finding out week points the topics should be thoroughly learned. And finally, prospective students should properly manage their time. No doubt every success is the result of exerted efforts. As regards the specialization, one should select it taking into consideration personal capacities, the field where they feel more comfortable to realize their knowledge and skills.

Why did you select this very specialization and BHOS? What kind of goals did you pursue?

I chose BHOS because I was aware of its ranking position, cooperation with a number of transnational companies, availability of progressive academic programs and laboratories there, as well as the social life organized by the higher school. Studying at BHOS gives me a feeling of pride because it is the best higher educational institution in Azerbaijan. At BHOS I understood that I would be able to achieve more, and for this end, I should be very hardworking. I selected this specialization because I wanted to be an international level engineer.

What would you like to advise the prospective students who wish to study at BHOS? What do you think about education at BHOS?

As you may see, every year the minimum entrance points for admittance to BHOS are increasing and amounted to 659 points this academic year. This means that prospective students should demonstrate even more responsibility, because it is a real advantage to study at BHOS.

Where do you see yourself in future and what are your future plans?

First of all, I would like to graduate the higher school with distinction. Then I would be glad to continue my education abroad in order to serve my nation and my country in the future.
The Ontario Society of Artists, led by president George Reid, drew a stroke of colour across winters white canvas in January 1900 to create the Art Museum of Toronto  later to become the Art Gallery of Ontario.

For decades the group of local citizens, who formed the Society in 1872, wanted a permanent venue to exhibit their art, rather than in venues along industrious King St.

Toronto at the beginning of the 20th century was booming with a population of 208,000 recorded in 1901  second only in size to Montreal in the Dominion of Canada.

And what a city Toronto was. Why, there was a sewage system in place, flushable toilets, electric lights and navigable streets paved with asphalt. Horse-drawn streetcars had been replaced by electric ones. Majestic buildings, such as the Old City Hall and at the University of Toronto, dotted the landscape.

But the cultural side went unseeded.

Other cities in the British Colonies and in North America had permanent art galleries. Half of these were funded by individuals who made handsome donations, the Ontario Society of Artists said, while the rest received grants of public money.

The Society envisioned an art museum for Toronto not just filled with mere relics but art specimens. They wanted a venue open to the public for half the week and for a fee on other days, when art supplies and lectures would be offered, according to a pamphlet in the Toronto Daily Star in January 1900.

To help raise funds, local artist George Reid enlisted prominent banker and arts advocate Edmund Walker. Following the art museums January 1900 founding, a meeting was called in March of that year for incorporation of the Art Museum of Toronto. The criticisms lobbed at Toronto, describing it as a cultural wasteland, came notably from a professor Coleman, who remarked that  compared to cities like Montreal  Toronto is far behind in artistic matters, the Star reported. The scholar even went so far as to call Toronto the most Philistine city in Canada.

Later that summer the Art Museum of Toronto was incorporated and in 1903, the museums corporation was confirmed and amended by provincial legislation, giving it the right to receive money and land by bequest.

That fit nicely into Harriet and Goldwin Smiths plan to bequeath their home, The Grange (which sat on 2.4 hectares), to the museum upon their deaths. The magnificent Georgian brick manor in downtown Toronto was built in 1817.

With the securing of The Grange not yet realized, the Society held its exhibitions at the Toronto Public Librarys College St. branch in rented quarters at the corner of Brunswick Ave. In 1910, The Grange was bequeathed to Art Museum of Toronto, and the next year the museum leased lands lying to the south of the manor to the City of Toronto in perpetuity to create Grange Park.

The Grange remained shuttered to the public until June 1913. In April of that year, the Societys spring show was presented in the Public Library, where visitors paid the princely sum of one dollar per two persons for unlimited visits. The show was dominated by younger men, the Star reported, with their virile work, fearless brushing, strange, crude colour. Among the artists listed as exhibitors were some members of the not-yet-formed Group of Seven: Lawren Harris, Arthur Lismer, A.Y. Jackson and J.E.H. MacDonald, along with the shy painter who inspired them, Tom Thomson. Thomson would mysteriously perish in Canoe Lake, Algonquin Park, in 1917.

The official opening of the Art Museum of Toronto in June 1913 in The Grange was well received and featured the art collections of Goldwin Smith. The Star reported on June 6 that, It is the nucleus of an art museum which will doubtless grow, as time passes, to be a national treasure house.

But the museum wasnt without its critics. One reader groused in a letter to the editor of the Star in October 1913 that although the man in the street could view works of art, the museum was only open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., when the great mass of people are unable to go. The reader, under the nom de plume HYPER, wanted the museum accessible for an additional two evenings a week and bravely suggested the museum be available on Sunday afternoons. The scribe feared this recommendation would be received with horror by many good people and predicted the proposal would cause scripture to be quoted by the pious and circulate talk about the desecration of the Sabbath.

The First World War raged between 1914 and 1918. In 1916, the museum drafted plans to construct a small portion of a new gallery, designed by Darling and Pearson in the classical Beaux-Arts style. The first galleries opened in 1918. The next year the museum became the Art Gallery of Toronto and in 1920 the gallery allowed the Ontario College of Art to construct a building on the grounds.

Expansion continued throughout the 20th century. Various galleries were added to the museum, which was renamed the Art Gallery of Ontario in 1966. Construction culminated in 1993, with 38,400 square metres of interior space.

The AGO has seen four major expansion and renovations since 1974. Frank Gehrys redesign in 2008 of the Art Gallery of Ontario completely altered it. The Toronto Stars architecture critic Christopher Hume, in a November article that year, called the revamped AGO, the easiest, most effortless and relaxed architectural masterpiece this city has seen.

Never before has the gallery felt so connected to its surroundings, Hume wrote.

Compared to New York Citys Guggenheim, the AGO is a more modest project. It doesnt seek to reinvent the art gallery, just perfect it, Hume said.

There are now more than 80,000 works spanning the gallerys first century to the present day, including the largest collection of Canadian art, with the AGO gallery covering 45,000 square metres of physical space at 317 Dundas St. W. The Grange, designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1970, sits on the south side of the AGO and houses the Norma Ridley Members Lounge and exhibition spaces.

What began as a project of a group of local citizens 116 years ago is now one of the largest galleries in North America.

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Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 21

By Samir Ali - Trend:

The former chairman of the International Bank of Azerbaijan Jahangir Hajiyev, who is under arrest, was transferred from the Interior Ministry's Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime to the investigatory isolation ward in Baku, Hajiyev's lawyer Agil Layijev told Trend Jan. 21.

Hajiyev was transferred from the investigative isolation ward to the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime on December 30 and remained there until today.

He is charged under various articles of the Criminal Code, including misappropriation, abuse of office, fraud by causing huge damage, embezzlement through the abuse of office, and bribing.

Earlier, according to a decision of the Narimanov Court, a preventive measure in the form of arrest for a period of four months was chosen against him.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 21

By Azad Hasanli - Trend:

A new advisor has been appointed in the Azerbaijani large commercial bank.

Javid Guliyev has been appointed business development advisor to the chairman of the board of PASHA Bank, the bank told Trend Jan. 21.

Previously, he was a member of Kapital Bank Supervisory Board.

A decision about Guliyev's dismissing from his position of a member of the Supervisory Board was taken Jan. 21 in connection with his transfer to a new job, Kapital Bank told Trend.

Kapital Bank said that his position remains vacant.

A general meeting of shareholders was held at the head office of Kapital Bank January 21. Guliyev was expelled from the national council of Kapital Bank in connection with his transfer to other job upon a decision of the Supervisory Board.

PASHA Bank is a leading corporate bank of Azerbaijan. The bank founded in 2007 renders a range of corporate banking services including issuing of loans, operations in the securities market, asset management, and treasury services.

PASHA Bank is a part of PASHA Group - a major investment holding group in Azerbaijan. Kapital Bank, one of the largest retail banks in Azerbaijan, is also owned by PASHA Group.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 21



By Huseyn Valiyev - Trend:



Property Rights Alliance published a report based on the "International Property Rights Index" and included Azerbaijan in the annual world ranking on property rights for the first time, Azerbaijani Copyright Agency told Trend.



This year's survey covered 129 countries, with Azerbaijan being 103rd. Index and rating, which include a number of indicators also assess the protection of intellectual property rights.



In the analysis, Azerbaijan scored 2.8 points in the Intellectual Property Rights Subindex, along with the 4.2 points for "protection of intellectual property" and 1.5 points in the "piracy rate".



Having scored 4.2 points for "protection of intellectual property", Azerbaijan settled for 73rd spot among 129 countries.



In case with the "piracy rate", Azerbaijan took 95th spot among 105 countries.



According to the report, the piracy rate in Azerbaijan has declined in 10 years from 96 to 85 percent, it still remains high, and that adds to the overall score of 2.8 points for the country.



In this context, combating piracy, primarily online piracy, remains a relevant problem.



Meanwhile, Azerbaijan's score of 2.8 is the highest in South Caucasus, as according to the report, Georgia scored 2.2 points, while Armenia settled for 2.7 points.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @h_veliyev
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 21

By Aygun Badalova - Trend:

More US companies will collapse this year as the result of the Saudi Arabia's strategy to keep oil prices low, Gal Luft, co-director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security (IAGS), a Washington based think tank focused on energy security, and a senior adviser to the United States Energy Security Council believes.

"The Saudi plan is to keep prices low enough for long enough to drive the American oil industry out of business," Luft told Trend.

He believes Saudi Arabia is willing to pay the social cost of low oil prices for the greater good of keeping its market share and hegemony.

And the strategy seems to be working, according to Luft.

"Last year 45 American companies went bankrupt and this year many more will collapse," Luft said.

Saudi Arabia, ranking first among OPEC member countries in terms of crude production, was the one who pushed the cartel's strategy shift last year to defend market share rather than cut output to support prices, which have already decreased to a 12-year low with WTI price fell below $27 a barrel.

Saudi Arabia's current budget is reportedly based on an average oil price of about $40 a barrel.

Analysts of the British economic research and consulting company Capital Economics believe that oil production in Saudi Arabia is likely to be kept high.

"But as oil exports from Iran are increased following the lifting of sanctions there will be little scope for Saudi Arabia to raise the oil output further," analysts said in a report, obtained by Trend.

This will weigh on growth in the oil sector, they believe.

Saudi Arabia produced 10.2 million barrels per day in 2015, according to the estimates of the US JP Morgan bank. The country's production will amount to 10.4 million barrels per day in 2016 and 2017, the bank's analysts forecasts.
An uncertain, depressed market can sink the stocks of even apparently stable companies. Mattel (MAT) and Intel (INTC) are two examples. What went wrong with these well-known stocks, and is there hope around the corner for a possible recovery?

Both companies have suffered in the selloff of recent months, including the most recent downturn.

But there is more to their slumps. Whether they belong to a list of doomed equities that are poised for collapse in this down market is another issue.

MAT data by YCharts

1. Mattel

Iconic toymaker Mattel saw its shares drop 12% over 2015. Investors are already grappling with a drop of more than 8% this year, amid continued weakening markets.

But the selloff in the stock indicates a simple but disturbing truth: A large number of investors think that Mattel is on course for a much bigger drop.

Toy manufacturers have struggled to find compelling products amid more competition within the industry and from the electronics and technology sectors. There are also a number of unanswered questions about Mattel, and we aren't talking about only the security/hacking concerns surrounding the hi-tech Hello Barbie.

First, Mattel's payout ratio of 121.6% and its dividend yield of 6.11% are almost surreal. They seem too good. Can Mattel continue to increase its dividend, something its done since 2012?

Analysts at Jefferies suggest that the chance of a lowered dividend payout by the company is already priced in. Although Jefferies mentions a solid cash flow reservoir to back dividends, the recent stock price drop is symptomatic of a lack of faith in Mattel's possibilities.

Secondly, Mattel's stock price (considering that so many on the Street are hopeful of an eventual turnaround), doesn't leave a lot of room for appreciation. The median 12-month price target for the stock is $27, less than 10% away from its current price.

Mattel's limited upside, even after its decline so far this year, could be a principal reason why investors aren't scrambling to buy this stock. On average, analysts expect earnings per share will drop 15.5% for 2015. Rival Hasbro seems like a better alternative, having gained 3.8% in 2016 even as markets tumbled.

INTC data by YCharts

2. Intel

Major chipmaker Intel is battling a bad beginning to 2016. The stock has slumped even though the company reported better-than-expected quarterly results earlier this month.

But the earnings beat appears to mask ominous news that raises worries about the future. One observer noted that the company lowered its revenue guidance for 2016.

In addition, Intel plans to trim 2016 capital spending by $500 million to $9.5 billion, a sharp drop from the $10-11 billion the company spent annually in the four years ended 2014. Note that this could hint at a possible demand slowdown.

Also worth noting are weakening Data Center Group (Server CPUs) sales growth and slackening Chinese demand.

Analysts are penciling in 4.7% EPS growth for 2016 and an 8.6% EPS rise in 2017. Yes, that's growth, but both numbers are behind analyst's estimates for the sector, and the 2017 figure trails analysts' estimates for the industry.

This group of 29 dangerous stocks is a terrible place for your money today. In fact, using a little-known financial "health test," the stocks on this list are a failure in every category! Click here now to make sure you don't make the mistake of owning one.

This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 21

Trend:

Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev dissolved the lower house of parliament Jan. 21, and an early parliamentary election will be held on Mar. 20, according to the press service of Kazakhstan presidential office Akorda.

The president stressed that in accordance with the requirements of the Constitution, he consulted with the chairmen of the chambers of Parliament, prime minister and chairman of the Constitutional Council, on the basis of which it was decided to support the initiative of the MPs of the Majilis, or the lower house of the parliament.

"I am convinced that the renewal of representative branches of government is meeting the interests of the country and its people. political parties should nominate competent, business-oriented and dedicated candidates who are able to understand the interests of the country as well as problems of the agenda," the Kazakh President said. "Today, I signed a decree on dissolution of the Majilis of the Parliament of the fifth convocation. The early election for the Majilis is scheduled for March 20, 2016."

Nazarbayev appealed to all citizens of Kazakhstan, to all social strata of society to support the decision dictated by the times.

"I urge all to participate actively in the elections and again to show our solidarity and unity for the future of our country," he said. "As guarantor of the Constitution, I instruct the Central Election Commission and all public authorities to ensure the legality, transparency and fairness of the upcoming elections. I am confident that the electoral campaign and the elections will help consolidate the nation during the current period of time and bring Kazakhstan to a new level of development."
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 21



By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:



The snap parliamentary election in Kazakhstan scheduled for March will not bring any surprises or scandals, Daniyar Ashimbayev, the Kazakh well-known political analyst, the head of the information-publishing project "Who is Who in Kazakhstan", said.



"The preparation for the election has been conducted for a long time," he told Trend Jan. 21. "It is hard to expect anything extraordinary."



Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev scheduled the snap election of the members of the parliament (a lower chamber) for March 20. Earlier, the MPs appealed to the president with an initiative of the early dissolution of the parliament and snap election due to the aggravated economic situation in the country.



Ashimbayev said that the parties and the approximate parity of forces in the next sixth parliament will remain the same as in the fifth convocation.



"Only three parties in Kazakhstan have sufficient potential to enter the parliament," he said. "Among them are the Nur Otan presidential party, the Ak Zhol right-wing liberal party and the Communist People's Party of Kazakhstan."

"The balance of votes which they can get, in my opinion, would be about the same: 80 percent of the "Nur Otan" and within the 7-10 percent - "Akzhol" and Communist Party of Kazakhstan (CPK). The other parties do not have serious opportunities, unless the administrative resources will be included," the expert said.



The deputy corps is usually updated by 30-40 percent in Kazakhstan, and this year is likely to be the same, Ashimbayev noted.



Any reforms and extraordinary laws of the new parliament are not expected also, according to expert.



He reminded that the package of legislative measures to ensure the presidential program for the country's further development have been adopted by the previous parliament at the end of the last year and there are no urgent bills.



Behavior of the future Parliament's members will largely depend on the current situation, according to Ashimbayev.



"The main task of the future parliament is to provide social protection in controversial circumstances of 2016," said the expert.



Ashimbayev said that one shouldn't also expect significant progress in the transition of Kazakhstan from a presidential republic to a semi-presidential, which has already been discussed repeatedly. He noted that the election of the president not by public, but by the parliament, as suggested within the framework of this reform, will lead to a sharp decline in the legitimacy of the regime in Kazakhstan.



Regarding the strengthening of powers of parliament, the expert said that they are large enough, but aren't fully used.



Speaking about the reasons for early election, Ashimbayev noted that now it is not clear what circumstances and social situation will be at the end of the year, when the regular election had to take place, so the leadership of the country has gone ahead of the curve and decided to hold election in advance, while the economic situation in the country is relatively favorable.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Barclays began coverage of Perrigo Co. (PRGO) stock with an "overweight" rating and $180 price target on Thursday morning.

The Ireland-based company is the world's largest manufacturer of over-the-counter pharmaceutical products for the store brand market.

"We are most bullish on PRGO near term as it moves past recent headwinds in its consumer health care (CHC) business and leverages upcoming product launches to drive growth," the firm said in an analyst note.

Investors will be attracted to the company's "counter-cyclical" business model, a reflection of a more defensive posture investors are taking across healthcare, Barclays noted.

Additionally, Perrigo has greater balance sheet flexibility to add tuck-in deals to bolster growth, especially in its new branded over-the-counter business, the firm said.

Shares of Perrigo are up by 0.58% to $146.68 on Thursday morning.

Separately, TheStreet Ratings Team has a "hold" rating with a score of C+ on Perrigo.

The primary factors that have impacted the 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 robust revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures and expanding profit margins.

However, as a counter to these strengths, the team also finds weaknesses including a generally disappointing performance in the stock itself, disappointing return on equity and weak operating cash flow.

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.

You can view the full analysis from the report here: PRGO

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Alkermes (ALKS) is a big disappointment Thursday, a day when investors hope a rally in oil could give a boost to U.S. stocks, TheStreet's Jim Cramer said on CNBC's "Stop Trading" segment.

Alkermes shares are down nearly 40% after the company's major depressive disorder drug failed to meet its endpoints in two Phase III studies. Cramer, the co-manager of the Action Alerts PLUS portfolio, said a lot of investors and patients had high hopes for this drug.



Alkermes ALKS data by YCharts

Unfortunately, despite the drug's unique formation, it could not pass the trials, he added. This was Alkermes' lead drug treatment, so it's clear investors are showing little mercy to the stock.

Shares came into 2016 on a high note, hitting a 52-week high just north of $80. The stock has since declined a whopping 54% this year, Cramer said.

At the time of publication, Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS had no position in companies mentioned.
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Devon Energy Corp. (DVN) are soaring by 11.26% to $24.02 late Thursday morning, as oil prices trade in the green.

Crude oil (WTI) is jumping by 4.09% to $29.51 per barrel this morning and Brent crude is surging by 4.34% to $29.09 per barrel.

The price of the commodity is rising after the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said crude inventories increased less than an earlier industry report had suggested, Reuters reports. Stockpiles rose by about 4 million barrels last week, the EIA said.

Analysts expected inventories to increase by 2.8 million barrels, but reacted positively to the data because the EIA report showed less of a crude gain than yesterday's American Petroleum Institute report, which showed crude stockpiles rose by 4.6 million barrels.

Additionally, oil prices rose alongside stocks after the European Central Bank's President Mario Draghi hinted at further stimulus, Reuters noted.

"Draghi gave some insight that implied that there could be more QE coming, and the market likes the sound of that as it can give a little support to the European economy," Olivier Jakob, analyst at Petromatrix told Reuters.

Oklahoma-City based Devon Energy is an energy company engaged in the exploration, development and production of oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids.

Separately, TheStreet Ratings Team has a sell rating with a score of D+ on the stock.

This is driven by a number of negative factors, which the team believes should have a greater impact than any strengths, and could make it more difficult for investors to achieve positive results compared to most of the stocks it covers.

The company's weaknesses can be seen in multiple areas, such as its deteriorating net income, generally high debt management risk, disappointing return on equity, weak operating cash flow and generally disappointing historical performance in the stock itself.

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.

You can view the full analysis from the report here: DVN

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Now is not the time to panic. On the contrary, now is a great time to be investing in the U.S. stock market.

A lot of people may be surprised by that diagnosis. Thus far, 2016 has been a rough year: Major indexes are down more than 10%, giving Wall Street its second correction in five months. Certainly the environment is scary if you're just following the news, and caution is both understandable and warranted. Right now the best investment philosophy is to be optimistic by nature, but defensive by strategy. Now is the time to be selective, to closely monitor the environment and determine if and what changes need to be made.

While U.S. markets have performed badly this year -- dropping with a swiftness few saw coming -- nearly all of that weakness is due to overseas factors. In particular, decelerating economic growth in China. Many are worried that the impact of that will spill over into other regions and markets, which is why the losses have been so widespread, cutting across sectors and regions. Those fears are overblown for a lot of companies, who have little or even no exposure to China, its economy or market.

Now, a global slowdown will certainly impact energy companies, and it makes sense to reduce exposure to oil and gas names. However, there is also an argument to be made for specific companies within those industries -- especially well-diversified energy companies with strong dividends, which are trading at attractive valuations. The overall market is offering discounts that long-term investors can be take advantage of fairly painlessly, but for those three, trying to call a bottom is like trying to catch a falling knife. Right now, the potential reward isn't worth it.

Market reaction aside, and in spite of the current volatility, there are a lot of signs that U.S. economic fundamentals remain strong. The unemployment rate is 5%, the lowest since early 2008, and the past three payroll reports showed incredible jobs growth. Housing starts rose more than 10% in 2015, another bullish sign. Meanwhile, the collapse in oil prices has meant consumer-friendly gas prices. Unlike 2008, there's no bursting of a major asset class bubble. All of that gives the economy the kind of base that is more than able to withstand short-term fluctuations.

Because of that, U.S. focused-names look like a smart bet, especially companies with strong balance sheets and which grow revenue faster than their peers and have a history of raising dividends. Dividends are particularly important in this environment, as pullbacks like the one we're experiencing now give investors the opportunity to reinvest that money at lower prices, which leads to higher total returns in the long run. In fact, 43% of the S&P 500's total annualized return between 1926 and 2014 was the result of the payment and reinvestment of dividends. Environments like this one are extremely attractive when considering those types of future benefits.

Despite the rough start to the year, 2016 is still expected to wind up as a positive year for stocks. When the recovery begins, investors who took advantage of current prices will be glad they did.

This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned.
Editors' pick: Originally published Jan. 21.



Bank of America (BAC) shares lost 5% in 2015, and the mega-bank's stock is down another 15% since the start of 2016. David Ellison, portfolio manager of the Hennessy Large Cap Financial Fund (HLFNX) and the Hennessy Small Cap Financial Fund (HSFNX) , said investors should ignore the recent past and look instead to the bank's bright future.

"The stock is trading at about 90% of book and nine times earnings, so the valuation is attractive," said Ellison. "The question is really what they do for the next three to five years not what is happening right now -- and that's why you own it."

Before yesterday's market open, Bank of America reported 2015 fourth-quarter earnings of 28 cents a share on revenue of $19.5 billion. Analysts had forecast for earnings of 26 cents per share on revenue of $19.86 billion.

Ellison is also bullish on New York Community Bancorp (NYCB) , which was up over 8% in 2015, yet has fallen over 9 percentage points so far in 2016. Shares of the New York-based lender sank in October when the company announced its plan to buy Astoria Financial (AF) . Ellison said he started buying the stock during the Astoria selloff.

"They are a traditional lender, well-run, with high returns on equity and assets," said Ellison, adding that this deal will make NYCB a "real player in the New York market."

Independent Bank (INDB) , rose 11% in 2015, but has given back almost eight percentage points of those gains since the start of the year. Ellison is positive on the Rockland, Mass.-based lender, saying it is tried and true, and also has no oil exposure like many Midwest or Southern banks.

"The whole market has come down, but this one is a good long-term value in the banking space," said Ellison.

Finally, Ellison is a fan of Yadkin Financial (YDKN) , which soared 29% last year, but has dropped 13% so far in 2016. He said the Raleigh, N.C.-based bank will increase its reach and revenue after completing its deal with Greensboro, N.C.-based NewBridge (NBBC) . After that deal is cemented, the combination could be a takeout play for a larger regional player like BB&T (BBT) .

"That's what some people think," said Ellison. "We'll see what happens."
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Trovagene (TROV) stock is up by 52.84% to $5.12 on heavy trading volume on Thursday, after the company announced a partnership with America's Choice Provider Network.

The San Diego-based molecular diagnostic company announced on Thursday that it would give the health provider network access to its circulating tumor DNA Precision Cancer Monitoring tests and services.

Trovagene will be the America's Choice Provider Network's preferred provider and will be covered by more than 1,700 payers in North America, the company said in a statement on Thursday.

"Our commercial plan is on track to provide national sales coverage, and ACPN is the first of several additional contracts expected this year," Matt Posard, Trovagene's chief commercial officer, said in a statement. "In support of our commercialization program, we are creating a strong foundation of data from our clinical studies and manuscript publications demonstrating the medically actionable use of Trovagene's liquid biopsy platform in the treatment of cancer."

So far today, 4.72 million shares of Trovagene have traded, versus its 30-day average of about 383,000 shares.

Separately, recently, TheStreet Ratings rated this stock as a "sell" with a ratings score of D-. This is driven by a few notable weaknesses, which we believe should have a greater impact than any strengths, and could make it more difficult for investors to achieve positive results compared to most of the stocks we cover. The company's weaknesses can be seen in multiple areas, such as its weak operating cash flow, generally disappointing historical performance in the stock itself and feeble growth in its earnings per share.

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.

You can view the full analysis from the report here: TROV

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Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 21

By Farhad Daneshvar - Trend:

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd., a Chinese multinational banking company, plans to establish its branches in Iran, an official with Central Bank of Iran (CBI) said.

The bank, which is considered as the largest bank in the world in terms of total assets and market capitalization, has requested establishing branches in Iran's free trade zone of Kish Island, and in mainland Iran, IRIB news agency quoted Hossein Yaqoubi-Miab, the head of the CBI international affairs department, as saying Jan. 21.

Saying that the international banks have expressed interest in business in Iran following the removal of sanctions, he added that several banks from Lebanon, as well as from European countries, such as Austria and Italia, have appealed to Tehran for launching their branches in the Islamic Republic.

Yaqoubi-Miab further added that the CBI encourages the idea of launching the branches of foreign banks in Iran.

Iran's Central Bank earlier announced that the SWIFT (the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) sanction on the country's 12 banks was lifted.

The Central Bank, as well as Tejarat Bank, Refah Bank, Export Development Bank of Iran, Bank Sepah, Post Bank Iran, Bank of Industry and Mine, Iran-Europe Commercial Bank, Tose`e Ta`avon Bank (Cooperative Development Bank), Sina Bank, Bank Mellat and Bank Melli are now eligible to use SWIFT, said the announcement.

Since March 2012, as part of measures taken in a bid to intensify the sanctions on Tehran due to its nuclear program, Iran's banking system has been deprived of access to the SWIFT, which has had a catastrophic impact on Iran's economy.

Meanwhile, the CBI Governor Valiollah Seif, said on Jan. 20 that despite the removal of international sanctions, some Iranian banks are still in the sanctions list.

In a joint statement on Jan. 16, the EU High Representative Federica Mogherini and Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif announced the implementation of Iran's nuclear deal with the P5+1, and the removal of economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

The statement said the EU confirms that the legal framework, providing for lifting of its nuclear-related economic and financial sanctions, is effective.


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Pakistani women light candles during a vigil for victims of the Bacha Khan University attack, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016 in Peshawar, Pakistan. Taliban gunmen stormed a university in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing many people and triggering an hours-long gun battle with the army and police before the military declared that the assault in a town near the city of Peshawar was over. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)
In this photo taken on Sunday, Jan. 10, 2016, an Afghan shopkeeper, listens to Islamic State Radio at his shop in Jalalabad, capital of Nangarhar province, Afghanistan. The Islamic State group in Afghanistan has adopted the media strategy of its mother organization in Syria and Iraq, including the production of grisly, professionally made videos showing battles and the killing of captives. But in impoverished Afghanistan, where few have access to the Internet, radio could prove more effective at recruiting fighters and silencing critics. (AP Photos/Mohammad Anwar Danishyar)
This Jan. 4, 2016, file photo sshows President Barack Obama speaking in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. The Obama administration will announce as early as Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016, its plan to introduce new visa requirements for European travelers who are dual nationals of Iran, Iraq, Sudan or Syria, or who have visited any of these countries in the last five years. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)
On Sunday, the State Department announced the United States and Iran settled at The Hague tribunal Tehran's long-standing claim for $400 million that had been frozen by the United States since 1979. The settlement includes a $1.3 billion compromise on the sum's interest.

"There was no bribe, there was no ransom, there was nothing paid to secure the return of these Americans who were, by the way, not spies," Toner stated when asked if $1.7 billion the US government paid to Iran was tied to the release of US prisoners.

Toner explained the $1.7 billion transfer to Iran was part of the settlement, and was done on its own merits despite being concurrent with the announcement of the release of four US prisoners under a deal for a prisoner exchange reached on Saturday.

Under the agreement, Tehran agreed to free four Iranian-American prisoners, including Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, in exchange for seven Iranian nationals serving sentence in US prisons.
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Hospital acquires new surgical robotics technology Burke Health announced the purchase of new robotics technology for use during spine surgical procedures last week. The Globus ExcelsiusGPS is a revolutionary robotic navigation platform system designed to be intuitive and streamline the surgical workflow. Real-time tracking of instruments and implants, along with audible, visual and tactile feedback, enables...

County center wins senior trike Local seniors now have access to an adult tricycle. Director Kimberly Mathis attended the Move Augusta Senior Expo and Bike Rodeo sponsored by Augusta Urban Ministries October 8. The event, held at The Salvation Army Kroc Center, was aimed at people over 50 years old, and included resources and health...

4-H Food Challenge Team takes State For the first time, Burke County 4-H decided to put together a junior food challenge team this summer. Teams are compromised of 2-4 students in the 6th-8th grades. This competition is very competitive and teams must advance to state after the district competition. Our team started practicing weekly in July...

County rehashes trash problem I am bringing up the trash again, Commissioner Evans Martin said during the October 11 meeting. We have to do something about the trash. Martin asked that the record show that he wants to do something about the countys dumpster sites. He made a suggestion that eliminating 10 sites would...
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 21

By Fatih Karimov - Trend:

Iran will start negotiations with western countries to cooperate in construction of nuclear power plants, Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesperson of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) said.

If the western countries provide the needed investment, Iran will have no limitation for simultaneous construction of seven or eight nuclear power plants, Kamalvandi said, Iran's Mehr news agency reported.

He further said that Iran has signed some 30 document with the Russian side in the last two years for construction of new nuclear power plants.

Groundbreaking ceremony of the two new nuclear power plants will be held in coming weeks, however construction of the first power plant will take about two years and then the second plant will be constructed, Kamalvandi said.

The new power plants will be similar to the Bushehr nuclear power plant, with some new specifications, Kamalvandi said, without unveiling any further details.

He also added that after building fifth, sixth and seventh power plants Iran plans to construct new power plants with its own experts.

Earlier Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the AEOI said that construction of two 1000-MW power plants will start soon.

"We will build two other small power plants too in cooperation with China," Salehi said, adding that certain European and Asian states, including China, Japan and South Korea, are ready for cooperation.

Iran's only nuclear power plant -Bushehr, which was inaugurated in September 2013, has a capacity of producing 1000 megawatts of electricity. The power plant is scheduled to produce up to 5 billion megawatt hours of electricity per year, which is about two percent of country's total electricity production.

Supplying the fuel for Bushehr NPP is guaranteed by Russia for 10 years. Russia delivered 82 tons of nuclear fuel in 2008 and 30 more tons in May 2011 to Iran. This amount meets the Bushehr NPP's fuel needs for four years.
Under pressure to emerge as the Republican mainstreams presidential contender, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is increasingly relying on a national strategy as he lowers expectations for Februarys primary contests.

Hes betting big that Republican voters across the political spectrum will ultimately coalesce behind his candidacy in the state-by-state slog for delegates his team envisions for the months ahead.

Its a strategy fraught with risk for Rubio, whos still fighting to break out among the pack of candidates looking up at New York billionaire Donald Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. The outsider favorites are dominating in Iowa less than two weeks before the states leadoff caucuses.

For now at least, Rubio, a first-term senator, is embracing a patient approach that goes well beyond the four states with contests in February: Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.

Rubio in recent days has cast himself as a passionate evangelical conservative, a national security hawk, an empathizer of immigrants in the country illegally, and someone who can bring new voters to the Republican Party. This, as he jabs at Trump, Cruz and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, yet works to capture the anger and frustration that fuel their candidacies.

I wont be able to appeal to everybody on everything, Rubio told The Associated Press on Monday. I want to get enough delegates to be the nominee.

But thats exactly the theme he projected as he campaigned through Iowa this week before a trip to New Hampshire, where he hopes to rise from a cluster of so-called establishment alternatives to Trump and Cruz.

Too often, I think, as Republicans we have a bad choice, said Iowa state Sen. Jack Whitver, Rubios state campaign chairman, introducing him at one of his many Iowa stops this week. The choice, he said, is often between the establishment, moderate person that everyone says can win the election, or we have a true consistent conservative that everyone says cant win the election.

This year we dont have to make that choice, he said. This year, we can have it all.

Given Jeb Bushs continued struggles, some major Republican donors and elected officials see Rubio as their partys best candidate to defeat the leading Democrat, Hillary Clinton, in this falls general election. But in a year when voters appear to be rejecting insiders, Rubio has struggled to tap the anti-establishment anger, putting him behind Cruz and Trump with time running out before the Feb. 1 Iowa caucuses.

Facing that reality, Rubios team has conceded hes unlikely to win any of the first three contests: Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

No Republican in the modern political era has won the presidential nomination without winning one of the first three states. Rubios team sees a path around that history: finishing in the top three in those states and surviving until March. Thats when party insiders expect the race to become a long haul because of new rules that award delegates proportionally.

The strategy also assumes some of Rubios mainstream challengers will drop out out, leaving Rubios mix of messages  his tea party rise, national security background and abiding conservative social positions  to allow him to unify the GOP.

Any preconceived notions you have from previous cycles are out the window, said California-based donor John Jordan, who is running a pro-Rubio super PAC. Given that, I dont think its necessary to win one of the early states. He calls this a rolling national election.

Rubios team describes his message not as scattered, but as based on Ronald Reagans three-legged stool with conservative approaches to economic, social and national security policy.

Rubio emphasized his religious faith in Iowa, where hes running an ad highlighting his opposition to abortion rights and where he told voters in the more socially conservative northern part of the state that his Christianity is the single greatest influence in my life.

In more moderate eastern Iowa, Rubio asserted his credentials on military and foreign policy as unmatched in the field. Its not even close, he said.

And the 44-year-old son of Cuban immigrants pressed the point in Ottumwa that he can bring people into the party who normally dont vote for it.

We have some differences, Rubio said of the candidates in the field. But its a big tent.

Yet when asked why he was more electable than Trump, he nodded to the raucous throngs that have flocked to Trumps rallies.

What hes tapped into is a real frustration that needs to be addressed, Rubio said.

Ottumwa physician Michael Shaeffer, who asked Rubio what set him apart, wanted more, but still plans to support him.

Were not going to vote necessarily for the best person, Shaeffer said. Were going to vote for the one with the best chance of winning.

(AP)
Spending on air traffic control operations has doubled over two decades, while productivity has declined and efforts to improve performance have been ineffective, according to a report released Wednesday by a government watchdog.

The report by the Department of Transportations Inspector General blames the decline in productivity on a culture resistant to change within the Federal Aviation Administration and the agencys failure to adopt business-like practices.

Lawmakers who want to remove air traffic operations from the Federal Aviation Administrations control and turn them over to a nonprofit corporation quickly pounced on the report as evidence the agency is incapable of modernizing its air traffic operations. The agency has been engaged for more than decade in transitioning from a radar-based air traffic control system to one based on satellite navigation.

Decades of personnel, organizational and acquisition reforms have failed to slow the agencys cost growth, improve its productivity or improve its performance in modernizing air traffic operations, said Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

This report shows that the FAA simply isnt suited to successfully modernize our nations antiquated air traffic control system, Shuster said. The FAA remains a vast government bureaucracy, not a high-tech service provider.

Shuster is expected to introduce legislation within the next two months that would spin off the agencys air traffic operations to a nonprofit controlled by a board of aviation stakeholders, including airlines, airports and others. With the exception of Delta Air Lines, the airline industry has been lobbying aggressively for the change. Business aircraft operators are opposed to privatizing air traffic operations, fearing theyll have to pick up a larger share of the cost of operations and be forced out of some airports to make room for more airline flights.

An FAA memo responding to the report insists the agency has been effective at controlling the cost of its operations and improving efficiency and effectiveness.

(AP)
The wife of the terrorist who plotted to murder Maran HaGaon HaRav Ovadia Yosef ZTL has been ousted from Israel, Channel 10 News reports.

According to the report filed by Avi Yechezkeli, Alza La-Ford tried entering Israel two weeks ago. She is an employee of the French Consulate in Israel who was married to the terrorist who wanted to murder R Ovadia. The wife was thrown out, leading to criticism against Israel, especially from France. Her husband was arrested, tried and convicted, but he was released in the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange. Actually, in 2012, Salah received an invitation from the French Consulate in Jerusalem to attend an official ceremony.

The plot to murder the Posek Hador was uncovered by the ISA (Israel Security Agency  Shin Bet) BH. The would-be assassin, Salah, was employed in a nearby fruit store and planned to murder the Gadol Hador during a delivery to the late ravs Kablan Street apartment in Har Nof.

It is explained one of the reasons his wife was ousted is because Israel fears as an employee of a consulate, she will ask for family reunification with her husband. Further complicating the matter is the father of the wife is a former member of French Parliament. He was also a member and leading figure in the BDS against Israel.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani congratulated the Iranian nation on their "victory" in the complicated case of nuclear negotiations.

"Without exception, we reached our all major goals," Rouhani said, Iran's official IRNA news agency reported. Jan. 21.

He made the remarks while addressing the second day of a gathering of governor generals, governors and officials in charge of holding upcoming elections in Iran.

"Our first red line was to get all (anti-Iran) resolutions cancelled, and the second was the removal of all sanctions," the Iranian president said.

The US and the European Union lifted sanctions against Iran after the January 16 report released by the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Yukiya Amano who verified nuclear program in Iran by his report.

Then, the implementation of the July 14 nuclear agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) started as Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini issued a joint statement announcing the 'Implementation Day'.
The parents of three children were surprised to hear mom was pregnant with triplets and in this case, all are identical. Doctors at Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer explain it is rare, about one in tens of thousands of births.

When Shelly Dagan learned she is pregnant, an ultrasound followed and she was more than a bit surprised to learn of a multiple birth. She was told there are twins. Later in the pregnancy further testing revealed triplets, a trio of embryos created from one egg that split apart.

I was really surprised explains mom, who has a 13-year-old son, 12-year-old daughter and an 8-year-old daughter. I wasnt expecting twins, yet alone triplets. I was very pressured but the fact I know I have a most supportive family was a calming affect.

Dr. Yoav Yinon explained it was an extremely high risk pregnancy, adding in 20% of such cases the birth comes at about 32 weeks. He explains often they recommend eliminating one of the triplets but in this case they are identical and sharing a blood supply so this was no longer an option. He added the joint blood supply presents an additional measure of risks that can lead to coronary issues. Bchasdei Hashem this pregnancy was passed without incident. In fact, Mrs. Dagan continued her job as a secretary in an insurance office till week 31. Doctors told her from then on she was compelled to take it easy.

The triplets were delivered in a C-section in week 34 and admitted to the preemie unit, fed with a special formula via a nasogastric tube. BH the girls are reportedly doing well as is mom.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu accompanied by Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon visited the community of Otniel this week following the brutal terrorist stabbing attack that claimed the life of Mrs. Dafna Meir HYD in front of her home.

Following the visit Netanyahu announced plans to construct a security fence around the community. While some areas are enclosed, the entire yishuv is not protected by a fence, which residents object too.

According to a Channel 2 News report, community residents and Yochai Damari, who heads the Southern Hebron Regional Council, remain opposed to constructing such a fence. Damari was present for the meeting with the high-level ministers in the yishuv, expressing his opposition to the fence. Many yishuvim throughout Yehuda and Shomron oppose a fence in principle, explaining it sends a clear message to the Arabs that our border ends here. In essence, they feel the fences should be built around Arab villages, not eh Jewish communities.

In the official statement released by Yishuv Otniel, leaders express surprise over the Prime Ministers announcement, explaining they would be partner in decisions. However, now they see Mr. Netanyahu wishes to construct a fence despite their objections.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Police announce a 16-year-old Jewish male was arrested on suspicion of the recent graffiti attack against Dormition Abbey in Jerusalem. Graffiti including Death to heathen Christians the enemies of Israel and Christians to hell was among the racist slurs found on the scene.

Police report the arrest was made on Wednesday, 10 Shevat, adding the subject is being remanded in the Jerusalem Magistrate Court to extend his remand.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu commented on the address given by Education Minister Naftali Bennett this week before the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in Tel Aviv in which he accused the government and security establishment of being locked in their thought process, unable to adopting new methods required to remain abreast of Israels enemies.

Mr. Netanyahu, who over recent weeks remained silent in response to a number of criticism from Bennett this time fired back, calling him irresponsible and childish.

In his address Bennett told his audience that he does not sleep nights during the past years for he feels the biggest threat facing Israel is not Hamas, rockets, Hizbullah or even Iran, but the inability of the decision-makers to modify their thought process.

In addition to being scorned by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon in his address to the same forum explained that one does not lead the military or decide policy by using slogans, and national responsibility must precede a desire to score headlines and seek Facebook likes.

Opposition leader MK Yitzchak Herzog called on Bennett to resign and force early elections.

The relationship between Bennett and the Prime Minister has been strained at best, even in the previous Knesset and this incident is just more of the same  the occasional flare-up between the two. Some opine that Bennett is keenly aware the two-seat majority coalition provides an opportunity to air his grievances as PM Netanyahu has to tolerate him or move to early elections.

Other analysts explain that Bennett is aware that he has fallen out of favor among the hardcore right-wing and this was an opportunity to display his displeasure with current policy in the hope of earning additional support for his Bayit Yehudi party. During the months of the ongoing Palestinian terror attacks that began on erev Rosh Hashanah 5776, Bennett has been conspicuously silent, leading to much criticism against the dati leumi partys role in what some perceive to be government nonfeasance to the ongoing terror.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Agriculture Minister (Bayit Yehudi) Uri Ariel was interviewed by Arutz-7 Radio on Wednesday, 10 Shevat. He was asked to comment on the ongoing wave of Palestinian terror attacks, including the attacks this week; the one in Otniel that claimed the life of Mrs. Dafne Meir HYD and the attack that left 4.5-month pregnant Mrs. Michal Fruman of Tekoa wounded from a knife attack.

As a former head of the Settlement Council, Ariel was asked what can and should be done to provide additional security for the Jewish residents of Yehuda and Shomron, and if this is at all possible today.

Ariel says that not only is this possible, but it is necessary. He feels the Arabs are not acting out of despair but out of a hope that for as long as they continue striking out, they will cause us to despair and abandon these areas to them. He adds that during the years the nation was built there were many difficult times and the Arabs have always been given the option of leaving or remaining as loyal citizens.

At present he feels this is not about invested more in road infrastructure or improving conditions but about doing more and going on the offensive and not just responding to attacks.

A7

Is Education Minister Bennett correct? Do we have to change our thinking?

Ariel

There is no question that change is required. I have said this many times. For one thing, Arabs must be blocked from using certain roads, roads that they have used repeatedly to perpetrate attacks. This is not discrimination but a proper response to attacks but this is yet to be done. This does not require additional forces or money, but a decision.

I agree with the IDF chief and there is no need for collective punishment but if one looks at Tapuach, Beit Anoun and other junctions, the attacks continue and we are yet to make the necessary decisions. There are roadblocks and closures but too short lived. Things have changed and we have to respond differently. Why do we have to continue to suffer? Why do we continue passing funds to the PA (Palestinian Authority)? They owe enormous sums for electric. Why is the PA not compelled to pay? Who made this decision?

Regarding Bennetts remarks that the F-35s will not help combat terror, he is correct but these planes will help in a future war and we must prepare ourselves for future terror and wars, for all eventualities and not one at the expense of the other.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
One day after the country commemorated his fathers legacy, Martin Luther King III linked arms with Jewish, African American, and Hispanic leaders to lead a 10,000 person march in support of school choice. The rally in Tallahassee was organized by Voices for Choices and co-sponsored by a number of organizations including Agudath Israel of America. The purpose of the event was to call on the Florida Education Association (FEA) and NAACP to drop their lawsuit against 78, 000 low-income students benefiting from the states scholarship tax credit program.

The lawsuit is a shameful attempt to scare parents away from exercising their right to choose the school that best meets their childs needs, said Agudath Israel of Florida director Rabbi Moshe Matz. This program should be lauded for giving educational opportunities to low-income children and expanded, not litigated.

Parents, students, and school choice advocates traveled from as far away as Miami, spending more than eight hours on a bus in some cases, just to attend the historic rally. Agudath Israels delegation included community leaders from Miami and Orlando. Rabbi Matz was honored with helping to lead the march, linking arms with Martin Luther King III, Reverend R. B. Holmes, and Julio Fuentes of Hispanic CREO. He later joined other clergy members on the stage including Agudath Israels regional vice president Rabbi Ephraim Leizerson.

What choice does is essentially create options, particularly for poor and working families that they would not necessarily normally have, King said.This is about freedom  the freedom to choose for your family and your child.Theres nothing more important than ensuring that our children have the best education.

In 2014, a judge ruled that the FEA had no legal standing to file a claim, but its currently appealing that decision.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)
By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for the Five Towns Jewish Times

The head of the Jewish community in Marseille, France, Zvi Ammar, announced last week that Jews should avoid wearing the kippa in the streets. The announcement was made last Tuesday a day after a teenager attacked and slightly injured a teacher in the southern France city who wore a yarmulkah.

The teenager, a Turkish citizen of Kurdish origin who was armed with a machete and a knife, said that he had acted in the name of the militant Islamic State group, according to French prosecutors.

Not wearing the kippa can save lives and nothing is more important, Ammar told the French paper, La Provence daily. It really hurts to reach that point but I dont want anyone to die in Marseille because they have a kippa on their head.

Marseille has the third largest Jewish community in France.

Ammar added, On Saturday, for the first time in my life, I will not be wearing the kippa to the synagogue.

Not everyone, however, is in agreement with this position. Frances Chief Rabbi, Rav Haim Korsia, had urged Jews in France to continue wearing a yarmulkah, and form a united front.

Roger Cukierman, the head of the French Jewish Organization umbrella group, stated that not wearing a yarmulkah in public is a defeatist attitude.

All this brings up a question. What is the halacha in this regard? What is the source of the obligation to where a Yarmulkah? If the situation has indeed deteriorated to the point of danger, should a Yarmulkah be worn?

Before we discuss the sources, it should be generally understood that regardless of the final halacha, covering ones head engenders hachnaah (See Levush OC 91:3) humility, a necessary component in prayer, in ones relationship with Hashem, and, indeed, in ones relationship with all others.

EARLY SOURCES

The Gemorah in Shabbos 118b it says, Will you contend with me  who has not walked 4 amos with a bare head?

Also in Shabbos 156b explains that Rav Nachman Bar Yitzchoks mother warned to cover his head constantly so that he will have fear of Heaven.

The Gemorah in Kiddushin 31a likewise states Rav Huna the son of Rabbi Yehoshua did not walk four amos with a bare head because he used to say, The Shechina rests above my head.

There is a further source found in the Kallah Rabasi (cited in the Sefer HaManhig Chol Siman 45) that states: One who bares his head, there is in this great audacity. The Midrash cites a story where the elders were sitting and two younger boys walked by them. One covered his head and the other revealed his bare head. Rabbi Akivah said about the latter that is both a Mamzer and a Ben Niddah. It turned out that was the case.

Now, aside from this latter Midrashic source, one can perhaps extrapolate from the aforementioned Gemorahs that the general custom for normal average people was not to cover their heads.

POSKIM THAT HOLD IT IS A CHUMRAH

Indeed this is the position of a number of Poskim. The Rambam in Hilchos Dayos (5:6) writes: Torah scholars conduct themselves with great modesty.. in that they do not bare their heads. He writes similarly in his Moreh Nevuchim 3:52. The Kol Bo (Siman 11), and the Tashbatz (#547) citing the Maharam MiRottenberg, likewise rule that there is, in fact, no obligation. Rather it is just the custom of Torah scholars on account of cultivating fear of Heaven. The Sefer Chassidim 53 also writes that there is no obligation at all, rather it is a custom of Torah scholars. The Maharshal (Siman 72), Darchei Moshe (2:3), Bach (2), Mogain Avrohom (91:3) and Vilna Gaon (SA OC Siman 2 and 8:6) also hold that it is not obligatory.

How then do the Poskim understand the Midrash with Rabbi Akiva? The Vilna Gaon answers this question based upon the Gemorah in Kiddushin 31a. he writes that the Chutzpah, the audacity that the young man displayed was in specifically baring his head in front of the elders.

POSKIM THAT HOLD IT IS OBLIGATORY

The TaZ 8:3, however, writes that it is a full obligation because the gentiles must walk with bare heads and it has now become a violation of ubechukosaihem lo sailaechu, and do not walk in their ways. The Chasam Sofer (Responsa CM #191) also writes that it is a violation of ubechukosaihem. Seemingly, this is a post-Talmudic development.

The Pri Magadim Siman 2 writes that halachically it is forbidden to go with a bare head. It is just permitted to do so if part of the head is covered. Rav Shlomo Kluger (HLS Siman 3) rules the same way. The Zohar in Parshas Balak also writes that a person should not walk four amos with a bare head because the shechina is above the head of man. The implication of the Zohar is that it is universal for all people.

How then do they understand the Gemorahs that indicate that only these individuals were careful to cover their heads? It is possible that they hold that these individuals had a second covering in addition to the one minimal covering that others had.

WHEN DANGER IS INVOLVED

According to the position of those Poskim who hold that it is not an obligation, there is no question that in a location where there is a significant danger, one may remove ones Yarmulkah.

Even according to the position that wearing a Yarmulkah is a full-fledged halachic obligation, it is not one of the three sins that one must give up ones life in order to avoid transgressing. The three sins, of course, are murder, idol-worship and arayos (See Psachim 25a).

Even the Rambam who adds the category of Chillul Hashem as a fourth cardinal sin (See Hilchos Yesodei Torah 5:1-3) only adds it when the persecutor is doing it to specifically undermine Torah. Here this is not the case, one is avoiding wearing the Yarmulkah to avoid danger.

The Midrash Rabbah (See also Yalkut Shimoni Shmos 166) tells us that Moshe Rabbeinu received a Divine punishment by being imprisoned for ten years because he obscured the fact that he was Jewish upon his entry into Midyan prior to his marriage to Tzipporah.

There is no question that we must make every effort to take pride of our Judaism. Yet at the same time, one should not poke the bear if doing so would involve risk.

So who is right? It seems that it does depend upon the level of risk and danger. How risk level could and should be assessed is a separate matter altogether.

A DEBATE ABOUT HALACHIC RISK LEVELS

There is a fascinating debate between Rav Moshe Feinstein ztl in his Igros Moshe (CM I 427:90) and Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzinsky ztl in his Teshuvos Achiezer (Vol. I #23) as to how halacha views risk levels.

There is a halachic concept based upon a verse in Tehillim (116) known as shomer psaim Hashem  Hashem watches over fools. The Talmud (Shabbos 129b, Yevamos 1b) uses this idea to permit certain behaviors that would otherwise be considered dangerous. It is utilized in combination with the idea of kaivan ddashu bei rabim  since the masses have already treaded there we apply the idea of Hashem watches over fools and permit the item under discussion in terms of halacha.

Rav Feinstein seems to interpret this concept as social acceptability  in other words, if the danger is not one that is socially acceptable, then the danger is not halachically permitted, because the verse of veChai Bahem comes into play and the person would be in halachic violation of endangering himself. For example, travelling 62 miles an hour in a 55 MPH zone may be silly, foolish, illegal and dangerous, but according to Rav Feinsteins parameters it would not be a violation if it was socially acceptable. Travelling 90 MPH in a 55 MPH zone is not socially acceptable and would therefore be a full violation of Halacha as well.

According to Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzinsky, the concept of Shomer psaim Hashem was only applied in the Talmud to remote concerns and a situation where there is only a small percentage of a small percentage of danger. It seems to this author that Rav Chaim Ozer is taking into account empirical data in the halachic definition of what constitutes a danger much more so than does Rav Feinstein. Rav Feinsteins halachic definition is more predicated upon the public perception of the danger.

Applying this debate to Marseilles, we can conclude that when the danger level is low but the public perception of the danger is high, then Rav Feinsteins view on shomer psaim would be to avoid showing the Yarmulkah, while according to the definition of the Achiezer, the concept of shomer psaim Hashem would apply and one could show the Yarmulkah. If the danger level is higher than the Achiezer would say to remove it.

Of course, there is always the alternative idea of wearing a hat or beret, and thus avoiding the question entirely.

May the shomer Yisroel continue to guard over his nation ad bias goel umashaich, amain.

The author can be reached at [email protected]
Republican senators are confronting an unsettling possibility: Sen. Ted Cruz, their least favorite colleague, stands within reach of becoming the partys presidential nominee and standard-bearer.

Worse than that, many GOP lawmakers and aides fear the Texas senator could ruin Republicans chances of hanging onto control of the Senate in Novembers elections, alienating voters in a half-dozen key swing states with his hardline stances on issues from immigration to abortion.

And yet, these fellow Republicans say theyre essentially powerless to stop him. Any attempt to weaken Cruz in his primary campaign against Donald Trump and other GOP candidates risks bolstering his argument that hes running against the Washington cartel. So theres little Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republicans can do beyond watch in dismay as Cruz, isolated and boxed out in the clubby Senate after repeatedly angering colleagues, rises in the polls in first-voting Iowa and elsewhere.

With Cruz as the nominee, state and local races that take place in ideologically moderate electorates could be a bloodbath, says Josh Holmes, McConnells former chief of staff and a GOP strategist. Vulnerable Republican senators are partly insulated by strong campaign organizations, but there is no question their job could get tougher, Holmes says.

In the presidential primaries, Cruz has attempted to make a virtue of his rejection by the Washington establishment, and his allies say he will actually help fellow Republicans by energizing the base and turning out evangelicals and others.

One of his favorite lines on the stump is quoting a newspaper article that, according to him, said, Cruz cant win because the Washington elites despise him.

I kinda thought that was the whole point of the campaign, Cruz says, almost always generating applause.

Back in the Senate, Cruz has alienated fellow Republican senators on so many occasions they are hard to count. And now, with Democrats optimistic they might win the five seats needed to retake control of the Senate  four if they keep the White House  Republicans are desperate to protect vulnerable incumbents in states like Pennsylvania, Ohio and New Hampshire, where a Cruz candidacy could turn off independents.

Hes a very rock-ribbed conservative and very intelligent young man, very knowledgeable, put it that way, says Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah. And I havent seen any great desire on his part to really bring the party along with him so thats something that worries me.  I think it would help him a lot if he would learn how other people feel and work with other people a little bit better, and I think that naturally will occur.

Some GOP lawmakers and pollsters view Cruz as more problematic than businessman Trump, since Trump might have more cross-over appeal to independents. Polling shown to House Republicans recently identified Cruz as the most difficult presidential nominee for any of them to share a ballot with.

He would definitely be a negative, said GOP Rep. Pete King of New York, who represents an evenly divided Long Island district. King dismissed Cruz as a fraud and said, I dont know of anyone else in Washington, certainly, who gets this opposition from his own people.  Im talking about people as conservative as he is who just cant stand him.

In one clear barometer, four GOP senators have endorsed Florida Sen. Marco Rubios bid for president, while none has backed Cruz.

On the other hand, Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, one of the most vulnerable Republican incumbents this year, says, If you run a good campaign and let people know what you stand for, you dont have to worry as much about the top of the ticket.

Still, Cruz has become such a pariah that one of his colleagues, Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, told supporters at a campaign fundraiser for his own re-election that he would vote for liberal Sen. Bernie Sanders for president before Cruz, according to one person who attended the event. Burr did not appear to be joking, said the person, who demanded anonymity to discuss the private gathering.

The negative reactions started shortly after Cruz arrived in the Senate in 2013. During a confirmation hearing for former GOP Sen. Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense, Cruz implied, without offering evidence, that Hagel had received compensation from North Korea. That drew rebukes from fellow GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John McCain of Arizona.

Later that year, Cruz pushed for confrontation with President Barack Obama over the new health care law, coordinating with tea party conservatives in the House. Their strategy resulted in a 16-day partial government shutdown that caused the GOPs poll numbers to temporarily plummet.

In December 2014, Cruz again infuriated fellow Republicans when he kept the Senate in session in a failed bid to oppose Obamas immigration policies. This had the result of allowing Democrats to confirm a raft of Obama nominees, mostly lifetime judicial choices, who might otherwise have languished.

Last year, in a dramatic breach of decorum, Cruz delivered a floor speech in which he accused McConnell of lying about scheduling a vote on the federal Export-Import Bank. Senate leaders were livid and went so far as to block Cruzs routine request for a roll-call vote, something all but unheard-of.

(AP)
Turkey is considering appointing a senior diplomatic official to be the countrys next ambassador to Israel as part of its efforts to restore ties between the countries, the Turkish newspaper Sozcu reported on Wednesday.

According to the report, Ankara has decided to appoint the Turkish Foreign Ministrys director general for the Middle East, Can Dizdar, to the position.

Relations between Israel and Turkey broke down after the 2010 Mavi Marmara flotilla incident, in which eight Turkish citizens and one Turkish American were killed in clashes after Israeli naval commandos were attacked upon boarding the vessel, which was trying to break the blockade on the Gaza Strip. In the aftermath of the raid, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans regime became one of the strongest critics of Israeli policies.

After a request by President Barack Obama, Israel in 2013 apologized to Turkey for the flotilla deaths and agreed to compensate the victims families. Israel has not, however, agreed to comply with Turkeys demand to lift the Gaza blockade.

Erdogan, whose record of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic rhetoric is well-documented, has shifted to a tone of appeasement in recent weeks.

Israel needs a country like Turkey in the region, he said in early January, and we also need to accept that we need Israel. This is the reality in the region.

Erdogan emphasized that if steps toward partnership based on honesty are taken, then there will be normalization in Turkish-Israeli relations.

(Source: JNS.org)
The Air Force says an F-16 fighter has crashed in northwestern Arizona, and state and county agencies are sending aircraft and personnel to the area.

Luke Air Force Base officials say the jet from the Phoenix-area base crashed Thursday in a military operations area near Bagdad in Yavapai County. Theres no word on the pilots condition or cause of the crash.

Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesman Quentin Mehr says the department is sending troopers, a rescue helicopter and explosive ordinance and hazardous material teams.

Yavapai County sheriffs spokesman Dwight DEvelyn says the Sheriffs Office was contacted by the Air Force and sent a helicopter to the area.

Sean Kauffman, of the Williamson Valley-Bagdad Fire District, says fire officials were told the crash occurred about 10 miles southwest of Bagdad.

Luke Air Force Base officials say the jet went down Thursday morning in rugged terrain in a remote location near Bagdad in Yavapai County and that authorities are conducting a search and rescue operation.

(AP)
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 21

By Fatih Karimov- Trend:

The intelligence department of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) announced that it has arrested a senior manager of two satellite TV channels in Iran.

The name of the person, who was arrested inside Iran following months of "complicated intelligence operations," was not disclosed.

The arrested person is accused of being connected to intelligence services of three European countries, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported Jan. 21.

Following the arrest, the activities of the two satellite TV channels were stopped and "tens" of pages related to the channels in social networks, were closed, according to the report.

The IRGC claims the arrested tried to sell the two TV channels to BBC Persian under the guidance of the UK's intelligence service.
Just last week, Volkswagen UK boss Paul Willis told the Transport Select Committee that UK owners of cars affected by the diesel emissions-cheating scandal would not be compensated, despite US owners receiving $1,000 'goodwill payments'.

This news doesn't seem to have sat well with Elzbieta Bienkowska, EC industry commissioner, who has written to Willis' boss to demand an explanation for why european drivers will not be receiving any form of compensation from the carmaker.

The letter, seen by Reuters, was sent last week, just two days after Willis faced MPs to explain how funds for affect car owners in the UK would be better spent speeding up the recall process.

Compensation complaint: The EU industry commissioner has demanded that VW compensate owners of cars affected by the emissions-cheating scandal after the brand said it would be giving US owners $1,000 loyalty payments

Bienkowska's letter to Matthias Mueller  the ceo of the VW Group  asked for the precise number of affected vehicles per member state and queried the technical details on the 'corrective measures' being carried out as part of a year-long call-back process.

So far, Volkswagen's financial liabilities from the scandal have looked much bigger in the United States, mainly due to the Environmental Protection Agency's greater scope to impose penalties than the European Commission.

That's despite far fewer models being affected there  500,000 US models compared to the 8.5m across the entirety of Europe  where owners have been promised goodwill compensation packages of $1,000 each.

Bienkowska's letter demanded comparable compensation for European consumers, something Mueller had said owners would receive during a press conference in Wolfsburg in early December, stating there'd be 'an attractive package, lets call it compensation, for the reduction in value of cars'.

But Willis was left to backtrack from the statement last week, writing to MPs to say that the manufacturer 'does not believe it is necessary' to provide compensation to UK drivers.

He went on to add: 'We think that, with the fix just around the corner, the sums available for such a goodwill payment should be spent on maximising the uptake of the technical measures among customers and ensuring that it is done with as little inconvenience as possible.'

A massive 8.5 million VW-Group diesel cars are being recalled this year - 1.2 million of those in the UK - though owners won't be compensated. That compares to 500,000 called-back motors in the US and $1,000 goodwill payments for the drivers

Under pressure: European industry commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska sent a letter to Matthias Mueller (left) last week calling for affected EU-car owners to be compensated. Her letter was sent just two days after VW UK boss Paul Willis (right) told MPs the funds in the UK were going to be used to speed up the recalls process

Bienkowska wrote to Mueller saying European owners' right to compensation surpassed legal differences for those affected in the US.

'I would like to ask you to reconsider your stance regarding compensation and reflect on the ways to offer compensation also to the European consumers,' she penned.

I would like to ask you to reconsider your stance regarding compensation

'The issue of compensation goes beyond the difference in the legal set-up between the U.S and the EU and plays a fundamental role in viewing VW as a responsible and trustworthy company.'

The Commission wants to know what impact this will have on levels of nitrogen oxides as it seeks to tackle the problem of member states breaching official limits on the pollutants.

It also asks for information on what VW is doing to recall vehicles across the 28-member European Union and how it will ensure consumers comply with recalls, though Volkswagen UK has already outlined its schedule to the call-back process for Britons.

On Wednesday, consumer group Which? released data suggesting 95 per cent of all diesel cars, not just those under the VW Group banner, tested since 2012 do not meet legal emissions requirements for Europe.

The results found that one model  the Jeep Grand Cherokee  was fifteen times over the nitrogen oxides emissions limit.
It has become something of an ignoble tradition. When business leaders and bankers are away in Davos, or their yachts in August, the shout goes up sell, sell, sell.

Those left in charge fear taking big risks and simply disgorge shares, stocks and as much of the dodgy debt on their books as quickly as possible.

It is even more exquisite if it embarrasses bosses cavorting on ski slopes and bending the knee at the wisdom of tech panjandrums Satya Nadella of Microsoft and Facebooks Sheryl Sandberg.

The truth is that nothing very much changed between Tuesday when markets rallied and Wednesday, when they went back into paroxysm. Oil prices remain under constant pressure with American crude touching its lowest levels since 2003 and benchmark Brent crude at 12-year-low of shade under $28 a barrel.

Sorry sight: The fear is that low oil prices will trigger a series of defaults and this will send shockwaves across the whole financial system

But as has been noted many times before the oil price shock ought to be good for advanced nations as it transfers funds from producing nations such as Saudi Arabia to consuming countries such as Britain.

Yet in a curious way it is starting to feel a little like 2008 when big falls in share prices signalled the beginning of a crisis which resulted in what later disgraced IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn called the Great Recession.

The big game changer for oil has been the return of the United States as a big energy producer.

Much of the shale oil and gas is the result of drilling by smaller producers, rather than the giants such as Exxon and Shell with their more mature assets around the globe. These secondary drillers, refiners, transporters and engineers are weighed down with debt.

The fear is that low prices will trigger a series of defaults and this will send shockwaves across the whole financial system.

There is already trouble in the North Sea and in Aberdeen. Earlier this week the turmoil in the energy sector claimed the head of Amec Samir Brikho who took the blame for buying energy engineer Foster Wheeler at the top of the market when oil stood at $100 a barrel,

No two market crises are ever the same. But it was no accident that American regional banks, with heavy exposures to energy companies, were among the biggest fallers on the S&P500 index in latest trading. When panic grips the markets even the safest of companies, such as Apple, feel the draft. A report that iPhone sales are softening was enough to send its shares down 2.5 per cent. They have now lost a quarter of a trillion dollars since the start of the year.

China and the emerging markets helped to prop up the world economy after the financial crisis, now they are doing the opposite. The Japanese economy is intimately linked to China providing much of the high grade technology that goes into consumer electronics.

The latest falls mean Japans Nikkei index is 21 per cent lower that its most recent peak in June placing it in the bear market area that normally signals recession.

In spite of the bright jobless numbers in the UK, with unemployment down to levels not seen since the Blair-Brown boom, the FTSE100  which in recent years has been dominated by natural resources stocks  is also in bear territory.

There will be concern that the loans of the more heavily indebted energy and commodity firms could turn bad. And the eurozone is going through a new cataclysm.

The failure of Brussels and Frankfurt to recapitalise and clean up the European banking system in 2008 is coming back to haunt it.

Shares in the worlds oldest commercial bank Banca Monte dei Paschi were down 22 per cent in latest trading having lost 40 per cent since the start of the year. Its weakness has spread across Italy to UniCredit with markets spooked by levels of bad debts in the country estimated at 200bn.

All of this turmoil must be aggravating for Shell as it goes into its final push to buy BG Group. Chief executive Ben van Beurden has been persuasive, arguing that this is a deal which, over the longer haul, will make Europes oil champion a better company.

Certainly, buying at the bottom of the market (if that is what it is) may look smart. BG shareholders, who will receive at least one-third in cash, must be rubbing their hands in glee.
Stock market panic around the world sent global equity markets to their lowest levels in three years as the FTSE 100 and Japans Nikkei crashed into bear markets.

The falling oil price and Tuesdays IMF downgrade of global growth led to what one analyst described as a toxic cocktail dragging world markets further into the red.

Bear markets  a drop of more than 20 per cent from the recent peak  were declared for the FTSE 100 (down 203.22 points to 5673.58) and Japans Nikkei. The FTSE 100 has seen 146.7bn wiped off its value since the start of the year.

This is the first bear market for the FTSE since 2008 in the depths of the Great Recession.

The markets massacre hit stocks across Europe with Italys banking sector among the worst affected.

Shares in the worlds oldest bank, Italys Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, dived more than 22 per cent.

The All Country World Index MSCI fell to its lowest level since July 2013. If its fall continues for the rest of January it would be the worst monthly loss since October 2008, the month after Lehman Brothers went bankrupt.

Comments on Tuesday from the International Energy Agency that the oil market could drown in oversupply spooked investors.

Brent crude fell another 5.5 per cent to $27.19 and US crude fell more than 7 per cent to $26.3  its lowest since 2003.

Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at financial spreadbetting firm CMC Markets said: Increasing concerns that falling oil prices could contribute to significant numbers of bankruptcies in the US oil and gas sector arent helping sentiment amidst concerns of significant loan losses for US banks.

The rout spread from Europe, to the US. Wall Street was in the red by the time Londons stock market closed. The S&P 500 has fallen 8 per cent this year, losing more than 1trillion, according to Reuters, and it fell nearly 3 per cent yesterday  close to its October 2014 low.

The volatility index, or VIX, which is known as the markets fear gauge as it measures the expected volatility in stocks over the next 30 days, jumped 11 per cent yesterday. The traditional safe haven of gold rose more than 1 per cent to more than $1100 an ounce.

David Buik, market commentator at broker Panmure Gordon & Co described the City of London with blood running down Threadneedle Street and Canary Wharf. He said: I believe that this correction, though very painful, is very healthy and overdue.

However experts at consultancy Capital Economics disagree with John Higgins, chief markets economist, saying: Despite the prevailing gloom... we think global growth is likely to pick up from 2.5 per cent last year to around 3 per cent in both 2016 and 2017.
Barclays and Virgin Media have become the two latest UK headquartered corporate giants to slash staff as they streamline their businesses in face of ongoing economic turmoil.

A combined total of more than 2000 jobs will be lost, adding to the 1,050 announced by Tata Steel at the beginning of the week.

In a statement Barclays said that 1,200 investment banking jobs are for the chop globally as new boss Jess Staley gets to grips with the business.

Trouble ahead: Workers at Barclays and Virgin Media could be facing unemployment after the latest round of job cuts to hit UK plc

The cuts at Barclays are in addition to a programme of 7,000 job losses announced in 2014 which was completed last year.

Asia is hardest hit following plans to shut offices in Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand, while the group will also exit Russia completely.

It is believed that around 100 jobs will be lost in London, despite a renewed push into investment banking under Staley since he took the helm at the beginning of December.

The appointment of the former JP Morgan banker - to replace sacked previous boss Antony Jenkins - signalled a bid to return the lender to its previous investment banking days.

Barclays has been trimming its investment banking business since May 2014 under an overhaul first kicked off by Jenkins in the wake of the Libor rate-rigging scandal.

He announced at the time that 19,000 jobs overall worldwide would be axed within three years, including the investment bank redundancies.

The recent stock market turmoil and commodity price rout is expected to have played a part in the decision to further scale-back its investment banking presence.

The lender is following other major European lenders which have slashed more than 130,000 jobs since June as they look to slash costs and boost returns amid the mayhem.

An internal memo showed Barclays is also shutting its cash equity sales businesses across Central Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, while the group is considering scrapping its precious metals arm, which would impact countries including the UK.
Tasty: Peroni maker SABMiller reported a 7 per cent rise in underlying third-quarter sales

A growing taste for beer across Europe, Africa and Latin America offset troubles caused by the strong dollar and a trading slowdown in north America for beer giant SABMiller.

The Peroni maker, which is in the process of being bought by Anheuser-Busch InBev in a 75billion deal, reported a better-than-expected 7 per cent rise in underlying third-quarter sales and volumes grew by 4 per cent.

Chief executive Alan Clark, who is expected to receive a 48million share windfall when the deal completes, said the period to the end of December was a very strong quarter citing revenue growth up 12 per cent in Africa and 8 per cent in Latin America  led by Colombia. However US revenues fell 1 per cent.

Mild weather prior to Christmas helped its sales in Europe with revenues up 6 per cent where its performance in Poland had improved.

Analysts at Credit Suisse said it was fighting back in Poland where it had underperformed.

Beer brands Peroni and Grolsch and Londons Meantime brewery are expected to be sold as Anheuser-Busch InBev tries to avoid competition concerns.

A number of beer groups and private equity investors are reported to be interested.

Analysts at Citi said SABs shares trade at a 6.5 per cent discount to the offer price made by InBev, which represents an attractive return for investors on a six to 12 months view in the current environment.
Support: IMF chief Christine Lagarde

Christine Lagarde has won the backing of Britain, Germany and France for a second term as International Monetary Fund head  even though she faces a criminal trial in France.

George Osborne formally put Lagarde forward just seconds after the Fund kicked off a three week nomination period for candidates yesterday

The Chancellor added: At a time when the world faces what Ive called a dangerous cocktail of risks, I believe Christine has the vision, energy and acumen to help steer the global economy through the years ahead.

France and Germany added their support despite calls for the IMF to be led by someone from the developing world.
Barclays and RBS/NatWest continue to be the biggest losers in the battle for current account switchers according to latest data from Bacs.

RBS/NatWest lost a net 31,979 customers in the three months to the end of June 2015 while Barclays lost a net 27,116, the statistics show.

As a result, in the nine months to the end of June 2015, NatWest/RBS have lost a whopping net 94,526 of switchers and Barclays 86,181 - or more than 180,000 between them.

Tale of two banks: RBS/Natwest saw the most amount of net customer switch away in the three months to June 2015 - while Santander remained the biggest winner

The data, which is six months in arrears, comes as Barclays launched its Blue Rewards in April 2015, but appears to have had little effect on attracting new switchers.

RBS/NatWest has also attempted to stem the flow of switchers with its current account cashback offering, but that came out in October, so it remains to be seen whether this will help.

A Barclays spokesman said: 'The switching service works well for customers, however there is still significant account opening and closing outside of the service. In fact, we continue to open more current accounts each month than we close.'

A RBS/NatWest spokesman said: 'We want to be the bank that helps customers out, not catches them out and we're proud of how we're making banking simpler and fairer for our customers.'

The big winners of switching remains Santander. In the three months to June 2015, it garnered an extra 66,145 switchers  175,981 in the nine months to that date.

Its 123 current account has been one of the major success stories in banking in recent years, offering three per cent interest on balances between 3,000 and 20,000 and cashback on household bills.

However, its switching numbers could be heavily dented in future statistics after it hiked the monthly fee up from 2 per month to 5, meaning some may not be better off with the account now.

This change was announced by the high street bank in September 2015, so again, it remains to be seen what this does to switching numbers.

Halifax has been another big winner, claiming 34,363 switchers  or 106,990 in the nine months to the end of 2015.

Winners and losers: In the nine months to the end of June 2015, the clear winners of the switching battle have been Santander and Halifax

The seven day switching service, which launched in September 2013 to make it simpler and therefore more attractive to swap current accounts, has also seen a sharp decline in use.

Some 1.03million current accounts were switched during 2015, down from 1.15million switches taking place in 2014, according to the data. This is a disappointing 11 per cent fall.

The figure could suggest that an increasing number are happy with their current account provider, although some don't change when they are not content out of inertia.

Richard Neudegg, head of regulation at comparison website uSwitch, said: 'Despite 2015 seeing some of the best financial incentives for switchers, many still struggle to see the value in switching.

'The banks need to up their game and do more to help their customers understand their current account usage by prompting them with clear information.'

Laid bare: How the major current account providers fared in the latest set of Bacs data

One tool which is tried and tested by This is Money is the Government-backed Midata, which takes a current account statement, crunches the data and lists which accounts people could be better off in.

Bacs said a fresh burst of activity to raise awareness of the scheme was launched this month which could help increase the number of people choosing to switch. It has included TV advertising, radio and digital media.

The service has cut the length of time it takes to switch a current account from up to 30 working days to just seven.

All outgoing and incoming payments are automatically moved to the new account. Payments accidentally made to or requested from the old account are automatically redirected to the new account for 36 months after an account is switched.

Customers using the service are guaranteed not to be left out of pocket if anything goes wrong with the service, which is managed and owned by Bacs, the company responsible for direct debit and Bacs direct credit in the UK.

There have been more than 2.5million switches in total since the scheme was launched.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 21



By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:



Prior to his Tehran visit, Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for strengthening political, trade and cultural ties with Iran through an op-ed published on IRNA news agency on Jan.21.



Saying that Iran and China have enjoyed diplomatic ties and supported each other since 1971, he added Tehran and Beijing will continue their ties to make sure that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action will be fully implemented without any failure.



In a joint statement on Jan. 16, the EU High Representative Federica Mogherini and Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif announced the implementation of the JCPOA, aka nuclear deal, and the removal of economic sanctions on Iran. According to the statement, EU confirmed that legal framework, providing for lifting of its nuclear-related economic and financial sanctions, is effective.



Speaking about trade ties between Iran and China he said that over the past six years Beijing has been Tehran's major trade partner.



According to Iranian Customs Administration, Iran exported 17.56 million tons of non-oil goods, worth $5.33 billion to China during the first eight months of 2015. China was the main importer of Iranian goods in the mentioned period. Beijing's imports accounted for 22.7 percent of Iran's total non-oil exports in terms of value and 33.3 percent in terms of volume.



He pointed to his meetings with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani over the past two years and said that the both parties have reached significant agreements on expansion of bilateral ties.



He further called for expansion of ties on transport sector and said Iran and China both are considered to be significant destinations that are located along the Silk Road.



Earlier in 2015 Iranian media reported that Tehran plans to participate in an ambitious Chinese plan to revive the Silk Road which aims to connect Asia to Europe and Africa through a network of roads, railways, ports and airports.



President Xi Jinping kicked off his three-nation regional tour to the Middle East on Jan. 19.



After launching a joint-venture refinery in Saudi Arabia on 20. Jan, Xi Jinping left for Cairo and he is expected to visit Tehran as part of his regional visit.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 21

By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has criticized the conservative-dominated vetting body of the Guardian Council for failing to qualify a large number of reformist candidates to run for the upcoming parliamentary election, to be held on Feb. 26.

He questioned the legitimacy of the upcoming election in which a political group that is backed by a large number of people will not be allowed to participate, ISNA news agency reported Jan. 21.

"The Islamic Consultative Assembly [Iranian parliament] is the house of the nation, not a house for one political group," Rouhani said.

He also pledged to practice all of his authority as a president to probe into the extensive disapprovals.

The vetting body has disapproved almost 99 percent of reformist candidates who are close to President Rouhani's administration.

During a Jan. 9 speech, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged people to show a high turnout at the election, saying "to protect the country and its credibility, everyone should cast vote in the elections even those individuals who don't believe in the system."

However, later on Jan. 20 following the reports regarding the extensive disapprovals, the supreme leader said he had called on the people to cast vote in election, including even those who don't accept the system, but he didn't mean sending those people into the parliament.
Sir,



Kindly allow me space in your widely read and highly-esteemed publication to express my sincerest gratitude to two reputable corporations in the country, for their selfless commitment to bring aid to a limping society engulfed by a spate of natural difficulties.



Sir, I have since learnt through the services of the countrys media that, to help mitigate the impacts of the prevalent drought in our country, the Swaziland Sugar Association (SSA) and the Royal Swaziland Sugar Corporation (RSSC) have donated eight water tanks to the Lomahasha Constituency.



Not only have these entities afforded such help to this constituency alone, but have looked into providing the aid to other most affected constituencies.

According to local media reports, a total of 27 water tanks will be given to deserving constituencies. It is commendable that despite the predominance of water shortage, which is a challenge for the production of their main raw product, sugar cane that produces sugar and molasses respectively, to boost the countrys revenue, has not deterred both organisations from aiding the Swazi nation.



I cannot overlook the job that the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) is doing to ensure that such help is accessed by the deserving civilians; working hands-on with constituencies to devise a criteria that will ensure that all deserving civilians get equal treatment when it comes to this regard, the agency is working tirelessly to achieve that goal.

I am certain that the Swaziland Water Services Corporation (SWSC) is doing its part to strengthen the provision of potable water to the society; it must be very tiresome to come up with a method to use and follow for their water-rationing programme. All that said, I am delighted to see corporate bodies working together to achieve good results for both people and animal life of this beautiful kingdom.



I would like to stress that it is such cooperation that is needed to combat all other challenges that our nation might face.

Thank you, Mr Editor for devoting space in your reputable newspaper to publish this article.



Ncamiso Mkhonta
MBABANE  Higher learning Institutions will not be allowed to undertake political or other activities detrimental to national religious, social or local culture.



This is according to the Draft Higher Education Regulations presented yesterday at the Royal Villas. The presentation was made by the Swaziland Higher Education Council (SHEC) to operators of such institutions. The draft also states that the institution must stick to teaching, research and co-curricular activities.



The Executive Secretary of the SHEC, Mboni Dlamini, said this was meant to protect the image of the country. He said this did not mean that institutions should not provide political studies, if their mission was to do so. He said, however, they should stick to the parameters of that particular subject. He said lecturers should stick to the approved syllabus and not teach things which could be detrimental to the well being and image of the country.



The University of Swaziland teaches political studies, lecturers should stick to the parameters and not go outside their domain to the detriment of the country, Dlamini said.



He said they should not also teach things which will harass others be it in politics, religion or local culture. He said if an institution was licensed to teach Agriculture, they should stick to that, and not be involved in any other non-agricultural activities.

We do not want institutions to focus on other things that will smear the image of the country. The institutions should also not teach things which will incite students to engage in protest actions, he said.
MANZINI  Ministry of Public Service Principal Secretary (PS) Evart Madlophas statement has fuelled anger among civil servants as they have vowed to march and accompany their union leaders to demand the salary review report from government next Wednesday.



The PS had said public sector unions should forget about getting the salary review report as it contained confidential information.

The civil servants, who attended the public sector unions joint meeting, which was held at the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) Centre yesterday, felt betrayed by government following the PSs statement.



They asked their union leaders when they were going to meet with government to fetch the salary review report so that they could accompany them.

The union leaders said a letter asking government for a meeting on Wednesday was being prepared and they all agreed that they would march and accompany them.



We will not be striking but accompanying our leaders to demand the salary review report, which we had been told, through the media, that we should forget about getting it as it contains confidential information.

We would rather use our own mode of transport to get to Mbabane but the bottom line is that on Wednesday we will rally behind our leaders to demand the report, said one of the civil servants during the joint meeting. Meanwhile, the union leaders said they would not agree or disagree with their members because their duty as different public sector unions national executive committees (NECs) was to implement the masses mandate.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 21

By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:

The Georgian energy ministry and Gazprom continue the talks on the supply, the ministry said.

"A working meeting was held between the Georgian side and Gazprom representatives in Vienna," the statement said. "The topic of negotiations has not been changed. "The process is underway to coordinate the terms acceptable to the sides."

Azerbaijan is a major exporter of gas to Georgia. Currently, Georgia receives 12 percent of the total volume of Russian gas supplies to Armenia as a payment for its transit. The country has not been buying Russian gas since 2007.
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By Tom Momberg

State Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) rallied outside a single-family rental home in Bayside Tuesday with many concerned neighbors fearing potential hazardous consequences from what they allege is a commercial food operation being conducted illegally.

Residents lodged complaints with the appropriate city agencies and called on Avella to look into the suspected business being run at 33-31 204th St. Avella said he called on both the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the city Department of Buildings to investigate.

The Health Department sent cease-and-desist orders to both the property owners and the tenants after attempting to investigate resulting only in a violation, which was paid.

But neighbors still claim they smell potent food odors and burning oil at all times of day and night. They also say they have seen a large propane tank being taken inside and many different people go in and out of the home carrying large food containers while double parking cars for pickup and drop off daily.

You cannot conduct a commercial operation in a residential home. What makes it worse if you think about it is that it is a semi-attached home, Avella said. What facilities do they have in there for cooking? Do they have propane or a larger-than-normal commercial stove? Could there be an explosion that not only affects them but affects neighboring properties?

The Health Department said it was finally able to fully inspect the house with the presence of the owner Tuesday, and found no evidence of illegal food production or the use or removal of equipment used for the commercial production of food.

The property, which is deeded to John and Sophia Sideris of Roslyn Heights, L.I., has two open complaints filed against it on the Department of Buildings website and 11 in total since August 2015. Nine specifically allege the residence was being used as an illegal food business.

The property owners did not respond to requests for comment from the TimesLedger Newspapers

. Avella said he spoke to them, at which time they told him they would put an end to the tenants operation, but he has not heard from them since and food is still being produced and sent out.

I want to thank the Department of Health, because they have been very responsive and there is no doubt they have been trying to do the job, the senator said. On the other hand, the Department of Buildings still has not responded to my initial requests. This place, if they dont stop, should be padlocked  period.

The Department of Buildings said it has been responding to the complaints, but has not been able to confirm what neighbors allege.

In response to complaints from the public, we attempted to inspect the building twice last month but could not gain access, a DOB spokesman said. Our Queens inspection team will revisit this site in the near future.

One of the complaints lodged on the DOBs website claims several neighbors have witnessed a house of worship being operated out of the home, where the current tenants have had a lease since April. The complaint alleged that dozens of people were being taken to the home via a church bus and that neighbors often heard singing and chanting from outside.

If the tenants are producing food for a house of worship, temporary food service establishment laws governing the production of food not made for profit do not apply unless produced for an event open to the public, the Health Department said. Avella said in his investigation, the place where the food has been distributed had not been determined.

Marisa Tarantino, a neighbor who lives in the attached residence said the smell of food at all times of day is overwhelming in her own home, often causing her to leave. She said the hours of operation are always different in what she believes is an attempt throw off those complaining or those agencies trying to enforce laws.

We are in fear of a fire  were afraid of rodents. There are cars coming in and out of here and we dont know whats going on, Tarantino said. Our hands are tied  we dont know what to do and we are desperate  we are in fear, and its not fair. We are honest, taxpaying citizens and all we want is the respect that we give the community.
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By Madina Toure

At her annual State of the Borough Address Thursday, Queens Borough President Melinda Katz highlighted the progress the borough has made now that its become a top destination for tourists and other New York City residents.

Katz spoke before a crowd of more than 1,000 elected officials, city agency commissioners, community leaders and Queens residents in the Kupferberg Center for the Arts Colden Auditorium at 65-30 Kissena Blvd in Flushing. Actor and model Branden Wellington, who also serves as an in-game host for the Mets, served as master of ceremonies.

The industries come here because they find things that they cant find anywhere else in the city, Katz said, referring to the countrys most ethnically diverse county.

She touted other accomplishments such as the Jamaica Now Action Plan to revitalize Jamaica, her work in helping to save the New York State Pavilion in Flushing Meadows Corona Park and the revamping of the Queens Library after former CEO Thomas Galante was placed on indefinite leave for alleged misuse of funds.

She also criticized the Common Core curriculum, presented her plan to get rid of classroom trailers, shared some of her reservations about Mayor Bill de Blasios rezoning proposals and recognized the late NYPD Officers Brian Moore, Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos, who were murdered while on patrol.

At the end of her address, she brought out New York Mets General Manager Sandy Alderson, former player Edgardo Alfonzo and Mets Manager Terry Collins, who led the team into the World Series.
October Fun Calendar: Plenty to do this month in Beaver County
Council takes no action on suing entertainment giants

Wichita Falls city councilors moved consideration of a lawsuit against some major entertainment companies off the agenda when they met Tuesday.
Lockridge

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By Times Record News

A Texas Department of Public Safety trooper who once served in Jack County was arrested Friday afternoon after being accused of sexually assaulting of a child.

According to the arrest affidavit:

The victim, 17, made an outcry to her mother on Dec. 31 about an incident that occurred on Dec. 26.

She said Terry Allan Lockridge, 33, gave her alcohol to drink while at his apartment in Mineral Wells and she became intoxicated. She said he began rubbing her legs, took off her undergarments and sexually assaulted her.

The victim then went into the restroom and began to cry. Lockridge followed her into the restroom and told her not to tell anyone about the sexual assault. She asked for her phone, but he refused to let her have it.

Lockridge then began to yell, cry and pulled out a firearm, which the victim tried to wrestle away from him but was unable to do so.

He pointed the gun at his head and threatened to kill himself if she ever told anyone about the assault.

He was arrested at the DPS Office in Mineral Wells then transferred for his safety to Parker County, the Jacksboro Newspapers reported.

According to the Jacksboro Newspapers, Lockridge served as a DPS trooper in Jack County from July 2010 through July 2014 when he was transferred to Mineral Wells.

Lockridge is charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child with a deadly weapon. He remained in Parker County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail.
SHARE Orellana

By Patrick Johnston

A child has come forward accusing a man who was living with her family of sexually assaulting her "almost every day" while living with them for 18 months.

According to an arrest affidavit:

On Aug. 14, the child's grandmother reported the possible sexual abuse to the Wichita Falls Police Department after the girl disclosed the information to her.

The girl told her grandmother she had been sexually abused by Walter Emilio Orellana, 20, while he lived with the family between Jan. 1, 2013 and June 1, 2014. Orellana lived with the family after he moved to Wichita Falls from Honduras.

The girl told her grandmother that Orellana would go into the living room where she was sleeping after the family fell asleep and would sexually abuse her while putting his hands over her mouth to prevent her from making any noise.

During a forensic interview conducted at Patsy's House on Aug. 14, the girl was consistent with the disclosure she made to her grandmother.

She said Orellana would threaten to physically assault her and her family if she told anyone about what he was doing to her.

She told investigators she was about 8 or 9 years old when he was sexually abusing her, which she described as happening "almost every day" while he was living with them.

Orellana is charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child under the age of 14. He remained in Wichita County Jail Thursday afternoon in lieu of $500,000 bail.
SHARE Ohlemacher is charged with theft more than $2,500 but less than $30,000. Flores was charged with manufacture or delivery of a substance in penalty group one.

WFPD recovers stolen vehicle

A comment made to a convenience store cashier led to a stolen vehicle being recovered Tuesday afternoon.

According to a probable cause affidavit:

Wichita Falls police were called to a suspicious person at Garrison's Convenience Store, 2601 Kemp Blvd. around 2:36 p.m.

A man driving a red Dodge pickup asked the employee if the store had ever been robbed. The employee said the truck had front and back license plates that didn't match. Officers stopped the vehicle in the 3700 block of Call Field Road.

A records check revealed the front plates matched a stolen vehicle out of Reagan County with the same VIN as the truck.

The driver, Toby Jean Ohlemacher, 29, told the officers he was planning on buying the vehicle from a friend out of San Angelo and had already made a couple payments to the owner.

Ohlemacher is charged with theft more than $2,500 but less than $30,000 and remains in Wichita County Jail in lieu of $7,500 bail.

Texas trooper seizes 5 pounds of meth

An affidavit from a Dec. 11 traffic stop on U.S. 287 in Wichita County reveals 5 pounds of meth were seized by a Department of Public Safety trooper.

According to a probable cause affidavit:

The trooper stopped a vehicle for going 78 mph in a 75 mph zone around 6:27 p.m. The driver, Brian John Flores, 26, consented to a search of the vehicle.

The search of the vehicle's trunk revealed five plastic zip bags under clothes in a suitcase.

The bags tested positive for methamphetamine, and a total of 2,304.25 grams of meth was seized.

Flores was arrested and charged with manufacture or delivery of a substance in penalty group one greater than 400 grams. His bail was set at $100,000, and he was not in Wichita County Jail Wednesday

The following was taken from Wichita County court records:

BAIL

Suspect: Harley Hendry, 18

Charge: Assault on public servant

Offense Date: March 30

Bail: $75,000

Suspect: Antonio Sarabia, 65

Charge: Theft of service

Offense Date: Oct. 24

Bail: $5,000

Suspect: Carae Lucas Nuckolls, 28

Charge: Theft of service

Offense Date: Oct. 23

Bail: $5,000

Suspect: Cortney Johnson, 30

Charge: Prohibited substance in a correctional facility

Offense Date: Oct. 27

Bail: $10,000

Suspect: Darrion Whitaker, 27

Charge: Unlawful possession of a firearm

Offense Date: Dec. 16

Bail: $7,500
United States firms are still optimistic about potential market growth in China. (Photo : YouTube)

Based on a recent survey by American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham China), most United States firms are still optimistic about potential market growth in China in spite of the insurmountable regulatory challenges they face.



According to the Global Times, the 2016 China Business Survey Report was in line with a poll of AmCham China's member corporations, which sum up to about 500, and carried out in collaboration with U.S.-based Bain & Company.



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The survey established that China is one of the top three investment destinations for 60 percent of participants, although profitability and revenue were under pressure in 2015.



The chairman of AmCham China, James Zimmerman, said, "As China's economic growth has slowed down, this year's report shows that U.S. businesses will need to revise their strategies to ensure profitable growth in China."



Approximately 45 percent of the participating companies reported flat or decreasing revenue in 2015 as compared to 2014. Those that reported profit increment in 2015 declined to 64 percent, which is the lowest ever reported in the past five years.



On the contrary, fiscal performance differed greatly among the various industries. For example, about two-third of services companies reported increased revenue, while almost half of the industrial and resources firms exhibited decreasing revenues.



The same publication noted that fewer U.S. firms plan to increase their investment in China this year amid the country remaining a top investment destination. By the end of last year, 25 percent of the respondents either had moved some of their assets or were planning to move them out of China. About 40 percent of these firms reported shifting their capacity to Canada, the U.S. or Mexico.



According to the director of the Institute of World Economics and Politics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Huang Wei, the more cautious investment plans is because of the escalating costs and slower economic growth in China.



Huang told the Global Times, "Although some investment will be reduced, high-end services companies, such as those in financial and medical services, will aim to enter China in the near future thanks to the large market and strong demand."



These companies might have some reservations about market access limits. Huang also noted, "China's policy to open up its market will not change, though the pace is relatively slow at the current stage."



Despite the challenging economic climate, there were numerous positive signs, and U.S. firms still envision many opportunities for their China venture. Growth in local consumption and the rise of the middle class provide opportunities in diverse sectors. Technology and R&D-intensive corporations besides those involved in consumer products and services could as well benefit from China's "Internet Plus" campaign and the development of e-commerce.



U.S. companies acknowledge the improvement made in areas like protection of intellectual property rights and the fight against corruption in China, and are supportive of continued efforts.


SHARE TORIN HALSEY/TIMES RECORD NEWS Shotgun, an English Setter mix, was one of 24 dogs that left Wichita Falls Wednesday heading to Dewitt, New York and the Helping Hounds Dog Rescue there. The local Love On Wheels program celebrated transporting its 500th dog to New York where shelters have waiting lists of people wanting to provide loving homes but has a shortage of adoptable animals. Shotgun came from the Young County Humane Society. TORIN HALSEY/TIMES RECORD NEWS Barbara Deatherage says her goodbyes to Lily, a 2 1/2-year old Chihuahua Pug mix, Wednesday afternoon at the Walmart parking lot on I-44.

By Claire Kowalick of the Times Record News

The 500th dog rescued through Love on Wheels was transported out of Wichita Falls Thursday to find his new family in New York.

Wichita Falls volunteers began participating in the program two and a half years ago through the efforts of Jan Herzog.

Herzog visited with Stacy Smith of the Humane Society of Flower Mound and they decided to add Wichita Falls to the program, which transports shelter dogs from crowded North Texas animal shelters to a rescues shelter in upstate New York.

The 500th lucky dog, plus about a dozen other dogs, will head out to the Helping Hounds Dog Rescue in DeWitt, New York.

Herzog first began getting transport dogs from the Humane Society of Wichita County and now many other rescue groups participate including  Emily's Legacy Rescue, Texas Pit Crew, Music4Mutts, city of Wichita Falls Animal Services. WFLOW has been able to save dogs from surrounding cities including Burkburnett, Iowa Park, Electra, Seymour, Henrietta, Vernon, Jacksboro and Graham.

Dogs are chosen for transport based on health and personality.

After dogs are pulled from shelters, they are placed with foster families for a minimum of two weeks.

The foster family teach the dogs how to live inside with people and also get them used to spending time in a crate so the animals can handle the long trip without too much stress.

The dogs' fosters fill out personality profiles on each dog which are used to help match up families with the perfect dog.

"We look for healthy dogs who are not over 5 years old, and who are calm enough to tolerate the stress of transport and then waiting in the rescue to be adopted," Herzog said.

WFLOW has about 100 foster families available and around 30 dogs with fosters at any given time.

More than $150 is spent on each dog for spay/neuter, vaccination, microchips, heartworm test, and heartworm and flea preventive treatments.

Donations can be made to any of the rescue groups through their websites, or P.E.T.S. Low Cost Spay and Neuter Clinic for the rescue groups to cover transport costs. While there is some overpopulation problems with certain breeds, Herzog said the East coast area has a better handle on the pet overpopulation problem.

"They still have too many pit bulls there, but other than that, they do not have shelters full of dogs like we do in the South. Their education and laws regulating breeding have been effective," Herzog said.

Despite local efforts to lower the homeless pet population, intake numbers in Wichita Falls actually increased in 2015.

"We are saving more than ever, but we simply can't keep up as long as people keep breeding them at this rate," she said.
ALBANY  A city school board meeting turned into a public skewering session and at times erupted in shouts and a near physical confrontation Thursday night after the community learned embattled Superintendent Marguerite Vanden Wyngaard planned to quit.

Dozens of residents, community leaders, elected officials and clergy lambasted the board for its contentious relationship with the school chief over the last 1 1/2 year, and warned them any trust they had in their ability to govern had been destroyed. The outpouring came just hours after board President Kenny Bruce said Vanden Wyngaard would be placed on paid leave starting Friday and longtime Myers Middle School Principal Kimberly Young Wilkins would be as acting superintendent.

He said the decision came after the board and superintendent could no longer "overcome our philosophical differences" about how best to implement change.

"You set her up for failure," said Common Council President Carolyn McLaughlin. "There was no support. You supported her for about 18 months and then you decided that all bets were off. I don't know who's coming in next, but what you did to Dr. V, you'll do it to them."

More for you Read Albany superintendents resignation letter, contract and board response

Sources confirmed Thursday that the board gave Vanden Wyngaard an option of leaving now with a payout or being fired without one. She chose the former, and will get paid leave and benefits through the end of her contract, which expires June 30. Last year, she was the second-highest paid superintendent in the Capital Region, with an annual salary of $197,527.

Vanden Wyngaard admitted she and the board had come to an impasse in her resignation letter.

"In order for a board of education and superintendent to have a high impact to change the trajectory of learning for students and especially for those of color, we must be united in our focus, deliberate in our actions and trusting of each other to move mountains for our students," she wrote. "Clearly we are at an impasse and it is time for me to step aside so that you can continue in this new direction for the students of Albany."

Residents criticized the board for continually ignoring their pleas to keep Vanden Wyngaard in place, especially while the district has three schools at risk of an outside takeover under the state's new receivership law. Many expressed dismay at what they see as racist undercurrents on the board and a return to the "status quo" in Albany. Some speakers also expressed worry the decision could hurt the chances of the Feb. 9 high school referendum.

The meeting included more than two hours of comment from the public, who one after the other condemned the board's lack of support for Vanden Wyngaard. Just two people who spoke out expressed support for the superintendent's resignation.

One man, who criticized district graduation rates and lamented single motherhood in the city's black community, approached and almost touched longtime board member Rose Brandon as she was correcting his statements and was quickly fended off by a group of people. After a shouting match with the crowd, he was escorted out by security.

Vanden Wyngaard's fate has become a source of contention in the community in recent months, as the school board has largely remained silent over its decision to let her contract expire at the end of June. Just two members  Brandon and newcomer Vickie Smith  have spoken out in support of the superintendent.

Wilkins was named acting superintendent, as she has the longest leadership tenure of any district principal, Bruce said. She has been employed by the district since 1994, and has served as an administrator since 1997. The board will work to appoint an interim superintendent over the next few weeks, and Wilkins will be considered, Bruce said. The position could come with a pay boost, but one has not yet been approved by the board, he said.

The board will also move quickly to conduct a national search for a new permanent superintendent, he said, and will seek community input and involvement along the way.

Vanden Wyngaard arrived in the fall of 2012 as the district's first permanent black female superintendent. She had previously served as deputy superintendent of schools in Paterson, N.J. One of her campaigns since taking the Albany position has been to address institutional racism in the schools, which generated backlash within the district, community members have said.

"I came here because the students of Albany have had academic challenges and it's what I'm called to do," she said during her swearing-in ceremony. "I certainly didn't come to Albany for a short tenure. I came here to see this work through."

The board is made up of four white and three black members, though support for her hasn't split strictly along those lines. Bruce, who is black, was elected board president this month, and has revealed his own tensions with the superintendent during public exchanges at board meetings.

The board's support for her seemed to splinter in 2014, after new hires were made in the superintendent's cabinet and an audit found $215,000 in undocumented services had been billed to the district by a Minnesota-based consultant. Bruce said Thursday the resignation was not the result of the audit and that the board had not found any misconduct on Vanden Wyngaard's behalf.

New board member Vickie Smith said she had seen the superintendent's personnel file, which includes annual and midyear evaluations by the board, and couldn't find a reason not to extend her contract.
Davos, Switzerland

Ever the jokester, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden ribbed his boss Wednesday at the World Economic Forum before getting serious to chide tax-dodgers and warn about the possible dangers that the digital revolution and growing automation could pose to jobs.

A frequent veteran of the 45-year-old World Economic Forum while a U.S. senator, Biden wisecracked about President Barack Obama for not letting him go as vice president until now as he delivered the keynote address at the renowned Davos conference in the Swiss Alpine snows.

"I've really resented the hell out of the fact Barack wouldn't let me come until tonight," he told a nearly packed hall, before quickly adding: "I'm only joking about that. That's a joke."

Self-deprecatingly referring to the "Biden gaffe" known to many of his fellow Americans, Biden also quipped about wanting to seek a "personal" loan from IMF managing director Christine Lagarde, who sat in the front row and laughed. He then turned to the theme of this year's edition  the Fourth Industrial Revolution  and expressed hopes it would produce "far more winners than losers" in his speech at a conference where roughly two-thirds of the 2,400-plus attendees are business leaders.

"So my call to action here is simple: Embrace the obligation to your workers as well as your shareholders," he said.

Biden decried a growing wealth gap, economic inequality, tax avoidance and data showing that wage growth is not keeping pace with productivity gains. He suggested that they were among the contributing factors to a rise of public disenchantment and frustration in many parts of the world, fanning radical movements like the Islamic State and far-right extremists in Europe, and spawning an extreme political discourse in the United States.

"So I say to all of you tonight that the digital revolution has the potential to exacerbate this breakdown, and not just in America but around the world," he said.

Business leaders, he predicted, are likely to fare better.

"It's true all of us in this room are probably going to be fine. But while we'll be fine, we need an environment in the wake of this revolution that gives a chance to be part of the mix. And it's not so self-evident how to do that," Biden said.
Tashi and Jess Palden are temporarily giving up their Albany home for a spiritual home. The Paldens are Buddhists and they are moving their three children to Dharamsala, India, home to thousands of Tibetans exiled from their country by the Chinese occupation of Tibet, Tashi Palden's native country.

Their goal during the yearlong stay is for Jess and the children to become fluent in Tibetan. Jess will be on leave for a year from her job as a French teacher at Shenendehowa High School. The Paldens sold the Madison Avenue building where Tashi has operated a store, Little Moon, for 11 years, and they hope to rent their Albany house, the only home the Palden children have ever known.

"We love Albany; the city has been very good to us," Jessica Palden said.

The Paldens said they will miss their routines, Tashi's store, free theater in the park, the Albany community, the ability to eat whatever they want and the common luxuries of American life. All of it will be replaced by a different notion of home, a place where they will have the opportunity to see the Dalai Lama weekly and immerse themselves in a Buddhist lifestyle in a way that, so far, has been something they could only read about.

More Information Feels Like Home This is the debut of a new monthly series, called Feels Like Home. The series will explore the meaning of home, and how our neighbors came to make their homes in the Capital Region. If you have a story to tell about what your home means to you, send a message to lhornbeck@ timesunion.com. See More Collapse

"It's always been our dream to move there when we had kids," Jess Palden said. "It was a promise I made Tashi."

The Paldens met in 2000 when Jess, then working as an actress, was studying in Varanasi, India. She was raised in Connecticut and converted to Buddhism when she was a teenager as a way to cope with depression.

"I found solace in the teachings of the Buddha and the practice of prayer and meditation. I was questioning the meaning of life and the futility of our materialistic culture. Buddhism seemed to have a solution to these problems. I found the path to enlightenment as a true source of happiness," she said.

Tashi was raised in Tibet, one of nine children. He left home at 18 to become a monk and immigrated in 1999 from Tibet to Nepal  an illegal journey in the eyes of the Chinese government, which limits travel for Tibetans. From there, he moved to India and joined a monastery in Varanasi, near the border of India and Nepal. He taught Tibetan and Jess taught English. As they learned from each other, they fell in love.

Jess only expected to stay in India for a couple weeks, but extended her stay to six months. Tashi left the monkhood and married Jess. The couple moved to New York City, where Tashi worked as a server in restaurants. They moved to Albany when Jess accepted a job teaching French at the Doane Stuart School. Two years later, she took a teaching job at Shen.

They knew nothing about Albany when they arrived, but quickly made themselves at home on Myrtle Avenue. Over the years, they tried to travel to Tibet every summer to see Tashi's family. Sometimes, the Chinese government issued them a permit; some years they couldn't go. In 2005, they went to Tashi's hometown and helped four of his brothers build a hotel, which Tashi's family members operate. They expected to wait until the children  Maura, 13, Tinley, 9 and Rinchen, 5  were teenagers before they moved to India.

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But last summer, Maura announced she wanted to move to India. The Paldens started putting a plan in motion. This month, they reserved seats for the children in a school in Dharamsala, home of the Dalai Lama, who is head of the Tibetan government-in-exile.

Jess will spend her time studying as well, and she and Tashi will run Little Moon as an online store. The family leaves Feb. 1. The school year is from March to December.

It will be a difficult journey and an abrupt culture change. Jess, who has long, curly, red hair, will stand out. She said the children draw even more curiosity in India because they are biracial. While the family is looking forward to their year abroad, they will be back.

"We consider and call both home. We have dear friends and family in both places," Jess said. "Home is where the heart is!"

lhornbeck@timesunion.com  518-454-5352
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We all know about clipping coupons to save at the store or when dining out, but what about using our home to save on monthly bills and earn a few tax credits in the process?

That's what John Windover has done. Windover noticed an immediate savings on his utility bill after having 33 solar panels installed on the back roof of his Averill Park home last summer.

He estimates that at first his energy cost went down by around $230 a month, about $130 in the fall, and between $70 and $90 with the colder weather.

"It makes economic sense to take advantage of free energy on the roof," said Windover, a damage evaluator for Allstate. "I think it's a great thing for the environment, and it just makes sense." Solar panels or photovoltaic systems are solar cells that capture light energy from the sun and convert it directly into electricity.

The Windovers were able to take advantage of $20,000 in nonrefundable state and federal solar energy tax system equipment credits and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) rebate to offset the $37,000 cost of installing the panels and inverters.

Right now, the NYSERDA rebate amounts to about 50 cents a watt. For example, a person who has a 10,000 watt system qualifies for a $5,000 rebate. The federal credit is 30 percent and not capped, while the state credit is 25 percent but is limited to $5,000, according to information online.

As we move into tax season, homeowners (and tax professionals) are tallying deductions. It's also a good time to think about what you may be able to do to your home this year to save on your 2016 bill.

Wider availability of credits and the desire to be more environmentally friendly have led to an explosive growth in solar energy systems among homeowners.

"They mostly do it to save the money, but there's no doubt solar energy is cleaner," said John Hodgens, a solar energy consultant with Monolith Solar in Rensselaer. "Every year, our residential division has grown exponentially," he said.

In part because of their relative complexity, other ''green'' energy options, such as geothermal pumps and small wind turbines, are less popular, he said.

The installation of new windows and exterior doors also offers a maximum lifetime tax credit of $500, said CPA Kevin O'Leary of Marvin and Company in Latham.

The breakdown for these so called non-business energy property credits are $200 for windows, $50 for any advanced main air circulating fan, $150 for any qualified natural gas, propane, or oil furnace or hot water boiler and $300 of any item of energy efficient building property, based on instructions for the IRS Form 5695.

The tax document, which a homeowner would need to complete to apply for the credits, also mentions skylights and any metal roof with the appropriate pigmented coatings or asphalt roof with the right cooling granules designed to reduce the heat gain in your home.

Some plug-in electric vehicles are also eligible for federal tax credits. The only tax credit on the state level is for solar energy.

Windover, who serves as president of the Poestenkill Fire Company, said he decided to go with solar panels on his Colonial-style home after they were installed at the firehouse.

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A homeowner is entitled to a solar tax credit of up to 30 percent of the total installation cost of solar energy systems, added O'Leary.

"The reason these things are so attractive is because $1 credit will directly reduce your income tax by $1," said O'Leary, adding "you can't create a refund through this credit."

In other words, it's a nonrefundable tax credit.

He said one of the conditions of the credit is that the improvements must be made to a person's primary residence.

Additionally, the systems must provide electricity for the dwelling and meet fire and electrical code requirements. "I think now you're seeing more people doing it because their friends are doing and telling them about it, and they feel more comfortable," he said.
Tsinghua University in Beijing appeared to have been hacked when their website began playing fundamentalist Islamic Arabic verses from scripture. (Photo : Wikimedia / Steffen Wurzel)

The website of a top Chinese university was reportedly hacked by the Islamic State (IS) in such a way that the propaganda music of the extremist group played on some of the pages of the website, as reported by the Global Times.



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On Sunday, some of the Web pages affiliated with Tsinghua University in Beijing appeared to have been hacked when they began playing fundamentalist Islamic Arabic verses from scripture that said, "God is great, I am unafraid of death, dying a martyr's death is my ultimate goal," according to a Monday report by thepaper.cn.



The hacked page also showed a photo of an IS flag with four hooded fighters on horseback.



A screenshot of the hacked Web page made rounds on social media with the title "Islamic State Hacker." However, the link accompanying it led to a Facebook page that could not be opened.



The home page of the university has remained intact, and the hacked Web pages show unaltered contents.



After the incident, the university shut down its server. Its Tsinghua National Laboratory for Information Science and Technology is investigating the incident.



A weak password on affiliated pages was the likely cause of the incident, according to the report. No evidence has shown that hackers targeted Tsinghua University specifically.



According to a security expert with wooyun.org, a Chinese Internet security monitoring platform, security loopholes and weak passwords are common on Chinese university websites. This could lead to hacks of the entire website and loss of data.



If the hack is in fact confirmed to be from IS, this marks the first time a Chinese university has been hacked by the militant organization. Although in the past there have been cases of overseas hackers attacking Chinese websites.



No organization or person has taken responsibility for the attack.



The hack may have been done by the jihadist group, its supporters or hackers who simply wanted to cause a stir, said Zhu Yongbiao, assistant director of the Institute of Central Asia Studies at Lanzhou University.



"The hacking of China's top university would demonstrate IS' intent to attract public attention, extend its influence and incite panic, if IS is held responsible," said Zhu.



In December, IS released a four-minute song in Putonghua calling on followers of Islam in China to sacrifice themselves for the cause.


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The Boston Tea Party didn't only change the course of American history, it also changed the way we take our caffeine.

"The history of the tax on tea is so long. Coffee has a different political background and lower tariff," says Kaitlyn Bemis, senior blender at Divinitea tea shop in Schenectady.

The price of tea wasn't the issue  legally imported tea became cheaper under the 1773 Tea Act; instead, it was that notion of "taxation without representation" that made tea so unpopular. To John Adams, founding father and American president, drinking tea denoted one's allegiance to Britain and was the drink of traitors. In the decade after the Boston Tea Party, Americans had all but completely weaned themselves off tea, opting instead for the bitter, pungent, and more caffeinated kick of coffee.

Tea was being shipped from half a world away, mostly Asia, while coffee was being brought north from the Caribbean and South American countries along with sugar to make rum through the triangle trade. Coffee was easier to ship, cheaper to buy, more potent than tea, and as America's power in the Western Hemisphere grew, so too did our lust for and access to coffee.

More Information Tea shops in the Capital Region: Divinitea 1708 Union St., Schenectady 347-0689 divinitea.com The Whistling Kettle Two locations: 24 Front St., Ballston Spa 884-2664 254 Broadway, Troy 874-1938 thewhistlingkettle.com The Tailored Tea 1010 Troy-Schenectady Road, Latham 608-5137 thetailoredtea.com Saratoga Tea and Honey Co. 48 Broadway, Saratoga Springs 871-1419 saratogateaandhoney.com Short and Stout 1736 Western Ave., Albany 456-8327 shortandstouttea.com Wild Thyme Whole Foods and Tea Co. 108 Milton Ave., Ballston Spa 885-7275 See More Collapse

While the British maintained their afternoon tea times, Americans embraced the fast-paced appeal of drive-through, gas station and doughnut shop coffee.

"I see the American way of life not really embracing this as much because we live a fast-paced life where we need things done fast, and we want it done now," says Jared Bafaro, chef and owner of The Tailored Tea in Latham. "The Brits, on the other hand, enjoy the midafternoon break, which to me, resembles the lunch hour that some of the European countries have."

But slowing down for a little tea has its benefits.

"Tea is the most-consumed beverage in the world. Because of the way it is processed, there are so many more varieties that appeal to individual tastes," says Meaghan Borowsky, co-owner of The Whistling Kettle tea shops, with locations in Ballston Spa and Troy. She also notes the health benefits of tea.

"Green tea increases your metabolism and some of the herbal teas also have a detoxification aspect to them. Some other, such as chamomile, have a calming effect," says Bafaro. Tea is also cited in many medical studies as being beneficial to liver health. (Unless it is spiked with whiskey and turned into a hot toddy; then the benefits might be moot.) Green tea has long been touted for the antioxidant qualities that are purported to do everything from prevent cancer to lessen the risk of stroke and heart disease.

There are many varieties of teas to choose from with endless blending potential.

"When I brew my own tea, it is only for me because I brew mine a lot stronger than what we normally serve, and when it comes to teas I tend to mix a few together that have complementary flavors," Bafaro says.

Green, black, white and rooibos (or red) tea can be consumed singularly or blended with dried fruits and herbs to create new flavors. Tea that is actually just dried herbs (sans tea) is referred to as a "herbal infusion," Bemis says.

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"Absolutely do not go for grocery store bags of tea," she says. Loose tea is typically a much better product, and therefore offers a better flavor.

A large brewing basket to hold the tea is the best way to steep it. Green and Oolong teas require a water temperature of just under boiling  about 180 degrees  for brewing, while other teas and herbal infusions can tolerate boiling water.

Stronger teas can benefit from a spot of milk, helping to mellow the flavor. Other additions, like honey, lemon and sugar will alter the taste of the tea and its health benefits.

Although tea usually takes a backseat to our morning and afternoon regimens of caffeine intake, it is slowly gaining ground. In a 2014 infographic created by Quartz, the most popular drink at Starbucks in Denver was the tea latte. In San Diego, it's the green tea frappuccino. With all the bad press that American hyperdrive attracts and the constant barrage of Instagram memes and inspirational messages encouraging us to slow down and enjoy life, the focused ceremony of tea is primed for a comeback.

"Perhaps in response to the negative aspects of leading too hectic a lifestyle, the ritual of tea has found a solid footing with a new generation," Borowsky says.

Find more at www.deannafox.org and @DeannaNFox.
One woman bought Brussels sprouts and other fresh, locally sourced produce. Another woman, organic dog treats. A man purchased a loaf of bread and jars of peanut butter and jelly. A guy who lives in one of the 28 new apartments upstairs came in again; it was a new day, after all, and he averaged at least one visit daily for the first week.

Last week, on the ninth day of business at Steuben Street Market in downtown Albany, once the lunch rush started at minutes past noon, the deli counter made 40 gourmet sandwiches in 45 minutes, sold containers of house-made salads and cup upon cup of hearty potato soup and herby, earthy mushroom soup, both brewed in the market's tiny kitchen by its own full-time chef.

At least six customers that day alone offered Steuben Street Market's general manager, Charissa Pratt, some variant of a gratitude-filled sentiment along the lines of, "Thank you for opening downtown." Often it was more emphatic: "Thank you." And sometimes evangelical: "I am trying so hard to spread the word for you guys."

Amen, sister. I freely admit to irrational exuberance about Steuben Street Market. As a downtown resident for 22 years, one who always has had to get in the car to pick up anything fresh for dinner, I long assumed I'd remain among the few residents, because of two basic and mutually reinforcing problems: not much housing availability and little more than Rite-Aid for retail shopping.

More Information If you go Steuben Street Market Where: 58 N. Pearl St., Albany Hours: 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday Stock: About 600 items, focusing on local produce; organic, gluten-free and non-GMO fare; grocery staples and speciality products; deli counter; prepared housemade foods; small stock of household items (pet food, cleaning supplies, etc.). Info: 977-4030 or steubenstmarket.com See More Collapse

I lived through the downtown bar mania of the late 1990s and first decade of the 2000s, which the city shamelessly encouraged and then expressed shock  shock!  when it turned out that a dozen bars in four blocks attracted large, drunken, sometimes violent crowds.

I lived through the next lull, when the first condo project downtown got scuttled by the 2008 recession, and a little later, when downtown's viability as a developing neighborhood was seen as so uncertain that only two banks would even consider me for a mortgage for the condo I eventually bought, at 17 Chapel St., next to the Hampton Inn, even though I had a credit score of 825 and a 20 percent down payment.

Now, there's a genuinely emerging residential area beginning to show life during the hours that tens of thousands of office workers aren't around. According to the Downtown Business Improvement District, 300 rental units have opened in downtown proper in the past three years, 100 more are under construction, 400 are in planning stages, and the occupancy rate for apartments is 97 percent.

And there's finally a quality market to serve those residents. For the first time since 1994, I can make a meal from good ingredients without having to drive. One of my condo neighbors called Steuben Street Market "a mini Whole Foods"  an overstatement, of course, but one driven by understandable enthusiasm.

"I think it's a phenomenal addition to downtown," said attorney Jack Dew, who works three blocks away and was stopping in for his third lunch and second turkey BLT in seven workdays. A Latham resident who chose not to live downtown in part because of the lack of basic amenities, primary among them a grocery store, Dew says the presence of Steuben Street Market and the promise it portends for future downtown growth might prompt a move in the coming years.

He said: "They clearly devoted time, energy and thought to the store and its (stock)."

"They" are Charissa Pratt, who is finishing her master's degree in nutrition at The Sage Colleges, and the store's owners  her father, Chris Pratt, and business partner Alessio Depoli. The men, who invested $125,000 to open the store, are bar owners, with all four of their businesses nearby; Pearl Street Pub is located across the cobblestone walkway from which the market takes its name, The Capital American Eatery is across North Pearl Street, Public House 42 is a few blocks uphill toward the state Capitol, and The Barrel Saloon is less than a mile away, in Albany's growing warehouse district. They're also finalizing purchase of the massive former Jillian's building, also directly opposite the market.

"For the first two weeks, we're probably 40 percent above what we were hoping to do," Chris Pratt said. "That will probably level off, but I've been overwhelmed by the response, especially for lunches. The grocery has been pretty good, but the lunches  and people buying chocolate-covered pretzels, dried fruit, snacks to eat at their desks  has been huge."

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The market works complementarily with other Pratt-Depoli businesses: It further adds to their bulk-buying power for produce, and prepared meals from the restaurants are available in reheatable, grab-and-go containers at the market, in addition to its own from-scratch food and meals. One day last week, for example, the entrees included smoked meatloaf and scalloped potatoes from The Barrel Saloon and chicken Parm from The Capital.

There are other crossovers as well; the market's chef, Jessica White, culls unattractive but otherwise perfectly usable produce from the store's shelves for use in soups and salads, and the restaurants' chefs at times pop in when they're lacking ingredients.

"I have a running log in my head of what they take," said Charissa Pratt with a laugh after a Pearl Street Pub kitchen member came over for onions. "It may be all in the family, but they're still paying for it."

One day last week, as downtown worker Keara McKiernan browsed for lunch fare, a team from Integra LED inspected the store to advise on improved lighting efficiencies. (Helpful tip from Integra sales manager Chris Jones: Fresh produce lasts lots longer and looks better under LEDs than fluorescent lighting.)

McKiernan, who heard about Steuben Street Market from colleagues, considered herself an instant convert: "The prices are reasonable, a lot of what they have is organic, and it's close to work: Why wouldn't I come here all the time?"

sbarnes@timesunion.com518-454-5489 @Tablehopping http:///facebook.com/SteveBarnesFoodCritic
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Bob Hardisty is holding off on frequent toilet flushing. Shirley Rainville is considering going over to a friend's house to shower.

Hardisty and Rainville, both residents of Halfmoon, were among the throngs of residents on Wednesday attempting to cope with limited access to water in their homes. They stopped by the town Highway Department to pick up cases and jugs of bottled water as officials work to fix the problem.

Many were looking to use the fresh water for necessities like laundry, washing dishes, cooking and drinking.

A rupture in one of Troy's main water lines on Sunday limited the amount of water that is getting to Halfmoon, Waterford and other communities that buy their water from the city. It has left residents facing limitations on the use of a resource few ever think about in the Capital Region.

"It's a challenge," said Stephanie Shaber, of the Sheldon Hills development, who quickly shuffled back to her car to escape the winter chill after grabbing a case of water.

"The town is doing a good job," said Mike Bonesteel, a Halfmoon resident. "They got right on it."

Bonesteel said his water hasn't been affected much, but he picked up the bottled water in case the problem isn't resolved by the end of the week, as officials are predicting.

In Troy, businesses such as Testo's Italian Restaurant in Lansingburgh, were also managing the water shortage.

The water-main break didn't affect Testo's per se. Although to hear owner John Testo tell it, people assumed they were flooded and closed until further notice.

Residents got the wrong message, he said, from the visuals looped on the local news: gushing waters. Streets waterlogged. Boil-water advisories.

"Most customers were scared to come down because they were seeing raging waters," Testo said. "We didn't lose power and our basement is bone dry."

Around noon, workers were kneading dough and pulling hot pizzas from the oven, even as the dimly lit dining area was nearly empty during the normally bustling lunch hour.

Testo said business would bounce back.

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"Our customers are very loyal," he said.

An eyeshot away from Testo's, Elyse Reynolds was loading her car to take her 10-year-old daughter, Keira, out to run errands since her school, Waterford-Halfmoon, has been closed since the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday Monday.

Don Bowles, owner of Don & Paul's Coffee Shop in Waterford, said he had one of his worst nights in 10 years following the rupture.

"This is no good for anybody," Bowels said. "It's affected me a lot... People are afraid."

Bowles said his eatery is usually overflowing with locals grabbing a dollar cup of coffee or choosing a daily special. But, Wednesday just a few people, many of whom were from unaffected towns, were having a late breakfast. The juice and ice machines were down. Coffee was still served because it's boiled, said Annie Thomas, one of the managers, and the shop bought bottled water to give to customers.

Although some residents and business owners commended the official response the water shortage, they also wondered when the issue would be fully resolved.
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Albany

Janet DiFiore promised to be an independent judicial voice  and revealed herself as a gun owner  while winning unanimous approval from the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday to become the state's next chief judge.

The Westchester County district attorney, nominated by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to succeed retired Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman, needs confirmation Thursday from the full Senate to become just the second woman to head New York's Court of Appeals. Former Chief Judge Judith Kaye, who died Jan. 7, was the first.

The Republican-led Senate is expected to take up her nomination at 11 a.m.

DiFiore, 60, a Democrat and former Republican from Mount Vernon, confidently addressed the Senate Judiciary Committee in a jam-packed room of lawmakers, reporters and a number of top state judges. The St. John's University School of Law product deftly answered questions from the committee, including one from Sen. Thomas F. O'Mara involving the rights of gun owners.

The Republican from Chemung County reminded DiFiore that in 2011, as president of the state district attorneys association, she wrote a letter to Congress opposing a national right-to-carry guns act. He said that leads him to believe DiFiore might "lean more toward gun control" than supporting gun owners' rights. And he questioned how she would handle a case related to the Second Amendment, which gives citizens the right to bear arms.

DiFiore replied: "The law on the Second Amendment is clear  and I appreciate that as a responsible, law-abiding gun owner myself."

She said she could not comment on any particular case.

"Do you have a concealed carry permit?" O'Mara asked DiFiore.

"Yes, I do, sir," DiFiore replied.

"Thank you," O'Mara said.

The committee's chair, Sen. John Bonacic, an Orange County Republican, heaped praise on the qualifications of DiFiore. He noted the nominee's resume includes being district attorney, a county judge, state Supreme Court justice and supervisor of criminal courts for the 9th Judicial District in the lower Hudson Valley.

But Bonacic raised a concern that DiFiore might be too close to Cuomo, who previously appointed DiFiore to chair his Joint Commission on Public Ethics, a post she left after 16 months.

"When I heard that the governor put your name forward as the nominee, the first thing I thought of (was), 'Is she going to be independent?' As I spoke to many of my colleagues, that, too, was on their mind," Bonacic said. "It's important to all of us that the judiciary branch always be independent."

"Given your policy-making relationship with the governor," he asked, "how would you go about separating the interests of the judiciary from the interests of the executive to maintain judicial independence?"

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DiFiore said she understands the importance of judicial independence  and the appearance of it  at every level of the court system to inspire people's confidence of fairness without the influence of outside forces and agendas.

"The chief judge does, indeed, have many different roles and responsibilities, and on the adjudicate side of the chief judge's obligations, the cases are the cases and they are absolutely inviolate," she said. On the administrative and management side, she said, she would work with the legislative and executive branches.

If confirmed, DiFiore said she would want to do everything possible to honor the court system's mission of "speedy, fair and just resolution of cases."

DiFiore added: "Whether it's a policy issue or an operational issue, you have my word that I will be working closely with my partners here in the Legislature as well as the executive branch  always, always mindful  and I believe I have a record to support this  of my role representing the judicial branch of government and always promoting independence in fact and appearance."

The advancement of DiFiore came as Cuomo nominated former Manhattan-based U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia to fill the Court of Appeals vacancy created by the retirement of Associate Judge Susan Read. Garcia, a onetime law clerk for Kaye, was the 1989 valedictorian of Albany Law School. Garcia, who is 54, was a finalist for the chief judge's post. A partner with the Manhattan firm of Kirkland and Ellis, he served as a U.S. attorney under President George W. Bush. Of the six candidates chosen by Cuomo to sit on the high court, he would be the first Republican.

Read, a Republican, was appointed by Gov. George Pataki.

rgavin@timesunion.com  518-434-2403  @RobertGavinTU
The announcement of 300 high end jobs for Nenagh told has been described as a 'game changer' for North Tipperary.

First Data announced that it intends to establish a research and development center in Nenagh that will house up to 300 highly skilled employees to centralize work on a number of the companys leading technology platforms. .

First Datas new facility will be the companys first Irish location outside of Dublin. First Data currently employs approximately 300 workers in two separate facilities in Dublin.

Minister Alan Kelly said This is a red letter day for Nenagh, a day that will be a game-changer for not just the economy of the town itself but for the county. We have to go back to the 1980s at least for a jobs announcement of anything of this scale for Nenagh. The announcement of 300 jobs for Nenagh is the equivalent of almost 4,000 jobs for Limerick. Thats how significant this is for the town and county.

I have spent 12 months working on bringing todays monumental announcement to fruition. Since I began communications with First Data in January of last year, I have met with the company over a dozen times, including on a number of occasions in New York, and have been hugely impressed by the scale and dynamism of this company.

The facility will be established in the Stereame Park on the Limerick road.

See next weeks Tipperary Star for full reaction and analysis.
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Former KMT chairman Eric Chu said that the party needs to look within in order to win back voters. (Photo : Getty Images)

The Kuomintang (KMT), Taiwan's former ruling party, held a congress on Monday to appoint Huang Min-hui as acting chairwoman after its former chairman, Eric Chu, resigned after losing the presidential election of Taiwan on Saturday, as reported by China Daily.



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Huang, the former vice chairwoman of the KMT, will take charge of the affairs of the party temporarily until the KMT elects a new leader, according to a Monday report by the Ta Kung Pao newspaper.



Chu was reported as having said at the meeting that only sincere introspection and reform will allow the KMT to win back voters. He said he hoped for the next KMT leader to lead the necessary reform, and party comrades should unite their efforts to strive for a better future for Taiwan, the KMT and the people.



Chu, along with People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong, was defeated by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Tsai Ing-wen, who won the election with 56.1 percent of the vote. She will take office in May.



For the legislative election also held on Saturday, 68 out of 113 seats went to the DPP, 35 to the KMT, five to the New Power Party, three to the PFP, one to the Non-Partisan Solidarity Union, and one to an independent candidate.



Chu has acknowledged his failure, having said in a speech at the KMT headquarters in Taipei that losing both the leadership and the legislative majority was an unprecedented blow to the party.



"This is the time to ask, what should we do in the future?" said Chu. "We need to cultivate talent from the grass-root level, and let our future elites and leaders enter the government, enter the legislature through local elections. This is the only way forward."



Former KMT spokesman Tang Wei-chung appealed on Facebook on Monday that the reform must start by lowering the barrier for the party leadership election, allowing more and younger people to participate in the race. Tang resigned on Saturday before the election results were in.



Li Mi, Taiwan researcher and deputy director of the Shanghai Institute for Public Relation Studies, said that several factors led to the KMT's defeat, including the economic decline and the poor handling of the government, the power struggle and infighting in the party, and the failure to win over Taiwan's voting youth.



"More than 7.2 million people in Taiwan are between 20 and 40 years old. That group is big enough to change the political map," he said. "The biggest problem the KMT had was they didn't realize the situation."


January 21, 2016

Last week a jury in Texas returned a verdict in a federal civil case which found that Metaswitch Networks infringed on seven different VoIP patents held by GENBAND (News - Alert). As a result of the verdict, which came almost two years to the day since the case was originally filed, GENBAND was awarded over $8.1 million in damages.







On January 21, 2014, GENBAND filed a patent infringement case in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. In the filing, GENBAND alleged that Metaswitch infringed on patents involving Internet protocol communication, a type of firewall, communication between broadband and telecom networks, communication over data networks, and interworking between IP telephony protocols.

The case was known as Genband US LLC v Metaswitch Networks Ltd., Metaswitch Networks Corp. and Metaswitch Inc. Case No. 2:14-cv-00033-JRG-RSP.

Based in Frisco, Texas, GENBAND develops real-time communications software, and hardware including session border controllers and gateways. Metaswitch is a London-based company that develops consumer and business communications, network interconnectivity, and cloud technology.

GENBAND faced some potential obstacles before the jury made its decision. Two of the patents were able to pass what is often known as the Alice test, which refers to a U.S. Supreme Court decision in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International. In that case, the court ruled that abstract ideas run on a computer are not patentable. About week prior to the verdict, a federal magistrate in Texas recommended that the Alice test should not cause the two patents in question to become invalid.

Metaswitch countered that suit was simply an attempt on GENBANDs part to harm a competitor. It also claimed that GENBAND held back some information on one of the patents it filed, and that the royalties on other patents were unfair.

The jury was unanimous in finding that GENBAND had proven by a preponderance of evidence that Metaswitch had infringed on the seven different patents as defined in the original case filing. It was also unanimous in finding that Metaswitch failed o provide clear and convincing evidence that any of the seven patent claims were invalid.

Metaswitch appeared unfazed by the ruling, as its CEO suggested to RCRWireless.com that these lawsuits are routine in the technology industry. The company currently has a deal with AT&T (News - Alert) that uses some of Metaswitchs SBCs for LTE interconnectivity.

Contrary to Metaswitchs non-reaction to the GENBAND verdict, this case is a big deal, because of it has significant implications in phone technology transitioning from PSTN to IP telephony. Companies developing solutions in this area have to be careful to avoid infringement, given that GENBAND will fight to protect its intellectual property and has so far been successful doing so.

Edited by Kyle Piscioniere
[January 21, 2016] ACCEO Solutions Acquires Groupe Techna Inc.

The company expands its selection of solutions used by the municipal, public, and parapublic sectors MONTREAL, Jan. 21, 2016 /CNW/ - ACCEO Solutions Inc. (ACCEO), a Canadian leader in IT and business and financial solutions, is pleased to announce its acquisition of Groupe Techna Inc. (GTechna) and its subsidiary, GTechna USA. GTechna develops automation systems for parking management, law enforcement, and regulatory activities for police, managers of parking facilities, and public works departments in North America, including Mexico, in Australia, and in Malaysia. ACCEO's product offering is backed up by a key team of experts and a suite of applications based on Web and mobile technology and integrated into a number of its own solutions. As part of a shift toward digital court processes, ACCEO aims to extend its municipal services to other sectors, such as justice. The acquisition of GTechna is an important step forward in the field of law enforcement and public safety. "We're very proud to welcome GTechna and its employees to ACCEO. In addition to rounding out our range of soluions for the municipal sphere, the company gives us the opportunity to introduce ourselves to new market sectors in both Quebec and elsewhere in North America. Meanwhile, GTechna's clientele will continue to enjoy the same high standard of service as always," says Gilles Letourneau, president and chief executive officer of ACCEO.



"It is with great enthusiasm that we join our expertise to that of a company of the calibre of ACCEO. In addition to our recognized expertise, from now on we can also rely on ACCEO's stature and stability, as well as its substantial assortment of solutions, to win over, with even greater assurance, our target clientele, which is in large part made up of major cities here and elsewhere in North America, including Mexico, and in Asia," explains Michel Guay, president of GTechna. About ACCEO Solutions Inc.

Leading Canadian IT company ACCEO Solutions specializes in the design, implementation and integration of, and support for, management software; e-business development; and payment, professional, and technical services. ACCEO Solutions, which is currently experiencing an active growth phase, boasts nearly 1,000 employees, approximately 60,000 clients, and annual revenues exceeding $110 million. For more information, please go to www.acceo.com. About Groupe Techna Inc. Founded in 1992 by Sergio Mastronardi (CTO of GTechna) and Michael Leccese, GTechna offers integrated solutions which combine licence plate recognition, automated ticket-generation, and fine-payment technology and various tools which enable the exchange of information with management systems used by cities, courts, and parking-facility managers. It has built an excellent reputation among Quebec municipalities, major North American cities, and numerous police departments. For more information, please go to www.gtechna.com. SOURCE ACCEO Solutions Inc.

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[January 21, 2016] Governor Deal Proclaims January 24-30 "School Choice Week" in Georgia Joining Leaders Nationwide in Celebrating Opportunity in Education

Georgia Governor Nathan Deal has officially proclaimed January 24-30, 2016 as "School Choice Week" in Georgia. Governor Deal joins thirty other governors and 230 mayors and county leaders nationwide in issuing proclamations. With over 400 events being held to celebrate the Week in Georgia alone - and with more than 16,000 independently organized events across all 50 states - National School Choice Week will be America's largest-ever celebration of opportunity in education. Events will include a large rally at the Capitol building in Atlanta, round-table discussions, coffeehouse meet-ups, festivals, school fairs, and more throughout the state. As a nonpartisan, nonpolitical public awareness effort, National School Choice Week seeks to raise public awareness about school choice to start tens of thousands of individual conversations across our country about the need for, and benefits of, educational opportunity. "School choice empowers families to make important decisions regarding the education of their children," Deal said. "Every child in Georgia has the right toa quality education regardless of his or her zip code. School Choice Week is an important element in expanding access to effective schools. We appreciate the efforts of education advocates both in our state and nationally."



"We are grateful for Governor Deal's support for School Choice Week in Georgia," said Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week. "Millions of people across the country, regardless of which type of schooling they choose, are united in their view that greater choice means greater opportunities for our children to thrive." Held every January, National School Choice Week is an independent public awareness effort designed to shine a positive spotlight on effective education options for every child. Through thousands of independently planned events across the country, National School Choice Week raises public awareness of all types of educational choices available to children. These options include traditional public schools, public charter schools, public magnet schools, online learning, private schools, and homeschooling.

For more information, visit www.schoolchoiceweek.com, or visit www.facebook.com/schoolchoiceweek. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160121005477/en/

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[January 21, 2016] WeLab Raises US$160M in Series B Financing from Khazanah and ING Bank

BEIJING, Jan. 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- WeLab, operator of Wolaidai, one of China's largest mobile lending platforms, and WeLend.hk, Hong Kong's leading online lending platform, today announce a US$160 million (RMB1 billion) fundraising from a stellar consortium of international and domestic Chinese investors led by Khazanah Nasional Berhad. Other investors include ING Bank and state-owned Guangdong Technology Financial Group (GTFG). The financing represents the first ever fundraising by a Chinese financial technology firm from both an international bank and government investors, and also one of the first financings of an international financial institution in a leading Chinese fintech player. This Series B fundraising follows the completion of a US$20 million Series A round in January 2015 from a group of strategic and financial investors, including CK Hutchison's TOM Group and Sequoia Capital, which enabled WeLab to launch new products in mainland China and solidify its credit risk modelling capabilities with big data solutions. "This second fundraising is eight times bigger and combines the support of a leading international financial institution and government funds. It is testament to the exciting potential of the WeLab business model and its transformative potential in China's mobile lending market," said Simon Loong, Founder and CEO of WeLab. "Further, the investment is a clear validation of our risk management and operational capabilities, both of which are critical to long-term success in the industry." "A significant portion of the new funds raised will continue to be invested in credit technology research and development, to enable us to set the standard for the mobile lending market and to fulfill young peoples' appetite of mobile banking," Simon continued. The two government funds involved in this round of fundraising are: Khazanah, of Malaysia, and GTFG, a Chinese provincial government state fund in Guangdong. Khazanah Managing Director, Tan ri Azman Mokhtar said, "The investment in WeLab continues to strengthen Khazanah's presence in the innovation and technology sector internationally. WeLab's business model is attractive because the company cooperates with financial institutions to provide banking solutions on a purely online and mobile platform, while providing affordable credit to people who are unable to obtain financing through traditional channels."



In China, ING Bank offers commercial banking services to corporates and institutions and is one of the largest shareholders of Bank of Beijing. Further, with the early success of ING Direct, the bank's online banking activities, ING Bank is a global pioneer and leader in financial services innovation. "The stake we have taken in WeLab and other fintech investments proves that we are determined to transform banking to further improve the customer experience. We will look at the possibilities of starting a partnership with WeLab in ING markets," said ING Bank CEO Ralph Hamers. WeLab's rapid growth continued in 2015, despite a backdrop of increasing economic uncertainty, with loan disbursements increasing ten-fold, its customer base reaching 2.5 million individuals within 1.5 years and the sourcing of RMB9 billion in loan applications. With its best-in-class risk management technology, WeLab has maintained an industry-leading delinquency rate of around 1% based on loans that are 30 days past due; this rate falls below that of credit card bad debt at traditional banks (1.21% as of June 2015 according to The People's Bank of China). In addition, the company has achieved zero fraud loss despite operating fully online.

"Looking forward, WeLab will start collaborating with Ule.com and the Postal Savings Bank of China in 2016 on internet finance initiatives. These partnerships will help to sustain WeLab's growth momentum as it continues to focus on realizing its vision of "democratizing finance," Simon concluded. About WeLab Founded in 2013 in Hong Kong, WeLab is transforming traditional credit services by creating seamless online and mobile lending experiences for China and Hong Kong. WeLab operates Wolaidai, one of China's largest mobile lending platforms, and WeLend.hk, Hong Kong's leading online lending platform. WeLab's investors include CK Hutchison's TOM group, Khazanah Nasional Berhad, ING, Silicon Valley-based venture capital fund Sequoia Capital, TOM Group's Ule.com and Guangdong Technology Financial Group. Visit www.welab.co for more information. About Khazanah Nasional Berhad Khazanah Nasional Berhad ("Khazanah") is the strategic investment fund of the Government of Malaysia entrusted to hold and manage the commercial assets of the Government and to undertake strategic investments. Khazanah is involved in various sectors such as power, telecommunications, financial institutions, healthcare, aviation, infrastructure, leisure & tourism, property, creative & media, education, and innovation & technology. For further information on Khazanah, please visit www.khazanah.com.my. About ING ING is a global financial institution with a strong European base, offering banking services through its operating company ING Bank and holding a significant stake in the listed insurer NN Group NV. The purpose of ING Bank is empowering people to stay a step ahead in life and in business. ING Bank's more than 52,000 employees offer retail and commercial banking services to customers in over 40 countries. About Guangdong Technology Financial Group Guangdong Technology Financial Group (GTFG) is a company solely funded by the state and operated under the control of the Guangdong provincial government. The company provides venture capital financing to technology SMEs in China. GTFG's vision is to build out a multi-billion RMB platform to drive technological innovation, industry transformation and deliver real economic growth and wealth. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160120/324449 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/welab-raises-us160m-in-series-b-financing-from-khazanah-and-ing-bank-300207716.html SOURCE WeLab

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[January 20, 2016] Analysis of the Global HVDC and FACTS Market

NEW YORK, Jan. 20, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Analysis of the Global HVDC and FACTS Market



The Integration of Renewables into Grid Networks is Driving Remarkable Developments in High-voltage Transmission Systems



As a result of global population explosion and growing power demand, utilities are investing in new power plants. The rise in environmental concerns urges power producers to invest in clean energy, which is typically located in remote regions. To connect such remotely located power generation sources and to also minimize transmission losses, companies deploy high-voltage systems, including high-voltage direct current (HVDC) systems and flexible alternating current transmission systems (FACTS). This study discusses global market opportunities and drivers and restraints that will impact future market growth.



Executive Summary



Global transmission and distribution (T&D) is in the process of upgradation due to the rise in population and power demand.



- By 2040, electricity demand is projected to increase by % and the share of renewables is estimated to increase to %.

- To integrate the growing population and the power generated from renewable sources located in remote locations, significant investment in T&D networks is required.

- High-votage networks are mandatory in the transport of power from generating stations to the point of consumption, at minimal loss.







- Growth rate varies across the world due to the availability of technology, investment, and other factors. From 2014 to 2020, the market is expected to register a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of %.



Key Questions This Study Will Answer





Is the market growing, how long will it continue to grow, and at what rate?

Are the existing competitors structured correctly to meet customer needs?

What are the key factors likely to challenge market growth during the forecast period?

How will the structure of the market change with time? Is the market ready for acquisitions?

What are the key factors that will drive the market over the coming years?



Are the vendors in the space ready to go it alone, or do they need partnerships to take their businesses to the next level? Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p03307344-summary/view-report.html



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



http://www.reportlinker.com



__________________________

Contact Clare: [email protected]

US: (339)-368-6001

Intl: +1 339-368-6001 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/analysis-of-the-global-hvdc-and-facts-market-300207485.html SOURCE Reportlinker

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[January 21, 2016] MTN Group Selects ItsOn to Deliver Digital Experiences to Customers

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Jan. 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- ItsOn announced today that it has signed a group agreement with MTN Group, Africa's largest mobile operator with more than 230 million customers throughout Africa and the Middle East. MTN will use ItsOn's cloud-based solution to increase subscribers and revenue by selling both enhanced mobile connection services and new digital content through a personalized and affordable on-device commerce experience. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160119/323943LOGO ItsOn's platform virtualizes and automates key operator business and operational support systems such as billing, charging, rating, policy, activation, marketing and on-device purchases. Operators overlay ItsOn's platform on top of their existing IT systems to quickly launch innovative services, accelerate mobile commerce growth and provide an enjoyable digital consumer experience. Mobile operators around the world are seeking the most effective technology for quickly providing a great mobile digital experience to their subscribers. ItsOn's platform includes a device application and virtual connected cloud service, which can instantly deliver a number of seamless operator-consumer transactions, including simple discovery of mobile services, contextual commerce offers, easy payment options, loyalty offers, compelling customer retention strategies, segmented marketing and best-in-class support. Until now, efficiently creating and launching these digital experiences has been a challenge because siloed legacy operator IT infrastructure components require long internal development projects and expensive recurring contractul costs. ItsOn's platform provides the world's first complete end-to-end cloud-based SaaS solution to remove these traditional barriers and enable a rapid digital transformation of the mobile operator business model.



"As we expand into emerging markets, we're seeing an untapped base of new smartphone users with a growing appetite for new services and digital content," said Albert Fernandez, Group Chief Consumer Officer of MTN. "We want to make it easier for our customers to access these services and content, act on contextual offers and purchase new goods directly from their device. We believe ItsOn's platform is the best solution for this need on the market today."

MTN will deploy consumer offers leveraging ItsOn's technology initially in South Africa, with expected expansion to other countries thereafter. "Our mission at ItsOn is to help our mobile operator customers create, market and sell new products and services through an enjoyable, instant mobile experience that connects the next billion internet users," said Greg Raleigh, Founder and CEO of ItsOn. "We're proud to be working with MTN and we are honored that they have chosen our technology to power their vision for a digital on-ramp of new services for their users."

About the MTN Group

Launched in 1994, the MTN Group is a leading emerging market operator, connecting subscribers in 22 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The MTN Group is listed on the JSE Securities Exchange in South Africa under the share code: "MTN." As of 30 September 2015, MTN recorded 233 million subscribers across its operations in Afghanistan, Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Cyprus, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Republic, Iran, Liberia, Nigeria, Republic of Congo (Congo-Brazzaville), Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, South Sudan, Swaziland, Syria, Uganda, Yemen and Zambia. Visit us at,www.mtnbusiness.com and www.mtn.com or follow us @MTNGroup on Twitter. About ItsOn

ItsOn is a proven leader in mobile digital transformation, having fundamentally changed how mobile services are delivered and consumed. Founded in 2008, the company launched its services platform for mobile operators in the U.S. and globally last year, and counts both Sprint and Virgin Mobile as customers. ItsOn investors include Andreessen Horowitz, Tenaya Capital, Vodafone Ventures, Verizon Investments, Cisco and Delta Capital Partners. The company is privately held and headquartered in Redwood City, CA. For more information, please visit www.itsoninc.com or follow @ItsOnInc on Twitter. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mtn-group-selects-itson-to-deliver-digital-experiences-to-customers-300206833.html SOURCE ItsOn

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[January 21, 2016]

Chinese Mobile Operator Selects Anite's Virtual Drive Testing Toolset for Device Performance Verification in High-speed Train Scenarios

FLEET, England, January 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Anite's field-to-lab solution uniquely supports operator test plan to cost-effectively verify device performance

Anite, a global leader in wireless equipment testing technology, has today announced that a major Chinese mobile operator has selected Anite's Virtual Drive Testing Toolset for verifying mobile device performance in high-speed train scenarios.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151109/285077LOGO )



Anite's recently launched Virtual Drive testing Toolset with simulated network support enables users to cost-effectively verify mobile device performance in a controlled laboratory environment. It is the only solution that supports the mobile operator's recently launched and mandated test plan, requiring suppliers to demonstrate device performance under challenging mobility conditions prior to market introduction. The mobile operator has developed the test plan in collaboration with Anite to improve end-users' quality of experience when travelling on high-speed trains within the country.

Virtual Drive Testing Toolset uses network signalling and RF propagation log data, captured in the field using drive test tools, to recreate a realistic mobile device performance testing environment in the laboratory. Users are able to make considerable cost savings in the development and deployment phases by reducing the amount of field testing, and instead adopt a repeatable lab-based testing methodology that uses realistic field conditions. The solution takes into consideration extreme signal propagation conditions including multipath, Doppler Effect, dynamic channel delay, interference, as well as multi-RAT and multi-cell handover.







Anite recently demonstrated its high-speed train scenario testing capability at the China Mobile Global Partner Conference 2015 in Guangzhou, China. It will also be showcased as part of the Virtual Drive Testing demonstration on Anite's stand (6I50 in Hall 6) at Mobile World Congress 2016 taking place in Barcelona next month.

Paul Beaver, Products Director at Anite's Device & Infrastructure Testing business commented: "We are delighted that a major Chinese mobile operator has selected Anite and our Virtual Drive Testing Toolset for verifying device performance in high-speed train scenarios. This highly innovative field-to-lab solution leverages Anite's network simulation and channel emulation expertise, providing an advanced environment for the effective benchmarking of mobile devices."

About Anite

Anite is a leading supplier of test and measurement solutions to the international wireless market. It provides testing, measurement, optimisation and analytics systems based on its specialist sector knowledge and its proprietary software and hardware products. Customers include major manufacturers of mobile devices, chipsets and network equipment, mobile network operators, regulatory authorities, and independent test houses.

Its 500+ staff work from offices in 15 countries across Europe, the Americas, Asia and the Middle East.

Anite is now part of Keysight Technologies.

For more information, please visit the company's website: www.anite.com

For further information, please contact:

Karolina Eklund, Anite

Tel: +44(0)1252-775245

Email: [email protected]

Matt Humphries, Babel PR

Tel: +44(0)207-434-5550

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Anite
[January 21, 2016] UrtheCast Corp. to Host Its First Capital Markets Day in Toronto on March 10, 2016

VANCOUVER, Jan. 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ - UrtheCast Corp. (TSX:UR) ("UrtheCast" or the "Company") is pleased to invite analysts and investors to its first Capital Markets Day, to be held at the TMX Broadcast Centre Gallery on Thursday March 10, 2016, between 10:30 am and 4:30 pm ET. This event is expected to provide in-depth reviews of the company's business plan, its key technologies, the competitive and industry landscape, and expected future market opportunities. In addition to presentations from the executive, engineering, web and finance teams, participants can benefit from direct and informal access to the Company's management throughout the event. "UrtheCast has quickly emerged as a leader in the Earth Observation industry and is well positioned to benefit from accelerating change in this industry and the future growth opportunities that it presents," explained Wade Larson, UrtheCast's Chief Executive Officer an Co-Founder. "We feel strongly that the company has the people, the technologies and the financial resources to fully exploit the large and growing opportunities ahead. I very much look forward to sharing our vision and ambitions with the investor marketplace during this unique event," said Mr. Larson.



Live web stream details will be made available on the Company's investor website (investors.urthecast.com), and a recorded version will be archived on the site following the event. Event details:

Thursday March 10, 2016

10:30 am - 4:30 pm TMX Broadcast Centre Gallery

130 King Street W

Toronto, ON M5X 1J2 RSVP: https://urthecast-capitalmarketsday.eventbrite.com About UrtheCast Corp. UrtheCast Corp. is a Vancouver-based technology company that operates four Earth Observation sensors in space, including two cameras aboard the International Space Station and two satellites, Deimos-1 and Deimos-2. Video and still image data captured by these sensors are downlinked to ground stations across the planet and displayed on the UrtheCast web Platform, or distributed directly to partners and customers, supporting a wide range of information-rich applications and services. Common shares of UrtheCast trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange as ticker 'UR'. For more information visit UrtheCast's website at www.urthecast.com. SOURCE UrtheCast Corp.

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[January 21, 2016] Vahe Kuzoyan of ServiceTitan to Present at 2016 AHR EXPO Trade Show

GLENDALE, Calif., Jan. 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- ServiceTitan, a cloud-based platform that helps residential plumbing, HVAC and electrical home service companies manage and grow their businesses, will have the honor of presenting at this year's AHR EXPO Trade Show. The show will be held from Jan. 25-27, 2016 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160120/324142 "We work with hundreds of HVAC companies across the country, and they all share the same problem  finding and retaining good field technicians," said Vahe Kuzoyan, co-founder and chief product officer of ServiceTitan. "Eighty six percent of companies in the engineering and construction sector experience a shortage of skilled labor, but successful companies are still finding and retaining great employees. We're looking forward to discussing how to do this at the AHR Expo." Kuzoyan will be presenting "Recruiting and Retaining the Best Technicians," on Wed., Jan. 27, 2016, at 11:30 a.m., in Theater A - room N320G. His 20-minute presentation will discuss how to recruit, train and retain technicians - a growing issue in the home-service industry. Kuzoyan will aso offer tools on how a business can better manage this issue through looking at data from the industry as well as from inside the business, and how to help employees understand where they can improve.



Around 62,000 people attended the AHR show last year, and more are expected to attend this year. Industry professionals and ill have the opportunity to network, obtain valuable business growth knowledge and access the newest in industry products and technologies. The event will include around 170 educational sessions, as well as more than 2,000 exhibitors. ServiceTitan launched in 2013 and has grown rapidly due to the incredible success of its customers. The company was recently named as one of the Top 100 tech companies in Los Angeles by Built in L.A. ServiceTitan is now the software of choice for organizations like Gold Medal Service, METROPLEX Climate Control, Guarantee, Clear the Air, and hundreds of the world's most successful HVAC businesses.

For more information on the AHR EXPO Trade Show, visit www.ahrexpo.com, or for additional information about ServiceTitan, visit www.ServiceTitan.com. About ServiceTitan ServiceTitan is a mobile, cloud-based software platform that helps home service companies streamline operations, improve customer service, and grow their business. ServiceTitan's end-to-end solution for the multi-billion dollar residential home service industry includes CRM, intelligent dispatch, comprehensive reporting, marketing management tools, mobile connectivity for field techs, and Quickbooks integration. ServiceTitan brings a fully operational modern SaaS infrastructure to an industry traditionally underserved by software. ServiceTitan is the preferred software for hundreds of the world's most successful plumbing, HVAC, and electrical companies in the U.S. and Canada. For more information about ServiceTitan, visit www.ServiceTitan.com. Media Contact:

Heather Ripley

Ripley PR

865-977-1973

[email protected] To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/vahe-kuzoyan-of-servicetitan-to-present-at-2016-ahr-expo-trade-show-300207266.html SOURCE ServiceTitan

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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.
[January 21, 2016] iTrinegy Expands Global Channel Program As Demand for Application Risk Management Solutions Continues To Grow

LONDON and BOSTON, Massachusetts, January 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today iTrinegy, the Virtual Test Networks, Application Performance Measurement and Application Risk Management specialists, has announced that it is expanding its channel program to help meet the demand for its solutions. Previously, iTrinegy had run a limited partner program, however, this has now been expanded into a full channel program across Europe, USA Middle East, Latin America and Asia Pacific. "The decision to expand into a full channel program and engage with distributors and resellers around the world has been driven by the emergence of Application Risk Management and the market demand for our software and appliance-based Virtual Test Network (network emulation) and Network Profiling solutions", said Graham Wood, CEO iTrinegy. "As networked applications are integral to everyday life it is imperative that they are able to work over any network environment. Our solutions enable developers and businesses to test performance in real world network conditions, enabling them to get their applications to market quicker and more cost effectively. Application Risk Management (AppRM) is a new and emerging process that helps software architects, developers and testers ensure they have properly assessed and managed risk throughout the application development and deployment lifecycle.It is a process for identifying, qualifying and mitigating potential failure and performance issues, from design through to the launch of the application. iTrinegy's solutions are critical to the successful execution of AppRM.



iTrinegy now has two categories of channel partners: Value Added Reseller and Authorised Resellers. Value Added Resellers will have a proven competency in AppRM and be recognised as experts in the use and implementation of iTrinegy's products and services, providing the highest level of service including consultancy, product deployment, training and support services. Authorised Resellers have entered into a contractual relationship with iTrinegy to sell its products and support services. Wood continued, "Our new Channel Program offers our partners opportunities to increase their revenue and enhance the value they bring to their customers. Our partners are able to go to market with the industry's best and most comprehensive portfolio of Network Profiling and Virtual Test Network Solutions supported by first class technology and marketing support".

For more information about how to become an iTrinegy Channel Partner go to http://www.itrinegy.com/index.php/partners/partner-program or email us at [email protected]. About iTrinegy iTrinegy develops products that enable organizations to address the whole Networked Application Performance Lifecycle  from initial design & development, through testing, QA, to production rollout and on-going performance monitoring. Many leading organizations deploy iTrinegy technology including Alcatel, Aviva, BT, Boeing, Cisco, Fidelity Worldwide Investments, IBM, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, National Australia Bank, Raytheon, Thomson Reuters, Salesforce and Starbucks. iTrinegy has offices in the UK and USA together with a network of specialist resellers. For more information, please visit http://www.itrinegy.com Channel Programme Benefits Authorised Value Added Benefits Reseller Reseller Brand Usage Y Y Deal Registration Y Y Product Discounts Y Y Sales Leads N Y Demonstration Units N Y Regular Communications Y Y Joint Marketing Campaigns N Y Pre-sales Support Y Y WebEx Training Y Y On-site Training N Y

Contacts:

James Harrison

[email protected]

+44-7904-160-840

SOURCE iTrinegy

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[January 21, 2016] Ten-X Names Rick Sharga Chief Marketing Officer

IRVINE, Calif. and SILICON VALLEY, Calif., Jan. 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ten-X (formerly Auction.com), the nation's leading online real estate marketplace, today announced the promotion of Executive Vice President Rick Sharga to the role of chief marketing officer. In his new role, Sharga will draw from his unique blend of real estate, technology and consumer marketing experience to lead corporate marketing, branding and corporate communications for Ten-X. "Ten-X is in an ideal position to positively impact the way the world thinks about transacting real estate, and Rick Sharga's insight and expertise will be crucial as we prepare to launch game-changing technology that attracts and empowers a much broader audience," said Ten-X Chief Executive Officer Tim Morse. "The company has already benefited immensely from Rick's leadership and vision over the past two and a half years, and we look forward to fully leveraging his capabilities in the role of chief marketing officer." Prior to his 2013 arrival at Ten-X (then Auction.com), Sharga served as executive vice president for Carrington Holding Company, which owns and operates multiple businesses in the mortgage, real estate and securities industries. He was also senior vice president of marketing at RealtyTrac for nearly a decade, during which he won the Stevie Award for National Marketig Executive of the Year and was also responsible for business development, data operations, and the development of a national real estate agent network. The first 20 years of his career were focused on creating and executing marketing and sales programs for prominent technology companies such as Toshiba, Hitachi, JD Edwards, Honeywell and Fujitsu; start-ups like Tickets.com; and consumer brands like Pizza Hut and Acura.



Sharga is one of the country's most frequently-quoted sources on real estate, mortgage and foreclosure trends, and was included in Inman News' Inman 100, an annual list of the most influential leaders in real estate in both 2013 and 2014. He is a member of the Corporate Board of Governors for the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals and the President of the Technology Council of Southern California. "When I joined Auction.com in 2013, I was looking forward to being part of a company that would fundamentally change the way residential and commercial real estate was bought and sold by leveraging technology in ways that had never been done before," said Sharga. "I'm honored to take on the challenge of building Ten-X into a powerful national brand known for delivering easier, more transparent, more efficient real estate transactions for buyers, sellers and real estate professionals."

About Ten-X Ten-X (formerly Auction.com) is the nation's leading online real estate marketplace, having sold 200,000+ residential and commercial properties totaling more than $37 billion since 2007. Leveraging desktop and mobile technology, Ten-X allows people to safely and easily complete real estate transactions entirely online. The company brings a breadth of quality assets to the market, attracting prospective buyers through world-class marketing and leveraging a scalable technology platform to conduct transactions in a transparent, efficient manner. Ten-X empowers consumers, investors and real estate professionals around the world with unprecedented levels of flexibility, control and simplicity  and the convenience of transacting properties whenever and from wherever they are. As real estate continues to move online, Ten-X is uniquely positioned to be at the forefront of this dramatic behavioral shift. Ten-X is headquartered in Irvine and Silicon Valley, Calif., and has offices in key markets nationwide. Investors in the company include Google Capital and Stone Point Capital. For more information, visit Ten-X.com . Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160120/324408

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160106/319955LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ten-x-names-rick-sharga-chief-marketing-officer-300207598.html SOURCE Ten-X

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[January 21, 2016] CGI announces details for its Annual General Meeting of Shareholders and release of fiscal 2016 first quarter results

Stock Market Symbols

GIB.A (TSX)

GIB (NYSE)

www.cgi.com/newsroom MONTREAL, Jan. 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ - CGI (TSX: GIB.A) (NYSE: GIB) will host its Annual General Meeting of Shareholders and release its fiscal 2016 first quarter results on Wednesday, January 27, 2016. The Annual General Meeting will be held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Montreal at 11 a.m. (EST). For those who are unable to attend in person, the Company will webcast the meeting live on its website at www.cgi.com/investors.

CGI shareholders of record at the close of business on Friday, December 11, 2015 will be entitled to vote on matters considered at the meeting. CGI has opted to use the Notice and Access rules adopted by Canadian securities regulators. On December 21, 2015, a Notice of Meeting was mailed to shareholders with instructions for accessing the material distributed for the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders online. The 2015 Management Proxy Circular and annual report wre also mailed to shareholders who had requested it. These documents are available on the Company's website.



In addition, CGI will release its fiscal 2016 first quarter results on January 27, 2016 before markets open and hold its first quarter conference call at 9:00 a.m. (EST) on that day. During the call, Michael E. Roach, President and Chief Executive Officer and Francois Boulanger, Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer will discuss CGI's results for the first quarter of fiscal 2016 ended December 31, 2015. Participants may listen to the call through the Internet at www.cgi.com/investors or by dialing one of the following conference call numbers: Greater Toronto Area: 416-340-2219

North America: 1-866-225-2055

Europe: International dial in numbers

Media representatives are invited to attend the event. Those seeking an interview are asked to submit their request by Monday January 25, 2016, to Sebastien Barange at 514-841-3354.

Photographers and camera crews will be given a photo and video opportunity prior to the meeting. About CGI

Founded in 1976, CGI Group Inc. is the fifth largest independent information technology and business process services firm in the world. Approximately 65,000 professionals serve thousands of global clients from offices and delivery centers across the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific, leveraging a comprehensive portfolio of services, including high-end business and IT consulting, systems integration, application development and maintenance and infrastructure management, as well as 150 IP-based services and solutions. With annual revenue in excess of C$10 billion and an order backlog exceeding C$20 billion, CGI shares are listed on the TSX (GIB.A) and the NYSE (GIB). Website: www.cgi.com. SOURCE CGI Group Inc.

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[January 21, 2016] CAMH and Bell Let's Talk launch new online mental health gateway and app, improving access to care

Portico online network and Psychiatry in Primary Care app provide extensive resources for front line mental health professionals to customize patient care and treatment

app provide extensive resources for front line mental health professionals to customize patient care and treatment Join the conversation about mental health on Bell Let's Talk Day, January 27 TORONTO, Jan. 21, 2016 /CNW/ - The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), supported by Bell Let's Talk, today launches Portico, an online interactive platform that connects health and community service providers to the latest clinical tools, resources and information about treating mental illness and addiction, and the Psychiatry in Primary Care app. Guided by CAMH expertise, porticonetwork.ca was designed in partnership with Bell Business Markets for healthcare professionals but is equally accessible for anyone looking for reliable, evidence-based information about mental illness and addiction. The online platform brings together tools, resources, and practitioners in an effort to improve care for people with mental illness. "Most Canadians access healthcare exclusively through a primary care setting, be it a physician's office or a family health team," said Dr. David Goldbloom, co-editor of Psychiatry in Primary Care and Senior Medical Advisor at CAMH. "As demand for specialized mental health services continues to outstrip supply, we need practical and effective ways to better equip primary care professionals to treat mental illness in their daily practice." "Improving access to care is one of the 4 pillars of Bell Let's Talk, so we're very proud to have partnered with CAMH to create the Portico online network for mental health practitioners across the country," said Mary Deacon, Chair of Bell Let's Talk. "It's resources such as these that enable front line mental health care professionals to provide improved, customized mental health care and ensure people suffering from mental illness get the specialized treatment they need faster and closer to home." Development of the Portico Network was a collaborative process, with CAMH and Bell working together to assess the need for knowledge exchange in mental health and design a site to help meet that need. The Portico Network team is also working with knowledge partners across Canada to create links to the best ools and websites, and generate valuable discussions to improve practice for clients and families. In addition to mental health resources and information, the site is mobile ready and features top trends, as well as the ability to customize content, join discussions and add expertise to forums.



"When it comes to treating mental illness and addiction, there is significant disparity in our current healthcare system. Canadians do not always get the same quality of care," said Dr. Peter Selby, family physician and Director of Medical Education at CAMH. "The goal of Portico is to help build capacity by providing a one-stop destination for doctors, mental health educators, clinicians and other professionals looking for trusted content and a network in which to expand their expertise in this area," added Dr. Selby, who is also a member of Portico's national editorial board. One of the first resources now available through Portico is Psychiatry in Primary Care, a suite of products designed to support family doctors and front line practitioners in rapid assessment and treatment options for mental illness. First developed in 2011 as a popular paper pocket guide, CAMH experts have created a mobile app version of Psychiatry in Primary Care with built-in assessment guides, diagnostic criteria and customizable toolkits.

Through the app, users can connect back to the Portico network to access more detailed information about treatment options and best practices. Key clinical topics include suicide risk assessment and diagnosing and treating illnesses such as depression, psychosis, substance use and personality disorders. "The Psychiatry in Primary Care app will help guide primary care providers to better diagnose and treat their patients," said Dr. Goldbloom. "The advantage of the app is that you can customize the toolkits to your practice and your patients. You can shape it for the individual needs of your patients and your style as a clinician." In Ontario alone, approximately 20% of patient visits to primary care practitioners are related to mental health. Portico and the Psychiatry in Primary Care app have the potential to significantly impact Canadians' access to quality mental healthcare for the better. Bell Let's Talk Day is January 27

The sixth annual Bell Let's Talk Day is rapidly approaching. For every text message, wireless and long distance call made by Bell Canada customers on January 27, or for every tweet using #BellLetsTalk, and every Facebook share of the Bell Let's Talk Day image at Facebook.com/BellLetsTalk, Bell will donate 5 cents to support Canadian mental health programs. On Bell Let's Talk Day 2015, a record 122,150,772 calls, tweets, texts, calls and shares resulted in Bell committing a further $6,107,538.60 to Canadian mental health programs. Bell's donations are made at no extra charge to Bell Let's Talk Day participants, though normal long distance or text charges if any, apply. About Bell Let's Talk

The Bell Let's Talk initiative promotes Canadian mental health with national awareness and anti-stigma campaigns, like Clara's Big Ride for Bell Let's Talk and Bell Let's Talk Day, and significant Bell funding of community care and access, research, and workplace initiatives. To learn more, please visit Bell.ca/LetsTalk. The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) is Canada's largest mental health and addiction teaching hospital and a world leading research centre in this field. CAMH combines clinical care, research, education, policy development and health promotion to help transform the lives of people affected by mental illness and addiction. CAMH is fully affiliated with the University of Toronto, and is a Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization Collaborating Centre. For more information, please visit camh.ca or follow @CAMHnews on Twitter. Media inquiries: Kate Richards

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)

(416) 595-6015

[email protected]



Jacqueline Michelis

Bell

(613)785-1427

[email protected] SOURCE Bell Canada

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[January 21, 2016] AT&T Fiber Reaches 1 Million New Business Customer Locations

DALLAS, Jan. 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- AT&T* today announced that it has added 1 million additional business customer locations  including over 24,500 in the state of Louisiana - to its fiber network since 2012 when the company began its aggressive fiber expansion program. The expansion helped extend the AT&T U.S. fiber network another 76,000 route miles, bringing the total to nearly 500,000. AT&T offers business customers high-speed Internet products on its fiber network in every major metro in the company's 21-state footprint. "I am proud of AT&T's continuous dedication to meet the needs of our customers, with AT&T now providing an additional 24,500 business customer locations in Louisiana with our advanced fiber network," stated Sonia Perez, president of AT&T Louisiana. "Each and every day, our employees in Louisiana are turning our billions of dollars of investment into high-speed Internet access for consumers and businesses across our state, and those investments are possible in large part because of the pro-investment policies, championed at the local and state levels by our elected leaders." The AT&T fiber network provides the bandwidth needed to support data intensive services such as video, collaboration, cloud services and more through products such as Ethernet, Virtual Private Networking, Managed Internet Service, and AT&T Business Fiber. Customers can complement their high-speed Internet with network security options and online backup to help protect and virtualize their businesscritical information.



"Our business customers continuously tell us that they need reliable network solutions to help them operate faster and with more agility. Our fiber network gives them the capabilities they need to support mission-critical business functions both now and in the future," said Steve McGaw, Chief Marketing Officer, AT&T Business Solutions. For more information on AT&T Business Fiber, please visit http://www.corp.att.com/businessfiber.

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc. About AT&T AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) helps millions around the globe connect with leading entertainment, mobile, high speed Internet and voice services. We're the world's largest provider of pay TV. We have TV customers in the U.S. and 11 Latin American countries. We offer the best global coverage of any U.S. wireless provider*. And we help businesses worldwide serve their customers better with our mobility and highly secure cloud solutions. Additional information about AT&T products and services is available at http://about.att.com. Follow our news on Twitter at @ATT, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/att and YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/att.  2016 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. AT&T, the Globe logo and other marks are trademarks and service marks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies. All other marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners. *Global coverage claim based on offering discounted voice and data roaming; LTE roaming; voice roaming; and world-capable smartphone and tablets in more countries than any other U.S. based carrier. International service required. Coverage not available in all areas. Coverage may vary per country and be limited/restricted in some countries. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120612/DA23287LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/att-fiber-reaches-1-million-new-business-customer-locations-300207884.html SOURCE AT&T Inc.

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[January 21, 2016] Correction: HealtheConnections Enables Health Information Exchange With Department of Defense Benefitting Regional Clinicians And VA Clinicians For Improved Care

SYRACUSE, N.Y., Jan. 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- HealtheConnections and Fort Drum Regional Health Planning Organization (FDRHPO) are pleased to announce the enabling of secure access to vital medical information for active-duty military and their families between the Department of Defense (DoD) systems used by Fort Drum MEDDAC and regional healthcare providers using HealtheConnections regional health information exchange (HIE). Central and northern New York participating care providers have been able to use HealtheConnections to share and access civilian patient records for improved care. Now, the medical records of more than 19,000 Fort Drum soldiers and their dependents will be available for improved medical care, as reported by the Watertown Daily Times in their December 17, 2015 article. The Fort Drum military base supports the Army's 10th Mountain Division and other units. "What's been missing all these years has been the military," said Corey M. Zeigler, FDRHPO's chief information officer. "Now, when soldiers and their family get care in our area, all of that information goes back to their primary physician on post." Col. John A. McMurray, commander of Fort Drum's MEDDAC, speaking to the Watertown Daily Times, said this capability gives doctors on base a "better snapshot" of a soldier's health, which is important when determining when he or she is ready for duty after an injury or illness. "We are focused on readiness as a first priority," Col. McMurray said. "For instance, when we send a soldier out for an MRI, having instant access to that medical information is key." In 2014, HealtheConnections enabled patient medical record exchange with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Col. McMurray recognized the importance of HealtheConnections links with the VA and Department of Defense. "I'm excited about how this interacts with the VA," he said. "As we transition soldiers out of service, this sharing of medical records will ensure they will be treated like soldiers for life." Fort Drum is home to over 19,000 active duty soldiers and their families, each participating in the U.S. Army base's unique model of healthcare delivery. Although there are healthcare services located on the Fort Drum military base to support the 10th Mountain Division and other units, there is not a military hospital. Instead the military community receives care through a network of community healthcare partners, including physicians, specialists and hospitals. Fort Drum Regional Health Planning Organization's mission is to strengthen the North Country Healthcare System for Fort Drum soldiers, their amilies and the surrounding civilian community through evaluation, planning and improvement initiatives between the Fort Drum community members and quality health care in Northern NY.



This important healthcare link was achieved through HealtheConnections' participation as a member of the Sequoia Project's eHealth Exchange, formerly HealtheWay, a group of 100+ federal agencies and non-federal organizations with a common mission to improve patient care using a secure, trusted, and interoperable health information exchange. In 2014, HealtheConnections and the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) announced a similar integration for the care of central and northern New York veterans. With over 560 participating organizations in the eleven counties of central and northern New York, HealtheConnections provides access to regional patient health records, with patient consent, for the use by healthcare providers for improved care.

"By facilitating access to the electronic health records of our community, military and veteran residents, we have created a comprehensive ecosystem for our regional providers," says Rob Hack, President and CEO of HealtheConnections. We're proud of this important link to support our military and their families' healthcare  joining much larger military communities like Norfolk, San Diego, Washington D.C., Grand Junction, and the Puget Sound region." About HealtheConnections In collaboration with Central New York health care providers and stakeholders, HealtheConnections (pronounced "healthy connections") delivers trusted and valued services which support health care transformation and efficiency initiatives focused on achieving the triple aim of better care, better population health and lower health care costs. HealtheConnections provides unbiased, neutral health information exchange (HIE) services*, electronic health record (EHR) adoption technical and meaningful use advisement services and population health improvement support services for the 11 counties of the Central New York region. The name HealtheConnections represents our commitment to connect and engage Central New York health care physicians, hospitals, public health, mental and behavior health and human services, and other health care providing entities, insurers, businesses and consumers to collaborate to deliver improvement services and initiatives that support regional and New York state's health information exchange and population health improvement agendas.



*HealtheConnections is a qualified entity of the State Health Information Network of New York (SHIN-NY) For more information about HealtheConnections, visit www.healtheconnections.org. About Fort Drum Regional Health Planning Organization FDRHPO or Fort Drum Regional Health Planning Organization is an agency that strengthens the North Country Healthcare System for Fort Drum Soldiers, their Families and the surrounding civilian community. FDRHPO connects the Military Treatment Facility with the regional healthcare system. FDRHPO does not provide services; rather our role is to evaluate, plan and strengthen the link between Fort Drum community members and quality health care in Northern NY. For more information about FDRHPO, visit www.fdrhpo.org About Fort Drum MEDDAC The U.S. Army Medical Department Activity (MEDDAC) Fort Drum and Guthrie Ambulatory Health Care Clinic provides high quality healthcare and leadership to maximize medical readiness of the force and improve, restore, and sustain the health of our patients. For more information about Fort Drum MEDDAC, visit http://www.drum.amedd.army.mil/SitePages/Home.aspx Contact:

Alicia Schaumberg

Communications & Marketing Coordinator

Telephone: 315-671-2241 ext. 260

Email: [email protected] CORRECTION: The original release did not credit the Watertown Daily Times' Dec. 17, 2015 article To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/correction-healtheconnections-enables-health-information-exchange-with-department-of-defense-benefitting-regional-clinicians-and-va-clinicians-for-improved-care-300207986.html SOURCE HealtheConnections

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[January 21, 2016] Crown Media Family Networks Transforms Video Workflow With QuantumStorNext 5 Platform and Lattus Object Storage

SAN JOSE, Calif., Jan. 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Quantum Corp. (NYSE: QTM) today announced that Crown Media Family Networks has transformed the way it manages high-resolution video content by adopting Quantum's workflow-optimized storage. One of the largest U.S. providers of family-oriented content and parent company of the Hallmark Channel, Crown Media turned to Quantum and Integrated Media Technologies (IMT), a digital media technology integrator, to help it keep up with rapidly growing content production and distribution demands. IMT architected and deployed a Quantum StorNext 5 shared storage appliance and Lattus object storage system, providing a highly scalable content management solution that automatically preserves and protects the company's digital assets while making them readily available as needed. [Suggested tweet: Crown Media, parent of @HallmarkChannel, combines @QuantumCorp Lattus and @StorNext for complete workflow upgrade http://qntm.co/1UUHqnn] Content Growth Creates Storage Challenges

Under its previous storage infrastructure, Crown Media ingested files into online storage for editing and moved them to a tape archive when they were no longer active. Then, when the company needed content for repurposing or rebroadcast, it would pull the video files out of the tape archive and stage it back to online storage. As Crown Media took on more work, however, this workflow became unsustainable. "The strain created by so much more new content meant that we were continually buying new online disk storage, managing larger tape archives that were hard to access and not protecting content as well as we should," said Roy Burns, director of digital asset management at Crown Media. "Knowing that IMT had helped so many other companies dramatically improve their media workflows, we engaged them to help us find a solution." Extending Online Storage With Lattus

IMT quickly recognized the benefits Quantum could provide in Crown Media's existing environment based on StorNext's complete compatibility with the company's previous Xsan online storage network. In addition, StorNext offered industry-leading performance and seamless integration with Lattus, which IMT knew would provide unique advantages from deployments it had made at other customer sites. Lattus uses object storage technology to create extended online storage repositories that can hold up to hundreds of petabytes of content and, through geographic distribution, provide a self-healing environment that is both more scalable and more resilient than traditional RAID arrays. The Crown Media Lattus configuration spread content between the compan's Los Angeles headquarters and a second site near Denver. For added resilience, the company has an additional controller at a third site in New York.



Archiving and Protecting Content While Keeping It Readily Accessible

The Quantum solution has enabled Crown Media not only to ingest and transcode content but also to copy it immediately to Lattus and replicate it from California to Colorado as soon as it is brought into the system. "As a result, we get much higher levels of protection than we had before," explained Burns. "Best of all, the process is automatic, which reduces the load on our IT guys; it completely eliminates the overhead and delays of a separate backup process."

When content is no longer being actively used, StorNext moves it from online storage to Lattus object storage while continuing to provide editors access to all content through the StorNext file system and Levels Beyond Reach Engine. This provides Crown Media with an extended online storage environment that scales to petabytes of capacity and makes retrieving files a transparent and nearly instantaneous process that is fully integrated with media asset management. "That's important for us because we pull data content out of the archive literally every day," continued Burns. "Plus, we see everything through Reach Engine, so we have a single point of management and control for all workflow assets." Looking back at the decision to adopt the Quantum solution, Burns said he and his team originally thought it would need a couple of years to grow into it. Although that proved to be inaccurate, fortunately, the massive scalability of Lattus has easily accommodated Crown Media's needs. "A year later, we're in the process of doubling the amount of content stored on Lattus, and we'd be dead without it  we wouldn't be able to function," concluded Burns. "The Quantum solution has been invaluable in increasing the efficiency of our workflow, from ingest to edit to delivery and re-use." "Customers like Crown Media are increasingly requesting storage options beyond RAID and LTO tape," said Jason Kranitz, senior vice president of sales at IMT. "The trick is the solution must integrate seamlessly into the existing workflow. With StorNext, Crown Media can not only easily deploy Lattus to take advantage of object storage today but also have the flexibility to add other technologies in the future, including Quantum's Q-Cloud cloud storage." Photo Link: https://quantum.box.com/CrownMediaPhotography

Photo Caption: Facing a sharp increase in content output, Crown Media Family Networks chose the Quantum StorNext and Quantum Lattus solutions to manage workflow data. For additional details on the Crown Media success story, visit: www.quantum.com/customerstories/crownmedia/index.aspx. About Quantum

Quantum is a leading expert in workflow storage, archive and data protection. The company's StorNext 5 platform powers modern high-performance workflows, enabling seamless, real-time collaboration and keeping content readily accessible for future use and re-monetization. More than 100,000 customers have trusted Quantum to address their most demanding content workflow needs, including top studios, major broadcasters and cutting-edge content creators. With Quantum, customers can Be Certain they have the end-to-end storage platform they need to manage assets from ingest through finishing and into delivery and long-term preservation. See how at www.stornext.com. Quantum, the Quantum logo, Be Certain, Lattus, Q-Cloud and StorNext are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Quantum Corporation and its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. "Safe Harbor" Statement: This press release contains "forward-looking" statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements. Specifically, but without limitation, statements relating to 1) benefits and value to customers from using Quantum's StorNext appliances and Lattus systems and 2) customer demand for and Quantum's future revenue from such appliances and systems are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Safe Harbor. All forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to Quantum on the date hereof. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause Quantum's actual results to differ materially from those implied by the forward-looking statements. More detailed information about these risk factors are set forth in Quantum's periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, those risks and uncertainties listed in the section entitled "Risk Factors," in Quantum's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 6, 2015 and in Quantum's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 12, 2015. Quantum expressly disclaims any obligation to update or alter its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. Public Relations Contact:

Joyce Cataldo

Wall Street Communications

+1 (732) 747-0646

[email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20141209/163323LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/crown-media-family-networks-transforms-video-workflow-with-quantumstornext-5-platform-and-lattus-object-storage-300208038.html SOURCE Quantum Corp.

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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.
Overpass could get protective fencing A substantial safety upgrade for the areas most notorious overpass is finally getting some Caltrans considerationbut dont expect changes any time soon. At the Sept. 21 Moorpark City Council meeting,...

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Heart Walk at CLU will raise funds for heart, stroke patients The American Heart Association will host a Heart Walk Sat., Oct. 8 at Cal Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks. The event is expected to draw hundreds of people. Activities include...
Egypt's Prime Minister Sherif Ismail issued a decree Sunday revoking the nationality of an Egyptian citizen who joined the Israeli army without permission from the Egyptian ministry of defence.

Dina Ovadia is an Israeli of Egyptian origin who made headlines two years ago for joining Israels army.

Several Egyptian media outlets welcomed PM Ismails decision  which comes in accordance with Article 16 of the Egyptian constitution.

Article 16 gives the PM the right to strip citizens who join foreign armies of their Egyptian nationality.

The Egyptian media slammed Ovadia for joining the Israeli army, which once occupied Egyptian territories 1967-1983 and has been occupying Palestinian lands since 1948.

Israeli media, on the other hand, denounced the Egyptian prime ministers decision, describing it as anti-Semitic.

Ovadia also slammed the decision, saying "it's shocking and a low blow, but I do not want to stoop to their level," adding that the Egyptian government should know she is first and foremost a proud Jew and Israeli.

"Every additional word I say will be twisted in Egypt and used against me," she added.

In April 2014, the Arabic media spokesperson for the Israeli army, Avichy Adree, released a video online of conscript Ovadia where she said in Arabic that she would recount her experience of leaving Egypt to coincide with the Jewish holiday of Passover, which celebrates the biblical story of the Jewish peoples exodus from Egypt.

According to Ovadia, she was raised as Roulin Abdullah in El-Maamoura district, Alexandria till the age of 15 without knowing she was a Jew.

The 22-year-old claimed her family fled Egypt after radical Salafists stormed their home and threatened the family with harm if they remained in the country.

The family moved to Israel and settled down in Jerusalem.

On 23 April 2014, Ovadia was honoured by the Israeli army spokesperson unit, and her story was featured as a 21st century exodus on the official army website.

Ovadia's brother and sister have also served in the Israeli army, according to Israeli media.

In 1947  the year before Israel was created  Egypt had 64,165 Jews, according to the public census.

As the Arab-Israeli conflict worsened, most of Egypts Jews left for Europe and the United Staes, with some choosing to make Israel home.

By 2014, only nine Egyptian Jews remain living in Egypt, according to media reports.

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Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and Chinese President Xi Jinping signed in Cairo on Thursday a number of cooperation deals aimed to foster over 60 years of ties between the two countries, Egypt's state TV reported.

The official broadcasted footage shows the two leaders witnessing the signing of 21 technical and economic deals including one to build a new administrative capital and another to develop an industrial and commercial hub around Egypt's Suez Canal.

The deals-- in the transportation, power generation, and civil aviation sectors are worth $15 billion, according to Egyptian Minister of International Cooperation Sahar Nasr.

They also include a $1 billion financing agreement for the Egyptian central bank and a $700 million loan to the state-owned National Bank of Egypt.

Xi arrived in Cairo on Wednesday in the first visit by a Chinese president to Egypt in 12 years. He held talks with El-Sisi and was due to address the Cairo-based Arab League

He was received Thursday with a 21-gun salute as he arrived at one of Cairo's presidential palaces for the Egyptian-Chinese summit.

Xi was also planned to speak to Egypt's newly-elected parliament.

Xi said Wednesday that his country "supports Egypt's efforts to maintain stability, develop the economy, improve livelihoods, and supports Egypt to play an even greater role in international and regional affairs," he was quoted as saying by the foreign ministry.

The Chinese leader has stressed that he is seeking cooperation with Egypt on China's modern trade route, known as the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.

"We are ready to work with the Egyptian side to carry forward our traditional friendship, learn from each other, and deepen our practical cooperation in various fields under the Belt and Road Initiative, so as to let our people share development benefits and enjoy a better life," Xi was quoted by China Daily as saying.

Xi's two-day visit is the second leg of a Middle East tour that he kicked off earlier in the week in Saudi Arabia. He is expected in Iran later this week.

The visit comes as the two countries mark the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic Chinese-Egyptian ties.

The Chinese and Egyptian presidents are due to head later on Thursday to the southern temple city of Luxor to attend a ceremony marking the beginning of the Egypt-Chinese cultural year.

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Egypt's foreign ministry spokesperson Ahmed Abu Zeid said in press statements on Thursday that Egypt receives its information on Ethiopias controversial Renaissance Dam through coordination with Khartoum and Addis Ababa, not media reports.

"We coordinate with Sudan and Ethiopia according to the [December] framework which stipulates all the technical and political issues of the dam," Abu Zeid said.

Egypt is concerned that the designated plan for the dam might affect its 55 billion cubic-metre share of Nile water, but Ethiopia insists the dam will not cause harm to any Nile Basin country.

Ethiopia says the dam is mainly aimed at generating power, as only 10 percent of the countrys population have consistent electricity service.

Egypt is negotiating with Ethiopia over the timeline set by Addis Ababa for filling the dam.

Earlier this week, Egypts irrigation minister Hossam Moghazi said that Cairo "would not leave the future of the country's water resources in the hands of anyone who would put them at risk, whether inside or outside the region."

Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan recently agreed on naming two French consultancy firms to conduct studies on the possible impact of the dam on the downriver countries. The Artelia and BRL firms are set to complete the studies in 11 months.

Egypt's president Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi is expected to attend the African Union Summit by the end of this month in Ethiopia, where tripartite talks will take place with his Sudanese and Ethiopian counterparts over the dam issue.

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In his first-ever speech at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, the Chinese president expressed support for a Palestinian state as well as cooperation between China and Arab countries

China's President Xi Jinping announced on Thursday in Cairo that his country supports the creation of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, based on the 1967 borders.

The Chinese leader announced in a speech at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo that China is allocating $7.6 million in aid to the Palestinian people.

Beijing has consistently expressed support for a two-state solution in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Xi said that China would provide $30 million in humanitarian aid to Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya and Yemen in 2016, as well as $300 million in aid to Arab countries for bolstering law enforcement and police training.

He also declared that China would provide several Middle Eastern countries with $10 billion in commercial loans and another $10 billion in preferential loans, as well as $15 billion in loans to boost industrialisation.

A joint investment fund of $20 billion will also be established between China, UAE and Qatar.

Xi added that a political dialogue was needed to end the Syrian civil conflict, but stressed that China has no intention of interfering in Middle Eastern affairs.

He also stated that China and Arab countries would boost cyber security cooperation to combat terrorist activity on the internet.

China already practices heavy censorship and surveillance on the internet within its borders through its Golden Shield Project, otherwise known as the Great Firewall of China.

This is the first visit for the Chinese president to the Arab League headquarters.

His visit to Egypt is the second stop in a Middle East tour. The Chines president stopped in Saudi Arabia first and heads to Tehran Saturday.

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The interior ministry said officers, who were seeking to apprehend 'Muslim Brotherhood terrorists', attempted to defuse a bomb but were unsuccessful

Ten people, including seven policemen and three civilians, were killed in an explosion Thursday evening as security forces attempted to raid a suspected militant hideout in Giza, prosecutor Ahmed El-Tamawy told Aswat Masriya.

Earlier in the everning the Ministry of Interior had said that the policemen and other victims were killed or injured as officers attempted to defuse a time-bomb during the raid on an apartment in Marioutiya where suspected Islamist militants were believed to be staying.

The explosion left 13 injured, two of whom are in critical condition.

A civilian who lived in the building was killed in the explosion, and two charred bodies were found inside the apartment, according to the ministry's statement.

It is yet unclear whether any of the those reportedly hiding in the apartment were injured, killed or captured.

The killed policemen include Lieutenant Mahmoud Abu El-Maged of the Central Security Forces and low-ranking policeman Sherif Ibrahim.

Lieutenant Colonel Mohamed Amin, the head of investigations department at Haram police station, was among those reported injured.

In recent months, Egyptian security forces have carried out several raids on apartments where suspected or fugitive Islamists militants were reportedly either hiding or preparing for terrorist operations. These raids have often ended with suspects killed by police, who say they were met with gunfire upon arrival at the hideouts.

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Samsung Galaxy S23  all the rumors so far

As good as the Samsung Galaxy S22 is, Samsung could do even better with its next flagship. Here's a look at some of the features we hope make the cut for the Galaxy S23.
Amazon Prime Student is a cheaper version of Amazon Prime. It's designed specifically for college students giving them access to free 2-day shipping and a variety of other Amazon-specific services at half the price of the company's traditional Prime membership.

Earlier this year, Amazon Prime Student increased from $59 to $69 annually. The monthly subscription also increased from $6.49 to $7.49. However, membership is handy if you frequently buy from Amazon and use  or are interested in using  its other online services.

As of May 18, Amazon Prime Student now includes 6 free months of LinkedIn Premium (opens in new tab). Benefits include InMail credits, more details on Who's Viewed Your Profile, access to over 15,000 expert-led LinkedIn Learning courses, and more.

Not a Prime Student member? You can sign up for a free 6-month trial (opens in new tab)

Prime Student subscribers (opens in new tab) can save $7 per month on Prime Music Unlimited, the full-featured upgraded version of Prime Music.

(opens in new tab) Amazon Prime Student: free 6-month trial @ Amazon (opens in new tab)

Prime Student gives you access to free 2-day shipping, Prime Video, exclusive Prime member only deals, and more. Amazon Prime Student costs $69/year, which is 50% less than a typical Prime membership. Alternatively, you can opt for a monthly plan at $7.49/month.

Amazon Prime Student cost

Even though Amazon raised the annual cost to $69 (monthly membership also jumped to $7.49), Amazon Prime Student is still indispensable. Plus, students get a free six-month trial, which is substantially longer than the 30-day trial standard Prime members receive. Here's a break down of Amazon Student's main features.

Q.: What is Amazon Prime?

A.: Amazon Prime is an annual subscription program that provides several benefits for members. Subscribers are eligible for free two-day (and, in some cases, one-day) shipping on most items and other delivery perks. Members also get unlimited streaming video and music, as well as special offers on other digital media. (For all of the details on Prime, see our Amazon Prime FAQ.) Prime benefits include the following:

Prime Now: Free 2-hour delivery (and discounted 1-hour delivery) for tens of thousands of products from local stores (including Whole Foods) in select cities (opens in new tab) .

. Prime Photos: Unlimited photo storage in Amazon Cloud Drive.

Amazon Music Unlimited: Unlimited, ad-free access to more than 1.5 million songs. Users can stream on demand or allow Amazon to select songs based on their taste. One year for $0.99/month (opens in new tab) (was $4.99/month).

(was $4.99/month). Prime Gaming: Exclusive in-game loot, free games, free sub to Twitch.tv

Prime Early Access: 30-minute early access to Lightning Deals on Amazon.com and new sales on MyHabit.com.

Kindle: Two free months to Kindle Unlimited

Kindle Owners' Lending Library: Hundreds of thousands of Amazon's Kindle e-books are available for a free one-month checkout. (Note: This perk is not available to Amazon Student members during the six-month free trial.)

Prime Instant Video: Unlimited streaming of tens of thousands of movies and TV episodes, including Amazon's original shows and older HBO content. (Note: This is not available to Amazon Student members during the six-month free trial.)

Q.: What is Amazon Prime Student?

A.: Amazon Student offers the same benefits as regular Amazon Prime ($99 per year), at a discount. It is available to students enrolled in at least one class in a college or university in the United States (including Puerto Rico as well as online universities).

Q.: How much does Amazon Prime Student cost?

A.: Amazon Student costs $59 per year or $6.49 per month, after a free (limited) six-month trial period. Verified students (you have to have an .edu email address) are eligible for four years or until graduation  whichever comes first. After that, the membership will auto-renew itself at $119 per year. Students must pay tax on the membership if they live in Arizona, California, Florida, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia or Wisconsin.

Q.: Are there other special benefits for students?

A.: Amazon Student has a referral program that pays $5 to both the student being referred and the student who refers them. Amazon has requirements for how you deliver the invite (opens in new tab) to a fellow student, by sharing a link on social media or by using Amazon's email form to send the invite.

Q.: Are there other budget options for Amazon Prime?

A.: Amazon Households allows two adults to share membership benefits. So it could be an option for student roommates, but it saves only one extra dollar over Amazon Student. Alternatively, you can opt for the $6.49/month plan and cancel it the months you don't plan to use it.

Q.: Which items get free shipping with Amazon Prime?

A.: Most items that Amazon sells directly or through "qualified sellers" are eligible for free two-day shipping with Amazon Prime. Some of those products are also eligible for free one-day shipping. Oversize items, such as heavy furniture or larger TVs, get free standard shipping. Items sold through third parties (via Amazon Marketplace) are ineligible for Prime shipping discounts.

Q.: Is there a catch?

A.: You can't share your membership with others in your household, as you can with a standard Prime subscription. Though Prime Photos and discounts on new video game releases are included in the six-month free trial period, students do not have access to Amazon's Prime Music, Prime Instant Video or Kindle Lending Library.

Q: What if I want music, video and Kindle offerings now?

A.: You can sign up for a full Prime paid subscription at any time; you don't have to wait for the six-month trial to end.

Q.: What's the argument against subscribing to Amazon Student?

A.: You may not need Amazon Prime for the free shipping benefits. Purchases that exceed $35 already get free delivery.

As far as the additional benefit of streaming services goes, if you are happy with other streaming video or music services you already subscribe to (such as Hulu, Netflix, Apple Music or Spotify), Amazon's media offerings may not provide you with anything new. (Check Amazon Prime's video (opens in new tab) and music (opens in new tab) listings to see.) The same is true if you don't read e-books, or if you use another reader, such as Apple iBooks or Google Play Books.

Q.: How can I sign up for Amazon Student?

A.: If you don't have an Amazon account, start by setting one up here (opens in new tab). It's free, but you will have to register a credit card so that Amazon has a way to charge you for purchases.

You'll also have to verify that you are a student. A college-issued email address ending in .edu qualifies you. (It's just for receiving a confirmation email from Amazon and doesn't have to be the address you use for your Amazon account.) Otherwise, you'll have to email Amazon a scan of a document proving you are a student, such as a transcript or a student ID. Amazon.com explains the details (opens in new tab).

If, during the trial period, you decide that Amazon Student isn't worth paying for, go to your account (before the trial period ends), select Manage Prime Membership and click Do Not Continue.
Californias Assembly member, Jim Cooper, introduced legislation to ban smartphones that come with strong encryption and can only be encrypted by the owners of those devices. The bill would fine the sellers of the devices $2,500 per unit if they receive law enforcement requests for decryption and arent able to deliver. The bill would affect all iPhones with iOS 8 and above, as well as many Android devices (especially the ones that come installed with Android 6.0).

The bill would essentially legislate that the encryption for these devices should be weaker than it is, to the point where someone else, besides the owner of the phone, can unlock the devices. This is a dangerous proposition, especially in light of all the smartphone thefts that were highlighted by law enforcement and state legislators, such as the ones from California and New York, not too long ago.

If the encryption of the devices becomes weaker, then smartphone thieves wont find it as difficult to unlock the devices anymore.

The bill doesnt seem to have come out of nowhere, either. Just last week, the New York Senate introduced an almost identical bill, which could mean some law enforcement agency is trying to push this into law across the states. FBIs chief, James Comey, has made no secret of the fact that he doesnt like smartphones that cant be decrypted, and he even asked for backdoors in encryption throughout the entirety of last year.

However, in New Yorks case, its citizens can sign up on the state's official website to express their approval or disapproval of the new legislation by clicking on the Aye on Nay buttons. As of now, California doesnt have such a site, which means that if you disagree with the bill, youll still have to contact your local representatives in California directly.

As device makers cannot cost-effectively build devices with different features for each American state, if the law passes in one or multiple states, it probably means this encryption weakness will be enabled in all smartphones across the U.S., and perhaps even globally. Some French politicians tried to pass a similar law, but the amendment was rejected as it would weaken security and trust in companies.



Lucian Armasu is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware. You can follow him at @lucian_armasu.

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According to Steven Murdoch, who works in the Information Security Research Group of University College London, the MIKEY-SAKKE VoIP (Voice over IP) encryption protocol promoted by GCHQ, UKs spy agency, has a weakness (or backdoor) that allows all conversations to be intercepted without the targets knowing about it.

The protocol is being mandated for government use, which means that all of the UK governments employees could be subject to surveillance by GCHQ. Its also being promoted by the agency for outside use by companies who want to make devices that interoperate with government devices and by those who want government-grade encryption.

The MIKEY-SAKKE (Multimedia Internet KEYing-Sakai-KasaharaKey Encryption) protocol allows a service provider to keep a master key on its servers that can decrypt all conversations:

"The existence of a master private key that can decrypt all calls past and present without detection, on a computer permanently available, creates a huge security risk, and an irresistible target for attackers," Murdoch said.

The UK government has been calling for encryption backdoors or encryption that can be decrypted upon request by a service provider, and essentially a ban on strong end-to-end encryption that only the people involved in the conversation can decrypt.

Murdoch said that the UK government wont certify voice encryption technology if it doesnt use GCHQs protocol:

"As a result, MIKEY-SAKKE has a monopoly over the vast majority of classified U.K. government voice communication, and so companies developing secure voice communication systems must implement it in order to gain access to this market," he wrote.

What that means is that if UK government employees want to use more secure devices such as the Blackphone and its Silent Phone encrypted communication tool, they cant do so unless the Blackphone comes with the backdoored MIKEY-SAKKE implemented by default.

The idea is not unlike the NSAs efforts to force companies to use the Clipper chip in the 1990s, which also used key escrow that the NSA could use to decrypt all communications.

Perhaps the strangest thing about this is that GCHQ wants to be able to intercept all government communications. Last year, members of the UK Parliament found out that GCHQ could, in fact, spy on them, too, and they were outraged about it. The Parliament will likely try to exempt itself out of GCHQs spying in a future bill, which would then make GCHQs proposed protocol for government communications even stranger and at odds with the Parliaments wishes.

Finally, demanding that a key escrow or backdoor exists also means that the communications of UK government employees everywhere could be intercepted by rival nation states, if they manage to steal those master keys. The UK agency is therefore putting many government employees at risk with its insecure technology, which its mandating for all voice encryption devices.

Although the words are never used in the specification, MIKEY-SAKKE supports key escrow. That is, if the network provider is served with a warrant or is hacked into it is possible to recover responder private keys and so decrypt past calls without the legitimate communication partners being able to detect this happening, he added.

Such attacks have already been proven possible, by none other than GCHQ itself. Snowdens documents have unveiled that GCHQ was behind the major hacks on both Belgacom, a telecom provider from Belgium, and Gelmato, a SIM card maker that also stores encryption keys for GSM voice encryption.

Murdoch fears that this protocol could eventually reach a wider scale, despite its major weakness, due to the UKs aggressive promotion of the protocol:

MIKEY-SAKKE is designed to offer minimal security while allowing undetectable mass surveillance though key-escrow, not to provide effective security, he said.

SMurdoch also said that if the UK government wants secure voice encryption, it could use open protocols such as ZRTP, which is already used by Silent Phone and Signal (an app Murdoch also recommends for strong voice encryption). The ZRTP protocol, invented by Phil Zimmermann, who also invented PGP, provides strong end-to-end encryption as well as forward security, which makes it much harder to decrypt past conversations, unless the attacker has the encryption key for every single one of them.

Lucian Armasu is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware. You can follow him at @lucian_armasu.

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Adelaide-born rhyme-slinger Allday, who recently tried to tap Shannon Noll for a collaboration, has recently been busying himself over the in the United States, touring around the flat fifty and dropping a few bars for Mark Ronson.

Hes even found time to stir a little controversy. Speaking to Paper Magazine (you may know them as the folks who broke the internet with that Kim Kardashian cover), Allday gave a less-than-stellar appraisal of the Aussie hip-hop scene.

A lot of Australian hip-hop is trash, he told Paper. Its not current. Its a sham. I feel like to be in hip-hop, one of the things you need to be is effortlessly cool. The best hip-hop artists ever have been icons of culture and fashion as well.

People forget that you have to have a part of your personality that really makes you stand out. Thats a really big part of it. This is what separated me from these other dudes. Not that I think Im cool, but I always did what I wanted to do and that resonated with my audience.

Im not going to do anything different, just to become a rapper. Im just going to be me. Im going to hang out with the girls in clubs, Im going to go to rock shows AND Im going to rap. Its about being you, and the more complex, the better.

Image via triple j

As triple j reports, the emcee later clarified his statements in a series of now-deleted tweets in which he explained that he doesnt feel like he belongs to a scene, though he doesnt begrudge anybody making music.

Elsewhere in the Paper interview, Allday revealed the extent of his drug use around the time his 2014 debut album, Startup Cult, was released. According to the rapper, he was using his record advance to buy cocaine, ketamine, MDMA.

[include_post id=469349]

I was going out a lot and I burnt through a lot of my recording budget, which is what you have to do, he explained. I mean, no one is making solid financial decisions with their record label advances.

I was just addicted to the process of always getting high. I was just getting through a break up and adjusting to the fact that more and more people were recognizing me and knew who I was.

In exciting news for fans, the rapper also said that hes been writing prolifically whilst in the US, and that some of material could be ready to hear in a couple of months.
If youve been a longtime fan of Melbourne metalcore outfit Storm The Sky, you may have noticed something interesting and totally unexpected in your mailbox this past week.

It was a letter bearing some sad news, but ultimately serving as a reminder that Storm The Sky are absolute legends when it comes to taking care of and interacting with their fans.

As Blunt Magazine reports, vocalist Daniel Breenie Breen announced his departure from the six-piece in a hand-typed letter sent out to the bands most ardent fans.

This is by no means the end of Storm The Sky, Breen insists for those on the mailing list, and I do ask that you all will continue to enjoy the music my buddies will produce.

No sooner was the missive posted than the band took to their website to share a brand new song. Titled S.W.F.Y, the track is a taste of the bands forthcoming new album.

Storm The Sky are currently on tour with homegrown pop rockers Short Stack and are looking to tour heavily once their follow-up to 2015s Permanence is finally released.
Ordinance #160047: Authorizing the Director of Public Works to accept an assignment of option to purchase and to enter into negotiations to complete the acquisition of the real property commonly known as the Royale Motel located at 600 Paseo Boulevard and execute all documentation to complete the purchase; estimating and appropriating $2,700,000.00 to cover costs; authorizing the Director of Public Works to expend funds not to exceed $2,700,000.00; authorizing the Director of Finance to close project accounts upon project completion; declaring the Citys intent to reimburse itself from bond proceeds for certain expenditures; designating requisitions authority; and recognizing an accelerated effective date.

On the bright side . . . This effort fromwill improve life for locals near Northeast Kansas City . . . Still, there's no doubt that this property isn't worth anything close to $2 Million and a private developer wouldinvest that much cash.There's not much detail about how Kansas City will recoup the expense but right now the only thing this vicinity has produced for Kansas City is drug overdoses, murders, dead hookers and a great deal of human misery.Check the legislation . . .Developing . . .
IT SEEMS THAT THERESA GARZA AND LEGISLATOR CRYSTAL WILLIAMS ARE WORKING TOGETHER AGAIN IN ORDER TO PUT ANGELA MALONE IN POWER!!!

- TG emails sharing personal stories of triumph and a Malone endorsement signal that she's trying to resurrect her political career whilst attempting to champion "social justice" in her non-profit day job.





- Team Crystal is touting all the familiar "girl power" talking points in support of Malone that might not convince all of the other dudes on the Legislature.





- Crystal's other lady candidate took a hit tonight with a fundraising party miscalculation - Just one of many examples of a lack of "girl power" foresight.





- Followup . . . Some say the The LeVota endorsed candidate didn't make the cut which signals that they have a bit of work to do in reestablishing their power base. HOWEVER , a public show of support for Sherwood and Baker demonstrates that, in this case, Team LeVota was on the same page as most JaxCo insiders.





- Insiders notice a great man ONE YEAR CONTRACTS that could signal a house cleaning . . . However, we hear the Frank White is becoming fast friends with Calvin so, like it or not, he's not going anywhere.

Last night our blog was theto serve in Frank White's spot on the Legislature.But there's just a bit more background political moves to report . . .Per usual . . . It's a cynical and divisive move focused on gender identity politics but here's a bit more from. . . Even better, here's a roundup of some thoughts about last night's Democratic gathering . . .Developing . . .
Meanwhile, it seems like the Mayor in D.C. is far more in touch with reality: DC Mayor Apologizes for 'Inadequate Response' to Snow Fall

ONCE AGAIN MAYOR SLY IS PLAYING PITCH MAN FOR PREZ OBAMA AS KANSAS CITY SERVICES SUFFER!!!

THE SNOW REMOVAL NEGLECT AND HORRIBLE KCMO COLD WEATHER PERFORMANCE MIGHT LINGER IN THE MINDS OF VOTERS AS KANSAS CITY PREPARES TO ASK FOR MORE E-TAX CASH!!!

Kansas City Mayor Sly James is selling tech and support for Prez Obama in D.C. right now as local streets are a mess and accidents pile upon dangerous neighborhood roads.The White House Press Secretary said. . . It's one of many fun facts touted by the army of consultants Mayor Sly's supporters employ to support his administration.And so . . .Sadly, only KC voters are to blame . . . An ongoing inferiority complex and manipulation by the JoCo residents of the Greater KC Chamber of commerce has given a green light to an administration that ignores or blame shifts neighborhood problems while focusing most of their attention on big ticket development schemes and civic cheerleading.But here's the kicker . . .Like it or not, just as TKC noted previously, all signs seem to indicate that the E-Tax will be a tougher sell this time around.You decide . . .
"Not sure this was much of a debate but there was one interesting part when Patrick Tuohey was questioning David Johnson. David had brought up the expansion possibilities and Patrick asked him if he would share the plans with the voting public. After David dodging the question for a couple minutes; Patrick kept pushing. David finally said NO and the crowd gasped."

The recent debate over Kansas City's streetcar was eventful and here's what is probably the highlight of the discussion that speaks to the future of the toy train . . . Checkit:Insiders tell us that it wasn't much of a real "debate" and the friendly forum style makes it harder to get a straight answer out of people . . . Still, credit to all of the participants andfor sharing the conversation rather than just waiting for another secret plan in the works from transit advocates who have already been toldby voters.Developing . . .
Despite the financial troubles and the refugee crisis that afflicted Greece last year, the country somehow managed to enjoy a bumper tourism year. Patrick Whyte looks at why and what that means for 2016, in the following ttg special report:

Queues of people waiting outside cash machines; a political stand off with the rest of Europe and the ongoing refugee crisis. Few could argue that 2015 was a very difficult year for Greece.

The carefully cultivated image of a laid-back tourist paradise was dented by recurring negative news stories, which dominated much of the UK press last year.

The situation was apparently so bad that the Daily Express ran a story suggesting that plans were being drawn up to evacuate British tourists.

A bumper 2015

It would understandably seem strange to many then that, according to recent estimates by Euromonitor, Greece enjoyed a bumper 2015.

Arrivals from the UK are predicted to have reached 2.4 million last year  a rise of 4.9% on 2014s official total.

This is supported by figures from the Greek government, which suggest that arrivals up until September 2015 increased by 9% for all destinations, and by 17% from the UK.

Christina Kalogera, UK director of the Greek National Tourism Authority, told TTG the improvement was likely to continue in 2016 with bookings this last week up by single digits year-on-year.

Bad press coverage

The early indications are really encouraging as they show that 2016 will most probably be another great year for Greek tourism, she said.

She also dismissed the impact of bad press coverage.

Greece is and always will be a favourite holiday destination for UK visitors, Kalogera insisted. I dont think all the news in the media affected Greek tourism as much as you think.

A perfect 2015?

An influx of refugees overwhelmed the country

So 2015 was actually a perfect year for Greece tourism then? Not quite, says one Greece specialist.

At this point last year, bookings were steadily flowing in for tour operator Sunvil. They then started to slump around the time stories of cash machines running dry hit the headlines and were also affected when the arrival of thousands of refugees made some question Greece as a holiday destination.

Given the tumultuous year the country suffered in 2015, Sunvil chairman Noel Josephides is understandably wary about being too confident this year.

Hope and confidence

Im more hopeful that as we get into May and June [this year], where we started having the problems [in 2015], they wont recur. So unless we have some other disaster we should have a much smoother year rather than that enormous dip we had in June, he told TTG.

In [that month] alone, in unsold seats we lost 250,000.

So Im very pleased that were running at the same [as last] year because we started well and hopefully we will not have the same ongoing problems.

The refugee crisis

His hopes may not be realised though. Although Greeces debt problems appear to have been solved, the refugee crisis is likely to continue.

The Syrian civil war, along with other conflicts, is forcing thousands of people to look for a better life in Europe. For many of them this leads to the Greek islands.

The holiday island of Samos, where Sunvil flies to, was last year welcoming 1,500 migrants a day from nearby Turkey. A year on, Josephides says the facilities on the island have been drastically improved, and he is hopeful that a repeat of last year  when the islands limited resources were overwhelmed by the influx of refugees  is less likely.

Greece is also set to benefit from high-profile new flights. British Airways will start flying to both Chania and Kalmata from April 30 for the summer season.

Flight frequencies added

Although data specialist OAG reports that the number of scheduled flights over the summer for Greece is slightly down on 2015 (12,467 versus 14,825), more frequencies will likely be added by low-cost carriers at the beginning of the summer.

Josephides says the relatively short notice given by some carriers puts tour operators in a difficult situation.

You dont get to find out about this extra capacity, especially from the no-frills and scheduled carriers, until about March. And we have to plan a lot further in advance.

But so far, so good. Weve cut back a bit on our seats. Weve got a better balance so Im hoping it will be a successful year.

Unrest elsewhere

Another issue that could see tourists heading to Greece in even greater numbers is the turmoil  and terror threats  faced by other popular tourist destinations.

The Foreign Office is still warning against travel to Tunisia following last years tragic beach massacre in which 38 holidaymakers were killed  and airlines are still not able to fly to the popular resort of Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt.

Nearby Turkey is also suffering from the impact of terrorism. Last week an attack on a popular tourist spot in Istanbul killed 10 people.

Kinda Chebib, lead analyst at Euromonitor International, said: The explosion in Istanbuls most prominent tourist attraction is expected to impact negatively on inbound flow to Turkey in the short-to-medium term.

Understandably, given the countrys own recent problems Kalogera is reluctant to talk up Greeces position as a so-called safe destination.

I think that probably a lot of Mediterranean destinations will benefit from this situation but we cant know that as a fact for sure  we like to believe that Greece is growing independently anyway.

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
Inhabited since the Neolithic age and considered Europes historical capital and one of the worlds emblematic cities, Athens has developed into an attractive, modern metropolis with unrivalled charm offering many interesting sights

Athens was voted as second Best European Destination for 2016.

Twenty selected destinations competed for the prestigious title of Best European Destination 2016. After a three weeks period of online voting, the procedure was completed on February 10 and Zadar in Croatia was elected Best European Destination 2016 winning the prestigious title.

Athens, Plovdiv, Nantes, The Azores Islands, Paris, Novi Sad, Brussels, Kotor, Milan, Prague, Rome, Vienna, Madrid and Nicosia are the next best destinations for a holiday or city-trip in 2016.

Athens lives up to all the hype!

The event's organizers described the Greek capital as follows:

From the iconic Acropolis, rising above the city, to charming up and coming neighborhoods and contemporary art galleries, the city of Classic Marathon and Olympic Games is a majestically quirky clash of past and present.

One of the worlds oldest cities with a recorded history of 3,500 years, the Greek capital is constantly undergoing urban renewals to keep up with the evolution of time. Athens lives up to all the hype!

Last year Athens ranked third in the prestigious electronic vote for best European destination.

The organizerds thanked all the participants from Tourism Offices, community managers and the 288,992 voters who made their choice and influenced the result!

The event was organized by European Best Destinations, a travel organization based in Brussels, developed to promote culture and tourism in Europe. In partnership with the participating tourism offices, the organization promotes a better understanding of the wealth, diversity and quality of European destinations.

Promoting Europe

Speaking to an audience of e-citizens, European Best Destinations plays an important role in promoting Europe as the number one destination in the world. It has become the meeting place for tourism offices and world travellers, a main gateway to the discovery of Europe.

For the 7th consecutive year, travelers are invited to select the best European destination, from a list of 20 tourist destinations which will feature most in 2016.

Why people voted for Athens

Inhabited since the Neolithic age and considered Europes historical capital and one of the worlds emblematic cities, Athens has developed into an attractive, modern metropolis with unrivalled charm offering many interesting sights.

Today, it offers visitors a journey in its 6,000-year history, including the chance to see renowned monuments and masterpieces of art of the antiquity and the Middle Ages, and the architectural heritage of the 19th and 20th centuries.

The list of Best European Destinations for 2016 follows:

1. Zadar, Croatia

2. Athens, Greece

3. Plovdiv, Bulgaria

4. Nantes, France

5. The Azores, Portugal

6. Paris, France

7. Novi Sad, Serbia

8. , Belgium

9. Kotor, Montenegro

10. Milan, Italy

11. Prague, Czech Republic

12. Rome, Italy

13. Vienna, Austria

14. Madrid, Spain

15. Nicosia, Cyprus





See also: VisitGreece.gr: Athens Hidden Gems

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
Italy's Pessina Costruzioni has signed an initial agreement to build five hospitals in Iran following the lifting of nuclear sanctions against the country.



Guido Stefanelli, the CEO of the Milan-based company, signed an MoU (memorandum of understanding) with Irans Ministry of Health in Tehran, where three of the 1,000-bed hospitals will be built, according to an Iran Project report.



Two 500-bed units will be constructed in Irans northern city of Rasht and Nayshabur in the countrys northeast, the report said quoting Italian news agency AGI.



Pessina Costruzioni, Italys leader in the construction and management of hospitals, will be one of the first foreign firms to return to Iran after the lifting of sanctions and reopening of financial exchanges.



Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is scheduled to visit Italy and France from January 25 to 27.



Meanwhile, South Koreas Eximbank has already signed an MoU with an Iranian entity to build 10 hospitals and pharmaceutical centres in the country.
Saudi Arabia's Rabigh Refining and Petrochemical Company (PetroRabigh) reported a wider net loss in the fourth-quarter on Thursday due to maintenance work at the complex for much of the period.



The firm, a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Japan's Sumitomo Chemical, made a loss of SR1.01 billion ($269.1 million) in the three months to December 31, it said in a bourse statement.



This compares with a net loss of SR198 million in the year-ago period.



PetroRabigh cited the plant maintenance shutdown as the reason for the wider loss without elaborating.



Saudi companies issue brief earnings statements early in the reporting period before publishing more detailed results later.



The company had already disclosed though it was expecting earnings to drop by around SR1.1 billion due to a 50-day maintenance period at its complex, which was extended for some of its units.



PetroRabigh's earnings have been hit hard by falling product prices, like many petrochemical firms in the kingdom, as they are closely tied to slumping oil prices. Saudi producers have also benefited from subsidised energy and feedstock costs, so lower crude prices compress their margins. - Reuters
Kuwait's Emir has said operations and exports from oil fields jointly operated with Saudi Arabia will resume soon, local media reported on Thursday.



"The resumption of operations and exports in joint oil fields will resume soon. No matter what happens, we don't have a disagreement with Saudi Arabia and even if there is one, it will be resolved," Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah was quoted as saying by Al Rai newspaper.



He did not elaborate on how obstacles to reopening the fields would be removed.



The Al-Khafji oilfield has been shut since October 2014 for non-compliance with new Saudi environmental standards. It is operated by Al-Khafji Joint Operations Co, a joint venture between AGOC, a subsidiary of state oil firm Saudi Aramco, and Kuwait Gulf Oil Co.



Saudi Arabia and Kuwait also share the Wafra oilfield, which has been shut since May 2015 by operating difficulties, according to officials. US oil major Chevron operates the field on behalf of the Saudi government.



Before the closure, the Khafji field produced around 280,000 to 300,000 barrels per day, while Wafra has an output capacity of about 220,000 bpd.



The remarks by the emir were made at a meeting with newspaper editors, Al Rai reported.



The emir also said the government had to raise ultra-low domestic prices of fuels and utilities.



"The government has to stop subsidies and raise the prices of fuels, electricity and water," he was quoted as saying, without giving details of when the changes might happen or how large they would be.



Kuwait has been looking at a range of ways to cut state spending and increase revenues to cope with declining oil revenues due to lower crude prices. - Reuters
The chief executive of Saudi Telecom (STC) believes that owning 50 per cent of Kuwaiti affiliate Viva would be reasonable, he told Saudi-owned television channel Al Arabiya on Thursday.



The kingdom's leading telecommunications operator holds 26 per cent of Viva but announced in November it would launch a voluntary tender offer to acquire up to 100 percent of the Kuwaiti firm.



However, its offer price of 1 dinar ($3.29) per share was dismissed as "not fair" by Viva's board last month. STC still went ahead at the same price with the tender, which is due to close on Jan. 31.



"I think that the total of 50 per cent is considered reasonable in Viva," Khaled al-Biyari told the television channel in an interview on the sidelines of the Davos gathering.



STC on Wednesday reported a 20 per cent drop in fourth-quarter profit as the benefits of higher revenue were wiped out by rising service costs and expenses.



The Saudi firm's shares were trading 0.9 percent higher at 1005 GMT. Viva's shares closed flat at 0.99 dinars in Kuwait. -Reuters
A well-known German think tank says it is moving its Mideast operations out of Egypt, saying that ever-stricter government restrictions have made it impossible to carry out its work.

Wolfgang Gerhardt, chairman of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, which has links to Germany's Free Democratic Party, told the dpa news agency Wednesday the he was moving the organization's operations to Amman, Jordan.

Gerhardt said "since today every political seminar, every conference that we organize with our Egyptian partners is misunderstood as a possible threat to the internal security of Egypt. We have no basis to operate."

Many international rights' groups and other NGOs have closed shop in Egypt following the 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, citing growing government restrictions on their day to day operation.

*The story was edited by Ahram Online.

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The four Brooklyn men who were kicked off a flight from Toronto to New York back in December have filed a claim against American Airlines, alleging that they were removed for looking too Muslim.

The men had exchanged their reservations so they could all fly home to New York together. Two changed their flights and two others changed their seats. A flight attendant reacted to these changes by asking one of the men, recognised in the lawsuit as W.H., to get off the plane.

In a private interview, W.H. told the Daily News, 'I thought it was an evacuation or something so I didn't think anything of it but then she told me to take my bags and when I went back into the plane, I saw I was the only one standing.'

In total, four men were removed from the plane. Two other men going with them, one Hispanic and one Pakistani were permitted to remain but were advised to simply be peaceful. According to the Daily News report, when they cleared out the plane, an American Airlines agent told them that they had made the crew uncomfortable.

Based on the lawsuit (that was documented in Brooklyn Federal Court) when one of the men questioned the agent concerning whether they'd been kicked off in light of the way they looked, the agent said it didn't help.

Every man is asking $1 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages. American Airlines did not remark to the Daily News, clarifying that it had not yet got the lawsuit.

This occurrence is one of a few that have made the news over the previous year, all of that bring up issues about when aircraft personnel should have the capacity to make security calls and on what grounds they ought to be permitted to do so.

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
The United States is accelerating efforts to help Turkey clamp down on its border with Syria, senior U.S. officials said, and for the first time will offer technologies to Ankara to help it secure the frontier.

Washington and Ankara have been discussing for months how to seal the last piece of unsecured border, a 98-kilometer-long (60 mile-long) stretch that has served as a thruway for ISIS, black-market goods and war materiel.

ISIS controls the Syrian side of the border, and the effort to secure it assumed new urgency after November's deadly Paris attacks. Some of the Paris attackers used or attempted to use the Syria-Turkey border to travel between ISIS-held territory and Europe, the officials said.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden is due to arrive in Turkey on Thursday and will meet with President Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to discuss the fight against ISIS.

Biden's visit to Istanbul is the latest in a string of high-level visits to the NATO ally. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson in February will lead an inter-agency delegation and offer the Turkish government a menu of specific border-control technologies, the U.S. officials told Reuters.

Aerostat surveillance balloons and anti-tunneling technology are on the U.S. menu of equipment likely on offer, and the U.S. is prepared to share methods for detecting the material used in improvised explosive devices, the officials said.

"We like what we're seeing in terms of their actions and we want to work with them to tighten the screws a little bit further," a senior administration official said of Turkey. He and others requested anonymity to discuss diplomatic negotiations.

Turkish steps to secure the border include the deployment of 25,000 more regular army troops and the installation of concrete barriers and fences.

Still, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter told Congress last month that "Turkey must do more to control its often porous border" with Syria.

During a visit by Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford two weeks ago, Turkey proposed that the United States train a group of Sunni Arabs to help secure the area on the Syrian side of the border, U.S. officials said.

The officials said that the United States wants to know more about the proposed fighters before agreeing to support them.

U.S.-Turkish discussions have been complicated by competing priorities. Turkey is focused on containing Kurdish separatists and the United States has the stated aim of destroying ISIS militants who control areas of Syria and Iraq.

"We can try to move ISIS up in sort of the priority ranking but when somebody perceives something as a true existential threat, it's difficult to argue with that," a senior U.S. defense official told Reuters, using an alternate acronym for ISIS.

Johnson's trip is an effort to respond to Turkish complaints that Washington has not been specific about steps it wants Turkey to take, the U.S. officials said.

"We have made a list, a much more specific list," the senior administration official said. "And that will be filtered through ... their view of the problem and what's feasible, what they think they can do."

The Homeland Security secretary's visit culminates lower-level talks that have been going on since August.

Those talks "gained new urgency" after ISIS-directed shootings and bombings that killed 130 people in Paris on Nov. 13, a second senior administration official said.

"The fact that they came up through Syria, through the remaining border gap is something that has gained everyone's attention," this official said, declining to be more specific.

For its part, Turkey said it detained one of the Paris suicide bombers, Brahim Abdeslam, at its border in January 2015 and deported him to Belgium - where he was set free.

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The siege of Taiz has entered its eighth month against the backdrop of worsening conditions in the Yemeni civil war and its regional repercussions. Geneva 2 not only failed to bring relief to Taiz. There are rebels in the delegation of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh who would like to see that city burnt to the ground. Abdel Aziz Al-Majidi, editor-in-chief of the Yemeni Al-Shahed newspaper, is a prominent young political activist who, before the civil war erupted, founded the Madd movement to counter the southward march of Houthi insurgents. From the heart of Taiz, where he lives, Al-Majidi relates to Al-Ahram Weekly scenes from his annals of warfare and a city under siege.

The siege of Taiz is now in its eighth month. Why has this battle not been resolved yet?

The battle of Taiz is complex and multifaceted. It has military as well as geopolitical dimensions. Taiz carries a unique demographic weight in Yemen. It is the countrys most educated province and it was the starting point for the February 2011 revolution that forced Saleh out of power. Ali Abdullah Saleh has a personal feud with this city. This is why he amassed several of his regiments against it along with the Houthi militias and their thousands of fighters. There are thousands from Salehs troops driven out of the south and redeployed in Taiz.

All agree that liberating Taiz will open the road to Sanaa and the fall of the other provinces. But there is another reason that makes the Saleh/Houthi alliance so dead set on reclaiming Taiz. After their forces were driven from the southern provinces, the Saleh/Houthi alliance hope to unilaterally declare a state in the north. They are counting on a scenario in which the southerners lose patience and declare their own state. This is why the insurgents have dug in their heels in along the border strip. As we have observed, the fighting has not budged from the former border strip between the south and the north.

But more worrisome to the Saleh/Houthi forces is the prospect of a victory of the Taiz people over them and the ramifications this would have for other Yemeni regions. Historically, the areas of the Zeidi north have regarded Taiz and the other Shafei regions in Yemen as part of their territorial possessions on the basis of the claims of the Imams who had controlled the country for many long eras. They believe themselves entitled to rule. Therefore defeat at the hands of this province would make them feel threatened and would encourage all the other provinces to rise up against them, as occurred in the revolution.

There is another important point connected to the Arab coalition. There are assessments that suggest that the coalition has deliberately turned Taiz into an attrition zone for Houthi/Saleh forces. The idea involves luring a large portion of their forces here so as to facilitate the [coalitions] march to Sanaa via Mareb and Al-Jawf. There are military and field developments in this respect. Troops from the national army and the peoples resistance are at the outskirts of the capital, only some dozens of kilometres away.

As an eyewitness to the annals of warfare and siege, what is your estimate of the scale of the siege and the extent of the suffering?

Taiz is in the grips of a humanitarian disaster by all standards. It is on its way to becoming another Syrian Madya. Both are surrounded by militias supported by Iran and carrying out its sectarian agenda in the region. According to medical reports, children, women and the elderly have died due to the lack of oxygen [in hospitals]. There are patients suffering from diabetes, kidney failure and other diseases who required regular medical attention and medicine but who died because the medicines were unavailable. The militias have prevented medical and humanitarian relief shipments from entering the city. Doctors Without Borders has also been unable to send in aid to civilians. The same applies to the International Red Cross and the World Health Organisation. All these organisations have been prevented from entry. The siege is now in its eighth month, but the UN and the world stand by and watch, deaf to the cries of hundreds of thousands people under siege.

Massacres occur on an almost daily basis. Random bombardment has left around 1,600 people dead and 8,000 wounded. About a third of these are women and children. Hospitals are bombarded daily. Doctors and first aid workers have been killed while trying to carry out their humanitarian duties. There is a real humanitarian tragedy in Taiz, but the world is not paying attention.

What is your impression of the role of the UN or more precisely the UN envoy with regard to Taiz?

Sadly it appears that the UN is promoting a basic idea with regard to all conflicts in the region. This is to allow things to go from bad to worse, making it more and more difficult, if not impossible, to rein in the conflict and cement countries back together again. The UN is a stage for cheap spectacles that show the bad side of the policies of major powers. We, in Yemen, have a clear international resolution. It condemns the insurgency and the militias and it calls for their withdrawal from the cities, the handover of heavy weapons to the government, and, before this, the release of kidnapped persons. That resolution was issued under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which means that in the event of noncompliance, armed force should be brought to bear to subdue the insurgents and enforce the resolution. Instead, the UN and its envoy have turned into facilitators of violations. Indeed, they have sometimes been accomplices by supplying financial resources to the rebels due to their insistence that all assistance be sent through ports and airports controlled by the militias. There have been dozens of reports on how those militias trade in assistance packages and sell them on the black market. Tens of thousands of tons of petroleum derivatives and twice this amount in food and medical relief have been sold off and the revenues used to fend their war. The position of the UN has been clearly complicit with the militias.

Do you think that the postponed Geneva talks will bring anything new on the ground in the event they resume?

No, I do not think the next Geneva round, if it takes place, will bring anything new. There is no sign of a breakthrough and even if one did occur it would only be a kind of dodge in order to gain time and to try to turn the tables against the legitimate government. I do not believe that the matter is primarily contingent on the will of the Houthis and Saleh. The decision of war and peace lies with Tehran. We have seen how they sent their intelligence men to Geneva 2 to stall the talks for an entire day. In spite of the fact that all parties had signed the agenda for the talks, they insisted on bringing up points that had presumably been settled, such as the question of them being represented in a single delegation along with Saleh. Then there was the question of confidence building measures. All they wanted was to obtain a ceasefire resolution. Which for them means a halt to the coalitions aerial bombardments, while they continue to stroll about and amuse themselves, as always, on other combat fronts.

In your opinion, why did the Houthis threaten to burn down Taiz?

As I said, the militias want to take revenge against Taiz. This would satisfy an instinctive thirst that Saleh and the Houthis have in common, especially since it was Taiz that aborted their coup project and prevented the bid to seize power again on the part of a sectarian group with a contemptible tribal, regional and racist outlook that conflicts with the dreams of all Yemenis for a citizens state in which there is equality, justice and equal opportunity for all. But at the same time, it is to carry out the Iranian scheme to create more social and sectarian rifts in Yemen by trying to turn Taiz province into a symbol as a Sunni stronghold.

Do you think that the Arab coalition will be unable to settle the battle on the ground, and therefore that a political solution is preferable? Or should the battle be resolved militarily?

What has happened during the 10 months of Arab intervention is an unmitigated success. The legitimate authority that had been driven into exile now controls more than 70 per cent of Yemeni territory. We have to take into consideration that everything has to be rebuilt from zero. All the security and intelligence agencies and the army are loyal to Ali Abdullah Saleh, not because he is a beloved leader but because in his 33 years in power he built up those agencies on the basis of family, regional and sectarian affiliations. More than 90 per cent of those agencies and the army belong to Salehs tribe, region and other regions geographically belonging to the Zeidi sect. This has historical roots connected with those regions hegemony over Yemen and the determination of all successive rulers to control the military and the security agencies. This was the practice that prevailed at the hands of the (Zeidi) Imams until the 26 September revolution.

The military solution, if painful, is the ideal solution in the Yemeni case. But it requires stamina and special attention to Yemeni tribal composition. It can be carried out with more expert planning and by working on the ground in a more organised way. Today, the national army is on the outskirts of the capital. Such advances can contribute to a definitive military solution that, in turn, will spare the region new jolts in the future as a consequence of a partial victory. A political settlement if there is scope for one, which is unlikely given conditions on the ground, even if as a kind of dodge that would implement the UN resolution in form only will give Iran the opportunity to reproduce its role and we will find that Yemen has become another version or an approximate version of Lebanon. There is no room for settlements that re-partition the country into zones of influence. That is a destructive route that will lead us back to square one, and it will seem that the Arabs have lost everything, economically and geographically.

How do you perceive Iranian regional policy and its undisguised conflict now in Yemen and other areas? To what extent has this policy reflected itself in the Yemeni crisis?

Iran has been present in Yemen since the outset of the 1980s, which is to say since less than a year after the Khomeini revolution. It wove relations with Zeidi religious authorities. Although this sect is closer to Sunni Islam, Iran ranks it within the broader Shia sphere. Iran has exploited the secret ambition of those authorities to regain what they see as their divine right to rule. I refer to what is called the Hadawiya doctrine to which some of them subscribe. This is the Zeidi doctrine that prevailed in parts of Yemen since Yahya Hussein Al-Rasi from the Hijaz arrived in Sada in 284 AH and stipulated that rule should be restricted exclusively to the descendants of Al-Hassan and Al-Hussein.

Unfortunately, Iran was able to operate in a vicious Arab political vacuum that arose due to the lack of a collective project that rallied the Arabs together. Hopefully the Arab coalition will be the kernel of a joint Arab effort that will obstruct Persian hegemonic designs. Iran does not care about Shia Arabs. In fact, deep down it hates them. Therefore it sets Arabs against each other Sunnis against Shias in order to achieve its project of regional hegemony as a Persian empire. It deceives them and cajoles them, but when the moment of truth comes it will sacrifice them and abandon them to their tragedy. It is carrying out a scheme to re-partition the region on sectarian and ethnic bases. Many studies have been published on this, the most famous being that of the American, retired General Ralph Peters, which appeared in the Armed Forces Journal in 2006. Entitled Blood Borders, it presented a concept of how the regional map should be redrawn on the basis of ethnic, sectarian and tribal lines. At the heart of the torn up map are we Arabs.

What scenarios do you envision for the future of Yemen?

I believe that Yemen stands at a crossroads. On the one hand it could move in the direction of the military solution. This will require some time and patience, but it will spare the region considerable anxiety and unrest in the future, especially if that group is socially isolated and an Arab Marshal Plan is set into motion for reconstruction with a focus on developing tribal areas.

The second option is to revolve in place with military operations that do not bring a resolution. This will lead to a decline in Arab support, if not withdrawal, while precautions are taken to safeguard certain border areas to protect Yemens neighbours. This will leave Yemen to drown in the vortex of endless civil war. But the dangers of this will be great and the consequences grave, as a country like Iran, especially after the lifting of sanctions, will be able to rebuild the power of its militia network and thus plunge Yemen into a sectarian war such as that in Iraq. This attrition will drive the south into determining its fate on the ground and unilaterally declaring a state to seal the status quo. But ultimately, the whole region will plunge into endless upheaval that will not end at Yemens borders.

In the third scenario, the international community, led by the US, will exert heavy pressure on the Arab coalition, compelling it to accept a settlement that will re-establish the power-sharing system that emerged following the 2011 uprising. This scenario is extremely dangerous, as I mentioned before. It will be like remanufacturing a bomb that could explode at any moment. It will lead to an endless cycle of conflict. We hope to see developments that will spare our country, the Arab region and neighbouring countries all that. But as long as we have begun, we must not stop until we achieve our goals of building a Yemeni state, establishing permanent peace and stability, and eradicating forever the causes of conflict and civil warfare.

*This story was first published at Al-Ahram Weekly

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday that his country will need more US military aid because of the nuclear deal with Iran.

Israel is currently negotiating a new 10-year military aid package with Washington that it says will need to grow beyond the $3.1 billion yearly currently provided by the United States.

The figure excludes US spending on projects including Israel's Iron Dome missile defence system.

Netanyahu reiterated his argument that the nuclear deal that has seen sanctions lifted against its regional rival Iran would require Israel to increase spending to maintain its military edge.

The influx of cash, he said, would allow Iran to further back proxy militants, including Israeli enemies Hezbollah.

Netanyahu said it would be important to "resist Iranian aggression in the region, which continues and might even accelerate given the amount of funds that they're going to get with the lifting of sanctions.

"And the strongest way to stop Iranian aggression is to bolster America's allies, first and foremost (of) which is Israel."

He added that "we're talking about a bigger package. But remember that even over a 10-year period, it pales in comparison to the enormous funds that Iran gets."

The United States has unblocked an estimated $100 billion of Iranian assets held abroad and settled a long-running international dispute that will see Iran get $1.7 billion directly from Washington following the implementation of the nuclear deal.

Netanyahu, whose country is believed to be the sole nuclear power in the Middle East, though it has never declared it, strongly opposed the accord and labelled it a "historic mistake".

His outspoken criticism, including in an address to the US Congress, led to troubled ties with the United States.

He has since scaled back his rhetoric and visited Washington in November as part of efforts to move past the rift.

A US delegation is due in Israel next week as part of discussions over the new military package, with the current agreement due to expire in 2017, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.

Israel's total defence budget amounts to some $16 billion, excluding the US aid.

Netanyahu's Davos appearance was dominated by issues such as Iran and Syria, but he briefly addressed the conflict with the Palestinians.

A wave of protests by Palestinians and repression by Israeli occupation forces started in late July when toddler Ali Dawabsha was burned to death and three other Palestinians were severely injured after their house in the occupied West Bank was set on fire by Israeli settlers.

Settlement-building, racial discrimination, confiscation of identity cards, long queues at checkpoints, as well as daily clashes and the desecration of Al-Aqsa mosque, have been Palestinians' daily routine.

The anger of Palestinian residents of Jerusalem has increased in the last three years after the Israeli authorities allowed increasing numbers of Jewish settlers to storm the Al-Aqsa mosque.

*The story was edited by Ahram Online.

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Three Syrian asylum seekers who sought refuge in a church in Arctic Norway on Thursday, fearing that they could be deported back to Russia, can stay in the building, the parish council has decided.

Norway's right-wing government has tightened asylum rules in response to the influx of migrants and refugees to Europe, saying some of the 31,000 who arrived last year did not qualify for protection.

Measures include sending back to Russia any who have a long-term residence permit there. Critics say Oslo is violating asylum seekers' rights by not allowing them to appeal.

Two men and a woman arrived at the Protestant church in the town of Kirkenes earlier on Thursday from a nearby migrant centre.

"They have asked for asylum from the church," said Wenche Jessem Dervola, an administrator at the Soer-Varanger parish.

The South Varanger parish council said on its website it could confirm that three Syrians were in the church "and are to be viewed as under church asylum".

The parish council said it did not want to turn people away and will seek to clarify their needs and wishes.

Norway's refugee agency, NOAS, had established contact with the group, and the police, who were present outside the church, were informed about the situation.

The local police chief, who is also a member of the council, abstained from the decision, Norwegian NTB agency reported.

Two Norwegians who had helped to drive asylum seekers to the church were arrested by the police, the agency said.

Temperatures on Thursday were about -25 degrees Celsius (-13 Fahrenheit).

On Tuesday, Norwegian police sent a group of 13 people to Russia by bus. They were from Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen and Pakistan. A second group was due to depart on Thursday, but their departure was cancelled.

It was not immediately clear whether the three people were supposed to be among them.

Police declined to comment when contacted by Reuters.

About 5,000 asylum seekers arrived in Norway in 2015 via Russia, out of the total 31,000 asylum seekers that came last year. Germany took in over 1 million asylum seekers in the same period.

Norway, which is not a member of the European Union, is one of the richest countries in the world per capita thanks to decades of wealth from offshore oil and gas production.

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US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday that initial talks in Geneva involving the Syrian government and opposition groups would be "proximity talks", not a face-to-face meeting of participants.

"The first meeting will be proximity talks ... you are not going to have a situation where they are sitting down at the table staring at each other or shouting at each other; you are going to have to build some process here, and that's what will begin," Kerry told reporters at a roundtable meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

Kerry also said UN Special Envoy for Syria Steffan de Mistura would probably not send invitations out until Sunday.

"What will happen is, on Monday there will be some discussions (in Geneva), but I would say that by Tuesday and Wednesday, people will be able to get there. We just see this is as logistical ... we are just kind of lining pieces up here. We'll see where we are."

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A new case of Ebola has been confirmed in Sierra Leone, officials said Thursday, the second case since west Africa celebrated a declared end to the epidemic last week.

The World Health Organization said the new case was the aunt of 22-year-old Marie Jalloh, who died of Ebola on January 12.

The 38-year-old woman "was a primary caregiver during (her niece's) illness," WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told AFP in an email.

He added that the patient had developed symptoms on Wednesday while she was being monitored at a quarantine facility.

"The patient is being treated now," Jasarevic said.

Sierra Leone's health ministry spokesman Sidi Yahya Tunis also confirmed the new case, saying the aunt had helped wash Jalloh's body to prepare it for an Islamic burial.

"We are expecting other cases particularly from those who washed the body before the burial of Marie," he told reporters.

Ebola is at its most infectious as people are dying or in the bodies of those who have died from the virus.

After Jalloh's case was confirmed last week, officials in Sierra Leone said 100 people she had contact with had been quarantined, sobering news that came just days after the region thought it had overcome the devastating epidemic.

Officials in Freetown have urged the public not to panic and to work together to avoid any further spread.

A week ago, WHO announced the end of viral transmission for the outbreak which began in December 2013 and killed more than 11,300 people, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

But officials warned that a recurrence remained possible and stressed the importance of a quick, effective response to potential new cases.

Jasarevic told AFP that Sierra Leone has taken all the necessary steps following the new flare-up.

"It is a concrete demonstration of the government's strengthened capacity to manage disease outbreaks," he said.

Tunis said the latest patient had been taken from her home in the central city of Magburaka to a military hospital in the coastal capital, Freetown, which is fully equipped to handle Ebola cases.

He added that screenings, including checkpoints at major roads, were being installed to check for those displaying signs of the virus, which is spread via the bodily fluids of recently deceased victims or carriers showing symptoms.

Magburaka residents contacted by phone on Thursday told AFP that locals remained calm but were anxious for information about the fresh outbreak.

"The community woke up this morning with the bad news after we were trying to shake off the first shock of Marie Jalloh," said Tity Kamara, a 36-year-old housewife.

"We don't know whether we are now safe and it is the health authorities that should re-assure us of our safety," she added.

"I appreciate their work so far but they need to do more."

The deadliest outbreak in the history of the feared tropical virus wrecked the economies and health systems of the three worst-hit west African nations after it emerged in southern Guinea 2013.

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High demand for Iraqi Kurdistan winter and spring adventures encourages expedition company Secret Compass to launch new March dates



(TRAVPR.COM) UNITED KINGDOM - January 21st, 2016 - High demand for adventure travel to Iraqi Kurdistan has led Secret Compass to add new March dates to its sell-out winter expedition, which aims to summit the Zagros mountains highest peak.

Our April expedition to scale Mount Halgurd filled up in record time. Adventurous types seeking a challenge now have until 25 January to join the new March team, said Kerry ONeill, marketing director of Secret Compass.

For those who love Alpine exploration, rugged Iraqi Kurdistan offers a similar physical challenge  with none of the crowds or tourist infrastructure  plus a chance to get beyond the headlines in one of the worlds more hard-to-access spots, said Tom Bodkin, director of Secret Compass.

Expedition fact box

 Expedition name: Secret Peaks of Iraqi Kurdistan.

 Aim: Scale Iraqi Kurdistans highest peak, Mount Halgurd at 3,607m.

 Dates: 19  27 March (8 nights).

 Cost: 1,499pp (all inc. except international flights).

 Flights: London  Erbil return from 350 with Pegasus.

 Visas: British nationals get a 14-day visitor visa on arrival.

 Insurance: Specialist insurers like Campbell Irvine cover the region.

ONeill continued, Adventure travel has myriad definitions but whichever way you look at it, Secret Compass expeditions are at the tougher, more ambitious end of the scale.

Our expedition teams often set out to achieve exploratory firsts, from challenging first-ascents on Mongolias unclimbed high peaks to pioneering pack-raft missions in the wilds of Gabon.

The type of people that join our teams often have previous adventure travel experience but our expeditions are also open to anyone with a fit and healthy lifestyle and a robust, positive attitude.

Former team-mate Tracey Croke said she felt like an explorist as part of an expedition team, adding, I travel with Secret Compass because they let me make history on my annual leave! Im now the first woman to have traversed Kyrgyzstans Talas Range by mountain bike, and was part of the first commercial expedition to mountain bike to Ras Deshan, the roof of Ethiopia at 4,543m.

Expedition destinations for 2016 and 2017

In 2016 and 2017, Secret Compasss expedition and adventure travel destinations include Afghanistan, Armenia, Burma, Ethiopia, Gabon, Iran, Iraqi Kurdistan, Kyrgyzstan, Madagascar, Panama, Mongolia, Kamchatka, Siberias Arctic Circle, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Chad, the southern Sinai and Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Expedition styles range from mixed-terrain trekking and minimalist desert traverses to mountain-biking, rafting and horseback expeditions. Secret Compass welcomes applications from anyone with a good level of fitness whos keen to achieve the extraordinary in the worlds wildest places.

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NOTES TO EDITORS



Secret Compass Expeditions

Secret Compass redefines what is possible by creating pioneering projects in the world's wildest places. Its built around a team of trusted experts who combine a passion for exploration with industry-leading professionalism. Secret Compass reignites your primal need for adventure, providing the catalyst for you to come alive and achieve the extraordinary.

Press enquiries: 0207 096 8428

Secret Compass TV

Secret Compass TV provides expert pre-production and in-country location management services to the TV and film industries. Clients to date include the BBC, Nat Geo, Discovery, Animal Planet and Channel 4, in countries including Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, South Sudan and Siberia.

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True Incentive Confirmed As Exhibitor At GNEX 2016



(TRAVPR.COM) UNITED STATES - January 21st, 2016 -

Orlando, Florida - January 21, 2016 - (INTUITION by Perspective Group)- True Incentive, a company that provides incentives-based marketing solutions, has confirmed as an exhibitor for the Sixth Annual Global Networking Expo (GNEX), known as the Global Meeting of the Minds. The event takes place, Feb. 2  5, 2016, the week before the world famous Mardi Gras celebration, at the historical Ritz Carlton in New Orleans, Louisiana.

True Incentive is a Florida based company that drives marketing results while providing a positive brand experience for customers through its highly effective incentives programs. This year the company has launched two major initiatives: its e-Perk program which is an online platform that distributes incentives to any electronic device, and a Spanish language product that caters to the needs of those who are more comfortable speaking in Spanish.

e-perk not only simplifies the logistics of a campaign, it also allows incentives to be applied in new and exciting ways. Our clients can now offer instant digital incentives online, in print, and in person. This, combined with our online reservation system has brought not only an increase in response rates, it has set a new standard for customer experience in the travel incentive industry. says Reggie Nelson e-Perk Product Manager for True Incentive.

As an exhibitor at GNEX 2016, True Incentive will have a booth to showcase their services to top level industry executives in the high traffic Networking Lounge located near to the main conference room. The Networking Lounge provides attendees with the opportunity to meet with prospective clients on a one-on-one basis and build new relationships with industry executives from all over the world.

2016 is an exciting year for True Incentive with the launch of their new services, says Paul Mattimoe, president and CEO of Perspective Group. True Incentives is a great resource for anyone in the industry who is looking for a digitalized incentives based program, and they are especially useful for those who have a large Spanish speaking client base.

GNEX 2016 has more than 160 delegates already registered from over 100 different companies worldwide. This high energy, networking-focused conference provides unrivaled access to prospective new clients and strategic partners in a casual setting that redefines the typical conference format. Highlights include: open-forum discussions on key issues with some of the biggest names in the resort and shared ownership industry as well as engaging networking and social events that have fostered countless new business relationships and strategic partnerships.

Sponsors and supporters of GNEX 2016 include: DAE, INTUITION Brand Marketing, Holiday Systems International ,Vacation Condos, Brand Tango, Generator Systems, RSI Vacations, CustomerCount, First American Title, Resort Travel & Xchange, the National Timeshare Owners Association, Resort Management Services, weholi, Wyndham Vacation Resorts Asia Pacific, GetAways Resort Management, Access Development, Concord, Vacation Tour and Travel, and idopi Labs inc.

For more information about GNEX 2016, visit www.gnexconference.com

About True Incentive

True Incentives offers a combination of tried and true options as well as new and innovative choices that are designed to impact a companys marketing and sales objectives. Land vacations, airfare and cruises are continually updated to reflect market demand.

About Perspective Group

Perspective Group provides the resort and shared ownership industrys most comprehensive, independent multi-media marketing and publishing services globally. Products and services range from intensive PR & Multimedia services such as INTUITIONa brand visibility service that includes custom content creation and distribution, social media monitoring, online marketing and brand reputation managementto the Perspective Magazine brand, which publishes the leading independent trade publication globally as well as custom membership magazines for clients.

Perspective Group is a media sponsor of more than 30 industry events per year and serves on a number of trade association committees. The group also hosts its own annual industry leader events (should this be plural?), the Global Networking Expo (GNEX Conference), and Canadian Resort Conference (CRC) on behalf of the Canadian Resort Development Association (CRDA). For more information, visit http://perspectivemagazine.com.

About GNEX Conference

Hosted by Perspective Group, the leading global PR & Multimedia Company for the resort and shared ownership industry, the Global Networking Expo (GNEX) has created a truly unique conference format that focuses heavily on networking. Each year, the conference is shaped by the senior-level industry executives who attend. The conference, now in its sixth year, has not only become a major event on the resort and shared ownership industrys calendar, but also is hailed by many of its attendees as the one conference they must attend. For more information, visit www.gnexconference.com/.

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Danish lawmakers on Thursday gave a final nod to drastic reforms curbing the rights of asylum seekers as legal and human rights experts castigate Copenhagen for turning its back on its international commitments.

The new law would delay family reunifications, confiscate migrants' valuables and make already stringent permanent residency requirements even tougher.

Danish Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen was coincidentally to appear before the UN in Geneva later Thursday for a review of Denmark's human rights policies, a routine procedure for UN member states but where the migrant bill was expected to arise.

In Copenhagen, the Danish speaker of parliament presented the bill Thursday in its final form to the assembly for its second reading, and was a last chance for lawmakers to demand changes.

Just one request was presented and swiftly rejected by legislators, as a majority have already agreed to back the bill in its existing form following thorny negotiations.

"The big legislative work... has already been done," said University of Copenhagen political science professor Kasper Moller Hansen said of Thursday's expeditious procedure.

As a result, Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen's minority right-wing government, supported in parliament by an anti-immigration far-right party that has for 15 years dictated increasingly restrictive immigration policies, is assured of winning a January 26 parliamentary vote.

Fearing a domino effect across Europe, the UN refugee agency UNHCR has decried the bill, saying it "could fuel fear (and) xenophobia".

Once a champion of refugees' rights, Denmark would be in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the UN Refugee Convention, the UNHCR concluded in a January report.

Unfazed, Copenhagen maintains it is not able to finance more migrants nor integrate them into society.

"Denmark's immigration policy is decided in Denmark, not in Brussels," Integration Minister Inger Stojberg of Rasmussen's Venstre party has repeatedly said.

The confiscation of migrants' valuables has been the reform that has dominated international headlines.

The bill allows Danish authorities to seize asylum seekers' cash exceeding 10,000 kroner (1,340 euros, $1,450), as well as any individual items valued at more than 10,000 kroner. Wedding rings and other items of sentimental value are exempt.

Legal experts have however voiced more alarm over the measures, which make it harder to obtain family reunifications and residency permits.

Copenhagen wants to increase from one year to three years the waiting period for war refugees before they can apply to bring over their family members.

"According to the European Court of Human Rights, the processing of family reunification cases must be expeditious, flexible and efficient with special attention and care," the director of the Danish Institute for Human Rights, Jonas Christoffersen, told AFP.

"This is not consistent with a three-year waiting period."

Amnesty International's deputy director for Europe, Gauri van Gulik, denounced a "discriminatory practice" in singling out refugees already traumatised by war.

Undeterred, Rasmussen has suggested Denmark may seek a revision of the UN Refugee Convention if the migrant crisis "continues or gets worse".

In a January 15 letter to Stojberg, the Council of Europe's commissioner for human rights, Nils Muiznieks, said the issue of family reunifications raises "issues of compatibility with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights which protects the right to respect for one's family life."

The bill "could also infringe on the rights of children to live within their family environment, as prescribed by the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of the Child."

"Those are his personal views," Venstre's Jensen retorted.

"The Council of Europe, as an organisation, has not started any type of case against Denmark," he told AFP.

Home to 5.6 million people, Denmark registered 21,000 asylum applications in 2015, making it one of the top EU destinations per capita for migrants after Finland, Austria, Germany and Sweden.

As elsewhere in Europe, tensions have begun to emerge between locals and migrants as the continent struggles to cope with its largest migration flow since 1945.

Young women have filed police reports against migrants for inappropriate behaviour, while one nightclub in Sonderborg bars entry to those who do not speak English, Danish or German and other establishments are now considering following its lead.

Critics believe the bill could hurt Denmark's international standing.

"There will be very significant diplomatic, political and legal criticism of Denmark," human rights lawyer Poul Hauch Fenger told AFP.

European MPs were to discuss the Danish bill on Monday in the European parliament's civil liberties committee.

Once voted by parliament next week, Denmark's Queen Margrethe will sign the bill into law within a few days. No date has been set for the law to go into force, but it is expected in early February, according to observers.

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Egypt signed a deal with US-based Werner International to restructure 25 state-owned textile companies, said investment minister Ashraf Salman on Thursday, according to state news agency MENA.

The restructuring will start in February and will take 43 weeks to complete, said Ahmed Moustafa, head of the state-owned Holding Company for Textiles.

The once-thriving textile manufacturing sector has weakened over past decades with its outdated machinery from the 1950s used in state-owned companies.

The Exports of Textile, Home Textiles and Ready Made Garments companies made $2.4 billion in the first 10 months of 2015, accounting for around 15 percent of total non-oil exports, according to the Ministry of Industry and Foreign Trade.

Public and private companies from the labour-intensive sector provide around 25 percent of all industrial jobs in Egypt, according to the Netherlands Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries.

Workers in the textilesector in the Nile Delta city of Mahalla, who have a long history of organised action, have held numerous strikes before and after the 25 January 2011 uprising, with a wave of protests in 2006 and 2008, representing the largest anti-regime protests during the 30-year rule of president Hosni Mubarak.

Founded in New York in 1939, Werner international is a management consultancy firm for the world textile, apparel and fashion industries, currently having clientele in 70 countries.

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Tribune News Service

Bathinda, January 21

Amidst heavy police force, farmers held their protest for the second day today at Rai ke Kalan village of Bathinda district over their long-pending demand of getting appropriate compensation for cotton growers and labourers.

Farmers raised anti-government slogans but the district administration was finally able to convince them over the proposal of a meeting fixed with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on January 27 over this issue.

Farmers have now cancelled their decision to move towards Badal village.

Farmers had earlier cancelled their plan to stage agitation at Badal village proposed for January 10, but later they decided to hold three-day protest from January 22 in front of the house of the Chief Minister.

To begin with the agitation, the farmers gathered at Rai Ke Kalan village, which is a few kilometers away from Badal, on January 20.

Meanwhile, the police seized the Rai Ke Kalan after 1,000 farmers entered the village with a motive to march towards Badal on January 22.

Today, the district administration, including Bathinda Deputy Commissioner Basant Garg held a meeting with farmer leaders and got a meeting fixed with the Chief Minister over this issue.

Meanwhile, farmers in various villages, including Jethuke, Maur and others burnt effigies of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal over failure of the government to meet their demands.

Farmers and labourers, protesting under eight farmer unions and four labour unions, alleged that the police had twice attempted to disband them from the village gurdwara but villagers came for their support.

Shingara Singh Mann said, We have been convinced by the administration as they have fixed a meeting with the Chief Minister on January 27. Our agitation will continue if our demands are not fulfilled.

The farm labour unions are demanding compensation of Rs 20,000 for each labourer. Besides, the demands of farmers include permanent solution to stray animals destroying the crops, demand of free power supply of 400 units free of cost to labourers, hike in MSP of paddy varieties, including PUSA 1509 and PUSA 1121, and implementation of Swaminathan report.

Farmers are also demanding the suspension of Agriculture Minister Tota Singh and lodging of an FIR against him.
Over 80 art pieces will be on display testifying to the decades-long creative life of Egypt's renowned artist

Eighty works of art representing a fifty-year career of the prominent Egyptian artist Omar El Nagdi will be featured in Arts Mart gallery space starting 5 February.

The exhibition Fragments of a Luminary, will include also pieces from the artists personal collection.

The highlight of this retrospective show will be the display of three 10-metre-long artworks: The Last Supper in Jerusalem, Gaza and Rafah, and January 25  June 30 are all magnificent paintings capturing profound moments in our recent national and regional history through the artists eyes. This is the first time in history that the three murals will be displayed together in one gallery space.

Omar El Nagdi is considered to be one of the most celebrated contemporary Egyptian artists; he is a multifaceted master of calligraphy, expressionism, abstract art, and philosophy. His paintings touch on the surrealist, the serene and the sensory, completely consuming the viewer in his intricate and complex masterpieces.



Programme:

5 February - 5 March, 2016

Arts Mart, Cairo-Alex desert road, Arkan Business Park, Building 1, Office 22, Sheikh Zayed City, Giza

For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture

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Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 20

Ajay Jagga, a social activist, who has been raising the issue of theft of the heritage furniture has urged the President of the France, Francois Hollande, to stop the auction of furniture to be held in France on February 9 designed by Corbusier and Pierre Jeannere procured from Chandigarh.

In a letter written to the President he said that he hadbeen working hard for the preservation of heritage furniture of Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanerette, including furniture which is being auctioned by various auction houses abroad including France.The auction houses are making huge money out of it. I have learnt that France and India, both are working for the grant of world heritage status for Chandigarh from UNESCO but nothing is being done on various creations of Corbusier and Pierre Jeanerette. Jagga said that working jointly could save the heritage of Corbusier and then seek patents of the all the items.
Our Correspondent

Yamunanagar, January 21

Members of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) submitted a memorandum to the President through the Yamunanagar Deputy Commissioner demanding sacking of Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya and Vice-Chancellor of the Hyderabad Central University in the suicide case of a Dalit research scholar of the university.

Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya and Vice-Chancellor Appa Rao are responsible for the death of Rohit Vemula, a Dalit research scholar of the university. Therefore, we demand the President to sack the Union Minister and the Vice-Chancellor, demanded AAP members in the memorandum.

The AAP members led by district coordinator Dr Rajesh Saini staged a dharna outside the gate of the new grain market, Jagadhri.

Meanwhile, AAP activists also organised a protest demonstration in Jhajjar and demanded resignation of Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya.
Pratibha Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, January 21

Tapping solar energy could prove to be the answer to power woes in remote and tribal areas of the state as unemployed youth and farmers will be given preference in allotment of projects up to five MW with a buy back agreement to provide 24X7 electricity in rural areas.

The Solar Power Policy, approved by the Cabinet at its meeting on January 14, specifies that special preference will be given to unemployed youth and farmers for setting up of smaller projects up to five MW in a distributed and dispersed manner.

To facilitate sale of solar power from smaller private projects, the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board (HPSEB) will issue a consent letter to purchase power from them. Efforts have already begun to identify ample amount of suitable land for setting up solar projects so that a land bank can be created.

The Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board (HPSEB) will purchase power from all producers under the scheme for the unemployed and farmers to be able to supply 24X7 electricity in rural and remote areas, confirmed Tarun Sridhar, Additional Chief Secretary, Power, while disclosing the main features of the policy. He said a survey was being undertaken to identify specific sites and the exact potential the state had. Essentiality Certificates would be issued by Himurja.

The Cabinet, earlier this month, had given nod for the formation of a joint vensture company - Himachal Pradesh Solar Power Corporation for setting up of 1000 MW solar park at the tribal district of Lahaul Spiti. A Cape Town-based company Solar Capital has already sent in its proposal to the Department of Power as they are keen to set up solar plants at various sites, including Spiti.

Keeping in mind the problem of evacuation of solar power, the Solar Policy clearly says that projects up to 5 MW would be set up in a distributed manner across the state while the larger capacity projects would be located close to the load centre and 33 KV stations. Projects up to 5 MW would be set up either by the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) under viability gap funding scheme or by the state jointly with SECI.

The solar power producers are at liberty to dispose of power in any manner- captive use, sale to any consumer within the state, sale to any consumer outside the state or sale to the HPSEB. The tariff for projects up to one MW is presently Rs 7.14 per unit while for projects between one and five MW is Rs 7.04 per unit.

To promote renewable energy, all HPSEB consumers, including industrial, commercial, institutional and domestic, shall be eligible to install plant of one KW to one MW capacity on their building roof top or its premises that will be connected to the HPSEB grid.

The time line for completion of projects has been fixed between 18 to 24 months after obtaining land and statutory clearances. Projects where government land has to be leased out, completion period would be three years which would be extendable by one year on valid grounds.
Tribune News Service

Jammu, January 21

This years 48-day-long annual Amarnath pilgrimage will commence on July 2. The decision was taken today by the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board at its 30th board meeting in New Delhi. The meeting was presided over by Governor NN Vohra, who is the chairman of the shrine board.

The duration and date of commencement of this years pilgrimage was based on the recommendations of the Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Committee, which had been set up to advise the board on this key aspect. The date of the start of the yatra, July 2, is an auspicious day of Massik Shivratri as per Hindu calendar and it will conclude on Shravan Purnima (Raksha Bandhan) on August 18. Considering the present carrying capacity of the tracks  via Nunwan (Pahalgam) and Baltal (Sonamarg)  and the available infrastructure in the yatra area, the board decided that, excluding the pilgrims who would travel by helicopters on either route to Panjtarni, 7,500 pilgrims would be allowed to register for this years yatra on per day, per route basis.

The board noted the steps taken by Chief Executive Officer PK Tripathi to rationalise the distribution of the yatra permit forms for advance registration of pilgrims through 432 designated branches of Punjab National Bank, Jammu and Kashmir Bank, and Yes Bank spread over 32 states and UTs. It directed the CEO to take all required steps to commence the registration of pilgrims from February 29 for both the Baltal and Chandanwari routes.

Reiterating that every pilgrim must obtain a compulsory health certificate (CHC) from the doctors or hospitals nominated by the states and UTs before applying to the nearest designated bank branch for getting a Yatra Permit, the Board advised the CEO to send out an appeal to all potential pilgrims to consult their doctors before embarking on the pilgrimage even after having obtained a Health Certificate some weeks earlier.

The CEO was directed to take timely steps for ensuring uninterrupted telecom connectivity in the yatra area. He was also told to repeatedly publicise through the electronic and print media that the intending yatris must furnish the prescribed CHC before getting registered for the yatra. The CEO will also publicise the registration procedure; institutes authorised to issue compulsory health certificates; the dos and donts to be followed by the yatris; and the health advisories to prevent pilgrims from getting afflicted with serious illness during the yatra. The awareness campaign will be launched through the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The CEO shall place all information relating to the yatra on the board website  www.shriamarnathjishrine.com.

Appreciating the services rendered by the Langar Organization during Yatra 2015, the board expected continued cooperation from them this year as well.

Those present in the meeting included the board members Kapila Vatsyayan, Devi Prasad Shetty, Vijay Dhar, Sunita Narain, Pt. Bhajan Sopori, DC Raina and Chander Mouli Raina. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar participated in the discussions via teleconferencing.

The board CEO and Additional Chief Executive Officer Jitendra Kumar Singh also attended the meeting.
Simran Sodhi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 21

French architect Le Corbusier connects France to India through Chandigarh. The French want to take this old connection forward and re-engage with the City Beautiful to make it the best Smart City of the 21st century that will attract foreign investment and help the city retain its title of being the best city in the country.

Speaking to The Tribune, Frances Ambassador to India Francois Richier today emphasised the need for taking forward the old French connection with the city. The Ambassador said: Given its beauty and lively culture, Chandigarhs reputation is enough to justify the French Presidents visit to the city.

President Francois Hollande, who is the chief guest at the Republic Day parade this year, arrives in Chandigarh on January 24. He will spend a few hours in the city before leaving for Delhi.

Richier pointed out that Le Corbusier was born in Switzerland but became French after marriage. Le Corbusier was French when he came to Chandigarh and this double culture is very important.

It was this old connection that drew a large number of French tourists to the city every year. We had an exhibition on Chandigarh in Paris last year highlighting not just the Corbusier connection but also other aspects of the city.

France, which has committed to developing Chandigarh along with Nagpur and Puducherry under the Smart City project, looks to lay special focus on City Beautiful.

Richier said Chandigarh with its culture and skilled people would attract more foreign investment once it got the Smart City tag. To this effect, the French President will meet CEOs from several Indian and French companies in the city and a number of agreements are expected to be signed.

On whether high-rise buildings should be allowed in the city, he said: It is an Indian city and a Union Territory. It is neither our responsibility nor our right to get into a discussion on this. But he emphasised that France was ready to partner in the development of Chandigarh. He hoped the application to grant world heritage status to Chandigarh would go through at UNESCO this year.

On the turban controversy, the Ambassador said there was no ban as such on the wearing of turbans by Sikhs in France. He pointed out that there was a strong consensus among the French people in this regard and the law was against any ostensible religious signs, which included the Christian cross and the Islamic scarf. But the rule was applicable only in French government schools.

If you ask the French about the role of the Indians in World War-I, everyone remembers the sacrifice of the Sikhs, the envoy added.

French Presidents India visit

Day 1 Jan 24 in Chandigarh

French President Francois Hollande will stay in Chandigarh for almost five hours and PM Narendra Modi will accompany him throughout the visit

1 pm Will land at the Chandigarh airport

3 pm To visit Rock Garden, Sector 1

3.30 pm To visit Government Museum and Art Gallery, Sector 10

4.50 pm Will address the Indo-French Business Summit to be attended by business tycoons at Hotel Taj

In evening, will fly to New Delhi

Day 2 Jan 25 in Delhi

10 am Will attend formal reception at Rashtrapati Bhavan

11.15 am To meet External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj

12 noon To meet the PM and sign MoUs at Hyderabad House

3.30 pm Will inaugurate Solar Energy Secretariat in Gurgaon

8 pm To attend banquet hosted by President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan

Day 3 Jan 26 in Delhi

To attend Republic Day parade

Will meet the French community and attend French Embassy programmes

5.20 pm Will receive formal farewell at Rashtrapati Bhavan before leaving for France

 Nitin Jain
Amaninder Pal

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 21

The downing of a Russian fighter jet by Turkey in November, which led to a bitter standoff between the two European nations, has ringed in good news for Punjabs kinnow growers. Having partially snapped its business ties with Turkey over the incident, Russia has turned to growers in the Abohar-Malout belt of south-west Punjab to meet its domestic requirement for kinnow.

At least 5.94 lakh kg kinnow from this pocket has already been shipped to St Petersburg and Novorossiysk ports in Russia. Kinnow growers and exporters say orders from Russian importers came in suddenly after Turkey shot down the jet. The export is being anchored by state-owned Punjab Agri Export Corporation Limited.

Ukraine too has placed orders for Punjabs kinnow for the first time. Two containers (each containing 27,000 kg produce) have been shipped to the country, Kahan Singh Pannu, managing director of the corporation, told The Tribune. Earlier, Turkey exported the produce to these countries. But this is the first time that Punjab has received orders to export kinnow to these nations, said Pannu.

While Pakistan is another major kinnow exporter to these nations, its exports to Russia have fallen by 25-30 per cent this year. Nagesh Seth, a Mumbai-based fruit exporter who assists the Punjab Agri Corporation and kinnow growers, said: Pakistan and Turkey have been major kinnow exporters to Russia. Exports from Pakistan, which shipped around 3,500 containers every year to Russia, have gone down by 25-30 per cent this year. With Moscow refusing to buy Turkish kinnow, the produce is now been imported from India.

Surinder Charaya, an exporter from Abohar, said: In December, we sent 12 kinnow containers to Russia. The demand for the produce is quite high in Russia and we are getting good orders from there. Pannu said 22 containers have been transported to Russia, two to Ukraine and 34 to United Arab Emirates.
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar/Chandigarh, Jan 21

Taking suo motu cognizance of the drowning of youths illegally migrating to the US, Punjab NRI Commission has written to all DCs, SSPs seeking action taken against illegal travel agents in the state.

In its letter sent after the Panama Boat Tragedy, the commission has sought information from the officials on action taken against illegal travel agents under the Punjab Prevention of Human Smuggling Act, 2012 and the Punjab Travel Professional Regulations Act, 2014.

The commission, while terming the illegal immigrant situation in Punjab as alarming, has also reiterated the suggestions it made to the government in a 2013 order dated May 31, 2013 regarding constitution of Law Enforcement Units which would create a human trafficking database and creation of a Human Trafficking Victim Relief Fund.

The commissions order reiterates, The business of human trafficking is flourishing in Punjab. The number of youths coming into the clutches of travel agents is astronomical with many illegal migrants being deported. Among the human trafficking tragedies (across the world) Punjab has a large share. Doaba is the focal point for well-entrenched travel agents, who operate at the village level having multi-tier international connections. Thousands of trafficked people from India in general and Punjab in particular are languishing in various jails, refugee homes and camps in various countries.

It has been felt by the commission that legislation alone may not help unless Law Enforcement Units are set up in the state to ascertain a database on human trafficking, the order states which has been marked to Principal Secretaries, Home Affairs, NRI Department and NRI Affairs.

Officially, two missing from state in Panama boat tragedy

The number of suspected casualties from the state in a boat sinking incident between Panama and Colombia on January 10 is officially two now with reports that most of the other Punjab youths who were travelling in another boat had crossed the sea safely.

Sources said of the three families who reported that their kin was missing, one has clarified that their ward was safe.

Though the members of the third family were unwilling to speak on record as it was alleged the youths could be illegal migrants to USA or other countries, government sources said the familys version and other enquiries made by them suggest that the youths from India (especially Punjab) and other countries were travelling in two boats, one of which capsized in Colombian waters.

Earlier, it was feared that 20 or more youths from the state had drowned in the incident. The government has still not issued any official statement on the subject. State government officials said the Ministry of External Affairs was taking up the matter.

Panama Embassy officials told TNS that the incident happened on January 10 but it took place in Colombian waters.

The two missing youths  Gurvinder Singh (21) from Jaid village in Kapurthala and Gurjit Singh (27)  of Tandi Aulakh village in Kapurthala. Both villages fall in Bholath constituency represented by Akali leader Bibi Jagir Kaur. Ex-Bholath MLA Sukhpal Khaira, who is now with Aam Aadmi Party, had highlighted the incident forcefully.

The victims families were living in uncertainty in the absence of any official confirmation about the incident.

Kapurthala SSP Rajinder Singh said, As per Buntys claims, he had only sent three youths  one each from Tandi Aulakh and Jaidan - as well as Sonu who provided the information about the tragedy.

Principal Secretary, General Administration, KAP Sinha also claimed a complete lack of information on the remaining youths so far. We have been in touch with the MEA ever since the incident came to our knowledge. However, we are in touch with the MEA on the issue, he added.
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, January 21

Chief Secretary Shatrughan Singh today presided over a high-level committee of State Disaster Management Department.

He was informed at the meeting that the Centre had sanctioned Rs 1,100 crore for reconstruction of areas hit by the 2013 flash floods. Out of this amount, Rs 775 crore had so far been received by the state. Further, Rs 504 crore had been distributed among various departments.

The Chief Secretary directed for speedy conduct of re-construction works. Additional Chief Secretary S Ramaswamy, Principal Secretary Radha Raturi and Secretary Amit Negi also attended the meeting.
Sandeep Rawat

Tribune News Service

Haridwar, January 19

The Ardh Kumbh mela force is taking all security measures following intelligence inputs that terrorists may target Haridwar.

Personnel of the Uttarakhand Police, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Seema Suraksha Bal (SSB), Rapid Action Force (RAF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) have been deployed in the entire mela zone that has turned into a fortress. Besides, squads of bomb disposal, sniffer dogs, mounted cavalry, intelligence sleuths in plain clothes, and commandos have been deployed at strategic points.

Meanwhile, the Haridwar police and the mela force conducted a mass checking drive in congested Shravan Nath Nagar, Shiv Moorti Chowk, Jassa Ram Road and the Ganesh Ghat stretch today. The teams led by Haridwar SSP D Senthil Abudai Krishan Prakash along with ASP, Ardh Kumbh, Mani Kant Mishra, checked dharamshalas, ashrams, hotels and guest houses.

IGP, Ardh Kumbh Force, Ganesh Singh Martolia, told The Tribune that besides on festive baths, surveillance by unmanned drones was also being done on normal days to ensure foolproof security post-terror attack on the Pathankhot airbase.

Martolia added he was assessing the agility of the mela police regularly. From the close circuit television camera (CCTV) cell at the Mela Bhawan, Martolia routinely checks the locations of the Ardh Kumbh police officials.

Meanwhile, the checking of vehicles has been intensified on the national highways 58 and 72 leading towards Har-ki-Pauri. SP (Traffic), Ardh Kumbh Force, Shweta Chaubey, said they were regularly checking vehicles in the mela zone. All types of vehicles are being checked as we dont want to take any chances with security. We are also holding an awareness drive to encourage local people, traders, saints, pilgrims and tourists to inform the mela force immediately if they notice a suspicious object or person. We are showing an audio visual documentary film regarding terrorist movement and planting of bombs by them and how a common man can identify and foil the plans of terrorists, said Shweta.

Additional watch towers are being set up where sniper commandos will be deployed in the Har-ki-Pauri mela zone round the clock. A heavy deployment of paramilitary forces has been done at important shrines and public places. At the Mela Bhawan, a separate cell is maintaining regular contact with the police of Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and Haryana about intelligence inputs and traffic movement.
Jakarta: Indonesian President Joko Widodo broke ground on Thursday on the country's first ever bullet train line, heralding the project as a symbol of "major cooperation" with China. The controversial $5.6 billion project sparked a fierce bidding war between China and Japan as the two Asian powerhouses jostle to build key infrastructure projects in Indonesia. The bullet train should in theory be able to travel up to 350 km an hour between the sprawling capital Jakarta and the mountain-fringed city of Bandung, about 160 km away. PTI

Assange to be questioned at London hideout

London: Wikileaks founder Julian Assange will be questioned by Swedish authorities at his Ecuadorean embassy hideout here, where he is holed up since June 2012 after being wanted in Sweden over allegations of rape and sexual assault. Ecuador's President Rafael Correa confirmed that a deal has been struck with Swedish prosecutors that will see Assange face questions over allegations he sexually assaulted two women, without having to leave the diplomatic building. PTI

Academy board to meet amid racism charges at Oscars

Los Angeles: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is set meet next week to discuss revamping the best picture race and fight the perception that it is racist amid criticism over the lack of inclusion at this year's Oscars nominations. The board members will meet on January 26 and there are suggestions that Academy may return to 10 best-picture contenders among other changes, reported Variety. PTI

Dog tastes Mexican drug lord's jail food for poison

Mexico City: Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has his prison food tasted by a dog each day before he eats it to prevent anyone poisoning him, an official has said. After his January 8 recapture, Guzman was returned to Altiplano, the same high-security prison that he escaped from through a tunnel six months ago. AFP
The project to turn the house of Egypts former president Gamal Abdel Nasser into a museum was announced in early 2014. The venue is expected to open soon

Minister of Culture Helmy El-Namnam visited the museum of late Egyptian president Gamal Abdel-Nasser, located in Manshiyat Bakri, on Wednesday morning.

El-Namnam was accompanied by the head of the Fine Arts Sector, Khaled Sorour. During the visit, El-Namnam checked the progress of renovation work in the late presidents house-turned-museum, which will join other national museums owned by the Ministry of Culture leading up to its opening.

The minister listened to the projects consultants describe the set up of the exhibition halls.

The museum will comprise three compartments.

The first section will include the late presidents house with its different contents, and which includes three divisions; his office, the house salon, and the sleeping area which is located in the upper floor.

The second section will include an exhibition of the most important historical events beginning with the 23 July revolution of 1952 up till the late presidents death.

As for the third section, it is allocated to exhibiting the presidents belongings, including badges of honour, medallions, medals for merit and souvenirs he received from world leaders, individuals or national institutions.

El-Namnam also visited the 23 July Revolution Museum to check the progress of restoration work.

He asserted that both museums depict an important period in Egypts [modern] history, for both museums witnessed the beginning of the 1952 Revolution and decisions taken during the revolution, as well as those taken during the 1950s and 1960s.

The project to turn Nassers house into a museum was announced in early 2014.

For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture

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Benghazi, January 21

Suspected Islamic State militants attacked oil installations close to Libyas Ras Lanuf terminal on Thursday, an engineer at the port and energy officials said, and the group threatened more attacks.

The engineer said two storage tanks from the Harouge Oil Operations company had been set on fire near Ras Lanuf, where militants also launched attacks earlier this month.

Islamic State fighter Abu Abdelrahman al-Liby said in a video posted on the groups official Telegram channel: Today Es Sider port and Ras Lanuf and tomorrow the port of Brega and after the ports of Tobruk, Es Serir, Jallo, and al-Kufra. The state-run National Oil Corporation (NOC) said the area was facing an environmental catastrophe, with huge columns of smoke covering the area and damage to power lines supplying residential and industrial districts.

An energy official allied with Libyas eastern-based government, Mohamed al-Manfi, said a pipeline leading from the Amal oil field to the Es Sider terminal had been targeted. There were clashes between militants and Petroleum Facilities Guards, but Manfi and a guards source later said these had stopped and the militants had retreated.

Libya has become deeply divided since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, with political and armed factions competing for power and for the countrys oil wealth. Since the summer of 2014 it has two rival governments and parliaments, operating from the capital Tripoli and from the east.

Islamic State militants have taken advantage of the security vacuum to establish a foothold in the city of Sirte, which lies about 200 km along the coast to the west of Ras Lanuf and Es Sider.

The terminals, Libyas largest, have been closed since December 2014. The countrys oil production is less than a quarter of its 2011 high of 1.6 million barrels per day.  Reuters
Cairo, January 21

At least five Egyptian policemen, including three officers, were killed when militants stormed a police checkpoint in the country's restive North Sinai and opened fire on them, the Interior Ministry said today.

Three other conscripts were injured during the exchange of fire with the militants in Al-Arish city late last night.

The militants targeted a group of policemen and killed five of them. Security forces have cordoned off the area and are searching for the attackers, the ministry said in a statement.

Egypt's North Sinai has witnessed many violent attacks by militants since the January 2011 revolution that toppled president Hosni Mubarak.

The attacks targeting police and military personnel increased after the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 by military following massive protests against his rule.

More than 700 security personnel have been killed and over 18,000 have been injured since 2011.

The military has launched security campaigns in the area, arrested suspects and demolished hideouts of the terrorists, including those facilitating tunnels leading to the Gaza Strip.  PTI
(Beijing)  China UnionPay, the nation's state-backed bank card operator, plans to team up with smartphone makers including Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. to challenge Internet giants Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. in the fast growing mobile payment market.

Although negotiations over potential profit-sharing and technical issues were continuing in mid-January, UnionPay signaled its confidence on December 18 by formally announcing mobile payment service partnerships with Apple and Samsung.

According to people with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified, UnionPay plans to negotiate separate partnerships with Chinese smartphone makers including Huawei Technologies Co., Xiaomi Inc., ZTE Corp. and Lenovo Group Ltd.

Each partnership will be designed to help shoppers breeze through checkouts by waving smartphones at UnionPay point-of-sale terminals. Smartphones and terminals would be linked via near-field communication (NFC) and software that device owners download from a bank website.

Exactly how the new service, called Quickpass, would mesh with existing ApplePay and Samsung Pay systems, which are available to owners of the manufacturers' iPhone and Galaxy devices outside the country, is a topic that's part of the talks with UnionPay, said a person in the banking sector. These and all other technical details were expected to be ironed out by late 2016.

Apple recently recruited a select group of iPhone owners in China to test the ApplePay function and, according to one source, received positive a response. People close to Samsung said it plans to launch a similar test for its system soon.

ApplePay was introduced in September 2014 and handles transactions only in the Unites States and Britain. Samsung Pay, which launched in August, signed 1 million customers and handled 100,000 transactions in South Korea during its first two months.

Market Control

Chinese smartphone manufacturers are closely monitoring the new partnerships. An executive at a Shenzhen-based phone maker who asked not to be named said iPhone sales in the country could rise dramatically if ApplePay becomes available through QuickPass. And that jump in sales could encourage other smartphone makers to follow Apple's example.

Also watching are executives at Alibaba's Alipay and Tencent's Tenpay, which together control about four-fifths of the market in China and would rather not cede any ground to UnionPay and its smartphone partners.

As of the third quarter 2015, Alipay reported 190 million active users and Tenpay 150 million users of their mobile payment platforms. Tenpay works through the messaging app WeChat.

Alipay and Tencent started aggressively expanding into the mobile payment market last year, and their customers responded by buying movie tickets and restaurant meals, shopping in convenience stores, and even paying hospital bills. In 2014, mobile payment transactions totaled 22.6 trillion yuan, a 134 percent rise from the previous year, the central bank says.

Smartphone users with Alipay and Tenpay systems installed can pay for products at a checkout by scanning a bar code on a cash register receipt. Money is then transferred from the customer's account to the shop's account via a WiFi connection.

Some mobile payment experts argue that an NFC system is a safer way to move money than a WiFi-based system since it will be more difficult to be attacked by hackers.

Despite the risks, many retailers say they prefer the Alipay and Tenpay systems because neither requires special equipment or high fees. QuickPass, on the other hand, only works at checkouts outfitted with POS terminals.

A shop owner in Beijing said the Tenpay system through WeChat is more convenient and costs a retailer less for equipment than QuickPass.

Moreover, there are commercial benefits to the parents of Tenpay and Alipay. One source said Alibaba is promoting Alipay not only because it is a convenient shopping tool but also because it gives the company access to valuable consumer data.

Jiang Haijian, who works as the deputy general manager of UnionPay's Mobile Payment Department, said his company is likewise exploring ways to enhance the value of QuickPass. "We are making efforts to offer more value-added services on top of traditional payment service to vendors," Jiang said.

Positive Image

Fifteen banks in the country have agreed to let customers of Apple Pay access their bank accounts through QuickPass. Jiang said he expects that number to swell to nearly 100 by the end of the year.

Jiang said the UnionPay-Apple partnership will follow a U.S. business model but meet all regulatory requirements in China. The partnership covers not only iPhones but iPads and iWatches, Jiang said.

UnionPay's image is sure to be helped by QuickPass among smartphone owners who feel comfortable with a mobile payment system. The fact that iPhones and Galaxy devices are already very popular in China will likely mean that the respect they already command will rub off on UnionPay, said Dong Zheng, chief editor of the credit card information portal 51card.com.

Jiang said that QuickPass developers want to simplify payment procedures and launch a service that lets shoppers pay for products by simply tapping a smartphone on a POS terminal. This method would eliminate the need to input a password or sign a receipt.

Meanwhile, Jiang said UnionPay plans to build bridges that link smartphone makers, banks and businesses so that they can jointly develop an NFC-based mobile payment market. That makes UnionPay's business model different with those of Alipay and WeChat, which encourages ties between customers and businesses.

Dong said the competition between UnionPay's Quickpass and the Alipay-Tenpay alliance is likely to focus on the area of small-scale payment services. Services connected to major transactions will continue to be handled directly by banks. Moreover, industry observers expect Quickpass, Alipay and Tenpay to eventually share the market for mobile payment in China.

"In the future, UnionPay and the Internet payment providers will coexist," Dong said. "They can't destroy each other."

(Rewritten by Han Wei)
Rolf Lockwood, Executive Contributing Editor

Holy moly, its already 2016 as you read this. Seems like yesterday I was scrambling to explain my forgetfulness on Valentines Day.

OK, so the year went quickly, but thats because so much happened  largely good in our trucking sphere and utterly horrific in the larger world. You dont need me to review things, but a couple of developments late in 2015 leave me very hopeful about what lies ahead.

First, as I sit writing this in early December, Congress approved by a wide bipartisan margin the Fixing Americas Surface Transportation (FAST) Act.

Aside from actually having the first long-term highway bill in ages, the best thing is that it allows us to fix one of the worst examples of safety legislation ever devised, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrations Compliance Safety and Accountability (CSA) program. The FAST Act requires FMCSA to rework its mighty flawed reporting regime.

Its a good start, and with any luck well soon see common sense and fairness injected into CSA. Yeah, well, soon may stretch things a little.

Just a week earlier there was a different sort of good news emanating from Washington, and its very encouraging because it will support the research and development of alternative fuels and advanced vehicle technologies.

The Vehicle Innovation Act (VIA) was introduced in the House of Representatives, aiming to earmark funds for R&D while also creating truck-specific programs within the Department of Energy.

The legislation was first introduced in the Senate earlier last year, with both Democratic and Republican co-sponsors, remarkably enough. It passed the Senates Energy and Natural Resources Committee as part of a larger package of energy legislation.

It calls for DOEs Vehicle Technologies Office to partner with light-duty automobile, medium- and heavy-duty commercial truck engineers, manufacturers, and suppliers to conduct research that will help advance the future of fuel-efficient cars and trucks. VIA is technology-neutral.

The bill would require DOE to conduct a program of basic and applied research, development, engineering, demonstration, and commercial application activities on materials, technologies, and processes with the potential to substantially reduce or eliminate petroleum use and emissions of both cars and commercial vehicles.

To the maximum extent practicable, all this would be carried out in partnership or collaboration with truck, engine, and component makers as well as every other conceivable stakeholder from electric utilities to universities.

Its foreseen that DOE would also work in partnership with relevant R&D programs in other federal agencies. But its not at all clear how any of this activity would mesh with the massive effort now underway to meet the Phase 2 greenhouse gas and fuel economy targets being finalized by the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Will we have too many horses trying to pull the same cart? Can there actually be too many?

Theres support for this proposed legislation right across the board, from the United Auto Workers to the Sierra Club, and of course the various manufacturers with horses in the field.

This funding idea is encouraging in and of itself, but its also evidence of foresight at a time when fuel is cheap. Id been despairing that the rise of the natural gas option and the fall in oil prices would conspire to limit interest in looking beyond the present. I think that did indeed happen, but this legislation gives me hope.
FMCSA's Scott Darling testifying before Senate panel on January 20.

The acting administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration told a Senate panel that the mandated study of the effectiveness of the agencys Carrier Safety Accountability scoring program is slated to begin next month.

We are in discussions with the National Academies now. Weve talked to them about the scope, and were now in the process of procuring their services, FMCSA Chief Counsel T.F. Scott Darling, III said in reply to the first question he was asked after giving testimony to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on his nomination to the post of FMCSA Administrator. The Jan. 20th hearing lasted less than an hour.

The FAST Act highway bill, signed into law last month, mandated reforms of the CSA program, including removing its carrier scores from public view until the required actions are completed.

Darling noted that FMSCA had taken down the required data from its website within minutes of the acts passage. We are now working to put in place dozens of FAST Act provisions to establish new programs and procedures, create working groups, and conduct research.

He also told the panel that FMCSA has completed its study of the impact of the 34-hour restart provisions within the Hours of Service rule. That study was required by an earlier act of Congress. The [restart] study is currently under review by the Secretary of Transportation, he said. I believe it is one of the best and largest naturalistic studies of its kind.

Darling noted that once the Office of the Secretary has reviewed the study, it will go to the DOT Attorney General who has 60 days to review it and then a determination [will be made] to send it [to Congress].

Left unanswered by Darlings testimony and his questioning by Senators on the panel is what may happen once the restart study finally lands on Capitol Hill.

Just over a year ago, Congress suspended the restart requirements and compelled the Department of Transportation to conduct a study of whether or not the more restrictive provisions provided a greater net benefit for the operational, safety, health and fatigue impacts.

The requirements were to be suspended until DOT submitted its final report to the House and Senate appropriations committees.

But the legislation that forced the restart rollback is silent on what will happen when the study is done. Presumably, if it shows that one restart version provides a greater net benefit than the other, then FMCSA will adopt that provision as part of the HOS rule.

We wont suddenly be back under the restart rule once Congress receives the mandated study, David Heller, director of safety and policy for the Truckload Carriers Association told HDT in December. Congress will want to review it and determine whether the study shows if the 34-hour restart helped or hurt the industry. They could even send it back to DOT for further refinement.

During the hearing, Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NB) quizzed Darling on aspects of the recently proposed Safety Fitness Determination rule, especially whether certain flawed data generated by the CSA program will factor into the new rule.

The SFD rule doesn't include the two data points, which are alerts and the relative percentages, percentages [which FMCSA is prohibited by the FAST Act from applying when scoring carriers], Darling replied. He added that the new rule would require carriers to meet a fixed-measure formula so that carriers will be measured against their own operations only.

Fischer also asked Darling about the agencys rulemaking pace.

FMCSA seems to be moving quickly to issue rules, on electronic logging devices and safety fitness, she began. Why is the agency moving on these when we [the Congress] have given you so much to do with the [mandates of the] bipartisan FAST Act?

He replied that those two rules have been in the works for 10 years. We had OMB [White House Office of Management and Budget] approval to move forward [with both rules] and the ELD rule was a mandate.

Darling, whio has headed up the agency in an acting capacity for the past 16 months, was formally nominated for FMCSAs top post by President Obama in August.

The Senate has yet to schedule a vote on his nomination.

Related: Washington Wrap-Up 2015
Map shows 11 of 14 proposed locations for truck-only tolls in Rhode Island. Image: RI DOT

The American Trucking Associations has weighed in on the months-long legislative battle over implementing truck-only tolls in Rhode Island by cautioning the governor against banking on revenues from the proposed tolls that are premised on truck restrictions that are currently disallowed by federal and/or state law.

In a Jan. 18 letter to Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimando (D), ATA Vice President and Acting Counsel Richard Pianka said that in a Jan. 5 letter on the preliminary location of proposed toll gantries, Rhode Island Department of Transportation Director Peter Alviti, Jr. suggested that he has received a commitment from State Police Superintendent ODonnell to prevent trucks from exiting highways to avoid paying tolls.

In that letter, Alviti stated that hed been assured that the State Police will take action once the [toll] gantries are erected to prevent large commercial trucks from exiting the highways to avoid the user fees.

Pianka went on to caution that Putting aside the lack of current state legal authority afforded to law enforcement agencies to conduct such action, even if state law is amended, federal law imposes superseding limitations on states authority to restrict large trucks.

"These limitations may prevent, in part or in whole, Rhode Islands ability to prevent trucks from exiting highways to avoid paying a toll," he added.

Pianka closed by recommending that Rhode Island consult with the Federal Highway Administrations regional office prior to proposing legislation aimed at restricting large trucks, in order to ensure that any contemplated action is consistent with federal law. We also recommend that you inform legislators and members of the public that both state and federal law impose limitations on the states authority to prevent trucks from using alternate routes to avoid tolls.

Copied on Piankas letter were Rhode Islands top legislators, Speaker of the House Nicholas A. Mattiello (D) and Senate President M. Theresa Paiva-Weed (D).

The Rhode Island Trucking Association, an affiliate of ATA, is battling against the truck-toll legislation. Dubbed RhodeWorks, the proposal calls for fixing more than 150 structurally deficient bridges and making repairs to another 500 bridges to prevent them from becoming deficient. It would invest an additional $1 billion above current plans in transportation infrastructure.

Part of the funding would be derived from truck tolls, to be used to finance $500 million in repairs and replacements of aging bridges. The tolls are expected to raise between $60 million and $100 million a year.

The toll scheme was proposed in 2015 by Gov. Gina Raimondo (D). On Jun. 23, just before adjourning for the year, the Democratic-controlled Senate passed the bill by a 33-4 vote along party lines.

While the Democrats (63-11-1) also hold the majority (63-11-1) in the House, it appears the tolling measure wont pass that chamber quickly or easily during the current legislative session.

It is fair to ask how a Rhode Island trooper is expected to know when a truck is purposely diverting a toll and when they are getting off the highway to make a delivery or quite frankly just going home, said RITA president Chris Maxwell on the legal issue raised by ATA, per a Providence Journal report. We intend to fight any legislative initiative that will create a police state for the trucking industry.

Related: For Whom the Bridge Is Tolled
DES MOINES, Iowa  If the Republican Party is on the verge of an implosion, Sarah Palin may have been the one who lit the fuse.

Palin's complicated relationship with GOP leaders over the past eight years is a microcosm of the party's broader struggles with its most restive members. What started with an embrace by party leaders evolved into wary tolerance, followed by a potentially irreparable split.

So it's perhaps little surprise that Palin is re-emerging on the national political scene at this moment of reckoning for Republicans. While she's hardly the conservative kingmaker she once was, Palin remains a favorite of the tea party insurgency, and her endorsement of Donald Trump for the 2016 GOP nomination gives him an added boost of conservative, anti-establishment credibility.

"He's been going rogue left and right," Palin said Tuesday, with a beaming Trump standing by her side. "He's been able to tear the veil off this idea of the system."

Mainstream Republicans have tried for the past several years to keep their system together by bringing lawmakers elected as disrupters into the fold rather than pushing them aside. It's a strategy that succeeded in winning the party the House in 2010 and the Senate in 2014, but it did little to achieve such conservative goals as overturning President Barack Obama's health care law or blocking increases in the nation's debt ceiling.

Now, the GOP system is cracking, leaving some in the establishment feeling they would be the outsiders in a party helmed by Trump  or by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a frequent tormentor of Republican leaders who is a strong contender for the nomination.

"I thought I was a traditional Republican conservative," says Bob Dole, the 1996 Republican presidential nominee who represented deep red Kansas in Congress for decades.

Dole has been an especially vocal critic of Cruz, who has blamed Republican failures in presidential contests on the party's tendency to elect mainstream candidates like the longtime Kansas senator. However, Dole suggested in an interview Wednesday that he might be able to make peace with a Trump presidency, saying the businessman's reputation as a "dealmaker" could mean he's able to work with Congress.

Palin's endorsement of Trump is seen as a knock against Cruz, who has been on the rise in Iowa for several weeks. She campaigned for Cruz when he ran for the Senate in 2012, and he's said her support was instrumental in his victory.

For all of her firebrand conservatism, Palin owes her place on the national stage to the mainstream Republican Party. She was a little-known Alaska governor when Sen. John McCain  seen by some Republicans as an embodiment of the party establishment  tapped her as his running mate for the 2008 election.

Palin was an awkward fit as No. 2 on the ticket, but she built an enthusiastic following with conservatives. She blended more neatly into the tea party movement that blossomed during the first years of Obama's presidency and flirted with a White House run of her own in 2012 before concentrating on political punditry and reality television.

Now it's Trump and Cruz who are pushing the anti-establishment movement further than she ever managed. With less than two weeks before the Iowa caucuses kick off the nominating process, strong showings by the billionaire and the senator could turn the Republican race into a two-man contest.

To be sure, a slew of politically experienced rivals are still hoping to blunt Trump's and Cruz's momentum once voting begins. But for now, more mainstream voters are dividing their support among Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, making it difficult for any one of them to mount a strong challenge.

In most recent elections, Republicans have tended to nominate center-right candidates who were seen as having the best prospects in the general election. Even after the 2010 tea party takeover in the House, the GOP nominated Mitt Romney  the former governor of moderate Massachusetts  in the 2012 presidential race.

Four years later, many Republican voters not only believe that nominating a centrist would cost them another shot at the White House, but they also are deeply skeptical that an establishment GOP president would follow through on their priorities.

"I'm so sick of the Republicans," said Scott Doremus, a retired commercial airplane pilot from Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, who is supporting Cruz. "Republicans have become just like Democrats."

Debbie Marmon, a Trump supporter from Norwalk, Iowa, said of the GOP nominating process: "Sometimes you need radical to beat radical."

"You can't be a wuss, and I'm tired of wusses in this country," said Marmon, who attended a rally with Trump in her hometown Wednesday. "They need to stand for something or we'll fall for anything."
Throwback Tulsa: Ku Klux Klan tries to arrest Hair cast in Tulsa

What happens when the Klan barges on-stage and grabs a naked woman while trying to make a citizens arrest during a performance of Hair on a cold winter night in Tulsa?

The audience erupts in a chorus of boos, of course.

Four men claiming to be associated with the Ku Klux Klan tried to stop the show on Jan. 30, 1972, during the last of six performances attended by some 10,000 people at the Tulsa Municipal Theater, now the Brady Theater.

You cant arrest me  Im nude, I dont have any clothes on! exclaimed cast member Debbie Ortega, as one of the men grabbed her shoulders.

Another man, Donald A. Burris, a Tulsa welder and self-proclaimed Klan member, grabbed a microphone from a startled performer and announced: This is no joke. The cast is under arrest. The rest of you are free to leave.

Lloyd French, grand dragon of the Oklahoma Ku Klux Klan, was among the four men. The men tape-recorded the first act and took several pictures.

Security guards hustled the men from the stage so the show could go on. Tulsa police later told the men that the city prosecutor would not file charges against the cast members.

The dawning of the Age of Aquarius

They were just as naked as jaybirds, Burris told reporters. He said the Klan objected to the show violating city statutes, not the interracial thing.

The entire cast acted together in sexual perversion and sexual innuendo, Burris said, according to a front-page story by Tulsa World reporter Bob Tippee and Associated Press writer Dennis Eckert.

Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical is the story of a group of long-haired hippies living in New York and fighting the draft during the Vietnam War. It opened on Broadway in April 1968 and toured the United States and Europe. Its cast album quickly sold 3 million copies and included Top 10 hits such as Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In, by the Fifth Dimension and the title song recorded by the Cowsills.

News that the musical might come to town led to several contentious meetings of the Tulsa City Commission. (The Tulsa Tribune described one as Hair-raising.)

City attorney Waldo Bales advised the commission that public officials may not exercise the prerogative of censorship by picking and choosing the philosophical or ideological content of programs using public auditoriums.

Let the sun shine in

Mayor Robert J. LaFortune said, Im not going to see Hair, but if there are people who want to see it, they should have the right to see it.

In opposition were Streets Commissioner Joseph R. Coleman and Police Commissioner Brad Scheer.

On Jan. 7, the commission voted 3-2 to permit the show, but protests continued.

David A. Noble of the Billy James Hargis Christian Crusade protested that the show was filled with four-letter words, sex and communism.

Members of the Tulsa Assemblies of God Ministries Association voiced disappointment in city officials who voted to allow the lewd, immoral and unpatriotic play, Hair, to be presented in Tulsa.

Braxton B. Sawyer, a Fort Smith, Arkansas, evangelist, termed the play pro-pot, pro-sex and anti-marriage.

He told Tulsa city leaders that the audiences are made up of dope addicts and perverts who come from 500 miles away to see it.

Bangled, tangled, spangled and spaghettied

On the contrary, said Robert Carson of Carson Attractions which was handling tickets. The day before the show opened, Carson said, sales were heavy and only about 10 percent of the tickets were bought by people outside of Tulsa.

Buyers are an amazing cross-section of the town. Most of our most outstanding citizens are among them, Carson said.

The shows cast called a press conference at the Mayo Hotel to defend the show.

Hair is not an orgy. Its a tribe of people trying to get a message of peace and love across, said Kenny Ortega, a cast member and brother of the woman who would be manhandled while nude.

In a review, Ron Butler of the World said Hair was fun, gutsy, colorful, lyrical and shallow.

The Tulsa Tribunes Lit Roper wrote, At the finale of this brash, bawdy, outrageous musical, the audience seemed to rise as one in appreciation of a fun evening presented by a cast of infectious youngsters, who at every point were right on. 

Oklahoma City audiences viewed a slightly different version of Hair in April 1972 when the famous nude scene was performed in costume to avoid arrest.

Read more

stories.

 Debbie Jackson,

World Staff Writer
(Beijing)  Six popular low-budget, online-only shows popular with young people have disappeared from video websites hosting them recently, a sign China's censors are turning their attention to the programs after ignoring them for several years.

Net users discovered on January 20 that one of the more popular shows, Go Princess Go, was unavailable. Later that day, the producer and broadcaster of the series, Leshi Internet Information & Technology Corp. (LeTV), confirmed the program was unavailable.

LeTV did not explain why the show was unavailable. However, Wu Chunyong, the head of dwrh.net, a website that provides news on Internet firms, said it may have violated the guidelines of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Film, Radio & Television, one of the government's main media watchdogs.

An executive at a video production firm said the government ordered the other five shows to be removed as a signal for "production companies and video companies that they should examine their content more carefully."

Three of the other shows are made by iQiyi.com Inc. and two are produced by Tencent Holdings Ltd.

An employee of Tencent denied that the Internet giant was ordered to take the show offline, saying only that the firm removed them so it could perform "self-examination."

IQiyi.com declined to comments on the matter.

The government has mostly left shows like the six that were taken offline alone since they started appearing in 2009, in contrast to TV programs, whose content is closely watched.

The 36-episode Go Princess Go has an offbeat plot, telling the story of a playboy who travels 1,000 years back in time, happens to change sex and becomes the wife of a crown prince. People in their 20s and younger like the show for its lighthearted plot, facetiousness and even the cheap settings.

China's government has showed its disapproval of programs that depict time travel before. In 2011  when several shows featuring protagonists going back to ancient times were popular  it issued guidelines that said production companies were discouraged from making them because they "lack positive thoughts and meaning."

(Rewritten by Chen Na)
NORMAN  The University of Oklahoma College of Law is announcing two endowed scholarships for students with a demonstrated interest in energy law.

The Mahaffey & Gore Endowed Scholarship and the Owen L. Anderson Endowed Scholarship are both $100,000 or more and will each generate approximately $5,000 annually to be awarded to outstanding and deserving students.

With a gift of $105,000, Mahaffey & Gore, PC, a full-service energy law firm in Oklahoma City, established the Mahaffey & Gore Endowed Scholarship.

Mahaffey & Gore, PC holds a reputation as one of Oklahomas premier energy law firms.

Attorneys at the firm, many of whom are OU Law graduates, specialize in energy law, petroleum exploration and development contracts and oil and gas litigation.

As an OU Law graduate, I have enjoyed a successful and stimulating career in private practice, primarily in the area of oil and gas law, said president of Mahaffey & Gore, P.C., Greg Mahaffey. It is important to give back and recognize those who have contributed to your success. I believe OU Law is well-equipped to train future top-ranked lawyers, and as such, I am proud and delighted to endow the Mahaffey & Gore Endowed Scholarship to assist OU Law students interested in pursuing a law career in oil and gas, natural resources or energy.

Following an initial gift of $50,000 in 2014 to establish the Owen L. Anderson Endowed Scholarship, an anonymous donor provided an additional $50,000 to increase the endowment to $100,000.

The scholarship honors Owen L. Anderson, a former OU Law professor and Eugene Kuntz Chair of Law in Oil, Gas and Natural Resources, who taught at the school from 1992 until 2015.

In addition to holding the Kuntz Chair, Anderson served as the director of the John B. Turner LL.M. Program and was a George Lynn Cross Research Professor.

He assumed emeritus status in December 2015 upon his retirement and will serve as a founding member of the new advisory board for OU Laws various programs in oil and gas, natural resources and energy law.

These significant gifts serve as an immense contribution to our mission of making legal education affordable to the most talented students, while also continuing to extend our national and international reputations for excellence in oil and gas, natural resources and energy law, said OU Law Dean Joseph Harroz Jr.

Both scholarships uniquely advance our work: the first, created by one of Oklahomas top energy law firms, emphasizes our commitment to partnering with the best legal minds in energy law; the second honors the legacy of a dearly loved and respected professor, Owen Anderson, and his many contributions to our energy program. We are grateful to our donors for their support of OU Law.

OU Law School offers a master of laws degree in energy and natural resources through its John B. Turner LL.M. Program, along with certificates in both areas as well.

For more information about OU Law, visit law.ou.edu.
After a shooting at Bank of Eufaula left the banks president dead and another employee wounded, Oklahoma and national banking officials said bank employees are trained to be primarily concerned with safety of employees and customers in a dangerous situation, robberies in particular.

We can replace money. We cant replace a life, said Roger Beverage, president of the Oklahoma Bankers Association.

Certainly, our hearts and prayers go out to the whole community ... and the family of the officer who was shot and killed, Beverage said. Going forward we will continue to encourage our banks and employees in Oklahoma to get some sort of training.

The death of a bank employee is an anomaly among bank robberies. According to FBI data, there were 13 fatalities during almost 4,000 robberies nationwide in 2014. Only three of those killed werent suspects  two bank employees and one customer.

John Hall, spokesman for the American Bankers Association, said, It may appear that theyre (bank employees) somewhat compliant in these situations ... The bank can recover the money one way or another.

Elaine Dodd, head of the fraud division at the Oklahoma Bankers Association, said banks are typically a safe place because of the security measures they house and shootings can happen anywhere.

Well, the fact is, shootings happen and theyre a sad part of our world, Dodd said ... We are just heartbroken as to what happened today.

She said bank training for robberies may not apply Thursday and that you cant train for every eventuality.

Hall said banks are inspected for soundness, including physical safety, every 18 months by the federal agency that oversees them  the Office of the Comptroller of Currency, the Federal Reserve or Federal Deposit Insurance Commission depending on which the bank belongs to.

There have been three bank robberies in Oklahoma in 2016, including one Wednesday in downtown Tulsa.

Bank robberies are cyclical overall and have been trending downward in Oklahoma for years, Dodd said. There were 17 bank robberies in Oklahoma in 2015, down from 47 the year before, according to the bankers association.

The December shooting in San Bernardino, California, was also on Dodds and Beverages minds.

Beverage said hes had thoughts of getting active shooter training for his entire staff. Dodd, who serves with other business leaders on an FBI task-force, said theres demand statewide for that sort of training because of the rash of mass shootings.

No type of business is immune, she said.

Thursdays shooting put safety top of mind for Eufaula business owners.

Carolyn Todd, owner of Lydias Bed Bath and Baby, located across the street from the Bank of Eufaula, said she believed Thursdays events will cause business owners in Eufaula to be more vigilant to watch out for each other.
A tribute screening in memory of David Bowie, live performing arts and more are featured in arthouse cinema showings this week.

NEW AT CIRCLE CINEMA

Anomalisa: Its never easy to describe a film written by Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), so lets just say this new movie is about a depressed man whose life is changed by a life-changing event. Oh, and its an animated movie.

Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars: This 1973 D.A. Pennebaker documentary comes a week after David Bowies death. Showing at 10 p.m. Friday-Saturday.

Bolshoi Ballet: The Taming of the Shrew: This broadcast from Moscow plays at 11:55 a.m. Sunday.

National Theater Live: Les Liaisons Dangereuses: This production from the Donmar Warehouses London stage features a cast including Janet McTeer and Dominic West. Set for 6 p.m. Thursday.

ALSO...

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre: A new classics series continues with the Humphrey Bogart adventure film, screening at 2 p.m. Sunday and 2 and 7 p.m. Wednesday at Cinemark Tulsa.

The Pastor event: This Hispanic national movie event, produced by and starring Arturo Muyshondt, is described as the first Christian cinematic event to depict the life of a Latino Christian community in the U.S. Playing at 7 p.m. Monday at Cinemark Tulsa.

The Best of Rifftrax Live: The Room: A replay of the Mystery Science Theater team gathering to poke fun at this cult favorite in 7:30 p.m. Thursday showings at Cinemark Tulsa and Cinemark Broken Arrow.

Bolshoi Ballet: The Taming of the Shrew: This broadcast from Moscow plays at 12:55 p.m. Sunday at Cinemark Tulsa.

Oscar films returning to AMC Southroads 20: Oscar-nominated films Mad Max: Fury Road, Inside Out and Trumbo are returning to the theater following last weeks Academy Award nominations being announced.
OKLAHOMA CITY  Lawmakers are concerned that a spiraling drop in oil prices could result in a second revenue failure for the current fiscal year.

A number of scenarios to deal with it are under discussion, including additional cuts in general revenue to state appropriated agencies, House Appropriations and Budget Committee Chairman Earl Sears, R-Bartlesville, confirmed Wednesday.

If oil continues to drop, I feel there will be another revenue failure for 2016, Sears said in response to questions about the budget.

The regular session begins Feb. 1, when lawmakers will craft a fiscal year 2017 budget. That budget is expected to be at least $900.8 million less than the current fiscal year budget.

A revenue failure for fiscal year 2016 was declared in December. As a result, Finance Secretary Preston Doerflinger made a 3 percent across the board cut in general revenue to state appropriated agencies.

Doerflinger can make across the board cuts to state agencies, but only lawmakers can make targeted cuts, Sears said.

He cant do targeted cuts, but we can, Sears said.

Sears emphasized that no decision has been made on how lawmakers will proceed.

Sears, Doerflinger and Senate Appropriations Chairman Clark Jolley, R-Edmond, are expected to meet Thursday to discuss numerous funding policies regarding the 2016 budget, Sears said.

One item under consideration is increasing the cuts to some state appropriated agencies up to 5 percent from 3 percent, he said. Such a move would allow targeted cuts to cushion the blow to some agencies.

House Republicans caucused on Tuesday to discuss the budget. Senate Republicans met Wednesday to discuss the budget.

As oil prices continue to drop, I think it is likely you will see an additional revenue shortfall announced because of our dependence on gross production taxes, said Sen. Brian Crain, R-Tulsa.
Correction

This story originally contained incorrect ages for the Bever brothers. The story has been corrected.

OKLAHOMA CITY  The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals has rejected the appeal of a 17-year-old Broken Arrow boy who is challenging state law mandating he be prosecuted as an adult in the stabbing deaths of five family members.

Judges on Thursday affirmed a Tulsa County District Courts ruling that denied Michael Bevers request to be tried as a youthful offender.

Michael Bever and his 19-year-old brother Robert Bever each face five counts of first-degree murder in the July 22 killings of David Bever, 52; April Bever, 44; Daniel Bever, 12; Christopher Bever, 7; and Victoria Bever, 5. The brothers, who were 16 and 18 at the time of the killings, are also charged with one count of assault and battery with intent to kill related to the stabbing of their 13-year-old sister, who survived.

Michael Bevers attorney Rob Nigh filed a motion Oct. 1 challenging Oklahomas law that mandates a 15-to-17-year old murder defendant shall be treated as an adult, which Special Judge Martha Rupp Carter denied Oct. 12.

Nigh argued that a teenager in that age group would in effect be sentenced to death in the event sentences were ordered to run consecutively or if the teenager received a life-without-parole sentence. During an appearance before the appeals court Thursday morning, Nigh said such a sentence would impose an adult punishment on a child and therefore is a violation of the Eighth Amendment.

The law states 15-to-17-year-olds charged with first-degree murder are not eligible for certification as a youthful offender or juvenile, which Nigh argued is unconstitutional because it does not allow defendants to seek treatment or other relief appropriate for their age. He said 16- and 17-year-olds are children in every sense of the word and it is a violation of their due process rights to bar them from seeking treatment or other relief as a youthful offender or juvenile.

Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler said current law does not force a judge or jury to hand down a life without parole sentence, even in first-degree murder cases. He also said 29 other jurisdictions in the U.S. have similar laws on the books requiring older teenagers who are charged with such a crime to be treated as adults.

The Legislature decided public safety ought to be a paramount concern, Kunzweiler said of the law, adding that a judge and jury can take mitigating factors such as Michael Bevers age or life circumstances into account.

Nigh told the court Thursday that a child or teenager could decide to kill multiple people if their environment involved abuse that was severe enough to essentially make you a prisoner in your own home and destroy your moral compass. He did not explicitly state whether that description applies to his clients case and declined a request for comment after Thursdays ruling.

Kunzweiler said that allegation was not a part of any record in Tulsa County and cautioned against treating it as fact.

I have not heard that from the surviving member of the family, Kunzweiler said of the comment about the Bevers home environment.

Michael and Robert Bever have been at the Tulsa Jail without bond since July 23 after Broken Arrow police officers and a K-9 unit tracked them to a wooded area behind their home. Police received a call for help from the Bevers home in the 700 block of Magnolia Court just after 11:30 p.m. July 22, where the caller  believed by police to be 12-year-old Daniel  said someone was attacking their family.

Officers arrived and found the teenagers parents and three of their siblings had been stabbed repeatedly, and found their 13-year-old sister, who they allege identified her brothers as her assailants. She and her 2-year-old sister, who was unharmed in the attack, have since been in foster care, records show.

Since then, Broken Arrow police officers have submitted an array of search warrant affidavits to Tulsa County District Court, which claim one of the brothers spontaneously uttered that plans for a mass homicide could be found on a USB thumb drive in one of the bedrooms of the residence. They also reveal authorities seized boxes of ammunition addressed to Robert Bever that arrived the day after the killings and state multiple surveillance cameras, some of which were pointing to the bodies, were connected to computers in the house  raising the possibility the stabbings may at least in part be recorded.

Police have refused to say whether the evidence collected points to the brothers plans to harm people outside their immediate family.

A preliminary hearing for the siblings is set for Feb. 23.
MCLOUD  Roughly a month after the school board voted to keep the high school's controversial "Redskins" mascot and an unrelated earlier lawsuit against the school district was settled for $1.4 million, longtime Superintendent Doran Smith has resigned.

School board member Annetta Abbott confirmed this week the board did not offer to extend Smith's contract during its Dec. 10 meeting. She said the decision to cut ties with the superintendent was more of a "mutual" agreement and gave credit to Smith for ushering the district through some of its roughest times.

"I think between Doran and us, the school board, it was kind of mutual," Abbott said of the resignation. "There wasn't one thing (that led to the decision) ... obviously he's weathered a lot of things with us in recent years."

Abbott said the recent controversy surrounding the mascot name "had nothing to do with" Smith's decision to resign.
(Beijing)  An acute shortage of doctors to treat children is taking a toll on public health services and the recent policy shift to allow families to have two children will only make matters worse, experts say.

The country has a shortfall of at least 200,000 pediatricians, the National Health and Family Planning Commission said. Nearly half of all registered pediatricians left their positions between 2005 and 2011 due to poor pay, long working hours and dim career prospects, its data show.

"About one-third of the doctors have left our hospital in the past two years and gone to work in pharmaceutical companies or private hospitals that offer better pay," said Liu Tingliang, a doctor at Shanghai Children's Medical Center, which is linked to Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Parents queuing up for hours outside pediatric wards with sick children have become a common sight at hospitals in big cities in China. Liu said some major hospitals in Shanghai have closed pediatric wards in recent years due to the lack of doctors, and dozens of other hospitals in other cities have been forced to suspend emergency services due to the lack of pediatricians in late 2015.

In early January, public health authorities in Shanghai enacted an emergency plan to transfer pediatricians from city hospitals to serve in the city's four main children's hospitals during the month-long winter break, which starts in mid-January. The number of patient visits during this period goes up, especially around the Spring Festival, a holiday known as the Chinese New Year. Hospitals are also enlisting hundreds of volunteers to assist in children's wards during this period.

While hospitals can make arrangements to ease the crunch during major holidays, the rest of the year presents a problem. China's number of pediatricians dropped by 5,000 from 2009 to 2014, data from the health commission show. On average, one pediatrician in the country serves 2,300 children, more than twice the doctor-to-patient ratio in developed countries.

A 2014 survey by the Pediatric Society of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association (CMDA) found the dearth of doctors was worse in some provinces. The central province of Henan had only one pediatrician to treat 5,000 children.

The government's move to scrap the one-child policy in October, allowing all families to have a second child, is expected to result in 3 million more births every year, and experts said, the current health care facilities for children cannot meet this sudden increase in demand.

Hospitals are offering new contracts to retired doctors and are telling new recruits to work in the pediatric department during the first couple of years in a bid to fill the void. But they are still struggling to cope with the large number of patients.

At the Children's Hospital of the Capital Institute of Pediatrics in Beijing, one of the country's most prestigious hospitals, some parents paid 600 yuan to black market dealers for a doctor's appointment because it was difficult to get a reservation for urgent treatment. Patients usually pay five yuan for an appointment at a public hospital as per government regulations.

This long, expensive wait is often followed by a very brief consultation. "We waited for nearly seven hours for the emergency service when our toddler had high fever, but the session with the doctor lasted less than two minutes," one parent complained.

Meanwhile, doctors say staff shortages are taking a toll on them. One doctor at a children's hospital said he and his colleagues work at least 10 hours every day. "I haven't been allowed to take my annual leave for almost four years and I can only enjoy a full weekend after every few weeks," he said.

The hospital received more than 7,000 patients every day in 2015, he said, and the figure far exceeded its serving capacity. "(The number of patients) has grown by 10 percent per year in recent years, partly due to an increase in the number of patients coming from outside the city."

A nationwide census in 2010 found that two-thirds of the country's 300 million children under the age of 14 lived in rural areas. Many parents tend to bring sick youngsters to big cities for better quality medical treatment.

Meng Jun, a pediatrician in a county in the northwestern province of Gansu, said his hospital had the only pediatric ward in the area, with six doctors to serve 500,000 residents.

"Most pediatricians with a college degree are working in big hospitals in major cities," a pediatrician at a Beijing hospital, who wished to remain anonymous, said. "Less than 5 percent of doctors working in hospitals in smaller townships have attended medical school."

Some physicians in township and village clinics have been trained in pediatrics or nursing at vocational schools, the pediatrician said.

A Massive Gap

Data from the China Drug and Food Administration showed that one in five patients visiting the country's hospitals is a child. However, resources for pediatric wards fall far short of what is needed to serve these patients. The capacity in pediatric wards account for a mere 6.4 percent of the total number of hospital beds in the country, Zhu Songhan, chairman of the pediatric society of the CMDA, said. Among the country's 13,000 hospitals, only 68 facilities are dedicated to children's health, he said.

Many medical experts blamed the Ministry of Education's 1998 decision to abolish pediatrics as an undergraduate major for the shortfall in the number of specialists in the field. The government at the time said it wanted to stop universities from spreading themselves too thin by pruning the number of majors offered. Since 1999, medical schools across the country stopped admitting undergraduates for studies in pediatrics.

Most child health specialists first studied clinical medicine and then specialized in pediatrics during their graduate studies or had trained during their residency in a children's hospital.

"Every year, about 1,800 pediatricians are trained, which is far less than what is needed," Zhu said. In 2014, 90,000 doctors received medical licenses, but only a few chose to serve in children's wards, he said.

The government has not invested enough on research into children's medicine or the training of specialists, Zhu said. "Child-related health issues are rarely listed as a national research priority and the public health sector pays little attention to this branch of medicine," he said.

"Most pharmaceutical and clinical research projects focus on adult illnesses," the pediatrician from Beijing said. "It is difficult for physicians to get research funding and publish papers on child health issues and this hurts promotions."

Dim career prospects have discouraged students from opting to work in pediatrics. Cui Feifei, a doctor at the Children's Hospital in Beijing, said only two out of her class of 30 students chose to treat children.

In 2015, the health commission lowered the total marks needed to obtain a doctor's license for students specializing in pediatrics. While some doctors said this will help to attract new recruits to the field, others said it will lead to more problems in the long run. Pei Honggang, a doctor at the Shenzhen Children's Hospital, said lowering the bar for pediatricians may affect the quality of care resulting in more disputes with patients, and drive away new recruits.

In most countries, pediatricians require better clinical skills than other specialists because they are dealing with children who are unable to explain their condition clearly, Dr. Wang from the Children's Hospital in Beijing said.

New Game Plan

Pediatricians are exposed to higher risks and pressure due to disagreements with patients' families and have less income than other doctors, Wang said. "That's why many people don't choose this branch of medicine."

A 2011 survey conducted by CMDA found out that 90 percent of pediatricians were not satisfied with their salaries. Pediatric wards also have to handle more disputes with patient families than other departments, the CMDA said.

Meanwhile, pediatricians earn less than doctors in other fields of medicine under the current salary system in hospitals. Many public hospitals rely on profits from selling drugs to pay doctors' salaries because they can't break even with fees for medical services. Part of a physician's income also comes from endorsing the purchase of medical equipment.

But doctors treating children, especially infants, prescribe as few medicines as possible and try to minimize the number of tests needed, Liu said. This means that in most hospitals the pediatric wards operate on thin profit margins.

Ni Xin, the president of Capital Medical University's children's hospital, said the government needs to give more financial support to children's hospitals and pediatric wards so that physicians' salaries can be increased. Meanwhile, reforms should be launched on the pricing system of medical services, Ni said.

Some experts are calling for bigger changes. Zhu Fengmei, a public policy expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said "the solution for this shortage is to change the system for managing physicians and give doctors more freedom to practice their craft."

Zhu's suggestion touches on a sensitive topic in health care reform plans that would allow doctors to provide services in more than one medical institution or set up their own private practice. Doctors are now tied to one public hospital. The government eased the rules grip in 2009 to let doctors to seek permission to practice in more than one hospital, but the change has not led to the free flow of doctors.

Zhu said giving doctors more flexibility to work in multiple facilities will help allocate medical resources more efficiently and bring the prices for medical services in line with what the market is willing to offer. In the long run, this will help attract more doctors treat children by creating better incentives, he said.

(Rewritten by Han Wei)
BY LLEWELLYN KING

Long before our election in November, a much greater upheaval may hit Britain. Probably in late June, the country will vote on whether to stay in the European Union. Leaving is called "Brexit" in the British press.

While polls have consistently shown that voters favor Britain remaining a member of the 28-nation bloc, there are signs that things are changing. British business, which has until now seen its future as being in the EU, is beginning to rethink its support for British membership. A recent poll shows industry believing it could prosper out of the EU.

This is a big problem for British Prime Minister David Cameron. He has promised dramatic changes in Britains membership, which will be announced at the European summit next month.

Britain wants less-oppressive regulations and a change in immigration policy. It wants an end to what has been a fundamental part of the European structure: the freedom of movement between countries. In short: no more immigration to Britain from Europe.

It is a complex negotiation that Cameron believes he can win; particularly when Europe is in shaky shape after the economic crisis in Greece and from the surge of migrants from the Middle East and North Africa.

Although Europes political elites may have to hold their refined noses, the chances are better today than ever that they would rather their unruly island neighbors stay in than further damage the European project by withdrawing.

Predictably some economists say that Britain will do just fine without Europe, while others see dire economic consequences.

When the referendum comes, it will be a free vote with about half of Camerons Conservative Party voting to withdraw. These are the rambunctious Eurosceptics that have bedeviled British elections for generations and made the role of Conservative prime ministers particularly trying.

The opposition Labor Party is divided on a Brexit. But Labor has so imploded under the extreme leftist Jeremy Corbyn that it is likely to go along and lend its support  feeble though it is  to the forces wishing to stay in the EU.

The Scottish Nationalists will also support continued membership. They hope that if they break away from the United Kingdom, they will get succor from the EU.

But the forces for exiting the EU are powerful and articulate. They are emboldened by Europes problems and the fact that they will no longer be bound by the dictates of, as they say, "faceless bureaucrats in Brussels."

The wild card in the referendum may be Englands wild man: Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson.

Now finishing his term as mayor of London, Boris Johnson is a lovable version of Donald Trump. He has gone from scrape to scrape and has come out ahead of the game. For instance, three years after having won a seat in Parliament in 2001, Johnson was sacked by the Tory leader at the time, Michael Howard, for allegedly lying over an affair with journalist Petronella Wyatt. Johnson called newspaper stories about the affair "an inverted pyramid of piffle."

He was also sacked from his editorship of The Spectator, where the piffle took place.

But being elected to higher office is such a compensation, so Johnson, a bicycle-riding, tradition-loving maverick got himself elected mayor of London. In this office he saved the iconic double-decker buses, presided over the 2012 Summer Olympics, and endeared himself to an even wider audience.

The British revere Johnson's eccentricity and voted him back into Parliament in the last election. Now people talk openly of him being Cameron's successor after the referendum.

Johnson has hedged his bets on British membership in the EU. Just this week he declared that he will not lead the "Out" forces, but he does not totally endorse the "In" forces.

Here is the possible scenario: Cameron has to produce a deal that satisfies some of the Eurosceptics and set a date for referendum. Then the vote. Then the hangover, one way or another. Then Johnson makes his move  unless some schemer, like the current Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, has not outmaneuvered the charming and brilliant Boris.

Cleverly Johnson has written a long political treatise comparing London to Athens, and leaving room for people to believe he has the qualities of Pericles without actually claiming the great Greeks mantle. Then, just to be safe, he has knocked off a highly laudatory biography of Churchill, which invites the idea that Johnson shares some of his heros traits.

This kind of effrontery makes British politics a perpetual night in the pub. Cheers!

Llewellyn King is executive producer and host of "White House Chronicle" on PBS. He wrote this for InsideSources.com.
This country's cyclists will come up against the region next month when T&T hosts the Ca
TEN has confirmed returning times for three more US shows, including the long-awaited return of NCIS.

Elementary

10pm Monday February 1

Holmes and Watson are back. Only this time, it seems that the two are flying solo. At the end of season three, Sherlock and Joan were tied up with a whole host of problems.

Sherlock is faced with criminal charges in the aftermath of his recent violent behaviour and drug relapse and his powerful but untrustworthy father, Morland Holmes, arrives in New York to fix his estranged sons legal difficulties by any means necessary.

Also, with Holmes and Watsons consultancy with the NYPD in jeopardy, Holmes concentrates on the case of a missing wife believed to have been killed by her husband to try and get back in the departments good graces.

NCIS

8:30pm Tuesday February 2

At the end of season 12, Gibbs was fighting for his life after being shot by a child recruit of the terrorist group, The Calling.

The new season opens in the aftermath of Gibbs being shot. He is brought to the U.S.S. Daniel Webster, where he is treated by Navy Doctor Cyril Taft (Jon Cryer).

As Gibbs life hangs in the balance, DiNozzo and CIA officer Joanna Teague travel to China to dismantle the terrorist group, The Calling.

NCIS: LA

9:30pm Tuesday February 2

Season 6 ended with Kensi and Deeks officially becoming a couple, the LAPD had just opened an Internal Affairs investigation into Deeks, and Callen was forced to leave a wounded Arkady behind in Russia while being handed the (false) knowledge that his father was dead.

As a result of the events in Russia, Callen has since gone off the grid in an undercover operation with the hope of trying to find out if his friend Arkady is alive.

As tension mounts within the team Hetty demands that Callens operation be shut down and tasks the team with finding him.
People should prepare for retirement by acquiring professional licenses, the Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training recommends.

The institute recommends four licenses. The first is for residential property management. Holders of this license can get work as managers of apartment complexes or buildings, for which there is no mandatory retirement age, and earn W30-40 million (US$1=W1,153) a year on average.

The second is for construction equipment operators. There is a constant demand for operators of bulldozers or cranes at construction sites, and they earn a relatively high daily wage of over W200,000. They can either be hired by construction firms or run their own business.

Another option is a Korean language teaching license. There has been an explosive demand for Korean teachers now that more than 1 million foreigners live here. License holders can teach at continuing education centers, including welfare facilities, two or three times a week and earn more than W1 million a month.

A license as a business value assessor can also be useful. Holders appraise the value of companies' intangible assets such as patents and technologies. The job is gaining popularity in the U.S. and is widely recognized in Korea as a promising job. With the license, highly educated former staff of conglomerates or banks can find jobs with consulting or accounting firms and earn a substantial salary.
Australian users of Netflix who access the US site via VPN services began getting the bad news, but it may not be for long.

You seem to be using an unblocker or proxy. Please turn off any of these services and try again, Netflix advised.

Melbourne-based uFlix told its subscribers, We are working on a solution to get around these new measures and apologise for the inconvenience to those who are currently only getting Australian Netflix.

Unless some sort of technology comes out that no ones ever heard of before, pretty much anything implemented can be bypassed. As long as what were doing remains legal, theres no issue, managing director Peter Dujan said.

Another company, Express VPN, told News Corp, We are well aware of this issue and our engineers have already started working on a solution for it.

After trying our solutions, they can already access their Netflix once again, a spokesman said. In case you should ever encounter difficulties in watching Netflix, please contact our support team for additional assistance.

Before Netflix launched in Australia, an estimated 340,000 Australians accessed US Netflix via VPN services.

When he was Communications Minister, Malcolm Turnbull rejected calls to ban VPN services, indicating they were perfectly legal.
Samsung has already secured about 6,000 free and paid learning units in collaboration with some 30 domestic and foreign education services companies. Users of Samsung's Galaxy Tab tablet PC can download them through the Learning Hub app.

Samsung Electronics will compete with Apple in the global online education market. Samsung is to reveal details of a learning platform dubbed "Learning Hub" at the Mobile World Congress 2012, the world's largest phone trade show, which opens in Barcelona next Monday, a spokesman said Wednesday.

Samsung aims to replace paper textbooks and reference books in the classrooms around the world with its tablet PC content. "We're going to launch the service in Korea late this month and then go global after April," a Samsung executive said. "We're consulting with major foreign educational content developers about possible collaboration." The company plans to make it possible in the long term for anyone to post educational content online through the service.

The strategy is similar to what Apple has touted as an "interactive textbooks revolution." Apple unveiled iBooks 2, a new iPad app, at the Guggenheim Museum in New York last month. If users touch an image in a digital textbook on the iPad, they can watch a video lecture by the author.

Apple has established a partnership with major publishers like Pearson and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, which account for 90 percent of the American textbook market. It set the price of each digital textbook at US$14.99, about 80 percent less than for a paper textbook.

So far Apple is ahead of Samsung in the online education market. Apple has sold a whopping 55 million iPads but Samsung a mere 6 million Galaxy Tabs. Samsung's ace in the hole is the Galaxy Note 10.1, which debuts late this month. It has a 10.1-inch display with a stylus that allows users to write on the screen while reading digital textbooks, whereas the iPad has only a finger-touch screen.

Another variable is what choice governments will make. The U.S. and major European nations seeking a digital textbook policy want the cheapest tablet PCs possible. It is not easy for the U.S. government, which is in fiscal deficit, to buy iPads, priced at US$499.

"Governments certainly want moderately-priced tablet PCs with solid hardware. Apple is enjoying massive profits and would not want to sacrifice them to supply gadgets at a much lower price," an industry insider speculated.

Samsung, which makes both parts and finished products, may be in a better position than Apple to cut costs.
11:49 a.m., Jan. 21, 2016--Cybersecurity expert Edward J. McAndrew will deliver the first in a series of lectures hosted by the University of Delaware Cybersecurity Initiative and the Institute for Public Administration on Wednesday, Feb. 10.

The lecture, Navigating the Digital World in an Evolving Cyber-threat Landscape, will take place in Mitchell Hall from 2:30-3:30 p.m., with a reception to follow in the lobby of DuPont Hall.

Using examples from cases he handled at the U.S. Department of Justice, McAndrew will provide insights into the evolving cyber-threat landscape and its implications for businesses and individuals. He will illustrate the anatomy of a typical hack, while discussing key cybersecurity and cyber-compromise points from the perspectives of the hackers and the law enforcement officers who pursue them.

Drawing on his experience in both the public and private sectors, he will address the challenge of business planning and operations in this new environment of the Internet and digital technology, and he will offer strategies for interacting with various stakeholders on cyber incidents, including governments, business partners, consumers, employees, shareholders, and the media.

Finally, he will touch on some key points on personal privacy and digital security gleaned from a decade on the dark side of the digital world.

The lecture is free and open to the public. Those planning to attend the reception should RSVP to Wendy Jordan at cybersecurity@win.udel.edu.

The series will include two additional lectures this spring:

March 16  Cybersecurity: Recent Developments and Trends in the Law, with speaker Rajesh De, partner, Mayer Brown LLP.

April 6  Statistical Techniques and Applications for Text, Imagery, and Video Processing, with speaker James J. Nolan, vice president for analytic technologies, Decisive Analytics Corp.

About the speaker

Edward J. McAndrew is a partner in the privacy and data security, litigation and investigations groups at Ballard Spahr LLP, in Washington, D.C., Wilmington and Philadelphia.

Recently named a Cybersecurity and Data Privacy Trailblazer by the National Law Journal, McAndrew helps organizations and individuals navigate life in a digital world. He advises clients on cybersecurity, digital privacy, cyber-incident response, national security issues, digital speech and conduct, corporate governance, regulatory compliance and enforcement. He also works extensively on technology-facilitated investigations, litigation and trials in various areas.

Prior to January 2016, McAndrew served for nearly a decade as a federal cybercrime prosecutor in the U.S. Attorneys offices for the District of Delaware and the Eastern District of Virginia. As a cybercrime coordinator and national security cyber specialist, McAndrew worked on some of the U.S. Department of Justices most significant cyber cases, including the first U.S. prosecution of a foreign hacker for theft of trade secrets and the first U.S. prosecution of a Chinese national for cybercrimes committed entirely from China.

He also was part of a team of Delaware-based prosecutors who secured the first U.S. convictions for cyberstalking resulting in death, which stemmed from the February 2013 shooting of four people in the New Castle County Courthouse.

Over the past decade, McAndrews work has spanned every major area of technology-facilitated crime, including network intrusions and cyber attacks; digital espionage; identity and intellectual property theft; financial, government contracting, and tax fraud; money laundering; export control violations; cyberstalking; obstruction of justice; online child exploitation; and terrorism. He has handled a multitude of high-profile, complex and sensitive investigations, trials and appeals, many involving cutting-edge legal and technological issues.

Prior to joining the U.S. Department of Justice, McAndrew was a litigation partner and deputy practice group leader in the Washington, D.C., office of Reed Smith LLP. In addition to managing a national practice group, he focused on complex civil and regulatory litigation and white-collar investigations in various industries, including advertising, broadcasting, chemical, education, energy, gaming, financial services, health care, insurance, media, retail, telecommunications, and transportation.

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





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





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





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





About me:

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

Am Former USAF at SAC base (flight line).

Age: 42

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





I had two UFO sightings, (30+bus size orbs) in military and in 2012 personally saw the UFO over Taipei 101 building on New Years Day (and recored it).
The situation in the ATO area remains tense. The militants of the illegal armed groups continue violating ceasefire in eastern Ukraine.

This is reported by the ATO press center.

"Most cases of ceasefire violation over the past day were recorded near the Donetsk Airport. The pro-Russian terrorists used grenade launchers and small arms to fire on Ukrainian positions near Pisky [12km north-west of Donetsk], Opytne [11.5km north-west of Donetsk], Butovka coal mine [11.4km north-west of Donetsk]," reads the statement.

The pro-Russian militants shelled the ATO troops a total of 29 times over the past 24 hours.

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NATO member states plans to increase the number of its advisors on training Ukrainian servicemen and continue rendering military and technical support to Ukraine.

Chief of the General Staff and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Army General Viktor Muzhenko said this after a meeting of the NATO Military Committee in Brussels on Thursday, January 21, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

All countries expressed support to Ukraine and willingness to enlarge its deployment in Ukraine via rendering additional number of advisors, consultants, instructors to train our servicemen. I believe that deployment will be significantly increased in the near future, Muzhenko stressed.

Muzhenko also informed about twelve bilateral meetings with representatives of the Alliance and the European Union, in particular, with high-ranking military heads from the United States, Canada, the Great Britain, Turkey, representatives of the military committees from NATO and the European Union.

The situation in eastern Ukraine and the process of Minsk agreements implementation were discussed during the bilateral meetings, as well as the issues of assistance, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine added.

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Legislation restricting America's acceptance of refugees from Syria and Iraq failed in the Senate Wednesday after passionate debate about U.S. security needs and the nation's long history as a destination for the oppressed.

Senate Democrats banded together to block debate on a bill requiring the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Director of National Intelligence to certify that Syrian and Iraqi refugees posed no security risk before they could be approved for asylum.

"That is physically impossible," said Democrat Richard Durbin. "Let's call it for what it is. This is an effort to stop any -- any -- Syrian refugee from coming to the United States, regardless whether it's a mother with a child."

Backers of the legislation, which fell five votes short of the 60 required to advance, disagreed.

"This is not an anti-refugee bill," said Republican Senator John Cornyn. "All we are asking for, and all this legislation provides for, is to enhance the screening of refugees so that this system cannot be exploited by terrorists."

 'Serious Response' Sought

The House of Representatives passed the measure late last year with bipartisan support. The vote came as the world reeled from Islamic State-inspired attacks in Paris and amid concerns that terrorists could infiltrate those fleeing horrific violence and brutality.

"The debate about how to safely admit refugees from Syria and Iraq is a serious conversation that deserves a serious response from Washington," said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican. "It's difficult to effectively vet immigrants from a war-torn country where records may sometimes no longer exist at all."

The White House said the legislation was not needed, as refugees already undergo an intensive vetting process that can take as long as two years. The White House also said the bill would tarnish America's image abroad and hand Islamic State a propaganda tool.

The Senate's top Democrat echoed that line of reasoning. "This bill scapegoats refugees who are fleeing war and torture instead of creating real solutions to keep Americans safe," said Minority Leader Harry Reid.
Ukraine plans soon to launch a fresh diplomatic initiative to recover the Crimean peninsula from Russia which annexed it in 2014.

This was announced by Finance Minister of Ukraine Natalie Jaresko in Davos on Wednesday, Reuters reports.

"We don't agree that Crimea has gone. This will be the year we really begin pressing forward on a process to return Crimea," Jaresko said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.

According to her, Ukraine aimed to create a forum along the lines of the so-called Geneva format, a body that included Russia, Ukraine, the European Union and the United States.

"We are looking to establish something bigger than the Geneva format to begin dialogue on how to return Crimea to Ukraine," the Finance Minister said.

Reuters notes that some legal experts believe Ukraine can successfully use Crimea's annexation as a lever against Russia if Moscow carries out its threat to take Kyiv to a British court over non-payment of a $3 billion debt. However, Jaresko declined to comment on that possibility, the agency reports.

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The European Parliament has supported the reform process and the prospect of Ukraine's membership in the EU.

This is stated in the European Parliaments Resolution on Association Agreements / Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas with Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, adopted on Thursday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"The European Parliament welcomes the ongoing constitutional reform process in the areas of decentralization and the judiciary; underlines the need to make further progress in those and other areas, especially the economy, where better regulation and demonopolisation must continue to be a priority, together with fiscal reforms, enhancing transparency and creating a favourable investment climate," the document says.

The European Parliament stresses that the biggest single challenge of the Ukrainian reform effort is endemic corruption. Therefore, the MEPs welcome the establishment of anti-corruption legislation, institutions (the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, the National Agency for Prevention of Corruption, and a special anti-corruption prosecutor) and mechanisms, and of the National Agency for the Recovery of the Proceeds of Corruption.

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The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) will additionally allocate another $64 million to realize aid programs in Ukraine in 2016.

ICRC President Peter Maurer said at a meeting with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in the scope of the World Economic Forum in Davos, the presidents press service reports.

Maurer stressed that the International Committee of the Red Cross will remain a reliable partner in tackling challenges that Ukraine has faced. He informed about intentions to attract over $64 million for humanitarian activities of the ICRC mission in addition to almost $100 million that have been spent on the realization of aid programs in Ukraine over 2014  2015, reads a report.

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In Syria, two generations of Homs residents attempt to rebuild their lives among the ruins. Worldwide displacement from wars, conflict and persecution is at the highest levels ever recorded by UNHCR and accelerating fast.  UNHCR/B.Diab

GENEVA, Jan 21 (UNHCR) - More than 100 UN and other humanitarian organizations have together issued a powerful joint appeal today, urging people around the world to raise their voices and call for an end to the Syria crisis and to the suffering endured by millions of civilians.

High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi is one of several humanitarian agency chiefs adding his voice to the campaign. Others include the heads of UNICEF, OCHA, WFP, IOM, OCHA, Norwegian Refugee Council, and others.

The appeal outlines a series of immediate, practical steps that can improve humanitarian access and the delivery of aid to those in need inside Syria, where the war is approaching its sixth brutal year.

The appeal seeks unimpeded and sustained access for humanitarian organizations to bring immediate relief to all those in need inside Syria.

It also calls for humanitarian pauses and unconditional, monitored ceasefires to allow food and other urgent assistance to be delivered to civilians, vaccinations and other health campaigns, and for children to return to school.

The push asks for a cessation of attacks on civilian infrastructure - so that schools and hospitals and water supplies are kept safe.

Additionally, it seeks freedom of movement for all civilians and the immediate lifting of all sieges by all parties.

Members of the public can add their support to the appeal themselves, simply by sharing it, retweeting it or liking it on social media platforms. The organizations involved in the appeal will also be carrying it on their social media channels.

Here is a link to the full text of the appeal.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi shakes hands with a boy at a Syrian Arab Red Crescent polyclinic in Damascus.  UNHCR/B. Diab

DAMASCUS, Syria, Jan 21 (UNHCR) - In his first visit to Syria as UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi today appealed to all parties to the conflict to allow regular, unimpeded and sustained access for humanitarian organizations to besieged and hard to reach areas.

Speaking during a one-day visit to Damascus, the head of the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, said: "People need our help. Another case of a child dying of starvation would be terrible."

He was echoing an appeal he signed along with more than 120 humanitarian organizations and UN Agencies calling for humanitarian access to people in need in all parts of Syria.

Grandi held meetings with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Walid Muallem, Deputy Foreign Minister Dr. Faisal Mekdad and the Minister of Local Administration, Omar Ghalawanji. Grandi emphasized UNHCR's commitment to deliver aid to internally displaced people in all parts of Syria. He also pledged cooperation to increase livelihood programs, on-line education and vocational training.

During a visit to a Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) polyclinic for refugees and the internally displaced, Grandi presented first responders with seven new ambulances to meet growing emergency medical needs. He praised SARC for its impartial and courageous delivery across the country as UNHCR's biggest humanitarian partner.

At the clinic, he witnessed lines of people seeking treatment for chronic diseases and psychological conditions brought on by the war.

"The Syria crisis is the largest UNHCR is dealing with," Grandi said, adding: "That reality hits me when I talk to people treated here who are not only displaced, but also ill and traumatized."

The protracted nature of the Syria crisis is having a devastating effect on millions of ordinary Syrians, around 6.5 million of whom are displaced within the country, with a further 4.6 million living as refugees in neighbouring countries.

Some 13.5 million Syrians are deemed in need of humanitarian assistance. UNHCR has provided shelter and other aid to civilians displaced by the conflict, as well as psycho-social support, education and health services to nearly 800,000 people.

Also in Damascus, the UNHCR chief met with an elderly woman, Farida, who is now responsible for her six grandchildren. She has no idea what has become of her son and his wife and is living among over 70 other families in a converted former school building after fleeing fighting in her town 30 minutes outside of Damascus.

"I just want to know if their father is still alive," Farida told Grandi.

The Um Atteyah shelter has no heat and the thin partition walls do not keep out the noise. UNHCR and local partners are working to upgrade the shelter and provide incentives and training to help adults generate income and to educate the children.

The UNHCR chief also met the UN team in Damascus and the UNHCR staff of 400 who travelled from across the country to meet the new High Commissioner.

Watch a video about the UN High Commissioner for Refugees' visit to Syria here.
Earlier, a local Taliban commander had said he sent the four attackers to the university. There was no explanation for the conflicting claims. Students and staff at the university told the VOA correspondent at the scene, Ayesha Tanzeem, that some of the victims suffered both bullet and stab wounds.

The spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, Mohammad Khorasani, says the group has nothing to do with the university attack, adding that non-military institutions are not on its list of targets. In a statement sent to VOA, Khorasani declared Wednesday's attack against "Islamic Sharia."

Regional deputy inspector general of police, Saeed Wazir Khan, said at least two suicide bombers were among the attackers.

Military spokesman Asim Bajwa told reporters 18 students and two university staff were among those killed after what he described as a group of four terrorists stormed the Bacha Khan University in the town of Charsadda. Bajwa said troops, including army commandos, gunned down the four attackers and conducted a "block by block" clearing operation before securing the entire university campus.

A gun and bomb attack on a university in northwestern Pakistan Wednesday killed at least 20 people and wounded dozens more.

 Casualties

Military spokesman Bajwa said telephone intercepts and other evidence collected from the scene have helped investigators to "swiftly achieve a breakthrough" in identifying the planners, where and how the attack was carried out. But he refused to discuss further details saying it would undermine the investigation process.

He said the attack against a "soft target" like the Bacha Khan University shows that terrorists have been "frustrated" by successes army operations have achieved against their strongholds in the tribal areas near the Afghan border. He added that telephone calls received by the attackers on their cell phones showed they were in contact with people in Afghanistan.

Pakistani Senator Senator Shibli Faraz of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf told VOA that it was alarming that militants were active after a lull in terrorists' attacks in the country.

 Reaction

The United States strongly condemned Wednesday's attack. "It is particularly appalling that these terrorists continue to attack educational institutions, targeting Pakistan's future generations," State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner said in a statement. "The United States stands with the government and people of Pakistan and their efforts to create a secure, stable, and prosperous country, and we will stand side-by-side with Pakistan in its fight against terrorism."

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, currently visiting Zurich, has condemned "the cowardly attack" and said he was "deeply grieved over the sad incident.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, currently visiting Zurich, has condemned "the cowardly attack" and said he was "deeply grieved over the sad incident. An official statement quoted Sharif as reiterating Pakistan's resolve "to wipe out the menace of terrorism from our homeland."

Amnesty International said the attack "violated the central principle of international humanitarian law by deliberately targeting civilians in what appears to be a war crime."

"Whoever is responsible for this attack showed absolute contempt for life and civilian immunity. Armed groups in Pakistan must end all such affronts to humanity and commit publicly not to attack civilians," said Champa Patel, Interim South Asia Director at the British-based group.



The university in the Khyber Pakhtunkhaw province is home to more than three thousand students.



Charsadda is located at around 50 kilometers from the province capital of Peshawar, where militants linked to the Pakistani Taliban attacked a school in December of 2014 and massacred around 150 people, mostly children.



On Tuesday, a suicide bomber blew himself up near a security checkpoint separating Peshawar from the Khyber tribal district, killing at least 12 people. The Taliban claimed responsibility for that attack.


The U.S. apparently remains inclined to keep the North Korean nuclear problem at arm's length and let China take the brunt.

On Wednesday, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken said China has a "special role" to play in its "special relationship" with North Korea.

Blinken was talking to reporters in Seoul after meetings with Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam to discuss the fallout of North Korea's nuclear test earlier this month.

China "has more influence and more leverage over North Korea than any other country because virtually all of North Korea's trade goes to, from or through China," Blinken said.

"We are looking to China to show leadership on this issue."

He then went on to Beijing, where he met with his Chinese counterpart Zhang Yesui in the afternoon.

The U.S. has put "everything on the table," and is seeking further sanctions unilaterally and in partnership with other countries, he added.

Meanwhile, Blinken dutifully played to the fiction that Seoul and Washington have made no decision the deployment of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense batteries here. The THAAD batteries are a key part of the U.S.' missile defense shield and Beijing worries that they are mainly aimed at containing China's growing military might in the region.
North Korea's elderly comeback kid Choe Ryong-hae accompanied North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during an official engagement on Tuesday, suggesting he has once again returned to favor -- if indeed he ever fell from it.

Choe was last seen in public on Oct. 19 last year, and there followed rumors that he had been sacked and sent to a reeducation camp. But on Tuesday he was by Kim's side during an inspection of a revolutionary memorial, the Rodong Sinmun daily said Wednesday.

Choe emerged as North Korea's No. 2 official after former eminence grise Jang Song-taek was purged, but his name was omitted from an important official roster in November, fanning speculation he was also purged.

However, Choe's name was included on the roster of the funeral committee for United Front Department director Kim Yang-gon, who died in a mysterious car accident late last year. That more or less laid the rumors to rest until he was absent again from the traditional New Year's homage at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, where the embalmed remains of former leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il are displayed.

He was recently spotted in TV footage with his right leg only about half as thick as the left. This fanned fresh speculation that he had surgery on the leg in the time he disappeared from the radar.

In the latest Rodong Sinmun article, Choe's name is mentioned right after Army politburo chief Hwang Pyong-so, demonstrating that he remains a key figure in the regime.

Meanwhile, Kim Jong-un's sister Yo-jong was also spotted for the first time in three months. There were rumors that she was pregnant after she vanished from view in October.
UW Could Become Cyber Security Hub

To battle one of the most dangerous issues facing the nation today, Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead has requested state funding to develop a program at the University of Wyoming to become a center of excellence in cyber defense.

Corporations such as Home Depot, eBay, Sony, Target and even the United States government have been compromised through data breaches caused by hackers. Without trained individuals who continually learn and hone dynamic methods, Wyomings infrastructure, agencies, businesses and citizens are at risk. The cost of even a basic attack can be thousands of dollars, and any ensuing data losses or damages to infrastructure can cost millions and damage business reputations.

According to the Wyoming Cybersecurity Education Initiative, proposed curriculum in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences Department of Computer Science would educate students to defend against such attacks and provide meaningful and sustainable impact to Wyoming's technology sector through cybersecurity and information assurance higher-education programs.

Gov. Mead drafted a letter to the state legislature supporting an initiative through the Wyoming Department of Enterprise Technology Services (ETS) for UW to obtain certification as a National Center of Academic Excellence (CAE) in information assurance and cyber defense. The certification is administered by the Department of Homeland Security and the National Security Agency (NSA).

This certification would provide opportunities for Wyoming citizens and supply uniquely skilled workers, Gov. Mead wrote. Additional economic development opportunities could arise.

Richard Imbrogno of the ETS outlined the program in a business case proposal.

Todays cyber threat environment is dangerous and continuously changing, Imbrogno writes. Criminal hackers are continually learning new ways to attack critical systems and the tools used are evolving very rapidly. Many of these tools are available and easily accessible on the Internet, free of charge, with explanations on how to attack a target and exploit its vulnerabilities. Without formally trained and appropriately credentialed individuals who continually learn and hone new anti-attack and dynamic methodologies, Wyomings infrastructure, agencies, businesses and citizens are at risk and are at a major disadvantage.

Department of Computer Science head Jim Caldwell met with the head of the program at the NSA at the Global Tech Summit in Jackson in September. The program will need two faculty members with expertise in cyber-security to get the certification, with a research certification to be established down the road.

The business plan includes a two-year budget that will be included in the governor's budget. Some of the funds are to support a new faculty member at Laramie County Community College and a person who will help coordinate statewide efforts to market the program to students, and to transfer the LCCC program to other community colleges.

We have an excellent opportunity to promote and build sustainable collaboration among ETS, the University of Wyoming and Wyoming community colleges, Imbrogno says. This effort will have a lasting and positive impact on Wyomings technology workforce.
UW Outdoor Program Spring Sign-Ups Begin Jan. 25

Snowshoeing in the Snowy Range will be among more than 40 programs offered this spring by the UW Outdoor Program. (UW Photo)

The University of Wyoming Outdoor Program will offer more than 40 different trips, clinics and programs this spring. Sign-ups begin Monday, Jan. 25.

To register, go to the Outdoor Program office in the northeast corner of the Half Acre Recreation and Wellness Center or call (307) 766-2402.

The Outdoor Program provides inclusive, safe and reasonably priced outdoor programs and services for the UW community, says Dan McCoy, assistant director of Campus Recreation.

Among the offerings this spring are scuba instruction, three ski buses to Snowy Range Ski Area, spring break trips, snowshoeing, avalanche awareness and cross-country ski technique outings.

The ski buses are unique; we were able to drop the price this year to $12. Riders this year also will get a $10 voucher from Snowy Range Ski Area to use toward a ticket or rentals, which basically means riders pay $2 for the ride if they use the voucher, McCoy says.

To learn more about Outdoor Program events, view the spring schedule at www.uwyo.edu/rec/outdoor-program/spring-events.html.
Duty-free purchases made by foreigners fell for the first time ever last year as the local tourism industry was crippled by the outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome.

The Korea Duty-Free Association said Wednesday that duty-free purchases made by foreigners totaled US$5.4 billion last year, down 0.63 percent from 2014.

But combined duty-free sales to both foreigners and Koreans rose three percent over the same period to $8.1 billion.

Still, that is much smaller than the average annual sales growth of around 20 percent over the last five years.

"We saw the first drop in the number of inbound tourists for the first time in 12 years, while spending by Chinese and Japanese visitors declined, said Hong Joon-pyo at the association.
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Researchers have succeeded implanting electronic chips in rats' brains that dissolve after they are no longer needed. The implanted chips contain electronic sensors and wires that allow the researchers to monitor the brain via the signals they transmit wirelessly.



Nature published the study that was completed last year. The researchers pointed out the importance of the technology and procedure of dissolving electronic chips. They said that electronic implants were crucial in treating some kinds of injuries, especially brain injuries. But, the existing procedure exposed the patients with so many dangers, including infections and immune-mediated pathological tissue reactions.



The removal of the electronic chips also imposes dangers of distress associated with re-operation with higher risks of additional complications. In their newly-developed procedure, all the materials to be implanted were to be naturally resorbed via hydrolysis and/or metabolic action. There was also no need to perform re-operation to remove the electronic chips because they have biodegradable qualities that melt away naturally when no longer needed.



According to Gizmodo, the chip's size is smaller than a grain of rice and is made of biodegradable silicon sheets. They can measure swelling, intracranial pressure, and temperature in the brain. In the initial study with the rats, the chips were implanted under the skin on the top of the rats' skulls.



Washington University neurosurgeon Dr. Rory Murphy told CNN the concept of the new technology. "The ultimate strategy is to have a device that is entirely implanted, intimately connected with the organ you want to monitor and can transmit signals wirelessly, allowing doctors to intervene if necessary to prevent bigger problems. After the critical period that you actually want to monitor, it will dissolve away and disappear" he said.



Previously, the medical world has seen and used dissolvable medical supplies, but this is the first innovation that deals with electronic chips that can monitors the brain. Usually, the dissolvable supplies are made of collagen such as animal intestines, silk, or hair. On the other hand, this new technology is made of silicone mixed with polylactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA).



The similar test is likely to be replicated to humans. The team also hope that their improved technology could offer doctors a better-functioning monitoring tool with lower risks of post-surgery infection, among other risks.



In addition to brain monitoring, the chip was also expected to function as a monitoring tool to all other kinds of body parts and conditions without as many risks as they would impose with the previous procedures and technologies.
After a three-year-long ban on YouTube, Pakistan finally removed the block. Pakistani authorities agreed to allow the Google-owned site to broadcast in their country after the website launched a customized local version that gives partial control for the government to control the data being shared.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) announced on Monday when they removed the ban that Google has provided an online web process where PTA can request some offensive materials to be blocked by Google or Youtube directly.

Even so, CNN reported that YouTube officially stated that it doesn't always mean all government requests to block materials will automatically be met by their management. "We have clear community guidelines, and when videos violate those rules, we remove them. Where we have launched YouTube locally and we are notified that a video is illegal in that country, we may restrict access to it after a thorough review," YouTube's spokeswoman said.

In that statement, YouTube referred to two other countries where they already launched a local version. Besides Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka also have their own localized version of YouTube. Furthermore, YouTube stated that the government's requests to remove content will be tracked and included in Transparency Report.

Pakistan banned all access to YouTube in September 2012 after the video-sharing website hosted an anti-Islam film hosted by a third-party entity. The film, titled "Innocence of Muslims", triggered violent demonstrations across the Muslim-majority country. During that incident, more than a dozen people died in protests.

In Pakistan, it was not uncommon that mobs killed people accused of insulting Islam. Profanity against the religion is also considered a crime and could carry the death penalty. Although, so far a death sentence has never been carried out.

Tech Crunch reported that YouTube is not the only tech company to experience censorship demands by the authorities in Pakistan. Last year, BlackBerry was ready to leave the country after the authorities demanded to monitor its data, but the demands were dropped so the company stays in the country.

Previously, the YouTube ban by the government raised protests by Pakistani activists group that called the act as a restriction of freedom of speech. Even now when the ban is already removed, Wall Street Journal reported that a nonprofit organization named Bolo Bhi have demanded transparency by the government to reveal the terms under which YouTube has been unblocked.

Both YouTube and the Pakistani government have not elaborated on the exact terms they have agreed on. But both parties seemed to believe that they have reached the best possible solution. YouTube spokesperson also said they are glad that Pakistani can now re-join the online video community.
Saudi Arabia and Persian Gulf countries are buying farmland in the US mostly in drought-hit areas in Southwest. A Saudi-based company bought 1,790 acres of farmland in California recently. Same company previously purchased 10,000 acres in Arizona. However, local farmers in California and Arizona are not happy over it.

Saudi Arabia-based companies grow alfalfa hay in California and Arizona and export it back to home country supplying for domestic dairy herds. The continuous buying of farmland and increasing cultivation for animal feed is showing a mark of interconnected world in real terms.

CNBC reports that Fondomonte California has bought 1,790 acres of farmland in Blythe, an agricultural town in California. This land is located along the Colorado River. Fondomonte has purchased the land for $32 million. Two years ago, Fondomont's parent company Saudi-based food giant Almarai bought 10,000 acres for $48 million. This land is located in Vicksburg in Arizona.



The farmland buying by Saudi and other Gulf nations is causing concerns among local farmers. California and Arizona are already suffering from drought conditions. Exporting hay to Saudi Arabia to feed dairy herds is like exporting from the area, which is suffering from years of drought.

"We're not getting oil for free. So why are we giving our water away for free?" La Paz County Board of Supervisors Chairman Holly Irwin told CNBC as published by Newser. He further said that "we're letting them come over here and use up our resources. It's very frustrating for me, especially when I have residents telling me that their wells are going dry."



Growing alfalfa hay and exporting back to home country is as equal as exporting water. Because, Saudi Arabia doesn't want to waste its water serves for growing alfalfa hay.

After the California farmland purchase, the Saudi company Fondomonte said: "The deal forms part of Almarai's continuous efforts to improve and secure its supply of the highest quality alfalfa hay from outside the (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) to support its dairy business. It is also in line with the Saudi government direction toward conserving local resources."

The local development and groundwater pumping for irrigation has resulted in drop in groundwater table. This has been dropping every year since 2010. So far ground water table fell by 50 feet in parts of La Paz county. State documents reveal there are minimum 23 water wells on lands being irrigated by Alamarai. Each well has water source capacity to pump over 100,000 gallons per day, as published in a report by Zero Hedge.



Keith Murfield, CEO of United Dairymen of Arizona, a Tempe-based dairy cooperative whose members also buy alfalfa, said: "They have decided that it's better to bring feed in rather than to empty their water reserves. This will continue unless there's regulations put on it."
AMD is currently working on two versions of Polaris architecture based GPU, which it is hoping to release in 2016. According to the reports one version of Polaris GPU is aimed for light and thin laptops as well as entry level desktops, while the other is designed for high performance.

AMD has made considerable developments to its graphics cards with Fury range, particularly the Fury Nano that features more improved performance-per-watt. The company also restored its driver software, providing it a latest UI and also promising frequent monthly updates. This made AMD to secure a small bump in the market share of graphics card last year, which is still behind peer Nvidia, which claims 81.1% market share, ars technica said.

AMD said that its new Polaris architecture based GPUs will feature the company's fourth generation Graphics Core Next architecture along with other features like next-generation display engine that supports DisplayPort 1.3 and HDMI 2.0a, and multimedia features like 4k h.265 decoding and encoding.

The company is improving a fresh lucid interconnect fabric which will provide both, low latency and ultra-wideband, connecting APUs, CPUs and GPUs developed by AMD, Senior Vice President of Radeon Technologies, Raja Koduri, said PCWatch. Raja said that there is an increase in demand for PC market and computing sector that consists of Servers, Workstation machines and HPC and AMD is entering the GPU section with Polaris architecture based GPUs to meet that demand.

Raja also dismissed the scandal that GPUs won't sustain the market for a long period.

AMD's Robert Hallock said in a statement that the Polaris architecture based GPUs, which dubbed Polaris 10 and Polaris 11, will utilize the high bandwidth memory that is contingent to the market segment.

"In terms of what we've done at the high level, it's our most revolutionary jump in performance so far. We've redesigned many blocks in our cores. We've redesigned the main processor, a new geometry processor, a completely new fourth-generation Graphics Core Next with a very high increase in performance," Raja Koduri said in an interview with VentureBeat.

According to reports, the company will be christening its GPU architectures after galaxies, stars and star systems, highlighting the beginning of the Group's voyage into space.

According to the company, Radeon R9 Fuyr graphics cards are not enough to meet the demand in growing PC market. The only way to meet the demand is by providing stability and scalability, permitting various GPUs to run parallel to one another.
Cryptocurrency Bitcoin has been struggling to survive recently. Bitcoin's price fell up to 10 percent after one of its main developer, Mike Hearn, revealed that Bitcoin has faced an irreparable failure.



Mike Hearn is a British programmer now based in Zurich. In 2014, Hearn quit his programming job at Google to focus on developing Bitcoin. Since then, Hearn has been one of the virtual currency's main developer along with other few around the world. As a developer, Hearn has been maintaining software and network that is crucial for Bitcoin to operate transactions.



Hearn elaborated that the failure of Bitcoin could be attributed to the failure of its community as well as technical system insufficiency. He mentioned that the system was completely controlled by just a small number of people.



Business Insider summed up Hearn's objection with the company he's been working with for almost two years. Hearn complained about centralisation of the digital currency. He referred to China as the region in which Bitcoin is centralized. Hearn wrote, "The blockchain is controlled by Chinese miners, just two of whom control more than 50 percent of the hash power. At a recent conference over 95 percent of hashing power was controlled by a handful of guys sitting on a single stage." The fact that Bitcoin is so centralized fail to relay its vision to be decentralized. And the worst part is there has been no plausible solution in sight to solve this problem.



Hearn also complained about the blocksize debate that has been going on for a while and caused a deep divide in the community. Some people have been rooting for an upgrade in the block size limit and some other people leaned toward other options in limiting the growth of the currency. For that, on other different disputes, Bitcoin's members began attacking each others' servers.



In addition to that, The Washington Post reported that Bitcoin actually born with some serious flaws. The digital currency was unregulated and provided anonymity, and it didn't take long before Bitcoin became a safe place for drug dealers and other anarchists to complete transactions. It also had severe vulnerabilities, in technical, price stability, and also security measures.



According to The New York Times, these struggles came out at the same time the Bitcoin began to gain credibility on Wall Street and Silicon Valley. This technology has been quite popular though still holds various controversies.



Hearn concluded that taking into account all the facts and factors, there is no longer much reason to think that Bitcoin can be better than the existing financial system. Some people have been plotting alternatives to save this virtual currency, but Hearn insisted that it's too late to turn things around.
Martin Shkreli is currently looking for new lawyers ahead of his next court appearance according to a letter from his current lawyer, Marcus Asner to Judge Kiyo Matsumoto. Shkreli, a former hedge fund manager turned pharmaceutical founder is currently being charged with securities-fraud cases involving him when he was working as a fund manager.

Currently, there is no statement released either by the judge or Shkreli lawyer giving an explanation regarding the changes. In a statement inside the letter, lawyers Marcus Asner and Baruch Weiss said that "We respectfully request a two-week continuance of the scheduled conference so that Mr. Shkreli can finalize his engagement of new counsel and we can properly transition the matter to the new attorneys."

According to The New York Times, Shkreli has been pleading not guilty for the charges and has been taking the matter in his own hand by trying to convince social media users that he is not guilty.

The news company also asked Shkreli in an interview whether the changes of the lawyer is due to his statement made on a TV interview. However, he declined the theory and saying that it is "a dumb theory".

Bloomberg reported that Shkreli had invited a reporter from Fox 5 TV Station into his apartment for the interview and during the interview he made a statement stating that the criminal case against him is "fictitious". The statement made could lead to a serious problem during the court hearing and could be affecting his case.

Shkreli who is the founder of Turing Pharmaceutical has been under authorities target after he increases a life-saving Daraprim drug price by 5,000 percent as reported by Business Insider. The new price which is effective on September last year had caused a public uproar and has garnered the attention of politician across the country.

Although he has been long fired from his hedge fund company, it was revealed that he is still gaining lots of money from different sources. The federal prosecutors disclosed that Shkreli had used money from E-Trade accounts containing $45 million for his $5 million bails.

It was also revealed that he also holds six accounts at E-Trade and an account at Deutsche Bank including several other accounts in other banks.

Shkreli's next court hearing was originally scheduled on Wednesday this week but was postponed due to the lawyers change. He is currently being accused by the government to have committed two fraud which is lying in his hedge funds and deceiving officials at Retrophin Inc.
Motorola has launched Moto G3 (Generation 3) smart phone in July 2015. Recently, the cheaper smart phone has hit the market with a 5.00 inch touch screen display which supports resolution of 720 pixels X 1280 pixels at PPI of 294 pixels per inch.

The Motorola Moto G (Gen 3) is powered by 1.4GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 processor supported by 1GB RAM. The phone memory is packed with 8GB of internal storage which may be expanded up to 32GB via a micro SD card. Moreover, the Motorola Moto G (Gen 3) packs a 13-megapixel primary camera on the rear and a 5-megapixel front shooter for selfies, reports Gadgets 360.

The Motorola Moto G3 (Generation 3) is run with Android 5.1.1 and powered by a 2470mAh non removable battery. It measures 142.10 x 72.40 x 11.60 (height x width x thickness) and weighs around 155.00 grams.

The G3 is available in the market with two models. The one with 8 gigabytes of storage and 1 GB of RAM costs $179.99. Besides, the other with 16 GB of storage capacity and 2 GB of RAM costs $219. If the iPhone 6s+ is the slick, shiny Porsche in the arena of smart phones, the G3 is a Volvo sedan with good gas mileage and excellent impact ratings, compares Tech Insider.

However, the concept for introducing budget conscious smart phones has drawn attraction to other cell phone conglomerates like Lenovo. Motorola's budget smart phones - the Moto G and Moto E - will soon be replaced by the Lenovo's own budget-conscious Vibe-branded smart phones, reports Mashable quoting Chinese News Website, Sina.

In addition to other features, the Motorola G3 appears to be dual SIM smart phone accepting double GSM SIMs. WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth, FM, 3G, 4G all represent as connection modules. Furthermore, sensors in the phone include proximity sensor, ambient light sensor and accelerometer.

Motorola has been split into two segments- Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions in 2011. Motorola Solutions cater to the enterprise segment. Motorola Mobility has been first acquired by Google and then by Lenovo in 2014. However, Motorola has made its first Android smart phone in 2009 and first Android tablet in 2011.

Motorola G3 (Generation 3) budget smart phone set has been released in the market with two variation. The phone series appears to be so budget friendly that it has been compared with Volvo sedan. The Volvo in turn appears to be similar due to its good gas mileage and excellent impact ratings. However, Lenovo has also been attracted to produce such low budget smart phones eyeing to have a chunk of business in this arena.
Saudi Arabia, the leader of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), has reiterated that oversupply in global oil market is the prime reason for price drop and there's no secret plot to hit any rival. Saudi Arabia is firm on production level to sustain market share and make it difficult for the US to continue with high cost shale production.

Saudi Arabia has ruled out allegations that Iran has been purposefully targeted in the oil price war. Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, told CNN that "people should go back to Adam Smith and basic economics. It's about supply and demand," when asked about allegations that Saudi is trying to hurt Iran with cheap oil.

CNN Money report that the surging shale oil production in the US and OPEC's firmness on sustaining market share hammered down the oil price by 75 percent since mid-2014. Crude oil price dropped to $27.92 per barrel, a 12-year low. However, Saudi Arabia is not reducing production to support oil price, but continuing production to sustain its market share.



Despite falling oil price to sub$30 a barrel, Saudi Arabia is keen on maintaining the production level so that it can keep up with the market share. At the same time, it can make the production tough for the US, which has been increasing the shale oil production to counter the Saudi strategy. But, US shale oil production involves high cost and it's difficult to continue production at prevailing low oil prices.

The concerns that lifting of sanction against Iran may unleash a fresh price war in global oil market, impacted Middle East financial markets in a negative way. The selling spree has wiped out 27billion market capitalization in the seven Gulf stock markets, as reported by The Telegraph.



Al-Jubeir said: "We let the market determine where the equilibrium should be. What we're seeing now is the market price." Some political observers see a geopolitical motive to hurt Iran in the whole oil price war game. Saudi Arabia is also embracing free market capitalism.

Al-Jubeir further explained that a cut in production will effectively bailout those who're allegedly responsible for the price drop. "Saudi Arabia refused to cut its production in order not support high producers, since that would have set a stage for a drop in prices and volume down the road, what we're seeing now is the market price," said Al-Jubeir as published by Business Insider.



"They worry about a potential realignment of power in the Middle East if Iran were to emerge from the shadows of sanctions and reassert itself," said Bordoff, who is currently director of the Columbia Center on Global Energy Policy.

With Western sanctions going off, Iran can now reenter the global oil market. Iran is planning to produce 500,000 barrels per day and aims at increasing it to one million barrels within a year.

Jason Bordoff, a former national security and energy adviser to President Obama, recently told CNN Money that "the Saudis are in no mood to do Iran any favors right now."
Cocoon Networks is a London-based Chinese technology and investment group. The group is backed by China Equity Group and Hanxin Capital along with Transfer Wise. Recently Cocoon Networks has setup a 500 ($700) million venture capital fund to invest in European tech startup.

PE Hub reported that Cocoon Network's startup fund will look to invest in tech companies across a wide range of sectors. That includes fintech, biotech, medical devices and the UK's creative tech industries, like fashion-tech. For companies who seek expansion to China, Cocoon Networks provide assistance in understanding Chinese legislation and common business practice in China.

Cocoon Networks was established by three partners: China Equity Group and Hanxin Capital and Transfer Wise. China Equity Group is the first investor of Baidu, the China's biggest search engine which equal to Google. The firm is specializing in angel investment, high growth, mergers and acquisitions investments.

The other partner, Hanxin Capital Equity Investment Management Co., Ltd. is the principal investment firm. The Wuhan-based firm is specializing in start-ups, specialises in cloud computing and bio tech investments.

Coocon Networks has also in partnership with University College London, as Business Wire reported. They both are partnering to setup the biggest incubator space in London to provide the best environment for growing tech startups.

In regard to the fund, John Zai, Founder and CEO, Cocoon Networks said, "The fund will provide capital to help the development of some excellent technology and innovative projects in London and the UK." The fund also provide a service to company who want to find opportunity in China and Chinese investor in Europe, "The fund and incubator programme will bring awareness for more Chinese investors to get into London's booming technology sector. It will also help many companies grow and expand into China."

Furthermore, Zai told Tech Crunch the reason why Cocoon Networks choose England and Europe for its investment fund, "We believe that in the past 15 years China has been very focused on the US market, but not so much on early stage investments in the UK."

Meanwhile, Gordon Innes, CEO London & Partners appreciated the fund, "This is a significant vote of confidence in the global nature of London's tech sector and will deliver significant investment into some of the capital's brightest and best startups." He also welcomed investor as well, "London is experiencing unprecedented growth in its technology sector, and there is a wealth of opportunity for entrepreneurs and investors to get a foothold in the UK and the rest of Europe."

Cocoon Networks has selected England and Europe for its venture capital fund. Recently, London has been a hotspot for tech startup, as last year's venture capital funding in tech sectors raise a record of $3.6 billion.
Palmer Luckey, founder of Oculus Rift face a lawsuit over alleged illegal use of data. On Saturday, judge gave permission to proceed the lawsuit against the 23-year old inventor from Total Recall Technologies.

Although the lawsuit was proceeded to the court, that does not mean Luckey is guilty according to Engadget. He just has to prove that the accusation from Total Recall Technologies is not true. The company was his former employers, accused the California-resident using proprietary knowledge that belongs to the company to build Oculus Rift.

Engadget also emphasized that there are many cases where people quit the companies to build competitive products, and being competitors to a fomer employer is not illegal.

On Saturday, according to Reuters, U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco ruled that a breach of contract claim could proceed against Palmer Luckey. Judge Alsup only ruled claim on breach of contract and dismissed other claims, including fraud allegations.

Since his young age, Palmer Luckey had interest on electronics and particularly virtual reality technology. During his study in Journalism at California State University, he worked at a University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies as an engineer for head-mounted display (HMD). This is his passion which drove him to found the company Oculus VR in 2012 with Brendan Iribe, in order to develop their famous Oculus Rift HMD.

Luckey explained in an interview with Business Insider, that because of his passion, he gave up his journalism study to work on VR technology. He did not just do it for money.

Furthermore, he explained, "When I was in tech journalism, I thought I was taking a break from school after Oculus took off. That seemed like the riskier path at the time. Like 'I'm almost done with my degree in tech journalism, am I really going to give up my career in tech journalism for this wacky VR thing?' Well that sounded like a lot of fun, so I'm going to go do that."

Oculus VR now becomes part of Facebook, after the social media giant acquired the company in 2014. Brendan Iribe, the co-founder was appointed CEO.

Prior to established his company Oculus VR, Palmer Luckey was working for Total Recall Technologies, a Hawaiian-based company. Luckey signed a nondisclosure agreement in 2011 to make head-mounted display for the company. Total Recall Technologies is a surveillance technology provider with various array of implementation in command and control center, wireles and video network.

Total Recall Technologies alleged Luckey to breach the nondislosure agreement and use the company's data for developing his Oculus Rift HMD. The case is registered in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California as Total Recall Technologies vs. Palmer Luckey and Oculus VR, Inc., 15-2281.
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By Chris Mondics And Sam Wood

A Westlake Village resident is among two Glaxo Smith Kline scientists charged along with three others with conspiracy to steal promising cancer research secrets from the pharmaceutical giant and market them to companies in China backed by the Chinese government.

A federal grand jury charged them Wednesday in Philadelphia.

In Philadelphia, U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger said the indictment named Yu Xue, 45, of Wayne, Pennsylvania; Tao Li, 42, and Yan Mei, 36, both of Nanjing China; Tian Xue, 45, of Charlotte, North Carolina; and Lucy Xi, 38 of Westlake Village.

If convicted on all charges, each defendant faces possible prison terms, fines, restitution orders and other penalties, Memeger said.

Yu Xue was a senior-level manager at GSK's sprawling research lab in the Philadelphia area where she clandestinely downloaded GSK trade secrets and confidential research data concerning the development of cancer-fighting monoclonal antibodies, the indictment alleges.

Yu Xue allegedly emailed information "potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars or more" relating to a dozen or more products and drug development processes from her work email account to her personal email, and then forwarded the information to others in the conspiracy, according to an affidavit.

The accused, according to the indictment, then formed a Delaware based corporation, Renopharma, to eventually market the stolen trade secrets. One of Renopharma's major investors was the Chinese government, according to federal investigators. The conspirators allegedly used two China-based companies to assist in that scheme, Shanghai Renopharma and Nanjing RenoPharma, Ltd.

The world's major pharmaceutical companies have long wrung their hands about the theft of trade secrets in mainland China and the unwillingness of Chinese authorities to protect their intellectual property.

The theft of proprietary information in biopharma is not uncommon. The accused often sent emails to each other with news stories about scientists arrested at other drug companies for stealing trade secrets, according to court documents.

The indictment alleges that Yu Xue and Lucy Xi, also a GSK scientist, had received training in the need for trade secret confidentiality and had been warned that storing sensitive trade data on personal computers breached company policy.

Yu Xue is identified in the indictment as "one of the top protein biochemists in the world" with a doctorate in biological chemistry from the University of North Carolina.

GSK spokeswoman Sarah Spencer said that despite the criminal charges, the company remained confident that the breach had no discernible impact on the company's business nor its research and development initiatives.

"We are aware of this issue and have been co-operating fully with the U.S. authorities," Spencer said. "While we're limited on what we can say about this ongoing investigation beyond the details in the indictment, we do not believe the breach has had any material impact on the company's business or R&D activity," she said.

Yu Xue has hired Peter R. Zeidenberg as her attorney. He formerly represented Temple University professor Xiaoxing Xi, an expert in superconductor research, who was cleared after federal prosecutors accused him of selling sensitive U.S. defense technology to the Chinese.

"Xue has pled not guilty and we'll be contesting these charges," said Zeidenberg. "It's one of many cases brought against Chinese-Americans in the last several years, some of which have proved to be vastly overstated. I would just remind everybody that these are just allegations."

Much of the data theft focused on GSK's development of a monoclonal antibody or protein designed to link up with HER3 human cell receptors that can under certain conditions spur the development of cancer. The antibody under development at GSK, and about which the conspirators allegedly stole trade secrets, was intended to destroy the cell receptors as a means of halting cancer's spread.

Herceptin, an anti-cancer drug developed by Genentech that targets a different set of receptors called HER2, has generated billions of dollars in revenue for the company, according to the Roche website.

Pharmaceutical companies assert that the development of one such drug typically costs shareholder $1 billion or more.

2016 The Philadelphia Inquirer

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
SHARE Andrew Joshua Tafoya

By Raul Hernandez

A judge Monday sentenced a 24-year-old man to two years in jail for taking a girl to Mexico in 2007, adding an additional eight months to the sentence for a probation violation in an earlier case.

In November, Andrew Joshua Tafoya pleaded guilty to one felony count of concealing a child from her parents, said his lawyer Tim Quinn. In the earlier probation case, Tafoya was convicted of having unlawful sex with a minor, Chioma Gray, the same girl he took to Mexico.

The couple married in Mexico, according to theirA attorneys.

At Monday's sentencing, Chioma Tafoya's parents gave victim impact statements and tried to convince the court their daughter had been brainwashed.

Her mother, Francine Black, called Tafoya a child molester and repeated her belief that her daughter has Stockholm syndrome.

"She is now residing with the abductor's family," she said, saying that Tafoya took her daughter's innocence, hope and dreams and deprived her of a high school education.

Chioma, 19, told the judge Tafoya was her husband and has "an amazing heart." She asked that he get a reduced sentence so he can fulfill his dream to be a pastor.

Tafoya asked for forgiveness from Chioma's family and from his family and friends.

He said that during the four years the two spent in Mexico, he sometimes didn't know what they would eat or where they would sleep. Even then, his wife always encouraged him, he added.

"We were meant to be together," he said.

Tafoya said they got help in Mexico from Christian store owners who invited them to their church.

"God was with us, and I know that he loved us dearly. God started opening doors for us," he told the court.

Chioma's father, Paul Gray, told of the mental torment and anguish he and his family suffered not knowing where his daughter was or whether she was safe.

"Every time I picked up a plate of food to eat, my mind was on my daughter," he said.

At one point, he turned around and looked at his daughter, who sat in the front row with the defendant's family and friends. "I love you, baby. I love you, mama. I pray God will bring you back to us," Gray said.

Quinn said that although Tafoya caused harm by his immature decision, "There are facts that demonstrate that he has grown up."

Chioma and Tafoya returned to California from Mexico in early October. Before then, she had last been seen by her family on Dec. 13, 2007, when she was a 15-year-old student at Buena High School.

According to witnesses, Chioma got into a stolen car driven by Tafoya, then 20. He had been released from jail the night before after serving seven months on an unlawful-sex charge related to his relationship with Chioma when she was 14.

Ventura County Superior Court Judge Kevin McGee said no evidence showed Chioma was suffering from Stockholm syndrome, adding that Tafoya hadn't been convicted of an offense that required him to register as a sex offender.

McGee said it's every parent's nightmare to lose a child, adding that the two could end up raising a family and having children and grandchildren.

Prosecutor Catherine Voelker, who had asked for a five-year sentence, said the judge's decision was appropriate, adding that it was good he allowed Chioma's family to express their hurt, distress and frustration.
FILE PHOTO Cathy Cole (front left), nurse navigator at Los Robles Hospital & Medical Center, chats with people at a March cancer event.

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By Staff Reports

Cathy Cole, who works with breast cancer patients at a Thousand Oaks hospital, was one of 10 people nationwide honored for making a difference in patients' lives.

Cole won the Lane W. Adams Quality of Life Award from the American Cancer Society. It was presented Jan. 13 in Atlanta.

Cole is nurse navigator for the breast cancer program at Los Robles Hospital & Medical Center, helping guide patients treated at the hospital. She has volunteered with the American Cancer Society for more than 25 years.

Cancer Society officials cited her efforts to create programs and provide services to women facing breast cancer.

The award, named for a past executive vice president at the Cancer Society, is given to people who exhibit excellence and compassion in providing care.

"These extraordinary awardees deserve to be recognized for their efforts to improve the quality of care for cancer patients and their families," said Susan D. Henry, an American Cancer Society board member.
KRISTIE AKIN/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Brownie Stephanie Sowers samples the 2016 flavor selection of Girl Scout cookies outside the Arnaz Program Center on Saturday.

SHARE KRISTIE AKIN/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Brownie Frances Eckberg samples from this years selection of cookie flavors Saturday with fellow Ventura County Girl Scout troops in preparation for the start of cookie sales this weekend. KRISTIE AKIN/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Ventura County Girl Scout troops gather on Saturday at the Arnaz Program Center for training on cookie sales. KRISTIE AKIN/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Daisies from Ventura County participate in games such as a beanbag toss to collect stamps on their passports that will accumulate and earn them a badge in preparation for the launch of cookie sales this weekend. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Sydney Kuchta, of Ventura, sold 2,457 boxes of Girl Scout cookies last year, making her the top seller in the county. This years cookie sales start Saturday.

By Anne Kallas

The girls in green are back.

Starting Saturday, Girl Scouts will be out selling Thin Mints, Caramel deLites, Peanut Butter Patties and six other flavors of cookies for $5 a box.

The girls, supervised by their troop leaders and parents, will be selling from booths starting Feb. 12. The last day to buy is March 6.

It may be a sweet tradition, but the annual cookie sale is also a great way for young women to learn valuable lessons about running a business and raising money, according to Gina Jaeger, CEO of the Girl Scouts of California's Central Coast.

Plus, she said, it's fun.

That was the lesson at recent Cookie U events, where hundreds of Girl Scouts learned about sales techniques and tasted their wares. Ventura County held two Cookie U events: one Jan. 9 in Thousand Oaks and one Saturday at the Arnaz Program Center on Sulphur Mountain Road in west Ventura County.

According to Jaeger, online purchases have been a boost to the annual sale, which provides money for troop activities.

"Last year was the first year we did digital sales through Coco Direct, which is a useful tool to send cookies for families and friends who live far away," Jaeger said. "This way, the sales rewards are tracked online, and Grandma in Pennsylvania can get cookies shipped using a credit card sale."

In addition to the ever-popular Thin Mints and Caramel deLites, the Girl Scouts will offer Lemonades, Shortbreads, Peanut Butter Patties, Peanut Butter Sandwiches, Thanks-A-Lots, Cranberry Citrus Crisps and gluten-free Trios, made with oats.

The Girl Scouts contract with baking companies to make the cookies according to tried-and-true recipes. The cookies are provided at reduced cost to the Girl Scouts, with the extra profit going to Girl Scout programs.

Katelyn Kienitz, 15, and Kaitlyn Barcelona, 13, of Camarillo's Troop 60981, spent part of Saturday's Cookie U sitting at a table covered with fake money and empty cardboard boxes. As younger Girl Scouts and Brownies came by, the older girls asked them, "What's wrong with this booth?" The younger girls immediately noticed that the booth was a mess and set about straightening it in accordance with various notes and pictures.

Katelyn, who has been a Girl Scout for 10 years, said she enjoys the annual sale.

"It's a lot of fun and it gives me experience in how to do business and how to sell," she said.

Last year's top seller in Ventura County was Sydney Kuchta, who sold 2,457 boxes. The Foothill Technology High School 14-year-old explained that she walks through neighborhoods around Ventura and sets up booths outside various stores, in addition to asking anyone she knows.

"I sell cookies at grocery stores on weekends and nights," she said. "I sell to my doctors and dentists, and we go to school and sell them to teachers. I sell them to my brother's Boy Scout troop. People are very supportive."

Sydney said keeping track of thousands of boxes of cookies  which need to be sorted, delivered and paid for  takes "hundreds and hundreds of hours."

Mom Lynette Kuchta said her skills as a bookkeeper come in handy, as she not only stores the cookies her daughter sells, but also boxes for other Girl Scouts in their area. She said it's worth it because Sydney can earn such extras as trips to camp, an iPad and an iPod.

Visit http://abcsmartcookies.com to order Girl Scout cookies online or find out more about the program. After Feb. 12, buyers can enter their ZIP code to find the nearest cookie booth or download the Android or iPhone Cookie Finder app. Visit http://www.girlscouts.org/en/cookies/all-about-cookies.html.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/SANTA BARBARA COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE Santa Barbara County authorities said people should be on the lookout for these counterfeit $100 bills after four suspects from Oxnard were arrested on suspicion of creating and passing counterfeit money throughout California.

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By John Scheibe of the Ventura County Star

The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office warned people Wednesday to be on the lookout for counterfeit $100 bills after four suspects from Oxnard were arrested on suspicion of creating and passing counterfeit money throughout California.

Investigators said Amphay Somchith, 43, and Sabrina Dodson, 30, were arrested Monday after the pair used a $100 bill to pay for food at the Chumash Casino.

Deputies said a casino employee suspected the bill was counterfeit. The employee contacted casino security, which then notified the Sheriff's Office.

Investigators said Somchith had two counterfeit $100 bills. Deputies said they searched the couple's vehicle and found 17 "washed" $1 bills. Counterfeiters wash a $1 bill by bleaching out the ink and then print a higher denomination onto the bill.

Deputies said they later went to a hotel near Goleta where the couple were staying. They said they found counterfeit-making materials in the hotel room, along with receipts and property from several stores in Santa Barbara County and elsewhere in California  places investigators suspect counterfeit bills were passed.

Deputies said they arrested two other suspects from Oxnard in the room: Gaynell Boyd, 46, and Teresa Boyd, 40.

The four were booked into Santa Barbara County jail on suspicion of passing counterfeit bills, manufacturing counterfeit bills and conspiracy to commit a crime, authorities said.

Dodson was also charged with being under the influence of a controlled substance, while Somchith was booked for an outstanding warrant for forgery, officials said.

Kelly Hoover, a spokeswoman for the Sheriff's Office, said "it can tricky to determine if a bill is counterfeit or not."

"Fortunately, we were lucky that someone at the casino contacted us," she said.

She said anyone who suspects a bill is counterfeit should not confront the person passing it but instead call police as soon as possible.

Hoover said her office has contacted the U.S. Secret Service, and the investigation is ongoing.

The Sheriff's Office is warning people to especially be on the lookout for $100 bills with serial numbers FF 01708518 C or CC 01414148 C. If you have one of those bills or another that looks counterfeit, call the Sheriff's Office at 683-2724 or leave an anonymous tip at 681-4171.

For more information on counterfeit bills, visit USCurrency.gov.
RICHARD QUINN/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Oxnard resident Al Velasquez (center) holds up a sign as he speaks Tuesday night to the City Council to express opposition to rate hikes for city utilities.

SHARE RICHARD QUINN/SPECIAL TO THE STAR A crowd gathers Tuesday in the lobby of the Oxnard City Hall to watch the City Councils hearing on rate increases for city utilities. The overflow crowd was allowed to watch the meeting on closed-circuit television. RICHARD QUINN/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Oxnard resident David Littell speaks Tuesday night to the City Council in support of proposed rate hikes for city utilities. Littell said he felt the rates were necessary to upgrade the water system, but that the increases should be reviewed in a year. RICHARD QUINN/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Oxnard resident Darrell Harvey speaks Tuesday night to the Oxnard City Council in opposition to rate hikes for city utilities.

By Gretchen Wenner of the Ventura County Star

For starters, big utility rate hikes in Oxnard are moving ahead after a split City Council decision.

But the rate hikes' approval is only part of what happened during a six-hour hearing Tuesday night.

An unusual protest effort with the professional trappings of a political campaign drew what might be a record crowd to City Hall. And the man spearheading the rate-hike opposition says he might yet take the fight to the ballot box.

Tuesday's session marked the end of a complicated rate-setting process that started in July. In practical terms, a trio of 4-1 votes set in motion a series of annual increases for residents' water, sewer and trash bills that will start March 1.

More than half an hour before the council hearing began at 6 p.m., it was clear that turnout would be big.

Aaron Starr, a former City Council candidate now leading the campaign against rate hikes he says are excessive, was in the council chambers with a box full of clipboards as seats filled up. He stood up and addressed the crowd, asking if anyone would like to volunteer for a signature-gathering effort if the council ended up approving the increases.

If enough valid voters' signatures are gathered, Starr told attendees, they could force a referendum. Many signed up.

A typical Oxnard household pays $104.40 a month for its combined city utilities bill, city figures show. That could go up 20 percent starting in March to $125.57. Additional annual bumps could push the total as high as $166.80 in January 2020. That's nearly 60 percent more than the current rate, or about $749 more per household per year. The city says the new rates are a maximum and actual adjustments might be lower.

Councilman Bryan MacDonald voted against increases for each of the three utility services, which were voted on separately.

While rate hikes are often unpopular, Oxnard's process unfolded amid an atypical backdrop.

Starr's group, Moving Oxnard Forward, sent mailers with postage-paid protest cards to every Oxnard address. It paid for a phone campaign telling residents about the increases and urging them to attend Tuesday's hearing. The group put up 50 large banners around the city and posted analyses on its website. It also posted a letter opposing the hikes from the city's former public works chief.

The turnout Tuesday showed the campaign was effective.

An estimated 419 residents came to the hearing, according to the city's count. Council chambers maxed out at 170 for the proceedings and the rest were directed to overflow rooms in three nearby buildings and the lobby. Some called it a record crowd, at least in recent memory.

Thousands of residents turned in protest letters that, in theory, could have halted the rate-raising process.

In all, 4,839 protest ballots were counted during Tuesday's hearing, according to City Clerk Daniel Martinez. Of those, about 2,685 were postcards from the Moving Oxnard Forward mailers.

Governed by state law, the protest process for utility rate hikes sets a nearly insurmountable bar for a large municipality like Oxnard. It essentially requires more than half of all ratepayers to turn in protest ballots. That would have meant roughly 18,000 ballots for Oxnard, according to city estimates.

Starr, who might run for council in November's election, said Wednesday his group's attorneys are researching ballot-box options for further action.

A referendum, which would halt the rate-hike ordinance before it takes effect in March, might require gathering more than 7,500 valid signatures in 30 days, he said.

But pursuing an initiative would give the group more time, he said. The down side would be that an initiative to repeal the increases would take effect after rates have risen, he said.

"We are weighing our options for how voters will have an opportunity to weigh in on the decision," he said.

Herb Gooch, a political science professor at California Lutheran University, said if the group's fight moves to the ballot box, it will fall under California's system of referendums and initiatives that allow grass-roots groups and special interests to affect policy  something seen as both a pro and a con by observers.

It's perhaps fitting that the campaign is taking place in Ventura County's largest city, where twists and turns in the political arena are part of the historic fabric.

"Oxnard is fascinating," Gooch said. "The politics of Oxnard are filled with surprises."
Chioma Gray (left) is kissed by her mother, Francine Black, as her father, Desmond Gray, looks on after she arrived at Los Angeles International Airport from Mexico on Wednesday evening.

SHARE Andrew Joshua Tafoya Chioma Gray shakes hands with attorney Tim Quinn after arriving at Los Angeles International Airport from Mexico on Wednesday. Quinn is representing Joshua Andrew Tafoya, who disappeared with Gray on Dec. 13, 2007, when she was 15. Chioma Gray speaks with attorneys Tim Quinn (center) and Phil Dunn soon after arriving at Los Angeles International Airport from Mexico on Wednesday evening. Quinn is representing Joshua Andrew Tafoya, who disappeared with Gray on Dec. 13, 2007, when she was 15.

By Adam Foxman,Teresa Rochester

The lawyer representing Andrew Joshua Tafoya, who returned to California this week along with a 19-year-old Ventura girl who disappeared nearly four years ago, said he thinks the pair got married in Mexico.

Ventura attorney Tim Quinn said Thursday he understood that his client and Chioma Gray were married and that she wants to be with him. Quinn said he had not verified the marriage.

M. Cristina Armenta, an attorney representing Gray's family, said the teenager denied being married when asked by a family member.

On Thursday, as Gray spent time with her family a day after returning from Mexico, Tafoya, 24, made his first appearance in Ventura County Superior Court. His arraignment on charges of felony child stealing and a felony probation violation was postponed to Tuesday.

Quinn said the probation violation allegation relates to an earlier case in which Tafoya was charged with unlawful sex with a minor, Gray, who was 14 at the time. The relationship was consensual, Quinn added.

Francine Black, Gray's mother, said her daughter's first day at home was perfect.

"It feels like she never left," Black said. "She is so happy and content."

Black said Gray spent the day reminiscing with her siblings, seeing visitors and learning about her family's efforts to find her.

"She couldn't believe it," Black said. "It sort of made me feel like she was under the impression that we were not looking."

Gray and Tafoya arrived Wednesday night at Los Angeles International Airport, where Ventura police met them.

U.S. Marshals arranged to have the two flown to California from Mexico, where they were living, according to police. Tafoya was taken into custody, while Gray had a tearful reunion with her family.

Gray, a former student at Buena High School in Ventura, was last seen by her family on Dec. 13, 2007, when she was 15. According to witnesses, she got into a stolen car that day driven by Tafoya, then 20, who had been released from jail the night before. Tafoya had served a seven-month sentence for the unlawful sex with a minor charge.

The pair were photographed later that day by a screening camera at the Mexican border, which showed the license plate of the stolen car.

Black hired private investigator Chuck Hookstra, a retired Oxnard assistant police chief, when the trail went cold.

In 2010, Hookstra found the stolen car with flat tires and parked in a compound near Acapulco, Mexico. Hookstra also found where the two lived. They apparently worked at a small vacation spot, where Tafoya taught snorkeling and Gray was a waitress.

Black has sued Tafoya and his parents in Los Angeles County Superior Court, alleging custodial interference, intentional infliction of emotional distress and aiding and abetting interference with custodial relations.

Armenta said she plans to sue the Ventura County Probation Department, which she said ignored internal protocols when it failed in 2007 to advise Gray or her family that Tafoya was being released from jail.

Alan Hammerand, chief deputy for probation services, said the department could not comment because of the pending litigation.

Some details about Tafoya and Gray's return to California remain unclear. Tafoya called Black on Sept. 1, told her Gray was in trouble and asked whether she could come get the teenager, Black said. Black said she asked where her daughter was but did not get an answer.

Quinn declined to comment on that call, citing privacy concerns. He said that after he was contacted and told Tafoya and Gray wanted to come home, he got in touch with U.S. Marshals and that they made it happen.

The marshals did not know where Tafoya and Gray were, Quinn added, but a meeting was arranged and they came back on their own. He said he understood that Gray voluntarily went with Tafoya to Mexico in 2007.

He said he didn't want to discuss other details out of respect for Gray's privacy.

"I think everyone's happy that they're back home," Quinn said. "It's been very difficult for both families."
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A 21-year-old Latina approached the mic on the stage in a packed Des Moines, Iowa, auditorium where Hillary Clinton sat. It was the Brown and Black presidential forum, and Thalia Anguiano's soft demeanor gave no hint of the hard-hitting question ahead.

Then the college student from Chicago politely asked Clinton to "tell us what the term white privilege means to you," and to offer "an example from your life or career when you think you have benefited from it."

Hefty applause and cheers followed, not out of disdain for a privileged white woman but out of appreciation for the acknowledgment of white privilege the question provided. Clinton responded with references to the advantages of her middle-class upbringing, which she used to attribute to luck.

Fifty-two years since the Civil Rights Act, and 48 years since the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, the issue of race seems to be cropping up with increasing frequency in a variety of contexts. Race still separates our communities and schools, even if that divide is now dictated not by law but by economics. There's a racial angle to climate change, college admissions, prison growth, deportation, and rancor between the president and Congress. Anguiano, in a later interview, even spoke of "colorism" within minority communities like hers. "Everyone identifies as Latino, but if you have dark skin, you have less chances of getting a job," said the brown-skinned young woman.

She didn't mention the two lighter-skinned Latinos, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, running for president on the Republican side. Cruz, who apparently sees no white privilege, accuses Clinton of political correctness for saying "Black lives matter." On the other side, some Latinos took to Twitter to accuse Clinton of pandering to their communities by likening herself to their "abuela." They compared the adversities their grandmothers faced to Clinton's privileges.

These are testy times all around. Even the first black president isn't immune to criticism for his policies toward minorities. President Barack Obama is under fire for deporting more immigrants than all previous presidents  and especially, of late, mothers and young children. Still, Cruz calls the president "an apologist for radical Islamic terrorism." And though he had no problem with Trump's birther claims against Obama, Cruz now finds himself forced to defend against the same from Trump.

Every time Trump scapegoats a minority group, his numbers rise  whether that's calling undocumented Latinos rapists, or pledging to bar all Muslims. So it can cost his Republican opponents to disagree, which Jeb Bush, Chris Christie and John Kasich all did over his anti-Muslim stance. And after Republican South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley called on Trump (without using his name) not to "follow the siren call of the angriest voices," conservative radio host Laura Ingraham called that an "insane, intimidating, demonizing and lame attempt to dismantle the growing populist movement in this country." Ann Coulter tweeted that Trump should "deport Nikki Haley," who is of Indian origin.

Lord Krishna! What's going on here?

This rancor is apparently more than mild-mannered Ben Carson can take. At one point after last week's debate, after asking to be awoken when it was his turn, Carson exclaimed: "We have race wars, gender wars, income wars, religious wars, age wars. Everything you mention, we have people at each other's throats.  Where did that spirit come from in America? Our strength is our unity."

Or did we ever really have it?

Certainly, police killings of unarmed black men have heightened political divisions. But it's only new that they're now captured on cellphones. All the Democratic candidates have denounced police racial profiling, but not the highest-polling Republicans. Trump declares police to be "the most mistreated people in this country." And Cruz pledges to them, "I will have your back."

Away from the partisan rancor, people of color who turned out for a forum in Iowa, organized by Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement Action Fund, shared their own anomalous situations. Board member Lori Young said being black and female has "influenced my socioeconomic status and my human experience  oftentimes beyond my control." Her sons, she said, have beaten the odds because they're still alive at ages 30 and 24, are fully employed and have never been imprisoned.

So Monday's Martin Luther King holiday came amid a mixed bag of progress and regress. The candidates most likely to succeed a black president include a woman, a Jew and two Latinos. But our cities are in turmoil. Communities of color struggle disproportionately from income inequality and incarceration. And we're not even having the same conversations. Where some see white privilege, others see minorities and women getting ahead at their expense. That's reflected in the popularity of unconventional candidates Trump and Sanders, who frame the national malaise in terms, respectively, of weakness or greed.

What would King think? If nothing else, he'd be encouraged by the new spirit of activism that has young people like Thalia Anguiano speaking their truths to people in power.

Rekha Basu is a columnist for the Des Moines Register. Email her at rbasu@dmreg.com.
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It's time for local governments, and concerned citizens, to step up to guarantee that the West Ventura County Winter Warming Shelter stays open through the end of March.

Forecasters tell us that we are weeks away (if that long) from the onslaught of an El Nino winter with regular storms striking the area from late January through February and probably into March, or later. The shelter needs to be available to provide nightly protection from the elements for the 100 or more homeless individuals who now go to the Oxnard armory.

The shelter needs about $50,000 to make sure it meets that March 31 date.

There is an application in place with a state agency for $75,000 which would cover that cost, but there is not assurance it will be approved, or if the money would arrive in time to pay the $2,600 a night it takes to run the shelter. A public fundraising campaign has generated only $5,600 so far.

There are many forces at play in the West County on the proper long-term approach to dealing with the area's homeless population. One faction supports a permanent, and permanently funded, year-round shelter. Another faction supports no shelter, even on a temporary basis. One faction supports efforts by volunteers to provide daily handout meals in parks. Another faction says those efforts are counterproductive to long-term solutions for individuals.

There will be plenty of time to continue those debates, and to re-examine the area's 10-year plan to end homelessness, when the storms pass.

But in the meantime, we know the need exists and it is real. We cannot imagine the communities and residents of the West County will stand by and close the doors to the only shelter for the homeless population during such a critical time.

We urge the cities of Oxnard and Ventura, and the county of Ventura, to find an additional $10,000 appropriation each to keep the shelter going. We know that the elected bodies of each have already stepped up with money, but now it's time to dig just a little deeper.

We also would urge the Downtown Ventura Organization, which is the fiscal receiver for the shelter funds and has been deeply involved in the homeless discussion in that city, to reach out to its members for donations for the shelter. We would hope the Oxnard Chamber of Commerce, the Heritage Square association or other business groups in that city would do the same.

The area faith-based community has been deeply involved in this issue and has been anxious to work with local governments to seek viable solutions to the homeless problem. Now would be a good time for those leaders to ask their congregations to provide short-term financial aid.

We urge each of you to take a moment to help. You can donate online at http://www.downtownventura.org/shelter or by sending a check to Downtown Ventura Organization, P.O. Box 1414, Ventura CA 93002.

We are too good a community to force our homeless population out in the rain. It's time for all of us to help.
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Re: your Jan. 18 article, Black in Ventura County:

My family and I lived in Sacramento during the 1960's, and we were disturbed when our church pastor went to Alabama to participate in Martin Luther King Jr.'s Selma march. We have never been favorably impressed by demonstrations of any kind. Shortly thereafter, we came to respect Reverend King as one of the most important people in our nation's history. We were encouraged to become "color blind," and believe me, that's what we did. Love is color blind.

We have become good friends with a few black people, and it seldom occurs to us that they are "different." Once every year or two, we skip out of our regular church and enjoy attending the Olivet Baptist Church here in Ventura, an almost entirely black congregation, and we are treated like any other person. There doesn't seem to be any dissatisfaction with life in Ventura.

Your front page article quotes some prominent black people who are unhappy because they are underrepresented in Ventura County politics, owing to the low black population here. Also, almost all social activity data, such as voting and poll results are always broken down by race. What happened to being color blind?

Roger Muir,

Ventura


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I write in support of Mayor Pro Tem Dr. Irene G. Pinkard, candidate for mayor of the city of Oxnard.

During this past year, three California cities, San Bernardino, Mammoth Lakes and Stockton have declared bankruptcy. During the same period, the city of Oxnard has been able to maintain a stable workforce of approximately 1,700, not lay off any employees, not cut back services in any substantial way, and end the fiscal year with a General Reserve Fund balance of $15 million. These results were not achieved by accident but through the concerted efforts of astute leadership and progressive policies. I applaud outgoing Mayor Tom Holden for his leadership

Mayor Pro Tem Pinkard has waged a positive campaign. She has not focused on the past problems, or slandered the dedicated employees of Oxnard with unspecified and sensational charges of corruption. Perhaps that is why she has received the support and endorsements of the Oxnard police, firefighters and so many other unions, organizations and prominent citizens. She has been a strong proponent of responsible growth, knowing that our future will be one of prosperity if we are not stagnant. Growth brings added jobs and revenue, both of which are necessary if we are to avoid the pitfalls of so many other municipalities.

Mayor Pro Tem Pinkard brings vast experience to the forefront. She is a deliberative decision maker and is not afraid to make difficult decisions. She has integrity and strong moral makeup and wants to serve all of the residents of Oxnard as a full-time mayor. If you want responsible growth, jobs, a full-time mayor, an experienced public servant, and one who does not shy away from difficult decisions, then join me in voting for Mayor Pro Tem Dr. Irene G. Pinkard.

Crittenden K. Ward,

Oxnard


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Re: your Jan. 17 article, Channel Island Harbor vision unveiled:

There are compelling issues that were not raised on Jan. 16. The most significant issues at the prior presentation were traffic and parking.



The ingress and egress on both Channel Islands Boulevard and south Victoria Avenue require serious rethinking as part of the environmental review. The intersection of Channel Islands and Victoria is now a C- or D. Development in progress at Hemlock and Victoria and an upcoming Hueneme development a few yards north of the intersection will, with the harbor plan and the base traffic, make this impassable at peak hours. The community requested to work with the traffic consultants as prior traffic studies for other harbor projects missed a lot of issues.



Parking seems insufficient if restaurants have large events. There was mention of valet, but that has proved unpopular at Seabridge. The podium, a cement slab on which the cars will sit, is the first story, raising the project to 60 feet, so a height waiver will be needed from the Coastal Commission. In addition, the four acres added to the present Wharf footprint is part of the boat launch, and that will require a variance.



The developer appears responsive to the community. We seem to want the same thing  an end to the slum this area has become and a destination that will draw visitors to the harbor. With this in mind, we hope the developers were serious in agreeing to consider the relocation of Oxnards beloved Gull Wings Museum to this site, along with the expansion and public access to the very worthy Sea Center now operated by Oxnard College. This, along with the promised display of antique French cars belonging to Peter Mullin, one of the partners, would provide the visitor draw to our once hopping, now decrepit wharf.



How about a public naming contest so we retain the marine concept? The Paseos seems a tad overused and not representative of a waterside attraction.



Lauraine Effress,

Oxnard
The Palazzo launched its inaugural wine walk, Stroll. Swirl. Shop., featuring 7 wineries and 28 wines from across the country on March 26 at The Shoppes at The Palazzo. All net proceeds from the event will benefit Three Square, the Las Vegas food bank that serves more than 200 agencies throughout Southern Nevada.

With The Shoppes at The Palazzo as the scene for the stylish event, guests tasted the wines and admired the designs as they strolled throughout the luxurious venue enjoying live jazz music from local artist David Van Such and cuisine from Dos Caminos and Woo. The wineries presenting at Stroll. Swirl. Shop. included Diageo Chateau & Estate Wines, Fosters Wine Estates, Icon Estates, Lion Nathan USA, Rodney Strong Vineyards, Ste. Michelle Wine Estates and Southern Wine & Spirits Sake.

Toasting to prevent hunger, The Palazzo, through The Venetian Foundation, will donate all net proceeds from tickets sales to Three Square. Three Square is the valleys food hub; a central location where donated and rescued food is collected and distributed to more than 200 agencies valley-wide. Three Square provides bakery, produce, dairy, non-perishable products and ready-to-eat meals to non-profit and faith-based organizations. With their mission to provide wholesome food to hungry people, while passionately pursuing a hunger free community, Three Square is a place for community members to meet, serve and collaborate as part of the food solution.

For additional information please visit www.threesquare.org.
The Congress is themed Promoting the building of a spotless and strong Party, while putting into play the strength of the entire nation and socialist democracy, stepping up reform comprehensively and synchronously, firmly safeguarding the Fatherland and maintaining a peaceful and stable environment, and striving to turn Vietnam into a modernity-oriented industrialised country.

The participants include 197 official and alternate members of the 11th Party Central Committee. Meanwhile, 1,300 delegates were elected at congresses of the centrally-run Party organisations, and 13 others were appointed.

Among them, 194 are women and 174 are ethnic minority people. Ten people hold the titles of Hero of the Peoples Armed Forces or Hero of Labour, and 20 others own the titles of the Peoples Teacher or Meritorious Teacher. Fifteen are bestowed with the Peoples Doctor or Meritorious Doctor titles, while one is a Meritorious Artist title holder. 55 delegates are professors, associate professors or academicians, 241 have doctorate degrees, 511 hold masters degrees, and 757 have bachelors degrees. Regarding political theory standard, 1,501 participants hold bachelors or higher-level political theory degrees.

Two of the delegates are under 30 years old, 65 are aged between 31 and 40, and 384 people between 41 and 50. The majority 992 participants are aged between 51 and 60, and 64 between 61 and 70.

In his opening speech, President Truong Tan Sang emphasised that the 12th National Party Congress took place in an important period of time for Vietnam as the Party and the people of Vietnam had completed goals set out in the 11th National Party Congress five years ago.

The 12th National Party Congress is the congress of solidarity, democracy and reform, Sang said.

Also in this morning session, Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong presented to the Congress the 11th Party Central Committees report on the documents of the 12th National Party Congress.

Trong told the Congress the reports six important tasks for the 12th Party Central Committee including: to strengthen the Party, particularly building up the core staff, to develop and purify the mechanism of the political system in an effective manner, to reinforce the fight against corruption and bureaucracy, to focus on the quality of economic growth, labour productivity and competitiveness, to affirm defense and national security and to promote all resources and creativeness of the people.

The new points of the draft documents highlight the promotion of the strength of Vietnamese people, with the themes of this congress aiming at promoting socialist democracy, firmly safeguarding the nation, and maintaining a peaceful and stable environment.

The draft documents also stress a determination to achieve the goal of turning Vietnam into a modern industrialised country, but leaving open the exact time for Vietnam to achieve this goal.

In terms of economy, the draft documents underlined the need to actively renew the growth model, strengthen institutions, develop a socialist-oriented market economy, and continue improving Party consciousness in the economy. According to the draft Socio-Economic Development Plan during 2016-2020, Vietnam will strive for an annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 6.5-7 per cent per annum and GDP per capita will reach $3,200-$3,500 by 2020.

In the fields of socio-culture and environment, the draft documents focus on issues related to the basic and comprehensive renovation of education and training, human resources development, science and technology application, cultural development, and social management, as well as the realisation of social progress, equality, and security.

The draft documents also affirm the importance of defence and national security and will examine new points and solutions in protecting the nation, building the peoples army and police forces, and synchronously implementing an independent and self-reliant foreign policy.

With regards to the building of the Party and the political system, the draft documents highlight the importance of strongly promoting all resources and creativeness of people and respecting differences which do not go against the nations common interests.

In this afternoon session, the Congress delegates will discuss the draft documents of the 12th National Party Congress.
Promoting the strength of the populace and the socialist democracy, stepping up reforms comprehensively and synchronously, firmly safeguarding the nation and maintaining a peaceful and stable environment, as well as striving to soon turn Vietnam into a modern industrialised country are among the themes of the Congress, which takes place every five years.

According to the Congress organising board, the 8-day event during January 20-28, will focus on reviewing the implementation of the 11th Congresss Resolution, and the outcomes of the 30-year reform process. Vietnams doi moi policy was a milestone of the sixth National Party Congress in December 1986, which outlined the comprehensive reforms focusing on economic policy and maintaining political stability to ensure the success of the renovation process.

The delegates will also discuss and approve several important documents, including the 11th Party Central Committees Political Report, a report reviewing the implementation of socioeconomic development tasks during 2011-2015 and putting forth directions and tasks for 2016-2020, and also a report reviewing the leadership of the 11th Party Central Committee.

Particularly, a new leadership board for the Communist Party of Vietnams Central Committee, Party General Secretary, President and National Assembly Chairman will be announced on January 28. The new Party Central Committee is expected to consist of 180 official members and 20 alternate members, as was said by Vice Chairman of the Party Central Committees Commission on Organisation Mai Van Chinh, who is also a member of the Party Central Committee.

The 12th National Party Congress will gather 1,510 delegates who represent more than 4.5 million Party members nationwide. 650 domestic and more than 100 foreign reporters have registered to cover the 12th Vietnam Party Congress, according to the organising board.

The Draft Documents of the 12th National Party Congress were open for public comments in September 2015. Since then, there have been 26 million comments. The new points of the drafts highlight the promotion of the strength of Vietnamese people, with the themes of this congress aiming at promoting socialist democracy, firmly safeguarding the nation, and maintaining a peaceful and stable environment.

The draft documents also stress a determination to achieve the goal of turning Vietnam into a modern industrialised country, but leaving open the exact time for Vietnam to achieve this goal. Previous Congresses set 2020 as the year for Vietnam to become an industrialised and modernised nation.

In terms of economy, the 12th Congress Draft Documents underlined the need to actively renew the growth model, strengthen institutions, develop a socialist-oriented market economy, and continue improving Party consciousness in the economy. According to the draft Socio-Economic Development Plan during 2016-2020, Vietnam will strive for an annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 6.5-7 per cent per annum and GDP per capita will reach $3,200-$3,500 by 2020.

In the fields of socio-culture and environment, the draft documents focus on issues related to the basic and comprehensive renovation of education and training, human resources development, science and technology application, cultural development, and social management, as well as the realisation of social progress, equality, and security.

Draft documents also affirm the importance of defence and national security and will examine new points and solutions in protecting the nation, building the peoples army and police forces, and synchronously implementing an independent and self-reliant foreign policy.

With regards to the building of the Party and the political system, the draft documents highlight the importance of strongly promoting all resources and creativeness of people and respecting differences which do not go against the nations common interests.
The province, 300km southwest of Hanoi, is slated to hold the fireworks celebration on Vietnamese Lunar New Years Eve, February 7, even though it remains on the list of recipients of the governments food aid program.

People in many of Nghe Ans remote and mountainous areas still live in poverty, especially at this time of the year, when old rice crops have been harvested and the new ones are months away from yield.

This year the province was given more than 3,600 metric tons of rice to help local needy people, while the grant last year was over 5,400 metric tons.

More than 241,000 local residents will each receive 15kg of rice, according to a decision signed by the provinces deputy chairman Hoang Viet Duong.

The provincial chairman Nguyen Xuan Duong, in the meantime, has also signed another fiat to form a steering board tasked with organizing the fireworks display for Vietnams Lunar New Year, or Tet.

The board, consisting of officials from the departments of culture and finance, and the provincial military command, is required to organize the pyrotechnic show safely and appropriately, according to the document.

Nguyen Hai Nam, deputy head of the provinces administration office, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Tuesday that the low-range fireworks display will last 15 minutes at the central park in Vinh, the provinces capital.

Nam said the plan has been approved by higher authorities, and refused to say how much the show costs, as well as how it will be funded.

The provincial administration has tasked the finance department with preparing the cost estimates for the celebration, he said.

We can use both the local budget and mobilize sponsorships from private sources.

An official from the finance department said it has yet to start calculating the estimates because its cultural counterpart has not finalized the fireworks plan.

In the meantime, a local military source said a 15-minute, low-range fireworks show normally costs VND500 million (US$22,321) to VND600 million ($26,786).

In previous years the Tet fireworks displays were held to create a happy and joyful experience for local people, and those shows were partly funded by private investors, he said.

But the private funding was modest and the provinces budget had to cover the majority of the cost.
On December 26, the MoIT issued a decision to investigate steel ingots and steel bars imported to Vietnam, following a proposal by four companies, namely Hoa Phat, Vietnam Steel Corporation subsidiary Southern Steel Company, Thai Nguyen Iron and Steel Joint Stock Corporation, and Vietnam-Italy Steel.

The proposed Period of Investigation is from January 1, 2012 to September 30, 2015. The investigation will be carried out within six months and an official decision will be delivered soon after.

The four companies proposed raising the import tariff to 45 per cent on steel ingots and to 33 per cent on steel bars. They also proposed that the ministry apply these tariffs temporarily in 200 days before issuing its official decision.

These four companies currently account for 38.6 per cent of the countrys steel ingot and 34.2 per cent of steel bar output. These percentages meet the criteria for them to propose the investigation, with the minimum being 25 per cent, according to chapter 10 of Ordinance 42/2002/PL-UBTVQH10 on trade defence.

The reason, according to the four companies, is the remarkable increase in import of these products. Specifically, the import of steel ingots rose from 466,817 tonnes in 2012 to 1.5 million tonnes in 2015, while that of steel bars rose from 387,470 to 1.215 million tonnes during the same period.

The companies argued that they were forced to reduce the capacity of their production lines to 40-50 per cent for steel ingot and 50-55 per cent for steel bars. They also claimed to see a big decrease in market share, and that inventories increased remarkably over the period. Specifically, in 2015 inventories were 70 per cent higher than in 2014. Also, profits decreased sharply.

Some companies opposed the decision. Two weeks after the ministry issued its decision to investigate, Pomina, Vinausteel, Nasteel Vina, Thep Uc, Vinakyoei, Vietnam Germany Steel Joint Stock Company, and BCH JSC petitioned the prime minister, the MoIT, the MoF, the VSA, and the Competition Authority, not to apply the tariff on steel ingot.

They said the import volume of steel ingot in the 2008-2010 period was even higher than the 1.25 million tonnes in 2015.

Moreover, the steel sector has been operating below capacity in the production of all types of steel products, from steel ingots through steel pipes to construction steel, because many provinces want to house a steel factory and companies have built factories with an overall capacity of two or three times the aggregate demand. Many production lines use old technologies, productivity is lacking, and the management capacity is low, making the products not competitive.

They said that the handful domestic steel ingot producers are going to benefit, while the rest of the sector will lose out on the proposed change. If the tariff, 9 per cent as of the end of 2015, rises to 45 per cent, the price of domestic steel ingot is going to rise dramatically, and all steel producers in Vietnam will depend on these few companies. A representative from this side of the argument stated that the change is geared towards creating unfair competition.

Many steel companies in Vietnam still have to import steel ingot because the products of domestic companies are not enough and are not of consistent quality. The tariff is going to cause a rise in the price of steel products and consumers are going to suffer, the representative said.
US Secretary of State John Kerry (L) shakes hands with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Zurich on Jan 20, 2016. (AFP/Jacquelyn Martin)

PARIS: Western leaders injected fresh urgency into the fight against the Islamic State group on Wednesday, vowing to destroy its "power centres", while Russia announced crucial Syrian peace talks would begin within days.

After meeting with key allies in Paris, US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter vowed to crush what he called the IS "cancer" by "collapsing its two power centres in Raqa and Mosul" and combating "the metastasis of the ISIL tumour worldwide."

At the same time, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced Syria peace talks would start "in the next few days" after he met US Secretary of State John Kerry in Zurich.

Iran also said it would throw its weight behind a political solution, with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif telling the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Switzerland "there is no military solution to the crisis."

Russia and Iran are accused of propping up their ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and Western powers say Moscow is indiscriminately bombing Syrian opposition forces fighting IS.

"The Russians are on the wrong track strategically and also in some cases tactically," Carter said. "We don't have a basis for broader cooperation (with Russia)," Carter said.

Lavrov, by contrast, insisted Russia was willing to "more closely coordinate our actions" with the coalition to facilitate aid deliveries in Syria.

The meeting in Paris comprised defence ministers from Australia, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the United States.

Carter announced an unprecedented meeting of 26 defence ministers in the anti-IS coalition, plus Iraq, to be held in Brussels in three weeks and warned he would demand greater effort.

"Every nation must come prepared to discuss further contributions to the fight and I will not hesitate to engage and challenge current and prospective members of the coalition as we go forward," he said.

Carter has repeatedly urged other countries in the approximately 60-member coalition to step up participation in the military effort, particularly Arab and Gulf countries that are more focused on fighting Iran-backed forces in Yemen.

'DAESH IS RETREATING'

Ministers were keen to tout progress in the campaign. "Daesh is retreating, it is time to increase our joint efforts by implementing a coherent military strategy," French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told reporters. Daesh is another name for IS, which is also called ISIL.

IS has lost around a quarter of its self-proclaimed caliphate, including the Iraqi city of Ramadi to US-backed local forces last month.

A Britain-based monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said on Tuesday that IS has announced plans to halve the monthly pay of its members in Syria and Iraq. The financial strain could be a result of intensified air strikes on its oil infrastructure, a key source of revenue for the group.

But the coalition faces a rapidly spreading threat around the world, notably in Libya where political chaos has allowed IS to build an estimated 3,000-strong force. The West also lacks allies on the ground in Syria, since most opposition groups are focused on toppling Assad.

US, Australian and French instructors have already trained 15,000 Iraqi soldiers, notably against improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and vehicle suicide attacks that are the IS weapons of choice.

But Western forces remain reluctant to get too deeply involved, fearing a repeat of the quagmire of previous campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Australia has already ruled out any increase to its military contribution, and Canada was pointedly absent from Wednesday's meeting after its new government said it would pull out of the bombing campaign.

RUSSIA STRIKES

IS showed its continued threat this week, taking 400 people hostage when it attacked the eastern Syrian town of Deir Ezzor. Some 270 have since been released.

Russia said on Wednesday it had bombed the area in the past day, and delivered 50 tonnes of humanitarian aid to the town. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed the bombings and said heavy clashes were continuing between regime and IS fighters.

Meanwhile, UN-brokered Syrian peace talks are tentatively set for next Monday in Geneva. Lavrov said they were expected to start "in the next few days," despite disagreements over who will represent the opposition.

Syria's largest opposition coalition on Wednesday picked Islamist rebel chief Mohammed Alloush, who has the support of Saudi Arabia, but it has demanded the exclusion of other parties, including Kurdish fighters who have been one of the most capable forces against IS.
Each morning, Phan Kha drags her cart full of mussels through the streets of Phnom Penh. She pulls the cart up to 20 kilometers a day, and on a good day, she makes $10.

The cart provides a living, allowing her to pay her $20 in rent each month and to have enough to eat. But on a recent morning, Phan Kha, 59, said she has few options. She did not have a high school education, and she has a family of eight grandchildren to help care for.

Sometimes I could make 50,000 riel, or sometimes 60,000 riel, she said. It depends. Sometimes the cart stays full, as it is now.

There are many Cambodian women like her, forced into menial labor by a lack of opportunity and education. And as US Secretary of State John Kerry prepares for a visit next week, Phan Khas story and others highlight the huge challenges faced by policymakers in creating more gender equality for women and more opportunities for Cambodias poor, in general.

The World Bank says that though Cambodia has greatly reduced its poverty rate, a vast majority of families who escaped poverty were only able to do so by a small margin. That has left a huge number of near-poor, about 90 percent of Cambodians living in rural areas. Of Cambodias 15 million people, 3 million are poor and 8.1 million are near-poor.

Not far from Phan Kha and her cart, Talaois Sarifas, 44, was accompanying a relative to a hospital. She is a fisherman from Kampong Cham province, making about 15,000 riel, or less than $4, on a good day, she said. These days, fish are very scarce. I can only catch one or two fish sometimes per day.

Some days, she thinks about finding work in Malaysia, but both her mother and her children are in her care. The difficulty is that Im poor, and my children are studying, she said. I would like to have a small shop to sell clothes from, but I dont have any money.

Nearby, Touch Dany, a 32-year-old soft drink vendor, has her own mobile cart. She works from early in the morning until after dark and returns home to chores and children. After the business, when I get back home, I have to do the kitchen things and tidy the house, she said. Sometimes she doesnt go to bed until midnight.

All three women were found around one street in Phnom Penh. And it could have been any street. In the countryside, things are even more economically dire. Finding ways to improve the lives of Cambodian women is a major undertaking.

USAIDs senior coordinator for gender equality and womens empowerment, Susan Markham, told VOA Khmer on a visit to Cambodia last year that improving the lives of women here require robust institutions to tackle poverty. And thats not only in the government, but in the private sector.

Its really a whole wrap of factors that come together, she said. You need good governance, from the parliamentary level all the way down to the local level. You need to have people being educated and feeling that education is actually important for jobs. So it is a wide range of factors that need to be addressed.
A Cambodian lawmaker says the US and Cambodia have so far forged a good relationship, but there is room for improvement.

In a rare speaking engagement, Hun Many, a son of Prime Minister Hun Sen and lawmaker for the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party, told an audience in Washington on Wednesday there are good prospects for the two countries.

But it starts with us trying to understand each other, trying to put ourselves in each others shoes, and [understand that] any decision is actually rational, in regards to the perspective of our own national interests, he said.

Hun Many, who spoke at the US-Korean Institute under Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies, said Cambodia needs more friends than just the US and China. We dont only look at narrow spectrum of, Okay, I choose only this friend over this friend, he said.

Conor Cronin, a research associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, who attended the discussion, said that in the current context it is possible for a stronger relationship between the US and Cambodia.

I think the US wants to be close, but they dont want to ignore human rights abuses, he said. They dont want to ignore issues with corruption and governance in Cambodia. So I think the US does want to be closer with Cambodia, and Cambodia wants to be closer with the United States, but they need to iron out certain differences before thats going to be possible.

However, more work needs to be done to convince others, like Michael Doung, a Cambodian-American who attended the talk.

Hun Many and other lawmakers have done little to help Cambodias youth, who are migrating in high numbers in search of work abroad, Doung said.

There should be broader education for Cambodian youth, quality education, and there should be jobs for them after they graduate, he said. If they have to migrate outside of the country to seek jobs, whats the point of learning? Its just a waste of school tuition fees.
Cambodia must tackle the skills gap to boost the productivity of its labor force in order to grow its economy, a new report issued by the Asian Development Bank and the International Labor Organization says.

Most of the countrys labor force is young, but often not equipped with skills that match business needs, ADB chief economist Shang-Jin Wei said Thursday.

That requires more education and vocational training, along with more information about the labor market and its needs. That also requires more support for the broader economy, as well as small and medium-sized enterprises.

Heng Sour, a spokesman for the Ministry of Labor told VOA Khmer that the government is working toward addressing the skills gap, including in engineering, electronics and mechanics.

We agree with the report, he said. And the government is focusing on implementing the policies into action.

Chan Sophal, an economist in Phnom Penh, said the skills gap is creating youth unemployment, particularly for students after they graduate. That means a loss of income, and revenue, for the country.
The British based human rights group Amnesty International has strongly condemned Turkeys crackdown on Kurdish rebels, accusing the government of collective punishment against the people living in the predominantly Kurdish southeast.

Amnesty Internationals report accuses Turkish security forces of using reckless force with little disregard for civilians lives in military operations against the Kurdish rebel group the PKK.

Alarming situation



Amnesty Turkey researcher Andrew Gardner says the situation is alarming.

"What we have seen, people who killed who are clearly not fighters, old people, young children, these killings are perpetrated by state forces either of which is targeted or in a way which is reckless," he said.



The Amnesty report condemned the widespread use of 24 hour curfews imposed across much of the predominantly Kurdish southeast, in many cases lasting for weeks. Amnestys Gardner says the report calls the curfews collective punishment.

Impact on people's lives



"The impact on the ordinary people living in these areas is in immense, people unable to access emergency health care, not even able to leave their house to get their food, severe cuts to water including drinking water, and electricity. Really a situation which amounts to collective punishment against the tens and thousands of people living in these areas," he said.

Ankara insists all is being done to insure civilian safety, and that it has the right to fight to terrorism. The PKK is designated as a terrorist organization by both Washington and the European Union. Amnesty International also criticized the failure of the international community to sufficiently condemn the ongoing operations.
Security analysts said corporations are reassessing their security profiles following the attacks in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta amid fears of an escalation of violence by Islamic militants on "soft targets" in South East Asia.

The January 14 attack in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta that left eight people dead and 20 wounded has set off alarm bells in the corporate community, and governments, too, which are also looking to step up cooperation in tracing and identifying militants who return from the Middle East.

Neil Fergus, chief executive of Sydney-based consultancy Intelligent Risks, said the business community has underestimated the potential impact in South East Asia from militant groups such as Islamic State and its forerunner al-Qaida.

Weve got some urgent requests even as we speak from Fortune 500 companies to give them advice on their footprint across East Asia and particularly South East Asia," Fergus said. "I think that international security has underestimated the likely impact of Islamic State and al-Qaida in this part of the world which is extraordinary.

Insurance coverage

Fergus said leading Australian companies are required by law to provide the necessary insurance coverage to protect senior corporate members and local nationals employed by the companies.

The Jakarta attack in a key business and diplomatic area has led to fears among analysts of an escalation in bloodshed from groups aligned with Islamic State, especially on so-called "soft targets."

Steve Vickers, chief executive officer of a Hong Kong based consultancy specializing in political and corporate risk, said militants appear increasingly likely to go for such vulnerable targets.

If you take Jakarta  an attack on a Starbucks (cafe) -- its these attacks I think were going to see a bigger move to softer targets," Vickers said. "What were actually looking at sadly as the year advances is the sort of attacks that will become more prevalent will be the soft targets in public areas with some notional attachment to foreigners.

Detailed plans in place

He said Asia Pacific corporations should have in place detailed plans for monitoring senior executive travel in the Asia Pacific together with solid corporate security."

Analysts said there are grave concerns of a repeat of the deadly 2002 bombing on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, carried out by the locally based Jemaah Islamiya, that claimed more than 200 lives.

Australia is among those calling for greater regional cooperation in information sharing and monitoring the hundreds of Austral-Asia based men and women who have traveled to the Middle East to fight with Islamic State.
President Barack Obama said Wednesday that it is "inexplicable and inexcusable" that residents of Flint, Michigan, were not immediately informed about lead in their drinking water.

"That shouldn't happen anywhere," Obama told CBS television.

On January 16, Obama declared a federal emergency in Flint, freeing up to $5 million in federal aid to help solve the health crisis, but he denied Michigan Governor Rick Snyder's request for a disaster declaration because the contamination was a man-made problem and therefore didn't meet the definition of a "major disaster" under federal law.

"What is inexplicable and inexcusable is once people figured out that there was a problem, and that there was lead in the water, the notion that immediately families weren't notified, things weren't shut down," Obama told CBS.

As Obama headed Wednesday to Detroit, Michigan, to celebrate the re-emergence of the U.S. auto industry, a White House spokesman said Obama was "concerned" that such a self-inflicted public health issue as the one in Flint could occur in the United States. But Obama had no plans to visit Flint, a city not far from Detroit.

The financially ailing city of Flint switched its normal supply of tap water from nearby Detroits system to the even-closer Flint River in 2014 to save money. That water caused dangerous lead in the aging pipes to leach into the city's drinking water.

Lead can cause brain damage, behavior problems and learning disabilities in children.

Flint switched back to Detroit water last October, but the pipes continue to leach lead, and Flint residents are relying on bottled water until the problem is fixed.

Apologies, funding

Snyder  who is facing protests, lawsuits and calls for his resignation over the contamination issue  said state and federal agencies failed to identify and solve the problem after it emerged in April 2014. He has apologized to the residents of Flint.

"Government failed you  federal, state and local leaders  by breaking the trust you placed in us," Snyder said during his annual State of the State address Tuesday.

Snyder called for the state to spend $28 million on fixes. The Michigan House approved the funding request Wednesday.

He promised to continue deliveries of water and filters so that everyone in the city has clean water.

Snyder said the state of Michigan already has dedicated $9 million to making sure people get bottled water, and for replacing fixtures in schools and treating children with elevated lead levels.

Representative Dan Kildee, a Democrat from Flint, said in an interview the $28 million sought by Snyder would not be enough to address Flint's long-term problems  including aiding as many as 9,000 children who may have suffered lead poisoning.

"These kids are going to need help for a long time," Kildee said. Snyder and the legislature need to "step up" and provide funding for long-term efforts beyond fixing the water system.
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has called for a fairer share of the benefits of technological advances, at an annual economic forum in Switzerland.

The meeting of political and economic leaders in the Alpine resort of Davos takes place amid reports of record disparity between the world's few wealthiest people and a growing number of poor and homeless.

One participant has attracted more attention at the forum in Davos this week than any central banker or world leader. The South Korean robot called HUBO is signaling a new era of fast technological innovation that will include mobile phones implanted in the body, 3D-printed organs for transplants and clothing connected to the Internet.

But not everyone will be able to afford them, warned the U.S. vice president.

"Will we end up creating more of a two-tier society than exists today?" Biden asked.

Wealth disparity

Biden spoke days after Oxfam reported that the world's 62 richest people own as much wealth as half of all the world's population. He called for the elimination of offshore tax havens for the rich, and he urged political and business leaders to create opportunities for everyone.

"When people feel that their shot at a decent life is dashed, is eliminated, the inevitable human reaction is anxiety, frustration and anger  providing fertile terrain for reactionary politicians, demagogues peddling xenophobia, anti-immigration, nationalist, isolationist views. And it begins to shred our social fabric in each of our countries. It stirs instability," he said.

Queen Rania of Jordan, where Syrian refugees now make up 20 percent of the population, said short-term solutions lead to long-term distress. She appealed to rich countries to create a special economic zone for the refugees.

"Now, when you do that, not only are you giving the refugee the sense of economic self-suffficiency which will lower the cost of hosting refugees, but you're also giving him skills and training that he'll put to good use once he returns to his country," she said.

One of the main challenges before the global leaders is how to end the spread of terrorism that threatens societies everywhere.
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has arrived in Turkey amid the ongoing fight against the Islamic State militant group and before next week's peace talks in Vienna on Syria.

During his two-day visit Biden is expected to press Turkey to do more to prevent jihadist infiltration through its border with Syria. The visit comes as Ankara is demanding Washington rein in recent gains by the Syrian Kurdish militia, the PYG, against Islamic State militants. Turkey accuses the Syrian Kurdish militia of being linked to PKK rebels, which Turkish forces are fighting.

Sinan Ulgen, visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe in Brussels, says next weeks Syria peace talks in Vienna could prove the thorniest issue for Biden.

"Two differences remain - one is the near-term future of [Syrian President Bashar al-] Assad and the role he will play during this process and, secondly, the set-up of the opposition groups that will be represented at the table. There is no willingness on the Turkish side [for] the presence of the Syrian Kurds," he says.

According to Ulgen, Human rights could also be a difficult issue during the U.S. vice presidents visit.

Turkeys domestic situation concerns primarily the ongoing fight against the PKK, but also beyond the rule of law issues, of which the United States has been critical.

Other issues

Biden is also scheduled to meet with representatives of Turkeys civic society. U.S. ambassador to Turkey, John Bass, last week strongly condemned the prosecution of academics, calling for a resumption of a peace process with the PKK. Ongoing tension between Ankara and Baghdad over Turkey's unauthorized deployment of military forces to Bashiqa in Iraq is also expected to be brought up by Biden; but, efforts to reunite the divided island of Cyprus find both sides in agreement, says political scientist Cengiz Aktar of Istanbuls Suleyman Sah University.

"The reunification talks are going very well; the president of the Republic of Cyprus has just announced a deal can be secured in the course of this year, and, the Americans are very active behind the scenes in these talks, together with the United Nations," Aktar says.

Turkey, along with Greece and Britain, are guarantor countries of Cyprus. Ankara has committed itself to ongoing unification efforts, which observers say Biden has been involved in for decades.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates visited Nigeria this week, where he collaborated with Africas wealthiest man and the governors of several northern states on a new campaign to fight polio and other vaccine-preventable diseases.

The governors of four northern states gathered Wednesday in the city of Kaduna to sign memorandums of understanding with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Dangote Foundation of Africas richest man, Aliko Dangote, along with the U.S. ambassador to Nigeria.

The MOUs kick-off programs that aim to raise childhood vaccination coverage to 80 percent by 2018. Gates Foundation country representative Mairo Mandara says Borno, Yobe, Sokoto and Kaduna states were chosen because they have the greatest need.

They join Kano and Bauchi states, which renewed their pre-existing agreements.

If you look at the whole country, the lowest level of immunization are in these states where these MOUs are signed, Mandara said.

He says vaccination rates are as low as 30 percent in some northern states.

Under the terms of the agreements, the Gates and Dangote foundations and the state governments will split the cost of initiatives like sending out teams to vaccinate children.

Polio

Another goal is to prevent polio from re-emerging. Nigeria has not reported a case of the disease since 2014. The World Health Organization said last year polio was no longer endemic in Nigeria.

But Mandara says there is still work to be done before the country can be declared polio-free.

We need to maintain the immunity of children, the herd immunity so that when children travel to other areas they do not import the disease and bring it back, he said.

Kaduna State Commissioner of Health and Human Services Andrew Jonathan Nok says he believes the new programs will help the state reach 100 percent vaccination coverage.

So by the time we get this fully activated, which means we will even end up getting close to about 100 percent immunization in the respective local governments, he said.

Mandara said she could not say yet how much would be spent on the new programs as the states needs are still being assessed.
Militant group Al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for an attack on a restaurant in the Somali capital that a witness says killed at least two people and injured four others.

Attackers stormed the restaurant of the Lido Beach View Hotel Thursday evening, setting off explosions and firing on guests.

A top Somali intelligence official tells VOA's Somali service that security forces are flushing out the militants from the hotel and have captured the leader of the gunmen.

Earlier, a journalist inside the restaurant told VOA by phone that he could see two bodies and four injured people on the floor. He said that he and more than 20 other people were trapped. The intelligence official says most, but not all, of the people have been rescued.

Security officials declined to comment on the casualty figure.

Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack through a pro-militant radio station in the capital. A spokesman for the group said, "We are inside and control the hotel. Our operation was successful."

Mohamud Hared, the owner of the nearby Indian Ocean Restaurant, told VOA's Somali service that he heard gunfire and two separate explosions.

We heard a heavy gunfire and then explosion followed, gunfire ensued again for 15 minutes and then explosions," Hared said. "We do not know exactly what has happened as we are ducking inside our restaurant.

A reporter for VOA in Mogadishu says government security forces have sealed off roads to and from the restaurant. He says ambulances carrying injured people could be seen coming out of the area.
A federal judge in Brazil authorized President Dilma Rousseff to appear as a witness in an investigation into the use of bribes to influence the passage of legislation, a court spokesman said on Wednesday.

Rousseff, who is not under investigation herself, was called by the defense of businessman Eduardo Valadao, along with other politicians, for the bribery probe known as "Operation Zealots."

Valadao was charged in November with paying bribes to influence passage of legislation to help the auto industry.

Rousseff could provide written testimony or appear in court, the spokesman said, declining to give more details.

The investigation is separate from a better-known probe into corruption at state-run oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA that has ensnared dozens of politicians aligned with Rousseff and weakened her government.

Former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Rousseff's predecessor and political mentor, was also called for questioning in "Operation Zealots" as police are investigating whether a payment to one of his son's companies was a bribe to influence the legislation.
Old foes Britain and Argentina said on Thursday there was an opportunity to open a new chapter in diplomatic relations after a meeting between British Prime Minister David Cameron and newly elected Argentine President Mauricio Macri.

Relations between Britain and Argentina have been fraught since a brief war in 1982 which was triggered by a sovereignty dispute over the Falkland Islands, a British overseas territory in the South Atlantic known as the Malvinas in Argentina.

That tension had been fanned in recent years by former Argentine president Cristina Kirchner, who repeatedly criticized Britain's refusal to discuss the sovereignty of the archipelago.

Cameron met Macri, who was sworn in as president last month, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos and afterwards signalled a possible thawing of relations.

"Both agreed that there was an opportunity to embark on a new chapter in relations between our two countries," a spokeswoman from Cameron's office said in a statement following the meeting.

The statement said they discussed economic reform in Argentina, the expansion of trade and investment links and the Falkland Islands. Cameron's position on the British sovereignty of the islands had not changed, it added.
British Prime Minister David Cameron said Thursday that he was optimistic about the chance of reaching by February 17 a deal to reform the European Union, which would "secure" Britain's future in the 28-nation bloc.

Cameron told leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that he was not asking for anything "outrageous" from them in his reform proposals.

The prime minister said he wanted to make sure that the EU as an organization "is good for those countries that are members of the eurozone, but also good for those countries like Britain that do not want to join the euro," adding that he wanted the eurozone to succeed.

Cameron said a clear set of rules and principles was needed "so that if you are not in the eurozone, you suffer no disadvantage, you are not discriminated against and there is proper fairness between the systems. Now, I think that is achievable."

In presenting his other reform proposals, Cameron said he wanted to "hard-wire" competitiveness into the EU, get Britain out of the idea of an "ever-closer union,'' and implement curbs on migration and benefits.

The prime minister said that if a deal did not emerge at a February summit of EU leaders, he could wait to hold a referendum on Britain's EU membership. His party has pledged to hold a referendum by the end of 2017.
A top British government investigator said Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin probably personally approved the assassination of Alexander Litvinenko, a Russian spy-turned-dissident who was exiled in Britain after criticizing Putin and accusing him  among other things  of being a pedophile.



Robert Owen, a retired judge serving as the inquiry's chairman, announced that his yearlong inquiry had confirmed the Russian state was responsible for the November 2006 poisoning of Litvinenko, carried out by two Russian agents at the Millennium hotel in central London just a few meters from the U.S. Embassy.

For nearly nine years since her husband's death, Marina Litvinenko has been demanding answers. Thursday brought some vindication for her. Speaking to reporters outside the Royal Courts in London, she said she was "of course very pleased" by the outcome. "The words my husband spoke on his deathbed when he accused Mr. Putin of his murder have been proved true in an English court with a high standard of independence and fairness,she said.

Polonium-210 Polonium-210 Highly radioactive

Toxic if it enters the body by eating, breathing or through a wound

Occurs naturally and is present in the environment in low concentrations

Releases a great deal of energy

Was discovered by Marie Sklodowska-Curie and Pierre Curie in 1898

Historically called radium F, is very hard for doctors to identify Source: IAEA

In Moscow, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zhakarova said, "We regret that a purely criminal case has been politicized and has darkened the general atmosphere of bilateral relations.''



In Washington, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the case showed Russia's "willingness to flout basic conventions around human rights and free speech" and that the worrisome "political environment that currently exists in Russia seems to also extend, at least in some occasions, beyond Russia's borders."

He said the White House wouldn't rule out "relevant future steps" to address some of the concerns raised by the findings of the inquiry.

Back story



Litvinenko was an agent of the Russian Federal Security Service, the spy agency that came after the Soviet-era KGB. But after becoming an outspoken critic of Putin in 1998, he fled Russia and sought asylum in Britain.

He continued to anger the Kremlin with criticism of Putin that included personal attacks, such as an article in which he accused the Russian leader of being a pedophile. The Kremlin rejected the accusation.

In early November 2006, Litvinenko agreed to meet with Russian agents Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun, who British officials say laced his tea with radioactive polonium, a substance experts say is made in Russia. Lugovoi and Kovtun returned to Russia.

Litvinenko quickly became ill and died at a hospital 23 days later. Photos of him on his deathbed show him emaciated and having lost his hair. His wife said he asked to be photographed to show "what Putin had done to him."

With radioactive contamination spreading from the hotel to the streets of London, investigators described it as a nuclear attack in the heart of England's capital that put its population at risk.

Widow demands expulsion, sanctions



Litvinenko's widow on Thursday called for all Russian intelligence operatives to be expelled from Britain, and she, like some British lawmakers, said she wanted sanctions imposed against individuals named as culprits in the inquiry.

"I received a letter last night from the home secretary promising action. It is unthinkable that the prime minister would do nothing in the face of damaging findings of Sir Robert Owen," Marina Litvinenko told reporters.

Prime Minister David Cameron's spokeswoman said that he found the findings "extremely disturbing" and that the government was considering what actions to take.

"It is not the way for any state, let alone a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, to behave," the spokeswoman said. "Regrettably, these findings confirm what we and previous governments believed."



WATCH: British Home Secretary Theresa May reacts to Litvinenko inquiry

Action by Britain unlikely

Britain has strong economic ties to Russia and is eager to recruit Putins help in ending the crisis in Syria. Analysts say those factors make it unlikely that leaders here will take any action that will threaten the wider relationship over the killing of one foreign former spy by two others.

London financier Bill Browder, a human rights campaigner and Putin critic, spoke out against what he said was the British government's reluctance to punish the Russian leader for Litvinenko's slaying.

I cant get inside the minds of the government officials but I can speculate, and what I would speculate is that it comes down to money. Theres a lot of Russian money sloshing around London, and I believe that theres a concern among certain members of the government that that money would be less available if Britain took a moral stand on some of these issues, Browder, the CEO and co-founder of investment fund Hermitage Capital Management, told VOA. "Todays response, as it stands right now from the British government, is a green light for him [Putin] to carry on doing murders, invasions and other atrocities without any consequences."

One battle has ended for Marina Litvinenko, but another has just begun.
The Burundian government said it welcomes the visit to Bujumbura by members of the U.N. Security Council.

Willy Nyamitwe, senior adviser to President Pierre Nkurunziza, said the United Nations delegation will discover that everything the international community has been hearing about the crisis in Burundi is false.

Nyamitwe said the visiting U.N. Security Council delegation will see for itself that Burundi is at peace as it tries to disarm certain individual who are trying to disturb peace in the country.

We welcome everybody who needs to come to Burundi and witness how far weve gone with consolidation of our national unity and the building or our peace," he said.

UN delegation

Nyamitwes comments came as a delegation from the U.N. Security Council left Wednesday for Burundi with a message for the government and opposition to start substantive dialogue and avert a catastrophe before it is too late.

This is a critical crossroads for Burundi, U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power told VOA ahead of the trip. They cannot let it become business as usual that you wake up in the morning and there is a corpse on the street as you try to get to work, and that is what is starting to happen in Burundi.

It is the second time the Council has visited the country in less than a year a clear indication of its growing concern about the escalating bloodshed.

Nyamitwe said the people of Burundi have already started talking to each other through the inter-Burundian dialogue.

The government has set up a national commission in charge of this inter-Burundian dialogue. So, this commission has brought together Burundians from all the ethnic groups, all the political parties, from inside and outside the country to go and dialogue on all the issues regarding all the sectors of the country, he said.

East Africa Community-mediated peace talks that were scheduled to resume on January 6 in Ugandas capital, Kampala, did not take place because the Burundian government said the date was set by mediators without consulting the government.

The government is also on record as saying it will not negotiate with certain opposition figures who it considers as coup plotters or sponsors of acts of terrorism.

Follow UN resolution

Nyamitwe said any Burundian can be part of the dialogue as long as they adhere to U.N. Security Council resolution 2248, which calls on the government and all parties to reject violence and refrain from any action that threatens peace and stability.

Those who are killing innocent people, through bodies in the street, taking the pictures and spreading through the Internet in order to tarnish the image of the country, those are behaving as terrorists; those who are throwing grenades in bars and other public gatherings, those are terrorists, Nyamitwe said.

Jean Minani, the exiled leader of the Opposition Front for Democracy in Burundi (FRODEBU) told VOA earlier this month that efforts toward a peaceful resolution of the Burundian crisis are not dead because the Burundian people want peace.

But Minani said President Nkurunziza does not want to negotiate.

Nkurunziza is the cause of the crisis of Burundi. Hes afraid to come with all the people, with the international community to talk with us because theres nothing to talk about. He cant come to talk with us because he knows he has nothing to talk about, Minani said.

Last month, the African Union announced it would deploy a 5,000-member "prevention and protection" force to Burundi for an initial period of six months. Nyamitwe reiterated his governments objection to the introduction of peacekeepers, saying it is non-negotiable.

The population of Burundi has said these troops are not needed. We trust our security forces; we trust our soldiers that they can protect the countrys borders, they can protect the civilians in Burundi, and so far they have never been defeated. All the attacks from outside the country have been defeated within two or three days, he said.

Nyamitwe said the AU troops should be send to neighboring Rwanda where he said Burundian refugees are being trained to destabilize the Burundian government.

We are blaming the government of Rwanda for allowing for allowing people to get military training in Rwanda because this cannot happen without the approval of officials in Rwanda, and this a violation of international law. You cannot take a refugee, someone who came to seek refuge in your country and transform him into a rebel, Nyamitwe said.

'Fact-finding mission'

He said his government has complained to the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), the African Union, and the U.N. Security Council.

We hope that this fact-finding mission from the Security Council will address this issue with Burundi saying that the evil is coming from the outside, not from the inside, Nyamitwe said.

Nyamitwe said his government has evidence of Rwandas involvement in the form of weapons seized from Rwanda and people who it said have been arrested.

Rwanda has repeatedly denied Burundis claims that Rwanda is providing refuge for Burundian rebels, an official reportedly saying that Burundi found it convenient to find responsibility elsewhere.
Ted Cruz loves Twitter. At Cruz 2016 presidential campaign headquarters in Houston, Texas, members of his team talk about the senator's attachment to his smartphone and the campaign's emphasis on social media.

"He is probably the one person I know who will sit and scroll through and read tweets more than I do, and it's my job," said Josh Perry, the social media director for the campaign.

Cruz is one of many in the 2016 presidential campaign taking advantage of the unique ways social media can break down traditional boundaries among candidates and voters.

Voters are increasingly turning to their smartphones to read political news and follow political figures, according to a 2014 Pew Research survey. Those numbers are highest among young voters, who value making personal connections with politicians.

"Without social media, you're ignoring millennial voters," said Chris Wilson, director of research and analytics for the Cruz campaign. "Sen. Cruz is someone who is very active on social media, he's someone who is just as likely to be playing Candy Crush on his phone as reading the National Journal."

Perry, the 27-year-old who runs the day-to-day operations of Cruz's Twitter feed, agrees.

"If you tweet at Senator Cruz, there's a decent chance he'll read your tweet on his phone," he said.

Perry said he is surprised by the level of voter excitement in this election cycle.

"For the longest time, you knew they existed and they advertised to you and that was it, there was no kind of way for you - unless you were in the campaign headquarters - to play a role in supporting the candidate."

Senator Cruz even uses CruzCrew, a smartphone app the campaign developed to allow supporters anywhere in the country to volunteer for the campaign. Users compete to earn points for campaign activities ranging from liking the senator on Facebook to Tweeting about him and sharing photos.

App users are also invited to share their contacts, allowing the campaign to match up those shares with voter files. The process, said Wilson, has allowed the campaign to "identify over a million voters in the early states."

Personal becomes public

Presidential candidates know the battle for social media followers can ultimately translate into fundraising.

"With an app, you're open all the time, you can reach people all the time and you can locate them," said Michael Cornfield, a professor at The George Washington University.

Cornfield runs the PEORIA Project, a study of how candidates in the 2016 election are getting their message out through mainstream and social media. He found the Cruz campaign leads Republican candidates in translating social media follows and conversations into visits to his website.

On Twitter and Instagram, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton share similar numbers of followers in the millions while on Facebook, Ben Carson comes out ahead.

"Ben Carson is a master at Facebook," said Cornfield. "He goes on to Facebook every night and he exchanges messages with his supporters. Others, like Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, are using email. So the Internet has a multiplicity of channels."

Cornfield notes that Sanders has achieved success by inheriting and then expanding upon a digital political network that progressives have been using for at least 10 years.

WATCH: VOA talks to the Cruz campaign about Tweeting

Tweeting a movement

The 74-year-old Vermont senator may seem an unlikely figure to inspire a passionate social media following with popular hashtags like #FeeltheBern. But Ben Spielberg, a 27-year-old Washington, DC-based supporter of Sanders, said the grassroots-inspired campaign's focus on issues usually left out of the political mainstream is a perfect fit for open discussion on the Internet.

"Unlike traditional media sources, really anybody can have a voice and they can tweet something compelling or if there is a hashtag that's trending, they can be heard," said Spielberg.

Spielberg blogs daily about politics and tweets to help build support for Sanders. Spielberg said he makes an effort to engage with opposing viewpoints on Twitter, building a discussion for a broader movement on social change.

"There's tons of activity around his tweets, that stuff does permeate the mainstream media and then, I think, makes it into the national consciousness," he said.

Spielberg said he thinks that discussion will continue online even after the campaign ends. "People will still be tweeting about and holding whatever politician is elected accountable."

The lasting impact of social media in the 2016 campaign may come after Election Day from the newly engaged group of voters who feel personally invested in the politicians representing them.
Government representatives from Central America and Mexico have agreed to begin moving Cubans stranded in Costa Rica northward again on Feb. 4.

Representatives from Costa Rica, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Panama and Mexico met Wednesday in Guatemala City to evaluate the initial movement of 180 Cubans on Jan. 12. Those Cubans were flown to El Salvador and then moved north by bus to Mexico's southern border.

Guatemala's foreign ministry said they agreed to follow the same procedures and route used in the pilot program. They considered it a success.

Members of the first group of Cubans reached the U.S.-Mexico border late last week.

Several thousand Cuban migrants trying to reach the U.S. have been stranded for months in Costa Rica after Nicaragua refused to let them transit the country.

The migrants turned to the Central American route to try to reach the United States, spurred by fears that a recent detente between Havana and Washington will end preferential U.S. asylum rights for Cubans that allow them to enter the United States by land without a visa. Those found at sea are deported.
Slowly but surely al-Qaidas Syria affiliate, Jabhat al Nusra, appears to be positioning itself to emerge as the victor in the U.S.-led war against the Islamic State terror group.

Even more concerning, according to some analysts, is that U.S. policy is playing right into the group's hands with its excessive focus on destroying Islamic State while at the same time providing only marginal support to moderate opposition groups.

Jabhat al Nusra has weakened the moderate opposition and penetrated other Sunni opposition groups in Syria so thoroughly that it is poised to benefit most from the destruction of ISIS and the fall or transition of the Assad regime, says the Institute for the Study of War in a report Wednesday.

The report goes on to warn that unless the U.S. finds a way to change course, the result could be exchanging one terrorist-led proto-state for another.

The likeliest outcome of the current strategy in Syria, if it succeeds, is the de facto establishment and ultimate declaration of a Jabhat al Nusra emirate in Syria, the report said, serving as a central node in the global al-Qaida network to export violence to the West.

Stepping up IS campaign

Concerns about U.S. policy regarding Jabhat al Nusra have been growing just as the U.S has been intensifying the military campaign against Islamic State and its self-declared caliphate in Iraq and Syria.

The momentum is definitely gaining in the coalitions favor to ISILs disadvantage, Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis told Alhurra Television, using an acronym for the terror group.

At a meeting Wednesday in Paris, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter encouraged Washingtons European allies to step up their efforts.

"We agreed that we all must do more, Carter said.

French Defense Minister Yves Le Drian agreed.

It is the moment to increase our collective forces with a coherent military strategy, he said.

But the authors of the ISW report caution such Western rhetoric is part of the problem, allowing Jabhat al Nusra to fly under the radar.

The group has the same objective and the same ultimate end state as the Islamic State, said ISW analyst and report co-author Jennifer Cafarella. Theyre trying to build a base of local legitimacy from which in the future to launch attacks against the West.

But unlike Islamic State, which has sought to impose its caliphate, the reports authors argue Jabhat al Nusra has managed to intertwine itself with the Syrian population and embed itself within key opposition groups.

They also say Nusra, which has long opposed the upcoming peace talks for Syria, is poised to pick up support from additional rebel factions who feel they have been shut out by the process.

U.S. officials: Nusra, unlikely to emerge

Still, some U.S. officials argue the emergence of a Jabhat al Nusra emirate is an unlikely outcome, pointing out the group has not been ignored in the drive to destroy Islamic State.

The leadership and their staffs, both military and civilian, are definitely considering the second and third order effects, the official told VOA on condition of anonymity. They are not being supported either directly or indirectly.

U.S. officials also contend that pursuing a political solution will also work against Jabhat al Nusras ambitions.

Such a result would provide the basis for a consolidated front against various radical groups including Nusra and ISIL, a U.S. intelligence official told VOA.

Other officials and analysts point out that while the majority of the U.S.-led airstrikes have targeted Islamic State, al Qaida and Jabhat al Nusra operatives have also been hit.

Yet some say Jabhat al Nusra, though not the biggest or strongest of the various Syrian factions, is positioned well enough to survive and eventually thrive.

What makes Jabhat al Nusra one of the most lethal forces is that its a very skilled tactical group, with fighters with a tremendous amount of experience, said Nathaniel Barr, a research manager at Valens Global who has written about the groups exploitation of U.S. strategy.

Ultimately Nusras the one that has the more sustainable long-term strategy, he said. We run the risk of missing that strategy, of allowing them to further entrench if we continue to pursue the status quo.
One day after Singapore deported 26 Bangladeshi Muslim migrant workers who had been arrested in November for allegedly supporting the ideology of Islamist terrorist groups like al-Qaida and the Islamic State, authorities in the southeast Asian nation said the men were contemplating "armed jihad" in the Middle East and Bangladesh.

Following a primary investigation, including interrogation of the deportees, Bangladesh police said Thursday that the men were members of Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT)  a banned Bangladeshi hard-line Islamist militant outfit charged in a series of killings of atheist bloggers in the country last year.

"We have got no proof of the men having links with IS or al-Qaida, said Monirul Islam, a joint commissioner of the Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP). But, we have found that they are the followers of [firebrand Muslim cleric and chief of ABT] Jasimuddin Rahmani, and they were working to get him released from jail."

Earlier this month, Rahmani was sentenced to five years in jail in connection with the 2013 killing of atheist blogger Rajib Haider.

Bangladesh police have charged 14 of the deported men under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

"We arrested the 14 men after a primary investigation in Bangladesh found that they might have some connection to militancy, Mashrukure Rahman, a deputy commissioner of DMP, told the media. The other 12 were released because we did not find them linked to militancy. However, they are under our close observation."

Discreet meetings

Police in Singapore arrested 27 Bangladeshi construction workers between November 16 and December 1 of last year, after keeping them under surveillance for many months.

According to Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), 26 of the workers had been members of a closed religious study group since 2013, and they supported the teachings of U.S.-born radical Islamic cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed in a drone strike in Yemen in September 2011.

"The group members took measures to avoid detection by the authorities, according to an MHA statement issued Wednesday. They shared jihadi-related material discreetly among themselves, and held weekly meetings and gatherings where they discussed armed jihad and conflicts that involved Muslims. They also carefully targeted the recruitment of other Bangladeshi nationals to grow their membership.

Several members of the group admitted to authorities in Singapore that they supported the Bangladeshi militant groups that had killed Shi'ites in Bangladesh in recent months, because they viewed them as "deviant."

Silent killings

According to the MHA, the men said they were angry with the Bangladeshi government over its actions against the Islamic groups and admitted they had been asked by their leaders to return to their homeland to wage armed jihad against the government.

"They had also sent monetary donations to entities believed to be linked to extremist groups in Bangladesh, the MHA statement said. A significant amount of radical and jihadi-related material like books and videos, including footage of children undergoing training in what appeared to be terrorist military camps, were recovered from the possession of the group.

"Several members also had a shared document containing graphic images and instruction details on how to conduct silent killings using different methods and weapons."

Immediately after their arrest in Singapore, the local work passes of the 27 men were revoked.

While 26 of them were deported to Bangladesh, the remaining migrant worker  who, according to police, was not a member of the religious study group but was "in the process of becoming radicalized"  is serving a 12-week jail term for attempting to flee Singapore illegally. He will be deported to Bangladesh when he finishes his jail term, the MHA said.

Migrant backlash

Though the 27 men had not planned any terror attack targeting Singapore, they posed a threat to the country, according to the MHA.

In a Facebook post, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong wrote: "Fortunately they were plotting nefarious activities in Bangladesh, and not in Singapore. But they were still a serious threat to us. We are tightening up our security, and acting to protect our racial and religious harmony. Radicalization and terrorism must never take root in Singapore."

However, Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam said in an earlier Facebook post that the men "could have easily changed their minds and attacked Singapore."

Many Bangladeshi migrant workers said that the Bangladeshi group's activities threatened to put other migrants in trouble.

"Such radical activities by a handful of men have potential to trigger a backlash against all Bangladeshi migrants or even the entire Muslim community in Singapore," Bangladeshi migrant Mohammad Ismail, who works in a dockyard in Singapore, told VOA.

Parbez Rahman, another migrant construction worker, told Channel News Asia that such radicalized individuals should not be allowed to stay in Singapore.
Djibouti's president has signed agreements with China to set up a trade zone and establish a legal framework to let Chinese banks operate in the tiny Horn of Africa nation, the latest move to deepen ties with Beijing.

China said last year that its military was in talks to build logistics facilities in Djibouti, a country of 876,000 people which wants to build up its role as an international port and already hosts U.S. and French military bases.

The free zone for trade and business would cover an area of 48 sq km (19 sq miles). In a statement, President Ismail Omar Guelleh said he wanted the first phase, covering 1.5 sq km, to be operational before the end of 2016.

Another agreement aims to expand Djibouti's role for transhipment of goods in trade between China and the world, the statement said. This would mean cargo coming to Djibouti  which is on a body of water linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden  and then being reloaded for other destinations.

It also said the president had signed an agreement for "the implementation of a legal framework" for Chinese banks to operate in Djibouti. It gave few further details about the role those banks would play or when such banks would operate.

The statement did not say who signed the deal on behalf of China.

WFP base

Separately, the World Food Program on Wednesday also announced the opening of a new Horn of Africa logistics base in Djibouti, which borders Eritrea, Ethiopia and the breakaway Somali region of Somaliland.

"We are opening this facility at a critical time, when Djibouti is playing a key role in our responses to several major crises in the region, including the conflicts in South Sudan and Yemen and the drought in Ethiopia worsened by El Nino," said Valerie Guarnieri, WFP's Regional Director for East and Central Africa.

WFP said about a quarter of the people that it assists worldwide live in countries that will be supported by the Djibouti hub.
More than 80 international drug and biotech firms urged governments to work with them to combat drug-resistant superbugs that could kill tens of millions of people within decades unless progress is made and new antibiotics found.

In a declaration at the World Economic Forum in Davos, which opened Wednesday, the firms called for coordinated efforts to cut unnecessary use of antibiotics and support development of new ones  including through changing drug prices and investing in research.

The 83 pharmaceutical companies and eight industry groups urged governments around the world to commit money "to provide appropriate incentives ... for companies to invest in [research and development] to overcome the formidable technical and scientific challenges of antibiotic discovery and development.

Any use of antibiotics promotes the development and spread of so-called superbugs  multi-drug-resistant infections that can evade the medicines designed to kill them. International alarm about the superbug threat is rising after the discovery in China of a gene called mcr-1 that makes bacteria resistant to all known antibiotics.

"For the world to continue to have new antibiotics, we need investments in basic science and novel incentive models for industry R&D, and to protect our existing treatments, we need new frameworks for appropriate use," said Paul Stoffels, chief scientific officer of Johnson & Johnson.

$100 trillion problem

Former Goldman Sachs chief economist Jim O'Neill was asked in 2014 by Britain's prime minister to conduct a full review of the problem and suggest ways to combat it.

In his initial report, he estimated antibiotic and microbial resistance could kill an extra 10 million people a year and cost up to $100 trillion by 2050 if it is not brought under control.

While the problem of infectious bugs becoming drug-resistant has been a feature of medicine since the discovery of the first antibiotic, penicillin, in 1928, it has grown in recent years as drugmakers have cut back investment in the field.

In their Davos declaration, the companies pledged to encourage more appropriate use of new and existing antibiotics, including more judicious use of the drugs in livestock.

They also promised to increase investment in research and development "that meets global public health needs" and work to ensure affordable access to antibiotics all over the world, at all levels of income.

Britain's chief medical officer, Sally Davies, said the declaration was "a clear sign of industry's collective commitment to beating the threat of antimicrobial resistance."

"I look forward to seeing an advancement of discussions between companies and governments on how we build new and sustainable market models that properly incentivize the discovery and development of new antibiotics, whilst ensuring affordable access to these crucial drugs for all," she said.
A tiny black Fiat 500L that ferried Pope Francis through Philadelphia during his historic first visit to the United States will be auctioned next week, officials said Wednesday.

The car, which the 79-year-old pontiff chose as a symbol of his concern for the environment and desire to put aside some of the rich trappings long associated with his office, will be auctioned on January 29, said organizers of last year's World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia.

Proceeds from the sale will benefit the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia, they said. The car will then go on display at the Philadelphia Auto Show, officials said.

The Fiat was one of six used during the Argentina-born pontiff's visit to Washington, New York and Philadelphia. He also used a white Jeep with open sides known as a "Popemobile" that allowed Francis to kiss babies as he passed.

Amid heavy security and typically surrounded by the large, armored black limousines and SUVs preferred by traveling American politicians, the Fiats were conspicuous for their small size and ever-open rear window from which the pope waved to crowds.

Thousands of Americans, both followers of the Catholic religion and the curious, packed the streets of the three cities during Francis' September visit, during which he also addressed the United Nations and met with prisoners and homeless people.
Finland and Norway sought to ease migrant flows from Russia, as tensions over Europe's refugee crisis spread to the continent's northernmost frontiers.

Finland criticized its eastern neighbor Wednesday for allowing increasing numbers of asylum seekers across their Arctic border.

"I have understood that no one moves forward in the Russian border zone without Russian authorities being aware of it. I'm disappointed," Interior Minister Petteri Orpo told Finnish news agency STT.

He said he wanted to discuss the situation with Moscow, adding that the sudden rise could not be explained by a recent crackdown on asylum seekers by Norway's right-wing government.

Despite the onset of winter, migrants escaping war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa have continued to pour into Europe in large numbers, leading several countries to step up efforts to restrict flows.

Austria said Wednesday that it would cap the number of people allowed to claim asylum this year at less than half last year's total, and its chancellor said border controls would be tightened significantly.

Further north, up to 20 asylum seekers a day are reaching Finland from Russia at the Salla checkpoint, according to the Finnish border guard. Last year, just 700 made the same crossing.

Finland has banned crossings there on foot or bicycle, so asylum seekers have begun using old Russian cars, about 50 of which lie frozen there after being confiscated.

Meanwhile, Norway sent a first bus carrying 13 migrants from Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen and Pakistan back across its Arctic border with Russia on Tuesday night in temperatures of around -30 degrees Celsius (-22 Fahrenheit).

Sylvi Listhaug, Minister of Immigration and Integration, told parliament the government was returning only those who had long-term visas to stay in Russia.

But last week, the U.N. refugee agency warned Norway that Russia offered inadequate protection, and other critics say Norway did not give the asylum seekers the right to challenge the decision.
The U.S. and Cambodia have so far forged a good relationship, but there is room for improvement, a Cambodian lawmaker said Wednesday.

In a rare speaking engagement, Hun Many, a son of Prime Minister Hun Sen and lawmaker for the ruling Cambodian People's Party, told an audience in Washington that there are "good prospects" for the two countries.

"But it starts with us trying to understand each other, trying to put ourselves in each other's shoes, and [understand that] any decision is actually rational, in regards to the perspective of our own national interests," he said.

Hun Many, who spoke at the U.S.-Korean Institute under Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies, said Cambodia needs more friends than just the U.S. and China.

"We don't only look at narrow spectrum of, OK, I choose only this friend over this friend,'" he said.

Crowd reaction

Conor Cronin, a researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies who attended the discussion  which comes as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry prepares to visit Cambodia next week  said that in the current context it is possible for a stronger relationship between the U.S. and Cambodia.

"I think the U.S. wants to be close, but they don't want to ignore human rights abuses," he said. "They don't want to ignore issues with corruption and governance in Cambodia. So I think the U.S. does want to be closer with Cambodia, and Cambodia wants to be closer with the United States, but they need to iron out certain differences before that's going to be possible."

However, more work needs to be done to convince others, like Michael Doung, a Cambodian American who attended the talk.

Hun Many and other lawmakers have done little to help Cambodia's youth who are migrating in high numbers in search of work abroad, Doung said.

"There should be broader education for Cambodian youth, quality education, and there should be jobs for them after they graduate," he said. "If they have to migrate outside of the country to seek jobs, what's the point of learning? It's just a waste of school tuition fees."
As a crowded rubber boat approached the Greek island of Lesbos on Tuesday, aid workers waved and gave the roughly 30 passengers a thumbs up. Close to shore, they climbed out of the boat, appearing stunned and passing babies to aid workers to carry them to the beach.



The day before, it had snowed in Lesbos for the first time in four years.



The group was among the roughly 1,600 people who have been arriving in rubber boats on the shores of Greece every day since the beginning of this year.



That is more than 20 times the amount of people arriving in all of January of 2015, a year in which more than a million people made the dangerous journey from the Middle East or Africa to Europe to seek asylum, according to the International Organization for Migration.



The number suggests that the number of maritime arrivals in Greece in 2016 may significantly exceed the record 853,650 migrants who arrived in Greece by sea in 2015, reads a statement on the IOM website.



On the shores of Lesbos, refugees say the people will keep coming.



I had to expose myself and my family to this danger on this boat, said Ahmed Alhomsy, a Syrian man holding his infant son. The boat is like a rubber balloon and we are traveling in the winter when it is most dangerous.



After surviving the sea, there are also dangers on shore, said Amy Pappajohn, an aid worker. For example, when they land, the refugees' clothes are usually wet,



In the summer of course it was no problem when the clothes were wet, she said. But its now a health risk, health and safety problems, with them becoming frozen solid the second they come off the boats.



Death Toll



The cold weather has also made traveling by sea more deadly, according to the IOM. In the past week 19 people are believed to have drowned at sea enroute to Greece, including three children and an infant.



On land, travelers echo the refrain of earlier refugees fleeing to Europe. They didnt come because they wanted to, they came because they had to, said Alhomsy.



Syria is being bombed from the air, he added. We are terrified for our women and our children. We were forced to leave. If you ask me or any Syrian here in Greece, nobody wanted to leave by his own choice.



Cold weather is expected to continue here in the coming weeks and, as a result, fewer people are arriving than last month, according to aid workers.



Its very dependent on the weather and the storms and the wind, said Pappajohn. In the month of December the numbers were quite high because we didnt have, I think, a single day of rain.
The U.S. Defense Department says two detainees have been released from the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, bringing the number released this month to 16.

Tariq Mahmoud Ahmed Al Sawah was transferred to Bosnia and Abd al-Aziz Abduh Abdallah Ali Al-Suwaydi was sent to Montenegro.

Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis says the transfers are consistent with the law and the moral requirement ...to ensure those transfer[ed] do not reengage and become a threat to the United States again.

The transfers reflect President Barack Obamas desire to close the prison facility.

Davis said a military plan to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center is being considered at the White House. He said Pentagon officials expect the plan will go to Congress for consideration soon.

According to the detention facilitys Periodic Review Board, another detainee, Mustafa Abd al-Oawi Abd al-Aziz al-Shamiri of Yemen, was cleared last week for potential transfer.

Last Thursday, 10 Yemeni detainees were transferred from Guantanamo Bay to Oman, the largest transfer to a single country at one time under the current administration, Commander Gary Ross told VOA.

Lawyers and activists say the United States has no right to indefinitely detain people without trial. Some of the Guantanamo Bay detainees have been imprisoned since 2002.

There are now 91 detainees at the Guantanamo Bay facility.
A bomb blast killed at least six people in a Cairo tourist neighborhood Thursday when police raided a suspected militant hideout.

Three policemen and at least one civilian were among the dead.

Security officials suspect Muslim Brotherhood militants planted the bomb that exploded when police burst into an apartment.

The incident took place in a Cairo neighborhood near the iconic pyramids that houses several tourist hotels.

The Muslim Brotherhood is the party of former President Mohammed Morsi, who was toppled in a 2013 military coup led by Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the then-army chief who is now Egypt's president.

Also Thursday, the interior ministry said gunmen killed five policemen late Wednesday at a checkpoint in El-Arish, the largest city in the Sinai Peninsula.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but a group affiliated with the Islamic State has been behind much of the anti-government violence in the Sinai since Morsi's ouster.

The latest attacks come days before Monday's fifth anniversary of the popular uprising that brought down Morsi's predecessor, former President Hosni Mubarak.
Indonesian President Joko Widodos call for strengthening the countrys national security law could still face resistance in parliament, even after Islamic State-linked militants last week carried out the first serious terrorist attack in Jakarta since 2009.

On Tuesday Widodo voiced support for amending the countrys 2003 anti-terrorism law to prohibit citizens from joining terrorist groups operating in conflict-ridden Iraq and Syria, and to ban the return of citizens who went there to fight alongside terrorists.

BNPT, Indonesias national counterterrorism agency, estimates that about 800 Indonesians have traveled to Middle East to fight for the Islamic State group (IS.)

Close to 30 were killed while fighting for IS. And more than 150 are believed to have returned to the Indonesia, some of whom became combat trained and tested.

Opposition in parliament

In the last two years Indonesian authorities have become increasingly concerned about the growing terrorist threat from IS militants and supporters, but past efforts to reform the countrys security laws have stalled in the Indonesian parliament.

The legislature has been notoriously slow and has a massive backlog on the issues it needs to deal with. So the chances of quickly dealing with this issue are not good, said Greg Barton, director of the Global Terrorism Research Center at Monash University in Australia.

After the Jakarta terrorist attack there is a sense of increased urgency in the parliament to act, but there is still opposition from small but influential Islamic parties in Indonesia that say not all Muslims who join IS become terrorists.

They were saying you are trying to condemn a bunch of people without sending us strong evidence, said Indonesia political analyst Alexander Arifianto with the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

Andreas Harsono, an Indonesian researcher for Human Rights Watch also objects to expanding the power of the police or security forces to detain citizens without showing clear cause or proof of criminal involvement.

"The concern is they want to have the power to arrest anyone, Harsono said.

Critics worry that increasing police powers could undermine Indonesias young democracy. During the dictatorship of President Soeharto that ended in 1998, a draconian anti-subversion law was often used to silence political activists and opposition groups.

On Thursday Detik, an Indonesian news organization reported that officials in the House of Representatives are urging President Widodo to unilaterally revise regulations under the existing 2003 terrorism act to include the reforms he wants.

Even though parliament would still have to approve the measure, this legislative procedure could accelerate the process.

Investigation

Bahrun Naim, an Indonesian militant based in Syria with the Islamic State movement, remains the polices prime suspect for organizing the Jakarta attack.



Prior to joining IS in Syria in 2014, he served nearly a 2 years in prison in the central Java city of Solo for illegal possession of firearms and explosives.

Bahrun has reportedly attempted to recruit Indonesians to commit terror attacks in Central Java last year.

Security officials said Bahrun wants to unite radical groups across Southeast Asia that used to be affiliated with al-Qaida but have splintered and declined in the past decade.

Indonesian national police said Wednesday they detained 12 suspects related to the Jakarta terrorist attack and currently have sufficient evidence to charge six of them.

Also, Singapore authorities said Wednesday that in November and December they arrested 27 Bangladeshi construction workers who supported Islamist groups including al-Qaida and Islamic State. Of those arrested, 26 were deported and 12 were subsequently arrested in Bangladesh on terror charges.

WATCH: Related video
Police clashed with protesters demanding jobs in the Tunisian city of Kasserine on Wednesday, and one policeman was killed as other demonstrations broke out in the capital and towns across the country, residents and officials said.

Large crowds burned tires and chanted "work, freedom, dignity" during a second day of demonstrations that erupted in the central city after an unemployed man killed himself, apparently after he was rejected for a job.

The death evoked memories of Tunisia's 2011 Arab Spring uprising that broke out when a struggling young market vendor committed suicide, unleashing a wave of anger that forced longtime leader Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali to flee and inspiring mass protests across the Arab world.

Police fired clouds of tear gas after protesters tried to storm a police station in Kasserine, a Reuters witness said. Burning tyres blocked streets as police chased down groups of protesters.

"It's been seven years of no work for me. We're sick of just promises. We won't go back to our homes until we get something concrete this time. ... We just want to live with dignity," said Samir, 30.

Protesters had stayed out on the streets overnight, defying a curfew imposed Tuesday.

Residents said young people also took to the streets in Seliana, Tahala, Feriana, Sbiba, El Fahs, Kairouan and Sousse, as well as the capital, Tunis, where several hundred marched on the city's central Habib Bourguiba Avenue.

At least one policeman was killed in Feriana after he was attacked by protesters, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry said.

Jobs for 6,000

Seeking to calm protests, President Beji Caid Essebsi's government announced Wednesday that it would seek to hire more than 6,000 young unemployed people from Kasserine and start construction projects in the region.

"We don't have a magic wand to fix the situation in Kasserine straight away, but we are working on public investments that will start soon there," government spokesman Khaled Chaouket said.

Despite a shift to democracy since the toppling of Ben Ali, many Tunisians are worrying more about unemployment, high living costs and the ongoing marginalization of rural towns  all factors that helped fuel the 2011 uprising.

Unemployment in the North African country had risen to 15.3 percent by the end of 2015 compared with 12 percent in 2010, driven by weak economic growth and a decline in investment in both the public and private sectors coupled with a rise in the number of university graduates, who now constitute one-third of jobless Tunisians.

Three major Islamist militant assaults last year  shootings at a tourist hotel and a Tunis museum as well as a suicide bombing on troops in the capital  have hurt the economy, particularly the tourism industry.
Efforts to launch a political transition in Syria, the plight of Americans missing in Iraq and the fight against Islamic State militants are among the issues that Secretary of State Kerry discussed Thursday in a series of meetings and interviews in Switzerland.



His talks took place on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, an annual gathering that brings together high-level government officials and corporate executives.



This has a one stop shopping capacity that you only get otherwise I think at the U.N., said Kerry, in reference to the opportunities to meet with his counterparts and other officials during the forum.

Syria talks



U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura was among the officials that Kerry met with on Thursday.

Later, Kerry said there would be no "fundamental delay" in the U.N.-mediated talks on a political transition in Syria.

The U.N. set a January 25 start date for the start of proximity talks between the Syrian government and opposition. The two sides sit in different rooms in proximity talks.

Kerry said there may be a delay of a "day or two" for invitations to the talks. Later, he noted that de Mistura had the ability to issue whatever kinds of invitations he desires, indicating that the make-up of the Syrian opposition side may change. There has been debate over which opposition groups would be represented at the talks.

Earlier, de Mistura said even if there are disputes over who will attend the U.N.-mediated talks, the peace process must go forward. "We need to maintain pressure" on all sides, he told CNN television, "We need to maintain momentum."

Americans missing in Iraq

Kerry also met with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

Asked about three Americans who disappeared in Iraq last week, Abadi said he doubts they were abducted by an Iranian-backed Shi'ite militia, as some reports have indicated.

"We don't know if they have been kidnapped," Abadi said. "They just went missing."



Kerry later said he raised the issue during his talks with the prime minister, who had no information on the Americans status.



US  Iran relations



The secretarys high-level meetings in Davos have come less than a week after world powers implemented the Iran nuclear agreement, and the U.S. imposed new sanctions on Iran for ballistic missile tests.



Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif responded to the new penalties, saying it indicated the U.S. was addicted to using sanctions as a tool for diplomacy.

"We have made it very clear that we will use sanctions when we think they are appropriate," said Kerry.

The U.S. sanctions were imposed "judiciously and effectively," Kerry said, and the United States is looking now to "put to the test" Iran's willingness to reduce regional tensions.



Later, Kerry said he had met briefly with Zarif in Davos.



The U.S. Treasury Department estimates the lifting of nuclear-related sanctions has resulted in Iran having access to about $55 billion in previously frozen assets.



In an interview with CNBC, Kerry was asked if he believed some of that money could wind up in the hands of terrorists.



He said he thought some of the funds could end up in the hands of the controversial Iranian Revolutionary Guard, but added, there were no early indications of funds going to that kind of endeavor.

Kerry also met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who strongly opposed the major world powers' nuclear agreement with Iran.



Fighting Islamic State



The talks in Davos are taking place ahead of Kerrys February 2 meeting in Rome, with about two dozen foreign ministers from countries part of the anti-Islamic State coalition in Iraq and Syria.



We are going to prevent them [Islamic State] from being the threat in Syria and Iraq that they are today by the end of the year, said Kerry, in a roundtable with reporters.

Kerry will address the World Economic Forum on Friday before heading to Saudi Arabia, the next leg of a five-nation tour that also includes stops in Asia.

In a Wednesday speech, Vice President Joe Biden urged executives to support initiatives that would strengthen the middle class saying, "Embrace the obligation to your workers as well as to your shareholders."
An international court in northern Kosovo sentenced a local Serb politician to nine years in prison Thursday for war crimes against ethnic Albanians in 1999-2000.

Judges of the European Unions justice mission in Kosovo found Oliver Ivanovic, 62, guilty of murder and torture of civilians during Kosovo's war for independence from Serbia.



The judges said that Ivanovic encouraged Serb paramilitaries to chase ethnic Albanians from the Serb-controlled part of the northern town of Mitrovica and was aware of their practice of separating men from women and children, torturing and killing many of them.



Ivanovic has denied the charges, saying that they were politically motivated. The court acquitted four other Kosovo Serbs charged together with him.

Serbian officials in Belgrade denounced Thursday's verdict and warned that it could incite ethnic tensions in the already volatile region.

Backlash

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Rasim Ljajic said that the mood in Kosovo will worsen, adding that those Serbs living in Kosovo will start thinking: if Ivanovic, a pro-democracy advocate, deserved this, what will happen to us?



Director of the Serbian government's Office for Kosovo-Metohija (as Serbia calls its former province) Marko Djuric said that Serbia was shocked at the verdict, which he called politically motivated. Ivanovic has become a marionette in the hostile play of the puppet judiciary in Kosovo which does not function at all, he said.

Djuric, who is also a member of a Serbian delegation at EU-mediated reconciliation talks with Kosovo Albanians, said the verdict "has nothing to do with law and justice and was intended to humiliate the Serbs. He said that it is time to reconsider the talks and see what to do next.



Ivanovic, considered a moderate Kosovo Serb politician, was arrested in January 2014. He was the first senior Kosovo Serb official detained by the European Union Rule of Law Mission, EULEX, on suspicion of having committed war crimes against Kosovo Albanians.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 in a move recognized by the United States and more than 110 other countries.

About 120,000 of Kosovo's 1.8 million inhabitants are ethnic Serbs.

VOA's Albanian and Serbian services contributed to this report.
Mozambique's opposition Renamo party canceled a planned rally Thursday in the port town of Beira after the shooting a day earlier of a senior official, while the ruling party rejected claims it was behind such attacks.

Manuel Bissopo, the party's secretary general, was shot by unknown assailants in Beira, the second-largest city in the southern African country and his party's stronghold. He was taken to a hospital and his bodyguard was killed, police said.

Renamo's leader, former civil war rebel leader Afonso Dhlakama, put off the planned rally but has not spoken about the attack on Bissopo yet, party spokesman Antonio Muchanga said.

Bissopo was wounded in the leg and arm, he added.

"We condemn the attempt to silence the opposition. It is a deliberate attack on democracy. We want those responsible for the shooting to be brought to justice," Muchanga told Reuters. "They want to perpetuate a single-party system, while the country adopted democracy."

The attackers shot Bissopo moments after he held a news conference to denounce attacks on Renamo members, actions he blamed on the Defense and Security Forces that he said were acting at the behest of the ruling Frelimo party.

Assault rifle used

Police said unknown individuals used an AK-47 assault rifle to fire at close range at the car transporting Bissopo.

"The police are now investigating the case and trying to identify the shooters," a police spokesman in Sofala province, where Beira is located, told Reuters.

Frelimo spokesman Damiao Jose rejected claims that the ruling party was behind the shooting. "Also, we have to say that Frelimo is not engaging in pursuing Renamo members. We play by the rules of democracy; we don't work in the shadows," Jose told Reuters.

More than 2,000 Mozambicans have fled to Malawi to escape fighting between government forces and rebels in the coal-mining province of Tete in the last three weeks, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said last week.
Egypt's top court on Thursday will again bring former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to trial over the killing of protesters during the 2011 uprising that ended his 30-year rule.

This will be the second and final retrial for Mubarak over the killings in which he is alleged to have conspired. It was originally scheduled to take place in November but was postponed by the Cassation Court and ordered to be moved from the High Court building in the center of Cairo to a more "suitable location."

Mubarak, 87, was originally sentenced to life in prison in 2012 for conspiring to murder 239 demonstrators, sowing chaos and creating a security vacuum during an 18-day revolt which began in January 2011, but a retrial was ordered on appeal.

In that retrial, an Egyptian court in November dropped its case against him but public prosecutors appealed.

Charges slowly being cleared

Mubarak-era figures are slowly being cleared of charges and a series of laws limiting political freedoms have raised fears that the old leadership is regaining influence.

Many Egyptians who lived through Mubarak's rule view it as a period of autocracy and crony capitalism. His overthrow led to Egypt's first free election, which brought in Islamist President Mohamed Mursi.

But Mursi only lasted a year in office after mass protests against his rule in 2013 prompted then military chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to take power. Sisi went on to win a presidential election last year.

He has since cracked down on Mursi and his Muslim Brotherhood and thousands of Brotherhood supporters have been jailed.
The moment he became an American citizen in December of 2012 was a high point in Yemen-born Saad Almasmaris life. A close second was the night of November 3 when he garnered the most votes in the race for Hamtramcks City Council.

I am a social guy, he told VOA in between bites of his dinner at the popular local Yemeni restaurant, Sheeba. I like helping people. I like helping my community, my city.

Almasmari joined two more Muslim American candidates on the November ballot in Hamtramcks City Council election. The trio received the most votes in a town that has one of the largest percentages of foreign-born citizens in Michigan.

This is the city that has distinguished itself among others that the majority of those on the city council are Muslim, explains Osama Siblani, publisher of The Arab American News in Dearborn, Michigan, which put Almasmaris picture on the front page of its election coverage. But the Hamtramck City Council election made bigger news because of its timing, and what it represents.

While our presidential candidates are trying to prevent Muslims from coming to our country," Siblani told VOA, Muslims are becoming a majority in one of the cities surrounding Detroit. This is why it became news.

I was surprised, says Almasmari of the attention his election received, because the election we just had was a politics election. It was not a religion election.

There is another edition of The Arab American News in the same stack of papers in Siblanis Dearborn office as the one that covered the Hamtramck election. On the front page of the other edition is a picture of Republican candidate Donald Trump under the headline FACISM. Trumps call for a ban on those of Muslim faith from coming to America angered many in Hamtramck and the larger Muslim community in Michigan.

It is unfortunate however, that this is a point of discussion, says Siblani. The point of discussion should be how our country is diverse and how much we are tolerant to other nationalities and religions.

For many in Hamtramck, the election results were not a surprise. Almasmari attributes that to the current makeup of the town of about 22,000 people.

We are about 27 percent of the population in Hamtramck  Yemenis, he says. We have about 22 percent Bengalis. We have about 11 percent Bosnians. They are all Muslims. About 65 percent of the population are Muslims.

Hamtramck is a case study in changing demographics spurred by recent immigration.

For more than a century, this Detroit suburb was home to many Polish Catholic immigrants and their descendants. The town prospered when the auto industry flourished, but its fortunes, and ethnic makeup, dramatically changed in the last several decades as the big three automakers shed jobs and closed factories.

Autoworkers and money flowed out of town, and with them went the towns traditional identity.

It has now shifted from a town of Polish Catholic autoworkers to Muslim American shop owners and small businesses, like the Yemeni restaurant Almasmari frequents.

Were used to the ethnic diversity of our city, says mayor Karen Majewski, herself a descendent of Polish immigrants in Hamtramck. Were used to the influx of new immigrants and the changes that brings to our city and so you know to us, this is what we do, and this is who we are, and so yeah, its actually been quite surprising all this national and international attention.

But that attention has quickly faded, so much so that when Almasmari took his seat for his first City Council meeting, VOA was one of only two media organizations present to document the moment.

It was a meeting Almasmari was not going to miss, despite an invitation to attend President Barack Obamas final State of the Union address, which happened to fall on the same night.

But I refused to take it because tonight was my first council meeting, and I couldnt miss my first council meeting!

Almasmari says he is proud to be Muslim, but of course I am not going to put my religion into my work as a council (member), he says. On the council, I am American before I am Muslim.

Almasmari says hes fielded more than 75 interview requests, which keep coming in. One of the newspapers asked me 'if you were able to meet with Mr. Trump, would you?' And then three days later I received an email from his campaign asking if you (I) had time, 15 or 20 minutes, to meet with Mr. Trump.

Almasmari says hes been too busy to follow up on the invitation, but if he does meet Trump, he wouldnt talk about his faith. Hed ask the candidate about helping Hamtramck, which is in financial trouble, and has one of the highest poverty rates in the state of Michigan.
Days after President Barack Obama hailed the fruits of diplomacy with Iran, Republican lawmakers pressed for tougher sanctions on Tehran for recent missile tests and other actions.

"We need to stand up to this Iranian regime  their illegal testing of ballistic missiles, their continued support for hostage-taking," said Senator Kelly Ayotte at a news conference at the Capitol. "We're going to impose tougher sanctions."

"This president and this secretary of state [John Kerry] have pandered to the Iranians, no matter what they have done, no matter what offense they have committed," said fellow-Republican Senator John McCain. "They won't do a damn thing. And we will have to try to act as a Congress."

The lawmakers did not spell out the punitive measures they had in mind, but voiced blistering criticism of the Obama administration's engagement with Iran.

"Our president and our secretary of state have negotiated the worst deal since Munich," said Senator Lindsey Graham, referring to the short-lived accord between Britain and Germany before World War II. "There is no requirement for the Iranians to change their behavior. They have a pathway to a bomb, a missile to deliver it, and money to pay for it."

On Sunday, Obama hailed implementation of last year's nuclear pact with Iran.

"Under the nuclear deal that we, our allies and partners reached with Iran last year, Iran will not get its hands on a nuclear bomb," the president said. "We've achieved this historic progress through diplomacy, without resorting to another war in the Middle East."

Obama and sanctions

While noting that Iran is now entitled to billions of dollars in sanctions relief, Obama noted that differences remain between Washington and Tehran and announced new sanctions for Iranian missile tests.

"We still have sanctions on Iran for its violations of human rights, for its support of terrorism, and for its ballistic missile program," Obama said. "And we will continue to enforce these sanctions, vigorously. Iran's recent missile test, for example, was a violation of its international obligations. And as a result, the United States is imposing sanctions on individuals and companies working to advance Iran's ballistic missile program. And we are going to remain vigilant about it."

Republicans view the new sanctions as a mere slap on the wrist, and argue that stronger measures are required to curb Iranian behavior. In particular, they slammed Iran's brief detention of U.S. sailors last week, and expressed dismay that Kerry thanked Tehran after their release.

For any sanctions bill to pass Congress, a handful of Democratic senators would have to join Republicans in backing the legislation. Congressional rejection of the nuclear pact was blocked last year when minority Democrats prevented Republicans from getting a three-fifths vote required to advance the resolution.

Not all Democrats supported the deal and, among those who did, some are voicing concerns about recent Iranian behavior, including missile tests.

"I'm a strong supporter of the deal," Senator Tim Kaine told VOA. "But the deal only works if there is tough implementation, and includes not only the four corners of the deal, but in other areas that are subject to international law.

"If Iran cheats and gets away with it, then that will likely affect how they treat this deal."
A U.S. senator on Wednesday questioned recent executive actions on gun control, saying he thought President Barack Obama was overstepping his authority and "trying to get around the law."

Senator Richard Shelby, an Alabama Republican who was conducting an Appropriations subcommittee hearing on the executive orders, said the nation's founders sought "to ensure that power was not concentrated in a single branch of the federal government. The president has ignored the founders system and has accelerated the use of executive fiat to an alarming new level.

"This subcommittee," he said, "will have no part in undermining the Constitution and the rights it protects."

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who testified before the committee, responded that Obama's executive actions "are all well-reasoned measures, well within existing legal authorities, built on work thats already underway. They clarify laws that are already on the books."

Obama announced his executive actions two weeks ago in response to a series of deadly U.S. incidents involving firearms. The actions will, among other things, require more gun sellers  including those who sell weapons and other items at gun shows  to get federal licenses and more gun buyers to undergo background checks. They also will tighten enforcement of existing gun laws, increase mental health treatment and expand research into gun safety technology.

The subcommittee was reviewing these steps because the Appropriations Committee deals with allocating money to various government agencies, and Obama's actions included requests for $35 million to expand background checks, $35.6 million to add federal weapons investigators and $500 million for mental health initiatives.

Second Amendment

But beyond the cost factors, Wednesday's hearing examined whether the president was stepping up enforcement of current law or creating new law and infringing on Americans' right to keep and bear arms, as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the Constitution.

At one point, Shelby read the portion of current law that defines what a gun dealer is. Federal code says the term "shall not include a person 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."

The senator then asked, "I think he [Obama] is trying to get around the law. Am I right?"

Witness Ken Cuccinelli, a former Virginia attorney general, replied, "I think he's trying to eliminate the last clause of that section."

But witness Mark Barden, whose son Daniel, 7, was one of 26 people shot and killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012, said he didn't see "any infringement" in the licensing order.

Barden, a self-described "grieving father who knows firsthand the cost of inaction," had already shared statistics on gun deaths. He said 89 people, including seven children, are killed in gun-related tragedies every day in the United States.

"So Im asking you guys to think of my sweet little Daniel and what was lost here," he told lawmakers. "And the 90 American families who will lose a loved one today. And the 90 American families who will lose a loved one tomorrow. And so on, every day, until we do something."

On Tuesday, Obama's executive actions drew the first of what's expected to be several legal challenges. Freedom Watch, a conservative advocacy organization, argued in its lawsuit that Obama was circumventing Congress in an effort to write new gun laws.
Fires were raging out of control Thursday at one of the main oil facilities in northern Libya after militants hit storage tanks with rockets.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack, but Libyan authorities blamed Islamic State, which is looking to take advantage of the power vacuum in the country, for this and earlier attacks on the tanks.

An official with the National Oil Corporation called the fires at the Ras Lanouf facility an "environmental catastrophe," saying the blazes were sending massive amounts of choking black smoke into the air. He said the rocket fire also knocked down power lines that supplied electricity to homes and businesses.

As many as 3 million barrels of oil were expected to be lost on top of the 4 million destroyed in fighting earlier this month.

Islamic State is striving to take over Libya's crippled oil facilities, which would give the terror group a huge boost in power and influence in the country. A newly formed unity government in Libya has yet to begin to assert its authority.

The internationally recognized government based in Tobruk and an Islamic administration in Tripoli signed a U.N.-brokered deal to form a government this week. But the rival parliaments have not yet approved the deal.

Libya has been in political flux since longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi was toppled and killed in 2011.

The chaos has affected the oil industry, on which the Libyan economy depends.
Pakistan observed a day of mourning Thursday following a gun and bomb attack on a university that killed 21 people and wounded dozens more.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif declared the mourning period to show solidarity with those who died when a group of four terrorists stormed the Bacha Khan University in the town of Charsadda on Wednesday.

The death toll rose to 21 overnight with the death of a student, one of 19 who were killed along with two university staff.

Military spokesman Asim Bajwa told reporters that troops, including army commandos gunned down the four attackers and conducted a "block by block" clearing operation before securing the entire campus.

At least two suicide bombers

Regional deputy inspector general of police, Saeed Wazir Khan, said at least two suicide bombers were among the attackers.

The spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, Mohammad Khorasani, says the group has nothing to do with the university attack, adding that non-military institutions are not on its list of targets. In a statement sent to VOA, Khorasani declared Wednesday's attack against "Islamic Sharia."

Earlier, a local Taliban commander had said he sent the four attackers to the university. There was no explanation for the conflicting claims.

Students and staff at the university told the VOA correspondent at the scene that some of the victims suffered both bullet and stab wounds.

Military spokesman Bajwa said telephone intercepts and other evidence collected from the scene have helped investigators to "swiftly achieve a breakthrough" in identifying the planners, where and how the attack was carried out.

But he refused to discuss further details saying it would undermine the investigation process.

WATCH: Related video

He said the attack against a "soft target" like Bacha Khan University shows that terrorists have been "frustrated" by successes army operations have achieved against their strongholds in the tribal areas near the Afghan border.

He added that telephone calls received by the attackers on their cellphones showed they were in contact with people in Afghanistan.

Alarming incident

Pakistani Senator Shibli Faraz of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf told VOA that it was alarming that militants were active after a lull in terrorist attacks in the country.

The United States strongly condemned Wednesday's attack.

"It is particularly appalling that these terrorists continue to attack educational institutions, targeting Pakistans future generations," State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner said in a statement.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, currently visiting Zurich, has condemned "the cowardly attack" and said he was "deeply grieved over the sad incident.

An official statement quoted Sharif as reiterating Pakistan's resolve "to wipe out the menace of terrorism from our homeland."

Targeted civilians

Amnesty International said the assault "violated the central principle of international humanitarian law by deliberately targeting civilians in what appears to be a war crime."

Whoever is responsible for this attack showed absolute contempt for life and civilian immunity. Armed groups in Pakistan must end all such affronts to humanity and commit publicly not to attack civilians, said Champa Patel, Interim South Asia Director at the British-based group.

The university in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has an enrollment of more than 3,000 students.

Charsadda is located at around 50 kilometers from the province capital of Peshawar, where militants linked to the Pakistani Taliban attacked a school in December of 2014 and massacred nearly 150 people, mostly children.

On Tuesday, a suicide bomber blew himself up near a security checkpoint separating Peshawar from the Khyber tribal district, killing at least 12 people. The Taliban claimed responsibility for that attack.
Pakistan says a deadly assault on a university in a northwestern city on Wednesday was being controlled from a location in Afghanistan through an Afghan cell phone by a fugitive member of the Pakistani Taliban.

Army spokesman Asim Bajwa released details of Pakistan's investigation into the attack Thursday. He said Pakistans military chief, General Raheel Sharif telephoned the Afghan leadership and the commander of NATOs Afghan mission and asked for their cooperation in locating and targeting those responsible for this heinous act and bring them to justice.

Pakistan alleges that leaders and commanders of the anti-state Taliban militants have taken refuge on the Afghan side of the border after fleeing army-led counterinsurgency operations. Officials have previously also blamed these fugitives for planning cross-border attacks in Pakistan.

But Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Seddiqi on Thursday dismissed allegations that there are terrorist bases in Afghanistan being used against Pakistan. He strongly condemned the Bacha Khan University attack in Charsadda and reiterated Kabuls allegations that terrorist sanctuaries are located in Pakistan and are causing instability in the region.

Mourning period



Meanwhile, Pakistan observed a day of mourning Thursday following the gun and bomb attack on the university in which 21 people were killed and dozens more wounded.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif declared the mourning period to show solidarity with those who died when a group of four terrorists stormed the Bacha Khan University in Charsadda.

Military spokesman Asim Bajwa said that troops, including army commandos gunned down the four attackers and conducted a "block by block" clearing operation before securing the entire campus.

Taliban denies involvement



The spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, Mohammad Khorasani, said Wednesday the group had nothing to do with the university attack, adding that non-military institutions are not on its list of targets. In a statement sent to VOA, Khorasani declared Wednesday's attack against "Islamic Sharia."

Earlier, a local Taliban commander had said he sent the four attackers to the university. There was no explanation for the conflicting claims.
Three people were killed Thursday in southern Nepal when police fired on protesters trying to disrupt a rival group's political gathering, officials said.

Nepal has been in turmoil since adopting its first republican constitution last September, with protesters in the lowland south saying the charter deprives them of a fair say in how the country is run. They have prevented supply trucks from entering from India and choked the landlocked Himalayan nation with a fuel shortage.

Two people were killed at Rangeli, 215 kilometers (135 miles) southeast of Kathmandu, when police fired at ethnic Madhesi activists to stop them from disrupting a gathering organized by the youth wing of Prime Minister K.P. Oli's political party.

Eight others were injured in the firing, according to Devi Bahadur Bhandari, assistant district administrator of Morang district, where Rangeli is located. It was the first deadly incident in more than a month.

"Action became necessary to prevent clashes between the two groups that could have resulted in bigger casualties," he said.

A third person was shot dead at nearby Gainiya, police official Kamal Singh Bam said. More than 50 people have died since protests began four months ago.

The United Madhesi Front, which is leading the protests, wants state boundaries to be redrawn to give their communities more power. The Front said this week that talks with government negotiators that started two weeks ago had become "meaningless."

The Madhesi people in Nepal's lowlands, many of whom trace their origins to India, are battling upper-caste elites from the hills who control the country's main political parties.

Nepal is recovering from two devastating earthquakes that killed nearly 9,000 people last year. Fuel shortages have slowed relief to thousands of quake survivors staying in temporary huts built with tarps and tin sheets.
A new poll shows incumbent Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni of the ruling National Resistance Movement likely to win the February 18 presidential election with 51 percent of the vote.

Kizza Besigye of the main opposition Forum for Democratic Change came in second with 32 percent, while independent candidate Patrick Amama Mbabazi, a former prime minister, was third with 12 percent.

The Research World International poll, conducted January 15-19, surveyed 2,685 prospective voters in 89 districts across Uganda. Patrick Wakida, Research World's chief executive officer, said the poll was a true reflection of the support for candidates ahead of presidential, parliamentary and local elections.

This poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 [percentage points], which is attributed to a number of factors. There is quite a lot of fear among the voters and suspicion, Wakida said.

Selection of respondents remains random and distribution of samples to different sub-regions was proportional to the population," he said, adding that most of those interviewed were illiterate or semiliterate, "because that is the structure of our population."

Challenger Besigye has launched a defiance campaign as part of an effort to put pressure on Museveni ahead of the election. Supporters said the defiance campaign would help the opposition defeat the ruling party in both presidential and parliamentary elections.

Wakida said the defiance campaign appeared to be working. When poll respondents were asked whether they wanted Museveni to stay or go, 46 percent said they were in favor of change in the upcoming elections while 49 percent said Museveni should be retained as president.

Publicity stunt

Opposition supporters rejected the polling results, saying the survey was a publicity stunt orchestrated and funded by the government because of the backlash Museveni got after skipping last weeks presidential debate. They said the survey was yet another attempt to portray Museveni as popular despite what they said was his failed leadership that has led to the prevailing poor economic conditions.

If I were his handlers, never would I have allowed him to go for the presidential debate because he would have been the focus of the debate," Wakida said. "He is the incumbent who has been in government for the last 30 years, so probably ... he feared to be made the subject of discussions. ... He would have made no significant increase in his supporters" had he participated.

I have never met that guy [Museveni]. We have never been at the same place, so my conclusion is I dont know him. And anybody who says [he funded us] loses the point.

Wakida also said organizers of the debate missed a majority of the population because the debate was conducted in English instead of one of the local languages.

People who have completed university education in this country are not more than 14 percent of the population," Wakida said.
Man's inhumanity to man, as 18th-century Scottish poet Robert Burns put it, is no recent development.

Scientists said Wednesday they had found the oldest evidence of human warfare, fossils of a band of people massacred by a troop of attackers with weapons including arrows, clubs and stone blades on the shores of a lagoon in Kenya about 10,000 years ago.

The remains of 27 people from a Stone Age hunter-gatherer culture were unearthed at a site called Nataruk roughly 20 miles (30 km) west of Lake Turkana in northern Kenya.

One man's skeleton was found with a sharp blade made of a volcanic glass called obsidian still embedded in his skull.

Another man had wounds from two blows to the head apparently with a club, crushing his skull. A woman in the last stages of pregnancy appeared to have been bound by her hands and feet.

Victims also had projectile wounds to the neck and broken skulls, hands, knees and ribs.

'Brutal, physical, lethal'

University of Cambridge paleoanthropologist Marta Mirazon Lahr said evidence indicates these people, who hunted animals, caught fish and gathered edible plants, were slain in a premeditated attack by raiders, perhaps from another region.

"It is a brutal, physical, lethal attack with the intention to kill those individuals who could put up a defense or mount a counter-attack, or who perhaps were of no use to them, whether it was a man or a very pregnant woman, too young or too old," Mirazon Lahr said.

Our species arose 200,000 years ago in Africa. Many scholars had thought warfare first emerged long after the time of the Nataruk people when humans formed settled communities instead of a nomadic, hunter-gatherer existence.

The Nataruk fossils "raise the question of whether warfare has been part of the human experience for much longer than previously thought," Mirazon Lahr added.

A planned attack would suggest that resources the Nataruk people possessed  perhaps water, dried meat or fish, nuts or even women and children  were considered valuable, she said.

There were remains of 21 adults and six children, most under age 6. There were no older teenagers.

"Whether they managed to escape, or were taken, we will never know," she said.

"At the end, all massacres are savage," Mirazon Lahr said.

"How many examples do we have from our very recent, and current, history? But finding the remains of a massacre among the skeletons of hunter-gatherers of this period was totally surprising," she said.

The research appeared in the journal Nature.
U.S. officials intercepted a record number of airline passengers last year preparing to board planes carrying firearms, most of them loaded.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said in a news release Thursday that 2,653 guns were found in carry-on bags in 2015, a 20 percent increase over the previous year, which had been a record. More than 82 percent of the confiscated weapons were loaded.

TSA screened 708 million passengers in 2015, 40 million more than in 2014.

"The transport of firearms by commercial air in carry-on bags represents a threat to the safety and security of air travelers," said TSA Administrator Peter V. Neffenger, adding that "through increased training in detection methods, our officers are becoming more adept at intercepting these prohibited items."

Most of the firearm discoveries in 2015 were at international airports around the country. Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, topped the list with 153; Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta, Georgia, 144; Houston, Texas, George Bush Airport, 100; Denver, Colorado, 90, and Phoenix, Arizona, 73.

Weapons of any kind are prohibited in carry-on bags. However, passengers may take guns with them on planes if they are in checked bags, unloaded, properly packed and declared to the airline.
The U.N. warns that refugee women and children seeking safety in Europe are at great risk of sexual abuse and violence throughout their journey. An assessment mission conducted by the U.N. refugee agency, U.N. Population Fund, and the Womens Refugee Commission finds measures to protect the women and girls are inadequate.

The joint field mission was carried out in Greece and Macedonia in November. It found those most at risk of sexual abuse and violence include single women traveling alone or with children, pregnant and lactating women, adolescent girls, unaccompanied children and early married children.

UNHCR spokesman William Spindler tells VOA it is difficult to know how widespread the phenomenon is because women are reluctant to speak about their experiences; but, he says it is feared the abuse to which they are subjected along the European migratory route is vastly underreported.

Under pressure



He says women describe being forced to engage in transactional sex to pay for travel documents on their journey. He says women fall prey to smugglers who demand a hefty price for transporting refugees and migrants across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe.

In some cases, women have been put under pressure to perform sex with the smugglers in order to be allowed to continue," Spindler said. "There have also been cases in which women, girls and boys have lost their moneytherefore, the only way that they can continue with their journey, find the money to continue with the journey is through selling themselves for money.

Spindler says there also are reports of women being sexually abused by other refugees and migrants, and in some cases by officials in countries of transit. He says small boys traveling alone also have been forced to perform sex by smugglers so they can continue their journeys.

Safety precautions



He says women and children are exposed to many dangers in overcrowded reception facilities or transit centers. He says simple measures, such as providing separate toilets for men and women, and ensuring well lit and gender separated sleeping facilities, could reduce the potential risks.

Aid agencies are calling for action by European Union governments to protect refugee women and children from the dangers and exploitation facing them and to prosecute the perpetrators of these crimes.
Russias Foreign Ministry is dismissing a British inquirys conclusion that Russian President Vladimir Putin "probably" approved a 2006 assassination operation in which the country's spy agency poisoned its former agent Alexander Litvinenko in London.

We regret that the purely criminal case has been politicized and has marred the entire atmosphere of bilateral relations," said ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova in Russian state media.

"Of course, we need time to study in detail the content of this document and after that we will give a full assessment," she added.

Litvinenkos death by radiation poisoning at a hotel in London has been a sore point in British and Russian relations. Moscow refused to turn over the prime suspects, Andrey Lugovoy and Dmitry Kovtun. Lugovoy has since been given his own television show and became a Russian lawmaker, giving him immunity from prosecution.

But Russia has made clear it has no intention of allowing an independent investigation or prosecution of either man.

At an afternoon press conference, Zakharova claimed Russia supports an unbiased investigation into Litvinenkos death. She linked the inquiry to Ukraine, another sore point in relations, saying it was probably not a coincidence the public inquiry coincided with the deterioration of the situation there.

Reactions from the street

On the streets of Moscow, many people VOA talked to were unaware of the inquiry or its results, coming nearly a decade after Litvinenkos death. Those who were aware of the case expressed support for Putin.

Female retiree Irina Lapshina insisted to VOA the Russian president could not possibly have known about the alleged assassination and she is not happy with the British inquiry's findings.

"My reaction is negative because our Putin wouldn't do that," she said. "A person respected in his country and throughout the world simply wouldn't allow that, she added.

University student Vlada Staty expressed unconditional support for Putin, telling VOA even if he was aware of a planned assassination of Litvinenko it would have been done in the best interest of Russia.

"I think that our president is a true patriot. Everything he does, he does to improve our country. So the people here live better," she said. "If he knows something," she adds, "then, that means it's better for the people, it's the way it should be."

Organizer in the 'Russian Patriots' political party Dmitry Mashinsky expressed a common conspiracy theory in Russia.



"I think the majority of Russians agree with me when I say the Litvinenko case is insinuations hatched in Western circles in order to smear the leadership of Russia," he said. "In this instance," he concludes, "the court's findings confirm the idea that the West is propagating a massive campaign to discredit Russia's leader, Vladimir Putin."

British authorities announced they were freezing any assets of the two suspects, and the Russian ambassador was summoned after the British prime ministers office called the inquirys findings extremely disturbing.

Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, on Wednesday said the Litvinenko case was not something that interests the Kremlin.
Overturned fishing skiffs lie abandoned on the shores of what was Bolivia's second-largest lake. Beetles dine on bird carcasses and gulls fight for scraps under a glaring sun in what marshes remain.

Lake Poopo was officially declared evaporated last month. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people have lost their livelihoods and gone.

High on Bolivia's semi-arid Andean plains at 3,700 meters (more than 12,000 feet) and long subject to climatic whims, the shallow saline lake has essentially dried up before only to rebound to twice the area of Los Angeles.

But recovery may no longer be possible, scientists say.

'Future of climate change'

"This is a picture of the future of climate change," says Dirk Hoffman, a German glaciologist who studies how rising temperatures from the burning of fossil fuels has accelerated glacial melting in Bolivia.

As Andean glaciers disappear so do the sources of Poopo's water. But other factors are in play in the demise of Bolivia's second-largest body of water behind Lake Titicaca.

Drought caused by the recurrent El Nino meteorological phenomenon is considered the main driver. Authorities say another factor is the diversion of water from Poopo's tributaries, mostly for mining but also for agriculture.

More than 100 families have sold their sheep, llamas and alpaca, set aside their fishing nets and quit the former lakeside village of Untavi over the past three years, draining it of well over half its population. Only the elderly remain.

"There's no future here," said 29-year-old Juvenal Gutierrez, who moved to a nearby town where he ekes by as a motorcycle taxi driver.

Record-keeping on the lake's history only goes back a century, and there is no good tally of the people displaced by its disappearance. At least 3,250 people have received humanitarian aid, the governor's office says.

2 percent of former level

Poopo is now down to 2 percent of its former water level, regional Gov. Victor Hugo Vasquez calculates. Its maximum depth once reached 16 feet (5 meters). Field biologists say 75 species of birds are gone from the lake.

While Poopo has suffered El Nino-fueled droughts for millennia, its fragile ecosystem has experienced unprecedented stress in the past three decades. Temperatures have risen by about 1 degree Celsius while mining activity has pinched the flow of tributaries, increasing sediment.

Florida Institute of Technology biologist Mark B. Bush says the long-term trend of warming and drying threatens the entire Andean highlands.

A 2010 study he co-authored for the journal Global Change Biology says Bolivia's capital, La Paz, could face catastrophic drought this century. It predicted "inhospitable arid climates" would lessen available food and water this century for the more than 3 million inhabitants of Bolivia's highlands.

A study by the German consortium Gitec-Cobodes determined that Poopo received 161 billion fewer liters of water in 2013 than required to maintain equilibrium.

"Irreversible changes in ecosystems could occur, causing massive emigration and greater conflicts," said the study commissioned by Bolivia's government.

The head of a local citizens' group that tried to save Poopo, Angel Flores, says authorities ignored warnings.

"Something could have been done to prevent the disaster. Mining companies have been diverting water since 1982," he said.

Criticism, responsibility

President Evo Morales has sought to deflect criticism he bears some responsibility, suggesting that Poopo could come back.

"My father told me about crossing the lake on a bicycle once when it dried up," he said last month after returning from the U.N.-sponsored climate conference in Paris.

Environmentalists and local activists say the government mismanaged fragile water resources and ignored rampant pollution from mining, Bolivia's second export earner after natural gas. More than 100 mines are upstream and Huanuni, Bolivia's biggest state-owned tin mine, was among those dumping untreated tailings into Poopo's tributaries.

After thousands of fish died in late 2014, the Universidad Tecnica in the nearby state capital of Oruro found Poopo had unsafe levels of heavy metals, including cadmium and lead.

Defends mining industry

The president of Bolivia's National Chamber of Mining, Saturnino Ramos, said any blame by the industry is "insignificant compared to climate change." He said most of the sediment shallowing Poopo's tributaries was natural, not from mining.

In hopes of bringing it back, Morales' government has asked the European Union for $140 million for water treatment plants for the Poopo watershed and to dredge tributaries led by the Desaguadero, which flows from Lake Titicaca.

Critics say it may be too late.

"I don't think we'll be seeing the azure mirror of Poopo again," said Milton Perez, a Universidad Tecnica researcher. "I think we've lost it."
Outdoorsman John Sturgeon's fight with the U.S. government is about much more than whether the National Park Service can ban his use of a hovercraft to travel over otherwise inaccessible parts of Alaska's Nation River.

The former Alaskan chief forester's legal battle has tapped into deep-seated anger at Washington and a passionate desire among Alaskans to preserve a way of life  including lots of hunting and fishing and unrestricted use of the rivers that cut through the state's wild hinterlands.

That's why Sturgeon and his lawyer, Matthew Findley, were joined Wednesday at the U.S. Supreme Court by a slew of Alaskan media outlets, Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan and a group of personal friends and benefactors.

They watched as attorneys argued the case, which comes amid an ongoing siege in Oregon, where armed protesters are occupying a federal wildlife reserve and calling for Washington to cede control of its vast landholdings in the West to ranchers and local governments.

"We think this case is about federal overreach  that's about it," Sturgeon said outside the court.

So do state officials from Alaska, where 60 percent of the land  an area bigger than California  is under federal control.

Alaska's amicus brief supporting Sturgeon says lower-court rulings against him "threaten not only the state's sovereignty ... but also the way of life of ordinary Alaskan citizens."

"All of our food except fish and game is imported  and expensive," said Rod Arno, executive director of the Alaska Outdoor Council, which raised more than $220,000 since October to support the court case.

It's a lifestyle

So while some Alaskans are motivated to hunt and fish primarily by economic necessity, for others it's a lifestyle.

"During spring and summer, Alaskans move out of the cities and into fish and hunting camps," Arno said.

In 2007, Sturgeon was on his way to hunt moose in the Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve  also part of the national park system in Alaska  when his hovercraft broke down.

Even though Sturgeon had used his 10-foot rubber boat for years in the Yukon-Charley, NPS officers who found him repairing a steering cable told him noisy hovercraft  which skim over rocky rivers and other difficult terrain on a cushion of air  were banned in all national parks, even in Alaska.

The officers threatened Sturgeon with criminal prosecution when he challenged their authority to enforce the ban on hovercraft. However, Sturgeon was not actually hovering over federal land, but over state land managed by the Park Service within the Yukon-Charlie.

To prove it, Sturgeon's legal team dug up the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), a unique set of statutes that outline the federal government's complex relationship with the state and its Native population.

Ratified by Congress in 1980, ANILCA codified a 1971 settlement by which the U.S. government guaranteed land to 13 regional Native corporations and more than 200 Native village corporations. It also set up conservation districts, including some on state and Native lands managed by the NPS.

Sturgeon contends that ANILCA's Section 103(c) exempts state-owned and other non-federally owned lands in Alaska from NPS regulations, even if they are inside a national park. Critically, he also argues that Alaska owns all the waterways in the state since it owns the submerged lands underneath all navigable waters within its borders.

A district judge and a unanimous panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed. They ruled against Sturgeon, saying the law clearly supports the Park Service.

Senator confident

But on Wednesday, Sullivan appeared confident the nation's highest court would overturn those rulings.

"Nobody was defending the 9th Circuit [today]," the senator said. "Yet the National Park Service continues to use a flawed opinion to promulgate more regulations, including those covering oil and gas [exploration]."

While Alaska's Oil and Gas Association is among the organizations that have rallied to Sturgeon's cause, so have the Sierra Club, Wilderness Watch and a diverse array of hunting groups and Native corporations that normally would not see eye to eye politically.

They appear united by a shared concern  that federal rule changes limiting transportation on the state's waterways would hinder development, as well as subsistence hunting and fishing or other uses for the land.

"The hovercraft is in my yard right now  I pulled the engine out," Sturgeon said. "When I win, I'm gonna put it back in and go moose hunting again."

The justices are expected to rule on the case later this year.
Swedish prosecutors have cast doubt on Ecuador's assertion that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will be questioned imminently at its embassy in London.

Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa said Wednesday that questions submitted by Swedish prosecutors will be asked of Assange by Ecuadorean officials "in the coming days.'' The questions relate to accusations of sexual assault made by two women.



But Karin Rosander, a spokeswoman for the Swedish Prosecution Authority, told The Associated Press on Thursday that no date had been set for the questioning. She said the top prosecutor handling the case, Marianne Ny, is still considering the request to let Ecuadorian officials do the interrogation.



Assange took refuge in the Ecuadorean Embassy in the British capital in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden and has been confined there since.
A deadly Taliban suicide bombing against Afghanistans leading private media group, Tolo News, sparked strong domestic and international outrage and condemnation as an assault on freedom of speech.

The bombing happened in a western part of Kabul Wednesday evening, when a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into a minibus transporting employees of the TV station from work to their homes.

The blast killed at least seven people and wounded 24 others. The victims included women and children.

Investigation

Speaking to reporters in Kabul Thursday, Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Seddiqi said the attack is under investigation and promised to enhance media professionals' security in consultation with their organizations.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the violence, saying it was meant to punish Tolo TV for broadcasting anti-Afghan and anti-Taliban programs.

The U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) condemned the attack and reiterated that journalists, as civilians, should never be targeted.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, in a statement sent to reporters shortly after the bombing, also accused Tolo of being a "spy agency" and warned others against indulging in such activities. "If they do not stop their evil activities, this will not be the last attack on them," he added.

In response to the widespread condemnation, the Taliban on Thursday again justified its attack on Tolo TV workers, saying it aimed at an "intelligence network and not media."

In a statement, spokesman Mujahid went on to say that the condemnations by Afghan leaders, the United States and other organizations "can never break our resolve and neither will propaganda and media warnings change our path."

As the biggest TV station in Afghanistan, Tolo News employs dozens of journalists, many in the volatile provinces. It has been actively covering the fighting between national security forces and Taliban insurgents.

'Military objectives'

The Taliban, in an October statement, had designated as "military objectives" Tolo and other Afghan television stations it accused of airing baseless and inaccurate reports to "malign" the Taliban.

It particularly cited allegations of rape and other crimes against the group during the Talibans brief capture of the northern city of Kunduz in September.

"Attacks aimed at crushing independent media organizations in Afghanistan are a direct assault on the very foundation of Afghan democracy, a free and open press," said the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

It called on the Afghan government to seek out and prosecute the perpetrators of this crime as quickly as possible.

The attack on Tolo TV was an "atrocity designed to undermine Afghanistans still fragile media freedom," the Human Rights Watch organization said in a statement.
Japan's government is pulling out all the stops to ensure a candidate backed by the ruling party wins an mayoral election in the Okinawan city hosting a U.S. airbase whose planned move elsewhere on the island has set Tokyo and Okinawa at odds.

To help the incumbent's chances at Sunday's poll, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government has dangled prospects of a bigger budget for Okinawa, backing for a Disney resort and aid for impoverished children in Japan's second-poorest prefecture.

Defeat would galvanize resistance to moving the Futenma base to the less populated Henoko area as agreed with the United States two decades ago.

The opposition candidate in Ginowan, like Okinawa's governor and many island voters, resents hosting the majority of U.S. troops in Japan and wants the base off Okinawa altogether.

The controversy poses headaches for Abe, six months ahead of elections for Japan's upper house, as close U.S.-Japan ties are regarded as crucial given China's increasing assertiveness in the region and North Korea's unpredictability.

"The central government always just talks about security and the U.S.-Japan alliance, giving the sense they aren't thinking seriously about Okinawa's benefit," said Tomoaki Iwai, a law professor at Nihon University in Tokyo.

"There is a sense of money being used as a sweetener."

Tokyo said in December it would boost Okinawa's budget by 1 billion yen ($8.5 million) to 335 billion for the fiscal year starting in April, having cut it last year in reaction to the election of anti-base governor Takeshi Onaga.

Ginowan's mayor, Atsushi Sakima, has played up his ties to Abe's government, and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party has sent Shinjiro Koizumi, a telegenic lawmaker who is popular with unaffiliated voters, to campaign for him, along with the cabinet minister for Okinawa.

"The incumbent appears in the lead, but his opponent is catching up ... There is some doubt about whether the government-offered 'services' are helping," said Katsuhiko Nakamura, executive director at Asia Forum Japan, a think tank.

If the LDP's favored candidate does hold onto the mayorship in Ginowan, it won't remove all the hurdles to relocating the base.

"I don't think if the incumbent wins that it is a vote of support for the Henoko relocation, it is just a vote in favor of getting rid of the base and getting a Disneyland in its place," said Gerry Curtis, Burgess Professor Emeritus at

Columbia University.

"But if the opposition wins it is a huge defeat for Abe."
Dominic Ongwen's confirmation of charges hearing at the International Criminal Court, which will determine if there is sufficient evidence for a trial, has once again brought the conversation of justice and peace in northern Uganda to the forefront.

For the first time, Ugandans around the nation are watching live as a former LRA commander undergoes his pre-trial hearing at the ICC in The Hague.

Victim or perpetrator?



The case of Dominic Ongwen has divided many on the meaning of justice and reconciliation. Ongwen is seen as both a victim and a perpetrator.

Abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army at only 10 years old, he joined the ranks of thousands of other child soldiers. But over time Ongwen managed to rise through the ranks of the LRA, carrying out multiple attacks and working his way into Joseph Kony's inner circle.

Ongwen surrendered himself in the Central African Republic in January of 2015, and soon after was transferred to the ICC.



ICC role



The Refugee Law Project, which heads a number of peace and justice programs, has set up six screening locations throughout northern Uganda. Victims of the war can watch Ongwen's pre-trial hearing live alongside community and religious leaders.

Refugee Law Project Director Stephen Oolo says opinions are largely divided on the role of the ICC.

The people are still glued on their screens, watching and following the proceedings very carefully ... Before the screening we did a bit of consultation with victims," said Oolo. "And the reactions were mixed. There are those that would have preferred him here in Uganda. But there are also many who found Ongwen is better off at the ICC.

But Oolo says many are wondering why the Ugandan government has not played a more prominent role during the hearing. That is not only because the UPDF has been accused of committing atrocities during the war, but because the state failed to protect Ongwen from the LRA in the first place,

I have just listened to the introduction of the case by the prosecutor," said Oolo. "And I think they did a fairly good job in highlighting the nature and background of the LRA. But what did not come out very clearly was the role of the government and the government forces ... One of the issues that Ongwen's case brings to the fore is the issue of protection. Which I think the prosecutor should have highlighted from the beginning and he missed that opportunity.

Ongwen's pre-trial hearing is expected to last three to five days. If the court finds there is sufficient evidence, the case is expected to go to trial.
The mystery of the poisoning death of ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko may be solved Thursday, when a British judge releases the findings of his inquiry.

Litvinenko died nearly 10 years ago after he was allegedly poisoned by a cup of tea laced with polonium-210 - a rare radioactive isotope. From his death bed, he accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of ordering his assassination.

The former Russian intelligence officer had become an outspoken critic of Putin before fleeing Russia and eventually settling in London.

Moscow has always denied any involvement in his death and has dismissed the inquiry as politically motivated.

British judge Robert Owen will release the long-awaited findings, and he is likely to point a finger of blame at the Russian state.

British police have accused Dmitry Kovtun and Andrei Lugovoi, the two Russian former KGB agents Litvinenko met for tea, of carrying out the killing. They confirmed meeting with Litvinenko in London on several occasions, including at the time of the suspected poisoning, but deny any involvement in his death. Russia has refused to extradite them.

If the report links the crime to Putin, it could worsen Britain's relations with Russia, which are already strained..
When North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test, the communist country made clear that it wants Washington to change course on Pyongyang.

Since the appearance of the word 'hostility' in the world there has been no precedent of such deep-rooted, harsh and persistent policy as the hostile policy the U.S. has pursued toward the DPRK, the state-run Korean Central News Agency said.

The aggressive rhetoric and the latest nuclear overture appear to have succeeded in getting attention from Washington.

Dennis Halpin, a visiting scholar at Johns Hopkins Universitys School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, said that since the test, North Korea has emerged as an issue in the U.S. presidential campaign.

Kim Jong Uns blast has awakened the sleeping giant as far as North Korean issues, said Halpin, a former adviser on Asian issues to the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee.

The North Korean move came as the focus of the election was shifting from domestic issues to foreign policy issues following recent terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California, according to Halpin.

Kim Jong Un, because of this test, has added North Korea to the equation, he said.

Tightening sanctions

Despite the heightened attention, Washington is not likely to change its approach to Pyongyang. Instead, it is seeking to tighten sanctions against Pyongyang.

While the Obama administration is leading diplomatic efforts to seek support for strong measures in the U.N. Security Council, Congress is pushing ahead on bills that would make U.S. sanctions against North Korea tougher. Last week, the House passed legislation that would authorize the seizing of any assets connected with North Koreas proliferation, illicit activities or human rights violations. The Senate is also expected to consider a bill to expand sanctions on North Korea.

However, whether the fresh sanctions will produce intended results remains unclear.

The problem is that the U.S. has so little economic engagement with North Korea of any kind that its hard to identify what we can do that would have a real impact, said Frank Jannuzi, president of the Mansfield Foundation, which promotes U.S.-Asia relations.

Jannuzi, who served as an adviser to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that financial sanctions against Pyongyang might be one remaining point of leverage that Washington could pursue, but that securing support from Beijing remained a difficult task.

Keith Luse, executive director of National Committee on North Korea, a nongovernmental organization dedicated to fostering understanding and trust between the United States and North Korea, said the newly passed House bill was understandable in the context of American frustration with North Korean actions, adding it could undermine humanitarian work in North Korea.

Unintended consequences

The overall bill contains a number of provisions which makes it increasingly problematic for U.S. NGOs to operate inside North Korea, said Luse, who worked as an aide to former U.S. Senator Richard Lugar.

On Wednesday, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on China to play a special role in tightening sanctions against North Korea.

We believe China has a special role given the special relationship it has with North Korea, the senior diplomat told reporters in Seoul after meeting with South Korean officials. Blinken left for Beijing late Wednesday for talks with Chinese officials about North Koreas nuclear test.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will also travel to Beijing next week to hold further talks with his Chinese counterparts.

North Korea has conducted four nuclear tests since 2006. U.N. sanctions ban Pyongyang from conducting nuclear tests or launching ballistic missiles.
U.S. defense chief Ash Carter said Thursday that the 200 American commandos now in Iraq and Syria are carrying out raids on Islamic State targets, "killing or capturing them wherever we find them."

"These forces have already established contact with new forces that share our goals, (opening) new lines of communication to local, motivated and capable fighters, and new targets for air strikes and strikes of all kinds," he told a training school for French officers in Paris.

Carter said that in Iraq, "we now have a specialized expeditionary targeting force in place that is preparing to work with the Iraqis to begin mounting sudden, long-range raids, going after ISIL's fighters and commanders, killing or capturing them wherever we find them, along with other key targets."

The Pentagon chief met Wednesday with his counterparts from France, Germany, Britain, Australia, Italy and the Netherlands to plot strategy in their fight against the militants.

He told the future French officers, "We all must have a common campaign plan that the entire coalition understands, and that our enemies cannot survive."

Carter said U.S.-led coalition forces have "big arrows" pointed at reclaiming Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in northern Syria, the self-proclaimed capital of the religious caliphate that Islamic State has declared.
The Obama administration will announce as early as Thursday its plan to introduce new visa requirements for European travelers who are dual nationals of Iran, Iraq, Sudan or Syria, or who have visited any of these countries in the last five years.

U.S. officials and congressional aides involved in discussions say the Homeland Security Department will outline how it will phase in the new rule, designed to make it harder for Europeans who have fought for the Islamic State group to enter the United States.

The law passed by Congress in December only affects a minority of Europeans, but it has prompted great concern in countries whose citizens generally enjoy visa-free travel to the United States.

And it has drawn Iranian charges that the U.S. is violating last summer's nuclear accord by penalizing legitimate business travel to the Islamic Republic.

Iraq, Syria targeted

Iraq and Syria were targeted specifically because the Islamic State has seized significant territory in each country for its would-be caliphate. Iran and Sudan, like Syria, are designated by the U.S. as state sponsors of terrorism.

The officials and aides weren't authorized to speak publicly on the matter and demanded anonymity.

The biggest question mark concerns groups of individuals that could be exempted from the law, allowing them to continue traveling to the U.S. under the Visa Waiver Program.

Legitimate reasons

According to a congressional aide, the administration will create exceptions for those who traveled to any of the four countries for government or United Nations work, or for humanitarian or journalistic reasons. Legitimate business with Iran also wouldn't be punished.

No waivers appear to apply to dual nationals.

Administration officials wouldn't comment.

It's unclear if such carve-outs would be supported by Congress; Republican aides say the bipartisan legislation wasn't intended to provide such wide discretion to the executive branch. President Barack Obama signed the bill into law in December.
Plunging oil prices have roiled world stock markets in the first weeks of 2016, but U.S. Treasury chief Jack Lew says cheap oil is benefiting consumers across the globe.

Thursday, Lew told the annual World Economic Forum at the Swiss ski resort in Davos that with crude oil now below $27 a barrel on the world market, consumers "have more money in their pockets," to buy products they need or improve their household finances by paying down debt or saving.

He said low prices do not have "to be bad for the overall global economy."

Lew said the slowdown in Chinese economic growth, the other main factor in the world stock market turmoil, was not not a surprise. But he said it shows Beijing needs to press ahead with a "long and difficult transition" to change the Chinese economy from focusing on exports to a more consumer-driven economy.

"The question that should be asked right now," Lew said, "is will China stick to the reform policies that open up its markets?"

China's growth



International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde said poor communication by Chinese economic managers has contributed to worries for investors about the immediate future of the world economy.

She said uncertainty about the value of the Chinese currency, the renminbi, is at the center of current fears about China's economy, the world's second largest after the United States. China this week said its economy grew by 6.9 percent last year, its slowest growth in a quarter century.

Lagarde said she thinks "better and more communication" from China about its move toward a consumer-driven economy "will certainly serve that transition better."

Feng Xinghai, the vice-chairman of China's securities regulator, conceded that "in terms of communication we should do a better job."

But he added, "We have to be patient because our system is not structured in a way that is able to communicate seamlessly with the market."
The United States Thursday tightened its Visa Waiver Program, ending easy access to the U.S. for travelers who have been in Iran, Iraq, Sudan or Syria in the last five years, as well as for citizens of those four countries.

The changes in the Visa Waiver Program were enacted by Congress late last year and signed into law by President Barack Obama.

The implementation of the new regulations Thursday comes as the U.S. ramps up its border security in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks that killed 130 people in November and a December assault in San Bernardino, California, that left 14 dead. The U.S. attack was carried out by an Islamist American and his Pakistani wife, who was cleared to enter the U.S. on a fiancee visa with the promise that she would soon get married.

Under the new rules, those traveling from Iran, Iraq, Sudan or Syria who previously were able to secure visa waivers may still be able to enter the U.S. by obtaining a visa through the regular immigration process at U.S. embassies or consulates, or if the U.S. determines on a case-by-case basis that there is a special reason why they should be allowed into the U.S.

The U.S. Homeland Security agency said it does not expect that "the great majority" of travelers to the U.S. using the Visa Waiver Program will be affected by the new rules. The program allows travelers from 38 countries to enter the U.S. without a visa and stay for up to 90 days.

It is estimated that about 20 million visitors come to the U.S. each year under the Visa Waiver Program.
A member of parliament and founding member of Zambia's ruling Patriotic Front (PF) has resigned from the party, citing intolerance, hate, vengeance and violence meted out to supporters.

Miles Sampa said in a statement that his resignation took effect Thursday.

"As a firm believer of peace and democracy, I feel a number of people were not and have not been accorded the right to express themselves freely and that, in itself, has created disharmony from within, he said in his statement. My efforts to unite the party have proved futile in the last 12 months.  The current PF in looks and conduct reminds me of the MMD [Movement for Multiparty Democracy] of 2011 that instilled fear in the general public. I choose to disassociate myself from such a grouping and wish them well."

Until his resignation, Sampa was deputy commerce minister and a leading member of the central committee of the PF  one of the highest decision-making bodies of the governing party.

Local media report that Sampa resigned to concentrate on his presidential ambitions and would likely form his own political party to challenge President Edgar Lungu in the presidential vote.

Sampa was also quoted as saying that since he is a founding member of the PF and nephew to the late president, Michael Sata, he should be the presidential candidate instead of Lungu.

PF reacts

Reacting to the statement, Frank Bwalya, deputy spokesman for the PF, said the governing party is not surprised about Sampa's decision to quit ahead of the August 11 general election.

The resignation is unlikely to hinder the party's prospects of winning the presidential vote, according to Bwalya.

"PF is a democratic party and people are free to harbor political ambitions, including presidential ambitions, provided they follow laid-down procedure and do not conduct themselves in a manner that creates confusion and division within the party," he said.

"We've made it very clear that the party is the custodian, vision and legacy of [deceased] president Sata and that the party has a leader, President Edgar Lungu, Bwalya continued. And on the side of the family, it is the son who is still with us, Honorable Mulenga Sata, who is now deputy minister in the state house who is now working closely with the president and, of course, the former first lady."

Supporters react

Sampa's supporters say the PF has not treated him fairly, considering he is a founding member.

They contend that the party should have contacted Sampa and addressed his concerns in a bid to heal the rift within the party ahead of the elections. In addition, they accuse Lungu of not being a unifier.

Bwalya says the accusations are unfounded and not a true reflection of the situation on the ground.

"Politicians can come up with the best reasons under the sun for some actions even though those actions are not well-intentioned, he said. So the fact that the man will come up with such reasons doesn't in any way point to any accurate analysis on his part of the situation in Zambia. Not at all."

"You cannot unify people using [untruths], Bwalya added. You have a person who not long ago, just a few weeks ago, was on camera saying that he was going to die a member of the PF. As far as I am concerned, he has not died.  Does that mean this issue of the president not being able to unite the party only happened in the last two or three weeks? Because it was only [those] weeks that he said he was going to support the leadership of President Edgar Lungu because he believes in his leadership and that the president was doing everything possible to move the country forward and to provide leadership within the party."
The mosquito-borne Zika virus has already infected more than 13,500 people in Colombia and could hit as many as 700,000, the health minister said Wednesday.

According to Pan-American Health Organization figures, the country is second only to Brazil in infection rates, health minister Alejandro Gaviria told journalists.

"We expect an expansion similar to what we had with the chikungunya virus last year, to finish with between 600,000 to 700,000 cases," Gaviria said.

Some 560 pregnant women are among those infected, the minister said, though so far no cases of newborns suffering from microcephaly, a congenital defect caused by Zika, have been registered in the country.

The government is advising Colombian women to delay becoming pregnant for six to eight months in a bid to avoid potential infection.

The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention last week warned pregnant women to avoid travel to 14 countries, including Colombia, and territories in the Caribbean and Latin America affected by the virus.
Two women, who challenged the constitutionality of child marriages in the Constitutional Court and won the case, are happy that this will ensure that children can now live without fear of being dragged into unwanted marriages.

One of the women, Ruvimbo Tsopodzi, who was represented by attorney Tendai Biti, said she is happy that the Constitutional Court outlawed early child marriages, which had become common in Zimbabwe.

About the judgement, I feel excited because I have been waiting for this moment because last year when we went to court there was a lot of criticism that we had brought it (to court). But I am glad that finally they put their heads together to protect girls who were being married off at an early age.

Tsopodzi, who got married at a tender age and will soon be turning 20, said she hopes the judgement will change the lives of young women in Zimbabwe and protect the girl-child by preserving their sexual reproductive health.

I was married at 15 but there was nothing to do. My father forced me into it. It was boring and it wasnt good at all. My life is no longer good. I am not going to school and I did not even finish my education. My life is not in a good state, it was disturbed.

A Harare resident, Tawanda Sibanda, said it was a shame that the state contested the matter instead of just conceding that anyone under the age of 18 is too young to get married.

Sibanda said, This is a welcome judgement given the fact that it advances the rights of children. The Minister of Legal and Parliamentary Affairs was not supposed to take this matter in the first instance defending it on the basis that he is the very person that is charged or mandated to align the laws to the constitution.

Child marriage is one particular provision of the laws which does not tally with the constitution as it states that 18 years is the age for a girl to find a family yet the Marriages Act and different customs be they religious or otherwise allow especially the girl child to get married even at 16. So, it is my belief that the defendant should not have defended this matter in court.

Sibanda further said the government should just align relevant laws to the new constitution in order to enforce the court ruling.

They should have just aligned it to the constitution as they are mandated to align different laws to the constitution. So what it means is that the minister responsible for legal and parliamentary affairs, the minister of justice, he is not willing or should we say he does not have the will be it political to align the laws and the different statutes in the constitution.

This explains why it is taking this long for the laws to be aligned because the minister himself is not willing to do so. This could be envisaged from the spirited defence he was putting up when the issue of child marriage went to court.

Tsungai Mutongwizo, another Harare resident, also applauded the judgement and said some women were afraid of raising girl children because of forced marriages.

Mutongwizo said, Zimbabwe was becoming a place that we were scared of raising girls and young children wondering who would protect them. In terms of the new constitution this is a giant step for the country, the judicial system in protecting the rights of vulnerable people, young girls are vulnerable and need the protection of the law.

This is equal protection of the law, this is also the bill of rights being put into action. Well done Constitution Court of Zimbabwe and we look forward to more protection of women. We look forward to more protection of the vulnerable and the sustaining of our rights even in the civil and political realm.

The Constitutional Court on Wednesday ruled that no child in Zimbabwe should marry or get married before attaining the age of 18.
Most villagers in the drought-prone Masvingo province, where the ruling party is planning to hold a lavish $800,000 birthday bash for President Robert Mugabe next month, say they are living from hand to mouth due to the current dry spell.

The majority claim that they are now surviving on eating wild fruits in a region where about 5,000 cattle have died as a result of lack of pastures and state-assisted stock feed.

Villagers are fuming that Zanu PF is planning to throw a birthday bash for the president when most of them cant have a decent meal per day.

Baobab fruit porridge, tree roots and related wild pickings are currently saving the lives of people in Masvingo province, where the current dry spell has reduced fields into dust bowls.

Pastures have dried up with the caked top soil a clear indication that there is little rain to sustain millions of people and livestock. State and independent estimates have put the number of dead livestock at about 5,000 since December 2015.

EL-NINO FUELING ANGER

The dry spell appears to be fueled by the El Nino weather phenomenon that has brought a lot of heat in the region, widely known for producing top grade sugar cane, ethanol and related products.

Although the dry spell is visible and government is yet to resettle over 20,000 people who were displaced by floods near Tokwe Murkosi Dam two years ago, there is a lot happening in Masvingo province with a population of 1,5 million, half of them being threatened by the dry spell.

Meetings are being held behind closed door where some top Zanu PF officials are planning to throw a birthday for President Mugabe, who turns 92 on February 21st.

This has drawn the ire of local people, who say Zanu PF leaders are cold-hearted as they will be holding an event that is set to cost about $800,000.

BUY FOOD FOR HUNGRY PEOPLE

For most locals, all this money should be channeled towards buying food for the hungry villagers and the saving of dying livestock, which are the mainstay of indigenous people. A family of six in an urban set up needs approximately $500 per month to buy basic commodities like bread, sugar, cooking oil, mealie-meal, beans and to pay for electricity and related necessities.

One of the irate local inhabitants is Prosper Tiringindi, who says President Mugabes ruling party appears to have lost its bearings, literally, by planning to hold a lavish birthday bash for the countrys leader when villagers can hardly have a decent meal per day.

To me it doesnt make sense, we are facing a serious drought in Zimbabwe. The president must use that money for buying maize and other foodstuffs for starving villagers instead of hosting a flamboyant birthday, says Tiringindi.

Other villagers echo the same sentiments, adding that the president is allegedly surrounded by people who only want to get political mileage instead of taking care of the needs of hungry people.

BIRTHDAY BASH NOT NEW

Another local villager, Mugovera Makonese, says the lavish birthday is not a new thing as the president has been doing this for almost three decades.

Makonese says, (President) Mugabe is well known the world over for being insensitive. This insensitivity is nothing surprising. This is the time the government should be mobilizing resources to save the lives of the people who are facing starvation. It is extremely in bad taste for the president to use so much money to hold a useless function like this.

Villagers say the ruling party, which has been in power for more than 35 years, should dump the birthday bash and start looking into the needs of all communities.

Pilani Moyo, a Mwenezi district villager, who is into cattle farming, says President Mugabe and his party should use the funds raised for the birthday party to buy fodder for millions of livestock, which cant access water and pastures as a result of the current dry spell.

It is very painful to hear that the president of this country will be hosting such a big party when our cattle are dying. We have since requested for assistance but nothing is coming and such amount to be used for only one day could help our cattle through buying stock feeds to save their lives. Its so sad that we have such situations from our leaders, he says.

ZANU PF REACTION

But Zanu PF birthday party organising committee member, Jeppy Jaboon, who declined to be recorded on tape, has strongly defended plans for throwing a lavish birthday party for the president, saying Mr. Mugabe deserves to be honoured in such a big way.

Jaboon, who is the Zanu PF Member of Parliament for Bikita South, says preparations for the bash are at an advanced stage.

This is not going down well with Zimbabwes opposition parties. Muranganwa Chanyau, regional chairperson of the Movement for Democratic Change led by Morgan Tsvangirai, believes that Zanu PF has misplaced priorities.

As Masvingo urban MDC-T we really condemn that bash with the contempt that it deserves. Zanu PFF has no people at heart. How can they hold that party when over 500,000 people are starving in Masvingo province? They are misdirecting their priorities and we think they should have used that money to buy food for the starving people of Masvingo province.

This is not the first time that people in Zimbabwe have been grumbling over the splashing of huge amounts of money for hosting the president and the first familys birthday gigs.

Last year Zimbabweans were infuriated when at least $3 million was spent for a lavish 50th birthday party for Mr. Mugabes wife, Grace.
The Mutare Council has adopted a damning Local Government Special Audit Investigation Report, which has recommended the firing of some allegedly corrupt city officials.

The local authority says it is studying the report that accuses some officials of abusing council resources at the expense of ratepayers.

Mutare mayor Tatenda Namharare said they want to make concrete decisions after going through the report that was compiled and presented to city fathers last week by the Ministry of Local Government headed by Saviour Kasukuwere, who is also Zanu PF commissar.

We are going to study the report as respective councilors and go to our different committees as directed by the issues in the audit. If they are financial issues the finance committee will need to meet and discuss the content and come up with their resolutions and then we would report back to the permanent secretary Erica Jones as required.

Town Clerk Obert Muzawazi refused to comment saying he will do so at the most appropriate time. He could not elaborate.

DISMISSAL

Manicaland Provincial Affairs Minister Mandi Chimene has already recommended the dismissal of all council officials accused of corruption. The council has until February 29th this year to take action against the accused city officials that include Muzawazi, Housing Director Sternard Mapurisa, Health Officer Simon Mashababe, Engineer N. Ramhewa, Human Resources Manager Aaron Chemvura, Engineer Donald Nyatoti, Town Planner R. Simbi, M Mawadza and Finance Director Llyod Musasa.

They are among 11 city officials who allegedly granted each other allowances for paying rent, school fees, power charges and other issues. The officials refused to comment.

Some Mutare residents like David Mundirwira have welcomed the damning report.

Mundirwira said the firing of corrupt officials is a positive development.

First and foremost any attempts to bring sanity to the management of council affairs is very welcome from any quarters and what we are calling for is sincerity of such threats whether they will be undertaken as we have had such threats in the past and other audits as well with no action.

Another Mutare resident, Favourite Mutimbe, echoed the same views noting that he is happy that government is taking stern measures against corrupt council officials.

 I think they must be fired because of what they have done to the city and in addition they have to be sued for abuse of office during this period.

PREVIOUS SUSPENSIONS

The government has over the years suspended and or fired councilors and officials in some cities and towns claiming that they are corrupt. Some of them have been accused of parceling prime land to friends without following proper council procedures.

Edson Dube of the United Mutare Residents and Ratepayers Trust, though welcoming the move to fire allegedly corrupt city officials, has questioned the seriousness of the Ministry of Local Government in taking action against graft.

I think first of all we welcome the findings of the minister and what we want to know now is when he is going act on the findings now. It is not the first time for us to hear about corrupt activities at the civic centre and key to this is the time frame. It is a welcome development for all progressive citizens.

Edgar Chirwa, a ward chairperson representing Chikanga, said the dismissal of the city officials was long overdue.

Yes they must be fired because they have made us go through a hard time. We have been waiting for them to change their attitude for a very long time and they have not changed at all. We want them to be fired as they are taking a lot of money while the workers are not being paid. They corruptly drive people out of homes to give to their friends and there is no reason to keep them at all.

SMOOTH SETTLEMENT

But Malvern Mangisi, a local resident, argues that the top council managers need a second change as they may have acted out of ignorance.

I think if they work hand in hand with the minister of local government these managers there would be no problems in the near future as unlike before there has not been a cordial relationship between them.

Bishop Sebastian Bakare of the United Mutare Residents and Ratepayers Trust and the Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe, said he is looking forward to a smooth settlement of the matter haunting the city for the benefit of local people.

The issue of corruption for example has been on our lips for a long time we have been talking about poor service delivery for a long time and the city officials have made us believe there is no money no money no money, at all. Fine there is no money so when the minister talks about corruption, we say ahaa now what we are talking about is universal.

Angry residents have been staging protests since the presentation of the report calling for the resignation of all council officials named in the report for allegedly engaging in unconventional ways of making money.
The president of the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce, David Norupiri, says business wants the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) to increase tariffs by at least 10 percent not the 49 percent the power utility is proposing as the electricity situation gets desperate for Harare.

The Zambezi River Authority, which manages Kariba Dam, says water levels have dropped to 12 percent of capacity.

Data posted on the organizations website shows that water levels fell to 477.25 meters above sea level from 482.83 meters a year earlier.

The minimum operating level for the hydropower dam, which normally supplies about half of Zambia and Zimbabwes electricity demand, is 475.5 meters.

ZESA spokesman Fullard Gwasira told Studio 7 the situation at Kariba Dam is a cause for concern.

Norupiri said they understand ZESAs concerns and urged the power utility to increase efficiency not tariffs.
The dont-call-it-a-boycott Oscars might be more interesting for who wont be in attendance than who will. Spike Lee, Jada Pinkett Smith, and now Will Smith have all said that theyre not planning on attending the Oscars, which, for the second year in a row, nominated 20 white people in the acting categories. Oscar nominee Mark Ruffalo, one of the stars of presumed Best Picture front-runner Spotlight, also thinks that the all-white slate is reflective of deeper injustices in America. It isnt just the Academy Awards, Ruffalo told BBC News. The entire American system is rife with a kind of white privileged racism that goes into our justice system.

Will he attend the ceremonies? Im weighing it. Thats where Im at right now, said Ruffalo. I woke up in the morning thinking, what is the right way to do this? Because if you look at Martin Luther Kings legacy, what he was saying was, the good people who dont act are much worse than the people, the wrongdoers that are purposely not acting and dont know the right way. Well, you may have just answered your own question, Mark Ruffalo.

Update: On Twitter, Ruffalo clarified his position, saying he would attend the ceremony to honor the survivors of the Catholic Churchs sex-abuse scandal.

To clear up any confusion. I will be going to the Oscars in support of the victims of clergy Sexual Abuse and good journalism. #Spotlight  Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) January 21, 2016

I do support the Oscar Ban movement's position that the nominations do not reflect the diversity of our community.  Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) January 21, 2016

The Oscar Ban movement reflects a larger discussion about racism in the criminal justice system.  Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) January 21, 2016

I hope the OscarBan people are also willing to step up and support the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Where black bodies are in jeopardy daily.  Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) January 21, 2016
Closing in a few weeks. Photo: Henry S. Dziekan III/WireImage

The history of the Ziegfeld  Manhattans largest movie theater, whose leaseholders announced Wednesday that it would be closing in a few weeks  is one of really lousy timing. Opened in 1969, it arrived in Times Square just as the neighborhood was going to hell, and nobody wanted to go there after dark. Within just a few years, the film-exhibition business began moving to the multiplex model, and a 1,100-seat auditorium soon became an questionable business. It soldiered on for decades, increasingly rumored to be in financial difficulties, but also regularly booked for events that required movie magic: premieres, 70-millimeter screenings of classics, major-event films like Star Wars: The Force Awakens. (Lately, its been losing a lot of money.) The buildings not going to be demolished, at least not imminently. Instead, its owners will turn it into a ballroom, to host product launches and parties. They run a similar business out of an ornate former bank at Broadway and 36th Street called Gotham Hall.

Maybe it was the name that was the kiss of death. The theaters predecessor, the building put up on (more or less) the same site by Florenz Ziegfeld himself, opened in 1927 and had all of two good years before the stock-market crash. Within six years, it had failed and been turned over to showing movies, and later became a TV studio. In 1963, it was returned to Broadway use  just in time for Broadways business to start caving in on itself  and the building was razed in 1966. Stephen Sondheim used a lightly fictionalized version of it as the dramatic backdrop to a musical about midlife regrets. Really, you have to wonder whether, now that the newer Ziegfeld is going to become a party space, the event-planning business will find a way to collapse, just to keep the theme going.

The old Ziegfeld (built 1927, demolished 1966). Photo: Irving Underhill/Corbis

The Ziegfeld  the latter one, the one we will have for another few weeks  is also a victim of poor architectural fortune. Were it a grand old thing like the Belasco or the Morosco, it would surely have been landmarked by now. Unfortunately, it had the lousy luck to have been built in the age of the joyless concrete box, and it is, externally, about as graceful as your average Korvettes. On grounds of prettiness, rather than cultural utility, the present building is entirely expendable. More bad timing.

Of course, this is terrible news. We have all become accustomed to the dull thud of discovering that an institution we loved has lost its lease, which does not make the thud any less dull. New York, where the movies began and where aesthetes hang on for dear life despite the ridiculous rent, surely deserves to have one giant screen on which to unspool, say, a freshly restored print of Lawrence of Arabia. I suppose Radio City Music Hall, which itself survived a near-death experience in 1978, can be called upon for moments like that.

Often, when a building is about five decades old, it goes out of style and falls out of step with hard commercial realities, and it is written off as worthless. Consider the handful of prewar Broadway theaters that were torn down in the early 1980s and replaced with the Marriott Marquis hotel (arguably the least pleasant building in New York). It seemed logical and commercially necessary: Broadway as an institution was crumbling, half the stages were empty, there was no future. And then  something happened. Within just a few years, the Shuberts and their ilk began to figure out how the Broadway-show business might be made to work again. Today, the 40 remaining Broadway theaters are not nearly enough to meet the demand. Shows often cant transfer from downtown or London because there arent any stages available. In short, we all allowed an unfettered real-estate market to destroy an irreplaceable resource, mostly out of shortsightedness. Something similar happened with a certain railway station of which you may have heard. You probably havent gone to the Ziegfeld in a while, which is at the root of its problem. You also, probably, would prefer it to whatever will take its place.

The Ziegfeld is approaching 50, and definitely out of step. But its not impossible to see something over the horizon: a future wherein a lot of people have six-foot movie screens in the living room, and buy their opening-night tickets not to the multiplex but via Netflix, and the whole crappy sticky-floored business has begun to shrink away. If such a thing ever does happen, we will want a premium theater for certain extra-special events that dont work at home: the impeccable Close Encounters of the Third Kind restoration, the Chaplin film with a live orchestra. By then, if recent history is any guide, the Ziegfeld Ballroom will have given way to a 60-story glass condo tower with a very expensive, slightly tacky spa. And we will have blown it. Again.
Barnetts Public House

420 Franklin Avenue

254-714-1356

On Facebook, and at barnettspublichouse.com

Hours: Closed Mondays; 4-11 p.m. Tuesdays-Wednesdays; 4 p.m.-midnight Thursdays; 4 p.m.-1 a.m. Fridays; 10 a.m.-1 a.m. Saturdays; and 10 a.m.- 2 p.m. Sundays.

Price: $ (see guide below)

Takeout: Yes

Alcohol: Yes, full bar

On the menu: The restaurant recently revamped its menu, with only a few items carried over from the previous menu. New menu items include The Cajun, The Italian Stallion, The Greek and Bahn Mi, all featuring gourmet sausages served with flat bread or a baguette. Other new items include Andouille sausage or shrimp with jalapeno grits, homemade boudin and beans, bratwurst and The Blue Collar Dog, a black Angus beef hot dog. Desserts include salted caramel cheese cake, bread pudding and a smore kit.

Good to know: Offers free wi-fi and daily drink specials.

Restaurant origin: Barnetts opened in the spring of 2010 before closing its doors Dec. 31, 2014. Under new ownership, the pub reopened in February 2015.

Tandoori Trailer

Waco Chowtown food truck court (University Parks Drive at Franklin Avenue.)

254-495-6466

On Facebook, Twitter and at tandooritrailer.com

Hours: 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays and 5-7 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays. Hours may vary due to weather; dinner hours longer in spring and summer. Closed Dec. 31-Jan. 3.

Price: $

Takeout: Yes. Curbside service and phone app allowing ordering available after mid-January.

Alcohol: No

On the menu: Tandoori chicken (roasted in a tandoor, an Indian clay oven), chicken curry, paneer makhani (cubes of paneer cheese in a spiced tomato and cream sauce), chole (chickpeas), naan (baked flatbread), samosas (deep-fried pastry with savory fillings), basmati rice.

Good to know: Garlic naan is a customer favorite. All dishes are made fresh daily.

Restaurant origin: Co-owner Johnny Bhojwani came to work in Baylor Universitys admissions office in 2011 only to discover the nearest Indian restaurant was in Killeen. Houston resident Naresh Thadani was looking for a business in which to invest and Bhojwani suggested creating an Indian cuisine food truck. The two are partners and run the business, with Thadanis wife, Disha, in charge of recipes and menus. Tandoori Trailer opened in late October.

Freddys Frozen Custard and Steakburgers

817 S. Jack Kultgen Freeway

254-301-7330

On Facebook and at

Hours: 10:30 a.m.- 10 p.m. Sundays-Thursdays; 10:30 a.m.-11 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays. Drive-through open 10:30 a.m.-11 p.m. Sundays-Thursdays; 10:30 a.m.-midnight Fridays-Saturday

Price: $-$$

Alcohol: No

On the menu: Steakburgers, hot dogs, chicken breast sandwiches, veggie burgers, french fries, cheese fries, frozen custard sundaes and milkshakes.

Good to know: Most popular order is the No. 1 combo, a double cheeseburger with fries and drink. Steakburgers made fresh daily and vegetable sides cut fresh daily. Freddys Fry Sauce also sold separately.

Restaurant origin: World War II veteran Freddy Simon started the original Freddys in 1950s in Wichita, Kansas. Now a national chain, Freddys has more than 150 franchises. The Baylor-area location opened in October.

WiseGuys Chicago Eatery

579 N. Valley Mills Drive

254-732-7580

On Facebook and at

Hours: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays. Closed Sundays.

Price: $-$$

Takeout: Yes. Also available through Sic em Delivery. Catering also available.

Alcohol: BYOB

On the menu: Cheese-steaks, Italian beef sandwiches, hot dogs, hamburgers, sandwiches, french fries, onion rings, mozarella strips.

Good to know: Customer favorites are cheesesteaks and Italian beef sandwiches. Live music at 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Back room available for parties, meetings.

Restaurant origin: Current owners Gary and Barbara Klyczek, both from Chicago, reopened WiseGuys on Aug. 22, after previous management had operated as Tonys Chicago Grill. Its part of the original chain that opened the Valley Mills location in November 2012 .

Zoes Kitchen

1810 S. Valley Mills Drive

254-714-1361

On Facebook

Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.

Price: $-$$

Takeout: Yes. Catering also available.

Alcohol: Beer and wine.

On the menu: Mediterranean cuisine, hummus, salads, kabobs, pitas, sandwiches, rollups, soups and desserts.

Good to know: Signature dishes include chicken kabobs, quinoa salad, steak rollups and hummus. Grilling is the predominant method of cooking  no fryers or microwaves used  and a variety of gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan options are available.

Restaurant origin: Zoe and Marcus Cassimus founded the restaurant in 1995 in Homewood, Ala. The Waco restaurant, the chains 163rd location, opened Oct. 27.

The Patio on Eighth

511 S. Eighth St.

254-235-1151

On Facebook

Hours: 11 a.m. to midnight Sundays-Wednesdays, 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Thursdays-Saturdays.

Price: $-$$

Takeout: Yes

Alcohol: Yes, full bar

Smoking: The Backyards patio area has smoking zones that comply with the citys new smoking ordinance.

On the menu: Burgers, barbecue, sandwiches, street tacos.

Good to know: Hamburger baskets and chicken-fried steak are popular with the lunchtime crowd while many viewers of The Backyards 40-foot television screen and outdoor stage are fans of the specialty appetizer Texas cheese steak balls, breaded and deep fried balls of chopped, seasoned brisket, cheese and jalepeno bits.

Restaurant origin: Calvin Gossett, owner of The Patio on Main in Temple, wanted to expand into the Waco market and got the opportunity with the kitchen and meat-smoking operation of The Backyard, which opened in early October.

Fuego Tortilla Grill

1524 S. 13th St.

254-235-2740

fuegotortillagrill.com and on Facebook

Hours: 24 hours daily

Price: $-$$

Takeout: Yes; drive-through also available.

Alcohol: No

On the menu: Tacos (beef, chicken, pork, fish) and puffy tacos; breakfast tacos; salad.

Good to know: Customer favorites include the El Presidente (grilled chicken, bacon, cheese, fried avocado), The King (steak, beans, cheese, avocado) and the Dr Pepper Cowboy (brisket, chipotle corn, cheese, Dr Pepper barbeque sauce).

Restaurant origin: The Fuego Tortilla Grill started in College Station and now has locations in San Marcos and Waco. The Baylor-area location, the second in Waco, opened Aug. 27.

Guide: $  main dishes less than $10; $$  $10 to $20; $$$  more than $20.
Austin roots-rocking Statesboro Revue takes the Waco Hippodrome stage for the first time in a Friday night show with the Folk Family Revival, but its merely a new venue in a familiar town.

Since the band formed seven years ago, it has played at Wild West Waco, Treffs, Hog Creek Ice House and Georges Restaurant.

We dont play (Waco) enough, band co-founder and guitarist Stewart Mann said. Weve always had great radio support there and its one of those places we love to play.

Part of that love may have come from a former Statesboro Revue guitar player, Waco native Todd

Laningham, who is now with Wade Bowens band.

When Statesboro Revue headlines Fridays Hippodrome show, there likely will be more than a few in the audience familiar with the bands sound, which blends enough genres to make easy labeling  something that aids marketing and promotion  a bit tricky.

When we started, I thought of us as an old-fashioned rock n roll band, Mann said. Well always be a Southern rock band, but with country and rock n roll and blues and folk music. . . . Weve always strived to be ourselves.

Mann and his half-brother, Garrett, who plays lead guitar, started their band in 2008, building from a core of Austin musicians with heartfelt music their aim. We want to make music that you feel something when you hear it,he said.

Their performance at the 2009 South by Southwest Music Festival quickly drew attention their way, and the band has found itself performing with the likes of Los Lonely Boys, Willie Nelson, the Turnpike Troubadodurs, the Randy Rogers Band, Bob Schneider, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Will Hoge, the Eli Young Band, Whiskey Myers, Cross Canadian Ragweed and Charlie Robison, to drop more than a few names.

The band  the Mann brothers on guitar, Ben Bradshaw on bass, Travis Bishop on keyboards and Kris Schoen on drums  has released three albums in that time, starting with Different Kind of Light, continuing with Ramble on Privilege Creek and the most recent release, Jukehouse Revival.

Mann said with good songs and fan support, a band can make a living in Texas, two things that have been true for Statesboro Revue, with Undone their most successful song, peaking at No. 6 on the Texas Music Chart, its third Top 20 TMC single.

Fridays Hippodrome show, which features Houstons Folk Family Revival as opening act, will showcase much of the new Jukehouse Revival, and thats true in part for the year ahead. The band had remarkable fan turnout on a European tour, but a new child on the way for the New Braunfels-based Mann and his wife will keep him and his Statesboro Revue closer to home, yet still making music that matters.

Well continue to pound the pavement and hope that people spread the word about us, he said. (Friday) will be a long, fun night.
La Vega Independent School District is having a La Vega Pirates champions parade at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Sams Club, 2301 E. Waco Drive in Bellmead.

The parade will conclude with a pep rally at Pirate Stadium, 555 N. Loop 340 in Bellmead.

For more information, call 299-6820.

GOP candidate forum

A candidate forum for the Texas railroad commissioner position will be held at a McLennan County Republican Club lunch set for 11:30 a.m. Thursday at the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museums Knox Hall, 100 Texas Ranger Trail.

The commissioners position has drawn seven Republican candidates.

Admission is free. Lunch will be available for $12.

For more information, email the club at mcrctx@gmail.com or visit www.mcrctx.org.

Cookies and Coloring

The Art Center of Waco, 1300 College Drive, will have a free Cookies and Coloring program at 3:30 p.m. Friday.

Featured artists will be Odilon Relon and Marc Chagall, with coloring pages and facts about the artists lives.

For more information, call 752-4371.

North East Riverside

North East Riverside Neighborhood Association will meet at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Bledsoe Miller Recreation Center, 300 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

Investor and advocate Happy Baggett of Fort Worth will talk about Purpose-Built Communities  Restoring Communities and Changing Lives.

For more information, call 652-9056.

Painting fundraiser

Cameron Park American Association of Zoo Keepers is hosting a Painting With a Purpose fundraiser from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday at Painting With a Twist, 1621 N. Valley Mills Drive.

Participants will paint a bear picture, and a silent auction of paintings created by bears will be conducted.

Cost is $35.

For registration information, call 815-404-0210.

TED Talks at library

Waco-McLennan County Library will host a TED Talks at 7 p.m. Thursday at the West Waco Library, 5301 Bosque Blvd.

Topic for the free program will be Drones: Will They Save Us or Destroy Us?

Guests will view recorded drone-related TED Talks, with a discussion to follow.

For more information, call 745-6018.

St. Louis open house

St. Louis Catholic School, 2208 N. 23rd St., will have an open house and kindergarten round-up from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Monday.

Parents of pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade students can meet teachers and staff, take a tour of the school and get information about curriculum, tuition, activities and financial assistance.

For more information, call 754-2041.

Storytelling group

The HOT Storytelling Guild will meet from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the South Waco Library, 2737 S. 18th St.

The meeting will feature guest storyteller Mel Davenport.

For more information, call 717-1763.

Submit items for Briefly in printed or typed form to Briefly, P.O. Box 2588, Waco 76702-2588; fax to 757-0302; or email to goingson@wacotrib.com at least one week before an event.
Two South Texas men arrested in April while reportedly transporting $1.8 million worth of heroin and methamphetamine were indicted Wednesday by a McLennan County grand jury.

The grand jury indicted David Rodriguez, 34, of Houston, and Luis Alexandro Reyna, 36, of San Juan, Texas, on charges of possession of heroin with intent to deliver and possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver.

Department of Public Safety officials arrested the pair April 3 in Waco and reported they discovered 8 pounds of heroin and 9 pounds of methamphetamine in hidden compartments in a 2004 Lincoln Navigator.

According to records filed in the case, the men admitted to the officers that they were bringing the drugs to Waco from the McAllen area.

Records show DPS narcotics officers and Drug Enforcement Administration agents received a tip that a large drug shipment was coming into Waco in a maroon Navigator accompanied by someone in a black 2012 Ford Explorer.

Agents located the vehicles parked at Hooters at New Road and Interstate 35.

An undercover DEA agent went inside the restaurant and saw the man later identified as Reyna meeting with a man agents said was driving the Navigator, records show. He later was identified as Rodriguez, according to reports.

The men left the restaurant in the two vehicles and two DPS troopers pulled them over a short time later, records show.

A drug dog was brought in and alerted officers that the vehicle was carrying drugs, according to reports.

If convicted, the men face from 15 to 99 years in prison and up to life and fines up to $250,000.
Two Midway High School students were charged Tuesday with distributing a false report or alarm after posting a screen shot of a false administrative document warning families about potential violence at the school, Hewitt Police Chief Jim Devlin said.

Midway Independent School District officials fielded about 200 calls Tuesday after a social media post told students to stay home from school Wednesday because of threats of violence between classes Tuesday and Wednesday, district officials said.

Two boys, 15 and 16, hacked into the districts online information portal and created a false document with an administrators signature, Devlin said.

The boys then took a screen shot of the document, posted it on social media and deleted the original document, he said.

People called the district consistently until administrators released a letter stating the posting was false and there was no threat to students, Midway spokeswoman Traci Marlin said.

Midway ISDs website states that the district will not notify parents of student crimes or threats through a screen shot on social media, but instead email or call them. Social media will be used to direct parents to check their emails or go to the districts website for more information.

A nonviolent social media countdown posted in December by a Midway student about an upcoming event was misinterpreted by some as a threat at the time, Marlin said.

The district did an extensive investigation of that post and ruled no one intended to harm students, Marlin said.

The social media post that circulated Tuesday referenced the countdown and renewed the misinterpretation of the December post, Marlin said.

Distributing a false report or alarm is a state jail felony with a potential sentence of not more than 2 years and not less than 180 days in jail and up to a $10,000 fine.

Marlin said the high schools administration will issue disciplinary action within the next few days. Penalties could include out-of-school suspension, demerits and expulsion.
With the Iowa caucuses less than two weeks away, heres a newsflash: The corn-ethanol mandates, which are always a pivotal issue in that state, are more deadly than the emissions from those cheating Volkswagens. Four times more deadly, to be precise.

By now, most Americans are probably aware that Volkswagen AG, the worlds second-largest automaker, is facing legal woes both in the United States and abroad for installing software on its cars that allowed the vehicles to defeat emissions-control tests. Two weeks ago, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against the German company for violating the Clean Air Act by outfitting more than half a million cars with the software. In the United States alone, VW could face fines of as much as $90 billion.

The vehicles in question produced 10 to 40 times more nitrogen oxides than the law allowed. And those increased emissions will cause about 60 premature deaths a year in the United States, according to a study by MIT and Harvard University researchers.

Shortly after it was discovered that VW had been cheating, Cynthia Giles, the Environmental Protection Agencys assistant administrator for the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, denounced the companys effort to evade clean air standards as illegal and a threat to public health.

But corn ethanol is an even bigger threat, as the EPAs own research shows. In 2010, the agency detailed the environmental and economic effects of the Renewable Fuel Standard, the federal mandate that requires retailers to blend ethanol into the gasoline they sell. Adding ethanol to gasoline causes higher emissions including nitrogen oxides, the very same pollutants at issue in the VW case.

Ethanol-blended fuel also increases emissions of hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter and other pollutants, the EPA found, and that will lead to increases in population-weighted annual average ambient PM [particulate matter] and ozone concentrations, which in turn are anticipated to lead to up to 245 cases of adult premature mortality.

Thus, the corn ethanol mandates are more than four times as deadly to the American public as the VWs. Yet the frontrunners for the presidency are marching in lockstep in favor of ethanol. Indeed, their nearly unanimous support for the mandate is like no other issue in American politics. The reason for their fealty to Big Corn is obvious: No presidential candidate has ever won the Iowa Caucuses while opposing corn ethanol.

Donald Trump, a leading Republican candidate in Iowa, has said Ethanol is terrific  I am totally in favor of ethanol, 100 percent. And I will support it.

And Hillary Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner in Iowa, is also an ethanol booster. Never mind that as a U.S. senator, she voted against ethanol 17 times. Last August, she said, We need to strengthen the Renewable Fuel Standard and expand the overall contribution that renewable fuels make to our national fuel supply.

The only current candidate who has dared stray from ethanol orthodoxy has been Ted Cruz, but even he is backpedaling. About two weeks ago, he published an op-ed article in the Des Moines Register saying it was utter nonsense that he was opposed to ethanol.

While it may be too much to hope for bravery among presidential candidates during their pilgrimages to the Hawkeye State, the EPA should be protecting the public from ethanol, not promoting it. Alas, thats just what the agency is doing. In November, despite its own findings that ethanol-blended fuel is resulting in the premature death of more than 200 Americans per year, the agency actually increased the amount of ethanol that must be blended into domestic fuel supplies each year by more than 1 billion gallons.

Robert Bryce is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and author of Smaller Faster Lighter Denser Cheaper: How Innovation Keeps Proving the Catastrophists Wrong.
Just days before voting begins in pivotal Republican presidential primary elections and caucuses, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruzs Canadian birth has become the constitutional powder keg of the day, eclipsing even President Obamas executive orders on immigration and guns: Does Cruz truly qualify as natural-born, as the Constitution demands  or are some constitutional scholars and Cruz revisionists?

For conservatives who cherish the Constitution and regard themselves as strict constructionists or originalists  they hold to following the Constitution to the letter, not as sometimes interpreted  its a painful dilemma. If the Framers had written native-born, it might have been easier. What even is natural-born?

Worse, the Supreme Court has not resolved the issue nor has Congress ever thought to amend the Constitution to remove the restriction, such as when bodybuilder, actor and onetime governor Arnold Schwarzenegger rose in Republican ranks. And given the strong nativist element that, ironically, favors Cruz, theres no clear indication that a proposed constitutional amendment would have even survived before the nations voters.

Perhaps its an indication of how, over time, we all have rationalized the need for changes in the Constitution, right or wrong.

We on the Trib editorial board are old enough to remember when the natural-born qualification for president was clearly understood to limit candidates to those born in the United States. Over time, this evolved to include the Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater, born in Arizona before 1912 when it was still a U.S. territory; Republican presidential candidate George Romney, born of U.S. parents in Mexico; and, still later, Republican presidential candidate John McCain, a war veteran born on a U.S. military post in the Panama Canal Zone of U.S. parents.

For Cruz fans who encouraged spurious claims that Barack Obama was a Muslim born in Kenya and thus an illegitimate president, this constitutional question is just deserts. Should such people now rally to Cruz for president, they must face their own hypocrisy: Cruz was unquestionably born in Canada. Nor does Cruz exactly qualify for generous interpretation of Article II in the Constitution, given his recent flip-flop on the birthright provision of the 14th Amendment, which protects native-born children from deportation. (Cruz was all for keeping the provision back in a revealing 2011 interview with local Republican activist Duke Machado.)

In recent days weve published pieces by constitutional scholars on the question: One (the most liberal of the batch) says Cruz qualifies as a presidential candidate; the second says he clearly does not; the third states its hardly as clear-cut as Cruz readily suggests.

Already, a Houston attorney has filed a suit pressing the Supreme Court to resolve the matter. And it was only natural that Republican front-runner Donald Trump, who a few years ago claimed Obama was born outside the United States, would batter Cruz on the same claim as Cruzs poll numbers finally rose.

Ideally, there would be no requirement that presidents of the United States be natural-born. It might have made sense after the Revolution when the British still lurked nearby (Canada, as it turned out) and some Americans (such as Thomas Jefferson) feared some countrymen might long a little too much for Mother England.

But those days are long gone and, given the United States stunningly successful record of assimilating immigrants (as opposed to Europe) and the success of many immigrants here, pesky Article II could do with some revision. For the time, though, the best guide on the matter is to judge Candidate Cruz on his policies, merit and veracity  and curse Congress for never addressing this continually confounding constitutional matter.
Hidden agenda

Regarding Wednesdays Associated Press article, Iowa governor calls on voters to reject (Ted) Cruz, I feel it would have been more honest had the AP reported the commonly known fact that Eric Branstad, son of the governor, is director of the lobbyist organization Americas Renewable Future Inc., which was actually a sponsor of the renewable fuel conference where the anti-endorsement was made.

Trump supports continuing the taxpayer subsidies to farmers to use their food product for fuel. Trump also supports EPA rules requiring continued and increased use of ethanol in gasoline. Both of these cost the taxpayer money and ultimately add to the consumers cost of gasoline.

The governor of Iowa made his statement to keep the flow of federal taxpayer money coming to his state. It would seem being a conservative has its price too.

Just a reminder to all of your readers: It is your money before it becomes the governments money. Only then can they use it to buy votes and maintain power over the people.

Stephen Williams, Hewitt

GOP also-rans

Yes, keep your eyes on the also-ran conservative candidates. It is still way too early to decide who is going to be a viable candidate, at least in the eyes of the Republican National Committee powers that be. It seems as though the two front-runners have not received the blessings of the Republican leadership. Theyre deemed tainted, not worthy, even suspect, in terms of party loyalty.

No, it is not too late for the power brokers and real decision-makers to steal this decision from the voting populace. I await with great interest to see which candidate the RNC anoints, regardless of electability.

Anyone remember Bob Dole, John McCain, Mitt Romney? They all fit the mold of the RNC, and all have now been relegated to footnote status in American history. Am I going to see the Republicans give away another election? I hope not.

Dan Dayton, West

Open carry fears

I lived for 11 years in Europe, where gun ownership was not allowed other than for hunting. I felt safe. The idea of open carry of guns, which went into effect across Texas on Jan. 1, violates my sense of reality and safety.

The concealed carrying of handguns was one thing, but what kind of person needs to carry a gun in plain sight? We have a competent police force to protect us.

We can have a gun, if we desire, in our own homes, if we feel that need. But just what kind of person needs a gun visible on his person? Psychological testing would likely give us answers that would have stopped this new practice before it started.

I propose we all refuse to patronize businesses that allow open carry. We have that responsibility to ourselves and our families.

There are better ways to man-up. Open carry demonstrates deficits in every important way.

B. Locher, Waco
The Commemorative Air Force (CAF) Red Tail Squadron, Americas tribute to the Tuskegee Airmen, is excited to announce they have been invited to attend the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) Annual Conference and Exhibit Show April 2-4 in Atlanta. Squadron representatives will be showcasing the inspirational power of their RISE ABOVE Resource Kit and RISE ABOVE Traveling Exhibit. Thousands of educators and administrators from across the county can find out how the legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen can inspire their students to RISE ABOVE and achieve their dreams while learning about an important piece of history. The mission of the CAF Red Tail Squadron is to educate audiences across the country about the history and legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen  Americas first black military pilots and their support personnel  so their strength of character, courage and ability to triumph over adversity may serve as a means to inspire others to RISE ABOVE obstacles in their own lives and achieve their goals. The group was founded on the objective to carry the lessons of the Tuskegee Airmen into every classroom in America. In addition to the RISE ABOVE Traveling Exhibit, a 53 mobile theater utilized for private showings at schools and other venues around the country, the Squadron offers innovate resource materials for teachers and youth leaders to help bring the lessons of the Tuskegee Airmen alive in the classroom to inspire and ignite students of all ages. Their RISE ABOVE Resource Kit is a collection of materials for classroom use that includes posters, DVD, kids pocket-sized books, inspirational dog tags, childrens book and classroom activities.

Download your FREE copy today of Aim High: The Aircraft of the Tuskegee Airmen, the Squadrons original iBook. This dynamic, interactive experience transports readers deep into the world of flight in the majestic and historic aircraft flown by the Tuskegee Airmen in WWII, complete with sound clips, quizzes and other interactive content. Get it free at

https://itunes.apple.com/us/ book/aim-high-aircraft tuskegee/id691393190?mt=11&ls= 1. (For use with iPad or Apple computer with a Maverick operating system.)

We invite you to visit us in the exhibit hall at booth number 1149 to get your free dog tag featuring our Six Guiding Principles  Aim High, Believe In Yourself, Use Your Brain, Be Ready To Go, Never Quit and Expect to Win, said CAF Red Tail Squadron Leader Bill Shepard. Id like to personally share with you how our inspirational program has brought the lessons of the Tuskegee Airmen to life in classrooms across the country and helped students aspire for higher! The ASCD annual conference will be held at the Georgia World Conference Center in the heart of downtown Atlanta. ASCD is the global leader in developing and delivering innovative programs, products, and services that empower educators to support the success of each learner.

About the CAF Red Tail Squadron

The CAF Red Tail Squadron is a volunteer-driven non-profit organization dedicated to educating audiences across the country about the history and legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen, Americas first black military pilots and their support personnel. RISE ABOVE Red Tail, their three-fold outreach program, includes a fully restored WWII-era P-51C Mustang, the signature aircraft of the Tuskegee Airmen; the RISE ABOVE Traveling Exhibit 53 mobile theater featuring the original panoramic film Rise Above; and resource materials for teachers and youth leaders. Each year, they embark on a nine-month cross-country tour that includes appearances at air shows, schools, museums and community events. The groups Six Guiding Principles  Aim High, Believe In Yourself, Use Your Brain, Be Ready To Go, Never Quit and Expect to Win  serve as the foundation for their outreach programs and are based on the experiences and successes of the Tuskegee Airmen. The CAF Red Tail Squadron is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization part of the Commemorative Air Force (CAF). Learn more at www.redtail.org.
When you buy online, you have the right to the same protections under consumer law as buying in a shop. Online shopping is at an...
Port of Waterford has estimated that it would generate 3.5m this summer with the return of cruise ships for the first time in two...
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A project led by Theatre Royal Waterford has been selected as one of the five arts projects in the country for funding from the...
WATERFORD is to get a world-class centre for training in Bicycle Engineering. It will be based in Ferrybank and will serve the South East. The Bicycle...
WATERFORD is marking time with a new museum in the Viking Triangle. The Irish Museum of Time is the first of its kind in the...
Donna Faull fears the invisible juggernaut she grapples with every day will soon win.

Time is running out for the Ngunnawal mother to curb the progression of her multiple sclerosis and avoid spending the rest of her life in a wheelchair.

Donna Faull, who has multiple sclerosis, is trying to raise enough money to head overseas for stem cell treatment. Credit:Elesa Kurtz

The disease has chipped away at her independence since her diagnosis in 2011 and the second-stage drug which slowed its spread for three years stopped working six months ago.

Her hopes now hinge on an aggressive and controversial treatment overseas but her partner of 30 years, Tim Daly admits time is not on their side.
Canberrans are mourning the death of one of the city's most familiar faces and decades of fleeting but memorable interactions.

Ian "Scrubby" Stokes, better known to many as the Dickson window washer, died at the Ainslie Village although little is known about the circumstances of his death.

Ian Stokes at work on the corner of Northbourne Avenue and Barry Drive in 1999. Credit:Graham Tidy

Stokes was seen washing cars at his usual location last week, the intersection of Antill and Northbourne Avenue, although many noted his deteriorating health.

Hundreds of Canberrans have remembered him as a kind and caring man who worked hard despite his many challenges.
The ACT government's frontbench will be overhauled on Friday as Andrew Barr seeks to move beyond Joy Burch's ministerial resignation at the start of the election year.

Backbenchers Meegan Fitzharris and Chris Bourke won the backing of caucus on Thursday and are set to be promoted to Cabinet, ahead of Mary Porter's early retirement and a subsequent countback for her seat.

New Labor ministers Meegan Fitzharris and Chris Bourke. Credit:Jamila Toderas

A new ministry will be created, bringing the number in the ACT cabinet to seven. Deputy Chief Minister Simon Corbell could see his portfolios changed ahead of his retirement from politics at the election. Sources said Greens Minister Shane Rattenbury could take on Ms Burch's education portfolio.

Ms Fitzharris, a former chief of staff to Mr Barr, was elected to represent Molonglo in 2015 after former chief minister Katy Gallagher left the Assembly. Dr Bourke has previously served as minister for education, industrial relations, corrections and indigenous affairs but was dropped from cabinet after the 2012 election to make way for Greens Minister Shane Rattenbury.
China fears! Billions of dollars lost! Unprecedented volatility!

With investment markets in full blown panic mode, two listed investment company stalwarts are advising investors to keep cool heads as they wade through some of the most volatile times on record.

Tom Millner, chief executive of the $900 million BKI Investment Company, urges investors not to see red despite nearly $120 billion wiped off the Australian share market since the start of this year.

Ross Barker, managing director of the $6.2 billion Australian Foundation Investment Company (AFIC), believes now is a great time for investors to cherry pick where to put their funds.
Here's another great example of just how skittish markets are these days.

Media giant News Corp was overnight forced to deny vague market rumours that it was going to buy, or had already bought, a stake in Twitter.

News Corp's Rupert Murdoch (left) and chief executive Robert Thomson (right) at a press conference in August. Credit:Simon O'Dwyer

The rumour, which was - among other news outlets - reported by News Corp's very own Marketwatch site, lifted shares in Twitter, the beleaguered social network, by as much as 14 per cent.

The stock retreated following the denial, but still finished the regular trading session on the New York Stock Exchange about 4 per cent higher.
Are you one of the 180,000 Australians planning to chuck a sickie on Monday?

Australia Day falls on a Tuesday this year and bosses are already bracing themselves for an influx of people calling in sick on Monday to score themselves a four-day weekend.

It's summer. It will also be the start of finals week at the Australian Open.

And let's admit, any worker who has begrudgingly returned to work after the Christmas holiday period would relish the opportunity for a long weekend.
At what point must political parties take responsibility for the failings of their predecessors (and their predecessors predecessors)? In this rapid-fire age of consumer politics, I reckon they get about about a year  if they're lucky before the excuses start to sound pretty feeble.

It may be unfair, and politicians can moan about it all they like, but that's just the reality. People move on quickly; voters expect problems to be fixed and promises to be kept.

Which means Daniel Andrews will return to work from his summer hiatus on Australia Day facing some hairy issues.

Forget factionalism, union malfeasance or lame attempts by opposition MPs to throw stones in Parliament. Andrews' biggest problems lie elsewhere, stemming from years of under-investment by successive governments and the various entities they employ.
I guess leaders of Islamic State are fiscal conservatives. This week we learnt they recently decided to slash salaries in the public service  in their case, fighters  by half. Apparently IS doesn't do deficits. So, confronted by plunging revenue and losing cash rapidly, it could only implore its people to sacrifice for the cause.

This is excellent news for several reasons. First, it reflects an enterprise in trouble.IS doesn't detail the "exceptional circumstances" that make the pay cut necessary, but they're simple to discern: significant losses of land  up to 40 per cent of what it held in Iraq and 20 per cent of its Syrian territory  including much of its money-making gas and oil fields. Moreover, things are only becoming worse. IS famously lost Ramadi last month, and last week saw something in the order of tens of millions of dollars literally blown up when a US air strike hit a cash facility in Mosul.

Second, the lower pay threatens to harm the organisation's recruitment. That might surprise those convinced IS survives on the kind of fanaticism that does not need to be bought, but this oversimplifies the nature of IS, which is not merely a collection of ideological diehards.

It's easy to forget that in addition to its dedicated Islamists, IS is a home for sizeable chunk of Saddam Hussein's men who, after the United States invasion, found themselves excluded from the new Iraqi government and with nowhere to take their (often brutal) skills. The Islamic State leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, formed alliances with many of them while he was in prison. Indeed IS probably couldn't exist without their expertise, acquired over years working for Saddam. Not so very long ago, these people were secularists  more particularly, Arab nationalists. For them, IS represents little more than a way back to power.
A firebug went on an arson spree around Melbourne's north on Wednesday night, lighting five separate grass and scrub fires.

The fires were lit within an hour and within one kilometre of each other around Dallas, Westmeadows and Broadmeadows.

The Crib Point fire was the work of a suspected arsonist. Credit:Keith Pakenham

Firefighters were called to the first fire at 9.39pm on Dallas Drive in Dallas. No sooner had they arrived they received another call for a fire on Raleigh Street, Westmeadows.

At 10.04pm a fire started on Hepburn Street, Dallas.
Multiple firebugs are on the loose on the Mornington Peninsula, with the local community on edge after several small fires were lit in quick succession.

Crib Point, on the eastern side of the Peninsula, has been hit by small fires three times in the past two weeks.

The aftermath of Monday's Crib Point fire. Police believe the blaze was started deliberately. Credit:Keith Pakenham

One of those blazes blew up into a major emergency, burning down one house and damaging another on Monday.

Another fire was lit on Tuesday in the same area, but was quickly extinguished. There had been another fire in the same area a week earlier.
A group of Aboriginal people says it has set up a "refugee camp" at Perth's Heirisson Island to protest against what it claims is the state government supporting international refugees before helping WA's homeless people.

The group of about 60 people, led by Nyoongar man Herbert Bropho, has been camping at the Swan River island for around a month, with more tents appearing each week.

Greg Martin, Herbert Bropho and Aaron Hubert believe Heirisson Island should be returned to its traditional owners. Credit:Heather McNeill

It follows camping protests staged at the island in 2012 and 2015 objecting to the state government's $1.3 billion native title offer to the Nyoongar people, the closure of remote Aboriginal communities and traditional land rights.
Bangkok: Myanmar authorities have arrested and jailed a former monk and leader of a 2007 uprising who returned to the country from Thailand to apply for a passport so he could travel to Australia.

Authorities have refused bail for Nyi Nyi Lwin, known as Gambira, despite that he is suffering severe health problems after spending years in Myanmar's jails where he was beaten, chained to a floor and injected with unknown substances that induced unbearable pain and psychotic episodes.

Gambira and his wife Marie Siochana. Credit:Facebook

Known as a leader of the Saffron Revolution, Gambira has been one of the few voices to speak out against the persecution of minority Rohingya Muslims in the majority Buddhist country.

"Please pray for him," Gambira's Australian wife, Marie Siochana, who married him after a whirlwind romance in 2012, pleaded on Facebook.
Patrick Norman Pat Chapman is a 34-year-old, Caucasian male who was last known to be in Piedmont which is near the area of Greenville, Missouri on May 10, 2020.

Pat had stayed the night with a friend and his wife at their home. In the early morning when the friend woke to go to work.

Pat was gone in his own Burgundy color 1995 Ford Escort. That is the last anyone was known to have seen him. The vehicle was later recovered on May 29, 2020 in Mill Spring, Missouri.
China's Tianjin Art Troupe enthralls Bangladeshis, enhances cultural ties

From:chinadaily.com.cn | 2016-01-21 11:31

Chinese dancers perform at the National Theater in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Jan. 18, 2016. China's Tianjin Art Troupe staged on Monday a culturally captivating performance aimed at celebrating the upcoming Lunar New Year. [Photo/Xinhua]

Crowds of hundreds cheered, clapped and waved as China's famous Tianjin Art Troupe staged a culturally captivating event in a performance aimed at celebrating the upcoming Lunar New Year in Dhaka.

The performance included traditional Chinese musical instruments, dance, acrobatics and martial arts and many more exquisite recitals.

The Bangladesh-China Friendship Center (BCFC), in association with the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Bangladesh and Bangladesh's National Academy of Fine and Performing Arts, organized the performance presented by the Tianjin Art Troupe of China.

The performance, "Beautiful Tianjin" took place on Sunday night at the National Theater of the academy in Dhaka.

BCFC President M. Delwar Hossain said the 32-member Tianjin Art Troupe was visiting Bangladesh to showcase its performance to the local people as part of celebrations for the Chinese New Year, which falls on Feb. 8.

He expressed his hope that the Chinese New Year will bring much more success for the People's Republic of China and for people in Bangladesh and elsewhere in the world.

Ruhul Amin, a Dhaka University student, said: "I am really impressed by the the troupe's performance. I've never seen such an excellent performance in my life. I'm delighted that they organized the program."

All the attendees agreed that the wonderful program will help build a deeper understanding between China and Bangladesh.

Chinese artists perform martial arts at the National Theater in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Jan. 18, 2016. China's Tianjin Art Troupe staged on Monday a culturally captivating performance aimed at celebrating the upcoming Lunar New Year. [Photo/Xinhua]

Kazi Mohamad Nasir Uddin, a professor at Dhaka's Jagannath University, said: "We've really enjoyed the performances, which presented the rich cultural heritage of China. Such visits of Chinese troupes will strengthen cultural bonds between the countries. And this will be reflected in our social life, state life and in all spheres of life."

Chinese Ambassador Ma Mingqian also highly commended such cultural exchange.

"The Spring Festival is a time to celebrate. It's a time to celebrate what we have done and what we have achieved. And indeed we have achieved a lot in the past year."

"The Chinese economy remains stable, contrary to concerns from many corners of the world. We have maintained a very strong momentum of growth," the ambassador added.

The ambassador was also praised the achievements of Bangladesh and its people.

"You have maintained a very high economic growth over the last 17 years and I hope that China and Bangladesh will work hand in hand not only to bring a better future for all of our people, but also for the region and to continue to contribute to the prosperity and stability of the rest of the world as well."

He expressed his hope that cultural exchanges between the two countries will become an important pillar for bilateral relations and that this closer relationship of cooperation will lead to the bright future of the people of both countries.

BCFC President Hossain also said that such a program will contribute immensely to further deepening bilateral relations.

"I believe both Bangladesh and China are heading for a better, brighter future and the two countries will continue to benefit each other culturally," Hossain concluded.

Chinese acrobats perform at the National Theater in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Jan. 18, 2016. China's Tianjin Art Troupe staged on Monday a culturally captivating performance aimed at celebrating the upcoming Lunar New Year. [Photo/Xinhua]

Chinese artists play musical instruments at the National Theater in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Jan. 18, 2016. China's Tianjin Art Troupe staged on Monday a culturally captivating performance aimed at celebrating the upcoming Lunar New Year. [Photo/Xinhua]
By West Kentucky Star Staff Jan. 21, 2016 | 11:49 AM | PADUCAH, KY

Police are searching for two suspects who they say forced their way into a McCracken County woman's home and robbed her.

On Monday, an 84-year-old woman told deputies that two men approached her while she was retrieving her newspaper, and assisted her with the door as she was returning back inside her home on Yarbro Lane. The victim told deputies that after one held the door for her, the two men forced their way inside.

The victim said that one of the men told her to sit down and began trying to sell her vinyl flooring. While one of the men held up a large piece of flooring, the other disappeared and rummaged through the home. She later discovered collector coins missing from a spare bedroom.

One of the men is described as a thin white male in his early thirties, with dark hair and a mustache. The other is a short stocky white male, in his mid-forties with dark hair. The two men were driving a rust-colored two-door car.

Deputies advise the public to be aware of "travelers" or "gypsies," who often prey on the elderly and begin by knocking on the doors offering to make home repairs. Most of the time the repairs are shoddy and sometimes go unfinished. The repairmen are usually unlicensed.

Travelers are also known to commit what is called distraction burglaries. They sometimes pose as police, utility workers, door-to-door salesmen, contractors, real estate agents, or other guises to gain the targeted victims confidence. This enables them to gain entry into the home during daytime hours. Once inside, one individual keeps the victim busy or distracted while the other steals valuables from another part of the home.

The McCracken County Sheriff's Department is asking anyone with information regarding this crime to contact them at 270-444-4719, or Crimestoppers at 270-443-TELL. Anyone with information leading to the arrest and/or conviction may be eligible for a reward up to $1000.
Kentucky State Police are looking for a missing Monticello woman last seen in Hopkinsville
By Joe Jackson Jan. 20, 2016 | 09:21 PM | MAYFIELD, KY

A Graves County man was arrested Wednesday on endangerment charges after two small children were found unattended outside in the snow.

Graves County sheriff's deputies were dispatched to a home on Construction Road Wednesday morning. The woman who lived there said two young girls, ages 3 and 4, came to her home but could not tell her where their parents were.

Deputies said the 4-year-old girl only had on pants, a shirt and socks and her socks were wet from walking in the snow. The 3-year-old had on pants, socks and shoes only. She was without a shirt and her pants were wet as well. Neither had on a coat and police said the temperature was below freezing.

Deputies learned that the girls had been at a Construction Road home, being watched by William Franklin, the live-in boyfriend of the girls' mother, Meggen Marsh. Marsh had reportedly walked to the 300 block of Construction Road to her aunt's house and Franklin was left to watch the girls.

Franklin told deputies he went to use the bathroom and when he returned, the girls were gone. He said that he noticed the window open and went outside. He followed the girls' footprints to the caller's address.

Franklin was arrested and charged with two counts of wanton endangerment.

The children were released to their mother.
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By West Kentucky Star Staff

Jan. 21, 2016 | FRANKFORT, KY

By West Kentucky Star Staff Jan. 21, 2016 | 01:41 PM | FRANKFORT, KY

Michael Pape, former District Director for Congressman Ed Whitfield (R-KY-01), and now candidate for Congress to replace the retiring Whitfield filed his official documents with the Kentucky Secretary of State Thursday afternoon.



"Today I officially become a candidate to be the next United States Representative of the First Congressional District. I have dedicated the last 21 years to serving the people of the First District as Congressman Whitfield's District Director. I made sure their voice was heard in Washington. I kicked open the doors of the federal government for the people of this District when Washington bureaucrats and career politicians tried to close them, and I worked every day to reaffirm my abiding belief that we have a government of the people by the people and for the people." Pape said.



Congressman Ed Whitfield said he is supporting Pape's campaign.



As my District Director, for 21 years, Mike Pape has been a dedicated servant to the people of the First Congressional District of Kentucky. He is well suited and well qualified to represent the First District in Congress. It is my honor to sign his official candidacy papers and to endorse Mike wholeheartedly in his campaign for Congress. Unfortunately, severe winter weather conditions prevent me from joining him in person today. I will, however, be there in spirit and I look forward to helping him on the campaign trail."
Rita Redmond was a true lady who felt that every pupil had something to gift to the world
Not much happens in The Weir. Five people enter a pub in rural County Sligo, spend the night talking to one another and then leave. But Conor McPherson's play derives its considerable power from the primal human need to tell your story and to be listened to, for the characters in the pub unburden themselves about things that lie deep within them; things dark and unsettling.

In one sense The Weir is a naturalist drama, set in the slightly shabby surroundings of Brendan's pub, evoked beautifully by Francis O'Connor's design which manages to be both minimalist and cluttered. The supernatural stories speak of a more eerie mood, but it's also too simple to call the play a ghost story. Instead, the play hovers cleverly around several different fault lines, drawing the audience in through the relationship between the drinking buddies, Brendan, Jack and Jim, together with Finbar, who isn't seen in there so often since he made it big, and Valerie, who has just moved to the area from Dublin.

It's the chemistry between the cast and their security inside the dialogue that really makes the play work. Gary Lydon holds court from his bar stool as Jack, who describes himself as a "cantankerous old bollocks", simultaneously suspicious and fond of Frank McCusker's Finbar, the flash dresser who runs the local hotel, and who they all suspect is trying to have his way with Valerie. Darragh Kelly plays Jim with the innocent good humour of Compo, while Brian Gleeson's Brendan holds slightly aloof from the company, standing behind his bar and keeping his counsel.

They are wonderful to watch as the mood darkens, however. Finbar tells the story of the time he was called to deal with a ghost in a way that seems he is even trying to convince himself, while being unable to shake off his own unease. Jack becomes more humane and more sympathetic as the talks about the love he lost, and Jim transforms into somebody who can barely believe his own story of the day he was asked to dig a grave. Best of all, however, is Lucianne McEvoy's Valerie, who gazes blankly into space while she listens to the men, but then assumes a stature and power all of her own while she tells her own story, perhaps the darkest of all.

Countless little touches add flecks of life to the texture, such as Brendan's uncertainty when Valerie asks for something as ladylike as a glass of wine, or the others' hilarity when Finbar describes a Ouija board as a "Luigi board." The ending is beautifully managed too, slightly curt as the last of them walks out of the pub to do something as mundane as giving the others a lift home, but a reminder that ordinary life carries on, despite the deep things they've been talking about. An eeriness remains at the end, though, and it's that balance of darkness shot through with comedy that makes this a good night; a celebration of storytelling and its power to transform us.

The Weir runs at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh until 6 February.
The BBC has today announced its plans to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death including the line-up for BBC Two's Shakespeare Live! From the RSC.

The programme, hosted by David Tennant, will be broadcast during the weekend of Shakespeare's birthday in April. Directed by RSC artistic director Gregory Doran, the cast will include Judi Dench, Ian McKellen and Joseph Fiennes.

Tennant appeared at the launch of the festival at the BBC Broadcasting House in London and explained how his first experience of Shakespeare was in his school gym. 'I thought Touchstone was the coolest man alive." He added: "These characters in [Shakespeare's] stories are catnip for actors... Shakespeare Live! is a kind of variety bill. We've got some of the greatest classical actors around. Judi Dench will be there, Ian McKellen will be there. Live performance is what Shakespeare is all about."

Further highlights of the celebration include BBC Two's The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses featuring a wealth of talent including Benedict Cumberbatch, Keeley Hawes, Sophie Okonedo, Sir Michael Gambon and Judi Dench. As previously announced, Matt Lucas, Maxine Peake and Elaine Paige will star in A Midsummer Night's Dream on BBC One.

Sam Mendes, who is executive producer on Hollow Crown, took to the stage at BBC Broadcasting house to explain how "unbelievably proud" he was of the series. "When I was doing Bond, I was stuck in Mexico and getting daily updates from Hollow Crown... Benedict Cumberbatch gives a great performance of Richard III. It's been made unbelievably well by Dominic Cooke "

The festival will also feature new Radio 3 dramas inspired by the life and work of Shakespeare. Naomi Alderman's The Wolf in the Water will imagine what became of Shylock's daughter Jessica from The Merchant of Venice, and Ian McDiarmid will take on the title role in a new version of King Lear. Radio 4 listeners will hear Tim Piggott-Smith play Julius Caesar in a new three-part production.

Back on BBC Two, David Mitchell will play the bard opposite Liza Tarbuck as his wife and Harry Enfield as his father in Ben Elton's comedy Upstart Crow. Horrible Histories returns to CBBC with a special episode about the life and times of Shakespeare.

Best Bottoms in the Land will broadcast on BBC One English Regions and follows the RSC's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream: A Play for the Nation as it tours the UK, with professionals joined by local amateur theatre companies.

Shakespeare fans around the world will be able to join in the celebrations with Shakespeare Day Live on April 23. Hosted in Birmingham and co-curated by the BBC and British Council, the initiative will bring together interpretations of Shakespeare's work in one digital space for audiences around the world to experience.

Talking at the launch, Gregory Doran said: "Shakespeare is for everyone so we want as many people as possible to have a chance to experience his work this year.

"We are thrilled to collaborate with the BBC in a fantastic initiative to bring Shakespeare's legacy to audiences all over the UK."

In some of the more 'quirky' offerings, daytime soap opera Doctors will offer storylines 'inspired by a Shakespearean Sonnet', and a new online guide 'ShakespeareMe iWonder' will 'let the user find a perfect Shakespeare emoji quote to fit their mood'.
Following an award-winning run at last year's Edinburgh Fringe, Anthony Banks' production of Raz will receive its London premiere at Trafalgar Studios in March.

Written by Olivier-Award winner Jim Cartwright, the one-man show centres around a night out in modern Britain and a generation that lives for the weekend whilst still living at home.

Best known for his 1992 play The Rise and Fall of Little Voice which premiered at the National Theatre in 1992 and won Best Comedy at both the Olivier and Evening Standard awards, Cartwright's latest work sees him team up with son James Cartwright (The Archers, The History Boys, Hollyoaks), who plays Shane, a young factory worker on a booze-fuelled night out in the North of England.

Raz runs at the Trafalgar Studios from 22 March  16 April before embarking on a UK tour.
The content programme for FESPA Digital 2016, taking place from 8  11 March 2016 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, will explore the trends and opportunities in digital printing available to printers today, to help them become a digital print hero. The Digital Seminars content will provide printers with key insights into digital printing technology, and real life examples to inspire them whether theyre already established, or just starting out. The free seminar sessions will run on all four days of the event and will be located on the show floor (stand T170, hall 7) so visitors can easily plan attendance into their schedule.

Sessions in the Digital Seminars area will focus on all aspects of digital printing and digital textile printing, offering a variety of topics for printers to choose from, depending on their business focus. Each seminars subject has been chosen in-line with the main trends identified in the FESPA Print Census.

Digital wide format print seminars already confirmed include sessions on Industrial which will explore how relevant digital print is within the functional print segment, hosted by industry Consultant and Analyst, Sophie Matthews-Paul with a panel of industry experts. Sophie will also present a seminar titled, Back shoring and what it means. Marco Olivotto, Owner of Marco Olivotto & C. snc, will discuss the importance of understanding colour management to be successful in a challenging world in the seminar titled Colour management in the cross media printing world. Marco will also present a session on The colour that refused to print, where he will refer to user case studies to help printers understand how to deal with unprintable colours, as well as Process standard digital  the path to standardisation.

The session Label UV printing  customer experiences, trends and drivers will be hosted by Justin Hayward MMath PhD MBA, Director - CIR Ltd. Change Agent and Marketing Communication Experts, Jan van der Spoel and Roland Biemans will offer practical insights on how to anchor customer centric best practices and get higher conversion rates in the sessions: Connecting the Dots  the power of the persona. Gerrando Cerros, CEO at CMA Imaging and Vicky Barrett, Design and Merchandising Manager at Clarins Fragrance Group will host a session titled Theres no excuse for inaccurate colour in retail applications where they will explore how, with the right tools, guesswork and chance are eradicated from colour matching and management, and why this is vital for brand owners in every sector.

Confirmed talks focusing on textile printing include: 3D printed clothing, where Gavin Drake, Director of Garment Printing will provide a snapshot into what the future of 3D printing is for the garment printing industry. Gavin will also present Direct to garment printing  should we or shouldnt we?, and Screen printing and direct to garment. Justin Hayward will also host a textile session titled Dye-sublimation digital textiles printing trends, drivers, markets and growth.

Roz McGuinness, Divisional Director, FESPA, comments: This years educational programme will provide thought-provoking content from industry professionals to help visitors identify new opportunities to grow and expand their business, as well as providing general business and industry advice. Knowledge share and best practice are key values to FESPA, and through our content programme we can provide the latest industry, technology and application information to help printers think about the possibilities for diversification.

Other content at FESPA Digital 2016 for visitors to take advantage of include the Sign Seminar area, located in European Sign Expo (stand A170, hall 2), providing exclusive presentations on everything related to signage. Those interested in learning more about digital textile printing can also attend FESPAs one-day Digital Textile Conference, which will take place on Tuesday 8 March at the RAI. Printeriors will also host a dedicated one-day conference on Thursday 10 March, where designers and printers will present seminars looking at the latest trends and applications in this growing sector.

For free entry to the show use code: ADOZ0704

FESPA Digital 2016

www.fespadigital.com.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 20/01/2016 (2465 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

City hall could be fined or reprimanded after five million litres of raw, untreated sewage was dumped into the Red River over a nine-day period.

A resident is being credited with alerting the city to the flow of sewage, which occurred at a sewage outflow pipe adjacent to St. Johns Park, north of Redwood Avenue.

Craig Tulloch, whose home on Glenwood Crescent backs onto the river opposite the park, said he noticed open water near the outflow pipe Saturday morning.

Tulloch said he believed it was strange to see open water when the rest of the river was frozen, so he took a look.

We could see warm water with a brown film on it, Tulloch said.

He said he returned Tuesday morning and couldnt believe what he found.

The smell was so strong, it almost knocked me over.

Tulloch said he called 311 Tuesday morning to report the problem.

City officials confirmed it was the 311 call that first made them aware of a potential problem.

A civic spokeswoman said crews went to the area Tuesday morning and discovered the sewer line leading to a diversion station had been partially blocked with construction planks.

Under normal operation, this diversion station will direct flow to the treatment facility, the spokeswoman said. In this case, not all flow was directed to the treatment facility and subsequently was discharged to the river.

Phil Hossack / Winnipeg Free Press Craig Tulloch, the sewage leak tipster, at his Glenwood Crescent home across from a storm sewer outlet near St John's Park where raw sewage has been leaking into the Red River.

The spokeswoman said on Tuesday city officials were uncertain how much sewage had been discharged into the river but the city reported on its website Wednesday the amount was estimated at five million litres  enough to fill two Olympic-sized swimming pools  had flowed into the river beginning Jan. 10.

The diversion station is located at St. Johns Avenue and Main Street.

The spokeswoman said its not known how the construction planks found their way into the sewer line or where they came from.

The sewer line is egg-shaped, 202.5 centimetres (80 inches) by 162.5 centimetres (64 inches) in size. The planks were blocking an intake opening of 60 centimetres (24 inches).

A city spokeswoman said the water and waste department is confident the blockage began on Jan. 10, based on data received from new instrumentation recently installed at the location.

However, a resident who lives near St. Johns Park said city crews had been working at the diversion station on or around Jan. 10.

Several city crews were working on that diversion station, said Adam Praznik, who lives on Anderson Avenue, between the park and St. Johns cemetery. They had many trucks over there, including pumping trucks, and had plowed out a path for them to get to it.

Praznik said he didnt know the nature of the work the city crews were doing but added there had been a strong sewer gas smell coming from a manhole on St. Johns for several months.

If I were to speculate, the city crews probably covered (the intake opening to the diversion station) and then forgot to uncover it.

City officials have not explained why they were not aware of the unintentional discharge at any point between Jan. 10 and Jan. 19.

A spokesman with Manitoba Conservation said the city has reported the incident and provincial staff are enquiring further as to how it happened.

We are following up with the city, and part of that investigation will be a review of whether or not some sort of fine, penalty or sanction is warranted, the Manitoba Conservation spokesman said. The investigation will focus on the incident and whether there were any breaches to (the City of Winnipeg) Environment Licence.

Tulloch said he is pleased to know his tip alerted the city and stopped the flow of untreated sewage into the river.

The citys underground sewage system, which combines the flow of storm water and sewage through the same lines, provides for the discharge of untreated sewage into the Red River from most of its older neighbourhoods during times of intense rainfall.

Sewage discharges because of heavy rains happen about 22 times a year, usually between May and September. The city has a long-term plan to separate its sewage and storm water lines at a price tag of about $1 billion.

Its not known what, if any, remedial measures the province is requiring the city to take to protect aquatic life in the Red River. When unplanned sewage discharges occurred in the past, the province relied on the rivers current to dilute the sewage.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 20/01/2016 (2465 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Myles Keleher lost out on earning cash last summer to pay for university after he was incorrectly diagnosed with melanoma and had surgery.

Now Keleher wants to be compensated  and get an apology.

Keleher said the skin cancer diagnosis he was given last spring, and the subsequent surgery to remove the cancer, caused him to forego his summer job planting trees and lose about $10,000 in pay.

Phil Hossack / Winnipeg Free Press Myles Keleher, 22, was misdiagnosed with melanoma last year and underwent unnecessary surgery.

Im really the party wronged, Keleher, 22, a third-year University of Manitoba student said on Wednesday.

Im not afraid to get a lawyer, but why would I need to get a lawyer when they know what happened?

There was pain and suffering too  Im not against getting something for that too  but the main impact of this was my loss of work.

Keleher said for years he had wanted to have removed what he considered an unsightly large mole on his shoulder and it finally happened last spring.

But Keleher said he wasnt prepared for what his doctor would tell him a few weeks later.

He said I just got the results back and you have melanoma. My mother drove me there so when I went outside and told her it was pretty intense.

Keleher underwent surgery and had the area removed where the mole had been, as well as the lymph nodes under his arm.

But a few weeks later, when Keleher met with his surgeon, he was told a mistake had been made and there never was any cancer.

Keleher has since complained to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba about the pathologist, contracted by Dynacare, who made the wrong diagnosis. He said the college is investigating the matter.

In a statement, the college said it cant comment because it is prohibited from disclosing information about complaints and their disposition except in accordance with the Medical Act.

The college said it does not keep track of how often misdiagnoses of lab results occur.

Kelehers mother, Joan Hreno, said she went through a lot of emotions from when her son was diagnosed to when he was declared to have never had cancer.

It was absolutely shocking when he got the diagnosis, Hreno said.

And then when we were told it was 4.6 millimetres deep, thats when I became very scared.

Hreno admits any anger she might hold about the misdiagnosis is small compared to her gratitude her son doesnt have cancer.

It was the greatest relief Ive ever felt in my life  Im still very grateful, she said.

We understand people make mistakes. I have no malice towards anyone. But when a mistake is made you shouldnt make the injured party feel guilty about asking for compensation.

Dr. Sri Navaratum, president and CEO of CancerCare Manitoba, said it does not diagnose cases of cancer.

We are responsible for clinical care, Navaratum said.

We dont look under the microscope. Thats not done with CancerCare Manitoba.

But Navaratum said while they treat about 6,000 cancer patients per year, there are about 50,000 cases examined annually to see if they have cancer.

In a statement, Dynacare said there was little it could say because it cant comment on individual matters.

Dynacares primary concern is caring for the patients who use our services, the statement says.

This means ensuring that every patient receives the highest quality clinical services. Having been contacted directly by Mr. Keleher, we would like to express our sincere desire to see his situation resolved.

As to the question of compensation, Dynacare said doctors practising in Canada have to be registered with the Canadian Medical Protective Association and part of that organizations role is to provide a type of insurance coverage when errors occur.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 21/01/2016 (2464 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A former Winnipeg high school gym teacher has been sentenced to four years in prison for sexually exploiting a female student.

Shane Vanveen, 34, appeared in court Thursday after pleading guilty to crimes involving a 17-year-old girl at a Winnipeg school in 2013. He was sentenced under a joint-recommendation from Crown and defence lawyers.

The community needs to know (the victim) did nothing wrong. This was not an affair. This was not a consensual relationship. By law, she could not consent to this relationship, prosecutor Debbie Buors told court.

Over the course of several months, Vanveen sent explicit photos, videos and text messages to the teen while also having sex with her. The obvious breach of trust in a teacher-student relationship made this illegal. The Free Press is not naming the specific school to avoid potentially identifying the victim, whose name is covered by a publication ban.

Its the Crowns position this was clearly grooming behaviour, said Buors. He got close to her family to gain access to her. There were multiple occasions of sexual interaction and sexual assaults.

School officials were concerned about Vanveens conduct with the student and had warned him on at least six prior occasions not to be alone with the girl, court was told. Rumours began circulating within the school and church community about what was happening, and it was community members who ultimately exposed the relationship and contacted police. Vanveen was immediately fired.

These crimes have torn my heart apart and made me feel like the worst father in the world, the victims father said in an impact statement read aloud b the Crown on Thursday. I was not able to protect my little girl.

The victim sat in the front row of the courtroom, beside her parents, but did not provide an impact statement.

I blamed myself for not being a good enough mother. How could I have missed seeing this? her mother wrote.

Defence lawyer Richard Wolson said this was completely out-of-character for his client, who is a married father of four young children. Vanveens wife continues to stick by his side and was in court Thursday. The Crown said the woman has actually tried to blame the teen victim for what happened.

I am sorry for everything Ive done to the victim and her family. I am sorry for everything Ive brought on my family, the school, the church, the community, Vanveen said Thursday when given a chance to address the court.

He has been free on bail since his arrest, but was taken away by sheriffs officers to begin serving his sentence. Crown and defence lawyers said a four-year prison term is the typical range for a major sexual assault and breach of trust situation.

www.mikeoncrime.com
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 20/01/2016 (2465 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A little cat named Acey and a lot of love helped Kristen Hiebert and her four-year-old daughter Avery survive a night outside in frigid temperatures after their car went off a rural highway and down a steep embankment.

Hiebert, 26, and Avery were rescued early Monday when Tina Dubyts spotted Hiebert clinging to a guardrail on Highway 23, just east of Dunrea, which is about 220 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg. The pair was likely in the ditch for about 11 hours.

Hiebert, of Boissevain, covered her daughter with her body to keep her warm through the night and Acey the cat stayed curled up with them.

Supplied Kristen Hiebert

Thats how Avery survived. It is pure strength out of Kristen and such a strong will to live that she survived that. I dont know how she did it, exposed to all the elements like that and with all those injuries on top of it, said Hieberts longtime friend Morgan Campbell. Your body is an amazing thing, I guess. Adrenalin kicks in and you can survive. But, wow. Where it happened, its quite a steep, steep ditch. For her to climb up there and throw herself over to the guard rail to get some attention, its unfathomable.

Hiebert, a single mother, was travelling from her mothers house in Glenboro to Boissevain after checking on the home of her mom, who was away on a trip. Avery wanted her beloved cat to come along for the ride.

Avery has just kind of gotten on a mission here in the last couple of weeks that this cat is going to go everywhere with them. Shes watched how dogs go places with people so why cant her cat, so the cat was along for the car ride, Campbell said. The cat spent the night huddled up with them, kept them company. For Avery to have that cat, to just focus on that cat to try to forget what going on around them, I think that cat was a blessing.

Hiebert and Avery, taken to hospital Monday in Killarney and then airlifted by STARS air ambulance to Winnipegs Health Sciences Centre, are both in stable condition but have severe frostbite on their feet. Hiebert lost her footwear and Avery lost a boot in the crash.

I spoke with her a couple of times today, her voice is very weak but Kristen is a lovely lady and shes always in good spirits so I can always get a little chuckle out of her, said Campbell said.

Campbell said Hiebert was in quite a bit of pain but recovering Wednesday from two surgeries performed the day before  one on her wrist and one on her arm  and having dressings changed on her legs and feet as part of the treatment for frostbite.

Thankfully the broken neck is just fractured so there was no issue with the spinal cord. She does have feeling in her lower legs. She can move a toe but she cant feel it. Its touch-and-go with the frostbite there.

Avery was carried up from ditch by Dubyts. Another passerby, who identified herself as a nurse, helped get Avery into her SUV and wrapped in a blanket. Dubyts and two men who stopped at the scene carried Hiebert to the SUV to wait for the ambulance.

Dubyts was travelling from Brandon to Killarney, where she works as a lab technician, early Monday when she spotted the scene.

Dubyts said she acted on instinct when she decided to stop on the highway on that dark, bitterly cold morning.

In an interview with the Brandon Sun Monday, Dubyts said, I thought I saw a hand as she approached the bridge.

Then I noticed there was a piece of wood missing off the bridge on the side of the road so I decided to turn around because it was so cold, Dubyts said. All I could see was her trying to pull herself up and get attention.

Environment Canada said temperatures in the area overnight Sunday to Monday dipped to -21.7 C.

Supplied Avery Hiebert, 4.

I cant thank her (Dubyts) enough. If she would have just kept driving and not turned around, it could have ended up a lot different, Campbell said. She said Dubyts has Acey the cat in her care until Hiebert and Avery are released from hospital.

Campbell said Hiebert is an independent person who loves her daughter more than anything.

Avery is a fun-loving, beautiful little girl. Shes got lots and lots of energy. Shes so sweet. She loves to sing and she loves her kitty, Campbell said.

Hiebert works two jobs in Boissevain  cleaning homes and cleaning hotel rooms.

Now Hiebert is facing a long recovery and wont be able to work for quite some time. Campbell started a GoFundMe crowdfunding page to raise money to assist Hiebert in the difficult days ahead.

I just dont want her to worry. I want her to spend that time on her recovery and Averys recovery and have that financial burden eased, Campbell said. Its amazing what people are doing for Kristen. I couldnt have asked for a better outcome from this GoFundMe page. Not only our community but across Manitoba, people have stepped up for this family. Its amazing to see and its just growing.

Kristen is one of my closest friends so of course I am affected by this but to see how its pulled at other peoples heartstrings and to see how they are so proud of Kristen and what shes done for her daughter. Im so grateful people want to donate. Kristen went above and beyond to help her daughter so lets help her.

To donate, go to https://www.gofundme.com/eek4b8b8.

ashley.prest@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 21/01/2016 (2464 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A small, grassroots group with little money could be the first to register under Manitobas new third-party legislation, but the rules are so murky even the chief electoral officer is adopting a wait-and-see approach.

Solidarity Winnipeg, a new activist group that surfaced recently and is planning a formal launch by months end, says it hopes to create a small campaign asking voters to hold their noses and re-elect the NDP. They say the alternative  a Liberal or Progressive Conservative government  would damage the province more than keeping the NDP in power.

Spokesman Scott Price said he hopes a fundraising campaign will net Solidarity Winnipeg enough money to run advertisements, and the group plans to register with Elections Manitoba once the writ has dropped to ensure its on the safe side of the new rules.

WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Chief electoral officer Shipra Verma: violation of rules could be tricky to determine.

Third-party advertising, especially by unions, has been fraught with controversy in Manitoba. In the 2011 election, campaigns by third parties reached a crescendo. Many groups  from the Manitoba Pork Producers to the Canadian Union of Public Employees to the Assembly of Manitoba Municipalities  launched ads employing varying degrees of partisanship. Typically, its the ad campaigns by the provinces biggest unions warning of 1990s-style cuts to front-line services by the Progressive Conservatives that spark complaints to Elections Manitoba.

Changes to the Election Financing Act, passed in 2000, are finally in place for this Aprils general election. The rules limit partisan, third-party advertising during the writ period, which could start as early as March 15. The rules mandate any third-party groups  industry organizations, unions, student federations, environmentalists  register with Elections Manitoba if they plan to spend more than $500 on ads during the writ period and if those ads are partisan, expressly supporting or opposing a particular political party or candidate by name.

Groups creating ads employing pure issue advocacy  commercials that explore issues and do not seek to persuade people to vote for or against a party  dont count. But ones that use trigger words such as elect or reject or that, taken as a whole, tend to use an issue to favour a particular party, would be captured by the new rules.

Chief electoral officer Shipra Verma said the line between an allowable ad and one that breaks the rules could be tricky to determine, and shes interested to see whether any third parties test the threshold.

It will be on a case-by-case basis, said Verma of how election officials will judge any ads. It will really depend on the wording they use.

In the meantime, Elections Manitoba has posted a flow chart on its website to help explain what kinds of ads might count as an election communication under the new legislation.

Once the writ is dropped, third parties can spend just $5,000, a tight cap that allows for only a small media blitz  equivalent to about five billboards for a month or provincewide radio ads for a few days.

Registering with Elections Manitoba includes filing a financial return after the election detailing how much was spent and listing any large individual donors. Elections Manitoba said it has no idea how many groups will register as third-party advertisers.

Several unions that typically launch ad campaigns heading into an election said they were still dissecting the rules and working to tailor any campaigns to them. That likely means most ads will run before the election period because there are effectively no rules governing the free speech of third parties outside of an election period.

MGEU, a non-partisan union not affiliated with any party, is already two months into a small online and radio campaign touting the value of public services. Spokesman John Baert said the campaign is part of the unions long-term public awareness strategy and not timed for the election. It will likely be suspended when the writ drops and continue after the campaign even though the ads dont contain any partisan trigger words that mention any particular party.

I dont think those necessitate us registering as a third party, nor do I think they contravene the act, said Baert.

Meanwhile, Solidarity Winnipeg said it has been meeting since October and aims to tackle issues such as child welfare, climate change and poverty with a pointedly partisan message.

Theres a real lack of grassroots, left activism in Winnipeg, Price said.

maryagnes.welch@freepress.mb.ca
A Wisconsin man who pleaded guilty to criminal vehicular homicide for drunken driving in the death of his wife, a Fillmore County native, five days before Christmas in 2014 has been sentenced to 90 days in jail  and an annual grim reminder of the crash.

For five years, Hunter Scott, 29, of Holmen, Wis., also must submit to 30 days of electronic home monitoring with an alcohol sensor starting on Dec. 20, the anniversary date of the crash that killed 27-year-old Laura Finseth Scott. The wreck occurred near her hometown of Fountain, Minn., where the couple had been visiting her family.

Fillmore County District Court Judge Carmaine Sturino added that stipulation to other penalties, including five years of probation, 300 hours of community service and a $3,000 fine, during Scotts Jan. 5 sentencing in Preston.

Laura, a beloved, award-winning nurse in the Family Birthplace at Mayo Clinic Health System-Franciscan Healthcare, died after the car driven by her husband of three years crashed on a slick Fillmore County Road 11 at about 7:20 p.m. Dec. 20, 2014.

Laura, who had been wearing a seat belt, died en route to a Rochester hospital, and Hunter was hospitalized with injuries.

A Minnesota State Patrol reconstruction of the accident determined that the vehicle missed a curve and crossed the center line. It slid sideways about 100 yards, hit a driveway and was airborne for 60 feet before landing on its wheels in a ditch, according to the report.

The vehicle was traveling between 65 and 75 mph on a surface that was slick because of a misty fog and was beginning to ice over, according to the patrols report.

Scott was driving in a grossly negligent manner, considering his speed, road conditions and alcohol impairment resulting from a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.15 percent, based on a preliminary breath test at the scene, according to the report.

He was charged in March with three felony counts of criminal vehicular homicide. He pleaded guilty Oct. 8 to a count of operating a motor vehicle with an alcohol concentration of 0.08 percent or more, and the other charges were dismissed.

Scott had faced a maximum penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $20,000, or both.

Scott declined to comment through his attorney, Zachary Bauer. He is to begin serving his 90-day sentence in the Fillmore County Jail, with the possibility of work release, within 30 days of Jan. 5.
Baraboo property owners offering short-term rentals would need a permit under legislation under consideration at city hall.

The city is one of many Wisconsin municipalities looking to regulate the rental of single-family homes in residential neighborhoods for periods shorter than one month. The challenge is to protect neighbors' interests without discouraging tourism.

Baraboo hasnt encountered issues with short-term rentals, but is taking a proactive approach. Two property owners advertise the availability of their homes for short-term rentals.

Other communities have dealt with this. It became a real problem, City Engineer Tom Pinion told the Plan Commission on Tuesday. Do you want to get ahead of this?

Commissioners decided requiring permits for short-term rentals is the best way to ensure control without discouraging commerce. It directed Pinion to draft language for short-term rental permits for consideration at its next meeting.

We want people to come to town. We dont want to be too restrictive, Commissioner Kate Fitzwilliams said.

The commission discussed rental rules for months before forwarding a recommendation to the City Council. It initially suggested that the zoning code require a minimum 30-day occupancy of single-family homes. But landlords expressed concern, prompting the council to return the matter to the Plan Commission for further consideration.

On Tuesday, Pinion said homeowners may object to a neighbor running a hotel next door. The risk is, the neighbors get offended, he said.

Commissioner Roy Franzen said short-term rentals are invaluable to large traveling parties, and such homes are well-maintained to attract renters. It doesnt sound like we have a problem, he said.

Some commissioners balked at requiring minimum periods of occupancy for single-family homes, or demanding that the property owners live on-site. The group agreed that requiring conditional use permits to operate such enterprises would give the city oversight without being too restrictive. Neighbors would be notified, and a public hearing held, when a permit application is filed. Such permits could be revoked if problems arise.

That seems to me to be a reasonable accommodation, Commissioner Patrick Liston said.

Once the commission signs off on a draft of the ordinance change requiring permits for short-term rentals, it will go to the council for final approval.
Brian was born in Beaver Dam on Sept. 15, 1961, the youngest of three children to Dr. Larry Alan and Carolyn Haydn (Johnson) Brengle. He attended Fox Lake elementary school and graduated from Waupun High School in 1979. Prior to graduating, Brian could be seen throughout Fox Lake riding his unicycle while delivering newspapers. Following high school, Brian was employed with Streich Motors and then with Solis Construction Company, both in Fox Lake. He was currently employed with Randall Heinecke Construction Company of West Bend for 20 years. Brian was an avid sportsman; he hunted white tail deer and elk with his father in Colorado for the last 15 years, was the 1999 champion at the Berlin Conservation Club Iron Man Shoot Out and shot pool with his buddies on the Tuesday Night Mens League in Fox Lake. Brian was a member of Ducks Unlimited where he won many of their gun raffles over the years. He enjoyed living in his home in the woods where he could watch the animal life that surrounded him and will be remembered as the best whiskey-sour maker around, especially during the holidays when he would not let a glass sit empty at family gatherings.
He was born on June 20, 1956, in Wilmington, Delaware, to Del and Doris (Adams) DeYoung. Peter moved with his parents to Friesland where he enjoyed growing up in a small town with cousins and friends. He graduated from Hope College in 1978 with a bachelor of arts degree in business, and joined the family trucking/warehousing business where he worked for 37 years doing accounting work. An epileptic for nearly 50 years, Peter demonstrated grace and determination to live life independently and succeeded in making the best of his God-given gifts. Having the First Reformed Church in Friesland at the center of his life, Peter very much enjoyed working with the junior high youth group for many years, and was a dedicated Packers fan/owner. As a quick study of financial markets, he spent a lot of time watching and researching the stock market, constantly changing his portfolio.
The state Senate has voted to remake Wisconsins civil service system, enabling a supportive Gov. Scott Walker to sign the measure  the latest far-reaching change to rules governing the state workforce.

The Senate voted on party lines, 19-14, late Wednesday to pass the civil service bill. The state Assembly passed it in October.

Walker, a chief proponent of the bill, is virtually certain to sign it.

The bill applies to the states civil service, nearly all state workers except the University of Wisconsin System and the Wisconsin National Guard. It replaces state civil service exams with a resume-based hiring system.

It also would determine layoffs from state agencies based on job performance instead of seniority, extend probationary time for new hires, outline specific offenses for which employees can be immediately terminated and centralize the hiring process within the Department of Administration.

The bill was a priority for passage in 2016 for Walker and his GOP legislative allies. They contend the states century-old civil service system is cumbersome, outdated and ripe for reform.

Democrats strongly oppose the bill, saying it could lead to cronyism in state hiring.

State employees should be hired on what they know, not who they know, said Sen. Fred Risser, D-Madison.

Wisconsins civil service system was adopted in 1905 under Gov. Robert La Follette as a bulwark against political patronage.

By imposing a merit-based hiring system  including an objective hiring exam  and a just-cause requirement to fire state workers, it was meant to prevent state jobs from being doled out as favors to political allies.

Critics of the bill warned that it could send Wisconsin back to the patronage days of the 19th century.

The bills sponsor, Sen. Roger Roth, R-Appleton, disagreed. He said the bill wont erase an existing law barring workers from being hired based on political affiliation.

Roth said the state must fill many vacancies in coming years as baby boomer employees retire. He said his bill is needed to streamline the states hiring system and allow employees to be hired more efficiently.

It does not strip away the civil service protections that our employees deserve, Roth said.

Critics linked the bill to a series of bills passed under Walker and recent GOP Legislatures  starting with Act 10, the historic measure that curtailed collective bargaining rights for public employees  that they said diluted conditions and safeguards for state workers.

Walker has told at least two stories to justify the bill that havent been supported by state records.

One of them  that the current civil service system barred the state from firing two state Railroad Commission workers caught having sex in the workplace  was directly contradicted by former state human resource officials who served under Republican and Democratic governors.

Walker also claimed a short-order cook scored high enough on a civil service exam to be considered for a financial examiner job. But his administration couldnt produce any documents to support the claim.

Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, cited the story about the Railroad Commission workers while urging his GOP colleagues to question the need for the bill.

The things the governor is saying about this are not true, Erpenbach said.

A Senate sticking point on the bill was removed Wednesday when a Republican senator announced he was ending his pushback to its so-called ban the box provision.

The provision, also included in the bill that passed the Assembly, bars the state from asking applicants about past criminal convictions on their initial job applications.

Applicants could still be asked about criminal convictions later in the process.

Sen. Stephen Nass, R-Whitewater, announced his retreat in a news release Wednesday, about an hour before senators convened to take up the civil service bill.

Nass led the fight in the state Senate against the ban the box provision.

But Nass said in his release that Assembly Republican leaders made it very clear that civil service reform would die if any amendments were added in the Senate.
Political junkies say the race between Sen. Ron Johnson and Russ Feingold will be the same as most current political discourse: ugly and mean.

Historically, rematches between candidates are often pretty negative affairs, Charles Franklin, director of the Marquette University Law School poll, told Journal Sentinel reporter Bill Glauber.

Republican strategist Brian Nemoir told Glauber, Ron Johnson has the job of reminding people of why this guy wasnt elected six years ago, and Feingold has the job now of running against an incumbent and comparing the promises he made to what he has or has not delivered.

I think at the end of the day these guys bring very different visions of our country to the table, Nemoir said. The contrasts will be crystal clear ... and if that means defining the other one in a light they consider less favorable, that is what is going to happen in this race. I dont know if there is an opportunity for either one to be better liked by the end of this.

How depressing. These two should, instead, have a substantive debate about the issues that really matter to Wisconsin voters. They are capable of doing that  they clearly see the world in very different ways. Their race is a proxy for the national struggle between conservatives and liberals and an important race for both parties.

The Johnson-Feingold race is shaping up as one of the more important Senate contests in the country and outside groups are already spending millions of dollars on the campaign. What does that mean? Expect the airwaves to be clogged in the coming months with negative ads designed to define the candidates, Glauber reported.

But thats not the kind of race Wisconsin voters deserve. They deserve a race thats based on a discussion of the issues, such as national security, jobs, the economy, education, trade, climate change and repairing the nations crumbling infrastructure.

The candidates should answer questions like these: How will voters lives be better? How will they be safer? How will they make ends meet? How will they get their kids educated without suffocating debt? Where will they find work? Will that work be able to sustain them?

Voters deserve to hear clear, thoughtful statements from each candidate on his positions  more than sound bites. They deserve new ideas on how to meet the nations challenges. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., has said that 2016 should be a year of ideas for Republicans, but hes only partially right. It should be a year of ideas from Republicans and Democrats and anyone else who is going after citizens votes.

Were under no illusion that mean and ugly will go away simply because we ask it to. Negative ads often work. But negative campaigning doesnt get the nation anywhere; it doesnt move improve lives. It poisons the debate. So in between the ads, maybe Johnson and Feingold can still find time to discuss substantive ideas and policy. Lets go there.
School of Agriculture's Student Organizations

Agricultural Council

The Agricultural Council supervises and coordinates the activities of the agricultural clubs within the School of Agriculture.

Meetings are held the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of the month in Knoblauch Hall 152.

Faculty Advisor: Andrew Baker  (309) 298-1080  AJ-Baker@wiu.edu

Agricultural Education Club

The Agriculture Education Club at Western Illinois University strives to educate the future of our society about the agricultural industry, while also constantly striving to enhance our own personal knowledge of agriculture in business, production, and technology.

Meetings are held the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays of each month at 5:00 p.m. in Knoblauch Hall 152.

Faculty Advisor: Andrew Baker  (309) 298-1080  AJ-Baker@wiu.edu

Agribusiness Club

The Agribusiness Club is an organization within the School of Agriculture that strives to connect students with industry professionals. Students have the opportunity to learn from agribusiness men and women about how to be successful within the industry.

Meetings are held the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of the month at 6:00 p.m. in Knoblauch Hall 308.

Faculty Advisors: Jason Franken  (309) 298-1179  JR-Franken@wiu.edu

Graciela Andrango  (309) 298-4688  GC-Andrango@wiu.edu

Agricultural Mechanization Club

We are the Western Illinois Ag. Mech. Club. The group hosts the Farm Machinery Show held in Western Hall every Spring, which is the largest student run show in the United States.

Meetings are held the 2nd Wednesday of the month at 5:30 p.m. in Knoblauch Hall 307.

Faculty Advisors:

Dan Atherton  (309) 298-2395  DL-Atherton@wiu.edu

Jana Knupp  JM-Knupp@wiu.edu

Agronomy Club

Agronomy Club gives leadership and involvement opportunities to WIU students from all majors who are interested in crop production and soil sciences.

Meetings are held the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month at 5:00 p.m. in Knoblauch Hall 226.

Faculty Advisor: Mark Bernards  (309) 298-1569  ML-Bernards@wiu.edu

AgVocators

AgVocators is a team of agriculture students who promote agriculture and WIU to high school and post-secondary students. We travel to many conferences, career fairs, high schools/junior colleges, conventions and host an Ag Open House each semester.

Meetings are held on Tuesdays at 7:00 a.m. in the University Board Room.

Faculty Advisor: Jana Knupp  JM-Knupp@wiu.edu

Alpha Gamma Rho Fraternity

Enhances professionalism, scholarship, ethics, community service, and brotherhood among men in agriculture.

Meetings are held each Monday at 5:30 p.m. at the AGR house.

Faculty Advisor: Kevin Bacon  (309) 298-1084  KJ-Bacon@wiu.edu

Faculty Advisor: Mark Hoge  (309) 298-2537  MD-Hoge@wiu.edu

Alpha Gamma Sigma Fraternity

Professional/social national fraternity founded in 1971 with agriculture heritage that takes pride in high standards and developing a meaningful brotherhood. Our common background and value system help us to quickly build relationships that last a lifetime.

Meetings are held each Monday at 7:00 p.m. at the chapter house.

Faculty Advisor: Joel Gruver  (309) 298-1215  J-Gruver@wiu.edu

Alpha Zeta

Alpha Zeta is an honorary, professional fraternity for students studying agriculture or natural resources and dedicated to academic excellence, leadership, integrity and service. To be invited to join Alpha Zeta students must have sophomore or above standing and be in the top 40% academically within their college or School of Agriculture. Graduate and transfer students are eligible.

Meetings are held the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of each month at 5:30 p.m. in Knoblauch Hall 152.

Faculty Advisor: Jason Franken  (309) 298-1179  JR-Franken@wiu.edu
Kochi City Commissioner C H Nagaraju said that evidence collection was going on for recovering personal assets, like gold ornaments or electronic items, of the victims.




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Finland's Hanhikivi 1 excavation work starts

21 January 2016

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Excavation work has started at the construction site of the planned Hanhikivi 1 nuclear power plant in Pyhajoki, Finland. A ceremony was held to mark the start of work to dig the foundation pit on 19 January.

Memorial stone laid at Hanhikivi 1 construction site (Image: Rosatom)

The Hanhikivi project is owned by Finland's Fennovoima, in which a 34% stake is held by RAOS Voima Oy, the Finnish subsidiary set up in 2014 by Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom for the purpose of buying a share in the company. Russia's Titan-2 is the main contractor for the Hanhikivi project.

Russian officials at the ceremony included Kirill Komarov, first deputy director general for corporate development and international business at Rosatom; Nikita Konstantinov, CEO of JSC Rusatom Energy International; Anastasia Zoteeva, deputy director general for business development at JSC Rusatom Energy International; Vadim Ryabov, chairman of RAOS Project Oy; and Grigory Naginsky, chairman Titan-2. Finnish representatives were Minna Forsstrom, project director at Fennovoima and Matti Soronen, mayor of Pyhajoki.

In a statement yesterday, Rosatom said the ceremony had included detonation of the rocky ground and placement of a memorial stone. Following the ceremony, the company officials visited the new Pyhajoki office of RAOS Project Oy.

Speaking to Finnish media, Komarov said Hanhikivi 1 would have a positive impact on the economy of the Pyhajoki region in terms of tax revenues during both construction and operation of the plant. According to Rosatom's estimates, every job at a nuclear plant generates seven to eight jobs in related areas, he noted.

Forsstrom highlighted the fact the project is "progressing on schedule".

Fennovoima Oy submitted an application for a construction licence for Hanhikivi 1 - a Gidropress-designed AES-2006 plant, which uses a 1200 MWe-class reactor - in June last year. The unit is expected to enter commercial operation in 2024.

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

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Entergy files suit over Indian Point objection

21 January 2016

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Entergy has asked a US federal court to reject New York State's objection to coastal certification of Indian Point, which it says was intended to block a renewal of the nuclear power plant's operating licence.

Indian Point (Image: Entergy)

A lawsuit filed by Entergy Nuclear Operations against New York State secretary of state Cesar Perales on 14 January asserts that the New York State Department of State (NYSDOS) objection, issued on 6 November, is not valid as it is based on nuclear safety concerns which are beyond the state's regulatory remit.

The USA's federal Coastal Zone Management Act allows a state agency to object to the granting of a nuclear operating licence if the facility is inconsistent with the state's coastal management program. Such an objection, unless overturned by a court or the US Secretary of Commerce, prohibits the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) from renewing the plant's licence.

The NYSDOS's objection asserts that Indian Point's withdrawal of cooling water from the Hudson River is harmful to aquatic life, including endangered fish species. However, it also questions the ability of the plant to withstand earthquakes and the possible radiological effects from a severe accident at the plant on drinking water, real estate, infrastructure and the area's economy.

Entergy's legal challenge says that although the NYSDOS's objection purports to rely on environmental effects, it relies heavily on issues related to nuclear safety, an area in which the NRC has exclusive federal jurisdiction.

"While states have the right to participate in the federal regulatory stakeholder process relative to nuclear power plant operations, well-established federal law - including a 2013 ruling related to Entergy's Vermont Yankee facility - clearly precludes any state from using presumed nuclear safety issues as a basis for decision making in a state regulatory review, as NYSDOS has done," Patricia Kakridas of Entergy Corporation Nuclear Communications told World Nuclear News.

Kakridas said that Indian Point is a "safely operated facility", regulated in accordance with strict licensing and operational guidelines and overseen by the NRC. "Indian Point currently operates in a manner that is fully protective of the Hudson River and in compliance with state and federal law. Its continued operation is consistent with the NYS Coastal Management Program. Entergy has submitted thousands of pages of information to NYSDOS demonstrating that the facility's continued operation is consistent with the NYS coastal management program. $75 million has been spent over the last 30-plus years on studies of the Hudson River's ecosystem, which demonstrate Indian Point has no harmful impact on adult fish populations in the river," she said.

"The coastal management objection is another example of the state's attempt to encroach on the federal government's nuclear safety management of Indian Point," Kakridas added. She also noted that the New York State Department of Public Service recently launched an investigation into the operations and safety protocols of the facility. "Entergy has written a letter to the New York State Public Service Commission objecting to that probe in part because it pre-empts federal regulation," she said.

Indian Point 2 and 3 are pressurized water reactors that have been in operation since the mid-1970s. An earlier unit, Indian Point 1, operated at the site from 1962 but was shut down in 1974. Entergy applied to the NRC for a 20-year renewal for the licences of both Indian Point units in April 2007, a process which typically takes up to about 30 months to complete if a hearing is granted. In Indian Point's case, however, a large number of issues have been raised by various parties during the adjudicatory process and the hearing has taken longer than expected.

Indian Point 2's 40-year operating licence was due to expire in September 2013 and unit 3's in December 2015, but the plants are allowed to continue to operate under their existing licences until the NRC's review of the licence request is completed.

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

Related topics
School librarian Jennifer Gerald and several students at Evergreen Elementary School show a video project to the Public School Board at its Monday meeting. The students each created a video in the style of a movie trailer highlighting a favorite book. Copies of these books at the library will each be outfitted with a personalized QR code, which other students can then scan with their iPads to preview their book. Six videos have been made so far, with more to come.

At its regular monthly meeting, the Wrangell Public School Board approved the purchase of a new phone system for its two campuses.

Board members approved a $65,000 contract with AP&T to install the new system, which replaces the district's 71 phones with IP-based handsets and will include a one-year service agreement for parts and equipment.

"The current system that we have right now, they say they can't support them," explained Matt Gore, technology director for the school district.

The new phones use an internet connection to transmit and receive calls, and the handsets will allow teachers some mobility within the building. Installation of the system's infrastructure will be made ahead of spring break in March, when the school will make its transition.

"The initial configuration is really the biggest part," Gore explained. The installation will be done in a way to minimize class disruption and the old analog system will be available during the change-over.

In the event of a power failure, Gore explained the analog system would still be available, but that the generators could also be fed into the schools' main routing rooms to ensure the system stays on.

"No matter what happens, we should still have the service we have now," he said.

The project will replace the schools' aging communications system, which is at least three decades old. The maintenance contract will be comparable to what the district had previously, though it has had to go without one for the past two years due to its archaic system. The item had been included in this year's budget, and the proposal put forward by AP&T on Jan. 11 came in at a lower price than expected.

In other business, board members were informed Cyni Waddington has stepped down as technology coordinator to return to the Chamber of Commerce, and that Michele Galla will be retiring at the end of the academic year.

Since 1993, Galla has been a government and language arts teacher for the middle and high schools.

"It's generated a lot of discussion," said art teacher Anne Luetkemeyer of the planned retirement, speaking at Monday's meeting. "My concern is that people, as a district and the community, that we're confronted with the loss of a very good teacher."

Luetkemeyer urged the board to consider ways to find a replacement for Galla, which at the moment seems unlikely. Due to budget expectations, the school district does not intend to refill the vacancy left by her retirement. In his monthly report, secondary schools principal Kendall Benson mentioned he had been asked to reduce certified faculty by not replacing her when she departs.

"We won't be filling that position next year," school superintendent Patrick Mayer confirmed. Administration will build next year's schedule minus one faculty position, in part due to the secondary schools' low student-teacher ratio, which stands at around 11-1.

Mayer explained the reason for the cut mainly is due to probable reductions to state education funding as the Legislature tackles a $3.6 billion deficit. The faculty cut would save the district $102,000  though Mayer pointed out this will go toward covering the annual increases in benefits and salaries for other staff.

Mayer said the board has the option to add money for a replacement position during the budget process, if it chooses. The district needs to have a budget in to the city by May 1, and a preliminary draft may be ready to review by next month's meeting on Feb. 15.

Board member Aleisha Mollen presented a draft communications survey, which will be put out to the public through the school's SurveyMonkay account. The schools' lawyer tweaked some of the language, but the board approved the draft for circulation.

Questions aim at gauging how people prefer to keep up-to-date with school activities, and how often. Queries can be answered anonymously, and links to the survey will be posted through the school bulletin, Facebook page, and new website. A PDF draft can be reviewed through the board website, or by visiting http://goo.gl/5f5PuJ. At the board's request, hard copies will be kept on hand at the office as well.

Monday's meeting was prefaced by a presentation by Kim Szczatko, regional coordinator for the University of Alaska Southeast tech prep program.

The career education program has been around since 2006, but has really taken off since 2008. Last spring the Wrangell school system arranged to base Szczatko's office on site, which the administration felt would be a boon to Wrangell's own program. She works within the statewide university system, coordinating with the departments of Education and Labor, Southeast Conference and the private sector.

The program currently offers 62 credits worth of different classes to local students, and Szczatko explained additional courses are being considered for next year. These would add among other things salmon culture, fisheries oceanography, medical terminology and health occupations.

"Health science is a real need for our community," Szczatko said.

Other options include adult education and postgraduate studies, such as coursework in anatomy, welding, woodworking and other trades. The issue of developing a local workforce in the maritime, health and other sectors has been discussed with some seriousness by the city, most recently at its Port Commission meeting earlier this month. Labor development also remains an ongoing goal regionally through Southeast Conference, the Alaska Department of Commerce, and the state's Division of Economic Development.

The tech prep program contributes to this end, by allowing students to earn college credit at a reduced cost while encouraging them to take on trades important to the local economy.

"It kind of gives students that leg-up," Szczatko said. She estimated 85 percent of job openings in Southeast Alaska require more than a high school education.

In other board business, Mayer presented board president Susan Eagle with a certificate showing she had achieved a Basic Boardmanship Award from Carl Rose, for attending Association of Alaska School Board events. The distinction comes in three levels, of which Eagle has earned the first.

The board also accepted a $1,000 gift from Alaskan Dream Cruises, which wanted to express its thanks to Wrangell's community for its continued support. The donation is to be used at the school district's discretion.
Development of New Primary School Underway

This article is old - Published: Thursday, Jan 21st, 2016

Work has officially begun on creating a multi million pound primary school in Caia Park.



Yesterday saw the official turf cutting ceremony at Hafod Y Wern in Caia Park for the new 5.3 million school, which has been jointly funded by the local authority and, Welsh Government through its 21st Century Schools and Education Programme.

The Mayor of Wrexham, Cllr Barbara Roxburgh was present at the official turf cutting ceremony along with the Chair of Governors, Welsh Government representatives, Senior Councillors, officers of Wrexham Council and representatives from project constructors R L Davies & Sons.

The Council and Welsh Government are match funding the project through the 21st Century Schools and Education Programme. The Programme aims to transform the learning experience of students, ensuring they are taught in classrooms with the technologies and facilities needed to deliver a 21st Century curriculum.

Chair of Governors, Emlyn R Jones, said: This is a proud moment for the school following its recent excellent inspection report. On behalf of the Governors, I extend our thanks to everyone involved in bringing this project to fruition. Our pupils are our future and deserve nothing less than the promise state-of-the-art new building.

The project is one of two currently underway at Caia Park to bring two brand new primary schools to replace the existing Hafod Y Wern and Gwenfro primary schools. The total investment into new schools for the area is 10 million.

The plans follow the amalgamation of juniors and infants sections of both schools. The creation of new schools means there is no transition stage between primary and juniors which can sometimes be a concern for young children.

Cllr Michael Williams, Lead Member for Childrens Services and Education, said: One of our Council Priorities is to ensure that all children and young people have positive aspirations, learn and achieve their potential. In order to achieve this we have to support this priority and officers have done a remarkable job with the Welsh Government to bring a 5.3 million school to Caia.
Pneumonia, inflammation of the lungs, occurs more in the winter. The flu virus is one of the most common causes of viral pneumonia  and since the flu often occurs in the winter, so does pneumonia. It causes the small air sacs in your lungs (alveoli) to fill with fluid. This, coupled with your bodys immune response of sending white blood cells to the area to fight infection, can make it very hard to breathe. Most healthy people recover within one to three weeks. However, it can be life-threatening for at-risk populations, such as children and the elderly.
In one of the most bizarre proposals imaginable, Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has suggested the UK could re-commission Trident nuclear submarines, but without nuclear weapons.

The proposal was raised on the BBCs Andrew Marr Show and touted as a compromise between Corbyns stated opposition to nuclear weapons and the position of the partys right wing and the trade unions. Both have argued that nuclear weapons are not only necessary for national defence, but that Trident must go ahead in order to safeguard jobs.

Unsurprisingly Corbys proposal was given short shrift. Len McCluskey, general secretary of the Unite union, and Sir Paul Kenny, leader of the GMB, are making noises expressing concern for jobs. Last week, Kenny told BBC Radio 4, If anybody thinks that unions like the GMB are going to go quietly into the night while tens of thousands of our members jobs are literally swannied away by rhetoric then theyve got another shock coming.

But in reality, the union bureaucracy sells the jobs of their members through suppressing or betraying opposition to the major corporations and the Conservative government day-in, day-out. Their real concern is not jobs, but the global position of British imperialism, which depends in turn on the military and political alliance with the United States epitomised by the possession of a US-built nuclear arsenal.

The claim that the UK has an independent nuclear deterrent is a myth. Since the 1950s, the UK has depended on the US for its nuclear capability and has also allowed the US to station its own nuclear weapons in the UK. Even the UK-built warheads that depend on US delivery systems are built using US technology.

Corbyn sought to counter such essential imperialist imperatives by offering what his newly-appointed shadow defence secretary, Emily Thornberry, described as the Japanese optionso called because Japan has the capacity to produce nuclear weapons, but does not yet deploy them. In the case of the UK, it would simply mean storing nuclear warheads on land and temporarily replacing them with conventional warheadsuntil it was decided to make a switch. Thornberry herself told the BBCs Sunday Politics that the Japanese have got a capability to build a nuclear bomb, which can then be used in various delivery forms.

The proposal did nothing to placate Corbyns opponents. But it served as a further illustration of his political spinelessness and readiness to cede to the right on absolutely any issue.

There is every indication that Corbyn will now allow a free vote on Trident when it is taken up in the spring as is being demanded by McCluskey and others, the same position he took on the question of support for UK bombing operations in Syria in November.

It should be added that the prominence of Thornberry in Labours defence review is itself an example of Corbyns constant readiness to capitulate. He originally put the review under the supervision of his political ally Ken Livingstone as co-convenor of the partys policy committee on defence.

Corbyns capitulation on the question of Trident is primarily motivated not by the strength of his opponents, but by concern over their weakness.

Just five days before his interview with Marr, the Guardian published the results of a survey of Labour secretaries, chairs, other office holders and members from more than 100 of the 632 constituencies in England, Scotland and Wales.

The survey revealed a surge in members, huge support [for Corbyn] and [a] shift to the left, the Guardian reported.

Almost every constituency party across the country we contacted reported doubling, trebling, quadrupling or even quintupling membership, and a revival of branches that had been moribund for years and close to folding.

Reflecting increased interest among the young, university cities and towns recorded some of the biggest rises, the report continues. National figures released to the Guardian in a break with party tradition, showed that membership nationally has almost doubled from 201,293 immediately prior to the May 2014 general election to 388,407 in January this year.

Both returning members and new ones tend to be mainly left-wing, the Guardian adds, with one branch secretary reporting 90 percent of members being opposed to bombing Syria.

Corbyns response to the wide support he enjoys is to subordinate all key issues to the imperative of maintaining the unity of the partyunity with a widely despised rumpat all costs.

He described his recent cabinet reshuffle, which kept the pro-war right largely in place, as having made Labour "stronger, more diverse and more coherent." In reality, Shadow Justice Secretary Lord Falconer, Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Owen Smith and Shadow Education Secretary Lucy Powell have all implied that they might be the latest to resign their posts in protest at any change on Trident. Shadow Attorney General Catherine McKinnell was the fourth Labour MP to quit this month, after the resignation of junior shadow cabinet ministers Jonathan Reynolds, Kevan Jones and Stephen Doughty following the reshuffle.

Corbyn claims party unity based on his appeasement of the right will help make Labour a more effective champion of the people, which can build a coalition of electoral support that can beat the Tories in four years time. What he really does is demobilise the working class with false promises of jam tomorrow in the face of a concerted offensive against jobs and living standards and an ever-more dangerous turn to militarism and war.

While he talks of electoral coalitions and victory in 2020, the Tories are proceeding with the dismantling of the National Health Service and announcing plans to bulldoze council estates. Thousands of jobs are being destroyed, and the Trade Union Bill passing through parliament will effectively outlaw strike action.

The same holds true for the advanced war preparations being made by the UK. In the face of these threats Corbyns response on Marrs show was to blithely declare that because the use of nuclear weapons would be catastrophic to the whole world I dont think [Conservative Prime Minister] David Cameron would use it either."

If Corbyn was serious about fighting the attacks on the working class or opposing war, he would take action against those who act as a fifth-column working in de facto coalition with the Conservatives. He wages no such fight because his political loyalty is to the Labour Party and its trade union backers, first, last and always.

Whatever his mildly left rhetoric, Corbyn is wedded to the party on which British imperialism has relied for more than a century to police the working class and preserve its rule. His insistence that it can be reformed through gentle persuasion is not political naivete. It is a conscious effort to prevent the emergence of a politically insurrectionary movement against the labour bureaucracy and the capitalist system it defends.
Just before and during the Christmas-New Year break, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbulls government brought forward two new moves to slash public health spending, potentially making it much more difficult for working class households to obtain elementary medical care.

Under the fraudulent banner of eliminating waste and over-servicing, the Liberal-National Coalition government has made the cutting of basic health care one of its priority targets in the austerity agenda driven by the collapse of the mining boom and the underlying global economic slump.

In 2014, the government, then led by Tony Abbott, had to abandon a budget plan to force patients to pay upfront fees to see doctors due to widespread opposition. Conscious of this deep popular hostility, Turnbulls cabinet exploited the holiday season to begin to unveil alternative schemes to deliver equally-damaging outcomes.

The first step came on December 15 in the governments Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO). It set out to save $650 million over the next four years by reducing or removing access to bulk-billing (services provided without upfront patient fees) for pathology tests, diagnostic imaging and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans, plus another $595 million by scrapping a number of health workforce programs.

Pathology tests will be entirely removed from bulk-billing subsidies, forcing all providers to charge upfront fees for blood tests and other essential diagnoses. About 70 percent of medical decisions and 100 percent of cancer diagnoses currently rely on such tests, according to Pathology Australia, the industry body.

For diagnostic imaging, bulk-billing incentives will now only be paid to providers for concessional patients, such as pensioners and children under 16. On top of that, the MRI bulk-billing payments for concessional patients and children will be reduced from 100 percent of the Medicare fee to 95 percent.

Working class and more vulnerable patients will inevitably delay or avoid costly pathology and diagnostic testing, preventing timely diagnoses and giving rise to more serious diseases and complications.

Health Minister Sussan Ley flatly denied that the changes would impact patients, asserting, without any evidence, that high levels of competition in the private diagnostic sector would drive down prices. She also claimed that patients with high medical costs would continue to be covered by Medicare Safety Net protections, which provide an 80 percent subsidy of medical expenses once an annual threshold is met. The government, however, is also seeking to cap these subsidies.

Few details have been provided of the other MYEFO health cuts, which include streamlining funding across programs, redesigning health services, reducing public hospital spending by another $31 million over four years and axing the clinical training fund and the rural health continuing education program.

On December 28, Ley announced that 23 medical items had been recommended for removal from the Medical Benefits Schedule (MBS), which determines the services to be covered by the Medicare health insurance scheme. On the list were seven diagnostic imaging services, nine ear, nose, and throat surgery services, five gastroenterology items, and one each from obstetrics and thoracic medicine.

If stripped from the MBS, these services will cost patients thousands of dollars each. Ley insisted that the items were now redundant or unnecessary, but her own statistics demonstrated that they are still commonly used. She reported that the 23 services were used a combined total of 52,500 times in 2014-15, worth $6.8 million in Medicare benefits paid.

Ley boasted that this move was just the start of a comprehensive review of all 5,700 items on the MBS, that had not been undertaken since Medicares inception in the 1980s. Her comments pointed to the historic character of the steps being taken to undermine the subsidised primary health care system, which was first introduced as Medibank in the 1970s as a partial concession to widespread public demands for free universal health care as a basic social right.

The latest measures come on top of the $80 billion already cut in the 2014 federal budget from funding to the state governments for health and education services over the next decade.

Ideologically, this offensive has been assisted by high-profile programs on the government-funded Australian Broadcasting Corporation, such as Four Corners. Last September, Four Corners claimed, without any substantiation, that nearly one third of the almost $155 billion spent on health every year is being wastedabout $46 billion. As well as dovetailing with the governments agenda, this assertion gives an indication of the scale of the assault being prepared.

Among Four Corners undocumented assertions were that at least 50 percent of the 150,000 MRI knee scans performed last year were unnecessary and that about 20 percent of knee replacements may be unnecessary. In addition, the costs of back pain imaging are extraordinary, at least half of all back scans and X-rays are of no value and an estimated 50 percent of spinal fusion operations are needless.

Alongside such proclamations are reports declaring that too much money is being spent on meeting the health needs of the elderly. Increasingly blatantly, the complaint is being made that people are living longer, but requiring more health services to do so.

The University of Sydneys Family Medicine Research Centre recently reported that people aged 65 and older used health resourcesincluding GP visits, prescriptions and testsat twice the national average in 2014-15. This use of resources by the over-65s was significantly higher than in 2000-01, with referrals up 33 percent, problems managed in general practice up 30 percent, medications up 27 percent and imaging and pathology tests up 24 percent.

Implicit in such claims is that medical services, particularly the most modern and effective, should be denied or rationed to older patients, effectively restricting them to the most privileged layers who can afford to pay for them.

In the first two weeks of 2016, the Turnbull government began extending its offensive into the public hospital system, with two initiatives by the so-called Independent Hospital Pricing Authority (IHPA). The IHPA was established by the previous Labor government to drive down hospital funding by setting ever-lower efficient prices for hospital procedures.

First, consultations have begun on shifting maternity care, stroke treatment and joint replacements onto bundled pricing, whereby procedures would be covered by package deals rather than payment for each episode of care. The IHPA asserted that these items were clinically relatively straightforward and changes could deliver impressive financial returns to governments.

Second, the IHPA is examining how to introduce financial disincentivesi.e. penaltiesfor 40 complications allegedly caused by public hospital mistakes, such as pressure injuries, serious falls and health care-associated infections. In reality, many of these problems are related to the chronic under-funding, lack of adequate staffing and over-stretched doctors and nurses throughout the system.

The latest public hospital data reveals that patients are already having to wait longer for treatment, breaching the medically recommended guidelines promised by the Rudd and Gillard Labor governments of 2007 to 2013 when they implemented the efficient pricing regime. The Labor governments claimed, for example, that their measures would see 90 percent of emergency patients dealt with within four hours, but in the state of Victoria, that figure has fallen to 70 percent, in New South Wales it is 75 percent and in Queensland 77 percent.

These outcomes, which have serious consequences for patients, are only going to worsen as federal and state governments, Labor and Liberal-National alike, further slash spending as the collapse of mining-related revenues deepens their budget deficits.
Describing current levels of killing and mayhem in Iraq as staggering and obscene, two United Nations agencies released a report Tuesday that recorded at least 55,047 civilian casualties between January 1, 2014 and October 31, 2015. The total included at least 18,802 civilians killed and another 36,245 wounded.

The report added that over roughly the same period, a total of 3,206,736 civilians, including over 1 million school-age children, have been driven from their homes by the violence.

The UNs High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein said the report failed to reflect the full human toll inflicted by the conflict in Iraq. The numbers reported killed or wounded, particularly in areas under ISIS control, undoubtedly fell well short of the real level of carnage. Moreover, many more had died from lack of access to basic food, water or medical care, he said.

The high commissioner added that the report starkly illustrates what Iraqi refugees are attempting to escape when they flee to Europe and other regions. This is the horror they face in their homelands.

The period dealt with in the report begins with the month the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) seized the cities of Ramadi and Fallujah in the predominantly Sunni Anbar Province, subsequently overrunning fully one-third of Iraqs territory. It stops short of the upsurge in violence over the past few months, including US-backed military campaigns to retake Ramadi as well as Banji and Sinjar, which undoubtedly saw a further spike in casualties.

The report deals at length with atrocities carried out by ISIS as well as attacks on civilians by Iraqi government security forces, along with Shia and Kurdish militias.

It is decidedly muted, however, about Washingtons responsibility, not only for civilian casualties from thousands of airstrikes, but more fundamentally in terms of the historic destruction wrought by the illegal US invasion of 2003 and the more than eight years of military occupation that followed.

As the report was issued, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter told reporters in Paris that the Pentagon is preparing to substantially escalate the US military presence in Iraq. I expect the number of trainers to increase, and also the variety of the training theyre giving, he said.

A US military spokesman in Baghdad on Wednesday said the number of new trainers would be not thousands, hundreds. They would be in addition to the 3,670 US troops the Pentagon says are now deployed in Iraq.

Much of the UN report deals with the grisly violence unleashed by ISIS against the Iraqi population, targeting in particular both current and former employees of the Iraqi government and security forces, as well as Shia Muslims and members of religious minorities, together with Sunni Muslims perceived as too moderate.

The report recounts a series of ISIS atrocities, including mass killings in gruesome public spectacles, including by shooting, beheading, bulldozing, burning alive and throwing people off the top of buildings. It documents sexual violence and enslavement of women and children by ISIS, including 3,500 from the Yazidi community, which was early on invoked by the Obama administration as a pretext for US intervention, but has since been largely forgotten by the US government and media.

It also cites unlawful killings and abductions perpetrated by pro-Government forces as well as their persecution of civilians forced by the fighting to flee their homes, particularly form predominantly Sunni areas. It reports that some have experienced arbitrary arrest in raids by security forces and others have been forcibly expelled.

In addition to Iraqi security forces, the report points to the abuse of civilians by both Shia militias and the Peshmerga, the forces of the Kurdistan Regional Government.

A report released Wednesday by Amnesty International further documents the systematic destruction of Sunni Arab homes by the Kurdish forces in northern Iraq, saying that their actions may constitute war crimes.

Backed by US airstrikes, the Kurdish forces have taken over areas in Nineveh, Kirkuk and Diyala provinces that were previously ethnically mixed. In an apparent attempt to incorporate these areas into Iraqi Kurdistan, the Kurdish forces have launched what amounts to a campaign of ethnic cleansing.

The UN report includes accounts of large numbers of civilian casualties inflicted by airstrikes, while failing to attribute them to any party in the conflict and stating that its investigators have been unable to confirm the totals. The US military is responsible for the majority of airstrikes carried out in Iraq. While acknowledging, as of a week ago, dropping some 29,000 bombs and missiles on the country and claiming to have killed more than 6,400 ISIS fighters over the past three months alone, the Pentagon has, incredibly, acknowledged only 15 civilians killed.

The UN report tells a different story. Among last years airstrikes listed in the report, some of the bloodiest include:

May 22-23... airstrikes hit al-Najjar, al-Rifai and Sahaa areas in western Mosul in Ninewa, allegedly killing 30 civilians and wounding 62 others, including women and children.

June 3... an explosion due to an airstrike in Kirkuks Hawija district allegedly killed several ISIL fighters and civilians... A member of the Kirkuk Provincial Council was quoted by multiple local sources as stating that around 150 individuals, including women and children, were allegedly killed and wounded in the blast.

June 8... local sources reported that an airstrike in Mosul, Ninewa, caused 33 civilian casualties. The report alleged that several residential neighbourhoods in al-Zuhour district were hit, killing 20 civilians, including seven children and nine women, and wounding 13 others, mostly women.

June 11... an airstrike reportedly hit an ISIL target near a market in Hawija, Kirkuk. According to a source, 10 civilians were killed and wounded in the incident. Other reports mentioned more than 60 civilians killed and over 80 wounded.

July 117 civilians, including four children and six women, were reportedly killed in an airstrike conducted in the al-Rifaie area of western Mosul, Ninewa. Eleven other civilians were reportedly wounded.

July 31... up to 40 civilians may have been killed and over 30 wounded when three houses allegedly sheltering IDPs was hit by an airstrike in Rutba, west of Ramadi, Anbar. Official sources confirmed the incident and the number of casualties, which included 18 women and 11 children (under 14 years old).

August 13... a maternity and childrens hospital in Nassaf village, south Fallujah, was hit by airstrikes reportedly carried out by ISF warplanes pursuing ISIL fighters. Sources confirmed the airstrikes destroyed the hospital and killed at least 22 individuals (including six women and eight children) and wounded 52 (including eight women and 17children).

September 3... an airstrike hit a bridge in Jazeera al-Khaldiya, around 20 kilometres east of Ramadi, Anbar, killing 46 civilians and wounding 20... On the same day, another airstrike reportedly hit a residential area in eastern Ramadi, killing 28 civilians.

These murderous airstrikes are only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the responsibility of US imperialism for the slaughter outlined in the UN report. The current situation is the direct product of over 25 years of US war against Iraq and of Washingtons interventions elsewhere in the region.

From the first Gulf War of 1991 through the 2003 invasion and subsequent military occupation of Iraq, US imperialism carried out the systematic destruction of what had been one of the most advanced healthcare and social infrastructures in the Arab world. The second war claimed the lives of over 1 million Iraqis, turning another 5 million into refugees, while the divide-and-rule strategy pursued by the Pentagon stoked a sectarian civil war by deliberately manipulating tensions between Iraqs Shia and Sunni populations.

ISIS itself is the direct product of US interventions in the region, emerging first under the US occupation and then growing in strength thanks to the wars for regime-change launched first in Libya and then in Syria, in which it and similar Salafist jihadi militias received weapons and funding from the CIA and Washingtons closest regional allies, including Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

While the UN report asserts the necessity of holding accountable those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Iraq, it fails to indict the principal criminals, who comprise the leading figures in the last two US administrations, from Bush and Obama on down.
According to the preliminary election results released early Thursday morning by Humboldt University in Berlin, the International Youth and Students for Social Equality received 149 votes and will have four seats in the student parliament.

The results represent a significant growth in support for the IYSSE among Humboldt University students. In the elections held in January 2015, the IYSSE received 1.83 percent of the votes and obtained one seat. In this years voting, held over two days on January 19-20, the IYSSEs support rose to 6.04 percent.

Ten of the 17 student groups participating in the elections lost votes.

The largest candidate lists are the Independent Students (287 votes, 7 seats), the Left List at Humboldt  LiLi (256 votes, 6 seats) and the Social Democratic Party's youth organization Jusos (253 votes, 6 seats). The Association of Christian Democratic Students (RCDS) that stands politically near the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) received 150 votes. The Left Party's student organization Die Linke.SDS received 145 votes.

The IYSSE had placed at the center of its campaign the fight against the revival of German militarism and its ideological justification by right-wing academics at Humboldt University. It called for the building of a new anti-war movement based on the international working class on a socialist anti-imperialist program. In the midst of new military interventions by the Bundeswehr (Armed forces of Germany) in Syria and Mali and an aggressive anti-immigrant campaign in the media, the IYSSEs policies have found a strong response.
Attacks on Angela Merkel have increased in recent days in the media and from leading politicians. The German chancellor, whose position seemed unassailable a few months ago, could now prematurely lose office.

The tabloid Bild am Sonntag appeared last weekend with the headline, Is Merkel still the right one? The Berliner Tagesspiegel claims, The majority says: We cannot do it. The Suddeutsche Zeitung writes about Merkels fateful days. And Der Spiegel titled its report on domestic politics, The clock is ticking.

The events on New Years Eve in Cologne, when groups of foreigners are alleged to have sexually assaulted hundreds of German women, have increased doubts about the Chancellors refugee policy, Der Spiegel wrote. In the Christian Democratic Party/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU), desire for a different policy was growing, if need be, without Merkel.

On Monday CSU chief Horst Seehofer repeated his ultimatum that the chancellor had until March to re-establish orderly legal conditions at the borders. Otherwise, the Bavarian state government would file suit with the Supreme Court against the federal government, in which the CSU itself is a member.

On Tuesday a so-called urgent letter on refugee policy, signed by 44 CDU/CSU parliamentary deputies, arrived in the Chancellery. The five-page letter from the governments own parliamentary faction accuses the chancellor of breaking the law. According to the dpa press agency, it says, our country faces excessive demands. Therefore, we believe a change in current immigration practicesis urgently needed, through a return to the strict application of existing legislation.

According to press reports, the number of those calling for Merkel to change course is clearly higher than the number of signatories. Overall, some one hundred CDU/CSU deputies support the demand for closing the countrys borders and for expedited deportations. That is about one-third of the CDU/CSU parliamentary faction. Among them are former CDU economic policy experts like the chairman of the parliamentary group Mittelstand (Medium-sized business), Christian von Stetten, one of the initiators of the letter, and Carsten Linnemann, chairman of the CDU/CSU Mittelstand Association (MIT).

Media reports and commentators argue that the growing criticism of Merkel is a response to a change of mood in the population. Parliamentary deputies were being bombarded with letters and e-mails from citizens demanding a tightening of the policy on refugees, they claim.

In truth, it is precisely the opposite. It is the result of a targeted campaign from the top, staged by influential political circles, the media and business organizations, in order to enforce a sharp political shift to the right.

A few weeks ago, at the CDU party conference, the chancellor herself emphasized that her statement, We can do it, which is often interpreted as a welcoming culture and invitation to refugees, would not stand in the way of brutally deterring and deporting refugees, as well as increased military intervention in Syria and other countries. To the applause of delegates, she presented a ten-point programme on refugees, providing for more and expedited deportations, a limit on family reunifications, the elimination of so-called perverse incentives, and combating causes of flight through intensified military operations.

But for a growing part of the ruling class this is not nearly enough. The chancellor, whose brutal austerity measures have driven millions of people into misery in Greece and other countries, is considered too liberal and too lenient.

This is the context in which the events of New Years Eve at Cologne Central Railway Station have been exaggerated, and a bizarre media campaign instigated, for the purpose of creating a climate of fear and hysteria overnight and bringing about a drastic shift to the right of official politics. Criticism of Merkels refugee policy is only the trigger, the lever through which this shift to the right is to be enforced.

Merkel had previously pushed for a so-called European solution to the refugee crisis, to prevent the walling off of national borders and the blowing apart of the European Union in its present form. She wanted to seal off the EUs external borders more completely, intern the remaining refugees in so-called hot spots, and then distribute some to all EU countries.

But that did not work. Of the 160,000 refugees the EU agreed to distribute across its member states in the past year, only 322 have so far made the journey. Not only Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic have closed their borders and erected barbed wire fences, but also Sweden and Denmark, who were regarded as refugee-friendly, have reintroduced border controls.

In Germany too, the call for closing the borders is getting loudernot only from the CDU/CSU, but also from the ranks of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Greens and the Left Party. None other than former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder (SPD) harshly attacked Merkel recently because of her refugee policies.

In the controversy over refugee policy, one development is visible, which can be described as the end of the liberal, democratic and social Europe. Twenty-five years after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the furor over the alleged triumph of capitalism, the European project lies in ruins.

The propaganda speeches about unity and understanding between nations, in democracy and freedom, have long fallen silent. The boastful strategies of the Lisbon agenda, through which the European Union should be made into the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, have all failed. The social division of Europe is now greater than ever. In many countries, one in two young people is unemployed.

The expansion of the European Union into Eastern Europe did not bring democracy and prosperity, but instead Orban in Hungary and Kaczynski in Poland, who openly profess their support for the authoritarian regimes of the 1930s. The European Union and the German government, which have transformed these countries into cheap workbenches for their corporations, destroyed their social welfare systems and imposed low wages and high unemployment, are responsible for ensuring that these right-wing nationalist forces found fertile ground.

All European governments are responding to the growing economic and political crisis and growing social tensions with a shift to the rightwith militarism, the dismantling of democratic rights and the establishment of a police state.

In recent years, Merkel has significantly pushed ahead this reactionary policy and thus strengthened the most right-wing political forces. That she now comes under pressure from the ranks of her own party, and that the racist demagogues in Bavarias CSU pose ultimatums to her is the result of her own policies.

More and more influential economic spokespersons, politicians and academics are calling for a harder line in foreign policy. Germany must once again take on the role of a leading power in Europea hegemon and disciplinarianand intervene militarily around the world. With the call for German leadership in Europe, the call also returns for a Fuhrer (leader).

Herein lies the source of the criticism of Merkel. Sections of the ruling class are of the opinion that she is not up to the new tasks of German imperialism. They are demanding more aggressiveness at home and abroad in order to enforce German interests.

The Merkel critics also include her Finance Minister, Wolfgang Schauble. As the architect of German unity, who dictated the Unification Treaty in the crucial weeks following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, he has always advanced the view that Germany should take more advantage of its economic dominance.

Schauble called early on for more patriotism and a healthy national sentiment. As the country in the middle of the continent, Germany had long had a European calling. More than twenty years ago, he advocated a core Europe, in which Germany set the tone. During the negotiations with Greece over the past year he made it clear that he was ready, in contrast to Merkel, to throw that country out of the euro zone, to set an example and make clear who calls the shots in Europe.

Last weekend, in an interview with the Suddeutsche Zeitung, Schauble delivered one of his well-known proclamations of loyalty for the Chancellor. It was drafted in such a way that everyone could hear his criticism of government policies. Then he demanded the deployment of the Bundeswehr (Armed Forces) at home and an additional gasoline tax to finance the refugees, a demand which poured oil on the flames of the witch-hunt against the migrants.

But Schauble is not the only one demanding a much harsher line against refugees. Vice-Chancellor and SPD leader Gabriel has demanded rapid deportations and zero tolerance towards criminal foreigners. In the business daily Handelsblatt, ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schroder emphasized that Merkel had for ten years rested on the successes of the government led by him and its Agenda 2010 policies. A Social Democratic government was necessary, he said, in order to meet the challenges of the present situation.

The escalating criticism of Merkel is part of a major lurch to the right, and the preparation for great class battles.
On Tuesday, the largest terminal operator and stevedore in the US, Ports America (PA), announced that it was terminating its lease of the Outer Harbor Terminal (OHT) at the Port of Oakland. Operations will continue for another 30 days at the terminal, which will then be vacated by the end of 60 days.

The decision will have a long-term impact on the regional and national economy. There are currently no companies looking to pick up PAs lease and the Port of Oakland has stated that it may shift the OHT out of handling container ships. For the past 50 years the port has exclusively handled containers.

The Port of Oakland is the fifth busiest container port in the US, handling a total of 2.4 million TEUs (twenty-foot container equivalent units) in 2014, and the OHT accounts for roughly a fifth of the entire ports capacity. It is unclear what the short-term impact will be.

Some 1,700 longshoremen work at the port, under the control of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, which negotiates on the workers behalf with a corporatist entity known as the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), representing 72 companies at ports along the West Coast.

In the short term, port workers will likely be reassigned to other terminals. Port of Oakland officials said that the remaining terminals should have sufficient capacity to receive ships normally handled at the OHT. Doing the same work at a smaller number of terminals will inevitably mean additional weekend and graveyard shifts, as well as attempts by management to intensify the work and reduce the total number of shifts.

Just last May, the ILWU concluded a five-year concessions contract after a year of negotiations that included a four-day lockout after the PMA accused longshoremen of a work slow down. Overall, the Port of Oakland has been operating at 50 to 60 percent capacity during the past few years due to the global economy and shifting trade patterns.

The Port of Oakland is the only port in California to handle more exports than imports due to its direct access to the Central Valley and the increasing concentration of imports in just a handful of ports. Global economic stagnation meant that container traffic grew by only 0.8 percent at the worlds major ports in 2015. At the same time new ships with a combined capacity of 1.7 million TEUs, almost the total yearly traffic of the Port of Oakland, were launched last year.

This resulted in a 9 percent decline in ocean freight rates in 2015, and large potential losses in the shipping industry. Drewry Shipping Consultants Ltd. told the Wall Street Journal that container shipping is now comparable to the depths of the recession in 2009 and the sector could see losses of $5 billion in 2016.

Shipping lines have been trying to maintain profits by using increasingly large ships focused on fewer ports. Just two regions in the US, Los AngelesLong Beach and New YorkNew Jersey, accounted for 47.7 percent of the 31.6 million TEUs of container traffic in the United States in 2014.

Only a handful of ports are capable of handling the latest and largest ships which can carry several times the number of containers of older ships and place an enormous strain on local infrastructure. The largest container ship to ever dock in North America, the CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin (18,000 TEU), left the Port of Oakland just two weeks ago after first stopping in Los Angeles.

The largest ships capable of traversing the Panama Canal, Panamax ships, carry roughly 5,000 TEUs. The new ships require specialized cranes and represent an enormous amount of cargo that needs to be moved on and off a ship in a short amount of time. An 18,000 TEU ship at 90 percent capacity is estimated to require 17,800 container moves in a five-day turnaround.

Moving that quantity of goods out of the port once they are off the ship presents its own difficulties. The Port of Oakland has already started experimenting with keeping its gates working on nights and weekends in order to spread out truck traffic and ease congestion.

The increasing use of these mega-ships is going to result in long periods of little work while longshoremen and port truck drivers wait for the freighter to arrive followed by grueling non-stop activity when it does.

The decision was made by PA in order to focus its investments on its operations in Tacoma, Washington, and Los Angeles and Long Beach in California, which are expected to receive the bulk of the large freighters on the West coast.

Many ports are increasingly using automation to meet the demands of the new freighters. The US Labor Secretary Thomas Perez called for increased automation in US ports after touring the Hamburg docks in Germany over the weekend and called on the trade unions like the ILWU to help implement job cuts saying The way to make sure you do it right is to have meaningful dialog and a legitimate seat at the table for everyone.

In a rational economy the introduction of new technologies and more efficient ships would mean a significant increase in the wealth of workers. Under capitalism the money saved with new technologies is pocketed directly by investors while management and the trade unions pressure the workers to cut wages and benefits to stay competitive.
The French daily Liberation published yesterday an appeal for a primary of the left issued by a group of political, intellectual and artistic figures from Green and social-democratic circles. The best-known is the Green politician and former May-June 1968 student protester, Daniel Cohn-Bendit. There is a matching request to sign a petition in favor of the primary of the left.

This initiative emerges from the campaign for the 2017 presidential and legislative elections, already well underway, amid a state of emergency imposed by the ruling Socialist Party (PS) and sharpening social tensions. The neo-fascist National Front (FN) is expected to make it to the second round of the presidential election and might even win.

The idea of a single primary for all the official left parties had already been mooted last November by a group around Cohn-Bendit, which declared it was ready to participate. The campaign took shape after the FNs record performance in the December regional elections and above all since President Francois Hollande proposed the policy of destitution of nationality for those convicted of terror-related crimes. This measure, drawn from the neo-fascist program, provoked conflicts inside the PS and among its political satellites.

The appeal published in Liberation won support from the Greens and parts of the Left Front (an alliance of the Stalinist Communist Party, PS split-offs, and Pabloite groups). The so-called rebels inside the PS did not oppose it, but the rest of the PS did. It was abundantly discussed in the press and media, some of whom portrayed it as an initiative opposed to the PS government. Some of the best-publicized signatories were economist Thomas Piketty, writer Marie Depleschin, Europe Ecology The Greens (EELV) deputy Yannick Jadot, and sociologist Michel Wieviworka.

It is in fact an operation launched by the forces that have spent decades in the PS periphery, and who fear that an open embrace of far-right policies by the PS could discredit the wars, European Union (EU) austerity policies, and attacks on democratic rights carried out by Hollande.

Speaking to France Inter, Marie Depleschin said, There are people who come out with far-right proposals as if they were the solution, but being progressive means trying to find solutions that one did not find in the camp of social reaction.

In fact, the forces promoting the primary of the left are also in the camp of social reaction. They plan no break with the PS reactionary policies. Liberations appeal opposes neither social austerity nor the EU, nor a return to power by the PS on its current program. Rather, it calls for a cynical facelift to the PS and its periphery: Primary means renewed colors for the left and ecology.  We know one thing: the coming to power of the National Front would be a catastrophe, and the coming to power of The [right-wing] Republicans would not get us out of the blind alley.

The primarys supporters fear a discrediting of the state institutions and want to try to mobilize support for them: We will not change the Republic by 2017, and everything hangs on the central election, the presidentials. This  is the key question today, and we want the citizens to reappropriate it for themselves.

In fact, until mid-2014, EELV was imposing austerity from within the Hollande administration, and it continued to support the PS pro-EU policy after leaving the government. Last May, Cohn-Bendit told Green members of the European Parliament, as the EU attacked the Greek working class, to back the conservative Jean-Claude Juncker, one of the main architects of these attacks, for the presidency of the European Commission. Cohn-Bendit praised Junckers candidacy as a way to make European democracy progress.

In November, while Cohn-Bendit considered running in the primary of the left, he advised Hollande to also back a primary, to re-legitimise himself.

According to a BFM-TV poll, 78 percent of left-wing voters declare they are favorable to holding a primary election in order to determine who will be the candidate in the 2017 presidential campaign  They consider that [Prime Minister] Manuel Valls has the best chance to win the next presidential elections. Behind the Prime Minister, which has 29 percent support, there is the mayor of Lille [Martine Aubry] with 22 percent of left-wing voters, in front of Francois Hollande with 19 percent.

The political profile of the main signatories underscores the character of the agenda they are defending. One is Romain Goupil, a former member of the Pabloite LCR (precursor of todays New Anti-capitalist Party). He is a prominent supporter within artistic circles of most of the imperialist wars waged in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa in the last quarter century.

Another signatory is Raphael Glucksmann, a writer and son of the anti-Communist new philosopher Andre Glucksmann. Resolutely pro-EU, he was from 2005 to 2013 an advisor of former pro-NATO Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili and the husband of Saakashvilis justice minister, Eka Zguladze. He backed the Maidan demonstrations in Kiev which led to a fascist-led coup in Ukraine in February 2014, and since December his wife is vice-minister of the interior in the far-right government in Ukraine.

Such figures criticise Hollande not because he is adopting policies taken from the far right, which they could themselves carry out, but rather because he is doing it too openly and therefore risks provoking a movement of opposition to the PS from its left.

Indeed, the policy of the PS and the Hollande government over the last year has been to try to rally the public around the legitimisation of the far right. Having invited FN leader Marine Le Pen to the Elysee presidential palace after the Charlie Hebdo attacks last January, Hollande is now adopting the destitution of nationality policy, previously employed by the Nazi-collaborationist Vichy regime as it persecuted and tried to exterminate the Jewish people during World War II.

As the WSWS wrote after the unprecedented conviction of French workers striking at Goodyear, The French capitalist class was compelled to inscribe basic social rights such as the right to strike in the post-World War II constitution as a pledge never to return to the crimes committed by Vichy. As it tears up its commitments to maintain basic social rights and turns to authoritarian forms of rule, driven by intractable financial and economic contradictions, the ruling class moves to legitimize the FN and adopt policies drawn from the legal arsenal of 20th Century fascism.

The resort to the destitution of nationality policy underscores the political bankruptcy of the PS, the main political formation that emerged after the student protests and general strike of May-June 1968, which was actively supported by the radicalized petty-bourgeoisie of that period.

If the defensive maneuver of the advocates of a primary of the left is an attempt to repair the PS tattered left credentials to allow it to pursue the policies of war and EU austerity under different colors, it also aims to burnish the image of the entire post-1968 left establishment. They are thus trying to block any movement that could emerge to challenge Hollandes reactionary policies from the left.
The Scottish National Partys latest government budget announcement again exposes their pro-business credentials.

In the second budget after their independence referendum defeat in September 2014, Finance Minister John Swinney announced cuts of between 500 million and 600 million in the coming year. Three hundred and fifty million pounds of this target is in local government and represents a 3.5 percent cut from the annual 10 billion budget.

Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) President David ONeill called the cuts an austerity budget and said there would be the loss of 15,000 local government jobs as a result. This would be around 6 percent of the national workforce of 244,800. ONeill said the cuts are the equivalent of 50 Tata Steelworksa reference to the recent announcement of the closure of Tata Steel in Motherwell and Cambuslang with the loss of 270 jobs in North and South Lanarkshire.

Rory Mair, chief executive of COSLA, in an interview with the Sunday Herald, said that a number of local authorities might defy the Scottish Government by ending the nine-year old Council Tax freezes and decreasing teacher numbers. Moray Council has recently announced that it is likely to be the first to break the tax freeze, which could see council tax bills rocketing by 18 percent. Highland Council is reported to be considering similar action, raising bills by 5 percent.

Education is expected to take a big hit as councils currently spend 40 percent of their budget on schools. Four thousand teaching jobs have already disappeared since the SNP took office in 2007 according to the teachers union, the Educational Institute for Scotland. Council leaders have been warned by the government that they will face financial penalties if they further reduce teacher numbers. A further crisis is also developing in Scottish universities, whose teaching budget will drop from 1,062 billion to 1,027 billion in 2016.

The arts are also in the firing line of government cuts, with Scottish Opera, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Ballet, the National Theatre, Museums and the National Galleries part of a culture spending drop from 170.2 million to 154.1 million for the coming year.

The SNP, aided by their friends amongst the pseudo-left groups, the Green Party and the trade union bureaucracy have maintained the lie that they are the victims of a cruel and sadistic Westminster government. In reality, the SNP have overseen 500 million in cuts last year and a total of around 10 percent of public spending cuts since 2010. Some 40,000 public sector jobs have disappeared, including frontline services such as social workjob losses cynically described as natural wastage. Social work posts lost in this way are not replaced, putting further burden on an already overstretched and pressurised workforce. Social care has, under the SNP Government, been privatised to levels comparable with England.

The SNP have not resisted the dictates of Westminster, but have imposed spending levels set by the Conservatives and the previous coalition with the Liberal Democrats. They are accomplices in the destruction of many of the UKs local government vital services. Together, the SNP and Tories will oversee further savings in UK local governments of 30-40 billion in 2016.

Swinney has claimed that he has delivered a Scottish alternative to Tory austerity, but he has simply robbed Peter to pay Paul by diverting 500 million from local authorities to prop up the beleaguered National Health Service. Another 55 million was taken from local authorities to save Police Scotland. Swinney had his first opportunity in this budget to set income tax at a different level to the rest of the UK and refused to do so.

In a further move, Swinney demanded, that the old boundary of NHS and councils ceases to exist as he announced a large chunk of the NHS Scotland budget will be funnelled into social care. Swinney calls this an integration of the two vital services and a radical reform of the NHS in Scotland, echoing the language used by the Tories in their continued and sustained efforts to dismantle the welfare state. This policy is a rehash of the Tories integrated care introduced via the Health and Social Care Act (2013) in England.

Under the new arrangements integrated care administrations will take over all aspects of care of the most vulnerable people. This service will then be farmed out according to regional and local conditions and will inevitably mean a sharp increase in badly paid staff employed by charities and private companies who will oversee services previously run by the NHS. The proposals are packaged as an unavoidable response to the demographic time-bomb, otherwise known as people living longer. Both Unison, the Royal College of Nursing and the other health unions support integrated care.

Another round of budget cuts will devastate public services. Scotlands largest council, Glasgow City, is overseeing 100 million in cuts and savings since 2014 on top of the new cuts. Edinburgh City Council announced in October of last year that 2,000 jobs have to go by June 2016 via voluntary redundancies. Council leaders have said compulsory redundancies will follow if the 2,000 people arent found. In Dundee, council leaders have had their budget slashed by 11.3 million for 2016-17. In the same authority, 6,000 letters have been sent out to workers asking them to consider voluntary redundancy. If volunteers are not found, compulsory redundancies will likely follow.

North Lanarkshire Council will make cuts to jobs and services amounting to 45.5 million between 2016 and 2018. This will equate to around 1,095 posts, which is just under 9 percent of the workforce. Fifteen hundred posts have already been lost in previous budget cuts. Cuts are proposed in home care affecting 400 workers and classroom assistants, with either 66 or 131 full-time posts facing the axe.

North Ayrshire Council has proposed a cut to the education budget by 500,000, telling workers employed in Education Business Support, School Offices and Pupil Support to expect losses. In Aberdeen where 10 million worth of cuts will be imposed and with an estimated shortfall of 50 million over the next five years, an SNP councillor has said that the council leaders should know that belt-tightening in times of austerity is necessary, sending a signal to councils that the SNP will squeeze every penny necessary out them.

The reaction of the biggest public sector union, UNISON, in the face of the largest assault on its members in history was to issue a statement reacting to the budget. Mike Kirby (Scottish Regional Secretary) conceded, UNISON Scotland recognises that Tory austerity limits the options available in the Spending Review.

In other words, the trade union leadership are insisting that while austerity is inevitable, the Scottish government and the SNP bear no responsibility.

Last Sunday, at the Unite Scotland unions first policy conference in Clydebank, its leader Len McCluskey offered himself as a critical friend of the SNP, stating that Nicola Sturgeon and her team have reached out to trade unionsincluding on vital issues like blacklistingand we would be letting our members down if we responded anything other than enthusiastically.
GAINESVILLE, Ga. (AP)  Authorities in north Georgia say a teenager was shot in the hip while he and a friend were playing with a gun.

Hall County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Deputy Nicole Bailes told the Gainesville Times that investigators determined two 16-year-old boys were playing with a gun at a Gainesville home Wednesday when the gun accidentally discharged.

One of the teens was taken to a hospital after he showed up at a fire station with a gunshot wound. Bailes said the teen was expected to be released be treated and released from the hospital Wednesday.

Authorities say no one is expected to be charged in the shooting.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - A contentious battle over Florida state senate districts is coming to an end.

The Florida Senate is not going to appeal a redistricting ruling handed down in December. Circuit Judge George Reynolds in that decision signed off on a map drawn by a coalition of voting rights groups.

This decision means that that Republicans could lose control of the state Senate. That's because the map chosen by Reynolds is split nearly evenly between GOP and Democratic-leaning districts and will likely create four South Florida seats that could be won by Hispanic candidates.

Senate President Andy Gardiner decided to accept the ruling after discussing the ruling with attorneys and Sen. Bill Galvano. Galvano said he concluded that it would not be "prudent" to pursue an appeal.

Voting rights groups back in 2012 sued over the existing Senate districts.
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The operations of the Tulkarm terror cell exposed on Wednesday, which was directed by Hezbollah's Unit 133, can reveal much on the Lebanese terror organization's efforts to recruit Palestinian terror activists.

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Jawad Nasrallah, son of Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, made his first contact with the head of the Tulkarm cell, Mahmoud Jalloul, on Facebook in late August, with the Palestinian asking Nasrallah the younger to put him in contact with the Shi'ite organization.

While the two started communicating before the outbreak of the wave of terror attacks in October, security forces already started noticing first signs of sleeper cells in the West Bank, particularly in the Samaria area, rearing their heads.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and son Jawad. Apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Nasrallah Junior was cautious, and responded to Jalloul several days later with the request to wait patiently. Several days after that, Jalloul was contacted by Fadi Shmandar, another Hezbollah operative, who sent him an e-mail with files and an encryption software with instructions on how to use it.

The two encrypted their communication from then onwards. The Palestinian asked his Lebanese contact for money to finance the terror attacks he was planning. "You'll receive the money only after we become more acquainted," Shmandar responded.

After receiving an encrypted message to their phones or computers, Jalloul and the members of his cell quickly deleted the messages, but Israeli security forces were still able to intercept them.

Over weeks of caution and suspicion on Hezbollah's side, 16 encrypted messages were passed between Tulkarm and south Lebanon. These messages included instructions on how to commit terror attacks against the Jews, collecting intelligence on IDF training bases, cell members sending terror attack plans to Hezbollah for approval, and finding a Gaza resident to transfer the funds for the attacks.

The Shin Bet's investigation found that in one such communication Jalloul sent his Hezbollah handler a plan to assassinate an IDF officer. It included the officer's personal details and his photo. Jalloul stated he and his cell members are tracking the officer, and asked for $30,000 to buy weapons for the assassination. A friend of Jalloul advised him not to ask for exaggerated sums from the Shi'ite organization to show them he was trustworthy.

Several days later, Hezbollah responded to Jalloul's request with another coded message, confirming $25,000 will be transferred to the cell.

The plot was thwarted by the Shin Bet, and the cell only received $5,000 for its shooting attack, which they used to purchase a weapon and a cartridge with bullets. The money was transferred through a money transfer company from abroad to the West Bank, and the weapon was hidden in the home of one of the cell members.

The cell included five members, and they were also indicted for stone-throwing and hurling Molotov cocktails at security forces over the past year. Two of them have been imprisoned in Israel in the past.

According to the Shin Bet, these members are not affiliated with Palestinian terror organizations like Hamas, Fatah or the Islamic Jihad.

The fact their past activists "only" include popular terrorism acts, and their daring in initiating contact with Hezbollah in order to operate in the West Bank on the Lebanese organization's behalf, could indicate an escalation in the Palestinian street in its armed struggle against Israel.

Lone terrorists that despaired of the Palestinian Authority and even of Hamas now turn directly to those defined earlier this week by IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot as Israel's main enemy.

The compartmentalization used by Hezbollah in the operations of this cell indicates that the organization is working hard to keep its actions hidden from IDF Intelligence.

In their press briefings, officials in Military Intelligence and in the IDF in general constantly remind reporters of Hassan Nasrallah's declarations about Israel, stressing that his threats should be taken seriously, and Israel should prepare for them accordingly. The speech in which Nasrallah promised to aid the Palestinian people could indicate that the Tulkarm terror cell would not be the last Hezbollah-backed cell in the territories.
In an unusual move, the IDF has deployed an artillery battery on the Gaza border after a recent incident of roadside bombs planted near the border fence, targeting IDF patrols.

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The artillery forces were stationed next to the Gaza Division posts along the border.

Over the past seven years, the deployment of artillery batteries on the Gaza Strip's border were done mostly ahead of expected escalation in hostilities with Gaza. The artillery canons allow for a quick response to fire coming from the Strip.

IDF artillery troops on the Gaza border (Photo: Haim Horenstein)

Until Operation Protective Edge, there has only been measured use of artillery power on the Gaza Strip, due to the population density and the effort to avoid hitting innocent civilians. But the defense establishment now thinks the Artillery Corps have proven their effectiveness throughout the war in Gaza in the summer of 2014.

The IDF Spokesman's Office played down the deployment of the artillery troops along the Gaza border. "This isn't a reinforcement of forces, but rather a realignment of forces, as part of the defense routine and based on planning for the IDF's yearly operations. There are no special preparations made in the area."

Last Wednesday, the IAF attacked a terror cell that was planting explosives on the border fence in the northern Gaza Strip. The Palestinians reported on dead and three wounded in the attack.
Two days after Slovenia's biggest supermarket chain Mercator relented to pressure from the BDS Movement and removed Israeli products off its shelves, it went back on its decision, placing a new order for fruit from Israel, including pomelos and avocados.

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The Ynet report about the decision was cited on Slovenian media, with an emphasis put on the Israeli Foreign Ministry's accusation that this was a boycott against Israel.

At the same time, the Israeli Foreign Ministry summoned Slovenia's ambassador for a discussion on the matter.

Slovenian supermarket chain Mercator.

Israel's Ambassador to Slovenia, Shmuel Meirom, was planning on arriving at the Slovenian Foreign Ministry to protest the move and meet with the Mercator CEO in an effort to persuade him to go back on the decision. But Mercator, it would seem, was alarmed by the outcry, and was quick to place a new order for Israeli goods.

The supermarket chain didn't officially admit to making a decision to boycott Israel, but officials at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem confirmed that the chain had stopped placing orders for Israeli products even before its announcement.

This isn't the first time the supermarket chain responds to BDS pressure to take Israeli products off the shelves - a similar incident occurred in 2014, but then, as now, the products were put back on the shelve.

The Slovenian Embassy in Israel said in response: "There is no Slovenian boycott on Israeli products. The agreements between the European Union and Israel are the basis of Israel's special status in its relations with Slovenia as well. The government of Slovenia has not held stocks in Mercator since 2014. The ties between Israel and Slovenia have always been good and are characterized by vast cooperation, mostly in the fields of economics, science, research, advanced technologies, and tourism."
Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, in a rare move on Thursday, revoked the residency of four terrorists who were responsible for the murder of four Israeli citizens.

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Three of the residents - Walid Fares Mustafa Atrash, Mohammed Salah Mohammed Abu Keif and Mahmoud Abed Rabbo Dawiyat - hurled stones on Israeli vehicles on a major throughway near Jerusalem's Arnona neighborhood on Rosh Hashanah eve, causing the death of Alexander Levlovich, 64 - considered the first Israeli murdered in the current wave of violence.

Suspects in murder of Alexander Levlovich, left to right: Mohammed Salah Mohammed Abu Keif, Walid Fares Mustafa Atrash and Mahmoud Abed Rabbo Dawiyat (Photo: Shin Bet)

Several weeks late, Bilal Ranem boarded bus line 78 in East Talpiot (Armon HaNetziv) with another terrorist and opened fire, murdering three Israelis - Haviv Haim, 78, and Alon Govberg, 51, and Richard Lakin, 76 - and wounding several others. His accomplice was killed at the scene of the attack.

Bilal Ranem at court (Photo: Gil Yohanan)

The interior minister revoked their resident status based on section 11a of the the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law.

"This is an usual move but the severity of the four's actions completely justifies my decision," Deri said. "When conducting these terror attacks, the assailants took advantage of the freedom of movement they enjoyed as part of their resident status."

Deri stressed that "the resident status includes within it basic commitment and loyalty. Residency, and certainly permanent residency, is a status that doesn't just entail rights, without any obligations, and as such, it also includes the obligations and commitments of those who hold it and wish to continue holding it."

There have only been four cases of residency being revoked due to the terror activity - over ten years ago the members of the Silwan terror cell lost their resident status, followed by four members of the Palestinian parliament, and finally a year and a half ago by an accessory to the terror attack at the Dolphinarium in Tel Aviv.
Institutionalized terrorism - namely shooting, bombs, car bombs and suicide attacks backed by terrorist organizations and supported by regimes such as Iran  is returning to the West Bank and from there to within the Green Line. This is the true face of the wave of terror that is now being organized behind the scenes which threatens to take the place of the spontaneous and popular wave of lone murderers, the knife-wielders and vehicular attackers.

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Senior defense officials have been closely following the decision Hamas's military leadership in Gaza took in recent months to resume attacks in the West Bank and mainly inside the Green Line, even at the price of total confrontation with Israel.

According to the same sources, Hamas, a year and a half after Operation Protective Edge, feels that it has reached a sufficient level of preparedness to get through another war against the IDF. For Israel, this is a strategic warning: in the coming year it is likely to find itself in another war in the Gaza Strip.

A Hamas tunnel that ran from the Gaza Strip to Israel during Operation Protective Edge (Photo: Reuters)

Hezbollah, as of now, is a marginal factor in terms of institutionalized terror infrastructure in the West Bank. The discovery of the Hezbollah terrorist cell in Tulkarm is indicative of the terrorist organization's efforts to get back into the picture regarding the Palestinian conflict, just as it did during the second intifada when approximately 70 percent of Fatah cells operating against Israel did so under the auspices of Nasrallah. For him, the Palestinian front is the primary one from which he can operate against Israel without igniting the northern border. But the depth of his penetration on the ground is still far from his capabilities.

The real story here is Hamas. A few weeks ago the Shin Bet revealed Hamas's organization in the West Bank , which included explosives laboratories and the preparation of a suicide bomber to carry out an attack in Jerusalem. Hamas' military wing in Gaza, which commanded the cell, operated under the assumption that Israel cannot show restraint in the wake of a major attack in the heart of the capital. It believes that Israel would act aggressively in the West Bank  including damaging the Palestinian Authority - and simultaneously carry out widespread reprisals in Gaza.

The warning signs have been clear to Israel for several months now: Israel believes that Hamas is allowing itself to carry out large-scale attacks in the West Bank as it has completed basic preparation for delivering a surprise attack which it failed to do just before Operation Protective Edge. It is not impossible that it will penetrate into Israel, simultaneously and via a number of points  from the air, sea and tunnels - accompanied by a mortar fire and a massive blitz of rockets to cause the maximum amount of deaths.

Hamas naval commandos attempting to penetrate Israel during Operation Protective Edge (Photo: IDF spokesperson)

Hamas has also developed a suitable ideology that would include an opening attack that would pummel and shock Israel and serve as a kind of Palestinian revenge for Israel's opening attack of Operation Pillar of Defense which killed dozens of police in Gaza.

It seems that at least part of the process of rebuilding the Gaza Strip has been completed: booby-trapped tunnels penetrating inside the Green Line have apparently been newly dug, including, if past experience is any indication, several openings for each tunnel. In addition, their special forces ("hanuchba") and divers continue their intensive training, their UAV strength was rebuilt and their rocket arsenal has been partially restocked.

.

The cell that planned an attack in Jerusalem was indeed captured - but is not the only one. The commander of the PA's security services, General Faraj, told American media that his men arrested about 300 Hamas members recently.

At the beginning of the current terror wave, four months ago, Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hamas headquarters in Istanbul urged Palestinians to commit violent attacks and praised the stabbers and car rammers. Hamas, at the time, encouraged the wave of terror - but had not yet crossed the line by activating cells that it set up in the West Bank out of fear of Israeli retaliation.

Hamas's strategy was to try to destabilize Abbas's regime by creating unrest in the Palestinian street. On the other hand, Israel believed that Hamas was busy strengthening itself, was in financial distress due to the loss of support from Iran and had received a serious blow from the Egyptians who wiped out a large part of their smuggling tunnels. In addition, it still believed that Hamas still didn't have the ability nor the interest to risk a confrontation with the IDF.

Israel changed this estimation when it became clear that Hamas was instructing its people in the West Bank to once again carry out terrorist attacks inside the Green Line. And indeed, the cells were reawakened and several explosives laboratories were discovered. Simultaneously, money began to pour into those cells, messengers came from and went to the West Bank, and today it is clear that Hamas - led by Mohammed Deif  is changing direction and raising the stakes against Israel.
Anti-Israeli graffiti was sprayed on a synagogue in Istanbul on Tuesday, according to Turkish newspaper Zaman.

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"Terrorist Israel, Allah exists!" was written on the outside wall of the Istipol synagogue which had just opened its doors for prayer for the first time in 65 years on January 8, 2016.

The synagogue is located in Balat, the old Jewish neighborhood of Istanbul's European side.

Anti-Semitic graffiti sprayed on Istanbul synagogue: 'Terrorist Israel, Allah exists'

Ivo Molinas, the editor of the Jewish weekly Shalom, expressed his frustration with the anti-Semitic rhetoric in Turkey and the link the Turks make between the local Jewish community and Israel.

"I do not know what else to think except that people associate us with Israel. Of course there are some connections between our community and Israel. Members of our community have family living there and there are also emotional ties, but we have no connection to Israel's policies," said Molinas in a telephone interview with the Turkish newspaper.

"The writing of an anti-Israeli statement on the wall of a synagogue is an anti-Semitic act. There is widespread anti-Semitism in Turkey," said Molinas.

There are nine synagogues in the neighborhood of Balat but only two of them are currently active. According to Zaman, graffiti with Turkish nationalist symbols, including wolves and three crescents, was also spray-painted.
Settlers broke into Palestinian homes near the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron on Thursday afternoon, claiming that they purchased the properties in secret several days ago.

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Clashes between Palestinians and the settlers broke out, with the Palestinians throwing stones at settlers.

IDF troops were using crowd dispersal measures and closed all entrances to the houses in an effort to calm the rioting.

Settlers break into Palestinian homes in Hebron

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In addition to those who broke into the houses, settlers brought families with them who were equipped to stay the night, so they could move in today.

Kiryat Arba's mayor presented the IDF with documents confirming the purchase, and the Civil Administration is now working to verify the documents' authenticity.

The settlers said they purchased the houses in secret and decided to move in on Thursday. This is a fairly rare incident, particularly in the current climate, and which is why the move in was kept almost completely secret.

Settlers break into Palestinian apartments in Hebron (Photo: Elisha Ben Kimon)

Several dozen settlers brought with them professional teams to break down the doors and broke into two apartments in the Avraham Avinu neighborhood, which have been under Palestinian ownership for decades.

The purchase and seizure of the homes significantly expands the Jewish settlement in Hebron. The settlers said the move "is an appropriate response to the terrible wave of terrorism that has been ongoing for nearly half a year in Israel, in which Jews are killed and wounded every day."

Malachi Levinger, one of the organizers behind the move, said: "We're freeing two additional buildings in Hebron and join a long line of land redeemers in the land of Israel who purchased homes and ground, starting with Abraham and including Menachem Ussishkin and others."
Iraqi Prime Minister Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Thursday that three Americans who disappeared in Iraq last week "just went missing," and he very much doubted any Iranian involvement.

Asked by a pool reporter at the start of a meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Davos if he thought there was an Iranian link to their disappearance, Abadi said:

"I don't know about that. I doubt it very much. We don't know if they have been kidnapped ... They just went missing."

Iraqi intelligence and U.S. government sources said on Tuesday the three US citizens were kidnapped and were being held by an Iranian-backed Shi'ite militia.
LONDON - Publisher and philanthropist George Weidenfeld, who in his later years devoted himself to improving understanding between faiths and peoples, died Wednesday in London at 96.

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His office said Weidenfeld died in his sleep after a brief illness.

Lord George Weidenfeld, who has died aged 96, and his wife, Annabelle (Photo: EPA)

Weidenfeld was a member of the House of Lords who had recently launched an initiative to help save Christians facing persecution at the hands of Islamic State extremists in the Middle East. He established a "safe havens" fund that made it possible for Christians to relocate.

Born in Vienna, Weidenfeld studied at the University of Vienna before fleeing his native country in 1938, ahead of the start of World War II, to avoid Nazi persecution of Jews. He said his work on behalf of threatened Christians was an effort to thank British Quakers for helping him when he first arrived in Britain.

He told the Jewish Chronicle in a 2009 interview that he had fought a duel with a Nazi student in 1937. He said it ended in a draw  and that he looked his opponent up after the war and they shared a salami sandwich.

Weidenfeld worked for the BBC as a political commentator and also wrote newspaper columns before he and British writer Nigel Nicolson in 1949 founded a publishing house, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, that eventually became quite successful.

The firm gained notoriety in 1959 for publishing the British edition of Vladimir Nabokov's "Lolita," despite the threat of prosecution for obscenity. No legal action was taken. The book's strong sales put the publishers on a secure financial footing but the controversy damaged Nicolson's political career.

Their company became part of Orion Publishing Group in 1992. Nicolson died in 2004, but Weidenfeld remained active with the company until the end of his life. Weidenfeld & Nicolson was named "Imprint of the Year" at the Bookseller Awards in 2015, providing a fitting testament to his long career.

Weidenfeld also was a strong supporter of Israel who for a year served as a director of the Israeli Cabinet and senior adviser to the Israeli president. Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog praised Weidenfeld for his contributions to the "wellbeing, security and defense of Israel and the Jewish people."

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier praised Weidenfeld's commitment to better understanding between the major religious faiths.

Lord Weidenfeld with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2008 (Photo: gettyimages)

"As a bridge-builder, he devoted all of his energy toward issues that are still as topical as ever: the dialogue between the faiths to Europe's relationship with Israel to European integration. He fought for values and ideals even when he faced resistance," Steinmeier said.

Pinchas Goldschmidt, president of the Conference of European Rabbis, said Weidenfeld showed a strong commitment to community service.

"One of Lord Weidenfeld's last acts  rescuing Christian families from Syria and Iraq and resettling them elsewhere  exemplifies the legacy of a man we should all endeavor to replicate," the chief rabbi said.

In the past, Weidenfeld himself said: "I can't save the world, but I had a debt to repay. There were Quakers and Christians who brought the kindertransport to England. It was a noble operation and we Jews need to be grateful and do something for Christians who are in danger."

Weidenfeld is survived by his wife, a daughter, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
A George Clooney doppelganger is brewing up tensions between two coffee companies in Israel.

Nespresso is suing the Israeli Espresso Club for using an actor with a striking resemblance to the Hollywood star in one of its ads. Clooney is the face of Nespresso.

The ad shows the Clooney lookalike being schooled on the benefits of Espresso Club. A disclaimer on the screen warns that the actor, silver-haired and carrying what appears to be a Nespresso bag, "is not George Clooney."

Nespresso Israel said Thursday the legal step was taken to "prevent customers from being misled." It is demanding $50,000 in damages and for the ad be removed.

Espresso Club says the tongue-in-cheek ad and the Clooney character were meant to target customers looking for a more "informal" coffee experience.
A car bomb exploded at the entrance of a beach-side restaurant in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Thursday, police said.

"A car bomb exploded at the entrance of Beach View Cafe at Lido beach," Major Abdiqadir Ali, a senior police officer, told Reuters. "We are investigating."

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. In the past Islamist group al Shabaab has carried out similar attacks across Mogadishu, often targeting hotels and restaurants popular with government officials.
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) - US Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday it is likely that some of the billions of dollars in sanctions relief granted to Iran under a landmark nuclear deal will go to groups deemed terrorists.

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John Kerry and Benjamin Netanyahu meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland (:    )

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Kerry said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum that there is little the United States or others could do to prevent the now-unfrozen assets from getting into the hands of the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps or "other entities" that Iran has supported in the past. But since nuclear-related sanctions were lifted on Iran last weekend, Kerry said there was no evidence yet to suggest such transfers had occurred.

"I think that some of it will end up in the hands of the IRGC or other entities, some of which are labeled terrorists," he told CNBC television in an interview. "You know, to some degree, I'm not going to sit here and tell you that every component of that can be prevented. But I can tell you this, right now, we are not seeing the early delivery of funds going to that kind of endeavor at this point in time."

Kerry also said that many critics of the Iran deal were inflating the amount of money that Iran now has access to. He said estimates of $100 billion to $150 billion were incorrect -- $55 billion was more accurate, he said -- because large chunks of that money is obligated to satisfy foreign debt.

In addition, he said Iran has more than $500 billion in infrastructure and development needs and must invest at least $100 billion to modernize its energy sector.

Earlier Thursday, Kerry rejected Iranian criticism of Washington's use of economic sanctions, saying they are imposed when appropriate.

John Kerry and Benjamin Netanyahu meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland (Photo: Haim Zach, GPO)

Kerry said US penalties against Iran and other nations have been "used judiciously and effectively" and will continue to be used in the future.

"We have made it very clear that we use sanctions when we think they are appropriate in order to counter behavior that we believe has broken the law or has challenged the United Nations Security Council or threatened the United States and we stand by our sanctions," Kerry told reporters.

"We think they have been used judiciously and effectively and we are looking to move on now to put to test the willingness of Iran and other countries in the region to try to reduce tensions and move in a different direction."

His comments came in response to a complaint lodged a day earlier by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif who told The Associated Press in an interview that new US sanctions over Iran's ballistic missile testing are "illegal" and an example of an American "addiction to coercion." The penalties were imposed Sunday, a day after the US and other nations lifted sanctions over Iran's nuclear program.

"It shows that the United States has an addiction which has been very difficult for it to overcome," Zarif said. Washington, he said, suffers from an "addiction to pressure, addiction to coercion, addiction to sanctions."

US officials say Iran's missile test in October violated UN Security Council restrictions on such activity.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday he believed Islamic State's military capabilities in Iraq and Syria would be seriously weakened by the end of 2016.

Asked at a media roundtable on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, whether this year would see the end of Islamic State, Kerry replied, referring to the militant group by an Arabic acronym:

"I think that by the end of 2016, our goal of very seriously denting Daesh ...will be achieved. I think we are on track."

Kerry said Islamic State has already lost 20-30 percent of its territory in Iraq and Syria combined and about 40 percent in Iraq.
US military commanders have been given the authority to target Islamic State fighters in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said on Thursday, the first such order beyond Iraq and Syria, where the militants control parts of both countries.

The US State Department said last week that it had designated Islamic State's offshoot in Afghanistan, known as Islamic State-Khorasan, as a foreign terrorist organization.

US forces could previously strike Islamic State in Afghanistan but it was under more narrow circumstances, such as for protection of troops.
Speaking to Israeli reporters on Thursday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that for the past two months his office and Prime Minister Netanyahu's office have been communicating in an attempt to arrange a meeting, but that Netanyahu did not respond to the latest message.

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"There have been talks between my office and Netanyahu's office and the US was not in the picture at all," Abbas said Thursday. "Among other things, there were talks about a meeting between us." The Prime Minister's Office rejected the claims, saying: "This is not true. This is an attempt by Abbas to avoid his responsibility for the lack of negotiations. Today as well, in Davos, Netanyahu called for Abbas to come and negotiate without preconditions."

According to the Palestinian president, it was agreed that the sides will appoint two representatives each, who will coordinate the meeting. "I agreed, and haven't heard any response from Netanyahu ever since," Abbas claimed.

Abbas. "I agreed, and haven't heard any response." (Photo: Ofer Meir)

Abbas also commented on the current terrorism wave, saying: "We oppose the diplomatic conflict between us and Israel turning into a religious conflict, since Judaism is a religion we respect. We need to not go on the path to a religious conflict."

Abbas rejected Israel's accusations that he contributes to the incitement of Palestinian youth. "These accusations are spread by different sources in Israel including ministers. If I'm inciting, please show me where I'm inciting. I want this explosion to be non-violent, but we see that when a child throws a stone they shoot him," he said.

"The incitement issue in the Palestinian Authority came up during the Wye talks and we decided to establish a joint committee with the Americans that would follow the incitement," Abbas continued.

"Every time that topic came up, we called  and are calling now  to put that committee into use, which can also check the Palestinian Authority's school textbooks. Even if we have incitement let's sit and discuss it with the committee. When Prime Minister Netanyahu accuses me of incitement I ask that he mention when and where I incited as well."

Regarding the status quo on the Temple Mount , Abbas said: "The Palestinian Authority emphasizes the importance of this status quo, which has existed for many years. Only Netanyahu has changed the conditions of the status quo and he says it's the existing status quo. But I don't accept that statement."

Abbas also spoke of the day that will come when he leaves office. When asked who will replace him, he answered: "We have institutions like those that existed in Arafat's days. When he died, Fatah convened and signaled that I was the heir to come after him, and the central committee of the PLO approved that. The PA president needs to be chosen later by the people as I was. If I quit or die these committees will convene and choose the proper candidate."

President Abbas with the reporters, Thursday. (Photo: Ofer Meir)

Regarding security cooperation with Israel, Abbas said: "Both sides need to respect the agreements. At the moment my position on this is that the sacred security coordination has not been changed. But I don't know what my position will be in the future. The Palestinian organizations are responsible for enforcing security here (in the PA-controlled territories. -EL) and for preventing terrorism from flooding into Israel, since we want to protect ourselves and our neighbors, even if we absorb public criticism regarding that (regarding security coordination. -EL)."

"Bloodshed is forbidden in Islam"

Abbas responded to the critics in Israel who say he has avoided condemning the recent terror attacks against Israelis. "I'm not happy when anyone spills a single drop of blood. Every person is created in the image of God and we need to respect their right to live. Those who murder a soul without cause and without justification are akin to one who murders the whole of humanity. Unjust bloodshed is forbidden in Islam."

Abbas was also asked about payments the PA gives terrorists' families. "Our values say that even if we catch an Israeli spy in the Palestinian Authority, and he's tried and executed, we will keep paying a salary to his family because they're not to blame for what he did. The same goes for Palestinians who have perpetrated terror attacks against Israel."

Finally, the Palestinian president spoke of the possibility that the PA would collapse. "We are interested in the Palestinian Authority remaining, but if Israel persists in its policy, it will appear that it is interested in the dismantling of the PA. The PA will continue to exist alongside Israel in peace and security, but I'm not sure that in Israel they want it to carry on."

Netanyahu and Abbas at the Climate Change Conference in Paris, November 2015. (Photo: AFP)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is currently at the World Economic Forum in Davos , Switzerland, spoke earlier of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Netanyahu stated that each time he appears in such a forum, he publically invites Abbas to come, and Abbas always refuses. According to Netanyahu, Abbas wants to go about things in a roundabout way, which is not the way to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Netanyahu said that the two sides need to sit down and negotiate, and that establishing relations with the wider Arab world will solve the problem with the Palestinians, and not the other way around.

Netanyahu and Abbas last met at the UN climate change conference in Paris, in November 2015. The two shook hands, but did not appear to speak very substantially. It was their first meeting since September 2010. In July 2015, the two spoke on the phone after a year's disconnect, and Netanyahu wished Abbas a happy Eid al-Fitr.
Youngstown SARM team named best in AFRC for 2015

Members of the 910th Airlift Wing Aviation Resource Management (ARM) team, which was recently named 2015 Sergeant Dee Campbell Outstanding Small Unit Air Force ARM Team of the Year by Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC), pose for a photo here, Jan. 10, 2016. This award is given to the best ARM team within AFRC with 29 or fewer members. Members of the 910th ARM team, which consists of five full-time managers and six Traditional Reservist members, won the award for the fourth time since 2010. Aviation resource managers maintain flight records, validate aircraft safety, monitor daily flight mission data, establish schedules for aircrew training and more to ensure everything and everybody is ready to carry out the 910ths mission: Deploy, Deliver, Defend. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Rick Lisum)
This has been a long time in the making, but in our continuing pursuit to bring only the best of firearms, 2nd Amendment and defence related news to our readers, we are very excited to announce the next step in our evolution as a company.

As of 2020, Minuteman Review is now the proud owner and operator of Your Defence News, a website with a long history of breaking huge news stories and investigative journalism.

We hope you are equally as excited as us.

This means that now the teams of Minuteman can combine with the firepower of Your Defence News to stay at the absolute forefront for our readers.

Keep an eye. Big things are coming soon. We couldn't be more excited.

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The latest Housing Industry Association (HIA) New Home Sales Report has indicated the sale of new dwellings dipped by 2.7% over November, falling to its lowest monthly level since September 2014.

The November decrease was driven by a 15.1% monthly drop in the sale of apartments.

The sale of detached houses increased 1.1% over the month.

Source: HIA

Detached house sales increased by 8% in Queensland, 3.3% in Victoria, and 0.7% in New South Wales. Detached house sales fell by 1% in South Australia and by 9% in Western Australia

While the sale of detached houses saw a month-on-month increase in November, quarterly figures paint a different story.

In the three months to November, detached house sales fell by 4.1%, while the sale of new apartments declined 11.8%.

HIA chief economist Harley Dale said a range of factors contributed to the declines.

A confluence of factors is driving a decline in leading indicators of new home construction, Dr Dale said.

The lagged effect of slowing population growth, an up-tick in variable mortgage costs, over-reach on the part of APRAs credit controls, and an easing in property price growth in Sydney and Melbourne are all in play, he said.

The sale figures were released the day after it was revealed construction of new homes in Australia pushed into record territory over the September 2015 quarter, and its predicted data will show similar levels of activity for the final three months of 2015.

Yesterdays update for new dwelling commencements revealed the highest quarterly level on record in the September 2015 quarter, Dr Dale said.

We expect that commencements held up well in the December quarter last year and that they will remain at historically healthy levels in the first half of this year. Leading indicators such as HIAs new home sales are consistent with this view.
Commissioned by telecommunications company Optus and carried out by research company McCrindle, the Renter of the Future survey claims to have identified the top five qualities tenants in Australia are looking for when considering a rental property.

The top two qualities on the list are unlikely to surprise anyone, with 38% of tenants putting parking as their most sought after feature, while 32% of tenants are looking for properties that are pet friendly.

A cable internet connection (31%), a strong mobile signal (25%) and the number of power points in a room (22%) rounded out the list.

McCrindle principal Mark McCrindle said factors three through five on the list represent how tenants preferences have evolved in recent times.

Renters comprise nearly a third of Australian households. For the modern Aussie renter technology underpins and has become completely fused with their lifestyle McCrindle said.

This group is among the first to jump onto new technologies, keeping abreast of the latest trends and, where possible, the latest devices. Accessing the internet quickly from their new rental property is a must for them, he said.

Vanessa Tsokos, director of North Shore Property Management said she was not surprised that technological features are so desired by tenants.

I manage a few older properties that might have only one or two power points in a room and its definitely something tenants take notice of, Tsokos said

What I find is that those older properties are usually leased out for shorter terms with the owners looking to renovate in the future and install things like more power points. Until then most landlords are willing to supply power boards to tenants, she said.

While a cable internet connection may seem like more of a luxury than a necessity, Tsokos said landlords should strongly consider ensuring their property has that capability.

Having a cable connection, whether its for Foxtel or for broadband is a big thing these days, she said.

A lot of people just expect a property will that capability.

While Tsokos said most landlords recognise the importance of having a property that suits the preferences of a more technological society, she said some should consider changing their attitudes towards one of the more traditional preferences.

A lot of people who say not to pets do so because theyve had a bad experience in the past, but if you have the right management strategy it can be a real advantage to consider allowing them.

I have a few properties where we say pets will be considered on application by application basis, Because its so hard for people to find places that will allow them the properties that do become sought after and nine times out of 10 Ill find a suitable tenant after the first showing.
As a homeowner, you probably already know that you should be working to maintain your home. But, chances are, you Read More
The Global and United States Hydrobike Market Report has been published by QY Research recently. Hydrobike Market Analysis and Insights This report focuses on...
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Stephen Hawking is undeniably one of the greatest minds in the planet today. Time and time again the science genius has warned about the track humanity has been going. According to Hawking, there is a possibility that mankind would not survive the next century considering the threats they created for themselves.

Recently at an engagement in England, the Cambridge professor pointed out the possibility of extinction through nuclear wars, genetically engineered viruses and global warming. He warned that as a society, it is not a possibility that a colony in space would be functional before humanity would be wiped out by their own faults.

"By that time we should have spread out into space, and to other stars, so a disaster on Earth would not mean the end of the human race. However, we will not establish self-sustaining colonies in space for at least the next hundred years, so we have to be very careful in this period" quipped Hawking.

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The recent warnings from Stephen Hawking on the possibility of the extinction of human race is not the first time the scientist plagues with Lou Gehrig's disease has discussed the grim matter.

Previously in an interview with BBC, Hawking explained how the development of artificial intelligence might soon wipe out mankind. According to Hawking, once artificial intelligence is completely developed, these machine would be able to redesign and eventually perfect their makeup. Human beings stand no match for their development especially considering the slow pace of mankind's biological evolution.

"Humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, couldn't compete and would be superseded" explained Hawking.

The scientist was quick to explain that extinction is not inevitable. He believes that danger would be forever present, however he remains optimistic that humanity would overcome all risks that pose as threats to its survival.
The scientific journal, Nature Communications, recently published a study detailing the shocking state of fish populations worldwide. According to the data the study have gathered, 32 billion kilograms of fish were caught every year that were not reported to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Despite the whopping number of unreported fish, global catch rates have dipped three times faster than what was previously estimated. In general, the fishing industry is having a tough time finding healthy schools of fish to harvest and according to scientists this is a cause for concern.

"The result of this is a systematic underestimation of the catch. The catch of the world is higher than reported, which would seem to be a good thing but it also reveals that the catch is declining faster" explained Daniel Pauly from the university of British Columbia.

Pauly was also quick to clarify that the decline is not a result of the restrictions imposed on certain fish. According to the scientist, the dilemma is due to overfishing. He further explains that a better gauge of the total number of fish harvested every year would ensure that the species would not be soon wiped out completely.

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"The world is withdrawing from a joint bank account of fish without knowing what has been withdrawn or the remaining balance. Better estimates for the amount we're taking out can help ensure there is enough fish to sustain us in the future." said Pauly.

The scientist however remains optimistic about the situation. According to him, the fact that the catch is more than what was initially thought is a clear indication that the industry is able to rebuild the population of fish. He explains that it is all a matter of developing a plan with definite steps in order to preserve this important resource.
The article/blog entry below from the JTA reminds me of the arguments about Lenin's Jewish ancestry. Now that we can look at the records, we know that Leni...

11 years ago
Hi, There is a new center in mumbai at JJ Hospital. However not enough information is available about the same. Here are some Traveler t...
Grounded in the vision of Jesus, "That They May Be One" aims to foster unity within the body of Christ so that the love of God and the witness of Christ might be magnified in the world. These reflections contribute specifically to the common hope of Catholics and Protestants for "every kid, everywhere" to have an opportunity to know Jesus Christ and grow in their faith.
Semarang Stadschouwburg in 1925, see the different from whats remains now. Before it has two entrance, north and south, where currently it...
This site is the most comprehensive on the web devoted to trans history and biography. Well over 1400 persons worthy of note, both famous and obscure, are discussed in detail, and many more are mentioned in passing.



There is a detailed Index arranged by vocation, doctor, activist group etc. There is also a Place Index arranged by City etc. This is still evolving.



In addition to this most articles have one or more labels at the bottom. Click one to go to similar persons. There is a full list of labels at the bottom of the right-hand sidebar. There is also a search box at the top left. Enjoy exploring!


Itanagar: Of late, several new species have been discovered in Arunachal Pradesh, a mysterious, magical and mystical land tucked away in the north eastern tip of India.

And now the latest one being a new bird species - the Himalayan Forest Thrush  the fourth new species of bird to be discovered in the northeaster state.

A team of scientists from India, Sweden, China, the US and Russia described the Himalayan Forest Thrush from the northeastern India and adjacent parts of China.

Dr Per Alstrom of Uppsala University, Sweden, and the team discovered the species they were studying birds at different elevations in the mountains of western Arunachal Pradesh.

Ironically, it was the tuneful birdsong that led to the discovery of the country's first new bird species in a decade and the fourth since independence in 1947.

Scientists named the new species as Zoothera salimalii, in honour of the late Indian ornithologist Dr Salim Ali.

According to Dr Pamela Rasmussen, of Michigan State University, the discovery process for the Himalayan forest thrush began in 2009 when it was realized that what was considered one species, the plain-backed thrush (Zoothera mollissima), was in fact two different species.

It is said that the plain-backed thrush in the coniferous and mixed forest caught scientists' attention as it had a rather musical song, as birds found in the same area had a much harsher, unmusical song.

We realized that the two different song types from plain-backed thrushes that we first heard in northeast India in 2009, and which were associated with different habitats at different elevations, were given by two different species, said Dr Alstrom, who led the group.

Later investigations revealed both physical and genetic differences between birds from these two populations.

The study describing the new species has been published online in the journal Avian Research.
Bengaluru: In yet another incident of rising crimes against women, a 31-year-old woman techie was found murdered in her apartment in Bengaluru.

Here is all what we know so far:-

- Kusuma Rani Singla, a software engineer with a multinational company, was found dead by her flat mate in their apartment in Kadugodi on Tuesday night.

- Singla was a divorcee; she hailed from Punjab and was transferred to Bengaluru six months ago from Noida.

- One Sukhbir Singh was arrested from a place near Haryana's Gurgaon with the help of local police in connection with the case.

- Sukhbir Singh and Kusuma Rani Singla were friends via social media.

- Reportedly, in a meeting with Singla, Singh is said to have demanded Rs 50,000 and a flight ticket from her which she denied.

- Angered by this, Singh strangulated her to death using a laptop charger cord.

- A pen was also used in the crime and an about two-inch deep wound is seen on her right eyebrow.

- According to Additional Commissioner (Bengaluru-East) P Harishekaran, "On January 19, Singh flew into Bengaluru from Delhi and went to Singla's house by 12:15pm. He was there till 3:30 pm." An altercation erupted between the two that led to the murder of Singla.

- After the murder, Singh collected Singla's ATM cards and chequebooks and even withdrew Rs 11,000 using one of the debit cards before leaving to Delhi via Mumbai.

- Singh hails from Haryana and has worked as a software engineer with multinational companies but is currently unemployed.

- The motive of the murder is yet to be ascertained
New Delhi: In a bid to ensure foolproof security to French President Francois Hollande, who will be the chief guest at the January 26 Republic Day Parade in New Delhi, Indian intelligence agencies are working in tandem with France's Directorate General for External Security (DGSE). Amidst the extreme threat assessment in the wake of terror attacks in Paris and Pathankot, the two agencies are being assisted by the Central Intelligence Agency, the intelligence service of the US government.

According to Indiatimes, experts from India, France and the US have been in touch to share intelligence.

Arrests have been made in India ahead of the Republic Day amidst reports that Islamic State and al Qaeda terrorists are planning targetting the country.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh had earlier this week reviewed the security situation in the national capital with the Delhi Police chief and other senior officials of intelligence and security agencies.

The country's top leadership including President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Ministers, senior civil and defence officials will be among those attending the main function at the majestic Rajpath.

A ground-to-air security cover will be put in place in the national capital.

The city has already been put on a high alert after the Pathankot terror attack as there were intelligence inputs which suggested that at least two terrorists had entered Delhi.

All steps are being taken to ensure foolproof security during the visit of Hollande, especially as Paris saw one of the worst terrorist attacks on November 13, when 130 people were killed by seven gunmen, they said.

Apart from deployment of forces on the ground, government will also ensure security in air by deploying anti-aircraft guns and declaring no-fly zone in many areas of Delhi.

A total of 10,000 paramilitary personnel, in addition to 80,000 strong Delhi Police, will be on the job in the national capital to ensure greater security cover.
Bengaluru: The French Consulate here has received a threat letter against President Francois Hollande's visit to India.

The three-line letter in "broken English" threatening against Hollande's visit was received on January 11 by Office of the Consulate General of France, a senior police official said but did not specify the nature of threat.

The letter said Hollande, who is the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations in New Delhi on January 26, should not visit India.

"Subsequently a case was registered on January 14. Upon investigation it was found that the letter was from Chennai, but it was non-existent address," Additional Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru City (West), KSR Charan Reddy told PTI here.
New Delhi: Delhi has been put on high alert after Intelligence Bureau warned of a possible terror attack by dreaded terror outfit Islamic State (ISIS) on the occasion of Republic Day, a report said on Thursday.

According to 'CNN-IBN' report, the Islamic State may try to target the national capital on January 26, when nation will be celebrating its 67th Republic Day.

Importantly, France President Francois Hollande is scheduled to attend the Republic Day celebrations at the majestic Rajpath as the 'chief guest'.

The security agency has warned that the terror group, which has spread mayhem in many parts of the world, is most likely to make an attempt to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Hollande.

In view of the threats from terrorist outfits, a tight security has been put across the national capital region.

A total of 10,000 paramilitary personnel, in addition to 80,000-strong Delhi Police, will be on the job in the national capital to ensure greater security to VVIPs.

Last year, the United States President Barack Obama was invited as the chief guest on the Republic Day.

Obama had come along with First Lady Michelle Obama.
New Delhi: Senior Punjab Police official Salwinder Singh, who was subjected to a lie detector test for two days, may now be asked to undergo psychological tests in connection with the recent Pathankot terror attack case.

Media reports on Thursday claimed that the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is probing the case, wants experts to conduct psychological analysis of Singh's behavioural pattern.

As per reports, the NIA has also formed a panel of experts for Gurdaspur SP's psychological and behavioural profiling.

The agency has also not ruled out subjecting Salwinders cook Madan Gopal and jeweller friend Rajesh Verma to lie detector test.

Both Gopal and Verma were with Salwinder when he was abducted by the Pathankot attackers on the night of December 31.

They had claimed during their investigations that they had gone to visit Dargarh Punj Peer, whose caretaker Somraj was also questioned by the NIA.

NIA has so far not found any incriminating evidence pointing to the involvement of Gurdaspur SP in the Pathankot terror attack case.

If the NIA finds anything against him, it may ask other specialised agencies, like Narcotics Control Bureau, to conduct a probe against him. But besides a few inconsistencies in his statements, investigators have not found anything against him, a senior Home Ministry official was quoted as saying by the Hindustan Times.

Singh is now posted as assistant commandant of the 75th Punjab Armed Police after being shunted out as superintendent of police (headquarters), Gurdaspur.

He had handed over charge as Gurdaspur SP (headquarters) on December 31.

On the same night, he visited the Dargah Punj Peer but while coming back he was allegedly abducted by the Pathankot attackers who also snatched his vehicle.

Terrorists had struck at the IAF base on the intervening night of January 1 and 2 in which seven security personnel were killed in the encounter that lasted for three days.

Four bodies of terrorists were recovered while two others are believed to have been burnt in the building where they were holding during the encounter which lasted for nearly 80 hours.
New Delhi: Scholar Rohith Vemula`s suicide in Hyderabad University shows the "anti-Dalit attitude" of the central government, the Congress said on Thursday.

"HRD Minister (Smriti Irani) and the BJP have justified the death of Vemula. It shows their anti-Dalit attitude," Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala told the media here.

He said instead of apologizing and rectifying the mistake, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the HRD minister came out in support of those who drove Vemula to kill himself on Sunday.

"The Congress demands the resignation of Smriti Irani," he said. "She lied to the nation," he added, referring to her press conference on Wednesday.

The Congress spokesperson also asked Irani if she agreed with her ministerial colleague Ramvilas Paswan` suggestion that there should be an inquiry into the scholar`s death.

Surjewala demanded a job and adequate compensation for Vemula`s family from the state and central governments.

Irani on Wednesday said the suicide of Vemula was not a "Dalit versus non-Dalit issue" and that there was a "malicious attempt to project it as a caste battle".

Vemula was one of the five Dalit students suspended from the hostel on charges of assaulting a leader of the ABVP, the student wing of the RSS.
Hyderabad: Bowing to pressure, the University of Hyderabad (UoH) on Thursday revoked the suspension of four Dalit research scholars, but students continued to protest for the fifth day in a row over the suicide of Dalit PhD scholar Rohith Vermula.

The decision to revoke the suspension was taken by the Executive Council of the university.

"After taking into account the extraordinary situation prevailing in the university, and after discussing the issue in detail, it resolved to terminate the punishment imposed on the students concerned with immediate effect," a statement by the university said.

UoH's Vice-Chancellor P. Appa Rao urged the university community to maintain harmony.

NDA ally LJP seeks probe

BJP ally and Lok Janshakti Party MP Chirag Paswan also demanded a probe into a letter written by Dattatreya to the HRD ministry ahead of the Dalit research scholar's suicide.

"The suicide should be probed by an independent agency, which should decide who it should be probing. Those found guilty must not be spared, no matter how influential they are," he said.

Arvind Kejriwal wants Smriti Irani, Bandaru Dattatreya sacked

Earlier, in the day, addressing the protesting students at the campus, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to sack his ministers Smriti Irani and Bandaru Dattatreya over the suicide by Rohith Vemula.

BJP hits back

The BJP hit back, accusing the Congress of "giving a communal colour or caste angle" to every untoward incident in the country. "It is very unfortunate," BJP national secretary Srikant Sharma said.

Sharma also demanded to know why Kejriwal, who visited Hyderabad, did not "meet even one family of dengue victims in Delhi".

10 SC/ST teachers quit

Also, protesting against Human Resource Development Minister Irani's "misleading" statement, 10 Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe teachers quit their administrative roles.

Rohith Vemula's death

Rohith Vemula was found hanging from the ceiling of a room in the New Research Scholars' Hostel late on Sunday. He was one of the five Dalit students suspended from the university and expelled from the hostel. Before committing suicide, he had been staging a protest on the campus for 15 days.
Noida: A woman journalist has accused an Uber cab driver of molesting her while she was on her way from Delhi to Noida, following which the driver has been arrested.

As per the complaint, the woman journalist took the Uber cab service from Delhi to Noida last night, DSP Vijay Dhul said.

The woman suspected that the driver Ravinder Singh was taking a wrong route near Noida Sector 15 metro station, and asked him to stop the vehicle.

She then alighted from the cab and started walking, while the driver insisted on taking her to her destination, police said.

The woman, a resident of Gurgaon, alleged that the driver chased her and behaved inappropriately, they said.

The journalist then called the police control room and registered a complaint.

"The accused driver Ravinder Singh was arrested today and produced before a court that has sent him to judicial custody," Dhul said.

Singh has been booked under IPC section 354, he said, adding that further probe was on.
Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir independent legislature Sheikh Abdul Rashid aka Engineer Rashid on Thursday threatened a BJP leader to shut up or else he would be handed over to dreaded militant group Lashkar-e-Toiba.

According to reports, Rashid's followers claimed that he was heckled by some BJP workers for protesting against the killing of a civilian during encounter between Indian forces and militants in Pulwama.

However, denying the charges, BJP has demanded action against him and his supporters for assaulting the party workers.

Rashid had staged a sit-in outside Deputy Commissioner's office when clashes erupted between his supporters and BJP workers.

The locals also stated that he was raising anti-Modi slogans during the protest.

Legislator and his supporters threatened over workers that they will be handed over to militants, Indian Express quoted BJP media in charge, Altaf Thakur.
Itarsi: A suspected terrorist, who was being taken from Tamil Nadu to Lucknow for a court hearing, escaped by jumping off a running train with his handcuffs on near Itarsi railway station, police said on Thursday.

Syed Ahmed Ali (38) jumped from Raptisagar Super Fast Express at around midnight yesterday and fled, Hoshangabad's Superintendent of Police Ashutosh Pratap Singh said.

He said Ali was being taken from Vellore in Tamil Nadu to a railway magistrate in Lucknow on a production warrant in connection with a case when he escaped from the running train before it was about to enter the Itarsi station -- one of the biggest railway junctions in the country.

Ahmed had allegedly threatened to blow up Taj Mahal and a dargah in UP. He was arrested in October 2015 in Tamil Nadu after he threatened to blow up Christian Medical College, Vellore.

According to documents with Vellore Police, Ali hails from Tripura. "He might have acquired a false domicile certificate. We are checking it," Singh said.

According to police sources, Ahmed might be a Bangladeshi, who obtained Tripura's domicile certificate unlawfully.

Meanwhile, the police have launched a massive manhunt to nab Ahmed, the SP added.
New Delhi: Believe it or not, first head transplant has been successfully carried out on monkey.

An Italian surgeon Dr Sergio Canavero has claimed that he has succesfully carried out head transplant on monkey.

He further plans to attempt the controversial procedure on a human being by the end of 2017.

The head transplant was carried out at Harbin Medical University in China, Canavero told New Scientist.

The monkey survived the procedure "without any neurological injury of whatever kind," he said, but that it was killed 20 hours after the procedure for ethical reasons.

Canavero says that the success shows that his plan to transplant a human's head onto a donor body is in place.

He says that the procedure will be ready before the end of 2017 and could eventually become a way of treating complete paralysis.

"I would say we have plenty of data to go on," Canavero told the science magazine.

"It's important that people stop thinking this is impossible. This is absolutely possible and we're working towards it."

The team behind the work has published videos and images showing a monkey with a transplanted head, as well as mice that are able to move their legs after having their spinal cords severed and then stuck back together, The Independent reported.

Fusing the spinal cord of a person is going to be key to successfully transplanting a human head onto a donor body. The scientists claim that they have been able to do so by cleanly cutting the cord and using polyethylene glycol (PEG), which can be used to preserve cell membranes and helps the connection recover.

It is not the first time that a successful transplant has been carried out on a monkey. Head transplant pioneer Robert J White successfully carried out the procedure in 1970, on a monkey that initially responded well but died after nine days when the body rejected the head.

The newly-revealed success is likely to be an attempt to help generate funds for the ultimate aim of giving a head transplant to Valery Spriridonov, the Russian patient who has been chosen to be the first to undergo the procedure.

(With PTI inputs)
Islamabad: Pakistan observed a day of national mourning Thursday for the 21 people killed when heavily armed gunmen stormed a university in the troubled northwest, exposing the failings in a national crackdown on extremism.

Flags will fly at half-mast on all government buildings inside and outside the country, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif`s office said, while a prayer ceremony will be held in the capital Islamabad.

Sharif has vowed a "ruthless" response to the massacre and ordered security forces to hunt those behind Wednesday`s attack on the Bacha Khan university in Charsadda, where students were targeted with grenades and automatic weapons.

The assault bore a chilling resemblance to a 2014 massacre at a school in nearby Peshawar which shocked the nation and prompted an escalation of a national crackdown on extremism.

Security forces killed all four gunmen in the university attack, which was claimed by a Pakistani Taliban faction but branded "un-Islamic" by the umbrella group`s leadership, who also vowed to hunt down those responsible.

Among those who died was assistant chemistry professor Syed Hamid Husain who was lauded for challenging the gunmen and firing at them with his pistol while his terrified students raced for cover.

The majority of victims were laid to rest late Wednesday according to Muslim tradition, including Husain who was buried in his home village of Swabi as those who knew him paid tribute.

"He would always help the students and he was the one who knew all their secrets because they would share all their problems with him," 22-year-old geology student Waqar Ali told AFP. "He was referred to by students as `The Protector`."The majority of the student victims died at a hostel for young men where security forces also cornered the four attackers.

Pools of blood and overturned furniture could be seen inside the hostel, while in a back alley outside, an old wooden plaque on the wall proclaimed: "Heroes die young".

Meanwhile the bodies of militants, bloodied and with their clothes torn, were unceremoniously dumped on the floor of a truck before being taken away from the scene.

The assault brought memories rushing back of the 2014 atrocity, in which gunmen from the same Taliban faction slaughtered more than 150 people at an army-run school in Peshawar on December 16 that year.

The majority of those victims were children, and their relatives held a candlelight vigil in Peshawar late Wednesday for those slain in the latest attack.

The strike on the army school united Pakistanis, already scarred by a decade of assaults, in shock and outrage and prompted a government and military-led crackdown on extremism.

Security palpably improved in 2015, which saw the least number of deaths from militant violence since the formation of the Pakistani Taliban in 2007 -- but critics have repeatedly warned the government is not taking long-term steps to tackle the underlying scourge of extremism.

"We understand their pain," Ajun Khan, who lost his only son Asfand in the attack on the Army Public School, told AFP of the survivors of Wednesday`s assault.

"We are not safe, even parents do not feel safe," he said.

The Bacha Khan attack, which Amnesty International said could be branded a war crime, earned global condemnation including from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and neighbouring India.

"It is particularly appalling that these terrorists continue to attack educational institutions, targeting Pakistan`s future generations," said a US State department spokesman.

Sharif said in a statement from Switzerland, where he is attending the Davos forum, that he was "personally monitoring" the situation.

"The countless sacrifices made by our countrymen will not go in vain Inshallah," he said. "The entire nation is united and one against terrorism."
Rameswaram: As many as 104 Indian fishermen, arrested by Sri Lankan navy on different dates at different places, for allegedly crossing the International Maritime Boundary line were on Thursday handed over to Indian coast guard, a top Coast Guard official said.

Of the 104 fishermen, 61 fishermen were from Nagapattinam, Pudukottai and Karaikal districts while the rest were from Rameswaram and Mandapam.

They were arrested by the Sri Lankan government in batches in November and December, Mandapam Coast Guard commandant Harish More said.

The fishermen, who were released recently from Sri Lanka, were handed over to Indian coast guard officials this morning at International Maritime Boundary line (IMBL).

From there, the fishermen were transported by coast guard vessels to Mandapam here and to Karaikal port respectively.

Coast Guard's Karaikal station commandant SNM Patnaik handed over the fishermen to Nagapattinam district collector S Pazhanisamy.

Collector Pazhanisamy said of the 61 fishermen, 29 belonged to Nagapattinam, 22 to Pudukottai and 10 from Karaikal.

In a goodwill gesture ahead of the Pongal festival, Sri Lanka had on January 14 decided to release 104 Indian fishermen arrested by the country's navy for allegedly poaching in the country's territorial waters.
Hyderabad: The ongoing protests over the suicide of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula has intensified as University of Hyderabad's (UoH) Chief Medical Officer, Controller of Examination and all SC / ST hostel wardens have resigned from their administrative posts in protest against Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani's statement that the action against students was taken by the executive committee.

Among those who have resigned are Controller of Examination Professor V Krishna, Chief Warden Dr G Nagaraju and all SC / ST hostel wardens of the University of Hyderabad.

Besides, more than 10 SC/ST professors of the UoH yesterday resigned from their 'administrative roles' protesting against Irani's remarks in Delhi that the Dalit faculty members were also part of the University's probe that eventually led to the expulsion of research scholar Rohith Vemula and four others.

The Dalit professors were quoted by ANI as saying that Union HRD Minister's statement on the suicide of the young research scholar "misrepresented facts."

"In response to the Honourable Minister's fabricated statements, we the Dalit (SC/ST) faculty and officers lay down our administrative positions" said a press statement by UoH SC/ST Teachers and Officers Forum.

"We express our solidarity with students who are protesting against the death of Rohith Vemula and demand the immediate revocation of suspension and removal of police cases filed against our students," it added.

The press release further stated, "It (sub-committee of executive council) was headed by an upper caste professor Vipin Srivastava and there are no Dalit faculty member in the sub-committee."

"It was headed by an upper caste professor. and there are no Dalit faculties in this subcommittee. Incidentally, the dean of student welfare who happens to be a Dalit was notionally co-opted an an ex-officio member of the committee. It is unfortunate that since its inception, no Dalit representation has been given in this council," it said.

Irani, had yesterday termed the ongoing protest on Vemula's suicide as 'malicious' the attempt to 'project it as a caste battle'.

"This is not a Dalit versus non- Dalit issue as being projected by some to ignite passion," Irani told a press conference, while rejecting allegations that her Ministry had put pressure on the University to suspend Vemula.

With ANI inputs
Muzaffarnagar: Union Minister Sanjeev Balyan on Thursday visited the 32-year-old Kailwada gangrape victim and gave an ultimatum to the Uttar Pradesh police to nab within three days the remaining four culprits involved in the assault two years ago.

Balyan also said that people will decide what to do next if the police does not arrest the absconding accused but asserted that no decision has been taken to hold a 'mahapanchayat' to deal with the issue.

As he assured the victim that justice will be done, Balyan, BJP's Lok Sabha MP from Muzaffarnagar, in a strong message to the police demanded that those arrested be booked under the stringent National Security Act(NSA). Muzaffarnagar had witnessed communal riots in 2013 that left 62 people dead and thousands displaced. In a shocking incident, a 32-year-old married woman was allegedly raped by two men two years ago.

They had also filmed the entire incident and circulated the clip on the social media. The accused were stated to be allegedly blackmailing the victim since then. The two accused, who belonged to the minority community, were arrested at Kailwada village near here on January 17.

A hunt is on for four others who had allegedly aided in the crime and were named in the victim's statement. "It is my responsibility to ensure there is action against the culprits.

So far, there is no decision on holding a 'mahapanchayat'. A decision has been taken that either the police should act within three days otherwise the people will sit together and decide what to do next," Balyan said. Hindu activists and former block president Virender Singh, however, have threatened to hold a 'mahapanchayat' if no "positive?steps" were taken in the case.

Striking a strident note, UP state BJP chief Laxmikant Bajpai said, "three days mean three days and the culprits should be arrested. Otherwise BJP will hold protests to expose the ruling Samajwadi Party(SP) that it wants a repeat of 2013(riots) in Muzaffarnagar."

SP spokesperson Madhu Gupta said police is doing its job and cautioned against any media trial and inflaming passions. Congress' Chief Spokesperson Randeep Surjewala hit out at Balyan over his remarks. "For the Union Minister, who has sworn by the Constitution to take law in his hand it itself reflects the criminal mindset," Surjewala said.

The Kailwada incident is the second such case in Muzaffarnagar district. A 40-year-old married health worker had allegedly committed suicide on January 13 after the video of her gangrape was uploaded on social media.
Kolkata: Coming down heavily on Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government over the recent violence in Malda, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said 'Maa-mati-manush' are not secure in West Bengal.

Taking pot shots at the West Bengal government, the Home Minister said, 'Maa-mati-manush' (mother, earth and people) and even the police are not secure in the state.'

While addressing a rally in Bengal's Barasat area, the senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader hit out at the ruling TMC dispensation saying, no one will invest in West Bengal unless the Mamata government ensures good governance, improves law and order and ushers in a new era of development.

Earlier, the Centre had decided not to send any official team to West Bengal, as demanded by the BJP to probe the recent violence in Malda.

A decision had been taken by the central government not to send any team of officials to West Bengal to study the violence in Malda where protesters had set fire to a police station and damaged several vehicles, leading to tension in the area, a top party officials was quoted as saying.

While Banerjee had described the Malda violence as a "struggle between the BSF and the local residents", the Bharatiya Janata Party has been seeking the Centre's intervention alleging the incident was "Trinamool's handiwork to cover up its involvement in anti-national activities".
Mogadishu: A suicide car bomber rammed the gates of a restaurant near a beach in Somalia's capital before gunmen fought their way into the building in an attack that killed at least three people today, a police official said.

The assailants may have taken some hostages inside the Liido Seafood restaurant, which is popular with Mogadishu's elite and government officials, Captain Mohammed Hussein said.

"The operation (to dislodge the attackers) is ongoing now. The (attackers) are still inside and fighting our troops," Hussein said from the scene of the attack as gunfire rang out in the background. He said he had counted at least three bodies outside the restaurant.

An unknown number of people are still trapped inside the restaurant, he said.

Witnesses said that gunmen entered the restaurant from the direction of the beach as clients, sitting behind razor wire, watched the seashore.

"They randomly fired at the people sitting near the beach before entering the restaurant," said witness Ahmed Nur, who was strolling along on the shoreline when the attack happened.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the violence, which bore the hallmarks of the Islamic extremist group al-Shabab, which has recently stepped up attacks.

Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for an attack last week on Kenyan peacekeepers in southwestern Somalia.

The al-Qaeda-linked group said it had killed about 100 Kenyans, but the Kenyan government has given no death toll.

Despite being pushed out of Somalia's major cities and towns, al-Shabab continues to launch deadly guerrilla attacks across the Horn of Africa country. African Union troops, government officials and foreigners are frequently targeted.
Amman: Syrian refugees in Jordan will get faster access to United Nations cash aid through an iris-scanning ATM network, removing the need for bank accounts and cards.

The project, launched in Amman last week by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, aims to help 43,000 refugee families, the majority of whom are Syrian.

It is a "much more effective and efficient way of providing dignified cash assistance to the refugees in the world," said UNHCR representative in Jordan Andrew Harper.

Under the project dubbed "EyeCloud", the refugees receive cash in less than 30 seconds from machines equipped with biometric technology.



Around 50 specially-adapted ATMs have been set up across Jordan, in cooperation with a local bank, to provide refugees quicker access to money.

"The refugees who will be receiving the cash monthly assistance in Jordan are the most vulnerable of the vulnerable who live outside the camps, the widows with children, the elderly, the people who have no chance to work, no chance to support themselves," said Harper.

A UNHCR official in Amman said more than 32,000 Syrian families would benefit from the new system, along with Iraqi, Somali and Sudanese refugees.

Previously refugees had to queue, sometimes for hours, and needed bank accounts or ATM cards to claim the cash.

The new system does away with all of that, while also ensuring the anonymity and dignity of those in need of assistance, according to the UN refugee agency.

Jordan says it hosts 1.4 million refugees -- about 20 percent of its entire population -- who fled Syria since the war that has devastated their country erupted nearly five years ago.

The UNHCR, however, says only 630,000 have registered with the agency.

Nine out of 10 refugees in Jordan live outside camps, surviving on only 68 Jordanian dinars ($100, 87 euros) a month.Since the Syrian war broke out, refugees have flooded the agency`s Amman offices daily in order to register and seek financial assistance.

The process involves iris scanning, a method the UNHCR says is efficient as it determines who is eligible to receive financial assistance.

The biometric data is uploaded onto the specialised cash machines that dispense money to those eligible.

Suad, a 40-year-old widow and mother of seven, is one of the Syrian refugees making use of EyeCloud.

"It`s quick," she said, after getting her iris scanned at an ATM and walking away with 120 dinars.

Suad`s husband was killed three years ago in a Syrian regime raid on an eastern Damascus suburb.

After his death she and her children moved to Jordan, where they rent a modest apartment.

"We need every penny of aid to help pay the rent which stands at 230 dinars," she said.

In addition to the monthly allowance of 120 dinars she receives from the UNHCR, Suad also gets 100 dinars each month from the UN`s children agency UNICEF.

"The aid is not enough but it is precious because it helps us pay the rent," said Suad.

"The most important thing is to have a roof over your head," she added.

Syrian refugee Mohamed, 35, also complains that the aid is not enough.

"We need this money. My wife has cancer and we regularly need money (for her treatment)," he said, after collecting 50 dinars from the ATM.

Father of four Ibrahim agrees.

"Everyone knows that the aid is little... but the situation would have been worse without it."

According to Harper, the UNHCR has provided more than $150 million to "the most vulnerable refugees" since 2012.
Riyadh: Saudi Arabia grand mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz al-Sheikh has ruled that playing chess encourages gambling and is a waste of time and followers of Islam must abandon it.

According to the Guardian, during an interview to a channel, the kingdom's chief cleric said that chess was included under gambling and was a waste of time and money and a cause for hatred and enmity between players.

He also justified his view by citing some verse in the Quran.

In late 70s chess was forbidden in Iran by senior clerics, however, Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini lifted the ban on it stating it is permissible to play chess as long as it isn't used for gambling.

After his view on Chess went viral, Twitteratis were quick to react to it. Here's what they felt:

News that chess is forbidden in Islam will be a major surprise to the 7th century Muslims who conquered Persia and exported chess to Europe.  Kareem Shaheen (@kshaheen) January 21, 2016

Sad. Hope non-Muslims can still play #chess even if banned in areas. Its a beautiful game good for brain exercise https://t.co/r7y1MfK7yQ  The Chakra (@ChakraNews) January 21, 2016

@TwoStepsAtATime Chess itself started in India, pre-7th-century; but certainly it was and is well-known in many Muslim lands.  Tim Skellett (@Gurdur) January 21, 2016

Of course chess is haraam! Have you seen the shapes on some of those chess pieces?? #Astaghz #TaubaTauba  Mira Hashmi (@monadarling) January 21, 2016
Beijing: A Chinese military unit based in a city that lies opposite self-ruled Taiwan has carried out live fire exercises and landing drills, state television reported just days after an independence-leaning opposition party won elections in Taiwan.

China considers Taiwan a wayward province, to be brought under its control by force if necessary. Defeated Nationalist forces fled to Taiwan in 1949 after the Chinese civil war.

In a piece late on Wednesday, state television`s military channel said the 31st Group Army, based in the southeastern Chinese city of Xiamen, had carried out the drills in "recent days", though it did not give an exact location.

It showed amphibious armoured vehicles ploughing through the sea towards a landing spot, helicopters firing missiles at locations on shore and soldiers parachuting down from helicopters.

The report made no direct mention of the Taiwan election. China`s Defence Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Taiwan`s Defence Ministry said it was "aware of the information", and declined further immediate comment.

Xiamen sits opposite Taiwan, and right off Xiamen`s coast is Kimnen, an island controlled by Taiwan since 1949 and until the late 1970s a place regularly shelled by China.

Since Tsai Ing-wen and her Democratic Progressive Party won by a landslide Taiwan`s presidential and parliamentary elections on Saturday, China has warned against any moves towards independence and that it will defend the country`s sovereignty.

Tsai has said she will maintain peace with China, and Chinese state-run media has also noted her pledges to maintain the "status quo" with China.

China`s military, the world`s largest, held live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait in September, though Taiwan`s Defence Ministry described them at the time as routine.

Taiwan`s military has warned that China is building two new aircraft carriers and has practised attacks on targets modelled on places in Taiwan. China confirmed on New Year`s Eve it was indeed building one new carrier, to add to its existing one.
Taipei: Thousands of posts, apparently from China, have flooded the Facebook page of Taiwan president-elect Tsai Ing-wen, demanding her self-ruled island be brought under Chinese control, though her party brushed it off and said they respected their views.

Tsai and her independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won presidential and parliamentary elections by a landslide on Saturday, prompting concern in Beijing that she may push for the island`s formal independence.

As of Thursday morning, more than 40,000 people had made comments on her Facebook page, in a repetition of a similar incident in November.

Many of the posts were written in the simplified Chinese characters used on the mainland, and a lot of them repeated a standard Communist Party refrain about how shameful it is to harm the motherland.

"Why do Taiwanese think we`ve all been brainwashed? We`ve all be taught from small that Taiwanese are compatriots, and Taiwan is the jewelled island," wrote one, apparently Chinese, poster.

Others referred to Tsai as "Taiwan province governor".

"Absolutely Taiwan is part of China unless you are taught in a misleading way," one person wrote in English.

Facebook is blocked in China, though there are ways round it even if most Chinese people don`t have access to that technology.

DPP spokesman Ruan Chao-hsiung said Chinese internet users were just "exercising their freedom of speech".

"As long as their comments are not overly extreme, we have full respect for them," Ruan said.

Tsai herself posted on Thurday: "The greatness of this country is that everyone has their own rights".

Tsai says she wants to maintain peace with China, as well as the current status quo. China deems proudly democratic Taiwan a wayward province to be taken back, by force if necessary, particularly if it makes moves towards formal independence.

Taiwanese reacted to the Facebook barbs, offering sarcastic congratulations to Chinese that they were able to escape their government censors and use Facebook freely, and pointing out the freedoms people in Taiwan enjoy that in China they do not.

"We have freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and personal freedom. You people have none of that," wrote one.

China`s Taiwan Affairs Office did not respond to a request for comment.

Chiang Kai-shek`s Nationalists fled to Taiwan after being defeated by Chinese Communists in a civil war in 1949. The island has been self-ruled since.
Paris: The family of Hasna Aitboulahcen, a cousin of alleged Paris attacks ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud who helped him on the run and died with him in a police raid, have filed a murder complaint, their lawyer said.

The young woman was killed on November 18, five days after the attacks, in a raid on an apartment in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, where they found Abaaoud refuge and fellow Belgian-Moroccan Chakib Akrouh, who blew himself up.

Aitboulahcen, 26, had found and negotiated rental of the safe house for the two jihadists.

Her mother, sister and brother filed a complaint against persons unknown for terrorism and murder on January 13 with Paris anti-terrorist judge Christophe Teissier, according to a copy of the complaint seen by AFP.

"I consider that Hasna Aitboulahcen is a victim," the family`s lawyer Fabien Ndoumou said Wednesday.

"She was under pressure from her cousin who threatened her family and the families of her friends," he said.

Investigators initially mistakenly believed there had been a woman suicide bomber at the Saint-Denis apartment but Aitboulahcen`s body was found almost intact in the rubble a day-and-a-half after the police assault, according to a source close to the case.

The lawyer also called for a burial permit for Aitboulahcen, whose body, according to him, is still at the forensic institute in Paris.

"This goes against Muslim rites," he said.

Aitboulahcen played a central role after the Paris attacks that killed 130 people, finding and paying for the hideout in Saint-Denis and leading her cousin to it. ra/bpi/mtp/pdw


Jailed former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed left for Britain Thursday following a stop over in Sri Lanka after the honeymoon islands` government granted him prison leave for urgent surgery, his party said.

Nasheed, whose conviction last March on terror-related charges has been widely criticised, left the Maldives on Monday after resolving a last-minute legal dispute with the government over his 30-day release for the spinal cord surgery in the UK.

"He left Colombo early this morning," Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) spokesman Hamid Abdul Ghafoor said after a two-day stop in the Sri Lankan capital. "He was under strict instructions from his lawyers not to speak to journalists while in Colombo."

The Maldives government said Nasheed was travelling under what diplomatic sources described as a deal brokered by India, Sri Lanka and Britain.

But Nasheed refused a government request to leave a relative behind to act as a guarantor liable to prosecution if he failed to return to serve the rest of his sentence.

After a tense back and forth over conditions, the government finally agreed late Monday to let him leave.

His aides said he had held extensive meetings with Western ambassadors in Colombo to discuss the political turmoil on the upmarket holiday island nation.

Nasheed, 48, became the first democratically elected president of the Maldives in 2008 and served for four years before he was toppled in what he called a coup backed by the military and police.

He was sentenced to 13 years in jail on terrorism charges relating to the arrest of an allegedly corrupt judge in 2012, when he was still in power.

The UN has said his trial was seriously flawed and he should be released and compensated for wrongful detention.

But hardline President Abdulla Yameen has refused to accept the UN ruling and has been resisting international pressure to release Nasheed.

Yameen is a half-brother of former strongman Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who ruled for 30 years until his defeat by Nasheed in the country`s first multi-party elections in 2008.
Nairobi: Four terrorism suspects have been shot dead by police in the Kenyan coastal town of Malindi while two others escaped, police said.

Police said the dead from yesterday's raid included Suleiman Mohamed Awadh, who features on a "most wanted criminals" list with a USD 20,000 (18,000 euro) bounty on his head.

The list was issued after an attack on Kenya's Garissa university in April 2015, when Shebab militants killed 148 people.

Police said the suspects threw a hand grenade and fired at officers during the early morning raid in the tourist town, which is especially popular with Italian visitors and is home to wealthy playboy Flavio Briatore's "Lion in the Sun" and "Billionaire" resorts.

"The terrorists were heavily armed and they engaged our officers in the shoot-out and, in the end, four of them were fatally wounded," said Malindi police chief Matawa Muchangi. Awadh, a 25-year-old who was local to the area, was identified among the dead.

The police chief added that two other suspects escaped with injuries during the raid on a rented house close to Malindi's airport.

Afterwards, police found weapons and mobile phones in the house as well as a letter said to be a request to Al-Qaeda's East Africa affiliate, the Shebab, requesting funds. Maps of Malindi were also found with the police station, a supermarket and the popular tourist Marine Park highlighted.

Muchangi credited public cooperation for "the successful operation".

Tourism in Kenya has suffered in recent years as travel warnings along the coast and terrorist attacks elsewhere have deterred foreign visitors.
Washington: Pakistan's nuclear warheads which are estimated to be between 110-130 are aimed at deterring India from taking military action against it, a latest Congressional report has said.

The report also expressed concern that Islamabad's "full spectrum deterrence" doctrine has increased risk of nuclear conflict between the two South Asian neighbours.

"Pakistan's nuclear arsenal probably consists of approximately 110-130 nuclear warheads, although it could have more. Islamabad is producing fissile material, adding to related production facilities, deploying additional nuclear weapons, and new types of delivery vehicles," Congressional Research Service (CRS) said in its latest report.

In its 28-page report, the CRS noted that Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is widely regarded as designed to dissuade India from taking military action against it, but Islamabad's expansion of its nuclear arsenal, development of new types of nuclear weapons and adoption of a doctrine called "full spectrum deterrence" have led some observers to express concern about an increased risk of nuclear conflict between Pakistan and India, which also continues to expand its nuclear arsenal.

CRS is the independent research wing of the US Congress, which prepares periodic reports by eminent experts on a wide range of issues so as to help lawmakers take informed decisions.

Reports of CRS are not considered as an official view of the US Congress.

"Pakistan has in recent years taken a number of steps to increase international confidence in the security of its nuclear arsenal," said the CRS report authored by Paul K Kerr and Mary Beth Nikitin.

Moreover, Pakistani and US officials argue that, since the 2004 revelations about a procurement network run by former Pakistani nuclear official A Q Khan, Islamabad has taken a number of steps to improve its nuclear security and to prevent further proliferation of nuclear-related technologies and materials, it said.

A number of important initiatives, such as strengthened export control laws, improved personnel security, and international nuclear security cooperation programmes, have improved Pakistan's nuclear security, the CRS said.

"However, instability in Pakistan has called the extent and durability of these reforms into question. Some observers fear radical takeover of the Pakistani government or diversion of material or technology by personnel within Pakistan's nuclear complex," the CRS said.

"While US and Pakistani officials continue to express confidence in controls over Pakistan's nuclear weapons, continued instability in the country could impact these safeguards. Furthermore, continued Indian and Pakistani nuclear weapons development could jeopardise strategic stability between the two countries," it concluded.

According to CRS, Pakistan has asserted that continued exclusion of the country from the NSG "would adversely affect regional peace, security and stability," as well as "undermine the global non-proliferation regime."

According to the US law, the United States could apparently advocate for Pakistan's NSG membership without congressional approval.

Ambassador Olson testified on December 16, 2015, that the Obama Administration is "not negotiating...a civil nuclear cooperation agreement with...Pakistan."

However, press reports indicate that the United States is considering supporting Islamabad's NSG membership in exchange for Pakistani actions to reduce perceived dangers associated with the country's nuclear weapons programme, it said.
Seoul: A South Korean man suspected of being behind an explosion at a controversial Tokyo war shrine was re-arrested on Thursday, accused of carrying and using gunpowder.

Tokyo police said Jeon Chang-Han, 27, now faces a new charge of violating Japan`s explosives control law after he was held for trespassing on the shrine last month.

"He allegedly filled a metal pipe with black gunpowder and carried it to a toilet inside Yasukuni Shrine," a police spokesman told AFP.

"He also allegedly blew up the pipe filled with gunpowder in the toilet."

Japanese prosecutors had Jeon arrested in December on the charge of illegal entry into the shrine after a suspected explosion damaged a bathroom there on November 23.

No one was hurt, but the incident stretched already frayed nerves in the Japanese capital just days after jihadists killed 130 people in Paris.

The Yasukuni shrine in central Tokyo honouring millions of Japan`s war dead, including several senior military and political figures convicted of war crimes after World War II, remains a diplomatic flashpoint in Northeast Asia.

Visits by senior Japanese politicians routinely draw an angry reaction from China and South Korea, which see it as a symbol of Tokyo`s militaristic past.

Jeon is believed to have initially left Japan after the blast but was taken into custody when he re-entered the country in early December, reportedly carrying two kilogrammes (4.4 pounds) of gunpowder.

The Yasukuni shrine has been a target of occasional attacks by activists in the past.

A South Korean national was charged two years ago with attempting to set fire to the building, while a man was also arrested in December 2014 for suspected arson, according to media reports.
I'm a cute 14 years old boy, nice to meet you! My hobbies include writing fictional stories, composing songs, playing the piano, computer games, swimming and online games as well as maths solving and maths proving. Favorite authors include James Petterson, John Grisham and James Dashner. I'm good at swimming too! Read this blog for tons of sweet information!
Commentaries on current events, political economy, and the Communist movement from a Marxist-Leninist perspective. Zigedy highly recommends the Marxist-Leninist website, MLToday.com, where many of his longer articles appear.
Top Row (left to right): Jennease Hyatt, Angelica Ramirez, Shante Miller, Chiquita Covington, Sanford Gaylord Bottom Row: (left to right) Regina Watts, Angela Williams, Lisa Cohen, Adriann McCall, Erick Seelbach

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For more than 15 years, the Regional Resource Network Program (RRNP) has provided innovative strategies for and support to regional, state, and local HIV prevention education, outreach, and stigma reduction efforts. The RRNP is funded by the Secretarys Minority AIDS Initiative Fund, which focuses funding on serving racial and ethnic minority populations and communities disproportionately affected by HIV. The RRNP supports a full-time Regional Resource Coordinator (RRC) in each of the 10 regional offices of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).The RRCs bring a rich variety of professional experience to their role. Their backgrounds include social work, case management, community health, nonprofit management, and program evaluation. RRCs work in communities across the country, developing valuable partnerships and providing HIV education and technical assistance to regional and local entities in support of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy: Updated to 2020 (NHAS).RRCs collaborate with and provide technical assistance to state and local health departments, Federally Qualified Health Centers, community-based organizations, AIDS service organizations, faith-based organizations, and other public and private entities to expand resources and activities that will result in measurable outcomes consistent with the NHAS goal of achieving a more coordinated national response to the HIV epidemic. As HIV specialists in their HHS regions, the RRCs also share information and community feedback directly with HHS leadership regarding prevention, care, and treatment services necessary to fight HIV.The RRNP also facilitates education and training about issues and tools critical to our HIV response such as the Affordable Care Act and enrollment in coverage available through the Marketplace, prevention and treatment of viral hepatitis coinfections, and HIV-related stigma reduction. Additionally, the RRNP assists state health departments in their work to develop and analyze the HIV care continuum in each jurisdiction to inform and focus subsequent HIV prevention, care and treatment efforts. The RRCs also participate in national and regional conferences to share replicable best practices and effective strategies for HIV and viral hepatitis prevention and treatment, paying particular attention to reaching groups disproportionately affected by HIV and viral hepatitis, including racial and ethnic minority young men who have sex with men.In addition to their diverse professional credentials, each RRC has a personal connection to their work. We asked each RRC to tell us a little about him/herself including why they are passionate about working in the field of HIV.Region I (serving state and local organizations in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont)Years as an RRC: 6My passion for this work began after my Uncle Bryon passed away with AIDS-related complications. I started my career at the AIDS service organization that supported my family during his illness. Twelve years later, I remain committed to ensuring that the most marginalized people are receiving education and access to life-saving HIV prevention tools.Region II (serving state and local organizations in New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands)Years as an RRC: 7At the age of 12 in Colombia, South America, I witnessed my favorite tio (uncle), Jorges, health deteriorate and his life slip away as a result of AIDS-related complications. My passion for working with chemical dependency and HIV/AIDS initiatives is in honor of Tio Jorge, as I aim to ensure that no one else experiences isolation and stigma like he did.Region III (serving state and local organizations in Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia).Years as an RRC: 9 monthsI am passionate about my work because I have seen firsthand how devastating HIV/AIDS stigma can be to families. My goal is to educate people to reduce stigma and significantly reduce new HIV infections within my region. I look forward to and I am hopeful that in my lifetime I will see the day when new infections are nonexistent.Region IV (serving state and local organizations in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee). Years as an RRC: 3I learned more about HIV/AIDS during my college internship at the Louisiana State University HIV Outpatient Program (HOP) in New Orleans. Contrary to my initial expectations, I encountered patients of many races and ages. That experience totally changed my perspective on the impact of HIV/AIDS and the populations that were being affected. As a result, I became a committed public health advocate with a passion for working with diverse and under-served populations to address health disparities and inequities among people living with HIV/AIDS.Region V (serving state and local organizations in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin)Years as an RRC: 4+I have seen first-hand the devastation that HIV/AIDS has had on many communities. Twenty-six years ago, my own diagnosis shattered my life. Since then, I have dedicated my life to making a difference; as an actor, award-winning writer, and creative activist. Ive channeled my creative passion into working to improve the field of HIV/AIDS.Region VI (serving state and local organizations in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas)Years as an RRC: 8I became passionate about working in this field when I was a Public Health Advisor with the Centers for Disease Control in 1993. At the very first knock on the door, I felt a rush come over me like never before, and since that moment Ive known that this deeply important work is exactly what Im supposed to be doing!Region VII (serving state and local organizations in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska)Years as an RRC: 3I enjoy helping individuals improve their health and life skills. Working in the human services industryespecially with HIV servicesgrants me the opportunity to help in a broadly defined area. I can approach human needs through a collaborative knowledge base, focusing on prevention while maintaining a commitment to improving the overall quality of life for all populations.Region VIII (serving state and local organizations in Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming)Years as an RRC: 9+During a university Semester at Sea program, circumnavigating the globe, I began gaining experience in raising community awareness through mobilization and social justice efforts with culturally relevant programs. In graduate school, I began to support collaborative efforts that engaged multiple organizations. Those endeavors led to a development service project in Harare, Zimbabwe, and fostered my commitment to equitable health services and, more specifically, sexual health and HIV/AIDS.Region IX (serving state and local organizations in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Marshall Islands, and Republic of Palau)Years as an RRC: 4My experience working in HIV began in the 1990s at the Bay Area Urban League, where I assisted clients in finding work and housing. Working for Mayor and former Congressman Ron Dellums at Get Screened Oakland, I created large-scale HIV testing and education programs. These initiatives developed my devotion to saving lives through service work and education.Region X (serving state and local organizations in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington)Years as an RRC: 4+Ryan White was only a few months younger than me. I was still a teenager when the first person I knew died of AIDS-related complications and I came out into a world that was being decimated by HIV/AIDS. Since that formative time in my life, Ive been consistently engaged in HIV work in various capacities.Throughout 2016 each RRC will share a blog post featuring specific efforts in their region. You can also contact the appropriate RRC (firstname.lastname@hhs.gov) for state or region-specific information. For program information, contact Tommy Amico, Program Manager, or Angelica Ramirez, Deputy Program Manager.
bernie sanders

A new poll released on Tuesday found US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) with an unprecedented lead over Democratic presidential rival Hillary Clinton in the first primary state of New Hampshire.

According to the CNN/WMUR poll, Sanders' New Hampshire support has soared to 60% among likely Democratic voters. That's 27 points ahead of Clinton, who garnered 33% support in the survey.

The poll, conducted mostly before the Democratic presidential debate on Sunday, gives Sanders a notably larger lead in the Granite State than other recent surveys, many of which have found Sanders beating Clinton by somewhere between six and 14 points.

Sanders' campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, said in a statement on Tuesday that the poll demonstrates the groundswell of support building behind the senator's insurgent campaign.

"This poll suggests that our campaign has real momentum and that the American people want to go beyond establishment politics and establishment economics," Weaver said. "But it's just a poll, and we take nothing for granted."

Though Sanders still faces tough demographic challenges in many states, Clinton campaign officials have privately acknowledged the tightening race  particularly in the two opening contests of Iowa and New Hampshire. Sanders has been surging in both states in recent weeks, as well as climbing in national polls.

Some Democratic strategists say that Clinton's recent headline-grabbing attacks on Sanders on issues such as guns, healthcare, and general-election viability demonstrate the seriousness with which the campaign now takes Sanders.

"The race is tightening," a top Democratic strategist unaffiliated with any 2016 campaign told Business Insider last week.

They continued:

And the reason that you know that it is tightening is that in the last week, I've seen more attacks from Clinton and pro-Clinton group on Bernie Sanders than in the months prior combined. There's been a lot more communication among Clinton supporters, more talking points  they've just been more aggressive.

Story continues

NOW WATCH: Watch out Hillary Clinton  new polls show Bernie Sanders is leading in New Hampshire and Iowa





More From Business Insider


[Canadian Salim Alaradi and his son, Mohamed Alaradi are shown on a family vacation in the United Arab Emirates in a 2013 family handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO]



Three days after being charged with terrorism-related offences in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a Canadian man has not been allowed to meet with his legal representation and hasnt received a full accounting of the evidence against him, his lawyer tells Yahoo Canada News.

Salim Alaradi, 46, was charged with funding and co-operating with terrorist organizations during his first court appearance in Abu Dhabi on Monday.

Alaradi, who has been unable to communicate with his wife and five children since March, was taken from his Dubai hotel in August 2014. He had been living there with his family after relocating from Vancouver in 2007 to run an international home-appliances business with his brother Mohamad Elaradi.

The Alaradi familys Ottawa-based lawyer Paul Champ was in the UAE but not allowed to attend the hearing. However, Canadas ambassador to the UAE Arif Lalani and Alaradis local defence lawyers were present, Champ says, and he met with both parties afterward to confirm the events in the courtroom. Global Affairs Canada confirmed to Yahoo Canada News that Lalani was present in the courtroom on Monday.

Having the Canadian ambassador attend the hearing is exceptional, and I can tell you that the family is very appreciative, Champ tells Yahoo Canada News.

Amnesty International, which has followed both Alaradis case and the general state of the UAEs justice system, agreed.

You need to consider that as a very strong message indeed, that the Canadian government is sending along an ambassador to attend the hearing, Drewery Dyke, UAE researcher for Amnesty International, tells Yahoo Canada News.

But in a Wednesday meeting with Alaradis local lawyers Champ learned that the prosecution has not yet produced the entire investigation file to the defence, nor have they been allowed to see their client.

Story continues

Alaradi, who pleaded not guilty to all charges, has spent 17 months in a UAE prison, including an initial three months in secret detention. The Canadian government considers Alaradis case serious and continues to monitor the legal proceedings closely, Global Affairs Canada spokeswoman Michelle Saucier tells Yahoo Canada News.

Canada urges the United Arab Emirates to ensure that Mr. Alaradi receives a fair and transparent trial in accordance with due process, Saucier says. Consular services are being provided to Mr. Alaradi and we continue our advocacy on his behalf.

Torture re-legitimized in UAE

Of particular concern is Alaradis contention that he has been tortured while in prison. That allegation lines up with what Amnesty International is seeing more generally in the UAE in recent years, Dyke says.

Were saying something very simple: that torture has been re-legitimized in the UAE, and its been carried out on an unprecedented scale, he says.

In-person meetings local lawyers and consular officials have had with Alaradi have indicated that his health has suffered over the past year and a half, Champ says.

His physical condition is not good. Hes lost considerable weight, Champ says. The pictures that you see of him with his children, before he was arrested  unfortunately he doesnt look like that now.

On Monday, Alaradi attempted to tell the UAE court about his claims of torture during his detention, but was told by the judge to wait until the trial continued, Champ says.

He tried to roll up his sleeves to show the judge. Apparently there are marks or scars on his arms, Champ says. But the judge told him he didnt want to hear about it at that time.

Canadian officials have told me that they do view the [torture] allegations as serious and credible, Champ says.

A consular official who has met with Alaradi reported to Champ that he is suffering from back issues and other physical ailments related to his treatment while in prison.

Canada takes allegations of mistreatment and torture extremely seriously, Saucier says. Canadian officials at very high levels have raised with United Arab Emirates authorities our concerns regarding Mr. Salim Alaradis health, well-being and consular access.

Not a democracy

Alaradis trial will be held at the State Security Chamber of the UAE Federal Supreme Court, which means it will not be public. There is no right of appeal for the accused and no limit to his possible sentence, Champ says. The terrorism-related offences Alaradi has been charged with didnt become law in the UAE until fall 2014, after his arrest.

Its a difficult case to unpack and get below the skin of, in the sense that the evidence seems to indicate that were talking about a businessman, and really no more than a businessman, says Dyke. Its difficult to establish or be clear on the kind of criminal acts hes alleged to have done. The process is absolutely opaque.

Canadian embassy officials have recently been given more regular access to Alaradi, Champ says, but always with a guard present in the room, which runs counter to UN standards for the treatment of prisoners.

Canadian consular officials were allowed to see him earlier today [Wednesday], and Mr. Alaradi is quite distraught and very upset, Champ says. The charges came as quite a surprise to him. He knew that it would have something to do with Libya, but he doesnt understand the charges that theyve brought against him. And hes very fearful of what the consequences might be.

Since the overthrow of dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, the UAE has actively supported some groups striving for power in Libya over others, Champ says. Alaradis brother Abdul Razak was a member of the transitional government in Libya and linked to a party with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, the Guardian reported in August.

Alaradi is a Canadian citizen who was born in Libya and also holds citizenship to that country, though Champ says his client hasnt lived there in 25 years and has no political involvement in Libya.

At least 10 Libyans have been detained in the UAE without charge or legal representation since August 2014, according to Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Both groups conducted investigations into Alaradis arrest and detainment. In late 2014 Amnesty released a report on the increasingly harsh treatment of dissenters in the country.

We have recorded literally tens upon tens of individuals, Emirate nationals, who have been tried in this way  something we have been screaming from the mountaintops for a number of years, Dyke says. As far as we could tell the vast majority of those cases didnt hold water, and more to the point a UN human rights body itself had concluded that a great many of those individuals were held arbitrarily.

Elaradi, with whom Alaradi ran his business in Dubai, was detained in UAE at the same time. Elaradi was unexpectedly released in December 2014 and deported to Turkey with only his passport and clothing, and now lives in Qatar.

Its the familys belief that his brother Mohamad [Elaradi] was released because the marks of torture on his body had healed, Champ says. Elaradi told the Toronto Star last summer that he was tortured while detained in the UAE, and that he could hear his brothers cries as he was tortured as well.

Alaradis wife and children left Dubai in March because they feared for their personal safety, and are living in Windsor, Ont. His teenaged daughter Marwa has met with Canadian MPs to advocate for her father, whose trial continues on Feb. 15

I think this is kind of how the authorities want to bring this issue to an end. We just dont know if its going to be a happy ending or a bad ending, Champ says. Our view is that the trial is a way for the Emirates to justify their mistreatment of Mr. Alaradi for the last year and a half. Simply releasing him now would be difficult for them to explain, especially in light of the allegation of torture.

The case, and those of others arrested in the UAE, including two Americans charged with the same offences as Alaradi on Monday, highlights the dark underbelly of human rights violations below the modern and prosperous image the UAE presents to the world, Champ says.

Theres all these tall gleaming skyscrapers around me here, and theres thousands of Canadians who live in the UAE and do business in the UAE, Champ says. But at the end of the day this country is not a democracy.
By Emma Farge DAKAR (Reuters) - In a 2013 speech claiming victory over jihadists in Mali who had seized the north a year earlier, French President Francois Hollande said that if it had not been for his nation's military intervention, "today we would have terrorists here in Bamako". Two years on, a rhetorical flourish meant to evoke a fearful but unthinkable scenario has come true as jihadists seeking new hide-outs and bigger targets have spread south from Saharan bases into formerly stable capital cities. Since November, al Qaeda fighters have twice stormed hotels in the Malian and Burkina capitals, killing dozens of Westerners in mirror image attacks distinguished chiefly by greater sophistication. Assailants in Ouagadougou planted explosives to slow rescuers and sent an apparently live audio message from the scene entitled: "Message Signed with Blood and Body Parts". The remote deserts and savannahs of French-speaking West and Central Africa, once a playground for hikers, motorists and lion hunters, have been effectively out of bounds for Westerners for years due to kidnapping risks. But plush hotels in big cities were thought to be safe havens. Often they lodge the very people who are trying to fix the problems of the Sahel - a fragile, poverty-racked region on the fringes of the Sahara where governments are struggling to provide opportunities for a booming youth population. Burkina's Splendid Hotel is popular with French troops while Mali's Radisson Blu was hosting a team trying to implement a flagging U.N.-brokered peace deal in Mali when it was attacked. But despite billions of Western dollars spent on aid, peacekeeping and counter-terrorism, the red no-go zones on French consular maps have bled southwards from a stronghold in north Mali and into Burkina Faso. Analysts warn that weak border control and a failure to address some of the root causes that allow such groups to recruit and thrive mean that more strikes should be expected. "There's no reason to think Burkina Faso should be the last country hit," said Cynthia Ohayon, West Africa analyst at International Crisis Group by phone from Ouagadougu. "If you strike the capital, you are seen to be striking harder and the threat is there for other cities like Dakar and Abidjan," she said, referring to Senegal and Ivory Coast. RISK OF REGIONAL ENGULFMENT France says its 3,500-strong Barkhane Force which superseded the 2013 Serval operation in Mali and has a broader regional mandate has made progress, conducting 150 operations last year. But Ohayon says France may actually have contributed to the spread of jihadists by driving them out of their former heartland in Mali's desert north and into Burkina, which is seeking to recover from instability following the ousting of long-ruling leader Blaise Compaore in 2014. In a sign of their expanding reach, France has warned of kidnap threats in a popular national park straddling Burkina Faso, Benin and Niger which is more than 600 kilometres east of the Malian border. Two Australians were also kidnapped in northern Burkina Faso on Saturday just a week after a Swiss citizen was seized in Mali's northern city of Timbuktu. Security sources say the rise in Western abductions after a period of relative calm may represent a bid by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) to replenish coffers with ransom money. The also say jihadists are profiting from a growing regional ivory trade. Mali has called for a rapid intervention force to fight militants and Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop warned this week that the region could be "engulfed due to connections or even a link-up between terrorist groups in the Sahel," referring to Islamic State in Libya to the north and Boko Haram to the east. Tie-ups are already happening on a limited scale. AQIM has said in recent videos as part of an expanded media campaign that it has joined forces with al Mourabitoun, led by Algerian jihadist Mokhtar Belmokhtar. "BABY-FACED" JIHADISTS Thomas Miles, an independent scholar and Sahel expert, says there is little sign that recruitment in remote areas has ended since the French operation of 2013, although it may have slowed. "The real arm that AQIM has stockpiled over recent years is not the bullets and the weapons but these baby-faced young men who are virtually raised in these cells and are willing to die," said Miles, who is writing a book on the region. Witnesses described one of the Ouagadougou attackers as a young, black African and both Bamako gunmen were also young. They have not been formally identified. The Malian army complains that a failure to implement a peace deal between the government and secular armed groups signed six months ago has made it harder to fight jihadists since they cannot distinguish between fighters. The lack of progress has also facilitated the formation of new local jihadist groups such as Mali's Massina Liberation Front in a country where many are desperate and 60 percent of under 35s are unemployed. Other groups could be forming elsewhere in the Sahel. "They won't be huge militias but so long as they can promise a way out of poverty and weapons they will find recruits among people who don't feel they have much to live for," said Miles. (Additional reporting by Marine Pennetier in Paris; Writing by Emma Farge; Editing by Dominic Evans)
Rumble

Introducing the recipe for seafood Chijimi (Korean pan cake) made with Nira (garlic chives) and squid. Adding carrots adds a gentle sweetness and the indescribably enchanting texture of fluffy, chewy pancake is almost addictive. Thinly cooked with the flavor of sesame oil and dipped in the authentic homemade sauce, this dish is a delicious dinner or finger food. The recipe can easily be modified for restricted diets, substituting the squid for thinly sliced pork, or even subbing all animal based products with vegetarian ones (roasted vegetables instead of meat - vegetable broth instead of chicken, etc). =============================================================  YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDvC...  Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/hungrycooki... ============================================================= 00:38 Prepping Ingredients 01:25 How to Gut a Squid 03:43 How To Make Chijimi Dipping Sauce 05:28 Putting Together the Chijimi 06:43 How to Cook Chijimi  Ingredients (for one chijimi) Weak (Cake) flour... 1/3 cup Potato starch ... 2 tbsp Water... 1/3 cup Garlic chives ... 1/3 bunch Carrots ... 1/8 (about 5cm) Squid ... 1/2~1 Salt Torigara (chicken bone) soup stock base (or Hondashi)  1 tsp  Olive oil  Sesame oil Sauce Soy sauce... 2 tablespoons Vinegar... 2 tablespoons Kochijang... 2 tsp Ichimi chili pepper Sesame oil... 1 tablespoon La-Yu (chili oil) Sesame  Cooking Recipe  Slice the Garlic Chives into 3~5cm pieces and julienne the carrots.  Gut, wash, and prep the squid into about 3-5cm strips.  This is a good time to prepare the sauce, so mix the sauce ingredients together to create the dipping sauce for the pancakes.  Add cake flour and potato starch, mixing loosely. Add water, salt, and torigara (chicken bone broth concentrate) or a different stock base like Hondashi, and stir until smooth. Lastly, add prepped vegetables and squid into the bowl and mix to incorporate.  Place the a pan over high heat and when hot, pour in sesame oil and olive oil. Add the batter made in step 4 into the pan, shape, and cook for 1~1.5 minutes on one side. When solid and lightly browned, flip the pancake and cook the other side through, pressing down with a spatula as needed.  Before completely cooked through, pour sesame oil along the rim of the pan and cook for 1~1.5 minutes more until browned. Reduce heat to medium and cook until both sides are both sides are fragrant and of good color.  After removing from the pan when fully cooked, cut into bite sized pieces and serve with prepared dipping sauce.  Cooking tips Thinly sliced pork is a delicious alternative to squid. This recipe can also be made vegetarian by subbing meats with roasted eggplant or other hearty vegetables, and broth subbed with vegetable broth concentrate. If you like a sweeter dipping sauce, add a pinch sugar when putting the sauce together. If you add an egg the taste will be much richer. However, add more flour to the batter as too small of an amount will result in a heavier, less crispy pancake. A recommended ratio will be about 1 cup of flour to 1 egg. When cutting pancakes, the chives are a little hard to cut and tend to lose their shape so cut them carefully. The pancake is easier to cut if you have a pizza cutter on hand.
By Samia Nakhoul BEIRUT (Reuters) - Iran's release from sanctions testifies to its new relationship with the United States as it moves from pariah state to regional power, a status that could come at the cost of Saudi Arabia, Washington's chief Arab ally. Enemies and allies alike must adjust to Iran becoming an uninhibited power broker in the Middle East after its nuclear deal with world powers and Saturday's lifting of sanctions that bring it to the top table of international politics. The swift release last week of U.S. Navy sailors after they drifted into Iranian waters marked the new era in relations following decades of hostility with the West. After the 1979 revolution that brought Shi'ite Muslim clerics to power, Iran would typically use hostages to extract concessions from its western adversaries. Early on, it held 52 hostages taken from the U.S. embassy in Tehran for 444 days. That incident ranked alongside Iranian-backed suicide bombings against Western embassies and troops in Lebanon, the hijacking of planes and the kidnapping of Western hostages in the country. All this left deep scars and incited hostility towards Iran as an outlaw, in the region and the world. Yet last week's naval incident contrasted to 2007 when Iran captured British sailors in similar circumstances, but accused of them of spying and held them for two weeks. The hiccup over the American sailors was easily contained by the new rapprochement and "summarizes the emergence of a new relationship between Washington and Tehran", said Fawaz Gerges, a Middle East expert at the London School of Economics. NO LONGER A SPOILER? Washington remains far from enamored of the mullahs ruling in Tehran, and is formally committed to Iran's arch-rival, Saudi Arabia. But Iran's attractions are both political and economic: a country that is "a potential regional superpower, and an emerging market with huge potential along similar lines to Turkey", said Gerges. "There is a new relationship based on a new understanding of Irans pivotal role in the region  that Iran is here to stay," he said. So, for Washington, Iran would no longer be a spoiler state, but one that could play a positive role in stabilizing the region and "help put out the fires". Saudi Arabia, however, remains implacably at loggerheads with Iran. Its rigid Wahhabi Sunni Muslim clerical leaders treat Shi'ites as heretics, not far short of how Islamic State jihadis regard Shiites as idolaters to be exterminated. The Saudis have been badly rattled by Iran's success in forging a Shi'ite axis stretching from Iraq through Syria to Lebanon, where Tehran's paramilitary ally Hezbollah is also the strongest political force. Riyadh says Iran is also behind unrest in neighboring Bahrain, which has a Shi'ite majority, as well as the insurgency of Shi'ite Houthis in Yemen, where the Saudis launched an air war last year. It also believes Tehran is stirring up Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, which contains nearly all the kingdom's oil and most of its marginalized Shiite minority. The execution this month of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a dissident Saudi Shi'ite cleric, has further poisoned relations with Iran. Yet for the United States and its European allies, getting Iran on-side is likely to be vital to their interests. In particular, Tehran could be crucial in the fight against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The same goes for the search for ending the civil war in Syria. There Iran kept President Bashar al-Assad in power as his sole foreign ally offering battlefield help until Russia arrived with its air force last autumn. ON THE DEFENSIVE While Iranian confidence grows, Riyadh appears defensive - and unpredictable since last year's succession of the elderly King Salman, who has vested vast power in his young son, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi watchers say. "There is a widespread perception that Saudi Arabia is pursuing chaotic, counter-productive policies," said Gerges, and that Wahhabism lies behind the rise of al Qaeda and Islamic State, with the Saudi leadership lacking experience and wisdom. "The Saudis are really behaving with a sense of siege, reacting to events as if each was the end of the world," Gerges said, "lashing out angrily and recklessly, with no long-term perspective". Iran, by contrast "believes it is a rising power, that the world needs it". Tehran also appears to have grasped that the huge increase in U.S. shale oil production has freed America from its dependence on Saudi crude. Saudi officials say their regional policy is coherent, not ideologically or religiously motivated. "We will not allow Iran to destabilize our region. We will not allow Iran to do harm to our citizens or those of our allies and so we will react. But it is a reaction in response to Iranian aggression," Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told Reuters this month. Farhang Jahanpour of Oxford University argues that the Saudis need to agree a regional security structure with Iran and all other Gulf states, as well as Sunni powers Egypt and Turkey. "They should cooperate because if the present state of antagonism continues they will be the losers, and we will be witnessing wars for decades in the entire region and beyond," Jahanpour said. NEW DILEMMAS Rivalry between Sunni and Shi'ite Islam goes back many centuries. In modern times, this often translated into a strategic contest between Saudi Arabia's Wahhabi version of Sunni orthodoxy and the Shi'ite theocracy of Iran. The 2003 overthrow of Sunni minority rule in Iraq by the U.S.-led invasion and its replacement by a Shi'ite government under the sway of Iran has rekindled the sectarian firestorm. Ali al-Amin, a Lebanese analyst and researcher, says Riyadh seems to believe the real threat comes from Sunni rivals such as Islamic State and a restive young Saudi population indoctrinated with Wahhabi prejudice against Shi'ites. "The fight with Iran strengthens it internally, it strengthens its nerve," says al-Amin. "Its purpose is to protect the regime and rally all Sunnis behind it." But Iran, too, has its vulnerabilities. It faces the dilemma of how far to liberalize once its economy reconnects to world markets and investment creates new power groups. Its successes in countries such as Lebanon, Iraq and Syria have come as these states were cracked open by war or invasion, leading to de facto partition. Tehran has advanced its interests by bypassing state institutions with unstable alternatives such as militias, its principal weapon of influence. Above all, Tehran needs to win acceptance in the Middle East as a legitimate and constructive regional power. "Iran's role was always built on divisions and fractures in society and not through government institutions," al-Amin said. "The Iranian project cannot survive without crises, it has no option for stability through ties with states. In Syria, all the Iranian influence is outside the state and the same in Iraq and Lebanon." If Iran is to win Arab recognition as a regional power, it will need to compromise and that includes accepting a less assertive role in the affairs of Iraq, Lebanon and Syria. "Iran has become a regional power but to be a recognized regional power, it has to define its role. It cannot preserve its presence in Syria and Lebanon, veteran Lebanese commentator Sarkis Naoum told Reuters. Faisal al-Yafai, commentator at the The National newspaper in the United Arab Emirates, said Tehran must review its support for various armed groups in the region. If Iran "wants genuinely to be part of the international community it has to obey the rules of the international community," he said. In the contest for the Middle East, it is too early to declare Iran as the winner, said Gerges. However, he added: "The Iranians have really shown sophistication, cleverness, bargaining ability and gamesmanship ... Iran has established itself as a major player in its own environment and has the capacity to be major player in the (world) economy." (Additional reporting by Angus McDowall, Editing by William Maclean and David Stamp)
Its a good time to be Bernie Sanders. The Vermont senator has enjoyed rising polling since Christmas, including one New Hampshire poll Tuesday showing him with an astonishing 27-point lead. Sanders also delivered perhaps his finest performance in a debate yet over the weekend, going toe-to-toe with Clinton in a setting she has dominated. The Clinton campaigns official line: Move along, folks, nothing to see herejust some natural tightening as the caucuses and votes draw nigh.

Some of her supporters, however, are more anxious, and smell a reprise of Clintons 2008 upset in Iowa. Their effort to try to slow Sanderss roll is effectively summed up by this GIF:

Theyre playing the red card, so to speak. Here in the heartland, we like our politicians in the mainstream, and he is nothes a socialist, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon, a Democrat, told The New York Times. Hillary Clinton doesnt have to explain socialism to suburban voters, added Representative Steve Israel, a New York Democrat*. James Carville, the famed accented strategist, even suggested that other Democrats might run an advertisement assailing Sanders, to give voters an idea what the Republican line in a general election might beand how effective it would be.

Recommended: Why Is Bernie Sanders Against Reparations?

Such an attack might give some progressive Democrats pause, but if deployed in Clintons defense, they would seem to validate the feeling among some liberals that Clinton is a DINOa Democrat in name only, practically a Republican. And it would tend to undermine her own, measured steps to adopt more progressive policies.

Clintons allies may be right that the socialist label would be an albatross for Sandersand for down-ballot Democratsin the general election. Last summer, a Gallup poll found that 50 percent of Americans would refuse to vote for a socialist for presidentlower even than a gay candidate, a Muslim, or an atheist. (Greg Sargent goes into more detail about the general-election implications of the socialist label.) But the Clinton surrogates are trying to make a general-election argument during a primary, which can be a tricky business. The theory is that Democrats tend to gravitate toward a more electable candidateas demonstrated by primary voters flight from Howard Dean to John Kerry in 2004. (And howd that work out for you? the idealists snort.) Sanders obviously believes this theory, to a certain extent: His campaign has seized on polls that show him beating Republican candidates in head-to-head matches, sending out press releases with titles like Electability Matters. (There are good reasons to be skeptical of such head-to-head polling, as I explained here.)

Story continues

Recommended: The Great Republican Revolt

Besides, Democratic primary voters are likely less attuned to the vulnerabilities of the s-word than Carville, et al., might hope. Steve Israel isnt wrong that Sanders has struggled to explain to a wide audience what exactly he means when he says hes a Democratic socialist, but Democratic primary voters arent worried*. In the same 2015 Gallup poll, 59 percent of Democrats said theyd vote for a socialist. Or just look at key Democratic demographics like young people and African Americans. Broken down by age, 69 percent of 18-to-29-year-olds agreed, as did 50 percent of those from 30-49. Gallup didnt break those numbers out by race, but a Pew survey in 2011 found that more than half of black Americans had a positive view of socialism.

A Bloomberg News/Des Moines Register poll conducted last week offered even more piquant evidence. Among Iowa Democrats, 43 percent described themselves as socialista solid bit more than the 38 percent who self-identified as capitalist.

To some extent, Sanders may be capitalizing on changing attitudes since the Great Recessionlingering anger among progressives about the slow recovery and about the way financial institutions got off mostly scot-free. But hes also probably driving the increased acceptance of socialism. In early May, about a week after Sanders announced his candidacy, YouGov found Democrats evenly divided on socialism vs. capitalism, 43-43. In mid-October, with Sanderistas in full swing, that had switched to 49-37. Republican messaging guru Frank Luntz sees a similar shift, and attributes it to the Sanders candidacy.

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The question of what exactly anyone means by socialism is both central and irrelevant. Some honest-to-God socialists have lambasted Sanders for offering what they see as socialism-lite; hes really more of a European-style social democrat, they argue. Meanwhile, plenty of people who say they oppose socialism may (or may not!) be fine with a robust social-safety net, but are wary of a slide into communism.

That lack of a clear definition does pose a challenge to Sanders in a hypothetical general election. But for now, the vagueness seems to benefit him with Democratic voters. About four in 10 of them are hearing what hes peddlinguniversal health care, wealth redistribution, a level playing field, and retribution for Wall Streetand they like it. So if hes a socialist, socialism must not be so bad. Clinton allies who expect the bogeyman of Marx to marginalize Sanders may find the attack less useful than they hope.

* This article originally attributed these statements to Representative Steve Cohen. We regret the error.

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
KABUL (Reuters) - The Taliban warned media organizations on Thursday not to promote immorality and foreign cultures a day after claiming responsibility for killing seven journalists for the country's most-watched television channel. The suicide car bomb attack in Kabul rush hour traffic on Wednesday was condemned by governments, human rights groups and rival news organizations as an assault on press freedom.The Taliban said they targeted Tolo TV, Afghanistan's largest private television channel, because it was producing propaganda for the U.S. military and its allies.Tolo was attacked for "promoting obscenity, irreligiousness, foreign culture and nudity," the Taliban said in a statement. "Its workers were anti-jihad and anti-Islam elements trained by foreign intelligence toiling for the Americans."The Taliban openly threatened to target the station last year after it reported allegations of summary executions, rape and kidnappings by Taliban fighters during the battle for the city of Kunduz. Although some details of those reports have been disputed, Tolo insists it was scrupulous in reporting all sides of the fighting, including allowing Taliban spokesmen a right of reply. Tolo, which created Afghanistan's first 24-hour news channel, has won a reputation for fast, credible reporting in a shifting media landscape that features scores of newspapers, broadcasters and online news sites. The Taliban on Thursday said it is not specifically targeting media as part of a widening insurgency, but warned organizations they should not align themselves with Tolo.The emergence of a free and vibrant media is seen as one of the main achievements of post-Taliban Afghanistan. During their five years in power, the Taliban banned television to stop people viewing what they derided as vulgar, immoral and anti-Islamic material.Saad Mohseni, the owner of Tolo and the country's largest media mogul, said in a statement on Thursday the journalists killed were working to uphold freedom of speech in Afghanistan."The voices of those who we have lost will not be forgotten," Mohseni said. Reporting in Afghanistan has long come with risks. There are often threats against individual journalists, but this was a rare targeted attack on a national media group.Many of the journalists who died in the attack were buried on Thursday surrounded by crying relatives who expressed frustration with the government for failing to improve security.The Taliban are now firmly on the offensive across the county despite renewed efforts to start a peace process aimed at ending the war. (Reporting by Hamid Shalizi and Andrew MacAskill; Editing by Tom Heneghan)
* China is world's top raw sugar buyer

* Australia's advantage as origin for Malaysia reduced

* Prices for shipping are in freefall amid global slowdown

By David Brough

LONDON, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Cheap freight is eroding Thai and Australian sugar exporters' competitive advantage over Brazilian suppliers to Far Eastern markets, traders said on Thursday.

Thai raw sugar for March/April shipment was quoted at 25 points ($0.25/lb) over ICE March futures, compared with 10 points over March for Brazilian supplies.

Cheap freight costs mean that Brazilian export offers are almost as competitive as Thai offers in China, the world's top sugar buyer, with Brazilian freight to north China at around $14-15 per tonne, against Thai freight at around $9 per tonne.

"Cheap freight means that Far Eastern premiums are getting cheaper," a senior European trader said.

Another senior European trader said that the spread between raw sugar from Australia to Malaysia, as compared to Brazil to Malaysia, shows Australia has an advantage of $2.

The average advantage for Australians on this route over the last 5 years has been $22/tonne.

"The weakness in Thai raw premiums reflects the narrow freight advantage for Thais/Ozzies over Brazil," the trader said. "This is why Thais are a small premium to March futures."

Global shipping rates have plummeted to all time lows amid fears of overcapacity and a global economic slowdown linked to China's weakening economy.

The benchmark Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index , fell to the lowest level since 1985, the first year for which data is available, on Wednesday. (Reporting by David Brough; Editing by Katharine Houreld)
STR | AFP Getty Images. Singapore arrested 27 Bangladeshi construction workers under the city-state's Internal Security Act (ISA) for allegedly encouraging armed jihad against the Bangladeshi government, the Ministry of Home Affairs said.

Singapore arrested 27 Bangladeshi construction workers under the city-state's Internal Security Act (ISA) for allegedly encouraging armed jihad against the Bangladeshi government, the Ministry of Home Affairs said.

Twenty-six of those arrested were members of a closed religious study group that supported armed jihad, the MHA said in a statement.

"Members were encouraged to return to Bangladesh and wage armed jihad against the Bangladeshi government. They had also sent monetary donations to entities believed to be linked to extremist groups in Bangladesh," the statement said.

"A number of the group members admitted that they subscribed to the belief that they should participate and wage armed jihad on behalf of their religion. Several of them contemplated travelling to and participating in armed jihad in the Middle East. Additionally, some of the group members supported the violent actions of extremist/terrorist groups that killed Shi'ites because they considered Shi'ites to be 'deviant.'"

Around 89 percent of Bangladesh's population of around 169 million is Muslim and most are Sunni.

The MHA said the group members took measures to avoid detection by authorities as well as sharing jihadi-related material among themselves and targeting recruitment of other Bangladeshi nationals to increase their membership.

"Investigations disclosed that while several members of the group had considered carrying out armed violence overseas, they were not planning any terrorist attacks in Singapore," the MHA said.

The remaining arrested Bangladeshi national was not a member of the group, but the MHA said he was believed to be in the process of being radicalized and also possessed jihad-related material.

Twenty-six of those arrested have been repatriated back to Bangladesh, while one is serving a jail sentence in Singapore for attempting to leave the country by "illegal and clandestine means" after learning that other members of his group had been arrested, the MHA said.

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The High Commission of Bangladesh in Singapore said via email late Wednesday that authorities in Bangladesh are investigating.

"A Bangladeshi court has already sent 14 Bangladeshi suspects to jail in a case filed under the Anti-Terrorism Act," the statement said. "The concerned agencies of the Government of Bangladesh produced them before a court and the court placed them on a four-day remand. During the remand, they will be interrogated to find out about their alleged involvement."



It's unclear whether Bangladesh has much difficulty with terrorism tied to Islamic State. In October, the New York Times reported that U.S. officials warned Bangladeshi authorities terrorists tied to Islamic State were planning activity there. But Sheikh Hasina, the country's prime minister, called several attacks since then merely conspiracies by domestic opposition leaders to tarnish her government, even though Islamic State appeared to claim responsibility, the report said.

Last month, AsiaOne reported that the capital of Bangladesh, Dhaka, formed a 600-person police unit specializing in technology to combat militancy and terrorism amid an increase in the number of attacks on publishers, different Muslim sects and foreigners. The unit will focus on cybercrimes, terrorism financing and mobile-banking related crimes, the report said.

By CNBC.Com's Leslie Shaffer; Follow her on Twitter @LeslieShaffer1





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West Lafayette, IN 46032, Oct. 15, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NEWS RELEASE

October 15, 2015

Purdue launches two statewide initiatives, gives innovation edge to Indiana entrepreneurs, companies

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.  Purdue is launching two statewide initiatives to help Indiana entrepreneurs and established companies license and commercialize Purdue's patented innovations and create a strong relationship with Purdue. The initiatives will support entrepreneurship and technology transfer, officials announced Thursday (Oct. 15).

The initiatives, called Purdue Innovation-X License and FoundryX , will provide Indiana entrepreneurs and companies with additional incentives to stay in Indiana or conduct their primary research in the state.

"Creating job opportunities for Hoosiers continues to be one of our highest priorities, said Indiana Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann. "The commercialization of successful research projects at our universities is an important source of future jobs and will help Indianas economy remain the strongest in the Midwest. We are grateful to Purdue for providing these substantive incentives to our entrepreneurs and existing companies."

The programs are managed through the Purdue Research Foundation's Office of Technology Commercialization and Purdue Foundry .

Purdue Innovation-X License provides qualified startups and established companies that are based in Indiana or will conduct the majority of research and development in Indiana with an option to license a Purdue University patented innovation with minimal upfront costs and favorable license terms. The opportunity to license the patented technologies will be available during a limited time period of six months that will conclude on April 15, 2016.

Purdue's available technologies represent all sectors in the economy including agriculture, engineering, biomedical, energy, computer technology, pharmaceuticals,

manufacturing and information technology. Click available technologies to view the list of technologies available during this time period.

FoundryX invites industry leaders and business experts with early-stage startups to connect with Purdue innovations that are available to license and to collaboratively drive new technologies to market.

"As Indiana's land-grant university, Purdue's most important mission is to serve the people of our state," said Dan Hasler, president of Purdue Research Foundation. "One way we can do this is by licensing Purdue's innovations to Indiana residents and companies. This creates jobs for Hoosiers and encourages our most talented entrepreneurs and leaders to remain in the state."

Specifics of the Purdue Innovation-X License include:

* Companies must be domiciled or headquartered in Indiana, or a majority of the research and development related to the commercialization of the innovation must be conducted in the state.

* One-time $1,000 upfront fee to license a Purdue patented innovation. Reimbursement for previously incurred patent fees and other expenses will not begin until the end of the second year after a finalized license is signed. Prior patent expenses will be recovered over three years to allow entrepreneurs and companies to reserve cash flow for commercialization efforts.

* The commercialization process by the licensee must meet agreed-upon milestones within an established timeframe.

* Favorable set royalty rates.

"As an internationally recognized research institution, Purdue is a leader in technology transfer. Innovations based on Purdue research are currently being used by people in more than 100 countries across six continents," said Chad Pittman, vice president of the Office of Technology Commercialization. "Many of these innovations are developed and manufactured in Indiana. For example, Cook Biotech's wound healing technology has been used in more than five million medical applications across the globe, and this Purdue Research Park-based company employs more than 150 people in West Lafayette."

The FoundryX program is operated through the Purdue Foundry, an entrepreneurial hub based in the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship.

Specifics of FoundryX include:

* Events that bring business development leaders, entrepreneurs and industry leaders together to review opportunities to license Purdue's available innovations and engage with early-stage, high-tech startups.

* Online, virtual connections through eNewsletters and online forums.

* Ambassadors who will work in various communities across the state to provide information and guidance about startup creation and licensing opportunities.

* A mentorship network for experts from industry who are interested in mentoring entrepreneurs and innovators looking to commercialize high-tech innovations.

"Entrepreneurial support is pivotal to the success of any entrepreneur, and Purdue has a proven track record of successful startup and licensing deals," said Greg Deason, executive director of the Purdue Foundry. "We assist entrepreneurs with business plans, product ideation, market analysis, funding, grant writing and legal counsel. We also work closely with economic development entities across Indiana including Elevate Venture and the Indiana Economic Development Corporation to help support startups."

Mike Asem, director of collaborative relationships for the Purdue Foundry, will lead the FoundryX project.

"Developing innovative technologies has always been something that Purdue has excelled at, but taking these innovations out into the marketplace is a new skillset many of our inventors and startup founders are trying to develop," he said. "With FoundryX, were inviting industry players to come alongside our technology experts with the hope that theyll fill the business end of the startup equation through roles as advisers, mentors, CEOs and even co-founders."

Other strategic initiatives enacted by the Purdue Research Foundation to foster startup creation include funding opportunities through the Trask Innovation Fund, Emerging Innovations Fund, Elevate Purdue Foundry Fund and Foundry Investment Fund; the development of an

Innovation and entrepreneurship landing page to drive interested innovators to the right entrepreneurial resources; Purdue Innovator Startup Guide to provide entrepreneurs with intellectual property protection guidance, startup advice and other resources; and an express license to expedite the technology transfer process.

For the second consecutive year, Purdue set record-breaking numbers in commercialization activities for the fiscal year ending June 30, highlighted by 40 startups, of which 25 are based on Purdue-licensed intellectual property. For a list of the 2015 fiscal year startups visit Purdue Startup Class of 2015.

Purdue Foundry recently announced WomenIN, a program to foster and support women entrepreneurs across Indiana by providing them with resources normally reserved for Purdue Foundry clients.

Indiana-based entrepreneurs also can be assisted across the state through the "Indiana Co-working Passport," a program started in 2014 that allows members of one co-working space to travel to another without getting a second membership. There are about 30 co-working spaces linked in the network including the Purdue Research Park sites in Indianapolis, Merrillville, West Lafayette and New Albany; Matchbox in Lafayette; the Anvil in West Lafayette; and the Branch in South Bend.






English Danish

SimCorp announces that it has signed a 5-year subscription license agreement with the Texas Treasury Safekeeping Trust Company. The Trust Company, which is focused on preserving and growing the State of Texas financial resources, currently manages assets in excess of USD 50 billion.

The firm has selected SimCorps investment management solution, SimCorp Dimension, for its investment operations, including cash and securities management, client management, collateral management, corporate actions, fund administration, general ledger, investment accounting, settlement processing, and trade management.



Enquiries regarding this announcement should be addressed to:

Klaus Holse, Chief Executive Officer, SimCorp A/S (+45 3544 8802, +45 2326 0000)

James Corrigan, Managing Director, SimCorp North America (+1 212 994 9401)



Company Announcement no. 02/2016
During the conference Gustaf Thureborn, West Atlantic's Chief Executive Officer and Group President, will hold a presentation covering the Group's operations, market position, financial performance up to the third quarter of 2015 and present a current market outlook for 2015-2020.

The full presentation is available on the West Atlantic homepage: http://www.westatlantic.eu/Newsroom

For further information, please contact:

Gustaf Thureborn, CEO & President

Telephone: +46 (0) 10 452 95 07

Email: Gustaf.Thureborn@westatlantic.eu

Magnus Dahlberg, CFO

Telephone: +46 (0) 10 - 452 95 49

E-mail: Magnus.Dahlberg@westatlantic.eu

About West Atlantic

The West Atlantic Group is one of the market leading providers of dedicated air freight services to European NMOs and air freight capacity to Global Integrators and Freight Forwarders. The Group has a well-established geographic network, based around six logistic hubs, and currently operates 51 scheduled destinations. The aircraft portfolio includes 46 customised aircraft in service, whereof a majority is wholly owned. West Atlantic was founded in 1962 and is headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden. Operations are performed all over Europe and per December 31 2014 West Atlantic had 488 employees. For 2014 West Atlantic reported revenues of MSEK 1,244 and adjusted EBITDA of MSEK 224.

West Atlantic AB (publ) Org. no: 556503-6083, Box 5433, SE-402 29 Gothenburg, Sweden

Investor Relations: investor.relations@westatlantic.eu

Webpage: www.westatlantic.eu

West Atlantic discloses the information in this release pursuant to the Swedish Securities Market Act and/or the Swedish Financial Instrument Trading Act.

HUG#1980145
Swedish English

Toronto, January 21, 2016 (TSX: LUN; OMX: LUMI) Lundin Mining Corporation (Lundin Mining or the Company), announces production results for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2015. The Company also provides operating and capital guidance for 2016.

2015 Highlights:

Exceeded the high-end of annual production guidance for copper and nickel while meeting overall targets for zinc.

Candelaria outperformed the most recent copper production guidance due primarily to higher than expected mill throughput in Q4.

At Candelaria as previously announced, the successful exploration and mine plan optimization efforts resulted in total Mineral Reserves increasing by approximately 20% and resulted in the extension of the mine lives of all of the higher grade underground mines as well as the open pit.

Zinkgruvan achieved new annual records relating to tonnes of ore mined and milled. Annual zinc production also constituted a new record for the operation.

As at year end 2015, the Company had a net debt balance of $441 million, and did not have any amounts drawn on its $350 million revolving credit facility.

A summary of the Companys production results compared to the latest guidance is shown below and further details are provided in the tables at the end of the release.





(contained tonnes) Q4 2015 Production Results Full Year 2015 Production Results 2015 Production Guidance 1 Copper Candelaria (80%) 31,875 144,832 138,000 - 141,000 Eagle 5,996 24,331 23,000 - 24,000 Neves-Corvo 11,078 55,831 54,000 - 56,000 Zinkgruvan 5 2,044 2,000 Aguablanca 466 6,221 6,100 Wholly-owned 49,420 233,259 223,100 - 229,100 Tenke (24%) 2 n/a n/a 50,600 Total attributable n/a n/a 273,700 - 279,700 Nickel Eagle 7,074 27,167 26,000 - 27,000 Aguablanca 514 7,213 7,100 Total 7,588 34,380 33,100 - 34,100 Zinc Neves-Corvo 14,196 61,921 59,000 - 62,000 Zinkgruvan 25,339 83,451 82,000 - 85,000 Total 39,535 145,372 141,000 - 147,000

1. Guidance as presented in the Company's Management Discussion and Analysis for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2015.

2. Production results for Tenke have not yet been released by operator Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (Freeport).

Mr. Paul Conibear, President and CEO commented: The Company finished 2015 on a strong note and achieved or exceeded annual production guidance at each operation. In light of the current commodity price environment our operating and capital investment activities will continue to focus on financial flexibility and maximizing cash flows in order to preserve the Companys strong balance sheet.

2016 Production and Cost Guidance

All production guidance estimates for 2016 have remained unchanged from the figures previously disclosed on December 2, 2015.

The outlook below does not include guidance for the Aguablanca mine which remains under suspension pending further notice.

Our 2016 cash cost guidance reflects the results of cost review and reduction plans undertaken at each operation in order to help offset the cash cost impact of lower expected by-product credit metal prices.

2016 Production and Cost Guidance 1 Tonnes C1 Cost 2 Copper Candelaria (80%) 118,000  123,000 $1.55/lb Eagle 20,000  23,000 Neves-Corvo 50,000  55,000 $1.65/lb Zinkgruvan 3,500  4,000 Tenke (@24%)3 ~50,000 n/a Total attributable 241,500  255,000 Nickel Eagle 21,000  24,000 $2.25/lb Total 21,000  24,000 Zinc Neves-Corvo 65,000  70,000 Zinkgruvan 80,000  85,000 $0.45/lb Total 145,000  155,000

1. Production guidance is based on certain estimates and assumptions, including but not limited to; mineral resources and reserves, geological formations, grade and continuity of deposits and metallurgical characteristics.

2. Cash costs remain dependent upon exchange rates (forecast at /USD: 1.10, USD/SEK: 8.50, USD/CLP: 700) and metal prices (forecast at Cu: $2.05/lb, Ni: $4.15/lb, Zn: $0.70/lb, Pb: $0.70/lb, Au: $1,100/oz, Ag: $15.00/oz, Co: $13.00/lb).

3. Tenke guidance has not yet been provided by operator, Freeport. Lundin Mining anticipates production from Tenke in 2016 to be comparable to expected 2015 production.

2016 Capital Expenditure and Exploration Guidance

Capital expenditures for 2016 for mines operated by the Company are expected to be $220M, which includes:

$35M in capitalized stripping at Candelaria. This has significantly decreased from prior estimates due to a deferral of 30Mt of waste being mined from Phase 10, resulting in expected cost savings of approximately $65M in 2016.

At Candelaria spending on the Los Diques tailings facility is expected to amount to $70M in 2016. The total capex budget for the project is expected to total $325M between 2016 and 2018, in-line with prior estimates.

At Eagle sustaining capital costs are expected to total $10M in 2016, which represents a decrease of 50% compared to 2015 guidance levels.

At Neves-Corvo capital costs in 2016 are expected to total approximately $55M, in-line with guidance levels provided for 2015.

At Zinkgruvan the guidance amount of $35M for 2016 includes the spending of $8M on an expansion project which is aimed at increasing the overall mill capacity by approximately 10% by the end of 2017.

Exploration expenditures in 2016 are expected to total $40M, which represents a decrease of approximately $20M from 2015 guidance levels due to the deferral or cancelation of most greenfields exploration work.

The 2016 exploration budget comprises spending approximately $18M on exploration at Eagle East and $17M at Candelaria. All exploration activities remain discretionary and can be further reduced if necessary.

Capital & Other Costs ($ millions) 2016 Candelaria (100% basis): Total Capitalized Stripping1 35 Los Diques Tailings Capex2 70 Other Sustaining Capex 15 Total Candelaria 120 Total Eagle 10 Total Neves-Corvo 55 Total Zinkgruvan 35 Total Capital Costs 220

1. During the production phase, waste stripping costs which provide probable future economic benefits and improved access to the orebody are capitalized to mineral properties. The Company capitalizes waste costs when experienced strip ratios are above the average planned strip ratio for each open pit phase under development.

2. The Los Diques project capex is based on project review estimates completed in 2015 which assumed an USD/CLP exchange rate of 625.

About Lundin Mining

Lundin Mining Corporation is a diversified Canadian base metals mining company with operations in Chile, Portugal, Sweden, Spain and the US, producing copper, nickel and zinc. In addition, Lundin Mining holds a 24% equity stake in the world-class Tenke Fungurume copper/cobalt mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in the Freeport Cobalt Oy business, which includes a cobalt refinery in Kokkola, Finland.

On Behalf of the Board,

Paul Conibear

President and CEO

The information in this release is subject to the disclosure requirements of Lundin Mining under the Swedish Securities Market Act and/or the Swedish Financial Instruments Trading Act. This information was publicly communicated on January 21, 2016 at 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time.

For further information, please contact:

John Miniotis

Senior Manager, Corporate Development & Investor Relations

+1-416-342-5565

Sonia Tercas

Senior Associate, Investor Relations

+1-416-342-5583

Robert Eriksson

Investor Relations, Sweden

+46 8 545 015 50

Forward Looking Statements

Certain of the statements made and information contained herein is forward-looking information within the meaning of the Ontario Securities Act. This release includes, but is not limited to, forward looking statements with respect to the Companys estimated annual metal production, C1 cash costs, and capital expenditures. These estimates and other forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, risks and uncertainties relating to estimated operating and cash costs, foreign currency fluctuations; risks inherent in mining including environmental hazards, industrial accidents, unusual or unexpected geological formations, ground control problems and flooding; including risks associated with the estimation of mineral resources and reserves and the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with the Companys expectations; the potential for and effects of labour disputes or other unanticipated difficulties with or shortages of labour or interruptions in production; actual ore mined varying from estimates of grade, tonnage, dilution and metallurgical and other characteristics; the inherent uncertainty of production and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses, commodity price fluctuations; inability to successfully integrate the Candelaria operations or realize its anticipated benefits; uncertain political and economic environments; changes in laws or policies, foreign taxation, delays or the inability to obtain necessary governmental permits; and other risks and uncertainties, including those described under Risk Factors Relating to the Companys Business in the Companys Annual Information Form and in each management discussion and analysis. Forward-looking information is in addition based on various assumptions including, without limitation, the expectations and beliefs of management, the assumed long term price of copper, nickel, zinc and other metals; that the Company can access financing, appropriate equipment and sufficient labour and that the political environment where the Company operates will continue to support the development and operation of mining projects. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking statements. Accordingly, readers are advised not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

2015 Operating Statistics

Details of operating statistics by mine, by quarter and for the year are summarized below:

Candelaria

2015 (100% Basis) Total Q4 Q3 Q2 Q1 Ore mined (000s tonnes) 33,922 8,012 8,240 9,022 8,648 Ore milled (000s tonnes) 29,694 7,504 7,933 7,327 6,930 Grade Copper (%) 0.64 0.53 0.61 0.68 0.78 Recovery Copper (%) 92.7 92.2 92.4 94.0 92.6 Production (contained metal) Copper (tonnes) 181,040 39,844 45,195 46,651 49,350 Gold (000 oz) 102 23 25 27 28 Silver (000 oz) 1,874 394 433 464 583

Eagle

2015 Total Q4 Q3 Q2 Q1 Ore mined (000s tonnes) 740 190 191 175 184 Ore milled (000s tonnes) 746 183 193 184 186 Grade Nickel (%) 4.3 4.3 3.9 4.2 4.7 Copper (%) 3.4 3.4 3.5 3.1 3.6 Recovery Nickel (%) 84.2 83.8 85.0 84.4 83.5 Copper (%) 97.0 97.9 97.3 96.4 96.4 Production (contained metal) Nickel (tonnes) 27,167 7,074 6,438 6,349 7,306 Copper (tonnes) 24,331 5,996 6,514 5,403 6,418

Neves-Corvo

2015 Total Q4 Q3 Q2 Q1 Ore mined, copper (000 tonnes) 2,501 583 614 673 631 Ore mined, zinc (000 tonnes) 1,000 241 255 254 250 Ore milled, copper (000 tonnes) 2,542 584 619 699 640 Ore milled, zinc (000 tonnes) 1,014 240 257 258 259 Grade Copper (%) 2.7 2.4 2.8 2.7 2.9 Zinc (%) 8.0 7.5 8.1 7.9 8.5 Recovery Copper (%) 80.6 79.6 79.1 81.1 82.4 Zinc (%) 71.8 75.6 63.3 73.6 74.9 Production (contained metal) Copper (tonnes) 55,831 11,078 13,917 15,348 15,488 Zinc (tonnes) 61,921 14,196 14,363 16,022 17,340 Lead (tonnes) 3,077 311 366 1,080 1,320 Silver (000 oz) 1,329 270 310 359 390

Zinkgruvan

2015 Total Q4 Q3 Q2 Q1 Ore mined, zinc (000 tonnes) 1,126 313 257 289 267 Ore mined, copper (000 tonnes) 137 nil 40 52 45 Ore milled, zinc (000 tonnes) 1,096 307 260 267 262 Ore milled, copper (000 tonnes) 139 nil 52 43 44 Grade Zinc (%) 8.3 9.0 7.7 8.6 7.6 Lead (%) 3.8 4.2 4.0 3.4 3.4 Copper (%) 1.7 nil 1.1 2.4 1.5 Recovery Zinc (%) 92.1 91.5 91.5 92.8 92.6 Lead (%) 82.9 83.0 83.7 82.4 82.6 Copper (%) 88.1 nil 80.1 91.9 89.0 Production (contained metal) Zinc (tonnes) 83,451 25,339 18,458 21,237 18,417 Lead (tonnes) 34,120 10,733 8,609 7,379 7,399 Copper (tonnes) 2,044 5 475 974 590 Silver (000 oz) 2,542 729 627 622 564

Aguablanca
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Party Chief Nguyen Phu Trong. President Truong Tan Sang Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung. National Assembly Nguyen Sinh Hung. Minister of Public Security Tran Dai Quang. Former Party Chief Do Muoi. Delegates. Many international guests are also invited to the Congress. US Ambassador to Vietnam Ted Osius. The 12th National Party Congress opens The flag saluting ceremony.

The presidium. More than 1,500 delegates attend the Congress. Former Party Chief Do Muoi. Politburo member and President Truong Tan Sang delivers an opening speech. Party Chief Nguyen Phu Trong presents the Party's report. PM Nguyen Tan Dung chairs the opening session. Politburo member and permanent member of the Party Central Committee's Secretariat Le Hong Anh delivers a speech at the Congress.

Le Thi Kim Oanh, Vice President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front's Hanoi Chapter, on behalf of people nationwide, congratulates the Congress.

The Congress will end on January 28 and the 12th Central Party Executive Committee will be presented.




In Memoriam: Carroll Osborne Bennett. April 1, 1921  Jan. 9, 2016

Carroll Osborne C.O. Bennett, A UConn Engineering professor for 23 years who coauthored one of the fundamental texts of chemical engineering, died from complications of Alzheimers disease on Jan. 9, 2016 at Paris, France.

He was born April 1, 1921 in New Britain, Connecticut to Edward Wilkes Bennett and Louise (Carroll) Bennett. He graduated from New Britain High School in 1939. He received a bachelor of science degree from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1943  and played Scott Joplin rags on the piano at local bars to help pay for college. He then served as a Lieutenant in the Army Air Corps during the final three years of World War II. After the war, he spent three years at Yale University, receiving a doctorate in engineering in 1950.

While at Yale, he met Betty Jane Balch, who graduated from the Yale School of Nursing with a masters degree in 1948. They were wed on Jun 11, 1949, and moved that fall to Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, where Carroll had accepted an invitation to teach. He spent ten years at Purdue as a professor of chemical engineering. While at Purdue, Carroll and Betty Jane had three children; Edward, Elizabeth and Jonathan.

The first of the familys many extended trips to France occurred in 1952, when the University of Nancy invited Carroll to help create a chemical engineering department from the ground up. It was during that stay he gained fluency in French and made lifelong friends which kept him coming back to France throughout his career. Other sabbaticals in France followed in 1957, 1970, and 1977. Over the years, he was also was invited to teach in many locations around the world, including Chile, Algeria and South Korea.

In 1959, Carroll left Purdue to join the Lummus Company in New York as manager of process research and development. During this time, he also began writing a textbook with longtime Purdue colleague Jack Myers. In 1962, the book, Momentum, Heat and Mass Transfer, was first published. It went on to become a worldwide standard classroom and reference work.

In 1964, Carroll returned to teaching and research as a professor at the UConn School of Chemical Engineering. His focus was on better understanding catalysts, substances which facilitate chemical reactions. He did pioneering work in unsteady state kinetics and catalysis studies and built a unique high pressure research facility.

In 1980, Carroll was selected for the Warren K. Lewis Award, the American Institute of Chemical Engineerings highest award for chemical engineering education.

He was the Acting Department Head of Chemical Engineering from June through September of 1980. Carroll also received the UConn Alumni Association Faculty Excellence in Research and Creativity award in 1986.

On June 11, 1977, Carrolls wife, Betty Jane, died. On Aug. 24, 1979, he married UConn professor and Egyptologist Jean Keith. After their divorce, Carroll began spending more of his time in France, and after retiring from UConn in 1987 he moved there permanently. While living in Paris, he met and fell in love with Josette Angelloz, who was to become his companion during the final years of his life. They alternated their time between Josettes home in Paris and an apartment in Hyeres in the south of France.

For many years, Carroll continued to contribute to the chemical engineering programs in France as a consultant. Until a few months before his death, he would start every day by walking to the nearest newsstand, buying a copy of the International Herald Tribune and reading it among the statues in the Jardin du Luxembourg.

Carroll was preceded in death by his parents, Edward and Louise Bennett, and his first wife, Betty Jane Bennett. He is survived by Josette Angelloz; son Edward and his wife Georgia; daughter Elizabeth; and son Jonathan and his wife Nancy; granddaughter Molly Lemen and her husband Clint; and great-grandchildren Yule, Loch, Asher, Ishmael and Constantine.

Funeral arrangements are pending.
Monica J. Allen, JD, associate vice chancellor, deputy general counsel and chief litigation counsel at Washington University in St. Louis, has been appointed vice chancellor and general counsel, announced Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton. Her appointment is effective July 1, 2016.

Allen will succeed Michael R. Cannon, JD, who has announced that he will conclude his tenure June 30 as executive vice chancellor and general counsel after 23 years in the position. Cannon will continue full time with the university as professor of practice in Arts & Sciences and special assistant to the chancellor.

Monica Allen is an accomplished legal professional recruited to Washington University by Michael Cannon about 10 years ago, Wrighton said. I am thrilled that we have in Monica a job-ready person, with the experiences at Washington University and earlier in her legal career that prepare her for the role of vice chancellor and general counsel.

Michael Cannons contributions to our success as a university have been large in number and in consequence, Wrighton said. Personally, he has provided me wise and important counsel during my 20-plus years as chancellor, and he has provided me with the confidence needed to make the right decisions on numerous occasions and on a diverse set of issues.

No one is smarter, and no one has been more dedicated to excellence, Wrighton said. He has a characteristic that I strongly embrace: He is attentive to every detail, large and small, in dealing with the many complex issues before us. He has built an outstanding team, and he has developed a well-deserved reputation as the best general counsel in U.S. higher education. I am proud to have had the opportunity to work closely with Michael and to learn from him.

As vice chancellor and general counsel, Allen will serve as chief legal officer to the universitys Board of Trustees and chancellor and provide legal representation and counsel to all other academic and administrative components of the university, including the School of Medicine and its faculty practice plan. She will manage a legal department of 22, including 14 attorneys, and also oversee the claims-handling work of a risk management staff of nine.

Allen will report to Wrighton and be a member of the University Council, Washington Universitys senior-most leadership team comprising academic leaders and managers of vital administrative areas.

I am honored to have been selected to serve as Washington Universitys vice chancellor and general counsel, Allen said. Michael Cannon has been an exemplary leader and has built a team of very talented attorneys. I am looking forward to working with Associate Vice Chancellor and Deputy General Counsel John Powers and the rest of the legal team to continue providing the highest quality legal support to the universitys many exciting initiatives.

Allen, who holds three degrees from the university, joined the Office of Executive Vice Chancellor & General Counsel in 2006 as assistant vice chancellor and senior counsel.

She was promoted to associate vice chancellor, deputy general counsel and chief litigation counsel in 2008. She also served as acting general counsel from May through October of 2014 when Cannon was on sabbatical.

Allen earned a bachelors degree in 1980 and a masters degree in 1985, both in comparative literature in Arts & Sciences, from the university.

She earned a juris doctoris from the School of Law in 1992, graduating second in her class of 223. A member of the Order of the Coif, she also served as primary articles editor for the Washington University Law Quarterly.

Allen clerked for the Honorable Jean C. Hamilton in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri from 1992-94, where she drafted district court opinions and bench memoranda and managed a court docket of approximately 250 cases.

That was followed by positions in St. Louis with the law firm Shands, Elbert, Gianoulakis & Giljum (1994-95) and the Federal Reserve Bank (1995-97), where she was responsible for litigation management, personnel issues, contract negotiation and providing guidance to the Department of Supervision and Regulation regarding banking laws and regulations.

In 1997, she joined Haar & Woods LLP as an associate before becoming partner in January 2002. Her focus there was on litigation, handling a wide array of commercial, regulatory, professional liability and employment matters.

From 2001-07, she also served as an adjunct professor in the School of Law, which awarded her its Distinguished Young Law Alumni Award in 2010.

According to Cannon, Monica couples her extensive legal expertise and experience with deep wisdom and an unflappable temperament, all of which positions her well to serve the university with high distinction as its new general counsel for years to come.

Leader in higher education

Cannon, also an Arts & Sciences graduate, came back to the university as its general counsel in 1993 after being in private practice 13 years at law firms in Washington, D.C., specializing in insurance contract litigation, counseling and negotiation.

He began his career as a trial attorney in the U.S. Department of Justices Criminal Division handling the investigation and prosecution of high-profile public official corruption cases.

Cannon earned a bachelors degree in economics in Arts & Sciences in 1973 from Washington University, where he was elected Phi Beta Kappa and won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University.

After earning a graduate degree in politics from Oxford, he went on to Yale Law School, where he earned his juris doctoris in 1978.

According to Wrighton, Cannon has consistently and impressively led his legal team for over two decades in providing counsel on a staggeringly broad range of associated legal issues, including assuring compliance with all laws and regulations affecting education, health care and employment.

Under Cannons recommendation, the university implemented in 2000 what is believed to be the first voluntary university-wide compliance plan at an American university, becoming a national model.

In another case of successfully predicting national regulatory enforcement trends, Cannon launched a revision of the universitys protocols for responding to campus sexual assault allegations to expedite and professionalize those investigations, and did so before the issues surrounding such controversies became a matter of national attention and enforcement action.

Cannon and his team also successfully defended numerous lawsuits and established important legal precedents in areas affecting faculty research autonomy and clinical care.

In addition to his vast responsibilities handling the myriad complex legal issues facing a major research institution with an academic medical center, Cannon has held a wide range of other leadership roles during his tenure, including at one time overseeing the universitys human resources and environmental safety operations and chairing or serving on numerous executive-level search committees.

He founded and chaired for five years the universitys committee on postgraduate fellowships and scholarships, which identifies and mentors serious candidates for Rhodes, Marshall and other prestigious scholarships. He continues to provide one-on-one mentorship to several candidates each year.

Cannon, who was promoted to executive vice chancellor in 2000, created a post-graduate Fellowship in Higher Education and Health Law position in his office, providing top graduates from the universitys School of Law with a rare opportunity to work in a university legal office and receive extensive mentorship from an experienced legal team.

He helped launch collaborative academic programs between the university and IDC Herzliya in Israel, providing new study abroad opportunities for Washington University students.

As an adjunct professor in the law school, Cannon created and taught a course on insurance law and policy for 10 years.

This past fall, he taught an upper-level Arts & Sciences course on legal conflict in modern American society. He created the course to address what he saw as a need for undergraduates to have a baseline legal literacy, providing context for legal conflicts they read about or may encounter in their personal and professional lives.

Considered one of higher educations leading general counsels in the United States, Cannon received the General Counsel of the Year Award from the St. Louis Business Journal in 2015. He also received a Distinguished Alumni Award from Arts & Sciences in 2011.
By Randall Palmer OTTAWA (Reuters) - The Supreme Court of Canada decided on Friday to allow doctor-assisted suicide across the country under certain circumstances, while giving the government more time to pass a law governing the practice. The decision came as officials confirmed that a patient had already been helped to die in the French-speaking province of Quebec. The court had overturned a ban on physician-assisted suicide last February, putting Canada in the company of a handful of Western countries to make it legal. But it had said the decision would not take effect for a year, giving the government time to produce legislation. The work got off schedule because of the October election and the defeat of the Conservative government by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberals. The newly elected justice minister had asked for the decision to be suspended for an extra six months. Instead, the court gave the go-ahead for assisted suicide to begin now under certain conditions and granted the federal government four more months to come up with a national law. The Canadian government said it respected the judgment and the additional time would help it develop an approach "that protects the most vulnerable among us while respecting the inherent dignity of all Canadians." Polls show physician-assisted suicide has broad support but the issue has divided politicians in Parliament as they grapple with how to protect vulnerable Canadians while respecting their rights and choices at the end of life. The court ruled doctors would be allowed to facilitate the death of patients in Quebec, which had already put its own law into effect in December. Since the change in provincial law on Dec. 10, one person carried out an assisted suicide in Quebec City, a spokeswoman for the health and social services center for the Quebec City region said in an email. There is no way to say whether this was the first assisted-suicide under the new laws as Quebec does not currently keep such statistics, said Joanne Beauvais, a spokeswoman for provincial Health Minister Gaetan Barrette. The Supreme Court ruling said people outside Quebec can apply to their provincial superior court for judicial authorization "to those who wish to exercise their rights" to doctor-assisted death. Friday's decision was split 5-4, with Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin and three others disagreeing with giving an exemption to Quebec and to other individuals. The case is Carter v. Canada (Attorney General), 2016 SCC 4. (With additional reporting by Allison Lampert in Montreal; Additional writing by Andrea Hopkins and Jeffrey Hodgson in Toronto; Editing by Paul Simao and Sandra Maler)
WINNIPEG (Reuters) - Canadian Finance Minister Bill Morneau said on Thursday that foreign investors should be confident about the country, noting that the government has room to invest to stimulate the economy. "We believe that outside investors should be confident about Canada," Morneau told reporters in response to a question about the Canadian dollar, which has hit a 12-year low. "We have the room to make some significant investments to stimulate our economy and create a more productive Canada over the long term." The Liberals came to power last October after promising to run deficits of up to C$10 billion ($6.96 billion) a year to stimulate the economy through infrastructure spending. Sources familiar with the party's plans told Reuters the government looked certain to break that threshold this year. Morneau has been traveling across Canada this week for pre-budget consultations. His trip has coincided with a drop in oil prices that has hit the Canadian dollar and raised concerns about the prospects for the economy not long after it emerged from a mild recession. Asked about the price of oil, Morneau reiterated that he was paying close attention to it, as well as to the Canadian dollar. "In that context we know that it's doubly important to think about how we can make investments that have a positive impact on the economy," Morneau said. (Reporting by Rod Nickel; Writing by Leah Schnurr; Editing by Chris Reese and Sandra Maler)
By Angus McDowall RIYADH (Reuters) - The lifting of sanctions on Iran as a result of its nuclear deal with world powers will be a harmful development if it uses the extra money to fund "nefarious activities", Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told Reuters on Tuesday. Asked in an exclusive interview if Saudi Arabia had discussed seeking a nuclear bomb in the event Iran managed to obtain one despite its atomic deal, he said Saudi Arabia would do "whatever we need to do in order to protect our people". "I don't think it would be logical to expect us to discuss any such issue in public and I don't think it would be reasonable to expect me to answer this question one way or another," he said. Jubeir's comments were the first to directly address the lifting of sanctions on Iran, Riyadh's bitterest regional rival, although Saudi Arabia has previously welcomed Iran's nuclear deal so long as it included a tough inspections regime. But in private, officials have voiced concern that the deal would allow Iran greater scope to back militias and other allies across the region thanks to the extra funds it can access after sanctions are lifted and because of the reduced diplomatic pressure. "It depends on where these funds go. If they go to support the nefarious activities of the Iranian regime, this will be a negative and it will generate a pushback. If they go towards improving the living standards of the Iranian people then it will be something that would be welcome," Jubeir said. Saudi officials have also in recent years voiced fears that their most powerful ally, the United States, is disengaging with the Middle East, something some of them have said may have contributed to Syria's descent into civil war. Jubeir said he did not believe Washington was retreating from the region, but emphasized that the world looked to it as the sole superpower to provide stability. "If an American decline were to happen or an American withdrawal were to happen, the concern that everybody has is that it would leave a void, and whenever you have a void, or a vacuum, evil forces flow," Jubeir said. SECTARIAN TENSIONS Riyadh accuses Tehran of fomenting instability across the region and the two back opposing sides in wars in Syria and Yemen and political tussles in Iraq, Lebanon and Bahrain. Last year Saudi Arabia began a military campaign in Yemen to stop an Iranian ally from gaining power. The two rival powers accuse each other of supporting terrorism, detribalizing the region and inflaming sectarian hatred. Jubeir said Iran's support for Shi'ite Muslim militias across the region was the main source of sectarian ill will, but acknowledged that this had produced what he described as "a counter reaction in the Sunni world". Asked about inflammatory rhetoric from Saudi Sunni clerics, Jubeir said he could not comment on remarks he had not seen, but said the government encouraged dialogue and inclusion and discouraged extreme or disparaging language. The state-appointed Imam of Mecca's Grand Mosque this week wrote a Tweet alleging an "alliance of the Safavids with the Jews and Christians against Muslims", using a sectarian-tinged term often used to describe Iranians or Shi'ites. (Reporting By Angus McDowall; Editing by Ralph Boulton and Janet Lawrence)
By Heide Brandes

OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - A former Oklahoma City police officer convicted of raping four women and sexually assaulting several others while he was on duty was sentenced on Thursday to 263 consecutive years in prison, the maximum allowable sentence.

In December, an Oklahoma City jury found Daniel Holtzclaw, 29, guilty on 18 of 36 charges of sexual assault, including rape. The sentence was given by District Judge Timothy Henderson and came after victims told the court on Thursday that the former officer had destroyed their lives.

Prosecutors said Holtzclaw preyed on women who had trouble with the law and forced them into sex, hoping their word would not hold up against his in court.

"I so desperately want my life back - the life I had before he took it away," Jannie Ligons, one of the victims of Holtzclaw, told the court in an impact statement.

Holtzclaw, wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, did not speak on his own behalf. His lawyers said after the sentence was handed down that they planned to appeal.

Another victim, Sherry Ellis, told the court she never thought a police officer would do what Holtzclaw did.

"He deserves what he gets. There will never be a day where I don't think of how I was violated," Ellis said.

Ahead of the sentencing, the judge denied a defense motion filed a day earlier seeking a new trial.

Thirteen women testified against the former officer at his trial last year, describing encounters in which Holtzclaw forced his victims to perform sexual acts on him.

Holtzclaw sexually abused multiple women between December 2013 and June 2014, targeting victims from a poorer, mostly African-American area of Oklahoma City, prosecutors said.

Holtzclaw, who did not testify at his trial, was fired over the accusations in January 2015 after approximately three years on the job.

He broke down in tears when he was found guilty, telling jurors "I didn't do it," as he was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs.

(Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and James Dalgleish)
London (AFP) - Former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed landed in Britain on Thursday, his aide told AFP, after the Indian Ocean islands' government granted him prison leave for urgent surgery.

"We have just landed," said Sabra Noordeen, who was travelling with Nasheed, whose conviction last March on terror-related charges has been widely criticised.

A smiling Nasheed, who wore a suit and tie, later walked into the terminal at Heathrow Airport and was met by his British lawyer Amal Clooney, wife of Hollywood star George Clooney, an AFP photographer saw.

He left the Maldives on Monday for Sri Lanka after resolving a last-minute legal dispute with the government over his 30-day release for the spinal cord surgery in the UK.

He then left for Britain on Thursday.

The Maldives government said Nasheed was travelling under what diplomatic sources described as a deal brokered by India, Sri Lanka and Britain.

But Nasheed refused a government request to leave a relative behind to act as a guarantor liable to prosecution if he failed to return to serve the rest of his sentence.

After a tense back and forth over conditions, the government finally agreed late Monday to let him leave.

His aides said he had held extensive meetings with Western ambassadors in Colombo to discuss the political turmoil on the upmarket holiday archipelago.

Nasheed, 48, became the first democratically elected president of the Maldives in 2008 and served for four years before he was toppled in what he called a coup backed by the military and police.

He was sentenced to 13 years in jail on terrorism charges relating to the arrest of an allegedly corrupt judge in 2012, when he was still in power.

The UN has said his trial was seriously flawed and he should be released and compensated for wrongful detention.

But hardline President Abdulla Yameen has refused to accept the UN ruling and has been resisting international pressure to release Nasheed.

Yameen is a half-brother of former strongman Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who ruled for 30 years until his defeat by Nasheed in the country's first multi-party elections in 2008.
Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) (AFP) - Worsening relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran are diverting attention from the "real challenges" facing Muslims, the head of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation said on Thursday.

Iyad Madani was addressing an extraordinary meeting of the 57-member OIC, called by Saudi Arabia after protesters in Iran burned its diplomatic missions there in early January.

They attacked Riyadh's embassy in Tehran and a consulate in the second city of Mashhad after the kingdom executed Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, a driving force behind anti-government protests.

The attacks "contradict diplomatic standards", and "interference in the affairs of any member state undermines our organisation's charter," said Madani, referring to criticism by Iran's leaders of Nimr's execution.

"It is clear that the continued deterioration of relations between some of our member states contributes to deepening rifts" among Islamic nations, Madani said.

He said such tensions "distract us from addressing the real challenges", including "terrorism", which threaten members of the organisation that calls itself the collective voice of the Muslim world.

"It is regretful that the reality of the Islamic division and differences negatively affect the performance of the OIC" and its international credibility, Madani told the group based in the Red Sea city of Jeddah.

Sunni Saudi Arabia and some of its allies cut diplomatic ties with Shiite Iran as a result of the violence against its missions.

Nimr was one of four Shiites put to death on January 2 alongside 43 Sunnis. All were convicted of "terrorism".

The tensions between the leading Sunni and Shiite nations have caused concern around the world.

China, France and Pakistan have also sought a de-escalation.

Madani called for "building bridges of understanding and restoring mutual trust" through dialogue.

This will prevent conflicts "that will waste energy and hinder the development of our people," he said.

Iran sacked a senior security official over his failure to stop the attack on Riyadh's embassy. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday said the attack was wrong and against Islam.
By Rod Nickel (Reuters) - The suspension of production at an eastern Canadian mine may lead Potash Corp of Saskatchewan Inc to shelve plans to build a new West Coast shipping terminal with partners Mosaic Co and Agrium Inc, Potash Chief Executive Jochen Tilk said on Thursday. Canpotex Ltd, owned by the three companies, has been considering construction of the terminal at Prince Rupert, British Columbia. Potash said on Tuesday it would shut its newest mine, Picadilly, in New Brunswick, due to weak market conditions. The company also said its storage and loading facilities at Saint John, New Brunswick, with capacity of handling 2.5 million tonnes annually, could now be used by Canpotex. It ships potash offshore that Potash Corp, Mosaic and Agrium produce in the western province of Saskatchewan. The decision allows Canpotex to "indefinitely defer" a decision on the C$900 million Prince Rupert terminal, Tilk told a CIBC investor conference in Whistler, British Columbia. "We certainly dont anticipate making that decision in the next 10 years, so were very good with our port facilities on the West Coast and on the East Coast," he said. Canpotex has made no final decision about the Prince Rupert terminal, said Chief Executive Ken Seitz. With port facilities in New Brunswick now available, Canpotex is reviewing its supply-chain strategy, he said. The review will include looking at the Prince Rupert terminal's feasibility, with a decision likely this year, Seitz said. Tilk also said Potash Corps board of directors would discuss the companys dividend next week. Analysts have speculated that Potash will reduce its dividend. (Reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg, Manitoba; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli and Tom Brown)
By Irene Preisinger KREUTH, Germany (Reuters) - Germany said on Wednesday Austria's decision to cap the number of refugees it will let in and tighten border controls was "not helpful" to German efforts to negotiate a European Union-wide solution to the migrant crisis and ensure Turkey's support. Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke during a meeting with her conservative allies in Bavaria, the state bordering Austria that serves as an entry point for virtually all migrants heading to Germany, two members of the Bavarian party told Reuters. Merkel is under popular pressure to cap migrant arrivals that last year reached 1.1 million, reducing her popularity and fuelling support for an anti-immigration populist party. She wants to stem the influx by improving conditions at Syrian refugee camps in Lebanon and Jordan, giving Turkey aid in exchange for a crackdown on people smugglers responsible for the passage into Europe of many of the migrants from that country, and distributing refugees across the EU based on a quota system. Her efforts have produced little tangible results to calm critics at home, including her Christian Social Union coalition ally in Bavaria who want her to reverse her open-door policy for refugees and shut Germany's borders. Some 3,000 migrants continue to stream over the border from Austria on average each day and if the trend continues Germany will have over a million more asylum seekers by the end of 2016. Two members of the CSU who attended the meeting with Merkel in Kreuth near Munich said she had criticized Austria's decision to limit the number of people allowed to claim asylum there this year at less than half the 2015 total of 90,000. CSU leader Horst Seehofer said after the talks with Merkel that his party did not believe the chancellor would be able to broker a solution on the European level any time soon. "Today was disappointing," he told ARD television. "There was no trace of a concession. Tough politics await us in the next weeks and months." He added: "We don't believe that in the near future a solution will be found in Europe to limit the number of refugees. Therefore we as Germans have to act now." Speaking at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said that Austria's decision was a "cry for help" from Europe. Gabriel, who serves as Merkel's deputy in a right-left coalition government, added that there was only a broad EU solution to the refugee crisis and that closing borders across the continent would lead to an "economic catastrophe". INTERIM CONCLUSIONS AT EU SUMMIT Merkel has expressed fear that shutting borders across Europe's Schengen zone of passport-free travel would menace the very existence of the euro common currency and EU single market. Eastern European EU members wary of immigration are loath to help Germany, Austria and Sweden, which have taken in a huge majority of migrants. France, where the anti-immigrant National Front is on the rise, has also been cool to refugee quotas. Austria's decision came on the same day as Serbia's announcement that it would deny migrants access to its territory unless they plan to seek asylum in Austria or Germany. Arriving at the CSU meeting, Merkel said her government would bring new proposals on tackling the refugee crisis to an EU summit in mid-February. "Then we can draw an interim conclusion, then another interim conclusion, and then we will see where we stand," she said. Merkel's open-door refugee policy, and her insistence that Germany can cope with last year's influx, has strained local infrastructures and divided her conservatives. Mass sexual attacks on women in Cologne and other German cities at New Year that have been largely blamed on young migrant men have deepened public scepticism about her policy. Support for Merkel, long her conservative bloc's main electoral asset, dropped 4 points to 44 percent if a theoretical presidential-style vote were to be held in Germany, a poll showed on Wednesday. Nonetheless, Merkel remains way ahead of her Social Democrat (SPD) rival Gabriel, who was up 1 point at 16 percent. Merkel's conservatives share power with the SPD in a "grand coalition". (Additional reporting by Noah Barkin in Davos, Madeline Chambers and Paul Carrel in Berlin; Writing by Joseph Nasr; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Copenhagen (AFP) - Danish lawmakers on Thursday gave a final nod to drastic reforms curbing the rights of asylum seekers as legal and human rights experts castigated Copenhagen for turning its back on its international commitments.

The new law backed by the country's right-wing government would delay family reunifications, confiscate migrants' valuables and make already stringent permanent residency requirements even tougher.

Danish Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen meanwhile appeared before the UN on Thursday for a review of Denmark's human rights policies.

In the Human Rights Council's first review of the country's rights record since 2011, several countries decried Denmark's tighter migration rules and voiced alarm over rising xenophobia.

In Copenhagen, the Danish speaker of parliament presented the bill Thursday in its final form to the assembly for its second reading, and was a last chance for lawmakers to demand changes.

Just one request was presented and swiftly rejected by legislators, as a majority have already agreed to back the bill in its existing form following thorny negotiations.

"The big legislative work... has already been done," said University of Copenhagen political science professor Kasper Moller Hansen said of Thursday's expeditious procedure.

As a result, Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen's minority government, supported in parliament by an anti-immigration far-right party that has for 15 years dictated increasingly restrictive immigration policies, is assured of winning a January 26 parliamentary vote.

- Seizing valuables -

Fearing a domino effect across Europe, the UN refugee agency UNHCR has decried the bill, saying it "could fuel fear (and) xenophobia".

Once a champion of refugees' rights, Denmark would be in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the UN Refugee Convention, the UNHCR concluded in a January report.

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Unfazed, Copenhagen maintains it is not able to finance more migrants nor integrate them into society.

"Denmark's immigration policy is decided in Denmark, not in Brussels," Integration Minister Inger Stojberg of Rasmussen's Venstre party has repeatedly said.

The confiscation of migrants' valuables has been the reform that has dominated international headlines.

The bill allows Danish authorities to seize asylum seekers' cash exceeding 10,000 kroner (1,340 euros, $1,450), as well as any individual items valued at more than 10,000 kroner. Wedding rings and other items of sentimental value are exempt.

Legal experts have however voiced more alarm over the measures, which make it harder to obtain family reunifications and residency permits.

- Violating conventions -

Copenhagen wants to increase from one year to three years the waiting period for war refugees before they can apply to bring over their family members.

Amnesty International's deputy director for Europe, Gauri van Gulik, denounced a "discriminatory practice" in singling out refugees already traumatised by war.

Undeterred, Rasmussen has suggested Denmark may seek a revision of the UN Refugee Convention if the migrant crisis "continues or gets worse".

In a January 15 letter to Stojberg, the Council of Europe's commissioner for human rights, Nils Muiznieks, said the issue of family reunifications raises "issues of compatibility with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights which protects the right to respect for one's family life."

The bill "could also infringe on the rights of children to live within their family environment, as prescribed by the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of the Child."

"Those are his personal views," Venstre's Jensen retorted.

"The Council of Europe, as an organisation, has not started any type of case against Denmark," he told AFP.

Home to 5.6 million people, Denmark registered 21,000 asylum applications in 2015, making it one of the top EU destinations per capita for migrants.

The country implemented spot checks on its border with Germany on January 4, the same day neighbouring Sweden introduced controls on its frontier with Denmark to stem the flow of refugees.

The number of asylum seekers has fallen from a daily average of about a hundred to just 17 on Wednesday.

As elsewhere in Europe, tensions have begun to emerge between locals and migrants as the continent struggles to cope with its largest migration flow since 1945.

Young women have filed police reports against migrants for inappropriate behaviour, while one nightclub in Sonderborg bars entry to those who do not speak English, Danish or German and other establishments are now considering following its lead.

Critics believe the bill could hurt Denmark's international standing.

"There will be very significant diplomatic, political and legal criticism of Denmark," human rights lawyer Poul Hauch Fenger told AFP.

European MPs were to discuss the Danish bill on Monday in the European parliament's civil liberties committee.

Once voted by parliament next week, Denmark's Queen Margrethe will sign the bill into law within a few days. No date has been set for the law to go into force, but it is expected in early February, according to observers.
Hanoi (AFP) - Vietnam began a crucial political transition Thursday as the five-yearly Communist Party congress convened to pick new leaders amid a bitter factional fight, the outcome of which could set the pace of key economic reforms.

Police closed roads and jammed mobile phone signals as communist leaders and some 1,500 party delegates met in Hanoi for week-long closed-door talks.

The country's top three positions -- party general secretary, president and prime minister -- are up for grabs.

As delegates gathered in a vast hall under portraits of revolutionary leaders Ho Chi Minh, Marx and Lenin, there were indications that the party old guard would push out pro-market leaning reformers led by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

"Nguyen Tan Dung's political career can be declared 'clinically dead,'" one senior communist party official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP.

Dung, who presided over Vietnam joining the World Trade Organization and the US-led Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, had been tipped by analysts to move up to the powerful position of party general secretary.

While many cautioned it was too early to rule him out entirely, they said his name does not appear on a leaked list of candidates for the top leadership posts.

Any sidelining of Dung would be a victory for incumbent party leader Nguyen Phu Trong -- a conservative apparatchik who has been manoeuvring to extend his term and install allies in top positions.

"The path of socialism is still suitable to the reality in Vietnam," Trong, who is seen as closer to Beijing, said as he opened the meeting Thursday.

Dissidents had warned that Dung risked becoming "Vietnam's Putin" if he was promoted to party leader, in reference to his hanging on to power beyond the two-term limit he has served as Prime Minister.

Despite prior allegations of corruption, he is the preferred choice for the top post of most foreign investors, eager for greater access to the rapidly growing consumer market of some 90 million people.

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- Slow economic reforms? -

To ordinary Vietnamese the congress is a bloated re-run of internal party battles with little bearing on their day-to-day lives.

"I don't like any of this country's leaders but if I could choose, I'd pick the business-minded ones," Duc Trung, 37, told AFP, rather than the ideologues "with their theories which have no bearing on reality".

Yet if the star of 66-year-old Dung wanes, analysts say it will be bad news for reformers and the Vietnamese economy.

While neither side is likely to dramatically change course, Dung's faction is broadly more competent and pro-market.

"With Dung, the country will move much further and much more quickly," on issues like market reforms, free trade deals, and security ties with the US, Vietnam expert Carl Thayer told AFP.

Dung is also seen as more outspoken on a maritime dispute with China, which this week moved an oil rig into waters claimed by Hanoi.

"China always keeps up the pressure on the Vietnamese leadership, especially before and during the party congress," said Duong Danh Dy, a retired Vietnamese diplomat who spent 14 years at the embassy in Beijing.

China last moved the rig into contested waters in 2014, triggering protests and riots in Vietnam that left at least three people dead, and prompting Hanoi to move closer to its former wartime foe the United States.

The party congress will also approve a five-year economic blueprint, which will seek to build on recent impressive economic growth of nearly seven percent annually, a rate that is one of Asia's strongest.

With a slew of foreign trade agreements including the US-led TPP pact ahead, experts and foreign investors are urging Vietnam's leadership to pursue long-stalled domestic reforms.

Those include overhauling the banking sector and moving more aggressively on privatising state-owned companies.
By David Ljunggren SAINT ANDREWS, New Brunswick (Reuters) - Canada's Liberal government could push back its first federal budget to April to give policymakers a better idea of the impact low commodity prices are having on the economy, a senior Liberal official said on Tuesday. Canadian governments usually unveil their budgets in late February or March, but a collapse in oil prices to their lowest levels since 2003 is making fiscal predictions more difficult than usual. "April is definitely an option this year," said the source, who asked to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of the topic. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau led his Liberals to an election win last year on the back of a promise to run three consecutive budgets with deficits of no more than C$10 billion ($6.9 billion) a year. Officials say the worsening economic situation means the deficits will be larger than C$10 billion, but added that no final decision has been made yet on the size of the projected shortfalls. If the Liberals do push back the date of the budget's release, it will mirror a similar move by the former Conservative government. Last year, then Finance Minister Joe Oliver waited until April 21, citing a need to get a better idea of where oil prices would end up. (Reporting by David Ljunggren, editing by G Crosse)
Cairo (AFP) - Chinese President Xi Jinping announced Thursday billions of dollars in special loans and investments in the Middle East as Beijing seeks to boost its economic ties and clout in the region.

Xi offered China's financial support in an address to the Cairo-based Arab League after holding talks with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi during his first tour to the Middle East as president.

Xi arrived in Cairo late Wednesday from Saudi Arabia and will travel on Friday to Iran, the last leg of his three-nation tour.

Xi offered $55 billion in loans and investments to the Middle East.

"China will offer $15 billion (13.8 billion euros) as special loans for industrial projects in the Middle East," he told the Arab League.

Another $10 billion would be provided as commercial loans to boost cooperation in the energy sector and an equivalent amount will be offered as preferential loans, he said.

Xi also announced the establishment of a common investment fund worth $20 billion for Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Beijing has long taken a backseat to other diplomatic players in the Middle East but analysts say the region is crucial to Xi's signature foreign policy initiative -- known as "One Belt One Road" -- touted as a revival of ancient Silk Road trade routes.

China, the world's second-largest economy, also relies heavily on oil and gas imported from the energy-rich Middle East.

"We are not setting up proxies or building a sphere of influence in the region," Xi told the Arab League.

- Deals with Egypt -

Xi signed a slew of separate agreements with Cairo for undertaking projects in sectors like electricity, transportation and infrastructure.

"The total investments in these projects would be $15 billion. These projects will offer a new impetus to the economic development of Egypt," he said in a joint statement with Sisi.

Sisi said the agreements were the "best evidence of the two countries' determination to improve their levels of cooperation."

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In an article in state-run newspaper Al-Ahram ahead of his visit, Xi expressed China's backing for Egypt running its affairs without outside interference.

"China supports the people of Egypt in making independent choices for the future of their own country," he wrote.

Xi's visit to Egypt comes just ahead of the January 25 anniversary of the 2011 revolution that toppled longtime Egyptian autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

Mubarak's ouster was followed by unrest and a military overthrow of his Islamist successor Mohamed Morsi, the country's first freely elected president, by then-army chief Sisi.

- Saudi-Iran row -

Later Thursday Xi was to visit the famed temple city of Luxor to attend celebrations marking six decades of diplomatic relations between Cairo and Beijing.

His trip to Luxor is also seen as an attempt to lure Chinese holidaymakers to Egypt, whose economy is heavily dependant on revenues from the tourism sector.

In Saudi Arabia, Xi met with King Salman and oversaw the opening of a joint-venture oil refinery in the Yanbu Industrial City on the Red Sea.

Saudi Arabia is China's biggest global supplier of crude.

Few details have emerged of Xi's talks with leaders in Riyadh but late on Wednesday the Saudi Press Agency reported that the two countries decided to establish a "comprehensive strategic partnership".

During his visit to Riyadh, Xi had been expected to seek to ease tensions between Saudi Arabia, the region's main Sunni power, and Shiite rival Iran.

Saudi Arabia and a number of its Sunni Arab allies broke diplomatic ties with Tehran this month after protesters angry over Riyadh's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric ransacked Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran.

Iran and Saudi Arabia back opposing sides in a range of Middle East conflicts, including in Syria and Yemen, and there are fears the row could derail diplomatic efforts to resolve them.

Xi was expected in Iran, just days after sanctions were lifted when Tehran implemented its historic nuclear deal with world powers.

China, with the United States, Britain, France, Germany and Russia, was among the countries that reached the agreement with Iran in July to curtail its nuclear activities in exchange for ending international sanctions.
Canadian Government Ends Conditional Pesticide Registrations

Conditional registrations have been granted when scientific review determines the risks of a pesticide are acceptable but additional confirming data are required. Conditional registrations don't undergo a public consultation until the registration is amended, renewed, or converted to a full registration.

Jane Philpott, Canada's minster of health, announced Jan. 19 that the government of Canada will stop granting new conditional registrations of pesticides as of June 1, 2016. She described this as an important step in improving the transparency of Canada's pesticide regulatory system.

According to Health Canada, pesticides are registered in Canada after a rigorous scientific evaluation determines that no harm to human health, future generations, or the environment will result from exposure or use to them. "Conditional registrations have been granted on occasion when the scientific review determines that the risks of a pesticide are acceptable but that additional confirmatory information is required. Unlike full registrations, conditional registrations do not undergo a public consultation until the registration is amended, renewed, or converted to a full registration," according to the agency, which reported that "moving away from conditional registrations will provide reassurance that all pesticide registration decisions are made with the same high level of scientific and public scrutiny."

"The government of Canada is committed to making regulatory decisions that are open and transparent, which is why we have decided to discontinue the use of conditional registrations," Philpott said.

A Notice of Intent has been posted on Health Canada's website; the agency is accepting comments until March 19, 2016. The final decision will be published after all comments have been considered. Currently, about 1 percent of all pesticides in Canada are conditionally registered.

Registered pesticides regularly are re-evaluated to ensure that they continue to meet human health and environmental standards.
News

Citrix Names Former Microsoft Dynamics Chief Tatarinov as New CEO

Citrix Systems Inc., in the midst of a company restructuring effort, announced that former Microsoft chief Kirill Tatarinov is the new CEO.

Tatarinov was a 13-year veteran of Microsoft before he left the company last summer as part of a companywide reorg. He spent his last eight years at Microsoft leading its Business Solutions Division, which included, among other Microsoft products, the Dynamics CRM and ERP line of business applications. Before Microsoft, he was the senior vice president and CTO of BMC Software.

Tatarinov's CEO role at Citrix will take effect on Jan. 25, when he will also join the company's board of directors. He succeeds Mark Templeton, who announced his retirement from Citrix in mid-2015 after 14 years as CEO.

"Following a thorough review of candidates, the Board determined that Kirill's strong product management background and extensive technology leadership experience make him the right person to oversee Citrix's innovation and growth strategy," said Robert Calderoni, Citrix executive chairman, as well as interim CEO and president in the wake of Templeton's announcement, in a prepared statement.

Tatarinov's appointment to CEO has been the most significant step in a series of major restructuring moves at Citrix, which in recent years has struggled to grow at the same pace as its virtualization and cloud computing rivals. The company reported significant financial losses in its fiscal 2014 and announced plans early last year to lay off about 900 employees.

In mid-2015 Citrix gave activist investor Elliott Management, which had been urging Citrix to spin off its non-core businesses to improve its bottom line, a seat at its board. Since then, Citrix has either discontinued or sold off several products, including its XenClient VDI product, its GoTo line of virtual conferencing applications, and its cloud management products, CloudPlatform and CloudPortal Business Manager.

"I am honored to join Citrix during this exciting time," Tatarinov said in a prepared statement. "Citrix is an iconic company with a world-class brand, innovative products, and a large installed base, including 99 percent of the Global 500. Citrix is a key enabler of digital business. Across every industry and region, the secure delivery of apps and data is a strategic imperative for organizations of all sizes. I look forward to working alongside Citrix's leaders, talented employees, and dedicated partners around the world to push the boundaries of innovation and create greater value together."
Disneyland Resort in California. (Photo: Cd637/Wikimedia Commons)

There remains a mystery about the possibility of a Disney Laos being built, according to The Nation, with business leaders in nearby Nakhon Phanom in Northeast Thailand trying to verify a report that construction of the project will commence soon. The local government is concerned that the report is a hoax, but could still trigger a round of land price speculation in the province.

Charnyuth Uppapong, chairman of the provincial chamber of commerce, is unable to confirm if construction work is scheduled to take place despite having discussions with officials in the Khammuan province of Laos where the supposed park is set to be built.

He added that this could see investors purchasing land in an attempt to jump on what could be a lucrative opportunity for the region. He explained that if the report of Disney Laos is true, the province could benefit greatly from both tourists coming to visit the area during their trip and people from Laos having more spending power and coming across the border to make purchases.

If this is true, it would bring great benefits to Nakhon Phanom as our province could be a transport centre, thanks to our readiness in terms of roads and airport, said Charnyuth. We have thousands of restaurants and hotels. If Disney Laos takes shape, Nakhon Phanom would be the must-visit province to all.

But Tharin Phanthumai of the provinces tourism council is not convinced that the project will actually happen because of several logistical issues. What concerns me is this could be a hoax, designed to drive up land prices. This will affect real estate development. If this is a hoax, it would definitely hurt Thailand, he shared.

Somjith Aliyaphaphone, chairman of Akane Farm Sole, a Lao investor in the project, told the Vientiane Times that Disney Laos would be part of the third phase of a massive investment project in Khammuans Thakhek Specific Economic Zone. He noted that any further reports on the project would be released at the end of this month, but that could be too late for officials in Nakhon Phanom to stop speculators from buying up land in the region.

This article was first published on DDproperty.com, Thailands leading property site.

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AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The Dutch Finance Ministry said on Thursday it was "disappointed" with an EU Commission order to do away with corporate tax exemptions for six ports, including Rotterdam, Europe's largest.

The measure puts the Netherlands at a disadvantage, the government said in a statement, calling on the Commission to ensure fair competition.

European Union regulators told Dutch authorities on Thursday to scrap a corporate tax exemption for the ports and also ordered Belgium and France to align their port taxation systems with the bloc's state aid rules.

"The Commission's decisions today regarding the Netherlands, Belgium and France make clear that if port operators generate profits from economic activities these should be taxed," European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said.

The port companies to be taxed from January 2017, are Groningen Seaports N.V., Havenbedrijf Amsterdam N.V., Havenbedrijf Rotterdam N.V., Havenschap Moerdijk, N.V. Port of Den Helder and Zeeland Seaports.

The Dutch case came about after the government passed a law in June that subjected public entities to corporate tax starting from January 2016 with the exception of the ports.

A generous Dutch corporate tax climate helps dozens of the world's largest business lower tax rates to a single digit. It has also been criticised by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation in Europe (OECD).

The Netherlands has appealed another Commission ruling, ordering it to claw back millions in tax from coffee giant Starbucks.

(Reporting by Anthony Deutsch; Editing by Alison Williams)
These Are The Highest Paying Industries for Polytechnic Graduates in Singapore

I grew up in a time when people assumed JC education was superior to Polytechnic education. After almost flunking my A-Levels and spending most of my 20s in University, I sometimes wish I had the chance to go back in time and tell my younger self to go to Poly instead.

That being said, the decision to go into Polytechnic should always depend on whether you have a clue what you want to do with your life. 16-year-old me still wouldnt have known what he wanted to do with life. All he wanted to do was make a difference in the world, and earn a fair bit of money while doing so.

I wish I had something like the Polytechnic Graduate Employment Survey back in my time. The results for the latest survey are out, and apparently fresh polytechnic graduates today can expect to earn a median salary of $2,100 a month.

But which courses lead to jobs that pay the most?

The Survey results are presented this way:

Course Category Median Gross Monthly Salary for Fresh Graduates Median Gross Monthly Salary for Post-NS Graduates Health Sciences $2,350 $2,610 Built Environment, Engineering and Maritime $2,200 $2,500 Business, Management, Design & Others $2,000 $2,500 Information & Digital Technologies $2,000 $2,478 Applied Sciences $2,000 $2,338 Hybrid Courses $2,000 $2,300 All Courses $2,100 $2,500

Of course the survey results wouldnt say specifically which diplomas command the highest salaries, so heres our educated guesses on the courses a list of the highest paying diplomas would include.

1. Diploma in Optometry

Singapore loves being number 1 in the world. Except were also number 1 for childhood myopia between seven and nine years of age. Thats a pretty crazy statistic but really not surprising. In the first few months of National Service I was assigned to a special platoon in BMT  we all suffered from acute myopia. An entire platoon of recruits, practically blind without our glasses.

As a result, optometrists are in high demand in Singapore. But only a 120 or so students go into the three-year Diploma in Optometry each year. Both Singapore Polytechnic and Ngee Ann Polytechnic offer this course. The interesting thing is that there currently is no full-time Degree in Optometry offered in Singapore, the only degree course shut down in 2013 when it couldnt meet its enrolment target of 60 students.

Story continues

Optometrists in Singapore today are earning a median of $3,571, based on MOMs Occupational Wage Table for 2014. Someone starting out could possibly expect to earn about $3,000.

2. Diploma in Micro and Nanotechnology/Diploma in Nanotechnology and Materials Science

One of the few manufacturing industries that remains a driving force in Singapore is the semiconductor industry. This is despite stiff competition from countries like Malaysia and China, which enjoy lower labour costs and as a result, lower production costs. Sadly, while it once enjoyed a huge boom, the semiconductor industry is now seen as a sunset industry. In response, companies are diversifying their business, entering into other sectors while still retaining their core advanced manufacturing advantage.

It therefore still makes lots of sense to enter the nanotechnology diploma courses offered by Nanyang Polytechnic and Republic Polytechnic. Graduates of these courses usually become assistant or associate engineers in a variety of roles.

Assistant and associate engineers are earning a median of $3,310, based on MOMs Occupational Wage Table for 2014. Someone starting out could expect to earn about $2,500.

3. Diploma in Banking and Finance

This is a no-brainer, honestly. The finance industry is generally capable of sustaining the significantly higher incomes that almost all their employees earn. Even though a diploma may not accelerate your journey up the corporate ladder as quickly as a degree, theres no reason you cant earn incredible salaries in your starting role  especially if that role is foreign exchange dealer/broker, one of the 10 highest paying jobs of 2015.

But even if youre not losing sleep and putting your long-term health at risk by working as a foreign exchange broker, finance diploma graduates can look forward to a myriad of jobs, including financial planning, accountancy, corporate finance and risk management.

A credit and loans officer, for example, can earn a median of $3,510, based on MOMs Occupational Wage Table for 2014. Someone starting out in the finance industry could expect to earn about $2,700.

One last word

Its interesting to note from the Survey which courses did not lead to very high-paying jobs. The category of Hybrid Courses saw the lowest median monthly salaries among the respondents. Strangely enough, this category includes courses like Aviation Management and Services, Financial Informatics and Logistics Management, that typically lead to high paying industries.

Perhaps one reason why graduates of these courses were unable to command higher salaries is because hybrid courses are a combination of 2 or more disciplines. For example, Aviation Management combines Aviation modules with Business modules. While this would be expected to lead to a more all-rounded learning experience, employers may not be willing to pay for what they perceive as a less in-depth education.

Ultimately though, you shouldnt be choosing a course based on what pays the best  thats a sure way to end up doing something you probably wont like and will make you unhappy at work. If you know what you want to do in life, do it, and do it well, regardless of how much it pays at first.

How did you choose your course in Polytechnic? Let us know in the comments.

Image Credits:

Michelle Lee.

The post These Are The Highest Paying Industries for Polytechnic Graduates in Singapore appeared first on the MoneySmart blog.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping announced Thursday billions of dollars in special loans and investments in the Middle East as Beijing seeks to boost its economic ties and clout in the region. Xi offered China's financial support in an address to the Cairo-based Arab League after holding talks with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi during his first tour to the Middle East as president. Xi arrived in Cairo late Wednesday from Saudi Arabia and will travel on Friday to Iran, the last leg of his three-nation tour. Xi offered $55 billion in loans and investments to the Middle East. "China will offer $15 billion (13.8 billion euros) as special loans for industrial projects in the Middle East," he told the Arab League. Another $10 billion would be provided as commercial loans to boost cooperation in the energy sector and an equivalent amount will be offered as preferential loans, he said. Xi also announced the establishment of a common investment fund worth $20 billion for Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Beijing has long taken a backseat to other diplomatic players in the Middle East but analysts say the region is crucial to Xi's signature foreign policy initiative -- known as "One Belt One Road" -- touted as a revival of ancient Silk Road trade routes. China, the world's second-largest economy, also relies heavily on oil and gas imported from the energy-rich Middle East. "We are not setting up proxies or building a sphere of influence in the region," Xi told the Arab League. - Deals with Egypt - Xi signed a slew of separate agreements with Cairo for undertaking projects in sectors like electricity, transportation and infrastructure. "The total investments in these projects would be $15 billion. These projects will offer a new impetus to the economic development of Egypt," he said in a joint statement with Sisi. Sisi said the agreements were the "best evidence of the two countries' determination to improve their levels of cooperation." In an article in state-run newspaper Al-Ahram ahead of his visit, Xi expressed China's backing for Egypt running its affairs without outside interference. "China supports the people of Egypt in making independent choices for the future of their own country," he wrote. Xi's visit to Egypt comes just ahead of the January 25 anniversary of the 2011 revolution that toppled longtime Egyptian autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Mubarak's ouster was followed by unrest and a military overthrow of his Islamist successor Mohamed Morsi, the country's first freely elected president, by then-army chief Sisi. - Saudi-Iran row - Later Thursday Xi was to visit the famed temple city of Luxor to attend celebrations marking six decades of diplomatic relations between Cairo and Beijing. His trip to Luxor is also seen as an attempt to lure Chinese holidaymakers to Egypt, whose economy is heavily dependant on revenues from the tourism sector. In Saudi Arabia, Xi met with King Salman and oversaw the opening of a joint-venture oil refinery in the Yanbu Industrial City on the Red Sea. Saudi Arabia is China's biggest global supplier of crude. Few details have emerged of Xi's talks with leaders in Riyadh but late on Wednesday the Saudi Press Agency reported that the two countries decided to establish a "comprehensive strategic partnership". During his visit to Riyadh, Xi had been expected to seek to ease tensions between Saudi Arabia, the region's main Sunni power, and Shiite rival Iran. Saudi Arabia and a number of its Sunni Arab allies broke diplomatic ties with Tehran this month after protesters angry over Riyadh's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric ransacked Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran. Iran and Saudi Arabia back opposing sides in a range of Middle East conflicts, including in Syria and Yemen, and there are fears the row could derail diplomatic efforts to resolve them. Xi was expected in Iran, just days after sanctions were lifted when Tehran implemented its historic nuclear deal with world powers. China, with the United States, Britain, France, Germany and Russia, was among the countries that reached the agreement with Iran in July to curtail its nuclear activities in exchange for ending international sanctions.
A Mauritanian Al-Qaeda jihadist, on death row until his escape on New Year's Eve, was re-arrested on Tuesday night after crossing the Guinea-Bissau border into Guinea, security sources said Wednesday. "Cheikh Ould Saleck, was on the run for three weeks, and from Mauritania entered Senegal then Guinea-Bissau," a high-ranking police source who asked not to be identified told AFP. He said Ould Saleck, 31, was arrested near the border there, but security sources in Guinea and Guinea-Bissau said he was nabbed inside Guinea, not far from the border. A Mauritanian source said the escaped prisoner would "soon" be extradited back home. Prior to his arrest, Ould Saleck, on death row since 2011 over an Al-Qaeda plot to assassinate Mauritania's president, was last seen by fellow inmates at Nouakchott's central prison at midday on December 31. His absence from evening prayers that day alerted his fellow inmates, who went to fetch him and found his cell locked. A guard smashed open the door and found a flag of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the group's north African franchise, according to a prison source. Ould Saleck's wife and sister, who visited him often in prison, were arrested on January 4 in Nouakchott. Three Mauritanians and a Guinea Bissau national, armed with automatic weapons, were arrested near the border on Tuesday by Guinean police, according to Guinean security sources who did not confirm that Ould Saleck was among them.
BEIJING (Reuters) - China has signalled its support for Yemen's government, which is fighting an Iran-allied militia, on the first day of a visit to Saudi Arabia by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who will also be heading to Tehran later in the week. A Saudi-led coalition began a military campaign last year against the Iranian-allied Shi'ite Houthi movement in Yemen, which has seized the capital, Sanaa. The government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi is now based in the southern city of Aden. Riyadh sees the Houthis as a proxy for bitter regional rival Iran to expand its influence in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula nation. The Houthis deny this and say they are waging a revolution against a corrupt government and Gulf Arab powers beholden to the West. A growing diplomatic dispute between Riyadh and Tehran, triggered by mainly Sunni Saudi Arabia's execution of a prominent Shi'ite cleric, has damaged the outlook for any resolution to the conflict in Yemen. Saudi Arabia and China said in a statement on Wednesday that the two countries affirmed their support for the unity, independence and sovereignty of Yemen. The statement was released by China's Foreign Ministry after Xi met Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz in Riyadh on Tuesday. All social, religious and political groups in Yemen should maintain their national solidarity and avoid any decisions that may cause social disruption and chaos, it said. "Both sides stressed support for the legitimate regime of Yemen," the statement said. Xi is expected in Iran later in the week, with a further stop in Egypt after he leaves Saudi Arabia. Asked whether China was siding with Saudi Arabia over Yemen and whether that could risk upsetting Iran, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said China had always acted in the interests of the Yemeni people and maintaining peace in the Middle East, and had promoted peace talks. "(We) hope clashes in Yemen can come to an end as soon as possible and there can be reconciliation so the country can return to stability," Hong told a daily news briefing. China relies on the region for oil but has tended to leave Middle Eastern diplomacy to the other four permanent members of the U.N. Security Council - the United States, Britain, France and Russia. However, China has been trying to get more involved, especially in Syria, and recently hosted its foreign minister and opposition officials. China and Saudi Arabia expressed deep concern about Syria and renewed a call for a peaceful political settlement as soon as possible. A Chinese president has not visited Saudi Arabia since 2009, when Hu Jintao went. Jiang Zemin was the last Chinese president to visit Iran, in 2002. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Paul Tait and Simon Cameron-Moore)
Western leaders injected fresh urgency into the fight against the Islamic State group Wednesday, vowing to destroy its "power centres", while Russia announced crucial Syrian peace talks would begin within days. After meeting with key allies in Paris, US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter vowed to crush what he called the IS "cancer" by "collapsing its two power centres in Raqa and Mosul" and combating "the metastasis of the ISIL tumour worldwide." At the same time, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced Syria peace talks would start "in the next few days" after he met US Secretary of State John Kerry in Zurich. Iran also said it would throw its weight behind a political solution, with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif telling the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Switzerland "there is no military solution to the crisis." Russia and Iran are accused of propping up their ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and Western powers say Moscow is indiscriminately bombing Syrian opposition forces fighting IS. "The Russians are on the wrong track strategically and also in some cases tactically," Carter said. "We don't have a basis for broader cooperation (with Russia)," Carter said. Lavrov, by contrast, insisted Russia was willing to "more closely coordinate our actions" with the coalition to facilitate aid deliveries in Syria. The meeting in Paris comprised defence ministers from Australia, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the United States. Carter announced an unprecedented meeting of 26 defence ministers in the anti-IS coalition, plus Iraq, to be held in Brussels on February 11 and warned he would demand greater effort. "Every nation must come prepared to discuss further contributions to the fight," he said. Carter has repeatedly urged other countries in the approximately 60-member coalition to step up participation in the military effort, particularly Arab and Gulf countries that are more focused on fighting Iran-backed forces in Yemen. - 'Daesh is retreating' - Ministers were keen to tout progress in the campaign. "Daesh is retreating, it is time to increase our joint efforts by implementing a coherent military strategy," French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told reporters. Daesh is another name for IS, which is also called ISIL. IS has lost around a quarter of its self-proclaimed caliphate, including the Iraqi city of Ramadi to US-backed local forces last month. A Britain-based monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said on Tuesday that IS has announced plans to halve the monthly pay of its members in Syria and Iraq. The financial strain could be a result of intensified air strikes on its oil infrastructure, a key source of revenue for the group. Separately, Colonel Steve Warren, a Baghdad-based spokesman for the US-led anti-IS coalition, on Wednesday said nine strikes in Iraq and Syria in recent months had led to the destruction of "tens of millions" of dollars in IS cash, much of it derived from illicit oil sales. Despite some successes, the coalition faces a rapidly spreading threat around the world, notably in Libya where political chaos has allowed IS to build an estimated 3,000-strong force. The West also lacks allies on the ground in Syria, since most opposition groups are focused on toppling Assad. US, Australian and French instructors have already trained 15,000 Iraqi soldiers, notably against improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and vehicle suicide attacks that are the IS weapons of choice. The Pentagon is currently pushing Iraq to launch an assault to recapture the city of Mosul from IS, and US Colonel Warren said Iraqi security forces would need help from "hundreds" of Western military trainers to do so. But Western forces remain reluctant to get too deeply involved, fearing a repeat of the quagmire of previous campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq. Australia has already ruled out any increase to its military contribution, and Canada was pointedly absent from Wednesday's meeting after its new government said it would pull out of the bombing campaign. - Aid deliveries - IS showed its continued threat this week, taking 400 people hostage when it attacked the eastern Syrian town of Deir Ezzor. Some 270 have since been released. Russia said Wednesday it had bombed the area in the past day, and delivered 50 tonnes of humanitarian aid to the town. The Syrian Observatory confirmed the bombings and said heavy clashes were continuing between regime and IS fighters. Meanwhile, UN-brokered Syrian peace talks are tentatively set for next Monday in Geneva, despite disagreements over who will represent the opposition. Syria's largest opposition coalition on Wednesday picked Islamist rebel chief Mohammed Alloush, who has the support of Saudi Arabia, but it has demanded the exclusion of other parties, including Kurdish fighters who have been one of the most capable forces against IS.
Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., Presidential Communications Operations Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr., Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and former interior secretary Manuel Roxas II have been invited to attend the Senate reinvestigation on the Mamasapano massacre at 10 a.m. on Jan. 27.

Former Special Action Force commander Getulio Napenas, a senatorial candidate of the United Nationalist Alliance, will also attend the hearing.

Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs chairman Grace Poe said yesterday President Aquino should be held liable for command responsibility over the Mamasapano debacle that led to the slaughter of 44 police commandos on Jan. 25 last year. Eighteen rebels and five civilians were also killed in the encounter.

Right now, we stand by our report, she said.

We have no intent to replace or add any other subjects in our discussions unless there are new evidence that might affect the outcome of the (committee) report.

I am confident that we have asked the pertinent questions but Senator Enrile might have a different style of questioning so we will leave it up to him nobody objected from the Rules Committee and even during plenary, he said, referring to the reopening of the inquiry pushed by the minority leader.

Napenas said Enrile had invited him to attend the hearing. He met with Enrile last week but he declined to divulge details of their discussion.

He believes the allegations of Enrile that Aquino was directly involved in the Mamasapano operation last year, Napenas said.

Enrile had said that he has evidence to prove that on that fateful day, Aquino was monitoring the operation while he was on a plane to Zamboanga City.

Enrile would also show evidence that some Cabinet members did not disclose the facts in past Senate hearings.

Napenas said Enrile may have basis for saying what he had said.

The President has full knowledge of the Mamasapano (operation), he said.

Story continues

Poe said the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs focused on Aquinos liability as commander-in-chief.

When you say that its your responsibility, it only means that you also have direct authority, she said in Filipino.

Its unconventional because we are asking about the chain of command, but if you commit a mistake, for example a commander in his decision on the ground, you cannot hold him liable for any criminal liability for a wrong judgment call.

Aquinos liability focused only on his action or inaction as commander-in-chief, Poe said.

Also invited to the hearing are National Security Adviser Cesar Garcia Jr., former Armed Forces chief Gregorio Pio Catapang, former Philippine National Police chief Alan Purisima, former PNP officer-in-charge Leonardo Espina, PNP chief Director General Ricardo Marquez, Armed Forces chief Gen. Hernando Iriberri, Army 6th Infantry Division commander Maj. Gen. Edmundo Pangilinan, Armed Forces Western Mindanao Command chief Lt. Gen. Rustico Guerrero, PNP intelligence chief Fernando Mendez, Director Benjamin Magalong as chair of the PNP Board of Inquiry, former SAF deputy director Chief Supt. Noli Talino, Zamboanga peninsula police director Chief Supt. Edgar Orduna Basbas, 4th SAF Battalion commander Sr. Supt. Hendrix Mangaldan, Sr. Supt. Richard de la Rosa, Supts. Michael John Mangahis, Abraham Abayari, Raymund Train, Chief Insp. Recaredo Marasigan and Police Officer 2 Christopher Lalan.

Politically motivated

Enriles move to reopen the Mamasapano investigation could be politically motivated, Malacanang said yesterday.

Coloma said Aquino had told reporters that politics could be the motivation behind the reopening of the investigation.

Enrile was using the Mamasapano issue as a bargaining chip to have his former chief of staff, Jessica Lucila Reyes, who is detained on plunder charges, released on bail, according to reports.

On many occasions Aquino has spoken publicly and answered questions from the media about Mamasapano, Coloma said over Radio Mindanao Network.

Aquino apparently referred to Enrile when he said in Davao City on Jan. 8 that he could see politics behind the reopening of the Mamasapano investigation because the one pushing it had an ax to grind against him and his administration.

Coloma said Aquinos position was clear  that he was doing what was right, reasonable and just in all instances.

Whats important for him is the fulfillment of his sworn duties, following the Constitution and all of the laws because he is Chief Executive or chief implementer of all the countrys laws, he said.

So it is very clear the President is always honest, open and forthright when it comes to the incident in Mamasapano.

Coloma said then justice secretary Leila de Lima had explained that Aquino was not commander-in-chief of the Philippine National Police, a civilian organization, and need not follow a chain of command.

Aquino dared

Napenas challenged yesterday Aquino to own up to his accountability as commander-in-chief in the botched Oplan Exodus.

He said Aquino cannot escape responsibility for the debacle, which then suspended Philippine National Police chief Alan Purisima had directed.

As I testified before Congress hearings, the President had direct knowledge of Oplan Exodus when we carried it out, he told The STAR

Napenas said Aquino could have done something more as commander-in-chief to save his men while he was in Zamboanga City along with former Armed Forces chief Gen. Pio Catapang and the former Western Command chief Gen. Rustico Guerrero.

He was in constant communications with General Guerrero and requesting for artillery support that could have saved the day for the trapped SAF commandos, he added.

But no artillery support came until it was too late, he said.

Napenas said he is ready to reaffirm his previous testimony and appear again before a Senate public hearing set next week.

At the outset, Napenas denied that he was the source of information of Enrile.

He said Enrile has complete and genuine documentation of the Mamasapano massacre.

He could only surmise Enrile gathered these documents when he was still under hospital detention at the PNP Medical Center in Quezon City.

Before the scheduled Senate hearing, Napenas said he would join the widows and families of the slain commandos to commemorate their valor and sacrifice to carry out Oplan Exodus.

However, he has no idea yet where the first death anniversary of the SAF 44 would be held.  With Marichu Villanueva, Helen Flores, Aurea Calica, Mayen Jaymalin
Tunisian police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse hundreds of job-seeking demonstrators in the impoverished town of Kasserine, in a second day of protests after the death of an unemployed man. The demonstrators had gathered outside the local government offices demanding a solution to the region's dire unemployment before heading towards the town centre, as small groups set up roadblocks with burning tyres. Witnesses said police used tear gas and water cannon and fired warning shots in the air as they came under attack from stone-throwers. Regional health authority chief Abdelghani Chaabani said eight police were injured in Kasserine as well as another 11 in nearby Thala, a day after clashes on Tuesday in which 20 protesters and three police were lightly hurt. It comes only days after the fifth anniversary of the revolution sparked by the death of a young university graduate who set himself on fire to protest police harassment and unemployment in the nearby town of Sidi Bouzid. Wednesday's clashes in Kasserine took place despite a nighttime curfew imposed only the day before in the town of around 80,000 inhabitants. Tensions have run high in Kasserine since Saturday, when an unemployed man, Ridha Yahyaoui, 28, climbed atop a power pole near the governor's office and was electrocuted. He was protesting after his name was removed from a list of hires for public sector jobs. A provincial official has been sacked following Yahyaoui's death. Late on Wednesday, government spokesman Khaled Chouket announced a series of measures for Kasserine, including the creation of 5,000 new jobs and allocation of 135 million dinars (60 million euros) to build 1,000 social homes. - 'Sliding into reverse' - Tunisia, which has been plagued by high unemployment and poverty, has struggled to revive its economy since the 2011 revolution that toppled veteran president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. President Beji Caid Essebsi Wednesday acknowledged "the current government inherited a very difficult situation" with "700,000 unemployed and 250,000 of them young people who have degrees." "But (...) we cannot deal with situations like this by statements or a helping hand. You have to give it time," he said. Unemployment now stands at more than 15 percent and 32 percent among holders of university degrees, and Kasserine is one of the poorest regions of the North African country. Several rallies were held in other towns to support Kasserine and demand jobs and development. Protestors stormed the sub-prefecture in the central town of Regueb while the facade of a customs guard post in El Hidra, Kasserine governorate, was burned and a security forces vehicle torched, interior ministry spokesman Walid Louguini told AFP. Nearly 150 people demonstrated in Tunis and rallies were organised in Sousse and the town of El Fahs, southwest of Tunis, according to local media. In December 2010, demonstrations broke out in Sidi Bouzid, near Kasserine in central Tunisia, after a fruit-seller set himself alight to protest harassment and unemployment. Violent protests spread across the country, building into a massive popular movement that eventually forced Ben Ali to step down on January 14, 2011. The revolution inspired similar uprisings in Egypt, Syria, Libya, Yemen and other Arab countries but only Tunisia is considered a success story of the Arab Spring. For many last Thursday's anniversary raised mixed feelings, with fierce pride at the revolution tempered by concerns over continued economic problems and a rise in jihadist violence. Beji Caid Essebsi, who won Tunisia's first free presidential vote in 2014, announced a major cabinet reshuffle this month amid growing public frustration at the lack of progress in improving the economy. But critics have raised concerns of a return to some of Ben Ali's authoritarian practices, with Amnesty International saying the "human rights gains of the uprising are sliding into reverse gear".
Student Competitions

Competition Seeks Top Young Scientist

The annual quest for America's best young scientists is underway. Discovery Education and 3M have opened the latest competition, a multi-stage event intended to identify the "top" young scientist.

Last year's winner, Hannah Herbst, created an ocean energy probe that uses underwater currents to supply a steady source of power for multiple purposes, including desalination to provide potable water. She was inspired to pursue the project after learning about the problems faced by a nine-year-old pen pal from Ethiopia who lacked a reliable source of either water or electricity.

Last year's top young scientist, Hannah Herbst, created an ocean energy probe that uses underwater currents to supply a steady source of power for multiple purposes, including desalination to provide potable water.

The America's 2016 Top Young Scientist program is a competition that encourages students in grades 5-8 to come up with innovations for solving common problems. To start, participants enter a short video that explains a problem and their solution. Those are judged not on production quality (students can use a cellphone to create their video), but on creativity, scientific knowledge, persuasiveness and overall presentation. The 10 highest scoring entrants are picked as finalists to be matched up with a 3M scientist who will serve as a mentor, attend a taping of a Discovery Network show, and participate in a multi-day event at 3M's headquarters. A grand prize winner also receives $25,000.

"My favorite part about the YSC this summer has definitely been working with my 3M Mentor, Mr. Emslander. Developing my prototypes and building my innovation has been more productive and more fun with his guidance. We've had a great time, and I can't wait to meet him in person!" Herbst wrote in a final blog about her experiences. "If you're reading this blog post and are in middle school, I hope that you will apply for the 2016 Discovery Education and 3M Young Scientist Challenge. It is such an amazing opportunity to explore, innovate and work with a scientist from 3M to develop your prototype."

Video entries are due by April 20, 2016 and must be submitted online to youngscientistchallenge.com.
STEAM

Inspiring the Next Gen of Tech Workers

It has been called "America's persistent problem": not enough skilled workers to fill millions of job openings. The high-tech sector in particular has complained for years about the country's shallow pool of tech talent. Some leading companies in that sector have partnered with online education providers in hope of deepening that pool in the relatively near term. Google, AT&T, Facebook, and Twitter, for example, have worked with Udacity to create targeted online certification programs, a few of which provide training for specific jobs currently available.

Some high-tech companies are also acting with an eye toward the future with programs and events aimed at K-12 students and educators. Oracle, for example, recently partnered with Devoxx4Kids to provide a day-long program of computing workshops at the company's annual JavaOne conference in San Francisco.

JavaOne4Kids debuted at the previous year's conference, attracting 150 students between the ages of 10 and 18. The most recent event attracted 450 students, many of whom were the children of JavaOne conference attendees. Virtually all were local Bay Area residents; 150 were at-risk students from Oakland school districts, who were given passes to attend.

"We had a big wait list last year," said Alison Derbenwick Miller, VP of Oracle Academy, which co-sponsored the event with Devoxx4Kids, "so we knew they were coming."

Oracle Academy is a philanthropic organization that provides online computer science educational resources for teachers and students. The Academy is addressing the U.S. shortage of tech-savvy workers by dealing with another shortfall.

"We teach teachers how to teach computer science," Miller said. "A lot of what we teach is coding, certainly, and we do sponsor outreach events like JavaOne4Kids to get students excited about computer science, but we're focused on solving the supply-side problem we've created in this country. Nowadays kids want computer science, the schools want computer science, and the states want computer science, but they're aren't enough teachers qualified to teach it."

Oracle Academy was founded in 1993 and originally focused on STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) education, Miller said, but that focus narrowed over time.

"Not all STEM fields need this kind of support today," she said. "We don't really need more biology majors. But we do need more people with computer science skills. We simply can't find enough qualified people to hire. But this isn't just a tech-sector problem. Nobody can find enough qualified people these days. Oracle has more than 400,000 customers around the world who use technology products  ours and others'  and they need to hire people, too."

Devoxx is the commercial organizer of a series of international conferences for Java, Android, and HTML developers, primarily in Europe. Devoxx4Kids is a nonprofit arm of that enterprise that organizes student-focused workshops like JavaOne4Kids.

Arun Gupta, who founded Devoxx4Kids USA, was on hand at the JavaOne event. As the volunteer chair of the organization, he oversees U.S. operations. In his day job, Gupta serves as director of the Developer Advocacy group at Red Hat, where he focuses on JBoss Middleware. He actually started what would become Devoxx4Kids USA three years ago by hosting Minecraft modding workshops in his Silicon Valley living room for his son and about a dozen of his son's friends. The official organization is now about two years old, and there are eight chapters in the United States, as well as chapters in more than a dozen other countries, from Belgium to Indonesia.

Devoxx4Kids conducts hands-on workshops for K-12 schools, public libraries, and even neighborhoods, during which students build computer games, program robots, build computer circuits, and program microcontrollers. The group also organizes corporate events, such as JavaOne4Kids. This year, the group sponsored similar events for this year's Red Hat Summit and O'Reilly's OSCON. And Devoxx4Kids is not just for kids, Gupta said.

"In some places we have done Devoxx4Kids for parents," he said. "They participate with us in the workshop and learn what we are teaching their kids, so that they can support them at home."

Gupta is also working with San Mateo Country, south of San Francisco, on a district-wide teacher training workshop, which he said he hopes to make available as open source content online.

"Teachers are overworked and underpaid, so our goal is to keep the bar super low for them," Gupta said. "We're saying, you don't really have to do anything. Just ask me your questions and we're ready to empower you."

In fact, all of the group's content and materials are available on the GitHub repository. And all of the software and hardware used by students and teachers in the workshops is open source  things like the Python programming language, the HTML5 markup language, MIT's Scratch, the Alice 3D programming environment, the Greenfoot Java IDE, and the Raspberry Pi credit-card sized computer.

Last year, the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of Devoxx4Kids held 40 meet ups and reached out to about 3,000 students, Gupta said.

Daniel DeLuca, worldwide manager of the Devoxx4Kids initiative and co-organizer of Devoxx4Kids in Belgium, also attended the JavaOne event. DeLuca, who is a freelance Java SE/EE developer, pointed to another statistic: The subscriptions for Devoxx4Kids events often run out in a day, he said, sometimes in an hour. "There's huge demand for them among parents and teachers," he said, "let alone the kids."

The JavaOne4Kids event maxed out in a matter of hours, Miller said. The day-long program included workshops that ranged from simple sessions designed for younger kids to sophisticated projects aimed at older students. There was an introduction to HTML5 and JavaScript for game development; a hands-on lab in which participants used the Polymer Web component library to build simple Web sites; a Minecraft modding (modifying the popular game) session using Forge 1.8; a session in which students learned how to program a Finch robot with Greenfoot and with Java; and even a session introducing the Scala functional programming language to fourth graders.
Wikileaks' Julian Assange is to be questioned at the Ecuadorian embassy where he has hidden out for more than three years over allegations of sexual assault.

Announcing a breakthrough in the case, the country's president said a deal had been struck with Swedish prosecutors that will see the founder of the whistleblowing website quizzed about the criminal claims, without leaving the building.

The Swedish authorities will submit questions to Ecuadorian officials, who will then put them to Mr Assange, said President Rafael Correa.

Mr Assange has been holed up in the diplomatic mission since 2012 and has been granted political asylum by the Ecuador government.

He is wanted for questioning in Sweden over allegations of sexual assault against two women, which he has always denied.

The Australian claimed if he went to Sweden he could be handed over the US authorities for prosecution over WikiLeaks disclosures.

Last year it was announced police would no longer guard the embassy in case he left the building.

The round-the-clock police presence had become increasingly contentious as the cost rose to more than 12m.

Mr Assange has previously claimed he had not had any fresh air or sunlight during his time at the embassy.
By Noah Barkin DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Austria's decision to impose a cap on the number of refugees it accepts is a "wake-up call" for Brussels and raises the chances of a swift deal between European countries on the migrant crisis, Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz said. "I am of the view that our measures could help Europe to get an agreement quicker," said Kurz, whose portfolio also includes European affairs and migration. "The steps we have taken are a wake-up call for Brussels that things need to move faster." Speaking to Reuters in Davos, Kurz rebuffed criticism of the move from Berlin, saying Germany had helped prompt the decision by sending migrants at its border back into Austria. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is under intense pressure at home to introduce a similar ceiling, has called the Austrian move "unhelpful" and her Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere criticised Vienna on Thursday, questioning whether it could even be implemented. Austria announced on Wednesday that it would cap the number of people allowed to claim asylum this year at 37,500, less than last year's total, and reduce that ceiling annually to 25,000 by 2019. Its chancellor said border controls would be stepped up "massively", although Kurz said nothing had changed at the border with Slovenia yet. "The fact that Germany sent refugees on its border with Austria back presented us with an even bigger challenge," Kurz said. "In that sense this was a factor, if you will, that led to higher rather than lower figures." "Every state must decide for themselves," Kurz added. "I respect the path Germany is going. But I also ask for understanding that we, with 90,000 refugees in the last year, have accepted more per capita than Germany. We are simply overwhelmed." (Reporting by Noah Barkin; editing by Andrew Roche)
By Angeliki Koutantou ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece received an improved bid for its largest port on Wednesday, with the 368.5 million euros (284 million pounds) offered by Cosco Group <1919.HK> pushing the Chinese company closer to a deal that would step up the privatisation programme agreed with Greece's international lenders. Privatisations have been a key element in Greece's bailouts since 2010 but have reaped only 3.5 billion euros because of political resistance and bureaucratic hurdles. The leftist government of Alexis Tsipras halted the sale of a majority stake in Piraeus Port and other state assets after winning elections in January last year. The process resumed under the terms of a third international bailout for Greece of up to 86 billion euros ($94 billion) in August. The board of the country's privatisation agency (HRADF) met on Wednesday to evaluate Cosco's offer for a 67 percent stake in Piraeus Port, declared Cosco as the highest bidder and invited it to submit the required documents to name the company as a preferred investor. The sale, if successfully concluded, will be the second large privatisation for Tsipras's government since it took power. Athens sealed a 1.2 billion euro leasing deal for 14 regional airports with Germany's Fraport in December. IMPROVED OFFER Cosco has been operating one of the port's container terminals since 2009 and is investing 230 million euros to build a second terminal at the port. HRADF announced last week that the company was the sole bidder for Piraeus Port Authority (OLP), the manager of the port, which is a gateway to Asia, eastern Europe and north Africa. It had asked Cosco to improve its initial bid, which two sources close to the process said was about 300 million euros. Cosco is now offering 22 euros per share, HRADF said, which translates into a premium of 69.8 percent based on Wednesday's closing price of 12.95 euros a share, according to Reuters calculations. Under the deal, Cosco will acquire a 51 percent stake in the port and the remaining 16 percent once its concludes mandatory infrastructure investments over five years. Total investments will be about 350 million euros over 10 years, while the state will collect additional revenue of 410 million euros under the 36-year concession deal between OLP and the government, the agency said. Piraeus Port handled 16.8 million passengers and 3.6 million 20-foot equivalent units of containers in 2014. Greece has ensured that the company will keep its headquarters and listing in Athens, HRADF said. The port's workers and some local governors have opposed the sale, fearing it will lead to job cuts and poor revenues for the state. (1 US dollar = 0.9157 euro) (Editing by Larry King and David Goodman)
By Igor Ilic ZAGREB (Reuters) - Croatia announced on Thursday the members of a new centre-right cabinet whose main task will be to repair the country's public finances and restore economic growth after years of recession. That task will fall mainly to the new finance minister, Zdravko Maric, and the new economy minister, Tomislav Panenic. They will have to cope with public debt near 90 percent of gross domestic product and a 2015 budget deficit expected to come to around 4.5 percent of GDP. They will also have to cope with Brussels, which wants Croatia, the European Union's newest member, to pursue fiscal consolidation. Their main advantage will be an economy finally starting to grow, by about 1.5 percent in 2015, after a six-year recession wiped out some 13 percent of output. The Prime Minister-designate, 49-year old businessman Tihomir Oreskovic, will seek parliamentary approval for his cabinet on Friday. The new Croatian government was formed by a coalition of the conservative HDZ party and the small reformist Most (Croatian for "bridge") party, after an inconclusive Nov. 8 election. Oreskovic, a Canadian-raised former financial officer at an Israeli pharmaceutical company, was nominated as a technocrat prime minister who could focus on the country's financial and economic problems. "We've chosen a very good team which is a healthy mix of the people from business, academic circles and the public sector," Oreskovic told reporters. Maric, the future finance minister, was a state secretary in the finance ministry during a previous HDZ government. In the past four years, he worked as a senior executive in Croatia's largest company by earnings, food concern Agrokor, and was in charge of capital markets. The incoming economy minister, Panenic, was the mayor of a municipality in eastern Croatia. Tomislav Karamarko, the HDZ leader, said earlier this week that Croatia needed fiscal consolidation worth an annual 4.5 billion kunas ($640.58 million), or close to 1.5 percent of GDP. The new budget must be approved by the end of March. (Reporting by Igor Ilic)
By Paul Taylor DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - The leaders of the divided island of Cyprus will make an unprecedented joint appeal to the world's political and business elite in Davos on Thursday to support their efforts to reach a settlement to their decades-old dispute. Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci, who have been negotiating on a possible deal since last year, will share the platform at a special session at the World Economic Forum annual meeting entitled "Reuniting Cyprus". U.N. and European officials say the prospects of finally reaching a peace deal to resolve one of the oldest frozen conflicts on the planet are better than at any time since Greek Cypriots rejected a U.N. peace plan in 2004. "While the world is generally not in good shape, for Cyprus the stars are aligned," said Espen Barth Eide, the Norwegian U.N. special envoy for Cyprus and head of the WEF's global security programme. "There's an interest among the leaders involved. Both Turkey and Greece see advantages to moving on," Eide told Reuters. The east Mediterranean island has been divided since Turkey invaded the north in 1974 in response to a short-lived coup in Nicosia inspired by Greece's then military rulers. Cyprus joined the European Union in 2004 despite the Greek Cypriot vote against reunification. However, its relations with Turkey have remained frozen, efforts to reduce the economic isolation of Turkish Cypriot northern Cyprus have stalled and Nicosia has blocked much of Ankara's EU accession negotiations over the continued dispute. SENSITIVE ISSUES REMAIN Peace efforts gained a boost with the election of two leaders who are personally committed to a negotiated settlement, as well as the discovery of large offshore natural gas deposits off Cyprus which would be easier to exploit if there is a deal. A reunited Cyprus would also need international investment to help the peace process work. Reconstructing one resort town abandoned in the conflict is estimated to cost billions of euros, and compensation may also be required for people unable to reclaim their properties. The regional strategic environment is more favourable because Greece's leftist government is less nationalistic than its predecessors and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has tamed the military and is keen to improve relations with the EU. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is due to address the Davos audience right after the Cypriot leaders and is likely to reaffirm his country's commitment to support a settlement this year, which would also remove an obstacle to closer EU ties. Some diplomats in Ankara hope for agreement on the text of a deal before Cypriot parliamentary elections in May, and a referendum soon after that. Anastasiades and Akinci are not expected to announce any agreement on Thursday because much detailed work remains on sensitive issues such as territory, the return of property or compensation. An international reconstruction fund with EU and private money could be a vital component. "We have gone from harvesting relatively low-hanging fruit into the hard core deepest areas. We're in tougher terrain now and both leaders will have to make concessions," Eide said. An agreement between the two leaders would have to be ratified in referendums in each of the communities and implemented over time with international support. Anastasiades has not yet really begun to sell the benefits of a potential deal to a sceptical Greek Cypriot electorate. Asked why prospects for a settlement were better now than in 2004, Eide said: "The one major difference is that this time the process is led by the Cypriots and their leaders. My role is to facilitate but we (United Nations) are not putting down our own proposals. Every word is written and agreed to by the sides." (Additional reporting by Michele Kambas in Nicosia; Writing by Paul Taylor; editing by Ralph Boulton)
By Ori Lewis JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel plans to appropriate a large tract of agricultural land in the occupied West Bank, Israel's Army Radio said on Wednesday, a move that has angered Palestinians and is almost certain to draw international criticism. The report said the land, covering 154 hectares (380 acres), was in the fertile Jordan Valley close to Jericho, an area where Israel already has many settlement farms built on land Palestinians seek for their own state. The appropriation, which Army Radio said would be announced shortly but was not immediately confirmed by the Israeli Defence Ministry which administers the West Bank, comes at a time of increased international condemnation of settlement policy. Hanan Ashrawi, a senior official in the Palestine Liberation Organization, described Israel's reported move as a violation of international law. She challenged the international community to hold Israel to account. "Israel is stealing land specially in the Jordan Valley under the pretext it wants to annex it," she told Reuters. "This should be a reason for a real and effective intervention by the international community to end such a flagrant and grave aggression which kills all chances of peace." The report said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon had already signed off on the appropriation and that technical details were being finalised ahead of a declaration expected soon. The Defence Ministry declined to comment. The land, already partly farmed by Jewish settlers in an area under Israeli civilian and military control, is situated near the northern tip of the Dead Sea. For years, Israel has drawn intense criticism for its settlement activities. Most countries regard the policy as illegal under international law and a major obstacle to the creation of a viable Palestinian state. Palestinians want to form an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as the capital. The last talks between Israel and the Palestinians on a so-called "two-state solution" broke down in April 2014. On Tuesday, U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby reiterated the United States' opposition to Israel's settlement building, which usually begins with land seizures. "We remain deeply concerned about Israel's current policy on settlements, including construction, planning, and retroactive legalizations," he said. Hagit Ofran, a member of the anti-settlement group Peace Now, said that unlike previous Israeli governments that largely avoided land seizures, Netanyahu has carried out several appropriations during his time in office. "Since 2011, moves of this sort by Netanyahu have only drawn greater international criticism from Israel's closest allies," she told Reuters, describing it as a "diplomatic catastrophe". In August 2014, soon after Hamas militants kidnapped and killed three Jewish teenagers, Israel appropriated some 400 hectares (988 acres) in the Etzion settlement bloc near Bethlehem, a move Peace Now said was the biggest in 30 years. Since Oct. 1, when the latest upsurge in violence began, Palestinian stabbings, car-rammings and shootings have killed 25 Israelis and a U.S. citizen. At least 148 Palestinians have been killed, 94 of whom Israel has described as assailants. Most of the others died during violent demonstrations. (Additional reporting by Ali Sawafta in Ramallah; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
By Gwladys Fouche NAERBOE, Norway (Reuters) - A workshop that seeks to educate asylum-seekers in Norway about Western attitudes to sex and sexual assault will appeal to European neighbours struggling to cope with a wave of refugees, but not everyone who attends the course is a fan. Sitting with his arms crossed in a classroom with 21 other male Syrian asylum seekers, Issam Alhlabi is wondering why he has been compelled to attend. "I know all this already from back home," the 52-year-old teacher from Aleppo told Reuters. "Syria is like Norway ... In every country you have backward people with low education." The ultimate aim of the course is to discuss - and discourage - rape in the context of a Scandinavian society that is more sexually liberal than back home. But for at least a few of the attendees, it exposes implied preconceptions about the sexual mores of those in the class, not to mention their views on violent crimes like rape. "It is unexpectedly interesting: that most people think we did not experience such things, because we are outsiders, foreigners," commercial airline pilot Muaz, 26, told Reuters. "We go through them every single day in our country. I have two sisters and they could be harassed walking anywhere in the world," said Muaz, who declined to give his last name. "We do experience such things. It is not like we come from a peaceful place." Norway initiated the programme after a series of attacks on women at night in the streets of Stavanger, Norway's third-biggest city, in 2009. According to public broadcaster NRK, which reviewed court papers, 17 of the 20 men convicted in the cases were foreigners. The course will reverberate with European countries facing the worst migration crisis since World War Two, especially after mass sexual assaults on women in Cologne, Germany, on New Year's Eve were blamed on migrants. WHAT SIGNALS? Set in a rural community on Norway's west coast, the refugee camp is surrounded by snow-covered fields. The nearest neighbour is a cluster of World War Two German bunkers; the loudest noise comes from Atlantic Ocean waves crashing on the nearby beach. When a Reuters correspondent visited a one-day workshop on Tuesday, the teacher, Linda Hagen, was showing the classroom a picture of a Norwegian brunette in a short dress and high heels, and asking: "What signals is she giving?" The men broke into groups to discuss and report back to the class. "It could be a very normal situation," said one. "It is not unusual," said another. "She could be in a cafe," said a third. No one said she looked sexy or that she was provocative. Hagen said the course aimed to address an awkward subject as sensitively as possible. "This is a difficult subject. We have the best intentions in running this course but it is a tough thing to discuss. We don't know what people have experienced before," she told Reuters. Participants in the course are not addressed as potential perpetrators but as future members of Norwegian society who can make a positive contribution by helping prevent sexual assaults. One scenario features Hassan, "a helpful, good man who is well-liked" and who has been in Norway for more than a year. He goes out with Arne, a Norwegian, who says he wants to ply Stine, a Norwegian woman, with alcohol to "soften her up". What should Hassan do, asks the teacher? The consensus is that Hassan should try to stop Arne or make sure Stine gets home safely. The course also confronts hard questions that are being discussed around the Western world, including U.S. college campuses. In one case, the men watch a video showing a boy and girl talking at a party, dancing and laughing. The two go upstairs to a bedroom where he forces sex on her, despite her saying no. "What do you think of the boy? What do you think of the girl?," asks Hagen. "If I am the guy, I would say she was interested. She went up the stairs, she sat on the bed," says one man. Another says: "I blame him because he uses power. Both should be in agreement." Alhlabi is firm in his opinion: "To me it was clear from the beginning that this was rape. "It was obvious she was afraid when she was going up the stairs. Kissing and hugging in Europe is not unusual." Alhlabi's comments aside, Hagen said she had seldom received negative feedback since she started teaching the course in 2011. "If we can help avoid misunderstandings, it is very important." And some said the course was useful. "I knew from before that girls here are freer than back home, but now I understand better how," said Hani Salloum, a 25-year-old Syrian student, who arrived four months ago. (Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)
By Andrei Khalip LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal's stormy political backdrop could shift into calmer waters on Sunday when the country votes for a new president, if the man expected to win outright makes good on promises to build consensus rather than foment divisions. Since November, Portugal has been governed by a shaky alliance of moderate centre-left Socialists backed in parliament by the far left Communists and Left Bloc. Many analysts do not expect the government to last through its four-year term, and whoever wins on Sunday will have the power to dissolve the legislature. According to opinion polls, that is almost certain to be Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, a Social Democrat whose centre-right party was ousted from power by the Socialists. A Jan. 17 survey by Eurosondagem gave Rebelo de Sousa almost 55 percent of the vote, enough to win without a second-round ballot and way ahead of his closest rival, Socialist Sampaio da Novoa, on 16.8 percent. Portugal's first Socialist-led administration to rely on far-left lawmakers to survive is struggling to reconcile pledges to end austerity with budget deficit cuts promised to the European Union. That suggests the new president is likely to play an increasingly important role, be it as mediator between parties or a bolder player who can use his power to disband parliament. Rebelo de Sousa would succeed conservative President Anibal Cavaco Silva, also a Social Democrat, who said he only swore in the Socialist government because he was barred by the constitution from calling a new parliamentary election in his last six months in office. That option will again be available from April 4, six months after the general election. The president can also dismiss the prime minister. The leftist parties have warned Rebelo de Sousa could bring back unpopular rightist economic policies. But so far, his statements have been in the spirit of rapprochement. The former journalist, one-time leader of his party and until recently a TV commentator, has positioned himself as hailing "from the left wing of the right". "Everything that helps to build political stability, common ground that safeguards governability is a priority... Now is not the time for divisions," he said recently. His campaign stance that Portugal needs "more social justice along with minimum financial equilibrium" is similar to the Socialists'. (Reporting By Andrei Khalip, editing by Axel Bugge and John Stonestreet)
By Sam Wilkin DUBAI (Reuters) - A multitude of business regulations -- 182,000 by one minister's count -- stands in the way of a rapid flow of foreign investment into Iran after the lifting of nuclear sanctions ended its long isolation from global commerce. Other factors that could stall investment include residual sanctions, a shortage of project finance, and political risks ranging from protectionism to the potential collapse of the nuclear deal, lawyers and consultants say. Some foreign firms have already signed letters of intent with Iran since the international sanctions imposed over its nuclear programme were lifted on Saturday and many more want to trade with its market of about 80 million people. But major foreign investment will take at least six months to arrive, experts say, as companies navigate the web of bureaucracy, opaque ownership structures and powerful Iranian lobbies that bristle at foreign competition. "Iran has been under sanctions so a lot of international business practices are not as common there as they are in other emerging markets," said Farhad Alavi, managing partner at Washington-based Akrivis Law Group. President Hassan Rouhani, who championed the nuclear deal, has ordered his government to facilitate foreign investment but also warned of the "long road" to Iran's economic integration with the world. Rouhani said on Sunday his oil-producing country needs $30-$50 billion a year in foreign investment to meet its economic growth target of eight percent. It attracted an average of only $1.1 billion of foreign direct investment annually between 1996 and 2004, before major economic sanctions were imposed on it, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. BUSINESS REGULATIONS Economy Minister Ali Teyyeb-Nia said on Monday the government was trying to "remove laws that obstruct business". This will not be a small task, he said, adding that there are about 182,000 items of business regulation. "Most of the regulation is still very much focussed on local content, local companies, so it will be interesting to see how the Iranian government will navigate this influx of foreign investment," said Sorana Parvulescu, MENA director at consultancy Control Risks. "We expect the government will have to balance between the interests of local business and foreign investors to make sure nobody loses out as the market opens," she said. The interests of foreign investors and their local partners will not always be aligned on issues such as labour, said Parham Gohari, co-founder of Frontier Partners, a Dubai-based advisory firm focussing on Iran market entry. "Companies are overstaffed and underproductive... they don't want people to be laid off, while foreign investors want to make sure the company is being run efficiently," Gohari said, describing government-owned firms as particularly bloated. As early as last August, shortly after the nuclear deal was reached, Rouhani said foreign investors would be welcome only if they hired local workers and shared their technological knowledge, showing the government's intent to protect the interests of local businesses. POLITICAL RISK Many foreign businesses, however, are hesitant to take on long-term commitments in a market that is still fraught with political risk. A diplomatic incident between Iran and the United States could still undermine the nuclear deal, causing sanctions to "snap back" and exposing investors. Elections due to be held soon in both countries could erode the political will protecting the agreement. "Particularly when we have a new (president in the) White House in 2017, there is a concern in the back of (investors') minds: how far will a new U.S. president want to safeguard this deal?" said Ellie Geranmayeh, Middle East and North Africa policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. Republicans Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio have pledged to tear up the nuclear deal if elected. Democratic front runner Hillary Clinton supports it, but through the prism of U.S. dominance that Tehran finds deeply provocative. Many U.S. sanctions on Iran remain in place, notably on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an elite military force with sprawling business interests and a lot of experience in disguising its assets. "As with other markets affected by international sanctions and having complex corporate structures, there is a requirement to do enhanced due diligence to understand whether the ultimate owners of the business are sanctioned," Control Risks' Parvulescu said. Another obstacle for investors could be a measure adopted last month by the Republican-led U.S. Congress -- which opposed the nuclear deal -- preventing visa-free travel to the United States for people who have visited Iran or hold dual Iranian nationality. Critics of the move, which also applies to Iraq, Syria and Sudan, say it will discourage business travel to Iran and cause complications for dual nationals, who are likely to be among the first attracted to doing business in Iran. A British-Iranian journalist was prevented from travelling to the United States without a visa this week because of these restrictions. LONG ARM OF THE LAW Iran's shadow economy has been a breeding ground for corruption and nepotism, and foreign companies will be wary of approaches by local "fixers" who would pay bribes on their behalf. Under that scenario, the investor would be at fault under extra-territorial legislation such as the UK Bribery Act. U.S. firms will still be subject to a trade embargo that will limit their ability to move into Iran. Other foreign firms are not directly affected, but the long reach of the U.S. financial system could still make them hesitate. Banks will be especially wary of not violating the remaining sanctions because they faced hefty fines in the past, lawyers said. By extension, investors across all sectors might struggle to access the financing options needed to make significant investments. "There can be no meaningful improvement in investment into the Iranian economy until some robust banks agree to raise their head above the parapet and finance it," said Nigel Kushner, chief executive of W Legal and a director of the British Iranian Chamber of Commerce. "I believe they will, but it will take time... I believe it will happen over the next six months and then there will be a domino effect," he said. (Editing by William Maclean and Timothy Heritage)
Moscow has condemned Britain's report into the death of former spy Alexander Litvinenko as "biased" and "politically motivated".

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also described the UK's handling of the case as "opaque" and said it had damaged ties between London and Moscow.

She added: "We lament the fact that a purely criminal case has been politicised and put a strain on our bilateral relationships.

"It is obvious that the decision to stop the coroner's investigation and start public hearings had a politicised basis.

:: Putin 'Probably' Approved Litvinenko Killing

"The reason is clear - the process, despite its name, is not transparent neither for the Russian side nor for the public, taking in mind that some of the documents were not published due to 'secrecy'.

"We therefore didn't have reasons to expect that the results of this politicised and opaque inquiry, that was from the beginning trying to lead to a 'wanted' result, would suddenly become objective and unbiased."

Mr Litvinenko was "deliberately poisoned" in an operation "probably" approved by Vladimir Putin, the UK public inquiry found.

Sir Robert Owen, head of the long-running investigation, said it was likely the Russian president signed off the killing of the former spy and Kremlin critic following a lengthy feud.

Speaking outside the High Court in London, Mr Litvinenko's widow Marina said she was "very pleased that the words my husband spoke on his deathbed when he accused Mr Putin have been proved by an English court".

:: As It Happened: Litvinenko Spy Case Unravelled

The former KGB agent died in November 2006, aged 44, after drinking tea laced with radioactive polonium in a London hotel.

On his deathbed, he pointed the finger at Mr Putin - and named former colleagues Dmitri Kovtun and Andrei Lugovoi as the men who poisoned him.

Story continues

Both men deny the charge and Russia has refused requests to have them extradited to the UK.

In a statement on Russia's Interfax news agency, Mr Lugovoi said the claims against him are "absurd".

"The results of the inquiry published today confirm once more an anti-Russian position of London - narrow-mindedness and unwillingness of English people to find a real reason of Litvinenko's death," he said.

"Personally for me it looks like a pathetic attempt by London to use this 'skeleton in a wardrobe' in order to fulfil its political ambitions."

The Russian Ambassador to London called the inquiry a "whitewash" and a "gross provocation" by Britain.

Speaking outside the Foreign Office after he was summoned to a meeting by Europe minister David Lidington, Alexander Yakovenko said: "The length of time that it took to close this case makes us believe it to be a whitewash of the British special services incompetence."
By Marja Novak LJUBLJANA (Reuters) - Slovenia will keep out all migrants apart from those planning to seek asylum in Austria and Germany, Interior Minister Vesna Gyorkos Znidar told a news conference, adding the country would also strengthen border controls. The announcement on Thursday came a day after its neighbour Austria said it would restrict the entry of migrants. "We will act in all directions so as to prevent Slovenia becoming a pocket for stranded migrants," Gyorkos Znidar said after a regular government meeting. Slovenia is the smallest country on the Balkan migration route. About 409,000 migrants have entered since October, when Hungary closed its borders and pushed the migrant route west through Slovenia. So far almost all migrants have continued on their way to Austria and further on to northern Europe, but Austria said on Thursday it would restrict the number it would take in. Slovenia has said it will have to follow Austria's example because the small Alpine state of 2 million people does not have the capacity to accommodate a large number of migrants. Gyorkos Znidar urged the EU to reach agreement on stopping migrants on the border between Macedonia and Greece to prevent them continuing north through the Balkans. (Reporting by Marja Novak; editing by Andrew Roche)
By Paul Taylor DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - With a symbolic handshake at the World Economic Forum, the leaders of Cyprus pledged their commitment to reach a settlement to reunite their divided Mediterranean island this year and appealed for international financial support. Cypriot President Nikos Anastiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci made an unprecedented joint appearance before global business and political leaders in Davos to proclaim their aim to build a peace bridge between Europe and the Middle East. "At a time when Europe is enduring a deep crisis, primarily linked to the tragic events unfolding in Cyprus immediate neighbourhood, myself and Mustafa are working tirelessly to reunify our country," Anastasiades said. He called for a substantial financial contribution from the international community to finance a solution for Cyprus. Both leaders stressed that they had not yet concluded a deal and that difficult issues remained over territory, property and compensation, but both said they were working for an agreement in 2016. WEF president Klaus Schwab called Cyprus "a ray of hope just where the Middle East meets Europe". Cyprus has been split since Turkish forces invaded the north of the island in 1974 in response to a short-lived Greek Cypriot coup backed by Greece's then military rulers. The last attempt to broker a settlement foundered in 2004 when Greek Cypriots rejected a U.N. peace plan accepted by the Tukish Cypriots, and Cyprus joined the European Union as a divided island, leaving the Turkish Cypriots isolated. Akinci said he and Anastasiades were of the same generation and represented the last chance to reunite the island. The generation born after them knew only division. Energy cooperation based on recent offshore gas discoveries off Cyprus could provide a crucial incentive to reach a deal, he said. "With this solution, newly found hydrocarbon resources in the Eastern Mediterranean will act as a source of peace and cooperation rather than conflict and tension," Akinci said. In a concerted international drive to support the peace process, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hosted a lunch with the two leaders and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden also met them to offer his backing. A diplomatic source in New York said the U.N. special envoy for Cyprus, former Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide, had told the Security Council in a closed session last week that 90 percent of a Cyprus deal was done but the last 10 percent remaining was the most difficult. In an interview with Reuters at Davos, Anastasiades said a settlement would require billions of euros in international aid to help resolve property issues and that he hoped Britain would return some of the land it has on Cyprus that houses sovereign military bases. (Additional reporting by Louis Charbonneau at the United Nations and Michele Kambas in Athens; Writing by Paul Taylor Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)
#Eunma Apartments Seoul approves reconstruction of dilapidated Eunma apartment complex An antiquated southern Seoul apartment complex long at the center of the nation's real estate policy debate due to its massive size and location in the wealthy Gangnam district has...
By John Miller and Stephanie Nebehay ZURICH/GENEVA (Reuters) - Internationally brokered talks between Syria's government and opposition groups due to start on Jan. 25 may be delayed, but major powers must keep up the pressure to bring participants to the table, the United Nations envoy said on Wednesday. A Syrian opposition council backed by Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday it will not attend the negotiations in Geneva with the government if a third group takes part, a reference to a Russian bid to widen the opposition team. U.N. Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura spoke in an interview with broadcaster CNN, hours after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held talks in Zurich despite no sign of agreement on who should represent the opposition. "We have no intentions to postpone the talks from January to February. This is both the position of Russia and the United States, and we are confident that in the next days, in January, such talks must start," Lavrov said. "...This will be just the start, because of course it will take a lot of time, a whole range of arduous tasks are to be resolved." Various dates were being mooted, but the final decision was for the U.N. Secretary General on the advice of de Mistura, he said. De Mistura, asked if he was able to send the invitations to the talks, told CNN in the Swiss resort of Davos: "I cant tell you today, I will tell you on the 24th, one day before." It was important that it be "a serious talk about peace and not talks about talks", he said. "I believe we can start the talks, perhaps not on the 25th, but we need to maintain the pressure, we need to maintain the momentum." Kerry's spokesman, John Kirby, said Kerry and Lavrov discussed "the importance of maintaining progress toward a diplomatic solution to the crisis in Syria." "There's been no change in our desire to see this meeting happen on the 25th," he said. A delay of one or two days in the start of the talks not be the end of the world, a U.S. State Department spokesman said later on Wednesday in Washington. Kirby said Kerry also pressed Russia to use its influence with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to ensure unimpeded humanitarian access, especially to Syrians in besieged areas such as Madaya where people are reported to have died from starvation. De Mistura said he believed Russia, which has been carrying out air strikes on rebels in Syria for months, "has a great vested interest in not getting involved for too long" The United States was also "heavily involved politically" in seeking an end to the nearly five-year-old war, while Iran and Saudi Arabia had assured him they would work to end the Syrian conflict, despite their diplomatic row. "They too probably realise that the time has come for at least trying to find a political solution which will be a compromise," de Mistura said. NO AGREEMENT OVER OPPOSITION The United Nations said on Monday it would not issue invitations to the talks until major powers promoting the negotiations, which include the United States and Russia, agree which rebel representatives should attend. Russia and Iran, which support Assad, have rejected attempts by Saudi Arabia, which like the United States and European powers opposes Assad, to organise the Syrian opposition and delegation for the talks. Iran's foreign minister said on Wednesday it was up to the U.N. to decide who represents the opposition, but he said that 10 delegates at a recent opposition gathering in Saudi Arabia were members of al Qaeda - one of three groups he said must be barred. (Reporting by David Brunnstrom, John Miller in Zurich; Jack Stubbs in Moscow and Stephanie Nebehay and Tom Miles in Geneva and Arshad Mohammed and Mohammad Zargham in Washington; writing by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Dominic Evans and John Stonestreet)
By Michelle Nichols BUJUMBURA (Reuters) - Two former Burundi presidents pleaded for the United Nations Security Council on Thursday to back the deployment of international troops to the African state gripped by political violence because it "runs the risk of becoming another Rwanda" Diplomats of the 15-member council arrived in Burundi's capital Bujumbura on Thursday evening for its second visit to the tiny landlocked state in less than a year, where fears of an ethnic war have also led to an economic crisis. The Security Council is due to meet President Pierre Nkurunziza on Friday. Violence broke out after Nkurunziza's decision in April to seek a third term. His opponents said the move was unconstitutional but he went on to win a disputed election in July. Hundreds of pro-government protesters lined the road from the airport to the U.N. envoys' hotel, welcoming them with drumming and dancing and signs with messages such as: "Burundi is sovereign, stop interfering in Burundi home affairs." There were several grenade explosions on Thursday in Bujumbura, but no further details were known, diplomats and police said. Since April, at least 439 people have been killed and the number might be "considerably higher," the United Nations said. Some 232,000 people have fled the country. The envoys, led by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power and senior Angolan and French diplomats, met Jean-Baptiste Bagaza, Burundi's president from 1976-87 and Domitien Ndayizeye, president from 2003-05. Bagaza said armed outside support was necessary to reassure Burundians. Both former presidents called on the Security Council to back such a move. "Otherwise we run the risk of becoming another Rwanda," Bagaza said. "We already have a heavy death toll, a great deal of destruction to the economy." The African Union said in December it was ready to send 5,000 peacekeepers to protect civilians in Burundi, but Nkurunziza has rejected the mission and said that Burundians would fight against any peacekeepers. The violence is being closely watched in a region scarred by the 1994 genocide in neighbouring Rwanda, which killed more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus. Burundi and Rwanda have the same ethnic mix, about 85 percent Hutus and 15 percent Tutsis. A 12-year civil war in Burundi, which ended in 2005, pitted a Tutsi-led army against Hutu rebel groups. The Burundi government has said there is no risk of a return to the ethnic bloodletting of the past. Ndayizeye told the Security Council that Nkurunziza's government was "a dictatorial regime which is imposed only through force" and that the crisis "is leading us over the abyss economically speaking." Burundi's cabinet passed a 2016 budget that slashes public spending by 16 percent and expects foreign aid to almost halve as relations with donors have soured during the turmoil. Burundi relies on the European Union for about half its budget and Brussels has partially suspended new aid over the crisis. Before the U.N. envoys arrived, a group of soldiers and police who defected from the government announced they had formed an official rebel movement, The Republican Force of Burundi. Godefroid Niyombare, a former major general who lead a failed coup attempt in May, has been appointed its leader. The rebels welcomed international mediation but also called for Burundians to support their fight against Nkurunziza. (Editing by Drazen Jorgic and Raissa Kasolowsky; editing by Larry King and Grant McCool)
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.
Boston College Law School student Rodline Louijeune, who had a firsthand look at a humanitarian crisis in Haiti last summer, is part of a new generation of Haitian American activists working to improve the quality of life for the nation's people.

In an article published in the Boston Haitian Reporter, Rodline Louijeune 17 writes about her trip to the Dominican Republic and Haiti border with a delegation of eight other attorneys and law students from the United States, Haiti, Australia, and Canada. Louijeune, daughter of two Haitian immigrants and currently an Ella Baker Legal Fellow at the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH), details her experience of the ongoing crisis spilling across the two borders, where she and the other delegates witnessed hundreds of people migrating from the Dominican Republic into Haiti as part of a forced voluntary exodus.

The delegation encountered crowded American school buses overloaded with people and their personal belongings  including large bags, mattresses, tarps, and bed-frames  tied to the roof of each bus, writes Louijeune. Though border officials on both sides were adamant that the departures were voluntary and part of seasonal migration patterns, this generally was not the case. People crossing the border initially tended to describe themselves as leaving voluntarily, but after further questioning, many reported having experienced threats and other pressures to leave the DR, sometimes from DR police and militiaMost left their livelihoods and/or families behind.
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Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday there is no end to the diplomatic challenges America faces, but he is absolutely certain the world is safer for having reached a nuclear accord with Iran. He said reaching that deal allows the U.S. to tackle other priorities, including Syria.

"Iran was hurtling towards an unaccounted for, uninspected, full-fledged nuclear program with high levels of enrichment where they had enough enriched material to make 10 to 12 bombs," Kerry told CNBC's "Squawk Box" at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "Now, frankly, at Iran's consent and agreement, they have rolled that back." The international community ended sanctions on Iran related to its nuclear program earlier this month after determining that Tehran met the terms of a deal reached last year. Those terms included shipping enriched material to Russia, drawing down its stock of centrifuges and destroying a plutonium reactor. Long-standing U.S. sanctions related to Iran's support for terrorist groups and its human rights record remain in place. The Treasury Department this week imposed new sanctions on 11 companies and individuals who the United States says helped to advance Iran's ballistic missile program. Shortly before that, Iran released four American prisoners in exchange for the release of seven Iranians held for violating U.S. sanctions and an agreement to drop international arrest warrants for 14 others.

With inspectors in place and Iran's presumed inability to enrich enough material to make a nuclear bomb, Kerry said, the United States can focus on civil wars in Syria and Yemen, an ongoing conflict in Libya, and North Korea's continued nuclear ambitions. The end of sanctions frees about $100 billion in frozen Iranian funds, but Kerry said Tehran will only have access to roughly $55 billion because much of that money will go toward repaying loans and other long-term commitments. The rest will likely be used to address Iran's ailing oil operations and other infrastructure that went without maintenance for years, he added. While there is no evidence that Iran is funneling newly released funds to organizations that the United States considers terrorist groups, Kerry said he believes Iran will eventually continue to support such groups. However, he said that support for such groups has never made a difference in the power structure in the region. He noted that Saudi Arabia alone spends much more than Iran per year on defense. "It's so incredibly disproportionate that I believe that working with our Gulf state partners, which we are going to do and which we are upgrading, we have the ability to guarantee that they will be secure, that we will stand by them, even as we look for this potential of a shift in behavior," he said. Kerry also confirmed that he had met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a staunch critic of the Iran deal, in Davos. He said he respects Israel's perception of the Iranian threat to its existence, and while the Obama administration acknowledges that threat, it differs on how to best manage it.

"Israel was facing a country that is in opposition to Israel and Israel's existence that was moving towards a nuclear weapon, and moving at a rate that was extremely disturbing," he said. "President Obama decided the first way to deal with it, before you start dropping bombs or going to war, is to see if you can find a diplomatic solution."
NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger last night wrote House and Senate leaders to correct the inaccuracies being peddled by banking trades to thwart NCUAs effort to update and modernize its field-of-membership rules.

The American Bankers Association and Independent Community Bankers of America are painting NCUAs proposed FOM rule as a back-door effort by NCUA to violate Federal Credit Union Act limits. They are making this assertion in hopes of keeping the rules as stringent as possible to limit consumers access to credit unions and minimize competition faced by banks.

In last nights letter, Berger said NAFCU members believe the federal charter must keep pace with changes in state laws, technology and the progressiveness of the financial services industry. He added, NCUA is well within its statutory authority in this effort to streamline its chartering and FOM procedures, as well as removing non-statutory constraints on FOM chartering and expansion.

Berger corrects the assertions made by the banking trades, emphasizing that the proposed rule goes no farther than what is permitted by current law. He also suggests that if the banking trades had been this focused on their own members activities prior to the financial downturn, banks may have avoided TARP and the over $100 billion in fines, settlements and buy-backs for their misdeeds.
There are 621 agricultural co-operatives in the UK, with a combined turnover of several billion pounds  but which are the biggest?

The top 25 agricultural co-operatives alone are owned by 36,000 farmer members and turned over 4.98bn last year, according to Co-operatives UK, the trade body for Britains co-operative businesses.

Ed Mayo, secretary general of the trade body, said: By operating as a farmer-owned business, a co-op can give its members a better deal over time, enabling them to pool resources and cut costs.

The best co-ops are quick to innovate because they are close to their members and, crucially, they pay attention to the quality of their governance as a member-owned business.

Rank Co-op Turnover (m) Number of farmer members Financial year end 1 Openfield Group 749 2,700 30/06/15 2 Fane Valley Co-operative Society 553.9 2,020 30/09/14 3 First Milk 460.1 1,317 31/03/15 4 Arla Foods UK 454.3 3,200* 31/12/13 5 United Dairy Farmers 421.5 1,619 31/03/15 6 Mole Valley Farmers 407.8  30/09/14 7 Anglia Farmers 247.4 3,500* 31/01/15 8 Berry Garden Growers 212.9 59 31/12/13 9 Fram Farmers 184.5 1,126 29/06/14 10 GrainCo 165.6  30/06/14 11 Woldmarsh Producers 113.5 793 31/12/13 12 United Oilseed Producers 110.1 2,861 30/06/14 13 Agricultural Central Trading 101.5 4,086 30/06/15 14 United Farmers 100.1 21 31/12/13 15 Organic Milk Suppliers Co-operative 87.8 179 31/03/15 16 Ballyrashane Creamery 81.5 232 31/12/14 17 Brandsby Agricultural Trading Association 78.4 4,234 30/09/13 18 Gs Growers 78.2  02/05/15 19 Scotlean Pigs 68.1 89 31/05/14 20 Tarff Valley 64 1,019 31/12/13 21 Yorkshire Farmers Livestock Marketing 59.4 267 31/01/14 22 Long Clawson Dairy 54.9 126 31/03/14 23 Clynderwen and Cardiganshire Farmers 47.5 6,521 30/09/14 24 Speciality Produce 45.8 13 31/12/13 25 Aquascot 45.5  31/01/15 Source: Co-operatives UK

*figures taken from company websites

The turnover of the UKs agricultural co-operatives grew by a third between 2010 and 2015, from 4.8bn to 6.2bn.
A tractor driver has died following a road traffic accident in Perthshire on Wednesday (20 January).

The tractor and its trailer left the road and fell into a ditch on a roadside bend. No other vehicles were involved in the crash.

A spokesman for Police Scotland said: Emergency services attended a serious road traffic incident at 1.20pm on Wednesday, involving a tractor at Rait near the Inchmichael junction.

Tragically, the 64-year-old tractor driver was declared dead at the scene.

See also: Read all the latest farm health and safety news

Police said next of kin had been informed of the tragedy.

Crash investigators were in attendance to determine the circumstances of the accident.

Anyone who witnessed the incident is asked to contact Police Scotland on 101 or speak to any officer.
On November 2, 2011, Occupy Oakland supporters called for a General Strike and Day of Action in response to OPDs disastrous militarized assault on demonstrators on October 25, when veteran Scott Olsen was nearly killed by an OPD officer and many others were injured. On November 2, thousands of people marched to, and shut down, the Port of Oakland. Later that night, when demonstrators occupied an abandoned building, scores of police responded with dangerous Specialty Impact Munitions and explosive teargas grenades. Before the night was over, another veteran lost his spleen to a baton-wielding officer; Scott Campbell was shot in the groin while he was peacefully filming the police line; a seminary student was bombed with CS Blast grenades, sustaining a permanent auditory injury; and legal observers, medics and a journalist were arrested when they took shelter in an alcove to escape the barrage of munitions and teargas. Photo: OPD officer on November 2nd. Photo by flickr user quinn norton.

Many of the OPD officers at the scene were wearing body cameras (PDRDs). In fact, OPD was one of the first law enforcement agencies in the country to acquire body cameras, as a result of the Negotiated Settlement Agreement (NSA) entered into in 2003 in an effort to bring basic accountability reforms to the troubled Department. However, when Scott Olsen was shot on October 25, 2011, only one out of the thirteen SWAT officers in the vicinity had his PDRD on. On November 2, around midnight, there were at least 40 officers with PDRDs in the area of 16th and San Pablo. That was when officer Anthony Tedesco claims to have spotted one man breaking all of the windows to the OPD Internal Affairs and Recruiting offices at the north end of Oscar Grant Plaza.Tedesco claims to have seen this from the staircase of a parking garage some 70 yards away, in the midst of a chaotic scene in which officers were being ordered to shoot lead filled rounds at demonstrators who threw objects or approached the police line. Tedesco pointed out a young man named Cesar Aguirre for arrest and he was charged with felony vandalism. Aguirre was one of the very few people arrested during the fall 2011, Occupy events to actually be prosecuted for anything.A volunteer lawyer recruited by the NLG represented Aguirre through a jury trial, which was held in August, 2012, before Alameda County Superior Court Judge Jon Rolefson. Aguirres lawyer asked for discovery, but the District Attorney produced only a few documents, telling the lawyer that there was no video of the incident, and that she had complied with her discovery obligations. Mr. Aguirres lawyer specifically asked for the police radio communications records, but they were never produced.Based on the testimony of just one prosecution eyewitness, Tedesco, the jury convicted Aguirre of felony vandalism. The court sentenced him to six months in jail and five years formal probation. While the criminal case was pending, the City of Oakland, under pressure to put a stop to demonstration-related property damage, announced in the press that it was suing Aguirre civilly for the window damage. Even though the court has ordered Mr. Aguirre to pay the cost of the windows as restitution in the criminal case, the City is still pursuing this duplicative civil lawsuit.Meanwhile, in response to the police attacks on Occupy Oakland, the NLG and ACLU filed a federal civil rights police misconduct lawsuit immediately after November 2, 2011. Accordingly, in this unrelated federal litigation, NLG lawyers obtained the PDRD videos and other police records that had not been disclosed in Aguirres state court criminal case.Due to the huge public outcry over the events, OPD also posted certain evidence, at various times, on its public website, which also had never been disclosed in the criminal case. Aguirres court appointed appellate counsel ran across some of this, and got in touch with Rachel Lederman, lead counsel on the NLG lawsuit. The police dispatch logs and four PDRD video clips, which had never been disclosed in the criminal case, then formed the basis for a habeas corpus petition.In March, 2014, the state Court of Appeal issued an Order to Show Cause, finding a prima facie case for relief based on the prosecutions failure to disclose material and exculpatory evidence in violation of its constitutionally mandated duties, returning the case to the Alameda County Superior Court for an evidentiary hearing on this Brady claim. Lederman was appointed to represent Aguirre on the Order to Show Cause, and attempted to introduce additional video and reports, which contradicted and impeached the trial testimony. Aguirres case was assigned back to Judge Rolefson, who proceeded to deny him any discovery, refused to consider much of the evidence, and finally denied the petition without holding an evidentiary hearing. The legal team returned to the Court of Appeal, and in September 2015, the appellate court issued a peremptory writ of mandate ordering the Alameda County court to hold an evidentiary hearing.The hearing was finally held over five days in early December. Attorney Brian McComas joined Mr. Aguirres legal team, and with the help of NLG student extern Cammie Dodson, the lawyers showed a dozen OPD PDRD videos and examined 13 witnesses, mostly police officers. During this hearing, it came out that the police radio communications recordings had been destroyed, even though these were the subject of discovery requests and subpoenas both in Aguirres case and in the Occupy civil cases.The evidence that the NLG team was able to present contradicted Tedescos trial testimony in many ways. For example, at trial, the jury was told that Tedesco watched Aguirre break the windows from the parking garage staircase, and then kept him continuously in sight as he came down the stairs, walked into the Plaza, and identified him for arrest. However, the new video and other evidence established that there was a full hour between the time that Tedesco claimed to have seen Aguirre break the windows and the time he was arrested, and that during this time, Tedesco was involved in dangerous operations including a police sweep of the parking structure, another attempted arrest, and shooting munitions.At trial, Tedesco was very clear that he saw Mr. Aguirre smash all the windows in one fell swoop that took no more than two minutes. But when Tedesco was confronted with the previously suppressed PDRD videos, he changed his story and testified that there were three separate episodes of window smashing.Unfortunately, Judge Rolefson immediately denied the habeas petition after previously denying Aguirre the right to present rebuttal argument. Aguirre is appealing by way of filing a third habeas petition in the Court of Appeal. His attorneys are confident that the record submitted to Judge Rolefson was sufficient to show that the prosecution violated Aguirres constitutional rights by not disclosing exculpatory evidence that would have impacted his trial, and that his conviction will eventually be overturned and the civil suit against him thrown out.Aguirres case raises questions as to whether video evidence from OPD, and other police agencies, is being produced as it should in criminal cases  and whether local superior court judges will enforce criminal defendants right to all potentially favorable evidence the police have. We already know that policies for release of body and dash camera videos under the California Public Records Act are very inconsistent. On the other hand, one can be sure that the videos will be released when they are helpful to the prosecution. This is one of the reasons that body cameras are not a solution to police misconduct in and of themselves and that policies for use, retention and disclosure must be carefully thought out.National Lawyers Guild SF Bay Area Chapter
There are 261 water supplying wells within 1 mile of these wastewater injection wells, likely wells for nearby ranches, farms and rural residences. Most of these wastewater injection wells are in San Ardo oil fields. Monterey County has a total of 44 active or idle wastewater injection wells. The other 65 are plugged or abandoned. A table with locations is below.

In May 2015, DOGGR sent to EPA a list of Californias class II wastewater injection wells that are injecting into protected aquifers. The DOGGR letter is at: http://bit.ly/1ZOjMwt In Nov 2015, the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board sent letters to oil and gas operators whose wastewater injection wells are injecting into protected aquifers. The wells listed will be shut down by February 2017 unless the operators get an aquifer exemption. DOGGR is holding public hearings about whether to grant aquifer exemptions. A big crowd turned out for the DOGGR aquifer exemption hearing in San Luis Obispo, (see article at http://bit.ly/1V8bpYj ).Monterey Countys DOGGR hearing has not yet been scheduled.Both DOGGR and the EPA acknowledge that 80% of Montereys wastewater injection wells (35 out of 44) put at risk aquifers that should be protected.In July, 2014, the state found that the industry had illegally injected about 3 billion gallons of fracking wastewater, containing high levels of arsenic, thallium, and nitrates, into central California drinking-water and farm-irrigation aquifers, and DOGGR issued cease and desist orders. Unfortunately, the oil industry has a lot of political influence and may get the Monterey County aquifer exemptions they seek, so the regulatory process may not protect the public.The PMC initiative appears to be the most effective way to tackle the problem of wastewater injection wells here.Protect Monterey County (PMC) is working to pass a citizens' initiative to prevent the harmful impacts of extreme oil extraction methods. Help us Ban Fracking!Protect Monterey County
Native Americans have been fighting for their spiritual traditions for decades against New Age cultural appropriation and commercial exploitaton. NAFPS and Al Carroll have been at the forefront, and for that, white racists have always hated them, slandered them, and demonized them. The good news is, the racists have always failed.

Native Americans have been fighting for their spiritual traditions for decades against New Age cultural appropriation and commercial exploitaton. NAFPS and Al Carroll have been at the forefront, and for that, white racists have always hated them, slandered them, and demonized them. The good news is, the racists have always failed.In its nearly 20 years, New Age Frauds and Plastic Shamans (NAFPS) have an enviable record as a deeply respected human rights organization, one founded by and made up of mostly American Indians, and widely used as a resource by tribes, universities, museums, other activists, and people from all walks of life. It began as a Yahoogroup, founded by members of Our Red Earth, a support group for the American Indian Movement or AIM, the best known Native warrior society from the Red Power movement.NAFPS was founded to combat cultural appropriation, a current hot topic on social media. But NAFPS was doing so long ago, back in the days when internet sites on Native topics were dominated by New Age imposters posing as Native American spiritual leaders. White posers sell false versions of Native ceremonies for huge profits (sometimes in the millions of dollars), and actual Native peoples are outnumbered, shouted down, and frequently threatened with violence. When New Age leaders, anxious to hold onto their huge fortunes and cults, cannot silence them by threats, they resort to censorship, making up claims of TOS violations and libel. Nervous ISPs, more concerned with lawsuits than with the truthfulness of claims, easily fold.NAFPS supporters described early on a vicious reign of terror aimed at them by New Age cults. Death threats came on a monthly and even weekly basis. Threats came not just through email. NAFPS members saw their home addresses and phone numbers published online. Police investigated phone threats to shove a shotgun up your *** and pull the trigger and emails sent with graphics lynchings. In the early days of the internet, when few police were clear about jurisdiction, such threats went unpunished.Some NAFPS members were stalked in person. NAFPS member in Arizona and Massachusetts both saw their family members threatened, including an elderly grandmother. At one protest, the German security force of the Deer Tribe cult tried to break into the car to get at a Native woman. Yet NAFPS members bravely never once backed down. They have an enviable record of success:- Suraj Holzwarth, a white woman calling herself White Eagle Woman and inventing claims of being a Mohawk messiah, saw all of her ceremony selling tour dates canceled due to NAFPS protests outing her false claims.- Kiesha Crowther, a white woman falsely claiming to being the messiah for the Salish and Lakota tribes, also saw her ceremony selling tour ended after her claims were exposed. She gave up and fled to Europe, removed her claims from her website, and apologized.- Robert Franzone, an Italian American long falsely claiming to be a Lakota medicine man named Ghostwolf, gave up ceremony selling due to being exposed by NAFPS, and died in obscurity.- Charles Storm, one of the oldest and most notorious frauds, a German-American long posing as a Cheyenne medicine man named Hyemyehosts, remains in hiding after NAFPS exposed him as a serial rapist. Former members of his cult came forward to describe his raping many of their children. He remains at large, his ceremony selling ended, even his internet presence gone. A faux civil rights group he set up, NAMA, shut down after NAFPS criticism.-The Erie Moundbuilders, a Black supremacist cult begun by James Johnson III (AKA Tecumseh Browneagle) shut down entirely, its attempts to start a casino with an organized crime figure exposed by NAFPS. Nothing remains of the group but the shell of an unmaintained website.At the center of NAFPS was Dr. Alton Carroll, or more often, Al Carroll, a history professor, author, and tireless human rights activist on this and other causes. Al Carroll was perhaps the bravest of all NAFPS members, personally being threatened the most of any of them. More attacks have been aimed at him than any other NAFPS member because he has used his academic credentials to bolster Native human rights and protect Native spiritual traditions. His research skills have also exposed more imposters and cults than any other, almost 4,000 posts of research, nearly triple that of the next most prolific NAFPS member.But Al Carroll is certainly far from alone at NAFPS. It has over 2,000 members from dozens of tribes, including indigenous peoples in Latin America, Hawaii, and Australia. Some of its more notable members include:Dr. Richard Allen, policy analyst for the Cherokee Nation of OklahomaMike Two Horses, Lakota professor in VirginiaLadonna Allard, member of Lakota tribal governmentRic Richardson, member of Metis band government in CanadaHuhanna Hickey, Australian Aboriginal disabled rights activistBryant Holman, curandero researcherMaria Blanco, community organizerSky Davis, Cherokee member of the American Indian Movement and Iron Lodge Prisoner SupportBee Niedlinger, Munsee member of the American Indian MovementDebbie Redbear, member of NDN-AIMAlbert Running Wolf, Kiowa member of the American Indian MovementBut Al Carroll wound up being targeted the most. Over the years his attackers and libelers have been a rogue's gallery of the worst of New Age culture vultures, abusers, and other racists:A racist pagan supporter of Brooke Edwards, an imposter posing as a Crow medicine woman named Medicine Eagle who uses spray on tanning makeup and a tribal enrollment certificate clearly made at Kinko's.Looking Back Woman, a hairdresser claiming to be a Lakota messiah.David Yeagley, a white supremacist and longtime associate of neo Nazis, enrolled by mistake in the Comanche tribe through an ancestor listed as an adopted Mexican.Paul Robin Denton, a convicted serial rapist, Scientology cult member, and leader of the Rainbow Tribe, a white Englishman posing as the leader of a tiny fringe political party in South Africa.The latest attack was posted on Portland Indymedia, taking advantage of the lack of oversight on open source media to prevent such defamation. The falsehoods begin in the title:How Al Carroll formed NAFPS author: DG Hooper.Dr. Alton Carroll did not form NAFPS alone. He was one of dozens of members of the AIM support group Our Red Earth that formed NAFPS. The interesting thing is the author's choice of name. DB Cooper was a thief who got himself killed during a failed hijacking.So the author wants to be thought of as a failed thief? One who was very incompetent? New Age leaders routinely kill their hapless followers with poorly run sweatlodges. The author seems to be Paul Robin Denton, the already mentioned convicted serial rapist and Rainbow Tribe cult leader. The Rainbow Tribe often runs poor imitations of Native sweatlodges, sometimes killing its members.The defamation continues:Al Carroll began identifying as 'Indian' in graduate school.Just one problem: The article then goes on to quote sources showing he identified as not just American Indian, but Apache, many years before that. Not only did Al Carroll identify as American Indian, everyone else identified him as one, outside of New Age exploiters....when he began using monies from fellowships dedicated to minoritiesFalse on two counts. One, he is not just a minority, but a double minority, both American Indian and Mexican. And he was never awarded fellowships for minorities, but based on merit....his wife would file for divorce.False. Court records online show Al Carroll filed for divorce from her, citing abandonment and adultery on her part. He was the aggrieved party.Paul Robin Denton then goes on to get angry about the age difference between the couple. Apparently he is horrified that a woman in her early 20s married a man in his early 30s. It's worth noting that Denton was 46 when he repeatedly raped a woman of 32, 14 years younger than him.Al Carroll would meet fellow "blogger/cyberstalker" Robert 'Rob' SchmidtSo Mr. Denton is now defaming any associate of Al Carroll. Rob Schmidt is pretty well known as an author of Native themed comics, and as an activist for Native causes. Both Schmidt and Carroll are often attacked by New Age exploiters, and both are supporters of human rights causes. Those are their only connections....who 'interviewed' him on his website in April 2002.No such interview exists. Al Carroll often contributed to the Blue Corn Comics site, where both wrote analysis of racism, stereotypes, and promoted human rights.Al Carroll would later create a GeoCities website called Our Red Earth Organization in March 2003.Our Red Earth actually began five years earlier, as a Yahoogroup, and never was on Geocities. Al Carroll had no part in either. Why the paranoid tendency of Mr. Denton to see Al Carroll's hand in everything? Seems like he is admitting how effective Dr. Carroll was in exposing Denton. Paul Robin Denton, himself a convicted serial rapist, then goes into a bizarre bit of psychological projection to falsely accuse Al Carroll of being a serial rapist.It's worth noting where Denton gets these claims. White supremacist David Yeagley and his fellow neo Nazis originally made them up on his website. Even more bizarrely, they claimed Al Carroll is a Russian porn star. Denton is willing to dig through the worst, lowest, and least reliable sites for his mudslinging and defamation.Al Carroll traveled to Europe in 2005 and 2006 to lectureVery sloppy. There was no travel in 2006. Al Carroll went on a speaking tour to raise money for charity, the Albuquerque Indian Center's Powwow Academy. It's a drug prevention and gang intervention program. So now Paul Robin Denton is smearing very worthwhile Native charities. The academy went on to invite Al Carroll to be an honored guest at their powwow, since the tour kept the center open for another year.Around this time he would start a short period of employment at St Phillip's College in San Antonio.If by short period, one means five years. If by employment, one means an adjunct professor.During this time he began recruiting for "GENUINE Native Americans" to appear in Swedish director Annika Banfield's 800,000 krone movie projectThe director of Spirits for Sale was actually Folke Johansson. Banfield was just one of several writers. Al Carroll did no recruiting. Johannson did. He found a number of famed American Indians to appear in the film. Andrew Thomas is Director of the Albuquerque Pueblo Indian Center. Arvol Looking Horse is a highly respected Lakota elder, the Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Bundle for the tribe, a position held in his family for 19 generations.As for 800,000 krone, a krone is worth about 15 cents. This was not a movie, but a low budget factual documentary about spiritual exploiters and imposters, like Paul Robin Denton.Spirits for Sale also won a number of awards and received nothing but praise in reviews:"... a good and heart-felt piece of work and would make an impact on students and the general public."Anthropology Review Database"A very moving and interesting documentary of the commercialization and ignorance surrounding Native Americans and their culture...highly recommended." EMRODenton's failed effort at defamation continues:He began making false claims about having been a professor at ASU.Actually both ASU's site and Al Carroll's own online resumes show him listed as Teaching Instructor while at ASU. Nowhere did he claim to be a professor. He is also shown as having been Editor for the prestigious H-Amindian academic listserve, and Researcher for the equally prestigious Labriola American Indian Data Center. His bosses at the two institutes were themselves very prestigious, Joyce Kievet, an Eastern Band Cherokee, and Patricia Etter, a Pottawatomi Indian.Denton also fails to mention Al Carroll's other prestigious mentors. At Purdue he was trained by a Choctaw Indian professor, Donna Akers. Ay ASU his teachers included James Riding In, a famed Pawnee historian, and Angela Cavendar Wilson, a Dakota Indian professor.Denton goes on to claim:Other people active with NAFPS at or before this time include Brent Michael Davids, Cinda Hughes, Vance Hawkins, Debbie Redbear Moran, and Ladonna Allard.Denton does not mention who these notable people are. Davids is from the Stockbridge tribe and a famed composer and artist. Hughes is a Kiowa Indian disabled rights activist. Hawkins is a Cherokee Indian activist. Redbear is a member of NDN-AIM. Allard is a member of Lakota tribal government. That's pretty prestigious company Al Carroll is keeping.Denton's failed defamation and sloppy research and falsehoods continues:In 2008 Al Carroll padded his PHD dissertation from ASU to book length, releasing it as Medicine Bags and Dog Tags.Actually Al Carroll did not release his book. The University of Nebraska Press did. UNP is the most prestigious of academic publishers of American Indian Studies. Let's take a look at the reviews for his book, all found at the UNP website:"Al Carroll has written a cogent, readable, scholarly, and comprehensive study of Native American veterans from a Native perspective." Gretchen Healy, Tribal College Journal"An interesting and provocative book, Medicine Bags and Dog Tags succeeds in providing an Indian perspective on military service and its effects on cultural renewal and perseverance." Thomas A. Britten, Great Plains Quarterly."[This book] should be in the hands of not only Native but non-Indians veterans and service groups, in order to better understand why we serve, fight, and die in the service of the United States, and how best to honor Native soldiers and veterans." Debra Utacia Krol (Salinan/Essalen), Native Peoples magazine.Denton does not mention that Al Carroll has gotten three more books published since then. One of them is Presidents' Body Counts: The Twelve Worst and Four Best Presidents Based on How Many Lived or Died Because of Their Actions. Let's take a look at reviews for it:This is a brave and magisterial work that will make you look again at American history and the Presidency. Its a real eye-opener to anyone who thinks they know everything there is to know about U.S. history. It is the truth that you wont hear through your mainstream media. MWB ReviewsDr. Carroll is well known in Indian Country. He has fought for many years to protect our sacred ways from the wasichu colonial spiritual invaders. I am glad he represents an Indian point of view. The words you have written are very good Dr. Carroll. I hope many heed them. Sam BearIt is a devastating critique of the presidency and its failures, contrary to the sunshine patriotism view one gets (mis)taught. A search for him online shows he's American Indian, very well respected by most but deeply hated by racists and religious exploiters. He has my respect, and I expect this book will be much used as a resource by anyone wanting an antidote to all the hazy president worshipping bios. John MartineAnother of his books is The New Age Speak to Plain English Dictionary, a collection of humor. Let's take a look at the reviews:Excellent and necessary. Cultural misappropriation (aka cultural appropriation) from Native Americans is a serious problem. The newage market is full of non-Natives spouting bafflegab. Usually they rely on Noble Savage stereotypes, which, despite the newagers' claims to "admire" Natives actually disenfranchise and denigrate the very people being "admired." This handy and entertaining book cuts through the bafflegab. It will save you time, money, and brain cells. Don't feed the frauds. Arm yourself with the translation! Redwing44Hilarious and dead on target. Funny funny FUNNY in how it takes New Agers to task for their pompousness, their mock profoundness, and their cultural appropriation and casual but also deep seated racism, bigotry, cultural imperialism, greed, and sometimes sexual abuse. American ManA fourth book of Al Carroll's is Survivors: Family Histories of Surviving Colonialism, Genocide, and War. It's a collection of accounts from wartime and genocide survivors. The book won Al Carroll an Award for Scholarly and Creative Engagement from his university.What all of Al Carroll's books share in common is a concern with human rights. His whole career and life seem dedicated to that, and it has won him much praise and prestige. But what does Denton go on to smear Al Carroll with?Comanche David Yeagley in early January 2009 Carroll was sued for libel/slander in Oklahoma Supreme Court.Supreme Court? For a libel suit? How clumsy a lie is that? Yeagley also sued Google. He sued Amazon. He also sued ten other people and institutions and civil rights groups and activists.What did he sue them for? He sued on behalf of American Renaissance, a white supremacist organization he was long part of. Yeagley was a white supremacist and neo Nazi, a long associate of Storm Front, neo Nazi skinheads, and other white supremacists like One Nation, White Boy Society, and VDARE. Yeagley was openly an admirer of Hitler, Columbus, Dracula, Custer, and the Shah of Iran. He called for Obama's assassination and genocide against Mexicans, Muslims, Arabs, gays, and pagans.Yeagley sued all these people and organizations for pointing out he is a white supremacist and NOT Comanche. His father was German. His mother was a Mexican, born in Mexico. His ancestor was mistakenly enrolled in the Comanche tribe, and listed on Comanche tribal rolls as adopted Mexican. He was a truly bizarre character, a gay man who hated other gays, a Mexican who hated other Mexicans, and who posed as Comanche to spread white supremacist hatred and calls for violence. THIS is the source that Denton relies on for his smears.Yeagley was also repeatedly defeated in court. Every single lawsuit was thrown out, without exception. None of the people or organizations he sued even had to defend themselves in court, including Al Carroll. That's in the public record, but Denton never mentions that.Denton goes on to claim:Carroll left the country. Some said to avoid further scrutiny and lawsuit. He would travel to Indonesia to lecture about Native Americans.False. Al Carroll went to Indonesia as a Fulbright Scholar, one of the most prestigious awards in America for teachers and scholars. That puts Al Carroll in some amazing company, alongside dozens of presidents and prime ministers, Nobel Prize winners, and hundreds of other revered scholars.Besides teaching, Al Carroll described his work for the Fulbright this way:One of the things I'm doing over here is trying to help as many Indonesians as possible get advanced degrees in the US. This includes students from Indonesia's tribes, who make up about a fourth of the population here, Dayaks, Bataks, Papuans, and Torajans. Right now they have me mentoring eight Indonesian students who want to be in Master's or PhD programs in the US. This includes two in heathcare, a mining engineer who want to study environmental science, two economics students (including one who studies poverty reduction through microfinancing), two agriculture students, and one studying how to improve fishing yields for fishermen without depleting the oceans.That's enormously impressive and noble, in line with everything else Al Carroll has done in his life as a humanitarian. But what does Denton go on to defame him for?On May 12th he was cited in Loudon County for an expired registration.A parking ticket? Denton, a convicted serial rapist, is trying to smear a human rights activist as a bad person for an expired sticker? What else is Denton desperate enough to claim?By 2010 Alton Carroll had begun working for Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) as an assistant.By assistant, he mean assistant professor. It's also worth noting just how prestigious a school NOVA is. It's consistently ranked the best community college in all of America. Obama has given two speeches at NOVA, touting it as a model for the whole country.What else can Denton come up with?The school was not aware of Al Carroll's background at the time they engaged him.We can be pretty sure they were very aware of his background, the Fulbright Scholarship, an outstanding record as a scholar and human rights organizer, and highly praised books. Not only are they aware of it, they eagerly sought him out for it, and they keep giving him awards for it.The attackers going after NAFPS and Al Carroll and other Native human rights activists share three things in common:They are mostly anonymous, unsigned, or with obvious fake names. That destroys any credibility in the articles and tells readers the authors are cowardly, the kind of losers others tell to get a life.They are obvious smears, filled with falsehoods anyone can easily find and pick apart. This has the effect of making the readers side with those being attacked.They have all failed repeatedly with their attacks. During the 20 years of defamation and demonization, NAFPS went from a little Yahoogroup to a highly respected resource for tribe, universities, and the public. During that same 20 years, Al Carroll went from an unknown college student to a revered and highly awarded scholar and activist. At this rate, this latest round of attacks may get Al Carroll a Nobel Prize to go along with his many other awards. He would deserve it too.-Signed and Authored by, Native Americans Against DiscriminationAnyone can find out the truth about NAFPS, Al Carroll, and its other respected leaders just by going straight to the source, instead of anonymous smears. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ikwshoJelU (Interview)
From the Open-Publishing Calendar From the Open-Publishing Newswire Indybay Feature

Hard Knock Radio on MLK and 2016 Reclaim MLK 96 Hours of Action by KPFA Hard Knock Radio is a drive-time Hip-Hop talk show on KPFA (94.1FM @ 4-5 pm Monday-Friday), a community radio station without corporate underwriting, hosted by Davey D and Anita Johnson. This is their series of broadcasts around Martin Luther King Jr Day 2016. Listen now: Copy the code below to embed this audio into a web page: <audio preload="none" src="https://www.indybay.org/uploads/2016/01/20/hardknockradio_20160120-wed1600.mp3" controls="controls"></audio> January 29, 2016



The Dream Continues: 96 Hours of Action



Sunday morning in San Francisco, California, members of the Anti-Police Terror Project and Asians4BlackLives, a Bay Area group of Asian community organizers, held a community intervention in front of Ed Lees home to demand that he fire Police Chief Suhr and all officers involved in the murders of Mario Woods, Amilcar Lopez, and Alex Nieto. As well as, the immediate reallocation of city funds in order to provide affordable housing that allows Black, Brown and other people of color to remain in SF. At 6 AM, activists woke the mayor with drums, gongs, chants and verbal indictments of his political decisions that have placed the citys Black and Brown communities at increased harm. Five activists chained themselves to a table in front of his house, calling on Lee to honor Martin Luther King Jr.s radical legacy by coming to the table to join them in standing with Black Lives Matter Movement.



Well hear from members of Asians 4 Black Lives Alvina Wong and Alex Tom. As well as members of the Anti-Police Terror Project Cat Brooks and Adam Jordan For more information: https://kpfa.org/program/hard-knock-radio/ Related Categories: California | East Bay | San Francisco | Health, Housing & Public Services | LGBTI / Queer | Police State & Prisons | Racial Justice

 #Reclaim MLK 2016: 96 Hours of Direct Action by KPFA Listen now: Copy the code below to embed this audio into a web page: <audio preload="none" src="https://www.indybay.org/uploads/2016/01/20/hardknockradio_20160119-tue1600.mp3" controls="controls"></audio> January 19, 2016



On todays program we speak with Alicia one of the protesters from the Bay Area Bridge shut down. And later we hear from organizers gathered at the homes of Oaklands Mayor Libby Schaaf, Police Chief Sean Whent and San Franciscos Police Chief Greg Suhr to protest the accelerated expulsion of Black and Brown people from these communities, police terrorism and to demand fair economic disbursement among the citys residents.



We spoke with Alicia of BlackSeed, Jason Wallac, Jenny Grogan and Renisha Johnson.

https://kpfa.org/program/hard-knock-radio/

 Davey D reports live from the Bay Bridge shutdown plus more by KPFA Listen now: Copy the code below to embed this audio into a web page: <audio preload="none" src="https://www.indybay.org/uploads/2016/01/20/hardknockradio_20160118-mon1600.mp3" controls="controls"></audio> January 18, 2016 https://kpfa.org/program/hard-knock-radio/
KPFA WorkWeek Radio investigates the relationship between the Council on Foreign Relations and the AFL-CIO and labor in the US with author Larry Shoup. WorkWeek also reports on the threats by the San Francisco Police Officers Association SF POA against the San Francisco Labor Council for passing a resolution calling for an independent investigation of the murder of Mario Woods and for possible prosecution of the police who killed him.

WW1-19-16 CFR Labor And War and SF POA Threatens SFLC And Delegates For Calling For Investigation Of Mario Woods MurderWorkWeek looks at the Council On Foreign Relations CFR and the role of the AFL-CIO leadership in collaborating and supporting the policies of this corporate controlled organization in foreign policy and militarization. We interview UAW NWU retiree Larry Shoup who has written "Wall Street's Think Tank, The Council on Foreign Relations and the Empire of Neoliberal Geopolitics, 1976-2014".Next, WorkWeek discusses the attack by the San Francisco Police Officers Association SF POA on the San Francisco Labor Council and each delegate for passing a resolution calling for an independent investigation of the murder of Hunters Point Bay View African American youth Mario Woods. The SF POA attacked the leadership and individual members and demanded that they disassociate themselves from the position within two week.Additional media:Production of WorkWeek RadioSan Francisco Labor Council Statement Rejecting POA's Distortion of Facts, Name-calling and Attempted IntimidationIt is resolved that the SFLC delegates endorse the letter sent by Executive Director Tim Paulson to the POA on January 5, 2016 and reject the POAs distortion of facts, name-calling and attempted intimidation.Adopted by the San Francisco Labor Council on January 11, 2016. Respectfully,Tim Paulson Executive DirectorOPEIU 3 AFL-CIO 11SFLC Resolution Calls For Possible Prosecution Of Police Murderers Of Mario WoodsRESOLUTION ON SF POLICE SHOOTING OF MARIO WOODSWhereas 26-year-old African American Mario Woods, while carrying a knife, had his back to a building and was confronted by a semi-circle of police with their guns drawn; andWhereas video shows, Mario Woods started to walk away, and a policeman moved in front of him with gun drawn ; andWhereas, Mr. Woods was shot over a dozen times, far exceeding the minimal amount of force needed to disable him; andWhereas, the ACLU of Northern California has stated, Video of the incident, which reveals Woods trying to walk away from officers, does not appear to show the imminent danger of substantial risk of death or serious injury that would permit the use of a firearm under SFPD policy; andWhereas, the demonization of black men has made even minor interactions with law enforcement potentially life threatening; and use of deadly force by police officers against Black and Brown males is occurring regularly across our nation, including male children; andWhereas, according to the San Francisco Chronicle (Dec. 12, 2015), 'A new video of the fatal shooting of Mario Woods shows San Francisco police officers fired a barrage of shots at him while he held his arms at his sides, an apparent contradiction to the Police Departments account that he prompted his killing by threatening an officer with a kitchen knife.'Therefore Be It Resolved that the San Francisco Labor Council calls for a comprehensive and impartial investigation in conjunction with the San Francisco District Attorney, the California Attorney General and the United States Department of Justice; and based on these facts, the San Francisco District Attorney should prosecute the police who fired their guns to the fullest extent of the law, up to and including charging them with murder; andBe it Further Resolved that the San Francisco Labor Council calls on the elected City officials to require the San Francisco Police Department to institute a thorough retraining of police officers in non-lethal tactics to disarm suspects who do not display an immediate credible threat to the lives of the police and our families and neighbors including policing practices that incorporate stronger and more impactful best practices of de- escalation training such as is practiced in other countries, where police are trained to realize that their behavior and attitude will have an impact on the other persons behavior and attitude.Submitted by Fred Pecker, ILWU 6; Maria Guillen, SEIU 1021; Conny Ford, OPEIU 3; Mike Casey UNITE HERE 2; Susan Solomon, UESF; Carolyn Samoa, UESF; Alisa Messer, AFT 2121; Alan Benjamin, OPEIU 3; and Ann Robertson, CFA and adopted by the San Francisco Labor Council on December 14, 2015.Respectfully,SF Labor Council Passes Resolution On Police Murder Of Mario WoodsMayor Ed Lee now wants police to have stun guns soonBy Matier & RossDecember 15, 2015 Updated: December 15, 2015 11:00pmPhoto: Lea Suzuki, The ChronicleChief Greg Suhrs 2013 proposal to arm the SFPD with stun guns was met by community opposition.Mayor Ed Lee, reeling from the ongoing fallout over the Mario Woods fatal police shooting, has moved from wanting an open conversation about the use of stun guns to pushing to get them in the hands of officers ASAP.He knows that Tasers are not the full answer and he still wants a full top-to-bottom review of police practices, but in the meantime he wants something done immediately, mayoral spokeswoman Christine Falvey said.BY MATIER & ROSSThe mayor phoned both Police Commission President Suzy Loftus and Police Chief Greg Suhr this week, asking them to start drawing up plans immediately to purchase and train officers on the use of the stun guns  a weapon that had been rejected twice by the commission over concerns about their safety and effectiveness.As recently as last month, the Police Commission was signaling that it would take at least six months to make the call on using Tasers and the policies that should be adopted for their use.The mayor is thinking more along the lines of six weeks.Whether the commission acts on the mayors request remains be seen. The move underscores the ongoing tensions over the shooting of Woods, a recently released convict who officers say stabbed someone before being confronted and shot by police in the Bayview on Dec. 2.Meanwhile, in an unprecedented move, the San Francisco Labor Council, which represents the citys biggest unions, is calling for an independent investigation into the shooting. A Labor Council resolution said that if the facts warranted it, the district attorney should prosecute the police who fired their guns to the fullest extent of the law, up to and including charging them with murder.All the heat brought a quick retort from Police Officers Association President Martin Halloran, who said Woods was also recently released from prison, had allegedly stabbed someone 30 minutes earlier, and was using the knife to threaten a police officer.It could be considered by some to have been a case of suicide by cops, Halloran said.In a separate development, Suhr has been given extra security after receiving death threats. The police chief was kicked repeatedly from behind by demonstrators as he exited a heated Police Commission meeting last week on the Woods shooting.The Labor Council members had a vigorous debate over whether to call for the firing of Suhr, who had defended the officers action.It was a robust debate, but ultimately the members who were present voted against it, said Labor Council Executive Director Tim Paulsen.
Illinois Wesleyan Awarded $350,000 Grant to Strengthen Teaching and Student Engagement

Jan. 21, 2016

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded a $350,000 grant to Illinois Wesleyan University to develop a comprehensive, three-year program of new curricular approaches and pedagogical reform. The primary aim of the initiative, entitled Engaging Tomorrows Students, is to increase student engagement and enhance learning outcomes.

Provost and Dean of the Faculty Jonathan Green noted Illinois Wesleyans student population has significantly diversified in recent years with regard to racial and ethnic minorities, first-generation college students and students who are eligible for Pell Grants. In addition to a greater breadth of ethnic, geographic, racial and socio-economic backgrounds, our students display a much more varied range of preparation and learning experiences from those enrolled when our current curriculum was created, said Green. He also noted that faculty and administrators have indicated they could be better prepared to meet the intercultural needs of todays students.

To strengthen pedagogy and increase interdisciplinary offerings, the grant will allow Illinois Wesleyan to establish four major initiatives. These include: team-taught interdisciplinary courses that experiment with varied ways of teaching; curricular and pedagogical symposia; campus teaching mentors; and workshops on the humanities and intercultural communication.

Funds from the grant will be used for guest speakers; grants for faculty members to develop specific projects within their courses; stipends for workshops, training and mentors; and the salary for a visiting assistant professor of humanities.

Associate Dean for Curricular and Faculty Development Lynda Duke will serve as project director and coordinate implementation of the grant. Green said the universitys Andrew W. Mellon Center for Curricular and Faculty Development will be the home for the work of the Engaging Tomorrows Students project. The Mellon Center has also been home to the work of several previous grants from the Mellon Foundation: a $300,000 grant for Re-Centering the Humanities in 2013; a $250,000 grant to support writing and information literacy in 2012; and a $175,000 grant in 2008 to develop a writing curriculum in the sophomore year.

This is a propitious time in the Universitys history as we fulfill our missions commitment to being a diverse community, but we do not have the resources required to retool most effectively, said Green. This grant makes it possible for us to adapt to a new generation of students, strengthen our teaching, and reform our curriculum to the best advantage of our students and the institution. The project will help us provide the educational support all students deserve.
Sacramento, CA A number of A number of California overtime complaints that were filed last year may be a warning to employers: it doesnt pay to not pay overtime.

The California Court of Appeal ruled last October that a class action brought by nurses against Aurora Behavioral Health Care in Southern California can be certified. Because the nurses were understaffed, they had to remain at their posts until relieved and had to finish work tasks before leaving at the end of their shift. The nurses claim they regularly skipped meal and rest breaks and worked off the clock.Previously the lower court rejected certification, citing that the nurses decision to work off the clock was a personal choice. But the new overtime laws do not permit such a choice, and upon appeal, the judge adhered to that rule. The case is241 Cal.App.4th 388 (2015).A proposed class-action lawsuit, filed by Interstate Realty Management Company employees in December 2015, alleges their employer failed to pay proper overtime wages (they are paid hourly) and failed to provide meal and rest breaks. It is mandatory under the California Labor Code for employers to pay their employees overtime wages at 1.5 times the employees regular rate of pay when an employee works more than eight hours in a workday and/or in excess of 40 hours in a workweek. As well, employees must provide uninterrupted meal breaks prior to their fifth hour of work. The Interstate Realty Management Company class action is Case No. STK-CV-UOE-2015-0011942Echoing the Uber lawsuits, where on-demand, independent contractors argue they are regular employees and thereby misclassified, Amazon.com drivers last October sued the company in Los Angeles state court.Companies like Amazon and Uber are likely saving enough money by not paying their drivers unemployment insurance, workers compensation and Social Security to more than cover overtime lawsuit settlements. Attorney Beth Ross said that several hundred Amazon drivers in California are making an average of $11 an hour, and out-of-pocket expenses may leave them with less than the $7.25 minimum wage. As of January 2016, minimum wage is $10 per hour, and more in some cities. For instance, San Francisco minimum wage is now $12.25 per hour, increasing to $13.00 per hour on July 1, 2016. San Jose is $10.30 per hour, Oakland is $12.55 per hour, and San Diego is $10.50 per hour.As well, Amazon hired an intermediary service to likely avoid paying overtime. A courier service that manages Amazons Prime Now deliveries in Orange County required that drivers reported to their shift at the Amazon warehouse in Irvine, where they waited in line for assignments, then had to make deliveries in a specified order, according to the complaint. This process added up to two hours onto their shift, which they were not paid for.If Amazon drivers prevail in their lawsuit, lawyers say it wont be a big setback for the giant company, which has more than 200,000 employees worldwide and doesnt rely so much on contract workers such as Uber does. But the California lawsuit is a threat because state laws make it easier for workers to prove theyve been misclassified as contractors. They can also win reimbursement for business expenses that isnt available under laws in other states.And employers take note:AB 970 - effective January 1, 2016 - provides the California Labor Commissioners Office with authority to investigate and at the request of the local government, to enforce local laws regarding overtime hours or minimum wage provisions. The California Labor Commissioners Office has authority to issue citations and penalties for violations, but cannot issue violations if the local entity has already issued a citation for the same violation. The bill also authorizes the California Labor Commissioners Office to enforce Labor Code section 2802, which requires employers to pay for business-related costs that the employee directly incurs in discharging their duties for the employer.
The U.S. Supreme Court said on Jan 19 that it will not hear Johnson & Johnsons appeal of a $140 million judgment in a lawsuit alleging it failed to warn that Childrens Motrin pain and fever medication could cause a devastating skin condition.

The decision leaves intact one of the largest verdicts ever awarded by a Massachusetts jury.Johnson & Johnson had urged the US Supreme Court to weigh in on its challenge to a $140 million verdict that the pharmaceutical company must pay because of its Childrens Motrin product.The kids anti-inflammatory drug has allegedly caused a potentially deadly skin condition, and Johnson & Johnson is arguing courts should look to a third party for liability: the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, for rejecting the warning labels proposed by the pharma giant.Plaintiffs Samantha Reckis and her parents brought suit against Johnson & Johnson after the Childrens Motrin product caused Samantha to develop toxic epidermal necrolysis, a terrible skin condition that damages the bodys mucous membranes. Reckis lost 80% lung capacity and 90% of her skin. She is also now blind. Reckis experienced these unbelievable side effects in 2003 at the young age of seven.Reckiss parents argued the medication should have come with warnings that specifically mentioned toxic epidermal necrolysis, the related skin condition Stevens Johnson Syndrome, and a general warning that rashes or blisters that develop after taking the drug could lead to a life-threatening condition. However, the FDA had rejected warnings similar to those urged by Reckiss parents.Stevens-Johnson syndrome, a form of toxic epidermal necrolysis, is a life-threatening skin condition in which cell death causes the epidermis to separate from the dermis. The syndrome is thought to be a hypersensitivity complex that affects the skin and the mucous membranes. The most well-known causes are certain medications, but it can also be due to infections, or more rarely, cancers. Toxic epidermal necrolysis and Stevens-Johnson syndrome essentially cause ones skin to melt off the body.Johnson & Johnson had sought in a brief filed December 30, 2015 for the U.S. high court to review the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Courts decision affirming the multi-million dollar February 2013 verdict. Johnson and Johnson said in its filing,It is beyond dispute that the specific warning language the [Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court] said Massachusetts law required was proposed to the FDA, rejected by the FDA, and then proposed again at trial by respondents . . . The FDA acts intentionally and purposely when it includes particular language in one label (for patients under a physicians care) but rejects its inclusion on another label (for over-the-counter consumers) - especially given that this same language was proposed for both products.The warnings rejected by the FDA were proposed by a citizens petition and not Johnson & Johnson. The Massachusetts high court used these facts to reason that the FDA may not necessarily have rejected such warnings if Johnson & Johnson itself had proposed them.Johnson & Johnson believes this holding to be based on speculation and has also argued that the FDA specifically requires similar warnings for prescription ibuprofen products, not over-the-counter products (including Childrens Motrin). Johnson & Johnson believes this shows the FDAs intent not to apply such warning labels to over-the-counter medication, regardless of the entity proposing the warnings.The case iscase number 15-449, in the Supreme Court of the United States.Meanwhile, a Philadelphia jury returned a $10 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson in 2010, after siding with a family who said their 3-year-old daughter was struck with Stevens-Johnson syndrome after taking Childrens Motrin in 2000. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of the case in March after the states Superior Court upheld the verdict in July 2014.Another ongoing case against the pharmaceutical company iscase number 2:12-cv-04929, in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Riley Brown (age 3 at the time) was hospitalized for nearly a month after taking Childrens Motrin and saw more than 30 percent of her body affected by the painful skin condition. She was left blind in one eye and now has a severe sensitivity to light in the other. Brown has undergone multiple eye surgeries since she was stricken with SJS/TEN, including a failed cornea transplant.Browns attorney told the eight-member Pennsylvania jury in September, The law is that the drug manufacturer, the one who is making the profit by selling the drug, has a duty. Our country, our government, has decided that the duty is going to fall on the drug manufacturer to make their product safe. It is not a delegable duty. They cant push it off on the FDA. They cant push it off on a doctor. They cant push it off on mom. It is their duty and their duty alone.
Beauty they say is in the eyes of the beholder. Some women are so attractive that their beauty makes men glance at them continuously. Nigeria as a country is endowed with such women as the most beautiful Nigerian First Ladies since Independence are in this category of quintessential ladies.

Sometimes, the features used to judge a beautiful woman could be subjective. The most obvious feature of knowing if a woman is pretty or not is often her facial features.

The face of a beautiful woman is her greatest asset. This will make all men want to long for her. Likewise, some Nigerian First Ladies, in the past and present are blessed with unique facial beauty.

READ ALSO: 5 Most Handsome Nigerian Presidents Since 1960

1. Maryam Babangida

Maryam was one of the most beautiful Nigerian First Ladies to have ever held the office of the First Lady. She was born on November 1, 1948. She was the wife of the military president, Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida. She was the First Lady between 1985 and 1993.

She was born in Asaba, the capital of Delta state. Due to her natural facial features and exceptional beauty, a magazine during her time as First Lady compared her with Lady Diana, Prince Charles of Wales first wife. The magazine asked the question of who was more glamorous between Maryam Babangida and Princess Diana.

Maryam championed a project called Better Life for Women which assisted women to secure soft loans and materials to facilitate entrepreneurship. She died on December 27, 2009, after years of battle with cancer.

Maryam Babangida

2. Aisha Buhari

Aisha is the present First Lady of the country. She was born on February 17, 1971. She is a graduate with a Bachelors and postgraduate degrees. The wife of President Buhari is a professional cosmetologist and has a beauty shop at Abuja. She is the First Lady who does a lot for charity and social development of Nigeria.

Aisha Buhari

3. Maryam Abacha

Maryam Abacha was the First Lady between 1993 and 1998. She could have stayed longer in the role, however, her husband, General Sani Abacha who was the military head of state then, died mysteriously on June 8, 1998.

She was born on March 4, 1947, in Kano state. She is a Hausa/Fulani whose fair complexion made her stand out during her time as the First Lady. She was very elegant and beautiful, while she occupied the First Lady's office.

Maryam Abacha

4. Turai Yar'Adua

Turai was born in July 1957 in Katsina state. She is a Hausa/Fulani. She was the First Lady between 2007 and 2010. Her husband, Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, died in office in 2010. There were speculations then that she was the one that was ruling Nigeria, but not her husband. Turai is also a beauty to behold.

Turai Yar'Adua

5. Fati Abubakar

Fati is the wife of the former military head of state, Abdusalami Abubakar, who ruled the country between June 1998 and May 1999. Her full name is Fati Lami Abubakar. She is still one of the First Ladies to the present time that maintained a very low profile. Fati is a judge by profession. She was the first appointed female chief judge of Niger state.

Fati Abubakar

Source: Legit.ng
Prof Zainab Duke Abiola releases pictures of her wedding with MKO

The legal practitioner who was recently in the news over allegation of assault against her orderly, said she got married to Moshood Kashimawo Abiola in 1985.
'Scrap EFCC now,' Ibadan youths tell FG, launch street protest

The youths in Ibadan have launched a protest over the activities of the operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimess Commission (EFCC) who oppress them.
A desperate attempt by the almost ousted Boko Haram sect has met with a brick wall, as Nigerian Troops situated in Dikwa town of Dikwa local government area of Borno state have repelled the attack.

The Nigerian army repelled members of the Boko Haram sect in Borno state.

Shettima Sheriff, a resident of the area in Maiduguri, told newsmen that the people of the area are impressed with the show of force and proactiveness exhibited by the military who cleared and repelled the insurgents.

READ ALSO: FG Takes Another Step On Anti-Corruption War, Read What It Did This Afternoon

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According to Sheriff, it is the first time Boko Haram is coming to the town and could not succeed. He said: "This shows that the country is moving forward and we are hoping that very soon, all insurgents would be dealt with and our people will all return home.

Meanwhile, the Borno state police command has uncovered plans by the Islamist group, to wreak havoc and deaths on unsuspecting persons using improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The command in a statement on Tuesday, January 19, warned residents and villagers against picking strange objects whenever they sight or find them in their environment and communities, as they could be IEDs.

In another development, hundreds of internally Displaced Person (IDPs) from Ngala local government area are returning home following the relative peace that is returning to their area.

Daily Post reports that officials of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), said it is the desire of government to return all IDPs to their various local governments as peace returns to such areas.

READ ALSO: Buharis War Against Corruption, Biafra Cant Replace His Promises

Speaking to newsmen in Maiduguri, an official named, Umar Saini, said: Although some of the areas are not totally liberated, all the places that have been taken over and liberated, we hope to return people to those area. It is going to be a gradual process and we hope that no more attacks would be heard in those areas."

Sani stressed that the agency's major challenge is the fear by some IDPs who believe their areas are not free from the insurgent sect.

He further informed, however, that life is returning to normal in Ngamboru Ngala town, and the people are beginning to settle in.

Source: Legit.ng
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Triuva Kapitalverwaltungsgesellschaft mbH has acquired the Geelvinck property on Amsterdam's Flower Market from the IVY Group for an individual fund of a pension scheme. Previously the IVY Group had purchased the property located in the heart of Amsterdam with the address Singel 540 directly from the Dutch fund manager Annexum

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<p>Teresa Crandall<span></span></p>

It seemed like just another flea collar - a bluish-green band, touted as having a dual-action effect. That's supposed to mean Sergeant's Dual Action Collar kills both fleas and ticks. Teresa Crandall says it also killed her cat. Teresa Crandall

Dodo Shows Soulmates Growling Little Kitten Becomes Her Mom's Best Friend

Teresa Crandall

Crandall picked up the popular collar earlier this month at a pharmacy in Lexington, Georgia, she tells The Dodo. Then she strapped it on her spirited, rambunctious little Onyx. And then her cat - the one her family had adopted, the all-black cat who no one else seemed to want, the one who terrorized their dog (who is afraid of everything) - underwent a horrifying transformation. In the days ahead, Onyx would suffer blindness, seizures and paralysis before he was found dead. Of course, Crandall removed the collar at the first sign of her cat's discomfort: hair loss and a sharply diminished appetite. But it seemed too late for Onyx, who suddenly went from a picture of health - "He was a shoulder cat," Crandall says. "We often said he was part parrot." - to tragedy. Teresa Crandall

Teresa Crandall

She had to explain to her boys, 12 and 8, that their cat had been "poisoned by a collar that was supposed to help him." He died over the weekend. Was there a warning on the box? Special instructions? "I don't know, honestly," Crandall says, "which makes me feel awful because I never did look. I just trusted, which I should have never done." Sergeant's has not responded to several calls and emails from The Dodo. Crandall says she sent a letter to the company and received a prompt response: "They sent their sympathies and asked us to send them the collar, any packaging, and to fill out a detailed incident report. I haven't looked at it all yet because I quite honestly haven't wanted to face it just yet." Teresa Crandall

Teresa Crandall

The packaging, however, may be a critical factor. John Gicking, an emergency and critical care vet at BluePearl Veterinary Partners Tampa hospital, isn't familiar with this specific collar. But, he tells The Dodo, "it is known that some flea products for dogs are toxic for cats." While that's not the culprit in Onyx's case - the Sergeant's collar Crandall bought is specifically for cats - Gicking suggests talking to a vet about flea and tick remedies before buying something at the pet store. Erika Loftin, a critical care specialist with DoveLewis Emergency Animal Hospital, doesn't recommend flea collars at all. "They tend to have a very local affect," she tells The Dodo. "In other words, they might control the fleas on the head or the neck but if some of the fleas come running down the animal and bite them some place else." Tragically, it's also possible for a pet to die from the wrong treatment. "I think, in general, the way they work is there are chemicals associated with the collar, embedded in the collar, that are toxic to fleas," she explains. "Fleas are more sensitive to that than mammals because they have differences in their nervous systems. "But I think there is always a chance that you'll have a particularly sensitive animal or perhaps a collar that was intended for one type of animal put onto another type of animal." But there were other warnings. Specifically, hundreds of messages about the collar on Consumer Affairs, a site dedicated to product testimonials. Disturbing accounts extend even to Amazon, where the product's comment section is riddled with warnings - from one customer complaining about "severe blistering" around a cat's neck to another claiming the collar induced painful vomiting. Of course, these users may be no more legit than the ones who rave on the same site about how it "works well on my 5 cats!" (There is, unsurprisingly, nary a negative comment on Sergeant's own Facebook page, which boasts more than half a million likes.) Teresa Crandall

Teresa Crandall
Jason Dotson didn't want his dog to die. Even, officials say, if it meant taking the life of another. This week, the Ohio man was sent to jail for trying to pass off a healthy pit bull as the allegedly vicious dog he had been ordered to put down after a violent attack last year.

Dodo Shows Adopt Me! Scared Little Dog Is So Full Of Joy Now  And Looking For A Family

In October, a pit bull belonging to Dotson attacked a senior citizen and his service dog, nearly killing the dog, The Cincinnati Enquirer reports. As a result, Dotson was put on probation and ordered to turn over his dog to be euthanized. According to prosecutors, however, Dotson had other plans. Earlier this month, Dotson adopted Baby, a 15-month-old rescue dog, from the Cincinnati SPCA. Just two days later, officials say he returned to the facility with Baby posing as the other dog "so they would destroy an innocent dog that hadn't done anything to anybody." Unfortunately for Dotson, an SPCA worker recognized the recently adopted pit bull and exposed his deception.

"In my 10 years as a judge I can't recall a more cold and heartless act," Judge Brad Greenberg said in court on Tuesday, sentencing Dotson to 28 days in jail for violating probation. "If I could give you more time, legally, I would." Baby is now back at the shelter and the dog Dotson tried to save has since been put down, but some are still struggling to understand his actions. "You just think how cruel it is," SPCA officer Brandon Corcoran told WXIX. "Why would you do that to an innocent healthy dog?"
<p>Farm Sanctuary</p>

A creature named Yoda may be the most unique resident of a sanctuary for unwanted animals. Farm Sanctuary

Farm Sanctuary

A volunteer with Farm Sanctuary was perusing Craigslist one day when she found an odd ad: "Llama, Free to a Good Home." This is how Yoda's journey into the hearts of the people and animals at the sanctuary began. Farm Sanctuary

Dodo Shows Wild Hearts Orphaned Deer Runs Back To The Wild With Her Best Friend

Farm Sanctuary

The person Yoda had been living with was losing her home, and she was desperate to find this sweet guy a safe place to live. Farm Sanctuary

Farm Sanctuary

Yoda had lost his home before. He started out his life on a sheep farm, but had been given up because he'd become too protective of the farmer's children. A llama with a heart larger than life is more than welcome at a place like Farm Sanctuary. Farm Sanctuary

Farm Sanctuary

And so Yoda took up residence at the Southern California chapter of the sanctuary. Farm Sanctuary

Farm Sanctuary

Finally, he's part of a family - even if he's a little different from the rest. Farm Sanctuary

Farm Sanctuary
Saying goodbye to a dog who has lived a long, full life can be the sweetest sorrow. But saying goodbye to a dog who has lived a long, unhappy life can be almost too much sorrow. That's Lisa Letson's sad specialty - her rescue, True & Faithful Pet Rescue Mission, focuses on old, sick and disabled animals. They escape an anonymous end at kill shelters and live their precious few last days in love. Take Lester, for instance, a dog featured on The Dodo last week. The 9-year-old Akita mix, who suffered from a litany of health issues, was ebbing away his twilight days at Miami-Dade Animal Services when Letson found him. Miami-Dade Animal Services

Miami-Dade Animal Services

She took Lester out of there. He died just two days later. "At least he didn't die alone," Letson tells The Dodo. Lisa Letson

Dodo Shows Foster Diaries Scared Pittie Gets So Happy When He Meets This Guy And His Pack Of Dogs

Lisa Letson

And now, there's Lilly. As with every dog Letson rescues, she's hoping this tiny papillon will buck the odds and live long enough to catch up on all the love she missed. When she was first found on the streets of Miami, it didn't look promising. Much of her body was covered in growths. Her mouth was completely rotten. Did we mention that, at 16, she's as senior as a dog can get? Animal control responded to a call about the wandering dog. They used a long steel pole to catch her. And soon, she was in an even steelier embrace - as a senior dog at a kill shelter. Miami-Dade Animal Services

Miami-Dade Animal Services

By most accounts, she was virtually unadoptable. Only Lilly didn't spend a night at Miami-Dade. Letson picked her up immediately. Today marks Lilly's 17th day in the hospital, where she has been undergoing a battery of operations. Lisa Letson

Lisa Letson

Her mouth is a mess. And those growths seemed everywhere - including her tail, which is scheduled to be removed completely. But her heart shows every sign of remaining intact. Even bursting with love. Lisa Letson

Lisa Letson

"I want to get her adopted," Letson says. "Seniors deserve the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. They make every moment count." Lisa Letson

Lisa Letson

Who would have ever guessed the twilight of a sick, abandoned dog could be so ... bright? Lisa Letson

Lisa Letson
Employers are trying to save money by excluding outpatient surgery in plans, but workers might be left with crippling bills. (bigstock/bigstock)

Libbi Stovall couldnt believe it last month when she looked at the fine print in her companys 2016 health plan, which supposedly meets the strictest standard for employer obligations under Affordable Care Act rules.

The insurance paid for inpatient hospital care, office visits and diagnostic imaging. But it provided no coverage for outpatient surgery, which accounts for two out of every three operations in the nation, according to hospital industry data.

I knew their policy would not give my family the coverage we need, said Stovall, 52, who lives in Carrollton, Tex., and has a history of back problems, including outpatient surgery in 2014 to remove a cyst. Her doctor, she added, said that I absolutely have to be on an insurance plan that covers both outpatient and inpatient hospitalization.

Worse for her, being offered such a plan through her workplace, an international staffing firm called Open Systems Technologies, barred Stovall from federal subsidies to buy more comprehensive coverage in online insurance marketplaces.

Her experience illustrates the latest chapter in the story of employers and insurance designers pushing the limits of the Affordable Care Act.

Last year regulators blocked companies with millions of lower-wage workers from claiming that coverage with no inpatient hospital benefits met the Affordable Care Acts strictest standard for large employers.

Now that those skinny plans arent allowed, insurance administrators and many cost-conscious employers are purporting to meet the rules with a new version that excludes another major category: outpatient surgery. The new plans may not survive regulatory scrutiny any more than the old ones did, some experts say.

I really wonder whether they can do that, said Timothy Jost, a law professor at Washington and Lee University in Virginia who is an authority on the health law. Refusing to cover any outpatient physician surgical services is arguably a violation.

Outpatient surgeries  those without an overnight hospital stay  happen in a hospital or a freestanding surgery center. Hernia repairs, knee replacements or bone fracture repairs are typical. They normally cost less than an inpatient operation but can still come to tens of thousands of dollars.

Leaving such procedures out of a plan can save money for employers but leave workers with crippling bills.

Large employers are not required to offer a list of essential health benefits, unlike insurers that sell insurance to individuals and small businesses through online marketplaces. Instead, large employers must offer minimum value  roughly comparable to that of a high-deductible, bronze marketplace plan  as determined by an online calculator and regulatory guidance, or face a penalty. There is also a lesser standard for large employers  minimum essential coverage  that triggers different fines for noncompliance. But nearly all workplace-based plans that offer some types of preventive care meet this requirement.

It was clear that hospitalization had to be covered by large employers after regulators ruled in February that skinny plans lacking inpatient benefits did not meet minimum value, said Anne Lennan, president of the Society of Professional Benefit Administrators, a trade group for claims processors. But then the question was, How much? 

For 2016, insurance lacking outpatient surgery benefits has been marketed primarily to staffing companies, hoteliers and other lower-wage employers that had historically never provided major medical coverage. Those are the same firms that were sponsoring skinny coverage a year ago, industry consultants say.

Its unclear how many companies said yes for this year, although last year about half the 1,600 corporate members of the American Staffing Association were interested in the plans with no inpatient coverage. The trade group didnt conduct a similar study for the latest skinny plans, said senior counsel Edward Lenz.

More than 30 employers working with EBSO, a Minnesota-based benefits company, have implemented 2016 minimum-value plans that cover inpatient hospitalization but not outpatient surgery, said President Bruce Flunker.

JFC Staffing, based in Camp Hill, Pa., offered a skinny plan lacking outpatient surgery benefits to nearly 700 eligible employees this year, said Cathy Reichelderfer, the companys chief financial officer

JFC struggled with simultaneously conforming to Affordable Care Act rules, offering coverage that wouldnt break the budget and giving workers insurance they wanted, she said.

As an employer, we want to do the right thing, she said. On one hand, offering a minimum-value plan means potentially somebody losing their subsidy to buy alternative coverage in the marketplaces, she said. On the other hand, overpaying for insurance or offering no insurance  and subjecting JFC to fines  could wipe out hundreds of jobs because we cant stay in business, she said.

This is the second year under the health law that large employers must offer affordable, minimum-value coverage or face penalties of up to $3,000 per worker

Temp companies, restaurants and others that never offered major medical coverage before are certainly keen to minimize this cost, said Kevin Schlotman, vice president of employee benefits at Benovation, an Ohio consultant.

For many workers at such employers, even plans lacking inpatient benefits or outpatient surgery  but paying for office visits, emergency-room care and prescriptions are a significant improvement, say consultants selling them.

OST, Stovalls employer, offered a minimum-value plan for 2016 without outpatient surgery benefits that is designed and administered by Key Benefit Administrators, one of the countrys largest independent claims-processing firms. KBA was one of the leading promoters of last years skinny plans.

After Kaiser Health News and The Washington Post wrote about those policies in 2014, federal regulators issued clarifying rules saying that large-employer plans must provide substantial coverage of inpatient hospital and physician services to qualify as minimum value. The debate now is whether substantial coverage of physician services includes outpatient surgery.

Not surprisingly, the American Hospital Association is deeply concerned about plans that exclude it, a spokeswoman said.

New York-based OST, which says it is one of the largest privately held staffing firms in the world, declined to comment, as did Key Benefit Administrators general counsel Wallace Gray. A spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services declined to comment on specific plans.

Libbi Stovall turned down OSTs minimum value plan and bought insurance on Healthcare.gov that covers both inpatient care and outpatient surgery.

I fear that other contracting companies are giving their employees the same substandard insurance coverage, she said. I am standing up for these people, because I dont want to see anyone go bankrupt from uncovered medical bills.

Hancock works for Kaiser Health News, a national health policy news service that is part of the nonpartisan Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
Karen Weaver, the newly elected mayor of Flint, Mich., stopped drinking the tap water there nearly two years ago, as soon as the city began drawing its water from the murky Flint River to save money.

She thought the decision to draw water from the river  a tough call in a poor city run by a state-appointed emergency manager  was a bad one. And her husband stopped drinking it, too.

Its sad that I would say, Thank God my kids are grown and not there,  Weaver said Wednesday at a meeting of the countrys mayors in Washington. But everybody cant say that. And we shouldnt have to say that.

Since that April 2014 decision, thousands of children in Flint have been exposed to water contaminated with lead. Now, President Obama, who met with Weaver on Tuesday, has declared a federal emergency that frees up to $5 million in federal aid. Obama, who visited Detroit on Wednesday but did not go to Flint, said, I told her that we are going to have her back and all the people of Flints back as they work their way through this terrible tragedy.

Gov. Rick Snyder (R), in his State of the State speech this week, has apologized, and he promised to do what is necessary to fix the situation.

Take a look at the key moments that led up to Flint, a city of 90,000, getting stuck with contaminated water. (Claritza Jimenez/The Washington Post)

But the frustrated mayor said the city is still not getting enough money, particularly from the state, to repair infrastructure that could cost hundreds of millions of dollars and to treat children who may suffer long-running effects.

Theres money there, and Flint needs to be made a priority about how these funds are distributed, she said of the state of Michigan. This is something that nobody should have to deal with. Everybody should have clean water. Its ironic when you live in the Great Lake State and you dont have access to clean water.

The corrosive water from the Flint River caused lead from pipes to leach into the drinking supply, damaging the citys infrastructure and exposing residents to levels of lead that researchers say can cause cardiovascular and neurological problems. The city switched back to using water from nearby Detroit in October, but the supply remains unsafe to drink.

Residents immediately began to complain in 2014 about the look and smell of the water, and researchers at Virginia Tech last year published results showing alarming levels of lead in water samples. Snyder, however, did not declare a state of emergency in Flint until Jan. 5. He mobilized National Guard troops to help distribute water a week later.

Snyder said in his State of the State address Tuesday night that he was asking state lawmakers for $28 million to pay for bottled water, filters, testing, and the treatment of children with high lead levels. He also vowed to release his emails related to Flint from 2014 and 2015.

To you, the people of Flint, I want to say tonight, as I have before, I am sorry, and I will fix it, Snyder, elected in 2010 and reelected in 2014, said during his speech, one of multiple times he addressed Flint residents and expressed contrition.

Although protesters have called for his resignation, Snyder said that he will be working on this situation for as long as it takes to make this right.

Speaking on Air Force One on the way to Detroit on Wednesday, White House principal deputy press secretary Eric Schultz said Obama is deeply engaged in the effort to help Flint, adding that he wants to make sure we are marshaling all the resources of the federal government.

When asked if Snyder should resign over his handling of the crisis, Schultz said, Our view is right now everybody should be focused on the actual problem.

Schultz did not comment on allegations that the Environmental Protection Agency could have disclosed the results of its water testing earlier, but said, What I can say is clearly the notification process is part of the problem here and the president is absolutely determined to figure out what went wrong, generally speaking.

The president has appointed a coordinator for federal aid to the city: Nicole Lurie, assistant secretary for preparedness and response at the Department of Health and Human Services.

An independent researcher at Virginia Tech has accused the EPAs Midwest regional administrator of failing to disclose findings last summer that the water had dangerously high lead levels. EPA spokeswoman Melissa Harrison said in an email that the agency did not release the memo in question because it contained confidential personal and enforcement-sensitive information, but that it was immediately circulated to the regional team that was working to require Flint to implement corrosion control last summer.

In Flint, Weaver said weary residents were skeptical of the states response and the validity of tests conducted on their water supply. Thats been one of the issues with the city of Flint: broken trust and who do we believe? she said.

Mark Berman contributed to this report.
1 of 28 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  Four-star movies of 2017 View Photos A sampling of recent movies that received four stars from Washington Post film critics. Caption A sampling of recent movies that received four stars from Washington Post film critics. Downsizing Hong Chau and Matt Damon in Downsizing, a film that is set in a world where people can be shrunk to the size of Barbie dolls in an effort to preserve Earths dwindling resources. Ann Hornaday writes, The rewards are rich and revelatory in a film that doesnt soft-pedal the woes facing the planet, but celebrates the kind of direct, healing action that makes it worth fighting for, even in the face of certain doom. Read the full review Paramount Pictures/Paramount Pictures Wait 1 second to continue.

For at least three decades, close observers of the movie industry have complained that American film culture has become an infantocracy, dominated by comic book movies and their prequels, sequels and reboots. Thank goodness, then, for Oscar season and the (mostly European) movies the nomination process serves to illuminate.

Its this time of year when grown-ups come out  not to play, exactly, but to provide audiences with an honest, sometimes merciless glimpse of aging, from the un-taut beauty of spreading bodies and the miracle of enduring devotion to severe illness and loss. In recent years, such films as Amour, Another Year and Le Week-End have all plumbed the psychic and physical realities of people older than 65. Now arriving in Washington theaters in a sobering one-two punch, we have The Lady in the Van and 45 Years, for which Charlotte Rampling has received a deserved nomination for best actress.

[Oscar suddenly notices Charlotte Rampling, after 45 Years]

Rampling plays Kate Mercer, who lives with her husband Geoff (Tom Courtenay) in cozy retirement among the Norfolk Broads in England, a district of waterways and quiet, pastel-colored flatlands that echoes the subdued comfort of the Mercers domestic life. As 45 Years gets underway, Kate is returning from her regular walk when the postman drops off a letter, the contents of which will exert a quietly insistent pull on Kate and Geoffs carefully practiced rituals of intimacy and detachment  an intrusion made all the more dramatic by the fact that, in one week, they will be throwing a party to celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary.

Nobody gets mauled by a bear in 45 Years. The survival of the galaxy doesnt hang in the balance, nor the future of the free world. But the stakes couldnt be higher in a film that begins as a tasteful, restrained chamber piece and winds up packing the emotional punch of an edge-of-your-seat thriller. Writer-director Andrew Haigh, adapting a short story by David Constantine, superbly sets out the inner and outer worlds inhabited by the Mercers, who live in companionable solicitousness, punctuated by playful, sweetly sensuous moments. Clearly unaccustomed to fighting, they tiptoe around the implications of the letter, which has landed in their settled life together like a loudly ticking bomb.

[Oscar nominations: Diverse in some ways, stuck in a rut in others]

Just how it will detonate lends 45 Years a taut atmosphere of suspense, as the Mercers go about their quotidian life with seeming serenity. Although Geoff is the official recipient of the letter, its Kate who most palpably experiences its reverberations, which start as fleeting annoyances and take on force and meaning as they sink in. Rampling has always been a remarkably subtle, physically expressive actress, even with those preternaturally hooded, inscrutable eyes. This is a tour de force example of what actors mean when they say interior work, as Rampling embodies a woman reacting and reflecting, and thinking hard about the nature of true love.

Although Rampling is the one with the Academy Award nomination  and hooray for that  Courtenay is just as superb as a man whose character comes into focus gradually, as befits the rhythms of a film that offers a master class in tone, structure and pacing. Haigh knows how to thread a story in a way that makes it feel deliberate and spontaneous, so that when it reaches its climax, viewers feel that its both inevitable and utterly devastating. Like Brooklyn and Carol before it, 45 Years leads viewers to a literally breathtaking conclusion, as we wait while the female protagonist makes a simple but life-changing choice. No bears, no bluster or bellicosity: Just a human being grappling with the epic implications of one decision among many shes made all week. That stunned, rushing sound you hear is an entire theater exhaling.


Jack (Chris Dinolfo), left, and Phil (Adi Stein) have a falling out after tricking the giant and taking the golden egg in Jack and Phil, Slayers of Giants-INC at Imagination Stage. (Shea Bartlett)

Theatrical explorations of childhood poverty and the meaning of friendship are driving two upcoming world premieres for young audiences. One is a new look at Jack and the Beanstalk; the other a samba-driven Oliver Twist set in modern Brazil. The shows use humor, an optimistic outlook and, in one case, music, to tell their stories.

In Jack and Phil, Slayers of Giants-INC, Jack Spriggans recently widowed mother has to give up their house because of money problems, and soon Jack will be separated from his neighbor and best pal, Phil Coverall. Phils dad owns a hardware store and has umpteen kinds of hammers to sell, so Phil and his dad eat steak for dinner while Jack and his mom have soup. But that doesnt keep the boys apart. What does, at least temporarily, are magic and narcissism.

British playwright Charles Way (Merlin and the Cave of Dreams, Pirates! A Boy at Sea, Sinbad: The Untold Tale) was commissioned by Janet Stanford of Imagination Stage in Bethesda to update the British folktale. In Ways version, Jack wants to help his mom save the house, so he swaps his grandfathers watch for magic beans. Once the beanstalk grows into the sky, Jack talks the reluctant Phil into climbing up with him. Jack tricks the Giant and grabs the golden egg. Then theres the betrayal: Jack becomes a wildly famous celebrity and fails to mention that Phil was with him on his adventures.

You can get catapulted into fame for a minute, and it can be very destructive, Way said by phone recently from his home in Wales. I think that echoes down through all the classrooms and the kids in the schools, that they all sort of see fame as some objective in itself, which is certainly different from my childhood. So I think I was picking up on that. Narcissism of the sort that overtakes Jack, said Way, can swallow people up.

Way said he hopes the play will get kids to ponder such questions as What is wealth? What is of value?

It is the people in our lives, the playwright argues, who matter most: The friendship that these two boys have. [Jack] learns that that is what is of value.

In fact, the smarter, more cautious Phil is really the protagonist. As the occasional narrator, hell remark on Jacks behavior to the audience.

Actor Adi Stein, who plays Phil, agrees that Jack really throws Phil right under that bus. When Phil talks to the audience, Stein said, hell be able to say, Can you believe what is happening here? It doesnt make any sense!

Stanford is directing Jack and Phil. Many of our audience are under 7 years old and they are not really ready for a lot of satire, but they will completely follow Phil . . . and they will be so upset when that scene happens and Jack totally betrays his friend. Its epic.

Chris Dinolfo, who plays Jack, also sees Jacks betrayal of Phil as huge. The play, he added, is about how to be a good friend, or how to be a better friend, and how to learn to apologize.

The fearsome Giant (voiced by actor Eric Messner) will be a huge puppet face, designed by Matthew Pauli, that peers into the house from the top of the beanstalk. Jack and Phil end up hiding under the Giants nose  his one blind spot.

Fingers crossed the big guy doesnt sneeze.

Jack and Phil, Slayers of Giants-INC Feb. 3-March 13 at Imagination Stage, 4908 Auburn Ave., Bethesda. 301-280-1660. imaginationstage.org. $12-$30. Recommended for age 5 and older.



Felicia Curry, left, rehearsing with Arturo Soria and musicians Leonardo Lucini and Richard Miller, stars as Oli in the Kennedy Centers production of Oliverio: A Brazilian Twist. (Yassine El Mansouri)

The Kennedy Center commissioned dramatist Karen Zacarias and composer/lyricist Deborah Wicks La Puma to create the childrens musical Oliverio: A Brazilian Twist, which transports the Dickens tale to the favelas, or slums, of modern Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Their Oliver is a little girl, Oli (Felicia Curry), a hopeful and trusting orphan. In the play-within-a-play, Curry and the rest of the cast play actors who discover at their first rehearsal that the sets and costumes provided for Oliver Twist seem to be all wrong  or at least designed to steer them toward modern-day Rio instead of 19th-century London. They and their director have to adapt the story as they go, complete with samba and bossa nova beats coursing through 12 musical numbers.

Zacarias recalls discussing the idea with Wicks La Puma years ago. It totally makes sense, with the kids of the street [in Rio de Janeiro]. . . . By making it contemporary and updating it, it would completely still show the relevance of kids still being in this vulnerable position  not just in industrial or pre-industrial England, but still today.

Zacarias, who writes for adult audiences (The Book Club Play, Mariela in the Desert) and for children (Looking for Roberto Clemente, Cinderella Eats Rice and Beans) also thought a Brazil-based Oliver Twist would offer Wicks La Puma (Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Musical, Chasing George Washington: A White House Adventure) a chance to flex other musical muscles. The composer spent large chunks of her childhood in Brazil and Portugal and loves their musical traditions.

The two traveled to Brazil recently to do research for the show. You just see live musicians on the street, just jammin out, said Wicks La Puma. Even in theater, they would never dream of having taped music.

For the musical, she focused on whats really iconic to Brazil  so the samba and the bossa nova . . . thats sort of where I wanted the score to live.

Three Brazilian-born musicians  a bassist, a guitarist and a percussionist  will perform the music during the run.

In the show, little Oli has escaped child labor and made it to Rios famous Copacabana beach on New Years Eve. She comes to make an offering to Iemanja, Goddess of the Sea (Rayanne Gonzalez), not to ask for something as people traditionally do, but to thank her. Homeless and alone, Oli still feels grateful.

Oli meets a teen pickpocket, Ze Esquiva, a.k.a. the Artful Dodger (Arturo Soria), and his even craftier boss, Falcao, a.k.a. Fagin (Sasha Olinick). Seeing how easily a rich lady (Donna Migliaccio) offers Oli money, the two crooks bribe a corrupt policeman, Sykes (James Konicek), to keep Oli with them. In this version, by the way, Sykess girlfriend Nanci (Erika Rose) is not a prostitute, but a laundress, who helps Oli and has a much happier fate than in the book.

When Oli first meets Iemanja, the sea goddess is wrathful and poised to wipe out humanity. Curry said she loves the trusting way little Oli says, Dont you think Iemanja wants to be good?

I think she means that for everybody, the actress said. Even if there is evil out there, even if there are bad seeds, dont you think underneath all of that, people genuinely want to be good? And I really believe all children believe that.

Oliverio: A Brazilian Twist Jan. 30-Feb. 21 at the Kennedy Center Family Theater, 2700 F St. NW. 202-467-4600. kennedy-center.org. $20. Recommended for age 8 and older.

ALSO PLAYING OR OPENING SOON

The Puppet Co. in Glen Echo Park is reviving its 1960s production of Pinocchio, first created by Len Piper, father of Puppet Co. co-founder Christopher Piper, using life-size marionettes. Through Feb. 21 at the Puppet Co., 7300 MacArthur Blvd., Glen Echo, Md. 301-634-5380. thepuppetco.org. $12. Recommended for age 5 and older.



Tom (Tom Story) and Laura Wingfield (Jenna Sokolowski) live with their mother in a small apartment in The Glass Menagerie at Fords Theatre. (Scott Suchman)

The Glass Menagerie offers teens a chance to ponder Tennessee Williamss great melancholy play in a revival directed by Mark Ramont and starring Madeline Potter as Amanda Wingfield, Jenna Sokolowski as Laura, Thomas Keegan as the Gentleman Caller and Tom Story as Amandas son, Tom. Through Feb. 21 at Fords Theatre, 511 10th St. NW. 202-347-4833. fords.org. $20-$62. Recommended for age 12 and older.



A Gentlemans Guide to Love & Murder at the Kennedy Center. (Joan Marcus)

A Gentlemans Guide to Love & Murder, the antic Tony Award-winning musical comedy about a fellow who kills eight relatives standing between him and a huge inheritance, with book and lyrics by Robert L. Freedman and music by Steven Lutvak, is here on its national tour. Through Jan. 30 at the Kennedy Center. 202-467-4600. kennedy-center.org. $64-$249. Recommended for age 10 and older.

Teens can laugh with the brainiacs in the Steve Martin play Picasso at the Lapin Agile, which imagines Picasso and Einstein meeting as young men, just before they achieved greatness, directed by Chris Stezin. Jan. 16-Feb. 13 at the Keegan Theatre, 1742 Church St. NW. 202-265-3767. keegantheatre.com. $30-$40. Recommended for age 13 and older.



Holly Twyford plays Bottom in director Aaron Posners A Midsummer Nights Dream at Folger Theatre. (Kristen Monthei)

A Midsummer Nights Dream at Folger Theatre will feature Washington actor Holly Twyford as the doofus Bottom and Erin Weaver as the mischievous sprite Puck, in a production directed by Aaron Posner. Jan. 26-March 6 at Folger Theatre, 201 East Capitol St. SE. 202-544-7077. folger.edu/theatre. $35-$75. Recommended for age 12 and older.

Adventure Theatre MTC will celebrate the 100th anniversary of Roald Dahls birth with a musical version of James and the Giant Peach, produced with the Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma, with a script by Timothy Allen McDonald and music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (Dear Evan Hansen), and directed by Michael Baron. Feb. 14-April 5 at Adventure Theatre MTC, 7300 MacArthur Blvd., Glen Echo, Md. 301-634-2270. adventuretheatre-mtc.org. $19.50. Recommended for all ages.

GALita, the young audiences wing of Gala Theatre, will stage a bilingual production of El Mundo Es Un Panuelo (The World Is a Handkerchief), by Chilean writer Jorge Diaz, about a circus clown who sets out to see the world on his magic handkerchief, directed by Hugo Medrano. March 7-19 at Gala Theatre, 3333 14th St. NW. 202-234-7174. galatheatre.org. $10-$12. Recommended for ages 5 to 12.

The ever optimistic Annie will think about Tomorrow at the National Theatre when the latest tour of the 1977 Tony Award-winning show, with a book by Thomas Meehan, music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Martin Charnin, comes to town. March 15-20 at the National Theatre, 1321 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. 800-514-3849. thenationaldc.com. $48-$128. Recommended for all ages.

Horwitz is a freelance writer.


Edwards s Surryano heritage ham has been compared favorably to the finest Spanish hams. (Molly M. Peterson/Occasions Caterers)

Talk to chefs around the country, and theyll tell you theyve seen the photos of the massive fire that ripped through Edwards Virginia Smokehouse on Tuesday in Surry, Va. Theyll also tell you they have no idea when they can expect their next shipment of cured meats from the prized smokehouse.

Were taking it off the menu because we dont know whats going on, says Jeremiah Langhorne, chef and owner behind the the Dabney in Shaw, which had been serving Edwardss Surryano ham with johnnycakes and pickled mustard seeds.

I want to make sure we have some around for special occasions, adds Langhorne, whose restaurant works through four hams a week. The pictures [of the fire] look godawful . . . . From what I saw, its a total loss.

The Edwards family has released a statement on its website, saying the smokehouse will be closed for an undetermined amount of time. How long remains an open question. No one was injured in the blaze, so some chefs have turned their attention to the cured meats produced at the smokehouse: Did all the hams go up in flames?

The answer to that might not come for a week or more, when the family is expected to issue another update, according to a spokeswoman for the smokehouse, which has been producing Virginia country hams since 1926.

A break in the Edwards supply could alter menus at restaurants from the District to Manhattan. Derek Brown, owner of several themed watering holes in Shaw, serves a few Edwards products at Mockingbird Hill, his ham and sherry bar. Among them are the companys beloved Surryano, a Berkshire hog-based ham, which is cured, smoked over hickory wood and aged. Its flavor gets compared favorably to that of the finest Spanish hams, including the granddaddy of them all, jamon Iberico de bellota.

In fact, the late meat connoisseur Josh Ozersky once favored the Virginia product over the Spanish one. As Ozersky wrote in the Wall Street Journal in 2014, This ham produced in Surry, Va., is, to my mind, superior to any Spanish rival in the clarity and force of its pork taste, which neither salt nor smoke can obscure.



Before the fire, hundreds of hams in various stages of curing were hung in the Edwards smokehouse. (From Polished Pig Media)

Such ham will not be easy to replace on menus, which is why chefs like Langhorne are hoarding legs for now. But Brown at Mockingbird Hill plans to do just the opposite: Hes going to keep slicing and selling his Edwards hams, which the bar has served since it opened in June 2013.

Well continue to serve it as long as we can, Brown says, and hopefully theyll make a speedy recovery. Mockingbird Hill has already exhausted its supply of peanut-fed Surryano ham, Brown adds, but has at least one leg of the regular Surryano, which lasts a long time.

They will be no shortage of hams, Brown says. Itll just be a shortage of the ones we love most.

In New York, celebrity chef David Chang has a fair number of Edwards products on the menu at Momofuku Ssam Bar, and even some at his Washington restaurant, Momofuku CCDC. Matthew Rudofker, executive chef at the Ssam Bar, has been texting with Sam Edwards III, the third-generation operator of Edwards Virginia Smokehouse. Theyre still trying to figure things out, Rudofker says of the family.

In the meantime, the Ssam Bar plans to keep the status quo on its extensive ham program. Were going to sell the product, the chef says. As long as we can keep featuring it and talking about it, were going to keep doing it.

Of the many chefs who serve Edwards ham, few have visited the production facility in Surry, about 50 miles southeast of Richmond. But Langhorne has. He has toured the rooms where hundreds of hams hang in various stages of curing. He fears the fire has taken a toll.

Its such a damaging blow to Virginia foodways, Langhorne says. Its terrible for them.

But if any company can make a comeback, the chef believes its Edwards Virginia Smokehouse, which he says has maintained high standards despite a significant spike in demand for its products over the years.

Making wonderful country ham is in their blood, Langhorne says. So no matter what, I think theyll be able to figure it out.
Dr. Jenifer Smith, 57, was appointed director of Washington, D.C.s Department of Forensic Sciences in July, where she oversees a staff of 120. She was an FBI special agent for 23 years and was a faculty member at Penn State from 2010 to 2015. She and her husband live in Washington.

There are so many forensics-based TV shows. And they all make forensics look like such a cool job. Is it a cool job?

Its the coolest job. That part theyre correct about. Theres a few things maybe that are off the mark a bit.

What do they get wrong?

Everythings a lot faster on the shows. And everythings a lot more perfect. So the fingerprint isnt like a partial print  its like somebody just walks up and puts that big old thumbprint on just what you need it to be on. And I used to laugh because theyre actors and theyre gorgeous. Im not saying were not attractive people, but if you looked at my Quantico class versus the Quantico show, you would not find the same people.

Your Quantico class is going to be mad.

I know! But I have the picture upstairs if you want to verify. And we dont want to disappoint people who go to Quantico and are wondering, Where are all these gorgeous people?

When you were in college, were you watching Quincy M.E. and thinking, I would love to do this kind of work?

Yes, Quincy was on, but I think before that, as a kid, it was reading Nancy Drew. I was so disappointed when my mother said she wasnt real. But I love science. I was growing up in the 60s, and we were landing people on the moon, so science was very cool. Girls were being encouraged to go out and do these things. And I wanted to be a detective, so I went to the library, and there was a book about forensic science, and it was a really happy marriage of my interests. Because I enjoyed science, but I didnt necessarily see myself as that person in the lab coat.

Do you have those dramatic moments where youre looking into a microscope and just pump your fist?

So my work is in DNA, and I think the dramatic moments on the important cases Ive worked actually come when you exclude someone. In the first result you can often exclude an individual who has been identified. And it can be frustrating for the investigator, but for that individual who has been accused, its obviously a great moment. So thats part of the process.

One of your titles at the FBI was chief of the weapons of mass destruction analysis section. Were you worried all the time?

I think knowledge is power in that sense. So I dont worry that much because I have an appreciation for what it would take to actually pull off an event like that, what really constitutes a threat in that instance. Interestingly, when it comes to biological pathogens or organisms, Mother Nature can often cause more problems for us than man-made. When we get ill we get ill because of viruses. We get ill because we may eat food that is accidentally contaminated. My job is to figure out when its not Mother Nature, but man-made. And more often than not its Mother Nature.

So we need to ban Mother Nature?

No. We just need to recognize her for her power. And have a healthy respect for why we need to wash our hands.

Over your career, are there cases that stand out?

I had a sexual assault case in my home town, in little Eaton, Ohio. There was an individual that was assaulting women in my home town, and in Indiana, across the border, and I was able to figure out who did it. We had a DNA match. Also, I met President Clinton [while working] the Monica Lewinsky case. We did that DNA. That was a more unusual one.

What do  Im not even sure what question I should ask about that. What was President Clinton like?

At that moment in time, a little embarrassed, to be honest. It wasnt exactly how I had planned to meet the president.

More Just Asking

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There were some who grieved, like former Texas state senator Wendy Davis, whose voice trembled as she described ending a pregnancy after learning that the child she carried suffered from a terminal disorder: Never for a moment have I regretted what I did, and never for a moment have I believed that a politician was in a better position to make a decision like that than I was.

Others were pragmatic, like Sara Imershein, an OB/GYN who said that abortion was an easy procedure to provide: Every patient walks out feeling relieved, every woman has control again, every woman can decide for herself whats important.

And some were openly relieved. Abortion rights activist Renee Bracey Sherman smiled as she explained that she hadnt been ready to become a parent at 19. I dont regret my abortion, she said. It was the best decision of my life.

They were among more than 100 people who shared their stories at a live-streamed event hosted Tuesday by Advocates for Youth, the D.C.-based nonprofit focused on sexual health that created the 1 in 3 Campaign. (The campaign was named for an oft-cited statistic that 1 in 3 women in the United States will have an abortion by age 45  an estimate based on the 2008 abortion rate, which has since gone down.)

The speak-out was one of a slew of similar storytelling events taking place nationwide this week in recognition of the 43rd anniversary of the Supreme Courts landmark decision in Roe v. Wade, which made abortion a legal right in all 50 states. On Friday, the actual anniversary, reproductive rights advocates also planned to share their thoughts and experiences online under the Twitter hashtag #TogetherForAbortion.

On this particular anniversary  at the start of a highly charged election year, on the eve of the first abortion case to come before the Supreme Court in more than 20 years  abortion rights supporters are focused on sharing their experiences publicly, with the goal of normalizing a procedure that so many American women undergo. This tactic underscores a recent and pivotal shift in the reproductive rights movement: Instead of assuming a defensive posture, activists are aggressively targeting the lingering cultural stigma surrounding abortion.

[Supreme Court takes up major challenge to abortion restrictions]

I think its becoming glaringly clear to pro-choice Americans that legality alone is not enough, said Amelia Bonow, the Seattle-based co-founder of the #ShoutYourAbortion campaign. Theres no way for us to hold the line, using just defense. The cultural atmosphere has to change.

And so the politically focused sit-ins and marches of years past have given way to speak-outs and social media campaigns highlighting personal abortion stories  all abortion stories, not just the extreme cases involving rape, incest or medical tragedy that have historically been used to defend abortion rights. For decades, the public was accustomed to hearing words like agonizing and heartbreaking to describe an abortion; now, grass-roots efforts like the 1 in 3 Campaign and #ShoutYourAbortion also feature women who say that their abortions made them feel relieved, resolved, even empowered.

[How #ShoutYourAbortion is transforming the reproductive rights conversation]

When the 1 in 3 Campaign launched in 2011 to change the conversation surrounding abortion by sharing personal stories, participants were anxious about how their message would be received, campaign director Julia Reticker-Flynn said.

It can be very intimidating to share these stories, especially in this culture where theres so much shame and stigma around abortion, she said. But as participants began to share their stories publicly, they created space for others to do so. So the cultural narrative is evolving to include a variety of voices.

Activists saw how personal accounts were driving social change with other hot-button issues, such as immigration reform and same-sex marriage, Reticker-Flynn said, and they wanted to follow that example.

I think we know that statistics or political arguments dont move people, and that what truly shapes our fundamental beliefs are the people in our own lives, our own experiences, and our ability to empathize and have compassion for others, she said. Thats what people need to hear.

Despite other progressive trends, however, public opinion on abortion has remained deeply divided since the passage of Roe v. Wade. States have passed hundreds of new abortion restrictions in recent years  and Republican presidential candidates are promising more. Prominent Democrats and abortion rights leaders have said that hateful rhetoric from antiabortion advocates has exacerbated harassment and intimidation of abortion providers and their clients. In the coming weeks, all eyes will be trained on the Supreme Court as the justices hear arguments in Whole Womans Health v. Cole, a case centered on a Texas law that places stringent restrictions on abortion providers. A December Associated Press/GfK poll showed that 58 percent of Americans are in favor of legal abortion in all or most cases; but more than a third support tighter regulations.

[Abortion rights groups: Political rhetoric contributed to shooting]

Antiabortion advocates have reacted sharply to the abortion rights movements increasingly unapologetic tone, sometimes co-opting trending hashtags  #ShoutYourAbortion, #Dear Debbie, #1in3Speaks  to make their perspectives known. Varioius antiabortion activists have championed adoption as an alternative to abortion; others have said they sought the procedure in the past, and now regret it. Some Twitter users have derided and even threatened the women who have unabashedly shared their stories about abortion.

On Friday, advocates on both sides of the abortion debate are prepared to make their voices heard again. Despite the looming threat of a historic blizzard, antiabortion activists vowed to proceed with the March for Life rally in the District, an annual demonstration that typically draws thousands of participants to the Mall.

And on Twitter and Facebook, abortion rights activists planned to rally under the hashtag #TogetherForAbortion. The new hashtag, Bonow said, is part of the #ShoutYourAbortion campaign, which has also helped organize more than 100 abortion-focused events nationwide on Friday  everything from large town hall gatherings to dinner parties to film festivals and poetry readings.

Well show the country and the world: This is what pro-choice America looks like right now. We are everywhere, we are doing all sorts of different things, and we will not hide anymore, Bonow said. I know that things are going to change.
The Transportation Security Administration relies heavily on trained canines to screen passengers for explosive material. Under TSA supervision, the Post's Andrea Sachs conducted a training exercise at Reagan National Airport by strapping explosive material around her waist and testing the canine's ability to sniff out suspicious material. (Erin Patrick O'Connor/The Washington Post)

On a late December morning at Reagan National Airport, a traveler dressed casually in jeans, a striped shirt and winter boots passed a black dog sniffing a rack of potato chips. Seconds later, she heard the sound of toenails clicking against the hard floor. The noise grew closer and faster. She felt a wet nose press against her hand and watched a red rubber toy roll by. An exuberant Labrador bounded past her, retrieving his prize for a job well done.

Blue, a member of the Transportation Security Administrations K-9 passenger-screening team, had uncovered explosives strapped to the strangers back. Potential disaster diverted  all for a chew on a Kong.

Dogs live in a world of smell. This is their primary sense, said Douglas Timberlake, a TSA explosives-detection canine handler who was overseeing the days training session. They have the innate ability to keep the public safe.

Government and local law enforcement agencies have employed canines  and their superpower snouts  for decades. The TSA, for instance, uses dogs to inspect cargo, aircraft, parked cars, abandoned bags and other stationary objects found in and around airports. Canines used by Customs and Border Protection snuffle around luggage coming off baggage carousels, searching for such banned goods as fresh produce, exotic wildlife, undeclared currency and illicit drugs. And four-legged soldiers with the Department of Defense scour war zones for improvised explosive devices and other deadly contraptions.

[The strange afterlife of banned TSA items]

Five years ago, the TSA put its dogs on a new beat: passenger screening. More than 140 of the canines preside over security checkpoints at over 35 airports. By years end, the agency aims to more than double the number of furry participants and expand the program to more than 40 facilities.



Michael Johns, a canine handler with the Transportation Security Administration, works the security line with Blue, an explosives-sniffing dog at Reagan National Airport. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post)

The canines job is twofold. They seek out bomb-making materials on moving targets (fed-speak for people), a gotcha that could require further investigation by TSA officials. They also help clear passengers for PreCheck, the TSA program for low-risk travelers.

We have cut back on general, random real-time threat assessment, said Timberlake, referring to the previously arbitrary selection of passengers for the fast lane. These dogs are helping people get expedited screening.

The dogs typically work the line during heavy travel days and times, such as the winter holiday period, and punch the clock for eight-hour shifts. To keep them on their noses, the handlers test the canines skills several times a week. They hide suspicious substances in trash cans, wheelchairs, prosthetic limbs and all manner of bags as well as under several layers of clothing. They also place the dangerous matter on civilian decoys.

Theyre finding stuff all the time, said Timberlake, who wore a black shirt with a TSA K-9 logo, so we know theyre working and not just looking cute.

[How TripAdvisor altered your vacation-planning universe]

Human participation in the ongoing canine training program is open to all federal employees  plus a few invited guests  who have a free morning or afternoon and no fear of dogs or hazardous materials.

I fit the profile. So for several hours, I played the wily fox in an airport-wide hunt led by GI Dogs.

Suiting up

The agency held the how-to-be-a-pretend-bad-guy lesson in a cramped, windowless room in the old wing of the airport. Before Timberlake suited me up, he reviewed some rules about the substance Id be carrying.

Please dont eat it or stick it in your eye, he cautioned, because they are chemicals.

He also explained the three variables  heat, friction, shaking  that could activate the element. I promised to stay 50 feet away from open flames, avoid fuse boxes and refrain from twitching. Then I signed my name to seal the agreement.

For security reasons, Timberlake could not specify the type of substance or amount used in the tests, but he would say that the agency samples dozens of explosives, including ones involved in recent terrorist attacks and attempts. For reassurance, however, he said that my chance of blowing up was nil: You are wearing a fraction of what an actual device would be.

He dropped the mystery block into a pair of nude pantyhose, which I tied around my waist like a leggy fanny pack. Although the dogs werent critiquing my outfit, I threw on a jacket to avoid alarming other passengers.



Rriverso leads his handler, Douglas Timberlake, to the author, who is wearing a suspicious substance as part of the TSAs ongoing training of the working dogs. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post)

En route to Terminal B, Timberlake explained how our sense of smell differs from a dogs. If we pass a restaurant, for example, we can pick up the scent of a pizza. A pooch, meanwhile, can tease out the individual ingredients on the pie: the peppers, pepperoni, tomatoes, mozzarella and sprinkle of Parmesan.

They are smelling on a molecular level, he said. They can detect parts per billion.

Before the outing, I had imagined a muscular guard dog with razor-sharp teeth tackling me like a rabid linebacker. However, Timberlake told me, the K-9 team is filled with floppy-eared dogs that dont intimidate, such as golden retrievers, German shorthaired pointers, vizslas and Labradors  breeds often found with Frisbees or sticks in their mouths. The four canines at DCA, for example, are all Labradors. Blue, Rufus and Kkirby are as black as licorice; Rriverso is butterscotch yellow. Other personal details: Blue served in Afghanistan, Rriverso is a graduate of the TSAs first class in this field, and the two dogs with double letters were named after victims of 9/11. (One hint that they arent your childhood snuggle buddy: the Do Not Pet sashes they wear.)

All the canines attend a rigorous 12-week course at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, where they learn to fix on primary scents and ignore secondary odors. The dogs communicate their discoveries through passive response. They alert the handler of a possible suspect by approaching the person and sitting down or gazing at their master for approval  and the subsequent reward of a calorie-free treat.

[Americans are cheap, Mexicans fly in style and other results from Expedias passenger survey]

You can see that drive to work, find the explosive and get their toy, said Mike Gapinski, section chief of canine operations.

During our stroll through the airport, I noted the fragrances that could possibly tempt a dogs olfactory system, such as the wafting scent of Dunkin Donuts pastries and coffee and the bouquet of Milk-Bone biscuits and fur that I wore after a pup-sitting stint. Around me, dozens of people expelled their own plume of smells.

For our initial exercise, I entered the gate area first, so that I could spritz the air with eau de explosives. Blue would enter several minutes later.

Youre leaving a trail behind, Timberlake said. You cannot stop the vaporization process.

For the demo, the animal would pick up the scent drifting on the air current and follow the clues. Variables such as vents, air conditioning and barometric pressure can push scents around, obscuring their source. But if all went well, the dog would lock onto the essential odor and track me down.

Blues clues

I set out solo, blending in with other travelers waiting for their flights. I passed a deli with an open cooler stocked with meat sandwiches. A rack of snacks stood within easy licking distance of a dogs tongue. At the end of the terminal, I turned around and noticed Blue sniffing around bags of chips. I passed him nonchalantly  nothing to smell here. A few steps later, I was busted.



Blue enjoys his reward for sniffing out explosives material on a moving target. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post)

If this had been a real scenario, two behavior detection officers accompanying the canine and the handler would help assess the risk. Many finds are innocent. For instance, the dogs might stumble upon an armed air marshal, a traveler on medication containing a sensitive substance or a sportsman dusted with gun powder residue from a recent foray at the range. Big takedowns are rare.

No finds yesterday, said Joe Havens, Blues partner. It was a boring day.

For the next test, I grabbed a corner chair next to a dozing man. The block of explosives rested against the back of the seat. I saw Timberlake and Rriverso ambling down the hallway, the dogs nose swinging through the air like a windsock. The Labrador veered left and quickened his pace up the aisle dividing the seat rows. I heard his excited breaths and suddenly felt a nose against my back.

Hes playing the most fun game of hide-and-seek in the world, Timberlake said.

But I had saturated the area with the smell of the material, which heightened the challenge. Rriverso had to work harder to isolate the carrier. He inspected the walls and a pallet stacked with boxes. His nose was set on hyper-alert.

He has to use deductive reasoning, said Timberlake. There is no piece of equipment or technology that can problem-solve like he can.

While Rriverso inspected the area by the cafe, I continued onward and wondered: Would I be the decoy who got away? I was strolling alongside a band of windows overlooking the tarmac when I heard the pitter-

patter of dog paws behind me. Game over.

Im pretty proud of him, a beaming Timberlake said.



Timberlake and Rriverso wait to inspect passengers during their morning shift at Reagan National Airport. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post)

The dogs patrol all sections of the airport, including the secured areas (to catch insider scofflaws). Rufus, the youngest pup in the pack, was covering the security line. A sign notified passengers that K-9s were on the job. The 4-year-old stood inside a long rectangle cordoned off by ropes. I approached the entrance at the same time as a hippie-ish guy carrying a backpack. My residue floated onto his pant leg. Rufus gravitated toward his ankles before discovering that he was one person off.

The dogs had started their workday at 6:30 a.m. and were ready for a break at noon. I watched Rufus disappear past security, his eyes fixed on the ball in his supervisors hand. I asked Timberlake about Rriversos whereabouts.

Hes napping, he said. That lazy bum.

More from Travel:

The strange afterlife of banned TSA items

If youre stressed about flying, these four-legged therapists can help

Tips on how to travel light without sacrificing comfort and style
Frustrated D.C. drivers took to social media to document their commuting woes on Jan. 20. Light snow fell and caused traffic jams and minor crashes on busy, slick roads. (Jenny Starrs,Victoria Walker/The Washington Post)

Frustrated D.C. drivers took to social media to document their commuting woes on Jan. 20. Light snow fell and caused traffic jams and minor crashes on busy, slick roads. (Jenny Starrs,Victoria Walker/The Washington Post)

If Wednesday night was the Washington areas dress rehearsal for this weekends winter storm, then we need a lot of practice  and fast.

A light snow began to make area roads slick about 7 p.m. and caused a commuter nightmare that must have summoned the memory of a snowstorm in 2011 that trapped commuters for up to 13 hours. Drivers said the roads apparently had not been treated.

With about an inch of snow in many spots, drivers in the District and on major suburban thoroughfares crept along.

Robert Fletcher, 57, left his Farragut Square law office before 7 p.m. and headed toward a 30-minute, 12-mile commute to his Falls Church home. More than four hours later, he was calling his wife from behind the wheel of his Infinity, hopelessly mired in a miles-long backup on Interstate 66 just west of Rosslyn, inching less than a half-mile in four hours.

This is an unbelievable situation. Its just a dangerous situation, and the authorities are doing absolutely nothing. I just dont understand, Fletcher said in a telephone interview.

Snow falls as pedestrians and commuters make their way down L Street NW in Washington. (Robert Miller/The Washington Post)

Also in Virginia, major delays continued near midnight on interstates, including I-395, I-66 and I-95. Traffic backed up for more than a mile on approaches to the Woodrow Wilson Bridge from Virginia to Maryland just before midnight, as weary drivers saw no end in sight.

D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) appeared to miss the potential hazards of a slight amount of snow.

At a midday news conference Wednesday, she focused on the impending weekend storm and not once mentioned the possibility of snow affecting the city earlier for the evening commute.

Speaking from her city-issued SUV while driving up Georgia Avenue after 10 p.m., Bowser called into Fox 5 News and said the entire region was affected and that the precursor to Friday had brought more snow than was forecast.

Bowser said that city crews had been pretreating arterial roads since 4 p.m. A spokesman for her office said there were more than 70 accidents in the District on Wednesday evening.

Asked if Wednesday nights gridlock should give residents pause about the citys preparedness for a larger storm, the mayor told Fox 5 that the city would take precautions to get motorists off the road before the storm.

We, of course, will put safety first, she said.

A snowstorm headed toward Washington, D.C, and the Mid-Atlantic is expected to last 36 hours between Friday and Sunday. Capital Weather Gang's Angela Fritz has your forecast and snow accumulation predictions. (Ashleigh Joplin/The Washington Post)

A Maryland State Highway Administration spokeswoman said the roads were not pretreated because the forecast was calling for no more than a squall.

Spokeswoman Kellie Boulware said that as the snowfall continued, the highway agency pulled in additional crews, which were to work through the night to treat slick roads in preparation for the morning rush.

In Virginia, state transportation officials did not pretreat roads because forecasts called for temperatures so low that the treatment might freeze on roads, making them more hazardous. It only takes a little bit of ice to create a very serious situation, said Jennifer McCord, a spokeswoman.

In Arlington, the countys Department of Environmental services said they began pretreating roads with brine early Wednesday afternoon, in preparation for the weeks forecast.

Were currently fully mobilized, and will be through the night, treating with salt on our primary, secondary and school routes, said spokeswoman Jessica Baxter.

Michael Czin, a spokesman for Bowser, said that the Districts 911 and 311 phone lines were burdened Wednesday night by an unusually high number of calls, mostly about snow-related fender benders.

Some callers had difficulty connecting to 911. Czin encouraged residents not to call unless it was a true emergency and to use the 311 cellphone app instead.

Top recommendation: If you dont have to drive, stay home, said Mark Brady, a Prince Georges County fire department spokesman.

In Montgomery County, rescue crews responded to dozens of accidents, and officials placed the county communications center on code red status to deal with the call volume.

We are quite busy, in particular on the Beltway, Route 29 and I-270, said Pete Piringer, a spokesman for the county Fire and Rescue Service. We had a rash of wrecks in the Burtonsville and White Oak areas.

Piringer also said Montgomery fire crews found a man unconscious inside a Gaithersburg townhouse, suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning caused by a generator. The man was taken to a hospital with potentially life-threatening injuries.

Fairfax County police had to deal with more than 50 crashes, which did not include calls for stuck vehicles and other hazards.

Even President Obamas motorcade was affected, making its way from Joint Base Andrews at 7:26 p.m. and through suburban Maryland and the District. The vehicles stopped at most stoplights and eased their way through the slow-moving traffic, often employing sirens and flashing lines.

After nearly an hour, the vehicles, slipping and skidding, started making more aggressive use of their sirens and stoplight privileges. The ride ended at the White House at approximately 8:40 p.m.

[Evening snow brings traffic gridlock across Washington]

Fairfax officials reported sheets of ice in spots throughout the county, and police responded to accidents and poor conditions on major roads, including I-495 near Route 50 and Van Dorn Street; I-95 near the Fairfax County Parkway; and Braddock Road at Clifton Road.

In the District, police responded to several incidents and situations that backed up traffic, including a hit-and-run on Alabama Avenue SE, disabled vehicles on the 14th Street bridge and icy conditions that caused police to shut down the Third Street Tunnels southbound ramp. Police called for a salt truck to treat the road surface on the bridge.

I cant even keep track of all of them, a dispatcher said of all the traffic tie-ups.

Aaron Davis, Mary Pat Flaherty and Julie Zauzmer contributed to this report.
Reading from a prepared statement, Col. Charles A. Lindbergh tells the House Foreign Affairs Committee that an air invasion of the United States and the landing of troops is "absolutely impossible", Jan. 23, 1941 in Washington. He said bombing raids could do "considerable damage if attempted. Lindbergh was a witness at the committee's hearing on the administration's lend-lease bill. (AP Photo) (N/A/AP)

Some stories may not have made the textbooks, offbeat tales of people and events, fragments and glimpses of surprising lives. The past is an alien place, filled with strange and fascinating customs. But its citizens were human.

The Congressional committee room was jammed with public figures, legislators and admirers who had waited in line for a chance to see the legendary aviator.

Flashbulbs popped and newsreel cameras rolled as Charles A. Lindbergh, whose 1927 New York-to-Paris flight had made him a global hero, took his seat in the chamber to testify.

It was Jan. 23, 1941  75 years ago Saturday  and the American mega-celebrity was about to tell Congress that the countrys entry into the war raging in Europe would have little effect on the outcome, and would be a disaster for the country.

Germany had overrun France and much of Europe. The Nazis were raining bombs on English cities. And the Germans had one of the best fighting forces the world had ever seen.

I see no possibility of success in a war involving the invasion of the European continent, Lindbergh would tell the legislators. It would be better for us and for every nation that the war in Europe end without conclusive victory.

Besides, Lindbergh thought, Britain shared the blame with Germany for starting the war. There is not as much difference in philosophy as we have been led to believe, he said.

A negotiated peace was the best solution. Complete victory by either side would be a calamity for Europe: I am in sympathy with the people on both sides, he said.

Lindberghs testimony came five months before Adolf Hitler attacked the Soviet Union and 10 months before Germany declared war on the United States after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

And it damaged the image of one the 20th centurys most celebrated and tormented figures.

[When the world said goodbye to Gen. Patton.]

In 1927, Lindbergh was hailed as Lucky Lindy and the Lone Eagle after making the first solo, nonstop, New York-to-Paris flight in his single-engine plane, the Spirit of St. Louis.

Almost overnight, he became an international superhero, and a symbol of American daring and know-how.

But five years later, Lindberghs 1-year-old son was kidnapped from the family home in New Jersey. The child was later found dead, with a fractured skull.

A German immigrant carpenter, Bruno Richard Hauptmann, was tried, found guilty and executed for the crime.

The story was a sensation  the biggest since the Resurrection, one commentator said.

Amid the hysteria, a photographer broke into the morgue where the toddlers body was and snapped a picture of the corpse.

The fallout drove Lindbergh and his family to flee to Europe. There, over time, he became fascinated with the rise of German technology, according to biographer A. Scott Berg.

In October, 1938, on a visit to Berlin, Lindbergh received an achievement medal, decorated with swastikas, from Nazi air minister Hermann Goring, who said it had been granted at Hitler's behest.

A few weeks later, Germany erupted in two nights of anti-Jewish rioting, killing and looting that became known as Kristallnacht, or night of broken glass, for the shards that littered the streets.

Amid the general revulsion over the incidents, Lindbergh came under attack for being pro-Nazi. But after coming back to the United States in 1939, he became the nations leading isolationist until the country entered the war  and he became a figure of scorn.

As he sat before Congress in January 1941, his fame was still intact. Almost 1,000 people were packed into the committee room.

Lindbergh, 38, was testifying against the famous Lend-Lease bill, which gave President Franklin D. Roosevelt the power to provide enormous material aid to Britain and other the allies fighting Germany.

He argued that the United States should stop helping Britain. Further aid would only bring America closer to involvement in the war.

Admirers cheered many of his statements, and booed hostile questions from the congressmen.

Lindbergh stayed cool, and when the hearing was over, the pro-British committee chairman Rep. Sol Bloom (D-N.Y.) remarked, You have answered all our questions as only Col. Lindbergh could answer them.

Many in the audience rose and applauded, and Lindbergh worked his way around the room shaking hands.

The bill passed easily, despite Lindbergh.

The day before, Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced that Britain had lost 60,000 people, almost half of them civilians, in the first 16 months of the war.
Thousands of antiabortion protesters make their way past the U.S. Supreme Court last year in D.C. for the annual March for Life, to protest the courts decision to legalize abortion. (Andrew Harnik/For The Washington Post)

D.C. schools will be closed on Friday. The District government will operate under a state of emergency, sending non-essential personnel home at noon. And tow trucks will begin hauling away cars parked on downtown thoroughfares to make room for expected mountains of snow.

But one group  perhaps numbering in the tens or even hundreds of thousands  will be filling the streets around the U.S. Capitol just as others have been told to stay at home. The annual March for Life, which protests U.S. abortion policies, will go on, according to federal law enforcement officials.

The antiabortion demonstration has been held in D.C. without interruption for more than four decades on the anniversary of the 1973 Supreme Court decision in the case of Roe v. Wade.

[How Roe v. Wade changed abortion rights in 13 charts]

But this years march is the first to coincide with the arrival of a potentially historic snow storm that could dump 24 inches or more on the nations capital.

The federal permit required for the march to take place could be withdrawn under a provision that prevents gatherings in D.C. during severe weather events.

But U.S. Park Police spokeswoman Sgt. Anna Rose said that as of Thursday afternoon, representatives of federal and local law enforcement agencies had agreed to tread lightly and allow the event to go on because the bulk of the snowfall is expected overnight Friday into Saturday.

As of this moment, its on, Rose said. This is a First Amendment event, and if people want to come and demonstrate, we want them to be able to come say what they have to say.

Rose said authorities have only once in recent years stopped a First Amendment demonstration. In that event at the federal law enforcement memorial, an intense thunderstorm prompted police to clear the public plaza.

Not everyone is endorsing the march continuing, however. At a news conference Thursday morning, D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) declined to say directly whether she thought that the event should go on.

Were watching it very closely, she said. I would ask that organizers make good decisions for their participants.

Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund, said organizers are doing just that.

We are not forcing anyone to come, we are encouraging everyone to do what they think keeps them safest, including watching the event at home on television.

But Mancini said organizers were adamant about continuing. For those who have marched for the last 42 years on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, we want to provide that opportunity to continue doing so.

More than 1,000 teenagers and young adults already in town from as far away as California and Canada gathered at a D.C. hotel for an indoor pre-rally on Thursday.

Mancini said she could not predict how many people would turn out on Friday, but she acknowledged the event would be smaller, with several groups that were planning to travel long distances by bus contacting organizers in recent days to say they would not make it this year.

Mancini said that despite the comments from Bowser, organizers had not felt discouraged from continuing. A rally is scheduled at noon, the march at 1 p.m., and a final ceremony will take place at 3 p.m. in front of the steps of the Supreme Court. By that time, snowflakes will likely be falling in the District, and an expected early evening rush hour could be in full swing.

We have worked very closely with police, we have emergency plans and weather plans, we think that is in the best interest of everyone that we continue, Mancini said. We havent received any negative feedback from police.

[Related: Abortion rates lowest since 1973, study says]
Cornell Quigley helps guide a Fairfax County school bus to turn around after it was unable to make it up a hill on Jan. 6, 2015, in Reston, Va. (Photo by Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washigton Post) (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post)

Most major school systems in the Washington area have announced that they will close schools on Friday in advance of a storm that threatens to bring more than two feet of snow to the region.

School officials in Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, Montgomery and Prince William counties have announced they will close schools Friday, and Mayor Muriel Bowser said that D.C. Public Schools also will shut down Friday. A Prince Georges spokeswoman said classes are not in session Friday because it is a previously scheduled grading and planning day for teachers, and schools and offices will close at noon.

Nearly all large Washington area school systems made the decision to delay start times, if not cancel classes altogether Thursday because of hazardous road conditions, but some did not make the call until just hours before classes were supposed to start.

[Weather closures in the D.C. area for Jan. 22]

The decisions to delay or cancel school came after about an inch of snow on untreated roads wrought havoc on commuters Wednesday evening and left many roads  unreachable because of the gridlock  slick with ice Thursday morning. The traffic mess raised anxiety over how the region will handle a historic snowstorm that is expected to bring as much as two feet of snow to the region beginning Friday afternoon or evening.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser updates residents on the city's response plan and school closings ahead of the massive snow storm expected to hit the area as early as Friday. (WUSA9)

It is often a difficult call for school systems to make when they decide to delay or cancel on a given day, with educators concerned about keeping students on track academically while maintaining safety. Many school officials last year ended up apologizing to parents after keeping schools open on a day when snowfall during morning rush hour left buses stuck.

[From 2015: many of regions schools opened in storm, drawing ire]

The Fairfax County school system, one of the nations largest, and Alexandria city schools announced Wednesday night that they would delay classes before deciding to cancel classes altogether early Thursday. Prince William County schools, which cover a wide swath of Northern Virginia that includes some rural roads, made the call to cancel classes Wednesday night. D.C. Public Schools and Montgomery County schools in Maryland opted for two-hour delays, making the call early Thursday morning. Prince Georges County schools decided to close.

Loudoun County Public Schools opened on time. Spokesman Wayde Byard said the county received a relatively light dusting of snow.

District Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) apologized Thursday at a news conference for the citys response to Wednesday nights snow and the poor road conditions

We are very sorry for the inadequate response, she said. We did not provide adequate resources at a time when it could have made a difference with the commute.

Bowser declared a state of emergency and a snow emergency for the city in advance of the Friday storm. She said schools in the District will be closed Friday  the first school district in the region to announce a closure ahead of the storm. The University of Maryland in College Park announced Wednesday night that it will close Friday through Sunday, ahead of the next semester, which is slated to begin Monday.

Capital Weather Gang's Angela Fritz has your forecast and snow accumulation predictions as D.C. enters a state of emergency in response to a major storm heading toward the District and the Mid-Atlantic region. (Ashleigh Joplin,Angela Fritz/The Washington Post)

[See school closings for Friday, ahead of the expected blizzard]

Arlington Public Schools Superintendent Patrick Murphy made the call at around 4:15 a.m. to cancel classes because of slick road conditions, said Assistant Superintendent Linda Erdos. Text messages and emails began going out to parents shortly thereafter, though some did not receive them until 5:15 a.m.

Erdos said Murphy and school transportation staff conferred with county public works officials throughout the night and learned that many residential streets remained icy because public works crews were unable to get to them to treat them because of Wednesday nights gridlock.

Erdos said she and other school officials feared buses would not be able to maneuver safely or would get stuck.

It really was a safety issue for children, Erdos said.

As for Friday, Erdos said school officials are keeping a close eye on forecasts to see when the blizzard would start. Even an afternoon snowfall start  which could imperil buses attempting to maneuver down narrow residential streets  could mean canceling school. But if the snow is expected to hold off until evening, she said, classes likely would go on as normal.

D.C. Public Schools began notifying parents by 5 a.m. that it would delay start times by two hours. School spokeswoman Michelle Lerner said the system typically makes its decisions between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m., based on factors including temperature and wind chill, levels of snow and ice, road conditions and the availability of public transit. Also important is the forecast for the day ahead. The mayor makes the final call about opening, delaying or closing schools.

Prince Georges County school officials decided on a two-hour delay for Thursday at about 4:30 a.m. and then to close the school system at 7 a.m. They said its well known in the region that road and weather conditions can change dramatically in short order.

Monica Goldson, chief operating officer, said the school system followed its typical protocols for weather closures and delays, assessing road and weather conditions across the county.

When our team determined traffic conditions on major roadways were still severe, we changed the status, Goldson said in a statement. We have to take into account considerations like bus stop wait times, conditions of both neighborhood and major roads and current weather conditions and determined it was best to have our students at home today. We were hopeful that the late arrival would yield better road conditions, but unfortunately did not.

In Montgomery County, the decision to close schools came at 4:30 a.m., following a process that began at 2:30 a.m., when a designated snow team of transportation staff started driving county roads, checking forecasts and consulting with other school systems.

The two-hour delay was posted online and went out through television, Twitter and email, shortly after 4:35 a.m.

Montgomery schools spokesman Derek Turner said the district took into account the traffic chaos of Wednesday night. Certainly we were looking at that as it was happening and thinking about how it would apply in the morning, he said.

But the district makes its decision based on the most timely information it has in the morning, he said. On Thursday, the district decided that, with a two-hour delay, it was safe to open schools.

Everyone wants to know as soon as possible, but we want to make sure were making a careful and thoughtful decision, he said

Hours later, on Thursday afternoon, Montgomery officials broke with the usual practice of deciding school closings in the early-morning hours, announcing schools would be closed Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The district considered factors including weather forecasts, other school system closures and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogans declaration of a state of emergency, to begin at 7 a.m. Friday. All of those playing together, said Montgomery schools spokesman Derek Turner.

On Monday, Montgomery students are off school because of a previously scheduled professional day for teachers.

Dana Hedgpeth contributed to this report.

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Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, whose research helped call attention to lead contamination in tap water in Flint, Mich., is leading a group of experts that is developing a strategy to minimize the health effects on children. (Sean Proctor/AP)

As federal, state and community leaders grapple with the immediate challenge of providing Flint, Michigan with safe drinking water, the pediatrician who unearthed evidence of lead in the citys water supply is now focused on long-term efforts to reduce the health impact on an estimated 9,000 Flint children.

We cannot sit back and wait 20 years to see the consequences of lead poisoning in our schools and in our criminal justice system, said Mona Hanna-Attisha, director of pediatric residency at Hurley Childrens Hospital, who in September led a group of doctors urging Flint to stop drawing tap water from the Flint River after finding elevated lead levels in the blood of young children.

Hanna-Attisha, 39, who also is an assistant professor of pediatrics at Michigan State University, is leading a committee of experts to develop a strategy that would mitigate the impact of lead exposure on thousands of children under age 6.

The states chief medical executive said this week that all children who consumed the citys water since April 2014 are considered to have been exposed to lead, a neurotoxin that affects the development of the brain and nervous system. Lead is particularly damaging to children under 6 because the brain shows rapid growth in the early years of a childs life.

Exposure may have been heightened during three periods when city officials instructed residents to boil their tap water before consuming it, because raising the temperature concentrates the level of lead.

Experts say lead exposure is connected to lower IQ, behavioral problems, learning disabilities and mental retardation. Heavy doses of lead can trigger convulsions, coma and death. There is no safe lead level for children, and experts consider the damage irreversible.

But there are ways to mitigate damage, Hanna-Attisha said.

Not every kid is going to have every problem, and we can do things now that can lessen the impact, she said. This is a unique opportunity to build a model public health program.

She is leading a group of experts including pediatricians, epidemiologists, developmental specialists, toxicologists, educators, geographers and county and state health officials. The committee, which is funded by the university and the hospital, is focused on three areas: education, nutrition and health.

It is recommending an increase in educational programs in Flint aimed at children between birth and age 5. In addition, Flint schools need to hire school nurses, Hanna-Attisha said. Michigan school districts have an average of one school nurse for every 750 students; in Flint, there is currently one school nurse for the 7,000 students in the school district, Hanna-Attisha said.

The committee wants Flint to increase special education services in the public schools and boost afterschool programming and behavioral therapy.

And it is promoting foods that limit the absportion of lead, such as foods rich in iron, calcium and Vitamin C. But the challenge is steep: the city of Flint has no grocery store.

We have to do this, Hanna-Attisha said. We are morally, ethically, professionally, obligated. We have to. These kids did nothing wrong and we owe it to them to try to intervene, to build this program.

The committee does not yet have a cost estimate for the mitigation strategy, or funding at this point, she said. But it will be making recommendations to state and federal officials in an effort to access public disaster funds, and has set up a foundation, flintkids.com, that is accepting private donations.

In April 2014, Flint switched its water source from Detroit to the Flint River as a short-term measure while a new system to connect to Lake Huron was constructed. Flint residents immediately began complaining about the look and taste of the new water supply, as well as skin reactions and other concerns.

[Michigan authorities debated whether the lead problem was real]

In September, Hanna-Attisha and an independent research team from Virginia Tech, released their findings that lead contamination had nearly doubled and even tripled in children younger than 5 after the citys water supply was switched to the Flint River.

State regulators initially dismissed her, saying her data were sliced and diced. But they soon reversed course and acknowledged Hanna-Attisha was correct about a scandal that has rocked Michigan and reverberated all the way to the White House.

As a professional, as a researcher, you make sure your numbers are right, Hanna-Attisha said. You check, you triple check. To be doubted by the state and attacked, its hard not to second guess yourself. But this is my job as a pediatrician because kids dont have a voice, they cant vote. Especially in an underserved community, you need to be their advocate.
THE DISTRICT

Ex-teacher acquitted

on sex charges

A former District special education teacher was acquitted Thursday on charges he sexually assaulted a 9-year-old student at his Capitol Hill elementary school.

After about a week of testimony, D.C. Superior Court Judge Robert E. Morin found Leroy Damien Ware, 34, not guilty of misdemeanor counts of sexual assault involving the alleged assault that occurred in late 2014 at Miner Elementary School in the 600 block of 15th Street NE.

Prosecutors argued that the victim told his mother that the teacher twice touched the then-fourth-grader inappropriately, once while playing a game during recess and again in a computer lab.

In court documents, Ware told police that he accidentally touched the boy while trying to correct the students disruptive behavior.

Three workers hurt

in wall collapse

Three construction workers were injured, two of them critically, when a brick-and-concrete wall collapsed along the front of a hotel in Northwest Washington on Thursday afternoon.

An investigation is underway into the cause of the accident, which happened about 12:30 p.m. at the Savoy Suites Hotel in the 2500 block of Wisconsin Avenue, at Calvert Street near the Russian Embassy and the U.S. Naval Observatory.

D.C. Fire Battalion Chief Timothy A. Jeffery said the eight-story hotel, which was occupied, can remain open. He said a 30-foot section of decorative brick veneer sheered off the side of the hotel next to the awning leading into the front entrance.

MARYLAND

Fatal in hit-and-run

by pickup truck

Authorities said a 51-year-old man was killed early Thursday morning after a pickup truck struck him in a hit-and-run as he walked on U.S. 1 in Prince Georges County.

Just after midnight, a 2015 GMC pickup truck was traveling north on U.S. 1 near Naples Avenue in Beltsville. The man was in a lane when the truck hit him, according to Maryland State Police. The pickup truck did not stop and left the area.

Witnesses gave police a description of the vehicle, which had a snowplow on it, and Laurel police officers later stopped a pickup that matched the description. Officials said the snow plow was not in use at the time. Authorities said charges are pending against the driver of the truck.

The collision happened as the Washington region had been hit with about two inches of snow and roads were icy and not well treated.

Police later identified the man who died as Salvador Jeremias Rivera Loza of Beltsville.

VIRGINIA

Accused ISIS supporter

to be held without bond

A Northern Virginia man accused of trying to fly overseas to join the Islamic State terrorist organization will be held without bond until a court appearance next month, a federal magistrate judge ruled Thursday.

Deciding there were no conditions that could keep the community safe and stop Joseph Hassan Farrokh from absconding, Magistrate Judge Michael S. Nachmanoff ruled that the 28-year-old must remain in federal custody  at least until a preliminary hearing in his case on Feb. 1.

Farrokh was arrested last week at Richmond International Airport, where authorities alleged he intended to fly out on the first leg of his overseas journey to join up with the Islamic State. He is charged with attempting to provide material support to terrorists.

Drowning trial

is postponed

The capital murder trial of Joaquin S. Rams, accused of drowning his 15-month-old son in 2012 to collect more than $540,000 in insurance proceeds, has been postponed from its Feb. 1 start date in Prince William County Circuit Court.

Rams, 43, has been in the Prince William jail without bond for three years in connection with the October 2012 death of his son Prince McLeod Rams. But on Wednesday, his attorneys asked for a continuance, and Prince William Circuit Court Judge Craig D. Johnston granted it. No new trial date was set, pending a hearing next week.

Defense attorney Daniel Morissette said the court-appointed defense team was concerned about the availability of some out-of-state witnesses and whether they would be present in Manassas when the defense presents its case. Rams has maintained he is innocent in his sons death.
The Maryland General Assembly on Thursday overturned five of Gov. Larry Hogans 2015 vetoes, turning the bills into law and proving that the Democratic-controlled legislature can enforce its will despite opposition from a popular Republican chief executive.

The resurrected measures dealt with public marijuana smoking and pot paraphernalia; police seizures of criminal assets; taxation of online hotel-booking services; and funding to renovate an arts center in Annapolis.

Overturning a veto requires the approval of three-fifths of the 141-member House of Delegates and the 47-member Senate. Both chambers completed the process for the five measures Thursday.

This is not a shot across the bow at the governor, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller (D-Calvert) said. Its a question of good government and reaffirming the policies that we adopted.

Shareese DeLeaver-Churchill, a spokeswoman for Hogan, said the governor was disappointed with the overrides but is hopeful that lawmakers will partner with him to move Maryland forward, instead of dwelling on last years issues.

The Senate postponed action on Hogans veto of a bill that would grant voting rights to felons who are on parole or probation, pushing the vote to Feb. 5 so that a vacant seat can be filled.

Miller said this week that the vote of the new senator could be critical. The voting-rights bill passed the Senate last year with 29 votes, exactly the number needed to override Hogans veto.

[Appointment to vacant state Senate seat stirs controversy]

The Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee on Thursday nominated Del. Craig J. Zucker (D-Montgomery) for the vacant seat.

The laws that were resurrected through overrides Thursday will take effect in 30 days, unless a bill specified a later date.

The marijuana measure decriminalizes public smoking of marijuana and possession of pot paraphernalia such as pipes, bongs and rolling papers, establishing a civil penalty for those offenses instead of criminal charges. Maryland decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana in 2014.

The asset-seizure legislation prohibits law enforcement officers from taking suspected criminal assets worth less than $300 during criminal investigations.

Hogan vetoed both bills because of concerns raised by police and states attorneys. The governor offered to negotiate new versions of the bills to address those concerns. Instead, DeLeaver-Churchill said, Democratic leaders opted for the political spectacle of a veto override.

Police had argued that the marijuana measure would create confusion about whether police can stop drivers for smoking pot at the wheel and that the asset-seizure legislation would affect their efforts to interrupt drug-dealing and other criminal networks.

Democrats rejected both arguments during floor speeches Thursday.

Sen. Robert A. Zirkin (D-Baltimore County) emphasized that driving under the influence of drugs would still be illegal. This bill in no way legalizes somebody getting behind the wheel of a car and driving while high, Zirkin, chairman of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee, said.

[D.C. mayor is at risk of watching her marijuana policy go up in smoke]

Two of the resurrected measures require online hotel-booking services such as Travelocity to pay the state sales tax on the purchase price of hotel rooms, rather than on the lower prices they negotiate with hotels. One of the bills applies across the state; the other affects only Howard County.

The debate over those measures centered around whether they amounted to a tax increase  something Hogan has vowed to oppose at every turn  or closed a tax loophole that deprived the state of revenue and gave online bookers an advantage over actual hotels.

This is a tax on your constituents, Del. Matt Morgan (R-St. Marys) said on the House floor. This is a tax increase on their vacation costs and their overnight stay, and Im not going to do this.

But Sen. Richard S. Madaleno Jr. (D-Montgomery), who sponsored the bill affecting statewide hotel taxes, said the measure would make existing tax law work as intended and level a playing field that had favored online bookers over actual hotels.

Many Democrats had argued that Bethesda-based Marriott Corp., a strong supporter of the tax legislation, might move its headquarters to another state if the bill did not pass. But Thomas Marder, vice president of corporate affairs for the hotel chain, said the company has not tied the two together.

Marriott spokesman T.J. Maloney said, We have a long history in Maryland, and Id say that were really pleased the legislature listened to our thoughts on this.

Republicans raised concerns that the tax legislation could interfere with a pending court battle between the state comptrollers office and Travelocity over how to interpret existing law.

Madaleno said the state should not wait for the legal process to play out. It is up to us as the legislative branch to set the policy for this state and not delegate that authority to the judicial branch, he said.

The last veto override involved $2 million in funding to renovate the Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts in Annapolis. House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) added the project to the states capital budget last year, but Hogan rejected the provision and vowed to spend the money on reopening a police barracks in the city  a move that legislative budget analysts said would be impossible because of rules governing how funds can be shifted.

Hogan found a smaller amount of money already allocated to state police that enabled the agency to reopen the barracks.
The Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee on Thursday overwhelmingly nominated establishment favorite Del. Craig J. Zucker to fill a vacant seat in the state Senate, despite complaints from some Democrats in the county that the process should have been more open.

I dont think elected officials should have the ability to name their own replacement, said Wilbur Malloy, a precinct captain in Senate District 14, referring to heavy support that Zucker received from party leaders who included former senator Karen S. Montgomery, whose resignation at the start of the year opened the seat Zucker would fill

If youre elected by Montgomery County residents, then your replacement should be elected by Montgomery County residents, Malloy said.

[Legislature overturns five of Hogans vetoes]

If Zucker (D-Montgomery) is appointed to the seat by Gov. Larry Hogan (R), he will immediately play what could be a critical role in a significant vote: whether to override Hogans veto of a 2015 bill that would allow felons to vote while they are still on parole or probation.

Del. Craig Zucker (D-Montgomery) has been endorsed by many Montgomery County Democrats to fill a vacancy in the state Senate. (Courtesy of Craig Zucker)

Hogan has until Feb. 5 to act on the nomination, and the Senate has scheduled its override vote for that day.

Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) has said that the chamber may need Montgomerys successor in place in order to muster the 29 votes necessary to overturn the veto. The House of Delegates voted to override it Wednesday, with Zucker voting in favor.

Zucker, a member of the House Appropriations Committee who serves as chairman of the Health and Human Resources Subcommittee, vowed that in the Senate he would be a champion of womens reproductive rights, new immigrants and improving low-income neighborhoods in Maryland.

He also promised the county Democratic Central Committee and about 30 other people gathered inside a meeting room in Kensington that he would be a reliable vote for overriding Hogans vetoes.

We all stood with each other yesterday when we overrode the governors veto and allowed people access to vote, he said. If you send me to the Senate, I might have a chance to . . . do the same thing on the other side.

In addition to being endorsed by Montgomery, Zucker also received support from Miller, Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) and a host of other elected officials.

[With no wi-fi, this coffee house is the soul of Silver Spring]

But at least one other Democrat in the county  Herman Taylor, a former state delegate  also expressed interest in the Senate seat, and the head of the county NAACP said last month that she was uncomfortable with long-term negotiations that led to a pre-arranged slate.

Any opening should be posted, and candidates should be required to make their case to the community and the committee, county NAACP President Linda Plummer said in a Dec. 8 letter to the county Democratic committee.

Taylor, who served as a delegate from Montgomery County from 2003 to 2011, did his best to win over committee members Thursday night by recalling his experience as a former House member and, now, the managing director of a nonprofit economic council for minority-owned businesses.

When some committee members asked both candidates for their opinion about the process, Taylor said he was disappointed in the way it was handled.

Theres not a lot of people that stepped forward to apply. Taylor said. I decided to step forward because I wanted to give this body that is trying to do its work another option.

Zucker, who was nominated by a vote of 22 to 2, defended the support he received, saying he lobbied other Democrats heavily. I work hard for my constituents, he said. And, when I saw this opportunity, I worked hard to get it.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio gives a news conference in Manhattan on Dec. 21, 2015. Two years into his term, his poll numbers are sagging. (Yana Paskova/For The Washington Post)

Mayor Bill de Blasio loped into a Brooklyn homeless shelter one day late last month, eager to demonstrate his command over a mushrooming homeless crisis that had already forced out two of his top advisers.

Folding his 6-foot-5 frame in half, the Democratic mayor crouched down to hand out gifts to children, praised his team for extraordinary work and then faced a pack of reporters, one of whom asked why it took so long to make homelessness a top priority.

Its been a priority from the beginning, de Blasio insisted before adding, No administration has cracked the code on homelessness.

It will take time, the mayor conceded. We will turn the tide.

Two years ago, de Blasios victory as an unrepentant progressive in the nations most populous city was evidence of the electorates shift to the left, a harbinger, perhaps, of Sen. Bernie Sanderss surging presidential campaign, now threatening to overtake Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio listens to a question at a news conference in Manhattan Jan. 12, 2016. (Mike Segar/Reuters)

[Sanders prepares to challenge Clinton on Super Tuesday and beyond]

After eight years of Republican Rudolph Giuliani and three terms under billionaire Michael Bloomberg, New Yorkers embraced de Blasios Tale of Two Cities mantra, his opposition to police aggression, and the biracial cool projected by his marriage to a black poet. He was New Yorks version of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who had vaulted to national prominence assailing moneyed interests.

Yet, midway through his term, as he rolls out his budget Thursday, de Blasio, 54, is buffeted by sagging poll numbers and rebukes from an ever-clamorous spectrum of New Yorkers. Allies on the left complain hes not progressive enough. Editorial writers deride him as more dreamer than manager. And at least one fellow Democrat  Andrew M. Cuomo, New Yorks notoriously sharp-elbowed governor  seems to delight in needling the mayor.

The mayors problem is not his progressive message. Its the mayor himself, the way he talks, executes his policies and presides over the city.

The achievements are there, de Blasio said in a recent interview. I have to go out and talk to people about them.

[Meet the lefty club behind a blitz of new laws in cities around the country]

His initiatives bear the liberal stamp: establishing universal pre-kindergarten for 68,000 children, raising to $15 the minimum wage for city workers, and engineering a first-ever rent freeze for hundreds of thousands of tenants. Crime has declined despite predictions that police would be handicapped by phasing out stop and frisk, the tactic that a federal court ruled violated minorities constitutional rights.

Former Speaker of the New York City Council Christine Quinn, Jennifer Ashford, resident of Liberty Residences, a homeless shelter in Brooklyn, and Mayor Bill de Blasio, chat on December 23, 2015. (Yana Paskova/For The Washington Post)

From my vantage point, as someone who supported him over a black candidate, he has delivered, said the Rev. Al Sharpton, whose neutrality during the mayors race amounted to an endorsement of de Blasio.

Yet, for all his accomplishments, the mayors approval rating fell to 38 percent in November. Among whites, his support was below 30 percent. A poll released this week showed de Blasio creeping upward among all New Yorkers, even as the vast majority of whites remain unsatisfied.

His allies point out that Giuliani and Bloomberg polled poorly before winning reelection and that De Blasios support among blacks has reached as high as 70 percent. They attribute his overall decline to challenging New Yorks status quo and a tabloid press that treats the mayor with less respect than a dog shows a fire hydrant.

Theres an out-to-get-him attitude, said Doug Muzzio, a Baruch College political science professor. But theres also a record. He aint doing as badly as hes doing.

Yet, de Blasio has provided his critics plenty of fodder, arriving late to public events so often that newspapers felt compelled to report when he was on time.

In recent weeks, the mayor has scrambled to manage a homeless crisis that he played down months before. And with real estate prices on steroids, his plans to push developers to include affordable housing in market-rate projects has stoked fears that poor neighborhoods would be gentrified.

In Brooklyns East New York, among the struggling areas where the mayor hopes to spur development, Lorna Blake, 57, volunteered for de Blasios campaign two years ago, certain he would advocate for low-income New Yorkers.

Now Blake is afraid that the development the mayor seeks will jack up rents and force her out. Hes not for the poor people, she said. We really believed in him. Thats why it hurts so much.

Massive ineptness

De Blasios troubles are paradoxical: He is a seasoned campaign operative, but his policy initiatives often are overshadowed by his political stumbles.

He courted Sharpton, who is reviled by whites. He waited months before endorsing Clinton, though he served as her campaign manager when she ran for the U.S. Senate. He tried to dictate the types of questions reporters could ask him, which, in New York, may be as practical as teaching a rhinoceros to pirouette.

His feud with Cuomo began early in his mayoralty. The governor agreed to fund the mayors universal pre-K program. Rather than take the victory, de Blasio pushed Cuomo to pay for it by taxing the wealthy. The governor, facing reelection, refused.

Months later, an anonymous Cuomo adviser told the Wall Street Journal that the mayor was bumbling and incompetent.

As the governor likes to say, you cant flush the toilet in New York without going to Albany, said George Arzt, who was Mayor Ed Kochs press secretary. When youre mayor, you dont alienate people for no reason.

De Blasio has shown he understands the power of political imagery, burnishing his Everyman credentials by riding the subway to his inauguration and shoveling snow outside his townhouse.

But he has failed to establish himself as a bullhorn voice in a city accustomed to mayors with outsize personas. Koch shouted Howm I doin? as he greeted strangers, and Giuliani brawled with just about anyone (Theres something deranged about you, he told a New Yorker asking for a lift on the citys ban on ferrets).

New Yorkers like big strong daddy mayors  loudmouths who are obnoxious but who push people to get things done, said Bill Dobbs, a gay activist. This one doesnt have something strong. There was this period when I hardly knew he was there.

During appearances, de Blasio favors words such as transcendent and historic, verbiage that makes him sound like a graduate student, said Ken Sherrill, a Hunter College political science professor. He doesnt speak to people in language that makes sense to them. In terms of day-to-day politics, theres massive ineptness.

De Blasio, in the interview, vowed to spend a lot more time in the citys neighborhoods and do a better job communicating our vision. He said he remained committed to a progressive agenda, one that he said is flourishing with the election of left-leaning mayors in cities such as Philadelphia and Houston.

The number one issue that comes up is affordability, he said. Doesnt matter if my popularity is up or down.

Hes trying to fix stuff

The framed photo at Goodfellas pizzeria on Staten Island is of the citys 109th mayor committing a New York faux pas: eating pizza with a fork.

The fork that de Blasio used 10 days after taking office is also part of the exhibit, tucked inside an NYPD evidence bag, beneath lettering that reads, FORKGATE.

Uncool, said Anthony Lepori, 44, awaiting his own slice as he considered a transgression that raised questions about the Boston-born mayors New York bona fides (New York Post: Yo What da Fork is Wrong with Dis Guy?)

Yet two years later, Lepori said de Blasio is starting to undo the damage Giuliani and Bloomberg did to the city, making it a playground for the rich.

Across the table, Eddie DeLorenzo grunted.

Hes a doofus, looks like a doofus and makes decisions like a doofus, he said, reciting gripes that include the mayor displaying more concern for horse carriages than terrorism, a reference to de Blasios quest to limit the Central Park tourist staple (tough town: De Blasios proposed compromise on the carriages this week prompted pedi-cab operators to chant one-term mayor outside City Hall).

De Blasios trips around the country and to Rome to promote a progressive agenda also have irritated New Yorkers. In November, the liberal advocacy group he founded canceled a presidential forum in Iowa after no candidate agreed to attend.

How can you go to Iowa when you havent met with people in your own back yard? asked Jei Fong, 34, a Chinatown community organizer. Youre the mayor. Dont you care about the people in your own city?

Even in Brooklyns Park Slope, de Blasios neighborhood and the base of his support, there are traces of discontent. To avoid looking at the mayors visage, patrons at the Purity Diner have been known to turn over a framed article about him.

But Jim Callanan, 62, a cinematographer who lives nearby, said hed reelect de Blasio in a nanosecond. I knew everyone would beat up on him, he said. Hes bucking vested interests. But hes trying to fix stuff.

A mistake on homelessness

After winning 73 percent of the vote, de Blasio told supporters that his landslide victory meant New Yorkers had chosen a progressive path. Yet, less than a quarter of the electorate voted, the lightest turnout in decades.

He was hyping it, said Bill Cunningham, a former Bloomberg adviser. A lot of people didnt bother to vote, which may explain the polls.

Yet de Blasio remains convinced that New Yorkers elected him to narrow economic disparities that exploded during Bloombergs era.

He launched a plan to create 200,000 units of affordable housing. But after years of unbridled construction and soaring prices, advocates predict the plan will further choke neighborhoods and create housing too expensive for the poor.

The mayor insists gentrification will affect many more neighborhoods if government doesnt do anything, and a lot of people will be priced out.

De Blasios identity as an advocate for the poor also suffered because of the pace of his response to a homeless crisis that seemed as obvious as the encampments springing up on city streets.

Last summer, he told reporters, Weve had a reduction in street homelessness. But even his own police commissioner disagreed, saying the mayor had made a mistake by not validating what we were seeing.

After a poll found 62 percent of New Yorkers disapproved of his handling of homelessness, de Blasio announced a new plan.

A few days later, a reporter asked de Blasio whether, all things considered, he missed shoveling snow.

I miss all the things that went with my previous life, the mayor said. But, you know, life changes sometimes.
Veteran FBI agent Gerald Rogero was found guilty Friday of second-degree assault after he was captured on cellphone video striking a 15-year-old boy during a domestic dispute in Chevy Chase, Md. (Montgomery County State's Attorney's Office)

Veteran FBI agent Gerald Rogero was found guilty Friday of second-degree assault after he was captured on cellphone video striking a 15-year-old boy during a domestic dispute in Chevy Chase, Md. (Montgomery County State's Attorney's Office)

An FBI agent convicted last year of shoving a Maryland teenager  in an off-duty confrontation captured on cellphone video and viewed across the nation  had his guilty finding dismissed Wednesday by a judge who called the incident an unfortunate mistake in an otherwise stellar career.

The decision by Montgomery County Circuit Judge Steven Salant clears the way for Gerald Rogero, a unit chief in the FBIs counterterrorism division, to continue his duties. Rogero has three daughters  two in college, one in high school  whom he has raised as a single father after the sudden death of his wife in 2008.

Would it be in the best interest of the defendant  as a result of this isolated and unfortunate mistake of judgment  to deprive him of his employment, of his livelihood? Salant asked from the bench, speaking to a courtroom packed with FBI agents supporting their colleague as well as friends and family supporting the teenager. To impact upon his children? To impact upon the service that he can bring to the community? I think not.

The case against Rogero received considerable attention because of the cellphone video that showed tensions escalating between Rogero and a group of people outside an apartment building along Wisconsin Avenue in Chevy Chase on a night in 2014.

At one point, a 15-year-old boy approached the agent, got within 18 inches of his face and, according to Rogero, threatened him. Rogero, 46, quickly struck him in the chest with the heel of his left hand, sending the teenager tumbling backward onto the pavement, the video showed.

Salant could have given Rogero jail time. Instead, he put him on two years probation, ordered him to take an anger-management course and imposed probation before judgment, which means that if Rogero abides by the terms of his probation, the case will go away completely.

Rogero has no criminal record. Salant noted that it is common for such defendants to receive probation before judgment for second-degree assault, a misdemeanor.

Rogero showed little emotion upon hearing the sentence. When Salant asked him if accepted the conditions, Rogero said, I accept, your honor.

That reaction was far different from Oct. 30, when a county jury returned its verdict after about five hours of deliberations. Rogero fainted and was taken by ambulance from the courthouse.

[FBI agent guilty of assault in incident caught on cellphone video]

Through his attorney, Rogero declined to comment Wednesday after the hearing.

Mr. Rogero looks forward to continuing to protect the citizens of America in his role in the counterterrorism unit and raising his three daughters, said his attorney, Marlon Griffith.

Salants finding disappointed the teenager and his mother, who was with him when he was shoved.

I think he deserves a little bit of jail time, Alexandro Farooq, who is now 16, said after court as he stood beside his mother.

His mother, Jasmine Farooq, called the sentencing unfair but said she was pleased with one of its conditions: Im glad he will be taking those classes.

On Dec. 15, 2014, Alexandro Farooq filed three criminal charges against Rogero, including first-degree assault, which is punishable by up to 25 years in prison. In an affidavit filed with the court, Farooq began by introducing a series of events that ultimately were not disputed.

The night of Dec. 5, 2014, a man named Edward Moawad arrived at the apartment building with a 1-year-old girl, whom he was taking to her mother as part of a custody arrangement.

Rogero was also there  in civilian clothes  because he and his girlfriend had been visiting the girls mother.

In the apartment lobby, Rogero questioned Moawad about why he was late for the exchange and soon was speaking with others who were with Moawad as the group made its way to a sidewalk outside.

At one point, Alexandro Farooq got close to Rogeros face, prompting the agent to strike him with the heel of his open left hand, which sent the teen falling backward. Rogero then moved to arrest him.

If I have to shoot you, I will, he said. Dont make me shoot you.

The two tussled, and Rogero drew his weapon and pointed it at the teenager. The situation eventually calmed down as county police officers arrived.

In Alexandro Farooqs affidavit, he claimed that Rogero punched him with the palm of his hand, sending him flailing, and then dragged him to a confined darker place without cameras. Farooq also alleged that Rogero pushed his weapon so close to him that he felt a cold sensation of a gun on his temple, according to court records.

In October, county prosecutors brought Rogero to trial on charges of first-degree assault, use of a firearm in a violent crime and second-degree assault.

The first two counts related to Rogero pointing his gun at the teenager.

The cellphone video, which was played in court, clearly showed the agent shoving the teenager and him drawing his gun and pointing it at the teenager. It did not appear to show Rogero dragging Farooq to a dark area or placing his gun against the boys head.

The jury acquitted Rogero of first-degree assault and the gun charge, decisions that suggest jurors concluded that Rogero had acted illegally only as it related to the shove.

In court Wednesday, Rogero said that when Alexandro Farooq got close to him, the teenager threatened him. I reacted instinctively to push Alex away, he said.

Rogero also apologized to the teenager, his FBI colleagues and his family. If I had the opportunity to do this over again, I would not have handled it the same way, he said.

Three FBI colleagues also spoke in court, describing a committed, caring colleague with outstanding performance reviews.

Salant said he agreed with one of their assessments that Rogero had an otherwise pristine background.

Salant said that although Rogero was off duty, he comes from a background where authority means something. And he was choosing to exercise that authority when he should have walked away.

But on balance, the judge said, he didnt want a guilty finding to impede Rogeros career and added that the sentence was in the best interest of both Rogero and the public.
The U.S. Air Force veteran who alleged in a lawsuit that his inclusion on the no-fly list had left him unjustly detained in Turkey was allowed to fly back to the United States on Wednesday, his attorney said.

Saadiq Long, 46, an Oklahoma-born Muslim American who considers Qatar his home, arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport with his family Wednesday, said his attorney, Gadeir Abbas. Abbas said Long was issued a one-time waiver to travel, and his lawsuit, which alleges that the no-fly list is broadly unconstitutional, remains ongoing. He alleged that Long was questioned by customs officials for several hours.

Long intends to return soon to Oklahoma, Abbas said.

[Lawsuit: No-fly list has left Muslim Air Force veteran detained in Turkey]

According to his lawsuit, Long and his family were detained by Turkish authorities last year because the United States had put him on the no-fly list and his passport was flagged. His suit alleged that left him essentially stranded in Turkey, and his plight demonstrated that the no-fly list was unconstitutional.

A federal district judge in Alexandria last month rejected Longs bid to have his name immediately removed from the no-fly list but said he could sue on a normal schedule to produce the same result. He conceded then that the U.S. government was willing to issue a one-time travel waiver but said he feared that might leave him unable to later fly out of the country on a plane.
A former D.C. special education teacher was acquitted Thursday on charges he sexually assaulted a 9-year-old student at his Capitol Hill elementary school.

After about a week of testimony, D.C. Superior Court Judge Robert E. Morin found Leroy Damien Ware, 34, not guilty of multiple misdemeanor counts of sexual assault involving the alleged assault that occurred in late 2014 at Miner Elementary School in the 600 block of 15th Street NE.

[Read the details of the teachers arrest]

Prosecutors argued that the victim told his mother that the teacher touched the then fourth-grader inappropriately twice, once while playing a game during recess and again in a computer lab.

In court documents, Ware told police that he accidentally touched the boy while trying to correct the students disruptive behavior.
A former White House switchboard supervisor was charged Wednesday with embezzling thousands of dollars in taxpayer funds by manipulating an employees time sheets.

Prosecutors accuse Andrea Turk of Upper Marlboro of stealing nearly $11,000 by funneling money through an employee she supervised.

Turk, 46, was director of switchboard operations at the White House, supervising 15 operators, from 2009 until she was fired in August 2013. Her duties included overseeing employee work schedules and approving overtime hours, according to federal court records filed Wednesday in Washington.

The alleged thefts began in early 2012, according to an FBI affidavit, when Turk called an employee into her office for a private meeting. Turk told the employee that she was having financial troubles.

She had bills to pay, according to the affidavit, and told the employee, Im going to need your help.

According to prosecutors, Turk altered the time sheet of the employee to reflect overtime hours the employee had not worked. The employee, identified in court records as Employee A, paid Turk a portion of the unearned overtime pay.

The employee told investigators that Turk padded her time sheet as many as 20 times during a one-year period. Employee A paid Turk between $100 and $600 each time  first in cash and later through online transfers to Turks bank account.

The case was referred to the FBI by the Office of Counsel to the President, and Turk was fired after the alleged misconduct was discovered, according to the court records, first reported by WRC-TV (Channel 4).

In an interview with the FBI, Turk allegedly told investigators that she had borrowed money from her colleague.

When she was unable to repay the loan, according to the affidavit, she changed the employees time sheet to include overtime hours the employee had not worked.

The details of the case against Turk were contained in a document known as a criminal information, which can only be filed in felony cases with the consent of the defendant and which signals that a plea agreement is near.

Turks attorney did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

Turk was scheduled for a preliminary hearing Thursday before a federal magistrate judge, but the hearing will be rescheduled, according to a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips.
An Islamic State fighter waves the groups flag from inside a captured government fighter jet following the battle for the Tabqa air base, in Raqqa, Syria (Uncredited/AP)

A Northern Virginia man accused of trying to fly overseas to join the Islamic State terrorist organization will be held without bond until a court appearance next month, a federal magistrate judge ruled Thursday.

Deciding there were no conditions that could keep the community safe and stop Joseph Hassan Farrokh from absconding, Magistrate Judge Michael S. Nachmanoff ruled that the man must remain in federal custody. Prosecutors had urged as much though, notably, a probation and pretrial services report had recommended that Farrokh be allowed out on home confinement and GPS monitoring, among other conditions.

Farrokhs parents and wife declined to comment after the hearing. His attorney, Patrick Anderson, said it was a very emotional time for the family, and he was still exploring the case.

[Virginia man accused of planning to join the Islamic State in Syria]

Hes a very young man, and were still obviously working through what happened here, Anderson said.

Two Northern Virginia men charged with terrorist activities appeared in federal court on Jan. 19. Authorities say 28-year-old Joseph Hassan Farrokh attempted to fly to Syria to join the Islamic State, and 25-year-old Mahmoud Amin Mohamed Elhassan is charged with trying to help him. (WUSA 9)

Farrokh, 28, was arrested Jan. 15 at Richmond International Airport, where authorities said he intended to fly out on the first leg of a planned journey to Syria. He is charged with attempting to provide material support to terrorists.

Federal authorities also charged Mahmoud Amin Mohamed Elhassan, 25, with aiding and abetting Farrokhs plot. He is alleged to have known Farrokhs intentions and given Farrokh a ride to Richmond.

Prosecutors, defense attorneys and Nachmanoff revealed several new details about Farrokh at the hearing: he has been married for less than a year and his wife is pregnant. Anderson said Farrokh, who was born in Pennsylvania and whose family lives in Stafford County, has a criminal record, including charges for DWI and possession of a switchblade years ago.

[Attorney: Alleged terrorism plot involving Virginia men created by the government]

Assistant U.S. Attorney Dennis Fitzpatrick argued that Farrokh was both a danger to the community and a flight risk. He asserted that Farrokh had lied to his family about his travel plans and had said explicitly that he wanted to kill for Allahs sake.

Farrokh is next scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 1.
A teenager was injured during an altercation Wednesday near the Tenleytown-AU Metro station after Wilson High School dismissed students for the day, authorities said.

Police said the teenager was stabbed. Wilsons principal, Kimberly J. Martin, said in an email that the injured teen was a Wilson student, and she called the incident an altercation. She declined to give further details.

The teens injuries were not life-threatening, Martin said, and he is expected to make a full recovery.

District schools spokeswoman Michelle Lerner referred inquiries about the stabbing to police. She declined to say whether the incident involved other students or affected activities at the high school campus.

In her email, sent to parents and other members of the Wilson High School community, Martin said she couldnt provide more information about the incident, citing the police investigation.

The attack occurred in the 4500 block of 40th Street NW shortly before 4 p.m., said Officer Hugh Carew, a D.C. police spokesman.

Martin said the school has counselors in place to help students who may have witnessed the incident or are upset by it.

I want to assure you that the safety of all Wilson High School students is our top priority, and we remain committed to ensuring that your students are safe, Martin said.
John and Pat Gross and Pats mother, Rose Landis, 88, left, live together in an apartment at the Charlestown retirement community. in Catonsville, Md. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

Each morning, Pat Gross and her mother, Rose Landis, sit at their dining room table, drink coffee and solve crossword puzzles. Pat works on the New York Times version, while her mom tackles the one in the Baltimore Sun.

When they start to have problems, they ask me for help, joked Pats husband, John Gross, who plays on his Samsung tablet and catches up on the news while the women work.

Pat, 68; John, 67; and Rose, 88, share a two-bedroom apartment at the Charlestown retirement community in the Baltimore County community of Catonsville, where they moved more than two years ago in the hope of adopting an easier lifestyle.

Living with mom or dad again  or the in-laws  after years of independence isnt for everyone. But such living arrangements are becoming more common as the U.S. population ages and Americans live longer. Although there appear to be no studies showing how frequently it occurs, many retirement communities in Maryland and elsewhere are seeing older children move into the same communities as their parents, sometimes even in the same units.

Just as their parents did, when adults approach their 70s, they tire of mowing the lawn, shoveling snow and doing all the other chores of maintaining a home. Many already are caregivers to their parents and, as they slow down, find it easier if they live across the hall, in the building next door or in the same apartment.

From a continuing-care perspective, I could see how this would be attractive, said Jay Magaziner, a professor and chairman of the department of epidemiology and public health at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

Such arrangements  especially living together  likely wouldnt work for many people, one geriatric specialist said.

The stress of becoming caregivers to parents and living in such proximity to them has the potential to hurt relationships, said Stephen Golant, a University of Florida geography professor who specializes in gerontology.

What I would be concerned about if I was in assisted living and my daughter moved in is if the most precious aspects of our relationship would be affected in a negative way, Golant said.

Whether the result of maturity or simple compatibility, being under one roof isnt a problem for John and Pat Gross and her mother. It works out perfectly for us, John Gross said. Were all together, but we can also do what we want independently, too.

Youll hear no mother-in-law jokes from John. He and Rose seem to enjoy each others company. Pat rarely finds herself in the middle of disagreements between her husband and mother, so theres no worrying about having to take sides.

Were like any other family, Pat said. We do have our moments, but we get over them and move on.

Rose, who has poor eyesight and leg pain, has lived with her daughter and son-in-law since 1983, after her husband died. Even before she moved into their two-story home in Linthicum, Md., she depended on them to help her run errands or go to appointments, because she didnt drive.

But now Rose can walk to activities on the retirement campus. She visits friends in their apartments and meets them for happy hour before dinner, even though she doesnt drink. She plays cards and watches movies at the on-site theater. Not one to let her looks go, she visits the salon to get her hair styled once a week.

Im a social butterfly, she said.

Pat said she likes not having to climb steps every day and take care of a big house. Moving also made caring for her mother less complicated, and she is less concerned about leaving her home alone.

Its a safe environment for her, Pat said. When my husband and I go out and do something, I dont have to worry about her. When I was in my old house, I always thought, Please dont go upstairs until I get home. I was scared she was going to fall. So it gives us some independence, too.

The Broadmead retirement community in Cockeysville, Md., had two generations of family residing there as recently as last summer, said Kristy Krueger, its vice president of sales and marketing. In recent months, a mother and son were interested in moving in at the same time in separate living space near each other.

In some cases, she added, adult children move into retirement communities earlier than they planned after seeing how much their parents enjoy living there.

An additional benefit, of course, is being close to their parent as they move through the continuum of care, Krueger said. I would expect we will see this trend continue in the years ahead.

Before coming to Broadmead two years ago, Krueger worked at a continuing-care community in Michigan for 20 years. Near the end of her time there, a couple in their early 70s, the wifes mother and the husbands father all lived in the same community.

They had an ongoing joke how they both loved their respective in-laws so much they wanted to live under the same roof, Krueger said.

Retirement communities are also good options for children who want to help their parents but keep separate living spaces and some degree of independence, said Joseph DeMattos Jr., president of the Health Facilities Association of Maryland.

They are all still adults, and privacy still matters, said DeMattos, who also teaches leadership in the graduate department at the University of Maryland Baltimore Countys Erickson School of Aging.

Living in a retirement community gives you the best of both worlds because youre close but not under the same roof, DeMattos said.

Bill Nash, who will turn 100 in March, is happy that his daughter, Carolyn Mills, and son-in-law, John A. Snyder, plan to move into the Ginger Cove retirement community in Annapolis, where he lives. When they arrive later this year, theyll be able to run errands for him, take him places and visit him more often  but not too often.

They are independent, and I am, too, Nash said.

For their part, Mills, 76, and her husband, who is 83, decided it was time to move into a retirement community because it was getting too hard to maintain their house, on seven acres in St. Michaels. Nashs love of Ginger Cove was all the endorsement they needed. The fact that he lived there was a bonus.

He hasnt had too many emergencies, but now when he does, I dont think about running over there, Mills said. Now I can just walk across the commons to his room.

Allen Geiwitz, a 71-year-old retired computer programmer, recently moved into the Glen Meadows retirement community in Glen Arm, Md. His mother, Hilda Geiwitz, lives down the hall.

Allen prepares his mothers cereal and coffee every morning and sets out her medication for when she wakes up. They eat dinner together, and he takes her to doctors appointments.

I am right here with her, he said. It is an ideal situation.

 Baltimore Sun
The unanswered question is why people keep carrying guns  very often loaded  through airport security checkpoints, decades after the word went out that guns are verboten carry-0n items.

The ban pre-dates the rise of terrorism in the last 20 years, dating back to the days when people unhappy with the United States were hijacking airplanes to Cuba.

More than anything else, the 2,653 firearms that people tired to carry onto planes last year may simply be a reflection of how many people carry guns as a matter of routine.

The things people bring to airports never really surprise me, said Rod Allison, the Transportation Security Administrations assistant administrator for law enforcement and director of the Federal Air Marshal Service. You just shake your head.

[Connecting the dots is anti-terrorism centers mission]

The number of firearms that were caught in 2015 was a record, up from 2,212 the previous year, and 83 percent of the guns intercepted at 236 airports last year were loaded.

The question of what to do when someone is stopped with a gun falls to local police, since TSA isnt a law enforcement agency. In most cases, if police are persuaded the gun carrier simply forgot the weapon was there, the gun is confiscated and the passenger allowed to fly. In some cases, however, the would-be flier is booked for a weapons violation.

About one-quarter of the guns were intercepted at airports in regions of the country where the gun culture is strong. There were 153 at Dallas-Fort Worth; 144 at Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta; 100 at George Bush in Houston; 90 at Denver International; and 73 at Phoenix International.

The transport of firearms by commercial air in carry-on bags represents a threat to the safety and security of air travelers, said TSA Administrator Peter V. Neffenger. Through increased training in detection methods, our officers are becoming more adept at intercepting these prohibited items.

Its legal to fly with a gun if its unloaded and properly secured in a checked bag.

TSA said it screened more than 1.9 million passengers a day in 2015, a total of 708 million passengers, and 40.7 million more passengers than in 2014.
If Christopher Nolan's filmography could be described in one word, it's this - varied.

In the space of seventeen years, he's made ten films - three of which formed the Dark Knight trilogy - that have had varying degrees of commercial and critical success, but each unique in their own way. Beginning with Following, a film that took Nolan over a year to shoot, his work since then has steadily increased in budget and recognition.

We've counted down his best films and ranked them in order, and yes, Dunkirk has been added to the ranking. Got your own take? Think The Prestige or Inception should be higher?

10. INSOMNIA (2002)

Although it's a remake of a Norwegian film, Nolan manages to take Insomnia's plot and turn it into his own thing. It works, for the most part, but there is something too slight and unintelligent about Insomnia that makes it arguably his weakest film. Al Pacino plays against himself as a hardened LAPD detective, sent to the wastes of Alaska, to investigate the murder of a teenager and to contemplate his next move following an investigation by Internal Affairs. The town, however, is bathed in perpetual daylight thanks to its nearness to the Arctic Circle. The investigation leads them to the door of Robin Williams during his One-Hour Photo phase and the film sets off from there. In a way, the faults with the film aren't Nolan's - they're with the original film itself, and Nolan is simply retreading them despite his best attempts at righting the wrongs. It's still an interesting watch, especially as how you can see Nolan's style develop from where it was then to where it is now.

9. FOLLOWING (1998)

A black-and-white film shot over the course of a year, Following's now become a cult favourite with Nolan diehards. A wimpy writer gets taken in by a smartly-dressed thief named Cobb (yes, he reused the name for Inception) who breaks into people's houses for fun. At first, the writer's unsure of what he's doing and why he's doing, but becomes more voyeuristic with each job and decides to keep at it. The film went largely unnoticed until Memento became the smash-hit and was subsequently reevaluated. For the most part, it works as an experimental college film and you can see the first, tentative styles that Nolan uses later on. It's an interesting watch, when considered against his later work, but not all that exciting on its own merits.

8. THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (2012)

The sad thing about The Dark Knight Rises is that, when compared to The Dark Knight and Batman Begins, it just doesn't stack up. You can almost see how exhausted Christopher Nolan was by Batman, not to mention how he had to hurriedly rewrite the film with the unfortunate death of Heath Ledger. When you take that into consideration, The Dark Knight Rises comes across more as a noble attempt to bring to a close one of the greatest comic-book adaptations ever made. It's a tough task, especially for a director who began his career making quirky noir detective dramas. Nevertheless, The Dark Knight Rises does have some strong moments - including a particularly bone-crunching fight between Bane and Batman.

7. INTERSTELLAR (2014)

When Christopher Nolan closed off his tenure with Batman and the annals of comic-book history, everyone was expecting him to go much more personal and restrained the next time. In a way, that's sort of what happened. Interstellar is, by far, his most personal and emotional film to date. Strip away the layers of interplanetary travel, an A-list actor kept completely in the dark during press promotion and Hans Zimmer's soaring score and you have a story about what it's like being a father. Although Nolan may have tackled this subject before with Inception, he never so clearly aimed the film on the topic as he did here. It might have been somewhat disappointing, but subsequent viewings are needed to fully appreciate it.

6. BATMAN BEGINS (2005)

Wind the clocks back to 1997 and Joel Schumacher's horrendously awful / funny Batman & Robin. Nobody could have predicted that Batman would jettison its neon-drenched, '60s-inspired visuals for something that looked closer to social realism than any comic book film has attempted. In a way, that was part of what made Batman Begins so enthralling on its first viewing. Comic-book characters had never been treated this seriously. Everything was always schewed or winking at the audience, acknowledging the fact that it was all a bit ridiculous. Here, Nolan attempted to make Batman a credible entity - emotionally and figuratively.

5. THE PRESTIGE (2006)

The Prestige was the first of Nolan's post-Batman films, which contrasted heavily with the rigid confines of the Batman universe. The Prestige was an intriguing choice for Nolan; it's his first - and to date, only - adaptation of a novel. For pedants, Memento was a novella - not a novel. Anyway, casting Christian Bale against Hugh Jackman as Victorian-era magicians with a jumbled-up structure that practically begs you to take notes isn't what you'd expect from the guy who reinvented Batman. Yet, as if by magic, The Prestige crawls under your skin. The muted colours work with a story that slowly builds into a crescendo. There are no extended fight sequences, there is no moment of clarity or resonant moment. It's a thoughtful meditation on the price of success and what it means. For Nolan, it could have been a biography. A director who finally had international success - but what did it mean when he had it?

4. INCEPTION (2010)

On the run-up to Inception, there were endless theories as to what exactly the film was about. When it was finally revealed, nobody was exactly sure what to make of it. Of course, that was before we saw it. Even afterwards, we still weren't entirely sure what we saw. But we knew we liked it. A lot. Inception passed over $800 million at the box-office and set off countless arguments as to what the film was about. Was it all a dream? Did the top stop spinning at the end? Who cares. What Inception nailed was effectively blending noir, science-fiction, heist thrillers and a procedural element to a story that could have easily disappeared up its own backside. Endless amounts of analysis on Inception yields various results, but one thing is certain - Inception was a brilliant concept that was handled incredibly well.

3. MEMENTO (2000)

Memento represented Christopher Nolan at his purest. Clever, slyly funny, working with familiar tropes in genre but subverting them for his own ends, stylish. All hallmarks of his later work, all clearly evident on his second film. Casting Guy Pearce, then primarily known for LA Confidential, was an incredibly smart move. So too was Carrie-Anne Moss, who was coming off the back of The Matrix and was signed up for two more, lesser sequels. A fiendishly twisted tale involving murder, tattoos and retrograde amnesia, Memento astounded critics and audiences and - like a lot of his films - begged you to watch it a second time. Never dulling with the passing years, Memento stands up as one of his finest films.

2. DUNKIRK (2017)

You can read our full review of Dunkirk here for a more in-depth reading on Dunkirk. So, yes, it comes close to toppling The Dark Knight as Nolan's best film - but it doesn't. Why not? For us, it's about character development. Dunkirk, as we said in our review, is essentially a survival thriller on a big budget - but it doesn't allow the characters to develop in a conventional way and it ultimately becomes about seeing them at their worst and most desperate - save for one character. It doesn't allow for a full character arc as they're in a constant state of chaos, so you don't really have to something to compare it with. Look, we're nitpicking here, but it's why we couldn't give it the full five stars that we'd give to The Dark Knight.

1. THE DARK KNIGHT (2008)

If Batman Begins took the character out of the comic books and placed him into the real world, The Dark Knight pushed him into Michael Mann's Heat. The blue-drenched cityscapes, the parallels between the two central characters, the highly-constructed heist scenes at the beginning of each film, Heat and The Dark Knight are companion pieces for one another. Nolan's direction was laser-focused, cleverly eschewing what made Batman so interesting - namely, Batman - and brought in one of the most iconic villains in recent film history. Namely, Heath Ledger's take on The Joker. For those of a certain vintage, they'll remember Cesar Romero from the '60s TV series or perhaps Mark Hamill's cackling voice on the Animated Series. Here, Heath Ledger turned The Joker into what he truly was - a psychopathic terrorist who had more in common with Alex DeLarge from A Clockwork Orange than a circus clown. Again, its key to remember that Heath Ledger was - up until this point - known for sensitive roles in Brokeback Mountain and Monster's Ball. Nolan clearly saw something in Ledger that pointed towards the incredible performance he gave as Joker. It's not just all about that, of course. The construction of the story, how detailed and realistic it felt, captured and captivated audiences and set the bar for all future comic-book films that has yet to be surpassed.
OREGON

Governor angry over handling of occupation

Oregons governor expressed anger Wednesday over federal authorities handling of the occupation of a national wildlife refuge by an armed group and said she intends to bill the U.S. government for what the occupation is costing state taxpayers.

Gov. Kate Brown (D) said federal officials must move quickly to end the occupation and hold all of the wrongdoers accountable.

Brown said the occupation in Harney County has cost Oregon taxpayers nearly half a million dollars. She didnt say what those costs entailed.

Brown had called the news conference to discuss her agenda for the upcoming legislative session, but she focused on the occupation by Ammon Bundy and his armed group of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in remote southeastern Oregon that began Jan. 2.

People living in the area strongly voiced their views at a community meeting Tuesday night in Burns, 30 miles north of the refuge. It was the most pointed demonstration yet of local residents desire that Bundy and his group go home. Several people at the meeting spoke directly to Ammon Bundy, who showed up with his brother Ryan and other occupiers. One woman thanked him for drawing attention to ranchers complaints about management of federal lands but told him its time to go home.

 Associated Press

NEVADA

Driver faces 71 counts for sidewalk incident

An Oregon woman facing a murder charge for killing a tourist when she drove onto a sidewalk and caused chaos on the Las Vegas Strip was charged Wednesday with dozens of more counts, including attempted murder, for harming other pedestrians, prosecutors said.

Lakeisha Holloway, 24, has been charged with 71 counts, most of them for attempted murder and battery with a deadly weapon for striking more than 30 people with her sedan Dec. 20, according to the charging document.

Holloway was originally charged with murder in the death of an Arizona woman, as well as child abuse or neglect for having her 3-year-old daughter in the back seat and failure to stop after a collision.

Holloway, who police say was living in her car with her daughter for a week before the incident, already faced the possibility of life in prison if convicted of murder.

 Reuters

TEXAS

State executes inmate for 2001 strangulation

Texas on Wednesday executed a man convicted of strangling a female impersonator in Houston in 2001 and then stealing the victims car, a prisons official said.

Richard Masterson, 43, was put to death by lethal injection at the states death chamber in Huntsville. Masterson, who claimed the death was accidental, was pronounced dead at 6:53 p.m.

Masterson, the first prisoner executed in the state in 2016, had several appeals before the courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. His last-day efforts to stop his execution were rejected.
Moldovan protesters force their way into the parliament building in Chisinau. (Dorin Goian/AFP/Getty Images)

MOLDOVA

Hundreds of protesters storm Parliament

Hundreds of protesters broke through police lines Wednesday to storm Moldovas Parliament after it approved a new government to end months of deadlock between the president and the legislature. Six police officers were injured in the scuffles.

Before the vote, protesters massed outside Parliament waving the Moldovan flag and yelling Early elections as lawmakers met. Afterward, their numbers swelled to thousands, some of whom scuffled with police before forcing their way into Parliament.

Police later pushed the protesters back, but they made their way into the legislature again. Police then sent in reinforcements, and the protesters were later forced out.

Moldova, an impoverished former Soviet republic, has been locked in political turmoil since up to $1.5 billion disappeared from three banks before parliamentary elections in 2014.

Some of the protesters on Wednesday believe the new government will not tackle corruption and undertake reforms, while others oppose a pro-European government and think Moldova should remain in Russias orbit.

A Syrian child looks on as volunteers from the 'Molham Volunteering Team' unload bags of firewood to be distributed on Syrians in Jisreen, Damascus countryside, Syria. (Mohammed Badra/EPA)

Police and demonstrators fired tear gas, radio reported, and protesters set fire to part of the fence surrounding Parliament.

Earlier, Parliament had approved the pro-European government of Pavel Filip. The pro-Russian opposition boycotted the vote.

Lawmakers had dismissed the previous government in October amid corruption allegations.

 Associated Press

SYRIA

Displaced return to homes near capital

Hundreds of families displaced by fighting in a neighborhood on the edge of the Syrian capital returned to their homes Wednesday as part of a truce between the government and local rebels reached last year.

The official Syrian Arab News Agency said 25 buses transported the returnees, who had fled amid 2013-2014 battles that transformed their neighborhood, Qadam, into a ghost town.

The government has struck several such deals with rebels in other neighborhoods and suburbs of Damascus, usually after besieging them for months and pounding them into submission, opposition activists say.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that about 4,000 residents returned to Qadam and surrounding areas Wednesday.

Separately, Palestinian officials said wounded fighters from the Islamic State militant group and al-Qaeda-linked extremists have begun evacuating from a Palestinian refugee camp and surrounding areas in Damascus over the past few days, in the buildup to a deal under which more than 3,000 Islamic State fighters will leave the area.

Meanwhile, the Observatory said the Islamic State has set free 270 people it captured last week during intense fighting with government forces in eastern Syria. It said 50 more civilians are still being held.

 Associated Press

Austria announces limits on refugees: Austria announced that it is putting a cap on the number of refugees it wants to accept  37,500 this year and a total of 127,500 through 2019. Officials said the government will examine legal options on how it can react if those limits are exceeded. The number of migrants to Austria nearly quadrupled last year amid a massive influx from the Middle East and North Africa.

Islamic State identifies 2 Paris attackers as Iraqis: The Islamic State militant group published an online photo tribute to the extremists who killed 130 people in Paris, including pictures of two unknown men identified as Iraqis. The two men were identified by their noms de guerre, Ali Al-Iraqi and Ukashah Al-Iraqi. The photo display in Dabiq, the Islamic States propaganda magazine, also shows suspected attack ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud and eight other men in battle dress.

Zimbabwe court outlaws child marriage: A Zimbabwean court has outlawed child marriage, a practice that a rights group says is common in this southern African nation. The Constitutional Court struck down provisions in the countrys marriage laws that allow girls to marry at 16 and boys at 18. Under the new laws, neither boys nor girls may marry until age 18. The ruling is effective immediately.

 From news services
China produces an astonishing number of astonishing numbers, including this: In the 20th century, the United States made automobiles mass-consumption items, requiring prodigious road building. China, however, poured more concrete for roads and other construction between 2011 and 2013 than the United States did in the 20th century. This fact is emblematic of Chinas remarkable success. And is related to its current difficulties, including its 2015 growth rate (6.9 percent), its slowest in 25 years.

The regimes contract with its 1.4 billion subjects is that it will deliver prosperity and they will be obedient. Now the bill is coming due for the measures taken to produce prosperity.

In 1978, when Deng Xiaoping began the regimes attempt to leaven Leninism with market reforms, half of the Chinese people lived on less than $1 a day. In just six years, collective agriculture almost disappeared and grain production increased 34 percent, freeing people to move from the countryside to more productive urban employment.

No Westerner knows more about Chinas regime and political economy than Henry M. Paulson, who, as chief executive of Goldman Sachs, then U.S. treasury secretary and subsequently, has made more than 100 trips to China. In his book Dealing With China, he writes:

China consumes almost half the worlds cement, coal, iron ore and steel, and 40 percent of the aluminum and copper. Beijing has six ring roads, and the seventh, under construction, will be almost 600 miles long, encompassing an area as large as Indiana. (Washingtons Capital Beltway is 64 miles long.) Demand for roads so exceeds supply that a 2010 traffic jam extended 62 miles and lasted 12 days. China has six of the worlds 15 tallest buildings (the United States has three) and eight of the 10 tallest under construction. In four years, beginning in 2011, the government built enough housing to shelter the population of the 12th most populous nation, the Philippines. Two months after the September 2014 $25 billion initial public offering for the Chinese Internet company Alibaba, the worlds biggest IPO, the company had a $280 billion market capitalization, bigger than Amazon and eBay combined.

Chinas prosperity has been fueled by the traditional modernization trek of people from the countryside to cities  300 million so far, with another 300 million by 2030. But China has also relied perilously on exports and excessive, grossly inefficient infrastructure spending to employ the former peasants and make burgeoning metropolises habitable. Just between 2010 and June 2013, local government debt alone surged 70 percent to $2.9 trillion.

What the regime calls socialism with Chinese characteristics is, like sauerkraut ice cream, a combination of incompatible ingredients. A senior Chinese reformer propounded the birdcage theory of the socialist market economy: The market sector should be as free to fly as a bird in a cage  the cage of a state-commanded economy. Private enterprise, however, creates 90 percent of new jobs. By itself, the private sector, which accounts for perhaps 60 percent of Chinas $10 trillion gross domestic product , would be the worlds second-biggest economy, trailing only that of the United States.

Although state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are often corrupt and always inefficient, the regime resists privatizing SOEs, which would mean worker layoffs of up to 80 percent. More than 100,000 local SOEs have been closed, but, Paulson says, perhaps another 100,000 or more remain. The fact that Paulson says no one seems to know the exact number speaks volumes about the disorderly nature of things bubbling beneath Chinas still-nasty authoritarianism.

Chinas 87 million party members, Paulson says, work first and foremost for the party, which remains the alpha and omega of political, economic and social life. But as Paulson says, corruption breeds where power meets opportunity. Because opportunity festers everywhere that the party continues to insinuate itself, inefficient allocation of resources will depress growth.

The regime is wagering that it can achieve its second-highest goal, prosperity and the geopolitical weight that can come with it, while preserving its highest priority  a Leninist one-party state acting as the vanguard of an accepting population. But Chinas per capita GDP, one-eighth that of the United States, ranks 80th in the world, barely ahead of war-ravaged Iraqs.

After the U.S. opening to China, Daniel Patrick Moynihan acerbically said that many travelers to China returned more impressed by the absence of flies than by the absence of freedom. The continuing absence of the latter, illustrated by the apparent kidnapping of five Hong Kong booksellers, is not noticed by foreigners mesmerized by bullet trains. The next stage of Chinas ascent will test the continuing compatibility of Leninism and dynamism.

Read more from George F. Wills archive or follow him on Facebook.
THE STATE of Michigan has found itself facing a disaster over the provision of the most basic of services  clean drinking water. In 2014, the state tried to save money by switching Flints water supply from Detroit to the Flint River. Corrosive water from the river caused the systems pipes to begin to leach lead into the water supply, with residents complaining of foul-tasting, discolored water. Now nearly all of the 99,000 residents of the city of Flint, which has a black majority, have been exposed to water at high risk for lead contamination. What is crystal clear in this murky mess is that federal and Michigan officials utterly failed to safeguard the health and welfare of their citizens.

The damage is dramatic and in some cases possibly irreversible. Late in 2015, testing revealed that the proportion of children with above-average levels of lead in their blood had almost doubled since the citys decision to switch to the Flint River. According to reports, both the Environmental Protection Agency and Michigans Department of Environmental Quality knew about the absence of corrosion controls in Flints water supply as early as April and failed to tell the public. Released emails show that state officials failed to heed the concerns of EPA officials and researchers over corrosion controls, proper testing and adherence to the federal Lead and Copper Rule, which regulates the amounts of lead and copper in drinking water in the United States.

Gov. Rick Snyder (R) waited much too long to respond to the escalating catastrophe. Following calls for his resignation, Mr. Snyder at first tweeted that political statements and finger pointing from political candidates only distract from solving the Flint water crisis. On Tuesday, Mr. Snyder struck a different tone with his State of the State address, apologizing to the people of Flint and saying, I will fix it. Mr. Snyder said that his office was told only one house was affected by the lead problem. President Obama has declared a state of emergency in Flint, authorizing up to $5 million to help Michigan deal with this man-made disaster. In addition to deploying the National Guard to help distribute water, Mr. Snyder announced he will ask state lawmakers for an additional $28 million to help with the crisis.

Solving the crisis must go beyond distributing water bottles and filters to include full transparency from leaders. Mr. Snyder has promised to release emails from 2014 and 2015 related to the water crisis. Michigan has an obligation to repair pipes and fixtures in homes, day care centers and hospitals and to compensate victims. Nearly 27,000 children in Flint have been exposed to lead-contaminated water. Lead poisoning in children can damage the nervous system and cause behavioral and cognitive problems. The water crisis may well result in a burden for the citys schools as well as its health system.

What started as an attempt to save money has resulted in lawsuits, the resignation of top officials and an investigation by the states attorney general. Officials estimate it could cost $1.5 billion to repair the water infrastructure. The damage to the lives of Flint residents, and to their trust in government, is beyond measure.
It was announced late last night that Lucasfilm are pushing back the release date of Star Wars: Episode VIII from its May 26th, 2017 release date to December 15th of the same year.

Essentially, Episode VIII traded places with another Disney release, Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. This, naturally, has sent the rumour mill into overdrive. We know that Episode VIII has already entered production, with early shoots taking place on Ceann Sibeal and Skellig Michael. However, it's unlikely that there are any script issues with it as both legendary screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan and co-writer / director JJ Abrams have both praised the script publicly.

The same, however, can't be said for Star Wars: Rogue One, which apparently had Christopher McQuarrie brought in to do some pretty hefty rewrites. Most likely, the reason behind Episode VIII's release date is something along the lines of a nice buffer zone between post-production and release date.

JJ Abrams mentioned during the run-up to The Force Awakens that he could have released the film much sooner than its original date, but used the extra time to fine-tune the finished product. That could very well be the case here, as this will be the first major studio production that director Rian Johnson has ever worked on.

There's also the fact that Episode VIII will most likely block-book IMAX screens across the globe, as well. In Dublin alone, the IMAX screen at Cineworld was booked out from December 17th until well into January. While there aren't a raft of IMAX releases in mid-January, they're more likely to run into other IMAX-friendly films in the summer than they are in the winter.

Meanwhile, there's also word that - finally - a title will be revealed along with confirmation on some of the new castmembers, including Benicio Del Toro's as-yet unidentified villain. The early word is that a Rogue One trailer will be attached to Captain America: Civil War, due for release on April 29th with the title reveal for Episode VIII probably before then.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel participates in a panel discussion during the U.S. Conference of Mayors winter meeting on Jan. 20, 2016, in Washington. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Embattled Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, grappling with a police shooting that could destroy his mayoralty, has lamented the code of silence around police brutality.

But now the famously outspoken Emanuel seems to be adopting his own code of silence.

The former congressman and top official in the Obama and Clinton administrations was listed as a featured panelist at the opening plenary luncheon of the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting. The topic: Reducing Violence and Strengthening Police/Community Trust.

This took some guts: Emanuel was, before a national audience, going to address head-on the crisis that has engulfed him since the release almost 60 days ago of video showing a Chicago policeman shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald 16 times as McDonald appeared to be walking away. Emanuels administration had resisted having the video of the killing released, and emails show involvement of the mayors office in how to deal with the PR problem. Now there are accusations of a coverup and calls for his resignation.

But Laquan McDonald didnt cross Emanuels lips at the Police/Community Trust forum. He didnt even mention the incident directly, instead proffering a variety of facts and figures indicating everything is awesome in Chicago.

Chicago is at a record-high, near-70 percent graduation rate. Our sophomore class is on track, according to the University of Chicago, to get 84 percent.

We now have 26,000 kids in summer jobs. . . . Four years ago we were at 14,000.

The overall crime over four years is down about 35 percent.

We now have the largest reentry second-chance program in the United States.

We doubled the amount  were now up to 400 police officers on bicycles.

During the entire 45-minute session, incredibly, the elephant in the ballroom went unacknowledged.

Before the event, a protester appeared at the mayors opening news conference (which Emanuel didnt attend) carrying a sign that said 16 shots & a Cover Up #Laquan McDonald #ResignRahm. The Chicago Sun-Times previewed Emanuels appearance at the forum with the headline Emanuel to confront political demons head-on at national panel on policing.

Instead, he ducked his demons. An aide pointed out that he wasnt asked specifically about McDonald, and its true that his fellow panelists werent in positions to prosecute him: Baltimore mayor and panel moderator Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (whose city saw rioting after the Freddie Gray death in police custody), New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu and former mayor Marc Morial (whose city was found by the Justice Department to have had widespread police misconduct) and the police chief of St. Louis (who had a close view of the Ferguson affair).

Asked for an update on crime in Chicago and the biggest problems you currently face, Emanuel said nothing about Topic A. Guns and gangs, he answered.

After Landrieu raised the civil-liberties problems for police, Emanuel asked for another turn with the microphone  and mentioned high school dropout rates.

Morial spoke about the need for mayors to know how many civil rights complaints there are against the police, to avoid being bit, surprised by something.

Emanuel addressed Morial: Ive got nothing to add, but Im going to be a Jewish mother. Youve got to move that microphone up.

Landrieu talked about the need to have a transparent inquiry after a police shooting  an implicit rebuke of Emanuel.

Emanuel spoke about the need to target the most violent members of gangs and the gun dealers who sell most of the guns used to commit violence.

A mayor from New Jersey had a question about personal responsibility, providing another opening for Emanuel to admit failings in the McDonald case.

Were not going to answer until you tell us what exit you are on the highway, Emanuel quipped.

Turnpike, Rawlings-Blake corrected.

Emanuel, in his answer, spoke more about summer jobs, and the role of parents in teaching right and wrong. Still, nothing about Laquan McDonald.

Finally, in her last question, Rawlings-Blake made a halfhearted grasp at the elephant, asking the others to talk about the panels advertised theme: the trust between police and communities.

The trust factor is not just a goal  its a key ingredient to effective community policing, Emanuel said, then got as close as he would to the matter that threatens his tenure. The public has to know theres legitimate oversight, its certain and its not biased, and the truth is were working at that  our city, other cities  because theres been a lot of judgment that the oversight has been lax and theres not an accounting system.

And that was it. The once fearless Emanuel closed with an anecdote about a woman thanking him for the fine job the police do. The code held.

Twitter: @Milbank

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Regarding Jay Mathewss Jan. 18 Education column, Community college students deserve better than they are getting:

It is never acceptable for any student to receive poor academic counseling or inadequate instruction. The problems of one student Mr. Mathews described do not represent those of the more than 75,000 who attend Northern Virginia Community College each year. Faculty members agree with NOVAs president, who described our students as heroes for seeking an education while working and raising families, often while learning English as a second language. Our faculty members have a passion for teaching, win statewide awards and are proud that NOVAs graduates frequently outperform students who start their educations at four-year colleges.

We can do better, but we are hampered by shrinking state funding. One students problems should not diminish a college that represents for many a gateway to the future, a 21st-century Ellis Island. In a political climate noted for bashing ethnic minorities and criticizing immigrants, NOVA quietly turns lives around through a high-quality education.

As the grandson of an Italian immigrant who came through Ellis Island and the first in my family to receive a college education, I am proud to be a community college professor.

Charles Errico, Falls Church

The writer is a professor and assistant dean at Northern Virginia Community College.
Regarding the Jan. 18 front-page article In K-12 schools, sexual assault issues coming to light:

In Alabama, a 14-year-old girl was allegedly raped by an eighth-grade boy. In 18 months, the boy had been disciplined five times for sexual misconduct and four times for violent or threatening behavior. Why did teachers and students have to deal with a student who was clearly dangerous? Why was the only place to put him an alternative school, where he was suspended for watching porn on a school computer?

Schools are not equipped to handle students with severe mental illness, nor should they be expected to. Why wasnt there a place where he could get treatment and not harm others? Of course, mental-health facilities have been cut to the bone. Evidently, protecting our children in school is not as important as cutting government spending.

Nancy Hawkins, Bethesda

The writer is a former teacher

and assistant principal.
Jon Gertner is the author of The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation.

Not long ago, I spent a day in Waterloo, Canada, visiting with a few dozen scientists and engineers. There probably arent too many college students in America who are dreaming right now of making it big there. And yet, if you were to make a list of places that are vying to become new centers for innovation, you wouldnt dare leave out Waterloo, which is booming with tech start-ups and is in hot pursuit of an emerging technology called quantum computing.

As it happens, though, Waterloo has a lot of competition. Pick a country  Israel, China, India, Brazil  and youll find a city where venture capitalists and civic boosters are making strenuous efforts to cultivate local talent and incubate new ideas, all in the hope that they can spark jobs and wealth and Renaissance-size bonfires of creativity. The goal is to build the kind of economic engine we tend to call a global hot spot, or whats more typically described these days as the Next Silicon Valley.

These hot spots are not a new phenomenon; they date back to an era long before anyone considered the potential for the rolling hills around Palo Alto. Think of Athens in the age of Socrates or Florence in the era of Michelangelo. What these places seem to have in common is that their cultures produced an inordinate number of people  geniuses, lets call them  who went on to change the world through literature, art, music, science or philosophy. And sometimes, the cities gave us standouts in many fields simultaneously.

Certain places, at certain times, produced a bumper crop of brilliant minds and good ideas, Eric Weiner tells us in his new book, The Geography of Genius. But as he readily admits, we dont precisely know why. Weiner reasons that maybe weve been pursuing the answer to the wrong question for a while. Instead of asking What is creativity?, a better question is Where is creativity?

If you want to know, of course, youve got to go. And so Weiner goes  to Athens, Florence and a host of other places, including Silicon Valley. Fortunately, we get to tag along. The Geography of Genius  like Weiners previous book, The Geography of Bliss  is a global odyssey that seeks to discover why geniuses gather in certain places during certain eras and why these hot spots burn out, often after a half-century of grand achievements. Weiner is a superb travel guide: funny, knowledgeable, self-deprecating and always up for sharing a bottle of wine. He is discursive, too, and sometimes rambles to the point where you may ask yourself, Cant we leave Athens already and go on to Calcutta? Eventually, you can, since Weiner, a former foreign correspondent for NPR, seems to have friends in every port of call imaginable. And when he doesnt have social connections to tap, he finds a local guide or academic who can drop a sparkling apercu, usually over coffee or a beer, that will lead him, and us, toward an understanding of how a golden age begins.

To be sure, Weiner is treading in deep waters here  a fact thats sometimes obscured by his comic shtick. His search for genius clusters is tantamount to the search for a key to human progress. We might think of civilization as following a smooth upward curve toward modernity, in other words, but history suggests this would be a mistaken notion. In large part, were taking this journey because society moves forward in fits and starts  by dint of big breakthroughs such as woodblock printing or mechanical clocks in Hangzhou, China, where Weiner takes us to visit. Or through the advent of hypodermic needles and anesthesia in Edinburgh, Scotland, a city we also explore. Indeed, Edinburgh is one of the high points of Weiners journey  so much innovation, achieved in so little time. If youve ever consulted a calendar or the Encyclopaedia Britannica,  he tells us, you can thank the Scots. If youve ever flushed a toilet or used a refrigerator or rode a bicycle, thank the Scots.

I didnt know about the origins of the toilet or the refrigerator. Then again, I found surprises in most of the cities Weiner visits. Athenss golden age, for instance, arose thanks to a vital marketplace for free expression, but banquets had little to do with it, since Athenian food was dreadful. As the citys wealth and influence grew, however, Weiner tells us that its citizens developed gourmet palates. And then, alas, Athens collapsed. If the proliferation of foodies foreshadows the downfall of a civilization, he concludes, then America might be in big trouble.

There are more serious moments here, too. The authors observations about the catalysts of a golden age eventually point toward the idea that no single set of circumstances holds true for every global renaissance. In Athens and in Silicon Valley, the weather probably helped, but in gloomy Edinburgh, innovations arose from the Scottish culture of practicality. In 14th-century Florence, meanwhile, geniuses were spurred by the largesse of the Medici family but also, somewhat surprisingly, by the fact that the black plague had thinned the ranks of the city, upended the old order and concentrated wealth in different hands. (A bit of chaos tends to spark creativity.) Ah, but you may wonder: Isnt genius usually cultivated by having an impressive university nearby? That was the case in Edinburgh, and with Stanford in Silicon Valley, but its not a guarantee. In Florence, Weiner notes, the straitjacket of a curriculum had little to do with the citys creative flowering.

If there is a pervasive weakness in this book, its that Weiners observations on genius are sprinkled through the narrative so freely, and so constantly, that readers may struggle to synthesize them and take in their contradictions. Often, I was wishing he kept a cleaner ledger of causes and effects; the upshot would be a book thats not only scholarly and witty, but rigorous, too. At the same time, Weiner drifts off course with some regularity. Mostly he focuses  ably  on why the cultures of cities like Vienna led to artistic and technological ferment. But sometimes he expounds at length on what creates the intellect of an individual genius, such as Mozart. There is a relationship between character and geography, I would guess. Yet, its not always made explicit here.

Im perfectly willing to concede that rigor and exactitude are not the main reasons to read Weiners odyssey, however. I had some friendly arguments with his take on Silicon Valley history, for instance, but thats okay. The journey itself is the point, and Weiners idiosyncratic approach made me feel afterward as if Id been on an odd but very satisfying vacation. Whats more, his trip ultimately left me mulling over a profound question: When will Americas golden age end, and for what reasons? Despite its boundless curiosity and breezy good humor, Weiners book may leave you with the uncomfortable feeling that no matter how smart everyone might seem, the end is always nigh.
John Sturgeon with his hovercraft near the Yukon River in Eagle, Alaska. (Courtesy photo)

It is easy to understand why Alaska outdoorsman John Sturgeon finds a hovercraft useful in skimming across a shallow riverbed to get to his favorite moose-hunting spot in the Yukon wilderness.

But the Supreme Court seemed to find it much more difficult to decide whether the National Park Service had the authority to tell him no.

[A moose-hunter and his hovercraft tell the Supreme Court Alaska is different]

How difficult? At one point, Justice Stephen G. Breyer proposed a lengthy question that attempted to untangle the legal intricacies of federal park regulations and the special law that guides stewardship of the governments vast landholdings in Alaska.

Sorry, Breyer said at the end of his question to Alaska Assistant Attorney General Ruth Botstein. I shouldnt have got into it. Its too complicated. Skip the question.

As the courtroom erupted in laughter, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. interjected: The rest of us are interested in your answer.

Their challenge lies in the unique and complicated statutes that govern the federal governments relationship with Alaska. As part of a 1971 settlement with Alaska Natives, the government guaranteed land to regional Native corporations and hundreds of Native village corporations.

It also set aside more than 105 million acres as a protected federal reserve and in 1980 established rules for its use in the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA).

The separate protected ecosystems are a mix of federal, Native and private lands. The Native and private holdings must be treated differently from the federal lands, according to the act, and are not subject to the regulations applicable solely to public lands within such units.

Sturgeon was in such a park, the Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, in 2007 when the incident that arrived Wednesday at the Supreme Court began.

He was repairing his 10-foot rubber hovercraft on a gravel shoal when three officers of the National Park Service approached. Even though he had used the craft for years, the officers told Sturgeon that the noisy hovercrafts were banned in all national parks, even in Alaska.

Sturgeon countered that the rivers in the preserves are not federal lands and belong to Alaska; thus, the park services ban on hovercrafts does not apply there.

He filed suit but has yet to find a judge who agrees with him.

A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit said the correct reading of the conservation act is that land not owned by the federal government is exempt only from park regulations that apply solely to Alaska parks.

The hovercraft is banned nationally, not just in the Alaska preserves, so the court said the law unambiguously forecloses [Sturgeons] interpretation.

Sturgeons attorney, Matthew T. Findley of Anchorage, said the appeals court got it backwards. The conservation act was intended to recognize that Alaska parks, with their mix of private and public lands, are different.

The rules are specifically loosened for Alaska parks. You can camp in Alaska parks. You can hunt. You can fish. You can use snow machines. You can fly. The list goes on and on.

Botstein agreed. The National Park Services authority in other states or in other parks are not the baseline here, she said. The starting point is the power that Congress gave to the National Park Service and other land management agencies in regulating ANILCA parks.

Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. said the case may be complicated, but it seemed clear to him the appeals court was wrong. He told Assistant Solicitor General Rachel P. Kovner, defending the park service, that her brief to the court devoted one paragraph to defending the 9th Circuit decision.

Why dont you concede that its wrong? he asked. Its a ridiculous interpretation, is it not?

Kovner replied diplomatically that the government thought it had stronger defenses.

When Congress created new park units in Alaska for the express purpose of protecting their waters, their free-flowing rivers and their fish, it didnt simultaneously strip the Park Service of preexisting authorities to achieve those goals by regulating navigable waters, she said.

But it was difficult, from the justices questions about usufructuary rights and nonpossessory use rights, to see that they had found a way out of the legal wilderness.

The case is Sturgeon v. Frost.
Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald confirmed earlier today that Irish pubs will remain closed on Good Friday, following renewed calls to have the law banning the sale of alcohol in licensed premises repealed.

Minister Fitzgerald says she "wouldn't be doing it this year", but did say that the law is being considered under new alcohol laws due to be considered in the near future.

The law, which has been in effect since 1927 and is older than the formation of the Republic, stated that alcohol could not be sold on Christmas Day, St. Patrick's Day and Good Friday. However, the law concerning St. Patrick's Day was repealed in 1960 for - you guessed it - tourism reasons. The government at the time claimed that tourists were confused by the law that closed pubs on St. Patrick's Day.

Oddly enough, that's exactly what most people are saying now about the Good Friday law. As it stands right now, you can still get a drink on Good Friday provided you're on a ferry crossing, at a live event, staying at a hotel where food is served with the meal or a live theatre.

Naturally enough, publicans are extremely upset with the news. The Licensed Vintners' Association said that Minister Fitzgerald's refusal to address the archaic law is "a lost opportunity not just for publicans but for the capital city and the tourist sector as a whole."
A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced a longtime aide to Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) to 30 months in prison after he pleaded guilty in a drug distribution conspiracy case in the District and admitted his role to prosecutors.

Fred W. Pagan, 49, was dismissed in May from his $160,000-a-year job with Cochran and pleaded guilty in August to conspiring to distribute methamphetamine. Police raided Pagans home in Northwest Washington in April and found about 122.3 grams of the drug.

Pagan apologized to Cochran, 78, whose family members and aides supported Pagan in letters to the court and attended an earlier court appearance.

[Sen. Thad Cochran attends hearing for ex-aide charged in drug conspiracy]

I apologize to my family, my friends and especially to Senator Cochran, who treated me like family, Pagan said. Cochran took a child from poverty and abuse and became like a father figure, Pagan said.

Fred W. Pagan, right, is seen with Thad and Rose Cochran in 1999 in an official office photo signed by both Cochrans. (Court filings)

U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell of Washington said, In my mind as well as by statute, Mr. Pagan engaged in a very serious drug crime under our laws by accepting six shipments of drugs and converting his home into a stash house. Howell added, The conspiracy only stopped when Mr. Pagan was caught.

Howell imposed Pagans sentence Wednesday after halting a sentencing hearing Friday so that Pagan could meet again with prosecutors to discuss what he knew about the distribution scheme.

Pagan started working for the senator as a page when he was 16 before becoming an office manager, personal assistant and one of Cochrans highest-paid aides.

[Longtime aide to Sen. Thad Cochran charged with drug possession]

Pagan acknowledged receiving and holding methamphetamine for an unnamed distributor and romantic partner and sometimes requesting meth for himself and selling small amounts to friends.

Authorities said 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, the authorities 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 to the government $750, 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, defense attorney Kobie A. Flowers wrote in filings to Howell  before the sentencing  that asked for leniency.

Addicts should be treated as patients, not as prisoners, Flowers wrote. He sought a sentence of 36 months probation and drug treatment.

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 a brief letter before the sentencing.
As President Obamas reelection campaign was ramping up five years ago, Sen. Bernie Sanders suggested on several occasions that it would be healthy if someone ran against him from the left  channeling the frustration of activists who thought the president had compromised on core liberal principles.

If a progressive Democrat wants to run, I think it would enliven the debate, raise some issues, and people have a right to do that, he told WNYCs Brian Lehrer in March 2011.

The episode illustrates how Sanderss rhetoric has adjusted to reflect his changed standing. Once an outside critic of the system, he is now running to inherit the Democratic Party that Obama has led for nearly two terms.

Yet Sanderss brand of unflinching independence is central to his appeal for many voters. Those earlier criticisms of Obama elevated his stature on the political left, leading activists to push him to make his own presidential bid.

Sanders ultimately endorsed Obama despite his public musings. But former secretary of state Hillary Clinton has seized on his critique of the president in this years White House contest, casting the senator from Vermont as disloyal to Obama at a time when they are scrapping over supporters.

President Barack Obama, accompanied by Sen. Bernard Sanders and Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, greets supporters on the tarmac upon his arrival at Burlington Air National Guard Base, March, 30, 2012, in Burlington, Vt. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)

That notion drew a strong objection from Sanders during Sundays Democratic debate.

In 2012, I worked as hard as I could to see that he was reelected, the senator said, adding that he and the president are friends.

[Clinton and Sanders sharpen their tone as the stakes rise]

Nearing the end of Obamas first term, the mood among the partys liberal wing was restive. There was anger that Wall Street executives were flourishing during the countrys recession and angst that Obamas signature health-care legislation did not go as far as many had hoped it would. Cuts to Medicare and Medicaid that the White House was considering as part of negotiations with congressional Republicans infuriated many in the base.

There was a feeling that we were sold out on some very big things, said Mike Lux, a political strategist for progressive organizations who has remained neutral in this years Democratic race. I think Bernie just reflected what a lot of people were feeling.

Sanders issued a strong public rebuke to Obama in December 2010, when he delivered an 8 1/ 2 -hour speech on the Senate floor, denouncing a tax-cut deal that the White House had struck with Republican leaders.

In the months that followed, his comments about Obama grew more pointed. In a July 2011 interview on Thom Hartmanns radio program, Sanders said in response to a caller that there are millions of Americans who are deeply disappointed in the president, who believe that, with regard to Social Security and a number of other issues, he said one thing as a candidate and is doing something very much else as a president, who cannot believe how weak he has been, for whatever reason, in negotiating with Republicans.

1 of 42 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  Highlights from Bernie Sanderss campaign, in pictures View Photos The senator from Vermont has become Hillary Clintons chief rival in the contest for the Democratic nomination. Caption The senator from Vermont is Hillary Clintons rival in the contest for the Democratic presidential nomination. June 14, 2016 Bernie Sanders arrives at the Capital Hilton to meet with Hillary Clinton in D.C. Matt McClain/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue.

Later in the program, in response to a second caller, he said he was contemplating encouraging someone to run against Obama.

There are a lot of smart, honest progressive people who I think can be good presidents, he said. And I think one of the reasons President Obama has moved as far to the right as he has, is he thinks he can go all the way and no one will stand up to him.

The following month, in response to a question on C-SPAN about whether he had anyone in mind as a primary challenger, Sanders responded: No, I dont know of anybody in mind, but Im sure there are serious, smart people out there who could do it.

[Liberal activists see Bernie Sanders as champion for causes failed by Obama]

His remarks gave some on the left hope that Sanders himself would challenge Obama. The senator soon made it clear he was not interested.

Consumer activist Ralph Nader, who was working at the time to try to identify a primary challenger to take on the president, said of Sanders: He backed away right away, so there wasnt anything to cling to.

But Sanderss statements brought him additional attention from liberals, particularly Progressive Democrats of America, a group formed in 2004 by activists who had worked on the presidential campaigns of former Vermont governor Howard Dean and former Ohio congressman Dennis Kucinich.

Tim Carpenter, then the groups executive director, kept lobbying Sanders to consider a bid in 2016, according to Medea Benjamin, a peace activist who serves on the groups advisory board.

Tim and PDA were constantly pushing Bernie to run, she said. I remember it all very clearly, feeling his reluctance on the one hand but also a certain excitement on the other hand. I think he was always looking for someone else to do it, but the someone else wasnt there.

In the spring of 2014, Carpenter and PDA launched an online petition urging Sanders to make a White House run  specifically not as an independent, his mantle as a senator, but as a candidate for the Democratic nomination. He invited Sanders to deliver the keynote address at the groups 10th-anniversary celebration in Northampton, Mass.

[Sanders prepares to challenge Clinton on Super Tuesday and beyond]

Carpenter died of cancer about two weeks before the gathering. But the group presented Sanders with the results of their petition drive: 11,000 signatures from people asking him to jump into the Democratic primary race.

Sanders did not offer any clues about his thinking. But in his speech to the group, he laid out his vision for the country, previewing many of the themes that now make up the core of his 2016 campaign.

He ticked off statistics to explain the building anger among the middle class as their median income had fallen, the increased number of families living in poverty and the concentration of the wealth in the hands of a few.

No matter who the next president of the United States is  this I say with absolute certainty  if that president is serious about addressing the huge crisis facing this country, he said, that president cannot do it unless there is a political revolution.

After speaking for an hour, Sanders shook hands with supporters as he walked down the aisle. The room echoed with chants of Run, Bernie, run!
The day started, like so many others before, with Sarah Palin going rogue.

The frenzied media storm that whirls around the former Alaska governor collided Wednesday with the billionaire whose understanding of media spectacle has made him the strongest political force this election cycle.

Palin was nowhere to be found on Wednesday morning during a planned joint appearance with Donald Trump in Norwalk, Iowa, part of a campaign swing through the Hawkeye State meant to highlight her high-profile endorsement of Trump the day before.

That endorsement flew off script after news broke that Palins eldest son, Track Palin, had been arrested on domestic assault charges.

For many, the pileup of national political theater and family drama carried surreal echoes of the 2008 election, when Palin was catapulted to the national stage as the Republican presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), made her his unexpected running mate. The campaign was quickly consumed by Palins persona and family, including the revelation that Palins teenage daughter was pregnant.

[Sarah Palin connects sons arrest to Obamas record on veterans issues]

Now there is a different Republican candidate, but the same Sarah Palin.

As reporters hounded the campaign with questions about Palins whereabouts and whether she would attend the second event of the day in Oklahoma, thousands of voters gathered outside Oral Roberts Universitys Mabee Center in Tulsa for a chance to see Trump.

Many voters in the crowd said they had not heard about Palins most recent family problems. Several more said they were not aware she would be in attendance. The audience of about 8,000 sang along to Hey Jude and Rocket Man  until they grew restless waiting for Trump, who was late. As the songs began repeating, the crowd erupted into boos and shouts of Trump! Trump! Trump!

The flamboyant businessman finally appeared on stage an hour behind schedule. Trump appeared first and introduced Palin, then she introduced him back.

I just want to introduce somebody very quickly, a very special person, a wonderful person, and then Im going to come right back and were going to have fun today, Trump said with a deep sigh. Were going to have fun. Were going to have so much fun. Were going to talk about how great our country will be.

After she took the stage, Palin addressed her sons legal problems by alluding to his difficulty adjusting to civilian life after serving in the Army during the Iraq war.

Though Donald Trump had little to say about Sarah Palin's endorsement of his campaign the morning after the two shared a stage together, Trump's Iowan supporters were pleased with the announcement. (The Washington Post)

Track Palin allegedly struck his girlfriend Monday with a closed fist and threatened to shoot himself with an AR-15 rifle, according to a police affidavit.

Sarah Palin knocked President Obamas record on veterans issues as she spoke, accusing him of failing to look after wounded warriors.

[Sarah Palins son Track arrested at her home on domestic assault charges]

I can talk personally about this. I guess its kind of the elephant in the room, because my own family going through what were going through today with my son, a combat vet having served in a Stryker brigade. . . . Like so many others, they come back a bit different. They come back hardened, Palin told the crowd.

If the man she was on stage with were anyone but Trump, she may have stolen the show. Instead, they embraced before he took the microphone and began his typically raucous stump speech. She left the stage and fell out of sight.

I love it. Weve been to a couple of these [political events] and this is by far the wildest, best one. We had to wait an hour to get in but it was worth it, said John Schwartz of Broken Arrow, Okla.

When asked if they were excited to see Palin, many said they were there to see Trump but that they believed Palin could help him appeal to more voters.

She is, they said, at the very least entertaining.

If youve ever been to a concert, she was like the starter band, Schwartz said. Though it actually surprised me how long she spoke.

Art Matzkvech of Tulsa laughed when asked if he thought there was any risk of Palin overshadowing Trump.

No, he said with a smile.

I mean, I do think of the word rogue when I think of her, Matzkvech said. I wanted to see him speak today, to see him in person.

Johnson reported from Norwalk, Iowa.
Old-school investigation films like All The President's Men, The Parallax View and, to some extent, Zodiac all had a few common markers between them. Very often, it's a team of outsiders who band together in the face of overwhelming odds and entrenched powerhouses that seek to stop them at every turn. They were powerful, fantastic films - but only come along once every few years. Spotlight is now of that same ilk; an intelligent, well-made investigation film about something that's particularly close to Ireland - the Catholic Church's systematic cover-up of child abuse.

The film begins with Liev Schreiber joining The Boston Globe as its Managing Editor and meeting with fellow journalist Michael Keaton, who heads up the Spotlight team of the film's title. Their mission statement is simple - thoroughly investigate stories, regardless of where they made lead and publish. Schreiber's character discovers a story about how a pedophile priest was sexually abusing children and the Archbishop of Boston effectively covered it up. Keaton's character, at first, is reticent to investigate the story but relents and sets his team on course. Mark Ruffalo plays a nervy reporter who "likes weirdos", whilst Rachel McAdams and Brian d'Arcy James work out the background data of the story. As the team slowly edges towards the horrifying truth, they begin to come up against increased resistance from both the Church and Boston itself. Parallel to this, Stanley Tucci plays an Armenian lawyer who's been hunting the Church for years on the topic and is reluctant to aid Spotlight's investigation.What the film makes abundantly clear is that there is no real moment of drama that cracks a story such as this wide open. It's a slow, considered process that eventually opens up its black core for all to see. While it may not necessarily be thrilling in the conventional sense, the film perfectly captures the realisation that something truly awful happened under their nose and almost nobody was looking for it - or didn't want to look for it.

The ensemble cast of Keaton, Schreiber, McAdams, Ruffalo and Tucci work so well with one another that's there barely an inch of daylight between them. The dialogue feels unfettered, unembellished and real - exactly how you'd expect these conversations took place. Keaton continues his hot streak of finely tuning his performance to the character's needs; acting as the calm and rational centre to Ruffalo's high-strung enthusiasm and McAdam's initial reluctance. Schreiber, meanwhile, gives a truly understated performance as the editor who sets them on the path and urges them onward, despite their own reservations. The performances, right around the cast list, are spot-on - but they're all so muted and realistic that it doesn't necessarily jump out at your right away. That is, however, not counting Stanley Tucci as the irascible Mitchell Garaedian. When he's first introduced, you're supposed to think of him as a crackpot. But, like the investigation itself, more is revealed and we see the character's reasonings in a brilliant scene between he and Ruffalo in a public park.

Tom McCarthy's direction is quiet and assuming, just like the characters in the film itself. There are no wondrous moments of cinematography or fascinating camera angles - because that would take away from the script itself and, in a way, cheapen the importance of what their story. It doesn't need flashy tricks to get its point across; it doesn't need non-linear editing or a rip-roaring soundtrack to tell you when there's something important on screen. It does in such a minimalist way that it's only afterwards you realise how distracting it could have been were it given to anyone else. The film builds and builds on the investigation and, for better or worse, you're pulled along for the ride. By the end of Spotlight, there should be a dull anger in your chest as the epilogue rattles off the shameful history of the Catholic Church's atrocities.

An engaging, daring and brutally honest film that needs to be seen by every Irish man or woman, Spotlight ranks easily as one of the best films of 2016.
Powerful Shiite militias are back in the spotlight after three Americans went missing on Jan. 16. A group of gunmen allegedly took Americans from an apartment police say operated as a brothel. It's feared the attackers were members of a Shiite militia that operates in the neighborhood. (Erin Cunningham,Jason Aldag/The Washington Post)

Powerful Shiite militias are back in the spotlight after three Americans went missing on Jan. 16. A group of gunmen allegedly took Americans from an apartment police say operated as a brothel. It's feared the attackers were members of a Shiite militia that operates in the neighborhood. (Erin Cunningham,Jason Aldag/The Washington Post)

When three Americans were reported kidnapped in the Iraqi capital last weekend, locals immediately suspected powerful militiamen in the area.

A group of gunmen allegedly took the Americans  a woman and two men  from an apartment that police and residents say operated as a brothel in Baghdads Dora neighborhood.

Who the men were is still not known. They were not members of security forces, locals said. But members of an influential Shiite militia were known to regularly raid the residence  part of the militants tradition of policing morality crimes in the city.

The Shiite militias that Iraq mobilized to fight the Islamic State, and whose members are suspected of taking the three Americans, have long used their weapons and power to crack down on activities they deem un-Islamic. For years, the gunmen have attacked brothels, nightclubs and liquor stores, Iraqis say.

The country was once proudly secular, but religious parties have dominated the political landscape since the United States toppled Saddam Husseins regime in 2003. A sectarian civil war between Sunnis and Shiites later empowered religious hard-liners. The Shiite militias, some of which were first established to fight the U.S. occupation, also grew strong.

A burnt-out car is seen in the street in eastern Baghdad the day after a bomb attack. Three Americans have been reported missing in the city. (Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images)

[Iraqi official: 3 Americans missing in Baghdad were kidnapped by gunmen]

Those armed groups that battled U.S. soldiers now command entire neighborhoods in Baghdad, including the area from which the Americans were allegedly taken Saturday. They run their own checkpoints, are flush with weapons stocks and Iranian cash, and often drive the same kind of armored vehicles as security forces.

Because of their growing authority, the militias move freely in Baghdad, said an Iraqi analyst and security consultant, Hisham al-Hashimi.

When the militants punish locals for activities such as drinking, gambling or hiring prostitutes, no one can say to them, This is wrong,  he said. Its a country of militias. And they are doing what they think is right, according to their religion.

Three missing

Authorities here identified the missing Americans as Wael al-Mahdawi and Rusul Farad  both dual Iraqi American citizens  and Amro Mohamed, an Egyptian American. Little is known about the exact circumstances under which they were seized.

Two Iraqi security officials said the three people were employees of a Virginia-based contracting firm, Sallyport Global Services, which provides security services in Iraq, according to the website of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. Sallyport did not respond to an emailed request for comment but issued a statement saying that the missing were not employees of the firm or any company affiliated with it.

Although Iraqi officials say they can confirm that the individuals were kidnapped, the government has not blamed any single group for the abduction.

A police colonel in Baghdad, who was not authorized to speak to the news media, said that the three had most likely been kidnapped by the most powerful group in that area: the Iran-backed Asaib Ahl al-Haq, or League of the Righteous.

Residents of that part of Baghdads Dora neighborhood, including a resident of the building where the apartment was located, also said that Asaib Ahl al-Haq had carried out the raid and that it had stormed the apartment previously. A man whom locals called Abu Maria occupied the residence, where he often hosted illicit parties, police said.

Asaib Ahl al-Haq, an offshoot of the Mahdi Army founded by Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, fought U.S. troops in Iraq. It also has been accused by rights groups of killing Sunni civilians.

The group was believed to be behind the massacre of as many as 30 people, including 20 women, at an alleged brothel in Baghdads Zayouna neighborhood in 2014, according to reports at the time. Before that, the United Nations said the militia may have been responsible for the deaths of dozens of young Iraqis who were suspected of being gay or who identified as emo because they embraced alternative music and a distinctive style.

[A look back: Iraqi youths panicked by reports of killings]

Any armed group operating outside the authority of the state is a gang; they are outlaws, said Ibrahim al-Abadi, a spokesman for Iraqs Interior Ministry. But when asked about attacks on brothels by Shiite militias, Abadi denied that armed groups were enforcing public morals.

They are gangs, he said. They are the ones that kidnapped the Americans and attack liquor stores.

But Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said he was not sure whether they had been abducted.

We dont [yet] know if they have been kidnapped, he said Thursday before a meeting with Secretary of State John F. Kerry in Davos, Switzerland. They just went missing.

When Abadi was asked whether he thought there was an Iranian link to the disappearances, he said: I dont know about that. I doubt it very much.

Shiite majority

Almost all of Iraqs 33 million people are Muslim, with small minority populations of Christians and Yazidis. The majority of Iraqi Muslims are Shiite, while a substantial number are Sunni.

Only non-Muslims are allowed to sell alcohol in Iraq, according to the law.

Wissam Walid Naim, who is Christian, owns a liquor store and nightclub in central Baghdad, part of a string of similar shops and venues along the bustling Abu Nuwas Street.

Here, Iraqis stock up on whiskey and beer, then take their drinks to a nearby bridge overlooking the Tigris River. Its a brisk business, Naim said, but they are constantly under threat.

The police are against us, the army is against us, the militias are against us, Naim, who runs the store with his father, said Tuesday.

A drive-by shooting recently targeted the shop owners next door, he said, and everyone here suspects the militias. Naim and his father said they pay half of their income in protection fees to security forces and other middlemen.

If we pay the police and the militias attack us, Naim said, then who will protect us?

Mustafa Salim contributed to this report.
Secretary of State John F. Kerry acknowledged Thursday that some of the money Iran receives from sanctions relief may be used to fund terrorist activities, but he said the Obama administration does not believe it will increase the threat to U.S. allies in the Middle East.

Speaking to reporters at the World Economic Forum, Kerry said Iran has too many pressing domestic needs to devote much money to the hard-line Revolutionary Guard Corps and its support of groups that the United States and Irans regional rivals consider terrorists. Under the nuclear deal implemented last weekend, Iran has access to as much as $55 billion of its estimated $100 billion in unfrozen assets.

The calculation is that the demands of Iran and of the Rouhani administration and of the supreme leader for development in their country are such that theres no way they can succeed in doing what they want to do if theyre very busy funding a lot of terrorism, Kerry said. He was referring to Irans president, Hassan Rouhani, and the countrys supreme religious and political authority, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

[Sanctions relief could strengthen hand of Irans reformers, but perils remain]

Earlier in the day, the top U.S. diplomat offered a blunt assessment during an interview with CNBC.

View Graphic U.S. imposes new sanctions over Iran missile tests

I think that some of it will end up in the hands of the IRGC [Revolutionary Guard] or of other entities, some of which are labeled terrorists to some degree, Kerry said. Im not going to sit here and tell you that every component of that can be prevented. But I can tell you this: Right now, we are not seeing the early delivery of funds going to that kind of endeavor at this point in time. Im sure at some point some of it will.

He expanded on the remarks when questioned by reporters later, saying Washington will help Irans neighbors counter any such activity.

We are plus-ing up their capacity, where there are holes or where they think there are things that are needed, said Kerry, who will attend a weekend meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council in Saudi Arabia, an arch foe of Iran. We are confident this will not result in an increase somehow in the threat to any partner, any friend in the region.

Kerry also said that he expects peace talks between the Syrian government and its opponents to start in Geneva next week as scheduled. But the initial encounters will probably be proximity talks, he said, involving different groupings in separate rooms while U.N. special envoy Staffan de Mistura shuttles among them.

Youre not going to have a situation where people sit at a table staring at each other or shouting at each other, Kerry said. Youve got to build some process here. Thats what will begin.

[Russian airstrikes add tangle to Syrian peace talks]

Uncertainty has surrounded the talks, in part because of disagreements over which Syrian groups are considered legitimate opposition and which should be designated terrorist entities, meaning they will not be allowed to participate and will not be protected under a cease-fire.

After the IAEAs verification that Iran has met nuclear-deal provisions, Secretary of State John F. Kerry held a news conference to officially announce Implementation Day on Jan. 16, 2015. (U.S. Department of State)

Mohammed Alloush, who was named by a Saudi-backed Syrian opposition council to be chief negotiator on Wednesday, said the talks cannot begin unless blockades and attacks on civilians are halted.

Kerry characterized the concerns as logistical and said they will not prevent the talks from commencing.

People are already there, he said. Some have arrived, have hotel reservations.

He also said tensions between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran over Riyadhs execution of a Shiite cleric will not prevent either country from supporting the Syria talks.

They have both stated very clearly that this will not interfere with their willingness or ability to contribute constructively to this process, he said.

Kerry has been coming to the World Economic Forum, a gathering of elites in government and business, since the 1980s. He said the casual setting is conducive to face-to-face diplomacy.

Since arriving Wednesday night, Kerry has met with leaders and top diplomats of several countries, including Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

Abadi told reporters before a meeting with Kerry that he doubts Iran was involved in the disappearance of three U.S. contractors in Iraq this weekend and said he did not know whether they had been kidnapped. Kerry said that they had discussed the contractors and that, during a separate meeting with Zarif, he asked whether Iran could help locate the men.

Kerry said he and Netanyahu discussed Israels announcement that it will appropriate a large tract of land south of Jericho, near the Jordanian border, a locale where Israel has built settlements on land the Palestinians want for a future state.

He tells me it is not a building that takes place. It is a, quote, planning exercise,  Kerry said. I pointed out that the history of those has always turned into a building. And that we thought this was a concern, as it has been.

Kerry said they also talked about ways to improve the lives of Palestinians and ensure Israeli security.

Read more:

Plane leaves Iran with Post reporter, other Americans in swap

Iran deal: What they said. What they got.

Vladimir Putin hints that Russia could grant asylum to Syrias president
The users online handle was Pewter, and while logged on at a website called Playpen, he allegedly downloaded images of young girls being sexually molested.

Pewter had carefully covered his tracks. To reach the site, he first had to install free software called Tor, the worlds most widely used tool for giving users anonymity online.

In order to uncover Pewters true identity and location, the FBI quietly turned to a technique more typically used by hackers. The agency, with a warrant, surreptitiously placed computer code, or malware, on all computers that logged into the Playpen site. When Pewter connected, the malware exploited a flaw in his browser, forcing his computer to reveal its true Internet protocol address. From there, a subpoena to Comcast yielded his real name and address.

Pewter was unmasked last year as Jay Michaud, a 62-year-old public schools administrator in Vancouver, Wash. With a second warrant, agents searched the suspects home and found a thumb drive that allegedly contained multiple images of children engaged in sex acts. Last July, Michaud was arrested and charged with possession of child pornography.

Michauds is the lead case in a sweeping national investigation into child porn on what is known as the dark Web, a universe of sites that are off Googles radar where users can operate with anonymity.

As criminals become more savvy about using technology such as Tor to hide their tracks, investigators are turning to hacking tools to thwart them. In some cases, members of law enforcement agencies are placing malware on sites that might have thousands of users. Some privacy advocates and analysts worry that in doing so, investigators may also wind up hacking and identifying the computers of law-abiding people who are seeking to remain anonymous, people who can also include political dissidents and journalists.

[FBIs search for suspect in bomb threats highlights use of malware for surveillance]

As the hacking techniques become more ambitious, failure in execution can lead to large-scale privacy and civil liberties abuses at home and abroad, said Ahmed Ghappour, a professor at the University of Californias Hastings College of the Law. Its imperative that Congress step in to regulate exactly who and how law enforcement may hack.

But Justice Department officials said that the government investigates crimes based on evidence of illegal activities. When we obtain a warrant, its because we have convinced a judge that there is probable cause that well be able to find evidence in a particular location, said a senior department official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the department.

In the Playpen case, the government activated malware on a site with 215,000 members, as of last February, and obtained Internet protocol addresses of 1,300 computers. Out of that group, the government said it has charged 137 people.

Its a lot of people, said Colin Fieman, a public defender in Tacoma, Wash., who is representing Michaud. There never has been any warrant Ive seen that allows searches on that scale. It is unprecedented.

Michaud is arguing to have his charges dismissed on grounds that the governments use of the tool violated the Fourth Amendment. Fieman argues that some people might have gone to the site seeking to express fantasies that, while repugnant, are legal. The site, he said, does not clearly advertise itself as devoted to child pornography.

He likened the governments warrant to a general warrant, referring to the British practice during the Colonial era of allowing government searches without any individualized suspicion.

The judge in Michauds case is scheduled Friday to hear several motions that could result in the dismissal of charges against him.

This is a gray area in the law, said Thomas Brown, a former federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York who has handled cases involving the use of hacking techniques. Its another instance where youve got technology outstripping the law.

Fieman also said that rules established by the federal courts, grounded in constitutional principles, require that a warrant be deployed in the district in which it is issued  in this case, the Eastern District of Virginia. Michauds computer was in Vancouver.

But prosecutors argue that the technique is lawful and that, in general, a warrant may be issued even when the location to be searched is unknown, as long as there is probable cause that the search will turn up evidence of a crime.

The Supreme Court has made clear that the Fourth Amendment . . . does not preclude use of warrants where the purpose of the search is to discover the location of the place to be searched, said David Bitkower, then a deputy assistant attorney general, in a December 2014 letter to a federal courts committee weighing changes to the rule that governs how search warrants are issued.

In the Playpen case, the government argued that it had probable cause to search the computers of anyone who navigated to the site  whether one person or 10,000 people  on the grounds that the site was devoted to child porn and anybody who knew how to get to it probably did so with the intent to view the content. The site cannot be found through a Google search and can be reached only by users who know its exact, algorithm-generated Web address and are using special software that connects to the Tor network.

In such a case, we have an obligation to investigate all 10,000 [people], not just one, prosecutor Keith Becker told Judge Robert J. Bryan of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in December at a hearing in Tacoma.

The FBI seized Playpen last year, and after operating it for two weeks, shut it down. During those two weeks, according to court documents, it deployed what it obliquely calls a network investigative technique, or NIT, to capture the Internet protocol address of anyone who logged in on the website.

In general, the Constitution doesnt say that we have to stop investigating just because we need to use a computer technique to identify suspects rather than opening a letter or entering a private house, said the senior Justice official. The law doesnt give online pedophiles immunity from court-authorized search warrants just because theyre using modern software.

Fieman also argued that the government itself violated the law when it seized Playpen last year, then rather than shut it down immediately or find ways to reroute visitors, continued to operate the child-porn site.

What the government did is comparable to flooding a neighborhood with heroin in the hope of snaring an assortment of low-level drug users, Fieman said in a motion to dismiss filed in November.

Justice spokesman Peter Carr said that at no time in an operation like this does the FBI post any images, videos or links to images of child pornography. Any such postings are done by website users, not the FBI, he said. Also, he said, immediately shutting down a website would prevent law enforcement from identifying the offenders and frustrate efforts to identify and rescue child victims from abuse.

Without using the hacking technique, officials said, it would be very difficult to locate pedophiles who go to great lengths to hide their tracks.

The issue, said Ghappour, the law professor, is not the use of the malware per se, but whether hacking warrants are written narrowly enough to guarantee that only those culpable set the trigger [to launch the NIT], and consequently get hacked, he said. Given the scale of these operations, the smallest mistake could result in hundreds, if not thousands, of privacy violations.

Privacy advocates concerned about the government doing mass hacks point to the case of TorMail, an anonymous email service, now shuttered. TorMail, which despite the name is not affiliated with the group behind Tor, was used by a range of people, from criminals to dissidents and journalists.

In the summer of 2013, reports surfaced of people trying to log in to TorMail and finding a down for maintenance message instead, then finding suspicious-looking code included in the TorMail Web page. Security researchers who analyzed the code concluded that it was likely placed there by the FBI.

At the time, the government would not confirm that the bureau was behind the hack. This week, people familiar with the investigation confirmed that the FBI had used an NIT on TorMail. But, they said, the bureau obtained a warrant that listed specific email accounts within TorMail for which there was probable cause to think that the true user was engaged in illicit child-pornography activities. In that way, the sources said, only suspects whose accounts had in some way been linked to involvement in child porn would have their computers infected.

An FBI official who spoke under a similar condition of anonymity said the bureau recognizes that the use of an NIT is intrusive and should only be deployed in the most serious cases. He said the FBI uses the tool only against offenders who are the worst of the worst.
The Labor Partys shadow defence spokesman, Stephen Conroy, was provided space in todays Australian to criticise the Turnbull government for being long on rhetoric and short on substance in its support for US provocations against China. Conroy advocates a highly visible freedom of navigation operation by the Australian military that directly challenges Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea.

Conroy declares that the competing claims in the South China Sea have led to heightened regional tensions and a worrying disregard for international law and norms. While paying lip service to the fact that all claimantsincluding the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Taiwanhave made efforts to cement their holds on tiny islets and reefs, Conroy indicts China as the greatest threat to what he labels the international system.

Conroy reiterates his strong support for the Pentagons decision last October to send the USS Lassen, a guided missile destroyer, within the 12-nautical mile territorial limit of a Chinese-administered isleta reckless move that threatened conflict.

Australia, Conroy asserts, has an obligation to act in support of international law and norms in the South China Sea. He criticises the Turnbull government for downplaying any role for Australia and insists that Australia should not be shy about our actions and intentions. Conroy concludes that those looking for signs that Turnbull is prepared to match his words with action to uphold the rules-based order in the South China Sea would have been sorely disappointed.

Headlined, We should assist in policing the South China Sea, Conroys column was endorsed in a front-page comment by Greg Sheridan, the Australians foreign editor, a vociferous supporter of the US pivot to Asia and military build-up in the region. Sheridan describes Conroys comment as a bold call that could put Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull under some pressure from those within his own party who would like Canberra to conduct a freedom of navigation exercise. Sheridan alleges that a number of South East Asian nations privately feel that it would be beneficial for Australia to conduct such an operation.

Conroys column was published barely 24 hours after Turnbull completed his first visit to Washington as prime minister, where he held a series of high-level talks with President Barack Obama, intelligence officials and American business heads. While Turnbull has earned general praise for stressing Canberras alignment with the USincluding in a separate comment today by SheridanConroys column suggests that he did not go far enough. In other words, to satisfy Washington and the pro-US constituency within Australia, Turnbulls government must, by its actions, demonstrate its willingness to risk war with China, Australias largest trading partner.

Conroys demand that Australia carry out an operation that could lead to a direct clash with the Chinese military serves to underscore the role of the Labor Party as the most fervent supporter of the US-Australia alliance and, over recent years, the most reckless advocate of Australias involvement in the escalating US-led operations to destabilise and undermine China.

Labor silenced any critics of the US alliance and US militarism within its ranks more than four decades ago. During the 1980s, the Labor government of Bob Hawke supported every US intrigue and intervention around the world. In 1991, Hawke was the first world leader to commit troops to the US invasion of Iraq.

Labor and the trade unions are riddled with what the US embassy calls its protected sources and assets. In June 2010, a cabal of such assets in the Labor and union leadership ousted Kevin Rudd as Labor leader and prime minister. Rudd was removed because, while stressing his support for the US alliance, he insisted that Washington had to concede greater regional and international influence to Beijing in order to avoid war.

With the installation of Julia Gillard as prime minister, Australian foreign and defence policy was fashioned into unconditional support for confrontation with China. Australias role in US strategic planning was highlighted by Obamas decision to formally announce the pivot on the floor of the Australian parliament in November 2011.

Some four years later, Australia is fully integrated into US war plans and preparations. The US military makes regular use of ports, airfields and training areas across northern and western Australia, while communications and spying bases at Pine Gap, North West Cape and Canberra have been substantially upgraded.

A 2015 study described Pine Gap as the CIAs most important technical intelligence collection station in the world. It also processes communication intercepts across the Middle East and Central Asia that are used to identify targets for drone assassinations and would be used to target conventional and nuclear attacks on mainland China.

The Australian military is being equipped with over $100 billion worth of F-35 jet fighters and new submarines and amphibious assault ships so it can function as a credible partner for US forces.

The orientation set in motion under Gillard has been maintained throughout all the political turbulence and changes in prime ministers and governments in Australia over the past five years. Rudd renounced his former positions in order to regain Washingtons trust and briefly return as prime minister in 2013, before losing an election to the conservative parties led by Tony Abbott. To ensure his acceptability in Washington, Turnbull, who ousted Abbott in an inner-party coup last September, publicly revised his previous criticisms of the pivot in 2011 and 2012, and made clear his acceptance of the US stance.

The publication and endorsement of Conroys views by the Australian is nevertheless a warning to Turnbull. His previous hesitations about the pivot have not been forgotten. If he baulked in any way at a direct US request to conduct a freedom of navigation operation in the South China Sea, he would face destabilisation and, possibly, a shift by the Murdoch media empire to support the return of Labor to office in the federal election that the government must call sometime this year.

Labors demand that Australia launch a military provocation against China is also a stark warning to the working class. It indicates that such an operation is under discussion and may be ordered in the near future. Behind the backs of the Australian population, the Australian ruling elite is contemplating decisions that could result in war.
Amid a crippling six-month-long state budget impasse and plans to lay off several thousand Chicago teachers, Illinois Republican leaders Christine Radogno and Jim Durkin announced plans Wednesday to introduce legislation that would permit Chicago and its school district to file for bankruptcy. The bills are backed by Republican governor of Illinois and hedge fund billionaire Bruce Rauner.

Though both are still in draft stages, the Chicago Sun-Times reports that one bill will allow municipal bankruptcy proceedings, currently prohibited under state law, to begin for Chicago and the Chicago Public Schools (CPS). The other bill reportedly establishes state-appointed oversight boards for the city and the school district. Democrats control both the Illinois House and Senate.

Since the end of the last fiscal year on June 30, the state of Illinois has been without an operating budget, and Illinois state workers and Chicago teachers have been working without contracts.

Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton have been at loggerheads with the Republican governor for seven months over how precisely to enact cuts to pensions and the state budget. While the final form of the cuts has not been determined, they will almost certainly include hikes to pension and health care costs for teachers and other public sector workers, as well as pay freezes and wage and benefits cuts for new hires.

The current budget impasse has affected virtually all major aspects of state operations. Grants to low-income college students have ceased, resulting in 1,000 students dropping out of Illinois schools in the winter semester. School bus routes in poor rural areas have ceased running. Social services providing meals to the elderly, housing and counseling for victims of domestic abuse, and services to the homeless have been forced to appeal directly to the public to remain active.

The bankruptcy legislation is part of Republican efforts to attack the most basic rights of workers. Rauner has repeatedly called for an end to collective bargaining for public employees and advocated low-wage right-to-work zones in economically depressed areas.

In comments Wednesday, Rauner targeted teachers directly, declaring,I believe if we get involved we can take on the teachers union. Aiming to tear up agreements with public sector workers generally, Rauner has stated that bankruptcy allows the state to restructure its debts and contracts.

Where Republicans tend to favor dispensing with labor unions altogether, the Democrats prefer to use the unions to enforce cuts and contain worker opposition. As Chicago mayor and one-time Obama administration official Rahm Emanuel said last year, Asking organized labor to be part of the solution is a better way of getting to a result than saying that organized labor is the problem.

Emanuel has not commented on the Republican announcement.

Jesse Sharkey, Chicago Teachers Union vice president and International Socialist Organization member, told the Chicago Tribune Wednesday that Rauners actions were disruptive and unhelpful to the bargaining process right now. It's a disruption and it's also a stunt, because last time I checked Rauner doesnt have anywhere near enough votes in the legislature to move any of the things hes talking about.

Sharkey added he believed the Emanuel administration was negotiating seriously with the CTU and talks had been productive.

Senate Leader Cullerton issued a statement on the planned legislation Wednesday declaring, This is not going to happen. Its mean-spirited and evidence of their total lack of knowledge of the real problems facing Chicago Public Schools. The unfair treatment of pension systems by the state is the immediate cause of CPS financial problem. That situation ought to be addressed rather than promoting this far-fetched notion that the state is somehow in the position to take over Chicago schools. This ridiculous idea only serves as a distraction from the states problems that these two state leaders should be focusing on.

No strangers to enacting austerity, Cullerton and Madigan played key roles in former Democratic governor Pat Quinns pension reforms that gutted the benefits of tens of thousands of state and municipal employees before the state Supreme Court, and subsequently a circuit court, declared that legislation unconstitutional.

Emanuels appointee to head CPS Forrest Claypool issued a written statement, claiming the governors plan is discriminatory: The governor is defending a school funding system that is separate but unequal. Our children are facing systematic discrimination. CPS represents 20 percent of state enrollment but gets just 15 percent of state funding, even though 86 percent of our children live in poverty. The missing 5 percent represents nearly $500 million, the exact amount of our budget gap. Our childrens futures are just as important as those in the suburbs and downstate. But the state does not value them equally.

For his part, Claypools plan remains to lay off as many as 5,000 teachers and slash school programming if the state of Illinois does not aid the city in covering the schools $480 million budget gap.

In addition to declining state funding and rising pension costs, a series of credit ratings agency downgrades have caused the city of Chicago and its school systems debt payments to balloon. In mid-2015 CPS announced $200 million in budget cuts and 1,400 layoffs before making a $634 million pension payment. Currently, CPS estimates it will pay $356 million on its debt in 2016. The district has planned an $875 million general obligation bond issue for January 27.
Often labeled as an old persons disease, Alzheimers affects approximately 5.1 million Americans over 65. (Photo: Getty Images)

By Samantha Costa, U.S. News

These four people have Alzheimers disease. Heres what they want you to know.



Myriam



It was a Friday. Myriam Marquez was driving home from her job as a public defender for the Skagit County Public Defenders Office in Mt. Vernon, Washington, when she came to a four-way stop: And all of the sudden, I didnt know where I was, and I didnt know whether to turn right, left or go straight, she vividly remembers. Hysterical, she picked up her cellphone to dial her daughter and explain the predicament. She only lived a half mile away. Once she composed herself, she realized where she was. But at that moment, says Marquez, 68, of Seattle, I knew I had Alzheimers disease.

After a battery of tests, including MRIs, PET scans, blood work and cognitive evaluations, the doctors told Marquez her diagnosis was inconclusive. But I knew I had it, and no one would believe me, she says. Marquezs father was one of 13 siblings, at least five of whom had symptoms related to Alzheimers when they died. Two of her own four siblings had already been diagnosed with the disease. The strong family history prompted a DNA test one year later, and at age 63, her suspicions of early-onset Alzheimers disease were confirmed.

Related: Easy Ways to Protect Your Aging Brain

The disease often labeled as an old persons disease affects approximately 5.1 million Americans over 65, and roughly 200,000 people under 65 have the early-onset type of Alzheimers disease. One in 9 people older than 65 has Alzheimers disease. The number of Americans 65 and up with the disease and other dementias is expected to increase 40 percent to 7.1 million by 2025, according to the Alzheimers Associations 2015 Alzheimers Disease Facts and Figures Report.

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The report also indicates that 42 percent of residents in assisted living facilities had Alzheimers disease and other dementias  such as vascular dementia, lewy body dementia, mixed dementia, Parkinsons disease, frontotemporal dementia, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, normal pressure hydrocephalus, Huntingtons disease and Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome  in 2010. However, the median cost for basic services in an assisted living facility is $3,500 per month, or $42,000 per year, according to the report.Nursing homes arent much better at $240 per day or $87,600 per year.

Marquez, now 68, says because she retired early, she doesnt have the funds to go into assisted living: When I get to a point when I can no longer take care of myself, Ill probably wind up in a group home, and I will have friends who will do the research to find where Ill be safe and cared for, she says. And I know my daughters will come and check once in a while to make sure Im safe.

For now, shes enjoying life to the fullest, socializing with peers in her apartment building. Marquez is also an advocate for the disease and participates in speaking engagements hosted by the Alzheimers Association to raise awareness.

Gordon

Much like Marquez, being diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimers disease didnt come as a surprise to Gordon Broom, who was diagnosed in 2007 at age 55. Still, he remembers when he and his partner, Larry Jordan, who both live in West Palm Beach, Florida, were given the news: I was very upset, nervous and depressed, Broom, now 64, says. His young diagnosis forced him into early retirement from social work in the Health Care for Homeless Veterans Program at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Related: 5 Ways to Cope With Mild Cognitive Impairment

Day to day, Gordon will sometimes wonder if I said the right thing, and Im not quite sure if what I said was misunderstood, Jordan says. But for the most part, the two are like any other couple. They go on social excursions such as hiking, lunches and dinners, or catch a local show. You can enjoy life even with the disease, Broom adds. My biggest worry? That I end up in a nursing home and not able to enjoy the rest of my life in retirement."

Occasionally, though, harsh reminders of the diseases presence flair up. It happens when Broom becomes frightened when Jordan suddenly enters the bedroom, for example. To avoid that, Jordan learned to turn on a light before he enters the room  it lets Broom know something is about to change in the environment and puts him at ease. "The room is set up so I can switch on a light that will alert him that something is about to change, and hell look up at the light and not be startled," Jordan says. "Its just a matter of learning those things through other people at support groups that smooth the day-to-day activities.

Pat

Pat Etienne, 82, of Columbia, Missouri, knows all about the daily challenges faced by caregivers like Jordan. Shes the primary caregiver for her older brother, Bobby, who experienced diabetes complications severe enough to lead to a type of late-stage dementia known as vascular dementia. It occurs when reduced blood flow deprives brain cells of oxygen and nutrients. Etienne also faces a diagnosis of her own: mild cognitive impairment.

Mild cognitive impairment  or MCI  is the fine line between a persons normal memory or thinking and dementia. Its diagnosed when a person experiences significant changes in memory and thinking that interfere with daily functioning, such as writing a check or becoming lost while driving.

Etienne says she wasnt surprised by the diagnosis; after all, she was 77 when she was diagnosed in 2011  and when youre at that age, youre more likely to expect trouble with memory.

Related: Emerging Treatments for Alzheimers Disease

Now, she admits accepting her diagnosis has been the most difficult part of life with MCI: Thats been a hard thing for me to do, she explains. To recognize I cant perform at the level I was accustomed to. Theres a lot of pride with accepting this diagnosis. When your memory is diminished, you associate it with your self-worth and intelligence and get it all confused.

Etienne says she knows she doesnt make sense sometimes when she speaks to others. But I am still outgoing, and I want to be considered or included in the conversation. I want to be listened to even though I may be rambling on, she says, adding that her familys and friends challenge is to accept that while her functioning has changed, her heart hasnt.

She offers this advice to others living with a cognitive impairment: Theres still so much you can do if youre living for the best you today and not trying to measure up to what you did 25 years ago or even five years ago.

Bob

Bob O'Keefe, 74, knows he can rely on his large family for support with his disease, or when he just wants to speak to his adult kids about their life and whats going on in his. He doesnt have to ask them not to go out of their way, he says. They just seem to know, he says.

O'Keefes father and older brother passed away with symptoms of dementia. And soon after his 2007 retirement from the insurance business, when he was 67, he found himself losing focus, leaving chunks out of stories that he was telling and repeating himself. His early-onset diagnosis shocked his wife and seven children.

I told them I wanted them to treat me as theyve always treated me, to not expect less of me in terms of my interaction with them and that life would go on and I would find a way  as I have in many previous instances  to deal with the reality of my condition, says O'Keefe, who lives in North Waterboro, Maine, with his wife.

These days, O'Keefes biggest fear is what will happen if and when he reaches a point where he cant function as he can today. Will I need to go into a nursing home? Will I be able to stay at home? Its a great wish of both my wife and I that I will be able to stay home with her support, he says.

Since his diagnosis, O'Keefe has begun preparing for the future by researching the financial and legal plans his family will need when hes unable to make important decisions, such as seeking in-home care assistance or adult day care facilities. Theres no way to slow or stop Alzheimers, but O'Keefe stands with others who ask to be treated the same as they were pre-diagnosis: I dont want to be treated in any extraordinary way. I want to be remembered for who I am, and if I change  and I certainly will  I want them to continue to treat me the way they always have, which is for who I am, O'Keefe says.

Heres where you can find a support group for yourself, a friend or loved one locally or online through the Alzheimers Association.

Read This Next: Poor Sleep May Lead to Alzheimers Disease

Lets keep in touch! Follow Yahoo Health on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Have a personal health story to share? We want to hear it. Tell us at YHTrueStories@yahoo.com.
Do your damage control right. (Photo: Shutterstock)



Some beauty surprises are the freakin best (like when you finish your morning gym sesh and take your top knot down to reveal cascading beach waves instead of a sweaty, snarly, rope-like situation). But others? Not so much. Waking up with an enormous zit the day of a job interview? Noticing a bout of bacne right before zipping up your most revealing dress? THE. WORST. So we got the scoop on how to perform damage control on every skin disaster without perpetuating the problem.

To Conceal a Rash

If youre experiencing any skin discomfort or inflammation that youve never seen before, you should definitely see a derm. However, if this is a flare-up youve had previously and you know it isnt serious, the best thing you can do is use a simple, non-irritating wash and a natural moisturizing toner, says Ariana Rivera, a New York City-based makeup artist who specializes in corrective makeup on film sets. She likes Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser ($10, drugstore.com) and Boscia Balancing Facial Tonic ($24, sephora.com). You dont want to put a cream moisturizer on the irritation because it will suffocate the skin, she says. If youre looking to cover it, use a light concealer that has an olive or greenish undertone to offset redness.

To Conceal a Massive Zit

Do. Not. Pop. Seriously! Trying to pop your pimple will definitely force it to stay on your face a few days longer than it would have if youd left it alone, says Rivera. She suggests dabbing on a spot treatment like Origins Super Spot Remover Acne Treatment Gel ($16, sephora.com) instead because of its high concentration of salicylic acid, which will help zap that zit. Apply your base as you typically would, and then gently dab a green- or olive-based concealer around the pimple. If you use the product around the area and cover up the redness, the pimple will look better without making the actual breakout any worse, she says. Shes a fan of Make Up Forever 5 Camouflage Cream Palette ($40, makeupforever.com). It has every shade of concealer you could need, including a pod of mint cream that is ideal for cancelling out redness. Follow with a flesh-toned concealer like YSL Touche Eclat Radiant Touch ($42, sephora.com). This has a brush tip that is good for little problem areas and gives great coverage, she says, but it isnt so concentrated that it will cake up or irritate the skin any further.

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To Conceal a Hickey

First, we suggest you graduate high school (Just kidding! It happens to the best of us). The typical life cycle of a hickey is a true work of art. What begins as super red and blotchy then turns brown and finishes as a super-chic shade of green-yellow, so youll need a few different tactics for each hickey phase. For phase one, Rivera reminds us of skin disaster rule number one: Green cancels out red. Using a tapping technique, gently dab concealer directly onto the affected area with your finger (a foundation brush may cause streaking and could cause you to use too much product, which will make the green shade look unnatural once you layer flesh tones on top). Next, tap on a concealer shade that suits your skin tone, mixing and matching if needed. The finishing touch? Powder, like Make Up Forever HD Microfinish ($34, makeupforever.com), which Rivera says works wonders. Use a big fluffy powder brush to lightly apply, and your makeup will. Not. Move.

Once you reach the brownish/greenish/yellowish color stages, youll need to reach for a red, orange, or pink-based concealer. Just as green cancels out red, the opposite is true, says Rivera. Red-based concealers should be used to cancel out greenish imperfection. (The 5 Camouflage Cream Palette by Make Up Forever also contains the perfect shade of red. Yay! Two-for-one zit and hickey masking power.) Follow with flesh-toned foundation, translucent powder, and a resolution to stop yelling at your boyfriend for giving you a hickey.

To Conceal Severe Dry Spots

Before you begin, Rivera recommends treating them with a moisturizing mask followed by a creamy moisturizer. I really like Fresh Black Tea Instant Perfecting Mask ($92, sephora.com), she says. Not only will your skin look firmer, it also restores moisture. Follow with a non-oil-based moisturizer to hydrate the skin while avoiding breakouts and clogged pores, like Mario Badescu Seaweed Night Cream ($22, ulta.com). Then use a tinted moisturizer to cover up, like Bobbi Brown BB Cream SPF 35 ($44, bobbibrowncosmetics.com), which provides great coverage and moisture. Stay away from any matte products, which will just make the dryness look worse.

To Conceal Back Acne

Just as you would with your face, Rivera says you should make sure the area is clean and well-moisturized first. Once you have established a fresh canvas, ask a friend to follow all of the steps you would use to cover up acne on your face, she saysyoure gonna need help since its pretty hard to reach your back. To ensure that all of your hard work lasts all night, powder is key. Rivera advises following each layer of concealer with a layer of powder. Urban Decay All Nighter Long-Lasting Makeup Setting Spray ($30, urbandecay.com) will be your BFF, she says, since it doesnt feel sticky and wont budge. So werk that backless dress with confidence.



More from Womens Health:



Whats That Random Bump on Your Body?

The 8 Emotional Stages of Popping a Zit

What to Do After Popping a Zit So Your Skin Doesnt End Up Looking Worse



By Tiffany McHugh


Rylie Whitten, 15, has been hospitalized for two weeks with one of the worst cases of toxic shock syndrome ever seen in Michigan.



A Michigan teen is still on partial life support almost two weeks after she was hospitalized with one of the worst cases of toxic shock syndrome the area has ever seen, WZZM reports. Fifteen-year-old Rylie Whitten started feeling sick Jan. 4. According to the Greenville Daily News, she thought she had the flu. But things got worse after two days in bed, and her family sought medical attention. Within the hour, Whitten was being airlifted to Helen DeVos Childrens Hospital in Grand Rapids, WZZM reports.

You have the cardiovascular system failing, lungs failing, Dr. Surender Rajasekaran at DeVos says. It was very serious. According to the Daily News, Whitten was put into a medically induced coma and onto life support.

Toxic shock syndrome is typically the result of infections caused by tampons, which appears to have been the case with Whitten, the Daily News reports. It shuts down all of your organs; it basically kills you, Whittens father Nathan Whitten says. "It attacks everything so fast. Doctors at DeVos say Whittens is the worst case of toxic shock syndrome theyve ever seen. Despite still being on partial life support, Whitten appears to be improving, according to WZZM. But the Daily News notes her "road to recovery will be long."

Toxic shock syndrome is rarer today than it was in the 1980s, after an increase in warnings on tampons and the removal of some products, according to WZZM. AGoFundMe campaign has raised more than $4,000 for Rylie. (Toxic shock syndrome proved deadly for this seemingly healthy woman.)

By Michael Harthorne

(Photo via GoFundMe)







More From Newser:

Colbert Shines Light on Vodka Tampon Trend

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La. School Dogged by Cases of Teacher-Student Sex

Cops: Tutor Arrested With 3 Kids in Trunk

Teens Invent Condom That Turns Colors Near STDs

This article originally appeared on Newser: Toxic Shock Syndrome Puts Teen on Life Support
A precious video of premature twins holding hands has gone viral, as the early display of love between the tiny brother and sister has amazed people around the world.

STORY: Powerful Photos Show How Far Premature Babies Have Come

Mom Anthea Jackson-Rushford, of Melbourne, Australia, captured footage of her infants, Kristiana and Kristian, clinging to each others miniature hands while snuggling on their fathers chest in the hospital. He actually holds her hand, she says off camera. How is that possible? Thats just unbelievable. The clip, which Jackson-Rushford posted on her Facebook page on Jan. 13, has since been viewed more than 10 million times and shared more than 148,000:

The infants were born on Jan. 4 at 28 weeks and a day and weighed in at under a kilo each, or less than 2.2 pounds, she wrote.

(Photo: Facebook/cookie.jackson)

STORY: 10 Tips for Moms of Preemies, From Moms of Preemies

Mom, nicknamed Cookie, has since posted more precious photos and videos of the babies, who have been getting lots of skin-to-skin cuddle time with Mom and Dad. Both my angels holding hands again as if they were born to! Amazing sight! she captioned one close-up photo of their overlapping hands.

(Photo: Facebook/cookie.jackson)

On another photo series, Mom wrote, As you can clearly see, they cant stop holding hands! Along with a video of the twins being held, this time against Moms chest, the caption reads, Kristian being protective big brother as he grabs his sisters fingers while she, incredibly, holds on to her own pacifier as shes sucking it.

The proud parents. (Photo: Facebook/cookie.jackson)

In an earlier post, just before that of the viral video, Jackson-Rushford explained her aim in sharing so many photos.

We realize it may be a tad bit disturbing seeing our twins with tubes but they are preemie babies so it is understandable and normal, she wrote. Im sharing photos and videos for the simple reason that it gives hope to all parents out there that even they do just fine! I Googled like crazy looking for hope when we told we might be Prem. I would love to see this kind of positivity as a mum that faces the possibility of a premature baby. To all parents that face this, be comforted in knowing that today anything is possible and your babies will be just fine!!!

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(Top photo: Facebook/cookie.jackson)





Please follow @YahooParenting on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. Have an interesting story to share about your family? Email us at YParenting (at) Yahoo.com.


Havent we been over this? The Great Beauty was Paolo Sorrentinos rumination on the loss of youthful vigour and talent. Youth, Sorrentino returning to English language after the wobbly This Must Be The Place, feels like a compendium of scenes and ideas and lines cut from that 2014 Oscar winner.

Michael Caine is in the Toni Servillo role  a famous maestro who has retreated to a luxurious spa hotel in the Swiss mountains to relax his bones and reflect on his life, refusing the advances of the Queens emissary (Alex Macqueen) to come out of retirement for a one off concert. His director friend Harvey Keitel is among the guests, desperately seeking a climax to a troubling script (entitled Lifes Last Day) which may be his masterpiece, and both try to make sense of their childrens separation  Keitels son (Ed Stoppard) and Caines daughter and assistant (Weisz) have just split up. Nosing about is Paul Danos actor, observing the characters that flit about the grounds in research of an upcoming role.

Youth exists in snatches, short one minute scenes, with Sorrentino building to mini crescendos before ebbing away and building again to an even bigger one; perhaps the director is after a symphony more than a film narrative and while its at times comforting, nice to look at (the majestic scenery) and listen to (Mark Kozelek turns up to serenade the guests one evening), Youth has no flow. Its very stop/start with the scenes failing to knit together; a music video sequence involving Paloma Faith is unfortunately a typically baffling inclusion lobbed in at random. The dialogue can sound unnatural too. Oddly Youth finds Sorrentino signposting later developments rather obviously: Will the mediating Tibetan monk achieve levitation? Will someone appreciate Danos more serious roles? Will the couple who never talk to each other finally speak?

But there are nuggets to be found. Caine and Keitels grumblings about growing old are funny; the emotionally distant Caines reveal to the Queens emissary why he would never let another soprano sing his pieces is touching; Dano, a serious actor, is snippy with fans who only recognise his famous role where he played a robot; Keitel and wonderfully spikey Jane Fonda, for whom his screenplay is for, finally drop the polite charade and confess exactly what they think of each other. And its as pretty as a picture.

Theres also a hint that Sorrentinos next outing will be an altogether happier and upbeat affair if Danos speech is anything to go by.
Former Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole is warning GOP voters that putting Texas Sen. Ted Cruz at the top of the ticket would be cataclysmic for the party.

If hes the nominee, were going to have wholesale losses in Congress and state offices and governors and legislatures, Dole, who served in the House and Senate for 35 years and won the Iowa caucuses twice, told the New York Times.

The 92-year-old former Kansas senator, who was defeated by Bill Clinton in the 1996 presidential election, said he questions Cruzs allegiance to the Republican Party and his ability to work with Congress.

I dont know how often youve heard him say the word Republican  not very often, Dole said, adding, I dont know how hes going to deal with Congress. Nobody likes him.

Catherine Frazier, a spokeswoman for the Cruz campaign, called Doles comments part of the same flawed narrative the Washington establishment has unsuccessfully pushed for years.

Running to the middle and nominating a moderate who will continue to bank the payroll of the Washington cartel is a losing strategy, Frazier said.

Its not the first time Dole has expressed his disdain for Cruz. In December, he was asked by MSNBCs Andrea Mitchell if he would support the Texas senator against the Democratic nominee in a general election.

Bob Dole: Not a Ted Cruz fan. (Photos: John Minchillo/Carolyn Kaster/AP)



I might oversleep that day, Dole said. Cause [Cruz] used to make these speeches. Remember President Dole? Do you remember President McCain? The inference was that we were all a bunch of liberals, and only he is a true conservative.

And in November, while endorsing former Florida Gov. Jeb Bushs presidential campaign, Dole said, I think [Jebs] the most qualified and we need somebody with experience, and there are a lot of good candidates  I like nearly all of them. Except Cruz.

On Wednesday, Dole said hed prefer anyone to Cruz  including Donald Trump.

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He has toned down his rhetoric, Dole said.

Former Republican Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, another member of the GOP establishment, told an Atlantic reporter hed take Trump over Cruz.

Earlier this month, Arizona Sen. John McCain, who has frequently clashed with Cruz on Capitol Hill, said questions regarding Cruzs eligibility for the presidency given his Canadian birth  an issue Trump has raised on the trail  were legitimate.

Doles latest denunciation of Cruz came a day after Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, a Republican, urged Iowa caucus-goers not to vote for the Texas senator.

It would be a big mistake for Iowa to support him, Branstad said. And I know hes ahead in the polls, but the only poll that counts is the one they take on caucus night, and I think that could change between now and then.

The governor called Cruz a big oil candidate whose opposition to federal ethanol mandates would be very damaging to our state if he wound up in the White House.

Branstad said he doesnt plan on endorsing any candidate ahead of the Feb. 1 caucuses. But asked by a reporter if hed like to see Cruz defeated, Branstad offered a one-word reply: Yes.

Bush, meanwhile, is warning GOP voters that a Trump nomination would be just as disastrous.

An online ad released by the Bush campaign Wednesday depicts an apocalyptic future where the brash billionaire concedes the 2016 presidential election to Hillary Clinton via his favorite mode of communication: Twitter.
(Image: Caltech/R. Hurt (IPAC))

A decade ago Mike Brown helped get Pluto demoted from a planet to a mere dwarf planet. Now the astronomer and one of his CalTech colleagues may have plotted the orbit of a new ninth planet in our solar system, dramatically larger than Pluto and much, much farther away.

As described by Brown and fellow astronomer Konstantin Batygin Wednesday in the Astronomical Journal, this new planet would be roughly 10 times the size of the Earth and would take as much as 20,000 years to make a single orbit around the sun. Its theoretical size  between the size of the Earth and Neptune  is unlike any other body in our solar system, but fits into the most common size of exoplanets detected in other systems.

Astronomers have been hunting for an undiscovered Planet X for nearly two centuries, generally without success. The notable exception: Neptunes presence in our solar system was predicted by observing irregularities in the orbit of Uranus  and then later proven by observation through telescopes. Brown and Batygins finding is similar, in that theyve done the math that strongly suggests the presence of a large planet in an weird orbit way beyond Pluto. But until someone spots the planet with a telescope, its just a theory.

Until recently, conventional wisdom held that we were done finding large objects in our solar system. In 2006, when Pluto was demoted, Brown recalls telling many people, Thats it. Thats the end of planets. We get eight in this solar system and that will have to be enough. A survey by NASAs Widefield Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) satellite essentially proved that there couldnt be anything Saturn-sized or larger hiding out beyond Pluto.

Batygin and Browns theoretical Planet Nine  the scientists have even set up a website at findplanetnine.com  slides under the WISE size limit, because its smaller than Neptune. That far away from the sun, theres very little light and heat, making it extraordinarily difficult to detect smaller objects. The search is already underway at ground-based telescopes around the world, but its a little like searching for a needle in a haystack in the dark. Brown and Batygin are using the Subaru telescope in Hawaii to search for the object, but it might take as much as five years for them to find it.

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Cosmic clues

The roots of Brown and Batygins discovery come from another distant solar system object discovered by Brown. Sedna is a weird object on an odd orbit that doesnt fit in with the behavior of other distant icy objects (including Pluto) in whats called the Kuiper Belt. When astronomers Chad Trujillo and Scott Sheppard discovered a second Sedna-like object in a weird orbit, Brown and Batygin got suspicious.

As it turned out, the six most prominent objects in the far-outer reaches of the solar system all have orbits that point in the same direction and make their closest approach to the sun in very similar locations. The chances of that happening entirely by chance were estimated by Batygin as being, well, astronomical. All of a sudden, the scientists  who entered into the process hoping to disprove the hypothesis that there was an undiscovered big planet knocking around the outer solar system  suddenly started to wonder if it might actually be true. When they discovered that their projected Planet Nine accurately predicted the existence of some other weird distant solar-system objects, things really fell into place.

Planet Nines eccentric orbit. (Image: Caltech/R. Hurt (IPAC))

Still, without actual visual evidence, Planet Nine is just a theory  and many astronomers remain skeptical. Scott Sheppard told the Washington Post he gives it about a 60 percent chance of being real. Scientific American quotes planetary scientist Hal Levison as expressing great skepticism: I have seen many, many such claims in my career, and all of them have been wrong. Brown is (not surprisingly) more confident in his discovery, putting his chances at 90 percent. And theorist Alessandro Morbidelli was ebuillient, telling the New York Times: I would bet money. I would bet 10,000 bucks.

But is it a planet?

Given Browns unique status as the self-proclaimed killer of Pluto, it worth considering whether such an odd object at the far reaches of the solar system can meet our current definition of a planet. Brown made the case on his own web site: No matter where it is, the one thing we know for sure about Planet Nine is that it is dominating the outer edge of the solar system, he wrote. That is enough to make it a planet by anyones calculation.

If Planet Nine does exist, what does it look like? Thats still up for grabs. Brown has suggested it might be an icy, rocky core with a tenuous atmosphere  the failed core of a wannabe gas giant. It could also be more like Uranus or Neptune, a rocky core with a more sizeable gas envelope around it.

Even if Planet Nine is observed soon, it will be a while before we know more about it. The planet would be so far away that it would probably take us many decades before we could even consider sending a probe to reach it. (Consider that we just visited Pluto via the New Horizons spacecraft  a mission that took nearly a decade just to reach its destination, and that this new planet is many times farther away than that.) As always, every new discovery just leads astronomers to new questions.

[Jason Snell hosts the Liftoff podcast on Relay FM and regularly writes about technology at Six Colors.]
In the first 18 days of 2016, there have been 41 terrorist attacks across the globe that have killed more than 500 people. Several of these attacks took place in popular tourist destinations, such as Paris, Istanbul, and Tel Aviv.



In November 2015, the U.S State Department issued a Worldwide Travel Alert, warning its citizens about ongoing risks of travel due to terrorist threats, and stating that the authorities believe attacks by extremists towards Westerners overseas will continue.

What happens if there is an attack at sea? (Photo: Thinkstock)

But while international governments scramble to secure towns, cities, airports and tourist attractions, there is one big question that has yet to be answered: What if terrorists attack at sea?

Related: Why Do People Keep Falling Off Cruise Ships?

In 2015, there were more than 22 million passengers aboard cruise ships worldwide  meaning that at any time, there are tens of thousands of travelers afloat.

Some of todays larger ships can carry as many as 6,000 people, including staff.

This undoubtedly makes cruise liners major targets for attacks. But how big is the risk? And what are cruise lines doing to protect their ships and passengers?

There are numerous studies by security companies and U.S. government organizations which have studied terrorist organizations that concluded that terrorism against cruise ships is likely, explains maritime lawyer and cruise ship expert Jim Walker.

In fact, groups such as ISIS, Boko Haram, and al-Qaida have threatened cruise ships on multiple occasions.

Terrorist groups have openly expressed interest in maritime targets, admits Joseph Mroszczyk, manager of intelligence products and services for Global Rescue, a travel risk and crisis management firm.

And while there are no recent examples of actual attacks on cruise ships, there have been several cases of terrorist attacks on other maritime targets, such as the bombing of USS Cole at a Yemeni port in October 2000, when two al-Qaida suicide bombers rammed a boat carrying explosives into the side of the docked ship, killing 17 people and injuring 39 others.

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Conducting an attack against a maritime target at sea requires a higher level of operational sophistication and coordination than other forms of terrorist attacks we have seen, says Mroszczyk. But the risk is still there  especially when a boat is docked in a foreign port, he says.

When docked at other destinations while passengers are offboarding and onboarding, he says, there is perhaps greater vulnerability to the ship  both in terms of passenger screening practices and port security infrastructure.

The high risk to passengers that occurs when a ship is in port has largely to do with the unregulated nature of most port facilities. There are no set guidelines for how to secure ports in different countries, and little way for cruise lines to have an impact when it comes to that issue.

A port has to be adequately screened, and cruise lines are responsible for sending in a team of people to assess whether the ports they are sailing into are capable of suitably docking and securing a boat that might have 3,000 to 4,000 people on board, explained Walker.

The largest risk to passengers likely is when they disembark the ship. Just last March, 17 passengers were killed and another 21 were injured during the terrorist attack on the Bardo National Museum in Tunis, Tunisia. That attack specifically targeted tourists, and reports indicated that the attackers had waited for the buses to arrive from the ships.

Cruise ships docking in the Eastern Mediterranean are at increased risk due to the proximity to regions that sympathize with terrorists, as well as inadequate security protocols make an attack easier, similar to what we saw last year in the bombing of a Russian passenger plane over Egypt.

Sadly, these risks to cruise ships can be tied directly to the industrys lack of international regulation.

The cruise industry as a whole is a largely unregulated industry, and is not tied to the economy of any particular country, says Walker, who authors the popular blog Cruise Line News. It is an offshore industry. Most of the cruise lines are incorporated in other places, not the U.S., largely to avoid any regulations. And as such, you are left to the goodwill of the cruise lines themselves to take appropriate steps to protect the passengers.

Tunisians walk in a Tunis market on March 20, 2015. Following a terror attack, cruise companies canceled stops in Tunisia. Seventeen of those killed at the Bardo National Museum in Tunis were passengers on shore excursions from two cruise ships in port that day. (AP Photo/Salah Ben Mohamed)



Just after the attacks in Tunis, Commander Mark Gaouette, the former director of security at Princess Cruises, criticized the cruise industry for not adequately protecting passengers.

I believe the risk management process failed to properly assess the extremely volatile situation in North Africa, he told IHS Maritime at the time. At a minimum, more security should have been required for that excursion in the form of armed police or military escort, and armed presence at the museum itself.

Gaouette, who authored the book Cruising for Trouble: Cruise Ships as Soft Targets for Pirates, Terrorists, and Common Criminals in 2006, has worked with the Department of Homeland Security and is an expert in the field of cruise ship safety. He is adamant that despite last years attacks, the industry as a whole is not doing enough.

Related: Are Your Kids Really Safe on a Cruise?

The underlying truth is that even with a surge in pirate attacks and worldwide terror threats on the rise, the cruise industry has not altered its security paradigm in any significant way, he wrote recently. Instead, the cruise lines have opted for selective avoidance of ports and oceans known to be at risk. This technique will not completely protect a ship, or its passengers.



Other potential major weaknesses on board cruise ships, according to Mroszczyk, are their staffs  which are sourced internationally, less likely to be extensively vetted, and enjoy less-restricted access to the ship than passengers. So what is being done to protect cruise passengers?

As with airlines, ships are now putting passengers and staff though stricter boarding procedures.

All bags are X-rayed and screened, passengers and staff pass through metal detectors prior to boarding, and by its nature, there are usually only a few gangways, so entry is easily monitored and controlled, says Global Rescues Joseph Mroszczyk.

Ships usually log passengers on and off the ship electronically so they can maintain accountability, and a ticket, ID, and passport must be shown at each stop.

Related: Despite Terrorism and Unrest, Travel Was Up in 2015

And while staffing ships with a visible, armed guard is an unlikely future measure, the implementation of armed marshals  similar to those operating on board aircraft  is currently being considered by Congress as part of a new maritime security bill.

So while becoming a victim of terrorism is still, in the grand scheme of things, a very slight possibility, it is clear that more needs to be done to protect cruise ships and their passengers.

The terrorists perceive that with just a little ingenuity and secrecy, they can succeed in killing scores of people in a single act, says Gaouette.

Unless more stringent deterrence is enacted in the cruise industry, the possibility of a serious attack against a cruise ship or port facility cant be discounted.

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Charlie Cox says his return as Daredevil "still feels too good to be true"
Be still our beating hearts, but the one and only Dean Strang is a guest on The Ray D'Arcy Show this weekend. Fair play to whoever pulled that one out of the bag, as its quite a coup for the show given the massive popularity of the Netflix documentary Making a Murderer.

For those that haven't seen it, it follows the story of Steven Avery, a man wrongly convicted and sent to jail for 18 years for a crime he did not commit, who is then released thanks to DNA analysis, only to find himself up for a murder conviction two years later.

Dean Strang was one of his two defense lawyers in the case (Jerry Buting being the other) who argued that Avery had been set up by the local Manitowoc police department.

He's like, totes the Atticus Finch of our time you guys

Since the documentary's release, himself and Buting have become quite the celebs in their own right, with many folk developing a bit of a crush on these men of the law....

That's our Saturday night planned anyways.

Celebrity Big Brother fans will also be happy to hear (or maybe not) that Angie Bowie will be chatting to Ray on Saturday too. The ex-wife of David Bowie left the house earlier in the week due to illness and will no doubt be chatting about her time there and that now infamous misunderstanding over her ex-husband's death.

As we said though... Dean Strang.

*Swoon*

Catch The Ray DArcy Show this Saturday 23 January, at 9.35pm, on RTE One.






















Link to Profile... NB: Unsigned comments will probably be deleted.

This is a polemical Catholic Royalist blog. It will also attempt to provide a window onto various events, situations and personalities not generally or favorably presented to the purview of the general public in the English speaking world. It also hopes to be a bridge for those who wish to cross over, unite and fight for the truth.Just remember, the Rhine still flows into the Tiber.Dedicated to the Immaculate and Sacred Hearts.
China Nuclear to bring nuclear power to Saudi Arabia Updated: 2016-01-21 07:28 By Lyu Chang and Hu Meidong in Fuzhou(China Daily)

Nuclear reactors under construction in Sanmen, Zhejiang province.[Photo/Xinhua]

China Nuclear Engineering Group Corp signed an agreement with Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to develop its homegrown fourth-generation nuclear technology in the oil-rich Middle East country.

Gu Jun, president and general manager of CNEC, said the agreement was a major step toward the export of high-temperature gas-cooled reactors, an indigenous nuclear technology jointly developed by CNEC and Tsinghua University.

He made the remarks during a ceremony in Beijing held by the Fuzhou New Economic Area, in which the Chinese company plans to invest nearly 16.3 billion yuan ($2.48 billion) to build a nuclear manufacturing equipment industrial cluster and a production base for nuclear graphite, a key material used in high-temperature gas-cooled reactors.

"The timing is right for the export of such a type of nuclear reactor," CNEC said in a statement.

About 95 percent of the high-temperature reactor, which uses a graphite-moderated core with a uranium fuel cycle to generate heat with less radioactive effect and higher efficiency, can be manufactured domestically, apart from the nuclear graphite, which relies largely on imports.

Experts said despite Saudi Arabia being a fossil-fuel rich country, the country still needs to meet demand from growing energy consumption.

"Nuclear power plants with a design life of more than 40 years cannot only provide energy security but also have the potential to resolve growing emissions concerns in the Middle East," said Lin Boqiang, director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University.

Saudi Arabia hopes to build 16 reactors by 2032 to meet its growing energy demand, involving a total investment of more than $80 billion. Its first reactor is likely to go on line in 2022, earlier reports said.

CNEC said it is also targeting other foreign markets including South Africa and the United Arab Emirates.

It said that the agreement with Saudi Arabia will bring other possibilities for nuclear cooperation between China and other partners along the Belt and Road Initiative, which includes more than 60 economies along the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.

Projects planned in the Fuzhou New Area

Projects worth 331.5 billion yuan ($50.3 billion) are being set up in the Fuzhou New Area of Fujian province by about 70 State-owned enterprises this year.

The investment will be spread over 64 projects, including those in high technology.

The Fuzhou New Area was approved by the State Council in September 2015 and is the 14th State-level area for regional development. State-level areas are special economic zones directly managed by the State Council for major national development missions. The Fuzhou New Area is expected to play a pivotal role in furthering cross-Straits exchanges and attract more modern industries to East China.

The projects include:

 A 10 billion yuan investment by China Three Gorges Corp on an offshore wind power industrial park for technological research and development, equipment manufacturing, power station operations and maintenance.

 The 30 billion yuan from Aluminum Corp of China Ltd for an aluminum refining project that will use advanced technologies to make aluminum auto sheets and architectural aluminum shuttering.

 A 16.3 billion yuan investment by China Nuclear Engineering Group Co for an industrial park for nuclear-related businesses such as nuclear power equipment and nuclear-grade graphite production.

 A 25.2 billion yuan investment from China State Construction Engineering Corp for the Metro Line 6 in Fuzhou, the capital city of Fujian province.

 China Travel Service (HK) Group Corp's 15 billion yuan investment on a travel resort that encompasses hotels, ecological leisure activity bases and health centers.
Nation ready for a more constructive Mideast role Updated: 2016-01-21 08:15 By Ma Xiaolin(China Daily)

Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) meets with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Secretary-General Abdul Latif Bin Rashid Al Zayani in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Jan 19, 2016. Xi arrived on Tuesday for a state visit to Saudi Arabia, the first stop of his three-nation tour of the Middle East. [Photo/Xinhua]

President Xi Jinping is on a three-nation tour of the Middle East, during which he is visiting Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iran. Before Xi's first foreign trip of this year, Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Khaled Khoja, president of Syria's main opposition National Coalition, earlier this month and urged him to participate in negotiations to end the Syrian conflict, and Vice-Foreign Minister Zhang Ming visited the three Middle East countries.

The Middle East is vital for Beijing not only as a major oil supplier and a potential investment and trade market, but also as a key to the success of its Belt and Road Initiative.

China's mediation to resolve the Libyan crisis, the Iranian nuclear issue and the longstanding Israel-Palestine conflict has played a very important role in defusing tensions in the Middle East.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said his government would hold talks with the opposition parties when he was visiting Beijing last month. This was the first time that Damascus responded to the UN Security Council Resolution 2254 on Syria. China's mediatory efforts have been welcomed not only by the Syrian government but also Syrian opposition leaders such as Khaled Khoja, who said his party supported the resolution and is committed to finding a political solution to the crisis during his visit to Beijing earlier this month.

The historic breakthroughs in the Iranian nuclear deal, too, have a lot to do with China's efforts, which have been praised by the United States and Iran both.

For years, Beijing had been advocating peaceful settlement of the Iranian nuclear issue, insisting that negotiations and perhaps moderate sanctions be used to draw Teheran to the talks table, without violating its legitimate interests under the current non-proliferation regime. Apart from its mediatory role, China also helped break the technological barriers in the final-stage negotiations, which involved a slew of sensitive agendas and discreet stances.

Beijing has been paying closer attention to Middle East affairs since the end of the Cold War. When tensions between Palestine and Israel escalated in 2002 and the entire Middle East was on tenterhooks, China sent a special envoy to the Middle East to mediate among regional players. In 2011, China for the first time supported the UN's economic sanctions on a member state (Libya) and advocated dialogue between the Libyan government and opposition parties to resolve the political crisis in the country.

China's efforts to help the Middle East countries maintain peace and stability in the region are in line with its comprehensive diplomatic strategy as a rising major power. The fact that China maintains friendly relations with most of the regional powers, whose economies incidentally are complementary to the Chinese economy, gives it a unique edge in bilateral relationships.

Besides, China has never interfered in other countries' domestic affairs. Instead, thanks to its robust growth in recent years, it has consumed a considerable amount of petroleum products from Middle East countries and, in return, offered them investments and infrastructure projects without any political conditions attached.

Since the US now refrains from getting involved in Middle East affairs for certain strategic reasons, many regional leaders, such as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, have welcomed China to play a more constructive role in the region. For that, of course, China has to enhance its national strength, learn more about how to deal with potential conflicts between different cultures and ethnicities, and further bolster bilateral economic links.

The author is president of blshe.com and a professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University.
European leaders urge closer cooperation to deal with 'triple crisis' Updated: 2016-01-21 23:12 By Fu Jing in Davos, Switzerland(China Daily Europe)

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras gestures during the session 'The Future of Europe' at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland January 21, 2016. REUTERS/Ruben Sprich

European leaders urged what they called 'more Europe,' or closer cooperation, in order to meet the ''triple crisis'' of the continuing influx of migrants, terrorism and a still gloomy economy.

Mark Rutte and Alexis Tsipras, prime ministers of the Netherlands and Greece respectively, and Premier Manuel Valls of France shared the view during a debate on Europe at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

''The influx of migrants (from Syria and Libya) is our immediate crisis and we need to take measures in the coming two or three weeks,'' said Rutte, whose country has just started a six-month stint as president of the 28-nation European Union .

According to Rutte, the EU will consider more urgent measures to deal with the migrant crisis as soon as possible, and for the forthcoming five or six months the EU's focus will be on constructing a European market for energy, the digital industry, finance and services.

Tsipras, who was elected as Greek prime minister almost a year ago, said his country was ''at the heart'' of two crises, that of the migrants and economic stagnation.

''To solve the migrant crisis, we need to find a burden-sharing system in all 28 EU countries,'' he said, adding that Greece, with Italy and other countries in the region, were in the front line of dealing with migrants from the Middle East and North Africa.

He said Greece still needed more help from the EU to help support economic growth.

''We have to be pragmatic because only growth can help solve the problems we face,'' Tsipras added.

France's Manuel Valls said terrorism attacks in his country were not isolated; Norway and the UK have suffered in recent years.

''They can be seen in Europe and the world, so fighting against them is a global war,'' Valls said.

He urged stronger global cooperation and the sharing of intelligence in the fight against extremism.

To contact the reporter: fujing@chinadaily.com.cn
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We are deeply uncomfortable about the [professed] link between poor English language skills and extremism, which does not appear to have any evidence base. Conflating these two issues stigmatizes parts of society in a way that can only increase the feelings of unease and marginalization of the targeted groups.Schools should not be used as a tool for social engineering, Friedman of the haredi Interlink organization continued. We do not accept that independent faith schools should be branded inadequate because children have a simple and conservative understanding of family life."

Haredim Lash Out At British Prime Ministers Assertion Children In Religious Schools Should Learn English To Counter Extremism

Shmarya Rosenberg  FailedMessiah.com

Haredi leaders in the UK lashed out at the British governments decision to close a noncompliant haredi school in the Stamford Hill neighborhood of London, the Jewish News reported today.

Especially upsetting for the haredi leaders was Prime Minister David Camerons statement that all children in Great Britain should learn to speak, read and write the English language as a counter to extremism.

We are deeply uncomfortable about the [professed] link between poor English language skills and extremism, which does not appear to have any evidence base. Conflating these two issues stigmatizes parts of society in a way that can only increase the feelings of unease and marginalization of the targeted groups, Joel Friedman of the Interlink Foundation, which represents the haredi community, reportedly said.

Britains Department for Education ordered the 221-student illegal haredi Talmud Torah Tashbar school to close after it repeatedly failed government inspections and after Cameron made his remark about the English language. Talmud Torah Tashbar operated openly but illegally for more than four decades.

Talmud Torah Tashbar has almost no secular studies at all and students are not proficient at speaking, writing or reading English.

Schools should not be used as a tool for social engineering, Friedman of the haredi Interlink organization continued. We do not accept that independent faith schools should be branded inadequate because children have a simple and conservative understanding of family life.Many schools and early years settings ranked outstanding by Ofsted [the British government's schools inspection service] in the last five years have now been assessed as inadequate. We are also deeply concerned that the new requirements of schools relating to their curricula are being imposed unilaterally and sometimes unrealistically.

The British Humanist Association, which has championed for a government crackdown on noncompliant religious schools, applauded the governments move to close Talmud Torah Tashbar.

We are glad the DfE has now moved to shut this school down, which after all this time is an incredibly welcome move. There are clearly many more [noncompliant religious schools] out there just like it.Every year, every month, every week that these places are allowed to stay open, a huge number of children remain isolated, indoctrinated, and very likely abused, a British Humanist Association spokesperson reportedly said.

British haredi students who cannot proficiently read, write or speak English are largely cut off from knowledge their rabbis do not want them to have because the media inside the British haredi community, which is primarily published in Yiddish, is under strict rabbinical control  control the rabbis cannot exert over science textbooks, largely secular publications and largely secular websites.
A Star of David, Psalms 139: 21-24, and "Destruction of Amalek" were spray-painted on the home's fence and a knife with an envelope containing a threatening letter were found at the scene. The letter reportedly reads, "a Jew whose hands are bloody resides in your street. This Jew has received a severe warning."

Above: some of the graffiti found at the home of Ya'akov Malkin 1-21-2016

Jerusalem Atheist Leader Hit With Hate Crime, Death Threat

Shmarya Rosenberg  FailedMessiah.com

It was an anti-atheist hate crime.

Early this morning vandals spray-painted threatening graffiti at the Jerusalem home of Yaakov Malkin. The 89-year-old Malkin is the founder and director of director of Tmura, the International Institute for Humanistic Secular Judaism. He also edits the journal Free Judaism, which advocates for secular Jewish culture, and has written a book, Judaism Without God? Judaism as Culture and the Bible as Literature.

According to a report in Haaretz, a Star of David, Psalms 139: 21-24, and "Destruction of Amalek" were spray-painted on the fence surrounding Malkin's home and a knife with an envelope containing a threatening letter were found at the scene. The letter reportedly reads, "a Jew whose hands are bloody resides in your street. This Jew received a severe warning."

Police have reportedly opened an investigation.

Sivan Malkin Maas, Malkin's daughter, is a rabbi who is the dean of Tmura, which ordains secular rabbis. She told Haaretz a similar attack against Tel Aviv atheist activists took place about a year ago.

In a 2012 interview with Haaretz, Malkin spoke of his childhood, his family and religion.

I am a second-generation atheist. My children, Prof. Irad Malkin, and Rabbi Sivan Maas, the dean of Tmura in Jerusalem, are just the same. My grandchildren, too. Its a family tradition that began in Warsaw, where I was born and attended an atheistic school run by the Bund. When I came to Tel Aviv, at the age of 7, I received similar schooling in the education system of the Histadrut labor federation. Throughout my youth I was aware of religion as something foreign that belongs to an unfamiliar minority. My only exposure to religion was through my maternal grandfather, who was a Ger Hasid. My mother fled from religion while she was a university student. Not only was she an atheist, she was hostile to religion, Malkin said at the time.
Police told reporters the murder was not a random act and stressed that it was an isolated incident" that poses no threat" to the general public.

Above: Jules Reich, left; Robin Goldman Reich, right

Modern Orthodox Physician Stabbed To Death In Scarsdale, Estranged Husband In Custody

Shmarya Rosenberg  FailedMessiah.com

Robin Goldman Reich, a 58-year-old Modern Orthodox pediatrician based at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx, was stabbed to death in the shower of her Scarsdale home she shared with her husband, 61year-old lawyer and accountant Jules Reich, the Journal News reported.

Goldman Reich was attacked at about 10 am.

Her husband, who reportedly has defensive wounds, called 911 to report the murder. He was reportedly in police custody at least as as 6:00 pm EST but had not been charged with a crime, the New York Post reported.

The couple were active members of the Modern Orthodox Young Israel of Scarsdale.

According to the Journal News, public records show Jules Reich filed a petition to divorce Goldman Reich in August 2015.

Police told reporters the murder was not a random act and stressed that it was an isolated incident" that poses no threat" to the general public.
Above: The Bronxwood Home for the Aged

The Forward reports:

A Bronx old-age home whose board includes several high-powered Orthodox Jewish activists has sent at least $20 million to dozens of ultra-Orthodox organizations in an unusual, decades-long arrangement.

The not-for-profit, called the Bronxwood Home for the Aged, runs a home care agency and an assisted living facility, which serves largely non-Jewish seniors. It has sent one dollar out of every 10 it has earned in revenue since 1997 to Hasidic yeshivas, Orthodox activist groups and a proposed Israeli medical center, among other Jewish charities.

State and federal Medicaid funds provide roughly a third of Bronxwoods revenues, according to a 2009 audit report. Other funds come from Medicare, private insurance and out-of-pocket payments from the homes hundreds of elderly residents.

Experts say that it is extremely unusual for a not-for-profit assisted living facility to make large grants to unrelated charities. Ive never heard of a nursing home or assisted living, or any care organization, paying out that much, said David Grabowski, a professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School, who studies long-term care for older adults. Most of them have pretty vulnerable, frail and needy residents The idea that they would take dollars out of that setting seems kind of backwards.

Bronxwoods seven-member board of directors includes some of New Yorks most powerful Orthodox activists. Board member Abraham Biderman, New York Citys commissioner of finance and of housing under Mayor Ed Koch, is the newly appointed president of the scandal-plagued Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, one of the citys largest Jewish social service organizations. He also serves on the boards of the ultra-Orthodox umbrella organization Agudath Israel of America and of the billion-dollar Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. He has been on Bronxwoods board since 2007.

Another Bronxwood board member, Marcel Weber, is a former chairman (and current honorary chairman) of the board of directors of the Orthodox Union, the large centrist Orthodox umbrella group. Mendel Zilberberg, who joined the Bronxwood board in 2010, is also on Agudahs board.

A 2009 draft audit of Bronxwoods assisted living program estimated that the organization had overcharged Medicaid by $7.6 million on its $8.4 million tab for 2006 and 2007. Of the 200 Medicaid claims reviewed in preparation of the draft audit, 195 had at least one error, according to the report issued by the New York State Office of the Medicaid Inspector General. OMIG plans to take action on the audit within the next 30 days, according to a spokesman for the office.
Walter Booker allegedly gave a haredi homeowner, Jacob Goldman, false certificates of occupancy so he could obtain tax exemptions and operate a daycare facility.

Spring Valley Building Inspector And Haredi Homeowner Arrested In Corruption And Grand Larceny Case

Shmarya Rosenberg  FailedMessiah.com

The chief building inspector of the village of Spring Valley, New York was arrested today on corruption charges, the Journal News reported and haredi homeowner will be charged with grand larceny.

Walter Booker allegedly gave a haredi homeowner, Jacob Goldman, false certificates of occupancy so he could obtain tax exemptions and operate a daycare facility at the property in which Goldman also resides.

Booker was arrested this morning. A sources told FailedMessiah.com Goldman is turning himself in now andis scheduled to appear in court this afternoon.

The false COs allowed Goldman to get large amounts of property-tax exemptions over a two-year period from 2012-2014 for Goldman's private home at 9 Zeissner Lane. Booker also reportedly filed false certificates that allowed Goldman and a company he is linked to to obtain income from the daycare.

Booker is reportedly charged with one count of third-degree grand larceny, three counts of falsifying business records, four counts of issuing a false certificate, three counts of offering a false instrument for filing, which are all felonies. He is also charged with one misdemeanor count of official misconduct. He pleaded not guilty and was released without bail.

"The defendant held an important and potentially life-saving position, but chose to allegedly circumvent the system and violate the public's trust. His arrest shows that our prosecutors and law enforcement have zero tolerance for criminal conduct that undermines the County's mandate to protect its citizens, District Attorney Thomas Zugibe reportedly said in a statement.

According to his attorneys Kenneth Gribetz and Deborah Loewenberg, Goldman will be charged with grand larceny.
Archeologists have found massacred human remains that point to ancient warfare  the most ancient warfare ever known.

Above: some of the massacred human remains

Evidence Of A Prehistoric Massacre Extends The History Of Warfare

Fred Lewsey  The University of Cambridge

The fossilised bones of a group of prehistoric hunter-gatherers who were massacred around 10,000 years ago have been unearthed 30km west of Lake Turkana, Kenya, at a place called Nataruk.

Researchers from Cambridge Universitys Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies (LCHES) found the partial remains of 27 individuals, including at least eight women and six children.

Twelve skeletons were in a relatively complete state, and ten of these showed clear signs of a violent death: including extreme blunt-force trauma to crania and cheekbones, broken hands, knees and ribs, arrow lesions to the neck, and stone projectile tips lodged in the skull and thorax of two men.

Several of the skeletons were found face down; most had severe cranial fractures. Among the in situ skeletons, at least five showed sharp-force trauma, some suggestive of arrow wounds. Four were discovered in a position indicating their hands had probably been bound, including a woman in the last stages of pregnancy. Foetal bones were uncovered.

The bodies were not buried. Some had fallen into a lagoon that has long since dried; the bones preserved in sediment.

The findings suggest these hunter-gatherers, perhaps members of an extended family, were attacked and killed by a rival group of prehistoric foragers. Researchers believe it is the earliest scientifically-dated historical evidence of human conflict  an ancient precursor to what we call warfare.

The origins of warfare are controversial: whether the capacity for organised violence occurs deep in the evolutionary history of our species, or is a symptom of the idea of ownership that came with the settling of land and agriculture.

The Nataruk massacre is the earliest record of inter-group violence among prehistoric hunter-gatherers who were largely nomadic. The only comparable evidence, discovered in Sudan in the 1960s, is undated, although often quoted as of similar age. It consists of cemetery burials, suggesting a settled lifestyle.

The deaths at Nataruk are testimony to the antiquity of inter-group violence and war, said Dr Marta Mirazon Lahr, from Cambridges LCHES, who directs the ERC-funded IN-AFRICA Project and led the Nataruk study, published today in the journal Nature.

These human remains record the intentional killing of a small band of foragers with no deliberate burial, and provide unique evidence that warfare was part of the repertoire of inter-group relations among some prehistoric hunter-gatherers, she said.

The site was first discovered in 2012. Following careful excavation, the researchers used radiocarbon and other dating techniques on the skeletons  as well as on samples of shell and sediment surrounding the remains  to place Nataruk in time. They estimate the event occurred between 9,500 to 10,500 years ago, around the start of the Holocene: the geological epoch that followed the last Ice Age.

Now scrubland, 10,000 years ago the area around Nataruk was a fertile lakeshore sustaining a substantial population of hunter-gatherers. The site would have been the edge of a lagoon near the shores of a much larger Lake Turkana, likely covered in marshland and bordered by forest and wooded corridors.

This lagoon-side location may have been an ideal place for prehistoric foragers to inhabit, with easy access to drinking water and fishing  and consequently, perhaps, a location coveted by others. The presence of pottery suggests the storage of foraged food.

The Nataruk massacre may have resulted from an attempt to seize resources  territory, women, children, food stored in pots  whose value was similar to those of later food-producing agricultural societies, among whom violent attacks on settlements became part of life, said Mirazon Lahr.

This would extend the history of the same underlying socio-economic conditions that characterise other instances of early warfare: a more settled, materially richer way of life. However, Nataruk may simply be evidence of a standard antagonistic response to an encounter between two social groups at that time.

Antagonism between hunter-gatherer groups in recent history often resulted in men being killed, with women and children subsumed into the victorious group. At Nataruk, however, it seems few, if any, were spared.

Of the 27 individuals recorded, 21 were adults: eight males, eight females, and five unknown. Partial remains of six children were found co-mingled or in close proximity to the remains of four adult women and of two fragmentary adults of unknown sex.

No children were found near or with any of the men. All except one of the juvenile remains are children under the age of six; the exception is a young teenager, aged 12-15 years dentally, but whose bones are noticeably small for his or her age.

Ten skeletons show evidence of major lesions likely to have been immediately lethal. As well as five  possibly six  cases of trauma associated with arrow wounds, five cases of extreme blunt-force to the head can be seen, possibly caused by a wooden club. Other recorded traumas include fractured knees, hands and ribs.

Three artefacts were found within two of the bodies, likely the remains of arrow or spear tips. Two of these are made from obsidian: a black volcanic rock easily worked to razor-like sharpness. Obsidian is rare in other late Stone Age sites of this area in West Turkana, which may suggest that the two groups confronted at Nataruk had different home ranges, said Mirazon Lahr.

One adult male skeleton had an obsidian bladelet still embedded in his skull. It didnt perforate the bone, but another lesion suggests a second weapon did, crushing the entire right-front part of the head and face. The man appears to have been hit in the head by at least two projectiles and in the knees by a blunt instrument, falling face down into the lagoons shallow water, said Mirazon Lahr.

Another adult male took two blows to the head  one above the right eye, the other on the left side of the skull  both crushing his skull at the point of impact, causing it to crack in different directions.

The remains of a six-to-nine month-old foetus were recovered from within the abdominal cavity of one of the women, who was discovered in an unusual sitting position  her broken knees protruding from the earth were all Mirazon Lahr and colleagues could see when they found her. The position of the body suggests that her hands and feet may have been bound.

The Nataruk remains are now housed at the Turkana Basin Institute, Turkwell Station, for the National Museums of Kenya.

While we will never know why these people were so violently killed, Nataruk is one of the clearest cases of inter-group violence among prehistoric hunter-gatherers, says Mirazon Lahr, and evidence for the presence of small-scale warfare among foraging societies.

For study co-author Professor Robert Foley, also from Cambridges LCHES, the findings at Nataruk are an echo of human violence as ancient, perhaps, as the altruism that has led us to be the most cooperative species on the planet.

Ive no doubt it is in our biology to be aggressive and lethal, just as it is to be deeply caring and loving. A lot of what we understand about human evolutionary biology suggests these are two sides of the same coin, Foley said.
Khalid al-Falih

Shocking: Saudi Arabia thinks oil prices at $30 per barrel are "irrational."

According to a report in The Financial Times, Khalid al-Falih, chairman of the state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco, said at the World Economic Forum in Davos that he expects a recovery in prices this year.

"The market has overshot on the low side and it is inevitable that it will start turning up," Falih said.

Saudi Arabia, however, is not prepared to cut production to bring prices back to something that it, apparently, thinks would make more sense.

In fact OPEC  the 13-member oil cartel Saudi Arabia effectively leads  is in disagreement over how to use production limits to possibly push oil prices higher. Gone are the days when Saudi Arabia and other OPEC states would simply turn off the tap and watch oil prices go up.

Though with oil near 13-year lows, that's something several OPEC members are willing to try.

A separate Bloomberg report also notes that that Nigeria's oil minister said at Davos that OPEC should meet soon to revise the decision it made at its December summit to not have a production ceiling.

Sources also told Bloomberg that Venezuela has requested an emergency meeting before the next one scheduled in June as the pain from low oil prices becomes more unbearable for the South American nation.

But reports indicate that Saudi Arabia is only willing to cut production if it can get other non-OPEC producers to do the same (read:Russia).

Essentially, Saudi Arabia does not want to be the first oil market giant to "blink" in this showdown between producers who want higher oil prices but are fearful of losing market share on any downturns in production.

On Thursday, Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude oil  the international and US benchmarks  jumped about 4% after tanking to new lows on Wednesday.

Head over to the FT for the full story 

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I first spoke with Aja McClanahan about her familys remarkable journey out of debt on my podcast Brown Ambition. Nine years ago, Aja and her husband were $120,000 in the hole. Read on to find out how they clawed their way out and what life is like after debt.

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When Aja McClanahan, 36, married her junior high sweetheart after college, the Chicago native knew exactly how her life would unfold. They would move to a cozy suburb, where they would have a couple of kids. She would launch a successful business as a translator and work from home, scheduling her hours around her childrens homeschooling lessons.

Her dreams didnt seem so far out of reach. She and her husband, Kelvin, had tallied up their student loan debt and although the $30,000 tab was daunting, they figured they could handle it. They rented a two-bedroom house in an upper-income neighborhood and Aja leased an office space for her new business venture, charging expenses to her credit card along the way. Within a year of marrying they had a daughter, and paid for childcare while they worked. Another daughter soon followed.

So did letters from debt collectors  a lot of them.

The couple quickly realized they had miscalculated exactly how much debt they had. An extra $30,000 or so worth of student loan debt had been unaccounted for, which was tacked onto $20,000-$30,000 of credit debt Aja racked up financing her business. They had also purchased a new car around that time, which added another $30,000 loan to their balance sheet. All in all, they were more than $120,000 in the red.

One evening, with bills, notices from debt collectors and a court subpoena for an unpaid private student loan laid out on their kitchen table, the couple came to grips with their new reality. We just said Oh my goodness, Aja recalls. It was terrible.

The subpoena was attached to a private loan Kelvin, who works for the U.S. Postal Service, took out during an unfruitful stint at a local trade school. A court eventually ruled in the lenders favor, allowing the company to garnish Kelvins wages to the tune of $750 per month.

Story continues

We were thinking we could finance our way to the American Dream, Aja told Yahoo Finance. You think, Im in my 20s and Im gonna have the standard of living my parents have in their 50s. We were just trying to keep up with people who were probably further in the hole than us.

You cant wish yourself debt free.

If they were going to get on top of their expenses, they knew their housing situation had to change. They could no longer afford the monthly $1,400 for their rental. They packed up their home  and their pride  and moved in with Ajas mother, which allowed them to free up space in their budget. Aja picked up a copy of Dave Ramseys Total Money Makeover  for inspiration, and credits the book with teaching them how to budget.

Photo: Aja and Kelvin McClanahan

But shes the first to admit clawing their way out of debt was anything but an overnight process. They stayed current on their loans but were mostly paying the minimum balances required, making progress, albeit slowly.

We hemmed and hawed a little bit, she says. It took us some time to really cut our budget.

A little less than two years into their new living arrangement, a family friend called with a proposition. The friend had inherited a home in Englewood, a notoriously crime-ridden neighborhood on the south side of Chicago (the same neighborhood that inspired Spike Lees recent film Chi-Raq) and was offering it  free  to the couple. When they visited the house, a four-bedroom, 2,000 sq. ft. bungalow, they found bulletholes riddling the backdoor.

With two young daughters, they initially balked at the idea. I grew up being able to bike ride and walk around so long as I came home before the streetlights came on, she says. That was something she could never envision allowing her girls to do.

But there was one major bonus: the mortgage was entirely paid off. All Aja and Kelvin had to do was say yes. With their frugal new lifestyle, they had money in the bank to finance a few repairs the home needed. Aja had always wanted to homeschool the girls anyway and her job, a contract position as a database consultant, was flexible enough to make it work.

"It seemed like everything lined up and it made sense for us to do it," she says.

The family moved in around 2010 and threw every bit of additional income they could sacrifice at their debt. They had made progress at that point, paying off roughly 40% of their original $110,000 total, but she knew they could do better. Dave Ramseys snowball method  paying off smallest debts first, working up to the largest  was their main strategy. But Aja says the best lesson she learned was simply how to budget. They had a few slip-ups along the way, including paying $30,000 to put their daughters into a ritzy private school, an expensive relapse into the Keeping up with the Joneses mindset. In the end they decided private school is nice but we need college money, she says.

As they paid off their debt, the couple never earned more than $100,000 combined annually. Reducing their living expenses to just a couple hundred bucks was the only way they were able to stay in control. All in all, they put roughly $1,000 a month toward their debt during the last five years of their payoff, a little less than what they once paid to rent a house in the suburbs.

We didnt have a linear path to debt freedom, Aja says. It took us some time to realize... you cant wish yourself debt free.

On the other side

Photo: Aja McClanahan

Aja and Kelvin paid their last loan bill in 2013. They have no plans to move out of their neighborhood anytime soon. The pull of suburban life, theyve found, isnt quite as strong anymore.

I feel incredibly fulfilled with what we have going here, she says. We're really apart of our community, were not shut up in our house. Its important for us to get out and interact with everyone.

Now that they arent setting aside most of their income to pay off debt each month, theyve built up a healthy savings account. They were able to spend six weeks last winter renting a place in California, a nice reprieve from Chicago weather. They also take their daughters on field trips, like a recent jaunt to Memphis where they visited the National Civil Rights Museum. Later this year, theyre renting a house for two weeks in the Dominican Republic, where Aja plans on taking the girls on nature hikes to learn about plant life.

Her eldest daughter, who is 10, is already learning the ins and outs of finance at a young age. Thanks to Aja's work flexibility, she can take her daughter to and from acting auditions. With the money she's earned so far, her daughter is learning to save and invest.

I get to do this because we have no mortgage and we live in the hood, Aja says. Its a tradeoff, but Ill take it.

*Correction: An earlier version of this story stated the National Civil Rights Museum is in Nashville. It is in Memphis.

Do you have a story to share? Email us at yfmoneymailbag@yahoo.com

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Turkey has been waging an intense offensive against the PKK rebels in the southeast to "cleanse" the towns of rebel elements (AFP Photo/Ilyas Akengin)

Istanbul (AFP) - Turkey security forces are subjecting residents of Kurdish-dominated southeastern Turkey to "collective punishment" with military operations backed by curfews, Amnesty International said on Thursday, accusing the army of "recklessly" using excessive force.

Turkey has imposed successive curfews over the last months in towns in the southeast to back military operations aiming to crush militants of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Curfews remain in place in Cizre in Sirnak province and the Sur district of Diyarbakir city, which were imposed on December 14 and December 2 respectively. A curfew in place since December 14 in Silopi, also in Sirnak, was partially lifted on Tuesday.

The army says hundreds of militants have been killed in an "anti-terror" operation but Kurdish groups have long raised alarm over the civilian toll.

"The operations currently being conducted under round-the-clock curfews are putting the lives of tens of thousands of people at risk and are beginning to resemble collective punishment," said John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International's Europe and Central Asia Programme Director.

Amnesty International called on the Turkish government to end the indefinite curfews, saying residents had been left without access to emergency health care, food, water and electricity for extended periods.

"Operations by police and the military in these areas have been characterised by abusive use of force, including firing heavy weaponry in residential neighbourhoods," the group said in a report.

"There is little doubt that the Turkish authorities are putting lives at risk by using lethal force excessively and recklessly," it added.

The military operations are particularly aimed at the PKK's youth branch the Patriotic Revolutionist Youth Movement (YDG-H) which the government says has dug trenches and erected barricades in urban areas.

"Security measures, including those aimed at arresting suspected members of YDG-H, must adhere to Turkey's obligations under international human rights law," said Amnesty.

Story continues

It quoted data from the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TIHV) saying that 162 people have been killed during the curfews since operations were launched in August 2015, including 29 women, 32 children and 24 people over 60.

With Turkey part of the US-led coalition against jihadists in Syria and a key player in the EU refugee crisis, Dalhuisen said the Turkish authorities had faced "very little" criticism from the international community.

"Strategic considerations... must not overshadow allegations of gross human rights violations. The international community must not look the other way," he said.
ROME (Reuters) - U.S. technology giant Apple will open a centre for developing apps in the southern Italian city of Naples, a move politicians welcomed as an opportunity to stimulate an economically depressed region. The iPhone maker said the facility, the first of its kind in Europe, would train aspiring mobile app software developers in a programme it hopes to extend to other countries. Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi hailed the planned centre as "an important experiment", and said it would provide opportunities for more than 600 students. Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook is due to visit Italy on Friday, Renzi told a news conference. Cook said on Twitter that the company he has headed since its late founder Steve Jobs stepped down in 2011 had created 1.4 million jobs in Europe, a tantalising prospect for Italy, where almost 40 percent of young people are unemployed. The situation is particularly bad in the poor regions of the south, including the area around Naples. According to national statistics office ISTAT, in the third quarter of 2015 just 43 percent of working age people in the southern regions had a job, compared with 61 percent in the more economically developed north. (Reporting by Isla Binnie)
NEW YORK, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Talks between Argentina and holdout creditors will resume negotiations on Feb. 1 in New York in the sovereign debt default case, Daniel Pollack, the U.S. court-appointed mediator, said on Wednesday.

"I have been in discussion with the Secretary of Finance of the Republic of Argentina and with principals of the major bondholders over the past two days, and I now anticipate that negotiations will resume at my offices in New York City on February 1 and 2," Pollack said in a short statement.

Pollack said that while it had been originally considered, but never confirmed that negotiations would restart the week of Jan. 25, "due to logistical difficulties which were encountered, the negotiations will resume the following week."

Earlier on Wednesday, the Argentine Finance Ministry issued a statement saying it was informed by Pollack on Tuesday evening that holdout investors "request to postpone the presentation... until the first week of February due to logistical problems." (Reporting By Daniel Bases; Editing by Sandra Maler)
Planet 9 Art

Astronomers are discovering dozens of new exoplanets each year, but it's been nearly 170 years since we detected a new planet in our own solar system.

Now, a team of astronomers who originally sought to kill the notion that there is a ninth planet orbiting our sun has accomplished just the opposite.

They have what they consider to be the strongest evidence yet for the farthest planet from our sun, informally called Phattie, but commonly known as Planet Nine.

Planet Nine was first proposed in 2014, and it has been the job of Konstantin Batygin and Michael Brown  both scientists in the Division of Geological and Planetary Science at the California Institute of Technology  to essentially debunk it.

"Our main goal at that point was to show that this idea is crazy," Brown told Nature News. Now, over a year later, Brown and Batygin are reporting the exact opposite  that a planet much larger than Earth is orbiting our sun 18.6 billion miles away. They reported their findings in a paper, which has been accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journal.

If this ninth planet exists, the team suspects it's 10 times the mass of Earth and 200 times farther from the sun. At that distance, it would take the planet between 10,000 to 20,000 Earth years to complete one trip around the sun. Pluto, for comparison, takes 248 years to complete its orbit.

At that distance, the possibility for life is near to none. Instead of life, you're likely to find a desolate ice ball with a gassy outer layer, like Neptune.

A smoking gun

Neptune

No one has yet observed Planet Nine, but there are other methods of detecting planets besides sight  namely through their gravitational influence on nearby objects.

In the mid 19th century, astronomers had observed bizarre perturbations in the orbit of Uranus which French mathematician Urbain Le Verrier said could be explained by the gravitational effect of another planet beyond Uranus. Thus, Neptune was discovered before it was ever observed.

Story continues

As it so happens, a similar case is what gave Planet Nine's existence away, the team reported. But instead of one Uranus, this times it's six different objects.

Traipsing through space at the fringes of our solar system are thousands of small, icy bodies that make up what astronomers call the Kuiper belt. Six Kuiper belt objects in particular are misbehaving in their expected orbits, the team reported.

"You can think of them like different hands on the clock," Brown told Popular Science. "They're all moving at different rates in the same direction, and every once in a while you look up and they are all in the same spot."

This bizarre alignment was the first sign that something was herding these objects. To find out what that something was, the team turned to powerful computer models that could test different potential reasons for what was causing the bodies' unusual orbits.

Two lines of evidence

For a while, the team was stumped, but when they tested the seemingly impossible  a giant planet beyond the Kuiper belt  they discovered their models matched perfectly with the observations. Here's an illustration of the six objects' orbits, as well as Planet Nine's:

planet x

But that wasn't enough to convince them. If, in fact, there was a ninth planet, then it would also hold a gravitational influence over some of the many other thousands of objects in the Kuiper belt. After all, gravity is not prejudiced.

One such influence would involve kicking objects into steep orbits. Compared to the eight planets which all orbit mostly in a flat disc around the sun, these objects would orbit nearly perpendicular to that disc.

As it turned out, astronomers in the past had detected half a dozen or so Kuiper belt objects with this exact type of orbit, but no explanation had been convincing enough at the time to understand this odd behavior. A ninth planet could be the solution.

"The fact that they're now marshaling two new, independent lines of evidence for a hypothetical planet makes their case even stronger," Greg Laughlin, who studies planet formation at the University of California, Santa Cruz and was not part of the research team, told Scientific American.

Prove it

Mauna Kea Observatory

Other experts remain unconvinced, however.

"I have seen many, many such claims in my career," Hal Levison, who's a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute, told Nature News. "And all of them have been wrong."

One way to prove their theory holds water is to observe Planet Nine through a telescope. That's why the team is currently scanning the skies with one of the most powerful telescopes on Earth, located on top of Mauna Kea in Hawaii.

Given its distance, spotting this potential planet will be extremely difficult but necessary, at least if we're ever to know of its existence beyond any doubt.

NOW WATCH: Astronomers have discovered a 9th planet in our solar system that's 10 times the mass of Earth





More From Business Insider


* Australia considers tighter anti-money laundering rules

* Follows criticism from global watchdog over real estate, gems

* Gems, houses can be paid in cash with no identification

* Purchases of pink diamonds by Chinese have increased-dealers

* About 70 percent of Chinese real estate buyers pay in cash

By Swati Pandey

SYDNEY, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Australia is considering tightening its anti-money laundering regulations to include real estate agents and precious stone dealers, sources said, following red flags from a global watchdog over potential illicit cash entering the country.

While tighter regulations would not be aimed at inflows from any one country, Australian authorities are reacting following a surge of cash from wealthy Chinese buyers looking for a safe haven away from the market turmoil of their home markets.

Property has long been on Chinese buyers' radar, but in recent months they have been snapping up Australia's rare pink diamonds, part of an unprecedented capital outflow from China that is rattling Beijing.

The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which assesses the ability of countries to fight illicit financial flows, told Reuters a lack of scrutiny by Australian authorities in the property and precious stones sectors was "an increasing high risk" in the global fight against money laundering and financing of extremists.

Australia's Attorney General's Department, responsible for the country's law and justice framework, is reviewing its rules to address those concerns, people familiar with the plans said. The rules already cover banking, remittance and gaming.

"The review is considering the potential extension to services that pose high money laundering and terrorism risks, including services provided by precious stone dealers, lawyers, accountants and real estate agents," one of these people said. "The review report will recommend options for reform."

Under Australian regulations, foreigners can splurge millions in cash for precious stones or a prime property without having to identify themselves or the source of their funds.

Story continues

The latest asset of choice for wealthy Chinese buyers appears to be pink diamonds - prized for their rarity. They make up just 0.01 percent of the world diamond market.

Wealth managers and precious stones dealers said Chinese, already the second-largest buyers of diamonds globally, are increasingly flocking to buy the gem in Australia, which produces 90 percent of the world's pink diamonds.

There is no national data on sales, but these sources say anecdotal evidence shows a sharp rise in buying in recent months.

"Rich Chinese are coming to Australia to buy pink diamonds, only the finest and rarest of pinks are mined here," Rami Baron, president of the Diamonds Dealers Club of Australia, said.

The price of pink diamonds has nearly doubled in the last five years. Jewellers say one carat of top quality pink diamond can cost more than A$1 million ($690,000) versus about A$23,000 for a flawless white rock.

However, sellers of diamonds are under no obligation to ask buyers where their funds come from, Baron said.

"We are in full support of all steps which eliminates the rogue element in our industry. However, we are neither police nor the tax man."

BEIJING ALARM

Chinese individuals are limited to moving $50,000 a year offshore. But an explosion in capital outflows since a slump in stocks markets last year and an unexpected devaluation of the yuan, has raised concern in Beijing that funds are being moved out of the country illegally. Authorities have announced measures to tighten loopholes.

Reflecting the increased pressure on capital outflows, China's foreign exchange reserves - the world's largest - fell a record $512.66 billion in 2015 to $3.33 trillion.

Anti-money laundering experts say diamonds offer many advantages for those looking to skirt cross-border financial restrictions. They are light, small and portable and unlike cash, don't have to be declared to customs and cannot be spotted by metal detectors.

The FATF said Australia agreed in 2003 to extend strict controls to sectors including precious stones and real estate, but had yet to act on those promises. Lax policing of a requirement for visitors to declare cash exceeding $10,000 per head at Australian airports is compounding its concern, FATF said.

"From the data and the on-site discussions it seems that custom officials would generally not pro-actively question a traveller who declares such large sums of cash," the FATF said last year in a report, which cited the risk of illicit funds flowing from China and other Asia-Pacific countries.

Australia is much more at risk from money laundering or cash smuggling in the property sector, experts say, with cash purchases rampant for most price ranges.

Among Chinese property buyers, about 70 percent pay in cash and fewer than a tenth use bank funding, said Simon Henry, co-CEO of juwai.com, the largest real estate portal that targets Chinese buyers looking abroad.

Apart from bringing suitcases of cash from China, money laundering experts say many wealthy buyers use fake invoices and underground banking to expatriate funds.

"I know (Chinese) use various schemes to get around the restrictions including using multiple family members and friends, etc," said John Cassara, a money laundering expert and former U.S. Treasury agent.

"But I suspect they also use (underground banking). And I also suspect that a number of Chinese imports from Australia are over-valued, thus allowing excess payment to be made to fronts in Australia."

(Reporting by Swati Pandey; Editing by Lisa Jucca and Neil Fullick)
Brinker International, Inc. EAT reported mixed fiscal second-quarter 2016 results, wherein earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate but revenues missed the same. Moreover, soft comps dented investors confidence. The company witnessed sluggishness in traffic due to an economic slowdown following oil price declines in certain U.S. markets, like Texas and Louisiana, where Brinker has considerable presence.



Earnings and Revenue Discussion



Adjusted earnings of 78 cents per share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 75 cents by 4%. Further, earnings increased 9.9% year over year backed by improved revenues.





Quarterly revenues rose 6.2% year over year to $788.6 million supported by 6.7% increase in company sales, offset by 8.7% decline in Franchise and Other revenues. However, revenues missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $796 million by 0.9%.



Brinker International primarily engages in the ownership, operation, development and franchising of various restaurant brands under the names Chilis Grill & Bar (Chilis) and Maggianos Little Italy (Maggianos).



Company-owned comps were down 2.6%, comparing unfavorably with 3.7% growth a year ago and 1.6% decline in the prior quarter. A decline in comps at both Maggiano's and Chilis hurt Brinkers comps.



Behind the Headline Numbers



Chili's reported revenues of $651 million, up 8.1% year over year, primarily on the back of an increase in restaurant capacity, partly offset by a decline in comps.



Domestic comps at Chili's declined 2.1%, comparing unfavorably with the year-ago quarter growth of 4.2% and the prior quarter decline of 1.1%. Chili's company-owned comps fell 2.8% due to 4% decline in traffic partly offset by a 0.4% favorable impact from the mix shift. Comps compared unfavorably with the prior-quarters decline of 1.6% and the year-ago increase of 4%.



Comps at Chilis franchised restaurants went up 0.9%, which compared unfavorably with 3.2% growth in the year-ago quarter and 2.2% improvement last quarter.



Comps in the second quarter were backed by 2.6% rise in international franchised comps, partly offset by domestic comps decline of 0.1%. Domestic comps grew 4.9%, while international comps declined 0.5% a year ago.



Chili's primarily operated in Texas and Louisiana, where the declining oil prices have led to macroeconomic slowdown. This affected traffic at Chilis.



Maggiano's sales declined 0.9% to $114.7 million. Comps went down 1.8%, comparing unfavorably with a decline of 1.7% in the prior quarter and growth of 2.3% a year ago. Comps reflect traffic decline and a negative impact of the menu shift, partly offset by the impact of favorable menu pricing.



Expenses and Margins



Cost of sales ratio improved 50 basis points (bps) year over year driven by favorable menu pricing and commodity pricing, partly offset by negative mix.



In fact, total costs and expenses increased 5.3% to $713 million, mainly due to higher restaurant expenses, and general and administrative costs. However, restaurant labor, as a percentage of revenues, increased 60 bps.



Restaurant operating margin decreased approximately 30 bps to 16.1% reflecting the mix impact of the lower margin Pepper Dining acquisition. Excluding Pepper Dining, the restaurant operating margin was up 10 bps. The improvement in cost of sales and restaurant expense ratio was partially offset by an increase in restaurant labor.



2016 Guidance



For 2016, Brinker reaffirmed the earnings per share guidance range of $3.55 to $3.65, up 15% to 18% year over year. The company expects revenue growth in the range of 1012%.



Further, the company continues to expect restaurant operating margin to be flat to down 25 bps year over year. Excluding the impact of the acquired Chili's restaurants, restaurant operating margin is likely to increase 25 bps to 50 bps from the last year.



Our Take



Brinkers performance in the first two quarters of fiscal 2016 was dampened by volatility in certain important markets.



However, we note that sales-building initiatives undertaken by the restaurateur, such as menu innovation, extensive reimaging, better food presentation, kitchen system optimization and introduction of a better service platform are aiding revenues, despite the comps decline. Nevertheless, we cannot ignore the rising expenses due to technological investments, and increasing labor costs that continue to be a concern for this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company.



Stocks to Consider



Some better-ranked stocks in the same industry are Darden Restaurants, Inc. DRI, Carrols Restaurant Group, Inc. TAST and Jack in the Box Inc. JACK. All these stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).



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Zacks Investment Research
CAIRO, Jan 21 (Reuters) - China and Egypt will sign 21 deals on Thursday including a $1 billion financing agreement with Egypt's central bank and a $700 million loan deal with the state-owned National Bank of Egypt.

Ministers from the two countries began signing the agreements, many of them memorandums of understanding, at a meeting in Cairo during a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The deals span a raft of infrastructure investments including an agreement between Egypt's Housing Ministry and a Chinese developer to work on the first phase of a new Egyptian administrative capital.

(Reporting by Ali Abdelaty and Lin Noueihed; Editing by Alison Williams)
By Faith Hung and Ben Blanchard TAIPEI/BEIJING (Reuters) - Taiwan expressed serious concern on Thursday over a Chinese state media broadcast of military live fire exercises and landing drills, just days after a landslide election win by an independence-leaning opposition party in Taiwan. Taiwan's defense ministry confirmed China's military recently carried out "winter exercises", but said that the pictures that accompanied the broadcast were archive video clips spliced together of drills conducted in 2015. "It exaggerates false reporting," the island's defense ministry said on its website. China considers Taiwan a wayward province, to be brought under its control by force if necessary. Defeated Nationalist forces fled to Taiwan in 1949 after the Chinese civil war. Late on Wednesday, Chinese state television said the 31st Group Army, based in China's southeastern city of Xiamen, opposite Taiwan, had carried out the drills in "recent days". It did not give an exact location. The channel broadcast images of amphibious armored vehicles plowing through the sea toward a landing site, helicopters firing missiles at shore locations and soldiers parachuting down from helicopters. The report made no direct mention of the Taiwan election. China's Defense Ministry did not respond to a request for comment. "This is very bad news," said Steve Lin, first deputy minister of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, the ministry in charge of China affairs. "...We'll raise our military deployment, and at the same time we'll deal with it via reasonable dialogue with the Chinese side. After all, it's both sides' responsibility to maintain peace across the Taiwan Strait." A Taiwanese military official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the broadcast may be "psychological warfare" warning the new Taiwan government to tread carefully. Right off Xiamen's coast is Kimnen, an island controlled by Taiwan since 1949 and until the late 1970s a place regularly shelled by China. Since Saturday's landslide win by Tsai Ing-wen and her Democratic Progressive Party in Taiwan's presidential and parliamentary elections, China has warned against any moves toward independence and said it will defend the country's sovereignty. Tsai has said she will maintain peace with China, and Chinese state-run media have also noted her pledges to maintain the "status quo" with China. The past eight years had been marked by calm between China and Taiwan, after the election of the China-friendly Ma Ying-jeou as president in 2008, and his subsequent re-election. Ma signed a series of key economic deals with Beijing and held a landmark meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in November in neutral Singapore. Taiwan is one of China's most sensitive political issues, and a core concern for the Communist Party, trumping even Beijing's claims in the South China Sea. China's military, the world's largest, held live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait in September, though Taiwan's Defense Ministry described them at the time as routine. Taiwan's military has warned that China has practiced attacks on targets modeled on places in Taiwan. Taiwan also estimates China aims hundreds of missiles at the island. (Additional reporting by J.R. Wu; Editing by Nick Macfie)
CAIRO, Jan 21 (Reuters) - China and Egypt are planning 15 projects in the Arab country that could be worth up to $15 billion, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Thursday.

Xi said the projects aimed to increase productive capacity in Egypt and included the electricity, transport and infrastructure sectors. Some have already been launched and others are still under discussion, he said at a joint news conference with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

(Reporting by Lin Noueihed and Ali Abdelaty; Editing by Dominic Evans)
BEIJING (Reuters) - The suspended stock market circuit breaker mechanism was not an appropriate policy for China, the deputy head of the country's securities regulator told CNN, two weeks after the mechanism was halted.

"The circuit breaker is a standard practice in a lot of Western markets, so we thought that perhaps it could work in China as well," Fang Xinghai, the vice chairman of China's Securities Regulatory Commission (CRSC) said in an interview with CNN on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

"But of course you know, in our market, dominated by small investors, coupled with the risk of the depreciation of the currency and downward pressure of a lot of emerging markets, there is a lot of pressure for selling."

On Jan. 8, Beijing ditched the circuit breaker - which halts trading when the market plunges by a certain level - only three days after it came into effect.

The introduction of the circuit breaker had "stopped liquidity" Fang said in the interview, which was posted on CNN's website late on Wednesday.

"It was not an appropriate policy for China and the regulator admitted it," he told CNN. "We should give regulators credit for admitting the mistake."

(Reporting by Beijing Monitoring Desk; Editing by Miral Fahmy)
Hillary Clinton continues to struggle on the left with criticism that she is too close to Wall Street and would not do enough to rein in the nation's largest banks. And now she is rolling out a new defense, saying she is just like President Barack Obama , who took a lot of Wall Street money in 2008.

It's a risky strategy that liberal Democrats so far aren't exactly buying.

The new defense was on display in Sunday night's Democratic debate when Bernie Sanders ripped Clinton for taking money for her campaign from big banks and getting "personal speaking fees from Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS)."

Clinton fired back that there was "no daylight" between her and Sanders on regulating Wall Street, saying "there should be no bank too big to fail and no individual too powerful to jail."

Then she pulled out the Obama card: "But where we disagree is the comments that Senator Sanders has made that don't just affect me, I can take that, but he's criticized President Obama for taking donations from Wall Street, and President Obama has led our country out of the great recession," Clinton said. "I'm going to defend President Obama for taking on Wall Street, taking on the financial industry and getting results."

In some respects, it's a shrewd strategy. Obama's national poll numbers are terrible, but he is still very popular among activist Democrats likely to vote in primaries. He is especially popular with African-American Democrats who Clinton will need in large numbers when the nominating contest turns to South Carolina and other Southern states after Iowa and New Hampshire.

If Clinton winds up losing Iowa and New Hampshire to Sanders  a real possibility  she will need a Southern fire wall to stop the Vermont senator's momentum. Casting Sanders as an Obama basher (even though he really isn't one) could certainly help Clinton roll up delegates after the first two nominating contests.

Story continues

Read More Civil rights icon: We must break barriers again in '16



But it could also backfire because it is far from a perfect comparison. While it is true that Obama took a lot of Wall Street cash in 2008  around $16 million, outpacing his GOP rival Sen. John McCain  he has not taken millions of dollars in speaking fees from the likes of Goldman Sachs and others, as Clinton has.

One Democratic operative working for a rival campaign emailed me regarding Clinton's latest attempt to beat back the Wall Street attack: "This is the sixth defense [Clinton] is trying out: An economic speech on capital gains will give me cover; Anyone who knows me knows I don't listen to donors; 9/11 endeared me to Wall Street; I went to Wall Street and told them to cut it out; I have a better plan than my opponents; President Obama took donations from Wall Street, too," this person said. "The problem is you can't really equate campaign contributions with personal income. There's quite a difference between receiving donations from Wall Street and personally profiting from it  though she's done both."

There is another problem with Clinton's "I'm just like Obama" defense on Wall Street: The president's record on dealing with the financial industry is not universally loved on the left. Many progressive Democrats remain both unsatisfied that the Dodd-Frank financial reform law did not do more to break up the biggest banks and outraged that no senior Wall Street executives were prosecuted following the financial crisis.

A second Democratic operative not aligned with any campaign emailed: "When do you think the Wall Street-friendly Democratic elites that have dominated the party since the first Clinton Administration are going to accept the fact that the polling consistently shows Bernie doing better in a general election than their preferred pick? Will they stick with Clinton even if it means blowing a chance to win the real prize? Smart money parlay is on 'never' and 'yes,'" this person said. "Clinton is now clearly running on Obama's legacy. That may work in some policy areas (like guns), but this may backfire on Wall Street regulation. Rightly or wrongly, President Obama is still stained by the bailouts and the inexplicable failure to prosecute really any leading bank executives as part of the crisis."

Clinton is moving on to the Obama defense in part because her "my plan is better" approach, while possibly correct, is a much tougher sell among liberals not especially interested in nuance when it comes to Wall Street reform.

Clinton has argued that a blunt approach that would break up banks based mainly on size rather than risk would not make a great deal of sense. She would use a relatively complex set of proposals to rein in Wall Street rather than simply breaking up the biggest banks as Sanders has promised to do.

"I have a risk-oriented approach that goes much further than reinstating Glass-Steagall," Clinton said in New Hampshire last month. "Now, it will take a little while longer to explain it."

That last sentence represents her biggest problem. Targeting risk rather than size is a very appealing approach to policy wonks. But it does not exactly fire up the pitchfork-wielding activists who want the biggest banks smashed and executives led away in handcuffs.

And now Clinton is expecting voters to recoil at Sanders' implied criticism of Obama even though the president never gave big ticket speeches to banks and saw his Wall Street financial support plunge in 2012 following implementation of Dodd-Frank.

It could wind up working. But it's a better bet that Clinton will simply take her lumps over her ties to Wall Street and go on to win the nomination anyway.

Ben White is Politico's chief economic correspondent and a CNBC contributor. He also authors the daily tip sheet Politico Morning Money [politico.com/morningmoney]. Follow him on Twitter @morningmoneyben.







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The Coca-Cola Company logo is pictured during a presentation in Paris, France, January 19, 2016. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Coca-Cola Co (KO.N) will invest $1 billion over four years in its bottling and distribution operations in Argentina, the company said on Thursday, and leave the door open to further acquisitions in the South American country.

Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent told Argentine President Mauricio Macri of the spending plan when the two met at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where Macri has been courting chief executives with a message that Argentina is open for business.

Macri, who took office on Dec.10, has dismantled capital controls and unified the country's currency exchange rate, overseen the easing of some banking regulations and resumed negotiations with holdout creditors as part of a drive to restore investors' battered confidence.

Francisco Do Pico, a spokesman for Coca-Cola Argentina, said the investment would include a new bottling plant in the northern Corrientes province and two new distribution centers. Construction of the bottling factory had already started, he said.

"At this time we do not rule out acquiring a local company in the non-alcoholic drink sector," Do Pico added, without giving any further details on possible acquisitions in the pipeline.

Macri also met with the CEOs of The Dow Chemical Company (DOW.N), Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) and Facebook (FB.N) Thursday.

(Reporting by Juliana Castilla; Writing by Richard Lough; Editing by Larry King and Diane Craft)
QUITO (Reuters) - Ecuador, whose U.K. embassy provides refuge to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, will have him answer questions from Swedish authorities about allegations of assault and rape against two women, President Rafael Correa said on Wednesday.

Correa told reporters at a briefing that he expects Assange to be questioned by Ecuadorean authorities in the next few days.

Assange, an Australian citizen, sought protection in Ecuador's embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is alleged to have committed the crimes while on a visit.

Assange has said he fears Sweden will extradite him to the United States where he could be put on trial over WikiLeaks' publication of classified military and diplomatic documents five years ago, one of the largest information leaks in U.S. history.

Britain has accused Ecuador of preventing the course of justice by allowing Assange to remain in its embassy in the upmarket central London area of Knightsbridge since 2012.

Ecuador's Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said Swedish judicial authorities had shown "real lack of respect" by sending a questionnaire with some sections crossed out by hand, and a new version had been requested before the case could proceed.

(Reporting by Alexandra Valencia; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Girish Gupta, David Gregorio and Andrew Hay)
JAKARTA, INDONESIA--(Marketwired - Jan 21, 2016) - According to the latest annual Global Salary Survey from specialist professional recruitment firm Robert Walters, competition for key bilingual professionals in Indonesia is expected in the rapidly emerging industries.

These hotspots will include e-commerce, digital, technical healthcare and insurance. As firms across these sectors focus on gaining a stronger foothold in 2016, established multinational corporations are anticipated to face competition in attracting and retaining top talent.

Published figures suggested that qualified candidates changing roles can expect an average overall salary package increment of 20-30% in 2016. Increases of up to 50% will not be uncommon for niche positions.

Rob Bryson, Director of Robert Walters Indonesia, comments:

"In order to boost efficiency and productivity gains, businesses are in competition to assemble the best workforce. However as the skills shortage hits higher levels of severity, the demand for specialist professionals will continue to outstrip the supply in Indonesia. In addition, this will fuel the interest for returning Indonesians currently working or studying abroad. Hiring managers must be prepared to constantly assess their total salary packages to ensure they are offering attractive compensation."

Other Key Highlights for 2016

With the rapid growth of social media and digital platforms, particularly in e-commerce and mobile, demand for developers through to CTOs will escalate

The government's mandate for companies to hub IT infrastructure onshore will drive opportunities for IT project, program, operations and support professionals

Qualified professionals proficient in English are likely to see positions in the e-commerce, technical healthcare, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications and life sciences sectors

As more businesses channel efforts into building efficiency and productivity, HR professionals will be sought after to train and develop internal talent

Story continues

Notes to editors:

1. Robert Walters is one of the world's leading specialist professional recruitment consultancies and focuses on placing high calibre professionals into permanent, contract and temporary positions at all levels of seniority. The Indonesia business recruits across the accounting, banking, financial services, HR, IT, legal, marketing and sales fields. Established in 1985, the Group has built a global presence spanning 24 countries and regions.

2. Compiled by our dedicated research division, the Salary Survey is based on an analysis of placements made across our network of offices and specialist disciplines during the course of 2015. Now in its 17th year, the Survey is used by employers, HR managers and employees for benchmarking salary levels within their industry.

Company logo

http://release.media-outreach.com/i/Download/2487

Spokespeople fluent in both Bahasa Indonesia and English will be available for interview requests.
Europe's economy is in the best shape in six years though progress in the recovery is slow, the chief executive of Credit Suisse told CNBC.

"I think Europe is in the best position it has been since 2010," Tidjane Thiam told CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday.

His comments come as Europe traded sharply lower on Wednesday, taking cues from a weak session in Asia and fresh lows in the oil markets.

The pan-European STOXX 600 stumbled around 3 percent in early deals, with all major European benchmarks also down in excess of 2 percent. U.S. stock index futures pointed to a sharply lower open, with Dow futures sinking in excess of 300 points.

"I've never been optimistic on Europe. I'm actually quite on the record as a euro bear, so I think that the fact that I swing to a positive here I hope is meaningful," he added.

The euro zone economy grew 0.3 percent in the third quarter of 2015, a slowdown from the 0.4 percent recorded in the previous quarter.

But Thiam said the persistently low oil price is positive for the world economy.

"I still remain on the positive side because oilglobally it's great news for all the oil importing countriesgreat news for the U.S. economy and the U.S. consumer. It's been really supporting global growth," Thiam said.

The Credit Suisse boss did admit that the economy was improving slowly however, adding that political issues across the 28-nation European Union (EU) would continue.

"I've never not seen a problem in Europe," Thiam said.

The comments were echoed by another business leader.

"We are seeing the economy in Europe growing, in spite of us not having made an awful lot of structural changes to the countries' economies. So I think there are a lot of hidden pluses to the low oil prices, but of course every change is having its victims," Nils Andersen, the CEO of Moller Maersk, told CNBC in a TV interview at Davos.

 With contribution from CNBC's Katy Barnato .





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Europe needs to spend a lot more money on dealing with the migrant crisis, the head of the Eurogroup of finance ministers told CNBC on Thursday.



"We need to spend a lot more in dealing with the migrant crisis in the region where the vast majority of the refugees still are, in Syria, in Jordan, in Lebanon," Jeroen Dijsselbloem told CNBC on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos.

"That requires extra money and many member states have put it up, we have made money available from the EU budget but we'll have to do more," he added. "That we need to open up more budget for the crisis is very clear to me."

Europe's migrant crisis has been a hot talking point at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos this year, but the region's measures to deport migrants "who don't deserve international protection" need to be improved, the vice-president for Jobs, Growth and Competitiveness in the European Commission, told CNBC.



"We have to treat newcomers as human beings. People want to come to Europe to have a better life and we have to respect their will but we have to look at how sustainable the current influx is," Jyrki Katainen said on Thursday on the sidelines of WEF in Davos.

"We have a relocation scheme, we're also helping the member states take care of their external borders because it's the precondition for freedom of movement in Europe. But we also we are making our procedures faster to return those who don't deserve international protection."

The refugee crisis in Europe has been a talking point at Davos this year, especially as more than one million migrants have arrived in the continent in 2015, most of whom fleeing war and persecution in the Middle East.

However, with divisions across Europe over controlling the movement of migrants and questions over integration, concerns are being raised over the effectiveness of the region's response.

While the German President Joachim Gauck told an audience at Davos on Wednesday that a cap on migrants might be "morally and politically right," Sweden's prime minister told CNBC yesterday that it was wrong to say that refugees lead to insecurity and that the crisis could be controlled without closing borders.



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Katainen conceded that Europe faced a huge challenge and that systems needed to be improved to ensure that those who were not asylum seekers could be returned to their countries of origin.

"Our systems haven't been designed so this many people can come in in this short time period so it is really a big challenge for European societies but as I said, we have to treat newcomers as human beings while making sure the systems are fair  that everyone who deserves international protection gets our protection but those that don't deserve it must be returned as quickly as possible."

The migrant crisis has complicated the outlook and political and economic relations in Europe amid a nascent recovery yet residual unemployment.

In 2014, the commission unveiled a 300 billion euro ($327 billion) investment plan aimed at reviving Europe's slow economy. A lot of that money was aimed at creating more jobs in a region where unemployment is still a problem, particularly in southern Europe.

Greece and Spain have the highest jobless rates in the euro zone, with the latest figures showing that 24.6 percent of adults are unemployed in Greece and 21.4 percent in Spain, according to Eurostat. For those aged between 16 and 25, the situation is even worse with almost 50 percent of youg people without a job in Greece, and 47.5 percent in Spain.

Katainen said the European Commissions' program  known as the "Juncker plan" after the Commission's President  was moving forward and jobs were being created.

"The plan is up and running, so we have a new fund called the European Fund for Strategic Investment (EFSI) and it has signed concrete agreements with the banks to finance SMEs (small and medium-sized businesses."

"So we have a current lead of financing projects worth 7 billion euros so far and this will create something like 120,000 jobs and 50 billion euros in new investments."

Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook.





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steven avery making a murderer

Former police sergeant and cold-case expert John Cameron believes he knows who killed Teresa Halbach  and it isn't "Making a Murderer" subject Steven Avery.

Cameron has a theory outlined on his website, as Uproxx previously reported, that an infamous serial killer named Edward Wayne Edwards, who's known to frame others for his murders, is behind the killing that's at the center of the Netflix docuseries.

And there are certainly some interesting connections.

What would connect Edwards to the murder?

1. Edwards is known to find victims or people to frame who have been spotlighted in the media. He may have discovered Avery through any of many stories on TV and other media when he was first exonerated for the brutal assault of a local female while she was jogging.

2. It's believed that Edwards is connected to many unsolved murder cases. Edwards' blog posts and letters to police, family of victims, and the press have led many to believe that he's guilty of murders he was never tried for. Investigators have long suspected Edwards may be involved in the Zodiac slayings.

3. Edwards liked to kill on Halloween. Halbach disappeared on that day in 2005.

4. Edwards had killed in Wisconsin before. In 1980, he killed Wisconsin couple Tim Hack and Kelly Drew. The crime would be called the "sweetheart murders." And it's believed he was an hour away from where Avery lived at the time of Halbach's murder.

5. Edwards likes to attend his victims' funerals and trials. He is believed to have been caught on HBO's documentary about the West Memphis Three. And Cameron discovered the below shot during the sixth episode of "Making a Murderer," with a man who looks like Edwards.

edward wayne edwards making a murderer

Cameron spent some time in Wisconsin to try and identify the man, but was unable to do so.

Edwards died in 2011 while serving time in Ohio.

Story continues





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GM Maven

While other car companies have been dancing around the future where no one owns cars, GM is asserting itself and positioning for the win.

"We see the emergence of car-share/ride-share as much more of an opportunity than it is a threat," said GM's president Don Ammann during a press conference for reporters.

On Thursday, the company plans to announce a new service, Maven, which pulls together its assembly of car-sharing services into its bet on the future.

GM has tested services where people share their own cars, but Mavens will incorporate that with a twist. Instead of needing to own one, GM will supply cars that customers can rent by the hour or for days. Unlike a traditional rental car spot, there's no counter or clerk  you just walk up, unlock the car with an app, and go. As long as you return it to the same parking spot, you're good.

While a part of GM, Maven is its own consumer-facing name and service designed to compete (and hopefully surpass) startups like Getaround, Zipcar, and Turo, which have pioneered the car-sharing industry.

Maven will work similar to other car-sharing companies, but it's magic will be in the phone app and in-car amenities like OnStar, said Julia Steyn, the VP of Urban Mobility leading the project.

"A Maven customer would download the app and that smartphone will be used as the key to the vehicle. When you come to the car, you can open the car for you and you can be on your way," Steyn said.

Plus, the app will include options like remote heating and cooling, so the car will match your likes from the moment you get in, she added.

Rather than blanketing cities in parking spaces, Maven is also tailoring its programs to be designed for the location.

Its residential option in New York City lets apartment dwellers in the same building share a car. For its new pilot in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Maven is installing 21 parking spaces around town and the University of Michigan's campus to give students and residents alike a chance to rent a vehicle for a short time.

Story continues

It's not a revenue-generating endeavor for the company, yet. The cars in Maven's program start at $6 an hour, so it would need to be driven many thousands of hours before paying for itself.

As Ammann explained, the reality is many people still want to own cars, and GM expects to sell millions of those cars for many years to come. However, there's also a growing segment of the population who aren't as interested in buying cars as generations past  and that's who GM is courting with Maven.

"We do see significant change in consumer behavior," Ammann said. "And we see significant opportunities as change occurs. We very much as a company want to put some thought into the forefront of that."

The rebound of GM

Six years ago, GM was on the brink of failure. Amidst the financial crisis of 2009, the automaker filed for bankruptcy, shed its brands like Hummer and Saturn, and tried to turn itself around.

GM_Timeline

The auto industry looked bleak for many a company. At the same time, a little upstart called Uber was launching in San Francisco.

Fast forward six years and the auto industry is recovering strongly, but the road to the future has changed. Uber claims it will do away with cars, and is already making a dent in it.

The auto business has changed as much in the last five years as the 50 previous, Amman said, reiterating industry lore.

GM has already cut $5.5 billion in costs to help finance its investment in new technology.

GM and every legacy automaker can't lose out. Maven is one part of GM's answer.

Moving like a startup

The signs toward the launch of Maven have been planted along the way, but it took until today for GM to pull them into a cohesive bet on the future.

Earlier this month, GM announced a strategic partnership and an investment in Lyft. GM will supply Lyft drivers with mini car rental hubs, and the new pair are working on a line of autonomous vehicles.

Secretly, in December, GM also signed the paperwork to acquire a rival to Sidecar, Lyft and Uber. One of the pioneers of ride-hailing companies and owner of a particularly important patent that could challenge Uber, Sidecar shut down at the end of the month and handed over its IP to GM. 20 team members joined the Maven team, although Sidecar's CEO didn't make the leap.

Meanwhile, the automaker also has been stealthily poaching employees from Google and Zipcar, one of the original car-sharing services.

Across the world, GM has also been testing variations on the car-sharing idea. Its residential program, previously called Let's Drive NYC, placed cars in the parking garages of apartment complexes like an added perk. Instead of anyone having access to the car, only residents of the building could rent it for a trip to the grocery store or a quick day trip.

GM Maven

It's a model that proved successful since its October 2015 launch. Now folded into Maven, the residential program will be expanding into Chicago and to more New York locations in 2016. The company estimates that portion of the business will reach more than 5,000.

GM had also been testing on college campuses in China and Germany. Those have been the proving ground for much of Maven's development, Steyn said. Another peer-to-peer testing network in Germany has already had 10,000 people use the service, she added.

Steyn chose the name Maven because it means expert and connoisseur. Now GM faces the task of living up to it if it wants to win the car-sharing class of the future.

NOW WATCH: This is what it's like to drive Chevy's Tesla-killer





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DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Thursday that Athens accepts its European partners' insistence that the International Monetary Fund should play a role in supervising the country's international bailout.

Addressing the World Economic Forum in Davos on a panel that included German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, Tsipras said Greece believed the European Union could manage the programme on its own but it accepted that other partners wanted the IMF involved.

"There has been a long debate, we have heard different views. Some partners asked that the IMF be involved and we agreed in order to have the agreement. Now we are doing all we can to implement this agreement," he said.

Schaeuble said the German and other parliaments had agreed to aid Greece on condition that the IMF remained engaged in the programme and it would be like "entering a room full of dynamite with a lighted candle" to ask the Bundestag to change that agreement.

(Writing by Paul Taylor; editing by Dominic Evans)
(Adds Tsipras on divisions among lenders)

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Thursday that Athens accepts its European partners' insistence that the International Monetary Fund should play a role in supervising the country's international bailout.

Addressing the World Economic Forum in Davos on a panel that included German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, Tsipras said Greece believed the European Union could manage the programme on its own but it accepted that other partners wanted the IMF involved.

"There has been a long debate, we have heard different views. Some partners asked that the IMF be involved and we agreed in order to have the agreement. Now we are doing all we can to implement this agreement," he said.

Schaeuble said the German and other parliaments had agreed to aid Greece on condition that the IMF remained engaged in the programme and it would be like "entering a room full of dynamite with a lighted candle" to ask the Bundestag to change that agreement.

Tsipras joked that he didn't want Schaeuble to blow himself up so they needed to remove the dynamite before he entered that room.

The leftist Greek leader, who was due to meet IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde later in the day, said what mattered was that differences among Athens' lenders should not delay concluding a first review of the bailout programme.

Greece is debating a politically sensitive pension reform which is a pre-condition for completing the first review and starting talks on debt restructuring but which has prompted a wave of strikes.

IMF and European Union officials have voiced reservations about the proposed pension reform because it would be funded partly by increases in contributions by employers and employees, which they contend would prevent economic recovery and job creation in the official economy.

Tsipras insisted on the Davos panel that there should not be another across-the-board cut in pensions after 12 previous pension reforms that cut benefits since the start of Greece's bailouts in 2010.

Schaeuble did not comment specifically on the pension reform but said what mattered most was the European Union countries stuck to the agreements they reached -- a frequent German criticism of Greece's performance in the past six years.

(Writing by Paul Taylor; Editing by Catherine Evans)
DENVER, CO--(Marketwired - Jan 21, 2016) - Griffis Residential, a Denver-based multifamily investment and management firm, announced today that it has acquired Berkshires on Elliott Apartments, a 233-unit Class-A multifamily community located in the downtown Seattle neighborhood of Belltown. With the acquisition, Griffis Residential owns and manages 7,750 apartment units in Colorado, Texas, Nevada and Washington. Additional target markets include Portland and the San Francisco metro area.

Effective immediately, Berkshires on Elliott Apartments has been renamed Griffis Belltown Seattle. For community and leasing information visit GriffisBelltown.com.

"We are looking forward to implementing our value-add strategies and service upgrades at Griffis Belltown," said Griffis Residential Co-CEO, Ian Griffis. "While the supply of apartments in Seattle is expanding, the long-term economic future of this innovation hub is appealing. Demographics continue to favor the apartment industry going forward."

Griffis Belltown offers studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom units that feature in-unit washers and dryers, breakfast bars, fully-equipped kitchens, and gas fireplaces. Along with private patios and balconies, the rooftop community deck offers stunning panoramic views of downtown Seattle and the Puget Sound. Additional community amenities include garage parking and elevators, an outdoor fireplace, heated pool and spa, media rooms, and a fitness center.

Major area employers within approximately two miles from the community include Zulily's headquarters, the upcoming Expedia campus, and the sprawling Amazon world headquarters/main campus.

For property photos please visit http://griffisbelltown.com/community/Griffis-Belltown-apartments/visuals.

About Griffis Residential

With nearly $1.2 billion in multifamily assets under management, Griffis Residential is a multifamily real estate investment company that owns and manages 7,550 Class-A apartment units in Colorado, Texas, Nevada, and Washington. Headed by Ian Griffis, David Birnbaum, and Tom Barta, Griffis Residential focuses on balancing an aggressive expansion strategy with a superior guest experience for its residents. For more information, visit GriffisResidential.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release may be "forward-looking statements" that are not based on historical facts and that reflect current views and estimates about future economic circumstances, market conditions and opportunities and the performance of portfolio investments. Such statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including the ability to implement our investment program that could cause the actual performance to materially differ from any anticipated or projected performance expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Griffis Residential cannot guarantee future performance and the company does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any such statements.

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Robert Levinson

On January 16, the US secured the release of five American citizens who were, in the words of President Barack Obama, "unjustly detained" in Iran.

Their freedom came at a steep price: The US pardoned or dropped charges against seven Iranian citizens accused of violating US sanctions against the country, effectively swapping criminals for hostages.

The US dropped all charges against 14 additional regime-linked figures, including the CEO of Mahan Air, a state-owned airline accused of ferrying arms and fighters t o the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria . An Iranian general has also claimed that the US made a $1.7 billion direct payment to the Iranian government on debts stemming from the 1979 break in diplomatic relations as a condition for the prisoners' freedom.

Even this wasn't enough to secure the release of two other Americans still held in Iran: Siamak Namazi, an oil executive and longtime proponent of closer relations between the US and Iran who was arrested in Tehran in October, and Robert Levinson, a security consultant, former FBI agent, and CIA contractor who disappeared on the island of Kish, in the Persian Gulf, on March 9, 2007.

In 2013, Levinson became the longest-held hostage in American history, passing Associated Press correspondent Terry Anderson, who was held by Lebanese Hezbollah during the 1980s.

Levinson's situation is thorny  for both countries. Levinson  a longtime veteran of the FBI's money laundering division and specialist on Russian organized crime  was doing work for the agency that fell outside the scope of the analytics division that had him under contract, as a 2013 New York Times report uncovered. The CIA's Illicit Finance Group was using Levinson for freelance source recruitment and information gathering.

The Times reported that Levinson informed his CIA bosses that he intended on going to Kish. At the time, Levinson was in Dubai investigating cigarette smuggling in the Persian Gulf region on behalf of a private client. And although CIA investigators never firmly established that Levinson was traveling on agency business, the episode cost three CIA officials their jobs, according to the Times.

Story continues

The failure to free Levinson under the January 16 deal owes in part to the Iranian government's claims that he isn't in their custody. That might technically be true. But the best public explanation of what happened to him suggests the Iranian government was responsible for his capture.



Screen Shot 2016 01 20 at 5.55.42 PM

In December of 2013, shortly after the Associated Press and The New York Times published the details of Levinson's CIA affiliation, Time Magazine published an interview with Dawud Salahuddin, the person Levinson planned on meeting in Kish. Salahuddin was born in New York and converted to Islam as a young adult. He fled the US in 1980 after assassinating Ali Akbar Tabatabaei, an Iranian dissident and a former diplomat under the deposed Shah on Iran, in Potomac, Maryland.

Salahuddin is an almost unique figure in the Middle East: A fluent English speaker who has killed on behalf of the Iranian regime and has a deep knowledge of Iran's government and society  as well as a certain exhaustion towards a country where he's been stuck for the past 36 years. A former employee of Iran's state-owned Press TV, he is both well-connected and somewhat free to speak and travel within Iran. (Salahuddin also had one of the leading roles in "Kandahar," Mohsen Makhmalbaf's acclaimed 2001 film about a woman's search for her sister in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan).

Levinson must have realized that Salahuddin made an ideal intelligence source. But due to Salahuddin's high profile, American citizenship and links to the regime, he was an asset who ran the risk of attracting the wrong kind of attention. And as The New York Times report noted, Levinson had no experience working in Iran and little knowledge of the country.

Rezaian

According to the Times, Levinson was put in touch with Salahuddin through Ira Silverman, a retired NBC News producer who knew Levinson during his FBI days, and had profiled Salahuddin for The New Yorker in 2002.

Salahuddin told Time he agreed to meet Levinson after speaking with him on the phone three times. They met at Kish's Maryam Hotel, "where Levinson had booked them into the same room  a fatal error, Salahuddin came to realize." According to Time, "The presence of two Americans drew the attention of the Interior Ministry, whose officials routinely check hotel registrations. Both men were detained by ministry officials; Salahuddin spent the night in jail, and never saw Levinson again."

In the Time interview, Salahuddin denied he knew Levinson was attempting to recruit him as a CIA source. He also pushed back against the insinuation that Iranian intelligence services had used him as bait for Levinson.

The notion that it was some kind of brilliant move on the part of Iranian intelligence is bull---t, Salahuddin told Time. It was dumb luck. Ive been around these guys long enough to know when theyre on to something and when they get lucky. And those guys were lucky. In context, Salahuddin's "those guys" refers to security officials connected to Iran's Interior Ministry.

Salahuddin has plenty of reason not to be entirely truthful about his meeting with Levinson. As Salahuddin told Time, "over the years I have lost a lot of respect for the Iranian system ... It relies on blunt force. Iranians are afraid of their government. The basis of their rule is not love and respect for their rulers, its fear." He met with Levinson's family in Iran in 2007 and might have been looking for a way out of the country  an objective that would become a lot more complicated if it ever turned out he knowingly lured a US intelligence contractor into a state-sponsored kidnapping.

Regardless of his motives, Salahuddin told Time that he was kept in Interior Ministry custody the night he met Levinson. It's reasonable to assume the Iranian state held Levinson as well, at least at the outset of his captivity.

What exactly happened to Levinson after that? As late as 2012, then-Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made what experts interpreted as a "tacit admission" that Levinson was in Iranian state custody. The fact that the Iranian government claims it can no longer account for Levinson's whereabouts suggests that he's either considered too important of a prisoner to release even as a gesture of cooperating or goodwill, or that he was transferred at some point to a paramilitary group with ties to the Iranian regime.

The latter possibility seems the more likely of the two. Shortly after the swap, high-ranking US Middle East diplomat Brett McGurk told PBS that the US suspects Levinson is no longer being held in Iran.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei departs after casting his ballot in the parliamentary election in Tehran March 2, 2012. REUTERS/Caren Firouz

Levinson's disappearance highlights an uncomfortable reality about the nature of the Iranian regime.

The Iranian government is highly fractionalized, consisting of a national security and intelligence elite that often acts independently of the country's political leadership.

The relationship between the regime's various centers of power is never entirely clear, and this uncertainty gives the regime's most dangerous elements an alarming degree of freedom. It's not obvious how much control Iran's current president, Hassan Rouhani, has over Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite special forces unit, the Qods Force. However, it's clear Suleimani has broad ability to aid and coordinate Shiite militia groups throughout Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria.

Iran's boosting of militants and terrorist groups is enabled partly through the regime's compartmentalization. Iran doesn't just have external proxy groups that act as an extension of the regime's policy, or at least the preferred policies of certain regime elements. There are also government-supported paramilitaries acting within the country as well  entities like the Basij militia.

The dangers of the regime's closeness to militia groups was on display when Iran-linked militants in Baghdad kidnapped three American contractors earlier this month.

America's recent nuclear deal with Iran might have built unprecedented degrees of trust and confidence between the countries, reframing and de-escalating their relationship for decades to come. But as Levinson's ordeal and the kidnapping in Baghdad each demonstrate, the thaw hasn't changed the composition of the Iranian regime, or dissuaded it from stopping some of its most provocative behavior.

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PALO ALTO, CA--(Marketwired - January 21, 2016) - VMware, Inc. (VMW), a global leader in cloud infrastructure and business mobility, today announced that VMware is positioned as a Leader in both "The Forrester Wave: Hybrid Cloud Management Solutions, Q1 2016" and "The Forrester Wave: Private Cloud Software Suites, Q1 2016." According to Forrester's reports, VMware achieved the highest score for cloud operations amongst the 11 hybrid cloud management vendors evaluated and the highest score for current offering amongst the nine private cloud vendors evaluated.

"The Forrester Wave: Hybrid Cloud Management Solutions, Q1 2016" states that "The vRealize Suite includes vRealize Automation, Application Services, Business Standard, Orchestrator and Operations. The combined products work well together and offer solid cloud resource discovery and on-boarding, deep configuration and automated provisioning, and integrated cost and performance optimization." The report examines how "a hybrid cloud management solution (HCMS) helps companies balance the competing demands and responsibilities of cloud developers and technology managers."

According to "The Forrester Wave: Private Cloud Software Suites, Q1 2016," "VMware's vRealize Enterprise Suite 6.0 provides a powerful and intuitive administrative interface with granular permissions and a wealth of tracked operations metrics." The report continues: "As a private cloud software suite, this product is strong. Over the next 12 months, VMware plans to focus on hybrid cloud enablement, build out platform integrations, provide deeper integrations with software-defined data center (SDDC) technology, and simplify the solution." This Forrester Wave measured current offering criteria such as cloud management and self-service access, service management and creation, automation capabilities, heterogeneity, contract terms and support, and cost.

"We are delighted that Forrester has named VMware as a leader in both hybrid cloud management solutions and private cloud software suites," said Ajay Singh, senior vice president and general manager, Management Suites Business Unit, VMware. "We believe this ranking from one of the industry's leading analyst firms affirms our customers' confidence they have selected the right partner for their cloud journey, whether they plan to run a private, public or hybrid cloud."

The VMware vRealize Suite addresses cloud management requirements across day-one and day-two operations for compute, storage, network and application level resources in heterogeneous, hybrid clouds. According to a Forrester Total Economic Impact study, the VMware vRealize Suite increases business agility by accelerating the application release process from weeks to less than one day, while improving IT efficiency by reducing capacity used by 10 percent and delivering hardware cost avoidance of 15 percent, resulting in a Return on Investment of 243 percent. (1)

Additional Resources

About VMware

VMware is a global leader in cloud infrastructure and business mobility. Built on VMware's industry-leading virtualization technology, our solutions deliver a brave new model of IT that is fluid, instant and more secure. Customers can innovate faster by rapidly developing, automatically delivering and more safely consuming any application. With 2014 revenues of $6 billion, VMware has more than 500,000 customers and 75,000 partners. The company is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the world and can be found online at www.vmware.com.

VMware, vRealize, vRealize Automation, vRealize Application Services, vRealize Orchestrator, and vRealize Operations are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and other jurisdictions. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies.

(1) Forrester, "The Total Economic Impact of VMware's Automated Application Deployment," June 2015, a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of VMware
The logo of Sharp Corp is seen at Tochigi plant in Yaita, north of Tokyo, November 19, 2015. REUTERS/Reiji Murai

By Ritsuko Ando and Makiko Yamazaki

TOKYO (Reuters) - A state-backed Japanese fund is frontrunner to rescue Sharp Corp, ahead of a rival approach from Apple supplier Foxconn, but industry insiders question whether it can protect the group in the long term amid cut-throat competition.

Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ), if successful, would represent the third bailout in as many years for Sharp, known for its liquid crystal display (LCD) technology and super-thin screens.

The INCJ is keen to keep it in domestic hands, and plans to merge it eventually with state-owned rival Japan Display.

Industry experts and some policy advisers are beginning to question whether "old-school" government intervention can help Sharp's LCD business survive, as competition from Korean and Chinese rivals ratchets up.

"Rather than cutting away the dysfunctional groups, this is about combining the weak part," said William Saito, an entrepreneur and special adviser to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet office.

Sharp's main advantage in LCDs is its IGZO technology, which allows for high definition and thin, touch-screen displays that consume less power than conventional screens.

That has failed to shield it from pricing pressure, and weak finances have prevented it from investing in new technologies even as rivals experiment in newer screen innovations.

Japan Display, formed in a government-backed deal in 2012 from parts of Sony, Toshiba and Hitachi Ltd, was previously seen as a weaker rival.

But it is now doing better, thanks to orders from Apple and Chinese smartphone makers for its "in-cell" screens, which are easier to assemble than other types of high-end LCD screens.

Both Japanese manufacturers face strong competition from Samsung and LG Display, which have been working on OLED (organic light-emitting diode) screens that do not require backlights and can therefore be thinner or curved.

In the end, analysts say the ability to quickly ramp up capacity will matter as much as, if not more than superior display technology, giving an edge to Samsung and well-funded Chinese players like BOE.

Story continues

POLITICALLY DRIVEN

Japan has had some success with government-led rescues in the past; Renesas Electronics, saved by INCJ in 2013, has turned around.

Renesas specializes in automobile-related semiconductors which are increasingly in demand for newer features such as assisted parking. But the world of LCD is far more cut-throat.

"Its investment in Renesas has been a relative success story," said Andrew Daniels, a Tokyo-based managing director at Indus Capital.

"But make no mistake ... LCD is a market that doesn't have that underlying stability that Renesas has in automotive semiconductors."

In the end, however, it will be a political decision, analysts and political sources say.

Sharp's troubles come as Japan's technology industry has struggled against more nimble Asian rivals, with brands that were once household names, such as Sony, losing cachet among global consumers.

Though he won't stand in the way of a foreign buyer, Abe's office would prefer to see Sharp rescued by a Japanese deal.

INCJ is also considering merging Sharp's home appliances business with that of Toshiba Corp, which is eager to bolster its finances in the wake of an accounting scandal.

"In the end, they are trying to saving face for Japan. It's politically motivated," said Saito, the entrepreneur and government adviser.

Media reports put the INCJ offer at 300 billion yen ($2.6 billion), and sources say that bailout would also involve Sharp's lenders offering at least 200 billion yen, by converting debt to equity.

The Wall Street Journal on Thursday reported that Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn, was offering 625 billion yen and promising not to replace top management at Sharp, an apparent attempt to soothe nationalist concerns.

(Editing by Mike Collett-White)
ALMATY, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Kazakhstan plans no limits on deposit withdrawal or currency exchange, the country's central bank Chairman Daniyar Akishev told a briefing on Thursday.

He added that there was insignificant likelihood of strong exchange rate movements in the nearest future.

The weighted average of the Kazakh tenge fell to a fresh all-time low of 383.23 per dollar in Thursday's morning session on the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Olzhas Auyezov and Mariya Gordeyeva, writing by Katya Golubkova; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
(Updates with context)

MEXICO CITY, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Mexico will not nominate a candidate in the race to lead the International Monetary Fund, and supports incumbent Christine Lagarde's offer to continue in the role, a Mexican government source said on Thursday.

Mexican Central Bank Gov. Agustin Carstens failed in a bid to challenge Lagarde for the leadership of the fund in 2011. Carstens has said recently that he is happy at Mexico's central bank, and accepted a second 6-year term late last year.

"Mexico is not going to present a candidate and backs France's nomination," the source said. "The government recognizes his leadership and talent, as we support an important ally of Mexico's structural reforms."

The source said Finance Minister Luis Videgaray had met with Lagarde in Davos to express his support for her candidacy.

(Reporting by Simon Gardner)
By Ayman al-Warfalli and Ahmed Elumami BENGHAZI/TRIPOLI, Libya (Reuters) - Islamic State militants set fire on Thursday to oil storage tanks in a fresh assault on Ras Lanuf terminal in northern Libya and the group threatened further attacks as they exploit a prolonged power vacuum in the large north African nation. The chairman of the National Oil Corporation, Mustafa Sanalla, told reporters in Tripoli that Ras Lanuf - shut since December 2014 - would remain closed for a "long time" because of the damage inflicted on Thursday and in earlier attacks. Libya remains dogged by violence and political turmoil nearly five years after the overthrow of veteran leader Muammar Gaddafi, with two rival governments and parliaments based in Tripoli and in the east as well as various armed factions vying for power and a share of the country's oil wealth. The Islamic State militants drove into the oil storage site early in the morning and clashed with security guards before retreating and firing from a distance to set four tanks on fire, NOC spokesman Mohamed al-Harari said. A pipeline leading from the Amal oil field to the nearby Es Sider terminal, the biggest on Libya's Mediterranean coast, was also targeted, said Mohamed al-Manfi, an energy official allied with Libya's eastern-based government. Ras Lanuf and Es Sider together have an export capacity of 600,000 barrels per day. They were processing about half of that before they were both closed in December 2014. The NOC said the area was facing an "environmental catastrophe", with huge columns of smoke billowing from the fires and damage to power lines supplying residential and industrial districts. "Residents are trying to build a barrier to stop the oil and fire from reaching gas pipelines and water pipelines, and the main road," the NOC's Harari said. Islamic State militants have managed to establish a foothold in the city of Sirte, which lies about 200 km (125 miles) along the coast to the west of Ras Lanuf and Es Sider. In a video posted on Islamic State's official Telegram channel, fighter Abu Abdelrahman al-Liby said: "Today Es Sider port and Ras Lanuf and tomorrow the port of Brega and after the ports of Tobruk, Es Serir, Jallo, and al-Kufra." OIL PRODUCTION DISRUPTED Libya's current oil production stands at 362,000 barrels per day, he told Reuters. That is less than a quarter of a 2011 high of 1.6 million barrels per day, though production has not changed significantly in recent weeks. Two weeks ago clashes between Islamic State and the Petroleum Facilities Guards who control the area around Es Sider and Ras Lanuf left seven oil storage tanks damaged by fire and at least 18 guards dead. At least 1.3 million barrels of oil were lost as a result of the clashes and up to 3 million barrels could be at risk because of the latest attack, said NOC spokesman Harari. The NOC sent a tanker to remove oil from the terminals in an effort to prevent further damage, but guards prevented it from loading, citing security concerns. On Thursday the NOC blamed the "intransigence" of the Petroleum Facilities Guards in blocking the shipment for the further damage it suffered from the latest attack. The guards are led by a federalist who has supported Libya's eastern government, but analysts say their loyalties are uncertain within the country's complex pattern of allegiances. (Additional reporting by Ali Abdelaty in Cairo and Aidan Lewis in Tunis; Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Gareth Jones)
Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic (L) and prime minister-designate Tihomir Oreskovic arrive for a joint press conference on December 23, 2015 in Zagreb (AFP Photo/)

Zagreb (AFP) - Croatia's president tasked Wednesday a pharmaceutical executive to form a new government and end the political standoff that has plagued the Balkan EU nation since inconclusive elections last month.

"Tihomir Oreskovic proved to me that he enjoys the support of (a majority of) 78 MPs ... and I task him ... to form a new government," President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic said at a brief ceremony.

Oreskovic, a senior financial manager for global generic medicine giant Teva, was put forward earlier Wednesday as a non-partisan candidate for premier by two conservative parties that had only the previous day cobbled together a majority of deputies in the 151-seat parliament.

Oreskovic, who graduated with a degree in chemistry and an MBA from Canadian universities, pledged to invest all his "knowledge and efforts to form a high-calibre government and start resolving the accumulated problems."

Top among them will be the economy, which is only slowly emerging from six years of recession.

"I urge the parliamentary majority and opposition to support me in that," added the 49-year-old.

Zagreb-born Oreskovic is the former chief executive officer of Croatia's largest pharmaceutical company PLIVA, which became a unit of global generics giant Teva Group.

But the long years he spent abroad studying and working has left his Croatian rusty and accented, which immediately sparked comments on social networks.

The appointment of a political outsider as prime minister helped the conservative main HDZ party and the newcomer Most agree to form a coalition, six weeks after the November 8 election that failed to produce an outright winner.

If confirmed by the parliament, Oreskovic would be Croatia's first prime minister not to hail from one of its two main political power bases -- the HDZ and the centre-left Social Democrats.

The two have alternated in power since the former Yugoslav republic proclaimed independence in 1991.

Story continues

The incumbent Social Democrats and the HDZ struggled to find coalition partners, with reforms needed to spur Croatia's economy and and how to handle the unprecedented influx of refugees on their way to northern Europe the main subject of negotiations.

The small nation with the population of 4.2 million joined the EU in 2013, and remains one of the bloc's poorest-performing economies.

Heavily dependent on tourism to the country's stunning Adriatic coast, Croatia's economy is expected to expand by 1.7 percent this year after half a decade of recession and stagnation that has left nearly one in six people unemployed.

Oreskovic has 30 days to secure support for his cabinet. If he does not succeed the president may give him another 30 days and if he fails again another candidate can be named.
The latter half of 2014 turned out to be a nightmare for solar stocks in the wake of plunging oil prices that began in Jun 2014 and continued into 2015. It created a lot of confusion among investors eyeing the impact on renewables, particularly solar photovoltaic (PV). The decline in oil prices has made renewable energy stocks unattractive, dragging down both U.S. and Chinese solar stocks on the whole.



The drop in crude oil prices was due to sluggish consumption growth, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) decision to maintain production at the current level as well as robust production from North American shale fields.



However, demand for solar energy is strengthening at a rapid clip and analysts see no fundamental co-relation between the oil plunge and solar share losses. It is important to remember that 39.1% of U.S. electricity is coal-generated, 27.4% comes from natural gas, 19% from nuclear, 7% hydro, 6% renewables and 1% oil.



Hence, the recent losses suffered by some of the fundamentally strong solar stocks can be good buying opportunities. The U.S. solar market continues to grow as it registered 41% year-over-year growth in the third quarter 2014, as per the Solar Energy Industries Association and GTM Research.



Apart from the recent oil price scenario, other weaknesses that can impact the renewable industry at large are discussed below.



Anti-dumping duties: The latest move from the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) to impose new import duties on solar panels and other related products from China and Taiwan could escalate the U.S.-China trade conflict that has already been simmering since 2012.

The decision addresses one of the main charges in a petition brought by SolarWorld Industries America, a German solar manufacturer with major operations in the U.S. A complaint lodged by SolarWorld brought to the fore a loophole that the Chinese solar product makers were exploiting to evade duties imposed by the Department of Justice in 2012.



After suffering from a two-year slump given the global supply glut, the solar industry on the whole is now largely recovering. Hence, the additional tariffs if implemented will unfortunately put a hold on the entire U.S. solar industry, as prices of solar power on the whole will probably move north given the global dominance of China in the solar panel manufacturing space. According to Boston-based GTM Research, panels made in China were used in more than 50% of U.S. rooftop installations.



Subsidy roll-back: Budgetary constraints have caused the prime global solar markets like Germany, U.S., Italy, Australia, U.K. and Taiwan to roll back a portion of their grants. Earlier, sales of solar players from the above countries witnessed a sharp rise mainly fueled by the rush to complete projects ahead of subsidy roll-backs.



The alternative energy players may receive another jolt from one of the prime solar markets. Germany is expected to cap subsidy payments after generation capacity reaches a certain target. Germany is consistently evaluating changes to the German Renewable Energy Law, or the EEG. In Apr 2012, an amendment of the EEG came into force that introduced a monthly reduction in feed-in tariffs (FiTs) by 1%, which can rise or fall depending on solar growth.



As of July 2014, feed-in tariffs for PV systems range from 12.88 euro cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) for small roof-top system, down to 8.92 euro cents per kWh for large utility scaled solar parks. Also, FiTs are restricted to PV system with a maximum capacity of 10 MW.



These FiT changes particularly affected the competitiveness of large-scale free field PV systems and modules. Any further policy changes wrought by the German Environment and Economy Ministers and approved by the German Parliament will negatively affect the long-term demand and price levels for PV products in Germany.



New emerging technologies: The alternative energy industry remains an emerging sector with a steady focus on the lowest-cost technology. This may prove disastrous for existing companies ruling the solar roost should a cheaper alternative emerge. The industry also has to deal with cost-competitiveness from traditional means of electricity generation.



Conclusion



Globally, China leads the world in total electricity generation from renewable sources, helped by its increased allegiance in recent times to the alternative path. The dragon is followed closely by the U.S., Brazil and Canada. On the other hand, European PV markets experienced a slowdown in 2013 due to the declining political support for PV. Notably, Italy witnessed a 70% market decline year over year. Germany also experienced a steep PV market decline of 57%.



So, all leading solar cell manufacturers are looking for opportunities in the emerging markets. These markets primarily comprise the Asia-Pacific region with China, India and Japan being the key destination for the global solar giants. China is targeting to install 70 GW of solar power by 2017; India is aiming to install 20 GW of solar power by 2022; and Japan is stepping up its solar panel installation post the deactivation of its nuclear reactors.

The long-term outlook on the whole looks bright. This is especially true as global warming and high fuel emission issues are leading to rising popularity of clean energy sources.



Though the recent proposal from the DOC, if implemented, will prove to be unfavorable for Chinese solar companies, Malaysia could emerge as a major beneficiary. Malaysia now stands out as the second-largest exporter of solar panels to the U.S., following China. This Southeast Asian country is a little ahead of Taiwan.



The U.S., Japanese and Korean solar companies are investing heavily in Malaysia. First Solar Inc. (FSLR) is mostly reliant on its facilities in the country to manufacture solar panels. Other companies like SunPower Corp. (SPWR) and Hanwha SolarOne Co. Ltd also own facilities there.



So, if we are to expand renewable manufacturing infrastructure worldwide to fight the climate crisis, the U.S. as well as the Chinese manufacturers should try to settle their dispute before the industry is hurt at large. Measures to reduce the inflow of Chinese solar panels may hamper the battle against climate change.



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President Barack Obama insisted Wednesday that the federal government will do whatever it can to assist residents of Flint, Michigan, which is dealing with a public-health disaster involving a tainted water supply.

"We are going to have [the mayor's] back and all the people of Flint's back as they go all the way through this terrible tragedy," Obama said in a speech to Detroit autoworkers.

Obama declared a federal emergency in Flint on January 14, shortly after the status was requested by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R). Up to $5 million in federal money has already been made available to assist in the city's recovery.

Flint's water supply was contaminated following a 2014 switch off of Detroit's water system and onto the Flint River. The Flint River had more corrosive water, which led to lead from an aging pipe system being leached into the water. Many people complained about the state's slow response, which didn't pick up steam until last October.

The city switched back onto Detroit's water system for now, but residents are still at risk and must use filters that the state has provided.

"I know that if I was a parent up there, I would be beside myself that my kids health could be at risk," Obama said. "It is a reminder of why you can't short change basic services that we provide to our people and that we as a people provide as a government to make sure public health and safety is preserved."

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COO of Facebook Sheryl Sandberg in Davos January 22, 2015. REUTERS/Ruben Sprich

The best way to combat hate speech is with overwhelming acts of tolerance, including "like attacks," Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg said during a panel at the World Economic Forum.

She shared the story of how a German nongovernmental organization (NGO) dedicated to combatting neo-Nazis swarmed the Facebook page of the National Democratic Party.

"Rather than scream in protest, they got 100,000 people to 'like' the page who did not like it, and put messages of tolerance on the page," she said.

She continued: "So then when you got to the page, they had completely changed the content. What was once a page filled with hatred and intolerance was now filled with tolerance and messages of hope."

Her comments followed Facebook's announcement earlier this week that it was pledging over $1 million to launch an "Initiative for Civil Courage Online," which will partner with the German government, NGOs, and academic researchers to counter extremist posts on the social network.

Facebook's policy on hate speech and calls for violence on the platform is to delete posts and shut down the accounts of people consistently posting them. The company recently hired a German publisher to monitor and delete racist posts on its local platform.

But Sandberg says that even its best monitoring efforts can't keep up with how frequently new hate speech pops up.

"The best antidote to bad speech is good speech," she says. "The best antidote to hate is tolerance."

Hence the "like" attacks.

Earlier this month, White House officials met with internet companies, including Facebook, to discuss ways to promote more user-generated content on the site that counters messages posted by supporters of ISIS.

Although Sandberg didn't get into specifics about how or whether Facebook itself would do anything to promote anti-ISIS messages, "amplifying those voices" of people who had escaped from ISIS was the best way to counteract that speech.

Business Insider reached out to Facebook for help in identifying which pages Sandberg referred to in her "like attack" example and will update if we hear back.

Story continues

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Martin Shkreli (C), chief executive officer of Turing Pharmaceuticals and KaloBios Pharmaceuticals Inc, departs the U.S. Federal Court in New York December 17, 2015. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

By Nate Raymond and David Ingram

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli was on a collision course with Congress on Thursday as lawmakers warned he could be prosecuted for contempt if he does not appear next week for a hearing about drug prices.

A lawyer for Shkreli informed the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of his intent not to answer questions and asked that he be excused from appearing, committee chairman Jason Chaffetz wrote in the letter dated Wednesday.

The plan to remain silent contrasts with Shkreli's prolific use of social media, where he has been outspoken on Twitter and livestream video even after his indictment last month on criminal charges of securities fraud.

The Oversight Committee subpoenaed Shkreli to appear on Tuesday to discuss his decision as chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals to raise the price of a life-saving medicine, Daraprim, by more than 5,000 percent.

Shkreli, 32, has said he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. On Twitter, he told followers it was "disgusting and insulting" for lawmakers to try to subvert that right.

The Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution says that no person shall be compelled in any criminal case "to be a witness against himself."

The dispute appeared likely to end in one of two ways: with Shkreli appearing in Washington on Tuesday to invoke that right, or with Shkreli staying home in New York, prompting the committee to vote to hold him in contempt and setting off a potential criminal prosecution.

Shkreli resigned as chief executive officer of Turing last month after his arrest on the fraud charges. Turing had acquired Daraprim, a 62-year-old drug, and caused a public furor when it drastically increased the price.

Fights over congressional testimony are common, especially when potential witnesses are facing criminal prosecution and their testimony could later be used against them.

Some well-known witnesses, such as former IRS official Lois Lerner and former Enron chief financial officer Andrew Fastow, refused to answer questions from Congress but were required to appear in person in front of lawmakers and cameras before invoking that right.

Story continues

It was unclear on Thursday whether Shkreli would make the trip to do the same. His release on bond restricts him to certain parts of New York state, and he is required to ask a judge for a waiver to travel.

One of Shkreli's lawyers has informed the Oversight Committee that Shkreli has taken no steps to seek a travel waiver, said Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the committee's top Democrat.

"If he plans on trying to use his own intentional inaction as some kind of bogus excuse for not showing up at Tuesday's hearing, people will see right through such a juvenile tactic," Cummings said in a statement on Thursday.

Chaffetz, a Utah Republican, warned in his letter to Shkreli defense attorney Baruch Weiss that Shkreli could face criminal prosecution for contempt if he fails to appear.

"Mr. Shkreli is uniquely qualified to answer questions about rising prescription drug prices," Chaffetz wrote.

The threat of prosecution is more than theoretical. In 1952, mobster Frank Costello was convicted of contempt of Congress for failing to appear as a witness when he said he had laryngitis.

Chaffetz in his letter held out the possibility of a compromise, writing that the committee may agree to hear testimony in a non-public session or to immunize the testimony so that it could not be used in the criminal prosecution. Immunizing the testimony, though, would require the support of two-thirds of the committee.

Complicating the dispute is Shkreli's decision this week to seek new lawyers, replacing a team from the law firm Arnold & Porter with others still to be named.

The criminal charges against Shkreli stem from his prior management of hedge fund MSMB Capital Management and biopharmaceutical company Retrophin Inc (RTRX.O).

Prosecutors said Shkreli engaged in a Ponzi-like scheme, defrauding hedge fund investors and then misappropriating $11 million in assets from Retrophin to repay them.

Shkreli, who was also until recently chief executive of KaloBios Pharmaceuticals Inc (KBIOQ.PK) has pleaded not guilty, and on Twitter has called the allegations "baseless and without merit."

(Reporting by Nate Raymond and David Ingram; editing by Andrew Hay, Jeffrey Benkoe, Noeleen Walder and Bernard Orr)
By Estelle Shirbon CANTERBURY, England (Reuters) - A Sudanese man who walked through the Channel Tunnel from France in an extreme example of the desperate measures refugees are prepared to take to reach Britain will face trial for obstructing a railway, a court was told on Thursday. Abdul Haroun, who is from the war-ravaged region of Darfur, walked for close to 12 hours in near total darkness last August, dodging high-speed trains and evading security cameras, before he was arrested by British police close to the English end of the tunnel at Folkestone. He was charged and sent to prison, where he remained until he was given bail on Jan. 4. In December he was also granted asylum by British authorities - a decision his supporters hoped would lead to the charge being dropped, but which tunnel operator Eurotunnel and some lawmakers criticised as encouraging other migrants to risk the walk. Thousands of migrants are camped out in squalor near the northern French ports of Calais and Dunkirk, seeking clandestine ways to enter Britain such as stowing away on trucks or trains. Haroun was the first person known to have made it through the 31-mile (50-km) tunnel on foot. Since then, two Iranian men have also walked through the tunnel. They too were arrested and charged with the same offence and are due to stand trial in April. FRAMING THE DEBATE The Calais and Dunkirk camps are among many flashpoints in a continent-wide crisis that saw over 1 million refugees and migrants enter Europe last year, most to escape war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa. Almost 3,700 died or went missing in the attempt. In Britain, Haroun's case has framed a heated political debate over whether refugees should be welcomed or stopped from coming. The issue will feature heavily in campaigning for a referendum on whether Britain should stay in the European Union, expected to take place later this year. Since being freed on bail, Haroun has been living with a volunteer from a charity that has supported him through his detention, prosecution and asylum application. Haroun attended Thursday's hearing at a court in Canterbury, southeast England, in a dark grey suit and a blue shirt and surrounded by supporters. He spoke only to confirm his name. About a dozen refugee rights campaigners staged a protest outside the courthouse, holding up banners in support of Haroun. The offence with which he is charged carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison. Judge Adele Williams provisionally set Haroun's trial for June 20 and extended his bail. (Editing by Stephen Addison and John Stonestreet)
(Reuters) - China has taken a series of steps to stabilise its foreign exchange market and stock market amid the slowing growth of the world's second largest economy.

The yuan has been in bearish pressure at a loss of 2.8 percent since Nov. 30 when the Chinese currency was admitted into the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) benchmark Special Drawing Rights (SDR) basket.

Following is the timeline of Beijing's market-stabilising measures, reforms and statements.

** Jan 18 - The People's Bank of China (PBOC) said it will start implementing a reserve requirement ratio (RRR) on offshore banks' domestic deposits as of Jan. 25.

** Jan 15 - The China Association for public companies (CAPCO) called on major shareholders of listed firms to work together to stabilise the stock market.

** Jan 8 - The State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) has ordered banks in some trading hubs to limit dollar purchases this month, in the latest attempt to stem capital outflows.

China suspended its stock market circuit breaker after the mechanism helped promote sharp falls in the country's volatile markets.

** Jan 7 - China's securities regulator restricted share sales by listed companies' major shareholders, saying the move will stabilise market expectations.

** Jan 4 - China's onshore yuan's trading hours started to last until 11:30 p.m. local time (1530 GMT), rather than end at 4:30 p.m., a major reform step that should help onshore and offshore rates converge.

** Jan 1 - China introduced circuit breakers to the Shanghai Stock Exchange, Shenzhen Stock Exchange and China Financial Futures Exchange to "stabilise the market".

** Dec 30, 2015 - The PBOC has suspended at least three foreign banks from conducting some foreign exchange business until the end of March, three sources who had seen the suspension notices told Reuters.

** Dec 27 - China's top legislature approved a proposal to revamp the country's initial public offering (IPO) system, authorising the government to implement changes to the system that could be in place as early as March.

Story continues

** Dec 12 - The China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS) announced that it had launched a new trade-weighted yuan exchange rate index against a basket of currencies, a move that will eventually loosen the currency's link to the greenback.

** Dec 9 - China plans to shift to a U.S.-style registration system for stock market flotations on the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges within two years, the cabinet said.

The PBOC has suspended new applications for the Renminbi Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor (RQDII) investment scheme, which is seen to avoid capital outflows and control risks of complicated products.

** Nov 30 - China's yuan was admitted into the IMF's benchmark SDR basket in a win for Beijing's campaign for recognition as a global economic power.

** Nov 18 - Offshore yuan clearing banks and related offshore participant banks had been instructed by the central bank to suspend trading in bond repos and yuan account financing.

For more information about China's authorities' steps during June to October in 2015, please click:

(Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom and Lu Jianxin; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)
(Adds tweeted comment from Argentine finance minister)

WASHINGTON, Jan 21 (Reuters) - The United States is ending its policy of opposing most lending to Argentina from multilateral development banks, the U.S. Treasury Department said on Thursday.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew informed Argentine Finance Minister Alfonso Prat-Gay of the move on Thursday when the two met in Davos, Switzerland, the department said in a statement. It said the United States will consider each Argentinian project on its own merits.

The policy had been in place since 2011 as part of a larger U.S. campaign to pressure Argentina to pay debts and other obligations to American investors a decade after the South American country defaulted on more than $81 billion of government bonds. It meant the U.S voted against new loans to Argentina at the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank.

Argentina's center-right president, Mauricio Macri, has made swift reforms since taking office in December, including resuming talks to reach a deal over the unpaid debts with U.S. hedge funds.

Macri also has eliminated capital controls and cut onerous export taxes as a way of improving the investment climate.

Lew said the United States was ending it policy in light of the new government's "progress on key issues and positive economic policy trajectory," the Treasury statement said.

In a tweet, Prat-Gay called the decision by Washington "a concrete example of how to stop fighting with the world" and said it would "allow us to have better roads, more schools, more (social) inclusion."

Despite the U.S. stance, Argentina secured some multilateral lending after it reached a deal in 2014 with the Paris Club of creditor nations on repaying overdue debts and promised to improve its economic statistics.

The World Bank approved $1.5 billion in loans to Argentina in fiscal year 2015, with $3.5 billion expected in 2016 through 2018. Last month the Inter-American Development Bank talked of providing Argentina $5 billion over the coming years.

(Reporting by Lindsay Dunsmuir in Washington and Hugh Bronstein in Buenos Aires; Editing by Richard Lough and Bill Trott)
PITTSBURGH, PA / ACCESSWIRE / January 21, 2016 / Unique Pizza and Subs Corporation (PINKSHEETS: UPZS), a Delaware Corporation, is pleased to announce it has acquired the Deerfield Beach, FL based company, PopsyCakes Distributing LLC, the first and "Original Cupcake on a Pretzel Stick." According to the agreement, Unique Pizza & Subs Corp. has purchased 100% of the outstanding ownership and liabilities as well as all of the intellectual properties, copyrights and trademarks of the Florida based PopsyCakes Distributing LLC. PopsyCakes generates revenue through: mail order, airports gift shops, direct sales, candy stores, restaurants, Bar Mitzvahs (certified Kosher product), birthday parties, high end retail, whole sale, food brokers, corporate sales, wedding & party favors and fundraisers.

James Vowler, President & CEO of Unique Pizza and Subs Corporation, said, "The opportunity to acquire PopsyCakes was brought to me in November, I tried the product and received a thorough understanding of the company. It didn't take long to realize it would be a perfect complement to our salsa company, Jose Madrid Salsa. PopsyCakes are sold and distributed using very comparable source outlets as the Salsa is, corporate sales, restaurants, fundraisers, high end retail, direct mail and will be a great new revenue source. We will add the PopsyCakes to all of our Jose Madrid Salsa booths, where we currently reach over 2 million potential customers annually at the numerous trade shows and corporate events that we attend. We will now be able to feature a very high end complimentarily item at these booths marketed at the same price point as our salsa.

"After serving thousands of customers, we are pleased to have Unique Pizza & Subs carry the legacy of our gourmet line of products to a whole new group of consumers that demand quality. It's a natural fit for consumers who after a delicious pizza meal would want an epicurean dessert," stated Craig Edelman, who served as President of the PopsyCakes Company for the last 4 years and has agreed to sell the Company. He further adds, "Jim has proven to me that he is expert in food service as well as an outstanding entrepreneur, so I am sure with his leadership that our PopsyCakes will come to be loved by the millions of consumers he can reach."

Story continues

History of PopsyCakes

The PopsyCakes Company was founded by Jessica Cervantes when she decided to create an innovative cupcake on an edible stick in 2006 at the age of 16. Ever since her grandmother taught her how to bake, Jessica has loved measuring and tasting different ingredients - and mixing them up to see how her culinary creations would turn out. But it wasn't until Jessica became a part of the International Business and Finance Academy at John A. Ferguson Senior High school, that baking and business came together in a brand new recipe for success.

The budding baker/entrepreneur, who immigrated to the U.S. from Cuba as a child, competed against 25,000 business students across the country and won first place in the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE.com) National business plan, a competition which was held on October 23, 2008 in New York City. Her innovative creation has caused a great buzz across the United States.

Visit PopsyCakes.com to learn more about this great company and their delicious products or email us at: mfalcone@popsycakes.com.

This release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 27E of the Securities Act of 1934. Statements contained in this release that are not historical facts may be deemed to be forward- looking statements. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain. Actual performance and results may differ materially from that projected or suggested herein due to certain risks and uncertainties including, without limitation, ability to obtain financing and regulatory and shareholder approval for anticipated actions. There are no financials in this press release so this is not needed and undermines the release.

Contact:

CorporateAds.com

Michigan LLC

For Unique Pizza and Subs Corp. Investor Relations

(586) 228- 2290

Fax: (586) 228-6920

hank@capinc.net

http:/www.capinc.net

SOURCE: Unique Pizza and Subs Corporation
A passenger looks at a United Airlines airplane, painted with its new corporate logo, at a gate at Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey February 7, 2011. . REUTERS

(Reuters) - United Airlines (UAL.N) said on Thursday it will buy 40 small planes from Boeing Co (BA.N), dealing a $3.2 billion blow to Bombardier Inc's (BBDb.TO) hopes of landing a major customer for its fledgling CSeries program.

Separately, Southwest Airlines Co (LUV.N) said it had ordered 33 of Boeing's 737-800 aircraft, a deal it struck in December but announced on Thursday.

Reuters reported last week that Boeing was poised to snatch at least part of Chicago-based United's order for small jets that seat about 100 passengers.

Boeing 737-700s can seat 126 people and will be flown by United's pilots, reducing its reliance on contractors as a shortage of regional pilots looms in the United States.

Canada's Bombardier has not landed an order in more than a year for the CSeries, a new carbon-composite aircraft whose two models seat between 100 and 160 passengers and are equipped with fuel-efficient Pratt & Whitney (UTX.N) engines.

The orders suggest "good market demand" for aircraft after sales fell last year, said Howard Rubel, an analyst at Jefferies in New York. It also shows airlines prefer fewer models in their fleets, making cockpits more familiar to pilots.

"Commonality works," Rubel said.

Reuters reported in October that Bombardier had offered the CSeries to Southwest, a long shot since the airline maintains an all-Boeing fleet.

The CSeries is due to enter service in 2016 after years of delays and budget overruns. A spokeswoman for the Montreal-based plane and train-maker declined to comment on United's announcement. "For us it's business as usual as we continue to pursue key campaigns," said spokeswoman Isabelle Gauthier.

Delta Air Lines Inc (DAL.N) on Tuesday said it was considering Bombardier's new aircraft.

Our competitors will keep shooting at us but there is only so much negativity you can project on an aircraft when airlines are beginning to endorse it, said Colin Bole, a Bombardier senior VP, sales and asset management, speaking to Reuters in Dublin before the United deal was announced.

Story continues

Another competitor for the United order, Brazil's Embraer SA (EMBR3.SA), declined to comment on the Boeing deal.

Gerry Laderman, Uniteds acting CFO, told a quarterly conference call that fuel prices do not play a role in long-term fleet orders and that United is still considering narrow-body aircraft from Bombardier, Embraer and Boeing rival Airbus Group SE (AIR.PA) .

"As I mentioned, we will continue to look at aircraft and we will continue to look at each of those types, Laderman said.

United is expected to buy more small jets because it lacks planes in the 100-seat niche, Cowen and Co analyst Helane Becker said in a research note.

Rubel said Bombardier is being squeezed by aggressive pricing from Boeing and Airbus, which undercuts the smaller rival. "Bombardier is in the middle of a rope-a-dope between Boeing and Airbus," he said.

United, the second-largest U.S. airline by capacity, likely paid well below half the $80.6 million catalog price for each Boeing 737-700, industry sources said. The plane is being phased out in favor of a newer model, the 737 MAX, and United's jets are due to start entering its fleet in mid-2017.

Airlines typically enjoy discounts of 40 percent or more on aircraft. Bombardier has been reluctant to deeply discount the CSeries, a new product that has yet to recover development and early manufacturing costs.

Boeing's 737-700 long ago recovered such costs, allowing greater discounts for sales that help fill the production schedule as it shifts to the MAX, due to make its first flight this year.

Bombardier has 243 firm orders for the CSeries, shy of its target of 300 by the time the plane enters service.

In a note to clients, Desjardins analyst Benoit Poirier wrote on Thursday that CSeries orders "will remain the key catalyst for Bombardier's share price," which closed down more than 9 percent at C$1.09 ($0.7637).

"We expect the market to remain skeptical and believe there is a real risk that the CSeries could be canceled if no orders materialize in the next six months," Poirier wrote.

($1 = 1.4273 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Jeffrey Dastin in New York, Tim Hepher in Dublin, Alwyn Scott in New York and Allison Lampert in Montreal; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe, Nick Zieminski, David Gregorio and Dan Grebler)
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Michael Hedges January 21, 2016

Some media trends can only be appreciated in the long view. Regular bumps in audience flow - up or down - can appear rather insignificant, easily explained by the weather, for example, or survey sampling. As the media sector trades on immediacy, ever quickening, a long view lifts a deep shadow. Shadows Falling, Public Broadcasters Still CommandingMichael Hedges January 21, 2016 Follow on Twitter Some media trends can only be appreciated in the long view. Regular bumps in audience flow - up or down - can appear rather insignificant, easily explained by the weather, for example, or survey sampling. As the media sector trades on immediacy, ever quickening, a long view lifts a deep shadow. ...is available for restricted access. You may access this specific article or material for 4 If you are an ftm Member, please go to the home page HERE and log in ftm Members can access all site material at no additional charge. You can JOIN ftm here The ftm newsletter available at no charge to all with registration To register click here.
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As the population of Fremont has continued to flourish, in 2015 the city experienced significant economic progress with its residential and commercial properties.

Brooks Hollow and Deer Pointe were two residential areas where the housing market witnessed tremendous growth. Both subdivisions are being developed by Deer Pointe Corporation of Fremont.

Between Brooks Hollow and Deer Pointe Residential more than 20 lots were sold in 2015, and approximately half of those are to families relocating to Fremont, said Maggie Diers Yost, Deer Pointe Development. Additionally, theres been an 18 percent increase in new residential building permits pulled in Fremont from 2014 to 2015. We see this as a great indicator of the good things happening in the Dodge County area.

Brooks Hollow

The Brooks Hollow addition is a new 37-acre development located on Fremonts eastern side, which complements the nearby established neighborhoods of Brentwood and Day Acres. Brooks Hollow will be constructed in three phases.

In June 2015 Phase One was opened with 26 platted lots. While the main entrance is at 10th Street and Luther Road, this family-friendly neighborhood can also be accessed through the Brentwood and Day Acres subdivisions. Several key items of interest for Brooks Hollow include the following:

15 lots have been sold  10 to new families/residents and five to builders for spec homes.

Once complete, the subdivision is anticipated to have 115 homes.

All residential listings are with Don Peterson & Associates.

Lot prices range from $43,000 to $57,000.

Homes built on these lots currently range from $275,000+.

The planning of Phase Two construction is earmarked to start in 2016.

Deer Pointe

(residential)

Established in 2004, the Deer Pointe subdivision is also located on Fremonts eastern side. This housing development consists of both single-family homes as well as Villas. Deer Pointes single entrance is off of 16th Street, between Luther and Johnson roads. Several key items of interest for Deer Pointe include the following:

Contains a total of 54 lots with 13 remaining open lots, and the possibility for expansion given current demand.

All residential listings are with Don Peterson & Associates.

Lot prices range from $46,000 to $70,000.

Along with its ever-growing residential areas, the commercial aspect of Deer Pointe Corporations properties also underwent a surge in growth in 2015. Several key items of interest for Deer Pointe (commercial) include the following:

Opening of Midwest Anesthesia in 2015.

Hardees joining development, west of Applebees.

Taco Johns joining development, west of Hardees.

All commercial listings are through Investors Realty of Omaha.

Hardees and Taco Johns are coming to Deer Pointe, and we are experiencing significant interest in the areas on both the east and west sides of Diers Parkway from additional restaurants, retailers and professionals, Diers Yost said.

Additionally, Deer Pointe Development has taken the initiative in the upcoming development of Fremonts new community conference center and an adjacent hotel.

Diers Yost added, We anticipate the infrastructure beginning for the community conference center in 2016. Its exciting to see things taking off and know that Fremont is on the radar in Nebraska and the Midwest in general.
A 17-year-old Fremont High School juvenile was arrested after making a weapon-related threat on Snapchat  a social media tool that enables people to send 10-second photos or videos to contacts, Fremont Police reported.

At approximately 7:40 a.m. Thursday Fremont Police Resource Officer Jim Butts was contacted by school administration in reference to a posting by a student on Snapchat that indicated a possible threat against the school with what appeared to be a firearm, released information says.

The juvenile male suspected of posting the information was not present at school, and was later contacted at his home where he was charged with making terroristic threats, a Class IV felony; disturbing the peace, a Class III misdemeanor and disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor City Ordinance violation.

The firearm, later determined to be an airsoft gun, was located at another residence and collected as evidence.

Fremont Principal Chuck Story praised students for being vigilant and reporting what they saw.

Sometimes the best way to keep people safe is by people letting us know what they see, he said. We had a group of responsible students let us know
During Wednesdays regular meeting of Dodge County Board of Supervisors, several items were discussed and approved.

 A tort claim filed by Inkelaar Law of Omaha, Nebraska for their client, Frank Escamilla who was injured in a vehicle accident involving a vehicle owned by the Eastern Nebraska Human Services Agency, Inc. was received and referred to the Dodge County Attorney, Oliver Glass.

 Receipt of the 2015 Annual Report of Dodge County Highway Department.

 Receipt of Certificate of Insurance for Cramer & Associates, Inc. of Grimes, Iowa.

 Receipt of two moving permits for Charles Lange House Movers to move a 39x40 machine shed and a 20x40 shed over county right-of-ways.

 Receipt of bids opened on January 11, 2016 at 11:00 A.M. in the Highway Department of the Courthouse for the Maintenance Facility Holding Tanks for the new Maintenance Shop in Fremont, Nebraska. A five to one decision was made. After receiving al four bids, they awarded to the lowest bidder, Wiese Plumbing.

 Approved the duplicate original program agreements for HRR-STWD Bridge and Culvert Object Marking Project and accepted the adoption of a resolution for the project.

There was no testimony during a public hearing to consider Dodge Countys 2016 One & Six Year Road Improvement Program, approval was given to the resolution given to adopt the program.

The next regular meeting of the Dodge County Board of Supervisors is scheduled for 9 a.m. Jan. 6.
One day you wash up on the beach, wet and naked. Another day you wash back out. In between, the scenery changes constantly.
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Political science PhD specializing in delegate selection rules, presidential campaigns and elections. Founder of FHQ Strategies LLC
Dusit Thani Dongtai, Jiangsu Hotel announces its official opening, making it the first internationally branded deluxe hotel in the city and the very first Dusit Thani to launch in the Peoples Republic of China.

Featuring 160 well-appointed guestrooms and suites, the Dusit Thani Dongtai, Jiangsu is situated in the citys newest economic development zone, with easy access to the central business district. It is a 3-hours drive from Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, as well as the city centres of Suzhou and Nanjing.

A coastal city in east China, Dongtai is known for its new energy industries, including solar and wind power generation. The city is also known as the Yellow Sea Pearl and its pristine wetlands have been recognised by UNESCO.

The opening marks the debut of the Dusit Thani brand in China. The legendary hotel brand first launched in 1970 with the opening of the Dusit Thani Bangkok in the Thai capitals central business district. Since then, the Dusit Thani brand serves as a trusted symbol of Thai values, embodying the very essence of gracious Thai hospitality.

The Dusit Thani Dongtai, Jiangsu offers guests a variety of business and leisure facilities, including three dining outlets. The All Day Dining Restaurant serves a wide array of international fare, including Thai specialities from its signature open kitchen. The Chinese Restaurant offers exquisite Huaiyang and classic Cantonese cuisine which can be enjoyed in any one of its 15 private dining rooms. Overlooking the resorts beautiful serene landscape, the elegant Lobby Lounge offers guests an extensive selection of refreshments and cocktails.

With state-of-the-art audiovisual facilities and free Wi-Fi throughout the hotel, the banquet and meeting rooms at Dusit Thani Dongtai, Jiangsu caters to a variety of business and event needs. A 650-sqm pillarless ballroom can accommodate approximately 380 guests, while 920 square metres of lush, natural landscaping provides the perfect venue to host outdoor cocktails and social events.

We are proud to launch the Dusit Thani brand in China to deliver the finest service rooted in gracious Thai hospitality, said Mr. Peter Gan, General Manager of Operations and Hotel Openings  China, Dusit Fudu Hotels and Resorts. The hotel is set to meet the increasing demand of high-end accommodation for business and leisure travellers to this historical and vibrant city, and we aim to exceed our guests every expectation.

To celebrate the opening, the Dusit Thani Dongtai, Jiangsu has launched its limited-time Grand Opening package. Priced from RMB 498, the package is inclusive of a stay in a Deluxe Room, buffet breakfast for two, a seasonal fruit basket, welcome drinks and complimentary use of kids club facilities, valid now through 31 March 2016. Visit http://www.dusit.com/dusitthani/dongtai/specialoffers/grand-opening-special-rmb-498/ for more information.
A new Design Hotels member will open its doors in March 2016 at New Yorks fashionable SoHo neighborhood, surrounded by world-class boutiques, restaurants, bars and galleries. This Design Hotels member embodies an authentic vision of a community hub through collaborations with contemporary artists and meaningful partnerships with local businesses and non-profit organizations.

11 Howard is set to take on New Yorks hotel scene with its unique blend of cutting-edge Scandinavian design and socially-conscious hyper-localism. Original Aby Rosens reputation as an innovator within Manhattans hotel landscape was established with the launch of Gramercy Park Hotel, and is cemented with the conception of 11 Howard.

The 221-room boutique property describes its raison detre as conscious hospitality. This begins with the propertys design by influential Danish firm Space Copenhagen, then extends to its intuitive, discreet flow of service, which incorporates technology for self-check-in and smart room service delivery. Add to that world-class food and beverage offerings by famed restaurateur Stephen Starr; a dynamic co-working space, the 11H Collective; collaborations with standout contemporary artists, such as Katie Yang, Dan Attoe, and Hiroshi Sugimoto; and involvement with a number of nonprofit organizations and businesses (Global Poverty Project, Conscious Commerce, and others) in an effort to give back to the community and to the world, and you have an unrivaled downtown hubcool, creative, and always conscious.

11 Howards all rooms have beautiful high ceilings and windows that allow for an abundance of natural light, with a material palette of subtly-hued variations of wood, warm metals, velvet, and wool, that will grow in character as it ages.
Mustafa Vehbi Koc, Chairman of Koc Holding, which is Turkeys largest company, died Thursday at the age of 56. Koc was hospitalized after suffering a heart attack, and died several hours later. He was the eldest son of billionaire Mustafa Rahmi Koc and since 2003 he had been chairman of the board of the family's Koc Holding.

The holding has interests in energy, cars, durable consumer goods and finance. It is also active in technology, retail, food, agriculture, tourism and shipyards.

Koc is expected to be succeeded by his brother and fellow board member Ali, who built the companys information and telecommunications group and which he ran as chairman from 2000 to 2002.

Mustafa Koc was a highly respected businessman in both Turkish and international circles, a member of the prestigious Bilderberg group, and a reputed philanthropist.

Koc Holdings had revenue of $22.5 billion in 2014 and profit of about $900 million.

Mustafa Koc was also instrumental in building the companys automotive holdings, which account for nearly half of Turkeys production in the sector, including joint ventures with Ford, Fiat and Peugeot.

Built by Mustafa Kocs grandfather Vehbi after WWI, starting from a small grocery store, the company now has about 90,000 employees around the world, and 12,000 dealerships. Most recently, in August, Koc Holdings subsidiary Setur was in negotiations to acquire two marinas in Greece.

"The company has a very strong institutional strength so will manage through this," commented Timothy Ash, credit strategist at investment bank Nomura in London.

"We have lost our dear friend who made great contribution on economic and social development of our country," Turkeys top business organization, TUSIAD, said in a statement Thursday. Koc was the head of the High Advisory Council of the Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association (TUSIAD) between 2005 and 2010.

The funeral of the late Mustafa V. Koc, Chairman of Koc Holding, will be held on Sunday, January 24, 2016, at the Marmara University Theology Faculty Mosque in Altunizade, Uskudar following the noon prayers (around 12:20). The funeral service will take place at the Zincirlikuyu Cemetery, Koc Family Plot. Condolences will be accepted at the Elmadag Divan Hotel, for seven days starting Friday, January 22, 2016, between the hours 16:0019:00.
As the 2016 Game Developers Conference approaches, organizers would like to highlight a multi-faceted panel discussion about the narrative design of Crystal Dynamics' Rise of the Tomb Raider that's taking place as part of the GDC 2016 Game Narrative Summit.

The panel, "Raid on Rise: Narrative Creation on Rise of the Tomb Raider," will feature game writer Rhianna Pratchett discussing the finer points of writing the strong story and characters of Rise of the Tomb Raider alongside a cadre of Crystal Dynamics lead narrative designers John Stafford and Cameron Suey, performance director Tore Blystad, senior story artist Jeff Adams and creative director Noah Hughes.

Check it out for a behind- the-scenes look at the narrative process used on Rise of the Tomb Raider, which will showcase how the different disciplines worked together to create the second successful installment of the rebooted Tomb Raider franchise.

And GDC 2016's Narrative Summit will also host a number of other great talks, among them writer Meg Jayanth's session "Forget Protagonists: Writing NPCs with Agency for '80 Days' and Beyond." Plus, don't miss Cassie Phillips' "Crash Course: Branching Stories in Half the Time" talk on player angency in games with branching narratives and Failbetter Games' Alexis Kennedy talking about "Choice, Consequence and Complicity."

As always, more sessions will be announced for GDC 2016 in the coming months. Stay tuned, and don't miss the opportunity to save money by registering for the conference early -- the deadline to register for passes at a discounted rate is Wednesday, February 3rd, 2016.

GDC 2016 itself will take place March 14-18th at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. For more information on GDC 2016, visit the show's official website, or subscribe to regular updates via Facebook, Twitter, or RSS.



Gamasutra and GDC are sibling organizations under parent UBM Tech.
The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences has confirmed 11 addition speakers for next month's Vegas-based D.I.C.E. Summit, which will run from Feb 16-18 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center.

Setting the stage during the opening conference keynote will be Penn Jillette, one half of magical duo, Penn and Teller, and his friend, Randy Pitchford, co-founder of Gearbox Software.

Pitchford and Jillette - who are working together on a virtual reality Desert Bus sequel - will kick things off with a presentation entitled "Assumptions and Expectations with Interactivity and Magic."

Rhianna Pratchett, writer, narrative designer, and lead writer for the Tomb Raider reboot, will be taking to the stage to discuss "a career in the narrative trenches."

Joining Pratchett on the Summit stage will be Ubisoft's new IP editorial director, Tommy Francois, who'll be mulling over the ins and outs of engaging open world design.

The new speakers will bolster a strong line-up that already includes Niccolo de Masi, CEO at Glu Mobile; Todd Howard, Bethesda's game director and executive producer; Sid Meier, co-founder and director of creative development at Firaxis Games; and Bruce Shelley, who helped develop the Age of Empires series.

The full speaker list, including all the new additions, is available on the D.I.C.E. website. You can also find out who's in the running at the 19th Annuel D.I.C.E. Awards right here.
Boniface Mwangi is looking for a job. It may have come as no surprise when, during the launch of his book two weeks ago, he declared he wo...
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RICHFIELD, Ohio, Jan. 21, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MobilityWorks is pleased to announce a fresh new look for its growing nationwide presence of wheelchair van showrooms and rental center locations. With its recent acquisition of a major competitor in the mobility van marketplace, they felt it was time for a complete change to its logo and branding. Over the next few months, the company will be rolling out the new look at 56 consumer stores in 20 states with all new exterior signage and more modern interior designs. Online changes have already taken place on the company's website, social media and other media channels.

Along with a new green and blue logo featuring a moving wave design, the new tagline "be there" was created to compliment a new brand message. MobilityWorks wants people to know that they don't just sell products; they change people's lives.

"The tagline speaks to breaking down barriers, removing obstacles, and living life by having accessible transportation," said MobilityWorks Vice President of Marketing Chris Paczak. "MobilityWorks doesn't empower its clients, we provide solution options to help them empower themselves."

To assist with the project, MobilityWorks hired Wyse, a highly respected Cleveland-based agency to help with recreating their brand. Together, they researched 20,000 wheelchairs users and a variety of focus groups, including caregivers and medical professionals. The result of the extensive research led to positioning the new brand with a persona of 'Value and Emotion'. Wyse has worked with global clients such as Sherwin Williams, Cleveland Clinic, Smucker's and Moen.

"We set out to redefine the brand message to our clients, influencers, and the industry to speak on behalf of our customers and people with mobility limitations everywhere," added Mr. Paczak. "The new logo is one that speaks to 'motion' and a modern feel that will resonate with people when they see it." As part of the new brand, 'Connect With What Matters' is being utilized as the featured headline on its new brochures and marketing materials.

About MobilityWorks

MobilityWorks (aka WMK, Inc) is an Ohio-based Inc 500|5000 company with more than 700 full-time employees throughout the country. They are the USAs largest mobility dealer of wheelchair accessible vans. Founded in 1997, MobilityWorks now has 56 showrooms in 20 states. The MobilityWorks Commercial Division, headquartered in Akron Ohio, is the largest converter of full-size wheelchair vans in the country. For additional information about MobilityWorks, go to www.mobilityworks.com.
Albany, NY, Jan. 21, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to a research report added to the repository of ResearchMoz.us, the global wind turbine rotor blade market is estimated to expand at a CAGR of 17% during the period between 2015 and 2019. The report, titled Global Wind Turbine Rotor Blade Market 2015-2019, offers a comprehensive study of the global wind turbine motor blade market and assesses the growth and valuation of the market during the forecast horizon. The report calculates the size of the market, considering the revenue generated through the sale of wind turbine rotor blade. The report studies the global wind turbine rotor blade market across key regions and profiles some of the key players in the market.

In a wind turbine, the rotor forms the central part and has multiple rotor blades attached to a hub. Rotor blades serve as a motor in the turbine by virtue of extracting energy from the wind. The most common rotor consists of a horizontal axis attached to three blades with a diameter in the range of 37m-128m. As conventional power generation leads to environmental pollution, the demand for renewable energy such as wind and solar energy has increased. The report points out that the growing demand for wind energy has propelled the global wind turbine motor blade market. However, the high cost of offshore wind installations will restrain the growth of the market during the forecast horizon. The overall market is expected to be significantly benefitted by the government incentives on wind turbine installations.



For more info, get a Sample PDF: http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=443089



The report analyzes the cost of various components of wind turbine and describes the manufacturing process of wind turbine rotor blades. The report further analyzes the impact of Porters five forces on the growth of the global wind turbine motor blade market. On the basis of application, the report segments the global wind turbine motor blade market into offshore and onshore. As offshore wind is more powerful and consistent, offshore wind energy turbine installations are more in demand and are driving the market.



On the basis of blade size, the report segments the global wind turbine rotor blade market into 37-60m, 61-75m, 76-90m, and 90+ m. The demand for the 37-60m blade size is the highest. The report studies the global wind turbine rotor blade market across three key regions: APAC, EMEA, and Americas. The APAC region dominates the overall market and accounts for 45% market share.



Browse Report description and TOC:



http://www.researchmoz.us/global-wind-turbine-rotor-blade-market-2015-2018-report.html

Describing the competitive landscape, the report profiles some of the key players in the global wind turbine rotor blade market such as Gamesa, Enercon, Goldwind, MFG, Nordex, TPI, Vestas, LM Windpower, Suzlon Energy, Sinoi, KM, Inox Wind, Dewind, Flexsys, Guodian United Power Technology, Aeroblade, Acciona, Powerblades, Siemens Wind Power, Sinomatech Wind Power Blade, Wuxi Turbine Blade, and ZhonghangHuiTengWindpowerEquipment. The report provides insightful information about the key players including their product portfolio, global presence, and revenue.



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ResearchMoz is the worlds fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMozs service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators.


erenatay wrote:

Hello!

I am Eren. I am 25, from Istanbul/Turkey, white, Muslim male.

I graduated from University of Toronto - Economics-HR/IR in 2013 with a 2.75 GPA. My senior year GPA was 3.76 and my major GPA is 3.45. My GPA had risen each term, starting from low 2.1s, ending with 3.7s. The bad elective choices has decreased my GPA while my major courses were mostly As and Bs.

After graduating, I started my own social media network, specifically for joining Turkish university students in one platform. I successfully established the platform, did various marketing activities and attracted thousands of students from all 172 universities in Turkey. Than I sold the codes of the site at the time I decided to start my professional career and closed the site. At the same time, I started working at the leader cosmetics producer and retailer in Turkey as an International Trade Marketing Specialist. I have been working here for about 1.5 years and now I am responsible in all marketing related activities in 40 countries, including CIS countries, Middle East and East Europe. These countries add up to around 50% of companies total revenue.

My GMAT is 710 (50Q 34V) (planning to retake)

I am also a licensed Muay Thai fighter.



I was wondering if I could have any chances in top 10 MBA programs with my low GPA (maybe by increasing my GMAT)

My goals are Stern and Tuck, are those feasible?

I am also interested in schools in Asia - CEIBS, HKUST or similar. Are those more feasible for me?



Thank you so much for your help



Eren



mbaMission Senior Admissions Consultant

Chicago Booth Alum, over 70 5-star reviews on GMAT Club

Sign up for a free 30-minute consultation at https://www.mbamission.com/consult/mba-admissions/

Read our Insider's Guides to the top b-schools: http://www.mbamission.com/guides.php?category=insiders



Kate RichardsonmbaMission Senior Admissions ConsultantChicago Booth Alum, over 70 5-star reviews on GMAT ClubSign up for a free 30-minute consultation at https://www.mbamission.com/consult/mba-admissions/Read our Insider's Guides to the top b-schools: http://www.mbamission.com/guides.php?category=insiders Signature Read More

Hi Eren,Definitely plan to write an optional essay about your GPA - that's great there's an upward trend but it will still be a concern. A high GMAT will help but you could also take some supplmental coursework (online or local college) to demonstrate you can handle the difficult (especially quantitative) coursework. Your work experience sounds really strong and interesting - I love the startup experience and the international exposure in your current role. Since you're on the less experienced side, make sure you have good leadership examples you can highlight in your application. Also what are your post-MBA goals? Make sure you have a strong story that connects what you've done in the past to what you want to do in the future.As for schools - top 10 will be tough with your GPA, especially the very top schools (H/S/W). Stern and Tuck are definitely more reasonable, though still quite competitive so depends on all the other elements of your application. The schools you mention in Asia seem reasonable. Do some research on post-MBA career options because I think that should be a big driver in whether you opt for a program in the US or Asia.If you'd like to chat more about your strategy, feel free to sign up for a free phone consultation with us at the link below. Good luck!Kate_________________
The Gorilla Radio archive can be found at: www.Gorilla-Radio.com. G-Radio is dedicated to social justice, the environment, community, and providing a forum for people and issues not covered in State and Corporate media. Gorilla Radio airs live Thursdays between 11-12 noon Pacific Time. Airing in Victoria at 101.9FM, and featured on the internet at: http://cfuv.ca and www.pacificfreepress.com. And check out Pacific Free Press on Twitter @Paciffreepress
One of the greatest moments in Walter Hill's 1979 thriller The Warriors is the tense scene when Cyrus, leader of the Gramercy Riffs, climbs a scaffold and shouts out a new truce amongst the young and vicious gangs of New York City. As a film, The Warriors functions as both a parody and faithful chronicle of the gang-ravaged "bad old days," and Cyrus's speech captures the kind of boundless energy, creative style, and bitter violence of the times, all in two and a half minutes. It's also the moment that gave us "Can you dig it?!," a line that Shaq refuses to stop saying.

As we know, that massive Bronx gang summit actually happened, and in Shan Nicholson's documentary Rubble Kings, retired gang members who lived through the bombed-out era, when "crime was like the major income of the Bronx," recount the events of December 8th, 1971. On that day Ghetto Brothers member Cornell "Black Benjy" Benjamin was brutally murdered, but instead of a bloody war, what broke out across the boroughs was peace. Over forty gangs sent representatives to the Hoe Avenue Boys & Girls Club to work out a treaty, and now you can hear about the process in their own words, thanks to a newly-released clip from Nicholson's film.

When the fighting stopped, many gang members turned their free time and extra energy towards music, and it was at this very moment, one could argue, that hip-hop was born. Check out the clip below, which features Bronx hip-hop legends Afrika Bambaataa, Jazzy Jay and Kool Herc.
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An attorney for a Manhattan tax law firm was charged with murder yesterday after his wife, a prominent Westchester pediatrician, died in their Scarsdale home.

Scarsdale Police Capt. Thomas Altizio told the Journal News that officers were called to the home, located at 50 Lincoln Road, after receiving a 911 call "reporting a woman seriously injured there." Police believe the call came from a 61-year-old male but would not further elaborate on who made the call.

First responders arrived at the residence to find Dr. Robin Goldman, 58, dead, apparently from stab wounds. Her husband, Jules Reich, 61, was arrested and charged with second degree murder.

Reich is a partner at Weiser Mazars, specializing in mergers and acquisitions, while Goldman was a pediatrician associated with Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx and was a professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Neighbors told WCBS 2 that "the couple was estranged and Reich had not been around much lately." The house, which local news describes as a "mansion" worth $3.4 million, had reportedly been their home since 1997. Reich reportedly filed for divorce from Goldman last summer, soon after their daughter's wedding.

A security guard at Montefiore Medical Center told the NY Post, "Dr. Goldman was murdered? Oh, my God, this is horrible! Im completely shocked. She was a very pleasant lady. She always smiled and said hello to everyone. Nobody ever said or felt anything bad about her. Not with that smile.. A lady of that stature? Who would want to do that to her?"

"This is very sad... [Reich] is a nice guy. He seemed so level-headed," a neighbor said to the Daily News

The couple's son Adam Reich also told the Post that his mother "was great, a great person, amazing."

Reich is currently being held without bail.
When it was revealed that a Brooklyn school run by the Success Academy charter network was systematically pushing out struggling and disabled students identified on a "Got to Go" list, the company's head Eva Moskowitz said the list was the work of a rogue principal, unrepresentative of any broader policy. Critics of the lucrative, influential 36-school network have long alleged that it maintains high test scores by pressuring parents of students with disabilities to pull them from its schools. A federal civil rights complaint filed yesterday by 13 parents along with politicians and advocacy groups bolsters the case, alleging that difficulties faced by special-needs kids are actually the result of a company-wide policy that has been in effect for years.

"Success Academy operates schools in some of the most distressed neighborhoods of this city and receives considerable public funding but fails to serve students with disabilities in accordance with the law," Legal Services NYC direct Raun Rasmussen said in a statement. "These children deserve better."

The complaint says that Success often fails to identify students with disabilities or provide them with accommodations, and when they remain at Success schools, retaliates against them through suspensions, making them repeat grades, and calling 911 to force the hospitalization of kids as young as five, all in violation of federal law. Moreover, the suit says, school administrators fail to notify parents of their rights to dispute discipline, fail to mention existing services, fail to provide required alternative education when kids are suspended, and fail to document removals from school as required.

The suit cites the experiences of 13 anonymous students at eight Success schools in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx.

Public Advocate Letitia James signed onto the complaint along with Queens Councilman Daniel Dromm, who chairs the Council Education Committee. One parent agreed to talk to the Daily News. Katie Jackson's 9-year-old son Josiah Dent-Beckett is one of seven kids in the complaint whose allegations relate to their time at Success's Harlem schools.

Dent-Beckett started kindergarten at Harlem 2 in 2011 and was recommended to be placed in special education at the end of first grade after being diagnosed with learning disabilities. When he repeated second grade, Jackson asked for him to be placed in a smaller class, but administrators told her they didn't have one and that they would place him on a waiting list for another Success school.

"He was in a class with 32 students and it was too much for him," she said.

Harlem 2 never offered other standard support services, according to the complaint, and starting this school year, administrators started calling Jackson saying that her son was acting out. In one instance lawyers cite, he was upset because he was standing on line with other students at the end of the school day holding a quiz with a large F grade on it. When Jackson asked about it, she says administrators told her it is school policy for students who fail a quiz to keep it visible until their parents arrive to pick them up.



Eva Moskowitz (Dario Cantatore/Getty)

Last fall, an evaluation team recommended a smaller class size, but when Jackson asked about the status of the waiting list, she was told simply that she would have to attend an Education Department-run public school. The alternative, she says she was told, would be to have her son repeat another grade.

"The principal told me right to my face, 'If he comes back next year he will be left back again,'" Jackson said.

The other cases all echo this one, with some variationssome parents have already withdrawn their child, one was expelled in his fourth year, and some parents, like Jackson, are still fighting to receive special education within Success schools.

Each set of allegations involves school administrators ignoring or downplaying disability diagnoses, and when confronted with them, failing to provide such support measures as small classes or paraprofessionals. When behavioral problems arise with the inadequately accommodated special-needs child, rather than reassessing, the schools allegedly suspend the kids, force parents to pick them up early, and in some cases, call paramedics to take them to emergency rooms.

In one instance, the Harlem 3 school allegedly called a mom and told her to come pick up her son (who administrators had denied a paraprofessional) because he was showing "unsafe behavior." When she said she needed 45 minutes to get there, the administrators reportedly called 911, then when she arrived, they forced her to wait three hours for an ambulance. She asked to leave to pick up her other kids, but they said if she did, they would call the Administration for Children's Services to report her. Paramedics ultimately didn't show, according to the complaint, telling administrators they don't pick up children for misbehaving.

The mom said she never got her son's enrollment letter for 2015, and when she demanded that he be reenrolled, the principal said if she didn't take him out, he would repeat kindergarten, the complaint says.

The lawsuit calls for a civil rights investigation, and for the feds to force Success to follow laws regarding students with disabilities and discrimination.

In a statement, Moskowitz sought to downplay the claims, framing them as the gripes of a handful of aggrieved parents:

We provide 11,000 students, including over 1,400 special needs students, with an excellent education and have thousands more students on our waiting lists. We are disappointed that these 13 families do not feel the needs of their children were met.

Meanwhile, the State University of New York, which licenses charter schools, is planning to investigate Success's alleged pressure tactics, according to a New York Post report.
The police are searching for a teenager who allegedly stabbed another teenage boy to death during an after-school melee in Williamsburg yesterday.

17-year-old Jovani Cubias of East Flatbush was stabbed in his torso on the corner of Lorimer and Montrose Street just before 4:30 p.m. yesterday, according to the NYPD. Cubias was rushed to Bellevue Hospital, where he was later declared dead. The Post reports that the teenage boy was stabbed with a box cutter in the midst of an after-school brawl.

A nearby deli worker told the tabloid that Wednesday's killing started out as a "melee."

They usually get out of school and come to the park every day. He is very badly hurt; hes in bad shape, Garcia said, describing Cubias. They had to resuscitate him before they took him away in the ambulance.

Speaking with NBC New York, neighborhood resident Rashad White said "It's just ridiculous how kids so young is committing crimes of this nature, kids so young getting killed, probably over something stupid."

Police are currently investigating and searching for Cubias's killer, who was described to the Post as wearing a hooded sweatshirt with a prominent smiley face design. (An NYPD spokesperson could not confirm that description.) No arrests have yet been made in the case.
The Gallery in Shangri La. We were able to make plant cheeze and veganaise
Zapoper's modem went and got drunk yesterday and now it doesn't recognize him anymore. As a result, he lost his internet and pho...
Opinion

Destination Sharjah

Come November and all roads will lead to Expo Centre Sharjah. Every year, we wait for this moment to arrive. The 41st edition of Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) is all set to begin from Nov.2. Everybody in the UAE is super excited for SIBF. Lots of authors of international repute will grace the much-loved event. A total of 1,632 exhibitors from 83 countries will attend the event. I am also looking forward to meet and listen to a few of them.


Becky Hardgrave, CPP from Hardgrave Photography in Knoxville, Arkansas shares some of her experiences, favorite images, ideas, and life.
This is a reconstruction from my notes on a teleconference that took place yesterday.. I'm sure I missed some things. I still don't know why I was invited to join this conference, and others who I would think would be interested were not invited. They claim 4,500 participants! There was a lineup of questions, and Gabbard was not able within time limits to take them all. I did not submit my question I had thought about, concerning Bernie Sanders and his ability to deal with the military, because it seemed to me that this was not the direction to go right now. It was too general and hypothetical.

Tulsi Gabbard is a second term Congresswoman from the 2nd Congressional district of Hawaii. She made a short introductory speech, laying out her set of concerns and the bills she has sponsored. She mentioned the Clay-Hunt Act, which would improve mental health care for veterans. She points out that Hawaii has the worst housing crisis in the country: 7,000 homeless, most of them on Oahu. She mentions dengue fever and expresses concern.

She serves on the House Armed Services Committee. She regards North Korea as a "serious threat" and says that we must "protect our state" from terrorists.

She opposes overthrowing Assad and believes we should be focusing instead on terrorist groups like ISIS. She refers to the negative consequences of waging war on foreign governments without congressional approval and says this is "illegal." She has introduced HR 4018, a bill to cut off funding for actions against the Assad government in Syria.*

Questions and comments from the public:

One concern was that the Veterans' Cemetery on Maui is running out of room. Gabbard made a general remark about being very much an advocate for veterans, along with Senators Schatz and Hirono. A caller suggested letting homeless vets take over dilapidated properties and renovate them and live in them. Gabbard mentioned alternatives such as containers, tiny houses, revising zoning laws, bringing in Habitat for Humanity, etc. She mentioned living in container housing herself when deployed in the Middle East.

Ron & Carol from Glenwood injected a little humor into the proceedings. Carol had to rouse Ron from what was apparently a nap in order for him to talk about how his local transfer station won't take old tires (which mosquitoes like to breed in) which forces him to take them to farther away transfer stations. This was kind of goofy, but Gabbard quite graciously promised to call Mayor Kenoi and talk to him about getting better tire removal service.

A more serious matter was the air travel price gouging going on. Hawaiian Airlines has a monopoly on Maui, and inter-island air fares are ridiculous: $370.-$400. Lehui to Honolulu fare can be more expensive than a ticket from Lehui to the Mainland. Gabbard says she has testified about this matter in committees. Communities are very handicapped if air travel is the only way to get out, she says.

Another pressing issue is the $30-$40,000,000 dollars the state must spend to meet the needs of migrants to Hawaii, most of them Micronesians., not nearly enough money considering the magnitude of the problem. This is a very poor and under-served group with unusual numbers of them in need of medical care. The Feds mandate Medicaid for them but don't fund it. There are 12,000 migrants in Hawaii, and many of them are homeless.**

This Telephone Town Hall was excellent, and I hope to be included in the next one. I think all our elected representatives should be providing this service to constituents.
This was passed along from Bob B. and also credit to Kevin Sorbo. For me When the State tells you its safe to go to Home Depot to buy a ...
During the annual meeting of the Hawaii Womens Legislative Caucus (WLC), members from both the state Senate and House elected new co-conveners for the Caucus and voted to expand their membership to include women lawmakers at the county level.At the January 12th meeting, the WLC voted as new co-conveners for 2016, Senators Rosalyn H. Baker and Laura H. Thielen and Representatives Lauren Kealohilani Matsumoto and Della Au Belatti. New co-conveners are elected every two years.Im excited to step up to co-convene this wonderful group of women, said Sen. Laura Thielen. I look forward to continuing the important work of this group which has a great track record for bettering the lives of women.Its an honor to be in the company of these strong, smart women lawmakers and I believe together we can make a difference in the lives of women throughout the State, said Rep. Lauren Matsumoto.At the meeting, the WLC also decided to extend invitations to the women members of the four county councils to join state lawmakers in promoting legislation at the state and county levels.Last year we worked closely with the women members of the Honolulu City Council to protect the safety of victims of domestic violence. We found we could be much more effective when working on matters at both the state and county level, said Sen. Rosalyn Baker. We look forward to expanding those efforts to every island.Developing this partnership with the women from all counties just makes sense, said Rep. Della Au Bellati. By working together, we create a statewide effort of women leaders which only benefits all women in Hawaii.The WLC is currently finalizing the package of priorities to be introduced at the 2016 legislative session. The caucus will meet on Thursday, January 28 at the YWCA of Oahu, 1040 Richards Street, to announce the package of bills. The meeting will include a breakfast and panel discussion from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. A news conference will be held at 9 a.m.
Snowshoe hike planned on Flesher Pass

Join the Montana Discovery Foundation on Sunday, Jan. 24, from 3-6 p.m. for a moonrise hike on snowshoes along a portion of the Continental Divide Trail atop Flesher Pass. This trek will move through open hillsides and scattered trees. At various locations along the trail, well be treated to outstanding views of the southern edge of the Scapegoat Wilderness. Reservations are required due to group size limitations. This event is free (donations gladly accepted) and open to the public. Flesher Pass is located approximately 40 miles northwest of Helena on Hwy 279.

For reservations, call the Montana Discovery Foundation at 406-495-3711.

***

January winter shrub identification and snowshoe

Join us and learn the secrets of distinguishing shrubs when they have no leaves. Andrea Pipp, botanist for the Montana Natural Heritage Program, will provide two different experiences for exploring shrubs in their winter condition. The programs are free, open to ages 10 years to adult, and of all skill levels (none to expert). Reservations are highly appreciated. The Wednesday, Jan. 27, session is strongly recommended as a pre-requisite to Saturdays snowshoe and will take place from 7-9 p.m. at Carroll College Simperman Hall.

In the comforts of the indoors, youll learn how to distinguish different shrubs and see the diversity in our neighborhood.

On Saturday, Jan. 30, from 9 a.m.12:30 p.m., we will snowshoe in the Little Blackfoot area and discover what shrubs are around us.

This event is co-sponsored by the Kelsey Chapter of the Native Plant Society and the Montana Discovery Foundation. The Discovery Foundation will provide snowshoes or you can bring your own. The exact meeting place and snowshoe location will be provided later. However, plan to bring water, snack, lunch and appropriate attire (waterproof pants, sturdy boots, layer as appropriate for the weather conditions).

Reservations will be required for the Saturday snowshoe. Contact Andrea Pipp at 406-439-0284 if you have questions.

***

Montana Recreational Trails Program grants available

Montana State Parks announced that federal Recreational Trails Program grants will be available for trail projects in Montana. Applications are due by March 11, at 4 p.m.

Montana State Parks manages the annual grant program that administers federal funding with oversight from the Federal Highway Administration. Projects include: development, maintenance and rehabilitation work on urban, rural, and backcountry trails; planning and construction of community trails; and a variety of trail stewardship programs. Eligible applicants can include federal, state, county or municipal agencies, private associations and clubs.

There is an anticipated total of approximately $1.4 million in RTP funding available to be awarded. The following RTP grant categories are offered.

The Small Grant category comprises sponsors requesting $20,000 or less per grant application.

The General Grant category includes sponsors requesting $20,001-$45,000.

One or two Big Grants of $90,000 will also be available this RTP grant cycle.

The Recreational Trails Program is managed through an online grant management database system, WebGrants. The WebGrants system can be accessed through fundingmt.org. The RTP funding opportunity is currently available and will remain open until March 11, 2016 at 4pm.

Hands-on training sessions will be offered in January for prospective applicants and current project sponsors.

Jan. 29 in Bozeman, Region 3 FWP Conference Room 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Jan. 30 in Billings, Region 5 FWP Conference Room 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

For more information visit: stateparks.mt.gov/recreation/rtpGrants.html or if there are specific questions, please contact Beth R. Shumate, Trails Program Manager at 406-444-4585 or bshumate@mt.gov.

***

Ice fishing class for women Feb. 4 & 6 in Kalispell

The Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks' Becoming an Outdoors-Woman program is sponsoring an ice fishing class on Feb. 4 and 6.

With modern gear, ice fishing is fun, safe and comfortable. This class is for beginning or intermediate female anglers who want to learn the basics or improve their fishing skills. Participants must attend the evening class on Feb. 4 at the FWP Region 1 office in Kalispell. Fishing on the ice will take place Saturday morning, Feb. 6, at a location near Kalispell. Participants do not need a fishing license as this class has been issued a license exemption. The class fee is $10 and all ice fishing equipment and supplies will be provided if needed.

For more information and to register, call Liz Lodman 406-444-9940; or email Liz Lodman at: llodman@mt.gov. Registration forms are available at the Region 1 FWP office or on the FWP web site at fwp.mt.gov under Becoming an Outdoors-Woman.

Snowshoe classes for women Feb 6-7

The Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks' Becoming an Outdoors-Woman program is sponsoring snowshoe classes on Feb. 6-7 near Helena.

"If you can walk, you can snowshoe," said Liz Lodman, FWP's Becoming an Outdoors Woman coordinator. "This class will provide an opportunity to use snowshoes while exploring the surrounding forest."

Classes are offered for beginning or intermediate snowshoe enthusiasts who want to learn the basics or improve their skills. The class fee is $5 and snowshoes are available to borrow if needed. The classes are co-hosted by the Montana Discovery Foundation.

For more information and to register call Liz Lodman 406-444-9940; or email Liz Lodman at: llodman@mt.gov . Registration forms are available at the Helena FWP office or on the FWP web site at fwp.mt.gov under Becoming an Outdoors-Woman.

***

New associate state director on board at BLM

The New Year begins with a change in one of the top leadership positions in the Montana/Dakotas State Office of the Bureau of Land Management.

Jon Raby recently joined the staff as the associate state director, filling the post vacated this past December by the retirement of Kate Kitchell.

As the associate state director, Jon oversees the internal operations for Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota for the bureau, which manages 8.3 million acres of federal lands and over 47 million acres of federal mineral estate.

Rabys career in federal service began more than 25 years ago and includes 20 years with the BLM. In addition to the BLM, Jon has also worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Forest Service.

Immediately prior to coming to Billings, Raby served as the associate district manager for the BLMs Medford District in Oregon.

Raby holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in biology from Ohio Northern University.
BILLINGS -- A Helena woman indicted in a large methamphetamine conspiracy admitted she helped distribute meth she got from a Fishtail man who prosecutors say trafficked at least 178 pounds of the drug.

Rinda Lee Morgan, 43, pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute meth during a hearing in U.S. District Court in Billings on Wednesday. A plea agreement calls for a conspiracy count to be dismissed at sentencing.

Prosecutor Colin Rubich said that while Morgan tried to vastly minimize" her role in the conspiracy, she admitted to Drug Enforcement Administration agents that she received about 10 ounces of meth from Merrill Clark Gardner, of Fishtail, the organizations leader.

However, Rubich said, the investigation found that Morgan actually received and distributed about three pounds of meth she got from Gardner.

Gardner, 61, pleaded guilty in November to a conspiracy count and is awaiting sentencing.

Prosecutors said Gardner trafficked at least 178 pounds of meth he stored on nearby property and shipped hundreds of thousands of dollars in drug proceeds in a truck back to his Arizona supplier. Gardner was arrested in June 2015 after agents found more than six pounds of meth and $103,340 in cash on or near his property.

Rubich called Morgan an active distributor and a key member of a wide-ranging conspiracy to import and distribute meth in Montana from January 2013 to June 18, 2015.

Morgan would travel to Gardners Fishtail home to get meth and to deliver drug proceeds, Rubich said. She then would deliver meth to three others who would redistribute the drug in Helena and surrounding area.

While serving a search warrant on Morgans home, investigators found drug paraphernalia that was covered in meth residue, a scale that had meth residue and a half-ounce of meth, Rubich said.

A lab analysis found the meth was 95 percent pure, he said.

Morgan told the judge she was involved in the conspiracy from about January 2014 to when Gardner was arrested.

Morgans co-defendant, Brett Wade Clouse, 36, of Absarokee, has pleaded not guilty to charges and is awaiting trial.

Morgan faces a mandatory minimum five years to 40 years in prison and a $5 million fine.

U.S. District Judge Susan Watters set sentencing for May 4. Morgan remains in custody.
On Tuesday the National Labor Relations Board regional director denied a petition to unionize presented by a majority of Carroll faculty and the MEA-MFT union.

The Associated Faculty of Carroll College organizing committee will meet at 5 p.m. Thursday to decide whether it will appeal the decision to a panel in Washington, D.C.

In his ruling, the NLRB regional director Ronald Hooks found the NLRB does not have jurisdiction over Carroll College because it is a religiously operated institution and the faculty are managerial employees.

The ruling follows up on a three-day NLRB hearing in Helena that began Dec. 11, when both the Carroll administration and the MEA-MFT and Associated Faculty of Carroll College presented their cases to a hearing officer.

Were disappointed in the decision that was handed down, said faculty spokesperson and English Professor Kay Satre Wednesday evening, but we havent met as a group to discuss it.

Its been a hectic week, she added, with classes starting up at Carroll following winter break.

Forming a faculty union at Carroll had been discussed decades ago, according to Satre in a December IR article. But current efforts were spurred by a favorable NLRB ruling in 2015 that would have allowed faculty to unionize at Pacific Lutheran University, which is a private college.

Although more than 70 percent of Carrolls faculty signed cards in support of forming a union, Carroll President Tom Evans and Satre both say they believe that the NLRBs decision will not affect morale.

I think our faculty are first rate, Evans said. Our faculty are very influential in shaping the college. They love our students and they work incredibly hard.

I enjoy working with our faculty very much, he added. I look forward to our continued good work together."

Evans said that he sees the whole union petition and hearing process as a learning experience for both faculty and administration.

Ive heard from faculty involved in the process who share the same feelings that I have, which is we understand our policies, documentation, our procedures and our shared governance so much better through this process.

Its been interesting to have this opportunity to really examine how things work and what kinds of policies are in place, he said. Its been a good process for the institution.

In a letter to Carroll faculty Wednesday afternoon, Evans wrote, Through the strengthening of our communications and shared governance, we look forward to creating an even more vibrant college community for our students, faculty and staff -- with academics at the forefront of our shared vision.

Satre agreed the discussions and hearing process have been beneficial.

We have more clarity among faculty -- talking about what the concerns are. ...things are out on the table now, she said. Theres an important opportunity here, no matter what happens next. ...We have an opportunity to work together and address the concerns that we have.

I just think theres a lot of really positive energy and goodwill focused on what we believe Carroll College as an institution can be -- and that is based on our past and our traditions, but also thinking about where we can go in the future.

Part of that is truly having faculty involved in shared decisionmaking, she said.

Theres a lot of good energy, she said, and I dont think this process has dissipated that energy at all.

One thing thats been learned, she said, is that people are very committed to this college. Im ever so impressed with my fellow faculty members and colleagues.

Im disappointed in the decision, she concluded, but lots of good work has happened because we engaged in this process.
You may have heard President Obama take credit for a strong economy in his State of the Union address. He cited job growth, low unemployment, a record year in cars and an improved manufacturing sector.

Im inclined to agree with Chris Christie when he said that this was story time with Barack Obama. When dealing in matters of the economy, its important to take the whole picture into account, not just the parts of the picture that suit your narrative.

Lets start with that part where Obama took credit for cheap gas. Like all oil consumers, Im happy that gas is cheaper. Its saved me money.

I would have expected Obama to bemoan the low cost of oil in his speech, not tout it. Cheap oil disincentivizes the American oil industry, increases our propensity to be reliant on foreign oil, and if you ask the environmentalists, theyll tell you it harms the environment.

Oil prices are low because theres too much supply. Were drowning in oil. That supply is coming from the OPEC nations. Yes, OPEC: the international oil cartel that exists solely to price gouge America and other wealthy western nations addicted to oil.

What OPEC didnt foresee as it was artificially limiting oil production eight years ago was the massive financial incentive it had created for North American industry to develop shale oil in spite of Obamas environmental regulations. Oil companies that managed to tap into shale and oil sands saw record profits roll in, and oil workers left the field with six-figure incomes.

And then OPEC quit artificially limiting supply in an attempt to kill North American industry, the world began to drown in a glut of oil, the price tanked, and the money spigot attached to oil wells went dry.

For me and others without a stake in the oil market, its been great. For those with a stake in the oil business, its been awful. And though we dont know yet the larger implications on the overall economy, the stock market, and everyones retirement accounts, for the consumption half of the oil economy, the half that Obama was pandering to in his speech, its been great. Thanks, OPEC.

Lets move on to the state of the employment economy. The Presidents narrative about job growth is only half the story. Labor participation continues to be anemic, and real wages havent budged for decades.

Furthermore, the jobs created under his watch have been centered in large, urban, Democratic havens. Sure there are more jobs, and in cities like San Francisco and New York, many of these jobs have resulted in higher wages, but not in other rural, predominantly Republican places like Montana. The dichotomy between urban and rural American economies is stark and real.

Ive worked for enough corporations and studied them closely enough to know that they care more about quarterly returns to stakeholders than the overall well-being of their employees. Strong regulation on extremely large, wealthy, powerful corporations is necessary.

But Obamas agenda has extended beyond Wall Street to parts of Main Street that didnt need regulation, and these actions have had a real detrimental effect on middle-class Americans in small and big markets alike. One would think that this being the case, the federal government would make it easier for companies not listed on the New York Stock Exchange to grow, but it has not.

You would think that at the very least Obama would seek to fortify his legacy by leading the charge to change a law that has had real detrimental effects upon middle-class America. But he hasnt. He vetoed the bill that would have eliminated it. Meanwhile, one Democrat has advocated expanding Obamacare, and the other wants a single-payer system.

Its easy to believe the rosy picture the President painted in his speech, but that picture was hardly complete, and the devil was in the details he left out.
Montanas governor and attorney general are both telling the Bureau of Land Management to not pull nearly a million acres of federal land from potential mineral exploration or mining, a move the agency says is to protect sage grouse.

BLM in a notice published Sept. 24 said it proposes to withdraw 983,156 acres of public and National Forest Service lands in Montana to protect sage grouse and the birds habitat from the effects of mineral exploration and mining. The land is in Fergus, Garfield, Phillips and Valley counties.

Gov. Steve Bullock and Attorney General Tim Fox both sent letters to BLM Director Neil Kornze. Bullock's letter is dated Jan. 20, Fox's is Jan. 15.

The letters argue that the land has minimal potential for mineral exploration and that Montanas sage grouse management plan is enough to protect the bird and its habitat.

Fox wrote that needles federal action shouldnt be supported because it only adds to government regulations that unduly burden our citizens and business. He said the move is intended to cater to political special interests and violates Montanas sovereignty. He also argued inconsistent management jeopardizes the states ability to manage sage grouse and prevent the state from managing trust lands.

The withdrawal also includes 38,440 acres of state trust land, which the state manages to generate revenue for public schools. Bullocks letter said even though the land doesnt have high potential for mining, some mineral reserves could exist and the withdrawal would make it impossible for the state to leverage that into funding for schools.

Fox also writes that the BLM has no authority to make the proposed withdrawal.
BILLINGS -- Bozeman high-tech magnate Greg Gianforte announced his candidacy for governor Wednesday in Billings, pledging to improve the Montana economy and donate his salary to scholarships, if elected.

The announcement, delivered over the cacophony of mechanics at a Peterbilt repair shop in Lockwood, was pointedly aimed at Democratic incumbent Gov. Steve Bullock and the economic challenges of Eastern Montana: crumbling infrastructure, federal regulations on coal power and the out-migration of Montanas young adults.

We need new leadership in Montana, Gianforte said. On top of lost jobs, weve got a governor whos failed to deliver on essential infrastructure. In Culbertson, the water bill for a single home is already $1,200 a year. Because of the governors failed leadership, its going up 18 percent this year.

But while the governor has failed to deliver on infrastructure, hes sure grown government spending. Hes increased it by 20 percent in just three years. Imagine what he would do with another four?

Its been 16 years since Montana Republicans have won a gubernatorial election. Those packed into the upper storage mezzanine of the repair shop liked what they were hearing from Gianforte, who zeroed in job creation, his strongest political playing card.

Gianforte founded the software company RightNow Technologies in Bozeman roughly 20 years ago. RightNow software enables governments and companies to answer frequently asked questions online. The companys workforce ballooned to 1,200 before it was sold to Oracle for $1.8 billion in 2012.

Oracle kept those jobs in Bozeman after the purchase. Numerous Bozeman tech startups have stemmed from the sale, as former RightNow employees with shares in the company cashed out and started businesses.

I think hes just the man that Montana needs, said Roy Brown, a former Montana legislator who ran against incumbent Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer in 2008. Were 49th in jobs and wages. We can really make a difference with him at the helm. Its always difficult to challenge an incumbent, but the incumbent hasnt done much but make things worse.

When Brown challenged Schweitzer, the incumbent captured nearly 67 percent of the vote. Schweitzers approval rating leading up to the election was daunting.

But Bullocks numbers arent nearly as strong as his predecessors, which has Republicans liking Gianfortes chances. In 2012, Bullock was elected with 47 percent of the vote, in a three-way race in which a conservative third-party candidate captured votes that Republican Rick Hill needed to be successful.

Bullocks public approval rating was roughly 50 percent in a poll released by Montana State University Billings last month. The polls 4.8 percent margin of error would place the governors support close to where it was with voters in 2012, Bullocks first gubernatorial election.

I thought the message about leadership, a vision of where we want to go, rather than just managing, having a direction to what we want to accomplish, was a hot button for me, said Donald Sterhan, who manages an equity group. I think weve got some issues that we need to deal with. We need to face reality on some things and when we cant deliver, we have to be accountable for that.

Topping the list of challenges listed by Gianforte was Montanas pending response to the federal Clean Power Plan, which demands deep reductions on carbon dioxide emissions. Montana is expected by September to develop an initial response to regulations, which could in the future shutter portions of Colstrip Power Plant.

Bullock appointed a committee earlier this month to make recommendations for complying with the Clean Power Plan.

Gianforte never mentioned his Republican primary opponent, Brad Johnson, a Public Service Commission chairman and former Montana secretary of state. Likewise, Democrats have aimed squarely at Gianforte.

Tuesday, Buzzfeed, an online publication targeting a national audience, focused on Gianfortes $1.1 million in donations to religious groups opposing nondiscrimination rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

Gianfortes previously published opposition to a nondiscrimination ordinance in Bozeman was included in the article.

Monday, Gov. Bullock chose a Bozeman coffee shop as the stage for a new executive order expanding state nondiscrimination policy to include gender identity, pregnancy and military service. He told the press he was honoring the principles of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Gianfortes literal interpretation of the Bible, as well as his donations to Christian causes, have been a focal point of Democrats. The candidate did not address those criticisms in his announcement.

He had not responded to questions about those criticisms by press time.
ABC/Randy Holmes

LL Cool J's legacy was officially cemented with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Thursday afternoon in front of Hollywoods Hard Rock Cafe.

The rap veteran, who has been in the business for 30 years, was honored with the Walk's 2,571st star. Dressed in all black and dark shades, he expressed his heartfelt gratitude for the recognition.

"The first word that comes to my mind is gratitude and just being grateful. I'm just so thankful and so appreciative of this honor, I really don't know what to say," he said during the ceremony. "What I'd like to do, instead of rambling with a speech, is thank people in stages, because I think of my career in stages," he said before thanking Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons, who signed the rapper as the first artist of Def Jam Records. "I wouldn't be here with out you."

His eight-minute speech included shout-outs to everyone who assisted his career, from his wife Simone Smith to music and television executives. He concluded by saying: "If there's anybody I'm not mentioning you name, just know that I really, truly and deeply, from the bottom of my soul, appreciate this award and I want to say one last thing and that is...if a task is once begun, never leave it until its done, be thy labor great or small, do it well or not at all. Thank you grandma, I love you!"

LL's longtime friends Queen Latifah and Sean Diddy Combs were also in attendance during the unveiling and praised LL for his accomplishments, including earning two Grammy Awards and an NAACP Image Award.

Latifah commented: "He is the greatest of all time... the GOAT, the greatest of all time, I don't say that just because of some acronym that someone came up with, I say that because if you Wikipedia him right now his career says from 1984 to present," she says. "That's longevity, stick-to-it-ness, perseverance and most of all he lives our hearts, he lives our hearts as fans. I've been a fan since the very beginning."

Diddy, who revealed that he used to manage LL, chimed: "Man, we were talking the other night, from Hollis [Queens] to Hollywood. Man, to what you had to do, how you had to stay focused, how you had to not believe or listen to the naysayers, your work ethic, how you had to just keep persevering and persevering and get to this point, brother I congratulate you."

Mike Tyson, Magic Johnson, Chuck D of Public Enemy and his NCSI cast mates Chris O'Donnell and Daniela Ruah were all in the crowd cheering him on. If you missed it, you can watch the entire video stream of the ceremony online now at WalkofFame.com.

Copyright  2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
DECATUR  On a Sunday afternoon in December 2012 Isaiah Wiley and his girlfriend were sitting on her enclosed porch, when they decided to go outside to smoke a blunt, a marijuana cigar.

They went next-door to the abandoned house at 424 E. Waggoner St., where Wiley, 21, stood up on the ground at the base of the front staircase, while his 23-year-old girlfriend sat nearby on the porch landing, facing him.

They were passing the blunt back and forth and talking. As she was smoking, she saw Wiley look to his right toward the rear of the driveway, scream, Oh, (expletive), and run toward the street in front of the house.

In the following moments, Wiley was shot 13 times with a Glock .40-caliber semiautomatic pistol, with the first shots fired as the shooter stood a few feet away from Wiley's girlfriend, on the spot he had just been standing.

That was the testimony of Wiley's girlfriend, who took the stand Tuesday for more than three hours, to nervously explain to a jury how she amazingly survived a hit she thought would include her and still fears for her life after witnessing the murder of the witness in a related murder case.

Wednesday was the opening day of the evidence phase of the trial of Rickie Kendricks, 28, charged with first-degree murder for shooting Isaiah Wiley. He is facing a sentence of 20 to 60 years in prison, with a firearm enhancement of 25 years to life, if convicted.

Wiley was a key witness in the then pending trial of Demarta Cunningham, a close associate of Kendricks, who had shot to death his cousin Freedom Cunningham and Freedom's wife, Central Cunningham, on April 7, 2012.

Demarta Cunningham, now 31, is serving a life sentence in the Illinois Department of Corrections after he was convicted of those murders by a jury Dec. 17, 2014.

Wiley's videotaped police interviews and audio tapes of jail conversations between Demarta Cunningham and Kendricks about planning Wiley's murder were presented to the jurors in that case.

In her opening statement, Assistant Macon County State's Attorney Kate Kurtz told the jurors that Freedom Cunningham and Central Cunningham were gunned down by Demarta Cunningham in front of Isaiah Wiley's apartment.

Isaiah and Demarta were friends, Kurtz said. They grew up in Detroit and knew each other, along with this defendant. Isaiah knew exactly what Demarta had done that day. He was home, but true to the code, Isaiah said nothing.

But that changed after Demarta Cunningham beat up and robbed Wiley several months after the double murder, because Wiley disobeyed an order from Demarta Cunningham.

Demarta Cunningham was the kingpin of a drug ring that sold heroin, cocaine and marijuana.

After Wiley gave police the leads they needed to arrest Demarta Cunningham, he was contacted by many people to change his story and was offered money to do so, Kurtz told the jurors. Instead he took money from the state to leave town for a while but returned after a few days.

Kurtz said the state will present evidence putting Kendricks in the vicinity of the shooting scene, including that his cellphone was there.

Travis Strobach, lead defense attorney for Kendricks, said Wiley's girlfriend initially identified another man as the shooter, despite that she had previously dated Kendricks and that man.

Mr. Kendricks was in a dating relationship with her a few years prior, Strobach said. He took her to Detroit to meet her family.

He said the state will not be able to prove that Kendricks had possession of his cellphone at the time of the murder, nor that he was in possession of the murder weapon.

Wiley's girlfriend testified that after the shooting, she watched a white car drive away through the alley as she used a tree as a shield in case of more gunfire. She then went inside her mother's house and hid in a closet, terrified that she too would be killed.

She explained that she wrongly identified the other man, who had a similar appearance, because she didn't want the shooter to be Kendricks.

In the closet, I was having a nervous breakdown thinking of who it was, she testified. I knew they wanted Isaiah and me to be killed. I don't know why nothing happened to me. I didn't want to say he did it because I didn't want anything to happen to me.

She testified that she saw a white car driving past her and Wiley several times that day as they walked and sat in the house, the same car she saw drive away after the shooting.

Kurtz asked her if she had to look over her shoulder.

I still do, she said, adding she now lives out of state. I didn't want to come to court and say he did it, because I thought that would put me in more danger.

The trial resumes at 9 a.m. today in the courtroom of Associate Judge Thomas E. Little.
DECATUR  How quickly phenomena pass.

When teacher Heather Scott asked South Shores School students if they recognized the name Draco from Harry Potter on Wednesday, none did. That left her having to explain who the character is, as well as introducing them to the dragon constellation for which he is named.

Starlab, an inflatable planetarium, is at South Shores for two weeks to enhance the schoolwide space unit, thanks to a grant from Decatur Public Schools Foundation that paid for renting it from the Children's Museum of Illinois.

Every class will have a chance to go in twice, once to become familiar with the stars and the planets and once at the end, when they're able to identify some of them themselves and really understand what they're looking at, said Principal Eldon Conn.

He and the faculty came up with the idea of a schoolwide unit on space as a way to get kids excited about learning after the holidays.

They're making planets in the classrooms and studying the stars, Conn said. You can see the hallways are covered with different things, rockets and planets and stars. Some of them are putting together planets in the classrooms.

Sixth-grade teacher Teri Moore said space can be part of history, when they learn about the moon landing, or reading when they learn Greek mythology, or math, as they plot out how long it would take to travel to one of the solar system's other planets from Earth and when they made a solar system to scale.

Scott explained to Moore's class how the constellations were connected to Greek mythology and pointed out some of the more well-known ones, such as Ursa Major, Gemini and Leo. She explained how the constellations are visible at specific times of year, which helped ancient people track time and season, and the month in which certain constellations are visible is how astrology was born.

She told them to choose a constellation and research its origins and legends, and find out which astrological sign they are so they can look for that constellation next time they visit Starlab.

Erik Moore, no relation to Teri Moore, is particularly interested in the subject.

I thought (Starlab) was pretty cool, because they showed us everything that we could try to learn ourselves, and look up, he said. It was a very good experience, and we should definitely do it again.
According to the Constitution, the legislature is the first and most powerful branch of government. And yet, many believe  on the left and the right  that the institution has atrophied.

By all accounts, House Speaker Paul Ryan is eager to change that. He has his work cut out for him.

At the Republican congressional retreat in Baltimore last week, I participated in a panel discussion about how to revive Congress' traditional role. It was off the record, but I can certainly repeat a story I told. When my father was in the Army, he was stationed in Japan. His commanding officer, a master at maneuvering the military bureaucracy, gave him one piece of advice. "Goldberg, it's always better to be on the committee that says, 'This must never happen again.'"

In other words, it's easier to wag a finger at mistakes than to be accountable for them. Congress has largely become a finger-wagging bystander. It's great at expressing outrage. But when it comes to the messy work of legislating, it's fallen down on the job.

This is true even when it writes "landmark" laws. The Affordable Care Act, for example, isn't so much a piece of legislation as a letter of marque for the Health and Human Services secretary to chart whatever course she pleases. The law contains more than 2,500 references to "the Secretary," as Philip Klein reported in 2010 in The American Spectator. In 700 of them, the law says she "shall" do X and in another 200-plus instances it says she "may" do Y. In 139 instances, it simply says the "Secretary determines." This is just one example of how Congress routinely vests legislative power in the executive branch.

Other aspects of Congress' authority have been hacked away and sold off in pieces. The Constitution says only Congress can levy taxes. The founders had this crazy idea called "no taxation without representation." And yet, numerous agencies are self-funding, raising money without having to worry about Congress' power of the purse.

Not only are such arrangements a hate crime against the Constitution, they also make agencies less accountable to Congress and, by extension, the people. These agencies are, furthermore, often unaccountable to the judicial branch.

The executive branch was never supposed to be this powerful. Richard Neustadt famously wrote in "Presidential Power" that the presidency is an inherently weak office and therefore the president's chief power is "persuasion."

President Obama has certainly tried to do that. But it's turned out that his powers of persuasion have been greatly exaggerated, particularly in this age of polarization.

Unable to coax the country in his direction, Obama has relied on his beloved "pen and phone" strategy  that is, signing executive orders  often to the cheers of congressional Democrats apparently eager to celebrate their institutional gelding. The Hudson Institute's Christopher DeMuth argues that Obama is the first president to recognize that Neustadt is obsolete and so is the notion of a lame duck presidency.

The challenge for Ryan is multifaceted. He wants to restore Congress' primacy, but to do so he must also transform the GOP into what he calls a "proposition party," not an opposition party (which may be difficult if Obama does everything he can to invite opposition from conservatives). Both require time he may not have.

Meanwhile, both parties' front-runners don't seem interested in deferring to Congress. Hillary Clinton has already said that Obama's unilateralism hasn't gone far enough. Donald Trump promises to just make stuff happen via his superhuman management skills.

We already know liberals will applaud an imperial Democratic president. I can only hope conservatives will stick with Ryan under a Republican one.
The Decatur City Council spent some much-needed time Tuesday night discussing the citys future and the councils goals.

The discussion, which lasted about an hour, will be extended and will involve the community. As with most goal-setting, implementation is the hardest part of the process.

However, few can argue with the councils focus on infrastructure, revenue, economic development and urban revitalization during the discussion. Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe said her goal was to make Decatur the most competitive city in Central Illinois to attract business and retain business. We can be that. We can be the city that people want to come to.

That seems like an appropriate goal, but accomplishing it will take discipline and focus. Successful goal-setting requires the discipline to focus on those issues that will be the most effective over the long term. More importantly, good strategic plans, leave behind a pile of things that would be nice to do, but arent the most effective at this time.

The council also needs to keep in mind that there is a balance between needed revenues and the taxpayers ability and willingness to pay. Council members seem committed to enacting a motor fuel tax to improve the citys roads. That increase would come on top of several other, large tax increases the city has imposed in recent months. At the least, a road infrastructure plan needs to be open and transparent and taxpayers need to see the results of their tax dollars throughout the city.

Urban renewal and revitalization also cries out for a specific plan of action. There is no doubt that the citys current approach, placing vacant homes on an ever-growing demolition list, isnt the right solution. However, a new plan needs to be detailed, costs need to be clearly outlined and goals established.

Another intriguing idea would be for the city to extend a fiber backbone through the city and connect it to an existing network at Richland Community College. This would provide for high-speed, high-capacity internet in the city and would be attracted to businesses and young professionals.

One idea the council rightfully seems uninterested in is council member Bill Fabers calls for a discussion of a city-wide minimum wage increase. There are legitimate arguments for a federal minimum wage increase, but increasing the minimum wage in the city could put Decatur at a competitive disadvantage.

The councils discussion was an encouraging one, primarily because it could make the city more proactive and less reactive.

However, there is a lot of work that needs to be done to decide on some key objectives and to put together detailed plans to follow.
Bless our families and our children,

and choose from our homes those who you desire for this holy work.

Heavenly Father,your divine Son taught usto pray to the Lord of the harvestto send laborers into His vineyard.We earnestly beg youto bless our Diocese and our worldwith many priests and religiouswho will love you fervently and gladlyand courageously spend their livesin service to your Son's Church,especially the poor and the needy.Teach them to respond generouslyand keep them ever faithfulin following your Son Jesus Christ,that under the guidance of the HolySpiritand with the inspiration ofSaint Damien and Blessed Mariannethe Good News of redemptionmay be brought to all.We ask this through Christ our Lord.
If you have consonants to spare, prepare to use them now. This is about Poland. a country that so often produces more history than it can consume locally. A new and fascinating crisis is erupting on the eastern fringes of the German Empire, sorry, European Union. As the Ukraine crisis, provoked by US-backed EU expansionism, sinks into torpor and stalemate, Poland is now pushing at the boundaries of limited sovereignty.

So let us begin with a quick rummage through the Cupboard of the Yesterdays:

Now, limited sovereignty was formulated 100 years ago by Richard von Kuehlmann, the Kaisers Foreign Secretary. He was trying to put a landmine under the Russian Empire in Poland, the Baltic states and Ukraine. In the middle of the 1914-18 war, Berlin invented a pseudo Kingdom of Poland to try to win over Poles who lived under direct Russian tyranny. Then came the collapse of Imperial Russia (brought about by the Bolshevik putsch in Petrograd, financed by German gold and prepared by the German agent Ulyanov, codenamed Lenin, smuggled into Russia under the supervision of the German general staff).

Germanys intervention, and its decision to hire Lenin, was not idealistic and didn't even pretend to be (as its equivalent would nowadays) . The Bolshevik putsch followed the February revolution, a genuine political convulsion from below, which had overthrown the Romanovs and would have led to a constituent assembly, elected by what is almost certainly still the most free and democratic poll ever to have taken place in Russia. The Bolshevik coup destroyed the first non-autocratic government Russia had ever had, as that government wished to continue the war against Germany.

The German-backed Bolsheviks and their armed Red Guards then surrounded and dispersed the constituent assembly, postponing Russian constitutional democracy for at least 70 years. The resulting Russian military and moral collapse led to the peace treaties of Brest Litovsk (now on the border of Poland and Belarus, see http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2014/07/where-east-really-meets-west-and-you-can-stay-in-the-hotel-bug.html ).

And these created the new, wholly German-dominated state of Ukraine. That was limited sovereignty, if ever there was such a thing. How all this would have worked out we shall never know, since Germanys defeat in the West (by no means foreordained) cancelled the Brest-Litovsk Treaties.

Soviet Russia eventually grabbed back Ukraine by force. Poland became a French client state, and the Versailles jig-saw - supposedly a barrier against a revived Germany - replaced the former empires of the region with new states based on national self-determination. But it was complicated by the presence of awkward, unenthusiastic national minorities within their borders. As always, such minorities came in very handy when aggression needed to be justified.

Few recall the bitter months between the Munich agreement and the outbreak of World War Two, when both Poland and Hungary opportunistically took bites out of the corpse of Czechoslovakia. Polands seizure of Zaolzie (with tanks, not cavalry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaolzie#/media/File:Polish_Army_capturing_Zaolzie_in_1938.PNG)

is especially forgotten (as is the anti-Semitism that was rife in that country at the time) because it upsets the plucky little Poland myth, part of the general myth in which World War Two has been transformed into a simple struggle between good and evil, by ignoring large quantities of actual history.

I make no apologies for this history lesson. These things, along with the bodily westward shifting of Poland to satisfy Stalin in 1945, the Soviet massacre of Polish officers at Katyn (subject of an official lie maintained in Poland and the Soviet bloc until the fall of Communism) , the very violent and cruel mass expulsion of ethnic Germans from the region after 1945 (http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2012/11/orderly-and-humane.html )

are not forgotten in these regions and still influence thought and speech.

So bear them in mind when you study Polands new government, described in tones of maidenly horror by Europes liberal, pro-EU media,( and in tones of absolute loathing by Ryszard, a Polish acquaintance who works in a coffee shop near my London office and who is utterly horrified by what has overtaken his home country).

I myself do not much like this government. Its main strength flows from the fact that it has an absolute parliamentary majority, with which it is seeking to impose its will on the courts and the state broadcaster. The things about it which I quite like (a combination of social conservatism and resistance to mass immigration, with social democratic welfare measures and a real concern for the unemployed) are cancelled out by its unreliability on the key issues of law and liberty.

The best critical articles about it come from my old friend Tim Garton Ash, who (despite being a bit liberal) knows more about Poland than almost any English person. Tim was fairly relaxed to start with

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/oct/26/poland-election-survived-worse-orbanisation

But is more worried now

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/07/polish-democracy-destroyed-constitution-media-poland

The EU, having been burned by intervening in Austrian politics some years ago, and has had similar difficulties with the Orban government in (much smaller) Hungary, is probably itching to put pressure on this wayward member. But the EU is also constrained by the fact that it is nowadays rather obviously dominated by Germany, a country which is debarred by history from intervening too openly in Polish internal affairs. Martin Schulz, the German President of the European Parliament , probably hasnt helped get Poland to conform by describing events in Warsaw as having the characteristics of a coup detat:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/poland/12051752/EU-parliament-head-refuses-to-apologise-over-coup-comment-after-Polish-PM-request.html

Maybe a French politician could have got away with this. But a German? Such interventions only strengthen the Law and Justice Party, and allow it to preen itself as a patriotic force. Youd think Germans would realise this, but they dont always seem to.

Germanys EU Commissioner Guenther Oettinger has said there is a a lot to be said for activating the mechanism of the rule of law and putting Warsaw under supervision. Supervision! So much for EU members being truly independent states (which of course they are not, but which, under limited sovereignty they must be allowed to pretend to be).

I don't ,as I say, much like Law and Justice.



But then again, I did not much like its forerunner, which was pathetically pro-EU, though it wisely kept out of the Euro) and accepted huge quantities of EU money while its own native industries shrivelled and a low-wage economy more or less forced huge numbers of young men and women to find work abroad to support their families. It also imposed the EUs secular, politically correct ideas on a Poland where many people are still conservative Roman Catholics.

What Tim Garton Ash notices about the Law and Justice government (and what I find most fascinating about it) is this. It is a new combination, deeply dangerous to the modern consensus. It is Corbynite on the welfare state, but conservative on culture and migration:

PiS [the Law and Justice Partys rather unfortunate acronym in Polish] represents a large part of Polish society: patriotic, Catholic, conservative inhabitants of small towns and villages, especially in the poorer east and south-east of the country; people who dont feel they have benefited from the transition to market democracy. It promises a strong state to protect them from the cold winds of economic and social liberalism. It is rightwing in culture, religion, sexual morality (no abortion or in vitro fertilisation), xenophobia (no Muslim refugees please, were Polish) and nationalism, but almost leftwing in its economic and social promises to the poor and left-behind.

I am puzzled that no such combination has yet arisen in Britain, and can only explain it by the Labrador-like devotion of British social conservatives to a Blairite Tory Party which repeatedly kicks them in the ribs with its well-polished brogues, laughing as it does so. I have tried to challenge this barmy, servile devotion, but found it impenetrable.

The other thing is this. The EU has coddled Poland (with aid which will total 100 billion Euros by 2020) and not pressed it too hard to join the Euro. It has seen it as a star member, compliant, and an example which Ukraine might one day follow. And now, after a long period when it seemed to be on a smooth flight-path to ever-closer union, Polands national sentiments, previously buried under layers of Euromoney, have reawoken, partly thanks to harsh economic conditions and partly because a nation which has only recently re-established itself feels particularly threatened by Angela Merkels relaxed policy onwards Muslim migrants.

These are fundamental problems, not easily resolved either by negotiation or by pressure. Europes bitter, difficult history has come back once again to poke the idealists in the eye. The debts of 1914 have not yet been paid in full, and the damage it did is not yet repaired. Watch with interest.


Salini Impregilo to build section of S7 Expressway south of Krakow, Poland



Salini Impregilo has been awarded a contract worth 117 million to build a section of the S7 Expressway south of Krakow near the border with Slovakia.



The project, which will last 22 months, includes 6 kilometres of asphalt road, two interchanges with roundabouts and 21 engineering structures, among which a 992-metre bridge and a 400-metre viaduct with multiple spans. The client is the General Directorate of National Roads and Motorways (GDDKiA).



This new contract increases the value of the Group's order backlog in the country to over 650 million and consolidates its leadership in the infrastructure sector in which the following roads are under construction: the S3 Nowa Sol - Legnica, the S8 Warsaw Bypass, the S7 Checiny  Jedrzejow section and the A1 lot F, near Katowice.







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The 48-year-old Coliseum doesn't have an adequate rigging grid and has limited capacity for unloading and unloading, according to the report.

Laurel White

Laurel White covers city and county government for The Capital Times. She joined The Capital Times in 2014, having previously served as a general assignment reporter at Wisconsin Public Radio. She graduated with her master's in public affairs reporting from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism in 2014.
Dane County purchased the former Messner Inc. property at 1326 E. Washington Ave. for use as a day resource center for the homeless last year.
Atle Melkild: Norwegians looking forward to a new ambassador from U.S.
RACINE  The man whose death has launched a homicide investigation by Racine police was identified Wednesday.

Michael Hardy, 41, of the 3200 block of Indiana St., was found dead after police conducted a welfare check at about 4 p.m. Tuesday, according to a news release issued Wednesday afternoon.

Lt. Al Days of the Racine Police Department said the death was being investigated as a homicide and that the investigation is ongoing. As of 8 p.m., Days said, no one is in custody in connection with Hardys death.

Hardy served as the treasurer of the Harvest Outreach Food Pantry, 2000 DeKoven Ave., for at least four years, according to the Pantry President Wally Herman. Hardy volunteered there every day, Herman said, and had not shown up since Thursday, which raised suspicion.

Nobody understood why he wasnt showing up, Herman said.

Hardy lived in the Windsong Court Apartments, Herman confirmed. Herman had dropped him off a few times after volunteering.

Herman said Hardy was a devoted volunteer, but an extremely private person who had no known telephone number. So on Tuesday, a volunteer from the pantry went to Windsong Court to check on Hardy, which started a series of events that ended with police kicking down the door and finding Hardy deceased.

He was an extremely faithful member of Harvest Outreach, Herman said. I didnt have anything bad to say about that man.

According to Herman, Hardy did not have a steady job and was on disability benefits. Herman did say Hardy was a member of Grace Church in Racine, which a spokesperson for the church confirmed.

Herman hadnt seen Hardy for more than a week, last speaking with him at the pantrys board meeting last Tuesday. He has no idea what could have happened to him.

It was an absolute shock, Herman said.
The telephones at the homes of the Chippewa Falls School Board members have been ringing constantly since the news broke of the $167 million building proposal presented by the schools facilities committee Jan. 5.

One board member admitted that even one of the callers supported the building plan.

A few more people spoke in favor of it at Monday nights special board meeting in the high school cafeteria, but most were either members of the committee or school district employees.

The others came out against it, raising several concerns. And after they had all been heard, the School Board was quite clear that it heard those concerns.

The board voted 6-1  with Staish Buchner the only one dissenting  in favor of Pete Lehmanns motion to not act on the building proposal Monday.

The timing of this meeting was due to a decision being needed to get a referendum on the April 5 spring ballot, which the facilities committee was pushing to do.

I think we need to go back to the drawing board, said board member Amy Mason. I am a little bit overwhelmed when I see that number.

Both Mason and board President Jerry Smith spoke of the legitimate concerns that were raised at the meeting and in conversations with the public. Smith said several concepts  such as the closing of the elementary schools, busing students in grades 4-5 to an intermediate school, the high school location among several others  warranted being looked into more deeply.

Ive had quite a bit of comments about this not being properly vetted, Smith said. We didnt get alternatives, and Ive heard that more and more as we go along.

I think we have a lot of work to do, and am looking forward to rolling up my sleeves in order to get that done, Mason said.

We never said this is going to be easy, and it doesnt have to be. Its supposed to be a 20-some year facilities plan, said Buchner, one of three board members who were part of the facilities committee. Out of the eight recommendations, this seemed to be the most palatable.

However, the other two board members who served on the committee, Lehman and Melanie Sinclair-Schaller (who was appearing via Skype), did not support the plan to put it on the April ballot.

Smith said after the meeting that the next step would be to gather the board together at a special meeting and see what the board wished to do with the committee proposal.

Public speaks out

Marsha Wiley opened up the public comment portion with her concerns as a homeowner about the high cost of a referendum.

Its asking way too much for people to pay $400 or more on the property taxes that are only connected to the school budget. Many people are on fixed incomes and would like to stay in their homes, she said. I feel as if this whole referendum is being done in way too fast a manner.

Beth Hanutke described the plans cost as highly unreasonable, and shared four major concerns, including the reports projected enrollment growth of two percent, which she said amounts to 29 high school students.

Its hard to believe that 29 students merit a $92 million new high school, Hanutke said. We need to ask ourselves, is whats being asked necessary?

Even those who might ultimately support a building plan in some form were not in favor now.

I certainly support doing something, but I need more information, said Scott Biederman, who has two sons at Stillson, one of the two elementary schools that were targeted for closing in the proposal.

Alisa Schley cited several reasons why the plan didnt add up, from a report that said the buildings are mostly in good condition to student growth that looked mostly flat.

Academic achievement is a result of high-quality teachers, and not the facilities they are in, she said.

Dennis Hunt said he would be affected twice, as a homeowner and a business owner. He said that having students from kindergarten through grade 12 on the West Hill makes sense, but moving K-3 students, as the proposal recommends in closing Hillcrest Elementary, does not. This plan is not close to complete, he said.

Bob Billen, a parent of three students in the district, cited figures he had obtained from the states Department of Public Instruction showing that since 2009, the total enrollment had grown by only 26 students. Twenty-six students is growth, but over five years it is really insignificant, he said.

Larry Annett, a former superintendent with the district, asked the board to consider an alternative rather than strictly debating whether to hold a referendum in the spring or fall. He recommended to take the facilities plan and go over its components with the community, stating that many things were worthy of more study.

Take the neighborhood school concept. I dont know if thats a good idea or not. The same with the high school, he said, voicing skepticism that incorporating the alternative school into the high school was a good idea.

If youre going to be asking voters, you need to see what the high school, is, where it is going to be located, and how it is going to function, Annett said. People and the board need options, and they really dont need an all-or-nothing approach. I think the process resulted in a wish list rather than a priority list.

Kevin Mason, a former student at Chi-Hi, said he is a strong advocate for public education, however he did not support the current proposal. Among his concerns was the logic behind putting all fourth graders together in one building.

Plan has supporters

Steve Byrd of Lafayette said he has had three sons attend the school district.

Voters 20, 30, 40 years ago made the sacrifices for our children, and I think we need to do that now, Byrd said.

High school Principal Becky Davis said her obligation is to her students, and they deserve a voice.

We have issues in this building that I know impact the health and safety of kids who come here every day, she said, citing classrooms each fall and spring that have temperatures exceeding 100 degrees due to a lack of air conditioning.

There are shades pulled, lights off, fans in every corner of the room, and they (students) are dripping sweat. Teachers need to bring a change of clothing because they are soaked. I just think thats wrong. The kids deserve better than that.

Teacher Dave Huntzler and committee members Dan Schumacher and Chad Hable spoke in favor of the building plan.

I heard this plan referred to as a dream. I ask, Whats wrong with a dream? Huntzler said. If we already have a top-notch staff, why cant we pair that with a top-notch facility?

Schumacher said he wanted to defend the work done by the committee, explaining that the number of hours that went into their work and the vetting that went on was substantial.

The committees plan, with a new high school as its centerpiece, will get further examination by the school board, but its appearance on the spring ballot will not happen.
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP)  Authorities have identified a Cheyenne woman found dead in the Medicine Bow Mountains following a family snowmobiling trip that left her son with frostbite and her husband separated from the group.

The Wyoming Tribune Eagle reports (http://bit.ly/1T72XuX ) Albany County sheriff's officials found 46-year-old Susanne Withers dead Tuesday, ending a three-day search for the trio.

Severe weather conditions had forced the woman, her 46-year-old husband, Jerry Withers II, and their 18-year-old son, Jerry Withers III, to spend Saturday night in a snow cave after one of their three snowmobiles broke down.

The father went to find help Sunday but was left stranded after two other snowmobile mishaps.

Rescuers found him in good condition Monday. The son and mom, who had passed away, were found Tuesday.

The son is recovering at a Colorado hospital.

___
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP)  Minnesota health officials are asking doctors to watch for signs of a mosquito-borne virus in sick people who have recently returned from the Caribbean, Mexico and parts of Central and South America.

Federal health officials recently urged pregnant women to consider postponing travel to any region where the Zika virus is circulating. It has spread across more than a dozen countries since it was first documented last May. The illness causes fever, rash and joint pain. It has also been linked to a rare condition that causes brain damage and abnormally small heads in newborns.

Epidemiologist Dave Neitzel tells Minnesota Public Radio (http://bit.ly/1SwT7D1 ) the state has had only one documented case of the virus and that was back in 2014. The Zika virus is spread when a mosquito bites an infected person and then bites someone else. It's not transmitted from person to person.

___
I did it to myself. I reported two days before Thanksgiving that even though the newly-opened Norske Nook in DeForest had stopped taking pie orders, customers were still able to stop in and choose from what was on hand.

Two co-workers told of stopping there before work the day before the holiday to pick up pies, so I should have realized I would be out of luck if I showed up at 5 p.m. that day.

I gambled, however, and the only pie the restaurant had left were the few slices of frozen pie being offered to customers dining in.

Anastasia Dudar, general manager for the DeForest location, said her bakers made 1,340 pies the week of Thanksgiving, and an almost equal number the week of Christmas. It was madness for the new restaurant and pie shop.

Since I had driven to DeForest with my daughter and her friend, we decided to stay for dinner. I had the Norwegian meatball sandwich ($8.29), and while the two dense meatballs were wonderful, the real mashed potatoes about which the menu boasted, tasted powdered.

In a phone conversation, Dudar said the mashed potatoes were homemade, adding that she had mashed some herself recently.

Along with hot beef, hot pork and hot turkey, the meatballs are listed on the menu under Norske Nooks best.

Next to our pie, these sandwiches helped earn us our reputation with connoisseurs of home cooking, the menu said.

Slices of white bread were served with the meatballs (you can choose wheat, if you like), and both were covered in a light-colored gravy. It didnt exactly seem like a sandwich since no one would ever pick it up, but its considered one nonetheless.

While the mashed potatoes brought down the meatball plate, the thick, crinkle-cut fries served unannounced with my daughters mac and cheese and her friends grilled cheese (both $4.99) were terrific  the highlight of the meal. Childrens meals also include a beverage and a small chocolate chip cookie.

There were just two types of pie that evening, root beer float and orange Dreamsicle, both frozen pies. Since we were going to be eating pie the next night for Thanksgiving, we passed.

It was the day before the biggest food holiday of the year, and it was early, but the restaurant, which opened Nov. 10, was almost full. We had trouble getting waited on, and when we finally flagged down a server, she told us the waitress assigned to our section didnt show up.

There were also service issues on a more recent visit for Sunday brunch, when our waitress seemed to disappear for a long time and when our coffee cups needed refilling. The coffee ($2.29), which Dudar said comes from Torke Coffee Roasting Company out of Sheboygan, was good.

The best thing about our breakfast was the perfectly crispy, lean bacon that came with the morning sampler ($7.99), which also featured two eggs; hash browns; as well as a choice of toast, buttermilk pancake or biscuit.

This bacon is so good you can feel it in your neurons, my companion said.

The homemade biscuit was also fantastic: thick, fluffy and unusually moist. Its hard to find a much better biscuit than that, said my brunch partner.

The pancake was not your typical American fluffy pancake, but sort of slick, where the syrup ran off it without soaking in. The pancake was served with three excellent syrups: maple, pecan and blueberry.

The hash brown supreme ($8.99) breakfast was also worthwhile, with the potatoes crispy on the bottom and joined by melted Cheddar cheese, mushrooms, red and green peppers, and red onion. I chose sausage over ham, and there were plenty of sliced up breakfast sausage links. It needed some salt and pepper, but I opted for the Norske Nooks all-purpose pleasoning, which sat in between the S&P.

I brought home one of the restaurants unbelievable breakfast rolls ($3.49), which come in cinnamon, caramel or pecan caramel. The cinnamon one had such a thick layer of white icing that most of it had to be scraped off.

The paper placemats on the tables list the many pies, and when you pay your bill at the register you might be asked whether you one to take home. If you dont want to commit to a whole pie, consider taking home a slice or two.

The hands-down favorite for me was the raspberry sour cream pie (all are $4 a slice) with what tasted like fresh raspberries suspended in a mousse-like filling. It had a light, non-obtrusive crust, and a layer of whipped cream. Death By Chocolate is a must for anyone jonesing for chocolate. Its chocolate flavor was heavy, but the texture was anything but. With even more whipped cream than the raspberry slice, it could have been called Death By Whipped Cream.

Last summer, I ate at the Norske Nook in Hayward  there are also locations in Osseo and Rice Lake  and took a peach praline pie to go. I chose it mainly because it was one of only a few pies that had a disposable pie tin, one without a $6 deposit.
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A Sun Prairie Groundhog Day without a groundhog is like Christmas without Santa Claus or Easter without the Easter Bunny.

Actually, its worse  because while questions persist about the existence of Santa and the bunny, theres nothing imaginary about an animal made to play weather rodent at a super-quaint, once-a-year event that builds community and triggers a smile during the bleakest part of a Wisconsin winter.

It was last years incarnation of Sun Prairies groundhog, known as Jimmy, whose rude behavior sparked concern over the use of a live groundhog in the citys 68-year-old Groundhog Day celebration.

As pretty much everyone in the world knows by now, last years event featured Jimmy taking a bite out of the ear of former mayor Jon Freund.

Video of the attack and Freunds subsequent expression of pained surprise were like a Groundhog Day miracle for the Internet. The downside of going viral is that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and overzealous government regulators use Facebook, too.

PETA called on the event to go groundhog-free, and the government said that if youre going to keep a groundhog just to trot it out for a few, fleeting moments of amusement each year, youve got to jump through a bunch of bureaucratic hoops  something Jimmys owners apparently never did.

The state Department of Natural Resources does not regulate the keeping of groundhogs, but getting a federal license will cost an aspiring keeper of one to five groundhogs $40 in initial fees and subject him to a prelicensing inspection to ensure compliance with the Animal Welfare Act, according to a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The license renewal fee is $40 and license holders should be aware that any further federal inspections will be unannounced.

Mayor Paul Esser believes its inappropriate to subject live groundhogs to the citys event and sets a bad example for children. He told ABC News last spring that perhaps a ceremonial replica of a groundhog would do.

For this year at least, the citys Business Improvement District, which puts on the event, is still working to get a live (and legal) groundhog. Its put out a public call for groundhog stand-ins  such as a puppet or a guy in a groundhog suit  if it cant.

Somebody said Im another liberal trying to destroy a tradition, Esser told me, and in this case, Id have to agree with the peanut gallery.

These are rodents, put to our admittedly selfish use for a matter of minutes, and fed and housed year-round for their trouble. Endangered white rhinos slaughtered for their horns they are not.

Its time for Sun Prairieians to stand up and say no, a ceremonial replica of a groundhog, will not suffice in a world where you dont need a newspaper editorial to assure us that, yes, Virginia, there is a groundhog  and better yet, one made of real flesh, blood, fur and some sharp little teeth.

Speaking of which, I suppose its a good thing no ones been able to get video of Santa breaking into a home on Christmas Eve.
For the past 25 years, Doug Keillor has worked alongside the man he calls his professional mentor, the strong-willed executive director of the union representing Madison public teachers.

On Thursday, Madison Teachers Inc. announced Keillor will succeed John Matthews, who is retiring Jan. 31 after 48 years, likely the longest tenure in the country for a teachers union leader.

In choosing Keillor, the unions leaders opted against a national search, going instead with someone who has sat beside Matthews at the bargaining table for decades as his assistant.

Its a logical transition, said Andrew Waity, a fourth-grade teacher at Crestwood Elementary School and president of the bargaining unit that represents classroom teachers, one of five bargaining units within MTI. Doug is someone who is known and trusted and respected by us.

Matthews, who threw his support behind Keillor from the start, suggested there would have been little point in posting the position because the best-qualified candidate already works for the organization.

Hes got labor in the gut, Matthews said of his successor. He understands the totality of the operation, and hes highly respected among members.

The transition comes as labor unions struggle nationally and especially in Wisconsin, where Republican Gov. Scott Walkers signature 2011 legislation, called Act 10, curtailed collective bargaining rights for public employees.

On Thursday, Keillor, 52, acknowledged the changing landscape for unions but said those challenges bring opportunities to think more deeply about why unions still matter. This coming year will be particularly illuminating for MTI, as it will no longer be able to collect dues from members through automatic payroll deductions or collect what are called fair share fees from teachers who are not members of the union but still benefit from its work.

Both aspects of union life go away in the Madison School District July 1 due to Act 10. Teachers who remain with MTI will be doing so in a much more deliberate and voluntary way.

People can opt in or opt out, Keillor said. That change forces us  and allows us  to focus on that discussion of Why do we have this organization? Were really engaging our membership on that question, and its actually a pretty exciting place to be.

MTI has five bargaining units representing about 5,000 teachers, substitute teachers, educational assistants, school security assistants and clerical/technical employees. The unions Personnel Cabinet, which includes the presidents of each of the five bargaining units, selected Keillor.

In November, all five bargaining units voted overwhelmingly to retain union representation.

Keillor will be only the second executive director ever for the union  Matthews originated the role in 1968.

His contributions are incredible, Keillor said of his predecessor. I dont really think of this as shoes to fill so much as a continuation of the work that has been done before me, not just by John but by everyone in the union. My charge is to carry that forward.

Mike Lipp, immediate past president of MTIs teachers unit, said Keillor and Matthews share many traits, such as an encyclopedic knowledge of bargaining contracts and a caring nature. But as with any two people, their personalities differ.

Doug is a little more easygoing, a little more folksy, Lipp said. When it comes to hard-nosed negotiations, they have different styles, but both are successful.

Lipp said Keillor showed his mettle last summer when the union and the district conferred for many months on an employee handbook that will take the place of union contracts this summer, another ramification of Act 10.

Madison Superintendent Jennifer Cheatham said shes enjoyed working with Keillor, calling him a trusted and respected leader in the district who works hard to give voice to employees and to solve problems together.

On paper, Keillors background looks pretty traditional. He earned a bachelors degree in sociology and a masters degree in industrial relations, both from UW-Madison. But as a high school student, Keillor said he was very non-traditional.

He dropped out of Madison West High School his senior year to work in a grocery store. He was a chronic truant, he said, someone who just didnt connect with the classroom.

He worked six years, earning a high school diploma along the way and experiencing the world as a low-wage worker. When he enrolled in college, it was as a person ready to learn, especially about how the business world functioned for laborers.

Its an old chapter of my life, but a part of who I am, Keillor said. Its why I feel its absolutely critical that we have multiple avenues for people to get on the path they need to be on. My message to parents is always, Never give up on your kids. Never give up hope.

Keillor lives on the citys Near East Side with his wife, Sheri, and three grown daughters, all graduates of East High School.

He is the son of the late John Philip (Phil) Keillor Jr., a nationally prominent coastal engineer, and the nephew of author and humorist Garrison Keillor, host of the public radio show A Prairie Home Companion. Phil Keillor helped start a homeless shelter in Madison that grew into Porchlight Inc., Dane Countys largest provider today of housing for the homeless.
The state Senate has passed a bill expanding the authority of police and correctional officers to strip-search people in their custody.

The measure passed on a straight party line vote, 19-14, Wednesday afternoon.

Current law says a person who is arrested or otherwise detained -- but who isnt arrested for a felony or certain misdemeanors and isnt suspected of concealing a weapon or concealing evidence -- may be strip-searched if the person will be detained with others and if theyre set to be detained for at least 12 hours.

The bill removes the requirement that the person must be detained 12 hours for a strip search to be conducted.

The vote comes a day after the Milwaukee Common Council approved a proposed $5 million settlement with 74 African-American residents who say they were subjected to illegal strip searches and body cavity searches by police officers looking for drugs.

One of the bill's opponents, Sen. Lena Taylor, D-Milwaukee, cited that settlement during Wednesday's debate. Arguing the change would disproportionately affect people of color, Taylor relayed the story of her 16-year-old son, Isaiah, who was detained and questioned by Milwaukee police last month.

The Senate sponsor of the bill is Sen. Sheila Harsdorf, R-River Falls. She said Wednesday that, under her bill, police still will have to follow strict procedures when conducting strip searches.

Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, a retired policeman, said the bill is meant to ensure the safety of police and correctional officers, as well as of jail and prison inmates.

The Assembly has yet to act on its version of the bill.
The state Senate has passed a bill to increase penalties for repeat drunk driving offenses.

The measure passed the Senate without opposition Wednesday.

It would make all fourth-time drunken driving offenses felonies under Wisconsin law. Currently, a fourth offense committed more than five years after a third is a misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail; otherwise felony charges dont kick in until a fifth offense.

The bill eliminates a provision in law that says the penalty is greater for a fourth drunken-driving offense only if its committed within five years of a prior offense. It also heightens the severity of fifth and sixth drunk driving offenses, making them a Class G, instead of a Class H, felony.

The state Assembly has yet to act on the bill.

It is one of several proposals introduced this session to strengthen Wisconsins drunken driving laws, which are, by several measures, among the nations most lenient.

Similar proposals were made in past years but stalled. The senator sponsoring this bill, Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, said in November that she hopes they'll finally gain traction this year.
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Cyprus PIO: Turkish Cypriot and Turkish Media Review, 16-01-20 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. 12/16 20.01.2016 [A] TURKISH CYPRIOT / TURKISH PRESS [01] Akinci meets Davutoglu in Davos [02] Positive reactions to reported initiative by President Anastasiades for including the Turkish language among the official EU languages [03] A MHP proposal in Turkey's Parliament to investigate the Cyprus talks was rejected [04] The German Ambassador to Ankara is hopeful for a positive result in Cyprus this year [05] Turkish Minister of Water Eroglu: "TRNC must decide on water" [06] Toros held contacts in Antalya; He called Turkish businessmen to invest in Cyprus [07] The Islamic State members who conducted the terrorist attack in Paris had acquired "visa" from the occupied area of Cyprus [08] Three thousand persons have gone to hospital within the last week due to the flu virus [09] Bozk?r to meet with European officials in Strasburg to discuss Turkey's EU bid [10] Turkey is reportedly close to a deal with Cairo to normalize their ties and recognize Sisi in exchange for Brotherhood pardon [11] The ECHR fined Turkey for 2007 raid of Nokta magazine [12] The weeks-long curfew in Turkey's south-eastern Silopi town has been partly lifted [A] TURKISH CYPRIOT / TURKISH PRESS [01] Akinci meets Davutoglu in Davos Under the title "Akinci: Turkey's role in the solution process is important", Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris newspaper (20.01.16) reports that the Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci met yesterday in Davos with the Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. During their meeting that lasted more than one hour, Akinci and Davutoglu exchanged views regarding the negotiating process aiming at finding a solution to the Cyprus problem. In statements to Kibris after the meeting, Akinci said that Turkey's role in the solution to be found is great and added: "Turkey's support is always by our side". He noted that with Davutoglu they discussed the developments in the negotiating process. Cenk Gurcag, director of Akinci's "office", Ayda Soylu, so-called representative of the breakaway regime in Geneva, Mehmet Simsek, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister, Ali Babacan, Turkish former Minister of Economy and Feridun Snirlioglu, Undersecretary at the Turkish Foreign Ministry attended the meeting. (I/Ts.) [02] Positive reactions to reported initiative by President Anastasiades for including the Turkish language among the official EU languages Turkish Cypriot daily Detay newspaper (20.01.16) reports that Baris Burcu, spokesman of the Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci, has described as "good intentioned initiative" President Anastasiades decision to launch an initiative for including the Turkish language among the official EU languages. The paper notes that this initiative was welcomed with joy in the occupied area of the island and writes that Burcu stated that the Turkish was one of the official languages of the Republic of Cyprus in which the Turkish Cypriots were partners in 1960. Noting that they are exerting efforts for a federal Cyprus now, Burcu said that Turkish will be one of the official languages of the future united federation in case an agreement is reached. He argued that the Turkish language should have been included among the official EU languages with the accession of the Republic of Cyprus to the Union 12 years ago and described the recent decision as "delayed step", but "we could say that it is a good intended initiative". Meanwhile, Turkish Cypriot daily Havadis newspaper (20.01.16) reports that the reactions to the development are positive in the occupied area of Cyprus. Armagan Candan, self-styed deputy with the Republican Turkish Party (CTP) told the paper that the issue is very important and a serious development for the Turkish Cypriots. He noted that next week they will raise the issue during their contacts with EU officials and will have the opportunity to directly reiterate their view that the Turkish language should become an official language of the Union without waiting a solution to be reached to the Cyprus problem. Furthermore, Hamza Ersan Saner, "deputy" with the National Unity Party (UBP), argued that the Greek Cypriots did what they should have done years ago, but in spite of this, having good intention is positive. He claimed that this should have been done since 2004 together with the accession of the "Greek Cypriots", as he described the Republic of Cyprus, to the EU. Finally, Ali Erel, chairman of the Cyprus EU Association, said that this step will have a lot of benefits and Turkey will also benefit from this. He noted that both Turks and Turkish Cypriots will have the opportunity to be employed in the EU. (I/Ts.) [03] A MHP proposal in Turkey's Parliament to investigate the Cyprus talks was rejected Turkish Cypriot daily Star Kibris (20.01.16) reports that a proposal of the National Movement Party (MHP) in the Turkey's Grand National Assembly to make an investigation on the ongoing Cyprus talks was not accepted. The MHP Deputy Umit Ozdag argued that "the TRNC committee (translator's note: as he refers to the Turkish Cypriot negotiating team) discussed for a 'federal state' instead of a 'founding state' by creating a political and legal framework that will lead the TRNC citizens to the minority position". Ozdag reiterated his view that the Turkish Cypriot negotiating team is weak and inexperienced in certain issues. He added that the existence of a Turkish state should not be sacrificed for Turkey's EU full membership. Replying to Ozdag, the Deputy with the Justice and Development Party (AKP) Yildiz Seferinoglu said that the negotiation process has entered a critical stage and added that diversity of views on the property issue is still continuing. Seferinoglu noted that the negotiation process is followed by the Turkish government in a sensitive way. Ozturk Yilmaz, Deputy with the Republican Turkish Party (CHP), speaking in favour of the proposal said that it is natural the issues regarding Cyprus to be discussed in the Parliament. Explaining that a well-intentioned picture is displayed that there will be a solution in Cyprus very soon, Yilmaz argued: "We don't have a road map on the Cyprus issue. I don't recognize the Greek Cypriot administration (translator's note: he refers to the Republic of Cyprus), but we don't do the necessary for the non-recognition. Is there anybody who believes that there will be a solution?". Showing in a map the places that the Greek Cypriots want, Yilmaz claimed that the issue is much behind of the Annan plan. (DPs) [04] The German Ambassador to Ankara is hopeful for a positive result in Cyprus this year Turkish Cypriot daily Havadis newspaper (20.01.16) reports that Martin Erdmann, German Ambassador to Ankara, has said that they expect the Cyprus negotiations to be concluded positively this year and that they are following the developments "with an extremely optimistic approach". During a briefing at the Embassy, Erdmann was asked whether Germany will exert any effort for lifting the blockade put by the Republic of Cyprus in Turkey's accession negotiations with the EU [Translator's note: Because of the island's occupation by Turkey]. He replied: "We are expecting with hope the Cyprus negotiations to be concluded positively this year and we are following the issue with an extremely optimistic approach". He said that the EU Commission suggested the opening of chapters 23 and 24 for Turkey and added that the final decision for this belongs to the member states. (I/Ts.) [05] Turkish Minister of Water Eroglu: "TRNC must decide on water" According to illegal Bayrak television (online, 20.01.16), Turkish Minister of Forestry and Water Works Veysel Eroglu has called upon "TRNC officials" (editor's note: the officials of the breakaway regime in the occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus) to decide as to who will be managing the water being pumped to the island from Turkey. Speaking to the Ankara Anatolia news agency on the water transfer project yesterday, Eroglu said that "TRNC officials" had yet to decide as to who will manage the water. Stating that they will solve the issue by next week, Eroglu said: "Together with Tugrul Turkes and colleagues we will solve this issue. The water is ready and I feel bad that we haven't been able to put it to use. We could pump the water to Lefkosia (editor's note: the occupied part of Lefkosia) today but it is still unclear as to who is going to manage the water. The 'TRNC officials' haven't made a decision yet. We are asking them to arrive at a decision as soon as possible. This is the essence of the issue, there is no other problem". Also providing information about the project, he said that the water is already flowing into the Alakopru and occupied Panagra dams, adding that the potable water treatment facility is also completed. Eroglu also said that one of the Turkish Cypriot political parties opposed the idea of handing the management of the water to a private company through a tender. [06] Toros held contacts in Antalya; He called Turkish businessmen to invest in Cyprus Turkish Cypriot daily Bakis newspaper (20.01.16) reported that Fikri Toros, chairman of the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce (KTTO), went to Antalya for a series of contacts upon an invitation by a group of Turkish businessmen, academics and lawyers. Speaking during the meeting with the group of businessmen, Toros informed them about the latest stage of the Cyprus negotiation talks and evaluated the existing investment opportunities. Supporting that Cyprus is in a historic critical point, Toros alleged that the solution of the Cyprus problem is closer than ever before and expressed the belief that numerous opportunities would arise for cooperation in several fields, such as in tourism, construction sector, the communications, aviation, energy and other. Toros added further that investments prior to the solution would strengthen the Turkish Cypriot side's hand and position at the negotiation table. "A possible solution in Cyprus will be beneficial not only for Cyprus but also for Turkey and the countries in the region", Toros said. Meanwhile, according to the paper, Toros met also with the chairman and the members of the Chamber of Industry and Trade of Antalya. Speaking during the meeting, Toros informed the members of the Chamber about the investment climate in Cyprus and the investment opportunities that exist in Cyprus. Expressing the Chamber's positions towards the benefits and the advantages of a possible solution in Cyprus, Toros said that there is a ground for mutual cooperation between the Turkish Cypriot businessmen and businessmen in Antalya in the fields of agriculture, tourism, industry and the building trade sector. Referring to the issue of the launching of speed ferryboat lines between the "TRNC" and Antalya, Toros said that this will bring synergy in the tourism sector not only prior to the solution period but also after the solution. (AK) [07] The Islamic State members who conducted the terrorist attack in Paris had acquired "visa" from the occupied area of Cyprus Under the front-page title "TRNC route in the Paris attack", Turkish Cypriot daily Afrika newspaper (20.01.16) reports that the members of the Islamic State who conducted the terrorist attack in Paris had taken a "visa" from the "TRNC", the breakaway regime in the occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus. Afrika cites information published in Turkish Aydinlik newspaper. According to this information, reference to the breakaway regime is made in the indictment prepared by Istanbul's Attorney General's Office within the framework of the investigation as regards the Islamic State. From the tapes which have come to the light it is understood that a false visa was taken from the occupied area of Cyprus. In the telephone conversations, the following advice is given for a terrorist named Musab: "Let him go to Cyprus. It is 100 Liras to go and come back with a plane. Yes, upon my word, they are going to Cyprus to have their passports stamped and come". It is said that efforts had been exerted to send Musab to France from Turkey six months before the Paris attack for holding surveillance and that he was granted "visa" for a fake passport. It is recalled that 153 persons had died in the Islamic State's attack in Paris on 13 November 2015. (I/Ts.) [08] Three thousand persons have gone to hospital within the last week due to the flu virus Turkish Cypriot daily Yeni Duzen (20.01.16) reports that the self-styled minister of health Salih Izbul, in a press conference yesterday, said that within the last week three thousand persons have gone to the hospital due to the flu virus, adding that this number is increasing every day. Explaining that only 4 in 3000 patients with flu have been diagnosed with H1N1, Izbul said that most patients have been treated without being hospitalized. He further said that there is need to do the test for everyone who has the flu virus. According to Turkish Cypriot daily Star Kibris (20.01.16), Izbul announced also that they have discussed with the illegal universities in the occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus that foreign students should register only with a valid health report or they will have exams from the "health ministry". He also said that since September 2015, they have 7 cases of tuberculosis. Four of the cases were persons from 3rd world countries and the rest three from Turkey. (DPs) [09] Bozk?r to meet with European officials in Strasburg to discuss Turkey's EU bid Turkish daily Today's Zaman (19.01.16) reported that Turkey's EU Minister and Chief negotiator Volkan Bozk?r will visit Strasbourg on Wednesday for meetings with officials from the Council of Europe (CoE) and the European Parliament (EP) to discuss Turkey's reforms and accession process to the EU. Bozk?r will meet with the CoE Secretary-General Thorbjorn Jagland, the President of the Venice Commission Gianni Buquicchio and the EP rapporteur for Turkey, Kati Piri. The EU revived Turkey's membership bid on December 14, 2015, by opening Chapter 17 on economic and monetary policy in relation to necessary reforms Turkey would need to make. In addition, the EU has conditional plans to open Chapter 23 on judiciary and fundamental rights and Chapter 24 on justice, freedom and security with Turkey. However, Piri said on December 15 that there were urgently needed reforms in basic human rights and the rule of law in Turkey. Following his visit to Strasbourg, Bozk?r will accompany Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on his visit to Berlin to attend the first Turkey-Germany Intergovernmental Strategic Consultations. [10] Turkey is reportedly close to a deal with Cairo to normalize their ties and recognize Sisi in exchange for Brotherhood pardon Turkish daily Today's Zaman (19.01.16) reported that according to a report in the Cumhuriyet daily on Tuesday, the Saudi-mediated talks aim to re-establish diplomatic ties between Turkey and Egypt, which broke down after Sisi, who was the leader of the Egyptian military, led a military intervention ousting Morsi in 2013. Since then, Erdogan's Turkey has refused to establish diplomatic ties with Sisi, who was elected President a year later in an election. According to Cumhuriyet, Ankara and Cairo are working on a framework and officials who are familiar with the content of deliberations and negotiations say they are close to a deal. Riyadh has put all its clout behind reconciliation between Turkey and Egypt at a time of a resurgent Iran, with which Saudi Arabia has severed diplomatic relations. As part of the deal, Turkey will recognize the Sisi administration and Egypt will not carry out executions of Muslim Brotherhood members who were sentenced to death en masse last year. "Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are also among countries that contributed to the mediation efforts", the report says. After a sharp deterioration in relations with Russia after Turkey downed a Russian jet in late November, Ankara has faced possible isolation in regional affairs as Moscow has intensified pressure on third countries to downgrade ties with Turkey. That has prompted the Turkish government to seek to forge new alliances in the region and to end icy relations with a number of countries including Israel and Egypt to multiply its diplomatic interaction. Turkish and Israeli officials are working to bring about reconciliation between the two countries after five years of estrangement. The move has become publicly known when President Erdogan announced the ongoing diplomatic efforts and even praised them, saying that Turkey and Israel need each other in the region. (?). Observers of the Turkey-Egypt talks have said that if the framework for a deal is finalized before April, then Sisi could attend a summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul, where Egypt will hand over its term Presidency to Turkey. Relations between Turkey and the UAE are also getting warmer, with the latter preparing to assign a new Ambassador to Ankara, a position that has been vacant since 2013 in protest of Turkey's strong opposition to the military coup in Egypt, which was supported by the UAE. [11] The ECHR fined Turkey for 2007 raid of Nokta magazine Turkish daily Hurriyet Daily News (19.01.16) reported that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled for Turkey to be fined over a police raid on the office building of Nokta magazine upon a military court ruling in 2007, stating that the raid constituted a violation of human rights. The top Human Rights Court said that the search conducted in the office of the magazine and the seizure of documents and computers upon a military court ruling in 2007, violated Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights, which deals with freedom of expression, in its ruling over the application filed by the managers of the magazine at the time. The "principle assuring the confidentiality of the news sources of journalists was also violated", the ECHR said. In 2007, the magazine highlighted on its cover a claim that the Turkish military had categorized journalists in a list as pro-military and anti-military groups, and that the magazine had obtained the list in question. A police raid was conducted to seize all news sources afterwards upon a military court ruling issued following an order from the Turkish General Staff (TSK). "The article published by the weekly newspaper Nokta, on the basis of 'confidential' military documents about a system for classifying the media on the basis of whether they were 'favorable' or 'unfavorable' to the armed forces, was capable of contributing to public debate," the ECHR said, citing Article 10 of the convention. "The interference with the journalists' right to freedom of expression, especially their right to impart information, had not been proportionate to the legitimate aim sought, had not met a pressing social need and had not therefore been necessary in a democratic society," it added. The ECHR ordered the Turkish state to pay Ahmet Alper Gormus, then-editor-in-chief of Nokta, 2,750 euros and the magazine's then-managing editors, Ahmet Hasim Akman and Mehmet Ferda Balancar, 1,650 euros each. Turkey was also ordered to pay Nokta's then investigative reporters Ahmet S?k and Banu Uzpeder 850 euros each in line in its judgment and the magazine's other investigative reporter, Nevzat Cicek, 500 euros. [12] The weeks-long curfew in Turkey's south-eastern Silopi town has been partly lifted Ankara Anatolia news agency (19.01.16) reported that the governor of Sirnak province announced on Tuesday that the public order has been restored in the south-eastern town of Silopi, following a weeks-long curfew and counter-terrorism operations carried out against the PKK group. The curfew partly lifted early on Tuesday morning. The Turkish military said on Monday that a total of 136 PKK members have been killed in Silopi since the counter-terror operations began in December 15 -- one day after the establishment of the curfew. Governor Ali Ihsan Su said that the operations against PKK members, who use ditches and barricades to keep police and soldiers out of certain neighborhoods, had been successful and public order had been restored in Silopi. "All barriers and ditches have been removed, terrorists have been neutralized, and peace has been restored," Su told reporters, adding that a total of 518 barriers and 270 ditches had been removed and 800 makeshift explosives defused in the town. "The security forces also seized a large amount of ammunition, long-barreled rifles, handguns, rocket launchers, hand grenades, makeshift explosives as well as written documents," he added. The governor cautioned the public to stay "vigilant" and inform security forces of "suspicious" activity. The governor's office announced on Monday that the ongoing military curfew in the town was going to be lifted between 5 a.m. and 6 p.m. every day as of Tuesday. The curfew will still be in place from 6 p.m. until 5 a.m., the statement added. TURKISH AFFAIRS SECTION http://www.moi.gov.cy/pio (AK / AM) Cyprus Press and Information Office: Turkish Cypriot Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
For the first time in U.S. History, more Americans died in 2016 of drug overdoses than were killed in the Vietnam War. Let that sink in.

Last years death toll in the War on Drugs was 59,000 killed, while during the entire Vietnam War, 1955 to 1975, 58,220 American service members lives were lost.

And, thanks to the immoral and futile police approach to the drug problem, there appears to be no hope in sight for the tide to change.

As The Free Thought Project had previously reported, drug overdose deaths outnumber the number of Americans killed in automobile accidents each year.

Answering the question of who is responsible for so many overdose deaths requires a careful examination of the crisis which has now reached epidemic proportions.

The principal players appear to be pharmaceutical companies, who knowingly manufacture dangerous opioids  essentially synthetic heroin  which, alone, kills tens of thousands.

Big Pharma has been caught time and again pushing the pills onto the nations physicians who prescribe the dangerously powerful painkillers en masse  even to children.

Then, there are the abusers, those who are addicted to opiates. Getting hooked on opiates is easy, according to the CDC, who recently recommended the powerful class of drugs be taken for no more than 14 days. According to the Washington Post:

Noting that long-term opioid abuse often begins with treatment of acute pain, the CDC said that three or fewer days of opioid treatment usually will be sufficient for most non-traumatic pain not related to major surgery.

Street pushers provide the missing source for the drugs when doctors will no longer prescribe the pills to patients who have demonstrated a pattern of abuse.

Yet, thanks to the war on drugs pushing the sale of these drugs into dark alleys and the like, the quality of street drugs is questionable with every dose sold. Some opiates have even been laced with the powerful drug Fentanyl, a drug so dangerous even casual contact with it can prove fatal.

As TFTP reported, Insys Pharmaceuticals, the maker of Fentanyl, donated half-a-million dollars to keep marijuana from becoming legal in one U.S. state.

One-third of the overdose deaths in Ohio were linked to Fentanyl, yet instead of creating a safer drug, the company was more concerned with combatting cannabis legalization.

Last, but certainly not least, is the governments own Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). The DEAs only purpose is propping up Big Pharma while raining hell down on Americans for their choice of substances.

The DEA even admitted, early this year, it has been trafficking large quantities of controlled substances into the country.

Any decision to ban opiates or remove them from the market, would likely further drive the drugs underground, increase crime, criminalize abusers, lead to growth in the prison industrial complex, and result in many more overdoses.

In fact, that is exactly whats happening. The war on drugs is creating a de facto prison state.

Some U.S. States are taking matters into their own hands. As TFTP reported recently, Ohio is now suing drug manufacturers for their role in the crisis, stating their desire to increase their bottom line profit margins have crossed ethical lines and led to the deaths of countless Ohioans.

Other states and police departments are also taking radical measures to fix the problem instead of prolonging and expanding it through the use of police violence.

As the Boston Globe reports:

As Gloucester police chief, Leonard Campanello pledged in 2015 that drug users could walk into the police station, hand over heroin, and walk out into treatment within hours  without arrest or charges. The concept of help rather than handcuffs became a national sensation.

Campanello is no longer police chief there, but the program is continuing in Gloucester. The concept of helping addicts instead of criminalizing them is such a success, its been adopted by 200 police agencies in 28 states.

This encouraging phenomenon shows that its possible for law enforcement to listen to reason when it comes to drug abuse and actually helping communities.

It puts police in the lifesaving business instead of the spin-drying business of arresting and releasing, said John Rosenthal, a Boston resident fighting the opioid epidemic.

We estimate that approximately 10,000 people have been placed into treatment.

In Gloucester, records show that 530 people have sought help at the police station since June 2015.

Steve Lesnikoski was the first person to get help under the program, and now, after 18 months of being clean, he says without the Angel Program, Id probably be in jail or dead.

Fatal overdoses and drug arrests have decreased in Gloucester. A study by Boston University and Boston Medical Center provided compelling evidence for the Angel Programs efficacy.

In 417 cases where a person who visited the Gloucester police station was eligible for treatment, police data showed that 94.5 percent were offered direct placement and 89.7 percent enrolled in detox or other recovery services, according to Dr. Davida Schiff, a BMC pediatrician who was lead researcher in the study.

Those numbers, reported in December by the New England Journal of Medicine, compared with less than 60 percent of direct referrals from hospital-based programs, which recruit patients who visit emergency rooms with substance-abuse disorders, Schiff said.

Doing the opposite of the war on drugs is what truly helps people.

It is also important to mention that the opiate addiction, overdose, and accidental death problems might simply be avoided if, ironically enough, marijuana is made legal nationwide.

A little over half of the United States have legalized cannabis in some form, leaving nearly half of the remaining states and their residents with no access to legal weed.

As TFTP has documented on several occasions, cannabis holds the promise of helping opiate addicts kick their addiction by substituting their cravings for opiates with the non-addictive pain killing properties of marijuana.

And its not folklore. Doctors have experimented with cannabis as a substitute for opiates with high degrees of success.

For now, the Department of Justice (DOJ) under the direction of Attorney Jeff Sessions and his staff, has threatened to roll back the progress cannabis activists have made in the last eight and a half years.

Joining the DOJ is the DEA which refuses to reclassify cannabis, and remove its current status as a Schedule I narcotic, alongside cocaine, lsd, and heroin.

All of these moves and potential moves by the DOJ and DEA will only make the problem worse unless states like Ohio take measures into their own hands.

Now that many in Congress have addicted family members, children, siblings, and friends, the matter has been taken much more seriously.

The idea of treating an addict with compassion instead of violence is a revolutionary notion in this country.

However, in other countries, such as Portugal, its effects have been realized for more than a decade. In 2001, the Portuguese government decriminalized all drugs.

15 years later, drug use, crime, and overdoses have drastically declined in Portugal exposing the disturbing reality of prohibition.

Police departments choosing compassion over kidnapping and caging people is the solution and this programs massive adoption by hundreds of departments across the country is nothing short of bombshell.

It is revolutionary, and will undoubtedly lead to progress. However, there is still a long way to go.

This is how change comes  not through the barrel of a gun  but through empathy and peace.

By Jack Burns, Guest author
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      ,        ,   ,          ...
By Julie Potyraj

from George Washington University,





As extreme weather events occur more commonly across the globe, it is becoming apparent that the implications of climate change extend far past a change in the Earths average temperature. Though all countries will be affected,

cautions that poor countries are the most at risk for complications due to the changes in weather. Increasingly severe droughts, floods, and heat waves will hinder crop production and reduce the availability of safe water. Information collected by

shows that millions of people in the worlds poorest countries rely on either subsistence or commercial agriculture, so any changes in solar radiation, temperature, and hydrologic cycle could threaten their livelihoods.



(IPCC) crop yields, food prices, and overall food security will be negatively affected by climate change as well, though the exact impact is difficult to calculate due to a variety of determinants that include regional climates, agricultural practices, and types of crops.

Certain parts of the world, specifically Africa and Asia, are already suffering from extreme weather events. There has been a push to emphasize funding for climate adaptation in addition to climate mitigation. Adaptation is the preparation for the effects of climate change, while mitigation involves initiatives that obstruct the progress of climate change. It is no longer enough to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for the future; damage has already been done. Many organizations, like

, are prioritizing

disaster risk management and other immediate climate change adaptation strategies in order to brace for the effects of the Earths rising temperature in the worlds poorest countries; without adaptation, those countries are even more exposed and vulnerable.



Why? Because a slight change in the Earths temperature can result in immeasurable consequences on the daily lives of poor rural communities. Lower crop production,

, and shrinking safe water supplies caused by the effects of climate change will hinder economic development and increase world hunger. Severe weather events facilitate the

.

The damage that weather causes to infrastructure and rural environments makes it more difficult to provide people with the medical attention they need. If they are unable to cope with unstable

rural families may be forced to

However,

migration can lead to political, social, and economic instability. Migration is an extreme and disruptive adaptation strategy, but it may be the only option for



inhabitants of the most vulnerable regions.

Though agriculture is actually a contributing factor to greenhouse gas emissions, the people most susceptible to the harmful effects of climate change are not necessarily the people with the power to mitigate the Earths rising temperatures. The following data visualization from

MHA@GW

, the

offered through the Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University, compares the nations that contribute the most CO2 emissions to the nations that are most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Many of the most vulnerable nations are already predisposed to severe weather events such as drought and flooding. Unless developed countries take accountability for their contribution to climate change, the worlds most vulnerable countries and communities will increasingly struggle to adapt to its negative effects.













This graphic can be seen in a larger form here




The event will honor state Senator Daniel Biss of northern Cook Countys 9th District for his unwavering support of abortion rights, sponsored by Senator Toi Hutchinson of Chicago Heights (40th District) and Chicago Alderman Joe Moreno.

These abortion promoters are charging VIP attendees $500, about what they take from a woman to abort her child, Eric Scheidler, Executive Director of the Pro-Life Action League. Why not put that money to work offering real help to families in need, rather than supporting an abortion giant that has been receiving millions from the government to deceive women and sell their pre-born babies for parts?

Biss' has pledged to support abortion rights in the Illinois legislature.

"Experience has taught us that the best way to keep abortion safe but rare is to combine pro-choice laws with broad reproductive health education programs," Biss is quoted as saying in VoteSmart.org.

"Unfortunately, both of these policies are currently under attack by right-wing organizations, threatening women's autonomy and physical well-being alike. I am acutely sensitive to this issue and I pledge to lead the fight in Springfield to protect women's reproductive freedom."

Its no secret that pro-lifers vote with both their ballots and their wallets, Scheidler said in a statement. Supporting Planned Parenthood will earn these elected officials and product sponsors negative attention.
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Sudan was divided into two parts on this day: Know more about the new countries that made a separate place in the world map.

By India Today Web Desk: On January 21 in 2011, 99 per cent of the residents of the southern part of Sudan voted for separation with the northern part of the country. The Sharia Law, being the primary law of the country, was misused to oppress the general public. To escape from the oppression, the South Sudanese appealed to the United Nations to part ways with Sudan.

In 1907, there were 235 countries in the world. Now, there are 195 of them. During this period, the world has seen two world wars, countless battles and diplomatic decisions, and has gone through major geo-political changes. Some countries have broken into smaller ones and few have joined together to form a new nation. Two of the major partitions were that of USSR or Soviet Russia and India. Experts have anticipated many more such changes in the world map.

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On July 9, 2011, after ending the war against the Arabic northern part of Sudan in Africa, the southern part declared its independence. The country is currently in turmoil as a civil war has instigated a large-scale famine and displaced around 10 per cent of the total population.

Here are eight new nations in the world that have emerged since 1990:

1. Kosovo

Kosovo has long been a troubled territory at the southern part of Serbia in Europe. The United Nations has been administering the country since 1990 after the then Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic called the army back from Kosovo. The country declared its independence on February 17, 2008.

2. Serbia and Montenegro

Till 2006, the two countries were together and were called Serbia-Montenegro. But Montenegro decided to end its ties with Serbia and declared its independence on May 21, 2006. The country's economic and political states have been stable and prospering so far.

3. East Timor

East Timor, also known as Timor-Leste, was once a small part of Indonesia. The island, which is south of Banda Sea, declared its independence on May 20, 2002. Due to its huge oil reserve, the country has seen large-scale development and has been acknowledged by the World Bank as a rapidly progressing country.

Image source: 33ff

4. Palau

Language became a barrier for Palau from becoming a part of the larger Micronesia. The cultural difference among other Micronesian states and Palau was so evident that it decided to become an independent country from October 1, 1994. Palau comprises 250 small islands and is known for its tourism industry.

5. Eritrea

Just over 6 million people live in this small country, situated in the north of Ethiopia, Africa. Eritrea was declared as an autonomous region under the Ethiopian federation in 1952. However, the Ethiopian government continued to treat it as a dependent part. This triggered a 30-year-long civil war. On April 27, 1993, the Eritrean People's Liberation Front toppled the Ethiopian forces and declared the country's independence.

6. Czech Republic and Slovakia

People of both the countries welcomed year 1993 in a very unique way. On January 1 that year, the parliament of Czechoslovakia divided the country into two parts. Both the countries have flourished economically after the "Velvet Divorce", a term for the split as it happened "smoothly" after the Velvet Revolution.

Czech Republic

Slovakia

7. Dissolved Yugoslavia

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, and Slovenia were being introduced to the world as independent nations when Yugoslavia got dissolved in 1992.

8. Micronesia

Previously known as the Caroline Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia is a nation north of Australia, which comprises thousands of small islands. Until September 17, 1991, the archipelago or group of islands was administered by the United States. Fishing is the primary livelihood of the nation.

Interested in General Knowledge and Current Affairs? Click here to stay informed and know what is happening around the world with our G.K. and Current Affairs section.

To get more updates on Current Affairs, send in your query by mail toeducation.intoday@gmail.com
As Delhi approaches another 'breath-taking' winter soon, Environment Minister Gopal Rai has said that manufacturing, storing, selling firecrackers in Delhi will be punishable with a fine up to Rs 5,000 and three years imprisonment under Section 9B of the Explosives Act. Bursting of firecrackers on Diwali in Delhi will attract a jail term of up to six months and a fine of Rs 200, Rai said on Wednesday.
The Supersonic jet which started its commercial service 40 years ago on January 21, 1976 was the day when man could travel faster than sound.

By India Today Web Desk: This was day when the supersonic age began in its truest sense 40 years ago, when two Concorde aircrafts took off simultaneously from from Heathrow and Paris headed to Bahrain and Rio de Janerio respectively.

The flight traveling at a speed of 135 mph was when man could achieve speed faster than that of sound and it was a dream come true for the aviation industry.

Here is list of some amazing facts about the iconic jet:

1) The jet which was a joint venture between Britain and France took 13 years to develop. Its maiden flight was all set for the first test in 1969. It took another seven years for the flight to commence the commercial service.

2) There was a limited edition of the planes, wherein, twenty were built with distinctive droop-noose, while seven went to the British Airways and Air France. The remaining six were prototypes that was never used for passenger services.

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3) While the speed of sound is about 340 meters per second, the supersonic Concorde could fly at twice the speed, a whopping 694 metre per second, making it the fastest ever transatlantic flight.

4) The flight from New York to London which typically takes eight hours of travel time took merely 2 hours, 52 minutes, 59 seconds for the Concorde. It achieved a speed of 2,179 kmph and that is equal to covering the distance between Delhi and Chennai in 1 hour.

5) Wondering how high it can fly? Hold your breath! cause the Concorde can fly at 60,000 feet, that's more than twice the height of Mount Everest, which stands at 29,000 feet. This is exactly what makes it possible for the Concorde to fly at an insane speed. In comparison the Boeing 747 400 can touch up to 35,000 feet while the Airbus A380 flies can go up to 43,000 feet.

6) The flight climbed 100 meters in just four seconds , that is less than half the time Usain Bolt takes to complete a 100 meters run.

7) The cost when it was developed back in the 60's stood at 1.77 billion dollars, But today the cost has shot up to a whopping 11.45 billion dollars. The Concorde which costed around 46 million dollars in 1977, is 350 million dollars now. The price of the tickets for a a one way journey across the Atlantic is 6,270 dollars. The last flight on October 24, 2003 which was a rerun from the transatlantic journey was 13,000 dollars,

8) Only the British Airways, Air France and Singapore Airlines flew the supersonic jet with 100 passengers as the maximum capacity of the aircraft.

9) The letter 'e' in Concorde was a bone of contention between Britain and France because with the 'e' it becomes a French spelling, while the former did not want it, the latter preferred to have it. Later British Prime Minister Tony Benn compromised and stated that the 'e' stands for " Excellence, England, Europe".



Excellence, England, Europe??
Like the presence of Adele, The Weeknd and Kendrick Lamar wasn't enough!

By India Today Web Desk: A new set of performers for the 58th Annual Grammy Awards has been announced.

According to a report on the official website of the Annual Grammy Awards, apart from the previously announced list of performers, which included music giants like Adele, The Weeknd and Kendrick Lamar--this year's ceremony will also include acts by Justin Bieber, Diplo, Skrillex and Pitbull.

Also Read: Adele, One Direction and Justin Bieber in the running for BRIT Awards

Considered to be one of the most anticipated annual events in the universe of music, the 2016 Annual Grammy Awards will be held at Staples Center in Los Angeles on February 15, 2016. With an aim to award and honour the best in music for the year gone by, this will be the 58th edition of the Grammy Awards.

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The fresh list of Grammy performers has 11 new names added to its already star-studded lineup. Reportedly, nominee Justin Bieber will join fellow nominees Diplo and Skrillex and perform their nominated track, Where Are You Now. Chris Stapleton, a nominee in the Album Of The Year category will be accompanied by Gary Clark Jr and Bonnie Raitt to pay tribute to legendary blues artiste, BB King.

Fireball hitmaker Pitbull will light the stage on fire alongside Travis Barker and Robin Thicke, among others.

Also Read: Did Adele actually steal a Kurdish song? We let you decide

With an Academy Award nomination and several other accolades in his kitty, Can't Feel My Face hitmaker The Weeknd, will be seen making his Grammy stage debut. This year's ceremony will also mark the Grammy stage debut of music group Little Big Town, which has also bagged nominations in two categories, Best Country Duo/Group Performance for Girl Crush and Best Country Album for Pain Killer.

Also Read: We've never been happier about seeing Adele take a car ride

After making a more-than impressive comeback with her latest album. 25, Hello hitmaker Adele will also be seen on the Grammys stage after a gap of 4 years. Besides Adele, the Grammys stage will also play host to this year's top Grammy nominee, Kendrick Lamar, who has a total of 11 nominations.

Also Read: Adele announces 2016 live concert tour, first in four years

According to the official website of the Grammy Awards, the event will be hosted by two-time Grammy winner, LL Cool J.


The report into former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko's death has been released today. It concludes that his murder 'probably' had President Vladimir Putin's nod.

By Shreya Biswas: Some 10 years ago, former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko drank a cup of green tea that resulted in his death from severe poisoning. After all these years, the report into his death has been published today with some shocking statements.

The report concludes that while Russia had ordered Litvinenko's murder in Britain, it "probably" came with President Vladimir Putin's personal approval.

In the UK public inquiry held today, Chairman Sir Robert Owen said the prime suspects, Dmitry Kovtun and Andrei Lugovoi, were "acting on behalf of others" and had probably poisoned Litvinenko "under direction from the FSB".

"I have concluded the FSB operation to kill Mr Litvinenko was probably approved by Mr [Nikolai] Patrushev, then head of the FSB, and also by President Putin," said Owen.

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Litvinenko's widow, Marina Litvinenko, welcomed the report, calling for the UK to impose sanctions on Russia.

Meanwhile, the Russian foreign ministry has dismissed this inquiry as "politically motivated". Suspect Andrei Lugovoi, who is also a former KGB agent and now a Russian MP, has called it "absurd".





Who was Alexander Litvinenko?



Alexander Valterovich Litvinenko was a former officer in Russia's FSB spy agency who accused his superiors of ordering the assassination of Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky.

After being released from jail for the second time in 2000, Litvinenko fled Moscow and was granted asylum in Britain.

In 2003, he became a British consultant as an expert on Russian organised crime. It is during this time that he wrote two books, Blowing Up Russia: Terror from Within and Lubyanka Criminal Group, in which he accused the Russian Secret Service of being behind the 1999 apartment bombings.

In one of his articles named The Kremlin Pedophile, Litvinenko called Putin a paedophile.





An 'almost perfect murder'



Litvinenko's assassination has been referred to as an 'almost perfect murder', especially for the use of polonium 210, a rare radioactive isotope, as the poison.

On November 1, 2006, Litvinenko went to the Millennium Hotel London Mayfair to meet two former Russians spies, Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun, where he drank a cup poison-laced green tea.

Two days later, he was admitted to a local hospital, vomiting and writhing in pain. Soon, he was transferred to the University College Hospital in central London and kept in intensive care under police protection.

Reports later said that Litvinenko's white blood cell count, at this time, was severely low. His vital organs were slowly failing.

On November 23, 22 days after he was poisoned, Litvinenko died in the hospital.

Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun. Photo: AP

The poison that was found in his blood, polonium 210, is a highly radioactive component that was used in nuclear weapons. When consumed as a poison, it destroys the immune system and leads to multiple organ failure.

Investigations that followed Litvinenko's poisoning found a trail of polonium across London; on planes, cars, hotel rooms, even on the china of some restaurants.

It was then found that there had been prior unsuccessful attempts to murder Litvinenko in other restaurants in London, which had left the trail.

On November 1, Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun were caught in the hotel's CCTV footage going into a bathroom, where during investigation huge traces of polonium was found.

After much investigation, a public inquiry began on January 27, 2015, and concluded today that Litvinenko's assassination was an operation 'probably' approved personally by Putin.
It is for the first time that the government is directly appointing the brand ambassadors. Both the actors will be appointed for 3 years and will not charge a single penny for the endorsement.

By India Today Web Desk: Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan and beauty queen Priyanka Chopra are the new brand ambassadors of the Centre's Incredible India campaign. The confirmation to both the actors will be sent very soon.

It is for the first time that the government is directly appointing the brand ambassadors. Both the actors will be appointed for 3 years and will not charge a single penny for the endorsement.

The official announcement will be made after January 26.

A source said, "Amitabh Bachchan was the first choice of the ministry for the job."

ALSO READ | Amitabh Bachchan replaces Aamir Khan as Incredible India ambassador



The ministry described the veteran actor as a "non-controversial" figure and noted that Bachchan was the main face for promotion of tourism in Gujarat which has seen an "upsurge" after he was hired by the state.

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Superstar Aamir Khan, who has ceased to be the mascot for the 'Incredible India' campaign, earlier said he respects the government's decision to "discontinue" his services while making it clear that he never charged anything for the task.

ALSO READ | Aamir Khan: India will remain incredible, whether I'm brand ambassador or not


Four suspected ISIS terrorists, who were allegedly plotting a terror strike during the ongoing Ardh Kumbh at Hardwar, have landed in police net following a joint operation of intelligence agencies. The Special Cell of Delhi Police on Wednesday arrested four persons from Manglour in Uttarakhand.

By Mail Today: Four suspected ISIS terrorists, who were allegedly plotting a terror strike during the ongoing Ardh Kumbh at Hardwar, have landed in police net following a joint operation of intelligence agencies. The Special Cell of Delhi Police on Wednesday arrested four persons from Manglour in Uttarakhand.

Cops claimed that the Delhi Police have unearthed a terror plot to target the Ardh Kumbh Mela. The suspects, identified as Akhlaq ur-Rehman, Mohammed Osama, Mohammed Azim Shah and Mehroz, were brought to Delhi and produced in a court which sent them to 15-day police custody. "The suspects were tracked down with inputs from a central intelligence agency.

"They had planned to carry out terror attacks at the Ardh Kumbh Mela, trains heading towards Hardwar passing through Roorkee and some strategic locations in Delhi," Special Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Arvind Deep said.

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According to sources, the suspects were allegedly in contact with a former Indian Mujahideen operative, who later went for training in Syria and is currently believed to be a key member of Ansar-ut Tawhid fi Bilad al-Hind (AuT), which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.

One of the suspects, Akhlaq, is also being questioned in connection with the recent attack at Pathankot airbase.

Also Read:



Suspected Al Qaeda operative arrested from Haryana
In a valiant attempt to protect his students, a Pakistani lecturer opened fire at the militants but was tragically gunned down by them. Salute, Sir!

Chemistry Professor Syed Hamid Hussain who braved the militants during the terror strike at Bacha Khan University Photo: Twitter/ @omar_quraishi

By India Today Web Desk: Dr. Syed Hamid Hussain, 34, was an Assistant professor at the Bacha Khan university. When the militants stormed the Bacha Khan university premises located in Charsadda yesterday morning, he instructed his students not to leave the building.

Mean while he pulled out his licensed pistol to fight the nefarious militants but was tragically killed in a hail of bullets, with 24 others.



Students of Bacha Khan University described the display of courage by the professor against the militants, "We saw three terrorists shouting, 'Allah is great!' and rushing towards the stairs of our department. One student jumped out of the classroom through the window. We never saw him get up."

Zahoor Ahmed a geology student said Hussain had warned him not to leave the building after the first shots were fired.

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In an interview with The Washington Post, another student, Mohammad Shabeer, said Husain held off the attackers for 15 minutes before he was killed.



"He was holding a pistol in his hand," he said. "Then I saw a bullet hit him. I saw two militants were firing. I ran inside and then managed to flee by jumping over the back wall.

"They fired directly at the professor," sociology student Muhammad Daud said, describing Hussain as 'a real gentleman and a respectable teacher'.



Dr. Syed was awarded a PhD in organic chemistry from Brussels University and was working at the Bacha Khan University since last three years. He has left behind a widow, one-year-old daughter and a son who just celebrated his third birthday a few weeks ago.

Syed Hamid has been laid to rest at his ancestral graveyard at the Swabi district.

Many paid respects to man who has been hailed as the 'hero', a 'protector' and the 'martyr of education' on Twitter.



Another young, beautiful life taken away by terrorists. https://t.co/Fzqq2csi8R

Raza Ahmad Rumi (@Razarumi) January 20, 2016

Yeh Hota Hai Shaheed --> Chemistry professor Syed Hamid Hussain had a pistol & was killed while fighting the militants & protecting students omar r quraishi (@omar_quraishi) January 20, 2016

Professor Syed Hamid Husain who died protecting his students should be given Pakistan's highest civilian award pic.twitter.com/XSQS6QwbLR omar r quraishi (@omar_quraishi) January 20, 2016
Home Minister Rajnath Singh today said that it was the duty of the chief minister to find out who was responsible for the Malda violence.

By India Today Web Desk: Home Minister Rajnath Singh today launched a blistering attack on the Trinamool Congress (TMC)-led West Bengal government over the recent Malda violence, accusing it of not taking appropriate action against the culprits.

Kicking off BJP's campaign in Ashok Nagar in Barasat, for the upcoming Assembly polls in West Bengal, the Union minister said that it was the duty of the chief minister to find out who was responsible for the Malda violence, in which angry crowds had burnt the Kaliachak police station and set several vehicles on fire.

"Malda incident was not a small one. The Trinamool Congress government and West Bengal chief minister should make it clear who is responsible for the incident," Rajnath Singh said.

"I assure the people that whoever is responsible for the Malda violence will be exposed. The West Bengal government cannot deny responsibility for Malda incident," he added.

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Rajnath further said that the Malda violence was a clear indication of the deteriorating law and order in the state. He also refuted Chief minister Mamata Banerjee's statement that it was a result of tussle between BSF officials and locals.

"It is being said that the (Malda) violence was a result of tussle between BSF and locals. But it is not true. Are they trying to safeguard those forces which attacked the BSF official? Will those who attacked the BSF roam free? This is the same BSF which had given befitting reply to Pakistani forces in the Indo-Pak border," Singh said.



"Aaj West Bengal mein koi surakshit nahi, na maa, na maati na manush. Yahan tak ki police wale bhi surakshit nahi (No one is safe in Bengal, not even the state police). When policemen feel insecure, how they can provide security to the civilians," he further asked.

On the rising Bangladeshi infiltration into the state and smuggling, Rajnath said, "We are doing our best to secure the B'desh border entirely. The entire India-Bangladesh border will be fenced".

Speaking on the declassification of Netaji files, Rajnath said, "Let me assure you that were are waiting for the mystery to unravel. PM Modi has promised to declassify all the files on January 23," he said.

Later, TMC spokesperson Derek O'Brien condemned the Home Minister's statements, stating that his remarks could provoke communal tension in the region.

"Rajnath Singh must realize that Malda is BJP's creation. As Home Minister, he shouldn't be on a mission to stoke communal tension," Derek O'Brien said.

"The country knows that this is a very well known tactic of the BJP ahead of the elections," he added.




Kusum Rani Singla, who was an employee of IBM, was strangulated with a laptop cord on Tuesday.

By India Today Web Desk: The Bengaluru Police today said they have solved the sensational murder case of a woman IBM employee. Kusum Rani Singla, 31, was found dead in her flat in south-east Bengaluru on Tuesday. Police said the prime suspect has been arrested from Haryana.

Singla, who had moved to Bengaluru from Punjab six months back, was strangulated with a laptop cord.

According to the police, the prime suspect Sukhbir Singh, a former Yahoo employee, was held from Haryana on Thursday. Singh had met Singla over social media and the two were in a relationship. Police say Singh, who was currently unemployed was asking Singla for money.



Senior Bangalore Police officer P Harisekaran said Singh has been brought back to the city from Haryana and is being interrogated. "Within 24 hours we cracked the case and arrested the accused. We identified the suspect from the scene of crime," Harisekaran said.



prime suspect Sukhbir Singh, a former Yahoo employee, has been arrested in Haryana

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Mumbai Police has used twitter to spread the word on cyber safety and one must take a look at their witty tweets!

By India Today Web Desk: Internet has certainly made our lives very comfortable, but in the past few years things have gone awry with the rise in cyber crime.

And, Mumbai Police comes to the rescue in the most entertaining way, check out this tweet.

Your creepy comments on her photo will get you a long date with us. #CyberSafetyWeek CP Mumbai Police (@CPMumbaiPolice) January 19, 2016

Some criminals use the keyboard as their weapon #CyberSafetyWeek Mumbai Police (@MumbaiPolice) January 19, 2016

'H@ndle' with care! #CyberSafetyWeek

CP Mumbai Police (@CPMumbaiPolice) January 19, 2016

An online stranger can be a potential real life danger #CyberSafetyWeek pic.twitter.com/oWu4lfgOwf Mumbai Police (@MumbaiPolice) January 19, 2016

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Don't let a snap make you snap. Be careful. #CyberSafetyWeek CP Mumbai Police (@CPMumbaiPolice) January 18, 2016

They are not just funny, but also sends across powerful messages against cyber crime.

It feels good if people follow you online, but not in real. Share your information carefully. #CyberSafetyWeek pic.twitter.com/r1nKKaYanl Mumbai Police (@MumbaiPolice) January 18, 2016

Way to go Mumbai Police!
By Parmita Uniyal: It's official. Comedy Nights Bachao host Krushna Abhishek will step into the shoes of Kapil Sharma in Colors' Comedy Nights, a week after Kapil's exit from the show on January 24. Tentatively titled as Comedy Nights Live, the new show will see Krushna Abhishek as Pappu Singh who will move into Kapil's house with his family--father Sudesh Lahiri and others. Krushna has also confirmed that Navjot Singh Sidhu will also join Comedy Nights Live, ending speculations about Sidhu moving with Kapil on his new show.

Apart from Sidhu and Sudesh, Bharti Singh will also be playing a prominent role in the new Comedy Nights, but her role is yet to be finalised.



Krushna also hints that the show's title might be revised after a while, and his name might be included in the title. "Right now people associate the show with Kapil, including my name in the title immediately would not be appreciated," Krushna tells us.

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In a telephonic conversation with India Today Online, Krushna Abhishek reveals the details of the new show as well as his reasons for replacing fellow comedian Kapil Sharma. Also read: Krushna Abhishek to replace Kapil Sharma on Comedy Nights?



Why was there the need for a new team?

"Kapil has a great connect with the audience and he has a fan following of his own. I have a different fan following. Right now there is a lot of negativity. Log abhi hamein bahot galiyaan denge for few months. But ultimately, there is a set of audience who'll watch comedy, and if they like our new show, they will give their love to it. I feel, every show has a saturation point. Kapil Sharma's show also reached that saturation point. There will be a time, when people will get bored of Comedy Nights Bachao also and a fresh team would be needed to revive it. Kapil has done a marvellous job, but from the past few months, people were finding the show monotonous. This is the reason why Comedy Nights Bachao was getting a good TRP," says Krushna. Also read: Exclusive: How the Kapil Sharma-Colors rift started, and played out



Is Kapil fine with Krushna doing the show?

"I haven't spoken to Kapil as yet. I know he'll be upset. But I want to tell him that he need not get upset with me. I haven't snatched Comedy Nights from him. When Colors offered me the show, they told me since they can't do it with Kapil, they want to rope me in. If there is any bad blood, it is between Colors and Kapil, not me and Kapil." Also read: Is this the real reason why Kapil Sharma opted out of Colors' CNWK?



How not starring in Kapil Sharma's Comedy Nights benefitted him

"I never wanted to make an appearance on Kapil's show. Kapil is a brand in himself, I have my own standing. But at the same time, I'm not a small-time comedian who will walk into Kapil's show for some money. And I think I got the benefit of it now, when I have actually replaced Kapil in Comedy Nights." Also read: Final episode of Comedy Nights With Kapil will now air on Jan 24



The actor says he will continue to host Comedy Nights Bachao. "Bachao ko nahi chhodenge. 8 months se mehnat ki hai."

Watch the promo of Comedy Nights Live:
OMG OMG! They get the head back after 130 years!

By India Today Web Desk: A stone sculpture of Harihara, a deity that combines aspects of Vishnu and Shiva, was returned by France to Cambodia.

The head of the statue was reattached to its body on January 21, 2016 and is kept for display at a museum. It was spirited away nearly 130 years ago.

The statue apparently was created in the 7th century and was taken from the Phnom Da temple in southern Takeo province by French researchers in 1882 or 1883.

The reattachment of the head at the National Museum was attended by 200 government officials, representatives of foreign government, ambassadors and officials from the Guimet Museum.

Deputy Prime Minister Sok An welcomed the reunification of the head and the torso of Harihara. "According to our Khmer culture, the reunion is symbolises prosperity," he said.

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Sok An also appealed to other countries that hold Cambodian artifacts to return them.

The Cambodian law prohibiting the removal of cultural artifacts without government permission only came in 1993. So, it is difficult to compel the owners abroad to return them as there is no legal standing.

Ghar Wapsi of other artifacts

- Last year, Cambodia got back two stone statues from the Angkor period that were looted during the country's civil war and taken to Europe.

- 9th century old sculpture of Shiva's head and a late 12th century's male divinity head were also handed over by Norwegian collector Morten Bosterud.

- In June 2014, three 1,000-year-old statues based on Hindu mythology were brought back to Cambodia.

The reason behind Cambodia having a major Hindu influence is it was ruled by Hindu kings for centuries. It was also the main religion of the country for many years before it was replaced by Buddhism.
Revati, who is writing a book on convicts in 2002 Naroda Patiya massacre case, had gone to interview Suresh in connection with the book.

By India Today Web Desk: The Gujarat Police today arrested the Naroda Patiya convict Suresh Chhara, for attacking former journalist turned social activist Revati Laul.

Laul was allegedly attacked by Suresh Chhara in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.

Revati, who is writing a book on convicts in 2002 Naroda Patiya massacre case, had gone to interview Suresh in connection with the book.

"I was asking him if he wanted to share information about himself, his past, family. After five minutes, he stood up and came towards me, then he started beating me," Revatti told ANI.

2002 riots convict Suresh Chhara who was out on parole, arrested for allegedly attacking Journalist Revati Laul. (Photo: ANI)

Revati later lodged a complaint at a police station.

Police sources said there was heated exchange between the two over some issue after which Suresh landed blows on her nose.

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Suresh Chhara was convicted to 31 years in prison for his involvement in the Naroda Patiya massacre. He was released on parole by a local court last week, reportedly to trace his missing daughter.

Last month, his former wife has pleaded the court to arrange security for her claiming that she was being threatened by her husband, in-laws and 16-year-old son. Dedawala's wife, who is a Muslim, has also accused him of sodomy when he released on parole six months ago.



Also Read: Naroda Patiya massacre case convict's wife accuses husband of rape, files for divorce


A day after making helmet wearing mandatory for pillion riders in Bengaluru, the Karnataka government announced the extension of the rule to rest of the state from February 1.

By Mail Today: A day after making helmet wearing mandatory for pillion riders in Bengaluru, the Karnataka government announced the extension of the rule to rest of the state from February 1.

There is a widespread protest across North Karnataka, where day temperatures are high. Two-wheeler riders, who wear helmets in this part of the state, complain of suffocation. However, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah refused to grant any kind of relaxation to the two-wheeler riders in North Karnataka.

"We are following the directive from the Supreme Court. Please do not blame us..." Siddaramaiah said. On Wednesday, the Bengaluru police registered cases against more than 1,522 two-wheeler riders for violating the helmet rule in the city.

Also Read:

Bengaluru: Helmet compulsory for pillion riders January 20


By Saurabh Singh: LeEco's debut phones in the Indian market, aka the Le Max and Le 1S are both very interesting offerings, each in their own right. The Chinese company is looking to tap into two very different market segments with both these phones. While the Le Max is a super-sized phablet that costs a good odd Rs 33,000 to own, the Le 1S is aimed at those looking for a budget buy without compromising on hardware.

As such, while the Le Max may appeal to a niche audience (owing to its massive form factor), the Le 1S is expected to be the more talked about phone in the days to come thanks to its well to-do spec sheet at an aggressive pricing. After all, in a budget conscious market like India, it's all about value for money quotient.

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Here's a point-by-point breakdown of how the Le 1S stacks up against rival phones in and around its price point:

Talking about the design, the first thing that you notice about the Le 1S is its near all-metal exterior. The phone boasts of aircraft grade aluminium and a floating glass design that makes it instantly stand out among rival phones. Yes, the Le 1S doesn't have the most original designs around, but that doesn't take away the fact that this is a phone that costs just Rs 10,999. At this price the best we got is probably the Lenovo K4 Note that has metal restricted to just the sides. The rest of it is all plastic. At its price point, having a near all-metal unibody is sort of a novelty. Hopefully, this will change now that we have the Le 1S around.

The phone has rounded edges and subtle curves along the sides that help enhance looks and grip. The upper and lower ends -- on the back - are plastic with brushed metal finish and house the antennas. These stand out a bit in comparison to the middle part of the body. But, at its low price, we can forgive and forget this aspect. All in all, the Le 1S at its price is the most 'premium' looking phones around. Phones like the K4 Note, Moto G Turbo and Coolpad's Note 3 all look pale in comparison.

What adds to the grand scheme of things is its excellent screen-to-body ratio. LeEco has used the bezels well.

The front is occupied by a 5.5-inch FullHD screen which again is nothing short of a novelty in this price range. The only other recognisable FullHD phone is the K4 Note. The Note 3 and Moto G Turbo have HD screens. That said, the screen of the Le 1S has a slightly upper hand when compared to the K4 Note's primarily because it is brighter and less reflective.

The Le 1S is powered by a 2.2GHz octa-core MediaTek Helio X10 processor coupled with 3 gigs of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. The Helio X10 is MediaTek's top-of-the-line mobile processor of the current generation. While phones like the K4 Note and Note 3 have 3GB RAM, they are brought down by inferior processors (MediaTek MT6753). Not that they are any less performers, but the Helio X10 on-board the Le 1S holds an edge in terms of raw power. Add to it LeEco's simplistic lag-free EUI (based on Android 5.0.2 Lollipop) and what you get is buttery smooth experience out-of-the-box. Lenovo and Coolpad's UIs are heavier in comparison and are practically overloaded with unwanted apps or bloat. EUI on the other hand has far lesser of these. If you're looking for the stock Android experience, the Moto G Turbo is clearly the way to go, but if you're looking for raw performance with a UI that isn't exactly overwhelming to use, the Le 1S won't disappoint.

The one flipside though is that the Le 1S does not support expandable storage. You get 32GB of internal memory and that's about it.

The dualSIM Le 1S supports 1 micro and 1 nano SIM cards. 4G LTE is supported and the phone comes with a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner. There's also USB Type-C port for charging and data syncing purposes which is a first for a phone at its price point.

The Le 1S comes with a 13-megapixel camera on the rear with phase detection autofocus and LED flash. There's also a 5-megapixel camera on the front. 4K video recording is supported. The Moto G Turbo has a pretty neat camera at this price. The Le 1S is just faster to focus and shoot.

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The phone comes with a 3,000mAh battery and supports fast charging. The K4 Note (3,300mAh) has a slightly bigger battery while the Moto G Turbo (2,470mAh) comes with a smaller one.

There you go. The Le 1S breaks the price barrier convincingly. Not long ago the Note 3 became the first phone under Rs 10,000 to have a fingerprint scanner and 3GB RAM. The Le 1S becomes the first phone at its price to have USB Type-C and that's not the only thing working for it. The phone has a big beautiful display and a meaty processor. The cameras look good and the battery is big on paper. It would be interesting to see how it fair in our full review, but based on first impressions it is safe to say that the Le 1S has enough juice to make rivals sweat.


The Central University of Hyderabad has revoked the suspension of four students with immediate effect as protests continued for the fifth consecutive day after Phd scholar Rohith Vemula's suicide.

By India Today Web Desk: The Central University of Hyderabad has revoked the suspension of four students with immediate effect as protests continued for the fourth consecutive day after Phd scholar Rohith Vemula's suicide. Rohith was among the students who were suspended by the university administration in December last year.

The students were barred from entering the hostel, library, mess and other common areas within the university premises post the December order. The decision was taken after a complaint filed by ABVP student leader Susheel Kumar who had accused these scholars of assaulting him.

A statement released by the university on Thursday said, "The Executive Council of the University of Hyderabad met on January 21, 2016.The Council after taking into account the extraordinary situation prevailing in the university, and after discussing the issue in detail, resolved to terminate the punishment imposed on the students concerned with immediate effect."

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"Professor P Appa Rao has appealed to the University community to maintain calmness and harmony under the extraordinary circumstances prevailing on the campus and repose faith in the internal mechanisms to resolve the issue and fervently urged all in the University to contribute to resuming regular class work, research activities and administrative work without further delay," it added.

Earlier, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal visited Hyderabad University to meet the protesting students and Rohith's parents. Kejriwal accused Union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani of misleading the country over the suicide of Rohith Vemula.

"Smriti Irani ji spoke one lie after another and tried to create controversy over Rohith's caste," Kejriwal said.

On Wednesday, talking to reporters in New Delhi, Irani had said Rohith's suicide is being misrepresented as a Dalit versus non-Dalit confrontation.



ALSO READ | Rohith Vemula suicide: Assault or appendicitis for this ABVP leader?

Post Rohith Vemula suicide, it's Dalit vs Dalit on Hyderabad campus now
University VC Appa Rao appealed to students to maintain calm and harmony on the campus and end their stir but students say the protest will continue till the VC is removed.

By India Today Web Desk: The Central University of Hyderabad revoked the suspension of four students with immediate effect as protests continued for the fourth consecutive day today after Phd scholar Rohith Vemula's suicide. Rohith was among the students who were suspended by the university administration in December last year.

University vice chancellor Appa Rao appealed to students to maintain calm and harmony on the campus and end their stir but students say the protest will continue till the vice chancellor is removed.

Thursday witnessed more leaders visiting the university campus. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal met the protesting students and Rohith's parents. He accused Union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani of misleading the country over the suicide of Rohith Vemula.

"Smriti Irani ji spoke one lie after another and tried to create controversy over Rohith's caste," Kejriwal said.

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Earlier, 15 Dalit teachers at the university resigned accusing Irani of distorting the facts related to Vemula's death.

But is revoking the suspension of the Dalit students sufficient to defuse the tension and controversy surrounding Rohith's tragic suicide?

Big questions

1. Who is to be blamed for scholar's death?

2. Is Rohith Vemula a victim of campus politics?

3. Does chronology of events suggest government's role?

4. What is the reason for rising campus suicides?

5. Do Dalits face discrimination in universities?

6. Was university pressurised to suspend Dalit students?

7. Was the VC changed for political reasons?

8. Will the university take any concrete action?

9. Suspension revocation a victory for protesters?

10. Was the university's decision to suspend the students a mistake?

Professor at Maulana Azad National Urdu University Kancha Ilaiah described the whole issue as a 'mess up'.

"Since this has become a huge national issue, the government should have first simply asked the VC to resign and minister Bandaru Dattatreya should have resigned on moral grounds," Ilaiah said.

Senior jounalist Sandhya Ravishankar pointed out that the university has been struggling to justify the drastic steps it took against the Dalit students. She said that revocation of suspension of the Dalit students is certainly a victory for them.

BJP's GVL Narasimha Rao backed the government over the issue, saying that there was never any pressure on the university administration to act against the Dalit students.

"The central government has actually nothing to do with the issue. We deeply empathise with the family and students. We do not want to go into the issue which really resulted in this particular tragic outcome. We have nothing to do in the matter, its only the other parties which are jumping into it trying to make it a caste issue," Rao said while speaking on the show To The Point.

The BJP spokesperson stood firmly behind HRD Minister Smriti Irani and said efforts were being made to showcase the whole incident as a caste struggle.

Saket Bahuguna, Delhi State Secretary of ABVP, asserted that ABVP leader Susheel Kumar was beaten by members of Ambedkar Students' Association inside Hyderabad university campus but termed the whole issue as unfortunate.

"In every university disciplinary action is taken if students are involved in such kind of act. This (suspension revocation) has been done under extraordinary circumstances... an unfortunate incident of a suicide of a student," Bahuguna said.

Watch full video here:

Also read:

Hyderabad university revokes suspension of 4 Dalit students

SC/ST teachers at Hyderabad University quit administrative posts
According to an alert issued by the Intelligence Bureau, 10-15 terrorists may target shopping malls in cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata.

By India Today Web Desk: Ahead of the Republic Day, the Intelligence Bureau has issued a warning about a Paris-Jakarta-like attacks in Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai by ISIS. The agency has also quoted ISIS e-book styled as black flag postings against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other dignitaries. An increase in activities in the camps of Lashkar-e-Taiba have also been reported.



According to the alert, 10-15 terrorists may carry out attacks in the three metro cities targeting famous shopping malls. Other than the ISIS postings on e-book against PM Modi, LeT plans of sending Kashmir Valley-based operatives to Delhi for targeting the prime minister has also been reported.

Every year before Republic Day, intelligence agencies issue a report on possible threats emanating from the various terror outfits. This year in its report, there is a special mention of ISIS call to youths to carry out attacks in their respective countries.

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This year, French President Fracois Hollande is the chief guest for the Republic Day celebrations. The French consulate in Bengaluru today also received an "intimidating" letter demanding that President Hollande cancel his upcoming visit to India.

The alert says that earlier ISIS invited radicalized youths to battle fields of Iraq and Syria, however, now the terror outfit has asked youths to carry out attacks in their own countries. Several cases of Indian youths radicalised over Internet in Telangana, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Karnataka and Rajasthan have been reported. Malicious content on social networking sites against PM and other dignitaries even by pro-left activists may influence anti-national elements.

The alert issued by the IB also mentions a Sikh Jatha, which recently visited Pakistan. It has reportedly been tasked by their handlers to cross the border and create disturbances in India.



Also read:

Ahead of Francois Hollande's visit to India, French Consulate in Bengaluru gets threat letter


By India Today Web Desk: A village in Jhansi, worships a dead female dog and has a separate temple for it.

Situated in Mauranipur town of Jhansi, this temple is visited by many worshipers.

Kishori Lala Yadav, the Hindu priest of the temple conducts the routine rituals. He revealed that even though people had a strong belief regarding the canine deity, the construction of the temple led to a proper ceremonious worship of her.

According to Kishori Lal, the female dog used to live somewhere on the borders of two village - Revan and Kakwara. One day, there was a feast being organised in both the villages and she went running to first Revan but the food was not ready by then. She then ran to Kakwara village, and faced disappointment there as well.

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Tired and hungry, she decided to wait in the middle of both the villages and thought of running immediately for the village that rings the bell indicating that the food is ready.

But both the villages ringed the gong simultaneously, and as it happened the female dog died on the spot.

A memorial was created on the same spot and people now worship the deity there. Writer Gyan Chaturvedi has often mentioned the stories of this 'deity'.
Karan Johar arrived at the Jaipur Literature Festival with Poonam Saxena and Shobhaa De to discuss his life and his upcoming biography An Unsuitable Boy.

By Anirbaan Banerjee: There is much that has been said and left unsaid when it comes to Karan Johar. The celebrated director and producer arrived at the Jaipur Literature Festival to clear the air in a wonderfully brazen bare-all with Poonam Saxena and Shobhaa De to discuss his life and his upcoming biography An Unsuitable Boy.

Johar began by recalling his awkward childhood in a South Bombay 'snooty neighbourhood'. He admitted that the tag of 'pansy' attached to him as a child bothered him endlessly and that initially, he struggled to come to terms with his effeminacy.

But there were no signs of this diffident youth in Johar today, speaking freely about having made peace with whom he was. Rather, Johar openly confessed to dancing only to Jaya Prada's part as a child whenever the song 'Dafli Wale Dafli Baja' was played. Talking about his sessions with Saxena that have culminated in the writing of his biography, a veritably evolved Johar referred to them as being 'a cathartic and hugely therapeutic experience'.

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Calling freedom of expression and democracy the two biggest jokes in India, a bold Johar humourously referred to himself as 'an FIR king'. He critiqued the restrictively censored environment for an artist who is forced to resort to 'clever policing' in his works and hailed the Shyam Benegal-led reforms in censorship regulations.

In his most outspoken take on homosexuality, Johar quipped that he doesn't blame closeted homosexuals in a country where they can be 'tortured 377 times' for admitting it, instead stressing on the need to change the average man's perception.

Defending the stereotypical portrayal of homosexuality in his own movies, he claimed that Dostana set conversations rolling in families that had so far remained silent on homosexuality. For him, this was far more important than the intricacies of depiction.

Johar, famously known as the confidante of the entire film industry, presented a surprisingly bleak image of it. Remembering the cold response of the industry to his father's vacillating fortunes as a producer, Johar presented Bollywood as a fraternity only in name with no tolerance for failure.

In a persisting taste of the bitter-sweet, Johar also recounted his personal Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham moment when he couldn't witness the standing ovation at the premiere of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai because threats from the underworld mob had forced him to go into hiding.

At the festival, Karan Johar was presented in a new light and yet retained his quintessential characteristics. Fearlessly political and delightfully comfortable in his skin, Johar amusingly admitted, "I think I'm looking for scandal". But this time scandal isn't hounding him, he is courting controversy will full panache and gusto.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy presented the award to Ilayaraja at the inaugural ceremony of the Nishangandhi annual dance and music festival organized by the State Tourism Department.

By Press Trust of India: Music maestro Ilayaraja was today presented the prestigious Nishagandhi Puraskaram by Kerala government in recognition of his valuable contribution to Indian film music.

ALSO READ: Maestro Ilaiyaraaja honoured at International Film Festival Of India



The award comprises Rs 1,50,000, a citation and a statuette. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy presented the award to Ilayaraja at the inaugural ceremony of the Nishangandhi annual dance and music festival organized by the State Tourism Department.

Speaking on the occasion, Chandy said Kerala government would provide five acres of land for Ilaiyaraja to start a music academy. The Chief Secretary has been asked to identify the land for the project, he said.

In his reply, Ilayaraja said he was very happy to receive the award and that the objective of starting the music academy "is to produce hundreds of Ilaiyaraaja's" .

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A Padma Bhushan recipient, Tamil Nadu-born Ilayaraja is hailed for raising the bar of mainstream music by fusing Indian folk music with various elements of Western classical to create a new genre that is hugely popular across regions and generations.

State Tourism Minister A P Anilkumar was among those who were present on the occasion. Sitarist Anoushka Shankar, daughter of the legendary Ravi Shankar, presented the opening performance of the festival.

This is Ilaiyaraaja's second award in three months. The legendary musician was honoured with Lifetime Achievement Award at the inaugural ceremony of 46th International Film Festival Of India, which was held in Panaji, in November, 2015.
By Kamlesh Damodar Sutar: Maharashtra government's plan to tie up with yoga guru Baba Ramdev's Patanjali to boost sale of forest produce has drawn the ire of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

Maharashtra Forest Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar had approached Baba Ramdev on Tuesday with a proposal to get a wider and better market for forest produce.

Slamming the move, the NCP has called it a blatant case of favouritism. NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said that if the state government had plans of promoting forest produce, they should have issued proper advertisements or have issued tenders. He further alleged that the BJP is trying to usurp forest lands through this move.

According to the proposal, Baba Ramdev's Patanjali will buy forest products like amla, honey, aloe vera and gooseberries in bulk.

Sudhir Mungantiwar has claimed that Baba Ramdev has shown interest in the proposal and has also assured to open a food court in Nagpur, which will be bigger than the one in Haridwar, where herbal products will be available for sale.

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Mungantiwar said that the forests in Maharashtra are rich in non-timber forest produce and medicinal plants. The state has launched the Van Dhan outlet at Nagpur, through which the Joint Forest Management Committees will sell forest produce at a cheaper rate.

However, the discussions with Baba Ramdev are at the primary stage and a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is likely to be inked soon.

ALSO READ

Ramdev meets Sanjay Dutt in Yerawada Jail in Pune



Worms found in Baba Ramdev's Patanjali Atta noodles
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar spoke out about the recent terror attack on the Pathankot air base in Punjab, and said the Ministry of Defence has formed a committee to look into security preparedness of important defence installations.

By India Today Web Desk: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar spoke out about the recent terror attack on the Pathankot air base in Punjab, and said the Ministry of Defence has formed a committee to look into security preparedness of important defence installations.

On January 2, a group of heavily-armed Pakistani terrorists carried out an attack on the Pathankot airbase. Six Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists were gunned down by the security forces after a four-day gun battle. Seven Indian security personnel also lost their lives.

"Security measures that we take are not to be discussed in the open. We are doing what is needed. Special team is being formed to visit various posts and interact with the officers," Parrikar said.

Parrikar also condemned the attack on Bacha Khan University in Charsadda, where at least 25 people were killed and 50 injured.

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"Any act of violence is condemnable. Killing of civilians or any form of violence is condemnable. I think it is very wrong what happened," he said.

Gunmen had on January 20 entered the university in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and opened fire on students and teachers in classrooms and hostels.

The defence minister also mocked the postcard letter, supposedly sent by ISIS, threatening to kill Prime Minister Narendra Modi and him.

Also Read:



Pathankot attack could have been prevented, says J&K Governor NN Vohra

Bacha Khan University terror attack: Operation ends, 25 dead, 50 injured

ISIS letter threatens to kill PM Modi: Goa Police


By Javed Anwer: Motorola's tough phone is just days away from Indian shores. The company is planning to hold a media event on February where it would launch the Moto X Force, a phone that features a unique "shatterproof" screen. In the run up to the launch, the company is teasing various features of the phone and has taken potshots at iPhone calling Apple's phone flimsy and prone to accidental damage.

Like other Moto phones, the Moto X Force also has protection against accidental spillage or dust.

For now the India price of the phone is not known. But in Europe the phone is priced a little over $700 and it is possible that in India it may not be sold for less than Rs 50,000.

The phone's unique feature, as Motorola explains, is its screen with four layers of material that makes it sort of indivisible even in the case of nasty falls. It also features tougher scratch-resistant coating.

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The hardware inside the Moto X Force is also fairly high-end though now that the Snapdragon 820 is round the corner it is not clear how much of an appeal the Snapdragon 810 will hold. The Moto X Force uses Qualcomm's Snapdragon 810 processor and has 3GB RAM. It also comes with 32GB internal storage and has a big 3760 battery inside it. The phone has a 5.4-inch screen size with 1440 x 2560 pixels resolution, a 21-megapixel camera (probably the same that does the duty in the Moto X Style) and a 5MP front camera. Just like other Moto phones the Force too uses pure Android aka the "Android that is unmodified". It currently runs of Android Lollipop but the Marshmallow update is expected soon. In fact, it is possible that Motorola may launch the phone in India with Marshmallow in it.

For Motorola, which is now owned by Lenovo, the high-end phone market has been a bitter-sweet experience since it re-entered India in 2013. While its mainstream phones like the Moto X and the Moto G have done very well, devices like the Motorola Moto G Turbo and Motorola Nexus 6, which have been priced above Rs 40,000, haven't been received too well. It is possible that for Motorola, this may change with the Moto X Force.


21 out of 22 accused were convicted yesterday by a NIA special court. One of the accused was acquitted.

By Press Trust of India: Kannur district is famous for beautiful beaches, but infamous for political murders and people arrested for illegal possession of weapons.



21 people were found guilty by a special NIA Court, in an arms seizure case from an arms training centre of Popular Front of India (PFI) at Narath in Kannur district in April 2013, and were jailed yesterday.

While the court acquitted Kamaruddin, as charges against him could not be proved, NIA Special Judge S Santhosh Kumar sentenced one of the convicts, Abdul Aziz, to a 7 year jail term and the rest 20 to 5 years imprisonment each.

The court found them guilty under various sections of IPC, Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA, Arms Act and Explosives Act), and also imposed a fine of Rs 5000 each.

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On April 23, 2013 a police team had raided a house in a coconut farm in Narath and seized arms and ammunition, and 21 mobile phones. 22 activists of PFI and Secular Democratic Party of India were arrested in connection with the seizure.

The state government had handed over the case to NIA.

Arguing for maximum punishment to the guilty, NIA prosecutor P G Manu cited a Kerala High Court ruling in a terror case which said "sympathy has no role in dealing with terrorist case".

Though the counsel for the accused pleaded there was no casualty in the case, the judge said, "There is no casualty because of the action of police."

Police had suspected the arrested people had connections with some extremist organisations, including Indian Mujahideen.
There would be a total ban on country liquor from April 1. After six months, sale of IMFL will also be stopped and there will be a complete ban on liquor, Nitish Kumar said.

By Press Trust of India: Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today exhorted women not to hesitate in destroying the country liquor manufacturing units after April 1, the day prohibition on country liquor will come into force in Bihar.

"Do not hesitate to destroy bhattis (manufacturing units of country liquor) if need arises and complaint to the call centre," Kumar said while launching a campaign to make prohibition a mass movement in the state.

The chief minister said a designated cell would be set up in Patna for strict monitoring of prohibition decision and its telephone numbers would be advertised so that citizens could inform, if they see illegal trade in liquor after prohibition comes into force.

Urging women to make the liquor ban in Bihar a mass movement, Kumar said he decided to go for it to fulfil his poll promise that if he returned to power, their wish to stop sale of liquor which ruins families would be fulfilled.

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Prohibition will be imposed in Bihar in phases as part of which there would be a total ban on country liquor from April 1, Kumar said.

However, India Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) would be available in municipal and town council areas at limited government outlets run by Bihar State Beverages Corporation Limited, which operates under the state excise department.

"After six months, sale of IMFL will also be stopped and there will be a complete ban on liquor," he said.

On the criticism by opposition on rationale in allowing sale of IMFL while banning country liquor from April 1, 2016, Kumar said this decision has been taken to make the plan practical and implementable.

In an apparent dig at states where prohibition is in place, Kumar said, "We dont want to go like them where there is prohibition on liquor but alcohol is available at home on payment secretly."

Bihar government has written to neighbouring states requesting them to order strict vigil on bordering districts to ensure illegal transportation of liquor to Bihar do not take place after April 1, 2016, he said.

Special care would also be taken on porous Bihar-Nepal border to check illegal trade of alcohol.

Kumar asked state police chief P K Thakur, who was present at the programme, to ensure that police extend all assistance in enforcing the ban on liquor.

"Its known that no illegal trade of manufacturing hooch can take place without the knowledge of the police station. Hence, police have a special role to put an end to this surreptitious trade," he added. PTI SNS NN SMJ
An unprecedented alert has been issued across the country ahead of Republic Day in the wake of heightened terror threat after the January 2 Pathankot attack and recent arrests of suspected ISIS operatives in Haridwar.

By India Today Web Desk: An unprecedented alert has been issued across the country ahead of Republic Day in the wake of heightened terror threat after the January 2 Pathankot attack and recent arrests of suspected ISIS operatives in Haridwar.

The Intelligence Bureau has also warned that ISIS may carry out Paris, Jakarta-like attacks in Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai. The agency has further warned that the terror group is also on the lookout for targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other dignitaries.



As security agencies chalk out plan to thwart the nefarious aims of terror groups, India Today Television has accessed exclusive details how Pakistan-based handlers pass orders to their operatives in India. The telephonic conversations have been intercepted by intelligence agencies.

The first telephone recording which India Today TV has got hold of is a conversation between Harkat-ul-Jehad-e-Islami chief Jan Mohammad and his contact, a terrorist named Imtiyaz, sitting at a place called Darugmul in the Kashmir Valley. The Harkat-ul-Jehad chief uses a mobile number registered with Pakistani company - Mobilink while Imtiyaz uses a BSNL number. (We have not revealed the mobile numbers for security reasons.)

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Here is a transcript of the the first audio tape in which Jan Mohammad tells Imtiyaz to get hold of assault weapons. Harkat's Jan Mohammad asks Imtiyaz to go to a pre-decided location and get hold of a pistol which has to be handed over to a contact in the Valley later.

Jan Mohammad: The work that has been given to you has it been completed? You were asked to find the cheez....did you find it?

Imtiyaz: There was no hisab.

Jan: Don't worry it will be done. Is there a hartal tomorrow? If you get a chance go to that place. Agar chota mil jaye toh get hold of one of those. We will also get you other things, give it to that person day after.

A lot of the conversation between terrorists in India and their handlers in Pakistan happens in code.

In the recording, chota maal means pistols, while bada maal refers to assault rifles, typically an AK-47.

The next clip that India Today has is between a terrorist named Yusuf Baloch, who is a leader of the Al-Badr terrorist group and a person named Mir, who is on a mission in the Kashmir Valley.

The Al-Badr leader uses the Pakistani mobile number, operated by Ufone, while Mir uses an Aircel number. In the audio clip, Yusuf talks about sending a person across the Line of Control (LoC).

Yusuf Baloch: Have you been doing some work? I wanted to know the update. I am sending a person towards you... should I or not?

Mir: Person should be good.

Baloch: He is from our own town...

Mir: Is he educated?

Baloch: He is well educated.

Mir: Is he your person?



Baloch: Yes...he is one of us. There are some documents, pick them up you will need them later.

In the conversation, the Indian contact of the Pakistani handler is very concerned about the level of training of the person who is being sent across the border. Intelligence sources tell India Today that the reference to eduction in the conversation is actually a reference to the level of training the terrorist has received. Mir wants to ensure that the terrorist who is coming across is well trained on operations. Yusuf assures him that he is one of the best they have.

Terrorists in India talk to their handlers not just about movement of personnel across the border and the shipment of weapons and ammunition, the conversation can sometimes be as basic as the handler telling his operative where to get hold of a second SIM card from, without giving any proof of identity.

The next clip intercepted by intelligence agencies is between one Tanveer-ul-Islam of the United Jehad Council as he speaks to a terrorist identified as Jameel in Jammu and Kashmir.

Tanveer-ul-Islam: What you have identified is fine, but you need to explain who you are? And only then we will be able to establish a relation. You need to get a second SIM to stay in touch with me and that's how we will stay in touch. It is difficult to get a second SIM. It will be costlier than a regular SIM. Get it. Don't ask any personal questions so that there is no problem. Make a new email address... make a new gmail address. We will stay in touch through that.

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Don't give away any personal details. Open a new gmail account in another name. And stay in constant touch with the new SIM. Those are the direct instructions given by the handler to his agent operating in the Valley.

The investigation carried out by concerned agencies on the basis of the these telephonic conversations also point out towards how Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is using terror sleeper cells present across the country to conduct recce of probable targets. ISI's notorious 'S' wing stays in touch with members of such sleeper cells. In most of the cases, ISI agents directly handle the operatives on the ground.



ALSO READ | JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar main Pak handler of airbase attack


Manohar Parrikar dismissed talk of any threat from the Islamic State to his or Prime Minister Narendra Modi's life.

By India Today Web Desk: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today dismissed talk of any threat from the Islamic State to him or Prime Minister Narendra Modi's life.

Last week, an anonymous postcard claimed to have been sent by the Islamic State, threatening Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Manohar Parrikar, was received at the Goa Secretariat.

Parrikar was dismissive about any threat to him or PM Narendra Modi, saying "It [the threat] was [issued] on a 50 paise postcard," PTI reported.

The letter was handed over to the Anti-Terror Squad and the North Goa district police.

ALSO READ

Ardh Kumbh Mela terror plot foiled, 4 suspected ISIS terrorists arrested



ISIS letter threatens to kill PM Modi: Goa Police
The model-turned-actress is not exactly pleased about some latest reports about her.

By India Today Web Desk: Unfazed by all the attention she garners for her bold pictures and videos on social media, model-turned-actress Poonam Pandey is upset about some recent reports about her doing the rounds.

So, the grapevine had been reaping stories about the model-actress aborting her unborn child--a rumour that was reportedly started by the website in question. Pandey, however, was not in the mood to let this website get away with this one.

Also read: Get ready for Poonam Pandey's comic avatar on TV

As a result, the Nasha actress has taken legal action and slapped a defamation lawsuit of Rs 100 crores against the website. In a report published by the Bombay Times, she was quoted as saying, "I have filed a Rs 100 crore defamation case against the media house so that they think 100 times before writing anything like this against any celebrity. One more reason to file the case is that I am deeply hurt by such a baseless story."

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In pictures: Poonam Pandey, Rakhi Sawant's wild touch to What The Fish house party

Pandey also took to Twitter to express her displeasure over the reports published about her alleged abortion.

Also read: Poonam Pandey all set to enchant viewers down south after Malini & Co

She tweeted, "outraging my modesty, how can one be so irresponsible common guys can't u double check before filing any crap hitting one below the belt (sic)."

She shared a picture of the lawsuit slapped by her legal team on the website, followed by another tweet requesting media houses to not fall prey to rumours. "I would request media not to blindly copy paste false news running over. Rather cross check and then published with facts (sic)," she tweeted.
ABVP leader Nandanam Susheel Kumar alleged he was assaulted by members of the Ambedkar Students Association (ASA) in his hostel room. But the report of Archana Hospital in Madinaguda where he was treated states that he was operated upon for acute appendicitis.

By India Today Web Desk: In a new twist to the Rohith Vemula suicide case, the alleged assault on ABVP leader Nandanam Susheel Kumar that led to the suspension of five Dalit students including Vemula is now under the scanner.

Last August, ABVP leader Nandanam Susheel Kumar alleged he was assaulted by members of the Ambedkar Students Association (ASA) in his hostel room. But the report of Archana Hospital in Madinaguda where he was treated states that he was operated upon for acute appendicitis on August 7.

Dr Chenna Reddy, general physician at the Archana Hospital, said in his report: "26-year-old male admitted with alleged history of assault at 2:30 am on August 4. Complains of pain in abdomen and SOB (shortness of breath). Patient managed conservatively for two days in hospital. Suddenly, patient complained of severe abdomen pain in right iliac fossa with history of loose stool.

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Rohith had spent over 12 days in the open after he was expelled from the hostel, in what was called disciplinary action taken against him and 4 other PhD students accused of assaulting Susheel Kumar in August last year.

On August 3, 2015 ABVP-HCU unit president Susheel Kumar updated his status on Facebook referring to ASA members as goons. As per the note, when ASA asked for an explanation, Susheel said he used the term goons since ASA had organised a protest against ABVP activists who disrupted the screening of Muzaffarnagar Baaqi Hain (Montage Film Society) and referred to the ABVP act as hooliganism.

The Facebook note by ASA has proof of the poster they had used, and the poster doesn't use the word 'hooliganism' on it. ASA then asked for a written apology from Susheel (in the presence of security officials), and left the place when he complied.

On August 4, 2015 Susheel Kumar, along with his brother Vishnu, who is a member of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, went to a private hospital alleging he was beaten up by ASA students including Rohith.

According to the earlier findings, the Inquiry Committee's could not get any hard evidence of beating of Susheel Kumar either from Krishna Chaitanya or from the reports submitted by Dr.Anupama. Dr.Anupama's reports also could not link or suggest the surgery of the Susheel Kumar is the direct result of the beating."

Susheel Kumar said, "Rohith vemula assaulted me but I was very upset with the news of his suicide. Fair investigation is needed to understand what took Rohit to suicide, culprit should be punished."

"I need security to go back to Hyderabad University as I could be manhandled".

Kumar said that he read Rohith Vemula's suicide note over 200 times which didnt consist of any names.

Several politicians, including Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, rushed to Hyderabad on Tuesday to show solidarity with students protesting against the university administration and the HRD ministry for forcing PhD scholar Rohith Vemula to commit suicide.

Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya has been named named in a police complaint. The minister has been accused of forcing the university to punish Rohith and friends.

Amid the politics over the tragic incident, the question which has remained unasnwered is what actually drove Rohith to take such an extreme step?

Was Rohith driven to suicide by the Hyderabad University administration and secondly by the general anti-Dalit atmosphere or is his suicide better explained by his suicide note which suggests that the reason for his step was much deeper and further than the recent events?

Also read:



Rohith Vemula's suicide not due to Dalit vs non-Dalit confrontation: Smriti Irani

Hyderabad Central University V-C Appa Rao on Rohith Vemula's suicide: Wrong to label me as BJP man Parties fight it out over Dalit scholar's suicide



Hyderabad Dalit suicide: It's not suicide, it's the murder of democracy, says Kejriwal



What killed Rohith Vemula? Campus politics, stress or discrimination



What happened at Hyderabad Central University that led to Rohith Vemula's suicide?


Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today visited the University of Hyderabad and met the students, family members of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula who committed suicide .

By India Today Web Desk: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today visited the University of Hyderabad and met the students and family members of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula who committed suicide .

He was accompanied by Ashish Khetan and Ashish Talwar.

Highlights of Kejriwal speech There was no violence between two groups, ASA and ABVP: Kejriwal at University of Hyderabad. There cannot be a more national activity than discussing Dr Ambedkar. Shameful that a minister used the word extremist in her letter. Dattatreya bombarded the HRD ministry with letters. Extremely sad that Smriti Irani tried to make the issue as Dalit vs non-Dalit We must respect those who come from diverse background. We strongly condemn the caste spin given to the entire issue Our country cannot be held back on the basis on castesim and backwardness.

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Kejriwal had yesterday demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi sack HRD Minister Smriti Irani, Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya and apologise to the nation over the suicide by the Dalit student, questioning their "interference" in the internal affairs of the institution.

Rohith, a PhD scholar, who committed suicide on Sunday night, was among the five research scholars who were suspended by the University in August last year over an alleged assault case. They were also kept out of the hostel.

The issue took a political turn with allegations that the extreme step taken by Rohith was a result of discrimination against dalit students at the behest of Dattatreya, following his letter to Irani, seeking action against their "anti-national acts".

Meanwhile, Kejriwal will go to Bengaluru for undergoing naturopathy treatment for his chronic cough on January 27 for ten days instead of January 22.


SC/ST teachers of University of Hyderabad (UoH) have resigned from their administrative roles in protest against Union HRD minister Smriti Irani's remarks.

By India Today Web Desk: SC/ST teachers of University of Hyderabad (UoH) have resigned from their administrative roles in protest against Union HRD minister Smriti Irani's remarks that Dalit faculty members were also part of the university probe that eventually led to the expulsion of the research scholar Rohith Vemula alogwith four others.

SC/ST Teacher's and officer's forum at University of Hyderabad has issued press release condemning the statement of the Smriti Irani. Taking serious objections to the statement made in her press conference, the body has said that its unfortunate that the union minister misrepresented facts of the case and said that the senior most Dalit professor actually headed the Exec council sub committee which took the decision to suspend the students.

The release has also alleged that by deflecting the issue, Irani was absolving herself and Bandaru Dattatreya from being responsible for the death of Rohith Vemula.

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The minister mentioned that an executive council in the university had Dalit representatives but the body only had a co-opted SC member, the forum said.

On Irani's statement that a Congress leader (MP Hanumantha Rao) had also written on issues concerning the university, the forum said the minister should direct the university to implement the SC and ST sub-plan.

Hitting back at political rivals, HRD Minister Smriti Irani accused them of attempting to "instigate" students all over the country on the issue of suicide by a dalit student in Hyderabad University and dismissed demands for her resignation.

Irani addressed a press conference flanked by three ministers where she took on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi saying the party wants to "shoot" on the issue which is "expected but unfortunate".

Claiming that a "malicious attempt" was being made to project the suicide as a dalit versus non-dalit caste battle over which "passions" are being ignited, the minister rejected allegations that her ministry's intervention through letters had led to the suicide of the student Rohith Vemula.

"An effort is on to instigate students all over the ountry. My appeal is, please do not instigate students and communities deliberately.


The circulating videos and posts of Bollywood actors Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan entering the sets of Kali temple while shooting for Big Boss has invited a legal case against them.

Shah Rukh and Salman were seen wearing shoes in the promo of Bigg Boss 9.

By Sneha Agrawal: The circulating videos and posts of Bollywood actors Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan entering the sets of Kali temple while shooting for Big Boss has invited a legal case against them. A complaint case was filed in a Delhi court before additional chief metropolitan magistrate VK Gautam.

The complainant, advocate Gaurav Gulati, alleged that the actors have hurt Hindu sentiments and it was a well planned malicious act.

Along with the two stars the complainant also dragged the director and producer and the channel of the reality show by making them a party to the case.

Gulati has sought for an FIR against the accused under the section 295 A/298/34 of IPC and also requested for stopping the telecast of promos of this video.

--- ENDS ---
According to the victim, two bike-borne youths approached the girl when she was returning home and groped her.

By Mail Today: A 16-year-old schoolgirl was sexually molested on road while returning home from her school in J P Nagar in the city on Monday. The incident took place around 3:30 pm when the girl alighted from the school bus and was walking towards home. The residents of the locality are shocked because J P Nagar is considered a relatively safe area.

The police have registered a case and are searching for the miscreants, who were on a bike. According to the victim, two bike-borne youths approached the girl when she was returning home and groped her. Then they tried to pull her uniform and when the victim raised an alarm, they fled from the locality.

The police are examining any CCTV footage available in the locality, but have not been able to secure any leads. The police patrolling in the locality have been increased.

--- ENDS ---
Uttar Pradesh's Bundelkhand region is blighted with drought, rare and unseasonable rains that has destroyed standing winter crops.

By India Today Web Desk: Uttar Pradesh's Bundelkhand region, home to 18.3 million people as per the 2011 census, is blighted with drought, rare and unseasonable rains that has destroyed standing winter crops.

In the past few years, several farmers have committed suicide due to poor crop production. A farmer death is reported every third day from the 13 districts that comprise the region. Government agencies report that around 40-60 people have killed themselves in the past year, but the reality on ground is worse.

The promised compensation by the Uttar Pradesh government hasn't trickled down to those who need them the most. With no money for seeds and no water for irrigation, farmers have gone desperate.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi will be visiting the drought-hit region on January 23 where he will hold a 'padyatra' to raise farmers' issues and meet the affected families.

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"Visiting Bundelkhand now on Sat, 23rd Jan. Will undertake a Kisan Padyatra in Mahoba District & meet drought affected farmers & their families", the Congress vice president said in a tweet.

Over a month back, he had visited western Uttar Pradesh to interact with sugarcane growers, hit hard due to failure of sugar mills to give their dues.

Rajdeep Sardesai on his show News Today raised a few vital questions surrounding the issue of farmer suicides.

Who will rescue Bundelkhand's farmers? What steps has the Uttar Pradesh government taken to tackle the crisis?

The panelists on Rajdeep Sardesai's show included former Union Agriculture Minister Sompal Shastri, Samajwadi Party spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia, senior journalist Sharad Pradhan and Swaraj Sansthan senior functionary Avik Saha.

Defending the Samajwadi Party-led Uttar Pradesh government, Gaurav Bhatia said, "Last year due to inclement weather, the farmers suffered, it was the Uttar Pradesh government which distributed a package of Rs 1400 crores among farmers. In all we distributed Rs 5000 crores among farmers when crops were destroyed."

"No other state has done that. We also have a life insurance policy of Rs 5 lakh for farmers," he added.

Former Union Agriculture Minister Sompal Shastri said that the government must provide immediate help to the farmers and also make sure that the starving cattle is looked after.

"We should not compete in negatives, rather, we should compete in positives, i.e. tacking the problem," Shastri said.

Poor implementation of various projects planned to tackle drought, in addition to rampant red-tape and corruption, has added to the farmers' misery.

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A women organisation demanding equal rights for women at sacred platforms was today refused permission to go ahead with its demonstration at the popular Shani Shingnapur temple in Ahmednagar district on January 26.

By India Today Web Desk: A women organisation demanding equal rights for women at sacred platforms was today refused permission to go ahead with its demonstration at the popular Shani Shingnapur temple in Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra on January 26.

Members of Ranragini Bhumata Brigade had decided to book a helicopter from which its chief Trupti Desai was planning to alight by a rope and take darshan just to break an ancient "custom" that bars women from climbing up to the holy chauthara (sacred platform).



Joint Charity Commissioner of Pune region Shivkumar Dige in his order said that doing so could possibly cause damage to property at the chauthara. The temple trustees should hold a meeting with Brigade members and hear what the latter have to say, the order said.

Fearing restrictions on the protests, the group had planned to seek permission for the flight from the district collector and alight (in the temple premises) by a rope from the helicopter.

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"Women want equality. Hence we want to protest on January 26," Desai said, as the agitation over certain restrictions on women at popular shrines such as Haji Ali in Mumbai and Sabrimala temple in Kerala reached Shani Shingnapur, about 300 km from Mumbai.

"The temple trust and most villagers have strongly opposed the plan, fearing the move might "anger" the Shani Dev. To foil the attempt, villagers have announced that they would form a human chain around the temple to "protect" the God from "being impure"," Desai added.



Desai further said, "One woman mistakenly went to the chauthara (platform) and took darshan. After this, the management washed the area as it had become impure and insulted motherhood. In December, four of us (women) tried to storm through the barricades, but were pushed back."

In November, a woman offered prayers at the popular shrine in breach of the age-old practice of prohibiting entry of women, prompting the temple committee to suspend seven security men and the villagers to perform purification rituals.




Last year wasn't just the Earth's hottest year on record - it left a century of high temperature marks in the dust.

By AP: Last year wasn't just the Earth's hottest year on record - it left a century of high temperature marks in the dust.

The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration and NASA announced Wednesday that 2015 was by far the hottest year in 136 years of record keeping. For the most part, scientists at the agencies and elsewhere blamed man-made global warming, with a boost from El Nino.

NOAA said 2015's temperature was 58.62 degrees Fahrenheit (14.79 degrees Celsius), passing 2014 by a record margin of 0.29 degrees. That's 1.62 degrees above the 20th-century average. NASA, which measures differently, said 2015 was 0.23 degrees warmer than the record set in 2014 and 1.6 degrees above 20th century average.

Because of the wide margin over 2014, NASA calculated that 2015 was a record with 94 percent certainty, more than double the certainty it had last year when announcing 2014 as a record. NOAA put the number at above 99 percent - or "virtually certain," said Tom Karl, director of NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information.

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For the first time Earth is 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than it was in pre-industrial times, NOAA and NASA said. That's a key milestone because world leaders have set a threshold of trying to avoid warming of 1.5 or degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times.

Because of the pace of rising temperatures, "we don't have very far to go to reach 1.5," Karl said.

But 1.5 or 2 degrees are not "magic numbers" and "we're already seeing the impacts of global warming," said NASA Goddard Institute of Space Studies director Gavin Schmidt.

"This trend will continue; it will continue because we understand why it's happening," Schmidt said. "It's happening because the dominant force is carbon dioxide" from burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas.

Although 2015 is now the hottest on record, it was the fourth time in 11 years that Earth broke annual marks for high temperature.

"It's getting to the point where breaking record is the norm," Texas Tech climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe said. "It's almost unusual when we're not breaking a record."

December 2015 was the 10th month last year that set a monthly warmth record, with only January and April not hitting high marks.

"That's the first time we've seen that," said NOAA's Karl.

In December, the globe was 2 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than normal, beating the old record set in 2014 by more than a half a degree, NOAA calculated.

Earth has broken monthly heat records 34 times since 2000. The last time a global cold month record was set was December 1916 and the coldest year on record was 1911, according to NOAA.

An added factor this year is the strong El Nino, a warming of parts of the Pacific Ocean that changes weather worldwide and adds to the globe's heat. Michael Mann of Pennsylvania State University said a strong El Nino can add about a third of a degree of warming to Earth's temperature but that "sits upon the ramp of global warming."

Karl and Schmidt both said 2015 would have been a record without El Nino. "But El Nino pushed it way over the top," Karl said.

And it's likely to happen this year, too. Schmidt, Karl and others said there's a better than even chance that this year will pass 2015 as the hottest year on record, thanks to El Nino.

"2015 will be difficult to beat, but you say that almost every year and you get surprised," said Victor Gensini, a meteorology professor at the College of DuPage outside of Chicago.

Measurements from Japan, the United Kingdom and the University of California at Berkeley also show 2015 is the warmest on record. Satellite measurements, which scientists say don't measure where we live and have a larger margin of error, calculate that last year was only the third hottest since 1979.

Non-scientists who reject mainstream climate science often criticize NOAA for adjustments to past temperature records to reconcile the measurement devices with modern techniques, but even without any adjustments NOAA data shows 2015 as the hottest year on record, Karl said.

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Obama calls Paris climate pact 'best chance' to save the planet
This is the paradox of the digital era, while one part of the world basks in the glory of fast moving technology, the other has people putting their lives at risk providing material for it. Are you still going to buy that new phone?

By KC Archana:

All of us enjoy the benefits of technology, but have you ever stopped to think how they are made?

A shocking new report published by the Amnesty International and African Resource Watch, a Congolese NGO, expose the harsh reality behind the fancy phones and gadgets we own.

The report titled "This is what we die for: Human rights abuses in the Democratic Republic of the Congo power the global trade in cobalt" states children as young as seven are working under dangerous conditions, mining coblat for a mere 2 dollar daily wage.

They say major international electronic companies like Apple, Microsoft, Samsung and Sony, who use cobalt for manufacturing lithium batteries, fail to carry out basic check to ensure child labour is not involved while mining.

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The Democratic Republic of Congo is known to be the world's largest cobalt producer and produces about 50% of the world's cobalt. The country is said to have mined a whopping 67,735 metric tonnes last year alone. This mineral is mainly used in the rechargeable lithium batteries that power many smart devices.

Companies claim to be unaware of child labour and harsh mining conditions:

Human rights activists, who compiled the current report, interviewed at least 87 people and 17 children who work at various mining sites.

The report states Congo Dongfang Mining (CDM), is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chinese mineral giant Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Ltd processes the ore into crude cobalt at a plant in Congo, and then sell it to companies including Apple, Microsoft, Samsung, Sony, Vodafone and others. Huayou Cobalt are the most important players in the supply chain. However, they were not ready to admit the issue of child labour when questioned by Amnesty.



The same goes for the rest of the big conglomerates who put the blame on the complexity involved in the supply chain.

When Amnesty got in touch with 16 multinational consumer brands listed as direct or indirect customers of Huayou Cobalt, none of them claimed responsibility for being in touch with this supplier company.

Apple told Amnesty International that it is "currently evaluating dozens of different materials, including cobalt, in order to identify labour and environmental risks as well as opportunities for Apple to bring about effective, scalable, and sustainable change."



"The glamorous shop displays and marketing of state of the art technologies are a stark contrast to the children carrying bags of rocks, and miners in narrow man-made tunnels risking permanent lung damage."



Perilous conditions under which the Congolese children mine:



In the past year there have been more than 80 deaths among child miners in this region. In a 2012 report, UNICEF estimates there have been 40,000 child miners in the region, all of them working in extremely precarious environment.

Congo which is among the poorest countries in the world has been fraught with decades of war and human rights violations. People living in the country have no other means of livelihood, but for artisanal mining.

Children are forced to withdraw from education and made to work as miners throughout the year.

In an interview to Amnesty, a 14-year-old orphan named Paul said he works so long underground that he had to relieve himself down in the tunnels. He said, "I would spend 24 hours down in the tunnels. I arrived in the morning and would leave the following morning,"

"Many of these multinationals say they have a zero tolerance policy towards child labour. But this promise is not worth the paper it is written when the companies are not investigating their suppliers."

The activists end the report by calling on the multinationals to be more vigilant about the supply chain and thoroughly investigate the source while procuring material for manufacture.


Raviraj, one of the four accused in the murder of Harish Poojary in Bantwal in the aftermath of the Tipu Sultan's birth anniversary celebrations, was absconding.

By Mail Today: A Bajrang Dal activist, who was hiding in Gujarat, has been arrested by the Karnataka police in connection with the murder of a youth during the November 2015 communal violence in Dakshina Kannada district.

According to the police, Raviraj, one of the four accused in the murder of Harish Poojary in Bantwal in the aftermath of the Tipu Sultan's birth anniversary celebrations, was absconding. They traced him to his friend's house in Ahmedabad and arrested him this week.

Raviraj, along with Bhuvith Shetty, Achyutha and Mithun Poojary (all arrested earlier), ended up stabbing Harish Poojary mistaking him for someone else. The foursome wanted to create communal tension by allegedly killing Minorities.


Investigative reporting from the inner city to Wall Street to the United Nations This is the blogspot version InnerCityPress.com
Time to reveal my first investment in a truly Japanese company (that is bought with Yen and only listed in Japan). What really triggered me to pull the gun...
Something other than politics in Washington, D.C.
Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.  Arthur Conan Doyle



Republic of dan dan A big part of this journey is discerning disinformation. A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing and its best not to invest too much in any one belief apart from believing in your own innate sense of right and wrong. This will protect your free will which is the only thing that is truly valuable,There are groups which seek to ensnare and control free will because it is the true currency. Goodness and decency are not the sole dominion of religion you are born "nice". As a species we evolved through co operation not "survival of the fittest" and we are not "born of sin" we are born to co-operate and be friendly as the best means of survival and advancement of the species. No external system of belief has value other than as a beacon to which free will gathers around. Popular culture and religion is the hunting ground of the elites because it is where people are most willing to hand over their free will and enter into contracts they have no knowledge of. The Illuminati are a very small part of the picture. You will find that we are all conditioned to ridicule certain ideas and these ideas are exactly the ones that should be taken seriously. Dan View my complete profile

"YOU ARE FREE TO BELIEVE WHAT YOU WANT BUT YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO KNOW FOR SURE."



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If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.  Joseph Goebbels

Facebook is the most appalling spying machine that has ever been invented. Here we have the worlds most comprehensive database about people, their relationships, their names, their addresses, their locations, their communications with each other, their relatives, all sitting within the United States, all accessible to U.S. intelligence. The Internet is the greatest spying machine the world has ever seen.  Julian Assange

The very word secrecy is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and secret proceedings For we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence  on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day. It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific, and political operations.  John F Kennedy



We are clearly massively missing the point. The vast majority who investigate this will not go any furtherbecause a.) Their belief systems wont let them and b.) They fear what other people will think about them. There is the level we see unfolding in the news, and then there is the other dimensional non-human level. The rabbit hole goes deeper and deeper. It is all about the control and programming of perception at one level we see the dark-suits sitting at the big round table making the decisions, then at the next we have the secret societies, and then we go beyond the frequency of visible light Satanism is a network that interacts with the beings that are controlling our vibrational state from a frequency above us. Icke says











"You're all beautiful, both inside and out. You mustn't worry about anything; nothing is important except finding love within yourself and being all honourable and glorious and beautiful. Take things dead slowly 'cause nothing you can attain externally has value, only that which is within yourself already is valuable."

Russell Brand



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I WRITE NEWS ABOUT AND PUT NEWS ARTICLES ABOUT ISRAEL AND JERUSALEM PERTAINING TO BIBLE PROPHESY HAPPENINGS.JOEL 3:20 But Judah (ISRAEL) shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.(THATS ISRAEL-JERUSALEM WILL NEVER BE DESTROYED AGAIN)-WE CHRISTIANS ARE ALL WAITING PATIENTLY FOR THE PRE-TRIBULATION RAPTURE TO OCCUR.SO WE CAN GO TO JESUS AND GET OUR NEVER DYING BODIES.SO WE CAN RULE OVER CITIES OURSELVES.WHILE JESUS RULES FROM DAVIDS THRONE FOREVER IN JERUSALEM.
[January 20, 2016] American Megatrends Collaborates with DAQRI on the Next Generation of DAQRI SMART HELMET Augmented Reality HMI

NORCROSS, Ga., Jan. 20, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- American Megatrends Inc. (AMI), a global leader in BIOS and UEFI firmware, server and remote management tools, data storage products and unique solutions based on the Linux and Android operating systems, is proud to announce its collaboration with augmented reality innovator DAQRI in the next generation DAQRI SMART HELMET. DAQRI, a company known for its innovative work in augmented reality, recently announced the next generation of its flagship product, DAQRI SMART HELMET. Powered by a 6th generation Intel CORE m7 processor and Intel RealSense camera technology, DAQRI SMART HELMET is a wearable human-machine interface (HMI) giving workers in industrial sectors a whole new way of seeing data while on the job. The Smart Helmet is designed to work in enterprise settings and displays real-time information based on the user's surroundings, increasing safety and worker productivity. It comes equipped with many features to enhance user awareness including: 4D/augmented reality, thermal vision, and industry leading Intellitrack computer vision technology. With increasing interest in augmented reality technology, AMI has collaborated with DAQRI in the development of the next generation DAQRI SMART HELMET. As the leading provider of BIOS, AMI focuses on developing the system BIOS for the Smart Helmet and customizing specifications of the product to meet the expectations of developers and end users. Through this collaboration, AMI has been able to test augmented reality technology and hopes to continue working on developments/future releases for the industry. "As a long-time leader in the computing industry, AMI has always kept its eye firmly on the future, proudly playing its part in bringing innovative computing products to market that enhance our quality of life, whether they are in scientific, medical, industrial, enterprise, automotive or consumer applications," commented Subramonian Shankar, President and CEO of American Megatrends. "The Helmet recently introduced from DAQRI s a prime example of just such a revolutionary product  one with the potential to contribute greatly to the increased well-being of workers in industrial settings. And so AMI is extremely pleased to have collaborated with DAQRI in its development and is excited to see how innovative companies take advantage of augmented reality to move their operations to the next level," he added.



"DAQRI SMART HELMET is an entirely new type of human machine interface that is redefining the future of work by empowering workers with the latest in augmented reality and Internet of Things technologies," said Brian Mullins, Founder and CEO of DAQRI. "Reimaging what computing looks like in an completely new form factor was made possible by key technology from AMI and our close partnership during development," he continued. To learn more about the latest DAQRI SMART HELMET from DAQRI, please visit http://daqri.com.

To learn more about Aptio V UEFI Firmware from American Megatrends, please visit http://ami.com/products/bios-uefi-firmware/aptio-v/. Intel, Intel Core and Intel RealSense are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. DAQRI and DAQRI SMART HELMET are trademarks of DAQRI LLC in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are property of their respective owners. About DAQRI:

DAQRI LLC is the world's leading enterprise augmented reality company powering the future of work through innovative hardware and software products. Its flagship product, DAQRI SMART HELMET, is improving efficiency and safety for workers on the job and providing unparalleled cost savings for Fortune 500 companies in industrial and manufacturing settings. DAQRI is headquartered in Los Angeles with an R&D facility in Sunnyvale, CA and a development center in Dublin, Ireland. About AMI:

Founded in 1985 and known worldwide for AMIBIOS, American Megatrends Inc. (AMI) supplies state-of-the-art hardware, software, and utilities to top-tier manufacturers of desktop, server, mobile and embedded systems. AMI's industry leading Aptio V UEFI BIOS firmware, innovative StorTrends Network Storage hardware and software products, MegaRAC remote server management tools and solutions based on the popular Android and Linux operating systems continue to garner industry acclaim and awards around the world. In line with the diversity of its technology and product line, AMI is a member of a number of industry associations and standards groups, such as the Unified EFI Forum (UEFI), the Intel Internet of Things Solutions Alliance and the Trusted Computing Group (TCG). Headquartered in Norcross, Georgia, AMI has locations in the U.S., China, Germany, India, Japan, Korea and Taiwan to better serve its customers. For more information on AMI, its products or services, call 1-800-U-BUY-AMI or visit www.ami.com. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/american-megatrends-collaborates-with-daqri-on-the-next-generation-of-daqri-smart-helmet-augmented-reality-hmi-300207187.html SOURCE American Megatrends Inc.

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[January 20, 2016] Unisys Announces Date of Fourth-Quarter and Full-Year 2015 Financial Results and Conference Call

BLUE BELL, Pa., Jan. 20, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Unisys Corporation (NYSE: UIS) said today that it will release its fourth-quarter and full-year 2015 financial results on Thursday, January 28, 2016 after the close of trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Following the release, Unisys will host a conference call with the financial community from 5:30 - 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time to discuss the results. The company will offer a live, listen-only Webcast of the conference call on the Unisys Investor Web site at www.unisys.com/investor. A replay of the Webcast will be available on the Unisys Investor Web site shortly following the conference call. About Unisys

Unisys is a global information technology company that works with many of he world's largest companies and government organizations to solve their most pressing IT and business challenges. Unisys specializes in providing integrated, leading-edge solutions to clients in the government, financial services and commercial markets. With more than 20,000 employees serving clients around the world, Unisys offerings include cloud and infrastructure services, application services, security solutions, and high-end server technology. For more information, visit www.unisys.com.



Follow Unisys on Twitter and LinkedIn. RELEASE NO.: 0120/9383

Unisys and other Unisys products and services mentioned herein, as well as their respective logos, are trademarks or registered trademarks of Unisys Corporation. Any other brand or product referenced herein is acknowledged to be a trademark or registered trademark of its respective holder. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/unisys-announces-date-of-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-2015-financial-results-and-conference-call-300207318.html SOURCE Unisys Corporation

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[January 20, 2016] Cobalt Holdings Selects Accuris Networks as Partner to Bring High-Performance Wi-Fi Roaming, Offload Services to Caribbean

Cobalt Networks, a provider of Wi-Fi wireless broadband services in the Caribbean, is deploying the Accuris Networks (News - Alert) Wi-Fi Server platform to enable Cobalt's Wi-Fi networks to provide in-bound roaming for its mobile customers. With the platform, Cobalt is able to offer seamless, carrier-grade Wi-Fi network capacity for data roaming and domestic data offload services. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160120006407/en/ A woman using Wi-Fi service in the Caribbean (Photo: Business Wire) Accuris Networks is a leader in enabling Wi-Fi roaming and hub services for Wi-Fi network providers and mobile network operators. With the Accuris Wi-Fi Server platform, service providers can quickly interconnect with other Wi-Fi providers and mobile operators to enable low-cost access to data services while subscribers are traveling as well as domestic data offload. "Cobalt chose the Accuris Wi-Fi Server platform because it is already in use by leading Wi-Fi roaming providers like AT&T (News - Alert), China Mobile International and Emirates Data Clearing House to support mobile data roaming services," said Paul A. Moore, Chairman & CEO of Cobalt (News - Alert) Holdings. "The platform gives us access to data roaming services today, including value-added services such as Wi-Fi calling, secure Wi-Fi roaming and domestic offload capabilities. In addition to the services provided by the Accuris Wi-Fi Server platform, by connecting to the Accuris hub srvice, Cobalt can now support and offload any mobile operator or Wi-Fi provider also connected to the hub."



With the Accuris Networks platform, Cobalt Networks can offer people a quality mobile data experience with capabilities such as: Smartphones connect automatically with SIM-based authentication.

Tablets and laptops connect through a branded captive portal system.

Multiple service plans include time-based pricing (day, week pass), usage based pricing (gigabytes), as well as complimentary affinity-based programs.

Support is provided for Wi-Fi calling and texting services from home mobile providers.

The platform seamlessly leverages Wi-Fi for local network offload services. Cobalt is aggressively deploying Caribbean island countries with carrier-grade Wi-Fi to take advantage of people traveling to the region to avoid high roaming charges. With a planned fiber-based backbone and the latest Wi-Fi access, Cobalt is a provider of wireless broadband networks in marquee resorts, hotels and venues across the Caribbean.

"Global mobile data roaming is projected to exceed $50 billion in 2019, and Cobalt is meeting this opportunity with high-capacity, high-performance access networks that delivers a quality mobile Internet experience to people living in and visiting the Caribbean," said Rick Applegate, chief revenue officer for Accuris Networks. About Cobalt Holdings Cobalt Holdings, Inc. is a privately held wireless broadband development Company, with headquarters in Lake Bluff, Illinois. The Company is launching the first exclusive software-defined 4G /LTE (News - Alert) and Wi-Fi wireless broadband networks in targeted markets in the Caribbean Region, including Cuba. The Company is acquiring strategic wireless spectrum, operating licenses and fiber-optic connectivity as part of a continued business development initiative to provide seamless wireless broadband coverage to enterprises, tourists, cruise ship passengers and crews, and local businesses, including major destination resorts throughout the Caribbean. The Company's longer-term strategy for the region includes owning and operating key undersea fiber-optic networks, including the goal of deploying a fiber-optic cable between the U.S. and Cuba, as well as between the U.S. and other islands/destinations. For more information, go to: www.cobaltholdings.net. About Accuris Networks Accuris Networks helps service providers monetize the connectivity between networks. Accuris solutions enable subscribers to move seamlessly and securely between LTE, GSM, Wi-Fi, IPX and fixed networks while ensuring a superior quality of experience. Accuris Networks is a trusted supplier to blue-chip operators around the world including AT&T, Bell Canada (News - Alert), China Mobile, EDCH, Mobily, Telefonica and more. Visit us at www.accuris-networks.com or tweet @AccurisNetworks. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160120006407/en/

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Within a corporation there are many facets to interdepartmental communication. The most interesting dynamic is the relationship between the finance and security departments. Security departments dont typically generate income, and as a result is looked upon differently when compared to other departments. It's difficult to place a specific dollar value on what the security department is worth, when in reality the security department protects the entire company and the money invested in this department allows them to have the resources to achieve this goal. In fact, some might say that security is not meant to generate income at all, it's meant to reduce losses. Security is not simply an expense, there are ways that it can generate income, such as contracting their services to external clients.

Finance Benefits From Security

In its most generic form, the benefit that finance receives from security is protection. When speaking in terms of network attacks, finance represents a significant target because most adversaries that attack a company are ultimately looking for a monetary gain. They are all indirectly attacking the finance department in some way, shape or form. In addition, finance has a strong influence on the business security culture. Security compliance is a duty of all employees and they should exercise some level of caution in their daily activities. The fact of the matter is that annual reviews and the employee's standing in a company are heavily based on their compliance with corporate guidelines.

Security Benefits From Finance

Every department is given a budget for each fiscal year; however, that budget is not like a line of credit. The use of the budget and requests that go outside of the typical requests need to have approval from the finance department. These requests can be large in nature and the CFO (or approving body) has an entire company to consider when allocating funds to one group rather than another. In cases with groups such as security, the finance department must look at it with an intangible asset point of view and consider their other benefits to the company as a whole when reviewing purchase requests and other financial needs.

Both of these entities need each other and it is important not just to them but to the C-Level management staff, to consider what their roles really are. Security is an investment in the safety of the company overall and finance is meant to review and fund each group based on needs and other measurable metrics. The key to remember is that security can't and shouldn't be measured like other groups and its benefits are measured differently than other groups.

Edited by Kyle Piscioniere
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Mundo judio. Putin a la comunidad judia europea: \Vengan a Rusia para escapar del antisemitismo\
A Belgian Jewish newspaper filed an official complaint last week with the countrys watchdog on journalism about a daily that published a Holocaust deniers claim that no one died in Nazi gas chambers.

The Antwerp-based Joods Actueel monthly filed the complaint against the De Morgen daily, the monthlys editor-in-chief, Michael Freilich, told JTA Monday.

Siegfried VerbekeIn its complaint against De Morgen, Joods Actueel cited legislation from 1995 that forbids claiming the Holocaust did not happen  a law which Freilich claims was broken both by De Morgen and by the newpapers interviewee, Siegfried Verbeke.

In an interview published earlier this month, Verbeke, a far-right symathizer with multiple convictions for inciting racial hate against Jews and denying the genocide, said: Of course gas chambers existed, hundreds of them. To disinfect the clothes of people who went through them. But gas chambers designed to kill people never existed, no.

The Belgian states authority for combatting discrimination, ICGK, said it was looking into legal action against Verbeke over this statement and Antwerp Mayor Bart De Wever expressed support for his prosecution. But De Morgen is for all intents and purposes an accomplice in this offense, and should answer for its actions, Freilich said.

He and the management at Joods Actueel complained to the Belgian Council for Journalism over what they described as a violation of ethics regardless of whether De Morgen is charged with breaking the law.

Even in the United States, where freedom of expression is greater than in Europe, a major paper, like, say, The Washington Post, would not consider interviewing David Duke, Freilich said of that American Holocaust denier.
proxima

Netanyahu envio sus condolencias por el fallecimiento del ilustre sobreviviente del Holocausto Lord George Weidenfeld
The mission of the James River Association is to be guardian of the James River. We provide a voice for the river and take action to promote conservation and responsible stewardship of its natural resources. We achieve these goals through our core programs: Watershed Restoration; Education, Outreach; River Advocacy; and our Riverkeeper program.



Learn more at: www.JamesRiverAssociation.org
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SPRINGFIELD -- From the state budget impasses impact on colleges and universities to a push to reform school funding statewide to a Republican-proposed takeover of Chicago Public Schools, education has taken center stage this week at the Capitol.

With the stalemate between Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Democratic-controlled General Assembly nearing the end of its seventh month, a group of students, business and labor leaders, and organizations representing institutions of higher learning came to Springfield on Wednesday to urge the two sides to come to an agreement on higher education funding.

Public universities and community colleges havent received any state funding since July 1, and the state also hasnt given schools money to pay for grants to help 125,000 low-income students cover the cost of tuition.

The group, calling itself the Illinois Coalition to Invest in Higher Education, said the states colleges and students shouldnt be held hostage in the standoff.

Mitch Dickey, student body president at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said the situation is a catastrophe.

The entire state of Illinois is dependent upon our investment in higher education, and the long-term sustainability of Illinois depends on the investment now, Dickey said at a Statehouse news conference.

Pedro Cevallos, a U of I graduate and founder of the Chicago-based engineering firm Primera, said that in todays global economy, businesses like his rely on the states universities to produce a well-trained workforce.

The only thing that can keep us competitive in that environment is a talent pool of people that have the knowledge, experience and qualifications to compete on a global level, Cevallos said.

The uncertainty created by the lack of a higher education budget is bad for students and for business, he said.

An agreement on funding doesnt appear close at hand, however.

The Rauner administration distributed a memo to legislators Wednesday repeating its position that they must address rampant financial mismanagement inside the university system that hurts academic performance and sends tuition costs skyrocketing.

Rather than creating a cash flow crisis by appropriating hundreds of millions of dollars  without accompanying spending reductions or cost-saving reforms, lets find a sensible and responsible way to fund (the Monetary Award Program) and higher education by tying such funding to other spending reductions or cost-saving reforms, deputy chief of staff Richard Goldberg wrote.

Also on Wednesday, Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, and Rep. Sue Scherer, D-Decatur, held a news conference with members of the Springfield-based Faith Coalition for the Common Good and the community organizing group Gamaliel of Illinois to call on Rauner and the Legislature to approve a bill they said would make Illinois funding for elementary and secondary education more equitable.

David Lett, superintendent of the Pana school district, said smaller, poorer districts like his have been pummeled and discriminated against by the current formula and by reductions in state aid in recent years.

A study last year from The Education Trust found that Illinois has the widest funding gap between high-poverty and low-poverty districts.

Manar said his bill, introduced last year, would close the gap between districts like Pana and wealthier ones in the Chicago suburbs and elsewhere.

Were not going to turn Illinois around until this is resolved, he said.

Rauner, who has spoken of the need to reform how education funds are distributed, has not taken a position on Manars bill.

Earlier in the day in Chicago, Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno of Lemont and House Republican Leader Jim Durkin of Western Springs announced a plan that would allow Chicago Public Schools to declare bankruptcy. It would also clear the way for the state school superintendent to appoint a new body to replace the existing Chicago school board.

The plan, which would require legislative approval, comes as the city is seeking help from the state to close a $480 million budget hole. It was met with widespread opposition from Democrats.
CHARLESTON -- Hearing mostly from people who didn't want reductions in the Charleston school district's programs, the school board Wednesday was also told the district can't "afford everything we want."

Continuing the board's effort to get the public's input on how the district should handle pending financial shortfalls, a large crowd filled the Charleston High School auditorium to address some of the possible ways the district could cut the budget.

Parent Betsy Mellot noted that most of Wednesday's speakers supported specific programs while no one said they'd support paying more to keep them. She said she'd "stand in line" to pay more in taxes if it means keeping programs in place.

"The only thing we should be talking about is increased funding," Mellot said.

But Jeff Coon, a former board member, said voters twice sent a message a few years ago when they defeated a sales tax proposal that would help fund local schools.

He said Charleston "can't stand a tax increase" and that won't change unless the board shows the willingness to make more reductions first.

"I'm not voting for a tax increase," Coon said. "We cannot afford everything we want."

While Mellot's and others' comments caused several audience members to applaud, Coon's drew only a few claps along with a smattering of boos. That led board member Kevin Oakley to ask the crowd to refrain from such responses.

"That's exactly why we're here," Oakley said. "We want to hear from everybody."

Most of the speakers addressed specific programs, as at last month's meeting Superintendent Jim Littleford presented a list of budget reductions the board could consider if that's the route it takes.

Retired Charleston Middle School teacher Tim McCollum spoke against reverting the school back to the junior high school method.

The middle school approach allows for more teacher planning and collaboration and helps with student behavior, he said. He added that the change would impact Eastern Illinois University education students who work at the school while majoring in middle school education.

Ashmore Village President Kurt Crail urged the board to keep Ashmore Elementary School open. He said the school fits in with the village's mentoring program and other efforts to help the town's youth.

"The No. 1 priority should be education," Crail said. "That priority's being met in Ashmore."

Also during the meeting, Littleford presented what he called "soft" estimates on savings that would result from some possible reductions. They included $425,500 for closing the Ashmore school and about $278,000 for eliminating extracurricular programs.

A decision on a tax referendum for the November election would have to be made by August, Littleford also said. He used the example of a 10-cent increase in the district's tax rate, saying it would bring in about $310,000 in revenue each year.

However, Littleford added, "the rate doesn't stay on forever." Because of a recent change, the increase would be in place for no more than four years, he said.

The board's February meeting is also set to take place in the CHS auditorium for a chance for more public input. Littleford said he might have some recommendations for board action by then.
CHARLESTON -- A judge considered evidence that a Mattoon man sexually assaulted a boy multiple times in deciding to sentence him to prison for 20 years.

James D. Craig received the sentence for the charge of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child to which he pleaded guilty in November.

Craig, 47, whose address on record at the time of his arrest was 3204 Marion Ave., admitted to one sexual assault. Charges alleging eight other sex acts with the boy were dismissed as part of the agreement that led to his guilty plea.

However, at sentencing, evidence Coles County Circuit Judge Teresa Righter considered included a recording of the boy's statement to police. The boy, now 9 years old, described each of the sex acts with which Craig was originally charged.

A conviction for predatory criminal sexual assault of a child requires a prison sentence with the term ranging from six to 60 years.

At sentencing, Assistant State's Attorney Tom Bucher asked Righter to order a 42-year prison sentence, while defense attorney Sean Britton recommended an eight-year prison term.

Righter agreed to recommend Craig for a prison system sex offense counseling program but it will be up to prison officials whether to admit him into the program.

Craig will have to serve at least 85 percent of his sentence, 17 years, before his time served and other factors can be considered for an application for parole. After his release, he'll have to register with police as a convicted sex offender for the rest of his life.

The boy told Mattoon police about the sexual assaults in July, leading to Craig's arrest, according to records in the case. The boy said Craig was a family friend and the sex acts took place during during April and May on occasions when he stayed with Craig, the records say.

Also according to the case records, Craig denied the sex acts when first interviewed by police but told investigating officers he "needed help."
NEOGA -- The school board scheduled an informational meeting Wednesday to discuss the upcoming property tax referendum, but much of the community comments at this gathering focused on a student discipline issue.

Several community members asked the board to reconsider the recent expulsion of Neoga High School senior Logan D. Baker, and approximately 20 students and others held signs during the meeting that stated, "We support Logan."

Comments from supporters indicated that Baker, 18, was the student who inadvertently left an unloaded hunting firearm in his vehicle while it was parked on the school campus on Dec. 16. The school district reported at the time that the firearm was found while police officers were conducting a safety program search of the campus.

Kyndall Andrews, who is the senior class president, said she and her classmates would like to see Baker's expulsion reversed, adding that everyone makes mistakes. She said the district's stated mission is to help students be successful in life and the expulsion will not help Baker achieve this goal.

"We support Logan Baker and we will always support Logan Baker," Andrews said.

Neoga junior Emily Wasmuth pointed out the many seniors who held signs at the meeting. She said that they have grown up going to school with Baker and will now not get to complete all the traditional moments of a senior year with him.

School board members noted Wednesday night at the beginning of the question-and-answer session about the school funding referendum that they would not be able to answer questions about student discipline cases, a topic that is generally restricted by student privacy regulations.

The board motion to expel the student regarding the Dec. 16 firearm issue reported that arrangements have been made for the student to complete a half credit at Pathways Alternative School to complete the graduation requirements from the Neoga school district. The board cited public safety statutes on having firearms in prohibited areas in its expulsion action.

Cumberland County court records show that a misdemeanor charge of possessing a firearm without the required state firearm owner's identification card was filed against Baker on Dec. 28.

Edgar County Watchdogs co-founder Kirk Allen said he believes that the school board violated the Illinois Open Meetings Act by not giving enough public notice about Wednesday's meeting and not posting an agenda for the meeting outside the venue in the high school gym.

Allen said this Open Meetings Act violation would be a misdemeanor, but he believes the violation was a mistake on the board's part like having a firearm in his vehicle was a mistake on Baker's part.

Audience member Dean Shaw, who said he is a former police officer, said he sympathizes with Baker, but asked what would happen if someone had brought a firearm to campus in a similar manner and it had resulted in an act of violence.

"He broke the law and he got caught and he has to pay," Shaw said.
Chief Justice Mike Heavican is scheduled to address the Legislature on the State of the Judiciary at 10 a.m. Thursday. Senators will also debate bills in the morning, beginning with a bill (LB176) that would change the competitive livestock markets. In the afternoon, bills will be heard in these committees: Government, Military and Veterans Affairs; Health and Human Services; Judiciary; Natural Resources and Revenue.

Plenty of calorie-packed sweets were available at the Capitol on Wednesday. Sen. Jim Scheer of Norfolk offered doughnuts to honor the birth of his twin grandchildren. The announcement (about the doughnuts, not the babies) was greeted with loud applause from one member of the Legislature. Sen. Mike Groene of North Platte later thanked Sen. Bill Kintner of Papillion for a compliment during debate, telling Kintner, "You can have my doughnuts for the next three weeks." Lincoln Sen. Kate Bolz also provided cookies to members of the Appropriations Committee.
Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers would open grand jury proceedings to the public with a bill (LB1055) introduced Wednesday.

"It's another layer of cover up," Chambers said. "I think grand juries are inclined to exonerate any cop that comes before them no matter what the evidence is."

And if the chief of police can sit on direct or concrete evidence, such as a video recording of a shooting, and never make it public, then the cover up is complete, he said.

The bill would also require that a prosecuting attorney be appointed in cases in which a person dies while being apprehended by or in the custody of law enforcement, so the agency involved would not be doing the investigation, Chambers said.

The prosecutor would select a team of three law enforcement officers trained to investigate homicides from outside the jurisdiction where the death occurred.

A prosecutor is needed, he said, because there is an inclination to do a cover up, he said, "and I believe that's what's been happening throughout the country."

Aid-in-dying drugs

Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers made good on his plans to propose enabling terminally ill Nebraskans to obtain life-ending drugs without breaking the law.

A bill (LB1056) Chambers introduced Wednesday would allow doctors to prescribe "aid-in-dying medication" to terminally ill adults who are expected to die within six months.

Gun background checks

The Nebraska State Patrol would have to notify local law enforcement whenever a prohibited person such as a convicted felon tries to buy a firearm and is denied due to a background check, under a bill (LB1090) sponsored by Lincoln Sen. Matt Hansen.

Agencies would have to document the number of such reports they receive each year and how the reports were handled.

Hansen said his bill is aimed at catching people who try to obtain guns illegally.

Electrical rates

The state Public Service Commission could review controversial hikes in electric power rates under a bill (LB1068) sponsored by Lincoln Sen. Ken Haar.

The measure, inspired by rate increases recently approved by the Omaha Public Power District, would require commission approval anytime rates are increased by more than 2 percent over any 12-month period, or if 2 percent of customers sign a petition. The commission could also challenge rates on its own.

In addition, the bill would create a customer advocate within the commission to address public power complaints.

Tipped minimum wage

Nebraska's minimum wage for tipped workers would increase for the first time in 25 years under a bill (LB1089) sponsored by Hansen.

The measure would raise the tipped minimum wage from $2.13 an hour to $3.60 in August, then $4.50 per hour in August 2017.

Lawmakers rejected a similar bill last year despite a public vote in 2014 that increased the minimum wage for standard hourly workers, which had been $7.25 an hour and is now $9.

Oil and Gas Commission

Companies looking to dispose of wastewater from oil and gas wells would need to carry liability insurance under a bill (LB1070) proposed by Sen. Ken Haar of Malcolm. The measure would also prohibit injection wells where the groundwater aquifer is close to the surface or extends further than 100 feet.

Another bill (LB1082), sponsored by Sen. Ken Schilz of Ogallala, would require more public notification of wastewater disposal projects and additional monitoring of those wells by the Nebraska Oil and Gas Commission.

Addressing sexual assault

Lincoln Sen. Adam Morfeld introduced two bills that would address sexual assault prevention on college campuses and a fund to pay for sexual assault evidence exams.

One bill (LB1027) would create the Campus Sexual Assault Prevention Grant Program for awareness of college sexual assault. It would be administered by the Nebraska Attorney General's office and the Legislature would appropriate $500,000 for each two-year budget to fund the grants.

Another bill (LB1097) would create a fund to collect federal money and for an administrator for that fund to pay expenses for medical exams for rape victims. The fund would cover costs for physical trauma exams, patient interviews, collection and evaluation of evidence, emergency room and laboratory fees. Victims would also get emotional and mental health care.

Medical personnel would also be trained in practices for collecting evidence for prosecutions.
Witnesses to crimes make mistakes.

Case experience and scientific research on vision and memory has shown it.

No more perfect illustration is the case of Kirk Bloodsworth, an honorably discharged former Marine. In Lincoln last month, he talked about serving eight years in prison, two on Marylands death row, for the 1984 murder and sex assault of a 9-year-old girl.

He was exonerated through DNA testing in 1993.

Bloodsworth became a suspect when a tipster called police to say he resembled a published composite picture. Multiple eyewitnesses identified him in a photo lineup, five testifying at trial they saw Bloodsworth with the victim.

Bloodsworths photo looked more like the composite than the man who actually committed the crime.

Lincoln Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks has introduced a bill (LB846) in the Legislature that would require law enforcement agencies in Nebraska to adopt policies on suspect identification by witnesses. The bill will be heard by the Judiciary Committee Thursday, and Bloodsworth will tell his story to senators.

His December visit was sponsored by Nebraskans for Public Safety, a group that supports the Legislature's recent repeal of the death penalty.

A single witness identification can be enough to get a conviction, and jurors might not realize that confident, trustworthy witnesses can be mistaken, according to a 2015 Innocence Project report.

Studies and research have shown a persons senses, vision and memory can be faulty when it comes to identifying crime suspects. Their original memories of the real perpetrator can become influenced and permanently altered and must be handled as carefully as the crime scene itself.

In wrongful convictions overturned by DNA testing, witnesses have testified that they were 100 percent positive of the identification, that they would never forget that face, despite having identified the wrong person.

Pansing Brooks' bill would require that by 2017, all law enforcement agencies in the state must develop written policies on eyewitness identification, following practices recommended by the National Research Council, International Association of Chiefs of Police and the American Bar Association.

Minimum standards include having an officer administer the procedure who is unfamiliar with the potential suspect or who cant see the photos used for identification, instructing witnesses that the suspect may or may not be depicted in the lineup, requiring the use of nonsuspect fillers who do not make the suspect noticeably stand out and who generally match the witness description of the suspect, and documenting the witness level of certainty in the identification.

Studies have shown the confidence of witnesses increases with even subtle positive feedback -- such as a nod or saying, OK, good -- from lineup administrators, even if witnesses later deny the feedback had any effect on their level of certainty.

The goal is not to micromanage various departments from the Legislature, Pansing Brooks said. But we do have to have basic standards because when something doesnt go right, they look to the state and we have to deal with the repercussions.

Lincoln police have had a longstanding policy on suspect identification that covers photographic and physical lineups and field identification, Public Safety Director Tom Casady said.

If an agency can demonstrate at a trial that its identification practices are nationally recommended, then judges and juries know how credible the identification is, Casady said.

Most lineups -- the department does several a week -- are done photographically because of the difficulty in finding fillers for physical lineups, he said.

Lincoln police use software that generates potential filler mugshots to evaluate. A minimum of six of people with similar characteristics are selected, and witnesses are shown one photo at a time, preferably by someone unfamiliar with the case. If its not possible to get someone unfamiliar with the case, Casady said, the lineup is done without the administrator seeing the photos.

Witnesses are advised that the suspects may or may not be in the photos. And witnesses who identify suspects must state how sure they are.

Its far more common that a witness has seen a suspect previous to the crime. But even if a suspect is unfamiliar to the witness, Casady said, an identification gives police a suspect on whom they can collect other information and potentially build a case.

Innocence Project spokesman Nick Moroni said Lincoln police should be lauded for their policies on eyewitness identification.

But surveys have shown about 40 percent of law enforcement agencies in the state dont have policies that comply with scientific research and best police practices. That means education and resources are needed, Moroni said.

The best way to do that is to make it a requirement, he said.
A Nebraska lawmaker is accusing a colleague of bottling up a campaign finance reform measure so it can't be debated by the Legislature this year.

The bill (LB166) sponsored by Bellevue Sen. Sue Crawford would crack down on candidates' use of election money, and includes a key provision that would require campaigns to disclose their year-end bank account balances.

Crawford introduced the measure last year, but it failed to emerge from the Legislature's Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee.

That bill could still be advanced this year, but Wednesday, Government Committee Chairman John Murante of Gretna introduced his own campaign finance bill (LB1057) that leaves out the account balance requirement.

Supporters have argued that requiring the bank balance disclosure would help state regulators catch discrepancies with campaign funds earlier.

On Thursday, Crawford issued a statement accusing Murante of trying to avoid a public vote and discussion on the issue.

"I appreciate her passion," Murante said in response.

Committee members have raised technical concerns about the requirement, and they don't want to overburden campaigns or tread on their privacy when by and large those campaigns are following the law, Murante said. Amendments he and Crawford have worked on failed to gain support from others on the committee.

Murante said he is not avoiding a vote and is committed to passing campaign finance reform this year, but doesn't want that discussion bogged down by the bank balance issue.

Crawford argues Murante is playing games to take control of the discussion and ensure the bank balance requirement can't be approved, despite support for the measure from a majority of the Legislature. Thirty of the 49 state senators have co-signed Crawford's bill.

Murante's new measure requires a separate public hearing  which he would schedule  before it can be debated. Because Crawford's bill was introduced last year and already has received a public hearing, hers could theoretically be advanced to the floor and debated sooner.

That timing is critical during a short legislative session when only a fraction of proposed bills get debated.

And by sponsoring a measure himself, Murante has control of that bill and could withdraw it if fellow lawmakers add amendments he disagrees with, such as the bank balance requirement. He would not have that power with Crawford's bill.

"It's not too late for him to do the right thing," Crawford said.

The Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission, which regulates campaign spending, unanimously supported Crawford's bill last year, said Executive Director Frank Daley. The commission hasn't voted on Murante's bill and didn't know it existed until after it was introduced Wednesday, Daley said.

Commission auditors can already obtain bank balances as part of investigations.

Crawford's bill would help auditors uncover unlawful activity earlier, before it's too late to seek civil penalties, Daley said. The change also would help the commission reconcile campaign statements with actual bank balances on an ongoing basis rather than cleaning them up years later once campaign accounts are closed.

The commission would work collaboratively with campaigns to make sure everything matches up, Daley said.

"Our goal here is not to play gotcha."
Scientists at the Nebraska State Patrol Crime Lab now have more than double the amount of room to work in, and they say it'll help victims get justice quicker.

The new lab at 3977 Air Park Road opened Oct. 26 and is 15,000 square feet bigger than its predecessor.

On Tuesday, Kent Weber, supervisor of the firearm and toolmark section of the physical sciences unit, stood in the gun storage room showing off the extra space.

"We have room to grow now," he said, motioning to shelves and walls filled with more than 1,000 guns used for comparisons and testing during shooting investigations. The gun collection is the unit's reference library and holds firearms from common handguns to foreign guns and a grenade.

Amy Weber and Sarah Zarnick, forensic scientists in the physical sciences unit, now have enough room to work without bumping into each other, or waiting for one to finish up before the other moves in.

The new laboratory also has technological upgrades including a remote firing apparatus to keep forensic scientists safe when testing possibly faulty guns, imaging software to help document fingerprints from electronics and antiques and robots that can process 96 samples of DNA at a time.

The lab has four units, each with multiple sections. The biology unit analyzes DNA and biological evidence; the chemistry unit tests drugs for potency, does toxicology reports for DUI cases and investigates arson; physical sciences houses the firearm and toolmark section as well as the fingerprint processing section; and the quality assurance manager oversees evidence intake.

Each section has its own offices and workrooms, with larger areas to process evidence than before. Each of the lab's 26 employees has an individual work space.

The lab provides services free to the entire state and has worked with 160 law enforcement agencies. Last year, lab personnel made 51 court appearances to testify in six counties, searched for 334 fingerprints and processed 3,435 samples of DNA from convicted felons.

Ground was broken on the roughly $9 million building built by the Lincoln Airport Authority in August 2014. The total cost for the building and work came to just more than $11 million. The State Patrol will reimburse the Airport Authority through a 20-year lease.

Col. Bradley Rice, superintendent of the patrol, said the federal government's freeze on civil forfeiture shares shouldn't affect payments in the short term.

"We have enough funds to last quite a while," he said.

During a news conference Thursday morning, Rice said the lab's staff is excited to be settled into their new home. Every aspect of the project -- from construction to moving equipment -- was a "big teamwork effort," which he called a hallmark of the crime lab.

The original crime lab opened in 1973. Since then, it has gone from handling roughly 400 cases a year to 4,000, Rice said.

By the end of this year, supervisors hope to have the turnaround time for drug testing cases down to four weeks. Toxicology results, most of which relate to DUI cases, are normally returned within four months and cases where DNA is used returned on average in five months, officials said.

Gov. Pete Ricketts said the new lab will help make Nebraska safer.

"Facilities like this mean that we will be able to do a better job at catching the bad guys and bringing them to justice, which means victims will get that outcome they're looking for and get those perpetrators brought to justice faster," he said.
The Lincoln Police Union is sending $13,500 to Mayor Chris Beutler's campaign fund to help cover debt incurred by a candidate it didn't support during the 2015 election.

Chris Milisits, the union's president, said members this month voted to approve the donation to Beutler, who won re-election over Lancaster County Treasurer Andy Stebbing in May.

During the campaign, the union endorsed Stebbing, a Republican and former law enforcement officer.

Milisits, an LPD investigator, told the Journal Star in February 2015 that the union liked Stebbing's campaign promise to hire more police officers. Beutler criticized Stebbing's proposal, which he said would be an ineffective use of city funds when crime and calls for service were down.

The union has never contributed to any of the three-term Democratic mayor's campaigns, filings show. In the run-up to the 2015 election, the police union donated $31,250 to support Stebbing.

On Wednesday, Milisits said the donation is a gesture of support to bolster a working relationship with the re-elected mayor.

"Since the election and Andy lost, we realized the mayor had a need himself and had a little debt," Milisits said. "Its a sign of civility. Theres nothing for it.

Asked specifically if any promises were made, Milisits said the donation is simply an example of the union's willingness to work with Beutler's administration.

Beutler had a campaign debt of around $30,000 after the election, according to campaign filings.

Representatives of the mayor's campaign made police union officials aware of that debt last summer, Milisits said. And campaign staff notified the mayor's office of the union's donation, said Rick Hoppe, Beutler's chief of staff.

Hoppe couldn't speak to the union's motivation to help the mayor's campaign pay its debt, he said.

The donation comes as Beutler prepares to hire a new police chief to replace Jim Peschong, who plans to retire at the end of February.

Public Safety Director Tom Casady approached the police union about recommending candidates for the job, Milisits said. So far the union hasn't made any recommendations.

The union's involvement in the hiring process for the next police chief isn't "related to a campaign donation in any way, shape or form," Hoppe said.

"They are not getting any greater or lesser input in this selection of the police chief due to anything regarding the campaign," Hoppe said. "We simply think its good process to have the employees involved in the selection of their leader."

Union members will be included on panels set up to interview finalists, as was the case in the search for the city's fire chief, Hoppe said.

In retirement, Peschong plans to travel while he's still in good health, he said. He and his wife decided in the winter of 2014-15 that the two would retire from their jobs by March of this year, he said last week.

He notified Beutler of his intentions in the spring of 2015 but waited to formalize his retirement plans until fall, because the mayor was also searching for a fire chief.

The fire chief position hasn't been filled.
The nickname "SoDo," which irritated some residents, is gone from the latest information about revitalizing the area around the Capitol and south of downtown.

Instead, a handout on the consultants latest preliminary plan uses the description XXXXXXX neighborhood on one side and South of Downtown on the other.

And the plan highlights goals and programs that help the people living in the area, rather than focusing on potential physical changes.

The consultants drew from the many meetings and discussion groups about the plan, said Jon Carlson, an aide to Mayor Chris Beutler, who works on neighborhood issues.

Amanda Huckins, who helped organize community meetings where residents took issue with the SoDo nickname and also suggested the plan focus on people rather than buildings, said she was glad to see the social goals made more prominent.

Huckins, a leader in the We are Vital group, said she believes the latest plan is a response to recent meetings where residents voiced concern that the heavy emphasis on redevelopment meant the goal was gentrification, where improvements drive up rents and force out lower-income residents.

Huckins said she hopes residents are also able to help prioritize the goals. Goals leading to healthier living situations should be a priority before goals that increase property values, she said. Phrased as a slogan it would be get healthier before getting richer, she said.

Huckins was one of six people who spoke about the neighborhood and the consulting firms preliminary work at a Wednesday luncheon sponsored by Lincoln Leadership.

The idea of revitalizing this area began with concern by office building property owners about vagrants sleeping in parking garages and back doors of office buildings in the area near the Capitol, said Tom Smith, of Smith Hayes Financial Services.

The idea has grown far beyond that single problem and limited geographic area to include more partners, including the Lincoln Community Foundation and the Nebraska Investment Finance Authority.

H3 Studio, a St. Louis urban design and community planning operation, is looking at a 25-year plan to improve a much larger area -- roughly A to M streets and Ninth to 17th streets.

The people involved from the very beginning have wanted to assure mixed income housing, said Smith. This is not about trying to run the renters out but trying to improve what they are renting, he said.

The consultants have said the area, with some historic homes, has good bones. But Huckins said a neighborhood is also living flesh.

About 5,500 people live in the neighborhood. About 40 percent have incomes below the poverty line and about 20 percent are unemployed.

There is tons of affordable housing in the area, but property conditions are a problem, Carlson said.

Many apartments cant meet requirements to qualify for the federal voucher program, called Section 8, that helps low-income individuals and families pay for apartments.

An outreach worker for the public schools said he has seen apartments where you can look through the floors into basements, and the kids have built a toy mountain around the hole so they dont fall in it.

The consultants are to return this spring with further revitalization plans.

Some early ideas have already been abandoned. One idea that drew lots of controversy -- closing 13th Street for several blocks south of the Capitol -- is likely off the table, said Scott Lawson, with the Lincoln Community Foundation.

But there are other ideas percolating, several speakers said. There is discussion about putting a new downtown library closer to this area and some discussion that this neighborhood might be among the first to get 1-gigabit Internet service, which would be an opportunity for startup technology businesses.
The governor should be ashamed.

It was a sad welcome in Nebraska for the President of the United States ("Obama urges less polarized politics during Omaha visit," Jan. 13). Most states would consider a visit from the President of the United States an honor.

Nebraska's Governor Pete Ricketts initially said he wasn't going to greet President Obama at Offutt Air Force Base or go to the Arena where the President was going to deliver his speech. Four hours later, he decided he would greet him at Offutt ("Ricketts will greet Obama after all," Jan. 13). He should be ashamed of himself. His excuse was he needed to work on his State of the State address which was the following day. I'm sure he could have fit it in his schedule. After all isn't that what good Governors do?

The biggest problem with politics and the two parties is how extremely divided they are, often to the tune of being very dysfunctional. Come on, Governor Ricketts, lets get back to the good old days when both parties would hash out the issues and come up with a compromise that both parties agreed on.

I was able to watch the speech on TV. Once again, President Obama delivered a great speech and the question and answer session was enlightening.

Jocelyn Baade, Lincoln
How often do we hear that Washington is dysfunctional, Congress is ineffectual, and polarization is the underlying reason? From my vantage point to elect another individual, such as Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio who will polarize, will perpetuate this sad state of our federal legislative process.

The one person whom I believe does not fall into this category is John Kasich. Governor Kasich of Ohio has 18 years of experience in Congress, serving on the budget committee, and was integral in achieving a balanced budget and eliminating the national deficit during Bill Clintons administration. He has taken Ohio out of the financial hole. He has a heart for the mentally ill, disadvantaged, and poor. He has worked effectively in Congress with representatives from across the aisle.

In summary, John Kasich has congressional experience, executive experience and is not a polarizing candidate. If you are tired of nothing getting done in Washington, I urge you, Democrat or Republican, to look at the facts and highly consider a vote for John Kasich for president of the United States of America.

Jeff Creal, Lincoln
Sen. Deb Fischer dodged questions Thursday about the Republican presidential race as it approaches its first showdown moment at the Iowa caucuses on Feb. 1.

Fischer said she is not ready to endorse a candidate and may not make up her mind on who she prefers until she goes to vote in the Nebraska Republican primary election in May.

"I'm watching the race like everybody else," she said during a telephone conference call from Washington.

Fischer said she will support the Republican nominee in next November's presidential election no matter who he or she is.

"We cannot continue the next four years as we have done the last eight," the Republican senator said.

"We have great candidates," Fischer said. "We have a big tent."

Fischer deflected a question on whether she thought this week's endorsement of Donald Trump by 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin would assist Trump in the Iowa caucuses.

"In the long run, I believe a campaign is about the candidate," Fischer said. "You need to meet people and look them in the eye."

On another matter, Fischer said President Barack Obama's veto of legislation to repeal the Environmental Protection Agency's new clean water rule, designated as Waters of the United States, "threatens the economic security of countless Nebraska families."

"While the courts explore the legality of this rule, I will continue the fight to protect Nebraskans from this unnecessary, federal intervention," she said.

Earlier in the day, opponents of the rule were unable to gather enough votes in the Senate to invoke cloture and consider a motion to override the president's veto. That motion fell eight votes short of the 60-vote requirement.

"The president's disappointing veto sides with overreaching EPA bureaucrats instead of Nebraska's farmers and ranchers -- those who know and care most about agriculture and conservation policy," Fischer said.
CAIRO  Authorities say a Grand Island man was killed when his car collided with a sport utility vehicle on an icy highway in Hall County.

The accident occurred about 5:30 a.m. Thursday on Nebraska 2, around 4 miles southeast of Cairo. The Sheriff's Department says 35-year-old Jeremiah Roberts, of Ravenna, was headed east when he lost control of his SUV on the slippery roadway and struck an oncoming car.

The driver of the car, 43-year-old Leopoldo Martinez, was pronounced dead at the scene. His two passengers and Roberts were hospitalized.
The Arts for the Soul Music & Fine Arts Series next concert of the 2015-16 season brings the Irish-American band Solas to First Presbyterian Church, 840 S. 17th St., at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 21.

2016 marks the 20th anniversary of Solas. Formed in 1996, in a manner befitting their name (Gaelic for "light), Solas burst onto the Irish music scene and instantly became a beacon  an incandescent ensemble that found contemporary relevance in timeless traditions.

Eleven albums later, with numerous awards to their credit, and more miles traveled touring the world to count, Solas will mark the milestone with a new recording project and tour, ALL THESE YEARS.

Ticket prices are $18 for adults, $15 for seniors, $8 for students, and children 12 & under are free. For further information contact First Presbyterian Church at (402) 477-6037, or go to the church website at: http://fpclincoln.org/ and click on Arts for the Soul.

Tickets may be purchased at the church weekdays from 8 a.m.  2 p.m. by check or cash, or online with a credit card or PayPal account, or at the door the evening of the concert if tickets remain.
When Lincoln Lutheran students start school next fall, they will be welcomed with three new classrooms dedicated specifically to science education.

A $615,000 renovation project will repurpose two different areas within the building at 1101 N. 56th St. Two high school science classrooms will be transformed into one larger life sciences classroom, a prep room and a guidance center. The other part of the project will repurpose currently unused space into a chemistry and physics lab, a science lecture classroom and a prep room.

Long overdue

Lincoln Lutheran Executive Director Scott Ernstmeyer says the new space and resources are long overdue. We have outstanding teachers who have been creative and innovative with undersized classrooms and limited resources. Because so many of our graduates transition into post-secondary fields of study connected to the sciences, we felt it was important to expose students to resources and opportunities that would fully prepare them for their future.

Ernstmeyer and other school leaders toured area public and non-public schools to determine best practices and ensure the new space will meet or exceed the quality of resources within the community.

Had been on wish list

In the late 1990s Lincoln Lutheran transitioned from offering a 7th-9th grade junior high program to a full junior and senior high school. Due to budget limitations at the time, a planned science wing expansion was cut from the building project. Ernstmeyer says science classrooms have been on the schools wish list ever since.

Schools have many needs and weve been blessed to work on a variety of projects over the past fifteen years that have had a positive impact on the educational experience our students receive," he said. "We are thankful to have been blessed with some wonderful financial gifts allowing us to make this important upgrade to our facility. It will open up new opportunities for learning by our students.

$300,000 matching gift

The renovation was able to start moving forward when the school secured a $300,000 matching gift. Director of Ministry Advancement Lloyd Wagnitz has been researching and writing proposals to secure grants. These efforts have generated additional grants and donations totaling $252,000 with awards ranging between $2,000 and $100,000.

Wagnitz said he is thankful that the process has largely stayed clear of the schools traditional donor base. We know how gracious our donors are and how much they sacrifice to help us pursue our ministry. It has been a real blessing to connect with area foundations who are excited to be a part of our project.

Construction of the project will begin this spring with a scheduled completion date of mid-July. The guidance center will include an office for the guidance director and provide space for a small student lounge. New classrooms will be outfitted with all new equipment and furnishings.

Lincoln Lutheran Middle and High School provides faith-based education for students in grades 6-12. For more information about the science renovation or other programs and offerings contact Principal Matt Heibel at mheibel@lincolnlutheran.org
RACINE  While the darkness of hate, violence, war and horror engulfed the world from 1939 to 1945, Manny Chulew could still see the light.

Chulew was 15 when World War II started in September 1939. Soon, German troops descended on his hometown of Rymanow, Poland, a hamlet of 4,000 people, almost all of them Jewish.

"They went from house to house to see if anyone was hiding in the basement," Chulew, now 92, told an audience of Gilmore Middle School seventh and eighth graders Wednesday. "Three weeks later, they told us we must leave in 24 hours."

So Chulew and his family began a 12-year trek across Europe, Asia, and eventually, America. As Polish Jews, they lived under a cloud of suspicion, always on the edge of capture by the Nazis, transport to a concentration camp and almost-certain death.

Despite those terrifying times, Chulew remembers the good things. While sitting in a chair on the Gilmore auditorium stage, he urged students to respect others, persevere through troubled times and love life to its fullest.

"You can't go on living the rest of your life hating," he said. "There are good people are all over the world. We must remember that."

During the war, Chulew moved from town to town, worked in a Siberian labor camp for a year and a half, and lived in the central-Asian region of Kazakhstan for four years.

He always tried to find a job, learn the language and do whatever he needed to do to survive.

"He talks about these things as if they were adventures," said Chulews daughter Natalie, who lives in Racine and accompanied her father to Wednesdays presentation. "Other people talk about them as horrors and tragic. He has tried to teach others to see the resources around you and use them."

Chulew came to Gilmore as the seventh-graders were studying Europe and World War II and the eighth-graders read "The Diary of Anne Frank," the well-known book about a young Jewish girl hiding from the Nazis and eventually killed in a concentration camp.

English teacher Heather Bekkers arranged for Chulew to speak at the school. "Its a once-in-a-lifetime thing to meet someone who has survived that period of history," Bekkers said.

After the war ended, Chulew lived in a string of refugee camps in Europe. In December 1951, he left Austria and took a ship to New York City. He spent a year there and moved to Kenosha in 1952. He owned and operated several furniture stores during the next several decades.

He lives there today, taking walks and volunteering at local hospitals, Natalie said.

"No matter how bad things get, he always has a positive outlook," she said. "I think that comes from knowing that if he had not left his town when they told him to, that he would been taken to a concentration camp. He is a survivor."
Two people died and six more were injured when the van they were in rolled over and caught fire on an onramp in Milwaukee Wednesday morning. The passengers in the vehicle were replacement workers on their way to the Case factory in Mount Pleasant, where local unionized employees have been on strike since May 2. Dozens of passenger vans have been arriving and leaving the factory daily for most of the five months of the strike so far as negotiations remain stalled between CNHi and United Auto Workers.
RACINE  A line of potential jurors snaked from outside a basement-level courtroom on one end of the Law Enforcement Center to almost the opposite end of the building on Wednesday before a former Racine man decided to ink a plea deal in a child molestation case.

James A. Houston, 41, now of Chicago, was thought to be locked in for trial on Wednesday. But at the last minute he pleaded no contest to a downgraded charge of third-degree sexual assault of a child for allegedly forcing a then-11-year-old girl to touch him. Houston originally was charged with a heftier felony: first-degree child sexual assault.

Houston was charged in June 2013 after the girl, whom he knew, told Racine police that Houston was lying on a couch with her and forced her to fondle him, according to his criminal complaint. The girl said Houston asked her to go to work with him at his third-shift job at a Racine group home on May 28, 2013.

Houston also took her brother along with them for his 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift, smuggling each of them into the house individually, the complaint states.

She and her brother were asleep on a couch before Houston told the boy to sleep on a couch in another room, the complaint states, leaving he and the girl alone.

Houston remains free on $10,000 cash bond, court records show. A no-contest plea means Houston doesnt admit to the allegation, but does not dispute prosecutors ability to prove it in court.

Racine County Circuit Judge Faye Flancher set his sentencing for March 18.
RACINE  A Racine man faces eight felony drug charges after police executed a search warrant at his home Tuesday.

Franklin J. Jones Jr., 41, of the 4100 block of 13th Street, was arrested Tuesday after police used a cooperating citizen three separate times in January to purchase cocaine and heroin from Jones. Police raided Jones home Tuesday and found additional drugs during their search.

The first meeting between Jones and the cooperating citizen took place on Jan. 5, according to the criminal complaint. Police said the two met in the area of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center, drove to the area of Wright and Grange avenues, and made a deal for 0.78 grams of cocaine base.

According to the criminal complaint, the second deal occurred on Jan. 13 at the same area of Wright and Grange avenues. The cooperating citizen acquired 0.44 grams of cocaine base and 0.26 grams of heroin, police said.

The third meeting took place on Jan. 15 in the area of the 4100 block of 13th St., where Jones resides, according to the criminal complaint. Police said the citizen acquired 0.61 grams of cocaine base and 0.41 grams of heroin that day.

During Tuesdays raid, officers located a small amount of cocaine and 4 grams of marijuana in Jones residence, according to the criminal complaint. Officers also discovered a number of text messages relating to the sales of controlled substances on a phone Jones identified as his, police said.

Jones faces eight felony drug charges relating to the cooperating citizen deals and the search of his residence. If convicted, he faces up to 38 years in prison, another 34 years of extended supervision, and fines capped at $170,000. He also could face an additional 32 years since he has a prior felony drug conviction.

He made his initial appearance in court Wednesday, and bail was set at $5,000, according to court records. His preliminary hearing is set for Thursday, Jan. 28.
TOWN OF BURLINGTON  Ten high school students were transported to the hospital Thursday after two buses on the way to Camp MacLean reportedly got into an accident.

According to Racine County Sheriffs Office spokesman Sgt. Bill Mattke, the situation was reported at 10:02 a.m. from YMCA Camp MacLean, 31401 Durand Ave.

Camp MacLean Executive Director Jeff Tremmel said two school buses from Barrington High School in Illinois were on their way to the camp for a day-long retreat.

On the way, in the Fox Lake, Ill., area, the smaller bus rear-ended the larger bus, said Morgan Delack, communications director for Barrington 220 School District. No one reported injuries at the time, but about an hour later, some of them began to feel a bit sore, she said.

Tremmel said the camp was notified about the accident minutes before the buses arrived and called Burlington Rescue Squad, as a precaution, to request the students be checked. When the buses arrived, some of the students complained of neck and/or back soreness and headaches, Mattke said.

Ten were transported by ambulance to Aurora Memorial Hospital in Burlington and Wheaton Franciscan-All Saints hospital in Racine, Tremmel said. Mattke said both hospitals were notified they might be receiving a large influx of patients.

None of the injuries was serious, Tremmel and Delack said.
If you want to be licensed professionally in Wisconsin, to be given the states permission and endorsement to practice your profession, you had better be 100 percent truthful on the application. Seems simple enough, right?

Its already illegal to lie on a professional-license application, but a bill with bipartisan support in the Assembly would specify the criminal punishment for such a lie.

The bills author, Rep. Scott Allen, R-Waukesha, cited a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel report that the state had licensed Francis Deisler, a serial rapist and bank robber, to be a social worker. Deislers license here has since lapsed, but the state is investigating his case.

Allen said the Deisler case highlighted an abuse in the system and the need to hold people who lie on forms accountable.

I am not satisfied we are doing the best we could to protect taxpayers who encounter these people, often in intimate settings, Allen said. It has been a trust factor, and obviously that trust has been abused.

Allens bill would make it a Class A misdemeanor to provide false information on any of the applications received by the Department of Safety and Professional Services. The department licenses more than 230 professions, ranging from barbers to doctors, and issues nearly 40,000 licenses a year. The law, if enacted, carries a maximum penalty of nine months in jail and a fine of up to $10,000.

That sounds good. If we cant trust what you write on the application, you shouldnt be licensed. Before the state issues a license, it needs to establish that the applicant is not a threat to people the applicant might encounter in professional settings.

What doesnt sound good is the reported cost of conducting background checks to verify a license applicants statements.

Unlike Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana  both of which also licensed Deisler  now run criminal background checks on everyone applying to be a social worker and many other licensed professions.

Wisconsin is set to begin new limited criminal background checks of a narrow portion of the states social workers. The checks will be done on about 500 of the roughly 10,000 social workers licensed in Wisconsin.

Regulators here checked nearby states and found Illinois and Iowa have a program similar to Wisconsins, while Michigan and Minnesota run fingerprint and criminal backgrounds. Indiana was not cited.

Wisconsins Department of Safety and Professional Services said it would be too cost-prohibitive to do background checks on all social worker applicants. Background checks on all social workers would cost nearly $150,000, plus an additional $3 million in staff time over the two-year budget period. The test program will cost $8 per check, or a total of $4,000.

Staff time would cost $3 million? Really?

In any event, a baseline has already been established for the cost of a background check: $8 per check. We see no reason why that cost cannot be passed on to the license applicant. License fees already exist, and the applicants in question are either already professionals or on the verge of becoming professionals. The applicants are members of a class of worker for whom $8  or $10, or $15  would not be an undue hardship.

The license benefits the recipient of the license, so the cost of establishing the recipients worthiness should be borne by the recipient.

Putting teeth into the threat of punishment for lying on a license application is a good idea. We dont want dangerous people being given a state endorsement of their professional credentials. We do, however, want to make sure the money for verification comes out of the appropriate pockets.
The Wisconsin state Senate voted to strip Planned Parenthood of an estimated $7.5 million in federal funding by approving two bills on Wednesday.

The first would place limits on how much Planned Parenthood can be reimbursed for prescription drugs acquired through a Medicaid program. The second would prevent Planned Parenthood from receiving federal Title X funds, diverting the money to other groups at the discretion of the state Department of Health Services.

The state Assembly in October approved the second bill, but hasn't yet taken up the first. The Senate passed the Republican bills on a party-line vote.

Democrats say the pair of bills would restrict access to reproductive health services throughout the state, while Republicans argue just the opposite.

While the Medicaid reimbursement bill language addresses abortion providers in general, bill author Sen. Chris Kapenga, R-Delafield, acknowledged it would specifically affect Planned Parenthood.

Under the bill, family planning clinics could only bill Medicaid for the actual acquisition cost plus a dispensing fee for prescription drugs obtained through Medicaid's 340B program.

"This is a consistent stance with where I have always been, where many others in this body have always been, and that is, we are going to protect life," Kapenga said. "I believe that that begins at conception, and I believe that one of the cornerstones of the Declaration of Independence and what our Constitution is drafted around is the protection of life."

Sen. Lena Taylor, D-Milwaukee, argued the bills aren't about protection of life, but rather about passing a vindictive agenda.

Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, said the Medicaid bill isn't about abortion at all; rather, it's about saying it's OK for other entities to be reimbursed for dispensing birth control, but not for Planned Parenthood to receive the same reimbursement.

"Birth control, for men, you can go to a truck stop. You can go to a gas station. You can go to a big box store. We, women, we have to to go to a pharmacist. We have to go to a health center," said Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling, D-La Crosse, arguing bills like this wouldn't be introduced if the situation were reversed.

Sen. Duey Stroebel, R-Saukville, rejected the premise that Republicans are going after birth control. He disputed the argument that access can be challenged, arguing, "I think it's pretty easy to find. At least, that's the way I thought it was."

"Womens birth control? Im for womens birth control. I think probably most everybody else here is, too. Thats not an issue," Stroebel said. "I support womens health care. I think everybody else here does. What we dont support is a taxpayer subsidy for a private abortion provider. That's what this bill is about. We are for women's health care, and we want to see that that is available."

The second bill would bar the state from giving any federal Title X dollars to organizations that perform abortions.

Under federal law, Title X money must fund family planning and contraceptives, STD testing and breast and cervical cancer screening. It is not allowed to be spent on abortions, but supporters of the bill argue that when Planned Parenthood spends federal money on family planning services and screenings, money is freed up to fund abortion services.

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin has been the direct recipient of Title X funds for more than 35 years. A portion of those funds are distributed to a total of 18 health centers across across the state, including 9 non-Planned Parenthood health centers. According to the organization, about 50,000 men and women are served under the funding stream each year.

Five Planned Parenthood clinics have closed since Gov. Scott Walker cut off the organization's state funding in 2011, none of which provided abortions. The organization has said the pair of bills would "devastate" Planned Parenthood and other safety-net health care providers.

Walker has said he supports efforts to further restrict Planned Parenthood's funding.
Borderland Homicides Show

Mexico's Gun Control Has Failed



Source: OECD, map by Ryan McMaken

By Tyler Durden. January 19th, 2016

We often hear about homicide rates in Mexico and how they are among the highest in the world. While that is true for some parts of Mexico, much of Mexico -- where nearly 80 percent of the population lives -- has much lower rates than what are often quoted in the media.

Most of the high-homicide areas in Mexico are found along the US border, and to a certain extent reflect the work of drug cartels working to keep drug trafficking channels open to the US.

And yet, right across the border in the US, homicide rates are remarkable low. In fact, homicide rates along the US side of the border are significantly below the US average. Why is this?

Homicide Rates in Mexico, By State (map above)

First, to get a better understanding of these phenomena, let's look at homicide rates in Mexico by state.

While not as decentralized as the US, Mexico has a weak federal system like the United States with 31 states and one federal district (somewhat like the District of Columbia) that is Mexico City ........

It is worth looking at the Mexican failure of gun control, when all the time here in the U.S. the subject is kept front and center, achieving little, other than punishing law-abiding gun owners. This detailed article usefully puts things into perspective and is a useful comparison, primarily to demonstrate the abject failure of 'gun control'.

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Christopher Brooks, an Alabama man scheduled for execution by lethal injection appealed [text, PDF] to the US Supreme Court [official website] on Thursday for a stay of execution on the grounds that the sentencing procedure is unconstitutional. Brooks was sentenced to death [AL report] for the burglary, rape and murder of a young woman. He argues that Alabamas sentencing scheme is unconstitutional pursuant to the recent decision [JURIST report] in Hurst v. Florida [text, PDF] which held that Floridas capital sentencing scheme violates the Sixth Amendment [text]. The Supreme Court of Alabama [official website] and the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit [official website] have denied [text, PDF] the request for a stay. If the stay is not granted, Brooks is scheduled to die by lethal injections at 6:00 PM on Thursday.

Use of the death penalty [JURIST news archive] has been a controversial issue throughout the US and internationally. The US Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled [JURIST report] in Kansas v. Carr [opinion, PDF] that a jury in a death penalty case does not need to be advised that mitigating factors, which can lessen the severity of a criminal act, do not need to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt like aggravating factors. Last month the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld the authority [JURIST report] of Governor Tom Wolf to postpone executions in the commonwealth. In October the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals unanimously granted [JURIST report] a request from Attorney General Scott Pruitt to halt all of the states scheduled executions to allow for an investigation into why the prison received incorrect lethal injection drugs. Oklahoma became the epicenter [JURIST report] of the lethal injection drug debate in 2014 after the death of Clayton Lockett, a death row inmate who died of an apparent heart attack minutes after doctors called off a failed attempt to execute him. Last June the US Supreme Court held that the use of the drug midazolam may be used in executions [JURIST report] without violating the Constitution.
Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) [official website] forces and Kurdish militias are committing mass destruction in northern Iraq that may amount to war crimes, Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] said in a report [text, PDF] Tuesday. AI claims that the KRG is leading an operation to burn, bomb and bulldoze homes in the Arab settled communities of Ninewa, Kirkuk and Diyala provinces, all of which were recaptured by Kurdish forces from the Islamic State (IS) [BBC report]. The KRG claims the regions are a threat to security because the occupants largely sympathize with IS, which is disputed by AI. The report contains satellite images that appear to corroborate the scale of the destruction. The number of displaced persons is estimated in the tens of thousands.

Kurdish Forces in Northern Iraq have been raising concern in recent weeks. In December the UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights Office (OHCHR) [official website] announced [press release] that it has received reports that human rights violations against Sunni Arab communities by Iraqi and Kurdish security forces are increasing in parts of Iraq that were reclaimed from IS. Spokesperson Cecile Pouilly [Twitter] stated that the security forces and their militias have been responsible for looting, destruction of property, forced evictions, abductions, illegal detention and extra-juridical killings. Reports indicate that the Sunni Arab communities face limited access to basic goods and services such as water, food, shelter and medical care, and that 16 mass graves containing IS victims have been discovered. The UN is especially concerned for the Sunni Arabs stuck in the no-mans-land between Kurdish forces forces and IS [JURIST report].
[JURIST] The International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] on Thursday opened the confirmation of charges hearing against accused Lords Resistance Army (LRA) commander Dominic Ongwen [ICC materials]. This is the first major hearing for a leader of the LRA, and groups such as Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] have called it an important step for accountability [HRW report] for the crimes committed in Northern Uganda. Ongwen faces 70 charges of war crimes including keeping sex slaves and recruiting child soldiers. The hearing is expected to last three to five days, at which time the ICC will determine whether there is enough evidence to proceed.

Ongwen made his first appearance before the ICC last January amid opposition from the Ugandan government, which wished to try him in the country after his surrender [JURIST reports] earlier that month. The countrys attorney general assured the ICC in February that Uganda would cooperate [JURIST report] with his trial. The organization Invisible Children [advocacy website] opposes the actions of the LRA and has been instrumental in bringing to the forefront the efforts to capture accused leader Joseph Kony. In May 2012 a Major General of the LRA was captured [JURIST report] by force after having carried out an ambush in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The US government also aided in the protection of Ugandan citizens by introducing legislation [JURIST report] in early 2012 that would put in safe-guards in Uganda to prevent more attacks from Kony and the LRA.
The EUs justice mission in Kosovo (EULEX) [official website] sentenced [press release] a Serb politician to nine years in prison for war crimes against ethnic Albanian civilians on Thursday. Oliver Ivanovic was arrested [JURIST report] in January 2014 for the murder and torture of Albanian civilians during the 1999 war where Kosovo fought for its independence from Serbia [BBC profiles]. Kosovo was the leader of a paramilitary group that chased civilians from a Serb-controlled town and proceeded to torture and kill [BBC report] at least four of the civilians. Four other Serbs charged with Ivanovic were acquitted. The court ruled [BBC report] that Oliver Ivanovic was aware of the operation of expelling and killing Albanians  he willingly complied with the plan, knowing that it would result in the killings. Ivanovic has repeatedly denied the charges and claims the arrest is politically motivated. He will remain under house arrest pending an appeal.

In response to the widespread commission of war crimes during the conflict in Kosovo, EULEX was created in 2008 [JURIST report] to assist in the effort of bringing perpetrators to justice. A EULEX prosecutor in the Kosovo Special Prosecution Office (SPRK) filed an indictment [JURIST report] against 15 defendants in November 2014 in the EULEX Mitrovica Basic Court. The individuals were accused of war crimes against civilians that occurred at a Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) detention center in Likovac in 1998. Fatmir Limaj, an ally of Prime Minister Hashim Thaci was acquitted by EULEX in September 2014 for the third time after his retrial began [JURIST reports] in April. In October 2011 EULEX sentenced [JURIST report] a former Albanian fighter of the KLA, and in September of the same year charged [JURIST report] 10 other KLA members with war crimes. In June 2009 Amnesty International (AI) criticized [JURIST report] international efforts to prosecute war crimes from the 1998 conflict, claiming that many human rights abuses have not been investigated and have gone unpunished and that nearly 2000 people are still unaccounted for from the conflict. Kosovo officially seceded [JURIST report] from Serbia in 2008.
The US Supreme Court [official website] on Wednesday ruled in Kansas v. Carr [opinion, PDF] that a jury in a death penalty case does not need to be advised that mitigating factors [Cornell LII backgrounder], which can lessen the severity of a criminal act, do not need to proven beyond a reasonable doubt like aggravating factors. The defendants argued that without this instruction the jury would have understood that the mitigating factors had to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt in order to be considered in their decision. Justice Antonin Scalia wrote the opinion for 8-1 majority, stating that it may not even be possible to place a burden of proof requirement on mitigating factors because they are not factual determinations, rather they are judgement calls or questions of mercy and what one juror might consider mitigating another might not. He also wrote that the possibility of juror confusion in this scenario does not rise to the reasonable likelihood of confusion required for the instruction to be considered a constitutional error. On a separate issue, the court also held that a joint trial for the two defendants who committed crimes together was not unconstitutional. Justice Sonia Sotomayor was the only dissenting justice, writing that the Court should not have heard the case at all because she does not believe it involves a federal question. The cases have been remanded to the Kansas Supreme Court.

The court consolidated cases from three different defendants. Two brothers, Reginald and Johnathan Carr, committed [NYT report] a series of rapes, killings, and robberies in 2000 known as the Wichita Massacre. Sydney Gleason, the third defendant, conspired to kill an elderly man in order to steal cigarettes and later killed his co-conspirator and her boyfriend. The Kansas Supreme Court vacated their convictions because the jury was not instructed that mitigating factors only need to be proven to the satisfaction of each individual juror and that the joint proceedings of the defendants deprived them of the right to an individualized capital sentencing determination. The Kansas court found both to be a violation of the Eighth Amendment.
[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] Wednesday in Campbell-Ewald Company v. Gomez [SCOTUSblog backgrounder] that an unaccepted settlement offer to a lead plaintiff in a class action lawsuit does not end the legal challenge. The class action suit dealt with unsolicited text messages sent from the Campbell-Ewald Company that allegedly violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act [text]. Lead plaintiff Jose Gomez initiated the class action suit against Campbell-Ewald and initially received a settlement offer of $1,503 in damages for each unauthorized text. Gomez did not take the offer and the US District Court hearing the suit dismissed the claim due to the rejection of the settlement. The case was then reversed at the appellate level and eventually taken up by the Supreme Court. In a 6-3 decision, the court held that [a]n unaccepted settlement offer, like other unaccepted contract offers, creates no lasting right or obligation. The class action suit has been remanded to the lower court to continue proceedings.

The case is a significant setback for large companies looking to avoid liability in class action suits. Had the court ruled the other way, businesses could have been allowed to pre-empt costly class action suits by offering the lead plaintiff everything to which he would have been entitled in order to eliminate the suits viability. The court heard oral arguments in the case in October after granting certiorari [JURIST reports] in May.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon [official website] announced [press release] Thursday that he is creating the first high-level panel to address womens economic empowerment initiatives. The panels goal is to create a plan of action for nations and private sector businesses to implement in order to improve womens rights by achieving economic agency for women all over the globe in accordance with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development [text, PDF]. The panel comes after the UN has found that despite several studies showing the economic importance of women in sustaining a countrys viable economy, women are still at a disadvantage in most countries:

Women spend more than twice as much time on unpaid care and domestic work as men and women on average are paid 24 per cent less than men globally for the same work. Moreover, 75 per cent of womens employment in developing regions is informal and unprotected. These gaps constrain womens rights and hinder economic growth and productivity. Significantly scaled up actions and political will are required to ensure that governments, development organizations and others invest in the economic empowerment of women for the benefit of whole societies.

The panel plans to focus on growing opportunities for women in leadership roles, tackling pay gender gaps and creating avenues for employment.

Despite international efforts to educate communities [JURIST op-ed] and protect womens rights to be free from discrimination, women still face inequality worldwide that is frequently due to a lack of governmental support. In September the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights [official website] stated [press release] that no country has achieved full equality between men and women and urged [JURIST report] the 47 members of the Human Rights Council to make efforts to achieve such equality. JURIST Guest Columnist Makousse Ilboudo recently noted [JURIST op-ed] that hundreds of pregnant immigrant detainees are held in centers with inadequate medical care without access to legal resources. Earlier this month Gambias parliament [official website] approved [JURIST report] a bill banning female genital mutilation (FGM) and setting high penalties of imprisonment and fines for offenders.
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) [official website] reported [text, PDF] Thursday that shocking crimes have been committed by all sides in the war-torn South Sudan. The report said that extra-judicial killings, disappearances, gang-rapes, sexual slavery, forced abortions, and child recruitment have occurred within the area. The UN High Commissioner for HUman Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein stated [UN News Centre report]: The constant attacks on women, the rape, enslavement and slaughter of innocents; the recruitment of thousands upon thousands of child soldiers; the deliberate displacement of vast numbers of people in such a harsh and poverty-stricken countrythese are abhorrent practices that must be halted. His office filed the report along with the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) [official website]. The country was thrown into turmoil when conflict erupted between the current President Salva Kiir and former vice president Riek Machar in December 2013. The conflict killed thousands and displaced more than 2.4 million people. Over the past year entire villages began to be burned down along with crops being destroyed and livestock being looted. This led to a report being requested in order to create accountability for the crisis to help end the strife.

In October the African Union Commission of Inquiry on South Sudan concluded that both sides of the conflict have committed war crimes [JURIST report]. Although that report found no reasonable grounds that genocide was committed, the UNMISS reported [JURIST report] in 2014 that hundreds of civilians were targeted and massacred based on their ethnicity and political beliefs in two separate events. A UN peacekeeping site came under fire [Reuters report] in May of last year. Armed groups in South Sudan have also abducted young boys to use as child soldiers [JURIST report]. Civil war ensued after Kiir accused [JURIST report] Machar of attempting a coup detat.
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Brazil Zika outbreak: More babies born with birth defects

New figures from Brazil show a further rise in the number of babies born with abnormally small heads to mothers infected with the Zika virus.
China to assist Nepal to re-certify MA60 aircraft

The Civil Aviation Administration of China (Caac) has decided to help Nepal re-certify the Chinese-made MA60 after the International Civil Aviation Organization (Icao) questioned the countrys capability to issue a type-certificate for the aircraft, Director General Sanjiv Gautam of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (Caan) said.
Chitwan expos aim to boost tourism, economy

Trade fairs and expositions, which had been halted after the April 25 earthquake and subsequent Tarai unrest and Indian embargo, are back in Chitwan.
CIAA to NOC: Regularise fuel distribution

The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) has warned of stern action against the Nepal Oil Corporation if they fail to distribute fuel to consumers in a transparent way.
Deal or no deal, major forces set to vote for bill

A majority of ruling parties as well as the main opposition, Nepali Congress, have issued whips to their lawmakers for compulsory participation in the Legislature-Parliament meeting on Saturday, which is scheduled to endorse the First Amendment to the Constitution of Nepal with or without a deal with the Madhes-based parties.
DPHO mobilises medical team

The District Public Health Office (DPHO) on Wednesday confirmed that seven of the total 36 ailing children at Somdiha-8 in the district were suffering from measles.
Education consultant Rai arrested for leaving Nepali students stranded in Chile

Police here arrested an education consultancy proprietor for duping and leaving 42 Nepali students stranded in Chile.
Gangster Baghe Lama in police net

Police arrested a notorious gangster who goes by the name of Baghe Lama from Kathmandu on Thursday.
Govt struggles to relocate damaged health facilities

Reconstruction of 270 health posts that were housed in rooms made available by local government or community are in limbo after unavailability of land in the aftermath of the April 25 earthquake.
IOC refuses to boost fuel supply

Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) said its sole supplier Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) had turned down its request to deliver more petrol from other border depots as it has not been getting any supply from the Raxaul depot.
Karnali folks paying three times more for food items

People from the impoverished Karnali region have been compelled to pay three times the actual prices for food products due to high transportation costs.
KMC project to convert waste into energy

Kathmandu Metropolitan City is funding a bio-methanation plant in Teku to generate energy from waste.
Man held for trying to burn wife alive

Police have arrested a 40-year-old man for his alleged attempt to burn his wife alive in Tapeshwori, Udayapur district.
Morcha enforces Rangeli banda

Tension flared up at Rangeli Bazaar in Morang district on Wednesday after the agitating Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha decided to disrupt a programme of CPN-UML youth wing Youth Association Nepal (YAN) scheduled for Thursday.
NAMS official among 4 held for hatching false alibi

Four persons, including three health officials, have been arrested on the charge of trying to give a false alibi to protect a rape convict.
NGO recovers loan from relief amount of quake-hit Chepangs

The Forum for Community Upliftment System (Focus) Nepal, an organisation engaged in community development in the district, has recovered its loan from winter relief amount received by quake-hit families in Jogiara VDC.
Olis non-cooperation dealt blow to potential deal: Mahanta Thakur

Chairman of Tarai Madhesi Loktantrik Party (TMLP) and key leader of Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha (SLMM), Mahanta Thakur has accused Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli of being non-cooperative and negative to resolve the Madhes problems though he pretends to be liberal on the outside.
Public bus service resumes in Janakpur

Public bus service that was obstructed for around six months due to Tarai protest resumed in Janakpur on Wednesday morning.
3 killed in Rangeli police firing, situation tense

Three persons died and five others injured in police firing at Rangeli Bazaar in Morang district on Thursday.
Upendra Yadav condemns Rangeli incident, accuses govt of trying to spoil talks

Sanghiya Samajwadi Forum Nepal Chairman Upendra Yadav, who is also spearheading the Madhes agitation, has condemned the Rangeli incident in Morang district on Thursday, in which three people lost their lives in police firing.
Vietnam set to pick new leaders as congress begins

Vietnam's Communist Party delegates are meeting in Hanoi to begin the process of choosing a new set of leaders.
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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 Citizens Coalition for Electoral Democracy (CCEDU) has expressed concern over the timing for the introduction of the biometric equipment by the Electoral Commission.

This comes days after the electoral body unveiled a set of biometric equipment meant to help check multiple voting on polling day.

However CCEDU coordinator Crispy Kaheru says while the intentions may be right, the timing and communication about this new technology leaves many questions unanswered.

He further argues that having such equipment alone cannot guarantee a clean and malpractice free election.

Ugandans go to the polls on February 18th to choose a president and Members of Parliament.

Story By Benjamin Jumbe
President Yoweri Museveni has set terms to be followed before he pardons the imprisoned former Tooro premier John Sanyu Katuramu.

This was after people flashed Katuramus posters before the president as he campaigned at Kibiito town council and at Boma grounds in Fort Portal town.

Museveni said Katuramus issues cannot be resolved at a rally promising to handle the matter through the right channels.

Katuramu is serving a life sentence at Luzira for murdering Prince Happy Kijanangoma on March 25, 1999.

He unsuccessfully appealed to the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.

The president says Katuramus wife should meet the offended family and reconcile before anything is done.

But area MP Alex Ruhunda told the president that the parties reconciled earlier and that the majority of Batooro would love to see the former monarchys Prime Minister set free.

He said Museveni should use his prerogative of mercy to allow Katuramu return home after serving 18 years in jail.

This is the second time the people of Tooro demand for Katuramus pardon during presidential campaigns.

In 2011, the demand for his pardon dominated President Musevenis campaigns in Kabarole district.
The people of Teso sub region have today shunned former LRA commander Dominic Ongwens Pre-trial court session.

Huge TV screens had been set at strategic points in Soroti town for the local residents to follow the proceedings that kicked off at the International Criminal Court this afternoon, but not many people turned up.

A cross section of those who followed the proceedings have welcomed the charges against him, while others said many atrocities committed in the sub region have not been included.

Several old women and men who traveled from as far as Kaberamaido which is about 45km from Soroti town expressed total disappointment.

However, Moses Omiat, the coordinator of Soroti Development Association and NGOs Network that partners with the Out Reach Unit of the International Criminal Court told the angry residents that this was only the first confirmation hearing.

He has advised them to keep following the proceedings up the end so that they get acquainted with what is taking place at The Hague.

Meanwhile International prosecutors at The Hague have accused former Ugandan rebel Dominic Ongwen of ordering his men to kill, cook and eat civilians.

He is the first member of the Lords Resistance Army to appear before the International Criminal Court.

Ongwen has been accused of 70 war crimes and crimes against humanity.

His defence is likely to use his past as a former child soldier and kidnap victim as part of a plea for leniency.

Story By Joseph Onyango
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.


I have been with lots of Binary Option brokers so far, and only few of them were able to be what I expected them to be. Most of them will sc...
South Korea's government will make all-out efforts to revitalize the economy by creating jobs, searching for new growth engines and reviving domestic demand and exports, the country's top economic policymaker said Thursday.



"The Chinese economy slowed down to 6 percent range growth last year, and the International Monetary Fund revised down the world economic growth forecast," Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho said in a meeting with economy-related ministers in Seoul. "There is no sign of things recovering anytime soon."



He said the government is aware of these challenges and will do its utmost to push forward structural reform and economic renovation.



At the start of the week, the IMF downgraded its forecast for global growth this year by 0.2 percentage points to 3.4 percent, citing economic turbulence in China and financial uncertainties throughout emerging markets stemming from low oil prices.

The world's second-largest economy said that it grew 6.9 percent last year, marking the lowest growth rate in more than 25 years. The IMF estimated China's growth may dip further to around 6.3 percent this year.



South Korea, which is highly dependent on exports to fuel its economic growth, has been hit hard by the Chinese cooldown and weakening global demand.

Its outbound shipments plunged 7.9 percent, with their monthly figures posting negative growth throughout last year.



Yoo, who took office last week, said his top policy priority is to create jobs for the younger generation and achieve tangible recovery in domestic demand and exports.



"We will remove all obstacles that have hindered economic growth and job creation," he said. "The government will also try to reinvigorate the entire economy by reviving consumption and export."



The official, who doubles as deputy prime minister in charge of economic affairs, also called on the parliament to pass controversial labor reform bills, which have been held off due to heightening political tensions.



"We will implement all policy plans for this year to help every person feel the results of economic stimulus and recovery," the finance minister stressed. (Yonhap)








The West Salem Village Board began planning for this years Hwy. 16 road widening project that will add two lanes from Onalaska to West Salem at Tuesdays meeting.

Under the contract, the construction company will have the right to close the highway for up to 90 days while explosives and other heavy equipment are used to widen the road.

There are incentives to get it open earlier, said Thomas Kratt of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.

For now the boards concern was focused on something far less explosive. The village will need to name two short access roads that will intersect with the highway which fall within village limits.

The new roads will replace driveways that enter directly onto Hwy. 16.

Kratt said there is no timeline to name the roads, but asked the village to have them named before the end of the construction.

The board will vote for the names of the two roads at the next board meeting, which is Feb. 2.

Utilities

The board tabled recommendations made by the villages Utilities Committee to upgrade its outdated GIS mapping system to one supplied by MSA Professional Services.

The GIS mapping system allows the village to pinpoint the location of village assets and utilities including water mains, sewer and electrical systems, many of which are located underground.

Public Works Director Scott Halbrucker said the system is so old at this point that he cant make any corrections and has to send his changes to Cedar Corp., which hosts the current system.

There are water mains shown on the wrong side of streets, board member Scott Schumacher said.

Halbrucker said the current system would stop working sometime in the summer.

The recommendation was tabled after village attorney Bryant Klos voiced his concern that if the village ever wanted to leave MSA, they should know about any fees associated with migrating the data.

Ive been involved in a lot of situations where this has been a big issue, he said.

The board voted unanimously voted to table the issue until the next board meeting.

Firefighters dance

The board unanimously approved the West Salem Volunteer Fire Departments application for a temporary Class B Retailers License for its annual dance. The license will allow the department to serve alcoholic beverages like beer or wine coolers at the dance scheduled for May 7.
Hello, Sandwich Generation, those in of you in your 40s, 50s and 60s caring for kids, grandkids and aging parents. Im waiting for grandkids, but I did have the privilege to care for both of my parents. The responsibility of providing care for many generations can be overwhelming and complicated. The La Crosse County Library System has resources for you.

The Eldercare Consultant: Your Guide to Making the Best Choices Possible by Becky Feola offers practical advice, tools and resources essential in guiding you through the various stages of caregiving. Becky Feola is the founder of Assisted Living Advantage, which provides counseling, evaluations, and placement services for those seeking care options.

Effective Elder Caregiving: A How-to Guide for Primary and Employed Caregivers by Barbara Rothschild Allen and Lauren Barrett offers insight from the caretaker as well as the caregiver. Allen is a retired associate professor of psychology at Louisiana State University at Alexandria. Lauren Barrett works both as a caregiver and as a care coordinator.

Strength for the Sandwich Generation: How to Thrive While Simultaneously Caring for Our Kids and our Aging Parents by Kristine Bertini provides help for the overwhelmed multigenerational caregiver. There is a caregivers support resources section in the appendix as well as a powerful Creed for the Caregiver. The author is a licensed clinical psychologist and director of health and counseling services at the University of Southern Maine.

The Complete Eldercare Planner: Where to Start, Which Questions to Ask, and How to Find Help by Joy Loverde is an informational workbook-like resource to help you create a plan for your loved ones care. It includes ideas to help balance your work and family responsibilities with eldercare. The author is a leading expert on caregiving.

Here are some other related titles available for check-out at La Crosse County Library System branches in Bangor, Campbell, Holmen, Onalaska and West Salem:

Choosing a Care Home by Mary V. Goudge

Elder Rage: Or, Take My Father  Please: How to Survive Caring for Aging Parents by Jacqueline Marcell

Is Your Parent in Good Hands? : Protecting Your Aging Parent from Financial Abuse and Neglect by Edward J. Carnot

Nursing Homes and Assisted Living Facilities: Your Practical Guide for Making the Right Decision by Linda H. Connell

When Your Parent Becomes Your Child by Georgette H. Tarnow

The county library system also has an outreach services program. This program supplies books and other materials to people who are unable to visit the library due to an ongoing physical condition, as well as to retirement homes and assisted living facilities. Anyone living within the county limits who has a temporary or ongoing physical condition that prevents them from coming to the library is eligible for this service. Call 781-9568 to tell us what type of materials you would like and we will deliver them to you.

For more information about any of our services, check out our website at www.lacrossecountylibrary.org or call our administrative center in Holmen at 526-9600.
When it comes to K-12 education, Americas parents want more choices. In fact, almost two thirds of parents  64 percent  say they wish they had more options for their childrens education.

In a society where Americans choose practically everything, it is understandable that parents are demanding more of a say in where they send their children to school. Parents understand that with greater options come better results for their children. Every child is unique, with distinctive interests and learning styles. Moms and dads know that a school that might work for one student might not be a good fit for another.

In many states, Wisconsin included, lawmakers have taken action to provide a more diverse variety of school choices for families.

From Jan. 24-30, millions of Americans will raise awareness about the importance of school choice at an unprecedented 16,140 events  including 314 events in Wisconsin. These events are planned to coincide with National School Choice Week, the largest celebration of opportunity in education in U.S. history.

For families in the Badger State, National School Choice Week provides a good opportunity to review the six types of education options available to their children.

Wisconsinites can choose traditional public schools for their kids, and the state allows parents, with some limitations, the ability to choose traditional public schools outside of their existing school zones. This process is called open enrollment, or public school choice.

The Badger State also allows for the creation of public charter schools, which are tuition-free public schools that are given the freedom to be more innovative. Magnet schools, which focus on themes such as math, science, technology, and the performing arts, also exist.

In addition, Wisconsin is one of 41 states with a tuition-free online academy, allowing students to go to school entirely online.

Of course, parents in Wisconsin can also send their children to private schools, and the state offers assistance, either in the form of scholarships or tax deductions, to qualifying families.

Finally, parents have the freedom to educate their children in the home  and more parents are homeschooling their children than ever before.

Parents who are not happy with their childrens current schools, or would like to explore their options, should use January to consider the alternatives available to them. Families can use National School Choice Week as an opportunity to visit schools, ask lots of questions of teachers and administrators, and talk with other parents to find a school that might be a better fit.

Starting the school search process in January, rather than waiting until summer break, means that parents have more options available to them.

Why is this process important?

In addition to ensuring greater peace of mind, research has demonstrated that when parents actively choose the schools their children attend or choose to educate their children in the home, high school graduation rates increase dramatically.

A student with a high school diploma will, over the course of his or her life, earn more than a quarter million dollars more than a student who has dropped out. High school graduates are far less likely to be incarcerated, and are six times more likely to participate in community and civic affairs, than individuals without high school diplomas.

Most importantly, though: school choice matters because every child in America has potential. Todays students are tomorrows leaders, and together, we must do everything possible to prepare them for success.
Representatives from more than a dozen businesses stopped by the Western Technical College campus Thursday morning for bacon and eggs but stayed to learn about ways to improve employee recruitment and retention.

The 7 Rivers Alliance hosted the Hire Them and Keep Them breakfast, part of the organization's efforts to address a chronic shortage of skilled workers. The needs are so great, 7 Rivers Executive Director Lisa Herr said, her organization will develop a regional workforce strategy this year for the manufacturing and food processing sector.

The alliance also received a $50,000 grant last year from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. to provide consulting services and support to 10 area manufacturers and food processing companies. At the breakfast, Herr told attendees that seven of the 10 spots have been claimed so far.

Businesses participating in the program will receive four hours of consultation with human resources experts, efforts to promote the rapid hiring of workers and recommendations for a 30-day hiring campaign. Several of the consultants working with the 7 Rivers Alliance spoke at Thursday morning's breakfast, addressing the need for leaders to adapt their practices to the changing millennial workforce and engage employees after they have been hired.

Antonia Turnquist, a consultant with the QTI Group of Madison, spoke of the value of engaged employees who boost quality, productivity and customer satisfaction. Good leadership and a quality compensation program are two important factors in engaging workers, she said.

"Communication is of the utmost importance," she said.

The economy is at full employment, Express Personnel owner Mark Glahn said. That means the economy is employee driven and employers need to adapt to that market.

Employees can leave a job and find a new one pretty quickly, he said, resulting in high turnover rates. Employers might not be able to hire candidates that have all the skills needed, increasing the need for training programs to bump up their skills.

Flexibility is also important, Genelle Groh Beck and Marlin Helgeson from People First HR Solutions added. The traditional employee model in which candidates are hired and work their way up a company ladder is outdated and ineffective.

In five years, millennials will make up the majority of the workforce with minority workers becoming the majority by 2040. Employers have to adapt to employees' needs and desires, Groh Beck said, and leadership can't just dam the river and hope to force employees to change their habits.

"You need to engage your employees and give them options when possible," Jennifer Zahari of ABR Employment Services said. "You need to provide work-life balance and ways for employees to get creative."

Jim Artz is an HR specialist at Walker Engineering Products, a company with facilities in New Lisbon and Elroy, and one of the largest manufacturers in Juneau County. With just 26,000 people in the county, Artz said he works closely with Western and local high schools on recruitment and job training efforts, and attends events like these to keep abreast of changes in the workforce.

He echoed the importance of many of the points the speakers brought up, saying his company is acutely aware of its treatment of employees and the working environment it provides them. It's challenging to compete with a county like La Crosse for employees, he said, so the company works hard to listen and follow up with new hires during their first 90 and 180 days on the job.

"What is comes down to is companies have to sell themselves," he said. "It used to be employees had to do that. Now we do. That's a big part of the hiring process."
An attorney representing a man on trial for raping a 15-year-old girl picked apart the teens testimony that was inconsistent with statements she gave to authorities.

The victim told jurors that Christopher John raped her early June 8 after placing duct tape over her forearms and mouth and threatening to kill her while they were inside a tent during a camping trip on an island off the Seventh Street boat landing in La Crosse.

John, 40, is charged in La Crosse County Circuit Court with first-degree sexual assault of a child by threat of force or violence and false imprisonment and faces a minimum of 25 years in prison if convicted.

During cross-examination Wednesday, the victim admitted she offered different details to jurors  including how John woke her, what he said before the assault and what time it happened  than what she told authorities.

Can we agree the testimony you gave (Tuesday) was different than your prior conversations? public defender Chris Zachar pressed her.

No.

The teen also denied John threatened to have her older boyfriend arrested for sexually assaulting a minor if she didnt sever the relationship; his attorneys contend that threat is her motive to falsely accuse him of rape.

The victims mother told jurors her daughter reported the assault late June 8.

I remember her words, she said. She said to me directly, Chris raped me.

Responding officers collected a piece of duct tape with strands of hair attached, an old towel the teen took camping, and the underwear and sweatpants the victim said she was wearing during the assault, her mother testified.

Zachar contends the towel belongs to John and faulted police for packaging it together with the victims underwear and sweatpants. A State Crime Laboratory analyst found Johns DNA on the clothing items, prosecutors said.

La Crosse police investigator Ron Secord testified he instructed a property clerk to send all evidence in the case to the State Crime Lab, but the piece of duct tape turned over by the victim and another found in the tent were not examined for DNA or fingerprints.

Gundersen Health System nurse Miranda Schmidt did not find duct tape residue on the victims body during a sexual assault exam about 25 hours after the teen said John assaulted her.

Prosecutors continue their case today.
A Holmen man who pleaded guilty to criminal vehicular homicide for drunken driving in the death of his wife five days before Christmas in 2014 has been sentenced to 90 days in jail  and an annual grim reminder of the crash.

For five years, Hunter Scott, 29, also must submit to 30 days of electronic home monitoring with an alcohol sensor starting on Dec. 20, the anniversary date of the crash that killed 27-year-old Laura Finseth Scott. The wreck occurred near her hometown of Fountain, Minn., where the couple had been visiting her family.

Minnesota District Court Judge Carmaine Sturino added that stipulation to other penalties, including five years of probation, 300 hours of community service and a $3,000 fine, during Scotts Jan. 5 sentencing in Preston.

Laura, a beloved, award-winning nurse in the Family Birthplace at Mayo Clinic Health System-Franciscan Healthcare, died after the car her husband of three years was driving crashed on a slick Fillmore County Road 11 at about 7:20 p.m. Dec. 20, 2014.

Laura, who had been wearing a seat belt, died en route to a Rochester hospital, and Hunter was hospitalized with injuries.

A Minnesota State Patrol reconstruction of the accident determined that the vehicle missed a curve and crossed the center line. It slid sideways about 100 yards, hit a driveway and was airborne for 60 feet before landing on its wheels in a ditch, according to the report.

The vehicle was traveling between 65 and 75 mph on a surface that was slick because of a misty fog and was beginning to ice over, according to the patrols report.

Scott was driving in a "grossly negligent manner, considering his speed, road conditions and alcohol impairment resulting from a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.15 percent, based on a preliminary breath test at the scene, according to the report.

He was charged in March with three felony counts of criminal vehicular homicide. He pleaded guilty Oct. 8 to a count of operating a motor vehicle with an alcohol concentration of 0.08 percent or more, and the other charges were dismissed.

Scott had faced a maximum penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $20,000, or both.

Scott declined to comment through his attorney, Zachary Bauer. He is to begin serving his 90-day sentence in the Fillmore County Jail, with the possibility of work release, within 30 days of Jan. 5.
Im not going to go postal over this, but I will defend the U.S. Postal Service against nattering nabobs of negativism, to dust off a term coined by the late, and disgraced, Vice President Spiro T. Agnew.

Those who stamp a snail mail label on the USPS and insist that it is being elbowed out by email and other delivery options ignore the fact that it continues to have one of the best efficiency records in the service economy.

If nothing else, postal workers deserve credit for taking a licking but keeping on kicking as they slog through all kinds of weather to deliver 512.8 million pieces of mail a day.

I find it amazing that I can put an envelope in a tin box in front of my house and it can be tossed into a huge drum of other envelopes, then sorted into smaller drums and sent toward, say, Florida, or New York or (with enough postage) to Paris.

Granted, its puzzling that an envelope I plop into a blue box outside the La Crosse Post Office has to take a detour through St. Paul to get to its destination  even if Im sending it to a pen pal in the county jail a block away from the post office. But that was a decision from higher up the letter chain, and you know how wacky policies can be when the muckety-mucks dont consult the worker bees.

Of course, successful deliveries depend on correct addresses. I recall sending a note from St. Paul to Omaha but inadvertently using the ZIP code of my hometown of South Sioux City, Neb., so I didnt blame the postal service for returning it to sender.

But Kate and I were stunned the other day when we received a card from 5-year-old great-niece Sofia that looked like  well, it looked like a 5-year-old had addressed it, perhaps with a bit of help from her 6-year-old sister, Maddy.

The girls, who live near the Windy City, are cute, bright lasses who are fond of arts and crafts. So its natural that Sofia would want to send a seasonal message in an envelope adorned with a stick-it Christmas tree, a candy cane, an elf whose name I do not know and a bunch of heart, star and hexagonal stickers.

The message itself was mystifying, consisting of three scrawled, u-shaped items lined with circles that, at first glance, appeared to be drawings of mouth molds you might find in a dentistry magazine.

However, Sofia dispelled that assumption, labeling the items as horseshoes, with KATE in caps at the bottom.

Now, the back story, because theres always a back story: Sofias mom, Sarah, explained to Kate that the little darlin began churning out drawings of horseshoes out of the clear blue sky.

Sofia sent horseshoe sketches not only to Kate but also to Grandma Carolyn and Aunt Katey. Sarah surmises that Sofia, whom the family regards as an old soul in a new body, may be channeling a message from the great beyond because  unbeknownst to her  distant relatives worked with horses.

Sofia is the more willful of the two girls, so Im certain that she wanted as little help  she would deem it interference  as possible from Maddy. Our house number was so close to the top of the envelope that it left little space for Maddy to squeeze in Aunt Kate + Uncle Mike, the street name and Onalaska, WI. Not sure which girl wrote the numbers, but the erased backward 3 indicates a false start.

The bottom half of the envelope was a hoot, with a drawing that Im sure is a Sofia selfie, although the stick figure was missing the arms that I could swear she had last time we saw her. Her name was spelled in large letters and, just before running off the edge of the envelope was a large 5, which I suppose she planned simply as her age.

Granted, it took the postal service a longer-than-usual time to get it to us, since it was mailed Dec. 15, and we didnt receive it until this year  Jan. 2, I believe it was. I suspect the blame had less to do with the holiday rush and more with the paucity of clues about the destination.

Even Siri would have been hard-pressed to get the dispatch to our tin box on time, with no last name, no ZIP code and, I assume, no chance of shooting through a letter sorter without a human being to sort out the clues.

Steve Dolan, acting customer service supervisor at the La Crosse Post Office, agrees with that supposition. Examining the envelope, Dolan said it presented challenges but suggested that Onalaska probably had been the tipoff, even sans ZIP code, with the address helping a wee bit.

Onalaska will pretty much get it there, he said. There are a lot of rural routes in Onalaska, and the carrier might know that an Aunt Kate and Uncle Mike live there.

This envelope was easier to decipher than many, he said.

Sorting machines have helped the process, he said, adding, Obviously, this one had to be hand sorted.

With that problem solved, I think Ill Google horseancestry.com to figure out who might be communicating with Sofia.
A cost-cutting proposal to reorganize the University of Wisconsin Extension could cut the number of Extension educators in each county by half.

The nEXT Generation reorganization initiative began early last year as a response to UW Extension's $3.6 million share of $125 million in cuts to the UW System. Draft proposals were presented to UW Colleges and Extension Chancellor Cathy Sandeen on Dec. 21, with public feedback being taken online at http://about.ces.uwex.edu/our-future/feedback/ until Jan. 29.

The proposed changes call for $1.2 million in cuts to county Extension, achieved by combining multiple counties into a single service area sharing educators. Under the draft recommendations, which modeled a four-county service area, the changes would structure service areas so that each county would have one dedicated Extension educator as well as an area educator serving all of the counties.

Counties with large populations such as Green Bay or Waukesha would be considered their own service area and the number of educators retained in these counties was not clear based in the draft. The proposals also call for creating an operations coordinator for each county in the service area who would report to an area leader.

In the current system, many counties currently have four educators in four program areas: agriculture, 4-H and youth development, family living and community development. The new operations coordinator would be an administrative position, acting as "the face of Extension" within the county.

Another $1.7 million in cuts would come from reducing campus and UW-Extension specialist funding and positions. Administrative and program support cuts in the proposal would result in another $700,000 in savings.

On Wednesday, officials with the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation said the organization would have a reaction to the proposed changes, but were not prepared to share it publicly until after presenting it to UW Extension representatives. Rep. Steve Doyle, D-La Crosse, said he was worried the proposed changes would result is less and poorer service for residents who work with Extension.

Doyle is also a member of the La Crosse County Board and works closely with local Extension staff. He said he opposes the area model for Extension, which under the draft proposal would lump La Crosse, Trempealeau, Buffalo, Jackson and Pepin counties together in one area.

La Crosse County is much more urban and serves a different population from Trempealeau County, he said, and needs educators with expertise in different topics. By reducing the number of educators and increasing the area they cover, people won't be on a first-name basis with their Extension agents anymore.

"That is why Extension is so successful," he said. "Its the personalization of services and getting to know how government can work for you."

The cuts are the result of a legislative mistake, Doyle said, and he fears its a step toward eliminating the organization. UW Extension programs get the most bang for the buck, Doyle said, and it was disheartening to see it targeted for reductions.

"The most recent round of cuts have gone from cutting the fat to cutting to the bone," he said. "Now the community is seeing a practical impact from this."
Monroe County authorities have charged a mental health worker accused of sexually assaulting patients at the Tomah VA Medical Center with sexual exploitation by a therapist.

Charles W. Davis, a peer support specialist, was arrested earlier this month after two female patients accused him of ongoing harassment, exposing himself and receiving oral sex in his office.

Davis, 47, was charged Thursday in Monroe County Circuit Court with two counts of sexual exploitation by a therapist, each of which carries a maximum 12-year sentence. He was also charged with lewd and lascivious behavior, a misdemeanor.

According to the criminal complaint, Davis made repeated sexual advances to two patients, including a 26-year-old veteran receiving treatment for past military sexual trauma.

She told VA police that Davis called her into his office in December and exposed himself.

A 32-year-old patient said Davis sent her sexually explicit pictures of himself and that she gave him oral sex in his office, according to the complaint.

Both women said Davis would frequently rub his crotch and make lewd gestures in common areas, the complaint stated.

Davis, whose bond stipulates he may not possess a cell phone, could not be reached for comment.

According to the VA, Davis was hired in 2013 as a housekeeper and promoted several months later to peer support specialist. VA spokesman Matthew Gowan said Davis was certified by the VAs own peer support training program, which requires more ongoing training than a similar state program.

Gowan said Davis had maintained his certification through the past fiscal year.

Peer support specialists have experienced mental illness or substance abuse themselves and have specialized training. They are certified in Wisconsin by the state Department of Health Services, although the state provides no way of independently verifying that certification.

Davis, who is prohibited by the court from having contact with the Tomah VA, is on unpaid leave, according to the VA.

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.
Two of the Coulee Regions most visible and important service agencies are checking days off of the calendar toward Jan. 31 nervously, both tens of thousands of dollars short of their major fundraisers goals.

Although Great Rivers United Way has raised about $2 million, that remains about $78,000 off target. Meanwhile, The Salvation Army needs to raise about $34,000 to hit its goal of $874,000.

Neither is willing to surrender.

Compared to six weeks ago, when we were $180,000 short, weve closed a gap, said Jamie Korn, development director for United Way, which is headquartered in Onalaska. Its pretty remarkable that a lot of people in the community stepped up and helped in a big way  thats for sure.

Similarly, The Salvation Armys Major Jack Holloway said, We are within striking range, but we still need the communitys help to make this happen.

The recent bitter cold weather has brought home how important it is for us to be able to provide shelter, especially for families who would otherwise be homeless, Holloway said.

United Way experienced a couple of setbacks this year when a few company contributions lagged, possibly because of changes in corporate matches or layoffs, Korn said.

Korn expressed hope that people will pitch in, even if they already have given to help support 74 health and human services programs in La Crosse, Monroe and Vernon counties in Wisconsin and Houston County in Minnesota.

Its harmful to our programs if the goal is not reached, she said. They are doing such amazing work in this community.

Last year, the agency surpassed its goal with a tally of $2.065 million with just a day to spare.

At The Salvation Army, the annual Christmas Red Kettle Campaign funds nearly all of its programs and accounts for one-third of the organizations annual budget.

The corps homeless shelter at its headquarters at 223 N. Eighth St. is the only one within a 100-mile radius. The organization also provides a meal program, a food pantry, the assistance of social workers, help with rent and other services.
The Village Kitchen restaurant closed its doors Tuesday evening after 40 years in business at State Road and Losey Boulevard. The Village Shopping Center plans to tear down part of the building at 1509 Losey Blvd. S. to create more parking for Festival Foods.

Owner Rick Hawkins closed the restaurant for good suddenly after VSC Corp.s application for a conditional use permit to demolish the eastern portion of the building, which housed Village Kitchen and two empty storefronts, was made public Thursday.

If approved by the La Crosse Common Council, the permit would allow VSC to remove three storefronts and extend the parking lot to make space for 80 more parking stalls for the South Side Festival Foods. The building that houses Festival Foods is owned by VSC.

I would like to take a moment to thank all of our wonderful supporting costumers and staff for making the village kitchen a great family place, said a representative of the restaurant on its Facebook page.

Hawkins declined to comment further Wednesday. The restaurant began in 1966 as a Country Kitchen owned by Ruth and Richard Hawkins but dropped the franchise in 2010 when Hawkins bought the restaurant from his mother.

A local group has started a Facebook page called Save the Village Kitchen to support the restaurant, encouraging the restaurants customers to contact the shopping center to complain about the planned demolition.

According to a letter included with the permit application, VSC and Hawkins agreed the restaurant would not renew its lease when it expires April 30.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said Wednesday he has made it a priority this year to make sure that everyone who wants to work can get work.

He was in La Crosse the day after his State of the State address, speaking to a crowd of reporters, administrators and educators at Western Technical College, where he repeated his commitment to help students afford higher education increase funding for workforce development.

I keep hearing a pretty consistent theme, Walker said of his talks with business leaders. Employers say they have jobs. They just need people to fill them.

Since he was first elected in 2010, he said, the states economy has changed dramatically, with the lowest unemployment rate in more than 15 years and the ninth-highest labor participation rate in the nation. Despite the higher employment, many jobs are still going unfilled, especially careers in the trades such as welding, nursing and information technology.

So its all about connecting the right workers with the right jobs.

Walker said this was the reasoning behind his education proposals, first outlined last week during visits around the state, including a stop at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, and expanded on during the State of the State address. They include measures to make college more affordable, such as legislation eliminating the $2,500 cap on student loan interest tax deductions, as well as increasing grant funding for two-year students to help them pay for college and keep them enrolled.

A new proposal first mentioned during Tuesdays address is to shift $3 million in the current budget to expand funding for dual-enrollment programs through the states Department for Workforce Development. During his remarks at Western, Walker said he believed this is the best way to pique students interest in career education while in high school and help them get started on a career path.

Skyler Hunze, a 17-year-old De Soto School District student, is also a Western student thanks to the Youth Options program that pays for his classes at the college and provides course credit at both schools. Hunze hopes to graduate from Western next year with an associates degree in business management and was excited the governor was proposing more funding for dual enrollment programs.

People my age can benefit from these programs, he said. It can help people get the jobs that they need.

The governor also presented more details about greater funding for public education. During his State of the State address, Walker spoke about the potential of savings from government reforms such as making changes to the state employee insurance program.

Those savings could add up to tens of millions of dollars, and when asked on Wednesday the governor promised any savings would go to K-12 education, which has faced cuts and frozen funding in the past two budget cycles.

The people appreciate us getting our fiscal house in order, Walker said and later added, Now going forward we have to invest in our young people and those in the workforce.
The devil is in the details, and hopefully Onalaska Mayor Joe Chilsen learned that last week. He should have known long before, though.

Anyone who has run for any public office  and Ive run quite a few times  needs to know and follow the rules for getting his or her name on the ballot. Those rules arent suggestions; they carry the full force and weight of Wisconsin law.

A failure to follow those rules is like submitting a resume for a job with grammatical mistakes. Thats a sure-fire way to disqualify you from further consideration.

When I ran for mayor and city council, I always submitted far more nominating signatures than the minimum number required for that office. Getting those signatures is a good way to meet voters, talk about issues, as well as collecting nominating signatures. Why would anyone only get 223 signatures when a minimum of 200 is required? That simply isnt enough.

Hopefully, Chilsen has learned that getting on the ballot (like being mayor) requires ones best efforts  not the minimum.
The state Senate has passed a pair of bills to curtail public funding for Planned Parenthood.

The Senate voted on party lines, 19-14, to pass both bills Wednesday.

One of the bills would bar abortion providers from getting Title X grant money. Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin currently is the state's only recipient of those funds. The organization estimates it could lose about $3.5 million in annual funding as a result of the bill.

That bill, which passed the Assembly in September, now heads to the desk of Gov. Scott Walker.

The second bill would require abortion providers, when billing the state's Medical Assistance program for a covered prescription drug, to bill for its actual cost.

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin spokeswoman Iris Riis said the organization isn't sure how much funding it could lose if that bill becomes law. It has yet to pass the Assembly.

Democratic lawmakers who oppose the measure said during Wednesday's debate that it likely will be overturned in court because it targets a single organization. They also said the bill will restrict women's access to birth control and other health care, especially in rural areas with few providers of such services.

This will prevent people from getting the care that they need and deserve," said Sen. Janet Bewley, D-Ashland.

The bill addressing Title X grant money says that, if the federal government approves, the grant money instead would go to the state's Well-Woman program, which provides breast cancer and cervical cancer screenings for women.

Federal law requires the grants go to family planning and contraceptives, and screening for breast and cervical cancer and sexually transmitted diseases. It is not allowed to be spent on abortions but can be used for family planning services and wellness screenings.

Planned Parenthood provides reproductive health care services to about 60,000 men and women a year in Wisconsin.

Its Republican critics object to giving public funds to Planned Parenthood because some of its facilities provide abortions.

Planned Parenthood says about 3 percent of its budget goes toward paying for abortions.

The Senate sponsor of the bills is Sen. Chris Kapenga, R-Delafield.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Undocumented immigrants living in Wisconsin packed the state Capitol on Wednesday to oppose a bill that would take away state funding from so-called "sanctuary cities."

"They're against the more vulnerable people," said Milsa, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico living in Madison. "We think there are more important things they should be doing, like job creation  not chasing us."

The bill, introduced by Rep. John Spiros, R-Marshfield, in October, would ban a municipality or county from having a policy preventing officials from inquiring about the immigration status of arrestees or otherwise refusing to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.

If a community were to violate the law, a district attorney, sheriff or the attorney general could file a writ with the circuit court to require compliance. The court would be required to inform the state Department of Revenue, which would reduce the community's shared revenue payments in the next year by between $500 and $5,000, depending on its population, for each day of noncompliance.

Sanctuary cities emerged in the U.S. in the 1980s, but the debate surrounding them has reignited in the context of the 2016 presidential election, particularly after a woman was shot and killed by an undocumented immigrant in San Francisco, a sanctuary city, this summer.

Madison has been classified by some as a sanctuary city, but Mayor Paul Soglin has said it's not. In 2010, the city council passed a resolution instructing police not to inform federal immigration officers about illegal immigrants unless they are charged with violent crimes.

Spiros said last month the impetus for the bill was the incident in San Francisco, not anything that has happened in Wisconsin. He said his bill only targets people who have committed crimes.

Milsa, who has lived in the United States for 11 years, said she's concerned the bill would make it more difficult for undocumented immigrants to drive  something they need to do in order to go to work, buy groceries and take care of their children.

"With this bill, I would be a target for the policeman," she said.

Rep. JoCasta Zamarripa, D-Milwaukee, has said she's concerned the bill would cause a crime victim who is undocumented to hesitate before reporting the crime or assisting with an investigation.

Michelle Brandemuehl, a law student who worked for several years in social services, expressed the same concerns. She also worried creating that kind of environment could potentially make undocumented immigrants targets for crime.

"I'm afraid," said Jose Flores, an undocumented immigrant living in Waukesha. "And my kids, when they see any cops, they'll be afraid."

Flores called the bill racist, adding that he's lived in the U.S. for 18 years and pays taxes.

Flores, who came to the U.S. from Mexico City, made news this summer when his daughter confronted Gov. Scott Walker on a presidential campaign stop in Plainfield, Iowa. He is a member of the activist group Voces de la Frontera.

Asked why he and his family stay in the U.S. when they live in fear of being separated by deportation, Flores said he left Mexico because the country had no opportunities.

"I came to this country to get a better life, better opportunities," he said.

Spiros has said the bill wouldn't affect someone calling to report a crime.

"The bill does not change any of that," Spiros said. "I dont see that this does anything other than protect Wisconsinites as well as those here legally or illegally."

A similar bill introduced in 2007 by then-state Sen. Glenn Grothman (now a congressman) and then-state Rep. Roger Roth (now a state senator) failed to pass the Senate. That bill had a broader reach, and would have banned a municipality or county from having a policy preventing officials from inquiring about the immigration status of anyone seeking or receiving public services.

Spiros said his bill is intentionally more specific than that earlier effort.

"It's not there to hurt innocent people, those who call in on something," Spiros said. "Were not trying to target immigrants, illegal immigrants, whatever. Basically this bill is to protect all of us."
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, is celebrating its sesquicentennial throughout 2016.

The district marks Aug. 17, 1866, as its birthday. This is the day Maj. Gouverneur K. Warren, a West Point graduate widely acclaimed for his leadership at the Battle of Gettysburg, arrived in St. Paul, Minn., with orders to set up an engineering office. And since its creation, the districts history has been entwined with the history of the region.

Warrens first mission included surveying the Upper Mississippi River and acquiring the districts first floating plant for the creation and maintenance of a 4-foot low-water channel between St. Paul and St. Louis.

Three years later, the Eastman Tunnel of Nicollet Island in Minneapolis collapsed. The St. Paul District responded to its first disaster by designing and building several structures to save both Nicollet Island and St. Anthony Falls. Those structures are still in place, and in use, today.

In 1884, the district completed Americas first reservoir on Lake Winnibigoshish, located near Deer River, Minn., and then its first reservoir system, made up of the Winnibigoshish, Leech and Pokegama reservoirs in the Mississippi River Headwaters. Later, the reservoirs of Sandy, Crosslake and Gull were added to this system. Built to augment flow on the Mississippi River as an aid to navigation, these reservoirs now provide exceptional recreation opportunities.

In 1883-1884, the St. Paul District designed and developed the road network in the nations first national park  Yellowstone. The first officer in charge of this project was Dan C. Kingman, who became Chief of Engineers in 1913.

In 1917, the district constructed the first Amberson Dam at what is now Lock and Dam 1 near Minnehaha Park and built the foundation to support hydropower. The nation was debating what the federal role in energy development should be and the power plant was eventually built and operated by Ford Motor Company.

In the 1930s and 1940s, the St. Paul District built the 9-foot navigation channel project in its area of responsibility, which included the building of locks and dams on the Upper Mississippi River. Construction employed a huge labor force, helping the nation recover from the Great Depression. Today, around 90 million tons of commerce is moved on the upper river annually.

After the passage of the Flood Control Act of 1936, when Congress stipulated flood control was an appropriate federal activity, the workload of the Corps of Engineers increased. To date, the St. Paul District has completed a number of large flood damage reduction projects for such cities as Minneapolis, St. Paul, Rochester and Mankato in Minnesota; Grand Forks and Devils Lake in North Dakota; and La Crosse and Portage in Wisconsin.

During World War II, the St. Paul District dredged the Minnesota River to the Port of Cargill, where the Minnesota-based Cargill was building ships for the war effort. The district also constructed a new ordnance plant in Arden Hills, Minn., and airports for Fargo and Devils Lake, N.D.

In the 1980s, the St. Paul District was involved in the first joint-agency, interdisciplinary approach to environmental design in the Great River Environmental Action Team, or GREAT, study on the Mississippi River. In this process, the district developed close working relationships with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and state resource agencies. The success of the GREAT Study set the stage for future cooperative programs and projects to include the Upper Mississippi River Restoration Program, or UMRR. To date, the St. Paul District has completed more than 27 environmental restoration projects benefiting more than 62 square miles of river and floodplain habitat.

In 1984, the district completed the Corps first major nonstructural flood control project at Prairie du Chien. With cooperation from the city, state and other federal agencies, more than 100 families and approximately 12 businesses were relocated from low-lying St. Feriole Island.

Today, the St. Paul District is responsible for supporting inland navigation by operating 13 locks and dams and by maintaining a 9-foot navigation channel on the Mississippi. The district helps communities reduce damages caused by flooding by building flood risk management projects and operating 16 large reservoirs for flood risk reduction, recreation and fish and wildlife habitat. It can assist communities by responding to floods and other natural disasters. It provides engineering services to the Department of Defense and other federal agencies to include the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It issues permits for work in wetlands and navigable rivers and is responsible for an environmental restoration program to improve fish and wildlife habitat. In addition, the district maintains 49 recreation areas open to the public.

Our work strengthens the nations economy, enables the movement of goods and people, reduces damages from disasters such as flood and drought, restores and maintains aquatic ecosystems and provides outdoor recreation for millions, said Col. Daniel C. Koprowski, the St. Paul District commander. We are proud of our past and present service to the region, and we are continually transforming to be able to meet the needs of our nation well into the future.

In celebration of 150 years, the St. Paul District will host several public open houses at its various sites throughout the year. Announcements will be sent out as it gets closer to the events.

The nearly 600 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, employees working at more than 40 sites in five upper-Midwest states serve the American public in the areas of environmental enhancement, navigation, flood damage reduction, water and wetlands regulation, recreation sites and disaster response. Through the Corps Fiscal Year 2015 $100 million budget, nearly 1,600 non-Corps jobs were added to the regional economy, as well as $155 million to the national economy. For more information, see www.mvp.usace.army.mil.
Fizzeology Foods, Viroqua, is among seven local food projects that are the latest recipients of Buy Local, Buy Wisconsin grants administered by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP).

Designed to help farmers and food processors reach new local markets, the grants will provide consumers access to even more Wisconsin-grown food products, ranging from fresh fruits and vegetables to Wisconsin barley and organic maple syrup.

Im pleased DATCP was able to provide support for these innovative local food projects, said Buy Local, Buy Wisconsin Program Manager Teresa Engel. The grants are intended to support the diverse sectors of Wisconsin agriculture, and outcomes generated by the grant recipients will provide benefits to local communities and serve as models for others in the local food industry.

DATCP received 23 funding requests of over $750,000. Ultimately, seven projects totaling $200,000 were selected to receive grants.

Fizzeology Foods will use its grant to expand the product line and create three new jobs. Fizzeology Foods is a company that purchases produce seconds from local farms, much of which would otherwise be wasted, and distributes the produce to retail consumer markets statewide.

The other 2016 grantees are B & Es Trees, LLC, La Crosse; The Cannery Public Market, Green Bay; Eastside Farmers Market, Madison; Hodan Community Services, Inc., Mineral Point; REAP Food Group, Madison; and Wisconsin Food Hub Cooperative, Madison.

The program has been funded since 2008. Since its inception, the program has funded 45 projects, totaling $1.2 million. Previous grant recipients have generated more than $7 million in new local food sales, created and retained 187 jobs, and benefitted more than 2,365 producers and 1,380 markets.

Learn more about the program at http://datcp.wi.gov/Business/Local_and_Regional_Food_Program.
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An innovative, roaming supper club run by two L.A. restaurant vets will open its first brick-and-mortar location next week. The new restaurant, Kali, will open in Larchmont Village on January 27, after the successful run of the supper club Kali Dining helmed by Chef Kevin Meehan and Drew Langley. Instead of the pre-fixe menu of their supper club, their new spot on Melrose Ave. will offer a la carte, locally-sourced dishes like cavatelli with local peppercorns, creme fraiche and fried wild arugula, escargot toast points, and heritage grain risotto with black garlic and San Joaquin cheese. The duo aims to bring a high-caliber dining experience with a laid-back, neighborhood vibe.

"Kali was born out of Drew's and my desire to offer a new style of dining in Los Angeles: Michelin-level cuisine, wine and hospitality, re-imagined and stripped of the white tablecloths and tension of a formal environment," chef Meehan explains in a release.

Besides running the supper club, Meehan has worked in the kitchens of a variety of celebrated restaurants around L.A., including Patina and Cafe Pinot, as well as now-closed 'Orangerie, Bastide and Citrine. Langley, who helped to open Providence, has developed the beverage side of the menu, and aims to feature affordable California wines, as well as small production vintages from private collections. The cocktail menu will also feature locally-sourced base spirits, house-made shrubs and farmers market ingredients.

The duo also helped design the 2,000 square foot space, which will feature an open kitchen, high-arched, exposed ceilings and oak tables with Bonzai trees. There will be seating for 65 people and a 16-seat, L-shaped bar.

Kali is located at 5722 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 871-4160. They'll be open 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday to Saturday, beginning January 27.


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Long Beach's minimum wage will gradually increase from $10 to $13 an hour by 2019.

Just after midnight on Wednesday, the Long Beach City Council voted 6-2 in favor of the minimum wage increase, according to NBC Los Angeles. The plan for the increase is $10.50 an hour by Jan. 1, 2017, then $12 on Jan. 1, 2018 and $13 on Jan. 1, 2019. For nonprofits and businesses with 25 employees or fewer, their schedules will be a bit different; they'll get to delay the hikes by one year for each of the scheduled increases.

As for the next steps, the approved proposal still needs to be written as an ordinance and then approved again by the city council, according to KPCC.

The city council also agreed to commission a study on the minimum wage hike, to see if it is indeed beneficial to Long Beach. If the increase proves successful, then the city council would consider increasing the minimum wage to $14 in 2020 and $15 in 2021.

This follows Los Angeles County's decision last July to incrementally increase the county's minimum wage to $15 by 2020.

Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal, a proponent of the wage increase, said at the council meeting, "The gap continues to grow between the wealthy and the poor, and we continue to deal with the impacts of a growing class of residents living in poverty," according to Press-Telegram.

The city council listened to business owners and labor activists debate about the minimum wage increase for about two-and-a-half hours on Tuesday night, going into early Wednesday morning. Business owners have argued that the increase would hurt business, forcing them to increase prices and to lay off employees. Labor activists spoke up to challenge any possible exemptions from business owners. They also were rallying for a minimum wage increase to $15.
Thursday, January 21, 2016

I spent the first week of 2016 in Cuba with Dickinson Law students -- and it was an energizing experience (even as I fear I will never catch up on my other responsibilities this semester!). The students' studies in Cuba were wide-ranging, with opportunities to engage with experienced legal professionals while discussing historic principles and modern plans for Cuba, including a close look at laws adopted just in the last two years that will affect economic development, international investment in Cuba, employment, property ownership and taxes. For a full report on the course coverage and special events (including great photos by the students), see "Experience Beyond the Classroom Proves Invaluable."

For me, it especially interesting to hear directly about Cuba's health care system, which is highly regarded throughout the world, especially for its success in primary care for pregnant women. From Dr. Yoandra Adela (depicted left) we learned core principles that guide Cuba's plans for health care, including a goal of universal coverage, free and equally accessible to all Cubans.

Our professors freely admitted challenges that Cuba faces in trying to meet health care goals in a struggling economy, with international partners important in order for Cuba to maintain access to medicines, technology and even credit needed to improve buildings and make necessary repairs at treatment sites.

Since 1985, Cuba has recognized a medical specialization in "comprehensive care" -- which emphasizes preventative medicine and community-based contacts. We saw this in action, where doctors from a local polyclinic spend half of their appointment days meeting patients in the office and half of those days seeing patients in their homes. We learned that for the elderly, many of the problems addressed by Cuban health care professionals mirror what is seen in the U.S., with hypertension and diabetes being significant health care risks; on the other hand, Cuba reports low incidence of infectious disease in their population.

I still need to learn more -- especially as I did not have time to fully explore "elder care," which reportedly includes some 380 hogares de ancianos and casas de abuelos, in addition to primary care offices that specialize in geriatric medicine. To the right is Corey Kysor, one of our law students visiting a Havana area polyclinic, the middle level of three components of health care available to all Cubans. (And yes, our law school does plan to return to Cuba in the next academic year to offer additional opportunities for comparative legal studies.)

If you would like to read more, from the perspective of a law student who had already experienced foreign legal systems such as China before traveling for her first time to Cuba this January, read Joy Lee's "Inside Cuban Law and Culture: A Law Student's Perspective."

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/elder_law/2016/01/a-closer-look-at-goal-setting-in-public-health-the-cuban-experience.html
Thursday, January 21, 2016

In yesterday's post, I discussed Kristine Guerra's new "Stolen Freedom" series and specifically the case of Kristine Bunch, whose felony murder conviction was thrown out after sixteen years based on a Brady violation. Thereafter, Bunch filed a couple of lawsuits, including a lawsuit against William Kinard, a forensic chemist with the ATF. This lawsuit was brought under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), asserting claims of malicious prosecution and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The lawsuits were eventually consolidated, and the question of whether the consolidated lawsuit will go forward might hinge on an interesting question: Is the forensic chemist an investigative or law enforcement officer?

I discussed the basic allegations in the case in yesterday's post, but here they are again straight from the mouth of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana in Bunch v. Frank, 2015 WL 3948889 (S.D.Ind. 2015):

Bunch's Greensburg, Indiana mobile home caught fire in the early morning hours of June 30, 1995, killing her three-year-old son, Anthony....Indiana Fire Marshal investigators Bryan Frank and James Skaggs gathered evidence from Ms. Bunch's home and quickly concluded that the fire was deliberately set, that accelerants had been used to cause the fire, that there were pour patterns' in the burned out home where accelerants had been poured, and that the fire had started in two separate locations, one of which was the bedroom in which Anthony was sleeping.... In support of their theory, Frank and Skaggs sent the evidence to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) to be tested. William Kinard, a forensic chemist with the ATF, was assigned to the case. Kinard concluded that several samples, including those from Anthony's bedroom (Exhibit 8) and the living room (Exhibit 6), had no traces of Heavy Petroleum Distillates (HPDs) or any other accelerants. He documented these findings in his initial report and communicated them to Skaggs and Frank. Because Kinard's findings were inconsistent with Skaggs and Franks' theory of the case, they caused Kinard's report to be altered so that it falsely stated that accelerants were found in exhibits 6 and 8,...and Kinard agreed to alter his report to state that accelerants were found in exhibits 6 and 8, and concocted an official report which falsely so stated....Kinard also agreed not to include his finding that the areas that tested positive for HPDs were only consistent with the presence of kerosene, for which there was an innocent explanation; rather his official report would state that they were consistent with a much broader array of HPDs[.]...Skaggs, Frank, and Kinard submitted only the official report to the Decatur County State's Attorney in July 1995.

These are shocking allegations, but they may never be heard by the court. The United States moved to dismiss Bunch's complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and failure to state a claim. Specifically, it claimed the lawsuit is "barred by the intentional torts exception to the FTCA." Bunch countered that "the FTCA specifically waives sovereign immunity for intentional 'acts or omissions of investigative or law enforcement officers of the United States Government.'" The United States agreed with this legal principle but countered that the forensic chemist was not an "investigative or law enforcement officer."

So, who is right? Pursuant to statute, an "investigative or law enforcement officer" is defined by statute as "any officer of the United States who is empowered by law to execute searches, to seize evidence, or to make arrests for violations of Federal law." Bunch claimed that

Kinard "was tasked with executing a forensic search of items recovered from [Bunch's] mobile home, to determine whether that search would reveal chemicals that would assist in the criminal prosecution of [Bunch]. This clearly constituted a search."

The United States countered that a "forensic search" is not a search, and the court, in dicta, tentatively agreed with this position, noting that "[i]t appears to the Court that the trend has been to narrowly define what constitutes a 'search' for purposes of determining whether a person falls into the law enforcement proviso."

Luckily for Bunch, however, the court ultimately concluded "that the question is not whether Kinard was conducting a 'search' at the time of the alleged wrongdoing, but rather, whether he had the legal authority to do so."

On this point, the United States submitted the affidavit from Lisa Boykin, Chief of the Human Resources Operation Division of the ATF, who stated, inter alia, that

the job duties and responsibilities of a Chemist do not include the duty to enforce any of the criminal, seizure, or forfeiture provisions of the laws of the United States, or the authority to carry firearms, serve warrants and subpoenas issued under the authority of the United States, make arrests, or make seizures of property subject to forfeiture of the United States.

The court, however, "that this issue cannot be resolved on the pleadings alone; rather, evidence is needed to determine the contours of Kinard's job with the ATF in order to determine whether the law enforcement proviso applies in this case."

And that's where things current stand. This is a pretty fascinating and important case. It seems that, in a lot of cases, there is involvement by quasi-law enforcement officers, which means that the interpretation of the FTCA exception could decide whether many lawsuits are heard or dismissed. For instance, in the Adnan Syed case, the disinterment of the body of Hae Min Lee was supervised by Dr. William Rodriguez, the Forensic Anthropologist and Chief Deputy Medical Examiner for the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. Was he an investigative or law enforcement officer?

Of course, the Bunch case not only calls into question how we should interpret the exception; it also calls into question whether the exception should be expanded. There are obvious reasons why the United States government should be given sovereign immunity for intentional misconduct by non-governmental agents. There are also obvious reasons why the government should be given sovereign immunity for intentional misconduct by law enforcement officers with lesser powers. Indeed, the exception at issue seems to be based on the proviso: "With great power comes great responsibility."

That said, especially in the CSI era, isn't the power to manipulate forensic evidence and reports every bit as dangerous as the power to arrest, search, and seize? And, as such, shouldn't the exception apply to federal forensic experts?

-CM

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/evidenceprof/2016/01/in-yesterdays-post-i-discussed-kristine-guerras-newstolen-freedomseries-and-specifically-the-case-ofkristine-bunch-whose-fe.html


British Prime Minister David Cameron has called for women immigrants to Britain to learn English within 30 months or be deported.

The plan targets Muslim women joining their husbands already in Britain. Cameron said his plan would help Muslim women immigrants who spend most of their time at home.

Cameron wrote Monday that 190,000 Muslim women speak poor English and 38,000 Muslim women speak no English, although they have lived in Britain for years. Their lack of English socially isolates them, he said.

Cameron said his plan will help all migrants. Critics said he was singling out Muslims.

Cameron said people who do not speak English often live apart from British society. He said they are more likely to be radicalized. He said he believes his plan will help keep the country safe.

He says there is no connection between a lack of English and being radicalized. But, he said, if you are not able to speak English, not able to integrate, you may find, therefore, you have challenges understanding what your identity is and therefore you could be more susceptible to the extremist message.

He said the government will spend more than $28 million for English classes for migrants. The classes would focus on immigrant woman living in isolated communities. The government said classes would take place in homes, schools and community centers. Travel and childcare costs would be paid.

The government says the plan would take effect in October. Female immigrants must pass an English test within two-and-a-half years of their arrival, or face removal from the country. That threat would remain even if they have children in Britain.

No plans are in place to remove migrants who fail the test. But officials said the government may refuse to extend visas or could deny the immigrants permission to stay in the country permanently.

Andy Burnham is a senior member of the opposition Labor Party. He called the plan a simplistic, headline-driven approach to extremism (that) risks unfairly stigmatizing a whole community, thereby making the problem worse.

He said all women -- religious or secular -- should be helped to learn English, not just Muslim women.

Burnham noted that the government had cut spending on English-language classes in 2011.

The Ramadhan Foundation, a Muslim group, also criticized Cameron. It said very few of the 3 million Muslims in Britain are extremists. It said the best way to fight terrorism is to build support (with) Muslims and support the work done across the country, not denigrating Muslims.

But Naz Shah, a Muslim and a Labor member of parliament, supports the plan. Shah noted that too many childrenare starting school with no English because it is not spoken at home." He says that has an effect on their learning ability because education starts in the home.

Im Christopher Jones-Cruise.

This story was curated from WashingtonPost.com, HeraldScotland.com, newsweek.com, theguardian.com, inquisitr.com and thetimes.co.uk. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted it for Learning English. Kathleen Struck was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section, or on our Facebook page.

_____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

deported - v. expelled from a country

radicalized - v. causing someone to become more extreme

therefore - adv. for that reason

thereby - adv. because of those words or that action

isolated  adj. separate from others

single out  v. to treat or to speak about (someone or something in a group) in a way that is different from the way you treat or speak about others

integrated  adj. allowing all types of people to participate or be included; not segregated

susceptible  adj. easily affected, influenced, or harmed by something (often + to)

approach  n. a way of dealing with something; a way of doing or thinking about something; the act of speaking to someone for some purpose (such as to ask a question or make a request)

stigmatize  v. to describe or regard (something, such as a characteristic or group of people) in a way that shows strong disapproval

denigrate  v. to say very critical and often unfair things about (someone)


Police are investigating threats against dozens of schools this week in seven U.S. states.

Searches failed to find bombs or other dangers.

Threats were called in to at least 26 schools in New Jersey on Tuesday. Most were to schools in suburbs of New York City, police said.

Other threats were called in Tuesday to schools in Maryland, Iowa, Massachusetts, Delaware, Arizona and Florida. Wednesday brought more bomb threats to schools in Delaware and Arizona.

The threats come at a time polling shows Americans worried about terrorist attacks.

New Jersey police officials said voices on the threatening phone calls sounded altered by computers. The calls were traced to Bakersfield, California, police said.

At Clifton High School, a voice mail warned of a bomb. A separate call warned of a mass shooting at the school later on Tuesday, said Sgt. Robert Bracken of Clifton Police Department.

The responses to the threats varied, according to news reports. Some schools moved students to other buildings while officials searched the threatened schools. In New Jersey, some students said they waited outside their schools for an hour or more without coats in below freezing temperatures.

Other schools closed for the day. And some kept students locked down in their classrooms.

In New Jersey, police used dogs trained to smell explosives.

Police and school officials said Tuesday they could not say if most threats came from a single group or person. They also said they did not know the reason threats were made.

Some police said some calls appear the work of copy cats. Copy cats are people who repeat an action taken by somebody else.

Last month, threats were made to school administration offices in New York City and Los Angeles. Emails warned of attacks on multiple schools in the two cities. Los Angeles officials decided to close their schools that day, but New York City officials kept schools open.

No bombs were found. Los Angeles and New York are the largest school districts in the United States.

The threats are making some students and parents nervous.

NBC 4 TV News in New York reported some students said they decided not to return to school Tuesday after the all clear signal was given because they remained afraid.

Last month, President Barack Obama observed the third anniversary of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. A lone gunman killed his mother and then drove to the school where he killed 20 first graders and six educators.

In Virginia, Prince William County school and police officials met Monday with parents to discuss recent bomb threats at four county high schools.

Insidenova.com reported that officials told parents most people planning school shootings do not advertise shootings.

We have to take the threat seriously, but we also have to balance our approach so that were not scaring the kids, said Police Lieutenant David Burghart, according to Insidenova.com

But a school official told parents they should tell their children to report any threats they hear about from classmates or others.

I'm Jonathan Evans.

Bruce Alpert reported on this story for VOA Learning English. His report was based on police and media reports. Kathleen Struck was the editor.

Share your comments below or on our Facebook page.

_______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

suburb  n. a town or other area where people live in houses near a larger city

alter  v. to change something or someone

voice mail  n. a message left on a telephone answering device

response  n. something that is done as a reaction to something else

vary  v. different responses to the same problem

locked down -- v. to be kept in place

dozens - n. large numbers of people or things

polling - n. an activity in which many people are asked questions in an effort to get information about what most people think about something

according - adv. as stated by or in

coats - n. an outer piece of clothing that keeps a person warm or dry


Four attackers used guns and bombs to kill at least 21 students and teachers Wednesday morning at Bacha Khan University in northwest Pakistan.

Officials say many more were wounded.

Police say the four attackers entered the university in Charsadda at around nine in the morning and began shooting students and teachers. Students and university workers told a VOA correspondent at the university that some of those killed or wounded were both shot and stabbed.

Police official Saeed Wazir Khan said at least two of the attackers were suicide bombers.

A spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban denied responsibility for the attack. Mohammad Khorasani said the group does not target non-military organizations.

But earlier, a Taliban commander in the area said he sent the four attackers to the university.

A Pakistani military spokesman said troops killed the four attackers and took control of the university.

About 3,000 students attend the university.

Charsadda is about 50 kilometers from the provincial capital, Peshawar. In December 2014, militants linked to the Pakistani Taliban attacked a school in Peshawar and killed 150 people, most of them children.

Im Christopher Jones-Cruise.

Reporters Ayesha Tanzeem and Ayaz Gul prepared stories on the attack for VOANews.com. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted their stories for Learning English. Kathleen Struck was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section, or visit our Facebook page.

______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

spokesman - n. a person who speaks for someone else or for a group

provincial - adj. of or concerning a province (an area outside the capital or a city)
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The BBC plans to give away a million tiny, programmable computers to UK students. But its taking a little longer than planned.

Initially the BBC had hoped to distribute its micro:bit devices to students and teachers last fall. Then the date was pushed back to early 2016. Now the plan is to get them in the hands of students in time for the summer term. Teachers will get them a little earlier.

The micro:bit is a small, single-board device that measures about 2 x 1.6 and which features LED lights, Bluetooth, a series of sensors, a micro USB port, and a few physical buttons.

Theres no keyboard or display because the micro:bit isnt supposed to replace a notebook, tablet, or desktop computer. Instead, the idea is that students can learn to program the device to play games, make music, or perform other activities.

Microsoft has released a web tool for programming the micro:bit, and this week Samsung unveiled an Android app for connecting to the tiny computer via Bluetooth.
Samarkand: The Underground With a Far-Reaching Impact

By: Rabbi Hillel Zaltzman

Chamah Publications|732 pp.|Available on Kehot.com

In the 1964 Presidential election, Republican candidate Barry Goldwater is famously remembered as quoting the Roman orator, Cicero, in the following bold assertion: I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue! The resonance of this statement with our current sensibilities, despite the fact that it has its origins many centuries prior, only attests to its capturing a cardinal truth of the human endeavor. That, while avoiding fanaticism and extremism is generally a good practice,when faced with tyranny, such an attitude is both cowardly and self-destructive.

And quite rightly, in human history, those who were willing to stand up against oppressive governments in the name of minority rights are lauded as heroes and their causes now integrated into the fabric of modern life. The American founding fathers, the leaders of the Civil Rights movement, the righteous gentiles who hid Jews during the Holocaustall of these were political dissidents, acting, at the time, with what you might call fanaticism. But they are properly understood to be heroes.

Interestingly, those who stood up against the oppressive Soviet Communists are not the first to come to minds of modern Americans in such a discussion of heroic figures. In fact, Communism itself is often not thought of (or taught) as quite such a tyrannical evil. And shockingly, in a recent poll, nearly 25% of Americans either think Communism is morally superior to our current form of government or are not sure whether or not it is. For a political system that murdered 20 million of its own citizens when implemented in Russia, and millions more in China and elsewhere, thats an astonishingly high approval rating.

The result of this sympathy with Communist ideals translates into a lack of understanding of and sympathy for those who were willing to stand up against it. You dont see the faces of Soviet dissidents painted on the Heroes Wall at public elementary schools. You dont hear whispered concerns over the fact that soon those who suffered under Soviet Communism will all die and there will be no one to transmit their story. In fact, you dont hear much about them at all.

And so, Rabbi Hillel Zaltzmans recently translated memoir, Samarkand: The Underground with a Far-Reaching Impact, that chronicles his life under the oppressive, totalitarian regime of Soviet Russia and the steps he and others took to ensure the survival of their religious ideals and practices, is a precious rarity. It shares the story of how, in a tiny corner of the Soviet Union, Samarkand, Uzbekistan, a small group of dedicated Chabad-Lubavitch families inspired and encouraged by the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn and subsequently, the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, managed to create an underground network that would ultimately succeed in bringing the teachings of Torah to over 1,500 young Jews under the radar of the ever-present KGB. Samarkand offers a window into the unique experience of those who managed to keep Judaism not just alive, but flourishing, under Communism. It shows the extreme oppression of totalitarianism, which unlike authoritarianism or other dictatorial governments, attempts to suppress all minority views.

The result of which is, in the period of a few generations, the near destruction of any shared communal belief system other than the mandated government ideology. So, in a world where the Chinese Communist government casually prohibited married couples from having children leading to the elimination of unwanted female babies, European countries are enthusiastically banning Jewish practices of circumcision and ritual slaughtering, and Americas academics are cowed into silence lest they teach something deemed triggering, such a story is not just of interest, it speaks to a moral imperative.

Unlike much of the literature of the present era, replete with overwrought prose and tired imagery, Samarkand wastes no time in telling its story: the story of people. These were people who, despite the great physical and psychological struggles of living under Communism, displayed courage and determination of Maccabean caliber. While in much of Russia survival under communist totalitarianism turned men into small craven animals, in Samarkand, giants seemed to walk the earth.

One of the most compelling characters is that of Rabbi Mendel Futerfas, famed Chabad-Lubavitch mentor and activist who clandestinely worked on behalf of Russian Jewry, and whose presence in the town of Samarkand, though brief, had a deep impact on those he dealt with. The story of Reb Mendel, as he is affectionately referred to by the author, and the great personal sacrifice he undertook to save the lives of his fellow Jews, epitomized the unfailing faith and dedication to the Jewish people chronicled in Samarkand.

At the end of World War II, when the Russian government allowed Polish citizens to exit the country, Reb Mendel saw an opportunity to rescue his fellow Jews from the grips of Communism by producing false Polish passports. At a certain point it became clear to him that the KGB was aware of his work, yet he refused to cease his activism. This would ultimately mean that he would be arrested, tortured and sentenced to death by the KGB. He would later describe to the author the KGBs brutal and twisted method of interrogation:

He recalled how the door of the interrogation room would open, and a detainee would be summoned by his last name. The man would stand up, wailing and crying, not knowing what fate awaited him in the next room. Frequently, after incessant screams and sobbing from the interrogation room, a gunshot would be heard, followed by total silence.

In the case of Reb Mendel, however, the interrogation took a decidedly different turn. When they discovered that they could not break his spirit with beatings and torture, they tried psychological means to get his cooperation:

Youre sentenced to death, you know. But if you were to cooperate, we could save you by giving you a prison sentence instead

Reb Mendel was unmoved:

You know that I believe in G-d. I have no doubt that if He wants me to die, even if you were to release me now, I could be run over and killed by a car as I leave here. But if He wants me to live, you will never succeed in killing me.

And it seems that G-d wanted Reb Mendel to live, because shortly after his death sentence was issued, a telegram arrived from Stalin with instructions to commute unfulfilled death sentences to twenty-five years in prison. Indeed, in 1953 when Stalin died and Khrushchev took over, Reb Mendel was one of the many political prisoners who was released. Though it would still be more than a decade before he would be able to leave Russia and reunite with his family, Reb Mendel was a free man and would eventually make his way to Samarkand to help the author and his compatriots.

When the author first met Reb Mendel he asked him a question that had been plaguing him and his peers. Was it possible, they wondered, to dedicate oneself to the needs of the community before one had spent sufficient time in ones personal spiritual growth? And despite the fact that such dedication to the needs of his fellow Jews had condemned Reb Mendel to brutal torture, back-breaking labor, and ultimately decades long separation from his family, his reply was unwavering:

If the prophet Eliyahu [Hanavi] himself comes to you and says that theres no need to involve yourself with your fellow Jew, tell him, You might be Eliyahu Hanovi, but were still not listening to you, and continue to assist others.

Such was the extremism of the Samarkand underground.

Samarkand shares hundreds of unique and heroic stories about Chabad-Lubavitch life in the Soviet Union. But in some sense, this book isnt about heroes at all. Rather, it is about the heroic abilities that exist within ordinary people.

Rabbi Zaltzman relates that when he arrived in the United States in 1971, together with a group of emigrants from Samarkand, he was invited to meet with the great Torah scholar and halachic arbiter, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein. Upon describing the extreme measures they went to in order to maintain a Jewish life in the Soviet Union, Rabbi Feinstein asked them:

How could you survive under these conditions?!

Did we have a choice? they answered.

And interestingly, in the entire 700-plus pages of Samarkand, the issue of choice never comes up. Because it was clear to the Jews of Samarkand that to choose avoidance of hardship, to choose to follow the modern trends of their time, to choose to pursue a life of success to the extent possible in the Soviet Union, would have absolutely precluded a choice to remain Jewish.

In our present era, when the ability to choose anything is asserted like a G-d given right, but yet the responsibility for such choices are shirked without thought, such a perspective is refreshing. It confirms the truth that is becoming increasingly uncomfortable in todays society:that our lives must be lived as a whole, that the choices we make today determine the peoplewe will be tomorrow, and that it is those seemingly small, but incredibly difficult choices that we make on a daily basis that shape the content of our character.

When Reb Mendel Futerfas first arrived in Samarkand, dejected at the thought of continuing to remain under watchful and stifling Communist government, the author shared the following thought with his guest: Just by being in Samarkand, he related enthusiastically, one is uplifted. And though Reb Mendel was doubtful then, upon departing from Samarkand he confirmed, Now I see theres some truth in your words.

As we look forward to a world that seems to hold no future, it is Samarkands message of extreme faith and dedication, the message that succeeded in bringing Judaism out of darkest Russia, that has the power to lift us and carry us forward.
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There's no smoke without fire and sadly for Bollywood's best-dressed couple the speculations over the months have proved to be true. Actor-director Farhan Akhtar has severed his ties with his celebrity-stylist wife Adhuna. According to a report in Mid-Day, Farhan has moved out of his house and shifted to his sister, Zoya Akhtar's bungalow, two blocks away. According to the rumour mill, he is looking for new accommodation.

Despite the scores of reasons put out by the media as to the reason for the split, the couple has maintained that it has been 'a matter of growing apart' as reported Mid-Day.

The couple released a statement which read, This is to announce that we, Adhuna and Farhan, have mutually and amicably decided to separate. Our children remain our priority and it is immensely important to us, as responsible parents, that they be protected from unwarranted speculation and public glare. We sincerely request that we are given the privacy that is required at this time to move forward in a dignified manner.

Speculation about the duo's relationship went into overdrive after Adhuna was visibly missing from Farhan's Akhtar last few major outings, including the celebratory party for the actor's latest movie Wazir and Dabboo Ratnani's calendar launch.

Farhan, 42, and Adhuna, 48 were in a relationship for three years before getting married in 2000 and have two children. They first met during the filming of his directorial debut Dil Chahta Hai in 2001 which also marked Adhuna's debut as a Bollywood hairstylist, and her successful inning as a B-Blunt Brand owner.
New Delhi - As preparations for the Budget for 2016-17 pick up pace, the Finance Ministry on Wednesday highlighted "the promises met" relating to the last Budget, including those of subsidy and agriculture.

"As we head towards Budget 2016, we provide the highlights of the promises met for Budget 2015 announcements," the Finance Ministry said in a series of tweets.

On subsidies, the ministry said the government came out with the direct benefit transfer for LPG called Pahal and digitisation of ration cards has been completed in 29 states and UTs.

"Over 32 crore cards have been digitised and over 8.5 crore ration cards seeded with Aadhaar," the Ministry said in one of the tweets.

As we head towards #Budget2016 we provide the highlights of the promises met of Budget 2015 announcements. pic.twitter.com/SLFuoQ8Kbn  Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) January 20, 2016

As we head towards #Budget2016 we provide the highlights of the promises met of Budget 2015 announcements. pic.twitter.com/ZaBcEF2UT4  Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) January 20, 2016

As we head towards #Budget2016 we provide the highlights of the promises met of Budget 2015 announcements. pic.twitter.com/Xb336jH3AA  Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) January 20, 2016



On Budget 2015 announcement of farm credit of Rs 8.5 lakh crore in 2015-16, it said monitoring of agriculture credit is being done on quarterly basis.

About allocation of Rs 34,699 crore for improving quality and effectiveness of MNREGA, the ministry made it clear that the Budget allocation has been approved.

On status of implementation of organic farming scheme 'Paramparagat Krishi Sinchayi Yojna', it said the scheme has been launched and Rs 300 crore was allocated in 2015-16 against which Rs 178.23 crore has been released so far.

Also, states have collected 61.32 lakh soil samples, and 69.47 lakh soil health cards have been issued.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is scheduled to present the Union Budget on February 29.

PTI
New Delhi: To double the capacity of state transport buses, the forthcoming Budget may contain a proposal for an annual grant of Rs 2,500 crore for state road transport corporations to increase their fleet.

The proposal has been mooted by Road Transport and Highways Ministry to Ministry of Finance against the backdrop of less number of state transport buses and 'hue and cry' over old polluting vehicles which have to be phased out.

"The Road Transport and Highways Ministry in pre-Budget consultations with the Finance Ministry has placed a proposal for annual allotment of about Rs 2,500 crore from the Centre to increase the fleet by state transport corporations," an official source told PTI.

The Ministry has suggested that this can be taken up on a pari passu basis with an equal amount allocation from the respective states.

The move holds significance in the wake of scarcity of public transport buses. Only 5 per cent of the country's population use state transport buses.

The proposal also assumes significance in the wake of government mulling conversion of about 1.5 lakh diesel buses run by state transport corporations into electric buses. "We have 1.5 lakh buses of state road transport corporations. It is our effort to convert 1.5 lakh diesel buses into electric battery-operated buses which will reduce Rs 8 lakh crore bill on import of crude and petroleum and would also help in making India pollution free," Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari had recently said.

To make India pollution free, the country needs to encourage electric vehicles and vehicles should be run on environment-friendly fuel like bio-diesel and ethanol, the Minister had said.

Besides grant for state transport buses, in another proposal, the Ministry has sought Rs 800 crore Budget allocation for the proposed Smart Mobility Through Intelligent and Legal Enforcement (SMILE) scheme.

"The Ministry has sought Rs 800 crore allocation for SMILE project," the official said.

Under the proposal, the Centre is likely to include the commissionerates of police under its proposed SMILE scheme, which will help meet the infrastructural requirement of the states traffic police.

According to information, the Ministry has already asked some states' police to submit a proposal in this regard. The Ministry has proposed to include 10 cities of India under the SMILE project in first phase.

PTI
New Delhi: No-frills airline IndiGo's parent Interglobe Aviation on Wednesday reported nearly 24 percent rise in net profit at Rs 657.28 crore in the three months ended December 2015, boosted by low fuel prices and high passenger revenues.

The carrier, which got listed in November 2015, had a net profit of Rs 531.57 crore in the year-ago period.

IndiGo's revenues climbed to Rs 4,407.49 crore in the third quarter of this fiscal, an increase of nearly 12 percent compared to Rs 3,938.79 crore in the same period a year ago, according to a regulatory filing.

"Our business continues to perform well on the back of increase in fleet size, robust passenger demand and low fuel

prices," IndiGo president and Whole Time Director Aditya Ghosh said.

One of the profitable carriers in the country, IndiGo flew 8.33 million passengers in the 2015 December quarter compared to 6.53 million people flown in the year-ago period.

In the latest December quarter, the airline saw its fuel cost decline about 20 per cent to Rs 1,165.86 crore as against Rs 1,453.52 crore in the same period a year ago.

"Lower fuel prices enabled us to lower our fares for our customers, further stimulating market demand and increasing the propensity of people to travel," Ghosh said.

After getting listed, this is the first time that InterGlobe Aviation Ltd, which runs the airline under the brand name IndiGo, is announcing its quarterly results.

InterGlobe had raised Rs 3,008.5 crore at issue price of Rs 765 per share from the IPO, which was the biggest initial share sale in three years.

In the third quarter, IndiGo's total expenses stood at Rs 3,474.59 crore, higher than Rs 3,186.18 crore in the 2014

December quarter.

"... the Indian rupee depreciated from Rs 63.04/USD to Rs 66.15/USD over this period which had an impact on the overall costs," the filing said.

IndiGo has a fleet of 100 aircraft.

"The total debt was Rs 39,302 million, all of which is aircraft related. IndiGo does not have any working capital

debt," the filing said.

At the end of December 2015, IndiGo had a total cash of Rs 5,746.3 crore, including free cash worth Rs 2,097.4 crore.

PTI
Haridwar: Vigilance has been heightened at the ongoing Ardh Kumbh mela and security beefed up around vital installations in the district after four youths with suspected terror links who were allegedly planning to launch an attack were nabbed, police said on Wednesday.

Security around sensitive and crowded spots, including Har Ki Pairi has been tightened, Inspector General of Police G S Martolia, in charge of the security for the mela, said.

Four youths with suspected terror links who were allegedly conspiring to strike in the mela area were held by a joint team of Delhi Police Special Cell and Uttarakhand police last night from Manglour town in Haridwar district.

IG Martolia said all vehicles coming to Haridwar besides hotels and lodges in the district are being checked to keep a tab on dubious people.

Visitors to temples are on CCTV surveillance and senior police officials are patrolling the mela areas 24x7, he said.

A special vigil is being kept around vital installations and at points bordering the neighbouring states like Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh with patrolling and frisking being intensified, he said.

Bomb disposal squads and intelligence personnel are maintaining a constant vigil in the mela area and all intelligence inputs received are being analysed, he said.

Senior police officials, including IG Martolia, later visited Laksar railway station near Roorkee and all the check posts and police stations between Laksar and Haridwar to take stock of security arrangements there, a release from DIG Ardh Kumbh's office said.

PTI
Bengaluru: A 31-year-old techie was found murdered in her apartment in Bengaluru, after which a man was arrested from Gurgaon on Thursday.

Kusuma Rani Singla, a software engineer with a multinational company, was found dead by her flat mate in their apartment in Kadugodi on Tuesday night.

Singla, a divorcee hailing from Punjab, was transferred to the city six months ago from Noida.

In a swift action, one Sukhbir Singh was arrested from a place near Gurgaon with the help of local police in connection with the case, Additional Commissioner (Bengaluru-East) P Harishekaran said.

Singh and Singla were friends via social media. In a meeting with her, Singh is said to have demanded Rs 50,000 and a flight ticket from her which she denied, Harishekaran said.

Angered by this, he strangulated her to death using a laptop charger cord. A pen was also used in the crime, and an about two-inch deep wound is seen on her right eyebrow, he said.

"On 19 January, Singh flew into Bengaluru from Delhi and went to Singla's house by 12:15 pm. He was there till 3:30 pm," Harishekaran said. An altercation erupted between the two that led to the murder of Singla, he said.

After the murder, Singh collected Singla's ATM cards and chequebooks and even withdrew Rs 11,000 using one of the debit cards before leaving to Delhi via Mumbai.

Singh hails from Haryana and has worked as a software engineer with multinational companies but is currently unemployed, he said, adding he would be brought to the city.

PTI
New Delhi: With much at stake in West Asia, India must rethink its strategy and extend military support for peace in that region, even as it cannot have a single firm policy on Pakistan, former national security advisor Shiv Shankar Menon has said.

"Our approach and behaviour should change in defence of our interests in West Asia," Menon said in a lecture hosted by the Society for Policy Studies (SPS) at the India Habitat Centre on Wednesday evening, listing the compelling reasons as its seven million citizens working there, the $35 billion inward remittances and large oil imports, among others.

"I've no doubt that sooner rather than later India will have to make real political and military contributions to stability and security in this region that's so critical to our economy and security," Menon said alluding to New Delhi's present policy of participating in a military resolution only under a UN flag.

Menon, a former foreign secretary, said there was a huge change in the West Asian (Middle East) situation today with four key players - Iran, Turkey, Egypt and Israel - having their own unique positions. If these were to get together, the problem could theoretically be resolved. At the same time, one must not look at the old Western order anymore, he added.

Yet, he also saw a positive outcome from this. "To my mind this world is as much of a challenge as an opportunity for a country like India that wants to change the reality that we have inherited. I only hope that we once again show the wisdom to seize the day," he said.

Menon said India faced a different situation from what it had got used to, benefiting from 20 years of average growth of over 6.5 percent.

"We can no longer assume that others will guarantee the safety of the sea lanes that carry our foreign trade and our energy supplies. Nor can we assume that a benign international order will keep the peace," he said.

"We will have to decide how far we wish to assume new responsibilities, and how far we are willing to compromise on strategic autonomy and work with others on these security issues," Menon said to a packed audience comprising diplomats, officials and members of the strategic community.

"At the same time, many more powers, facing the same uncertainty, are and will be willing to work with India in this effort, as we already see in maritime security and counter-terrorism," Menon said.

Menon, who began his career with the Indian Foreign Service in 1972, was the country's national security advisor between January 2010 and May 2014, and the foreign secretary between October 2006 and July 2009.

The 66-year-old, who played a key tole in forging the India-US nuclear deal, rubbished the notion that India's policy on Pakistan was not working and maintained that it was not possible for New Delhi to have a one-size-fits-all approach with the neighbour.

"We can't have one policy, dealing with many Pakistans," he said, referring to multiple actors there, each with a different notion and agenda -- civil society, the government, the army, Inter-Services Intelligence, religious groups and terror outfits.

"So you run multiple policies," he said, adding it was in India's interests to have good relations with Pakistan. They, in any case, have nothing to lose, unlike India. "They have no tourism to talk about and no investment to start with," he added.

Menon, who has also been India's envoy to four strategically-important countries, namely Pakistan, Sri Lanka, China and Israel, alluded it was also because of multiple actors in Pakistan that one faced peculiar situations.

Towards this, he took the example of how the surprise Lahore visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend Pakistan Premier Nawaz Sharif's grand-daughter's wedding was followed by an attack at Pathankot in Punjab. This, he said, was a pattern which had become commonplace.

"Despite this, the prospect is that the dialogue process will continue with several engagements foreseen in the coming months. It is still an open question whether the optics of India-Pakistan dialogue can be converted to substantive results," he said.

"India has consistently sought to find a modus vivendi or to normalise relations with Pakistan in our own interest."

Considered an expert on China and fluent in Mandarin, Menon also spoke at length on India's emerging relations with its northern neighbour with which it shares a 4,000-km-plus border.

"We need to find a new equilibrium with China," said the key aide of former prime minister Manmohan Singh, who was also his special representative to conduct border talks with China.

Menon said in recent years, India had managed to both compete and work with China, more so since there were some 11,000 Indians studying and working there, as also because of the Asian giant being India's largest trading partner for merchandise goods.

"We have little to gain and much to lose if we treat our relationship with China as a zero-sum game. Since both countries have major internal reform and structural adjustment to undertake, the present pattern of cooperation with competition should continue for the foreseeable future, but there are new factors which suggest that India and China need to find a new equilibrium." he said.

"As for the bilateral issues that divide us -- like the boundary, trans-border rivers and China's activities in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir -- we have found ways to manage differences in the last 30 years while growing the relationship," he added.

AP
After the highest decision making body of the Hyderabad Central University decided to revoke the suspension of five research scholars with "immediate effect", four of the students - one committed suicide last Sunday, rejected the decision and also the University's appeal to return to regular classes.

Instead, the protesting students have drawn the battle lines, they now want to see nothing less than the resignation of Vice Chancellor Appa Rao Podile.

Members of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) for Social Justice, representing the protesters, chased away two professors Podile had sent to speak with the students.

We have rejected the vice chancellors appeal and the circular on termination of punishment of the four students. We do not want to negotiate or hold a dialogue with any of the representatives sent by P Appa Rao. We do not consider him vice chancellor anymore. He should quit first and all our demands regarding reinstatement of the four suspended students, compensation to Rohiths family should be met, JAC coordinator Venkatesh Chauhan said.

The two-member fact-finding committee sent by the government to the university reported to the HRD Ministry on Thursday morning and is likely to submit its report to HRD Minister Smriti Irani on Friday.

The financial strain on Vemula broke his defences and that issue is certain to occupy centrestage in the report. Vemula's JRF fellowship money dried up for seven months and the University is said to have defended itself with the line that the money was delayed because Vemula changed his area of PhD research midway which reportedly led to delays from the University Grants Commission.

When senior faculty members Prof T V Rao and Prof Vinod Pavarala tried approaching the students, they were greeted with loud booing. We do not want to negotiate with VCs chamchas, students yelled, shooing the peacemakers away.

"Smriti Irani is lying"

Escalating its attack on the Centre over Rohith Vemula's alleged suicide in Hyderabad University, Congress on Thursday demanded immediate sacking of HRD Minister Smriti Irani and Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya.

"...Irani is lying through her teeth in a bid to protect the ABVP leader. She is misleading the nation by giving false information," Congress chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala said, seeking to dismiss the claims of Irani on the issue.

Irani had on Wednesday said that the ABVP leader, who was attacked in student rivalry earlier, also belonged to the OBC community as was Dattatreya, who had written a letter to her about the attack.

Insisting that the HRD Minister "justified the unfairness" meted out to Rohith Vemula, who committed suicide, and four other suspended Dalit students, Surjewala said, "She is the custodian of all universities. She committed the unpardonable sin of lying to the nation. She spoke a number of lies to cover up a lie."

"VC is criminal on the run"

The Joint Action Committee for Social Justice and the University of Hyderabad Teachers' Association today rejected an appeal made by the varsity vice-chancellor Appa Rao Podile to restart classes and restore normalcy on campus.

"At a time when the legitimacy of Prof Appa Rao to continue as a VC is in question, without attending to the protesting students, who are on indefinite hunger strike, the absconding VC and Executive Committee met today (not inside the campus) and issued a circular.

"We outrightly reject this illegitimate circular since it came through a Committee headed by the VC, who in our opinion is not the legitimate VC anymore, but in fact a criminal on the run," the Joint Action Committee for Social Justice alleged in a statement.

Dalit teachers 'scared and worried'

The Hyderabad Central University (HCU) teachers and officials, predominantly Dalits, who are agitating against the varsity authorities after Rohith Vemulas suicide believe they are "being watched" and have been given enough veiled messages that the names of 50 of those protesting have been sent to New Delhi, reports The Indian Express.

The newspaper reports that the senior-most medical officer Captain Dr Ravindra Kumar was huddled with some university officials at the health centre - all Dalits who are "scared and worried."

Of the 60 Dalit teachers at the university, no one was present at the protest meeting Thursday morning fearing action. Some senior Dalit students also kept to themselves on the fringes.

The University administration has sent us feelers: that names of 50 prominent Dalit teachers, officials and students have been sent to New Delhi, and we are all under watch. So we are basically hiding here instead of standing out there in solidarity with others for Rohith Vemula."We are afraid we might be dubbed anti-national too, Kumar told The Indian Express.

Some senior faculty members willing to speak off the record have alleged that the vice-chancellor and top officials have systematically isolated the Dalit staff. The message is: do not threaten us with resignations and protests.

The other angle being reported from campus is that some mediocre Dalit officers are being used to threaten the other Dalit staff to fall in line. They are scared of talented Dalits who made it on merit, who do not seek favour and are participating in the protest going on in the university against Rohiths death, one of the HCU officials told The Indian Express.

Vemula would have turned 27 on 30 January. Hours before he hanged himself, Vemula told his friends he did not have enough money to give them "even a small treat", reports The Indian Express.

Last August, Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya had written to the HRD ministry accusing the university of being a mute spectator after a group of Dalit students, including Rohith Vemula, clashed with an ABVP leader. Vemula's friends say the trouble began in the first week of August 2015, when five of them protested against the hanging of Mumbai-blasts accused Yakub Memon and condemned the ABVP attack on the screening of the documentary Muzaffarnagar Baaqi Hai in Delhi University.

Over the last 6 months, Vemula's defenses broke, his stipend stopped, a series of curious flip-flops between the University, Labour ministry and local political groups (ABVP) led to Vemula's complete and crushing isolation from what he loved best - campus life. Why did the Labour minister interfere in the internal affairs of an educational institution is a question that is raging. Vemula made one last call to his mother but a lethal mix of anger and sadness inside finished the young man days before his 27th birthday.

Vemula requested for "euthanasia" facility

Vemula wrote a stinging letter to the Hyderabad Central University vice-chancellor last month seeking euthanasia facilities for students, reports The Indian Express.

First, let me praise your dedicated take on the self-respecting movement of Dalits in campus. When an ABVP president got questioned about his derogatory remarks on Dalits, your kind personal interference into the issue is historic and exemplary, Vemula wrote to V-C Prof P Appa Rao on 18 December, reports The Indian Express.

I request your highness to make preparations for the facility euthanasia for students, Vemula wrote in the same letter.

Students said that Vemula, hailing from a poor family of agriculture labourers in Guntur district, was supporting his family, including mother and younger brother, with his stipend. He had been unable to send any money home for the past several months.

He called his mother and abruptly cut the line

Vemula's friend Krishna Kumar says that at 4 pm, Sunday, Vemula left the group and said he had to finish "some work." "When he did not return till 6 pm, we started searching for him. By then his mother had also called us, saying that Rohith had called her and sounded very depressed. She said he had abruptly cut the call, and had stopped answering her calls. Then, we found him hanging from the ceiling fan in a friends room (207), which was also the ASA activity room. He used a ASA banner to hang himself.

Vemula reached out to former UGC chief

On December 30, 2015 five research scholars of Hyderabad University, including Vemula, expelled for their political activism, reached out to former UGC chairperson Sukhdeo Thorat, reports The Hindu. The five students handed over a 10-page memorandum, detailing the events leading to their expulsion in mid December 2015.

Mr. Thorat, who handed over the memorandum to Social Justice Minister Thavar Chand Gehlot on Monday, said activism, integral to student life, should not have been held against them. The memorandum sought his immediate intervention with the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, Ministry of Social Justice and the Ministry of Human Resources and Development and mentioned how the five students, who also belong to the Ambedkar Students Association, were restrained from entering the administrative building and other common areas.

When I met them, they talked about discrimination as a fact of life in campuses that governments find it difficult to admit. I did not for a moment think one of the students I had met would be forced to take his life, Thorat told The Hindu.

Seven years ago, Thorat submitted a report on the circumstances leading to the death of a medical student in the prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi. The administration did not accept the findings.

"I feel a growing gap between my soul and my body"

This is the sequence of events that broke down Vemula.

From July 2015, the university stopped paying Rohith his monthly stipend of Rs 25,000. Friends said that he was targeted for raising issues under the banner of Ambedkar Students Association (ASA).

In August, the university set up an inquiry against Rohith and four other ASA members, two days after they allegedly assaulted ABVP leader N Susheel Kumar.

In August, Dattatreya wrote to HRD Minister urging action and claiming that the Hyderabad University has in the recent past, become a den of casteist, extremist and anti-national politics.

The five students, Vemula included, were suspended in September.

On December 17, the decision was upheld.

On January 3, after the sanction was confirmed, the five moved out of their hostel rooms to a tent they set up inside the campus and began a relay hunger protest.

On Sunday, Rohith Vemula hanged himself. His suicide note read: I feel a growing gap between my soul and my body. And I have become a monster.

Letter

With Agencies
Hyderabad: The Joint Action Committee for Social Justice and the University of Hyderabad Teachers'

Association today rejected an appeal made by the varsity vice-chancellor Appa Rao Podile to restart the classes

and restore normalcy.

The Hyderabad Central University (HCU) is roiling in the aftermath of the suicide of Dalit research scholar Rohith

Vemula.

"At a time when the legitimacy of Prof Appa Rao to continue as a VC is in question, without attending to the

protesting students, who are on indefinite hunger strike, the absconding VC and Executive Committee met today (not inside the campus) and issued a circular.

"We outrightly reject this illegitimate circular since it came through a Committee headed by the VC, who in our opinion is not the legitimate VC anymore, but in fact a criminal on the run," the Joint Action Committee for Social Justice alleged in a statement.

Rao should immediately surrender to police, it said.

Earlier, in a fresh appeal the VC said, "It is once again fervently appealed to all in the University to contribute to resuming regular class work, research activities and administrative work without further delay. I would also greatly appreciate all the teachers, students, officers and supporting staff in rising to the occasion."

He said other observations/suggestions from all the teachers will be taken forward using internal mechanisms and

within the limits of the University, after the agitation is called off completely and complete peace is restored on the campus.

"Several individuals/groups of the teachers have expressed their concern and offered their services to resolve the

matter. I profusely thank the University of Hyderabad Teachers' Association (UHTA), members of the SC/ST Teachers'

Forum and all other individuals who have reached out to resolve the matter," he said.

But UHTA denied it had reached out to the varsity.

"We take objection to some of the statements made in the appeal...UHTA did not offer its services neither it has the authority to resolve the situation," it said in a resolution.

Seven members of the the Joint Action Committee are on an indefinite hunger strike for fulfilment of its demands

following Rohith's suicide.

The SC/ST faculty members too said they had not offered services to the V-C, nor did they have the authority to resolve the situation on the campus.

Blaming the Telangana police, the Joint Action Committee for Social Justice said, "It has been more than 72 hours that the FIR has been filed against Union Minister of State for Labour Bandaru Dattatreya, VC Appa Rao, BJP MLC Ramchander Rao and others. Why is Telangana police not arresting the culprits who are booked under the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act and for the abetment of suicide of Rohith?"

PTI
Chief Justice of India TS Thakur recently voiced a concern regarding the misuse of PIL as an instrument to settle scores with corporate rivals and also for personal vendetta. This has posed, once again, serious questions regarding the exercise of PIL. To understand what has gone wrong with the PIL mechanism, which has undoubtedly helped in massive social transformation in last few decades, Shishir Tripathi spoke to eminent jurist and former Attorney-General of India Soli Sorabjee on this issue and others related to higher judiciary.

Question: In December 2014 a bench of Chief Justice HL Dattu and Justice AK Sikri remarked that public interest litigation was started with a good intention to help the poor people of this country. But it is being misused now". What, according to you, has gone wrong with PIL, Sir?

Soli Sorabjee: Public interest litigation (PIL) is a valuable mechanism to redress the problems of the neglected, alienated and marginalized sections of society. Now, one prerequisite is that it must be instituted bona fide and must avoid the three pitfalls associated with PIL: namely private interest litigation, political interest litigation and publicity interest litigation. In a way the Supreme Court has itself brought upon itself the problem by entertaining PILs very liberally, if I may say, extravagantly. Every matter of public interest cannot be a matter of public interest litigation. For example rise in the price of onions. So public interest litigation requires a good jockey in the saddle to keep it on the right track and fulfil the objectives for which it was originally designed.

There have been instances when the court has rejected the so called PILs by discerning an oblique motive of serving a private interest or harming a rival industrialist. The trouble is that different benches have different mindsets in entertaining PILs which leads to inconsistencies and lack of coherence. (Related story : The term 'public interest' is so open-ended that the fate of PILs rests on the length of My Lord's foot.)

Q: What can be done to check this misuse?

SS: If the court authoritatively declares that it will interfere only in cases of violation of fundamental rights related to people who cannot themselves approach the court because of poverty and lack of resources then it serves a good purpose. The problem is that public interest litigation is indiscriminately resorted to. While it can be misused, it is up to judges to see that it is not. I feel judges sometimes want publicity, to see their names in paper and so entertain sensational PILs.

Q. But with observations like that made by the bench headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur regarding the functioning of the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), the credibility of the institution of PIL is also undermined.

Soli Sorabjee:Yes you are right. It is affected. But I think more than PIL it was the criticism of CPIL and Prashant Bhushan. But I think the Chief Justices remark was a bit harsh and would reflect on the utility and credibility of CPIL, which on the whole has done good work.

Q: In a letter to Supreme Court secretary general Ravindra Maithani Mr Fali Nariman has categorically stated that no PIL filed by CPIL was approved or scrutinised by him.

SS: Yes he has written so to put the record straight. Narimans intention was nowhere to run down CPIL.

Q: It has been observed by many legal experts that PIL is really a response to the needs of society and has helped in massive social transformation. What can be done to prevent such an important instrument of social change denigrating and downgrading into an instrument of promoting vested interest and settling personal scores?

SS: Well, judges need to ensure necessary discipline in entertaining PILs. The main objective of PILs is to protect the fundamental rights of people who themselves cannot approach the court. That is why we have liberalised locus standi. The basis of PIL was to redress violation of the rights of people, working in a factory, children working in bad conditions. Because they dont know what Constitution is, what their fundamental rights are. PIL is not meant to be used by someone intending to harm a rivals factory by saying that the environment is being polluted and article 21 is infringed.

Q: Do you think that the shield of contempt of court is a big hindrance in making the judiciary accountable

SS: The Contempt of Court Act has been amended. That is the last thing I did when I remitted office as attorney general. In a case of libel truth is a defence but in contempt truth was not a defence, which I thought was very strange. The thinking was that contempt is not libel against judge but it undermines the faith of people in the institution of judiciary. But then if there is documentary proof and one can prove the malpractice and corruption on a part of a judge then truth can be a defence. So the law now stands amended. But of course, the man making the allegations should have some prima facie material.

Q: The NJAC Act has been struck down but the fact remains the collegium system too has major loopholes. But then its back.

SS: Of course, the main problem with the collegium is that that judges exclusively took the power to appoint. To my mind the judges should have an edge, they know better about the judges to be elevated from the high courts to the Supreme Court. They have gone through their judgments. Further they know better about the lawyers who have appeared for them. But that cannot be exclusive. Other inputs too have to be taken into consideration. The mere presence of the law minister does not take away independence of the judiciary.

Q: Do you foresee any alternative?

SS: I dont know what they will do. May be they will bring in another constitutional amendment. We can still make the collegium work. If the Supreme Court takes inputs from others quarters too, not litigants, but from institutions like the Bar Council of India and then decides appointments. Judges in the collegium may not know certain facts about a certain individual, which others might know. I dont like their thought that the monopoly of wisdom is with the judges.

Q: Last week, the Supreme Court declared that it would hear a PIL on the issue of allowing women entry in Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala, Kerala. The same month the same court refused to intervene in the case of release of a juvenile convict in the December 16 rape case saying it has no legislative sanction do so. Dont you think it reflects an inherent contradiction in the way the apex court deals with social issues?

SS: In case of the juveniles release the court does not actually have authority to say, do not release him. You must make a law. Once there is a law then it is a different matter. In case of Sabarimila there is no doubt that it is a clear case of gender discrimination and judicial interference is warranted.

Q: Do you feel judicial overreach is actually a problem or is just a critical jargon?

SS: Overreach in some cases happens but not on the whole. In some cases judges are swayed and it depends upon the mindsets of different benches.

Q: Transparency in appointment of judges was an important issue. But as Mr Nariman stated while pointing out its pitfalls one may say Nariman is not good enough to be a judge, but (Soli) Sorabjee is. Transparency is all too well to say. But what will happen to the practice (as lawyer) of the person rejected. How can we address such issues?

SS: He is right. They can say so and so is not fit but cannot dwell into why he is not fit like stating that he is lazy or has not got a good temperament. What will happen to his practice as a lawyer or working as a judge in the high court if he not elevated on the grounds that have been already made public?
There seems to be a complete disconnect between Union Minister for Human Resources Development Smriti Zubin Irani and the Dalit teachers and students of the University of Hyderabad over the raging controversy that led to the suicide of Rohith Vemula, a research scholar.

The Dalit students, teachers and officers see an evil design behind Ms Iranis carefully-worded statement. The student body  Joint Action Committee for Social Justice, University of Hyderabad  was more vociferous while concurring with its elders  the University of Hyderabad SC/ST Teachers and Officers Forum.

Peeved by Ms.Iranis observations, Dalit staffers went hammer and tongs against the minister and they wanted to drive home the point that it was for sure an issue of persecution of Dalits. As a mark of protest, all of them 12 in number  resigned from the administrative positions they are holding in the HCU.

Irani said on Wednesday: "An effort is on to instigate students all over the country. My appeal is: Please do not instigate students and communities deliberately...There has been a malicious attempt to ignite passions and present this as a caste battle which it is not. It is not a Dalit versus non-Dalit confrontation as have been the efforts of some to project it that way," she said repeatedly.

This naturally ignited the controversy and tempers rose high across the campus.

The Dalit staffers have taken a very strong objection to the Ministers observation that it wasnt a Dalit versus non-Dalit confrontation. Dr Ravindra Kumar and S Sudhakar Babu, representatives of University of Hyderabad SC/ST Teachers and Officers Forum, strongly condemned her views on the suicide of Rohith and the circumstances leading to that.

They postulated their standpoints on the Ministers observations and asserted that it was unfortunate that the Union Minister misrepresented the facts of the case and said that the senior most Dalit professor actually headed the Executive Council (EC) sub-committee which took the decision to suspend the students.

They said that the committee was indeed headed by an upper-caste professor Vipin Srivastava and there are no Dalit faculty in the sub-committee of the EC. The Dean of Students Welfare, Prof Prakash Babu, was nationally co-opted as an ex-officio member of the committee and that was incidental, the Dalit staffers pointed out. They went on to add that there was no Dalit on the EC ever since the HCU came into being. The student JAC highlighted that Prof Srivastava was the Dean and Head of Physics department 2008 when a research scholar Senthil Kumar had committed suicide.

The teachers and officers body alleged that the minister distorted the facts, suggesting that the wardens had suo motu powers to expel students. It was just a coincidence that the chief warden, who had simply implemented the orders of the higher authorities, happened to be a Dalit.

Sudhakar Babu and Ravindra Kumar said that the baseless and misleading statements coming from the HRD Minister amounts to bringing down the morale of the Dalits holding administrative positions in the university as well as other universities.

They alleged that by deflecting the issue, the HRD minister was absolving herself and her colleague Bandaru Dattatreya of being responsible for the death of Rohith Vemula.

The Dalit teachers and officers body has expressed its solidarity with the protesting students, who began an indefinite hunger strike on the campus, demanding action against the ministers, the Vice-Chancellor and Rs. 50 lakh ex gratia to Rohiths family and a senior-level employment to one of the kin of the deceased. They also expressed support to the agitating students who are demanding the lifting of police cases filed against the Dalit students and the revocation of their suspension.

They took umbrage to the use of an expression of lenient punishment by the HRD Minister and asserted that the cases against the five Dalit students were fabricated and this led to their suspension from the university, expulsion from the hostels and imposing of a social boycott on them. They dubbed the social boycott as casteist, atrocious and compared it with Dalit ghetto practiced in caste-ridden village societies. The students observed that the so-called lenient punishment was against the rules and guidelines of the University Grants Commission on disciplinary action.

The crass-like observations of the Minister for HRD are only proving the point Rohith had made in his suicide note that a man was being reduce to his mere immediate identity by making this a Dalit versus non-Dalit issue. This is an issue of basic human rights, self respect and social justice, asserted the student JAC adding that what happened on the campus was nothing but an issue of caste-discrimination and political interference.

While students belonging to Dalit and non-Dalit communities were coming together across the country against casteism, Brahminism and Hindutva, the HRD Minister choosing to brand this peaceful and egalitarian movement as casteist was highly irresponsible, they pointed out. The students insisted that the series of unsolicited interventions by her ministry for witch-hunting of a Dalit student at the behest of an influential upper caste family with BJP links must be seen as blatant regime-backed casteism.

The students felt that the minister was trying to convert the issue into a BJP versus Congress issue only to derive political advantage and absolving the party and its complicit members of any responsibility and crime by derailing the process of justice.

They pointed out that Rohiths letter addressed to the Vice-Chancellor on 18 December, where he sarcastically urged the V-C to provide a rope for Dalit students to kill themselves, was being used against him to portray the deceased scholar in a poor light.

The students, who delved deep into the statement of the minister, minced no words in delineating the difference between forwarding the letters written by Congress MP V Hanumantha Rao and the ones dashed off by Mr Dattatreya. They said it was an attempt to compare the specific directions by the ministry issued in respect of the letters by Dattatreya that led to the systemic exclusion of the five Dalit students and eventual suicide of Rohith, and the routine letters of the Congress MP.

When the police registered a case under the Prevention of Atrocities Act against Dattatreya, Vice-Chancellor Appa Rao and ABVP leader N Susheel Kumar and MLC N Ramachandra Rao, the student JAC sought to know how they were moving freely, as the case was non-bailable in nature.

The students gave an all-India protest call to burn the effigies of MHRD, BJP and the RSS against the injustice meted out to Rohith.

Against this background, Appa Rao remains stubborn and doesnt want to step down as he claimed that he did no wrong. Dattatreya defends his stand suggesting that he just drew the attention of the MHRD following a representation by ABVP students.
Patna: Ahead of a formal ban on 'desi' or country-made liquor in Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday launched a campaign to encourage people to abstain from alcohol.

Nitish Kumar reiterated that he was committed to implementing a total ban on liquor in the state from 1 April, but it would be done in phases. Bihar would first ban country-made liquor and then Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL), he said.

The campaign started by the chief minister will involve women and children in creating awareness of the ill-effects of consuming liquor, and in helping people to voluntarily stay away from alcohol.

"Women will be the main link of the anti-liquor campaign," an official said.

Seven government departments, with the department of mass education working as the nodal agency, would take the message against liquor consumption to millions of families across 8,444 panchayats in 37 districts, he said.

Ban on alcohol was one of the promises Nitish Kumar made during campaigning for the 2015 Bihar assembly elections.

Earlier, Excise and Prohibition Minister Abdul Jalil Mastan had said the government would ban 'desi' liquor from April 1, 2016, and 'videshi' (IMFL)) from September 2016.

Consumption of liquor among the poor was destroying families and damaging the children's prospects in life, Mastan said.

According to officials, the decision to ban liquor was expected to impact the state government's financial health.

Bihar gets about Rs.3,650 crore in revenue from liquor sales annually.

PTI
The Hyderabad Central University (HCU) teachers and officials, predominantly Dalits, who are agitating against the varsity authorities after Rohith Vemulas suicide believe they are "being watched" and have been given enough veiled messages that the names of 50 of those protesting have been sent to New Delhi, reports The Indian Express.

The newspaper reports that the senior-most medical officer Captain Dr Ravindra Kumar was huddled with some university officials at the health centre - all Dalits who are "scared and worried."

Of the 60 Dalit teachers at the university, no one was present at the protest meeting Thursday morning fearing action. Some senior Dalit students also kept to themselves on the fringes.

The university administration has sent us feelers: that names of 50 prominent Dalit teachers, officials and students have been sent to New Delhi, and we are all under watch. So we are basically hiding here instead of standing out there in solidarity with others for Rohith Vemula."We are afraid we might be dubbed anti-national too, Kumar told The Indian Express.

Some senior faculty members willing to speak off the record have alleged that the vice-chancellor and top officials have systematically isolated the Dalit staff. The message is: do not threaten us with resignations and protests.

The other angle being reported from campus is that some mediocre Dalit officers are being used to threaten the other Dalit staff to fall in line. They are scared of talented Dalits who made it on merit, who do not seek favour and are participating in the protest going on in the university against Rohiths death, one of the HCU officials told The Indian Express.
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal lashed out at the Narendra Modi government on Thursday as he visited the University of Hyderabad in the wake of the alleged suicide of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula.

"The entire case is crystal clear. Rohith and his friends started a discussion on capital punishment which ABVP leaders didn't like," Kejriwal said as he addressed the students at the campus.

He also criticised Union HRD minister Smriti Irani and Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya over the suicide. "In his letter to Smriti Irani, Bandaru Dattatreya used the words 'casteist', 'extremist' and 'anti-national'... There can be nothing more unfortunate than a Union minister calling someone's views against capital punishment 'anti-national'," the Delhi chief minister said.

"Without conducting any probe into the matter, action was taken against the Dalit students," Kejriwal further said. He also said that Irani's clarification on the issue on Wednesday was "shameful" and "full of lies", adding that Irani and Dattatreya should be sacked.

Kejriwal also said that it was a matter of shame that a bright student like Rohith was forced to commit suicide. "It's a matter of shame that a bright student like Rohith committed suicide... Rohith was a Dalit but was admitted to the university through merit, not on the basis of reservation."

The Delhi CM then said that the Centre wanted to tell the people of India that if their orders and ideologies are not followed, the people will be crushed. "The Centre is with no one. They are only after satta (power)," he said.

Kejriwal also alleged that the allegation of violence by Dalit students made by ABVP leader Nandanam Susheel Kumar was completely false as he had lied about being assaulted by the students. "The hospital report says the appendix operation of the ABVP member has nothing to do with violence against him," Kejriwal said, alleging that Kumar had actually used the operation to create the impression that he had been assaulted.

"Even the registrar of the Hyderabad University said that there was no violence against the ABVP member," he said.

On the other hand, Nandanam Susheel Kumar on Thursday demanded a "fair" inquiry and rejected claims that he had lied about being assaulted by Rohith and other members of the Ambedkar Students' Association (ASA) at Hyderabad University.

"Reasons for Rohith's suicide should be thoroughly examined. When a person like Rohith could confront so many people like us (and) also there was hearing by the High Court in two days, what made him go into depression?" Kumar said.

"What were the faculty or the students around him doing? When a student went into depression, these people could not identify that? They give us lectures on how to identify a person when he is in depression," he told reporters in Hyderabad.

"Why did these people send Rohith to some other person's room without sending someone along with him? There are many issues in this. There should be a fair inquiry. And whoever is the culprit, let it be me or let it be anyone else, the culprit should be punished," he said.

On his claims that he was manhandled, the ABVP leader said he can produce records that he was admitted to hospital and underwent an operation.

"I don't know what Hyderabad police said. But I was admitted to hospital and you can see the injuries on my body, you can still see the operation marks on me. There may not be any external injuries, but there are enough certificates that say that I had to go for an operation," he said.

The university had in a statement in August said there was a fight involving students of the ASA and Susheel Kumar of ABVP which eventually reached the court.

Rohith, whose body was found hanging in a hostel room on Sunday, was among the five research scholars who were suspended by the university in August 2015 and also one of the accused in the case of alleged assault on the ABVP leader.

Replying to query, Kumar said political parties "coming on the university campus is common and not limited to BJP only.

"First thing (after) Rohith's death... when he committed suicide, even I felt depressed. I could not come out of my room for three days. I read that suicide note for 100 to 200 hundred times in which he did not mention anyone's name... that so and so person is responsible," he said.

"(Union minister) Bandaru Dattatreya might have written a letter. AIMIM leaders also came on the campus. Every politician is involved in campus politics," Kumar said.

Replying to another query, Kumar said he did not have any personal issues with Rohith, but it was only an ideological difference.

With inputs from PTI
Chennai: The ruling AIADMK and DMK today took on each other in the House over forging electoral alliance with other political parties for the coming Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu.

Participating in the debate on the Governor's address, DMK MLA J Anbazhagan alleged that water from the Chembarambakkam Reservoir here was not released at the appropriate time during the floods last month.

PWD Minister O Panneerselvam dismissed the charges as imaginary and reeled out statistics and said correct and timely steps were taken according to the rules to handle the situation.

He said false accusations were being made by Opposition parties like the DMK for political reasons. "This (accusations) would boomerang on you," he said.

DMK Deputy leader Duraimurugan said government may come up with as many explanations it wants, people, however would not accept them. He asked if the AIADMK could seek votes in flood-hit areas. At this, Panneerselvam said ,"this is not a challenge, this is ostentatious, empty talk."

Housing Minister R Vaithilingam said it was DMK which was begging for allies and AIADMK regime under Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had people's support.

Duraimurugan, pointing to smaller allies of AIADMK like Forward Bloc in the House, asked if the ruling party could go it alone in the elections without the support of such parties.

PTI
In the dog-eat-dog world of politics, social etiquettes are rarely polite codes of conduct. A hug (ask Arvind Kejriwal and Lalu Prasad Yadav), a handshake or even a smile between netas may carry deep import  even when perfectly innocuous  and unleash a tsunami of reactions and counter-reactions.

With words like 'psychopath', 'coward', and 'liar' being increasingly used as exchanges between politicians, the language has become so vitiated that the bar for accepted social behavior in Indian politics has become abysmally low.

So when Narendra Modi and Mamata Banerjee greeted each other on New Year  two leaders from two different ends of the political spectrum  it created a much-needed moment of warmth in our political discourse and was a welcome change from the rabid, venomous language that is now the norm.

"Received very touching new year greetings from (Mamata Banerjee) & that too in Gujarati! I thank Mamata Didi & wish her a great 2016," Modi tweeted on Wednesday from his personal handle. Not be outdone by the Prime Minister in anything, including courtesy, the Bengal Chief Minister replied shortly: "Glad you liked the New Year greetings I sent you in Gujarati. Thanks too @narendramodi ji for the greetings you sent me in Bengali".

Glad you liked the New Year greetings I sent you in Gujarati. Thanks too @narendramodi ji for the greetings you sent me in Bengali  Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) January 20, 2016

Received very touching New Year greetings from @MamataOfficial ji & that too in Gujarati! I thank Mamata Didi & wish her a great 2016.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 20, 2016

The fact that the exchange took place in Gujarati and Bengali made it even warmer, slightly too warm in fact for the Trinamool Congress who saw in the PM's tweeting a cynical attempt to politicise a personal message.

Leaders routinely greet people or even their political rivals on occasions such as the New Year. Pictures and anecdotes abound of politicians, cutting across party lines, schmoozing during power weddings, such as the one recently when Union minister Arun Jaitley's daughter got married.

If Modi and Mamata exchanged greetings with each other, why have Trinamool leaders caught a cold?

Once upon a time, Mamata Banerjee's TMC was even part of NDA. Is the discomfort a fallout of the recent spat between the two parties over the violence in Malda?

According to a TMC Lok Sabha MP, Modi's message was "loud and clear", says The Telegraph. "He wants to make a public display of a non-existent political intimacy to suit his ends," the MP said.

Why such a vehement reaction for what was essentially polite social behavior?

The answer lies in West Bengal's demography and what TMC perceives it to be its core vote bank.

For a party which has its hopes pinned firmly on the 27 per cent minority votes in the upcoming assembly polls in April-May, even stepping on the shadow of Narendra Modi could prove to be suicidal, leave alone exchanging personal greetings.

Ever since she came to power in Bengal, and especially in the run-up to the Assembly Polls, Mamata Banerjee has assiduously courted this vote bank.

For the first time in her political career, Mamata last November spoke at a mega rally organised by the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, one of the largest organisations of Bengali-speaking Muslims which controls over 1,000 madrasas in the state.

Now if a perception is created so close to the polls that there is a growing bonhomie between BJP and TMC, the ramparts of power in Bengal will shake in consternation and the heavens will come crashing down.

When it comes to politics, greeting your rival for the new year could be a tricky business.
VIENNA Austria declared on Wednesday it would cap the number of people allowed to claim asylum this year at less than half last year's total, and its chancellor said border controls would have to be stepped up "massively"- but how that would be done was unclear.

Germany said on Wednesday Austria's decision was "not helpful" to German efforts to negotiate a European Union-wide solution with the support of Turkey, from which most migrants reach the European continent.

Hundreds of thousands of people have streamed into Austria, a small Alpine republic of 8.5 million since September, when it and Germany threw open their borders to a wave of people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

The vast majority of arrivals simply crossed the country on their way to Germany, but a fraction have stayed. Roughly 90,000 people, or more than 1 percent of Austria's population, applied for asylum last year.

Public fears about immigration have fuelled support for the far right, and calls for a ceiling on the number of migrants by members of the centre-right People's Party within the coalition government have grown.

"We cannot take in all asylum seekers in Austria, or in Germany or in Sweden," Werner Faymann, a Social Democrat who has resisted calls to cap immigration, told a joint news conference, referring to the countries that have taken in the most migrants.

The government plan announced on Wednesday provides for the number of asylum claims to be restricted to 1.5 percent of Austria's population, spread over the next four years.

Breaking down the four-year cap, the statement said the number of asylum claims would be limited to 37,500 this year, falling annually to 25,000 in 2019.

Asked what would happen if the number of people who wanted to apply for asylum exceeded that figure, Faymann said only that experts were due to examine the issue.

"We must also step up controls at our borders massively," Faymann told the joint news conference with Vice Chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner and other officials, without explaining what that would involve.

Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner said one option would be to accept asylum requests without processing them.

"The (other) option of not having to accept asylum requests at the Austrian border is now being checked, and to send these people back, to deport them back to our safe neighbour states," she told public broadcaster ORF.

Slovenian police said later on Wednesday that Slovenia planned "the same action" as Austria on its southern border with Croatia if Austria, which lies north of Slovenia, took further steps to limit the inflow of migrants.

The Dutch prime minister, whose government currently chairs EU ministerial councils, said Austria's move illustrated the kind of national action likely to multiply if the 28-nation EU did not start implementing a commonly agreed strategy on asylum before a likely "spike" in arrivals with spring weather.

Saying the EU had six to eight weeks to end division and inaction on managing immigration, Mark Rutte told reporters at the European Parliament in Strasbourg that if that failed "we have to think about a plan B".

As Germany has firmed up border controls in recent months, Austria has often followed. Austria's interior minister said last week it would start turning away people who were no longer being let into Germany, prompting a knock-on effect further down the main route into Europe.

Faymann said he had discussed his government's plans in principle with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and their Slovenian counterpart.

Faymann referred to the measures as a second-best option while awaiting a European solution involving securing the EU's external borders, setting up centres there for people to apply for asylum, and spreading them around the bloc.

(Additional reporting by Matt Robinson in Belgrade, Marja Novak in Ljubljana and by the Brussels bureau; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
UNITED NATIONS Britain has circulated to key members of the United Nations Security Council a draft resolution to launch planning for a U.N. mission to oversee disarmament should Colombia's government and leftist rebels reach a final peace deal, diplomats said on Wednesday.

Colombia's government and FARC rebels agreed on Tuesday to ask the 15-nation council to help monitor and verify rebel disarmament should the two sides reach a deal to end their 50-year-old war.

Several diplomats told Reuters on condition of anonymity that Britain is drafting the resolution and has already presented the other four veto-wielding permanent council members - the United States, France, Russia and China - with a draft text that could go to a vote in the coming weeks.

"We're just at the beginning of the drafting process," one diplomat said.

The permanent council members will discuss and possibly revise the British draft before passing it to the other 10 council members.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a statement welcoming the decision by Colombia's government and FARC to seek the creation of a mission to monitor implementation of any future peace deal.

"What we need ... is a resolution that fires the starting gun" to begin the detailed planning work needed to set up the mission, a senior council diplomat said.

He added that it would have to be done "in a way that meets the needs of the Colombian government and the FARC," adding that the fact that they both wanted it and had turned to the United Nations was "very, very good news."

The diplomats said they hoped the resolution could go to a vote within the next few weeks. They added that the Colombians had consulted with council members before announcing the plan to make the request at the United Nations.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said last year he would make such an appeal at the U.N.

The rebels' willingness to make the request jointly with the government is a sign of progress as the two sides aim to reach a comprehensive peace agreement before a March 23 deadline that negotiators set last year.

The Colombians asked that the U.N. mission be made up of representatives from Latin American and Caribbean countries.

The international monitors would verify a bilateral ceasefire, preside over the FARC's disarmament, settle any disputes and make recommendations.

(Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Vatican City: The Vatican has offered a place to stay to a homeless woman who gave birth on a piece of cardboard near St. Peter's Square early Wednesday.

Italian police said a patrol stopped to help the woman after she gave birth in a square just beyond Vatican territory at about 2 am Wednesday, when temperatures were hovering around freezing.

"When I got close I saw that the baby was already born and was still attached by the umbilical cord to the mother," one of the responding officers, Maria Capone, told The Associated Press. "With my colleagues we tried to warm them up. We covered them with our uniform jackets."

They called an ambulance which took mother and child to a nearby hospital.

Later in the day, Pope Francis' top charity official, Monsignor Konrad Krajewski, visited and offered the woman a place to stay for a year at a Vatican-owned residence for mothers and babies in need.

The woman hadn't decided whether to accept the offer, the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi.

The baby's mother and father, both Romanian, were known to the Vatican as they sometimes showered at facilities Krajewski's office had built off St. Peter's Square for the homeless.

AP
Zurich: Internationally brokered talks between Syria's government and opposition groups should start this month as planned, Russia and the United States said on Wednesday, despite no sign of agreement on who should represent the opposition.

Speaking after meeting US Secretary of State John Kerry in Switzerland, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said neither of them had thought about seeking a postponement of the talks, which are scheduled to start in Geneva on 25 January.

"We have no intentions to postpone the talks from January to February. This is both the position of Russia and the United States, and we are confident that in the next days, in January, such talks must start."

Lavrov said various dates were being mooted, but the final decision was for the UN Secretary-General on the advice of his special envoy for Syria, Staffan De Mistura.

"We hope the negotiating process will begin this month," Lavrov said. "I stress that this will be just the start, because of course it will take a lot of time, a whole range of arduous tasks are to be resolved."

Kerry's spokesman, John Kirby, said Kerry and Lavrov discussed "the importance of maintaining progress toward a diplomatic solution to the crisis in Syria."

"There's been no change in our desire to see this meeting happen on 25 January, and the Secretary reiterated that," he said.

Kirby said Kerry also pressed Russia to use its influence with President Bashar al-Assad to ensure unimpeded humanitarian access to Syrians, especially those in besieged areas such as Madaya where people are reported to have died from starvation.

No agreement over rebels

The United Nations said on Monday it would not issue invitations to the talks until major powers promoting the negotiations, which include the United States and Russia, agree which rebel representatives should attend. The United States and Russia support opposite sides in the conflict.

De Mistura's spokeswoman, Jessy Chahine, declined to comment on Wednesday's talks, except to say the UN's Syria envoy was "continuing his consultations."

Russia and Iran, which support Assad, have rejected attempts by Saudi Arabia, which like the United States and European powers opposes Assad, to organise the Syrian opposition and delegation for the talks.

Iran's foreign minister said on Wednesday it was up to de Mistura to decide who represents the opposition, but he said that 10 delegates at a recent opposition gathering in Saudi Arabia were members of Al-Qaeda  one of three groups he said must be barred.

A Syrian opposition council formed in Riyadh last month said on Wednesday it would not attend peace negotiations if a third party joins the talks, a reference to a Russian bid to include other groups in the process.

Riad Hijab, who heads the council, accused Russia of impeding negotiations, and also said the opposition could not negotiate while Syrians were dying as a result of blockades and bombardment.

He announced the names of opposition figures that would take part in any talks. They included Mohamed Alloush, a political figure in the Jaysh al-Islam (Islam Army) rebel group that is deemed a terrorist group by Damascus and Moscow.

Lavrov said Moscow still considered the Jaysh al-Islam and Ahrar al-Sham groups terrorist organisations and that a ceasefire after a political process is put in place "will not apply to the terrorist organizations."

Lavrov said Russia, the US and other parties supporting the Syrian talks would not take part in the negotiations.

However, they would "follow them in those forms which will be most useful for the Syrians to reach agreements, how they will jointly solve the problems of the transition period, what the new constitution will look like, how to prepare new elections and many other issues," he said.

Reuters
Washington: Pakistan's nuclear warheads which are estimated to be between 110-130 are aimed at deterring India from taking military action against it, a latest Congressional report has said.

The report also expressed concern that Islamabad's "full spectrum deterrence" doctrine has increased risk of nuclear conflict between the two South Asian neighbours.

"Pakistan's nuclear arsenal probably consists of approximately 110-130 nuclear warheads, although it could have more. Islamabad is producing fissile material, adding to related production facilities, deploying additional nuclear weapons, and new types of delivery vehicles," Congressional Research Service (CRS) said in its latest report.

In its 28-page report, the CRS noted that Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is widely regarded as designed to dissuade India from taking military action against it, but Islamabad's expansion of its nuclear arsenal, development of new types of nuclear weapons and adoption of a doctrine called "full spectrum deterrence" have led some observers to express concern about an increased risk of nuclear conflict between Pakistan and India, which also continues to expand its nuclear arsenal.

CRS is the independent research wing of the US Congress, which prepares periodic reports by eminent experts on a wide range of issues so as to help lawmakers take informed decisions.

Reports of CRS are not considered as an official view of the US Congress.

"Pakistan has in recent years taken a number of steps to increase international confidence in the security of its nuclear arsenal," said the CRS report authored by Paul K Kerr and Mary Beth Nikitin.

Moreover, Pakistani and US officials argue that, since the 2004 revelations about a procurement network run by former Pakistani nuclear official AQ Khan, Islamabad has taken a number of steps to improve its nuclear security and to prevent further proliferation of nuclear-related technologies and materials, it said.

A number of important initiatives, such as strengthened export control laws, improved personnel security, and international nuclear security cooperation programmes, have improved Pakistan's nuclear security, the CRS said.

"However, instability in Pakistan has called the extent and durability of these reforms into question. Some observers fear radical takeover of the Pakistani government or diversion of material or technology by personnel within Pakistan's nuclear complex," the CRS said.

"While US and Pakistani officials continue to express confidence in controls over Pakistan's nuclear weapons, continued instability in the country could impact these safeguards. Furthermore, continued Indian and Pakistani nuclear weapons development could jeopardise strategic stability between the two countries," it concluded.

According to CRS, Pakistan has asserted that continued exclusion of the country from the NSG "would adversely affect regional peace, security and stability," as well as "undermine the global non-proliferation regime."

According to the US law, the United States could apparently advocate for Pakistan's NSG membership without congressional approval.

Ambassador Olson testified on 16 December, 2015, that the Obama Administration is "not negotiating...a civil nuclear cooperation agreement with...Pakistan."

However, press reports indicate that the United States is considering supporting Islamabad's NSG membership in exchange for Pakistani actions to reduce perceived dangers associated with the country's nuclear weapons programme, it said.

PTI
Peshawar: Ayat Ibrahim was entering the South Block of the Bacha Khan University on Wednesday morning when she heard the first of the gunshots and huge blasts.

Initially, the student, in her late 20s, had no idea that the university, named after the iconic Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, was under terrorist attack.

It took only a few seconds for Ibrahim to realise the horrific truth.

"I saw people screaming and running here and there, and people sprawled on the ground," the traumatised student told IANS in a telephonic interview from Peshawar.

Authorities would later blame the carnage that left 20 people, including students, dead on the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which is at war with the Pakistani state. The TTP too claimed responsibility.

"I couldn't understand what was going on... And I could not see my friend who I had come to see," she said.

The attackers, four in all, opened indiscriminate fire at anyone and everyone they came across. They also hurled grenades, killing or wounding those trying to escape the bloodbath.

There were some 3,000 students and staff in the university at the time of the attack besides about 600 guests.

They had gathered in the campus for a poetry recital to commemorate the anniversary of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, popularly known as Bacha Khan.

Ibrahim was stunned but did what many other students did at the spur of the moment  she ran towards the university buses parked in the vicinity.

As the buses began to fill up, the drivers drove away the vehicles out of the campus at top speed, saving numerous lives.

Ibrahim told IANS that she had no idea how many people had been killed. But she guessed it would be a large number.

Soldiers rushed to the university and engaged the terrorists, triggering gun battles that lasted over five hours.

They managed to kill all four attackers. But by then, the university  set up in July 2012  was badly battered with 20 students, academics and other employees dead and dozens wounded.

IANS
WASHINGTON Man's inhumanity to man, as 18th century Scottish poet Robert Burns put it, is no recent development.

Scientists said on Wednesday they had found the oldest evidence of human warfare, fossils of a band of people massacred by a troop of attackers with weapons including arrows, clubs and stone blades on the shores of a lagoon in Kenya about 10,000 years ago.

The remains of 27 people from a Stone Age hunter-gatherer culture were unearthed at a site called Nataruk roughly 20 miles (30 km) west of Lake Turkana in northern Kenya.

One man's skeleton was found with a sharp blade made of a volcanic glass called obsidian still embedded in his skull. Another man had wounds from two blows to the head apparently with a club, crushing his skull. A woman in the last stages of pregnancy appeared to have been bound by her hands and feet.

Victims also had projectile wounds to the neck and broken skulls, hands, knees and ribs.

University of Cambridge paleoanthropologist Marta Mirazon Lahr said evidence indicates these people, who hunted animals, caught fish and gathered edible plants, were slain in a premeditated attack by raiders, perhaps from another region.

"It is a brutal, physical, lethal attack with the intention to kill those individuals who could put up a defense or mount a counter-attack, or who perhaps were of no use to them, whether it was a man or a very pregnant woman, too young or too old," Mirazon Lahr.

Our species arose 200,000 years ago in Africa. Many scholars had thought warfare first emerged long after the time of the Nataruk people when humans formed settled communities instead of a nomadic, hunter-gatherer existence.

The Nataruk fossils "raise the question of whether warfare has been part of the human experience for much longer than previously thought," Mirazon Lahr added.

A planned attack would suggest that resources the Nataruk people possessed, perhaps water, dried meat or fish, nuts or even women and children, were considered valuable, she said.

There were remains of 21 adults and six children, most under age 6. There were no older teenagers. "Whether they managed to escape, or were taken, we will never know," she said.

"At the end, all massacres are savage," Mirazon Lahr said. "How many examples do we have from our very recent, and current, history? But finding the remains of a massacre among the skeletons of hunter-gatherers of this period was totally surprising."

The research appeared in the journal Nature.

(Reporting by Will Dunham; Editing by Sandra Maler)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
ZURICH/GENEVA Internationally brokered talks between Syria's government and opposition groups due to start on Jan. 25 may be delayed, but major powers must keep up the pressure to bring participants to the table, the United Nations envoy said on Wednesday.

A Syrian opposition council backed by Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday it will not attend the negotiations in Geneva with the government if a third group takes part, a reference to a Russian bid to widen the opposition team.

U.N. Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura spoke in an interview with broadcaster CNN, hours after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held talks in Zurich despite no sign of agreement on who should represent the opposition.

"We have no intentions to postpone the talks from January to February. This is both the position of Russia and the United States, and we are confident that in the next days, in January, such talks must start," Lavrov said.

"...This will be just the start, because of course it will take a lot of time, a whole range of arduous tasks are to be resolved."

Various dates were being mooted, but the final decision was for the U.N. Secretary General on the advice of de Mistura, he said.

De Mistura, asked if he was able to send the invitations to the talks, told CNN in the Swiss resort of Davos: "I cant tell you today, I will tell you on the 24th, one day before."

It was important that it be "a serious talk about peace and not talks about talks", he said. "I believe we can start the talks, perhaps not on the 25th, but we need to maintain the pressure, we need to maintain the momentum."

Kerry's spokesman, John Kirby, said Kerry and Lavrov discussed "the importance of maintaining progress towards a diplomatic solution to the crisis in Syria."

"There's been no change in our desire to see this meeting happen on the 25th," he said.

A delay of one or two days in the start of the talks not be the end of the world, a U.S. State Department spokesman said later on Wednesday in Washington.

Kirby said Kerry also pressed Russia to use its influence with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to ensure unimpeded humanitarian access, especially to Syrians in besieged areas such as Madaya where people are reported to have died from starvation.

De Mistura said he believed Russia, which has been carrying out air strikes on rebels in Syria for months, "has a great vested interest in not getting involved for too long"

The United States was also "heavily involved politically" in seeking an end to the nearly five-year-old war, while Iran and Saudi Arabia had assured him they would work to end the Syrian conflict, despite their diplomatic row.

"They too probably realise that the time has come for at least trying to find a political solution which will be a compromise," de Mistura said.

NO AGREEMENT OVER OPPOSITION

The United Nations said on Monday it would not issue invitations to the talks until major powers promoting the negotiations, which include the United States and Russia, agree which rebel representatives should attend.

Russia and Iran, which support Assad, have rejected attempts by Saudi Arabia, which like the United States and European powers opposes Assad, to organise the Syrian opposition and delegation for the talks.

Iran's foreign minister said on Wednesday it was up to the U.N. to decide who represents the opposition, but he said that 10 delegates at a recent opposition gathering in Saudi Arabia were members of al Qaeda - one of three groups he said must be barred.

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom, John Miller in Zurich; Jack Stubbs in Moscow and Stephanie Nebehay and Tom Miles in Geneva and Arshad Mohammed and Mohammad Zargham in Washington; writing by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Dominic Evans and John Stonestreet)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
WASHINGTON U.S. Senate Democrats on Wednesday narrowly blocked legislation that would slow the entry of refugees from Syria and Iraq to the United States in a contentious vote cloaked in presidential election-year politics.

The vote was 55-43, with "yes" votes falling short of the 60 needed to advance the Republican-backed measure in the 100-member Senate. No Republicans voted against the bill, and only two Democrats backed it.

Among other things, the bill would halt the admission of refugees and require high-level U.S. officials to verify that each refugee from Iraq and Syria posed no security risk before being allowed into the United States.

Republicans said the tighter screening was essential to ensure the safety of Americans and prevent attacks within the country by Islamic State and other militant groups.

"This bipartisan bill would allow Washington to step back, take a breath and ensure it has the correct policies and security screenings in place," Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in the Senate before the vote.

Democrats called the legislation an attack on people who are fleeing war. They accused Republicans of holding the vote to allow their 2016 presidential candidates serving in the Senate to back legislation touted as tough on security.

All three Senate Republican 2016 presidential hopefuls, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio, backed the bill. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders missed the vote.

Democrats also sought to play politics. They tried and failed to reach a deal with Republicans to set up a vote on an amendment establishing a religious test for would-be immigrants.

That vote was planned to see if Republicans would side against presidential candidate Donald Trump, who has advocated barring Muslims from entering the United States.

The Syria refugee bill passed the House by a large margin days after the Nov. 13 Islamic State attacks in Paris. The bill was supported by dozens of Democrats who defied Democratic President Barack Obama's veto threat.

"We need to talk about efforts to defeat ISIS, not creating more paperwork for cabinet secretaries," Harry Reid, the Senate Democratic leader, told reporters before the vote.

It currently takes 18-24 months for Syrian refugees to be screened before they can move to the United States.

Washington has offered refuge to far fewer of the millions fleeing war in Syria and Iraq than many of its closest allies in Europe and the Middle East. Obama announced last year that he would admit 10,000 Syrians.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Eric Beech, Cynthia Osterman and Dan Grebler)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Washington: The US on Wednesday strongly condemned the terror attack on a university in Pakistan's restive northwest, saying it will stand "side-by-side" with the country in its fight against terrorism.

"The United States strongly condemns today's attack on Bacha Khan University in Charsadda. We offer our deepest condolences to the victims and their families during this time of grief," State Department Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner said.

"It is particularly appalling that these terrorists continue to attack educational institutions, targeting Pakistan's future generations," Toner said.

"The United States stands with the government and people of Pakistan and their efforts to create a secure, stable, and prosperous country, and we will stand side-by-side with Pakistan in its fight against terrorism," he said in a statement.

Heavily-armed Taliban militants stormed the prestigious university in Pakistan's restive northwest Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province this morning, firing indiscriminately on students and teachers. 20 people  18 students, a professor and a staffer  and four terrorists had been killed in the attack.

PTI
Initiated a restraining order: North Sydney mayor Jilly Gibson. Credit:Fiona Morris The leader of the NSW Opposition and state MP for Auburn, Luke Foley, welcomed the decision, calling the council a "laughing stock" and a "rotten borough". Mr Foley accused the Baird government of dragging its feet on sacking the council - a fact he said was linked to the Liberal Party's ties to councillor and former mayor Ronney Oueik, who is an ally of Cr Mehajer, a developer and was the Liberal candidate for the seat of Auburn. "These characters are [Premier Mike] Baird's allies. Mr Baird should answer some questions about his political relationship with Mr Oueik. "Mr Baird chose twice in the last 72 hours of the [March 2015 state election] campaign to stand next to Mr Oueik. The Liberal Party should have a look at its councillors and decide whether they are fit and proper representatives."

Mr Foley has previously been accused by Auburn councillor Irene Simms of being "silent for too long" on problems in the council. Cr Oueik could not be contacted for comment. Mr Baird has declined to comment. The ALP has itself faced a difficult battle with its own former party member, Cr Hicham Zraika, who was sensationally booted out of the party in December after he was revealed to have been working against the party in key votes. Mr Zraika is appealing that decision. "I'll note that the party tribunal has decided to expel that gentleman," Mr Foley said. Dr Bligh Grant from the UTS Institute for Public Policy and Governance said the last local council to be suspended by the state government was Central Darling Shire council in 2013, following a debt crisis.

In 2008, Wollongong and Port Macquarie Hastings councils were suspended and then sacked for corruption and financial mismanagement. Mr Toole's announcement follows several reports into a complicated network of business interests between Cr Mehajer and several other members of the council involved in property dealings. The council's mayor, Le Lam, has won strata management contracts for buildings constructed by Cr Mehajer and Cr Oueik. Cr Lam's brother-in-law, Minh Hua, and Cr Mehajer have also been business partners in a venture that has since declared bankruptcy. Cr Lam continued to vote on development applications that benefited Cr Oueik and Cr Mehajer without declaring any conflict of interest. She told Fairfax Media she only became aware of the connection between Cr Mehajer and her brother-in-law after reading media reports.

Fairfax Media has also revealed that the council voted to sell Cr Mehajer a prime piece of public land, in the form of a council car park, for $8.5 million despite commissioning a valuation that found it was worth $5 million more. "I'm pleased about the inquiry," said Cr Simms, who has been one of Cr Mehajer's political antagonists. "But the timing is unfortunate - hearings about [state government plans for amalgamations] are taking place early next month and it's going to be difficult for staff to prepare. "I'm disappointed, too, that the 'goodies' have to go out with the 'baddies', but that's the way it has to be." Cr Simms formed a minority bloc of votes, derisively dubbed "the poor four" by Cr Mehajer and his allies, who refer to their own majority grouping as the "super six". A similar inquiry will be held into North Sydney Council, to be led by Thomas Howard, SC. That council is not facing the same threat of immediate suspension as Auburn, but could still be dismissed or face a lesser punishment, depending on Mr Howard's findings.

Mr Toole cited poor relationships between councillors, "conflict" and "dysfunction" as the need to hold the inquiry. Scandals, conflict and petty intrigues dogged North Sydney Council for much of 2014. The council was even forced to hire an "organisational psychologist". Mayor Jilly Gibson initiated, then dropped, a restraining order against a fellow councillor. Council spent more than $120,000 on that and other law suits initiated by its own mayor. Fairfax revealed that Cr Gibson took receipt of a potentially illegal donation from a pub baron that she said was actually payment for tickets for a raffle of one of her paintings. A total of 26 "code of conduct" complaints were made against North Sydney councillors in 2013/14, the most of any council in the state.

It is not the first time the state government has moved against North Sydney Council. In 2014, Mr Toole gave it two weeks to show cause for why it should not be suspended. But after council threatened legal action, Mr Toole said he was "encouraged to see that North Sydney Council is determined to improve". Cr Gibson is a political independent and recently formed her own political party - not without some controversy and further allegations of conflict of interest - but she is understood to have close links to many prominent members of the NSW Liberal Party. Mr Toole said the dual inquiries would run independently of the state government's plans to merge Sydney councils.
A study conducted by a Macau scholar has found that the ideas raised under the patriotic education plan are most likely to be incompatible with the concept of active democratic citizenship.

Those assessments are included in a study undertaken in the context of moral and civic education policy by Teresa Vong, an associate professor of the University of Macaus Faculty of Education. It was published in the academic journal Emerald Insight on the issue dedicated to Asian Education and Development Studies.

Under the title Harmonizing a melody?!: A critical study of moral and civic education policy on the non-tertiary education system in Macau, the author critically analyses the policy of moral and civic education in the territorys non-tertiary education, in order to assess the consequences of such a curriculum.

Ms Vong says Macaus moral and civic education policy is made possible by strategies like the governmentalization of all public affairs, and the creation of social harmony as a new form of civic virtue.

The scholars study stresses that strategies like these lead to attempts to normalize the school system, and disciplining the scapegoats. These are attitudes that, in Vongs opinion, create clear tension between the discourses of active democratic citizenship and patriotic education.

The government should have a broader sense of citizenship. Their notions of it are too narrow, Ms Vong added, recalling that we are living in a global world and that schools should be preparing citizens for that world.

The scholar suggests that the government enrich the meaning of moral and civic education and inculcate real measures to promote the active participation of the citizens.

In another example, Ms Vong examines a recent list of associations and organizations visited by government officials that prove how rigid the government mindset [is] regarding what kind of citizen associations are important for them.

The author concludes that the self-

initiated study aims to contribute to the local discussion of a possible rewrite of the meanings of citizenship.
CHINA A magnitude-6.4 earthquake struck a remote region of northwest China early yesterday, damaging a few dozen homes but causing no casualties. Xinhua News Agency said the epicenter of the 1:13 a.m. quake was in an unpopulated area about 33 kilometers from the county seat of Menyuan in Qinghai province. The quake caused cracks in about 20 homes and other damage in more than 30 others.

CHINA Now that China has abandoned its decades-long one-child policy, demand for maternity services is expected to grow as women take advantage of the chance to have a second child. A school in Beijing is anticipating this trend by offering new training for high-end maternity matron services.

INDONESIA breaks ground on a joint project with China to build Southeast Asias first high speed rail service, linking the Indonesian capital Jakarta with Bandung in western Java.

CAMBODIA The head of a 7th century statue of a Hindu deity was returned by France and reattached to its body for display at a Cambodian museum, more than 130 years after it was spirited away. The stone sculpture depicts Harihara, a deity that combines aspects of Vishnu and Shiva, the most important gods in the Hindu pantheon who represent the creation of the universe and its destruction.

INDIA-FRANCE India is tightening security with extra paramilitary soldiers and police deployed across the capital after a French consulate in southern India received a letter warning against the visit of French President Francois Hollande.

INDIA The media say a millionaire has been sentenced to life in prison for killing his security guard last year by mowing him down with his luxury SUV in a rage.

AFGHANISTAN A deadly Taliban attack on a bus carrying employees of Afghanistans biggest TV station draws widespread condemnation, with activists denouncing it as an attack on freedom of speech and the countrys young and fragile media sector.

PAKISTAN People bury their dead and observe a day of nationwide mourning following a brazen attack by Islamic militants who stormed a northwestern university on Wednesday, gunning down students and teachers and spreading terror.

AUSTRALIA An animal handler is injured when a Sumatran tiger swipes him with claws at an Australian zoo owned by the family of Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin.

USA Drivers in the Washington area spent hours in icy gridlock ahead of heavy snowfall thats predicted to arrive by the weekend from the Appalachian Mountains to Philadelphia and maybe farther north. Yesterday, Virginia governor issued a state of emergency and said people should take the threat of this storm seriously.

KENYA Police say they have killed four men described as most-wanted extremist suspects whose names were released to the public in December. The shootout happened in the coastal town of Malindi. One of the victims is Suleiman Mohammed Awadh, who was wanted for his alleged role in several Islamic extremist attacks, including the mass killings on a college campus in Garissa in April.

BAHRAIN State-run Gulf Air announced yesterday it will purchase 19 new Airbus aircraft worth a listed value of USD2.35 billion, part of its effort to compete in the regions race between carriers.
A deputy head of the Chinese Cabinets Taiwan Affairs Office has been placed under investigation for apparent corruption as Beijings policies toward the island come under renewed scrutiny.

The ruling Communist Partys Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said in a brief statement that Gong Qinggai was suspected of serious violations of discipline, which is usually a euphemism for graft. No other details were given.

The announcement came three days after Taiwanese voters elected an independence-leaning president in a landslide, although there was no indication of any connection between the two events.

Multiple online reports speculated that Gongs problems related to his hiding of personnel assets and feuding within his family. However, President Xi Jinping is believed to be deeply unsatisfied with the offices failure to obtain results in Beijings quest to win over the Taiwanese to Chinas goal of political unification.

Rumors have also long circulated about the office facilitating private deals between Taiwanese and Chinese businesses, side-

stepping the sort of checks usually required for approval.

Taiwanese voters on Saturday elected Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party as president following the eight-year term of Ma Ying-jeou of the China-friendly Nationalist Party.

Skepticism over Mas push for closer economic ties with China was a major factor in the result, with young voters in particular fearful of an erosion of the islands competitiveness and their future earning potential.

The sides are now entering in a wait-and-see period in the months before Tsai, Taiwans first female president, is inaugurated in May.

She has pledged no change in the status quo of de facto independence, but has refused to accept Beijings one China principle asserting that the island and mainland are part of a single Chinese nation. AP
As bonds tumble across southern Europe, its beginning to look like the European Central Banks market stimulus never existed for Portugal.

The countrys bonds have slid since an inconclusive election on Oct. 4 led to weeks of political wrangling and a minority Socialist government promising to ease austerity. Yields on 10-year securities have climbed more than 60 basis points since then to 2.93 percent. Theyre higher than when ECB President Mario Draghi unveiled his bond-buying program, or quantitative easing, last January.

While declines in higher-yielding government bonds in riskier parts of the euro region have shown this week the limits of the ECBs impact, Portugal and Greece are the only countries in the 19-member currency bloc to have lost investors money over the past three months, returns compiled by Bloomberg show.

For investors to keep Portuguese paper they need to see that the new government is following a path of fiscal responsibility, said Ciaran OHagan, a strategist at Societe Generale SA. The ECBs QE is having an impact. Its a tap thats constantly flowing, but it cant stop a tsunami.

Central to the concern over Portugal is whether the government is shifting tack as it prepares to temper the austerity measures that won favor with investors, if not voters.

Prime Minister Antonio Costas government, sworn in at the end of November, is due to deliver a draft of its 2016 budget to European authorities this week. Plans include reversing state salary cuts and bolstering family incomes, policies he needs to ensure the support from the Communists and Left Bloc to have a majority in parliament.

The government already increased the minimum wage and plans to reinstate four holidays and reduce the working week for state workers to 35 hours, abandoning some measures introduced during Portugals three-year international bailout program that ended in 2014.

Portugal still attracted foreign investors to a sale of 4 billion euros (USD4.4 billion) of 10-year government bonds via banks last week. Finance Minister Mario Centeno said maintaining confidence in the country is crucial and it would be reflected in the budget. Bond yields peaked at 18 percent during the debt crisis.

Costa, 54, says he can still keep the budget deficit within the European Union limit of 3 percent of gross domestic product through 2019 as the country tries to deal with its 223 billion-euro debt pile.

Investors are taking more convincing after some bondholders in what remains of failed lender Banco Espirito Santo SA were forced to take losses. Costa has said he was concerned by the central banks treatment of those investors.

The extra yield on Portuguese 10-year bonds compared with German securities widened to the most since July on Monday. The spread has widened more quickly than Spain, which is going through its own post-election turmoil, and Ireland, where voters are expected to choose the next government as early as February.

If we look at the reaction thus far year-to-date in the peripheral markets, the one market that stands out as under-performing is Portugal, Scott Thiel, BlackRock Inc.s deputy chief investment officer for fundamental fixed income, said in a Bloomberg Television interview on Jan. 18. The political situation there, the market obviously has taken relatively negatively. Joao Lima, Bloomberg
President Vladimir Putin probably approved a plan by Russias FSB security service to kill a former agent-turned-Kremlin critic who died after drinking tea laced with radioactive poison, a British judge said yesterday in a strongly worded report that led Moscow to accuse Britain of a politically motivated attack.

Judge Robert Owen, who led a public inquiry into the 2006 killing of Alexander Litvinenko, said he was certain that two Russian men had given Litvinenko tea containing a fatal dose of polonium-210 during a meeting at a London hotel.

He said there was a strong probability that Russias FSB, successor to the Soviet Unions KGB spy agency, directed the killing and that the operation was probably approved by Putin, then as now the president of Russia.

On his deathbed, Litvinenko accused Putin of ordering his killing, but this is the first public official statement linking the Russian president to the crime, and it sent a chilling jolt through U.K.-Russia relations.

Britain summoned the Russian ambassador for a dressing-down and imposed an asset freeze on the two main Russian suspects: Andrei Lugovoi, now a Russian lawmaker, and Dmitry Kovtun.

Moscow has always strongly denied being involved in Litvinenkos death, and Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zhakarova said the Russian government did not consider Owens conclusions objective or impartial.

There was one goal from the beginning: slander Russia and slander its officials, Zhakarova told journalists Thursday in Moscow. She repeated several times that the Litvinenko inquiry was neither public nor transparent, claiming it had turned into a shadow puppet theater.

Litvinenko, a former FSB agent, fled to Britain in 2000 and became a vocal critic of Russias security service and of Putin, whom he accused of links to organized crime. Owen said Litvinenko was regarded as having betrayed the FSB with his actions, and said there were powerful motives for organizations and individuals within the Russian state to kill him.

Marina Litvinenko, the spys widow, said she was very pleased that the words my husband spoke on his deathbed when he accused Mr. Putin have been proved by an English court.

She also called for tougher action, urging British Prime Minister David Cameron to expel Russian intelligence agents operating in Britain and impose economic sanctions and travel bans on Putin and other officials linked to what her lawyer, Ben Emmerson, called a mini-

act of nuclear terrorism on the streets of London.

Its unthinkable that the prime minister would do nothing in the face of the damning findings, Marina Litvinenko told reporters.

Britain responded to the report with strong words  though its scope for strong action is limited.

U.K.-Russian relations have remained chilly since the killing of Litvinenko, who was granted British citizenship shortly before his death, and worsened with Russias involvement in the separatist fighting in Ukraine. But the inquirys report comes as the two countries are cautiously trying to work together against the Islamic State group in Syria, and neither wants a major new rift.

British Home Secretary Theresa May said the involvement of the Russian state was a blatant and unacceptable breach of the most fundamental tenets of international law and civilized behavior  but not a surprise. She announced asset freezes against suspects Lugovoi and Kovtun, and said Interpol had issued notices calling for their arrest if they traveled abroad. Russia refuses to extradite the two men.

Lugovoi is now a member of the Russian parliament, which means he is immune from prosecution in his country. In an interview yesterday with the Associated Press, he called the British investigation a spectacle.

I think that  yet again  Great Britain has shown that anything that involves their political interests, theyll make a top priority, he said. These announcements from the British Parliament completely discredit the British legal system  completely  in the eyes of any sensible, normal person.

Lugovoi also claimed he would have liked to testify at the inquiry but was not allowed. The judge said both Lugovoi and Kovtun declined to give evidence.

Kovtun, now described as a businessman, said the conclusions were based on false evidence presented in closed hearings.

The crazy evidence is easily refuted, the Tass news agency reported him as saying.

Owen  a retired High Court judge appointed by the government to head a public inquiry into the slaying  heard from dozens of witnesses during months of public hearings last year and also saw secret British intelligence evidence.

Announcing his findings at Londons Royal Courts of Justice, Owen said there can be no doubt that Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned by Mr. Lugovoi and Mr. Kovtun in the Pine Bar of Londons luxury Millennium Hotel on Nov. 1, 2006. He died three weeks later of acute radiation syndrome.

In his 326-page report, Owen said based on the evidence he had seen, the operation to kill Litvinenko was probably approved by then-FSB head Nikolai Patrushev, now head of Putins security council, and by Putin. Jill Lawless, London, AP
There is still no schedule for when Macau-registered vehicles will be allowed to enter Hengqin.

According to a press statement issued yesterday by the Government Information Bureau (GCS), an announcement will be made at an appropriate time [about] any news on whether or when Macau-

registered vehicles would be allowed to enter neighboring Hengqin Island, part of the mainlands Zhuhai Prefecture in Guangdong Province.

The statement adds that the MSAR has recently submitted proposals to Guangdong authorities on managing issues relating to the entry of Macau-

registered vehicles. The regions authorities are waiting for a response regarding the proposals.

The government is also studying possible adjustments to the transport network to accommodate possible increases in traffic, including the area around the Lotus Bridge checkpoints linking Macau to Hengqin.

The Macau and Guangdong authorities have been discussing the matter based on the principles of the Framework Agreement on Cooperation between Guangdong and Macau.

Last month, the director-

general of the Hengqin New Area Administrative Committee, Niu Jing, confirmed that cars from Macau could soon access the island, as Hengqin prepares to trial a one-stop customs clearance policy.

We hope to announce as early as possible the measures for vehicles with a single-license permit to enter and exit Hengqin and the date for the implementation of these measures, said the director-general.

According to Niu, the successful implementation of the measure will mean that Hengqin Island will be able to cooperate with Macau Customs, holding only one inspection before transit clearance. Staff reporter

pataca in hengqin

Mainland authorities are currently working to draw up a scheme that would allow the Macau currency to be used in Hengqin. The plan needs approval from the Chinese central bank.
A senior U.S. diplomat stepped up pressure on China yesterday to play a leading role in punishing North Korea for its recent nuclear test that raised worries about advancements in its bomb program.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in South Korea on a diplomatic push for tougher sanctions and punishment that can force change in the North. Key to those efforts is whether China, the Norths last major ally and a veto-wielding U.N. Security Council member, will join in such moves.

We believe that China has a special role to play given the special relationship that it has with North Korea, Blinken told reporters after meeting with South Korean officials.

He said Beijing has more influence and more leverage over Pyongyang than any other country because most its trade goes from, to or through China. We are looking to China to show leadership on the issue, Blinken said.

He flew to Beijing late yesterday for talks on North Korea.

During a meeting with South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, Blinken said Seoul and Washington are working closely in New York with the United Nations Security Council.

Yun said it is time for the international community to stand united to make North Korea face the consequences for its bomb test. This is North Korea versus international community, he said.

China is expected to join in some U.N. sanctions, but wont likely go as far as to take steps that might lead to the collapse of the Norths authoritarian government. China fears the onslaught of a wave of refugees and violence surging across the border, analysts say. AP
A U.S. citizen became the second person to plead guilty in connection with a bribery scandal at the United Nations, tearfully admitting that she bribed a former president of the U.N. General Assembly to gain his support for business ventures.

Sheri Yan, 60, entered the plea to a bribery charge in Manhattan federal court in a deal with prosecutors that recommended she be sentenced to between roughly six and seven years in prison. The charge carries a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison. Her lawyers said she was not cooperating. Judge Vernon Broderick set sentencing for April 29.

Yan, speaking through a Mandarin interpreter, wiped away tears several times during the plea hearing as she admitted that she agreed with others to pay bribes to John Ashe so he could use his position as president of the U.N. General Assembly and as an ambassador from Antigua and Barbuda to promote business ventures from which Yan and others could profit.

Defense attorney Christine Chung rested her hand on Yans back as Yan described her crime by reading from a prepared statement. Earlier, Yan said her formal education ended in the first year of junior high school.

Ashe, who served in the largely ceremonial post as head of the 193-nation assembly from September 2013 to September 2014, has pleaded not guilty to tax fraud charges and is free on bail.

There was no mention at the hearing of Macau billionaire Ng Lap Seng, who is charged with funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to Ashe to gain his support for a Macau conference center that authorities say Ng hoped would be his legacy. Ng has pleaded not guilty and has asked for a speedy trial, saying his businesses are being damaged.

Authorities say Yan and a co-defendant had arranged for more than USD800,000 in payments to Ashe in exchange for official favors by Ashe and other Antiguan officials for various Chinese businessmen.

The initial payment Yan helped to arrange was $300,000 on behalf of a Chinese media executive, prosecutors have said. In court papers, the government said Ashe went to Antigua to meet with key decision makers to discuss the media executives plans after Ashe received the $300,000 payment. Prosecutors say financial records reflect that Ashe sent $100,000 of the bribe to Antiguas prime minister and more funds to other Antiguan political interests.

According to court papers, Yan began paying Ashe $20,000 monthly in August 2013 to be honorary chairman of a New York-

based non-governmental organization whose chief executive officer was Yan. The organization, prosecutors said, was purportedly formed to promote the U.N.s sustainable development goals.

As part of her plea, Yan agreed to forfeit $300,000.

Yans plea comes a week after a Chinese businesswoman pleaded guilty in the case, agreeing to testify if necessary against others.

At a hearing scheduled for Thursday, lawyers for Francis Lorenzo, a deputy U.N. ambassador from the Dominican Republic who lives in the Bronx, plan to argue that he is entitled to diplomatic immunity. Lorenzo has pleaded not guilty to charges and is free on bail. Larry Neumeister, New York, AP
Authorities in Thailand have arrested members of a student group opposed to military rule, including one snatched off the street at night and bundled into a vehicle, in the latest jousting between the government and its most active opponents.

Four members of the New Democracy Movement were taken to military court yesterday to be charged with violating an order banning groups of five or more people from gathering publicly for political purposes.

Last month, the students were blocked en route to a protest at a park built under army patronage to honor past kings. The students sought to bring attention to corruption allegations in the parks construction. They had refused to surrender themselves after warrants for their arrest were issued.

Siriwich Serithiwat, also known as Ja New, was detained Wednesday night by unidentified men  thought to be army officers  who seized him at a busy street corner and took him into a waiting SUV. The student group released video footage purportedly of the incident, which circulated widely on social media.

Three of his colleagues were arrested when they went to the police station to lend their support. All were released later yesterday pending a court appearance. Thai media reported another member of the group was separately arrested.

Ja New, who was allowed to keep his mobile phone after his arrest, said in a posting on his groups Facebook page that he was seized by masked men, blindfolded, roughed up and threatened before being taken to a police station.

The case recalled the 2004 disappearance of Somchai Neelapaijit, a Muslim human rights lawyer, who is widely believed to have been kidnapped and killed by police officers. His remains were never found. Last month, Thailands Supreme Court upheld the acquittal of five officers who had been found guilty of coercion and robbery in connection with the disappearance. The ruling, which hinged in part on the failure to find Somchais body, sparked fresh calls for Thailand to pass laws to prosecute enforced disappearances. AP
The Macau literary festival The Script Road celebrates its fifth anniversary this year. The festival runs from March 5 to 19 and will offer more activities for a longer period, the organization said yesterday in a press conference at the IACM Building Library.

As the organizers explained, the big difference of extending the festival for three days is that it allows the events to span three weekends, when more people are available to attend events.

It will be a longer, bigger and hopefully better edition, said co-organizer Helder Beja, who highlighted the presence of an important and interesting guest, referring to politician and historian Jose Pacheco Pereira, from Portugal.

The 2016 edition celebrates two major authors, Camilo Pessanha (a Portuguese who resided in Macau for a long period) and Chinese Tang Xianzu. The festival aims to be more international by featuring authors from a wide range of countries, and has emphasized a special highlight in the form of a couple of poets from the Phillipines, a country that one of the organizers, Helder Beja, described as very important due its big community and high representation in the territory.

Although the event will adopt the same model as last year, one of the novelties of this years event is the fact that all concerts will be held in the Macau Cultural Centers (CCM) Grand Auditorium which, in the words of Ricardo Pinto, is a more appropriate venue for the concerts and for the ambience we wanted.

This is a change from previous editions of the festival, where most of the concerts were held at the Venetian Arena in Cotai.

Another organizer Yao Jingming mentioned the importance of this festival, saying that, in his opinion, it has become a name card of Macau and something we use to face the world. Yao also high- lighted the festivals local component, which will feature two great authors who each have an intimate relationship with Macau.

Also on the local side, the presence of guests such as Mu Xinxin, Carlos Morais Jose, Un Sio San and Carlos Andre, among others, ensures that Macau will be well represented.

This local representation extends to the visual arts and to cinema, with local filmmakers Tracy Choi, Emily Chan and Cheong Kin Man joining the festival to screen some of their latest creations.

Two of the most acclaimed public speakers in previous editions, Portuguese Rui Zink and Taiwans Lolita Hu, will return to Macau this year, together with debut guests such as Ernesto Dabo from Guinea-Bissau.

What remains unchanged is the MOP2.3 million festival budget, MOP1.4 million of which was granted through public financing.

The final version of the program will be made known about one month before the festival.
Vietnam said China has moved an oil rig into disputed waters in the South China Sea in a move that could result in a repeat the 2014 stand-off between the communist neighbors.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh said in a statement posted on the ministrys website this week that Vietnam has raised concerns with China over the movement of Haiyang Shiyou oil rig, and has demanded that China stop any drilling and remove the oil rig from the area where the two countries continental shelves overlap that have not been demarcated.

Vietnam demands that China not conduct any drilling activities and withdraw Hai Duong 981 oil rig from this area, he said, using the Vietnamese name for the oil rig.

Vietnam reserves all its legal rights and interests in the area in accordance with international law, he said.

The oil rig was at the center of a stand-off between the countries in May 2014 when China parked the rig off Vietnam central coast. It was towed away more than two months later, but the incident sparked deadly anti-China riots in Vietnam and plunged bilateral relations to their lowest point in years.

The move of the oil rig into disputed waters also comes as more than 1,500 delegates from Vietnams ruling Communist Party gather in Hanoi on Wednesday for a once every five-year congress that will select the countrys new leaders and set development plans for the next five years. AP
"The trouble with life is the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent full of doubt." --Bertrand Russell Never be a spectator of unfairness or stupidity. The grave will supply plenty of time for silence.--Christopher Hitchens
A predominantly one-topic blog: how is it that the most imminent and lethal implication for humankind - the fact that the doctrine of "Mutually Assured Destruction" will not work with Iran - is not being discussed in our media? Until it is recognized that MAD is dead, the Iranian threat will be treated as a threat only to Israel and not as the global threat which it in fact is. A blog by Mladen Andrijasevic
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. (1 John 4:1 KJV) "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (John 8:32 KJV) "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." (Ephesians 6:12 KJV)

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TWIN FALLS | A man who served six years in prison for a 2008 burglary and is awaiting trial on three counts of burglary from October was arrested Monday and charged with stealing a purse from a womans car.

Orion Tom Dobson, 57, of Twin Falls was arraigned Tuesday in Twin Falls County Magistrate Court on one felony count of burglary.

Dobson was charged with three counts of burglary Oct. 2, online court records show. He pleaded not guilty in district court earlier this year and is awaiting a trial thats scheduled to begin April 6.

Dobson pleaded guilty in 2008 to two counts of burglary and was sentenced to two to six years in prison, online court records show. He was released from prison Dec. 7, 2014, after serving the full six-year term.

His latest arrest came after a woman called police to report a man opened her car door and stole her purse while she was parked in the 100 block of Sixth Avenue East about 1:30 p.m. Monday, court records said. The woman whose purse was stolen didnt see the man, but another woman did, and she gave police his description.

The witness said she was outside when she saw the man open the door of a Subaru, reach in and take out a purse, court documents said. The woman followed Dobson until he dropped the purse by a Dumpster and then watched him walk through the Magic Valley Paramedic parking lot.

When the purses owner got it back, she discovered her wallet missing, court documents said. The wallet was later found in bushes in the parking lot.

Officers found Dobson based on witness's description and stopped him for questioning, court records said. The witness was called and she identified him as the man she saw steal the purse from the car.

Dobson was arrested on suspicion of burglary, and another officer at the police station recognized him from a call earlier in the day in which a man was reportedly checking for unlocked vehicle doors, court documents said.

Dobson is being held in Twin Falls County Jail in lieu of $150,000 bond, and a preliminary hearing is scheduled for Jan. 29.
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KIMBERLY  The Kimberly School District wants to build a new elementary school and is considering bringing a $14.2 million bond to voters in May.

School trustees heard a presentation Wednesday night, but voted to table the agenda item. Superintendent Luke Schroeder recommended postponing a decision until next month.

This decision is going to be one of the most important we make, he told the board.

If the school board moves forward and voters approve a bond, it would pay for a new elementary school plus remodeling or an addition at the existing Kimberly Elementary School.

It would help alleviate rapid enrollment growth and overcrowding. Kimberly Elementary  one of the largest elementary schools in Idaho  has nearly 900 students.

Theres definitely a need with those elementary school numbers, said Corey Johnson of CTA Architects Engineers in Boise.

Trustees heard a presentation Wednesday night about a new long-term master building plan, outlining projects in three phases.

A new elementary school would cost about $11 million, Johnson said. The rest of the bond money would pay for work at the existing elementary school.

If a bond passes, CTA would complete design by January 2017 for the new elementary school.

Historically, weve found thats the best time to bid a project, said Jason Derricott of Starr Corp.

Construction could begin in spring 2017, with completion slated for June 2018. A remodeling of the existing elementary school would be done in January 2019.

The remodeling would include a cosmetic facelift and upgrading safety features, Derricott said.

Obviously, there are lots of needs, Johnson said, but added hes confident a good upgrade can be achieved with about $3.1 million.

Phase one would also include purchase of land for a new elementary school and a 12-acre site for a future middle school. District funds would cover $400,000 of the projected cost.

This summer, school trustees put out a request for proposals and hired a design-build team  CTA Architects Engineers and Starr Corp.

And a committee  with 15 to 20 members  met for three workshops earlier this school year to develop the long-term building plan. They also held community meetings to present information and seek input.

One factor in paying for facility projects: An existing bond for Kimberly High School will be paid off this year  three years sooner than expected.

A bond levy allows a school district to go into debt  to borrow money  and levy a property tax to pay for it, said Eric Heringer of Piper Jaffray.

A school district can qualify for state levy equalization money to help repay the bond, he said.

Typically, a bond is repaid over 20 years, Herringer said, but some districts opt for fewer or more years.

Bond measures require a two-thirds supermajority vote to pass.

Phase two of the long-term building plan  10 to 12 years from now  looks at addressing growing middle and high school enrollment.

A proposal calls for a performing arts addition, including an auditorium and classroom spaces, between the middle and high schools.

The committee also looked at how to use space in the districts round building for exploratory education, meaning specialized programs.

Phase 3  around 2026-27  could include building a middle school and a third elementary school.

Thinking about school building needs has been a long process. The school board approved an updated long-range plan in February 2015.

Most of the recommendations were broad recommendations, Schroeder said, but a few were specific, including creating a long-term master building plan.

The long-range plan also includes goals of acquiring land for future growth and pursuing neighborhood elementary schools, each with 450-500 students.
BOISE  The fund used to pay for medical treatment for Idahoans who can not afford it themselves will need $5 million less next year, thanks to more people having insurance, the programs administrator told lawmakers in a budget report Thursday.

The Catastrophic Health Care Program is asking for $22 million in state money for the 2017 fiscal year, a drop from $27 million in the current one and the $35 million spent on the program in the 2011 fiscal year.

The 87,000 people who have insurance on the state exchange  of whom all but 10,000 got subsidies to buy  has led to a steep drop in follow-up treatment costs, fund administrator Roger Christensen told the Legislatures budget-setting Joint Finance Appropriations Committee. Some non-insured people applied for the CAT fund and discovered they qualify for subsidized insurance, so the fund might have to pay for their immediate medical need but their insurance covers ongoing treatment.

Idaho instituted its own insurance exchange, called Your Health Idaho  one of the few Republican-run states to do so  in 2013.

Another reason for savings, Christensen says, has been the use of medical reviews, in which a contractor questions the medical need for each service and rejects those deemed unnecessary. This has saved $18 million since 2011, he said.

According to Christensens report, the number of cases has dropped from 5,308 statewide in 2013 to 3,795 in 2015, and both state and county payments to the fund have been dropping as a result.

Many cases take more than a year, but there were 721 new cases approved in 2015, of which the most  173  were in Ada County. Twin Falls County came in second with 82 cases. Lincoln, Gooding, Camas, Jerome, Blaine, Cassia and Minidoka counties had 70 cases combined.

Of the $18.6 million in payments authorized statewide last year, $1.87 million was for Twin Falls County, making it third behind Ada and Kootenai counties.

So far, 308 cases have been approved this fiscal year, which started on July 1, with the average cost being $26,937 per case. Christensen projects there will be 712 cases this year overall, a 20 percent drop from 2015.

A small number of applicants end up qualifying for Medicaid, the report says  about 10 percent on average, or 432 of 2,593 applicants so far this year.

Heart, digestive and mental problems and injuries resulting from accidents are among the most common reasons people turn to the fund.

Christensen said the current debate on either expanding Medicaid or repealing Obamacare could have a dramatic effect on future CAT fund spending.

Sen. Jim Guthrie, R-Inkom, said that while the Affordable Care Act may have been a negative for other areas of the economy, it had been a positive for the CAT fund.

I hope this isnt the only bright spot we have in the budgets, said JFAC co-Chairwoman Rep. Maxine Bell, R-Jerome.
BOISE  A bill challenging Idahos exemptions for faith healers whose children are injured or die could have a better shot at a hearing this year.

If they want to bring it to my committee, Ill be happy to hear the bill, said Sen. Lee Heider, R-Twin Falls.

Heider, chairman of Senate Health and Welfare, said he has been researching the issue, including talking to the prosecutor and assistant coroner in Canyon County, where many of the Followers of Christ church live. The church rejects modern medicine in favor of prayer and anointing with oil, and it has gotten negative attention in Idaho and Oregon because of the higher-than-usual number of members children who die, sometimes from treatable causes.

Oregon changed its laws in 1999 and again in 2011 to remove spiritual treatment as a defense in cases where someone dies. But Idaho code contains protection, added in 1972, for a parent or guardian who chooses for his child treatment by prayer or spiritual means alone.

Heider said he visited a Followers of Christs church a couple of weeks ago, and that he views the issue as really not a child-protection issue. This is a freedom of religion issue. Heider said the churchs members are acting not from malice but from their interpretation of the New Testament.

Theyre wonderful people, he said. And they love their children just like you and I love our children,

Boise Democrat John Gannon wrote a bill in 2014 to remove legal protections for parents who choose faith healing over medical treatment in cases where a child is seriously injured or dies, but he couldnt get a hearing on it. Gannon plans to keep working on it this session, pointing to the report the state Child Fatality Review Team released in April 2015 as evidence that children have died recently because of the exemption.

The team, which consisted of medical examiners, coroners, law enforcement and health care representatives, studied child deaths throughout Idaho. It found two cases in 2012 where children died in families where the parents did not seek medical help because of religious beliefs  one who died from complications from diabetes, and one who died from a prolonged gastrointestinal illness.

Im thinking we need to take a look at this with this new evidence, Gannon said.

The report recommends changing the law to allow state intervention in cases where the childs death or severe disability is imminent and would, within a reasonable degree of medical certainty, be prevented by the administration of appropriate medical care. Its authors stress they would not change the law to mandate routine medical care in cases where the parents object. Gannon agreed that any legislation would have to be firm but narrow in its application.

Gannons bill was assigned to the Judiciary and Rules Committee in 2014, and Heider said it could still go either there or through State Affairs. But, Heider said, it would make the most sense for the bill to go through his committee.

Erwin Sonnenberg, a review team member who was Ada County coroner for 36 years, said he couldnt talk about specific cases, but just from general experience, the ones I know involving faith healing, had they been to a doctor, almost all of them could have been alive.

Sonnenberg, who retired about a year ago, did autopsies throughout southwestern Idaho. He saw cases where children died from appendicitis, spinal meningitis, or caught a cold that developed into something more serious, he said. He also saw reoccurring genetic defects that killed multiple children in the same family.

He estimated there are fewer than two cases a year of children from faith-healing families dying from treatable causes, and he supports changing the law to get rid of the exemption. While the number might not be huge, he said, when children have illnesses that can be treated fairly easily ... thats frustrating when you see a kid die from that.

Linda Martin, whose family has been in the Followers of Christ church for generations and who has relatives in church leadership, grew up attending their church in Meridian. The church believes in only anointing with oil and prayer, and that using other treatments is a sign of lack of trust in God, she said. If someone dies, they believe, its Gods will.

They believe that medicine is a temptation from Satan, and to give in and use medicine is giving in to Satan, she said. Or, they think that medicine is for people of no faith or little faith.

Martin described watching people she knew die from treatable illnesses like pneumonia. She keeps a book at home with more than 150 funeral cards in it including adults who died as well as children. As a child, she said, she remembers knowing that when the elders were called to pray for someone, it would mean their death was imminent.

I cant tell you how many friends Ive lost  how many cousins, she said.

Martin left the church at 16 but stayed in Idaho and stayed in touch with relatives who were still in the church until she moved to Oregon in 1999. She went public with her story in late 2013 and has made trips back to Boise since then to lobby for changes to Idahos law  so far without success. She said lawmakers have told her they didnt want to get involved in a debate on limiting parental rights and religious freedom, and that the Republicans in particular have been resistant.

Walking into the state Capitol and  talking to legislators about faith healing is like walking into the Twilight Zone, she said.
BOISE | Idaho residents who dont normally make enough money to file an income tax return can still get a refund of the grocery tax credit for 2015.

The tax credit, which offsets the sales tax on groceries, is $100 for most Idaho residents who arent required to file an income tax return, plus $100 for each of their dependents. Residents age 65 and older get $20 more.

To qualify for the refund, residents must have lived in Idaho during all of 2015. Dependents born or adopted in 2015, and residents and dependents who died in 2015 qualify for the full credit.

If Idaho residents received federal food stamps, were in jail, or were in the U.S. illegally for part of the year, their refund will be prorated to exclude the months those conditions applied.

Last year, about 64,000 residents who werent required to file a tax return filed for a grocery credit refund.

Residents 65 and older and their spouses can claim the refund by filing a Form 24, Idaho Grocery Credit Refund. Residents under the age of 65 should file their claim on Form 40, Idaho Individual Income Tax Return.

For more information, visit tax.idaho.gov (click on Get a grocery credit refund in the Quick Picks section).

Taxpayers can also get help by calling the Tax Commission at 208-334-7660 in the Boise area or toll-free at 800-972-7660.
We are well into 2016 and, of course, with a new year comes new goals. One of my goals is to get out more in our community to talk weather. Id rather not stand on some random street corner in Twin Falls yelling about the weather  insert Simpsons reference of Grandpa Simpson yelling at a cloud  but visit your school or community group and talk about weather.

The end of 2015 was relatively slow when it came to school visits and community group talks. Ive done only one school visit this school year and I am ready to get out and do more.

Keep in mind, this is a free volunteer service and in my opinion one of the best parts of my job. Each night I get about 4 to 6 minutes in a half hour newscast to talk about the weather. In my opinion, thats not a lot of time to really talk about weather.

Also, weather is something that impacts our lives daily and in many cases hourly. To quote Ben Franklin, Some people are weatherwise, and most are otherwise. Here in southern Idaho Id like to make it a goal that most are weatherwise.

If you ever want me or any other member of the Weather Authority Team to come and speak about weather or other earth-related sciences please call or email. Sometimes we do get busy, but we would love to be busy going around Southern Idaho talking about weather and how it impacts all of us here across the region.
Unpack your old tie-dyed T-shirts, roll yourself a fat doobie and warm up the ancient VW bus. Were going to do Woodstock and the 1972 presidential election all over again. And this time, the hippies are going to win! Four years of peace, love, and single-payer health care.

But do take care to clear the path for Bernie Sanders. Because if he steps in something the dog left behind, hes going to blame Wall Street and start yelling and waving his arms around.

And you know how much that upsets Republican congressmen who are otherwise so eager to oblige his plans to soak the rich and give everybody free college, free health care, free Bubble Up and rainbow stew, as the old Merle Haggard song had it.

OK, so Im being a smart aleck. I was moved to satire by a couple of moments from last weeks Democratic and Republican presidential debates. First, Sen. Sanders, boasting about a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll that shows him beating Donald Trump by 15 points at 54 to 39 (Hillary Clinton tops Trump only 51-41).

Both would be huge landslides. In 1972, Richard Nixon defeated George McGovern 61-38. The Democrat won only Massachusetts.

The part Sanders left out and that Hillary was also wise enough to leave unmentioned is that the same poll shows her leading him 59 to 34 percent in the Democratic contest nationally. Twenty-five points.

Shed have to be a fool to take that to the bank, although it does demonstrate why a lot of the racehorse commentary has it upside-down. See, unless Bernie manages to prevail in the Iowa caucuses, his campaign pretty much goes on life support. A New Englander nearly always wins in New Hampshire, and rarely goes anywhere after that.

Almost needless to say, all polls are individually suspect. Also, the national media gives far more play to surveys depicting a close contest. Theyre better for journalists careers.

That would be true even if you didnt know that bringing Hillary Clinton down has been an obsessive quest in Washington and New York newsrooms for 24 years.

During most of which time its been, Bernie who? That Vermont socialist whos all the time yelling? That guy?

Yeah, him. The guy with the Brooklyn accent and the Wacky Prof look who says billionaire the way some people say ebola.

Not that theres anything wrong with that.

The same guy Ohio Gov. John Kasich boldly predicted would lose all 50 states if Democrats were foolish enough to nominate him.

Actually, Im confident Sanders would carry Vermont and probably Massachusetts against any Republican nominee. New Hampshire and Maine could be out of reach.

Even against Trump? Well theoretical matchups mean next to nothing this far out. Also, I suspect that Bernies big advantage  hard for politically active readers to believe  is that most voters know almost nothing about him. Only that hes neither Hillary nor The Donald.

I also suspect that a Trump vs. Sanders matchup would bring a serious third-party challenge. Anyway, let the GOP attack machine get to work on Sanders and Im guessing wed soon learn that theres no great yearning among the electorate for socialism  democratic or not.

Did you know, for example, that Sanders took a honeymoon trip to the Soviet Union in 1988? George Will does.

Does that make him disloyal? Of course not, merely a bit of a crank. As Sanders loyalists are quick to remind you, President Reagan went to Moscow to negotiate nuclear arms reductions with Gorbachev that year.

Anyway, as a personal matter, I got my fill of Marxist faculty lounge lizards back in the tie-dyed, VW bus era. Disagree, and youre an immoral sellout. That gets old really fast.

Writing in Washington Monthly, David Atkins does a manful job of trying to explain away a Gallup poll showing that while 38 percent of Americans say theyd never vote for a Muslim president, and 40 percent wouldnt support an atheist, fully 50 percent said no socialists need apply.

Can Bernie persuade them otherwise?

I dont see how. Most Americans dont actually hate the rich, and his despairing portrait of contemporary American life doesnt square with most peoples experiences.

Against these liabilities, writes Jonathan Chait, Sanders offers the left-wing version of a hoary political fantasy: that a more pure candidate can rally the People into a righteous uprising that would unsettle the conventional laws of politics.

Meanwhile, not only has Sanders presented no realistic political scenario for enacting his vaunted reforms, serious observers also question their substance.

Liberal MVP Paul Krugman:

To be harsh but accurate: the Sanders health plan looks a little bit like a standard Republican tax-cut plan, which relies on fantasies about huge supply-side effects to make the numbers supposedly add up.

During the recent debate, Bernie accused Hillary of failing to take his candidacy seriously. Fair enough. But has he?
He [Owen] it very clear that the IMF was willing to help to restore the economy which currently is off-track but that any programme should be done only when the government is ready to swallow the bitter pill or bite the bullet, but that is not the case at the moment, according to sources. Mr Owen said the biggest challenge Zambia is facing at the moment is the level of fiscal indiscipline and credibility of the level of expenditure management. So yes, he said the country was constrained in its revenues but the government equally is not willing to apply any fiscal restraint.

And in an internal memorandum dated November 30, Tsidi Tsikata, who headed the IMF mission to Zambia late last year, told the Fund that President Lungu had told them that he was considering calling for an early election to get politics out of the way as he addresses the countrys economic situation. According to Tsikata, President Lungu expressed interest in an IMF programme but could not agree to it immediately for fear that the opposition would politicise the initiative.



The sources said Owen, during his meeting with civil society, was concerned that the Zambian economy had continued to weaken and any remedial measures to be agreed between the government and the IMF could not hold at the moment owing to the lack of credibility of Zambias Treasury as the country had consistently overspent with no respect for the budgeting process.



He [Owen] it very clear that the IMF was willing to help to restore the economy which currently is off-track but that any programme should be done only when the government is ready to swallow the bitter pill or bite the bullet, but that is not the case at the moment, according to sources. Mr Owen said the biggest challenge Zambia is facing at the moment is the level of fiscal indiscipline and credibility of the level of expenditure management. So yes, he said the country was constrained in its revenues but the government equally is not willing to apply any fiscal restraint.



The sources said during the consultation process, Owen agreed that any package to help restore the economy could only be put in place after the general elections.



He said that inevitably, whether the new government will be ushered in after August 11 polls, there will be need for more credible economic management team than what is obtaining at the moment looking at the way the macroeconomic fundamentals have worsened, said the sources.



IMF country representative to Zambia Tobias Rasmussen confirmed Owens visit but did not divulge the details.



He is meeting with a number of senior government officials as well as representatives from the private sector and civil society, but no meeting is scheduled with President Lungu, said Rasmussen. Mr Owen is coming alone and his visit is not directly related to that of the larger team that was here in November, but is part of the ongoing IMF engagement with the Zambian authorities.



Last November, the IMF suggested a programme with a US$1 billion interest-free loan for Zambia that was aimed at getting the country out of its current economic problems, but with conditions, such as the realignment of expenditure on ongoing road infrastructure, reducing fuel subsidies and discontinuation of unplanned expenditures.



But President Lungu rejected the proposal based on the fact that the suggested measures were likely to work against his reelection this year.



And in an internal memorandum dated November 30, Tsidi Tsikata, who headed the IMF mission to Zambia late last year, told the Fund that President Lungu had told them that he was considering calling for an early election to get politics out of the way as he addresses the countrys economic situation.



According to Tsikata, President Lungu expressed interest in an IMF programme but could not agree to it immediately for fear that the opposition would politicise the initiative.





On the big switcheroo:Translation: the 3 billion debt taken on through the Eurobonds, is now being used to make the country 'swallow a bitter pill'. Let me guess... austerity, deregulation, privatisation, free trade... HIPC II... This is just criminality. And the IMF/World Bank is complicit in it. This is odious debt, taken on under dubious circumstances.Also, this nonsense is now influencing the timing of elections?In other words - that the electorate would object. Deception and fraud. - MrKBy Chiwoyu Sinyangwe |Updated: 20 Jan, 2016, 10:48:53THE International Monetary Fund says Zambia is currently not ready for any programme to help restore the battered economy owing to the governments indiscipline with expenditure.IMF deputy director for the African department David Owen yesterday concluded his two-day consultative meetings with top government officials and key stakeholders in the country as part of the ongoing engagement between Zambia and the Fund.
* And now abideth faith, hope, LOVE, these three; but the greatest of these is LOVE. 1 Corinthians 13:13

* Genesis 1-11 is actual HISTORY

* The 10 Commandments WAS - IS - & WILL BE the LAW of GOD

* REVELATION is written in symbols for actual end time events

* The SANCTUARY lays out the Plan of Salvation (Justification / Outer Court + Sanctification / Inner Court = preparation for your Judgment / Most Holy Place)

* The solemnity of the 7th day SABBATH (Saturday) was NEVER transferred to the 1st day of the week (Sunday) by God

* The modern charismatic movement is a counterfeit Latter Rain

* The Mark-of-the-beast will involve some sort of counterfeit Sabbath

* "Soul Sleep" for the State of the Dead (dead until the resurrection)

* The Godhead (Trinity) are 3 separate beings who work together in unity

* The GODHEAD's Existence is ETERNAL (in other words-The arrow of time stretching for Infinity in both directions)

* The GREEN RELIGION (modern environmental movement) is a cleverly cloaked spiritualism for the "sophisticated" modern world

* The Little Horn of Daniel & the Beast of Revelation (a.k.a. the anti-christ to some) is one & the same institution - the same institution the Reformers declared it to be during the Reformation





* Marriage is between ONE man & ONE woman



* The Emerging Church movement -- & spiritual formation are modern day GNOSTICISM & have NO place within Christendom





* Women Ordination is an ASSAULT on the foundation of the Godhead (as God is the head of Christ in an ecclesiastical setting - so too was the man placed as the head of the woman in an ecclesiastical setting -- outside this setting they are equal as Christ is with the Father)





* Baptism is by Immersion at an age of consent



* Justification + Sanctification = TRUE RIGHTEOUSNESS BY FAITH....( Justification ) Neither do I condemn thee : ( Sanctification ) go, and sin no more . John 8:11



* God is NOT homophobic -- rather He is sexual immorality phobic (HE places adultery, fornication, rape, bestiality, cross dressing AND homosexuality ALL in the same category)



* " HELL " is NOT an eternally burning place -- rather it is the Lake of Fire where the wicked will be destroyed together once & for all when this Great Controversy between God & His opponent comes to an end....God does NOT torment people for eternity



*

The " Great Controversy " theme is the prism to make sense of this universal conflict between God & His opponent, of which we play a part on this space fabric of time as a "spectacle" (as Paul calls it) before all watching





* Biblical "speaking in tongues" was a GIFT of known foreign languages for Evangelization (not the gibberish "tongues" uttered in churches today)

* Historicism is the way to interpret eschatology from the view of the prophetic porch (NOT preterism, futurism or idealisim)

* The 3 Angel's Message (of Rev.14) is the central Mission of the SDA Church & the Sanctuary Doctrine (& it's sub-doctrine of the Investigative Judgment) is the Cornerstone Doctrine of the Denomination

* The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is a SYMBOLIC Remembrance

* The 2nd Advent of Christ will be a literal, visible, physical return where EVERY EYE SHALL SEE HIM & that is when the dead will rise & the living be caught up-- Not at some sort of a "secret rapture" before His return...

* On the Nature of Christ - He was born with our sinful fallen nature / propensities--yet did NOT sin - hence His ability to be the spotless Lamb of God - the Lamb without blemish to cover ours

* 7th Day Adventism did not rise up at the end of the time-frame of Daniel 8:14 to be just another denomination to hang upon the wall of Christendom...

* The Dispensations around the Cross are 1) Before the Cross the Plan of Redemption laid out in the earthly Sanctuary in Types & Symbols patterned after the Heavenly Sanctuary {from the Altar of Sacrifice to the Mercy Seat} 2) After the Cross shifts to the REALITY of the Heavenly Sanctuary {from the Cross to the Judgment Seat}. ---- We REJECT the Dispensationalism that says "before the cross we were saved by the Law & after the Cross by Grace" ---- (the reason is because on BOTH SIDES OF THE CROSS we were never saved by the Law and always saved by Grace)

* We REJECT the DISGUSTING "Prosperity Gospel" as many see TV (so-called) Evangelists preach today

* Justification & Sanctification Simplified - God draws the BOUNDARIES with His LAW. When we step outside of them it's called SIN. (He offers JUSTIFICATION to remedy it). But afterwards He expects us to step back within those Boundaries (called SANCTIFICATION ).

* EndTime "BABYLON" - Confederacy of the Counterfeit Trinity of the "Dragon", "Beast" & "False Prophet" of Rev.16:13. (Also a term of Reference for the Fallen Condition of Christendom)

*The OLD TESTAMENT is simply the NEW TESTAMENT in Types & Symbols- therefore both are valid for Study & Doctrine.

* "A Minister's words are only of Value as long as his word's are an Echo of the Word's of God." {Dwayne Lemon}

* We REJECT the Church being involved with the ECUMENICAL movement....where do you see in Scripture God's people ever being told to be Ecumenical with neighboring religions?.. Nowhere....

*We believe in "Replacement Theology", that "Israel" in prophetic terms and spiritually is God's people...NOT Literal, Modern Day Israel in the Middle East.

* Tithing is Biblical: MONEY (1/10 to God) TIME (1/7 to God- the 7th day of the week, called the SABBATH)

* Soteriology: We believe in total FREE WILL as a component. - Therefore we Reject Sacramentalism, Predestination, Once-Saved-Always-Saved, Universalism & Pluralism.

* The HEALTH MESSAGE-Live it as best you can. Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest....be in health... 3 John 1:2

* And always remember - "If you feel yourself to be the greatest sinner, Christ is just what you need, the greatest Savior. Lift up your head and look away from yourself, away from your sin, to the uplifted Savior; away from the poisonous, venomous bite of the serpent to the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world." Ellen White {JUSTIFICATION}

*

"

God has given us His commandments, not only to be believed in, but to be obeyed. "

Ellen White {SANCTIFICATION}

* SUMMARY: "Every chapter and every verse of the Bible is a communication from God to men." Ellen White

* WARNING: "...by beholding we become changed. The mind gradually adapts itself to the subjects upon which it is allowed to dwell. It becomes assimilated to that which it is accustomed to love and reverence." Ellen White
Matt of All Trades blog, like the title suggests, is by a Vermont author and offers offbeat musings on pop culture, media, journalism, humor, weirdness, stupid people, smart people, my life as a journalist, landscaper, photographer, married gay man, dog lover and weather geek and more. It's run by me, Matt Sutkoski, a native Vermonter living in St. Albans, Vt.
Talks between the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) on the possibility to build a regional missile defense system are progressing.

The announcement was made by Commander Hamad Al Khalifah of the Royal Bahraini Air Force on the sidelines of an air force conference.

The GCC has been discussing the building of the system since May last year with observers saying that it was a move to counter Irans increasing military power especially when negotiations with the so-called P5+1 started progressing significantly.

Efforts to cooperate on building the cross-border ballistic missile defense system and an early warning system has been delayed by the strained ties between some member states of the GCC, made up by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Oman.

The U.S promised to support the program by providing technical support and speeding up the transfer of arms.

Commander Al Khalifah said we have started (talks) and hopefully it will be announced soon leaving analysts to believe that the secret talks by the GCC committee have reached an advanced stage and a final agreement would soon be reached.

Gulf Arab States are wary of Irans regional policies and have accused it on several occasions of trying to destabilize the region and also interfering in their domestic affairs.

The lifting of sanctions on Iran increased the concerns of the GCC members because it is expected to strengthen its economy and ease its access to more accurate and reliable arms.

Tehran conducted a precision-guided ballistic missile test capable of delivering a nuclear warhead violating a United Nations ban last October and it was followed by U.S. sanctions in January 2016 targeting 11 entities for their contribution to the countrys ballistic missile program.
The Tunisian government held an emergency meeting Wednesday to address the social protests that began in Kasserine on Saturday and spread to other cities including capital Tunis, and several other regions.

Some 19 security forces have been reported injured in clashes with protestors, led by unemployed youth.

The cabinet meeting made a series of decisions to defuse the tension. These include the hiring of 5,000 unemployed part of various employment programs, the financing of 500 projects by the Tunisian Solidarity Bank for an amount of $2.6 million, and the creation of a national committee to investigate corruption cases reported in the governorate of Kasserine.

The cabinet also decided to transfer all collective lands in the region to private owners before late March, 2016, to create 9 construction sites for improving quality of roads and bridges, with a capital of $66,000 for the higher education graduates, and to earmark around $60 million for building 1,000 social housing units and developing 1,000 plots of land in 2016.

The cabinet adopted other measures to improve health services in the governorate.

Protesters are mainly demanding jobs as the country continues to have a high unemployment rate with figures reported to have jumped to 15.3% by the end of last year from 12% in 2010. Around 33% of the countrys unemployed are university graduates.

The cabinet emergency meeting took place without Prime Minister Habid Essid who is participating in Davos forum.

President Beji Caid Essebsi on an official trip to Australia said he condoned the protests which he argues are in line with the constitution but regretted medias machinery trying to over blow them.

Though legitimate, these protests must not be amplified, he said at a joint press conference with Australias President Heinz Fischer.

Essebsi also indicated that his regime inherited a difficult situation marked by a high unemployment rate, particularly among university graduates, the persistent problem of poverty in interior regions and regional inequalities.
Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived Wednesday in Cairo in what has been defined as a landmark visit that will bolster ties with Egypt which expects financial goodwill from the second largest economy of the world.

An array of economic agreements is expected to be signed during the Chinese Presidents visit, covering among others the sectors of civil aviation, electricity, finance.

President Xi is expected to address the Egyptian new parliament and will also give an address before the Arab League Headquarters in Cairo.

The Chinese Head of State will also attend the launch of the second phase of the Egyptian-Chinese commercial and economic project in Ain El-Sokhna on the Red Sea.

Egypt expects a lot from this visit. Beijing has pledged to invest $1 billion dollars in the form of loan to chore up Egypts weak foreign reserve.

Beijing has also vowed to dash $700 million to the National Bank of Egypt; and $100 million to Banque Misr in order to fund small and medium-sized projects.

This is the first visit by the Chinese President to Egypt since assuming office. Before arriving in Cairo, President Xi was in Saudi Arabia and will head on to South Africa
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Microsoft AC Power Cord Recall

Surface Pro

Surface Pro 2

Surface Pro 3 (sold before 15 March 2015 in the US and Canada)

Surface Pro 3 (sold before 15 July 2015 in countries other than US and Canada)



So, if your Surface Pro device falls in one of the categories above, you are now eligible to receive a complimentary no-questions asked replacement of an AC Power Cord. As mentioned earlier, the



So, if your Surface Pro device falls in one of the categories above, you are now eligible to receive a complimentary no-questions asked replacement of an AC Power Cord. As mentioned earlier, the recall is due to a potential fire hazard that might occur. From the image above, you can see the difference in design between the old-style and new-style power cord.

"If you have a Surface Pro or Surface Pro 2, or a pre-March 15, 2015 Surface Pro 3, you should stop using your AC power cord and discard or recycle it in accordance with local requirements."

Earlier this week, ZDNet reported that Microsoft is preparing to recall a select batch of power adapters for the company's line of Surface Pro devices sold before July 2015. That includes the first two Surface Pro tablets released in 2013 and the newer Surface Pro 3 released in 2014. Microsoft explains that this voluntary recall of AC Power Cords for Surface Pro tablets is due to fire hazards that may occur when the cable is repeatedly bent or wrapped.Additionally, Lowyat.net managed to get some confirmation from Microsoft Malaysia about this voluntary recall of the AC Power Cords will include those units sold in Malaysia. Now, here's the part that you need to take notice of if you bought a Surface Pro 3, Surface Pro 2 or Surface Pro 1 prior to 15 July 2015 (in everywhere except US and Canada) or prior to 15 March 2015 in the US and Canada, you will now be able to receive a replacement AC Power Cord from Microsoft.In order to get a free replacement for your Surface Pro AC Power Cord, you will need to head over to www.surface.com/powercord and request for a replacement (As per what the FAQ page says, you can only receive an AC Power Cord replacement directly from Microsoft and not through the store you bought your device from). On the page, you will need to sign in to the Microsoft account associated with your Surface Pro device and the system will validate your eligibility to receive a replacement of the AC Power Cord. Once you're done with that, replacement AC power cord will arrive within approximately 4 to 6 business days and shipping details will be emailed back to you.
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE DEMOCRAT PARTY? I can no longer remain in todays Demo Party that is now under the control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue and stoke anti-white racism, actively undermine our freedoms, are hostile to people of faith, demonize the police and protect criminals at the expense of law-abiding Americans, believe in open borders, weaponize the national security state to go after opponents.TULSI GABBARD
@MaryEllenKlas and @MichaelAuslen

The Senate chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmed Thursday that the controversial bill, SB 68, to allow guns on college campuses will not get a hearing in the Senate, even though it is moving swiftly through the Florida House, effectively killed the measure for the session.

"I don't think this is a Second Amendment issue,'' said Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami, whose committee hear all the gun bills. "I think what we're talking about here is campus safety and the best way to address that issue and whether the proposed cure is worse than the disease."

Diaz de la Portilla also refused to hear the campus carry bill last session. He said, however, that he will hear a separate gun bill, SB 300, that would allow concealed-carry license holders to openly display their guns in public and private spaces.

The announcement came on the same day of Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fort Lauderdale, added her voice to the Democrat's opposition to the array of pro-guns bills moving through the Florida Legislature.

Wasserman Schultz, who served in the Florida Legislature for 12 years, said that she's not only a constituent of the Legislature from Broward County but a mother.

"I'm here to sound the alarm to make sure that they wake up and understand that they should be listening to people,'' she said. As a mother of twins who are juniors in high school, she said, "it's really troubling and disturbing to me to think they could be on a college campus where another student may decide to solve a problem with a gun."
Florida's higher education system is on display in the Capitol Thursday as lawmakers, the governor and the Cabinet hear from the state's top university officials. Here are five things to watch:

*Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet hear presentations from the heads of Florida's 12 public universities, as well as Bethune-Cookman University, about plans for how they will meet the governor's "Ready, Set, Work" challenge.

*Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, who is advocating for more university opportunities for children with unique abilities, will address the board of governors of the State University System.

*U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who also chairs the Democratic National Committee, travels to Tallahassee Thursday to hold a press conference to discuss gun safety legislation, including bills moving through the Florida Legislature allowing open carry and guns on campus.

*The Florida Senate meets in session Thursday afternoon and will take up several bills including a bill to reduce mandatory sentences for non-violent offenders and another to give people immunity from liability if they attempt to rescue an animal or child locked in a car.

*In the House, the Health and Human Services Committee takes up a long list of bills aimed at reforming health care practices -- from removing the certificate of need process for hospitals and creating recovery care centers for surgery patients, to allowing nurse practitioners to prescribe medications.
@MichaelAuslen

Conservative tax reform advocate Grover Norquist was in the Florida Capitol on Thursday showing support for an effort to make it harder for law enforcement agencies to seize personal property.

The practice, known as civil asset forfeiture, is supposed to be used to prevent contraband from a crime being used while an investigation or criminal case is underway.

But Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, Rep. Matt Caldwell, R-Lehigh Acres, and both liberal and conservative activists say it's being abused by police forces to take people's property -- even from those who have not been charged with a crime -- and as a funding source for their departments.

"Horror stories from Florida are used in other states to pass their reforms, but now it's time for Florida to focus on the challenges here," Norquist sad. "This reform in Florida ... will also move us forward in Washington, D.C."

Caldwell and Brandes are sponsoring legislation (HB 883, SB 1044) that would require a criminal charge before assets could be seized and a conviction before they can be forfeited permanently. In additoin to Norquist's group Americans for Tax Reform, it has support from the American Civil Liberties Union, National Federation of Independent Business and the James Madison Institute.

Law enforcement groups, however, say civil asset forfeiture is important. Both the Florida Police Chiefs Association and Florida Sheriff's Association oppose the legislation.
@PatriciaMazzei

Annette Taddeo, the Democrat running against Miami Rep. Carlos Curbelo, used this week's vote in Congress on Middle Eastern refugees to highlight a contrast with the Republican incumbent.

"I'm running against somebody who actually voted that we should not let Syrians in -- including, by the way, I'm sad to admit, many Democrats that voted this way," she told the Democrats of South Dade club Tuesday. "That's not what America is made of. We are better than that."

A video clip of her remarks was posted online by America Rising, a conservative super PAC that highlighted the fact that a Democrat was criticizing other Democrats, though Taddeo didn't call any of them out by name. Two moderate Florida Democrats in Congress, Reps. Patrick Murphy of Jupiter and Gwen Graham of Tallahassee, voted with the Republican majority in November to restrict admittance of Syrian refugees. (A different measure suspending the entry of refugees from Syria and Iraq failed in the Senate on Wednesday.)

When he voted for the legislation in November, Curbelo, whose district extends from Westchester to Key West, cast it as a smart vote on national security. "Today's vote allows the United States to continue being a compassionate nation while keeping our homeland safe," he said in a statement at the time.

Taddeo was born in Colombia to a Colombian mother and American father. In her past campaigns, she has talked about being sent to the U.S. as a teenager after her father was kidnapped in Colombia.
@MrMikeVasquez

Until democracy comes to Cuba, a Cuban consulate should not come to Miami, county leaders proclaimed Wednesday.

In a 9-3 vote, Miami-Dade County commissioners urged the federal government to avoid placing a Cuban consulate on their turf. The talk of a hypothetical consulate in Miami has grown as President Barack Obama pursues warmer relations with the island nation.

Cubas embassy in Washington reopened in July. The typical next step would be a U.S. consulate in a city with a large Cuban immigrant population.
@JeremySWallace

A pair of Republican state legislators from Tampa Bay are the latest to join U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio's presidential campaign team.

State Reps. Shawn Harrison, from Tampa, and Danny Burgess, from Pasco County, announced Thursday they are joining Rubio's statewide leaderhip team which will put them in frequent communication with the Rubio campaign in preparation for the state's March 15 presidential primary election.

Harrison was elected to the House in 2014, after serving in it from 2010 to 2012. Burgess, from San Antonio, is in his first term in the Florida House, having been elected in 2014.

Rubio, the former Florida House Speaker, now has 18 current state legislators on his leadership team, which is co-chaired by U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Okeechobee, and former State Rep. Adam Hasner, a Delray Beach Republican.
@PatriciaMazzei

In a Republican primary campaign dominated by a former reality TV host, Donald Trump, perhaps it's no surprise that one of his rivals wants some celebrity cred of his own.

Marco Rubio received the support early on of Rick Harrison, host of Pawn Stars. Harrison has campaigned for Rubio across the country, including last week in Miami.

Now Harrison's featured in a Rubio TV ad set to air in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, according to the campaign.

"Trust me, I know a good investment when I see one," Harrison says in the 30-second spot.
@ByKristenMClark

Presidents and administrators from Floridas 12 public universities and one private one presented their ideas Thursday to Republican Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet on how they plan to meet Scott's call to increase job placement of graduates in the universities' most popular programs.

The most common ideas proposed include offering career counseling services as soon as freshmen enroll and continuing that effort during the students' time on campus through dedicated advisers, internship placement programs and job-skill training activities.

Some of the more unique solutions mentioned range from free passports for Florida A&M University students in Tallahassee who study abroad to prepare themselves for a global workforce, to a freshman-year tuition rebate for students at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, who use campus career services, stay enrolled for four years and secure a job within six months of graduation.

FGCU president Wilson Bradshaw told the governor and cabinet that he expects that initiative will cost $1.5 million, which the university plans to fund through private donors.

"This will save them (the students) money and provide them with some much-needed start-up funds as they start on the path to a successful career," he said.

Each of the university presidents expressed emphatic support for Scott's "Ready, Set, Work" challenge, which he issued in December. He wants 100 percent of the students graduating from each university's two most popular programs to secure jobs within one year.
via @learyreports

There was backslapping bonhomie, big smiles and jokes about footwear.

Sen. John Cornyn lifted up his pant leg to show his black cowboy boots.

Sen. Bill Nelson came over and, for some reason, flashed two thumbs up.

Wednesday afternoon was homecoming for Marco Rubio on the Senate floor. The Florida Republican was only there for 10 minutes or so, but the reception was decidedly warm.

It may have been our imagination but Rubio seemed to gravitate to some friends from key states. He huddled with Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst of Iowa and Rob Portman of Ohio.

Rubio got into a long conversation with Mitch McConnell, whom a reporter outside the chamber joked must have been plotting ways to dislodge Ted Cruz so Republicans have a shot at the White House. Cruz, unlike Rubio, is pretty much disliked by all his colleagues.
News reports of the Battle of Khe Sanh consistently referred to the struggle as another Dien Bien Phu, but in reality the U.S. and South Vietnamese enjoyed a much stronger position than had the French. In addition to a fleet of helicopters and cargo planes that could resupply and reinforce the besieged Marines, they could rely on the heavy bombing capacity of the B-52 fighter planes, which dropped close to 100,000 explosives on the hills surrounding Khe Sanh over the course of the battle. Though U.S. officials expected a full-scale attack by North Vietnamese forces on the base, it never came, and in March Westmoreland ordered Operation Pegasus, a joint Army, Marine and ARVN ground advance that relieved the base and ended the siege by mid-April, after some 77 days.

In the face of criticism that he had fallen victim to the North Vietnamese diversionary tactic, Westmoreland defended his decision to defend Khe Sanh, and claimed the battle as a victory in that it prevented the enemy from gaining control over the northwest corner of South Vietnam and inflicted heavy losses on PAVN forces. As antiwar sentiment mounted on the home front in the wake of the Tet Offensive, the Johnson administration had lost confidence in the generals strategy of attrition and his claims of progress in the war effort. On March 31, Johnson announced he was halting most of the bombing attacks in North Vietnam and opening peace negotiations; he also withdrew his candidacy for reelection. General Creighton W. Abrams replaced Westmoreland as MACV head in June 1968, and on July 5 he closed the U.S. Marine base at Khe Sanh.
A prototype of the latest version of the MQ-1C Gray Eagle will be headed to Europe soon for a series of demonstrations, according to the ...
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A couple of weeks ago, Jim Johnson and Denny Peterson of Lincoln decided to head to Holter Reservoir and try their hand at catching perch through the ice.

At the time, the ice at the time was just starting to get thick enough to walk on, only about 2 inches in some places. Johnson and Peterson were some of the first to test it, and it proved to be a good trip.

We caught our limit of 10- to 12-inch perch, Johnson reported in a text message that included a picture of a gear sled that was half full of perch.

Perch are plentiful in Holter and have been for a couple of years  so much so that Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks raised the limit from 25 per day to 50 last year.

The tasty table fare travel in schools and can be caught jigging in depths ranging from 20 feet to as deep as 50 feet. The key is to find a school and start jigging.

As you can imagine, it is easier to locate a school of perch while moving around in a boat on open water. When ice fishing, anglers sometimes have to drill hole after hole in search of the schools.

We drilled 50 to 60 holes through the ice before we got on top of them, said Scott Arnold of the Bitterroot Valley.

Arnold and a fishing buddy began last Saturday, but didn't get over the perch until Sunday.

Since Johnson and Petersons successful trip a couple of weeks ago, word has gotten out.

The next time we went about a week later, there must have been nearly 100 anglers on the ice around Log Gulch and Split Rock, Johnson, We began fishing in the same spot as before but didnt have any luck, so we moved to a different area and finally found some fish.

Most anglers are having the best luck with a jig tipped with maggots or a piece of worm in 10 to 40 feet of water.

Pablo Reservoir is now open to ice fishing and reports are coming in that the perch fishing is fair.

Reports out of Lake Mary Ronan say the ice is still not safe in some places. Anglers have been catching some kokanee salmon in the evening, but use caution while moving around the lake.

Reports are coming in of large northern pike being caught around the state.

I received a photo of a pike that Nathan Snead recently caught at Noxon Reservoir. When he landed the monster, Snead thought it might be a new state record, but after weighing it on a certified scale it came up short at 34.6 pounds.

The current state record pike is 37.5 pounds and was caught by Lance Moyer at Tongue River Reservoir in southeastern Montana back in 1972.

You can view a picture of the Sneads giant pike on montanaoutdoro.com.

***

Mark Ward's 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.
In a court document filled with indignation, the city of Missoula is asking a judge to order Robert Dove and John Kappes to appear in court.

Dove is director of infrastructure at The Carlyle Group, and Kappes is the general manager at Mountain Water Co.

Earlier this month, Carlyle sold the water utility to the subsidiary of a Canadian company despite the order from Missoula County District Court saying the city of Missoula has the right to buy it. The buyer  Liberty Utilities of Algonquin Power and Utilities Corp.  and the seller did not wait for approval by the Montana Public Service Commission.

Now, the city wants the Carlyle director and local manager to explain the reason "they deliberately withheld from the Court ... the fact that they and Algonquin/Liberty had already consummated the transfer of ownership of Mountain Water in apparent defiance" of state regulators and the 4th Judicial District Court.

The parties met in court last Monday, one workday after the sale took place, but no one brought up the critical matter to the court, the brief said: "They all sat silent with regard to one of the most important developments in the (condemnation) case since the day it was filed nearly two years ago."

In a brief filed this week, the city of Missoula asks the court to appoint a supervisor who will oversee Mountain Water, arguing the recent actions raise questions about whether Liberty/Algonquin of Canada can be trusted to run the company "for the public good" until the city takes possession.

In an email, though, Kappes, said the citys motion reflects continued, unfounded paranoia and deflection on the part of the city. He also said Mountain Water will continue to run the company responsibly and abide by the asset protections state regulators put in place.

The city is trying to turn attention away from the fact it still doesnt have a plan to operate the utility, he said, and its legal costs will impact citizens far more than what theyve admitted so far.

The truth is that when Missoula residents turn on the tap, they know that they can count on safe, clean, affordable water, just as they have for decades, Kappes said. This will remain true for as long as Mountain Water is privately owned.

He said Mountain will address other specifics in its responses to the court.

Despite the assertions by Kappes, the city alleges neither Carlyle nor Algonquin will do right by Missoula water customers given their track records.

"Consider the following," the brief said. "Carlyle executives and the hand-picked officers of its three water companies now will pay themselves millions of dollars in bonuses for their 'stewardship' over the last couple of years even as they sprint for the exits, with little thought to making sure that the people of Missoula have their interests protected ..."

Kappes was among the shareholders slated to receive a bonus, but he has said he intends to remain general manager of Mountain Water. The citys brief notes the CEO of one of Moutain's sister companies in California left his position "immediately" following the sale.

Now, the local water utility purportedly rests in the hands of foreign operators who disregard Montana regulations, the city said.

"The only reasonable inference from Algonquin/Liberty's glaring disregard of the Montana legal system is that they plan to pillage Mountain Water assets, including cash assets, with intent to defraud the city," read the brief. "Thus, injunctive relief is appropriate."

As such, the city is asking the court to appoint a special master to oversee day-to-day operations at the water company.

Kappes said conditions placed on the system by the Montana Public Service Commission  ones agreed to by Liberty  guarantee the utilitys assets will not be sold or otherwise removed from Missoula.

We will continue to fully abide by those ring fencing requirements, just as we have in the past. Nothing has changed, Kappes said.

Spokespeople from Carlyle and Liberty did not comment Wednesday on the city's request or allegations.
The Salmon-Challis National Forest issued an order of noncompliance to Idahos Department of Fish and Game for collaring four wolves in what was supposed to be an elk research project in a federal wilderness area.

Helicopter landings in the Frank (Church-River of No Return Wilderness) were not authorized, and constitute noncompliance with the terms and conditions of the permit, Salmon-Challis Supervisor Chuck Mark said Wednesday. We need to demonstrate that IDFG and the Forest Service are both able to redeem their respective responsibilities to manage and protect the states wildlife populations, and to administer and protect wilderness in accordance with the requirements of federal law. IDFG self-reported the violation right away which is a good first step toward making things right.

A coalition of environmental groups sued the Salmon-Challis on Jan. 7 to block the elk-collaring project on grounds it violated the 1964 Wilderness Acts requirements for least-invasive methods for management in a wilderness area. Lead attorney Tim Presso said he was planning to ask the federal judge to order an injunction on Jan. 11, only to learn the Idaho flight crews had completed their work two days earlier.

The Idaho project intended to use as many as 126 helicopter flights into the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness to capture and collar 30 elk cows and 30 elk calves for a study on why the population is declining. The 1.7 million-acre zone lies along the Montana border north of Stanley, Idaho.

On Jan. 13, IDFG officials announced they had collared four gray wolves by mistake in what they called a breakdown in internal communications. They also successfully collared all 60 elk.

Salmon-Challis spokeswoman Amy Baumer said there were no plans to order removal of the wolf collars.

Given that the effects of the unapproved landings cannot be reversed, the remedy is to understand why and how this incident happened and to take appropriate measures to prevent unapproved landings in the future, Baumer said.

The U.S. Forest Service has ordered IDFG to explain how and why the wolf-collaring decision was made, participate in a review of the incident with Forest Service personnel, and develop a plan to assure IDFG wont use helicopter landings in the wilderness for anything other than specifically approved purposes.

Mark said the Forest Service may take additional measures as more information becomes available.

IDFG officials didnt return calls requesting comment Wednesday.

The Forest Service has also not finished a response to the lawsuit challenging the permit. Wilderness Watch, Friends of the Clearwater and Western Watersheds Project are suing U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell, Forest Service Region 4 Forester Nora Rasure and Mark over the project. The case is before U.S. District Judge Lynn Winmill.

The suit also charges the Forest Service with failing to respond to IDFGs plan for nine more years of winter flights to maintain and add to the elk collar study group. Baumer said the existing permit only authorized IDFG to fly this one time in January, and further flights would have to go through a new review process.
The last time Israeli Consul-General Andy David was in Missoula, the United States was about to close a deal restricting Irans nuclear weapons program and Israel wasnt happy about it.

On Tuesday, he was back to say were no longer trying to derail the agreement  we accept it as a done deal and will work to get the benefits out of it. Instead, David was here to talk business in Montana.

That included a conversational lunch at First Interstate Bank downtown with a couple of dozen Missoula business owners and a tour of the Rocky Mountain Biologicals facility near the airport. Throughout the day, David pitched the opportunities small places can bring to big business.

We used to think that way about ourselves, David said of the Montana image of being far from anywhere. But if we invest in knowledge and innovation, great things can happen. It doesnt make sense for Israel to send oranges to Montana. But it takes just a click of a computer to deliver ideas.

Or really small products, like the medical growth media and serums produced at Suresh Daniels Rocky Mountain Biologicals. Daniel told David how his firm was already receiving livestock plasma from Australia and New Zealand to avoid the mad-cow problems associated with material from Europe. RMB uses the material to grow animal vaccines and other medical substances, and is working on expanding to human medical products.

David and Maya Shoshani of the Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation explained how U.S.-Israeli government investment programs could leverage any dollars an American company put toward partnership with an Israeli company. They also discussed ways Montana companies could arrange trade delegations to Israel or receive similar visits from Israelis.

Explaining why he located in Montana, Daniel said there were only seven places in the country where he could be close to a major pharmaceutical company, a National Institutes of Health laboratory, and a university with a solid biomedical program at once. Plus, he added, there was fly-fishing.

The lifestyle has kept me here, Daniel told David. It gives you the ability to pull all this talent in. Thats been an advantage for us.

Working in a small state also made it easier to get access to state agencies, from the governor on down, Montana World Trade Center director Brigitta Miranda-Freer added.

Business is such a relationship thing, said Paul Kingsford, an advertising director who came to hear David. In a large city, you can meet more people, but guess what weve just done here today? Weve bridged the gap.
HELENA  Before speaking in Helena on Thursday, Greg Gianforte walked into the office of Gov. Steve Bullock, who he hopes to unseat in this fall's election, and hand-delivered a folder that contained a letter to his opponent and a pledge to not accept any money from political action committees.

"I refuse to accept any campaign contributions from special-interest PACs, state and federal," read the first line of the pledge, released by Gianforte's campaign just a day after the Bozeman businessman formally announced he would seek the Republican nomination for governor and as he completed a two-day rally tour. "I will tear up and/or return any special-interest PAC donations previously sent to my campaign. Montana voters deserve a clean campaign focused on the issues."

John Malia, who works in the Citizens' Advocate Office, was at the reception desk outside Bullock's office when Gianforte arrived, saying simply that he was dropping it off for the governor. Malia said he gave the folder to Tracy Stone-Manning, Bullock's chief of staff.

Meanwhile, Bullock was in Billings, talking with students at City College at Montana State University-Billings about workforce development, joined by John Cech, deputy commissioner for academic and student affairs for the Montana University System and Department of Labor and Industry Commissioner Pam Bucy.

"It's news to me," Bullock told a reporter there. "I'll take a look ... and respond at that point."

***

On Thursday evening, Bullock affirmed his commitment to election transparency in a statement on the sixth anniversary of "the disastrous Citizens United decision" by the U.S. Supreme Court, which eliminated some restrictions on how corporations spend money in elections.

"I will continue to fight for fair, transparent and accessible elections because I, along with all Montanans, believe that our elections should be decided by 'we the people'  not by a small number of wealthy people who seek to hide their money and motivations," he said in the statement.

The incumbent governor's campaign manager, Eric Hyers, did not say whether Bullock would sign the pledge and described it as an empty gesture from Gianforte, who donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to groups that fought against a 2015 bill that expanded campaign disclosure requirements.

"Look, for Gianforte to be taken seriously, why doesn't he start by pledging he won't spend or funnel more than $1,300 of his own fortune into this campaign?" Hyers said in a written statement. "Here's a guy that's dumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into groups who lobbied against Montana's DISCLOSE Act. And a guy that has a Koch brothers' PAC, Aegis PAC, soliciting funds on his behalf on this very day."

Aaron Flint, Gianforte's campaign spokesman, fired back.

"It's a pretty simple pledge for the governor to sign or not to sign," he said. "Particularly as the governor has been out there gallivanting all across the state using taxpayer dollars. It seems Bullock is trying to buy this race with taxpayer dollars because he's having a little trouble raising money."

Gianforte co-founded RightNow Technologies with his wife, Susan, and became a multimillionaire when Oracle purchased the company in 2012 for $1.8 billion. He has previously said they controlled about a quarter of the stock at the time of the sale, worth more than $300 million.

***

Montana Democrats have shadowed Gianforte's campaign stops throughout the state this week with their own news conferences about the businessman's candidacy.

In Helena, Democratic Party Director Nancy Keenan downplayed Gianforte's pledge, one she said the multimillionaire was well-positioned to make.

"He's a self-funder, he can write the check," Keenan said. "So it's pretty easy for him to say, 'Oh, we're not going to take any money' when he can write the check for millions and millions of dollars."

In his letter to the governor, Gianforte took a congenial, serious tone, sending Bullock "warm greetings" and hopes for "a positive, spirited race."

"I am committed to rejecting any special interest PAC money," he wrote. "I simply won't cash their checks. Any checks sent my direction have already been returned, or torn up. ... I'd ask that you join me in this effort."

Gianforte has not ruled out personally donating to outside political groups. If he did, Flint said Gianforte would "not directly" benefit from those contributions.

Campaign finance reports through the end of 2015 do not list any contributions to Gianforte from political action committees and all the refunds listed in his expenditures appear to be to individuals.

He brought in $162,771 between Aug. 17 and Sept. 30, and another $221,677 through the end of 2015, according to his reports. Of that, $12,814 were in-kind contributions from Gianforte himself. Additionally, several members of his family have donated the maximum contribution of $650 each.

On Bullock's most recent campaign finance report covering Oct. 1 through Dec. 31, he reported receiving $12,140 from 20 PACs and $216,042 in total donations during that time. On his prior filing covering July 1 through Sept. 30, he reported receiving $9,806 from 18 PACs and $283,779 total.

***

Gianforte started Thursday in a Hoven Equipment warehouse in Great Falls, where the lectern and 24 folding chairs were set up next to towering farm implements.

Supporters talked over coffee and maple bars as they waited. When Gianforte began to speak, his remarks were interrupted by applause, cheers and, at mention of the family's old Ford Bronco, a quip from the audience that elicited a chuckle from the candidate.

To the supporters gathered in Great Falls, his remarks were fresh even though Gianforte had given largely the same speech in Billings, Sidney, Lewistown and Kalispell a day earlier.

He vowed to remove "job-killing" business regulations, eliminate the business equipment tax, support gun rights, develop the state's natural resource industries and focus more on customer service than enforcement, in part, by placing "someone from industry" or business at the helm of state agencies such as the Department of Environmental Quality.

"I'm here to tell you very definitively, Montana can prosper again," he said to applause.

Gianforte declined to answer media questions, saying: "We're going to have time to sit down. Today, I'm here for my supporters."

The candidate also made stops in Missoula, at Advanced Technology Group downtown, and Bozeman on Thursday.

***

Holly Michels and James DeHaven contributed to this report.
TAFT  High above one of Montanas most popular snowmobile staging areas, cross-country skiers have a box seat.

A network of roads, trails and railroad grades links every drainage around Lookout Pass on the Montana-Idaho border west of St. Regis. On Jan. 30, hundreds of snowmobilers will stitch together more than 50 miles of those routes for the 28th annual Super Poker Ride. In the middle, sequestered by a gate and a toppled tree, sits the Dominion Trestle.

Last week, 3 feet of snow covered the trail leading to the trestle. A single set of deeply buried ski tracks was the only evidence of past visitation.

The trestle hangs about 70 feet above the Dominion Creek Road, providing an owls-eye view of the surrounding drainage. The 450-foot-long Dominion Tunnel stands open, although the snow drifts only a few feet inside. Snow falls so straight on this side of Bald Mountain, the 20-foot-tall scaffold frames on the trestle shelter deep troughs in the snowbank below.

That little section isnt part of the groomed route, Superior Ranger District project manager Beth Kennedy said. The Dominion Tunnel is open, but snowmobilers usually dont want to run through a dry tunnel, and its too long to haul snow inside all the way.

Many visitors head up Rainy Creek Road, which leads to the Trail of the Hiawatha parking lot. The road continues to the Stateline Trail on the Montana-Idaho border, but dont plan on much access to the rail trail and its popular summertime bicycle path.

They swing those big doors closed on the tunnel for the winter, Kennedy said of the Hiawatha trails dramatic starting point  the 1.3-mile-long Roland Tunnel.

Instead, ignore the Rainy Creek turnoff and keep moving east until you reach a little bridge crossing Dominion Creek. Turn south here and follow a gentle grade into the forest. About one mile in, the gray-black bar of the Dominion Trestle looms out of the trees.

A short but steep jump-up road on the left leads to the trestle. Snowmobilers can then follow the Route of the Olympian north and east toward Saltese and Haugen. Cross-country skiers, snowshoers and anyone with a picnic can turn right and enjoy the quiet view.

Repairing the Dominion Trestle was the key task in a 2010 U.S. Forest Service project to make the old Milwaukee Road grade into a public attraction. Unlike the Hiawatha route, which is restricted to bicycle traffic, the Route of the Olympian has a mixed-use schedule that shifts between motorized and nonmotorized seasons. While winter is predominantly a snowmobile time, the snow works just as well for foot-powered outings.

Those turning east to follow the ghost trains eventually cross the Saltese Trestle after about 4 1/2 miles. The Montana Night Riders Snowmobile Club owns that trestle, but allows public access.

Were not really in the business of owning trestles, Night Riders member Brooke Lincoln said. The reason we bought it, is if it had ended up in the hands of the Forest Service, theyd have to throw up a gate. Its going to take $1.5 million to refurbish the thing, and were trying to find the money under any rock we can turn over. Then we can bring the thing up to standards and hand it to the Forest Service on a silver platter.

Snowmobilers chasing silver will be all over the Saltese Trestle on the 30th, when the poker run sends them chasing winning hands and $4,000 in prize money. Lincoln said the Route of the Olympian has been part of the local snowmobile riding system since the railroad went out, and provides about 11 miles of the poker run map.

A lot of people take side trips when theyre making the run, Lincoln said. The route is all groomed and there are no difficult parts. Its a great big old snowmobile party. We always say 300 of our closest friends are coming to town for the weekend.
The urgent need to confront the true human cost of the 2010 Citizens United decision by the U.S. Supreme Court will be the focus of a speak-out and potluck on Jan. 21 at 6 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church, 300 East Main, alley entrance, sponsored by Missoula Moves to Amend.

This event marks the sixth anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that cemented 200 years of court decisions that have overridden our human and civil rights with the argument that corporations are people and money is speech.

Community groups who will discuss their perspectives include Jeannette Rankin Peace Center, the Missoula League of Women Voters, MontPIRG, 350.org, Missoula Interfaith Collaborative and the Missoula Central Labor Council.

In a way, we should actually be grateful to the Supreme Court for waking us all up to the reality that we are immersed in a current that is moving quickly and gaining speed. Money now pours into our electoral process as our elected officials face more and more intimidation (The New Soft Money, Tokaji and Strause, 2014). This leads to more decisions that compromise our common good and that sacrifice our common wealth.

The damage to our country continues and it has become a moral and civil rights issue that calls for broad acceptance of the need to act and to pass a U.S. constitutional amendment that says that corporations are not people and money is not speech.

We are realizing that our country must not continue to be divided into two groups, the small group of the invincible and the large group of the vulnerable, who must fight among ourselves for the remnants of our common wealth that are left to us.

The longer we wait, the more deeply the vulnerable will become divided and the more we will be taught to fear each other rather than the powerful forces that dominate our media, our economy, and our elections. Over time, we will also be less able to share a vision of the common good, and to preserve our common wealth and our common humanity.

Our greatest wealth now is our ability to trust that we all are committed to the common good.

We as a people have contributed greatly to the accumulation of wealth now being enjoyed by the few and it is within our rights to redirect that public policy. We have preserved the stable society that has allowed the wealth of the few to grow. We work in the factories and stores, patrol the streets, repair the highways and vote for legislators who set priorities for protecting our air, water and public health.

We deal with the degradation caused by over-fishing, broken pipelines and devastating weather changes. We suffer depression and dislocation when jobs go overseas. We saw our retirement funds disappear when Wall Street was deregulated. We watch as our children face crippling loans. We defend our voting rights. We work with churches to house and clothe families as the social safety net is frayed.

We face a rising national debt caused by the decision to reduce taxes on the wealthy and then borrow money and pay interest on that debt. We are beginning to share a rising awareness that the wealthy now benefit both ways: paying fewer taxes and getting interest.

As a people, we acknowledge our differences, but we must agree on our responsibility to set public policy and to protect the common good to the best of our ability. At present, we live in a political system that responds to the interests of the lower 90 percent virtually never, if those interests differ from the interests of the top 10 percent (Gilens and Page, 2014).

We can not allow our role as citizens to be overridden by the U.S. Supreme Court. Our civil and human rights must take precedence over the roles of corporations and money. We need the amendment that will turn back the Supreme Court.

We can also hope, once both the threat and the temptation of overwhelming wealth in our elections and lobbying are removed, that we will be able to see ourselves as one people again. It is citizens, as equals, who need to control our destiny.
HELENA  The chairman of the Montana Public Service Commission said Wednesday he is open to the idea of removing rail safety oversight from his agency, which is one of the recommendations in a recent audit that faulted the PSC for inadequate safety planning.

The PSC's primary mission is utility regulation, and that's where most of its resources go, while rail safety is not really in keeping with that mission, said Chairman Brad Johnson during a meeting to address the Legislative Audit Division's report.

"I think the entire rail safety question resides here not so much by design and intent as it does by default," Johnson said. He said afterward that the program may be better off with the Montana Department of Transportation.

Transportation department officials did not exactly embrace the prospect. The department's mission is not regulatory, but infrastructure improvement and maintenance, said spokeswoman Charity Watt.

"The major issue that was uncovered in the audit was inadequate resources. That's going to be the issue no matter who's in charge," she added.

Johnson was speaking for himself and not the entire commission, which plans to examine all options to improve the rail safety program in the coming months, PSC spokesman Eric Sell said. The aim is to have a proposed bill before state lawmakers in time for the 2017 legislative session, Sell said.

The October audit faulted the PSC for not having a rail safety plan, not conducting a risk assessment, not engaging in regional rail safety issues and having no goals other than meeting the minimum number of track inspections each year. The safety issue is a concern given the increased train traffic carrying volatile crude oil from the Bakken region of North Dakota, the audit said.

The two inspectors employed by the PSC are not enough to adequately cover the state, the report said.

The audit recommended adding an inspector. Johnson said the best situation would be to have four inspectors and a supervisor to ensure inspections can happen seven days a week, instead of the current four days, but there is no money in the budget for those hires.

Commissioners invited railroad company representatives and officials from other state agencies to Wednesday's meeting for their comments on ways to improve rail safety. Commissioner Kirk Bushman suggested the PSC's role is to "spot-check" the rail companies' own inspections to make sure they're doing what they are supposed to.

BNSF Railway spokesman Matt Jones said the company employs 45 full-time inspectors and submits data to the Federal Railroad Administration that can be accessed by the state.

Johnson said all options will be considered as the commission continues to investigate the problem, including what it would take to create a safety plan and asking lawmakers for money to hire more staff.

The PSC will do whatever the Legislature gives it the authority  and the funding  to do, Johnson said.
BILLINGS - A felony drug charge against a Glendive Police officer was dropped after he produced a valid prescription. The officer is still facing a misdemeanor drunken driving charge.

Michael Louis Briggs, 48, was charged with a felony count of criminal possession of dangerous drugs after officers at the Yellowstone County Detention Facility found a mint tin containing hydrocodone, a Schedule II dangerous drug. Tuesday, Briggs was able to produce a valid prescription.

Briggs is still facing charges in city court for a misdemeanor count of driving a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs, his first offense.

According to charging documents, at about 7 p.m. Friday, Billings police officers responded to the 5500 block of Midland Road after receiving a report of an intoxicated driver. Reports indicated the driver had been swerving and driving erratically on King Avenue West and he had been involved in an auto crash earlier that day.

Officers said Briggs appeared disoriented, had slurred speech and had difficulty understanding officers initial questions. Officers also said they detected the strong odor of alcohol on Briggs breath.

Briggs refused to submit to standard field sobriety tests and was then transported to the county jail.

At the jail, Briggs appeared to get more upset, charging documents indicate, and refused to provide a breath sample or a narrative statement after being advised of his right to remain silent.

Glendive Mayor Jerry Jimison said last week that Briggs remains a Glendive police officer and has not been placed on administrative leave.

Briggs was in Billings when he was pulled over to take part in his Army Reserve duties.
HAMILTON  A Florence physician charged with 400 felonies told a judge Wednesday that he plans to file for bankruptcy and will again seek a public defender.

Chris Christensen appeared without counsel in Ravalli County Judge Jeffrey Langtons court Wednesday during a brief status hearing.

Christensen was arrested in August for allegedly providing hundreds of illegal prescriptions to patients, including two who died from an overdose.

Following his arrest, he was initially appointed a public defender, but the Office of the State Public Defender rescinded the appointment in November following a review of Christensens financial records.

Langton concurred with the Office of the State Public Defenders decision following his own review of the records. In a ruling, the judge said Christensen does not even come close to meeting the definition of indigent under the law.

On Wednesday, Christensen said he had not yet hired a new attorney.

Instead, Christensen said he was waiting on a formal letter of withdrawal from the OPD that he claimed he needed before he could begin seeking alternative counsel.

Christensen said he has retained an attorney to help him file for bankruptcy, which he expects to do within the next three weeks. Once that is completed, Christensen said he plans to resubmit an application for a public defender.

Christensen said he has no plans to serve as his own attorney.

Its not my intention to represent myself in a case of this complexity and seriousness, he said.

Deputy Ravalli County Attorney Thorin Geist told Langton that he had requested Wednesdays status hearing to determine how Christensen was faring in finding a new attorney.

Geist said he did not want to end up in a situation in which Christensen was going to take a long time searching for an attorney and then make a request to continue the trial.

I have no problem giving Mr. Christensen some time here, Geist said. I want it on the record and I want the court to confirm that this trial is not going get continued.

Langton told Christensen that he had already accepted a request to extend the trial date to October. Given that fact, Langton said Christensen should have enough time to seek out another attorney.

The trial date is set, Langton said. Its been extended already. So you cant count on any additional extensions.

Langton set another status hearing for Feb. 10, so we can get a better fix on what the attorney situation is.

Geist challenged Christensens request for a public defender during his initial appearance last year.

A 16-month investigation found that Christensens business in Florence operated almost exclusively in cash, earned about $2,500 a day and grossed more than $500,000 annually, according to an affidavit filed in the case.

The 400 felony charges filed against Christensen include two counts of negligent homicide that stem from the death of two of his patients who were prescribed methadone.

Christensen faces a maximum penalty of 388 life sentences, plus 135 years in prison and fines of $20 million.

Christensen, 67, remains free on a $200,000 bond.
BILLINGS  Bozeman high-tech magnate Greg Gianforte announced his candidacy for governor Wednesday in Billings, pledging to improve the Montana economy and donate his salary to scholarships, if elected.

The announcement, delivered over the cacophony of mechanics at a Peterbilt repair shop in Lockwood, was pointedly aimed at Democratic incumbent Gov. Steve Bullock and the economic challenges of eastern Montana: crumbling infrastructure, federal regulations on coal power and the out-migration of Montanas young adults.

We need new leadership in Montana, Gianforte said. On top of lost jobs, weve got a governor whos failed to deliver on essential infrastructure. In Culbertson, the water bill for a single home is already $1,200 a year. Because of the governors failed leadership, its going up 18 percent this year.

But while the governor has failed to deliver on infrastructure, hes sure grown government spending. Hes increased it by 20 percent in just three years. Imagine what he would do with another four?

Its been 16 years since Montana Republicans have won a gubernatorial election. Those packed into the upper storage mezzanine of the repair shop liked what they were hearing from Gianforte, who zeroed in job creation, his strongest political playing card.

Gianforte founded the software company RightNow Technologies in Bozeman roughly 20 years ago. RightNow software enables governments and companies to answer frequently asked questions online. The companys workforce ballooned to 1,200 before it was sold to Oracle for $1.8 billion in 2012.

Oracle kept those jobs in Bozeman after the purchase. Numerous Bozeman tech startups have stemmed from the sale, as former RightNow employees with shares in the company cashed out and started businesses.

I think hes just the man that Montana needs, said Roy Brown, a former Montana legislator who ran against incumbent Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer in 2008. Were 49th in jobs and wages. We can really make a difference with him at the helm. Its always difficult to challenge an incumbent, but the incumbent hasnt done much but make things worse.

***

When Brown challenged Schweitzer, the incumbent captured nearly 67 percent of the vote. Schweitzers approval rating leading up to the election was daunting.

But Bullocks numbers arent nearly as strong as his predecessors, which has Republicans liking Gianfortes chances. In 2012, Bullock was elected with 47 percent of the vote, in a three-way race in which a conservative third-party candidate captured votes that Republican Rick Hill needed to be successful.

Bullocks public approval rating was roughly 50 percent in a poll released by Montana State University Billings last month. The polls 4.8 percent margin of error would place the governors support close to where it was with voters in 2012, Bullocks first gubernatorial election.

I thought the message about leadership, a vision of where we want to go, rather than just managing, having a direction to what we want to accomplish, was a hot button for me, said Donald Sterhan, who manages an equity group. I think weve got some issues that we need to deal with. We need to face reality on some things and when we cant deliver, we have to be accountable for that.

Topping the list of challenges listed by Gianforte was Montanas pending response to the federal Clean Power Plan, which demands deep reductions on carbon dioxide emissions. Montana is expected by September to develop an initial response to regulations, which could in the future shutter portions of Colstrip Power Plant.

Bullock appointed a committee earlier this month to make recommendations for complying with the Clean Power Plan.

Gianforte never mentioned his Republican primary opponent, Brad Johnson, a Public Service Commission chairman and former Montana secretary of state. Likewise, Democrats have aimed squarely at Gianforte.

***

On Tuesday, Buzzfeed, an online publication targeting a national audience, focused on Gianfortes $1.1 million in donations to religious groups opposing nondiscrimination rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

Gianfortes previously published opposition to a nondiscrimination ordinance in Bozeman was included in the article.

On Monday, Gov. Bullock chose a Bozeman coffee shop as the stage for a new executive order expanding state nondiscrimination policy to include gender identity, pregnancy and military service. He told the media he was honoring the principles of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Gianfortes literal interpretation of the Bible, as well as his donations to Christian causes, have been a focal point of Democrats. The candidate did not address those criticisms in his announcement.

He had not responded to questions about those criticisms by press time.
BILLINGS  A Livingston veterinarian is seeking compensation for the emotional trauma of finding part of a mans face in a car wash more than two years ago.

Kimberly Kriege filed a complaint in Gallatin County District Court on Nov. 10 seeking damages from CRST Expedited Inc., the company David Welk was driving for when he hit and killed a man walking in the area between Big Timber and Livingston. Krieges lawsuit was recently transferred to the U.S. District Court in Butte, with Judge Sam Haddon assigned to the case.

On Sept. 30, 2013, Elgie Bedford, 81, of Alaska, was walking in the westbound lanes of Interstate 90 when he was struck and killed by a semi driven by Welk.

Welk briefly continued driving before turning around to investigate. After exiting his truck and observing the body, he left the scene, telling his co-driver it was just a duffel bag and some clothes, according to the affidavit in Welks criminal case.

Investigators later reported Bedford's body appeared to have been hit by several subsequent vehicles and no identifiable remains were left at the scene of the crash the following day.

One of those subsequent drivers washed evidence from the accident from her vehicle at the car wash where Kriege later found the face.

She immediately called 911. However, when police responded, they treated her as a suspect in the hit-and-run crash and confiscated her car as evidence. Kriege claims she suffered emotional trauma not only from her gruesome discovery but also the subsequent experience with investigating officers.

Welk reported to CRSTs mechanics that he had hit a hawk, taking out one of the trucks headlights. His co-driver felt uneasy about the incident, and after investigating accidents in the Big Timber area, he reported Welk to the authorities.

Welk was later arrested for striking and killing the man and sentenced to six years in prison, all suspended. He received one year of credit for time spent in jail awaiting trial.

In court documents, Paul Collins and Dave Whisenand, Billings-based lawyers representing CRST, contend the company is not responsible for any of the damages. Furthermore, the company has added two other parties to the lawsuit, Jane Bedford, representative of Elgie Bedfords estate, and Wryan Young, who was previously accused of hitting Bedford with her truck and leaving the piece of the face at the car wash.

In the document, the attorneys argue Elgie Bedford was negligent for walking down the middle of I-90 at night, and that negligence caused or contributed to his death. Young was said to have been negligent for leaving the scene and attempting to conceal evidence of the wreck.

Messages to representatives from CRST were not returned Wednesday, and the company's attorneys did not comment on the lawsuit.
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Senator Ted Cruz of Texas is appealing to potential voters in South Carolinas Midlands region in a new advertisement called, simply, Midlands.

On Screen

Images of armed Islamic extremists and Irans supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, precede a map of South Carolina, with the Midlands area highlighted. The narrator proclaims, When it comes to defeating radical Islamic terrorism, the Midlands knows victory starts here. Soldiers are shown marching, training and having their haircut at Fort Jackson in Columbia as the ad explains more than 50 percent of U.S. solders got their start at Fort Jackson.

A red and gray image of a sullen President Obama interrupts the marches; the narrator accuses him of decimating our military, threatening 3,000 jobs at Fort Jackson. Mr. Cruz is seen speaking to a packed arena as the narrator promises that the senator will protect jobs at the fort. Rebuild the military, kill the terrorists, the narrator says in closing.

The Message

The ad, in its focus on a local concern, might feel as if it belongs in a congressional election. But it reinforces the macro, national message central to the Cruz campaign: an aggressive and confrontational response to terrorism, which includes investing more in the military.
Tokio Marine HCC Acquires On Call International

HOUSTON, Jan. 21, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HCC Insurance Holdings, Inc. (Tokio Marine HCC) today announced it has acquired On Call International LLC (On Call), a leading provider of fully-customized travel risk management services, including medical evacuation and emergency assistance, to travelers around the world. On Call designs and markets customized self-insured and indemnified travel risk management plans, including medical, travel, political and natural disaster coverage. Founded in 1995, the company serves millions of travelers each year, and its clients include businesses across a variety of different industries, travel agencies, academic institutions, insurance companies and leisure travelers. On Call is headquartered in Salem, New Hampshire.



On Call has a long and successful track record of providing unparalleled global travel risk management services, and HCC Specialty has benefited from these services as a satisfied client for five years, said Bill Hubbard, President and Chief Executive Officer of HCC Specialty. In todays increasingly perilous world for travelers, weve brought this vital service in-house, helping us to increase our competitive edge by offering a superior customer experience.

By joining Tokio Marine HCC, On Call gains access to global expertise and unmatched products and services to expand our operations and further strengthen our world-class travel risk management offerings, said Mike Kelly, Chief Executive Officer of On Call. The backing of Tokio Marine Holdings, an industry-leading, international insurance company with over 30,000 employees, provides On Call and our millions of current and future members with incredible and innovative opportunities to build on our successes.

Headquartered in Wakefield, Massachusetts, HCC Specialty is among the industry's leading managing underwriters of innovative specialty insurance products, including high-limit disability, crisis management, contingency, DIC, prize indemnity, international medical and travel medical insurance, and special program business. HCC Specialty is a division of Tokio Marine HCC. For more information about HCC Specialty, please visit http://www.hccspecialty.com.

Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Tokio Marine HCC is a leading specialty insurer with offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain and Ireland. Tokio Marine HCCs major domestic and international insurance companies have financial strength ratings of AA- (Very Strong) from Standard & Poors Financial Services LLC, A+ (Superior) from A.M. Best Company, Inc., AA- (Very Strong) from Fitch Ratings, and A1 (Good Security) from Moodys Investors Service, Inc. For more information about Tokio Marine HCC, please visit http://www.hcc.com.

Contact: Doug Busker, Director of Investor Relations HCC Insurance Holdings, Inc. Telephone: (713) 996-1192
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Motoring-Malaysia.blogspot.my is an award winning Malaysian motoring / automotive / car news & reviews website or auto blog. It is where we rant and rave about cars, trucks, buses, motoring, motor vehicles and any interesting automotive industry related stuff. Unswayed in our point of view and darn proud of it! It's not about the numbers...it's about passion. Since 2006 and going strong.
All you need to know in 3 short paragraphs because honestly, who wants to read more?
"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
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Behind the scenes at the Montana Historical Society.
















Butte Police Reports

TRAFFIC STOP ARREST

Tamara Jean Hayden, 23, of Butte was pulled over by police for an inoperable vehicle tail light about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday on the 300 block of West Front Street. She was arrested on a misdemeanor criminal contempt warrant issued in butte city court.

ASSAULT ON WORKER

A 45-year-old mental health worker of Butte reported that while he was visiting a client, a man, 32, came into the apartment Tuesday on the 500 block of West Granite Street and hit his face five times. Police say the suspect and the male client live in the same building. An arrest warrant is being sought for the suspect.
The trial for a Texas man accused of fatally shooting a Whitehall man and injuring two others has been set for Sept. 6.

Tony Dwade Sawyer, 48, is facing charges of felony deliberate homicide and two counts of felony attempted deliberate homicide. He appeared in court Thursday before Butte district court Judge Brad Newman wearing street clothes.

Sawyer pleaded not guilty at his December arraignment to killing Joe Powers, 37, and wounding two other men in a late-night shooting spree about 13 miles southeast of Butte on Nov. 3. He fled the scene on Fish Creek Road near state Highway 2 with what police say was the weapon as well as other firearms and was arrested by authorities a day later in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Public Defender Ed Sheehy filed a motion for bail reduction Jan. 13. Sawyer is being held at the Butte-Silver Bow Detention Center on $1 million and has not been able to post bond. County Attorney Eileen Joyce said a response to the motion would be filed Monday.

Newman set a bail hearing for Thursday.

Sheehy also filed a notice Jan. 12 to introduce evidence at trial, arguing that Sawyer used justifiable use of force the night of the triple shooting.

His client reasonably believed such force was necessary to prevent imminent death or serious bodily harm to himself," Sheehy stated in the court document.

Family members of victim Joe Powers were seated in the courtroom Thursday. His mother declined to comment on the case.
A Butte district judge has sentenced a 40-year-old man to a six-year deferred term for negligent vehicular assault and ordered him to pay restitution to the victims.

Alejandro Palma-Ayala was driving too fast and lost control of a vehicle with two male passengers on New Years Eve in 2014, according to court documents. The crash, just northeast of Excelsior and Centennial, resulted in one man being ejected about 15 to 20 feet from the vehicle.

A second man was transported to St. James Healthcare after speaking with police officers at nearby Swiss Alps Casino, 1000 S. Excelsior Ave., court documents state. He stated that he had run to the casino to seek help.

A police officer stated that Palma-Ayalas speech was slurred and his eyes were bloodshot and glassy. He was in and out of consciousness, smelled of alcohol and refused to give a blood sample to test for alcohol, documents state.

Judge Kurt Krueger last week ordered Palma-Ayala to pay a restitution of $40,546 for medical bills incurred by the two victims since the incident.

In handing down his sentence to the Montana Department of Corrections, Krueger said it was the defendants first felony offense and would enable him to receive treatment and remain sober. The judge also said the length of the sentence would give Palma-Ayala time to make restitution.

Palma-Ayala had pleaded guilty as part of plea deal with Butte-Silver Bow County prosecutors last year. The agreement states that he would also plead guilty to a DUI citation pending in Butte city court. In exchange, the state would dismiss three misdemeanor traffic offenses.
Authorities are investigating an alleged assault on an 18-year-old male at the Butte Civic Center parking lot Wednesday.

The victims sister, 14, reported that her brother was thrown to the ground and punched several times in the head by an 18-year-old male, said Butte-Silver Bow Undersheriff George Skuletich.

Police believe the two men know each other from attending Butte High School.

The victim suffered a concussion and was transported to St. James Healthcare by private vehicle. Police found evidence of bruising on the teens head.

The alleged assault took place sometime on Wednesday but was not reported until about 11:40 p.m.
Democratic Sen. Jon Tester expressed shock when he learned at a breakfast meeting Monday that the Butte hill consent-decree negotiations  which will determine Superfund cleanup and its costs  are held in secret between Atlantic Richfield Company and federal, state and county officials.

Tester met with about 15 members of the Restore Our Creek Coalition  a group coalescing around the Parrot cleanup between the Civic Center and the Visitor's Center  to discuss a number of Superfund issues in Butte. The breakfast meeting at Gamer's Cafe in Uptown preceded a public forum to be held Tuesday evening. The forum, co-sponsored by The Montana Standard and Restore Our Creek, will bring representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency, the state, and the county to discuss cleanup concerns in the Parrot corridor and on the Butte hill. Tester will not be able to attend the forum.

Restore Our Creek members raised numerous concerns at the breakfast, including the fact that ARCO, EPA, state and county officials meet in private to negotiate Buttes consent decree. Once it is signed, the consent decree will be legally binding and will determine the cleanup in Butte as well as how much ARCO will pay to keep heavy metal contamination from impacting the town and upper Silver Bow Creek. Ultimately, the consent decree will determine how healthy Butte and Silver Bow Creeks future will be. Tester was visibly surprised to learn this is not a public process.

"Is that legal?" Tester asked.

The consent decree negotiations are held behind closed doors by a federal judge's court order, which was signed in 2003.

Tester took notes during the discussion and asked many questions, trying to grasp the various ailments Butte suffers due to more than 100 years of hard rock mining and smelting. Some of the issues raised at the breakfast include the future of the Parrot corridor, run-off after storms, groundwater contamination, the Berkeley Pits treatment and discharge and Silver Bow Creeks inability to meet water quality standards year-round.

Longtime Superfund watchdog Fritz Daily said the record of decision, a 700-page document that lays out Buttes heavy metal problems, should be reopened.

Tester told the Standard after the breakfast that he will meet with EPA director Gina McCarthy to talk about the urgency of the cleanup issues in Butte.

"EPA needs to step up and ARCO needs to be held accountable," Tester said.

Northey Tretheway, president of Restore Our Creek, expressed concern that Butte has had to contend with a piecemeal cleanup approach. Superfund in Butte has meant "a fix here, a fix there."

"A comprehensive cleanup has not been considered," Tretheway said. "We need something done right."

Daily talked at length about the Parrot corridor and his vision of a free-flowing creek to run from the Civic Center to the Visitor's Center.

Hydrogeologist Joe Griffin suggested creating linked, man-made ponds to create a wetland area between the Civic Center and the Visitors Center. Such ponds could capture run-off from storms and capture the heavy metal contamination before the water reaches Silver Bow Creek.

Roy Morris, president of the George Grant Chapter of Trout Unlimited, said it doesn't make sense that EPA took down Missoula's Milltown Dam, which came down in 2008 on the Clark Fork River just east of Missoula, before cleaning up Butte.

Whatever happens here happens in Missoula, Morris said.

Tester stressed how important the publics involvement became in Milltown Dams removal. Over 10,000 Missoulians wrote letters to EPA demanding Milltown Dam be torn down due to the toxic sediment that was lodged behind the dam.

Many at the breakfast agreed that public support is crucial to ensuring a good cleanup on the Butte hill.

The public can have an effect on government, Tester said. And (it can affect) the private sector.
Montanas former Lt. Gov. Angela McLean in a speech Wednesday night lauded Anaconda residents for getting back on track in so many ways.

Do we know hard times in Anaconda? We absolutely do. But what we will never know is hard times alone, she told about 200 people at the annual Anaconda Chamber of Commerce banquet at Fairmont Hot Springs.

A standing ovation greeted the former Anaconda school teacher who touched on landmarks, history and people that make Anaconda proud.

The smelter and the stack will forever be a source of pride. A symbol of getting back up on our feet and fighting for a better tomorrow.

She pointed to other random focal points of pride: Roses Tea Room and its famous chicken salad, the Washoe Theater, Community Hospital of Anaconda and the citys two Blue Ribbon schools.

We are a community that takes care of its own, and we are getting better at that every day, she said. We celebrate when our kids graduate. People walk to Memorial Gym and we celebrate.

We make sure we take care of all our young people, she said  from birth to death, nobody knows how to take care of people then like people from Anaconda do.

Despite the closure of the smelter  long the heart of Anacondas economy  on Sept. 29, 1980, when nearly 2,000 people eventually lost their jobs, the city survived, McLean said.

We have had dark days. We have had tragedies. But those dark days have not made us bitter. They have made us better.

McLean served as lieutenant governor from February 2014 through Jan. 3, 2016, when she took the job as director of American Indian and minority achievement and K-12 partnerships in the Montana Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education. Originally from Twin Bridges, she was a longtime government teacher at Anaconda High School.
Zoning board to address housing complex

A 90-unit, four-building apartment complex is proposed for the northern edge of the Montana Tech campus. But first, the developer, Digger-Digs, LLC must secure a zoning variance from the county. (See full story in Tuesday's paper.)

A public hearing on Digger-Digs variance request starts at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 21, in Room 312 of the Butte-Silver Bow County courthouse, 155 W. Granite St.

Snoflinga volunteers' meeting Thursday night

Snoflinga, a free, family-oriented winter festival slated Jan. 29-31, seeks volunteers to help with the winter festival.

Volunteer opportunities are available throughout the entire weekend. To sign up, visit www.snoflinga.org and attend the volunteer meeting at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 21 at the Butte Emergency Operations Center, 3619 Wynne Avenue.

Animal Control impounds listed

These are animals that have been picked up by Butte Animal Control. For details, call Chelsea Bailey Butte-Silver Bow Animal Shelter at 406-497-6528 or stop by between 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

Dogs:

Eight-month-old male spaniel cross, liver and white, picked up Monday on corner of Platinum and Idaho

Two-year-old male border collie, black and white, picked up Monday on Timothy Street

Cats:

Four-year-old male neutered longhaired, orange and buff, picked up Wednesday on Granite Street.

Two-year-old male snowshoe, cream and chocolate, picked up Jan. 14 on Center Street

Business After Hours planned tonight

DILLON  Beaverhead Chamber of Commerce and Agricultures Business After Hours is from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 21, at the Dillon Implement Building, 36. N. Idaho. Hosting the event are Mitch Staley, The Daily Yarn, Vibrant Lives Yoga, and African Oasis.

Guest speaker will be professional hunter, Dave Lincoln. Details: 406-683-5511.

Big Sky hosts business card social

Big Sky Senior Living will have a business card social from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 27, at 3701 Elizabeth Warren Ave. The social is a chance for residents to network with local business owners and leaders.

Grand Canyon trip is lecture topic

DILLON  Local historian and University of Montana Western alumni Steve Morehouse will present a program recounting his experiences rafting through the Grand Canyon at 3:45 p.m. Monday, Jan. 25, in Montana Westerns Block Hall, Room 311, Dillon.

The presentation is the first in the 2016 On the Rocks series. Morehouse will present Rafting in the Grand Canyon, based on his experiences from 30 years of whitewater rowing and 10 trips down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon.

Morehouse will also explain how to apply for and obtain a river permit, as well as how to plan a trip and knowing what to expect while rafting the 226 miles of river through the Grand Canyon.

Dance class coming to YMCA

Dance Instructor Tim Pattison will teach a three-class session of the Country Two-Step from 7 to 9 p.m. Feb. 19, 26, and March 4, at the Butte Family YMCA, 2975 Washoe.

The cost is $30 for YMCA members; $40 for non-members, and $75 per couple. Come alone or bring a friend. Partners not required. Bring clean shoes that will not damage the floor. Details: 406-782-1266.

Tech professors works earn accolades

Professor John W. Ray of Montana Techs Liberal Studies Department has had two peer reviewed papers accepted for presentation at international conferences this spring.

The first paper is for the International Listening Association Convention in Tucson, Arizona, in March. Rays paper will focus on a rules based approach to listening.

The paper is for the International Hegel Congress to be held at Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany, in May. His paper will focus on the German Idealist philosopher Georg Hegels concept of self and the development of this self-concept in the state.

Recently, because of his scholarly work on Hegel, Ray was invited into the membership of the International Hegel Association (Internationale Hegel-Vereinigung) sponsored by the Department of Philosophy at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. He received his PhD in political philosophy from the University of Wisconsin and has been teaching at Montana Tech since 1975.
This week, Governor Bullock announced an executive order, which renews and broadens the state employee nondiscrimination and harassment policy to be more inclusive of state workers. As we recognized Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday and continue to advance policies that promote greater social, racial, and economic justice, we commend Governor Bullocks critical step in supporting workplace equality for all state employees and those employed by contracting companies.

The Governors executive order expands the state workplace policy to include discrimination or harassment based on gender identity or gender expression, pregnancy or childbirth, and military service or veteran status in the hiring of state employees. This executive order also applies to entities contracting with state agencies, so those companies must also comply with this nondiscrimination policy.

The Montana Budget and Policy Center has served as a state contractor to research the economic benefits of paid family leave for Montana families. As an entity that would be subject to this expanded workplace policy, we believe this is an important step to ensuring all workers are adequately protected.

Every day, people who are working hard to make ends meet are denied jobs or harassed at work, simply for being who they are. Discriminatory practices negatively impact workers and their families well-being, as well as harming businesses and the economy as a whole.

The wage gap between men and women in Montana can be attributed to a number of things, but we know discriminatory practices play a role in hurting womens economic security. Nationally, evidence suggests that women and their families lose an average of $434,000 in income over their lifetimes, in part, because of workplace inequality.

The gender pay gap also has a significant impact on our entire economy. If women were compensated at the same rate as their male colleagues, we could cut the national poverty rate in half and inject hundreds of billions of dollars of income into our economy.

For businesses large and small, workplace discrimination can significantly harm bottom lines and reduce competitive advantage. When individuals remain working while facing harassment, research shows that their performance suffers, which impacts a business productivity, bottom-line, and ability to out-perform competitors. Hiring practices based on job-irrelevant characteristics force otherwise qualified workers into unemployment.

In the next 10 years, Montana will see over 130,000 workers retire, and new workers entering the labor force will not fill that gap. As Montana faces potential worker shortages, state agencies and employers should consider policies that will attract and retain skilled workers.

Combining nondiscrimination laws with other workplace policies like paid family and medical leave, fair scheduling, and fair pay laws is the best way to ensure that everyone in Montana has an equal opportunity to find and retain work, achieve a healthy work-life balance, and provide for themselves and their families.

Bullocks executive action is a significant step in protecting Montana workers and enabling individuals to achieve economic security. In the future, we hope that Montana legislators will build on this momentum and support policies that continue to strengthen our families, businesses, and state economy.

-- Heather OLoughlin is co-director of the Montana Budget and Policy Center, Helena.
HELENA  Before speaking in Helena Thursday, Greg Gianforte walked into the office of Gov. Steve Bullock, who he hopes to unseat in this falls election, and hand-delivered a folder that contained a letter to his opponent and a pledge to not accept any money from political action committees.

I refuse to accept any campaign contributions from special-interest PACs, state and federal, read the first line of the pledge, released by Gianfortes campaign just a day after the Bozeman businessman formally announcing that he would seek the Republican gubernatorial nomination and as he completed a two-day rally tour. I will tear up and/or return any special-interest PAC donations previously sent to my campaign. Montana voters deserve a clean campaign focused on the issues.

John Malia, who works in the Citizens Advocate office, was at the reception desk outside Bullocks office when Gianforte arrived, saying simply that he was dropping it off for the governor. Malia said he gave the folder to Tracy Stone-Manning, Bullocks chief of staff.

Meanwhile, Bullock was in Billings talking with students at City College at Montana State University-Billings about workforce development, joined by John Cech, deputy commissioner for academic and student affairs for the Montana University System, and Department of Labor and Industry Commissioner Pam Bucy.

Its news to me, Bullock told a reporter there. Ill take a look  and respond at that point.

Later that evening, Bullock affirmed his commitment to election transparency in a press statement on the sixth anniversary of the disastrous Citizens United decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which eliminated some restrictions on how corporations spend money in elections.

I will continue to fight for fair, transparent, and accessible elections because I, along with all Montanans, believe that our elections should be decided by we the people  not by a small number of wealthy people who seek to hide their money and motivations, he said in the statement.

The incumbent governors campaign manager, Eric Hyers, did not say whether Bullock would sign the pledge and described it as an empty gesture from Gianforte, who donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to groups that fought against a 2015 bill that expanded campaign disclosure requirements.

"Look, for Gianforte to be taken seriously, why doesn't he start by pledging he won't spend or funnel more than $1,300 of his own fortune into this campaign? Hyers said in a written statement. Here's a guy that's dumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into groups who lobbied against Montana's DISCLOSE Act. And a guy that has a Koch brothers' PAC, Aegis PAC, soliciting funds on his behalf on this very day."

Aaron Flint, Gianfortes campaign spokesman, fired back.

"It's a pretty simple pledge for the governor to sign or not to sign," he said. "Particularly as the governor has been out there gallivanting all across the state using taxpayer dollars. It seems Bullock is trying to buy this race with taxpayer dollars because he's having a little trouble raising money."

Gianforte co-founded RightNow Technologies with his wife Susan and became a multimillionaire when Oracle purchased the company in 2012 for $1.8 billion. He has previously said they controlled about a quarter of the stock at the time of the sale, worth more than $300 million.

Montana Democrats have shadowed Gianfortes campaign stops throughout the state this week with their own press conferences about the businessmans candidacy.

In Helena, Democratic Party Director Nancy Keenan downplayed Gianfortes pledge, one she said the multimillionaire was well-positioned to make.

"He's a self-funder; he can write the check," Keenan said. "So it's pretty easy for him to say, 'Oh, we're not going to take any money,' when he can write the check for millions and millions of dollars."

In his letter to the governor, Gianforte took a congenial, serious tone, sending Bullock warm greetings and hopes for a positive, spirited race.

I am committed to rejecting any special interest PAC money, he wrote. I simply wont cash their checks. Any checks sent my direction have already been returned, or torn up.  Id ask that you join me in this effort.

Gianforte has not ruled out personally donating to outside political groups. If he did, Flint said Gianforte would "not directly" benefit from those contributions.

Campaign finance reports through the end of 2015 do not list any contributions to Gianforte from political action committees, and all the refunds listed in his expenditures appear to be to individuals. He brought in $162,771 of contributions Aug. 17 through Sept. 30 and another $221,677 through the end of 2015, according to his reports. Of that, $12,814 were in-kind contributions from Gianforte himself. Additionally, several members of his family have donated the maximum contribution of $650 each.

On Bullock's most recent campaign finance report covering Oct. 1 through Dec. 31, he reported receiving $12,140 from 20 PACs and $216,042 in total donations during that time. On his prior filing covering July 1 through Sept. 30, he reported receiving $9,806.26 from 18 PACs and $283,779 total during that time.

Gianforte started the day in a warehouse of Hoven Equipment in Great Falls, where the lectern and 24 folding chairs were set up next to towering farm implements. Supporters talked over coffee and maple bars as they waited. When Gianforte did begin to speak, his remarks were interrupted by applause, cheers, and, at mention of the familys old Ford Bronco, a quip from the audience that elicited a chuckle from the candidate.

To the supporters gathered in Great Falls, his remarks were fresh even though Gianforte had given largely the same speech in Billings, Sidney, Lewistown and Kalispell a day earlier.

He vowed to remove job-killing business regulations, eliminate the business equipment tax, support gun rights, develop the states natural resource industries, and focus more on customer service than enforcement, in part by placing someone from industry or business at the helms of state agencies such as the Department of Environmental Quality.

Im here to tell you very definitively, Montana can prosper again, he said to applause.

Gianforte declined to answer press questions Thursday, saying: "We're going to have time to sit down. Today, I'm here for my supporters."
MUSCATINE, Iowa  The Jan. 15 shooting of a suspect by a Muscatine County Sheriff's Deputy has been ruled a "lawful" action by Muscatine County Attorney Alan Ostergren.

The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation conducted an investigation into the shooting of Timothy Seefeldt, 41, of Muscatine, by Deputy Eddie Cardenas. Seefeldt allegedly stole a 2008 Hummer H3 from downtown Muscatine about 10 p.m. Friday, Jan. 15.

The DCI investigation showed that Seefeldt was the operator of a Hummer H3 which had been reported stolen. Cardenas located the H3 about 10:30 p.m. on U.S. Highway 61 and attempted a traffic stop. He was assisted by Muscatine Police Officer Anthony Arnaman. Seefeldt attempted to elude law enforcement but the pursuit ended quickly when Seefeldt drove into the parking lot of Pearl City Inn/Best Western, 305 Cleveland Ave., which was a dead end, according to a statement by Ostergren.

Despite being stopped, Seefeldt refused to obey Deputy Cardenass commands, according to authorities. He abruptly placed the vehicle in reverse and backed up, striking Cardenass patrol car with the front door of the Hummer.

Cardenas perceived this action as threatening, both to himself and to Officer Arnaman, according to Ostergren's statement. Cardenas shot at Seefeldt in response to the threat. Seefeldt then struck four parked cars in the hotel parking lot before stopping again. Cardenas fired his weapon again when he believed that Seefeldt was placing the vehicle in drive in order to move forward toward him.

I have considered the application of Iowa law to the actions of Deputy Cardenas. A person is permitted to use force, including deadly force, to prevent or resist an imminent threat of death or injury to himself or to another. Deputy Cardenass actions were reasonable based upon the threat presented by Seefeldts actions. I therefore find that the shooting of Seefeldt by Deputy Cardenas was lawful," Ostergren wrote in a statement released Thursday.

Seefeldt sustained a non-life threatening gunshot wound to the upper torso. He was later transported to Trinity Hospital-Muscatine then to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City. He left the hospital against medical advice.

I would like to emphasize that I do not merely find Deputy Cardenass actions to meet the minimum standards imposed by the law. In my view he acted bravely during this incident. He was motivated primarily by a desire to protect a fellow officer and the public in general. His actions and demeanor during this incident were in the finest traditions of Iowa law enforcement," Ostergren stated.

Muscatine County Sheriff C.J. Ryan also issued a statement on the matter.

I have reviewed Deputy Cardenass actions in regard to departmental policy on the use of force. I find that Deputy Cardenass actions were in compliance with all applicable policies. I share the view that Deputy Cardenas acted bravely during this incident. A motor vehicle can be just as dangerous as a gun or knife. Deputy Cardenas acted decisively to end the threat. I am proud of him," Ryan stated.

Criminal charges against Seefeldt are pending.
MUSCATINE, Iowa  The cause of a fire which destroyed a Muscatine landmark remains under investigation, according to Muscatine Fire Chief Jerry Ewers.

The 123-year-old historic Huttig mansion, 315 W. Third St., caught fire Dec. 1.

Evidence from the fire scene was sent to the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation Criminalistics Laboratory in Ankeny for analysis. Ewers said the department may be able to release some information in a few weeks.

A 911 call came in around noon on Tuesday, Dec. 1. The owner of the house, David Morrison, escaped the burning home. He did require medical treatment for a medical condition not directly related to the fire, according to authorities.

No cause for the fire has been released. The building was razed due to safety concerns.

Muscatine Fire Marshal Mike Hartman is conducting the investigation.

Peggy Senzarino of the Muscatine Journal
WAPELLO, Iowa  Work sessions on Louisa Countys fiscal year 2017 budget started Wednesday, with the county supervisors initial proposals for the Recorder, Auditor, Supervisors and other offices.

A key discussion involved the countys non-departmental budget, where a variety of activities supported by county funds are included.

The supervisors agreed funding for the anticipated demolition of the former Louisa County Jail and the renovation of the remaining newer addition to provide office and meeting space should be included in the budget proposal.

However, bid estimates and planning have not been completed on those projects and final figures are pending.

The supervisors also briefly discussed where to find the revenue to fund both projects.

Griffin suggested using a portion of the countys Local Option Sales Tax (LOST). That funding has generally gone to pay off the debt on the construction of the new county jail, but Griffin said the two were related.

That is part of the (new) jail (project), he said.

We cant (sell) it and now we have to tear it down, he continued.

The supervisors did identify around $25,000 in funding to develop floor plans for the remodeling of the Louisa County Complex to also provide additional office and meeting space.

That funding was related to a 2015 study by the Southeast Iowa Regional Planning Commission that determined the Louisa County Public Health Service could be housed at the complex. A final decision on that move has not been made, but the supervisors agreed the floor plan development needed to be included in the FY17 spending proposal.

Another non-departmental expenditure in the FY17 proposal that raised some eyebrows was an $8,487 allocation for protection/security services. Auditor Sandi Elliott reported this would be the payment to the Muscatine Fire Department to provide hazard mitigation services in Louisa County.

The FY16 payment for the services is $1,800.

Wow, what happened there? supervisor Randy Griffin asked, adding he was sure the department knew what it cost to respond.

Officials recalled there was one incident in Louisa County last year involving an anhydrous sprayer, but apparently no cost estimate for the cleanup had been provided.

The supervisors agreed to keep the funding in the proposal, but directed Elliott to contact Muscatine officials and request an explanation.

A final estimate for the non-departmental budget was left open, pending a final decision on the jail demolition and other items. This years projected spending is around $428,860.

The supervisors also reviewed preliminary figures for general services-courthouse. Although the $123,731 funding request fell below this years $137,600 budget projection, Elliott, whose is the county official in charge of the courthouse, did request funding to add a handicap-accessible door to the building.

The supervisors also reviewed their own $123,600 spending proposal and one for the County Complex of $80,920. The supervisors proposal was about $2,380 higher than this years projected spending, while the County Complex proposal was about $7,500 less than this years projection.

The board also examined proposals submitted by Elliot and Louisa County Recorder Leanne Black. The recorders FY17 budget of around $139,130 was close to the $136,620 in projected spending for this year.

The auditors proposed FY17 spending came in around $269,610, which is about $9,300 above this years projected spending. Elliott said her budget included a new copier and higher election costs because of the upcoming primary and general elections.
MUSCATINE, Iowa  The city council will discuss various improvement projects during its meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 21, at City Hall, 215 Sycamore.

The Muscatine City Council will consider a request to use city surplus street bricks for the Greenwood Cemetery steps project. A group has been selling bricks as a fundraiser to refurbish the steps. The bricks will be used to engrave donors' names then installed along the newly planned sidewalk at the top of the steps.

The council will also consider resolutions setting bid specifications for building facade improvements and storm water infiltration improvements for downtown. The city has received a Community Development Block Grant from the Iowa Economic Development Authority for the downtown revitalization project.

The council will also consider accepting an easement for the Musser Park to Wiggens Road Trail Project, the next step in moving the project forward with hopes to complete it this year.

There's also a slew of other routine business including the approval of liquor, beer and wine permits for businesses including Club Inc., Chicharo's, Fareway, Pizza Hut, Wholesale Food Outlet, Sal Vitale's and Curry's Express Mart.

What is not on the official agenda is a discussion on the city's pit bull ban.

Muscatine resident Paige Sours started a petition at www.change.org (search her name on the website to find the petition) and has collected more than 2,000 signatures online as of Wednesday morning.

She plans to address the council during communications from citizens portion of the agenda. That is a time at each meeting that residents with issues they'd like to bring up that are not on the agenda to address the council.

Sours has asked for those who are in favor of lifting the breed-specific ban to attend in support, she did not ask anyone else to speak unless they want to.

The conversation on the issue brought more than 100 comments on the link shared through the Muscatine Journal's Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/muscatinejournal)  both in favor of and against the ban. Sours also invited those in favor of keeping the pit bull ban to attend the meeting to hear the facts she and friends have gathered and have a civil discussion on the issue.

Public comment is the fourth item on the agenda, after calling the meeting to order, roll call and the pledge of allegiance.
Ethanol  corn alcohol  wont take you as far as a gallon of gas. But that doesnt mean it is isnt powerful stuff.

Politically powerful stuff.

Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz of Texas is feeling the heat right now as the ethanol lobby pressures him to commit openly to expanded support for federal ethanol mandates  a kowtow every recent presidential candidate from both parties has done up to now.

Others have done so willingly, even slavishly  but Cruz is reluctant (and hedging) because hes an instinctive free trader  and knows that what the lobby wants is anything but.

The ethanol lobbys potency derives not only from the money it has and the campaign contributions it can make (or not) but also from the fact that  in a presidential election year  the Iowa caucuses are critical.

And Iowa is a farm state.

Cruz has so far tried to avoid a direct confrontation with the Corn Kingpins  and we are not talking family farms here but rather enormous agricultural combines that actually exploit the family farmer by applying artificial economic pressure (via government subsidies and mandates) to divert food crops to ethanol production. Corn that would otherwise be used to feed people  or animals that feed people  ends up being used to make ethanol, which is then mixed with gas in various concentrations.

Most of the unleaded gas available in the United States, for instance, is actually 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent gasoline. This fuel is labeled E10 gas.

Which would be OK  if thats what the market wanted.

But its actually what the government (and corn lobby) want. And now they want more. Specifically, they want ethanol concentrations upped to 15 percent or even 25 percent (E15 and E25). And they want whomever is nominated and ultimately elected president to make it so.

Big money  and big pressure.

Cruz recently stated that market access (for ethanol) is critical and even gone so far as to argue that federal antitrust laws be vigorously enforced to ensure that the oil and gas industry cannot block access to the market for ethanol producers.

But ethanol has never been blocked from entering the market. The problem is just the opposite. Ethanol producers want a market created for their product  enforced by government. They want to suppress the markets verdict about ethanol, bypass the preferences expressed by Americans for gasoline rather than ethanol-adulterated gas.

They want ethanol forced down our throats  and into our tanks.

Ethanol sounds good  superficially  because it is renewable and produced here in America. But a gallon of ethanol-laced fuel contains less energy than a gallon of straight gasoline. Which means your cars fuel economy goes down on ethanol and ethanol-blend fuels  by as much as 5 percent to 10 percent vs. straight gasoline, because the engine has to burn more ethanol fuel to get the equivalent energy out of the fuel.

So, Cruzs statement (in a recent op-ed) that ethanol could prove quite popular with American consumers is based on a misunderstanding of the nature of ethanol as a fuel.

Similarly his statement regarding octane.

Ethanol can be used as an octane enhancer, but unless an engine was designed to operate on high octane fuel, using high octane fuel will usually result in reduced fuel economy.

Octane is just a measure of a fuels burn rate, not its quality. High-octane premium is just the ticket for high-compression/high-performance engines designed for such fuels. But most cars are designed to run on regular (lower octane) unleaded  and so ethanols octane enhancing properties are irrelevant to the people who dont need premium fuel.

And ethanol in higher concentrations  such as E15 and E25 and E85 (15 percent, 25 percent and 85 percent ethanol, respectively) will cause physical damage to engines and fuel systems not specifically designed and built to handle high-alcohol-concentrations. Which happens to be the majority of new cars  as well as all of the cars not built before the mid-late 1990s.

Alcohol is by nature corrosive  and it attracts moisture.

If you read your vehicles owners manual you will find explicit warnings about using any gasoline with more than 10 percent ethanol (E10) unless the engine was specifically designed for it (i.e., flex fuel ready) and an advisory that any damage resulting from its use will not be covered by the vehicles warranty.

So, Cruz is misinformed, minimally, when he states that the EPA  through regulations used in vehicle emissions tests  imposes a hard wall against mid-level ethanol blends such as E25, making it largely illegal to sell gasoline with higher blends of ethanol.

The fact is that even E15  15 percent alcohol  would be disastrous for most vehicles currently in service. And not just for cars, either. Virtually all the lawn mower, chainsaw and recreational power equipment (e.g., boat) engines currently in service cannot handle ethanol concentrations higher than 10 percent.

Neither can the infrastructure.

Pipelines and tanker trucks and the in-ground tanks where fuel is stored generally cant stand up to higher-than-10-percent ethanol fuels. The fuels would have to be transported and stored separately  which involves duplication of effort  which adds another layer of artificial (government-imposed) costs.

The only hard wall limiting ethanol concentrations in fuel is the limitation imposed by how much damage to our cars and wallets were willing to tolerate for the sake of the corn lobby.

Cruz would be taking a political risk to say so openly  especially ahead of the Iowa caucuses. But  as Donald Trump has shown  the public is desperate for straight-talking leaders who will stand up for them rather than serve as water-carriers for the interests that seem to own the government and use it for their benefit.

Cruz has said he favors an all of the above policy when it comes to fuels  and that Washington shouldnt be picking winners and losers.

Exactly so.

Eric Peters has been covering the automobile industry since the 90s and is the author of Automotive Atrocities and Road Hogs. He wrote this for InsideSources.com.
Violence in Iraq dropped during the second week of October. There were fewer incidents by the Islamic State. On the other hand, Sadrists and...
Yes, you can transfer your domain to any registrar or hosting company once you have purchased it. Since domain transfers are a manual process, it can take up to 5 days to transfer the domain.

Domains purchased with payment plans are not eligible to transfer until all payments have been made. Please remember that our 30-day money back guarantee is void once a domain has been transferred.

For transfer instructions to GoDaddy, please click here.
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 []
MTN faces a potential bill of 52 billion CFA francs (R1.46 billion) in taxes and royalties from the national anti-corruption commission in Cameroon.

Reuters reported that Cameroons corruption board said Orange and MTN owe the country nearly 100 billion CFA francs in taxes.

This followed an investigation by the commission, which uncovered large amounts of unpaid taxes.

According to the report, MTN owed nearly 52 billion CFA francs in taxes and royalties.

MTN said it was not aware of any fines in its Cameroon operation, but is looking into the issue.

The fine comes amidst an ongoing battle in Nigeria, where MTN is facing a 780-billion fine for not abiding by the countrys SIM regulations.

The Nigerian Communication Commission fined MTN 1.04-trillion (around R71 billion at the time) in October 2015 for not disconnecting unregistered SIMs on its network.

After negotiations with Nigerian authorities, the fine was reduced by 25% to 780-billion.

More on MTN

MTNs R59.7 billion Nigerian fine deadline contradiction

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The real reason for Nigerias massive R59-billion fine on MTN
Opposition to Eskoms proposed tariff increases gained momentum on Tuesday as the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) closed its session for hearings in Cape Town.

Eskom has applied for a R22.8bn adjustment for its 2013/2014 financial year. If this is granted, it is expected to lead to at least a 16% tariff hike, the City of Cape Town told the panel on Monday.

The regulatory clearing account application by Eskom is for cost recovery and revenue adjustments based on actual past variances and not a revenue application based on future estimates.

The Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) told Eskom to bring its own costs under control before asking business and customers to pay increased tariffs.

Addressing the Nersa panel, CCCI executive director Sid Peimer said the chamber could not support the full tariff increase as 2016 will be a tough year for business.

Agri Wes-Cape CEO Carl Opperman said the proposed tariff hike would hit the agricultural industry hard.

Opperman said the R255m cost of electricity for the entire industry would increase dramatically and that food security in South Africa would be in severe jeopardy should the tariff hike be granted.

Eskom hit back in a statement on Tuesday, saying some presentations before Nersa contained gross misconceptions and mostly referred to the detrimental impact of load shedding on the economy.

It said the claim by Peimer that Eskoms RCA submission is full of errors is unfounded and cannot be left unchallenged, while Opperman mischievously exhibited mealie cobs in his bid to show how Eskom has impacted agri-business.

We have complied with MYPD methodology rules and have also independently verified the application through auditing firm Deloittes. We therefore have comfort that there are no errors in our application.

We (also) dont believe that our activities could have impacted the agricultural sector to the extent that it was alleged by Mr Opperman as load shedding was implemented for only 13 hours in 2013/14 (the year to which the RCA submission relates).

The state utility said its activities during the RCA period was exactly aimed at minimising the impact of load shedding and that it is sensitive to the impact the RCA submission has on the wider economy.

To this end, we have optimised our capital and put in a cost-saving programme that will yield about R60bn over the five years of the MYPD3 period to ensure that we remain efficient in our operations. Additionally, we have not claimed R10.5bn of costs incurred by Eskom that are not recoverable under current RCA methodology.

Meanwhile, a representative of the One Million Climate Jobs Campaign criticised Nersa for conducting the hearings at the Cape Town Convention Centre.

Sizwe Manqele from the campaigns provincial working group told the Nersa board that the voices of the people are not being heard and that the community is disadvantaged by the hearings being hosted at the CTICC.

He called on Nersa to take the hearings to township areas like Khayelitsha in Cape Town and KwaMashu in Durban.

The hearings continue in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday, and move to Durban on 21 and 22 January.

The regulator is expected to make its decision by 26 February 2016.

Fin24

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Eskom price hike will jeopardise food security

Eskom must cut own costs before demanding price increase
The Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber (NMBBC) on Wednesday accused Eskom of bringing an unlawful and irregular tariff increase application to the National Energy Regulator of SA (Nersa).

In their joint presentation to the Nersa board Business Chamber deputy president, MC Botha, and Member Company Autocast executive director, David Mertens, said the regulatory clearing account (RCA) submitted by Eskom should be rejected for not following Nersa methodology.

Eskom has applied for a R22.8bn adjustment for its 2013/2014 financial year. If this is granted, it is expected to lead to a tariff hike of least 16%, the City of Cape Town told the panel on Monday.

The RCA application by Eskom is for cost recovery and revenue adjustments based on actual past variances and not a revenue application based on future estimates.

The NMBBCs main objection was the timing and frequency of the RCA application.

Botha argued that the RCA had to be created during the year that the deviations were incurred and that possible adjustments should have been presented to Nersa on a quarterly basis.

He said that Eskom did not mention the RCA in the Annual Financial Statements 2013/2014.

Misunderstanding

Eskom hit back later on Wednesday saying Botha and Mertenss presentation showed a misunderstanding of the regulatory process as a whole.

The NMBBC based their whole presentation on a wrong premise, the utility said in a statement.

The RCA looks at what costs were incurred and compares this to the decision that was taken by the regulator. However, the Nersa decision at the time may be lower or higher in reality. The economy also did not grow at the rate that was anticipated at the time of the decision.

This further impacted Eskoms operations. The methodology allows for costs that are incurred prudently to be recovered and there is reasonable cause for us to submit to the regulator asking for an adjustment, Eskom said.

The hearings move to Durban on January 21 and 22 2016.

Fin24

More energy news

Eskom hits back at gross misconceptions about price hike application

Eskom price hike will jeopardise food security
An Archdiocese of Durban official has called Eskoms latest electricity tariff hike request sinful.

There are millions lost every year because of the poor management of this organisation. It would be sinful to hike electricity prices, spokesperson Enoch Lewis said during a presentation to Nersa officials in Durban on Thursday.

The National Energy Regulator of SA was holding public hearings into Eskoms request for a 16% tariff hike, to recoup R22.8bn in costs.

Public hearings had already taken place in Port Elizabeth and Cape Town.

Eskom has assured the country that the lights will stay on, even if Nersa turns down its application.

Lewis called on Nersa not to grant Eskom any price hikes until it had undergone restructuring. He said it had a number of management issues.

Yes we know there are a number of challenges that Eskom deals with. Even the poor are tampering with electricity and we do not condone this, but we also understand where this is coming from.

Lewis said pensioners were already suffering and the tariff hike would mean food prices would increase.

This will most certainly raise the price of food, and for us as an organisation that assists the needy and the elderly, this is an issue. To us, the affordability for the poor and the old is already at such a difficult point. If these were raised any more it would be detrimental.

Nersa cancelled the public hearings in Mpumalanga, the Free State, and Limpopo due to a lack of interest.

News24

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Eskom tariff application unlawful: PE chamber

Eskom hits back at gross misconceptions about price hike application
Who can believe the unbelievable election results with 1.8 million majority? I can not trust this as most of the people whom talked to me af...
More than 100,000 endangered baby turtles were released on Dec 16 into a river in the the Bolivian Amazon. The goal is to repopulate River Itenez with the small turtles, which can measure up to one meter (3.2 feet), weigh up to 70 kilos (154 pounds) and live for up to 100 years.To date 10 million baby turtles have been released back into River Itenez, near the border with Brazil. River turtles inhabiting the rivers of the Bolivian Amazon are endangered due to the high demand for their meat and eggs, which are high in protein. They play an important role in the ecosystem as they help to reforest flooded forests by digesting food, which help to clean the rivers.
Every day is a new adventure -- whether or not it involves a change in physical latitude. Taking advantage of the latitude I have to experience new things, meet new people and go new places has enriched my life. And sharing the discoveries I've made along the way makes these experiences all the more meaningful. Thanks for reading my musings.
SACRAMENTO  California officials have approved $1.1 billion in spending so far from a voter-approved initiative that closed a corporate tax loophole to generate billions of dollars for energy efficiency projects at California schools and community colleges, but most of the work is not completed, Senators learned at a hearing Wednesday.

The vast majority of spending from Proposition 39, about $973 million, has been allocated for K-12 schools, which have more than 9,000 projects in the works that are projected to save $38 million annually in energy costs, according to the California Energy Commission.

Most of the work is "in the pipeline," with only 95 completed, testified the commission's executive director, Rob Oglesby.

The initiative was sold to voters in 2012 as a way to generate billions for green energy projects at California schools and create 11,000 jobs each year. The Associated Press reported last August that less than $300 million had been distributed to schools and only 1,700 jobs created in three years.

The state Legislative Analyst's Office also reported Wednesday that Proposition 39 has brought in an estimated $780 million annually, lower than the $1 billion or more initially forecast.

The complex charts and graphs of approved spending presented Wednesday was insufficient for Sen. Mark Hertzberg, D-Los Angeles, who questioned why so much of the reporting relies on projections instead of actual spending.

"This to me, it's nice, but I mean, it's government goo-goo. Come on man, this is a serious place. You could say this would be $7 billion if you want to project numbers and base it upon projections," he said. "I'm demonstrating a frustration because I have been in the private sector. ... I've seen the impacts and I do not accept the time frames, because it does not take a year to make an assessment."

Oglesby said the state was requiring actual reports from the affected agencies that are due 12 to 15 months after a project is completed. Right now the agency only has data from 17 completed projects.

A detailed accounting of how many jobs have been created is also many months away, as the state Labor and Workforce Development Agency prepare a comprehensive report on how many jobs were created at each jobsite. But a University of California, Berkeley forecast given to lawmakers Wednesday shows fewer jobs than voters were promised  from 2.5 to 8.9 jobs for every $1 million spent, compared to the 20 construction jobs-per $1 million proponents touted.

Community colleges were able to much more quickly spend the money because the system already had similar programs in place, testified Susan Yeager of the Community Colleges chancellor's office.

The system has reported 180 completed projects, with another 432 in the works. They have also yielded the equivalent of 238 yearlong jobs. She said the work has saved enough energy to power about 4,000 homes.

"These are verified energy savings for completed projects," she said.
SAN FRANCISCO  Authorities continued to search for a surfer believed to be unconscious and tethered to his board in Marin County.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported Thursday that a 911 call came in about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday reporting that the man was missing.

Marin County Fire Battalion Chief Bret McTigue said that before the search, two surfers saw him face down in the water, still attached to his surfboard with a leash.

They spotted him on the north end of Rodeo Beach, just outside the breaking waves. His name was not released.

They saw he was unconscious and went to help, but then they got tossed in a wave and lost him.

The search by land, water and air was suspended Wednesday night due to 8- to 10-foot waves and low visibility. The search continued Thursday morning.
Piombo was born and raised in Napa and attended Napa Valley public schools. Piombo has more than eight years of experience in education, five of which were spent in the Napa Valley Unified School District. Most recently, he worked for the San Francisco Unified School District.
Tra Vigne was as full as ever on Monday, but for once nobody was there for its famous mozzarella al minuto.

Instead, the contents of what was once a foodie mecca and the pinnacle of the Napa Valley restaurant scene were being auctioned off, plate by plate and oven by oven.

Bidders ranged from professional dealers to restaurateurs to longtime Tra Vigne fans looking to take home a memento from their favorite restaurant.

It was our go-to restaurant here, back when there was very little else around, said Roberta Sciandri of Napa, who attended the auction with her daughter, Rebecca Griffin. It was an iconic place, and now its gone. Its heartbreaking.  We wanted to come and say goodbye.

Tra Vigne closed Dec. 20 after its lease wasnt renewed. It will be replaced this year by a new restaurant, operated by Christopher Kostow and Nathaniel Dorn of The Restaurant at Meadowood, that will be centered on a celebratory and casual dining experience, according to Martina Kostow, director of communications for The Restaurant at Meadowood.

The construction will focus on bringing the existing building up to (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliance  fixing the roof, floors and deferred maintenance  with very little operational changes to the current building, Kostow added. The goal is to ensure the structure is viable for many decades to come.

Some of Tra Vignes core staff are moving to Cairdean Estate north of St. Helena, where a new restaurant is replacing The Farmer & The Fox. But Tra Vigne will always have sentimental value for people like Sciandri, who remembers bringing her family and some guests to the restaurant a month or two after it opened in 1987.

We had a lovely lunch, Sciandri said. When she and her husband went outside for a few minutes as dessert time was approaching, her husband jokingly told their daughter Rebecca to just order one of everything. When they returned to their table, they found out she had taken what hed said literally and ordered the entire dessert menu.

It turned out to be a brilliant move. Sciandris husband especially enjoyed the strawberries with balsamic vinegar, which he never would have ordered on his own. Ordering one of everything from Tra Vignes dessert menu became a family tradition.

Back in the day we would come here at least 10 times a year, Sciandri said. More recently, not so much, because we have nice restaurants down in Napa and we dont have to drive up here.

Sciandris daughter, Rebecca Griffin, said that even after she became an adult, she kept bringing friends to Tra Vigne for its addictable burrata.

There are a lot of family memories here, she said.

Darlene Sutherland of Vacaville didnt hear about Tra Vignes closure until she tried to book a reservation over the weekend.

I came to see if I could get a piece of memorabilia from the really wonderful years that we came to eat here, she said. It was one of my favorite restaurants.

Other people, like Cesar Montanez, attended the auction for practical reasons. Hes opening a new restaurant in Fairfield called the Slanted Tree Kitchen and Taproom, and he was looking for some good deals.

Im looking for any general appliances  furniture, kitchenware, he said before the auction. Were about to open, so this is a great opportunity to find some steals. Its a fun way to shop, too. You find little treasures you wont find at a general supply store.

Sure enough, Montanez went home with a set of plates for 50 cents apiece, and paid just $120 for three sturdy wood tables with cast-iron bases.

Auctioneer Ron Charyn auctioned off 397 lots in 5 hours, taking no breaks and striving to maintain the auctions momentum. About nine out of every 10 lots sold: a dime apiece for 200 white plates, $30 for a set of gnocchi boards, $600 for a red acrylic artwork by German artist Ralf Bohnenkamp, and $1,300 for an 8-foot-long granite table.

Kitchen appliances fetched the highest prices, with the top bid going to a Traulsen two-door wine cooler, new and in perfect condition except for a small dent on the front, that sold for $4,000.

Its one-door partner sold for $3,000, as did a 22-foot-by-9-foot walk-in freezer and a pasta machine with a ravioli maker and other accessories. A walk-in cooler went for $2,500, and a few ovens and a mixer sold in the $1,000-$1,250 range.

Sometimes Charyn would try to cajole reluctant bidders. This costs $15,000 new, he said when a 60-gallon steam-jacketed kettle couldnt attract any bids. No, $18,000, one of his assistants called out. Despite their best efforts, the kettle went unsold.

At other points Charyn would chastise people for trying to split the bid by bidding in smaller increments than he was calling out. Never try to negotiate with an auctioneer, he admonished one woman.

For some of the more experienced bidders, a slight nod was all it took to place a bid. Are you bidding or scratching your head? Charyn asked one man. Dont scratch your head during an auction.

Some of the most interesting lots had nothing to do with food, like the portable parquet dance floor that sold for $500 and the ping-pong table snapped up by Kerry Baldwin for $175.

Baldwin said the table will be installed at his familys Silverado Orchards retirement home. But he was also bidding out of nostalgia, having worked at Tra Vigne while he attended Pacific Union College.

Back then it was like the French Laundry is today, Baldwin recalled. Michael Chiarello was chef, and Napa Valley luminaries like the Mondavis and the Duckhorns were regulars.

Baldwin was just bussing tables to earn some extra money, but most of his co-workers were starting careers in the restaurant industry, and many of them had jobs at other notable restaurants like Terra.

Having lived a sheltered Seventh-day Adventist childhood, I learned so much from working there, said Baldwin, who took home some salad bowls, serving platters and a framed Tra Vigne poster.

Baldwin also paid $500 for the yellow metal Cantinetta sign that hung outside the building Tra Vigne used for private parties.

However, there were no takers for the much larger Tra Vigne sign that sits along Highway 29, even though Charyn went as low as $100. What would you do with it? Baldwin asked later.

At 4:40 p.m. a set of four black rubber floor mats sold for $20. With that, the auction ended, and a St. Helena landmark passed into history.
Developers of Calistogas proposed low-income senior apartment project could break ground as early as next year and hope to begin the fund search process next month, officials said at last weeks planning commission meeting.

The approval of the projects design review application moves the project a step closer to those goals. Planning Commission Chairman Paul Coates recused himself from the meeting because his office is located within 300 feet of the project, and therefore he is not eligible to vote on the matter.

A review of the design showed the developers integrating planners suggestions from a November planning meeting.

We gave a lot of thought to the design and how to incorporate in the community, said Justin Hardt of Corporation for Better Housing (CBH).

Among the suggestions CBH included are changing the style of roof and color scheme to better fit into the surrounding area, and including a portico.

The three-story single apartment building will be located at 611 Washington St. and will include 30 units, an elevator, laundry facilities, 34 parking spaces, 15 enclosed bicycle spaces, a 750-square-foot community room with wireless Internet, and a 500-square-foot common open space.

The one-bedroom units, which make up 24 of the units, will be 564 square feet, and the remaining three units will be 840 square feet with two bedrooms each. All units have a 70-square-foot patio or balcony.

All the units will be rented only to seniors age 62 and older whose household income is at 60 percent of the area median income (AMI), said Lynn Goldberg, planning director.

Three of the units will be rented at $459 to $525 per month to residents of extremely low income (which is limited to $18,350 annually), 20 units will be rented to very low income seniors (which is calculated at between 45-50 percent AMI), and six will be designated for low income (which is 60 percent AMI).

Larry Kromann, president of Calistoga Affordable Housing, expressed concerns about providing services to senior citizens who live in Calistoga.

We do not have the same senior services as the city of Napa, he said.

He would like to see programs such as Meals on Wheels, mental health care, and legal services among the services to be easily accessible to Calistogans.

We will have an onsite staff as we do with all our developments, Hardt said.

He said CBH envisions the common area and community room at the apartment building to be used for such services, creating a hub of sorts for the entire Calistoga senior community, not just those who live in the building.

The manager at the low-income Calistoga Family Apartments at 1715 Washington St.  a property owned, built and managed by CBH  has done a great job of reaching out to the community and is active in bringing needed services to the families who live there, Hardt said.

Kromann said he was pleased to see more low-income housing coming to the city but he was disappointed that the Calistoga Family Apartments was opened only to farmworking employees and their families.

Our specific need in our little community is workforce housing, he said.

Goldberg explained that the city did not own the property at 1715 Washington St., and had little say in what kind of development went in, adding that the developer could have built houses for high-income purchasers, and because of the type of funding that CBH, a nonprofit organization, was able to secure, it limited them to farmworker housing.

They could have created a market rate project, she said.

The city owns the property at 611 Washington and is involved in the direction CBH is taking for the development. The lot is less than an acre, and because of its size limits and the requirements for parking spaces for family housing, senior housing is about the only option there.

To help squeeze in the project two streets will be affected. Fir Street, which exists only on paper, will be eliminated and a sliver of Washington Street will be erased.

Hardt said the units will be built with high-quality, energy-efficient materials that meet and in most cases exceed recommendations. The units will include Energy Star-rated appliances, high-efficiency hot water delivery and air conditioners, and the entire project meets all ADA requirements.

Landscaping includes valley oak, crape myrtle and western redbud trees, and other drought-tolerant plants.
Growing up in Napa Valley surrounded by grapevines, Will Phelps did not envision his future working in the family wine business. At an intimate library dinner at the Terranea Resort in Palos Verdes, Phelps, who charmed the audience with his good looks and friendly manner, said, I was the most rebellious. I wanted nothing to do with this predestined life when I was a child.

Despite his childhood objection, Phelps is carrying on the family tradition as the third generation at the winery. For the past 3 12 years, Phelps, grandson of winery founder Joe Phelps and son of winery president Bill Phelps, has been a sales representative for his familys winery. But he was not handed the position just because he wanted it. Once he decided he wanted to work at the winery, he had to spend his time earning the position.

While Phelps was a student at the University of San Diego, he spent summers at the winery, from working on the bottling line to pouring in the tasting room. During those years, his father would give him bottles of wine to drink. But as a college student, cheap beer was what he more commonly consumed.

Phelps graduated from college in 2008 and decided to work harvest in France to kill some time as he figured out his next steps. He was working at E. Guigal when, at age 23, he was bit by the wine bug. He was learning about wine under Philippe Guigal and at night, as there was nothing else to do in the ancient village of Ampuis in the Cote-Rotie, he said that he read the encyclopedia of wine, page by page.

Phelps returned home to Napa Valley and told his father that he wanted to work at the winery. Bill Phelps, a lawyer for 20 years, did not come to Joseph Phelps until he was in his 40s and suggested his son get experience somewhere else first.

Phelps went to work at other wineries, including one in South Africa. In 2012, his father agreed that it was time that he work for the family business. Will joined as sales representative, focusing on sales and marketing of the wines, and during that time he also studied for his MBA.

At the dinner Will hosted at Terranea, the 29-year-old shared his story as we tasted through the library wines, the 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2011 Insignia.

Insignia, the wine Joseph Phelps is most known for, was the first proprietary wine ever produced. Insignia was created in 1974 by his grandfather, Joseph Phelps, a man with great vision and with great business acumen. Working in construction, he had come to Napa to build other wineries and started Joseph Phelps Winery in 1973. Joseph Phelps Insignia is a benchmark wine that has won many awards, including wine of the year.

As we enjoyed each of the wines, Phelps invited us to raise a glass to toast his grandfather, Joseph Phelps, who passed away last year. He fondly recalled learning about wine from his grandfather as a child and spoke about how is grandfather taught him how to decant old wines by candlelight.

Joseph Phelps visionary spirit built the winery, and his grandson is helping to continue it.
Modern winemakers have a vast array of new tools to help improve wine quality at nearly every level, from optimizing grapevine hydration to mechanical harvesters and DNA fingerprinting. More than ever, winemakers must be a blend of artist, farmer, scientist and computer geek to keep up with the latest technologies.

Producing the highest quality wine starts with healthy grapes, said Garrett Buckland, a winemaker and partner at Premiere Viticultural Services in Napa. But today, there are lots of tools out there that can help in the process. In our company we deploy a whole range of options to assist our clients in their decision-making.

Buckland and his family have been growing grapes for generations, and his reputation in the Napa Valley is for being at the leading edge of innovative approaches to growing grapes and winemaking. One of the technologies they use is sap-flow sensors developed by a technology startup called Fruition Science.

Wine used to be made mostly in the cellar, said Thibaut Scholasch, the co-founder of Fruition. But more and more, technology is helping vintners take a plant-based approach to winemaking.

Scholasch grew up in France but moved to the United States in the late 1990s and began working for Mondavi.

Im a winemaker and have a Ph.D. in plant physiology, he said. When I got to Mondavi, I first started working in the cellar, but soon I was out in the vineyards helping to improve farming practices. I realized there was a need for real-time data in viticulture and so we started our company.

Scholaschs company deploys its high-tech sensors to monitor hundreds of vineyards around the world, many of them in the Napa Valley. Their systems are powered by solar panels and communicate wirelessly through the Internet to the cloud where the data are analyzed and correlated with various measurements of quality. The findings are then used to alert winemakers, vineyard owners and managers through an app on their phones so that they might take action.

Our monitors evaluate the vines hydration, and through our years of data collection we are able to improve grape quality and vine health at nearly every level. Beyond that we help our clients refine their irrigation schemes, often reducing the amount of water they use, therefore saving a valuable resource.

Local vintners agree.

Weve been using Fruitions technology since 2006  we were one of the first, said Austin Peterson, winemaker at Napa Valleys Ovid Winery. Winemaking and grape growing are not exact sciences, but Fruition has helped shine a big light into the darkness. Their sensors take readings every 15 minutes, which provides near complete insight into the vines behavior, allowing us to know if we are on the right path or when we might need to adjust our practices.

Beyond measuring the hydration of grapevines, nearly everything else about a vineyard can be tested and evaluated. This includes using satellite and drone imagery to evaluate photosynthetic and evaporation rates, micro-climate weather stations that track wind and rain and send out alerts for frost and mold pressure and soil probes that keep tabs on the root-zone moisture. And as is the case with Fruitions apparatus, even individual vines can be fitted with a host of contraptions that can evaluate hydration, grape maturation and even plant-nutrition levels.

Even the picking of grapes has gone high-tech.

We are using various technologies to help improve wine quality and consistency, said Alisa Jacobson, winemaker at Joel Gott Wines. Our goal is to make excellent wines that are also a good value to our customers, which means we are always looking for ways to improve efficiency.

One key efficiency problem that has always plagued winemakers and vineyard owners alike is how to pick grapes at their optimal ripeness.

Its sometimes tough to get the crews out there to pick when you need them to  theres just so much demand, Jacobson said. But using some of the new mechanical harvesters can really help.

Is there any harm of using mechanical harvesters? Jacobson explained.

Mechanical harvesters have really improved over the last few years, and the process is now extremely delicate with the grapes, she said. And if its a choice between getting the fruit in when its ripe versus getting it a week later, then there is really no choice at all. Besides, I like to get the fruit picked at night when its cold so that it comes into the winery without the sun beating down on it, and sometimes that can be tough for crews when harvest is in full swing. We cant use this technology on all our vineyards, but Im starting to appreciate it as a viable alternative when needed.

There are also new mechanical harvesters that have optical sorters attached that can sort each berry, rejecting those that are underripe or otherwise flawed, she said.

Companies like ETS, Enologix and Wine Xray have tools to help advance the link between vines and wines, too. Each has a suite of evaluative assays for examining elements in both grapes and wine.

Our technology allows winemakers to see what is going on with their wines as they ferment before any negative issues arise, said Gordon Burns, co-owner of ETS Wine Labs in St. Helena. It used to be we could evaluate why a wine failed after the fact, but now we can head off many issues before they become problems. We use various techniques to help provide a window into the process. For example, our DNA-fingerprinting tools allow a winemaker to get a handle on which yeast or other microbes are present and active.

Because different yeasts provide different flavors and aromatic profiles, winemakers are keen to have certain populations most active during fermentation. And because other microbes might cause negative flavors or even cause the wine to go bad, DNA-fingerprinting can highlight when an unwanted microbe is present while at levels that they can be dealt with prior to causing any negative issues.

Were even seeing a lot of what are often called the natural winemakers starting to use our technology, said Burns. Because these winemakers are reluctant to add much into their wine, taking a hands-off approach, they especially need to know what is going on in their wines before something harmful gets out of control.

Although the trend toward more high-tech tools at a winemakers disposal does not seem to be waning, the goal still remains the same: Grow exceptional grapes and produce exceptional wines.

Both wine-growing and making will always be intimately tied to the earth and the people who make it, Scholasch said. Technology only helps better understand and work with what is, at its core, a natural system. I see our jobs as assisting the grapevines natural ability to harvest light efficiently and effectively, and to provide vintners the ability to make better-informed choices.

Although the tools used to make wine continue to expand, it seems that the magic of winemaking still remains in how to transform this harvested light into special wines that represents a place as unique as where they came from.
Three winery members of the Napa Valley Vintners announced at the nonprofit trade associations annual general membership meeting that they are voluntarily giving up use of the name "Port" on their Napa Valley fortified dessert wines.

Boyd Family Vineyards, Freemark Abbey and Jessup Cellars have the legal right to use the term because they were grandfathered following the signing of the 2006 U.S./European Commission Wine Trade Agreement. Each has voluntarily agreed to stop using the term out of respect for the NVVs efforts to protect winemaking place names. Porto in Portugal is the worlds oldest denominated wine region.

Protecting the Napa name and preventing consumer confusion are top priorities for the NVV, said Emma Swain, incoming chairwoman of the board of the 525-member organization and CEO of St. Supery Estate Vineyards & Winery. If were asking other regions to respect our name, weve got to walk the talk. We applaud these three member wineries for doing the right thing and we encourage other vintners to follow suit.

Vincent Perrin, director general of the Comite Champagne, delivered the meetings keynote address, providing insights from his trade association about luxury marketing.

Champagne has been a steadfast NVV ally in the global effort to protect and respect place names for quality wine regions. Napa Valley, Champagne and Porto were also three of the original signatories of the trans-Atlantic agreement, Joint Declaration to Protect Wine Place & Origin, in 2005.

David R. Duncan of Silver Oak and Twomey Cellars, outgoing chairman of the NVV board of directors, passed the associations ceremonial gavel to incoming chair Swain. Other 2016 NVV board officers joining Duncan and Swain include Michael Honig of Honig Vineyard & Winery, vice chair, and Paul Leary of Blackbird Vineyards, treasurer/secretary.

Additional members of the 2016 NVV board are Susan Boswell of Chateau Boswell, Darioush Khaledi of Darioush, Peter McCrea of Stony Hill, David Pearson of Opus One, Pat Stotesbery of Ladera Vineyards, Hailey Trefethen of Trefethen Family Vineyards and Russ Weis of Silverado Vineyards. Local residents David Butler, Ed Matovcik and Carol Kingery Ritter were announced as the 2016 Auction Napa Valley community board members.
The company that supplies electricity from renewable sources to Napa County customers will take its program into the city of Napa as well.

Marin Clean Energy is set to become Napas default power provider for local homes and businesses, after the City Council on Tuesday approved the first reading of an ordinance to partner with the San Rafael-based firm.

The city joins the unincorporated county in offering electricity based on solar, wind, hydroelectric, biogas and other sustainable sources, which the company is rolling out across the Bay Area.

Customers will be shifted from PG&E service to the new provider as early as the late summer, but more likely in 2017, according to Allison Hang, spokeswoman for Marin Clean Energy. The date of the transition will depend on when Napa completes a feasibility study for the switch, and customers also will be allowed to stay on with PG&E, which will remain responsible for billing and delivery.

American Canyon, St. Helena and Calistoga also are seeking to join Marin Clean Energys network, which began in 2010 and serves about 125,000 Bay Area customers.

A not-for-profit agency, Marin Clean Energy, along with cities and counties, seek customers in a defined region, and negotiates for its supply with various producers across California, Oregon and Washington state. Supporters of the system, known as community choice aggregation, say such programs allow tenants, low-income households, and those unable to install solar panels a chance to draw on environmentally friendly power sources.

Napa County selected Marin Clean Energy as its default supplier in 2014 for those living and working outside its five cities. Despite the ability to stick with PG&E service, only 9 percent of customers opted out of the new provider, Hang said in August while proposing the partnership with the city.

Those accepting Marin Clean Energy as their provider will pick from three tiers of service. The basic and cheapest tier will draw 56 percent of its supply from a variety of renewable sources on the West Coast, while other options include fully renewable-sourced electricity or service drawn exclusively from solar power.

Marin Clean Energy reported its household customers typically pay about $95.15 monthly for its basic service, compared to $91.04 for those served by PG&E. Fees to exit the larger utility account for the price difference, though Marin Clean Energy said its power generation costs are about $7 a month lower.

Fully renewable power is expected to cost $99.78 and all-solar electricity $122.93, according to the Marin Clean Energy.
A Pittsburg woman was arrested in American Canyon on suspicion of theft and drug possession. She also had a warrant out for her arrest.

Daeshaun Marie Deming, 36, was arrested at Wal-Mart at 1:40 p.m. Wednesday, according to American Canyon Police. Police said that Deming is suspected of stealing $169 worth of merchandise from the store.

A small amount of methamphetamine was found in her pocket and she had a warrant out for her arrest in Texas, police said.

Deming was booked at the Napa County jail.
Micro and macro economics are the two sides of the same coin.There is close interdependence between the two.We cannot analyse the in...
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The New York Standards Quartet Celebrates Ten Years of Touring & Recording With New CD Power Of 10 Feat.(saxophones),(piano),(double bass),(drums)Available on Whirlwind Recordings March 18, 2016 (US & Japan) (December 4, 2015 in Europe)CD Release Celebration: April 28 @ Smalls, NYCThe quartet's ethos remains at once coherent and undiminished, providing modern updates to the classic standards as well as laying down some meaty originals from within the group. Pianist Berkman, who has performed with both Tom Harrell and the Vanguard Orchestra, is particularly prolific with no less than four compositions." Tim Stenhouse, UKVibe.orgOn March 18, 2016, Whirlwind Recordings proudly releases The New York Standards Quartet-Power Of 10, celebrating ten years of touring/recording together. Power Of 10 is the NYSQ's second recording for the label and the much-anticipated follow up to The New Straight Ahead. The New York Standards Quartet is: Tim Armacost (saxophones), David Berkman (piano), Gene Jackson (drums), and Michael Janisch (double bass, and also the owner of Whirlwind Recordings). We were thrilled to team up with the great Michael Janisch for this project. He was a perfect fit with the group and he brings his unique voice to the music," said the NYSQ.Bands are like weeds," New York Standards Quartet pianist David Berkman says, a lot of the time they come about accidentally, because of luck and circumstances, without much pre-planning." In the case of this band that circumstance was a shared love of, not only jazz, but also Japanese culture. Tim Armacost is a Grammy nominated saxophonist who has performed withandamong many others, and is the NYSQ's founder. He has lived in Tokyo several times and has performed there for years. Gene Jackson, a drumming powerhouse well known from his nine years with thetrio, as well as his performances/recordings with, the Mingus Band and, is married to a Japanese woman and splits his time between New York and Tokyo. David Berkman, a fiery pianist who is both rooted in the jazz tradition and a harmonically adventurous improviser and composer, is a thirty-plus year NYC veteran of many bands includingand countless others. Berkman, also married to a Japanese woman, frequently travels to, and performs in, Japan.Of course, coming together is one thing, staying together, is another. What began as a happy coincidence of three friends, three master musicians, playing together in a foreign land (documented on Live In Tokyo), has grown into a mature, imposing collective that has become far more than the sum of its impressive parts. Arguably, the most cherished moments in the history of recorded jazz have come from bands, due to the time these groups have had to reach a level of mutual understanding, respect and affection. It is this way with the New York Standards Quartet, as evidenced in their four previous acclaimed recordings, and the impassioned responses from audience across the U.S., U.K., Europe and Japan. This band was a weed that hung in there through difficult conditions with a lot of perseverance in order to flower into the band it is today. It is a source of great pleasure and pride for all of us that we are still together and going strong, learning and developing and making music," said Berkman. Gene Jackson added that, one day I was driving my car listening to a special radio show about the. It became clear to me that reaching the type of interplay and communication the MJQ had can only be accomplished by developing together as a band for many years. I realized that if we committed to keeping the NYSQ together there could be many benefits, musically and otherwise. Often when things got difficult, when we had reached points where the thought of disbanding seemed plausible or even reasonable, I'd repeat my views to Tim and Dave on staying together, no matter what. I am grateful the NYSQ has chosen the road less travelled. Every time we hit the bandstand together it is obvious we made the right choice. I look forward to the days when, through our commitment to this band, we inspire other bands to stay musically connected, just as the example of the MJQ inspired me."The mission of the New York Standards Quartet has always been to interpret standards and traditional jazz tunes in a way that would allow audiences to connect and be engaged, while at the same time, playing in the contemporary jazz style the members have developed through their many decades on the New York jazz scene. While Power Of 10 celebrates the 10th anniversary of this band, it also shines a spotlight on the group's incredible ability to explore music, together. Tim Armacost explains further, David was explaining what being a band for 10 years means: that the result of staying together is that we've become totally familiar with each other's playing. When one of us is going for something new, reaching for a different take on a tune, or just pushing the moment forward, everyone hears it immediately. You can feel what the other players are thinking. So when one of us gets inspired and starts a search, or finds a new angle on a tune, everyone jumps in to see where the music will go, or moves over and makes a space for something different to happen. Participating in those moments of discovery is intensely exciting, and that spark is what gives the music its life."Berkman, who writes much of the band's original repertoire, has a distinctive flair for re-casting well-known jazz standards in new and unexpected settings. On Power Of 10, songs like Deep High Wide Sky" and Hidden Fondness" are melodies based on the chord progressions of How Deep is the Ocean" and a reharmonized, Secret Love". In the hands of the NYSQ, his arrangement of the well worn standard All of Me" becomes a daring, harmonically tense vehicle for Armacost's mighty soprano playing and Jackson's powerful drumming. Armacost's arrangement of Lush Life" brings a new perspective to this classic Strayhorn ballad, and his Green Doll's Phone" is a playful treatment of On Green Dolphin Street," written to showcase the brilliant technical prowess of bassist Michael Janisch. Gene Jackson, the band's rhythmic center who drives the music forward with fire and infectious good spirits, is in fine form (as always) throughout the session and contributes his brilliant arrangement of Elvin Jones' Three Card Molly."
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2016 starts with EU-Armenia executive and parliamentary meetings. The sixteenth meeting of the EU-Armenia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee (PCC), composed of members of the European and the Armenian parliaments, was held in Strasbourg today. It took place just 3 days after their colleagues from the executive branch held the 16th EU-Armenia Cooperation Council.

Both the PCC and the Cooperation Council adopted joint statements on several important matters, specifically the future of EU-Armenia relations, developments within Armenia, and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

European Friends of Armenia (EuFoA) (www.EuFoA.am) warmly welcomes the results of this week's meetings between European and Armenian officials.

"It is particularly encouraging that meetings took place both between the government representatives and also the lawmakers, as this showcases the importance that EU and Armenia attach to their relations. The depth and substance of the adopted statements can also give hope for strengthening of EU-Armenia relations, and especially quick signing of a new legally binding framework agreement," EuFoA Director Eduardo Lorenzo Ochoa said.

In this regard, the PCC also welcomed "the high-level opening of EU-Armenia negotiations on 7 December 2015, in view of a new comprehensive framework agreement that would cover political, economic and sectoral cooperation". Considering that EU and Armenia are not starting from scratch, but can use the results of the work carried out in the negotiation process for the Association Agreement, the PCC expressed hope for a "swift completion of the EU / Armenia negotiations".

Reference was also made to the mobility agenda and both sides positively assessed the implementation of the Visa Facilitation and Readmission agreements which can open the way to the visa liberalization dialogue. Both sides stressed the importance of EU's support in implementing reforms in Armenia.

Apart from this, the EU recognizes Armenia's positive role in the Syrian migrant crisis. The PCC called "on the European Commission and the EU member states to consider in a positive light any support request from the Armenian authorities in carrying out relevant programmes aimed at the further social integration of the Syrian refugees in Armenia."

The worrisome situation in Karabakh was touched on, with the PCC expressing its deep concern regarding "the continued - and rising - human cost of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and the increasingly serious violations of the cease-fire agreement, including by the use of heavy artillery / mortars, which repeatedly led to the loss of life even amongst the civilian population".

Both statements reconfirmed EU's support to peaceful settlement of the conflict under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group, as the only internationally recognized framework mandated to mediate the talks. Moreover, the PCC strongly encouraged "pan-European and other international institutions and bodies to align with the OSCE-Minsk Group co-chairs statements in their motions and resolutions on Nagorno-Karabakh in order to contribute to the peaceful resolution of the conflict".

As a measure of strengthening Karabakh contacts with Europe, the Europe-Armenia Parliamentary Committee also "calls on the European Union to include in its exchange and mobility programmes students and teachers hailing from conflict areas, such as Nagorno-Karabakh, as outlined in the Bologna Process communique of May 2015 adopted also by all EU member states and the European Commission."
YEREVAN. - Equity investment in Ameriabank is to become a transformational one for the Armenian banking sector, Mr Nick Tesseyman, the managing director for financial institutions at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, said today in Yerevan at the ceremony of signing two financial agreements with Ameriabank CJSC (one with the EBRD, and the other with the IFC).

According to him, every attempt with Ameriabank has been successful, be it SME finance, energy efficiency or trade finance.

Each time we told our colleagues: Are you sure that you can actually deliver?, and each time weve been extremely impressed by the results, the managing director said.

This, however, is the biggest challenge so far. Theres enormous job ahead, to maintain the quality of Ameriabanks services, and to transform the Armenian banking sector, he added.

Pursuant to the agreement, the EBRD will appoint a nominee to the board of Ameriabank, to help install best practices of corporate governance. This is a central part of the plan of taking the bank to the public market, Mr Tesseyman said.

However, improvements are only due for the corporate governance model. As far as lending policy is concerned, no changes need to be done.

We simply would like the bank to continue working as well as it did in the past, he said.

According to one of the agreements, the EBRD will invest $40 mln in Ameriabank, of which $30 for approximately 20% stock, and the remaining 10 mln will later be invested for future capital increases.

Another agreement is a subordinated loan of $50 mln to Ameriabank from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank.

Ameriabank is the largest bank in Armenia by assets, loan and deposit portfolio, and liabilities. Banks total capital is close to $200 mln, the total assets amounting to $1 bln.
Jennifer Teege's decision to open a book that caught her eye in the Hamburg library eight years ago unearthed an improbable truth for a half-Nigerian, half-German woman: Her grandfather was a Nazi.

Amon Goeth was not just any Nazi. He was the sadistic kommandant of the Plaszow concentration camp in occupied Poland made infamous in the film "Schindler's List."

Teege recounted her tumultuous journey coping with the revelation in her memoir, "My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me." She will share her experiences Monday, Jan. 25, in the Oxford Road Presentation Room. The free event begins at 4:30 p.m. and is open to the public.

"She speaks Hebrew. She watched 'Schindler's List' with friends in Israel," says Peter Hoyng, the professor of German Studies who helped coordinate Teege's Emory talk. "All that time, she was clueless about this linkage to Amon Goeth."

Teege unravels her story based on the age-old theme of whether nature or nurture is the deciding factor that creates who we are.

She leans toward upbringing and education, for both herself and her grandfather. The latter, Honyng says, "is stunning to hear her explain."

Teege's story starts with discovering the memoir "I Have To Love My Father, Don't I" in that public library when she was 38. Her birth mother, whom she had regular contact with until she was adopted when she 7, had written it in 2002 without telling her about her lineage.

Teege's book focuses as much on her grandfather as it does her grandmother, Goeth's wartime lover who continued to deny he committed atrocities even after he was executed for war crimes in 1946.

She also recounts visits with Israeli schoolchildren to Plaszow and Krakow, where Goeth brutally liquidated the Jewish ghetto.

Emory College students in German 202 are studying excerpts from the book in its original language but find a Hebrew word in the final lines. Upon laying a wreath for those lost at Krakow, Teege and the children sing the Israeli national anthem, "HaTikva," or "The Hope."

In recognition of that broad appeal, Teege's appearance is co-sponsored by the Hightower Endowment, which memorializes the late Robert E. Hightower by helping to bring outstanding visiting lecturers to Emory, as well as the Waxman Support Fund of the Tam Institute for Jewish Studies, the James Weldon Johnson Institute for the Study of Race and Difference and others.

"It's her attempt to turn this story into a positive experience that compels her and us to share it with the larger community," says Hiram Maxim, German Studies chair.
Professor Emeritus Channing Renwich Jeschke, who served as director of the Pitts Theology Library at Candler School of Theology for more than 20 years, died Jan. 13 at the age of 88.

Jeschke, who was the Margaret A. Pitts Professor of Theological Bibliography and director of the library from 1971 until his retirement in 1994, was recognized for his distinguished career and contributions to Candler with the Centennial Medal in 2014 during the schools 100th anniversary celebration.

While at Emory, Jeschke was credited with helping facilitate acquisitions that would lay the groundwork for establishing Candler as one of the nations top theological libraries. He is especially recognized for helping shepherd the acquisition of some 220,000 volumes from the library of the Hartford Seminary Foundation.

"Channings vision of the library as one of the countrys leading Christian research institutions has left an unchanging imprint on the library, the theology school, and the university," notes colleague E. Brooks Holifield, Charles Howard Candler Professor Emeritus of American Church History.

Through Jeschkes stewardship, the Pitts Theology Library collections would grow to surpass 450,000 volumes before his retirement. He is noted for a special focus on strengthening collections that include English Religious History (110-1920); the Richard C. Kessler Reformation Collection; North European Theological Dissertations and Disputations; the English and American Hymnody and Psalmody Collection; and the Sub-Saharan African Collection.

Jeschke is also credited for his work with New York architect Paul Rudolph on the renovation of the Pitts Theology Library to accommodate the Hartford Collection and later his work with Rudolph on the design and construction of Cannon Chapel.

'Debt of gratitude'

Born in Buffalo, New York, Channing attended Oberlin College for his BA, Yale University for his BD, the University of Chicago for his PhD, and Columbia University for his MS in librarianship. Last summer, he celebrated his 60th wedding anniversary with his wife, Carol Louise Ahrens.

Jeschke was ordained for ministry in the United Church of Christ in 1952 and soon after served as chaplain at the Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut. He was also a minister in the North Illinois Synod of the Evangelical and Reformed Church and served on the library staff at the Union Theological Seminary and on the faculty of the Berkeley Divinity School, in New Haven, Connecticut.

He was hired by Candler School of Theology as a theological librarian and associate professor in 1971 and was promoted to professor in 1979, named the Margaret A. Pitts Professor of Theological Bibliography in 1984, and awarded emeritus status by Emory University upon his retirement.

Those who served on Channings staff at the Pitts Theology Library remember him fondly for his professionalism, sense of humor and collaborative spirit, his commitment to the librarys role in Candlers mission, his loyalty to colleagues and friends, and his support for civil rights.

All of us appreciated the calm, thoughtful and professional manner in which Channing led the library," Holifield says.

He was always ready to help both students and faculty members with research issues, and Candler owes him a permanent debt of gratitude for his work with (former Candler Dean and Emory President) Jim Laney to bring the Hartford Collection to Emory."

To learn more about Channing Jeschke, read the fulltribute from the Candler School of Theology.
Emory's James Weldon Johnson Institute (JWJI) opens the Spring 2016 Race and Difference Colloquium Series with a lineup of top scholars exploring some of the most pressing race-related issues in the nation.

The colloquium continues the tradition of bringing national and local speakers to campus to present academic research on contemporary questions of race and difference. These free weekly talks are open to faculty, staff and students.

The goal of the speaker series is to offer a platform for sharing research into issues rising from the intersections of race and difference within a broad-based, interdisciplinary intellectual community, says JWJI Director Andra Gillespie, associate professor of political science at Emory.

"We see the series as providing a service to the wider Emory community, to make sure there is a regular gathering space for faculty, staff, students and those interested in issues of race and difference to gather to learn about the latest research," she says.

"It is the diversity of diversity that is important," Gillespie notes. "One week you might hear a political scientist talking about the carceral state, the next a talk on race and pharmacology  there are lots of issues to talk about that don't often get discussed in a campus-wide format. This is the place where we can provide exposure for the entire campus. And anybody can come."

The colloquium series is being presented in cooperation with the Emory Libraries and the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library. Partnering with the JWJI fits the Libraries' vision, which "promotes our capacity as an intellectual center transforming teaching, learning and research," says Yolanda Cooper, University librarian.

"We work toward this vision through the access and preservation of materials, thought-provoking programs, and partnerships across campus and beyond," Cooper explains.

"We are very pleased to work with the JWJ Institute, particularly on this timely colloquium series focused on race and difference, and we would like to explore further possibilities in the future."

With the new partnership, "we hope to reach and engage even greater numbers of students, faculty, and alumni in conversing candidly and routinely about race," says Kali-Ahset Amen, JWJI assistant director.

"From Allyson Hobbs' award-winning cultural historical work on racial passing to Jonathan Inda's important research on how bioscience, racial politics and inequality are intertwined, the Race and Difference Colloquium series is helping to showcase the breadth, relevance and theoretical rigor of contemporary racial scholarship," says Amen. "We think this is crucial engagement opportunity for the entire Emory community."

Included will be talks by this year's JWJI Visiting Fellows, a program supported by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation that funds research across a spectrum of disciplines.

All sessions will be held at noon in the Jones Room of the Woodruff Library, unless otherwise noted:

Jan. 25  Race and the Carceral State: "The Perils of Policing Reform," Naomi Murakawa, associate professor of African American studies, Princeton University. UPDATE: This session has been canceled due to the weekend's blizzard impacting the speaker's flight from New York to Atlanta. It will be rescheduled.

Feb. 1 Race and Health Inequities: "Racial Prescriptions: Pharmaceuticals, Difference, and the Politics of Life," Jonathan Xavier Inda, professor and chair of Latina/Latino studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Feb. 8  Asian American Histories in the South: "Racial Caricature, the Anthropomorphic Object, and the Culture of Cute," Leslie Bow, professor of English and Asian American studies, University of Wisconsin at Madison

Feb. 15  History of Racial Passing in the U.S.: "A Chosen Exile: A History of Racial Passing in American Life," Allyson Hobbs, assistant professor of American history, Stanford University

Feb. 22  Psychology of Racial Prejudice: "You Are Who You Know: How Ethnic Attitudes and Interpersonal Interactions Shape One Another," Stacey Sinclair, associate professor of psychology and African American studies, Princeton University

Feb. 29  Race and Education Policy: "Racial Disparities in School Discipline: Exploring the Role of School Desegregation and Representation in the Discipline Gap," K. Juree Capers, assistant professor in the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Department of Public Management and Policy, Georgia State University, Woodruff Library.

March 14  Education Policy and Racial Inequalities: "Why Don't More Black Students Take AP Math Courses? Racialized Tracking, Social Isolation and the 'Acting White' Hypothesis," Dania Francis, assistant professor of history, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

March 21  Muslim Identities and Racial Stereotyping in the Media: "TBA," Muniba Saleem, assistant professor of communications, University of Michigan

March 28  Louisiana Civil Rights History: "Pictures of a Demonstration: The Congress of Racial Equality and its Desegregation Activism in New Orleans, 1960 to 1964," JWJI Visiting Fellow Nikki Brown, associate professor of history, University of New Orleans

April 4  Youth, Race and Crime: "The Color of Judgment Without Prejudice: Youth, Race, and Crime in the Case of the Harlem Six, JWJI Visiting Fellow Carl Suddler

April 11  Art and Racial Protest: "Chicago's Black Arts Movement," JWJI Visiting Fellow Michelle Gordon

For more information on the spring series, visit jamesweldonjohnson.emory.edu.
A Brazilian government website has been compromised for the third time in less than two months. Each compromise resulted in the site hosting fraudulent content that was used in phishing attacks. One of these attacks also attempted to install drive-by malware on victims' computers.

The first compromise took place in December, when the Prefeitura Municipal de Esperanca website was used to host a phishing attack against Wells Fargo bank. The fraudulent content used in this first attack was subsequently removed, but the site was compromised again last week and used to host two more phishing attacks.

The second phishing attack, which kicked off last week, was aimed at PayPal customers. This was arguably the most dangerous attack: As well as stealing victims' PayPal credentials and bank details, the phishing kit used in this attack also attempted to inject drive-by malware via hidden iframes.

Fraudsters often use ready-made phishing kits when deploying phishing sites, as it generally makes the process quick and easy. Kits typically consist of a collection of lookalike web pages, scripts and images which simply have to be uploaded to the compromised web server to create a ready-to-go phishing site. In most cases, all the fraudster has to do is edit a simple configuration file to tell the phishing site which email address to send the stolen credentials to.

The third attack  which is currently still live  uses a phishing kit that is designed to steal webmail credentials. Many slight variations of this kit exist, but all display an error message regardless of the validity of the submitted credentials.

Unbeknownst to the victim, the stolen credentials are emailed to the fraudster who deployed the kit; but these webmail phishing kits also contain an additional surprise. The fraudster may not realise that the kit also sends a copy of these stolen credentials to another email address, which presumably belongs to the original author of the kit. This address has been sneakily embedded into the kit in such a way that its presence it unlikely to be spotted by the deploying fraudster.

Webmail credentials are a popular target for phishers, as they can be used to compromised further accounts held by each victim. For example, if the victim's email address has been used to sign up for other services, the attacker might be able to use password resets to gain unauthorised access to those services.

Repeatedly compromised

The .gov.br second-level domain used by the compromised website is reserved for government entities within Brazil, yet the content of the site is physically hosted by HostGator in Texas. It is not unusual for South American governments to host websites in external countries such as the U.S., especially when the sites do not store or process any sensitive data. The most obvious motivation in this case is that hosting costs in the U.S. are typically lower than those in Brazil.

The fact that the website has been repeatedly compromised suggests there is still a vulnerability that allows remote attackers to upload arbitrary content onto the web server. One possible route of compromise could be the "unsafe" version of WordPress being used on www.prefeituradeesperanca.pb.gov.br. The Prefeitura Municipal de Esperanca website uses WordPress 4.0.9 as its content management system, and although this version was released only a week ago (to address a cross-site scripting vulnerability), only the latest release in the 4.4.x series is officially actively maintained. The WordPress website explicitly points out that anything older than the current latest release (4.4.1) is not safe to use.

Another potential risk could be the site's reliance on a shared hosting platform: More than 70 other websites are served from the same IP address as that used by www.prefeituradeesperanca.pb.gov.br. Vulnerabilities exposed by any of these non-government sites could potentially be used to attack the government site. Also, in general, any web server that has previously been compromised could have had a backdoor installed by the attacker, making it trivial to gain unauthorised access at a later time.

The PayPal phishing kit

PayPal is one of the most common phishing targets, with many distinct phishing kits making it easy for even novices to carry out these types of attack. Last month alone, Netcraft blocked more than 60,000 phishing URLs that were designed to steal PayPal credentials.

The PayPal phishing kit used in last week's attack featured a few tricks that made it stand out from a typical kit. Although it exhibits a few tell-tale spelling mistakes, the designer of the phishing kit has been very careful in other respects. For example, the initial login page actually consists of a large background image, with two input fields and a submit button overlaid. This means the textual content of the page does not need to be written in the HTML document, which could in turn reduce the likelihood of the attack being spotted and blocked by certain internet security software.

However, this trick does not work too well in all browsers  if you look closely, you can see that the text fields do not quite line up with the placeholders in the background image:

The fact that the spelling mistakes are contained within images, rather than within an easily editable HTML document, could explain why subsequent users of this phishing kit have not corrected them.

Spelling mistakes aside, the developer has also implemented validation checks to prevent the login form being submitted with an invalid email address:

After stealing the victim's PayPal credentials, the phishing site takes the user through a three-stage "update" process. The first stage collates the victim's full address and date of birth, while the second gathers his payment card details, and the final stage steals his bank account numbers.

Each page validates the victim's input, and like the spoof login page, they also use background images in an attempt to evade detection.

But the nastiest feature is that each page in the phishing kit contains a set of hidden iframes that attempt to silently install malware on the victim's computer. This is a relatively unusual feature for a phishing kit, and was possibly included to the benefit of the phishing kit's author, rather than to the subordinate fraudsters who deploy it.

However, the malware component of the attack does not work, as the domain used for the malware delivery has been sinkholed. If it had not already been sinkholed and was still serving drive-by malware, any victim visiting the phishing site could have had his computer compromised as soon as the login page was viewed. If the victim was cautious enough to not submit the login form, the malware might still have allowed the attacker to steal the victim's credentials in other ways, or allow for other monetization opportunities, such as making the victim's computer part of a botnet.

After the victim has submitted his bank account details, the PayPal phishing site indicates that the account has been successfully updated, and redirects the victim to the genuine PayPal login page. Being prompted to enter a username and password a second time could ring alarm bells, as the victim has, ostensibly, already logged in. The phishing site explains away this concern by saying the user must re-login to save the changes.

All three of these phishing attacks were added to Netcraft's Phishing Site Feed. This feed is used by all major web browsers and many leading anti-virus and content-filtering companies, so most users are already protected against the latest webmail phishing attack. The fraudulent content used in the first two attacks has been removed from the Prefeitura Municipal de Esperanca website.
Posted by Mark Williams | January 21, 2016





By Barbara Toombs

Legendary actor Steve McQueen was known for his love of racing and speed  both on and off the silver screen. He was a serious collector of cars, trucks and motorcycles, and reportedly owned more than 60 rare vehicles. While some were top-of-the-line performance cars, others were more utilitarian in nature, such as the 1952 Chevrolet 3800 pickup truck and custom camper (Lot No. 1292) that will be crossing the block without a minimum price during the 2016 Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale Auction.

In a statement on the auction website, Barbara "Minty" McQueen said her late husband often collected trucks on a whim even though they didn't have the parking space at their Trancas Beach home just north of Malibu, Calif.

"Steve's collection of cars and motorcycles cluttered that private driveway, which serviced a row of homes near the beach," she said, "but that didn't stop him from buying whatever he wanted."

McQueen purchased this Forest Green truck in 1978 and mostly used it for cross-country camping trips. The custom camper was built by a sheet-metal fabricator from Yreka, Calif., in October 1952. Made of galvanized metal and aluminum, the camper includes a double bed (with its original mattress), storage cabinets, drawers, shelves and a heavy-duty diamond-plated bumper. It also has a platform on top, providing a prime viewing location from which to view the auto and motorcycle racing events McQueen loved so much.

The Chevy 3800 custom camper will go on the auction block at the 45th Barrett-Jackson Auction in Scottsdale, Ariz., on Jan. 30. For more information, go to Barrett-Jackson.com.





Steve McQueen's 1952 Chevrolet 3800 camper comes with the original six-cylinder engine, body and frame. Other noteworthy features include a four-speed transmission, 5-gallon gas tanks on the running boards, a driver's-side spotlight and two toolboxes.

This pickup's significance has historical importance: It was the last vehicle to take McQueen from his Santa Paula home to the Ventura County Airport on Nov. 3, 1980, before he headed to Mexico for what would be his final cancer surgery. Accompanying him on that journey was the Rev. Billy Graham.

The Chevy camper was first sold at the Steve McQueen Estate Auction in 1984 at the Imperial Palace in Las Vegas. The sale at Barrett-Jackson auction will include an original certificate of authenticity from the estate auction signed by Terry and Chad McQueen, as well as auction flyers and a ticket, the original 1959 California license plates and three California title "pink slips" in Steve McQueen's name.

Although a wilderness adventure might be out of the question in this humble camper, it represents a rare opportunity to own a memento from "The King of Cool" himself.

Barrett-Jackson images




13:26

President Pranab Mukherjee joins Sonia Gandhi, sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and Bharatnatyam exponent Geeta Chandran to condole the death of noted classical dancer Mrinalini Sarabhai, calling her an epitome of "grace" and "beauty".Sarabhai's death has been condoled by leaders across party lines, with the solitary exception of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Popularly known as "Amma", Sarabhai passed away in Ahmedabad due to age-related problems at the age of 97.

I am sad to learn about the passing away of your mother, Smt. Mrinalini Sarabhai.



This is what President Mukherjee's condolence message read to Mrinalini Sarabhai's daughter, Mallika read:

Smt. Mrinalini Sarabhai left an indelible mark on Indian classical dance as an eminent danseuse, choreographer and teacher.



Educated at Shantiniketan and a disciple of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, Smt. Mrinalini Sarabhai was trained in Bharatnatyam, Kathakali and Mohiniyattom. Dance was her life, passion and existence.



Smt. Mrinalini Sarabhai believed that the power of dance, music, arts and literature must be experienced by the common man. She was a poet and author as well as a dedicated activist who fought against dowry deaths, suppression of women and child labour.



Smt. Sarabhai exemplified the fighting spirit of her mother and freedom fighter, Ammu Swaminathan and her sister Lakshmi Sehgal, who was Commander-in-Chief of Netaji Subhas Chandra Boses Rani of Jhansi Regiment of the Indian National Army.



She was also of inspiration and support to her husband, Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, the father of the Indian Space programme.



In recognition of her invaluable contribution to Indian classical dance and arts, Smt. Sarabhai was honoured by the nation with several awards, including Padma Shri in 1965 and Padma Bhushan in 1992. Her death leaves a void in the world of creativity and performing arts which will be difficult to fill. Her tireless efforts to spread Indian classical dance around the world will be always remembered.



Please accept my heartfelt condolences and convey the same to the rest of your family members. I pray to the Almighty to give you and other members of the family strength and courage to bear this irreparable loss.

Sonia Gandhi in a letter to her daughter Mallika Sarabhai, who wrote: I am sad to learn of the passing away of your beloved mother.



Throughout her long, active and fulfilled life, Mrinalini Sarabhai contributed richly to our cultural landscape, through the talent and passion that imbued everything she did.



She was an inspiring teacher to thousands of students at her Darpana Academy, and an exceptionally gifted and productive dancer, choreographer and writer, read the letter.



Mrinalini ji was, moreover, a staunch nationalist and patriot, who courageously defended our pluralistic culture and secular values. In this, she was upholding the proud tradition of her own parents who were such brave freedom fighters.



At this time of grief, you must draw solace from the fact that your mother must have taken great pride in the courage and conviction with which you yourself have always acted and spoken out against prejudice and discrimination, and that you carry forward her wonderful legacy as a dancer as well.



We will always honour Mrinalini Sarabhais memory, just as we continue to honour the memory of your brilliant father, Vikram Sarabhai.

Modi's who excels in using social media to express his views, or doling out congratulatory messages or condoling deaths of eminent personalities has chosen to remain silent.Mrinalini Sarabhai had taken a stand against the Narendra Modi government in Gujarat in the immediate aftermath of the 2002 riots and against what she felt the government was doing wrong.Her daughter Mallika Sarabhai has been a vocal critic of Modi even when he was Gujarat CM. She had joined the AAP briefly and has recounted on several instances her experience of being falsely accused and hounded by the Modi government. At a lecture in 2013 in Jaipur, she had said, "I had to hide under a carpet in the boot of a vehicle and cross over to Udaipur in Rajasthan to escape arrest. From there, I had to wear disguises and move from one city to another for 18 days till I could apply for bail.As early as 2003, Mallika Sarabhai had been at the forefront of an appeal in the Supreme Court demanding compensation and justice for the victims of the Gujarat carnage of 2002.Modi clearly doesn't forget.
BHUBANESHWAR: From being purely an oil refiner-cum-marketer, Indian Oil Corporation is turning into a technology licensor to other refineries to produce higher levels of LPG while mulling a mega refinery-cum-petrochemical project in Maharashtra in a four-way joint venture, said a senior official.

"We are in talks with several oil companies to license our INDMAX technology that enables production of higher volume of LPG (liquefied petroleum gas/cooking gas) given the same level of feedstock," Indian Oil Corporation's director (refineries) Sanjiv Singh said here late Tuesday.

Singh was speaking to a group of journalists visiting the company's 15 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) refinery at Paradip, around 140 km from here, created at an outlay of 34,555 crore.

Named as INDMAX, the technology was developed by a group of young technologists in IOC and it enables production of higher volume (44 percent) of LPG.

At Paradip refinery, a 4.17 million tonnes per annum (mmtpa) plant has been set up.

"The systems have been checked and the plant is performing as per its design standards," Singh said.

He said IOC will join hands with the US based company Lummus that brings the engineering expertise.

"There is no joint venture with Lummus. We will license our technology under our brand name," Singh said.

The INDMAX technology enables getting high yield of light olefins and high octane gasoline from various petroleum fractions.

The technology has been demonstrated by setting up a unit of 100,000 MTPA capacity at IOC's Guwahati refinery in 2003.

Queried about the plans to set up a mega refinery on the west coast joining hands with Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum, the IOC director told IANS: "Engineers India Ltd. is also keen to join as a partner. The project will be implemented as a joint venture as the huge investment needed will be pooled together by all the companies."

He said Maharashtra has been short listed to house the project wherefrom the southern markets will be served.

"Our imported crude comes to the west coast and hence a refinery there will save on logistics cost," he said.

While he declined to specify the capacity of the proposed project, Singh said it will be the biggest in the country.

"We have done some technical studies on the crude to the imported for the proposed refinery, the project configuration and others. The proposed project would also include a petrochemical complex," Singh added.

Agreeing that there is surplus capacity in the western region, Singh said some amount of motor spirit is imported to cater to the southern market.

In order to increase revenue from value added products, IOC is planning to set up a 700,000 TPA polypropylene plant based on propylene at Paradip refinery at an outlay of 3,150 crore. The plant is expected to go on stream during 2017-18.

The other investment plans for IOC at Paradip complex include an ethylene recovery unit/mono-ethylene glycol at 3,800 crore to be completed by 2020-21.

The IOC is also evaluating the options of setting-up manufacturing facilities for para-xylene, purified terephthalic acid (PTA) and synthetic ethanol at Paradip, Singh said.

Asked about the Paradip refinary's pay back period, Singh said the company is expecting an internal rate of return of 13 percent.

He said the most modern refinery can refine all kinds of crude oil and has the capacity to give more than 80 percent distillates.

Singh said the Paradip refinery will be dedicated to the nation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 7, 2016.

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BENGALURU: An Oxford University led study, working with the University of Cape Town in South Africa, has found that text message reminders can help reduce peoples blood pressure.

The study, of over 1300 adults with high blood pressure in the Cape Town area, compared text message reminders and interactive text messaging to a control group receiving standard care. The results appear online in the American Heart Association journal Circulation.

Professor Andrew Farmer, from Oxfords Department of Primary Health Care Sciences explained: 'High blood pressure is a common condition that can be managed successfully with tablets. Yet, even in health systems where that medication is freely available, people can struggle to keep taking the tablets regularly.

'Two common issues are not turning up to collect medicine  so running out  or forgetting to take tablets. We knew that text messages had worked to support people with HIV/Aids to stick to their treatment and improve their health as a result. We wanted to see whether the messages could work for blood pressure treatment in a deprived community.'

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Q&A with Mariann Byerwalter, interim president and CEO of Stanford Health Care

Recently named interim president and CEO of Stanford Health Care, Mariann Byerwalter talks about why this is a particularly exciting time for SHC as it builds a new hospital and pursues innovative breakthroughs that improve people's lives.

Stanford Health Care Mariann Byerwalter

Mariann Byerwalter became Stanford Health Care's interim president and CEO earlier this month. She brings to the position a long and diverse history of leadership at Stanford.

A 1982 Stanford graduate who also earned an MBA at Harvard Business School, Mariann has served on the board of directors of Stanford Health Care (SHC) for 15 years, including eight as chair. She has been a board member of Lucile Packard Children's Hospital for more than 20 years, chairs the Stanford Medicine Advisory Council and co-chairs the Campaign for Stanford Medicine. From 1992 through 2012, she served three terms on the Stanford University Board of Trustees, chairing the Trustee Committee on the Medical Center. She also has served as Stanford University's chief financial officer and vice president for business affairs.

In 2015, Byerwalter received a Gold Spike Award, the university's highest honor for volunteer service. In addition, she was awarded a 2015 School of Medicine Dean's Medal in recognition of her contributions to advancing Stanford Medicine.

She is the chairman of the board of SRI International, a nonprofit independent research center that was originally founded as Stanford Research Center, and also serves on the boards of several other companies.

Byerwalter talked about her current role as interim president and CEO.



You clearly have a long history and deep affinity for the Stanford community. What has kept you connected and committed to Stanford throughout the years?



Stanford grabbed my intellect  and my heart  when I first set foot on campus 37 years ago, and I have never looked back. I began volunteering soon after graduation and have committed myself to the work of this extraordinary enterprise ever since. Stanford Health Care especially inspires me, because it combines everything that Stanford does best, while touching people's lives in very personal and lasting ways.





How will your range of leadership roles at Stanford be beneficial in the coming months in your new role as interim president and CEO?



I can't imagine a more exciting time to engage with a wide range of Stanford Health Care's constituents, supporters and staff. We are seeing the culmination of years of planning and preparation come to fruition, with construction of the new Stanford Hospital moving forward and its opening planned for 2018, innovative collaborations with physicians throughout Northern California, and enhanced community services from primary care to greater access to Stanford specialists. I hope that my long history and broad perspective will provide context for this transformation both externally and within the university.





What priorities will you focus on initially?

Stanford Health Care is on the right path for the future. My priority will be to continue the momentum and focus that have brought us to such an exciting era, while we continue our search for a permanent CEO. At the same time, we will continue to provide exceptional service to every patient. We've made great progress to ensure that the patient experience at Stanford Health Care is commensurate with the quality of care we provide, and that remains an important priority.





As SHC continues its leadership in global health, what opportunities do you see on the horizon?



In addition to creating a model for the hospital of the future, we have a tremendous opportunity to re-think health care. This is an era in which Stanford's greatest strengths can fuel innovation  from interdisciplinary discovery and rapid translation of breakthroughs into patient care, to harnessing the potential of big data and making personalized, interactive health care technology tools standard for patients and care teams. There is no limit to what can be achieved with the magnitude of talent here.





It must be very gratifying to see the expansion of Stanford Hospital moving toward completion and its projected opening in 2018. What impact do you envision the new hospital will have?



I look forward to seeing the immediate impact of the beautiful patient-centered healing environment the new hospital will provide. I also am anticipating with great excitement what this state-of-the-art facility will make possible for SHC physicians, nurses and other care providers who have been so involved in its meticulous planning and design. In the long term, it will be amazing to see the treatments and cures we cannot even imagine now because of this transformative investment.





As 2016 begins, what would you like to share with SHC employees?



I have a deep respect and admiration for everyone at Stanford Health Care, as they all contribute to the life-changing work here. Every role makes a difference in the lives of our patients and their families. It is a privilege for me to hear from so many friends, neighbors, colleagues and community members about the outstanding care they receive at Stanford, and I look forward to working alongside those who make this possible.

How can SHC best serve the local community and Silicon Valley?



We can serve best by listening and by leading. Listening helps us understand and meet the needs of our local patients and community partners for access, convenience and collaboration. Leading enables us to apply Stanford Health Care's drive for innovation, combined with the pioneering spirit of Silicon Valley, to create new solutions. The results of these efforts enhance the quality of life here for everyone.
Stanford New Ensemble presents new classical music in new ways to new audiences

The Stanford New Ensemble offers music that is experimental and performed in untraditional venues around campus.

Courtesy Joo-Mee Lee Joo-Mee Lee, lecturer in Stanford's Department of Music, directs performances of the Stanford New Ensemble in untraditional sites around campus.

Joo-Mee Lee's vision for the Stanford New Ensemble is as expansive as the "new classical music" genre.

Lee, who teaches introductory violin and a course on professional development in music in the Department of Music, said she is taking the Stanford New Ensemble out of the music hall for concerts in untraditional venues around campus. The 45-year-old campus music group is comprised of students and guest artists.

"I truly believe that the classical art forms need to be reachable by anyone and everyone, rather than only by those who dress up and go to the concert halls," she said.

Lee is also initiating collaborations with artists in other disciplines in order to capture a broader audience. "I am striving to create a gesamtkunstwerk, or a total art work, in a smaller scale in our future projects."

The theme of the ensemble's first performance in the fall was "theatrical elements in music," and it took place in the casual Oak Lounge at Tresidder Union. Guests brought their brownbag lunches to a free program that showcased, among others, Kristen Lurie, a doctoral student in electrical engineering, on double bass; and percussion soloists Dylan Hunn, a sophomore majoring in CS+music, on marimba, and Giuliano Kornberg, a coterminal master's student in music, science and technology.

The final piece in the program was an excerpt from William Walton's Facade. This was performed by the full ensemble conducted by Makulumy Alexander-Hills, a senior music and Earth systems major. It featured a spirited dramatic narration of Edith Sitwell's poems from Facade by Wendy Hillhouse, a professional mezzo-soprano and member of the voice faculty.

Lee emphasizes the importance of understanding the composers' intentions in contemporary music. She said, "When you know the background story, nothing sounds accidental." To that end, the musicians introduced each of the four pieces in the program to provide the listeners with some context.

Kornberg also provided a tour and demonstration of his musical mise en place, which included nine different percussion instruments. Commenting on Wicca, his solo piece, Kornberg explained that the composer, Casey Cangelosi, utilizes both metallic and drum percussion to create contrasting sections of music. But the interplay between these different sounds and the usage of the different sticks on the different instruments create music that is appealing to the audience, even if it is unfamiliar.

Since the Stanford New Ensemble's founding in 1970, faculty composers and orchestral conductors, including Jonathan Berger, Karla Lemon and Jindong Cai, have directed the group, which was originally called Alea II. Through the years, the emphasis of the ensemble has included focusing on experimental music and serving as a vehicle for graduate composers. Under the direction of Lee, the ensemble seeks to reach a broader audience by performing classical works from 1900 to the present.

Lee said, "Our goal is for contemporary music and artistic creativity to be expressed and enjoyed by all of the community. It is exciting to be in a place like Stanford where people bring so much creativity to their endeavors, in artistic fields as well as in science and engineering. The Stanford Arts Institute has been enthusiastically supporting the ensemble's new approach to the community."

Steve Sano, Department of Music chair, said he views the ensemble as a fulfillment of Harry Elam's promise to "make arts inescapable" within Stanford.

The Stanford New Ensemble's next project is well on the way. You might catch it collaborating with dancers in Arbuckle Dining Pavilion at the Graduate School of Business during lunch time, or performing in front of a contemporary painting in one of the museums on campus. Wait and see.
A dream come true for UFs Christine Miller

A University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences researcher has won an $822,000 early-career award from the National Science Foundation in recognition of her commitment to research and its integration into teaching undergraduate students.

The NSF honored Christine Miller, an assistant professor of entomology, with its CAREER award as part of a foundation-wide activity that supports faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars.

Its been a dream of mine for years to receive this award, and at some level I still cant believe that it has actually happened, Miller said. I am very excited about the next five years. It will be great to involve so many young researchers in the cutting edge of science.

During the course of the five-year grant, Miller will investigate the evolution and diversification of elaborate animal weapons, such as antlers, horns and spurs, which males use to compete for females. Together with hundreds of students and her research team, Miller will determine how fighting behaviors have led to diversification of these weapons.

This work will engage and train hundreds of students, Miller said. Undergraduates are often fascinated by animal behavior and weaponry, and these topics will be a fun way to engage and retain students in science.

She added that with her grant, students will learn about the research process, the nature of science itself and how science informs our society.

Many more talented science graduates are needed in the coming years to enable the United States to continue to be a leader in science, technology and mathematics, Miller said. Innovative approaches, such as those planned by Miller, may be an important way to achieve this national goal.

Miller has worked at UF for more than eight years, after earning a doctorate from the University of Montana in 2006.
New Delhi, Jan 21 (ANI-NewsVoir): Deputy CM Sukbir Singh Badal today flagged off the first train to Varanasi from Jalandhar railway Station under the Mukh Mantri Tirath Yatra Scheme. The other train, which is scheduled from Ludhiana, will see 11 more Tirth Yatra trains between January and February under the scheme. Speaking about the initiative, Sukhbir Singh Basdal said, "This initiative of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal would strengthen communal harmony in the state. It was a blessing to flag off the yatra train to Varanasi, a microcosm of Hinduism. Famed as one of the oldest inhabited cities of the world, Kashi is sanctified by religion." "It was heartwarming to interact with the pilgrims about their beliefs and importance of this abode of Shiva in their lives. We have always respected all the religions alike as we believe that all the religious paths lead to the same God." said the Deputy CM. Answering a question about the Panama incident, Badal said the Punjab government had raised the issue and had been assured by the Union External affairs ministry that all possible steps would be taken on the issue. He also directed the Police department to immediately start the crackdown on illegal travel agents. He also appealed to the media houses not to publish the advertisements of illegal travel agents to safe the interests of common man. Prominent amongst present on the occasion included Cabinet Minister Ajit Singh Kohar, Sohan Singh Thandal, BhagatChunniLal, CPS Pawan Kumar Tinu and others. "Mukh Mantri Tirath Yatra Yojana" is yet another attempt of the Punjab government to preserve and promote majestic and secular culture of Punjab. The government aims to attain the heritage city status for the holy city of Amritsar. An amount of Rs. 69 crores has been allocated to preserve the monuments, mute testimonials of Punjab's glorious heritage. Preservation of DarshaniDeori (opening step), at Darbar Sahib with its original and extensive ivory work has been accomplished. Preservation of architectural marvel of Bunga Ramgarhia (situated between Sri Guru Ram Das langar hall building and Sri Harmandir Sahib parikarma) as a heritage building with the support of Heritage Management Services, Noida. To present the 500-year old glorious legacy to the millenials of Punjab, the Punjab government has built Virasat-e-Khalsa at Sri Anandpur Sahib. The project spread in 100 acres has costed Rs. 250 crores. To commemorate the sacrifices of Sikhs in the tragic war of May 17, 1746, a memorial has been built at the Chhota Ghallughara site at Kahnuwan in Gurdaspur district at an outlay of Rs. 18 crores. The Punjab government had approved Rs. 24 crores for Baba Jiwan Singh Memorial to be erected at Sri Anandpur Sahib near Virasat-e-Khalsa. Badal government has taken an initiative to build BhaiMardana Memorial at Ferozepur. Project cost is estimated to be Rs 11 crores. The Memorial will also house a Sangeet Academy and a Satsang hall. Punjab Government under the tutelage of CM Prakash Singh Badal has always ensured communal harmony in the state while ensuring respect for all religions in the state. (ANI-NewsVoir)
U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce Bruce Andrews today announced he will lead a delegation of 18 American companies on a Smart Cities Infrastructure Business Development Mission to India from February 8-12, 2016. He will have stopovers in New Delhi, Mumbai, and Chennai. Director of the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) Lee Zak and Vice President of Global Business Development at the Export-Import Bank Ray Ellis will also participate in the mission. The trade mission will help U.S. companies launch or increase their business in India, focusing on technologies, systems and services in the safety and security, intelligent transportation, water, wastewater, and power sectors. This engagement will drive and enhance the sustainable growth of India's infrastructure sector, while making India's growing urban centers more attractive to business and providing a better quality of life for India's citizens. "By joining the global consensus agreed to in Paris last month, India made clear that it will be an important part of the world's solution to a truly global problem. U.S. industry stands ready and able to help India make its cities more sustainable - an effort that will greatly benefit India's economic growth and our world's ability to address a changing climate," Andrews said. Nirav Shah, President of the Parker, Colorado based EI Technologies is one of the delegates who has experienced the problems affecting India's cities first hand and is excited about the government's plan to convert 100 cities into smart cities. He said; "EI Technologies is interested in exploring ways to make India's proposed smart cities even smarter. Our Geographical Information Systems (GIS) technology can help city officials manage multiple aspects of urban governance like public works, fire, crime, elections, water supply, waste-water, electricity and gas supply and even disaster response systems in a seamless, smooth and cost effective manner." As part of Deputy Secretary Andrews' Trade Mission, Shah will be meeting urban development experts and officials at all three levels of Indian urban governance - central, state and local. The following companies will join Deputy Secretary Andrews on this trade mission: Alcoa Inc. - New York, N.Y. Aquatech International - Canonsburg, Pa. Black & Veatch Pvt. Ltd. - Overland Park, Kans. Convalt - New York, N.Y. Danaher Holding (DHR) - Washington, D.C. Ecolab/NALCO - St Paul, Minn. EI Technologies, LLC - Parker, Colo. MasterCard - Purchase, N.Y. Milbank Manufacturing - Kansas City, Mo. Opower, Inc. - Arlington, Va. Owenscorning India Private Limited - Toledo, Ohio Qualcomm - San Diego, Calif. S2 Global-OSI Solutions - Torrance, Calif. Silver Spring Networks, Inc. - Redwood City, Calif. Smart Cities Council - Redmond, Wash. Turner Project Management India Pvt. Ltd. - New York, N.Y. UL LLC - Northbrook, Ill. Xylem Inc. - Rye Brook, N.Y. As the world's third largest economy in the world in terms of purchasing power parity, India has the second largest population and is projected to add 500 million people to its urban population over the next four decades. The Indian government has made infrastructure development a priority, along with a plan to develop 100 smart cities - developed urban areas that would create sustainable economic development and high quality of life through efficient and innovative energy, transportation, digital, social platforms. To connect these proposed cities with existing air and sea ports, India needs infrastructure upgrades and technologies. (ANI)
Inspector General of Police, L.R. Bishnoi said that the police arrested self-styled platoon commander of the outfit Luithui Brahma from Doliagaon.

The militant was wanted by the NIA in connection with the Adivasi massacre case at Ultapani in 2014. He was also involved in the attack on SSB camp at Ultapani a few years ago. Police have also recovered arms from the militant. (ANI)
More than 600 delegates are expected to participate in the 19th National Conference on e-Governance beginning in Nagpur, Maharashtra on Thursday. The Conference will include 150 delegates from Maharashtra and 250 from other states including as many as 50 participants from the private sector. Additional Secretary, Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) Usha Sharma said that students and faculty members of local engineering and technology institutes will also hold discussions during the six plenary sessions over the next two days. The Conference will include an exhibition and brainstorming sessions by subject experts. Four books on e-governance will be released during the inaugural session. The Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari will be the chief guest while the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Jitendra Singh will be the guest of honour at the inaugural function. Sharma said the National Awards for e-Governance for the Year 2015-16 will be presented during the Valedictory Session of the Conference. Eighteen awards, including ten Gold and eight Silver under various categories, will be given away by the Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday. Lauding the host city Nagpur, Sharma said it is a matter of great pride to hold this prestigious conference. Maharashtra state government took the initiative of hosting what would be the first national e-governance conference in the state. The two-day Conference is being organised by the DARPG and Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY), Government of India in association with the Government of Maharashtra. (ANI)
South Korea will boost economic cooperation with Iran, it said on Thursday, after sanctions on Iran were lifted earlier this week.The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in a statement it will sign a $2 billion contract for trade insurance financing with Iran, while it will also restore Iran's eligibility to be a recipient country for its Economic Development Cooperation Fund.South Korea will also aim to establish a automobile assembly joint venture with Iran, the ministry said.South Korea and Iran are due to hold a government-level meeting in Tehran in late February.REUTERS KU RK0710 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0348-549190.Xml
Police said the deceased identified as Aandi, who worked as a watchman in a hostel run by the Department of Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare at Ponnamaravathy was arrested yesterday and subsequently remanded to judicial custody for stealing rice from the hostel. He was lodged in the district prison. Aandi was found dead this morning.

The body was removed to government headquarters hospital for post-mortem. Senior police officials visited the prison and held inquiry. The cause of his death would be known only after the post-mortem, police added.

Tension gripped the hospital as a large number of relatives of Aandi assembled near mortuary and staged a protest suspecting foul play in the death. UNI GSM KVV ADB 1050

-- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0415-549277.Xml
Uttar Pradesh Congress has planned a big programme in the Bundelkhand region on January 23 when party vice-president Rahul Gandhi visits Mahoba to assess the situation there. The Congress vice-president would hold chaupals and undertake a 7-km-long foot march in the region. Party sources here today said Congress was preparing to highlight the loan waiver and special package given by the earlier UPA regime and the failure of the NDA government to address the needs of the drought-affected region. To prepare the ground for Mr Gandhi s visit, senior leaders, including former Union minister Pradeep Jain, Congress Legislature Party leader Pradeep Mathur, Legislative Council leader Naseeb Pathan and MLA and former state president Rita Bahuguna Joshi have held separate chaupals in the past 20 days in the region. As many as 45,000 farmers had benefited in Mahoba alone during the UPA regime. But now, there is no relief for farmers, who are facing an acute drought situation here. Thus, we want a loan waiver and this would be the focus of the march Besides, due to corruption, farmers who were affected by hailstorm, are yet to receive any financial support, said Congress Mahoba district president Trilok Mohan Tiwari. The Congress is also preparing to start a a special campaign across the state to target BJP on petrol prices. It alleged that despite the fall in the price of crude oil in the international market, the Centre was not reducing the prices of petrol and diesel. The prices are very low in the international market now, but still the government has not reduced rates, which is adding to the burden of the masses and private companies are pocketing huge profits. We will travel across the state and inform the people how the BJP was cheating people, said party leaders.UNI MB RSA 1130 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0196-549319.Xml
Police has arrested a deputy jailor on charges of rape and harassment of a 34-year-old Uzbekistan national when she was lodged in Maharajganj district jail in a case under Passport Act in January last year. The woman, released in December, had lodged an FIR against the official, deputy jailor Dhruv Narayan Gupta, in July 2015, in which she also charged him of extorting Rs 44,000 from her family for her release. Police sources here today said Gupta was arrested from his relatives place in Deoria yesterday and produced before a court in Maharajganj which sent him to judicial custody. The investigating officer, deputy SP Rachna Mishra, said the woman had accused Gupta of sexually assaulting her two to three times. The victim had recorded her statement before the magistrate in September. Sources said there was circumstantial evidence against the accused. Police had collected evidence which verifies that Rs 44,000 was transferred to the bank account of Guptas brother in three installments. DIG Jail (Gorakhpur) Yadvendra Shukla said after the allegations were made, an inquiry was conducted and Gupta was suspended in October. Departmental inquiry against him is still pending, said the DIG. The woman was arrested from Nepal border in Maharajganj district on January 19 last year for allegedly entering India without valid documents. She was booked under Section 14 of the Passport Act and sent to the district jail on January 20 where Gupta was posted as the deputy jailor. While in jail, the victim had filed a complaint with a local court of Maharajganj in June, alleging she was being sexually assaulted by Gupta. When she was brought to the court for the hearing in her passport case, she brought up her complaint, and also alleged that Gupta had taken money from her family for her release. The court then forwarded her application to Maharajganj police as well as to the district jail, directing officials to look into the matter. Later, the woman was transferred to Siddharthnagar district jail.UNI MB RSA 1145 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0196-549332.Xml
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy on Thursday said that Hizb-ul-Mujahideen chief Sayeed Salahuddin's claim that his outfit was responsible for the January 1 and 2, 2016 terror strike in Pathankot, Punjab, should be dismissed and disregarded. "I don't think we should bother about statements of everybody and anybody who gives it, let them claim credit, do hell with it. They are here because they are being fed like their pets of the Pakistan government," Swamy told ANI here. "They (HuM) are just the pets who wag their tail and bark and bite at the masters instruction. We have to fix the master and for that we need time, and we need to prepare for that," he added Salahuddin had earlier taken responsibility for the Pathankot attack, calling it 'a continuation of their activity, targeting Indian military installations'. He has also criticised Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's "Kashmir policy". These comments are part of an interview given to the Urdu news portal, Wajood, based in Pakistan. The militant commander is also the head of the United Jihad Council, an amalgam of militant outfits operating in Kashmir. The claim of responsibility was met with a sceptical response among India's security establishment, which blames another group called Jaish-e-Mohammed. Last week, Pakistan arrested the head of Jaish-e-Mohammed as well as several other leaders of the group and shut down offices and seminaries linked to the outfit. "We are at a loss to understand whether they (the Pakistan government) are concerned about the interests of the country that feeds them or that of its enemy?" Salahuddin told at a news conference, referring to the government's crackdown. "Pakistan is not only an advocate but also a party to the longstanding Kashmir dispute and therefore the Pakistani people, government and media should play the role of a patron rather than of an adversary." Heavily armed terroriusts attacked the Pathankot Air Force Station, part of the Western Air Command of the Indian Air Force between January 1 and 4, 2016. Four attackers and six security personnel were killed in the gun battle that was spread over a period of three days Initially, the terrorists were suspected to belong to the Islamist militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed, but later the United Jihad Council claimed responsibility for the attack. The security operation lasted till January 4 and end after a fifth attacker was confirmed killed. Media reports thensuggested that the attack was an attempt to derail a fragile peace process meant to stabilise the deteriorated relations between India and Pakistan. (ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be in Uttar Pradesh for the entire day tomorrow leading to major security haul up in the state capital Lucknow and Varanasi. Both Varanasi and Lucknow have turned into a fortress with snippers and commandoes being deployed in the security cover of the PM. More than 25 companies of Central forces along with over 10,000 state police personnel have been deployed for the PM's security. But during the entire visit, the PM would not be meeting the BJP leaders even though the assembly elections in the state is a year left. State DGP Javeed Ahmed told UNI here today that fool proof security arrangements have been made in Varanasi and Lucknow during the PM's visit. He said that final rehearsal to take stock of the security preparedness would be done during the day at both Varanasi and Lucknow. "We will spare nothing on the security aspect of the PM," he said adding that the visit of PM in Lucknow could create some traffic hazards. In Lucknow ,this would be the first visit of any PM during the past 11 years. Last time Mr Manmohan Singh visited the state capital in September 2005 to launch the Gold scheme of LIC. The PM, will start his programme from his parliamentary constituency of Varanasi by attending a single function at DLW for an hour by flagging off a new express train 'Mahamanaya express' and thereafter will distribute artificial limbs, tricycles and other equipment to 'divyangs' (physically challenged persons). After Varanasi, Mr Modi will reach Lucknow where he will attend three functions including convocation of the Bhimrao Ambedkar University (BBAU), distribution of e-rickshaws and visit to Bharatratna Bodhisatva Babasahab Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Mahasabha for around four hours. During the convocation, PM would not distribute medals to any students while during the distribution of e-rickshaws, Mr Modi will interact with a select beneficiaries for about 15 minutes. However, in Lucknow, the people have to face major traffic jam due to the PM's visit to Bharatratna Bodhisatva Babasahab Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Mahasabha which is situated in the heart of the city and in front of the Vidhan Sabha. According to officials Mr Modi will reach Varanasi in the morning at 1000 hours and from Babatpur airport he will fly to DLW on a chopper. Later, he will board his special IAF aircraft after his hour long programme at DLW from Babatpur airport for Lucknow at around 1230 hours. The PM will reach Amausi airport at Lucknow at 1330 hours, where he will be welcomed by UP Governor Ram Naik, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Lucknow Mayor Dinesh Sharma. This will be the only programme where the CM would be present along with the PM. From airport the PM along with the governor, Mr Singh and the Mayor would go to Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University (BBAU) for the convocation. After the convocation, PM will fly to Colvin Taluqdars Inter College at 1530 hours where he will distribute e-rickshaws to 2100 beneficiaries . Mr Modi will then visit the Bharatratna Bodhisatva Babasahab Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Mahasabha by road at 1645 hours where he will pay floral tribute to the urn of Dr Ambedkar. The visit of PM at Ambedkhar Mahasabha is seen as a "political gesture" in the wake of the coming UP assembly polls to woo the dalits. The Governor and Mr Singh would be present along with the PM at the Mahasabha. Thereafter staying for around 30 minutes at Ambedkar Mahasabha, the PM will go to the Amausi airport by road to return back to New Delhi at 1740 hours. UNI MB ADG CS1344 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0196-549444.Xml
Police arrested a dreaded Maoist rebel at Jhopa village under Lakshmipur police station area in the district today. Superintendent of Police (Operation) Diwakar Narayan Pandey said here today that a team comprising jawans of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and District Police laid a siege to the village under his leadership and nabbed CPI(Maoist) Praveen Kumar Verma alias Gopal Ji from his hideout. He said a rifle, some live cartridges, detonator and equipment for developing IEDs were recovered from outlaw. Interrogation of the Naxalite was on. UNI XC DH PL AE AS1416 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0211-549542.Xml
A bomb alert was sounded this afternoon after an abandoned car with two suspicious bags was found parked near Kudghat metro station in South Kolkata. The alert had been sounded days after the Kolkata Police had been warned by intelligence agencies of a possible terror strike in the city by Islamic terror outfits. The area has been evacuated and a bomb disposal squad from Lalbazar -- the police headquarters -- rushed to the spot. However, the bomb squad opened the bags and found nothing suspicious. One bag was full of clothes while the other was empty. The owner of the abandoned car is being interrogated. The car, bearing a registration number of Andhra Pradesh, was abandoned several hours ago and locals informed the police. UNI BM PL SW CS1445 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0211-549612.Xml
Police said the accused Sukbir Singh, a native of Haryana, haddeveloped friendship through Facebook with victim Kusuma Rani, anunmarried woman working in IBM company, and strangulated her to death onTuesday afternoon at her flat in Mahavir King Palace.

After crime, the culprit robbed credit and debit cards, chequebook and mobile phone.

Rani's friend Nidhi Sharma, who returned from office at about 2000 hrs saw the main door open and her friend lying in a pool ofblood. Immediately he called police and filed a complaint.

The police formed six teams, who later succeeded in nabbingSukbir Singh at his native place.

Preliminary investigation revealed that Sukbir hadwithdrawn Rs 11,000 from one of the stolen card and flew to Mumbaiand to Delhi before reaching his native place after committing the crime.

It was also revealed that the accused, who was unemployedsince 2014 after working in Ascentur and Yahoo India, had demanded Rs 50,000 from Rani. When she refused to pay him, he attacked her and robbed.

Police were able to pin point Sukbir through social network in theLap top. Stolen credit and debit cards and mobile phones wererecovered from the accused.UNI MSP KVV ADB 1435

-- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0287-549539.Xml
As the Indian government prepares to declassify secret files on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on January 23, his 120th birthday, those espousing different theories about the eventual fate of this revolutionary leader of the freedom movement are feverishly pushing claims and counter-claims. The theory that Netaji died on August 18, 1945, in a plane crash in Taiwan has been contradicted by many, including the Centre-appointed Justice Manoj Kumar Mukherjee Commission, while several others claim that the nationalist leader resurfaced after the alleged plane crash. One among the popular theories has spoken of Netaji being the 'Gumnami Baba', a hermit living in Uttar Pradesh till 1985, and another that he faked his death in the alleged plane crash and fled to the erstwhile Soviet Union. With a Britain-based website now coming out with serialised "revelations" backing the plane crash theory, not only has the debate intensified but also prompted a large section of the Bose family and historians and researchers questioning the timing and motive of the sensational claims made by www.bosefiles.info. Ashish Ray, veteran London-based journalist and creator of the website, has quoted the testimonies given at various times by five people who were present during the great leader's final hours. Ray, a grandnephew of Netaji, has posted the testimonies of two Japanese doctors and a Taiwanese nurse who treated Bose, his personal interpreter and Colonel Habibur Rehman Khan, Bose's aide-de-camp. However, Ray's claims have been outrightly rejected by Open Platform -- a forum of Netaji's extended family -- and 'Mission Netaji', a non-governmental organisation. Mission Netaji head Anuj Dhar, who has written several books on Netaji's disappearance, describes the revelations made by the website as "trite, hackneyed and even misleading". "The revelations rely heavily on the obsolete 1956 Shah Nawaz Khan Committee report which was prepared by the Congress MP (Khan) to please the then Congress government. Not only that, the testaments of the doctors are drawn from the report by British Army officer JG Figgess, who again was an unreliable character," says Dhar, who blames successive Congress governments for the persisting mystery behind Netaji's disappearance. Dhar says Figgess, who in his report in 1946 affirmed that Bose died in the plane crash, "had everything to gain by confirming the theory that Bose, along with the INA treasure, perished in the crash". "There are evidence indicating that Figgess and some other supporters of the air crash theory looted the INA treasure," claims Dhar, asserting that the documents used in the website to buttress the claims have been in the public domain for long. Questioning the timing of Ray's revelations, Netaji's grandnephew Chandra Kumar Bose claimed it to be an attempt to derail the declassification campaign. "The declassification of the central files is sure to bring out skeletons out of the cupboards of many and, fearing this, attempts are being made to thwart the process. Ray's revelations are designed to prevent the truth from emerging," said Chandra Kumar, Open Platform convenor. Furthering the claims that Netaji had escaped to Siberia hoping to get asylum from the erstwhile Soviet Union, prominent BJP leader Subramanian Swamy has been propagating that Bose was killed in a Siberian Gulag on the orders of Joseph Stalin. However, Dhar and other researchers have rejected Swamy's assertions. "Swamy's claims are heavily premised on Nehru's stenographer Shyam Lal Jain's testimony before the GD Khosla Commission wherein he stated that Nehru was aware of Netaji's captivity in Yakutsk Prison in Siberia. However, Swamy has not been able to give any evidence of Netaji being executed there," asserts Dhar. While the Narendra Modi government will declassify the secret central government files on Netaji in a phased manner beginning Jan 23, there are many who believe that unless files maintained by foreign spy agencies, particularly the erstwhile KGB and the British MI5, are declassified, the Netaji mystery will not be solved. The movement for solving the 'Netaji's Russian mystery' got a further push from West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who in September last year set the declassification ball rolling by making public 64 classified files that were in the possession of the state government. Debunking the air crash theory, Banerjee called upon the Modi government to engage with their Russian counterparts and get the secret documents declassified. Dhar's assertions of 'Gumnami Baba' being Netaji living incognito in Uttar Pradesh's Faizabad have also met with stiff opposition. Netaji's grandniece Madhuri Bose contends that her granduncle could not have chosen renunciation over his motherland. "Netaji in his writing 'Pebbles on the Seashore' had said: 'Embracing Sanyasa when your country needs you is only a refined form of betrayal'. So a man who had such a belief cannot have lived a life of a monk as has been claimed for long," says Madhuri. Amid all the assertions and counter-assertions, there are still some who opine that many classified files containing crucial evidence have been destroyed long before the declassification campaign had even begun. And as such the mystery surrounding one of the country's most charismatic leader could remain unsolved. --Indo-Asian News Service and/ssp/hs/dg ( 852 Words) 2016-01-21-15:23:35 (IANS)
Maharashtra Governor Vidyasagar Rao today delivered the first Dr L H Hiranandani award, an initiative to commemorate individuals for their efforts reflecting humanity. Addressing the event here, Mr Rao commemorated contribution of the ones who have used the power of health and humanity to serve the society. Padma Bhushan Dr Suresh Advani, a medical oncologist, was conferred with the first award for his immensecontribution in the field of cancer. Present at the event was Former President Pratibha Patil. Expressing his gratitude, Mr Rao said, ''I feel honoured and privileged to deliver the first Dr L H Hiranandani oration. Dr Hiranandani dedicated his entire life to make specialised healthcare affordable to the common man. I am very happy that the Dr L H Hiranandani Hospital Trust has instituted an award in his name.'' ''Dr Advani has rendered outstanding service to the medical profession and to the society at large for more than four decades. I extend my heartiest congratulations to Dr Advani on being conferred the first Dr L H Hiranandani Award,'' he said. Addressing the gathering Ms Patil said, ''Dr L H Hiranandani Hospital has been in the fore front of healthcare and a lot of initiatives. In addition the hospital also leads in creating and spreading health awareness in the country. I heartily congratulate Dr Suresh Advani for receiving this prestigious award.'' On winning the award, Dr Advani said, ''It always feels very humble to receive such a great honor in the name of a great person like Dr L H Hiranandani. I had the privilege of working with him. It is his love and respect that he showed to everyone around him that really impressed me. And it is with this humbleness I acceptthis honour and I will try to work In his shoes.'' Dr Sujit Chatterjee, CEO of Dr L H Hiranandani Hospital said, ''Many medical experts in their individual capacities have contributed significantly towards building a noble cause of securing health and offering innovation to encourage basic healthcare requirements. We are proud to present this award to Dr Suresh Advaniwho epitomizes the intent and purpose of this recognition.'' UNI RB SW CS1512 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0171-549593.Xml
The memorandum stating that, unfortunately the society has forgotten the national pride, as the National Flags which are taken along with pride while celebrating 26th January (Republic Day) are seen lying on the streets, drains, filthy places in the afternoon of the same day itself. This is a great insult to the National Flag. So HJS has initiated the campaign, Save the honour of the National Flag.

To create awareness among students as they are the future generation, the HJS has organised campaigns like delivering lectures, questionnaires, hand-bills giving information, collecting the National Flags lying on streets.

Through flex charts, the delegation will give information about the revolutionaries along with their respective pictures.

A delegation has also appealed to the Education Department to allow to take up these programmes in schools.UNI SRN NV SM1419

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Block Development Officer of Patepur B N Singh said here that Arun Singh Rathod siphoned off public money meant for various schemes when he was Panchayat Secretary of Marui and Bahuara panchayats under Patepur block.

Mr Singh is presently posted at Bidupur block as Panchayat Secretary. Earlier, he did not respond to several notices served to him. UNI XC DH PL SW AS1515

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Bengaluru Police on Thursday said that it is taking the issue of a threat letter being received by the French consulate very seriously. The French consulate in Bengaluru on Thursday received an 'intimidating' letter demanding that President Francois Hollande cancel his upcoming visit to India Additional Commissioner of Police, West Zone, Bengaluru City, K S R Charan Reddy on Thursday said a police team has been sent to Chennai to investigate. "Immediately the court's permission was taken since it is a non-cognisable offence. And the case is restored in the high court. A team has been sent to Chennai, further investigation is on. We have taken the matter seriously. We are touch with the French consulate ministers," Reddy told a press conference here. "On 11th of this month a letter was handed over by French consulate officers to hygron.. police station which was received by them by post. The 'from' address indicates that it is an address from Chennai and the letter is also posted in Chennai. It is a single page letter with a India map in the background. In the middle of the map, three lines were written in English," Reddy added "Run structured type of English from which we can understand that it is a general threat given to the French people in the sense that the French president, who is expected to be the chief guest in the Republic Day in Delhi is not supposed to come and take part as a chief guest. At the bottom of the letter the word Al-Qaeda was written," Reddy said. Francois Hollande, who is the chief guest for Republic Day celebrations, is likely to be received by PM Modi at the Chandigarh Air Force Station. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to receive Hollande in Chandigarh on January 24, the first day of his visit. As many as 71 high-rise buildings in the vicinity of Rajpath in the national capital will be shut down either partially or completely on or before January 25 in view of Republic Day celebrations. Modi and Hollande will also jointly lay the foundation of Interim Secretariat of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) in Gurgaon on January 25. Given the high-profile visit, falling on the eve of the Republic Day, the city police and the administration authorities are taking no chances and have tightened security. The event will be attended by senior ministers apart from delegates from India and France. (ANI)
Earlier today, the CBI moved the High Court against the lower court's order on release of the documents.

A trial court yesterday made scathing remarks about the CBI's conduct in probing the corruption case against Rajendra Kumar and others, saying the agency seemed to be in "haste" and appeared to have "abused its power".

The court further alleged that the agency did not even carry out a preliminary enquiry before filing the FIR.

The court, however, rejected the government's prayer for stringent action against the investigating agency officials, who had seized the documents in alleged violation of the provisions of the CBI manual.

The CBI had earlier opposed the government's plea and argued that even the court had no powers to decide the admissibility of the documents at this stage.

On December 15, the CBI raided the office of Rajendra Kumar in connection with a corruption case. (ANI)
Charging Human Resources Development Minister Smriti Irani with lying to the nation on the suicide of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula, the Congress today reiterated its demand of resignation of the Minister and her colleague Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya in the matter. Talking to reporters here, AICC media incharge Randeep Surjewala said, "Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani, who claims to be custodian of all universities and students and is also a mother, yesterday committed the unpardonable sin of lying through her teeth in a bid to protect the guilty including the ABVP and BJP activists. She came up with a set of lies that were exposed within a period of 12 hours. "The Education Minister spoke three major lies to the nation. Firstly, she attempted to say that the decision of Proctorial Board which found that the 5 PhD Dalit scholars were not guilty and revoked their suspension was an ex-parte decision. It is a white and patent lie."The Congress leader said: "Second lie that the Minister spoke was the fact she tried to justify the punishment awarded to five Dalit PhD scholars by saying that the Sub-Committee of Executive Council which took this decision was headed by a Dalit Professor. "The third lie that she stated was that the warden of the hostel from where the Dalit students were expelled including Rohith Vemula was a Dalit. Does she not know that warden was only implementing the decision of the Executive Council?Slamming the Minister for unduly justifying 'injustice and unfairness' meted out to Vemula, Mr Surjewala said, "What is most shocking is that when acts of persecution and atrocities of Dalits at the instance of Government and BJP activists come out in public, instead of apologising and rectifying the mistakes, BJP and its Ministers come out openly in support of perpetrators of this crime." He also demanded action against Union Mr Dattatreya and Hyderabad Central university Vice Chancellor Appa Rao. "Action should be taken against Mr Rao as also against Mr Bandaru Dattatreya and also BJP MLC Ramchandra Rao and they should be arrested in the case. He also demanded that the entire episode be inquired into by a sitting high court judge. More UNI AR SW AE 1644 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0092-549925.Xml
: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Singh (RSS) is utilising premier probe agency Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to politically eliminate Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) and its leadership in Kerala, CPI(M) Politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan alleged here today . Referring to the CBI arraigning Kannur CPI (M) Secretary P Jayarajan in RSS leader Kadirur Manoj murder case, Mr Vijayan, heading Nava Kerala march launched by his party, ahead of forthcoming assembly poll in the State, told newspersons at Nadapuram near here that the former was made an accused at the behest of the RSS. RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat gave instructions for the purpose at a Chintan Baithak held by it, Mr Vijayan alleged. . The CBI, after 505 days into the probe, had said that there was no charge against Jayarajan in the case, but how it found evidence after another three days, despite the fact no witnesses ever named him, the CPI(M) leader queried. The CPI(M) leader Jayarajan was also charged under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) by deliberately denying him bail, Mr Vijayan said, adding, he wanted to know whether his personal security officer, escorted him since 2007 after a bid on his life, also forms a part of the conspiracy in Kadiur Manoj murder case. Accepting apex court's observation last year that the 'CBI is a caged parrot,' Mr Vijayan said, there was no change of attitude in the functioning of the agency as it was still being used to curb political adversaries in the country. Expressing his party's resolve to take on the case politically and legally, Mr Vijayan urged all democratic- minded organisation and people to support the move. Manoj, who was an accused in an attempt on Jayarajan in 1999, was hacked to death at East Kadirur in Kannur on September 1, 2014. Assailants hurled a crude bomb at the van in which Manoj and another RSS worker, Pramod, were travelling at Kadirur near Thalassery. The vehicle lost control and hit a wall. The assailants then attacked the duo. Manoj died on the way to the hospital, while Pramod was undergoing treatment.UNI PCH KVV ADB 1615 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0328-549765.Xml
Silvan has a strong team, an excellent product portfolio and is trusted by several leading developers in India. We are pleased to be associated with them, said Mr. Ramaraj who leads the investment from The Chennai Angels.

The Chennai Angels Team consists of very experienced and successful entrepreneurs and we look forward to working with them and learning from their wisdom, Mr Avinash, CEO of Silvan Innovation said. UNI GV VV AK1648

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: TWISS, a multi-flavoured sparkling fruitjuice today announced its entry into the Indian market to target theyouths, especially in the metros with the demand for non-alcoholicbeverages expected to grow significantly in the next one decade. The multi-flavoured sparkling fruit juice has been brought toIndia by TWISS Drinks India Pvt. Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary ofTWISS, UK. The brand displayed its range of products at India's leadingexhibition, India Food Forum 2016, in Mumbai early this week andreceived a good feedback, a company official said here today. TWISS plans for India are encouraged by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi's views on mixing at least two fruit juice in aerateddrinks to help distressed farmers find a new market for theirproduce. Incidentally, TWISS drinks have ten per cent juice content and ineffect have already met the PM's suggestion. Speaking to reporters about the product, Nitin S Menon, ManagingDirector, TWISS Drinks India Pvt. Ltd., said, "Each product is souniquely combined with the right proportion of juice and flavours,delivering a burst of the fruit flavours on the tongue and giving ita great taste.'' Mr Menon said the products have used the best ingredients sourced withutmost care replicating true fruit taste. TWISS range will be at theforefront of innovation in the Sparkling Juice drink category, whichis virtually non-existent in India, he pointed out. ''Our game-plan for the Indian market complements the PM'ssuggestion on including fruit juices in beverages and we are happythat we are already on track. We are planning to sell 12 millioncans of 250 ml each in the country during the first year of thelaunch,'' the MD said. TWISS cans are priced at Rs 40 per unit. TWISS UK has sold to various retail chains in the UK in excess of4 million cans. However, TWISS is planning for an aggressive growthin the current phase with higher marketing and brand buildingexercise in India. At present, four flavours have been launched - Mango with a twistof Lime; Passion fruit with a twist of Orange; Lemon with a twist ofMint; and Apple with a twist of Black Currant. TWISS sparkling fruitjuice cans (250 ml) are priced at Rs 40 per unit and will beavailable with leading retailers. The fruit juice is being canned ata bottling unit in Pune, Maharashtra. Premchander Rajan, Chairman Amarjyothi group, which haslaunched the joint venture with TWISS said the Indian beveragemarket is growing at a range of about 15 per cent year-on-year(yoy). Thispresented a very good opportunity for many new brands to enter themarket, if they have a differentiating product. ''India has one of the youngest populations in the world that isengaged with all that is innovative in food and technology.'' TWISS products have been evolved by combining complementingfruits/herbs to enhance the thirst quenching experience with fun andadventure. "We are creating a new category of beverages in this country.Initially, the canned beverages will be available in Bengaluru,Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, New Delhi and Pune and we will expandour presence gradually," Mr Nitin added. TWISS UK was founded in the year 2011 in London and the nameoriginated through the formation of a sparkling drink with a uniquetwist in fruit flavours. TWISS products distinguished itself earlyon as a quirky and innovative drink through the combination ofcomplementing fruit and herb flavours, thus creating a delicious andrefreshing taste.UNI RS KVV ADB 1605 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0287-549697.Xml
The Journalists' Study Centre of Karnataka (JSCK) has urged the National Commission for Scheduled Castes to ensure punishment to officials in Hyderabad University, who acted in an 'unfaithful and incomprehensible' manner leading to the suicide of a PhD student Rohit Vemula. Unable to bear the humiliation meted out to the Scheduled Caste students the research scholar had committed suicide, the think tank alleged. In a letter to National Commission for Scheduled Castes, P LPunia, which was handed over to him in Delhi on January 19, theoffice bearers of the Study Centre said it had been 12 days the fivestudents were expelled from the hostel and one of them, Rohitcommitted suicide. ''It was inhuman when such talented Dalit student was expelledfrom the hostel, leading to a precious life being lost. We demandthat the suspension of other four students be withdrawn withimmediate effect,'' the journalists urged. Rohit's suicide was due to atrocious behaviour on part ofUniversity authorities. It was not a suicide, but a murder bySanforized thinking, the letter said. The centre also demanded stringent action against the ViceChancellor, the ABVP local leaders and the respective authorities ofthe University. Legal actions should be taken on University underthe Untouchability Offences Act, 1955, it demanded. ''Students are the future of this nation. Killing theirfundamental rights and their aims will put the future of the nationin darkness. We expect you to take immediate action on this. If notthis fight will go on for justice and equality,'' the Study Centreactivists urged the SC Commission.UNI RS MSP KVV ADB 1610 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0287-549865.Xml
This was revealed by BSNL telecom general manger MC Singh while talking to UNI recently.

He said that BSNL offered hassle free network at remote Dhankar Monastery as BST is linked with satellite and run by solar penal power station.

"We expect that number of Buddhists monks and foreigners will attend this ceremony and BSNL is committed to provide high end communication services to them after expending its network as BST was set up at Mane village near the monastery," he said.

Earlier this congregation was scheduled to be hosted at Bodhgaya in Bihar on January 27 this year.

The communication would enable lakhs of Monks and foreigners to make contact to rest of the world at this remote station with commissioning of this facility, he said.

To improve BSNL network around 150 BTS (mobile tower) of latest technology to replace existing equipments and 290 new 3G Base Transceiver Station (BTS) will be added, he said.

Three BTS would be installed in Lahaul and Spiti districts, he added. Presently about 1527 BTS are functioning across the state out of which 1231 BTS are 2G and 296 BTS are 3G, said Mr Singh.UNI GS ADG NS1750

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The Prime Minister will arrive in his constituency Varanasi where he will attend the Divyangjan Sashaktikaran Samaroh a programme for distribution of aids and assistive devices, for differently-abled people.

According to the Prime Minister's Office, Mr Modi will address the 6th convocation of the Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University in Lucknow.

He will attend a programme for distribution of e-rickshaws organised by Bharatiya Micro Credit, the announcement said.

Apart from offering homage to Babasaheb Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar at Ambedkar Mahasabha, Mr Modi is also expected to flag off the Mahamana superfast express dedicated to Pt Madan Mohan Malviya, founder of the Banaras Hindu Unviersity.UNI SD SW AE 1927

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Government is considering to provide fortified food grains which is full of nutrients and vitamins on regular basis through system of PDS, Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan said today. Briefing the mediapersons about programmes, policies and future road map of his ministries here, he said his ministry is having consultation with Ministry of Woman and Child Development and Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has set norms for flour quality but norms have not been set for rice and wheat which are necessary for nutritious grains. The Minister said through welfare schemes, first people will be provided nutritious food and through the schemes nutritious quality rice, wheat, egg and milk will be provided. He said there are 25 crores ration cards under PDS system and out of which 97 per cent have been digitalised. Mr Paswan added that over 10.10 crores ration cards have been seeded with Aadhar and online allocation of foodgrains have been implemented in 19 states and UTs. To bring all operations of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) godowns online and check reported leakage, Depot Online system was initiated in 30 sensitive depots. The system will be rolled out in all the FCI-owned depots by May this year and in all other hired depots by year end, he said. He said the FCI has been asked to take up construction modern silos for storage of total 100 lakh MT capacity at different locations in the country under PPP mode which will help in maintaining the quality of foodgrains, minimise losses and ensure rapid bulk movement of foodgrains.UNI NY SW AE 1936 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0099-550518.Xml
The Indian Air Force (IAF) will showcase its aircraft and weaponry during the parade in the celebrations of 67th Republic Day on January 26. The IAFs participation shall consist of a flypast, a marching contingent accompanied by the IAF Band, and a tableau. The flypast comprises of 27 aircraft of the Indian Air Force. Leading the parade would be the traditional Ensign formation comprising four Mi-17 V5 helicopters in an inverted Y formation. The second and the main phase will be led by Chakra formation of three Mi-35 helicopters in Vic formation, followed by three C-130J Super Hercules aircraft. This will be followed by a globe formation comprising one C-17 aircraft along with two Su-30 MKI aircraft. The first fighter formation would comprise of five Jaguar aircraft in the shape of an Arrowhead, followed by five MiG-29 upgrade aircraft in similar formation. The Sukhoi formation comprising three Su-30 MKI aircraft will fly in the last phase. The end of the parade will be marked by a single Su-30 MKI aircraft, pulling up vertically in front of the dais and carrying out the signature Vertical Charlie rolls. The Air Force Marching Contingent comprises of four officers, including two women officers and 144 airmen. The Air Force contingent will march on the tunes of the Air Force Band. The Band consists of 72 musicians. Three Drum Majors would play appropriate tunes selected especially for the occasion. While marching past the saluting dais, the band will play the tune Galaxy Riders. The theme for the IAF tableau is Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Operations by the Indian Air Force: In Service of the Nation and Beyond. The design would showcase the IAFs role in Uttarakhand, Kashmir, Yemen and Nepal rescue and relief operations by displaying models of C-17, C-130 and Mi-17 V5 aircraft. The IAFs contribution in recent HADR missions has been exemplary and has earned accolades for the service. Through this theme, IAF would be able to re-affirm its commitment to this crucial role in the service of the Nation, and increasingly, beyond our borders as well.UNI SM SW AE 1938 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0271-550550.Xml
The threat letter issued to French consulate in Bengaluru ahead of visit of President Francois Hollande to preside over the Republic Day parade may be the handiwork of domestic terror outfits using the name of Islamic State, or ISIS."We are very sure they are from here only, local groups using the name of ISIS. Though, there may be some weight in it, which is being investigated," sources in the Home Ministry said here today.The letter, mailed from Chennai and purportedly written by ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria), said President Hollande should cancel his visit to India and if he did not, the consulate will be attacked.Meanwhile, the French embassy doubted the authenticity of the letter and has informed the Bengaluru police about it."The Consulate General of France in Bengaluru has received a threat letter. It is not the first time that a French representation abroad has received this kind of letter. The consulate has informed the Indian police of this letter, whose authenticity is yet to be established," the French embassy said in a communique issued in New Delhi.This is the second letter in less than a week that has been purportedly signed by ISIS. Few days ago the Secretariat of Goa government received a postcard conveying a threat to kill Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar if the government continued with its ban on cow slaughter. The postcard had ISIS as undersigned and was mailed locally.At Bengaluru, the consulate informed about the letter to local police. Additional forces have been deployed near the consulate office in the busy Vasanthnagar area and at France Cultural Centre Alliance Franchaise in the same area. Top police officials have visited the consulate and Alliance Franchaise offices. France under President Hollande is one of the major partner in US-led coalition attacking Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq. IS terrorists carried out to two major attacks in France last year, both in their national capital Paris - one on November 13, in which at least 129 persons were killed in multiple attacks by gunmen and suicide bombers in restaurants, cafes and theatres on the people on outing at the weekend, and other on January 7 at French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in which 11 persons including cartoonists were killed at point blank shootout in the magazine office.UNI PRA AJ 2024 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0384-550691.Xml
China will promote Haryana among its provinces, cities and companies as an ideal investment destination for education, healthcare, science and technology sectors. This was disclosed by Song Tao, Minister for International Department during a dinner banquet hosted by him for the delegation led by Haryana Chief Minister, Manohar Lal Khattar in Beijing today. Mr Tao said he was very pleased to host Mr Khattar not only because he was the first Indian Chief Minister to visit China after he took over as Chief Minister last November, but also because there were so many complementary ties between economies of Haryana and many Chinese provinces. He appreciated the various initiatives of the BJP government at the Centre and in different states. He said he was impressed by the Haryana governments policy of zero tolerance for corruption. Mr Khattar said the two countries have had strong relations since centuries ago. He said that given our 3,400 kms long border, it was more important to be good neighbours rather than being just neighbours. He said he was looking forward to attracting a large number of Chinese companies despite curtailing his visit due to the visit of Prime Minister, Narendra Modi to the State Capital on January 24 and then again to Gurgaon on January 25. Mr Tao accepted the invitation of Chief Minister, Haryana to be his guest during his next visit to India. He also promised to enhance Chinese efforts for cultural exchanges and people to people interactions with Haryana.UNI NC AJ AN2004 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-550534.Xml
After Zone 10 Officer Anil Sharmas act came to the fore yesterday, Mayor Alok Sharma directed Municipal Commissioner S Tejaswi Naik to conduct an inquiry. The Commissioner handed over the probe to a committee comprising Additional Commissioner Sanjay Kumar, City Engineer AK Nanda and Public Relations Officer Premshankar Shukla. The Committee requisitioned a clip from the channel concerned and subsequently submitted its report, recommending action, to Dr Naik.

This is an extremely grave matter, the Mayor said.UNI SN-AC AJ AN2143

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Bombay High Court was today informed that as many as 1,000 farmers had committed suicide in Maharashtra last year.The court, which has taken up the issue of farmers' suicides suo motu (on its own) as a public interest litigation (PIL), asked the state government to rope in corporates to deal with the agrarian crisis."In this way, suicides could be prevented as business houses would readily come forward to help farmers under the corporate social responsibility," a division bench of Justices Naresh Patil and Girish Kulkarni said.Business houses should be urged either to adopt villages or provide equipment including tractors to the farmers free, the bench said.When government officers informed the court that the government had introduced some schemes for distressed farmers, the court sought to know whether the number of suicides had gone up or come down after introduction of these measures. To which, the officers admitted that the number had gone up.Following this, the bench asked the government to find out the reasons for this.The court took up the issue in response to media reports that over 600 farmers committed suicide in Maharashtra in 2015. But the government pleader Abhinandan Vagyani informed that the number was in fact 1,000.The court also suggested that the government may promote collective farming as a solution, especially for the farmers with small land-holding who are unable to recover the input cost.UNI AAA SS AJ 2305 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0171-550911.Xml
Dr Rakesh K Jain hails from Uttar Pradeshs Lalitpur District and has authored two books on cancer. His research focusses on conveying medicine to cancer-affected cells. Dr Jain emigrated about four decades back, his younger sibling C K Jain, who was associated with establishment of the Bharat Oman Oil Refinery Ltd in Sagar Districts Agasod, told UNI today.

After completing his schooling in Lalitpur, Dr Jain went on to earn a Master of Technology degree from the Kanpur-based Indian Institute of Technology.

He possesses a doctorate from Columbia University. Dr Jain donned the mantle of professor of chemical and biochemical engineering in New York.

He is serving as Professor of Radiation Oncology at a Boston-based institution.UNI PKJ-AC PY GC2328

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Forest Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar yesterday met the Baba and sought his help in promoting forest products such as honey and medicinal herbs, among others.

''The Maharashtra government is sending officials to negotiate with Babas Patanjali firm in Hardwar next week,'' the minister had announced in a release yesterday.

Talking to mediapersons here, NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik objected to all this and said the state government should let many reputed Ayurveda companies such as Dabur and Himalaya, which are in business since past hundred years, to use the forest land and products for manufacture of Ayurvedic products instead of Patanjali which was started by Yoga Guru only in 2010.

When asked about his reaction to the Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana's demand that madrasas in India should not teach Urdu and Arabic but Hindi and English, Mr Malik scoffed at the Shiv Sena for not knowing that Urdu is in fact an Indian language and demanded that the Chief Minister should clarify governments stand on the issue.

The NCP leader wondered if Sena was interested in banning the sacred book of Islam which is in Arabic language.UNI XR SS AJ GC2336

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Five people, including two former GlaxoSmithKline researchers, were charged with a scheme to steal trade secrets from the British drugmaker for potential sale in China, according to indictments announced by the US Attorney's Office in Philadelphia.The indictments include charges of conspiracy to steal trade secrets, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, theft of trade secrets, and wire fraud.The stolen information on drugs for cancer and other serious diseases "potentially could be sold for millions of dollars to rival pharmaceutical companies and it would also be useful information for a start-up pharmaceutical company," the complaint said yesterday.The alleged conspirators established three corporations in China, all using the name Renopharma, to sell the stolen information that could be used to reproduce Glaxo products and drugs in development, to competitors in China, according to the complaint.One of the five, Yu Xue, was a senior-level manager and biotechnology expert at a Glaxo research facility in Pennsylvania with access to a wide array of secret information. She was fired Jan. 6, Glaxo said.She is accused of sending confidential information related to a dozen or more products to fellow "conspirators and others," and also downloading a substantial amount of Glaxo intellectual property to pass along as part of the alleged scheme.A motion aimed at keeping Yu Xue detained that was filed earlier this month said she "stole millions, perhaps billions, of dollars' worth of trade secret and other confidential information from her employer, GlaxoSmithKline, to resell in China.""Ms. Xue denies these allegations. She has pled not guilty and intends to contest these charges vigorously in court," her attorney Peter Zeidenberg of Arent Fox said in an emailed statement.The others named were Lucy Xi, a Glaxo scientist who left the company in November, Tao Li, Yan Mei and Tian Xue, who is Yu Xue's twin sister. The sister was used to hide proceeds of the crime, according to the complaint.Mei is still being sought by authorities. Tao Li remains in custody, while the other three were arrested and released on bail, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's office said.Glaxo said it has been cooperating with authorities. "We do not believe the breach has had any material impact on the company's business or R&D activity," it said in a statement.The alleged crimes took place between Jan. 1, 2012 and Dec. 28, 2015, the complaint said.REUTERS KU 0424 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0348-549175.Xml
The head of a New York-based foundation pleaded guilty to participating in a scheme to bribe a former UN General Assembly president to advance various business interests, becoming the second defendant to admit wrongdoing in the case.Sheri Yan, who was Global Sustainability Foundation's chief executive, yesterday pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan to one count of bribery in connection with illicit payments made to John Ashe, the former General Assembly president.Choking back tears, Yan admitted that beginning in 2012, she agreed with others to pay money to Ashe, who was also the U.N. ambassador from Antigua and Barbuda, to influence officials in Antigua and the United Nations to support business interests."While I was doing these things, I knew that they were wrong," Yan said through a Mandarin interpreter.The plea by Yan, 60, a U.S. citizen, comes less than a week after the former finance director at the foundation, Heidi Hong Piao, pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with authorities in their continuing investigation.Both women were arrested in October by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as prosecutors unveiled charges over a multi-year scheme to pay more than 1.3 million dollar in bribes to Ashe.Unlike Piao, though, Yan's plea came without any agreement to cooperate with authorities. Under a plea agreement, Yan, who also is known as Shiwei Yan, agreed not to appeal any sentence of 7-1/4 years in prison. Her sentencing is set for April 29.Prosecutors allege that Ashe, the U.N. General Assembly president from 2013 to 2014, accepted 1.3 million dollar of bribes from Chinese businessmen to support their interests within the United Nations and Antigua.Those bribes included over 800,000 dollar from three businessmen that were arranged through Yan and Piao, prosecutors said.In court, Yan said she and others paid Ashe to persuade officials in Antigua to enter into contracts with foreign companies, and to use his U.N. position help her and others promote business ventures from which we intended to profit.Prosecutors have also charged Ng Lap Seng, a billionaire developer from the Chinese territory of Macau who allegedly paid 500,000 dollar in bribes to Ashe through intermediaries.Those intermediaries included Francis Lorenzo, a now-suspended deputy UN ambassador from the Dominican Republic, and Jeff Yin, Ng's assistant, prosecutors said.Ashe, Lorenzo, Ng and Yin have pleaded not guilty.Ashe, 61, has only been charged with tax fraud, as prosecutors have said diplomatic immunity may preclude any bribery charges. But prosecutors have said they were examining the issue and likely would bring further charges.A lawyer for Ashe did not immediately respond to a request for comment. REUTERS KU RK0635 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0348-549177.Xml
"The Prime Minister of Pakistan appreciates the sentiment expressed by the Prime Minister of India with regard to the tragic and cowardly terrorist attack against the innocent students and faculty members of the Bacha Khan University in Charsadda," Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

"Strongly condemn the terror attack at Bacha Khan University in Pakistan. Condolences to families of the deceased. Prayers with the injured," Prime Minister Modi had said in a tweet.

This incident is yet another reminder that terrorism is our common enemy and a cooperative approach is essential to eliminate it from the region, the Foreign Ministry added.

At least 21 people were killed and 30 injured in yesterday's attack.

Four suspected attackers also died in a battle that lasted nearly three hours at Bacha Khan University in Charsadda. (ANI)
The ease with which three separate groups of ethnic Uighur militants sneaked into Indonesia is ringing alarm bells for security forces, who are on high alert for a far deadlier attack than last week's assault on Jakarta.At least 10 Uighurs, who hail from China, arrived in the world's most populous Muslim nation over the last 18 months to join Islamist radicals, exposing an extensive support network ready to welcome wannabe jihadis.Police fear the same network could assist in the return of battle-hardened Indonesian Islamic State fighters from Syria, who could then launch more calculated attacks, similar to that which hit Paris last November.Indonesia's sprawling archipelago of 18,000 islands is too vast to control the movements of militants, drug smugglers, human traffickers and refugees, police say."There is enough security at the main entry points," the country's police chief, Badrodin Haiti, told Reuters. "But there are more traditional points for entering illegally, where usually fishermen bring people in."With around 500 Indonesians taking one-way trips to join Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, authorities had not considered the Southeast Asian nation's porous border to be a pressing security issue until recently.But last month's arrest of an Uighur individual, Ali Mehmet, after police found bomb-making equipment in a house in a Jakarta suburb, spotlighted how easy it is for people to be smuggled into Indonesia.Uighurs come from Xinjiang in far western China, a region Beijing says is home to Islamist militants and separatists.Jakarta says it is working with China to stem the flow of Uighur militants, who police say are responding to a call by Santoso, Indonesia's most high-profile backer of Islamic State, to join his band of fighters.UNDERGROUND NETWORKFishermen from the Indonesian island of Batam, an area notorious for trafficking, were suspected of helping Mehmet to cross over from neighbouring Malaysia, his lawyer, Asludin Hatjani, told Reuters."Clearly they communicate with people here before arriving, mainly via Whatsapp," he said, referring to a social media application widespread on mobile telephones.Using the underground support network, the former bread vendor made his way to the Jakarta suburb where, authorities believe, he and his housemates plotted an attack on the capital."It is clear from the police evidence that Mehmet was caught living in a house where there were bomb-making materials and he was with people related to the plan," Hatjani said.Mehmet was innocent, however, he said, adding that his client had been at the wrong place at the wrong time. "As his lawyer, I can say that he was here for tourism purposes and stress relief after getting divorced from his wife."But police suspect Mehmet was one of several militants, including the four Indonesians who launched last week's Jakarta attack, who received funding from Islamic State members in Syria.Two more Uighurs were arrested this month after police found bomb-making equipment at their house.Police say they are starting to identify network members who are in jail or on the run. But with at least 1,000 supporters of Islamic State in Indonesia, experts say fighters returning from Syria could receive ample help."The network of Islamic State sympathizers is quite widespread and they are believed to be in several locations," said Jakarta-based terrorism expert Rakyan Adibrata, who advises parliament.Authorities want to prevent a rerun of history.In the 1980s and early 1990s, Indonesians and Malaysians returning from battling the Soviet Union in Afghanistan formed the transnational group Jemaah Islamiyah, which was responsible for the 2002 Bali bombings that killed more than 200 people.In response to the Jakarta assault, which killed eight people, including the four attackers, Indonesian President Joko Widodo agreed to new rules allowing security forces to arrest returning Islamic State fighters.But spotting them on their return home remains the problem."In any given place, there can be hundreds of points of entry," Haiti said.REUTERS DS CS1349 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0177-549534.Xml
Indonesia kicked off construction of its first fast-train railway line today amid concerns over the environmental and safety aspects of one of the country's biggest infrastructure projects.The 5.5 billion dollars link between Jakarta and Bandung to the southeast is a flagship project for President Joko Widodo, whose infrastructure investment plans have floundered in red tape and an economy growing at its slowest pace since the global financial crisis.The central government has in recent months tried to slash bureaucracy and restore investor confidence in Southeast Asia's biggest economy through a series of stimulus measures.But its insistence on breaking ground as soon as possible on the 150-km rail line has raised concerns that economic development may be coming at the expense of the environment and safety."What's most important is to mitigate the risk of disasters (like landslides)," San Afri Awang, an official at the environment ministry, told Kompas newspaper yesterday."If that hasn't been sorted out, then we don't want to proceed carelessly. We must maintain quality."Environment Minister Siti Nurbaya said the government would invite public opinion on the project even as construction got under way."The principles of proper governance will be followed, but the policy of building railways must also go ahead," Nurbaya told reporters.An executive of a company involved in building the railway said environmental and safety issues had been addressed."It's already done," Bintang Perbowo, CEO of Wijaya Karya , told reporters. "It's impossible that the president would inaugurate it if not."Indonesia awarded the project to China last year after a contentious race with Japan, which was also vying for what analysts say could be the first of many rail lines of its kind in the region.The high-profile contract was a victory in Southeast Asia for Chinese President Xi Jinping's "One Belt One Road" initiative to build a network of ports, trains and expressways to help expand trade, investment and influence in the region.The Chinese-led consortium hopes to finish the Jakarta-Bandung line by 2019.REUTERS SHS CS1502 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0329-549723.Xml
Japanese Economics Minister Akira Amari said today he will investigate accusations that he and his aides took bribes from a construction company but that he was confident he had not done anything wrong.The magazine Shukan Bunshun published an article today accusing Amari and his aides of accepting money from a construction company in exchange for helping that company receive government compensation for disputes over land ownership and waste removal at a public works site.The publication said an official at an unnamed construction company admitted passing 12 million yen (102,960.10 dollars) to Amari and his aides who then allegedly helped the company negotiate with the Urban Renaissance Agency, a government-affiliated property developer, to settle the claims. One of the aides was identified as Kenichi Kiyoshima, the article asserted.Reuters could not independently verify the claims in the article. In response to questions from Reuters, Amari's office said Kiyoshima was not available and declined to comment further. A spokesman for the Urban Renaissance Agency told Reuters it was investigating the matter but did not consider the settlements to be a case of influence peddling."It is true that the president of the company in question visited my office, but my memory is a little vague about what actually happened," Amari said today when asked in parliament whether he accepted cash."I want to thoroughly investigate and explain what happened."Amari also told lawmakers that he is confident he has done nothing wrong and that he did not order his aides to negotiate on behalf of the construction company.Amari is an important member of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet and has played a central role in guiding economic policy and negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement.Abe said in parliament today he was sure Amari would explain the situation.A political funding scandal with criminal implications has potential to create complication for Abe's economic agenda and could destabilise the cabinet.Funding scandals feature regularly in Japanese politics and led to the resignation of Abe's economics and trade minister and his justice minister in 2014.Abe's first cabinet in 2006-07 was also battered by scandals among his cabinet ministers, a factor that led to his shortened tenure.When asked on Wednesday about the Bunshun story by reporters who had obtained a copy of the article before publication, Amari said he has not discussed resigning with Abe and that he would travel as scheduled to Switzerland for the World Economic Forum this weekend.The possibility of a political funds scandal comes at a sensitive time for Japan, because a global stock market sell-off and a rising yen has raised concerns that Japan's economic outlook will weaken."There's no denying that Amari is the inner circle, the constant guy. You don't want cracks, you don't want scandals, you want consistency," said Jesper Koll, CEO of WisdomTree Japan KK, provider of exchange-traded funds.REUTERS SHS AS1522 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0329-549767.Xml
Eighteen people have died from H1N1 swine flu in Armenia in the last two months, the country's health ministry said today, but it said there was no risk of a mass outbreak.It said on January 13 that 10 people had died of swine flu in the same period, but today said the toll had now risen to 18. The ministry said the deaths did not amount to an epidemic.Separately, neighbouring Georgia said today that swine flu had killed three people so far this year."In January 2016, three death cases caused by the H1N1 virus were confirmed by laboratory tests," Amiran Gamkrelidze, head of the country's National Centre for Disease Control and Public Health, said.He told reporters all three victims had been male citizens from western Georgia. Doctors in both countries said the patients who died had complications and had sought medical assistance far too late.REUTERS SHS AS1541 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0329-549815.Xml
The US-led coalition staged 16 strikes in Iraq and Syria targeting the against Islamic State militant group, the Combined Joint Task Force leading the operations said. In a statement released today, the coalition said 15 strikes in Iraq centered on seven cities and destroyed 14 of the militants' fighting positions in Sinjar. The strikes also hit multiple tactical units and destroyed several weapons caches, the coalition said. One strike in Dayr Ar Zawr, Syria, hit four of the militants' cranes, according to the statement. REUTERS SHS NS1824 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0329-550314.Xml
Guinea said today it had arrested a death row fugitive with links to al Qaeda near the border with Guinea Bissau and sent him back to Mauritania.The case underscores the weakness of border controls in the fragile West African region amid fears of further attacks in major cities after al Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) fighters killed 30 people in Burkina Faso last week.During his three weeks on the run, Cheikh Ould Saleck is believed to have travelled about 500 km through three West African countries, before being captured at a checkpoint in Boke in southern Guinea on Tuesday."He came through Senegal, then Guinea Bissau, before arriving in Guinea," said police spokesman Mamadou Alpha Barry. "During questioning it emerged that he was seeking to get to Algeria," he said.Ould Saleck was awaiting execution for his part in an alleged Al Qaeda plot to assassinate Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz when he escaped from prison in Nouakchott on December 31.Mauritanian officials were not immediately available for comment on the case.The governor of Guinea's Boke General Siba Severin Louhalamou said Ould Saleck was accompanied by at least two other men. They initially resisted arrest and fired a gun at a police officer, but there were no injuries.The two accompanying Ould Saleck are thought to be from Guinea Bissau and remain in Guinea for questioning.REUTERS MI NS2000 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0387-550615.Xml
Worsening enmity between rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran is jeopardising peace prospects in Yemen where a nine-month-old war has given Islamist militants a foothold in Riyadh's backyard. Yemen's principal warring factions - fighters loyal to the ousted Saudi-backed Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi who are battling the Iran-allied Houthi militia and loyalists of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh -- held talks last month in Switzerland to try to end a war that has killed some 6,000 people. They were due to meet again on January 14 in a bid to seal a lasting peace. But the Riyadh government cut diplomatic ties with Shi'ite Iran in a row sparked by Saudi Arabia's execution of Saudi Shi'ite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr on January 2. Shortly after the row in which the Saudi embassy in Tehran was stormed, the UN brokered talks between the two opposing sides were postponed, with no clear date set to resume. Saudi Arabia, a conservative Sunni Muslim monarchy, sees revolutionary Iran as the paramount threat to the Middle East's stability, because of its support for Shi'ite militias that Riyadh says have inflamed sectarian violence. For the Al Saud dynasty, the recent nuclear deal was a double blow, freeing Iran from sanctions it believed helped check its regional ambitions and raising the spectre of better ties between Tehran and Washington, Riyadh's ally. While Yemen's government has long been mired in conflict with Islamist militants, secessionists and tribal fighters, its war coincides with unprecedented turmoil in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia's campaign in Yemen marks the first time it has openly confronted what it sees as Iranian regional expansionism. As long as the war rages in Yemen, there is more space for militants to gain territory as they exploit the security vacuum. Islamic State and al Qaeda have both emerged in Yemeni regions where they had not previously been present before Saudi Arabia entered the conflict and a Saudi-led coalition began bombing the Houthis in March 2015. Saudi Arabia and Iran blame each other for Yemen's conflict, further embittering a regional rivalry between the two nations being played out from Syria to Iraq and Lebanon to Bahrain. "The situation in the region will probably harden the Saudis' position against the Houthis - who they view as Iranian proxies," said April Longley Alley, senior Arabian Peninsula analyst for the International Crisis Group. In turn, she said, that could empower "more messianic trends within the Houthi movement that see events in the region as the beginning of the end for the Saudi monarchy". "EXISTENTIAL NECESSITY" FOR SAUDI On the battlefield in Yemen the struggle is deadlocked. Despite Saudi-led air strikes, the Houthis firmly control Sanaa. Hadi's fighters, backed by mostly Emirati and Saudi forces, have taken control of the now de facto capital - the southern port city of Aden. A senior diplomat following Yemen said that for the Saudis, the success of the Yemen war was "an existential necessity." "From what I see on the ground, the Houthis and Saleh are losing more and more, but there are limits to that. The Houthis are invincible in the north," he said, adding this means the likelihood that either side will stop fighting is unlikely. The United States, which backs the UN sponsored peace talks, is a major supplier of weapons to Saudi Arabia and US officials say intelligence-sharing with Riyadh about potential targets in Yemen has been boosted since March. Coinciding with Saudi Arabia's cutting ties with Iran, the Saudi-led coalition intensified air strikes on Houthi positions. Days after the break-off, Tehran accused Saudi Arabia of bombing its embassy in Yemen's capital of Sanaa, an accusation vigorously denied by Riyadh. Eyewitnesses and residents on the ground also said there was no damage to the embassy. Pro-Saudi commentators suspected Iran aired the accusation to divert attention from the attack on Riyadh's embassy in Tehran by protesters enraged at the Shi'ite cleric's execution. The clash showed just how quickly rhetoric from the marbled offices in Tehran and Riyadh plays out on the ground in Yemen, stiffening positions among proxies and halting progress in ending a war that has displaced tens of thousands. Mokhtar al-Rahbi, Hadi's press secretary, told Reuters the attacks on the Saudi mission had served to harden the views of Sunni Gulf Arab countries, many of whom downgraded their ties in some manner with Iran, against the government in Tehran. Iran will find itself solitary, fighting everyone and this will reflect on the Yemen crisis because Iran will now have to give some concessions in Yemen ... in return for some flexibility in the positions of Gulf countries." Rahbi also blamed Iran for the failure of the UN brokered peace talks to bear fruit, because the Houthis had "procrastinated" on carrying out key demands. The latest round of talks in December took place amid a precarious and widely violated truce. LOW PRIORITY FOR IRAN Iran's strategic stake in Yemen is less than in Syria where it is President Bashar al-Assad's only regional supporter and in Iraq, where it maintains close ideological ties to the Shi'ite-led government. But Saudi observers are convinced of Iran's commitment to its allies in Yemen. Many cite remarks by one Iranian official who applauded what he referred to as Iran's control over four Arab capitals - Beirut, Damascus, Baghdad and Sanaa as proof of what they see as Iran's dangerous designs on Yemen. "It is so dangerous for Saudi Arabia, even internally, to accept Iranian hegemony over Yemen or Syria so the price is already high for Saudi Arabia," said prominent Saudi political commentator Jamal Khashoggi. Unlike the conflicts in Syria, where Iran has sent fighters from its elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and in Iraq, where IRGC advisers work alongside Shi'ite Iraqi militias fighting Islamic State, the extent and robustness of Iran's support to the Houthis is more murky. But Alley, of ICG, says Iran has made "a very small investment in the Houthis and reaped a large political return". "Ironically, the conflict is encouraging the very relationship that Saudi Arabia fears, pushing the Houthis more into the Iranian camp, despite Tehran's reluctance to get more deeply involved," Alley said. Ali Fathollah-Nejad, an Iran expert at the German Council on Foreign Relations, says that while Iran could play a positive role in moderating "perhaps" a few forces in Yemen, its role there had been exaggerated to justify Riyadh's intervention. Some speculate that the Yemen war may one day turn into a pawn to be traded in the region's larger struggle for power. "To the extent Iran has a strategy in Yemen I suspect they will want Riyadh to concede Syria and Iraq to Iran, in exchange for Iran abandoning its support for the Houthis," says Karim Sadjadpour, a Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. One Western diplomat involved in regional diplomacy believes resolving the Yemen crisis depends on progress in Syria. "If there is serious decisive action in Syria -- a political process accompanied by conflict on the ground or vice versa -- Saudi and allies will want to get rid of Yemen more quickly, in order to be able to focus on Syria," the diplomat said.REUTERS MI AN2020 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0387-550695.Xml
China signed investment and aid deals worth billions of dollars with Egypt during a visit by President Xi Jinping today and expressed support for Cairo's efforts to maintain stability, which have included a tough crackdown on dissent. Xi arrived in Egypt on Wednesday on the second leg of a Middle East tour that signals China's push for greater influence in a region that provides vital oil supplies. The visit falls days ahead of the January 25 anniversary of the 2011 uprising that ended Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule and is seen in Egypt as a vote of confidence in President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's administration, despite widespread criticism of its human rights record. Xi praised Egypt's efforts to strengthen its economy during talks with Sisi, who has warned his critics not to hold protests to mark the anniversary on Monday of Mubarak's overthrow. "China supports Egypt's efforts to maintain stability, develop the economy and improve livelihoods, and supports Egypt to play an even greater role in international and regional affairs," Xi said, according to China's foreign ministry. Heralding a new era of closer political and economic ties, officials from the two countries signed 21 deals at a ceremony in Cairo that could see China significantly ramp up investments in the most populous Arab country. The deals span several development and infrastructure investments, including the first phase of a new Egyptian administrative capital unveiled last year. They also include a 1 billion dollar financing agreement for Egypt's central bank and a 700 million dollar loan to state-owned National Bank of Egypt. As military chief, Sisi ousted Egypt's first democratically elected president, Mohamed Mursi, in 2013 after mass protests and launched a campaign to crush Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood, the country's oldest Islamist movement. In doing this he won the backing of wealthy Gulf Arab countries who oppose the group. Since then Egypt has largely relied on billions of dollars in aid from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to keep its economy afloat, but an oil price slump has raised doubts over whether the OPEC producers can maintain strong support. BILLIONS IN INVESTMENTS Speaking at a news conference with Sisi, Xi said 32 Chinese companies were now working in the Suez Canal economic zone, investing more than 400 million dollar and these figures would rise to 100 firms and 2.5 billion dollar with the next phase of the project. China and Egypt are also planning 15 projects in electricity, infrastructure and transport with investments that could total 15 billion dollar, Xi said, adding that the efforts should give a new boost to economic growth in Egypt. Egypt has struggled to restore growth since the 2011 uprising ushered in a period of political instability that scared off tourists and foreign investors, key earners of foreign currency. China's 1 billion dollar central bank loan could help bolster foreign reserves, which have more than halved since 2011 as it battles to defend the currency against downward pressure, while longer-term investments could help create much-needed jobs. Mindful that economic discontent helped to unseat two presidents in the last five years, Egyptian security forces have arrested several activists and shut down cultural spaces in recent weeks to prevent protests as the anniversary approaches. Sisi, who visited China in 2014, said economic and military cooperation had developed quickly to reach unprecedented levels. "We discussed in our consultations the need to redouble our common efforts in various bilateral and international areas to combat the danger of terrorism and extremism," Sisi said. Xi arrived in Egypt from Saudi Arabia and will head next to Iran. While Xi was in Riyadh, China signalled its support for Yemen's government, which is fighting an Iran-allied militia, and repeated a call for a peaceful settlement in Syria. China, the world's second biggest economy, relies on the Middle East for oil but has tended to leave regional diplomacy to the other four permanent members of the UN Security Council -- the United States, Britain, France and Russia. However, it has been trying to get more involved, especially in Syria, however, and recently hosted Syria's foreign minister and opposition officials.REUTERS MI AN2108 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0387-550821.Xml
Islamic State militants set fire today to oil storage tanks in a fresh assault on Libya's Ras Lanuf terminal and the group threatened further attacks. The militants drove into the oil storage farm early in the morning and clashed with Petroleum Facilities Guards before retreating and firing from a distance to set four tanks on fire, National Oil Corporation (NOC) spokesman Mohamed al-Harari said. A pipeline leading from the Amal oil field to the Es Sider terminal was also targeted, said Mohamed al-Manfi, an energy official allied with Libya's eastern-based government. Islamic State fighter Abu Abdelrahman al-Liby said in a video posted on the group's official Telegram channel: "Today Es Sider port and Ras Lanuf and tomorrow the port of Brega and after the ports of Tobruk, Es Serir, Jallo, and al-Kufra." Ras Lanuf and the nearby terminal of Es Sider, both of which have been closed since December 2014, had been targeted by militants earlier this month. The NOC said the area was facing an "environmental catastrophe", with huge columns of smoke billowing from the fires and damage to power lines supplying residential and industrial districts. "Residents are trying to build a barrier to stop the oil and fire from reaching gas pipelines and water pipelines, and the main road," the NOC's Harari said. Libya has become deeply divided since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, with political and armed factions competing for power and for the country's oil wealth. Since the summer of 2014 it has two rival governments and parliaments, operating from the capital Tripoli and from the east. Islamic State militants have taken advantage of the security vacuum to establish a foothold in the city of Sirte, which lies about 200 km along the coast to the west of Ras Lanuf and Es Sider. OIL PRODUCTION DISRUPTED NOC Chairman Mustafa Sanalla told reporters in Tripoli that the Ras Lanuf terminal would remain shut for a "long time" because of damage from today's and earlier attacks. Libya's current oil production stands at 362,000 barrels per day, he told Reuters. That is less than a quarter of a 2011 high of 1.6 million barrels per day, though production has not changed significantly in recent weeks. Clashes between Petroleum Facilities Guards and Islamic State two weeks ago near Es Sider and Ras Lanuf left seven oil storage tanks damaged by fire and at least 18 guards dead. At least 1.3 million barrels of oil were lost as a result of this month's clashes and up to 3 million barrels could be at risk because of the latest attack, said NOC spokesman Harari. Two weeks ago, the NOC sent a tanker to remove oil from the terminals in an effort to prevent further damage, but guards prevented it from loading, citing security concerns. The NOC said on Thursday the "intransigence" of the guards had prevented it from avoiding further damage caused by the latest attack. REUTERS MI BD2108 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0387-550832.Xml
Stuck with 15 of his students on a third floor balcony of a campus building as gunmen came up the stairs, university director Mohammad Shakil urged Pakistani police arriving at the scene to toss him up a gun so he could shoot back. "We were hiding ... but were unarmed," Shakil told Reuters, speaking after four Islamist militants attacked Bacha Khan University in Pakistan's troubled northwest on yeterday, killing more than 20 people. "I was worried about the students, and then one of the militants came after us," Shakil added. "After repeated requests, the police threw me a pistol and I fired some shots at the terrorists." As more details of yesterday's assault emerged, attention focused on at least two members of staff who took up arms to resist attackers bent on killing them and their students. Some hailed them as heroes, as the country digested an attack which bore similarities to the massacre, in late 2014, of 134 pupils at an army-run school in Peshawar, about 30 km from where this week's violence occurred. Others questioned whether teachers should be armed, as many are, because it goes against the ideals of the profession. Such a dilemma may have been far from the mind of chemistry professor Hamid Hussain, as he locked himself inside a room with colleagues after gunmen stormed an accommodation block on the university campus. When the assailants broke down the door, Hussain fired several rounds from his pistol, according to Shabir Ahmad Khan, an English department lecturer taking cover in an adjacent washroom. "They carried on heavy shooting and I was preparing myself for death, but then they did not enter the washroom and left," Khan recalled. Later on in the same building, Hussain fired again at the militants to allow some of his students to get away, surviving pupils told local media. Hussain was subsequently shot and later died from his wounds. "Kudos to professor Dr Hamid Hussain. Our hero fought bravely n saved many," Asma Shirazi, a popular talk show host, said on Twitter. TEACHERS' DILEMMA Others, too, have credited the actions of Hussain and Shakil with helping to prevent the gunmen, armed with assault rifles and hand grenades, from spilling more blood. Bacha Khan University also employed around 50 of its own guards who, witnesses said, fought for close to an hour to keep the gunmen isolated and prevent them from entering the girl's hostel as the police and army arrived. Pakistan army spokesman General Asim Bajwa said the security guards responded "very well" to the attack before reinforcements reached them. In the wake of the 2014 school massacre, teachers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where Peshawar is located, were offered weapons training. Yet some are wary of arming teachers and encouraging them to engage in battle. Gun ownership is common in Pakistan, owing to liberal licensing laws, and particularly so in the semi-autonomous tribal belt near the Afghan border where the threat of militant violence is high. Jamil Chitrali, president of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa University Teaching Staff Association, said more teachers were now carrying personal weapons, as security had worsened. "Arms are against the norms of my profession," he said. "I am teaching principles and morality in the class. How I can carry a gun?" WHO IS TO BLAME? Four gunmen, all since killed, were involved in yesterday's attack, officials said. They used the cover of thick fog to scale the campus' rear walls, before storming student dormitories and classrooms and executing people at will. Some 3,000 students were enrolled at the university, many living on campus, while hundreds of visitors had arrived to hear a poetry recital to commemorate the life of local Pashtun nationalist hero and pacifist Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, after whom the university is named. The provincial government declared a day of mourning today as grieving families buried their dead and survivors recalled their ordeal. Who was to blame remains a mystery. A senior commander of the Pakistan Taliban, Umar Mansoor, on Wednesday claimed responsibility, but an official spokesman for the group later denied involvement, calling the attack "un-Islamic". The hardline Islamist movement was believed to be behind the school massacre just over a year ago, and educational institutions are an increasingly common target for militants wanting to frighten the public. Pakistan has killed and arrested hundreds of suspected Taliban militants in the last year under a major crackdown against a group fighting to overthrow the government and install a strict interpretation of Islamic law. The army said today the attack in Charsadda, near Peshawar, was coordinated from across the border inside Afghanistan, according to its investigations. Army chief General Raheel Sharif has called Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and the US commander of international forces in Afghanistan to ask their help in locating those it holds responsible for the assault, army spokesman Bajwa said on Twitter.REUTERS MI AN2201 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0387-550900.Xml
Barcelona defender Javier Mascherano accepted a one-year prison sentence for tax evasion today as part of a plea bargain, Spanish media reported, although he is unlikely to serve time in jail. Mascherano, 31, an Argentina international who joined Barca in August 2010, pleaded guilty last year to defrauding the Spanish tax authorities of more than 1.5 million euros by concealing earnings from his image rights by using companies set up in the United States and Portugal. During a brief appearance in court today, he agreed to pay an 800,000 euro (870,000 dollar) fine and cover the legal costs, the newspaper El Pais reported. Sentences shorter than two years are not usually enforced in Spain. REUTERS MI AN2158 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0387-550904.Xml
Britain's judge-led inquiry into the murder of ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko may further "poison" ties between Moscow and London, Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, told reporters today. Peskov was speaking after the inquiry concluded President Vladimir Putin probably approved a 2006 Russian intelligence operation to kill Litvinenko with radioactive polonium-210 in London. Peskov said Russia would give "all necessary answers via diplomatic channels." "Such quasi investigations like the one we are talking about today are capable of further poisoning the atmosphere of our bilateral ties," said Peskov. REUTERS MI AN2308 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0387-550947.Xml
The al Shabaab commander who masterminded an assault on a Kenyan army base in Somalia last week is believed to have been killed in air raids by Kenyan warplanes, the country's armed forces chief said today. The strikes over the weekend targetted two al Shabaab camps where the militants were hiding, General Samson Mwathethe, head of Kenya Defence Forces, said. "It is believed Mwalimu Janow, the leader of (an al Shabaab) brigade, who led this attack, was killed," Mwathethe told reporters. Al Shabaab, which is aligned with al Qaeda, said its fighters killed more than 100 Kenyan soldiers when they overrun the base in Ceel Cadde, near the Kenyan border, on January15. The Islamist militants also claim to have captured some Kenyan soldiers belonging to an African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia. Kenyan officials have not yet revealed the death toll but newspaper pictures of coffins draped with Kenyan flags bringing back dead soldiers has increased pressure on President Uhuru Kenyatta and his military chiefs. Al Shabaab, which wants to impose a strict version of Islamic law in Somalia, said it has not lost any fighters since Friday's attack. "This is merely propaganda meant to soothe Kenyans' minds after the recent shocking massacre of Kenyan troops," Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab's military spokesman, told Reuters. Al Shabaab yesterday published gruesome photos which purport to show the bullet-riddled bodies of dozens of Kenyan soldiers. Most appear to have been shot in the head. 1998 US EMBASSY BOMBING Mwathethe, providing the first in-depth details about the attack, said al Shabaab struck the base with a truck bomb which was as powerful as the one used by al Qaeda in 1998 to destroy the US Embassy in Nairobi, when more than 200 people were killed. The militants then detonated two more equally strong vehicle bombs and launched a flurry of rocket-propelled grenades while a a wave of suicide bombers surged towards Kenyan positions, Mwathethe said. Kenya immediately launched helicopter search and rescue operations for troops who had fled into the bushes but military reinforcements could not reach the base for two days as al Shabaab possessed anti-aircraft guns, Mwathethe said. The Kenyan military said it was still searching for troops, though it would not comment on how many soldiers were unaccounted for. The main opposition party in Kenya has called for the withdrawal of troops from Somalia but Kenyatta said Kenya was committed to bringing stability to Somalia, a nation ravaged by conflict since civil war broke out in 1991.REUTERS MI AN2310 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0387-550945.Xml
Russia's AIDS epidemic is at a dangerous tipping point after the number of people registered HIV-positive passed the 1 million mark, the country's top AIDS specialist said on Thursday, warning the rate of infection had reached record levels. Russia registered its millionth HIV-positive patient -- a 26-year-old woman in the south of the country -- yesterday, Vadim Pokrovsky, the head of the federal AIDS centre, told Reuters in a phone interview. But he said the real number of HIV-positive Russians could be as high as 1.5 million, or 1 per cent of the population, based on his and other expert estimates. "The epidemic is gathering strength. Unfortunately the measures that have been taken have clearly not been enough," Pokrovsky said. He warned that Russia was "on the threshold" of moving from a concentrated epidemic, where HIV is highly prevalent in one subset of the population, to a generalised epidemic, where HIV rates among the general population are sufficient for sexual networking to drive new infections. "We're in a transitional phase," he said. AIDS, which stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Pokrovsky said 204,000 people had died of HIV in Russia since the first case was recorded in 1987. He expected the number of new cases in 2015 to be at least 93,000, up from just under 90,000 in 2014. That, he said, would be the largest number of new cases since Russia began keeping data almost 30 years ago. The escalation comes as Russia struggles financially, beset by low oil prices, Western sanctions and a falling rouble. It plans to spend 40 billion roubles (475.20 million dollar) on fighting HIV/AIDs in 2016. Pokrovsky said 100 billion roubles was needed. Almost 20 per cent of the country's drug users and nearly 10 per cent of the country's gay people were HIV-positive, he said. More than 1 per cent of the population in at least 10 regions had been recorded as having the virus for over a year. "In separate regions we can say there is already a generalised HIV epidemic," he noted, saying 55-60 perc ent of cases were linked to drug use and around 40 per cent to heterosexual sex. Gay sex accounted for only about 1.5 per cent. Government data shows 24,000 HIV-positive people died in 2014, the last full year for which data is available. Of those, around 12,000 died as a direct result of AIDS. Pokrovsky said the real number who died from AIDS was likely to be higher. He said he expected data for 2015 to show a 5-10 percent increase in the number of deaths.REUTERS MI AN2324 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0387-550963.Xml
The UN Security Council plans to meet with Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza tomorrow to push for peace talks, diplomats said, during its second visit in less than a year to the tiny African state wracked by political violence. The 15-member Security Council arrived in Burundi's lakeside capital Bujumbura today evening for a one day visit. Hundreds of pro-government protesters lined the road from the airport to the hotel housing the diplomats, some drumming and dancing, while others held signs with messages such as: "Burundi is sovereign, stop interfering in Burundi home affairs." Nkurunziza's decision in April to seek a third term in office sparked political unrest after opponents said the move was unconstitutional. He won a disputed election in July, but worsening violence has raised fears the country could slide back into civil war and ignite an ethnic conflict. "The trip by the Security Council could not be coming at a more critical time," said US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power, speaking in New York. "The time for preventative diplomatic measures is now before the situation has spiralled further out of control." The United Nations says at least 439 people have been killed and warns that number could be "considerably higher," while some 232,000 people have fled Burundi. While the Security Council is divided on how to deal with Burundi, Deputy French UN Ambassador Alexis Lamek said the council was unified on the "seriousness and the gravity of the situation." "Burundi is on the brink of a very dangerous crisis ... and it has to be prevented at any cost," Lamek said, speaking in Addis Ababa on his way to Burundi. The violence is being closely watched in a region scarred by the 1994 genocide in neighbouring Rwanda that killed more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus. Burundi and Rwanda have the same ethnic mix - about 85 percent Hutus and 15 percent Tutsis. A 12-year civil war in Burundi, which ended in 2005, pitted a Tutsi-led army against Hutu rebel groups. The Burundi government says there is no risk of return to the ethnic bloodletting of the past. Only one round of peace talks was held in December in Uganda, whose President Yoweri Museveni is mediating. The Burundi government refused to take part in a second round set for Tanzania earlier this month because it blamed some of the participants for recent months of violence. Along with fears of an ethnic conflict, the political unrest has also sparked an economic crisis. Burundi's cabinet passed a 2016 budget that slashes public spending by 16 per cent and expects foreign aid to almost halve as relations with donors have soured during the turmoil. Burundi relies on the European Union for about half its budget and Brussels has partially suspended new aid over the crisis.REUTERS MI AN2345 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0387-550967.Xml
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Pretoria (AFP) - Nearly 1,200 rhinos were killed by poachers in South Africa last year, officials said Thursday, a slight decrease on 2014, but another year of carnage fuelled by Asian-led demand for their horn.

Fewer than 100 rhinos were poached in 2008, since when numbers have rocketed. A record 1,215 were killed in 2014.

The slaughter has been driven by demand for their horn in countries such as China and Vietnam, where they are prized for their purported medicinal properties.

The horn is composed mainly of keratin, the same component as in human nails, but it is sold in powdered form as a supposed cure for cancer and other diseases.

"These numbers are hardly cause for celebration or complacency," said Sabri Zain, director of policy at Traffic, the wildlife trade monitoring group.

"The figures remain unacceptably high, and continent-wide the scale of the rhino poaching crisis is spreading."

Traffic said poaching in neighbouring Zimbabwe and Namibia had increased -- meaning last year was the worst for rhino killed across Africa for decades.

South African Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa admitted the "onslaught against our rhino has continued unabated" but she hailed the toll of 1,175 as a major success.

"We are very pleased to announce that for the first time for a decade the poaching situation has stabilised," she told reporters in Pretoria.

"This is very good news and very good cause for optimism."

Molewa said 317 poachers had been arrested in 2015, up from 258 in 2014.

Many of the armed gangs are based in Mozambique, across the border from the Kruger National Park.

- Legalise trade? -

The soaring price of rhino horn and the poaching crisis has sparked a debate on whether to legalise sales in an attempt to stifle the lucrative black market trade.

Legally dehorning a rhino would see a farm owner put the animal under anaesthesia, then saw off the horn.

A South African judge in November lifted a domestic ban on trade in rhino horn, alarming conservationists.

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The government lost an appeal against the decision this week, but said on Thursday it would go to the Supreme Court of Appeal.

"It is hard to see any positive conservation benefits from lifting the moratorium on domestic trade in rhino horn," Colman O'Criodain, wildlife trade expert at the WWF, said.

"There is no domestic demand for rhino horn in South Africa, so it is inconceivable that anyone would buy it -- unless they intend to sell it abroad illegally or they are speculating that international trade will be legalised."

The case, bought by two game breeders, came ahead of a meeting in Johannesburg in September of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which could lift the global ban.

"Every rhino horn we cut off, the rhino stays alive, whereas every single rhino that poachers take the horns from is killed," Izak du Toit, a lawyer for the game breeders, told AFP.

"This is simply a legal alternative to the current illegal killing of animals."

Some experts believe the real figures on poaching deaths are far higher as many carcasses are never recovered.

South Africa is said to be home to around 20,000 rhinos, some 80 percent of the worldwide population.
Know when it's time to go.

When it comes to your career, the cliche that "quitters never win" doesn't always hold water. Quitting your job may help you revitalize your career, earn a fatter paycheck or escape an unhealthy environment. Here's how to determine when it's time make your exit.

1. Work stress is harming your health.

If the thought of heading to work each day is taking a toll on your mental and physical well-being, it may be time to call it quits. Warning signs may include weight gain, trouble sleeping and nausea before you start your week.

2. You'd hate to have your boss's job.

If your boss's job sounds like a soul-crushing, mind-numbing express ticket to Sellout-ville, then you may be at the wrong company -- or even in the wrong industry. It's time to re-examine what you want out of your career and consider moving to a new job.

3. Your boss is a bully.

A boss who teases you about characteristics you can't change, aggressively manages you or doesn't give you the credit you deserve is a bully. Talking to your manager or human resources about the problem may remedy it. If that's not an option, or it doesn't work, it may be time to put in your two weeks' notice.

4. You have a game plan.

If you have another job lined up, or sufficient savings to get through a period of unemployment, it could be the right time to exit an unhappy work situation. Quitting a job without a plan can be risky for your finances and your career.

5. You're woefully underpaid.

If you're making peanuts -- and struggling to get substantial raises -- heading to a new company may give you a chance to negotiate a higher salary.

6. Your life is changing.

If you're moving across the country, starting a family or heading back to school, quitting your job may be necessary to keep your personal life moving forward.

7. You're thinking rationally.

Don't quit to "show them" or because you had a bad month. Take a few weeks, at the very least, to think about the long-term effects and challenges of leaving your current gig. Then, make a rational decision that works best for you and your family.

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8. You've put in the time.

A resume filled with short-term jobs, lasting less than two years, is a red flag to many employers. Make sure you've put in the time before jumping ship.

9. There aren't quick fixes to your work problems.

Sometimes an honest talk with your boss or the human resources department will remedy a bad situation. For example, if you're overwhelmed, a chat with your manager may result in getting a few tasks moved off your plate. But when discussing the problem won't help, it could be time to head for an exit.

10. Your job is in jeopardy.

If it looks like you're about to become another casualty in a companywide layoff, looking for another job is crucial. Same goes if you suspect that you might get fired for other reasons, like poor performance.

Susannah Snider is the Careers editor at U.S. News. She previously covered paying for college and graduate school. You can follow her on Twitter or email her at ssnider@usnews.com.
By Ayla Jean Yackley ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Security operations in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast have put up to 200,000 people at risk, placing them in the crossfire or cutting them off from emergency and basic services such as water, rights group Amnesty International said on Thursday. Round-the-clock curfews amid clashes between security forces and the armed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) have confined people indoors, even forcing some to live with the corpses of dead relatives, for days, it said in a report. Authorities say the curfews are aimed at protecting civilians amid near-daily clashes. "Turkey has never taken an approach that would endanger the lives of innocent citizens," a senior official said on condition of anonymity in response to Amnesty's report. "This is a struggle against a terrorist organisation that harms everyone in the region and is responsible for the deaths of many people, primarily security forces." Violence is at its worst in two decades after a 31-year insurgency reignited in July. Since then, more than 150 civilians, as well as hundreds of soldiers and PKK fighters, have been killed, Amnesty and government officials say. Operations intensified last month in Cizre and Silopi towns and the Sur district of Diyarbakir, the largest city in the region. "Among those killed were young children, women and elderly people, who are very unlikely to have been involved in clashes with security forces," London-based Amnesty's report said, adding authorities had blocked observers from visiting areas under curfew. "Crippling curfews that do not allow people to leave their houses at all have been in place for more than a month, effectively laying siege to entire neighbourhoods," John Dalhuisen, an Amnesty director, said in the report. PEACE TALKS DERAILED The clampdown in a half-dozen towns in the southeast, home to most of Turkey's 15 million Kurds, is aimed at rooting out militants who have dug trenches and built barricades in a bid to declare autonomy in urban areas. The clashes spelled the end to a ceasefire and peace talks seen as the best chance yet of ending the conflict that has killed 40,000 people since 1984. President Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday ruled out re-opening talks with parliament's Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), which has Kurdish roots and had played a role in the last effort. "We don't have a road plan in front of us. Those with guns in their hands and those who support them will pay the price of treason," Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara. On Wednesday, 33 PKK militants were killed in three towns, while a soldier was killed and seven wounded in Diyarbakir, the region's biggest city, the army said. Amnesty accused Turkey's Western partners of failing to speak out against the measures because of the NATO member's role fighting Islamic State in neighbouring Syria and hosting war refugees. Turkey shelters 2.2 million Syrian refugees and has agreed with the EU to do more to stop their exodus to Europe. European Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn on Wednesday called for "an immediate ceasefire and an urgent return to the Kurdish peace process" at the European Parliament, according to a transcript of his speech. The PKK is considered a terrorist organisation by the European Union and the United States as well as Turkey. (Additional reporting by Orhan Coskun and Seyhmus Cakan; Editing by Nick Tattersall)
Tiffany and Clem Clay always wanted the best college education possible for their children. That the Massachusetts couple now has six children between them -- three from Tiffany's prior marriage and three from Clem's -- doesn't change that. But their divorces and remarriage make navigating the financial aid process harder.

"There must be lots of people who just throw up their hands and wait to see what kind of aid package comes back," says Clem, who is the executive director of a sustainable food nonprofit. "But the risk is you have to live with those numbers."

The hard work paid off for the Clays. They currently have five children in college, attending private schools in their home state as well as the District of Columbia, New York and Minnesota. The sixth child is 12 years old and has some time before applications are due.

Here are four money-saving, sanity-enhancing tips for families with divorce situations who are navigating the financial aid process.

1. Understand that "custody" and "parent" may have new meanings: The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, asks who is the custodial parent. That's a loaded question, says Clem.

"'Custody' is not the legal meaning, not the tax meaning," he says. "If I am determined the custodial parent, my ex might get upset and say 'What do you mean I am not custodial?!' They should use a different word."

For the purposes of the FAFSA, custody is determined by which parent the student lived with the most in the past 365 days. If it is exactly equal, there is another test for which household provided more financial support in the past year. "But that guidance is very ambiguous," says Clay.

Also, the form asks for information on Parent 1, the custodial parent, and Parent 2.

"If I would have put my kid in front of that form they would have said, 'Parent 2, that's my dad, right?'" says Tiffany Clay. "No. Parent 2 is my husband!"

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2. Provide financial information -- but don't overshare: One common pitfall for families with multiple households is listing everyone's financial information: mom, dad, stepdad, stepmom.

That can be a costly mistake, says Scott Weingold, managing director of the College Planning Network, college admissions and funding advisers based in Cleveland.

"You may be over-reporting your income," Weingold says. If you list everyone even if it's not required, you may change your situation for the worse. "A family that could have gotten aid from a school may be getting nothing now because it looks like they have more money available than they do."

He advises families to focus on the information of the custodial parent, which will include a stepparent if the custodial parent is remarried. The federal government does not require information on the non-custodial parent, but does ask about child support received by the custodial parent. At many private schools, the non-custodial parent will be instructed to provide his or her financial information. This affects the awarding of the school's own aid, but not federal aid.

"This does get confusing and tense for families," says Dave Myatt, senior associate director of financial aid at Augustana College in Illinois. "We get phone calls challenging why we need the stepparent's information on the form in the first place. But we need the household's information, including both individuals."

In the increasingly common case of couples who are not remarried but are living together, he says, the non-parent individual is not considered a stepparent, but his or her financial contributions are viewed as part of the household. "If the parent is living with someone who is paying rent or utilities, that needs to be listed on the FAFSA as other untaxed income."

[Discover five myths about parent information on the FAFSA.]

3. Determine the involvement of the " non-custodial parent": For Naomi Elliott, the desire to avoid having contact with her ex-husband was so powerful that she and her son Simon decided he would only apply to schools that allowed financial aid to be based exclusively on the custodial parent.

This was both an emotional and financial decision, as she was unsure Simon would get money for college from his father when he needed it. Elliott carefully researched schools and found a handful that were a good match for her son and had a financial aid policy that did not require information from the non-custodial parent.

"I couldn't afford a penny of his education," says Elliott, who works as a real estate agent in Massachusetts. "The divorce wiped me out. I knew that I needed a financial package that was significant and didn't ask me or my son to take out loans."

After her extensive research and a lot of paperwork, and Simon's strong academic work, he was accepted to Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, where he is now a sophomore. "The school awarded my son $54,000 a year, which is a load of money," says Elliott. It covers everything but some living expenses, a difference of $10,000 paid by Simon's father.

4. Prepare for hard conversations: With divorce, costs are harder to predict, and families may be overly optimistic about financial aid offers if they are not well informed, Clem Clay says. He suggests families have a grasp on the complexities of financial aid by the summer or fall of the student's senior year at the latest. Kids have to deal with the relative willingness and ability of their parents to pay tuition, and that can drive a lot of decision-making.

"There is no requirement that the higher-earning spouse pays for college," says Jeff Landers, a financial advisor in Florida who works exclusively with women going through divorce. "That is a huge misconception many women have."

[Understand how to discuss college savings during a divorce.]

Who pays for school should be talked about as specifically as possible, if not spelled out in the divorce settlement agreement. "Otherwise you may find that one partner will suddenly say, 'I'm not paying it.'"

For families beginning the process, "This isn't just a numbers game," says Tiffany Clay. "It is a whole emotional roller coaster caused by the numbers."

Trying to fund your education? Get tips and more in the U.S. News Paying for College center.
Sometimes even the most well-intentioned car launches go horribly wrong. Think back to the 1990 Pontiac Transport, which quickly acquired the moniker "dust buster," and the 2007 Chrysler Sebring, considered a failed attempt to reinvigorate the brand.

Even today, with so much innovation in styling and technology, some vehicles fall short. The roster of new cars unveiled at the North American International Auto Show was no exception.

Slideshow: The 5 Worst Cars at the 2016 Detroit Auto Show

Not that there were a plethora of failures; if anything, there were no obvious duds. Matt Degen, senior editor with Kelley Blue Book, walked away being more optimistic than he expected, for example. But he said one disappointment was that the vehicles consumers really are craving, SUVs and crossovers, were in short supply, dwarfed by product reveals of glitzy luxury vehicles well outside the budget of many consumers.

"This is Detroit, home of the Big Three that make popular trucks, yet we're not seeing a whole lot of trucks or crossovers at this show," he said.

Volkswagen disappointed some car lovers in another way. While most carmakers had good reason to celebrate 2015 results, the embattled German car giant was still dealing with the aftereffects of its falsification of emissions data  a scandal that has tarnished its reputation. "We know we have let down our customers and dealers," Volkswagen Chair Herbert Diess said. "I am truly sorry for that."

Slideshow: The 6 Best Cars at the 2016 Detroit Auto Show

But in an interview with NPR, CEO Matthias Mueller seemed to downplay the scandal, saying that the company has misinterpreted U.S. law and didnt lie to environmental regulators when asked about differences between emissions in tests as compared to real-world driving. The company had earlier admitted to cheating on the emissions tests. The company asked for a follow-up interview, in which Mueller apologized, but the whole string of events may have left VWs apology tour as the biggest disappointment of the show.

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Public relations fiascos aside, here are some vehicles unveiled during the press preview that didn't quite meet expectations: The 5 Worst Cars at the 2016 Detroit Auto Show

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
One of Asia's leading art fairs, Art Stage Singapore, kicks off Thursday with a new addition, the Southeast Asia Forum, referencing the Roman forum or the agora of ancient Greece, and spotlighting the vocation of the fair as not only a place for the exchange of art but of ideas as well.

The sixth edition of this fair will host over 170 international galleries from 33 countries, with Asian galleries making up 75% of exhibitors. This year features work by prominent regional artists such as painter and sculptor David Chan from Singapore (Arts Seasons Gallery), Raybeet Ramos from the Philippines (Galerie Stephanie) and painter Ali Nurazmal Yusoff from Malaysia (Core Design Gallery), among many others.

Chan, known for his work with oil on linen, is presenting his "Anamorphosis" sculptures, which are designed like a puzzle with an outer geometric steel case with various openings and an object inside. The pieces require viewers to move to various vantage points around the opening to get a glimpse of the internal object. Ali Nurazmal Yusoff is unveiling his "ReALISM" project, which examines the past, present and future of contemporary Malaysian art through the artist's eyes and work. His display is divided in three parts: Progression, Now and Future. Ramos's "Interstices" series consists of portraits of Hollywood fictional icons juxtaposed with paintings with similar or contrasting objects.



Meanwhile the Southeast Asia Forum, new this year, is comprised of two sections: an exhibition and a series of talks from the likes of architect Rem Koolhaas and artist Tiffany Chung aimed at encouraging the involvement of people from other fields in discussions about contemporary art and its connections to society at large. The inaugural Southeast Asia Forum is entitled "Seismograph: Sensing the City - Art in the Urban Age."



The exhibition will present projects by 19 artists who examine urbanization in their respective countries. Featured artists include Aliansyah Caniago from Indonesia, Norberto Roldan from the Philippines and Sherman Ong from Singapore.



This year's event also features a special "Dada on Tour" exhibition from Dada 100 Zurich 2016 and Cabaret Voltaire, paying tribute to a one-hundred-year anniversary of the Dada movement.

For a full listing of exhibitors and artists see: http://www.artstagesingapore.com/art-stage-singapore-2016/




By Pamela Barbaglia and Saeed Azhar LONDON/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Japan's Asahi Group Holdings <2502.T> and Thai Beverage have made it through to the final stages of an auction to buy SABMiller's Peroni and Grolsch beer brands, several sources with knowledge of the matter said on Thursday. Private equity firms PAI Partners and Bain Capital have also moved to the next round of bidding, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity. European buyout fund EQT emerged as the fifth bidder to be shortlisted by the seller, Anheuser-Busch InBev , two of the sources said. Peroni and Grolsch are valued at more than 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion), but the two Asian brewers could offer up to 3 billion euros to snap up the assets, one of the sources said. The sale, which the sources said AB InBev wants to wrap up by the beginning of March, is aimed at easing anti-trust approval for AB InBev's $100 billion-plus takeover of SABMiller. The Belgian brewer faces paying SABMiller a $3 billion break-up fee if the deal fails. Binding offers are expected in mid February, the sources said, with one adding that some of the parties have been given a chance to sweeten their offers by a deadline of next week. Reuters reported on Jan. 15 that Spain's Damm and buyout funds KKR and BC Partners had submitted non-binding bids for the brands. AB InBev, SABMiller, Asahi, ThaiBev, PAI, Bain Capital and EQT declined to comment. ASIA PREMIUM The Asian suitors could justify paying a higher price, one source said, based on the cost benefits they would extract and the ability to use the brands to boost their international sales. At 3 billion euros, Peroni and Grolsch would be valued at up to 15 times their combined earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of 180-200 million euros. Nirgunan Tiruchelvam, a director in the research unit at Religare Capital Markets, estimated that Asian consumer companies would make a return on investment of about 8 percent from the acquisition of Peroni and Grolsch, while benefiting from the low cost of capital in Europe which is about 2 percent. "You can borrow so cheaply in Europe that it would work in your favor," Tiruchelvam said. Thai Beverage, also known as ThaiBev, is no stranger to multi-billion mergers after a $11 billion deal in 2013 to take control of Singapore-listed Fraser and Neave (F&N). The Thai firm is held by Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, Thailand's second-richest man, and ranks as one of Southeast Asia's largest beverage companies. Asahi is Japan's biggest brewer with 38 percent market share but it is not widely sold overseas. Known for its Super Dry beer, Asahi is looking to access growth outside Japan, which has seen two decades of declining beer sales due to a shrinking population and the growing popularity of wine. As part of the deal, bidders will also secure control of Britain's craft beer brand Meantime Brewing, which SABMiller acquired last year. (Additional reporting by Ajuli Davies in London, Ritsuko Shimizu in Tokyo, Khettiya Jittapong in Bangkok, Karen Lema in Manila and Martinne Geller in Davos; editing by Freya Berry and Sarah Young)
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, reeling from claims that his administration grossly mishandled a water crisis in the city of Flint that left residents there uninformed about severe lead contamination in their drinking water, is challenging the Obama administrations denial of a federal disaster declaration.

His request, however, hinges on a claim that a manifestly man-made disaster is actually some sort of act of God.

Related: Flints Drinking Water Crisis Just Got More Toxic with Legionnaires Disease

President Obama over the weekend declared a state of emergency in the city, which makes limited federal assistance available to residents in an amount not to exceed $5 million. Snyder, on Wednesday, issued a public call for the president to reconsider, asking instead that Flint be declared a disaster area.

In a letter to Obama, he wrote, This unique disaster poses imminent and long-term threat (sic) to citizens of Flint. He continued, saying that its severity warrants special consideration for all government aid programs available for both public and individual recovery efforts as well as hazard mitigation assistance.

However, it seems unlikely that the administration will change its course.

The criteria for a disaster declaration from FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Administration are as follows:

Related: Why the Gas Leak in California No One Is Talking About Is Such a Disaster

The President can declare a major disaster for any natural event, including any hurricane, tornado, storm, high water, wind-driven water, tidal wave, tsunami, earthquake, volcanic eruption, landslide, mudslide, snowstorm, or drought, or, regardless of cause, fire, flood, or explosion, that the President determines has caused damage of such severity that it is beyond the combined capabilities of state and local governments to respond.

The drinking water crisis in Flint was caused not by a natural event, or by fire, flood, or explosion. The problem arose after the state government took over management of the citys affairs, and in an effort to save money, switched the citys source of drinking water from Lake Huron to the badly polluted Flint River.

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State officials reportedly failed to take the necessary steps to clean the dirty water to a point at which it would not corrode pipes, and as a result, lead began leaching into the water, which frequently ran brown from the pipes in peoples homes.

State and federal officials appear to have known of elevated lead levels in Flints drinking water in early 2015, but Michigan state officials consistently challenged claims of researchers and medical professionals that that there was a problem.

Related: Obama Strikes Another Blow Against King Coal

After months of denials in the face of copious evidence, Flint residents were eventually advised to stop drinking tap water in October.

In his letter to the Obama administration, Snyder says the administration took a narrow reading of the law in denying disaster funding, and tried to make the case that the crisis in Flint is actually a natural disaster.

I submit that this disaster is analogous to the flood category, given that qualities within the water, over a long term, flood and damaged the city's infrastructure in ways that were not immediately or easily detectable. This disaster is a natural catastrophe in the sense that lead contamination into water is a natural process.

Left out of the letter is the fact that Michigan officials knew well in advance of switching to the Flint River, that the new water would be nearly 20 times as corrosive as the old water source, yet still failed to take action to ameliorate it.

While there is a strong humanitarian argument in favor of providing additional relief to the people of Flint, the Obama administration appears disinclined to let state officials pass off a massive failure of state government as an unavoidable natural disaster.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
DAVOS, Switzerland - Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio received an award "for his leadership in tackling the climate crisis" at the Annual Crystal Awards held at the World Economic Forum . At the ceremony in Davos, Switzerland, the actor, whose Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation supports conservation projects, criticized what he called "the corporate greed" of the energy industry. "We simply cannot afford to allow the corporate greed of the coal, oil, and gas industries to determine the future of humanity. Those entities with a financial interest in preserving this destructive system have denied and even covered up the evidence of our changing climate," he said. "Enough is enough. You know better, the world knows better. History will place the blame for this devastation squarely at their feet."
Milan (AFP) - AC Milan have welcomed Brazilian striker Luiz Adriano back to the club after his move to Chinese side Jiangsu broke down after a reported contract dispute.

Adriano, whose return to Milan could end Stephan El Shaarawy's hopes of returning to the Serie A giants from Monaco, was due to sign for Jiangsu in midweek.

Reports on Thursday suggested the Brazilian forward reneged on the deal after discovering a sizeable part of his salary would come from the sale of his image rights.

However it was also reported Jiangsu did not agree to all of Adriano's personal terms.

Adriano returned to Milan on Wednesday and did not look too displeased, posting a picture of himself smiling on his Instagram account.

Gazzetta dello Sport said Adriano, who signed for Milan in the summer from Shakhtar Donetsk, will continue to train with Sinisa Mihajlovic's side but remains surplus to requirements.

Mihajlovic has recently favoured the attacking duo of M'Baye Niang and Carlos Bacca, and Mario Balotelli is set to return from a lengthy injury lay-off having played 10 minutes in Sunday's 2-0 home win over Fiorentina.

French attacking midfielder Jeremey Menez is also on his way back and winger Alessio Cerci and now Kevin-Prince Boateng, who signed a six-month loan deal with the club this month, are also waiting in the wings.

Adriano's return could scupper the club's bid to bring El Shaarawy back from Monaco, where the Italian international is in limbo.

Monaco took the 23-year-old winger on a season-long loan deal but with the obligation to buy him outright if El Shaarawy played 25 games.

Prior to the January transfer window, El Shaarawy had played 24 games for the French side.

Milan sit in sixth place in Serie A, 12 points behind leaders Napoli.
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Lawyers for a Texas teen who killed four people in a so-called "affluenza" drunk-driving case have told Mexican authorities they want to drop their fight against his deportation to the United States, a Mexican official said on Wednesday. Ethan Couch's legal team presented a document to a court in western Jalisco state seeking to end the effort, although the 18-year-old must still sign the paperwork and have it ratified by judicial authorities, the official said. That would pave the way for the teen to return to the United States to face charges he violated his probation in the 2013 drunk-driving case. He faces a hearing in February to see if his case will be transferred from juvenile court to adult court. Couch's lawyers in the United States said their client has filed paperwork that could see him soon return to Texas from Mexico. "It is our understanding that paperwork has been filed by Ethans counsel in Mexico that will terminate the ongoing Mexican immigration proceedings," his lawyers, Scott Brown and William Reagan Wynn, said in a statement. "We believe that this will result in Ethan's return to the United States within the next few weeks," they said. Couch and his mother, Tonya, were arrested in Mexico last month following a more than two-week manhunt. His mother was deported to the United States last month. The teen is being held in a detention center for migrants in Mexico City, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Documents in the case must be sent to Couch physically and cannot be relayed to him electronically, the official added. The legal procedure to end the appeal could take some time to complete, after which there should be nothing preventing his removal back to the United States, the official said. A top migration official in Jalisco said on Tuesday that once Couch dropped his deportation fight, it could still take another month before he is repatriated to the United States. A psychiatrist testifying on behalf of Couch, then 16, at his 2013 trial in juvenile court contended his family's wealth had left him so spoiled that it impaired his judgment to tell right from wrong. The "affluenza" diagnosis, which is not recognized by the American Psychiatric Association, was widely ridiculed. (Reporting by Dave Graham; Editing by David Alire Garcia and Cynthia Osterman)
CAIRO (Reuters) - An air strike by a Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen killed at least nine people on Thursday at an oil facility on the Red Sea operated by its Houthi opponents, oil workers and medics said. A news agency run by the Saudi-backed Yemeni government, www.sabanew.net, put the death toll at 16, quoting an unnamed source. It said the cause of the fire was not known. Medical sources in the nearby port city of Hodeidah said the attack on the facility at Ras Isa, which local oil workers said was used to load tanker trucks with refined products for domestic distribution, also wounded at least 30. "The bodies were either burned or mutilated," one source told Reuters by text message. Pictures showed fire trucks trying to put out flames rising from fuel trucks as black smoke covered the area. A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition declined to comment. The Ras Isa complex is Yemen's main oil export terminal, which oil workers said was not hit. No shipments have left there since the coalition of Arab states launched a military campaign in March last year in support of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi against the Iran-allied Houthis. The United Nations says nearly 6,000 people have been killed in the fighting, which began after the Houthis advanced on the southern port city of Aden, where Hadi had been based. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced. In eastern Yemen, four government soldiers were killed and four wounded in a bomb attack on their vehicle near al Wadia, a post on the Saudi border, a government official said. The official said al Qaeda militants were suspected of carrying out the attack. (Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari; Writing by Sami Aboudi; editing by Yara Bayoumy and John Stonestreet)
Washington (AFP) - When John Sturgeon's hovercraft broke down as he drove it in a remote river in Alaska in 2007, he had no idea his ordeal would end up in the US Supreme Court.

Still, the moose hunter finds himself at the center of a legal conundrum that not only has traveled thousands of miles to Washington but has also flummoxed the judges of the nation's highest court.

While Sturgeon was trying to fix his hovercraft on a shoal in the Nation River, he was approached by uniformed federal agents. They told him hovercraft were banned in all national parks because they were deemed too noisy.

Sturgeon, whose hovercraft was duly registered, was stunned.

He argued that even though the river was in public land, it was not up to the federal government, but rather the state of Alaska, to decide if it was legal to use a hovercraft on the waterway.

Sturgeon got a lawyer and showed he was willing to go the distance to prove he was right, filing appeal after appeal.

Little by little, his determination won him admirers and support in this state dominated by Republicans.

Funds were raised to finance his fight. The state's two senators endorsed his cause. In a crowning achievement, the state of Alaska itself endorsed it.

By way of context, in many states in America's great west, much land is owned by the federal government. That is a source of conflict with locals, who want to use the available resources rather than protect them.

- Discontent in Oregon -

By pure coincidence, the case went before the Supreme Court Wednesday as armed protesters in Oregon are occupying a nature reserve to denounce what they say is a thicket of federal regulations for local ranchers and farmers.

In Alaska, the proportion of land under federal control is a whopping 61 percent. From the late 1950s through the 1970s, the government was under pressure to give back part of it -- either to native Americans, to the state of Alaska or to private investors.

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Some of this territory has nonetheless remained inside national parks in a complicated patchwork and with a hybrid status. A case like Sturgeon's was just waiting to emerge at some point or another.

During Wednesday's session in the Supreme Court, the moose hunter's arguments grabbed the attention of several conservative judges, who are always wary of encroaching federal powers.

Wild, immense Alaska -- four times the size of California -- has peculiarities that cannot be ignored, Sturgeon's lawyers said.

"Alaska's waters are used in ways that are different from the lower 48," said Ruth Botstein, the assistant attorney general for Alaska, using the term Alaskans employ to refer to the rest of the US, except for Hawaii.

"In the Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge, there are three villages of less than one hundred people that are hundreds of miles from any road. And this is common in Alaska," explained Botstein, who filed an amicus curiae brief with the court in support of Sturgeon.

Legal experts said the court may choose to side with Alaska and place new limits on federal land management.
Milan (AFP) - Argentinian midfielder Lucas Biglia could be sidelined for up to a month following an ankle injury that has dealt a blow to Lazio's Serie A campaign.

Biglia suffered the injury in Lazio's 1-0 Italian Cup quarter-final defeat to Juventus that ended their hopes in the competition on Wednesday.

A statement by Lazio said Biglia, after undergoing tests, had suffered a "right ankle sprain" and the "recovery time is currently estimated at around three weeks, unless there are complications."

The 29-year-old is one of Lazio's key players and is expected to miss league games against Chievo, Udinese and Napoli before returning to the fray.

Lazio sit ninth in Serie A, 16 points behind leaders Napoli.
Paris (AFP) - Around 22,000 jihadists have been killed by the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group since mid-2014, France's defence minister said on Thursday.

"The figure given by the coalition... is about 22,000 dead since the start of operations in Iraq and Syria," Jean-Yves Le Drian told the France24 news channel, adding that the figure was "approximate".

He also sounded upbeat about a series of military successes against IS in recent months.

"We haven't seen a large offensive by Daesh for some time," Le Drian said, using an alternative name for the group. "Daesh is in a very fragile position but we must remain very careful," he added.

The coalition air strikes against IS began in the summer of 2014 and intensified following last November's jihadist attacks in Paris, with strikes notably targeting IS oil production facilities, a key source of income for the group.

In a major setback for the group, IS lost the Iraqi city of Ramadi to US-backed local forces last month.
By John Irish and Elizabeth Pineau PARIS (Reuters) - Arab and Kurdish forces will be given additional support to help retake Islamic State's bastions in Syria and Iraq, French President Francois Hollande said on Thursday, adding that 2016 had to be the year of transition in Syria. Speaking at an annual gathering of about 200 foreign and French ambassadors, Hollande outlined his foreign policy objectives for the year, saying France would not shirk its responsibilities in fighting militancy after two deadly attacks marked his country last year. "France is not the enemy of any people, religion or civilization" he said. "But it has one adversary: Jihadist terrorism claims to follow a god only to ridicule the name and follows only the path of destruction." France, a permanent U.N. Security Council member and nuclear power, has thousands of troops hunting down al Qaeda-linked militants in Africa's Sahel-Sahara region and is part of the U.S.-led coalition striking Islamic State fighters in Syria and Iraq. It hosted in Paris on Wednesday defense ministers whose countries are involved in the fight against Islamic State. Hollande said the meeting, which included the United States and Britain, allowed them to refine the military strategy against the group. "Every day, thanks to our actions, this terrorist army is being weakened by losing territory, resources and fighters," he said. "Our strategy includes the liberation of Raqqa and Mosul, where command centers are found. There was a will to provide support to Arab and Kurdish forces fighting Islamic State on the ground," he said, adding that coalition efforts would be ramped up. France has also been a key backer of moderate opposition forces battling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and has been advising them on how to prepare proposed peace talks with the Syrian government on Jan. 25. Hollande said those talks needed to ensure that there was clarity on who would govern Syria and that Assad could not be its future. "2016 must be the year of a transition in Syria," Hollande said. The talks should include a focus on the security of the civilian population, he said. Hollande urged Iran and Saudi Arabia to reduce tensions which flared after Riyadh executed a prominent Shi'ite cleric. Hollande said this was indispensable to help solve the crises in Syria, Yemen, but also Lebanon, where a power vacuum was becoming increasingly "dangerous." "The return of Iran on the international scene is possible (after the nuclear accord)," Hollande said. "But it is up to Iran to prove it can." Hollande also said Paris was ready to train Libyan security forces to help them restore authority over the country, but only once the government was fully in place. A political void in Libya has been exploited by Islamist groups. He added that substantial progress had been made to end the conflict in Ukraine, but that the implementation of the Minsk peace accords needed to go faster. "More efforts are required. On the Ukranian side there needs to be constitutional reform, while on the Russian side they need to put pressure to organize undisputed elections in the east," Hollande said. (Reporting by John Irish; Editing by James Regan and Raissa Kasolowsky)
Buenos Aires (AFP) - Argentina said Wednesday the bondholders with whom it recently restarted talks on paying billions of dollars in defaulted debt have asked it to postpone its repayment proposal to February.

The country's new conservative government had announced plans to present its proposal next week for the repayment of some $10 billion owed to so-called holdout creditors refusing to accept a debt restructuring deal.

Officials had said they hoped the plan would finally provide a resolution to the long-running financial crisis.

But the two US hedge funds suing for full repayment requested a postponement until the first week of February, citing "logistical" problems, said the Argentine finance ministry.

It did not say whether it had agreed to the request.

Argentine media said the hedge funds had asked the government to sign a confidentiality agreement, but Finance Secretary Luis Caputo vowed that any offer made to creditors would be public, "to guarantee the transparency of the process."

US federal judge Thomas Griesa has derailed Argentina's efforts to restructure the debt it defaulted on during its 2001 economic crisis, ruling the country cannot repay creditors who agreed to take heavy losses until it first repays the holdouts.

The previous Argentine government, led by leftist president Cristina Kirchner, fought the ruling and branded the hedge funds "vultures" for buying defaulted bonds on the cheap, then suing for full repayment.

But her business-friendly successor, Mauricio Macri, has vowed to speedily resolve the dispute, which has blocked the struggling country's access to international capital markets.
Markets in Asia have opened higher offsetting some of the losses from the turmoil of the previous day which saw stocks plummet amid global slowdown concerns and falling oil prices.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) saw modest gains in China, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan (Taiwan OTC: 6549.TWO - news) and Japan in early Thursday trading.

David Dai, Shanghai-based investor director at Nanhai Fund Management Co, said stocks were likely to stabilise with much of the uncertainty now taken into account.

He said: "With stocks having fallen so much, much of the risk has been priced in and another free fall is quite unlikely, although the chance of a sustainable rebound is also slim.

"China's economy is slowing, but it's still growing much faster than US and Europe.

"While the yuan is under depreciation pressure, China has the ability to control the pace of declines."

Markets around the rest of the world will be hoping for similar stability after the volatility of Wednesday that saw a sharp fall in the London's FTSE 100.

The leading share index dipped below the 5,700-mark as it shed 3.5% of its value, or 203 points, in a volatile session which knocked 52bn off its constituent companies by the close.

It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) was a similar picture in Europe but US stocks recovered from steep early losses, with the S&P 500 closing just 1.2% lower.

The FTSE 100 has had a grim start to 2016, its worst ever, having lost more than 9% in just the first few weeks of the year.

It hit an all-time high less than a year ago, when it topped 7,100, and the index is now trading at its lowest levels since November 2012.

The latest fall took the FTSE 100 more than 20% off that intraday peak last year, meaning that for a time it was in what is known as a "bear market".

The last time this happened was during the depth of the financial crisis in 2009.

It follows a warning by the International Energy Agency that the oil market could "drown in oversupply".

Brent crude oil traded at fresh 13-year lows during Wednesday trading - at levels not seen since November 2003 - just above $27 a barrel at one stage.

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Oil has fallen by around three quarters since it topped $115 In June 2014.

This week, China posted its slowest annual growth figure in 25 years.

Meanwhile the International Monetary Fund slashed its growth forecast for the global economy as it predicted a "bumpier ride" for 2016.

A survey of business leaders has found they are gloomier about the future of the global economy than at any time in three years.

The performance of the FTSE 100 is more of a reflection of the global economy than the UK because many of its companies largely operate abroad but is significant for UK investors with many pensions funds having share in some of its big-name firms.

Experts at Investec (LSE: INVP.L - news) said the current sell-off looked "overdone" with overall global growth not likely to see a slowdown and the easing of Chinese expansion still leaving the world's second biggest economy with a stable outlook.
(Reuters) - Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian on Thursday called an emergency City Council meeting next week to discuss whether the distressed New Jersey gambling hub should file for municipal bankruptcy. Governor Chris Christie's veto on Tuesday of legislation that aimed to stabilize the city's tax base and boost its cash flow left the city with "no other option but to explore bankruptcy," Guardian said in a statement. State lawmakers have been pushing for a full takeover of city operations, saying local officials have not done enough to cut costs. Only city officials can file for bankruptcy, but the state, which already oversees the city's finances, must ultimately approve it. (Reporting by Hilary Russ in New York; Editing by Dan Grebler)
Danny O'Brien and Mark Kavanagh have vowed to appeal their multi-year bans after becoming the latest Australian trainers to be found guilty of doping horses amid a cobalt crisis engulfing the racing industry.

The Victorian Racing and Appeals Disciplinary Board on Wednesday banned O'Brien for four years and Melbourne Cup winner Kavanagh for three years.

Vet Tom Brennan pleaded guilty, despite saying he did not know cobalt was in the horse drips, and was banned for five years.

The Flemington trainers argued that they were not aware of the level of cobalt in vitamin supplements.

Kavanagh, who won the Melbourne Cup with Shocking in 2009, was found guilty of one cobalt administration charge and O'Brien of four.

The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal granted a stay of proceedings to both the Flemington trainers who will still be allowed to race.

O'Brien, who won the 2007 Caulfield Cup, told reporters he looked forward to the appeal.

"Finally they (Racing Victoria) will be called to account for their flagrant disregard of racing rules," he said.

Another high-profile cobalt case is pending with Black Caviar trainer Peter Moody expected before the disciplinary board on charges next month.

Moody's horse Lidari tested positive last year.

He faces a three-year ban if found guilty.

Four other Australian trainers have already been hit with lengthy bans in what has become a cobalt crisis for Australian racing.

More trainers have horses that have tested positive for cobalt and are awaiting charges.

Australian racing rules describe cobalt as a naturally occurring trace element which may normally be present in horses at very low levels. It is also found in vitamin B12.

Cobalt is believed to improve endurance, however, trainers have been warned of severe side effects.

The Australian Racing Board set a threshold level of 200 micrograms per litre with bans enforced for higher concentrations from January 1 last year.
By Tim Kelly and Matt Siegel TOKYO/SYDNEY (Reuters) - The competition for a A$50 billion ($34.55 billion) contract to build Australia's next submarine fleet is narrowing to a race between Japan and France as a bid from Germany's ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) loses ground over technical concerns, multiple sources said. Australia is expected to decide the winner of one of the world's most lucrative defence contracts within the next six months, ahead of a national election in which the deal and the jobs it will create is expected to be a key issue for the conservative government. TKMS is proposing to scale up its 2,000-tonne Type 214 class vessel, while Japan is offering a variant of its 4,000-tonne Soryu boats made by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Kawasaki Heavy Industries. France's state-controlled naval contractor DCNS has proposed a diesel-electric version of its 5,000-tonne Barracuda nuclear-powered submarine. Australia has said it wants a boat in the 4,000-tonne class. Scaling a submarine to twice its original size presents exponential technical challenges, experts say. That puts TKMS furthest from having the experience to offer what Australia wants in a large, long-range, stealthy submarine to replace its ageing Collins-class fleet, said six industrial sources in Asia and Australia with knowledge of the situation. "The German proposal is an enlarged version of a smaller existing submarine, and that technically is risky," said one source. TKMS and one of the sources in Australia, who has decades of experience in the global arms industry, cautioned against jumping to conclusions as each side jockeys for the best outcome in what may ultimately be a political decision. Australia wanted a partner to design and build a new submarine, which neutralises any perceived advantage with existing bigger boats, said TKMS Australia Director Jim Duncan. "The rumours could well be right. Who knows," Duncan told Reuters when asked to respond to what the industrial sources said. "My only advice, having spent many years in this environment is: believe nothing that you hear and only half of what you see." Officials at the Future Submarine Program at the Australian Department of Defence did not respond to a request for comment. DCNS Australia CEO Sean Costello declined to comment on his competitors, but said experience in large submarine design was critical for the Australian project. LEADERSHIP CHANGE Tokyo was initially seen as the frontrunner, partly due to close ties between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who was ousted in a party coup by Malcolm Turnbull last September. With Turnbull quiet on the matter, Japan is touting its offer as a way to build military ties between two allies in Asia, something U.S. officials have said they want to see as China emerges as a regional power. But Tokyo, which until two years ago had a decades-long ban on arms exports, has been hobbled throughout the process by a lack of experience in managing overseas defence contracts and the shifting political tide in Canberra. With Australia facing an economic slowdown, that has put job creation and innovation atop the political agenda. Japan was slow to commit to build all vessels at South Australian shipyards, a politically significant pledge that both DCNS and TKMS made quickly. At the same time, DCNS and TKMS pledged to share sensitive technology with the Australian government and promised packages of economic incentives. Australia's Defence Department is formulating a recommendation based on materials submitted by the bidders late last year and is expected to give that to cabinet as early as March. (Additional reporting by Nobuhiro Kubo in Tokyo; Editing by Dean Yates)
Bangladesh police said on Thursday they are holding 14 of the 26 construction workers deported from Singapore late last year over links with a banned Islamist group the government has blamed for attacks on secular writers.

Police initially arrested all 26 men after Singapore deported the group for supporting "armed jihad ideology", but later released 12 after finding no evidence against them.

"We have primarily found their connection with ABT," deputy police commissioner Mashruqure Rahman told AFP, referring to the banned Islamist group Ansarullah Bangla Team.

He said the detained men were followers of Jashim Uddin Rahmani, a firebrand cleric and ABT leader who was jailed last month for abetting the 2013 murder of secular blogger Ahmed Rajib Haider.

The government has so far made no comment on Singapore's announcement Wednesday that it had arrested 27 Bangladeshi construction workers who were being groomed to return to their home country to wage holy war.

The Singapore government said the men had "shared jihadi-related material discreetly among themselves, and held weekly meetings and gatherings where they discussed armed jihad", although they were not planning attacks in the city-state.

A 27th Bangladeshi is serving a jail sentence for attempting to flee Singapore after learning about the arrests of the other group members.

Tensions are high in Bangladesh after five more secular bloggers and a publisher were brutally killed last year.

There have also been attacks on minority Sufi and Shiites Muslims and several foreigners have been murdered in recent months.

Analysts say Islamist extremists pose a growing danger as a long-running political crisis in the majority Sunni Muslim but officially secular country has radicalised opponents of the government.
After enduring weeks of attacks over his electability, his gun control record and his ambitions for a single-payer health care system, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is now on the offensive, charging that fellow Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has failed to fill in many blanks when it comes to combating climate change.

The Sanders campaign fired the opening salvo on Wednesday, the same day NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that 2015 was the hottest year on record, surpassing the record set in 2014.

The attack: "With only 12 days to go before the Iowa caucuses, however, it remains unclear whether Hillary Clinton will tell voters what she would do to address climate change," Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs said in a statement. "In July, a post on her campaign website promised a 'comprehensive energy and climate' plan 'in the coming months.' It's now six months later. What's taking so long?"

Briggs suggested that this fit a larger pattern with Clinton, noting that "[i]t took the former secretary of state four years to take a stand on the Keystone pipeline, which would carry some of the dirtiest oil on the planet across the United States."



The Clinton campaign aggressively fired back Wednesday evening, when campaign chairman John Podesta published a post on Medium outlining Clinton's climate agenda. "Today, the Sanders campaign asked where our climate plan was. I guess they didn't look too hard," he wrote.

Podesta ticked off a laundry list of Clinton's proposals, including installing 500 million solar panels across the nation by 2020, incentivizing states and localities to develop clean energy plans, upgrading the nation's energy infrastructure and defending the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan. Moreover, Podesta noted, Clinton (after much delay) came out against construction of the Keystone pipeline, which would have transported tar sands oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico and his criticized oil drilling in the Arctic and Atlantic.

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Not impressed: That hardly satisfied the Sanders campaign. In a tweet Thursday morning, the campaign pointed to a number of outstanding questions about Clinton's climate agenda, including whether she'd back a tax on carbon emissions, ban fossil fuel extraction on public lands and oppose fracking:

Thanks, @johnpodesta. Appreciate the effort, but you didn't answer our questions! Here's the list. #ActOnClimate pic.twitter.com/mAXjiYmxJZ https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CZNQMJ8WcAEyvFb.jpg:large

Advocates for action to tackle climate change have voiced similar concerns. In July, the Washington Post editorial board expressed disappointment that Clinton hadn't endorsed a carbon tax, arguing that such a tax would "forc[e] emitters to pay for the dangerous damage they do to the environment" and incentivize the use of cleaner energy forms. A wide range of economists, including conservative N. Gregory Mankiw, believe that a carbon tax is the most efficient approach to moving away from fossil fuels; Sanders' climate plan includes a tax on carbon.

Moreover, Clinton's environmental record at the State Department has given some climate activists pause. A Mother Jones investigation in 2014 documented Clinton's role in championing fracking for shale gas in countries around the world. During her State tenure, Clinton also suggested she'd support construction of the Keystone pipeline, which she new opposes.

Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2012. Clinton's State Department tenure has given some green activists pause.

How it plays: Though Sanders aims to tap into lingering progressive unease about Clinton with his climate offensive, Clinton hardly lacks support in the environmental community. She secured the endorsement of the League of Conservation Voters in October, and billionaire green activist Tom Steyer hosted a fundraiser for Clinton last year.

"We believe that she has the skills, the experience and the passion for addressing climate change and other environmental issues over many years, from her experiences in the White House as First Lady, as a senator, as secretary of state," Tiernan Sittenfeld, senior vice president for government affairs at LCV, told Mic in a recent interview. Clinton, Sittenfeld said, would be able to "hit the ground running on Day One."

There may be at least one large crack forming in Clinton's green support, though. Despite raising funds for her campaign last year, the San Francisco-based Steyer sounds increasingly noncommittal about Clinton's bid. In an interview with Reuters published Wednesday, he said he wasn't ready to formally endorse her campaign, citing concerns that her climate agenda isn't detailed enough.

"I don't think she's fully fleshed out everything she has to say about energy and climate," Steyer told Reuters. "I think that as the campaign goes on I would imagine she will put out more detailed plans of exactly what she thinks. I don't find what she's said inadequate, but I don't think it's complete yet."
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. security officials intercepted a record 2,653 firearms - 83 percent of them loaded - from carry-on bags at airport security checkpoints in 2015, a 20 percent increase from the previous year, a federal agency said on Thursday.

The 2,212 firearms seized in 2014 was itself a record, according to the Transportation Security Administration. The firearms seized last year were intercepted at 236 airports, 12 more than in 2014, TSA said.

"Through increased training in detection methods, our officers are becoming more adept at intercepting these prohibited items, TSA Administrator Peter V. Neffenger said in a statement.

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport seized the most guns in 2015 with 153, followed by international airports in Atlanta with 144, Houston with 100, Denver with 90 and Phoenix with 73, it said.

TSA said it screened more than 708 million passengers last year, or about 1.9 million per day and 40.7 million more than in 2014.

Federal Air Marshals flew more than a billion miles and 98 percent of passengers waited in line less than 20 minutes at security checks, it said.

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Alistair Bell)
Nuclear reactors under construction in Sanmen, Zhejiang province.[Photo/Xinhua]

China Nuclear Engineering Group Corp signed an agreement with Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to develop its homegrown fourth-generation nuclear technology in the oil-rich Middle East country.

Gu Jun, president and general manager of CNEC, said the agreement was a major step toward the export of high-temperature gas-cooled reactors, an indigenous nuclear technology jointly developed by CNEC and Tsinghua University.

He made the remarks during a ceremony in Beijing held by the Fuzhou New Economic Area, in which the Chinese company plans to invest nearly 16.3 billion yuan ($2.48 billion) to build a nuclear manufacturing equipment industrial cluster and a production base for nuclear graphite, a key material used in high-temperature gas-cooled reactors.

"The timing is right for the export of such a type of nuclear reactor," CNEC said in a statement.

About 95 percent of the high-temperature reactor, which uses a graphite-moderated core with a uranium fuel cycle to generate heat with less radioactive effect and higher efficiency, can be manufactured domestically, apart from the nuclear graphite, which relies largely on imports.

Experts said despite Saudi Arabia being a fossil-fuel rich country, the country still needs to meet demand from growing energy consumption.

"Nuclear power plants with a design life of more than 40 years cannot only provide energy security but also have the potential to resolve growing emissions concerns in the Middle East," said Lin Boqiang, director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University.

Saudi Arabia hopes to build 16 reactors by 2032 to meet its growing energy demand, involving a total investment of more than $80 billion. Its first reactor is likely to go on line in 2022, earlier reports said.

CNEC said it is also targeting other foreign markets including South Africa and the United Arab Emirates.

It said that the agreement with Saudi Arabia will bring other possibilities for nuclear cooperation between China and other partners along the Belt and Road Initiative, which includes more than 60 economies along the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.

Projects planned in the Fuzhou New Area

Projects worth 331.5 billion yuan ($50.3 billion) are being set up in the Fuzhou New Area of Fujian province by about 70 State-owned enterprises this year.

The investment will be spread over 64 projects, including those in high technology.

The Fuzhou New Area was approved by the State Council in September 2015 and is the 14th State-level area for regional development. State-level areas are special economic zones directly managed by the State Council for major national development missions. The Fuzhou New Area is expected to play a pivotal role in furthering cross-Straits exchanges and attract more modern industries to East China.

The projects include:

 A 10 billion yuan investment by China Three Gorges Corp on an offshore wind power industrial park for technological research and development, equipment manufacturing, power station operations and maintenance.

 The 30 billion yuan from Aluminum Corp of China Ltd for an aluminum refining project that will use advanced technologies to make aluminum auto sheets and architectural aluminum shuttering.

 A 16.3 billion yuan investment by China Nuclear Engineering Group Co for an industrial park for nuclear-related businesses such as nuclear power equipment and nuclear-grade graphite production.

 A 25.2 billion yuan investment from China State Construction Engineering Corp for the Metro Line 6 in Fuzhou, the capital city of Fujian province.

 China Travel Service (HK) Group Corp's 15 billion yuan investment on a travel resort that encompasses hotels, ecological leisure activity bases and health centers.
Tiahuanaco (Bolivia) (AFP) - Bolivian President Evo Morales, the country's first indigenous head of state, held an ancient ceremony Thursday to mark a record-setting 10 years in office -- a term he is now seeking to extend to 2025.

In a dawn ritual, the leftist leader raised his hands to receive the first rays of the morning sun, then breathed in the incense from a large pyre lit to bring good fortune.

The rite, set to the sounds of Andean music, was held at the archaeological site of Tiahuanaco (or Tiwanaku) in western Bolivia, a city of pre-Incan stone ruins thought to have been a spiritual and political center from AD 400 to 900.

"With this small but very important act, I would like to take the opportunity to express our gratitude for these 10 years of service to the Bolivian people," said the president, who faces accusations of seeking to cling to power.

Morales took office on January 22, 2006, after defying centuries of discrimination against Bolivia's indigenous communities to win a landslide election victory.

He has since presided over a period of robust economic growth and transformative changes for the long-suffering indigenous majority.

A former coca grower who got his start in politics as a union leader, he has deftly managed the resource-rich economy, which has more than tripled in size during his decade in office.

Thanks to that growth, Morales, an Aymara Indian who grew up with no running water or electricity, has managed to largely win over even his former critics in the business community.

"When I swore in as president in 2006, some of our opponents said, 'Poor little Indian, let him have fun for a few months. He won't be able to govern and after that we'll get rid of him,'" he has said.

But with the opposition riven by infighting, Morales, 56, has won resoundingly in the past three presidential elections: 54 percent of the vote in 2005, 64 percent in 2009 and 61 percent in 2014.

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His politics blend the indigenous power movement with environmentalism and the "21st-century socialism" preached by late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.

He has nationalized the oil, gas, mining and telecommunications sectors, rolled out welfare grants for the elderly, children and expecting mothers, and moved to empower marginalized groups -- especially the 65 percent of the population that is indigenous.

Defying opponents' dire warnings of economic catastrophe, Bolivia has instead boomed.

Despite plunging prices for its oil, its economy grew 4.8 percent last year, one of the strongest rates in Latin America.

- Changing the constitution, again -

The economic and political stability are welcome in the landlocked South American nation, which has had 160 coups since independence in 1825 and remains one of the region's poorest countries.

But opponents accuse Morales of presiding over expanding corruption and investing in flashy big-ticket infrastructure projects at the expense of basic needs like health and education.

And "Evo," who is already the longest-serving president in Bolivian history, is increasingly accused of trying to cling to the presidency for as long as he can.

A new constitution adopted in 2009 imposes a limit of one reelection for sitting presidents, but Bolivia's Supreme Court ruled that Morales's first term was exempt -- clearing the way for him to run again in 2014.

His current term ends in 2020, but he is pushing for a referendum to amend the constitution and enable him to serve until 2025.

Morales has had an antagonistic relationship with the United States, defending coca growers from the US "war on drugs."

Besides being the base ingredient for cocaine, coca leaves are widely chewed in Bolivia and brewed as tea -- uses Morales argues are part of the country's cultural heritage.

In 2008 he kicked the US Drug Enforcement Agency out of the country, along with the American ambassador, accusing them of conspiring against his government.

Morales will officially mark the anniversary Friday with a ceremony in Congress, where he will deliver a nationally televised address.
Robert M. Gates, our 2011 Liberty Medal recipient, discusses valuable lessons in leadership he learned from four decades of personal experience. Gates is appearing Thursday night at the National Constitution Center. The event starts at 6:30 p.m.



061212-A-5590K-001 Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates. DoD photo by Monica King, U.S. Army. (Released)

I have observed many presidents, cabinet officers, generals, admirals and CEOs over many years. Some in their actions are superb examples of how to treat subordinates and motivate them; others were from the fear and loathing school of leadership, treating those below them with contempt and disrespect. What follows is distilled from my observations of others and my personal experience over some four decades of leading very different kinds of organizations, often under the most trying conditions. For a young person just starting a career, a middle manager or someone in a more senior position, I believe the lessons are equally applicable.

People, not systems, implement an agenda for change



As a leader pursues her reform agenda, she cant get so enamored of flow charts and PowerPoint slides that she overlooks a critically important factor that will determine her success or failure: the attitudes and commitment of the people who work for her. A leader who can win their support and loyalty will be well on her way to successful reform. Whatever a leaders place on the public or private bureaucratic ladder, she must provide the people working for her with the tools and opportunities for professional success and satisfaction. She must empower them and provide them with respect, motivation, job satisfaction, upward mobility, personal dignity, esteem and, finally, the confidence that, as leader, she genuinely cares about them collectively and as individuals. If a leader convinces them of that, employees will forgive a lot of the little mistakes which are inevitable.

People at every level in every organization need to know their work is considered important by the higher-ups. At every level, a leader should strive to make his employees proud to be where they are and doing what they do. It doesnt matter whether you are president of the United States, CEO of a huge company or a supervisor far down in the organization.



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Belief in the importance of what one does is of course vital in any job. Bureaucrats, wherever they work, want to believe that what they do every day has real value for their company, community or country. It is up to leadersat every levelto explain why their work is important. Even if the organization is a little one tucked away in an obscure part of the enterprise, part of a leaders responsibility is to ensure that employees know how their work fits into the bigger picture, how it makes a contribution, a difference. Taking time on a regular basis to explain to employees the organizations mission and why they matter is an important leadership obligation on its own merits, but also because it is both motivational and builds the individual esteem of every member of the team.

A leader must not only explain to and reassure employees that their jobs are important to the overall mission of the organization, he must ensure that their work really does contribute, that it is not pointless make-work or wheel-spinning.

To lead reform successfully, a leader must empower subordinates.



Whether the changes a leader wants to make are sweeping, minor or something in between, she cannot achieve them alone. She needs to trust those on the team below her who should have been involved from the outset in establishing goals and the plans to achieve them. A leader must be willing to delegate to them the authority to carry out plans. One person simply cannot effectively oversee implementation of significant change which affects multiple parts of an organization. It doesnt matter whether its a government bureaucracy or a business.

At each affected layer of the organization, there needs to be a leader committed to the overall agenda, a leader who has the authority not only to implement but also to adjust or adapt plans as needed. Generals develop strategy; they dont hover over captains and lieutenants to see if they are doing their job on the front lines. There is a reason for the military chain of commandeveryone knows his or her job but, within the realm of their specific responsibilities, can make tactical adjustments to achieve success. The same principle applies to bureaucracies, public and private.

A successful leader, and especially one leading change, treats each member of his team with respect and dignity. It seems obvious, but in far too many bureaucracies, bosses at all levels fail to do so.



Nearly everyone has worked for a toxic boss, someone who bullies, belittles, humiliates or embarrasses subordinates. A shouter. A desk pounder. They can be found at every level. As I told midshipmen at the Naval Academy and cadets at West Point, You will all surely work for a jackass at some point in your career. We all have.

Such poisonous pills may be smart, charismatic, decisive and able mostly to get the job donetraits which can get you pretty far in most organizations. But the cost in morale, employee dissatisfaction and creating a toxic environment is very high. People whose day-to-day job life is miserable are not going to feel motivated to excel, make change work or better serve a customer or policymaker. And it doesnt matter whether they are CIA spies or retail clerks. I have long called these kinds of bosses little Stalins. They choose to demonstrate they are in charge by using their authoritytheir powermainly to make people miserable.

You can be the toughest, most demanding leader on the planet and still treat people with respect and dignity. Whether its the lowest level supervisory position or the very top job, a leader can and should treat people right. To quote President Truman, Always be nice to the people who cant talk back to you. I cant stand a man or woman who bawls out an underling to satisfy an ego.

Excerpted from A Passion for Leadership by Robert M. Gates. Copyright  2016 by Robert M. Gates. Excerpted by permission of Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Technology is not the end of worktechnology is the end of oil, Eurasia Group President Ian Bremmer told Yahoo Finance editor-in-chief Andy Serwer at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Bremmer, who warns that oil prices will be lower for longer, says that the the fourth industrial revolution, which is the theme of the 46th annual meeting, is actually hitting the Middle East right now.

Labor is not what they have. What they have is stuff that they take out of the ground which is worth a lot of money, said Bremmer. Suddenly IT has come along and said you cant do this anymore. Theyre not prepared. They havent diversified.

Saudi Arabia, the leading producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), has kept production high even as prices sink to multi-year lows.

Everything that could go badly for the Saudis, is going badly for the Saudis, said Bremmer. One of the most important members of the Saudi delegation is extremely concerned, not just about energy prices but [about] their ability geopolitically to get through all of this.

Plummeting oil prices, now in their 19th month, are putting more pressure on the Middle East as crude trades near its lowest level since May 2003. Bremmer notes that the shale revolution in the U.S. has been the catalyst for U.S. oil production soaring to more than 9 million barrels currently.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration predicts that by 2020 more than four-fifths of the oil consumed in the U.S. will come from the Western Hemisphere.
Since its inception or, perhaps, since it became profitable, AirBnB, the home-sharing behemoth, has been accused of everything from enabling its users to operate illegal hotels to driving up the cost of housing in cities around the world. The company argues that its platform helps its landlords make ends meet and allows travelers a more unique and affordable experience, all while extracting a nifty fee from each party.

To that dynamic, now add one of the worlds most intractable and polarizing disputes: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In recent weeks, the San Francisco-based company has weathered criticism for allowing users to rent apartments in West Bank settlements, which are widely seen internationally as being illegal and have long been the target of boycotts and other alienating measures. (On Tuesday, for example, the U.S. State Department said it supported a European Union initiative to place labels on products denoting that they were made in the West Bank.)

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The dispute blossomed to the point that earlier this month, Saeb Erekat, the senior Palestinian official and leader of the last round of failed peace talks, wrote AirBnB CEO Brian Chesky a letter to demand the company not allow listings in settlements. Other Palestinians say the company profits on the [Israeli] occupation or otherwise legitimatizes the settlement enterprise.

We follow laws and regulations on where we can do business and investigate concerns raised about specific listings, one AirBnB spokesperson said in response to the controversy. The company, as the Associated Press points out, also has listings in Turkish-occupied Northern Cyprus and Moroccan-annexed Western Sahara, among other disputed territories.

In some ways, the controversy mimics that of SodaStream, the popular home soda maker, which hosted a factory in the West Bank before decamping to southern Israel last fall amid persistent calls for boycotts. At the time, some argued that the efforts to pressure the company to disengage were ultimately counterproductiveafter all, the SodaStream employed both Jewish and Palestinian workers.

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While renters of apartments in settlements would likely contribute negligibly to the Palestinian economy, the opportunity for an open-minded traveler to see what life is like in the West Bank presents other potential benefits. As The Guardian notes, in order to travel to a listing in Efrat, a settlement some four miles beyond the generally recognized boundaries of Israel, guests would have to travel through two Israeli military checkpoints.

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As a business, AirBnB goes to lengths to avoid embroiling itself in the ethical nuances of local politics, lest it violate its credo of connecting people to unique travel experiences. But as one telling experiment shows, sometimes the politics eclipse the mission. One Israeli writer, posing as a prospective American renter of Palestinian descent, chronicled the difficulties of securing lodging in a number of the companys listings in settlements.

While discrimination by AirBnB landlords is hardly a new problem in any of its 190 countries, one response to an inquiry about a listing in the settlement of Tekoa was particularly tenderizing: Im very sorry but I dont think that its possible  its very sensitive here  [I] hope that in [a] different life we could be good friends.

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
PARIS (Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande laid down conditions for a deal with Britain on EU reform on Thursday, insisting that they must not hold back further euro zone integration. British Prime Minister David Cameron is trying to negotiate changes to the 28-nation bloc before a Feb. 18-19 summit and says he will campaign for Britain to stay in if his demands are met. However, Hollande left the door open to reaching an agreement later, saying only that it was best to strike a deal at the February summit. In Davos, his Prime Minister Manuel Valls voiced hope for progress at the summit, allowing at least a decisive step. "But of course not at just any condition, that wouldn't make sense." Speaking in a new year's address to France's diplomatic corps, Hollande said that Britain's demands were not "insurmountable", but a deal must respect the European Union's founding principles, including on the free circulation of people within the bloc. "I will be particularly vigilant that the euro zone can pursue its integration, for me that is the essential point," Hollande said. "If Britain wants to go its own way within the European Union we can allow it, but that cannot prevent the countries that want to go further in integration, monetary for example," Hollande said. He added that France and Germany would offer proposals before year-end to strengthen euro zone institutions and what he called "solidarity instruments" to ensure stability and growth. Cameron is due to meet EU leaders in Davos to press his case. He will also meet British business leaders to ask them to voice their support for his push to change Britain's relationship with the EU, which he says will benefit their companies. Hollande will meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel for talks in eastern France city of Strasbourg on Feb. 7 and Cameron on March 3 in northern France Amiens, his office said. (Reporting by Leigh Thomas; Additional reporting by Elizabeth Pineau; Editing by Ingrid Melander)
London (AFP) - Moscow dismissed as a "joke" a British inquiry's findings that Russian President Vladimir Putin "probably approved" the killing of ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko a decade ago in London.

Litvinenko, a prominent Kremlin critic, died of radiation poisoning in 2006 aged 43, three weeks after drinking tea laced with radioactive polonium at an upmarket London hotel.

The inquiry said that Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun, two Russians identified as prime suspects by British police, were likely to have carried out the poisoning on the instructions of the Russian security services, but Lugovoi quickly dismissed the allegations as "nonsense".

Although Prime Minister David Cameron called it a "state-sponsored action", his government did not announce sanctions in response, instead summoning Moscow's ambassador to London for talks lasting less than an hour.

Russia was sharply dismissive of the conclusions.

"Maybe this is a joke," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. "More likely it can be attributed to fine British humour -- the fact that an open public inquiry is based on the classified data of special services, unnamed special services."

Lugovoi, meanwhile, told the BBC that the inquiry had reached "nonsense conclusions" and said the judge leading it "has clearly gone mad".

"I saw nothing new there," he said. "I am very sorry that 10 years on nothing new has been presented, only invention, supposition, rumours."

- 'Acting for state body' -

At the High Court in London on Thursday, there were cries of "Yes!" as the main findings were read out.

Litvinenko's wife Marina, dressed in black and accompanied by her 21-year-old son Anatoly, embraced supporters afterwards.

She has spent years pushing for a public inquiry and had urged sanctions and a travel ban on Putin.

"I'm very pleased that the words my husband spoke on his deathbed when he accused Mr Putin of his murder have been proved true in an English court," she said.

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Judge Robert Owen, the inquiry's chairman, said he was "sure" Lugovoi and Kovtun placed polonium-210 in a teapot at the Millennium Hotel's Pine Bar, where they met Litvinenko on November 1, 2006.

"The FSB operation to kill Litvinenko was probably approved by Mr (Nikolai) Patrushev and also by President Putin," the report said.

Patrushev was the director of the FSB, the successor organisation to the Soviet-era KGB spy agency, at the time of the incident and has been a key security official since 2008.

Polonium-210 is a rare radioactive isotope only available in closed nuclear facilities.

The report, which contained classified evidence redacted from the version made public, said this suggested that Lugovoi and Kovtun "were acting for a state body rather than, say, a criminal organisation".

There was "no evidence" to suggest that either Lugovoi or Kovtun had any personal reason to kill Litvinenko and they were likely to be acting under FSB direction, Owen added.

- 'Deeply troubled' -

Shortly after the report was published, London's Metropolitan Police issued a statement stressing they still wanted the pair to be extradited.

Owen said there were "powerful motives" for the killing. Litvinenko was seen as "having betrayed the FSB" and had regularly targeted Putin with "highly personal public criticism", including an accusation of paedophilia.

Litvinenko, an ex-KGB agent turned freelance investigator who also worked for British intelligence, accused Putin of ordering his killing in a statement before he died on November 23, 2006.

In a statement to the House of Commons, Home Secretary Theresa May said Cameron would raise the findings with Putin.

She added that Britain would impose asset freezes on Kovtun and Lugovoi, but stressed the importance of Russia and Putin in efforts to resolve the conflict in Syria, a nod to the delicate timing of the issue for relations with Russia.

But Britain's response to its conclusions fell short of the sanctions that some had called for.

A US State Department spokesman said Washington was "deeply troubled" by the report's findings and that the perpetrators should be brought to justice.

Jonathan Eyal, an analyst at the Royal United Services Institute think-tank, said the finding would make it difficult for Britain to "return to business as normal with Moscow".

"London also has to calculate whether this particular juncture when we need Russian support for a variety of operations in the Middle East for instance is the right moment to corner Moscow over this," Eyal said.
By Alastair Macdonald BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The EU urged Europeans on Thursday to cross borders to find work as the labour commissioner voiced "frustration" that British Prime Minister David Cameron's push to curb EU migration has held up plans to make this easier. "Mobility in itself is an asset for Europe," Marianne Thyssen told reporters as she presented an annual report on the labour market, showing migration within the bloc could hasten slow declines in the EU's 9.1-percent unemployment rate. "It's a good thing," she said, noting that only one EU citizen in 25 lived in another member state. "We shouldn't be creating barriers." In the United States, without the language and other differences found in Europe, nearly one American in three lives in a different state from where they were born. Thyssen, the Belgian member of the European Commission, said she had drawn up proposals to make it easier for people to move around the EU to find work, clarifying how contracts or social security rules should apply. But politically explosive negotiations among member states to keep Britain in the EU meant the proposals had to be shelved last month. "I find it regrettable ... frustrating," she said. Cameron has promised Britain a referendum on EU membership by the end of next year. But first he wants to change EU rules so he can deny EU workers social benefits for their first four years, a bid to address voter concerns about strained social services. Thyssen hoped the labour mobility plan could still be published in coming few months, but said it might have to be revised if Cameron and other leaders reach a deal at a summit in four weeks time. BRITISH DEMANDS Thyssen said Cameron's plans to deny EU workers benefits was "discrimination" on nationality grounds and illegal under EU treaties. Cameron has said he is open to alternatives and British and EU officials have said that negotiations have raised hopes of a deal. Thyssen did not elaborate on possible solutions, but echoed Commission colleagues by stressing that the freedom to live anywhere in the EU is conditional on having suitable employment. She also said her labour mobility package aims to "codify" recent EU court rulings on benefits and migration, several of which have upheld states' action to deny benefits to foreigners. Germany has also said it also wants to curb welfare payments. Its similarly buoyant economy has made it the other main destination for EU workers, along with Britain. Cameron says an influx of EU workers, notably from poorer eastern states, has strained British public services. Official data show about 1.9 million EU citizens work in Britain, taking 5 percent of jobs -- higher than an EU average of 3 percent. EU nationals also do 5 percent of jobs in Germany, where like Britain unemployment is half the EU average. They account for just 2 percent in France. The EU employment report argued that "foreign-born people overall do not pose a burden on the welfare systems of the host countries". It acknowledged the risk of local pressures on services but suggested governments should adjust their budgets accordingly. (Editing by Katharine Hureld)
Ouagadougou (AFP) - Six Canadians shot dead by Islamist gunmen in the Burkina Faso capital while enjoying a last meal because their flight home was delayed, are being mourned in a village where they'd offered years of help.

"The entire village is mourning the loss of its friends," said Ousmane Sawadogo, a resident of Niou, around 60 kilometres (35 miles) from the capital Ouagadougou where the six, including a family of four, were shot dead Friday.

Quebecois Yves Carrier, his wife Gladys and two of their children had been in the west Africa nation with two friends helping build a school when they were killed the evening of their departure while sitting a cafe.

"The flight was delayed and that's why they decided to have a last drink at the Cappuccino," Sawadogo told AFP, referring to the Cafe Cappuccino which was targeted by the gunmen along with the nearby Hotel Splendid.

Carrier and his family had been coming to Burkina for years on humanitarian missions to help the country of 18 million people, 40 percent of them living below the poverty line.

On each trip they'd visit Niou, where Carrier paid for a mill to be built to help women with the daily task of grinding staple crops, Sawadogo said.

"Whenever they came they visited and the women felt joyful to welcome their benefactors," he added. "The whole village has been grieving since the news of the carnage."

Shot dead along with them that night was Niou resident Paul Guelbeogo, a retired chauffeur who always drove the Canadians around when they visited and who had become their friend.

He was also Sawadogo's uncle. "They'd become such good friends they were like relatives," he said.

Authorities said 30 people, around half of them foreigners, were killed and 70 others hurt in the attack on the cafe and the four-star Splendid, claimed by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

- Cappuccino was main target -

The Cappuccino cafe-restaurant catering for many expatriates on Ouagadougou's busiest avenue was the prime target of the Islamist attack. The gunmen killed 26 people there, nine on the terrace and 17 indoors.

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Among the other fatalities was the nine-year-old Italian son of the cafe owner, along with his mother, grandmother and aunt -- all Ukrainian.

Two Frenchmen and a Portuguese man in the country for a transport company also died, along with Swiss and Dutch members of non-governmental organisations involved in aid work.

The country for some was seen as an NGO "paradise" because it was safe and largely stable in contrast to other nations on the southern edge of the Sahara facing violence and instability.

A mass will be held for the Carrier family and their friends at the cathedral in Ouagadougou before their remains are repatriated to Quebec.

Canada sent six police forensics experts to help the city prosecutor investigate the first such attack in the country.

Ottawa and Ouagadougou have had diplomatic relations for more than three decades, while Canadian companies control almost all the gold mines in Burkina Faso.

The Canadian ministry of foreign affairs says that Canada has become the leading investor in Burkina, where gold in 2009 replaced cotton as the main export earner in the former French colony.

In the 2013-2014 fiscal year, trade between the two countries was worth some $75 million (almost 69 million euros). Canadian imports from Burkina Faso totalled $48.5 million.

That same year, Canada provided the west African country with $33 million in humanitarian aid, according to ministry figures.
London (AFP) - Four Syrian migrants arrived in Britain from the so-called "Jungle" migrant camp in Calais after a landmark court ruling which could see more crossing the Channel.

Family members greeted them as they arrived by train in St Pancras station in central London, where a crowd of about 100 demonstrators stood with yellow balloons and banners reading "refugees welcome".

It came after judges on a British immigration tribunal on Wednesday ordered the interior ministry to allow the four to enter Britain while their asylum claims are considered.

The three teenagers and a 26-year old with mental health problems had been living in the sprawling Calais camp for over two months.

Lawyers argued conditions there were "intolerable" and that their cases should be handled in Britain due to bureaucratic delays.

One 17-year-old, who had an emotional reunion with his older brother at the train station, said he was grateful for the legal efforts to bring him to Britain.

"I feel so thankful because I would never have imagined I would be reunited with my brother," said the teenager, who cannot be identified for legal reasons.

"I want to thank the lawyers who went that extra mile to reunite me and my brother. I feel so thankful."

Ahmed, 26, an older brother of one of the boys who would not give his real name to protect his sibling, said he fled the Syrian civil war and had not seen his brother in two years.

"He is the youngest in my family and I haven't seen him in a long time," Ahmed said ahead of his brother's arrival.

"It is hard to describe how happy I felt when I heard the court's ruling yesterday. It was really, really amazing. It was everything I was waiting for."

- Landmark ruling -

The tribunal judges cited European Union legislation, under which those who have a relative living legally in another European country have a legal entitlement to apply to seek asylum there.

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Under the rules, asylum seekers should first claim asylum in France, but the judges agreed that bureaucratic failures meant this rarely happened, and that evidence of a written claim to asylum in France was sufficient.

"This judgement highlights that there are safe, legal routes to reconnect families... and we hope will allow other families to be reunited," said George Gabriel of Citizens UK, which was involved in the legal action.

The interior ministry must now examine claims brought by refugees who have not yet received asylum in France, paving the way for further claims if other vulnerable asylum seekers can prove they have links to Britain.

The ministry said it would "study the full judgement in detail" before making its next move, which may include an appeal.

"We stand by the well-established principle that those seeking protection should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach," it said in a statement.

"Any request to unite family members under the Dublin Regulation is carefully considered. Where someone seeking asylum elsewhere in the EU can demonstrate they have close family members legally in the UK, we will take responsibility for that claim."

The tribunal's full judgement on the fate of the four asylum seekers is expected "within two weeks".
By Sharon Bernstein SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - California Governor Jerry Brown urged continued fiscal restraint amid the state's economic expansion but hinted broadly that new fees would be needed to pay for repairs of deteriorating roads, bridges and other infrastructure. Improvements in the state's financial health and a weather pattern that is helping to ease four years of catastrophic drought put California on a stronger footing as Brown addressed the legislature for his 14th State of the State address on Thursday. "We have to bite the bullet," said Brown, who last summer pushed unsuccessfully for new fees to help pay long-neglected repairs to the state's transportation infrastructure. Roads and bridges make up the bulk of an estimated $77 billion in delayed repairs to public property, he said, and, "One way or another the roads must be fixed." Brown, who served two terms as governor from 1975 to 1983 before returning to California's top job in 2011, also called on Republicans to agree to proposed changes in a tax on some health insurers, with proceeds to help pay for healthcare for the poorest Californians. Brown cited his administration's support for California's new $10 minimum wage, saying the January hike, combined with a tax credit for the working poor, will ease income inequality. Brown has been tight-fisted since returning to office in 2011, reining in the state's liberal Democratic majority lawmakers to build a rainy day fund and hold down expenses after facing down a $27 billion budget deficit. He is widely credited with stabilizing the state's finances, in large part by urging voters in 2012 to approve a temporary tax increase that allowed the state to cover its budget gap and restore some social services. Earlier this month, Brown proposed a budget plan for fiscal year 2016-2017 that included a $2 billion payment to the state's rainy day fund and called for increases in spending on education, transportation infrastructure, as well as a modest increase in aid for the disabled. But the fiscal moderate has held the line on committing more funds to such programs in the absence of new revenue streams for the state. He is hesitant to call for new taxes on income or sales after supporting a temporary tax three years ago, but has supported other fees, such as a road usage tax or an increase in the tax on gasoline. Senate Republican leader Jean Fuller of Bakersfield said her caucus would work with Brown on infrastructure repairs, but opposes enacting new fees. (Reporting by Sharon Bernstein; Editing by Bill Trott and Tom Brown)
DAVOS, Switzerland - (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron will call on business leaders on Thursday to speak up in favour of Britain staying in a reformed European Union to help him shape "the future direction" of the 28-member bloc. At the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos, Cameron will meet British business leaders to ask them to voice their support for his push to change Britain's relationship with the EU, which he says will benefit their companies. Cameron hopes to win a deal with the European Union at its next council meeting in February, opening the way for a referendum on membership which could take place as early as June. He will also meet EU leaders in Davos to press his case. "If you believe like I do that Britain is better off in a reformed European Union ... then when the time comes, help me make that case for Britain to stay," he will say. "This is a once in a generation moment - and the stakes are high." Many British businessmen are keen for Britain to stay in the European Union, which as a bloc is the country's biggest trading partner, but argue that reforms are needed to make sure the single market in the digital and service industries is developed. (Reporting by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Estelle Shirbon)
Montreal (AFP) - Canadian Pacific will eliminate about 1,000 positions in 2016 as the volume of goods it transports slumps, the railway announced Thursday.

The downsizing will be primarily through attrition and will include managers and railroad workers alike, chief executive Hunter Harrison told a conference call after releasing its latest financial results.

Since embarking on a restructuring of its operations in 2012, CP has shed 6,000 to 7,000 positions. Most of them were simply not filled after the employees retired.

"There's probably 1,000 additional heads to come out potentially in 2016," Harrison said.

CP president Keith Creel blamed a "weak economy" for the job cuts, saying freight volumes fell three percent in 2015.

Canada, the world's fifth largest oil producer, has seen its economy hit hard by falling prices for oil and other commodities normally exported by rail.

"We've seen the last three quarters of 2015 economic headwinds across all business segments except for a couple of bright spots in forest products and Canadian grain," Creel said.

Canadian Pacific reported a profit of Can$1.35 billion in 2015, down eight percent year-over-year, while revenues rose 1.4 percent to Can$6.7 billion.
By Lin Noueihed and Ali Abdelaty CAIRO (Reuters) - China signed investment and aid deals worth billions of dollars with Egypt during a visit by President Xi Jinping on Thursday and expressed support for Cairo's efforts to maintain stability, which have included a crackdown on dissent. Xi arrived in Egypt on Wednesday on the second leg of a Middle East tour that signals China's push for greater influence in a region that provides vital oil supplies. The visit, just before the Jan. 25 anniversary of the 2011 uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak, is seen in Egypt as a vote of confidence in President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's administration, whose human rights record has attracted criticism elsewhere. Xi praised Egypt's efforts to strengthen its economy during talks with Sisi, who has warned his critics not to hold protests on Monday. "China supports Egypt's efforts to maintain stability, develop the economy and improve livelihoods, and ... play an even greater role in international and regional affairs," Xi said, according to China's foreign ministry. Egypt has struggled to spur economic growth since the 2011 uprising ushered in political instability that scared off tourists and foreign investors, key sources of foreign currency. Heralding a new era of closer political and economic ties, officials from the two countries signed 21 deals at a ceremony in Cairo that could ramp up Chinese investments in the most populous Arab country. The deals span several development and infrastructure investments, including the first phase of a new Egyptian administrative capital announced last year, a $1 billion financing agreement for Egypt's central bank and a $700 million loan to state-owned National Bank of Egypt. As military chief, Sisi ousted Egypt's first democratically elected president, Mohamed Mursi, in 2013 after mass protests and launched a campaign to crush Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood, the country's oldest Islamist movement. In doing this he won the backing of wealthy Gulf Arab countries who oppose the group. Since then Egypt has largely relied on billions of dollars in aid from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to keep its economy afloat, but an oil price slump has raised doubts over how far the OPEC producers can maintain such support. BILLIONS IN INVESTMENTS In a speech to the Cairo-headquartered Arab League, Xi also outlined multi-billion-dollar investment plans for the wider Middle East. China would dedicate $15 billion in special loans to boost industrial production in the region, $10 billion in trade credit for joint energy projects and another $10 billion in soft loans, Xi said. China would also set up funds with the UAE and Qatar worth a total $20 billion to invest in conventional energy. It will extend its contracts to buy oil from the region and dedicate $300 million to helping train police, Xi said. He did not elaborate, but the scale of the plans on offer signal a growing Chinese commitment to the Middle East. China, the world's second biggest economy, relies on the Middle East for oil but has tended to leave regional diplomacy to the other four permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, the United States, Britain, France and Russia. It has however been trying to get more involved, especially in Syria, and recently hosted Syria's foreign minister and opposition officials. Xi arrived in Egypt from Saudi Arabia and will head next to Iran. While Xi was in Riyadh, China signalled its support for Yemen's government, which is fighting an Iran-allied militia, and repeated a call for a peaceful settlement in Syria. Speaking earlier at a joint news conference, Sisi, who visited China in 2014, said economic and military cooperation had developed quickly to reach unprecedented levels. "We discussed in our consultations the need to redouble our common efforts in various bilateral and international areas to combat the danger of terrorism and extremism," Sisi said. In the same news conference, Xi said 32 Chinese companies were now working in Egypt's Suez Canal economic zone, investing more than $400 million and these figures would rise to 100 firms and $2.5 billion with the next phase of the project. China and Egypt are also planning 15 projects in electricity, infrastructure and transport with investments that could total $15 billion, Xi said. China's $1 billion central bank loan could help bolster foreign reserves, which have more than halved since 2011 as it battles to defend the currency against downward pressure, while longer-term investments could help create much-needed jobs. Mindful that economic discontent helped to unseat two presidents in the last five years, Egyptian security forces have arrested several activists and shut down cultural spaces in recent weeks to prevent protests as the anniversary approaches. (Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Editing by Michael Georgy and Gareth Jones)
TAIPEI (Reuters) - Thousands of posts, apparently from China, have flooded the Facebook page of Taiwan president-elect Tsai Ing-wen, demanding her self-ruled island be brought under Chinese control, though her party brushed it off and said they respected their views. Tsai and her independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won presidential and parliamentary elections by a landslide on Saturday, prompting concern in Beijing that she may push for the island's formal independence. As of Thursday morning, more than 40,000 people had made comments on her Facebook page, in a repetition of a similar incident in November. Many of the posts were written in the simplified Chinese characters used on the mainland, and a lot of them repeated a standard Communist Party refrain about how shameful it is to harm the motherland. "Why do Taiwanese think we've all been brainwashed? We've all be taught from small that Taiwanese are compatriots, and Taiwan is the jeweled island," wrote one, apparently Chinese, poster. Others referred to Tsai as "Taiwan province governor". "Absolutely Taiwan is part of China unless you are taught in a misleading way," one person wrote in English. Facebook is blocked in China, though there are ways round it even if most Chinese people don't have access to that technology. DPP spokesman Ruan Chao-hsiung said Chinese internet users were just "exercising their freedom of speech". "As long as their comments are not overly extreme, we have full respect for them," Ruan said. Tsai herself posted on Thursday: "The greatness of this country is that everyone has their own rights". Tsai says she wants to maintain peace with China, as well as the current status quo. China deems proudly democratic Taiwan a wayward province to be taken back, by force if necessary, particularly if it makes moves towards formal independence. Taiwanese reacted to the Facebook barbs, offering sarcastic congratulations to Chinese that they were able to escape their government censors and use Facebook freely, and pointing out the freedoms people in Taiwan enjoy that in China they do not. "We have freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and personal freedom. You people have none of that," wrote one. China's Taiwan Affairs Office did not respond to a request for comment. Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists fled to Taiwan after being defeated by Chinese Communists in a civil war in 1949. The island has been self-ruled since. (Reporting by Faith Hung and Yimou Lee; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
The leaps and bounds in digital technology have made it easier than ever to connect, organize, and disseminate information. While the democratization of tech tools has been a boon for activists and organizers, that accessibility has a dark side too. With a smartphone in nearly every pocket, government entities can watch and track the moves of average citizens.

Were in a weird moment, says filmmaker Brian Knappenberger, creator of the new documentary series Truth and Power, narrated by Maggie Gyllenhaal and premiering this week on Pivot. There seems to be this wave of anger and frustration in America, and I think theres good reason for that.

That tension is what makes Knappenberger tick. In Truth and Power, the filmmaker dives into the stories of average people taking on the extraordinary while trying to protect their privacy and their lives. (Pivot is a television network from Participant Media, TakeParts parent company.) The show tackles some of the most pressing issues in the news cyclefrom Black Lives Matter activists and hackers taking on spyware to former prisoners exposing corruption in the private prison industrythrough the lives of the people fighting back.

Its familiar territory for Knappenberger, the creator of the documentaries The Internets Own Boy: The Aaron Swartz Story and We Are Legion: We Are Hacktivists, which tells the story of hacktivist collective Anonymous.

The digital forces that shape our world arent necessarily acting in our best interest, Knappenberger tells TakePart. We live different lives than we did 10 or 15 years ago, and some of the shine has come off. The impulse to create [the show] is to look at the people who are fighting back against powers greater than themto show their sheer force of will and tenacity.

To tell the stories of those people, Knappenberger started with both characters and concepts, letting one lead him to the other. One episode began with Knappenbergers interest in Daniel David Rigmaiden, a 35-year-old from Arizona who discovered and exposed law enforcement and government use of the Stingray, a cell-phone-surveillance tool that landed him behind bars. Telling Rigmaidens story allowed Knappenberger to tell the broader story of emerging surveillance technology that infringes on the privacy and civil liberties of average Americans.

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Another episode examines the private prison industry and the companies profiting from lucrative government contracts on the backs of people locked up.

We were just really fired up about private prisonsthats all we knew when we started, Knappenberger says. We didnt know wed find these two ex-cons who are taking on the prison industry.

Knappenberger is referring to Paul Wright and Alex Friedmann, coeditors of Prison Legal News and directors of the Human Rights Defense Center. Both men served more than a decade in prison and have led the charge against privatization of the corrections industry since their release.

Telling the stories of people who are enmeshed in conflict with government powers has its challenges.

A lot of times people want to tell their stories, but they are fearful that telling their stories might interfere with a current [legal] case, Knappenberger says. I want them to open up to me about what they went through, but theyre still in a potentially vulnerable positiontheres a tension there.

Knappenberger works to ease that tension by learning everything he can about a subjects story and experience before meeting with the individual to demonstrate his interest and curiosity and build trust. He has also screened clips for subjects that he thinks could impact their legal prospects. The last thing I want to do is get them in more trouble, he says.

Though he says hell always be attracted to digging deep into a subject and creating feature-length documentaries, Knappenberger said he was excited about the chance to create a weekly series that can respond directly to the news cycle.

Making the show has been a powerful reminder that amid the many challenges introduced by technologythe dark side he refers totenacious people are pushing back.

Theres a general perception that people are apathetic about politics, that they dont want to stand up and engage, Knappenberger says. When you make a show thats about people risking something that matters to stand up for what they believe in, or expose corruption on a daily basis, its inspiring. People do care and are paying attention.

Truth and Power premieres Friday, Jan. 22, at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Pivot. Learn about protecting your civil liberties in the digital age by exploring "Know Your Rights," a Pivot-supported initiative from the ACLU of Southern California.

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Original article from TakePart
Few companies have a pulse on the state of the worlds economy the way Coca-Cola (KO) does. And while the companys chairman and CEO Muhtar Kent is generally positive, he sees the need for some improvement.

Coca-Colas fate is conventionally thought of as being tied to that of the worlds middle class. As incomes rise in a country, the company sees more opportunities to sell its products.

However, the worlds economies have recently started to face some worries. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) made its third cut in less than a year on its projections for global growth, in part because of concerns over China. The IMF now projects the worlds economy will grow by 3.4% in 2016 and 3.6% in 2017.

The world is a very volatile place, Kent told Yahoo Finance editor-in-chief Andy Serwer at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. What used to be the norm of BRIC countries [Brazil, Russia, India, and China] growing faster than developed countries and so forth has changed in the last 24 months ... Its not just about volatile exchange rates, volatile commodities, but volatile growth rates. And most of them are more subdued than they used to be.

Though Chinas growth in 2015 was the slowest in a quarter of a century, the countrys economy still grew by 6.9% versus 7.3% in 2014. The IMF forecasts a 6.3% rate in 2016 and 6.0% in 2017.

Yet Kent doesnt see that as a reason to be overly concerned and continues to invest in China. In 2013, Coca-Cola announced plans to invest $4 billion in the country from 2015 to 2017. The company purchased local protein drink company Xiamen Culiangwang for $400 million last year.

Everything is relative, Kent said, adding that although growth rates have come down, its still off a large base. Chinas GDP is more than $10 trillion, making it the worlds second-largest economy after the United States.

When the base gets bigger, it's harder to grow, he said. A 6% growth rate is very healthy for an economy of that size.

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Kent has generally positive views on the rest of the developing worlds growth.

Latin America continues to be a creator of middle class, he said. Small increments of improvement in governance in African nations are producing exponentially beneficial results in terms of GDP growth rates in African countries. And then many parts of Asia are, again, very exciting. But at the same time there are a lot of puts and takes.

But Kent sees major threats to his companys core consumer, the global middle class.

As a key member of the World Economic Forums (WEF) International Business Council, he has been part of the groups initiative to bring together businesses, governments, and NGOs to tackle youth and female unemployment.

Get the Latest Market Data and News with the Yahoo Finance App

Two hundred million people aren't employed today, said Kent. The latest Human Capital Report of the WEF says that on top of that, well be shedding a net of 1 million more jobs, mostly administered in white-collar jobs. The creation of new jobs in new technology cannot make up for the loss of those traditional administrative jobs. And we've got to find a solution to stop it. Otherwise, the social mosaic as we know it is going to crumble. And we're all going to crumble underneath that.

To stem growing unemployment, Kent advocates training programs.

We have to all, as businesses, come together and create programs like apprenticeships and short-term training, he said. There's a huge skill gap. Many companies can't hire enough people in certain areas. At the same time, there's a huge pool of unemployed. Why can't we go out and provide the necessary training programs? Not necessarily everybody has to go to university.

Kent sees the private sectors role in solving the problem is to push the developing worlds political leaders to do more for their constituents.

We as CEOs have to impress upon the governments to become more progressive so that we can channel foreign investment into those regions that are more progressive, he said.

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One of the most frustrating questions regarding the death of Teresa Halbach in Netflixs crime documentary Making A Murderer is If Steven Avery didnt kill her, who did? Weve heard a couple of theories offered up by internet sleuths and Steven Avery himself, but theres been nothing very conclusive  partially because the police did such a terrible job of following leads once theyd decided Avery was the killer. But former police sergeant and FBI cold case task force worker John Cameron thinks he knows who did it.

According to Cameron, Edward Wayne Edwards was a serial killer that liked to set other people up for the crimes he committed and was obsessed with the media attention surrounding murder. Sometimes he would pick victims based on reports he read in newspapers. Other times his target would be the person being set up for murder, with the victim being almost inconsequential.

Officially, Edwards has been convicted of five deaths from 1977 to 1996, including the murder of his adopted son for insurance money. But theres a growing body of investigators that believe he is responsible for some of the biggest unsolved murder cases in American history, including the Zodiac killings, the West Memphis Three, Chandra Levy, and Jon Benet Ramsey. Now Cameron believes Edwards may have something to do with Teresa Halbachs death as well.

What ties Edwards to all these cases? Location, letters to press/police/families of victims, and blogs written by Ed Edwards himself. His daughter, who was the one who ended up turning him in to the authorities, has also put forward information linking Edwards to more murders than he was officially tried for.

Here are some things that may make you go hmmm when considering Camerons theory that Edwards killed Halbach:

Several of Edward Wayne Edwards past victims were murdered on Halloween night. Teresa Halbach disappeared on Halloween night.

Edwards had killed in Wisconsin before: In 1980, Edwards mudered Timothy Hack and Kelly Drew in what was later dubbed the Sweetheart Slayings.

Edwards was living about an hour away from Steven Avery at the time of the murder.

Averys new lawyer Kathleen Zellner has already freed one of the men wrongfully convicted of a crime Cameron attributes to Ed Edwards  Ryan Ferguson spent nearly 10 years in jail for the death of Columbia Daily Tribune sports editor Kent Heith. That murder went down on Halloween night.

Edwards has a history of showing up at funerals and trials of his victims. Cameron contends hes been caught on camera doing this a few times, appearing in the background of a documentary on the West Memphis Three. As for the Halbach case, take a look at someone Cameron noticed in episode six of Making A Murderer:

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NETFLIX / MONTANA CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTE

Was this Edward Wayne Edwards? Cameron has spent time in Wisconsin trying to determine the mystery individuals identity, with no luck so far.

If you thought the people out there fighting to determine Averys innocence or guilt are hardcore, wait until you wade into the section of the internet devoted to serial killer theories. There are endless message boards crammed with opinions, theories, and suppositions made by all sorts of people about every case ever left unsolved. Cameron makes some solid arguments and has a legit background in police investigation, but its hard to ignore the fact that hes accusing one man of literally over a hundred murders.

I mean, just look at his website, which declares with no uncertainty that EDWARDS IS THE KILLER OF TERESA HALBACH AND SET-UP OF STEVEN AVERY AND BRENDAN DASSEY. Well, thats, like, just your opinion, man. The rest of us would like a few more hard facts to back this up before we go all in on this theory. And when someone is willing to throw so much certainty behind one claim we know isnt for sure, how are we supposed to give him the benefit of the doubt in anything else he says?

But the further you go down the rabbit hole, the harder it gets to ignore certain evidence unearthed by Cameron. For more information, you can check out Camerons book, listen to some of his appearances on crime podcasts, or take a look at this website which attempts to summarize the evidence that ties Edwards to his many alleged crimes.

Now Watch: Hollywood Weighs In On The #OscarsSoWhite Controversey
Bogota (AFP) - Colombia released 16 FARC guerrillas Thursday, the first to walk free under a pardon issued in peace negotiations that appear to be closing in on a deal to end a half-century conflict.

The jailed rebels, the first out of a group of 30 to be pardoned, were released in a goodwill gesture to reciprocate for a unilateral ceasefire declared six months ago by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), said the office of the government's high commissioner for peace.

"This is a first, unilateral gesture by the government after evaluating the observance of the FARC's unilateral ceasefire and the resulting reduction in violence and advances in the (peace) process," it said in a statement.

The FARC welcomed the release as a "positive gesture," but called on the government to also free 80 other rebels with health problems.

The newly freed inmates themselves insisted the move was only a first step.

"We still can't break into applause, because our comrades are still in prison," Sandra Patricia Isaza, one of those freed, told journalists.

The jailed guerrillas were serving sentences for rebellion, a catch-all charge against FARC members. They had not been convicted of serious crimes.

President Juan Manuel Santos's government pardoned them on November 22.

Under the terms of their release, the rebels -- nine men and seven women freed from two Bogota prisons -- must promise not to re-enter the FARC.

But four of them will be allowed to travel to the three-year-old peace talks in Havana, where they will be briefed as "authorized civilians," the government said.

- Getting to know FARC -

Political analyst Jorge Restrepo called the release a key "trust-building gesture" as negotiators seek to chart a post-conflict future in which the FARC will transition from a guerrilla group to a political party.

"For the first time, we will see the FARC acting in society. We will see who they are, what they're going to do and whether they will participate in politics," he told AFP.

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The peace talks in Havana have made several key advances in recent months, and the two sides have set a deadline of March 23 to sign a final accord -- though the FARC have warned that "substantial" obstacles could get in the way.

The two sides have signed deals on four of the six agenda items at the talks: justice for victims, land reform, political participation for ex-rebels and fighting the drug trafficking that has fueled the conflict in the world's largest cocaine-producing country.

The unsettled issues are disarmament and the mechanism by which the final accord will be ratified.

The two sides opened talks Thursday on dealing with right-wing paramilitary groups that the FARC say are still killing rebels and assassinating leftist leaders despite being officially disbanded.

Negotiators announced Tuesday that they have asked the United Nations to send an unarmed observer mission to monitor the eventual end of the conflict and oversee the disarmament of the FARC.

The Colombian conflict, which has killed more than 220,000 people and displaced six million, has drawn in right-wing paramilitaries, drug traffickers and several leftist rebel groups, of which the FARC is the oldest and largest remaining.

A rival rebel group, the National Liberation Army (ELN), has held exploratory talks with the government but has yet to join the peace process.
Freetown (AFP) - A new case of Ebola has been confirmed in Sierra Leone, officials said Thursday, the second since west Africa celebrated the end of the epidemic last week.

The fresh outbreak has prompted the country to re-open its Ebola treatment centres and relaunch screening systems, including checkpoints on motorways, a grim reminder of the much feared tropical virus.

The World Health Organization said the new case involved the aunt of 22-year-old Marie Jalloh, who died of Ebola on January 12.

The 38-year-old woman "was a primary caregiver during (her niece's) illness," WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told AFP in an email.

He added that the patient had developed symptoms on Wednesday while she was being monitored at a quarantine facility.

So far, 150 of Jalloh's contacts had been identified, "of which 42 are high risk," Jasarevic said, noting that the list of people who needed to be monitored was likely to grow following the new confirmed case.

Sierra Leone's health ministry spokesman Sidi Yahya Tunis also confirmed the new patient, saying the aunt had helped wash Jalloh's body to prepare it for an Islamic burial.

"We are expecting other cases particularly from those who washed the body before the burial of Marie," he told reporters.

Ebola is at its most infectious as people are dying or in the bodies of those who have died from the virus.

"It is disappointing of course considering the fact that we have gone for over 100 days since we last recorded a case," Tunis said.

"What is however encouraging is the fact that this particular individual had already been identified as a high risk contact... and she was already isolated at the voluntary facility... and we were quickly able to remove her the moment she started exhibiting signs and symptoms," he added.

Sierra Leone's head of medical services, Brima Kargbo, has announced a vaccination programme for those quarantined following Jalloh's death in the central city of Magburaka.

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The vaccine being used, VSV-EBOV, is the first to have proven effective, according to experts, and Kargbo has said the operation would continue "until all the contacts are vaccinated."

Some of those quarantined have resisted vaccination, telling health workers they feared it would lead to other ailments.

- Improved response -

A week ago, the WHO announced that transmission of the virus that killed 11,315 people and triggered a global health alert had ended, with Liberia the last country to get the all-clear.

Sierra Leone was declared free of Ebola transmission on November 7 last year and Guinea on December 29.

But officials warned that a recurrence remained possible and stressed the importance of a quick, effective response to potential new cases.

Jasarevic told AFP that Sierra Leone had taken all the necessary measures following the new flare-up.

"It is a concrete demonstration of the government's strengthened capacity to manage disease outbreaks," he said.

Tunis said the latest patient had been taken from her home in Magburaka to a military hospital in the coastal capital, Freetown, which is fully equipped to handle Ebola cases.

"Now that we have seen another case, we are reinstituting screenings and other health measures at major road checkpoints and other areas," he added.

- 'Need to do more' -

Magburaka residents contacted by phone on Thursday told AFP that locals remained calm but were anxious for information about the fresh outbreak.

"The community woke up this morning with the bad news after we were trying to shake off the first shock of Marie Jalloh," said Tity Kamara, a 36-year-old housewife.

"We don't know whether we are now safe and it is the health authorities that should re-assure us of our safety," she added.

"I appreciate their work so far but they need to do more."

The deadliest outbreak in the history of the tropical virus wrecked the economies and health systems of the three worst-hit west African nations after it emerged in southern Guinea 2013.
With many lawmakers and presidential candidates declaring open season on drug companies that have substantially jacked up the price of critically needed drugs, the pharmaceutical industry is bracing for a bruising battle this year over calls for price restraints and other reforms.

The leading industry advocacy group, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), spent $18.32 million on lobbying in 2015, more than a ten-percent increase over the previous year, the Center for Responsive Politics confirmed on Thursday.

Related: Drug Company Profits Soar as Taxpayers Foot the Bill

That surge in lobbying activity, first reported by The Hill, marked the first time since 2009 that PhRMA has increased its resources for lobbying. For some, that signaled the coming war between Congress and drug companies to address mounting complaints from consumers and government health agencies about unrestrained price gouging.

The debate continues and it remains a hot topic, a hot political potato, and PhRMA is not shying away from the fight, Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive politics, a research group, said in an interview today. Their issues are many, and they are lobbying on many bills. But I think this increased spending signals that the battle is over drug pricing and Obamacare more generally.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the two main Democratic presidential candidates, have vowed action if elected to drive down prescription drug costs and save consumers and government health care programs tens of billions of dollars. Among their proposals are changes in the law to allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices with the drug companies and allow the importation of drugs from neighboring Canada.

Related: The Feds Finally Make a Move on Soaring Drug Prices

Meanwhile, the Senate Committee on Aging and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform have scheduled bi-partisan hearings on prescription pricing trends and have requested internal documents from several companies deemed the worst offenders, including Valeant Pharmaceuticals International and Turing Pharmaceuticals AG

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Turing was formerly headed by hedge fund manager and bad boy of the industry Martin Shkreli, who is currently battling federal criminal charges for alleged securities fraud unrelated to Turing. The drug company gained notoriety last year after it acquired the rights to Daraprim  a decades-old drug used to treat parasitic infections in cancer and HIV patients  and then raised the price from $13.50 to $750 a pill.

Shkreli has been summoned to appear before the two committees, but signaled this week that he would likely invoke his Fifth Amendment right to silence when he goes before the Senate panel and is pondering a similar strategy when he is hauled before the House oversight committee January 26.

Related: Wonder Drugs Blow a $1 Billion Hole in VAs Budget

Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the chair of the aging committee, tweeted on Wednesday that Shkreli's decision to invoke the Fifth Amendment was tantamount to stonewalling Congress' investigation, according to media reports. Shkreli fired back that he was making no apology for protecting his interests. "I have valid justification, he tweeted. Are you serious? I have constitutional rights. No wonder trust in the US Government is at a low.

Nervous PhRMA officials have sought to repudiate Shkreli and his media antics, stressing that Turing was not a member of their trade group, according to The Hill. Stephen J. Ubl, PhRMAs CEO, wrote last December, A close examination of Turing and Valeant makes clear that they are essentially hedge funds masquerading as pharmaceutical companies.

Joseph Antos, a health care expert with the American Enterprise Institute, said in an interview today that lawmakers, politicians and the pharmaceutical industry are just now positioning themselves for the time that Congress actually takes up a bill to address prices  but that pressure likely will mount leading up to the November presidential and congressional election.

Were still at the lobbying stage, but with storm warnings, he said. One could easily seea push in Congress to pass some aggressive legislation this fall.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
(Reuters) - Officials at a Connecticut high school called police after a teenaged student referenced the Islamic State group during a morning recitation of the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance, an attorney for the school district and local media said on Thursday.

The police department in Ansonia, Connecticut in turn handed the matter over to the federal Department of Homeland Security, the Connecticut Post reported, citing local police officials and records of a school board meeting in Ansonia where the incident occurred in October.

The 15-year-old boy, who was not identified due to his age, was not charged but was removed from classes at the school after substituting "ISIS," an acronym commonly used for Islamic State, for the words "the United States of America" during the pledge.

An attorney for the Ansonia Board of Education, Floyd Dugas, said school officials had called police "out of an abundance of caution."

"We do not believe at this point that this young man poses any kind of risk," Dugas said, adding that federal and state law prevented the school from saying more on the matter.

Ansonia police said in a statement provided to the newspaper, "We are no longer investigating this matter. The allegation is that the male was allegedly making pro ISIS statements during the Pledge of Allegiance."

Ansonia police officials did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment.

The United States has been on an elevated state of alert for Islamic State-related attacks after a married couple in December shot dead 14 people in San Bernardino, in an attack inspired by the militant group.

Earlier this month, a man claiming allegiance to Islamic State militants shot and seriously wounded a Philadelphia police officer, according to local police.

(Reporting by Scott Malone in Boston; Editing by Alistair Bell)
Jan. 22, 2016: This story has been corrected.

Bernie Sanders may decry how big money influences political elections, but that isnt stopping groups independent of the Democratic presidential candidate from spending significant cash in his name.

The latest organization to do so: Friends of the Earth Action.

The national environmental nonprofit this week released an ad that praises Sanders green record and highlights his early opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline.

Hes proven a bold and fearless voice for a healthy and just world, the ads narrator says. The ad, first reported by CNN, is airing in Iowa and New Hampshire markets this week.

Friends of the Earth Action is a social welfare nonprofit, also known as a 501(c)(4) organization. Under law, 501(c)(4) nonprofits are not required to disclose their donors.

And so, these types of nonprofits have increasingly become vehicles for dark money  untraceable and often immense cash flows used to influence elections. Such nonprofits must by law avoid being primarily political, but thats not stopping them from collectively injecting hundreds of millions of dollars into political elections this decade.

Hillary Clintons presidential campaign labeled the Friends of the Earth Action as dark money group in a recent blog post titled Sanders No Super PAC Myth.

But Friends of the Earth Action rejects the dark money label.

Weve got a long history of engaging in the political process that predates super PACs and Citizens United, said Erich Pica, president of the environmentally-minded nonprofit. So they can call us a dark money group, but we are mainly small-donor driven.

The ads sponsor

Friends of the Earth Action says it provides extra political muscle to sister group Friends of the Earth, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 1969.

Related video: Friends of Earth Action ad: 'A bold and fearless voice'

This story is part of Source Check. Click here to read more stories in this series.

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The duo vows to urge policymakers to defend the environment and work towards a healthy environment for all people.

Story continues

This is not Friends of the Earth Actions first time entering the political arena. In 2008, for example, Friends of the Earth Action spent more than $70,000 in support of Democrat John Edwardss failed presidential run.

The Sanders ad blitz is twofold, Pica said. He sees Sanders as more committed than Clinton to environmental issues, but he also wants to force a conversation on climate change  a topic that has yet to be robustly discussed in debates.

Pica has, perhaps, already seen a measure of success: Sanders on Wednesday released a statement addressing a new report confirming 2015 was the hottest year in recorded history.

Unless we get our act together, we will see in years to come more droughts, more floods and more extreme weather disturbances, Sanders said in the statement.

Whos behind it?

Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth Action, is helping lead the ad blitz.

Canal Partners Media placed the ad, according to Federal Election Commission records. The media buying group regularly places ads for Democratic parties, movements and candidates.

Money in

When it comes to their donors, social welfare nonprofits can be  and often are  opaque.

But heeding Sanders money-in-politics gospel, Pica is promising transparency. Friends of the Earth Action, he says, will disclose within 24 hours on its website every donor who contributes more than $200. This aligns with the level of disclosure federal law requires traditional political action committees, super PACs and political parties.

This weeks ad flurry was purchased with preexisting funds, Pica said.

Normally, Friends of the Earth only partially discloses its donors and has accepted anonymous contributions when donors request anonymity. At the same time, the group fought for more political disclosure in Minnesota, where legislators introduced a bill in 2014 to tighten campaign finance rules.

Money out

Friends of the Earth Action paid about $20,000 to produce and air the ads, according to FEC documents. This is the first expenditure the group has made in any federal election this cycle  presidential or congressional, records show.

Why to watch this group

Friends of the Earth Action will continue to support Sanders, Pica said, and he left open the possibility of additional pro-Sanders ad campaigns.

What weve done is a really modest buy, Pica said. He needs people to stand up, take action and contribute. The groups ad campaign does present a problem for Sanders, at least to some degree: As much as Sanders says he doesnt have, want or need a super PAC, he has little control over the matter.

Beside Friends of the Earth Action, a super PAC funded by a national nurses union is spending significant sums of money to promote Sanders's candidacy.

National Nurses United for Patient Protection has unleashed about $969,000 on behalf of Sanders since the start of the election, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The group has mostly paid for mailers, and has yet to make its debut on the airwaves.

Then theres Americans Socially United, a pro-Sanders super PAC run by a man with a long history of legal problems. This particular super PAC even duped Daniel Craig of James Bond fame into making a contribution.

Although the Sanders campaign sent a cease-and-desist order to Cary Lee Peterson, the man behind Americans Socially United  the letter had minimal effect  the campaign has done comparatively little to reign in the nurses union super PAC or environmental nonprofit.

Officials from both the environmental and nurses groups say their pro-Sanders campaigns were started independent of Sanders or his campaign staffers, current or former.

Many super PACs supporting specific presidential candidates, such as pro-Jeb Bush super PAC Right to Rise USA and pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC Priorities USA Action, are led by close friends and political allies of the candidates being supported.

This presidential election, dark money groups supporting Republicans have so far outspent those supporting Democrats. Conservative Solutions Project, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, has alone spent millions of dollars boosting Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida.

The Sanders campaign did not respond to requests for comment, but in an interview with CNN, Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs differentiated Friends of the Earth Action from other outside groups infusing the presidential election with money.

Friends of the Earth Action is not a corporation looking to gut regulations or procure tax breaks, Briggs said. They are an organization made up of thousands of American citizens concerned about a healthy environment and fighting climate change.

This story was co-published with Al Jazeera America.

Correction, Jan. 22, 2016, 12:19 p.m.: An earlier version of this story reported the National Nurses United for Patient Protection has spent $2 million supporting Sen. Bernie Sanders presidential run. This super PAC has so far spent about $969,000 on Sanders.

Related story: Tracking TV ads in the 2016 presidential race

This story is part of Source Check. Click here to read more stories in this series.

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.
By David Brunnstrom and Tom Miles DAVOS/GENEVA (Reuters) - Syrian peace talks will go ahead in Geneva, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry insisted on Thursday, but with just days to go, rival camps bickered about who should be invited to take part. Kerry conceded that the timetable may slip from a planned Jan. 25 start but there would be no fundamental delay, he said, and U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura would send out invitations on Sunday. "What will happen is on Monday, there will be some discussions (in Geneva), but I would say that by Tuesday and Wednesday people will be able to get there. We just see this is as logistical," Kerry told journalists at a roundtable discussion in Davos. "We are just kind of lining pieces up a little bit here. So well see where we are." With no military solution in sight after almost five years of war and over 250,000 deaths, Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov agreed on Wednesday that the talks should go ahead despite no apparent agreement on who should represent the opposition. Kerry said initial talks would be "proximity talks", not a face-to-face meeting of participants in the same room. "You are not going to have a situation where they are sitting down at the table staring at each other or shouting at each other; you are going to have to build some process here, and that's what will begin," Kerry said. "The government of Syria will be wherever it is Mr. Staffan decides they will be and the ... (opposition) will be wherever he decides. And if he has some other people he wants to talk to and meet with he will." Countries backing the talks, including the United States and Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Turkey, are still at odds over which fighting groups should be branded "terrorists", a discussion that is expected to continue even as De Mistura shuttles between the rival delegations in Geneva. Russia and Iran, which support President Bashar al-Assad, have rejected attempts by Saudi Arabia, which like the United States and European powers opposes him, to organize the opposition's delegation for the talks. Russia wants the opposition negotiating team expanded to include other figures that could be deemed closer to its own thinking as well as the main Syrian Kurdish party, the PYD, and the affiliated YPG militia. But the opposition has said it will boycott the Geneva negotiations if Russia insists on such a shake-up. ONE-SIDED TALKS? Among Russia's objections is the inclusion of Mohamad Alloush as chief negotiator for the opposition. He is a member of the politburo of Jaysh al-Islam (Islam Army), a major rebel faction which Russia considers a terrorist group, and - diplomats say - is a close relative of Zahran Alloush, killed in a Russian air strike last month. But many of Assad's foes view Jaysh al-Islam as a legitimate part of the opposition. Alloush insisted the Syrian government must halt attacks on civilians and end blockades before the talks can go ahead. "The session will not take place until the measures are implemented ... While no measures are taken, the chances are zero," he told Reuters. "We don't want to go to Geneva ... for photos." A Russian diplomat said that if the Alloush delegation boycotted the Geneva talks, the Syrian government would simply negotiate with an alternative opposition delegation favored by Russia. The last day to start the talks was Friday, Jan. 29, the diplomat said. A Western diplomat dismissed the Russian comments and said that without the opposition there would be no talks to speak of while Alloush said some of Russia's choices for an opposition delegation, such as the PYD, should sit with the government. "How can talks happen with just one side?," Alloush said. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, accused Russia of jeopardizing the talks by insisting on the inclusion of "terrorist groups" such as the YPG. "Some circles, including Russia, they want to spoil the opposition side, putting some other elements in the opposition side like the YPG, which has been collaborating with the regime and attacking the moderate opposition," he said. Iran's foreign minister has said that 10 opposition delegates were members of al Qaeda - one of three groups he said must be barred. A senior French diplomat said there must be a credible framework in place before the talks can take place and if more time was needed, the U.N. should consider it. "What we don't want is to repeat the previous experience of Geneva 2," the diplomat said, referring to negotiations in 2014 that failed after just a few days. "The Security Council is clear. U.N. Special Envoy De Mistura must work with the opposition groups constituted in Riyadh. It doesn't seem desirable to me that there is a third force," the French diplomat said. (Reporting by Tom Miles; Additional reporting by John Irish in Paris; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
Last week the UFC announced a surprising spring supercard for March 5: UFC 197 would feature featherweight champ Conor McGregor facing lightweight champ Rafael Dos Anjos, and Miesha Tate facing womens bantamweight champ and Rousey-killer Holly Holm. With the card coming up right around the corner, the UFC has already started putting together pressers with the first one happening earlier today. And as usual, Conor McGregor stole the show.

I came into this promotion as a two weight world champion and I have always wanted to replicate that, Conor said when asked why he decided to move up and face Dos Anjos. That was the goal: create history and continue to create history. And this man across from me has a title. He has nothing else but that. He is a free TV fighter, he has nothing else to offer me except that gold belt.

As for how he thought the fight would end, McGregor didnt mince words. Itll be another KO. I swear, Id love to beat the ugly out of him and drag him out into the third round. But I feel like I will dust Rafael inside one minute. Hes a slower, sloppier version of Aldo. Hes like a bum version of Aldo.

McGregor also continued to accuse Dos Anjos of being a gringo and abandoning his home country of Brazil to move to America. When the fight was first announced he declared he was dedicating this demolition job to the loyal people of Brazil and all the fans around the globe who stay true to their roots and loyal to their land.

I wanna send you back to our Brazilian media partners at Globo and have you answer to the Brazilian people why we have to book you a hotel in your own home country, why your kids names are Bob and Donald, McGregor continued at the press conference. Why are you raising American children? Why dont you trust in your own people?

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On March 5th I will behead Rafael Dos Anjos, I will drag his head through the streets of Rio de Janeiro through a parade of people. I imagine it will also become a national holiday. Just a sign of recognizing whos true and whos not.

He also responded to a question about past comments about Jesus that some took offense to, saying Me and Jesus are cool. Im cool with all the gods. Gods recognize gods.

He rounded things out by announcing the lightweight belt wasnt the end of his multi-division ambitions. I like the sound of that 170 title as well, I gotta be honest with you, he declared. I feel like I can take down them three gold belts. And I feel like I can do it before the year ends.

As always, Conor McGregor talks a mean talk. He may not be able to walk it against a tough opponent like Rafael Dos Anjos, but he certainly didnt show any fear during their staredown:
A new online test has been designed to see who has what it takes to blast off to space, just like British European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Tim Peake.

Developed by the Netherlands Aerospace Centre along with ESA and the Swedish Defence Research Agency, the test recreates some of the challenges faced by astronauts, including spatial awareness and control combined with weightlessness.

The test includes a challenge to manoeuvre a 3D block through space using a variety of different movements in order to dock with another block, echoing the experience of docking a spacecraft.

The test mimics the experience of docking a spacecraft in microgravity (ESA/Netherlands Aerospace Centre/Swedish Defence Research Agency)

Using on-screen arrows to plan a series of movements, armchair astronauts then press the execute button to begin the simulation and find out if they planned the sequence of movements correctly.

The idea is to complete the task as quickly as possible with the least amount of errors.

The test takes 30-60 minutes to complete.

The more people that play with the test, the better, as this will help ESA to validate the test so that it can be used to help select real-life astronauts in future.

The challenge is currently in beta testing mode, so it can only be played on desktop computers, though it is supported for all the key web browsers including Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari and Explorer.

American space agency NASA is currently accepting applications for its astronaut programme, though it only accepts applications from US citizens.

Image credit: Tim Peake/ESA


Ottawa (AFP) - Domestic violence in Canada has declined sharply over the last decade, but not among aboriginal women who are still far more likely than others to be victimized, government statistics showed Thursday,

Newly-released data from a 2014 Statistics Canada survey show that four percent of Canadians who have been in relationships during the past five years reported having been physically or sexually abused by their partner, down from seven percent in 2004.

Both men and women alleged they had been sexually assaulted, beaten, choked, threatened with a gun or a knife, kicked, bitten, hit, or were manipulated, drugged or otherwise coerced, sometimes in combination with sexual assault through physical force.

One in five claimed to have been assaulted on more than 10 occasions in the past five years.

However, 70 percent of respondents said they did not report it to police.

But while domestic violence has declined in the general population, the rate of spousal abuse among aboriginal people has been virtually unchanged since 2009, Statistics Canada said.

The data also showed that natives, especially women, were more than twice as likely as non-aboriginals to have experienced spousal violence.

The study noted that 40 percent of native respondents reported having been abused as child, adding this is "a factor that may be associated with spousal victimization later in life."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a public inquiry last month into why some 1,200 indigenous women were murdered or have gone missing since 1980.
By Angus Berwick MADRID (Reuters) - When Alberto Rodriguez of Podemos turned up for the new Spanish parliament's first session in the grand chamber in Madrid, his dreadlocks, jeans and scruffy jumper drew a look of disapproval from the staid prime minister, Mariano Rajoy. Such scenes are likely to become commonplace with the end of two-party domination of Spanish politics and a new wave of delegates taking their seats alongside the well-groomed ranks of the old guard. It is more than just a style issue, however. The national election on Dec. 20 left Rajoy's ruling People's Party (PP) without a majority and opened parliament's doors to two new parties, the anti-austerity Podemos and the centrist Ciudadanos. Rodriguez, 34, and his cohorts want to reform a political class tainted by its handling of Spain's economic crisis and corruption scandals that have reached as high as Rajoy himself. "Rajoy has not understood that we are in a new political era in which parliament is not the private reserve of the few," Rodriguez, a former oil refinery worker, told reporters when he made his parliamentary debut last week. Although the 218 first-time delegates in the 350-seat lower house mark only a slight increase from five years ago when Rajoy won a comfortable majority, they come from diverse backgrounds - from actresses and poets to restaurant-owners and winemakers. Party leaders are now wrangling over forming a government, with the opposition Socialist's leader, Pedro Sanchez, proposing a leftist coalition and Rajoy a "grand coalition" of centre-right and centre-left parties. IN TOUCH WITH REALITY Podemos says the fuss kicked up by the traditional parties over Rodriguez and his dreadlocks was to distract people from the problems at hand. Despite a rebound in the economy, Spain still has Europe's second-highest youth unemployment rate. "It is a symptom of how the political class want to prevent change," said Sofia Castanon, a well-known poet and Podemos delegate for Asturias, a mountainous region on Spain's northern coast. Parliament had lost the trust of Spaniards, Castanon told Reuters, and Podemos would restore it by eliminating the privileges politicians had enjoyed, such as official cars, generous tax allowances and special pension schemes. Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias has restricted his lawmakers' salaries to three times the minimum wage of 757 euros ($824) a month, a change Castanon, 32, said showed how the party was in touch with Spain's economic reality. Political analysts said that how far the new parliament could go in changing the course of Spanish politics remains to be seen, especially if the next government is a fragile coalition of many parties that could struggle to agree on a strong reform agenda. Teleo Intelligence analyst Antonio Barroso said there was a risk that Podemos, whose delegates' average age is 11 years below that of the PP, would stick to dramatic and symbolic messages without tackling more complex budgetary issues. Iglesias, for instance, cradled his party deputy's baby during last week's first parliamentary session and vowed, with a clenched fist raised high, to change the constitution to create a more federal Spain. "There is a lot of potential for the parliament to become a political circus," Barroso said. "But I think by bringing in fresh blood you will actually increase the quality of the debate." TAKING ON PRIVILEGE Although Podemos stole the headlines with its break from the norm, delegates from Ciudadanos, whose leader Albert Rivera has called for a more transparent and meritocratic government, say they have similar plans to reform parliament despite their more conventional style. Many from Ciudadanos spent their working lives prior to politics in sectors such as law, finance and higher education, and they are now eager to correct what they see as the governement's inadequacies. Patricia Reyes, a lawyer who defended customers of Spanish banks such as Bankia, said one of her priorities is to revoke the government's power to pardon officials charged with corruption. Hundreds of politicians across Spain are under investigation for embezzling public funds, including the PP's ex-treasurer. A former justice minister said two years ago more than 17,500 official positions had special protection before the law. "I went into politics because I was outraged by the privileges politicians had," Reyes, 42, told Reuters in her new parliament office. "There are politicians that have spent their whole lives here, they live completely apart from reality." Another Ciudadanos delegate, Marta Martin, investigated gender and labour disputes for 18 years as a university professor in Alicante. Within a week of arriving in parliament she has filed a proposal to extend Spain's maternity and paternity leave. "I couldn't just keep complaining from my couch at home," Martin, 43, said. CLOSE TO HOME New reformist faces are not just found in the two upstart parties. Miguel Angel Viso followed his parents and grandparents in working in the wine industry in the rainy northwestern region of Galicia before becoming PP delegate for the city of Ourense. "The PP saw the need to freshen up its ranks," Viso, 45, said. "The big advantage I have is my connection with local people and my skills as a manager." Although he now spends three days a week in the capital, he said the rest of his time he will be back at his vineyard outside Ourense to listen to his fellow winemakers and farmers. "I don't want to be too far from home, I want to be close to the people that voted for me." ($1 = 0.9181 euros) (Additional reporting by Blanca Rodriguez,; Editing by Julien Toyer and Angus MacSwan)
DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - More than 80 international drug and biotech firms urged governments to work with them to combat drug-resistant superbugs which could kill tens of millions of people within decades unless progress is made and new antibiotics found. In a declaration at the World Economic Forum in Davos, they called for coordinated efforts to cut unnecessary use of antibiotics and support development of new ones, including by creating new economic models and investing in research. GlaxoSmithKline Chief Executive Andrew Witty said the difficulty of finding new antibiotics was highlighted by the fact that mass screenings of hundreds of millions of chemicals at GSK and two other large firms over nine years had yielded zero potential new drugs. "That's not because we are all really stupid. It's because it is a really, really difficult space to make progress in," he said in Davos. The 83 pharmaceutical companies urged governments around the world to commit money "to provide appropriate incentives". Since new antibiotics will likely be kept in reserve for emergencies, possible new market models could include upfront payments that would delink profits from sales volumes. Any use of antibiotics promotes the development and spread of so-called superbugs - multi-drug-resistant infections that can evade the medicines designed to kill them. International alarm about the superbug threat is rising after the discovery in China of a gene called mcr-1 that makes bacteria resistant to all known antibiotics. "For the world to continue to have new antibiotics, we need investments in basic science and novel incentive models for industry R&D, and to protect our existing treatments, we need new frameworks for appropriate use," said Paul Stoffels, chief scientific officer of Johnson & Johnson. Former Goldman Sachs chief economist Jim O'Neill was asked in 2014 by Britain's prime minister to conduct a full review of the problem and suggest ways to combat it. In his initial report, he estimated antibiotic and microbial resistance could kill an extra 10 million people a year and cost up to $100 trillion by 2050 if it is not brought under control. While the problem of infectious bugs becoming drug-resistant has been a feature of medicine since the discovery of the first antibiotic, penicillin, in 1928, it has grown in recent years as drugmakers have cut back investment in the field. In their Davos declaration, the companies pledged to encourage more appropriate use of new and existing antibiotics, including more judicious use of the drugs in livestock. They also promised to increase investment in R&D "that meets global public health needs" and work to ensure affordable access to antibiotics all over the world, at all levels of income. Other companies signing up to the declaration include Merck, Pfizer, Sanofi, Novartis and AstraZeneca. (Reporting by Kate Kelland in London and Ben Hirschler in Davos; Editing by Dominic Evans and Peter Graff)
A pair of drug traffickers became so paranoid while high on marijuana that they called the cops to give themselves up.

Leland Ayala-Doliente, 22, and Holland Sward, 23, were traveling from Las Vegas to Bozeman, Montana, on 23 January 2015.

They had around 20lb of marijuana stashed in their car, and were happily taking the edge off the journey by working their way through it.



Things got a bit much for the pair as they reached the Idaho border however, and they became paranoid that the police were after them.



Feeling they couldnt go on any longer, they phoned 911 to confess all - and EastIdahoNews.com shared the full, hilarious exchange.

Heres the full transcript:

Ayala-Dolitente: Hi, uh, were the two dumb asses that got caught trying to bring some stuff through your border and all your cops are just driving around us like a bunch of jack wagons and Id just like for you guys to end it. If you could help me out with that, we would like to just get on with it.

Dispatcher: You got caught doing what?

Ayala-Dolitente: Ahh okay. Um We kind of got spooked here trying to bring some stuff across your Idaho border.

Dispatcher: Ok.

Ayala-Dolitente: And, yeah. A bunch of your cops driving around in a bunch of civilian cars not wanting to pick us up. I dont know whats the deal. I was just wondering if you could help us out and just end it.

Dispatcher: Ok um.

Ayala-Dolitente:Yeah if you could call one of them. I dont know. Its getting cold out here man. I just want to get warm and just get on with this whole thing so

Dispatcher: Ok. Where you at right now?

Ayala-Dolitente: University Boulevard right next to the gas station and Applebees. All your buddies are around us so if you could help us out thatd be great.

Dispatcher: Ok alright. Is it just you or is there anybody else with you?

Ayala-Dolitente: Its me and my buddy that I brought with me and then we have a dog that we were gonna bring back to its owner but

Dispatcher: Oh ok.

Story continues

Ayala-Dolitente: Shes a really nice dog. Shes not mean. Shes a pitbull

Dispatcher: Oh cool.

Ayala-Dolitente: Shes really cold in the car. She could use some food too.

Dispatcher: Ok. What was your name man?

Ayala-Dolitente: Its Leland.

Dispatcher: Leland okay. Hold on just one second okay. Stay on the phone with me.

Ayala-Dolitente: Alright. Thank you.

(speaking to Sward): Hes a nice guy.

Want me to jump in the air and click my heels twice or what?

Dispatcher: Do you guys have any guns or weapons or anything on you at all?

Ayala-Dolitente: Nope we dont have any of that stuff with us. Just a bunch of snacks and stuff.

Dispatcher: Alright. I just wanna make sure. Theyre just curious.

Ayala-Dolitente: Yeah, yeah. We tried walking away from the car a couple times and that didnt work. We tried waving them down and that didnt work so I dont know whats going on here.

Dispatcher: Ok. I do have one of my marked units. Hes on his way over there so hes on his way to meet you.

Ayala-Dolitente: Alright. Thank you.

When the police arrived the two men were waiting with their hands on their heads, their stash of marijuana parked at the roadside in a dog kennel.

Sward announced: We got caught and were surrendering.



Caught red handed: The paranoid duo gladly gave up their stash (Rexburg Police Department)



Both men were originally charged with trafficking marijuana, with Sward eventually pleading guilty to the lesser charge of possession with intent to deliver.

He was given a five-year suspended prison sentence, placed on probation for five years and ordered to serve 30 days in jail.

In November, Ayala-Doliente was sentenced to one-and-a-half to eight years in prison.

His sentence was more severe as he tested positive for marijuana, cocaine and oxycodone on the day of his sentencing.
About 60 drawings and hieroglyphic inscriptions, dating back around 5,000 years, have been discovered at a site called Wadi Ameyra in Egypts Sinai Desert. Carved in stone, they were created by mining expeditions sent out by early Egyptian pharaohs, archaeologists say.

They reveal new information on the early pharaohs. For instance, one inscription the researchers found tells of a queen named Neith-Hotep who ruled Egypt 5,000 years ago as regent to a young pharaoh named Djer.

Archaeologists estimate that the earliest carvings at Wadi Ameyra date back around 5,200 years, while the most recent date to the reign of a pharaoh named Nebre, who ruled about 4,800 years ago. [See Photos of the Egyptian Drawings and Hieroglyphics]

The "inscriptions are probably a way to proclaim that the Egyptian state owned the area," team leader Pierre Tallet, a professor at Universite Paris-Sorbonne, told Live Science.

He explained that south of Wadi Ameyra, the ancient expeditions would have mined turquoise and copper. Sometime after Nebre's rule, the route of the expeditions changed, bypassing Wadi Ameyra, he said.

Early female ruler

The inscriptions carved by a mining expedition show that queen Neith-Hotep stepped up as ruler about 5,000 years ago, millennia before Hatshepsut or Cleopatra VII ruled the country.

While Egyptologists knew that Neith-Hotep existed, they believed she was married to a pharaoh named Narmer. "The inscriptions demonstrate that she [Neith-Hotep] was not the wife of Narmer, but a regent queen at the beginning of the reign of Djer," Tallet said.

'The White Walls'

An inscription found at Wadi Ameyra shows that Memphis, an ancient capital of Egypt that was also called "the White Walls," is older than originally believed.

Ancient Greek and Roman writers claimed that Memphis was constructed by a mythical king named Menes, whom Egyptologists often consider to be a real-life pharaoh named Narmer, Tallet explained.

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The new inscription shows that Memphis actually existed before Narmer was even born.

"We have in Wadi Ameyra an inscription giving for the first time the name of this city, the White Walls,and it is associated to the name of Iry-Hor, a king who ruled Egypt two generations before Narmer," Tallet said. The inscription shows that the ancient capital was around during the time of Iry-Hor and could have been built before even he was pharaoh.

Archaic boats

Among the drawings discovered at Wadi Ameyra are several that show boats. On three of these boats, the archaeologists found a "royal serekh," a pharaonic symbol that looks a bit like the facade of a palace. The serekh looks "as if it were a cabin" on the boats, Tallet said.

In later times, boats were buried beside Egypt's pyramids, including the Giza pyramids. The design of the boats depicted at Wadi Ameyra "are really archaic, much older" than those found beside the pyramids, Tallet said.

The Wadi Ameyra site was first discovered in 2012, and the finds were reported recently in the book "La Zone Miniere Pharaonique du Sud-Sinai II" (Institut Francais d'Archeologie Orientale, 2015).

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STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Ecuador has asked Sweden to submit a new application over the questioning of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in London, Swedish prosecutors said on Thursday. The Swedish prosecutor said Ecuador had informed Sweden in a letter that it would conduct the interview of Assange and has asked for a list of questions the Swedish prosecutor wants answered. "At the moment, we consider if it affects the possibilities to conduct the investigative matters and, if that is case, we shall submit a renewed request," Director of Public Prosecution Marianne Ny said in a statement. Assange, 44, took refuge at Ecuador's embassy in London in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over allegations, which he denies, that he committed rape in 2010. Assange says he fears Sweden will extradite him to the United States. (Reporting by Daniel Dickson; Editing by Simon Johnson)
It's no secret the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, is an administrative screw-up of massive proportions, but when Gov. Rick Snyder released 274 pages of internal emails to the public on Wednesday, one passage stuck out as especially damning.

On Dec. 24, Meegan Holland  the communications director for Snyder  sent an email to the governor and members of his administration briefing them about an audit being conducted by Michigan's Office of the Auditor General. The audit was directed at the Office of Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance, and how it responded to Flint residents receiving filthy brown stink-liquid instead of clean drinking water.

Turns out the Environmental Protection Agency was asking questions about Flint's water problem as early as February 2015. Here's one thing they asked Michigan's Department of Environmental Quality at the time: Is Flint having trouble with corrosion control treatment? Here's the answer the DEQ gave: No, we have an "optimized system" in place.

Flint River

But when the EPA asked the same question again in April, the DEQ's answer was different: "DEQ said that the Water Treatment Plant was not doing corrosion control," the email brief reads. The DEQ later clarified that their answer from February actually meant they had a program in place to monitor the Flint River  the source where Flint's water was coming from  for lead contamination over two six-month periods. After those monitoring periods, they would make a decision on how to handle whatever corrosion risks they found.

Here is an excerpt from that passage (from page 250 of the emails):

Screenshot from Gov. Snyder's emails

By now, we know this was too little too late. The corrosive nature of Flint's river water wreaked havoc on the city's 75-year-old pipe system, releasing lead into the city's water supply, poisoning dozens of people and sparking what President Barack Obama recently declared a state of emergency. Flint is 57% black, with 41% of residents living below the poverty line.

Story continues

The Dec. 24 email brief claims the DEQ believed it was operating within EPA regulations at the time, and that there was no reason to believe they were willfully concealing anything. But in a statement to NBC News Wednesday, the EPA still blamed the crisis squarely on state and local officials, saying they were "responsible for implementing the regulations to protect their residents' drinking water," and that the EPA's efforts to help them out were "impacted by failures and resistance at the state and local levels."

Meanwhile, Flint residents had been complaining about dirty water coming from their pipes as early as April 2014. That month, Flint was forced to stop buying water from Detroit and switch to a new water source, the Flint River, while a pipeline was constructed to funnel them water from Lake Huron. Over that period, Flint residents and supporters flooded the Internet with stomach-churning images of their contaminated water, all the while complaining about skin rashes, hair loss and other symptoms.

MI @RepDanKildee steps in to help #FlintWaterCrisis caused by #GovSnyder http://on.msnbc.com/1RHTdHL #Michigan #maddow pic.twitter.com/Pjyx5HFmdc https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CXRrjxBUQAAaWiP.jpg:large

A photo posted by T-e-m-e-k-i, Bodiqua (@orangesunrise1) on Jan 15, 2016 at 8:03am PST

A rding to a timeline compiled by the Associated Press, government officials nevertheless spent much of late 2014 and 2015 playing a dangerous game with the lives of Flint residents, at times claiming the water was totally safe to drink while at others advising residents to boil it to get rid of bacteria. Finally  after multiple tests revealing high levels of toxins  switching back to Detroit as a water source in October.

"I'm sorry, and I will fix it," Snyder told residents during his State of the State address on Tuesday, according to the New York Times. Multiple class action lawsuits have since been filed against Flint and Michigan officials on behalf of Flint residents.

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Emma Thompson has left WME for CAA, The Hollywood Reporter has exclusively learned.

The two-time Academy Award winners next film, Alone in Berlin, in which she and Brendan Gleeson play a couple resisting the Nazi regime, will premiere in competition at the Berlin International Film Festival next month. And next year, the actress will portray Mrs. Potts opposite her former Hogwarts student Emma Watson in Disneys live-action Beauty and the Beast.

In November, Thompson won her first Scottish BAFTA for playing Robert Carlyles raucously broad-accented, chain-smoking schemer of a mother in the actor and first-time directors dark comedy The Legend of Barney Thomson. She also appeared last year as Robert Redfords wife in A Walk in the Woods and Bradley Coopers doctor in Burnt.

Thompson took home a best actress Oscar for 1992s Howards End and a best screenplay Oscar for 1995s Sense and Sensibility to go with Academy-nominated turns in that Jane Austen adaptation as well as The Remains of the Day and In the Name of the Father. Among her many other acclaimed and memorable credits are Saving Mr. Banks, the Harry Potter franchise, Nanny McPhee, Love Actually, Primary Colors, Much Ado About Nothing and HBOs Angels in America and Wit.

Read More: Emma Thompson Pays Tribute to Alan Rickman: "He Was the Ultimate Ally"
LONDON (Reuters) - Jessica Ennis-Hill will have doubts about Russian athletes even if they are cleared to compete at the 2016 Rio Games, the Olympic and world heptathlon champion said on Thursday. Russia were banned from the sport in November following the first part of a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) report that found a "deeply rooted culture of cheating" in track and field in the country. The nation's athletes will only be allowed to compete at the Rio Olympics if the ban imposed by the governing IAAF is lifted in time for the Aug. 5-21 Games. "I hope if it does get to that stage that there are Russian athletes competing at the Olympics, that really drastic measures have been put in place to make sure nothing like this happens again," Briton Ennis-Hill told the BBC. "I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't look at Russian athletes and think 'is everything 100 percent OK?'." Ennis-Hill, who clinched gold in front of a fervent home crowd at London 2012 and claimed a second world title in Beijing last year, said she expected further disclosures in the doping scandal that has rocked the sport. "As an athlete competing at this time, it's awful to see but at the same time you have to think that our sport has to go through this really terrible time," she added. "It has to go to the very bottom, to the darkest place for it to then rise and come out the other side." (Reporting by Toby Davis; editing by Tony Jimenez)
By Ayesha Rascoe WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will ensure that federal officials are held accountable if any wrongdoing is uncovered in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's handling of the water contamination crisis in Flint, Michigan, the White House said on Thursday. "The president believes that the principle of accountability is important, particularly when the stakes are this high," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters at a briefing. Noting that the Justice Department was investigating the contamination of Flint's water supply, Earnest said Obama will make sure that EPA officials are held responsible for any "errors or wrongdoing" that may be uncovered. Obama on Wednesday said it was "inexplicable and inexcusable" that families in Flint were not immediately notified about the contaminated water. Federal and local government agencies have faced criticism for their response to the crisis in Flint, where a switch in water supply for the cash-strapped city of 100,000 north of Detroit led to elevated levels of lead in drinking water. High levels of lead in the blood can cause brain damage and other health problems. While the Obama administration has repeatedly stressed oversight of the Flint's water was primarily the responsibility of state and local authorities, the EPA has said it did not act fast enough to address the problem. Complaints about Flint's water began within a month after the city switched to Flint River water in April 2014 to save money. The city had been using the Lake Huron as its water source. Flint did not return to the Lake Huron water supply until October 2015, after tests showed elevated levels of lead in Flint tap water and in some children. (Reporting by Ayesha Rascoe; Editing by David Gregorio)
Brussels (AFP) - The European Union urged German auto giant Volkswagen on Thursday to compensate European consumers in the same way as its US customers over the emissions test scandal.

Volkswagen chief Matthias Mueller held talks with EU Industry Commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska about the scandal, in which Europe's biggest car maker fitted 11 million diesel engines worldwide with devices aimed at cheating emissions tests.

"Commissioner Bienkowska invited the group once again to reflect on adequate ways to compensate consumers," a spokeswoman for the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, said after the talks in Brussels.

"She repeated her clear view that EU consumers should be treated in the same way as US customers. Mr Mueller agreed to come back to the Commissioner on the points discussed," the spokeswoman added.

In the United States where Volkswagen is under investigation, the company has offered a "goodwill package" of $1,000 worth of gift and fidelity cards to buyers of affected cars.

But there has been no such offer in Europe, leading to complaints that consumers in the 28-nation bloc are being treated unfairly.

The EU has also been pressing VW to provide more details so it can assess environmental and health impacts of the scandal.

The Commission said Mueller had "committed to sharing without delay all technical information needed for the Commission to assess that the planned corrective measures are effective."

"The Commissioner reiterated that it is equally urgent to share full details concerning the deviations observed in CO2 emissions and (fuel) consumption data," the spokeswoman said.

Brussels is set to unveil new details soon of a system by which EU member states check the safety and environmental standards of all cars to be put on the market, to prevent a repeat of the scandal, the Commission said.
DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - European countries have roughly two months to agree a common approach to the refugee crisis or the European Union will be at risk, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said on Thursday. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Lofven was asked about remarks from Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte saying Europe must get a grip on the refugee influx in the next six to eight weeks. "Yes I think it is in that ballpark," Lofven replied. "We know that probably when spring comes the number of refugees will increase again." "I'm not naive," he added. "When we discuss this my argument to those countries that are not willing to accept refugees is that if we can't handle this the European Union is at risk. If we cannot do it there is a risk to Schengen." (Reporting by Noah Barkin)
By Sarah N. Lynch and Lisa Lambert WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. regulator that polices the complex derivatives markets is struggling to keep its own books in order and has made a material error that its auditor found so significant that it withdrew nearly a decade of its financial opinions, according to documents seen by Reuters. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) understated liabilities by $194 million in fiscal 2015 and $212 million the previous year, the agency's auditor KPMG KPMG.UL estimated in the documents. The understatements are the equivalent to more than 75 percent of the CFTC's $250 million annual budget. CFTC's management responded to KPMGs report by saying that it is investigating whether accounting rules were broken. It added that it did not concur with KPMG's findings and is still awaiting results of an official government audit, according to a series of documents exchanged between the CFTC and KPMG which were reviewed by Reuters. It was not clear when the auditor became aware of the matter but in its response the CFTC said it had notified KPMG of potential issues involving its accounting in October. KPMG declined to comment. At issue is how the agency has accounted for costs associated with leasing office space, the documents show. Unlike some federal agencies, it does not own its own buildings and rents space in Washington, D.C., Chicago, New York and Kansas City, Missouri. The leases generally cover a period of several years. However, in its annual financial statements, the regulator was only accounting for a year's worth of rent - and not the full cost of the lease over time. A CFTC spokesman said the agency sees this as a technical accounting issue that does not affect current lease payments or its obligation to creditors. KPMG alleges the CFTC violated Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, or GAAP, the accounting rules used in the United States. The firm also said it is possible the CFTC is in violation of the federal Anti-Deficiency Act, which prohibits government agencies from obligating or expending federal funds in excess of the amount available. KPMG's findings could add to the scrutiny of the CFTC, which already faces criticism from Republicans over its spending. It won broad new powers from Congress in 2010 to police the lion's share of the derivatives market in the aftermath of the financial crisis, but some lawmakers have said it creates unnecessary regulatory burdens and have refused to grant the full budgets requested by President Barack Obama. In a letter to congressional staff sent on Friday, also reviewed by Reuters, the CFTC's deputy inspector general said her office is removing copies of the firm's audit opinions from fiscal years 2005-2008 and fiscal years 2010-2014 from its website at KPMG's request. These audit reports, she said, have been deemed "unreliable." The CFTC spokesman said Congress sought to address the historical accounting treatment for the CFTC's leases by adding language to a December omnibus spending bill to prevent the CFTC from ever being required to obligate the entire cost of a lease upfront. This is not the first time leasing issues have come up at the CFTC. In 2014, the inspector general criticized it for wasting taxpayer money on underutilized office space in Kansas City. The Government Accountability Office, a non-partisan government watchdog, is currently reviewing various legal issues surrounding the CFTC's leases. A number of other federal regulators, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, have also in the past come under scrutiny over office leasing practices. (This Jan. 20 story corrects the fiscal years associated with the corresponding shortfalls in the second paragraph.) (Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Lisa Lambert; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
For six weeks last October and November, just before Myanmar held its landmark elections, I joined a team of design ethnographers in the countryside interviewing forty farmers about smartphones. A design ethnographer is someone who studies how culture and technology interact. A common mistake in building products is to base them on assumptions around how a technology might be adopted. The goal of in-field interviewing in design ethnography is to undermine these assumptions, to be able to design tools and products aligned with actual observed use cases and needs.

Myanmar is especially fertile ground for this kind of work. Until recently the military junta had imposed artificial caps on access to smartphones and SIM cards. Many of the farmers we spoke with had never owned a smartphone before. The villages were often without running water or electricity, but they buzzed with newly minted cell towers and strong 3G signals. For them, everything networked was new.

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Almost all of the farmers we spoke with were Facebook users. None had heard of Twitter. How they used Facebook was not dissimilar to how many of us in the West see and think of Twitter: as a source of news, a place where you can follow your interests. The majority, however, didnt see the social platform as a place to be particularly social or to connect with and stay up to date on comings and goings within their villages.

What follows are a series of diary entries and notes culled from our interviews. The interview teams were composed of three or four people: a translator, a photographer, a notetaker, and sometimes a facilitator.

* * *

Farmer #1

Our first farmer! Thirty-eight years old. Owns fifteen acres of paddy. Has a great head of hair and an 8-year-old daughter. Were seated atop a raised platform in a makeshift shed in the middle of one of his rice fields. Its only late morning but the sun outside burns atomic hot. Even the shade is unbearable. Everyone is drenched in sweat. Everything around us is bathed in a golden glow of light reflecting off unharvested paddy.

Story continues

A rural village outside of Yangon. (Craig Mod)

Okekan is a town northwest of Yangon. The drive takes three to six hours, mostly on the wrong side of pockmarked roads. Its just big enough for a half-kilometer strip of restaurants and shops, a small market, and a tiny hotel. There are rice fields in every direction. Our first farmers village is on the edge of town.

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The farmer brought his nephews. They arrive to our shed on 50cc motorbikes. Our arrival is clearly an event. Smiles and hospitality abound. They hand us bottles of water and I feel a relief that maybe our interview request isnt quite as burdensome as imagined.

Everyone has a smartphone. One Samsung, one from a mysterious company called Honor, two Huawei. (Well later realize: Honor is owned by Huawei.) Apple simply doesnt exist in the fields of Myanmar. China dominates. Samsung comes in second to those who can afford to splurge on the brand as a premium. But the more we probe, the less justifiable the Samsung premium becomes. The Chinese phones are cheap but capable. I wonder if this makes Negroponte happy. His one laptop-per-child dream was never fully realized but one smartphone-per-humanfar more capable and sensible than a laptop, in many wayshas most certainly arrived. I take notes. We photograph. Get in close, have them pose with their phones. Theyre proud. All the phones clock in under the equivalent of one hundred U.S. dollars.

A villager shows us his phone. (Craig Mod)

We ask about data. Its much cheaper now than a year ago, they say. The telcos operate on pre-paid systems. Nobody has a credit card. Everyone buys top-up from top-up shops, scratches off complex serial numbers printed in a small font, types them with special network codes into their phone dialers in a way that feels steampunkish, like theyre divining data. They feel each megabyte. For about 10 U.S. cents you can purchase 25MB of data. If you buy in bulk (although almost nobody does) you can get 2GB of data for 11,900 Myanmar Kyat or about $9.20 USD. Most farmers grab data on their scratch cards in 1,000 or 3,000 or 5,000 Kyat chunks. How long it lasts depends on the user. For some 3,000 Kyats gets them through the month. For others, it lasts only a few days.

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We ask about apps. One nephew says he uses Viber to text with friends and family who are outside of the village. But if he can meet in person, he goes to talk in person. He says he uses his smartphone mainly for phone calls, which are still simpler and faster than texting.

The lead farmer mentions Facebook and the others fall in. Facebook! Yes yes! They use Facebook every day. They feel that spending data on Facebook is a worthwhile investment. In fact, check this out, says one nephew. He wants to show us a Facebook post. Hes thrilled. Earlier, he said to us, lelthamar asitLike any real farmer, I know the land. And so we wonder: What will he show us? A new farming technique? News about the upcoming election? Analysis on its impact on farmers? He shows us: A cow with five legs. He laughs. Amazing, no? Have you ever seen such a thing?

* * *

The team I was part of was run by Studio D Radiodurans (or Studio D for short), a research, design, and strategy consultancy, who have been collaborating for the last two years with Proximity Designs, a Yangon-based social enterprise. Proximitys impact work is focused primarily on farming and helping farmers. Theyve served over 731,000 rural households as of December 2015impacting about 3.66 million people.

Proximity builds hardware products within an impressive four-story warehouse in the industrial South Dagon section of Yangon. The first floor is showered in sparks from water-pump frame welding and drip-irrigation assembly. The second floor is full of workers assembling treadle pumps. The third floor houses their product-design lab, recently focused on solar-pump design, testing, and production. And the fourth floor performs quality-control checks on water storage sacks that balloon up like carnival attractions.

I realize then that smartphone tech crossed the Good Enough threshold years ago.

The foot-treadle part of the treadle pumps are constructed out of readily available and easily replaceable planks and ropes and are worked like a Stairmaster at the gym. Except instead of burning calories, they flood fields with water and create food. And Proximitys solar pumps  launched just last October after years of research and development as part of a joint project with students at the Stanford d.school  are not only beautifully engineered and designed, theyre among the most affordable in the world. They sell for about $350 and pump roughly fifty liters of water per minute.

Proximity is unique (and lauded) because they approach their impact work with a design thinking mindset. Their mantra is to be in the field, get close to the people for whom they are designing, use ethnography to locate unmet needs, and iterate through product tests quickly. They have a vast country-wide network of field staff that are often working one-on-one with farmers or villages, helping them implement the products theyve developed, all the while sending a constant stream of feedback to the home office in Yangon.

That Studio D is so easily able to line up a few dozen interviews reveals the remarkable trust that Proximity has spent years building up. The value of their work is not just in impacting farmers, but connecting them to the world at large.

While Proximity has mastered hardware and rural relationships, the company doesnt have much experience with software. And so the crux of this Studio D and Proximity collaboration is to remedy that, to assess the current state of Myanmar farmer smartphone fluency and network access, and figure out how to leverage it for maximum impact.

* * *

Farmer #10

Our tenth farmer: thirty-five years old, owner of fourteen acres, educated to the fourth grade. He grows summer paddy and winter paddy. Has three kids. Owns his housea hut, reallywith a dark dirt floor and beautifully textured bamboo thatch walls that let in soft shafts of afternoon light.

Were not supposed to judge but I cant help it. He has kind eyes, and an open face, not like Farmer Number Two who felt lost, tormented, didnt want to be a farmer but was pushed into being a farmer. No, Farmer Number Ten loves farming, loves paddy, loves his family. I feel this. I write in my notebook: I am a horrible, biased researcher.

Farmer #10 in front of his fields. (Craig Mod)

His 6-year-old daughter beams at us from the corner, her grandmother stands behind with a stern, suspicious look on her face. This is understandable. Im also suspicious. Of us, not them.

The village still lacks electricity although theyve pooled funds and a dozen newly planted metal-power poles dot the fields, waiting to be wired up. Through our interpreter I ask, Where do you charge? Farmer Number Ten points to a car battery hanging in the corner onto which familiar USB wires are spliced. He chuckles. I chuckle. Take note.

We ask about apps. The farmer uses Viber and Facebook. He says he chats with a few friends on Facebook but mainly people he doesnt know. Most of his Facebook friends are strangers. He tells us his brother installed the app for him, and set up his account. He doesnt know the email address that was used. He gets most of his news from Facebook. The election looms and he loves the political updates. Hes excited but worries about the effect on the price of paddy. He uses Facebook to track rallies. Aung San Suu Kyis National League for Democracy has tremendous presence in these rural areas. We see and hear trucks with jerry-rigged amps and speakers blasting political songs at an almost constant clip.

Farmer Number Ten tells us he used to use radio for news but no more. He says he hasnt turned the radio on in years. Other news appslike one called TZuse too much data. Hes data conscious. He uses Facebook mostly at night when the internet is fastest, and cheapest. Night data clocks in at 5 Kyat/MB, afternoon data 6 Kyat/MB.

The farmers phone is several years old. He purchased it used. The screen is scratched and small but everything works. I realize then that smartphone tech crossed the Good Enough threshold years ago. Everything else is icing on the cake.

* * *

Myanmar is a country of farmers. Fifty three million citizens, approximately thirty million of whom are farmers. Many of them are now coming online. Rushing online, really. Because of the military junta, mobile SIM cards in Myanmar have historically been prohibitively expensive. In 2014, the cost of a SIM card dropped from about $2,000 USD to $200 USD and then once again, to $1.50 USD. Mobile shops were swarmed.

A Subscriber Identity Module, or SIM card, is a bit of silicon inscribed with a unique and encrypted serial number. From that unique number stems access  to the network, to information, to the ability to coordinate. The military junta wanted to limit access. As the country has opened up, so have its airwaves and access to access itself.

The Myanmar telecommunications industry was wholly government controlled until recently. Now theres competition, choices. Five years ago you had one choice: Myanmar Post and Telecommunications (MPT). A farmer can now choose from MPT or Telenor or Oredoo. Cell towers sprout wildly  matte-steel contraptions in the middle of rice plots running off their own electricity, their electronic brains housed in small, padlocked refrigerated boxes behind fences that surround the towers. Often the only refrigerators for miles. Micro dots of chill within otherwise vast landscapes of broil.

Farmer #10 and his family. (Craig Mod)

* * *

Mobile shop #1

Mobile-shop-owner number one. No acres. Male. Early twenties, extremely skinny. We arrive as a skeleton crew of two as to appear less imposing, less formal. Its just my hyper-talkative Myanmar colleague and me. In ethnographic design-research parlance this is an ad-hoc interview, i.e., unplanned. We broke off from the rest of the crew and went rogue when we realized we were hungry for context, hungry to talk to the people who sell the phones to the farmers. We learned about this mobile shop from Farmer Number Eight. He said his cousin ran it.

We reach the shop in the town of Kyaukse without helmets on the backs of motorcycles. Kyaukse is formidable, located in the Mandalay region of the country, with a population of around 700,000 and a number of photo studios, mobile-phone shops, dozens of restaurants and guest houses. The city has a bustling and energetic, almost frantic, dusty southeast Asian vibe. Our pop-up, temporary research studio is located in town but the farms we visit all sit miles away. And so were constantly on the backs of motorcycles, riding sometimes for an hour or more to get to the fields and houses of those with whom weve scheduled interviews.

Back in the town, the shop were taken to is miniscule. A single, thin room wedged between some tea shops on a busy side street. Less shop, more shack. Sells mainly used phones. Dozens of replacement screens sit in glass cases like jewelry.

Replacement screens in a display case. (Craig Mod)

We approach the shop owner. He doesnt know what were talking about. Doesnt know this so-called Farmer Number Eight. Theyre definitely not cousins. Not even acquaintances. But my colleague is disarming in a humble, honest way. Hes not salt-of-the-earth like some of our other crew members (hes been to college, has never worked a farm) but hes present and genuine. One of a kind. Obviously harmless. And so the mobile-shop owner acquiesces. Agrees to drink coffee with us for ten minutes. Who are these clowns, I imagine him thinking.

Were taken across the street, upstairs into a dark room. The windows are blacked out. The few lamps are dim, flickering. Feels hostage-esque. Two coffee-shop employees stand in the shadows in the corner and stare until we order espressos. Then stare some more after another staff delivers them. I take note: Is this how it ends? In a tiny room with bad espresso? And then Im reminded of a Jan Chipchasethe founder of Studio Dquote: Youre only on track in field work if you feel a bit threatened. Or something like that.

The mobile-shop owner is twenty-five. He holds the only iPhone well see in six weeks. Its clearly a point of pride. I ask simple questions and my chatty colleague translates them into impossibly long monologues.

Do you get paid to install apps? I ask. Five minutes later my colleague finishes translating and the mobile shop owner laughs and says, No. Nobody gets paid to install apps.

Facebook is the most popular app, he says. Nine out of ten people who come into the shop want Facebook. Ten months ago SIM prices dropped, data prices dropped, interest in Facebook jumped. I take note. Only half the people who come into the shop already have a Facebook account. The other half dont know how to make one. I do that for them, he says. I am the account maker.

A place like Myanmar is a wireless mulligan.

And what about other apps? He mentions a news app called TZ. Once popular, now less so. He brushes his hand aside and says its too data hungry. Everyone is data sensitive he says and reiterates: Facebook. Nobody needs a special app for their interests. Just search for your interest on Facebook. Facebook is the Internet.

Does anyone use Google Play or an app store?

No. No credit cards. No email addresses. Anyway, downloaded installs eat data. Everyone installs apps using Zapya, an app-sharing app. Makes a local network. Everyone nearby connects to it. Allows groups to send dataapps, videos, musicback and forth without using bandwidth. I take note: All apps hand copies of other apps. No official distribution channels in use.

* * *

There is a phrase repeated over and over again during my time in Myanmar: From no power to solar, from no banks to digital currencies, from no computers and no internet to capable smartphones with fast 3G connections. It is the mantra of consultants working in these emergent economies. And these emergent economies have one colossal advantage over the entrenched and techno-gluttonous west: There is little incumbency.

There is, however, instabilityin government and currency. Its one of the reasons why a country like Myanmar is just now getting these connections, these devices. The instability significantly increases risk for outside investors and companies. But the residual effect of that instability is a lack of incumbency and traditional infrastructure. And so there is no incumbent electric giant monopolizing rural areas to fight against solar, there is no incumbent bank which will lobby against bitcoin, there are no expectations about how a computer should work, how a digital book should feel. There is only hunger and curiosity. And so there is a wild and distinct freedom to the feeling of working in places like this. It is what intoxicates these consultants. You have seen and lived within a future, and believemust believeyou can help bring some better version of it to light here. A place like Myanmar is a wireless mulligan. A chance to get things right in a way that we couldnt or cant now in our incumbent-laden latticeworks back home.

* * *

Mobile shop #2

Mobile-phone-shop two. A woman. Woman! I take note. Underline. Circle. Finally. Have been talking only with men.

This shop is also an ad-hoc discovery. We were energized, wanted to go deeper after the first interview. Rode that high you get after an unexpected and insightful conversation a bit further into Kyaukse and found this second shop.

A shop where smartphones are sold. (Craig Mod)

My motorcycle driver follows us inside. I realize now this one considers himself the leader. He wants us to do well, but his method of help is intimidation. He stands in the middle of the shop with a cigarette dangling from his mouth and stares at the four female employees. As if this will goad them into opening up to us. Hes wearing Vietnam War era American infantry helmet, high-waist khakis, a leather jacket. His teeth are stained a deep red from all the betel nut he chews. The overall effect is Luciferous. Everyone looks worried. I whisper to my joyful colleague, Uhm, hey man, you gotta tell him to wait outside. Colleague confers and motorcycle mans face shifts to shame and dejection as he slinks out. Everyone sighs.

This second mobile-shop manager is extremely patient. We give her the creative code name: Patient Phone Shop Woman. In ethnographic-design research everyone gets a code name. She wears a polo shirt with a tiny Yahoo! logo and sits with us on stools in the middle of the shop. There are no customers. We talk for ninety minutes. Does the shop get paid to install apps? Nope, but they rent part of the shop to Samsung. She points to an empty booth along the wall, shrugs, says, Day off.

What are the most popular apps? She does not hesitate in response: Facebook. And then, Viber, Zapya, MP3s, and videos. Ten out of ten people ask for Facebook, she says. Everyone wants Facebook. Farmers know Facebook. All know to ask for it. But, how? How do they know to ask? Because everyone has it, she says. I take note: Who is patient zero?

Are any apps pre-installed?

No. This shop is only a hardware shop. She waves her hand. We look: The shop is LED bright, white, full of glass cases of Chinese phones and an empty Samsung booth. Its about four times the size of the last shop. Very clinical, very official feeling. Each employee stands at the ready in matching Yahoo! uniforms.

Once a farmer buys a phone we bring them next door, she says. Next door is the software shop.

Our eyes widen. Can we see? Can you take us to this software shop? Of course she can.

We walk across a small road and enter a space opposite the hardware shop. The software shop is like a small, damp cave bathed in flickering fluorescence with a Bladerunner workbench behind three small teller booths. The purpose of the software shop is repairs and installs and reinstalls and consultations. The shop is now empty but sometimes it teems, and there is a waiting bench along one wall, stacks of worn binders atop a coffee table in front of it. The binders are full of song titles, movie titles, each with an ID code. The pages are worn, dirty, torn. Sometimes many wait, Patient Phone Shop Woman says. People choose music and videos while waiting. Zapyad after. Always Zapya. I take note: Whole economies upon Zapya.

Binders full of apps, videos, and music for downloading. (Craig Mod)

Behind the dirty counter sits a young man. He is the master consultant who performs OS upgrades and installs basic bundles of apps for farmers. Apps to install are chosen by popularity or need or request, he says. We ask if hes paid to install certain apps and he says no. (We are incredulous, cannot believe there is no app-install shadow economy!) Patient Phone Shop Woman smiles a smile: Told you so.

Master consultant says most customers come in and declare: I dont know anything about mobile phones. Youre the expert. You install what you think is good.

But Facebook is most popular? Yes. Everyone wants? Everyone. Do people have email addresses? No. He makes the email addresses. Has a stack of pre-made Facebook accounts at the ready. He pre-installs the app and pre-loads friends. Facebook is for news, he says. Popular now but maybe not popular in six months. But for now, he installs it on every phone.

I take note: The masses are fickle everywhere. The notion of a 1:1 mapping of Real Identity to Facebook Identity doesnt seem to exist.

Does anyone know of Twitter? Maybe two in ten customers. They might ask for it but he doesnt know what to do on Twitter. Doesnt know how to use it. Its not part of my standard app-install bundle, he says. Patient Phone Shop Woman also doesnt know how to use Twitter, doesnt see a point.

Viber is used to chat with friends, they say. Good for group chat. New app, Tango is good for video calls with family abroad. Many Myanmar people work in Singapore, they say.

As were leaving I connect two and two and realize the shop itself is called Yahoo! Just before we say goodbye, I ask Patient Phone Shop Woman if she knows what Yahoo! is. Oh, yes, she says. Yahoo! is an exclamation of joy. I smile, take note.

* * *

The expectations for a Facebook experience are shaped by the cultural expectations brought to the table. No farmer we spoke to had explicit or calcified expectationsthey had not joined Facebook ten years ago or five years ago or even two years ago. They had not been indoctrinated into whatever it is Facebook thinks it is. Or what Facebook wants us to think it is. For them, it is a malleable tool. And they have made it into what they want: Largely a news reader. A relatively bandwidth efficient way to read about topics that interest them (the weather, Buddhism, pretty girls in swimsuits).

The Farmers dont use their real names (I used my sons name, Farmer fourteen told us. Why? Because its a good name! he said smiling and patting his 1-year-old son on the head.) They dont have email addresses and so often dont know their logins. If they get logged out they have someoneoften the village Facebook gurumake them a new account. Friends on Facebook are friends only because the application calls them friends in the interface. The language of our apps shapes our expectations of our apps, but when the language isnt your own, isnt localized, that authority is undermined. Friends become something else entirelyrandom avatars who share an affinity for news stories you happen to stumble across. There is a fluidity to the Myanmar Farmer Facebook experience, one that makes me a little jealous. I feel a bit too locked into the rigidity of our western Facebook expectations. Those Farmers in Myanmar have what feels like a more native fluency than those of us supposedly well versed. Than those of us who say we know what were doing.

And yet I cant help but wonder why Twitter fails to gain traction. Its simpler. It consumes less bandwidth. Its model is more minimal, the interface far less complicated. Facebook is a caricature of an interfacethe equivalent of the space shuttle, all buttons and dials and switches, so many of which have nothing to do with the core user experience. And yet, these Myanmar farmers wade through the muck, compelled by information hunger.

But Facebook has a compelling advantage over other news apps or even Twitter: The content of many posts and news items live inside Facebook itself. There are external links, but most of the article summaries and photos are self contained. As Facebook continues to ramp up their Instant Articlesspecial versions of web articles that are leaner, load more quickly, and are Facebook optimizedthe amount of content that lives in Facebook will only increase. For those who are data sensitive, this is a clear virtue. One certainly worth whatever learning curve may come with the platform.

Twitter recently announced that it will allow up to 10,000 characters below the tweet. If critical news can live inside of Twitter, in a fundamentally less bandwidth intensive and a simpler model than even Facebook, then the popular interest may shift. There is no explicit brand loyalty amongst these farmers.

* * *

Pop-up Ethnographic Design Research Studio, Okekan, day 36:

Two Myanmar men are dancing in the grass, bringing down long pieces of bamboo hard against the ground. They hop, lithe, graceful in the tall grass next to the pond. I take a break from note transcription and photo editing, stand, watch the men. I ask Lauren Serota, the leader of our ethnographic-design research team, what they are doing. She doesnt know. They are precise and nimble, nearly naked. We stare. I look at my smartphone weather report. The 3G connection in our rural pop-up studio is strong. Stronger than in the city. Almost double the speed of Yangon. The Real Feel is a billion degrees in the sun today. The phone just says: Give up.

Were sweat soaked in the shade. The electricity has cut out again. A man whose name I consistently mishear as Muhammad is supposed to come and start some mysterious generator for us. The fans are dead. Everywhere there are bugs. So many bugs upon everything, everyone. Multiplying as twilight falls. And yet the men in the grass dance! In the sun! They stop. One reaches down, gingerly, and lifts a fifteen-foot water snake by the head. Its still alive, writhing. They take it around the corner, behind a wall, and fry it into a curry. I return to my notes. Farmer Number Fifteen loves the famous Myanmar weatherman U Tun Lwin, now follows him on Facebook. I hunt U Tun Lwin down, follow him too, in solidarity, although Im pretty sure I know what tomorrows weather will be. Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
Paris (AFP) - The family of Hasna Aitboulahcen, a cousin of alleged Paris attacks ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud who helped him on the run and died with him in a police raid, have filed a murder complaint, their lawyer said.

The young woman was killed on November 18, five days after the attacks, in a raid on an apartment in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, where they found Abaaoud and fellow Belgian-Moroccan Chakib Akrouh, who blew himself up.

Aitboulahcen, 26, had found and negotiated rental of the safe house for the two jihadists.

Her mother, sister and brother filed a complaint against persons unknown for terrorism and murder on January 13 with Paris anti-terrorist judge Christophe Teissier, according to a copy of the complaint seen by AFP.

"I consider that Hasna Aitboulahcen is a victim," the family's lawyer Fabien Ndoumou said Wednesday.

"She was under pressure from her cousin who threatened her family and the families of her friends," he said.

Investigators initially mistakenly believed there had been a woman suicide bomber at the Saint-Denis apartment but Aitboulahcen's body was found almost intact in the rubble a day-and-a-half after the police assault, according to a source close to the case.

The lawyer also called for a burial permit for Aitboulahcen, whose body, according to him, is still at the forensic institute in Paris.

"This goes against Muslim rites," he said.

Aitboulahcen played a central role after the Paris attacks that killed 130 people, finding and paying for the hideout in Saint-Denis and leading her cousin to it.
(Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration postponed a meeting of its advisory panel to review Sarepta Therapeutics Inc's drug for a rare muscle wasting disorder due to inclement weather forecast for Washington DC. Sarepta's shares were down nearly 3 percent at $12.90 in extended trading. The date of the meeting, which was scheduled for Friday, will be announced later, the FDA said. Sarepta's drug, eteplirsen, is designed to treat a subset of patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), which hampers muscle movement and affects one in 3,600 newborn boys, with most patients dying by the age of 30. There are no FDA-approved drugs for DMD, and pressure has been mounting on the FDA to swiftly approve treatments. The FDA's staff said on Jan. 15 that they were unconvinced about eteplirsen's efficacy and trial design, a day after the regulator rejected a rival drug, Kyndrisa, developed by BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (Reporting by Rosmi Shaji in Bengaluru)
It was a Friday. Myriam Marquez was driving home from her job as a public defender for the Skagit County Public Defender's Office in Mt. Vernon, Washington, when she came to a four-way stop: "And all of the sudden, I didn't know where I was, and I didn't know whether to turn right, left or go straight," she vividly remembers. Hysterical, she picked up her cellphone to dial her daughter and explain the predicament. She only lived a half mile away. Once she composed herself, she realized where she was. "But at that moment," says Marquez, 68, of Seattle, "I knew I had Alzheimer's disease."

After a battery of tests, including MRIs, PET scans, blood work and cognitive evaluations, the doctors told Marquez her diagnosis was inconclusive. "But I knew I had it, and no one would believe me," she says. Marquez's father was one of 13 siblings, at least five of whom had symptoms related to Alzheimer's when they died. Two of her own four siblings had already been diagnosed with the disease. The strong family history prompted a DNA test one year later, and at age 63, her suspicions of early-onset Alzheimer's disease were confirmed.

The disease often labeled as an "old" person's disease affects approximately 5.1 million Americans over 65, and roughly 200,000 people under 65 have the early-onset type of Alzheimer's disease. One in 9 people older than 65 has Alzheimer's disease. The number of Americans 65 and up with the disease and other dementias is expected to increase 40 percent to 7.1 million by 2025, according to the Alzheimer's Association's 2015 Alzheimer's Disease Facts and Figures Report.

The report also indicates that 42 percent of residents in assisted living facilities had Alzheimer's disease and other dementias -- such as vascular dementia, lewy body dementia, mixed dementia, Parkinson's disease, frontotemporal dementia, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, normal pressure hydrocephalus, Huntington's disease and Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome -- in 2010. However, the median cost for basic services in an assisted living facility is $3,500 per month, or $42,000 per year, according to the report. Nursing homes aren't much better at $240 per day or $87,600 per year.

Marquez, now 68, says because she retired early, she doesn't have the funds to go into assisted living: "When I get to a point when I can no longer take care of myself, I'll probably wind up in a group home, and I will have friends who will do the research to find where I'll be safe and cared for," she says. "And I know my daughters will come and check once in a while to make sure I'm safe."

For now, she's enjoying life to the fullest, socializing with peers in her apartment building. Marquez is also an advocate for the disease and participates in speaking engagements hosted by the Alzheimer's Association to raise awareness.

Much like Marquez, being diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease didn't come as a surprise to Gordon Broom, who was diagnosed in 2007 at age 55. Still, he remembers when he and his partner, Larry Jordan, who both live in West Palm Beach, Florida, were given the news: "I was very upset, nervous and depressed," Broom, now 64, says. His young diagnosis forced him into early retirement from social work in the Health Care for Homeless Veterans Program at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

"Day to day, Gordon will sometimes wonder if I said the right thing, and I'm not quite sure if what I said was misunderstood," Jordan says. But for the most part, the two are like any other couple. They go on social excursions such as hiking, lunches and dinners, or catch a local show. "You can enjoy life even with the disease," Broom adds. "My biggest worry? That I end up in a nursing home and not able to enjoy the rest of my life in retirement."

Occasionally, though, harsh reminders of the disease's presence flair up. It happens when Broom becomes frightened when Jordan suddenly enters the bedroom, for example. To avoid that, Jordan learned to turn on a light before he enters the room -- it lets Broom know something is about to change in the environment and puts him at ease. "The room is set up so I can switch on a light that will alert him that something is about to change, and he'll look up at the light and not be startled," Jordan says. "It's just a matter of learning those things through other people at support groups that smooth the day-to-day activities."

Pat Etienne, 82, of Columbia, Missouri, knows all about the daily challenges faced by caregivers like Jordan. She's the primary caregiver for her older brother, Bobby, who experienced diabetes complications severe enough to lead to a type of late-stage dementia known as vascular dementia. It occurs when reduced blood flow deprives brain cells of oxygen and nutrients. Etienne also faces a diagnosis of her own: mild cognitive impairment.

Mild cognitive impairment -- or MCI -- is the fine line between a person's normal memory or thinking and dementia. It's diagnosed when a person experiences significant changes in memory and thinking that interfere with daily functioning, such as writing a check or becoming lost while driving.

Etienne says she wasn't surprised by the diagnosis; after all, she was 77 when she was diagnosed in 2011 -- and when you're at that age, you're more likely to expect trouble with memory.

Now, she admits accepting her diagnosis has been the most difficult part of life with MCI: "That's been a hard thing for me to do," she explains. "To recognize I can't perform at the level I was accustomed to. There's a lot of pride with accepting this diagnosis. When your memory is diminished, you associate it with your self-worth and intelligence and get it all confused."

Etienne says she knows she doesn't make sense sometimes when she speaks to others. "But I am still outgoing, and I want to be considered or included in the conversation. I want to be listened to even though I may be rambling on," she says, adding that her family's and friends' challenge is to accept that while her functioning has changed, her heart hasn't.

She offers this advice to others living with a cognitive impairment: "There's still so much you can do if you're living for the best you today and not trying to measure up to what you did 25 years ago or even five years ago."

Bob O'Keefe, 74, knows he can rely on his large family for support with his disease, or when he just wants to speak to his adult kids about their life and what's going on in his. He doesn't have to ask them not to go out of their way, he says. "They just seem to know," he says.

O'Keefe's father and older brother passed away with symptoms of dementia. And soon after his 2007 retirement from the insurance business, when he was 67, he found himself losing focus, leaving chunks out of stories that he was telling and repeating himself. His early-onset diagnosis shocked his wife and seven children.

"I told them I wanted them to treat me as they've always treated me, to not expect less of me in terms of my interaction with them and that life would go on and I would find a way -- as I have in many previous instances -- to deal with the reality of my condition," says O'Keefe, who lives in North Waterboro, Maine, with his wife.

These days, O'Keefe's biggest fear is what will happen if and when he reaches a point where he can't function as he can today. "Will I need to go into a nursing home? Will I be able to stay at home? It's a great wish of both my wife and I that I will be able to stay home with her support," he says.

Since his diagnosis, O'Keefe has begun preparing for the future by researching the financial and legal plans his family will need when he's unable to make important decisions, such as seeking in-home care assistance or adult day care facilities. There's no way to slow or stop Alzheimer's, but O'Keefe stands with others who ask to be treated the same as they were pre-diagnosis: "I don't want to be treated in any extraordinary way. I want to be remembered for who I am, and if I change -- and I certainly will -- I want them to continue to treat me the way they always have, which is for who I am," O'Keefe says.

Here's where you can find a support group for yourself, a friend or loved one locally or online through the Alzheimer's Association.

Samantha Costa is a Health + Wellness reporter at U.S. News. You can follow her on Twitter, connect with her on LinkedIn or email her at scosta@usnews.com.
By Michelle Nichols BUJUMBURA (Reuters) - Two former Burundi presidents pleaded for the United Nations Security Council on Thursday to back the deployment of international troops to the African state gripped by political violence because it "runs the risk of becoming another Rwanda" Diplomats of the 15-member council arrived in Burundi's capital Bujumbura on Thursday evening for its second visit to the tiny landlocked state in less than a year, where fears of an ethnic war have also led to an economic crisis. The Security Council is due to meet President Pierre Nkurunziza on Friday. Violence broke out after Nkurunziza's decision in April to seek a third term. His opponents said the move was unconstitutional but he went on to win a disputed election in July. Hundreds of pro-government protesters lined the road from the airport to the U.N. envoys' hotel, welcoming them with drumming and dancing and signs with messages such as: "Burundi is sovereign, stop interfering in Burundi home affairs." There were several grenade explosions on Thursday in Bujumbura, but no further details were known, diplomats and police said. Since April, at least 439 people have been killed and the number might be "considerably higher," the United Nations said. Some 232,000 people have fled the country. The envoys, led by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power and senior Angolan and French diplomats, met Jean-Baptiste Bagaza, Burundi's president from 1976-87 and Domitien Ndayizeye, president from 2003-05. Bagaza said armed outside support was necessary to reassure Burundians. Both former presidents called on the Security Council to back such a move. "Otherwise we run the risk of becoming another Rwanda," Bagaza said. "We already have a heavy death toll, a great deal of destruction to the economy." The African Union said in December it was ready to send 5,000 peacekeepers to protect civilians in Burundi, but Nkurunziza has rejected the mission and said that Burundians would fight against any peacekeepers. The violence is being closely watched in a region scarred by the 1994 genocide in neighboring Rwanda, which killed more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus. Burundi and Rwanda have the same ethnic mix, about 85 percent Hutus and 15 percent Tutsis. A 12-year civil war in Burundi, which ended in 2005, pitted a Tutsi-led army against Hutu rebel groups. The Burundi government has said there is no risk of a return to the ethnic bloodletting of the past. Ndayizeye told the Security Council that Nkurunziza's government was "a dictatorial regime which is imposed only through force" and that the crisis "is leading us over the abyss economically speaking." Burundi's cabinet passed a 2016 budget that slashes public spending by 16 percent and expects foreign aid to almost halve as relations with donors have soured during the turmoil. Burundi relies on the European Union for about half its budget and Brussels has partially suspended new aid over the crisis. Before the U.N. envoys arrived, a group of soldiers and police who defected from the government announced they had formed an official rebel movement, The Republican Force of Burundi. Godefroid Niyombare, a former major general who lead a failed coup attempt in May, has been appointed its leader. The rebels welcomed international mediation but also called for Burundians to support their fight against Nkurunziza. (Editing by Drazen Jorgic and Raissa Kasolowsky; editing by Larry King and Grant McCool)
By Laila Kearney

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York finance executive was charged with second-degree murder on Thursday in the stabbing death of his wife, a prominent pediatrician, in their multimillion-dollar suburban home, law enforcement officials said.

Jules Reich, 61, was arraigned overnight on suspicion of killing his wife, Robin Goldman, 58. Police found her dead with multiple stab wounds in the shower of the couple's house in Scarsdale early on Wednesday, Westchester County District Attorney spokesman Robert Wolf said.

Reich, listed as a partner at Manhattan based-accounting firm WeiserMazars on its website, was scheduled to appear in Scarsdale Village Court on Tuesday, Wolf said. He was being held at Westchester County Jail.

It was not immediately clear if Reich had retained an attorney. WeiserMazars did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Goldman, who worked as a pediatrician at the Childrens Hospital at Montefiore in the Bronx borough of New York City, was mourned by her employer on Thursday.

We were shocked and deeply saddened to learn about the sudden death of our colleague," the hospital said in a statement. "Robin was a dedicated physician cherished by her colleagues as a positive and compassionate presence."

Goldman's alleged murder is the first in Scarsdale in nearly 40 years. The village of about 17,000 in New York City's northern suburbs has an average annual family income of more than $290,000.

"We are confident that this is an isolated incident which poses no threat to the community," local police said in a statement.

(Editing by Frank McGurty and David Gregorio)
London (AFP) - Argentine forward Mauro Zarate has joined Serie A club Fiorentina from West Ham, the Premier League side announced on Thursday.

Zarate signed for the Hammers from Velez Sarsfield in 2014, but struggled to hold down a regular first-team place following the arrival of new boss Slaven Bilic last year.

The 28-year-old, who had a disappointing loan spell at QPR last season, scored just five goals in 21 appearances in all competitions for West Ham this term.

Zarate is reported to have agreed a two and a half year contract with Fiorentina, who are believed to have paid 1.6 million ($2.2 million, 2.1 million euros) for the former Lazio star.

"Mauro has joined Fiorentina on a permanent contract. West Ham would like to thank Mauro for his efforts in Claret and Blue and wish him all the best in his future career," the club said on their official Twitter account.

Zarate enjoyed one of the more productive periods of his career in his previous spell in Italy, winning the Coppa Italia with Lazio in 2008-09, and Fiorentina, currently six points behind leaders Napoli, hope he will boost their challenge for the Serie A title.
Tripoli (AFP) - Oil facilities in northern Libya were set ablaze Thursday as the Islamic State group launched fresh attacks to seize key export terminals, renewing concerns over the jihadists' growing influence.

Fighting broke out at dawn in the Ras Lanouf region, which along with the nearby Al-Sidra facility is one of the country's main oil export hubs, said the National Oil Corporation (NOC).

"Storage tanks filled with crude have caught fire," it said, adding that nearby high-voltage power lines and electrical towers had also been downed.

"The situation in Ras Lanouf is catastrophic for the enviroment," it said in a statement.

State news agency LANA reported that IS militants were behind the attack and that the storage tankers belonged to Harouge Oil Operations.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack, but Mohamad al-Manfi, the spokesman for NOC in the east, said the jihadists had "fired rockets at the oil tanks".

"Five tanks belonging to the Harouge company are still on fire. Firefighters are at the site trying to extinguish the blaze," Manfi told AFP late Thursday.

"But we don't have sufficient means to put out the fire," he added, describing the situation as a "disaster".

The company has 13 storage tankers with a combined capacity of 6.5 million barrels at its site about nine kilometres (six miles) from the port of Ras Lanouf.

- 'Destroying Libya's future' -

IS, a growing power in strife-torn Libya, has in recent weeks launched repeated attacks from its base in the city of Sirte on facilities in the "oil crescent" along Libya's northern coast.

Libya sits on estimated oil reserves of 48 billion barrels, the largest in Africa, but production has plummeted since the country descended into chaos following the 2011 ouster of Moamer Kadhafi.

Analysts have warned that IS seizures of major oil facilities would be a crippling blow to Libyan authorities and a major boost for the jihadist group.

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Western governments have expressed fears over the attacks.

"Another attack on #Libya's oil installations in Ras Lanuf. #Daesh are destroying Libya's future economic recovery," Britain's ambassador, Peter Millett, said on Twitter, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

Foreign powers have been pushing for a long-delayed political deal to resolve the political paralysis in Libya that has allowed IS to thrive.

A national unity government was formed on Tuesday under a UN-brokered deal aimed at ending political divisions that have seen the country torn between rival administrations and parliaments.

But it was unclear how much support the new government commands, especially among Libya's myriad armed groups, and whether it would be able to exert any authority.

The UN envoy to Libya, Martin Kobler, on Thursday renewed an appeal for the country's political forces to stand together.

"Once again Libya's resources under terrorist attack in Ras Lanouf. Political process must urgently catch up (with) military developments," he wrote on Twitter.

- 'Perfect chaos' -

The unity government, headed by Fayez al-Sarraj, has not yet been approved by either of the country's rival parliaments.

Libya's internationally recognised government and parliament are operating out of the country's east after being forced out of Tripoli by a rival administration in mid-2014.

Efforts to form a fully functioning government have been given added urgency by fears IS is building a new stronghold in Libya, just across the Mediterranean from Europe.

The jihadist group has carried out a wave of attacks in Libya, including a suicide truck bombing on a police school in the city of Zliten earlier this month that killed dozens.

As in areas under its control in Syria and Iraq, the group has committed atrocities in Libya, including execution-style murders of its opponents.

Photographs posted online by the group in Sirte on Thursday showed the executions of four men shot in a public square for theft, blasphemy, heresy and belonging to forces loyal to the recognised government.

Meanwhile, the EU's counter-terrorism coordinator said IS's military losses in Syria and Iraq may prompt some of its leaders to relocate to Libya where they will face less pressure.

"There, for the time being, it's the perfect chaos they like," Gilles de Kerchove told AFP, in reference to Libya.
Washington (AFP) - A US judge has charged five people with trying to steal trade secrets from the British pharmaceutical group GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).

Of the five, two worked at a GSK research center in Upper Merion, Pennsylvania.

The indictment says the five suspects tried to steal secrets from the company's work in biopharmaceuticals, mainly in products to treat cancer and other grave diseases.

Three of the suspects, identified as Yu Xue, Tao Li and Yan Mei, created a company in China called Renopharma in a bid to resell the stolen trade secrets, the indictment says.

Yu was regarded as one of the top protein biochemists in the world, the indictment states.

Peter Zeidenberg, a lawyer for Yu, said she has pleaded not guilty and denies the allegations, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The paper added lawyers for the remaining suspects could not be reached, did not respond or declined to comment.

If found guilty, the five face prison terms and fines, and would have to pay damages to the company.

The probe was carried out by the FBI.
By Emily Stephenson ASHEVILLE, N.C. (Reuters) - A Christian minister and a former U.S. Marine who were released by Iran in a prisoner swap returned to the United States on Thursday after years behind bars in the Islamic Republic. Pastor Saeed Abedini, 35, arrived in North Carolina on Thursday afternoon, a spokesman for a Christian group said. Ex-Marine Amir Hekmati, 32, touched down in a private jet at the airport in his hometown of Flint, Michigan, and stepped onto a small red carpet on the tarmac. They were among five Americans whose release coincided with the lifting last weekend of economic sanctions against Iran in return for curbs on Tehran's nuclear program. The White House offered clemency to seven Iranians who were convicted or facing trial in the United States. Hekmati spent more than four years in jail in Iran where he faced the death sentence at one point. I am happy to finally be home. Its been a very long road, a very long journey. Unfortunately, many people have traveled this road with me," he told reporters. He was arrested while visiting family in Iran in 2011 and accused of being a U.S. spy, a charge his relatives and the United States deny. He was sentenced to death the following year but that was commuted to a 10-year prison term. Hekmati said on Thursday he was "healthy, tall and with my head held high." The son of Iranian immigrants, Hekmati went to high school in Flint, an industrial town now struggling with a water contamination crisis. Its great to be back in Flint, my hometown. I love this city. I love its people. They have been so good to me and my family and we are very grateful, Hekmati said. Abedini, a naturalized U.S. citizen of Iranian origin, arrived at the Billy Graham Training Center at The Cove, a Christian conference center in Asheville, North Carolina, that is linked to popular evangelist Billy Graham. "He arrived safely in Asheville," said Todd Shearer, a spokesman for the Graham family. Abedini was sentenced in 2013 to eight years in prison after being accused of harming Iran's national security by setting up home-based churches in Iran. He was reunited with his parents on Thursday, his wife said. (Reporting by David Bailey, Colleen Jenkins and Ben Klayman; Writing by Alistair Bell; Editing by James Dalgleish and Peter Cooney)
Washington (AFP) - Christine Lagarde garnered strong backing from Europe Thursday for a second mandate as IMF managing director.

With her term coming to an end in July, the International Monetary Fund formally began accepting nominations for who will guide the global crisis lender for the next five years.

Lagarde, who has led the IMF through one of its most difficult challenges, the rescue of the eurozone from meltdown, has only said that she is open to another term.

But she drew immediate endorsements from Germany, France, Britain, and the Netherlands, while the United States praised her performance in the role without giving its formal backing.

British finance minister George Osborne on Thursday tweeted that he was "delighted to nominate @Lagarde for new term as head of IMF".

He described her as "an outstanding leader with vision and acumen to steer global economy in years ahead".

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble also backed Lagarde's candidacy.

She had proven to be a "far-sighted and successful crisis manager in difficult times," the German finance ministry in Berlin said in a statement.

The Netherlands's finance minister, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, tweeted that his country "fully supports her candidacy," while France, where Lagarde was minister of finance before taking the IMF job, also endorsed her.

Meanwhile, speaking to CNBC television from Davos, Switzerland, US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew refrained from a formal endorsement, without having seen any other nominations.

But he expressed strong approval of her performance.

"I have a very close working relationship with her, (and) the highest regard for her," Lew said. "I think she has done a great job, you know. I look forward to continuing to work with her."

On the first day that nominations for the powerful position were open, there were no other names being mentioned as candidates. But the Fund will be taking nominations through February 10. After a review of the candidates, the IMF executive board aims to have decided on a candidate by March 3.

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Lagarde, 60, easily won a contest with several developing country candidates to take over the IMF in 2011 as Europe was sinking deep into economic crisis.

But her win came amid criticisms that the IMF's top job should not be locked down by a European, as it has since the institution was created in 1944.

- Facing trial in France -

Guiding the Fund through the successful rescues of Ireland, Portugal and Cyprus, and the still-troubled bailouts of Greece and Ukraine, Lagarde has garnered deep respect in the global financial community.

But she has not said directly that she wants to renew her position. She said several times in the past year that she is open to it, and reiterated that stance Thursday in comments to CNN on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Asked if she is running for a second term, she said the 188 IMF member states had supported her in the current term.

"There will be more to say, what they want and whether they want me to carry on," she said.

Lagarde's renewal nevertheless faces a personal legal challenge: She could stand trial in France over her role in a banking scandal that predates her arrival at the IMF.

In December investigating judges placed her under formal investigation in the long-running affair of Bernard Tapie, who received a substantial state payout for his dispute with a state bank during her time as finance minister.

Lagarde has said she would fight the trial order, and the IMF executive board at the time reiterated its confidence in her.

On Wednesday the French press reported that Paris could support Ivory Coast-born French banker Tidjane Thiam as a replacement if she were not to run.

But Thiam told US TV channel CNBC that he would not speculate on taking the job and that he was focused on his position as chief executive at Credit Suisse.

He told CNBC that Lagarde had done "a phenomenal job" at the IMF.
Paris (AFP) - French President Francois Hollande said Thursday that a coalition waging a bombing campaign against the Islamic State group would "accelerate" air strikes.

"The pace of the interventions will be accelerated and France will play its role in this," Hollande said in a speech to ambassadors.

His comments followed a meeting by the defence ministers of seven countries in the coalition on Wednesday, who said their strategy was to free the IS "power centres" of Raqa and Mosul in Iraq and Syria.

"They also decided to reinforce support to Arab and Kurdish forces fighting Daesh on the ground," Hollande said, using an alternative name for IS.

He told ambassadors that 2016 must be a "year of transition" in Syria, which is entering its fifth year of war.

UN-brokered Syrian peace talks are tentatively set for next Monday in Geneva, despite disagreements over who will represent the opposition.

"The moderate opposition has agreed to attend. The key question of who will govern Syria should not be avoided," Hollande said.

The president also announced a visit to Egypt, Jordan and Oman, without giving a date, saying: "We must do everything to work together for stability in the region."

He said that a "de-escalation" of tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia was necessary.

Hassan Rouhani is due in Paris next Monday in the first visit by an Iranian president to France in 17 years, a trip that coincides with the scheduled Syria peace talks.

Russia and Iran are accused of propping up their ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Switzerland on Wednesday that this country would throw its weight behind a political solution in Syria.

"There is no military solution to the crisis," he said.
By John Irish PARIS (Reuters) - A senior diplomat from France, which has been helping moderate Syrian opposition groups prepare for talks with the Syrian government, insisted on Thursday that a grouping created in Riyadh last month must form the opposition delegation. France has been a key backer of moderate opposition forces battling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and has been advising them on how to prepare for proposed U.N.-backed talks next week involving the Syrian government. But Russia, Assad's main international ally, objects to the make-up of the opposition grouping formed in Riyadh and says it will back an alternative Syrian opposition delegation unless the grouping's composition is overhauled. The French diplomat, echoing similar views expressed by Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, voiced opposition to any new delegation emerging for the Jan. 25 talks. "The Security Council is clear. U.N. Special Envoy (Staffan) de Mistura must work with the opposition groups constituted in Riyadh. It doesn't seem desirable to me that there is a third force," the diplomat, who requested anonymity, said. De Mistura said on Wednesday the talks may be delayed, but that major powers must keep up the pressure to bring participants to the table. The French diplomat said the United Nations had yet to inform Paris whether the talks would go ahead as planned and that if more time was needed to get the right conditions in place then the U.N. should consider it. "What we don't want is to repeat the previous experience of Geneva 2," the diplomat said, referring to negotiations in 2014 that failed after just a few days. "What's at stake is preparing credible negotiations and to ensure that circumstances are right to succeed." The diplomat said that while Paris wanted the talks to go ahead, it understood opposition demands that the humanitarian situation on the ground - be it sieges on cities or bombing of civilians and opposition groups - improve before talks go ahead. "You don't launch a process just for the sake of launching a process, but to succeed and achieve an effective and lasting solution," the diplomat said. (Reporting By John Irish; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
Davos (Switzerland) (AFP) - French Prime Minister Manuel Valls warned Thursday that a deal on reforms to help keep Britain in the European Union is unlikely to be struck at a pivotal summit of the bloc's leaders in February.

Asked about the chance of reaching a deal on British demands next month, Valls told journalists at an conference in Davos, Switzerland: "No, I think it will need more time. The discussions only started a short time ago." Nevertheless, Valls said he hoped a solution could be found at the meeting.
Davos (Switzerland) (AFP) - French Prime Minister Manuel Valls warned Thursday that the European Union faced a host of dangers and could "fracture" in the months to come.

Valls told reporters he had come to the gathering of billionaires and political leaders in Davos to speak about "all the dangers which could lead to a fracturing of the European project, and not in a few years or decades, but in the next few months".

He cited terrorism, the refugee crisis and a possible British exit from the bloc among the dangers.
Abuja (AFP) - Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote and tech billionaire Bill Gates on Thursday announced plans for a $100-million scheme to cut malnutrition in the continent's most populous nation, Nigeria.

Dangote said the partnership between his Dangote Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation would address the problem, which affects some 11 million children in northern Nigeria.

The announcement was made in Abuja, a day after both men signed a deal to ramp up immunisation programmes in the northern states of Kaduna, Sokoto and Kano, where Dangote is from.

US philanthropist Gates, who also met President Muhammadu Buhari, told reporters Nigeria's key resource was its young population. Some 44 percent of the 170 million population are aged under 14.

The Microsoft founder said their prospects would be "greatly damaged if we don't solve malnutrition".

The new scheme will fund programmes to 2020 and beyond, using local groups in the northwest and northeast, which has for the last seven years been ravaged by Boko Haram's Islamist insurgency.

Dangote and Gates have previously worked together on polio eradication programmes, which resulted in the country being taken off the global list of endemic countries last year.

Nigeria is Africa's leading economy and number one oil exporter, but poverty remains acute for all but a fraction.

Average life expectancy is 52 -- five years fewer than the overall rate for sub-Saharan Africa -- with high rates of infant mortality and for children under five.

Some 31 percent of children under five were deemed under-weight in 2013, the 12th lowest in the world.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Billionaire investor George Soros told Bloomberg TV on Thursday he sees a hard landing for China's economy contributing to global deflation. "A hard landing is practically unavoidable," Soros said on Bloomberg from Davos. "Im not expecting it, Im observing it. China can manage it. It has resources and greater latitude in policies, with $3 trillion in reserves." Soros said the slowdown in China stemming from over-indebtedness is inflicting its problems on the rest of the world. China, along with falling oil prices and raw materials, are the root causes of deflation. Soros, who founded Soros Fund Management and now is chairman of the New York-based firm, said he shorted the S&P 500 and now is not the time to buy. In his comments to Bloomberg, Soros added that he is long U.S. government bonds and said Russia is in a very, very weak position. He believes Russia has enough reserves to last for just "a couple of years." (Reporting by Jennifer Ablan; editing by Bernard Orr and Tom Brown)
Melbourne (AFP) - Giant-killing Aussie Daria Gavrilova senses a shift in fortunes for up-and-coming women players at Melbourne Park after she shocked Petra Kvitova to join a group of rising stars in the third round.

The relentless 21-year-old knocked out world number six and double Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova on Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday evening -- her fourth top 10 scalp in the last year.

Gavrilova, who was born in Russia and only became a naturalised Australian in recent weeks, said she always felt an upset was possible.

"Coming into this match I was pretty confident that I could beat Petra," said Gavrilova, who also stunned then-world number two Maria Sharapova in Miami last year.

"I knew that she didn't have enough matches before. She didn't even play anything before Oz Open. So I thought it was a good chance."

The Czech sixth seed had no answers to the confident Gavrilova, who raced into a Grand Slam third round for the first time, winning 6-4, 6-4.

Kvitova's demise followed the early exits of second seed Simona Halep, eighth seed Venus Williams and former world number one Caroline Wozniacki.

While those established names are on a plane home, Gavrilova has been joined in the third round by a host of younger players.

They include her next opponent Kristina Mladenovic (22), Monica Puig (22), Belinda Bencic (18), and Yulia Putintseva (21), to name a few.

- New Aussie -

Veteran superstars Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova continue their relentless march, but Gavrilova said she sensed the tide was turning for the younger generation.

"There are so many girls now coming through. I'm not going to name them all. But already this week there are a few in the third round. It's great," she said.

"We're all excited. We're all pretty friendly. We hang out together. Yeah, like I said, we're all supporting each other. I think it's going to be awesome.

"A few girls have already made the second week, even made semi-finals (of Grand Slams)," she added, such as Eugenie Bouchard and Garbine Muguruza.

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"So I think a lot of us who haven't made it are thinking about it. Really it motivates us."

Gavrilova now stands alone as the last Australian woman left in the singles draw and she is feeling the Aussie spirit -- even down to her fingernails, which were painted with Australian flag designs.

The Moscow-born player is already a hit with home fans, with Thursday's Herald Sun newspaper calling her: "The new Aussie we've fallen in love with."

"I came here when I was about 15 and always loved coming here. I don't know if you know, but I had a boyfriend. We've been together for a long time," she said.

"He's Australian. I live here, so... This is I guess a big reason why."
By Parikshit Mishra (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs has agreed to donate a "substantial six-figure sum" to Britain Stronger in Europe, a campaign to keep Britain in the European Union, according to a source familiar with the matter. Britain Stronger in Europe is chaired by former Marks and Spencer CEO Stuart Rose. Britain is due to hold a referendum this year or next on whether to remain in the EU, and prospects of it leaving the union have raised concerns among sections of the country's business community and weighed on sterling Goldman is not thought to be the only big bank that has agreed to fund the 'In' campaign, to with other firms have also agreed to commit money in recent weeks, Sky News cited sources as saying. Britain Stronger in Europe was not immediately available for comment. (Reporting by Parikshit Mishra in Bengaluru; editing by John Stonestreet)
By Luciana Lopez and Grant Smith NEW YORK (Reuters) - Presidential hopeful Ted Cruz has in the past week been answering questions about a loan he got from Goldman Sachs in 2012. But he is far from alone among Republican candidates in having a financial relationship with the Wall Street investment bank in recent years. A Reuters analysis of the financial disclosures of the 12 Republicans left in the race to be the partys candidate in the November presidential election shows that funds run by Goldman have been a favorite investment destination for them. It shows that the Republican candidates and their spouses collectively held 57 Goldman investments, that is more than double the 28 they had from the second most popular source, Vanguard Group, which is one of the world's largest investment management firms. For a graphic of the Goldman and Vanguard investments by the candidates and their spouses, see http://tmsnrt.rs/23cVSNJ Last week, the New York Times reported that Cruz, whose wife Heidi Cruz is on leave from her job as a managing director at Goldmans wealth management arm, had borrowed as much as $500,000 from Goldman to help him in his successful campaign for a Senate seat in 2012 and didn't disclose it in campaign finance reports. Cruz, who is currently second to Donald Trump in a Reuters/Ipsos poll of Republican voters and is ahead in polls for the Iowa caucus on Feb. 1, has paid back the loan in full. Cruz told reporters last week that the loan didnt violate any campaign financing rules, and if his disclosure to the Federal Election Commission wasnt complete then it was a technical and inadvertent error and he would offer to amend the filing. Eight of the Republican presidential hopefuls, Trump, Cruz, Ben Carson, Jeb Bush, John Kasich, Carly Fiorina, Chris Christie, and Jim Gilmore said in financial disclosures that were largely filed between June and August last year that they had owned Goldman funds or Goldman stock, and in some cases both. The disclosures mostly cover the period from the beginning of 2014 to the middle of last year. Reuters was unable to determine if they still own the funds. There is no indication that there is anything improper about the way the candidates came to invest with Goldman. Goldman declined to comment on the Reuters analysis. It's not clear from the candidates' financial disclosures whether Goldman is managing anyone's portfolio or whether the aspirants simply bought Goldman products on their own. Goldman also declined to discuss how the candidates came to own the funds, other than to point out that most of them are available through other firms as well as through Goldman. Spokespeople for Cruz and Bush declined to comment. Representatives for the other six candidates owning Goldman products did not respond to requests for comment. Four candidates, Marco Rubio, Mike Huckabee, Rand Paul, and Rick Santorum had no Goldman funds, according to their financial disclosures last year. REVOLVING DOOR The popularity of the Goldman funds shows that the candidates are prepared to trust Goldman to manage their money even as some of them have criticized the investment bank for having too much influence in Washington. Cruz told Bloomberg earlier this year, for example, that Goldman got special favors from government. Senator Bernie Sanders, who is fighting Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination, said last Friday that it is time to shut the revolving door between Goldman and the government that has seen many senior former Goldman officials end up in top federal jobs in Washington. He made the statement the day after Goldman had agreed to pay more than $5 billion to settle claims from the federal government, New York and Illinois states, and other agencies, that it misled mortgage bond investors during the financial crisis. Goldman declined to comment on the criticism from Cruz and Sanders. Sanders didn't own any Goldman funds, based on his filings. It is unclear precisely how much the candidates owned in each fund as the disclosures only provide wide ranges for asset values, for example from $1,001 to $15,000 or $1,000,001 to$5,000,000. In many cases, there is no indication about when they acquired the funds or whether they held onto them, though a small number of the investments are marked as sold in the disclosure forms. MORE EXOTIC CHOICES Three Republican candidates in particular have owned multiple Goldman funds: former Hewlett-Packard Co CEO Fiorina and her husband Frank owned 21, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and his wife Mary Pat held 14, while Ted and Heidi Cruz also had 14. Family connections and other close links may have played a role in the investments, which are mainly managed by the firms Goldman Sachs Asset Management arm. Heidi Cruz began working for Goldman in 2005, and was most recently a managing director of private wealth management for the firm in Houston. Carly Fiorina may not have such a close family connection to Wall Street but she does have long-term ties with Goldman. The firm was Hewlett-Packard's financial advisor for its brutal and ultimately successful struggle to buy rival PC company Compaq in 2002 when Fiorina was HP's CEO. And Christies wife, Mary Pat, worked on Wall Street as a managing director at alternative asset manager Angelo, Gordon & Co until leaving her job last year. Many of the funds that the Republican candidates have invested in at Goldman, Vanguard and other fund companies are plain vanilla U.S. stock and fixed-income funds available to other investors. Some have made more exotic choices. Ted and Heidi Cruz, for example, owned several high-yield funds, an Asian equity fund, an investment in Goldman Sachs shares, and what appears to be an emerging markets debt fund. Many of the funds have lost value in the past year in line with the recent plunge in the value of stocks and many other financial assets. Fiorina owned a group of private equity and specialist investment funds that are usually only available to high net-worth individuals or institutional investors. They included: private equity funds that sponsor the leveraged buyout of companies, mezzanine funds that lend to companies, with some specializing in companies in financial distress, and specialized real estate funds. For some of the candidates, the funds are only a small part of their overall wealth  Trump, for example, has his real estate empire and owned many individual stocks, and Fiorina also owned a large portfolio of stocks. The second most popular firm, Vanguard, is best known for providing low-fee index funds that match market moves, and their funds are particularly popular with mom-and-pop investors across the country, with little of the controversy that critics of Wall Street would see in a Goldman relationship. (Reporting by Luciana Lopez and Grant Smith in New York; Editing by Martin Howell)
New York (AFP) - Goldman Sachs provided funds to the campaign to convince British voters to stay in the European Union, a source familiar with the issue told AFP Wednesday.

The source confirmed a Sky News story that said the Wall Street investment banking power donated "a substantial six-figure sum" in pounds to the anti-Brexit -- "British exit" campaign.

Sky News said the money went to the Britain Stronger in Europe group, which is fighting to convince people to vote in an upcoming referendum in favor of maintaining current ties with the EU.

British membership allows Goldman Sachs to work throughout the EU without having a banking license in each of its 28 member countries.

British Prime Minister David Cameron has demanded EU reforms which he deems essential to persuade Britons to vote to stay within the bloc.

The referendum is due by 2017, but British officials say it could be as early as this summer.

On Tuesday EU president Donald Tusk warned that a Brexit referendum "is more unpredictable than ever" and that an EU reform deal to persuade Britons to stay in the bloc would be difficult.
Athens (AFP) - More than 6,000 Greek white-collar professionals including doctors, lawyers and engineers protested in Athens on Thursday, waving their neckties as they marched against proposed pension reforms required by the country's creditors.

"No to the law that dumps us in the street," read one of the banners of the workers who joined in what the Greek media has dubbed the "Necktie Revolution". Police estimated the crowd at 6,000-strong.

Greece's leftist government recently proposed reducing the highest pension benefits and increasing social security contributions by both employers and staff.

"According to this proposed law, 84 percent of our earnings will go to taxes and other contributions (to the state)," said a 35-year-old engineer who gave his name as Haris.

"If this law goes through I will be forced to leave Greece and find work abroad," he said.

Greece must save 1.8 billion euros from state spending on pensions under a three-year bailout signed with the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund in July.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' government has announced plans to lower the maximum pension to 2,300 euros ($2,500) a month from 2,700 euros currently, and introduce a new minimum guaranteed basic pension of 384 euros.

The necktie professionals are not the only ones staging demonstrations against the reforms.

Greek farmers and sailors have also joined the wave of protests and unions have announced a general strike -- the third in as many months -- for February 4.

Sailors launched a two-day strike on Wednesday while farmers on Thursday continued to mass their tractors alongside national highways, intermittently blocking traffic.

In the face of these mass protests, Labour Minister George Katrougalos raised the possibility of reconsidering lowering the contributions of professionals and the self-employed, at least for a transitional period.

Tsipras meanwhile hopes next month to push the pension reform through parliament, where his government has a narrow majority of 153 out of 300 lawmakers.
By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) - A trader from an Atlanta suburb admitted to involvement in what U.S. authorities have called a more than $100 million international insider trading scheme that involved hacking into networks that distribute corporate news releases. Igor Dubovoy, 28, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, according to U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman in New Jersey. Dubovoy, of Alpharetta, Georgia, became the second defendant to admit criminal wrongdoing related to the alleged theft from February 2010 to August 2015 of more than 150,000 press releases from Business Wire, MarketWired and PR Newswire. The defendant entered his plea before U.S. District Judge Madeline Cox Arleo in Newark, New Jersey. He faces up to 20 years in prison, and according to his plea agreement agreed to make $3 million of restitution to the newswires. Another trader from Alpharetta, Alexander Garkusha, pleaded guilty last month in Brooklyn, New York federal court to the same charge as Dubovoy. Seven other individuals, including accused hackers from Ukraine, also face criminal charges, and 34 defendants face related U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission civil charges. Lawrence Lustberg, a lawyer for Dubovoy, declined to comment. Authorities said traders would give hackers "shopping lists" of press releases they wanted to see in advance, and then made trades based on them in such companies as Caterpillar Inc, Home Depot Co and Panera Bread Co. Prosecutors said Dubovoy admitted to buying stolen press releases that he knew contained non-public earnings data for publicly traded companies, and that he made trades based on their contents after sending them to another trader to review. Business Wire is a unit of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. PR Newswire is a unit of Britain's UBM Plc, which last month said it will sell the unit to Chicago-based Cision.None of the newswires was accused of wrongdoing. The case is U.S. v. Dubovoy, U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey, No. 15-cr-00390. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Alan Crosby)
Cairo (AFP) - Gunmen have killed five Egyptian policemen at a checkpoint in the Sinai Peninsula, the interior ministry said Thursday, in the latest attack claimed by the Islamic State group.

The incident happened on Wednesday night in North Sinai province where security forces are battling a jihadist insurgency.

"Unidentified gunmen opened fire on security forces at El-Etlawi square in the centre of El-Arish," the ministry said in a statement, referring to the provincial capital.

A gun battle ensued in which the five policemen were killed and three conscripts were wounded, it said.

Security forces were searching for the attackers, the ministry said.

The region is a bastion of the IS-affiliated group Sinai Province, which claimed the attack in a statement posted on jihadist websites.

"Three soldiers of the Islamic State carried out a precise attack on a checkpoint of the infidel police at El-Etlawi square in El-Arish using light and medium weapons," the Sinai Province group said.

IS fighters regularly target policemen and soldiers in the area.

Wednesday's attack comes just days before the January 25 anniversary of the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

The insurgency in North Sinai swelled after the army ousted Mubarak's Islamist successor Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

Jihadists say their attacks are in retaliation for a brutal government crackdown targeting Morsi's supporters that has left hundreds dead and thousands imprisoned.
By Thomas Escritt THE HAGUE (Reuters) - International prosecutors accused a former Lord's Resistance Army commander on Thursday of using rape and brutality to turn children the LRA had abducted into sex slaves or soldiers for its long campaign against Uganda's government. Dominic Ongwen, himself a former child soldier who rose through the ranks of Joseph Kony's rebel group, is also accused of slaughtering civilians and even ordering cannibalism. He faces 70 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court (ICC). Thursday's confirmation of charges hearing is a test for prosecutors who must convince judges that their case, hastily reinvestigated since Ongwen's surrender last January after years on the run, is strong enough to merit a trial. Prosecutor Ben Gumpert told judges Kony found children easiest to shape by a process of brutalisation into the fighters he needed. Ongwen, by turns generous and cruel, played a role in this. "Witnesses tell of how he instructed his personal escorts to administer dreadful beatings and ... even, on at least one occasion to kill, cook and eat civilians who had been abducted in attacks," he said. Ongwen had led attacks on four displaced persons camps into which civilians had been driven by the LRA's bloody campaign. Many were killed and others were kidnapped and made to carry away the loot. Nursing mothers who could not keep up had their babies torn from them and left behind in the bush, he said. A video taken by Ugandan authorities showed thatched huts burned to the ground and bodies in shallow graves in the aftermath of an attack. Kony was indicted by the court in 2005 and remains one of the world's most notorious fugitives from justice. Several other indicted members of the group, which rose against Ugandan President Yoweri Musuveni in the late 1980s, are believed dead. Ongwen, born in 1975, was visibly ill at ease in an environment very different from that in which he had spent his life after being abducted as a child, rising to say he did not need to hear the charge sheet. "It is all going to be a waste of time," he said. Gumpert said Ongwen's own traumatic childhood could at most be a mitigating circumstance at sentencing. "Child abusers are overwhelmingly likely to have been abused themselves as children," he said. Lawyers for Ongwen, who pleads not guilty, will argue for the charges to be dropped next week. (Reporting by Thomas Escritt; Editing by Catherine Evans)
Although forgotten by most Americans, John Bingham is one of the most important figures in American constitutional history. Indeed, Justice Hugo Black called him the Madison . . . of the Fourteenth Amendment. And so he was.

Bingham540

Binghams professional credentials alone are astonishing. Prior to the Civil War, he was a leading antislavery voice in Congress. Following Lincolns assassination, he was a member of the team that prosecuted John Wilkes Booths co-conspirators. During Reconstruction, he was a leading Republican in the House and a key member of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction. He also delivered the closing argument in President Andrew Johnsons impeachment trial. And, following Binghams congressional career, President Ulysses S. Grant tapped him to be Americas minister to Japan, a position that he held for twelve years.

However, Binghams most lasting achievement wasappropriately enough for an entry in the National Constitution Centers blogconstitutional. He was the main author of one of the most important pieces of text added to our Constitution after the Bill of RightsSection One of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Lets begin with Binghams text:

No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

This language is so familiar that its easy enough to forget the constitutional revolution that Bingham and his fellow Second Founders wrought. For instance, we often forget that the 1787 Constitution was silent on the Declaration of Independences promise of equality. Not so today, and we have John Bingham to thank for that.

As ultimately ratified, the Equal Protection Clause uses sweeping, universal language, protecting all persons from discrimination. However, before settling on the universal text enshrined in our Constitution, the Joint Committee on Reconstruction had agreed on much narrower language, targeting the specific evil of racial discrimination. Since the proposed Fourteenth Amendment was drafted, in part, to address the evils of slavery and the future of the newly freed slaves, this move was fair enough. Nevertheless, Bingham convinced the Committee to scrap this agreed-upon language and broaden it.

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Binghams new provisionthe one thats actually in the Constitution todaypromised equal protection of the laws for all persons, not just African Americans. As Bingham explained, he sought a simple, strong, plain declaration that equal laws and equal and exact justice shall hereafter be secured within every State of the Union, guaranteeing equal protection for any person, no matter whence he comes, or how poor, how weak, how simpleno matter how friendless. Through the Equal Protection Clause, Bingham achieved just that.

In addition, we often forget that the 1787 Constitution didnt protect Americans from state abuses of key Bill of Rights protections like free speech. And, indeed, many Southern states did violate core free speech rights throughout the antebellum period, banning abolitionist speech, with at least one state punishing such advocacy with death. In short, before Bingham, the Bill of Rights applied only to the federal government. Not so today, and, again, we have John Bingham and Section One of the Fourteenth Amendment to thank for that.

In the debates over the Fourteenth Amendment, Bingham stated this purpose directly, The proposition pending before the House is simply a proposition to arm the Congress . . . with the power to enforce the bill of rights as it stands in the Constitution today. He also explained, focusing on the specific evils he sought to eradicate, Hereafter the American people cannot have peace, if, as in the past, States are permitted to take away the freedom of speech, and to condemn men, as felons, to the penitentiary for teaching their fellow men that there is a hereafter, and a reward for those who learn to do well.

In the end, Binghams language was meant to provide new protections that would address the abuses of the former rebels and set important constitutional baselines for generation to come. In short, Bingham envisioned a federal Constitution that would protect the fundamental freedoms and equality of all Americansa vision that We the People ratified when we added the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution in 1868.

Over time, the impact of Binghams language has been monumental. Professor Gerard Magliocca explains this well in his recent (must-read) biography of Bingham: Section One of the Fourteenth Amendment is the language that the Supreme Court used to desegregate the public schools, end discrimination against women, establish equal voting rights, and find the right to sexual privacy. [It] is also the text that extends most of the Bill of Rights to the actions of state governments. And, of course, there are countless other blockbuster Fourteenth Amendment rulingsreally, John Bingham rulingsthat span the ideological spectrum, from the guarantee of marriage equality nationwide in Obergefell v. Hodges to the protection of individual gun rights in McDonald v. City of Chicago. Its little wonder that the Fourteenth Amendment is a key part of a period that many scholars rightly describe as our Nations Second Founding.

Sadly, despite his constitutional achievements, John Bingham is largely forgotten today. Thats, in part, why my organization (Constitutional Accountability Center) is partnering with the National Constitution Center to organize a multi-year celebration of the 150th anniversaries of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendmentsour Nations Second Founding. This cross-ideological initiative is committed to bringing together scholars, thought leaders, and citizens from diverse philosophical and legal perspectives to commemorate and debate the meaning of the Second Founding, the original understanding of the Second Founding Amendments, and their contemporary significance. A key goal of this celebration is to introduce the American people to some of constitutional historys forgotten heroesheroes like John Bingham.

Professor Akhil Amar once observed, Many of us are guilty of a kind of curiously selective ancestor worshipone that gives too much credit to James Madison and not enough to John Bingham. Even as Madison is often labeled the Father of the Constitution and recognized as the primary author of the Bill of Rights, most Americans ignore the Second Founder who most worked to realize the universal promise of Madisons Bill and Jeffersons Declaration. With the Fourteenth Amendment set to turn 150, the time has come to change that.

Tom Donnelly is a Senior Fellow For Constitutional Studies at the National Constitution Center. When this article was first published in January 2016, Donnelly was counsel at Constitutional Accountability Center. To learn more about our Nations Second Founding and efforts to celebrate its 150th anniversary, please visit SecondFounding.org and follow @2ndfounding on Twitter.

For additional information on Bingham and his constitutional achievements, please see:

Gerard N. Magliocca, American Founding Son: John Bingham and the Invention of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Akhil Reed Amar, The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction.

Michael Kent Curtis, No State Shall Abridge: The Fourteenth Amendment and the Bill of Rights.

Richard L. Aynes, The Continuing Importance of Congressman John A. Bingham and the Fourteenth Amendment, 36 Akron L. Rev. 589 (2003).

Richard L. Aynes, On Misreading John Bingham and the Fourteenth Amendment, 103 Yale L.J. 57 (1993).

Michael Kent Curtis, John A. Bingham and the Story of American Liberty: The Lost Cause Meets the Lost Clause, 36 Akron L. Rev. 617 (2003).
New York (AFP) - Hit musical "Cats," one of the most celebrated theatrical productions of all time, is returning to New York after a 16-year hiatus on Broadway, its producers announced Thursday.

The musical, composed by Britain's Andrew Lloyd Webber and based on T.S. Eliot's "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats" made its debut in London in 1981, before running for 7,485 performances for 18 years across the pond.

It is being revived at the Neil Simon Theatre, where preview performances will begin on July 14 and the official opening night is set for August 2.

"We are delighted to join together to bring Andrew Lloyd Webber's phenomenal musical back to Broadway," said co-producers The Shubert Organization and The Nederlander Organization in a joint statement.

The revival means that Lloyd Webber will have the rare distinction of having three musicals running simultaneously on Broadway in addition to "The Phantom of the Opera" and "School of Rock -- The Musical."

"Cats" is one of the longest-running shows in Broadway history. It has been put on in more than 30 countries, been translated into 15 languages and has been watched by more than 73 million people worldwide.

Originally directed by Britain's Trevor Nunn, "Cats" opened in the West End and went onto win seven Tony Awards in New York, including best musical. Both the original London and Broadway cast recordings won Grammy awards.

Its hit song "Memory" has been recorded by dozens of artists, including Barbra Streisand and Barry Manilow.

"Cats," which ran in New York from 1982 to 2000, was the longest-running musical in Broadway history until it was overtaken by Lloyd Webber's "Phantom" in 2006.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo broke ground Thursday on the country's first ever bullet train line, heralding the project as a symbol of "major cooperation" with China.

The controversial $5.6 billion project sparked a fierce bidding war between China and Japan as the two Asian powerhouses jostle to build key infrastructure projects in Indonesia and the wider region.

Widodo kicked off the first construction phase at a tea plantation in West Java, where one of the stations along the line will be situated.

"Send my regards to (Chinese) President Xi Jinping," Widodo said at the event, attended by Chinese officials.

"This is a (sign of) major cooperation between Indonesia and China," he added, calling for the two trading partners to further expanded ties in other industries.

The bullet train should in theory be able to travel up to 350 kilometres an hour (220 miles per hour) between the sprawling capital Jakarta and the mountain-fringed city of Bandung, about 160 kilometres (100 miles) away.

It is a key project for Widodo, who has pledged to overhaul the archipelago's rickety infrastructure in a bid to attract investors and boost growth in Southeast Asia's largest economy, which last year dipped below five percent.

Last year Jakarta asked for proposals from investors for the ambitious project, with China and Japan bidding so intensely a senior minister likened Indonesia to a pretty girl being courted by many admirers.

After a chaotic bidding process, China was awarded the contract -- infuriating Japan, which was long expected to build the track given its high-speed rail expertise.

Indonesia lacks a mass-transport system, forcing its increasingly affluent 250 million people to rely heavily on private transport, resulting in grinding traffic in the biggest cities.

Widodo said he hoped the high-speed railway would spur demand for future public transport alternatives in other parts of Indonesia, as well as speed up the movement of people and goods between cities, helping economic growth.

Construction of the line is expected to finish by 2018, and it should be operational the following year.
By Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. intelligence agencies investigating the kidnapping of three Americans in Baghdad, Iraq last week are focusing their probe on three militant Islamic groups closely affiliated with Iran, U.S. government sources said on Thursday. Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Kata'ib Hezbollah and the Badr Organization are the principle focus of the investigation into the armed kidnapping of the three Americans in the Dora neighborhood, south of Baghdad, the sources said. The three men are employed by a still-unidentified small company doing work for General Dynamics under a larger contract with the U.S. Army. The U.S. government still does not know if any of the three groups kidnapped the three men. While the three groups have close ties to Iran, sources said the United States does not believe Iran was involved in the kidnapping, or that the three are being held in Iran. Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Kata'ib Hezbollah and the Badr Organization are Shi'ite militia groups that are part of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Front, a group closely tied to Iran, according to the Counter Terrorism Project, a New York-based advocacy group. The Iraqi government has struggled to rein in the Shi'ite militias, many of which fought the U.S. military following the 2003 invasion. Shi'ite militias have previously been accused of killing and abducting American nationals. Hostility between Tehran and Washington has eased in recent months with the lifting of crippling economic sanctions against Iran in return for compliance with a deal to curb its nuclear ambitions and a recent prisoner swap. However, the United States imposed sanctions on 11 companies and individuals on Sunday for supplying Iran's ballistic missile program. (Reporting By Mark Hosenball; writing by David Greising; Editing by Andrew Hay)
Russia is looking for closer participation in China's One Belt One Road initiative through government-backed investment into projects that puts Russia on the map, a top Russian sovereign wealth fund manager said.

Kirill Dmitriev, Russia Direct Investment Fund chief executive, who is also co-chief executive of the Russia-China Investment Fund, said that his team is looking for more OBOR-related investment opportunities after having already made a few successful investments.

"The 'One Belt and one Road' initiative is very important for Russia, as it can provide sources of additional growth. Russia is strategically placed between China and Europe, we can participate to provide more connectivity in the initiative," he said.

The $2 billion RCIF was launched in 2012 as a joint venture between China Investment Corp and RDIF, with each side committing $1 billion. Both the RDIF and RCIF recently invested in several projects that facilitate connectivity between China and Europe through Russia, including an airport project in Vladivostok that helps Chinese tourists to travel and do more business in the Russian Far East, a rail road bridge over the Amur river that connects China with Russia and cuts transportation costs, and a telecom network that potentially could connect China and Europe through Russia.

Dmitriev's words came after China's President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a joint statement in May 2015 on integrating China's OBOR initiative with Russia's aspiration under the Eurasian Economic Union framework.

China's OBOR initiative is aimed at further strengthening trade and investment integration between Asia and Europe through infrastructure development. The Eurasian Economic Union is targeted at integration of states located primarily in northern Eurasia, and was originally set up by Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.

Against the backdrop of closer cooperation between China and Russia on regional integration, many government- backed business deals have resulted, one being the Chinese oil refiner Sinopec's investment in a 10 percent share in Russia's largest gas processing and petrochemicals company Sibur in December 2015, a deal that aims to strengthen both countries' petrochemicals industry efficiency.

Dmitriev said the RCIF is focused on committing to projects that would help the common interests of China-Russia relationships, with focus on sectors like technology, production of natural resources with added value and agriculture.

He said the RCIF is keen to get involved in more projects that include Russia's contribution to the OBOR map, and its current investment pipeline is about $3 billion. He said the support from both the Chinese and Russia governments for the RCIF is key to the fund's advantage, as it cuts out geopolitical risks that individual Chinese and Russian investors would face.

Dmitriev said the fund takes on a strategy of investing in projects that would provide a good financial return for the fund instead of investing in sectors or companies for political reasons. From an investment decision making perspective, it would function like any other private sector fund.

"We believe real return is key to investment. In the process of creating good returns, you create jobs, and economic growth."

In 2015 the RCIF also invested in the Chinese firms DidiKuaidi mobile platform taxi-calling application and the online education platform Tutor Group. DidiKuaidi is the Chinese equivalent of Uber, and currently the market leading taxi hailing application in China.

Tutor Group started a large English language learning platform for mainland China, Asia, and other countries in 2004, but now offers more languages and has attracted funding from the likes of Alibaba and Qiming Venture Partners.

Dmitriev said companies like DidiKuaidi and Tutor Group are already leaders in China, but the same business models can be applied equally to Russia, and he hopes by investing in those countries the fund can help to develop the synergies.

He said currently the fund has approved around 15 transactions to invest in, and so far the projects have proved profitable.

Although China's growth is slowing in recent years Dmitriev said he is not worried because he believes in the sustainable growth that China has.

"We believe it is good growth, although we do expect there will be fluctuations in the market, and we believe China will continue to be a key driver of the world economy," he said.

He also has high expectations of China's leadership in the G20 this year, and he hopes that China's leadership will work towards tackling unnecessary trade and investment barriers globally, which is a problem faced by both China and Russia's outward investment.
Paris (AFP) - French President Francois Hollande said Wednesday that Iran's return to the international scene was "now possible" after a nuclear deal saw sanctions lifted against the country.

"It depends only on this great country to succeed," Hollande said just days ahead of a visit by President Hassan Rouhani to Paris, the first by an Iranian president in 17 years.

Hollande said a "de-escalation" of tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia was necessary and France was willing to play a role in this.

"We must do everything to work together for stability in the region. It is with this in mind that I will soon visit Egypt, Jordan and Oman," he said.
Baghdad (AFP) - Oil revenues that supply the vast majority of Iraqi government funds are "very limited", with crude trading at half the value projected in the budget, the finance minister said Thursday.

Plummeting oil prices mean Iraq is facing a financial crisis as it fights a costly war against the Islamic State jihadist group, and rebuilding areas devastated by the conflict will cost even more.

Iraq is selling oil at "between $21 and $25 per barrel", Hoshyar Zebari told a news conference, adding that "the revenues we are obtaining from oil are very limited".

The 2016 Iraqi budget is based on a projected oil price of $45 a barrel -- a level at which the country would already face a deficit of 24.1 trillion dinars (around $20 billion).

And "projections indicate a continued collapse of oil prices," Zebari said.

"It will be a difficult and harsh year for all of us," he said, comparing the threat posed by the financial crisis to "the very dangerous terrorist and security challenge" faced by the country.

IS jihadists overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, and while Iraqi forces have succeeded in regaining significant ground, areas are often destroyed in the fighting even as they are retaken.

Rebuilding these areas presents a massive financial challenge to Iraq and it will likely need foreign assistance.
By Mark Hosenball and David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON/DAVOS (Reuters) - U.S. intelligence agencies investigating the kidnapping of three Americans in Baghdad last week are focusing their probe on three militant Islamic groups closely affiliated with Iran, U.S. government sources said on Thursday. Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Kata'ib Hezbollah and the Badr Organization are the principle focus of the probe into how the men were snatched in the Dora neighborhood, south of Baghdad, the sources said. The U.S. government does not know if any of the three groups seized the men. While the groups have close ties to Iran, sources said the United States does not believe Iran had a hand in the kidnapping nor that the three are being held in Iran. Despite the U.S. belief that Iran was not involved, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday said he had asked Iran for help in finding them. Iraq's prime minister, speaking in Davos, Switzerland, said he doubted Iran was involved. Kerry told reporters that he and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif discussed the case of the three men during a meeting on Wednesday. Iraqi intelligence and U.S. government sources on Tuesday said the men were kidnapped and were being held by an Iranian-backed Shi'ite militia. They are the first Americans to be abducted in Iraq since the withdrawal of U.S. troops in 2011. "I asked him (Zarif) for whatever help, if Iran knew any way to provide help, or if there was some way they could have impact in getting the right outcome," Kerry told reporters. "He said he would take it under advisement and try to do what they can. He didnt have any immediate knowledge whatsoever about it," Kerry added. The three men are employed by a small company that is doing work for General Dynamics Corp, under a larger contract with the U.S. Army, according to a source familiar with the matter. 'THEY JUST WENT MISSING' Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Kata'ib Hezbollah and the Badr Organization are Shi'ite militia groups that are part of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Front, a group closely tied to Iran, according to the New York-based Counter Terrorism Project advocacy group. The Iraqi government has struggled to rein in the Shi'ite militias, many of which fought the U.S. military following the 2003 invasion. Shi'ite militias have previously been accused of killing and abducting American nationals. Speaking before a meeting with Kerry on Thursday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi was asked by a reporter if he thought there was an Iranian link to the mens' disappearance. "I don't know about that. I doubt it very much. We don't know if they have been kidnapped...they just went missing," Abadi said in response to the question. Unknown gunmen seized the three on Friday from a private residence in the southeastern Dora district of Baghdad, Iraqi officials say. Kerry said the United States was working closely with Iraq on the issue. "They are really investigating this. He (Abadi) is looking at it. He was not able to shed light on the who, where or what and they are still trying to get all of that piece together." Some analysts believe the kidnappings were meant to embarrass and weaken Abadi, who is trying to balance Iraq's relations with rival powers Iran and the United States. Hostility between Tehran and Washington has eased with the lifting of crippling economic sanctions against Iran in return for compliance with a deal to curb its nuclear ambitions and a recent prisoner swap. (Reporting by David Brunnstrom and Mark Hosenball; Editing by Richard Balmforth and Andrew Hay)
CAIRO (Reuters) - Iraq's defense minister said on Thursday the three Americans who went missing in Baghdad last week had been seized by an "organized gang that carries out abductions for blackmail". In an interview with Reuters in Cairo, Khaled al-Obaidi did not elaborate.The three men are employed by a small company that is doing work for General Dynamics Corp, under a larger contract with the U.S. Army, according to a source familiar with the matter. Iraqi intelligence and U.S. government sources said on Tuesday the three were being held by an Iranian-backed Shi'ite militia. They would be the first Americans to be abducted in Iraq since the withdrawal of U.S. troops in 2011. The U.S. sources said Washington had no reason to believe Tehran was involved and did not believe the trio were being held in Iran, which borders Iraq. Unknown gunmen seized the three on Friday from a private residence in the southeastern Dora district of Baghdad, Iraqi officials say. In Davos, Switzerland on Thursday, Iraqi Prime Minister Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said however they "just went missing," and he very much doubted any Iranian involvement. (Reporting by Malak Ghobrial and Mahmoud Mourad; English version written by Maher Chmaytelli; editing by Andrew Roche)
By Maayan Lubell JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel confirmed on Thursday it was planning to appropriate a large tract of fertile land in the occupied West Bank, close to Jordan, a move likely to exacerbate tensions with Western allies and already drawing international condemnation. In an email sent to Reuters, COGAT, a unit of Israel's Defence Ministry, said the political decision to seize the territory had been taken and "the lands are in the final stages of being declared state lands". The appropriation, covers 154 hectares (380 acres) in the Jordan Valley close to Jericho, an area where Israel already has many settlement farms built on land Palestinians seek for a state. It is the largest land seizure since August 2014. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon denounced the move and Palestinian officials said they would push for a resolution at the United Nations against Israel's settlement policies. "Settlement activities are a violation of international law and run counter to the public pronouncements of the government of Israel supporting a two-state solution to the conflict," Ban said in a statement. The land, in an area fully under Israeli civilian and military control and already used by Jewish settlers to farm dates, is situated near the northern tip of the Dead Sea. Palestinian officials denounced the seizure. "Israel is stealing land specially in the Jordan Valley under the pretext it wants to annex it," Hanan Ashrawi, a senior member of the Palestine Liberation Organization, told Reuters. "This should be a reason for a real and effective intervention by the international community to end such a flagrant and grave aggression which kills all chances of peace." The United States, whose ambassador angered Israel this week with criticism of its West Bank policy, said it was strongly opposed to any moves that accelerate settlement expansion. "We believe they're fundamentally incompatible with a two-state solution and call into question, frankly, the Israeli government's commitment to a two-state solution," Deputy State Department spokesman Mark Toner said on Wednesday. In a development likely to further upset Europe, Israeli forces demolished six structures in the West Bank funded by the EU's humanitarian arm. The structures were dwellings and latrines for Bedouins living in an area known as E1 - a particularly sensitive zone between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. Israel has not built settlements in E1, with construction considered a "red line" by the United States and the EU. It could potentially split the West Bank, cutting Palestinians off from East Jerusalem, which they seek for their capital. "This is the third time they demolished my house and every time I rebuilt it, this time also I will rebuild it and I am not leaving here. If we leave they will turn the place into a closed military zone," said Saleem Jahaleen, whose home was razed. RISING TENSION Israeli officals did not respond to requests for comment on the demolitions. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week the EU was building illegally in the area. "They're building without authorization, against the accepted rules, and theres a clear attempt to create political realities," he told the foreign media. Netanyahu was scheduled to address the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday. He met U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry there but it was not clear if the issue was raised. The Palestinians want to establish an independent state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, areas Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East War. There are now about 550,000 Jewish settlers living in the West Bank and East Jerusalem combined, according to Israeli government and think-tank statistics. About 350,000 Palestinians live in East Jerusalem and 2.7 million in West Bank. Israel is hoping that in any final agreement with the Palestinians it will be able to keep large settlement blocs including in the Jordan Valley, both for security and agricultural purposes. The Palestinians are adamantly opposed. The last round of peace talks broke down in April 2014 and Israeli-Palestinian violence has surged in recent months. Since the start of October, Palestinian stabbings, car-rammings and shootings have killed 25 Israelis and a U.S. citizen. In the same period, at least 148 Palestinians have been killed, 94 of whom Israel has described as assailants. Israeli Interior Minister Aryeh Deri said on Thursday he had revoked the residency rights of four Jerusalem Palestinians involved in two fatal attacks on Israelis, one in September and one in October, a spokeswoman said. The measure, described as rare, was meant to deter others from carrying out attacks, Deri said in a statement. (Reporting by Maayan Lubell, Luke Baker, Ali Sawafta; Nidal al-Mughrabi; editing by Luke Baker and Angus MacSwan)
Jerusalem (AFP) - Israel's Interior Minister Aryeh Deri said Thursday he has revoked the permanent residency permits of four Palestinians from east Jerusalem who allegedly killed Israelis in Jerusalem in recent attacks.

The rare move is yet another Israeli attempt to stem the nearly four-month wave of Palestinian attacks against Israeli civilians and security forces, many of which were carried out by east Jerusalem residents.

The interior ministry named three of the Palestinians as Walid Atrash, Mohammad Abu Kaf and Abed Dawiat.

They are accused of stoning a car driven by 64-year-old Alexander Levlovich on September 13, causing it to veer off the road and into a tree, leading to his death.

The fourth Palestinian was Bilal Ghanem, who together with another Palestinian is accused of shooting and stabbing passengers on a bus on October 13.

That attack killed Chaim Haviv, 78, and Alon Govberg, 51, and fatally wounded Richard Lakin, a 76-year-old American-Israeli.

"This is a rare measure, but the severity of the deeds committed by the four justifies my decision," Deri said.

"During the attacks, the terrorists took advantage of the freedom of movement they were entitled to as permanent residents with Israeli identification cards.

"From now on, all terrorists will know that their terror attacks will have consequences beyond imprisonment," he said in a statement.

An interior ministry spokeswoman said that in the past decade, only four Palestinians from east Jerusalem had their residency permits revoked for deadly attacks on Israelis.

The spokeswoman said it was yet to be decided what the legal status of the four affected by Thursday's decision would be, noting options such as a tourist or temporary work visa.

Twenty-four 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, 155 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, most while carrying out attacks and others during clashes and demonstrations.

Israel recently reinstated its controversial practice of demolishing homes of Palestinian attackers in east Jerusalem, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called "one of the most efficient tools" in discouraging Palestinian attacks.
Rome (AFP) - Italy's upcoming parliamentary battle over gay civil unions has opened with a group of senators proposing prison terms for couples who use overseas surrogate mothers to have a child.

In a move branded "indecent" by Italy's biggest gay rights group, Catholic senators from Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's Democratic Party have tabled an amendment to draft legislation legalising same sex unions which would require gay couples to prove they had not used a surrogate.

If they cannot, the partner who is not the biological father would not be allowed to adopt the child and a judge would be entitled to have the child placed in care and put up for adoption.

The amendment also envisages prison terms of up to two years and fines of up to one million euros for using a surrogate overseas, regardless of whether the practice is legal in the country concerned. Similar penalties are already in place for anyone entering a surrogacy arrangement in Italy.

"This is indecent. A law intended to recognise rights cannot be transformed into a criminalising one that talks about prison," said Gabriele Piazzoni, the national secretary of rights group Arcigay.

The civil unions bill is to be debated by the Senate from January 28 and numerous other amendments are expected to be tabled before a deadline on Friday as conservative lawmakers backed by the Catholic Church mount a rearguard action against it.

The bill is expected to finally pass after examination by both the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies but supporters fear key articles could be watered down or removed.

Opponents meanwhile have threatened a constitutional challenge and a campaign for a ratifying referendum if parliament approves gay unions that they think resemble marriage too closely.

Italy is the last major Western European country not to have enacted legislation enabling gay couples to have their relationships legally recognised.

Opinion polls suggest a majority of voters support same sex couples' rights to enter civil unions but that the electorate is more evenly split on issues related to adoption, surrogacy and medically assisted procreation.

Interior Minister Angelino Alfano sparked outrage earlier this month when he said the use of paid surrogate mothers should be treated like a sex crime.
Rome (AFP) - Organisers of Italy's Palio, the celebrated and historic horse race in Siena, have turned down an offer to take part in Queen Elizabeth II's 90th birthday celebrations, officials said Thursday.

The horse-loving British monarch turns 90 on April 21 and organisers of her equestrian-themed birthday celebrations, to be staged over three days at Windsor Castle in May, approached Palio chiefs in November about the possibility of involving some of the jockeys and horses who race round Siena's Piazza del Campo twice each summer.

But after two months of discussions, the Palio's governing body, the Magistrato delle Contrade issued a statement saying the idea had been shelved for "organisational but also ethical" reasons.

The statement said the proposal had not been put to representatives of the Contrade, the wards of the city which compete against each other in the race.

With the royal organisers unable to provide facilities for a full-scale re-enactment of the centuries-old race, the guardians of the Palio's living traditions were reluctant to countenance a more limited role in the festivities.

"The Contrade would never accept to be puppets in an artificial, choreographed show," former Siena mayor Roberto Barzanti told daily La Stampa.

Current mayor Bruno Valentini was anxious to stress that the city had been flattered by the invitation and that there was no desire to snub the royal household.

"We invite Queen Elizabeth to come to Siena as our guest and to watch the Palio from the balcony of our city hall," he said.
Kasserine (Tunisia) (AFP) - Fresh protests over unemployment and poverty in central Tunisia on Thursday raised fears of growing social unrest five years after the country's revolution ignited by similar grievances.

The discontent spread to several towns in central Tunisia, with demonstrators taking to the streets.

Protests and clashes with security forces started in Kasserine following the death on Saturday of an unemployed man who was electrocuted atop a power pole near the governor's office.

Ridha Yahyaoui, 28, was protesting after his name was removed from a list of hires for coveted public sector jobs.

"It's as if we were back in 2010-2011," Al-Shuruk newspaper wrote, referring to the revolution that overthrew dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

The uprising was sparked by the death of Mohamed Bouazizi, who set himself on fire in nearby Sidi Bouzid, in protest at unemployment and police harassment in December 2010 and died a month later.

In the face of this week's burgeoning unrest, Prime Minister Habib Essid cut short a European tour to return home on Thursday.

Essid is to chair an emergency cabinet meeting on Saturday and give a news conference, his office said in a statement.

Despite the success of Tunisia's political transition in the past five years, the authorities have failed to resolve the problems of social exclusion and regional disparities.

- 'Enough of promises' -

Tensions remain high in Kasserine, where security forces have used tear gas and water cannon against crowds of hundreds of demonstrators, and the protests have since Tuesday spread to nearby towns.

As on the previous days, protesters in Kasserine on Thursday set up roadblocks with burning tyres and pelted security forces with stones, an AFP correspondent said.

A hospital source said 240 civilians and 74 policemen have been injured in the three days of clashes in Kasserine, while a security official told AFP that police have been instructed to use "maximum restraint".

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In Feriana, 30 kilometres (18 miles) away, a policeman was killed Wednesday during an operation to disperse demonstrators, the interior ministry said.

A security source told AFP that he died when his vehicle was overturned.

On Thursday, a crowd of more than 1,000 gathered outside the governor's office in Kasserine demanding information on an announcement the previous day of plans to create 5,000 jobs.

The finance ministry later clarified that the government was offering to extend its social aid programme rather than to create new posts.

"We've had enough of promises and being marginalised. We were the ones who led the revolution and we will not stay silent," said protester Marwa Zorgui.

An AFP journalist said another young demonstrator was persuaded by friends at the last minute not to leap to his death from the rooftop of the governorate building.

- No 'magic wand' -

As the protests spread, protesters Thursday cut off roads in Sidi Bouzid and clashed with police, while similar demonstrations were reported in the central towns of Jendouba, Gafsa and Kebili.

President Beji Caid Essebsi has acknowledged his government had "inherited a very difficult situation" with "700,000 unemployed and 250,000 of them young people who have degrees".

Tunisia's economy has been hard hit by political instability combined with jihadist attacks that have hobbled its vital tourism sector.

"Unemployment is the key problem which we must confront and one of the priorities of the government," Essid said Thursday in a speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

But "we do not have a magic wand to end it in a short period of time", the prime minister said before flying back home.

"We have launched important programmes," he said, stressing the need for improved professional training.

But the head of a Tunisian non-governmental organisation said the government had been slow to respond even though the brewing unrest was predictable.

"We've been warning that the social situation was explosive," said Abderrahman Hedhili of the Tunisian Forum For Economic and Social Rights.

And Hamza Meddeb, a researcher with the Carnegie Middle East Center, said that the people's "patience is running out".
LONDON (Reuters) - JPMorgan, the biggest U.S. bank by assets, is preparing to make a donation to a group campaigning to keep Britain in the European Union, Sky News reported on Thursday. Rival investment bank Goldman Sachs has already agreed to donate a "substantial six-figure sum" to the pro-EU group 'Britain Stronger in Europe', a source told Reuters on Wednesday. Sky said JPMorgan was planning to contribute "hundreds of thousands of pounds" to the group over the coming days. The Wall Street bank declined to comment when contacted by Reuters. Several banks have said Britain should remain within the EU because a British exit could harm London's place as a global financial center. Prime Minister David Cameron is renegotiating the terms of Britain's membership of the 28-member bloc and is hoping to clinch a deal at an EU summit in February, paving the way for a referendum which could take place as soon as June. (Reporting by Costas Pitas; additional reporting by Rachel Armstrong; editing by William Schomberg)
By Drazen Jorgic NAIROBI (Reuters) - The al Shabaab commander who masterminded an assault on a Kenyan army base in Somalia last week is believed to have been killed in air raids by Kenyan warplanes, the country's armed forces chief said on Thursday. The strikes over the weekend targetted two al Shabaab camps where the militants were hiding, General Samson Mwathethe, head of Kenya Defence Forces, said. "It is believed Mwalimu Janow, the leader of (an al Shabaab) brigade, who led this attack, was killed," Mwathethe told reporters. Al Shabaab, which is aligned with al Qaeda, said its fighters killed more than 100 Kenyan soldiers when they overrun the base in Ceel Cadde, near the Kenyan border, on Jan.15. The Islamist militants also claim to have captured some Kenyan soldiers belonging to an African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia. Kenyan officials have not yet revealed the death toll but newspaper pictures of coffins draped with Kenyan flags bringing back dead soldiers has increased pressure on President Uhuru Kenyatta and his military chiefs. Al Shabaab, which wants to impose a strict version of Islamic law in Somalia, said it has not lost any fighters since Friday's attack. "This is merely propaganda meant to soothe Kenyans minds after the recent shocking massacre of Kenyan troops," Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaabs military spokesman, told Reuters. Al Shabaab on Wednesday published gruesome photos which purport to show the bullet-riddled bodies of dozens of Kenyan soldiers. Most appear to have been shot in the head. 1998 U.S. EMBASSY BOMBING Mwathethe, providing the first in-depth details about the attack, said al Shabaab struck the base with a truck bomb which was as powerful as the one used by al Qaeda in 1998 to destroy the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, when more than 200 people were killed. The militants then detonated two more equally strong vehicle bombs and launched a flurry of rocket-propelled grenades while a wave of suicide bombers surged towards Kenyan positions, Mwathethe said. Kenya immediately launched helicopter search and rescue operations for troops who had fled into the bushes but military reinforcements could not reach the base for two days as al Shabaab possessed anti-aircraft guns, Mwathethe said. The Kenyan military said it was still searching for troops, though it would not comment on how many soldiers were unaccounted for. The main opposition party in Kenya has called for the withdrawal of troops from Somalia but Kenyatta said Kenya was committed to bringing stability to Somalia, a nation ravaged by conflict since civil war broke out in 1991. (Reporting by Drazen Jorgic; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
By Joseph Akwiri MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) - Kenyan police killed four suspected Islamists in the coastal resort of Malindi on Wednesday after receiving a tip-off that the men were planning to attack a local shopping mall and a police post, the local police chief said. In the past, such attacks in Kenya have been carried out by al Shabaab, a Somali militant group which wants to punish Kenya for sending its troops into Somalia as part of an African Union peacekeeping force. Mutava Muchangi, the local police chief, said four men were killed when police raided a residence in Malindi, 120 km (75 miles) north of the port Mombasa, following a tip-off by members of the public. "The suspects started firing at our officers when they were challenged to surrender, and so we shot and killed them," Muchangi told Reuters. The men had also thrown a grenade at police officers but none was injured. Muchangi said police had recovered a pistol and five grenades. The men had fled from Mombasa during a police crackdown on suspected Islamists with ties to Somali militants, he said. Al Shabaab, which is aligned to al Qaeda, killed 67 people during an attack on the luxury Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi in September 2013. Last April, al Shabaab gunmen killed about 150 people when they stormed Kenya's Garissa University. The group staged a major attack on a Kenyan base in Somalia last week, claiming to have killed more than 100 Kenyan soldiers. Kenyan officials have not disclosed the death toll, but newspaper pictures of coffins bringing back dead Kenyan soldiers from Somalia has ratcheted up pressure on President Uhuru Kenyatta. On Wednesday, al Shabaab published scores of photos purporting to show showing bullet-riddled bodies of Kenyan soldiers killed during Friday's attack, along with looted army equipment. The group says it is holding some Kenyan soldiers captive. Kenyatta on Tuesday said the Kenyan military was conducting search and rescue operations for troops in the wake of the attack on the Ceel Cadde base, close to the Kenyan border, but did not confirm if any soldiers were being held by militants. "Their actions have only made us stronger and emboldened us in our determination to defeat them," Kenyatta said in televised address to the nation. (Reporting by Joseph Akwiri, writing by Drazen Jorgic; editing by Edith Honan and Richard Balmforth)
By David Brunnstrom DAVOS (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday he believed Islamic State's military capabilities in Iraq and Syria would be seriously weakened by the end of 2016. Asked at a media roundtable on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, whether this year would see the end of Islamic State, Kerry replied, referring to the militant group by an Arabic acronym: "I think that by the end of 2016, our goal of very seriously denting Daesh ...will be achieved. I think we are on track."Kerry said Islamic State has already lost 20-30 percent of its territory in Iraq and Syria combined and about 40 percent in Iraq. The jihadist group lost control of the western Iraqi city of Ramadi last month, in a sorely needed victory for U.S.-backed Iraqi forces. But critics, including some in the U.S. Congress, say the U.S. strategy is still far too weak and lacks sufficient military support from Sunni Arab allies, while Islamic State has also established a foothold in other countries in the region, notably Libya and Yemen. Kerry said the coalition had upped its engagement significantly, noting that defense chiefs from the United States, France, Britain and four other countries had pledged to intensify the fight. Kerry said he planned to meet on Feb. 2 with foreign ministers from 24 of the nations that were the most active in the anti-Islamic State coalition to get additional commitments. (Story corrects country reference in first paragraph) (Reporting by David Brunnstrom; editing by John Stonestreet)
DAVOS (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday that initial talks in Geneva involving the Syrian government and opposition groups would be "proximity talks", not a face-to-face meeting of participants. "The first meeting will be proximity talks ... you are not going to have a situation where they are sitting down at the table staring at each other or shouting at each other; you are going to have to build some process here, and that's what will begin," Kerry told reporters at a roundtable meeting in Davos, Switzerland. Kerry also said U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Steffan de Mistura would probably not send invitations out until Sunday. "What will happen is, on Monday there will be some discussions (in Geneva), but I would say that by Tuesday and Wednesday, people will be able to get there. We just see this is as logistical ... we are just kind of lining pieces up here. Well see where we are." (Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
Davos (Switzerland) (AFP) - US Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday he had spoken to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif about the fate of three Americans missing in Baghdad.

Washington has not commented publicly on reports the three were kidnapped by an Iranian-backed Shiite militia, but Kerry confirmed he had raised the case with Tehran.

"I've raised it with Foreign Minister Zarif," Kerry told reporters at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

"I asked him ... if Iran knew any way to provide help or if there were some way they could have an impact on getting the right kind of outcome," he added.

"He said he would take that under advisement and try to do what he can. He didn't have any immediate knowledge whatsoever about it."

Iraqi authorities are searching for the three Americans, whom the Baghdad security command said were seized last week from a "suspicious apartment" in south Baghdad.

Iraqi officials have dubbed the case a kidnapping, but US officials still speak cautiously of a "disappearance," in what could become a politically explosive case.

The three were allegedly taken just as Kerry and Zarif were finalizing the implementation of the Iran nuclear deal and the release of five US prisoners held in Iran.

If one of the Iranian-backed militias that operate in Iraq was responsible for a kidnapping this would feed the anger of US critics who see both deals as a capitulation.

Opponents of President Barack Obama's outreach to Iran argue he has been naive about the ongoing threat Tehran poses to US interests and its regional allies.
President Obamas renewed push to close the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has hit an unexpected snag: a detainee cleared for release wont leave.

The Defense Department on Thursday announced it transferred two prisoners, one to Bosnia and one to Montenegro, reducing the sites total population to 91. The administration had hoped to lower that figure to 90 but a third man, a Yemeni prisoner named Mohammad Bwazir, 35, refused to leave for a nation that offered him sanctuary.

Related: Why President Obama Rejected the Pentagons Plan to Close Gitmo

Hes been in Guantanamo so long that he was terrified about going to a country other than one where he had family, Bwazirs lawyer told the Miami Herald.

He just didnt want to go. He just feels like hell be OK if he has a family to support him, the lawyer added, saying there was no timeline for when Bwazir might depart.

Bwazir was one of 17 inmates Defense Secretary Ash Carter cleared for release in December. Of the 91 still at the prison, 34 have been approved for release, 10 are awaiting some form of trial and 47 are indefinite detainees.

The Pentagon has transferred 16 prisoners from Guantanamo this month as President Obama works to fulfill a campaign promise he made in 2008 to mothball the site. The accelerated pace has angered congressional Republicans, who have inserted language into a variety a laws over the years to try to tie the presidents hands and prevent him from making good on his promise.

Related: Obama Readies Biggest Reach of Presidential Power Yet

With less than a year to go, though, Obama is working on a plan close the detention center, potentially through an executive order, and move the remaining prisoners to an existing U.S. military site on American soil, possibly in Kansas, Colorado or South Carolina.

Senate Armed Services chair John McCain (R-AZ) has signaled he might support the administrations proposal to close the prison but he has to see it first. Obama rejected a Pentagon plan to close the site last year because of its $600 million price tag.

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When the revamped plan will be presented to Congress is anyones guess and has become an almost daily question at White House press briefings.

The scheme is something that the Pentagon's been working on a lot. I know that they've had a lot of conversations with White House officials about the development of that plan, press secretary Josh Earnest said last week.

Related: Where Did $800 Million in Afghan Aid Go? The Pentagon Shrugs Its Shoulders

I would also encourage you to not give in to a sense of mystery about the plan, he added.

I think our strategy that we have been pursuing for quite some time is familiar to those of you who have been watching this issue for years now, Earnest said before repeating the administrations well-rehearsed arguments that the prison is costly for taxpayers and a recruiting tool for extremists around the world.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
London (AFP) - British Prime Minister David Cameron said Russian ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko was murdered in a "state-sponsored action" after an inquiry into his death reported back Thursday.

"What happened was absolutely appalling and this report confirms what we've always believed, and what the last Labour government believed at the time of this dreadful murder, which is it was state-sponsored action," he said in a clip to British television from Davos.

Britain did not announce new sanctions Thursday as a result of the killing but did impose asset freezes on the two Russian prime suspects in the case, Dmitri Kovtun and Andrei Lugovoi.

"We must now read the report in its entirety and take everything into account but be in no doubt, this shocking event was reacted to years ago when it happened and we're toughening our action again today," Cameron added.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Andrei Lugovoy, one of two Russians named on Thursday by a judge led-British inquiry as the killers of Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko, said the accusations against him were "absurd", the Interfax news agency quoted him as saying. The inquiry into the 2006 killing in London concluded that President Vladimir Putin probably approved a Russian intelligence operation to murder ex-KGB agent Litvinenko. It said his poisoners were former KGB bodyguard turned lawmaker Lugovoy and fellow Russian Dmitry Kovtun. Lugovoy, who represents the ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia in the Russian parliament, called the British inquiry "a pathetic attempt by London to use a skeleton in the closet for the sake of its political ambitions". He said the findings of the inquiry published on Thursday continued Britain's "anti-Russian hysteria" which he said began after "the events in Ukraine in 2014". "The accusations brought against me are absurd," he said. "As we expected, there was no sensation. The results of the inquiry published today are yet more proof of London's anti-Russian stance, its blinkered thinking and ... unwillingness to establish the true cause of Litvinenko's death." Litvinenko, 43, an outspoken critic of Putin who fled Russia six years before his murder, died after drinking green tea laced with the rare radioactive isotope polonium-210 at a London hotel. (Reporting by Jack Stubbs; Writing by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
(Reuters) - Swiss-American technology accessories maker Logitech International said late Wednesday its quarterly operating profit fell 1.5 percent, as strong year-end demand for newer music and video accessories failed to offset shrinking demand for computer add-ons. It reported a non-GAAP operating profit of $74.2 million for the fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31, a decline from $78.6 million, reflecting the move to exit its historic computer mouse business over the past year. The results beat analyst profit forecasts. Analysts were looking for an operating profit of $73.11 million, on average, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S data. Net sales in the December quarter rose about 3 percent to $621.1 million compared to the mean estimate by analysts of $631.6 million. Logitech has refocused on new accessory lines like wireless music speakers, video conferencing and video game controllers, offsetting a secular decline in personal computers and demand for its mice and keyboards that defined the brand for decades. (Reporting By Aurindom Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Sunil Nair)
Moscow (AFP) - One a former KGB agent and the other a shady businessman: Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun were accused Thursday of murdering ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko in London with radioactive tea most likely on orders from the Kremlin.

British police had long ago issued warrants for the Russian duo as the murderers of former FSB security agent Litvinenko with the rare isotope polonium in an upscale hotel in 2006.

While both insist they are innocent, they no longer leave their homeland for fear of arrest.

In conclusions released on Thursday, a British inquiry went much further. It said the pair had likely carried out the hit under the instruction of Russian security services in a killing "probably approved" by President Vladimir Putin and his spy chief.

Lugovoi, 49, and Kovtun who is a year older, have a relationship dating back four decades, living in the same apartment block as children, the inquiry found, citing interviews and a witness statement from Kovtun.

Both men come from military families and while Lugovoi joined the KGB's ninth directorate, responsible for guarding high-profile officials, his friend Kovtun went into the army.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union Lugovoi joined a successor state security organisation before leaving to go into business in the security sector and even working briefly for billionaire arch-Putin foe Boris Berezovsky.

The inquiry was given evidence he served a 15-month jail term in Moscow from 2001 to 2002 but the report questions this, suggesting he may have been recruited as an FSB agent and the jail term could be a cover-story to "improve his credentials" with opposition targets.

Lugovoi knew Litvinenko in Russia before the latter fled to the UK in 2000, but the two reportedly lost contact until 2004.

Two years later, Lugovoi headed to London with Kovtun in tow and, the British inquiry said, ended up lacing Litvinenko's tea with polonium at a meeting in a central London hotel.

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Yet the pair allegedly left a radioactive trail back to Moscow that led investigators to suspect their guilt. Scientists found radiation contamination near the seats the men sat in for their flight back to Russia.

In the wake of Litvinenko's death, Lugovoi became a public figure, getting elected as an MP for the pro-Kremlin Liberal Democratic Party of Russia in 2007 and even presenting a series on Russian and Soviet traitors on state television.

In 2013 he married a 23-year-old student Ksenia, in a ceremony reported in Russian media, with his wife posting snaps of their holidays on Instagram.

In March last year he was awarded a state honour by Russia's President Vladimir Putin for "his great contribution to the development of the Russian parliamentary system and his active role in lawmaking."

- Impractical drinker -

Much less is known about Kovtun, who gave a witness statement to the British inquiry. Kovtun is not a public figure in Russia and rarely talks to media.

In his witness statement, Kovtun said he first met Lugovoi in 1978 or 1979. "We lived in the same building where my family and his family were given flats at the same time."

Both went to the same military college and were on "friendly terms," Kovtun said. He joined the Soviet army and went abroad, serving in then Czechoslovakia and East Germany.

He married in Germany and his now ex-wife gave evidence that after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1992 he deserted on hearing his unit was to be sent to Chechnya.

They both claimed asylum in Germany, where Kovtun lived in Hamburg until 2003.

His two ex-wives gave evidence saying he had dreamed of becoming a porn star and describing him as charming and impractical and a heavy drinker who lived off benefits and occasional manual work, making his apparent success in business later hard to account for.

Then Kovtun moved back to Russia, saying he and Lugovoi reignited their relationship, working together on corporate security and holidayed together.

By the time they went to London together in 2006, Kovtun in his visa application described himself as a wealthy company director.

The inquiry said there was "no evidence" of Kovtun being wealthy, he did not have a credit card and spoke English poorly.

Kovtun, before making his trip to London, allegedly asked a friend from Hamburg about a cook Kovtun wanted to administer a poison to Litvinenko, the inquiry said.

After the poisoning, Lugovoi and Kovtun underwent treatment together at the same Moscow hospital for contamination with Polonium and opened a restaurant together, but have not seen each other since 2009, Kovtun said.

Since then, "a wall of protection was built around Lugovoi and Kovtun," said Robert Service, a Russian history expert at Oxford University, in testimony to the inquiry.

He added that their career successes show "high-level political approval."
Since its release in late December, the Netflix original documentary Making a Murderer has become something of a global phenomenon. In case youre unfamiliar, the 10-episode series centers on the life of Steven Avery, a man who spent 18 years in prison for a rape he didnt commit. After DNA evidence eventually secured his release in 2005, Avery just three years later was convicted of first-degree murder for killing a woman named Teresa Hallbach. As anyone who has series can attest, the documentary is arguably the most addictive and riveting show Netflix has ever released.

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If you havent yet seen the show, set aside a few hours and prepare for some of the most compelling an thought-provoking TV youve ever seen. If you have seen the show, you might naturally be wondering what everyone involved is up to now, nearly 9 years after both Avery and his then 16-year-old nephew Brendan Dassey were sentenced to prison for the murder of Teresa Hallbach.

So without further ado, below is a detailed run down highlighting what the cases major players are up to today.

James Lenk

james lenk making a murderer picture

Arguably one of the more controversial figures in the show, Lieutenant James Lenk was accused by Averys defense team of planting evidence in an effort to frame Avery. Specifically, Lenk was accused of planting Hallbachs key in Averys bedroom and planting an incriminating shell casing in Averys garage. Lenk of course disputed the charges while on the stand, but its hard to watch the series and not come away thinking that Lenk was engaged in some sort of questionable behavior throughout the duration of the Hallbach murder investigation.

As to what Lenk is up to these days, well, hes now in his mid-60s and no longer works with the Manitowoc County Sherrifs Department. Its believed that he has since retired and is leading an extremely private life. As opposed to other individuals involved with the Avery case, Lenk hasnt made any public statement since the documentary first aired. According to an email sent by Andrew Colborn, who well get to soon enough, Lenk is now a citizen in poor health trying to live a quiet life away from this media circus.

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Brendan Dassey

One of the more sympathetic figures in the series (assuming that hes innocent), Dassey was a developmentally challenged 16-year old who was seemingly manipulated by seasoned investigators into proffering what many believed was a false confession.

Convicted of first degree murder, mutilation and second-degree sexual assault Dassey, now in his mid-20s, remains locked up at the Green Bay Correctional Institution, a maximum security prison in Wisconsin. As avid viewers of the documentary can attest, the mutilation and sexual assault charges levied against Avery went nowhere due to a lack of sufficient evidence, thus making Dasseys conviction on those charges in a separate case all the more infuriating for those who believe he is innocent.

Dassey wont be eligible for parole until hes in his 50s. The most recent news weve seen about Dassey is that he received his GED while locked away.

brendan dassey diploma

Ken Kratz

ken kratz making a murderer

The lead prosecutor in both the Steve Avery and Brendan Dassey murder trials, Kratzs behavior throughout Averys trial was ethically questionable for a a variety of reasons.

Today, Kratz lives in Superior, Wisconsin where he, believe it or not, now works as a defense attorney. Interestingly, Krtazs Yelp page, which has been thrashed by negative reviews from angry viewers, now indicates that his firm is closed. It is unclear, however, if Kratz still continues to practice as his website still appears to be up and running.

In the wake of the documentarys release, Kratz hasnt been shy about speaking to the media. Not too long ago, Kratz told People that the documentary left out a number of key facts pointing to Averys guilt. He has since also spoken to Maxim and OnMilwaukee about key pieces of evidence that he claims werent included in the final version of the program.

Just a few days ago, Kratz sat down for a somewhat strange and surprisingly candid and at times funny interview with comedian Jena Friedman of The Gothamist. Friedmans interview with Kratz can be viewed below and is well worth watching in its entirety.

Dean Strang

dean strang making a murderer

Strang was one of Averys defense attorneys and is perhaps the most well-regarded individual to appear in the documentary. A talented orator, Strang made a number of eloquent and compelling arguments in an effort to showcase how Averys murder charge was clouded with reasonable doubt.

Since Averys conviction, Strang spent some time teaching at the University of Wisconsin Law School, and since 2013, has worked as a practicing attorney at the law firm StrangBradley located in Madison, Wisconsin.

As a personal aside, I think Strang delivered one of the most memorable lines of the documentary in this courtroom exchange:

Ken Kratz: But if we have to start this case swimming upstream, if you will, in the face of some instruction given to the jury that they should be taking some negative view of the state, then we intend to proceed on all six counts. Dean Strang: All due respect to counsel, the state is supposed to start every criminal case swimming upstream. And the strong current against which the state is supposed to be swimming is the presumption of innocence. That presumption of innocence has been erodedif not eliminatedhere by the spectre of Brendan Dassey, and thats why the court needs to take further curative action.

As for Strangs current level of involvement with the Avery case, both he and Jerome Buting continue to be peripherally involved. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Strang explained:

We have been acting as informal advisers with Steven and his family for quite some time. Because weve become a clearinghouse of emails, tips, suggestions, including from scientists with ideas about new blood tests, well be forwarding that on [to his new lawyer]. We will assist in any way we can to help Steven get a new trial.

Jerome Buting

jerome buting avery trial

The other half of Averys all-star defense team, Buting still practices criminal defense law in Wisconsin at the law firm Buting, Williams & Stilling

In case you missed it, both Srang and Buting recently appeared on CBS This Morning where the pair discussed the case and the documentary. One of the more notable moments of the interview, I thought, was when Strang was asked if he was convinced of Averys innocence. Strang, no stranger to thinking on his feet, promptly replied, Well Im certainly not convinced of his guilt.

The full interview can be seen below.

For any fans of the show who cant help but devour any information about the case they can find, make sure to check out Butings informative interview with Rolling Stone.

Andrew Colborn

andrew colborn avery murder trial

Another controversial figure from Making a Murderer, Colborn famously called in the license plate to Hallbachs car before her vehicle was officially found. Not only that, but Colborn, along with James Lenk, were present when questionable items such as Hallbachs keys were found in Averys trailer.

Not only that, but viewers might also remember that Colborn was the officer who, in 1995, received a call from another detective indicating that Avery may not have been responsible for the rape he was sent to prison for 10 years earlier. If Colborn and his superiors had treated the call with the seriousness they should have, Avery might have been released after 10 years in prison instead of 18.

Since Averys conviction, Colborn has been promoted and is now a lieutenant with the Manitowoc County Sheriffs Office.

Jodi Stachowski

Jodi Stachowski interview making a murderer

Steve Averys girlfriend at the time of his 2005 arrest, Stachowski recently gave a TV interview with HLN where she dropped a number of bombshells about Avery, including allegations that he abused her consistently for a period of two years and that he threatened her if she dared to bad-mouth him during the making of the documentary. Stachowski also made a point of mentioning that she thinks Avery is 100% guilty, though she did note that Avery did not admit to her that he killed Teresa Hallbach..

In one of the more disturbing moments of the interview, Stachowski said that she was so desperate to escape from Averys abusive ways that she once ate two boxes of rat poison just so that she could be taken to a hospital.

Stachowskis full interview with HLN, if you havent yet seen it, can be viewed below.

According to Bustle, Stachowski has since moved out of Manitowoc though she still resides in Wisconsin. Of note is that Stachowski has had her fair share of legal troubles over the past few years, having been arrested and/or fined for a variety of offenses, including DWI, disorderly conduct, driving with a revoked license, and even passing around bad checks.

Len Kachinsky

len kachinsky interview

To say that Len Kachinsky, Brendan Dasseys original attorney, did an absolutely horrible job of representing Dassey would be a gross understatement. Not only did Kachinsky allow Dassey be questioned by investigators without him or Dasseys mother present, but Kachinsky also spoke to the media and publicly said that his client was both morally and legally responsible for Hallbachs murder.

Today, Kachinsky is still practicing law in Wisconsin.

Steven Avery

Since his conviction, Avery remains locked up with no possibility of parole. Currently, Avery is serving his time at the Waupun Correctional Institution in Waupun, Wisconsin.

As for any chance that Avery might ever be released, hes already exhausted all of his appeals, meaning that his only hope to ever see the light of day is if new evidence is discovered and brought to light. On that note, its worth noting that Avery has a new and well-known attorney named Kathleen Zellner. A private attorney, Zellner has a number of overturned wrongful convictions to her name.

Scott Tadych

scott tadych steve avery trial

Tadych is Brendan Dasseys step father and was confident from the very beginning that Avery was guilty. According to information gleaned from Tadychs Facebook page, he still resides in Wisconsin and is an avid hunter. His most recent Facebook post is a link to an online petition to free Brendan Dassey.

Judge Patrick Willis

patrick willis judge making a murderer

Judge Patrick Willis was the presiding judge during the Avery trial. He appeared in the documentary quite a few times, mostly when he was rejecting various motions filed by Averys attorneys. Perhaps most prominently, Willis prevented Averys attorneys from presenting any evidence that would suggest there were other possible suspects who could have murdered Teresa Hallbach.

Willis was a judge in Manitowoc County Circuit Court up until October 2012 when he retired.

Ryan Hillegas

Teresas ex-boyfriend at the time of her murder, Hillegas is a registered nurse who currently works in Wisconsin.

Bobby Dassey

bobby dassey avery trial

Brendans brother, Bobby Dassey is now married with children and still lives in Wisconsin. Heres what he looks like today.

bobby dassey

Sandy Greenman

sandy greenman

As depicted in the documentary, Greenman dated Avery following his 2007 conviction. Interestingly, the two started dating even before they had ever met in person. While they were at one point engaged, Greenman has since stated that the engagement has since been called off, in part because Avery wouldnt adopt Christianity as his faith. Nonetheless, Greenman says that she and Avery are still close and she still is adamant that he is completely innocent.

Mike Hallbach

Teresas brother, Hallbach today currently holds a technology position within the Green Bay Packers organization.

Earl Avery

Earl Avery, Stevens brother, still lives in Manitowoc County.

Gregory Allen

Gregory Allen was the man who actually committed the 1985 rape Avery was convicted of. According to The Wrap, Allen is currently serving a 60-year prison sentence for a 1995 sexual assault and, believe it or not, is eligible for parole in October of 2016.

Brad Dassey

Not really featured in the documentary, Brad Dassey is another of Brendans brothers. Today, hes a Christian rapper who recently put out a song about Brendans innocence.

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This article was originally published on BGR.com
Almost all the major figures featured in the Netflix documentary Making a Murderer have been interviewed by various media outlets since the series premiered last month - except for the man at the center of it all: Steven Avery.

One reason for his absence: the Wisconsin prison system has so far declined to connect journalists to Avery.

"We are not facilitating interviews out of respect for the victims," Joy Staab, director of public relations for the Wisconsin Department of Corrections told The Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday.

Avery served 18 years in prison for a sexual assault conviction out of Manitowoc County, Wis., for which he was exonerated by DNA evidence in 2003. Then in 2005, Avery was convicted of the murder of 25-year-old Teresa Halbach. The Netflix series, which debuted Dec. 18 of last year, has since made headlines and generated new interest in the case.

Attorney Jerry Buting, half of Avery's former defense team made famous overnight thanks to the series, told THR that the prison system's reason to deny direct access to an inmate is a first, in his experience.

"I've never heard that explanation given before," said Buting.

The DOC has "full discretion" over interviews, Buting added. Previously, Buting had only heard of a request being denied due to security purposes.

Still, Buting noted that he represented another high-profile homicide client years ago who was allowed to do an on-camera interview from the same prison that Avery is currently in, Waupun Correctional Institution.

"So, I just don't know," he added.

Read More: 'Making a Murderer' Almost Didn't Get Made Due to an Attempt to Subpoena Footage

Harvard Law School professor and retired federal judge Nancy Gertner also said the explanation from the department of corrections was a new one for her.

"According to very old law, the prison has a right to exclude cameras from the facility, but not to deny you a visit with a prisoner [for an interview]," Gertner said in an email. "But they have to be making decisions based on institutional concerns, concerns relating to the prison, not 'out of respect for the victims.'"

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The decision to decline Avery interview requests made through the department of corrections, Staab said, was decided on "multiple levels" and put in place shortly after the series premiered.

Staab declined to specify the number of media outlets that made contact with the department for that specific reason, only noting that THR was "not the first" to reach out with an interview request.

If a reporter wants to have contact with Avery, they may, just like the public, send him a letter, Staab said. He is free to respond if he chooses and he may add people to his visitors list. He may also make calls from the prison.

Since the series premiered, Avery filed an appeal asking that his conviction be thrown out due to a tainted jury and mishandled evidence by law enforcement. His current attorney, Kathleen T. Zellner, based in Downers Grove, Ill., did not respond to a request for comment.

Although Avery has not been involved in any recent media interviews, he has been in contact with Making a Murderer directors Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos, the duo said.

The two filmmakers spoke Sunday at a Television Critics Association panel. In the four weeks since the series launched, they have had "several conversations, telephone conversations, with Steven Avery. And we did record those calls with an eye toward including them in any episodes, should there be any future episodes. But we've not returned to Wisconsin in the past four weeks," Ricciardi said at TCA.

The directors were not available for comment.

Buting noted that Avery made a request to see Making a Murderer, but it was denied since the prison is unable to get Netflix. If Avery were able to obtain the series on tape of DVD, a prison staff member would have to view it with him, the attorney said.

Law enforcement officials, including Manitowoc County Sheriff Robert Hermann, have contended that the Netflix series is skewed and evidence further proving Avery's guilt was not shown.

The filmmakers and former defense attorneys have rebuffed those claims and continued to stand in Avery's corner.

"My personal opinion is that the state did not meet its burden," Ricciardi said during a recent Late Show appearance on CBS. "I would say in my opinion: not guilty."

Read More: 'Making a Murderer' Filmmakers: Juror in Steven Avery's Murder Trial Says "Verdicts Were a Compromise"
Berlin (AFP) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel has vowed to stay the course with her welcome to refugees but faces stormy waters, with some conservatives rebelling and key state elections on the horizon.

With about 3,000 new asylum-seekers still braving the winter cold to cross the border from Austria every day, Germany is headed for a repeat of last year when it took in a record 1.1 million migrants, straining resources and fraying nerves.

Merkel has stoically insisted "we can do it", even as polls show that over half of Germans now have doubts.

The leader long seen as a guarantor of stability in Europe's biggest economy is now being derided by a growing band of critics as a captain steering the country into chaos.

"Is Merkel still the right one?" asked the mass-circulation Bild am Sonntag newspaper this week as some 40 of her CDU party's 256 lawmakers signed an open letter demanding an about-face on her liberal refugee policy.

Anger has flared especially among Merkel's conservative CSU allies in Bavaria, the Alpine state in Germany's deep south where migrants from the Middle East and Africa have arrived via the Balkans.

Its state premier Horst Seehofer on Wednesday declared their latest crisis talks with Merkel failed, saying "there was no trace of compromise" and predicting "politically difficult weeks and months" ahead.

Merkel doesn't face national elections until 2017, but polls will be held in March in three states where the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) will seek to poach disaffected conservative voters.

Seehofer's party has demanded that Germany, like Austria, set an upper limit on arrivals and seal its borders if necessary, even threatening to challenge Merkel in the country's constitutional court.

Merkel has rejected those demands, fearing that backsliding on the right to political asylum for people fleeing war and persecution, and shuttering internal EU borders, will spell the end of the European dream.

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- 'Tangible reduction' -

Merkel has promised Germany a "tangible reduction" in arrivals this year and has vowed to tackle the crisis at the national, EU and international level.

But other EU states have so far shown little enthusiasm for sharing the refugee burden amid economic uncertainty, the rise of populist parties and a climate of fear sparked by the Paris and other jihadist attacks.

Many accuse the chancellor, celebrated as "Mama Merkel" by grateful refugees, of accelerating the influx by laying out the welcome mat to migrants, as several eastern European countries have shuttered their borders.

Looking at the crisis ahead at a key EU summit next month, Merkel insisted Wednesday that "I'm not going to talk about a Plan B because I want to see Plan A through successfully".

A key plank of her plan is for the EU to pay Turkey billions for housing even more Syrian refugees and tightening its land and sea borders -- a proposal she will again discuss with Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Berlin on Friday.

Even more ambitiously, Merkel has said Western countries must address the root causes of Europe's worst refugee crisis since World War II -- chiefly the war in Syria -- which will be subject of a London conference on February 4.

All the while, Merkel's troubles abroad are blowing back at her domestically.

Outspoken CDU lawmaker Wolfgang Bosbach urged her to give up hope of a unified European solution.

"After Sweden and Denmark it is now the Austrians who are implementing more restrictive policies," he said. "If refugee numbers keep rising ... Germany will have to change its course."

The political acid test will be the March polls in Baden-Wuerttemberg, Rheinland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt states.

The AfD, now polling at around 10 percent, will seek to capitalise on spreading fears of criminal migrants after a spate of sexual attacks blamed mostly on North African men at chaotic New Year's Eve festivities in Cologne.

The CDU has seen its long-stellar ratings slide to around 37 percent, although no obvious challenger for Merkel's job has emerged on the scene.

Business daily Handelsblatt said that "if the mood tips" and the CDU loses sate polls, Merkel may be in deeper trouble.

"Obama won his first election with 'yes we can'," it said. "Merkel could find that her 'we can do it' will cost her her job."
SAN JOSE (Reuters) - Mexico and Central American countries approved a plan on Wednesday for more flights that would allow thousands of Cubans stranded in Costa Rica to continue on to the United States. Regional governments meeting in Guatemala deemed as a "success" the first pilot trip last week, when 180 Cubans flew to El Salvador, took a bus to Mexico and received transit visas to go to the U.S. border. "This allows us to pass to the second stage, with two weekly flights following the same route," said Manuel Gonzalez, Costa Rica's foreign minister. The authorities, who did not specify how many people would leave on each flight, plan to give priority to pregnant women, children and families among the 7,800 Cubans trapped in Costa Rica since mid-November when Nicaragua closed its borders. The flights will begin on Feb. 4, and regional governments will meet again in mid-February to evaluate the plan. Thousands of Cubans have turned to the Central American route to try to reach the United States, spurred by fears that a recent detente between Havana and Washington will end preferential U.S. asylum rights for Cubans that allow them to enter the United States by land without a visa. Those found at sea are deported. (Reporting by Enrique Pretel; Writing by Anna Yukhananov; Editing by Peter Cooney)
Mike Tyson knows what its like to fall from the top of the mountain following a loss. His shocking defeat at the hands of Buster Douglas in Tokyo was one of the moments that showed the former heavyweight champion was not invincible. And despite the medias rabid focus on his comeback and the legal troubles Tyson would face, it was a moment that was hard to bounce back from.

Thats what makes his advice to Ronda Rousey on Conan just a bit more important. He knows what it is like to lose a high profile event at the peak of your career. And he also knows the pitfalls that come with it:

She has to understand, were in the hurt business. I dont care if youre the king of the hurt business, were in the business where we get hurt. And um, shes just gotta be seen, come out of the house. I see shes been around, show your face. Youre human. Shes just unfortunate that shes a goliath. David is a great king, hes done great thingsHe built the civilization! But hes more famous for beating goliath.

Also dont give Don King access to your bank account. Not that Rousey has to worry about that, but that hasnt seemed to work out for others in the past.

Tyson also seems to have a few words for Holly Holm, saying shell be connected to Rousey forever after her victory as the David to Rouseys goliath. But the moment of victory will always be sweet and he saw a lot of his own accomplishments in that moment. Its a cool moment of seriousness from the guy who once threatened to eat a reporters family.

(Via Team Coco)

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By Ayman al-Warfalli and Ahmed Elumami BENGHAZI/TRIPOLI, Libya (Reuters) - Islamic State militants set fire on Thursday to oil storage tanks in a fresh assault on Libya's Ras Lanuf terminal and the group threatened further attacks. The militants drove into the oil storage farm early in the morning and clashed with Petroleum Facilities Guards before retreating and firing from a distance to set four tanks on fire, National Oil Corporation (NOC) spokesman Mohamed al-Harari said. A pipeline leading from the Amal oil field to the Es Sider terminal was also targeted, said Mohamed al-Manfi, an energy official allied with Libya's eastern-based government. Islamic State fighter Abu Abdelrahman al-Liby said in a video posted on the group's official Telegram channel: "Today Es Sider port and Ras Lanuf and tomorrow the port of Brega and after the ports of Tobruk, Es Serir, Jallo, and al-Kufra." Ras Lanuf and the nearby terminal of Es Sider, both of which have been closed since December 2014, had been targeted by militants earlier this month. The NOC said the area was facing an "environmental catastrophe", with huge columns of smoke billowing from the fires and damage to power lines supplying residential and industrial districts. "Residents are trying to build a barrier to stop the oil and fire from reaching gas pipelines and water pipelines, and the main road," the NOC's Harari said. Libya has become deeply divided since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, with political and armed factions competing for power and for the country's oil wealth. Since the summer of 2014 it has two rival governments and parliaments, operating from the capital Tripoli and from the east. Islamic State militants have taken advantage of the security vacuum to establish a foothold in the city of Sirte, which lies about 200 km (125 miles) along the coast to the west of Ras Lanuf and Es Sider. OIL PRODUCTION DISRUPTED NOC Chairman Mustafa Sanalla told reporters in Tripoli that the Ras Lanuf terminal would remain shut for a "long time" because of damage from Thursday's and earlier attacks. Libya's current oil production stands at 362,000 barrels per day, he told Reuters. That is less than a quarter of a 2011 high of 1.6 million barrels per day, though production has not changed significantly in recent weeks. Clashes between Petroleum Facilities Guards and Islamic State two weeks ago near Es Sider and Ras Lanuf left seven oil storage tanks damaged by fire and at least 18 guards dead. At least 1.3 million barrels of oil were lost as a result of this month's clashes and up to 3 million barrels could be at risk because of the latest attack, said NOC spokesman Harari. Two weeks ago, the NOC sent a tanker to remove oil from the terminals in an effort to prevent further damage, but guards prevented it from loading, citing security concerns. The NOC said on Thursday the "intransigence" of the guards had prevented it from avoiding further damage caused by the latest attack. (Additional reporting by Ali Abdelaty in Cairo and Aidan Lewis in Tunis; Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Gareth Jones)
The recurrent, violent phenomenon of mass shootings, including recent attacks in California and Oregon, has fueled Americans anxieties and reinvigorated a tense national debate over gun control. The presidential race has certainly put a spotlight on gun laws. On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton has loudly promised to take on the National Rifle Association and has accused her rival, Bernie Sanders, of cozying up to the gun lobby. This has led Sanders to retort proudly that he has a D- rating from the NRA. On the other side of the ideological spectrum, Republican candidates have denounced President Obamas executive actions to expand background checks for gun purchasers and have taken pains to highlight their own stellar NRA ratings.

As the debate intensifies, candidates on both sides are staking out strong policy standsand yet, gun violence is far more of a mystery than most people realize. Evidence and research that could be used to develop effective laws that might decrease deaths and injuries from firearms is severely lacking. Why? Its partly the result of longstanding restrictions on federally funded gun-violence research. In the mid-1990s, Congress declared that funding at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shouldnt be used to advocate for gun control, and it effectively blocked funding for the study of gun violence at the agency. It wasnt an outright prohibition, but the action had a very real chilling effect on research.

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Its actually kind of appalling, said Sherry Towers, a professor at Arizona State University who has done research on mass shootings. Were one of the richest nations in the world, and we arent exactly forbidding scientists to look at this, but the federal government is strongly discouraging it.

Many basic questions remain largely unanswered as a result. Its difficult, for example, to pin down the precise impact of specific gun lawslike laws that allow people to openly carry firearms. Do open-carry laws make gun violence worse, or do they cut down on firearm injuries and deaths? Researchers cant say with certainty. They also dont know much about the path that guns take in order to fall into the hands of criminals, or how gun laws impact firearm sales on the black market. For that matter, the psychology of gun violence is not well understood. What motivates people to use guns to commit a crime or suicide, and what are the most effective ways to stop mass shootings, gun-related homicide, and suicide? Limited research makes it challenging to reach well-supported conclusions.

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I think people assume that we have a lot more information than we really do when it comes to guns, and thats definitely not the case, said Daniel Webster, the director of Johns Hopkinss Center for Gun Policy and Research. We have precious little data.

Of course, gun violence is not the only area of research where politics and science clash. Climate change is a contentious subject that proves evidence doesnt eliminate controversy. In the case of climate change, research has yielded a scientific consensus that man-made global warming is a real threat. But that hasnt stopped a political debate over the existence of climate change from raging on Capitol Hill. Still, the ability to cite that consensus helps frame the debate, making it possible for the media, and anyone else, to more easily discredit the arguments of politicians who deny the science. Data acts as a check on rhetoric that has become untethered from reality, and evidence informs the creation of effective policy to deal with the threat.

We arent exactly forbidding scientists to look at this, but the federal government is strongly discouraging it.

In contrast, a scarcity of statistics on gun violence allows the political debate over gun control to take place in a realm that is often largely separate from actual fact. A lack of research makes it difficult to know which laws and regulations would reduce injuries or deaths from firearms and under what circumstances they might do so. When it comes to talking about gun laws, politicians are, to some extent, operating in the dark. Its very concerning that theres been an attack on science and the ability to carry that out, said Fred Rivara, a professor at the University of Washington who helped conduct a study on guns in the home in the early 1990s. Its resulted in a sort of stalemate in terms of being able to develop effective policy.

To be clear, its not that there isnt any research. Private foundations have stepped up to try and fill the void of federal gun-violence research. After the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012, President Obama called for the CDC to conduct research on the causes of gun violence and how to prevent it. But Congress was unmoved and continued to withhold funding. Still, there are some signs that government agencies are daring to defy political pressure from lawmakers and the gun lobby. A year after Sandy Hook, for example, the National Institutes of Health put out a call for research on firearm violence in a direct response to the presidents plea.

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Studies that do exist point to some potential conclusions. Research suggests that comprehensive background checks help keep guns out of the hands of criminals. Experts say that additional studies are needed to confirm that finding, however. Research indicates that safe gun storage can help reduce shootings. And evidence shows that firearms are often trafficked from states with fewer gun restrictions to states with tighter gun laws, which means that an uneven application of gun laws across the United States may fuel an illegal firearms market.

Researchers warn that a lack of data shouldnt lead to paralysis. Each year, more than 30,000 Americans are killed by gun violence, a phenomenon that medical experts describe as a pressing public-health problem. You dont need lots of studies to realize that its probably better to make sure that everyone has background checks, said David Hemenway, the director of Harvards Injury Control Research Center. Various studies have found that background checks are effective, and it would be great to have lots more studies that could essentially prove that, but whether you have them or not, you can still take common-sense action.

Researchers warn that a lack of data shouldnt lead to paralysis.

Firearms owners, and the gun lobby, however, fear that research ostensibly carried out to study gun violence will be used to promote gun control. (Its worth noting, too, that there isnt universal agreement over what constitutes common-sense action. Some gun owners believe background checks of any kind are a violation of constitutional rights, for example.) The NRA remains unyielding and has continued to press its case: There is no shortage of biased, privately funded research that contorts the data to support gun control, NRA lobbyist Chris Cox wrote in a recent Politico article titled Why We Cant Trust the CDC with Gun Research.

That suspicion is part of what makes gun research so controversial in the first place. It also puts a strain on anyone who opts to study gun violenceeven if they arent tapping federal funds. Some researchers say they actively discourage undergraduates from pursuing gun research, since the money simply isnt there. Those who persist can face intense scrutiny and, in some cases, intimidation. Ive received death threats. It kind of comes with the territory, said Garen Wintemute, the director of the violence-prevention research program at the University of California, Davis. But  there is a tremendous social injustice here, and to acquiesce to that by not jumping into the fray is to be part of what makes those conditions possible in the first place. Im not willing to accept that.

Besides, Wintemute is all too aware of the possible repercussions: I ask myself all the time: How many thousands of people have died as a result of our not having the answers to questions because we have not been allowed to do our work?

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
Model and actress Abbey Lee Kershaw is to design a shoe collection for Italian sneaker brand Superga reports British Vogue.

Although details of the collection are yet unknown, there is speculation that Kershaw's design will reflect her own unique, eclectic style, with Kershaw no stranger to being papped for street style galleries.

The Australian-born model first made her debut on the runway back in 2008, but has since also put a focus on acting, appearing in the Oscar-nominated film "Mad Max: Fury Road".

She makes a return to fashion however for the new Kenzo Spring 2016 campaign and with this new AW16 collection for Superga, and as the face of the brand for the SS16 season, with campaign images due to be released in March 2016.
Chisinau (AFP) - Around 10,000 people staged a mass protest in the Moldovan capital Chisinau on Thursday as tensions in the pro-Western nation flared following the secret midnight swearing-in of a new government.

Lawmakers of the impoverished former Soviet republic on Wednesday approved a new government amid political turmoil, with protesters storming the parliament building and opposition legislators attempting to block the vote.

The swearing-in of the new cabinet has exacerbated tensions over alleged high-level corruption in the country of 3.5 million wedged between Ukraine and Romania.

Opposition protesters marched along the capital's main avenues in sub-zero temperatures and rallied in front of the parliament building, which was blocked off by a police cordon six rows deep.

Clutching state flags, protesters urged the authorities to hold snap elections as they chanted "down with the government" and "down with parliament."

"Yesterday we were cheated, they trampled on democracy, freedoms, human rights and laws," opposition leader Andrei Nastase said.

"All of this is happening because Moldova's chief oligarch Vlad Plahotniuc usurped the country," he said, referring to one of the targets of the protests.

Plahotniuc, one of Moldova's richest men, is accused of using his fortune to meddle in politics.

Another opposition leader, Renato Usatii, vowed protesters would "topple this regime."

"Down with thieves and the illegal government!" he said, pledging to continue the protest on Friday.

Some protest leaders met with parliament speaker Andrian Candu who said afterwards that "there are too few reasons to hold snap elections", and urged giving the new government a chance to work.

Security meanwhile has been tightened to prevent a repeat of Wednesday's clashes.

Moldova has been locked in political crisis over a $1-billion (910-million-euro) corruption scandal that triggered mass demonstrations and the arrest of Vlad Filat, who served as prime minister from 2009 to 2013.

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President Nicolae Timofti has endorsed the new government despite the protests.

"I hope that this government, formed following a long period of political instability and the government's temporary fulfilment of its obligations, can competently and skillfully govern in this difficult situation," Timofti said in a statement after the swearing-in ceremony.

- Russia, US urge calm -

Several dozen protesters on Wednesday broke through police lines and into the parliament building after the new government was chosen, while police threw smoke grenades and used batons to try to disperse the demonstrators.

Authorities said that 31 people -- including 27 police -- had been injured in the clashes. Eleven of them were hospitalised.

General Prosecutor Corneliu Gurin said authorities had launched a criminal probe into the clashes.

In a sign of the tense atmosphere, Vlad Turcanu, spokesman for the Moldovan president, resigned after claiming he had mistakenly told reporters the swearing-in of the government was postponed for a day.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Thursday called on all sides to respect the law and renounce violence.

In a statement released on Wednesday night, the US embassy in Moldova urged all sides to "refrain from acts that encourage or provoke violence" and for the authorities to immediately address demonstrators' concerns.

The last government, which was also pro-EU, lost a parliamentary confidence vote in October and was dismissed.

Since then the parliament has been deadlocked over its replacement.

In 2014, the government signed a historic association agreement with the European Union despite bitter opposition from former master Russia.

Around 78 percent of Moldova's population is ethnic Romanian, while Ukrainians and Russians account for around 14 percent.
By Allison Lampert MONTREAL (Reuters) - The influential mayor of Montreal and leaders representing 81 nearby municipalities said on Thursday they oppose TransCanada Corp's proposed Energy East pipeline because of environmental and economic concerns. Energy East, which would take up to 1.1 million barrels of oil per day from Alberta and Saskatchewan to Canada's east coast, faces increasing problems as environmental and aboriginal groups ramp up protests. TransCanada and Alberta's landlocked oil sands industry are looking to it to reach international markets after President Barack Obama rejected TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline project to the United States last year. Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre, a former federal Liberal cabinet minister, told a press conference he would oppose it at hearings by provincial and national energy boards over concerns the route could endanger forest and agricultural land. Coderre later told Reuters the project generates inadequate economic spinoffs and creates environmental risks for the Greater Montreal region, which has about four million people and accounts for half of Quebec's economy. Local opponents may carry moral and public clout but they cannot block the project. The Canadian government will make the final decision based on recommendations from the National Energy Board. Micheline Joanisse, a spokeswoman for Federal Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr, said any new infrastructure would have to be developed in an environmentally sustainable manner. "We are committed to restoring credibility to environmental assessments and the NEB; ensuring decisions are based on science, facts and evidence and work in partnership ... with indigenous peoples," she wrote in an email. "Facing growing opposition, TransCanadas Energy East project appears to be dead in the water, even before the regulatory review has started," Adam Scott, a spokesman with Environmental Defence, said in a statement. A TransCanada spokesman said the Calgary-based company is expecting hearings this year and a final NEB report in 2017, although those dates are not definitive. In December, TransCanada filed an amended application to remove an export terminal in Quebec, one of two planned for the project, over environmentalists' opposition. Tim Duboyce, a spokesman for Energy East, said by phone from Calgary that TransCanada officials would be willing to meet with Coderre and seek feedback over safety and environmental concerns during future consultations, including one planned in Quebec. He said the main pipeline does not cross into the territory of Montreal but one interconnection line attaches to a refinery operated by Suncor Energy on the eastern end of Montreal Island. (Additional reporting by Nia Williams in Calgary and David Ljunggren in Ottawa; Editing by Paul Simao and James Dalgleish)
This is some real James Bond shit. Not so much because of the suits, drinks shaken and not stirred and cars to kill for, but if youre looking for archvillain-type stuff, you cant get much closer than the Macedonian Albanian crusher of men Daut Kadriovski. In his 50s and wanted in 12 European countries for crimes connected to every aspect of arms, cars, drugs and human and organ trafficking, Kadriovski, according to Europol, sits atop a crime organization at this point unmatched for secrecy and brutality. Two qualities that are much more than casually connected.

We had one of [the members of this criminal organization] in here and tried to get him to turn states [evidence], says former New York undercover organized-crime cop Fred Santoro about his attempts to turn an Albanian prisoner into an informant. The erstwhile gangster stood up from his meeting with Santoro and asked to be returned to his prison cell and his 30-year sentence for racketeering. Santoro  shocked, and more familiar with Italian Mafiosi stumbling over themselves to cut deals for reduced sentences  asked why the Albanian wouldnt. He turned to me and said very plainly, They will kill my mother, my father, my brothers, my sisters, my children, my wife and everybody I know. So thanks, but no. The Albanians are savages.



Savages and apparently smarter than the average bear, as Kadriovskis been arrested no fewer than two noteworthy times. The first time, for drug trafficking, was in 1985 in Germany, where they threw him in jail and seized his villas, yachts and cars. At that point, the plan may have been to lock him up and throw away the key, but it quickly became let him wander off, which is exactly what he did. Nasty allegations were leveled at all those in charge of keeping him in, but the fact remained that, by 1993, he was on his way to New York and people were calling him a fugitive.

The plan may have been to lock him up and throw away the key, but it quickly became let him wander off, which is exactly what he did.

He then became a known associate of some of the original Mafia crime families in an area where Albanians in general had already distinguished themselves as assassins. Dangerous and unpredictable, but good assassins nonetheless. So with a foothold in New York and Philly, Kadriovski also expanded into doing what he did best, outside of killing, and now his organization is believed to be North Americas main source of heroin from Afghanistans Golden Crescent, according to the FBI. Because, you see, Daut Kadriovski, also known as Mehmed Haidini or Mehmet Hajdini, is part of a Muslim Albanian connection thats tied the organization, in the shadows, to Al-Qaeda.

Having more connections than a switchboard is a necessary prerequisite for what Kadriovski has put together. To wit: A heroin-for-cocaine connection with Colombians, plus hundreds of associates moving drugs in Australia, Canada, Mexico, the Netherlands, Peru, Venezuela and all over the E.U. Which brings us to the second time Kadriovski was a prisoner: September 2, 2001, when he was locked down in a police station in Tirana, Albania, after an arrest by locals and Interpol for drug trafficking. Something in literary terms we might call foreshadowing: Kadriovski disappeared again and, if rumors from last year are to be believed, is dead now. Or dead.

Without a body, as far as Im concerned, we just aint caught him yet, says now-retired undercover gang-detail cop Eddie Williams. But Kadriovski and Albanians in general are cutting a bold, blood-red swath through crime business as usual. By way of giving an example, Santoro details the arcane kind of patronage that guides gang living. The Albanians opened up a club in a very traditional Mafia spot, Santoro says from his house in Staten Island. Not first seeking approval for this spot, or club, which became a locus point for all kinds of competing criminal activity, was a no-no. The Italian Mafia sent two heavies in to brace the newbies. The newbies were summarily dispatched with ass kickings.

This got blasted up the chain of command, and the Albanian bosses had to have a sit-down meeting. Santoro says that what happened next, learned through wiretaps, surprised even him. Not-entirely-low-level mob guys showed up at a spot in the Bronx to meet with the Albanians. The Albanians kicked the shit out of them, broke their arms, says Santoro. Eventually, the Italian Mafia just decided to let them be, for complicated but sound business reasons, according to Santoro.

And Kadriovski, alive or dead, still has his fingerprints on a lot of his old businesses, whether its kidnapping young women for lives of sexual servitude, shooting waiters dead for messing up an order or running a $19 million Internet heist, like lover of drink and murder Zef Mustafa, who skipped out on a $5 million bond after an arrest and is now also missing. Kadriovski created an organization that, on the basis of the sheer weight of its intensity and ferocity, led onetime Italian prosecutor Cataldo Motta to call it a threat to Western society.

When you learn that the Albanians lost a $125 million shipment of heroin under New York Mayor Rudy Giulianis tenure and, the FBI says, their first response was to put out a contract on the prosecutor, Alan Cohen, and the detective, Jack Delemore, you can see why. Others who might wholeheartedly agree with Mottas assessment: the New York U.S. Attorneys Office, the DEA, the NYPD, Immigration and Customs Enforcement/Homeland Security Investigations, New York State Police, the IRS, the U.S. Marshals and, indeed, the whole International Narcotics Control Board, all of which were part of the bust.

But without habeas corpusing Kadriovski, he remains a very present reminder of the fact that, sometimes more than we like, the system is not working right at all. And with no less than President Barack Obama sanctioning suspected follow-on kingpin Naser Kelmendi for drug trafficking just as recently as two years ago, dont expect a change in weather any time soon. Kadriovski, alive or dead, says the same thing, really, says Hannah Elliott, a self-declared criminal-justice revolutionary from Florida International University. Sometimes, justice is never served. A fact that would please Kadriovski much, no doubt.

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MAPUTO (Reuters) - Mozambique's opposition Renamo party cancelled a planned rally on Thursday in the port town of Beira after a senior official was shot and wounded on Wednesday, as the ruling party rejected claims it was behind such attacks. Manuel Bissopo, the party's secretary general, was shot by unknown assailants in Beira, the second largest city in the southern African country and his party's stronghold. He was taken to hospital, police said, and his bodyguard was killed. Renamo's leader, former civil war rebel leader Afonso Dhlakama, put off the planned rally but has not spoken about the attack on Bissopo yet, party spokesman Antonio Muchanga said. Bissopo was wounded in the leg and arm, he added. "We condemn the attempt to silence the opposition. It is a deliberate attack on democracy. We want those responsible for the shooting to be brought to justice," Muchanga told Reuters. "They want to perpetuate a single party system, while the country adopted democracy," he said. The attackers shot Bissopo moments after he gave a news conference to denounce attacks on Renamo members, actions he blamed on the Defence and Security Forces (FDS) that he said were acting at the behest of the ruling Frelimo party. "We deny that Frelimo and the government are behind the attempted assassination of Mr Bissopo," Frelimo spokesman Damiao Jose said in reply. "Also, we have to say that Frelimo is not engaging in pursuing Renamo members. We play by the rules of democracy, we don't work in the shadows," he told Reuters. More than 2,000 Mozambicans have fled to Malawi to escape fighting between government forces and rebels in the coal-mining province of Tete in the last three weeks, the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said last week. (Reporting by Manuel Mucari; Writing by James Macharia; Editing by Tom Heneghan)
Melbourne (AFP) - Former world number one Lleyton Hewitt slammed match-fixing allegations as an "absolute farce" on Thursday as his emotional retirement at the Australian Open was tainted by the corruption claims that have rocked tennis.

Hewitt, after going down fighting to David Ferrer at his farewell tournament, rounded on an anonymous online blog linking his name to the explosive report which has overshadowed the year's first Grand Slam.

The 34-year-old Australian called it a "joke" and an "absolute farce" that he should be linked with the match-fixing allegations outlined by the original BBC and BuzzFeed report, which did not reveal any names.

"I think it's a joke to deal with it. You know, obviously, yeah, there's no possible way," said Hewitt, after exiting in the second round.

"I know my name's now been thrown into it. I don't think anyone here would think that I've done anything (like) corruption or match-fixing. It's just absurd.

"For anyone that tries to go any further with it, then good luck. Take me on with it. Yeah, it's disappointing. I think throwing my name out there with it makes the whole thing an absolute farce."

- Spiralling intrigue -

Hewitt's strong denial comes after top-ranked Novak Djokovic also rejected a claim aired in the Italian press that he deliberately lost a match in 2007.

The spiralling intrigue comes after the BBC and BuzzFeed said 16 unnamed players who reached the top 50 over the past decade had been suspected of repeatedly fixing matches, but never faced action.

Tennis is just the latest sport to be hit by controversy after athletics was engulfed in claims of a doping cover-up and football body FIFA suffered multiple scandals.

It cast a shadow over an emotional night for Hewitt, who bowed out 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 in the second round in combustible fashion, earning a code violation for swearing and calling the umpire a "frigging idiot".

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Afterwards Hewitt, wearing a shirt decorated with the Australian flag, was joined on court by his three children while his wife, former soap opera actress Bec, looked on in tears.

"I gave everything I had, like always, and left nothing in the locker room and that's something I can always be proud of," Hewitt told the crowd.

- Spectator emergency -

Earlier Andy Murray made dealing with the world's fastest server look easy as he reached the third round alongside Ana Ivanovic, who was shaken by an elderly spectator's courtside fall.

Murray, faced with the record-breaking serve of the physically imposing Sam Groth, had all the answers as he won 6-0, 6-4, 6-1 in just 91 minutes against the flummoxed Australian.

Ivanovic went through 6-3, 6-3 against Anastasija Sevastova in a match which was held up for 30 minutes when an elderly fan was badly injured by a fall on some steps inside Rod Laver Arena.

"I felt really bad. I was really shaking, because the sound of the lady falling was really loud. I could hear it," said Ivanovic, who looked on anxiously as the patron received treatment.

Two-time champion Victoria Azarenka was the most impressive of the women's winners when she hammered Danka Kovinic 6-1, 6-2 to reach the third round for the loss of just three games in total.

Progression was less smooth for world number three Garbine Muguruza, who struggled through an error-strewn first set against Kirsten Flipkens before finding her touch and winning 6-4, 6-2.

China's Zhang Shuai had a 27th birthday to remember when she beat Alize Cornet to win only her second ever Grand Slam match, following her sensational upset of second-ranked Simona Halep in the first round.

And Japanese qualifier Naomi Osaka, 18, continued her stunning progress at her debut Grand Slam tournament when she beat Ukrainian 18th seed Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-4 to reach the last 32.

Elsewhere, 2014 men's champion Stan Wawrinka beat Czech veteran Radek Stepanek in straight sets, while Bernard Tomic and John Millman both kept the Australian flag flying in the third round.

Canada's Milos Raonic beat Tommy Robredo in unusual fashion when he secured victory with the only service break of the match -- after nearly three hours of play, and in the very last game.
By Greg Stutchbury MELBOURNE (Reuters) - World number two Andy Murray used his full repertoire of clever passing shots and teasing lobs to disarm the world's fastest server, Sam Groth, and swiftly book a spot in the Australian Open third round on Thursday. Murray, a four-times runner-up at Melbourne Park, likes nothing more than fending off the heavy hitters and had too much craft for Groth as he won the first nine games on the way to a straightforward 6-0 6-4 6-1 victory. Groth was making his first ever appearance on Rod Laver Arena, and it showed as he was taken to the cleaners. "He didn't start the match off serving that well, which helped," Murray told reporters after his 91-minute victory. "Because I was returning well, that maybe put some more pressure on him. "I tend to enjoy playing against that game style. Always did since I was a kid." Groth began the match having blasted 27 aces and the fastest serve recorded at the tournament so far at 235 kph in his first round victory against Adrian Mannarino. Against Murray his first ace did not arrive until the second game of the second set, by which time he was already reeling from a slow start punished by the 28-year-old Scot. Murray was lobbing and passing at will and such was his complete mastery of his opponent, all Groth could do was shake his head and offer a wry smile. "I wasn't making first serves," Groth said. "Wasn't making first volleys. He's too good of a player not to do that against and not a guy you want to get behind against either." Groth finally got on the scoreboard in the 10th game, the Australian raising his arms in triumph to earn a massive roar from the parochial crowd. Murray lost his momentum and Groth broke back as he levelled the set at 4-4. "I think I held serve, got a game on the board, released a few nerves and probably just started playing the way I wanted to," Groth said. Murray, however, regrouped and broke Groth's serve to seal the set then ran away with the decider to set up a third round clash with Portugal's Joao Sousa. Despite his easy progress so far, however, Murray said he felt there was a lot of work to do before his next match. "There's some things I certainly could have done better," Murray said. "I didn't serve a high percentage of first serves. I wasn't hitting the ball from the back of the court as well. "It's been a very good start but I can still get better." (Reporting by Greg Stutchbury; Editing by Amlan Chakraborty/Patrick Johnston)
By Greg Stutchbury MELBOURNE (Reuters) - World number two Andy Murray used his full repertoire of clever passing shots and teasing lobs to disarm the world's fastest server, Sam Groth, and swiftly book a spot in the Australian Open third round on Thursday. Murray, a four-times runner-up at Melbourne Park, likes nothing more than fending off the heavy hitters and had too much craft for Groth as he won the first nine games on the way to a straightforward 6-0 6-4 6-1 victory. Groth was making his first ever appearance on Rod Laver Arena, and it showed as he was taken to the cleaners. "He didn't start the match off serving that well, which helped," Murray told reporters after his 91-minute victory. "Because I was returning well, that maybe put some more pressure on him. "I tend to enjoy playing against that game style. Always did since I was a kid." Groth began the match having blasted 27 aces and the fastest serve recorded at the tournament so far at 235 kph in his first round victory against Adrian Mannarino. Against Murray his first ace did not arrive until the second game of the second set, by which time he was already reeling from a slow start punished by the 28-year-old Scot. Murray was lobbing and passing at will and such was his complete mastery of his opponent, all Groth could do was shake his head and offer a wry smile. "I wasn't making first serves," Groth said. "Wasn't making first volleys. He's too good of a player not to do that against and not a guy you want to get behind against either." Groth finally got on the scoreboard in the 10th game, the Australian raising his arms in triumph to earn a massive roar from the parochial crowd. Murray lost his momentum and Groth broke back as he leveled the set at 4-4. "I think I held serve, got a game on the board, released a few nerves and probably just started playing the way I wanted to," Groth said. Murray, however, regrouped and broke Groth's serve to seal the set then ran away with the decider to set up a third round clash with Portugal's Joao Sousa. Despite his easy progress so far, however, Murray said he felt there was a lot of work to do before his next match. "There's some things I certainly could have done better," Murray said. "I didn't serve a high percentage of first serves. I wasn't hitting the ball from the back of the court as well. "It's been a very good start but I can still get better." (Reporting by Greg Stutchbury; Editing by Amlan Chakraborty/Patrick Johnston)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the refugee crisis in Europe during a phone call on Thursday and agreed an upcoming donors' conference in London would be a chance to galvanize global efforts on the issue, the White House said. Obama told Merkel he plans to host a summit for leaders at the UN General Assembly in September to secure new commitments to help address the refugee crisis, the White House said in a statement. "The two leaders committed to working together over the coming months to help protect and provide for the millions of people whose lives have been upturned by war," the White House said. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Eric Walsh)
(Reuters) - Oregon's governor blasted the federal government's response to the occupation of a wildlife refuge by a group of armed men saying the situation was "absolutely intolerable" and costing the state about $100,000 a week. Governor Kate Brown, a Democrat, said she had been asked by federal officials to limit her public comments about the protest which began on Jan. 2 at the remote Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and that she had no wish to escalate the situation. "But I will say this ... The situation is absolutely intolerable and it must be must be resolved immediately. The very fabric of this community is being ripped apart," Brown said on Wednesday at a news conference. "The residents of Harney County have been overlooked and under-served by federal officials' response thus far." The takeover at Malheur was the latest flare-up in the so-called Sagebrush Rebellion, a decades-old conflict over the U.S. government's control of millions acres of land in the West. The occupiers have declared their move is in support of two local ranchers who were returned to prison this month for setting fires that spread to federal land. The ranchers' lawyer has said the occupiers do not speak for the family. Law enforcement officials have so far kept their distance from the buildings at the refuge, 30 miles (48 km) south of the small town of Burns in rural southeast Oregon's Harney County, in the hope of avoiding a violent confrontation. One of the occupiers was arrested last week after he drove a government vehicle to a local supermarket. Brown called the situation a "spectacle of lawlessness" which must end and said she had conveyed her very grave concerns to the U.S. Department of Justice and the White House. "Federal authorities must move quickly to end the occupation and hold all of the wrongdoers accountable," the governor said. "And until Harney County is free of it, I will not stop insisting that federal officials enforce the law." The chair of the local Native American tribe has also called on the federal government to remove the occupiers. Brown said the standoff was costing Oregon about $100,000 per week, mostly in additional law enforcement costs, and that she has asked her finance officials to "scour the budget" so they could subsidize the expense to Harney County. "We will be asking federal officials to reimburse the state for these costs," she said. (Reporting by Daniel Wallis in Denver; Editing by Alan Crosby)
Spike Lee and Jada Pinkett Smith have already said they won't be attending the Oscars after a second straight year of all the acting nominees being white, and there has been pressure on host Chris Rock to do the same.

Now Mark Ruffalo, who is actually among the nominees in the best supporting actor category for his role in Spotlight, has said he's also considering whether or not to attend.

"Im weighing it, thats where Im at right now," he told BBC News on Thursday. "I woke up in the morning thinking, 'what is the right way to do this?' Because if you look at Martin Luther King's legacy, what he was saying was that the good people who dont act are much worse than the wrongdoers who are purposefully not acting and dont know the right way."

Ruffalo added that it was not just the Academy that has a diversity problem. "It's the entire American system," he said. "It's rife with the kind of white privilege racism that goes into our justice system."

In a series of tweets later in the day, the actor confirmed that he would be going to the Academy awards.

"To clear up any confusion. I will be going to the Oscars in support of the victims of clergy Sexual Abuse and good journalism. #Spotlight," he tweeted.

"I do support the Oscar Ban movement's position that the nominations do not reflect the diversity of our community," he then added, followed by: "The Oscar Ban movement reflects a larger discussion about racism in the criminal justice system."

Read More: Oscars: Dustin Hoffman Sees "Subliminal Racism" Behind Lack of Diversity
The mammoth Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal will be formally signed in New Zealand next month, marking the end of negotiations on the agreement, officials in Wellington said Thursday.

The TPP aims to create the world's biggest free-trade area, bringing together 12 Pacific Rim countries including the United States, Japan and Australia.

Work on the deal began in earnest in 2008 and New Zealand Trade Minister Todd McClay said the document would finally be signed in Auckland on February 4.

"(The signing ceremony) will mark the end of the TPP negotiating process," he said.

"Following signature, all 12 countries will be able to begin their respective domestic ratification processes and will have up to two years to complete that before the agreement enters into force."

The entire deal must be ratified as agreed, without changes, which could tie the hands of governments and legislators.

US President Barack Obama has described the deal as a foundation for "21st century trade".

However, critics have vowed to fight ratification, saying it threatens labour rights, environmental protection and access to affordable medicines.

The TPP nations -- which also include Canada, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam -- account for about 40 percent of the global economy.
By Jibran Ahmed and Tommy Wilkes CHARSADDA, Pakistan/ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Stuck with 15 of his students on a third floor balcony of a campus building as gunmen came up the stairs, university director Mohammad Shakil urged Pakistani police arriving at the scene to toss him up a gun so he could shoot back. "We were hiding ... but were unarmed," Shakil told Reuters, speaking after four Islamist militants attacked Bacha Khan University in Pakistan's troubled northwest on Wednesday, killing more than 20 people. "I was worried about the students, and then one of the militants came after us," Shakil added. "After repeated requests, the police threw me a pistol and I fired some shots at the terrorists." As more details of Wednesday's assault emerged, attention focused on at least two members of staff who took up arms to resist attackers bent on killing them and their students. Some hailed them as heroes, as the country digested an attack which bore similarities to the massacre, in late 2014, of 134 pupils at an army-run school in Peshawar, about 30 km (19 miles) from where this week's violence occurred. Others questioned whether teachers should be armed, as many are, because it goes against the ideals of the profession. Such a dilemma may have been far from the mind of chemistry professor Hamid Hussain, as he locked himself inside a room with colleagues after gunmen stormed an accommodation block on the university campus. When the assailants broke down the door, Hussain fired several rounds from his pistol, according to Shabir Ahmad Khan, an English department lecturer taking cover in an adjacent washroom. "They carried on heavy shooting and I was preparing myself for death, but then they did not enter the washroom and left," Khan recalled. Later on in the same building, Hussain fired again at the militants to allow some of his students to get away, surviving pupils told local media. Hussain was subsequently shot and later died from his wounds. "Kudos to professor Dr Hamid Hussain. Our hero fought bravely n saved many," Asma Shirazi, a popular talk show host, said on Twitter. TEACHERS' DILEMMA Others, too, have credited the actions of Hussain and Shakil with helping to prevent the gunmen, armed with assault rifles and hand grenades, from spilling more blood. Bacha Khan University also employed around 50 of its own guards who, witnesses said, fought for close to an hour to keep the gunmen isolated and prevent them from entering the girl's hostel as the police and army arrived. Pakistan army spokesman General Asim Bajwa said the security guards responded "very well" to the attack before reinforcements reached them. In the wake of the 2014 school massacre, teachers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where Peshawar is located, were offered weapons training. Yet some are wary of arming teachers and encouraging them to engage in battle. Gun ownership is common in Pakistan, owing to liberal licensing laws, and particularly so in the semi-autonomous tribal belt near the Afghan border where the threat of militant violence is high. Jamil Chitrali, president of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa University Teaching Staff Association, said more teachers were now carrying personal weapons, as security had worsened. "Arms are against the norms of my profession," he said. "I am teaching principles and morality in the class. How I can carry a gun?" WHO IS TO BLAME? Four gunmen, all since killed, were involved in Wednesday's attack, officials said. They used the cover of thick fog to scale the campus' rear walls, before storming student dormitories and classrooms and executing people at will. Some 3,000 students were enrolled at the university, many living on campus, while hundreds of visitors had arrived to hear a poetry recital to commemorate the life of local Pashtun nationalist hero and pacifist Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, after whom the university is named. The provincial government declared a day of mourning on Thursday as grieving families buried their dead and survivors recalled their ordeal. Who was to blame remains a mystery. A senior commander of the Pakistan Taliban, Umar Mansoor, on Wednesday claimed responsibility, but an official spokesman for the group later denied involvement, calling the attack "un-Islamic". The hardline Islamist movement was believed to be behind the school massacre just over a year ago, and educational institutions are an increasingly common target for militants wanting to frighten the public. Pakistan has killed and arrested hundreds of suspected Taliban militants in the last year under a major crackdown against a group fighting to overthrow the government and install a strict interpretation of Islamic law. The army said on Thursday the attack in Charsadda, near Peshawar, was coordinated from across the border inside Afghanistan, according to its investigations. Army chief General Raheel Sharif has called Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and the U.S. commander of international forces in Afghanistan to ask their help in locating those it holds responsible for the assault, army spokesman Bajwa said on Twitter. (Editing by Mike Collett-White)
Poachers slaughtered more than 1,000 rhinos in South Africa for the third year in a row.

Thats actually a reason for optimism, the countrys environment minister, Edna Molewa, said during a press conference Thursday.

For the first time in a decade, the poaching situation has stabilized, she said. Considering that this is despite escalating poaching pressure, and in the face of an increased and relentless rise of poaching activity into protected areasthis is very, very good news.

Poachers killed 1,175 South African rhinos in 2015, 40 fewer than the record 1,215 lost in 2014. Molewa credited ramped up enforcement, which led to a record 317 arrests last year, for helping stem the poaching epidemic.

Conservationists, however, warn the decline in South African rhino deaths are no reason to celebrate. Rhino deaths in neighboring Namibia jumped from 24 in 2014 to 80 last year, and Zimbabwe reported at least 50 rhinos were poached in 2015, up from 12 the previous year, according to wildlife trade monitoring group, TRAFFIC.

Continent-wide, more rhinos were poached in 2015 (1,305) than in 2014 (1,299).

The very slight decrease were seeing in South Africa really shows the poaching pressure is just shifting to regions with the least path of resistance, said Leigh Henry, a World Wildlife Fund senior policy adviser. Poachers will take rhinos where they can get them.

There are around 25,500 rhinos left in Africa, including about 20,000 white rhinos and and 5,000 endangered black rhinos, with 95 percent of the animals living in South Africa, Namibia, and Zimbabwe. Poachers killed roughly 14 percent of the rhino population over the past three years, just about matching the species reproduction rate. If poaching increases, the scales would tip toward a declining rhino population in Africa.

As long as the demand exists for rhino horn in Vietnam and China, and countries like Mozambique operate as a trade facilitator of the product, poaching isnt going to go away, Henry said.

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Last year 70 percent of poaching occurred inside South Africas Kruger National Park, which Molewa calls the epicenter of the poaching crisis. Most poachers enter the park from Mozambique to kill rhinos and chop off their horn before crossing back over the border. From there, rhino horns are smuggled to Asia, where per ounce they are worth more than gold.

But South Africas efforts to stem poaching could be short-lived. On Wednesday, a South African court upheld a ruling that ends a seven-year ban on trade in rhino horns. The judge held that government officials failed to adequately consult the public before implementing the ban..

The decision spells bad news for rhino conservation, said Cathy Dean of Save the Rhino International.

There is no consumer market within South Africa for rhino horn, said Dean. She noted that that smugglers could use the legal domestic trade to mask rhino horns destined for international markets. A domestic trade would also allow for the sale of rhino horn stockpilessimilar to the seized elephant ivory stockpiles sold legally in Hong Kongand open a market for sustainably harvested horns from live rhinos.

An international ban on rhino horn trade has been in place sine 1977. But South Africa is expected to propose that the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) discuss revoking the ban at its September meeting.

We can only assume that investors wish to buy up rhino horn in the event that CITES will eventuallywhether this year or at a future meetinglegalize the international trade in rhino horn, Dean said. If CITES rejects a South African proposal, then what will these investors do with their newly acquired horns? Many conservationists suspect that there will be further leakage of horns into the illegal trade.

Related stories on TakePart:





 A New Prescription for Traditional Vietnamese Medicine: No Rhino Horns

 South Africa Takes Step Toward Legalizing Rhino Horn Trade

 A Backhoe Frees a Black Rhino

Original article from TakePart
(credit: Wikimedia Commons)

(credit: Wikimedia Commons)

The Free Speech and Free Press Clauses of the First Amendment state, Congress shall make no law  abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.

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Joining We the People to discuss are the nations leading First Amendment scholars who wrote about these clauses for the Centers Interactive Constitution.

Geoffrey Stone is the Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago Law School.

Eugene Volokh is the Gary T. Schwartz Professor of Law at the UCLA School of Law.



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WARSAW - Britain will permanently station 1,000 military personnel in Poland from next year, Poland's defence minister said late on Thursday, in an apparent contradiction of an announcement by Britain about plans for temporary exercises on Polish soil. On Wednesday, the British defence ministry said London would send 1,000 military personnel to take part in defence exercises in Poland, as part of an agreement with Warsaw to strengthen security ties. But Poland's Antoni Macierewicz told Catholic broadcaster Radio Maryja that Poland and Britain have agreed at a meeting of foreign and defence ministers in Scotland that a number of troops would stay in Poland permanently. "One of the decisions, which resulted from yesterday's talks (is) a permanent presence of the British forces on Polish territory, that is 1,000 soldiers, who will permanently station on Polish territory from next year," Macierewicz said. "They will switch around, it will be a rotational, but permanent presence of 1,000 soldiers." The British defence ministry was not immediately available to comment. Warsaw, which is due to host a NATO summit in July, has repeatedly pressed for more North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces on its soil and in former communist-ruled Europe, arguing it needed a stronger response to Russia's aggression in eastern Ukraine. But some of its NATO allies are reluctant to permanently station troops in central Europe, wary of violating a 1997 NATO-Russia agreement on the size of forces the alliance can have in former Warsaw Pact countries. Moscow has previously signalled it would regard the establishment of a standing NATO presence on its borders as a hostile act. Some western governments are also concerned about the cost of permanent new bases at a time when defence budgets are strained by fiscal austerity or costly engagements elsewhere. Macierewicz said, however, that having British troops in Poland meant that permanent NATO presence in Poland was "realistic". "Not so long ago we were told that it will be impossible to get permanent bases, NATO presence ..., that it's an unrealistic demand," he said. "Well, it turns out it's realistic." Macierewicz's spokesman was not immediately available to comment about the apparent contradiction with the British announcement. Aside from the troops, Britain will also station a ship on the Baltic Sea to support the Polish fleet, Macierewicz said. Warsaw and London have also agreed to form a joint "situational awareness" unit, tasked with gathering information on any potential threats to NATO's eastern flank, he said. (Reporting by Wiktor Szary and Pawel Florkiewicz; Editing by Bernard Orr)
By Timothy Gardner and Jeff Mason WASHINGTON/DETROIT (Reuters) - President Barack Obama pledged to offer support for the drinking water crisis in Flint, Michigan on Wednesday and environmental regulators were set to provide Congress with information about their role. Blame is swirling after a switch in the water supply to the financially strapped city of 100,000 north of Detroit led to elevated levels of lead in drinking water. "What is inexplicable and inexcusable is once people figured out that there was a problem there and that there was lead in the water, the notion that immediately families weren't notified, things weren't shut down," Obama said in an interview with CBS. "If I were a parent up there, I would be beside myself that my kid's health could be at risk," Obama said after touring a car show in nearby Detroit. Facing protests, lawsuits and calls for his resignation, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, a Republican, apologized to the city's residents on Tuesday and called for the state to spend $28 million on fixes. The Michigan House quickly approved Snyders funding request on Wednesday. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, while saying it was reviewing its handling of the crisis and could have acted faster to inform the state of what measures it should take, also blamed the state on Tuesday. It said the agency's oversight was hampered by "failures and resistance at the state and local levels." Flint, under a state-appointed emergency manager, switched to Flint River water in April 2014 from the Lake Huron supply that Detroit uses to save money. Complaints about the water began within a month of the move. But Flint did not return to Detroit water until October 2015 after tests showed elevated levels of lead, which can cause brain damage and other health problems, in Flint tap water and in some children. Corrosive water from the river, known locally as a dumping ground, caused more lead to leach from Flint pipes than Detroit water did. "This is something nobody should have to deal with. Everybody should have clean water," Flint Mayor Karen Weaver told a conference in Washington. "They need to be much more aggressive in what's going on with Flint," Weaver said later on CNN about the EPA's response. In a speech on Tuesday, Snyder said federal, state and local leaders had failed residents. He asked Michigan lawmakers to authorize spending on diagnostic tests, health treatment for children and adolescents, replacement of old fixtures in Flint schools and day care centers and a study of the city's water pipes. EMAILS RELEASED Snyder, who has faced questions about how quickly he acted after learning about the water contamination, released 274 pages of Flint-related emails from 2014 and 2015 on Wednesday, ranging from press releases to staff memos and planning notes. The governors then chief of staff told Snyder in a Sept. 26 email, We cant tolerate increased lead levels in any event, but it's really the city's water system that needs to deal with it. Were throwing as much assistance as possible at the lead problem ... The residents and particularly the poor need help to deal with it. Also on Wednesday, Snyder appealed Obama's denial over the weekend of a federal major disaster declaration saying Flint faces a long-term threat and that such an order could bring additional help. On the same day Obama rejected the disaster declaration, he signed an emergency order for Flint. A group of bipartisan lawmakers including Michigan Republican Fred Upton, of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, wrote last week to EPA head Gina McCarthy, requesting a briefing about Flint. That briefing to congressional staffers was scheduled for Thursday. The House committee letter mentioned reports that said people in Flint have been exposed to dangerous biological pathogens and chemicals in the drinking water. Although Flint has now switched back to Detroit's water system, lead levels in the city's water are still elevated. Separately, Representative Dan Kildee, a Democrat from Flint, said in an interview the $28 million sought by Snyder will not be enough to address Flint's long-term problems - including aiding as many as 9,000 children who may have suffered lead poisoning. "These kids are going to need help for a long time," Kildee said. Snyder and the legislature need to "step up" and provide funding for long-term efforts beyond fixing the water system. Kildee said the EPA may bear some blame for not blowing the whistle publicly earlier, but the state bears most of the responsibility. Several lawsuits have been filed in the case. The latest on Tuesday asked a judge to stop Flint from issuing shutoff notices to residents who are still receiving bills for water declared undrinkable. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Additional reporting by Jeff Mason in Detroit, David Bailey in Minneapolis, and David Shepardson, Mohammad Zargham, Lacey Johnson, Ian Simpson, Roberta Rampton and Ayesha Rascoe in Washington; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh, Frances Kerry, Alan Crosby and Cynthia Osterman)
By Fatos Bytyci MITROVICA, Kosovo (Reuters) - A Serb leader in Kosovo was found guilty on Thursday of war crimes linked to the killings of four ethnic Albanians during the 1998-99 war and jailed for nine years, in a verdict condemned by Serbia. Known as a moderate among Kosovo Serb politicians, Oliver Ivanovic had for years been one of the chief interlocutors for NATO, United Nations and European Union officials based in Kosovo after the war. He was arrested two years ago in connection with war crimes including the murder and expulsion of civilians during and immediately after the war in the ethnically-divided town of Mitrovica, where he lived and worked. A panel of EU judges, part of an EU mission handling sensitive cases of war crimes and corruption in Kosovo since it declared independence in 2008, found 62-year-old Ivanovic guilty of one count of a war crime against civilians. He was cleared of two other counts. Judge Roxana Comsa of Romania said Ivanovic had been part of a group of Serb paramilitary and police forces that rounded up Albanian families in Mitrovica in April 1999 and separated a group of men, of whom four were then shot dead. The evidence did not prove he ordered the killings or participated in the actual shooting, the judge said. But "Oliver Ivanovic was aware of the operation of expelling and killing civilian ethnic Albanians." He wore a blue uniform and was armed, Comsa said. "On that day he willingly complied with the plan, knowing that it would result in the killings," the judge told the court in Mitrovica. "Victims were taken in front of the their families and later were executed." Serbia, which does not recognise its former southern province as sovereign, condemned the verdict. "There is no lawyer that could have changed the political determination to humiliate and punish the whole of Serbia," said Marko Djuric, senior official for the Serbian government on Kosovo. Djuric suggested the case would hurt EU-mediated negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo aimed at regulating relations between the two in exchange for integration with the bloc. Kosovo threw off Serbian rule in 1999 when NATO bombed Serbia to halt the killing and expulsion of ethnic Albanians by Serbian forces. Majority ethnic Albanian, the state of Kosovo has been recognised by more than 100 countries since it declared independence in 2008. The court acquitted four other Serbs on charges stemming from the killing of 10 Albanians in Mitrovica in February 2000. Ivanovic was also cleared of the same charges. (Additional reporting by Ivana Sekularac in Belgrade; Editing by Matt Robinson and Andrew Roche)
By Michael Holden LONDON - President Vladimir Putin probably approved a 2006 Russian intelligence operation to murder ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko with radioactive polonium-210 in London, a British inquiry concluded on Thursday, prompting a row with Moscow. Russia, which had declined to cooperate in the inquiry, cautioned pointedly that it could "poison" relations. Britain accused the Kremlin of uncivilised behaviour but did not immediately signal it would take any stronger action. Litvinenko, 43, an outspoken critic of Putin who fled Russia for Britain six years to the day before he was poisoned, died after drinking green tea laced with the rare and very potent radioactive isotope at London's Millennium Hotel. An inquiry led by senior British judge Robert Owen found that former KGB bodyguard Andrei Lugovoy and another Russian, Dmitry Kovtun, carried out the killing as part of an operation probably directed by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), the main heir to the Soviet-era KGB. "The FSB operation to kill Mr Litvinenko was probably approved by Mr Patrushev, then head of the FSB, and also by President Putin," Owen said. "I have concluded that there is a strong probability that when Mr Lugovoy poisoned Mr Litvinenko, he did so under the direction of the FSB. I have further concluded that Mr Kovtun was also acting under FSB direction," he said. Litvinenko's death marked a post-Cold War low point in Anglo-Russian ties, marred further by Russia's annexation of Crimea and support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. But Britain's measured early response to the report appeared to acknowledge a need for Russia to exert its influence over Assad in negotiations to end the Syrian civil war. Prime Minister David Cameron said he would not rule out further action, but added: "Do we at some level have to go on having some sort of relationship with them because we need a solution to the Syria crisis? Yes we do. But we do it with clear eyes and a very cold heart." Interior minister Theresa May, appearing before parliament, spoke of "a blatant and unacceptable breach of the most fundamental tenets of international law and of civilised behaviour", while the opposition Labour Party described an "unparalleled act of state-sponsored terrorism". POLONIUM TEA The image of Litvinenko lying on his bed at London's University College Hospital, cadaverous and having lost his hair, was emblazoned across British and other Western newspapers and later shown to the inquiry. He took over three weeks to die. From his deathbed, Litvinenko told detectives he believed Putin - a former KGB spy who went on to head the FSB before winning the presidency - had directly ordered his killing. The Kremlin has always denied any involvement but the claim that Putin directly ordered a killing of an opponent with a radioactive isotope in a major Western capital provoked immediate censure from Moscow. Russia's Foreign Ministry said what it called Britain's biased and opaque handling of the case had clouded relations. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said such inquiries risked poisoning relations and pointed out that the inquiry relied on unpublicised information from the intelligence services. The judge said he was sure Lugovoy and Kovtun had placed the polonium 210 in a teapot at the Millennium Hotel's Pine Bar on Nov. 1, 2006 when they met Litvinenko for little more than 30 minutes. Litvinenko said he had only drunk three or four mouthfuls of the cold green tea made with lemon and honey. High polonium contamination was found in the teapot and the hotel bar, and traces of the highly radioactive substance were left across London including offices, hotels, planes and Arsenal soccer club's Emirates Stadium. Owen also concluded the two men had unsuccessfully tried to kill Litvinenko two weeks earlier at a meeting at a London security firm, and said it was "entirely possible" Lugovoy was planning to target him back in 2004. The British government summoned Russia's ambassador Alexander Yakovenko, demanding the Kremlin provide answers and extradite the two main suspects. RUSSIAN INTELLIGENCE Both Lugovoy and Kovtun, who declined to participate in the six-month British inquiry, have previously denied involvement and Russia has refused to extradite them. Lugovoy, now a Russian lawmaker, was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying the accusation was absurd. Owen cited several reasons why the Russian state would have wanted to kill Litvinenko, who was granted British citizenship a month before his death on Nov. 23, 2006. The ex-spy was regarded as having betrayed the FSB by accusing it of carrying out 1999 apartment block bombings that killed more than 200 people in Russia and which the Kremlin, launching an offensive to restore control over the southern region of Chechnya, blamed on Chechens. The FSB also had information Litvinenko had started working for Britain's foreign intelligence agency, MI6. Litvinenko was close to leading Russian dissidents and opponents of Putin and his administration, whom he had accused of collusion with organised crime, and had made highly personal allegations about the Kremlin chief. "There was undoubtedly a personal dimension to the antagonism between Mr Litvinenko on the one hand and President Putin on the other," Owen's report said. Some of the inquiry was held in secret and evidence from the British government and spy agencies has not been publicly disclosed. Litvinenko's widow, Marina, whose persistence led to the inquiry being held, called for Russian spies to be kicked out of Britain and for sanctions against Russia. "I'm ... calling for the imposition of targeted economic sanctions and travel bans against named individuals, including Mr Patrushev and Mr Putin," she told reporters outside London's Royal Courts of Justice. Patrushev serves as secretary of Russia's Security Council.0 (Additional reporting by Costas Pitas and William Schomberg; Writing by Kate Holton and Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Ralph Boulton)
China currently has an air pollution problem so severe that smog is occasionally dense enough to be visible from space. But the frequently choking haze is providing an unexpected benefit to racing pigeons in one of China's most polluted regions, helping the birds to navigate home faster, researchers have found.

Using publicly available data gathered from environmental and pigeon racing agencies, scientists analyzed pigeon performance in 415 races that took place on the North China Plain, where concentrations of air pollution are higher than anywhere else in the country, the scientists reported. By comparing the pigeons' racing times to records of pollution levels on race days, the researchers hoped to learn whether air pollution might affect how well the pigeons performed during the races, the scientists said.

Racing pigeons, also known as "homing pigeons" for their ability to find their way back to a home base, are specialized birds that are bred and trained to compete in tests of navigation and speed, averaging about 37 mph (60 km/h), the researchers said. [10 Amazing Things You Didn't Know About Animals]

Homing pigeons are considered so swift and reliable in their navigation that during World War II, hundreds of thousands of British homing pigeons were used by the army, the Royal Air Force and the Civil Defense Services, according to the Royal Pigeon Racing Association (RPRA). The birds would carry messages in tiny backpacks or in containers strapped to their legs, winging their way "home," where the messages would be delivered to the recipients.

Though these high-performing homing pigeons are the same species as the feral pigeons you might see pecking at trash in city parks and streets, they're "a world away" from their guttersnipe cousins, the RPRA said on its website. With proper care, racing pigeons can live for more than 20 years, while their urban relatives generally live only 3 to 4 years, the website said.

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A valiant effort

The researchers evaluated racing data from 2013 and 2014, specifically from the fall months, the time of year when air quality in the North China Plain is typically at its worst. Since pigeons rely on scent and sight to orient themselves while flying, the scientists said in the study, it would be reasonable to expect that high levels of pollution would make pigeons fly slower and that low visibility would impede the birds' ability to plot an accurate course.

The researchers also considered other variables that could affect how well the pigeons performed: race distance, wind direction and speed, and other weather conditions.

But the results of the scientists analysis surprised them: When the air quality was worse, pigeons flew home "significantly faster," the scientists reported, though why exactly the birds would perform better under worse conditions was unclear.

The scientists suggested that perhaps visual cues weren't as important to the birds' navigation as expected, so reduced visibility wouldn't affect their flight speed. In fact, previous studies showed that pigeons could navigate home even without familiar landmarks or when they flew while fitted with frosted lenses that clouded their vision.

But that still wouldn't explain why pigeons would actually fly faster when pollution levels were high.

The scientists pointed out that scent cues are important to all birds, and may be especially important for homing behavior in pigeons. The researchers said they suspected that haze pollution, rich in organic and inorganic compounds, might prove useful to the birds by providing stronger signals that the pigeons use to map a homeward course.

Another possibility, the researchers proposed, was grounded in the pigeons' sense of self-preservation. Perhaps the birds recognized the poor air quality and were simply trying to get home faster so they could get out of the polluted air as quickly as possible, the researchers said. Thick haze would also hide potential predators from the birds' view, providing another motivation for the pigeons to hurry home.

While this study indicates that some racing birds may temporarily benefit from poor air quality, there will be no winners if China's air pollution problem continues to escalate. In recent years, experts have expressed growing concern about record-breaking smog levels, telling Live Science that "everybody is at risk" at this level of pollution, and that exposure to highly polluted air over time could lead to serious health concerns for China's residents in the future.

The findings were published online Jan. 5 in the journal Scientific Reports.

Follow Mindy Weisberger on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @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.
Guatemala City (AFP) - Central American states and Mexico on Wednesday agreed to maintain a flight-and-bus corridor for thousands of Cubans marooned in Costa Rica to make it to the United States.

Migration officials from the countries said in a joint statement after a meeting in Guatemala City that they were moving to the "second phase" of a plan started last week with a trial journey by 180 Cubans.

Some 7,600 other Cubans are in Costa Rica waiting to make the journey, which involves a flight from Costa Rica to El Salvador -- skipping over Nicaragua, a Cuban ally which has closed its border to them -- then buses through Guatemala to Mexico.

From there they are to make their own way to the US border. Under a US law dating back to the Cold War, Cubans fleeing their communist-ruled island are admitted and given access to fast-track American residency.

Costa Rica's foreign ministry said the second phase would see two flights a day put on for 14 weeks starting February 4.

Cuban migrants able to pay the $555 cost of the trip themselves and those in family groups are being given priority. The International Organization for Migration is overseeing the process.

Some 2,000 other Cubans are stuck in Panama, blocked there after Costa Rica in December refused to take in any more.

The Panamanian government said it is looking for a way to move nearly half of them closer to the United States.
By Andrew Osborn MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's AIDS epidemic is at a dangerous tipping point after the number of people registered HIV-positive passed the 1 million mark, the country's top AIDS specialist said on Thursday, warning the rate of infection had reached record levels. Russia registered its millionth HIV-positive patient -- a 26-year-old woman in the south of the country -- on Wednesday, Vadim Pokrovsky, the head of the federal AIDS centre, told Reuters in a phone interview. But he said the real number of HIV-positive Russians could be as high as 1.5 million, or 1 percent of the population, based on his and other expert estimates. "The epidemic is gathering strength. Unfortunately the measures that have been taken have clearly not been enough," Pokrovsky said. He warned that Russia was "on the threshold" of moving from a concentrated epidemic, where HIV is highly prevalent in one subset of the population, to a generalised epidemic, where HIV rates among the general population are sufficient for sexual networking to drive new infections. "We're in a transitional phase," he said. AIDS, which stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Pokrovsky said 204,000 people had died of HIV in Russia since the first case was recorded in 1987. He expected the number of new cases in 2015 to be at least 93,000, up from just under 90,000 in 2014. That, he said, would be the largest number of new cases since Russia began keeping data almost 30 years ago. The escalation comes as Russia struggles financially, beset by low oil prices, Western sanctions and a falling rouble. It plans to spend 40 billion roubles ($475.20 million) on fighting HIV/AIDs in 2016. Pokrovsky said 100 billion roubles was needed. Almost 20 percent of the country's drug users and nearly 10 percent of the country's gay people were HIV-positive, he said. More than 1 percent of the population in at least 10 regions had been recorded as having the virus for over a year. "In separate regions we can say there is already a generalised HIV epidemic," he noted, saying 55-60 percent of cases were linked to drug use and around 40 percent to heterosexual sex. Gay sex accounted for only about 1.5 percent. Government data shows 24,000 HIV-positive people died in 2014, the last full year for which data is available. Of those, around 12,000 died as a direct result of AIDS. Pokrovsky said the real number who died from AIDS was likely to be higher. He said he expected data for 2015 to show a 5-10 percent increase in the number of deaths. ($1 = 84.1750 roubles) (Editing by Katharine Houreld)
When John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate in 2008, his campaign hoped to unite Republicans by pairing an establishment moderate with a folksy, populist outsider. In theory, the Alaska governors appeal to disaffected working class whites, whether Republican, independent, or Democrat, would help build a winning coalition.

The gambit obviously failed. But Donald Trumps rise proves that a sizable faction can be rallied around outsider appeal, cultural grievance, and ressentiment.

In that respect, Palins support for Trump makes perfect sense. Her real roots are not in Reaganism or libertarianism or the orthodoxies of the donor class, Ross Douthat observes. Theyre in the same kind of blue-collar, Jacksonian, whos looking out for you? populism that has carried Trump to the top of the Republican polls.

There is, however, one way in which the two were once at odds.

Sarah Palin has always been an interventionist hawk. Bill Kristol played a part in her rise. Matthew Continetti defended her at book length. If the Tea Party runs the gamut from non-interventionist Rand Paul to on-the-fence Ted Cruz to neoconservative Marco Rubio, Palin once aligned most closely with a Rubio-style foreign policy. Its why an otherwise uncomfortable political marriage with McCain could work.

Take her views on Iraq.

Recommended: Why Is Bernie Sanders Against Reparations?

I support President Bushs efforts to stop terrorism by taking the fight to the terrorists, she said in 2006.

Our nominee for president is a profile in courage, and people like that are hard to come by, she declared in her 2008 convention speech. He's a man who wore the uniform of this country for 22 years and refused to break faith with those troops in Iraq who have now brought victory within sight. And as the mother of one of those troops, that is exactly the kind of man I want as commander-in-chief.

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Debating Joe Biden in 2008, she declared, Your plan is a white flag of surrender in Iraq and that is not what our troops need to hear today, thats for sure. You guys opposed the surge. The surge worked. Barack Obama still cant admit the surge works. Well know when were finished in Iraq when the Iraqi government can govern its people and when the Iraqi security forces can secure its people. And our commanders on the ground will tell us when those conditions have been met.

This election cycle, Donald Trump has claimed that his opposition to the Iraq invasion dates back to 2003. His account of when he turned against the war easily predates the surge. He regards American efforts there as a folly, a waste, and a catastrophe. Politicians who characterized the conflict in that way were once deemed by Palin to be disrespecting the troops and showing white-flag waving naivete in the War on Terror.

Recommended: The Great Republican Revolt

They were unfit, in her view, to be commander-in-chief.

Now she has endorsed a candidate who, along with Rand Paul and Bernie Sanders, is arguably the biggest critic of neoconservative foreign policy in the race. We are ready and our troops deserve the best, Palin said in her endorsement speech. A new commander-in-chief whose track record of success has proven he is the master at the art of the deal. He is one who would know to negotiate.

Thats quite a contrast with he's a man who wore the uniform of this country for 22 years and refused to break faith with troops in Iraq who have now brought victory within sight.

Why the change?

One theory is that Palin never had any real foreign-policy convictions. She allied with George W. Bush when it was popular to do so in her party, adopted John McCains attitude when it was politically advantageous, and is changing again now that her most likely path to political relevance lies within a Trump Administration.

Another theory is that she was earnest in bygone foreign policy pronouncements, but it isnt her priority. In this telling, Palin has substantive disagreement with Trumps views, but they are inconsequential to her given other similarities in their outlooks.

Either way, Palin has defected from the neoconservative camp to a candidate who is openly antagonistic to the neocon worldview. And that strikes me as significant. The shift is eased by the fact that, like many neocons, Trump talks about foreign policy by declaring that the United States needs to be strong and tough. But the rhetorical similarities are juxtaposed with hugely different approaches.

Recommended: What Happened When Religious Freedom and Gay Rights Actually Clashed in Court

Going forward, it will be fascinating to see what Palin says about foreign policy, especially if Trump squares off against Hillary Clinton, with her neocon proclivities.

For now, she is contradicting herself. She said in her Trump endorsement, Are you ready for a commander-in-chief who will let our warriors do their job and go kick ISIS ass?

In the same speech, she declared:

Let me say something really positive about one of those individuals: Rand Paul. Im going to tell you about that libertarian streak in him that is healthy, because he knows, you only go to war if youre determined to win the war! And you quit footin the bill for these nations who are oil-rich, were paying for some of their squirmishes that have been going on for centuries. Where theyre fightin each other and yellin Allah Akbar calling Jihad on each others heads for ever and ever. Like Ive said before, let them duke it out and let Allah sort it out.

I cannot resolve the contradiction in her views, but praising Rand Paul while endorsing Donald Trump isnt the sort of thing one does while allied with the neocon right.

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
Speaking to Donald Trumps supporters one day after she endorsed him for president, Sarah Palin addressed her sons recent arrest on domestic violence charges, suggesting it could be related to posttraumatic stress disorder from serving in Iraq and linking it to what she called President Obamas lack of respect of war veterans.

My son, like so many others  they come back a bit different, Palin said at a rally in Tulsa, Okla., Wednesday. They come back hardened.

Palins son, Track Palin, was arrested at the familys Wasilla, Alaska, home late Monday and charged with assault, interference with the reporting of a domestic violence crime and possession of a firearm while intoxicated after his girlfriend told police he punched and kicked her before threatening to kill himself with an AR-15 rifle. The 26-year-old, who served in Iraq in 2008, reportedly told police the incident began when he learned she had been in touch with an ex-boyfriend.

Track Palin was arraigned on those charges on Tuesday.

Sarah Palin on Tuesday; Track Palin in 2008. (Photos: Mary Altaffer/AP, Charles Rex Arbogast,/AP)



They come back wondering if there is that respect for what their fellow soldiers and airmen and every other member of the military have given so sacrificially to this country, and that starts at the top, Sarah Palin said. Its a shame that our military personnel even have to question, have to wonder if theyre respected anymore.

The former Alaska governor continued: They have to look at him and wonder, Do you know what we go through? Do you know what were trying to do to secure America and to secure the freedoms that have been bequeathed us?

So when my own son is going through what he goes through coming back, I can certainly relate with other families who kind of feel these ramifications of PTSD and some of the woundedness that our soldiers do return with, she added. And it makes me realize more than ever, it is now or never for the sake of Americas finest that well have that commander in chief who will respect them and honor them.

Reached by the Daily News, an attorney for the Palin family declined to comment, saying the family was seeking privacy as Track receives the help that he and many of our returning veterans need.
By Lisa Lambert and Suzanne Barlyn

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts has asked for a full explanation from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission for an accounting error that led auditor KPMG to withdraw nearly a decade of financial opinions about the agencys accounts.

The Republican senator "has already begun inquiries at the CFTC for a full accounting" of the problem, a spokesperson for the committee, which provides Congressional oversight of the U.S. derivatives regulator, told Reuters on Wednesday.

The request comes after Reuters exclusively reported on Tuesday that KPMG [KPMG.UL] had taken the drastic action after learning of the significant material error, and that the auditor estimated the CFTC had understated liabilities by $194 million in the year to Sept. 30, 2015, and $212 million the previous year.

The error, concerning how the regulator accounted for lease payments for its offices from fiscal years ending in 2005 through 2014, was caused by the CFTCs "weaknesses in internal control," including lack of measures to detect or correct material problems in its financial statements, KPMG said in documents reviewed by Reuters.

CFTC spokesman Steven Adamske, who said the agency is waiting for the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to rule on how the leases should be reported, declined to comment on Roberts intervention. On Tuesday, he said the agency sees the error as a technical accounting issue that does not affect current lease payments or its obligation to creditors.

The issue is adding to tensions between the CFTC, which was given broad powers to regulate the derivatives market in the aftermath of the financial crisis, and Republican lawmakers who have criticized it for creating unnecessary regulatory burdens.

The problem is coming to light during an election year in which Wall Street oversight is a hot topic for candidates in both political parties.

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It could cast a spotlight on the time that Gary Gensler was chairman of the CFTC between May 2009 and January 2014. Gensler, a former Goldman Sachs <GS.N> executive, is currently chief financial officer for Hillary Clintons campaign to be the Democratic presidential candidate in Novembers election.

Gensler declined to comment when asked by Reuters whether he was aware of an accounting issue during his tenure. Current chairman Tim Massad took the reins in June 2014.

CALLED IN GAO

Other influential Republicans said the error showed the need for better management at the regulator. "The CFTC needs to get its books in order, whether that requires more inspector general recommendations or legislative changes from Congress," said Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa. The CFTC's Office of Inspector General conducts monitoring and investigations of its activities. Republicans have repeatedly expressed unhappiness over the CFTC's spending and refused to grant the full budgets for the agency requested by President Barack Obama, a Democrat, in recent years.

One of the biggest skeptics of the agency's spending, Republican Senator John Boozman of Arkansas, had asked the GAO, a non-partisan federal watchdog, to look into various issues involving CFTC leases in February 2015. When the CFTC reviewed information for the GAO, it found a potential problem with its practice of recording only a portion of payments on multi-year leases each year and brought the issue to KPMG's attention in October, according to the documents.

"This is a great example of the importance of congressional oversight. Congressman Aderholt and I saw the CFTCs actions and requested the investigation that led to the realization of this error," Boozman said in an emailed statement to Reuters, referring to Representative Robert Aderholt, with whom he made the request.

Mark Carney, who retired in 2014 after ten years as the agency's chief financial officer, could not be immediately reached for comment. The current CFO Mary Jean Buhle, declined to comment.

"LITTLE JUSTIFICATION"

The Jan. 15 KPMG report to the CFTC alleges that the CFTC violated Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, the accounting rules used in the United States. The agency may also have violated a federal law that prohibits agencies from spending federal funds beyond the amount available, it said.

Accounting experts said the error did run afoul of basic accounting principles. The understatements, the equivalent to more than 75 percent of the CFTC's $250 million annual budget, could have been avoided by the CFTC recording its full lease obligations from the start of the lease, instead of accounting for it in a series of year-long leases, they said. They also questioned why KPMG did not flag the problem until now, given that it has reviewed the CFTC's financial statements as far back as 2005. KPMG declined to comment, citing client confidentiality.

KPMG and the CFTC should have got this accounting right the first year," said Lynn Turner, former chief accountant at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He is now a forensic accounting consultant for LitiNomics.

Calling it "a major accounting gaffe," Robert Willens, an independent accounting and taxation consultant, said: "There is very little justification, if any, that I can think of."

(This Jan. 20 story corrects the fiscal years associated with the corresponding shortfalls in the third paragraph.)

(Reporting by Lisa Lambert in Washington, Suzanne Barlyn and Dena Aubin in New York; editing by Soyoung Kim and Martin Howell)
(Reuters) - European pay-TV group Sky Plc has struck a deal to screen programs from CBS Corp's popular Showtime stable, including Billions starring Damian Lewis, as competition for top shows heats up among European broadcasters. The licensing deal will allow Sky to offer programs from the U.S. group's premium television network to its 21 million customers across all its markets, including Britain, Ireland, Germany, Austria and Italy. Billions, the story of a U.S. attorney going after a hedge fund manager, premiered in the United States on Jan. 17 and won instant popularity among viewers. The deal comes as Sky tries to extend its reach in European markets through its main platform and online. The company is also set to launch a mobile service in 2016 with O2 to better compete with British rivals BT and Virgin Media and so-called Over The Top or online players such as Netflix. The CBS deal includes all new and future series on Showtime and also covers new seasons of hits such as Ray Donovan and The Affair, the companies said in a joint statement. Sky, formed by the combination of Britain's BSkyB, Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia, had revenues of more than 11 billion pounds ($15.6 billion) in its last financial year. ($1 = 0.7053 pounds) (Reporting by Rahul B in Bengaluru; Editing by Mark Potter)
In an effort to offer answer mounting questions about who is at fault for the contamination of Flints drinking water, Governor Rick Snyder broke with his exemption from Michigans Freedom of Information Act and released emails he sent and received regarding Flint during 2014 and 2015.

The 274-page trove (PDF) published Wednesday evening offers new insight into the evolution of the Flint water crisis from the states perspective, including efforts to deflect and later begrudgingly acknowledge state responsibility.

In one noteworthy email dated September 25, 2015, Snyders then-Chief of Staff Dennis Muchmore offers an answer to perhaps the biggest question that has loomed over Flint for the past two years: who decided to switch the citys water supply from Detroit to the Flint river?

According to Muchmore, it was former state Treasurer Andy Dillon who made the fateful call.

I cant figure out why the state is responsible except that Dillon did make the ultimate decision so were not able to avoid the subject, Muchmore wrote to Snyder, Lt. Gov. Brian Calley and other top gubernatorial staff.

Muchmores finger-pointing email came one day after Pediatrician Mona Hanna-Attisha released a report showing a rise in lead levels among Flint children over the period of time since the river water switch.

On September 29, nearly a year and a half after Flint residents began expressing concerns about the quality of their tap water following the April 2014 switch to the Flint river, Snyder acknowledged the citys lead problem for the first time.

But the governor had hardly been in the dark about the situation before that point. The newly-released emails reveal behind-the-scenes discussions between the Snyder and his staff about the Flint water issue dating back several months.

An email chain from January 22, 2015, shows Snyder staffers planning to two separate meetings to discuss the flint water topic internally and with Flint officials.

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On February 1, before Snyder was slated to announce the states plan to award Flint $2 million in Distressed Cities grants for water system improvements, Press Secretary David Murray sent the governor a particularly insightful briefing that now provides new clues as to what Snyder actually knew about the Flint situation at that time and how the state chose to respond

Among the attached documents intended to get the governor up to speed, is a copy of a Facebook post by Flint Mayor Dayne Walling about a letter hed recently sent to Snyder asking him to quickly implement his proposed Flint Water Improvement Plan, to ensure that Flints water is 100% safe.

In the Facebook post, Walling calls on Flint residents to do their part in urging the governor to enforce the plan as well, writing,access to clean, safe, affordable water is a basic human right.

The struggle with our water has gone on for far too long, reads Walling's Facebook post. The state must take action and do its part.

The briefing points out that Mayor Walling reiterated his requests for state and federal assistance, as well as a personal visit from the Governor to Flint, in a guest column at the Flint Journal.

Murray notes that the governor has also received a letter from state Rep. Sheldon Neeley, a Flint Democrat, who wrote that his constituents are on the verge of civil unrest.

An attached backgrounder provided by the Department of Environmental Quality pins the river water idea on the city of Flint and attempts dispel concerns about water safety in light of a recent public notice that high levels of total trihalomethanes, or TTHM, in Flint tap water violated the legal limit.

Samuel Smith is happy to receive a case of bottled water and a new water filter at his home on Mallery St. in Flint, Mich., as volunteers accompanied by Michigan State Police and Gennessee County Sheriff's Deputies bring residents water filters and bottled water on Tuesday Jan 12, 2016. Volunteers and police carrying bottled water, filters and lead test kits knocked on doors in Flint on Tuesday, seeking to help residents in the Michigan city that's confronting a water crisis. (Dale G. Young/The Detroit News via AP)

TTHM, a byproduct of treating the river waters organic matter with chlorine, is a chronic health threat, reads the DEQ document.

Over the long term (measured in decades), continued exposure can contribute to some unknown health problems, which is why the EPA calls for quarterly testing and requires that a public notice be issued only if the standard for [TTHM] is exceeded over several consecutive quarters of testing, as it did in Flint's case.

Slideshow: Water crisis in Flint, Michigan >>>

While this means that people who use the system are exposed to TTHM for several months before the public notice is required, the DEQ explained, its not like an eminent threat to public health.

The DEQ also offered a number of benign explanations for the Flint waters unusual color, taste, and smell, noting that The Safe Drinking Water act, and the program here in Michigan, work to ensure that water is safe to drink. The act does not regulate the aesthetic values of water. **include screenshot of explanations for water discoloration.

Assurances of the Flint river waters safety continued until September 25, after which a series of emails between Snyder, Wyant, Muchmore and other officials show progressive recognition of the states role in the escalating crisis.

Simply said, our staff believe they were constrained by two consecutive six-month tests. We followed and defended that protocol, Wyant wrote in an email to Snyder on October 18. I believe now we made a mistake...optimized corrosion control should have been required from the beginning.
By Dinky Mkhize PRETORIA (Reuters) - The number of rhinos poached for their horns in South Africa fell in 2015, the first decline since 2007, due to the higher rate of policing in national parks, the justice minister said on Thursday. Poaching rates had surged from 83 in 2008 to a record 1,215 in 2014 to meet red-hot demand in newly-affluent Asian countries such as Vietnam, where the horn is prized as a key ingredient in traditional medicines. Last year rhino poaching fell to 1,175 compared to 2014. "I am today pleased to announce that for the first time in a decade - the poaching situation has stabilized," Justice Minister Michael Masutha told reporters in the capital Pretoria. South Africa has more than 80 percent of the world's rhino population with about 18,000 white rhinos and close to 2,000 black rhinos. Global trade in rhino horn is banned under the terms of a U.N. convention. Elsewhere in Africa elephant poaching for ivory has been rampant, with Asia also the main market for the illicit commodity. Arrests for poaching increased to 317 from a revised 258 in 2014, Masutha said. The ministry stepped up inspections at airports and borders and also made use of technology to combat rhino poaching, he said. The Kruger National Park, South Africa's main tourist draw, has been on the frontlines of the crisis as it borders Mozambique, one of the world's poorest countries where many of the poachers are based. Rhino poaching numbers there stood at 826 by December, compared to 827 in 2014. Kruger has the largest concentration of rhinos on the planet, with an estimated 8,400 to 9,300 white rhinos, about half of South Africa's population of the species. Conservation group WWF said a decline in poaching numbers was encouraging but that there was "an alarming increase" in slayings in neighbouring countries, targeting rhinos in previously secure areas such as Namibia and Zimbabwe. "After seven years of increases, a decline in the rate of rhino poaching in South Africa is very encouraging... but sadly the overall rate remains unacceptably high," said Morne du Plessis, CEO of WWF South Africa. (Writing by Ed Stoddard and Zandi Shabalala; Editing by James Macharia and Justin Palmer)
A South Korean court said on Thursday it had acquitted a man of sympathising with North Korea for following its Twitter account, arguing that simply reading Pyongyang's social media posts did not violate Seoul's security laws.

Seoul prosecutors earlier charged the 73-year-old journalist, identified only by his surname Lee, with "distributing" materials that praised the communist North by following Pyongyang's official Twitter account, @uriminzok.

Lee was, however, found guilty of supporting the North in his own blog postings and was sentenced to a one-year jail term, suspended for two years.

South Korea's National Security Laws, enacted in 1948 to protect the fledgling state from infiltration by the communist North, ban its citizens from praising or sympathising with Pyongyang.

Domestic critics and international rights groups argue that the law is open to abuse and stifles free speech, but officials insist it is justified by the continued threat from the nuclear-armed North.

The Seoul Western District Court ruled that, because Lee only followed North Korea on Twitter and did not re-tweet or mention any of the posts on his own account, he had not broken the law.

"It can't be said that he 'distributed' those posts as they were only shown on Lee's own account and were not shown to other people, such as Lee's followers," the court said in a statement.

North Korea joined the global social media networks in 2010 and has posted more than 17,500 tweets since then, mostly criticising its major foes -- South Korea and the US -- and praising its ruling Kim family.

Its Twitter account has over 18,500 followers.
Madrid (AFP) - Spain's embattled incumbent prime minister fell prey to a practical joke when an imitator pretending to be Catalonia's new separatist leader managed to speak to him on the phone on radio.

The improbably successful joke broadcast Thursday by a radio station in Spain's Catalonia region, where an independence movement is gathering pace, is another blow for Mariano Rajoy whose attempts to form a government following inconclusive elections have so far fallen flat.

A presenter at Radio Flaixbac called the Moncloa presidency in the Spanish capital pretending to be working for Carles Puigdemont, a separatist politician who was voted in as new Catalonia leader earlier this month to the fury of Madrid.

Transferred to Rajoy's secretary, she told him the prime minister was in a meeting but would soon be free.

Unable to believe his luck, a Puigdemont imitator at the radio station found himself on the phone minutes later with the prime minister, and a surprisingly cordial conversation began.

"How's life?" said Rajoy, before exchanging a pleasantry.

The fake Puigdemont then asked him if they could meet, which Rajoy agreed to readily, depending on how negotiations to form a government were going.

"I think I can call you on Monday and depending on where we are.. we will fix a date," he told the fake Puigdemont.

"I have a very free schedule and we could meet 24 or 48 hours after."

Unable to keep the imposture going any longer, the radio presenter intervened and told Rajoy that it was in fact an imitator on a radio station who was speaking to him.

"We didn't think we would pull this off... and we're probably as surprised as you are," he told the Spanish leader.

Clearly caught off guard, Rajoy responded that "this is not very serious."

The joke made waves in Spain on Thursday, sparking mostly good-natured reactions, including from within Rajoy's conservative Popular Party (PP).

Rafael Hernando -- spokesman for the PP's parliamentary group -- said it showed that Rajoy was willing to chat with a man who wants to lead Catalonia to independence from Spain, and with whom he is therefore at odds.

"I'm sure that Mr Rajoy would like Mr Puigdemont to call him for real," he told reporters.
A version of this story first appeared in the Jan. 29 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.

It was the scandal that revealed the moniker "Carlos Danger." And filmmakers Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg had their cameras rolling to capture it all.

With their Sundance-bound documentary Weiner, the pair chronicles the tawdry saga of former New York Congressman Anthony Weiner's bid to rehabilitate his public image following a sexting scandal, only later to be engulfed in a nearly identical embarrassment.

In 2013, Kriegman and Steinberg began working on the movie as a narrative about the disgraced politician's bid to become mayor of New York. After gaining unprecedented access to the candidate and his family for the would-be redemption tale, the storyline of the now-infamous Carlos Danger  the alias used by the married Weiner to text explicit photos to a 22-year-old woman  emerged.

"When we started this, we thought this could be a remarkable comeback story, but obviously things took an unexpected turn," says Steinberg.

Kriegman, 35, and Steinberg, 36, continued chronicling the evolving narrative, capturing the unfiltered reactions of Weiner's wife, political operative Huma Abedin. Distributors who saw the film before Sundance Selects and Showtime partnered to acquire it say the footage is explosive and potentially damaging to presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (Abedin is Clinton's closest adviser and a fixture on the campaign trail). Multiple parties who viewed early cuts of the documentary say Clinton's team is seen trying to pressure Abedin to immediately cut ties with Weiner, fearing the scandal will hurt the secretary of state's bid for the White House. (Abedin, who has become something of an obsession for the far right, remains married to Weiner and has a son with him.) The footage is said to offer the kind of rare window into the cutthroat machinations of a presidential campaign that is typically reserved for such fictitious shows as House of Cards.

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But Kriegman, who served as Weiner's chief of staff for years before becoming a filmmaker, denies that Clinton's team appears in the documentary, raising the question of whether it has been edited to expunge any fodder for the Republican Party.

In yet another twist in the labyrinthine tale, sources say Kriegman and Steinberg turned down an aggressive offer from CNN because they were worried that network chief Jeff Zucker might water down the unflattering look at Team Clinton (CNN declined to confirm whether or not it made an offer on the film). The New York-based filmmakers declined to discuss any issues surrounding the sale of the film or seemingly what's in it.

See More: THR's Photo Lounge at Sundance: 'Birth of a Nation's' Nate Parker and More Stars of Park City

Whatever the final version includes or omits will stoke interest far beyond Park City. When interviewed for this article, Kriegman and Steinberg said they were racing to finish the edit before the premiere. Weiner has not seen the film (nor does he have any editorial input) and has no plans to attend, though the onetime politician remains in touch with the duo, having sent them a thank-you note when their film was accepted into Sundance.

"I think that there are a lot of surprises in terms of what people get to see  the access and the human part of his story that they haven't gotten to see before," says Kriegman. "It was really about taking somebody who had become really just reduced to one thing in many people's eyes and getting an opportunity to show that in reality he's a much more complex and nuanced and interesting human being."

Steinberg echoes her co-filmmaker, saying many people have reduced Weiner "to a punchline and a caricature, and I think in the course of our film, you get to spend time with him and see him as a complex, nuanced person. And the same is true for Huma."

When asked to describe how Abedin reacted to Weiner's betrayal, the filmmakers didn't want to offer a pat description.

"I think that's a question we really kind of want to leave to viewers to form their own opinions about her and about him and about the whole event," Kriegman says.

Premieres on Jan. 24.

Read More: Sundance: Obama Love Story 'Southside With You,' Anthony Weiner Doc to Premiere at Fest

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The Hollywood Reporter is gearing up for an expanded presence at the Sundance Film Festival as its official industry media partner and the outlet with the largest team covering all the goings-on in Park City.

THR will play a central role at the 2016 edition of the annual event, beginning with a festival kickoff party with Sundance TV on Friday night. The invite-only reception at Sundance TV's Main Street headquarters will feature a mix of filmmakers, stars and industry insiders.

Sundance TV and THR will also present two of its signature roundtable-style interviews live in front of an audience, featuring some of the biggest voices in independent film and television. The conversations will be filmed and air online at THR.com and Sundance.TV.

On Jan. 23 at 1 p.m., a panel of actors with high-profile films at the festival, including Bryce Dallas Howard, Viggo Mortensen, John Krasinski, Rebecca Hall, Diane Ladd and Thomas Middleditch, will gather in the Sundance TV HQ for Up Close With The Hollywood Reporter LIVE  Indie Actors. Moderated by executive editor Matthew Belloni, the panel will showcase actors talking about their success in the indie space, what drives their career choices and how they create memorable characters.

Additionally, John Carney, Liz Garbus, Diego Luna, James Schamus, Whit Stillman and Christine Vachon will meet in the Sundance TV HQ on Jan 25 at 1 p.m. for Up Close With The Hollywood Reporter LIVE  Indie Filmmakers. Moderated by THR senior film writer Tatiana Siegel, the panel will bring together the directors, writers and producers behind some of the hottest films at Sundance and beyond.

Once again, THR is transforming Rock & Reillys on Main Street into its festival media lounge, presented by American Airlines. The publication's daily web talk show Live From Sundance will originate from the lounge, as will its portrait studio and video interviews with stars and filmmakers including Kristen Stewart, Octavia Spencer, Tracy Letts, Richard Linklater, Daniel Radcliffe, Spike Lee and Lena Dunham.

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THR will host a newsroom at the festival to deliver breaking news and provide comprehensive reviews of every movie by the award-winning THR critic team led by Todd McCarthy and reviews editor Jon Frosch. Videos from THR's lounge will be available on THR.com as well.

Stay updated with @THR and @SundanceTV for full coverage of the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.

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See More: THR's Photo Lounge at Sundance: Don Cheadle, Ellen Page, Nick Jonas and More Stars of Park City
A student holds a plastic snowflake at Tianchang Primary School in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, on Jan 20, 2016. The local education department decided to suspend classes within primary and secondary schools because of the strong cold front.[Photo/Xinhua]

BEIJING - Schools have been suspended and emergency workers are on standby as Chinese provinces brace for a week of unusually cold weather.

China's National Meteorological Center (NMC) announced a warning Wednesday morning for snowstorms in southern China, predicting that temperatures could drop by 14 degrees Celsius, with cities such as Shanghai and Changsha to see temperatures hit thirty-year lows.

Cold air moving south will bring up to 30 mm of snow to regions along the Yangtze River from Wednesday to Saturday.

Beijing is forecast to see temperatures as low as minus 17 degrees Celsius, the lowest in almost three decades, but would only get a light sprinkling of snow.

In Zhejiang province, two days of heavy snow will see most places covered by a 15cm blanket. Hail is expected in mountainous southern areas.

Following a snowstorm alert, authorities in Zhejiang have even ordered the Qiandao Lake scenic area be temporarily closed.

Schools in Changsha and Changzhou have been told to start winter holiday a few days ahead of schedule, while education authorities in Hangzhou have allowed students not to come to school.

Agricultural authorities have warned farmers to add organic fertilizers to keep crops and vegetables from being damaged by frost and to reinforce plastic greenhouses. Nonetheless, farmers say losses are inevitable. "The temperature will stay below zero for several days. Only ten percent of my vegetables will survive," said Zhu Dazhi, a farmer in central China's Hunan province.

Electricity companies have made plans to remove ice from key facilities and authorities are taking precautions to prevent traffic jams, power failures and train or flight delays to reduce the impact as the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday comes near.

Extreme conditions similar to the winter storms of 2008 are unlikely, as the cold period will be shorter.

The south of China was hit by the worst blizzard in five decades in January and February 2008, leading to casualties, widespread traffic jams, blackouts and crop loss. The snow left 129 people dead and did 150 billion yuan (22.8 billion U.S. dollars) of damage.
Stockholm (AFP) - Set to testify before parliament on the efficiency of migrant ID checks, the head of the Swedish Migration Agency was turned away by guards unable to match his government ID with any of the names on their list, officials said.

Director General Anders Danielsson had been invited to the Swedish parliament, the Riksdag, to talk about the systematic photo ID checks put in place on January 4 to stem an unprecedented flow of migrants to Sweden from Denmark.

But "he was not on the list of invited people and identification was not enough," said Migration Agency spokesperson Alexandra Elias.

Danielsson was forced to make several phone calls to friends and colleagues inside the Riksdag who could vouch for his identity before the issue was finally cleared up and he was allowed to enter, according to the Migration Agency.

Sweden, which is home to 9.8 million people, is one of the European Union countries that has taken in the largest number of refugees in relation to its population. Sweden accepted more than 160,000 asylum seekers last year.

But the number of migrants arrivals has dropped dramatically since Sweden enacted systematic photo ID checks on travellers on January 4.
By Tom Miles (Reuters) - Russia will back an alternative Syrian opposition delegation to negotiate with Syria's government at peace talks in Geneva later this month if the existing opposition team is not reformed or boycotts the talks, a Russian diplomat said on Thursday. "What we are trying to achieve is to either expand the 'Riyadh' delegation to include the moderate opposition or to have a separate opposition delegation," the diplomat said. The U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said on Wednesday the talks may be delayed, but major powers must keep up the pressure to bring participants to the table. Kerry met de Mistura in Davos on Thursday and held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday at which they both said talks should go ahead in January despite the apparent lack of agreement on who should represent the opposition. Friday Jan. 29 is "the last day" for convening the talks, the Russian diplomat said. A Syrian opposition council backed by Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday it would not attend the negotiations in Geneva with the government if a third group took part. But the Russian diplomat said that if the opposition council did not turn up in Geneva, the talks would still go ahead. "(In case of a boycott), then the number two delegation comes. They will negotiate with the government," the diplomat said. "Either Kerry will convince the Saudis to expand (the opposition representation) or we will opt for a second delegation." The second delegation would include Saleh Muslim from the Kurdish PYD group and activists such as Haytham Manna, Qadri Jamil, and Randa Kassis. A Western diplomat dismissed the Russian comments and said that without the opposition there would be no talks to speak of. A delegation of civil society groups, and potentially a delegation representing Syrian women, might also take part in the Geneva talks, depending on how De Mistura decides to organize them, the Russian diplomat said. The diplomat said the international powers convening the talks had not agreed which Syrian groups should be considered terrorist, and that discussion was likely to continue in parallel as De Mistura launches the peace talks. (Additional reporting by Lou Charbonneau; Editing by Andrew Roche)
By Alex Whiting LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A Syrian orchestra whose members have fled the country's civil war to different parts of the globe is reuniting in London for a rare concert which they say will show people another side of their country. The Syrian National Orchestra for Arabic Music, which includes musicians from different perspectives of Syria's war, will perform on June 25 with songwriter and producer Damon Albarn, frontman of the band Blur, and other guest performers. "This concert is a wonderful opportunity to show the world another side to the Syrian story  joy and a celebration of our music and culture," said the orchestra's principal conductor Issam Rafea, who now lives in the United States. "The fabric of Syrian society has been torn apart as a result of the conflict," he said. "There will be people representing both sides of the argument present both on stage and in the audience. But all are in agreement that we want it to end." Rafea, who was winner of the 2010 Best Composer Award in the Dubai International Film Festival, and the 90-member orchestra first played with Albarn at the Damascus Opera House in 2008. They later worked together on a track with the band Gorillaz which was co-founded by Albarn, and joined Gorillaz on their 2010 Escape to Plastic Beach World Tour which included shows in Damascus, Lebanon and across Europe and North America. But the outbreak of civil war in March 2011 led to Rafea and the rest of the orchestra fleeing to different locations globally and this will be their first performance since then. "It's a truly miraculous sound they create ... There's a whole choir, there's strings, there's soloists, there's amazing percussion. It's a really dynamic and joyous sound," Albarn said in a statement. "We're so used to seeing Syria through the prism of news, which is entirely a negative thing. This concert will give a completely different perspective." (Reporting by Alex Whiting, Editing by Belinda Goldsmith; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit news.trust.org)
By Jon Herskovitz

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Texas on Wednesday executed a man convicted of strangling a female impersonator in Houston in 2001 and then stealing the victim's car, a prisons official said.

Richard Masterson, 43, was put to death by lethal injection at the state's death chamber in Huntsville. Masterson was pronounced dead at 6:53 p.m., the official said.

"Sending me to a better place. I am all right with this, you have to live and die by the choices that we make," Masterson was quoted by prisons officials as saying in his final statement.

The execution was the state's first this year and its 532nd since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, the most of any state.

There were 13 executions last year in Texas, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, which monitors U.S. capital punishment.

Masterson's lawyers had launched appeals with the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the execution, saying his due process rights were violated and Texas presented false and misleading evidence regarding the death of Darin Honeycutt, 35, who went by the stage name of Brandi Houston.

The Supreme Court denied the motions on Wednesday.

Pope Francis had been hoping for a reprieve, Catholic World News reported this week.

Masterson's lawyers said there was no struggle, no murder and the death was accidental. They also questioned the credibility of the medical examiner who called the death a homicide.

"Petitioner has never denied that he restricted the complainant's airflow, but only that it occurred during a consensual sexual encounter," they said in a court filing.

Texas prosecutors said that after Masterson killed Honeycutt, he left the state in the victim's car, which was found days later in Georgia being driven by a nephew of Masterson.

After fleeing to Florida, Masterson met a man in a bar frequented by gay men. The two went to the man's apartment and Masterson placed him a headlock, trying to strangle him, prosecutors said.

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The man passed out and when he regained consciousness, he found that his car and wallet were gone, authorities said.

A Florida police officer ran across the stolen car at a mobile home park, which led to Masterson's arrest.

At his trial in 2002, Masterson, who has a long criminal record, did not admit to the murder.

He took the stand and said he was a danger to society, daring jurors to sentence him to death, which they did.

(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Sandra Maler and Peter Cooney)
Anti-Equal Rights Amendment activist and conservative icon Phyllis Schlafly, pictured here in a 1976 photo, has endorsed Donald Trump. (Photo: AP)



Its hard to find people these days who know whats on the minds of conservative voters in Iowa but who dont have a rooting interest that shades their comments to favor one presidential candidate over another.

Steve Scheffler is one of those few. The veteran Iowa political organizer may have his preferences, but he is not endorsing anyone. Hes a natural fit for the Ted Cruz constituency, but doesnt get along with some of Cruzs top Iowa endorsers.

Given Schefflers credentials of both expertise and relative objectivity, his take on Sarah Palins endorsement of Donald Trump on Tuesday was an interesting one.

Scheffler noted first that most Iowans are not swayed by endorsements of any kind. They get to see the candidates themselves, usually more than once, and they make up their own minds.

But as endorsements go, Scheffler said, Palins  while moderately helpful to Trump  was not even the most significant of the last few weeks.

He said that it was the support for Trump from 91-year-old conservative organizer Phyllis Schlafly that is the one that has kind of turned some heads.

For older conservative caucus-goers, it was Schlaflys glowing praise for Trump that signaled to those who have followed her over the last few decades that maybe its safe for them to go ahead and support Trump.

It gives them a comfort level, Scheffler said.

Schlaflys political biography goes all the way back to the Barry Goldwater campaign for president in 1964, when she wrote a populist, self-published book supporting Goldwater and denouncing the Republican establishment.

She is best known, however, for her activism in the 1970s to stop the Equal Rights Amendment from being amended to the Constitution. And in the more than three decades since, she has remained a venerated figure among conservatives who regard her as one of their preeminent culture warriors.

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Schlafly, like Palin, has become far less relevant on the national scene in recent years. But unlike Palin, Schlafly has not lost any credibility with older conservatives who remember her many battles with liberals over the years.

The hard-right populist website Breitbart published an adulatory 3,500 words on Schlafly after speaking to her about her support for Trump, describing her as speaking in an interview plainly and calmly like a general who  far from being war-weary from past skirmishes  thrived on battles of principle and relished the coming challenge ahead.

Schlafly told Breitbart that undocumented immigrants all immediately go on welfare and that the 2013 immigration reform bill that passed the Senate but stalled in the House was anti-American.

In an interview in mid-December, Schlafly told WorldNet Daily that Trump is Americas last hope.

It sounds like Donald Trump is the only one who has any fight in him. He will fight for the issues that we really care about and are very hot at the present time, such as the immigration issue, Schlafly said.

Scheffler, the Iowa organizer, sounded puzzled by Schlaflys support for Trump.

I talked to her at home about two weeks ago and asked her, Why?  She said things have gone to hell in a handbasket for so long and youve got all the promises of the political elites, Scheffler said. And shes willing to take a chance with someone whos going to shake things up.

Bob Vander Plaats, an influential organizer of Iowas religious conservatives who has endorsed Cruz, downplayed the importance of Schlaflys endorsement.

I havent heard a lot of buzz since Phyllis Schlafly endorsed Trump. I forget how long ago that was, Vander Plaats said.

Vander Plaats also said he did not think Palins endorsement would have much impact in Iowa either.

I think people still like and respect Sarah Palin. I just dont see her endorsement moving numbers, he said. It may validate some people who are already voting for Trump.

But whereas Palin was coming in to provide cover for some of Trumps values, Vander Plaats said, he and other leaders like James Dobson of Focus on the Family embrace Ted Cruzs values.

We extol them, he said.

One residual consequence of Palins endorsement could come, wrote conservative talk radio host Erick Erickson, if Trump wins Iowa and Cruz is forced to drop out of the primary.

Palin is not an endorsement to get new people to vote for Trump. She is an endorsement to get Ted Cruzs voters to go to Trump after Iowa. Cruz, most strategists would agree, gives up his path to victory if he does not win Iowa, Erickson wrote.
By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - For the third time in 15 months, a Colombian drug kingpin pleaded guilty on Thursday to U.S. charges that he conspired to manufacture and distribute hundreds of tons of cocaine annually that he trafficked throughout the world. The plea in Manhattan federal court clears the way for sentencing Daniel Barrera, who authorities say was one of the most prolific drug traffickers of the last two decades before his capture in Venezuela in 2012 following years in hiding. Barrera, also known as "Loco" (Crazy), was extradited from Colombia in July 2013 to face three indictments filed in federal courts in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Miami, and pleaded guilty in 2014 in the New York cases. The Miami indictment, along with the Brooklyn one, was later transferred to a federal judge in Manhattan in order to consolidate the cases for sentencing once his final plea was entered. In court, Barrera pleaded guilty to two counts, admitting that from 1992 to 2010 he agreed with others "to manufacture several tons of cocaine to import into the United States." Prosecutors and Barrera's lawyer, Ruben Oliva, had been seeking to negotiate a plea agreement to simplify his eventual sentencing on all three indictments. But Oliva told U.S. District Judge Gregory Woods that no agreement could be reached and that there were "mitigating factors" he wanted to cite at sentencing, set for May 25 Barrera faces a sentence of 10 years to life in prison. According to U.S. authorities, Barrera, 47, ran a cocaine manufacturing and trafficking syndicate that since 1998 processed about 400 tons of the drug annually. Prosecutors said Barrera bought raw cocaine paste from the leftist rebel group FARC and processed it in laboratories in areas controlled by a now-demobilized paramilitary group, the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC. Barrera was arrested in Venezuela in September 2012 with the help of authorities there as well as British and U.S. intelligence agencies. Colombian authorities had been closing in on his organization in the weeks prior, detaining 36 suspected members and seizing five tons of cocaine. (Reporting by Nate Raymond in New York; Editing by Dan Grebler)
Melbourne (AFP) - Milos Raonic beat Tommy Robredo in unusual fashion at the Australian Open on Thursday when he secured victory with the only service break of the match -- after nearly three hours of play, and in the very last game.

The big-serving Canadian finally broke Robredo's serve at the 12th attempt and in the 36th game to win it 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/5), 7-5 and reach the third round after two hours and 55 minutes.

Raonic's reward is a round of 32 meeting with Serbian 21st seed Viktor Troicki, who won last week's Sydney International.

"I don't think I played as clean as I would have liked, but at the end of the day, the most important thing is I got the win," Raonic said.

"I'm impressed by how hard he fought. He didn't surprise me by any means. It's what you expect.

"I think he's probably one of the guys that has probably the most saved match points in matches."

The Canadian 13th seed, who reached the quarter-finals of last year's Australian Open where he lost to eventual winner Novak Djokovic, hit 24 aces among his total of 75 winners.

Raonic said he was looking for a more efficient performance against the in-form Troicki in his next match.

"It's going to be difficult. He won last week, so he's feeling well," he said. "He battled through also a difficult match on the first day, saving match points and then he had a good win today.

"I think if I can put my game together a little bit cleaner and more efficient than I did today, be a little bit more proficient at the net, dictate a bit better, I'll be able to give myself some opportunities."

The experienced Spaniard Robredo resisted stoically throughout and saved 11 of 12 break point opportunities until he finally crumbled at the crucial moment in the third set.
CAIRO (Reuters) - Nine people, including six policemen, were killed on Thursday in a Cairo suburb near the pyramids when a makeshift bomb went off as police prepared to raid a militant hideout, security sources said. The Interior Ministry said in a statement that its security forces had arrived in their vehicles to raid an apartment and found the building booby-trapped. The device off when they tried to defuse it. Ten people were wounded, the sources said. Islamist militants have stepped up attacks on Egyptian soldiers and police since the army toppled president Mohammed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013 after mass protests against his rule. Civilians have also been killed. (Reporting by Cairo bureau; Writing by Michael Georgy and Lin Noueihed; Editing by Andrew Roche and Grant McCool)
Rolling Stone has reported that U.S. rapper and producer Timbaland will embark on a 21-date tour starting this month.

The tour will be to support the rapper's "King Stays King" mixtape, which he released for free on Christmas Day 2015.

The mixtape featured a previously unreleased Aaliyah track, "Shakin", as well as collaborations with Young Thug, Rich Homie Quan, Mila J, and Blaze.

Commenting on his latest release the rapper said in a statement, "It's been a while since I've been able to give the world some new music. I've spent a lot of time working on this project and I am just looking forward to giving my fans some dope sounds to close out the year."

The tour will kick off on Friday January 22, with the full list of dates below:

January 22 - Washington, D.C. @ Bliss

January 23 - New York, NY @ Lavo/1Oak

January 26 - Boston, MA @ Club Bijou

January 27 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Savoy

January 28 - Detroit, MI @ Club Blue

January 29 - Chicago, IL @ Studio Paris

January 30 - St. Louis, MO @ HG

February 1 - Kansas City, MO @ TBD

February 2 - Oklahoma City, OK @ TBD

February 6 - San Francisco, CA @ TBD

February 7 - San Francisco, CA @ TBD

February 8 - Los Angeles, CA @ 1Oak/TBD

February 9 - San Diego, CA @ Omnia/Parque/Fluxx

February 11 - Las Vegas, NV @ Drai's

February 13 - Los Angeles, CA @ VIP Listening Event

February 18 - Dallas, TX @ Park Avenue

February 19 - Houston, TX @ Pure

February 20 - New Orleans, LA @ TBD

February 22 - Jacksonville, FL @ TBD

February 26 - Miami, FL @ Studio 23

February 28 - Miami, FL @ LIV





Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/timbaland-unveils-king-stays-king-u-s-tour-dates-20160120#ixzz3xrc8WbHw

Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook
London (AFP) - Former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko, an arch foe of President Vladimir Putin, died in London on November 23, 2006 after being poisoned with radioactive polonium 210.

Here is a timeline outlining the events in the affair:

2006

- October 16: Litvinenko goes to the London offices of private security company Erinys to meet with former KGB bodyguard turned businessman Andrei Lugovoi and former Red Army soldier Dmitri Kovtun.

The inquiry established that an initial radiation poisoning attempt was likely to have been made at this meeting.

- November 1: Litvinenko, who had become a British citizen, meets Lugovoi and Kovtun in a London hotel for tea. Litvinenko falls ill immediately afterwards and his condition steadily deteriorates.

- November 23: Litvinenko dies in a London hospital. In a letter apparently dictated on his deathbed, he accuses Putin of being behind his murder, while Putin responds that the death is being used for political purposes.

- November 28: Radioactive traces are found in a series of locations in London, on planes used on the Moscow-London route and at the London office of exiled businessman Boris Berezovsky -- a former Putin ally turned bitter foe.

- December 6: British police say they are treating Litvinenko's death as murder.

2007

- May 22: British authorities say they want to charge Lugovoi over the poisoning and call for his extradition. He denies involvement and Russia refuses to extradite him.

- May 25: Russia's Prosecutor General Yury Chaika says that judges there will try Lugovoi for murder if Britain produces sufficient evidence.

- May 31: Lugovoi says that Litvinenko was a secret agent for the British and accuses the British secret service, the Russian mafia or Berezovsky of being behind the murder. Berezovsky blames the Kremlin, while Britain rebuffs Lugovoi's claim.

- June 15: Russian secret services open a spying investigation on the basis of Lugovoi's claims.

- July: Britain and Russia expel diplomats in tit for tat moves.

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- September 17: Lugovoi is named a candidate for the far-right nationalist LDPR for December's elections in Russia and says he wants to run for the presidency in 2008.

- October 27: British newspaper the Daily Mail reports that Litvinenko was working for the British secret services, citing unnamed diplomatic and intelligence sources.

- November 1: Lugovoi accuses the British secret services of trying to hide the truth about the Litvinenko affair and again protests his innocence.

Litvinenko's widow, Marina, accuses Putin of blocking investigations into her husband's death.

2013

June: A coroner delays a judicial inquest into the death, ruling that a public inquiry sanctioned by the government would be more appropriate.

July: The British government rules out a public inquiry.

2014

January: Marina Litvinenko applies to London's High Court to force the government to launch a public inquiry.

February 11: The High Court rules that the government was wrong to deny a public inquiry.

July 22: Interior minister Theresa May announces a public inquiry, days after the crash of Malaysia airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine, blamed on Russian separatists.

The inquiry is authorised to hear intelligence material not previously allowed in the inquest.

2015-2016

The public inquiry, concludes on January 21, 2016, that the Russian state "probably" approved Litvinenko's murder, and that it was carried out by Lugovoi and his ally Kovtun.
Istanbul (AFP) - The chief executive of Turkey's biggest industrial conglomerate Koc Holding, Mustafa Koc, died suddenly aged 55 Thursday following a heart attack, an Istanbul hospital said.

"We lost Mustafa Koc despite all efforts by doctors as a result of a heart attack he had at his home," the American Hospital in Istanbul said in a statement.

Turkish television reports said Koc had suffered the heart attack during a morning workout. The company also confirmed his death in a statement.

Koc was the leader of the third generation of one of Turkey's biggest industrial dynasties, founded by his grandfather Vehbi Koc in the 1920s.

Under Vehbi Koc and his son Rahmi, the Koc conglomerate expanded to become the most important of the holding companies that dominate Turkish industry, with diverse interests in energy, banking and the automobile sector.

It owns Turkey's single largest industrial enterprise, the Tupras oil refining group, as well as prominent household goods maker Arcelik and the Yapi Kredi Bank.

It also has a thriving auto industry joint venture with Ford (Ford Otosan), and with Fiat (TOFAS).

Mustafa Koc took over as chief executive of Koc Holding in 2003. He is survived by his father Rahmi Koc, 85. Vehbi Koc died in 1996 aged 94.

- 'Great loss for Turkey' -

Turkey's family-run conglomerates -- including Koc and other groups like Sabanci Holding -- are the mainstays of the Turkish economy with interests in every sector.

Koc Holding and some 100 subsidiaries alone account for around nine percent of Turkish exports and eight percent of its GDP.

The family is one of the richest in Turkey: according to 2015 estimates by the Turkish edition of Forbes magazine, Mustafa Koc had a fortune of over $1 billion.

Rahmi Koc has a fortune of $2.5 billion while Rahmi Koc's sister Suna Kirac has estimated wealth of $2.2 billion.

Koc's most prominent family members are generally careful to stay out of politics and, unlike some other big Turkish conglomerates, it does not have any substantial media interests.

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However the company found itself at odds with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after anti-government protests in June 2013 and then the target of probes over alleged tax violations.

Erdogan lashed out at the Koc company for allowing protesters in Taksim Square in Istanbul to take refuge in the nearby Divan Hotel, which is owned by the group. The president, then prime minister, criticised Koc Holding for harbouring "criminals".

However Erdogan Thursday telephoned Rahmi Koc and Mustafa's younger brother Ali to express his "deep sadness" over his passing, Turkish media quoted presidential sources as saying.

US ambassador to Turkey John Bass said the death of Koc was "a great loss for Turkey and for all his friends around the world."
Kosovoska Mitrovica (Kosovo) (AFP) - An international tribunal on Thursday jailed a top Kosovo Serb politician for nine years for war crimes against ethnic Albanians during the late 1990s conflict, in a ruling condemned by Belgrade.

Oliver Ivanovic, 62, was found guilty of encouraging the killings in April 1999 of captured civilians in the northern city of Kosovska Mitrovica, by telling Serb paramilitaries at a checkpoint to "ask nothing and carry out orders". Four of the prisoners were subsequently killed.

"Oliver Ivanovic knew that an operation of expulsions and killings of (ethnic) Albanians was under way in Kosovska Mitrovica and knew that murders would follow," said tribunal president Roxana Comsa, reading the verdict.

"He encouraged paramilitaries to commit this crime," she said.

He and four others were acquitted of other alleged war crimes in 2000.

The 1998-1999 war pitted ethnic Albanian guerrillas seeking independence for the southern Serbian province of Kosovo against Serbia's forces, who withdrew from the territory after an 11-week NATO bombing campaign.

Kosovo, whose population is predominantly ethnic Albanian, unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008, a move not recognised by Belgrade.

Ivanovic, who is considered a political moderate, became the first senior Kosovo Serb official to be charged and tried by the European Union Rule of Law Mission (EULEX) on suspicion of war crimes against ethnic Albanians.

Top Serbian officials in Belgrade qualified the court ruling as "scandalous".

"The verdict has nothing to do with law and justice," said Marko Djuric, head of the government office for Kosovo, while Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Rasim Ljajic said he believed the verdict was "politically motivated".

"By no means can I relate him with such a crime or so draconian punishment," Ljajic was quoted as saying by Beta news agency.

Ivanovic's lawyer said his client would launch an appeal, while families of the victims expressed satisfaction over the verdict.

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A former Serbian state secretary for Kosovo, Ivanovic was a key interlocutor with NATO, the UN and later the EU after the war and was seen as backing dialogue with Kosovo's ethnic Albanian community.

Arrested in January 2014, he pleaded not guilty to the charges and has held hunger strikes in protest. He leads a Serb political party in northern Kosovo, where he lived before his arrest.

EULEX, the EU's police and justice mission in the region, has the power to step in and take on cases that the local judiciary and police are unable to handle because of their sensitive nature.

About 120,000 of Kosovo's 1.8 million inhabitants are ethnic Serbs.
DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu accused Russia on Thursday of jeopardizing peace talks on Syria planned for next week by insisting on the inclusion of "terrorist groups" such as the Kurdish YPG militia on the opposition side. Turkey is concerned by the growing influence of the YPG, across its borders in Syria, and the support it receives from Washington in combating Islamic State. It fears expansion could further nourish Kurdish rebellion on its own territory. A Syrian opposition council backed by Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday it would not attend internationally-brokered negotiations with the Syrian government, due to start in Geneva on Jan. 25, if a third group took part. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Davutoglu backed that position by the council, saying it alone should decide who represents the Syrian opposition at the Geneva talks. "Turkey will be supporting any initiative for a political solution in Syria, except the only criteria we want is that the moderate opposition should be represented by their own will and initiative. There should not be any representation of terrorist groups around the table," Davutoglu said. "Some circles, including Russia, they want to spoil the opposition side, putting some other elements in the opposition side like the YPG, which has been collaborating with the regime and attacking the moderate opposition," he said. "If others want to be round the table, they can be on the regime side." TALKS DELAY? The United Nations has said it would not issue invitations to the talks until major powers promoting the negotiations, which include the United States and Russia, agree which rebel representatives should attend. U.N. Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura said on Wednesday the talks may be delayed, but that major powers must keep up the pressure to bring participants to the table. Russia and Iran, which support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, have rejected attempts by Saudi Arabia, which like the United States, European powers and Turkey opposes Assad, to organize the Syrian opposition and delegation for the talks. Davutoglu said he had met with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon earlier on Thursday and made Turkey's position clear. "For a solution, we have to identify the parties to the solution. One party is clear, the regime. Another party is clear, the opposition. Opposition means moderate Syrian opposition, the genuine opposition, and this is the Syrian national coalition (formed in Riyadh)," he said. Turkey does not want to see territorial gains by the Kurdish YPG militia in northern Syria. While the group is fighting Islamic State, Ankara sees it as closely tied to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group which has fought a three-decade insurgency for greater autonomy in Turkey. The PKK is considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. (Reporting by Nick Tattersall; Writing by Daren Butler)
By Lawrence Hurley and Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a big victory for the Obama administration, a U.S. federal court on Thursday rejected a bid by 27 states to block its Clean Power Plan, the centerpiece of its strategy to combat climate change by reducing carbon emissions from power plants. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued a brief order denying an application seeking to stay the rule while litigation continues. The states, led by West Virginia, and several major business groups in October launched the legal challenges seeking to block the Obama administration's proposal to curb carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. More than a dozen other states and the National League of Cities, which represents more than 19,000 U.S. cities, filed court papers backing the Environmental Protection Agency's rule. The rule aims to lower carbon emissions from the country's power plants by 2030 to 32 percent below 2005 levels. It is the main tool for the United States to meet the emissions reduction target it pledged at U.N. climate talks in Paris last month. For President Barack Obama, executing his climate change strategy would be a legacy-defining accomplishment. "We are confident that the plan will reduce carbon pollution and deliver better air quality, improved public health, and jobs across the country," the White House said in a statement on Thursday. The court action means the regulation remains in place but it is not the final word in the legal fight. The appeals court still has to hear oral arguments on June 2 and decide whether the regulation is lawful. The decision by the court to deny the stay is a "good sign" for the EPA when it argues the merits of its case this summer, said David Doniger of the climate and clean air program at the Natural Resources Defense Council. "Most of the time it's a pretty good hand, but I wouldn't overplay it yet," he told Reuters. "We will have to duke it out on the merits of the case now." West Virginia's Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, who led the multi-state challenge, said he is confident their challenge will succeed when the court decides the case on its merits. He said West Virginia and other states will consider asking the Supreme Court to take a "second look" at whether to freeze the regulation. Many states, even those that have sued the EPA over the Clean Power Plan, have started to work on plans to comply with the regulation. Their plans are due for EPA approval in September. Jonathan Adler, a professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, said states are "more likely to fall into line" and try to comply with the rule now that the stay has been denied. It would have been a significant setback for the government if the challengers request had been granted, he added. (Reporting by Lawrence Hurley and Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Will Dunham and Cynthia Osterman)
By Devika Krishna Kumar

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices rebounded over $1 a barrel from 12-year lows on Thursday, their biggest daily gain this year, as rallying financial markets gave some bearish traders reason to take profits on record short positions.

U.S. crude vaulted back toward $30 per barrel as hopes for easier monetary policy from Europe fueled a recovery in stock markets in European and on Wall Street.

Prices did not falter on U.S. data showing a larger-than-expected rise in record high crude and gasoline stockpiles. Instead, the report triggered buying among traders who had feared the figures could be even worse.

Still, few traders expected a quick recovery from this year's slump of more than 25 percent, amid pressure from a deepening supply glut and signs of economic weakness in China - the world's No. 2 oil consumer.

"The fundamentals are still weak and you still have worries about economic growth and its impact on fuel demand, so this is probably a sign that things have been overdone more than anything else," said Gene McGillian, analyst at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut.

He said the market was going to be vulnerable to small turnarounds, given this year's freefall.

Benchmark Brent <LCOc1> futures for March delivery rose $1.37 to settle at $29.25 a barrel, a 4.9 percent gain. U.S. crude <CLc1> rose $1.18 to settle 4.2 percent higher at $29.53 per barrel.

Brent rose as much as 7 percent during the session to $29.84, while WTI rose as much as 6.7 percent to $30.25.

Yet, Brent has lost more than 25 percent of its value so far in January and is on track for its biggest monthly fall since 2008.

Thursday's rally got going after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said it would be necessary to review the Bank's monetary policy stance in March, fueling hopes for more quantitative easing.

"The market, especially the equity markets, want stimulus and need stimulus in order to keep the rally going," said Brian LaRose, a technical analyst with United-ICAP.

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"It's all about economic expectations here and the U.S. equity markets are going to be in the driver's seat over the near term."

Gains accelerated after the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that nationwide crude stocks rose by 4 million barrels, more than the forecast 2.8 million barrels. But traders were still encouraged that stockpiles at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub rose by only 191,000 barrels, less than some had feared.

In one of the few bullish spots, distillate fuel inventories fell by 1 million barrels, the EIA said.

Iran's return to the oil market this month has added to worries, after the lifting of international sanctions.

(Additional reporting by Simon Falush in London, Roslan Khasawneh and Henning Gloystein in Singapore; editing by Bernadette Baum, G Crosse)
PHOENIX (Reuters) - An F-16 fighter jet crashed in rough terrain in remote central Arizona on Thursday, U.S. Air Force officials said.

There was no immediate word on the fate of the pilot of the Fighting Falcon aircraft that went down at about 8:45 a.m. local time near Baghdad, the officials said in a statement.

Military officials and local authorities launched a search-and-rescue operation on Thursday morning, the officials said.

The cause of the crash was not immediately known, and a military panel has been established to conduct an investigation.

The $25 million jet is assigned to the 56th Fighter Wing at Luke Air Force Base in Glendale, a suburb of Phoenix, officials said. The crash occurred about 100 miles northwest of the base.

The base is responsible for training pilots on F-16 and F-35 fighter jets.

(Reporting by David Schwartz in Phoenix; Additional reporting by Idrees Ali in Washington D.C.; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Jeffrey Benkoe)
By Sebastien Malo NEW YORK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Academics, economists and top members of business and labour have been tapped by the United Nations to find ways to unleash women's economic potential and promote female leadership in a first-of-its-kind initiative, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday. The Women's Economic Empowerment Panel will make recommendations to reach gender equality and empower women, one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) the 193 U.N. member nations have approved for implementation by 2030, he said. "The empowerment of the world's women is a global imperative," said Ban, who spoke at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland. "We need a quantum leap in women's economic empowerment." The panel will meet in March to seek solutions to persistent women's inequality, he said. While women's rights have been on the U.N. agenda for decades, with the 1995 World Conference on Women and creation of UN Women in 2010, this will be the first time experts and policy leaders will be brought together in a panel setting focused on tackling economic gender inequality, the U.N said. "Investing in girls and women isn't just about basic human rights, it's about fully unlocking the potential of half the world's population," said British International Development Secretary Justine Greening, a member of the panel. The U.N.-led drive comes amid efforts to increase women's representation in corporate boardrooms and government legislatures, said Julie Suk, a professor at Yeshiva University in New York with expertise in anti discrimination law. "The real challenge will be whether or not having more women's representation in decision-making positions trickles down to actual on-the-ground economic empowerment for women in all levels of society," she said. The panel will seek to galvanise political will for action aimed at closing economic gender gap, the U.N. said. Globally, women are paid 24 cents less than men on average for the same work, it said, and they also bear most of the burden of unpaid care taking and domestic work. If women in every nation were to play a role identical to men in markets, some $28 trillion could be added to the global economy by 2025, according to the McKinsey Global Institute. The first report from the panel, to be co-chaired by President Luis Guillermo Solis of Costa Rica and Simona Scarpaleggia, chief executive of IKEA Switzerland, is expected by September. (Reporting by Sebastien Malo, Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst)
By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Members of the United Nations Security Council on Thursday received a draft of a resolution that calls for establishing a U.N. mission to oversee disarmament should Colombia's government and leftist FARC rebels reach a final peace deal. Colombia's government and FARC agreed on Tuesday to ask the 15-nation council to help monitor and verify rebel disarmament should the two sides reach a deal to end their 50-year-old war. The text, drafted by Britain and seen by Reuters, would have the 15-nation council "establish a political mission to participate for a period of 12 months ... to monitor and verify the definitive bilateral ceasefire and cessation of hostilities, and the laying down of arms." To begin the process of creating the mission, it would ask Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon "to initiate preparations and to present detailed recommendations to the Security Council for its consideration and approval." It added that the council would establish "a political mission of unarmed international observers" and welcomed the willingness of members of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States to contribute personnel. The draft said Ban would submit his recommendation on the size and operational details of the mission within 30 days of the signing of a final ceasefire deal by the Colombian government and FARC. One council diplomat said on condition of anonymity that he hoped the draft resolution would go to a vote next week. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said last year he would make such an appeal to the U.N. The rebels' willingness to make the request jointly with the government is a sign of progress as the two sides aim to reach a comprehensive peace agreement before a March 23 deadline that negotiators set last year. In addition to verifying a bilateral ceasefire and presiding over the FARC's disarmament, the international monitors would also settle any disputes and make recommendations. (Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)
KAMPALA (Reuters) - Uganda should not license an oil exploration block close to neighbouring Congo's Virunga National Park because drilling would harm the park's ecosystem, 60 local and international environmental groups said on Thursday. The east African country of Uganda discovered crude reserves in its Albertine rift basin near its border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 2006. In its latest licensing round, the first to be conducted competitively, six blocks covering about 3,000 square kilometres (1160 square miles) are expected to be handed out early this year. Sixteen oil firms are competing for the blocks, including Britain's Tullow, France's Total and China's CNOOC, which are all already operating in Uganda. But oil exploration in Ngaji, one of the six blocks, "could have a devastating impact on the (Virunga) UNESCO World Heritage Site," the environmental groups said in a statement. Signatories included London-based environmental watchdog Global Witness and Greenpeace, an environmental body with offices in more than 40 countries. Ngaji extends over Lake Edward, which straddles Uganda's border with DRC and forms part of the Virunga, Africa's oldest and most bio-diverse national park. It's also home to endangered mountain gorillas. British petroleum firm Soco International conducted seismic testing on a block in Virunga in 2014, drawing protests from environmentalists. The firm later suspended exploration in the area and said in November last year that it no longer owns the block. "Drilling for oil in Lake Edward may have a devastating impact on both Virunga and the local people and wildlife in Uganda," George Boden, a senior campaigner at Global Witness, said in the statement. "The governments of Uganda and Congo need to act urgently to stop oil exploration in the entire lake for good." The exploration area also covers a part of the 1,978 square kilometre Queen Elizabeth National Park, a top Ugandan tourist destination teeming with buffalos, lions, elephants and other prized game. Bukenya-Matovu Yusuf, spokesperson for Uganda's energy ministry, said environmentalists' concerns were unjustified. "How about UK drilling in the North Sea or offshore drilling all over the world ... no one is talking about endangering marine life there," he said. "The problem is not drilling in a national park or lake but doing it in a responsible and sensitive manner and we're experts in that," he said. Large parts of the Ugandan side of the Albertine area extend over national parks and game reserves, including Murchison Falls. The government has previously handed out drilling licences in those areas despite protests from environmentalists. (Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Drazen Jorgic and Katharine Houreld)
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is considering taking further action against Russia after an inquiry found Russian President Vladimir Putin probably approved the murder of ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko, a spokeswoman for Prime Minister David Cameron said. "The conclusion that the murder was authorised at the highest levels of the Russian state is extremely disturbing," the spokeswoman told reporters. "It is not the way for any state, let alone a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, to behave." "In light of the inquiry's findings we are considering what further actions we should take," she said. The Kremlin has denied any involvement in the death of Litvinenko. (Reporting by Kylie MacLellan; writing by William Schomberg; editing by Stephen Addison)
KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation into the online publication by U.S. drinks companies Coca-Cola and Pepsico of a map that showed Crimea as a part of Russia, a Ukrainian lawmaker said on Thursday. Russia annexed the peninsula from Ukraine in March 2014, leading to condemnation from Western governments and the imposition of economic sanctions on Russia. Ukraine and most other countries have refused to recognize the annexation. Coca-Cola last month said that the map, which appeared on Dec. 30 on Coca-Cola's page on VKontakte, a Russian social networking site similar to Facebook, had been changed by an advertising agency without Coca-Cola's approval. Georgy Logvinsky, a lawmaker from the party of Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk, quoted an official letter sent to him by the prosecutors' office, stating that "officials of Coca-ola company and Pepsico abused their powers, which caused significant damage to Ukraine's interests". The letter said that the maps were posted on the official websites of Coca-Cola and Pepsico. "Officials of Coca-Cola and Pepsi can go to prison. Prosecutors of Crimea have started criminal proceedings under Part 1 of Article 364-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine," Logvinsky wrote on Facebook. This article cited by Logvinsky allows prosecutors to arrest suspects for up to three months. The prosecutors' office, Coca-Cola and the Ukrainian office of Pepsico did not respond immediately to a requests for comment. (Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Editing by Matthias Williams and David Goodman)
Her first cinematic outing dates back to 1912 and she's appeared as a character in countless films since then. But finally Mary Magdalene is getting a major biopic of her own.

Universal Pictures International Productions has boarded Mary Magdalene, the latest project from growing British and Australian banner See-Saw Films and described as an "authentic and humanistic portrait of one of the most enigmatic and misunderstood spiritual figures in history." See-Saw, the production house behind The King's Speech, Shame and last year's Cannes-bowing Macbeth, developed the project with Film4.

The film, to be directed by Garth Davis from a script by Helen Edmundson and Philippa Goslett, will be produced by See-Saw's co-founders Iain Canning and Emile Sherman, with shooting expected to start this summer. Davis is currently finishing the See-Saw drama Lion, starring Dev Patel, Nicole Kidman and Rooney Mara and based on Saroo Brierly's autobiography A Long Way Home.

"Were delighted to be beginning a new production relationship with Universal Pictures International Productions on Mary Magdalene," added Sherman and Canning. "The story of Mary Magdalenes life and legacy has not been fully explored on film and so we look forward to working with UPIP and bringing this exciting story to the screen."

The film will be overseen at Universal by managing director of UPIP Peter Kujawski and co-managing director Robert Walak, who negotiated the deal along with UPIP business affairs head Alexander Jooss.

Universal will release Mary Magdalene in all international territories except Australia and New Zealand where it will be handled by See-Saws long time partners Transmission Films.

See-Saw also has the Kidman-starring How to Talk to Girls at Parties  also co-written by Goslett  in the pipeline, which completed shooting in the U.K. in December. The 70s-set comedy sci-fi, based on Neil Gaiman's short story of the same name, is being directed by John Cameron Mitchell and also stars Elle Fanning.

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Davis is repped by UTA, Edmundson is repped by The Agency and Goslett is repped by UTA and Casarotto Ramsey & Associates.

Read More: Universal Nabs 'Do Nothing Bitches' Comedy Pitch With Tina Fey, Ronda Rousey
Washington (AFP) - President Barack Obama's pick for the next secretary of the US Army said Thursday he is worried about broad cuts to the service, which is set for a dramatic downsizing.

Eric Fanning, who was nominated to the Army's top civilian post in September and would be the first openly gay person to fill the position, told a long-delayed Senate confirmation hearing that budget cuts were reducing military preparedness at a time of growing international instability.

The Army is due to shrink to 450,000 active duty soldiers by 2018, down from a peak of 570,000 during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Later cuts could see troop numbers reduced further still, to 420,000.

"I do worry about the size of the Army today," Fanning said.

"Two years ago when we targeted 450 (thousand,) we didn't have ISIL, we didn't have Russia as provocative as it is," he added, using an acronym for the Islamic State group.

Though he was nominated months ago, Fanning's confirmation has been stalled by political squabbling.

Kansas Republican Senator Pat Roberts blocked his confirmation for reasons related to the closure of the Guantanamo Bay military prison.

Roberts wants guarantees that no inmate from the controversial facility would ever be transferred to a Kansas federal prison site under consideration in the event Guantanamo closes.

But lawmakers in the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday seemed set to vote in favor of Fanning's nomination, which the full Senate would also need to approve.

"You are about to be secretary of the Army, I think you are well qualified," Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said. "I look forward to voting for you."

Fanning has held an array of different posts in Congress and at the Pentagon over the past 25 years, including as an undersecretary of the Air Force, a deputy undersecretary in the Navy and he was chief of staff to Defense Secretary Ashton Carter.

Fanning said he supported women, who are now eligible to apply for any job in the US military including in commando units, to be required to register for the draft in case a national crisis sees the re-institution of mandatory conscription.

"If we are focused on equal opportunity, I think a part of that is equal responsibility," he said.
US lawmakers on Wednesday ridiculed a Pentagon program that saw millions of taxpayer dollars sent to Afghanistan for investment initiatives that included importing rare blond Italian goats and the construction of a useless gas station.

The now-disbanded Task Force for Business and Stability Operations spent close to $800 million to encourage investment in war-torn Afghanistan over a period of about five years.

But it suffered from poor oversight and much of the cash went to projects beset with waste, fraud and abuse, according to John Sopko, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.

Sopko, who testified before senators from a special committee on military management, grabbed headlines in recent months with the release of a string of damning reports including one saying the military spent $43 million on a natural-gas car filling station that should have cost a fraction as much.

Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri called that endeavor "dumb on its face."

"There's never been any data presented that the ridiculous fuel station in Afghanistan helped anything... it was unsustainable and totally impractical," she fumed, noting that the average Afghan earns only $690 annually, while it costs $800 to convert a car to run on natural gas.

"Did anybody in the room sit there and say, 'Is there anybody that can afford this?'" she added. "The 120 cars we did (convert), we paid for."

Brian McKeon, the Pentagon's principal deputy under secretary of defense for policy, disputed Sopko's $43 million figure, saying the actual amount was "well under" $10 million.

He defended other programs too, including the $150 million to build privately owned villas equipped with flat-screen TVs and private security guards for US government employees, instead of having them live on US military bases.

McKeon argued the villas were used to house international entrepreneurs to show "they could come to Afghanistan and do business."

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- 'Ill-conceived' -

Lawmakers responded by bemoaning the lack of metrics to determine if this or any program actually had a positive effect on the Afghan economy or the security situation, which remains fragile more than 14 years after the US-led invasion turfed out Taliban militants.

Known by its acronym SIGAR, Sopko's office has long been a critic of spending in Afghanistan. He highlighted several programs that he said demonstrated America's "scattershot" approach to economic development in the country.

These included the importation of rare blond Italian goats to bolster the cashmere industry in Herat, and pricey initiatives to boost the extraction of minerals in projects that ultimately resulted in the Afghan government awarding contracts to the Chinese.

"SIGAR has not been able to find credible evidence showing that (the task force's) activities in Afghanistan produced the intended economic growth or stabilization outcomes that justified its creation," SIGAR said in a statement.

"On the contrary, (its) legacy in Afghanistan is marred by unfinished, poorly planned, and ill-conceived projects."

Officially at least, the Pentagon said it welcomed the attention generated by SIGAR.

"We appreciate SIGAR's continued efforts to identify potential vulnerabilities and make constructive recommendations to improve the oversight and accountability of US taxpayer-funded assistance to Afghanistan," Pentagon spokesman Christopher Sherwood said.

Lawmakers also questioned why the Pentagon was even involved in the effort to spur private investment, noting it might be better achieved through the State Department or the US Agency for International Development.

The United States has spent about $1 trillion in fighting and reconstruction during the years it has been in Afghanistan. Some 2,200 US lives have been lost in the longest war in US history.
Davos (Switzerland) (AFP) - US Secretary of State John Kerry admitted Thursday that some of the funds Iran will recover as a result of sanctions relief could be directed to groups that Washington considers "terrorist" organisations.

His remarks at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, come as the United States lifts a litany of sanctions levied on the Islamic Republic over its nuclear programme as part of a deal implemented this month following years of talks.

Kerry had earlier said the US stands by separate new ballistic missile-related sanctions on Tehran, a move Iran described as "bizarre".

When asked by US broadcaster CNBC, however, whether a portion of the funds unblocked by the lifting of the nuclear sanctions would be directed to organisations Washington labels as "terrorist", Kerry replied: "I think that some of it will end up in the hands of the IRGC or of other entities, some of which are labelled terrorists."

"I'm not going to sit here and tell you that every component of that can be prevented."

Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is not designated a foreign terrorist organisation by the US State Department, despite efforts by US lawmakers for it to do so. The US Treasury, however, has since 2007 considered the IRGC's Quds Force, which is responsible for external operations, a "terrorist" entity.

According to the Treasury, Iran will receive an estimated $55 billion as a result of the easing of restrictions on its economy thanks to the implementation of the nuclear deal.

"If we catch them (Iran) funding terrorism, theyre going to have a problem with the United States Congress and with other people, obviously," Kerry later told reporters.

"I'm just trying to be honest. I cant tell people that no, some amount might not. But we dont believe that that is what has made the difference in the activities of Iran in the region."

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The US, meanwhile, unveiled new missile-linked sanctions against Iran on Sunday, almost immediately after the nuclear sanctions were scrapped.

"We stand by our sanctions," Kerry said earlier.

"We think they have been used judiciously and effectively and we are looking to move on now to put to test the willingness of Iran and other countries in the region to try to reduce tensions and move in a different direction."

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who was also in Davos, criticised that US decision.

"I find it rather bizarre that the United States expresses concern over the Iranian missile programme, which is defensive and does not violate any current international regulation," Zarif said Wednesday.
Paris (AFP) - US special forces are directly engaged in pinpointing targets and launching raids against the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq, Defence Secretary Ashton Carter said Thursday.

"These forces have already established contact with new forces that share our goals, (opening) new lines of communication to local, motivated and capable fighters, and new targets for air strikes and strikes of all kinds," Carter told an audience at the Ecole Militaire, a training school for French officers in Paris.

The US has called on allies, including France and Britain, to contribute special forces as a key part of their effort to bolster coalition forces fighting the jihadist group.

None provide precise figures on how many of their special forces are operating in the region, but it has become increasingly clear that elite Western troops are providing more than training, and shifting towards more of a frontline role.

In Iraq, "we now have a specialised expeditionary targeting force in place that is preparing to work with the Iraqis to begin mounting sudden, long-range raids, going after ISIL's fighters and commanders, killing or capturing them wherever we find them, along with other key targets," Carter said.

The defence secretary was in Paris for a meeting on Wednesday of seven counterparts from key countries in the anti-IS coalition.
Washington (AFP) - The United States on Thursday began enforcing new visa rules on some travellers who have visited or who have dual nationality with states considered seedbeds of terrorism.

The Department of Homeland Security said would-be US visitors who have been to Iran, Iraq, Sudan or Syria since March 2011 will now always have to apply for a visa.

This will be the case even if the traveller is from a country in the US visa waiver program -- the 40 nations seen as friends of America whose citizens can visit freely.

In addition, citizens of visa waiver countries who hold dual Iranian, Iraqi, Sudanese or Syrian nationality will have to apply for a full visa before travelling to America.

The department said it had started to implement the new rules on Thursday, but there had already been reports of travellers falling afoul of the controversial regulations.

On Wednesday, the BBC reported that its journalist Rana Rahimpour, who has joint British and Iranian nationality, had been kept from boarding a US-bound flight.

The State Department refused to comment on specific cases.

"We will carry out the law that Congress passed and the president signed," a senior administration official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"The Department of Homeland Security... is working closely with the Department of State and other partners to ensure that the new amendments... are appropriately implemented."

Homeland Security said dual nationals and travellers who had visited the four targeted countries would still be eligible for visas if they apply for them properly.

But they will no longer be able to skip the visa process by registering with the Electronic System for Travel Authorizations (ESTA) like fellow waiver country citizens.

Members of allied forces who fought alongside US troops in Iraq will be exempted from the new rules, and aid workers and journalists may be exempted on a "case-by-case" basis.
Olga Fonda just cant seem to stay out of trouble.

Fresh off her recurring role as an unpredictable Russian operative on TNTs Agent X, the actress is heading to the Aloha state for an explosive guest spot on CBS Hawaii Five-0, TVLine has learned exclusively.

RELATEDMeagan Good Joins CBS Code Black as [Spoiler]s Former Flame

Fonda will appear later this season as Anna Novik, a spy who uses deadly tactics to obtain important stolen intel. Needless to say, she quickly finds herself a target of the Five-0 team.

Though shes appeared on a handful of series throughout her career  including Nip/Tuck, How I Met Your Mother and Nikita  Fonda is best known for playing Nina Dobrevs on-screen daughter Nadia on The Vampire Diaries.

Will you be following Fonda to Hawaii? Drop a comment with your thoughts on her casting below.

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(Reuters) - The Vatican's foreign minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, voiced hope that Britain would stay in the European Union, suggesting its exit would weaken Europe, Britain's Telegraph reported, citing his interview with ITV that aired on Wednesday. "I think we would see it as being something that is not going to make a stronger Europe", the archbishop said of Britain's potential exit from the EU. But he added: "The Holy See respects the ultimate decision of the British people - that's for the British electorate to decide". The interview came as Wall Street bank Goldman Sachs agreed to donated a "substantial six-figure sum" to Britain Stronger In Europe, a campaign to keep Britain in the European Union, according to a source familiar with the matter. British Prime Minister David Cameron has promised a referendum by the end of 2017 on whether Britain should stay in the EU. Prospects of the country leaving the union have raised concerns among sections of its business community and weighed on sterling. (Reporting by Parikshit Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Cooney)
The following factors are likely to influence Malaysian palm oil futures and other vegetable oil

markets.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Malaysian palm oil futures slid nearly 1 percent on Wednesday, falling further from a

three-week high reached at the start of the week, after data showed a drop in exports this

month.

* U.S. soybean futures dropped 1.1 percent on Wednesday as investors locked in profits a day

after the market's rally to a four-week high, traders said.

* U.S. oil prices crashed below $27 dollars a barrel on Wednesday for the first time since

2003, caught in a broad slump across world financial markets with traders also worried that the

crude supply glut could last longer.

MARKET NEWS

* Global equity markets staged a late rebound along with oil prices on Wednesday to cut

declines from 2-1/2 year lows, but remained on pace for one of the most dismal monthly

performances on record.

RELATED

> Even in slump, U.S. oilfield firms hesitate over post-sanctions Iran

> Venezuela's call for emergency OPEC meet gets doubtful response

> Brazil 2016 coffee crop could set record at 51.9 mln bags -govt

> China 2015 cotton imports hit multi-year low, to drop more in 2016

> Indonesia 2016 palm oil exports seen lower, first drop in 5 years

DATA/EVENTS

> Cargo surveyor ITS releases Malaysia's Jan 1-25 palm oil export data on January 26.

> Cargo surveyor SGS releases Malaysia's Jan 1-25 palm oil export data on January 26.

> MPOB releases Malaysia's January 2016 data on February 10.

* For a table on Malaysian physical palm oil prices, including refined oil, Reuters Terminal

users can double click on or type.

* To view freight rates from Peninsula Malaysia/Sumatra to China, India, Pakistan and

Rotterdam, please key in and press enter, or double click between the brackets.

* Reuters Terminal users can see cash and futures edible oil prices by double clicking on

the codes in the brackets: To go to the next page in the same chain, hit F12. To go back, hit

F11.

Palm, soy and crude oil prices at 0021 GMT

Story continues

Contract Month Last Change Low High Volume

MY PALM OIL FEB6 0 +0.00 0 0 0

MY PALM OIL MAR6 0 +0.00 0 0 0

MY PALM OIL APR6 0 +0.00 0 0 0

CHINA PALM OLEIN MAY6 4626 -56.00 4624 4650 428456

CHINA SOYOIL MAY6 5568 -30.00 5560 5588 211018

CBOT SOY OIL MAR6 29.81 -3.70 0.00 0.00 0

INDIA PALM OIL JAN6 424.30 -3.70 424.30 427.20 577

INDIA SOYOIL FEB6 603.30 -5.05 602.40 608.30 32560

NYMEX CRUDE MAR6 28.70 +0.35 28.32 28.85 5148

Palm oil prices in Malaysian ringgit per tonne

CBOT soy oil in U.S. cents per pound

Dalian soy oil and RBD palm olein in Chinese yuan per tonne

India soy oil in Indian rupee per 10 kg

Crude in U.S. dollars per barrel

Vegetable oils --

Malaysian palm oil exports --

CBOT soyoil futures --

CBOT soybean futures --

Indian solvent --

Weekly Indian vegetable oils --

Dalian Commodity Exchange --

Dalian soyoil futures --

Dalian refined palm oil futures --

Zhengzhou rapeseed oil --

European edible oil prices/trades --

(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff)
Sarah Palins attempt at politicizing PTSD is not sitting well with some veterans and veterans advocates.

While speaking to a gathering of Donald Trump supporters on Wednesday, the former Alaska governor addressed her son Track Palins recent arrest on domestic violence charges, suggesting it could be related to posttraumatic stress disorder from serving in Iraq and linking it to what she called President Obamas lack of respect of war veterans.

My son, a combat veteran  was fighting for you all, America, in the war zone. My son, like so many others, came back a bit different, they come back hardened, she said in Tulsa, Okla.

They come back wondering if there is that respect for what it is that their fellow soldiers and airman and every other member of the military so sacrificially have given to this country, Palin added. And that starts from the top.  That comes from our own president. Where they have to look at him and wonder, Do you know what we go through? Do you know what were trying to do to secure America?

Her remarks brought a backlash on social media.

Its clear her son beats women. Less clear its related to combat PTSD, tweeted Brandon Friedman, the former digital media director for the Department of Veterans Affairs. If battering his girlfriend and his reported suicide threat are related to PTSD, then its probably not helpful to use as a campaign prop.

I absolutely hate that PTSD is trending because Sarah Palin blamed it for her sons violent assault on his girlfriend.  Brandon Friedman (@BFriedmanDC) January 20, 2016

Track Palin, 26, enlisted and spent 2008, the final year of George W. Bushs presidency, deployed in Iraq with the Armys Alaska-based 25th Infantry Divisions 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team.

He was arrested late Monday at the Palins home in Wasilla, Alaska, and charged with assault, interference with the reporting of a domestic violence crime and possession of a firearm while intoxicated after his girlfriend told police he punched and kicked her before threatening to kill himself with an AR-15 rifle.

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David Maulsby, executive director of the nonprofit PTSD Foundation of America, told Yahoo News that he couldnt address Track Palins alleged crime because he doesnt know the particulars.

Generally speaking, however, it is our experience that PTSD lends to the 22 veteran suicides a day, not homicides or other acts of violence, Maulsby said in an email. PTSD in our vets is leading to a feeling of Im not worthy and isolation. While anyone with PTSD can commit an act of violence, we believe it not a result of PTSD, in general.

Sarah Palin told the crowd that through her sons experiences, I can certainly relate with other families who kind of feel these ramifications of PTSD and some of the woundedness that our soldiers do return with.

And it makes me realize more than ever, it is now or never for the sake of Americas finest that well have that commander in chief who will respect them and honor them, she said.

Some war veterans, like Twitter user @CombatCavScout, took Palins remarks to be an excuse for her sons actions.

He could very well have PTSD. Dont discount that possibility. BUT IT IN NO WAY EXCUSES INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE. Period, full stop.  Fetch Me My Bayonet! (@CombatCavScout) January 21, 2016

Paul Rieckhoff, founder and CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), told NBC News that he hopes PTSD doesnt become a political chew toy in a political campaign.

This is a great opportunity for Sarah Palin to sound the alarm about PTSD, he said. Now that she has endorsed Mr. Trump, I would encourage her to talk with him about it. Mr. Trumps campaign is pretty light on specifics about what he would do for veterans.

Shes got millions of dollars & a lot of free time, so Obama is not the one to blame for ignoring her sons problem. https://t.co/6MuWijixp7  Col. Morris Davis (@ColMorrisDavis) January 21, 2016

Trump told CNNs Don Lemmon Wednesday night that it was his call for Palin to publicly question Obamas support of veterans care.

I thought it was good for many other sons and daughters coming back from the Middle East where they have traumatic problems, and I suggested it, Trump said.

Maulby, whose group mentors combat veterans and their families with posttraumatic stress, said he hoped this weeks controversy at least leads to a deeper discussion of the issue.

The PTSD Foundation does not believe government has or ever will have an effective answer to the veteran PTSD pandemic, Maulby said. It would, however, be helpful if the candidates for President of the United States gave more than lip-service to the VA scandals and show enough respect to propose a plan for dealing with our 22 veteran suicides per day.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Thursday discussed the urgency of mobilizing international support to stabilize the city of Ramadi, which the government recently retook from Islamic State militants, the White House said. "The vice president encouraged continued dialogue between Iraq and Turkey to resolve concerns about Turkish troop deployments in northern Iraq and reiterated U.S. respect for Iraq's sovereignty and territorial integrity," the White House said in a statement about the meeting between the leaders, in Davos, Switzerland. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton and Ayesha Rascoe; Editing by Eric Beech)
Family trips are, for many of us, the magical substance that elevates childhood from mere growing up to the stuff of lifelong nostalgia. Unless youre in a place like El Salvador. When Yancy Argumedo Luna packed her family for the trip of a lifetime, it was not for a week at the beach. When gangs infested Lunas neighborhood, she had to ditch any thoughts of sand castles and strategize about survival instead. So of course the family headed to the U.S  Except they didnt, because they couldnt afford the thousands of dollars for a smuggler, and going it alone through Mexico would no doubt mean encounters with gangs, bandits or human traffickers.

Their new homeland? Costa Rica. Which, in all coincidence, has the ring of vacation to it.

Luna and her family arent alone. More and more asylum seekers from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras  the Northern Triangle  are looking away from the U.S. and heading south instead. The development has unfolded over the past two to three years, spurred by a deteriorating security situation in the Triangle, says David James Cantor, director of the Refugee Law Initiative at the University of London. Since 2013, asylum requests through the agency have doubled. In 2015, more than 700 Northern Triangle migrants requested asylum in Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, a small number in comparison to the 40,000 asylum requests the U.S. received from these countries in 2014. But the Northern Triangle stats are probably much higher  UNHCR statistics dont account for people such as Luna, who is undocumented, and her husband, who gained legal status through a family member with Costa Rican citizenship.

Full-blown war zones aside, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador are three of the most violent countries in the world, with all credit due to street gangs, drug cartels and drugs, according to a report by InSight Crime. Gangs, as so many Americans have either seen on TV or actually lived through themselves, kill for wearing the wrong color, crossing imaginary territory lines or failing to make extortion payments. Violence in these parts, particularly in El Salvador, is intensifying. August 2015 was the deadliest month for the country since the end of a bloody civil war in 1992. And these problems show no sign of going away, so the people want to leave, says Hector Monterroso, an Episcopalian bishop from Guatemala who works with migrants in Costa Rica. They are going to go to the closest place where there is another possibility.

Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador are three of the most violent countries in the world, with all credit due to street gangs, drug cartels and drugs

Armando de Paz, a lawyer for human-rights group Cristosal, which works with internal refugees in El Salvador, agrees. He points to people who dont have the resources or opportunity to go to the U.S., or they see that its very difficult, or they already tried and failed. So, he says, they migrate to Nicaragua, Panama or Costa Rica, because its easier to get there.

There are nearly 60 million refugees and internally displaced people worldwide. Many flee armed conflicts or repressive regimes, such as the much publicized civil war in Syria. The Northern Triangle, on the other hand, has experienced a distinct type of pervasive social violence, which can be just as deadly as traditional conflicts, according to Cantor. And its different from other parts of Central America, which do not experience the same level of violence caused by organized crime. Costa Rica and Panama have accepted Colombian refugees for decades and thus have more institutional capacity to address asylum claims. However, in the long term, the delegation wants to improve security and the social conditions that lead to migration from the Northern Triangle.

Monterroso recently attended a conference in San Salvador where Central American religious and human-rights leaders and ombudsmen met to discuss solutions to propel the region toward an effective long-term remedy. Just a few blocks from their meeting place stands a statue of Archbishop Oscar Romero, a martyr who fought for social justice in El Salvador until his assassination in 1980. The religious community has led Central America in political activism as far back as the Sanctuary Movement of the 1980s, when churches offered refuge to citizens fleeing brutal civil wars. And while much of the Western world, at least on a governmental level, has distanced itself dramatically from religion, here it might be  pardon the pun  salvation. The countries that receive migrants will eventually reach a point where they cant receive any more, says Monterroso, so its important that we all learn from each other and collaborate.

To be sure, the trend of refugees here avoiding the U.S. is still small in terms of numbers. The majority of the Northern Triangles migrants continue to make the perilous journey to the U.S., where about 1 in 5 Salvadorans, 1 in 15 Guatemalans and 1 in 15 Hondurans reside.

Meanwhile, Luna plans on setting down roots in Costa Rica despite her status as an undocumented immigrant. She recommends Salvadorans consider migrating to other Central American nations. You can enter without a visa and its much cheaper, Luna says. Come here instead of the U.S.

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Madrid (AFP) - The number of international tourists to the Middle East and North Africa will triple to 195 million in 2030 despite concerns over security, the head of the United Nations tourism body said Thursday.

The region's tourism sector -- a key source of jobs and foreign currency -- has repeatedly bounced back after attacks by extremists that frightened off visitors, said Taleb Rifai, secretary general of the UN World Tourism Organisation.

"The story of tourism in the Middle East is a story of mixed description. It is a success story without doubt. Today we have over 60 million international visitors coming to the Middle East. This is a growth that has tripled in less than ten years," he added at the Madrid international tourism fair Fitur.

"Our long term forecast for 2030 is that the Middle East and North Africa will receive 195 million international tourists. That is triple the amount that we receive now," he said.

International tourism arrivals in the Middle East grew for the third consecutive year in 2015, expanding by 3.0 percent, but were down by eight percent in North Africa in large part due to deadly attacks in Tunisia.

The number of international visitors to Tunisia -- which was shaken by an attack on the Bardo museum in Tunis followed by one in the resort of Sousse that killed 59 tourists -- fell to 5.2 million last year from 7.2 million in 2014.

But Rifai, a former Jordanian tourism minister, pointed to the example of Egypt which has repeatedly managed to rebuild confidence and revive tourist numbers after attacks, most vividly after the massacre of tourists by extremists in Luxor in 1997 in which over 60 people were killed.

Egypt suffered a slump in visitors last year following the crash of a Russian airliner on October 31 over the Sinai Peninsula that killed all those on board.

The Islamic State group said it downed the plane a bomb smuggled on board at the airport of Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh airport.

Some major tourist operators have suspended packages to the region.
A British inquiry into the 2006 death of Alexander Litvinenko has found that the killing of the former Russian spy was probably approved by Russian President Vladimir Putin and the head of Russias intelligence agency.

The results of public inquiry, published Thursday, suggest that Putin and Nikolai Patrushev, then the head of FSB, the Russian intelligence agency that succeeded the KGB, signed off on the operation, wrote Judge Robert Owen.

Taking full account of all the evidence and analysis available to me, I find that the FSB operation to kill Mr. Litvinenko was probably approved by Mr. Patrushev and also by President Putin, Owen said.

Litvinenko signed a statement two days before his death that alleged the Russian president had ordered his murder. Thursdays report is the first public official statement linking Putin to the crime.

Litvinenko, a former KGB agent turned Kremlin critic who fled to Britain, fell suddenly ill in November 2006, a month after drinking tea with two Russian agents in a London hotel. Hospital tests detected the presence of a radioactive poison, polonium-210, in his body. Litvinenko, 44, died three weeks later.

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Moscow has always denied involvement, and its reaction to the new report was no different. We regret that a purely criminal case has been politicized and has darkened the general atmosphere of our bilateral relations, said Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, according to The Guardian.

Russia has for years denied extradition requests by Britain for Andrei Lugovoywho is now a member of the Russian parliamentand Dmitry Kovtun, the two men Litvinenko met in the bar of the Millennium Hotel in 2006 and whom British prosecutors believe poisoned Litvinenkos tea. In the report, Owen wrote that, given the results of the inquiry, he is sure that Lugovoy and Kovtun placed polonium-210 in Litvinenkos drink.

Story continues

British Home Secretary Theresa May on Thursday called the crime a blatant and unacceptable breach of international law, and said British Prime Minister David Cameron would speak to Putin about the report at the next available opportunity, according to the BBC.

Marina Litvinenko, the former agents widow, praised the damning findings Thursday, and called on the prime minister to impose sanctions on Putin and other officials and expel Russian intelligence agents working in Britain, the Associated Press reported. Her lawyer called her husbands death a mini-act of nuclear terrorism on the streets of London.

Marina Litvinenko has said her husband grew disillusioned with the FSB in the 1990s, during Russias war against Chechan separatists. He fled Russia to Britain in 2000 and was granted asylum, and became a vocal critic of Putin, claiming at one point that the Russian president was a pedophile. Litvinenko wrote two books about what he saw as corruption within Russias intelligence agency, and accused Russia of carrying out the bombings of apartments in several Russian cities in 1999, which killed more than 300 people. Litvinenko eventually worked for MI6, Britains main foreign intelligence service.

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There was undoubtedly a personal dimension to the antagonism between Mr. Litvinenko on the one hand and President Putin on the other, Owen wrote. The history between the two men dated back to their (only) meeting in 1998, at a time when Mr. Putin was the newly appointed head of the FSB.

The 328-page report was the product of testimony of 62 witnesses from six months of public hearings and Owens private viewing of secret intelligence evidence about Litvinenko.

Litvinenkos death drove a wedge between Russia and the United Kingdom for years. The public inquiry was launched in January of last year, months after Britain imposed economic sanctions against Russian individuals for their involvement in the annexation of Crimea. The findings will likely create a diplomatic headache for both world powers in areas that depend on cooperation; the two nations are now fighting the same terrorist threat in the Middle East, and British diplomats believe a resolution to Syrias five-year-long civil war cant be reached without Russia, an ally of the countrys president, Bashar al-Assad.

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
Most people cant properly function without getting their dose of caffeine in the morning, but for those who have coffee as part of their daily routine, acquiring a cup of java is fairly easy. You either make one at home using hassle-free gadgets or do a coffee run to the nearest shop before heading to work, right? But how do astronauts get their brew?

Youd think that being stuck in a confined space where anything not nailed to the wall floats around in zero gravity would rule out any procedure that involves getting hot liquid to stay put in a mug, but as it turns out, getting coffee is not entirely impossible when orbiting our planet.

In a short Youtube video, European Space Agency astronaut Tim Peake demonstrates how they prepare a coffee in the International Space Station. First he floats on over to a receptacle where they keep vacuum-packed coffee with cream sachets. He then feeds it into a slot on a wall that injects hot water into the flat sachet, causing it to inflate. Lastly, he inserts a straw into the pack and voilahot coffee in a bag!

Its probably not as satisfying as wrapping your cold hands around a steaming mug, but in space, you dont have a lot of options. Makes you appreciate the simple things, doesnt it?

H/T Engadget | Photo via McKay Savage/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)
The suicide attack in Kabul: At least four people are dead and about 20 others are injured after a blast in the diplomatic area of the Afghan capital. According to the BBC, the city has been hit by at least six bomb attacks since the start of this year.

How hot was last year? Really hot. NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that 2015s surface temperatures were the warmest since modern record keeping began in 1880. Last years temperatures broke the record set in 2014 by 0.23 degrees Fahrenheit. Update: more here.

A ninth planet? Astronomers at the California Institute of Technology say they have new evidence that suggests theres a bigger-than-Earth object orbiting in the edge of the solar system. The researchers say the object, which theyve nicknamed Planet Nine, has about 10 times the mass of Earth, and takes between 10,000 and 20,000 years to make one orbit around the sun.

News from this morning here.

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
Pet Love: A global look at cozy relationships between people and animals.

The hunter slips on a glove, thick but worn through in spots, and braces for the incoming weight. The bird, now on the hunters arm, claws through the would-be protection, piercing his thumb and squeezing his hand. No hard feelings, though. In the westernmost part of Mongolia,

Kazakh nomads use golden eagles to hunt wolves, foxes and rabbits.

There are amateur falconers and then there are Kazakh golden eagle hunters. The tradition has been passed down for thousands of years by the seminomadic Kazakh people who roam the Altai Mountains from Siberia to the Gobi Desert. Around 500,000 nomads exist, but only around 240 still practice the custom in this vast wilderness. At the cusp of boys teenage years, they are taught how to hunt with an eagle on horseback, starting with their own bird.

The Kazakh hunters take a 3-month-old female eagle from its nest, just before it learns to fly. Some families have taken eagles from the same mountain for generations, explains Asher Svidensky, an Israeli photographer who spent a month with golden eagle hunters. They train the eagles to hunt wolves in the winter months for the fur, and to reduce the predator population that targets their sheep and goat herds. After maybe five or six years, the hunters release their pets back into the wild, leaving a butchered sheep as an offering. This circle of life is a win-win  the eagles usually live on another 20 years.

For the Kazakhs, hunting is more about pride than food. Its something cherished that is part of their identity, explains Mugi Bayarlkhagva, a masters student at Johns Hopkins University from Mongolias capital, Ulaanbaatar. Svidensky says the hunters are even seen as superstars. Part of that is a product of tourism; two eagle-hunting festivals started in the past 15 years draw global crowds in what feels like the Super Bowl, Svidensky says.

But as with any tradition, not everyone practices the original form. There are the lazy, unprofessional hunters who build traps, says Svidensky. One hunter recalled seeing an eagle eating a carcass. So heavy from gorging, it couldnt fly away, and the hunter trapped him. Ethnic Mongols  including the infamous Genghis Khan  once practiced falconry, which uses the much smaller birds in a mix of sport hunting and pet keeping. According to Bayarlkhagva, the more mainstream sport has dwindled as demand for falcons has grown in Gulf countries. But dont expect golden eagles to go that way anytime soon.

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The two Belgians have teamed up once again to showcase key looks from Raf Simons' spring/summer 2016 menswear collection in a thought-provoking, twofold campaign based around pairs of shots.

Mystery, rebellion and audacity are at the heart of the Raf Simons spring/summer 2016 menswear line -- feelings that Willy Vanderperre captures perfectly in a new campaign for the collection.

The campaign features a series of enigmatic, almost eerie shots, with outdoor scenes captured in black and white accompanied by color studio shots. The campaign stars model Luca Lemaire in a series of embraces with a man whose face is covered by a scarf. This echoes the designer's SS16 catwalk show, where some of the models took to the runway with their faces covered.

This isn't the first time that Raf Simons has worked with the Belgian photographer, as the pair have shot numerous campaigns together for the designer's own label and for Dior. Always faithful to tried-and-tested associates, Dior's former creative director also regularly works with the Belgian model Luca Lemaire in his fashion campaigns.

Earlier this week, Christian Dior presented its own spring/summer 2016 campaign, showcasing the last pieces designed for the French fashion house by Raf Simons. The designer decided to leave his position as creative director of the brand's women's collection back in October to focus on other projects, such as his own brand.
Lynchburg (United States) (AFP) - The young evangelical Christians at Liberty University in Virginia, a coveted voting bloc wooed this week by Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump, are facing a bit of a dilemma.

Should they vote as most evangelicals have in the past, for a "pro-life" anti-abortion candidate, or should they embrace a new set of values?

Daniel Timm, a 26-year-old student at the university in Lynchburg, skipped Trump's speech on Monday -- he went to class instead. He says he has yet to make up his mind over which Republican White House hopeful to back.

His Bible in hand, Timm attended Sunday evening services at Grace Presbyterian Church, a red brick building in an industrial area on the outskirts of town.

"The values I appreciate in a candidate are honesty and being pro-life. Those are major things I look for," Timm said after a service attended by some 20 worshippers.

A regular church-goer, Timm says he is torn between backing Trump and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul.

"Both Paul and Trump intend to talk about things that other candidates refuse to talk about, like immigration," he said.

"They both professed to be Christian men, and I'll take their words on that," he added, dodging debate on whether Trump -- who misquoted a Bible verse on Monday -- really is a man of faith or just tries to project that image.

In any case, Trump's offensive in this land of evangelical Christians has seen some success.

Many young people on hand Monday said they saw the billionaire real estate tycoon as a man willing to eschew political correctness, even perhaps to try to restore the role of Christianity in multi-faith US society.

Some 11,000 people, most of them young, turned out to hear Trump, who depicted himself as a protector of Christianity.

Paul, who hails from the Tea Party faction of the Republican party, is very popular among young people. Within that demographic, he is even overshadowing Texas Senator Ted Cruz.

Story continues

- Vote Democrat -

The candidates clearly favored by evangelical voters in opinion polls -- Cruz, Paul or Trump -- do not have the same success with young voters.

"If he (Trump) claims to be a Christian or that he truly believes in Christ, it's not very apparent," said 18-year-old student Joschua McMillion, who skipped the Trump rally, instead joining a small group protesting his campus visit.

McMillion, who is African-American, said Democrat Bernie Sanders is the only candidate who has spoken of the Black Lives Matter movement and the racial problems that plague the United States, including police violence against blacks.

"The main (Republican) candidates haven't said anything about this," McMillion said, adding that it was increasingly likely he would vote for Sanders even though he is a Democrat.

"He's my favorite at this point," McMillion said.

Like McMillion, many young evangelicals attach a lot of importance to Christian values. But they are shaking up the hierarchy of priorities, stressing social issues sometimes associated with the political left.

Abortion and same-sex marriage are important issues, said 22-year-old student Meredith Fuller.

"I don't know if I would feel comfortable controlling someone else's choices, so I don't know if I would feel comfortable with someone controlling my choices either," she said.

For now, Fuller says she does not know who she will vote for "because I don't see any of them voicing concern about issues that concern me in particular" such as the fate of "people who are being marginalized by society."

Fuller said her opinions do not represent those of most students at Liberty University. But she is less and less isolated.
By Joseph Ax NEW YORK (Reuters) - The number of tourists visiting New York City rose to a record high in 2015 for the sixth consecutive year, with nearly 60 million people traveling to the biggest city in the United States, officials said on Thursday. The tourism boom continued apace even though last year brought also a spike in security threats, fueling concern that domestic attacks carried out by sympathizers of the militant group Islamic State were possible in New York. Following the Paris attacks in November that killed 130 as well as the December shooting in San Bernardino that killed 14, New York City officials repeatedly sought to reassure the public that the city was equipped to handle any threat. The New York City Police Departments enormous counterterrorism apparatus was out in full force for signature events like the Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade and the annual New Years Eve celebration in Times Square, which drew more than 1 million people to the center of Manhattan to ring in 2016. "As the safest and most exciting big city in America, we have so many rich offerings that continue to make the five boroughs a global draw," Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement. The city's more than 100,000 hotel rooms saw a record number of bookings in 2015, according to the citys official tourism and marketing arm, NYC & Company. About one-fifth, or 12 million, of the out-of-town visitors were from abroad, with the highest numbers from the United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil and China. New York is the most popular destination in the United States for international travel, officials said. (Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Diane Craft)
By Tom Perry BEIRUT (Reuters) - There will be no Syria peace talks if the government does not take humanitarian steps outlined by the U.N. Security Council, including a halt to attacks on civilians and an end to blockades, the opposition's chief negotiator said on Thursday. The negotiations, which are due to be begin on Jan. 25 in Geneva, look increasingly uncertain for reasons including a dispute over the composition of the opposition delegation. Mohamad Alloush, named chief negotiator on Wednesday by a Saudi-backed opposition council, is a member of the politburo of Jaysh al-Islam (Islam Army), a major rebel faction which Russia considers a terrorist group. "The session will not take place until the measures are implemented ... While no measures are taken, the chances are zero," Alloush told Reuters by telephone, referring to humanitarian steps outlined in a Dec. 18 U.N. Security Council resolution that endorsed a peace process for Syria. "We don't want to go to Geneva ... for photos," he said. The opposition has said clauses in the U.N. resolution including a release of arbitrarily detained people and a halt to attacks on civilian areas must be implemented before talks. Damascus has said it is ready to take part, but the United Nations said on Monday it would not issue invitations until major powers that endorse the talks, including the United States and Russia, agree on who should represent the opposition. U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura, who is tasked with launching the negotiations, said on Wednesday they may be delayed from the planned Jan. 25 start date. The nomination of Alloush may add to the complications. While Russia views Jaysh al-Islam as a terrorist group, many of President Bashar al-Assad's foes view it as a legitimate part of the Syrian opposition. Russia, an ally of Assad, has meanwhile sought to widen the opposition delegation to include the main Syrian Kurdish party, the PYD, among others who did not attend last month's Riyadh conference that established the new opposition council. The PYD and affiliated YPG Kurdish militia set up an autonomous administration over wide areas of northern and northeastern Syria as the government's authority diminished after the onset of the uprising in 2011. The Syrian opposition accuses the Kurds of cooperating with Damascus - a charge they deny. The YPG has meanwhile established close ties with the United States, and is an important partner in the fight it is leading against Islamic State in Syria. Alloush said the PYD's "natural place" was with the government delegation. Russia and Iran, which both back Assad militarily, have rejected what they describe as Saudi-led efforts to organize the Syrian opposition for the talks. Iran's foreign minister said on Wednesday it was up to the U.N. to decide who represents the opposition, an apparent contradiction with the U.N. statement that the major powers must agree on which rebel representatives should attend. (Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
On Wednesday, the ruled in favor of two women who appealed to the court to raise the legal age of marriage to 18 for all genders and effectively banning child marriage in the southern African country.

Loveness Mudzuru was married at 16 and had two children before her 18th birthday. In 2014, she and another former child bride, Ruvimbo Tsopodzi, filed an application with the court asking that it repeal Marriage Act and the Customary Marriage Act, which allowed girls to marry at 16 but boys at 18, according to Reuters.

The country's first steps toward addressing the problem of child brides came in 2013, when Zimbabwe adopted a constitution that stated "no marriage is entered into without the free and full consent of the intending spouses" and specified that no children should be "pledged" in a marriage.

Still, the problem continued to flourish in Zimbabwe, with the UNICEF's State of the World's Children 2015 report estimating that 31% of the country's girls are married under the age of 18.

"I'm delighted. This is a milestone in the campaign to end this scourge in society," Beatrice Savadye, the head of the Real Opportunities for Transformation Support organization, told Reuters. In August 2014 ROOTS launched their "Not Ripe for Marriage" campaign, echoing Mudzuru and Tspodzi's call to end child marriage in Zimbabwe.

The same month, Katswe Sistahood started its own initiative called "Give Us Books Not Husbands," pointing to the way child marriage disproportionately affects girls without access to education.

According to the International Center of Research for Women, education has been key to eradicating child marriage in countries such as Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Thailand. But in the meantime, girls who are married under the age of 18 face a higher risk of contracting HIV, and pregnancy still remains "among the leading causes of death for girls ages 15 to 19 worldwide."

"Raising a child when you are a child yourself is hard," Mudzuru told Reuters, calling her life as a child bride "hell." She added, "I should be going to school."
17 CHINESE NETTED

Police sources said the 17 Chinese were all stooping low down in the tray, side by side so that the clothing on their backs appeared to be a single length of tarpaulin covering the square tray of the van.

The officers alert observations led to them realising that every now and then, the tarpaulin would shift and a head would appear before it ducked back down.

Police sources said that the tarpaulin effect of the illegal immigrants backs as their bodies were tightly packed side by side was an ingenious way of transporting them while hiding in plain sight in the vans tray, especially in dim light during the pre-dawn hours.

The officers intercepted the van at four oclock yesterday morning.

It was Corporal Uraish Ramsamooj and Police Constables Deon Ramjattan, Avinash Bhajan and Deon Lapix of the Court and Process Department of the San Fernando Police Station, who spotted the 17 immigrants while they (the officers) were in a marked police vehicle proceeding along the north-bound section of the Solomon Hochoy Highway.

The report stated, the officers were on their way to the Maximum Security Prison in Golden Grove, Arouca to escort a prison van back to the San Fernando High Court and magistrates court, as part of the the usual Monday to Friday routine. Upon reaching the intersection of the Pointe-a-Pierre refinery, the officers spotted a black Nissan Navara van ahead of them. Their curiosity was aroused when the truck slowed behind traffic and heads began to appear on what was at first thought to be a piece of tarpaulin across the tray.

As the van sped off when the traffic eased on the north-bound lane, the officers observed that the tarpaulin was really jerseys which ballooned by the strong breeze.

The immigrants kept their backs neatly aligned to each other as they remained in a bent over, stooping position. The officers decided to keep the van under surveillance.

We were wondering what kind of tarpaulin was that with heads bobbing and weaving. At first the illusion of a piece of tarpaulin held firm for a while before we decided to pay closer attention and noticed heads raising and then bending back down. When we were convinced something was amiss, we decided to move in and intercept the vehicle, one of the officers told Newsday.

As the officers drove up closer to the van, switched on the police emergency blue lights and sounded the siren, 17 men stood up in the tray as the immigrants gazed intently at the officers in the car.

When the officers used the squad cars loud speaker to order the driver to stop, the vehicle slowed and the 17 illegal immigrants jumped off the moving vehicle and ran off in different directions - some heading into the compound of Stateowned Petrotrin.

The report stated, the police officers drew their firearms but were reluctant to fire warning shots due to the close proximity of the refinery.

They called for backup from the Highway Patrol Units and all of the 17 illegal immigrants were subsequently arrested. The report stated that the driver of the van, also a Chinese national, produced a Drivers Permit, but only spoke Chinese to the officers. He too was detained.

Up to late yesterday, all 18 - 17 immigrants and the driver  remained in custody at the Immigration Office in San Fernando where they were being interrogated as to how they entered the country and the purpose for their arrival. The men could face charges of illegal entry and being in this country without lawful permission. Investigations are continuing.
Chinese talks about Couva Hospital

Speaking with the media yesterday after she had met with NPC Vice Chairman Chen Changzhi and member of the Standing Committee of the NPC Cao Weizhou at the Office of the Leader of the Opposition, Portof- Spain, Persad-Bissessar said, I smiled when he (Chen) mentioned the Couva Childrens Hospital. The Childrens Couva Hospital, a project undertaken by the Persad-Bisssessar-led Peoples Partnership Government, was funded by a $1-billion loan from the Chinese. We are doing everything we can, and we will continue to do what we have to do, to get that project off the ground. It is completed. It now has to open, Persad-Bissessar told Chen

Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh has insisted since taking over the health portfolio that the Couva facility has not been vested with the Ministry of Health and as such he could not say when it will be opened

During the meeting with the Chinese delegation, Persad-Bissessar said that they discussed TTs and Chinas increasing relationship and projects both countries have been engaged in over the past several years, including several currently in progress

The works in progress included the setting up of a TT embassy in China for which the Chinese Government donated lands to TT to construct a building to house the embassy. That is an ongoing project, she said. They also talked about a proposed mutual visa exemption for Chinese national entering TT, and TT nationals entering China, she said

Persad-Bissessar said she was happy to have met with the delegation noting that during her tenure in office, Chinas President Xi Jinping paid a State Visit to TT and she subsequently paid a reciprocal visit to China
What you need to know about the Octagon Art Festival on Sunday in Ames

news
PSLV-C31 Successfully Launches India's Fifth Navigation Satellite IRNSS-1E

New Delhi, Thu, 21 Jan 2016 NI Wire

ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C31, successfully launched the 1425 kg IRNSS-1E, the fifth satellite in the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) (January 20, 2016) from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota. This is the thirty second consecutively successful mission of PSLV and the eleventh in its 'XL' configuration.

After the PSLV-C31 lift-off at 0931 hrs (9:31 am) IST from the Second Launch Pad with the ignition of the first stage, the subsequent important flight events, namely, strap-on ignitions and separations, first stage separation, second stage ignition, heat-shield separation, second stage separation, third stage ignition and separation, fourth stage ignition and satellite injection, took place as planned. After a flight of about 18 minutes 43 seconds, IRNSS-1E Satellite was injected to an elliptical orbit of 282.4 km X 20,655.3 km inclined at an angle of 19.21 degree to the equator (very close to the intended orbit) and successfully separated from the PSLV fourth stage. After injection, the solar panels of IRNSS-1E were deployed automatically. ISRO's Master Control Facility (at Hassan, Karnataka) took over the control of the satellite. In the coming days, four orbit manoeuvres will be conducted from Master Control Facility to position the satellite in the Geosynchronous Orbit at 111.75 deg East longitude with 28.1 deg inclination.

IRNSS-1E is the fifth of the seven satellites constituting the space segment of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System. IRNSS-1A, 1B, 1C and ID, the first four satellites of the constellation, were successfully launched by PSLV on July 02, 2013, April 04, 2014, October 16, 2014 and March 28, 2015 respectively. All the four satellites are functioning satisfactorily from their designated orbital positions.

IRNSS is an independent regional navigation satellite system designed to provide position information in the Indian region and 1500 km around the Indian mainland. IRNSS would provide two types of services, namely, Standard Positioning Services (SPS) - provided to all users - and Restricted Services (RS), provided to authorised users.

A number of ground stations responsible for the generation and transmission of navigation parameters, satellite ranging and monitoring, etc., have been established in eighteen locations across the country. In the coming months, the remaining two satellites of this constellation, namely, IRNSS-1F and IG, are scheduled to be launched by PSLV, thereby completing the entire IRNSS constellation.

Source: PIB
Love the article on Gaddaf

i

Samosa Iyoha



Hello from Johannesburg

I was amazed to find a website for Africans in Hungary .

Looks like you have quite a community there. Here in SA we have some three million Zimbabweans living in exile and not much sign of going home ... but in Hungary??? Hope to meet you on one of my trips to Europe; was in Steirmark Austria near the Hungarian border earlier this month. Every good wish for 2011. Geoff in Jo'burg



I'm impressed by

ANH

work but...



Interesting interview...



My comment to the interview with his excellency Mr. Adedotun Adenrele Adepoju CDA a.i--

B.Ayo Adams

click to read editor's mail

We must rise above tribalism & divide & rule of the colonialist who stole & looted our treasure & planted their puppets to lord it over us..they alone can decide on whosoever is performing & the one that is corrupt..but the most corrupt nations are the western countries that plunder the resources of other nations & make them poorer & aid the rulers to steal & keep such ill gotten wealth in their country..yemen,syria etc have killed more than gadhafi but its not A good investment for the west(this is laughable)because oil is not in these countries..when obasanjo annihilated the odi people in rivers state, they looked away because its in their favour & interest..one day!I think from what have been said, the Nigerian embassy here seem to be more concern about its nationals than we are for ourselves. Our complete disregard for the laws of Hungary isn't going to help Nigeria's image or going to promote what the Embassy is trying to showcase. So if the journalists could zoom-in more focus on Nigerians living, working and studying here in Hungary than scrutinizing the embassy and its every move, i think it would be of tremendous help to the embassy serving its nationals better and create more awareness about where we live . Taking the issues of illicit drugs and forged documents as typical examples.. there are so many cases of Nigerians been involved. But i am yet to read of it in e.news. So i think if only you and your journalists could write more about it and follow up on the stories i think it will make our nationals more aware of what to expect. I wouldn't say i am not impressed with your work but you need to be more of a two way street rather than a one way street . Keep up the good work... SylviaHe is an intelligent man. He spoke well on the issues! Thanks to Mr Hakeem Babalola for the interview it contains some expedient information..
A TALE OF TWO COUNTRIES: WHAT YOU AREN'T BEING TOLD

By Chuck Baldwin

January 21, 2016

NewsWithViews.com Here are two factual cases involving two separate countries. The cases both begin similarly but have drastically different endings. Case One: A foreign naval vessel is lumbering in international waters. It is flying a brand new 8x5 flag, which unmistakably identifies it as a major ally of the country whose coastline is nearest the ship. The ships markings are ten feet high on both sides. It is not a warship. It is an intelligence-gathering ship. For all intents and purposes, it is defenseless against any warship or attack aircraft having but four .50-calibre Browning machine guns without shrapnel shields as its only offensive weapons. On board are 286 souls. Suddenly, and without provocation, the supposed ally nation attacks the ship with both warplanes and torpedo boats. For over an hour, the helpless ship is riddled with machine-gun fire, rockets, and torpedoes. Within moments, the ship is completely disabled. As it seems certain that the ship will sink, lifeboats are lowered, but the attacking torpedo boats immediately riddle the lifeboats with gunfire. Helicopters from the aggressive country carrying Special Forces troops hover over the ship, which is now listing at nine degrees. Clearly, the attacking country intends that no one survive. The ship has no engines, no rudder, and no power. As the Special Forces soldiers from the attacking country are being positioned to launch their final assault, the ships Captain barks, Standby to repel boarders. One sailor yells, Theyve come to finish us off. The only thing that saves that ship and those survivors that day is eight warplanes from a nearby aircraft carrier that had heard the initial Mayday cry from the ship. This caused the attacking country to withdraw. As it was, 34 of the ships officers and crew are killed and only a divine miracle and superhuman, Herculean effort from the sailors in the bowels of that steel graveyard keeps that ship afloat. When the attack first began, one general from the attacking country protested to his commanding officer saying, This is pure murder. But what the country whose ship was attacked and whose men were killed did is most curious. It did NOTHING. In fact, the government of that country immediately declared that the attack had been a mistake and then proceeded to completely cover up what had happened. And to this day, the citizens of that country know almost nothing about what took place on that fateful day. Case Two: Two foreign military boats illegally enter the territorial waters of a nation. These boats represent a country that has declared the nation whose waters have been molested to be an enemy state. National leaders of the offending country have openly called for military action against the state--up to and including nuclear action. The offending nation is anything but an ally of the nation whose waters have been encroached. The country whose waters have been compromised does what ANY country would do (including the offending country if the tables are reversed) if unauthorized foreign ships (especially military ships) encroach upon its territorial waters: it seizes the vessels. The country did NOT open fire on the sailors. No one was injured. After neutralizing the perceived threat and detaining the sailors, the country provides the sailors who had illegally entered their waters with a meal and then releases them and their boats unharmed. But instead of being grateful for the way the offended nation had prevented what could have easily escalated into international hostilities, many of the leaders and media spokesmen from the country whose ships had illegally entered another nations territorial waters immediately accuse the offended nation of being the aggressor and use the incident to further enflame hatred against the alleged enemy state--including the incitement of war against it. Case One was Israels murderous attack against the USS Liberty on June 8, 1967. Case Two was Irans incredibly-restrained handling of the U.S. naval vessels illegal incursion into its territorial waters not too many days ago. Read the true story of Israels attack against the USS Liberty here. Read the true story of the Iran incident here. The verbal attacks against Iran by U.S. politicians and dominate news media truly staggers the imagination. I think Pat Buchanans response to FOX News Sean Hannity was perfectly stated. After listening to Hannitys senseless rant against Iran, Pat said, Sean, youre hysterical. Hysterical seems to be the word that best describes most of what we are hearing today. See the Hannity/Buchanan exchange here. During a radio interview with Michael Berry, Ron Paul rightly observed, I think theres a distortion of the facts, for instance, we have learned and have been conditioned to distrust and hate the Persians and theyre going to kill us, just look at the conditioning we had for Saddam Hussein who used to be an ally and we gave him his first nuclear reactor. So, there is a lot of that that goes on, but theres no history to show that Iran are aggressive people. When was the last time they invaded a country? Over two hundred years ago. Read the transcript here. ActivistPost.com accurately answers the question, Is Iran a threat to the health and safety of U.S. citizens? The report states: Iran has never attacked the United States, or even any of her interests overseas. In fact, they have not attacked or invaded anyone in at least 270 years. And they havent even threatened to harm the U.S. unless of course they are attacked first. . . . Iran is not an aggressor and certainly not a national emergency threat. The report goes on: Even if they did [have a nuclear weapons program], why is that reason to attack them? Just having a weapon doesnt make a country a threat. Plenty of countries have nuclear weapons and we dont consider them a threat. The report continues: Iran will not attack the West militarily with a nuclear weapon, or even conventionally, because they know they would be inviting their immediate destruction. Iran is a sophisticated secular society, much like Iraq was before America invaded. In fact, Iran has the third largest Jewish population in the world who live in harmony with Muslims and others. In other words, they have a lot to lose to invite war with anyone, and they know that any move viewed as aggression would be met with swift and overwhelming force. The West wants the world to believe their leadership is primitive and stupid, but they arent. Over 45 U.S. bases surround Iran. These bases are in addition to the fleets of U.S. warships parked in waters near Iran. A picture is worth a thousand words. Whos the real threat here? See the map and the report here. Recall that even when many Arab nations were involved in the Six Day War with Israel back in 1967 (including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Libya, etc.), Iran did NOT participate. And what most Americans do not know is that immediately following the 9/11 attacks in the U.S. (that Iran had nothing to do with), tens of thousands of Iranian citizens held demonstrations, candlelight vigils, and moments of silence in SUPPORT of the United States. (Do the research for yourself.) Americans would be shocked to know that the vast majority of average Iranians actually hold very favorable views of the United States. The Death to America rallies we hear so much about actually do NOT represent the views of the vast majority of the Iranian people--no more than the copious We Are Change pro-Obama rallies represent the views of a majority of the American people. Plus, the oft-quoted threat by former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to wipe Israel off the map is in reality a complete fabrication of the Western news media. See this report here. The Iranian Foreign Minister tried to set the record straight--albeit most in the U.S. media continue to regurgitate the myth that Iran has threatened to militarily destroy Israel. Iran has no intention of destroying Israel and has actually saved the Jews three times in history, but the current Israeli regime is a threat to Tehran, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said in an interview with American media. Speaking with NBC, Zarif slamed [sic] the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, after he once again said in his Mondays speech before the US Congress that Iran openly threatened to wipe Israel off the map. The Iranian FM urged Netanyahu to refresh his knowledge of history as his comments have not only distort[ed] realities of today, but also go against the Bible and Jewish sacred texts. He even distorts his own scripture. If you read the book of Esther, you will see that it was the Iranian king who saved the Jews Zarif said. The Iranian Minister called Netanyahus accusations truly regrettable stressing that they refer to an entire nation which has saved Jews three times. It is truly, truly regrettable that bigotry gets to the point of making allegations against an entire nation which has saved Jews three times in its history: Once during that time of a prime minister who was trying to kill the Jews, and the king saved the Jews; again during the time of Cyrus the Great, where he saved the Jews from Babylon, and during the Second World War, where Iran saved the Jews, he said. Were not about the annihilation of Jews, Zarif stressed, reminding the channel that 20,000 Jews reside in Iran in peace and even have their own representative in parliament. We have a history of tolerance and cooperation and living together in coexistence with our own Jewish people, and with Jews everywhere in the world. If people want to espouse fear mongering to fan such hysteria in the world, thats to their detriment, Zafir said. Here is the report. And here is one of the most truthful and accurate assessments that I have ever read of why the U.S. is enmeshed in all of these current conflicts in the Middle East. Had Case Two referenced above even remotely resembled Case One, we would be in the middle of World War III right now. Yet, President Lyndon Johnson and the U.S. government allowed a foreign country to commit a flagrant act of military aggression against a U.S. naval vessel--killing dozens of American sailors and Marines in the process--with no repercussions whatsoever. It even chose to cover up the incident and pretend it never happened. Why? Because the attacking country was Israel--a supposed ally of the United States and a nation that our government often uses to do much of its dirty work in the Middle East. Not to mention the fact that the Israeli lobby is the most influential and wealthiest lobby in Washington, D.C.; or the fact that the false doctrine of Christian Zionism (what an oxymoron) literally governs the prevailing politics among a majority of Americas churches--especially the largest ones lead by politically-powerful televangelists; or that a majority of U.S. congressmen and senators are joined at the hip (and bank account) with the Israeli lobby. In much the same way, the U.S. government has chosen to cover up the attacks that killed a U.S. ambassador and other Americans in Benghazi. Why? Because the truth surrounding Benghazi would help expose what the U.S. government is really doing in the Middle East and would implicate our governments role in facilitating terrorists. Its time for Americans to start facing the cold, harsh reality that our federal government cares absolutely NOTHING about the lives of American citizens. It didnt give a hoot in hades about the victims of the USS Liberty, and it didnt give a hoot in hades about Ambassador Chris Stevens and the others who died in Benghazi. But let Iran (a nation that poses absolutely no imminent threat to the United States) protect its own territorial waters (with no harm to any American citizen), and the national press corps and their neocon cohorts in Washington, D.C., are ready to start World War III. This is all political theater, folks. Its not about protecting the United States. Its not about protecting the American people. Its all about protecting the governments hidden agendas and its own derriere. P.S. Once again, I invite readers to view my four-message DVD entitled, The Church And Israel. This was our most popular sermon DVD of 2015. The titles of the four messages (on one DVD) are:  The Presentation and Rejection of The King

 An High Priest For Ever After The Order of Melchisedec

 Jesus: The Seed Of David, The Seed Of Abraham

 Christs Last Words To Israel This four sermon DVD is available here.  2016 Chuck Baldwin - All Rights Reserved Share This Article Click Here For Mass E-mailing

Chuck Baldwin is a syndicated columnist, radio broadcaster, author, and pastor dedicated to preserving the historic principles upon which America was founded. He was the 2008 Presidential candidate for the Constitution Party. He and his wife, Connie, have 3 children and 8 grandchildren. Chuck and his family reside in the Flathead Valley of Montana. See Chuck's complete bio here.



E-mail: chuck@chuckbaldwinlive.com Website: ChuckBaldwinLive.com Home

The verbal attacks against Iran by U.S. politicians and dominate news media truly staggers the imagination. I think Pat Buchanans response to FOX News Sean Hannity was perfectly stated. After listening to Hannitys senseless rant against Iran, Pat said, Sean, youre hysterical. Hysterical seems to be the word that best describes most of what we are hearing today.
the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the selection of two companies, X-energy and Southern Company, to further develop advanced nuclear reactor designs. These awards, with a multi-year cost share of up to $80 million for both companies, will support work to address key technical challenges to the design, construction, and operation of next generation nuclear reactors.

At $40 million each in matching funds over the next five years, the grants will go to X-energy, a little-known Maryland-based startup that is developing a new version of a pebble-bed reactor, and to Southern Company, the Atlanta-based utility that is working with TerraPower on molten-salt reactors.

Its a promising development for the advanced nuclear industry, which has struggled to find funding and regulatory approval. Much of the money raised so far has gone to just two companies, Tri Alpha Energy, which is working on fusion reactors, and TerraPower.

X-energy was founded in 2009 by Kam Ghaffarian, who previously founded Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies, a major contractor for NASA. Based in Greenbelt, Maryland, the company is working on a high-temperature reactor that is cooled by gas, rather than water, and uses small fuel pellets inside a graphite cylinder, rather than solid fuel rods. The design, says Pete Passano, the companys vice president of fuel production, makes the reactor immune to meltdowns. Encased in layers of carbon and ceramics, the individual fuel pebbles, each the size of a poppy seed, maintain their integrity at temperatures of 1,800 C, far beyond the temperatures that might be reached inside the core in the event of an accident, according to tests at Oak Ridge and Idaho national laboratories.

Southern plans to build a prototype of the molten chloride reactor by the mid-2020s. Coupled with recent private funding announcements for companies including Terrestrial Energy and Transatomic Power, the DOEs support could help jump-start a sector that promises to make real the long-awaited renaissance of nuclear power
In my interviews with some 60 physicists, engineers, military men and ordinary working people who had been closely connected with Hanford and the Manhattan Project, the consensus was that both bombs were necessary, with a bit less consensus on the Nagasaki bomb.





The most brutal comment  perhaps the most realistic  was expressed by Leona Marshall Libby, probably the most well-known female scientist in the Manhattan Project.





I have no regrets, Dr. Libby said. I think we did right, and we couldnt have done differently. In wartime, it was a desperate time.  When you are in a war to the death, I dont think you stand around and ask, Is it right? 




Posted by Nogger - a legend in his own mind at | Categorized as





Corn: Corn closed around a cent of so higher on the day. Crude oil and heating oil set new lows. South Korea is buying Argentine feed wheat, possibly in preference to corn. The USDA reported the sale of 243,100 MT of US corn to Mexico for 2015/16 under the daily reporting system. Fund money was estimated as ending the session an overall net modest buyer. They have established a record short position in recent weeks, so bouts of short-covering are always likely, and possibly can occur with little tangible reason to explain them. The USDA's regular weekly export sales numbers will be delayed a day to Friday due to Monday's Martin Luther King holiday. Mar 16 Corn settled at $3.68 3/4, up 1 cent; May 16 Corn settled at $3.73 1/4, up 1 1/4 cents.



Wheat: The wheat market closed a few cents lower. US wheat remains largely too expensive to export to all but non-traditional homes. Argentine feed wheat is heading to the US. Egypt decided to test the water again and tendered for wheat tonight with the results expected tomorrow. Recall that they've held up 3 vessels of French wheat since their last tender due to problems with letters of credit. They've also been tinkering with the terms of their tenders. Doubtless they will still find eager sellers though. Japan is tendering for US wheat. Weakness in crude is keeping the Russian rouble under pressure, helping them to maintain a competitive edge. May 16 CBOT Wheat settled at $4.75 3/4, down 3 1/4 cents; May 16 KCBT Wheat settled at $4.77 1/2, down 5 1/4 cents; May 16 MGEX Wheat settled at $4.99 3/4, down 2 1/2 cents. 20/01/16 -- Soycomplex: Beans closed lower, kicked on the way by weak outside markets like crude oil and equities. Yet, despite the much quoted "concerns over Chinese soybean demand" things in that direction are going pretty well (even if it isn't just the US that they are buying from). CNGOIC estimated China's 2015/16 soybean imports at a record 85 MMT, way above the USDA's projected 80.5 MMT forecast. China has already physically taken 3.5 MMT more in Q1 of 2015/16 than it did last year. Brazil and Argentina are however well placed to service this need, with bumper/record crops of their own on the way, a more relaxed attitude to exports and acutely weak domestic currencies. Mar 16 Soybeans settled at $8.74, down 9 1/2 cents; May 16 Soybeans settled at $8.74 3/4, down 8 1/4 cents; Mar 16 Soybean Meal settled at $269.80, down $1.50; Mar 16 Soybean Oil settled at 29.81, down 22 points.Corn: Corn closed around a cent of so higher on the day. Crude oil and heating oil set new lows. South Korea is buying Argentine feed wheat, possibly in preference to corn. The USDA reported the sale of 243,100 MT of US corn to Mexico for 2015/16 under the daily reporting system. Fund money was estimated as ending the session an overall net modest buyer. They have established a record short position in recent weeks, so bouts of short-covering are always likely, and possibly can occur with little tangible reason to explain them. The USDA's regular weekly export sales numbers will be delayed a day to Friday due to Monday's Martin Luther King holiday. Mar 16 Corn settled at $3.68 3/4, up 1 cent; May 16 Corn settled at $3.73 1/4, up 1 1/4 cents.Wheat: The wheat market closed a few cents lower. US wheat remains largely too expensive to export to all but non-traditional homes. Argentine feed wheat is heading to the US. Egypt decided to test the water again and tendered for wheat tonight with the results expected tomorrow. Recall that they've held up 3 vessels of French wheat since their last tender due to problems with letters of credit. They've also been tinkering with the terms of their tenders. Doubtless they will still find eager sellers though. Japan is tendering for US wheat. Weakness in crude is keeping the Russian rouble under pressure, helping them to maintain a competitive edge. May 16 CBOT Wheat settled at $4.75 3/4, down 3 1/4 cents; May 16 KCBT Wheat settled at $4.77 1/2, down 5 1/4 cents; May 16 MGEX Wheat settled at $4.99 3/4, down 2 1/2 cents.
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At the close of trading, Jan 16 London wheat was down GBP0.45/tonne at GBP109.05/tonne. In Paris, Mar 16 wheat rose EUR0.50/tonne at EUR164.00/tonne, Mar 16 corn was up EUR0.75/tonne at EUR155.00/tonne and Feb 16 rapeseed was up EUR2.00/tonne to EUR356.50/tonne.



There were one or two little nuggets of bullish information out there, but they were neither large in their magnitude, nor abundant enough to put off the wave of bearish sentiment that engulfs the market at the moment.



These included a downgrade of around 500,000 MT to the EU-28's projected 2016 soft wheat crop from Strategie Grains - now seen at 143.1 MMT - down approaching 5% on a year previously. The drop is mainly due to a slightly lower planted area, plus crop damage caused by cold weather in some Eastern European countries like Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. These are the same areas of concern flagged up by the EU Commission's MARS unit at the end of 2015. EU soft wheat production of 143.1 MMT would be the smallest crop since 2013 and the first annual drop in output since 2012.



The French analysts also released their first forecast for EU soft wheat exports next season, pegging those at 28.9 MMT. Whilst that's a near 3% increase on 28.1 MMT this season, it's still well below the record 33.34 MMT that was exported in 2013/14.



In terms of EU soft wheat stocks, it was also a case of "is the glass half full or half empty?" For the current season these were reduced by 1.5 MMT, but still very large at 16.9 MMT. Reduced production and increased exports will see these fall again in 2016/17 to 14.2 MMT. Again, a step in the right direction, but not one that is sufficiently large to be a game changer.



The extra export business picked up in 2016/17 will come partly due to lower output in Ukraine this year, they suggest. This could well be true, although we could do with the euro getting back to it's "losing ways" to help those exports along. It will also still prove to be the case that Ukraine are as active as ever early next season, it may only be later on that Europe really starts to see the benefit.



In other news, the IGC added 5 MMT to their global 2015/16 wheat crop estimate, although at 731 MMT they are still more than 4 MMT below the USDA. In addition they also raised carryover stocks by 5 MMT, but again their new forecast of 213 MMT is well below 232 MMT from Washington.



"While conditions for 2016/17 winter wheat have not been entirely ideal in some regions, global harvest prospects remain mostly favourable. With only a small drop in all wheat area and average yields predicted, world production is tentatively projected 3% down y/y, at 706 MMT. Because of lower anticipated feed demand, a marginal decline in consumption is expected. Some contraction is possible in end-2016/17 stocks, but inventories could still be the second highest ever," they said.



Egypt's GASC bought 235,000 MT of Romanian, French and Russian wheat in their latest tender, paying the cheapest levels since September.



Agrimoney noted that activity in the tender was "muted, as concerns persist about the potential for disruptions in shipments to Egypt, thanks to stringent quality rules and some trade finance disruptions."



Having won a clean sweep last time, interestingly Argentine wheat wasn't even offered this time round.



Meanwhile, EU and UK pig prices have recently hit multi-year lows, say the HGCA. That could have a negative effect on feed demand in 2016. 21/01/16 -- EU grains finished mixed, but mostly a touch lower. It was the turn of Paris grains to get a little currency boost from a weaker euro today, with the pound popping back up above the 1.30 level versus the single currency.At the close of trading, Jan 16 London wheat was down GBP0.45/tonne at GBP109.05/tonne. In Paris, Mar 16 wheat rose EUR0.50/tonne at EUR164.00/tonne, Mar 16 corn was up EUR0.75/tonne at EUR155.00/tonne and Feb 16 rapeseed was up EUR2.00/tonne to EUR356.50/tonne.There were one or two little nuggets of bullish information out there, but they were neither large in their magnitude, nor abundant enough to put off the wave of bearish sentiment that engulfs the market at the moment.These included a downgrade of around 500,000 MT to the EU-28's projected 2016 soft wheat crop from Strategie Grains - now seen at 143.1 MMT - down approaching 5% on a year previously. The drop is mainly due to a slightly lower planted area, plus crop damage caused by cold weather in some Eastern European countries like Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. These are the same areas of concern flagged up by the EU Commission's MARS unit at the end of 2015. EU soft wheat production of 143.1 MMT would be the smallest crop since 2013 and the first annual drop in output since 2012.The French analysts also released their first forecast for EU soft wheat exports next season, pegging those at 28.9 MMT. Whilst that's a near 3% increase on 28.1 MMT this season, it's still well below the record 33.34 MMT that was exported in 2013/14.In terms of EU soft wheat stocks, it was also a case of "is the glass half full or half empty?" For the current season these were reduced by 1.5 MMT, but still very large at 16.9 MMT. Reduced production and increased exports will see these fall again in 2016/17 to 14.2 MMT. Again, a step in the right direction, but not one that is sufficiently large to be a game changer.The extra export business picked up in 2016/17 will come partly due to lower output in Ukraine this year, they suggest. This could well be true, although we could do with the euro getting back to it's "losing ways" to help those exports along. It will also still prove to be the case that Ukraine are as active as ever early next season, it may only be later on that Europe really starts to see the benefit.In other news, the IGC added 5 MMT to their global 2015/16 wheat crop estimate, although at 731 MMT they are still more than 4 MMT below the USDA. In addition they also raised carryover stocks by 5 MMT, but again their new forecast of 213 MMT is well below 232 MMT from Washington."While conditions for 2016/17 winter wheat have not been entirely ideal in some regions, global harvest prospects remain mostly favourable. With only a small drop in all wheat area and average yields predicted, world production is tentatively projected 3% down y/y, at 706 MMT. Because of lower anticipated feed demand, a marginal decline in consumption is expected. Some contraction is possible in end-2016/17 stocks, but inventories could still be the second highest ever," they said.Egypt's GASC bought 235,000 MT of Romanian, French and Russian wheat in their latest tender, paying the cheapest levels since September.Agrimoney noted that activity in the tender was "muted, as concerns persist about the potential for disruptions in shipments to Egypt, thanks to stringent quality rules and some trade finance disruptions."Having won a clean sweep last time, interestingly Argentine wheat wasn't even offered this time round.Meanwhile, EU and UK pig prices have recently hit multi-year lows, say the HGCA. That could have a negative effect on feed demand in 2016.
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Libyas international partners have their eyes turned towards the Libyan House of Representatives which has to endorse the Government of National Accord (GNA) announced on Tuesday before the GNA can be implemented.

Washington, UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), and EU welcomed the formation of the Libyan unity government and called on the internationally recognised House of Representatives (HoR) and its leaders to support the GNA. The HoR is one of two rival governments vying for power in Libya.

UNSMIL Chief Martin Kobler welcomed the announcement saying that it is sterling opportunity for the Libyan people to come together to build their country. He also urged the HoR to promptly endorse the bold move.

I call on the members of the HoR and its presidency to uphold the countrys national interest above all other considerations and promptly convene to discuss and endorse the proposed cabinet, he added.

Koblers statement was echoed by EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini who also hailed Prime Minister-designate Serrajs daring move while placing further responsibility on the HoR.

Libya is at a critical juncture, she said before adding and it is crucial that all key political and security actors uphold the interests of their country and its people above all others.

Mogherini also pledged full support of the EU and that of all EU member states foreign ministers to the GNA immediately upon taking office.

According to the 2015 December 17 accord signed in Morocco, the HoR has ten days to vote the appointment of the GNA.

Reports quoting unconfirmed sources say the HoR is due to meet next Monday to vote the GNA.

The Libyan unity government to be led by a Presidency Council of nine members is made of 32 ministers including one woman.

According to Libya Herald, the 32 ministers were appointed in collaboration with the HoR members negotiating on behalf of their towns and areas.

U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby indicated that Washington considered the composition of the GNA a significant step forward on the path towards Libyas peace and stability.

He said the U.S. was committed to providing the unified government full political backing and technical, economic, security, and counterterrorism assistance as requested.
The security services of Morocco, a major ally in the anti-terrorism struggle, have dealt another hard blow to Islamic fanatics with the arrest during the past few days of three more members of the terror Islamic State organization.

According to a statement released by the Interior Department, the three men have connections with fellow Moroccan jihadists operating in Syria and Iraq.

The suspects were planning to carry out attacks with bladed weapons and robberies to get funds to finance their trip to Isis camps.

This new arrest, which shows Moroccos tireless war against jihadists, comes two days after a Belgian fugitive of Moroccan origin linked to the Paris terror massacre of last November, was nabbed in the North African country.

Over the past decade, Morocco has become a key global player in the fight against terrorism despite its limited financial resources. But its comprehensive and proactive counter-terrorism strategy has so far proven successful, emerging as a model in the region.

Moroccan intelligence services dismantled 132 terrorist cells between 2002 and March 2015. During the same period, 276 terrorist plots were foiled and 2,720 suspected terrorists were arrested.

The Moroccan strategy to fight terrorism is based on a global approach including prevention, anticipation, education, rehabilitation, eradication of terrorism roots and international cooperation.
The Spanish group Europac, specializing in the production of packaging paper and cardboard, inaugurated this week an integrated packaging plant in Tangier Automotive City (TAC,) dubbed Europac Packaging Med.

The plant, the companys first outside Europe, required a 30 million investment, which is the largest amount injected by the Europac Group in an industrial unit since 2010.

The plant, located 20 km from Tangier Med Port infrastructure, has a maximum production capacity of 100 million m2 of corrugated board per year and will generate 114 direct jobs and 570 indirect jobs when in full operation.

Europac group has been active in Morocco since 2013 through its cooperation with some companies operating in Morocco such as the auto-maker Renault.

It has now chosen the North African country as its first outside Europe base for several reasons, including Moroccos political stability, its growth rate, and the structure of its GDP, which is largely supported by companies operation in various sectors such as industry, agro-industry, paper industry.

The leaders of the Spanish giant expect, through this project, to increase their activities in the industry sector and also intend to expand the companys services to automobile companies and also venture into agro-industry.

In this vein, Europac Chief Executive Jose Miguel lsidro hailed the Moroccan Green Plan which aims at promoting the agricultural sector. For him the plan is an ambitious challenge which seeks to increase competition in the agriculture sector and to convert agriculture into an engine of social and economic development.

Isidro said the opportunities to be created by the Green Plan will undoubtedly soar packaging demand.

Europac in Morocco will meet though competition in a sector that is already occupied by International Paper, Med Paper, Gharb Papier Carton.
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The city's Parks Department has rejected the idea of turning the massive potter's field on Hart Island in the Bronx into an area accessible to the public, the New York Times reports. The Island is currently run by the Department of Corrections and a bill was introduced in the City Council a few years ago that would allow for the transfer of the land to the Parks Department, and thereby make it a publicly accessible space.

At a City Council hearing on Wednesday representatives from the Parks Department said it would be beyond their budget to convert the Island into a park. And representatives from the Department of Corrections informed the council that they were happy maintaining it as a mass burial ground.

Currently, a few inmates are taken to the island, and under the supervision of corrections officers are asked to dig burial plots on the land. Last year itself, 1,137 bodies were buried on the island.

Until last year, the site was even closed off to family members who wished to visit the burial site of their relatives. Those who did get access to the island had to visit a memorial site located away from the graves. But a court ruling last year has since allowed family members to visit the site once a month.

The island has been used as a public burial ground mostly for unidentified people since 1868. Many have complained that the site is run like a prison instead of a cemetery, and it was hoped that a transfer to the Parks Department would change that atmosphere.

 Officials Object to Plan to Turn Hart Island Burial Site Over to Parks Dept. [New York Times]

 City Grants Access to Hart Island's Mass Grave Sites [Curbed]

 Bronx's Hart Island, Long A Burial Ground, Could Be A Park [Curbed]
Michigan governor Rick Snyder delivers his State of the State address on January 19, 2016. Photo: Al Goldis/AP/Corbis

A day after Michigan governor Rick Snyder released his emails regarding the lead-up to his governments delayed response to the Flint water crisis, the Detroit Free Press reported that the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform would hold a hearing on the issue, and that it planned on inviting the state executive to testify. The Free Press says the hearing is scheduled for February 3; its not clear yet whether Snyder will agree to go.

The nearly 300 pages of emails released on Wednesday showed that Snyders office debated who was at fault for the fact that children in Flint were suffering from lead poisoning because of the water coming from the Flint River, which was leaching lead from the old pipes transporting it into residents homes, where it came out smelly and strangely colored.

In September, Snyders chief of staff wrote, Of course, some of the Flint people respond by looking for someone to blame instead of working to reduce anxiety. We cant tolerate increased lead levels in any event, but its really the citys water system that needs to deal with it. Another email accused local officials of just playing politics and trying to blame the crisis on the state government. An earlier email sent to Snyder last February said, Again, discoloration is not an indicator of water quality or water safety, but we recognize that nobody likes it.

Forty percent of Flints majority-black population of 100,000 is living in poverty.

Cover of @Time magazine on Flint water shot by Detroit Free Press photographer @reginahboone https://t.co/8DeDivb7fa pic.twitter.com/mXfp9cj4sZ  Niraj Warikoo (@nwarikoo) January 21, 2016

Emails that were not sent to or from Snyder were not included in the release, so its unclear how anyone talked about the crisis when the governor wasnt involved. In a recent national study of state transparency laws, Michigan was ranked last. Snyders office happens to be exempt from Freedom of Information Act requests.

In his State of the State address on Tuesday, Snyder apologized for the crisis, which now has inspired comment and reaction from officials at the highest level of political prominence. To you, the people of Flint, I say tonight as I have before, I am sorry and I will fix it, he said. Snyder added that he planned on asking for $28 million to help people in Flint recover from the crisis  and make sure it doesnt happen again. The House quickly approved the request. Several Flint officials immediately noted that that amount of money wouldnt be enough. These kids are going to need help for a long time, Representative Dan Kildee told Reuters.

Damage from lead poisoning is irreversible. It can lead to lower IQs in children and cause other learning problems. Residents are still being warned not to drink the water, and the National Guard is still handing out water bottles and filters  and celebrities are still sending in safe water, too. Snyder told CBS News on Wednesday, We dont want people to believe its safe. Extensive testing is going on, has been going on for some time. And we are seeing improvements in the water supply. But we dont want people to believe its appropriate to drink at this point in time.

Flint mayor Karen Weaver met with Obama at the White House earlier this week. She was in town for the Conference of Mayors and told her fellow leaders, This is something that nobody should have to deal with. Everybody should have clean water. Its ironic when you live in the Great Lake State and you dont have access to clean water.

U.S. president Barack Obama speaks at the United Auto Workers-General Motors Center for Human Resources on January 20. Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

Flint started taking water from the river back in 2014, when an emergency manager  appointed by Snyder to help the struggling city  decided it would be a cheap alternative to buying water from Detroit while a pipeline to Lake Huron was being built. CityLab asked Weaver if there was any alternative to taking water from the Flint River earlier this week. She replied, I think that was the only alternative. And really we should have stayed with Detroits water because it would not have cost that much. When you look at what happened as a result, this has cost us much more, as far as money and physical harm to people. Weaver added that she hadnt been drinking the water since it was switched over.

President Obama went to visit Michigan on Wednesday, although he didnt visit Flint. He did bring it up while talking about the auto industry in Detroit, however. If I was a parent up there, I would be beside myself that my kids health could be at risk, he said. And thats why over the weekend I declared a federal emergency in Flint to send more resources on top of what weve already put on the ground. He added that the crisis was a reminder of why you cant shortchange basic services that we provide to our people and that we, together, provide as a government.

Meanwhile, Flint residents are still dealing with that disgusting water, forced to trudge across town every day just to get enough water to drink and fight utility bills that would have them paying for water they cant even use. One woman told The Wall Street Journal, Were nothing but the walking dead in Flint. Its pitiful. Every resident is allowed only six bottles of water a day. CNN spoke to a senior who said she hadnt been receiving the expected water delivery. Weve worked hard all our life, and weve paid our dues and pay our taxes. And this is what we get, she said.

Another person told The Guardian, We are not a third world. This is America, this should not happen here. Thats why we have people from all over the city and world here, supporting Flint. Because it can happen to you, it can happen in your city.

Meanwhile, in the politics is weird and creepy department, a local militia that earlier this month was contemplating a trip out to Burns, Oregon, has been busy handing out water bottles  and trying to fire up protests like the ones filmmaker and Flint resident Michael Moore has been organizing. One militia member told the Detroit Free Press, We dont see eye-to-eye on many things. For him to step forward and say something good  this time I agree with him.
Photo: Carolyn Cole/2016 Los Angeles Times

Sarah Palins speech last night, in which she railed against mainstream Republicans for attacking their own front-runner, might have left you with the impression that the GOP establishment isnt that fond of Donald Trump. Or maybe it was the attempt to launch a guerrilla campaign to defeat and destroy the real-estate mogul, the fantasizing about a Mitt 2016 campaign, or the ongoing speculation about a brokered convention. But according to Ted Cruz, the tide has turned, and now the same people who spent the last seven months plotting Trumps downfall are embracing him with open arms.



Right now the establishment is abandoning Marco Rubio, Cruz said on Wednesday in New Hampshire, according to the Washington Post. Theyre making the assessment that Marco cant win this race, and the Washington establishment is rushing over to support Donald Trump. Were seeing that every day. And Mr. Trump is welcoming the support of the Washington establishment.

Cruz was responding to a question about comments Bob Dole made earlier in the day. In an interview with the New York Times, the former senator and 1996 Republican presidential nominee unloaded on Cruz, calling him an extremist whose nomination would lead to cataclysmic and wholesale losses for the party. Dole suggested that Trump may be able to stop Cruz, and said he could probably work with Congress, because hes, you know, hes got the right personality and hes kind of a deal-maker.

When pressed to explain which members of the establishment, aside from Dole, were backing Trump, Cruz did not offer any examples. Look, Donald Trump was very candid. On the Sunday shows recently, seven months ago, he said he was the establishment, he said. Well, that hasnt changed. Theres a reason the establishment is attracted to Donald Trump. (As the Post notes, its not clear what interview the senator was referring to.)

Cruz also delved into Trumps previous support for both Democrats and moderate Republicans. If you believe what we need is more deal-making, more going along to get along, use his words, with Harry Reid and Barack Obama and the Democrats, then you can understand why the establishment is unifying behind him, he said.

There actually are quite a few examples of Establishment Republicans softening their opposition to Trump in recent weeks. However, to say theyre suddenly attracted to the secret Democrat/longtime member of the GOP establishment isnt really accurate. As New Yorks Jonathan Chait explains, Establishment Republicans are just accepting that their party is in the clutches of a madman, and they view Cruz as just as bad as Trump, or possibly even worse.

Declaring that the Establishments grudging acceptance of Trump is motivated by their fear of a true conservative shaking up Washington is a smart move by Cruz  but the truth is they just really, really hate the Texas senator. Dole was actually pretty clear on this point. The 92-year-old acknowledged that Trump is best positioned to be the nominee, but said personally, hes a strong supporter of Jeb Bush. Dole also noted that he has personal beef with Cruz; he was kind of hurt by Cruz constantly pointing to him as an unacceptably moderate GOP presidential nominee, and offended that he called GOP leader Mitch McConnell a liar on the Senate floor. I dont know how hes going to deal with Congress, Dole said of Cruz. Nobody likes him.

Dole also made the astute point that the term Establishment is becoming a meaningless term that conservative candidates hurl at one another. Cruz is in the Senate, so maybe hes part of the establishment, Dole said. You know, Ive never really known what the establishment was.
Holtzclaw cried openly in court when he was convicted on December 10.

Daniel Holtzclaw, the former Oklahoma police officer who was convicted of sexually assaulting eight women while on his beat, was today sentenced to 263 consecutive years in prison. About a month ago, an Oklahoma judge found him guilty on 18 of 36 counts, including sexual battery, forcible oral sodomy, and rape. At least three of Holtzclaws victims were reportedly present at his sentencing, including a woman who was 17 at the time Holtzclaw raped her. Ever since this happened my life has been upside down, she told the court in a briefing before the sentence was announced. I feel like Im dying on the inside.

Daniel Holtzclaw silent as he leaves court. 263 year sentence #danielholtzclaw pic.twitter.com/DJmQT4ik6q  Adam Kemp (@Adam_WK) January 21, 2016

The judges decision comes one day after Holtzclaws attorney, Scott Adams, filed a request for a new trial, The Oklahoman reports. In the request, Adams cites a Facebook post made by Detective Jake McClain, who assisted in the Holtzclaw investigation, saying that there was additional evidence left out of the trial, and that further victims had come forward but were not deemed credible.

If there is additional DNA evidence  and if there are additional people who came forward and falsely claimed that they were victims  then deliberate misrepresentations were made not only to defense counsel but to the Court, calling into question the credibility of the governments entire case, Adams wrote in the request. Shortly before the sentencing, Adamss request was denied.

All 13 women who testified at Holtzclaws trial were black, and many had criminal records and histories of drug abuse. Prosecuting attorneys emphasized this fact, saying Holtzclaw deliberately targeted women no one would believe. One woman confirmed this, saying, I didnt think anyone would believe me, she told the court in December. Im a black female.
Gaining ground on Ted for title of Oregons least-favorite Bundy. Photo: Rick Bowmer/Corbis

Oregon governor Kate Brown is about as fed up with the militia occupying her wildlife refuge as Samuel L. Jackson once was with those snakes occupying his plane.

This situation is absolutely intolerable and it must be resolved immediately, Brown told reporters on Wednesday, 19 days after a band of God-loving patriots decided to defend the Constitution by preventing anyone from visiting a bird sanctuary in rural Oregon. The very fabric of this community is being ripped apart.

Brown claimed that the occupation was costing the state $100,000 a week, as multiple law-enforcement agencies have been working overtime to make sure Ammon Bundy and his heavily armed friends dont do anything more stupid than they have already. Brown has demanded that the federal government reimburse those costs  and take immediate action to end the nuisance.

The residents of Harney County have been overlooked and underserved by federal officials response thus far, Brown said at a news conference that was originally supposed to be about her agenda for the state in 2016. I have conveyed these very grave concerns directly to our leaders at the highest levels of our government: the U.S. Department of Justice and the White House.

Federal law-enforcement officers are already patrolling the remote area, but theyve been understandably reluctant to provoke a confrontation with a group thats extremely enthusiastic about assault-weapon ownership.

The occupation was initially meant to protest the prison sentences of two local ranchers convicted of setting fires on public lands. After those ranchers said they didnt want the militias help and turned themselves in, Bundy has been justifying the occupation on the grounds that federal control of western lands is illegitimate, and also that God told him to do this, so he has no choice.

While many in Harney County arent pleased with federal land policy, theyre even less pleased with heavily armed out-of-towners paving their own roads, bulldozing Native American archaeological sites, and blowing shofars to summon every other red-blooded sovereign citizen with dreams of martyrdom to descend upon the rural Northwest. It seems like hes out of touch with reality, Harney County judge Steve Grasty told the Associated Press.

Bundys militia talked of planning an exit strategy last week, but they now appear determined not to return to their real lives. We are very strong, very firm, militia spokesman LaVoy Finicum told Oregon Public Broadcasting Wednesday. This facility will not go back to the federal government, ever.

Were going to need a bigger dildo.
A future voter. Photo: John Fitzhugh/Biloxi Sun Herald/TNS

Questions from voters tend to be pretty predictable, and candidates often end up answering the same things over and over again  and giving increasingly boring answers. However, sometimes an unknown enters the equation  perhaps a person who has lived on Earth for such a short period of time that they are still curious about things adults take for granted. They may not be able to vote for at least another decade, but they do have the ability to make candidates accountable in still-unexplored ways.

Here are some of the most important questions that 2016 candidates have answered so far  asked by kids, ranked by us. It is not yet clear how their answers will affect the 2024 election.

7. What are you going to do about the lunches?

If a child were asked about the most important part of their life, there is a non-negligible chance they would say something about school lunches.

Anyway, Governor Chris Christie was asked this weekend to explain what he would do about the lunches, which have reportedly, according to this kid, deteriorated in quality during the Obama administration. Christie said that he was a libertarian when it comes to school-lunch choice.

6. Are you running to be president? Is it hard?

Jimmy Kimmel put together a focus group of kids and asked them if they thought a woman could be president. The two boys on the panel were skeptical, thinking that a woman president would be too girly and scared to do anything. The two girls on the panel were positive that a woman could be president.

Then Hillary Clinton walked into the room. The two girls knew who she was; the others seemed to have no idea. The kids all decided that her biggest priorities should be getting people toys and free lunch at restaurants.

5. Whats a border?

According to MSNBC, Jeb Bush was not particularly good at answering the questions of middle-schoolers in New Hampshire. After going on and on about border security, one kid asked him to define border. (Have you been to Canada? Thats just north of here, by the way. A border is what separates countries.)

Senator Marco Rubio greets children while touring the Iowa State Fair. Photo: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images

4. The worlds on fire?

The Obama economy is a disaster. Obamacare is a train wreck, and the Obama Clinton foreign policy of leading from behind. The whole worlds on fire. The above quote is not a voice-over narration from a new horror movie; it is only a line from a Ted Cruz speech in New Hampshire.

Will you promise to make school only zero days a week? Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images

Most of the time, no one calls presidential candidates out when their exaggerations get a bit too excessive. This is when a very literal-minded 3-year-old is handy. Cruz told her that, yes, her world is on fire. She didnt seem too fazed by that.

The kids mom told a local TV station, She really basically was like, Oh oh, this is a great man. Hes a firefighter in her mind as a 3-year-old and was quite happy, and then she wanted a cookie.

3. What will the wall be made out of?

Heres a question a young boy asked Trump  but it was also a secret password that quickly got him whisked up on the stage, where he was given the privilege of getting a kiss from the presidential candidate and a chance to loudly say hello in an elementary-school students deadpan monotone.

Trump deemed the question great.

The answer was not gold. Trumps wall will be made of hardened concrete, rebar, and steel. Mexico has not agreed to pay for these materials, as Trump has said it will.

2. What is the most important part of life, like, out of all the things?

A boy in New Hampshire asked Hillary Clinton this very deep question. After saying that he probably had a future as a philosopher or a theologian, she responded: love.

Carly Fiorina greets children on the steps of the New Hampshire State House. Photo: Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images

NPR thinks that at least 29 children have asked Clinton questions at town halls so far this year. Critics have complained that the questions sound like they were planted, although it is not clear how this specific one helps her stay on message.

1. Why would you want to be president of a nation that might consider voting for Donald Trump?

In which a young person hacks his way into Jeb Bushs mind.
Alexander Litvinenko shortly before his death from radiation poisoning. Photo: Natasja Weitsz/Getty Images

Vladimir Putin probably approved the poisoning of a Russian spy turned Kremlim critic in 2006, a British inquiry has found.

The 328-page report prepared by retired High Court judge Robert Owen offers an elaborate and damning account of the murder of Alexander V. Litvinenko. Litvinenko was a KGB officer who fled to the U.K. in 2000, after exposing corruption in Moscows security services. He died from polonium-210 poisoning shortly after having a drink with KGB officers Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun in a London hotel in November 2006. The judge found that Lugovoi and Kovtun had left a trail of radioactive polonium particles as they traveled across London, with the strongest readings coming from a washbasin in Kovtuns bedroom.

The evidence of Putins involvement is purely circumstantial: Its hard to get your hands on polonium if you dont have access to a Russian reactor, Litvinenko had been planning to meet with Spanish investigators about links between Putin and organized crime, and poisoning ex-KGB agents just seems like a very Putin thing to do. The New York Times reports that British diplomats dont want a little extrajudicial killing to prevent continued cooperation between Russia and the West over resolving the war in Syria.

Speaking before Parliament, U.K. Home secretary Theresa May called the poisoning a blatant and unacceptable breach of the most fundamental tenets of international law and civilized behavior, but conceded that Putins apparent role does not come as a surprise.
Did Reformicon intellectuals pave the way for demagogues like Palin and Trump? Photo: Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images

Its been a very difficult week for the in-house Republicans of the New York Times editorial page. First David Brooks had a public meltdown in a column calling for a conspiracy to keep the GOP presidential nomination out of the hands of Donald Trump or Ted Cruz. Then, in the wake of Sarah Palins endorsement of the Donald, Ross Douthat came forth with a confession that eggheads like his own self had stood by and let demagogues preempt the working-class-focused reform-conservative movement. Worse yet, he admitted, his initial reaction to the proto-Trump from Alaska had been one of adoration as he defended her against her snooty critics.

Those snooty critics will enjoy Douthats horrified recognition of his romance with Palin, whom he viewed as the embodiment of the Sams Club Republicanism he had called for in a much-discussed 2005 essay co-written with another future reform conservative, Reihan Salam. He identified with Palin as a working-class conservative heroine instead of examining her carefully as a journalist. Thus he was mortified when she turned out to be her critics caricature, embracing a mix of willful ignorance and proud ressentiment (leave it to an egghead to deploy the French version of resentment, which was used by Frederich Nietzsche to convey a deep, soul-wrenching hatred of ones betters).

Douthat doesnt end his confession with sodden regret at an embarrassing infatuation. Like another writer sometimes identified as a Reformicon, David Frum, he considers the possibility that Palin and her new friend Trump are precisely what working-class Republicans want, at least as compared to the economic elites whose control of the GOP the populist tycoon and his followers are challenging. But unlike Frum, Douthat seems to have a sense of personal responsibility for the resulting disaster.

[I]n a certain way, Trump and Palin together on a stage is the closest American politics has come to offering the populist grand new party that Salam and I called for two presidential campaigns ago. Except that it isnt what we called for, because we wanted a populism with substance  one that actually offered policy solutions to stagnant wages and rising health care costs, one that could help Republicans reach out to upwardly mobile blacks and Hispanics as well as whites, and so on down an optimistic wish list.

As it turns out, though, the Reformicon effort to talk Republican presidential candidates into nestling some family tax credits into their massively regressive tax plans, or to go a little easier on entitlement reform, were laughably puny attempts to save GOP elites from themselves.

[A]t a certain point disillusionment with the system becomes so strong that no wonkish policy proposal is likely to resonate anymore. So you can talk all you want (as Marco Rubios water-treading campaign has tried to do) about improving vocational education or increasing the child-tax credit, and people will tune you out: They want someone who will arm-wrestle the Chinese, make Mexico pay for the wall, smite our enemies and generally stand in solidarity with their resentments, regardless of the policy results. Since this is a recipe for American-style Putinism, its not exactly a good sign for the republic that it seems to be resonating. But those of us who want a better, saner and more decent populism than what Donald Trump is selling need to reckon with the implications of his indubitable appeal.

Im guessing Douthat is hardly alone among Republican opinion-leaders in judging Rubios once-promising campaign as water-treading and far from being an answer either to Trumps Putinism or to the Goldwater-redux stylings of Ted Cruz. If what David Brooks fears will happen in Cleveland in July does transpire, Reformicons may have to offset smug claims that they tried to warn the Establishment of their peril with an acknowledgment that they did too little, too late, to offer an alternative.
Photo: Kenneth Ceulemans/Getty Images

Dear Mona,

I have to admit that Ive been louder in bed than all of my male sexual partners. But women just make more noise in bed than men  dont they? Or am I just loud?

Thanks,

Jennifer C., 30

Dear Jennifer,

You are not alone. I dont say that because women necessarily do make more noise in bed than men, but because you assume that they do  as do most people, including just about every scientist who has ever looked into this question.

Not that there are many scientists who have tried  and for a long time these soldiers of knowledge couldnt even pluck up the courage to ask men and women about their sex sounds, so they simply watched other primates going at it. Based on that method, they found that whether it was bonobos, baboons, or macaques, females make a lot more noise than males. The resulting assumption that ladies are always louder (flawed or accurate as it may be) has colored a lot of the subsequent research on humans.

Ive found three key studies that look at how and why humans make sounds while theyre having sex  and, for what its worth, none of the researchers spent much time listening to men.

In 2006, Roy J. Levin at the University of Sheffield undertook to watch explicit sexual videos of heterosexual and lesbian sex, noting every time a woman moaned, groaned, gasped, grunted, screamed, or said something (e.g., please, harder, deeper, faster). Levin also tracked every penile thrust or tongue flick that may have been responsible for the above sounds.

And Jennifer, I can tell you that the women in these videos were plenty vocal. On average, they made 45 sounds per minute when they were having penile-vaginal sex and 48 sounds per minute when they were having penile-anal sex. Among lesbian pairs, clitoral-oral stimulation was accompanied by significantly fewer vocal noises  34 per minute.

Penile-vaginal coitus Thrusts per minute: 129 Female vocalizations per minute: 45 Penile-anal coitus Thrusts per minute: 129 Female vocalizations per minute: 48 Clitoral oral stimulation Thrusts per minute: 92 Female vocalizations per minute: 34 Female vocalizations per minute Thrusts per minute 50 100 150 60 40 20 Sample sizes Penile-vaginal coitus: 187 (heterosexual); Penile-anal coitus: 29 (heterosexual); Clitoral oral stimulation: 66 (lesbian)

Its not clear whether Levins videos were professionally produced porn or home recordings of couples having sex (Ive written to him to ask but still havent heard back). If the women he was watching were actors, it might affect how useful these results are for you (depending on how well you think pornography reflects what people do in their off-screen lives).

In the abstract, it might be reasonable to assume that sounds made during sex are a result of experiencing intense physical pleasure. But research out of the university of Leeds in the U.K. suggests thats not the case at all. A study published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior in 2010 based on interviews with 71 heterosexual, sexually active women found that orgasm was most frequently reported following self-manipulation of the clitoris, manipulation by the partner, oral sex delivered to the woman by a man, and least frequently during vaginal penetration. But those same women said that they were loudest before and simultaneously with male ejaculation. When the researchers asked the women more directly what percentage of the time do you make noise during sex, even when you are not going to have an orgasm?, 80 percent of women said they did so at least half the time.

In the case of straight women, their male partners seem to rely on  and derive pleasure from  these sex sounds. According to Levin, men need auditory signals in the sack more than women do  presumably because, unlike a big ol erection, womens arousal is simply harder to see. (Researchers note a strong possibility men, lacking any unmistakable visual cues, cant reliably distinguish real female orgasms from fake ones.) Also, men apparently get more turned on by sex noises than women do. Levin explains:

for males such sexual sounds (together with tactile stimuli) are the second most arousing sexual experience (visual experiences, real and imagined, are the first). This is not so for the female.

Finally, Ive got one last study that looks at why women fake orgasms. The 2014 paper  titled, appropriately enough, The Faking Orgasm Scale for Women  was based on the responses of 481 heterosexual undergraduate females. Four main reasons emerged that explain why women might moan when theres not much to moan about.

Below are the descriptions of those reasons as well as the average scores given by women when asked about their importance on a scale of 1 (never relevant) to 5 (always).

1. Altruistic deceit: faking orgasm out of concern for a partners feelings (3.3 out of 5)

2. Elevated arousal: a womans attempt to increase her own arousal through faking orgasm (2.6)

3. Fear and insecurity: faking orgasm to avoid negative emotions associated with the sexual experience (2.1)

4. Sexual adjournment: faking orgasm to end sex (2.1)

Based on an extensive literature review, the researchers behind this scale note that its difficult to draw too many conclusions about normal female sexual functioning because so many women fake pleasure and because a lot of women simply struggle to have any orgasm at all.



Do you see yourself in any of this Jennifer? Taken together, its about everything that clinical science has to say about the subject right now.

Before I leave you to get back to the bedroom on that slightly bleak note, I want to tell you about an experiment that took place in the early 1990s at a small, progressive college in Ohio. I think its relevant because it shows just how important honest vocalizations  if of a slightly different sort  can be.

Antioch College decided to rewrite the schools sexual-consent policy to make it far more explicit. Consent for any sexual act had to involve an individual saying yes rather than not saying no. Whether it was undoing a blouse or touching someones genitals, consent had to be verbally stated. Any complaints of sexual misconduct were judged according to the policy, which was designed to prevent rape  so if someone hadnt said yes, then guilt would be strongly assumed. The policy was heavily criticized in the media as political correctness gone mad, but many female students felt differently. They were able to develop a language that articulated their desires not only to their partners, but also to themselves. And they reported having better sex as a result.

So, Jennifer, I say yell all you want  just as long as you mean it.

Hope the numbers help,

Mona

Mona Chalabi is data editor at The Guardian U.S. You can send her questions for her Dear Mona column at mona@monachalabi.com or on Twitter @MonaChalabi



For the sake of science, please take our reader survey about sex sounds:
Photo: Mark Leibowitz/Masterfile/Corbis

In 2014, over the holidays, the number of searches for incest-themed videos on PornHub and its competitors spiked dramatically  hundreds of percents in a single month  and only continued to grow over the course of 2015.

Against better judgment, David Wallace-Wells wanted to know why mother-son porn was becoming more popular, so he sat down with Jesse Bering, author of Perv: The Sexual Deviant in All of Us, to find out.

Plus: Other data, just released this month by PornHub, reveals a whole new set of super-interesting proclivities  it turns out that Italians are really into foot-fetish stuff, and Russians cant get enough of sexy My Little Pony. With Allison P. Davis, Maureen OConnor, and David Wallace-Wells.

A new episode of Sex Lives can be found each week on iTunes or SoundCloud.
Austrian wine: interview with Willi Klinger

Ahead of the upcoming Austrian Wine tasting at the Institute of Directors in London on February 8, we caught up with Willi Klinger, managing director at the generic body, to get the lowdown on Austrian wine.

How are Austrian wine sales going in the UK? Are they growing or in decline?

Definitely growing. Austrian wine sales to the UK have seen tremendous success in the last 10 years. Starting from the comparably very low export volume of 40,400 litres (value 0.55 million) in year 2003, which then reflected 0.05% of total Austrian wine export volumes, the quantity crossing the UK-border has grown to 0.68 million litres in 2014. Austrias UK export value was 3.8 million in 2014. Compared to the preceding year 2013, growth rates were up 32.42% in volume and 12.29% in value.

These figures themselves may not seem outstanding, but their strong upwards development has to be kept mind. The 2014 UK-percentage of total Austrian wine exports was 1.37% in volume and 2.63% in value.

What is also important for UK sales is their high average value generated for wineries. In 2014, one litre of Austrian wine exported to the UK was sold for an average of 5.64 Euro, which is way above the total Austrian average price of 2.92 per litre.

Having a look at the development of UK sales, especially since year 2009 solid growth and gains both in value and volume, indicating that Austrian wines have been able to expanding their presence on the market, have been reported.

Statistik Austria preliminary figures for year 2015 (months January-September) present an extension of the current growth trend, showing consistent growth both in value (+22%) and volume (+17%).

2014 UK-Exports calculated to 0.75 L bottle sizes were as shown in the following table:

2014 UK exports (in 0,75 L bottles) Bottles (0.75 L) % value % volume Sparkling wine 3,847 0.78% 0.43% White wine 780,432 75.56% 86.36% Red wine 52,845 17.90% 5.85% Dessert wine 7,359 0.67% 0.81%

Source: Table by AWMB/Hartl (Statistik Austria), ignoring export data >2L (= below 7% of UK-exports)

What is the rough split between the off-trade and the on-trade?

Statistik Austria export data doesnt examine sales channels, which means that the actual spread between on- and off-trade sales is not available to the AWMB and can only be estimated.

Generally spoken, Austrian wines can be found throughout the UK supply chain, from own-label brands in supermarkets such as Waitrose, Morrisons and Sainsburys to the Michelin star decorated restaurants.

Findings from a recent internal survey amongst exporting wineries suggest a slightly stronger presence in hand-sale channels such as the on-trade and specialist retailing.

Are there any key areas where you see an opportunity for the wines to grow in the UK in the year ahead? A particular sector, such as independent wine merchants or discount stores? Or by pushing a particular varietal or style of wine?

We definitely see opportunities to expanding Austrias presence on the UK market. Importers of our wines report growing interest and demand from both sommeliers and well-educated customers. Media coverage has contributed a great deal to the positive development of our UK-sales and we are very grateful for our relationship to members of the UK press, whose influence often reaches out a lot further beyond the UK borders.

Coming from a small wine growing country in the heart of Europe, our winemakers are facing sometimes difficult conditions of production, which means that our wines cannot compete in the very entry-level segment with wines from other countries. It is, however, well possible to find excellent value-wines from 2,80  ex-cellar price. There has been a significant growth also in the supermarket business with Gruner Veltliner at 7.99 on the shelf. Waitrose, Sainsburys and Morrisons successfully sell wines of that kind.

Generally speaking, we stick to the tradition of high quality hand-crafted wines, usually from small family vineyards, but are always open to modernity. Their intrinsic product quality and regional-typicality is what makes Austrias wines unique and provides consumers with an outstanding price-value ratio. Austrias (white) wines are the best value in the fine wine world. The more you spend, the better the value, said US-importer Terry Theise once.

Nevertheless we are well aware of our niche positioning both internationally and on the UK market. Austrian wines usually work best, when someone hand-sells them, and are amongst the most versatile and food-friendly wines of the world. The independent wine merchants sectors growth is more likely to push Austrian wine sales than the price-battling and line-reducing supermarkets, even though general listings in chains of course help to boost sales, especially volume-wise.

Austrias challenge to grow is to increase awareness amongst end consumers.

As can be seen in the spread of Austrian UK export products, white wine accounts for the major part of sales both in terms of value and volume. The before mentioned survey implicates that of total exports, around 85% of exported wine is from Gruner Veltliner, showing the in Austria most widely planted grape varietys dominance in UK-exports.

Nevertheless red wine sales have seen substantial growth in the last few years. Importers report growing interest for wines from indigenous red grape varieties such as Blaufrankisch and Zweigelt as well as for other white specialities beyond Gruner Veltliner.

Click here for a more in-depth look at the current trends in the Austrian wine industry.

Related articles:
I wanted to buy a Kylo AND a Rey Funko, but after all this bull shit with her merch, I only bought the Rey.



You mess with the bull you get the horns \00/

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I'm sure they felt that.

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LOL. Every penny counts!

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yas let all the Kylo merch pile up into a lonely mountain muahaha

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Awe dont let these dicks ruin your fun. Buy what you want boo!

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I have a Rey and BB8 one, thought about Kylo but now I don't really care

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I wonder if the REWRITES DUE TO ONLINE RESPONSE TO CERTAIN CHARACTERS~ is related to how people have reacted to the merchandise

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TBH, I was a bit afraid they were going to sideline Rey in episode VIII. Hopefully they've done their research and realized the reaction to her character has been very positive. I just want her to remain the protagonist and not be overshadowed by some guy.

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While watching The Force Awakens it made me a little envious of the girls growing up with this movie that get to have Rey as someone they want to be

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My understanding is that they were originally going to bring in 2 new female characters and several amazing actresses were up for those roles (Tatiana Maslany and Gina Rodriguez were just a few up for consideration) but now it sounds like they will be getting way smaller roles to give the trio more room. While I love the trio, I was excited about some new characters having a big impact so not sure how I feel now.

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Lmao poor Kylo.

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That's BS though. The Kylo merchandise is selling very well.

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this, Star Wars stuf is everywhere with his face on it and people are buying it, my students love all that stuff.

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So true as I went out specifically to get Star Wars stuff to catch up on my collections and just about everything is sold out



I had to special order my kylo funko and I went online to get my unmasked kylo and he is sold out and now on eBay at higher prices



I did get Rey and Kylo itty bitty's from Halmark though



There has been such ugliness towards this movie like I haven't seen before or maybe I am getting old



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This is very annoyingly wordy. It's the reading equivalent of walking through wet cement.

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It's the way it's been formatted.

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"They put a huge investment into marketing and merchandizing the Kylo Ren character. They presumed he would be the big breakout role from the film. They were completely surprised when it was Rey everyone identified with and wanted to see more of. Now theyre stuck with vast amounts of Kylo Ren product that is not moving."







Also, sidenote: I wonder if this has to do with the script changes. They said the script was now gonna focus more on Rey, Finn and Poe because of positive audience reaction. Meanwhile, this article is saying Kylo toys aren't selling as expected and the reaction towards him seems to be a lot more mixed than the other characters. Wonder if episode VIII was gonna have more focus on him originally. Hmmm. Also, sidenote: I wonder if this has to do with the script changes. They said the script was now gonna focus more on Rey, Finn and Poe because of positive audience reaction. Meanwhile, this article is saying Kylo toys aren't selling as expected and the reaction towards him seems to be a lot more mixed than the other characters. Wonder if episode VIII was gonna have more focus on him originally. Hmmm.

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They said the script was now gonna focus more on Rey, Finn and Poe because of positive audience reaction.

i'm honestly baffled by this. like they're the new trio??????? it's rey's story??!?!??!?!?!?! she's the lead protaganist?????!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?? ??

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I was shocked when I read that too. idek. I'm curious to know how the script was VS how it's being written now.

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White maleness is a helluva drug.

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honest to god, these white men do not have any perspective beyond their own (dicks)

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I just watched (Despecialised) ANH last night, and when the scene in your icon was on I loled. XD



And yeah, if it's even true that they weren't going to focus on Rey then WHAT. THE. FUCK. It'd be like not focusing on Luke in ESB, were they fucking high? It's so mind-bogglingly idiotic that I'd completely dismiss it, if I didn't already know Hollywood ain't shit when it comes to focusing on non-white male leads, *despite* the effing movie having them as the main trio in this.

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No the rewrite is focusing less on the new female characters and more on Poe, Kyloe, Rey and Finn.

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THIS IS WHY YOU DON'T LET MARKET TESTING AND FOCUS GROUPS DICTATE YOUR MOVIE

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I have no idea why they thought Kylo was going to be the big break out star, knowing he does what he does in the film.



Fuck you Disney.

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that gif. I rewatched that movie a few months ago. Love!

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"one or more individuals raised concerns" about the presence of a female character in SW products



fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck this



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Star Wars has always had prominent female characters... They merchandizEd Leia out the ass. IDG why all these dumbos thought no one would like Rey. Wtf

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the pluralization of "character" is generous

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Not really. I'm pretty sure someone made a supercut of all the non-Leia female characters from the original trilogy speaking and it was like, a minute long.

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Is it Disney or Lucasfilms that is doing that?

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Or the toymakers? Because if you look at the Disney Store, they have a pretty generous line-up of Rey stuff (including her in sets) vs. what Hasbro is offering.

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aren't they one and the same now?

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lmao typical 

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HAHAHA. I love those damn droids and their constant bitching, judging, sass.

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deathhhhhhhhhhh

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omg do you have a link?

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nah sorry, someone posted the gif in yesterday's post 

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Can I just have an R2 and Queen BB8 spinoff?

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lmaoo

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lmao omg I love these two

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bitchy boops lmao

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This beautiful gif <3 the only droids that matter. C3P0 is so annoying omg.

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omg I cackled when R2 woke up and immediately insulted 3PO

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they remind me so much of my cats meelo and gizmo

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You seriously have to be SO FREAKING DUMB to not realize people would want Rey toys. So dumb.



lol in that Excellent post OP!You seriously have to be SO FREAKING DUMB to not realize people would want Rey toys. So dumb.lol in that #wheresrey pic I was like why is a Weasley holding a light saber but then I realized it was Luke, he looks ginger to me

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That`s my main thought as well.. How people who are supposed to be experts can be so insanely dumb and out of touch with reality.

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A few weeks ago I was telling my sister about the #WheresRey movement in response to her not being included in the Millenium Falcon set and my 8 y.o. nephew who was playing with his Sphero BB-8 looks up and says, "Why wouldn't boys want Rey in the Millenium Falcon? She's the one that /flies/ it." And then he looks at his BB-8 and my heart melted because he then said, "And BB-8 is a girl and I love playing with her. I wish she was the real size like in the movie."

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Aaaawww! What a smart kid!

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Aww :'D

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Aww!! So adorable.

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kids have more sense than old men executives

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Ty! 



lmao he's SO ginger in that. Speaking of Weasleys, did you see the ~Diary of Kylo~ going round tumblr in the style of the Potter Puppet Pals Diary of Snape? I was CACKLING. Hux is "THE ORANGE ONE."

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I bought some target dollar Star Wars items for my prize box, and there were 2 "activity sets" that had Rey on the cover.



surprise surprise, I've already had a girl snatch them up.

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omg my sister bought me one of those!!! i love it, so many cute stickers!

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She is the protagonist, there is no excuse about the lack of toys, there isn't.



In another news, I wacthed a Reylo fan-art in my dashboard with Rey using the slave Leia costume, I need cleansing and to follow better people.

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i try really hard not to kinkshame and everyone is entitled to their otp, but reylo is testing me SO HARD

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kinkshame away, tbh. People need to snap out of their questionable taste.

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WHAT? it's time for a mass unfollowing

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who you follow?

incest lovers?

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i am so glad i follow strictly anti-reylo blogs. it has saved my soul

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There's a poll going around about who do you ship from the new movie and Rey/Kylo is winning...by a lot :/





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What in the fuck... Slave Leia fetishisation in GENERAL makes me seethe, but that is just solidly rage inducing.

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I need cleansing now that I know something like that exists. Whyyyy.

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I just love the shippers who r honestly convinced the rewrites mean Finn/Poe or cousin banging is gonna happen

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Lmao all the Reylo talk here (I'd never even considered that ship before) made it kind of grow on me.

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get thee to a nunnery TBH

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i'm gonna dumb holy water on you

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Not my thing but the more people attack reylo, the more they make me want to defend it. People are being so horrible about this.

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I totally get why people ship Reylo lol idc

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please get better taste sis

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omg that delusion is all over my dash

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but at least poe/finn is harmless and cute. and the characters actually like each other. reylo is just...unbelievably disturbing.

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I think a storyline where Poe is in unrequited love with Finn is totally plausible, tbh. not that they'd actually do it, but I think it would make sense.

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Oh god, those people who are convinced that "stormpilot" is going to happen. I need them to calm down, jfc.

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it worries me disney had so little faith in rey and put so much into kylo, especially if that is the case with the scripts. i really don't want a re-write due to fan service because that rarely seems to end well and i'd like to see the story as it was originally intended, but it just seems weird to me the promo was so heavy on ot3 and rey so important to the story if they intended on having kylo carry the series. it just doesn't make sense story-wise. i'm hoping "script re-writes for more ot3" is just being used an excuse to to keep fans happy with the new date and its always been centered on them.

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I'm just confused how they truly thought people wouldn't be interested in her. TFA was about HER, it ended alluding that she's embracing her destiny.



I couldn't give a fuck less about Kylo's journey or whatever, it's obvious he's a spoiled brat (I know my icon is of him). Nobody left the theatre thinking "can't wait to know more about Kylo". Every discussion I've had with fans were a debate about REY. If she's a Skywalker, who's she going to end up being with and is she going to bring about a new generation of Jedis.



I just...am lost. Why make a movie about her and then try to make another movie about the bad guy?

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The script rewrites are making me sad because they said VIII was gonna be weird and now it's very obviously going to be safe (gotta secure that $$$$.) BORING. I doubt Rian Johnson is happy about this. But hey Disney's keepin the lights on so you better skip to that tune!

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since when has Ariana been RnB?

this is news to me

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a big part of her music is heavily influenced by R&B, especially in her debut album

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She didn't really lie. Ariana is kind of "bringing it back" in her own way. Both of her albums have great R&B songs, especially the first one. And her recent christmas EP too. It's just that they aren't picked as singles.

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same

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me too

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mte. i am so here for a 90's R&B revival tbh. that was a golden era.

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She has a lot of R&B songs tho? They're just not her singles...

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sure she is. if you think ariana is singing straight up pop music, you're mistaken.

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she is tho lol

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I just got two tickets to her show! I hope she's good live.

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Ariana's first album and last EP were heavily influenced by r&b. I wouldn't say she is bringing back the genre at all but you can't deny that R&B is the genre that has inspired her the most.

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Right? I can't at people acting like she didn't have plenty of R&B blend/influences on all of her released material, even her second album.



And Tinashe isn't calling her an R&B artist. It sounds like she's saying Ariana is clearly influenced by R&B and is incorporating those influences in her music.



Like...how are we gonna call her a Mariah knockoff, but not acknowledge that it means she has R&B elements in her music.

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fuck genius, just by the way, I can't believe they still haven't been sued yet but they can deal with all these celebrities

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And I think everybody has had ramen soup in their life at least once.



lol

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You should never have people around you that are just saying what they think you want to hear. I always try to surround myself with people whose opinions I trust. Yes men dont help anyone.



I'm SO glad she thinks like this.

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I feel like it's missing from pop becausebno one is actually making good R&B? Even "R&B artists" are doing stuff inspired by it, but not straight up R&B.



I also read an article awhile back that I totally agreed with it, that stated how R&B used to be about love, passion, etc, but now all these dudes are just writing songs that degrade women/relationships but in a R&B voice *coughchrisbrowncough* and a lot of people aren't with it anymore.

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That gif. Her dancing is not smooth at all, my god.

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mte

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And still better than 90% of the popstars right now.

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At dancing? Well, 90 % of them don't dance at all, so I guess you're right about that.

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seriously. lol

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these nu R&B children think they can just jerk their legs and arms real hard and look cute

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idk if you watch her performances of 2 on she kills it every time

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http://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/99825899.html



it's pretty telling when looking at chart data for the more recent years. vibe even named ed sheeran one of r&b's most wanted. and i don't buy the excuse that the edm trend changed radio and black r&b artists weren't able to adapt to the trend, when you had artists like kelly rowland and ciara recording edm tracks on their albums. hell, there was even an active push to promote a white female rapper, who was also the only female rapper to have a #1 hot 100 hit since 1998 with her debut single. i don't think any of this is coincidental. i do believe that there is an active push to promote r&b and soul-influenced music from white artists over black artists. just consider how alessia cara is getting such a huge radio push when if a black female artist were to release the same song, they would most likely not be getting any radio play at all. why are ariana grande and adele the only "big" voices we hear on the radio anymore when ? like if you're not beyonce, rihanna, or nicki minaj, there's a very little chance that a black female artist will experience massive success, and it's not like beyonce, rihanna, or nicki minaj even get much radio play anymore.it's pretty telling when looking at chart data for the more recent years. vibe even named ed sheeran one of r&b's most wanted. and i don't buy the excuse that the edm trend changed radio and black r&b artists weren't able to adapt to the trend, when you had artists like kelly rowland and ciara recording edm tracks on their albums. hell, there was even an active push to promote a white female rapper, who was also the only female rapper to have a #1 hot 100 hit since 1998 with her debut single. i don't think any of this is coincidental.

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this. Even during the BEYONCE era, the singles were hardly charting all that well except for Drunk In Love. Nicki and Rihanna too. Rihanna isn't even charting like she used to because even her shittiest songs used to chart. Nicki was never much of a chart topper. I do agree about the Alessia Cara, there are plenty of artists who have released similar songs and basically went nowhere. I think a lot of this has to do with the current racial climate globally. With terrorism, police brutality, etc, PoC have gotten a sinister face in the media and the GP is clinging on to the idea of whiteness.

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I think a lot of this has to do with the current racial climate globally. With terrorism, police brutality, etc, PoC have gotten a sinister face in the media and the GP is clinging on to the idea of whiteness.



this coupled with the fact that major labels aren't investing money in black artists anymore. this article mostly talks about labels paying for a PR push so that an artist can get nominated for the bbc sound of poll, but i think the same can also apply to labels investing money in new artists and making sure they get radio play here in the states.



http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2016/jan/19/how-do-you-become-music-next-big-thing-record-label-spend-promotion this coupled with the fact that major labels aren't investing money in black artists anymore. this article mostly talks about labels paying for a PR push so that an artist can get nominated for the bbc sound of poll, but i think the same can also apply to labels investing money in new artists and making sure they get radio play here in the states.

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I can't believe When Love Takes Over only peaked in the 70s here. I swear I heard it all the time before I knew who/what Kelly, DC, the charts, Bey's 4 singles were from the internet. It was big in Europe and the rest of the world at least.

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queen alicia is coming back real soon to save R&B, don't you worry sistren

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Girl On Fire had some songs that should have been bigger singles imo.

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releasing brand new me as a second single over when it's all over or limitedless was straight up shenanigans

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yaaas, i was just listening to Songs in A Minor today, love that record

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but if it's anything like "28 Thousand Days" she can keep it.



tell ha man Swizz to stay out of the studio and let Krucial Keys lead the way tbh. yesssssss.but if it's anything like "28 Thousand Days" she can keep it.tell ha man Swizz to stay out of the studio and let Krucial Keys lead the way tbh.

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I need a No One 2.0. As I Am was a perfect album.

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Lmao wtf is that gif stop

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She wrote that?

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lol LSA going in on poor Tin-Ashy

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Ugh, that forum full of dumbass Rihanna and Beyonce stans that are desperate to hate and tear down any up and coming black female artists. They don't even read. Someone made a post saying in the title that Tinashe compared the support she receives to the support Zendaya receives and they went in on her without even caring to read that it was the interviewer who made the comparison. Same thing now, the title there is "Tinashe says Ariana brought back R&B" when she actually said that Ariana is "bringing it back in her own way". They just want to hate and it's not even at least funny, just dumb. Btw, it's hilarious that I see some users doing the same here then go around being mad there's no black artist in the industry anymore. The irony.



Edited at 2016-01-23 12:58 am (UTC)

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The OPEC Monthly Oil Market Report is out. OPEC took a hit in December, down 205,000 barrels per day. After examining the past and present production numbers, I believe that OPEC, except Iran, has peaked. That is, the combined production from all the other OPEC nations, has peaked. And any additional production from Libya is likely to be in tiny increments that wont make much difference in the big picture. Other OPEC nations may show a slight increase from their current level. But the combined production from all the other 11 OPEC nations, 12 if you count Indonesia, has peaked.

Of course there will be some small increases from the other 11 OPEC countries from time to time but overall, in 2016 and beyond, I believe OPEC production will go from flat to down, with a greater chance of it going down. That is we are at, or near, the peak right now. There might be a slight uptick of their combined production in the coming months but not enough to get excited about.

All Data in the charts below is through December and is in thousand barrels per day.

(Click to enlarge)

OPEC production, in the chart above does not include Indonesia. OPEC 12 was down 204,000 barrels per day.

(Click to enlarge)

OPEC uses secondary sources such as Platts and other agencies to report their production numbers. These numbers are pretty accurate and usually have only slight revisions month to month. The biggest changes were from Iraq, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia, all down.

(Click to enlarge)

Algeria peaked in November 2007 and has been in a steady decline since that point. Related: Cheap Oil Hits Housing In North Dakota, Texas, and Others

(Click to enlarge)

Angola has been holding steady since peaking in 2008 and 2010.

(Click to enlarge)

Ecuador appears to have peaked this year. It is likely production will be down, but only slightly, next year.

(Click to enlarge)

Sanctions were just lifted, in the middle of January, on Iran. I expect their production to be up by about half a million barrels per day, or slightly more, by years end. However I believe Iran will be the only OPEC nation with any significant production increase in 2016.

(Click to enlarge)

Iraq increased production more than any other OPEC nation in 2015.





(Click to enlarge)

I expect Kuwait will continue its slow decline from its peak in 2013.

(Click to enlarge)

Libya is struggling with its own Arab Spring. There is no way of knowing when, if ever, peace will break out there. I think it extremely unlikely they will produce as much as 1,000,000 bpd within the next 5 years or so. Related: Oman Offers to Slash Oil Production If OPEC Follows Suit

(Click to enlarge)

Nigeria is struggling with its own political revolution. But it appears they are in decline regardless of their political problems.

(Click to enlarge)

I believe Saudi Arabia is producing every barrel it possibly can. They will be lucky to hold this level for much longer.

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Qatar has lots of natural gas but its oil production has clearly peaked and is now in decline.

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From 2005 through 2010 the oil rig count in the UAE averaged around 12. In November their oil rig count stood at 48, 4 times its average. They have managed to increase production about 11% above their 2008 peak. I believe UAE production is about to follow Kuwaits lead and rollover. The UAEs rig count dropped by 4 in December.

(Click to enlarge)

Not much can be said about Venezuela. Their conventional oil is in decline but their bitumen production is keeping production relatively flat.

The below chart is in thousand barrels per day.

(Click to enlarge)

This is where the OPEC action was in 2105. This chart will look entirely different in 12 months. Only Iran is likely to show any significant increase. Well, thats my opinion anyway.

(Click to enlarge)

Here is what OPEC is expecting Non-OPEC countries to produce in 2016. They are expecting total Non-OPEC total liquids production to decline by 670,000 barrels per day. I expect the C+C decline will be closer to one million barrels per day. And I think it is likely that the total liquids decline will be close to that mark also.

Notice that they are predicting US total liquids to drop by only 380,000 barrels per day in 2016. I think this is overly optimistic. I am predicting a Non-OPEC production decline of at least one million barrels per day. Related: Kenya Hoping to Export Oil, Despite Global Downturn

Indonesia, though they are a net importer and in decline, became an OPEC member this month. They have no crude only history so I will have to take their EIA chart and subtract their estimated percentage of condensate production and go from there.

(Click to enlarge)

Here the EIA data is through June, the JODI data is through October and the OPEC MOMR data is through December. Again, the MOMR data does not include condensate while the JODI and EIA data does. It looks like condensate is about 12 percent of Indonesias production.

Just in: The Highlights of the IEAs Oil Marker Report came out Tuesday. Normally the highlights give the IEAs estimate on Non-OPEC oil production. However this month they failed to do so. But all is not lost, Canadas Financial Post was kind enough to give us the IEAs estimate of December Non-OPEC production. Bold mine.

As OPEC pursues its policy of gaining market share and driving down prices, most non-OPEC producers have curtailed spending to weather the prolonged downturn. Non-OPEC production in December declined sharply by nearly 650,000 bpd to 57.4 million bpd its lowest level since September 2012, according to an International Energy Agency report published Tuesday.

That is alarming. Perhaps my estimate of Non-OPEC production decrease of one million barrels per day is too low. its lowest level since September 2012 is obviously a typo. What they meant was its largest single month decline since September of 2102.

By Ron Patterson

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Terrorists have struck in the heart of Indonesia; the uber violent Boko Haram is rampaging across Nigeria; and ISIS is  everywhere. While the knee-jerk reaction is to ask how geopolitical chaos affects oil prices, we might ask how low oil prices cause instability that feeds terrorism.

ISIS may be earning less revenue than it could because oil prices are so low, but overall, the slump is good for terrorism the world over, because it creates economic and political instability.

Last week, a terrorist attack in the center of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, killed eight peoplefour of which were attackers believed to be linked to the Islamic State. Related: $329 Billion Invested in Clean Energy in 2015

In Nigeria, Boko Haram is reaping the benefits of a weakened state. Petroleum exports account for 90 percent of Nigerias total overseas revenue, and the country is awaiting a doubled budget deficit next year. Consumption is at an all-time low, employment at a high, and salaries at risk of going unpaid. Its an economic meltdown of which Boko Haram will take full advantage.

It was, after all, the original chaos of Nigeria and its massive corruption and income disparity between the predominately Muslim north and the oil-rich Christian south that fostered the rise of Boko Haram, one of the most violent terrorist groups in the world. Now, the states growing inability to fund the fight against this pervasive terrorism is being hindered by low oil prices.

Indeed, the countrys new government is now accusing the former president of having siphoned over $2 billion in oil funds that were originally intended to fight Boko Haram and redirecting it to his failed election campaign. Related: OPEC Still Sees Oil Markets Balancing This Year

Enter ISIS, which has fully adapted to the geopolitical realities of oil. The chaos of Syria gave them a convenient base, and the falling price of oil gave them the regional instability to spread across many borders. Most recently, its moved into Libya, where chaos reigns in the form of two rival governments.

Saudi Arabia, which refuses to cut oil production in the name of stabilizing the market, is in financial trouble.

Heres the cliffhanger: If the low oil prices weaken the Saudi monarchy too much, ISIS will be able to run amok even more than it is now.

While oil money from the wealthy Gulf Statesmost notoriously, Saudi Arabiahas been the main funding source for Sunni radical groups, ISIS has broken the mold. Its organized its own continual source of funding through the sale of oil out of Syria, and is now clearly eyeing Libya. Related: Oman Offers to Slash Oil Production If OPEC Follows Suit

At the same time, sanctions against Iran have been lifted, and its preparing to unleash another 500,000 bpd into the already glutted market. Iran already has significant control over Shiite radicals, and its new oil money will make this even easier.

OPEC-leader Saudi Arabia was hoping that by maintaining production levels, it would retain market share and hit back at the U.S. shale boom that threatens their position in the market. Unfortunately for the Saudis, this increase in production has failed to box out U.S. shale producers. But it has succeeded in creating dangerous economic and political instability.

To stay afloat, Saudi Arabia has had to issue a bond packageits first since 2007and it is expected to report an $82-billion drop in revenues for 2015. The IMF predicts a deficit equivalent to 20 percent of GDP for 2015, and the risk of deficit as far ahead as the next decade.

This is the door to chaos that ISIS is looking for, and the Saudis need to help close it.

By Julianne Geiger of Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Royal Dutch Shell said Wednesday that it expects its fourth-quarter profits in 2015 to be roughly half what they were in the same period of 2014 due to the steady plunge in the price of oil. The warning comes a week before the Anglo-Dutch companys shareholders vote on whether to proceed with its proposed merger with the British oil and gas giant BG Group.

Shell said its profit for the final quarter of 2015 would drop to between $1.6 billion and $1.9 billion, excluding one-time charges and changes in inventories. The company enjoyed a profit of around $3.3 billion in the same period a year earlier.

For all of 2015, it said, the profit is expected to range between $10.4 billion and $10.7 billion, again sharply down from its profit of about $22.6 billion in all of 2014. The companys final report on profits will be issued Feb. 4.

Last year was difficult for the oil industry, even for a giant like Shell, which has a reputation for being adept at dealing with adversity, and 2016 promises to be no better. The company, based in The Hague, confronted the oil-price plunge in 2015 by cutting its capital expenditures by about 20 percent, eliminating about 10,000 jobs and reducing operating costs by $4 billion, or about 10 percent.



Related: Oil Prices Approach $26 After Bearish IEA Report

Shell was even forced to abandon energy exploration ventures in Canada and the Arctic Ocean, which turned out to be fruitless, and has been forced to sell various assets to raise $20 billion.

In 2016 it faces even more challenges, as Brent crude dropped just below $30 per barrel this week and Iran is ramping up its own oil production, adding to the global oil glut, now that it is free from Western sanctions that have crippled its energy industry.

Nevertheless, Shell CEO Ben van Beurden remains optimistic, particularly because he sees a merger with BG, a leader in liquefied natural gas (LNG), as a move that will set his company apart from others struggling in a difficult market. Im pleased with Shells operating performance in 2015, and the momentum in the company to reduce costs and to improve competitiveness, he said in a statement.



Related: Will OPEC Be Forced To Call An Emergency Meeting Soon?

Bold, strategic moves shape our industry, van Beurden said. The completion of the BG transaction, which we are expecting in a matter of weeks, will mark the start of a new chapter in Shell to rejuvenate the company and improve shareholder returns.

When Shell announced its proposed purchase of BG in April, at a cost of $69.6 billion, it said the merger would create the worlds largest LNG company and eliminate redundant expenses for both companies. This was widely seen as an example of Shells ability to cope with market challenges.

At the time, the deal was seen as a harbinger of additional mergers in which strong companies remained strong in the face of low energy prices by buying up smaller competitors. But such mergers havent materialized and Shells move doesnt look so canny anymore because the value of its offer to buy BG has fallen from $69.6 billion in April to about $53 billion by the end of 2015.



Related: Volatility In Oil Markets Hits A 7 Year High

Shell shareholders will vote on the proposed merger with BG on Jan. 27, and BGs shareholders will decide the next day. The outcome is anyones guess, but one analyst, Richard Griffith of the investment bank Canaccord Genuity Ltd., says he believes a merger makes sense.

The surprise is the how strong the integrated gas business has been, Griffith told Bloomberg. Thats a point Shell wants to make because the BG deal is the combination of two powerful gas companies.

In fact, two of Shells largest shareholders, Aberdeen Asset Management Plc and Invesco Asset Management Ltd., support the merger. Invesco fund manager Martin Walker said he believed a combined Shell-BG would lead to strong growth in gas production in the coming years.

Only one Shell shareholder has publicly voiced its opposition to a merger. That is Standard Life Investments, which says the deal, if approved, would be value destructive.

By Andy Tully of Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
The history of Milwaukee lies below ground. About three stories below ground to be exact.

Thats where youll find Office of the Common Council/City Clerk  City Records Center, headed by Jacquelyn Block, who has been in the department, amid the stacks of boxes, the rolls of blueprints, the shelves of plat map books in which the quotidian history of the city is inscribed, since 1993.

The department, as you can imagine, is a space-intensive one, occupying a former printing office, as well as a number of storage spaces in the Frank P. Zeidler Municipal Building, 841 N. Broadway, the Department of City Development building next door at 809 N. Broadway, and even some off-site storage, including at the Central Library.

These days, very few of the record types are open to the public. The main ones available for scrutiny are residential building plans dating back to the late 1970s. In the past, the public could see blueprints for public buildings, too. But that all changed on Sept. 11, 2001.

"Up through 9/11, we had quite a flow of members of the public coming in for plans," says Block from her office adjacent to the citys mail room. "Until that day, you could come in and ask for any type of government building plan: banks, jails  you name it  the airport.

" On 9/10, someone came for a copy of the data communication building the police department has on Lisbon. They didn't get it only because it was after 4:30 (p.m., closing time). Turned out the next day, as the planes were hitting and what not, that it was a disgruntled architect in the city who wanted those plans. That was pretty scary. At the time, all of my superiors were out of town. I said, We're shutting the doors. I don't know what's happening."

Soon after, the Common Council passed an ordinance classifying what are deemed "secure structures." If someone wants to view plans for those, permission from the building owner (i.e. Milwaukee Police Dept., Milwaukee Public Schools, etc.) is required.

"Before 9/11, we would get about 10,000 requests a year," Block says. "A lot of local business developers, architects, students from various universities studying architecture or history. That type of thing. We get 3,000 or less at this point."

Many of the records held by the department are extremely sensitive and when Block gave me a tour, there were areas we didnt go, boxes we couldnt open.

"We have things from every city department; primarily their records, which are on legal retention schedules." Block says. "Police records, city attorney litigation records."

There is stuff everywhere. In the former print shop, there are palettes stacked full of document boxes and rolls and rolls of blueprints, maps and plans. Some boxes have photographs that would make history buffs salivate. Others have remnants of the Cold War: Geiger counters, radiation measurement log books, manuals.

So, how do they decide what to keep?

"Historical value and the law," says Block. "We'd look at administrative value, historic value, legal value and fiscal value. Administratively, will that department need to refer back to that record for whatever reason? In the case of property records, which are primarily permanent records, those are there to provide evidence that a citizen or the government has certain rights and privileges to a property.

"By state law, every record that a government entity creates, it must have a schedule. It must be identified with a number, a description, what is the medium, how long are you going to keep it, where are you going to keep it, what's the purpose of that, who is the legal custodian? We have some things from the 1800s."

Some of the most beautiful things in the collection are books of plat maps showing property lines for every lot in the entire city. Some of the books are workaday maps that are interesting from a historical perspective. But others, especially some plats created for new city subdivisions in the 1930s are astonishingly beautiful, having been drawn and inked by architects and artists during Works Progress Administration era.

In some of them, the decoration is so elaborate that the plats of the streets seem almost an afterthought. These are the kinds of records that I cant help but hope the city digitizes and offers to the public via its website and perhaps even offers quality prints available for purchase.

Wandering around, theres a wealth of amazing things to behold. We pass a shelf with some maps waiting to be filed and there are surveys of parking trends in Downtown Milwaukee from decades ago. Theres a detailed map of the Downtown business district from the 1940s showing every building on every street and noting how many floors it has and what types of businesses it houses.

Theres also a 1904 map of what was Wauwatosa but has since been annexed by Milwaukee. Every house is marked with a dot in what was then mostly countryside.

Block grabs a box at random off a stack, ensures its not sensitive material and pops off the lid. Inside are aerial views of all parts of the city from the 1940s. Another one has records from the Board of Public Land Commissioners. The first page marks the 1915 organization of the committee. Yet another has photographs and newspaper clippings of unbuilt Downtown developments.

Block says even more than 20 years into it, she loves her work.

"It's interesting," she says. "I'll get down into basements and closets and attics and back rooms and all sorts of places and find some amazing things."
Oregon Senate Republican Office

Oregon House Republican Office

Salem, Ore.  Senate Republican Leader Ted Ferrioli (R-John Day) released the following statement in response to Governor Kate Browns 2016 policy agenda:

Weve had enough of Governor Brown saying one thing and doing another. She pledged to pass a transportation package in 2015, and then abandoned that pledge when California billionaire and Democrat megadonor Tom Steyer pushed back. She pledged openness and transparency, but has continued to hamstring public records requests and keep agency business in the shadows. Today, she told us she wants to get government out of the way of small business, but just proposed the highest minimum wage in the nation  guaranteed to kill small businesses already struggling to stay afloat.

Oregon cant afford an all-talk Governor. Her education plan goes no further than studying Oregons problems and never proposing a real plan to fix them. She supports mandates that force small businesses to lay off employees, then is puzzled by why businesses are cutting jobs. Oregon cannot afford another failed Governor. We need less talk and more action from Governor Brown on the issues that matter to Oregonians: fixing our broken education system, restoring a strong economy statewide and passing a transportation package now, not in 2017.

Salem, OR  House Republican Leader Mike McLane (R-Powell Butte) issued the following statement regarding Governor Browns 2016 Policy Agenda:

Im disappointed in the Governors proposed 2016 agenda. A healthy, vibrant Oregon will only be achieved when our state leaders show the political courage necessary to tackle our most pressing issues. Were facing a massive PERS shortfall, our roads and infrastructure are in need of repair now, our rural communities are in crisis, and our education system ranks as one of the worst in the nation.

New bureaucratic appointments and executive orders wont solve these problems. One-party rule has left our state with yesterdays ideas and status quo policies. House Republicans look forward to presenting meaningful alternatives to Democrats stale agenda in the 2016 session.
A declassified email sent on April 2, 2011 to then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reveals the invasion of Libya was launched to prevent Muammar Gaddafi from establishing a pan-African currency based on Libyas gold Dinar.

According to the document posted on the US State Department website advisors to Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the second son of Muammar Gaddafi, told sources the Libyan government held 143 tons of gold and a similar amount in silver valued at more than $7 billion. The gold and silver was to be used to establish an alternative currency to the French franc for African Francophone countries.A large numbers of Western Africa nations are former French colonies and many continue to hold French as the official language. Madagascar in East Africa is also a Francophone country.French intelligence officers discovered this plan shortly after the current rebellion began, the email states, and this was one of the factors that influenced President Nicolas Sarkozys decision to commit France to the attack on Libya.In addition to preventing Libya from breaking away from French monetary domination, Sarkozy wanted to gain a greater share of Libya oil production, increase French influence in North Africa and dash Gaddafis long term plans to supplant France as the dominant power in Francophone Africa.During the invasion of Libya analysts argued Gaddafi planned to stop selling oil in US dollars and demand instead it be traded in gold dinars. Prior to the invasion Gaddafi urged other African and Middle Eastern nations to follow suit.Any move such as that would certainly not be welcomed by the power elite today, who are responsible for controlling the worlds central banks, financial analyst Anthony Wile told RT. So yes, that would certainly be something that would cause his immediate dismissal and the need for other reasons to be brought forward [for] removing him from power.The central banking Ponzi scheme requires an ever-increasing base of demand and the immediate silencing of those who would threaten its existence. Perhaps that is what the hurry is in removing Gaddafi in particular and those who might have been sympathetic to his monetary idea, Wile wrote in May, 2011.Saddam Hussein in Iraq suffered a similar fate after he announced his countrys oil would be sold in euros, not dollars. Sanctions and then a US invasion followed. Coincidence? Husseins idea would have strengthened the euro, but Gaddafis idea would have strengthened all of Africa in the opinion of hard-money economists. Gold is the ultimate honest money and the peg against which all other fiat currencies are ultimately devalued, Wile notes.Source: http://www.infowars.com/libya-was-invaded-to-prevent-pan-african-currency/
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Protection of civilians is served by addressing the root causes of conflicts: Maleeha Lodhi

UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan told the international community on Tuesday that the protection of civilians is best served by addressing the root causes of conflicts, and finding inclusive political solutions to disputes and seeking peaceful settlement of conflicts.



Pakistans UN Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi told the Security Council, this strategy would lead us to sustainable and enduring peace and security; it has been demonstrated time and again, terrorists are not bound by any consideration of humanity.



She said: The protection of civilians is a system-wide responsibility. The host countries bear the primary responsibility for protection of all civilians without discrimination."



A normative framework is in place and the international community keeps urging all parties to comply with their obligations and abide by international humanitarian, human rights and refugee law.



Ms Lodhi regretted that compliance, unfortunately, is sporadic at best, and defiance remains rampant, especially, but not only, by non-state actors.



She said: As recent examples testify, starvation has been used as an instrument of a siege strategy and indiscriminate bombing campaigns have been undertaken with no regard to the loss of civilian lives. The destruction of hospitals and attacks on medical workers has been the most egregious example of the impunity of such violations of international humanitarian law.



They have not even spared school children as the cowardly attack on a school in Peshawar showed a year ago, underlining the new and appalling levels of inhumanity to which violent extremists have sunk.



However, she declared that the response of states to combat terrorism must be measured, well planned and carefully targeted to protect civilian lives and uphold human rights. Anything less would play into the hands of terrorists and be counter-productive.



She pointed out Pakistan, as one of worlds top troop contributing countries, has proudly and conscientiously undertaken the task of proactively protecting civilians, when mandated by the council, including in current missions in the DRC, Darfur, Cote dIvoire, Central African Republic and Liberia.



We have demonstrated that this can be done by a robust deterrence posture and without resort to the use of force. Action by Pakistani troops in UNAMID offers an example of active protection of civilians while adhering to the principles of peacekeeping. Through robust posturing and preventive diplomacy, it was able to avert a bloodbath.



Ms Lodhi said, we appreciate the acknowledgement in the secretary generals report that Pakistans counter-terrorism operations involves better advance planning to limit the effect on civilians, we reiterate that these are law enforcement actions and do not constitute a situation of armed conflict.



We, of course, strongly condemn the deliberate targeting of civilians in conflict situations. We have even temporarily relocated civilians to protect them from deliberate targeting by terrorists in areas where law enforcement operations are going.
Theres a virus that is rapidly replicating into the conscience of mankind, making us less of beings of reputable rationale. This virus has...

https://patrickfynn.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-double-standards-surrounding_21.html

Theres a virus that is rapidly replicating into the conscience of mankind, making us less of beings of reputable rationale. This virus has the potential of altering our reason. So we carry food with unclean hands and then proper hand washing with soap and water is done after eating.





These days, trusting people to live up to expectation can be tragic, leaving you to wonder if we ourselves arent viruses in human forms. Unless we are not getting the drift, it is bewildering how people would entertain the belief that there are no crocodiles because the water is calm. Take for a typical example, the grant of asylum for these two Middle East detainees from the Guantanamo Bay by the Ghana government.





Guantanamo Bay Detainees





In reducing the number of detainees at the camp, the White House is freeing these dangerous radicals to selected countries, including Ghana; a development which has received vehement snub by the rank and file of the country. Why our government irrevocably admits these blood suckers is perhaps what Obama led them to believe that they were never involved in terrorism, in spite of the obvious fact that eating with unclean hands will make you sick.





President Mahama makes us understand one thing  that either the two terrorists were just parcelled for him, and told not to open until he arrived in Ghana or that he carried a swarm of bees, with the hope of taming them into harmless flies.





th Arab Brigade and an admitted member of the Taliban. What is mind boggling is whether we should trust our President or the external people who are proving him wrong. According to US pundits, the said description as given by our leaders isnt true for either of the men. Bin Atef in particular is a cause of concern. Long before his transfer, the intelligence analysts at Joint Task Force Guantanamo assessed him as a high risk and likely to pose a threat to the US, its interest and allies. Atef is actually a fighter in Usama bin Ladens former 55Arab Brigade and an admitted member of the Taliban.





This is in sharp contrast to the claim by Mahama, who portrays the deal as an act of humanitarian assistance, likening the Yemeni men to non-threatening refugees who have been cleared of any involvement in terrorist activities. Do we need rocket science to educate the educated that even though these men have been tamed for about 14 years, their psychology concerning extremism cannot be washed?





When we say hypocrisy is in full strike in this match, what we are looking at are the assurances from the Interior Minister and Foreign Minister that they are ready to fight eternal terror attacks even though they were not privy to discussions on this chronicle and till date have no information on the said detainees. I wish I had an analogy to explain this cluelessness. Its likeits very much like



Honestly I really wish I could find a metaphor to draw similitude from. Honestly I really wish I could find a metaphor to draw similitude from.









Okay, its like Sheikh Osmanu Nuhu Sharubutus opinion on this issue  that accepting these two spells no doom for the country; he would even feed and accommodate them.





If you say the Islamic religion holds the ultimate value that the human being is reformable; meaning we hate the crime associated to man but we dont hate the man, then we must accept Boko Haram, ISIS and Al-shabab. Because it will be the height of hypocrisy to admit two of the world most dangerous terrorists who are radicalised and trained fighters of these terrorist groups, and condemn the various groups they inspired. Why dont we throw an open invitation to all of them to come live in Ghana? Then we know you are being fair.





The state didnt need to make this their business. If only they opened discussion on it, Chief Imam would have had the highest bid. He was willing to host, feed and clothe them without anyone paying a dime.





It is obvious how much oblivious the Chief Imam is to what the issues are. So just like him, two ministers and other communicators of the ruling party, may eat with dirty hands because they have no knowledge of typhoid fever.





One moment, the Foreign Minister has no idea about this development and the next moment, she wakes up, promising to fight consequent terror threats. When Hanna Tetteh confidently says shes ready to match foreign terror attack boot-for-boot it again comes to us as a matter of two-facedness that her outfit couldnt lay hands on the necessary documents to make impact assessment of those GITMO detainees. How then can we counter-attack a well calculated war? How?





Hon. Hannah Tetteh - Foriegn Affairs Minister





Point is we cant trust a country that is already under the threat of uncontrolled Fulani herdsmen who make free passes and cause a lot of havoc without control. It has become clear how the government has not any concrete plan in dealing with these extremists.





This is a nation where armed robbers enjoy jolly rides in town until it takes the bravado of taxi drivers to knock them off. We cant fight inanimate fanatics like corruption yet the minister is beating her chest in valour. We do not have any sophisticated means to handle crime and terrorism, yet we pride ourselves to hold up high-risk militants who continue to demonstrate their support for extremism. Such double standards!





Heres a country that was once the star of Africa, but now turned garbage to the world. Our glory keeps weaning due to the cheap political points our leaders seek to score. Meanwhile it is a different story elsewhere.





You see, the difference between Obama and Mahama isnt in the alphabetic permutation of their names, but rather the charge kept by each of them. One of them is fulfilling his campaign promises to his people whiles the other is fulfilling his ego, to the detriment of the masses.





One of them, fuelled by cruelty locks up innocent beings and then releases them to disadvantaged countries while the other is too compassionate to see them undergo such unfair, slanderous maltreatment. I am a Christian and so I show compassion is what one says.





But unknowingly the latter fails to note that not everyone is a Christian in his country of service and that the Holy Bible is not used in governing a nation. He fails to know that in thinking like the Chief Imam such a philosophy will mean putting to every day-use the Presidential prerogative power of mercy for all prisoners in custody. It will mean letting one the prison gates open, so that convicts will only make a pass-through. Such a president may have an impaired judgement on officials who are caught corrupt, just saying.





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The use of compassion to lead 27 million people could spell doom, because the Commander-In-Chief of the armed forces would be like an emotional boyfriend whos blinded by love. That is why we all agreed that since Ghana is a secular state, we rule with the letter and spirit of a constitution. The constitution didnt talk about compassion when the anti-terrorism act was passed. The constitution has clear guidelines which include using the appropriate channels in making negotiations as sensitive as this one at hand.





How come the Parliamentary Select Committee on Defence and Interior, The Attorney General , the Interior Ministry, the Foreign Ministry were kept in the dark about this has been explicated by Hannah Tetteh that in executive Presidency the leaders are not obliged to consult the masses and are compelled by those tenets to act arbitrarily.





So in ruling out another instance of a double-standardness we took a look at the exporters of these terrorists; the USA who also practise a similar system. Yet Barack Obama was not caught flat-footed. He respects the ruling of Senate that these detainees be kept outside America, a decision that debars him from admitting them. But down here in Ghana, even when there is a clear Anti-Terrorism Act that suspected terrorists cannot be admitted, a certain president uses veto power to decide otherwise.



Or maybe we could cut some slack for the President and allow some zoom and fine focus into his compassion statement. We should try to make a better understanding of what he meant. But then again, anything we do isnt helping the matter. This is what we see. Or maybe we could cut some slack for the President and allow some zoom and fine focus into his compassion statement. We should try to make a better understanding of what he meant. But then again, anything we do isnt helping the matter. This is what we see.









We find a scene of a suicide bomber hurting himself in defence of his beliefs. Something like, having compassion yet scraping off the allowance of training nurses and teachers; increasing fuel prices no matter how much workers agitate, crushing the national health insurance scheme to leave the poor sick dying, shooting fuel prices through the roof and denying the primary school children the bowl of rice even as they spent the whole academic year under trees. Yes, we saw compassion, empathy and sympathy in the eyes of the first gentleman in his bid to put smiles on the faces of Mahmoud Omar Bin Atef and Khalid Mohammed Salih al Dhuby. He forgot briefly about his 27 million wives and went after the two concubines. Such compassion! Such love!





But trust me, the President will not take any decision that will jeopardize the security of this country. The two played no operational roles in Afghanistan and that they pose no threat to Ghanas national security. The President can assure that these are unjustly kidnapped detainees who are illegally detained for 14 years without trial. They are humans too and deserve some level of care to rebuild their lives. Ghanaians should be hospitable and friendly whiles they are prepared to find peace with the families.





Point is, the whole GITMO brouhaha is not only ill-informed but also a total disregard for the structures of good governance. Telling your doctor you arent ill and denying symptoms even though you look pale is itself a sign that your condition has worsened.
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In this Jan. 12, 2016 photo, an abandoned boat lies on the dried up lake bed of Lake Poopo, on the outskirts of Untavi, Bolivia. Drought caused by the recurrent El Nino meteorological phenomenon is considered the main driver of the lake's demise. Along with glacial melting, authorities say another factor is the diversion of water from Poopo's tributaries, mostly for mining but also for agriculture. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

Overturned fishing skiffs lie abandoned on the shores of what was Bolivia's second-largest lake. Beetles dine on bird carcasses and gulls fight for scraps under a glaring sun in what marshes remain.

Lake Poopo was officially declared evaporated last month. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people have lost their livelihoods and gone.

High on Bolivia's semi-arid Andean plains at 3,700 meters (more than 12,000 feet) and long subject to climatic whims, the shallow saline lake has essentially dried up before only to rebound to twice the area of Los Angeles.

But recovery may no longer be possible, scientists say.

"This is a picture of the future of climate change," says Dirk Hoffman, a German glaciologist who studies how rising temperatures from the burning of fossil fuels has accelerated glacial melting in Bolivia.

As Andean glaciers disappear so do the sources of Poopo's water. But other factors are in play in the demise of Bolivia's second-largest body of water behind Lake Titicaca.

Drought caused by the recurrent El Nino meteorological phenomenon is considered the main driver. Authorities say another factor is the diversion of water from Poopo's tributaries, mostly for mining but also for agriculture.

More than 100 families have sold their sheep, llamas and alpaca, set aside their fishing nets and quit the former lakeside village of Untavi over the past three years, draining it of well over half its population. Only the elderly remain.

In this Jan. 12, 2016 photo, a fisherman walks along the abandoned boats in the dried up Lake Poopo, on the outskirts of Untavi, Bolivia. As Andean glaciers disappear so do the sources of Poopo's water. But other factors are in play in the demise of Bolivia's second-largest body of water behind Lake Titicaca. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

"There's no future here," said 29-year-old Juvenal Gutierrez, who moved to a nearby town where he ekes by as a motorcycle taxi driver.

Record-keeping on the lake's history only goes back a century, and there is no good tally of the people displaced by its disappearance. At least 3,250 people have received humanitarian aid, the governor's office says.

Poopo is now down to 2 percent of its former water level, regional Gov. Victor Hugo Vasquez calculates. Its maximum depth once reached 16 feet (5 meters). Field biologists say 75 species of birds are gone from the lake.

In this Jan. 11, 2016 photo, a boy swats away mosquitoes in Untavi, near the shores of Lake Poopo, Bolivia. Lake Poopo was officially declared evaporated in December 2015. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people have lost their livelihoods and gone. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

While Poopo has suffered El Nino-fueled droughts for millennia, its fragile ecosystem has experienced unprecedented stress in the past three decades. Temperatures have risen by about 1 degree Celsius while mining activity has pinched the flow of tributaries, increasing sediment.

Florida Institute of Technology biologist Mark B. Bush says the long-term trend of warming and drying threatens the entire Andean highlands.

A 2010 study he co-authored for the journal Global Change Biology says Bolivia's capital, La Paz, could face catastrophic drought this century. It predicted "inhospitable arid climates" would lessen available food and water this century for the more than 3 million inhabitants of Bolivia's highlands.

In this Jan. 11, 2016 photo, a fisherman walks along the abandoned boats in the dried up Lake Poopo, on the outskirts of Untavi, Bolivia. The overturned fishing skiffs lie abandoned on the dried up former shores of what was Bolivia's second-largest lake. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

A study by the German consortium Gitec-Cobodes determined that Poopo received 161 billion fewer liters of water in 2013 than required to maintain equilibrium.

"Irreversible changes in ecosystems could occur, causing massive emigration and greater conflicts," said the study commissioned by Bolivia's government.

The head of a local citizens' group that tried to save Poopo, Angel Flores, says authorities ignored warnings.

In this Jan. 12, 2016 photo, Abraham Fulguera shows his fisherman's credential, in the dried up Lake Poopo, on the outskirts of Untavi, Bolivia. "I am the president of the September 10 Fishing Cooperative. We used to be 30 fishermen and there used to be ten or more fishing cooperatives in Lake Poopo. Now we work as construction laborers. Others have left to look for jobs. I hope we do not become a ghost town. We have faith that the lake will come back." Fulguera said. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

"Something could have been done to prevent the disaster. Mining companies have been diverting water since 1982," he said.

President Evo Morales has sought to deflect criticism he bears some responsibility, suggesting that Poopo could come back.

"My father told me about crossing the lake on a bicycle once when it dried up," he said last month after returning from the U.N.-sponsored climate conference in Paris.

In this Jan. 12, 2016 photo, Abraham Fulguera checks his abandoned fishing net in Lake Poopo, on the outskirts of Untavi, Bolivia. Poopo is now down to 2 percent of what was normal, regional Gov. Victor Hugo Vasquez calculates. Its maximum depth once reached 16 feet. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

Environmentalists and local activists say the government mismanaged fragile water resources and ignored rampant pollution from mining, Bolivia's second export earner after natural gas. More than 100 mines are upstream and Huanuni, Bolivia's biggest state-owned tin mine, was among those dumping untreated tailings into Poopo's tributaries.

After thousands of fish died in late 2014, the Universidad Tecnica in the nearby state capital of Oruro found Poopo had unsafe levels of heavy metals, including cadmium and lead.

The president of Bolivia's National Chamber of Mining, Saturnino Ramos, said any blame by the industry is "insignificant compared to climate change." He said most of the sediment shallowing Poopo's tributaries was natural, not from mining.

In this Jan. 12, 2016 photo, an abandoned boat lies on the dried up lake bed of Lake Poopo, on the outskirts of Untavi, Bolivia. Environmentalists and local activists say the government mismanaged the lake's fragile water resources and ignored rampant pollution from mining, Bolivia's second export earner after natural gas. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

In hopes of bringing it back, Morales' government has asked the European Union for $140 million for water treatment plants for the Poopo watershed and to dredge tributaries led by the Desaguadero, which flows from Lake Titicaca.

Critics say it may be too late.

"I don't think we'll be seeing the azure mirror of Poopo again," said Milton Perez, a Universidad Tecnica researcher. "I think we've lost it."

In this Jan. 12, 2016 photo, fisherman Cirilo Choque, carries a ladder on his bicycle, as he walks to his job as bricklayer in Untavi, near the shores of Lake Poopo, Bolivia. "We are really worried because the lake dried up and that the authorities have not helped. Hopefully they will really help us. Before the lake dried up there were about 200 families living here, now only about 70 are left. Most are elderly people or children, the others left to find jobs in the city or other places." said Choque. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

In this Jan. 12, 2016 photo, fisherman Felix Rojas, 78, speak with the Associated Press, in Untavi, near lake Poopo, Bolivia. "With a group of peasants we started fishing in Lake Poopo. With the winnings from fishing I have payed for my children's education and have been able to feed them well. Now we are very sad that the lake has dried up. I do not know what is going to happen to our children and grandchildren? How are they going to survive? But we have to come up with imaginative solutions." said Rojas. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

In this Jan. 16, 2016 aerial photo, shows a view of Lake Poopo, Bolivia. High on Bolivia's semi-arid Andean plains at 3,700 meters (2.3 miles) and long subject to climatic whims, the shallow saline lake has dried up before, most recently in the 1940s, only to rebound to an area twice the size of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

In this Jan. 16, 2016, aerial photo, shows a flock of flamingos on the surface of Lake Poopo, Bolivia. Declared free on any birdlife since it dried up on December 2015, recent rains filled a small part of the lake, bringing back flamingos from the nearby Uru Uru lake (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

In this Jan. 16, 2016 photo, a plane flies over the dry lake bed of Lake Poopo, Bolivia. The El Nino weather phonomenon has inflicted periodic droughts on Poopo for millennia and last struck this hard in 1997-98. But over the past three decades unprecedented stress has befallen a fragile ecosystem where 83 percent of rainfall evaporates. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

This Jan. 16, 2016, aerial photo, shows a flock of flamingos on the surface of Lake Poopo, Bolivia. Declared free on any birdlife since it dried up on December 2015, recent rains filled a small part of the lake, bringing back flamingos from the nearby Uru Uru lake (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

This photo combo of satellite images provided by the USGS shows Lake Poopo filled with water on Oct, 11, 1986, left, and almost dry on Jan. 16, 2016, right, in Bolivia. As Andean glaciers disappear so do the sources of Poopo's water. Along with glacial melting, authorities say another factor is the diversion of water from Poopo's tributaries, mostly for mining but also for agriculture. (USGS via AP)

 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Credit: George Hodan/Public Domain

College students who are addicted to the Internet report positive and negative effects on their family relationships, according to new research from Georgia State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The study is the first to show how college students in the United States diagnosed with Problematic Internet Use (PIU) perceive its role in their families.

A research team that included child welfare expert Susan Snyder of Georgia State's Andrew Young School of Policy Studies conducted a qualitative study of 27 U.S. university students who self-identified as problematic Internet users.

"We wanted to better understand students with Problematic Internet Use," Snyder said, "those who reported spending more than 25 hours a week on the Internet on non-school or non-work-related activities, and who experienced Internet-associated health or psychosocial problems. Specifically, we wanted to understand how the Internet affects students' family relationships positively and negatively."

On the plus side, these students reported their time on the Internet often improved family connectedness when they and their family were apart. However, their excessive Internet use led to increased family conflict and disconnectedness when family members were all together. And most students with PIU felt their families also overused the Internet, with parents not setting enough limits for either parent or sibling Internet use.

Young adults are at an especially high risk for behavioral addictions, Snyder and her co-authors said, and Problematic Internet Use is considered a behavioral addiction with characteristics similar to substance abuse disorders. PIU has been linked with negative mental health consequences such as depression, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, hostility, social phobia, alcohol abuse, self-injuries and sleep difficulties.

College students may be especially vulnerable to developing PIU for reasons that include free Internet access, large blocks of free time, courses that require its use and the sudden freedom from parental control and monitoring. Estimates of PIU across the U.S. population are run as high as 15 percent.

"Our study furthers the understanding of Problematic Internet Use," Snyder said. "We believe it offers a first step toward the design of effective interventions to address PIU among the college-age population, and hope it will serve to inform clinical practice and health policy in this area."

Explore further Heavy internet use may put teens at risk for high blood pressure

More information: Susan M. Snyder et al. The Effect of U.S. University Students' Problematic Internet Use on Family Relationships: A Mixed-Methods Investigation, PLOS ONE (2015). Journal information: PLoS ONE Susan M. Snyder et al. The Effect of U.S. University Students' Problematic Internet Use on Family Relationships: A Mixed-Methods Investigation,(2015). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0144005
This reed warbler suddenly has a big mouth to feed. But the cuckoo chick has pushed the warbler's offspring out of the nest. Credit: Per Harald Olsen, NTNU

Cuckoos are nest parasites, meaning they lay their eggs in other birds' nests. The female cuckoo has to lay eggs that mimic the color, size and shape of the eggs of the host bird. Using a massive data set, including data from museum eggs that are over 100 years old, researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) have figured out how the ability to lay blue eggs is inherited.

For roughly a century, researchers have been trying to figure out how different female cuckoos manage to lay such a variety of different egg colors to match different host birds. Now, a group of researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) has come up with an answer to this puzzle, in cooperation with researchers from all over Europe and Asia.

The short answer is that "the female bird decides everything," says researcher Frode Fossy.

Fossy is part of the cuckoo research group at the Department of Biology at NTNU. The results of the group's work have just been published in Nature Communications.

"We've been able to show for the first time that the blue egg color is inherited via the female cuckoo only. Thefather has no effect on the color of his daughter's eggs," says Fossy.

Researchers have investigated a wide variety of samples from Europe and Asia. They found a clear relation between blue eggs and genetic material that only comes from the mother (mitochondrial DNA), and no relation between egg color and genetic material that comes from both parents (nuclear DNA).

This illustration shows the wide variety of colours and patterns in eggs laid by cuckoos. Cuckoo eggs may be slightly different in size to a host birds eggs, but otherwise it is almost impossible to tell the difference, especially for humans. Credit: NTNU

Cuckoos (Cuculus canorus) are parasitic. Female cuckoos lay their eggs in the nests of other bird species, as is well known.

The young cuckoo then usually throws the other chicks out of the nest, getting rid of any competition for the parents' attention.

Potential host birds develop traits to prevent being tricked by the parasitesthey get rid of eggs that don't look like their own. To avoid this, female cuckoos need to lay eggs that look identical to that of the host bird's, both in color and shape.

This means that there is a sort of evolutionary arms race going on between cuckoos and host birds, where cuckoo eggs come to resemble that of their host birds' more and more over time.

Different cuckoos can therefore lay eggs of many different colors and patterns. They can be blue, brown, green or grey, and have different combinations of spots and patterns. But each individual female cuckoo can only lay eggs in one color, so different females specialize on different host species. This is part of the reason why egg color is a trait inherited only from the female birds.

Males may make a mess of things

The research group doesn't have definitive proof that all egg characteristics are inherited from the female bird, just that blue eggs are. Whether other egg colors are also only inherited via females is currently not known.

There has been speculation that cuckoos that lay blue eggs may actually be a different species, but no other characteristics indicate this. The nuclear DNA of the birds that lay blue eggs is the same as any other cuckoomeaning that the species is the same.

A single male cuckoo can mate with several female birds that lay eggs of different colors. This could make a mess of things. If a male with genes for one color mated with a female with a different egg color, their daughter's eggs could be an intermediate color that doesn't match any host, meaning that host birds would be able to spot the difference and get rid of the parasitic egg.

This marsh warbler has a cuckoo chick in its nest. It was undoubtedly unable to differentiate between the cuckoo egg and the rest of the eggs in its nest. Credit: Per Harald Olsen, NTNU

For this reason, there are evolutionary advantages for both the male and female birds that only females carry the genetic trait for egg color. That way, their offspring will have a much greater chance of surviving.

Sex chromosomes

Egg color traits are therefore most likely connected to the bird's sex chromosomes. In birds, these are the W and Z chromosomes (similar to X and Y in mammals).

Male birds have a ZZ chromosome pair, while females have a ZW pair. In other words, only female birds have W chromosomes. Thus, if the gene for blue egg color is located on the W chromosome, this gene will be inherited unchanged from mother to daughter.

Another possibility is that egg color is connected to mitochondrial DNA, or mtDNA, which is also inherited only from the mother.

100 per cent certainty

Using a massive data set, including data from museum eggs that are over 100 years old, the researchers have been able to conclude with 100 percent certainty that blue egg color is inherited solely from the mother.

As a biologist, it isn't often you can come to a conclusion with 100 percent certainty. But this is an exception.

Spread from Asia

The researchers' results have mainly come from Finland, and cuckoos that lay eggs in redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus) nests, as well as material from blue eggs in China.

The blue egg color has most likely originated in Asia.

"It happened about 2.6 million years ago," Fossy explains.

This trait was developed so long ago that four new species of cuckoos have evolved after blue eggs appeared.

The blue egg trait thereby spread from Asia west to Europe, as female birds mated with local males and found local hosts to trick with their blue eggs. Because blue eggs are inherited only from female birds, this geographic spread hasn't affected egg color.

More work ahead

Just a few years ago, Fossy published a study of three species of cuckoos in Bulgaria that indicated that male birds could affect egg colors. While the trait for blue eggs is certainly only inherited from female birds, this may not be the case for other colors.

Explore further Egg colours make cuckoos masters of disguise

More information: Frode Fossy et al. Ancient origin and maternal inheritance of blue cuckoo eggs, Nature Communications (2016). Journal information: Nature Communications Frode Fossy et al. Ancient origin and maternal inheritance of blue cuckoo eggs,(2016). DOI: 10.1038/ncomms10272
Researchers have discovered that a social laboratory rodent, the prairie vole, shows an empathy-based consoling response when other voles are distressed. Credit: Emory University

Researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, have discovered that a social laboratory rodent, the prairie vole, shows an empathy-based consoling response when other voles are distressed. This is the first time researchers have shown consolation behavior in rodents, and this discovery ends the long-standing belief that detecting the distress of others and acting to relieve that stress is uniquely human.

Making this finding even more significant is that it has important implications for understanding and treating psychiatric disorders in which detecting and responding to the emotions of others can be disrupted, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and schizophrenia.

In the study, which is published in this week's issue of Science, co-authors Larry Young, PhD, and James Burkett, PhD, demonstrated that oxytocina brain chemical well-known for maternal nurturing and social bondingacts in a specific brain region of prairie voles, the same as in humans, to promote consoling behavior. Prairie voles are small rodents known for forming lifelong, monogamous bonds and providing bi-parental care of their young.

Consolation is defined as calming contact directed at a distressed individual; for example, primates calm others with a kiss and embrace, whereas voles groom others. The prairie voles' consoling behavior was strongest toward familiar voles, and was not observed in the closely related, but asocial, meadow vole.

Study co-author Frans de Waal, PhD, was the first to discover animal consolation behavior in 1979 by observing how chimpanzees provide contact comfort to victims of aggression. According to de Waal, the present vole study has significant implications by confirming the empathic nature of the consolation response.

"Scientists have been reluctant to attribute empathy to animals, often assuming selfish motives. These explanations have never worked well for consolation behavior, however, which is why this study is so important," says de Waal.

Young is division chief of Behavioral Neuroscience and Psychiatric Disorders at Yerkes, director of the Silvio O. Conte Center for Oxytocin and Social Cognition at Emory, and professor in the Emory University School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. His previous research on the neural mechanisms controlling pair bonding in prairie voles has provided insights that may be relevant to the treatment of ASD.

De Waal is director of the Living Links Center at Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Professor of Primate Behavior in the Emory University Psychology Department, and University Professor at Utrecht University, The Netherlands. De Waal has published several books on primate social behavior and animal empathy, including The Age of Empathy. Burkett recently completed his doctoral studies in Emory University's Neuroscience PhD program.

In addition to being the first study to show consolation outside of large-brained animals, the researchers explicitly tied consolation to maternal nurturing mechanisms in the brain, which suggests empathy, not complex cognition, is key. Observing another animal in distress caused activation in the anterior cingulate cortex, a brain region that is also activated when humans see another person in pain. Prairie voles responded by increasing their pro-social contact, which clearly reduced the other's anxiety. When the study authors blocked oxytocin signaling specifically in the anterior cingulate cortex of prairie voles, the animals no longer consoled others in distress.

According to Young and Burkett, research suggests oxytocin may improve social engagement in ASD. Their research findings create an opportunity to explore the neural mechanisms of this previously unrecognized consolation behavior in laboratory animals, placing greater emphasis on research into the brain systems underlying empathy. This research underscores the increasing potential oxytocin has for understanding and treating ASD, schizophrenia, and other psychiatric disorders in which detecting and responding to the emotions of others can be disrupted.

"Many complex human traits have their roots in fundamental brain processes that are shared among many other species," says Young. "We now have the opportunity to explore in detail the neural mechanisms underlying empathetic responses in a laboratory rodent with clear implications for humans," Young continues. The authors suggest that consoling behavior evolved in the context of prairie voles' monogamous social structure by tweaking brain systems involved in maternal nurturing, which are present in all mammals.

Research reported in this release was supported by the U.S.-based National Institute of Mental Health under award number P50MH100023 and R01MH096983 and the National Institutes of Health's Office of the Director, Office of Research Infrastructure Programs, P51OD011132.

For eight decades, the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, has been dedicated to conducting essential basic science and translational research to advance scientific understanding and to improve the health and well-being of humans and nonhuman primates. Today, the center, as one of only eight National Institutes of Health-funded national primate research centers, provides leadership, training and resources to foster scientific creativity, collaboration and discoveries. Yerkes-based research is grounded in scientific integrity, expert knowledge, respect for colleagues, an open exchange of ideas and compassionate quality animal care.

Within the fields of microbiology and immunology, neurologic diseases, neuropharmacology, behavioral, cognitive and developmental neuroscience, and psychiatric disorders, the center's research programs are seeking ways to: develop vaccines for infectious and noninfectious diseases; understand the basic neurobiology and genetics of social behavior and develop new treatment strategies for improving social functioning in ASD and schizophrenia; interpret brain activity through imaging; increase understanding of progressive illnesses such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases; unlock the secrets of memory; treat drug addiction; determine how the interaction between genetics and society shape who we are; and advance knowledge about the evolutionary links between biology and behavior.

The CTSN mission is to bring together basic and clinical scientists in order to facilitate the translation of our understanding of the social brain into novel treatments for social deficits in psychiatric disorders, including ASD.

Explore further Oxytocin may enhance social function in psychiatric disorders

More information: "Oxytocin-dependent consolation behavior in rodents," Journal information: Science "Oxytocin-dependent consolation behavior in rodents," DOI: 10.1126/science.aac4785

Provided by Emory Health Sciences
This screenshot, from an interactive Sky Viewer tool, shows a small region of the sky in the vicinity of the galaxy UGC 10041 imaged by the Dark Energy Camera Legacy Survey (DECaLS). Credit: Dustin Lang/University of Toronto

No need for hyperdrive: Scientists have released an "expansion pack" for a virtual tour of the universe that you can enjoy from the comfort of your own computer. The latest version of the publicly accessible images of the sky, which can be viewed using an interactive Sky Viewer tool, roughly doubles the size of the searchable universe from the project's original release in May.

The images for this sky-mapping project, dubbed DECaLS (for Dark Energy Camera Legacy Survey) were taken by the 520-megapixel Dark Energy Survey Camera (DECam).

The scientific aim of DECaLS is to identify a select set of about 40 million galaxies and 2.5 million or more quasarsextremely luminous sources in the distant universe powered by massive black holesthat will be the focus of a ground-breaking project known as the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI).

The DESI collaboration, managed at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), is building the new instrument for the Mayall 4-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory.

DESI will measure the distances to the galaxies identified by the survey, create the largest, most detailed 3-D map of the universe, and provide the most precise measurement of the expansion history of the universe over the last 12 billion years. The project will explore the effects of dark energy, a mysterious force that is causing this expansion to accelerate.

This animation shows how the Sky Viewer tool can be used to zoom in on objects for a more detailed view. Credit: Dark Energy Camera Legacy Survey

The DECaLS maps of the sky are more than three times deeper than those from a predecessor survey, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. In addition, DECaLS will map a larger region than the Sloan survey, eventually covering about one-third of the sky. The images can be viewed by the public using the Sky Viewer, built by co-investigator Dustin Lang of University of Toronto.

The viewer allows users to toggle between various views, comparing images or models from the DECaLS data set to images from past surveys of the sky. You can also click to view labels for space objects, including stars and galaxies.

The latest DECaLS Sky Viewer release contains about 370 million stars and galaxies, said Berkeley Lab's David Schlegel, co-lead investigator for the DECaLS project and project scientist for DESI. Berkeley Lab scientists and engineers created the light-sensitive charge-coupled devices (CCDs) integral to the sensitive, high-resolution images.

"When we finish this we'll have a few billion objects," Schlegel said. DECaLS is collecting images in three different visual bands of color, which are featured in Sky Viewer, and in four bands of infrared color. The project will collect data through at least 2018.

"We are running the imaging surveys of the sky as completely public projects," said Arjun Dey, an astronomer at the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, and co-lead with Schlegel of the DECaLS project. Project data and catalogs are made available to researchers and the public as soon as they are produced. This approach has enabled many groups not involved in the DECaLS project to undertake a broad variety of research projects.

A view of the Galaxy Zoo website. The site offers a citizen-science project that helps to characterize observed and simulated galaxies. Credit: galaxyzoo.org

"The Sloan imaging survey saw very few galaxies beyond about 20 percent of the way across the visible universe," Schlegel said. "For these new DECaLS imaging sets, we are seeing many galaxies about half of the way across the visible universe. We will be mapping 10 times more volume than Sloan did."

Dey said, "The potential for new discoveries is very exciting."

As more is learned about objects from observations, it will improve the algorithms used to build a better virtual model of the universe containing simulated galaxies, quasars, stars and other objects. "Ideally, the model will become a perfect representation" that syncs with actual images and helps to identify previously unknown objects," Schlegel said. "We're far from there now, but we're a lot closer than we've ever been."

In parallel to the sky-mapping project is an effort to develop mathematical algorithms to automatically identify the objects in the images.

The DECaLS survey is somewhat unique in placing its data immediately in the public domain. "The raw images are all available. All of the code we're using is open source," Schlegel said.

"After all, the resources that enable this project are supported by taxpayers," Dey said. "The project belongs to them."

This openness makes possible research by citizen-science projects like Galaxy Zoo, which is using a "wisdom of crowds" approach to scour some of DECaLS's galaxy data. Tens of thousands of the galaxy images collected by DECaLS are being fed into Galaxy Zoo, which allows members of the public to identify and describe their features. These classifications can ultimately help scientists to sort and analyze galaxies, to understand more about their ages and how they formed, and to develop machine-learning algorithms that train computers to automatically do these characterizations.

The Galaxy Zoo platform imported a first batch of about 30,000 galaxies from DECaLS into its system in September, with an aim to gather about 1.2 million total classifications (40 per galaxy). Galaxy Zoo will import additional sets of galaxies as its users finish up the earlier batch of classifications. Galaxy Zoo also imports galaxy data from other sources, including simulated galaxies generated by computer models.

"What we've always done is tried to get dozens of people to weigh in on each galaxy separately," said Kyle Willett, lead data scientist for Galaxy Zoo and a research associate at the University of Minnesota. "Our goal for the DECaLS data is to have 40 people look at each galaxy."

The Sky Viewer tool is hosted by Berkeley Lab's National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC), a DOE Office of Science User Facility.

Explore further Astronomers release the largest ever 3-D map of the sky
A tunable laser creates a miniature library of nanoporous gold. Credit: Ryan Chen/LLNL

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers have created a library of nanoporous gold structures on a single chip that has direct applications for high-capacity lithium ion batteries as well as neural interfaces.

Nanoporous gold (np-Au), a porous metal used in energy and biomedical research, is produced through an alloy corrosion process known as dealloying that generates a characteristic three-dimensional nanoscale network of pores and ligaments.

In the cover article in the Jan. 14 issue of Nanoscale, a journal published by the Royal Society of Chemistry, LLNL researchers and their University of California, Davis (link is external) collaborators describe a method for creating a library of varying np-Au morphologies on a single chip via precise delivery of tunable laser energy. UC Davis professor Erkin Seker served as the principal investigator (PI) of the UC Fees project that primarily funded the work, along with co-PI Monika Biener of LLNL's Materials Science Division.

Laser microprocessing (e.g. micromachining) provides spatial and temporal control while imposing energy near the surface of the material.

"Traditional heat application techniques for the modification of np-Au are bulk processes that cannot be used to generate a library of different pore sizes on a single chip," said LLNL staff scientist Ibo Matthews, co-author of the paper. "Laser microprocessing offers an attractive solution to this problem by providing a means to apply energy with high spatial and temporal resolution."

The researchers used multiphysics simulations to predict the effects of continuous wave vs. pulsed laser mode and varying thermal conductivity of the supporting substrate on the local np-Au film temperatures during photothermal annealing.

They were then able to fabricate an on-chip material library consisting of 81 np-Au samples of nine different morphologies for use in the parallel study of structureproperty relationships.

"These libraries have the potential to drastically increase the throughput of morphology interaction studies for np-Au, specifically in applications such as high capacity lithium ion batteries, cell-material interaction studies for neural interfaces, analytical biosensors, as well as nanoscale material science studies," said Biener, co-author of the paper.

This work sets the foundation for understanding laser-based annealing of porous thin film materials. The fabrication of single chip material libraries has the potential to increase the throughput of material interaction testing in many disciplines through easy single-chip material screening libraries.

Explore further Implantable electrode coating good as gold

More information: Christopher A. R. Chapman et al. Engineering on-chip nanoporous gold material libraries via precision photothermal treatment, Nanoscale (2016). Journal information: Nanoscale Christopher A. R. Chapman et al. Engineering on-chip nanoporous gold material libraries via precision photothermal treatment,(2016). DOI: 10.1039/C5NR04580K
Equinox and Acceo Partner to Deliver Integrated Retail Payment Solution

Acceos Tender Retail EMV-certified software to operate directly on Equinox Luxe 8000i

NEW YORK CITY, January 19, 2016  Equinox, a leading provider of payment terminals, applications and support services, and a part of NBS Payment Solutions, and ACCEO Solutions Inc. (ACCEO) announced details of their partnership relationship at the National Retail Federation Big Show being held this week in New York City. ACCEOs secure EMV-certified Tender Retail software will run directly on Equinoxs Luxe 8000i, extending an enhanced, secure integrated payments experience to retailers while reducing the overall scope of the POS environment.

This new integration enhances Tender Retails market-leading decentralized architecture that has gained mass appeal by eliminating the risk of a single point of failure associated with traditional centralized architectures.

The partnership with Equinox presents an alternative option to our market-leading architecture by offering, for the first time, ACCEOs Tender Retail integrated payment software operating directly on a PIN-entry device, said Joey Vaccaro, VP of Business Development and Strategic Alliances at ACCEO. We are delighted to be a part of this exciting new product launch.

Added Drazen Ivanovic, president and chief executive officer, Equinox: The unique and elegant design of the Luxe 8000i, coupled with Tender Retails leading EMV-certified software, improves the check-out experience, while mitigating the costs and complexities associated with annual PCI compliance.

By integrating ACCEOs Tender Retail software on the Luxe 8000i, merchants and POS vendors gain access to the full set of application features associated with an integrated solution, now running in a smart, semi-integrated configuration. Operating the payment application directly on the device reduces the overhead related to PCI compliance and eliminates the expenses associated with proprietary terminal-based middleware software for semi-integrated configurations.

Equinox debuted the Luxe 8000i this week. The retail PIN pad features a sleek high-gloss finish and a crystal-clear display. Its compact size, horizontal layout, and top face-mounted card readers optimize overall footprint. It features an advanced standards-based operating system and flexible connectivity options that simplify application development and integration while ensuring that customer data remains secure. POS and payment applications can be quickly and easily implemented without the need to use man-in-the-middle software and services. The Luxe 8000i uniquely supports multiple keys for flexible and secure product-level routing to a choice of payment gateways and processors.

About ACCEO Solutions Inc.

Leading Canadian IT corporation ACCEO specializes in the design, implementation, integration, and support of management software; e-business development; and payment, professional, and technical services. ACCEO, which is currently experiencing an active growth phase, boasts nearly 1,000 employees, approximately 60,000 clients, and annual revenues exceeding CAD $110 million. Tender Retail, ACCEOs flagship payment solution, is a North American leader in the payment industry. The Tender Retail team is at the forefront of innovation, having been one of the first providers to offer an EMV-ready payment solution with End-to-End Encryption (E2EE) in North America. Deployed in major retailers throughout the United States and Canada, Tender Retail has been a leader in cutting-edge payment solutions for over 30 years. For more information, please visit www.acceo.com and www.tender-retail.com.

About Equinox Payments

Brookfield Equinox LLC (dba Equinox Payments) was founded in 2014 as a result of an acquisition of assets from Equinox Payments, LLC. Located in Scottsdale, Arizona, Equinox is looking beyond product features to rethink and reimagine the customer payment experience.

Leveraging 35+ years of payment industry innovation, particularly a long legacy of security leadership, enables Equinox to provide point of interaction last mile support for the wave of innovative new payment technologies and disruptors sweeping the traditional POS payments industry. For more information about the Luxe 8000i, please visit luxe.equinoxpayments.com. For more information about Equinox, visit equinoxpayments.com

About NBS Payment Solutions:

NBS Payment Solutions is based in Toronto, Canada and has been a leading provider of electronic payment solutions to the financial industry for over 25 years. The company provides expertise in market differentiating hardware and software solutions including POS payment terminals, secure PIN pads and a comprehensive suite of gateway managed value-add services that complement core payments processing. NBSPS also has extensive experience in transitioning services including EMV migration.

NBSP Payment Solutions Inc., is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management. http://www.brookfield.com a global alternative asset manager, with over $225 billion of assets under management. Brookfield is listed on the New York (BAM) and Toronto (BAM.A) stock exchanges.

MORE news articles..
First American Payment Systems Acquires ISO Portfolio from Chase Commerce Solutions

First American Payment Systems, a leader in payment processing, has purchased the entire portfolio of Independent Sales Organization (ISO) accounts and associated contracts from Chase Commerce Solutions, the global payment processing and merchant acquiring business of JPMorgan Chase & Co.

With 25 years of experience in providing sales and operational support for Independent Sales Organizations, First American will be providing a comprehensive product suite, strategies for growth and award-winning customer service to both ISOs and their merchants. The acquisition adds to an already robust portfolio of sales partners for First American.

This is an exciting acquisition for us because we are passionate about helping ISOs understand todays payments ecosystem and how they can navigate it to grow their revenue, says Neil Randel, CEO of First American Payment Systems. This purchase expands one of our core business strategies in delivering payments expertise and support to our sales partners. We welcome our new partners and look forward to providing them with additional services and products to take their business to the next level.

About First American Payment Systems

First American Payment Systems, L.P., based in Fort Worth, Texas, is a BBB Accredited payment processor that provides comprehensive electronic transaction processing services for more than 140,000 merchants throughout the United States and Canada. First American celebrated 25 years of business in 2015. In addition to credit, debit, and EBT card processing, First American offers a complete line of proprietary business solutions, including 1stPayPOS tablet-based point-of-sale system, 1stPayMobile, Secur-Chex check services, FirstPay.Net e-commerce solutions, and Govolution government e-payments. For more information, visit http://www.first-american.net.

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Glens Falls Mayor John "Jack" Diamond held up a container of Just Water as a Post-Star photographer snapped a photo during his recent State of the City presentation.

State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos sampled a container when he spoke at Crandall Public Library recently.

EDC President Edward Bartholomew has said it is "the official bottled water" of the local economic development group.

Now, the locally produced water is getting attention in Michigan.

Celebrity news site TMZ.com on Wednesday reported hip-hop artist Meek Mill is donating 60,000 containers of Just Water to a charity in Flint, Mich.
NEW YORK | Delcath Systems Inc. has reached a special protocol assessment agreement with the Food and Drug Administration for the design of a new Phase 3 clinical trial of the firm's cancer-fighting drug delivery system.

The system, previously marketed under the name Chemosat, has yet to be approved for sale and use in the United States. The system was rejected by the FDA in May of 2014, with the FDA saying further study was required for approval.

The special protocol assessment provides agreement that the Phase 3 trial design adequately addresses objectives that, if met, would support the submission for regulatory approval of (Delcaths drug-delivery system), according to a prepared statement.

The drug delivery system uses high-tech catheters to isolate the liver before infusing it with concentrated doses of the chemotherapy drug melphalan. The Delcath system then removes the drug from a patients blood before returning the blood to the patients body, thereby reducing the negative impacts the drug would otherwise have on the patient's health.

Delcath has a production facility on Queensbury Avenue in Queensbury, though the company has refused to disclose the number of employees who work there.
BALLSTON SPA | A 52-year-old Moreau woman has pleaded guilty to a felony charge for illegally having an unregistered handgun.

Susan A. Sheppard, of White Birch Estates, pleaded guilty to third-degree criminal possession of a weapon for possession of a handgun in Moreau last year. She was arrested April 30 by State Police.

State Police learned of the gun from a tip, and determined that Sheppard had purchased it from a friend who had gotten it legally in North Carolina. The gun was recovered.

Sheppard likely faces 5 years on probation when sentenced March 3 in Saratoga County Court.
BRIDPORT, Vt. | A Ticonderoga woman was hurt Wednesday afternoon in a head-on crash in Vermont that resulted in the death of a man in the vehicle she hit, police said.

Vermont State Police said Shelby Fernandez, 21, of Ticonderoga was headed west in a Toyota RAV4 sport utility vehicle on Route 125 in Bridport, Vermont, when she crossed into the oncoming lane and hit an eastbound 2004 Pontiac Vibe around 3:20 p.m., police said.

The driver of the Pontiac, Thomas L. Scheuffler, 66, of Shoreham, Vermont was pronounced dead at the scene, and a passenger in his vehicle was taken to Porter Medical Center in Middlebury, Vermont for treatment.

Fernandez suffered a leg injury and was treated and released at Porter Medical Center as well.

Vermont State Police said the accident remained under investigation as of Thursday.
QUEENSBURY  Adirondack Folk School in Lake Luzerne has raised enough money through an emergency appeal to keep the school open through the summer.

In less than three weeks, we raised $38,250, Rand Condell, president of the schools board, announced Tuesday at a Queensbury Town Board workshop meeting. It was absolutely gratifying.

The total will be even higher once his personal contribution, which was just mailed, reaches the school, said Queensbury Supervisor John Strough.

Condell and the school boards vice president, Dan Green, attended the Queensbury Town Board meeting as a first stop in a series of presentations to all of the town boards in Warren County about the regional significance of the school, which teaches Adirondack folk crafts and heritage.

Queensbury Town Board members said they would be open to the folk school applying to the town for occupancy tax funding, even though the school is located outside the town.

Lake Luzerne does not have much lodging, so many of the people who take courses at the school stay at hotels in Queensbury, Strough said.

EDC Warren County officials are discussing options with the school board for short-term loans, said Edward Bartholomew, the economic development groups president, who also attended the Town Board meeting.

Lodging, restaurant and retail shopping revenue isnt the only regional impact, Green said.

Many of the materials and supplies for classes are purchased in Warren County.

Lumber for the schools timber-framing classes, for example, is purchased from a mill in Chestertown, he said.

The school offers short-term courses on skills such as woodworking, basket-making, blacksmithing, quilting, spinning, fly-tying and other traditional Adirondack skills.

When you come to the Adirondacks, you come to something that is iconic.  We feel it is very important to keep that alive and educate people about the heritage and how important it is, Green said.

Between 80 and 100 instructors from around the United States and as far away as Russia come to teach at the school.

Students come from near and far.

The nonprofit school announced earlier this month it had a $40,000 deficit in its $200,000 operating budget and would be forced to close unless it received an immediate influx of contributions.

Contributions came in from as far away as Ohio, Florida and California after a Jan. 6 Post-Star story circulated on the Internet and through social networking, Condell said.

We had over a third of the states that people sent contributions from, he said.

Its given us enough to guarantee our existence for now, probably through September. But we still have a lot of work to do, Green said.
QUEENSBURY  Judge J. Timothy Breen, who retired late last month after a long career in Warren County Family Court, died Wednesday night following a year-long battle with leukemia.

Friends and colleagues remembered Breen, 67, on Thursday for his work ethic, no-nonsense demeanor and dedication to trying to help those who wound up in his court.

He held people accountable, especially parents, for their conduct, lawyer Tucker Stanclift said. He kept people honest. I had the utmost respect for him.

Breen was also a strong supporter of the local arts scene, Stanclift pointed out.

Lawyer Kara Dopman said Breen did Gods work in looking out for children, and she remembered him for his sense of humor and a penchant for proper English. She said the two shared laughs over words that those before him would botch when trying to impress the judge.

Jokes aside, she said he was a tireless advocate for the young ones who wound up in his court.

I know he truly wanted what was best for the children whose lives were placed in his care, she said.

Accolades for Breen abounded on social media on Thursday, one former staffer calling him the best judge I ever worked for, while another man remembered him for being a pioneer and allowing a same-sex couple to adopt a child when other judges werent willing to do so.

Breen spent 30 years in Warren County Family Court, first as a hearing examiner and then as judge for nearly 16 years. For a decade-and-a-half, he plowed through a growing caseload as the only Family Court judge in the county, starting one of the regions first Family Court drug treatment court programs.

County leaders sought a second judge to assist him for years, and that assistance was finally approved by the state legislature in 2014, with newly elected Judge Paulette Kershko taking the bench on Jan. 1.

Kershko was Breens longtime court attorney. She could not be reached Thursday.

Breen was a Queensbury resident and graduate of Albany Law School. He was appointed judge by then-Gov. George Pataki in 1999 and went on to win two elections.

He had waged a private battle with cancer since November 2014, spending months getting treatment in Boston while out of work. When it appeared he had beaten the disease, he had planned to return to the bench in the spring before his cancer recurred last month.

He was helping lead the countys effort to design and build an addition to the county courthouse when he was stricken in 2014.

Friends and co-workers had arranged for a plaque to be put up in Family Court in his honor, but a dedication that was scheduled for Friday has been postponed because of Breens passing. No new date was announced.

Two local lawyers announced earlier this month that they planned to run for Breens judgeship. Both expressed condolences Thursday.

Its a horrible loss for the legal community, Republican candidate Ted Wilson said. He was a great man.

What made him stand out for me was his sincere passion to help others, Democrat Robert Smith said. He gave his heart and soul to help the struggling families and children who appeared before him.

Calling hours for Breen have been scheduled for 3 to 7 p.m. Sunday at Singleton Sullivan Potter Funeral Home on Bay Road in Queensbury. A funeral Mass will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at St. Marys Church in Glens Falls.
QUEENSBURY  Warren County officials have looked into whether the county can take any action to clean up the remnants of an auto repair business that burned in a suspected arson fire, but county personnel determined it has to be handled by the town of Queensbury.

The county handles building code enforcement issues in municipalities that do not have their own code enforcement offices. But since Queensbury does its own code enforcement, the county does not have standing to get involved in the cleanup of Ridge Road Car Care, said Warrensburg Supervisor Kevin Geraghty, chairman of the county Board of Supervisors.

I did get a call from a neighbor, asking if we could do something about that, he said. I checked with our codes people and they said it was a town issue.

Ridge Road Car Care burned July 31, 2013, with the fire claiming not only the building but 14 vehicles as well. A cause of the fire was not publicly disclosed, but it was labeled suspicious. The Warren County Sheriffs Office has been investigating, and a lieutenant with the department said a grand jury investigation was possible.

The remains of the building have sat virtually untouched for years, to the chagrin of neighbors who have safety concerns and questions about environmental problems from runoff. The repair shops owner, Andrew Ratto, has stopped responding to town officials and did not respond in court when the town sued him in 2014, seeking to force a cleanup. No listed phone number can be found for him and he could not be reached Wednesday.

There are numerous judgments, liens and mortgages on the property, totaling nearly $300,000. Ratto bought the 894 Ridge Road property in 2010.

Supervisor John Strough said the town attorney is reviewing the towns options, and plans to contact the propertys insurance carrier. The Sheriffs Office has said the insurance company had not paid a claim on the property, because it concluded Ratto was not cooperative.

Fears of possible asbestos, a suspected carcinogen, in the building have resulted in no one wanting to have to foot the bill for a cleanup that was estimated to cost up to $100,000.

It could be very expensive, Strough said. We are still searching for solutions, but were trying to be careful about how we spend town money.

Strough said taxes continue to be paid on the property. If taxes werent being paid, the town would have options as part of the foreclosure process to have a contractor go onto the property to check for environmental issues before determining whether to take the property because of unpaid taxes.

Warren County sheriffs Lt. Steve Stockdale said the police investigation of the fire is ongoing. Investigators in recent weeks turned over a case for review by the Warren County District Attorneys Office for possible grand jury inquiry, he said.
QUEENSBURY  Sandra Lortie no longer drives a Chevrolet Cobalt, but she is keeping an eye on a series of ongoing lawsuits against General Motors over an ignition switch defect that resulted in the recall of 2.6 million GM vehicles.

She was so vocal about the issue on the Internet, discussing one time when her Cobalt stalled in an intersection, that NBC News contacted her for a five-minute segment that aired Sunday night.

I have been hearing from a lot of people about it. It really was something, she said. They have a lot of questions. Some people knew it had happened, but others didnt.

The television network came to Queensbury to interview her and also filmed at the intersection where the incident took place.

Hopefully people will be aware that these vehicles still have stalling problems and that GM didnt follow through, Lortie said.

Her car stalled in the middle of an intersection in December 2014, not long after the cars ignition switch had been fixed in a repair GM said would solve the problem.

We need to spread the news and get this out there to people, she said. Youre going to get in the vehicle and think you are safe, and youre not safe.

She was carrying grandchildren in the car, but no accident resulted from the stall and no one was hurt.

Crashes that could be linked to the defect have killed 124 people nationwide. The first civil case in a group of cases tied to the defect went to trial last week in Manhattan. GM public relations officials have said the ignition switches are not to blame for the stalling or the accidents.

Lortie was driving through the intersection at Dixon and Old Forge roads, taking her grandchildren to school, when her Cobalt stalled.

She got the car re-started and drove to her daughters house nearby.

She stopped driving the car after that incident and has gotten rid of it. She now drives a Kia Soul.

I was like a deer in the headlights. I couldnt believe it, said Lortie, who is retired. You would think when they fix something, it would stay fixed. It was really hard because we had just paid it off and we could start saving for a new car.

I honestly thought they would just tell me to take it to the dealer and have it fixed, she said. But they claimed it had nothing to do with the ignition issue. It was that the car was old.

Lortie was told that diagnosing the issue would cost $90 and fixing it would be more expensive, so she and her husband Raymond decided to get rid of the car.

GM continues to make her unhappy.

They said during the segment that they offered to fix the car, but they didnt, she said. I have called them because I want to hear it from them.

According to previous news reports, GM has reached settlements that come to more than $2 billion, with more lawsuits making their way through the courts.

The trial that began last Tuesday focuses on a May 2014 crash in Oklahoma in which a man said he suffered neck and back injuries because a defective ignition switch on his 2003 Saturn Ion kept the air bag from deploying when his car hit a tree, according to media reports.

The trial is the first of six related cases designed to narrow legal issues.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
LAKE GEORGE  A critical piece of the soon-to-open High Peaks Distilling Co. arrived Tuesday, even as construction continued on the new Canada Street business.

The 4,000-pound still, built in Utica, arrived by truck and was placed in the recently expanded building that also houses Cafe Vero.

To get it into the building, employees of Adirondack Brewery removed a cut-out section of wall and gingerly guided the still into the opening, using a backhoe.

John Carr, who owns both Adirondack Brewery and High Peaks Distilling Co., said Tuesdays delivery marks the end of one lengthy process  getting licensed by the state and getting the still designed and fabricated  and the start of another.

To make good whiskey, it takes a couple years to age  to absorb the sugars from the oak barrel  and for all the flavors to come together and create a world-class whiskey, Carr said Tuesday, as the still was moved into place in the distilling room.

The time involved doesnt mean High Peaks Distilling visitors will have to wait to taste the distillerys creations, though. Carr has been working for years with Harvest Spirits, a farm distillery in Valatie, south of Albany, to make whiskey under the High Peaks Distilling label.

That effort has been accomplished by sending truckloads of Adirondack Brewery-made, unhopped beer  called wash, by distillers  to the Valatie distillery, where some of Carrs brewers have helped turn the liquid into spirits.

As a brewer, we have always believed in making our own product and selling it, not hiring other people to do our work for us, he said.

The distillery building itself, which also houses Cafe Vero, a coffee-roasting business, has been expanded in recent weeks to make ready for the still. Another still the same size will be added in the future, and a smaller third still will eventually join them, to help with finishing the whiskey, Carr said.

The new business is expected to open in early spring and will employ five to six people, once operational, he said.

High Peaks Distilling will join other distilleries that have opened in the area in recent years, including Lake George Distilling Co. on Route 149 in Fort Ann, Springbrook Hollow Farm Distillery on Clements Road in Queensbury and Saratoga Courage distillery on Wilton Road in Greenfield Center.

But Carr said his operation is going to be a bit different, using a Scottish-style still to make a particular kind of spirit.

One of the things were doing, because were brewers, is really making brewers whiskey, Carr said. In Scotland, they start with beer  the stuff we make every day  and then they distill it.

Each charge of 550 gallons of beer that is put into the new still will yield about 20 gallons of finished product, Carr said.

Its an energy-intensive process, so the new distillery was built with a heat reclamation system that will recapture some of the energy to power a radiant heating system under the floor.

In the summer months, a cooling tower will be used to keep temperatures inside the distillery at an optimal level for aging whiskey.

News of the new business is already being shared, according to Michael Consuelo, director of the Lake George Regional Chamber of Commerce and Convention and Visitors Bureau. The chamber talked up the distillery earlier this month at the New York Times Travel Show held at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City.

Its always good to add a few more features to our offerings when people come by the booth, Consuelo said. Thats one of the larger shows we do on the circuit.

Carr is already thinking about his next project, which is still in the conceptual stage: using the land he owns behind the distillery to show off the regions growing craft beverage industry.

Right now, the Adirondack Park in our region has lots of small producers over a large geographic area, Carr said. So, to create one location where somebody can go and maybe learn about a brewery, winery or distillery thats up in the far reaches of the Adirondack Park  that visitor may never go there unless they learn about that distillery or that winery  so the idea would be to create a center for this.

Carr said the project could involve the construction of more structures on the land.

Consuelo said hes aware of Carrs ambitions and supports them.

Johns been a very forward-thinking young man in terms of wanting to  like we here at the chamber  promote us as a year-round destination, Consuelo said.
WARRENSBURG  Heather LaSalvia showed the Warrensburg seventh-grade students a picture of the Newport cigarettes logo.

It looked remarkably similar to the famous Nike swoosh but turned upside down. That is part of a conscious effort by tobacco companies to trick students brain with familiar brand symbols, according to LaSalvia, program coordinator for Reality Check, a youth-led organization that educates young people about the dangers of tobacco use and tobacco marketing.

They find out what teenagers are already buying and already like and they mimic the marketing of it, LaSalvia said to seventh-grade health classes at the high school on Thursday.

LaSalvia, who works for Glens Falls Hospital, showed photos of cigarette packaging and its similarity to gum and candy packages. Tobacco companies roll out new products, such as tobacco that looks like gum or Tic Tacs, to attract peoples interest and disguise that it is tobacco, according to LaSalvia.

Only about 7 percent of New Yorks high school students smoke cigarettes on a daily basis, according to LaSalvia. That is down from about 20 percent 10 years ago. Tobacco companies want young people to smoke.

They call teens replacement smokers, she said. Theyre going to need you guys to replace the smokers who are quitting or who passed away.

LaSalvia said tobacco companies have their store posters and signs at the eye level of children to attract their interest and get them familiar with the brand.

If you havent started smoking when youre 19 or older, youre probably not going to start, she said.

Youths can be swayed by celebrities who use products such as cigarettes, e-cigarettes or the vape pens that let people inhale vapor, according to LaSalvia.

Research shows tobacco advertisements have a stronger effect on teenagers than peer pressure, she said.

She said more than half of stores that sell tobacco products are located within walking distance to schools. Reality Check is trying to get the Legislature to ban stores near schools from selling these products.

Smoking costs New York about $10 billion in health care costs, according to LaSalvia. About 1,300 people die in the country each day from smoking-related illnesses.

A cigarette has more than 2,000 chemicals, according to LaSalvia. In addition to nicotine, there is butane to help make them burn faster, tar, arsenic, hydrogen cyanide, formaldehyde and acetone (nail polish remover).

There is also urine to add flavor and polonium, which is radioactive.

This is equivalent to over 300 X-rays without the protective vest, she said.

LaSalvia said the average person makes 7 to 9 attempts before quitting successfully. She encouraged students to tell people they know who are trying to quite to use the nicotine patches or gum.

Another popular product is hookah. People are not just getting flavored tobacco, but chemicals as well, according to LaSalvia. An hour of smoking hookah is equivalent to 100 cigarettes, she said.

LaSalvia also cautioned students about getting sucked in by marketing that aims to convince them that electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes are safe. E-cigarettes are unregulated by the government at this point.

They can make the liquid and put anything in it they want and not have to tell us, she said.

Some people have suffered nicotine poisoning from the liquid in e-cigarettes, when it is exposed to the skin, she said, and the long-term effects of e-cigarettes are unknown.

Students Against Destructive Decisions led the effort to bring LaSalvia to come speak. The group wants to start a chapter of Reality Check at the school.

Reality Check currently has chapters in Queensbury, South Glens Falls and Schuylerville. Fort Ann and Corinth are interested.

Students organize campaigns to ban smoking in public places, go to Albany to testify before the Legislature and host anti-smoking events, according to LaSalvia.

Students found the presentation informative.

I learned that there are a lot more chemicals in them than I thought, said 11-year-old Dylan Taylor.

Allana Jordan, 13, said she knew smoking was bad and this presentation just gave her more evidence.

Its not safe. Its unhealthy, she said.
WHITEHALL  Residents are tiring of their long wait for a supermarket in town.

The lack of a large supermarket has long been an issue in Whitehall, which has smaller stores such as Putortis Market, Stewarts Shops and Dollar General. Green Mountain Marketplace, which is more aligned to commercial sales, is another place local residents do their shopping.

But to get to a full-service supermarket, such as a Hannaford or Price Chopper, residents have to drive 20 to 30 minutes to Kingsbury, Granville, Ticonderoga or into Vermont.

There doesnt seem to be anything indicating the wait will end anytime soon, but resident David Molenaar has started an online petition and is holding a meeting at 6 p.m. Friday at the Municipal Center to discuss the petition drive.

The petition, which has more than 550 signatures, according to Molenaar, states: We are residents of the Whitehall area who desire a supermarket in Whitehall. We urge our town and village representatives to proactively contact grocery chains and offer incentives to locate in Whitehall.

The petition started online and garnered 180 signatures and 71 comments.

That one seems to have petered out a little, so we are looking for other sites we can put it on, said Molenaar of the initial online effort.

Molenaar moved to town two years ago.

Most of the comments on the online petition agree with the premise, but others say that the current choices are enough and that if a larger supermarket came into town it could drive the smaller, locally owned stores out of business.

In the 1980s, both IGA and Grand Union had stores in Whitehall, but like many other small towns, Whitehall lost those stores over the next decade or two as the companies contracted.

Putortis, on the other hand, is planning to celebrate its 90th anniversary in 2017 and has long been the villages go-to store for general needs.

I dont think a supermarket would hurt the stores here, village Trustee Marge Mohn said. Its a different kind of shopping. People would still use the local stores.

There are people who need the larger supermarket for what they need, and either they dont have a car or are elderly and cannot get out of town, she added. I think it would enhance the economy in Whitehall.

Molenaar said he hopes the movement can help recharge the village and move it in a positive direction.

This is really a stepping-stone to show we are not an apathetic community. We need to revitalize Whitehall, he said.

I would like to see the Village Board and Planning Board become more active in developing a comprehensive plan for the village, which is something we have not had in a while, Molenaar added.

Town and village officials have been approached about the issue in the past, and have reached out to county and state officials.

Washington County Administrator Chris DeBolt, previously an aide to former Assemblyman Tony Jordan and also a former county planner, said it is difficult to convince a supermarket to locate in a specific area unless a number of conditions are met.

There are so many small communities that are trying to get a supermarket, DeBolt said. There are site-selectors who work for those (grocery) companies, and if you do not meet their checklists, there is nothing you can do.

Fort Edward officials recently convinced Price Chopper to build one of its new Market 32 stores on a former brownfield site, but that took a public/private partnership and tax incentives.
Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing."

I was very interested reading Ken Tingleys column a few days ago, Buying Peace of Mind. It was very thought-provoking. I was sad to see that a school has canceled a trip to Paris. I understand, but I know it is impossible to protect our children from any possible harm.

I was afraid of everything for many years ... driving, flying, bats, dogs, etc. One day, I realized that I was going to probably die sitting in a chair watching reruns. I was locking myself in. It took a long time for me to move out of my comfort zones. But I did, and the joy and happiness I have experienced has been beyond my wildest dreams. I spend a fair amount of time in India, where the driving is almost always scary, walking treacherous, aggressive monkeys abound and being robbed or worse because I am a Westerner is possible. I try to be prudent and thoughtful. I pay attention, try to avoid walking outside the village after dark, watch where I step and never smile at a monkey.
Russia's annexation of Crimea in March of 2014, Putin told BILD, was simply the Kremlin's way of protecting the people of Crimea from being confined within the borders imposed upon them by the United States and Europe after the West claimed victory in the Cold War. This can be corroborated.

Russia's primary objective in Syria, Putin said, was to support a legitimate government so that Syria does not end up like Iraq or Libya.

He also accused Western media outlets of brushing over attacks on civilians by Western air forces, including trying to "hush up" the American attack on a hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, in October. Putin said the Western expansion has been aggravating worldwide crises.

Assad has also expressed willingness to hold new elections if opposition forces put away their weapons, a promise that rebels say is disingenuous coming from a man whose troops drop barrel bombs on civilians.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Syria needs to start working on a new constitution as a first step to finding a political solution to its civil war, though he acknowledged the process was likely to be hard.

Military analysts say Putin's primary goal is propping up the embattled regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Putin said, however, that "the biggest harm is now caused by the decline of the prices for energy", according to an English-language transcript published by Bild online.

The publication then brought up the Ukrainian province of Crimea, which Russia annexed in March 2014 after Ukraine's pro-West parliament ousted Russian-backed President Viktor Yanukovych. It's the Syrian people themselves who must determine how and who should run their state.

"This is the only way to achieve stability and security, to create conditions for economic growth and prosperity, so that people can live in their own homes, in their homeland, rather than flee to Europe".

Putin's surprise intervention in Syria was widely seen as an effort to prop up a faltering friend, and also to give Russian Federation a seat at the table in any negotiations about the future of the country.

Putin, who has been backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his fight against the Islamic State, added that Russian military will be assisting parts of the Syrian opposition to fight back the Islamic State as well.

The Russian government has forecast the country's gross domestic product would increase 0.7 per cent next year, after falling 3.7 per cent in 2015.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he considers Turkey's request addressed to North Atlantic Treaty Organization for protection after an incident with Russia's Su-24 bomber a step that is "odd" and "humiliating" for that country.

Bomb Threats Received At Schools In 9 New Jersey Towns

A student exits a bus as he arrives at Venice High School in Los Angeles, California on December 16, 2015. Both Butte High School and the Butte-Silver Bow Courthouse were evacuated just before 10 a.m.
The four; Martin Delle, Managing Director of DKM Financial Services; Noel Nortey, Nkoranza Branch Manager of God Is Love Fun Club; Charles Asum, Managing Director of Jastar Group of Companies and Monica Afriyie popularly called Maame Korkor, Managing Director of God Is Love who have been charged with fraudulent breach of trust were granted bail ranging from 20 million to 80 million cedis.

According to the judge hearing the case, Justice Aboagye Tandor the managing director of DKM financial services is to pay six million Cedis as security deposits and also report to the police once a week along side the other operators indicted in the scam.

The micro finance operators have been accused of collecting various sums of money running into several millions of Ghana Cedis from their clients, promising them huge interests of not less than 50 per cent.
Mercy Maku Mawusi  Koukoyi is my name. I come from Mastekope, a little village in Big Ada, in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. I am married and have two boys.

I currently work with Compassion International Ghana as a Training Specialist, a position I have held since 2011.

Which postgraduate programme did you specialise in and why?

I enrolled at Wisconsin International University College in September 2014 to study Adult Education, with a specialization in Community Development. I graduated in November, 2015. I choose the programme because my organization is into developing children and communities in some of the poorest parts of Ghana. We partner local churches to deliver holistic child development to deprived and needy beneficiaries.

I have been involved in all these community mobilisation and sensitisation schemes for more than six years now. Thus, my studies in community development at Wisconsin International University College will empower me to better deliver capacity building and open new frontiers for me.

Before my postgraduate programme, I held BA in Business Management Studies ( Second Class Upper Honours) from the University of Cape Coast in 2002. Apart from this, I have certificates in short courses such as Child Right, and other in-service trainings.

What challenges or difficulties did you face in life from achieving your goals?

The first challenge I faced on my road to attaining a postgraduate qualification was family-related. I have young children, whom I support every evening to do their homework, read stories and even play with them before they go to bed. Enrolling for the studies, meant that both the kids and I need to readjust our lives to make room for the new challenges.

Another challenge was my work. As you are aware it takes focused and an organized person to keep a fine balance between working and studying. Due to my zeal for child development I was bent on accomplishing all out my goals and deliverables, without compromising on my studies. Sometimes, it became difficult to balance the two, but proper time management and planning made the difference.

Strategy

My strategy was to develop a strong will, be self-disciplined and to just begin the course in spite of the hurdles. I further acquired a recording gadget that enabled me to get the recorded version of all lectures even when I missed classes.

I engaged in negotiating and brokering deals with my husband and kids in order to win their support, as my failure or success on the course largely depended on their buy in.

Everybody needs encouragement, irrespective of position, age and status in life. The encouragement of all around me was a motivator.

What motivated you to embark on your postgraduate studies?

My immediate family and colleagues at the office, especially my supervisor never relented in spurring me on to endure the stress, because they all had to go through it one time or the other. A congenial working environment opens opportunities. Compassion International Ghana was generous in giving days off to revise and write examinations and even with financial support. With such supports, It was incumbent on me to prove worthy of those supports.

I was motivated to pursue the course because even though I earned a lot of admiration from my training participants, I still felt something was missing. I needed to equip myself with the professional way of planning and delivering training. Wisconsin University offered me the opportunity.

During my period of study in Wisconsin University, I grasped the theory and psychology of adult learning and the step by step process of programme management.

Can you recount your experience and why you would encourage others to study at WIUC?

Our lecturers promoted a culture of figure it out for yourself, and though this approach was very demanding and time consuming, it was intellectually stimulating and motivated us to read more;, a practice which was very rewarding.

I was most thrilled by the common platforms which existed for students and lecturers. These platforms permitted students to assess any lecturer at any time to clarify issues and engage in intellectual debates.

Where do you see yourself in five years time?

In five years from now, I foresee myself lecturing part-time at Wisconsin International University Collage and pursuing a PhD from the University of Ghana, Legon.
The incident happened around 1:30am on Thursday after the two resisted attempts to have them arrested.

According to the police, the two, Adisha Bagaje and Joseph Adjei, were shot after they attacked the police team that went to arrest them with machetes, knives and other offensive weapons.

Speaking at a news conference Thursday morning, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Greater Accra Regional Police Command, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Afia Tenge, said the police in sensing danger, opened fire on the two men, who later died at the hospital.

She added that the police officer, Sergeant Adorye who shot the two suspects has been detained.

"The police officer whose actions caused those fatalities has been detained in accordance with police regulations.
" The blackout was due to a disturbance in one of our transmission lines, leading to massive blackout in Accra, Tema and other parts of the country, it is not a generation issue as was the case during the country's energy crises."

Mr. Amuna disputed assertions that the blackout occurred nationwide.

" No, no, that's not true. It wasn't 90 percent of the country. We had 40 to 60 percent of the country on. The whole of the Western Region for example was on. It was some parts of the country, and as we speak we have restored 90 percent of the affected parts."

Meanwhile, The power transmitting company will have to do more investigations in the cause of the disturbance to the major transmission line, Mr. Amuna said. He however assured that this was a rare occurrence.
He is meeting Pulse.com.gh at an outdoor setting in Accra, and has three of his team watching on as he is interviewed.

Anas is known for being unknown.

Over the past 16 years he has revealed some of Africas most shocking corruption and has been a constant thorn in the side of evildoers.

He has had both international acclaim and criticism, and it is generally Ghanaians who are both the heroes and the villains in his work.

He has busted people in the judiciary, operators of orphanages, quake doctors, fake pastors, cocoa smugglers and corrupt officials at Tema port amongst many others.

While seeing the levels of ignorance, corruption and cruelty he has been exposed to could be jading, Anas is an optimist.

He has hope for the future of Ghana, and is inspired by the energy of his people. He points to the way people react to issues on social media and through civil organisations like OccupyGhana.

Its fantastic. I am very, very hopeful that if we all put our hands on deck as a people we are going to move this country forward and it can be the best country in Africa.

A divisive character, regardless if people agree with his methods or not, whenever one of his stories breaks, it will be the main topic of conversation in the media or on public transport.

The people of Ghana, [they are] very interesting people - make a mistake they will bash you morning, afternoon, evening. Do the right thing they will praise you and make you feel like you are their darling, Anas says.

With his usual mysterious air, he is reluctant to reveal his plans for 2016. Theres a new prosthetic look but the details are shrouded in mystery.

On the international front a lot is happening, when you talk about Africa Investigates we have some shocking revelations that are going to come out in 2016 and I am very excited about them.

"Locally we may have a few things going off, but its quite interesting, I see a lot of prospects in 2016 and whatever is going to be, is going to be to the advantage of the average Ghanaians, the village folk. My pieces are going to be driven by the people.

It is these village folk Anas says he relates to, as a self-described village person. With this is mind, he says his job takes into account people in the hinterlands.

Anybody who knows me very well, you can find me in the village very comfortably observing and thinking quietly.

A controversial figure, Anas motto is name, shame and jail.

Hes unapologetic about his style, stating extreme remedies are the most appropriate for extreme diseases. So take it or leave it, my journalism is a bit militant, it has no mercy for evildoers, it is based on hardcore evidence.

Anas work in undeniably effective, and he has lost count of the number of people he has put behind bars. In saying that, he doesnt set out to take food off the table of the people he looks into.

I do it because in society at a particular stage we all have to realise that we have to say that some people ought to stop what they are doing to make society genuinely better. I dont keep count but I keep saying that it's not exciting to put anybody behind bars but we have to do it to serve as a deterrent so that others won't want to do it. So we can have a better society.

When Anas hits, he hits hard and his work is life-threatening, he generates enemies with his investigations.

It is a hazardous profession and once you touch the fire you cannot expect it not to burn, he says.

Hes quick to point that he is not alone in his work. Friends and family respect what he does and protect his identity, and Anas is not able to open up to many people.

It can be difficult always hiding his identity, only allowing that of his public persona to be revealed.

Sometimes its difficult when I get to introduce myself. Sometimes I want to find my real self then they ask whats your name and I want to be real I say no you can not be him, you are not him, so you get lost sometimes.

Anas balances the uncomfortableness his work can create, with the outcomes it generates.

Sometimes when the heat is on and you go masked its very embarrassing because these are people you grew up with, these are people you have eaten in the same pot with for a very long time and yet you are going and have some bodyguards because, at that time, its not everytime, at that time there is something at stake where if you are not careful you will be shot.

These life sacrifices may not be comfortable, but it's worth it.

I love what I do and I think that is very important so in spite of the difficulties I am not that person who can go out on an ordinary holiday where everybody goes out to have fun. I don't have that luxury but over the years I have learned to live it, and I learned and trained under the formidable and energetic hands of Abdul Malik Kweku Baako Jnr of the New Crusading Guide and all this was part of the training.

With the path he has chosen, Anas has accepted the things he will miss, but says there is a consolation when he sees the smiles on the faces of children his work has helped, it is able to free many people who otherwise, but for your piece of work, could have died. That is what keeps us going.

There have been many times in his life that Anas has been around people debating his work, unaware that the author of those investigations is in the same room, like when he was studying law, though he makes sure he learns from the conversations.

I take all this in good faith because if you do your work and dont expect critique to come then it means you are not serious. We learn every single day. I alway open up to accept criticisms where you are wrong, you are wrong, I accept it in good faith and I move on.

While his investigations take time, once they are released to the public, its not a closed book for Anas.

I go through a lot. I am now going to go to court, I am now going to testify. I have been sued left, right, centre.

"I have got to find lawyers the lawyers have to come and defend me, I have to remain consistent...you have seen the judicial scandal, I will get out of this in the next four or five years. I still have to be frequenting the court.

If images of scenes he has witnessed in his investigations keep him up at night, Anas says that means he needs to work harder.

Sometimes as journalists if we are not careful, grief could let us lose that story. But the whole purpose is for us to be stronger. If we are not strong, we are unable to tell the story. If you see that children are being killed and murdered and you start crying, what communication are you communicating?

We need to be able to tell the world this is bad. We have got to stop it.

It;s about being resolute and very fair" Anas says.

"Once a touching moments comes up you need to stand firm, because you stand for those people who are being killed and butchered and your strength is what is going to make them better tomorrow.

And, if Anas ends up joining his scores of colleagues whose work has taken their lives, it will be for the right reason, he says.

Even if you are caught in action, the world should be able to know that you have embarked on a meaningful course, that it is important.

Being killed while trying to get information out to the public is the reality of the profession, he says, and journalists should not  elevate ourselves into some kind of gods who can not be killed.
Thousands of workers on Wednesday thronged certain streets of Accra to protest against hikes in utility tariffs and fuel prices.

GOVERNMENT SUED OVER EX-GITMO DETAINEES

The legality of the governments decision to accept into the country two former alleged terror suspects detained by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay is being challenged by two citizens.

AKUFO-ADDO GOT IT ALL WRONG  OMANE BOAMAH

The government says it did not violate the Anti-Terrorism Act (Act 762) by accepting to host the two former Guantanamo Bay detainees in Ghana as alleged by the presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party, Nana AddoDakwaAkufo-Addo.

WORKERS GO WILD OVER KILLER TAXES

Thousands of public sector workers, with support from the informal sector, yesterday took to the streets across the country to protest against poor management of the Ghanaian economy leading to the imposition of killer taxes.

A-G SUED OVER AL-QAEDA FOOT-SOLDIERS

Two concerned Ghanaians have dragged the Attorney General and the Minister of the Interior to the Supreme Court over the two ex-Guantanamo Bay inmates currently cooling off in Ghana.

19 NHIA OFFICERS INTERDICTED FOR FRAUD

The National Health Insurance Authority has interdicted 19 of its staff following investigations by the Bureau for National Investigations into alleged fraud at the Authority.

FIRMS RELOCATING TO COTE DIVOIRE OVER ECONOMIC CRISIS

The deteriorating business environment in Ghana which has culminated in the ongoing industrial agitations in the countrys public and private sectors has compelled many businesses to relocate to neighbouring Cote dIvoire and Nigeria.

PRE-PAID METER USERS RAISE HELL

Few weeks after an almost 60 percent increase in electricity tariffs, electricity consumers have been complaining bitterly about unfair deductions of their credit units.

BOG TO ACCESS ECONOMY

The Bank of Ghana will from tomorrow begin its first assessment of the economy this year when its Monetary Policy Committee starts its sitting.

KILLER TAXES DEMO HIT GOVERNMENT

Workers unions across the country yesterday staged demonstrations in the various regional capitals to register their displeasure with the recent increase in utility tariffs and prices of petroleum products.

NHIA INTERDICTS 19 STAFF
Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Grid Company, William Amuna, in an interview on the CITI Breakfast show allayed fears that the country's energy crisis was back.

" The blackout was due to a disturbance in one of our transmission lines, leading to massive blackout in Accra, Tema and other parts of the country, it is not a generation issue as was the case during the country's energy crises."

Mr. Amuna disputed assertions that the blackout occurred nationwide.

" No, no, that's not true. It wasn't 90 percent of the country. We had 40 to 60 percent of the country on. The whole of the Western Region for example was on. It was some parts of the country, and as we speak we have restored 90 percent of the affected parts."

Meanwhile, The power transmitting company will have to do more investigations in the cause of the disturbance to the major transmission line, Mr. Amuna said. He however assured that this was a rare occurrence.
Customers have complained incessantly about what they suspect to be gross over- charges by power distributor, the Electricity Company of Ghana.

Some customers who called into the CITI Breakfast Show, Thursday morning, cited situations when they bought credit that would normally last them a month, but burnt out in one week, even though they were using the same appliances.

Conceding that they expected increases in the charges of utility as announced by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission in December, the rate at which their electricity credits is running out is abnormal.

Responding to the complains, John Jinapor said, the Power Ministry has supervised the refund of money to such customers in various regions in the country.

" Our attention has been drawn to the issue and we have taken steps to compensate customers who have such issues. We however have to take note that tariffs have gone up so people must not expect to pay the same amount for electricity. But there are some people who buy credit for a month and it runs out in three days, that's abnormal and we are compensating them."

Mr. Jinapor asked members of the general public not to hesitate in reporting such abnormalies to the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission for proper investigation and redress.

Reports reaching Pulse Business is that such abnormalies in bills seem to increase with tariff increases and the ECG's billing systems are upgraded. The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission sanctioned a 59% increase in tariffs in December 2015.
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He said once they venture onto the streets and try to act as a police force, they will be stopped.

The move, the police says, is part of efforts to ensure a peaceful and incident free elections this year.

According to the police, the activities of the numerous paramilitary forces of political parties in the country including the Azoka Boys, the Invisible Forces and Bolga Bulldogs, are unlawful and illegal.

Mr. John Kudalor, speaking in an exclusive interview with Joy FM Thursday, said activities of these groups are a looming threat to the country.

He said the police started tackling the issue from last year and are currently engaging the leadership of the various political parties on the matter.

According to him, the police will, after the talks, set a deadline after which they will declare them illegal and disband them.
He said the appointment attests to Ghanas leadership commitment to ensuring sustainable development, and also shows the country is on track the right track regarding the Goals.

The president in a Facebook post on Thursday, January 21, 2016, said "I am Co-Chairing, together with the Prime Minister Erna Solberg of Norway, a group of sixteen Sustainable Development Goals Advocates to support the Secretary General of the UN in his efforts to generate momentum and commitment to achieve the SDGs by 2030.

"I am humbled by this appointment. To me, it speaks volumes about Ghanas leadership on the path of sustainable development. It proves not only that we are on the right track, but also that we lead the way. The world is proud of us, and this makes me extremely proud of each and every one of you!"

President Mahama was appointed by the UN General-Secretary as Co-Chair for a group of eminent advocates for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The 16-member group will support the UN Secretary-General in advocating for effective implementation of the SDGs and achievement of the goals by 2030.

President Mahama is scheduled to co-chair a forum on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development on the sidelines of the on-going World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The SDGs adopted by world leaders at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit on 25 September 2015 represents a commitment by all nations to work together to end poverty, achieve shared prosperity, build peace, and secure a life of dignity and a healthy planet for present and future generations.

He said, "My appointment as co-Chair of this select UN group also means that Ghana will be able to attract more foreign investments, which in turn will help boost the economy thus, significantly more jobs will become available for Ghanaians," he added.
Indeed, expansive beaches and long, lazy al fresco lunches often feature heavily in a chill out holiday idyll. So where in the world can you get the perfect blend for a chill out break?

Heres five great ideas:

Thailand

Perhaps one of the archetypal lazy beach holiday destinations, replete with white sand, swaying palms, clear blue sea and endless sunshine. Its especially pleasurable if you go in the winter youll enjoy it all the more knowing the UK is likely shivering in low temperatures.

Phuket or Koh Samui make for an ideal Thai holiday as does the superb mainland beach near Krabi.

If you do hanker after a different environment, then head inland to enjoy the rich and lush rural scenery.

The Caribbean

The sheer epitome of being chilled; taking it easy is a way of life pretty much wherever you choose in the Carribean whether it be Jamaica, Barbados, the Cayman Islands or other destination.

Again, beautiful beaches and sunny weather make this part of the world an ideal chill out destination.

Marseillan, South of France

Away from the bustling St Tropez and more populated South of France destinations is this gem. Benefitting from the warm Mediterranean sunshine in the spring, summer and early autumn this village is ideal for relaxing and watching the world go by.

Any number of laid back cafes and top class restaurants offer sustenance taken at your own pace, and the waterfront is a great place to lazily spend time and let the gentle sea breeze refresh and rejuvenate.

Theres a long sandy beach that is a mere ten-minute car or bus ride away if a spot of sunbathing or a gentle beach walk appeals to you.

If youre learning to drive then there could be no greater motivation than the prospect of a road trip that takes you right down the whole length of France to this chill-out resort.

Spain

A bit of a surprise to think of Spain as a place to head for a chilled holiday; indeed, much of the 1400 miles of Spanish shoreline shows evidence of hastily developed tourist facilities. While appealing, many of the famous cities couldnt really be described as chilled, so where do you go?

Believe it or not, the Costa Brava or more specifically, the northern area away from major hotel and holiday accommodation development. Instead unspoilt Catalan fishing villages and pretty beach coves await.

Hire a villa in somewhere like Llafranc, Tamariu or Calella, open a bottle of your favourite tipple and enjoy and its all only a couple of hours from the UK.

Pembrokeshire

If you fancy a chill out break in the UK? Then the bracing air and rugged terrain of Pembrokeshire in south west Wales is worth considering. The mere idea of viewing a stunning coastline out of the window of a rented coastal cottage while relaxing with something warming at your elbow could be just the tonic if you lead a busy lifestyle.

Any number of bracing walks await if and when you fancy taking to the Welsh air.
Kenya's hosts the world's biggest tea auction, selling produce from nine African nations, including from Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Malawi and Mozambique. Ethiopia is due to join in March.

Kenya, the world's top producer of black tea, earns about $1 billion a year from exports, according to EATTA, making it one of the nation's main sources of foreign exchange earnings.

Complete automation of the auction would be completed in 2017 but the first phase would be in place this year, EATTA Chairman Nick Munyi told Reuters.

"We are changing from the normal way of knocking the hammer to clicking the mouse," Munyi said by phone from the port city of Mombasa, where the 60-year old auction is based.

EATTA has 200 members drawn from growers, buyers, warehouse operators and brokers from regional African nations.

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta visited the auction on Tuesday and urged members to speed up automation.
The vehicle had registration number LSR 22 XQ, and was arrested by the Headquarters Compliance Team Idiroko axis of the service on the Ijebu-Ode Sagamu road on January 13.

A report of this came up at a press briefing marking the assumption of office of the new Controller, Federal Operations Unit Zone A of the Nigeria Customs Service, Mohammed Umar.

According to reports, the poultry was concealed in courier parcels, which raised a suspicion that it might not be the first time it has occurred.

Last year, the team made a similar seizure when it intercepted a truck belonging to a haulage company used in smuggling over 5020 cartons of foreign frozen poultry, concealed with 2016 cartons of table water.
Mr. Adebayo Shittu, the Minister of Communications, made this known in a statement released through his Special Assistant on Media, Mr. Victor Oluwadamilare, in Abuja on Wednesday.

He announced this after a meeting held privately with officials of mobile communication company, MTN.

The statement reads, The ministers office has been inundated with several complaints from Nigerians, particularly women in veil, about the way they were being treated, sometimes humiliated by the workers of the telecommunications companies nationwide.

According to some of the complaints, Women in purdah dresses were requested to remove their veils in the public, despite the request by such women that a place should be provided out of the public glare for only female officials to attend to them, adding that all entreaties failed, but rather, they were allegedly accused of being Boko Haram agents and they were refused registration after several altercations in some of the registration centres.
The Express reports that the 45-year-old Ashu, a married father of three, who came to the UK as a refugee in 2002, began abusing his victim when she was just 11, with the assaults becoming more serious until he started raping her, and continuously warned her that nobody would believe her if she complained because she was 'only a child'.

The Hull Crown Court heard that Ashu also attempted to bribe the victim with 10 and 20 payments in a desperate bid to maintain her silence but after suffering years of abuse, the girl eventually plucked up the courage to go to police and report the scientist.

The jury took just six hours to convict him of four counts of rape and seven sexual assaults on Monday, following a five-day trial, and after he heard the verdict, the accused collapsed in the dock.

He fell against the front of the dock when the verdicts were read out and had to be assisted by a custody officer.

The court heard how Ashu grew up in an English-speaking community in Cameroon but faced persecution from French-speaking countrymen and after fleeing the country and leaving a partner and child behind, he was granted asylum in the UK.

He was also awarded a grant so he could to attend university, where he gained a science degree. That led to work in NHS laboratories, where he was tasked with monitoring blood samples at hospitals in Portsmouth before moving to work in Sheffield.

Following the trial, Ashu, of Manchester, was remanded in custody and warned by the judge he faces a prison term of seven years when he is sentenced later this month.
According to her cousin, Ken Davidson who posted the sad incident on his Facebook page in a stirring tribute to the beautiful lady, she had spent almost all of her life in the UK and only came to the country for the first time in her life, only to be killed in the horrific accident.

The late Doyin Sarah Fagbenro

Photo Credit: Facebook

Read what Davidson wrote:

"Tribute To A Shining Starlet.

Oh death! Where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Another casualty of a broken and failed state. Your story is particularly gut wrenching as it is equally heartbreaking.

You spent near enough all but two of your 25 years on earth in the country of your birth, the United Kingdom, where your parents and entire family reside. You were born, bred and educated in the United Kingdom.

But two years ago, immediately after you graduated, you elected to visit Nigeria where your grandparents reside - both of whom are in their mid-eighties. You signed up for the National Youth Service having freshly graduated with a sterling First Degree in Law and a Post Grad immediately afterwards.

Doyin Sarah Fagbenro celebrating her graduation

Photo Credit: Facebook

You were headhunted by an energy firm before you completed your NYSC and a presto, you gallantly announced to your nervous parents - dad a Diplomat with the United Nations based in Italy and mum, a Pharmacist based in the United Kingdom, your country of birth - that you were going to permanently relocate and make Nigeria your permanent abode. Your grandparents were ecstatic, you being their most favourite granddaughter.

You were a straight A student right from when you passed your GCSEs through to when you excelled in your A'levels... so much so that the prestigious Queen Mary's London University snapped you to study Law. You missed a First by whisker's. Nevertheless you made your mark all the way through.

Then it all came crashing down. What was supposed to be a routine journey to church on a relatively sombre, otherwise uneventful Sunday morning on the Lekki/Ajah Expressway around the Lekki Phase 1 approach, turned into a living and eternal nightmare for those of us left struggling to pick up the pieces.

Our lives changed forever, never to be the same again. A victim of the reckless and probably high on drinks/drugs 'Danfo' Driver. The most galling of the entire episode was the fact that the driver of that Danfo survived unscathed, ran away from the scene, leaving a trail of death and destruction in his wake.

Four people died at the scene. Your new Toyota Corolla was a crumpled wreck. But the fighter that you were, despite massive injuries, you fought and fought and fought. Your dad, via his status at the United Nations, got you into Lagoon Hospital where you were for a few days.

When it became clear that the extent of your injuries was too severe for the local facilities here in Nigeria, an air ambulance was scrambled from the United Kingdom to get you much needed specialist care in the United Kingdom. Your tireless mum who flew in from the United Kingdom, barely 48 hours after the accident, accompanied you in the air ambulance.

Still, we prayed and prayed and hoped for the best. Sadly, we lost you a day after you arrived in the United Kingdom. The surgeons tried desperately. You fought desperately to hang on. But in the end, it was not to be.

A few days after the ghastly automobile accident occurred, very many of your friends, especially those abroad, frantically and desperately reached out to us for news  having not heard from you and your social media handles - positive news. Any news. In utter desperation, they scoured the internet, all known Naija blogs and online news portal, major and minor print and online media.

Practically nothing. One friend of yours based in the United Kingdom retorted to me: 'You mean, in a cosmopolitan city, a high brow area like Lagos, Lagos Island, five souls can perish in a major automobile crash, many more sustaining life changing injuries, and not one single mention of that major incident was reported anywhere?'

Then it struck me how cheap human lives are in our country today. Tragedy of a nation. A nation pushing 60 yet still in diapers. Heaven knows how many more lives have been prematurely terminated on that same stretch of road and thousands of more roads up and down the country since then. I digress. Best leave the inquest for another day. As it is said in Yoruba 'Eni kan lo mo'.

The pain is palpably raw as it is numbling. We asked again and again, why you? Why you? If only you had stayed on in the country of your birth, if only... so many questions but very few answers.

Your parents, your grandparents, Oh! Your grandma, with whom you celebrated her 80th Birthday over here in Nigeria a few years ago, has refused to eat since she was informed of your passing nearly a week ago.

All she repeatedly does is wail, wail to space 'God take me instead, give my granddaughter back to Nigeria. Nigeria needs her, her parents need her. God take me. God take me.'

These are indeed extremely perilous times. And so it was that having just spent barely a few weeks in Nigeria after a prolonged winter holiday and Christmas in the United Kingdom with family and friends, I now find myself in the rather unenviable position of scrambling for the next flight out back to the United Kingdom just so that I can attend your funeral this weekend.

At Doyin Sarah Fagbenro's service of songs

Photo Credit: Facebook

Someone retorted to me 'Oh, you know, 'our tradition' forbids older relatives attending and being present at funerals where the deceased is much younger than us...' I snapped back, 'which tradition? And what has tradition ever done for us? What did tradition ever give to her?'

I am here like a Zombie, mechanically and circuitously packing a few items for my flight out in the morning. The family has decided that yours would be a celebratory sending forth, so red rather than the traditional grey, black, would be the colour to be worn on the day.

DSF as you were very fondly called, you touched so many lives in the quarter century, (twenty five years only!) you ran your race on earth. You were considerate to the end, so much so that you waited until you got back home - nearer your parents and many siblings - before you finally bade the world farewell.

Doyin Sarah Fagbenro, my learned friend in the profession, my lil sister, my cousin, sleep well till we meet again.

O Death! Where is Thy Sting!
From former National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki, Peoples Democratic Party National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, PDP Board of Trustees Chairman, Tony Anenih, former Anambra State Governor, Jim Nwobodo, to Chief Olu Falae, Dr. Raymond Dokpesi, Haliru Bello, Jafaru Isah, and others, the names keep rolling and Nigerians are shocked at the sheer corruption that permeated the country in the past 16 years of the PDP leadership.

Many have recommended very stiff punishment for the looters including death sentence to life imprisonment while others believe the monies should be recovered and they should be set free.

But on Morning Teaser today, we want you to add your voice to the debate.
The two convicts, Daniel Itah Effiong, who was Prof. Ilemobade's gate man and the mastermind of the crime, and Bamitale Olayemi, who was the former driver of the 79-year-old former Professor of Veterinary Medicine, were found guilty of killing th octogenarian on June 21, 2015, and they are to die by hanging.

Delivering the judgement, Justice Williams Olamide, found Effiong and Olayemi guilty of the three-count charge of conspiracy to murder, murder and robbery.

They were accused of strangling the deceased to death in his residence at Ijapo Estate, Akure, and stole his Toyota RAV 4, 2013 model and N7000, before dumping his body in a store in the house before his family discovered the decomposing body a week later.

The accused were nabbed while they were looking for a buyer for the car in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, for a paltry N400, 000. It was the buyer of the car who suspected that the vehicle which value was put at N5 million at the time, who alerted the police and the suspects were arrested.

Justice Olamide held that the prosecution was able to establish and prove the case against the former domestic staff of the late professor beyond reasonable doubt and to the satisfaction of the court.

The accused persons were callous, wicked and inconsiderate when they decided to sniff out life of an elderly person and their benefactor over his property. Against this backdrop, the accused persons do not deserve the sympathy or mercy of this court.
During the attack that took place in Cologne's city centre on New Years Eve, a tallied total number of 521 alleged sexual assaults, including 3 rape cases, the Cleric from Cologne has said that the victims are to blame because they had been wearing perfume.

The Cleric identified as Sami Abu-Yusuf, added that he had not been surprised by the sexual assaults on the girls because of their dress code.

Speaking with Russian TV, Breibart, Abu-Yusuf said:

"The events of New Year's Eve were the girls own fault, because they were half naked and wearing perfume.

"It is not surprising the men wanted to attack them. [Dressing like that] is like adding fuel to the fire."
Mrs Buhari stated this during the screening and treatment of 2,000 sickle-cell patients on Thursday in Katsina.

According to her, the North West sub-region has the highest rate of people suffering from the disease in the country.

"There is the need for officials of the Ministry of Health to encourage people to conduct genotype screening so as to know their status, she said.

The presidents wife called on intending couple to conduct genotype test before wedding so as to mitigate the spread of the disease.

Buhari said that she was in Katsina to give support and assistance to the less privileged suffering from the disease.

Earlier, the state Commissioner for Health, Hajiya Mariyatu Usman, said that the state was facing dearth of medical personnel.

She said that the government had only 122 medical doctors, 894 nurses, 409 midwives and 65 pharmacists in its employment.

The commissioner said that 3,480 health personnel were needed to man public hospitals and clinics in the state, but had only 1,740 with a deficit of 1,765 personnel.

Mariyatu said that the government planned to recruit more health personnel to assist in providing healthcare delivery in the state.

At the palace of the Emir of Katsina, the Presidents wife, appealed to the Emir and other traditional rulers in the region to assist in the enlightenment campaign on sickle-cell disease.
Some of the persons to be investigated are former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chairman, Adamu Muazu, former Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Comptroller-General, Abdullahi Dikko Inde and former Special Assistant to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan on Domestic Affairs, Waripamowei Dudafa among others, The Nation reports.

Others are former PDP Kebbi State governorship candidate Gen. Bello Sarkin Yaki, a former top official in the Office of National Security Adviser, Col. Bello Fadile and a former Chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina.

Security agencies have given these former public officers enough time but they have not turned up to clear some disbursements and expenditures traced to them. The committee is not saying that they are guilty but it is imperative for them to appear before the team handling these issues, a source told The Nation.

Some of the accused persons on trial admitted disbursing arms cash to a few of these former public officers. For instance, Dasuki, in his statement, said he handed over N10billion to Dudafa for disbursement to delegates to PDP Nomination Convention, another source said.

Most of these people are holed up abroad. Let them come home. Once they are declared wanted by security agencies, it will be easier to extradite them home, the source added.

Former National Security Adviser, Sambo 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 Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (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 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 terrorists were said to have arrived the town at about 6pm on Wednesday, January 20, 2016, according to Daily Trust.

They were however stopped by soldiers on guard who returned fire in a battle that lasted two hours.

Many of the insurgents were killed. We saw them taking their dead members and injured into their vans, a source said.

But at the end of the day, they were unable to take the bodies of three of their members who were killed, he added.
Dasuki filed the case at the ECOWAS Court in Abuja and is demanding the money as damages for an alleged infringement of his rights by the FG, Daily Sun reports.

The suit was reportedly instituted by the former NSAs lawyer, Robert Emukpoeruo.

Dasuki is urging the court to declare that his continued detention despite orders for bail granted him by three courts is an unlawful, arbitrary and egregious violation of his human rights.

He also wants the court to declare that the invasion of his home and correspondence on July 16 and 17, 2015 and the forceful and unlawful seizure of his properties, without any lawful order or warrant constitutes a gross violation of his fundamental rights.

Dasuki is at the center of a massive money laundering investigation and is alleged to have supervised the looting of $2.1 billion in 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.

Dasuki was released on bail from Kuje Prison in December 2015 but was soon re-arrested by the DSS.

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Ibrahim is the member representing Toro/Jama'a constituency.

Confirming the incident in a statement issued to newsmen, the Bauchi Police Commands spokesperson, DSP Haruna Mohammed, said it occurred at about 1.20 am .

He said that the gunmen, about five in number, forced the main entrance of the house and started firing sporadically with the intention of either robbing or kidnapping their target.

On hearing the sound of gunshots, Police patrol team, led by DPO Toro Division, rushed to the scene and engaged the hoodlums in a fierce gun battle.

The exchange of fire lasted for more than 20 minutes, after which they (hoodlums) were forced to abandon their mission and escape towards the mountainous hills, he said.

Mohammed said no casualties were recorded, adding that exhibits recovered at the scene included one live and 16 expended 7.62mmammunition.

He said efforts had been intensified to apprehend the fleeing suspects.
But a joined meeting summoned by the two states governors, Samuel Ortom of Benue and Umaru Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa, resolved to tackled the security challenges.

"We are going to intensify surveillance and patrol activities at the border areas; Identify the perpetrators, sponsors/financiers of this heinous crime and be made to face the full wrath of the law," a communique issued at the end of the meeting and signed by the two governors said.

"We will also identify and expose routes and hideouts being used by criminal gangs and their collaborators; allow Fulani herdsmen access to and from across river Benue. Fulani herdsmen should refrain from trespassing and occupying farmlands and communities," the communique stated.

Other resolutions includes: "Farmers and herdsmen should also refrain from taking laws into their hands at the slightest provocation. They should endeavor to report any trespass or breach of their rights to the constituted authority nearest to them."
Fayemi made the promise while receiving both local and foreign miners in Nigeria on Thursday in Abuja.

According to him, a large quantity of Gold is being taken out of the country without any record to show the volume and royalty paid through the relevant agencies in charge.

He said Blue Sapphires located in Manbila Plateau were being smuggled to Cameroon on a daily basis without any record to show.

On multiple monitoring of mining companies magazines by the security agencies, he promised to liaise with the National Security Adviser to avoid exploiting the operators.

He said stakeholders in the sector had enumerated different challenges, adding that the ministry would proffer solutions.

While decrying importation of marbles, tiles and ceramics available in Nigeria, he noted that Dangote also imported coals for its productions.

He urged operators to encourage communities where they mined to achieve peaceful operations; there should also be a joint venture between the federal, state and local governments on mining.

Mr Innocent Ezuma said the sector would play a crucial role in the country.

He urged the minister to set up Solid Minerals Development Bank with adequate funding to support professional mining operators.

Mr Boniface Owuike, Senior Manager, Public Affairs, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation Nigeria Limited, called on the minister to set up a joint task force to monitor explosive magazine.

Owuike said the company had been encountering different security agencies monitoring its explosive magazine.

"The explosive magazine is where we keep explosives for our foreign business. he said.

Other stakeholders in attendance urged the ministry to assist operators with intervention funds, to address dormant licences, stop illegal mining and block 1,400 routes where the minerals were moved to final destinations.
According to Vanguard, the purpose of the meeting is to ensure proper information dissemination and also, to bridge the information gap between the government and the people.

The Special Adviser to the Minister, Segun Adeyemi said the Minister will meet Newspaper Columnists on Thursday, January 21; Online Publishers on Friday, January 22; On Air Personalities (OAPs) on Saturday January 23 and Musicians from the six geo-political zones on Sunday, January 24.

Adding that Since assuming office, the Minister has met Civil Society Organizations and representatives of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), Nigerian Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) and Radio, Television, Theatre Workers Union (RATTAWU), among other stakeholders.

All the meetings will be held in Lagos state.
Okorocha made the denial via a statement released by his media aide, Sam Onwuemeodo on Wednesday, January 20, 2016.

The statement reads:

The attention of the Imo State Government has once again been drawn to another fictitious allegation in the social media claiming that the state Governor had called for the hanging of Mr. Nnamdi Kanu leader of the Indigenous people of Biafra (IPOB).

Governor Okorocha does not know Nnamdi Kanu. He reads about him on the pages of newspapers like every other Igbo man or Nigerian. Whether he lives or dies, does not have any value to add to Governor Okorochas life including his politics. So one begins to wonder why Governor Okorocha should call for his hanging.

If he dies, will Okorocha become Director of Radio Biafra or IPOB leader? You ask again, whether one million Nnamdi Kanu could constitute any threat to Okorocha in anyway. The answer is obviously No. Then what is Okorochas interest in Kanus death or life that he would call for his hanging.

The elements behind this latest moonlight tale also claimed that the Imo Governor had made the call on January 15, 2016 in a meeting with what they called Igbo Elders Forum.

They did not mention the venue of the said meeting or those at the meeting. Incidentally, the same January 15, 2016 (Friday) was the day the Governor travelled out of the country for a brief vacation.
Metuh appeared before Justice Ishaq Bello of the Abuja Federal High Court on fresh charges of destruction of evidence today, January 21.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had earlier accused the PDP spokesman of ripping apart a statement he had made to the agency when it was brought to him to sign.

Metuh was previously charged with money laundering before a different judge and has been granted bail to the tune of N400 million in that case but is yet to meet the conditions.

He will appear before Justice Bello for a fresh bail hearing on the new charges on Monday.

The PDP spokesman is facing trial for allegedly accepting N400 million naira from former National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki who is also being tried for corruption.

Dasuki is at the center of the massive money laundering investigation and is alleged to have supervised the looting of $2 billion in 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.
According to PPMC, pipelines vandalism has negatively affected oil production in the country.

"We are appealing to the media to help us oriented the general public on the risk associated with pipeline vandalism. Federal Government and the NNPC are trying their best to address the problem," Rabo said.

He said the vandals are Nigerians who live within the communities adding that they are making majority of Nigerians suffer.

"We believe If pipeline vandalism stops all our refinery will work properly," Rabo said.

Rabo said protecting pipelines against vandals has always being a difficult task but hoped that the issue would soon be addressed.

"We want speedy trial of vandals arrested to serve as deterrent to others," he added.
The duo have been accused of allegedly defrauding the maritime agency of N11.8b.

Daily Trust reports that the EFCC spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren said Mieka Dive Institute, a sprawling expanse, purportedly acquired by NIMASA for the take-off of the Nigerian Maritime University, was approved for an outright purchase by the past administration in the sum of N13, 072,564,822.00 in which a sum of N11, 765, 308, 339.80 had been paid through NIMASA.

Uwujaren also added that the rightful owners of the land, the Omadino Community of Delta State, are also making demands for payment.

Tompolo was summoned by the EFCC to clear the air on allegations of N34b fraud levelled against him and Akpobolokemi.

The ex-militant leader has refused to honour the invitation of the EFCC.
Vanguard reports that the group, through its spokesman, Damilola Alade said the only crime Tompolo has committed is to remain noble and steadfast by standing by the icon and father of genuine democracy in Nigeria, President Jonathan, against those who sought to use him as a willing tool in rigging the elections in Bayelsa.

Adding that The APC should leave Tompolo alone and put on its thinking cap for the purpose of forging a way forward for our nation.

The group also reminded the President that he is a product of the democracy others fought for, adding that victimising people is not the way to uphold it.

what the present All Progressive Congress, APC, administration is doing amounts to taking us back to the dark and lawless era of 1983-84 when the rule of law, decency, decorum and civilized practices were thrown over-board in a clueless and condemnable exercise in populism which almost destroyed our nation, the group said.

Tompolo was summoned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), to clear the air on a N34b fraud allegation levelled against him and the former boss of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Akpobolokemi.
While addressing journalists on Thursday, Jan. 21, in Uyo, the group said the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration is clueless.

Just as we witnessed between 1983 and 1984, our nation is fast disintegrating into a lawless era of arbitrariness and cluelessness powered by an abysmally weakgrasp of what it takes to govern a nation in the modern era, the spokesman for the group, Offiong Udo, said.

He said the APC cannot fight everybody at the same time, adding that: the present administration appears clueless, just staggering from one missed step to another, utterly incapable of turning around our impending economic woes, and instead, pretending it is doing something by pushing our country into a frightening quagmire of national crisis by fighting everyone that does not agree with it.

It is extremely fool-hardy to be stuck with Boko Haram in the North-East while opening up new fronts with IPOB, MASSOB, Shiites, Yoruba elders and now Niger Deltan militants at the same time, the group claimed that finally, those who claim to be best suited to rule have now exposed themselves as too provincially minded for the challenges of the modern world.
The PDP governors also said that the recent handcuffing of the partys spokesman, Olisa Metuh was an attempt to ridicule the party.

This was contained in a statement released by the Coordinator of the PDP governors Forum, Osaro Onaiwu today, January 21, 2016.

It reads:

The only reasonable conclusion we have reached is that the anti-corruption agencies and other institutions of state have allowed themselves to be dictated to by a single vindictive authority which takes pleasure in using power anyhow and in anyway in gross abuse of the constitution, African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights and human liberty.

The cuffing of the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP exemplifies a terrible decay of power by the APC regime which sees itself bigger than the democratic state, Nigeria, which brought it to power.

For the avoidance of doubt, the Forum is not against the anti-corruption mantra of the present regime of President Muhammadu Buhari, but we insist it must be within the ambit of our constitution and appropriate laws.

Any other means is a descent into fascism with its attendant consequences in the long run.

Metuh was taken to court the Abuja Federal High Court in handcuffs to face charges of money laundering after allegedly accepting N400 million from former National Security Adviser(NSA), Sambo Dasuki who is also being tried for corruption.
In a prophecy delivered on January 1, Mbaka said, "Many people are planning to kill Buhari; there are many plans on how to eliminate his life so that corruption will continue; so that embezzlement will continue."

However, in an interview with Daily Sun on Wednesday, January 20, Prophet Deji said Father Mbakas prediction was more of a demonic message than a divine one from God.

Rev. Deji, 63, who is a professor of theology in Christian Education, said he decided to write off Father Mbaka because God had told him ( Deji ) that there would be no bloodshed in the corridors of power in 2016.

According to the Ekiti State- born man of God: Buhari should go and sleep, not only sleep, but snore, because Father Mbaka is passing a message that is demonic and not of God.

Father Mbaka was in a hurry, he did not wait for Gods message for
In an interview, the President of the union, Mr. Michael Olukoya applauded these plans, saying that teachers were eagerly awaiting the implementation of the `Ibile tablet programme.

Olukoya, however, said that considering the pedigree of the state, the best quality would be expected.

We know the governor will not embark on a project that will not add value to the education sector.

We teachers are eagerly waiting for the implementation of the policy as promised. If the `Ibile tablet is distributed as promised, I am sure that the problem associated with the `Opon Imo, a similar device distributed by the Osun State Government, will be addressed.

We are eagerly waiting for it; no effort toward advancing the course of education is a waste, Olukoya said.

He added that the union would continue to support programmes that would give the Nigerian child a better future. Should we find anything that requires constructive criticism with the policy, we will not hesitate to criticise it because NUT must be seen to be performing its duty.

Every step made toward advancing the education of the Nigerian child, we will support it whole heartedly, he said.

Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, in December 2015, during his budget speech, promised that he would distribute the 'Ibile' Tablets as a way of developing e-curriculum in the state.

The tablet is an information communication technology (ICT) device.

Recall that Governor Ambode had, during his 2016 budget presentation on December 17, 2015, said that the state government would develop its e-curriculum.
The Constanta Maritime University in Romania, has issued the threat to over 300 Nigerians who are currently studying at the institution on scholarship from the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA.

The students who are affected by the current state of affairs have been reported to be in between their 1-3 year at the university.

According to Premium Times, the students studying engineering, navigation and naval transport at the university have a just fee which amounts to5,720 which is equivalent to N1.23m with the present exchange rates.

Following expulsion threats, the students have also been threatened with deportation upon the failure to foot the bills.

One of the affected students, name withheld, revealed to Premium Times that the University authorities have threatened to send them back to Nigeria if NIMASA fails to make the payments by January 31, 2016.

Speaking with Premium Times, the student said:

We are stranded, confused and cannot concentrate on our studies based on the unfortunate news of expulsion unleashed to them by the school.

The school has said that if by 30th of January the school fees are not paid it has no option than to return us back home.

The student went on to allege that all efforts to reach the NIMASA body by the University officials to resolve the issue is yet to meet with any positive response.
The Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof Vincent Ado Tenebe at the 5th Annual Convocation ceremony, said that the graduates of the school are not given equal opportunities with fellow graduates from other institutions to participate in the NYSC.

He also added that the law students are barred from attending the Nigerian law school.

Tenebe said an internet search shows that there are 59 open universities in countries throughout the world and there is no evidence that graduates of their open universities are treated differently from the graduates of their traditional regular universities.
Chairman of the University of Ibadan (UI) SSANU, Comrade Wale Akinremi, said at its congress that 24 hours after meeting with the minister of Education, vice-chancellors started advertising vacancy for the positions of our members.

He said: After the minister of Education told us we should let them look into the matter and will call us to suspend the strike, less than 24 hours later the universities started advertising vacancy for the positions of our members.
According to the Central African nations corruption board, a wide reaching probe into the sector led to fines totaling $283 million. Other companies such as Camtel and Viettel, were also found to have violated regulations.

Nigeria CommunicationsWeek reports that the amount paid by each company was not clear and that the companies were not immediately available for comment.

According to a Reuters report, the Cameroonian anti-corruption agency, known as CONAC, in its report, also accused telecom giants, MTN and Orange, of evading tax payments on their mobile money transfer system.

This will be another blow for South Africa-based MTN Group whose Nigerian unit is currently contesting a $3.9 billion fine for failing to disconnect unregistered SIMs.
According to Leadership.ng, a statement by the special assistant to the Minister of Communications, Mr. Adebayo Shittu, Mr. Victor Oluwadamilare, said that this has become necessary, following the exceedingly large amount of complaints from telecom subscribers across the country.

The ministers office had been inundated with complaints from Nigerians, particularly women in veil, over the way they were being treated, sometimes humiliated, by the workers of telecommunications companies nationwide.

"In some of the complaints, women in pudah were required to remove their veils in public despite requests by such women that a place should be provided for them away from public glare and for only female officials to attend to them. All entreaties by these women failed, rather they were allegedly accused of being Boko Haram agents and refused registration after several altercations ensued in some of the registration centres, Oluwadamilare said, according to the Leadership.ng report.
This is according to a report by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in its latest World Tourism Barometer.

It is a rise of 4.4%, or 50 million over 2014 and the 6th consecutive year of above-average growth.

In a statement, UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai said "the robust performance of the sector is contributing to economic growth and job creation in many parts of the world."

He went on to point out how critical it is for countries to promote policies that foster the continued growth of tourism, including travel facilitation, human resources development and sustainability.

According to the report, Europe, the Americas and Asia and the Pacific all recorded around a 5% increase in international arrivals in 2015, while international tourist arrivals in the Americas grew 9 million to reach 191 million.

On the contrary, Africa experienced an estimated 3% decrease, "mostly due to weak results in North Africa, which accounts for over one third of arrivals in the region."

The body however pointed that data for the region was limited.
"I am mr IMPERFECT but @molao1 made me realize falling in love is not by finding the perfect person, but by loving an imperfect person perfectly. You have always stood by me as a friend, soulmate,companion and more which words cannot describe. Oluwalontunmise you are my heaven sent ,you believed in me, I don't know how I managed to impress you because I strongly know I don't deserve an ANGEL like you, I promise by the special grace of ALLAH you won't have a reason to regret your actions......... Love you now and always my Mz Tilapia. #steps #love #shesaidyes .......Future Mr&Mrs B.tilapia. special tanks to @sip_ltd @itsalphabet @iamt4tayo @treasureborn GOD bless u", Owokoniran captioned the photo.
Should Obama's order blocking deportations for certain immigrants be invalidated by the justices, the decision could hamper future presidents' ability to craft policy through executive fiat, legal experts told Reuters.

"The question is not the merits of the immigration issue," said T. Gerald Treece, a constitutional law professor at the South Texas College of Law in Houston. "The question is what the president's power is."

The high court said Tuesday it would hear the lawsuit brought by 26 states that seeks to overturn Obama's 2014 executive order that shields more than 4 million immigrants in the country illegally from deportation proceedings.

In addition to the executive order on deportations, Obama has acted alone to alter provisions of the Affordable Care Act, limit carbon emissions to combat climate change and toughen the requirements on firearms merchants.

Should Obama lose before the Supreme Court, the case could tie the hands of a future president to act in similar ways.

The immigration case likely will be argued before the Supreme Court in April, with a decision handed down at the end of June, guaranteeing that presidential power will be a front-burner issue as the race for the White House intensifies.

In taking the case, the justices indicated they will consider whether Obama violated not just federal immigration statutes but the Constitution as well, raising the possibility that the court could articulate a forward-looking principle that limits the reach of a president's executive authority - particularly with regard to domestic issues. Presidents historically enjoy more freedom to act unilaterally when it comes to foreign affairs.

"If the Supreme Court rules against the administration on that ground, that would have a more positive impact on the limits of the president's power on domestic policy," said Todd Gaziano, a constitutional law expert with the conservative Pacific Legal Foundation and a former Justice Department lawyer.

The justices' decision to allow a constitutional challenge to Obama's actions was seized upon by Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, a leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination.

Cruz, the former top advocate for the state of Texas before the Supreme Court, published an article last year in a Harvard Law School journal condemning what he termed the administration's "lawlessness."

On the stump, however, Cruz has promised to roll back the Affordable Care Act as well as unilaterally terminate the Obama administration's nuclear pact with Iran, both examples of aggressive presidential action.

Presidents tend to favor a generous reading of their authority and resist any court-imposed limitations, said Kenneth Mayer, an executive power scholar at the University of Wisconsin.

Indeed, in 2008, Obama ran for president criticizing President George W. Bush's expansive use of executive power, which included a warrantless wiretapping program and indefinite detention of terror suspects. Once in office, Obama continued many of Bush's counterterrorism policies and has zealously guarded presidential power.
Asked at a media roundtable on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, whether this year would see the end of Islamic State, Kerry replied, referring to the militant group by an Arabic acronym:

"I think that by the end of 2016, our goal of very seriously denting Daesh ...will be achieved. I think we are on track."

Kerry said Islamic State has already lost 20-30 percent of its territory in Iraq and Syria combined and about 40 percent in Iraq.

The jihadist group lost control of the western Iraqi city of Ramadi last month, in a sorely needed victory for U.S.-backed Iraqi forces.

But critics, including some in the U.S. Congress, say the U.S. strategy is still far too weak and lacks sufficient military support from Sunni Arab allies, while Islamic State has also established a foothold in other countries in the region, notably Libya and Yemen.

Kerry said the coalition had upped its engagement significantly, noting that defense chiefs from the United States, France, Britain and four other countries had pledged to intensify the fight.
China claims almost the entire energy-rich South China Sea, where about $5 trillion worth of ship-borne trade passes each year. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims.

"China is now doing what we actually did last month when we landed on Pagasa (Thitu) island," said Vera Joy Ban-eg, spokeswoman for the Kalayaan Atin Ito (Freedom This is Ours) group.

In December, about 50 Filipino protesters, mostly students, made a three-day boat trip to Thitu, one of nine outcrops or islands occupied by the Philippines.

"In April, we will make another voyage to our islands. This time, we will spend a month to visit all the islands we occupy in the Spratleys. We are encouraging all patriotic Filipinos to join us and fight for our territory."

The protesters said Filipino fishermen could no longer use their traditional fishing grounds because large Chinese coast guard ships were driving them away.

They criticize the Philippine government for not doing anything to stop Chinese fishermen from harvesting giant clams and collecting fish with dynamite and cyanide fishing.
Turning the ship before it hits the iceberg
Finding Peace of Mind: Discover These Five Places in Europe to Unwind
The Nye County Sheriffs Office caught up with a wanted fugitive who had been on the run for several months.

Donald McFadden, 34, was arrested at a residence on the 3000 block of Irene Street on Saturday and was preliminarily charged with four counts of criminal contempt warrants, possession of methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia and resisting/obstructing arrest.

The sheriffs office received a tip that McFadden was at the residence on Irene Street and responded to the area. While arriving on the scene, responding deputies observed McFadden and his girlfriend, 29-year-old Jessica Vega-Giraldi attempting to flee out of the back of the residence.

After failing to stop upon deputies orders, detectives at the rear of the residence were able to apprehend the couple without further incident.

McFadden was found to be in possession of methamphetamines and drug paraphernalia upon being taken into custody.

During their investigation the sheriffs office identified that two other individuals also lived at the residence by the names of Stacy Kulish, 50, and Ronald Knight, 65. They, along with Vega, were arrested and preliminarily charged with harboring a felony offender. In addition, Vega was also arrested on a criminal contempt warrant.

All individuals were booked into the Nye County Detention Center on the above charges. McFadden was being held without bail.

McFadden was deemed a habitual criminal by the Nye County District Attorneys office in 2014 and has had numerous run-ins with local police, going back more than a decade.

The charges range from domestic battery, burglary and possession of stolen property, to drug possession and conspiracy charges.

Most recently, McFadden was arrested on a felony arrest warrant out of Tonopah for failure to pay child support and possessing methamphetamine. A judge gave McFadden one last shot to prove he was a law-abiding citizen in June, telling him he owned the key to his jail cell.

Contact reporter Mick Akers at makers@pvtimes.com. Follow @mickakers on Twitter.
Quad-City wildlife enthusiasts always will remember the exceptionally cold winter of 2013-14.

Consistent subzero temperatures drew scores of bald eagles to area locks and dams along the Mississippi River corridor.

You would see hundreds, if not thousands, of eagles here in some spots, said Curt Kemmerer, a Maquoketa-based wildlife biologist for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

After a mild start to winter this year, the birds have launched their return to the Quad-City area in the recent weeks in search of open, warmer water and fish, their primary food source. But, experts say, viewers should not expect to see as many flocks this season as in years past.

Unless things turn for the worse, I wouldnt expect to see those really large numbers, Kemmerer added.

Burt Gearhart, of LeClaire, who refers to himself as a wannabe photographer, said he started snapping shots of the visiting birds as soon as they arrived about two weeks ago.

For the best shots, Gearhart heads to the riverfront walkway at Lock and Dam 14 near LeClaire, a spot hes coined a national treasure.

Youre right on top of those eagles when theyre fishing 50 feet from you, said Gearhart, who spotted about a dozen of the birds in the trees there one afternoon this week. Other places may have more eagles, but theres nowhere else on the river you can do that.

He soon might have to adapt his game plan, though.

Several trees along the riverfront near Lock and Dam 14 have started to perish, he said, which may force the eagles to congregate elsewhere.

Ive spent the last eight years trying to figure out how to do this, and I think Im finally getting it down, he said. Its really an enjoyable way to spend the winter.

Typically, Kemmerer said eagles have learned to tolerate human activity in urban settings that provide adequate food sources.

They take it where they can get it, said Kemmerer, who clarified that eagles act as predators when they fish and scavengers when they scour for roadkill or deer carcasses in open fields.

Kemmerer credits the birds adaptation abilities for returning from the verge of extinction as "one of our great success stories in the upper Midwest.

The federal government declared the bald eagle endangered in 1978 under the Endangered Species Act.

The first bald eagle's nest to appear in Scott County since 1977 was reported in 2003, according to the Iowa DNR.

"They were very much in peril, but weve seen a steady increase over the last couple decades, Kemmerer said. I hope people dont take it for granted.
DES MOINES  A man facing federal firearms charges in Davenport who was found in Cuba attempting to escape prosecution has been returned to Iowa and faces a court hearing to determine whether he should remain in federal custody until his trial.

Shawn Michael Wegmann, 38, who had been in custody in Florida since Cuban officials turned him over to federal marshals on Dec. 8, was returned to Iowa on Friday. He appeared in court Wednesday in Davenport, where his trial is to be held, to face a new charge of failure to appear while on pretrial release. The judge set a hearing for next Wednesday to determine whether Wegmann should remain in custody until his trial.

Jeffrey Lang, Wegmann's court-appointed attorney, declined to comment Wednesday.

Wegmann, also known as Shawn Michael Luskey, has criminal histories in Scott, Muscatine, Cedar, Clinton and Jackson counties. He had been living in Muscatine as recently as April but was living in Indiana when he fled to Cuba, the U.S. Marshals Service said.

Wegmann had been charged in a federal indictment filed in September with being a felon in possession of firearms and possessing stolen guns. Four other men, also convicted felons prohibited from possessing weapons, are indicted in the same case involving an assortment of rifles and shotguns, some which authorities say were stolen.

Court records said he had been scheduled to enter a guilty plea on Oct. 21, but he failed to appear in court.

Wegmann had been living with his wife in Kirklin, Ind., while out on bond awaiting trial. Federal authorities said that at some point on Oct. 23, Wegmann removed his GPS ankle monitor. Federal probation officers responded and found the device attached to the bumper of a van in a Sam's Club parking lot. A warrant was issued for his arrest.

About a week later, investigators say he arrived in Havana on a 13-foot Boston Whaler reported stolen from a marina in Key West, Fla. Cuban authorities notified the U.S. Marshals Service on Nov. 3 that Wegmann was in their custody. Fingerprinting revealed he was wanted in Iowa.

"Wegmann is the first fugitive who has been returned to the United States by the Cuban government after fleeing to Cuba since diplomatic relations began nearly a year ago," said U.S. Marshal Amos Rojas Jr., in a statement released last month when Wegmann was flown from Cuba to Florida in a chartered jet.

Court documents indicate Wegmann was indicted Jan. 12 on the new charge of failure to appear. He was in custody in Florida until he was returned to Iowa.

Rojas told the South Florida Sun Sentinel that Cuban immigration authorities "were just amazed that he actually survived" crossing the Florida Straits in the little boat with a 40-horsepower motor.
MAQUOKETA, Iowa  Two of the three current Jackson County supervisors and one who quit last year have filed lawsuits against the estate of a man who fired a gun and then killed himself in the Jackson County Courthouse in 2014.

The lawsuits were filed by Larry "Buck" Koos, Larry McDevitt and Steve Flynn. Flynn did not seek re-election last year and McDevitt was elected to his post. The lawsuit lists each individual man and lists the defendant as Judy E. Bowling, representing the estate of Francis Glaser. Bowling was a cousin of Glaser.

All three men, plus others, were in the supervisors' office on Sept. 9, 2014, when former Maquoketa City Manager Francis "Gus" Glaser went in to complain about his taxes. He had spoken to the supervisors several times before, complaining that then-Assessor Deb Lane had not reduced his taxes as he thought should happen. Supervisors had explained to Glaser several times that he was talking about a tax abatement from the city of Maquoketa and the county had no authority.

On that morning, Glaser waited until the meeting was almost over, then pulled a small gun out of his briefcase. Witnesses said Lane left the room and Glaser fired the gun in her direction. Lane was not injured. Glaser began to go after Lane but was tackled to the ground by Koos, McDevitt and others in the room. Glaser turned the gun on himself and died at the scene.

Koos received injuries to his hand and arm from a glass door breaking when Glaser was taken down.

In the lawsuits, filed Aug. 11, 2015, all three men are seeking an undetermined amount of money for emotional distress, "abnormally dangerous activity," exemplary damages and, on Koos's lawsuit, a consortium claim.

Koos is saying his injuries resulted in loss of companionship, aid, services and affection from his wife, Sandra. That claim in not part of Flynn's and McDevitt's lawsuits.

All three lawsuits have similar language on the negligence and dangerous activity of Glaser on that day. The lawsuits contend Glaser waved his loaded gun at the three men named in the lawsuit.

In Koos' case, his lawyer, John Arenz of Dubuque, has requested a trial by jury. Court records show a court conference scheduled for next week. There is no mention of a jury trial for Flynn and McDevitt.

Koos said Tuesday that he has left the details of the lawsuit up to his attorney. Koos said he was not aware of a request for a jury trial.

"This is not a county issue," Koos said. "It's a personal issue. I have no comment on the specifics."

Koos said he spoke with Flynn and McDevitt last summer about a lawsuit.

Supervisor Jack Willey, who also was in the room at the time of the shooting, said he was not informed the three men had planned to file a lawsuit.

Jackson County Attorney Sara Davenport said the county itself had no reason to file a lawsuit. She said the county or its insurance paid for all of Koos' medical bills.

McDevitt said Tuesday he had no comment on the case. Flynn has moved to Arizona and was not available for comment.

"I have heard the rumors there is no money in the estate, but my attorney has not informed me whether or not there is money in the estate. I just don't know," Koos said. "I guess I will just have to wait to see what happens."

David Pillers of Pillers and Richmond of DeWitt is the attorney named for Bowling. Pillers filed an answer to each of the three lawsuits on Dec. 14. In the court documents, Pillers denies all allegations.

Pillers did not respond for comment on the lawsuits.
River Action, Inc. has set a Monday deadline to submit nominations for individuals who have done extraordinary work in the Mississippi River and its riverfront, including tributaries . Nomination forms are available for online submission by visiting www.riveraction.org., or by sending an email to riveraction@riveraction.org. Past winners can also be viewed at www.riveraction.org. River Action will announce the winners at the Fish and Fire annual fundraiser and earth day celebration on Friday, April 22.
An anonymous threat about a shooting on Friday, Jan. 22, at Moline High School has been found by police to not be credible, officials announced Thursday.

"We are confident the threat is not credible," Detective Scott Williams said. Williams, spokesman for the police department, noted the school's police liaison officer investigated the incident from the start.

Police officers will be around the high school as an added precaution, Williams said, "so everyone feels better, not because we think they are needed."

While it is upsetting to hear of this type of threat, the Moline-Coal Valley school district will remain open on Friday, Moline superintendent Lanty McGuire said.

"Rest assured we are committed to providing a safe educational environment for your children," McGuire wrote in a note that was distributed last week to Moline parents.
DES MOINES  A state-mandated school program for struggling young readers is in desperate need of funding, state education board members told the governor Thursday.

Multiple members of the Iowa State Board of Education told Gov. Terry Branstad on Thursday that they are concerned by the lack of funding for the Intensive Summer Literacy Program in the governors 2016-17 budget proposal.

The program, which must go into effect in the summer of 2017, is designed to help struggling young readers reach literacy benchmarks to prevent them from being held back in the third grade.

Were concerned about the impending disaster thats going to occur in May of 2017, and thats one that were all going to be blamed for: the board, the governor, the lieutenant governor, the Legislature. Were all going to share in the blame, board member Mike May said. The question is how we can mitigate that as much as possible.

Branstad said he hopes to work with the Iowa Legislature to secure $9 million in funding for the program during the 2017 legislative session. But state education board members said schools need to do work this summer to have the program ready for launch in 2017.

I want you to understand the timing, Branstad said to board members at Thursdays meeting in the Grimes state office building.

For school districts, the timing is very real, board president Charles Edwards countered.

Edwards called the program massively underfunded.

During the discussion, the governor asked board members if they would prefer the early reader program funding come at the expense of general school funding. One board member suggested it may be prudent to delay the programs implementation.

I would argue that (program funding) may have to end up coming out of the supplemental (state school funding), Edwards said. But thats not my place.

The governor and state lawmakers put together the state budget, and they are trying to determine how much money to budget for public schools in the next school year. The negotiating parties are starting millions of dollars apart, so removing more money to divert to another program could complicate negotiations.

We are going to work very hard to make sure we make good on that commitment to the third-graders, said Pam Jochum, D-Dubuque, president of the Democratic-controlled Senate. There has to be something in the budget to help at least get ready.  We know they need at least some start-up money to prepare for that (program).

Jochum also criticized the Branstad administrations move to tweak a manufacturing tax break, which will reduce state revenues by more than $40 million annually, saying that decision put a bigger pinch on what already was a tight budget.

House Speaker Linda Upmeyer, R-Clear Lake, said Republicans in control of the House are not yet crafting their budget proposals.

I know that there is a great deal of interest of people having the resources there that are necessary for reading programs that prepare kids to move forward, Upmeyer said. Were just not at the point in the (budgeting) process.  Its just really kind of early to predict where (legislators) will land.

Branstad was hesitant to embrace the possibility of delaying the programs implementation date. He said that could be done next year, if the state still cannot devote the necessary resources.
A roundup of legislative and Capitol news items for Wednesday:

SENATE PASSES FIRST BILL: The Iowa Senate voted 41-6 Wednesday to pass the first bill of the 2016 legislative session. Senate File 2022 would start the process of changing the criminal jurisdiction on the Sac and Fox Indian settlement in Tama County covering criminal offenses committed by or against Native Americans on the Meskwaki settlement. Sen. Steve Sodders, D-State Center, the bill's floor manager, said the legislation would help the federal government repeal a 1948 law specific to the Iowa settlement to give them law enforcement and court jurisdiction over generally minor criminal offenses where Native Americans are both the perpetrator and the victim. Federal authorities still would handle investigations and prosecutions for murder or other major crimes occurring within the settlement's boundaries. Under the current arrangement, crimes are funneled through Tama County, which requires local taxpayers to cover the costs, Sodders said. "This will allow them to do their own criminal justice system on their land," he said. The measure now goes to the Iowa House for consideration.

EDUCATION UPDATE: Ryan Wise, director of the state Department of Education, told a legislative panel Wednesday the last 40 school districts to come under the state's teacher leadership and compensation program should know if their plans are approved by mid-March. All 336 Iowa school districts have applied to join the state's TLC system, considered the most comprehensive teacher leadership system in the nation, and the final batch of applications are scheduled to be filed next month. Wise told House Education Committee members that the first 33 districts that came under the new approach adopted in 2013 have met a majority of their initial goals and teachers are excited and energized by their new roles. The 2013 legislation created a three-year phase-in process to develop a statewide teacher leadership system, with the goal of all school districts participating by the 2016-17 school year. When the teacher leadership system is fully phased in, it will cost $150 million annually. More information on the teacher leadership system is available at educateiowa.gov/teacher-leadership-and-compensation-system.

HEALTH GRANT: The Iowa Department of Public Health has received a $6.3 million grant to help save the lives of Iowans experiencing cardiac arrest both in and out of the hospital, officials said Wednesday. The grant, awarded by The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, primarily will be used to place chest compression system devices in ambulances and hospitals across the state and to provide training for their use. The device provides automated chest compressions, meaning CPR can be performed longer and more consistently, health officials said. A limited number of automatic compression devices currently are in use in Iowa and have shown positive results. The devices are able to maintain a higher flow of blood to the brain and heart, compared to manual compressions, which has been shown to improve the positive outcomes of CPR in cardiac arrest patients, according to the state health agency.

LABOR MARKET: The Iowa Workforce Development's labor market information division announced Wednesday it has launched a redesigned website to provide data and information related to Iowa's labor market and workforce. Agency officials say the new website at iowalmi.gov will contain information about employment, unemployment, wages, industry and occupational employment, industry and occupational projections, unemployment insurance statistics, employer survey and other labor market-related publications.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I apologize that it's a little bit dry to go through this."  Terry Roberson of the state Economic Development Authority in discussing a proposed renewable chemical production tax credit with a Senate Ways and Means subcommittee on Wednesday. Senate Study Bill 3001 seeks to establish a $10 million tax credit with annual limits of $1 million for start-ups and $500,000 for established businesses that produce high-value chemicals from biomass feedstocks.

 Times Bureau
SPRINGFIELD  Two central Illinois Republicans are renewing efforts to require photos on the cards issued to recipients of federal food assistance.

State Reps. Bill Mitchell of Forsyth and Adam Brown of Champaign say they have heard from constituents about widespread abuse in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, including recipients selling their state-issued Link cards.

"Working people are just sick and tired of the fraud and abuse that's happening," Mitchell said.

Brown said he often hears from constituents who have seen Link cards for sale online.

"We have a finite amount of cash here in the state of Illinois, and we have a responsibility to take care of the most vulnerable folks among us," he said. "And when you see waste like this that creates further strain on our social programs, which are severely underfunded."

Mitchell and Brown introduced separate bills, but both would require that the name and photo of the primary benefit recipient appear on Link cards issued by the Illinois Department of Human Services. The cardholder would be able to add the names of secondary users, who would be allowed to use the cards by showing a photo ID.

Such proposals have been a perennial issue for the past five years. When similar legislation was introduced in 2011, it was estimated that implementation would cost $2 million to $4 million.

Mitchell and Brown said the cost would be minor compared with the savings from cutting down on fraud.

"It would be hard to imagine why someone would oppose this," Mitchell said.

Dan Lesser, director of economic justice at the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law in Chicago, said there are many reasons.

For example, it would prevent a parent from sending a child who doesn't have a photo ID to the corner store to pick up a gallon of milk, he said.

The federal government requires that benefit recipients be treated the same as other customers, Lesser said, so the proposals could have the unintended consequence of requiring retailers to ask anyone who uses a debit or credit card for photo ID.

He also noted that, according to the federal government, the fraud rate in the program is about 1 percent.

"This is just knee-jerk," Lesser said. "It's not productive. It would not accomplish anything."
The World Affairs Council of the Quad-Cities is offering a free event, Iran from the Inside Out: Culture and Literature through the Lens of Politics, at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Bettendorf Public Library, 2950 Learning Campus Drive.

The presentation by Dr. Cyrus Zargar of Augustana College, Rock Island, will look at Iranian popular culture today, especially as it relates to current events.

The World Affairs Council of the Quad-Cities is a non-partisan 501(c)(3) organization with a mission to foster global education and international understanding within the Quad-Cities and beyond. To learn more, visit www.wacquadcities.org.
The Quad-Cities Chamber of Commerce will host the first of its 2016 legislative luncheons on Monday, Jan. 25, with Illinois legislators from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Stoney Creek Inn Hotel and Conference Center, 101 18th St., Moline, and Friday, Jan. 29, with Iowa legislators from noon to 1:30 p.m. at Hotel Blackhawk, 200 E. 3rd St., Davenport. Registration is discounted until Saturday, Jan. 23, at $15 for Chamber members and $20 for non-members. The price increases $5 after that date. Attendees can register at www.quadcitieschamber.com.
Rabbi Elliot Dorff, an internationally known scholar of Judaism, will give a free public lecture, God without Ethics, Ethics without God: What Does Judaism Add to Ethics? at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Augustana College, Wallenberg Hall, Denkmann Memorial Building, 3520 7th Ave., Rock Island.

Dorff is rector and the Sol and Anne Dorff Distinguished Service Professor in Philosophy at American Jewish University, as well as visiting professor at UCLA School of Law. He has published 17 books and more than 200 articles on Jewish thought, law and ethics.

Rabbi Dorff has also served on various boards and organization, including the Ethics Committee of Hillary Clintons Health Care Task Force in 1993.

For more information, contact Dr. Daniel E. Lee at danlee@augustana.edu or 309-794-7258.
Brian Henry has been a book editor, writer, and creative writing instructor for more than 25 years. He teaches creative writing at Ryerson University. He also leads weekly creative writing courses in Burlington, Mississauga, Oakville and Georgetown and conducts Saturday workshops throughout Ontario. His proudest boast is that he has helped many of his students get published.


The racially tinged controversy over the name of South Dakotas highest point could cost a state board its very existence.

State Rep. Lee Schoenbeck, R-Watertown, on Tuesday introduced a bill to abolish the South Dakota Board on Geographic Names. He was motivated by the boards handling last summer of a proposal to rename Harney Peak.

When that made news this last year, that got my attention, along with everybody elses in the state, Schoenbeck said in a phone interview with the Journal. He is asserting the board has exceeded the duties described in the legislation that created it.

Although the board did appear to finish the specific duties set out in the original 2009 legislation, the Legislature in 2014 passed a law that allowed for a broadening of those duties.

The proposal to rename the state's highest point Black Elk Peak came from Basil Brave Heart, a Native American from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, in September 2014. He considers the peaks name offensive because its namesake, Gen. William S. Harney, led military campaigns against Native Americans in the 1800s, including one in which women and children were killed. Nicholas Black Elk, meanwhile, was a Lakota Sioux holy man.

Harney Peak, at 7,242 feet above sea level, is a popular hiking destination in the Black Hills, a region that figures prominently in Native American spirituality. When news of the renaming proposal spread statewide, it drew intense interest.

The state Board on Geographic Names conducted public meetings at five locations around the state last April and May to gather opinions, and hundreds of written comments also were accepted. Support coalesced around an alternative proposal to rename the peak Hinhan Kaga, a Lakota phrase meaning Making of Owls that is thought to be the traditional Lakota name for the mountain.

On May 8, the five-member board voted 5-0 to adopt a preliminary recommendation that Harney Peaks name be changed to Hinhan Kaga. That action triggered another public comment period that was colored by strong opposition to the change. On June 29, the board backpedaled and voted 4-1 to recommend no change to Harney Peaks name.

That recommendation was forwarded to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, which has the final say but has not yet acted.

Schoenbeck said the Harney Peak name-change process was beyond the intended scope of the state Board on Geographic Names. The board was created by 2009 legislation as part of an effort to help replace offensive place names, many of them containing the words squaw or negro, such as Squaw Creek and Negro Gulch.

That process has been completed, Schoenbeck said, and consideration of a Harney Peak name change by the board members represented a whole different mission.

They got all the work done that the statutes directed them to do, Schoenbeck said, and it looked to me like this is a government agency thats done its job and should end.

While the originally intended focus of the board may have been the replacement of place names viewed as universally offensive, subsequent legislation adopted in 2014 did in fact direct the board to investigate any proposed names, solicit public input, and make a recommendation to the United States Board on Geographic Names as to whether the board supports a new or replacement name.

Brave Heart, who started the Harney Peak name change process, said by phone Wednesday that he is disappointed by the legislation to do away with the state board.

"I wonder if it's fear," Brave Heart said of the bill. "Fear of change."

Native American groups have made similar name-change proposals elsewhere, including at Devils Tower in Wyoming, and scored a victory in August when the federal government recognized Denali as the official name of Mount McKinley in Alaska.

If the state board is disbanded, South Dakotans could still propose changes to place names, but there would be no state board to gather widespread public input and make a recommendation. The proposals would instead go straight to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, which would gather input from local governments, tribes and the governor before making a decision.

The state board consists of the secretary of tribal relations and one representative each from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Department of Transportation, the State Historical Society and the Department of Tourism.

The Journal left messages Wednesday for the chairwoman of the state Board on Geographic Names, June Hansen, of the Department of Transportation. Those messages produced a phone call from department spokeswoman Kristi Sandal, who said the department does not have an opinion on Schoenbeck's legislation.

The Journal also sought comment from Tribal Relations Secretary Steve Emery, who was the only member of the Board on Geographic Names to vote against retaining the name of Harney Peak at the June 29 meeting. That request produced an email from Kathy Aplan, public information coordinator for the Department of Tribal Relations, who said the department is reviewing the legislation and has no comment.

Besides Schoenbeck, 14 members of the House of Representatives and five in the Senate are listed as sponsors. Black Hills-area sponsors include Rep. Thomas Brunner, R-Nisland; Rep. Chip Campbell, R-Rapid City; Rep. Lynne DiSanto, R-Rapid City; Rep. Jacqueline Sly, R-Rapid City; Rep. Mike Verchio, R-Hill City; and Sen. Betty Olson, R-Prairie City.

The bill was referred to the House State Affairs Committee and is scheduled for a public hearing during the committees Friday meeting, which begins at 8:30 a.m. CST at the Capitol in Pierre.
Mandan, ND | 2015s sunflower crop was a record breaking crop. The USDA report on 2015 sunflower crop production, shows record high yields in both oil-type and confection sunflower. Average yield of oil-type sunflower varieties increased by 119 pounds from 2014, to a record high 1,579 pounds per acre.

The average yield of confection sunflower increased by 368 pounds from last year, to a record high 1,865 pounds per acre, more than 300 pounds per acre higher than the previous record high.

This is great news for sunflower producers, says John Sandbakken, executive director of the National Sunflower Association. Sunflower has proven to be a profitable crop that works in many different types of soils and climates.

For the third year in a row, South Dakota is the top sunflower-producing state. Production in South Dakota is the highest since 1999, at 1.23 billion pounds. Compared with last year, planted area in South Dakota increased 27 percent and yield increased 179 pounds to a record high 1,858 pounds per acre. Meanwhile, production in North Dakota increased 26 percent, mostly due to the increase in yield, which increased 217 pounds from last year and is the third highest on record. Record high yields were also achieved in Kansas and Nebraska.

This was an outstanding year for sunflower in all our major growing areas, says Sandbakken. To see record yields in four of our top sunflower-producing states, in both oil and non-oil type sunflowers is very impressive. We hope these numbers will convince even more producers to plant sunflower this spring.

Across the nation, the 2015 sunflower production increased 32 percent from 2014. The United States average yield per acre increased 156 pounds from last year to a record high 1,625 pounds. Planted area, at 1.86 million acres, is 19 percent above last year. Area harvested increased 19 percent from last year to 1.80 million acres.

For more on the USDA numbers, visit www.usda.gov/nass/PUBS.
PIERRE | The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission today in early January that the certification filed by TransCanada Keystone Pipeline to construct the Keystone XL Pipeline in South Dakota is valid. The decision was made by commission members Chris Nelson, Kristie Fiegen and Gary Hanson at a regular PUC meeting in Pierre, on Jan. 5, 2016.

State law narrowly defines the certification question we voted on today, said PUC Chairman Nelson. This was not a question of whether the permit should have been issued in 2010; rather, it was whether TransCanada filed a valid certification stating that the company can meet the conditions attached to the original permit. Opponents failed to prove that the certification was not valid. We all understand, however, that the pipeline cannot be constructed without a presidential permit, Nelson continued.

My vote today to accept Keystone XLs certification takes proper account of the controlling law enacted by the legislature that guides our actions in this docket, stated Kristie Fiegen, PUC Vice Chairman. Due process has been delivered. The commission considered a host of motions, allowed a vast amount of discovery to be gathered, provided an opportunity for all to properly argue their case, and enabled compilation of a complete written and oral record that addressed the conditions first established in the Keystone XL Pipeline construction docket, Fiegen concluded.

"We made it clear from the very beginning of this process that in order to prohibit the Keystone XL Pipeline certification, proof would need to be presented that TransCanada cannot meet the conditions set by the PUC in 2010," Commissioner Gary Hanson said. Through this protractive and open process, the validity of Keystone XLs certification has been thoroughly vetted. There has been no evidence provided that shows TransCanada Keystone XL will be unable to meet the requirements of the permit. If the company secures a presidential permit and the pipeline is built, the PUC will monitor the progress to ensure the construction conditions are met, Hanson said.

TransCanada came before the PUC in March 2009 with its request to construct the Keystone XL Pipeline across parts of western South Dakota. The commission approved an amended final decision and order on June 29, 2010. Because TransCanada did not begin construction on the Keystone XL Pipeline in South Dakota within four years of the permit being issued, state law requires the company to certify to the PUC that the facility continues to meet the conditions upon which the permit was granted.

TransCanada Keystone Pipeline filed the certification with the PUC on Sept. 14, 2014. Since then, the PUC has reviewed thousands of pages of filings by parties; held numerous meetings at which motions offered by intervenors, TransCanada and PUC staff were discussed and decided; and conducted a nine-day evidentiary hearing.

The commission granted intervenor status to all 30 individuals and 12 organizations that requested it, allowing them full participation in the certification docket including the ability to file legal motions, request discovery (facts or documents), present testimony and evidence, and participate in the evidentiary hearing. Three intervenors withdrew from the docket in the spring of 2015. The remaining intervenors included landowners along the pipeline route, Native American tribes, environmental groups, grassroots membership organizations, and interested individuals from South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota and New York.

Approximately 100 people attended a public input session at the State Capitol in Pierre on July 6, at which 52 commenters offered verbal statements to the commission about the Keystone XL Pipeline certification. Several hundred written comments were submitted to the PUC throughout the course of the proceeding.

The evidentiary hearing was held in Pierre on July 27-Aug. 1 and Aug. 3-5, during which the commission heard testimony and accepted evidence from TransCanada, PUC staff, and intervenors.

The pipeline route in South Dakota has an estimated length of 315 miles that will cross portions of Harding, Butte, Perkins, Meade, Pennington, Haakon, Jones, Lyman and Tripp counties. The project also includes seven pump stations to be located in Harding, Meade, Haakon, Jones and Tripp counties. The plans specify two pump stations each in Harding and Tripp counties. The pipeline will transport crude oil starting in Hardisty, Alberta, Canada, to Steele City, Nebraska.

The PUC expects to issue its written final decision and order in the coming weeks. That document will be part of the full docket found on the PUCs website at www.puc.sd.gov, Commission Actions, Commission Dockets, Hydrocarbon Pipeline Dockets, 2014 Hydrocarbon Pipeline Dockets, Docket HP14-001 - In the Matter of the Petition of TransCanada Keystone Pipeline, LP for Order Accepting Certification of Permit Issued in Docket HP09-001 to Construct the Keystone XL Pipeline.
Delay was blessing in disguise, says official

HOT SPRINGS  U.S. Navy World War II veteran Dewey Fallang was in high spirits Wednesday morning, Jan. 13.

My real name is Dwayne, he said straight-faced, eyes twinkling, but everyone calls me Dewey because its as close as they could get to screwy.

Fallang fought in the Pacific Theatre, driving landing craft on to the beaches of Mindanao, Leyte, Luzon and Tarawa  bloody business, all.

Fallang and his wife of 69 years, Mary Jane, were part of a neighborhood of 13 Michael J. Fitzmaurice State Veterans Home residents being moved from the main building of the original 1889 facility in Hot Springs, into the $41 million, 133,000-square-foot new wing of the home.

The Fallangs, originally from Madison, have been living at the State Veterans Home for the last 13 months. And after Dewey joked about Mary Jane wanting to trade him in on a new model husband for the move  she would, he said, but shed already paid him off and couldnt get anything good for him because of his high mileage  both Fallangs said the move was going pretty smoothly, thanks to the good help they were receiving.

Were they excited about going into new digs?

Not exactly, said Dewey, eyes twinkling with devilment, I dont get excited about much any more.

I am, said Mary Jane. The new wing is nice.

The Fallangs neighborhoods move was just one part of a gargantuan effort undertaken by the State Home to transport two buildings worth of senior veterans, their spouses and their belongings into the new wing.

This move, originally scheduled for Veterans Day in November, was postponed after engineers discovered that portions of the foundation of the new wing, completed in September, were not solid and the necessary repairs were made. With this issue fixed, a new date for the move was assigned.

According to State Veterans Home Superintendent Brad Richardson, the move started at 8 a.m. and by a few minutes after 9 a.m., his team of State Home staff, volunteers from the community and 25 airmen from Ellsworth Air Force Base in Rapid City, had completely moved 52 patients from Building No. 1, the mens dorm, into the new wing.

Their next mission focused on shifting the independent patients of the State Home  the Fallangs included  over to the new wing.

The elevator slowed this process down some, Richardson said, due having to move at the elevators speed, and take tubs filled with personal items up and down from the older portion of the home into the new wing.

Still, Richardson anticipated completing the independent patient move by about 11 a.m.

Meanwhile, the Fallangs joined about five other State Home residents, and two staff members on the bus ride from the 1889 building to the new wing.

The Fallangs met when Mary Jane and two female cousins came to a pavilion along the Sioux River and Dewey thought hed better meet that pretty girl, he said.

Mary Jane nodded.

He also talked about another 20-year hitch in the Navy, as a machine shop instructor, and keeping a daily diary of his war experiences  despite the Navy frowning on that, he said. A publisher had expressed some interest in this, he said.

Yeah, the move is going pretty good, Dewey said, smiling. Dont tell Brad (Richardson) this, but hes a pretty good manager. It would go to his head.

By Wednesday afternoon, at about 3:30 p.m., everything was pretty well finished, according to Director of Operations, Randy Meyers.

The overall move was relatively stress free due to tremendous staff and community support, said Richardson. We wouldnt have been as successful had we not had Black Hills Veterans groups, Airmen from Ellsworth and community leaders from the Hot Springs area on campus to assist with this historic transition.

Actually, the (second) delay was a blessing in disguise, Meyers said, because it gave us ample opportunity to prepate.

After the Veterans Day delay, a second move date  Monday, Dec. 14 -- was considered, Meyers said. However, between Christmas coming, bad weather and other factors, Meyers said the move was delayed a final time, to Jan. 13. This gave the staff and volunteers extra time to prepare. The weather also cooperated Wednesday, Meyers said.

We had a move plan, Meyers said, and it worked well. We just rolled along and were pretty well done by 1 p.m. We stopped for lunch  Custer VFW served it, and by 3:30 p.m. we finished. We had a review of the move by staff and noted what went well.

From my perspective, Richardson said, we didnt have any hitches in the get-along. At times we were outpacing the movement of patients, we had to slow down to allow the logistical tail to catch up with us, but we moved all 94 patients in under two hours from start to finish. Their personal belongings had all been delivered prior to the evening dinner meal. We were very pleased that with all the movement of resources and people on campus  we had zero injuries.

Meyers especially lauded the work of the Air Force volunteers.

They worked their hearts out, he said. Shuttling laundry carts and tubs around to keep up with the move of residents.

On Thursday morning, Jan. 14, Meyers said he believes that about 85-90 percent of the residents like their new digs in the new wing. A handful of residents were not amenable to any kind of move, but after being in the new wing for a day, they were starting to enjoy it, too.

Richardson said he saw high energy and a lot of excitement towards moving into the new facility.

Settling into the new wing will take some tweaking, Meyers said, but most of the residents, especially the families that helped make the move, were amazed by the quality of the construction and the size of the building.

We are slowly adjusting the new facility and making it into a new home, said Richardson.

Were proud of the staff and volunteers who helped with the move, Meyers said. They made it work. Everyone pitched in there was no griping and grumbling. It was a team effort, that kept the well-being of the residents at heart. I want to say a big thank you to all the staff and volunteers who pitched in for this. I cant say enough.
City to unveil full report later

HOT SPRINGS  Dr. Ignatius Cahyanto is an Assistant Professor and the Program Coordinator for Tourism and Hospitality Management with the Black Hills State Universitys (BHSU) School of Business.

This fall, he, along with city leaders, helped a group of eight tourism planning and development students develop a five-year strategic plan for improving Hot Springs tourism.

Between August and September of last year, the students, with help from City Administrator Nolan Schroeder and Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Scott Haden circulated 259 surveys to random city visitors (243 were returned, 206 were useful), and 196 on-line surveys to residents (177 were useful) to gather their information, Cahyanto said. These revealed supply side of tourism. The students also did extensive research on websites to get a sense of Hot Springs on-line presence.

Then, just after Christmas, Cahyantos students presented their work to a group of city and university representatives, including Mayor Cindy Donnell, Schroeder, Haden and other members of the Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce, along with BHSU leaders.

Im really proud of them, Cahyanto said. Ive been doing this for the last four years in different communities (Hill City, Redfield and Belle Fourche), and this group has been the most solid. Their procedure is solid. Ive been planning tourism across the globe and this is one of the best groups Ive had. I hope Hot Springs can implement the suggestions.

According to Cahyanto, this was the students first real life experience taking what they were learning in textbooks and the classroom and applying to a real life situation.

The class learned that theory doesnt always work, Cahyanto said. In the classroom, they learned theory, but they had to relate this to Hot Springs. Now they can relate textbook learning to real challenges.

One student, Bethanie Neuberger, a business administration-tourism major from Watertown, noted, I learned that communities are very complex. There are so many things that you have to look into it when you are working with the community. As much as we want visitors to have a great experience in Hot Springs there is also a consideration of what the community would want. You have to find that perfect balance.

The process was piece by piece to make a strategic plan, he said. The work didnt tell them how to do this, it showed them: How to go from point A, to B, to C, to D and so on.

Cahyanto said he suggested the students not create grandiose things, big stuff that the community might need but couldnt implement. Instead he told them to come up with tangible ideas, things the community could implement.

Some of the findings in the study include:

City strengths: natural spring water, beautiful nature, the Mammoth Site (the No. 1 tourist attraction in town, visited by more than 70 percent of tourists) and the citys unique architecture.

Student suggestions:

Put additional focus on promoting tourism clusters including wellness, the outdoors, history and function.

Improve the citys organization and planning and extend the Visitor Center hours to allow more people access information about the city.

Make the downtown district more attractive and vibrant for tourists.

Students suggested incorporating digital billboards to promote Hot Springs and researched apps for towns similar to Hot Springs.

Incorporate hashtags and photo op sites throughout the city so people can share these on their social media sites.

From the citys perspective, Schroeder said, we learned many things. These things include:

Need for improved directional signage throughout town. Our town is challenging to navigate for visitors and our distinctive destinations are missed because of it, Schroeder said.

Need for a comprehensive brand for the community, with a focus on what other communities cannot replicate  such as the water component and the health-centered mentality our town was founded on, he said.

Need for improved customer service from all of our businesses, not only tourism-focused businesses.

The students and the city are working on a time to present their findings to the community  a date for this has not been set, although most connected to the project agree it will likely take place in February.

Schroeder said that the city is planning to have some of the students present their report to the community later this year. After this, the city will make the report available on the city website, at city hall and via the Chamber of Commerce. City and Chamber officials, business owners and others attending the Tourism Conference in Pierre, later this month will get a preview of the report, Schroeder and Cahyanto said.

The city is also taking other steps to move forward on some things in the report, Schroeder said. This includes:

The city is looking forward to the community meeting, part of SHEDCOs Community Engagement Study on January 24. Schroeder expected that some report themes would be mirrored at this meeting.

Working with the Chamber, the city is planning to develop a branding campaign for Hot Springs for at least the next four years, comparable to Rapid Citys Do Big Things or Medoras Explore It Adore It efforts.

The city plans to piggyback on the state Department of Transportations US 18/385 road work in 2020 with a comprehensive way-finding signage program to make it easier for vehicles and pedestrians to navigate to Hot Springs attractions. The report cited difficulties tourists had in finding their way around town as an issue for the city to overcome.

Also, the city and the Chamber of Commerce are preparing a new website  to launch this spring  called Explore Hot Springs. Desktops, tablets and smart phones will be able to access this website to learn about the citys history, its buildings, murals and other drawing cards. Essentially, Schroeder noted, it can serve as a digital walking tour for many components of our town, from architecture, to murals, to historical events.

Tourism report findings

South Dakota generated $2 billion from tourism in 2014, with each traveler spending about $249 per day. The state is a primary destination for 57 percent of visitors, with scenery being the draw, and 78 percent coming by private vehicle.

Most Hot Springs visitors come for wellness, the outdoors, history and culture and special interests. Hot Springs can cater to these groups in ways other cities cannot.

Hot Springs VA is one of its most recognized features The loss of this would be a significant hit to the area.

Positive attitude  Most of the community is excited about the future of Hot Springs

Problems

Location is an issue, 67 percent of visitors said Hot Springs was not their primary destination  Rapid City, Custer and Mt. Rushmore were.

Hot Springs doesnt promote its features strongly enough, doesnt stand out from other locations. It is an unknown brand.

Other issues include: a rundown downtown, inconsistent business hours, parking, unclear signage, poor customer service, no budget (for businesses and organizations), bad winter weather and demographic changes.

Opportunities

Wedding/romance business

Outdoors, especially the Mickelson Trail.

Surrounding Attractions  Custer State Park, Mt. Rushmore, and the Wildlife Sanctuary.

Technology

Develop clusters around these areas.

BHSU students who participated in the study included: Morgan Chavez, Christina DiJohn, Jack Nelson, Bethanie Neuberger, Mallory Gordon, June Lallak, Chihiro Oseki and John Villa.
LAS VEGAS | Irving Stone III, owner of Bar-Sto Precision Machine, was the honored recipient of the 2016 Pistolsmith of the Year award by the American Pistolsmiths Guild (APG).

Stone received the award this week at the annual APG meeting in Las Vegas prior to the opening of the annual SHOT (Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade) Show.

Since 1985, only one Guild member is recognized annually with the APGs Pistolsmith of the Year award. This award carries with it a testament to the recipients true talent and benefit to the firearms industry.

The American Pistolsmiths Guild was formed in 1977. The Guild sets gold standards for work, products and business procedures requiring each member to go through rigorous grading, scrutiny, observation, and critical examination in order to achieve membership. Guild members are under constant scrutiny to keep their quality of work and business at the highest standard. Guild members must adhere to a set of precise guidelines created by the Guild to guarantee consumers receive quality work and customer service from any member of the Guild. The APG has become a respected member of the firearms community due to the diligence of its Guild members.

About Bar-Sto Precision:

Bar Sto Precision was formed in California in the 1960s. In 2010, Irv relocated his business to the Sturgis Industrial Park. Bar-Sto Precision Machines auto-pistol barrels have been used by the U.S. Marine Corps Marksman Unit since 1977. The Army Marksmanship Unit also uses them. Bar-Sto barrels have won every major pistol tournament worldwide, including Camp Perry, the U.S.P.S.A. Nationals, Steel Challenge, the Masters, and many more.
PIERRE | A state Senate committee on Wednesday unanimously endorsed changing South Dakota's alcohol-tax distribution to give counties for the first time a share from what state government has been receiving.

The bill now goes to the full Senate for consideration as early as Friday afternoon.

Municipalities receive $3.8 million from alcohol-tax revenue while state government receives more than $11 million. If the bill becomes law, counties would divide an estimated $3.8 million, while state governments share would be reduced by a similar amount.

While the Senate committee was endorsing the counties' share of the alcohol tax, the House State Affairs committee overwhelmingly voted down a plan to allow counties to charge a 1 percent sales tax, which faced opposition from the state Department of Revenue. State Rep. Elizabeth May, R-Kyle, said she plans to try to revive the proposal later, though it could have some changes.

Supporters of additional funding for counties urged legislators on the House and Senate committees to recognize the counties' lack of revenue options and escalating costs, frequently for courts and jails.

"It's something like a cancer that's growing out of control that we have to contend with," Minnehaha County Commissioner Jeff Barth said.

In a Wednesday interview, Pennington County Sheriff Kevin Thom said alcohol abuse has a large impact on public safety in the county.

Alcohol abuse is a significant driver of our jail population and law enforcement activity, not to mention our other programs," Thom said. "It clearly creates a strain on our resources.

He estimated 80 percent to 90 percent of county jail inmates have alcohol or substance abuse related issues.

The bill, said Sen. Troy Heinert, D-Mission, helps my counties. I have to support it at this time.

This is not an easy vote, because if youve ever served on appropriations, you know money isnt easy to come by, Senate Democratic leader Billie Sutton of Burke said.

The Legislatures interim committee on county government finances proposed the measure.

A fine bill, Sen. Bob Ewing, R-Spearfish, said. He is chairman of the Senate Local Government Committee and served on the interim committee.

He turned over the gavel to Sen. Ried Holien, R-Watertown, to conduct the hearing.

South Dakota counties get most of their revenue from property taxes, but state law limits yearly hikes. About 80 percent of county spending is required by law, which limits flexibility for officials searching for a balanced budget.

Under current law, municipalities get 25 percent of alcohol-tax proceeds, and state government retains 75 percent.

The original version of the legislation from the interim committee would have changed the distribution to 33 percent apiece for municipalities and counties.

That was amended Wednesday to 50 percent for the state and 25 percent apiece to municipalities and counties.

Ewing was a Lawrence County Commission member for 12 years before his election to the Senate in 2012.

He said one murder case has cost Lawrence County more than $1 million so far.

According to Lawrence County States Attorney John Fitzgerald, that death-penalty case was the March 13, 2000, torture and killing of Chester Allan Poage in Higgins Gulch at the base of Crow Peak by three men: Elijah Page, Briley Piper and Darrell Hoadley.

Page pleaded guilty and was executed by lethal injection July 11, 2007. Piper continues to appeal his death sentence, and the third accomplice, Hoadley, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

This was one case that was not alcohol-related, but was motivated by financial gain, Fitzgerald said Wednesday afternoon. But, alcohol is involved in so many criminal cases, and counties are paying for the prosecution, and were paying for all the court-appointed lawyers.

It seems reasonable that the counties would benefit from some of those alcohol-tax revenues, Fitzgerald argued.

Rapid City Alderman Jerry Wright has been an advocate for increasing taxes on alcohol while lowering property taxes that now pay for public safety services provided by counties.

Move the cost to where it belongs, Wright said, adding that he favors the state redistribution plan.

Gov. Dennis Daugaard said last week he is opposed to giving the counties money from the alcohol tax or allowing counties to charge a sales tax.

Seventeen witnesses signed up to testify in favor of the bill; only one signed up as an opponent.

Rep. Leslie Heinemann, R-Flandreau, supported the bill Wednesday because, in his opinion, county governments are carrying much of the costs for court-system changes approved three years ago.

He said the fact that counties dont receive any of the alcohol-tax distribution troubled many people on the interim committee studying county government finances.

Most committee members were stunned by that, Heinemann said.

Hughes County Commission member Tom Tveit said: I think were being extremely generous allowing the state half of this.

Brown County Commission member Duane Sutton described counties as in dire need of some additional revenue.

He said Brown County budgeted for $325,000 in court-appointed costs in 2015. At year-end the commission had to add $180,000 more for court-appointed lawyers.

A fourth deputy states attorney was added for Brown County by the commission yesterday, Sutton said.

Brown County would get about $150,000 from the change in alcohol-tax revenue distribution, he said. The additional states attorney alone will cost in the neighborhood of $75,000.

Stacy Ackerman, lobbyist for the South Dakota Sheriffs Association, spoke in favor of the change.

She said sheriffs are responsible for duties that other law enforcement agencies arent, such as protecting county courtrooms and prisoner transport, in a state with 66 counties and 26 jails.

We think its an equitable sharing of revenues that are already collected, Day County Sheriff Barry Hillestad said.

Jackson County Sheriff Raymond Clements Jr., of Kadoka, said he is 90 miles from Rapid City or Pierre, has 50 miles of Interstate 90 and doesnt have full backup or enough court services officers. He said its hard for the South Dakota Highway Patrol to recruit troopers to live in the area.

Clements showed the senators a three-page list of 50 cases that were set for county court Wednesday morning. I have one in jail right now for stealing a three-dollar can of beer, he said.

Only 41 percent of the countys land mass is subject to property taxes, he said. The southern half of the county is within the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, where he and his deputy go whenever needed.

The answers? I dont know what the answers are, Clements said.

The South Dakota states attorneys association, the South Dakota Farm Bureau and the South Dakota Farmers Union supported the change as well.

The only opponent to testify was Jim Terwilliger, representing the state Bureau of Finance and Management. He estimated state government would lose $3.8 million under the amended proposal.

Terwilliger said the budget-increase requests from within state government typically run double the amount of estimated new revenue. That is a big hole to fill that our appropriations committee would be tasked with to make up that shortfall, he said.

I dont know why the distribution is the way it is, but when you change it, it does have impacts, Terwilliger said.

He said local governments receive about $25 million more from the highway-funding increases approved in 2015, and they saw increased revenue from previous rounds.
Three properties on West Main Street in Rapid City are poised for a reshuffling, filling some holes across the street from the South Dakota Army National Guard complex and perhaps leaving some holes in a block farther west.

The first move will be by the King of Hearts Casino, which will migrate east from its current spot at 3030 West Main St. to a new building under construction at 2820 West Main St.

Casino owner Mike OMeara said he plans to expand his operation, something that isnt possible at present.

The new one will be a bigger building, OMeara said, adding he hopes for construction to be completed by the end of spring.

Workers with Olson Construction just laid the foundation for the new building and are awaiting warmer weather to proceed. Still, company owner Adam Olson is optimistic that construction will be completed on schedule.

The lot to which King of Hearts is moving used to be occupied by a two-story building that has since been uprooted and moved. The 2,600-square-foot structure most recently served as the offices of Samuels Studio Photography. For the last year, the building has been sitting on a wheeled cradle in an empty lot at the north end of the 2800 block of West Main Street.

The building has been moved several times since it was built in the 1970s, but new owner Joseph Avvampato said he plans to park it for good at the corner of West Main and National streets, immediately west of the new King of Hearts Casino.

Once it lands, the building will serve as office space for Avvampatos company, the Avvampato Design Group.

The third move is as yet unofficial. The Taco Johns restaurant at 3020 West Main St., next to the current King of Hearts Casino, may end up following its neighbor to the 2800 block of West Main Street.

No building permits have been taken out for the project, but if Taco Johns proceeds, the new restaurant may occupy the lot at the corner of West Main and Whitewood Streets, where Shotgun Willies used to be, according to Avvampato.

Its a project in the works, and there are a lot of hoops to jump through, said Rapid City Taco Johns Marketing Director Jennifer Shama. Were working towards it, and we want it to happen. We were hoping to build a facility that better serves our customers and our crew, with a little more parking and a larger kitchen.

Big D Oil Company owns the lots that King of Hearts Casino and Taco Johns would be vacating in the 3000 block of West Main Street.

It is unclear what the company plans to do with the lots once they are vacated. Don Policky, owner and president of Big D, refused to comment beyond the following statement: Thats private property, and well talk to (the Journal) when we have a building permit.

Rapid City Communications Coordinator Darrell Shoemaker confirmed that Big D has not applied for any building permits on West Main Street in recent months.

The twice-moved building owned by Avvampato was designed by renowned architect Dick Knecht as a model home for a community on Sheridan Lake Road, said Edgar Matuska, former owner of Samuels Studio Photography, which once occupied the building. The model home was badly damaged during the Rapid City flood of 1972, Matuska said.

They put it up on rails and moved it from Sheridan Lake Road to where it is now and remodeled it as a law office, Matuska said.

Samuels Studio Photography took up occupancy in 1993 and vacated the premises in 2008, when Avvampato bought the property.

Last year, Avvampato decided to uproot the building one more time due to concerns that a section of it might be susceptible to flooding. It has hung in limbo ever since as Avvampatos plans for the development of the property changed.

It wasnt planned for it to be there that long, Avvampato said. It was only going to be a few months, but the plans with the other property never went through.

Placing it at the corner of West Main and National Streets will alleviate flooding concerns, Avvampato said, and will free up space to build storage and office space in the rear sections of the property where the building has been resting all this time.

Avvampato said he expects to have the building off its wheeled cradle and firmly resting in its new spot by mid-February.

Editor's note: This story was change to reflect where in Rapid City the construction is happening.
PIERRE | South Dakotas laws regarding bank taxes would move into the 21st century under two measures that advanced Wednesday in the Legislature.

A state Senate committee made substantial changes to one of the bills and unanimously endorsed both of them.

SB 52 would carve an exemption to the three-year statute of limitations on tax refunds and tax underpayments so that South Dakota fits within the federal audit framework for banks.

Mike Houdyshell, a state Department of Revenue official, said the change would protect the taxpayer and state government. It would allow banks to notify the state department of changes in their reported net income when federal audits are completed.

I think the Revenue Department has done an excellent job with all parties that are concerned, Sen. Jim Peterson, D-Revillo, said.

The committee voted 7-0 to endorse SB 52. It goes to the Senate floor on the consent calendar, meaning it will automatically pass unless a senator asks for it be put on the normal debate calendar.

Houdyshell described the other measure, SB 53, a cleanup and modernization of bank franchise tax laws. He said the last round of changes came two years ago but the chapter of law hasnt been extensively revised since 1977.

South Dakota levies a 6 percent tax on banks net income up to $400 million. There are rates less than 6 percent for net income above $400 million.

The department wanted to remove those smaller rates. Houdyshell said it is virtually unlikely a taxpayer ever will reach $400 million of net income apportioned to South Dakota.

SB 53 also called for mandatory electronic filing of tax reports and payments by banks. Houdyshell said electronic filing started in January 2014. Thirty percent of the returns and 47 percent of the payments were made electronically in 2015, he said.

The goal is 100 percent.

No other witness testified on either side.

Sen. Brock Greenfield, R-Clark, said the lower rates for net income above $400 million could serve as an incentive for Citibank to bring other operations to South Dakota.

I could see that argument, Houdyshell said. But it might not make much difference because net income is apportioned for each states customers and getting above $400 million isnt likely, he said.

Greenfield said mandatory electronic filing has been a sticking point for him for years. He wondered if the department could move taxpayers increasingly to electronic filing without the hammer.

Houdyshell said the department doesnt post paper forms on its website any longer for bank franchise taxes. I think this industry probably will get there anyway 100 percent in the future, he said.

The department expects a lag time on electronic filiing, and there isnt a penalty if they dont file electronically, Houdyshell said.

This is just kind of moving forward in modern times, Houdyshell said.

Greenfield, who has battled with the department for two decades over legislation, asked the committee to consider removing the repeal of the tax breaks for net income above $400 million and to remove the electronic-filing mandate.

I guess my point is simply this: If it doesnt matter, it doesnt matter, Greenfield said about the tax breaks.

Sen. Jason Frerichs, D-Wilmot, said Citibank covers continents and the 6 percent flat rate gives certainty. The Legislature can make changes again later if there is an opportunity, Frerichs said.

Greenfield said he would respect the vote of the committee but didnt see any reason to remove the lower rates from state law.

Other than ideology, were talking about something that doesnt really apply in South Dakota, Peterson said.

Evidently it hadnt been reached in the past, Peterson continued. I dont think it really matters which way we go on it, he said.

Greenfields amendment to keep the lower rates for net income above $400 million passed 4-3 as the chairman, Sen. Jeff Monroe, R-Pierre, cast the decisive aye.

Greenfield next offered an amendment to remove the electronic-filing requirement. I like Sen. Greenfields amendment here. Im an old paper guy, Peterson said. He added that he doesnt want to submit to Big Brother.

Sen. Scott Fiegen, R-Dell Rapids, said he favored electronic payments. Fiegen said the Federal Reserve requires electronic filings from banks.

Greenfield in turn described it as an extra burden on business.

The committee approved Greenfields second amendment 4-3, with Peterson voting for it and Monroe voting against it.

The amended version of SB 53 won the committees endorsement 7-0.

Well see how it comes out on the floor and what happens on the House side, Greenfield said.

Frerichs called it a significant piece of legislation that needed to be taken seriously.

The earliest the amended version of SB 53 could be up for debate by the full Senate would be Friday afternoon.
A Senate committees unanimous and bipartisan support for a bill that gives counties a share of alcohol-tax revenue collected by the state is an encouraging sign, especially when you consider Gov. Dennis Daugaard is on record as opposing the bill.

As it stands now, the state collects nearly $15 million a year in excise taxes on beer, wine and liquor and keeps 75 percent of the total. The remaining money, approximately $3.8 million, is distributed to municipalities in the state. Counties, meanwhile, do not receive a dime.

The problem with the formula is that the states 66 counties are the one's primarily burdened with the substantial costs incurred as a result of alcohol abuse.

It is the counties that prosecute those charged with alcohol offenses or for crimes committed while someone is under the influence even if they are not county residents. Counties also pay for their incarceration costs while they await trial and in some cases when they serve their sentences. Counties also are required to provide public defenders to those who cant afford a lawyer. Finally, counties provide alcohol and drug programs for those ordered by the courts to participate in them.

Pennington County Sheriff Kevin Thom said that 80 to 90 percent of the estimated 500 people in our county jail have alcohol- or substance-abuse related issues.

Senate Bill 2 approved Wednesday by the Senate Local Government Committee gives the state 50 percent of the alcohol-tax revenue, the municipalities 25 percent and the counties 25 percent. The amount of money each county receives is based upon its population, which bodes well for Pennington County.

At the hearing, 17 people testified for the bill and one against it. The lone opponent was Jim Terwilliger of the state Bureau of Finance and Management. His objection centered around the challenges it would pose for state government "to make up that shortfall."

Those who support the measure include the South Dakota Sheriff's Association, the South Dakota Association of County Commissioners, the South Dakota Farm Bureau and the South Dakota Farmers Union.

If the bill gets final approval in its current form, the state will receive about $3.8 million less than it now does in alcohol excise taxes, which represents just a fraction of the governor's proposed $1.4 billion budget.

While the bill might pose a minor burden for state government, it would be a boost to county governments prosecuting and incarcerating individuals who violate state laws that have sentencing guidelines approved by the Legislature that include doing time in county jails, which at the very least resembles an unfunded mandate.

Counties shouldn't have to fight state government for a fair share of alcohol-tax revenue and Wednesday's 7-0 vote is certainly a positive sign that lawmakers recognize the problem. But the bill's proponents need to continue their work and enlist as much support as possible in the Legislature since it appears Gov. Daugaard is willing to veto the measure to meet his budget needs.
In this hour of trial for the continent of Africa, all Africans should sink their minor differences and unite their efforts to rescue their Zimbabwe brethren- H.I.M. Emperor Haile Selassie I, 7 July 1966
Sexed semen is a technology whose time may have arrived for the beef industry.The U.S. beef industry is slowly increasing the use of sexed semen. Countries, such as Brazil, already use sexed semen extensively, said John Hall, superintendent of the Nancy M. Cummings Center at the University of Idaho, and a beef Extension specialist.Seedstock producers in the U.S. are increasingly interested in sexed semen to produce more replacement heifers.Another reason seedstock producers are interested in sexed semen is to generate more bull calves from a high-EPD herd sire to produce bulls for the commercial sector, Hall said.While sexed semen has been around the dairy industry for more than a decade, the technology has been more of a novelty for seedstock and commercial cattlemen up until recently, as increased technology and management improvements come into play.The technology is improving with sexed semen, but there are still challenges for the beef industry and some limitations producers need to be aware of, Hall said.The dairy industry has used sexed semen for several years partly because the industry uses artificial insemination (AI) almost exclusively, he said.The dairy industry wanted valuable dairy cows over steers, and as a result, businesses starting offering sexed semen commercially for dairy producers about 10 years ago.At the same time, the dairy industry developed good, solid relationships with the sexed semen suppliers and businesses.Sexed semen is a business like any other business, but the beef industry is becoming more interested in utilizing that technology, Hall said.At the same time, sexed semen from more beef bulls is also becoming more commercially available.Additionally, a seedstock producer could use his own bull if he can work that out with a company that sorts sexed semen, called custom sorting, Hall said. That way, the producer is assured of obtaining the high-quality bull genetics he is looking for while still being able to sort for the heifer replacements he needs in his herd.The University of Idaho has been researching sexed beef semen, and finding some insights into the uses, limitations, opportunities and challenges of the technology.One challenge for beef producers has been with pregnancy rates, Hall said.On average, pregnancy rates with sexed semen are about 40 percent, or 20-25 percent lower than females bred by conventional AI semen.Researchers found that pregnancy rate could be increased through proper handling of sexed semen units, according to Hall.Whenever a straw is mishandled and starts to unthaw, recrystallization occurs and that affects the fertility of the sperm cells, he said. All along the way, there is a possibility the straw could be mishandled.Understanding proper techniques and handling is important for everyone to know.Education is important so everyone knows how to handle semen units correctly, Hall said.It is also important to use an AI expert in his field, so that a beef seedstock or commercial producer has the best chance of success, he added.If we can increase the conception rate to sexed semen up to 50-55 percent in enough animals, that would be of great economic benefit to the beef industry, he said.If that was followed through by cleanup bulls and the percentage of desired sex increased to 70-75 percent, that would be close to the economic threshold, he added.UI research showed that commercial producers could also take advantage of the improvements in sexed semen technology.It has to make sense economically for the producer, Hall explained. But commercial producers could also take advantage of certain markets by producing more steers for a uniform trailer load and to meet specific customer needs.Hall had UI research data involving three loads of similar-quality cattle  two all-steer loads and a mixed load. The heifers were discounted in the mixed load, and the all-steer loads made significantly more than the mixed load.The all-steer loads earned $5,180 and $6,746 more than the mixed load.The additional profits were on top of the cost of AI-ing, and the additional cost of sexed semen, Hall said.If a cattle producer is considering sexed semen, whether it be a seedstock or commercial cattleman, Hall has the following suggestions:1) Those producers who have been AI-ing successfully for a few years will have the best chance of success with sexed semen. Experience has its place in sexed semen technology, Hall said.2)Utilizing experienced AI technicians is important.3) Producers may want to try sexed semen out on a limited basis at first, say using 50 cows, before using it on their whole herd.4) Handling and thawing of frozen semen is extremely important because the technology is not cheap. On the average, bull sexed semen runs around $25-$35 a unit, but some genetics place it as high as $50-$75 a straw, Hall said.For most of us who use AI once a year, we need a refresher programs before we start to use the proper techniques, he said.While some research showed sexed semen should be used only on virgin heifers, UI research disputed that, Hall said.We found results using virgin heifers was not necessarily more successful and, in fact, mature cows did very well, he said.In conclusion, Hall said there are some major seedstock operations utilizing sexed semen for bulls or replacement heifers and the technology will continue to improve as the beef industry utilizes it.
BIG TIMBER (AP)  An Indiana truck driver has been given a six-year deferred sentence for leaving the scene of a Montana accident in which an Alaska man was killed.

The Livingston Enterprise reports 46-year-old David Burt Welk of Marion, Indiana, was sentenced on Jan. 6 by District Judge Katherine Bidegaray in Big Timber. He was given credit for the 348 days he spent in jail. Prosecutors unsuccessfully sought a two-year jail sentence.

Welk was charged after the Sept. 30, 2013, death of 81-year-old Elgie Bedford of Wasilla, Alaska. Investigators say Bedford had left his vehicle and was walking in the westbound lane of Interstate 90 when he was struck by several vehicles that morning.

Welk was arrested after his co-driver reported they'd hit something in south-central Montana. No one has been charged in Bedford's death.
HELENA  Technology entrepreneur and Republican gubernatorial hopeful Greg Gianforte reported income of $220.5 million and federal and state tax payments of nearly $35 million between 2005 and 2014, according to his tax returns.

The Bozeman businessman is exploring a run for governor in 2016, four years after selling RightNow Technologies, the software company he founded in 1997, to Oracle for $1.8 billion. He released 10 years of federal and state income tax returns in response to a request from the Associated Press.

Gianforte told the AP that he released his tax returns because he believes in transparency and because one of Montana's biggest problems is low-paying jobs that force young people to seek work outside the state.

"What Montana needs is more transparency, and if nothing else, this shows that people can prosper from Montana," he said.

However, the state Democratic Party says Gianforte's wealth could very well become a factor in a gubernatorial bid.

"It's going to be difficult for him to relate to Montanans when he's flying around in a private jet," Montana Democratic Party spokesman Jason Pitt said.

The tax returns show that Gianforte's total income  wages, dividends, capital gains and interest  ranged from $1.5 million in 2008 to $110 million in 2012, the year he sold his company to Oracle.

RightNow went public in 2004. The next two years, Gianforte reported income of $13 million and $29 million.

Gianforte paid $26.3 million in federal taxes and $8.6 million in state taxes over the 10 years.

Gianforte also reported donating more than $56 million in cash and in-kind contributions to charities and the Gianforte Family Foundation over the last decade. Spokesman Aaron Flint said the actual amount donated over that period was $113.9 million, but Gianforte only reported the amount allowable for tax deductions.

Through his family's foundation, Gianforte has donated millions of dollars to religious organizations in the U.S. and in Africa, conservative organizations such as the Montana Family Foundation, scholarships for low-income students, community groups, universities and the arts.

Gianforte is expected to be a top challenger to unseat Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock once he makes his run official. As a result, the state Democratic Party has taken to calling Gianforte a "New Jersey billionaire," highlighting his wealth to voters in a relatively poor state.

Gianforte was raised in Wayne, Pennsylvania, and attended school in New Jersey.

Pitt pointed to a comment Gianforte made in a story published this month by the Daily Inter Lake that said he would have signed a bill vetoed by Bullock to lower individual and business income taxes.

"You have a billionaire advocating for tax cuts for himself and others in the upper class," Pitt said.

Gianforte, who moved to Bozeman in 1995, told the AP that the question for Montana voters is whether they want someone like him to create more jobs so their kids don't have to leave the state.

"I think prosperity is a virtuous thing and we need more of it in Montana," he said.
The Darby School District is working on a contract to have Internet fiber installed from Hamilton to Darby that would vastly improve Internet service to the school and, potentially, the community.

Superintendent Loyd Rennaker said the school would see a huge benefit.

Next year well have the infrastructure for one gig of bandwidth  it will give us 20 times the service, Rennaker said. We did an assessment with our student population and found we should be running with 100 megabytes. We currently have 50 megabytes, which is way better than what we used to have. Our number projections show that by 2018 well need to have 300 megabytes for a district our size so by doing this now well exceed that and have plenty.

Rennaker said the students would be able to do quicker research and have more access to information and educational materials.

Were committed to the idea that fiber has more bandwidth than just what we can use and other businesses in town may be able to benefit, Rennaker said. Cyber Net 1 or a company out of Helena might want to set up a point of presence and sell bandwidth. We couldnt do it.

Rennaker said they have selected the Zayo Group to install the fiber optic line that should be ready by July 1  in time for the next school year. Zayo Group provides communications infrastructure services, including fiber and bandwidth connectivity, in the United States and Europe.

We are getting a great rate and a rebate and are going to be reimbursed so there are a lot of things in our favor, Rennaker said. We get better Internet for the school and we have the potential to get better Internet for the town.
Trapper Creek Job Corps had something big to show Regional Forester Leanne Marten when she stopped by for a visit Wednesday.

The centers director, Chris Feutrier, happily guided Marten and her entourage of district rangers and other officials into his office where a large new sign awaited them atop a table.

The high-density polymer sign had just recently been made in the centers new sign shop by Trapper Creek students.

Feutrier proudly told the gathered group that a sign of similar size would have normally cost the government $1,200 to create.

We can do it for $275, he said. We are able to create signs for about 30 percent of the cost.

The Washington office sent the job corps site a huge table and router and told its instructors to show their students how to make signs from a material that fares well with weather and bullets.

Its self healing, Feutrier said.

It takes the students about 30 minutes to complete the set-up to create a new sign and about 45 minutes to do the rest of the work.

Along the way, they have the opportunity to learn a new skill.

Were going to build that into the curriculum, Feutrier said.

To get started, Feutrier said the center is required to buy 63 sheets of the polymer material at a cost of about $36,000. By the time its students finish making signs from that purchase, the Forest Service will have saved an estimated $120,000.

Marten said she was certain that the agency could keep the centers sign shop busy, especially considering the savings.

The Trapper Creek Jobs Corps site was the first of three stops on Martens first visit to the Bitterroot National Forest since taking over the Region 1 Forester post in July 2015. She also stopped in Darby to look at the Fuels for Schools project and then journeyed out to Lake Como to visit a timber sale.

Feutrier gladly offered to tour the Trapper Creek Job Corps site, where Marten met Jesse Casterson, the centers education principal in the middle of a construction zone.

The centers students have been busy remodeling the 50-year-old education building as they chatted.

We are always working to install pride in this place, Feutrier said. We tell ourselves that if its not good enough to send our kids here, then its not good enough.

Casterson told Marten the center works with young people ages 16 to 25. They come here from a variety of circumstances.

What happens here is we tell them, some for the first time, that theyre not dumb, Casterson said. Once we give them consistency and structure, then we just watch them take offWe see almost every one of our students exceed their own expectations here.

The students work to obtain a high school diploma, which comes only after they complete their trade.

We know high school isnt enough, Casterson said. We put a lot of effort into training. Its all about employment here.

They come from all walks of life, he said. Its a very diverse place to work and learn. Its also a job thats very rewarding.
Revenue declines, the pandemic, and rising competition create new realities in higher education.
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Author's Note

A literary vent, a one-sided, free-wheeling discussion, everything posted on this blog is true. Don't mistake that to mean everything here is fact. Frequently, I paint with a broad brush, coloring things to a degree of my own choosingfor the sake of art.



My characters remind me of what Dr. J. Kennedy Schultz once said--and they insist I post it here:



When I say something about you, it may or may not be true about you, however, I always reveal something of myself.



Judging from some of the comments people have made to me, I wish to remind them this works in BOTH directions.



Thank you.




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Justin Garcia, 22, was diagnosed with arteriovenous when he was 17 months old. His life expectancy was three years old, but he has lived longer than expected. Garcia still needs to undergo additional surgery in February at New York. A benefit is planned for Jan. 23 to help fund the trip.
 Supreme Court, reversing Kansas Supreme Court, finds no Eighth Amendment problems with Kansas capital procedures | Main | "Free computers for inmates? Its latest deal at Sacramento County jail" 

I had seen news late last week that the Justice Departments relatively new pardon attorney had announced she was resigning her post, and this new Washington Post article about the departure provides some of the backstory. The piece is headlined "Attorney overseeing clemency initiative leaving in frustration," and here are excerpts:

The Justice Departments pardon attorney  charged with overseeing the review of clemency petitions from federal inmates  is stepping down at the end of January because she is frustrated by a lack of resources for one of the presidents centerpiece criminal-justice initiatives, according to people close to her.

The departure of Deborah Leff, who has been in her role since 2014, comes as the Obama administration struggles to process a backlog of more than 9,000 pending clemency petitions. As the president approaches the end of his second term, time is running out for his high-profile effort to offer clemency to certain nonviolent federal drug offenders harshly sentenced in the nations war on drugs.

The Justice Department said it is confident that Leffs departure will not delay the administrations clemency initiative, and it hopes to find a replacement quickly. Justice spokeswoman Emily Pierce also said the department is asking Congress to more than double the number of lawyers assigned to the pardon office, from 22 to 46.

Leff could not be reached for comment but released a statement saying that she has known President Obama for more than 20 years and that she thinks his commitment to reinvigorating the clemency process  and the promise that holds for justice  can change the lives of a great many deserving people. But Leff added: It is essential that this groundbreaking effort move ahead expeditiously and expand.

A former trial lawyer, senior television producer and president of the Public Welfare Foundation, Leff was highly respected by sentencing reform advocates. She never got the staffing she needed, said one friend. She was very frustrated. Other people close to Leff said that she was passionate about making the clemency initiative work but had been unhappy for quite some time about not having enough resources.

Obama has commuted the sentences of 184 federal inmates. White House Counsel Neil Eggleston said in December that Obama has commuted the sentences of more individuals than the past five presidents combined and that the president will grant more commutations and pardons this year. But advocates of sentencing reform are disappointed that the clemency process has not moved more quickly and that more of the thousands who have submitted clemency petitions have not had their sentences commuted....

A senior Justice Department official said that the clemency initiative is of the highest priority for the department and that those involved have been working tirelessly to move petitions along as quickly as they can with a limited budget and legal restrictions....

To lose the head of the office thats running the clemency initiative is concerning, said Kevin Ring, vice president of Families Against Mandatory Minimums. We hope she is replaced by someone who is as dedicated, smart, passionate and committed as she was to getting these petitions through.

Pierce said the department has been constrained by law in terms of how many resources and how much of its budget it can devote to the clemency initiative. Pierce said the department has provided additional funds to the pardon office within the confines of our budget and has detailed dozens of additional full- and part-time attorneys over the course of the clemency initiative. Despite the constraints, a Justice official said that lawyers are reading each of the thousands of clemency petitions that have been submitted and have prioritized the ones that best meet the new criteria set out by the administration....

Justice officials said that they expect to name a replacement before Leff leaves Jan. 31. A new pardon attorney will be named in the near future and we expect the work of the pardon attorneys office to continue apace as we identify and vet potential candidates for the presidents clemency priorities, Pierce said. The Justice Department is dedicated to the goals of the clemency initiative and is steadfastly committed to doing all it can to ensure fairness in the criminal-justice system.
 Disconcerting backstory apparently explains quick departure of DOJ's Pardon Attorney | Main | "Pulling Leviathan's Teeth  The Political Economy of Death Penalty Abolition" 

The title of this post is the headline of this encouraging Sacramento Bee article which reinforces my long-standing belief that lots of modern technology could and should be put to good use in our not-so-modern jails and prisons. Here are excerpts from the piece:

On the surface, the notion seems preposterous: Hand out Samsung computer tablets to dozens of Sacramento County Main Jail inmates. But 40 of the tablets have been in use at the Main Jail downtown for two months, and officials say they have had virtually no problems. Inmates have used them to take classes toward high school diplomas, for parenting and domestic violence courses and, once they have earned enough points from studying, to watch preapproved movies or listen to music.

The project, which officials hope soon will offer 500 tablets to inmates, is similar to others that have been launched in jails nationwide and is not costing taxpayers a dime, sheriffs Sgt. Brian Amos said. Instead, the tablets, which cost about $200 each, are paid for through an inmate fund that collects revenues from commissary and other purchases. An inmate can work on their GED, they can take anger management classes, Amos said as he stood on the fifth floor of the jail Thursday as inmates drifted toward a table holding dozens of tablets and earphones. Theres even parenting classes. We had an inmate here during this pilot who was learning how to fix carburetors on a car or fix brakes. Theres thousands of hours of content.

The computers cannot be used for email or be hooked up to wireless Internet, Amos said. Instead, they can only connect with a secure network operated by a Chicago-based company called Edovo that offers the service. If someone somehow managed to hack into the system, theyd end up at Edovo, Amos said.

Although Amos acknowledges the notion originally worried some deputies at the jail, which houses about 2,000 inmates, the pilot program has proved to have a calming effect on inmates who have been given access to the devices. On two visits last week to the day room where the devices are being used, there was something present that is entirely out of the ordinary for the cacophonous jailhouse: silence.

Jason Rogers, 43, who has been in the jail for eight months on drug charges, sat with one of the tablets studying a chapter book and taking notes on a pad. I think its great, Rogers said, adding that he has used the device to study current events, such as the ongoing war in Syria, or to watch movies. Without access to a tablet, Rogers said, hed most likely be writing letters or watching television in the day room.

Steve Wilson, 52, who is awaiting the results of an appeal on a federal white-collar crime case, said he uses the devices to listen to TED talks and watch documentaries. In a previous stint at the jail while awaiting trial, Wilson said disputes among bored inmates were common. At least twice a week, when those doors popped open, there was a fight, Wilson said. Now that Im back I havent seen a fight yet. People are taking their issues and instead of taking it out on each other, they have a mechanism of escape where they can bury themselves into that. And theres going to be more, theres going to be games, theres going to be magazines.

The tablets, which officials say can also be used to eliminate paperwork by allowing inmates to request medical care or to read up on jail policies and procedures, are designed so they cannot be altered to allow communication with the outside. Youd have to be a genius to figure out how to do that, Rogers said. The seven-inch tablets cannot be taken into cells, and must be locked in a charging cart at night.

Deputy Brent Snyder, who was watching over inmates on Wednesday, said he was skeptical when he heard inmates would be given access to the small computers, noting that he wanted assurances they could not access the Internet or communicate outside the jail. Since then, Snyder said, he has been won over by the program and the effect it has had on inmates. They are calmer, quieter and eager to use them to study and to listen to music ... and officials say they do not expect any serious violations because the inmates do not want to lose their access to the devices.

Edovo and its tablet programs are the brainchild of Sacramento native Brian Hill, a 2002 Del Campo High School graduate who says his company has about 1,000 tablets in fewer than 10 facilities nationwide, but expects to more than double that in the coming year. As prisons and jails try to focus more on reform than simply punishment, the need for programs that can be made available to inmates is greater than ever, Hill said, and the use of tablets can help. Youve got 2 million people behind bars in the nation watching daytime television, Hill said. Thats not a recipe for success. With this, theres a window, theres a chance for success....

The tablets are encased in hard plastic that protects them and prevents them from being opened by inmates. And, Hill said, if someone smuggled a cellphone or other device into the jail and hacked into the secure system, they would only gain access to the coursework Edovo offers. Itd be the most depressing hack ever, he said. Hill acknowledged that there is hesitation from some  especially guards  when they first hear about the program. It generally takes about five minutes, Hill said. The minute you see it live and 100 inmates put on headphones and they are quiet for six hours, it really changes peoples perspectives.

Such programs have been put into use from San Francisco to Pennsylvania using iPads and other tablets and are generating a surprisingly positive response from some. Its a good thing, said Christine Ward, executive director of the Crime Victims Assistance Network Foundation in Sacramento. I know you dont often hear that from me. But, Ward said, as long as inmates are being held accountable for their crimes, it is important for institutions to offer prisoners the ability to improve and educate themselves.
This well-established Blog is worth visiting on a regular basis for a wealth of information of interest to Armenian nationals and to the Armenian Diaspora world-wide. Although it has a particular role in promoting international recognition of the Genocide, the Blog encompasses much more and includes many articles of general appeal to all those concerned with Armenian affairs. Much of the content is difficult or impossible to find elsewhere and the long list of links provided gives easy access to a plethora of material on social, political, religious, educational and cultural matters, and many news items from around the world.




The San Francisco Examiner reports today on a study from the American Hotel & Lodging Association that claims SF-based Airbnb is making "nearly a third" of its revenue ($194 million) from short-term rentals offered up 360 days per year. Of course, any report generated by an organization mainly composed of competitors would have to be read with a critical eye. However, this one (reportedly conducted by Penn State University's School of Hospitality Management researchers) looked at hosts in 12 American cities to make the conclusionsincluding San Francisco, where full-time, short-term rentals are illegal.





The study's stance is clear from the title: "From Air Mattresses to Unregulated Business: An Analysis of the Other Side of Airbnb." The Examiner article says that it looked at rentals between September 2014 and September 15, to determine how much revenue these sorts of "permanent" short-term rentals generated. They found that "out of 10,651 hosts in San Francisco during that period, there were 308 hosts who offered short-term rentals year-round, making it one of the two West Coast cities with the largest number of full-time operators, along with Los Angeles."

How much money are we talking about from SF? According to the report published in the Examiner, the illegal rentals bring in "more than $43 million" for Airbnb.

Unsurprisingly, the American Hotel & Lodging Association is calling for tighter regulation and Airbnb is crying foul. Airbnb spokesperson Nick Papas emailed the Examiner, saying: "This report uses misleading data to make false claims." In what has become a familiar refrain, he also said: "The overwhelming majority of Airbnb hosts are middle class people who occasionally share only the home in which they live."

As we have reported earlier, a law enacted a year ago requires: 1) vacation rental hosts to register with the city, 2) hosts to be full-time residents, and 3) whole-house rentals be limited to just 90 days per year. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, only 875 hosts out of an estimated 6,000 in the city have completed registration. The report says 1,300 owners have applied for the permit, 170 were rejected, and there are 251 pending applications. In other words, most hosts haven't registered.

 Millions of dollars in Airbnb revenue comes from full-time short-term rentals, study shows [San Francisco Examiner]

 From Air Mattresses to Unregulated Business: An Analysis of the Other

Side of Airbnb [American Hotel & Lodging Association]

 SF to Vacation Rental Companies: "Help Us Catch Violators" [Curbed SF]


The drought-related news has been mostly good now that rain has finally come. And while we caution anyone from assuming the drought will actually end, and knowing that this El Nino will likely not solve all of our water problems in a single season, it's about time we had some good news when it comes to Northern California reservoirs and such. Lake Oroville, which was used as part of this drone footage of depleted reservoirs last summer and this dramatic photo collection from 2014, has gained 17 feet of water in just the last 10 days, bringing its level to about 690 feet. That is still 210 feet below its capacity, but it's a far cry from a 30-year low on December 9th (648 feet), since which time the reservoir has gained 264,000 acre-feet of water, according to Kevin Wright with the Department of Water Resources, speaking to KRCR-TV.

As the Sacramento Bee cautions, this still only brings Lake Oroville to 52 percent of its normal level for this time of year  though rain in the coming weeks could add thirty more feet.

Lake Shasta meanwhile is at 58 percent of normal, and Folsom Lake is at 63 percent, with 310,000 total acre-feet of water as of Monday, which is more than double where it was in late 2015. So, we still have a long way to go.

Per the Bee:





State officials say at least one of three things would need to happen for the drought to be at an end: Statewide reservoir storage would need to be at 90 percent of average levels; runoff forecasts for the states water year, which runs from October to September, would need to be 110 percent of average; or reservoirs on the four major rivers in the Sacramento River basin would have to reach flood control stage.

Here's hoping for another couple of wet months so that these numbers can stop feeling so notable.

Lake Oroville up more than 20 ft. in the last week! It is at 34% of capacity! #WeStillNeedMoreSnowandRain #CADrought pic.twitter.com/bugTb8C193  CA - DWR (@CA_DWR) January 20, 2016

Previously: 6.4 Billion Gallons Of Water Landed In Lake Tahoe Since Yesterday
Children is the future. Love them, protect them, nurture them and educate them. My email is redbeansg@yahoo.com.
SIOUX CITY | Iowans have shattered two glass ceilings in as many years. Feb. 1 presents an opportunity to go for a third in selecting the first woman caucus-winner.

Regardless of whether theyre standing in Hillary Clintons corner as a Democrat or writing Carly Fiorinas name on a slip of paper as a Republican, for the first time both political parties can give a win to a woman presidential candidate in the same year.

This historic moment follows others in Iowas recent past.

The state sent its first woman to Congress, admittedly after most other states had done so, in voting Joni Ernst to the U.S. Senate in 2014. Then, again, last year, House Republicans named the first woman Speaker, Linda Upmeyer, to lead their body when they gaveled into the 2016 session.

All of this means its been an exciting time for Mary Ellen Miller to be executive director of 50-50 in 2020, a group aimed at getting equal representation for women in elected offices by the 100-year anniversary of women getting the right to vote.

The exciting thing about this cycle is  it really brings the issue to the forefront. No matter who wins, its been healthy for efforts to get more women engaged because it has provoked the conversation about why there arent enough, Miller said.

But as both Clinton and Fiorina have met their own individual challenges in the lead-up, it has also provoked a conversation about whether Iowans are actually ready to break that presidential glass ceiling.

With two weeks until the Iowa caucuses, Fiorina flounders in low-single digits in Iowa polls and Clinton has seen her lead shrink to near deadlock in the state.

Despite these challenges, Iowa States Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics Director Dianne Bystrom said theres little to compare between the two.

I do think what youre seeing in this race, I think, is the different challenges between Republican women and Democratic women running for their partys nomination, Bystrom said.

A TOUGHER ENVIRONMENT

Bystrom added, Over 90 percent (of people) say theyd vote for a woman, but when you ask if their neighbor would, or if another member of their family would, those percentages go down on both the Democratic and Republican side, but they go down significantly so on the Republican side, and so I think its a tougher environment for Carly Fiorina among voters in the Republican party.

Miller -- a 50-year Republican -- put it more bluntly, I think clearly the Republicans have an image problem with women. I dont care what you say.

Kim Reem, the immediate past-president of the Iowa Federation of Republican Women, said, however, she sees Fiorinas struggles as less a product of Republicans being hesitant to support a woman and more the result of an overwhelmingly large field of candidates.

I dont know why Carly hasnt caught on. That is a big question. I cant help but wonder if shes just ahead of her time as far as Republicans go, Reem said. As a Republican woman, I think Carly Fiorina is one of the best weapons in our arsenal when it comes to women running in November.

She said most Republicans she talks to across the state hold a very high opinion of Fiorina. She also noted most Republicans have yet to make up their mind as to who theyll support Feb. 1, adding its unfortunate front-runner Donald Trump has sucked so much air time from other Republican candidates.

But Bystrom points to another challenge for Fiorina in digging into the turnout for Republican caucus-goers in the past two cycles. Republican caucus-goers are skewed toward men, but women Republicans in Iowa have been more likely to back the perceived evangelical candidate, particularly giving the edge to 2008 winner Mike Huckabee.

Carly Fiorina is not the evangelical candidate. Shes not trying to be. Shes in the lane with the other traditional candidates that no one has really coalesced around, Bystrom said.

DEMOCRATS' GENDER GAP

Bystrom said, meanwhile, on the Democratic side that Clintons race was always likely to tighten.

But by digging into the turnout for Democratic caucus-goers in the past two cycles, Bystrom sees better news for Clintons prospects on Feb. 1.

On the flip side of this  these (caucus data) numbers are pretty good for Hillary Clinton, because what recent polls have shown is that she has a big gender gap going on. Most of her supporters are women, and they tend to be older women, Bystrom said.

Thats good news for Clinton, because, according to Bystrom, 60 percent of the Democratic caucus-goers in 2008 -- albeit when Clinton finished third -- were 45 and older. At the same time, 57 percent of the Democratic caucus-goers were women.

She said aside from gender, other political factors could help Clinton, like her closest competitor Bernie Sanders facing increased media scrutiny and that fact that shes typically seen polling boosts after debates.

Miller, meanwhile, has noticed some younger women shes talked with have tended to support Sanders over Clinton. But she added the reasons they give have nothing to do with Clintons gender but rather that shes seen as too much in the good old boys game already.

A SILVER LINING

Still, Miller sees a silver lining in the conversation about the women presidential candidates challenges.

Thats what I like about this cycle is without these two women in these high-level campaigns, we would not even be having this conversation, Miller said.

And in her role at 50-50 in 2020, those conversations matter, because the more women see women in the spotlight in politics the more likely they are to get involved and potentially run for office, which helps increase that percentage of elected officials closer to the 50 percent goal.

She said already the high-profile women -- Clinton, Fiorina, Ernst and Upmeyer -- are having an impact, as Miller attributes their presence on the national and state stages to the increased registration for a 50-50 in 2020 event last weekend aimed at women considering running for political office.

One of the common challenges when we try to recruit women to run is that they dont really know women who are running or who are involved politically  so just having two women run at that high of level raises the bar for everyone, in a positive way, Miller said. I think its just very encouraging to all women.
ESTHERVILLE, Iowa | South O'Brien High School, Storm Lake High School and Okoboji High School topped their respective enrollment divisions in the 2016 Iowa Lakes Community College Jazz Contest held in Estherville on Tuesday.

Director Brian Cole's group from South O'Brien topped the field of Class 1A bands, edging second-place Central Lyon and third-place finisher Harris-Lake Park High School.

Storm Lake High School's jazz band, directed by Colleen Hecht, was deemed best among Class 3A entrants. Gilbert High School's jazz band and the band from Le Mars Community High School finished in second place and third place, respectively.

Okoboji High School, directed by Toni Hoffmann, won the Class 2A jazz band contest held on Wednesday. Southeast Valley High School earned second place in the Class 2A field, while Sibley-Ocheyedan claimed third among six bands in the contest,
SOUTH SIOUX CITY | Scot Ford first pinned on a South Sioux City police badge Jan. 22, 1974. And on the exact day 42 years later, he will retire from his position as police chief.

Fords last day on the South Sioux City force is Friday. He said he signed on to the police department after he got out of the Army as a way to make a paycheck or two before a new job opportunity came along.

But I never found anything I liked as much, said Ford, 65, who has served as chief for the last 26 years.

In his time as a South Sioux City police officer and chief, Ford has seen the department grow from nine to 28 officers. He said hes witnessed the community grow and change in physical appearance and demographics.

Through heartwarming highs and some real lows, Ford said he and his officers have continued their dedication to serving the community to the best of their ability.

Its been fascinating to be able to be a part of the things that happen in the community, he said. There are a lot of people that are willing to step up and work on problems.

Ford also served as the Nebraska representative for the State Association of Chiefs of Police for 16 years and served on several gubernatorial committees.

South Sioux City Mayor Rod Koch said Fords commitment to the publics well being shined through especially during the massive Missouri River floods of 2011.

I was so impressed with how he presented himself and acted, Koch said. He just commands respect when hes in a room.

Koch said he doesnt need a lot of words to describe Ford and his conduct in the line of duty. His actions and dedication to the police force and the citizens speak for themselves, he said.

The one word to best describe him is 'professionalism,' Koch said.

Koch said Fords departure is a significant loss for the community, but hes confident Fords service will serve as a model for the remaining police force.

They are going to have a high standard to adhere to, Koch said. Hes leaving the city in good hands and the police department is in good shape.

Ford will be honored for his duty at 3:30 p.m. Friday at the Law Enforcement Center in South Sioux City. The public is invited.

Koch will appoint an interim chief who can legally serve for four months. In the meantime, Civil Service will interview and vet potential replacements. An interim chief has not yet been appointed.

Ford said he doesnt have any solid plans for his retirement, but said the timing just seemed right.

On Jan. 22, 1974, I pinned on a badge and worked for the South Sioux City Police Department, so I thought itd be fitting to take it off and retire on Jan. 22, 2016, he said.
WASHINGTON | Attorneys made their arguments Wednesday before the U.S. Supreme Court in a case that will determine if Pender businesses that sell alcohol are subject to an Omaha Tribe of Nebraska ordinance requiring them to buy a tribal liquor license and pay taxes to the tribe.

At issue is whether Pender lies within the Omaha Indian Reservation boundaries in Thurston County.

Assistant Nebraska Solicitor General James Smith, who represented Pender, said that for more than 100 years, the non-Indian population of the disputed area has been more than 98 percent, and the tribe has never exercised jurisdiction in the area, according to the official court transcript of Wednesday's hearing. Smith said that those factors result in a de facto diminishment of the reservation.

"The story of the disputed area is that of a land that long ago lost its Indian character, if it ever had one," Smith told the justices. " ... the intent of Congress in the context of the times of the 1882 act is that the disputed area would be diminished from the reservation."

The tribe's attorney, Paul Clement, said that only Congress can diminish a reservation, and it never took such action in regards to the Omaha Reservation.

"We think multiple considerations make clear that the act of Congress did not diminish the reservation, but simply opened up a portion of the reservation for settlement within the existing boundaries," Clement told the justices, according to the transcript.

The state of Nebraska appealed lower court rulings that said the sale of 50,000 acres of land on the western portion of the Omaha Reservation, an area in which Pender is located, to white settlers in the 1880s did not change reservation boundaries.

In 2006, the Omaha Tribe passed an alcohol ordinance requiring businesses that sell alcohol on the reservation to buy liquor licenses. The ordinance also placed a 10 percent sales tax on all alcohol purchases.

Owners of seven Pender establishments sued the tribe in U.S. District Court in Omaha, saying they were not subject to the ordinance because Pender is not on the reservation.

In a 2014 decision, a federal judge ruled that an 1882 act of Congress that opened land on the reservation for sale and settlement did not diminish the reservation. The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals later upheld that decision.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked Smith what Pender citizens would lose if the court rules against them.

"We've already circumscribed the powers of the tribes on their own reservations greatly, so what powers do you lose?" Sotomayor asked.

Smith said residents of the disputed territory would lose the expectation of who's governing them.

"... for over 130 years, the tribe has not exercised any sovereign authority at all," Smith said.

The Supreme Court is expected to decide the case by June.
"D Day" is coming on Feb. 1. This is the day when all voters (especially Christians) need to go to the caucus. If you are going to take part in selecting a candidate to represent Iowa in the Republican Party, I am very concerned and you should also be. You say, Why are you concerned? Because I feel the future of our children and grandchildren will be determined by this election in 2016.

The USA way of life as we loyal citizens and Christians have known is slipping away every day and is being replaced by un-Christian morals. Young people, old people and loyal citizens, now is the time to wake up and save the country as a Christian country, as established by our forefathers, for future generations. Now is the time to get involved. Not next year or five years from now.

I have prayed and considered all of the candidates carefully, and I feel only one has the ability and courage to bring the USA back to the glory days when America was the home of the brave and the free. That candidate is Dr. Ben Carson.

We need to give future generations the privilege of growing up in a country we were blessed to live in. Not a country ruled by dictators or radicals or old-time Washington politicians.

Vote for Dr. Carson and let God once again be our leader. - Nicholas Hulst, Orange City, Iowa
WASHINGTON | Medicare is expanding a major experiment that strives to keep seniors healthier by coordinating basic medical care to prevent common problems that often lead to hospitalization, the agency said Jan. 11.

Officials announced 121 new "accountable care organizations," networks of doctors and hospitals that collaborate to better serve patients with chronic medical conditions. A limited number will be able to directly recruit patients.

"We do view this as beneficiaries voting with their feet," said Patrick Conway, Medicare's chief medical officer. Talking things over with their doctor is the best way for beneficiaries to decide on joining one of the accountable care groups. They can also call Medicare at 1-800-633-4227 to find out if there is a so-called ACO in their community.

ACOs work to improve quality and lower costs. Part of their payment from Medicare is based on how well they meet those goals. It can be as simple as making sure patients receive regular follow-up visits and stay on their medications. Eliminating duplicative tests is another route to savings.

Monday's announcement means 8.9 million beneficiaries will now be getting their care through ACOs. That's close to 1 in 4 seniors with traditional Medicare, and an increase of about 1 million beneficiaries receiving care under the new approach. The total number of ACOs will rise to 477 across the country.

Twenty-one new ACOs will be allowed to recruit patients. Conway said these "Next Generation ACOs" are already starting out with 650,000 beneficiaries. They'll also have greater flexibility in organizing how they deliver care.

Kavita Patel, a Brookings Institution health policy expert, said a healthy level of interest among clinicians in the 'next generation' phase of the program seems like a plus for the administration.

Close to half of the 21 are led by doctors, "reinforcing that these models are viable and potentially might succeed overall," she said.

The ACO's come in a variety of designs, according to the level of financial risk the groups themselves take on. Conway said organizations that take more responsibility for the bottom line often do better on quality, because they have a greater incentive to keep patients healthy.

Traditionally Medicare paid the bills as they came in from hospitals and doctors. But under President Barack Obama's health care law, the program is trying to shift to rewarding quality over sheer volume of services. With Medicare's long-term financial future in jeopardy, much is at stake.

The new approach tries to remake the way medical care is delivered to patients, by fostering teamwork among clinicians, emphasizing timely preventive services and paying close attention to patients' transitions between hospital and home. The jury is still out on its lasting impact.
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.
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (Jan. 20, 2016)Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan introduced a $42 billion budget proposal Wednesday. The capital budget includes the full funding of $3 million for the University of Maryland at the Southern Maryland Higher Education Center (SMHEC) for FY17, according to Senator Steve Waugh (R-St. Mary's County).



This follows the initial funding put in place for FY16 by the General Assembly during the 2015 legislative session to begin the planning phase of what is commonly referred to as the 3rd building at SMHEC. The center is located in California, St. Mary's County, next to the municipal airport.



"New Leadership that works closely with Gov. Hogan to set priorities in Annapolis is delivering for Southern Maryland," said Senator Waugh in a prepared statement. "This research center will dramatically enhance cutting edge research and education in the region, plus harden us from the next BRAC round."



Sen. Waugh says the construction of the 3rd building remains a priority for him and the St. Mary's Delegation.
On Thursday, Gov. Larry Hogan celebrates the one-year anniversary of his inauguration. In his inaugural speech, Gov. Hogan said, We seek the freedom to compete without the undue burden of high taxes and bureaucratic regulations, which make us less competitive.



In that sentence, Gov. Hogan outlined the underlying philosophical belief of not only his gubernatorial campaign but his views on governance itself.



Already we have seen Gov. Hogan introduce budgets which control state spending. These budgets have gone a long way in reducing our states structural deficit and creating greater fiscal solvency.



Simultaneously, while funding record levels of spending on K-12 education, Gov. Hogan has also begun the process of tax and fee relief. In this years budget, the governor proposes to again set a record for state spending on K-12 education. This budget will also shore up our states Rainy Day Fund while carrying forward hundreds of millions of dollars in a cash surplus.



While meeting all of the legislatures mandated spending, the Gov. Hogans budget proposal provides for nearly half a billion dollars in tax relief.



Democrats resist even modest tax relief



By the governors account, and by account of the editorial boards of the Baltimore Sun and the Washington Post, Gov. Hogans plans for tax relief are modest. But even these modest plans are being resisted by the Democratic leaders in the General Assembly.



Last week, Senate President Mike Miller held one of his usual daily press gaggles. In addition to demonizing myself and my Red Maryland colleagues, the Senate President made some candid remarks which reveal not only his philosophy of government but that of leading Maryland Democrats.



In contrast to the governors approach, Sen. Miller said We can make tax cuts, certainly, but my basic premise is that [tax cuts can be made] only if the states basic needs are fully funded. He went on to say how he could not support the governors tax relief plans unless there were offsets to make sure the states needs are fully met.



We have plenty of evidence of how this philosophy plays out in the governance of Maryland. During the eight years of the OMalley administration, overall state spending was increased by over 20%. These additional expenditures were funded by $8 billion dollars in tax and fee hikes, costing the average Maryland family $4,600.



Hogan and Dems have conflicting worldviews



It is hard to imagine a greater contrast in worldviews than that of Gov. Hogan and leading Maryland Democrats. It is this basic duality which is driving politics in Annapolis.



For Gov. Hogan, there is a recognition that every dollar government spends is taken from Marylanders who earned it through the sweat of their brow. It is a view that increased government spending comes at the expense of individual liberty and the diminution of productive labor. For Gov. Hogan, it is the preserving the liberty and property of taxpayers that earns his first consideration.



For Maryland Democratic leaders, the priority is making sure the government has what they determine it needs first. If the state has a surplus, perhaps a modest return can be considered. If the state is underfunded, more must be taken from taxpayers. The needs of the state, not those of the families of productive citizens, must come first.



It was this contrast that Gov. Hogan framed so clearly in the 2014 campaign. Marylanders of every political stripe were persuaded to Hogans philosophy. Moreover, recent opinion polls show that Marylanders overwhelming approve of the fruits of Hogans approach and believed the state is going in the right direction.



This is why even a modest tax relief proposal by the governor is so vehemently opposed. It is why Annapolis Democrats want to mandate higher levels of spending. Their worldview, challenged and defeated at the ballot box, faces long-term unpopularity by an electorate that believes that the needs of their own families, and not the state, should come first.



Gov. Hogans continued success is sowing the seeds of the ultimate demise of the political and ideological monopoly of state first minded Democrats. A little over a year ago, this monopoly, according to conventional wisdom, was viewed as invincible.



What a difference a year makes!



Greg Kline is a founder and senior editor of RedMaryland.com as well as the general manager of the Red Maryland Network. Greg is also an attorney practicing in Severna Park. He can be reached at Gregory.Kline (at) gklinelaw.com or 410-541-6384.
Department of Planning and Growth Management Director Peter Aluotto.

Department of Planning and Growth Management Director Peter Aluotto has announced his decision to retire from Charles County Government. Aluotto, who was hired as the departments director in 2011, plans to retire in October 2016. During his tenure with Charles County Government, Aluotto made substantial progress in the areas of process improvement, customer service, and comprehensive planning. He played a key role in efforts to conceptualize and develop the Waldorf Urban Redevelopment Corridor project. His retirement will conclude a distinguished career spanning more than 30 years in comprehensive planning, economic development, and redevelopment sectors.The Board of Commissioners appreciates Mr. Aluottos service to the county, and we wish him well as he transitions to the next phase of his life, said Commissioner President Peter F. Murphy.Aluotto will continue in his role as Planning and Growth Management director during part of the transition period until a new director is hired. Subsequently, he will manage the acquisition and installation of Community Development Software, a program that will expedite the countys planning, permitting, review, and inspection processes.I want to sincerely thank Peter for his service to Charles County residents. He is an invaluable leader, and we have been very fortunate to have someone with his vast expertise, said County Administrator Michael D. Mallinoff. We appreciate his advanced planning, which will allow a seamless transition and continuity of service as we automate the permitting process and move to adopt the Comprehensive Plan.I am grateful to have spent the last five years of my career with Charles County Government. I will leave with a great sense of pride in what my team and I have accomplished together, said Aluotto. It is my wish that the automation of this department will be my legacy for Charles County.Prior to working with Charles County Government, Aluotto held a number of leadership roles in Florida, including director of Planning and Growth Management for Hillsborough County, which has 800,000 residents. He also served as the Escambia County director of Planning and Zoning, Daytona Beach director of Development Services, and executive director of the City of Pinellas Park Community Redevelopment Agency.The Department of Human Resources will conduct a competitive recruitment process to fill the Planning and Growth Management director position. The vacancy announcement will be posted online at www.CharlesCountyMD.gov . Questions about the recruitment process should be directed to Human Resources at 301-645-0585. Citizens with special needs may contact the Maryland Relay Service at 711, or Relay Service TDD: 800-735-2258.The Charles County Commissioners wish to announce the relocation of the Small Local Business Enterprise (SLBE) and Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) programs. Previously administered by the Purchasing Office, the SLBE and MBE programs will now be managed by the Department of Economic Development, located at 10665 Stanhaven Place, Suite 206, White Plains.The Charles County Board of Commissioners created the SLBE program in 2012, and established the MBE program in 2005. In 2012, the Department of Fiscal and Administrative Services implemented the SLBE program processes, policies, procedures, and guidelines to assist county buying agencies and small business vendors. Both the SLBE and MBE programs are designed to help promote the purchasing of county goods and services from qualified small, local, and minority-owned businesses that are operating in Charles County.Charles County Government is committed to economic development and advancing opportunities for county businesses, said County Administrator Michael D. Mallinoff. Consolidating the countys business delivery services into one location will promote the efficiency of our business-friendly focus and goals.Wrapping these programs within the economic development context will create synergies and complement our current outreach programs, ultimately improving service delivery to our businesses, said Darrell Brown, director of the Department of Economic Development.To learn more about the SLBE and MBE programs, contact Lucinia Mundy, Outreach Administrator, at 301-885-1340 or email MundyL@MeetCharlesCounty.com.The Charles County Commissioners would like to inform residents of the upcoming Planning Commission meetings dedicated to development of a new Comprehensive Plan. The meetings are scheduled for Monday, Jan. 25, Feb. 8, and Feb. 22 at 6 p.m. in the Commissioners meeting room at the Charles County Government building (200 Baltimore Street, La Plata). Planning Commission meetings are aired live on CCGTV, which broadcast on Comcast channel 95 and Verizon channel 10.Topics discussed in the Jan. 25 meeting will include Priority Preservation Areas, Mattawoman Watershed Impervious Surface Analysis, and Bryans Road Land Use. The Planning Commission Board will conclude the discussion with a list of areas of interest and how to proceed.Planning Commission meeting agendas are available for public viewing at www.boarddocs.com/md/ccpc/Board.nsf/Public . Background materials are available at www.charlescountyplan.org/document-library For more information, contact the Clerk to the Planning Commission Theresa Pickeral at 301-638-2409 or PickerTh@CharlesCountyMD.gov. Citizens with special needs may contact the Maryland Relay Service at 711, or Relay Service TDD: 800-735-2258.
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (Jan. 20, 2016)Three senators on the Judicial Proceedings CommitteeMichael Hough, Jamie Raskin and Chairman Bobby Zirkinare sponsoring a comprehensive new bill (SB161) to fundamentally reform how and when law enforcement can seize money and other assets from people suspected of crimes.



They are also supporting an override of Gov. Larry Hogans veto of a less comprehensive law on civil asset forfeiture passed last year.



Civil asset forfeiture is a process by which the government is able to seize property and keep the proceeds without ever charging the victim with a crime. Hough, R-Frederick -Carroll, said: I did not understand how the process worked when elected.



After hearing testimony and talking to many victims, he now believes The current situation in Maryland is completely wrong If you have never been convicted of anything, you should not have your property seized.



Raskin, D-Montgomery, echoed these comments and noted that they had found common ground for support of these bills. Hough is a conservative Republican and Raskin is a liberal Democrat.



Raskin stated I believe the state of the law today is blatantly unconstitutional.



Originally to go after drug kingpins



Seizing assets in which the Feds share with the local police the proceeds from asset forfeiture was enacted in the 80s to go after drug kingpins. But over the years the policy has been abused, the committee found.



Police around the country have a strong incentive to look for excuses to confiscate property, since the money often can go directly to their budget.



I used to be part of the problem, said Neil Franklin, a retired Maryland State Police major. The policy is being abused at great lengths.



Police get around forfeiture laws by giving the property to federal agents who are not bound by the same restrictions. The federal agents then give a share of the profits back to the police. This is called equitable sharing. It has been estimated that from 2000-2008 state law enforcement, working with the federal agents, received more than $50 million in forfeiture revenue.



SB528, passed last year but vetoed by the governor, would have greatly tightened the asset forfeiture laws. It established a minimum amount of money ($300) to trigger police seizure, and it could not be forfeited unless directly connected to the unlawful distribution of a controlled dangerous substance.



It also required the state to prove by a preponderance of evidence that the violation was committed with the owners actual knowledge. And it required law enforcement to provide written information to the owner about seized property within 30 days. And most importantly, it prohibits the transfer of seized property to the federal government except under certain conditions.



The vetoed bill basically says the government cannot seize your property without proving that it is associated with a crime. Currently, the burden of proof is on the individualwho might not be charged with anything.



Need a conviction to hold onto money, property



The new legislation, SB161, is a more comprehensive bill to fundamentally reform civilian asset forfeiture.



According to Nick Zaiac of the Maryland Public Policy Institute, the bill adds language to current state law so assets could be seized only if the property is claimed to be owned by the person convicted of illegal drug crimes and if the government proves the propertys connection to the crimes in court.



We should have a conviction before we take someones propertyIt is just that simple, Zaiac says.
One lawsuit or election can roll back many of the gains

Coming off another high achievement year, the LGBT community can relax and take it easy for a while now, right?

The federal Defense of Marriage Act is gone. Same-sex couples can obtain marriage licenses and recognition in all 50 states. LGBT people can serve in the military. LGBT people working for the federal government can file employment discrimination claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Those working for companies that contract with the federal government now have protection under a presidential executive order. Those visiting a same-sex spouse in the hospital are also protected by a presidential executive order. And, perhaps most importantly, the current presidential administration has made clear, through actions and words, that it will stand up for the civil rights of LGBT people.

This is the LGBT Golden Age, right?

That may depend on whether LGBT people seek 24 karat gold equality or something less pure, and the length of that Golden Age, however pure it might be, may be short-lived, depending on how certain lawsuits and presidential campaigns turn out this year.

In terms of the quality of LGBT equality, under federal and state laws, Americans are protected from private job discrimination based on race, sex, religion, and national origin. But there is no federal law prohibiting private job discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. And of the 50 state laws prohibiting discrimination in private employment, only 22 prohibit sexual orientation discrimination and only 19 prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

This is why so many legal activists were quick to note, following the U.S. Supreme Courts decision (Obergefell v. Hughes) striking down state bans on marriage for same-sex couples, that LGBT people can be married on Saturday and fired on Monday.

There is also a looming threat to LGBT equality under Religious Freedom Restoration laws.

Twenty-one states already have such laws, giving persons and businesses a path to circumvent non-discrimination laws by claiming their religious beliefs require discriminating against LGBT people. And, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 12 more states will consider adopting such legislation this year.

Opponents of equal rights for LGBT people have been trying this religious exemption argument for years, but following last Junes marriage decision, those efforts increased. Florists, bakers, wedding vendors, and others have tried to use such laws to avoid doing business with same-sex couples getting married. And theres concern others might use them to deny LGBT people jobs, housing, and service in restaurants and hotels.

The U.S. Supreme Court has yet to take a case to test the constitutionality of such laws in the LGBT context. It refused to hear a wedding photographers appeal in 2014, but more lawsuits are coming through the system and the argument is evolving to include the First Amendment right to freedom of expression. Just last month (December 16), a Massachusetts judge ruled that despite an exemption for religious institutions to the states human rights law-- a Catholic school did not have constitutional protection to violate a state law when it rescinded a job offer to a food services employee because he was a spouse in a same-sex marriage.

The school had argued it had a First Amendment freedom of expression right to deny employment to a man married to a man. But the judge agreed with Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, who sued the school on behalf of the gay employee. GLAD expects the school to appeal. And because the case involves a federal constitutional issue, it could end up in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.

In another case, the Lexington-Fayette Urban Human Rights Commission is suing a commercial printing company for using that same freedom of expression argument to refuse to print tee shirts for a gay pride event.

If that argument were sufficient to allow [the company] Hands On Originalsa for-profit business that markets its services to the public at largeto violate the antidiscrimination laws, a host of other businesses would be able to engage in illegal discrimination as well, argued a December 28 friend-of-the-court brief from Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

Several county clerks most notoriously Kim Davis in Kentuckyhave tried to cite their personal religious beliefs as justification for refusing to enforce the Obergefell rulings requirement that same-sex couples be treated as other couples in obtaining marriage licenses. The ACLU is representing several same-sex couples in a lawsuit against Davis that is now pending before the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. Oral argument on that appeal could come as early as this month.

Jon Davidson, national legal director for Lambda Legal, noted that some states are trying to avoid recognizing marriages of same-sex couples who married before the Supreme Court decision in Obergefell. One of Lambdas lawsuits, filed last month in a federal court, challenges North Carolinas refusal to issue corrected birth certificates for two children born to a lesbian couple who married in Canada in 2003.

The National Center for Lesbian Rights has one of the more important post-Obergefell cases, pending now at the U.S. Supreme Court level. It is challenging a decision by the Alabama Supreme Court to refuse to recognize in Alabama a lesbians adoption of children she raised from birth with the childrens biological mother.

The adoption took place in Georgia in 2007 and, since the womens relationship broke up, the biological mother has sought to block the other mother from visitation. NCLR legal director Shannon Minter says NCLR hopes the Supreme Court will agree to review the case. As the groups brief notes, all families who obtained adoption judgments in [other] states may now have a parent whom Alabama courts may hold to be a legal stranger to her children in Alabama. On December 14, the U.S. Supreme Court granted a stay of the Alabama Supreme Court decision until the full court can decide whether to take the appeal this year.

And some efforts to thwart full equality for LGBT people are using a combination of legal arguments and political tactics.

Plan A was stopping LGBT equality. Plan B is using [religious] exemptions, said ACLU LGBT Project Director James Esseks in a recent telephone conference with reporters. Plan C appears to tie scare tactics in political messaging to misrepresent the impact of non-discrimination laws.

In the upcoming state legislative sessions, said Esseks, many predict a tremendous wave of anti-trans bills prompted in large part by the vote in Houston in November. In that vote, citizens repealed a new law prohibiting discrimination based on a wide variety of characteristics. Their votes seemed largely persuaded by a campaign from opponents who claimed the prohibition of gender identity discrimination would lead to sexual predators attacking young girls and women in public restrooms.

The anti-trans trend is longstanding. When the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed in 1990, it explicitly excluded from protection transsexualism[and] gender identity disorders not resulting from physical impairments. Last month, a case GLAD is involved in challenged that exclusion in a hearing before a federal judge in Pennsylvania, said GLAD Executive Director Janson Wu. The U.S. Department of Justice also submitted a brief that argued that gender dysphoria should not be excluded from ADAs definition of disability, and a decision is expected this year.

There are other political influences on legal rights for LGBT people this year: One is a serious effort to denigrate the authority of the judicial branch to declare which laws are constitutional and which are not. Nearly all of the Republican presidential hopefuls have loudly proclaimed they think the Supreme Court exceeded its authority by declaring state bans on marriage for same-sex couples to be unconstitutional. U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, who is currently leading the large field of candidates in Iowa, called the decision in Obergefell v. Hodges lawless and likened the five justices who supported it to jackboots in Nazi Germany.

Obviously, there will be much at stake legally for LGBT people in who is elected president in November.

Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton issued a FactSheet on December 17, detailing how, as president, she would attempt to fight for full federal equality for LGBT Americans. Among other things, she says she would work with Congress to pass a federal law prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation in employment, housing, schools, access to credit, public education, jury service, and public accommodations. And she says she would also support efforts by the courts to interpret existing federal law prohibitions on sex discrimination to include sexual orientation and gender identity.

Donald Trump, who is leading the Republican field in New Hampshire and in nationally based polling of Republican voters, is one of the best, if not the best, pro-gay Republican candidates to ever run for the presidency, according to the Gregory Angelo, head of the national gay Republican group, Log Cabin Republicans. Trump, he added, opposes an amendment to the federal constitution that would ban marriage for same-sex couples, and he supports amending the Civil Rights Act to include a prohibition against sexual orientation discrimination. But Trump has also said that, while he acknowledges the Supreme Court decision in Obergefell as the law of the land, he does support gay marriage. And he hasnt been pinned down on other issues relating to the LGBT community specifically.

Cruz, the Iowa frontrunner in the Republican presidential field, said in his first 100 days he would fight for the First Amendment Defense Act, which seeks to circumvent laws prohibiting discrimination against same-sex couples by urging that such discrimination is a product of a persons free exercise of religion. It also seeks to prohibit the federal government from taking any adverse action against a person who acts in accordance with a religious belief or moral conviction that marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman.

Cruz is one of two Republicans still in the race (the other is Ben Carson) who signed the National Organization for Marriages pledge, promising to work to overturn the right of same-sex couples to marry and to change all regulatory, administrative and executive actions to be consistent with the proper understanding of marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

The outcome of that presidential race is far from predictable at this point. But one thing does seem clear: Whatever golden moment the LGBT community might be enjoying now, the line ups in the courtroom and political arena this year will almost certainly have a significant impact on how lasting and solid that moment will be.

Keen News Service
Theres no big hotel in Wilton Manors. But for some residents, there might as well be. And they arent too happy.

Thats because of the proliferation of vacation rentals, single-family homes and condos being rented out to tourists for short periods  weekends, a week or whatever length of time they choose. Jeffrey Hill, who owns some vacation rentals and manages 18 of them, estimates there at least 120 in the city.

Residents who live next to some of these vacation rentals say they are a nuisance, including a source of a lot of noise late at night. Father John Joseph Reid and Anne French say five of the homes in their 39-home neighborhood are vacation rentals. Thats scary, said French.

Where am I living? Whats happening to my neighborhood? Reid asked.

Resident Constance Ruppender said her neighborhood used to have one vacation rental. Now, there are three. Im watching my Mayberry morph into something I dont recognize. Im mad about no more quiet, she said at a commission meeting a few months ago. Can you do anything about that? Can you guys save my Mayberry? she asked commissioners.

Now the commission has an answer: were working on it.

Its an issue they have expressed empathy on.

Mayor Gary Resnick urged residents to contact their legislators and said it was a priority for the Broward League of Cities. Some of the [vacation rental] owners are fine but there are others who could care less. Resnick added that every neighborhood has at least one vacation rental, including his.

At their Jan. 12 meeting, commissioners directed City Attorney Kerry Ezrol to draft an ordinance dealing with the issue.

In a response to the city about regulating vacation rentals, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote that municipalities could not restrict vacation rentals from operating in residential areas. She also advised the city that the state, not local governments, is responsible for shutting down illegally operating rentals.

But new developments may alter Bondis opinion.

Last week, the Florida Fifth District Court of Appeal supported an earlier ruling in favor of Flagler Countys vacation rental ordinance. Also, two bills proposed by the legislature, HB 4045 and SB 1598, would Authorize local laws, ordinances, and regulations to prohibit vacation rentals or regulate the duration and frequency of rentals.

Commissioner Tom Green said he wants the citys ordinance to be as onerous as legally possible. This has gone on too long. At a previous meeting, Ezrol advised, The more restrictive [the ordinance], the more likely its open to a lawsuit.

But not all commissioners expressed as much eagerness to crack down on vacation rentals. The Devils always in the details, said Commissioner Justin Flippen, who pointed out some of the benefits vacation homes: renovation of dilapidated homes and the improvement of property values and the economic development that comes with that.

Hill, in an interview with The Gazette, echoed Flippen.

Hill said vacation rentals bring in tourists who patronize the bars, restaurants and other businesses in the city. Theres a couple thousand people who come to the city each year [because of us]. We put millions into these places. These are not trashy places.

Rather than pass new laws, Hill said he thinks the city should work more closely with the responsible owners to help root out the bad. He said hes very stringent with who he rents his properties to, not allowing anyone under 25 or large groups, and has only had one incident  a renter who robbed one of the houses, stealing furniture, electronics and appliances.

He and some other owners have started the Wilton Manors Vacation Rental Homeowners Association to establish standards and police themselves. Dont throw out all the apples because theres only a couple bad ones.
DAGMAR Chocholackova, a 45-year-old woman from Bratislava contacted police several times in 2015, claiming that ex-boyfriend Stefan Kis was threatening her. Police found the pair dead on January 15, and the Interior Ministry has since launched an investigation.

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They did nothing even they knew that he was punished in the past and has a criminal record, Robert Chocholacek, Chocholackovas ex-husband, wrote on his Facebook page.

Slovakia is still unable to protect women who are stalked and threatened because the whole system including police, NGOs and courts has shortcomings and loopholes, according to Sylvia Gancarova who works as a lawyer at Slniecko, a centre that aids battered women.

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It is possible that she is another victim of police procrastination, Gancarova told The Slovak Spectator.

The crime scene

Chocholackova was leaving her block of flats when Kis arrived by taxi, according to police. He shot her in the head, and after Chocholackova fell to the ground she started begging for her life because she has a small son. Kis then shot her in the chest and stomach. After killing Chocholackova, Kis committed suicide. Chocholackova's 27-year-old daughter Tereza witnessed the incident.

The National Crime Agency (NAKA) is prosecuting Kis for assassination together with unlawful possession of firearms, trafficking arms and murder, Police Presidium spokesman Michal Slivka said.

Six criminal complaints

Slivka confirmed that Chocholackova had filed six criminal complaints in the past. Five were against her ex-husband Robert and one was against Kis.

I dont know why they are publishing them now, Tereza told the Plus jeden den daily. She filed those complaints back in 2006.

Chocholacek told the daily that in 2006 the pair went through a divorce and had many arguments, but that he never hurt her. Daughter Tereza agreed.

Legal loopholes

When aggressor is not living with the victim threatened, a woman can file a criminal complaint for dangerous stalking. Then she can ask for a restraining order to prevent the stalker from approaching her. However, without having strong proof police rarely grant them, according to Gancarova.

Even women feel terrible anxiety and fear because they know how insidious the stalker is, it doesnt seem so real during filling of criminal complaint, Gancarova said.

Precitajte si tiez:

Precitajte si tiez: Ex-MP domestic violence case points to legislation loopholes Read more

Such situations could be solved by new legislation giving the victim a possibility to ask for help even when there is not strong proof. The police would have to deal with the case and investigate whether this protection is appropriate, according to Gancarova.

More police officers

Security has become one of the main issues in the election campaign by the ruling Smer party, with billboards saying We are protecting Slovakia placed all around the country. The government increased the number of police officers by 2,500 in December together with new gear and weapons.

The higher number of police officers could be useful because many local police stations suffer from lack of officers and are unable to regularly check on women who need protection. But just the higher number of people in police ranks is not enough, according to Gancarova.

Higher number of unprofessional and uneducated police officers running on the streets does not improve the fight against domestic violence, Gancarova said.

Moreover, Smer still counts Vladimir Janos among its members even after a court accepted charges for physical and mental abuse of his now ex-wife.

The party does not want to say whether it considering his expulsion. After the scandal leaked in March, Janos resigned his chair in parliament and his function of Prievidza district Smer leader. However, he remains a party member.

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NGOs lack funds

After several murders of women drew widespread media attention in recent years, NGOs launched several hot lines. They provide people with basic information and give them contact information for the closest NGO that can help deal with abuse. They, however, are often underfunded and not able to serve an increased number of clients.

The Slniecko centre's safehouse for abused women is the only one in Slovakia which fulfils European standards for such a facility. Despite its leading position in Slovakia it too lacks funds.

Like most NGOs, Slniecko runs on the project system funded by state. Those projects are temporary and sometimes cannot be prolonged. Therefore there are months where employees are working without being sure that they will be paid. The state should create a system of permanent funding for such organisations, according to Slniecko Director Mariana Kovacova.

You cannot tell abused women that you will stop providing her advocacy during trial just because the project is finished, Gancarova said.
FORMER MP and chairman of Slovak National Party (SNS), Jan Slota, caused an accident on January 18 and immediately refused an alcohol test.

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In the village of Porubka (Zilina Region), his Porsche Cayenne rear-ended an Audi A6, which in turn crashed into a Suzuki SX4. The driver of the Audi was treated for injury, and police found that neither him, nor the Suzuki driver were intoxicated. Slota refused to take a breathalyzer test and had to be taken to a hospital for treatment.

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In this case, the judge in charge of the preparatory proceeding determined not to take Slota into custody and he was released from the hospital on January 20. The ruling is not yet effective, as the prosecutor filed a complaint.

The Court saw no legal reasons for taking the defendant into custody, spokesman of the Zilina Regional Court Jozef Michna said, as quoted by the SITA newswire. Thus, it cannot decide in this case otherwise, only due to the personality of the defendant.

The prosecutors complaint will be decided upon on January 26. If convicted, Slota, age 62, could face up to one year in prison.
SLOVAKS living abroad would like politicians to show interest in them not just before elections but also afterwards.

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In the new election term, they would like to get greater financial support, see the founding of the Centre of Slovak Outland in Bratislava, renewal of the Committee for Slovaks Living Abroad with the parliamentary Foreign Committee where expats would be represented, and also the possibility to cast their vote either via internet or at representative offices, the January 20 statement of chairman of the World Association of Slovaks Abroad (SZSZ) Vladimir Skalsky informs.

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In the new term, the association especially wants the volume of grants increased, at least to the level already promised by government in a resolution, which used to be really allocated before the crisis  about 1.3 million, Skalsky specified, as quoted by the TASR newswire. Even this is less than Hungary or Poland allocated to their expats, he added. This definitely does not correspond with the fact that two million Slovaks live abroad who create values for Slovakia. The current amount earmarked for grants is only half, according to Skalsky, and it decreases each year by about 100,000.

Skalsky estimated the total share of Slovaks living abroad in the March 5 general election at 40,000-50,000, of which about 15,000 will participate via post, and the rest will arrive in person to cast their vote. However, there are about 200,000 to 300,000 voters abroad, according to SZSZ. The associations chairman would like to see Slovak expats have a bigger share in domestic political development.
AT LEAST 10 hospitals across the country may struggle with a lack of nurses over the coming months.

Head of nurses trade unions Monika Kavecka (second from right) and head of the Slovak Chamber of Nurses and Midwives Iveta Lazorova (third from right) in front of the Government Office (Source: SME)

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Several hundred nurses and midwives, who handed in their notices by the end of November, will start leaving their posts in hospitals across the country in February. The reason for their protest is mostly the law on salary conditions which the parliament adopted in November 2015, but also due to their working conditions.

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The Health Ministry assures patients that the hospitals will manage the situation even after February, but some associations point to the critical state, especially in facilities where a considerable number of nurses want to leave.

Though Prime Minister Robert Fico respects the right of every person to protest, he is rather critical of the way nurses show their disagreement.

I would not leave the patients, Prime Minister Robert Fico told the press on January 19.

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Read also: Nurses to resign amid battle for more pay Read more

Ministry calms the public

The Health Ministry data suggest 691 nurses still insisted on their resignations on January 19, while 570 withdrew them by that date. The Slovak Chamber of Nurses and Midwives (SKSaPA) offers rather different numbers. It claimed on January 19 that 854 nurses and midwives still insist on their notices.

Both the ministry and SKSaPA data show that the most nurses plan to leave hospitals in Presov (more than 300) and Zilina (more than 180).

Hospitals where nurses handed in notices: - Bojnice - Dolny Kubin - Kosice - Martin - Povazska Bystrica - Presov - Trencin - Trnava - Trstena - Zilina

Patients, however, do not have to be afraid of not being treated in hospitals, Health Minister Viliam Cislak said on January 17 during a political talk show O 5 Minut 12 (Five to Twelve), broadcast by public-service RTVS.

According to him, the hospitals hire new employees with necessary education. In hospitals where the situation will be the most serious, the patients may be moved to other facilities, he admitted, but added that the hospitals are close and the roads are safe.

We will manage everything, Cislak said, as quoted by RTVS.

Monika Kavecka, head of the Trade Unions of Nurses and Midwives, however, doubted some of the claims, saying there are some risks. She informed about cases when small children had to be transported from Presov to Kosice. One child was even sent to Martin because they could not treat him in Kosice, she told RTVS.

The Health Ministry informed later that the transport was standard, and even the Association to Protest the Rights of Patients (AOPP), which reviewed the case, did not confirm any wrongdoing.

Patients health in danger

Iveta Lazorova, head of the SKSaPA, however, says that the situation in hospitals where a high number of nurses handed in their notices is very serious. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) suggests that there is a lack of about 12,000 nurses and midwives in Slovakia, while more than 1,200 nurses will retire this year. The number of nurses who start working in health care each year is only 300.

The AOPP is also concerned about the current state in hospitals. Several facilities have already reported problems with securing health-care treatment, and many of them will have to work in crisis operation after the nurses leave. The association also warned of the consequences of postponing treatment and planned surgeries, as well as transporting patients to other hospitals.

It is important that the current situation has the least possible impact on patients, said AOPP head Katarina Kafkova.

Dusan Zachar, analyst with the Institute for Economic and Social Reforms (INEKO) think tank, says that if a critical number of nurses from important wards insist on their notices, the situation in some towns and their surroundings may be complicated for patients.

Moving the patients, either within the hospital between the wards or between various facilities, represents worse comfort for patients, worse conditions for their treatment, and worse accessibility and quality of provided health care, Zachar told The Slovak Spectator.

Petition against notices

Meanwhile, nearly 180 nurses from Presov hospital, whose notice period ends in January, went on sick leave, which resulted in closing some wards and moving the patients to the other ones. The hospital representatives questioned the high number of sick leaves and initiated inspections which are carried out by state insurer Socialna Poistovna.

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Read also: Nurses in Presov fail to show for work Read more

Also nurses who did not hand in their notices responded to the current state. They launched a petition with which they condemn the form of protest of their colleagues who went on sick leave and ask for keeping the hospital in its current shape. It has already been signed by more than 830 employees of the hospital, the TASR newswire reported.

The petition was initiated by Lubica Staronova, head of the Presov branch of nurses trade union. She claimed that nurses who have resigned are not able to properly voice their requirements, and that they let some leaders who do not work in Presov hospital speak instead. She also said that no concerns about nurses getting lower salaries have been confirmed, as reported by TASR.

The ministry, meanwhile, claimed it wants to take legal steps against nurses representatives since they publish many lies in media. It mostly dislikes the information about a childs transport to the hospital in Martin, the alleged abuse of controls Socialna Poistovna carries out in regard to sick leaves, and also the purported decrease in salaries in Zilina hospital, as reported by TASR.

PM should interfere

The nurses and midwives insist on three main requirements: that the law on salary conditions adopted in November 2015 must apply to all medical workers, the coefficients for calculating the basic salary must increase, and that the basic salary should increase every three years of practice.

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Though they have been present during negotiations with the Health Ministry for the past 3.5 years, the current law does not contain any suggestion SKSaPA representatives have proposed, Lazorova told The Slovak Spectator.

Thus, SKSaPA and the representatives of trade unions submitted a letter to Prime Minister Robert Fico on January 19, calling on him to address the problem. Instead of trying to solve the situation, Cislak offended the top representatives of nurses and midwives and deceived the nurses, she added.

Though they wanted to discuss the situation with Cislak, he has not shown any interest in finding an agreement since December 1, according to Lazorova.

Fico, however, said that they allocated 55 million to secure higher salaries of nurses for this year. He also supported the Health Ministry, saying it is very active in negotiations and does not ignore anyone.

Zachar opines that medical employees, including doctors and nurses, should not have separate laws which determine their salaries. They should receive their income based on the quality of work they are doing, with regard to the economic possibilities of the medical facilities they work for, he added.

The minimal salary conditions in the health sector, as well as automatic salary valorisation based on number of years worked, deform the motivation of partakers and raise obstacles for effective use of funds to cure patients, Zachar said, adding that every fair public discussion about salary hikes should reflect the work done by employees.
RALF Sacht will assume the post of chairman of the managing board at Volkswagen Slovakia from February 1, also serving as board member for technology.

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Sacht will replace Albrecht Reimold, who is to become Porsche's managing board member for production and logistics, according to VW Slovakia spokesman Vladimir Machalik, the TASR newswire reported on January 21.

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Sacht has been heading up VWs Pre-production Centre in Wolfsburg since 2010. His main tasks have included supervision of the introduction of new cars produced by VW and its subsidiary brands at a global level, and process and product optimisation in the early stages of producing new cars.

He launched his career in VW as a staff member at a car assembly plant in Wolfsburg in 1984. He has gone on to hold several management posts at the carmaker since then, including chief of VWs pilot plant in Bratislava.

VW Slovakia, with more than 9,900 employees, is one of the largest employers, exporters and investors in the country. Its plant in Bratislava has produced more than 4 million vehicles since 1991.
MOST-Hid party candidate Jozef Bojcik is withdrawing from the party's slate after allegations were published by the Sme daily on January 22.

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The daily wrote that Bojciks career in health care could be thriving thanks to what was described as personal links to Marcel Forai, former head of the state-owned (and largest) health insurer in Slovakia, Vseobecna Zdravotna Poistovna (VsZP) and Smer-SD party nominee.

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Bojcik is a physical education teacher at a Kosice city grammar school and at the same time a successful entrepreneur in the health-care sector where his partner is one of the influential health-care tycoons close to Smer, Stefan Culba. He is also Forais classmate from specialized study at the Slovak Medical University, Sme wrote.

Forai lost his post at the helm of VsZP last year after it transpired that VsZP had signed contracts with companies involving his aunt.

When Forai held the top VsZP job, the annual turnovers of Bojciks firm Medi Cool almost tripled, according to Sme.

Bojcik dismissed allegations that his close relationship with Forai lies behind his success. Turnover depends also on the number of patients and their need to acquire a medical aid, he told the Sme daily.

Precitajte si tiez:

Precitajte si tiez: Actors in latest health care scandal are connected Read more

Most- Hid stated in the story that it is not concerned that Bojcik has business ties to a tycoon close to Smer.

After the story was published both Most-Hid and Bojcik, who held the 65th spot on the partys ticket, labelled the dailys coverage of the issue tendentious and aimed at harming the party, according to the TASR newswire.

The article depicted me as a person running a business in the health care sector courtesy of links to former VsZP director Marcel Forai, said Bojcik, as quoted by TASR. I reject such accusations and Im making it known that Im unaware of any actions which violate not only the law but also good manners.

He added that the article contained some information which was untrue.

Bojcik, who is a local councillor for Most-Hid in one of Kosices boroughs, believes that the article was prepared in advance with a view to hurting Most-Hids chances in the election.

This has prompted me to withdraw from the list of candidates in order to make sure that my name cannot become an instrument to damage the reputation of Most-Hid, said Bojcik, as quoted by TASR. I also reiterate that I did nothing in contravention of the law or good manners.
Though the sheer cynicism of the government officials attitude to the protesting citizens may anger you or leave you cold, it definitely should not surprise you.

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THERE will be no across-the-board strike, Education Minister Juraj Draxler promised on January 17, a week before protesting teachers had pledged to do just that.

It is only a minority of the teachers that are dissatisfied today, Prime Minister Robert Fico said one day before on the public-service Slovak Radio. Fico limited his comments to a dispute of salaries, which he insists the government has already increased  but the teachers unreasonably still want more, he says.

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We are ready to agree with the official representatives of teachers about the content of the programme statement of the government so that the next government, which Fico clearly believes he will lead, can raise salaries further  but only after the March 5 elections.

Interior Minister Robert Kalinak did not even acknowledge that the teachers were on strike alert, noting only that some kind of initiative had done so, as he told Dennik N and RTVS journalists.

That kind of initiative as of January 21, four days before the purported strike, included some 10,000 teachers in nearly 600 schools around the country (there are about 89,000 teachers according to the ministry.) and the number had been rising steadily over the previous week.

While the Education Ministry sees little reason for the protest and claims that the average salary of a teacher in Slovakia is 997.1 per month, compared to the national average of 858, such statistics mean little to teachers on the ground.

There is the woman in her 50s who has devoted her whole productive life to teaching children and not only does her salary hardly match the national average, but future pension payments look even more grim.

Then there is the father of a young family, in his early 30s, who has been teaching for a decade. With a one-year-old son, a wife on parental leave, and their monthly income at less than 800 he sometimes spends part of that on a book that he will then use to teach his students. After all there is no book and the school itself is unable to provide any alternative resources. What the hell, I wanted to read that one anyway, he thinks.

What about that young math teacher who left teaching for a better salary doing something else, but returned the next year because teaching is his vocation and some office job was just not going to fulfil his ambitions. His former schoolmates tell him he is silly to work for less than half of what they earn in banks and insurance companies.

We only cover ourselves with the blanket that we can afford, says Fico, who is fond of old Slovak proverbs. What he really means to say to teachers is that they can either grin and bear it, accepting they will never make a fair wage to educate the next generation of leaders, or they can go work for some bank to wrap themselves in a thick, warm blanket.

Though the sheer cynicism of the government officials attitude to the protesting citizens may anger you or leave you cold, it definitely should not surprise you. This government has demonstrated its cynicism many times before. Most recently when they have sought to use the refugee crisis as fodder for their election campaign even as they simultaneously approve a document declaring they want to eliminate hate and intolerance in the country.

If voters are unmoved by the Fico governments decision to pretend like the refugee crisis isnt happening, perhaps they can at least note that they are showing the same disdain for the people who are meant to educate their children.
"The report documents at least 280 cases of conflict-related sexual violence, including gang-rape, sexual slavery and forced abortion. There has also been sharp increase in child recruitment, with at least 13,000 to 15,000 child soldiers, recruited mainly, but not solely, by opposition forces," the UN statement about the report said.

The report highlighted that even though humanitarian law was broken, there were no accountability mechanisms in place.

In August, Kiir signed a peace agreement with the opposition after the United Nations threatened to act if he failed to sign the deal. The South Sudan National Legislative Assembly and the Liberation Council of the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement in Opposition, led by Machar, endorsed the agreement on September 10.
On Wednesday, gunmen killed five policemen in an attack on a checkpoint in the North Sinai town of El-Arish. Daeshs Egyptian affiliate, the Sinai Province, took responsibility for the attack.

The Sinai Province is spearheading a deadly insurgency against security forces in the region. Attackers say they are retaliating for a government crackdown targeting Morsi's supporters that has killed hundreds and imprisoned thousands.

Morsi was Egypt's first freely elected president, succeeding longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak, who was driven from power in 2011. Monday will mark the fifth anniversary of the anti-Mubarak revolt, and Sisi has warned against any form of demonstration on that day.
She added that for China, such a deal would give access to inexpensive fuel and a market for value added goods  "a win-win except for state-owned petrochemical companies that may demand market shares."

"For the Gulf, the FTA will provide concrete channels through which to advance international trade in oil/gas, as well as petrochemicals  something all the more important as oil prices decrease and so trade becomes a higher priority," the expert stressed.

Freer noted that the Chinese market was vital for Gulf energy exports since the United States has become largely self-sufficient since the advent of shale oil, while China's energy demands have only grown.

"BP has forecast that China will consume 18 million barrels per day by 2035, compared to 17 barrels predicted for the United States in that year, so it makes sense that the GCC would pursue the Chinese ahead of the American market," she pointed out.

A senior resident scholar in the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, Karen Young, agrees that the ties between China and the Gulf states are mutually important.

"Chinas economic presence in the Gulf has been accelerating for a few years now. There is a visible Chinese expatriate community in Dubai, for example, numbering over 300,000 people. More and more, as I have argued elsewhere, the Gulf has had its own 'pivot to Asia.' Gulf oil exports are largely focused on Asian markets," she said.

Young added that while China was not positioned to take on the security role that the United States had played in the Gulf, it was certainly making a strong play to compete on infrastructure finance, construction, and other economic areas.

However, the expert pointed out that given the GCCs track record in implementing economic cooperation accords, she would not expect a free trade zone to come into effect during 2016.

The GCC comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The militants in Pakistan are now going for soft targets because in the past, in 2009 in particular, they were targeting places like general headquarters of the army, intelligence headquarters and high security government installations. But after the operation that was carried out in the tribal areas and which is being carried out in the urban centers at the moment, the militants are going for soft targets.

Abdullah further said that the ranks are getting divided within the military sphere in Pakistan. After this recent attack one of the splintered groups of the Taliban known as the Omar Mansour group claimed responsibility for this attack but shortly afterwards the central spokesman of the Pakistani Taliban issued a statement saying that they condemned this attack and it would be un-Islamic, so it goes to show that the militants are more divided now than ever before.

The journalist mentioned that the division among the militants is occurring due to the fact that supporters of the group are pulling out. He said that on internet forums it can be seen that their supporters are becoming smaller in numbers.

Talking about the recent attack Abdullah said, The mastermind and the handler of the attack are usually not present at the location. At the moment it seems that the attack was rather badly coordinated and the attackers were sort of randomly running around.

The journalist said that the Taliban warned the Pakistani government about such attacks in the future if the government doesnt review its policy.

Such attacks may also be occurring as a retaliation of their comrades in the cities which are being targeted. So it rather seems that now the targets of such attacks are not just the people who are somehow connected to the government directly, but even those who are relatives of those who are working for the government. So it is a very grim situation, Abdullah concluded.
According to Professor Said, the West constructs the idea of the East. The East is seen from a prejudiced and one-dimensional point of view, which includes the over-exaggeration of differences between the two civilizations and the assumption that the West is inherently superior to the East.

Although Russia is clearly different from the Orient, described by Professor Said, many of his arguments could be effectively applied to explain the Anglo-American perspective on Russia, its culture and people. During the Cold War era, the Russian civilization was seen as part of the East. However, even after the breakup of the Soviet Union not much has changed. Due to its geographical location, unique history, differences in religion and culture, Russia is still seen as a different and not quite European nation in the eyes of the West.

Looking at Russia through the lenses of Orientalism, the West exaggerates differences that exist between itself and Russia. Orientalism is a key factor why a lot of Western politicians misunderstand Russian politics, seeing them as bizarre, unpredictable and utterly different from those in the West. The Orientalist narrative depicts Russian politicians as savages, incapable of embracing Western values.

In the back of their minds, Western Orientalists still think that Russians, the barbarians from the East, want to conquer the Western world, as did the Huns, Mongols and Ottomans before them.

Orientalism served to construct the negative image of Russia on the international level. Many Westerners see Russians as the Others, people who are lazy, crazy and incompetent of governing themselves. Western media and the film industry perpetuate certain myths about Russians to the point that these stereotypes have become almost factual.

Russias inferiority is shown through the use of demeaning language. When writing about Russian politics, the Guardian and other Western media used degrading epithets to describe the political circle of the Russian president as Putins clan. The use of such language preserves the sense of primitivism. Interestingly, while a group of non-kin related Russian statesmen are referred as a clan, the father and son Bush presidents were referred to as The Bush Administrations.

Looking at Russia through the lens of Orientalism, the West wont effectively work with Moscow on equal terms. If Western leaders and intellectuals keep falling back on the Orientalist narrative to understand Russia, its culture and people, constantly depicting the countrys politics as backward and irrational, no good is going to come out of it, just more misunderstandings, assumptions and conflict.
DAVOS (Sputnik), Daria Chernyshova  Russia and Saudi Arabia could benefit greatly by deepening their cooperation to help the two oil-dependent countries diversify their economies, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Kirill Dmitriev, told Sputnik on Thursday.

"The program to diversify from oil entails a huge win-win and huge synergies from the interaction between Saudi Arabia and Russia on economic restructuring," Dmitriev said on the sidelines of the annual World Economic Forum in the Swiss town of Davos.

He added that the June 2015 meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) laid the foundation for this cooperation.
He further said that in Iran there are about 10 brands of fast-food chain restaurants that are operating currently. The requirements for opening a franchise are very strict and stringent.

Therefore, for a foreign restaurant chain to be able to start its activities in Iran, one must be certified and obtain all necessary licenses from the Ministry of Health. As you know, Iranian health standards are very high, the CEO explained.

Touching on the various standards that need to be met, Shourangiz further added that Iran, being a religious country, has religious requirements  Sharia. In particular it relates to primary feed, which is necessary for cooking products. Meat and poultry have to be certified as Halal.

Upon successful completion of all these standards, the international companies need to solve the economic question before opening a franchise. If a chain of McDonalds or KFC restaurants in Iran wants to compete with local owners of the restaurant, they need to invest at least 1 billion Iranian toman.

If the costs will be even higher than this amount, it will be very difficult to compete with local restaurants. It can only be possible in view of the popularity of the brand, which it enjoys in the world. But in order to become a global leader in the Iranian market of fast food it is impossible because it is very expensive and not cost-effective in the long run.

Shourangiz said that such a franchise may work in major cities. But in Iran there are only 6-7 large cities. In the traditional regions of the country it is almost impossible as only national cuisine is popular there and the west cuisine even McDonalds is not. So I think that we as the owners of fast-food restaurants should not fear competition from even such popular brands as McDonalds.
And as far as China  Saudi Arabias top oil importer  is concerned, Xi Jinping has just been to Riyadh; Aramco and Sinopec signed a strategic partnership; but the strategic partnership that really matters, considering the future of One Belt, One Road, is actually Beijing-Tehran.

The massive Saudi dumping of securities ties in with the Saudi oil price war. In the current, extremely volatile situation oil is down, stocks are down and oil stocks are down. Still the House of Saud has not understood that the Masters of the Universe are getting them to destroy themselves many times over, including flooding the oil market with their shut-in capacity. And all that to fatally wound Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia itself.

Only a Pawn in Their Game

Meanwhile, Riyadh is rife with rumors there will be a coup against King Salman  virtually demented and confined to a room in his palace in Riyadh. There are two possible scenarios in play:

1) King Salman, 80, abdicates in favor of his son, notorious arrogant/ignorant troublemaker Warrior Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 30, currently deputy crown prince and defense minister and the second in the line of succession but de facto running the show in Riyadh. This could happen anytime soon. As an extra bonus, current Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi, not a royal, would be replaced by Abdulaziz bin Salman, another son of the king.

2) A palace coup. Salman  and his troublemaker son  are out of the picture, replaced by Ahmed bin Abdulaziz (who was a previous Minister of the Interior), or Prince Mohammed bin Nayef (the current Minister of the Interior and Crown Prince.)

Whatever scenario prevails, the British MI6 is intimately aware of the whole pantomime. And the German BND might be. Everyone remembers the BND memo at the end of 2015 that depicted Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as a political gambler who is destabilizing the Arab world through proxy wars in Yemen and Syria.

Saudi sources  for obvious reasons insisting on anonymity  stress that as much as 80% of the House of Saud favors a coup.

Yet the question is whether a House reshuffle would change their slow motion hara-kiri. The categorical imperative remains; the Masters of the Universe are ready to bring the whole world down in a major recession basically to strangle Russia. The House of Saud is just a pawn in this vicious game.

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Sputnik.
As the Russian Foreign Ministry said in derisory response to the British report, it is all so predictable. The politicization of a criminal matter is so flagrantly transparent, it is almost cringe-making in its clumsiness.

The inquiry was ordered by the British government in October 2014, and is anything but public. It is based on secret evidence presented behind closed doors by anonymous British intelligence figures.

No verifiable proof worthy of a proper legal court is presented. It is based entirely on circumstantial, that is subjective, inference by a former British judge sitting in private, but who is then given ample media exposure to broadcast his findings. To call this a judicial ruling is a farce and an insult to the publics intelligence.

Yet following the announcement of the inquirys conclusions, the British government immediately censured Russia over a blatant and unacceptable breach of international law. This is not only typical British arrogance, it is a dangerous, reckless misuse of a countrys dubious legal procedures to project an international political jurisdiction.

There is plenty of hard evidence for Russia or any other state to accuse the British prime minister of war crimes given his countrys illegal interference in Libya and Syria. But what gives Britain the right to accuse Russias head of state of murder, especially based on such flimsy circumstantial evidence? Britains disrespect for international norms in this regard is a new low in dirty tricks.

The corny Cold War stereotypes of ex-KGB spies seeking revenge is the first giveaway that this is a psyops job, in addition to the scripted political reaction by the British government. This latest smear fits consistently with the long-running running Western-led propaganda vendetta against Vladimir Putin.
The so-called public inquiry final report, released Thursday, found that Litvinenko was poisoned using Polonium-210 by former FSB officers Dmitry Kovtun and Andrei Lugovoy, on the orders of Nikolai Patrushev (head of the FSB in 2006) and "probably" Putin.

The #Litvinenko inquiry failed to take oral evidence from either of the accused https://t.co/jBI5j72t7R pic.twitter.com/U66gKRcEXI  Sputnik UK (@SputnikNewsUK) January 21, 2016

There has never been an inquest proper or a criminal trial in the Litvinenko case and both Kovtun and Lugovoy deny the charges.

Litvinenko fled to London in 2000 after making a series of dramatic allegations about the FSB and Putin and being dismissed from the service. Chief among the allegations was that the FSB had been ordered to kill the tycoon Boris Berezovsky.
The Islamists are reported to be financed by Saudi Arabia and Qatar. There are about 2,000 Salafists and Wahabis currently living in the area, the author wrote, saying that Italian authorities are alarmed about the situation.

Croatian media reported land purchase two years ago, but it apparently played no role in Germany's decision to pursue its open door policy. According to the German newspaper Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten (DWN), such ignorance could prove to be a serious mistake in the near future.

The plots of land are located in northwestern Bosnia in the canton of Bihac, just a few hundred meters from the border with Croatia. The Islamists are organized into groups led by Bosnian national Husein Bosnic who is now one of the main recruiters of jihadists in Europe.
The shocking incident took place when the young woman was standing on the platform waiting for her train and she was pushed infront of an oncoming train by a 28-year-old Hamburg man born of Iranian descent. After he pushed the woman, shocked witnesses ran toward him and held him back so that he couldn't escape.

The Swedish press reported the tragic incident in no specific details. Meanwhile, German newspaper Berliner Zeitung reported that the offender was said to have been in Berlin only a few hours. He had come from Hamburg and was seeking a place to stay in Berlin.

According to the reports he was denied a bed, because the hotel was fully booked so he went to the subway station.
CHISINAU (Sputnik)  On Thursday, crews from three Russian TV channel, namely the All-Russian Television and Radio Network (VGTRK), Life News and REN TV, who were set to cover the ongoing protests in Chisinau, were denied entry to Moldova. VGTRK journalist Alexander Balitsky was refused entry because he had already been banned from visiting the country for five years.

"Really, this morning, five citizens of the Russian Federation, who had violated the rules of crossing the Moldovan border, were sent back to Russia from Chisinau [International] Airport," Chebotar told RIA Novosti.

According to Chebotar, "in the first case [of Balitsky], it is the case of a citizen, who was previously banned from entering the republic for five years."
"There are 472 flats for living. They are all occupied, some flats are taken up by several families. We take nominal rent from hem only," Basil Gasir, a worker in the union, told Sputnik.

Many stories that Aleppo refugees told Sputnik were similar, yet their needs and financial status differ. There are those who were able to set up their own businesses in the village, as well as those who have to live on humanitarian aid as they have no family members who are able to work.

"We came here in 2012. Armed groups attacked the shop where I worked and stole all money. I wasnt home when they came to my house and stole three of my children. We paid ransom and were able to save them, thank Allah, they are here next to me now. I dont know what happened to my home," Abdulkadir from Aleppo told Sputnik.

He added that he was praying daily to be able to return home.

Muhammed Faruk left his home in the Kelassa neighborhood of the city of Aleppo in 2012.

"We left everything  our homes, our property, our work. There were violent clashes in Kelassa, we understood that we had to run. One of my children saved his brothers and sisters, at night we set off and settled here. Two of my homes were destroyed, I do not know what happened to them. The most important thing is that my five children are with me," Faruk said.

Mahmud Denes was seriously wounded by shrapnel and was left disabled. He needs treatment, and has been living in Latakia for four years without work. Denes has three children.

"Armed groups entered our lives and turned it upside down, destroying out homes. Four and a half years ago we came here with my family of five. Every month I spend 15 days here and 15 days in Aleppo. I know its very dangerous there at the moment but there is no electricity in Aleppo and Im a civil servant, people need our help," Selahaddin Ziyad, an electricity worker.

A woman who came from outskirts of Aleppo to Latakia said that nobody in her family could earn money, as her husband was seriously ill. After their house was burnt down, they were left with nothing, and her husband suffered a heart attack, rendering him unable to work. According to her, humanitarian organizations send aid every two or three months.

"Armed people came to our home when they found out my sons were soldiers, and started threatening us. We could no longer remain there. We were later told that our home was destroyed," another refugee said.
For its own interests, Israel does not want these groups to weaken or be defeated because otherwise Syrian forces will be capable of hitting back at Israel, he added.

What is more, recently Israel has been conducting an intensified propaganda campaign against Iran in a bid to persuade countries like the US or European nations to supply it for free with modern weapons for "self-defense", and provide funds for other military needs.

Israel was displeased over the final nuclear agreement between Tehran and the West, Abshenass said. The deal confirmed that the Iranian nuclear program is peaceful. In the current situation, the policy of Iranophobia has ended in a fiasco and Israel can no longer receive preferences it had before.

On the other hand, after the nuclear deal was signed the West has changed its stance toward Iran, Abshenass noted. For instance, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier underscored Iranian efforts in maintaining security in the Middle East, calling Tehran the "key to regional stability."

This means the level of Wests confidence to Iran has significantly grown even though the West is not yet ready to call Iran its ally.

"It would not be correct to say the West now takes Iran as an ally or friend. This would take time. It requires some ground to be prepared. Iran has already done a great job on the issue. Thanks to its diplomatic efforts, the world has seen that Tehran is interested in peace and stability in the region," the journalist said.

"Now, world leaders can see the difference between Iran and Iraq or between the Iranian religious ideology and Wahhabism of Saudi Arabia. They clearly see which ideology is a threat to the region and the world and which aims for stability. Today, Wests perception of Iran is changing. And Wests policy toward Iran is getting more logical and rational," he explained.

Despite the fact it is premature to call Iran an ally of the West, Western countries see Iran as a reliable trade and economic partner in the Middle East which would contribute to stability and peace in the region, Abshenass concluded.
Karakus further said, Violent clashes in the Horn of Africa were there before the Somali pirates. In 1992, as part of the UN peacekeeping operation in the region it was sent to the Turkish unit under the command of General Cevik Bira, who then headed a contingent of UNOSOM II. After completing tasks, it was decided to leave Somalia.

But then, as you know, Somalia fell into the hands of the various factions.

Looking at the cost for Turkey to manage and solve this crisis, the general said that in order to fight pirates in Somali waters there are always one or two of Turkish ships present in any case. It is difficult to fill them and even more difficult to replace.

Our initiative will be carried out under the supervision of the UN, but the base will be Turkish. And therefore up-keep of this base will be expensive. But at the same time it can reduce our costs of refueling and delivery of necessary materials for combat duty in the waters of Somalia.

Regarding the threats from Al-Shabab, Karakus said that Turkey is already under intense attacks from Daesh and PKK militants. We are used to the terrorists activity and we must fight them one way or another.
What is happening now is that Iran has a marginal role in the price for oil This is bound to change because Iran has approximately 50 million barrels of oil it put in storage during the height of the sanctions regime and it is now ready to release as soon as possible. Iran is offering a pretty significant discount but it is likely to increase oil production to between 500,000 and 800,000 barrels per day, Justin Dargin said.

This means that the current world market oversupply may continue. When oil was at its peak in 2007 heading to 2008 people thought it would push up to $200 dollars per barrel.

When the economic pain the major oil producers suffer from this price drop becomes too great, then we may start seeing cutbacks in production, Dargin added.

The international energy agency warns that the current glut will continue throughout 2016 and even through next year.

It depends on whether the major oil producers can come to some kind of an agreement because no producer wants to undertake the burden of voluntarily restricting production when competitors are going to gain their market share. Youve got to have extremely strong growth in production to absorb this oversupply but this is highly unlikely at the moment, Dargin stated.

When asked whether there could be any policy changes on the part of the OPEC, Dr. Dargin said that it was possible, but only if the oil producers started to feel the pain of the current price drop.

To remain financially solvent the Gulf States need their oil selling at between $82 and $110 a barrel, which means that this type of decision might be on the horizon.

The situation in the US shale market looks pretty bad, with job loss in the shale oil industry being about 250,000 people and with two-thirds of rigs now decommissioned.

"But the drop has not been as significant as some people have thought. Many small companies in the US need to produce to make some revenue, but if this situation continues many companies will go out of business, Justin Dargin said in conclusion.
According to Zakharova, terrorist groups in Syria have become "active" ahead of the planned intra-Syria talks on the country's reconciliation. She added that al-Nusra Front and Ahrar ash-Sham groups have received "serious reinforcements from Turkey" in the Syrian province of Aleppo.

"Unfortunately, in recent days, we noticed that terror groups have intensified their activities ahead of planned intra-Syrian talks."

Terrorists may use fortifications built by Turkey on its border with Syria as strongholds, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said, adding that Moscow was concerned over increased Turkish military incursions into Syria.

"It cannot be ruled out that these fortifications along the Syrian-Turkish border may be used by militant groups as strongholds."

"External forces" continue to supply arms to terrorists in Syria, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said.

"While all interested sides pin their hopes on the start of a meaningful and inclusive dialogue between the Syrian government and the opposition, some external forces continue to help militants in Syria, including terrorist groups, providing them with arms and ammunition."

Russia will continue its humanitarian operation in Syria, Zakharova said, adding that Moscow was surprised over Washington's claims that it "does not see" Russian humanitarian aid deliveries to the war-torn country.

"Representatives of the US State Department said that they do not see Russia's efforts Russia in regard to providing humanitarian aid to Syria. This is very strange, especially since the State Department allegedly sees everything, including Russian tanks that are being flown in or crawling into the territory of other states, but theres no humanitarian aid in sight."

Claims of Russian aviation allegedly bombing Syrian opposition, civilians are "detached from reality," Zakharova said.

"The only advice to those who keep accusing [Russia of allegedly hitting wrong targets in Syria]  use facts [on airstrikes] which Russia is providing almost on a daily basis," Zakharova said.

UK Report on Litvinenko's Death

UK report published on Thursday on the death of former FSB agent Alexander Litvinenko is aimed at "demonizing Russia and its leadership," the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said, adding that Moscow expected "such an outcome."

"There was only one aim and it was obvious from the very beginning [of the inquiry]  to demonize Russia, demonize its official representatives, its leadership."
Engdahl draws attention to the fact that in August 2015 Moscow and Beijing carried out joint naval exercises in the Sea of Japan off coast from Vladivostok, Russia's far-east port.

The active phase of the drills included 22 vessels, 20 aircraft, 40 armored vehicles and 500 marines.

It should be noted, however, that China and Russia have repeatedly dismissed the assumption regarding a potential Sino-Russian military alliance.

"As for the far-fetched idea of an emerging China-Russia military alliance, it seems that only the most insensible ones could buy," Wang Haiqing of Xinhua remarked on August 20, 2015.

In October Russia's Rear Admiral Viktor Kochemazov told the Ekho Moskvy radio station that the Russian fleet would continue to participate in joint naval exercises with China in 2016.

"Next year, the decision was already made by the Defense Ministry, we will continue to participate in these Joint Sea drills. This time China will be the host and at its invitation the Pacific Fleet will go to China," Rear Admiral Kochemazov elaborated.

Meanwhile, Beijing announced that it was in negotiations with the government of the Republic of Djibouti to establish a Chinese naval base there.

Djibouti is "one of the world's most strategically placed" nations, Engdahl stresses, adding that it would be China's first-ever foreign naval base.

"China's first-ever foreign naval base is being negotiated in Djibouti, one of the most important water routes for world oil and trade flows to China," he explains.
In his latest interview from prison Can Dundar told The Guardian that Recep Tayyip Erdogan "consolidated absolute power by establishing a police force of epic proportions and came in total control of the judiciary system."

The journalist lambasted Brussels for rapprochement between the EU and Erdogan while turning a blind eye to Ankara's "fascist government."

But that is not all: in mid-December 2015 Turkish MP Eren Erdem shed some light on Ankara's unwillingness to investigative Turkish supply routes of deadly sarin gas ingredients to Daesh (Islamic State/ISIL) then known as al-Qaeda in Iraq in 2013.

"There is data in this indictment. Chemical weapon materials are being brought to Turkey and being put together in Syria in camps of ISIS [Daesh] which was known as Iraqi al-Qaeda during that time," Erdem said in an interview with RT broadcaster.

The investigation revealed that a number of Turkish citizens had been involved in negotiations over sarin ingredients deliveries with al-Qaeda in Iraq's militant Hayyam Kasap. However, despite all evidence 13 suspects related to the case were released by Turkish authorities.

Predictably, after giving the interview Erdem was accused of treason, Erimtan continues.

The Turkish scholar quotes Recep Erdogan's statement regarding the matter: "[t]hose accusing their own state of selling chemical weapons on a foreign state's [television] channel, they are becoming party to a ring of treason What kind of treason is this? How can you accuse [us] of delivering sarin gas to a terror state like Syria?" (17 December 2015).
In order to avoid repeating previous mistakes, Washington has revived its practice of using proxy forces of right-wing religious fanatics in regions, which the US political and financial establishment sought to "remap."

As-Safir points to the fact that four MENA states are currently being engulfed by war: Syria, Iraq, Libya, and Yemen. The Lebanese media outlet emphasizes that Washington's Gulf allies and radical Islamist proxies are re-drawing the map of the region playing directly into hands of the Pentagon's war planners.

The present Middle Eastern borders were determined under the Anglo-French Asia Minor (or the Sykes-Picot) Agreement in 1916. What if the Sykes-Picot order is no longer relevant, experts ask.

"It seems obvious when considering the complexity of the world as it now functions that the Westphalian model of state-centrism is no longer, if it ever was, descriptive," Richard Anderson Falk, an American professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University, writes on his personal blog.

At the same time the American academic warns that "questioning colonial boundaries would open a dangerous Pandora's Box filled to overflowing with nasty ethnic conflicts and contradictory territorial claims."

Amb. John R. Bolton, however, believes that we should deal with the reality on the ground.

"Today's reality is that Iraq and Syria as we have known them are gone. The Islamic State [Daesh] has carved out a new entity from the post-Ottoman Empire settlement, mobilizing Sunni opposition to the regime of President Bashar al-Assad and the Iran-dominated government of Iraq. Also emerging, after years of effort, is a de facto independent Kurdistan," the American lawyer and former US Ambassador to the UN noted in his November article for The New York Times.
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In his opinion, Iran and Russia are not only friends, but real allies: the countries created a coalition on the basis of their strategic interests.

According to the economist, Iranian economic and business circles maintain constant contact with Russian top officials and look forward to a broad economic cooperation between the two countries.

The current political situation, namely Russia's deteriorating relations with Turkey, plays a significant role in the rapprochement between the two countries. However, Mohammadpour argued, it is not a decisive factor for Iran's willingness to expand cooperation with Russia.

"Those who say Iran is solely using the current political environment and seeking to conquer the Russian market in this way, are wrong. The history of relations between our peoples goes back to the distant past. We are geographically separated, but economically united by the Caspian Sea," the economist argued.

Earlier, in an interview with Sputnik Persian, Hedayat Asghari, the executive director of the Iranian Trade Association, outlined the prospects of replacing Turkish fruit, meat and fish with Iranian produce in the Russian market.

Hedayat Asghari said that an Iranian delegation had already clinched a preliminary agreement with a Moscow-based wholesale company on the supply of Iranian fruits and vegetables to the Russian capital.
Batygin said that currently there are two telescopes powerful enough to potentially show the hypothetical planet  the Japanese telescope Subaru and the US-owned Keck telescope both of which are in Hawaii.

The Subaru telescope in particular can be of great help. It has a large light-gathering area to detect such a dim object like the hypothetical Planet X. This coupled with the Subaru's huge field of view can help astronomers to scan large areas of the sky every night, Science Magazine reported.

Planet X appears to be orbiting around the Sun at a distance 250 times farther than Earth. It would take Planet X some 10,000-20,000 years to make one full circle around the Sun.

"Our model can predict the orbit. However, it cannot predict the planet's exact positioning in the orbit. But we think we know the orbit pretty well," Batygin said.

The plenary scientist said that the hypothetical new planet was probably formed at the same time as Uranus and Pluto, and therefore it probably has a similar chemical composition.

The discovery means that the solar system could once again have nine real planets, after Pluto was demoted to the status of dwarf planet 10 years ago.

Our Galaxy most likely has more undiscovered planets orbiting somewhere outside of our known reality, Batygin added.

When asked whether there might be a distant extraterrestrial civilization that can be discovered with the help of the new powerful telescopes, Batygin emphasized that we cannot really talk about the existence of other civilizations without the proper understanding of how life was formed on Earth and without a full study of our solar system.
Ball State University Professor of Economics Cecil Bohanon told Sputnik that lifting the US oil export ban will affect global energy prices, but not necessarily exports to Europe.

"The elimination of the US export ban may not lead to the United States directly supplying Europeans  those details get down to the weeds of contracts, transport costs, available storage and other factors," Bohanon explained. "However, allowing US producers to export does put downward pressure on world oil prices."

Oil is a globally traded commodity subject to an international price, Bohanon continued, which connects all the markets independent of the specific buyer-supplier relationships.

US lawmakers have suggested increasing energy exports to Europe to offset some countries dependence on Russian energy supplies. Calls for increasing energy exports also come amid a bleak outlook for US producers.

Oil Price Information Service Global Head of Energy Analysis Tom Kloza told Sputnik that the global competitiveness of North American oil producers has been hurt by oversupply and plunging oil prices.

"Ultimately, they [US suppliers] will be in better shape and see higher profits when the recovery cycle begins, and theyll be competitive with many other world producers," Kloza claimed.

If an increase in US energy exports puts downward pressure on global oil prices, it raises questions on how major oil producers like Saudi Arabia will react to the glut of supply.

"The Saudis could at any time opt to cut production and that would shore up prices, but they certainly have given no indication of any such move, and appear inclined to produce as much cheap oil as they can for revenue, but also for leverage versus Iran in the region," Kloza concluded.

In response to an Arab oil embargo earlier in the decade, the US banned oil shipments to destinations outside of North America. Recent increases in oil production have produced a glut in parts of the United States, increasing pressure to end the ban.
Such a move, perhaps ironic to some extent, gave Putin chance to respond to those European countries that have been trying to school him, Halter Marek, Franco-Jewish author, journalist and human rights advocate, told Sputnik.

"The European Commission has tried to give him a lesson in morals, like 'Putin neglects this or that.' If he can strike back he does this with pleasure. It is often said that in Russia ethnic minorities are not treated with respect. But this is France where Jews fear to wear the kippah, despite the words from Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius," Marek pointed out.

In Russia, there is the Jewish Autonomous Region, with the capital of Birobidzhan. Jews from Israel could establish an offshore zone to run businesses there, the journalist added. According to him, such a scenario has a lot of advantages, especially taking into account the fact that the region is near to China, South Korea, and India.

"Of course, there will be no massive migration of Jews to this region, but they could take the possibility. This may sound like a joke but Putin is right to remind to Jews of the possibilities they do not use," Marek said.

He also said he had founded a tourist association in Strasbourg which organizes tours of Birobidzhan. According to him, from an economic point of view, the region has not been used properly, but the situation is changing.

Putins comment might have been made in a playful manner but it reflects the changes for Jews which have happened in Europe, Serge Rozen, president of the Coordination Committee of Belgian Jewish Organizations, told Sputnik.

"For us, Western European Jews who fled to Europe due to anti-Semitism in the Russian Empire and in the Soviet Union, it is interesting to see that there is more safety in Eastern Europe than in the West. Dramatic changes have happened. One can say that there are anti-Semitic sentiments in Western Europe but Moscow synagogues are not guarded by soldiers, like in Paris or Brussels," Rozen said.

According to him, the comment made by President Putin may have been made in a manner of joke but it gives a glimpse of a phenomenon which is growing more and more apparent.

"I dont think there will be a massive exodus of Jews to Russia in the coming years, but the idea itself is interesting," Rozen concluded.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  US Vice President Joe Biden held a trilateral meeting with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Davos to discuss reconciliation process in Afghanistan, the White House said in a press release on Thursday.

"They discussed recent efforts to relaunch peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban," the release stated.

US Secretary of State John Kerry also joined the meeting, according to the White House.
It has been announced that the setting of a new book takes place at a former Standardbred racetrack in the province of Ontario.

Ottawa, Ontario, author Barry P. Halls first book, Ghost From The Holocaust, is about a survivor of the holocaust who is murdered at Morrow Park, the former Standardbred racetrack in Peterborough.

Its a mystery, explained Hall. I like mysteries and I like horse racing and I thought it would appeal to people. Its set in 1956 so it has a historical aspect as well.

Racing concluded at Morrow Park in 1971. The following year harness racing was introduced at Kawartha Downs where it continues today. Kawartha will have copies of Mr. Halls book available for sale on 2016 race nights and are working on having the author on hand one race night to autograph copies.

The book may also be ordered through Amazon.

(Kawartha Downs)
Trot Insider has learned that Indiana Sires Stakes champ Homicide Hunter has been sold with his new connections setting sights on Grand Circuit competition.

In 2015, Homicide Hunter assembled an enviable record of 16-1-1 from 18 sophomore starts. The altered son of Mr Cantab - Evening Prayer was unstoppable in his state's program, winning all 16 starts with just three win margins by less than a length.

Homicide Hunter - 16th Straight Win

His two defeats came against Grand Circuit competition. In his first attempt, he finished ahead of divisional star and Hambletonian champ Pinkman in the Carl Erskine Memorial at Hoosier Park, only bested by Crazy Wow. In the 2015 American National, he finished third to Breeders Crown winner The Bank and Yonkers Trot winner Habitat.

A homebred owned by Dr. Patrick Graham of Pittsfield, Ill. and trained by Curt Grummel throughout his two- and three-year-old seasons, Homicide Hunter has been purchased by Crawford Farms of Cazenovia, N.Y.

"We started watching him last year when he was racing out in Indiana and we really liked him," Michelle Crawford told Trot Insider. "We really enjoy racing and we wanted to acquire a few of the four-year-olds and he was definitely a good prospect. He had great owners, his owner was really wonderful. When we started talking about it, we became a nice option for them as a four-year-old because they know he's in good hands."

In the latter part of 2015, Michelle and Al Crawford added sophomore stakes winners Split The House and Devil Child to their racing ranks. Homicide Hunter was also on the radar at that time but Crawford notes that the previous owners weren't yet looking to sell. Those last two starts against Grand Circuit competition definitely helped raise the horse's value, but it also helped raise his profile and others started making offers on the trotting colt.

"Believe me, the offers were coming in left and right. I was getting nervous," admitted Crawford. "I think at the end of the day [Pat] knew the money was where he wanted it to be and we were a really good home for him because he would never go anywhere when he was done racing...he would retire at our farm."

Homicide Hunter was shipped to the Crawford's farm in New York for a few weeks of turnout. He left for Florida on Wednesday.

"He's a beautiful horse and in talking to Pat before he shipped, he said he's an easy keeper, he really didn't have a ton of vet work, everyone loves him and he has a phenomenal demeanour in the barn. He did not have a lot issues, which shows."

Could Homicide Hunter follow the wave of talented Indiana-sired horses -- most notably Always B Miki, Freaky Feet Pete, Natural Herbie and Wiggle It Jiggleit -- that have gone on to compete with and win against North America's best? The Crawfords certainly hope so. Like with Split The House, Chris Oakes will train the colt, and the Crawfords plan on staking Homicide Hunter with the intention of racing him against the top older trotters.

"I think we agree we're going to give him every shot, we'll give him every opportunity and at the end of the day if we have a solid open horse that will be really fun to watch."
It was a heart-warming moment for palliative-care cancer patient Stephanie McManus as a hospital built on horse money coincidentally received a visit from a special equine companion.

An article in the Toronto Star explains that McManus was reunited with her beloved 10-year-old Tennessee walking horse named Luna just outside Hamilton's Juravinski Hospital on Wednesday morning.

Im overwhelmed...Theres a special bond with a horse. Its hard to give that up. Shes an animal that brings joy to peoples lives, McManus was quoted as saying.

The Toronto Star article explains that lifelong horse lover McManus, who was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in September 2013, bought Luna last summer to help keep her motivated, and in return, provide peace and happiness to a horse that appeared to have been previously neglected.

Coincidentally, the hospital is sponsored by Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame builder Charles Juravinski. The article states that Juravinski was thrilled when informed by a friend of both his and McManus that the visit would take place.

The visit was made possible with the assistance of the local Zacharys Paws for Healing program, which was created by Donna Jenkins and has facilitated over 40 pet visits to the hospital since November. However, this was a first for the program that typically deals with dogs and cats. Jenkins was made aware of McManus' desire to see her equine friend one last time by hospital workers just a day prior when she had received a visit from her cat.

To read the Toronto Star article in its entirety, click here.

UPDATE: Stephanie McManus passed away on Thursday, January 21, just 22 hours after being able to visit with Luna one last time.

Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the family and friends of Stephanie McManus.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jan/18/editorial-preventing-a-water-war-in-asia/

Just when Asia was getting accustomed to the Chinese threat to the oceans of Southeast Asia, theres another water worry for Asians. The government in Beijing controls the health of six major South and Southeastern Asian rivers, the heart of life in the region. All of the rivers rise on the Tibetan plateau. The Chinese have been on an intensive program of dam-building on the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra, the Irrawaddy, the Meman Chao Phya and the Mekong, which would give them the ability to control these arteries of commerce, as well as irrigation of rice and other crops, for vast areas downstream.

Snows are melting on thousands of glaciers, the largest concentration of ice north and south of the poles, repeating the ancient and constant cycle of change in the worlds weather. One Tibetan lake, Namtso, a holy site where pilgrims circumnavigate its banks in prayer, expanded by 20 square miles between 2000 and 2014. Tibets glaciers have shrunk by 15 percent over the past 30 years. Though subject to the whims of climate change, if melting continues at current levels the warmer temperatures could melt two-thirds of the plateaus glaciers by 2050, and this would affect in unknown ways 2 billion people in China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

The most dramatic example of prospective risk is Chinas plan to divert the Brahmaputra from its upper reaches, where it flows a thousand miles through Tibet and another 600 miles through India, emptying into the harbor of Calcutta, the second-largest city of China. The Brahmaputra is the lifeline of northeast India, a troubled region with caste and other ethnic conflicts.

Theres concern in Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia over eight dams under construction on the upper reaches of the Mekong River. The Burmese military junta canceled a dam under construction in Myanmar, formerly called Burma, one of six Chinese-led hydroelectric projects planned for the upper reaches of the Irrawaddy. These plants would have exported electricity to southern China.





Government and the business interests worry that Chinas apparent intention to dam every major river flowing out of Tibet will lead to environmental imbalance, natural disasters, degrade fragile ecologies, and most of all, divert vital water supplies. The extent of the Chinese program is monumental  on the eight great Tibetan rivers alone, China has completed or started construction of 20 dams, with three-dozen more on the drawing board.





The Dalai Lama points out the obvious, that Chinas dam-building could lead to conflict. He warns that Indias use of the Tibetan water is something very, very essential. So, since millions of Indians use water coming from the Himalayan glaciers I think [India] should express more serious concern. This is nothing to do with politics, just everybodys interests, including Chinese people.





The Chinese program for the Brahmaputra is one of the issues which complicate the India-China relationship. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi blows hot and cold over the threat. Despite extensive contacts, Himalayan border disputes dating from almost a century are no nearer solution than ever, and water is one of the important irritants. Increasing penetration of the Himalayan kingdoms of Nepal and Bhutan, once dependencies of Britain, has become a new concern in New Delhi.





However, China has become Indias No. 1 trading partner  up to $80 billion in 2015, an increase of $10 billion over 2014. India exports mostly raw materials and imports mostly Chinese electronics and other manufactured goods. Economic relations are the usual guarantee that political and economic disagreements will somehow be sorted out. But not always. Keeping the peace if not necessarily tranquility between the Asian giants must be a priority of the U.S. government. A water war is in nobodys interest.
(Mainly) Political Musings from "Sudbury" Steve May
Look behind the wall, it's always interesting there...
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One incumbent is running in the five-candidate race for two open seats.
Barry Brusseau and his brother, Tim Ward, were once members of Longview punk band The Jimmies, thrashing out short songs in bars around the Northwest.

After the Jimmies broke up in 2003, Brusseau and Ward meandered off in different, lighter musical directions. Theyre back as heavy as ever in the duo Grand Head, which will have a record release party at Union Square Friday night.

In his post-punk era, Brusseau put down his electric Gibson guitar and started singing soft, spare, folky songs. Brusseau, who lives in Portland, released a couple of albums (including a vinyl version, of course).

Ward moved to Salem and decided to study computer programming, even though at the time he didnt have a computer. He ended up getting a degree in programming and writing software for Garmin, which makes GPS devices.

I played in some jazz quartet projects, Ward said. I just needed to be a (music) student for a while. I was exploring new rhythms, trying to become a better drummer.

Then a folk music friend of Brusseau asked other musicians to record their own version of his songs for a show. We made a Black Sabbath style to this song and everybody liked it, somewhat unexpectedly, Ward said.

Brusseau decided to plug into his amps again  actually two amps. His guitar comes out of a Marshall half stack amp at the natural pitch and out of an old Music Man amp one octave lower.

It created this huge, really heavy thick sound, Ward said. If you close your eyes, a lot of people dont know that we dont have a bass player. Its just a wall of sound.

No need to add more members to the group, the brothers decided.

We get along so well musically we thought, Lets dont try to make it any bigger than it needs to be. 

The brothers wrote songs they promise will leave your ears bleeding in 3 minutes or less.

They describe their genre variously as metal, hardcore, punk, doom.

A reviewer for the Jersey Beat website writes that Grand Head is clearly a punk band, but with a slower, thicker sound.  Occasionally adopting a Sabbath-like drone, Grand Head brings a tireless bombast on each of the nine crippling tracks.
Ethan Bortnick has accomplished far more than most 15-year-old entertainers.

Hes taken his show with upbeat pop singing and dazzling piano playing as far as South Africa and Australia.

In 2011, he made history as the youngest entertainer to headline a show in Las Vegas, according to his publicity material.

Bortnick, who was a childhood piano prodigy growing up in Florida, also has made appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Good Morning America and Oprah. And, he was the youngest musician to create and host his own concert special on PBS.

Wait, theres more hype: Bortnick recently was certified in the Guinness World Records as The Worlds Youngest Solo Musician to Headline His Own Tour.

That tour will stop in Longview this week. Bortnick will appear at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Lower Columbia College Rose Center for the Arts as part of the Longview-Kelso Community Concert Association series. Single tickets are $25 or $10 for students.

Season tickets for the remaining three concerts of the 2015-2016 Community Concert series are available for $50 (adults), $20 (students) and $100 (family).

For details or to purchase tickets, call 360-636-2211 or visit the association online at www.lkcca.org.
Though the Oct. 1 shooting at Umpqua Community College that left 10 people dead happened more than 200 miles from Lower Columbia College, the tragic event struck a painful note with Longview students and staff.

Umpqua players compete against LCC players in sports. The college, which is in Roseburg, Ore., is nearly the same size as LCC. Its even located in a logging town.

The Umpqua tragedy really hits home, said LCC Vice President of Administration Nolan Wheeler.

Along with the fear, frustration and sadness, there has also been a constructive side. Though LCC had already planned to make security upgrades this year, the Umpqua shooting made those upgrades a little more urgent, said Wheeler.

We spit them (the ideas) up after Umpqua, Wheeler said.

Now, LCC plans to spend up to $780,000 to beef up campus security by the fall quarter (Wheeler hopes all of the projects will go out to bid by the end of this quarter).

Staff want security cameras at every building entryway and in every corridor, as well as card readers at building entry doors that would allow access only for certain people. School officials are eyeing a notification system that would enable administrators to remotely lock building doors; send text, email and reader board alerts to staff, students and emergency personnel simultaneously; and select pre-programmed responses to emergencies such as active shooter situations, power outages and chemical hazards.

Inside most classrooms, new door locks already have been installed, and new labels remind students and staff which building and classroom theyre in so they can alert authorities.

The upgrades will be paid for with funds from the Health & Science Building capital fund, cash reserves and the operating budget. Though the upgrades arent cheap  cabling and computer storage upgrades to support the new security features alone will cost $220,000  Wheeler says theyre necessary.

The safety of our students is important to myself and the college, so well prioritize this, Wheeler said.

Most importantly, Wheeler hopes the new upgrades will reduce the time needed to get local law enforcement on campus.

It all depends on how fast we can call them, Wheeler said.

Longview police Captain Robert Huhta, who has helped prepare LCC staff for active shooter situations previously, said a national study of those emergencies averaged law enforcement response at around five minutes.

Huhta called the planned upgrades at LCC a step in the right direction, especially if they can alert law enforcement more quickly.

But Huhta and Wheeler agreed that physicall upgrades alone wont prevent a tragedy. Huhta said situational awareness  knowing where you are and whats around you at all times  is key to preventing school tragedies.

And that means going with your gut.

Report something if it seems out of place, Huhta said.

Theres another vital piece to the security puzzle, Wheeler argued: Offering students counseling resources to give them outlets for their fear, frustration, sadness and anything else thats on their minds.

English instructor Amber Lemiere agreed. She sees boosting campus security as a threefold endeavor: Keep the lines of communication open with students through counseling services and an accepting campus climate; make physical security upgrades like LCC is already planning; and have an ongoing campus conversation about improving security.

Lemiere said the college, which she described as a family and a community, is doing all three.

From what I can see, its a really complicated task that every college in the country, and every school in the country, has to deal with.  There really isnt a great precedent to follow for making the right upgrades, she said. As long as the ongoing conversation is taking place, thats the best thing you can do.

Lemiere said she was in middle school in 1999 when the mass shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado happened, and since then, she feels like school shootings have become a new reality for her.

This is something that Ive grown up with, she said.

But she doesnt let that get her down, and after the Umpqua shooting she passed that message on to her students.

I told my students not to let fear rob you of (your college) experience. I didnt want them coming to class afraid, she said. The likelihood of that happening (a campus shooting), its a real threat, but you cant dwell on the fear.
Two Corinthians, right? Two Corinthians 3:17. Thats the whole ballgame. ... Is that the one? Is that the one you like? I think thats the one you like.

 Donald Trump, preaching the gospel at Liberty University.

The front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination drew laughter from the evangelical students at Liberty University when he bungled the Bible verse he attempted to read to them, introducing it not as Second Corinthians but as Two Corinthians.

But it doesnt seem to matter that Trump wouldnt know a Corinthian from a craps table. Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty and son of the late televangelist, bestowed lavish praise Monday on the thrice-married head of a gambling empire who talks about the need to kill members of terrorists families. Trump, on his way to getting a sizable chunk of the evangelical vote, promised: If Im president, youre going to see Merry Christmas in department stores, believe me  believe me.

They believe him. So what else is in the gospel according to Trump?

Heres a first draft of his beatitudes (Great English Standard Version), blending passages from Jesus Sermon on the Mount with a mash-up from Trumps speech to Liberty University.

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

Were having tremendous crowds, and were setting records everywhere. We went to Dallas and the Mavericks Arena, packed, 20,000 people.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

We want to see win, win, win, constant winning. And youll see if Im president, and youll say, Please, Mr. President. Were winning too much. We cant stand it anymore. Can we have a loss? And Ill say, No, were going to keep winning, winning, winning.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. ... If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

We got to knock the hell out of ISIS. I want a general where we knock the hell out of them fast. We need to build our military so big, so strong, so powerful. Take the oil! Keep the oil!

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. ... Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works.

Were going to build a wall. This is a serious wall. And we can do it for the right price.

Whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, You fool! will be liable to the hell of fire.

Obama is a disaster! I hold it against our very stupid leadership in this country. [John Kerry] doesnt have a clue. We get Sergeant Bergdahl, a dirty, rotten traitor. A stiff like Jeb Bush. Low-energy person. I want to see a woman president soon, but not her. Shes a disaster.

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth. ... You cannot serve God and money.

They say, O you cant build a wall. So easy! I have to make it look beautiful. Why? Because someday, theyll name the wall Trump Wall.

Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Were not going to give you any money, no money. We dont have it. Were a debtor nation. We owe $19 trillion. Were not going to give you any money. Were a poor nation. We protect Germany. We protect Japan. We protect Saudi Arabia. They pay us, like, practically nothing. Theyve got to pay up.

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life. ... Consider the lilies of the field.

Were not going to have a country left. Everyone is ripping us. Were getting killed. Whats going on with the crime and the problems? And it could be some sinister plot. The stock market is starting to go down big league and a lot of bad things. Our country is disappearing. Our country is going in the wrong direction and so wrong and its got to be stopped and its got to be stopped fast.

Beware of false prophets. ... You will recognize them by their fruits.

I wrote The Art of the Deal. I wrote many best-sellers. The Bible is the best. The Bible, the Bible blows it away. Theres nothing like the Bible, but The Art of the Deal was the best-selling business book, and Obama didnt read it.

Amen?
"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844
tech2 News Staff

HP Inc. has announced that it is offering a new Device-as-a-Service (DaaS) programme, for businesses in India.

Indian businesses are innovating to serve a vibrant, diverse workforce and are transforming to become more competitive nationally and globally, said Rajiv Srivastava, Managing Director, HP Inc., India. HP offers services and solutions that grow with enterprises and organizations, enabling them to leapfrog whole technologies, connect across geographies in India and even global markets. As the final touch-point to their customer and employee, the right device is just the start. Its about how you manage that device, ensuring flexibility, integrating the right application and keeping it secure till its replaced.

With HP Device-as-a-Service, enterprises and organizations use their PCs like a utility - they pay one price per seat on a monthly basis over a three or four year period. They also get customized services and support from HP, such as PC configuration and software installation, onsite break-fix, data migration, proactive support, while having the ability to upgrade to the latest HP commercial desktop, notebook PCs, and tablets for subsequent contract periods.

HP DaaS incorporates services, support and eventual disposal as part of one overall services agreement. This is different from typical leasing agreements where PC acquisition, setup and maintenance are covered under separate contracts. This means that organizations can enjoy more predictable annual costs and greater ease from having to manage just one contract during their entire PC lifecycle. HP DaaS also covers secure and responsible disposal of PCs, a final phase in the PC lifecycle that is often overlooked and risk the leak of sensitive information.

HP DaaS was first implemented with Maruti Suzuki in India, with a focus on empowering their sales force with tablets that come with interactive content and serve as an on-ramp for customer information.

Digital transformation is key for businesses to stay ahead of the curve and deliver best-in-class services to customers. Innovative service model offerings from our partners like HP is helping us to transform our customer experience. Each dealer can better identify the options that match the requirements and aspirations of our customers and address their queries more effectively and provide impeccable experience, said Rajesh Uppal, Executive Director, IT, Maruti Suzuki India Limited.
Nash David

Since the beginning of the year, we've had a new found interest in yet another company from China that was looking to making it big in India. That's precisely the perception that it is yet another Chinese company. But when it comes to LeTV, which is now re-christened as LeEco, things change. LeEco is pronounced lah-eeko. Le is the in French, while Eco refers to the ecosystem based approach that the company has successfully implemented in China, and intends to rollout in India.

(Also read: The complete review of the Le Max.)

And while the feature rich device did gain significant interest, a budget device in the LeEco portfolio is generating a lot of online buzz as well. We had the opportunity to try out the device. Here's our first impressions of the LeEco Le 1s.

Build and design

At first look, the device captures your attention with its use of aluminium. The choice of gold and silver as colours also add to the impression it creates. The finishing of unibody design has a certain level of elegance in it. Unlike the Nexus 6P and 5X released in 2015, where the build material is different; in case of LeEco, the higher-end flagship as well as the budget offering have a visually consistent feel. The LeMax is huge on specs, with a superior design. At about one-third the price, the Le 1s manages to retain a similar visual identity.

If exquisite detail is the secret to an enamouring work of art, chamfering indeed is the recipe to artistic product design. That seems to be a checklist many device manufacturers are incorporating into their products. And at the price that the Le 1s has been launched, it does check all the boxes recommended by modern day industrial design.

There's unibody design, a symmetrical language in the product, chamfered edges and it does feel good to hold. And since it comes in colours such as gold, silver and gray, it could convince a novice that it's a higher end offering as well. Even the fingerprint sensor on the Le 1s has an element of elegance in it.

Display

The Le 1s manages to pack in a good list to begin with. Similar to the build and design, the Le 1s also features an impressive spec sheet when it comes to the display. With a 5.5-inch Full HD display, the device promises a larger viewing experience. That places it with a pixel density going up to 403ppi, which means the viewing quality shouldn't disappoint. The IPS display comes with 10 point multi-touch.

Chipset, RAM, Storage

The LeEco Le 1s is powered by the MediaTek Helio X10 a, which is a 64-bit octa core chipset clocked at 2.2 GHz. This is the same chipset found on the Xiaomi Redmi Note 2. Among the budget devices currently available, the Helio X10 chipset compares among the best chipsets out there. Compared to 4GB on the flagship Le Max, the Le 1s comes with 3GB RAM and 32GB of storage. With 3GB RAM, handling a plethora of apps shouldn't be a problem.

Software and OS

Just like the Le Max, the Le 1s also runs on Android 5.0 with a layer of its proprietary eUI. Simply put, the plain Android experience is refined by making it more practical. To begin with, there's no app drawer, just like we see in most customised user interfaces from Chinese vendors.

There's a working homescreen where you swipe through apps. When you check out the Settings, the UI resembles iOS to quite an extent. In fact, it is a good looking and vivid user interface. However, the sheer amount of customisation possible here is what makes it interesting. LeEco also mentioned that the OS should upgrade to Marshmallow around March or April this year. On the flip side, the company's devices are known for added benefits, especially in terms of content. However, it still doesn't have much India-centric content to offer, but this bound to change with time.

Camera

On the camera front, the Le 1s has a 13MP rear camera with LED flash and phase-detection autofocus (PDAF). For selfie lovers, it comes equipped with a 5MP front-facing camera. The device supports slow motion video recording as well. And although the images we saw during looked good, we'd be able to give an informed opinion only after we do a detailed review of the Le 1s.

Battery and Connectivity

The 'super value phone' as LeEco refers to it, has a 3000mAh battery whereas the Le Max has a 3400mAh battery. According the LeEco, with fast charging, 5 minutes of charge time provides 3.5 hours of talktime.

In addition, the LeEco Le 1s supports all the prominent GSM bands including WCDMA for 3G services (quad band) as well as FDD and TDD LTE bands including 1800, 1900, 2100 and 2300 bands that are used in India. The dual SIM device supports a micro and a nano SIM. For navigation, it supports GPS, A-GPS and GlONASS.

The Le 1s, similar to the Le Max comes with the USB Type-C for faster charging. The connectivity options include Wi-FI 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.1, along with Wi-Fi Direct for streaming to a Wi-Fi Direct compatible smart TV. The Le 1s is fitted with an infrared port that lets the device add up as an infrared remote control for your television or set-top box. It also includes presets for most popular brands currently available.

Bottom line

When we used the Le Max, we were impressed. And why not, it is packed with specifications. And with that kind of a spec sheet, performance is bound to follow. Albeit, it is still premium, with a premium pricing. However, with the Le 1s, that is bound to change. Not only has it sweetened the deal in the price range of Rs 11000 that it was announced, it also betters the deal as an offering. It will further intensify the competition in the fierce Indian budget segment. While it got ignored for most part prior to the launch event, when LeEco announced pricing in India, the Le 1s has spiked in interest. Watch out the space for a detailed review soon.
tech2 News Staff

Samsung finally brings the Gear S2 smartwatch in India that made a debut at the IFA last year. The company has launched two variants of the device - Gear S2 and Gear S2 Classic. The Gear S2 is priced at Rs 24,300 and S2 Classic at Rs 25,800. Both will be made available starting today on Flipkart. They will also be available via Samsung's all retail channels. Besides, the company has also announced the availability of the Gear VR headset at Rs 8,200.

Flipkart is also the online partner for Gear VR.



The Tizen OS based smartwatches sport a 1.2-inch circular Super AMOLED display with 360 x 360 pixels of resolution, with a pixel density of 302ppi. The display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3. Both are powered by a 1GHz processor and 512MB of RAM. Both come equipped with 4GB of onboard storage and are resistant to water and dust.

Samsung Gear S2 will be available in a Dark grey and silver case with a sporty band while the S2 Classic in a black case with a leather band. Other bands for the Gear S2 include Mendini, Warm Grey and Red. The Gear S2 Classic gets Grey leather and Brown leather options.

You will find usual sensors including accelerometer, gyroscope, heart rate, ambient light, and barometer. Finally, completing the package is a 250mAh battery with support for wireless charging.

Talking about the Gear VR headset, it is 22 percent lighter than the previous version and will work with all of Samsungs 2015 line of smartphones. The company had recently announced the all-new Samsung Internet for Gear VR lets users browse through web pages without the need to remove the headset. Whats more exciting is it will let you watch videos from websites directly on the headset, putting away the hassle of downloading them in a separate app. It supports both 360-degree and 3D video streaming, along with any HTML5 video from the web.

Manu Sharma, Director, Product Marketing, Samsung Electronics India said, Samsung has been at the forefront of wearable technology with the introduction of an innovative and progressive Gear product portfolio in India. Samsung Gear S2 is a true testimony to our commitment to provide breakthrough technology to make lives of our consumers better. Armed with cutting edge features such as a paradigm defining Circular UI, connectivity solutions and fitness solutions, the Samsung Gear S2 seamlessly blends mobility with convenience. The wearable, with its sleek circular design and an array of accessorisation options is sure to become the preferred choice of our discerning customers. With the Gear S2, Samsung is setting brave new standards in the wearables category in India.
hidden

Telecom regulator Trai will firm up its view on spectrum price for the next round of auction and differential pricing of data, which is central to the net neutrality issue, by the end of this month.

"We will finalise recommendations on spectrum price by the end of this month... even on differential price (of data), whatever we have to say will be done by the end of the month," Trai Chairman R S Sharma told reporters Wednesday on the sidelines of Convergence India 2016 in New Delhi.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has put out a consultation paper on a reference made by the government to suggest the base or floor price for all available airwaves for mobile services.

The government had pegged revenue from communication services for the current fiscal at Rs. 42,865 crore, which include upfront realisation from spectrum sale and licence fee.

According to an official source, the government will be able to meet the Budget target even without the auction, but still a section of the government wants the auction by March to keep fiscal deficit in check.

Sources see slim chances of the spectrum auction going through in the current financial year because of the processes involved, and the main procedure will start after Trai submits its suggestions on the pricing aspect. The regulator is pulling out all the stops to speed up the process.

On differential pricing of data, Trai has received maximum comments on any of its consultation paper issued till date.

As things stand, telecom operators are making a strong pitch for differential pricing for data services, which is pricing of the Internet based on its usage and business case.

On the other side of the spectrum, the Indian IT industry through Nasscom, Internet-based companies though IAMAI and many Internet forums are opposed to zero-rating platforms.

IAMAI members include Google, Facebook, LinkedIn and the like. However, Facebook is one of those select few Internet companies that have come out with its support for differential pricing of data.

The last date to receive feedback on the Trai paper was December 30, which was later pushed back to January 7. Trai has received some 24 lakh comments on the issue.

Releasing the details, Trai has said it received only 1.89 million responses through Facebook's platform supporting its Free Basics programme to make parts of the Internet available for free whereas the social network put it at more than 11 million.

The social media giant feels there's something amiss and has shot off a letter to Trai, saying "someone with access to designated Trai e-mail account appears to have blocked receipt of all e-mails from Facebook to that Trai account."

Facebook said that during its query, it found that "on December 17 at 5.51.53 GMT, an individual with access to the Trai e-mail account designated to accept comments took action that blocked Facebook from delivering any additional e-mail to that address".

It added that the action by the person prevented Facebook from sending further responsive e-mail to Trai.

An analysis of the record 24 lakh comments shows that 18.94 lakh replies are in support of Free Basics, of which 13.5 lakh are through supportfreebasics.in. A further 5.44 lakh comments have come from facebookmail.com.

Asked about Facebook's allegations, Sharma said: "We have put all the communication in this regard on our Website for the sake of transparency. Beyond that, I will not like to make any comment."

Trai is holding an open-house discussion on the subject tomorrow.

PTI
Karrishma Modhy

Popular and widely used messaging service WhatsApp is now free. The Facebook-owned company has decided to stop charging people 99 cents annually to use the service. Up until now, WhatsApp has been free for the first year, with the annual fee added for subsequent years of use.

WhatsApp founder Jan Koum made the announcement at the DLD conference in Munich and admitted, "It really doesnt work that well." Does this mean we will now see innumerable third party ads? Apparently not. But, the company will instead try to monetise communication in different ways.

WhatsApp said in blogpost, "Starting this year, we will test tools that allow you to use WhatsApp to communicate with businesses and organisations that you want to hear from." The company explains that this could either mean communicating with a bank about whether a recent transaction was fraudulent, or with an airline about a delayed flight. Mostly, these kind messages (SMS) are passed on using a simple SMS. WhatsApp aims to offer tools in which, conversations can be carried out between businesses and organisations with the common man via its service, sans spam and advertisements.

Communicate with businesses and organisations. This sounds a bit similar to BlackBerry Channels or Line Messenger wherein users could head to a channel of interest and discuss about certain topics or even, contact them. As of now, the company's approach remains unclear.

Today, WhatsApp is an integral part of our lives for communication. We depend on the service to talk to various service platforms for work. It could either be a grocery store or even an e-commerce store. If given the option, it would be far more convenient to order a smartphone via WhatsApp rather than going through the trouble of ordering it online. This process would be the simplest, instead of the other two - order online or via retail.

But then again, the only question which arises is security. If the service wishes to offer a platform where companies and consumers can make transactions, it needs to tighten up its security. It is a known fact that even the Pentagon trusts BlackBerry for their internal communication, but not WhatsApp. So would businesses blindly trust the service for intense transactions?

On the contrary, it can. WhatsApp's parent company is Facebook, one of the biggest and strongest platform today has the man power and technical expertise to take it forward. Even revolutionise the entire structure as we know it. A report by Wired points out the deal with Facebook allowed WhatsApp to concentrate on growth without worrying too much about revenue.

Koum points out, WhatsApp has a greater global reach than nearly any other app. This gives Koum and company additional leverage. A lot of companies are global, he says, such as airlines and banks and car rental outfits. And these companies may be willing to embrace this kind of messaging because WhatsApp gives them more efficient access to more people than any other medium.

If this plan goes forward, there wouldn't be much difference between WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, a platform which also allows users to communicate with companies. For example, Facebook has struck a deal with Uber, to allow users to hail a taxi directly from the app. However, Facebook made a good decision by not meddling into WhatsApp and making various changes and added a line of new features. Though, the company kept improvising Messenger and today, it can be touted as a rich-in-media app. Another good decision is not combining them into a single app. Keeping two separate messaging apps makes a lot more sense as Messenger is popular in the US, but WhatsApp has a stronger hold in countries such as India, Brazil and others.

In conversation with Re/Code, Koum has stated that businesses are already finding ways to use WhatsApp to reach customers. The new plan, could make the flow of communication a lot easier. He said that the company wants to experiment with different approaches but added, "We havent written a single line of code yet."

Possibly, WhatsApp could also look at a business-to-consumer (B2C) integration. This leaves WhatsApp as a product, and not a service. It isn't necessary that a business perspective put in to place for WhatsApp could be a welcome change. Even without having ads, companies could send various messages, in the form of advertisements, which might irk the 900 million users and counting, it has today. That's a huge number!

The main essence of the $19 billion acquisition in 2014 for Facebook, has remained untouched, up until now. Here's hoping that Facebook can in fact, monetise the service, at the business' expense and not the user!
Major storm may miss Boston

The Mid-Atlantic region is preparing for a major winter storm that is poised to wallop the Washington and Baltimore areas with up to 2 feet of snow this weekend. However, while this same storm was originally forecast to have a similar impact in New England, recent model runs are suggesting that the storm will take a more southern track, bringing it out to sea and sparing the Boston area from the brunt of the snowfall.

As is usually the case with Noreasters such as this one, slight deviations in the track of the storm can result in huge variations in snowfall totals, as a too-far-offshore track causes the precipitation to miss the area, while a too-far-onshore track causes precipitation to fall as rain. This accounts for some of the uncertainty in the snow forecast several days in advance, when the atmospheric wave features that will eventually develop into a storm are located over the Pacific Ocean, where there are fewer weather observations from which data can be fed into models. On Wednesday, the features of interest with regard to this storm moved over land, where better observational coverage helped to reduce the uncertainty in numerical weather prediction model solutions, which are highly sensitive to initial conditions. As a result, the models have begun to converge on a solution that takes the storm offshore to our south on Saturday night, keeping the majority of the snowfall along or south of the Massachusetts coastline. Boston may still see some snowfall between Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, but it is likely (roughly 85% chance as of this writing) that total accumulation will be under 5 inches.
Until recently, my wife Irene, I traveled about 200 days a year to bluegrass events. On the road we lived in a 26 foot travel trailer with out cat, Callie, our computers, books, and each other. I publish a blog called

and we maintain a

which displays our own videos of bluegrass performances. It has been a surprising journey, which we began in earnest after my retirement. Today, we're mostly retired and at home, but still following bluegrass and adding more homebound interests.
Lucy McBath - Photo: Heidi Heilbrunn

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The mothers of slain teenagers Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis have endorsed Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton for presidents.Sybrina Fulton's son Trayvon Martin was killed in 2012 by George Zimmerman. Zimmerman was acquitted in 2013. Lucia McBath's son Jordan Davis was killed by Michael Dunn. Dunn was found guilty of first-degree murder.In herFulton cites Clinton's endorsement of gun control legislation and opposition to Stand Your Ground laws. "She knew all the statistics. But like so many, Ive long since grown numb to the numbers. So instead, we talked about Trayvon and other families who have lost a loved one to gun violence. We talked about all of the wishes and hopes we had for their lives. And knowing we can never get them back, we discussed how to prevent more moms from losing their sons to gun violence, wrote Fulton,In a column for BET , McBath also touted Clinton's proposed gun control laws and said that Bernie Sanders' record has been a disappointment. He voted against the Brady Bill five times. He also voted for PLCCA, the law that gives gun manufacturers and dealers immunity  not once, but twice, and he continues to say that his vote wasnt a mistake; that its complicated," she wrote. She continued, These issues are not complicated for me or other mothers whose children have been killed or the many other Americans who demand a president who will stand up to the NRA."These are the first political endorsements from the mothers.
Eviction drive sparks clashes at Kalyanpur in city

Dhaka, UNB : Slum dwellers clashed with police during an eviction drive at their slum in the citys Kalyanpur area on Thursday morning. A team of Public Works Department went to Natun Bazar in Kalyanpur of the capital along with police and magistrate Nure Alam to conduct an eviction drive there around 11am. When the team reached there, the slum dwellers obstructed them by throwing brickbats, leading to a clash. However, police brought the situation under control around 11:45 am by charging baton and firing rubber bullets. Later, another spell of clash started around 12:30 pm over the same issue. Advocate Shahjahan Kibria, counsel of the authorities of a mosque situated on the area, said a metropolitan session court on Wednesday issued a stay order asking the authorities not to conduct eviction drive for next two months. The drive was conducted ignoring the order, he said.
US, France condemn Russia`s role in Syria

AFP, Paris :The US and French defence ministers on Wednesday condemned Moscow's role in the Syria conflict, saying Russian jets should stop targeting the opposition forces fighting the Islamic State group."The Russians are on the wrong track strategically and also in some cases tactically," said US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter after a meeting in Paris of seven defence ministers in the coalition fighting IS."We don't have a basis for broader cooperation (with Russia)," Carter said.His French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian said, for his part: "We hope that Russia will concentrate its efforts against Daesh (the Arabic acronym for IS) and stop bombing the groups of the uprising (against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad) who themselves are fighting Daesh." At the same time on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia was ready to work more closely with the US-led coalition to help facilitate aid deliveries inside Syria.Speaking after talks with his US counterpart John Kerry in Zurich, Switzerland, he said: "We spoke about how the Russian air force, when planning its actions, takes into account the programmes that the UN humanitarian organisations, the Red Cross and other NGOs carry out.
President for making edn progs in line with int'l job market



President Abdul Hamid on Thursday underscored the need for taking up education programmes in line with the international job market, saying that demand and job based education is needed for turning the students into skilled human resources for ensuring sustainable development of the country.

"We have to chalk out education plans in line with the international job market and our students will have to be educated with profession based traditional and non-traditional education so that they can survive in this era of globalization through facing challenges," the President said while speaking at the 3rd Convocation of Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP) here.

He said education is the main weapon to build the nation and quality education is needed not only for economic development, rather it is the only way to develop knowledge, non-communal spirit and above all to awake students with patriotism.

"Our universities must keep it in mind because we don't need education for achieving certificate only, rather we need education to build enlightened human being and creative personality to take the nation ahead," he added. The President said Bangladesh needs human resources with ICT knowledge to exploit its huge potentials. Despite institutional and infrastructural problems, the country has been able to maintain over 6 percent growth. It has already become lower middle income country and it will soon become middle income country, he added.

He said Bangladesh has many elements such as huge workforce, export friendly port facilities, creativity, huge internal market and favorable geological position to accelerate growth. As the 21st century is the 'century of Asia', Bangladesh will be able to remain as an advanced passenger in the development highway if it is able to exploit it potentials properly, he added.

Congratulating the new graduates of BUP, the President, who is also Chancellor of all the universities, asked the graduates to work for the welfare of the people as well as the country. "You are now the higher human resource of the country . . . the convocation is giving recognition to your achievement and on the other hand it is bestowing responsibilities on you and these responsibilities are towards your family, society, above all towards the country and nation," he said.

President Hamid suggested changing the name of Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP) because not only the professionals but also general students are studying here.

"Many general students are studying here. So I think it is needed to change the name. The name of might be -University of Excellence, Bangladesh or the persons concerned including the army chief can choose a better name," said President Hamid, also the chancellor of the university.

BUP, run by the armed forces, was established in 2008 as the country's 30th public university.

Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haq and BUP VC Major General Sheikh Mamun Khaled also spoke on the occasion.

University Grants Commission Chairman Prof Abdul Mannan delivered convocation speech.

A total of 835 students were given degrees while 14 got gold medal for their outstanding performance.




Slum eviction turns violent in city

Slum dwellers locked in clashes with police (left) during an eviction drive at Kalyanpur by the Public Works Department (PWD) on Thursday.

Staff Reporter :The High Court has stayed eviction of a slum 'Porabosti' at Kalyanpur in the city for three months. The HC order came soon after a violent clash of the slum dwellers with police and the National Housing Authority erupted during an eviction drive on Thursday morning.The bench passed the order following a writ petition filed by the Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK). Dr Kamal Hossain stood for the petitioner.Apart from it, the HC bench also ordered the authorities concerned not to harass or arrest any slum dweller without any specific allegation.Sarah Hossain, an ASK lawyer, said that the High Court issued a restriction on the eviction of Kalyanpur slum 10 years ago. The government ignored the order and carried out the drive in the slum that houses about 40,000 low-income families, she said. Earlier, a team of the National Housing Authority under the Housing and Public Works Ministry went to the 'Porabosti' with police and magistrate to conduct the eviction drive. The drive turned violent when the Ministry officials and the police started ejecting around 10:00 am.Witnesses said that the slum dwellers attacked the police and the Ministry officials. The slum dwellers obstructed them by throwing brickbats. Police brought the situation under control by charging baton and firing rubber bullets. Later, another spell of clash started at about 12:30 pm over the same issue.The slum was built on a piece of land owned by Housing and Building Research Institute. In the beginning of the drive, police brought down a tin-shed kitchen market on the land that housed around 350 shops. Slum dwellers said that the eviction was being conducted without any prior notice, and rehabilitation programme. The authorities, however, said they issued repeated eviction notices. Locals demand proper rehabilitation before eviction.Md Mamun, who has been living in the slum for the past 27 years, said, "The government promised us of no eviction without rehabilitation. But the eviction drive conducted without any prior notice. We had nothing to do to forge resistance."Advocate Shahjahan Kibria, counsel of the authorities of a mosque situated on the area, said that a metropolitan Session Court on Wednesday issued a stay order asking the authorities not to conduct eviction drive for next two months. The drive was conducted ignoring the order, he said.Nur Alam, an Executive Magistrate of the Ministry, said that the government issued repeated notices beforehand. "We went there to free this land from illegal occupation."Bhuiyan Mahbub Hossain, OC of Mirpur Model Police Station, said that the housing authority officials went to the Kalyanpur slum with police to evict it as per the prior notice. "Officials gave a two-hour deadline to the dwellers to empty the shanties which enraged the locals. Meanwhile, a group of them armed with sticks started to demonstrate triggering the clash," said the OC.Jamiruddin, an architect of the Public Works Department, said, "There are about 50 acres of land in this area. About 15 acres are under illegal occupation. We started the eviction drive to free this land."
Police comb Charsadda, arrest several suspects

AP, Peshawar :A First Information Report (FIR) was registered on Thursday against the four unidentified militants who attacked Charsadda's Bacha Khan University, killing 20 people and injuring at least a dozen others.An injured university employee, Muhammad Fayyaz, expired this morning in the Neurosurgery Intensive Care Unit at Peshawar's Lady Reading Hospital - where two others wounded in the attack remain in critical condition. The death toll now stands at 21.The FIR lodged was lodged on behalf of the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) by Station House Officer Irfanullah of the Serdheri police station in CTD Mardan under sections 7 and 15AA of the Anti-Terrorism Act.Search operations in Charsadda are ongoing as police comb the area around the university. Several suspects have been arrested.During initial investigations, four grenades, 16 magazines and 240 cartridges were recovered from the site of the attack, CTD sources said. Several schools were closed last weekend after intelligence suggested militants were planning an attack, according to Muhammad Amir Rana, director of the private Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies. A Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government spokesman said they were closed as part of a security drill.

Fazle ur-Rahim Marwat, the university's vice chancellor, said security forces alone could not keep students safe, saying it required a move away from an extreme interpretation of Islam. After the Peshawar attack, the government promised to set up a joint Intelligence Directorate, but that has not happened yet. "The government is trying to develop a response but is facing capacity issues," Rana said, particularly in the area of intelligence-sharing among the powerful intelligence agencies and the police.

Rana, whose institute tracks militant movement, said the divisions in the Taliban over who carried out Wednesday's attack probably has more to do with a fear of retribution than a reflection of a deeply divided Taliban. The backlash that followed APS attack was so severe that it probably left the Taliban "reluctant to take credit", he added, noting that Afghan security forces joined in operations against Pakistani Taliban hideouts afterward. In a press conference after the attack, Pakistan military spokesman Lt. Gen Asim Bajwa stated the attackers carried mobile phones with Afghan numbers and "were in touch with their handlers in Afghanistan." He added that the militants hate education because it is a symbol of progress. Pakistan maintains that its militants often find refuge in Afghanistan. Civil society and politicians expressed solidarity with attack victims by organising protests and vigils across the country.

Unidentified gunmen entered Bacha Khan University on Wednesday and opened fire on students and faculty members as they gathered at the school for a poetry recital to commemorate the death anniversary of the activist and leader whom the school is named after. The co-ed Bacha Khan University in Charsadda was named for a prominent secular activist and ally of Mahatma Gandhi, and embodied much of what the extremists revile.

The attack coincided with the anniversary of Khan's death in 1988. Although Khan hailed from the religiously conservative northwest, he was a secular leftist sympathetic to communism, and an outspoken opponent of an earlier generation of jihadis.

The mastermind of the Army Public School Peshawar attack, Umar Mansoor of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Geedar group, claimed responsibility for the attack.

The breakaway Taliban faction that claimed Wednesday's attack called the university "an instrument of the government and army," without elaborating.


Radicalisation of BD workers held under IS dates back to 2013

asiaone20 :

In April 2013, terrorist group Islamic State announced it would expand its operations beyond Iraq as the civil war in Syria worsened.

Around the same time, supporters of radical Bangladesh Islamist group Jamaat-e-Islami were engaged in a wave of violence in the country that saw attacks on police and minorities. That same year, a group

of Bangladeshi construction workers in Singapore began a closed religious study group to discuss these conflicts that involved Muslims, and whether they should take up arms.

By the end of last year, their number had grown.

Between Nov 16 and Dec 1 last year, 26 members and another who nearly joined them were arrested under the Internal Security Act, Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said yesterday. Ranging in age from 25 to 40, most had worked in Singapore between two and seven years.

These work permit holders were not concentrated in any particular construction company or workplace, nor were they concentrated in a particular residential area. But they met every week to discuss taking up arms, and even used the premises of a few local mosques located near where some of them were staying, the ministry said.

Singapore Muslim leaders believe they might have slipped under the radar because quite a number of Bangladeshi workers gather at mosques, especially on weekends, to worship and do volunteer work.

Language poses a significant barrier too: Most Bangladeshi Muslims worship together with other Muslims, but when it comes to discussing religious matters, they are more comfortable using their own language. This group of radicalised men appeared to have taken measures to be discreet about what they discussed.

They circulated hardline material secretly among themselves. They also carefully targeted fellow Bangladeshis to grow their numbers. Some even distributed leaflets calling for the establishment of an Islamic caliphate, according to Bangladeshi workers interviewed who knew some of them.

Among themselves, they circulated videos of radical preachers as well as footage put out by supporters of terror groups like the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). These show clips of young children undergoing martial arts as well as firearms training in what appear to be conflict zones. In the background are rousing Arabic recitations, also common in videos put out by ISIS to instil fervour among viewers.

The ministry said, the members of the group supported the ideology of armed jihad espoused by terror groups like Al-Qaeda and ISIS. They also had grievances against their government back home over its actions against some Bangladeshi Islamic groups and leaders. The Bangladesh government had clamped down on these groups and detained their leaders.

The members donated money to outfits linked to these groups. Some also supported the violent actions of extremists who killed Shi'ite Muslims because they considered them to be deviant. So when this group of Bangladeshi nationals gathered every week, they encouraged members to return home and take up arms against their government.

It appears they went beyond just instilling fervour through videos. Some members had a soft copy document in Bengali that showed, through graphics, how they could attack a targeted victim and kill him quickly and quietly.

The ministry did not give details of how the group was detected, but many Singaporeans and Bangladeshis yesterday denounced these plans and were relieved they were found out before harm was done.
Deported 26 are not ISIS men, 14 belong to ABT

12 under surveillance

Staff Reporter :

The 26 Bangladeshis, whom the Singapore government deported recently, do not have any link with Al Qaeda and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), police said.

In a press briefing on Thursday, Monirul Islam, Joint-Commissioner of Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said, "Fourteen out of 26 are the members of the Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), but none of the 26 people maintain any link with Al Qaeda and the ISIS."

Monirul Islam said that police filed case against 14 under Anti-Terrorism Act and they landed in the jail on December 21 last year.

"Though the rest 12 have been freed, they are now under intelligence surveillance," Monirul Islam said. On Wednesday, the Interior Ministry of Singapore said that police arrested 27 Bangladeshis because they supported the armed jihad ideology of terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda and the ISIS. Out of 27, the Singapore government had already sent back 26 to Bangladeshis.

The Singapore and other international newspapers and news agencies on Wednesday ran stories on it.

Monirul Islam said that the Singapore police black-listed them for their alleged link with the militant outfit and sent them back to Bangladesh in the months of November and December.

"After their (26 people) return, we interrogated them and found 14 people to have link the Ansarullah Bangla Team. Actually, they are the members of the Ansarullah Bangla Team chief Jashim Uddin Rahmania," he said.

"They are also the followers of war crime prisoner Delawar Hossain Sayedee," he said, adding that the plainclothes police collected the soft copy of books written by Jashim Uddin Rahmania.

Citing newspapers' stories, he said that they staying in Singapore were plotting terror attack in Bangladesh.

"But we have not gathered any specific information from them whether they were plotting terror attack in Bangladesh or not," the DB joint-commissioner said, adding all 26 were labourers. He said that they used to listen to religious sermons in Singapore mosques after prayers.


US wants more security at HSIA

Shah Alam Nur :Resumption of the Dhaka-New York direct flights has become uncertain again due to shortage of security measures, although the government had a plan to resume flights between the two cities by 2015. A delegation of the US Anti-Terrorism Bureau visited Bangladesh recently had conveyed their concern over the airport security to the Bangladesh government. It will be difficult to resume Dhaka-New York direct flights if the security measures at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) in Dhaka are not tightened, said the delegates. Operating flights to the US require a country to have 'Category 1' rating from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Biman stopped flying to New York in 1996 after the FAA slapped a ban on Bangladesh in the absence of the rating. Civil Aviation Minister Rashed Khan Menon told The New Nation on Thursday that the government has chalked out a time-bound work plan to beef up security in the airport. He said the government has already increased security measures in the airport after it sent the work plan to the UK on January 11. He said a special 100-member team of the air force, police and Ansars will be in charge of ensuring security in the airport, until the proposed specialised Airport Security Force (ASF) is set up. According to the work plan, the ASF will comprise some 250 members from the air force, police, Rapid Action Battalion and the Armed Police Battalion.Source said, during its three-day visit to Dhaka from January 10 to 12, the three-member US delegation held two separate meetings with the officials of Foreign Ministry and the Civil Aviation Ministry.In their meetings, the US delegation attached importance to increasing security measures in the airport and said the security in the airport will get special attention in future regarding cooperation to combat terrorism.The US delegation in their meetings referred to the recommendations put forth by the UK delegation and said they also take the UK recommendations into cognizance.With ensuring foolproof security in the Dhaka airport, the standard of the Bangladesh Civil Aviation Authority should be upgraded to first class from second class. If not, the flights of the Dhaka-New York route would not resume soon.Civil Aviation Secretary Khorshed Alam Chowdhury said the ministry has planned to purchase equipment worth Tk 90 crore and recruit the required manpower. He said security has already been beefed up on all flights of the Dhaka-London route as part of measures to strengthen security in the airport. "Apart of ensuring utilisation of all scanners, the number of close circuit cameras has been increased in all the areas where the passengers usually have access," he said.He also said necessary equipment, including vehicle scanners, have been installed at the airport.
I killed all five, Mahfuz tells court

Manir Hossain & Mizanur Rahman :Mahfuz, the main accused in connection with the five-murder case in Narayanganj, on Thursday confessed before the judicial magistrate court that he himself killed all the five members of the family."Being failed to develop illicit relations with his maternal aunt slain Lamia, I killed all the five," Mahfuz told the court at 12:00 confessing his guilt into the murder incident. After ending three-day of his remand Mahfuz was produced before the Narayanganj Judicial Magistrate court of Sayeduzzaman Sharif where he confessed his involvement with the gruesome murder.On Monday, a judicial magistrate's Court put Mahfuz on a seven-day remand in connection with the killing. Judicial Magistrate Sayeduzzaman Sharif recorded Mahfuz's statement Under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPc). "I have murdered all the five members of the family as my maternal aunt Lamia refused my proposal to develop an extramarital relations with her. As I hit them with grinder they became unconscious. Later I strangled all of them to death," quoting Mahfuz, Superintendent of Police (SP) of Narayanganj Khandakar Mahid Uddin told journalists at a press briefing on Thursday."I have murdered one after another from Friday midnight to Saturday morning," Mahfuz was quoted as saying. On Saturday night the five members of the family --Taslima Begum, 35, wife of Shafiqul Islam, a private car driver in capital Dhaka, their children Sumaiya, 5, Shantu, 10, Taslima's brother Morshedul, 22, and Lamia, 25, -- were hacked to death at their Baburail residence in Narayanganj. The family members were the residents of a rented house in Baburail area.Police arrested Mahfuz and showed him arrested in the case on the same day. The SP said that they have collected all evidences properly relating to the brutal murder.Taslima Begum's husband Shafiqul Islam told the court that he along with his associates killed the five members of the family. "Mahfuz plotted to take revenge on his slain aunt Lamia as she had refused his proposal for developing an illicit relationship with him," Mohfuz said.On Tuesday, police arrested another accused Nazma Akter who is now on a five-day remand.Earlier, police detained six persons, including Shafiqul's nephew Mahfuz. Mahfuz is now under a seven-day remand. The rest detained five persons were released later. Shafiqul Islam, husband of deceased Taslima Begum, filed the case against Nazma Akhter, Shahjahan, Badal Bahadur, Badsha and some unidentified miscreants with Narayanganj Sadar Police Station on Sunday.
Police lack leadership and feel free to commit crimes

THE world for Bangladeshi women is becoming narrower as police for whom the prime duty is to protect citizens from illegal activities have become the offenders. It is no assurance that there are many good police officers when some of them commit crimes with impunity. Discipline among police is breaking down and for any civilised people, such a situation is very disturbing. Blaming police is not the solution is also known. Solution has to come from the leadership representing the people. Again that kind of leadership is not only absent, but too much dependent on police power. As per media reports on Thursday, the Officer-in-Charge of Jatrabari Police Station, among five policemen, was accused of assaulting a woman centring a family dispute. The police getting involved in sexual offences is not quite new. What is new is the boldness and frequency of their involvement. The reports of police killing and torturing people for money or any other reasons are being published almost everyday. Any sensible man will agree that only a few such incidents are reported. According to the media outlet, the victim woman filed a case with the Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal-2 in Dhaka accusing the five policemen of Jatrabari and Mugda police stations. Jatrabari OC Abani Shankar called Imran, the brother of the victims to meet him and demanded Tk one lakh, but he refused to pay. The angered policemen then tortured Imran and abused his sister. The incident explains a lot how policemen feel free to extort people putting them in traps, and what they do if people refuse to pay the ransom. The crimes and excesses committed by the police are a dangerous sign of lawlessness in the country and we do not see leadership able to put things right in the country. Everybody is insecure where police is not a disciplined force for protecting the people as faithful law enforcers. We need political leadership elected by the people and acting for the people. A government without the peoples' support is no less helpless to help people.
We know about the need of democracy but outsiders are proving no help

THE British High Commissioner Ms Alison Blake in her first press conference in Dhaka on Thursday has laid emphasis like her predecessor on free, fair and inclusive elections to flourish democracy in the country and offered all cooperation of her government in this regard. The first female British envoy to Bangladesh in her initial impression on the country's politics made no secret that 'in January 5, 2014 parliamentary elections majority of the people was deprived of exercising their franchise' and hoped 'future elections at all-levels will be participatory, fair and transparent.'

We know she has rightly said there is no alternative to sustainable democracy to achieve sustainable development. Our people struggle hard and long for securing democracy. The main goal of the liberation war was democracy. But as ill-luck will have it, free Bangladesh has proved not free for democracy. The outsiders have taken full advantage of the void in our leadership. The painful truth is that we have lost our voting right to be taken us seriously. Global politics and global interest counts more than the importance of political stability, peace and security of a country.

She reminded us that the UK had concerns over the January 5 elections. The fake election has emboldened everybody to get elected without free and fair election. Where journalists and lawyers are encouraged to give up their professional independence to become party activists, there can't be a civil society strong enough to fight for and protect democracy.

In fact, what the British envoy has said is nothing new than what the envoys and leaders of other western democratic nations have earlier said and whenever the opportunity comes talk of democracy however forgetting how best to help us. Even India is also not showing interest for us to have a functioning democracy.

Our people know what democracy is and its importance for good governance and the rule of law. But what we do not understand is how our people who gave lives for democracy could become so helpless.


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NEWS AND VIEWS THAT IMPACT LIMITED CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT



"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with

power to endanger the public liberty." - - - - John Adams


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The beauty in Cinema on the Bayou, Lafayettes homegrown film festival created and curated by filmmaker Pat Mire, is variety. In selecting films for the week-long celluloid celebration, which commenced Wednesday at the Acadiana Center for the Arts and includes full-length narrative films, documentaries, shorts, animation, panel discussions and more, is how wide a net Mire casts in selecting entries.

Hundreds of original works will be screened during CotBs annual haunt at the AcA and several satellite locations, most of them making either their U.S. or Louisiana debut. The Last New Year is no exception.

Clocking in at just over 14 minutes, this short rom/com focuses on Alyssa, a sexually starved 20-something determined to end her romantic drought on New Years Eve. The Last New Year is the creation of a serendipitous pairing of Chicagoans  director Natasha Parker, whose credits include Empire, Transformers 3 and serving as Spike Lees key assistant and location manager for Chiraq; and NK Gutierrez, a classically trained dancer, vocalist and actor who wrote the screenplay and stars as Alyssa.

The film was created by and stars African-American actors, but its themes are universally human.

The IND caught up with Parker and Gutierrez ahead of the films Louisiana premiere this Saturday, Jan. 23 at 8:45 p.m. at the AcA.

Natasha Parker

What brought you to direct this film? How did working on this film compare to some of your other short films?

Natasha Paker: NK and I have known of each others talents for years now. She wanted a female director first and foremost with a free spirit and open mind as the subject matter is one that is still taboo in some circles. I read the script and I was all in. It was a great comedic piece. Every woman has had to spruce themselves up for that hot date and every womans flame has been extinguished by a disappointing date. All my films Im producing and directing, yet this time I was able to solely focus on directing. For once I didnt have to worry about who was catering and if the Exhibit G was completed, invoices. It was great, I shut everything out of my mind except what was in front of the camera.

What made you decide to submit to Cinema on the Bayou?

NP: Better yet why not submit? The history and the growth is of that independent filmmaker/supporter spirit and being that NK and I are cut from that market, it was a match. Our film is a bit racy for some and it takes an open-minded festival and audience to appreciate this piece.

NK Gutierrez

What was the inspiration behind TLNY? Is there a message to the single women of the audience? If so, what?

NK Gutierrez: The inspiration for the script came from a variety of different stories and personal experiences coupled with my wild imagination. I wanted to create a piece that highlighted dating life from the female perspective in the age of computer love. The single gal is living in a time where dating is a consistent reminder that love at first swipe may not be love at first sight! The message behind TLNY is multi-layered. There is a lot that happens in this film in 14 minutes. Women watching TLNY will connect in different ways but will all circle back to the central theme that dating is tough. No matter what you bring to the table in terms of looks, life experience or finances, none of us are immune to falling face first into a dating disaster.

Why a short film as opposed to the traditional film length?

NKG: TLNY was the first script I had ever written. I wanted to start with a project that I felt was feasible to produce with the intention of garnering interest and support to create the feature length. I ultimately intend to make TLNY into an animated series. Alyssa, the main character, is on a hilarious journey that she invites her audience in to experience right along with her. The short is only her beginning!

A scene from The Last New Year

How did seeing the first African-American female director win the Sundance Film Festival motivate you to do more? And do you think TLNY will inspire others to do the same?

NKG: It is said that, In order to believe it, one must see it. Sundance 2012 was the epitome of seeing is believing for me. There is something to be said for having role models who look like you. It shifts your thinking, stirs your spirit, strengthens your faith, broadens your perspective of what is attainable. When I saw Ava DuVernay win, I thought, Why not me? My hope is that when woman see my film, TLNY, that was written, produced, directed, script supervised and set decorated by women, that it will not only encourage them to use their creative voice, but moreover inspire them to support and work with like-minded women to create meaningful stories told from our unique female perspective.

IND intern Amy Dupuis contributed to this article.
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!
The S.P.D. Murder of John T. Williams

On a sunny, warm Seattle August day in 2010, Native American wood carver John T. Williams was murdered by the Seattle Police Department as he walked down the crowded downtown streets while on his normal daily routine of carving small totem poles with a small pen knife, then selling them to the tourists that flock by the Seattle Public Market.

Seattle Police Officer Ian Birk noticed Mr. Williams walking down the city streets and deemed him a threat, do in major part I believe - simply because he was Native American. Williams was one of many homeless Native Americans who roam downtown Seattle. These people are usually dismissed and overlooked by Seattles daily bustle of businessmen, the working class, and tourists.



When the officer approached Williams from behind, and then ordered him to freeze and drop his small carving knife and a stick of carving wood he was carrying, Williams was hard of hearing in one ear, and failed to hear the police officer over the traffic and pedestrians, thus did not immediately comply; officer Birk then instantly felt that this gave him the right to use lethal force against John T. Williams.

No threat was ever given by the homeless woodcarver. Officer Ian Birk coldly gunned down John T. Williams from behind, murdering him in the streets of Seattle, Wash, right in front of many horrified citizens who later professed that they felt no threat from the homeless Native American man whatsoever.



The officer was fired  thats it, and was allowed to live his life somewhere else, work a steady job, live in a nice house, somewhere out of media sight, and out of the publics mind; smug in the fact that he got away with legal murder with just a slap on the wrist. We must all remember that this type of legal homicide happens every day all over this nation of ours, by those sworn to Serve and Protect us. And that this violent tragedy can happen to anyone, or anybodys family members, especially if they are citizens of color. This makes it everybodys problem who believes in justice, personal safety from unwarranted persecution, and true American freedom in the society they live in. Let us still remember John T Williams, and never forget the fact that he was ruthlessly murdered by the S.P.D.






















































CAIRO  It appears members of the Alexander County Housing Authority board violated the Illinois Open Meetings Act when they denied citizens the right to speak at Tuesdays meeting.

The specially called meeting included one agenda item, a vote on the hiring of Sesser Mayor Jason Ashmore as executive director, and lasted less than five minutes. During that time, with almost no discussion, three board members in attendance voted to hire Ashmore against the directive of a HUD official, Ashmore gave a brief statement about his goal of working as a team, and a vote was taken to adjourn the meeting. At its conclusion, Chairman Andy Clarke announced, The meeting is over.

At that, Theresa Delsoin, a community activist, stood up and in a spirited tone and said, No. The meeting is not over. It is not over. You are acting like mafia rogues against the community and were not going to stand for it. You better believe it.

At the same time, another activist, Linda Frazier said, You cannot disrespect the citizens and do what you want to do.

'It was totally disrespectful'

In an interview on Wednesday, Delsoin said there was no reason for the board not to allow a citizen comment period, as is required by Illinois law. Making the denial to speak even more problematic, Delsoin said, is that the three board members in attendance  Clarke, Monica Smith and Sidney Miller are white, as is Ashmore, while the majority of those in attendance at the meeting as interested citizens were black residents of the housing authority and community activists. A couple of white public housing authority residents also were in attendance. Many of the people in the audience are part of a newly formed group called the Cairo Public Housing Advocacy Group for Change.

There are two African-Americans on the housing authority board  Irene McBride and Judson Childs  but they were not in attendance at the meeting.

It was totally disrespectful of the people in this community, totally disrespectful, and thats what theyve been doing for years: silencing people, controlling everything, said Delsoin, age 75, who grew up in Cairo, left after high school and returned in 2007. Theyve already been cited for civil rights violations by HUD and they keep doing the same thing.

It was whites against a majority of blacks. It was a small minority of whites that showed disrespect and disregard for a majority of black residents that were there to speak on behalf of people in public housing.

Public comment time required

According to the Illinois Attorney Generals Office, the Open Meetings Act, revised in 2010, requires that public bodies give members of the public an opportunity to speak at a public meeting. Public bodies are authorized to adopt rules regarding the public comment portion of the meeting, such as in the amount of time each person is allotted to speak.

At the meeting, when residents request to speak, Clarke can be heard saying that the meeting was special. The meeting agenda, sent to the newspaper on Jan. 14, states it is a "special called meeting." Thats because it was outside of the regularly scheduled meetings of the housing authority, held generally in Cairo on the fourth Thursday of each month.

Don Craven, general counsel with the Illinois Press Association, said the act requires that those holding public meetings offer a time for public comment regardless of whether it is a specially called meeting or a regular meeting. As a remedy, citizens can file a complaint with the attorney general's office, or a civil lawsuit can be filed seeking remedy from a judge, Craven said.

Board chairman responds

In an interview Wednesday, Clarke said it was his belief that public comments were not required during special meetings, only regularly scheduled meetings. Asked if, regardless of the law, it may have been appropriate to let citizens in attendance time to speak, Clarke responded, It wasnt there for that. We were there to approve or disapprove of the hiring of Jason Ashmore for executive director.

Many of those in attendance were there to speak out against the hiring of Ashmore, especially in light of the fact that Maurice McGough, HUDs Region V director of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, has declined to sign off on the boards hiring of Ashmore. McGough is required to approve the boards choice for executive director under the terms of a Voluntary Compliance Agreement the board approved in late 2015 to resolve a number of civil rights violations by the housing authority for discriminatory practices in housing and hiring as cited by HUD.

After the newspaper read to him the requirement for public comment time as stated by the Illinois Attorney Generals Office on its website, Clarke said he would check with his attorney and get back to the newspaper.

A bit later, Clarke called back to say that after speaking to three states attorneys and two city council members  he declined to name any of them  he is now of the opinion that each meeting does require an allowance for public comments at any point in the meeting. In the future, well put it on there somewhere, Clarke said. But he maintained that the meeting overall was not a violation of the Open Meetings Act and the vote to hire Ashmore stands.

Clarke said that's because the one vote taken was on an agenda item, and the agenda was posted in advance of the meeting in accordance with the law. Asked if he believed he violated the act on Tuesday by not inviting citizens to speak, Clarke said that's a matter of interpretation.

Perhaps it was an oversight when I asked if there were any more questions or any more matters to be brought before the board. I should have given it a little more time for people to answer before I adjourned the meeting, Clarke said.

What the recording shows

The Southern Illinoisan took a video recording of the entire brief meeting, and a review of that recording showed that Clarke did not, at any time, ask if there were more questions or more matters to be brought before the board. At the beginning of the meeting, Clarke turned to each of the two other board members individually and asked if they had considered any other applicants, as HUD requested they do, or if they had any other questions. Both said no, and Clarke then sought a motion to approve the hiring of Ashmore.

After the 3-0 vote was taken to hire Ashmore, Clarke turned to Ashmore, welcomed him, and asked if he would like to make a statement. After Ashmores comments, a television reporter attempted to ask a question of Ashmore, and Clarke interrupted saying, Wait a minute, were still in a meeting.

Then, immediately, Clarke said, With no other business on the agenda, do we have a motion to adjourn? There was a roll call vote to adjourn, then Clarke said, Motion adjourned. The meeting is over.

Thats when Delsoin and Frazier stood up to say that, in their opinion, the meeting was not over. But very quickly, the board members exited the room.

Interviewed on Wednesday, Frazier said she too was frustrated that citizens were not allowed to speak for the record during the meeting. This is what happens every time when theres a meeting, Frazier said. They rush to adjourn and they know we have something to say but theyre not concerned about what we have to say. How can you say youre here representing the people and youre not allowing them to speak? It makes no sense.

Frazier, who is black, said she understands how some people might feel that the rejecting of public comments by the board was racially motivated, but said to her it's not a race issue, but a human rights issue. "They dont care about the constituents theyre supposed to represent," she said. "They dont care. If they did, they would give them a voice."

"It's not an issue of black or white," she said. "It's green, as in greed."

Ashmore stayed after meeting

After the meeting, Ashmore stayed in the meeting room and spoke with citizens and reporters for about 30 minutes. Those in attendance peppered him with questions and statements about his lack of experience in public housing, the fact that he doesnt plan to relocate to Cairo and will remain in Sesser serving as part-time mayor there, and why he would put himself in a position to accept the job in a process that many there believed to be inappropriate and unfair, given HUDs rejection of his hiring.

Ashmore repeated on multiple occasions that he hoped to work together with everyone, and asked for a chance.

Philip Mathews, a pastor in Cairo and community activist, also asked Ashmore about what experience he has working with African-Americans, and quizzed him on whether he knew the black population of Sesser. First of all, I dont see race one way or the other. It doesnt matter to me, Ashmore said.

Councilwoman Connie Williams, who is black, responded to that, Thats a problem.

Seventy percent of Cairos population is black; compared to 0.2 percent of Sessers, according to The U.S. Census. The failings of the housing authority have more severely and disproportionately affected black residents in Cairo, with the rapid decline of the predominately black family housing developments Elmwood Place and McBride Place, while the units that are more racially integrated are in better condition. Matthews said he asked the question because he wanted to know how much experience Ashmore has working with African-Americans.

Later, Ashmore told reporters that when he was with IDOT, he spearheaded a program to increase minority hiring and said the program had a good success rate.

Matthews also asked Ashmore about his lack of experience in public housing. I have worked with public housing, Ashmore said. We have a complex in the city of Sesser. Ashmore later clarified that he has worked in partnership with the Franklin County Housing Authority mostly with regards to confidential law enforcement interactions at the complex. Though he touted this experience, previously, Ashmore was asked by the newspaper if he wanted to respond to Cairo Mayor Tyrone Colemans criticisms made at a press conferences earlier this month about Ashmore's expected hiring, and Ashmore responded: What does the mayor have to do with the housing authority?

'They can all pack up and go'

The two African-American members of the board, McBride, who serves as the tenant representative on the board, and Childs, a former Cairo mayor, were both absent from Tuesdays meeting, as they were in mid-December when the board interviewed four executive director candidates by phone and tentatively selected Ashmore.

Childs recently told the newspaper he didnt feel there was any point in attending the meetings because with three white members, it was stacked against the two black members and his vote wouldnt make a difference, as has been proven the case on a couple of occassions. He also said he has been busy caring for a wife who is ill. The compliance agreement with HUD requires that McBride and Childs exit the board within a year. Both longtime board members were part of previous administrations alleged to have misspent funds intended for residents on themselves and other employees and board members.

Childs said he won't let HUD or anyone else direct what he does, but said he would make a decision about resigning by the next regularly scheduled board meeting on Jan. 28.

In calling for the resignation of Clarke and Smith, Coleman said previously that was because of their deep social and political ties to James Wilson, and because of their inability to properly represent the interest of the tenants of the housing authority. Matthews, who also attended the mayors press conference, said after Tuesdays vote, he is adding board member Miller to the list of those who should resign. Wilson was the longtime former executive director who is at the center of much of the alleged mismanagement and misspending.
MURPHYSBORO  Dr. Conrad Will was a physician and entrepreneur, "a mover and shaker" who founded Jackson County in 1816, when it was created from portions of Randolph and Johnson counties.

The state's new and ninth county was named after Andrew Jackson, who was then a general before he went on to become the seventh U.S. president. Will donated land for the development of Brownsville, which was the first Jackson County seat.

Jackson County Courthouse added to National Register of Historic Places MURPHYSBORO  The majestic courthouse in the middle of downtown Murphysboro has been designa

The life and contributions of Will will be commemorated in one of two historical markers being unveiled at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Jackson County Courthouse. The other marker will commemorate the Jan. 10, 1816, birth of Jackson County, which this year celebrates its bicentennial anniversary.

"Conrad Will was an entrepreneur and he saw this as being something that would be to his advantage," said Mike Jones, a historian who also works for the Murphysboro Tourism Commission.

Will was not just a doctor, but also operated a grist mill, a tannery and salt works. He moved to Illinois in 1813, coming from Pennsylvania, where he was born in 1779.

He was a Jackson County representative at the First Illinois Constitutional Convention and served in the General Assembly from 1818 until his death in 1835, according to a news release from the Murphysboro Tourism Commission.

The markers are to be erected by some of Will's descendants who live in the area, and representatives from Jackson County government and the Illinois State Historical Society.

These markers note the historical contributions to the area. In December, the Jackson County Courthouse was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Murphysboro Tourism Commission is coordinating the bicentennial activities.
CARBONDALE  Concerned by the imminent closure of one of Southern Illinoiss biggest coal mines, a group of Southern Illinois University administrators are reaching out to lend a hand.

Administrators at the Advanced Coal and Energy Research Center are hoping a new scholarship will help ease the financial burden of college for Southern Illinois students impacted by the coal industrys decline.

A lot of kids trying to attend college count on their parents resources, said Tomasz Wiltowski, director of the center and a professor in the Mechanical Engineering and Energy Processes department. When parents lose their jobs, like those miners did, its a problem.

In May, August and November, American Coal Company announced a series of steep layoffs at its two Galatia mines. In November, the company announced one of the mines will close.

One of two Galatia mines expected to close in 2016 GALATIA  One of two mines at American Coal Co. is expected to cease operations by mid-year 

The industry has contracted in Southern Illinois since 1980, when the regions mines employed about 8,525 workers. That number dipped to 2,154 in 2000 and has hovered below 3,000 ever since.

Earlier this month, a federal report estimated that U.S. coal production had fallen to its lowest level in since 1986.

But Wiltowski said changes in the industry dont preclude students from following in their parents footsteps. The centers faculty members research energy solutions of the future  from cleaner coal to renewable energy. And a shortage of energy professionals means theyre always looking for new recruits.

The four-year, $5,000/year Energy Boost Undergraduate Scholarship will be offered to up to five students who enroll in the mechanical engineering department. Students must hail from high schools south of U.S. 50, which runs from Lawrenceville and Olney in southeast Illinois to the suburbs of St. Louis. Transfer students also are encouraged to apply.

As part of the application, students are asked to submit an essay detailing how the coal industrys contraction has impacted their lives.

Funding to support the scholarship comes from the $4.6 million Energy Boost. The research center secured the private grant in 2015. In addition to the scholarship, funds have been used to set up seed grants for researchers, Wiltowski said.

The scholarship application deadline is March 11, and winners will be announced on April 6. Interested students are asked to visit http://acerc.siu.edu/energyboost/scholarships/undergraduate.html, or call 618-453-7327.
Will we get any snow this winter? The mere mention of a slight chance of it this week sent excitement buzzing through The Times and Democrat newsroom on Tuesday. The rarity of snow in our neck of the woods seems to be cause of celebration, even among adults.

Where I grew up in Franklin, Virginia, we typically received a couple of good snowfalls a year, and it was always a celebration. The town would even block off the steep hill beside Franklin Baptist Church to traffic so kids could go sledding.

Fires were built in old oil barrels at the top of the hill so sledders could warm their hands over the flames. We all wore gloves, stocking caps, layers of warm clothing and boots, but our gloves and socks would get soaking wet from playing in the snow, and our fingers and toes would start getting numb.

All the kids had sleds, and we'd wax their runners to make them glide faster over the snow. We competed to see whose sled could travel the greatest distance. We'd take a running start, belly-flop onto our sleds and fly down the hill, snow hitting our faces. Once, I sailed all the way past the funeral home at the bottom of the hill. Another time, I sailed right into the creek that ran behind the church. My sledding ended abruptly that day as I had to trudge back home to change into dry clothes and warm up beside Nannie's big oil heater.

More adventurous and daring sledding could be had on Miss Fannie's Hill at the end of our street. The hill had lots of slopes and dips and a creek also run through the property below. Yep, we ended up in the "crick" a many a time!

Mama used to lament that it didn't matter what season of the year it was, my brother and I would have to change clothes at least twice a day when we were kids because we were always falling into something.
Southern Palmetto Hospital, formerly Barnwell County Hospital, is temporarily closing in what some officials say points to the critical state of rural hospitals.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the hospital stated it would end patient services on Thursday, "and temporarily cease operations."

The statement indicated the hospital's current owner is seeking alternatives for the provision of heatlh care services in the community, but future plans have yet to be approved.

"It appears that small rural hospitals are something of the past, and it is imperative that the state work with local officials to help bridge the emergent health care gap for the state's rural communities, which is the majority of the state now," said Joey Preston, Bamberg County Administrator.

"Now in certain parts of Bamberg County it may take an hour or more for someone that needs to be taken to an emergency room to actually get there," Preston added.

According to the Barnwell hospital's website (http://www.southernpalmettohospital.com), Southern Healthcare Investment LLC purchased the 53-bed acute care facility in June 2013. The hospital has served the Barnwell community for more than 60 years.

A decline in hospital volumes has been blamed for the temporary closure. The statement noted that "maintaining a full-service hospital for the current demand from acute and emergency patients is not sustainable" and that the hospital has been operating at a loss despite efforts to improve efficiency, collections and the facility itself.

The statement indicated the hospital lost $2.5 million from operations because of a low patient census and uncompensated care. It further reads that the managing partners of the hospital "will continue to try and find ways to keep this valuable resource available to Barnwell and the surrounding area."

Bamberg County at one time had been working with Barnwell and Allendale counties to develop a Tri-County Regional Health System. New York-based Health Management Partners LLC was hired in April 2011 to manage the Bamberg County Hospital. The contract called for HMP to coordinate the restructuring of the hospitals' debt, with all three facilities filing for bankruptcy under Chapter 9 of the U.S. Code of Laws.

HMP, along with Dobbs Equity Partners LLC, later signed a letter of intent with Bamberg, Barnwell and Allendale counties to build a 70- to 80-bed acute care regional hospital. New multi-specialty ambulatory primary care centers, which would have been located on or near each of the three existing hospital campuses, were also proposed.

Allendale County pulled out of the deal in July 2011; Barnwell County bailed out of the partnership shortly after that.

A new arrangement between Bamberg and Barnwell county hospitals was attempted later, but the effort to develop a regional health care system with Memphis, Tenn.-based Dobbs Equity Partners LLC ultimately failed. Both hospitals filed for bankruptcy while they worked to restructure their debt, but the deal with Dobbs was never finalized.

The Bamberg County Hospital Board voted to close its hospitals doors in April 2012. In September of 2012, Bamberg County Hospital Board members announced they were working to establish a partnership with Hospital Corporation of America for 24/7 emergency health care services.

Allendale County Councilman William Robinson said while Allendale County Hospital is still "chugging along," it has not been easy.

"We just gave them an advance to do some roof repair to the hospital and nursing home. I wouldn't say we're making money, but we're keeping our heads above water. That's all you can expect for a rural hospital," Robinson said.

"We've just been blessed that we've been able to hold on," he said, noting the hospital's administration has done a good job in managing the facility.

Robinson added, "I think it's going to be an uphill battle to keep rural hospitals open. One of the pluses for our hospital is that the hospital owns the two primary medical clinics. We contract some of that out, but we do have a pulse on the medical providers. It has not been easy, but the fact that our hospital is a Critical Access Hospital helps us."

CAH certification allows the hospital to receive cost-based reimbursements from Medicare instead of standard fixed reimbursement rates.

Of Southern Palmetto's closure in Barnwell, Robinson said, "It's sad to think of that because we have a lot of folks from Allendale that come through the Barnwell hospital for some services. The state's going to have to look out for rural hospitals for residents to be able to have access to services close to home or at home.

'I know the state has kind of looked at teachers in rural communities, but I think they're going to have to emphasize doctors and specialties in rural communities."
Deputies reported he beat Sasha, a German shepherd, repeatedly with a wooden board and then said, Its only a dog.

Now Harry Leon Lee Leviner II, 45 of 2169 Charleston Highway, is serving time for felony animal abuse.

On Jan. 14, Leviner pleaded guilty to ill treatment of animals, torture.

Circuit Judge Ed Dickson sentenced him to a term of five years in prison and a $5,000 fine provided that after he serves 18 months in prison and pays $500, the sentence will be suspended to four years of probation.

Leviner must also successfully complete anger management classes and is not allowed to own any animals during his probation term.

A concerned citizen videoed Leviner beating Sasha in October 2015 and contacted the Orangeburg County Sheriffs Office.

Authorities also learned that Leviner had two additional German shepherds  Max and Montana.

Orangeburg County Animal Control removed Sasha, Max and Montana from Leviners home.

Leviner planned to petition the court to keep the dogs, but later changed his mind. Last month, Leviner signed over ownership of the dogs to Orangeburg County Animal Control.

Two of the dogs began receiving treatments for heartworms and one of the dogs had a double ear infection.

Orangeburg County Animal Control Director Les Porter said that all of the dogs have been adopted into new homes.

Porter said that a rescue group in New York adopted Sasha and another group in Daytona Beach, Fla. adopted Max and Montana.

Also during his court appearance last Thursday, Leviner pleaded guilty to an unrelated charge of reckless driving.

Dickson sentenced him to serve 30 days at the Orangeburg County Detention Center where hes currently an inmate.

Prosecutors dismissed a charge of child endangerment and open container.

Leviner was arrested on Aug. 8, 2015 on the three traffic offenses.
Local law enforcement from around the state reports crime numbers to the State Law Enforcement Division, which compiles rankings of counties on the severity of crime.

But as of January 2016, the most recent numbers available from SLED date back to 2012.

Unlike in the early to middle years of the both 1990s and the 2000s, those SLED numbers do not show Orangeburg County ranking at or near the top in nearly every violent crime category. But neither can the numbers and rankings be called good news.

In 2012, Orangeburg County had the fifth-highest murder rate among counties.

The county was 14th in rapes with 5.2 per 10,000 population.

Robbery affected 12.8 of every 10,000 people, ranking the county seventh highest.

Property crimes affected nearly 500 of every 10,000 people, ranking the county ninth highest. The ranking for breaking and entering was eighth highest and larceny was 11th.

On the positive side, the county had the fourth lowest rate in aggravated assault.

What we can report beyond the 2012 crime statistics are new numbers from 2014 related to burglary and crime rates as compiled by Consumer Affairs, a consumer news and advocacy organization founded in 1998 by James R. Hood, a veteran Washington journalist and public affairs executive.

Among T&D Region cities and towns:

Bamberg  1-in-129 chance of being a burglary victim. The crime rate was 82.83 per 1,000 people and the average was .79 crimes per day.

St. Matthews  1-in-112 chance of being a burglary victim. The crime rate was 83.21 per 1,000 people and the average was .46 crimes per day.

Orangeburg  1-in-94 chance of being a burglary victim. The crime rate was 109.45 per 1,000 people and the average was 4.16 crimes per day.

North  1-in-63 chance of being a burglary victim. The crime rate was 87.72 per 1,000 people and the average was .18 crimes per day.

Santee  1-in-56 chance of being a burglary victim. The crime rate was 271.58 per 1,000 people and the average was .71 crimes per day.

Holly Hill  1-in-46 chance of being a burglary victim. The crime rate was 177.83 per 1,000 people and the average was .61 crimes per day.

For comparison purposes, the best place to be in South Carolina to avoid being a burglary victim was West Pelzer with its 1-in-890 chance. But the municipality in 2014 had a 204.49 crime rate per 1,000 people and an average of .5 crimes per day.

The worst was Nichols with a 1-in-24 burglary chance. Its crime rate was 118.31 but there were only .12 crimes per day.

Nationwide, Consumer Affairs shows the burglary odds in 2014 at 1 in 182 and the crime rate at 64.65 per 1,000 people. There were 36,905 crimes per day.

If the numbers leave you confused and wanting, well further add to the mix by stating that some locations did not make the rankings because of insufficient data and other factors.

So in the end, perception becomes the driving force in forming opinions about the severity of crime. And anyone directly affected by crime will be hard to convince that things are better.

As for indicators beyond 2014, the FBI reported preliminary nationwide numbers for 2015 on Tuesday. They show violent crime rose across the country in the first six months of 2015 compared to the same period the year before.

The statistics show a 1.7 percent jump in the overall number of violent crimes reported by local law enforcement, with increases in murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault. The FBI said violent crime rose most dramatically, at 5.3 percent, in cities with populations between 250,000 and 499,999.

Burglary and property crimes, however, dropped in the first six months of last year, as did arson offenses.
South Carolina State University officials worked against the clock Wednesday to complete and turn in the 2016-17 budget request to lawmakers by a 4:30 p.m. deadline.

President Dr. W. Franklin Evans told trustees at a special called meeting on Wednesday that the administration was re-doing its budget plan because the original one followed the wrong format. That plan was based on one prepared for the governor last fall, he said.

I found out yesterday there is a template we need to incorporate the information in he said. Unfortunately, it entails a lot of other information and stuff that we had not pulled together.

Evans said following the meeting that the document would be complete by the deadline.

We have no choice, he said.

Board Chair Charlie Way said the report would be handed in on Wednesday, but its still a work in progress.

The General Assembly will probably ask for other things, he said. We will have everything prepared probably by the close of the business day on this Friday.

The budget document is scheduled for review by the House Ways and Means Higher Education subcommittee on Tuesday, Jan. 26.

Following Wednesdays meeting, Evans said the document had 52 pages that had to be completed.

For example, the university was to provide detailed data about employees, such as whether they are tenured or not. It was also to provide detailed information about students, including a headcount and the number of fulltime equivalent students for every college, he said.

The university was also supposed to provide information on the number of students who applied each year for the past several years, how many were accepted and how many actually enrolled, Evans said.

Other required information includes statistics on the six-year graduation rate for students who entered college in 2008 as well as tuition and fees rates for both in-state and out-of-state students for the past several years.

The document also asked for cost factors behind the rates and a breakdown on scholarships, grants and outstanding debt.

Evans did not specify how much funding the university is requesting for next year.

Evans went over the universitys partially filled-out budget request with the board, but the media was denied access to it.

General Counsel Craig Burgess said that the document is a draft work in progress. Therefore we do not believe it is subject to FOIA because it simply has not been finalized. ... When the document is complete and we receive a FOIA request, we will respond accordingly.

Trustee James Clark said he thought it would be very, very, very, very inappropriate to have our senators and representatives reading information on a document thats a draft ... that were working on that were going to be presenting to them next week and is subject to a lot of changes between now and then.

However, S.C. Press Association Executive Director Bill Rogers reported earlier that there is nothing in the law that protects drafts of documents.

A draft is clearly a public document and the public has both the right and the need to see it, he said.
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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
Always Growing

Maria started a new school last week. Its a great school, or so we heard. We met a girl her age at a Halloween party, Most kids are sad to go to school, but we are all sad for the weekend because the school is so amazing, and the LIBRARY is HUGE! she told us through her glasses.

I kicked Maria under the table, my little book lover. She was like, chill mom, while shyly nodding at the girl.

We applied, hoping for a change, thinking maybe next year, but she was able to get in this winter semester. She started last Monday and came home standing a bit taller, a noticeable difference. Everyone was nice, everyone said hi to me, they all sat with me at lunch, everyoneI had this buddy, she was with me the whole time, and everyone greeted me. Our three year struggle, seemingly gone today. Andrew dropped her off the next day and two girls called her name and ran to greet her. Maria was bewildered, then happy, Andrew beamed. Her homework is short, she has more time for the hobbies she loves like reading, crochet, piano, playing games, she recently got a skateboard and loves it. We are all loving it. Its also a K-12 school so I could send the boys there next year, too. I guess they have 500 kinder applicants a year, but they would have a better chance with a sibling there, although I would be sad to say goodbye to Finleys Spanish school, its wonderful.

Maria has gone to BSF with Andrew since she first came home from Russia. Its the lazy parents actual dream come true if you are looking for your child to read the bible deeply, and to experience a tangible awe of him, reverence for his wisdom. She gets her homework sheets, and all on her own she reads her passages, contemplating the verses, allowing His constant goodness to soak into her. She surprises me by how much she knows sometimes. And its never been easy like, Welcome! Were studying the book of Philippians! but she has read through the life of Moses, Genesis, each verse, and now we are all studying Revelation. Its not Andrew and I trying to foster some sort of affection for God, or sitting down trying to convey biblical messages, but on her own with the free notes, she reads and learns and then discusses it in her class while Andrew is in his. Because its mostly all independent, she will surprise me when I hear her teaching the little ones something about God, or having a deep knowledge of things even some adults (like me, hah!) dont know. She loves the kids in her class and her teachers, too.

She is getting ready for her first missions trip to Mexico, she cant wait. Its the same trip I went on when I was in high school, it was simple, living in tents, no showers, running a VBS for poor local children in the pure dust of open land and wild and free worship at night, buying warm tortillas on the crumbling corner and passing them around to everyone in our van, painting the local zoo, but it was a life changing experience for me. She and some of the other local adopted junior high girls are going to go. They are starting to get excited, although nervous as it is a new experience for them. We just told them, Dont have any fun, dont help lots of sweet kids, sing and dance during worship and dont buy junk food at the local tiendas without all your moms there, k? They laugh and giggled at the thought. I just want to help the kids, Maria told me. They will love you, I told her.

She recently went on a daddy date with Andrew to go see Start Wars and told him, Ill remember this day forever!!

Finley is loving his little school. I am surprised by what that teacher is able to get her class to do. Hes learning so much, and sometimes I forget that hes hearing Spanish all day. Our friends will speak to him in Spanish, hell respond in English, but understanding. Hes developing a little accent, Gor-ee-ya hell say pointing at a Gorilla.

He is our little thinker, sensitive and quiet. Wellexcept the other day when a neighbor who lives behind us and comes into her back yard to smoke came out. Weve never said anything to her ourselves since we have loud chickens and children and a rooster, and a drummer, but Finley looked at Poppy while on the trampoline, PLEASE STOP SMOKING!!!!! Me with the look of panic in my eye, not moving so she wouldnt know I was present Momwhy is she ignoring us? Momis she going to *wait let me just take 10 deep breathes as I remember his words and type them* is she going to die!?!?

Finley.shhhhh,  as I motioned them inside with stiff hand motions and zero chill.

Why mom?? WHY?? Why are we going inside? I asked you if she is going to die totally shattering the intended illusion that I wasnt present with them in the back yard

He loves listening to Peter and the Wolf, riding his bike, but mostly doing art. Thats his thing, art art all day long. Paper and crayons or pencils. Mostly people.

Elijah, our sweet little buddy. Elijah struggles a hard battle with his sensory system and other issues due to his early lack of care and affection; hold and love your babies, you arent spoiling them. Whats interesting is that deep inside is a heart that is pure gold, one of the kindest, most thoughtful hearts. But when he is unregulated or overwhelmed, theres not much that can stop him.

He starts more OT with an official evaluation next month that took all the time in the world to organize and arrange, oy vey. One night we were praying for him, I wish I could say I was constantly praying for his healing, but I am not. But I particularly remember praying for him one night, and the next day I was treating warts on the bottom of his feet with oregano oil, sitting on his bottom while he flailed his feet because it tickles so much. I turned around and put my hands on his back and cracked his back maybe 20 times. It shocked me how many times, he was so tense, like a brick wall. I started massaging his back, hard as a rock, and afterwards he snuggled into me and was very calm afterwards. The entire day. He has started asking for massages, howd massages and then curls his back and is on the verge of tears through the discomfort of them, but loves them. So weird. So strange, and helping him so much. He is much more regulated and can sit still through much more. This is all the day AFTER we said that prayer. It makes me remember how much I can rely on God in the moment. I would agree with that in my mind, I know it to be true but most often just try to get things done myself, without calling on a loving, wise God who is always present.

I have been slowly continuing my Marie Kondo house reclaiming and it is changing my life for the better. We cleaned out under the house, and now are slowing working through the garage. I feel like its giving me more time to do things I care about, which seems strange, how can cleaning out under my house and taking 2 car trips to the thrift store of things I never even really see on a daily basis give me more time and peace? She talks about it in her book, but I didnt believe it until now. Yesterday, while the kids napped I took down my fabric box. Because, what, am I ever going to craft? What is even in here? Im all about looking through my stuff now, though. I found an old curtain and 10 year old lighting McQueen fabric and decided to make a weighted blanket for Elijah. I had the space, the time, plus Id be clearing out stuff(Lets be honest, that was more of my motivation than anything else  So I sewed and sewed, the kids woke up and watched as I poured in a tiny cupful of rice into each square before sealing it up. Maria came home from school and watched, too. I felt very motherly with my sewing machine, and Elijah bragged to anyone who would listen that this was his Lighting McQueen blanket. I had taken Poppy to story time that morning and gotten a few books, one cute one called A Beautiful Mess all about DIY projects and Maria read all the pages, planning out what we could make. She and Finley found a blanket that you sew streets and a town onto and then drive toy cars on, they dog-eared it for when I was done with the weighted blanket.

I finished the blanket that night, Andrew had to buy me extra rice, but it was otherwise a free blanket. I was about to buy one for $150 online. Elijah is loving it. He is sleeping longer, not getting out of his bed, but feels secure and cozy. And I am officially going through that random fabric box!! (Me=overly excited)

You should make them and sell them!

That will never happen.

Poppy: So sweet, so easy. Shes like butter in your arms. She makes people feel amazing about themselves because she is so loving. She receives infant ed from the same teacher Elijah had when he was two, and we LOVE her, and speech therapy. All these ladies come to our home, for free, and play with Poppy for an hour, she feels so special and loved. Poppy still cant really talk, she just babbles through some of her favorite sounds, but with the biggest smile, so it works.

Andrew and Maria started calling her BB8, a robot from Start Wars that just rolls around babbling things that no one can understand. She can, however, say BB8 proudly. I had thought that we might experience some racism, but its only been the opposite. Even older people at Costco will go out of their ways to smile at her and comment about her as she grins at them. Hmmm, maybe what I assumed was ageist. She loves library story time and ensures each time that she is front and center and sits through the whole thing, so different than my boys. I love our library story time, the guy who reads is so strict that parents cant be on their phones, and I love meeting local people.

All my kids get along very well and are good friends, except Poppy and Elijah; they are frienemies. Sometimes they are best friends playing tea party, and other times they go out of their way to bug each other. Elijah tries so hard to make sure she is doing the right thing, and just ends up in trouble. And when he bugs her, shell try to bug him on purpose. We thought she was pure sugar, but Elijah brings out her sass. Maria and Finley though are best friends.

She takes a tap ballet class and she loves it, but I kind of feel bad for her. Her dance skills are so much better than what they offer. All the other little girls can speak in full sentances, wheras Poppy cannot. What is your favorite Disney princess!?!?!? the teacher will ask. All the girls describe in full detail, and when asked Poppy, will just smile, and nod, so confused. She will even smile and laugh at the teacher, with no answer, and the poor teacher is like, Well.Poppy? She cant even say the word princess. But then she dances with her whole body, head and all, while the other girls run to the sidelines or scratch their heads. Poppy LOVES to dance, hoping to switch her out of ballet when shes three.

Poppy is slowly learning to eat healthy. She used to cry when wed serve her salad, and wed be like, Awww, so sad you need to eat this but shes developing a taste for it. In her mind, she just wants to eat chips and cheese, like, Mom, this is obvious the only good stuff

Ok, BB8.

***

Andrew started reading a Wrinkle in Time to the kids at night.

We started everyone on a 7pm bedtime, 7 meaning the door is closed at 7pm, so they are in bed earlier.

I had my floors professionally cleaned yesterday and Elijah burst a full pee diaper into a million small white pieces all over it this morning He cleaned up most of it himself.

Our family loves counseling, Maria is doing EMDR which is phenominal and her counselor is now down the street from her new school, a dream. I wish I had the skills of a counselor, to have life giving words for people when they share their hearts with me, what a gift of true, actual freedom and healing. I remember a counselor sharing that many people are trapped in the pain or abuse or hurt from their past and can only function as half a person because they are constantly thinking about it. Then while parenting, they cant pull out their childs gifts or strengths because they are not quiet whole. I called my friend who suffered through unthinkable sexual abuse growing up, but never received counseling because as she said, Mexicans dont talk about feelings. I told her about half a person, and she said, Thats me and went to counseling. There was a visible difference in weeks, she looked lighter, a breathe of life in her face. But counseling isnt just for the abused or orphaned, its for anyone wanting to process life. We cope constantly trying to survive feelings, even busyness can be a way to not feel some overwhelming feelings, and counseling isnt a bandaid leaving the wound beneath still present, but can be the link to freedom and a life of a rich fullness, ability and connection.

The other night Maria said, Momcan we please stop listening to Justin Beiber?

So I kindly responded, Oh Maria, I do so much for youno.

***

Where are my BSF people? If you are in BSF, or have been, write a comment sharing what you are learning or like about it, I would love to hear since we are all studying the same thing around the world 

***

Be easy on people; youll find life a lot easier. Give away your life; youll find life given back, but not merely given backgiven back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity // luke 6.38
/By AzerNews/

By Aynur Karimova

President Ilham Aliyev embarked on a working visit to Switzerland on January 20 to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos.

As part of the visit, President Aliyev met with Vice Chairman of Lazard Europe Mathieu Pigasse.

During the meeting, President Aliyev highly praised cooperation between Azerbaijan and Lazard Europe. He said there is good potential for developing this cooperation even further.

Pigasse, who is Azerbaijan's financial adviser on the Southern Gas Corridor project, hailed Azerbaijan's rating. He said the reforms carried out in Azerbaijan have had a positive impact on the country's image, adding that this expands its opportunities for attracting additional financial resources.

The sides also discussed business relations between Azerbaijan and Lazard Europe, as well as opportunities for cooperation in other fields.

Later, President Aliyev met with Vahid Alakbarov, President of Russian Lukoil Company.

It was stressed that Lukoil has been successfully operating in Azerbaijan for more than 20 years and is a reliable partner. The company is a participant of giant Shah Deniz project, which is being successfully implemented. Cooperation between Azerbaijan's state energy giant SOCAR and Lukoil covers new fields.

The sides discussed prospects for cooperation between Azerbaijan and Lukoil.

As part of the visit, President Aliyev also met with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, and the sides hailed the development of Azerbaijani-Turkish friendly and brotherly relations in all fields.

They stressed the importance of regular high-level meetings in terms of the expansion of cooperation. The significance of joint participation of Azerbaijan and Turkey in international events was emphasized as well.

They also discussed the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, expansion of economic cooperation, and other issues of mutual interest.

Later, President Aliyev met with Robert Dudley, the Chief Executive Officer of BP.

They praised Azerbaijan-BP cooperation in the exploitation of Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli and Shah Deniz fields. They also pointed out successful continuation of geological survey on shallow part of Absheron peninsula waters.
The close US-Azerbaijan partnership can be better explained by three major strategic factors: Azerbaijans significance as an energy transit point linking Central Asia to Europe; the countrys resistance to Russian sovereignty violations in Georgia and Ukraine; and Azerbaijans solidarity with the US against both terrorism and Shiite radicalization, said the article by Samuel Ramani published in the Washington Post.

Azerbaijan has extensive offshore oil reserves on the Caspian Sea and is an important link in the energy trade between central Asia and Europe, said the article. US companies have invested substantially in developing the oil and natural gas industry in the Caspian Sea.

Both the Bush and Obama administrations have treated the stable and expanded flow of energy from this region as vital to the US geopolitical interests, Ramani said in his article, adding that stable Caspian Sea energy trade dilutes Europes dependence on Russian gas and restricts Iranian influence, thereby strengthening US allies relative to its long-standing adversaries.

In 2008, the Republican Senator Richard Lugar, then head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee described Azerbaijan as the US sole friend on the Caspian basin, a friend valuable as an oil supplier to US allies, according to the article. Lugar also expressed the need for the US to appoint a special representative tasked with preserving long-term US interests in the Caspian Sea, Ramani added in his article.

/By Trend/
The Nord Stream II will not require financial support from the European Union because it will be met by Gazprom and its partners, the CEO of Gazprom Export, Elena Burmistrova, said Wednesday, according to Ria Novosti.

Speaking at the 9th European gas Conference in Austrian capital Vienna, Burmistrova said "it has been a mixed year for European gas sector. The fall in gas prices created pressure in the industry, but this made gas more competitive," she said.

Burmistrova asserted that Europe's gas imports would increase and the Nord Stream II would reliably transfer gas to Europe.

"Europe will need more gas in the future. The Nord Stream II won't cost them a cent. It is not seeking any funding from the European union. We are preparing all the financing ourselves with our partners," she noted.

According to the Institute of European and International Affairs, the EU was the worlds biggest energy importer in 2011, importing 54 percent of its energy needs.

In 2013, Russia was the main supplier of natural gas and crude oil to the EU, accounting for 33 percent of oil imports and 39 percent of gas imports.

Most is carried out through pipelines crossing transit countries. The Nord Stream I, which launched in 2011, carries around 55 billion cubic meters of Russian gas to Germany through 1,224 kilometers (760 miles) of pipeline. The Nord Stream II project plants to have similar capacity.

/By AzerTac/
Prior to his Tehran visit, Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for strengthening political, trade and cultural ties with Iran through an op-ed published on IRNA news agency on Jan.21.

Saying that Iran and China have enjoyed diplomatic ties and supported each other since 1971, he added Tehran and Beijing will continue their ties to make sure that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action will be fully implemented without any failure.

In a joint statement on Jan. 16, the EU High Representative Federica Mogherini and Irans Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif announced the implementation of the JCPOA, aka nuclear deal, and the removal of economic sanctions on Iran. According to the statement, EU confirmed that legal framework, providing for lifting of its nuclear-related economic and financial sanctions, is effective.

Speaking about trade ties between Iran and China he said that over the past six years Beijing has been Tehrans major trade partner.

According to Iranian Customs Administration, Iran exported 17.56 million tons of non-oil goods, worth $5.33 billion to China during the first eight months of 2015. China was the main importer of Iranian goods in the mentioned period. Beijings imports accounted for 22.7 percent of Irans total non-oil exports in terms of value and 33.3 percent in terms of volume.

He pointed to his meetings with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani over the past two years and said that the both parties have reached significant agreements on expansion of bilateral ties.

He further called for expansion of ties on transport sector and said Iran and China both are considered to be significant destinations that are located along the Silk Road.

Earlier in 2015 Iranian media reported that Tehran plans to participate in an ambitious Chinese plan to revive the Silk Road which aims to connect Asia to Europe and Africa through a network of roads, railways, ports and airports.

President Xi Jinping kicked off his three-nation regional tour to the Middle East on Jan. 19.

After launching a joint-venture refinery in Saudi Arabia on 20. Jan, Xi Jinping left for Cairo and he is expected to visit Tehran as part of his regional visit.
/By AzerNews/

By Laman Sadigova

Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry investigated the report disseminated by Armenian media that the delegation comprised of farmers of the separatist regime established by Armenia in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan visited Iran in October 2015 and met with Iranian officials.

The ministry conducted the investigation through its diplomatic channels, trying to find out the real state of things.

The spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, Hikmat Hajiyev, said that the Iranian embassy in Baku in its response note to the Ministry refuted the recent report of the Armenian media.

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.

Large-scale hostilities ended with a Russia-brokered ceasefire in 1994 but Armenia continued the occupation in defiance of four UN Security Council resolutions calling for immediate and unconditional withdrawal.

Armenia is unwilling to peacefully resolve the long-standing conflict and is interested in and determined to maintain the current status quo that means keeping part of Azerbaijans internationally-recognized territory under occupation.
/By AzerNews/

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijans Consulate General in Los Angeles held a commemorative event on January 19 to commemorate the 26th anniversary of the Black January tragedy. The event was jointly held with the Wende Museum. Specializing on the Cold War history and the Fall of the Berlin Wall, the Wende Museum is one of the most unique museums in the United States.

Held at the Museum, the event was attended by former U.S. co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group Ambassador Rudolph Perina, Los Angeles-based diplomats of various countries, representatives of academic and cultural institutions, community members and others.

At the outset, the event attendees paid tribute to the Black January martyrs with a moment of silence.

Welcoming the guests, the Museums Founder and Executive Director Justin Jampol expressed their satisfaction of hosting such an important memorial.

Addressing the event, Azerbaijans Consul General Nasimi Aghayev informed the participants about the Black January tragedy. He said: On January 20, 1990, Azerbaijan's capital city of Baku was invaded by 26,000 Soviet troops, which, at the order of Mikhail Gorbachev and his Politburo, stormed the city and began shooting indiscriminately into the peaceful demonstrators. Hundreds of civilians were killed, including children, women and elderly; people of different ethnic and religious backgrounds, both Muslim, Christian and Jewish. And a thousand were wounded.

The pretext was a massive popular uprising in the capital, calling for Azerbaijan's independence from USSR: proof that the Soviet authorities were presiding over a collapsing empire, and that Azerbaijan was leading the fight for independence, Aghayev continued.

However, the brutal regime utterly failed. After the massacre, a million people - young and old, men and women, Muslims, Jews and Christians - filled the streets to mourn the victims, defying the curfew and showing national solidarity. Heydar Aliyev, who would later become president and founder of modern Azerbaijan, fiercely denounced the bloodshed. His defiance helped to inspire the Azerbaijani people and Aliyev became a leader of the struggle for liberty, the Consul General noted. A year and half later Azerbaijan restored its independence.

What was the reaction in the West to Black January? The Nobel Peace Prize for Gorbachev! 10 months after the massacre, the Nobel Committee awarded Michael Gorbachev the Nobel Peace Prize. The Committee justified its position by stressing Gorbachevs leading role in the peace process and his many and decisive contributions to peace. The Committee and its supporters decided to be oblivious to many egregious crimes Gorbachev committed, which had nothing to do with the notion of peace. Ironically, Alfred Nobel would not have been able to establish his Nobel Prize in 1901, had it not been the immense fortune he and his brothers made with oil development in Baku. And Alfred Nobel would not have been able to even dream that his Prize would one day be awarded to a man who turned the very city of Baku into a bloodbath, Aghayev said.

Since the restoration of independence, Azerbaijan has gone from strength to strength. Under the visionary leadership of President Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan has become an island of stability in an otherwise unstable region, and an important geopolitical power. Azerbaijan is the centerpiece of the Caspian oil and gas developments, vital for global energy security, as well as other regional megaprojects. Today, Azerbaijan's freedom is solid and irreversible, and we always remember the victims of the Black January tragedy  the true heroes of our national liberation, the Consul General concluded.

Speaking at the event, former U.S. diplomat Dr. James Coyle of the Chapman University highlighted the role of Black January in the eventual collapse of the USSR, calling this tragedy the beginning of the end of the Soviet Union.

Following the speeches, a short documentary on Black January prepared by Azerbaijans Consulate General, as well as a CNN report on the massacre were shown.

The event concluded with the classical music performance.
Welcome to Trading for a Living, a technical analysis blog on stocks listed in Singapore Stock Exchange(SGX). Objective of this blog is to share ideas in trading stocks. Please note postings in this blog are based on my personal opinions which are neither investment advice nor inducements to trade. The blog owner does not accept any claim for any loss incurred by any reader acting on these postings. You are encouraged to seek professional advice when in doubt. Good Luck and Happy Trading!
Business leaders from the Mena region at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos this year are calling for greater economic reforms in the Arab World in order to lower dependence on oil, reduce the burden on government budgets, and unlock stronger economic growth and job creation through private sector investments. This comes as the International Monetary Fund reports average economic growth slowing to below three per cent in the Middle East, with fiscal deficits close to 15 per cent, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

To read further, please visit GDNonline
20 million acres of national forest and BLM lands in New Mexico and millions more nationwide are currently under threat. Forests, streams, mountains and plains that are currently open to all Americans would fall under the control of one person  the State Land Commissioner  whose sole responsibility is to make a profit off those lands through sale, trade, development or lease.

This is dangerously close to becoming a reality which is why we need hunters, anglers and all other public lands users to speak out against this scheme at the capitol on January 21.

Sportsmen and women are holding rallies all over the nation, including at the State Capitol in Santa Fe on Thursday, January 21. Please join us and your fellow hunters, anglers and other public lands users at the Roundhouse at 2 p.m., and tell our elected officials to KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF MY PUBLIC LANDS!

Bring a friend, bring your kids, bring your parents, but plan to attend. This is about your future opportunity to hunt, fish and recreate on public lands! Call us to arrange transportation at (505) 299-5404.
Kuwait's air force is sticking to plans to purchase Boeing's F-18 Super Hornet to replace ageing fighter jets, despite a lengthy congressional approval process in Washington that has frustrated industry players.



"The Super Hornet is one of the best solutions for us," Abdullah Al Foudary, commander of the Kuwait Air Force, said on the sidelines of an industry event in Bahrain. "We have the legacy F-18s that we have to find a solution for in 2030-2040."



US industry executives and military officials have grown increasingly concerned about delays in approving the sale of 28 Boeing F/A-18E/F fighter jets to Kuwait, a deal valued at around $3 billion.



The fighter planes are of increasing importance to Kuwait amid rising regional tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, after an attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran by protestors angry over the execution of a Saudi Shi'ite cleric.



Kuwait, an ally of Saudi Arabia, is also part of the Saudi-led coalition against Yemen and is primarily supporting that effort with its air force and F/A-18s.



Al Foudary said the air force would play the most important role in addressing regional threats.



"We have to set up priorities and buy new capabilities so we can cope in this situation," he said.



Boeing must decide in coming weeks whether to start building the jets using its own funding to ensure that materials that take years to procure are on hand when needed.



The company is likely to make that investment as a bridge to additional US Navy orders expected in fiscal 2018, according to a source familiar with the issue.



The company is anxiously awaiting the release of the Pentagon's fiscal 2017 budget plan on February 9 to see if the Navy orders even a few jets in fiscal 2017, potentially through a separate war-spending supplement.



US Navy Secretary Ray Mabus last week said foreign military sales helped ensure continued production of US weapons systems, such as the Boeing Co F/A-18E/F fighter jet, and also helped the US military and its allies work seamlessly in joint military operations.



But Mabus called for continued efforts to accelerate what he described as a slow and "torturous" approval process for military sales to foreign customers. -Reuters
A unique pair of eyewear frames from Bentley, crafted with titanium, gold and diamond inlays, was sold to a private buyer in Dubai for Dh650,000 ($176,930) at the recent Vision-X exhibition.



The one-of-a-kind piece, the highlight of the new luxury Bentley range, was on display at the Middle Easts largest optical trade show, which ran in December at the Dubai World Trade Centre.



Bentley launched its new eyewear range at the event with its first trade show in the world, and displayed luxury items ranging from its standard line of titanium frames worth Dh5,000 ($1,361) to the 18 karat solid gold frames worth Dh28,000 ($7,621).



With an exceptional line-up of global brands on display, Vision-X underlined its position as the premier optical eyewear event in the region, welcoming 141 exhibitors from 29 countries representing 265 brands from the regional and international market.



International participation was also increased year on year reflecting the growing interest from global players in the regional market.



The German pavilion continued to be the largest on the exhibition floor, while Japanese exhibitors made a big impression with their first independent pavilion.



Peter Frankenstein, head of consumer optics, the German High-tech Industry Association (GHIA), said: We have been here since 2000, and this is the biggest participation of the German optical industry outside of Germany. We understand that it is important to be here at Vision-X in order to create opportunities in the Mena region. Dubai is the key for expanding, and the Vision-X expo is a great platform for expansion in the Mena region and all of our exhibitors here think this way.



The Vision-X Opticare Conference, accredited by the Dubai Health Authority, once again provided an excellent opportunity for local and international delegates to enhance their knowledge and understanding in the field of optometry.



Celebrating excellence in the eyewear and optical care industry, the Vision-X VP Awards took place after the first day of the show with iconic British designer eyewear brand Linda Farrow taking home the Special Jury Award.



Vision-X will return to the Dubai World Trade Centre from October 25 to 27. - TradeArabia News Service
Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has inaugurated The King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (Kapsarc), a non-profit economics and policy research institution dedicated to finding solutions for the most effective and productive use of energy to enable economic and social progress across the globe.



Kapsarc undertakes global collaborative research on the economic impacts of energy, its technologies, policies and the environment.



The inauguration ceremony was attended by HRH Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Saudi Deputy Crown Prince and Defence Minister; Ali bin Ibrahim Al-Naimi, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources and chairman of the board of Kapsarc; and Khalid A Al-Falih, Minister of Health and chairman of Saudi Aramco.



Al-Naimi said: Todays inauguration, under the patronage of HRH King Salman, reflects the kingdoms strong support of Kapsarcs mission to expand global knowledge and understanding of energy to benefit society and the environment.



"Oil and gas have made and will continue to make a significant contribution to the kingdoms success and prosperity. Today, we also need to develop different sources of energy to be able to compete economically and, at the same time, meet the future development needs of the kingdom, while protecting the environment and finding practical technology-enabled solutions to use energy more efficiently.



Amin H Nasser, president and CEO, Saudi Aramco said: Energy is the main pillar of Saudi Arabias economy and the cornerstone of development and prosperity of economies around the world. With the increased complexity of global energy, it is important to continuously expand the boundaries of knowledge through collaboration and research. Saudi Aramco is honored to have helped establish Kapsarc which is a state-of-the-art research center that brings together the brightest people from Saudi Arabia and around the world to tackle energy challenges.



"The centre is characterised by its innovative design that integrates the highest standards of environmental conservation. Saudi Aramco will continue to support Kapsarc to achieve its mission and goals, he said.



Samer AlAshgar, president of Kapsarc, said: Kapsarc is all about improving the welfare of societies through a better understanding of the value that energy provides. We aim to develop frameworks for sustainable, value-added energy production and consumption in Saudi Arabia and around the world. Our mission proudly reflects the late King Abdullahs vision, as we seek to make Saudi Arabia a leading source of energy insight in global discussions. On behalf of Kapsarc and its global research partners, I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank His Majesty King Salman for officially inaugurating our Riyadh facility and the continuing support given to the Center to fulfill its mission.



In 2015, Kapsarc moved into its Riyadh headquarters, constructed by Saudi Aramco and designed by renowned architect Zaha Hadid. The centre now comprises a diverse team of over 15 nationalities. It has established a global footprint of collaborative partnerships, including institutions from China, India, Japan, East Africa, Europe and the Americas. - TradeArabia News Service
Michael Ostby was found dead in his Billings, Montana, jail cell July 1 with a sheet wrapped around his neck.

A jury in the Tuesday inquest into the 28-year-old father of twos death found no criminal responsibility on the part of the Yellowstone County Detention Facility.

Ostby, of Cody, was arrested in May 2015 after ramming his car into a police cruiser and then yelling for officers to shoot him, according to court documents.

During the inquest held in a courtroom at the jail, testimony suggested Ostby might have attempted suicide twice in the jail before he finally took his life.

Two months after his arrest, Ostby was found dead by asphyxiation in his cell. Ostby was not on suicide watch and was not given suicide-resistant clothing and bedding. He was alone in his cell when he died.

On the day Ostby was arrested, officers had been alerted by his girlfriend that he was going to attempt suicide by cop.

Within minutes of that call, Ostby drove into a police vehicle. He then got out holding a crow bar and yelling for police to shoot him.

He was arrested on two counts of assault on a peace officer, criminal mischief, drug possession and possession of drug paraphernalia.

While in a holding cell, Ostby used his shirt to wrap around his neck and strangle himself. Jail Commander Capt. Sam Bofto said during his testimony Tuesday that Ostby was wild and needed to be restrained because he was detoxing from drugs. A report filed that day by jail guards, however, described Ostby as calm and cooperative.

Chief Civil Litigator for the County Attorneys office, Kevin Gillen, did not challenge the conflicting descriptions of Ostby.

In court the day after the arrest, Bofto said Ostby appeared agitated. At that time he was being held in the jails general population. According to court documents, Ostby had argued with prisoners and was told by a guard to lock himself in his cell. Ostby did so, immediately tying his shirt around the toilet and around his neck.

When the officer opened the cell door to stop him, Ostby bear-hugged him, and dragged him into the cell before punching him about a dozen times and kneeing the officer in the stomach, according to court documents.

Gillen asked Bofto if he believed this was a valid suicide attempt. Bofto testified it was not a serious suicide attempt, but a ruse to get the officer in his cell.

Ostby was then placed in Class A, a section of the jail reserved for especially violent or dangerous inmates.

On June 4, Terry Jessee, a psychiatric assessment clinician with Billings Clinic and former deputy sheriff, met with Ostby. Jessee testified Ostby told him he had a lot of voices in my head urging him to get into trouble. He also said Ostby cries a lot, sometimes from sadness or sense of loss.

Jessee diagnosed Ostby with probable major and chronic depression, as well as anxiety, substance-induced psychosis and a possible personality disorder. Jessee wrote in his notes that Ostby should continue to be monitored and recommended a referral for psychiatry. But Ostby was not told he should see a psychiatrist, Jessee testified, and he did not see one while he was incarcerated.

Jessee said he did not prescribe medication for Ostby because he wasnt sure what type of drugs Ostby had in his system. Jessee said he assumed the hallucinations were from drug withdrawals after being jailed. Jessee said it might have been related to Ostbys severe depression. Jessee also never recommended Ostby be put on suicide watch.

At about 2:45 p.m. on July 1, Officer Brett Toland conducted a cell check on prisoners in Class A and saw Ostby sitting on his bed. At the top of Ostbys suicide note, the time 12:50 p.m. was written.

Although jail policy is to check cells every 30 minutes, according to one jail report, Ostbys suicide wasnt discovered until about 4:20 p.m.

At about 4:15 p.m., Toland and another officer, Levi Anderson, were searching a cell in an adjacent block when they said they were calmly told by inmate Vincent Bell that someone may be dead in their cell. Bell was being housed in a cell near Ostby.

A statement from Bell was taken by a sheriffs detective but not entered into evidence during Tuesdays inquest.

Bell said in a letter to The Billings Gazette that he shouted to jailers, hes not breathing, hes not breathing, guard, guard! Bell said he kicked the door over and over again to get the guards attention.

Anderson said after hearing what Bell was saying he walked to Ostbys cell.

The officer instantly called for assistance while he ripped the sheet down from where it was, Bell wrote.

Ostby had used a bed sheet from his cell to tie around a hook on the cell door and around his neck before sitting down.

Donald Habbe, a South Dakota forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy, testified Ostby would have been dead in minutes. His autopsy showed no signs of a struggle after the strangulation began.

On the day of the suicide, deputy sheriff and coroner Cliff Mahoney, arrived at the jail at 4:40 p.m.

Mahoney said by then rigor mortis was present and that Ostby would have been dead for no more than an hour.

Mahoney also noted the suicide note found next to Ostbys body.

One of the seven jurors, Shelly Carlton, said after the verdict she wished she knew more about Ostbys mental state. She said he would have had a hard time detoxing from drugs, and it sounded like he had to do it all on his own.

If it was my family member, I would have wanted them to do more, Carlton said.

Ostbys mother, Nicole Hale, and grandfather Joe Ostby and an adoptive sister attended the proceedings but left before the verdict, which their lawyer John Moyers called a foregone conclusion.

Moyers said the family has not ruled out legal action against the county.

We remain very upset regarding the circumstances surrounding Mikes death. We understand that the coroners inquest is just part of the legal process of finding answers to Mikes preventable death at the Yellowstone County Detention Facility, The family said in a statement.

Hale said her son told her from jail that ramming into the police car was a suicide attempt. She said she was initially almost happy when Ostby was arrested, because she thought he would finally get some help.

He was just a hurt person, crying out for help, Joe Ostby said.
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (AP)  Law enforcement officers in southeastern Idaho are missing two of their K-9 companions who died within days of retirement.

The Idaho State Journal reports (http://bit.ly/1n9C5Oj ) that the Idaho Falls Police Department and Bonneville County Sheriff's Office retired two long-time K-9s. Both Belgian Malinois died just days after their retirement celebrations.

Police dog Zeke, an 11-year-old explosives detection and criminal apprehension dog, died on Jan. 12 from natural causes. And 12-year-old drug detection and criminal apprehension dog Bart, with the sheriff's office, died Jan. 7 of an unforeseen medical issue.

Law enforcement officers held a retirement party for the K-9s on Dec. 30, and praised their work at that time. Both dogs went home to live with their handlers after their retirement.

___

Information from: Idaho State Journal, http://www.journalnet.com
PHOENIX  A new study says that each Arizona college graduate contributes $660,000 to the economy over his or her lifetime through increased earnings, paying more in taxes and depending less on social services.

The study, commissioned by the nonprofit College Success Arizona, says that increasing the number of college graduates will be essential to the states economic competitiveness.

The report also says that even small improvements, such as closing the racial graduation gap, would lead to large economic gains. Boosting college-going rates for all races to match the rates for white adults would result in an additional $2.3 billion economic gain over the lifetime of each graduating class, it says.

For years, Arizona has lagged the national average in percentage of adults with college degrees with 37 percent of adults having at least an associates degree compared with 40 percent nationally.

5 key findings

of the study

 College graduates can expect to earn more over a lifetime than those with just a high school diploma. On average, high school graduates earn $530,340 in lifetime earnings in Arizona compared with $1.1 million for those with at least a bachelors degree.

 College graduates generally pay more in taxes. High school graduates pay an average $160,520 in taxes over their lifetimes compared with $348,900 for those with at least bachelors degrees.

 The states low college completion rate is problematic, the study says. Of the 60 percent of Arizona adults who have enrolled at some point in postsecondary education, nearly half have never finished their degrees.

 Minority students enroll and complete degrees at lower rates than white students in Arizona. The study says 1 in every 10 Latino adults holds a bachelors degree in Arizona compared with 1 in every 4 adults from the adult population at large.

 The state must increase high school graduation rates, the study says, to make sure more students are able to enroll in college. Arizonas high school graduation rate is 75 percent, compared with 81 percent nationally.

The report is the latest development in a grass-roots movement aimed at sharply increasing the number of Arizona adults with college degrees or certificates.

Across the country, 31 states have set college-attainment goals that leaders say are vital to improving the lives of their residents and boosting local economies. Tennessee, for example, has set a college-attainment goal called Drive to 55. The statewide goal is to have 55 percent of adults with a college degree or certificate by 2025  up from nearly 30 percent in 2013.

Arizona does not have a statewide goal, but last week Arizona State University President Michael Crow highlighted the need for such a goal during a legislative breakfast at the downtown Phoenix campus. Crow suggested a goal of 60 percent.

In addition, a group of about 40 higher-education, philanthropic, business and community leaders, brought together by Regents President Eileen Klein, met recently to discuss setting a statewide goal. Klein said the response in the room was overwhelming support for a goal.

How to improve college attendance

The report also recommends strategies to improve college-going rates, including:

Improve K-12 through reforms such as smaller class sizes, more high-quality teachers and dual enrollment programs that allow students to earn college and high school credit at the same time.

Offer more guidance counseling to help high-schoolers enroll in college. The report says that many first-generation students dont have enough information on how to apply and get into college or how to choose a college that is best for their needs.

Reduce college dropouts by providing more counseling and mentoring services and support such as academic planning and advising.

Start a state-financed financial aid program aimed at low-income students.

Rich Nickel, president and CEO of College Success Arizona, said that before doing the study, he knew that increased college-completion rates would show positive predictions for the economy. But he had no idea the numbers would be so compelling. The findings also underscore the economic opportunity that exists for the state, he said.
Chef Janos Wilder will be part of Arizonas tourism promotion at the 12th annual Chicago Travel and Adventure Show in Illinois on Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 23 and 24.

The James Beard Award-winning chef, owner of Downtown Kitchen + Cocktails, will be part of a cooking demonstration using local ingredients, alongside chef Michael Cairns of the Omni Scottsdale Resort & Spa at Montelucia.

One of the most critical things for people that are traveling is the culinary experience, said Mary Rittmann, director of public and community relations at Visit Tucson. Its not just about getting to go out for a great dinner; now its really driving peoples decisions on where to go and what to do.

Chicago is a key demographic market for Tucson, both by number of visitors and the amount of money they spend in the area, Rittmann said.

After a warm fall in the east, temperatures have plummeted, she said, which is good news for Tucson. The holidays are over, the weathers not so good, and people are starting to think, Maybe we should go somewhere? 

Tucson is trying to capitalize on its recent designation as the first city in the country to be recognized for its gastronomy by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

Thats really what we want people to know about. Of course the outdoor adventure and the great weather, but not everyone knows what great food and culinary opportunities are out here, Rittmann said.
Tribute to Gould set for Wednesday

The Minguet Quartet and pianist Andreas Klein team up Wednesday, Jan. 27, for an Arizona Friends of Chamber Music concert.

On the program is an Homage to Glenn Gould, which features Bachs The Art of the Fugue, a favorite of Goulds.

Also on the program: Goulds String Quartet, Op. 1, Chopins Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52, and Bachs Keyboard Concerto No. 1 in D Major, BWV 1052.

The string quartet hails from Germany. It formed in 1988 and quickly established an international reputation. Last year, it won Frances prestigious Diapason dOr de lAnnee award.

The concert is 7:30 p.m. in the Leo Rich Theatre, 260 S. Church Ave. in the Tucson Convention Center. Tickets are $30  $10 for students. arizonachambermusic.org or 577-3769.

2-day Gypsy jazz fest includes birthday party

Tucson continues to be all jazzed up.

The Tucson Jazz Fest is through through Jan. 24 (tucsonjazzfestival.org), and now the Tucson Jazz Society and Django Southwest has made choices even more difficult:

It is hosting a two-day festival of Django  thats Gypsy  jazz.

It starts at 10 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 23 with a free concert by the Django band Hot Club of Tucson and Hot Club Junior at Hotel Congress, 311 E. Congress. St. At 7 p.m. the same day, the Grammy-winning John Jorgenson Quintet and the Black Market Trust perform at Berger Performing Arts Center, 1200 W. Speedway. Tickets for that are $45. And at 10 p.m. Saturday, there will be a 106th birthday party for the late Django Reinhardt, a jazz guitarist and composer, as well as a jazz jam. Its free and at Maynards, 400 N. Toole Ave.

On Sunday, Jan. 24, the Gonzalo Bergara Quartet, The Hot Club of Tucson, and the popular waila band Gertie N the TO Boyz perform at the Berger at 7 p.m. Tickets are $35. And there will be a free closing party at 10 p.m. at Maynards. Tickets and more information at djangosouthwestfestival.com

Tucsonans stories being put to music

Ever imagine your life as a song?

Live Theatre Workshop just might make that happen.

The company is calling for submissions of stories, thoughts, ideas, whatever, that they will turn into a tune for Your Song in My Mouth 2.

As the title suggests, this is the second year for the event, made up entirely of original songs inspired by your stories.

But first, of course, they need your stories.

Or poems.

Or even random thoughts.

The idea, basically, is to capture what Tucson sounds like in musical form.

The deadline for submissions is March 1, but the folks at LTW would like to get them sooner.

Keep the submission to two pages or less. And theyll be writing the lyrics and music, so just give them your story, please.

Performances are slated for May 14 and 15.

Your submissions: Send them to Live Theatre Workshop, 5318 E. Speedway, Tucson, 85712. They can be emailed to livetheatreworkshop@gmail.com

Buffalo Exchange awards $10,000 to mime artist

Mime artist Rick Wamer has been awarded the 2015 Buffalo Exchange Contributor to the Arts Award.

It comes with a tidy $10,000 gift.

The Buffalo Exchange Arts Award was created to celebrate the arts and those individuals who live it one way or the other, said Kerstin Block in a press release. She is founder of Buffalo Exchange, a resale-clothing store headquartered here.

The arts enable society to see beyond its every day experience. Artists are the visionaries and Rick Wamer exemplifies this. It is a pleasure to honor him for his special talents and work over the last two decades.

Wamer is an eloquent dancer, magical mime, effective actor, and quite funny. And through his Tucson-based Embody Learning, he uses the arts to teach local students.
A collective of local backyard beer enthusiasts turns 21 this weekend and is throwing a party to celebrate.

Tucson Homebrew Clubs 21st anniversary bash is at Dragoon Brewing Company, 1859 W. Grant Road, from noon to 10 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 23. Dragoon is itself the brainchild of homebrewers  father and son Bruce and Eric Greene, and Tristan White, who met via the Tucson Homebrew Club in 2009.

They are just phenomenally supportive, said Carl Case, who works for Dragoon packaging products in cans and kegs. He is also Tucson Homebrew Clubs education coordinator.

Theyre brewing our (commemorative) beer and donating the grand prize  which is an opportunity to brew with them  which is like a homebrewers dream. Case said.

Called Identity Crisis, the IPA-style brew was one of four picked in an anonymous competition among club members and was ultimately chosen by Dragoon for production. Its creator, Forrest Mitchell,said the name comes from a case of mistaken identity in the yeast he chose, which kicks off kind of a pineapple-mango flavor which blends with the tropical fruit and citrus of the hops. Its fairly bitter with a light malt backbone.

A portion of the beers sales will benefit the Easter Seals Blake Foundation, along with raffle proceeds.

The club now boasts a roster just shy of 100, and Mitchell said he hopes to keep that pretty consistent.

We had a lot of fresh faces on the board, and only one member who had been there for a while, said Mitchell, who has been the clubs president nearly three years.

While looking forward and outward for new membership is important, Mitchell also wants to rekindle a sense of connection to the clubs history. He hopes to see many former presidents at the party mixing with beer enthusiasts of all levels and tastes.

This is probably the biggest event that weve ever done. Mitchell said.

Im planning on attending, having a drink and raising a toast, says founding member John Adkisson.

As head brewer and co-owner of Iron Johns Brewing Company, 245 S. Plumer Ave., Adkisson tells an origin story that is likely familiar to many a homebrewer. My wife bought me a kit, just like every homebrewer starts with, and I played with it a bit and thought, OK, thats kind of cool,  said Adkisson, who became determined to make an oatmeal stout smoother than any he had ever tasted.

I was just kind of hooked. Something I created, people liked. And thats been feeding my ego ever since, Adkisson says.

He became a certified beer judge, and after a string of blue ribbons in competitions around the US, he says one of his brews, a Belgian peach nectar called Hey Momo, won the National Homebrew Competition two years in a row.

He also values the camaraderie among brewers.

In the community everyone knows everyone. If Im short a pound of hops or some yeast, I can make a phone call. We share spare parts and shift jobs back and forth, Adkisson says. No one brews alone.
We mourn the passing of Donald Lee Baker on January 18, 2016, who was in an airplane accident with his wife Dawn Hunter-Baker while returning from a conference in Deer Valley, Utah. Don and Dawn were a vibrant couple who cherished their life together and who died living the life they loved. Don Baker, 59, moved to Tucson 30 years ago. Don was raised in the sunshine and ocean waves of Venice Beach, California. He is the loving father of Lindsey and Josh; the dutiful son of Millie and Joey (deceased) Baker; a rock to siblings, Jan and Norman; a caring ex-husband and friend of Shelley Pozez, and a committed member of the Pozez and Lubin families. Don is the co-owner of Larsen Baker LLC, and a successful developer in the Arizona firm that he co-founded in 1992 with partner George Larsen. He was loved by George and Margaret, and by the entire Larsen Baker staff and well respected by Tucson's real estate and business community. Don's impact on the Tucson community extended well beyond his business. Don made a lasting mark on the community at large, generously sharing his time, talent and treasures with local, state and national organizations. Donald served as a longtime member of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona's Board and Executive Committee. Don also championed the construction of the Tucson Hebrew Academy, sharing his passion for building and education. Don recently earned his Maters in Real Estate Development at the University of Arizona, exemplifying his love for learning and growing. Don cherished his extended family and friends whom are dispersed throughout the country and across the world and are profoundly saddened by the loss of Don and Dawn. Those of us who knew them and loved them know that their memory will live on in all of our hearts. A Memorial Service for Don and Dawn will be held at 10:00 a.m. Friday, January 22, 2016 at the Jewish Community Center. In lieu of flowers, a donation could be made to the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona or Tucson Hebrew Academy (THA). Arrangements by EVERGREEN MORTUARY.
A former Tucson police officer who resigned from the department in the midst of a prostitution scandal has relinquished his state police certification, documents show.

The Arizona Peace Officers Standards and Training Board voted Wednesday to allow Michael McGuire to permanently give up his Arizona peace officer certification without admitting any allegations that may have been made against him, AZPOST documents obtained by the Arizona Daily Star show.

Without his certification, McGuire will be unable to work as a peace officer in Arizona.

The agreement also stipulates that McGuire waives his right to any hearing, appeal or judicial review of the matter.

McGuire was a sergeant and 15-year veteran of the department when he resigned last June, after TPD officials began an internal investigation into several department employees alleged involvement in a long-running prostitution ring in Tucson.

Between the criminal investigation, internal affairs investigation and McGuires own statements, investigators determined that he was a customer of illegal massage businesses, the AZPOST document says.

In addition, McGuire admitted to paying for sex as far back as December 2013, the document says.

Investigators found that McGuire exchanged text messages with the alleged operator of one of the prostitution businesses while he was on duty, according to TPDs internal affairs report.

Last April, during his first interview with internal affairs investigators, McGuire admitted to receiving a VIP massage, which ended with a sexual act, the report shows.

He told investigators that hed received legitimate massages before, and this was his first and only VIP massage. But when asked during how many other appointments the masseuse had touched his penis, he said, Pretty much all of them, the report says.

McGuire also admitted to paying money for each massage, the report says.

When investigators asked him if he engaged in acts of prostitution, McGuire said,  it would be, fall under prostitution, I guess, according to the report.

During his second interview with internal affairs in June, McGuire admitted to having received massages from another woman that ended in sexual acts, requested a break and resigned from the department, the report said.

Despite his resignation, the internal investigation continued, and in July Police Chief Roberto Villasenor announced that McGuires final disposition was changed to terminated.

The Pima County Attorneys Office declined to prosecute any of the officers who were part of the criminal investigation into the businesses.

Another terminated officer, Daniel Santa Cruz, is also facing loss of his certification.
A 45-year-old man crashed into a power pole on the city's north side Wednesday night.

The man was treated at the scene by paramedics of the Northwest Fire District, and did not need to go to a hospital, said Capt. Adam Goldberg, a spokesman for the district.

Shortly after 6 p.m., firefighters responded to a single-vehicle crash into a power pole on North La Cholla Boulevard, south of West Wetmore Road, said Goldberg.

The vehicle careened off the pole that was on the west side of the street and crashed into a fence on the east side of the street. Firefighters took the man out of the car and rendered aid.

As the car came to a stop, the man's foot remained on the gas pedal causing a small fire to erupt. Firefighters put out the blaze, Goldberg said.

The man suffered a medical emergency, which caused the crash. He said he could not elaborate further.

Tucson Electric Power Co. crews were at the scene securing the power pole.
PHOENIX  A man arrested seven years after a slaying in Tucson could get a new trial because the judge blocked testimony from one of his expert witnesses, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

The justices said Joseph Javier Romero should have been allowed to contest the claims by prosecutors that shell casings found at the scene of the 2000 murder of Skeets Matthews matched a .40-caliber Glock pistol.

Chief Justice Scott Bales, writing for the unanimous court, said the evidence Romero wanted a jury to hear was relevant because it might have convinced jurors that the methods used by the states expert witness are not entirely scientific.

The ruling does not guarantee Romero will get another chance to prove his innocence.

Instead, the justices sent the case back to the Court of Appeals to consider whether it would have made any difference to jurors had they heard the evidence that was excluded.

Matthews, 43, was found shot to death in a mobile-home park on the 1600 block of East Roger Road in 2000. Near his body police found a cellphone and six shell casings.

Nearly a month later, police stopped Romero on an unrelated matter and found him in possession of a .40-caliber Glock magazine. They also found a .40-caliber Glock, without its magazine, along the path Romero had been traveling.

Seven years later, information from that cellphone led investigators to Romero.

A firearms expert testified for the state that the indentations the gun left on the shell casings matched those found near Matthews body.

But Pima County Superior Court Judge Deborah Bernini ruled that a witness for the defense, Ralph Haber, was not qualified as an expert and precluded his testimony.

Bales said precluding the defense expert was a mistake.
Pima County has entered the space race.

The Pima County Board of Supervisors approved a $14.5 million economic development agreement with space exploration company World View Enterprises.

Supervisor Ally Miller cast the only vote against the plan. Supervisors Ray Carroll, Richard Elias, Sharon Bronson and Ramon Valadez voted in favor.

Were going to take a different direction because frankly, we need a different result, Valadez said.

The plan has Pima County funding construction of a 120,000-square-foot facility and spaceport on a 28-acre county-owned parcel south of Tucson International Airport.

World View would then pay back the countys $14.5 million investment over 20 years of lease payments totaling more than $23.6 million.

World View could purchase a portion of the property after 10 years, excluding the spaceport, which would be a public asset open for use by other operators.

Miller questioned why detailed company financial information was not included among the package of materials presented to the board.

Id like to look into your business plan on behalf of taxpayers, Miller said. I cant just take your word.

Jane Poynter and Taber MacCallum from World View said the financial information was proprietary and unavailable for board inspection.

Following the vote, MacCallum told reporters the deal was a safe bet for the county.

Its not strictly an investment, he said, noting the county will own the facilities and is not an investor in the company.

Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry also said the county does not carry a large risk in building the multimillion-dollar facility at Aerospace Parkway and Hughes Access Road, even if the company fails.

We would then take the property back and market it to a similar company, he said.

Miller said she thought the board did not have enough information on the deal to make a decision for such a substantial public investment.

It appears this was all done with at least one board member not knowing about it, Miller said.

Huckelberry said county staff have been working on the deal for several months, adding it was structured similarly to other economic development deals the county has entered.

Elias said Millers objections to the plan appeared to come out of a partisan political playbook and noted economic development deals with private industry have been commonplace in the county for decades.

Certainly Raytheon and its predecessor Hughes Aircraft had the vision to do that with a lot of help from government, he said.

Hughes came to Tucson in the early 1950s, in part on the promise of the county installing utility services to its manufacturing facilities.

Years later, the county built Hughes Access Road to provide an easier way for the companys workers to get to and from work.

Even recently, Pima County has spent millions to purchase open space around the Raytheon facility to facilitate company expansion and the growth of compatible industry nearby.

Those purchases included the 28-acre parcel World View will use. The county bought it in 2011.

An economic impact report the county commissioned on the plan said the World View deal represents a $3.2 billion impact on the regional economy over 20 years.

In addition to the construction costs, the company plans to invest at least $40 million in equipment and hire more than 400 workers, most paid at least 150-percent of the average salary for the region.

Poynter said the company already has a $45 million contract with NASA and others with companies like Northrop Grumman and numerous universities to carry scientific payloads into near space.

She and MacCallum said the companys business would likely be equally split between scientific payloads and space tourism for individuals interested in taking a $75,000 flight to near space.

The flights last five to six hours in a pressurized capsule set aloft with a helium-filled balloon.

The balloon ascends more than 100,000 feet, or nearly 20 miles, above the Earth.

The capsules are glided back to the surface under a parafoil.

World View has successfully tested the technology more than 40 times.

Construction on the facility could begin as soon as next month. Company officials plan to begin operations there in November.
The earliest Christian monastery in Iraq was destroyed by the Islamic State, and with it two years of work by a University of Arizona professor.

Satellite images confirmed the 1,400-year-old St. Elijahs Monastery of Mosul reduced to rubble, joining the ranks of more than 100 ancient sites destroyed by the Islamic State, The Associated Press reported Wednesday.

For Suzanne Bott, project director at the UAs Drachman Institute, the news was heartbreaking but not altogether unexpected.

From 2008 to 2010, Bott and a team of researchers did reconstruction work at the monastery alongside U.S. troops living at the Marez/Diamondback military base.

She and her colleagues found a large complex of earth and stone, including a church, sanctuary, altar and vaulted ceilings, rising above a terraced landscape where olives and fruit trees grew centuries ago.

They also found a niche where a lovely scallop shell design bore an inscription asking for prayers for the people buried beneath the walls, she said.

Since the rise of the Islamic State, Bott and her colleagues feared the group would destroy the monastery at some point, she said. Now, those fears have been confirmed.

Im infuriated, she said.

Ancient sites such as the monastery can teach and unify people, she said, including the U.S. troops who learned about the history of the area by visiting the monastery.

Christians first settled the area around the monastery in the third century, Bott said. About 300 years later, the monastery was built on the outskirts of town. The roughly 100 monks who lived there offered medicine to the townspeople and welcomed orphans.

The monastery survived for centuries until 1743, when a Persian leader forced everyone to convert to Islam.

The monks refused to convert and were put to death. The monastery was abandoned and fell into ruin, but served as a refuge during World War I and was later occupied by the Iraqi Army, Bott said.

After initial damage caused by U.S. troops during the invasion of Iraq, an Army chaplain realized the religious significance of the monastery and in 2004, with the backing of Gen. David Petraeus, told the troops to leave it alone. From then on, services were held on Easter and Christmas for the troops, Bott said.

In his office in exile in Irbil, Iraq, the Rev. Paul Thabit Habib, 39, stared quietly at before- and after-images of the monastery that once perched on a hillside above his hometown of Mosul. Shaken, he flipped back to his own photos for comparison.

I cant describe my sadness, he told the AP in Arabic. Our Christian history in Mosul is being barbarically leveled. We see it as an attempt to expel us from Iraq, eliminating and finishing our existence in this land.

A big part of tangible history has been destroyed, said the Rev. Manuel Yousif Boji. A Chaldean Catholic pastor in Southfield, Michigan, he remembers attending Mass at St. Elijahs almost 60 years ago while a seminarian in Mosul.

These persecutions have happened to our church more than once, but we believe in the power of truth, the power of God, Boji told the AP.

He is part of the Detroit areas Chaldean community, which became the largest outside Iraq after the sectarian bloodshed that followed the U.S. invasion in 2003. Iraqs Christian population has dropped from 1.3 million then to 300,000 now, church authorities say.
Jurors must decide whether it was rape or an abuse of authority in a case that pits a violent career criminal against a longtime federal employee.

Wynona Mixon is accused of abusing her position as a federal caseworker by becoming sexually involved with an inmate and then lying about it afterwards in a trial that started Tuesday at the U.S. District Court in Tucson.

Mixon, who worked in the federal prison system more than 20 years, says she was the one who was raped in August 2011 at the U.S. Penitentiary, 9300 S. Wilmot Road. The high-security facility houses some of the nations most dangerous criminals, including many sex offenders.

Inmate Christopher Goins  whose criminal history includes slashing the throat of a female defense attorney and raping his female cousin at knife point  claims Mixon had consensual sex with him on more than one occasion before she accused him of raping her on Aug. 12, 2011.

Mixons actions were an abuse of trust and authority, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Wheat, who told jurors Mixon lied about being raped because she feared shed been seen leaving an employee bathroom shortly before Goins also exited the otherwise unoccupied room.

Mixons defense attorney, Bates Butler, said Goins raped Mixon in that bathroom after confronting her with a letter opener.

He threatened that day to cut her if she didnt go in the bathroom, he said. She chose not to resist, and to live. The fact she chose not to resist does not mean it was not rape.

Wheat outlined for jurors what occurred the morning Mixon said she was raped, and told them she did not report the alleged incident until more than two hours afterward. He said she sent routine work emails that morning, and that colleagues saw her talking to Goins in her office and that nothing seemed amiss.

The penitentiary was put on lockdown after the allegation was made by Mixon that morning, and she was then taken to Tucson Medical Center.

Butler told the jury not to become too focused on timing details, and that it is common for rape victims to forget details when they recall an assault.

This is a case where ones credibility is everything, he said. Their case is built on this mans credibility.

As a case manager, Mixon helped the inmates line up programming, such as counseling and education classes. She had over 200 inmates under her supervision in August 2011 but did not return to work afterward. Butler said she was too traumatized by what occurred, and now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.

She did not have a good relationship with some of the investigators in the prison, Butler said in an interview before the trial began. This was because shes outspoken and shes black and she treated the inmates like human beings.

Wheat said in addition to lying about the rape, Mixon also filed a false claim against the Federal Bureau of Prisons, alleging they neglected to provide employees with adequate security. She is also accused of lying to FBI employees who interviewed her afterward.
BISMARCK, N.D.  A flight attendant from Arizona accused of fabricating a bomb threat story that prompted an emergency landing in North Dakota is now accused in a similar incident in Virginia.

Justin Cox-Sever, of Tempe, Arizona, is facing federal charges in a bogus bomb threat on a SkyWest Airlines flight on the East Coast last July that prompted the airplane to turn around mid-flight.

Cox-Sever also is charged in federal court in North Dakota with disrupting a SkyWest flight in the upper Midwest two months later, prompting a temporary shutdown of an airport.
Help India!

By Mohammed Shafeeq

Hyderabad/New Delhi : The Hyderabad university on Thursday revoked the suspension of four Dalit research scholars, but students continued to protest for the fifth day over the suicide of a Dalit student who too had been suspended.

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Addressing the protesting students at the campus, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to sack his ministers Smriti Irani and Bandaru Dattatreya over the suicide by Rohith Vemula.

And protesting against Human Resource Development Minister Iranis misleading statement, 10 Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe teachers quit their administrative roles.

Under attack, the universitys executive council decided to revoke the suspension of four students who along with Rohith were suspended in November after an alleged clash with an Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) leader. The ABVP is the student wing of the RSS.

After taking into account the extraordinary situation in the university, it resolved to terminate the punishment imposed on the students with immediate effect, a university statement said.

Vice Chancellor P. Appa Rao urged the university community to maintain harmony.

Slamming Iranis statement that a Dalit headed the committee which expelled the five Dalit students including Vemula, 10 teachers quit their administrative posts and joined the students on protest.

Kejriwal visited the campus and sought the dismissal of Irani and Minister of State for Labour Dattatreya whose letters to the HRD ministry on the alleged assault on the ABVP leader reportedly forced the university to suspend Vemula  son of a farm worker  and the others.

The Aam Aadmi Party leader also asked Irani to apologize for playing dirty caste politics over Vemulas suicide. Modi should dismiss both the ministers, he said to applause.

He demanded that Iranis name should be included in the FIR filed against Dattetreya, the vice chancellor and two ABVP leaders.

In New Delhi, the AAP demanded the arrest of Dattatreya, the BJP MP from Secunderabad.

BJP ally and Lok Janshakti Party MP Chirag Paswan also demanded a probe into a letter written by Dattatreya to the HRD ministry ahead of the Dalit research scholars suicide.

The suicide should be probed by an independent agency, which should decide who it should be probing. Those found guilty must not be spared, no matter how influential they are, he said.

The Congress called for Iranis dismissal from the cabinet for misleading people about the suicide.

Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala said in New Delhi that the anti-Dalit mindset of the BJP and the RSS had manifested itself over the last 20 months in various forms across the country.

He said Dattatreya, on whose letter the HRD ministry pressurised for the expulsion of the five PhD Dalit students, should also be booted out of the cabinet.

The BJP hit back, accusing the Congress of giving a communal colour or caste angle to every untoward incident in the country. It is very unfortunate, BJP national secretary Srikant Sharma said.

Sharma also demanded to know why Kejriwal, who visited Hyderabad, did not meet even one family of dengue victims in Delhi.

They (AAP) are silent over law and order issues in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. But they blame the centre for issues it is not even responsible. It proves their dishonesty, he said.
Help India!

By Aisha Zafar for Twocircles.net

As a nation, we both curse and create stereotypes. We are a judgemental lot, especially when it comes to matters of community. Let us talk about Aligarh Muslim University, an institution often caught in the eye of controversies. I write neither as a patron nor critic of the place, but as someone tired of the innumerable tags that it holds. The presence of the word Muslim in the name and its placement in the small town of Aligarh greatly affects the institutions reputation. I write to let people know that there is more to Aligarh Muslim University than burqa-clad women and sherwani-sporting men.

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My earlier education ranged from studying in two convents to completing senior secondary from a Tagore school in Allahabad. When I first came to Aligarh Muslim University for my honours, I did not approve of the display of Muslim culture in the place. It was only later that I realised that I never questioned the Christian or the Hindu customs of my respective schools. While the title in the names of my schools never made me think twice, it did bother me in the case of my university. This is reflective of a mentality where we come to associate religion with progress. I eventually understood that the institutions tehzeeb was an expression of its ideals and not an enforcement of a certain belief.

Struggling with its own set of stigmas, Aligarh Muslim University is a place for both learning and leisure. The academic credibility of the institution is already established; the latter is what few know about. The widely held notion that shayari is Aligarhs sole idea of extra-curricular is false to say the least. The Cultural Educational Centre of the university is home to literary, film, music, drama, eco and hobbies clubs. It is a platform where students from all departments, both genders and all ages come together in order to display their talents. The first ever literary festival of the university, held last year, got an amazing response from all over the country. It hosts various national and international events every now and then with stalwarts of different fields as guests.

Amidst the chaos of controversies, the institution also bears witness to the emergence of various student activist groups. Led by sane voices, they work in order to make the campus more aware and gender sensitised among other things. Campaigns such as Why Loiter? which deem womens leisure time equally important to that of men have been effectively running in the university for some time now. So if your impression of Aligarh Muslim University was that of a Madarsa; you now know better. The problems that it faces are mainly a result of pigeonholes created and accepted over time. This acceptance of misjudged ideas is exactly what needs to be disregarded to attain a completely modern and secular institution. The change has sure begun.

Aisha Zafar is a third-year Literature student at the Aligarh Muslim University and defines herself by her love of books, food and roads, in varying order.
The Chinese Peoples Republic does not intend to start a war with the United States of America over Taiwan. We can wait 10-20 and even 30 or 40 years, In this case we are taking into account the experience of the Soviet Union, which over 22 years [1918-1940--ed.] did not take military measures to return the Baltic states to the ranks of the USSR. However, while not starting a war over Taiwan, we will always say and pronounce, that Taiwan is an inalienable part of the Chinese Peoples Republic - Mao Tse-TungTaiwan is an inalienable part of China. Contrary to a number of countries, which after World War II had been divided in accordance with international agreements (Germany, Korea, Vietnam), on the Taiwan question there had not been and were not any sort of international acts in which the separation of Taiwan from China had been mentioned. To the contrary, even during the war, in the Cairo Declaration, it had been decided that after the completion of military operations Taiwan would be freed from its Japanese occupiers and returned to China. - Mao Tse-TungThe senior Japanese commanders and all ground, sea, air and auxiliary forces within China (excluding Manchuria), Formosa and French Indo-China north of 16 north latitude shall surrender to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. -approved by the President of the United States on 17 August 1945 , It instructed Japanese forces to surrender to designated Allied commanders, reveal all current military deployments, and preserve military equipment for later disarmament . It is also the source of the modern division of Korea at the 38th Parallel
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Uprooted Palestinians are at the heart of the conflict in the M.E Palestinians uprooted by force of arms. Yet faced immense difficulties have survived, kept alive their history and culture, passed keys of family homes in occupied Palestine from one generation to the next.
Corticosteroid agents (CA) are widely used in the treatment of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) either as concomitant treatment with active agents such as docetaxel, cabazitaxel and abiraterone or in a palliative setting, predominantly due to their anti-inflammatory activity.

However, the chronic use of CA has numerous side effects, especially in case of steroid-induced adrenal insufficiency. Furthermore, the latest clinical and preclinical data demonstrate that CA themselves are likely to promote tumour progression in certain populations of patients with mCRPC. Therefore, the role of CA in advanced disease should be carefully weighed for each patient and their withdrawal should be considered in some patients. This is necessary, especially in clinical trials that need good performance status patients to evaluate the activity and the safety of emerging drugs in mCRPC that do not require the concurrent use of CA. In oncology, there is no consensus on an algorithm of gradual steroid tapering and frequently the approach to this procedure is empirical. An algorithm is presented in this article based on clinical observations. Prospective studies are necessary to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the above-proposed algorithm in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.

Journal of endocrinological investigation. 2016 Jan 19 [Epub ahead of print]

S Sideris, F Aoun, C N Martinez, S Latifyan, A Awada, G Costante, T Gil

Medical Oncology Clinic, Jules Bordet Institute, Boulevard de Waterloo 121, 1000, Brussels, Belgium. , Urology Department, Jules Bordet Institute, Boulevard de Waterloo 121, 1000, Brussels, Belgium. , Medical Oncology Clinic, Jules Bordet Institute, Boulevard de Waterloo 121, 1000, Brussels, Belgium. , Medical Oncology Clinic, Jules Bordet Institute, Boulevard de Waterloo 121, 1000, Brussels, Belgium. , Medical Oncology Clinic, Jules Bordet Institute, Boulevard de Waterloo 121, 1000, Brussels, Belgium. , Endocrinology Department, Jules Bordet Institute, Boulevard de Waterloo 121, 1000, Brussels, Belgium. Medical Oncology Clinic, Jules Bordet Institute, Boulevard de Waterloo 121, 1000, Brussels, Belgium.

PubMed
To report an analysis of the concept of active surveillance.

Prostate cancer has become more prevalent since the introduction of PSA screening, however, many men are diagnosed with low-risk disease that may not require treatment.

Active surveillance is a treatment strategy used to avoid treatment and related adverse effects when immediate treatment is not necessary. A universal definition is lacking.

Concept analysis.

The CINAHL, PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane Library and Google Scholar databases were searched for literature published between 1980 and 2014 using the term active surveillance.

The method of Walker and Avant (2010) was used to analyse the concept of active surveillance, specifically within the context of prostate cancer.

Key attributes of active surveillance emerging from the analysis include: regular and purposeful monitoring, early detection of disease progression and planned curative intervention if necessary. Multiple terms are used in the literature to refer to the concept of active surveillance. Active surveillance can cause uncertainty, and prompt men to make lifestyle changes and seek more information on prostate cancer.

Active surveillance is not well understood, and ambiguity remains around the concept. Active surveillance and watchful waiting are used interchangeably in the literature and in clinical practice, but in fact do not refer to the same strategy. Active surveillance can generate significant uncertainty for the patient and family, which may be a barrier to choosing it as a treatment strategy and nursing research in this area is limited.

Nurses need a clear understanding of active surveillance and how it differs from other strategies in order to reduce ambiguity around the concept. Nurses must be aware of the uncertainty accompanying active surveillance, and a need exists for continued nursing research in this area.

Journal of clinical nursing. 2016 Jan 20 [Epub ahead of print]

Tara Horrill

CancerCare Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

PubMed
Denmark to open five more visa application centers in China Updated: 2016-01-21 14:57 By Chen Yingqun(Xinhua)

The Royal Danish Embassy in Beijing announced it will open five new Visa Application Centres in cities including Chengdu, Hangzhou, Jinan, Nanjing and Shenyang in a press release today.

This is in an effort to make visa applications easier for Chinese citizens who live outside of Beijing, Chongqing, Guangzhou and Shanghai.

The five new centers are expected to start accepting visa applications before the summer peak season of this year.

The embassy says that interest in Denmark as a travel destination has become stronger than ever amongst Chinese tour operators, as they have met with 60 Chinese travel agents coming to learn more about the latest visa information for Denmark and Greenland late last week.

The Royal Danish Embassy is also seeing a steady increase in the number of Chinese visa applicants going to Denmark and other Schengen countries.

In 2015, 28,000 visas were issued to travelers by Danish representatives in China, registering an increase of nearly 20 percent, or 5,500 issuances, from the previous year.
The father of Jiang Yue, a Chinese student killed in a shooting in Tempe, Arizona, called for capital punishment for the suspect.

Jiang's father, aunt and cousin arrived on Tuesday and spoke with representatives of the Tempe Police Department, Arizona State University (ASU) and Chinese Students Association of ASU.

Holly Davis, 32, of Mesa, Arizona, has been charged with first-degree murder in the case.

Commander John Thompson of the Arizona State University Police Department offers safety tips to Chinese students and parents at a press conference on Wednesday at the campus in Tempe following the shooting death of a Chinese student during a road confrontation on Jan 16 in Tempe. Linxin Gu / For China Daily

"To my understanding, such an outrageous crime should be punished by death," Jiang's father told China Press, a Chinese-language newspaper. He said he slept for only one hour since he heard the news of his daughter's death, according to Zhiyi Li, a China Press reporter.

The 19-year-old from Chongqing was a sophomore finance major at the WP Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.

"She was good daughter, granddaughter and sister. We can't accept it at all," Jiang's father said. She is also survived by a 10-year-old brother.

The family decided on Wednesday to have Jiang's body cremated in the US and her ashes brought back to China. A memorial is scheduled for Friday on campus, Li said.

On Wednesday, the Tempe Police Department, ASU Police Department and the Chinese Students' Association held a joint press conference on campus to answer questions from Chinese students and their parents.

Tempe police have ruled out road rage or racial bias as motives and said that it couldn't be determined yet whether the suspect was under the influence of drugs or depression.

"The woman (suspect) didn't think straight," Tempe police Lt. Noah Johnson told the students. He also advised them against buying guns in response but encouraged them to take advantage of a police escort service. Guns are banned on campus, he said.

During the conference, William Zhu, president of the Chinese Students' Association, called on students and parents to push for justice for Jiang Yue.

On Jan 16, Davis' Volkswagen Passat rear-ended Jiang's vehicle at a red light in an intersection, and Davis allegedly got out of her car and fired several shots into the driver's window, hitting Jiang several times, Tempe police said.

Jiang's 21-year-old male passenger got out of the Mercedes to assess the damage when he saw Davis with the gun, police said.

Police says Jiang lost control of her vehicle after she was shot as she drove away, crashing into another car carrying a family of five. The family did not suffer serious injuries.

Linxin Gu in Tempe contributed to the story.

liazhu@chinadailyusa.com

(China Daily USA 01/21/2016 page2)
Arielle Jay/Morguefile.com

A philomath is a lover of knowledge; more broadly the word is used to mean the love of knowledge itself. It's also a town in rural Georgia noted for its educational institutions, its historic part in the end of the Civil War and as a place sung about by the band REM.

Our culture prides itself on providing educational opportunities for creating, nurturing and supporting citizens who chose the path to philomath. By combining these with a love of learning, practically anyone can pursue and secure new knowledge that may be used to improve ones station in life, increase economic standing and become more interested and aware in the world around them.

And if you think you cant get there from here, think again. If you've just been trolling around the interwebz looking for educational access, broaden your search. As the 21st century lumbers toward its third decade the methods and types of schooling available in real life for post-secondary students are on the rise.

The first thing youll need to move ahead is a high school diploma. Lacking that substantial gate-keeping device isnt a reason to stop your journey though. Albuquerque offers a plethora of learning centers focused on training and preparing students to pass the General Equivalency Diploma test, an exam upon whose success your sojourn toward knowing depends.

Local programs focused on mastering the academic skills at the heart of the GED test include those at ABQ-GED, Youth Development Incorporated and Central New Mexico Community College. At ABQ GED (419 Pennsylvania SE; 505-907-9957), small classes, a tradition of community involvement and a commitment to individualized approaches to learning often equal success for seekers. For a 10 dollar fee, the 4-6 month course of study leads to engagement in an essential step in the process of self-improvement.

The program at YDI (6306 Central SW; 505-352-3469) also offers workforce and employment training in addition to GED preparation classes. Prospects for the services at YDI must qualify through federal income guidelines. The Adult Basic Education Program at CNM (525 Buena Vista SE; 505-224-4282) offers the advantages present at a large-scale institution of post-secondary learning (library access, a large and diverse student body and a full-service cafeteria) but also requires a pre-involvement placement test. A 10 dollar registration fee can then be used to participate in either a 6- or 12-week course of studies leading up to success on the GED.

Once youve completed this step, the next part of your ascendancy toward fulfilling educational desires comes through choosing a college or university to attend. Check out the tuition requirements at the schools of your choice, become knowledgeable about financial resources available to collegians at the US Department of Education website, and begin your trip towards Philomath in earnest.

Two and four year institutions in this state abound. CNM again plays an essential role here; success at a community college can be transformed into progress at institutions like the University of New Mexico, New Mexico Highlands University, New Mexico State University or the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. CNM offers a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) program that is fixed upon raising the scientific bar in this state by training under-represented communities and individuals in the latest developments driving business and commerce in our city, state and region. The new CNM STEMulus Center is located at 20 First Plaza Center NW and can be reached by calling the CNM main campus at 505-224-3000.

Universities such as UNM offer programs in business, the full gamut of social and hard sciences as well as the liberal and fine artsfor those interested in knowledge for its own sake as well as the job opportunities that arise through completion of a bachelors degree. The UNM admissions office can be reached at 505-277-8900 for more information. For those with deeper or loftier goals, the Institute of Mining and Technology is ranked as one of the top science and engineering schools in the nation and is situated in the bucolic and laid-back environs adjacent to Soccoro, N.M. Give them a bell at 575-835-5434 to connect with one of the premier science centers in New Mexico.

If spending 2-6 years navigating the halls of academia seems a bit much, or short-sighted or just plain inconvenient, then perhaps a for-profit college with an accelerated timetable should be part of your plan to master yourself and then the world. In Albuquerque, career colleges like Brown-Mackie College (10500 Copper NE; 877-271-3488) or Brookline College (4201 Central NW; 505-880-2877) offer educational methodologies that are compact and vocationally focused. Here students may opt to learn about business management, criminal justice and paralegal studies as well as medical assisting, veterinary technology and nursing at a pace that results in matriculation in a mere 1-3 years. The main drawback to these fast-paced, results-oriented yet sometimes truncated learning environments is a matter of tuition. Going to schools like these and completing their programs may indeed take far less time than the traditional route, but enrollment costs average up to 10 times higher than at non-profit institutions.

Well if none of that strikes your fancy, then you ought to seek out Philomath nonetheless; its a pretty cool place to be. Consider everything from cosmetology and barber schoolBurque has a fine selection of both, including notables like the Aveda Institute of New Mexico (1816 Central SW; 505-294-5333) and the Albuquerque Barber College (601 San Pedro NE; 505-266-4900)to learning a new language. One can learn about French culture and linguistic expression at Alliance Francais (2917 Carlisle NE; 505-872-9288). Lingua Franca (5400 Phoenix NE; 505-889-2991) offers instruction in a variety of European languages. Nihongo New Mexico (615 Gold SW; nihongonm.com) offers introductions to everything Japanese and Instituto Cervantes (1701 Fourth Street SW; 505-724-4777) is the prime location for learning about la cultura y idoma Espanol.

Oh yeah, one more thing: When youve become good friends with learning through disciplined habits, commitment and resilient fortitudeand have secured your dream job and a decent casita or car to go with itthrow your trolls out the door; you've reached Philomath, after all.
Merkel insists on European solution for refugee crisis Updated: 2016-01-21 06:20 (Xinhua)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel addresses the Christian Social Union (CSU) meeting in the southern Bavarian resort of Wildbad Kreuth near Munich, Germany, January 20, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

BERLIN -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed on Wednesday that a European solution was needed to resolve the current refugee crisis despite calls for capping refugee influx from her own conservatives.

While attending a conference of her Bavarian allies, the Christian Social Union (CSU), Merkel once again rejected a rapid policy change which includes setting up an upper limit on the number of refugees entering Germany.

The chancellor said she wanted to reduce the refugee arrivals "appreciably and sustainably", but reiterated that in order to achieve the goal, people should start with combating the causes of flight and find a European solution for the crisis.

"It's of utmost importance to talk to each other in such challenging times" even there are different opinions, she said, referring to the existing differences with its sister party CSU over the refugee issue.

Merkel is facing renewed pressure from her own conservatives to reduce the influx of asylum seekers arriving in Germany, after a record inflow of over 1 million last year sapped their support. The CSU has demanded a cap of 200,000 migrants a year and pushed for a quick government solution to the refugee problem.

"If Austria introduces a ceiling, there would be more refugees coming to Germany," said CSU leader Horst Seehofer.

CSU Secretary-General Andreas Scheuer believed that Germany should follow Austria to introduce a limit on the number of asylum seekers accepted.

Merkel, however, warned that the decision of Austria would add difficulties to negotiations with Turkey concerning the refugee crisis.
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During Rajat Gupta's heyday as a globe-trotting management consultant, one of the highlights of January was the World Economic Forum's annual gathering of global business titans in Davos, Switzerland. As a three-time managing director of consulting firm McKinsey & Company, Gupta was well acquainted with many of the world's most powerful corporate executives. The forum was an opportunity for Gupta, a Harvard Business School graduate, to join them in the rarefied setting of the Swiss Alps.

But this year, Gupta will be spending time with his wife and four daughters at his apartment in Manhattan's Century building. On January 5, Gupta was released from Federal Medical Center Devens, a correctional facility near Boston, to serve the rest of a prison sentence at home.

A year and a half ago, Gupta began a two-year sentence for securities fraud. In June 2012, a Manhattan jury found him guilty of tipping Raj Rajaratnam, a onetime business associate and founder of a New York hedge fund known as the Galleon Group, to corporate secrets that Gupta had gleaned in his position as a director of companies like Goldman Sachs and Procter & Gamble.

Though Gupta is no longer at Devens, he will remain a federal inmate until March 13, confined to his apartment and required to wear an ankle bracelet that monitors his movements.

Gupta applied last year to corrections officers for an early discharge from Devens.

Under the Second Chance Act, the Bureau of Prisons is authorized to send an inmate to what is called community confinement for re-entry purposes - as long as the individual poses no threat, said Joel Sickler, the founder of the Justice Advocacy Group, a company that advises inmates on prison stays. An inmate in good standing is eligible for home confinement for 10 per cent of a sentence, up to six months, said Sickler.

Gupta can go to work, visit a doctor's office or attend religious services. With permission, he can go shopping or get a haircut. But neighbors should not expect to see Gupta at some of the Upper West Side venues he liked to frequent - restaurants like Pappardella. "They don't let you do anything socially related - go to dinner, go to the movies," Sickler said.

When Gupta was assigned to Devens, he was sent to the facility's minimum-security camp, which houses 124 inmates. The camp is separate from the main prison, where Rajaratnam is serving an 11-year sentence for insider trading. Inmates in the camp do not come in contact with prisoners in the main compound.

RELEASED BUT NOT YET FREE Released from detention in Federal Medical Center on Jan 5

To wear an ankle bracelet that monitors his movements till March 13

Allowed to spend time with his wife and four daughters at his Manhattan apartment

Can go to work, visit a doctor or attend religious services

With permission, he can go for a haircut or shopping

Will not be allowed to have dinner in a restaurant or watch movie in a multiplex

Starts working out of the offices of Purnendu Chatterjee

In June 2014, Gupta began serving two-year sentence for tipping Raj Rajaratnam to corporate secrets

But last summer, Gupta, 67, was transferred to the main compound, which houses 1,046 inmates and offers medical facilities. In April 2015, he was sent to the prison's Special Housing Unit for having an unauthorised item: an extra pillow. Gupta had grabbed the extra pillow, as many inmates do, to help ease a bad back. "Rajat ended up finding the medical center more to his liking than the camp," Sickler said. "They didn't nitpick so much." He was also afforded a greater degree of privacy in the main compound, where inmates are housed in cells, rather than in open barracks.

Gupta, who travelled tirelessly for business and was a prodigious networker during his career, appears to be eager to get back to the world he once inhabited. He is already working out of the offices of Purnendu Chatterjee, an old friend from McKinsey who amassed a fortune by investing in public and private companies after leaving the firm. Chatterjee was one of Gupta's most passionate defenders when he was convicted of insider trading, going so far as to doubt the basis for the verdict against his friend and writing a letter to the court on Gupta's behalf before his sentencing.

Gupta has enormous financial losses to recoup. Just a decade ago, his net worth was more than $130 million. In sentencing Gupta in October 2012, Federal District Court in Manhattan fined him $5 million and in 2013, the Securities and Exchange Commission secured a $13.9 million penalty against him. Gupta was also ordered to reimburse Goldman Sachs $6.2 million for an internal investigation of the case against him and other legal expenses. His appeals of the financial sanctions were rejected.

Gupta may also be forced to pay Goldman for his legal defense, which has cost more than $40 million. Under a deal reached before trial,



Gupta agreed that if he were found guilty of insider trading, he would reimburse the investment bank for his legal fees.

Even before reporting to Devens, Gupta started to put his financial house in order. He began paying regular visits to his villa in the Palm Island Resort in southwest Florida, making it his legal residence.

Unlike in Connecticut, where Gupta owns a waterfront property, domicile in Florida will allow him to shield his home, regardless of its value, from any bankruptcy court proceeding. Since returning to his Manhattan apartment, Gupta has been fielding calls from former associates who say he is in good spirits and looks back on his spell in prison philosophically.

Though Gupta has not had an easy time in prison, he will get one break. His March 13 release date falls on a Sunday, so "they will release him on Friday," said Sickler. "He will turn his bracelet in that Friday afternoon."

 2016 The New York Times News Service
The Washington Merry-Go-Round pays tribute to the controversial themes of Drew Pearson and Jack Anderson, adding the significance of commentary to the relationship of raw political power and financial influence.




One in a series of periodic stories this month looking at the upcoming Iowa caucuses.

WATERLOO | Iowans have shattered two glass ceilings in as many years. Feb. 1 presents an opportunity to go for a third in selecting the first female caucus winner.

Regardless of whether theyre standing in Hillary Clintons corner as a Democrat or writing Carly Fiorinas name on a slip of paper as a Republican, for the first time both political parties can give a win to a female presidential candidate in the same year.

This historic moment follows others in Iowas recent past.

The state sent its first woman to Congress, admittedly after most states had done so, in voting Joni Ernst into the Senate in 2014. Last year, House Republicans named the first female speaker, Linda Upmeyer, to lead their body when they gaveled into the 2016 session.

All of this means its been an exciting time for Mary Ellen Miller to be executive director of 50-50 in 2020, a group aimed at getting equal representation for women in elected offices by the 100-year anniversary of women getting the right to vote.

The exciting thing about this cycle is  it really brings the issue to the forefront. No matter who wins, its been healthy for efforts to get more women engaged because it has provoked the conversation about why there arent enough, Miller said.

But as both Clinton and Fiorina have met their own individual challenges in the run-up to the caucuses, it has also provoked a conversation about whether Iowans are actually ready to break that presidential glass ceiling.

With two weeks until the Iowa caucuses, Fiorina flounders in low-single digits in Iowa polls, and Clinton has seen her lead shrink to near deadlock in the state.

Despite these challenges, Iowa State Universitys Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics director Dianne Bystrom said theres little to compare between the two.

What youre seeing in this race, I think, is the different challenges between Republican women and Democratic women running for their partys nomination, Bystrom said.

A tougher environment

Bystrom added, Over 90 percent (of people) say theyd vote for a woman, but when you ask if their neighbor would, or if another member of their family would, those percentages go down on both the Democratic and Republican side, but they go down significantly so on the Republican side, and so I think its a tougher environment for Carly Fiorina among voters in the Republican party.

Miller -- a 50-year Republican -- put it more bluntly: I think clearly the Republicans have an image problem with women. I dont care what you say.

Kim Reem, the immediate past president of the Iowa Federation of Republican Women, however, said she sees Fiorinas struggles as less a product of Republicans being hesitant to support a woman and more the result of an overwhelmingly large field of candidates.

I dont know why Carly hasnt caught on. That is a big question. I cant help but wonder if shes just ahead of her time as far as Republicans go, Reem said. As a Republican woman, I think Carly Fiorina is one of the best weapons in our arsenal when it comes to women running in November.

She said most Republicans she talks to across the state hold a very high opinion of Fiorina. She also noted most Republicans have yet to make up their mind as to who theyll support Feb. 1, adding its unfortunate front-runner Donald Trump has sucked so much air time from other Republican candidates.

But Bystrom points to another challenge for Fiorina in digging into the turnout for Republican caucusgoers in the past two cycles. Republican caucusgoers are skewed toward men, but female Republicans in Iowa have been more likely to back the perceived evangelical candidate, particularly giving the edge to 2008 winner Mike Huckabee.

Carly Fiorina is not the evangelical candidate. Shes not trying to be. Shes in the lane with the other traditional candidates that no one has really coalesced around, Bystrom said.

Democrats' gender gap

Meanwhile, Bystrom said that Clintons race was always likely to tighten on the Democratic side.

But by digging into the turnout for Democratic caucusgoers in the past two cycles, Bystrom sees better news for Clintons prospects Feb. 1.

On the flip side of this  these (caucus data) numbers are pretty good for Hillary Clinton, because what recent polls have shown is that she has a big gender gap going on. Most of her supporters are women, and they tend to be older women, Bystrom said.

Thats good news for Clinton, because, according to Bystrom, 60 percent of the Democratic caucusgoers in 2008 -- albeit when Clinton finished third -- were 45 and older. At the same time, 57 percent of the Democratic caucusgoers were women.

She said aside from gender, other political factors could help Clinton, like her closest competitor Bernie Sanders facing increased media scrutiny and the fact shes typically seen polling boosts after debates.

Miller, meanwhile, has noticed some younger women shes talked with have tended to support Sanders over Clinton. But she added the reasons they give have nothing to do with Clintons gender but rather that shes seen as too much in the good old boys game already.

A silver lining

Still, Miller sees a silver lining in the conversation about the female presidential candidates challenges.

Thats what I like about this cycle is without these two women in these high-level campaigns, we would not even be having this conversation, Miller said.

And in her role at 50-50 in 2020, those conversations matter, because the more women see other women in the spotlight in politics, the more likely they are to get involved and potentially run for office. That helps increase that percentage of elected officials closer to the 50 percent goal.

She said the high-profile women -- Clinton, Fiorina, Ernst and Upmeyer -- are already having an impact, as Miller attributes their presence on the national and state stages to the increased registration for a 50-50 in 2020 event last weekend aimed at women considering running for political office.

One of the common challenges when we try to recruit women to run is that they dont really know women who are running or who are involved politically  so just having two women run at that high of a level raises the bar for everyone, in a positive way, Miller said. I think its just very encouraging to all women.
Michael Bays newest film, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, is a retelling of accounts of attacks on two  one of them top secret  U.S. compounds in Benghazi, Libya in 2012. It follows the 13-hour struggle of six security members to keep more than 25 American citizens safe from militants until help arrives.

With John Krasinski at the helm of the cast, we follow him through the next 13 hours. From the start, the film is intense. Tyrone Woods (James Badge Dale) and Jack Silva (John Krasinski) havent even gotten to the compounds when they are faced with a life-or-death situation. We soon meet the rest of the men, including Tig (Dominic Fumusa), Oz (Max Martini), Tanto (Pablo Schreiber) and Boon (David Denman). They are highly trained soldiers as well as everymen, with families and interests like video games and singing LMFAOs Im Sexy and I Know It in their underwear.

Credit goes to Bay for establishing a clear viewpoint, accurate or not, of the environment these men find themselves in. The soldiers may be highly trained, but no amount of experience can make up for the inability to communicate or relate to the people in this place. It creates a vulnerability among the soldiers, as well as the audience. There is no telling what will happen next or who will turn out to be an enemy.

Bays films are known for showy effects and lack of substance, but this film cant be categorized as such. Yes, it has some of the most fantastic combat re-enactments Ive ever seen in a film, but its story has impact too. Although these soldiers are in a relatively straightforward situation save the ambassador and protect the Americans until help arrives  it is nothing less than chaotic. Bays direction and the talented cast and crew create an endless barrage of pulse-pounding action and a glimpse of wars mental anguish. The soldiers carry on despite their exhaustion, fear and trauma.

Whether the film is one-sided in its portrayal of the actual events is up to the viewer. But theres no doubt that it succeeds in offering points to ponder about war and loss of life. Its definitely worth a watch.
WATERLOO  Upcoming bond issue referendums in the Waterloo and Cedar Falls school districts have picked up the support of a regional economic development organization.

The Greater Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber on Wednesday announced its board of directors voted unanimously to endorse the two proposals after hearing presentations from both districts superintendents Jan. 5. In a news release, the organization called them investments in the future generations of Cedar Valley citizens.

Waterloo Community Schools $47 million proposal to build a career center, expand career and technical education and renovate its high schools will come before voters Feb. 2. Cedar Falls Community Schools proposes through a $32 million April 5 referendum to fund North Cedar and Orchard Hill elementary building upgrades and construct a new elementary school in the southwest part of the city. The Alliance encouraged residents of each district to vote yes for the bond issues.

The board voiced support for the use of career and technical curriculum in both districts. As part of Cedar Falls presentation, members learned about the districts implementation of the Center for Advanced Professional Studies, or CAPS, career program at the high school and how it is tied to the elementary building improvements.

Workforce development is critical to the growth of the Cedar Valley, said Courier Publisher David Braton, chairman of the Alliance board. The Alliance & Chamber applauds Waterloo and Cedar Falls schools staff and school boards for taking these bold steps to give our students the best education in a changing world. Workforce development is the key to our economic success.

The Alliance news release said a compelling factor for supporting the proposals is how the career programs could draw students from other districts and receive a portion of their state funding to ensure compensation for providing the high-value curriculum. In addition, both Waterloos CTE and Cedar Falls CAPS credits will transfer to Hawkeye Community College and University of Northern Iowa degree programs.

This is important to ensure the student can seamlessly continue work toward a degree, obtaining the most current knowledge in the field, and entering the career field at the most opportune time for the student, said the news release. It also defines clear career pathways for the student, and a quantifiable pipeline of candidates for jobs in the Cedar Valley.
WAVERLY  Bremwood Schools Lied Education Center will be under new management after classes end this spring.

Area Education Agency 267 currently operates the Lutheran Services of Iowa facility for students with behavioral disabilities. It recently sent Waverly-Shell Rock Community Schools, the district where the program is located, a letter terminating the management services agreement at the end of the 2015-16 school year.

As a result, the district will assume oversight of the school, including employment of about 36 teachers and other instructional staff. The school can serve up to 75 students.

Theyre moving away from where theyre providing the education management of the school, said Ed Klamfoth, Waverly-Shell Rock superintendent. Nothings going to change except that the employees are going to be employees of Waverly-Shell Rock instead of the AEA.

AEA 267 will continue to provide about seven support staff, including psychologists, social workers, consultants and speech and language therapists. Those people work with instructional staff to ensure individualized education programs for each student are being implemented as written.

Instructional staff will have to go through an application process with the district and be hired to continue working at the school, which serves both residential and day students in kindergarten through 12th grade.

The staff there will become candidates for employees, said Rod Ball, AEA 267s assistant director of special education instruction. Waverly-Shell Rock would like to do that as seamlessly as they can.

Waverly-Shell Rock already heads a consortium of about 25 Northeast Iowa school districts that use Bremwood and purchase personnel services from AEA 267. In 2012, the Iowa Department of Education determined Iowa Code requires school districts where special education programs are located to serve as the governing authority.

AEA 267 is the last AEA in the state to operate specialty schools, said Beth Strike, a spokeswoman for the agency.

In the case of programs with a residential component like Bremwood, AEA officials decided its best for the local district to take the management role.
WATERLOO  Black Hawk Countys elected officials will see 4 percent pay increases later this year.

Members of the Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 Tuesday to approve a recommendation from the county compensation board to boost the pay July 1 for the sheriff, county attorney, auditor, treasurer, recorder and five supervisors.

About 10 deputies working under the elected officials  and who receive pay based on a percentage of their boss  also are affected.

I feel 4 percent is justified, said Supervisor Frank Magsamen. Whether or not I want to support that is a different issue.

Magsamen eventually joined supervisors Linda Laylin and John Miller in approving the raises while supervisors Craig White and Tom Little voted against them.

White said he would have preferred to vote for the supervisors raises separately from the other five elected county officials. But state law requires any deviations from the comp board proposal to be equal across all positions.

It puts us in a bad position as far as Im concerned, White said. I dont like voting on my own raise.

The comp board voted Jan. 5 to recommend the 4 percent raises noting, in part, Black Hawk Countys elected officials were paid less than their counterparts in many smaller counties.

Salary information from the Iowa State Association of Counties shows the total payroll for Black Hawk Countys elected officials ranks ninth despite Black Hawk being the fifth most-populous of the states 99 counties.

Among individual positions, the Black Hawk County attorneys pay ranks 11th highest, the sheriff ranks 10th and the supervisors compensation ranks 26th.

Board members have projected 2.5 percent raises for other county positions but are still awaiting the completion of union contract negotiations. Meanwhile, the Human Resources Department has been working on statewide comparisons of wages paid to nonbargaining workers.

Supervisor Little said such comparisons carry no weight with his decisions on how county employees should be compensated.

Frankly, I dont care, Little said. I dont know how the other counties are operating. Im a supervisor in Black Hawk County.

But Laylin said the county could lose key employees if its wages are not competitive with other potential employers.

I think its important to know where we are in the state, she said. But we also look as much as we can at our local market.

During the comp board discussion, Audra Heineman, human resources coordinator, noted the county supervisors will be eligible for health insurance coverage in the next fiscal year.

While a previous board voted in 2003 to eliminate the ability for supervisors to receive health insurance coverage through the county, Heineman said the prohibition was deemed to be improper under the provisions of the federal Affordable Care Act of 2010.
The outbreak of hostilities between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz may not be edifying, but it is clarifying.

Cruz represents the arrival of tea party ideology at the presidential level. He espouses a constitutionalism that would disqualify much of modern government and a belief Republican elites are badly, even mainly, at fault for accommodating cultural and economic liberalism. Trump has adopted an ethno-nationalism in which the constraints of political correctness are lifted to express frankly nativist sentiments: Many illegal immigrants are criminals and rapists who threaten American jobs, and Muslims are foreign, suspicious and potentially dangerous.

These approaches can overlap, but they are not identical. Cruz is attacking Trump as a fake conservative on gun and property rights and as a New York liberal on cultural matters. For his part, Trump defends those portions of the welfare state that benefit the working class, opposing cuts in Social Security and an increase in the retirement age. Cruz is the conservative true believer. Trump is the wrecking ball of political convention. They are not only two strong personalities; they demonstrate two different tendencies within the right.

Trumps attacks on Cruz have begun drawing both blood and protests from ideological conservatives. Either cut the crap, warns radio host Mark Levin, your accusations ... that Cruz is Canadian, a criminal, owned by the banks, etc. ... or you will lose lots and lots of conservatives. Levin and others registered no protest when Trump denigrated women, minorities and the disabled. Attacking a favored conservative is evidently a different matter.

But this is Trumps greatest political talent  exploiting weaknesses like a dentist probing and drilling the most sensitive spot. Trumps questions about Cruzs Canadian roots are not primarily about constitutional interpretation. The issue is simpler: Why would voters who support the forced expulsion of 11 million undocumented people want a president born north of the border? Trumps mention of undisclosed Wall Street contributions highlights the contrast between Cruzs outsider brand and insider resume. And Cruzs seriously Denmark-like proposal for a value-added tax  as Marco Rubio pointed out in the recent Republican debate  may be disqualifying for many economic conservatives.

In a Trump-Cruz battle, I would not bet against Trump. Much of the Republican donor class is convinced Cruz is the political equivalent of Barry Goldwater, in part because of his very conservative social views. A Trump-Clinton contest, however, is beginning to appear more winnable (particularly as Hillary Clinton appears more awkward and inept). Donors, one leading Republican figure told me, are trying hard to get comfortable with Trump. And Trump, without doubt, has improved his skills as a candidate.

But here is the problem. Donors, analysts and media are naturally drawn to the horse-race aspect of politics: establishment vs. anti-establishment, insider vs. outsider. But Trump is proposing a massive ideological and moral revision of the Republican Party. Re-created in his image, it would be the anti-immigrant party; the party that blows up the global trading order; the party that undermines the principle of religious liberty; the party that encourages an ethnic basis for American identity and gives strength and momentum to prejudice.

We are already seeing the disturbing normalization of policies and arguments that recently seemed unacceptable, even unsayable. Trump proposes the forced expulsion of 11 million people, or a ban on Muslim immigration, and there are a few days of outrage from responsible Republican leaders. But the proposals still lie on the table, eventually seeming regular and acceptable.

But they are not acceptable. They are not normal. They are extreme, and obscene and immoral. The Republican nominee  for the sake of his party and his conscious  must draw these boundaries clearly.

Ted Cruz is particularly ill-equipped to play this role. He is actually more of a demagogue than an ideologue. So he has changed his views on immigration to compete with Trump  and raised the ante by promising that none of the deported 11 million will ever be allowed back in the country. Instead of demonstrating the humane instincts of his Christian faith  a faith that motivated abolition and the struggle for civil rights  Cruz is presenting the crueler version of a pipe dream.

For Republicans, the only good outcome of Trump vs. Cruz is for both to lose. The future of the party as the carrier of a humane, inclusive conservatism now depends on some viable choice beyond them.
For actors, picking the right role can be the difference between rising astronomically to the heady heights of Hollywood superstardom or fizzling out on a downward spiral of obscurity. And sometimes they really dont make the right call in these situations. They often let personal bias get in the way and refuse to make the necessary sacrifices that could make their career represents. Some just dont want to go to all that effort of getting into character, or fear being typecast further down the road. And then there's those who hubristically think theyre too big for the part on offer. Crazy, right? Well were are some of the worst instances of Hollywood A-listers refusing to make sacrifices for roles, missing out on what could have been career-defining films as a result

10. The Hulk Was Too Much Commitment For Ed Norton

Louis Leterriers Ed Norton-starring The Incredible Hulk from 2008 was the second film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Four years later, the heroes of the MCU united in Joss Whedons The Avengers, with one notable recasting  Norton has been replaced by Mark Ruffalo. So why did Norton step away from the role that could have continued to make him millions? According to Marvel, this behind-the-scenes decision was rooted in the need for an actor who embodies the creativity and collaborative spirit of our other talented cast members." But, in Nortons words, I think you can sort of do anything once, but if you do it too many times, it can become a suit thats hard to take off, in other peoples eyes. By the sounds of it, then, he wasnt willing to sacrifice the necessary time and saw the Hulk as too much of a commitment. Both Norton and Marvel have continued down their separate paths, and continued to make plenty of cash. Norton, notably, has teamed up repeatedly with renowned arty filmmakers between big blockbuster gigs. To be fair on him, he might not have had time for that if hed stuck with Hulk.
Oh, actors: they're a funny bunch, aren't they? Whilst some of them just settle for just turning up on set, reading their lines and going home without a second's thought (think late period Robert De Niro), there are those who will go that extra mile in order to really get into character (think early Robert De Niro). And sometimes they wind up doing super ridiculous things in order to prove to the movie-going public that, hey, they're serious about the craft of acting. You know, wacky things like moving into the wilderness, or trying to stay awake for several days at a time; anything that helps them to fully immerse themselves in the fictional person that they're trying to play. But it can all be worth it. If an actor's sacrifice is big enough (and their ensuing performance good enough), then they might get the biggest form of praise in Hollywood - an Oscar. Once you've been given an Academy Award, you've officially proven yourself to be the best actor of that year, apparently, and - as a result - people will love you (for a while, at least). Still, it's no easy task, as displayed by the following actors, all of whom went to plainly ridiculous, stupid, dumb, idiotic, bizarre, horrible or weird lengths to be nominated for that precious Oscar. You've got to ask yourself, guys: was it worth it?
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In spite of hundreds of studies and millions of anecdotal reports proving the medicinal value of cannabis, the Drug Enforcement Agency, Food and Drug Administration, National Institute on Drug Abuse and National Institutes of Health continue to claim that cannabis has no medical use and must be prohibited by keeping it in Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act. In spite of 23 states and the District of Columbia allowing medical use of cannabis and 17 more states allowing the use of certain cannabis extracts for medical reasons, these agencies continue to argue cannabis has no accepted medical use in the United States. Large scale epidemiological studies have proven the safety of cannabis, especially when compared to other medications, but incompetent bureaucrats continue to perpetuate long dispelled myths of the dangers of marihuana.

Rather than investing in real research to evaluate the millions of individual claims of the medical benefits from cannabis, the NIH spends millions of dollars on new pseudoscientific methods of blaming marihuana for the evils of the world. Even if legitimate medical researchers find outside funding, the NIDA refuses to allow access to supplies of cannabis for large scale clinical studies looking for medical benefits. In rare instances, NIDA does release small amounts of cannabis for medical research but the FDA refuses to acknowledge these studies, claiming they are too small. The FDA tells the DEA that cannabis has no medical value, is not safe for medical use and has no accepted medical use in the United States. The DEA demonizes and terrorizes medical cannabis patients by denying them access to lifesaving medication, locking them up, taking their property and denying them access to jobs through zero tolerance workplace policies. They shoot to kill, occasionally realizing only afterwards that theyre at the wrong house.

So what can be done to change this? Change could come from an Act of Congress to move cannabis out of Schedule I. Unfortunately, Congress has demonstrated neither the intelligence nor the compassion to take this action. Change could be even simpler. The Attorney General is responsible for administering the Controlled Substances Act. If the AG issues a legal opinion stating that cannabis has accepted medical use in the United States because cannabis has accepted medical use in 40 states in the United States, she could simply order the DEA to move cannabis to a less restrictive schedule to comply with the law. If cannabis has any accepted medical use in the US it cant be in Schedule 1. Unfortunately, Eric Holder wouldn't do this when I asked and I doubt that Loretta Lynch will take such an action on her own.

Change can also come from the administrative process set up by Congress when they drafted the Controlled Substances Act. This is the route that Ive chosen. In December of 2009 I filed a rescheduling petition for cannabis with the DEA. In 2011, another petition was filed by the Governors of Washington and Rhode Island. The FDA sat on these petitions for years before recently completing their review and issuing a recommendation to the DEA. Now the DEA is sitting on that recommendation while over 100 Americans commit suicide every day. In my clinical practice, cannabis has proven to be the only medication that is effective for treating PTSD and rapidly decreasing suicidal thoughts in many patients.

Its possible that the FDA told the DEA to remove cannabis from Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act. However, based on the FDAs past record of incompetence and/or political grandstanding I suspect that they have recommended the fast track for expensive pharmaceutical cannabis extracts, but want to continue prohibition of whole plant cannabis. I hope Im wrong. Ive filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the FDA to find out what they told the DEA and Im awaiting their response. With American lives at stake, I want a speedy decision. If the DEA refuses to remove cannabis from Schedule 1, theyll be dealing with me in the Court of Appeals.

Until then, I will continue to refer patients to New Mexicos medical cannabis program. I currently manage close to a thousand PTSD patients in the medical cannabis program and hope to increase that number now that Ive started my own practice and am no longer prescribing pharmaceuticals. Cannabis has proven far superior to any pharmaceutical for treating PTSD and suicidal thoughts.

Im collecting data for research purposes, since we cant trust the NIH to support cannabis research. In the latest issue of The Nurse Practitioner , I discuss the use of cannabis for treating PTSD.

Im also trying to educate medical professionals and the public through events like the first Cannabis Health Summit. This unique event on Jan. 23-24 will allow tens of thousands of Americans to see some of the countrys leading experts speaking about medical cannabis for free. You can sign up at cannabishealthsummit. com.

2016 may very well be the year cannabis is finally removed from Schedule 1 of the Controlled Substances Act, so that all Americans will finally have access to this lifesaving medication.
Abstract

The major goal of this study was to assess the role of indigenous institutions in handling/ settling conflicts in the Sidama Society. Sidama Communities are found in Sidama Zone, Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Regional State (SNNPRS). The research was conducted in Dalle woreda, Sidama Zone and it was purposively selected. Qualitative research methodology was employed in the study for its appropriateness to assess the role of indigenous institutions in handling/ settling conflicts in the study area and data was collected through the use of interview, key informant interview, focus group discussion, personal observation and document review. The results obtained from the study suggest that Conflicts in Sidama, as in anywhere else, may vary from trivial interpersonal disagreements to a serious dispute which might eventually lead to homicide. The most common conflict issues in Sidama are grazing land, water, farmland and borderland. There are many deeds and accounts in the daily activities of the society which are considered to be crimes with regard to the norms and traditions of the Sidama community. However, the most serious ones are: beating a man with a slump and/or thin stick, Beating elderly, raping, murder, Physical damage, Adultery. Sidama indigenous institutions have played a great role to solve different local conflicts and for the development of modern institutions. The modern institutions (Courts) have and took a strong base from the indigenous institutions in resolving conflict and preserving peace and security. Besides to modern institution, the indigenous institutions have played a great role for the emergence of cooperative unions. To sum up, indigenous/traditional/ institutions are costly and time effective in addition to many other benefits provide for the society when we compare with modern institutions. Therefore, at this time government courts encourages indigenous/traditional/ institutions to promote peace and to solve conflicts at the grass root level or at the local level.





Keywords Indigenous Institutions, Conflict Resolution, Sidama, Dalle Woreda and Southern Ethiopia
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.
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A mural of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat at the Qalandia checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ramallah. Ahmad Gharabli/AFP/Getty

By David Poort and Ken Silverstein PARIS  Swiss scientists who conducted tests on samples taken from Yasser Arafats body have found at least 18 times the normal levels of radioactive polonium in his remains. The scientists said they were confident up to an 83 percent level that the late Palestinian leader was poisoned with it, a conclusion that they said moderately supports polonium as the cause of his death. A 108-page report (PDF) by the University Centre of Legal Medicine in Lausanne, which was obtained exclusively by Al Jazeera, found unnaturally high levels of polonium in Arafats ribs and pelvis, and in soil stained with his decaying organs. The Swiss scientists, along with French and Russian teams, obtained the samples last November after Arafat's body was exhumed from a mausoleum in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. Dave Barclay, a U.K. forensic scientist and retired detective, told Al Jazeera that with these results he was wholly convinced that Arafat was murdered. Yasser Arafat died of polonium poisoning, he said. We found the smoking gun that caused his death. What we dont know is whos holding the gun at the time. The level of polonium in Yasser Arafats rib  is about 900 millibecquerels, Barclay said. That is either 18 or 36 times the average, depending on the literature. Suha Arafat, the Palestinian leaders widow, received a copy of the report in Paris on Tuesday. When they came with the results, Im mourning Yasser again, she said. Its like you just told me he died. The Swiss report only examined the question of what killed Arafat. It did not address the question of whether he was deliberately poisoned or how.

By October 2004, toward the end of the second intifada, Arafat had been holed up for more than two years in his Ramallah presidential compound, which Israeli troops had surrounded and partly razed. He was elderly and frail, but his medical reports show he was in good overall health and did not have any particular risk factors, the Swiss report states. On the evening of Oct. 12, Arafat suddenly fell ill after eating a meal. Based on his symptoms  nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain  his personal physician initially diagnosed flu. But his health deteriorated swiftly, and Egyptian and Tunisian doctors flown in to see him could not pinpoint the source of his sickness. On Oct. 29, a wan and weak Arafat was carried in a wheelchair from his headquarters. He waved and blew kisses to a waiting crowd and was put aboard a helicopter and taken to Jordan. From there, a French government plane carried him to Paris for emergency treatment at Percy military hospital. French doctors were unable to diagnose or halt his decline, and he soon lapsed into a coma. On Nov. 11, Arafat, who symbolized the fight for Palestinian statehood, died at the age of 75. Doctors at Percy hospital did not conduct an autopsy, announce the cause of death or release his medical records, which heightened speculation about the cause of his rapid demise. Many Palestinian officials close to Arafat believed he had been poisoned. In the West, rumors circulated that he had died of AIDS. Some doctors suggested that leukemia or a foodborne illness was to blame; others proposed that he had simply succumbed to old age. By 2011, when Al Jazeera began an investigation, Arafats death was a cold case. During the investigation, Suha Arafat gave the network access to her late husbands full medical records and a bag of his belongings, including clothing he wore during his final days. Tests conducted by the Swiss scientists who issued the new report found elevated levels of polonium-210, one of the elements isotopes, in blood, sweat and urine stains on Arafats clothes. In July 2012, Al Jazeera broadcast the results of its investigation in "What Killed Arafat?" The documentary triggered a French murder investigation and led to the exhumation of the leader's remains. Sixty samples of his body tissue were taken, and 20 each distributed to the Swiss team; a French team of judges and forensic experts assigned to the murder investigation; and a Russian group invited at the request of the Palestinian Authority. The Russians are expected to disclose their results soon. The French are not expected to release their results before the murder investigation concludes. Saad Djebbar, Suha Arafats lawyer, said the Swiss report was a significant piece of the jigsaw puzzle that could help the French murder inquiry.

A rare but lethal poison

Polonium is a soft, silvery-gray metal found in uranium ore. The isotope polonium-210 emits highly radioactive alpha particles, but they travel no more than a few centimeters in air and are stopped by a sheet of paper or by the dead layer of outer skin on our bodies, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. For that reason polonium-210 is not a risk to human health as long as it remains outside the body. But a dose of 0.1 microgram  the size of a speck of dust weighing less than a millionth of a snowflake  would be fatal if it were ingested in food or liquids or inhaled in contaminated air. Only a handful of people are reported to have died from polonium poisoning. The most famous case involves Alexander Litvinenko, a KGB officer turned dissident who received political asylum from the British government and lived in London.
Jan 20, 2016 | By Andre

Being selected by any organization or publication as an important contributor to your field is something anyone would be proud of. Caroline Walerud, the twenty-five year old Cofounder of Volumental, might feel that way after being selected by Forbes in the Retail & E-Commerce category of their inaugural 30 Under 30 Europe list.

For her it all started when Volumental, a company she co-founded, started work on a modern approach to finding the perfect shoe for every uniquely sized individual. By noting that half of women regularly buy shoes that dont fit, the company hopes to solve this with 3D scanning technology to ensure a perfect fit every time.

After graduating in neuroscience from Cambridge University in 2012, she spent a brief amount of time with a satellite image analysis startup before moving on. But in reality, the entrepreneurial spirit exhibited by Walerud and as recognized by Forbes, was alive in her for years. During summers as a teenager, she baked and sold homemade bread in the nearby Swedish resort area of Kungshamm. It was with these early experiences that she learned the fundamentals of business: pricing strategy, customer targeting and cash flow management.

Moving on to what is winning her some acclaim today is the development of a high-tech foot scanner that utilizes Intels relatively affordable RealSense 3D technology. The subject only has to step onto the scanning platform for two seconds before the four-depth cameras built into the platform acquire necessary volumetric information.

Once the necessary data is acquired, multiple data points are processed to provide information on arch length and ball width of the scanned foot. These are two measurements that shoe retailers typically find difficult to record using traditional measurement tools but ultimately are important for a healthy fit.

Furthermore, the sleek looking, tablet based software interface can also use any statistical information gained from the scan and determine, from a list of shoes currently stocked by the retailer, what aligns with the customers specific needs.

Already available to retailers in Europe and Asia, the 3D scanning technology is soon ready to explore the US market with big brands like Boulanger, Brooks Brothers, Coop and Levi Strauss & Co already signed on.

It also appears that even after the early success of Volumentals 3D foot scanning platform, its doubtful that Caroline Walerud will slow down any time soon. After the company founded in 2012 with a 4-member team consisting of Alper Aydemir, Miroslav Kobetski, Rasmus Goransson and herself, they have quickly grown in size to more than twenty and have raised more than $5 million in startup cash from several major venture capital firms (and even the Swedish government).

From a bigger picture perspective, Caroline Waleruds view is that that the current system of going around the stores, trying on lots of shoes or jeans and different products and having a problem of not knowing whether you are medium or large, is rather outdated and suggests that the "system will be completely gone in 10 years. Instead it will be size me, you will only be given products that fit your body shape. We are going to create that standard for how to size people. In the first, for shoes and then for other products.

With retailers already in place and more to come soon, the company is moving ahead their second business application by teaming up with opticians and eyewear brands to develop a new facial 3D scanner. Similar to what they did with shoe sizing, their new product called VACKER will let you 3D scan faces to provide a perfect 3D topography of the face for glasses fitting with a sub-millimetre accuracy. Just like before, the recorded data-points will assist when sizing glasses frames based on 12 different parameters, all in real-time, before making recommendations based on retail inventory to the sales associate.

Based on everything I know about this Forbes 30 Under 30 winner, Im not surprised shes a founding member of a team that discovered for itself a perfect niche in the retail sizing market. Her accomplishments are a perfect example of how sometimes it only takes the right mind, in the right time to have a vision that one day might be felt around the world one comfortable foot at a time.

Posted in 3D Scanning

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Jan 21, 2016 | By Alec

Medical 3D printing innovations have been under development for a long time, and the first results are finally coming in. However, its also clear that the 3D printing community was perhaps a bit too optimistic about its progress, and especially in the case of 3D bioprinting innovations. As veteran hobbyists might recall, expectations rose massively back in 2013 when Dutch researchers from the VU medical center (the VUmc) began working with a biomaterials 3D printer and it seemed as though 3D printed organs were just around the corner. Fortunately, the results of all that hard work are now finally becoming visible, though complex organ and blood vessel structures are not possible yet. Instead, the VUmc team is focused on 3D printing easier cartilage structures for nose and ear reconstruction procedures and believes it could be implemented within a few years.

As doctor-researcher Ernst Jan Bos from the plastic surgery department of the VUmc recently said, the mainstream audience became far too optimistic about what 3D printing could do. Bos reached headlines all across Dutch media, and internationally on science websites, for purchasing a 3D bioprinter through crowdfunding on Flintwave and with backing from the Dutch Burn Victim Institute and the VUmc. Most of the buzz centered on the possibility to 3D print human tissue, specifically with the purpose of helping burn victims.

But this isnt so easy. We are studying the reconstruction possibilities for human tissue and the options provided by 3D printing, the researcher said in an interview last year, adding that the 3D printer is just a tool and not the solution. The solution is far more difficult, and can be found in regenerating human tissue and make it 3D printable. A lot is happening in the field of regenerative medicine already, which focuses on helping the natural human ability to heal. We can achieve much through stem cell transplants and by using a patients own cells to restore cartilage defects, he explains. 3D printing is seen as a solution to speed up that process, but simply requires a lot of cellular research to ensure that tissue can be mimicked, that cells can start interacting and surviving.

Fortunately, a lot has been achieved over the last two years, giving patients the hope that the most basic 3D printed human tissue constructions  cartilage  can now finally replace prosthetics. In the current situation, some success can be had by transplanting a patients own cartilage to another location, but that is usually only available in small quantities. Patients are therefore usually restructured to wearing silicone prosthetics to replace missing ears and noses. But those tend to start discoloring, can shift from their original positions and need to be replaced frequently. Whatever way you look at it, it remains a rubber construct pressed against your skull, Bos says.

This is exactly where 3D printing can make a difference. 3D printing is ideal for ear replacements, because cartilage is a relatively simple tissue and it doesnt involve blood vessels or other complex structures. 3D printing complex organs such as kidneys and livers is still years away, Bos reveals. Currently, theyre envisioning a process that involves making a biodegradable mold, based on a 3D scan of the patients remaining ear or nose portions. Alternatively, they sculpt one to match a patients features. This mold is then filled with biocompatible materials: a gel, cartilage particles and fat stem cells taken from the abdominal wall. 3D printed layer-by-layer, an ear or a nose is formed and can sewed onto the face with the help of a bit of skin.

So far, laboratory tests have revealed that this mixture can be used to grow new cartilage tissue, and over time the mold will dissolve, leaving nothing but the cartilage on a patients face. Research is still underway, especially focusing on growing that cartilage and finding the most suitable biodegradable bioplastics. However, the 3D printing phase is still problematic too, Bos adds. The technical aspect is often underestimated, but a 3D printer actually has quite a few limitations. For instance, you need to mix different materials and each of those materials requires another 3D printing technique to gain optimal results. You also need to know exactly what the artificial ear is exposed to. To find out, were working together with colleagues from the TU Delft and the VUmcs 3D innovation lab."

While ears are first on the agenda, Bos says that noses can be created in a similar fashion. Though their exterior shape is quite easy to create, their interior anatomy is far more complex. There are a lot of factors that determine the end results, he says. Similarly, bone could also be 3D printed though that would require several hardware modifications. Bone requires a hard material, such as ceramic. But that needs to be fired up in a kiln to turn hard, something that the natural blood vessels found in bone cant withstand. So those would need to be introduced at a later date, making the process far more complex. But 3D printing bone could definitely be used, for instance as a replacement for cartilage.

So the real question is: when will this be adopted as a medical procedure? While the technique is thus nearing completion, Bos reminds us that new medical procedures are always bogged down by financial and testing concerns. First we need to find out if this is financially viable, how quickly the mold dissolves and how many operations will be involved. After that, we can seek approval, which can be a very long process as well. In the worst case scenario, it could take ten years before this becomes a normal medical procedure.

Posted in 3D Printing Application

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Jan 21, 2016 | By Kira

We are quickly entering the era of mass personalized manufacturing, and electronics giant Philips, celebrating its 125th anniversary this year, wants to be at the forefront. Pioneering not only the future of consumer goods manufacturing, but also the future of shaving, Philips is offering 125 lucky people the chance to design, personalize and purchase the worlds first 3D printed electric face shaver.

As part of a pilot project being launched today, the Dutch-based company has launched a 3DShaver website, where users in the Netherlands can select from two ergonomic handle designs, and then customize their 3D printed shaver with various dimensions, accessories and colorsthey can even have a personal message written on the top. Then its as easy as registering, placing your order, paying 99 (incl. VAT), and waiting 2-3 weeks for the 3D printed shaver to be sent.

Dutch-company Twikit designed and is hosting Philips' 3D Shaver online configuration tool, an intuitive, step-by-step way for users to select and customize their 3D design. Meanwhile, Shapeways has stepped up to offer their top-of-the-line, SLS 3D printing technology to manufacture each individual 3D printed shaver.

Philips is already known for offering a complete range of high-quality mens electric face shavers, with multi-precision blades that offer clean, close, and ultra-smooth shaves. Each 3D printed shaver thus offers a fully washable, multi-precision blade system, 5-direction flex heads, and Super Lift & Cut Action. Users are also able to select from two different accessories, either a beard styler or precision trimmer, depending on their grooming needs. Finally, Philips 2-year warranty is included, ensuring that customers will be happy with their purchase no matter what.

Of course, since this is a pilot projectand the first consumer electric 3D printed shaver we know of to datePhilips is still taking things one step at a time. For now, only 125 units of this limited edition 3D printed face shaver will be available (to mark the celebration of their 125th anniversary in May), and over the next six months, a maximum of two will be shipped out each day. The exclusive launch is also only available to consumers in the Netherlands.

However, this very limited pilot approach seems to be Philips way of making sure they do everything right. The company intends to stay in touch with its initial 125-member consumer base in order to record useful feedback and reactions. If all goes well, we can hope for a larger, potentially global launch.

We are still patiently waiting for the day that 3D printing technology will become a part of our daily lives, and in launching the first ever consumer 3D printed electric face shaveran essential part of many people's daily routinesPhilips is taking a bold step towards making that a reality.

Posted in 3D Printing Application

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Jennifer Oullette in Gizmodo:

Theoretical physicists have been predicting that it should be possible for knots to form in quantum fields for decades, but nobody could figure out how to accomplish this feat experimentally. Now an international team has managed to do just that, tying knots in a superfluid for the very first time by manipulating magnetic fields.

Led by David Hall, a physicist at Amherst College, and Mikko Mottonen of Aalto University in Finland, the group describes their groundbreaking achievement in a new paper in Nature Physics. Its tough to visualize these exotic objects, but they are essentially particle-like rings or loops in a quantum field connected to each other exactly once. A mathematician might not consider these structures to be true knots; typically a knot is defined as a knotted circle, like a pretzel, while a rubber band would be considered an un-knot. Hall and Mottonen prefer to think of their structures as knotty solitons.

And whats a soliton, you may ask? There is a certain type of traveling wave that keeps rolling forward at a constant speed without losing its shape. That is a soliton, and such objects also show up in quantum field theory. As I wrote in a 2014 article for Quanta, Poke a quantum field and you will create an oscillation [wave] that usually dissipates outward, but configure things in just the right way and that oscillation will maintain its shape  just like a traveling wave.

More here.
Grable had hoped to bury her mother in Michigan, where she grew up. But it would cost $1,000 to open the grave, $1,000 to close it and $1,800 to engrave the name, she said. So her mother received a city burial, just like the more than 1 million others buried since 1868 on the island, off New Yorks Bronx borough. Hart Island is run by the Department of Correction (DOC), using inmates from the nearby Rikers Island jail complex who are paid a small wage to bury the dead. The public may visit a gazebo on the island only once a month, and relatives of the deceased may visit burial areas once a month under the supervision of an armed corrections officer.

New York City Council member Elizabeth Crowley, who has introduced a draft bill to transfer jurisdiction of the island from the DOC to the Department of Parks and Recreation, said Wednesday that DOC personnel arent trained to manage a massive grave site and lack the necessary expertise to update burial practices that date back to the 19th century.

In transferring the island over the parks department we could look at exploring and making reforms to the burial process  reforms that include reducing the size of mass graves so that they can be closed more quickly, using plantings to mark where the graves are and taking necessary measures to prevent soil erosion, she said.

Melinda Hunt, founder of The Hart Island Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the conservation of Hart Island's history, said the islands landscape needs to be stabilized so graves dont collapse or erode.

After decades of neglect, Hart Island must be made safe, Hunt said Wednesday at the council hearing. Each time a big storm hits the island, she said, human bones are exposed along the eroding shoreline.

Relatives of the dead have also expressed concerns about the heavy equipment used to dig graves and close trenches, where about 1,500 people out of 50,000 who die in the city are buried each year. The weight of the machines has caused some of the graves to collapse, Hunt said.

She also said shed like the city to offer a more hospitable welcome to those who come to mourn loved ones. Prison guards, the confiscation of cellphones and industrial-scale burials intimidate visitors, she said.

One day last year, Grable was turned away from Hart Island because she forgot to register with the DOC. It was one of the hardest moments in my life, she said.

But the parks department opposes the islands transfer from the DOC's jurisdiction to its own, saying it lacks the expertise and funds to manage an active burial site.

In July 2015, the DOC started allowing monthly visits to the gravesites as a result of a class-action lawsuit brought by relatives and the New York Civil Liberties Union.

As activists push for more, officers continue to ferry people to the island.

City burials  people dont understand what they really are. Its not glamorous, but its as respectful as they can do, a DOC officer said the day Grable visited.

But repairs are necessary, he said to a nearby colleague, pointing out a hole in a gazebo near the graves. Next time were here we need a couple of hammers for these nails, he said.

"The Department of Correction has administered the city cemetery on Hart Island for more than a century and considers this a solemn responsibility," Jeff Jacomowitz, a DOC spokesman, told Al Jazeera in a email. "For many years, the department conducted regular monthly visits to enable families and the public to pay their respects at a memorial area on the island, separate from the gravesites."

After the class-action lawsuit was settled in July, allowing monthly family visits to the gravesites, Grable felt confident more would change. As long as the spotlight has been on these guys, theyve moved mountains, she said.

On a visit to her mothers grave in December, she carried a bouquet of fresh, light and dark pink roses  like the flowers she bought for her mother on Valentines Day about a month before her death  and positioned them between four rocks on the spot where her mother was buried. Rain had washed away the plastic rose she brought on a previous visit, in August, an officer said. The flowers fell on the muddy ground.

There needs to be grass, she said.

Wearing a secondhand jacket and pink scarf, matching the color of the roses she brought, Grable said she wanted to join her mother and be buried there herself.

Hart Islands my family, she said. Ill be real lucky if I get all the way here.

Vaughn Wallace contributed reporting.
NSU's Innovation Startup Center aims to foster tech businesses growth

While a majority of Americans live in rural communities, tech jobs are often focused in major metropolitan areas. Aberdeen hopes to change that.
Spain's Law of Return : It is with deep sorrow that Abq Jew informs you of the need for this upcoming webinar, which will deal with the...
PRINT | EMAIL | PERMALINK Newscity Shultz, Taser Subpoenas Revealed Robert Maestas The business relationships between former Albuquerque Police Department Chief Ray Shultz and the company he contracted to provide personal camera equipment for patrol officers has come under state scrutiny. This weekend, records indicating the scope and intensity of the N.M. Attorney General Hector Balderas' criminal investigation of Shultz and the Taser International Inc. were obtained by watchdog group New Mexico In Depth and further reported on by the Santa Fe New Mexican. This past summer subpoenas were served on the Taser corporation as well as two departments within Albuquerque city government. According to the freshly available documents related to the case, former Police Chief Shultz is at the heart of the investigation; his actions, steering Taser toward a multi-million dollar contract with the cityto provide lapel camerasostensibly occurred as he was preparing to take a lucrative job with the corporation. While Taser maintains it has complied with all ethical guidelines having to do with the contract, Shultz himself has been silent on his part in the transactions and is currently working as assistant chief of police in Memorial Villages, Texas.

Cannabis Claims Dismissed Last week, a federal court dismissed the claims of New Mexican Rojerio Garcia regarding his use of medicinal marijuana while employed by Tractor Supply Company, a large business with three outlets in the state. The court decreed that employers were not duty-bound to accommodate medical cannabis users, writing that to do so would place an undue burden on the company's resources, as it would have to monitor and or modify its drug-free-workplace policies for each of the 49 states where it does business and might even have to customize the policy for each individual being legally treated with the drug. The court also reiterated the position that allowing Mr. Garcia to use cannabis would amount to a violation of federal law, as marijuana continues to be illegal under the Controlled Substances Act. Finally, the court noted there was no language in the Lynn and Aaron Compassionate Use Act which requires or supports employer accommodation of medical marijuana users. Mr. Garcia was terminated, soon after initial employment, after he tested positive for cannabis metabolites.
Obama declared an emergency  qualifying the city for $5 million  but concluded that the high lead levels are not a disaster based on the legal requirement that disaster money is intended for natural events such as fires or floods.

Facing protests, lawsuits and calls for his resignation, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, a Republican, asked Obama to reconsider. Snyder declared a state of emergency over the water earlier this month. His action follows emergency declarations by the city and Genesee County, which requested help from the state.

Snyder apologized to the city's residents on Tuesday during his State of the State address and called for the state to spend $28 million on fixes.

The Michigan House quickly approved Snyders funding request on Wednesday. The request, which would cover more filters, bottled water, school nurses and testing and monitoring, and it would also replace plumbing fixtures in schools with lead problems and help Flint with unpaid water bills.

The measure moves to the Senate for expected action next week. If approved it would be in addition to $10.6 million allocated in the fall.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), while saying it was reviewing its handling of the crisis and could have acted faster to inform the state of what measures it should take, also blamed the state on Tuesday. It said the agency's oversight was hampered by "failures and resistance at the state and local levels."

A group of bipartisan lawmakers including Michigan Republican Fred Upton, of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, wrote last week to EPA head Gina McCarthy, requesting a briefing about Flint. That briefing to congressional staffers was scheduled for Thursday.

Flint, under a state-appointed emergency manager, switched to Flint River water in April 2014 from the Lake Huron supply that Detroit uses to save money.

Complaints about the water began within a month of the move. But Flint did not return to Detroit water until October 2015 after tests showed elevated levels of lead in Flint tap water and in some children.

The lead  which can lead to behavior problems and learning disabilities in children and kidney ailments in adults  has left Flint residents unable to drink unfiltered tap water.

"This is something nobody should have to deal with. Everybody should have clean water," Flint Mayor Karen Weaver told a conference in Washington.

Snyder, who has faced questions about how quickly he acted after learning about the water contamination, released 274 pages of Flint-related emails from 2014 and 2015 on Wednesday, ranging from press releases to staff memos and planning notes.

The governors then chief of staff told Snyder in a Sept. 26 email, We cant tolerate increased lead levels in any event, but it's really the city's water system that needs to deal with it. Were throwing as much assistance as possible at the lead problem ... The residents and particularly the poor need help to deal with it.

Wire services
Senate Democrats on Wednesday blocked a bill that would crack down on Syrian and Iraqi refugees coming to the U.S. as the debate turned into a referendum on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his policies.

Senate Democrats sought to force election-year votes as Trumpwho holds a commanding lead in national polls for the Republican presidential nominationhas called for barring Muslims from coming to the United States. Republicans wanted similar votes on politically fraught amendments.

The Senate fell short of the three-fifths needed to move ahead. The vote was 55-43.

The House legislation would require new FBI background checks and individual sign-offs from three high-ranking federal officials before any refugee from Syria or Iraq could come to the United States. The American Security Against Foreign Enemies Act cleared the House in November in the aftermath of the Paris attacks. It received 289 votes, a veto-proof margin that included 47 Democratsdespite President Barack Obama's opposition.

"This bill is just another step in the absolute wrong direction, the direction of Donald Trump," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-NV, told reporters before the vote. "The Democrats are committed to opposing the hateful views of Trump and his Republican enablers."

But Senate Republicans who backed the House bill said it is difficult to effectively vet immigrants from war-torn countries like Syria and Iraq, where record keeping is pooror may not exist at all. They also said senior U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials have expressed concern that the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) may try to exploit the refugee-screening program.

"So it is any wonder that the citizens we represent are concerned?" Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said. "No wonder dozens of Democrats joined with Republicans to pass this balanced bill with a veto-proof majority over in the House."

Three of the Republican presidential candidatesTed Cruz of Texas, Marco Rubio of Florida and Rand Paul of Kentuckyleft the campaign to return to Washington to vote for moving ahead on the measure.

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders of Vermont missed the vote as did Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who was campaigning for Jeb Bush in New Hampshire.

Two Democrats from GOP-leaning statesHeidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Manchin of West Virginiavoted with Republicans to move ahead on the legislation.

For Democrats facing tight 2016 elections, opposing the bill may put them in the difficult position of rejecting what many consider to be a reasonable anti-terror measure in the wake of a terrible tragedy. Those concerns surfaced ahead of the House vote in November when White House aides went to the Capitol to win over Democrats in a private meeting. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., told them, in a forceful exchange, that voting "no" could hurt Democrats at the polls, according to aides in attendance.

In addition to the amendment on Trump, Reid said Democrats also wanted to propose an increase in anti-terrorism money for local police forces and airport security and banning the sale of guns and explosives to people on federal terrorism watch lists.

This House bill, Reid said, "scapegoats refugees who are fleeing war and torture instead of creating real solutions to keep Americans safe."

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said the bill is a security test, not a religious one. "This reflects our values," Ryan said. "This reflects our responsibilities."

Cruz announced Tuesday he was canceling two events in New Hampshire and rescheduling two others in order to return to Washington to vote. While Republicans said the bill contains no religious tests for the refugees, Cruz and White House rival Jeb Bush have suggested giving preferences to Christians.

Obama has scolded politicians for raising worries over taking in refugees fleeing ISIL in Syria and Iraq, where it controls territory. "Apparently, they're scared of widows and orphans coming into the United States of America," Obama said when the House voted last year. The White House has said Obama will veto the legislation if it reaches his desk.

Voters' concerns about terrorism have surged at the same time their confidence in the government's ability to defeat ISIL and other armed groups has plummeted, according to a national survey conducted in December by the Pew Research Center.

The Associated Press
Richard Masterson, 43, was pronounced dead at 6:53 p.m., 25 minutes after the lethal injection began.

"I'm all right with this," he said. "Sometimes you have to live and die by the choices you make. I made mine and I'm paying for it."

He said he was being sent "to a better place."

He mouthed a kiss to relatives and friends who were watching the execution through a window and told them he loved them. As the pentobarbital took effect, he began snoring. After about a dozen snores, he stopped moving.

Texas is the nation's busiest death penalty state, where 13 lethal injections in 2015 accounted for nearly half of the 28 executions nationwide. Masterson's execution was the state's 532nd since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, the most of any state.

Masterson's lawyers had launched appeals with the Supreme Court to halt the execution, saying his due process rights were violated and Texas presented false and misleading evidence regarding the death of Honeycutt, 35, who went by the stage name of Brandi Houston.

The Supreme Court denied the motions on Wednesday.

Masterson's case had recently drawn the attention of Pope Francis, who has reinforced the Catholic Church's opposition to capital punishment. The pope had been hoping for a reprieve, the Catholic press reported this week.

Masterson had testified at his trial that the death of the 35-year-old Honeycutt in Houston happened accidentally during a chokehold that was part of a sex act. The two had met at a bar and then went to Honeycutt's apartment.

No family members or friends of Honeycutt witnessed Masterson being executed.

At least eight other Texas death row inmates have executions scheduled for the coming months, including one set for next week.

Wire services
(Bloomberg View) Perhaps the only consensus in U.S. politics is that the Byzantine and loophole-riddled corporate tax code needs reform.

Hillary Clinton wants to curb the ability of companies to use overseas subsidiaries to shield profits from taxes, and such tax-avoidance strategies have been denounced by other candidates in the 2016 presidential election, including Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders and Jeb Bush, as well as by President Barack Obama.

They join a long line of would-be reformers who tried to put an end to such practices, largely without enduring success. This record of failure reflects the U.S.'s jury-rigged way of taxing overseas profits, which has become so complex that it is easily exploited by savvy corporations.

To understand why an arcane and inefficient system decried from all sides has resisted all efforts at improvement, its necessary to grasp the origins of the U.S. corporate tax, which was designed around the peculiar idea that corporations and shareholders are separate and distinct entities when it comes to taxation. This feature, arguably more than any other aspect of corporate taxation, accounts for the mess that reformers now confront.

The corporate income tax can trace its roots to the Civil War, when the Union imposed a levy on, among other things, the income that individuals realized from dividends and interest paid by corporations.

But unlike today, this arrangement treated the corporation and the individual shareholders as a unified entity. It did not tax the corporation on its profits and then impose another tax when it distributed those profits to shareholders. This reflected the idea that corporations were aggregations of individuals that had no existence independent of the shareholders.

The tax was repealed in 1871. But in 1894, Congress passed an overt tax on corporations that also effectively integrated shareholders and the corporation into a single taxable entity.

For example, the law imposed a 2 percent tax on the net income of corporations as well as on any undistributed corporate income. But shareholders who received dividends did not have to pay taxes on those profits. The tax historian Ajay Mehrotra has described this method as essentially a crude form of withholdinga remittance method for taxing shareholder wealth. Put differently, the corporation was merely a pass-through entity for its shareholders.

But as Mehrotra has observed, a very different idea of corporations had begun to emerge at the state level. Even as the federal law made shareholders liable for corporate taxes, a growing number of states began to tax corporations directly. Although there was considerable variation among states, the adoption of these laws reflected a new understanding of the corporation. A growing number of states began to treat them as peopleartificial persons, to be sure, but ones whose earnings could be taxed. In this formulation, the corporation was an artificial entity given life by the state. It could therefore be regulated as well.

Some legal historians believe that this notion of the corporation as independent of the individuals who ran or owned it was derived from German legal thinkers such as Otto von Gierke and their English-speaking translators, most notably the German-born Ernst Freund, who later became a legal scholar at the University of Chicago. Freund, following von Gierke, argued that the corporation was greater than the sum of its partsthe shareholders. In his 1897 treatise, "The Legal Nature of the Corporation," Freund laid out the "real entity" theory of the corporate form. In this formulation, the corporation was its own thing: an entity that deserved separate consideration in the eyes of the law. (A mutation of this "real-entity theory" became a hot issue more recently when the Supreme Court ruled in the Citizens United campaign-finance case that companies had the same free-speech rights as people.)

Such ideas likely provided a way of understandingand regulatingthe corporate behemoths that began to dominate in the U.S. at the end of the 19th century. Unlike the family-owned businesses of the past, these gigantic enterprises divorced owners from day-to-day management, which gave corporations an autonomous status that had previously only been attributed to individuals.

While the notion of corporate personhood has often been used to protect corporations, here it became a means to control them via taxation. In 1909, when the federal Bureau of Corporations surveyed the ideological foundations of corporate taxation, it found that a consensus had emerged that "each person, natural or artificial, should contribute to governmental support according to his ability to pay.

That same year, Congress passed the first law that enshrined this doctrine on the federal level: the Tariff Act of 1909. It imposed a special excise tax with respect to the carrying on of doing business. It was levied on corporations with net incomes of more than $5,000, and was described by President Howard Taft as an excise tax upon the privilege of doing business as an artificial entity.

In 1913, after the individual states ratified a constitutional amendment permitting an income tax, Congress passed the Revenue Act of 1913. It drew a formal distinction between corporate income taxes on the one hand and personal income taxes on the other. Nonetheless, the law still viewed corporations and shareholders as linked because corporate income could only be taxed once, either on the level of the corporation or the individual shareholder.

In succeeding years, however, the shareholders and the corporation drifted further apart in the eyes of the law. Then, in 1936, with the economy still mired in the Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt and his congressional allies sought to abolish the corporate income tax, replacing it with a punitive tax on undistributed corporate profits. As the legal scholar Steven Bank recounted, this provoked profound resistance from businesses.

In the end, a settlement was reached: The business community defeated the proposed tax in exchange for allowing double taxation retaining the corporate income tax as well as a tax on dividends. This ill-fated compromise, as Bank described it, formally enshrined the idea that the same income could be taxed more than once. But it also formally divided the corporation from its shareholders when it came to taxation.

This idea that the corporation and shareholders can be treated as separate and distinct entities for purposes of taxation is at the root of the uproar in the campaign over so-called corporate inversions.

That's because it was fundamentally incompatible with another doctrine codified in the 1913 Revenue Act: the principle of worldwide taxation, which stipulated that American citizens and corporations would be taxed on their income, no matter where it was earned.

But as savvy tax lawyers quickly realized, the two doctrines offered a means of deferring the payment of taxes. Thats because a foreign corporation owned by American interests was considered a separate entity from the shareholders. At the same time, that same foreign corporation fell outside the purview of worldwide taxation. So long as the foreign corporation kept its profits offshoredeferring their repatriation hometaxes could be postponed.

This has led to innumerable deferral mechanisms that allow companies to park profits in overseas entities rather than bringing them home where they would be taxed. These include the much-publicized "inversions," which allow companies to nominally transfer their headquarters to low-tax countries by acquiring or merging with companies in those nationspaper marriages that change little in reality but enable profits to accumulate within a foreign corporate person that lives beyond the reach of worldwide taxation.

Such evasions have been the target of a series of would-be reformers, most recently among this year's presidential candidates. None has been successful.

The biggest problem may be that policy makers have taken a piecemeal approach instead of revisit the deeper history of corporate taxation and addressing the underlying contradiction at the heart of the U.S. system. Success would mean abandoning the cherished principle of worldwide taxationan unpalatable option for many reformers.

Or they could focus on the conceit that corporations are artificial people who exist outside the flesh-and-blood shareholders who own them.

Regardless, if history is any guide, there is little reason to believe that the next president will be any more successful than his or her predecessors in peeling away the layers of a system developed over more than a century that has been protected from reform by its complexity and an industry of tax lawyers, accountants and lobbyists who thrive on gaming it.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners, nor of Accounting Today.
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman said Wednesday that projections for rising global unemployment over the next two years are "alarming" and the U.N. chief will keep pushing for job opportunities, especially for youths.

The comments from deputy spokesman Farhan Haq were in response to a new report from the International Labor Organization (ILO), the U.N. labor agency, projecting that the number of unemployed people will increase by nearly 2.3 million in 2016 and 1.1 million in 2017 as a result of the global economic slowdown last year.

Haq said Ban has been raising the need for new jobs in discussions with business leaders and others at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this week.

According to the report from the Geneva-based ILO, the number of unemployed people reached 197.1 million in 2015  nearly 1 million more than in 2014 and over 27 million more than before the global financial crisis in 2008, which ignited the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

The increase in job seekers in 2015 occurred mainly in emerging and developing countries  and emerging economies are expected to see an increase in unemployment in the next two years, especially in Asia, Latin America and commodity-producing nations in the Middle East and Africa, the ILO report said.

The two emerging economies predicted to contribute the most to unemployment rolls in the next two years are Brazil, adding 700,000 people, and China, adding 800,000 people, it said.

ILO Director General Guy Ryder said Tuesday in Geneva that "the significant slowdown in emerging economies coupled with a sharp decline in commodity prices is having a dramatic effect on the world of work."

He called for urgent action "to boost the number of decent work opportunities." Otherwise, he warned, "we risk intensified social tensions."

The influx of refugees into Europe will present short-term challenges, but in the longer term the migrants will help to counter skills shortages and mitigate risks associated with low population growth, the report said.

On a positive note, the ILO said unemployment has declined in developed countries and most major developed economies "will see rates stabilize or continue to show modest improvements" in the next two years.

But the report said "vulnerable employment"  poor jobs with low and highly volatile earnings and no benefits  "remains a pressing issue worldwide."

"Vulnerable employment accounts for 1.5 billion people, or over 46 percent of total employment," the report said. "In both southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, over 70 percent of workers are in vulnerable employment."

In the coming years, the ILO said, vulnerable employment is expected to remain at around 46 percent globally, and a major challenge will be in emerging economies where the number of vulnerable workers is projected to grow by some 25 million over the next three years.

Wire services
Forty years ago today, the world focused on Bahrain as the first commercial flight by a British Airways (BA) Concorde touched down at the kingdom's international airport.





Above: The first Concorde flight leaves London for Bahrain - arriving at Muharraq at 15:20 local time 40 years ago today.



The 40th anniversary of that flight from London will be the highlight of events at the Bahrain International Airshow (BIAS) celebrating the aviation heritage shared by Bahrain and the UK. The first commercial flight of the Anglo-French supersonic airliner put Bahrain in the global spotlight as the delta-winged aircraft taxied in at Muharraq, with the eyes of the worlds press upon it.



However, that event was just one of a long line of aviation links between the two countries, which are being celebrated as part of the bicentenary of the relationship between the UK and Bahrain.



Hussain Al Shuail, under-secretary for civil aviation at Bahrains Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications, spoke yesterday of the very robust relationship between the two nations.



Speaking at the BAE Systems stand at the BIAS celebrating those links, he noted that the arrival of Concorde was just one episode in that relationship, pointing out the Spitfire XIX bought by Bahraini donations during World War II, which carried the islands name proudly under its cockpit.





Above: Hussain Al Shuail, under-secretary for civil aviation at Bahrains Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications, and British ambassador to Bahrain, Simon Martin, mark the 40th anniversary of Concordes first flight to Bahrain.



The aircraft is at the show and will stay in Bahrain for much of the year, to be shown at various locations around the island.



Bahrain was also an important staging post through the 1930s for Imperial Airways, a predecessor of BA, which operated flights between the UK and India, while a British pilot set up the Gulf Aviation Company, the forerunner of Gulf Air, in 1950.



Also, the Royal Bahrain Air Force today operates the BAE Systems Hawk advanced jet trainer.



Britains Ambassador to Bahrain, Simon Martin, added that it was a wonderful time to be the UKs representative to the kingdom as the bicentenary was marked. The aviation links between the two nations, established in the past, would continue into the future, he said.


Warfighters convene at Nellis for weapons, tactics conference

Air Force senior leaders, industry executives, joint and coalition warfighters converged for the 2016 Weapons and Tactics Conference, hosted by the Air Combat Command at Nellis Air Force Base Jan. 3-16.



"WEPTAC is where wars are won," said Lt. Col. Kendrick Carroll, the ACC's WEPTAC chairman. "There is no other venue on this planet where you can get the best and brightest subject matter experts throughout all the domains in one location to work on solving today's biggest warfighting challenges."



Weapons officers from across the Air Force capitalized on this year's theme, "Integrating multi-domain effects into next generation's warfighting," alongside their joint and coalition counterparts, Carroll said.



"What that means is we're taking all of our capabilities: air, space, cyber, land, sea, and electromagnetic, and integrating those into a combined effect so that we can continue to be the world's greatest Air Force," he said. "We're taking the world's most complex problems, what we call major combat operations, and we are essentially planning to engage if and when an MCO is required, so that we can bring all those domains to bear."



The conference, divided into two parts, includes a mission area working group portion where hand-selected teams of weapons officers gather to troubleshoot current air, space and cyberspace challenges. During the second week, participants transition into the Tactics Review Board, where tactics, techniques and procedures are improved upon using creative, cost-effective solutions.

For the first time, WEPTAC involved coalition partners this year.



"We are a much smaller fighting force than what we used to be five to 10 years ago," Carroll said. "What the coalition allows us to do is leverage upon their additional capacity in capability because we won't fight another MCO with just the U.S. Air Force. It will be the U.S. Air Force, Army, Navy and coalition partners. In order for us to levy on joint and coalition capability and capacity we have to integrate them in the planning process, so there is no lag or gap in capability, and that's what we're doing here."



According to Carroll, there have been cases where solutions developed at WEPTAC were implemented into real-world operations in a matter of 30 days or less.



Gen. Frank Gorenc, the commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa, provided this year's keynote address, where he commended the participant's fiscal and technical innovation, along with their ability to force multiply with partner services and nations.

"I am so excited to be here," said Gorenc, who's served in the Air Force for 37 years." To hear what you all came up with ... I rely on the captains, majors and subject matter experts in this room to inform me.



"Since I have been in, these new capabilities have been incredible; we turned short range into long range, long range into unlimited. We've turned unguided bombs into precision-guided or GPS weapons. We've turned line-of-sight into beyond line-of-sight, we've given legacy equipment modifications and it works side by side with the new," Gorenc continued. "I've seen a lot and know what we're capable of and I'm counting on all of you to keep the world's greatest power strong."



WEPTAC aligns with ACC's priorities, including delivering the greatest amount of combat capability to meet national security objectives and win the nation's wars.
Luke F-16 crashes in Arizona

An F-16 Fighting Falcon assigned to the 56th Fighter Wing at Luke Air Force Base crashed at approximately 8:45 a.m. today north of Luke AFB in the vicinity of Bagdad, Arizona.



Luke AFB officials are working closely with local authorities in a search and rescue operation. Due to the remote location and rugged terrain, the status of the pilot is unknown.



The cause of the crash is unknown at this time.



Brigadier General Scott Pleus, the 56th Fighter Wing commander, has established an interim safety board to begin the preliminary investigation.



Information will be released as it becomes available. For questions, please contact the 56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs Office at 623-856-6011.


B-52 veteran recalls close call on Desert Storm mission

Pilot, we have a lock-on, the B-52 Stratofortress electronic warfare officer called out in surprise.



Capt. Jim Bowles, a B-52 instructor pilot, gritted his teeth, looked downward and sure enough, an SA-6 surface-to-air missile had been launched in his direction.



For most, being shot down by a missile over enemy territory is not a concern expected to become a reality. But for Bowles and his crew, this could be reality flying toward them in the dark Iraqi night.



Minutes passed, each one an eternity in itself. Bowles held his breath.



This is it, this could be it, recalled Bowles, now an Air Force Global Strike Command program analyst.



He could see the missile. What he couldnt see were the jamming systems working to save him and his aircrew. Operating perfectly, the jamming sent the missile in another direction.



Bowles avoided a missile that night while deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Desert Storm. Throughout the preparation and deployment, his training and his family were constantly in his mind.



Prior to the deployment, Bowles, his wife and their children went on a family vacation and visited relatives. Every afternoon at 2 p.m., he was required to call and check in with his unit on Barksdale Air Force Base and in the meantime, planned for a duty station move to Castle AFB, California.



One phone call just after returning from vacation changed his plans.



It was about 11:30 at night and the phone rings, he said. My wife and I looked at each other and said, oh no. I picked up the phone and was told to report to Barksdale.



The situation in the Persian Gulf had escalated in December 1990.



While Im doing Christmas decorations, Im also packing my bags for deployment to do combat operations, he said. Its a unique experience when you think about peace on earth and goodwill toward men, and I may have to bring combat to my enemy.



After moving to the air base in January, Bowles was sent to Nellis AFB, Nevada, for a two-week preparatory exercise called Desert Flag.



The ramp was full of every type of aircraft, he said. Desert Flag was a Red Flag (exercise) on steroids. By Wednesday of the exercise, we saw aircraft leaving the base, and by Thursday, the airfield was a quarter empty. Wheres everybody going? We all knew.



After the exercise, Bowles boarded a bus to get a final round of immunizations and immediately deployed to Saudi Arabia to conduct combat operations against Saddam Husseins forces.



While there was some apprehension about going into combat and the potential for not coming home, there was also a confidence because we knew we could do our mission, Bowles said. Wed trained together, and wed do the jobs we were assigned to do.



The first couple of missions went off without a hitch, he said. They were relatively uneventful and weapons were released on critical targets.



Additionally, Bowles and his aircrew would make Taco Bell runs, nicknamed after the 1980s advertising campaign.



There were mine-breaching missions where we released our bomb-release lines just a few miles short of the Saudi Arabian-Kuwaiti border, and because of height and time of fall, those weapons would fall into the mine fields that Saddam Hussein had sewn, Bowles said. We called those our Taco Bell runs because they were our runs for the border.



At one point, Hussein sent three armored units to advance into the town of Khafji. All Bowles and his crew were given was a slip of paper with coordinates.



At that time, Saddams armored columns were exposed and we laid down the fire on him with two aircraft full of MK-82s and one aircraft full of cluster bombs, Bowles said. After we landed, we received a report saying wed stopped them in their tracks.



Throughout the numerous combat missions, the B-52 continuously demonstrated itself to both ally and enemy forces as a fearsome and unmatched weapons delivery system.



The B-52 has such a high capacity magazine that you can drop a very large number of munitions, Bowles said. We would get reports of enemy prisoners of war that surrendered because of the threat of B-52 attacks. Theyd cross the Saudi border and surrender to the Saudis, surrender to our troops and even to our photographers because they didnt want to experience the onslaught of the cluster bomb units we were carrying.



Bowles, having completed 25 combat missions in 10 weeks, considers Desert Storm to be a career-defining moment.



When I look back on Desert Storm, it feels like yesterday. Its a memory deep within myself and my family, Bowles said. That was 25 years ago, but we cant fight the last fight. We have to fight the fight of tomorrow.
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Datta Padsalgikar will succeed Ahmad Javed as the new Mumbai Police Chief.

Former Intelligence Bureau special director Datta Padsalgikar is all set to become the new Police Commissioner of Mumbai on February 1, after the retirement of Ahmad Javed. Padsalgikar is the 1982-batch officer and he is the first Maharashtrian police chief of Mumbai after almost a decade, after D N Jadhav who held the office between March 2007 and February 2008. Since Padsalgikar had served in the Intelligence Bureau for 12 years hence his experience will come handy in the Police department as Mumbai is the countrys financial and is always on the hit-list of terrorists. On the other hand, Ahmad Javed has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Padsalgikar possess vital experience in handling counter-terrorism operations and had played key role in gathering crucial experience against Pakistani non-state actors involved in the 26/11 terror attack. He also has served as deputy commissioner of zone 2 and DCP (detection) in Mumbai apart from serving sometime in the Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai police, which shows he has a geographical knowledge of the city very extensively.

A senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said, since Ahmad was retiring on January 31, it was decided that his successor will take over on February 1. Some administrative, particularly retirement, issues were involved if Ahmad Javed is relieved 10 days prior to retirement. Under such circumstances, it was felt that Padsalgikar, an IPS officer of the 1982 batch, will be in waiting for 10 days and will join on February 1, he said.

The minister said since Padsalgikar will joining in the rank of director-general, high-level changes in the Indian Police Service (IPS) were unlikely. Since only one post will be vacant on February 1, it will be filled by Padsalgikar, he said.

Mr Padsalgikar, an IPS officer, has served in several embassies including the United States of America and sources said he has a very good network at both nation-al and international levels and thorough experience of diplomatic dialogue.

A highly-placed source from the home department said that Mr Padsalgikar recently met Mr Fadnavis during the winter session of the state legislature at Nagpur. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was keen to get Padsalgikar on board after the exit of Rakesh Maria, but the Central government was not keen to repatriate him. Post the appointment of Javed as the ambassador to Saudi Arabia, the CM again made a request to the Centre to allow Padsalgikar to be sent back to his parent cadre and this time he succeeded.

He has been repatriated and has resumed his duty from Thursday. Currently he is being appointed as the Additional Director General of Police, Maharashtra, but has not been given any posting, said Additional Chief Secretary (Home ) KP Bakshi.
In India we feel the heat of intolerance and most of the incidence is getting political mileage. As spontaneous protests over the suicide of young research scholar Rohith Vemula continue, the Government is trying to pacify the protesters. Ms. Irani sought action after leaving poll-bound Assam and that too after sending a two-member fact-finding committee to look into the case. But her Ministrys clarification has triggered several other questions. As it emerged that the Ministry had sent five letters, including four reminders following Mr. Dattatreyas letter dated August 17 last year giving the impression that it had put pressure on the administration to expel the five students, four of whom were sons of agricultural labourers and the Government was following official protocol of acknowledging VIP letters. Curiously, Mr. Dattatreyas letter to the Ministry had come despite a clean chit given to the students by the university administration. Now the Ministry is mincing words and the minister is trying to pass the buck.



Nickhil Mani

(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
Pakistans nuclear warheads which are estimated to be between 110-130 are aimed at deterring India from taking military action against it, a latest Congressional report has said.

The report also expressed concern that Islamabads full spectrum deterrence doctrine has increased risk of nuclear conflict between the two South Asian neighbours.

Pakistans nuclear arsenal probably consists of approximately 110-130 nuclear warheads, although it could have more. Islamabad is producing fissile material, adding to related production facilities, deploying additional nuclear weapons, and new types of delivery vehicles, Congressional Research Service (CRS) said in its latest report.

In its 28-page report, the CRS noted that Pakistans nuclear arsenal is widely regarded as designed to dissuade India from taking military action against it, but Islamabads expansion of its nuclear arsenal, development of new types of nuclear weapons and adoption of a doctrine called full spectrum deterrence have led some observers to express concern about an increased risk of nuclear conflict between Pakistan and India, which also continues to expand its nuclear arsenal.

CRS is the independent research wing of the US Congress, which prepares periodic reports by eminent experts on a wide range of issues so as to help lawmakers take informed decisions.

Reports of CRS are not considered as an official view of the US Congress.

Pakistan has in recent years taken a number of steps to increase international confidence in the security of its nuclear arsenal, said the CRS report authored by Paul K Kerr and Mary Beth Nikitin.

Moreover, Pakistani and US officials argue that, since the 2004 revelations about a procurement network run by former Pakistani nuclear official A Q Khan, Islamabad has taken a number of steps to improve its nuclear security and to prevent further proliferation of nuclear-related technologies and materials, it said.

A number of important initiatives, such as strengthened export control laws, improved personnel security, and international nuclear security cooperation programmes, have improved Pakistans nuclear security, the CRS said.

However, instability in Pakistan has called the extent and durability of these reforms into question. Some observers fear radical takeover of the Pakistani government or diversion of material or technology by personnel within Pakistans nuclear complex, the CRS said.

While US and Pakistani officials continue to express confidence in controls over Pakistans nuclear weapons, continued instability in the country could impact these safeguards. Furthermore, continued Indian and Pakistani nuclear weapons development could jeopardise strategic stability between the two countries, it concluded.

According to CRS, Pakistan has asserted that continued exclusion of the country from the NSG would adversely affect regional peace, security and stability, as well as undermine the global non-proliferation regime.

According to the US law, the United States could apparently advocate for Pakistans NSG membership without congressional approval.

Ambassador Olson testified on December 16, 2015, that the Obama Administration is not negotiatinga civil nuclear cooperation agreement withPakistan.

However, press reports indicate that the United States is considering supporting Islamabads NSG membership in exchange for Pakistani actions to reduce perceived dangers associated with the countrys nuclear weapons programme, it said.
A local court hearing a case relating to the rape of a Danish woman here granted on Thursday more time to file a reply on Delhi Polices application for taking on record his medical and potency test report.

As defence counsel told Additional Sessions Judge Kaveri Baweja that he needed time to file reply, the court allowed the plea and listed the matter for January 27.

Additional public prosecutor Atul Srivastava on Tuesday moved an application to urge the court to take on record the medical and potency test report of accused Shyam Lal.

Arjun, Raju alias Chhakka, Mohammad Raja, Mahendra alias Ganja, Raju alias Bajji and Shyam Lal have been charged with robbing and raping a Danish woman at knife-point near New Delhi railway station in January 2014 after she sought directions to her hotel in Paharganj.

Besides, three minors  allegedly also involved in the case  were facing an inquiry before the Juvenile Justice Board.

Police said all the accused were vagabonds who took the woman to an isolated spot near the Divisional Railway Officers Club close to the railway station, took away her belongings and then raped her.
Police have arrested a person in connection with the murder an IBM employee, which took place earlier this week.

The body of Kusum Singla, 31, was found in her flat in south-east Bengaluru on Tuesday by her flatmate after she returned from work. She had been strangled with the cord of a laptop.

Kusum Singla earlier a resident of Gurgaon was last year transferred by her firm to Bengaluru city. It is being suspected that she had an argument for unknown reasons with an unidentified person who visited her apartment on Monday midnight. Kusum had mentioned that the unidentified person was her guest in the buildings visitors register.

She was a divorcee and was reportedly looking forward for a second marriage, as she had her profile on matrimony site. Kusum was staying with a flatmate Nidhi, at the fourth floor of Mahaveer Kings apartment in Kadugodi.

On Tuesday evening around 7.30 pm, when Nidhi returned from office, she found Kusum, lying in a pool of blood, after which she immediately informed police.

According to the police, the prime suspect Sukhbir Singh, a former Yahoo employee, was held from Haryana on Thursday. Singh had met Singla over social media and the two were in a relationship. Police say Singh, who was currently unemployed was asking Singla for money.

Senior Bangalore Police officer P Harisekaran said Singh has been brought back to the city from Haryana and is being interrogated. Within 24 hours we cracked the case and arrested the accused. We identified the suspect from the scene of crime, Harisekaran said.

Sukhbir Singh is 25-year-old. He is also a techie, but has been out of a job for the last couple of years. The police added that he attacked her first with a sharp object and there were signs of a struggle in the house. Later, he grabbed the laptop cord and strangulated her.
Gunmen stormed a popular beachside hotel and restaurant in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Thursday, detonating two car bombs and exchanging gunfire with government forces in a battle that killed at least three people.

The armed group Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack at the Beach View Hotel on Mogadishu's Lido beach, an area with many restaurants and other upmarket establishments popular with business people.

"After the blast, I saw at least four armed men run into the hotel, shooting everyone inside and around the hotel," Mustafa Elmi, a Lido beach visitor, told DPA news agency.

"I managed to escape with minor wounds, but there were people who were shot dead on the spot," he added.

A second explosion hit the nearby Lido Seafood restaurant, where several gunmen were briefly holed up with hostages.

Following an exchange of fire, government spokesman Abdisalam Aato told Al Jazeera that forces had defeated the gunmen and secured the area.

"Our security forces are in control of the restaurant. They have rescued many civilians and are now cleaning the place." Aato said.

Capt. Mohamed Hussein told Al Jazeera that he saw three dead bodies outside the restaurant, but more deaths were likely to be discovered.

Al-Shabab, which is aligned with Al-Qaeda, wants to topple the Western-backed government in Mogadishu and impose a strict version of Islamic law across Somalia, a nation racked by conflict since the outbreak of civil war in 1991.

Al Jazeera and wire services
Saudi Arabias Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir has refused to publicly speak on reports that Riyadh was trying to buy nuclear weapons from Pakistan, but said the Kingdom will do whatever it takes to protect itself.

I am not going to get into details of discussions we have with foreign governments, and certainly not allied governments. Im sure you understand, he said. I would not discuss these things in a public forum, certainly not on television, he told CNN when asked about nuclear cooperation with Pakistan.

His remarks came a day after US Secretary of State John Kerry warned both Saudi Arabia and Pakistan against indulging in trade of nuclear weapons, saying there will be all kinds of NPT consequences if Riyadh went ahead with any such plan.

The warning from Kerry came amid media reports that Saudi Arabia is trying to buy nuclear weapons from Pakistan. Top Pakistani leaders have in recent weeks warned Iran of serious consequences if it attacked Saudi Arabia, which many analysts see as a nuclear threat from Islamabad to Tehran.

Saudi Arabia is committed to two things. I always say two things we do not negotiate over, our faith and our security. Saudi Arabia will do whatever it takes in order to protect our nation and our people from any harm. And I will leave it at that, Al-Jubeir said.

I discussed the bilateral relationship with Pakistan, which is a strategic one. We discussed the regional situation. We discussed ways to promote security and stability in the region. We discussed the negative and aggressive Iranian interference and the affairs of the region, he said.

Responding to a question, the minister said Iran should seize interfering in the affairs of other regional countries. Iran should cease to support terrorism. Iran should cease to assassinate diplomats and blow up embassies. Iran should cease to support militias whose objective is to destabilise countries in the region. Iran should cease its policy of negative propaganda in the region. Other than that, things should be fine with Iran, he said.

Al-Jubeir said most countries are concerned over Iran getting billions of dollars as a result of the nuclear deal. I think most countries in the world are concerned that Iran will use these funds in order to fund its nefarious activities rather than use them to develop its country and improve the living standards of its people. I hope Im wrong, he said.
A womens organisation was ordered by authorities not to go ahead with its demonstration at the famous Shani Shingnapur temple in Ahmednagar district on January 26 to demand that women be given equal rights for prayers at its sacred platform.

The Ranragini Bhumata Brigade on its part headed for a showdown with the authorities by deciding to book a helicopter from which its chief Trupti Desai was planning to alight by a rope and take darshan just to break an ancient custom that bars women from climbing up to the holy chauthara (sacred platform).

Joint Charity Commissioner of Pune region Shivkumar Dige in his order preventing members of Ranragini Bhumata Brigade from going ahead with its protests said there was apprehension of damage to property if the outfit goes ahead with its demonstration at the chauthara.

The temple trustees should hold a meeting with Brigade members and hear what the latter have to say, the order said.

Fearing restrictions on the protests, Desai said she was booking a helicopter and seeking permission for the flight from the district collector and planned to alight (in the temple premises) by a rope from the helicopter.

Women want equality, which was given in the Constitution of India on January 26. Hence we want to protest on this day, Desai said, as the agitation over certain restrictions on women at popular shrines such as Haji Ali in Mumbai and Sabrimala temple in Kerala reached Shani Shingnapur, about 300 km from Mumbai.

The temple trust and most villagers have strongly opposed the plan, fearing the move might anger the Shani Dev. To foil the attempt, villagers have announced that they would form a human chain around the temple to protect the God from being impure.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 21, 2016  John Clifford, who has served as the Department of Agricultures chief veterinarian for the last 12 years, will be taking a new job at the end of March, according to an announcement sent to stakeholders Thursday afternoon.

Clifford, the chief veterinarian with USDAs Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, will begin to transition from his current role as deputy administrator for veterinary services to a new job as the chief trade advisor for veterinary services with APHIS National Import Export Services staff at the beginning of March. In his new role, Clifford, a 30-year veteran of APHIS, will focus on global trade issues as they relate to veterinary practices in the U.S.

In the stakeholder announcement, APHIS Administrator Kevin Shea said he was thankful (APHIS) will continue to benefit from Dr. Cliffords expertise in an arena where we have much at stake. He said the new position will allow Clifford to focus more on global trade issues at a time when international work has become ever more crucial to our mission.

Shea also said that he will announce Cliffords successor closer to his (March 1) transition date.

Clifford spent time dealing with international animal health experts after a highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreak in 2015 that led to the depopulation of 48 million birds. The outbreak led many foreign markets to wonder if they should ban U.S. poultry, but Shea said Clifford was able to have discussions with international trade leaders that helped maintain poultry trade with several Asian countries.

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In addition to Cliffords new role, Deputy Agriculture Secretary Krysta Harden also announced on Thursday that she will be leaving USDA at the end of February. Harden has been with USDA since 2009 and has served as the deputy secretary since August of 2013. She also spent time in Washington as the CEO of the National Association of Conservation Districts, as Senior Vice President of Gordley Associates, and as a Capitol Hill staffer.

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Democrats on Thursday blocked the Senate from moving to an override vote on the veto. A 52-40 vote to invoke cloture and take up the veto was eight votes short of the majority needed, ending the latest GOP attempt to scrap the rule, which redefines the waters of the United States (WOTUS) that the law regulates. Missing from Thursdays vote was GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz of Texas, who supported the WOTUS disapproval resolution when it was on the Senate floor in November and passed, 53-44. Also missing among the candidates were Republican Marco Rubio of Florida, who didnt vote in November either, and Democrat Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who voted against the measure in November. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., supported the measure both times. The three Democrats who broke party ranks and supported the measure in November voted for the cloture motion Thursday, too: Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Manchin of West Virginia. A two-thirds majority would have been needed to override the veto, even if the cloture motion had received 60 votes. Senate Republicans took another at the swing administration over the issue before the day was out, releasing a letter asking for a Justice Department investigation into the Environmental Protection Agencys use of social media to promote the WOTUS rule. The letter, signed by Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Environment and Public Works Chairman Jim Inhofe, said the department should determine whether there were criminal violations. The Government Accountability Office said the EPA violated an appropriations law when the agency used the Thunderclap platform to spread its pro-WOTUS message on Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada called Thursdays vote a waste of time and said it was unconscionable for Republicans to push the WOTUS issue in light of the Flint, Michigan, drinking water crisis. Republicans are so wedded to ideological purity they have lost touch with reality, Reid said. They have somehow failed to recognize that clean water is a basic priority for all Americans. Republicans are likely to force additional votes on the issue ahead of the fall elections. Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., told Agri-Pulse he will use the appropriations process to try to enact a provision that would keep the rule from being enforced if pending court stays are lifted. The White House blocked such a provision from being included in the fiscal 2016 omnibus spending bill. There also could be an effort as early as next week to bring up the issue when the Senate considers an energy bill. The disapproval resolution was drafted under the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to reject major new regulations under an expedited process that doesnt need a 60-vote margin to initially move through the Senate. Watching for news on the Clean Water Act? Find it on Agri-Pulse. Sign up for a four-week free trial subscription. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the WOTUS rule was a federal power grab that the administration is spinning as some kind of clean water measure. He said WOTUS "would grant federal bureaucrats dominion over nearly every piece of land that touches a pothole, ditch or puddle. Inhofe, R-Okla., said that by vetoing the disapproval resolution Obama is aligning himself with an illegal rule and is encouraging illegal agency activities and the unauthorized use of taxpayer dollars. This has to stop. No member of this body should associate himself or herself with these activities. In his veto message, Obama said the disapproval resolution would block the progress represented by this rule and deny businesses and communities the regulatory certainty and clarity needed to invest in projects that rely on clean water. #30
WASHINGTON, Jan. 21, 2016  Deputy Agriculture Secretary Krysta Harden, who led the implementation of the 2014 farm bill, says shes leaving USDA at the end of February. Michael Scuse, the current under secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services, has been tapped as acting deputy.

Today is bittersweet for me, Harden said in a release announcing her planned departure. I am proud of what our department has accomplished since 2009 to bring economic opportunity that will help rural America thrive for generations to come. And although I will not be part of the many great and transformational things USDA will accomplish over the next year, I am more committed than ever to USDA's mission.

Harden, who grew up on a farm in Georgia, served USDA for seven years alongside the Obama administrations longest serving cabinet member, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. In her parting statement, Harden thanked Vilsack and President Barack Obama for the opportunity to be part of their team.

As the proud daughter of farmers and someone who cherishes rural values, I couldn't have served for anyone more genuine and committed to making a difference than Secretary Vilsack. My work at USDA on behalf of our farmers, ranchers, producers and rural communities has been the greatest honor of my professional life.

Harden was sworn in as the deputy secretary in August 2013. She started with USDA in the Office of Congressional Relations, helping to shepherd through Congress the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act and legislation to obtain funding to help resolve claims of discrimination by African-American farmers. She called these measures two of the most significant pieces of legislation in our time here.

Harden also served as chief of staff to Vilsack, who released a statement praising his deputy.

Krysta Harden shares a special bond with rural America and agriculture that is deeply rooted in her family history and personal values, embodying the mission of USDA in a genuine way, Vilsack said. I greatly appreciate her many years of service to the Obama Administration and to USDA. But more than anything, I am grateful for her friendship, sound judgement and leadership as a key member of my team since 2009.

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Richard Wilkins, president of the American Soybean Association, thanked Harden for her service to the nations farmers.

Krysta Harden is the kind of public servant that comes along only too rarely. She has blended a personal background, professional knowledge base, and exceptional passion for agriculture into a career that has served farmers at every level, Wilkins said in a release. We are of course sad to see her go, but happy to know that she will continue her service and her outstanding advocacy for farmers and rural Americans wherever she goes.

The president of the National Corn Growers Association, Chip Bowling, also released a statement on Hardens departure, saying he was sad to see her go.

I appreciate Deputy Secretary Harden for her no-nonsense, common-sense leadership. At a time when too many people in Washington seem to be shouting at one another, she knows how to build bridges and put everyone at ease, Bowling said.

Prior to joining the USDA, Harden worked as the chief executive officer of the National Association of Conservation Districts, senior vice president of Gordley Associates, staff director for the House subcommittee on Peanuts and Tobacco, and chief of staff and press secretary for the former Congressman Charles Hatcher.

Vilsack said Alexis Taylor, the current deputy under secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services, will assume the duties of under secretary at FFAS.

In a separate announcement, USDA said John Clifford, the chief veterinarian with the departments Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, will transition from his current role as deputy administrator for veterinary services to a new job as the chief trade adviser for veterinary services with APHIS National Import Export Services staff at the beginning of March. In his new role, Clifford, a 30-year veteran of APHIS, will focus on global trade issues as they relate to veterinary practices in the U.S.

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WASHINGTON, Jan. 21, 2016 - The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine are seeking nominees for a committee that will examine the scientific needs of regulatory agencies as the use of biotechnology continues to grow.

According to the academies request for nominations, the committee will produce a report designed to answer the questions, What will the likely future products of biotechnology be over the next 5-10 years? What scientific capabilities, tools, and/or expertise may be needed by the regulatory agencies to ensure they make efficient and sound evaluations of the likely future products of biotechnology?

The study is part of a White House initiative , announced in July, aimed at Modernizing the Regulatory System for Biotechnology Products.

The request for nominations said that 15 experts will be appointed from academia, industry and the non-profit sector. It continued:

Expertise on the committee is expected to include the following areas: molecular and genomic sciences; genetic engineering or the targeted or in vitro manipulation of genetic information of organisms, including plants, animals, and microbes synthetic biology; biotechnology industry, and US biotechnology regulations. Individuals with other expertise relevant to the charge will also be considered.

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The report is being funded by the Department of Agriculture, Environmental Protection Agency and Food and Drug Administration. The working title is Future Biotechnology Products and Opportunities to Enhance Capabilities of the Biotechnology Regulatory System.

NAS asked for nominations by Jan. 25.
CORONADO, Calif., Jan. 20, 2016  With part of the Great Green Fleet as a backdrop, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack heralded how the Navy and Marine Corps are using alternative energy sources and energy-saving techniques to enhance military operations and support rural America.

I made energy a priority because of how much it impacts our combat capability and because of the cost it imposes on us, Mabus noted during a ceremony at the North Island Naval Air Station here today. The former Mississippi governor, who was appointed Secretary of the Navy in 2009, set an aggressive goal early in his tenure that the Navy and Marine Corps would obtain at least 50 percent of their energy from alternative sources by 2020.

At the height of the fighting in Afghanistan we were losing one Marine, killed or wounded, for every 50 convoys of fuel brought in. Thats way too high a price to pay.

Mabus said that, as a result of his focus on alternative energy and conservation, were greener, our carbon footprint is smaller. But those were good side effects. It is not the reason that we are doing this. It gives us a strategic advantage. It expands our options to fuel the fleet.

As an example of that flexibility, Mabus pointed to Singapore, where an oil refinery is owned by China and right down the road is an alternative fuel refinery owned by a Finnish company.

Dont we need the ability to get fuel from either one of those sources? Wouldnt it be terrible if we hadnt certified all of our ships, all of our aircraft on alternative fuels so we do have that flexibility if that cause arises? he asked.

His early efforts to purchase alternative fuels, which were bought for about $26 a gallon, generated a lot of congressional criticism. However, Mabus noted that the guided missile destroyer USS Stockdale -- moored alongside the pier where he spoke -- was filled up for $2.05 a gallon with a 10 percent blend of renewable diesel.

We paid $26 a gallon then. We are paying 13 times less today, just three and a half years later. Thats the story, thats the success, he emphasized. Stockdale is the first surface combatant to receive alternative fuel as part of its regular operational supply, according to the Navy.

Vilsack said that he was excited by the fact that the Navy is going to use 77.7 million gallons of a blended biofuel here in connection with the Great Green Fleet.

We know that each year the Navy uses over 28 million barrels of liquid fuels so thats a tremendous opportunity for us to partner with the Navy, the Defense Department and the Energy Department to expand and diversify our efforts.

We want to create a drop-in aviation and marine fuel that will allow Ray to essentially reach the vision that he so forcefully articulated several years ago of 50 percent of the Navys energy needs being met from renewable sources, Vilsack added.

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The former Iowa governor emphasized the importance of creating a strong rural economy through renewable energy, pointing out that 15 percent of Americans live in rural America but 40 percent of your military comes from those small towns.

Following the ceremony, Mabus and Vilsack flew out to the USS William P. Lawrence to observe the destroyer refueling its tanks with alternative fuel from fleet replenishment oiler USNS Guadalupe.

The fuel was purchased from Altair Fuels in nearby Paramount, California, from a feedstock of beef tallow -- waste beef fat -- provided by Midwest farmers and ranchers, and traditional petroleum provided by Tesoro, according to a Navy press release. Pursuant to Navy requirements, the alternative fuel is drop-in, meaning it requires no changes to ship engines, transport or delivery equipment, or operational procedures.

#30

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A congressional committee has demanded that former drug executive Martin Shkreli appear at a hearing on drug prices to testify about his former company's decision to raise the price of a lifesaving medicine by more than 5,000 percent, congressional aides said on Wednesday.

Shkreli, who is separately facing federal criminal charges that he defrauded investors, has been served with a subpoena to appear on Jan. 26 before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, the aides said.

The Senate's Special Committee on Aging, which is also investigating the company's drug pricing practices, said on Wednesday that Shkreli has invoked the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination, and has refused to produce subpoenaed documents. Testifying before Congress is risky for someone facing criminal charges because of the chance they could say something prosecutors would later use at a trial. For that reason, many people invoke the Fifth Amendment and refuse to answer questions.

Shkreli, 32, fired back at lawmakers on Twitter, writing on Wednesday that the House was "busy whining to healthcare reporters about me appearing for their chit chat next week. Haven't decided yet. Should I?" He declined an interview request.

The entrepreneur sparked national outrage last year after he raised the price of Daraprim, a decades-old treatment for a dangerous parasitic infection, to $750 a pill from $13.50 after acquiring it. The medicine once sold for $1 a pill. Shkreli had defended the price hike in an interview on CNBC saying that Daraprim had been priced too low and that his company needed to generate profits that it would spend on new research and development.

Shkreli pleaded not guilty last month to criminal charges that he ran his companies like a Ponzi scheme, using each subsequent company to pay off defrauded investors from a prior company.

After his arrest, he stepped down as chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals and was fired as chief executive of KaloBios Pharmaceuticals Inc. KaloBios also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Al Jazeera with Reuters
Thursday's hearing for confirmation of the charges is a test for prosecutors who must convince judges that their case, hastily reinvestigated since Ongwen's surrender last January after years on the run, is strong enough to merit a trial.

Prosecutor Ben Gumpert told judges Kony found children easiest to shape by a process of brutalization into the fighters he needed. Ongwen, by turns generous and cruel, played a role in this.

Witnesses tell of how he instructed his personal escorts to administer dreadful beatings and ... even, on at least one occasion to kill, cook and eat civilians who had been abducted in attacks, he said.

Ongwen had led attacks on four displaced-persons camps into which civilians had been driven by the Lord's Resistance Army's bloody campaign. Many were killed, and others were kidnapped and made to carry away the loot.

Nursing mothers who could not keep up had their babies torn from them and left behind in the bush, he said. A video taken by Ugandan authorities showed thatched huts burned to the ground and bodies in shallow graves in the aftermath of an attack.

Kony was indicted by the court in 2005 and remains one of the world's most notorious fugitives from justice. Several other indicted members of the group, which rose against Ugandan President Yoweri Musuveni in the late 1980s, are believed dead.

Ongwen, born in 1975, was visibly ill at ease in an environment very different from that in which he had spent his life after being abducted as a child, rising to say he did not need to hear the charge sheet.

It is all going to be a waste of time, he said.

Gumpert said Ongwen's own traumatic childhood could at most be a mitigating circumstance at sentencing. Child abusers are overwhelmingly likely to have been abused themselves as children, he said.

Lawyers for Ongwen, who pleads not guilty, will argue for the charges to be dropped next week.

Reuters
January 20, 2016

Egypts Ministry of Religious Endowments is seeking to ban demonstrations against the regime on the fifth anniversary of the January 25 Revolution, saying they are aimed at ruining the country.

When the ministry issued the official sermon for Jan. 8, it included a fatwa accusing those calling for demonstrations of implicating Egyptians in [acts of] violence and terrorism in favor of the homelands enemies.

Opponents of the government consider the claim erroneous, arguing that the ministry is merely trying to win the regime's favor.

In the distributed sermon, the ministry demanded that people keep in mind the situation in neighboring countries that have plunged into chaos, so to not forget the great blessings that the Egyptians are enjoying right now, including security, safety and stability. It also called on the people to unite to build and preserve the homeland, and to consider that a legitimate demand and national duty.

Ahmed Karimeh, a professor at Al-Azhar University, told Al-Monitor, This fatwa applies to those [protesters] committing crimes, banditry and harassments.

Karimeh quoted a Quranic verse, saying, Indeed, the penalty for those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger and strive upon earth [to cause] corruption is none but that they be killed or crucified or that their hands and feet be cut off from opposite sides or that they be exiled from the land, (Surah Al-Maidah, verse 33).

He added that those participating in the demonstrations against the regime will be viewed as perpetrators of mutiny, which is a breach of public order and security of the state. He stressed that averting harm is an important principle, and said he considers calls for demonstrations harmful.

The fatwa, issued by Minister of Religious Endowments Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa, does not align with what Gomaa has previously said. In a Sept. 13, 2013, interview following the overthrow of Muslim Brotherhood rule, Gomaa told Asharq Al-Awsat, Mosques serve as a place for prayer, not politics.

Later that month, speaking to a youth delegation, Gomaa noted that the ministry had replaced internal leaders who were not affiliated with Al-Azhar, to prevent the mixing of religion and politics.

Yet this fatwa is not the first time the ministry has focused on political affairs. Ahmed al-Tayeb, the grand imam of Al-Azhar, said in a 2011 interview with Egyptian state TV during the January 25 Revolution that the ongoing protests were demonstrations of chaos. He added that participating in them was religiously forbidden, since they were a form of disobedience to the state and the regime. He said that, with the exception of those present in Tahrir Square, the people from Aswan to Alexandria were not satisfied with the protests. Tayeb accused religious scholars who supported the protesters of using religion to achieve their own goals and betraying the religion. He said God would hold them accountable on the day of judgment.

Karimeh told Al-Monitor that, in his view, there are no peaceful protests in developing countries, where many people don't abide by the constitution or laws regulating protests. He argued that peaceful protests only exist in developed countries, where a protests place and time are determined in advance.

In November 2013, interim President Adly Mansour issued a law on the Right to Public Meetings, Processions and Peaceful Demonstrations. The law requires that authorities be notified at least three working days ahead of any demonstration, and it stipulates that it is up to the interior minister to forbid a protest if it poses a threat to security. The law calls on security officers to escalate their use of force gradually, starting with verbal warnings, followed by firing rubber bullets, using water cannons, batons and tear gas.

Yasser al-Borhamy, vice president of the Salafist Call, concurred with the ministrys stance. In a Jan. 15 media statement, he said Islamist currents should not respond to calls for demonstrations against the regime on the revolutions anniversary. He warned against potential calls to carry out vandalism and said any demonstrations on that day will result in bloodshed.

Gamal Farouq, dean of the Faculty of Islamic Preaching at Al-Azhar University, told Al-Monitor that Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyyah is the party commissioned to issue fatwas in Egypt, not the Ministry of Religious Endowments. Still, he said, any fatwa is certainly subject to consideration for the common good. The ministry's fatwa meets that standard, based on how demonstrations in Egypt often turn violent and on the fear that terrorists might infiltrate the demonstrations, he added.

Farouq stressed that Egypt is still in a transitional phase and cannot tolerate any incident that leads to a breach of public order. This is why, according to him, it is religiously permissible to ban anything that is likely to cause harm to the community.
January 20, 2016

BABIL, Iraq  Tribal struggles are weakening Iraq's efforts to battle the Islamic State, which has occupied large parts of the country since June 2014.

It seems Iraqis, who often complained that former President Saddam Husseins regime involved them in absurd wars, are now fighting each other while still engaged in complex and costly battles against IS. The disputes are widespread and deadly. Some examples from 2015 alone include:

In February, a financial dispute between the Batbout and al-Hamadaneh tribes triggered a conflict in Basra that left one citizen dead and two injured.

tribes triggered a conflict in Basra that left one citizen dead and two injured. In March, battles between the tribes of al-Fartous and al-Bu Ali in southern Iraq killed nine people and wounded 30 others, including women and children. This bloody conflict was fueled by disputes over financial issues and land.

children. This bloody conflict was fueled by disputes over financial issues and land. In September, four people were killed or injured in armed tribal clashes in Abu Saida in Diyala province.

In October, an armed clash between the Dabbat and Miryan tribes took place in eastern Nasiriyah in Dhi Qar province, killing or wounding four people, including a woman.

A December tribal conflict erupted in Sayyed Dakhil in Dhi Qar province in southern Iraq over honor killings.

Tribal clashes in Iraqi society are nothing new. They posed a significant problem during the Ottoman Empire, the British colonial period and the kingdom of Iraq created in 1921. With time, the state grew stronger than the tribal system and subdued its internal conflicts. The leaders of the 1958 revolution adopted strategies designed to promote civil society in the country and limit the role of tribes in the state. The modern Iraqi state involved the tribes in political decision-making.

Yet when the state's power began to weaken under Saddam's regime, he turned to the tribes, arming them to strengthen his rule in an example of how Iraqi rulers interest in the tribes has allowed the tribes to also develop political influence.

Qahtan Hussein Taher, an academic researcher at the Mustaqbal Center for Strategic Studies, published a study Dec. 24 examining the role of Iraqi tribes in building a modern state. He wrote, The Iraqi state has invested in the tribes in a pragmatic way, which has weakened [the role of] government institutions.

Tribal influence grows stronger when the state is weak. Social researcher Qasim Mohammed told Al-Monitor, This influence increased [even more] following 2003, when the Saddam regime fell, and the tribes have managed many government departments by virtue of the ties that government officials running these departments have with the tribes.

He added, The tribes were also involved in corrupt deals, and some have interfered to resolve political disputes and protect officials suspected of unlawful activities by helping to halt legal proceedings against them through tribal settlements and the payment of compensation and blood money.

Tribal communities have their own laws derived from their customs. These tribes developed into social authorities and are effective in resolving many of their internal conflicts. But conflicts between tribes are particularly dangerous these days, while security forces are busy battling IS.

In an attempt to limit tribal conflicts, Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi visited Basra on June 8, calling for tribes to be disarmed. He said, "These conflicts deliver negative messages that serve the enemies, at a time when Iraq is engaged in a war against terrorism.

As Ammar al-Hakim, leader of Iraq's Shiite Muslim Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council, said in March, He who points his weapon at his brother is supporting terrorism and IS."

However, Mohammed Sayhood, a member of the parliament's Tribal Affairs Committee, told Al-Monitor, The calls for disarmament have never succeeded as the tribes have never responded, since they view arms as a guarantee they will be able to defend themselves in the event of any armed clashes.

Sayhood added, The acquisition of weapons is not new. Rather, it is a part of ancient social customs and traditions in which the tribe brags about the many and diverse arms its members have.

The failure to disarm the tribes has prompted parliament member Ahmed al-Badri of the National Alliance to call on influential religious authorities "to take part in defusing tribal battles and to persuade them to give up their weapons."

Badri told Al-Monitor, Civil society organizations should launch voluntary awareness campaigns to educate against tribal violence and internal conflicts.

Regarding this suggestion, Majid Alklipy, a leader from the al-Klipy tribe in Babil, told Al-Monitor, Some tribes have laid the foundations for serious attempts to stop the conflicts by adopting codes of conduct in which the tribes are committed to using dialogue instead of fighting, and to resort to the judiciary and state institutions to resolve their differences.

But Abdul-Hussein al-Khafaji, a tribal sheikh in Babil province, pointed out, All of those agreements and codes that Alklipy was talking about will be in vain once a tribal conflict is ignited.

Given that the tribal problem is correlated to today's political and security situation, many experts advise that the only way to curb tribal and zonal conflicts is for parliament members, state officials and other politicians to put aside their tribal and sectarian affiliations, promote social awareness of a national identity instead of tribal and sectarian identities and abide by the law.
January 20, 2016

In Tel Aviv at the Jan. 18 opening of the annual INSS Strategic Assessment for Israel, US Ambassador Daniel Shapiro let loose, without warning, on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government. Too much Israeli vigilantism in the West Bank goes on unchecked, he said. At times, there seem to be two standards of adherence to the rule of law [in the West Bank]: one for Israelis and another for Palestinians.

Shapiro is a peace-loving ambassador. The 4 years of his term in office coincided with some of the most exhausting years of Israeli-US relations, yet despite the difficulties, Shapiro succeeded in positioning himself as an island of stability in the stormy seas separating Netanyahu and President Barack Obama. Shapiro often lauded the US-Israeli relationship and protected it with his very body even in the worst of times: the chickenshit days (to invoke an Obama adviser's epithet for Netanyahu), the lecture Netanyahu gave Obama in the Oval Office and Obamas snub of Netanyahu at the White House. Even during the lowest of the low points, when Netanyahu slinked his way into Congress to speak against presidential policy and the nuclear agreement with Iran without coordinating with the White House, Shapiro was there, and with the last of his strength, tried to mend the fences.

So what happened? What got Shapiro agitated? What suddenly galvanized the Obama administration to unleash scathing, almost unprecedented criticism of Israeli policy, law and legal proceedings involving the territories? Perhaps the answer lies in the words of the ambassador.

The two-state solution, Shapiro emphasized, is Israel's only path to avoid becoming a binational state. He added, We must find ways of preserving the viability of the two-state solution for the future. In conclusion, Shapiro noted that the US administration is concerned and perplexed by Israels settlement policy. According to him, the policy raises honest questions about Israels long-term intentions.

Until now, the phrase concerned and perplexed only appeared in commentary and articles like the one you are reading now, with regard to the American administration. Now along comes a highly placed, official representative of the administration who admits, Yes, we have no idea what to do now.

The prime ministers office immediately issued a sharp response: These words of the ambassador, uttered on a day when Israel buried a murdered mother of six, and on a day when a pregnant woman was stabbed, were unacceptable and wrong. In the background of the response, various conspiracy theories are flourishing. Netanyahu is a well-known conspiracy freak, a paranoid man convinced that at any given moment countless conspirators are plotting against him.

As of the week of Jan. 20, Netanyahu is allegedly being targeted by two conspirators on the domestic front: Education Minister Naftali Bennett and former Minister Gideon Saar, who in recent days have castigated Netanyahus security policy. On the international front, the Americans and Europeans are ganging up against him: Shapiros words are perhaps not entirely disconnected from the fact that on that very same day, the European Union voted on a resolution emphasizing the differentiation between pre-1967 Israel and [post-1967] Judea and Samaria, said a high-level Israeli source speaking to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. We have no doubt that this step was coordinated between the American administration and the Europeans. We are looking at a multipronged movement from several directions, led by the American administration as the ideological spearhead, though they leave the dirty work to the Europeans.

This is Netanyahus biggest nightmare: united, determined diplomatic movement against the policies of the right-wing government he assembled eight months ago. Netanyahu knows that unlike in the past, today he has no available, clear response to such an attack. During his previous term in office, he succeeded in dragging along the Palestinians and Americans for nine months of negotiations that culminated in a farce. To Netanyahus credit, it should be proffered that the more guilty party in putting an end to the process led by Secretary of State John Kerry was President Mahmoud Abbas, who did not even respond to the draft framework agreement delivered to him on March 17, 2014, as disclosed by Al-Monitor.

A senior American source who had participated in contacts recently told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, Netanyahus motivation for entering into negotiations in 2013 was his deep concern over the continued delegitimization of Israel, the possibility of European boycotts and labeling of products and the creeping erosion of Israels status among the nations. Now it is 2016, and Netanyahu does not have the kind of coalition that could help him cope with the acceleration of such a process. Due to his current coalition's composition, not only must Netanyahu avoid talk about negotiations with the Palestinians, he cant even dream about it. Although Netanyahu deflected the previous tsunami with walls he built at the last minute, this time he faces the wave only with his hands.

The day after Shapiros comments, a self-styled reconciliation meeting was held between the ambassador and the prime minister. Shapiro accompanied a group of congressional representatives to a get-together with Netanyahu and then conversed with the prime minister privately for about half an hour before the official meeting began. Both sides reported that a friendly, amicable atmosphere had prevailed, but no official statements of clarification were made public following the meeting: Shapiro did not amend his words or retract them, and Netanyahu did not soften his harsh criticism. In essence, Netanyahu accused the US administration of falsehood: To repeat, These words  were unacceptable and wrong.

The keys to what will happen in the coming year are in the hands of the Americans. That is almost always the case in situations such as this. The administration remains undecided about putting forward a peace plan crafted by Obama. Obama has a draft of a framework-agreement for a permanent settlement, obtained by Kerry in his intensive deliberations with Netanyahu at the beginning of 2014. Without asking for Israels agreement, the draft was revised to accommodate some Palestinian demands and given to Abbas, who has not to this day responded.

Will Obama put this framework on the table, as a kind of update to the 2000 Clinton Parameters? Will Obama give the green light to the Europeans, allowing them to continue with the sanctions, product labeling and limitations on Israeli merchandise that began last year? Will Obama enter into a head-on confrontation with Netanyahu in the last months of his administration, something that could harm Hillary Clintons chances in her run for the presidency?

Obama, as is known, is not a vengeful person by nature. His political makeup lacks emotion, hot-bloodedness and stormy impulses. Rather, he is a cold fish, pragmatic and realistic. On the other hand, the indignities and humiliations he has suffered at Netanyahus hands could drive even a Buddhist monk crazy. The president of the United States can decide to leave behind a legacy, his mark, on the historic calamity known as the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. Obama could also choose to throw in the towel and quietly retreat from the turbulent Middle East. He will have to make his decision very soon.
January 20, 2016

Something good finally came out of the governments persecution of leftist associations, Knesset member Tamar Zandberg of Meretz told Al-Monitor. It made us wake up, stop being passive; it drove us to search where the right-wing NGOs budgets, amounting to millions of shekels, actually come from. We were surprised to discover that some of this money came out of the taxpayers pockets and was hidden [in the state budget] under the generic heading of 'participation.'

Zandberg was referring to two recent investigative reports. One was published by the Israeli news website Walla, and the other by the Peace Now movement, both of which add to a 2014 investigative report by Molad. The investigations present a disturbing picture: Public money is finding its way to nongovernmental organizations linked with the far right, without those groups being required to report on their funding sources. After all, Israeli law does not require it of them.

Wallas investigation, the results of which were released Jan. 13, found that the right-wing organization Ad Kan  which sent undercover activists to infiltrate various watchdog and human rights organizations and document their work from the inside  was funded in part by the Samaria Settlers Committee. That group, in turn, receives funding from the Samaria Regional Council  in other words, from public funds.

The Peace Now investigative report published in December examined the financial reports of nine right-wing Israeli NGOs for 2006-2013. In those years alone, some 580 million shekels ($145 million) flowed into the coffers of those organizations. The investigation also found that the total contributions from undisclosed sources came to 445 million shekels ($112 million). The actual sources of these donations were American donors who didn't disclose their identities.

A much more disturbing detail, however, is the source of 95 million shekels ($24 million) that appears under participation. It comes from the state itself, government support funneled directly to right-wing NGOs. So, for example, the umbrella settlement organization Yesha Council took in some 59.8 million shekels ($15 million) of participation money in 2006-2013. In that time, the Yesha Council funded numerous political campaigns by settlers and the right.

Peace Nows investigation was motivated by various laws proposed by parties on the right, including the transparency bill proposed by Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked of HaBayit HaYehudi. The legislation was intended to increase supervision of money provided to left-wing NGOs by foreign governments. Shakeds version of the law sparked an uproar over its requirement that representatives of left-wing NGOs supported by foreign money wear a special badge when visiting the Knesset.

At the weekly Cabinet meeting on Jan. 17, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he supports Shakeds bill on the condition that the badge requirement be removed.

At the same time, a group of opposition Knesset members led by Zandberg proposed a law intended to promote transparency among right-wing NGOs. According to the proposed law, co-sponsored by Knesset members Karin Elharrar and Yael German of Yesh Atid and Nahman Shai and Itzik Shmuly of the Zionist Camp, all NGOs operating in Israel will be required to provide a detailed account of public money transferred to them by government ministries and local authorities. The requirement would effectively mean an end to the unclear participation loophole.

The written rationale for the proposed law states that there is currently widespread support for the activities of these groups from government ministries and local authorities alike. There is no public oversight of either the group itself or the minister who funded it, since the groups' obligatory financial reporting does not include the sources of these public funds. According to the proposed law, all funding that originates in public money must be reported in precise detail including the amount, the identity of the body providing the funds and the specific project for which the funding is allocated. All of this is intended to put an end to an estimated hundreds of millions of shekels per year being transferred to pay for the pet political objectives of various government ministers, all unrecorded.

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Zandberg sounded pleased with the retaliatory action that she and her opposition colleagues initiated.

I expect the right-wing government to stop the hypocrisy and to allow for transparency when it comes to budgetary allocations to right-wing NGOs, she said. Transparency is for everyone. The public needs to know if its money funds price tag activities, as the Molad investigation revealed. The public needs to know that the Samaria Settlers Committee received over 6 million shekels [$1.5 million] from the Samaria Regional Council, which is supported by government funding under the generic participation' category.

The fact of the matter is that there is almost no chance that such a law will pass. The coalition will torpedo it, and the ultra-Orthodox parties that use the loophole to transfer money to their own organizations will block it at once. Nevertheless, Zandberg refuses to accept this assessment.

Im really not sure that this is what will happen, she says. This law is necessary, and it is an excellent law for everyone. If there is to be transparency, then lets go all the way with it, so that it covers all NGOs operating in the country. You cant just go after left-wing NGOs. That is hypocritical. I believe that today, in an era of transparency, this law is essential, and the public will demand it. The public needs to know where its money is going. Its rudimentary. Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked and the rest of the government must support this law. Otherwise, they must be held accountable to the public as to why they help to conceal where the publics money is going. It is legitimate for the government in power to distribute tax money, but at the very least, we must know where our money is going.

Zandberg admits that the initiative for her proposed law came as a reaction to the right's activity against left-wing NGOs.

"In many ways, we should be thankful to the right-wing parties for initiating these laws against left-wing NGOs, she explains. "It forced us to wake up and try to understand what is happening on the other side. What we discovered was that while the right acted so cynically from a political perspective by intentionally attacking the left in this way, they themselves were acting in the most un-transparent way imaginable. We found a can of worms, with public funding being used, for instance, to produce anti-Semitic film clips that paint targets on the backs of citizens. We uncovered a vast network of political connections based on foreign money from private individuals. I believe that this is only the tip of the iceberg.
January 20, 2016

Syrian refugees can thank Donald Trump for helping keep America's doors open.

The Senate voted 55-43 Jan. 20 to suspend the admission of Syrian and Iraqi refugees, short of the 60 votes needed to move the bill forward. Democrats repeatedly invoked the recent uptick in Islamophobic comments  particularly from the Republican presidential front-runner  ahead of the party-line vote.

"It is unfortunate that the fear and xenophobia being peddled by some Republican candidates for president is now being given time on the Senate floor," Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said in a statement. "Instead of  responding to real threats to our national security  like our failure to track visa overstays or prevent terrorists from buying guns  today we are debating a strawman inspired by Donald Trumps baseless rhetoric."

"Get beyond the screaming rhetoric of the presidential campaign," Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., urged on the Senate floor, "and sit down and listen to their stories, and you will realize that these are people who are desperate, who are looking just for an opportunity to be safe."

As a result, the Senate vote was far closer than the 289-137 vote in the House on Nov. 19. Some 47 Democrats had voted for the bill in the House, just days after militants linked to the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) killed 130 people in Paris.

Since the House vote, a California couple allegedly "inspired" by IS shot 14 people to death and Trump sparked international outrage with his subsequent vow to bar Muslims from entering the country "until we can figure out what is going on." Democrats have jumped on those comments to cast Republicans as inimical to religious and ethnic minorities ahead of the 2016 elections.

Ahead of the Jan. 20 vote, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., sought to force a companion vote on Trump's proposal to ban Muslims. Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, denounced the idea as "bringing the circus to town."

"I hate to see the Democratic leader try to trivialize this very important national security debate and discussion by injecting presidential election politics right in the middle of this," Cornyn said.

Congressional concern with the refugee program spiked after President Barack Obama vowed in September to resettle 10,000 Syrians during the current fiscal year. A month later, FBI Director James Comey further caused alarm when he told a congressional panel, "I cant sit here and offer anybody an absolute assurance that theres no risk associated with this.

"The Obama administration continues to allow thousands of insufficiently vetted refugees to flood our borders," Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Trump's main challenger, said after the vote. "Their plans to import refugees from war-torn Islamic nations not only make our country less secure, but also endanger American lives."

The White House has vowed to veto the bill, saying its requirement that US officials certify that admitted refugees aren't a threat would be "untenable" and would leave the Middle East and Europe alone to deal with the worst refugee crisis since World War II.
January 21, 2016

LATAKIA, Syria  Leaving Damascus is no longer an easy journey these days; the Syrian regime has erected dozens of military checkpoints between the northern entrance of the capital and the international highway to inspect the documents and luggage of travelers. Through these inspections, the regime is trying to catch those evading compulsory military service and those opposing the regime. This is making the trip tougher, longer and more perilous.

After waiting for two hours at regime checkpoints to leave the capital, Al-Monitor took the Damascus-Aleppo international highway to go to Latakia province, 385 kilometers (239 miles) northwest of Damascus. We then safely drove via the Harasta Highway in the northern countryside of Damascus, with the knowledge that it is often targeted by opposition snipers. At the regime's checkpoints, our official documents were thoroughly inspected. Six hours later, we reached Latakia province, whose countryside has recently witnessed significant progress on the part of the Syrian regime forces.

The regime-controlled city of Latakia seemed quiet. There were no sounds of nearby clashes or opposition shells falling onto its neighborhoods, considering that the regime  with the help of Russian air cover  took control on Jan. 12 of the town of Salma, 48 kilometers (30 miles) northeast of Latakia, and deemed as the main location from which missiles were fired by opposition fighters into Latakia.

This was confirmed by journalist Hani Haidar, whom Al-Monitor met at his office in Latakia. Haidar covered the regime operations that were aimed at controlling Salma.

The Syrian army's progress toward Salma started after the regime took control over the Jirn al-Qalaa hills, Rweiset al-Qalaa, Shish al-Qadi, Dahr al-Adra, Rweiset al-Toyour, Qaraqfi Mount in the vicinity of the city and Tartyah village, where the regime started progressing to control the suburb of Salma in a key move that allowed it to progress toward the heart of the town, Haidar told Al-Monitor.

He added, The Russian air raid and the Syrian armys control over the hills surrounding the town contributed to blocking the supply roads for [opposition] gunmen, who withdrew toward Marouniyat village [1 kilometer north of Salma] while using the regions dense trees for cover. However, the Syrian army attacked and controlled Marouniyat village on Jan. 13, which forced the opposition militants to retreat again to the north toward the town of Rabia, which is adjacent to the Turkish-Syrian border.

For his part, Ali Safyan, an opposition commander who was in Salma during the battle, told Al-Monitor via Skype, The military campaign against the town of Salma effectively started in October 2015.

In regard to the reasons behind the withdrawal of opposition fighters from the town, Safyan said, The regime forces attack mainly relied on the Russian air raids.

He said, In addition, major opposition factions such Jaish al-Fatah refrained from supporting opposition forces on the coastal front while foreign [Iraqi and Lebanese] militias participated in the battles to support the regime. These two factors were among the reasons behind our loss of the town.

Safyan said that despite the opposition factions loss of Salma, the regime forces suffered heavy losses, with 800 dead and 10,000 [military] vehicles destroyed during the three-month battle.

He pointed out that battles between the two parties in Marouniyat have been ongoing since Jan. 13, and that the regime forces were able to progress toward the town following their regaining control of Salma.

Salma is about 800 meters (half a mile) above sea level. It is strategically located in the center of a triangle connecting the countryside of Latakia, the countryside of Idlib and the countryside of Hama. It is a mountainous town close to the Turkish border and Mount Turkmen, which is under the oppositions control. Mount Turkmen witnessed heavy Russian shelling amid the regimes attempts to advance, following Turkeys downing of a Russian jet on Nov. 24.

In regard to the opposition battalions ability to keep control over Salma for three years, starting in July 2012, retired Syrian army Brig. Gen. Hafez Nabil told Al-Monitor over the phone from Damascus, The nature of the mountainous town helped opposition forces tighten their control over it during the previous period.

He said, For the opposition, the town of Salma is the first defense line for opposition military strongholds in Mount Turkmen, which is located on the Turkish-Syrian border. It is the main gateway to the Kurd Mountains, which are adjacent to the western countryside of Idlib. Salma served as a connection between the supply routes of the countryside of Latakia, the countryside of Idlib and the countryside of Hama, all of which are subject to the opposition forces control. But these routes were cut with the regimes control over the town [of Salma].

"[Salma] provided a cover for the supply routes from Turkey [to the opposition]. In addition the town is close to one of the largest regime fortifications in the region, namely in Slinfah city.

Nabil added, The opposition forces used Salma as a springboard to launch attacks on neighboring villages with the same Alawite majority and kidnap the citizens of these villages. This is one of the reasons behind their desperate attempts to defend the town; the opposition considers that the regime will be doomed in the coastal area as soon as Alawites are killed. The opposition also deemed the town to be an obstacle to the regimes dream of creating an Alawite mini-state in the coastal area.

Nabil explained that the regime forces progress in the countryside of Latakia is a threat to the opposition-controlled western countryside of Idlib, as it blocks its supply routes between Jisr al-Shughur and the Kurd Mountains. This progress threatens the existence of the opposition in Mount Turkmen, a major target for the Russian airstrikes following the Russian fighter jet incident.

A field commander in the pro-regime Baath Brigades engaged in the Latakia countryside battles told Al-Monitor in Latakia, on condition of anonymity, By taking control over Salma, we destroyed the largest set of the militants field hospitals. The next phase of the military operations  which is what we call the post-Salma stage  is to expand in the north and northeastern parts of the town toward the town of Kinsabba. This will allow us to reach Jisr al-Shughur in the countryside of Idlib and then advance toward the north in order to launch deadly strikes against militants.

He stressed, The success of the regime forces in controlling Salma and progressing beyond would not have been possible, had it not been for the Russian air cover, which accompanies any progress on the ground on the part of the Syrian regime and its supporters.

Will the regime and the Russians manage to enter the opposition strongholds in the north? The coming days will provide an answer to this question. Meanwhile, the regime forces keep advancing toward the north, where they has taken control of Mureij and Ras al-Ghazal and Ras al-Kabir. The Washington Post published documents Jan. 15 that it obtained from a Russian government website it did not name showing that Russian support for the regime is indefinite.
Bernie Sanders may decry how big money influences political elections, but that isnt stopping groups independent of the Democratic presidential candidate from spending significant cash in his name. The latest organization to do so: Friends of the Earth Action. The national environmental nonprofit this week released an ad that praises Sanders green record and highlights his early opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline.

Did this shadowy proBernie Sanders super PAC just dupe James Bond? Actor Daniel Craig donated to group led by man with history of financial, legal woes Hes proven a bold and fearless voice for a healthy and just world, the ads narrator says. The ad, first reported by CNN, is airing in Iowa and New Hampshire markets this week. Friends of the Earth Action is a social welfare nonprofit, also known as a 501(c)(4) organization. Under law, 501(c)(4) nonprofits are not required to disclose their donors. These types of nonprofits have increasingly become vehicles for dark money  untraceable and often immense cash flows used to influence elections. Such nonprofits must by law avoid being primarily political, but that has not stopped them from collectively injecting hundreds of millions of dollars into elections this decade. Hillary Clintons presidential campaign labeled Friends of the Earth Action a dark money group in a recent blog post titled Sanders no super PAC myth. But Friends of the Earth Action rejects the dark money label. Weve got a long history of engaging in the political process that predates super PACs and Citizens United, said Erich Pica, the groups president. So they can call us a dark money group, but we are mainly small-donor driven.

The ads sponsor

Friends of the Earth Action says it provides extra political muscle to sister group Friends of the Earth, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 1969 that urge[s] policymakers to defend the environment and work towards a healthy environment for all people, according to its website. This is not Friends of the Earth Actions first time entering the political arena. In 2008, for example, Friends of the Earth Action spent more than $70,000 in support of Democrat John Edwards failed presidential run. The Sanders ad blitz is twofold, Pica said. He sees Sanders as more committed than Clinton to environmental issues and wants to force a conversation on climate change  a topic that has yet to be robustly discussed in debates. Pica has, perhaps, already seen a measure of success: Sanders on Wednesday released a statement addressing a new report confirming 2015 was the hottest year in recorded history. Unless we get our act together, we will see in years to come more droughts, more floods and more extreme weather disturbances, Sanders said in the statement.

Whos behind it?

Pica is helping lead the ad blitz. Canal Partners Media placed the ad, according to Federal Election Commission records. The media buying group regularly places ads for Democratic parties, movements and candidates.

Money in

When it comes to their donors, social welfare nonprofits can be  and often are  opaque. But heeding Sanders money-in-politics gospel, Pica is promising transparency. Friends of the Earth Action, he says, will disclose within 24 hours on its website every donor who contributes more than $200. This aligns with the level of disclosure federal law requires traditional political action committees, super PACs and political parties. This weeks ad flurry was purchased with existing funds, Pica said. Normally, Friends of the Earth only partially discloses its donors and has accepted anonymous contributions when donors request anonymity. At the same time, the group fought for more political disclosure in Minnesota, where legislators introduced a bill in 2014 to tighten campaign finance rules.

Money out

Friends of the Earth Action paid about $20,000 to produce and air the ads, according to FEC documents. This is the first expenditure the group has made in any federal election this cycle  presidential or congressional  records show.
January 21, 2016

As Turkey grapples with terrorism and myriad social and economic problems, an unexpected controversy has moved on to the countrys crowded agenda. A Jan. 6 directive issued by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu allows public employees to take time off for Friday prayers: In line with freedom of religious faith, guaranteed by the constitution and related laws, employees of public institutions and establishments who so desire will be given time off for Friday prayer if its time overlaps with working hours without causing a loss in working hours.

Twitter users were quick to react. Some saw the circular as an affront to the secular system. Bye bye secularism, bye bye republic, hello Afghanistan! one user wrote. Another remarked, Today schools and teachers off for Friday prayer, tomorrow students and soon Friday a full holiday. Some saw the directive as an attempt by the government to distract from other controversies and problems. This time they must be trying to distract attention from the Hitler issue and the price hikes, wrote one person. Others saw the move as putting pressure on less religious employees. There was already permission for Friday prayer, especially in public offices. Now, those who dont go will be fingered. Let them not go now if they dare, one man commented.

Omer Faruk Eminagaoglu, a prominent lawyer petitioned the Council of State, Turkeys top administrative court, to quash the directive. He argued that the authority to determine working hours belonged not to the prime minister but to the Cabinet. The purpose here is to flout the secular legal system under the pretext of freedom of faith. Rearranging daily working hours during Ramadan will be brought up next, asserted Eminagaoglu.

In remarks to Al-Monitor, Eminagaoglu said he was in favor of freedom of religions, but argued that the circular had effectively suspended the unalterable constitutional provision on the Turkish republics secular character. He recalled that a similar effort had been turned back in the past by a court ruling later backed by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

In 1997, the Cabinet issued a decision adjusting working hours during Ramadan to the fast-breaking hours. The arrangement was annulled by the Council of State, and the Constitutional Court deemed it an act contravening the secular system. Objections were then brought before the ECHR, but the ECHR found no irregularity in the [annulment] ruling, explained Eminagaoglu.

Not long ago, [female] attorneys were allowed to attend court hearings wearing headscarves. Now, judges have come to wear the headscarf, too. Tomorrow, working hours during Ramadan will be adjusted to the fast-breaking hours despite legal rulings to the contrary. A political and judicial transformation is under way. The latest directive could lead to the blacklisting of those who do not go to prayers, Eminagaoglu further asserted.

The issue of time off for Friday prayers was first raised in July during collective bargaining talks between the Labor Ministry and trade unions representing public employees. Memur-Sen, a trade union close to the government, put the demand in its collective contract proposal as a last-minute addition. Eminagaoglu said Memur-Sens move illustrates how the agendas of trade unions in Turkey have changed over the past several decades.

In 1975, the Turk-Is trade union, which was close to the center right, had filed a lawsuit against the adjustment of working hours to fast-breaking hours during Ramadan, and the arrangement was abolished. Also, a move by the State Highway Directorate to rearrange working hours according to Friday prayer hours was annulled on the ground that it contravened the principle of secularism. Back in those days, the advocates of labor rights respected the constitution and the supremacy of law. Today, its just the opposite, Eminagaoglu explained.

The main opposition Republican Peoples Party (CHP), which has secularism enshrined in its emblem as one of the arrows symbolizing the partys six main principles, has remained silent about the circular, earning it a good deal of criticism.

According to Eminagaoglu, CHP Chairman Kemal Kilicdaroglu should be expelled from the party for failing to observe the CHP statute calling for the protection of the secular system. Thus far, the partys only reaction has come from Deputy Chairman Veli Agbaba, who called the circular a smokescreen intended to distract public attention from President Recep Tayyip Erdogans U-turn on relations with Israel.

There was already not a problem regarding the Friday prayer. Public employees were able to go to Friday prayers without any obstruction at all, Agbaba pointed out. The president has suddenly said that we need Israel. How did this need arise? Why do you need Israel? We believe they did this maneuver [the circular] only to cover up this issue and manipulate the religious feelings of impoverished, devout and decent people.

The CHPs silence might perhaps be explained by its recent efforts to convince conservative Turks that the party  the legacy of Turkeys secular founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk  is not an adversary of Islam. In a television program earlier this month, senior CHP member Engin Altay remarked, The [CHPs] image as a godless party was in part nourished by us ourselves.

As the public debated what had prompted the circular, given that public employees were already able to attend Friday prayers, the Education Ministry moved within a week to adopt it for schools. In an instruction to education directorates across the country, the ministry ordered all public and private schooling institutions to facilitate things for administrators, teachers and other staff with regard to permissions for Friday prayers and to adjust class schedules accordingly.

Mehmet Nuri Yilmaz, former head of the Religious Affairs Directorate, remains perplexed about the motive behind the circular. In remarks to Al-Monitor, he said, We were already adjusting the Friday prayer to [noon break] hours convenient for public employees. For instance, if the Friday call to prayer was supposed to be at 11 a.m. or 11:30 a.m., we would send a circular to have it shifted to 12 a.m. During summer, it would be 1 p.m. So, there was no problem. Public employees were able to catch up. The Religious Affairs Directorate is maintaining the same practice at present.

So what prompted the circular? Yilmaz proffered, The purpose perhaps was to have the working hours of schools rearranged according to the Friday prayer. That might explain why the Education Ministry was so quick to act.
January 20, 2016

Mukhtars are moving up in the world. Since President Recep Tayyip Erdogan moved to his controversial palace outside Ankara in November 2014, the mukhtars  elected heads of villages and towns  have become his prominent guests. They were the first group to be invited to the fancy palace, and Erdogan continues to receive groups of 300-400 mukhtars at a time.

There are about 53,000 mukhtars in Turkey. Erdogan plans to meet with all of them.

At the palace, mukhtars first hear a motivational speech by the president while their excited applause and standing ovations are generously carried live on television. After lunch, they return to their villages or city districts.

Why this sudden interest in mukhtars? Until August 2015, mukhtars were paid for simply drawing up documents about citizens residences and identities and then putting an official stamp on them.

But at their August meeting, the supreme official of the state tasked the lowest officials with an additional duty. Erdogan said, My mukhtars will keep track of who lives where and will report it properly to the nearest district governor and police chief. With this intelligence, we will know what is happening in each house."

The president's instructions cant be found in the legislation pertaining to mukhtars. Yet mukhtars are being designated as a kind of intelligence official.

According to an Aug. 15 report in the daily Bugun, mukhtars report all their findings through a special computerized information system. Their messages first go to Ministry of Interiors Directorate of Local Administrations and from there they are forwarded to the relevant state organs.

Opposition parties claimed that the government was taking advantage of mukhtars by having them double as informants. To counter that complaint, mukhtars were given financial perks and their monthly allowance was raised far above other civil servants.

Effective at the beginning of 2014, before the mukhtars were given their new duty, they were given a pay increase that more than doubled their allowance to 875 Turkish lira ($287) from 420 Turkish lira per month. Another increase came in the second half of 2015, raising the allowance to 947 Turkish lira. Now, as of Jan. 1, the allowance is set at 1,300 Turkish lira  a 37% increase. The allowance will thus have more than tripled in two years.

Some might think that despite all these increases the mukhtars are still paid a paltry allowance. But this is not their only income. For every document they stamp, they are paid 5 Turkish lira, which usually provides significant revenue. There is a long list of candidates at every election fighting to get elected. Now that mukhtars are tasked with a prestigious "micro-intelligence function" in addition to ever-rising allowances, even more people will be competing to get elected.

And that's not all: In October, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu announced that henceforth, Oct. 19 will be celebrated every year as Mukhtars Day. Such recognition is needed, Erdogan said, to call attention to the role of the mukhtar. Erdogan said Turkey needs mukhtars in all facets of life, and he called on all civil servants to help them. A good senior official will listen carefully to all requests conveyed by mukhtars and find solutions for them. That is all I need to say," Erdogan said.

Successive allowance increases, a special day designated for them, visits to the Presidential Palace and their new function of collecting intelligence in villages and districts are bound to enhance the motivation of mukhtars.

At the moment, it is difficult to see what kinds of abuses and complications these grass-roots intelligence operations in villages and city districts will entail. But this amateur intelligence network, shrouded in secrecy, certainly presents high risks for common citizens.
January 20, 2016

When the Iraqi Kurds come to Washington, it is often to ask for guns to fight the Islamic State (IS). Now they are pleading for cash, warning that their campaign against the jihadis is threatened by an economic tsunami that has left their quasi-independent state teetering on the brink of collapse. Is this only our fight or yours, too? asked Fuad Hussein, chief of staff of Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Massoud Barzani, after briefing top US officials in Washington last week.

The Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga warriors and the Syrian Kurdish Peoples Protection Units are critical allies in the fight against IS, wresting back huge chunks of territories including the town of Sinjar in Iraq and the Tishreen dam in Syria. But Hussein cautioned that IS remains a big threat and could regroup at any time. Unless the Kurds allies step in with financial aid, the Kurds' capacity to fend off the jihadists will wane, he said. You cannot win the fight when you cant survive economically, Hussein told Al-Monitor in an interview.

That message was driven home in back-to-back meetings at the State Department, the White House, the National Security Council and also on Capitol Hill, where the Kurds met with Sens. John McCain and Dianne Feinstein, among others. We havent been going around asking people to pull out their checkbooks, said Bayan Sami Rahman, the Kurdistan Regional Governments (KRG) representative in Washington. But people dont appreciate enough that this is an incessant fight, she said in an interview with Al-Monitor. Never mind the cost of running a war, our peshmerga dont even have winter gear. The purpose of our mission here is to help our friends understand that this is not sustainable, that we need nothing less than a Marshall plan, Rahman added.

The biggest cause for the meltdown is plunging oil prices. The KRG relies almost exclusively on oil revenues. Prices slumped below $30 per barrel last week and are set to weaken further with the easing of sanctions on major oil producer Iran. Iraqs central government also depends mainly on its oil revenues to finance its budget, 17% of which is earmarked for the KRG. But the agreement has never been properly implemented with both sides blaming the other for not honoring their respective commitments. The crisis escalated when the Kurds began exporting their oil independently through a newly built pipeline running to Turkeys Ceyhan oil terminal on the Mediterranean.

A fresh deal mediated by the United States was reached in December 2014, whereby the Kurds were supposed to sell 550,000 barrels per day of crude through Iraqs state marketing firm SOMO in exchange for their budget share. But this also fell through.

Rather than giving the Kurds 17% of revenues, Iraq was simply buying our oil and not even giving us a fair market price for it, Rahman said. Meanwhile, Baghdad has effectively halted all budgetary payments to the Kurds since February 2014. The KRG has run up an estimated total debt of $18 billion since then.

The stalemate with Baghdad shows no signs of abating. In June, the Kurds resumed selling their oil independently via Turkey. But because of the mediocre quality of its crude and the legal risks customers face over Baghdads claims that the sales are illicit, the Kurds are forced to sell well below market prices.

The result is that we havent been able to pay civil servants salaries, including those of the peshmerga, for the past five months, Hussein said.

The Kurds wrangles with Baghdad and plummeting oil prices arent the only worry. Some 1.8 million refugees fleeing IS within Iraq and in Syria have added to the strain. Countries like Jordan and Lebanon also have big refugee populations, but unlike us, they are not on the front line fighting IS, Rahman noted.

The Kurds have always enjoyed a sympathetic audience in Washington and other Western capitals. Over the past two years, the United States has given $600 million in aid to the Iraqi government. And much of that was spent in the KRG, a senior US official, speaking on condition of strict anonymity, told Al-Monitor. At the same time, the United States is preparing to train and equip up to three new peshmerga brigades to fight IS. These were meant to be formed by new recruits to ensure they did not cleave to party loyalties as is often the case in Iraqi Kurdistan. But due to the extra financial burden that this would impose, the brigades are now to be drawn from existing peshmerga forces.

Many agree that cronyism, mismanagement and a lack of transparency have contributed to the current impasse. There are a number of overdue reforms the Kurds need to carry out to improve their own situation, the senior US official said. US government advisers are working with KRG Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani for just such an overhaul.

The KRG has made some changes, slashing allowances of Cabinet ministers and senior government employees by some 50% and scrapping such perks as free electricity and rents for them. But these are a drop in the ocean, critics say: Energy subsidies need to be cut, the bloated public sector shrunk and thousands of ghost employees, notably among the peshmerga, weeded out.

"The government has only two options: either to reform or cease to function," opposition lawmaker Goran Azad told the Reuters news agency.

Corruption remains one of the biggest challenges. Patronage networks fed by the main political parties  Barzanis Kurdistan Democratic Party and the ailing former Iraqi President Jalal Talabanis Patriotic Union of Kurdistan  have spawned a class of nouveau riche whose ostentatious lifestyles breed resentment. The opaqueness of the KRGs energy deals, particularly with Turkey, remain another bone of contention. It remains unclear how the proceeds of oil sales are allocated or even how much they are worth. Until recently, these were deposited in an escrow account with Turkeys state-owned Halk Bank.

Most would conclude that the Kurds fiscal blues puts a big damper on their long-cherished dreams for statehood. If anything, it has reinforced the sense among ordinary Kurds that formal ties to Baghdad are more of a hindrance than anything else.

If the KRG were a sovereign state, it would be able to tap international donors such as the United Nations or the World Bank for funds or float its own bonds. "But we can't," Rahman said.

Barzani makes no secret of his desire to lead his people to statehood. He has raised the possibility of holding a popular referendum this year. Kurdish leaders acknowledge that their state can only be viable if at least one of the two regional heavyweights, Iran and Turkey, offers its blessings and if the United States comes on board. Iran, with a restive Kurdish minority of its own remains firmly opposed. But Turkey, which has more Kurds than Iraq, Iran and Syria combined, appears to be shedding its fears. Indeed, by enabling the Kurds to export their oil without Baghdads consent, Ankara is helping to shore up their financial independence.

Aydin Selcen, a prominent former diplomat, who opened and headed the first Turkish Consulate in Erbil in 2010, believes Turkey must do more to bail out the KRG. The most effective way of doing so, he argued in an interview with Al-Monitor, would be for the state-owned Turkish Energy Company, which was set up for deals with the KRG, to buy most if not all of the producing assets of the main oil companies operating in the KRG and in Kirkuk.

But the real opportunities lie in Kurdistans rich natural gas reserves. These are expected to fully come on stream by 2018 and exported to Turkey, which is desperate to reduce its dependency on Russian gas. Yet, unless the KRG sticks to pledges of radical reform, that income may be squandered as well.
January 20, 2016

When Turkeys official Religious Affairs Department, the Diyanet, denied a request from the Boyacikoy Yerits Mangonts Church Foundation to pay salaries to Christian clergy in Turkey, the move was challenged by the country's chief ombudsman, who asked the Prime Ministry to pay salaries to non-Muslim clergy. The Prime Ministry has not made a decision known, but non-Muslim clergy members are clearly delighted with the proposal.

Salaries for non-Muslim clergy entered the Turkish agenda after the foundation's first application in 2013. In the document, the foundation said it was trying to survive with donations and revenues from funeral services, a mere 4,000 liras ($1,300) in 2012. It asked for its clergy be paid salaries by the Diyanet, as is Turkey's Muslim clergy. The Diyanet, which rules over about 100,000 religious affairs officials and clerics, refused.

The foundation then took its complaint to the ombudsman, saying, "There is no clause in the constitution that says the religion of this country is Islam and only Muslims can benefit from services. The Diyanets attitude contravenes the constitutional principle of equality.

The ombudsman then asked for opinions from the Diyanet and the Finance Ministry. Both opposed the payment of salaries to non-Muslim clergy. Nevertheless, the ombudsman insisted on payment. In its Dec. 31 letter to the Prime Ministry, the ombudsman said the Treaty of Lausanne had guaranteed that non-Muslim Turkish citizens will benefit from the same civil rights as Muslims and All people living in Turkey will be equal before the law without any discrimination." The letter asked for measures to eliminate such discrimination when addressing the social needs of non-Muslim citizens.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu will make the final decision. While Turkey awaits his decision, not all minority community leaders like the idea.

No doubt financial problems are one of the main motivations behind the request for salaries. For example, the Chief Rabbinate of Turkey wrote to the ombudsman, Because of scarcity of funds, not enough religious personnel can be employed in houses of worship.

But some other communal leaders say this financial problem cannot be solved by paying salaries and needs more comprehensive measures. Istanbuls Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew made this point in his consultations with the ombudsman. After meeting the Armenian Patriarchate, Turkey's Chief Rabbinate and the Syriac Orthodox Church, Bartholomew conveyed their joint opinion to the ombudsman: As our religious personnel are subject to a hierarchical and traditional structure and administration as stipulated by the Christian and Jewish religions, we have concluded that it will be more appropriate if the financial contribution from the state is made directly to our institutions and allows us to use it as we see fit.

In his letter to the ombudsman, acting Armenian Patriarch Aram Atesyan said they want to preserve the community tradition of paying the salaries of the religious leaders. Atesyan said the Boyacikoy Church Foundation that started the whole debate was not authorized to do so on any other group's behalf.

In response, the foundation's chairman Nazareth Ozhasakyan said, The question is not whether the state pays the salaries of our personnel or not. After our application, the ombudsman met in Istanbul with the Patriarchate and the Rabbinate. That is what was important for us: recognition of our rights.

The debate has exposed that the Diyanet has discriminatory practices for Muslims and non-Muslims. According to 2010 budget figures, the Diyanet employs 100,000 religious officials and the state pays their salaries. Non-Muslim clergy is paid nothing. The Diyanet is discriminatory not only toward non-Muslims, but also against all other sects except Sunnis. For example, Alevi religious leaders, "dedes," are not paid.

Problems also prevail in opening houses of worship. While there are 85,000 mosques in Turkey, non-Muslim communities are not allotted space for their own centers. The "cemevi," the Alevi house of worship, is not even considered a house of prayer.

Then there are utilities and services for these places of worship. While municipalities pay the water and cleaning expenses of mosques, non-Muslims may benefit from such services to the extent they develop relationships with local administrations. For example, the Antalya Muratpasa and Diyarbakir Metropolitan municipalities are two that regularly provide cleaning services to churches and cemevis.

Although some non-Muslim leaders are not happy with the proposal to pay salaries to their personnel, the debate has become useful in exposing the discrimination in this area.
January 20, 2016

In many ways, Iraqs battle against the Islamic State (IS) has deepened ethno-sectarian schisms between Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish regions. Sectarian militias act autonomously from Baghdad while the Kurds dig trenches around their expanded territories. Internal divisions are being encouraged by regional states seeking to create spheres of influence across the country. Iran has extended its reach to Shiite groups in Baghdad and southern Iraq, as well as the Kurdistan Region. Turkey has penetrated northern Iraq through Sunni Arab and Kurdish groups. Still, alongside these communal and political fractures is a resilient commitment to the Iraqi state. Distinct communities may benefit from the anti-IS campaign, external patrons and a weak Iraqi government, but they also have their own power struggles and political red lines that enforce Iraqs sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Iraqs aggrieved Sunni Arab populations are alienated from Baghdad, seek greater autonomy and oppose Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization Units and hard-line Shiite groups. They are also Iraqi nationalists and do not want to break up the state. In the absence of a cohesive political agenda or unifying leader, Sunni Arab Iraqis are pursuing distinct and competing local projects  all of which depend upon structures, resources and populations within the Iraqi state. Some Sunni Arab leaders want their own Sunni region while others seek to create new governorates based on greater decentralization. One proposed project includes Christians and other minorities in a new province to be carved out of Ninevah. Other Sunni Arab tribal groups are collaborating with Baghdad against IS and support a stronger government and local self-rule. In Ramadi, about 40,000 Sunni Arab fighters have joined the Popular Mobilization Units to defend their localities.

Sunni Arabs also continue to defend Iraqi sovereignty and territorial integrity. For instance, while recognizing the importance of regional relations, Sunni Arabs joined Shiite Arabs and other Iraqis in opposing Ankaras military expansion into northern Iraq. The Iraqi parliaments Council of Representatives, including leading Sunni and Shiite blocs, criticized Turkeys engagement as a violation of state sovereignty. Iraqs Sunni Arab Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi, as well as the Arab League, whose majority is Sunni Muslim, also requested the full departure of Turkish forces from Iraq. Only former Ninevah Gov. Atheel-al Nujaifi and Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani welcomed Ankaras engagement in training Sunni Arab and Kurdish peshmerga forces to counter IS  as well as to check the Kurdistan Workers Party, create a Sunni Muslim zone of influence and secure energy resources in Mosul.

Nor have Iraqi Shiite groups given Iran carte blanche in Iraqi affairs. Indeed, most are grateful for Tehrans immediate and ongoing military assistance against IS. Some Shiite political parties and militias continue to act as proxies for Iran's Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani. Yet another part of the Shiite community seeks to balance Iraqs interests in the region and assure Iraqi sovereignty. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has attempted to mediate the Saudi-Iranian dispute  to no avail  by insisting on Iraqs neutrality.

Abadi and Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani have also reacted to Iranian overstep. In September, for instance, Sistani sent a letter to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calling for respect for Iraqi sovereignty and its territorial integrity. This response also reflects the distinct nature of Iraqs Shiite religious establishment (marjaiyya). Sistanis moderate Najaf perspective rejects the absolute interpretation of velayat-e faqih (guardianship of the jurist) as practiced in Iran that authorizes governance by Islamic clerics and fundamentalist legal views.

Efforts are also being made to bridge sectarian divisions at the societal level. In Karbala, for instance, while most of the 180,000 internally displaced persons (nazahin) from the IS onslaught are Shiite Turkmens or Shabak (Shiite Kurds) from northern Iraqs Ninevah province, about 250 families are Sunni Arabs from Anbar. Some Sunni Arabs who fled Ramadi and Fallujah five years ago remain in Karbala, and Anbar sheikhs visit regularly for business and other affairs, even if is not their final destination. Attesting to the reception and assistance they have received in Karbala, leading Anbar sheikhs remarked that this assistance makes one feel we are still unified  although this sense of unity would include ordinary people and exclude the politicians.

Even the Kurds have not fully or consistently turned away from Iraq, despite their indisputable commitment to Kurdish national identity and territory. Erbils real choice is not whether to secede from Iraq or not, but whether to be tied to Ankara or Baghdad, even nominally. Part of the Kurdistan Region under Barzanis control may have chosen Ankara; however, the rest of the Kurdistan Region opposes a Barzani family dynasty linked to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, particularly as the Kurdish problem in Turkey remains unresolved. This is why Gorran representatives in the Iraqi parliament and populations in Sulaimaniyah also opposed Turkeys military expansion in Ninevah, arguing it was an interference in Iraq and Kurdish affairs. For these groups, Baghdad remains an important political outlet to balance power inside the Kurdistan Region, check Barzani influence and appease Iran, even if financial dependencies have waned.

These dynamics are unlikely to bring Iraqs disparate groups together under a cohesive sense of Iraqi identity anytime soon. Different communities continue to mark their own territories, display their own flags and claim their own resources, often in disregard to Baghdad or other groups. Still, the shifting local balance of power and interdependencies between substate actors challenges the "end of Iraq" thesis or the division of Iraq into three strong, unified ethno-sectarian communities. What has emerged instead are hyper-fragmented political entities that are attempting to reorder power inside the state. The survival and interests of these small and dependent entities not only requires political pacts and economic exchanges with other groups, including Baghdad, but also assurances that the Iraqi state remains intact.
Fresh Market Tuscaloosa 2015

The Fresh Market specialty grocery store chain opened its Tuscaloosa location at the intersection of McFarland Boulevard and 13th Street East in The Shoppes at Legacy Park on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2015. The Tuscaloosa located is the company's seventh store in Alabama. (Ben Flanagan/AL.com)

The former Star Market building in Madison. (Google Maps)

The former Star Market building in Madison will get new life when The Fresh Market opens a specialty grocery store there in the future.

Mary Beth Broeren, director of planning and economic development for the City of Madison, said the North Carolina retailer will open a 25,000-square-foot store at the U.S. 72 West property, which has been vacant since Star Market closed in October 2014.

"They are dividing the building so The Fresh Market will occupy less than Star Market did, but we do not yet have information as to the other tenant(s)," Broeren said in an email.

Broeren, who doesn't know when the store will open, said The Fresh Market has received its building permit from the city.

Atlanta-based BRAVE Public Relations, which handles media inquiries for the grocer, could not confirm the new location.

"We cannot comment on any potential or rumored sites until they are publicly announced on The Fresh Market's website," the firm told AL.com.

BRAVE Public Relations would not say whether The Fresh Market is looking to open another store in the Madison County area.

In addition to its Huntsville location, The Fresh Market operates six stores in Birmingham, Homewood, Daphne, Mobile, Montgomery and Tuscaloosa. The company currently has 183 sites in 27 states across the U.S.

The Fresh Market has been in expansion mode since Jan. 1, announcing new stores in Florida, Virginia and Pennsylvania. During the third quarter of fiscal 2015, the business launched six new stores in Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Connecticut.

A financial report in November said The Fresh Market had signed 24 leases for future stores, which average about 21,000 gross square feet and $3.5 million in capital costs.
Ryan Culwell courtesy RC.jpg

Songwriter Ryan Culwell will appear Friday, Jan. 22, at Satori Coffee. (Courtesy of Ryan Culwell)

Songwriter Ryan Culwell, whose 2015 album "Flatlands" has drawn comparisons to Jason Isbell's "Southeastern" and Bruce Springsteen's "Nebraska," performs Friday evening at Satori Coffee in Mobile.

Culwell's appearance is part of an ongoing series presented by the Independent Music Collective. The IMC is a non-profit student organization at the University of South Alabama "that works together with USA faculty, staff, alumni, and members of the broader community in an effort to enrich Mobile's music scene." It sponsors a series of roots-music performances, and helps publicize other noteworthy music events.

Among many other glowing comments Culwell received in 2015, NPR picked him as one of the top acts at the year's South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas. Ann Powers wrote that "He made art of his craft, never scrimping on the details. His songs themselves wring grace from plain and often dark details, expressing the realities of class and region in ways that many other writers barely touch."

Doors will open at 7:30 p.m. Friday for the performance, which begins at 8 p.m. Admission is free to USA students and $5 for nonstudents. Satori Coffee is at 5460 Old Shell Road.

The IMC's next show, on Feb. 26, features Eric Erdman and Tennessee songwriter Ed Snodderly, whose credits include an appearance in the film "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" For more information, visit www.musicinmobile.org.
Chatterbox Book club

The Chatterbox Book Club meets at the Elizabeth Carpenter branch of the Huntsville Madison County library in New Hope. (Beth Thames)

Once a week, a group of home-schooled students goes to Saigon, where they sip the local drink--iced coffee sweetened with condensed milk-- and whisper with friends under the papaya trees and in the market stalls.

Then they come back to the Elizabeth Carpenter branch of the Huntsville Madison County library in New Hope. It's The Chatterbox Book Club that takes them away. The eighteen middle-school students don't just read a book; they discuss it; they dig into it; they imagine life on the other side of the world just before the Viet Nam War thunders into villages all over the south.

And they drink the coffee.

Librarian Laura Washburn asks them not to get too hyper on the little bit of caffeine she pours each student, right before they discuss the current book,"Inside Out and Back Again," by Thanhha Lai. This National Book Award winner is written in short prose poems. It's the story of 10-year-old Ha', whose family escapes on a crowded boat, arrives in a refugee camp in Guam, and eventually lands in Alabama, where a family sponsors them in their new lives.

"Inside Out and Back Again," by Thanhha Lai. (Beth Thames)

The Chatterbox members pity Ha', since classmates tease her about her funny way of talking and her "pancake" face, flat and foreign looking. Don't people like her eat dog meat? Why does she wear a flannel nightgown to school? Doesn't she know how to dress like an American?

Though she's baptized with her family in a local church, the students still taunt her with "Boo-dah!" Washburn leads the book club members through a discussion. They've all been teased. They've all been left out. How did that feel? What was that like? Was anybody kind? Helpful?

A conversation about a book turns into a conversation about how to live, which is what books are for. But Washburn doesn't let them off with just talk. They must learn about Vietnam, a distant spot on a map for most of these students.

Their assignment is to make a poster, drawing the flag, the rivers and deltas, and listing the largest cities. Then there are questions to answer. Some are factual: When is the Tet Festival held and what is it? What type of pet is common in Vietnam? Who first ruled Vietnam?

Then there are personal: does anyone have a family member who fought there? Does anyone feel a kinship with Ha'? In this ninety minute book club, the students have read classics, like The Wizard of Oz, and other young adult books, like "Pie," but this one got their attention, Washburn says.

The Library Foundation provides the books, then they're donated or put back into circulation. "We put them to good use," she says, "over and over."

These home-schoolers are independent learners, used to finishing assignments on their own, but most are glad to work with others. Dagny, Faith, Rachel, Katy, Sarah, all say they have new friends now, sitting around the tables, reading, talking, answering Miss Laura's questions. Some will come back for family movie night at the library; some will get together at other places.

But they all belong here.

The Chatterbox Club will move on to other books, but some say they'll always remember what author Thahhna Lai wished for the millions of refugees all over the world.

"May you each find a home."
Where to see amazing, intricate Tiffany glass windows in Alabama

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(Detail of the Confederate Knight Tiffany window at the University of Alabama by Teresa Golson)

Where to see amazing, intricate Tiffany glass windows in Alabama

Are you drawn to the beauty of stained-glass artworks, particularly those created at the renowned studios of Louis Comfort Tiffany? Did you know one of Tiffanys designers was Alabamian Clara Weaver Parrish? And that you can see several of her designs, along with other Tiffany designs, in churches and historic buildings throughout the state.

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(Photo of Clara Weaver Parrish from Historic Photos of Southwest Alabama Facebook page)

Alabama's famed Tiffany designer: Clara Weaver Parrish

Born to well-to-do parents on a Dallas County, Ala., plantation on March 16, 1861, Clara Minter Weaver had opportunities many women of her time did not. She was raised at Emerald Place plantation in Sardis, near Selma, by her parents William M. Weaver and Lucia Frances Minter.

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(Photo of Clara Weaver Parrish from Historic Photos of Southwest Alabama Facebook page)

Clara Weavers parents soon noticed their daughters artistic talents and encouraged her. In the early 1880s, she was sent to study at the Art Students League of New York. On one of her trips home to visit her family, she met Greensboro native William Peck Parrish, whom she would marry in 1889 in Selma. Clara and her husband moved to New York in 1890 and also lived in Europe. Clara was a prolific painter and mosaic artist and eventually became a designer for Louis Comfort Tiffany.

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(Photo of St. Michael's in New York from NYCago.org)

St. Michael's Episcopal Church, New York

One of Clara Parrishs most noted accomplishments was her 1895 work on the seven stained-glass panels in St. Michaels Episcopal Church in New York as part of a team of designers led by Tiffany.

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G.M. ANDREWS Andrews, Glenn

The works of Clara Weaver Parrish in Alabama

Christ Church Cathedral in Mobile.

One of the Tiffany-produced, stained-glass windows in this cathedral was designed by Alabamian Clara Parrish Weaver and a second one is thought to be her work, according to author Cart Blackwell. Both windows were completed in unusual opalescent glass.

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(Source: Mobile.org)

Christ Church Cathedral in Mobile

This historic church is home to two unusual opalescent stained-glass windows.

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G.M. ANDREWS Andrews, Glenn

"Christ and Nicodemus"

Christ and Nicodemus, a window in Christ Church Cathedral in Mobile, is attributed to Clara Weaver Parrish.

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G.M. ANDREWS Andrews, Glenn

"A Teacher Come from God"

Detail of the window Christ and Nicodemus in Christ Church Cathedral in Mobile.

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G.M. ANDREWS Andrews, Glenn

Detail of the window Christ and Nicodemus in Christ Church Cathedral in Mobile.

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(Source: AndrewHopkinsArt.blogspot.com)

"Jesus Meets Nathaniel"

Another window in Mobiles Christ Church Cathedral, Jesus meets Nathaniel, is also thought to be the design of Alabamian Clara Parrish.

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(Photo of Church of the Holy Cross from RuralSWAlabama.org)

Church of the Holy Cross in Uniontown

This example is included because of the confusion of the origins of one special stained-glass window inside the 1891 church. Although the window, not shown, was designed by Clara Weaver Parrish and for years thought to be produced by Tiffany Studios, it was actually designed by the Montague Castle Co., according to Graham Boettcher, curator of American art at the Birmingham Museum of Art. Boettcher said researchers discovered newspaper accounts at the time attribute the window to Montague, a rare departure for Parrishs works.

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(Source: RuralSWAlabama.org)

Christ Episcopal Church in Tuscaloosa

One Tiffany window in this church is attributed to Clara Parrish, according to church documentation and another may have been designed by her.

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(Source: Christ Church in Tuscaloosa)

"Hymn of Praise"

The The Hymn of Praise was commissioned by Dr. Henry Pearson of New York in Memory of his mother, his aunt and his grandparents, early members of the church. It was installed Eater, 1912.

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(Source: Christ Church in Tuscaloosa)

"He is Not Here, He is Risen"

A second window at Christ Episcopal Church in Tuscaloosa, He is Not Here, He is Risen, is thought to be a Tiffany window, although it is unconfirmed and the designer is unknown. It was donated to the church by Margaret King Jones in memory of her husband, William Jones, in 1895.

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(Photo of First Baptist Church of Selma from RuralSWAlabama.org)

First Baptist Church in Selma

Two windows installed in 1904 at First Baptist Church in Selma were designed by Clara Parrish and produced by Tiffany Studios, according to church employee Michael Spivey.

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(Photo of First Baptist Church of Selma from RuralSWAlabama.org)

Inside First Baptist Church

Windows and mosaic, far left, inside the sanctuary.

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(Source: First Baptist Church of Selma)

"Jesus and the Descending Dove"

The window Jesus and the Descending Dove was designed by Clara Weaver Parrish. It was given to First Baptist Church of Selma by Mrs. M.A. Keith in memory of her husband.

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(Source: First Baptist Church of Selma)

"Mother and Child" mosaic

The mosaic of the Mother and Child, topped by a stained-glass arch, was designed by Clara Weaver Parrish and made by Tiffany. It was given to First Baptist Church of Selma in memory of Louise Short Woodson.

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(Photo of church by Emmett Tullos via Wikimedia Commons)

St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Selma

This church, attended by the Weaver and Parrish families, features two windows attributed to Parrish and a third that art scholars believe may be her work. St. Pauls was burned during the Battle of Selma in the Civil War and was rebuilt in 1875.

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(Source: Library of Congress/Carol M. Highsmith)

St. Paul's, Window 1

A Tiffany-produced window designed by Clara Weaver Parris in St. Pauls Episcopal Church in Selma.

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(Source: Library of Congress/Carol M. Highsmith)

St. Paul's, Window 2

A Tiffany-produced window designed by Clara Weaver Parris in St. Pauls Episcopal Church in Selma.

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(Source: SelmaAla.blogspot.com)

"Wedding at Cana"

This window depicting the Wedding at Cana is thought to be designed by Clara Weaver Parrish but its origins have not been confirmed, according to a church member.

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(Source: University of Alabama)

Other Tiffany designs in Alabama

The Confederate Knight, University of Alabama

To honor the memory of former University of Alabama cadets who fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War, the Alabama chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy donated a Tiffany window to the university in 1925. The unusual design features a brave knight, as well as a cotton boll and a Confederate flag.

The window was installed in the old Gorgas Library and was moved in 1939 to the new facility. In 1993, the window was moved to the William Stanley Hoole Special Collections Library.

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(Source: University of Alabama)

Detail of The Confederate Knight

Historian and author Robert Mellown wrote of the window: The window is a fascinating social document as well as an exceptionally fine work of art. When it was installed, sixty years had passed since Yankee troops burned the neoclassical campus of the University of Alabama on April 4, 1865. By 1925 the mythmaking of the Lost Cause was in full swing throughout the South.

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(Photo of Tiffany signature on the Confederate Knight window from University of Alabama)

Tiffany signature

Mellown continued: Few Southerners were still alive who could recall the war years, and as their numbers dwindled Confederate veterans and their families (especially their wives and daughters) took steps to ensure that the memory of those who had fought in the nations most tragic conflict were not forgotten. Memorials of all sorts, in a wide variety of media, were erected in cities, towns, and battlefields across the South.

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(Dome in the lobby of the Battle House Hotel/AL.com File Photo)

Battle House Hotel, Mobile

Two incredible pieces of Tiffany glass artwork can be seen in Mobiles historic Battle House Hotel. One is the beautiful dome in the hotels main lobby. According to Battle House historian George Moore, the dome ceiling and the glass ceiling in the Trellis Room Restaurant were produced by Tiffany and installed in 1908.

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(Dome in the lobby of the Battle House Hotel/AL.com File Photo)

Domed ceiling, Battle House Hotel lobby

They survived three major hurricanes that hit Mobile, historian George Moore said of the two Tiffany glass ceilings in Mobiles Battle House. The hotel was vacant from 1974 until 2007, when it was restored and reopened. The Tiffany ceilings were restored to their original beauty at that time.

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(Source: Battle House Hotel Facebook page)

The Trellis Room, Battle House Hotel

The ceiling in the Trellis Room Restaurant at the Battle House Hotel was made by Tiffany Studios.
One of three Birmingham men arrested last weekend in North Carolina on prostitution and robbery charges now faces a new charge after police say he gave them a false name during his arrest.

Felone Craig, Ronald Kennedy and Brandon Jones posted an ad for sex on Backpage.com, and then attacked and robbed a victim of $200, police said. They were taken into custody Jan. 16 by officers with the Jacksonville Public Safety Department in Onslow County.

But after the story ran on Tuesday, Kennedy's mother contacted AL.com and said she had proof that wasn't her son at all. She also contacted the police in North Carolina who launched their own investigation.

Today they announced charges against 23-year-old Willie Charles Foy, who tried to pass off Kennedy's information as his own. Foy is charged with one count of felony identity theft, as well as common law robbery, felony conspiracy and prostitution, said Beth Purcell, the public information officer for the Jacksonville Public Safety Department. His bond is set at $25,000.

Officers with the Jacksonville Public Safety Department in Onslow County responded to the Baymont Inn about 1 p.m. Saturday on a report of a larceny, according to Beth Purcell, the police public information officer. Once there, they launched an investigation that led to the arrest of the trio.

Craig, 24, of southwest Birmingham, posted an ad for sexual exchange on Backpage.com and rented a room at the hotel for prostitution purposes, Purcell said warrants show. He is also accused of conspiring with Kennedy, 23, and Jones, 24, to steal $200 from the victim by means of assault.

Craig is charged with felony common law robbery, felony conspiracy, misdemeanor aid and abet prostitution, and misdemeanor maintain a dwelling for purposes of prostitution. His bond is set at $15,000.

Craig was indicted in Birmingham in November on a charge of theft by fraudulent leasing. That case involved a $369 stove from Rent A Center, court records show. He was featured as a wanted suspect on Crime Stoppers, but now is listed as captured.

Jones, also of Southwest Birmingham, is charged with felony common law robbery, felony conspiracy and misdemeanor aid and abet prostitution. Police said he used his cell phone to arrange prostitution. Jones' bond is set at $12,000
Alabama death row inmate Christopher Eugene Brooks was executed Thursday night for the 1992 slaying of a Homewood woman after the U.S. Supreme Court denied his request for a stay of execution.

Brooks was pronounced dead at 6:38 p.m. in the execution chamber at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. He was the 57

th

death row inmate executed in Alabama since executions resumed in 1983 after an unofficial more than decade-long nationwide moratorium ended. He was the first person executed in Alabama since 2013.

Brooks final words included: "I hope this brings closure to everybody." To the two friends, a spiritual advisor, and his lawyers who witnessed the execution he said they were a "Godsend" and that "I will take you with me in my heart"... "I'll see you soon. Bye. I love y'all."

Brooks, however, did not admit guilt in his statement.

After he was brought into the execution chamber, the curtain opened to witnesses at 6:06 p.m. and closed at 6:30 p.m. The exact time of death was 6:38 p.m.

A prison chaplain held Brooks' hand and appeared to pray with him as the first drug, a sedative, was administered. Brooks' eyes closed, his mouth gaped open and his breathing slowed. By 6:19 p.m. there was no detectable breathing. A prison captain pinched his upper left arm and pulled open his eyelid to check for consciousness before the final two drugs were administered.

After the execution Alabama Prison Commissioner Jeff Dunn said the execution with the controversial sedative drug midazolam "went exactly as planned."

Brooks did not appear to struggle during the administration of the drugs. His attorneys and other inmates had claimed the first drug in the cocktail does not put the condemned inmate in deep enough sleep to prevent pain when the other two drugs are administered.

Dunn said that there are no other executions currently planned, but the prison system does have the drugs available to conduct more. He said the same drug combination has been used in other states.

Dunn also read letters from victim Jo Deann Campbell's two sisters and mother, all of whom witnessed the execution.

Mona Campbell, her mother, said the execution does not give her closure and will not bring back her youngest daughter. She said she hoped Brooks had "made peace with God." Jo Deann's sister, Fran Romano and Corinne Campbell also issued statements.

"Just as God forgives me for my sins I pray for mercy for this man's soul," Corinne wrote.

During the execution Brooks' spiritual adviser held a Bible and read quietly from it.

Brooks kept his focus primarily on the witness box where his friends, three attorneys, and the five media representatives sat. He glanced once to the victims' family witness box when he hoped everyone would get closure.

Minutes before he was to die, word spread that the U.S. Supreme Court had denied Brook's request to stay the execution. Justice Stephen Breyer dissented from the ruling.

Dunn said prison officials were notified of the justices' decision at 5:55 p.m., five minutes before the execution was scheduled to begin.

"Christopher Eugene Brooks was sentenced to death in accordance with Alabama's procedures, which allow a jury to render an "advisory verdict" that "is not binding on the court," the dissent states.

"Moreover, we have recognized that Alabama's sentencing scheme is "much like" and "based on Florida's sentencing scheme," Breyer wrote.

The request for the stay was made to Justice Clarence Thomas. Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg concurred with Thomas' decision to deny the stay.

Brooks, 43, was convicted in the December 1992 rape and murder of 23-year-old Jo Deann Campbell. Investigators linked Brooks to the crime through DNA, fingerprints, and Campbell's car and other items taken from her Homewood apartment, including a credit card he had used. Her partially clothed body had been found under her bed and she had been beaten with a barbell.

No one protested the execution in an area set aside for vigils, according to AL.com reporter Casey Toner. Other protests were held around the state, including a small gathering of death penalty opponents in a Birmingham park.

Jo Deann Campbell's sister, Corrine Campbell, her sister and her mother witnessed the execution in Atmore.

"She was young, energetic, bubbly, hard-working. The young lady had no enemies," she told The Associated Press.

Campbell had met Brooks in upstate New York in 1991 when they both worked at separate camps in the Adirondak Mountains. Campbell's family said the two did not date and that she was surprised when he showed up at Chili's where she worked as a training manager on Dec. 30, 1992. Campbell had told a friend that she was going to let him, and one of his friends, sleep on her floor.

Brooks maintained his innocence. The friend was also initially charged, but later the capital murder charge was dropped and he pleaded guilty to a credit card fraud charge after investigators found no forensics evidence and he passed a lie detector test.

Alabama prisons spokesman Bob Horton this afternoon gave a rundown of Brooks' activities in the hours leading up to the execution.

At 6:10 a.m., Brooks was delivered a breakfast of grits, biscuit, sausage, jelly and cheese but he didn't eat it. At 8:40 a.m. Brooks visited with two friends. At 9:50 a.m. he met with his spiritual adviser. At 2:24 p.m. he began meeting with his attorneys and at 4:15 p.m. that ended.

Brooks requested two peanut butter cups and a Dr. Pepper for his last meal. He did eat that meal.

Holman prison's warden by law is the one who administers the drugs, Horton said. Carter Davenport is currently the warden.

Brooks' has been in a holding cell outside the execution chamber since Tuesday, Horton said.

The warden and corrections commissioner Jeff Dunn were said to have met with the victim's family at 4 p.m. at the Fountain Training Center at the prison. Three of Brooks' attorneys, two friends and a spiritual adviser were to witness the execution for Brooks. The state was to have the commissioner, an associate commissioner, a deputy commissioner, an inspector, and general counsel present.

U.S. District Court Judge Keith Watkins on Thursday afternoon denied a request by Brooks' attorneys to allow them to have cell phones in the witness room for the execution so they could have access to the courts if an issue arose. The judge said he was unpersuaded by their arguments and also said their request was filed too late.

The judge in a separate order also denied Brooks' attorneys an opportunity to witness the placement of the IVs into him that will be used for injecting the drugs. But Watkins did grant Brooks' attorneys request to preserve all logs kept by the execution team, printouts or data generated by the EKG monitor and heart monitor. The judge said he would decide later whether the order to maintain those records will be extended, modified, or vacated.

Brooks' execution was the first since Andrew Lackey on July 25, 2013 and the first since Alabama changed its three-drug lethal injection cocktail. Inmates contend in pending lawsuits the drug combination is unconstitutional and will cause inmates to suffer.

"Alabama intends to use an execution protocol on Brooks that has never been used in Alabama and that is the subject of two pending federal court cases," Brooks' attorneys argue in its request for a stay to Justice Thomas. "Brooks should not be the subject of Alabama's experiment to see if it can carry out an execution using this protocol while the very validity of the protocol is at issue in ongoing federal court proceedings.

"Brooks would suffer the most irreparable harm imaginable if Alabama was permitted to carry out his execution," Brooks' attorneys stated. "This Court should grant a stay of execution."

The Alabama Attorney General's Office told the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday that it was time to carry out the death sentence against Brooks.

"Brooks raped and murdered Jo Deann Campbell on December 31,1992, and,her family has been waiting for justice for more than twenty-three years," according to the Alabama Attorney General's brief to the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday. "As this Court has recognized, 'the state and the victims of crime have an important interest in the timely enforcement of a sentence.'"

The U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals and the Alabama Supreme Court on Tuesday denied requests for a stay of execution. Both decisions were appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Brooks' only other chance was Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley, who did not halt the six other executions that have taken place during his administration. Birmingham Catholic Bishop Robert J. Baker on Wednesday sent a letter to Bentley asking the governor to commute Brooks' sentence.

Brooks was one of 187 inmates on Alabama Death Row. Twenty-two have served longer than Brooks on death row.

Alabama changed its drug combination for executions in 2014 after it and other states reported they could no longer find supplies of the drugs it had used in the past, mainly because manufacturers did not want their drugs used in executions.

The new drug protocol calls for an injection of 500 milligrams of midazolam hydrochloride as a sedative followed by 600 milligrams of rocuronium bromide to stop breathing, and then 240 "milliequivalents" of potassium chloride to stop the heart.

The U.S. Supreme Court in June had ruled the use of midazolam was not unconstitutional in executions.

In his federal appeals Brooks' attorneys alleged that the use of midazolam as the sedative and first drug administered in Alabama's new drug combination "cannot reliably produce and sustain a deep, coma-like state" and could cause him to feel the pain of the other two drugs that follow. His attorneys cited midazolam's use in a few botched executions.

Brooks' attorneys had argued that hearings on federal lawsuits filed by other inmates are set for April and his execution should be stayed at least until them.

Brooks attorneys, in a separate filing, also appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court that Brooks' execution should be stayed because of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision last week finding that Florida's system allowing judges to override jury recommendations in capital murder cases is flawed. Alabama has a similar override law.

In an opinion issued last week,Justice Sotomayor wrote on behalf of all but two justices that the sentencing scheme in Florida gives too much power to judges. It means the jury plays little more than an advisory role because a judge can weigh different factors and reach a different conclusion, she wrote.

The Alabama Attorney General's Office stated in a brief Wednesday that the U.S. Supreme Court did not mention Alabama's law in that decision and that the court had previously upheld Alabama's law.

"Second, and more importantly, unlike in Florida, the jury in Brooks's case specifically found the aggravating circumstances necessary to impose the death penalty. Specifically, the jury's unanimous guilty verdicts of capital murder during the course of a robbery, burglary, and rape, proved the existence of an aggravating circumstance under Alabama law," according to the AG's brief.

Brooks's request for a stay also should be denied because the decision in the Florida case is not retroactive, so it doesn't apply to him anyway, the AG's office wrote.

Brooks' attorneys had argued that the judge who sentenced him to death considered aggravating evidence which had not been presented to the jury.

The jury, after considering the evidence and various factors, had voted 11 to 1 for a recommendation of death in Brooks' case and the judge went along with that recommendation. At least 10 members of the jury are required for a death sentence recommendation under Alabama law.

The Associated Press and Al.com reporter Casey Toner contributed to this report.

More of our coverage on death penalty and death row in Alabama:

Note: AL.com is participating in "The Next to Die" with The Marshall Project to track and provide information on scheduled executions
James Morrison, a 75-year-old husband and father, disappeared while out for a drive on Jan. 3.

His absence has brought an outpouring of support for his family as they search for Morrison; the latest came Wednesday evening as faces both familiar and unknown to the family crowded the sanctuary of Grant Street Baptist Church in Bessemer.

Candles were lit and prayers were said. The prevailing message: There is still hope.

James Morrison

"We're here under difficult circumstances. We're here because we have faith in God," said associate pastor Joe Brasher.

Morrison, who suffers from dementia and diabetes, did not have his medication when he left that evening.

He was driving a 2014 Kia Sedona minivan with license number Alabama 4C9F4. He was wearing blue jeans, a plaid shirt and a hat reading, "Jesus Loves Me."

His daughter, Frances Gann, said she was supposed to meet her father that night on Shelby County Road 11, but he wasn't there. Investigators say he was last seen near Pelham High School.

Gann said her father went from there to a convenience store off U.S. 280. She said he struck up a conversation with a stranger who gave him $10 for gas.

Morrison's family doesn't know where he went from there. There's is still waiting for more news from investigators.

"I have to stay strong for my whole family and my dad," Gann said.

Gann said she's looked for her father every day since he disappeared.

The whole ordeal is hard for her mother, Sherry Morrison, and brothers, Chris and Jeff Morrison. The community support and Wednesday's prayer vigil helps ease that burden somewhat, she said.

"There's been so many people that I don't know that have reached out and said 'Hey, we've looked here. We've done this. We've put fliers up.' And that gives you hope and strength as well," Gann said. "It lets you know there's people out there that care in the community and that makes it easier.

"It's been very emotional but it's something we needed for everybody to come together and pray. It gives us a peace, gives us strength to get through this."

Gann described he father as "old school" and a "very Godly man." She said he's warm but kind-hearted and hard-working.

Others seem to feel the same way. The church was full of supporters. One such friend of the family and "sister in the Lord" was Carol Hutto. She described the sadness she felt when first hearing the news.

"When your brother or sister is going through a crisis, you go through it with them. And the church family, we hurt with them," Hutto said. "But we're believing and we know that God's in control of all of this and is going to work it all out for his glory and our good."

Brasher echoed the sentiment.

"Lord, we ask you, we beg you, lead someone to James," Brasher said.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call the nearest police agency, Bessemer police at 205-425-2411, the tip line at 205-428-3541 or Detective Stephen Talley at 205-481-4358.
The medical office manager federally indicted for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from her employer pleaded guilty on Tuesday.

Anntwine Moss, 49, of Bessemer pleaded guilty to charges that she stole at least $580,000 from Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery of Alabama, reports U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance. She entered her plea before U.S. District Judge Karon O. Bowdre to five counts of wire fraud and four counts of tax evasion for stealing from the Birmingham surgical practice between 2006 and 2013.

Sentencing is scheduled June 9.

According to the indictment and Moss' plea agreement with the government, she executed a scheme to defraud the surgical practice by using her authority as office manager to write unauthorized checks to herself, make unauthorized direct deposits into her account, and use the company's credit cards for unauthorized personal purchases. As office manager, Moss had authority over several key functions, including payroll, accounting, bookkeeping and managing the office's budget.

She admitted to falsifying her personal tax returns for several years by not reporting the stolen money amounts to the IRS.

The maximum penalty for each wire fraud count is 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Each tax evasion count carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $100,000 fine.

The FBI and IRS investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Xavier O. Carter Sr. is prosecuting.
Huntsville Federal Courthouse.jpg

The federal courthouse in downtown Huntsville. (File photo)

Justin Watson, a former Madison County sheriff's deputy, will receive his sentence in federal court in Huntsville on June 10.

Watson on Wednesday pleaded guilty to lying under oath about the 2012 traffic stop, beating and arrest of Robert Bryant, a handyman from Tennessee.

Justin Watson leaving the federal courthouse in Huntsville on Jan. 20 (Photo by WHNT - News 19)

Watson, who quit the sheriff's department last year, faces a sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison, although the agreement with prosecutors calls for 33 to 41 months.

Watson's plea was entered into the court file late Wednesday and the date for his sentencing hearing was announced this morning.

Here is what Watson pleaded to and signed on Wednesday:

The parties agree that, had this case proceeded to trial, the Government would have proved the following facts beyond a reasonable doubt:

During the relevant period, Defendant Justin Watson was a deputy for the Madison County Sheriff's Office in Huntsville, Alabama. One night in July 2012, Defendant Watson, while off-duty, got into a fight with Robert Bryant at Billy's Bar in Hazel Green, Alabama. Over the next several weeks, Defendant Watson searched for Bryant. On the night of August 22, 2012, Defendant Watson, while on duty, parked his patrol car up the street from Billy's Bar and waited. When Robert Bryant left the bar and began driving home, Defendant Watson followed him and pulled him over. Defendant Watson ordered Bryant out of his truck. The men got into a physical altercation. Defendant Watson struck Bryant with his baton, and choked Bryant until Bryant was unconscious. Defendant Watson told the criminal investigator assigned to the case that Bryant had attacked him and that he had acted in self-defense. The criminal investigator charged Bryant with Aggravated Assault on a Police Officer. At Bryant's preliminary hearing, Defendant Watson testified under oath that he had never seen Bryant before the night of the traffic stop, and that he did not previously have an encounter with Bryant at Billy's Bar. Those statements were false, as Defendant Watson then well knew, because Defendant Watson had, in fact, seen Bryant before the night of the traffic stop, and did, in fact, have a previous encounter with Bryant at Billy's Bar. Defendant Watson made those false statements with the intent to prevent the communication, to a federal law enforcement officer, of information relating to the possible commission of a federal criminal civil-rights violation.

The agreement states these facts could be proven in a court of law. Watson's own supervisors in the sheriff's department in late 2012 and again in late 2013 had documented as much.

Watson on Wednesday also waived his right to appeal whatever sentence the court determines.

The federal prosecutors recommended Watson "be awarded an appropriate reduction in offense level for acceptance of responsibility."

The court is not bound by that recommendation, as U.S. District Judge Karen O. Bowdre repeatedly advised Watson during a hearing on Wednesday. Watson will go before Judge Bowdre for sentencing at 9 a.m. on June 10.

He has pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice. In exchange for the plea, federal prosecutors dropped four other counts against Watson related to the stop itself, the beating and witness intimidation.

Late Wednesday, federal officials released a statement on the case.

"This deputy, who was sworn to uphold the law, brazenly chose to violate it," said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. "We cannot, and will not, tolerate police officers who lie under oath to obstruct the pursuit of justice."

Madison County in 2013 dropped the felony assault charges against Bryant and in 2014 settled a lawsuit by Bryant for $625,000.

Watson in August was released and placed on house arrest under the supervision of his wife and his father.
Corporate lawsuits against governments, like TransCanadas legal action against the United States for its rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline, will escalate if the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal is approved, environmental activists say. That, they say, will erode American sovereignty and threaten progress on climate change.

President Barack Obama rejected the Keystone project in November on the grounds that it would exacerbate climate change. But international pacts like 1994s North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) give companies the right to sue foreign governments if they enact new laws viewed as frustrating investor expectations.

The TPP broadened those rights, giving companies that invest in foreign countries certain guarantees  enshrining their right to "fair" treatment. That, according to Robert Kennedy Jr., an environmental law attorney and activist, gives more companies the right to sue over canceled projects.

Instead of the American public making the rules that govern our country, we have foreign companies that are now in control of some aspects of American sovereignty, Kennedy said.

TransCanada is asking U.S. taxpayers to reimburse it for all of its expected profits, not just for the cost of the pipeline, Kennedy added. That could encourage any government to think twice about enacting environmental policies that could harm foreign investments.

This is like paying a bank robber not to rob a bank, Kennedy said of the lawsuit.

Last week when announcing the legal action, TransCanada said that, under NAFTA rules, it had "every reason to expect its application would be granted as the application met the same criteria the U.S. State Department applied when approving applications to construct other similar cross-border pipelines."

The environmental group Sierra Club agrees that the TPP would expand the number of corporations able to sue governments for what they perceive as unfair restraints on trade.

The TPP, in one fell swoop, would double the number of firms that could use the system to challenge U.S. policies, said Ilana Solomon, director of the Sierra Clubs Responsible Trade Agreements program.

TransCanada would just be the tip of the iceberg of what we would see under the TPP, Solomon said.

Under the TPP, about 9,000 companies operating in the U.S. would receive expanded foreign investor rights and the ability to sue over lost profits, according to Solomon.

When the government puts in place a new law or policy that can be construed as frustrating the expectations of an investor, the investor can claim damages for that policy, Solomon said.

TransCanada had already begun leasing land and constructing sections of the planned pipeline, but was able to sue for more than just the cost of that work because of the trade agreements, according to Solomon.

To receive "unlimited cash compensation," she said, the company must take the case to a private tribunal comprised of three private attorneys under the World Bank or the United Nations.

Congress must still approve the TPP, and Solomon said there is a good change the trade deal will be defeated.

A coalition of about 1,500 groups, under the environmental justice group Citizens Trade Campaign, sent a letter earlier this month to Congressional leaders urging them to reject the TPP.

We hope and expect members of Congress to side with their constituents and concerns about the environment rather than siding with big business, Solomon said.

While the White House has touted the environmental protections included in the TPP  including fishing regulations, wildlife protection and conservation measures Solomon believes deal will ultimately hurt the environment.

The vague obligations combined with the history of non-enforcement of such environmental regulations in trade deals, and a set of rules like the new corporate rights that would severely threaten our climate, makes our overall assessment that the TPP would present a major threat to the environment, Solomon said.

She noted that the words climate change do not appear in the 6,000 pages of the TPP text.

It makes no attempt to grapple with any of these climate consequences, Solomon said.
Vietnam's ruling Communist Party on Thursday opened an eight-day congress to name the country's new set of leaders, who will determine the pace of critical economic reforms, the fight against corruption and relations with key trading allies, China and the United States.

Held every five years, the Communist Party of Vietnam's Congress has brought together 1,510 delegates representing the country's 63 provinces, ministries and party organizations. This is the its 12 congress.

It ends Jan. 28 when the names of the general secretary, the prime minister, the president, the chairman of the National Assembly and other top functionaries will be announced. The general secretary is the de facto No. 1 leader of the country, although Vietnam professes a collective leadership through a Politburo that handles day to day affairs and a larger Central Committee that meets twice a year to decide policy.

In his opening remarks, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, who is expected to retain his post, said "big opportunities have opened up. However, there remain many difficulties and challenges."

He said the country faces four main challenges, including the "danger of being left further behind economically," the degradation of communist ideology, corruption, red tape and wastefulness.

Vietnam is one of the last remaining communist nations in the world, with a party membership of 4.5 million, but like its ideological ally China, the government believes in a quasi-free market economy alongside a strictly controlled society that places several restrictions on its 93 million people.

The gathering comes as China and Vietnam tangle over a $1 billion deepwater oil rig in disputed territory in the South China Sea. Vietnam closely tracks the movement of the oil rig, which in mid-2014 caused the worst diplomatic breakdown between the neighbors in decades, when China parked it for 10 weeks in waters Vietnam considers its own.

This week Vietnam said Beijing had steered the rig, the Haiyang Shiyou 981, into a stretch where jurisdiction is unclear.

The congress is not expected to hold any major surprises. Despite the veil of secrecy that the party pulls around its inner workings, it appeared Wednesday that an internal power struggle had ended before the congress, and the tussle was won by Trong, 71, who is expected to keep his job, albeit for half the five-year term in an apparent compromise with his rival, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

Over the next week, the congress will review and set national and party policies, and select a Central Committee. On one of the last days of the congress, the new Central Committee will meet to select a Politburo from among its ranks and pick one of them as party general secretary.

The country's three other top leaders  the prime minister, president and National Assembly chairman  are nominated, but their actual selection is done by the National Assembly, which is elected about six months after the Congress.

No media are allowed to cover the proceedings.

Wire services
Its a case that looks likely to sour the already bad bilateral relations between Russia and the UK.

The Brits are known for their humour.

So the Kremlins spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, has a theory. Maybe the UKs Litvinenko inquiry is some kind of subtle British joke.

He is, of course, being sarcastic. Russians can actually be just as dry as the British. Like the Brits, they can use that dark humour as a defensive weapon. And Russian officialdom was in full defensive mode on Thursday.

Peskov was just one of a string of Russian officials to pour scorn on Sir Robert Owens report.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had no expectation that the inquiry would, all of a sudden, become impartial. In their eyes the investigation was politicised, flawed, and biased from the start.

READ MORE: Russia warns UK Litvinenko inquiry may poison ties

A pathetic excuse to use this skeleton in the closet to satisfy [Londons] political ambitions was how one of the chief suspects, Andrei Lugovoi, put it.

In 2007, with the UK issuing arrest warrants and asking Moscow to extradite Lugovoi to stand trial for the murder, Russia responded by making him an MP. As such, he has parliamentary immunity.

See, Russians have their jokes, too. But this is a case in which a man was poisoned and died in protracted agony.

Its a case that looks likely to sour the already bad bilateral relations between Russia and the UK. Not really a laughing matter.
Xi Jinpings first visit to the Middle East since becoming Chinas president three years ago reflects three emerging, defining elements in the conduct of Beijings foreign policy in the region.

The basic building block of Chinese policy remains the development and expansion of economic and trade links. There is clear and long-standing evidence of an expanding Chinese economic presence throughout the region  from the massive energy markets of Saudi Arabia and the infrastructure developments in Iran to the domination of trade with Lebanon,

Xis visit is heavily weighted in this direction, highlighted by the effort to shape an international trade and development system in Chinas image. The One Belt, One Road plan, unveiled in 2013, is the centrepiece of Beijings effort to place China at the centre of a new system of international trade.





The expansion of economic ties has created an imperative for increased diplomatic engagement to protect and expand these relationships.

Middle East in Chinas image

The duelling visits of Syrian government and opposition delegations to Beijing in December, when China offered to host discussions between the parties, is only the most recent evidence of this development which promises to raise Chinas diplomatic profile across the board.

The globalisation of Chinas own definition of national security has both a strategic and a security dimension in the region. More than half of Chinas peacekeeping complement is based in the Middle East  principally patrolling off the Somali coast as part of a UN-mandated anti-piracy campaign.

READ MORE: China to pay a steep price in Saudi-Iran conflict

Chinas growing role in such multilateral efforts is increasingly being supplemented by sovereign expansion of Chinas military capacity  the most prominent example being the creation of the first Chinese military base outside Chinas borders  in tiny Djibouti, where the US and France also maintain military forces astride the critical maritime route from the Chinese mainland to its vital markets via Suez to the Mediterranean.

The international footprint of jihadi terror  both as a political and a domestic security issue, is symbolised by the ongoing detention of a Chinese national by Islamists in Syria as well as by the presence of Uighur radicals fighting in Syria and Iraq under the ISIL flag.

ISIL threats to Suez from Sinai are also viewed in Beijing as a threat to the safety of its trading routes and partners, forcing the subject on to the Chinese policy agenda as a critical element in discussions with Cairo and Riyadh, but also more broadly throughout the region  in Syria and Turkey.

China enjoys a standing in the region that none of the stronger and more veteran powers contesting for regional influence has managed. Chinas relations with the Arab world are ideal, in the view of Arab League secretary-general Nabil al-Araby.

China is the only major state in the world that always supports Arab rights and causes because they are rightful. China does not side with any party over another and it always seeks the common good.

Chinas no enemies policy

Chinas emphasis on a classic conservative support for state sovereignty, noninterference in domestic affairs and a no enemies policy offer a stark contrast to the interventionist policies of the West in the past century. This policy reflects Chinas own parochial interests as well as a formula that enables Beijing to enhance its economic and political power broadly, even in such polarised regions as the Middle East.

READ MORE: Chinas rollercoaster year

Regarding some of the regions problems, China has always taken a balanced and just position, explained Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Ming when asked about tensions between Riyadh and Tehran.

If the Middle East is not stable, Im afraid the world cant be very peaceful. If a country or a region is not stable, it cannot realise development. China firmly supports regional countries individually exploring a development path that suits their national conditions.

The principles underlying this balancing act, which has produced dividends on both the economic and diplomatic front, appear in the first official policy paper on the Middle East released by Beijing days before Xis arrival in Riyadh.

Chinas Arab Policy Paper  the first of its kind for the region  offers a broad historical, strategic and economic rationale for aggressive Chinese engagement across a broad range of shared interests, based upon a new type of international relations featuring win-win co-operation.

There are signs in Washington of a less charitable view of 'China's rise'... by

[Arab countries and China] share a broad consensus on safeguarding state sovereignty and territorial integrity, defending national dignity, seeking political resolution to hotspot issues, and promoting peace and stability in the Middle East, the report notes.

We share similar views on issues such as reform of the United Nations, climate change and Doha Round trade negotiations, and maintain sound co-ordination and co-operation. Cultural and educational exchanges are more frequent and people-to-people ties are getting closer with enhanced mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples.

Such a benevolent view of the effect of Chinas reappearance on the international stage understates the degree to which Beijings growing presence in the region signals a challenge to the system shaped and dominated by the United States over three quarters of a century.

Until now, Washington has viewed Chinas premier trading position and its large-scale infrastructure and development projects from Suez to Tehran with equanimity. But there are signs in Washington of a less charitable view of Chinas rise  from unease about the creation of a military base in Djibouti to concern about the prospect of Chinas participation alongside the Russian-led military campaign for Assad.

The real question, one US defence official asked, is whose side will [China] be on.

Geoffrey Aronson writes about Middle East affairs. He consults with a variety of public and private institutions dealing with regional political, security, and development issues.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
Chaos is wrought, headlines are won, and the economies of enemy states are damaged.

James Denselow is a writer on Middle East politics and security issues and a research associate at the Foreign Policy Centre.

It is understandable that the carnage in both Syria and Iraq dominates the media and continues to tell the story of the rise and rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.

Away from the epicentre of violence, however, attacks such as the Sinai plane bombing, the Tunisian hotel shootings, the Jakarta attacks, the Burkina Faso attacks and the recent bombing in Istanbul have the potential not only to destroy a tourism sector that hundreds of thousands of people rely on for work, but also succeeds in further dividing the people of the region from the rest of the world, whose people are increasingly nervous about travelling there.

According to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation, the number of international tourists rose by 4.4 percent worldwide in 2015 to hit a record 1.18 billion. Globalisation has made the world a smaller place but it has also made it possible for images and news to be shared instantaneously.





The nature of modern communications means that terror attacks can dominate the headlines and scenes of hotels on fire, plane wreckage smouldering in the Sinai or bloodied tourists fleeing the area near Istanbuls Blue Mosque are seen by millions.

Luxors tourism

It should come as little surprise, therefore, that visits to North Africa fell by 8 percent last year. Annual visitor numbers to Egypt are down from 14 million in 2010 to a projected 9 million this year.

On November 17, 1997, gunmen shot and killed 62 people, mainly tourists, at the Hatshepsuts Temple in Luxor, Egypt. I visited the country a year later and found the areas historic sites virtually devoid of tourists and the large hotels largely empty of guests.

ALSO READ: With scholars killing, ISIL steps up war on history

The towns tourism sector took a hammering for the next few years as fearful tourists stayed away. Six gunmen carrying AK-47s and knives had put the development of a tourism industry and the lives of tens of thousands of Luxor residents on hold.

The growth of ISIL and the seemingly new phenomenon of 'self-radicalised' fighters, changes the nature of risk across the Middle East and North Africa region and has led Western governments to issue travel advice ... by

Yet that was in 1997 and there were no shaky videos from iPhones showing the carnage and fearful tourists dashing for safety.

Today very little is missed and the single killing spree of a Tunisian gunman was captured in all of its gory detail as he murdered 38 people. The killings and warnings of more to come sparked panic and more scenes of tourists stranded at airports, desperate to get out of the country.

Some 400,000 people work in the tourism sector in Tunisia which is now, according to the Tunisian minister of tourism, at crisis point as hotels close and more people are made unemployed.

The growth of ISIL and the seemingly new phenomenon of self-radicalised fighters, changes the nature of risk across the Middle East and North Africa region and has led Western governments to issue travel advice that unsurprisingly puts off tourists, who are seeking fun and relaxation, from going there.

What is more, flooding areas popular with tourists with heavily armed military or police personnel can ruin the vibe of a relaxing holiday and encourage more people to stay away.

Caliphate versus world

ISIL is pushing a narrative of the Caliphate versus the rest of the world and in terms of strategic investment the return they get from attacks on tourists is huge.

Chaos is wrought, headlines are won, the economies of enemy states are damaged and the gap between peoples are increased as the Middle East steadily is divided into red and green zones.

In Syria and Iraq, ISIL is going one step further and preventing tourism of the future in a systematic destruction of historic sites with Iraqs oldest Christian monastery the latest to be destroyed.

The only silver lining to this grim state of affairs when it comes to the regions tourism is that arrivals to the Middle East increased by 3 percent last year to a total of 54 million.

The Gulf States with their towering skyscrapers and giant shopping malls, and the hidden gem that is the Sultanate of Oman, are seemingly the recipients of chaos elsewhere.

Yet as we look forward to 2016, European countries must do more to help support the tourism industries of the region, otherwise the division that ISIL so desperately seeks will become more entrenched.

James Denselow is a writer on Middle East politics and security issues and a research associate at the Foreign Policy Centre.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
Pakistan continues to be a major target of terrorism, most recently demonstrated by the attack on Bacha Khan University, which killed 20 people.

Only a week before, three attacks in close succession at a UN-backed polio clinic in Quetta, a local broadcaster and the Pakistani consulate in Jalalabad killed at least 20 people and injured more than 30, which included civilians and security personnel.

Slowly but surely, Pakistans terrorism crisis has morphed into an existential nightmare, one that is threatening to unravel any semblance of stability. As the country finds itself at the crossroads of prosperity and failure, its fight against terror is more important now than ever.

Pakistan is one of the main victims of terrorism, a fact often ignored in the West. To put matters in perspective, Pakistans terrorism-related deaths from 2007 to 2014 numbered 1,592  a 940 percent increase from 1998-2006, according to the 2015 Global Terrorism Index.





The same study also ranks Pakistan fourth out of 124 in a list of countries most affected by terrorism with the tragic Peshawar army school attack in late 2014 serving as an ominous exclamation point.

The Afghanistan connection

Many of Pakistans problems stem from the political upheaval in Afghanistan. The US invasion after 9/11 turned the lawless border between the two countries into a breeding ground for terrorist activity.

Nestled between three volatile borders, Pakistan is also situated in one of the most geopolitically sensitive areas of the world, with different players vying for competing interests.

READ MORE: Afghanistan War must end but not at any cost

Ongoing US drone campaigns have radicalised segments of the local population and mobilised groups such as the Pakistani Taliban to carry out attacks against civilians and military targets. These attacks only exacerbate sectarian tensions between Pakistans Sunni and Shia communities and continue to bring into question the integrity of Pakistani statehood. With ISIL now in the mix, the situation can only degrade further.

The military and ... the ISI must take fundamental efforts to cease the practice of using terrorism as a foreign policy asset and avoid domestic blowback. by

External factors aside, Pakistan must also take a genuine stance against terrorism within its own borders, root out internal terrorist sympathies and take a leadership role in ending the use of proxies.

The military and particularly Pakistans intelligence agency, the ISI, must make fundamental efforts to cease the practice of using terrorism as a foreign policy asset and avoid domestic blowback.

With a projected GDP growth of over 5 percent for the next three years, an improved currency and recent consolidation of its three stock exchanges into the new Pakistan Stock Exchange, the country might be showing signs of economic progress after years of volatility.

The $46bn China Pakistan Economic Corridor project, linking the Gwadar port to the Chinese city of Kashgar, has the potential to turn Pakistan into a strategic trading hub.

Also given Irans post-sanctions reintegration into the world economy, a rekindling of the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline to address the energy shortage also becomes a real possibility.

Peace with India

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modis surprise visit last month also signals that peace with India, although difficult, might not be as elusive as some believe. Similarly, Afghanistans new President, Ashraf Ghani, has also shown signs that he is not willing to give up on improving ties with its eastern neighbour despite pressure from within his government.

History has shown that Pakistans military remains the de facto power within the state. However, the head of Pakistans armed forces, General Raheel Sharif, has shown restraint by focusing on Operation Zarb-e-Azb in Northwest Pakistan and rooting out political mafias in Karachi rather than plotting coups.

Nawaz Sharifs civilian government continues to govern after what marked Pakistans first peaceful democratic transition in the countrys 68-year history.

Often viewing India as a territorial threat, even the ISI might also be on board with improving relations.

In a 2008 research report for his masters degree at the US Army War College, the now Director-General of the ISI, Rizwan Akhtar, had argued that Pakistan should aggressively pursue rapprochement with India.

Given that the recent Pathankot attack on an Indian army base is unlikely to deter ongoing dialogue, it seems that a substantial shift in the bilateral relationship based on cooperation and goodwill is under way. A similar approach with Afghanistan in the form of an inter-intelligence accord has both nations bolstering their fight against a shared threat.

With these positive internal and external developments, it is imperative for Pakistan to capitalise on the political environment and continue to focus on the fight against terrorism in an effort to maintain economic and diplomatic momentum.

Pakistans future, and its very soul, depends on it.

Aurangzeb Qureshi is a writer and political commentator on Pakistan affairs, primarily on topics of social justice, civil rights and geopolitics.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
The element goes undetected by most radiation detectors but when it is found, it can leave a trail to its origin.

It has been used to kill a Russian former secret agent in a London hotel bar and is believed to have caused the death of several scientists, but despite the media attention it has drawn in recent years, only a few people have died from polonium poisoning.



The radioactive element was discovered by Marie Curie in the late 19th Century. It was relatively unknown for over a century, but is now notorious for its ability to kill.

In some ways it is the perfect poison. Not only does the radioactive element go undetected by the most commonly used beta and gamma radiation detectors, its effects on humans is also difficult to diagnose, making it an unobtrusive, even insidious toxin.

There is tremendous secrecy surrounding the medical files of those who have purportedly died from exposure to the substance.

Despite that, medical evidence, witness reports and leaked diplomatic cables suggest that, in addition to the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, several others have also died due to polonium.

Russian spy

The most famous case in recent memory involved Alexander Litvinenko, a Russian secret service agent turned dissident who lived in exile in the UK.

Litvinenko, a long-time adversary of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, died in London on November 23, 2006. He fell ill earlier that month, shortly after a meeting with two former KGB agents in a bar of Londons Millennium Hotel.

The agents are said to have poisoned him by slipping polonium-210 into his tea.

Litvinenko was taken to hospital and initially suffered from severe diarrhoea and vomiting. The doctors diagnosed him with a stomach infection.

As his condition worsened, his white blood cell count plummeted, making him susceptible to infection.

His skin had turned yellow, indicating liver dysfunction, and he was tested for the two most likely causes, hepatitis and Aids, but neither was the case, John Emsley wrote in Molecules of Murder, which includes a chapter on polonium poisoning. Then his hair began to fall out.

Doctors eventually decided that Litvinenko was suffering from radiation poisoning, and further tests identified polonium as the culprit.

Polonium-210 was later found at a number of London sites the late spy had visited, as well as in two British Airways planes that flew the Moscow-London route.

His medical records were never released to the public, preventing the data in the case from being used for comparison with other possible polonium poisonings.

Accidental exposure

The first person believed to have died of polonium poisoning was Irene Joliot-Curie, the daughter of scientist and chemist Marie Curie, to whom the discovery of polonium is attributed.

Like her famous Nobel Prize-winning mother, Irene Joliot-Curie, earned her fame in science and shared the Nobel Prize for chemistry with her husband in 1935 for the discovery of artificial radioactivity.

Joliot-Curie spent her life researching radioactivity and other dangerous materials, but it came at a high price.

In 1946, Joliot-Curie was diagnosed with leukaemia.

She has been exposed to polonium in an incident in which a capsule containing the element had burst in her laboratory. It resulted in a long period of sickness, after which she eventually died in France in 1956.

The French scientist lived long enough to see her mothers discovery put to use by allied forces in World War II, in their race to build nuclear weapons.

Polonium was used as a trigger for the Fat Man bomb dropped on Nagasaki in 1945. It later became a crucial element for other nations striving to go nuclear.

Israeli deaths

In his book The Bomb in the Basement: How Israel went nuclear and what that means for the world, Israeli journalist Micheal Karpin writes about a 1957 radioactive leak at the Weizmann Institute, Israels leading research laboratory operated by the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) south of Tel Aviv.

In what is believed to be Israels first nuclear accident, several scientists working in the lab were contaminated with polonium and later died of cancer.

According to Karpin, professor Dror Sadeh, who headed the laboratory, used polonium-210 to research the energy levels of radioactive materials.

The Weizmann Institute failed over a long period of time to measure radiation levels in the lab, which was eventually found to be contaminated.

Traces of radioactivity were found on Sadehs hands, and on objects he had handled at the home he and Haya [his wife] had rented at kibbutz Naan, near the institute, Karpin wrote.

Following the leak, the laboratory was closed and results of the investigation conducted by the AEC into the incident were kept secret, even within the institute.

Only a month after the lab was closed, one of the students working there died of leukaemia.

Professor Yehuda Wolfson, Sadehs direct supervisor and professor Amos de Shalit, the departments director, both died of cancer a few years later.

According to Karpin, Sadeh, also contracted cancer and died prematurely, though no direct link to polonium-210 was ever officially confirmed.

This is the overarching enigma of polonium.

While modern instruments can help detect the element itself, death due to poloniums toxicity is difficult to establish.

The element is only possessed by certain states, nuclear elites, making it traceable. So it is not the ideal tool for political killings.

Polonium takes nuclear capability to develop and considerable scientific know-how to handle safely. It is by no means a poor mans poison.

Follow David on Twitter: @DavidPoort
Three Al Jazeera crew members who were last seen on Monday are believed to have been kidnapped, the network says.

The Al Jazeera Media Network has called for the immediate release of an Al Jazeera Arabic news team who are believed to have been kidnapped in the city of Taiz in southern Yemen.

Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent Hamdi al-Bokari and his crew, Abdulaziz al-Sabri and Moneer al-Sabai, were last seen on Monday night.

We call for the immediate release of our colleagues Hamdi al-Bokari, Abdulaziz al-Sabri and Moneer al-Sabai, said Mostefa Souag, the acting director general of Al Jazeera Media Network.

They were covering events in the besieged city of Taiz, reporting on the human cost to the conflict. Our colleagues were simply doing their job of reporting the story and informing the world on what is taking place in Yemen.

Hamdi al-Bokari, a Yemeni national, was last seen around 10pm on Monday in the centre of the war-torn city, according to a statement by Al Jazeera Arabic.

The news channel said in the statement on Thursday that there were indications that he had been kidnapped by unknown persons.

Bokari has worked for Al Jazeera Arabic since 2006.

Strategic gateway

Al Jazeera holds their abductors responsible for their safety and security, Souag said. It is tragic to see that in times of conflict, news organisations continue to be targeted. Journalists should have the freedom to do their work without the fear of intimidation, abduction or unlawful arrest.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) was allowed to enter the city to supply hospitals for the first time in five months. Heavy fighting and a lack of medical supplies have caused many hospitals and clinics to close .

Two MSF trucks filled with medical supplies entered Taiz to re-supply hospitals that were struggling to cope with a large number of wounded people.

Taiz has become a flashpoint in the ongoing war between Iran-allied Houthi fighters, who control the capital Sanaa, and forces loyal to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

Hadi loyalists control Aden and much of the countrys south with the backing of an Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia.

Taiz is seen as a strategic gateway between Sanaa and the south.
The country needs a dealer who can redistribute the cards and convince the various players to invest in peace.

Few things are more damaging and futile than a war without clear goals or clear enemies. This is one reason why the war in Yemen still continues, and why the recent United Nations-sponsored talks in Switzerland failed.

Over the past few years, Yemen has gradually sunk into a civil and regional conflict  the symptom, and not the cause, of which was the Houthi rebels takeover of Sanaa in September 2014, followed by military intervention in March 2015 by a Saudi-led Arab coalition.

The recent fighting has destroyed Yemen, killing thousands of people and displacing more than two million from their homes. It has created a devastating humanitarian crisis, with more than half of the countrys population classified as food insecure.

UPFRONT: What is the solution to the war in Yemen?

The crisis in Yemen is arguably more straightforward and less internationally divisive than other regional conflicts, including the war in Syria. So why did the recent peace talks fail to generate a solution?

The main reason is that when all sides, both inside Yemen and externally, opted to go to war, they really did not have to. Historically, Saudi Arabias influence in Yemen has been more powerful than that of the countrys own rulers, and although a number of Gulf countries are at odds with former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, most of his family members live in the United Arab Emirates.





The Arab coalition did not try diplomacy before going to war in Yemen  a war that has less to do with Yemen than with regional geopolitical rivalries.

The latest round of peace talks failed because many of those involved do not know what they want out of the UN-mediated process, and because they do not believe it is in their immediate interests to have peace. After nearly a year of war in Yemen, the cycle of business, economy and power now revolves around one main thing: war. Should the fighting suddenly end, many players from both sides would stand to lose.

Understanding these possible winners and losers is key to future negotiations. The end of the war would result in four clear losers: the Houthis, armed groups such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Saleh and incumbent President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Each of these parties has a motive to impede the peace process.

The most obvious motive is attached to groups such as al-Qaeda and ISIL, which have thrived off the current chaos and instability, making huge strategic and territorial gains.

For the Houthis, a state of war is arguably where they are most comfortable. If the conflict were to end, they would have to face serious questions over power-sharing that they currently do not want to answer. The Houthis, who have displayed a capability to sign a truce with one hand while holding AK-47s with the other, may be able to be guided back towards the peace process through pressure from Iran or Oman.

A key to the success of peace negotiations with Saleh and the Houthis is recognising them as separate entities with differing agendas. by

Saleh, meanwhile, took a gamble by initiating the current conflict to improve his political position  but he did not foresee that it would escalate to this point. His strength now lies in his ability to manipulate those around him into seeing his support as indispensable.

A key to the success of peace negotiations with Saleh and the Houthis is recognising them as separate entities with differing agendas. Saleh and his family are more vulnerable than the Houthis to pressure outside of the country. The UAE still acts as host to his family and some of his closest aides, a situation that could be used to exert pressure.

Lastly, Hadis mismanagement of the country was a key reason behind the current conflict  and the president surely realises that his allies, even more than his enemies, want him to step aside for any peace framework to succeed.

Consequently, he has taken every possible step to drag out the conflict. Empowering his cabinet and his vice president at his expense will be key to the success of any lasting peace deal. The international community must make it clear that it will only deal with those who want to invest in peace in Yemen.

READ MORE: Injured Yemenis  Unable to leave, unable to stay

In addition, for Yemen to achieve peace, the Arab coalition must understand that it cannot win militarily, despite the billions of dollars in expenses already poured into the war. Any possible gains made by the coalition at the start of the conflict are being lost through its continuation.

What Yemen needs now is a dealer who can redistribute the cards and convince the various players to invest in peace.

The UN tried this, but its approach has been weak and too easily mired in technicalities. In a recent meeting at UN headquarters in New York, just before the latest round of negotiations, a high-level UN official was asked privately whether the organisation had seriously attempted to assess the lessons learned from the past four years. The response was a flat no.

Regionally, the West can play a role in ending the conflict in Yemen by pushing for reconciliation between Saudi and Iran, and by halting their arms deals in the region. They cannot believably call for peace in Yemen while turning a blind eye to the destruction being wrought with their weapons, now in the hands of their regional clients.
Suicide attempts have been reported as protests spread to cities across Tunisia amid anger over unemployment.

Protests over unemployment rates in Tunisia, which started in the western Kasserine province, have intensified and spread to other parts of the country.

Solidarity rallies were held in cities including Tunis, Sidi Bouzid and Gafsa on Thursday, with several reports of suicide attempts as frustration over the lack of jobs boiled over.

A policeman was reportedly killed when demonstrators overturned his car in the town of Feriana.

Protests and clashes with security forces started in Kasserine on Saturday after the death of an unemployed man who was electrocuted on top of a power pole near the governors office.



Tunisia police fire tear gas at protesters

Ridha Yahyaoui, 28, was protesting because his name was removed from a list of potential recruits for coveted public sector jobs.

The government has ordered an investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death.

Speaking to Al Jazeera on Thursday night, Wajdi Khadraoui, a Kasserine-based activist, said that protests were ongoing in neighbourhoods throughout Kasserine.

The city of Kasserine is near the Algerian border, and like in many of the countrys peripheries, locals feel neglected by the government.

READ MORE: Extinguishing the flames of the Arab Spring

Al Jazeeras Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from Kasserine, said: People are saying that they took to the streets in 2010 for the sake of a better life, but they feel like they have been abandoned by consecutive governments that took over, and that the only way out is to take to the streets.

Our correspondent saw at least two people about to jump from a high building in suicide attempts, but the pair were rescued.

He said that a crowd of hundreds gathered outside the governors office in Kasserine to demand information on a government announcement the previous day of plans to create 5,000 jobs.

Ahelbarra said that the average rate of unemployment was about 15 percent in Tunisia but that in Kasserine it was higher, at 30 percent.

Police have fired tear gas to disperse the protesters and at least one policeman died in clashes near Kasserine on Wednesday.

Its the same reasons as always  unemployment and frustration due to no progress. People feel like five years after the revolution, nothing has changed, Tyta Aghrebi, 25, a teacher in Tunis, told Al Jazeera.

She said that she had heard of at least seven to nine suicide attempts in recent days.

In the face of the unrest, Prime Minister Habib Essid cut short a European tour to return home on Thursday.

READ MORE: My Arab Spring: Tunisias revolution was a dream

Tunisias 2011 revolution was sparked when Mohamed Bouazizi, 26, a street vendor, fatally set himself on fire in protest at police harassment.



Inside Story  Where is post-revolution Tunisia headed?

Demonstrations spread throughout the country and eventually ended the 23-year presidency of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

The post-revolution transitional period has brought about uncertainty, economic instability and sporadic political violence.

Aymen Abderrahman, 28, a Tunis-based activist, said that frustration and total despair were driving the protests.

The unemployed people, who are living in the same conditions [as before the 2011 uprising], are seeing a spark to bring back to life the revolutionary past, he told Al Jazeera.

If the strike survives this weekend, then it will last long.

Additional reporting by Patrick Strickland: @P_Strickland_
Amnesty International has urged Denmarks parliament to reject proposed changes to the countrys laws on refugees that it says would have a devastating impact on vulnerable people and may violate international human rights laws.

In a statement on Thursday, the UK-based rights group said the reforms would see the Danish government seize assets of refugees and preclude them from reuniting with their family members for years.

Danish MPs are to vote on proposed amendments to the Aliens Act on Thursday. If approved, a final vote on January 26 would determine whether they become law.

The amendments include one that would force refugees  who have fled war  to wait three years before being eligible to apply to reunite with relatives who are in conflict-ridden countries or refugee camps.

Its simply cruel to force people who are running from conflicts to make an impossible choice: either bring children and other loved ones on dangerous, even lethal journeys, or leave them behind and face a prolonged separation while family members continue to suffer the horrors of war, Gauri van Gulik, Amnesty Internationals deputy director for Europe and Central Asia, said in the statement.

Separation can have a devastating impact on families, including their rehabilitation from experiences of trauma and their ability to integrate and adapt to life in a new country.

READ MORE: Denmark and Sweden tighten border controls

The legislation that has fuelled the most controversy proposes that Danish authorities seize asylum seekers cash exceeding $1,450, as well as any individual items valued at more than that amount.

Amnestys statement came a day after the European Unions parliament voted in favour of requiring Denmark to send an official representative to explain its plan to take refugees assets.

Amnesty also listed other equally far-reaching and regressive measures being moved swiftly through the countrys parliament.

They include further restrictions on eligibility requirements for permanent residency, reductions to the length of temporary residence permits and the introduction of fees for family reunification applications, as well for the travel costs of family members to Denmark.

The measures  including amendments passed in November 2015 making it possible for police to detain asylum seekers and migrants without judicial oversight  are part of the governments stated aim to make Denmark less attractive to asylum seekers, Van Gulik said.

The government has proceeded with these plans despite acknowledging that they risk violating Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees the right to family life. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has also warned that these proposals risk violating other articles of the European Convention and the global Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Van Gulik called on the international community to pressure Denmark against taking measures that could undermine the well-being and safety of refugee families.
Up to 20 people killed as popular hotel and restaurant in heart of Mogadishu targeted by suicide bombers and gunmen.

Up to 20 people were killed when al-Shabab suicide bombers and gunmen attacked a seafront hotel and restaurant in the heart of the Somali capital.

A car packed with explosives rammed into the Beach View Hotel on Lido beach in Mogadishu on Thursday evening, after which several al-Shabab fighters opened fire at the hotel, witnesses told Al Jazeera.

After the blast, I saw at least four armed men run into the hotel, shooting everyone inside and around the hotel, Mustafa Elmi, a beach visitor, told DPA news agency.

I managed to escape with minor wounds, but there were people who were shot dead on the spot, he added.

At least six people  and eight attackers  were killed, the intelligence agency told Al Jazeera. Other reports, citing police and officials, said up to 20 people may have been killed in total.

Locals said the death toll was likely to rise because some families had earlier collected bodies for burial.

A second explosion hit the nearby Lido Seafood restaurant, where several gunmen were reportedly holed up.

The lights at Lido Seafood have just been switched off. Heavy gunfire is now ongoing, Abdirizak Mohamud, a freelance journalist at the scene, told Al Jazeera.

More and more security forces are now going into the restaurant. They have pulled out three injured people so far, Mohamud added.

I unreservedly condemn the barbaric attack @ Liido. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims #Somalia  SomaliPM (@SomaliPM) January 21, 2016

The Lido beach area is home to several restaurants, which are usually full on Thursday nights  the start of the weekend in Somalia.

Government spokesman Abdisalam Aato told Al Jazeera that the situation was now under control.

Our security forces are in control of the restaurant. They have rescued many civilians and are now cleaning the place, Aato said.

Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack in a phone call to Al Jazeera. The spokesman said the attack was ongoing.

Somalias nearly decade-long battle with al-Shabab has claimed thousands of lives.

Last week, the group attacked Kenyan forces at an African Union military base in the southern Somali village of El-Ade.

The group claimed to have killed about 100 Kenyan soldiers in that attack.

With reporting by Al Jazeeras Hamza Mohamed
Woman caring for earlier victim identified as second patient in less than a week raising worries of further cases.

A carer for a woman who died of Ebola in Sierra Leone has now been infected with the virus, heightening fears of a fresh flare-up just days after West Africa was declared officially free of the disease.

The second case to be identified in less than a week is a 38-year-old woman who had helped to care for last weeks victim, Mariatu Jalloh, health ministry spokesman Sidi Yahyah Tunis said according to a report by Reuters news agency.

WHO on Thursday also confirmed the second Ebola case in Sierra Leone, saying new patient was Jallohs aunt.

The 38-year-old woman was a primary caregiver during the young womans illness, WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told the AFP news agency in an email, adding that she had developed symptoms of the deadly virus on Wednesday while she was being monitored at a quarantine facility.

The patient is being treated now, Jasarevic said.

Jalloh, a 22-year-old student who died from the disease on January 12, tested positive for Ebola after her death, which marked a further setback in efforts to end a two-year epidemic that has killed more than 11,300 people across West Africa.

The new cases come as reports emerge that fear and suspicion in the country, which had been declared Ebola-free in November, were hampering attempts to stop the spread of the virus.

According to Reuters, internal health reports showed that at least 50 people linked to Jalloh  who were potentially exposed to the virus  have gone missing.

At least a dozen of them are considered at high risk of infection.

Community very uncooperative and unwilling to direct us to the missing contacts, one of the health reports said.

READ MORE: New Ebola case confirmed in Sierra Leone

They also referred to great resistance to a programme to vaccinate locals who were potentially exposed to the virus in the Northern Province, a remote area near the Guinean border where Jalloh had travelled before falling ill.

Health sources familiar with the reports, who asked for anonymity, told Reuters that the number of total contacts had increased to more than 200 people, from 109 quarantined last week.

The reports also showed that suspicion towards health officials, one of the aggravating factors in the diseases early spread nearly two years ago, was still obstructing attempts to end the epidemic.

Some observers say such incredulity is understandable given the apparent failure of local officials to follow basic health protocols at the height of the outbreak.

Sierra Leone was supposed to be in a 90-day period of heightened surveillance, but Jalloh was examined by an official without protective clothing.

Ongoing risk

The World Health Organization had declared the West African region Ebola-free on January 15, but stressed the need for vigilance in the months to come.

While this is an important milestone and a very important step forward, we have to say that the job is still not done, Rick Brennan, WHO director of emergency risk assessment and humanitarian response, said at the time.

Thats because there is still ongoing risk of re-emergence of the disease because of persistence of the virus in a proportion of survivors.

In Sierra Leone alone, about 4,000 people have died of Ebola.

This is not the first time that new cases emerge after a country is officially declared Ebola free. In May, two new Ebola cases were diagnosed in neighbouring Liberia after it was declared free of the virus.
Former commander in Joseph Konys LRA could face war crimes trial over atrocities, despite also being a victim.

A commander in Joseph Konys Ugandan rebel group will attend a hearing at the International Criminal Court, to assess whether evidence against him is strong enough to merit making him stand trial for war crimes.

Ben Gumpert, prosecutor at the ICC, said on Thursday that Dominic Ongwen, a longtime commander in the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) bears significant criminal responsibility for brutal attacks during which civilians were killed and tortured, and women and children were abducted.

People were murdered, dreadfully wounded and maimed. Houses were burned, but above all, people were abducted, either to become fighters in the LRA or to become sex slaves, Gumpert said.

Al Jazeeras Malcolm Webb, reporting from Lukodi in northern Uganda, said there was a lot of interest in the case in the town.

At a school, a television screen and projector has been set up for people to watch a live streaming of the hearing, Webb said.

Survivors & relatives of those killed in LRA rebellion at Lukodi to watch Dominic Ongwen confirmation hearing pic.twitter.com/SFkSDn0A0N  Uganda Radio Network (@ugandarn) January 21, 2016

No special treatment

Ongwen only rose through the groups ranks after himself being kidnapped at the age of 10, a fact that makes him an awkward target for a court set up 13 years ago to hold the powerful to account for very grave crimes.

Gumpert said Ongwens own history was by no means unusual and did not mean he merited special treatment.

Almost every LRA fighter . by the period 2002-05 had himself or herself been abducted, Gumpert said.

It is in order to try to strike at that continuing evil that the prosecutor is keen to prosecute crimes arising from conscription.

Defence lawyers will push at a session next week for the charges against Ongwen to be thrown out.

Kony still at large

Ongwen faces 70 charges including murder, rape, torture, forced marriage and using child soldiers stemming from his alleged involvement in attacks on refugee camps in Uganda in 2003 and 2004.

Ongwen surrendered in January 2015 to United States troops in a remote eastern part of the Central African Republic.

Kony is the only LRA commander still at large out of five LRA commanders indicted by the ICC in 2005. Three have since died, the Ugandan army said.

The LRA launched an armed rebellion in Uganda in the 1980s and committed widespread atrocities, raping and maiming civilians who were reluctant to join its campaign.
Israels pending settlement of E1 region will end chance of Palestinians territorial congruity in West Bank.

Israeli authorities have demolished several homes in the strategically sensitive E1 region of the occupied West Bank, displacing at least 17 Palestinians, among them children.

Israeli troops forcibly evacuated local residents and bulldozers flattened four homes in the Jabal al-Baba community, on the outskirts of occupied East Jerusalem, on Thursday, according to a local spokesman.

They showed up at four in the morning and removed everyone from their homes  men, women, children, Daoud al-Jahalin, the spokesman of the Jahalin Bedouin tribe in the neighbouring village of Abu Nuwwar, told Al Jazeera.



Israeli settlements make money on Palestinian expense: Human Rights Watch

There were no journalists there to witness it so they did it all by force, pointing their weapons at people and hitting many of the young men.

Jabal al-Baba and Abu Nuwar are among more than 20 Palestinian Bedouin villages  known as the Jahalin communities  in the E1 area of the central West Bank.

An estimated 300 people live in Jabal al-Baba, while another 700 live next door in Abu Nuwar.

Israel intends to demolish those communities and build Jewish-only settlements in their place, effectively dissecting the West Bank into separate halves and eliminating the possibility of territorial congruity in a potential Palestinian state.

READ MORE: Palestinian Bedouins live the Nakba every day

According to Israels relocation plan, the local Palestinian residents will be moved to a nearby planned township less than a kilometre away and provided with basic services that they have been so far denied, including electricity, water and sewage services.

Legally speaking, [this] involves elements of war crimes and crimes against humanity particularly related to extensive destruction of property, land appropriation and further persecution of Palestinians, Mona Sabella of the Al-Haq rights group told Al Jazeera.

The plan would result in further violations of fundamental rights, including the right to self-determination, the right to freedom of movement and the right to health, among others.

Throughout occupied East Jerusalem and its peripheries, some 90,000 Palestinians are facing potential displacement, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

According to a Al-Haq report published last month, life for Palestinian Jerusalemites has grown more difficult in recent months, with Israeli forces using live ammunition at a greater frequency, raiding hospitals and erecting more checkpoints, among other measures.

Yet most of the Jahalin communities residents are already UN-registered refugees who were uprooted in 1951 when the newly formed Israeli government expelled them from their ancestral lands in the Negev region of the country.

This would be the second time we are displaced, Jahalin said.

Israels Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories, or COGAT, told Al Jazeera that demolitions were carried out to remove illegal structures from the area.

Thursdays demolitions came just a day after Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah condemned the forcible displacement of the Jahalin communities.

Israels systematic violation of international laws is no longer acceptable by the international community, Hamdallah said in a statement released on Tuesday.



Money raised to rebuild Palestinian houses

Christopher Gunness, spokesman for UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine refugees, said the latest demolitions are part of an ongoing pattern.

We are seeing continued and repeated forced displacement, often on a large scale, and which is often related to illegal settlements, he told Al Jazeera.

On January 6, Israeli bulldozers razed five homes and left 25 people homeless in Abu Nuwar.

This highlights time and time again the need for a just and durable solution for people who are dispossessed. These people are facing an acute and chronic protection crisis, Gunness added.

IN PICTURES: Palestinian Bedouin face Israeli demolitions

The E1 corridor is located in Area C, which refers to the 60 percent of the West Bank under full Israeli administration and off-limits to the Palestinian Authority.

According to Bimkom, an Israeli organisation that advocates for planning rights, Israeli land authorities have increased the pressure on Palestinians in E1 in recent months, demolishing homes and issuing dozens of new eviction notices.

The main idea is to cleanse the area [of Palestinian communities] as much as possible, particularly in places where there is a clear Israeli interest, Alon Cohen-Lifshitz, director of Bimkoms planning and community department, told Al Jazeera.

Between 2009 and 2014, Israeli settlements expanded by 23 percent in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Upwards of half a million Jewish Israelis already live in more than 150 Jewish-only settlements across the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Under international pressure, Netanyahu formally froze settlement expansion plans in E1 in 2013.

In late December, however, the Israeli group Peace Now revealed that Israels Ministry of Housing is planning to build 55,548 new homes in the West Bank, including 8,372 in E1.

Speaking of the relocation plan, spokesman Daoud al-Jahalin said: Nobody here wants to leave.

Follow Patrick Strickland on Twitter: @P_Strickland_
Seven policemen and three civilians killed as bomb explodes in apartment near the Giza pyramids, authorities say.

At least seven policemen and three civilians have been killed in a blast at an apartment in Giza, east of Cairo, authorities and state media have said.

Another 13 people were wounded in Thursdays explosion, a Ministry of Interior statement said, without specifying if they were civilians or policemen.

According to the ministry, the suspects, who it said were affiliated with the banned Muslim Brotherhood group, were planning attacks and had been making explosives at an apartment in Haram district near the pyramids.

The explosives went off as security forces raided the apartment, the statement added.

Police had information that a group of Muslim Brotherhood members were preparing to carry out aggressive acts in the coming days using explosives and crude bombs, the ministry said on its Facebook page.

This group was using an apartment in a Cairo building, and on Thursday night the police raided this apartment where they found a number of crude bombs.

When the bomb squad experts were dealing with one of the bombs, it exploded.

Egypt has seen a wave of attacks since the military deposed President Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

The explosion in the capitals Al-Haram district, near the pyramids, came before next weeks anniversary of the 2011 revolution that deposed the longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

The interior ministry has warned against any chaos on Monday, and has boosted security across Egypt, including around the capitals Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the anti-Mubarak revolt.
Scientists claim of a giant undiscovered planet on the fringes of the solar system met with scepticism.

United States-based scientists said that they have found evidence of an object they nicknamed Planet Nine orbiting the edge of the solar system, but some experts have their doubts.

The US team used mathematical modelling and computer simulations to find the object they claimed was a planet. Their research said that it was about 10 times the mass of Earth and had an odd, highly elongated orbit about 20 times further from the Sun than Neptune.

They have not yet observed the object directly but said that its existence helped explain the strange orbit of a number of distant objects in an area known as the Kuiper Belt.

They have to produce something more definitive as at the moment you would struggle to find it. by Robert Massey, Royal Astronomical Society

Its a pretty substantial chunk of our solar system thats still out there to be found, which is pretty exciting, Mike Brown, a professor of planetary astronomy at the California Institute of Technology, said in a statement.

But other researchers said that they were unimpressed by the evidence, which was published in the current issue of Astronomical Journal.

I am sceptical, Francisco Diego, senior research fellow at the department of physics and astronomy in University College London, told Al Jazeera.

Such a large object would have been detected ages ago, since at the same distances, much smaller objects have been found, the very ones allegedly affected by this mysterious one.

Robert Massey, deputy executive director of the Royal Astronomical Society, told Al Jazeera that this kind of thing has been said before and then refuted.

He added: I think until you see an image of something, you have to maintain a degree of scepticism.

Difficult to detect

The Caltech team said that unlike Pluto, which was downgraded from a planet to a dwarf planet in 2006 due to an inability to clear its orbit of other objects, Planet Nine is a real planet.

At 5,000 times the mass of Pluto, the statements said, [it] is sufficiently large that there should be no debate about whether it is a true planet.

But not all researchers agree.

It would not be a planet as such, Diego said. Having a bizarre, very elliptical orbit and not having cleared its orbit from debris, as the International Astronomical Union requires from a proper planet.

Brown and other colleagues have now started searching for Planet Nine, but only a rough orbit is known, not a precise location, making that difficult, especially as it takes between 10,000 and 20,000 years to make a full orbit around the sun.

They have to produce something more definitive, as at the moment you would struggle to find it, Massey said.

Even if does exist, Diego said the planet may well be difficult to see.

It may be of a different nature from its neighbours, less bright due to a dusty and dark rather than icy and shiny surface, which would make it more difficult to detect.
Mustafa Jemilev, 72, is accused of premeditated crimes and has been put on the wanted list by a Crimean court.

Officials in Moscow-annexed Crimea said on Thursday that a revered community leader of Tatars, a Muslim minority with a long history of persecution by Russia, has been arrested in absentia and faces three unspecified charges for premeditated crimes.

Mustafa Jemilev, a lawmaker in Ukraines parliament who was exiled from the Black Sea peninsula for extremist calls to oppose the 2014 Russian annexation, inspired last years civilian-led blockade of Crimea by Tatar and Ukrainian activists.

A district court in the southern Crimean city of Simferopol put Jemilev on the federal and international wanted lists on Thursday because he is hiding from prosecution and court, may exert pressure on witnesses, destroy evidence.

Premeditated crimes

Crimeas prosecutor Natalya Poklonskaya said the charges, which have not been made public to prevent the obstruction of justice, stem from a series of premeditated crimes committed by Jemilev, the RIA Novosti news agency quoted her as saying.

Ukraines Foreign Ministry condemned the charges. The Ministrys spokeswoman Mariana Betsa said in a tweet that they were part of repressions of Crimean Tatars who amount to about 15 percent of Crimeas population of 2 million.

Jemilev, 72, is a Soviet-era dissident who spent 15 years in jail or exile for advocating the Tatars right to return to Crimea after their 1944 en masse deportation for alleged collaboration with German Nazis during World War II. Almost 200,000 Tatars were deported to Soviet Central Asia; up to a half of them died of starvation and diseases.

Ukraine recognition

The survivors and their descendants were branded traitors until Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev allowed their return to Crimea in the late 1980s. Jemilev headed the Mejlis, an informal Tatar parliament that helped resolve conflicts with ethnic Russians and Ukrainians who dominated the peninsula.

In November, Ukraine recognised the deportation as a genocide.

Although Tatars claimed that Ukrainian authorities tacitly barred them from jobs in the government and police, many of them opposed the 2014 annexation and the emergence of thousands of Russian servicemen in unmarked uniforms.

The Kremlin declared the annexation bloodless, but an ethnic Tatar activist who protested against the move was kidnapped by pro-Moscow fighters and was later found dead with traces of torture. Several more Tatars have been abducted and allegedly killed, their families told Al Jazeera.

Russian authorities also started massive searches and detentions of Tatars, especially mosque-going Muslims, many of whom likened the persecution to Moscows repressive policies in the Caucasus region.
Kremlin warns relations with UK may be hurt after probe concludes Putin probably approved killing of ex-KGB agent.

Britains inquiry into the murder of ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko may further poison ties between Moscow and London, the Kremlin has said.

Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, said on Thursday that Russia would give all necessary answers via diplomatic channels, after Britains inquiry concluded that President Vladimir Putin probably approved a 2006 Russian intelligence operation to kill Litvinenko with radioactive polonium-210 in London.

Such quasi investigations like the one we are talking about today are capable of further poisoning the atmosphere of our bilateral ties, Peskov told reporters.

Subtle British joke

Al Jazeeras Rory Challands, reporting from Moscow, said that the Kremlins reaction was expected, given the accusations against Putin.

The spokesperson of the Kremlin alluded to the famous British sense of humour, saying that perhaps this inquiry is an example of a subtle British joke, Challands said.

Essentially, he is pouring scorn on the inquiry and this report, saying this it doesnt hold any kind of water whatsoever.

Eariler in the day, British judge Robert Owen said that it was likely that the Russian leader signed off the killing of the former spy in 2006 after a long-running feud.

Owens 300-page report said Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun were probably acting under the direction of Moscows FSB intelligence service, successor of the KGB, when they poisoned the 43-year-old at Londons Millennium Hotel.

READ MORE: Why would the Kremlin want to erase a small-time former KGB man?

Russias foreign ministry was swift to respond, dismissing the inquiry as biased and opaque, according to the official RIA news agency.

Moscow had no expectation that Londons report on Litvinenko would all of a sudden become impartial, Maria Zakharova, a Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman, said.

The Interfax news agency quoted the accused Lugovoi, who is now a politician, as saying: This is a poor attempt from London to use a skeleton in the closet to the advantage of their political position.

Litvinenko, who lived in exile in Britain, died in November 2006 three weeks after drinking green tea laced with poison at the plush hotel.

British police had accused Kovtun and Lugovoi, the two Russians he met for tea, of carrying out the killing. Both denied involvement, and Moscow refused to extradite them.

Singling out Nikolai Patrushev, the head of the FSB at the time, alongside Putin, Owen wrote: Taking full account of all the evidence and analysis available to me I find that the FSB operation to kill Litvinenko was probably approved by Mr Patrushev and also by President Putin.

Theresa May, the British home secretary, said on Thursday that the British government would freeze the assets of Lugovoi and Kovtun and summon the Russian ambassador to London to express its profound displeasure.

May also told politicians that the conclusion that the Russian state was probably involved in the murder of Litvinenko was deeply disturbing. She described it as a blatant and unacceptable breach of international law and civilised behaviour.

Skin turned yellow

From his deathbed, Litvinenko had told detectives that he believed Putin directly ordered his killing. The Kremlin dismissed the claim as ridiculous at the time and has always vehemently denied any involvement.

The inquiry heard from 62 witnesses over six months of public hearings and  behind closed doors  saw secret intelligence evidence about Litvinenko and his links to UK spy agencies.

Litvinenkos widow Marina told the inquiry that her husband was a loyal intelligence agent who grew disillusioned with Russias 1990s war in Chechnya and by what he saw as corruption within the FSB.

Speaking outside the High Court after the verdict, she said she was very pleased that the words my husband spoke on his deathbed when he accused Mr Putin have been proved by an English court.

When he became violently ill, Litvinenkos doctors diagnosed a stomach infection. But as his condition worsened, his white blood cell count plummeted, making him susceptible to infection.

READ MORE: Polonium, the silent killer

His skin had turned yellow, indicating liver dysfunction, and he was tested for the two most likely causes, hepatitis and AIDS, but neither was the case, John Emsley wrote in Molecules of Murder, a crime book that includes a chapter on polonium poisoning.

Then his hair began to fall out.

A diplomatic low

Doctors eventually decided that he was suffering from radiation poisoning, and further tests identified polonium as the culprit.

Litvinenkos body was so radioactive that the post mortem examination was conducted by medics in protective clothing and ventilation hoods. A lawyer for the police said that the killing may have exposed hundreds or even thousands of Londoners to radioactive contamination.

The former secret agents death marked a post-Cold War low point in Anglo-Russian relations, and ties have never fully recovered. They were marred further in recent years by disputes over the conflict in Crimea and by Russias support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who the UK opposes.

British newspapers said Prime Minister David Cameron would chair a meeting of security chiefs before publication of the report to consider what, if any, action Britain should take.

READ MORE: Poisoned spy inquiry reignites British-Russian tensions

Some analysts believe, though, that it may be in the interests of both Britain and Russia to limit any fallout.

Both are involved in air strikes against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). British diplomats believe Russia is key to ending that countrys civil war, while Russia would like to see an end to sanctions imposed on it by the West over Crimea.

The Soviet-era KGB did not hesitate to kill its enemies on foreign soil, sometimes with obscure poisons. Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov died after he was stabbed with a ricin-tipped umbrella on Londons Waterloo Bridge in 1978.
Legislation would have required officials to verify that each refugee posed no security risk before being allowed in.

Politicians in the US have blocked a bill that would have made it harder for Syrian and Iraqi refugees to enter the country.

The result of Wednesdays vote was 55-43, with yes votes falling short of the 60 needed after Democrats refused to support the Republican-backed measure in the 100-member Senate.

No Republicans voted against the bill, and only two Democrats backed it.

Among other things, the bill would have required high-level US officials to verify that each refugee from Iraq and Syria posed no security risk before they were allowed into the US.

Al Jazeeras Kimberly Halkett, reporting from Washington, said the Senates view in the end was that the US had a long history of helping people fleeing war to come to the country.

Critics of this legislation said that this would in many ways be very unfair and penalise those refugees in comparison to others who are trying to come to the United States from other countries  in that there is already extensive vetting taking place, she said.

Republicans had said tighter screening was essential to ensure the safety of Americans and prevent attacks.

READ MORE: US to accept tens of thousands more refugees

But Democrats called the proposed legislation an attack on refugees and accused Republicans of holding the vote to allow their 2016 presidential candidates in the Senate to be seen to back legislation touted as tough on security.

All three of the Senate Republican 2016 presidential hopefuls, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio, backed the bill.

US President Barack Obama had threatened to veto the legislation if it cleared Congress.

Obama in September promised that the US would accept 10,000 Syrian refugees within one year.
Man jailed over two pictures deemed insulting to king, as army arrests four others over protest bid.

A court in Thailand has sentenced a man to six years in prison for violating the countrys royal defamation laws over Facebook posts deemed offensive to the king.

Bangkok Criminal Court said on Wednesday that 46-year-old Piya Julkittiphan was convicted for posting two pictures with messages in 2013 that risked making the public disrespectful or unfaithful to the monarchy.

The judge sentenced him to nine years but he has given useful testimony during the investigation so the court commuted one third of that sentence to six years imprisonment, the court said in its verdict.

It did not provide details on the content of the posts, as is common in Thai convictions for insulting members of the royal family.

The Thai Lawyers for Human Rights group described Piya as a former stockbroker who was first arrested in December 2014 and has since been in custody.

READ MORE: Man arrested in Thailand over Facebook posts

King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 88, the worlds longest-serving monarch, is shielded from criticism by some of the worlds harshest royal defamation laws. Anyone convicted of insulting the king, queen, heir or regent  under laws known as lese majeste  can face up to 15 years in jail on each count.

Last year two people received 25 and 30-year sentences over Facebook posts in record-breaking jail terms that drew international condemnation.

Last month a man was arrested for allegedly making a satirical online remark about the recent death of the kings favourite dog.

As of early December, at least 61 people have been prosecuted for insulting the monarchy, according to local human rights group iLaw.

Activists arrested

In a separate crackdown on dissent, Thai authorities said on Thursday that they arrested four members of an activist group for attempting to carry out a protest over alleged corruption.

Sirawith Serithiwat, a student activist from the New Democracy Movement, was taken into custody on Wednesday, and three other members of the group were arrested the next day while protesting outside a police station over Serithiwats arrest.

They were taken to military court to be charged with violating an order banning groups of five or more people from gathering for political purposes.

Last month the students were blocked en route to a protest at the multimillion-dollar Rajabhakti Park, a sprawling concrete plaza showcasing seven giant bronze statues of former Thai kings that has been at the centre of corruption allegations by some Thai media and opposition groups.

READ MORE: Anti-junta protesters march in Thai capital

A defence ministry team looking into the allegations of corruption said last month that it had found financial irregularities in the project but had no authority to investigate wrongdoing.

Thailands security forces have curbed basic freedoms and cracked down on critics since taking power in a May 2014 coup.
Russia calls 300-page report into the London poisoning of former spy Alexander Litvinenko biased and opaque.

Russian President Vladimir Putin probably approved the assassination of ex-KGB agent turned dissident Alexander Litvinenko in London, a British inquiry has found.

In what many analysts saw as a sensational verdict, Judge Robert Owen said on Thursday that it was likely the Russian leader signed off the killing of the former spy in 2006 after a long-running feud.

Owens 300-page report said Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun were probably acting under the direction of Moscows FSB intelligence service, successor of the KGB, when they poisoned the 43-year-old with radioactive polonium 210 at Londons Millennium Hotel.

READ MORE: Why would the Kremlin want to erase a small-time former KGB man?

Russias foreign ministry was swift to respond, dismissing the inquiry as biased and opaque, according to the official RIA news agency.

Moscow had no expectation that Londons report on Litvinenko would all of a sudden become impartial, Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman, said.

The Interfax news agency quoted the accused Lugovoi, who is now a politician, as saying: This is a poor attempt from London to use a skeleton in the closet to the advantage of their political position.

Litvinenko, who lived in exile in Britain, died in November 2006 three weeks after drinking green tea laced with poison at the plush hotel.

British police had accused Kovtun and Lugovoi, the two Russians he met for tea, of carrying out the killing. Both denied involvement, and Moscow refused to extradite them.

Singling out Nikolai Patruskev, the head of the FSB at the time, alongside Putin, Owen wrote: Taking full account of all the evidence and analysis available to me I find that the FSB operation to kill Litvinenko was probably approved by Mr Patrushev and also by President Putin.

British Interior Minister Theresa May said on Thursday the UK government would freeze the assets of Lugovoi and Kovtun and would summon the Russian ambassador to London to express its profound displeasure.

May also told politicians that the conclusion that the Russian state is probably involved in the murder of Litvinenko was deeply disturbing. She described it as a blatant and unacceptable breach of international law and civilised behaviour.

Skin turned yellow

From his deathbed, Litvinenko had told detectives that he believed Putin directly ordered his killing. The Kremlin dismissed the claim as ridiculous at the time and has always vehemently denied any involvement.

The inquiry heard from 62 witnesses over six months of public hearings and  behind closed doors  saw secret intelligence evidence about Litvinenko and his links to UK spy agencies.

Litvinenkos widow Marina told the inquiry that her husband was a loyal intelligence agent who grew disillusioned with Russias 1990s war in Chechnya and by what he saw as corruption within the FSB security service, the successor to the KGB.

Speaking outside the High Court after the verdict, she said she was very pleased that the words my husband spoke on his deathbed when he accused Mr Putin have been proved by an English court.

When he became violently ill, Litvinenkos doctors diagnosed him with a stomach infection. But as his condition worsened, his white blood cell count plummeted, making him susceptible to infection.

READ MORE: Polonium, the silent killer

His skin had turned yellow, indicating liver dysfunction, and he was tested for the two most likely causes, hepatitis and AIDS, but neither was the case, John Emsley wrote in Molecules of Murder, a crime book that includes a chapter on polonium poisoning.

Then his hair began to fall out.

A diplomatic low

Doctors eventually decided that he was suffering from radiation poisoning, and further tests identified polonium as the culprit.

Litvinenkos body was so radioactive that the autopsy was conducted by medics in protective clothing and ventilation hoods. A lawyer for the police said that the killing may have exposed hundreds or even thousands of Londoners to radioactive contamination.

The former secret agents death marked a post-Cold War low point in Anglo-Russian relations, and ties have never fully recovered. They were marred further in recent years by disputes over the conflict in Crimea and by Russias support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who the UK opposes.

British newspapers said UK Prime Minister David Cameron would chair a meeting of security chiefs before publication of the report to consider what, if any, action Britain should take.

READ MORE: Poisoned spy inquiry reignites British-Russian tensions

Some analysts believe, though, that it may be in the interests of both Britain and Russia to limit any fallout.

Both are involved in air strikes against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). British diplomats believe Russia is key to ending that countrys civil war, while Russia would like to see an end to sanctions imposed on it by the West over Crimea.

The Soviet-era KGB did not hesitate to kill its enemies on foreign soil, sometimes with obscure poisons. Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov died after he was stabbed with a ricin-tipped umbrella on Londons Waterloo Bridge in 1978.
Judge leading probe into death of ex-Russian spy in London upholds government request to withhold crucial evidence.

A long-delayed inquiry to determine circumstances that led to the death of Alexander Litvinenko, the Russian intelligence officer, could be abandoned after the official responsible for leading it partly upheld a British government request to withhold crucial evidence.

Robert Owen, a senior judge acting as coroner, said on Friday that keeping some of the evidence secret would make it impossible to hold a full, fair and fearless inquiry into the death of Litvinenko, who died in London in 2006 from radioactive poisoning.

Without being able to assess all the evidence in open hearings, Owen said he would be unable to discharge my duty to undertake a full, fair and fearless inquiry into the circumstances.

The inquiry would be incomplete and a verdict potentially misleading and/or unfair, he wrote in the ruling, which was partly censored for security reasons.

Under British law, an official investigation called an inquest is held to determine the cause of death when a person dies unexpectedly. The inquests head is known as a coroner.

William Hague, Britains foreign secretary, made the request to withhold evidence relating to the possible involvement of the Russian state in Litvinenkos death and whether it could have been prevented.

Owen also agreed to keep secret information that could undermine trust in the British government or cause real harm to the UKs international relations.

A further hearing is due on June 11 when the coroner will announce the next step.

Vocal critic

A spokesman for the British government said: The government will carefully consider this judgement.

Litvinenko, 43, was a vocal critic of Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, and died after drinking polonium-210, a radioactive isotope that had been slipped into his tea at a London hotel in 2006.

In a deathbed statement, he accused Putin of ordering his murder, a claim Russia has denied.

His death plunged relations between London and Moscow to a post-Cold War low. But David Cameron, the British prime minister, visited Russia this month as part of efforts to improve ties.

The British authorities could now order a form of inquiry that would allow evidence to be heard in secret instead of an inquest.

Litvinenkos widow Maria said she was utterly dismayed by the ruling, which she described as a political fix to help Russia and Britain rebuild their relations.

All those concerned with exposing the truth will be shocked and saddened that a political deal has been done between the two governments to prevent the truth from ever seeing the light of day, she said in a statement.
The early phases of iconic British guitarist Jeff Beck's solo career proceeded in fits and starts, due in no small part to his admittedly temperamental nature, but also via twists of fate that, in fairly quick succession, stymied his progress then accelerated it proportionately. The original Jeff Beck Group, including vocalist Rod Stewart, bassist Ronnie Wood, drummer Mick Waller and, in later stages, pianist extraordinaire Nicky Hopkins, might've established a breakthrough at their appearance at the Woodstock Festival in 1969 had they played the confirm gig. But Beck dissolved the band in a tempestuous fit (or so the story goes), soon after to suffer serious injuries in a car crash that left him inactive until the assembly of a new Jeff Beck Group in 1970. As heavy on nuance as visceral impact this time around, the familiar elements from the preceding lineup also planted the seeds for Jeff Beck's groundbreaking jazz-rock fusion piece, Blow by Blow (Epic, 1975), the chronological steps of which these comparatively low- profile but lovingly executed reissues from Iconoclassic nevertheless lay out in textual and sonic detail. The continuity in Paul Myers companion essays clarifies the Jeff Beck story to the same extent Vic Anesini's remastering does the music.Jeff BeckRough and ReadyIconoclassic2015Its title no doubt designed to signify a statement of purpose on Jeff Beck's part, Rough and Ready had something of a still-born genesis, with an early version of the record written and recorded with a wholly different vocalist than Bob Tench. Alex Ligertwood, once a linchpin of Brian Auger's Oblivion Express, had composed and sung material that Epic Records rejected in its infinite wisdom, so Beck decided to oversee the reconfigured ensemble in the studio himself, the result of which was a collection of tracks more impressive for the ensemble playing than the material itself; Beck's overdubbing of various guitars is particularly inventive, for instance, on "Short Business," while "Max's Tune" is a haunting piece more befitting its original title of "Raynes Park Blues," its deeply evocative atmosphere clearly presaging the George Martin production on Beck's next all-instrumental album.Jeff Beck GroupEponymous a/k/a 'The Orange Album'Iconoclassic2015Somewhat shorter on atmosphere than em>Rough and Ready, due no doubt to Beck's wishes for a bonafide producer, which he found in the estimable likes of guitarist Steve Cropper, he of Booker T, & The MG's, the record known as 'The Orange Album" (for its eye-catching cover graphic) is nevertheless most memorable for two majestic instrumentals. The closing "Definitely Maybe" is especially exalting in the palpable yearning that permeates Beck's guitar, but "I Can't Give Back the Love I Feel for You" isn't much less bittersweet or potent in its emotive delivery. Don Nix' "Going Down" is the most durable track on the album (one Beck still plays today) and it does feature the virtues of the band quite handsomely: Max Middleton's keyboards could sound equally earthy or ethereal, while drummer Cozy Powell plays like two percussionists fluidly in tandem with one anohter.Tracks and PersonnelRough and ReadyTracks: Got the Feeling; Situation; Short Business; Max's Tune; I've Been Used; New Ways/Train Train"; Jody.Personnel: Jeff Beck: guitars, bass; Bobby Tench: vocals, rhythm guitar; Max Middleton: piano, keyboards; Clive Chaman: bass; Cozy Powell: drums.Eponymous a/k/a 'The Orange Album'Tracks: Ice Cream Cakes; Glad All Over; Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You; Sugar Cane; I Can't Give Back the Love I Feel For You; Going Down; I Got to Have a Song; Highways; Definitely Maybe.Personnel: Jeff Beck: guitars, bass; Bobby Tench: vocals, rhythm guitar; Max Middleton: piano, keyboards; Clive Chaman: bass; Cozy Powell: drums.
We claim no credit for any images and or articles featured on this blog unless otherwise noted. All content is copyright to it's respectful owners. If you own rights to any of the images and or articles, and do not wish them to appear on this blog, please contact us via e-mail and they will be promptly removed. We are not responsible for content on any external website, and a link to such site does not signify endorsement. Information on this blog may contain errors or inaccuracies; the site's proprietors do not make warranty as to the correctness or reliability of the blog's content.email: dennisjeweetwel@live.nl
UF students can learn Creole in Haiti this Summer.

UF will host a study-abroad program in the northern region of Haiti. The six-week language and cultural program will be held May 9 through June 17. The cost of the trip is $4,676, and students will receive five college credits in Haitian Creole and three credits in Haitian Culture and Society.

The program will be stationed in Cape Haitian, which is the second-largest city in Haiti. The program is sponsored by UFs Departments of Languages, Literatures & Cultures and Agricultural Education & Communication in partnership with Projects For Haiti.

Bertrhude Albert, the chief executive officer of Projects For Haiti, said this program will allow students to fully immerse themselves within the Haitian culture.

When people go to Haiti, theyre able to get a glimpse of this beautiful and this incredibly intriguing history, Albert said.

Benjamin Hebblethwaite, a UF associate professor of Haitian Creole, and Paul Monaghan, a UF associate professor, will co-teach the Haitian Culture and Society course in English.

This particular version of the course will be something like humanities plus social sciences, Hebblethwaite said. A UF graduate student and Haitian Creole expert will offer the language instruction, he said.

Having the language and the culture in your pocket really empowers students to connect to the world around them, Albert said.

Alexandra Cenatus, a first-year masters student in Latin American studies, said students who visit Cape Haitian will gain a greater understanding of Haitis culture and history.

I think you get the best of Haiti through Cape Haitian, Cenatus said.

The program includes excursions to several historical landmarks in Haiti, including Citadelle Laferriere, which is one of the oldest fortresses in Haiti. Albert said the fortress sits on the top of a mountain and represents the strength of the Haitian people. Students will visit courtrooms, farms, government offices, schools and churches.

I feel like students walking away from this experience will walk away changed, Albert said.

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UF students asked the Florida Legislature for funding to rebuild UFs beef teaching units Wednesday.

The students requested $2.6 million for the second phase of construction for the UF/IFAS beef teaching unit renovations. The money will go toward getting grain bins, a tractor, fencing and another building.

The Department of Animal Sciences received $1 million last year to build a new metal building, classrooms and a cattle-working area. They need the other $2.6 million to finish all of their construction.

Members of the UF Block and Bridle Club, Gators Collegiate Cattlewomen and animal science faculty spoke with legislators.

Joel McQuagge, a UF animal sciences faculty member, said he went to the meeting last year and went again this year. He said funding will allow for improved research and teaching.

This gives students the opportunity to get those hands-on skills and that internship for a future career, he said.

McQuagge said he wanted students in Tallahassee to thank legislators and members of Florida Cattlemens Association for their support last year and to ask for additional funding.

Josh McLendon, a UF animal sciences senior, said he likes meeting other cattle industry advocates and producers in Tallahassee.

McLendon, 24, said UFs beef teaching units current equipment is outdated, rusted and brittle. He said funding to build a new facility will make students and animals safer.

It was very cool to talk to the representatives personally, to show them what we would do with the money, McLendon said.

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Impact Party announced its candidates for Student Governments Spring 2016 elections Wednesday afternoon on the Reitz Union North Lawn.

To a crowd of about 200, Impact Party President Will Smith announced Susan Webster, 22, as the partys candidate for Student Body president. Joining her on the partys executive ticket are Brendon BJ Jonassaint, 21, for Student Body vice president, and Kishan Patel, 20, for Student Body treasurer.

Access will be formally announcing their candidates today through an online video on the Access Party Facebook page.

Kalyani Hawaldar, 21, will be running as the partys nominee for Student Body president. Hammaad Saber, 22, is joining her as the Student Body vice presidential candidate, and Lillian Rozsa, 20, is running for Student Body treasurer.

Elections will be Feb. 16 and 17 from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.

The positions of Student Body president, Student Body vice president, Student Body treasurer and 50 student senators, who will represent their academic year (freshman, sophomore or graduate student) or academic colleges, will be elected for a one-year term.

Students who want to run, or slate, with a party can sign up Sunday from noon to 6 p.m., Monday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. or Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Reitz Union Grand Ballroom.

Contact Melissa Gomez at mgomez@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @MelissaGomez004

Executive Ticket

Student Body President and Vice President

Student Body Treasurer

Senate Seats (50)

Accounting (1)

Agricultural (3)

Architecture (1)

Building Construction (1)

Business Administration (3)

Dentistry (1)

Education (1)

Engineering (4)

Fine Arts (1)

Freshman (3)

Graduate (10)

Health & Human Performance (1)

Journalism (2)

Law (1)

Liberal Arts & Sciences (6)

Medicine (1)

Nursing (1)

Pharmacy (1)

PHHP (1)

Sophomore (6)

Vet-Med (1)

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Slating (Reitz Union Grand Ballroom)

Jan. 24: Noon to 6 p.m.

Jan. 25: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m

Jan. 26: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Elections (Various poll locations on campus)

Feb. 16 and 17: 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
UF President Kent Fuchs is requesting about $68 million in funding from Floridas legislature.

The funding will go toward hiring distinguished faculty and renovating buildings. Fuchs is asking for funding for UF Preeminence and Norman Hall renovations, said Jane Adams, the vice president of university relations.

The goal of UF Preeminence is to make UF a top university and hire new faculty. Fuchs requested $10 million for Preeminence and $8 million to begin renovating Norman Hall, which houses UFs College of Education, she said.

Fuchs also requested $20.5 million for the Engineering Innovation Nexus Building and $18 million to help maintain UFs utilities, infrastructure and capital renewal.

Adams said Fuchs asked for Norman Hall funding because the building needs to be updated.

Allison Leonard, a UF education sophomore, said she thinks the building needs to be renovated.

You can tell its lost a lot of what it originally had, she said.

She said funding given to UF should go toward the university being more highly ranked in the nation.

Having that feel of a top-10 university would make UF graduates stand out more than they already do, Leonard said.

Adams said Fuchs has lobbied in Tallahassee since Fall to get funding for UF. The university wont know if its received funding until Floridas legislature adjourns about March 11. She said if UF isnt given funding, Fuchs will continue to ask for more next year.

We make the request and we go back and ask again. We really look to the state to make an investment in the University of Florida, she said.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @k_newberg

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After a year of production, local author Terri Depue will host a book signing for her first novel, Blooms: A Magnolia Creek Novel.

The book signing will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at Know Where Coffee, located at 1226 W. University Ave. The book will be available for $10 during the event.

The priority is to support local authors, said Deyanira Romero, marketing manager at Know Where Coffee. We love having our space, and we love involving the community as much as we can.

Open for almost a year, the coffee shop has held one book signing in the past and is looking to host more events to support local talent, Romero said.

The first of a three-part series, the story follows fictional main character Annie Reed, a young woman who moves across the country and ends up finding her life.

Reed travels to a small town in rural Virginia, where a change of events leads her through a journey of self-discovery. She ends up finding three older women who offer a unique perspective on life, love, faith and family.

I appreciate the relationship that young people benefit from with old people, Depue said. I see it as a positive message in this book as well.

While the characters were not intended to represent Depue, the author touched upon certain aspects of her life throughout the book.

I think a lot of the characters represent different aspects of myself, and my family and friends, Depue said. They are definitely aspects of people I know because you write what you know.

Some of those aspects include humor, personality traits and a sense of adventure, Depue said.

The 54-year-old had worked in software implementation and support for more than 20 years before deciding to write and publish her first novel.

While she still works in this field, her first step toward becoming an author began at a leadership and development course with Klemmer and Associates.

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The final class required everyone to set two goals: one personal and the other professional.

I decided I wanted a different career for retirement and set a goal to write a draft of a novel and submit it to one publisher, Depue said.

After writing the draft in the time allotted, she submitted it to Tate Publishing, which accepted the story.

The inspiration for the book came from a scene Depue kept replaying in her head.

The scene focused on a young woman changing the tire on an old truck. It was muddy, and the young woman was frustrated, but she kept this sense of humor about herself, Depue said. Changing the tire was completely out of her element, but she decided to stay positive and find humor in the situation.

Although the scene didnt make it into the book, the inspiration of the young woman who decided she was going to take a chance inspired Depue to write the novel.

I have lived a life where I will strike out some place Ive never lived, Depue said.

Depue is currently working with Tate Publishing to finalize the second book in the series, which is expected to be released in the fall.
           2005     ..        
The Holy Father received in audience:  Bishops from Sudan and South Sudan, attending a meeting organised by the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples. Read more on http://www.africa-newsroom.com/press/vatican-cityaudiences?lang=en Filed under: AUTRES/OTHERS

The Holy Father received in audien...



Source : http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Appa-sourceTheAfric...




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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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]
Well, I am starting a Wall of Shame for people who show that they have no clue about plants in general. I will be totally fair and I'm not going to expect ...

12 years ago
Here at Armadillo Magazine we focus on literarure for children and young adults but occasionally something comes to our attention that we think it is important to share, this Blog post is about such a something  important for its coverage of a minority group of fiction writers read on to find out more and be inspired for your own reading if not for the reading of your children, just yet at least 





The Prize  The DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2016





The Winner  Anuradha Roy for Sleeping on Jupiter

Anuradha Roy is Economist Crossword Prize for Fiction winner for her novel The Folded Earth. Her first novel, An Atlas of Impossible Longing, has been widely translated and was named by World Literature Today as one of the sixty essential books on modern India. Anurdha lives in Ranikhet.





The Plot  A train stops at a railway station. A young woman jumps off. She has wild hair, sloppy clothes, a distracted air. She looks Indian, yet is somehow not. The sudden violence of what happens next leaves the other passengers gasping.

The train terminates at Jarmuli, a temple town by the sea. Here, among pilgrims, priests and ashrams, three old women disembark only to encounter the girl once again.

What is someone like her doing in this remote corner, which attracts only worshippers?

Over the next five days, the old women live out their long-planned dream of a holiday together; their temple guide finds ecstasy in forbidden love; and the girl is joined by a photographer battling his own demons.

Evil and violence lie beneath the serene surface of this town becoming evident when lives overlap and collide. Unexpected connections are revealed between devotion and violence, friendship and fear as Jarmuli is revealed as a place with a long, dark past that transforms all who encounter it. This is a stark and unflinching novel by a spellbinding storyteller, about religion, love, and violence in the modern world.





1 6th January 2016; Sri Lanka: In a glittering ceremony, the US $50,000 DSC Prize along with a unique trophy was awarded by Hon. Ranil Wickremesinghe, Prime Minister of Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka to Anuradha Roy.

The six shortlisted authors and novels in contention for the DSC Prize this year were Akhil Sharma: Family Life (Faber & Faber, UK), Anuradha Roy: Sleeping on Jupiter (Hachette, India), K.R. Meera: Hangwoman (Translated by J Devika; Penguin, India), Mirza Waheed: The Book of Gold Leaves (Viking/Penguin India), Neel Mukherjee: The Lives of Others (Vintage/Penguin Random House, UK) and Raj Kamal Jha: She Will Build Him A City (Bloomsbury, India).

Now in its sixth year, the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature is an established international literary prize that awards the best work in South Asian fiction writing each year. This year the DSC Prize received 74 entries with entries from publishers from the South Asian region as well as the UK, US, Canada, Australia and South Africa amongst others. The Prize specifically focuses on South Asian writing. It is not ethnicity driven by the origin of the author and is open to any author whose story is based on the South Asian region and its people.





The DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2016 was judged by a five member jury panel comprised of Mark Tully, Chair of the jury panel and renowned journalist; Dennis Walder, Emeritus Professor of Literature at the Open University, UK; Karen Allman, highly respected book seller and literary coordinator based in Seattle, USA; Neloufer de Mel, Senior Professor of English at the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka; and Syed Manzoorul Islam, celebrated Bangladeshi writer, translator, critic and academic.





Speaking on the occasion, Mark Tully on behalf of the jury commented We had a shortlist of six outstanding books. Their excellence made our task particularly difficult. We chose Sleeping on Jupiter by Anuradha Roy because of its elegance, flair and readability. It raises many issues succinctly and with commendable economy of words. The South Asian setting is described faithfully and evocatively. Among the issues raised are the power of memory and myth, religious hypocrisy, sexuality, abuse and other forms of violence. The novel contains powerful portraits of both major and minor characters. We believe this book will be a source of inspiration to other writers.

Surina Narula, MBE and co-founder of the DSC Prize said The winning novel highlights the changing dynamics in South Asian life and culture in a unique way.

The last five winners of the DSC Prize have been Jhumpa Lahiri (The Lowland: Vintage Books/Random House, India), Cyrus Mistry (Chronicle of a Corpse Bearer: Aleph Book Company, India), Jeet Thayil (Narcopolis: Faber & Faber, London), Shehan Karunatilaka (Chinaman: Random House, India) and HM Naqvi (Home Boy: Harper Collins, India). Each of these winners has gone on to be published internationally and their work has reached a larger global audience which has been one of the central visions of the DSC Prize.
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YEREVAN, JANUARY 20, ARMENPRESS. Foreign Minister of the Republic of Armenia Edward Nalbandian, who paid an official visit to Podgorica on January 20, met with the President of Montenegro Filip Vujanovic.

Greeting the Armenian Foreign Minister, the President of Montenegro highlighted the first high-level visit from Armenia to Podgorica, expressing conviction that the agreements reached in the scope of the visit will foster bilateral partnership in various spheres. I have had several meetings with the President of friendly Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan within the framework of international conferences and I hope that this visit will further activate bilateral visits and cooperation, he mentioned.

As Armenpress was informed from the Department of Press, Information and Public Relations of MFA Armenia, thanking for the reception, Edward Nalbandian conveyed best wishes of the President of the Republic of Armenia and invitation to visit Yerevan to the President of Montenegro.

During the meeting the sides stated that the traditional friendly relations between the peoples of Armenia and Montenegro serve as firm basis for the development of relations and for full utilization of existing potentials.

Ways to organize high level visits, activate trade and economic relations, hold business forums, and boost decentralized cooperation were discussed. In this context, the interlocutors highlighted revising the cooperation agreement signed between Yerevan and Podgorica back in 1978 and establishment of communication between the administrative units of the two countries.

Edward Nalbandian and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of Montenegro, Igor Luksic held negotiations in Podgorica.

The meeting in tete-a-tete format was followed by talks with the participation of the delegations.

Greeting the Armenian Foreign Minister, the Foreign Minister of Montenegro found it symbolic that the Foreign Minister of friendly Armenia is the first Armenian Foreign minister to visit Podgorica, and expressed conviction that the visit will give a new impetus to bilateral relations.

Expressing gratitude to Igor Luksic for the invitation and hospitality, Minister Nalbandian said, Your visit to Armenia in 2013 set grounds for establishing continuous political dialogue between our states. Now I am glad to be in Podgorica: first official visit from Armenia to Montenegro.

During the negotiations the sides discussed issues of bilateral interest, highlighted the organization of high level visits, expansion of legal framework, promotion of trade and economic relations, easing entry visa regime, activation of interaction between people, development of cooperation in the spheres of education, science, culture, tourism and high-tech.

Deputy Prime Minister of Montenegro introduced the foreign priorities of his country, developments on the Balkan Peninsula, and the position of his country on them.

Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Montenegro exchanged ideas over regional and international urgent issues, particularly the implementation of agreements over Irans nuclear program, developments in the Middle East and fight against terrorism.

Armenian Foreign minister introduced the efforts of Armenia and OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs made for the peaceful settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

Joint press conference was followed by the meeting of the Ministers.

On the same day Edward Nalbandian held a meeting with the President of the Parliament of Montenegro, Ranko Krivokapic.

Foreign Minister of Armenia introduced the events organized throughout the world dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and their significance to the head of the Parliament of Montenegro.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. It is hard to imagine how Syrian-Armenian Vazgen creates small wonders made of silver on the second floor of Yerevan Gold Market  in a small room where two people find it hard even to move. It is interesting that Syrian-Armenian silversmiths creations are mainly appreciated by tourists. During recent years Vazgen Aruchian has created his own statistic table of tourism development in Armenia: if the trade surpasses expectations in summer months, it means the tourist flow has increased.

Europe, Canada, Russia, Iran tourists coming from these countries mainly buy the jewellery that I make. I am glad that my jewellery finds its place in different corners of the world, Vazgen says, adding that his jewellery is unique as it is exceptionally hand-made. He applies the traditional methods used when making silverwork which he learnt from the ancestors.

He arrived in Armenia 3 years ago. The developments of Syria are dubbed by him as war for nothing. He lost numerous friends, relatives because of the bloodshed the reasons and meaning of which neither he nor his friends understand.

Im a lucky man as I left my Homeland for my other Homeland. Syria is my Homeland, so is Armenia, he says.

Vazgen was an outstanding silversmith in Aleppo and frequently 24 hours of the day were not enough to manage all the orders. In contrast to that, he has a hard time making a living in Yerevan.

Vazgen adds that the Arabs like the works of Armenian craftsmen, but unfortunately here - in Armenia not all the people can afford buying jewellery and the customers are mainly the tourists.

He states that it is not so difficult to understand the language of the metal. It requires a bit of imagination, creativity, a lot of love and devotion, as well as diligence. According to Vazgen, this is the key to success in any work.

One must appreciate, respect the work he does to have the satisfying result, he says.

Vazgen has found a recipe for accommodating himself to Yerevan life: an ounce of patience, optimism and a little bit of will.

By Hasmik Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, JANUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said Wednesday that the administration's "gamble" of abandoning the Middle East led to the power vacuum that allowed the Islamic State to rise to power. Armenpress reports the aforementioned, referring to Washington Examiner.

"The results of this massive gamble should now be clear to us all: No new order has emerged in the Middle East, only chaos," McCain said in his opening statement.

Photo by EPA
YEREVAN, JANUARY 20, ARMENPRESS. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko agreed with US Vice President Joe Biden to coordinate action on the Minsk peace deal, including in what concerns elections in the self-proclaimed republics in the countrys southeast (Donbass).



As Armenpress reports, the country's regions of Donetsk and Lugansk agreed to postpone their local elections until 2016. Before elections in those regions can take place, Ukrainian authorities must fulfill all their obligations under the Minsk agreement.

"We enjoy full support from the United States regarding the implementation of the Minsk process. We agreed to coordinate actions in order to ensure the ceasefire and provide access to the border and heavy weapons storage facilities for the OSCE SMM [Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe Special Monitoring Mission]," Poroshenko said as quoted on the official presidential website.

According to the statement posted on the website, Poroshenko and Biden paid special attention to the issue of reforms in Ukraine and agreed that there is no alternative to the Minsk peace process.

"Also, the parties coordinated actions to intensify political process including the elaboration of the modalities of elections in the occupied territories under the Ukrainian legislation with broad participation of the international observers."
YEREVAN, JANUARY 20, ARMENPRESS. Gas recourses are serious factor for Azerbaijan to influence Georgia. Azerbaijan has a monopoly position in the gas market of Georgia today. If Georgia starts to buy gas from Gazprom, it will mean that Azerbaijans monopoly positions will be weakened. The expert of the analytical center "Insight" Narek Minasyan made such remark in the interview with Armenpress referring to Georgian authorities attempts to find an alternative to the Azerbaijani gas.

- What is the reason of the latest attempt by the Georgian authorities in finding an alternative to Azerbaijani gas? Are there any problems between Azerbaijan and Georgia?

-Georgian authorities attempt to find an alternative to Azerbaijani gas fits within the framework of economic calculations. As the result of Georgian-Russian negotiations, it became clear that Russia is ready to supply gas at more affordable prices than Azerbaijan supplies. Of course, in economic terms it is advantageous to buy the most affordable gas. If we consider deliveries of Azerbaijani gas to Georgia, then we see that there are 5 different gas prices. So Russian gas will replace the most expensive gas coming from Azerbaijan. Naturally, Russian gas will not completely cover Georgias demand.

- We witnessed Azerbaijans anxiety. Are we talking here only about the economic damage or there are losses also in geopolitical terms?

-Azerbaijans concern is mostly conditioned by geopolitical factors. The point is that these gas resources are serious factor for Azerbaijan to influence Georgia. Besides, let us not forget that Azerbaijan has monopoly position in the gas market of Georgia. According to some calculations, If Georgia starts to buy gas from Gazprom that will cover the 20% of Georgian market. A situation will be created when Georgian dependence on Azerbaijani gas will relatively decrease. In the current situation when it is talked about Iranian gas supply to Georgia except of Russian gas then Azerbaijani is worried about it.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 20, ARMENPRESS. Construction of the nuclear plants new energy unit is one of the issues in the agenda of Armenian Republic. Armenian Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Yervand Zakharyan told about this during the meeting with journalists on January 21. Now there are rumors that the government abandoned the construction of the nuclear plants new energy unit but it is not true. We do not have any reasons to give up the nuclear energy in economic terms, the minister emphasized as Armenpress reports.

The minister reminded that government plans to prolong HAEKs exploitation period till 2023 after which government will think about the construction of nuclear plants new energy unit.

Yervand Zakharyan added that the research showed that Armenia needs new energy unity of not 1000MW but  600MW. Russia had already begun to build 600 MW energy units hence we have all the opportunities to realize the mentioned project and we are not going to give up this idea, the minister concluded.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. Ms Khalida Bouzar, Director of the Near East, North Africa, Europe and Central Asia division in the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) emphasizes that the cooperation with the Government of the Republic of Armenia is very important and the joint projects are very productive. Khalida Bouzar introduced during interview with Armenpress future actions of the Fund stressing that they attach importance to the cooperation with the Government of Armenia.

How would you assess IFADs collaboration with the Government of Armenia?

Let me give you some figures to summarize the strong cooperation and commitment IFAD has with the Government of Armenia.

Since 1995, we have mobilized close to USD 260 million of which about USD 90 million financed directly by IFAD.

Seven projects (including 2 on-going projects) have been financed, which have directly benefitted 407 200 households. Then we currently have two on-going projects: (i) the Infrastructure and Rural Finance Support Programme (IRFSP), that has been officially launched today; and (ii) the Rural Assets Creation Programme (RACP), completing in June this year.

Joining our forces for the development of the Armenian rural sector, we have so far: (i) promoted access to financial services; (ii) promoted links to markets, (iii) improved infrastructures, and also (iv) helped reduced unemployment in the rural areas.

But IFAD is fully committed to accompany and support the Government in these last months of implementation of the RACP. And going forward, we have big expectations for the new Programme IRFSP, and will put every effort in place to make it a success.

Can you tell us more about the new IRFSP programme?

IRFSP was jointly designed by the Government of Armenia and IFAD to scale up successful activities of previous IFAD-funded projects in Armenia, mainly rural infrastructure and rural finance, while at the same time strengthening agricultural production systems through effective farmer support services and value chain approaches.

For the implementation of this 6-year Programme, IFAD and the Government of Armenia have allocated USD 11 million and USD 10 million respectively, and another USD 29 million were leveraged from the OFID and the GEF.

The Programme will benefit nearly 16 000 households, or around 67 000 people. We are talking about 7% of the rural population in Armenia and an estimated 21% of Armenias rural poor.

What is your recommendation for a satisfactory implementation of the IRFSP since its start?

IRFSP will be managed by an experienced Programme Implementation Unit (the RAED PIU), that has demonstrated good capacities to implement previous programmes financed by the Fund in Armenia. And the rural finance component will be implemented by the Fund for Rural Development in Armenia (FREDA) and the Rural Finance Facility (RFF), that are today well equipped to deliver according to expectations. So we are lucky to have capable staff in place. But we need to ensure effective coordination and strong monitoring of all programme activities, as well as maximise synergies among technical components.

Moreover, the Programme needs to put farmers and communities at the centre stage to ensure that they fully benefit of the opportunities provided by IRFSP in terms of improved infrastructures, access to credit, agricultural support and technical assistance.

Overall I am quite confident that with concerted efforts of all relevant parties IRFSP will achieve its objectives and thus contribute to Armenias development efforts.

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) works with governments and other development partners to tackle some of the urgent challenges of the rural sector. IFAD is both an international financial institution and a UN specialized agency. Its mission is to invest in rural people to help them improve their incomes, food security and resilience. IFAD supports agricultural and rural development projects in 99 countries, which have reached some 114 million beneficiaries to date. Globally, IFAD total investment since 1978 stands at US$ 16.8 billion.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. Armenia holds no negotiations with Iran on gas supplies at the moment. Republic of Armenia Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Yervand Zakharyan said the aforementioned to journalists on January 21.

There has been no announcement on the part of Iran Ambassador that Iran is ready to supply gas to Armenia with lower prices than Russia does. Iran has never offered Armenia gas by $100, like some newspapers write, Zakharyan said.

The Minister added that Iran does not offer gas by lower price than that of Russia today either.

We know the gas prices set for each country by Iran. We possess all this information. And you should not think that we are busy with other things. Iran does not supply gas to any country for $165, Minister Zakharyan assured.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. Representation of French company Techip Maritime Overseas LTD was liquidated in Azerbaijan.

As Armenpress reports, Azerbaijani Vergiler (Taxes) newspaper informed about the aforesaid.

Techip Maritime Overseas LTD is an engineering company which deals with processing of oil equipment and construction of pipelines. Baku Representation of the company was opened in 1993.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. Armenia at any necessary moment is ready to join the negotiations on supplying gas from Iran to Georgia through the territory of Armenia. Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Yerevan Zakharyan told about the aforementioned during the meeting with journalists on January 21.

Armenia follows the mentioned negotiations. A final decision has been made neither by Iran and Georgia nor by Gazprom. But at any moment Armenia is ready to join those negotiations. Despite the fact that the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline is owned by "Gazprom", this gas must pass through Armenia and Armenia cannot remain indifferent, the minister emphasized as Armenpress reports.

The Minister added that in this case we are talking about Irans gas supplies of 500 million cubic meters to Georgia which is realistic and Armenia is able to provide that supply.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. Police have detained two men during raids in Brussels' Molenbeek area. Prosecutors have accused them of having links to the November attacks in Paris, where 130 were killed, Armenpress reports, referring to Deutsche Welle.

Prosecutors said police arrested two men, identified as Belgian national Zakaria J. and Moroccan national Mustafa E, in Brussels' Molenbeek area .

"Both were arrested due to their possible ties with different suspects in this case," the federal prosecutor's office said in a statement. "The investigating judge will decide later today upon their possible further detention," the statement added.

No explosives or weapons were found in the raids, which were conducted on Wednesday.

Photo by Reuters
YEREVAN, JANUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Minister of Transport and Communications Gagik Beglaryan, being on a working visit in Islamic Republic of Iran, met with Iranian First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri. The Press Service of the Armenian Ministry of Transport and Communications informed Armenpress about the aforesaid.

Eshaq Jahangiri spoke about the development prospects of Armenian-Iranian relations after the lifting of sanctions against Iran. He in particular said: Even at the time of those sanctions, Armenia and Iran carried out constructive and positive cooperation. The lifting of sanctions and the removal of problems in the banking system opens wide opportunities for cooperation. We can deepen bilateral commercial ties.

Tehran sees no restrictions regarding the deepening of relations with Yerevan, Eshaq Jahangiri stressed.

According to him, Iranian companies are ready to participate in various projects in Armenia.

Gagik Beglaryan for his part hailed the lifting of economic sanctions against Iran and said that Armenia attaches special importance to the promotion of relations with Iran.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. The European Parliament fully supports the negotiation process conducted under the auspices of OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs and calls on other pan-European institutions and international organization to comply with the statements issued by the Co-chairs.

As Armenpress was informed from Public Relations and Media Department of the National Assembly of Armenia, the regular 16th session of Armenia-EU parliamentary cooperation committee, attended by the Armenian delegation, is over in Strasbourg. Republic of Armenia National Assembly Delegation composed of the MPs Samvel Farmanyan (Head of Delegation), Alexander Arzumanyan, Aghvan Vardanyan, Nikol Pashinyan, Vahe Enfiajyan, Edmon Marukyan and Levon Dokholyan, took part. At the end of two-day long discussions, joint final statements and recommendations have been adopted. Among other issues, a reference was made to the worrisome discussions over Nagorno Karabakh conflict held at other inter-parliamentary organizations.

OSCE Minsk Group is the only internationally authorized format for Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement and, in this context, strictly encourages other pan-European institutions and international organizations to comply their positions and resolutions over Nagorno Karabakh with the statements issued by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs in order to foster the peaceful settlement of the conflict, reads the statement.

The joint statement also referred to Armenian-Turkish relations, Armenia-EU relations and new legal documents regulating those relations.

Armenpress presents the full text of the statement

Pursuant to Article 83 of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement

The Parliamentary Cooperation Committee

1. welcomes the high-level opening of EU-Armenia negotiations on 7 December 2015, in view of a new comprehensive framework agreement that would cover political, economic and sectoral cooperation; recalls that the PCC had already recommended, on 20 March 2015, to use the experience acquired in the scoping exercise to establish a legally binding contractual basis in order to replace the outdated 1999 Partnership and Cooperation Agreement;

2. recalling the work carried out in negotiating the AA/DCFTA trusts that the technical result of these talks, which was safeguarded for future reference at the time, will facilitate the swift completion of the EU / Armenia negotiations which are now re-launched;

3. expects to see firmly enshrined in the new agreement a strong commitment to rule of law, democracy and human rights, which should be cornerstones of the text; further underlines that the respect for these shared values can only enhance and further facilitate cooperation in all other issues expected to be covered by the agreement, from energy, transport, or the environment to investment and trade; reminds that Armenia remains covered by the preferential GSP+ trade scheme, with an enhanced role played by the EP in its reformed monitoring procedure;

4. believes that a new, ambitious EU/Armenia framework agreement is compatible with the progressive differentiation approach promoted within the Eastern Partnership, particularly taking into account the revised European Neighbourhood Policy; reminds that enhancing citizens mobility in a secure and well managed environment remains a core objective of the Eastern Partnership, and welcomes the overall good implementation by Armenia of the Visa facilitation and Readmission Agreements, stressing that continued and sustained progress is crucial in order to further proceed with a Visa Liberalisation Dialogue;

5. underlines the need for a strong parliamentary dimension to be included in any future agreement, encouraging legislators to develop procedures allowing them to be duly informed throughout the negotiation process, and fully involved in its subsequent implementation and monitoring;

6. recalls the outmost importance and value of the annual EU-Armenia Human Rights Dialogue, as a unique format allowing to constructively focus on issues such as fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of assembly and association, the development of civil society, the rule of law, mobility, judicial reform, the continued fight against corruption, the independence of the media and the fight against torture and inhuman and degrading treatment;

7. welcomes the considerable effort recently undertaken by the Armenian National Assembly to align national legislation with the UN Convention Against Torture and looks forward to further progress on the ancillary measures currently under examination to avoid torture and fight impunity; further welcomes the review of the Judicial Code and the strengthening of the independence of the judiciary provided by the Constitutional Amendments as supported by the Venice Commission, particularly the Council of Justice; stresses the importance the EU attaches to ICC ratification worldwide;

8. takes note of the 6 December Constitutional Referendum results, recalling the first and the second opinions delivered by the Venice Commission on the draft Amendments to the Constitution, and the local EU Statement issued on 10 December 2015 which urged the authorities to fully investigate in a transparent manner the election fraud allegations;

9. underlines that the full implementation of existing recommendations already issued by previous OSCE/ODIHR election observation missions remains a key to increase the confidence in the integrity of the electoral process, and expects that the necessary amendments, particularly pertaining to the electoral code, will be adopted well before the 2017 general elections;

10. recognizes that the EUs support over the years has been instrumental for the effective implementation and sustainability of Armenia's reform process and institutional capacity building; thus welcomes the EU adopting, on 16 December 2015, a new support programme of 30 million to enhance further efforts in the areas of quality employment, fiscal governance and civil society participation in the democratic decision making process; notes the decisive role civil society can play in enhancing transparency and accountability in all fields of public life, but also in monitoring GSP+ implementation, through dedicated EDIHR-funded projects; supports and encourages Armenian full participation in the COSME and Horizon 2020 programmes ;

11. deeply regrets the continued -and rising-human cost of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and the increasingly serious violations of the cease-fire agreement, including by the use of heavy artillery/mortars, which repeatedly led to the loss of life even amongst the civilian population; stresses there can be no justification for the death and injury of innocent civilians on all sides, supporting the creation of a mechanism to investigate ceasefire violations, as repeatedly called for by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs; reminds that the Minsk Group Co-Chairs noted on 26 September that Armenia has agreed to discuss the details of this mechanism, urging Azerbaijan to do the same;expects from the EU to play a more active role in supporting further confidence building measures to spread the ideas of peace, reconciliation and trust;

12. believes that the recent escalation proves beyond possible doubt that the status quo has become unsustainable and that th ere can be no alternative to a peaceful solution in accordance with the UN Charter, Helsinki Final Act and relevant principles of international law;

13. firmly supports the negotiation process under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, as the only internationally agreed format for the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, in this regard, strongly encouragespan-European and other international institutions and bodies to align with the OSCE Minsk group co-chairs statements in their motions and resolutions on Nagorno-Karabakh in order to contribute to the peaceful resolution of the conflict; calls for a greater political commitment from all parties involved; calls on the European Union to include in its exchange and mobility programmes students and teachers hailing from conflict areas, such as Nagorno-Karabakh, as outlined in the Bologna Process communique of May 2015 adopted also by all EU member states and the European Commission;

14. welcomes the steps taken by the Government of Armenia in accepting around 20,000 Syrian refugees and callson the European Commission and the EU member states to consider in a positive light any support request from the Armenian authorities in carrying out relevant programmes aimed at the further social integration of the Syrian refugees in Armenia.

15. recalls the commemorations of the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide which took place in Yerevan in April 2015, and commends the participating EU institutions and their Office-Holders ; encourages all Member States and EU Institutions to contribute further to the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, noting that the issue has, in recent years, become the focus of open and public debate in Turkey itself;

16. echoes the call of the EP Plenary, which, on 10 June 2015, urged the normalisation of Armenia - Turkey relations by the ratification, without preconditions, of the protocols on the establishment of diplomatic relations, and by the opening of the unilaterally closed border; supports initiatives aimed at promotion of regional cooperation, in the belief they can contribute to the ending of isolation of any country in the region; strongly hopes such developments will help to overcome the legacy of the past and face it courageously.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. Today, on 21 January, the sixteenth meeting of the EU-Armenia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee (PCC), composed of members of the European and the Armenian parliaments, was held in Strasbourg. It took place just 3 days after their colleagues from the executive branch held the 16th EU-Armenia Cooperation Council.

Both the PCC and the Cooperation Council adopted joint statements on several relevant matters, most notably the future of EU-Armenia relations, developments within Armenia, and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

European Friends of Armenia (EuFoA) warmly welcomes the results of this week's meetings between European and Armenian officials. Armenpress was informed about this by European Friends of Armenia (EuFoA) organization.

"It is particularly encouraging that meetings took place both between the government representatives and also the lawmakers, as this showcases the importance that EU and Armenia attach to their relations" comments Mr Eduardo Lorenzo Ochoa, EuFoA Director. "The depth and substance of the adopted statements can also give hope for strengthening of EU-Armenia relations, and especially quick signing of a new legally binding framework agreement."

In this regard, the PCC welcomed "the high-level opening of EU-Armenia negotiations on 7 December 2015, in view of a new comprehensive framework agreement that would cover political, economic and sectoral cooperation". Noting that EU and Armenia are not starting from scratch, but can use the results of the work carried in the negotiation process for the Association Agreement, the PCC expressed its hope for a "swift completion of the EU / Armenia negotiations".

The mobility agenda was also referred to and both sides assessed positively the implementation of the Visa Facilitation and Readmission agreements which can open the way to the opening of a visa liberalisation dialogue. Both bodies underlined as well the importance of EU's support in implementing the reforms agenda in Armenia.

In addition, the EU recognised also Armenia's positive role played in the Syrian refugee crisis. The PCC called "on the European Commission and the EU member states to consider in a positive light any support request from the Armenian authorities in carrying out relevant programmes aimed at the further social integration of the Syrian refugees in Armenia."

The worrisome situation in Nagorno-Karabakh was recalled, with the PCC expressing its deep concern regarding "the continued - and rising - human cost of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and the increasingly serious violations of the cease-fire agreement, including by the use of heavy artillery / mortars, which repeatedly led to the loss of life even amongst the civilian population". Both statements reiterated EU's support to peaceful settlement of the conflict under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group, as the only internationally recognised framework mandated to mediate the talks. Moreover, the PCC strongly encouraged "pan-European and other international institutions and bodies to align with the OSCE-Minsk Group co-chairs statements in their motions and resolutions on Nagorno-Karabakh in order to contribute to the peaceful resolution of the conflict".

As a measure of strengthening NK contacts with Europe, the Europe-Armenia Parliamentary Committee also "calls on the European Union to include in its exchange and mobility programmes students and teachers hailing from conflict areas, such as Nagorno-Karabakh, as outlined in the Bologna Process communique of May 2015 adopted also by all EU member states and the European Commission."
YEREVAN, JANUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. 21 Armenian NGOs have issued a statement over the discussion of the draft resolutions Escalation of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh and the other occupied territories of Azerbaijan by R.Walter and Inhabitants of frontier regions of Azerbaijan are deliberately deprived of water by M. Markovic, scheduled for the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) 2016 Winter Session (January 25-29).

As Armenpress was informed from the administration of European Integration NGO, the statement reads,

Armenian civil society organizations in regard to the aforementioned draft resolutions:

Express confidence that during the whole period of preparing the draft resolutions and of the discussions (starting from defining the topics and the preparation of the reports, to the discussions in the committees and the approval of the drafts) numerous violations of the mission, goals, declared principles and procedures of the Council of Europe, particularly of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), have occurred. The fact that the authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (regardless of political recognition) or the representatives of its civil society were not present at the discussions concerning their fate and everyday life, violates the rights of NKR citizens and the whole population; something that does not comply with the Council of Europe (in particular, PACE) mission.

State that PACE has never had and does not have a mission in conflict settlement, in finding political solutions and in mediation activities. Hence, it does not have any such experience either. Therefore, the fact that the draft resolution Escalation of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh and the other occupied territories of Azerbaijan contains provisions related to Karabakh conflict settlement (provisions that are one-sided and are distorting the reality), we consider it a discriminatory attitude towards the sides of Karabakh conflict, which in no way can have a constructive role or effect in the process of conflict settlement.

Express confidence that PACE partners are surely aware that there is an international body  OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, the mediators of negotiation process, who are given the mandate to deal with the settlement of Karabakh conflict. The fact that the reports, which served as the basis for the draft resolutions were written without any consultations with the OSCE MG Co-Chairs and without taking into consideration their approaches, directly proves that the real purpose of the rapporteurs and the reports has nothing to do with supporting the process of conflicts settlement.

Believe that the CoE and the PACE in particular, within their mission, can have their positive contribution in the process of peaceful settlement of Karabakh conflict. For example, it can play a positive role in ensuring dialogue among the sides of conflict on confidence-building measures  both now and in post-conflict period (engaging the civil society institutions of NKR, Armenia and Azerbaijan in this process).

Given the recent escalation of tension by the Azerbaijani side on Armenia-Azerbaijan and NKR-Azerbaijan borders, human casualties, also among civilians, and the use of heavy weaponry along the contact line, Azerbaijans war rhetoric, hardened and destructive behavior in the negotiation process, express confidence that in case these draft resolutions are adopted, it will become an encouraging factor for Azerbaijans such stance, as a result jeopardizing new human lives.

Based on the aforementioned, the civil society organizations that have signed the Announcement

Call on PACE delegates:

to vote AGAINST these draft resolutions, taking into account that otherwise they will take responsibility for the hardening of Azerbaijans rhetoric and the increase of border tension, including for human deaths;

irrespective of the discussions on these draft resolutions and the results of the voting, toinitiate a process of PACE reforms, which in the future will refrain the organization from serving as a tool for some countries political ambitions and will not let it come out from the frames of its mission.

Call on the authorities and political parties of the Republic of Armenia:

to continue being an active initiator in steps and activities towards European integration;

to take steps to improve the efficiency of the institutions of parliamentary diplomacy in the Republic of Armenia;

to continue and develop the active engagement in the Council of Europe (particularly PACE) agenda, including initiating PACE reform process with partners.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. Ambassador of People's Republic of Bangladesh to Armenia Jashim Uddin (residence in Athens) delivered copies of credentials to Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia Sergey Manasaryan on January 21.

As Armenpress was informed from Department of Press, Information and Public Relations of MFA Armenia, greeting the guest, Deputy Minister Manasaryan highly appreciated the decision of Bangladesh authorities to appoint the first Ambassador in Armenia. The Deputy Minister wished the Ambassador success in carrying out his mission, hoping that he will have a key contribution in establishing bilateral cooperation and its expansion.

The Ambassador expressed gratitude for the reception and warm wishes, assuring that during his tenure he will make all possible efforts to develop cooperation between Armenia and Bangladesh.

During the meeting Deputy Minister Manasaryan and Ambassador Uddin touched upon a wide range of issues concerning political, economic and cultural partnership. In this context it was mutually highlighted the importance of reciprocal visits, holding consolations between the Foreign Ministries, as well as partnership in international organizations.






YEREVAN, JANUARY 21, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Armenia Yervand Zakharyan assesses the rumors that allegedly the Ministries of Energy and Natural Resources and Nature Protection may merge as under-walls gossip. In an interview with journalist on January 21, the Minister referred to the publication of Hraparak newspaper that allegedly the Government plans to merge the mentioned ministries in the near future, as Yervand Zakharyan becomes 70 years old and he has to resign.

Yervand Zakharyan dismissed the rumors stating that he really becomes 70, but political posts have no age restrictions. He added that everything has a start and end, especially, political posts.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 22, ARMENPRESS. The Republican Party of Armenia and Armenian Revolutionary Federation continue discussions over the format of future cooperation. RPA National Assembly faction member, Executive Body member Gagik Minasyan told the journalists about this after RPA executive body session. Discussions over the cooperation format are underway, but there are no final decisions yet. And only the coming discussions will make clear the format of that cooperation, Armenpress reports, Minasyan mentioned.

The MP added that there different cooperation options. I do not rule out that different parties will make use of those different options. How many parties there will be, one, two or three, will be determined in the future. And whether that cooperation will take the form of a coalition or any other format, you will know in the near future, RPA Executive Body member stated.

He also added that during the RPA Executive Body session a reference was made to regional developments and challenges for Armenia stemming from them.
More than a generation ago anthropologists used the Big Man model to try to understand the contentious arena of political relations among the peoples of Melanesia.

As I listened yesterday to his hour-long speech at Liberty University I began to understand him as a prototypical Melanesian Big Man.

DONALD Trump is nothing more - and nothing less - than what anthropologists used to call a "Big Man."

Writing in 1963 anthropologist Marshall Sahlins argued that the Big Man is. "reminiscent of the free-enterprising rugged individual of our own heritage. He combines with an ostensible interest in the general welfare a more profound measure of self-interested cunning and economic calculation."

Through his economic accumulation and redistribution and through the bluster of his talk, the Big Man builds a name for himself, a development that enables him to gain power and achieve political leadership.

The Big Man's political status, however, is unstable. If he shows weakness or if he is outperformed in the political arena, he loses prestige and power, which means that the Big Man is continuously plotting and scheming, making sure that his big talk performances reinforce his renown. If someone challenges him, he will meet that challenge and raise the ante, daring any opponent to meet him face-to-face.

Donald Trump's economic and political behavior seems to fit the Melanesian model. For him, America is a mess, a disaster. For him, the U.S. Government is run by people who don't know what they're doing -- incompetent people who don't know how to do a deal. His Republican opponents, politicians all, are also incompetent. They are all talk, low energy and no action. They are weak.

In contrast, Donald Trump promotes himself with the big talk of the Big Man. He says he is strong. He says he knows how to negotiate a good deal. He says he knows how to find "the best people" who can solve problems and project strength. He says he knows how to bring back jobs from China so that college graduates, who are in deeply in debt, can find jobs.

He says he knows how project power to the leaders of Europe, Asia and the Middle East. He says he'll show them who's the boss. What's more, Mr Trump suggests that if he is unsuccessful, we will succumb to an unimaginably fearful set of social, economic and political disasters -- fear mongering laced with a showman's attractive charm.

This entertaining rhetorical tack compels many people to respect his judgment and believe his claims.

In his Big Man discourse, Mr Trump says that no one else can do what he can do. He offers no specifics about how he will fix the world and "make America great again."

For this Big Man -- not to forget the ever-growing number of his followers -- specifics and the accuracy of his assertions, which have already made fact-checkers weary, count less than the trust one places in the great leader.

Paul Stoller is Professor of Anthropology at West Chester University in the USA and author of Yaya's Story: The Quest for Well-Being in the World. Read Prof Stollers full article here
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"PEACE IS A BY-PRODUCT OF VICTORY. PROSPERITY IS A BY-PRODUCT OF LIBERTY AND JUSTICE. "

"The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission." - John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th President of the United States QUESTION: WHICH VERSION OF ISLAM DID MUHAMMED PRACTICE, "MODERATE ISLAM"OR "RADICAL ISLAM"?



THE ANSWER IS THE ONLY THING YOU REALLY HAVE TO KNOW ABOUT ISLAM - AND ITS APOLOGISTS.

Blog Archive
Last week, the Georgia Department of Transportation issued a scathing report outlining an array of Atlanta Streetcar shortcomings. Plagued with problems since its inception, the fledgling system is run by the City of Atlanta with MARTA serving a still seemingly undefined oversight role. Now, a state leader is calling for the big blue eels to be turned over to MARTA. If State Senate Minority Whip Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta) has his way, MARTA could take full control of the streetcar system, according to an article in the AJC. Which raises the question of whether MARTA can play savior to the streetcar like it did to itself.

Fort unveiled his plan Wednesday to file legislation which would require that MARTA take over operations and management of the system. The announcement comes as just the next strange piece of the streetcar's never-ending saga.

Since MARTA handles all but five percent of transit trips in all of the metro, Fort holds that a consolidation is the logical approach to remedying the litany of woe that is the system's operation over the last year. With Keith Parker leading MARTA into another banner year, it only seems logical to place the operation of the struggling streetcar into what would seem to be more capable hands.

Unsurprisingly, the city didn't take the proposal so well... In response to the proposed legislation, Mayor Kasim Reed's office issued a statement that made their feelings in no way unsure, calling the initiative "completely meaningless" with "no chance of ever becoming law."

Your move, legislators.

 Lawmaker calls for MARTA to take over Atlanta Streetcar [AJC]
A federal agency's misuse of "Made in America" labels is having a negative impact on a central New York manufacturer, U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer said Thursday.

According to Schumer, D-N.Y., GSA Advantage, a government purchasing website operated by the General Service Administration, features flatware produced by several companies, including Oneida County-based Sherrill Manufacturing's Liberty Tabletop flatware.

While Liberty Tabletop is the only American-made brand available on the website, other flatware manufactured overseas is listed as "Made in America."

Schumer said the designation is misleading and has a negative impact on companies like Sherrill Manufacturing.

"Many customers want to support U.S. industries by purchasing American-made products, and many federal agency customers even have USA-made requirements, but they can't properly purchase these products if they are unwittingly buying mislabeled goods that were actually made overseas," Schumer said.

In October, the New York Times published a story on Sherrill Manufacturing, which included details about the company's relationship with the federal government. (Schumer's office said Sherrill has 40 employees.) The U.S. military purchases flatware  approximately 500,000 utensils a year  from the firm.

To address concerns with the GSA Advantage website, Schumer is calling on the agency to conduct a review of its "USA-made" website designations.

Schumer said any companies that are incorrectly listed as having "USA-made" products should be removed from the list.

"It is critical that GSA get to the bottom of this mislabeling and correct it right away  before this mistake takes a toll on American businesses and jobs," he said.

Here is the text of a letter Schumer sent to GSA Administrator Denise Roth:

Dear Administrator Roth:

I write to urge you to conduct a review and remove the Made in America notation from flatware products listed on the US General Services Administration (GSA) Advantage website that are not actually American-made.

Sherrill Manufacturing, which has launched its own brand, Liberty Tabletop, has adopted a business model that includes promoting the uniqueness of the companys high quality, American-made flatware. The companys products are listed on the GSA Advantage website with the label Made in: United States of America. It has come to my attention, however that the GSA Advantage website lists several other flatware manufacturers products as Made in America even though they are not; in fact, some of those manufacturers do not even label the products as Made in America on their own company websites.

I urge you to examine the flatware that is listed as Made in America on the GSA Advantage website, and remove the products that do not belong on that list. GSA should conduct a timely and thorough review of the list of American-made flatware on the GSA Advantage website, because improperly labeled products could have an impact on the business of companies that do manufacture their products in America, like Liberty Tabletop. Many federal agencies and consumers wish to support US businesses by buying American-made products; if they are searching for American-made flatware options on the GSA Advantage website, they may be misled. A thorough review of the list, and removal of the flatware products that are not actually American-made, would promote the companies, like Liberty, that actually manufacture their products in America, and ensure that consumers shopping for American-made products are not misinformed.

Thank you in advance for your consideration of this request. Should you have any additional questions, please do not hesitate to contact my office.

Sincerely,

Charles E. Schumer

United States Senator
Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner is taking sides in the race for the Democratic nomination in New York's 24th Congressional District.

Miner, a Democrat, announced Thursday that she's endorsing Colleen Deacon, who previously served as U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's central New York regional director and worked as ex-Syracuse Mayor Matthew Driscoll's press secretary.

"I'm so pleased to have the support of Mayor Miner," Deacon said. "She has been a true leader in this community, and I look forward to continuing our work together."

Before her government duties, Deacon became a single mother while working as a waitress in Syracuse. To help feed her child and keep herself healthy, she enrolled in the food stamp program and Medicaid.

For Miner, Deacon's background makes her the best candidate to challenge U.S. Rep. John Katko in the general election.

"With women's issues at the forefront of our national agenda, we have the chance to elect a true representative to Congress who has lived the challenges modern women face," Miner said.

Deacon is vying for the Democratic nomination with two other candidates  Eric Kingson, a Syracuse University professor and Social Security expert, and Steve Williams, a partner at Smith Sovik law firm in Syracuse and an ex-U.S. Navy prosecutor.

Before the trio entered the race, Miner considered running for Congress. She had conversations with Democratic leaders about a possible congressional bid, but she opted not to run.

Miner is the latest key Democratic elected official to back Deacon's campaign. Gillibrand, D-N.Y., sent fundraising emails in support the Syracuse Democrat and U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer endorsed her in October.

Locally, Oswego County Democratic Chairman Mike Kunzwiler was the first party leader to endorse Deacon.

Three of the four Democratic committees in the 24th District  Cayuga, Oswego and Wayne  will hold a joint candidates forum on Feb. 3 in Auburn. After the event, committee members will meet and make an endorsement in the race.

Onondaga County Democratic Chairman Mark English said his committee will host a similar forum on Jan. 25. On Feb. 11, the committee will meet again and vote on who to support in the congressional race.

The party's designation likely won't prevent a primary. Kingson said in a recent interview that while he hopes to receive the party's support, he plans to stay in the race until the primary, which is scheduled for June 28.

Katko, R-Camillus, is a top target for Democrats in 2016. He was first elected in 2014, when he defeated now-former U.S. Rep. Dan Maffei by nearly 20 points.

Democrats think they have a good shot to retake the seat this year. The last time Republicans won the congressional race in a presidential election year was 2004, when former U.S. Rep. Jim Walsh won re-election.
In todays global business world, it is not just large companies that can increase sales by exporting or shipping their products outside their own borders. If you can send a product by mail or download it from the Internet, its considered an export. The ability to export goods helps an economy to grow by selling more overall goods and services, which increases the wealth of our community and region.

According to the CenterState Metropolitan Export Initiative by the Brookings Institute, the central New York region is primed to catch up with the rest of the country in regard to exporting. An important piece of improving our economic condition is assisting our region's businesses with opening new markets.

Ninety-five percent of the world market is located outside of the United States. Over the next five years, the world is going to see an additional 1.8 billion people entering the middle class with disposable income. The opportunity to expand markets for our manufacturers and agribusinesses in Cayuga County lies not just outside New Yorks borders, but outside the United States.

There has been a steady increase in exporting by Cayuga County businesses over the last 10 years. Since 2003, export sales have increased 96 percent ($205 million to $403 million), resulting in an increase of direct export support jobs by 27 percent (887 to 1,126). Those numbers may look impressive, although only 8 percent of our economic output in CNY relies on exports, which places us below the national average of 11 percent. There is plenty of room to grow, and it is our goal here at CEDA to help foster that growth.

In the world of economic development, business assistance is more than just providing a business with a grant or tax exemption. Introducing various tools to businesses to help expand their sales is just as, if not more important than providing traditional incentives. One avenue of assistance is to explore exporting opportunities for businesses in our county.

As CEDAs economic development specialist, my role is to retain Cayuga Countys existing businesses and help them expand. A large part of my job is to connect our countys industries with resources and other organizations that offer supportive services. We have a great partnership with such an organization, the Central New York International Business Alliance.

The CNYIBA offers export assistance to enhance global sales of businesses in the 12-county CenterState region. I have had the pleasure of working with, and introducing, Steven King, export director of the CNYIBA, to several Cayuga County manufacturers and producers. King has been exporting for over 25 years to over 80 countries and has extensive international sales and marketing experience.

Whether you have never exported, are currently exporting and want to expand, or have an unresolved customs issue, the CNYIBA is available to help. Kings services span from answering a simple question to developing a comprehensive export plan for your company. The CNYIBA can help you find overseas buyers, develop pricing and distribution strategies, deal with compliance and regulatory issues, and offer grant support for exports. King is well-versed to assist your business with reviewing overseas distributor contracts, and is a guru on export freight forwarding and logistics.

If you are a business owner or manager, I encourage you to schedule a meeting with King. He takes a holistic approach to reviewing your exporting needs and potential. The CNYIBA also offers exporting seminars and networking events and a great four-month part time program called ExportNY at the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University, which helps exporters at all stages to build confidence, competence, and export sales. More information about these events can be found at cnyiba.net.

The CNYIBA and King offer their services for a price that is right for your business: free!

Revitalizing our economy in Cayuga County and throughout New York is going to be a multifaceted process. I feel strongly that assisting our businesses with access to additional markets is crucial.

To grow your business in Cayuga County, contact me at bsherman@cayugaeda.org or Steven King at (315) 470-1800 or sking@cnyiba.net to schedule a meeting. To learn more about our work, reserve your seat at CEDAs Economic Forecast Luncheon on Thursday, Jan. 28, by contacting Karen Tehan at (315) 252-3500.
NY FarmNet, an extension and outreach program of Cornell University, will host a Farm Transfer Conference from Feb. 2-3 at the DoubleTree Hotel in East Syracuse to help families develop a farm business succession plan.

The conference will provide information on the farm transfer process, focusing on legal and financial strategies.

"Farmers need to develop a vision to communicate that vision to family and key employees, and have an understanding of available legal and financial strategies to successfully transfer the farm to the next generation," said Ed Staehr, executive director of NY FarmNet and a senior extension associate with the Dyson School at Cornell University, in a press release.

The keynote speaker for the conference will be John Baker, an attorney and administrator at the Beginning Farmer Center, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. Baker is also the founder and chair of the International Farm Transition Network, which provides support to programs that foster next generation farmers and ranchers.

Conference sponsors include the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, Crop Insurance and Risk Management Program, the Farm Credit East and The Stanley Warren Teaching Endowment.

An agenda for the conference is available at nyfarmnet.org. To register for the free conference, call (800) 547-3276 or email dlw56@cornell.edu.
The current water crisis in Flint, Michigan is a story which should cause all Americans to examine what we require from our government. It should not be only viewed as a failure of government, but this catastrophe has been mostly caused by a lack of accountability taken from the people of Flint. An unelected manager, appointed directly by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, is the source of this problem. Blaming government cannot be the only retort to this catastrophe.

After Michigan voters voted down the emergency manager law several years ago, the Legislature just passed another law in its place which changed very little. The main problem is accountability has been disregarded and ignored. Rick Snyder ignored his constituents votes for holding him accountable for the original law passed when he first took office. The people of Flint were denied their right to hold the emergency manager accountable by rendering the citys elected officials as only figureheads.

Hillary Clinton was absolutely correct by saying, This catastrophe  which was caused by a zeal to save money at all costs  could actually cost $1.5 billion in infrastructure repairs. Secretary Clinton was also correct in stating this would never happen if white children in a suburb were found with high lead levels. This crisis breaks down along class and race. People should investigate the conditions of infrastructure between communities of affluence and communities of poverty. Here in New York we see this play out each year when Senate Republicans protect a school funding formula which benefits their more affluent districts at the expense of underserved urban districts.

This disparity has been highlighted by the Campaign for Fiscal Equity. Our state still short changes its educational institutions thanks to the three men in a room budget process which allows for very little accountability. Class and race set against a lack of accountability for people who only view things through the paradigm of the bottom line are to blame for the problems mentioned above. We, the voters, demanding our government meets the needs of all its citizens, is the very first step to take in the name of accountability.

Jim Granger

Weedsport
SKANEATELES | The three Skaneateles High School students who recently attended the NYSSMA All-State conference gave high praise for the experience  and also applauded their opportunities and teachers here at home.

Jackie Aberi, Sam Smith and Jimmy Drancsak were among elite musicians chosen from throughout the state to perform at the festival.

Aberi was in the womens choir, Drancsak played violin in the symphony orchestra and Smith was the bassist for the vocal jazz ensemble.

Orchestra teacher Karen Veverka said the role of bassist for the vocal jazz ensemble is usually reserved for a musician the NYSSMA audition committee feels is one of the top bass players in the state. Sam fit that bill.

The symphony orchestra performed Les Preludes by Liszt, one of the most challenging pieces of music in orchestral repertoire to perform, said Veverka. Our students did an outstanding and amazing job representing our music students in the state of New York.

All-State is highly selective. More than 6,000 of the states most talented and hopeful music students audition, and fewer than 1,000 are selected to perform in eight groups.

The three Skaneateles musicians said performing at All State was a peak music experience in part because of the quality of their fellow performers.

Smith said it was an honor to perform on the stage of Kodak Hall in Rochester under guidance from staff at the Eastman School of Music.

Two of our composers were there and worked right with us, Aberi said of her experience in the chorus. "And the conductors were so advanced.

While she has gone outside of school for many rich experiences, Aberi attributes the supportive base she has had in the school district with helping her most.

We have so many groups, she said, which equals to so many opportunities.

Drancsak, who attended All-State for the second time, agreed, saying, The amount of opportunities we have here for the size of the population is just incredible compared to what others might have.

The students said they realized this especially when comparing programs and opportunities with students from other schools. They praised their music teachers throughout Skaneateles schools, starting with Terry Squires, who just retired.

Smith is attending Berkley College of Music in the fall to study jazz performance. Aberi plans to go into musical theater. and Drancsak plans to study music education.
WHITE PLAINS | When medical marijuana became available this month in New York, Brittany Barger was one of the first patients to navigate the state's rules and make it through a dispensary door.

"When you're as sick as I am, you'll try anything," said Barger, who has ovarian cancer that has spread through her 27-year-old body.

New York's program  one of the strictest out of the 23 states that allow medical marijuana  has had a widely anticipated slow beginning, but there are signs it's gaining momentum.

The state Health Department says more than 165 patients have now qualified, a figure that's more than doubled in a week but is still just a sliver of the potential patient pool. More than 225 doctors have now taken the state-required training, up from about 150 last week.

Seven of the eight dispensaries that opened around the state Jan. 7 have seen patients, sometimes more than anticipated, or have appointments scheduled, operators say.

The Health Department is "extremely pleased" with the program's launch, spokesman JP O'Hare said.

Still, some would-be patients say they're stymied, unable to get access to any of the doctors prepared to see them. The state hasn't released physicians' names, although a few have announced themselves publicly. The Health Department said this week it would soon give a list to practitioners, though not to the public, citing security concerns.

While some other states' medical marijuana programs also have faced questions about accessibility, New York is one of the few states to require physician training. New York also allows only cannabis extracts in pills and liquids, not pot in joints or brownies, a provision echoed only in Minnesota. And New York's 10 qualifying illnesses also exclude some conditions other states allow, such as chronic pain in itself.

The requirements surprise some patients who call Etain Health's dispensaries in Kingston, where the first few clients had appointments set for Saturday, and Albany, where patients are still awaited, the company said.

"We expected a very slow start," said Chief Operating Officer Hillary Peckham, who feels there's "a learning curve, but I don't think it's something that can't be overcome."

Meanwhile, patient traffic, in the dozens, is beating expectations at Columbia Care's Manhattan dispensary, CEO Nicholas Vita said.

There have been a handful of patients at Vireo Health of New York's dispensary in suburban White Plains and at PharmaCannis' facilities near Buffalo and Syracuse, the companies said. Bloomfield Industries would say only that it has seen patients in its two dispensaries, also in the Syracuse and Buffalo areas. All the operators are slated to open more facilities, for a total of 20.

State officials say they responded to patients' interest while providing for closely supervised, carefully calibrated products. But to patients like Donna Romano, they're too hard to get.

During years of living with multiple sclerosis, Romano has found ways to get pot that she finds relieves her pain and muscle stiffness. She hopes pharmaceutical-grade products will help even more. But the Syracuse resident hasn't found a nearby physician who's prepared to certify her for the drugs.

"It's frustrating, it's aggravating, and some people are losing hope," said Romano, 60.

While some doctors are supportive of medical marijuana, others are concerned about a drug that remains illegal under federal law and fear patients might abuse the system to get it, says Dr. Michael T. Goldstein, an ophthalmologist and president of the New York County Medical Society, a Manhattan physicians' group.

Dr. Margaret Lewin, a Manhattan primary care physician, is taking a middle path. She plans to take the course to learn about the products, but not to prescribe them, as she thinks specialists will become experts on them. But she'll consider referring people to such doctors "once I'm more knowledgeable," she said.

Barger, the cancer patient, went to the dispensary hoping for an alternative to painkillers that had come with serious side effects. Fighting a cancer unsuitable for surgery and unresponsive so far to chemotherapy, she'd lost 100 pounds because she couldn't keep food down. Simply seeing a movie became a major undertaking.

While noting it's early to draw conclusions, she says that since she started using a cannabis vaporizer and capsules, she's needed fewer pain pills, feels more relaxed and has her appetite back. The biggest plus, she says, has been joining her family for meals.

"With this, I'm hoping to have more good days," she said, "and be able to check some more stuff off my bucket list."
ALBANY | New York state will require physicians to complete an educational course before they can authorize medical marijuana for patients  an unusual mandate not applied to other new drugs or seen in other states with medical marijuana programs.

State officials say the 4.5-hour, $250-online course will inform doctors about a complex drug treatment not covered in medical school. But while the investment of time and money is modest, some patient advocates worry the inconvenience could discourage physicians from participating, ultimately limiting patient access.

Medical marijuana is expected to be available beginning in January, 18 months after lawmakers and Gov. Andrew Cuomo approved what they intended to be a relatively cautious program balancing patient need with concerns about abuse.

While many of the other 22 states with medical marijuana programs offer physicians free, voluntarily resources about the drug, they haven't required physicians to pay for training before they can authorize cannabis.

Only one other drug is subject to a similar training requirement  a potent narcotic used to treat opiate addiction  and those rules come from the federal government.

"Doctors recommend medications all the time for which they are not required to undergo special training," said Julie Netherland, deputy state director for the Drug Policy Alliance, a group that supports medical marijuana. "Obviously it is good for doctors to be educated about medical cannabis, but the concern is whether this will serve as a deterrent. How many doctors will choose to go through this training?"

Under the state's law, cannabis will be made available to patients with certain qualifying conditions such as cancer, AIDS, Parkinson's and epilepsy if approved by a physician. In addition to the training, physicians must register with the state's health department. In an effort to prevent misuse, only tinctures, oils and other non-smokeable forms of cannabis will be available.

Craig Blinderman, a physician who directs adult palliative care at Columbia University Medical Center, predicted that only "the most motivated" physicians will sign up for the training.

"The vast majority of doctors are not going to do it until their patients start asking about it," said Blinderman, who supports medical marijuana. "If you live in upstate New York and there is a handful of doctors, this is going to be an issue. It may have been a little too much to mandate."

Eric Voth disagrees. The Topeka, Kansas, physician and chairman of the Institute on Global Drug Policy opposes widespread use of marijuana as a medicine and said too many states have approved programs with few controls.

"We are totally bypassing the FDA. It's just the Wild West," he said, adding that he supports mandatory training for physicians interested in authorizing the drug for patients. "It needs to go beyond that. There should also be ongoing oversight of their practices."

Voluntary training courses are available in many states, including California and Washington, where medical marijuana classes are offered as part of a physician's normal continuing education requirements.

In New York, the requirement was added by Cuomo during negotiations with lawmakers, according to the bill's sponsor, Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, D-Manhattan. He noted physicians must already complete required training in drug abuse prevention and infection control.

"I would have been comfortable without such a requirement," Gottfried said. "We generally trust physicians to learn about medications they haven't prescribed before without special legal requirements. But I don't see it as a problem and I think it could be helpful."

Meanwhile, patients and their loved ones are growing tired of waiting 1 years after the program was approved. Maryanne Houser's 11-year-old daughter, Amanda, has a form of epilepsy that the Suffern woman hopes can be treated with cannabis. She said she's not opposed to the training requirement  but believes the state has delayed for long enough.

"My daughter is suffering," Houser said. "She had 11 seizures before school (on Wednesday.) I'm frustrated and I want to get her the right medicine. I want my daughter better."
Australia's one-term Prime Minister above ... Events of interest from a libertarian/conservative perspective below
As I peered past the hard rain against my windshield, I saw multiple shades of gray composing my new world in a wiggly abstract. The Sierra disappeared from my rearview mirror and was replaced by beacons of headlights urging me forth. Welcome to the Golden State for this dusty Rez boy. I was definitely in uncharted water and there was no turning back. The award and acceptance letter from the art college in my glove compartment confirmed that. This was just another stage of lifes journey and transitions. That gave me a little semblance of cockiness.

I drove into the grayness of Oakland that afternoon with no idea where the school was located. I had to park precariously to find a phone booth and call the school. In this manner, I worked my way up to the California College of the Arts on the slope of the Oakland hills. The rain subsided as I stepped onto the lush campus where beautiful concrete architecture seemed to blend in well with the leafy environment. This must be what it feels like to walk into a salad bowla verdant world dripping with the fragrance of the citys dankness and the Pacific Ocean. It was not a large campus, and that offered comfort.

My Ford Comet and its contents were my only tie to the rolling Rez and known world I had left a few days backmy music, saddle and fabrics still clinging to the aroma of sage. I stood on the corner of the main arteries of Oakland and Berkeley, squinting into the haziness drizzle makes, with my Stetson wet and pliable on my head. The cafeteria ladies, cheery and curious, asked my origin as they served me a bowl of beans and crackers. I am Navajo from Arizona. I replied. Well Ill be! I thought you were all gone. You all must be doing a rain dance now, she said as she served me up another bowl. I think I will like this place, I thought.

Colors and shapes stood out boldly in the grayness. The admissions people provided me with an address where I could stay until I got my awards check. It was very hard to negotiate the avenues and streets of this strange new world. In 1976 there were no cell phones or GPS of any kind. I had to rely on my indigenous GPS to get to the address in east Oakland, a very sketchy place I would have thought had I not come from Kayenta, where sketchiness had names like Chees Jungle and Silver Bullet, and bootlegged booze is often times served up with a beating. Where brown faces stare you down with clenched fistsa turn of a phrase that comes to blows. Somehow the sleek high-rises and lighted marquees were more intimidating than the graffiti-covered avenues of the citys anatomy. I just had to smile into uncertainty.

The address provided turned out to be an American Indian Movement flop house where I ate another fine meal of hotdog and peanut butter sandwich. I had known some pseudo-AIM radicals back on the Santa Fe, N.M., campus. I had little to share with these folksanger seemed to dominate the walls and voices. I came in peace. I left that place in search of a place to rest my head. I had no idea where.

Like a sleek speed boat riding the waves, my chiddy (vehicle), rode the crests of the asphalt trough east Oakland back down into downtown where the most unexpected sight caught my attention: a native guy walking the street and from his back, I recognized him by his gait. Mike was a fellow student back at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe. We were never close there by our company. He hung with the urban Indian crowd, dressed impeccably, and I with my ragged bunch of Rez sheep camp ropers. I pulled over and gave a shout. He flashed a recognizing smile, a big Lakota Aaayy. He climbed in and we proceeded into the unknown.

It turned out he was a student, one of the only two Native students at the art college. I was flabbergasted, beside myself with disbelief. In this massive city and all its inhabitants, I had to run into him on Broadway. He was dressed in jeans and a paint splattered T-shirtso unlike the guy I knew that wore a powder blue suit with bling. Now he was accessible, confined in my car blasting out the Grateful Dead.

Instead of going back to his apartment, we decided to go to a notorious Indian bar known as Hilltop. We drank and caught up on matters of our current situation. He was so happy to see a familiar face and now the third Native on campus. A few drinks later some words were exchanged and I ended up in a barroom brawl with another cocky Navajo. With a slight bruise on my forehead and trailing bravado, we left that night into the kaleidoscope of the city lights. Somewhere, he got out and wandered off and the address he gave me was undecipherable. It was a confusing place and all I wanted to do was find a place to rest my head. Eventually, I found a quiet place on a side street and fell asleep in my car.

Later in the night, I woke up to a soundfirecrackers or backfire. A man came rushing by, knocked on my window frantically and took off again. I saw more people milling about shouting angrily into the night. This was not a place of rest for me. I was in a risky neighborhood in west Oakland. I made my exit and drove further north into a more genteel area, well lit with manicured pastures. I parked off the curb and placed my saddle on the ground as a pillow and fell asleep under my Pendleton. When I awoke, there were people all about and an angry security man was nudging me to get off the lawn in a threatening manner. It turned out I was camping on the greens of UC Berkeley. I left before other authorities got involved. I also found the first of many parking tickets I was to collect.

With my trusty Rand McNally, I made my way back to the art college. It was still a few days before the semester began so I made my class listart history being at the top. I was determined to get past this initial gauntlet of a new wilderness. My car had somehow sustained a noticeable dent in the front fender just past the hole in the windshield now covered with a piece of tribal campaign sticker. Fortunately, the drivers side was clear. I dont recall where this happened, maybe a post or something else solid. By now, all longings to get back to the Rezs familiarity dissipated and I was set to make the best of my situation.

In the light of a new day, it all seemed possible. Now, I had to go find my friend Mike. Disheveled but still looking gorgeous and feeling good, I ventured forth with the prayers of the great Hero Twins in my heart.

To be continued, again 
BB gun at Killip

Flagstaff police arrested a man for bringing a realistic-looking BB gun into Killip Elementary School over the weekend.

According to the police report, a bystander saw a man threaten someone with what appeared to be a gun at about 12:30 p.m. Sunday during Bergs BBQ, an outreach program that serves food to homeless people at Killip Elementary. The witness told police the suspect was either talking or arguing with another man when he pulled out the gun and started raising it. That prompted the other man to walk away.

Officers found a loaded, realistic-looking BB gun pistol in the suspects pocket. He denied ever threatening anyone. The suspect was wearing east side Flagstaff gang colors and identified documented gang members as his friends. He also showed signs of alcohol intoxication and told police he was coming down from methamphetamine.

The 23-year-old suspect was arrested and charged with carrying a weapon on school grounds. He was booked into the Coconino County Detention Facility.

Charged with DUI

 Ryan Weston Townsend, 33, of Page was arrested and charged with extreme DUI at 12:21 a.m. Sunday.

 Phil Christopher Manygoats, 37 of 1865 E. Broadway Road Flag 85282 was arrested and charged with aggravated DUI with a suspended license at 12:58 p.m. Sunday.

 Jerome Smith, 38, of Chambers was arrested and charged with aggravated DUI with a suspended license at 10:42 p.m. Monday.

 Natasha Gabriela Hanstveit, 21 of Sedona was arrested and charged with DUI at 12:11 a.m. Tuesday.

City and county residents who want to report a crime but wish to remain anonymous may call Silent Witness at 774-6111 or (877) 29-CRIME, submit a tip online at www.coconinosilentwitness.org, or text the word Flagtip along with your information to 274637 (CRIMES). Rewards of up to $2,000 are given for information that leads to an arrest.
The Coconino County Sheriffs Office is asking the public to help them locate a missing person.

Lawrence Byrne, 46, was last heard from Jan. 1. His brother reported him missing to both Phoenix Police Department and Scottsdale Police Department. He also told police he was worried Byrne may be suicidal. Scottsdale police entered him into the Arizona law enforcement database as a missing person.

According to the Sheriffs Office, Byrne may have been heading to the Williams area. Coconino County Sheriffs Office deputies and Search and Rescue volunteers have conducted ground and air searches but have not located Byrne or his vehicle.

Byrne is a white male, approximately 5 feet, 11 inches tall and 200 pounds with brown eyes and brown hair. He believed to be driving a white Volkswagen Toureg SUV with Arizona license plate number BRC2028.

The Sheriffs Office is asking anyone with information about Byrnes whereabouts or the whereabouts of his vehicle to call (928) 774-4523 or 1-800-338-7888.
In addition to anti-money-laundering scandals involving global banks and worldwide organizations such as FIFA that grabbed headlines last year, there were plenty of damaging laundering convictions and accusations in 2015 that went unnoticed but still took a heavy toll on midlevel banks.

Money laundering is a crime that occurs more often than the general public realizes, and in most sectors of our economy. In the past year alone, charity officials, a mortuary owner, a church director and a doctor providing chemo treatments were at the center of appalling cases you probably never heard about.

Here is my top 10 list for unheralded yet just as disturbing money laundering stories from 2015:

1. Tayfun Karauzum, of Newport Beach, Calif., was sentenced to five years in prison for distributing $1 million to $2.5 million of Potion 9, which contained a solvent that metabolizes in the body to become gamma-Hydroxybutyrate, or GHB, a known date-rape drug. He then laundered the proceeds.

2. Charles and Diana Muir were sentenced to 48 and six months in prison, respectively, and forced to return the $1.1 million they stole from a 140-year-old college scholarship charity in Louisville, Ky.  the Woodcock Foundation  that was run by Charles Muir. The couple then laundered the proceeds through Diana Muir's dental business.

3. Scott Gruber of Indianapolis was sentenced to four years in prison and forced to pay over $1 million in restitution for setting up two fundraising organizations designed to collect money for veterans and then failing to turn the money over to its designees. Of the $1 million collected for two separate veterans' charities, less than 1% was given back. The rest was laundered.

4. Farid Fata, a Michigan doctor, was sentenced to 45 years in prison and forced to pay $17.5 million in restitution for defrauding Medicare and other insurers by forcing over 550 of his patients to undergo unnecessary chemotherapy treatments. He then attempted to launder the proceeds.

5. Brian Brown, former president of National Relief Charities, and a co-conspirator, William Peters, were sentenced for stealing $4 million from the organization. There were sentenced to 18 and 37 months in prison, respectively, and forced to pay $4 million in restitution, for using their positions with the charity to force it to fund scholarships for Native American students and using the money for personal purposes instead. The pair attempted to launder the proceeds through tax returns.

6. Edward J. MacKenzie Jr. was sentenced to 12 years in prison and forced to pay $754,569 in restitution for scheming his way into a lucrative job at a Boston church, looting its coffers and then laundering the money to pay for cars, gifts to friends and family members and to cover his legal bills. MacKenzie has claimed to be a former enforcer for mob boss Whitey Bulger.

7. John "Richard" Ceroni and Adale "Marie" Cernoni, founders of Carnegie Career College, were sentenced to 69 months in prison and 55 months in prison, respectively. They were ordered to pay $2.3 million in restitution for bilking the U.S. Department of Education for that amount in student financial aid and then laundering the proceeds to pay for property, vacations and jewelry.

8. Katherine Le, a Houston socialite and jewelry designer, whose collection was once sold at Neiman Marcus, was arrested last October on charges of money laundering in connection with a Houston game room. Le, along with alleged six co-conspirators, is accused of laundering over $6 million in proceeds. The maximum sentence for this charge is life in prison.

9. Robert L. Keys, an Oregon businessman, was sentenced to 70 months in prison and required to pay $1.1 million in restitution for committing wire fraud, money laundering and bankruptcy fraud. As the owner of the Private Consulting Group investment firm, Keys bilked one of his top clients, an elderly widow, for over $1 million and then tried to launder the proceeds.

10. Claus Hansen, owner of Affordable Casket and Moanalua Mortuary in Hawaii, was sentenced to 30 days in jail, 300 hours of community service and $50,000 in restitution fees for pocketing a total of $85,886.18 that was supposed to go to survivors of Medicaid recipients. He then attempted to launder the proceeds.

After analyzing the data we found that the median of the top 10 unnoticed money laundering cases (minus Le's, who has yet to go to trial) was $1.1 million laundered, $1.1 million paid in restitution and five years in prison. That might seem small compared with the whole of AML cases. The estimated amount of money laundered globally in one year is between 2% and 5% of global GDP, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

But even though the amount of money laundered by the criminals on the list pales in comparison to the cases making national and international headlines, these are hardly victimless crimes. Those cases that slipped through the national media's radar last year likely had a dramatic effect on the people and communities where those crimes took place.

Richard Paxton is the founding partner and CEO of Alacer Group, a consulting firm and technology solutions provider.
Who Are the Women of Davos?: Among the women presenting at the World Economic Forum are Inga Beale, the first female CEO of the insurance giant Lloyd's of London; Chanda Kochhar, the CEO of ICICI Bank, India's largest private bank; and Elvira Nabiullina, the first woman to take the role of governor of the Bank of Russia. If you're interested in gender issues, you can follow the livestream of Davos sessions, including a debate on "Progress Towards Parity" Friday at 4pm CET.

Talking to the Top: At least two reports on gender equality are being released in Davos this week, where gender diversity is a more prominent topic than in the past, even though just 18% of attendees are women. Theresa Whitmarsh, head of the Washington State Investment Board, and Elizabeth Nyamayaro, head of the U.N. Women's HeForShe campaign, are each releasing studies on the lack of women in top roles within the financial services world. Whitmarsh intends to bring attention to women's biological and cognitive differences from men, which she says account for differences in their decision-making approaches. Nyamayaro's work focuses on men's involvement in advancing gender equality, since historically and at present men hold most of the positions of power. HeForShe, recognizing the lack of a measuring unit for gender equality, will publish the gender makeup of 10 global companies, including Barclays.

Five More Years?: The International Monetary Fund's Christine Lagarde is the best leader its ever had, according to political scientist Ian Bremmer. He says she restored its reputation  following the scandal of her predecessor Dominique Strauss-Kahn and financial meltdown of 2008 that tainted Western-led lenders  and brought "creativity and compassion" and "a human face" to the organization. She also identified and acted on three of "the most important challenges facing today's world," including advocacy for women in the workforce and women in leadership, he says. Lagarde has previously expressed her willingness to serve another term. "The world badly needs a leader dedicated to making the world a safer and more prosperous place. Lagarde has shown that she is such a leader," Bremmer says. "She deserves the chance to finish what she started." (By the way, Lagarde is also among the featured speakers in Davos.)

Sustainability in the Workplace: The glut of Davos op-eds out there include two from Bank of America executives, one on sustainability, the other on diversity. Climate change is everyone's responsibility, not just that of government leaders, argues Anne Finucane, Bank of America's vice chairman and global chief strategy and marketing officer, in a Huff-Po op-ed. Businesses in particular have an opportunity to commit to environmental and economic sustainability, not just by investing financial and intellectual capital, but also by improving the culture and environment in the workplace. To B of A, she says, that means giving employees a better quality of life  offering competitive wages and benefits that allow employees to balance their professional and personal lives. In a separate op-ed for American Banker, Cathy Bessant, B of A's chief operations and technology officer, says improving gender diversity is a must for economic development, not just cultural development. Both Finucane and Bessant are on our Most Powerful Women in Banking list, and Bessant did this video interview with us on why she thinks gender matters.

How to Be a Smart Company: Increase pay and parental leave and offer help with financial education. Those are three ways companies can support their female employees, which they would want to do if they are smart, says Sallie Krawcheck, CEO of Ellevest. Start with a higher budget for salaries a la Marc Benioff at Salesforce, who added $3 million to its salary budget to help close its gender pay gap, she advises. And providing employees with parental leave can actually save companies $19 billion annually, because finding, hiring and training new employees is costly, she points out.

Role Call

UMB Financial in Kansas City, Mo., has promoted Jenny Payne to chief risk officer from director of corporate risk services.

Morgan Stanley has appointed Shelley O'Connor and Andy Saperstein as co-heads of wealth management. "Our bench in wealth management is particularly strong. Andy and Shelley both have deep experience," said James Gorman, Morgan Stanley's CEO.

In Case You Missed It

Not a Wall Street Wolf: Judith McGee of Portland was one of the first women to become a certified financial planner. At age 72 she is the CEO of McGee Wealth Management and the first of three generations of women in the field. She says financial planning is ideal for women. "It's a great, great profession for women because it's caregiving and it's analytical. It's detailed, but it's also unstructured. So it's a little bit of everything  but mostly, it's a helping profession," McGee says. Women make up about 14% of financial planners today, but McGee says the dearth of female talent has to do with public perception of the financial services industry. "In the world at large, it makes great movies to have 'The Wolf of Wall Street.' But that isn't the reality of what we do," she says. "The national firms  all of them  are crying for diversity. Not just women, but women of color, women of different cultures."

Beyond Banking

Working Women or Not: A report by the World Economic Forum itself predicts the global economy will lose 7.1 million jobs by 2020 to artificial intelligence, robotics, 3D printing, and "smart" home, factory, and farm systems  and the burden will fall disproportionately on women. The WEF's measure of gender gap in the workforce has only narrowed 3% since 2006. Jobs in computers and math are expected to make up for jobs lost, but female participation in those sectors is so low that it predicts "nearly one new STEM job per four jobs lost for men, but only one new STEM job per 20 jobs lost for women." The report, issued Monday, indicated that the notion of women's talents being "underutilized" is not giving companies' leadership the sense of urgency necessary to turn that around, as only 53% indicated women in senior leadership is a priority. Good thing it's a hot topic at the leadership forum this year  but even though female participation this year is double that of 2002, women still haven't cracked 20%.

The U.N. Gets in on the Action: The United Nations is creating a panel on women's economic empowerment, which will come up with a plan of action by September. The recommendations are likely to including giving women the right to create a business and the right to set up a bank account in countries where it is currently forbidden. "The empowerment of the world's women is a global imperative," U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said when announcing the plan in Davos.
WestStar Bank in El Paso, Texas, has new leadership after the retirement of Larry Patton, its president and chief executive.

The $1.1 billion-asset bank said Tuesday that L. Frederick Francis, executive chairman since 2007 and a director with WestStar since 1996, is now chairman and CEO. David Osborn, who had been chief lending officer, is now president and chief operating officer.

Patton, 66, retired on Jan. 1 but will remain with the bank through March as vice chairman to help with the leadership transition. He was one of the first executives of the bank, joining it in 1990 when it was founded as Bank of the West. He became president in 1999.
After completing its first fully operational year in 2015, Lowell Observatorys $53 million Discovery Channel Telescope will be getting some new additions to its instrument suite over the next two years.

They will allow the telescope to track luminous gamma ray bursts, search for Earth-like planets and study the formation of young stars and planetary systems.

For a young telescope like the DCT, those additional instruments, each worth several million dollars, will provide a huge boost to its reputation and credibility in the scientific community, Lowell Director Jeff Hall said.

Your $53 million asset is worthless without instruments, Hall said, and the more diverse and capable instrument suite, the more diverse projects we can undertake and that will garner attention and get DCT on the map.

First up to be installed on the 4.3-meter telescopes instrument cube is a Rapid Infrared Imager and Spectrograph, or RIMAS. The 500-pound instrument, being built at the University of Maryland, allows astronomers to observe things like distant gamma ray bursts, the most energetic transient events in the universe, that occurred billions of light years away. Its the afterglows of these high-energy bursts, some of which are thought to be the deaths of massive stars, that astronomers are interested in tracking, said John Capone, a Ph.D. candidate in the universitys astronomy program and a member of the RIMAS team. Observing how that light travels through and is absorbed by other matter in the universe allows astronomers to measure properties of the galaxies where the light originated, Capone said. Also, because the most distant of these energetic bursts occurred within a billion years of the Big Bang, observing their light gives clues to the relatively young universe, Capone said.

The lingering, steadily fading light from a gamma ray burst significantly decreases in brightness over a few minutes or hours though, so scientists have to quickly find and track them. The DCT is ideal for the task because mirrors in the telescope can within a minute or so shift to direct incoming light from one instrument in the cube to another, Hall said.

Capone said the University of Maryland team is hoping to have the RIMAS instrument ready for delivery to Lowell by April.

A high-resolution Immersion Grating Infrared Spectrograph, or IGRINS, is the instrument perhaps most anticipated by Lowells scientists, Hall said. Transformative in the words of one Lowell astronomer, the instrument would enable us to do some outstanding science, Hall said. The spectrograph, currently in use at the University of Texas McDonald Observatory, disperses light into component wavelengths with very fine detail, which astronomers can study to determine everything from what elements are present in a distant star to how fast it may be rotating.

The observatory is still in negotiations with the University of Texas and Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute to bring IGRINS to the DCT a certain number of months a year as a visiting instrument, Hall said.

The instrument has a variety of applications, from the study of distant objects in our solar system to the study of young stars and planetary systems forming around the stars, Hall and Lowell astronomer Lisa Prato said.

The instrument has already been used to produce possibly the best high-resolution spectrum of Pluto to date, Prato said.

Its sensitivity is incredible, she said.

A third instrument, an Extreme Precision Spectrograph, or EXPRES, will be a counterpart to IGRINS, providing even higher-resolution infrared spectrum data on distant stars and planets. The instrument will be used to hunt for Earth-like planets by scanning the universe for bodies that exert the same gravitational tug on their stars as the Earth does on the sun. The strength of the planets pull gives an indication of its mass and its distance from the star, Hall said.

We want to find Earths in the habitable zone of their stars, Hall said. This is the quest for looking for life in the universe.

Housing the EXPRES instrument, scheduled to be delivered in late 2017, will require the construction of another room on the ground floor of the Discovery Channel Telescope. The large part of the instrument will live in that room which will be under vacuum and temperature controlled, and will be connected by fiberoptic cable to a fiberoptic head on the telescopes instrument cube.

Both instruments offer enormous jumps in resolution. IGRINS will be eight times the resolution of the most sensitive instrument currently on the DCT, EXPRES will provide 30 times the resolution of whats currently possible from the Happy Jack telescope.
Fifth Third Bancorp has hired insurance industry veteran Howard McClure as head of insurance services, a newly created position at the Cincinnati company.

McClure will report to Lars Anderson, the $142 billion-asset bank's chief operating officer.

"Howard McClure is the perfect individual to help Fifth Third evaluate and launch strategic initiatives to further grow our insurance presence," Fifth Third's president and chief executive, Greg Carmichael, said in a press release Wednesday.

McClure will also be in charge of employee benefits for the consumer and commercial lines of business.

Before joining Fifth Third, McClure was president of the Texas business insurance firm Palmer & Cay. Before that he was head of Wells Fargo's Southwest region and managed a major part of Wachovia's insurance division.


Polls show that Socialist Bernie Sanders might win the Iowa caucus and will likely win the New Hampshire primary, but conventional wisdom is that Sanders has no chance of going any farther in the fight for the Democrat nomination. Is this true? Is it unthinkable that Sanders could beat Hillary? Could Sanders win the Democrat nomination?

Yes, he could. Although Hillary will doubtless win the closed caucus in Nevada eleven days after the New Hampshire primary, the South Carolina primary is seen as a "firewall" for her  but maybe not. Hillary is moving as far to the left as she can, which makes her unpalatable to Democrats in the South. More than that, Hillary is widely viewed as insincere and corrupt.

The polls in Southern states are really all over the map. All the polls, though, show a trajectory in the direction of Sanders, and the idea that the South will embrace someone like Hillary rests on shaky ground. She is, in no real sense of the word, a social conservative like most Southerners. While Sanders is no social conservative, either, he has at least the image of integrity, and that counts.

The reception that Bernie Sanders gets in the South may be like the reception Sanders got when he spoke at Liberty University, a very conservative and religious Southern Christian college. The students and faculty treated Sanders with respect, as an honorable man who was saying what he really thought.

This may give Bernie Sanders an advantage that Beltway punditry does not understand. He can, as many have noted, appeal to the educated white liberalsbut he may also be able to appeal to the disgruntled rural and small-town folk who do not believe that Hillary is really on their side or tells them the truth.

As Hillary becomes increasingly unsavory and disingenuous in her scripted comments, those who are fed up with professional politicians and who want change in Washington might well swing to Sanders if Sanders appears as a "real" candidate with a chance of winning. South Carolina is also an open primary. Republicans can vote for Sanders, and if enough do, then he might win or almost win.

Three days after that, eleven states will have primaries or caucuses. Six will be open primaries in Southern states: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. Oklahoma has a closed primary the same day. If Sanders has any momentum coming out of South Carolina; if he can appeal to Southerners who like honesty more than lies; and if enough Republicans, who can vote for Sanders, do so, then he might win some or all of these open primaries.

The other states that choose delegates on March 1 might surprise as well. Minnesota and Colorado, both of which caucus that day, are precisely the sort of white liberal that Sanders has attracted. Vermont has an open primary, which Sanders, of course, should win. Massachusetts has a primary as well, which Sanders might win as well.

What if Sanders, having won the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary, runs well or even wins in South Carolina? What if Sanders goes into the March 1 primaries and caucuses with momentum and support and ends up winning states no one thought he was going to win? Hillary has run so much on her inevitability that losing the aura of invincibility could send her campaign into at least a deep funk and, perhaps, a spiral downward that makes her unelectable and drives Democrat voters away from her in droves.

Those who think that Sanders could not win the nomination are wrong. He probably won't, but if someone like Biden feels compelled to enter the campaign after half the primaries are over, there is no guarantee that Hillary could drop out or that Biden would win those Democrats who intend to support Sanders.

Moreover, if Biden, an establishment figure like Hillary, enters the race with the clear and sole intention of keeping Sanders from winning the nomination, then all those Democrats who are angry at the establishment may view a late Biden reversal of his earlier decision to stay out as an "establishment trick" and react accordingly.

Polls, moreover, may well begin to show that Sanders is the Democrats' best choice of winning the general election. Indeed, some polls are already showing Sanders as running better against specific Republican nominees than Hillary does.

Could Sanders win the Democrat Nomination? Stranger things have happened.
A puzzling mindset has emerged in some conservatives regarding Cruz. A publisher who usually publishes my articles rejected one touting Ted Cruz for president. The publisher politely lectured me about my support for Cruz, calling it misguided and even non-Christian. I love the way when people know you are Christian they try to use your faith to manipulate you. (Smile)

Conservatives choosing to perceive Trump as they want him to be is a reflection of their anger, frustration, and fear of losing their country. I witnessed this phenomenon when Trump first announced his campaign. An evangelical minister attempted to convince me that Trump is a committed Christian. I was a bit taken aback. While I do not think poorly of Trump, it never occurred to me to use the words Trump and Christian in the same sentence. My Evangelical brother's effort to make Trump a strong Christian confirmed that Conservatives are desperate. Pure and simple.

The reality is that many conservatives will follow anyone promising real change in Washington. Given the betrayal, heartache and disappointment that the GOP has put tea partiers/patriots through, I cannot criticize my patriot brothers and sisters who support Trump. It kind of offends me when I hear conservative pundits trashing Trump supporters -- in essence, beating up on the victims.

I will state again that if Trump becomes our GOP nominee, I will wave Vote Trump! signs on street corners. However, I do have concerns about the man. I am not talking about the mainstream media, Democrats and RINO's accusations about Trump.

As a matter of fact, please allow me to digress for a moment. I heard a report that British politicians have half a million signatures on a petition supportive of banning Trump from the UK because of his proposal to temporarily ban Muslims from the U.S. Folks, this infuriated me. I thought, Just because you idiots have surrendered to political correctness and allowed Muslim terrorists to dominate your country, does not mean we should do the same in the U.S.!

Back to my issues with Trump. My dad said a snake can swim under water a very long time just like a fish. However, it eventually has to come up for air because it is not a fish, it is a snake. Folks, I am not calling Trump a snake. I am simply saying while Trump has touted conservative values during his campaign, Trump's history is not conservative. Perhaps Trump has had a road to Damascus conversion and is now a rabid conservative. Who knows? But why risk it?

A wise person said, The best predictor of future behavior is... past behavior. Folks, I suspect that there is very little doubt in your mind as to who Ted Cruz is and what he will do as president. Cruz has a history of rock solid conservatism.

And dare I mention the C word, character. Cruz proudly proclaims his Christianity. Real religious conviction affects ones character/behavior. I want my president to believe that there is a God and that it is not him.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom... Proverbs 8:10

William Bradford, the Christian who led the pilgrims on the Mayflower to the new world seeking religious freedom, knew this scripture to be true. Bradford was very outspoken about his belief and trust in God to lead them to their new home in the new world; built on the unique concept of individual freedom.

What I found most distressing about SCOTUS, in essence, making same-sex marriage the law of the land is the Left's successful effort to make normal what has been considered deviant since the beginning of time. SCOTUS's decision opened the floodgates not for tolerance, but for Americans to be bullied into embracing anti-biblical behavior. Why do same-sex couples force Christian businesses to service their weddings rather than going to businesses with flashing neon signs, We Service Homosexual Weddings? Clearly, their agenda is not about getting a wedding cake and all about the Left's intolerance of Christians.

It still blows my mind that Christians are actually being thrown into jail in the United States of America for not embracing sodomy. Ted Cruz has vowed to defend religious freedom. I know he will.

A tea party group leader said they feel like Cruz is lecturing them when he speaks. I thought, Excuse me. With a morally bankrupted anti-America scoundrel like Barack Obama running our country for eight years, America desperately needs a leader/Commander-in-Chief of the highest character and moral standards. No way, would I reject such a candidate because I feel a bit intimidated in their presence. In a field of two-faced, say-whatever-necessary-to-win candidates, I say praise God for a candidate who truly stands for something.

When I was a child, I assumed all U.S. presidents were exceptional people of the highest character. Man, was I wrong. Americans long for a great trustworthy and moral leader. America desperately needs Ted Cruz.

Lloyd Marcus, The Unhyphenated American

LloydMarcus.com
Pamphlets being issued in Germany to Muslim male refugees that they are not to grope or fondle European women reveal the rank stupidity, ignorance, and sheer indifference of European leaders as they continue down a suicidal trajectory.

Of course these men were going to engage in rape jihad, since sexual abuse is ingrained in their religion and culture. As psychologist Nicolai Sennels explains, "Mohammed, the prime example for Muslims, married Aisha when she was six and had intercourse with her when she was nine. Besides, according to the Quran (4:24), Muslims are allowed to have sex with female slaves[.]" In addition, "uncovered women are in many Muslim cultures seen as a kind of prostitute, and if a man is aroused by such a female, then  partly due to the corrupted logic of responsibility within Muslim psychology  the female is blamed for being raped (and will therefore often face execution)."

In 2010, Andrew C. McCarthy, in his book entitled The Grand Jihad, described rape by Muslim immigrants as the "unspoken epidemic of Western Europe." Six years later, it continues to expand and sweep across the continent. Ingrid Carlqvist documents how Sweden is now the rape capital of the West, and when "Michael Hess, a local politician from [the] Sweden Democrat Party, tried to warn his nation that 'it is deeply rooted in Islam's culture to rape and brutalize women who refuse to comply with Islamic teachings' he was charged with 'denigration of ethnic groups'"  a crime in Sweden.

According to Islamic clerics, a woman who fails to wear a headscarf is asking to be raped. Consequently, in the eyes of Muslim men, Western women are seen as "promiscuous, loose, and willing," and since no one in the Islamic community refutes this, they engage in the violence and abuse of power that rape represents. In Australia, Lebanese gangs threaten policemen's wives and girlfriends with rape. In 2006, the mufti of Australia, Sheikh Taj al-Din al Hilali, maintained that "women who do not veil themselves, and allow themselves to be 'uncovered meat,' are at fault if they are raped."

In Rotherham, England, some 1,400 British children as young as 11 were plied with drugs before being passed around and sexually abused by Muslims. As shocking as this was, it is the fifth sex abuse ring led by Muslims according to Raymond Ibrahim, who has been unremitting in his revelation of crimes committed in the name of Islam.

According to Abigail R. Esman, since 2006 the Dutch have described how second-generation Moroccan youths grope Dutch women and call them sluts. Jamie Glazov describes the horrible scar that myriad women now bear. Known as "smiley," whereby "one side of the face is cut up from mouth to ear, it is a war mark left by Muslim rapists as a warning to other women who don't veil themselves." Thus, Muslim and now even non-Muslim women feel the pressure to veil themselves. And female European leaders in perfect synchronized dhimmitude stance tell women to "adopt a code of conduct" to discourage men from committing sexual assault.

Jihadis are importing girls from Tunisia to satisfy their sexual needs. Sudan has long used rape against Christians and animists as well as against those Muslims in Darfur who were judged to be "insufficiently Islamic." In Nigeria, Boko Haram seized 300 schoolgirls in order to sell them on the open market. In Pakistan, the police do nothing as Hindu and Christian children as young as 7 years old are gang-raped and sold as prostitutes or slaves to wealthy Muslim families. From 2011 through 2014, approximately 550 Egyptian Coptic Christian girls were abducted and sexually abused by Muslim men.

The recent revelation of packs of men assaulting women during New Year's celebrations in Cologne is but one of the barbaric behaviors permitted by the Koran whereby abusing infidel girls and women is a right, since they are spoils of war. Repeatedly, Muslim clerics maintain the legality of sex slavery. Sex slaves are not at all forbidden because their existence means that Muslim men will not have to "engage in forbidden sexual relations." Thus, it is perfectly fine to rape and enslave non-Muslims since they are little more than "chattels or possessions over whom [Muslims] have absolute authority." And white women are to be treated with "particular contempt."

The Koran mandates the second-class status of women. Consequently, Muslim women have been forced to marry and have sex with men against their will. Should women violate any of the misogynist sharia laws, death will ensue. In 2013, an astonishing 91 percent of the upwards of 20,000 honor killings each year were committed by Muslims. Forty-three percent of women in Turkey and 82% in Morocco are victims of sexual and physical abuse. If this is how Muslim women are treated, certainly non-Muslim women can expect far worse.

The ISIS magazine named "Dabiq" justifies the enslavement and rape of non-Muslim women because such acts follow Islamic tradition. Thus, Yazidi women and children are now sold by the Islamic state soldiers. Anyone who would argue against such behavior faces decapitation. Moreover, "gang rape is officially sanctioned as a legitimate form of keeping women marginalized and 'in their place.'" In fact, an ISIS fatwa listing15 rules for "using, selling, and sharing female slaves" was intercepted by Special Operations Forces in January of 2015.

The distortion of healthy sexual and loving relationships that is so endemic in Muslim culture has resulted in the horrific scenes repeatedly played out across the world. Glazov emphasizes that "throughout the Islamic Middle East, men and women are taught to be vehemently opposed to pleasure, especially of the sexual variety. Men are raised not only forbidden to touch women, but to even look at them. Sex before marriage is not just a sin  but a criminal offence. It is punishable by a severe beating at best, and an execution at worst."

Concerning suicide bombers, Dr. Tawfik Hamid explains that much of the motivation to join the jihadist cause is driven primarily by Muslim men's "extreme sexual frustration." The promise of 72 virgins waiting in heaven for a martyr of Islam is appealing to Muslim men, for whom sex is, to a large extent, unattainable. Child marriage, however, is sanctioned in Muslim countries, and pederasty is widespread.

According to the late Christopher Hitchens, "Salman Rushdie's upsettingly brilliant psycho-profile of Pakistan, in his 1983 novel, Shame, rightly laid emphasis on the crucial part played by sexual repression in the Islamic republic." Hitchens asserted that this "is a society where rape is not a crime. It is a punishment. Women can be sentenced to be raped, by tribal and religious kangaroo courts, if even a rumor of their immodesty brings shame on their menfolk. In such an obscenely distorted context, the counterpart term to shame  which is the noble word 'honor'  becomes most commonly associated with the word 'killing.' Moral courage consists of the willingness to butcher your own daughter."

At Gatestone Institute, a search under "Rape and Islam" results in over 20,000 pieces dealing with this topic.

Paul Zanetti writes that while German chancellor Angela "Merkel was warned by everybody with any understanding of the Islamic ideology that potential disaster was only a matter of when  not if," she ignored them all. He cites a case of a 15-year-old Yazidi rape victim who recounted the following as she was raped by an Iraqi fighter.

'He kept telling me this is ibadah,' she said, using a term from Islamic scripture meaning worship. 'He said that raping me is his prayer to God.' I said to him, 'What you're doing to me is wrong, and it will not bring you closer to God.' And he said, 'No, it's allowed. It's halal.'

In his reprint of the 1924 Islam and the Psychology of the Muslim by Andre Servier, Bill Warner quotes Besson, who asserted that "the Muslim, remaining faithful to his religion, has not progressed; he has remained stationary in a world of swiftly moving modern forces. It is, indeed, one of the salient features of Islamism that it immobilizes in their native barbarism the races whom it enslaves. It is fixed in a crystallization inert and impenetrable. It is unchangeable; and political, social or economic changes have no repercussion upon it."

With European leaders doing nothing to protect their women, with American police forces purging materials critical to understanding domestic Islamic terrorism, and with Western feminists' deafening silence to the Muslim barbarism and abuse of women, what, indeed, will be the outcome as Islamic supremacists continue their advances in every sphere of our lives?

Eileen can be reached at middlemarch18@gmail.com.
A single fatal shibboleth stalks political elites on the Right. This is the confused notion that Republicans must mimic the Democrat Left to be successful in presidential races. When you take a hard look a recent political memes, what you see is the inexorable drift back to a neo-Marxist model: special pleaders, onerous taxes, intemperate spending, deficit, debt, and bigger, yet incompetent and unaccountable government at all levels. Social democracy seems to be crumbling in slow motion.

Need we mention Flint, Michigan or Baltimore, Maryland as exemplars? Baltimore merely sets itself afire; Flint literally poisons constituents. First, the city goes broke and then the same dingbats who rode profligacy to ground now maim their citizens with lead laden water in the name of economy. Flint, like most urban centers in America, is a broken liberal monopoly, a polity that will shop until it literally drops  or squanders taxes until you drop. A dependent activist majority on the left now defines the agenda for an ever shrinking passive, yet barely productive, minority. Democracy, as a virtue, may be reaching its sell-by date.

Not that performance is any better inside the Beltway. Washington has invested in wasteful serial wars abroad that no one at DOD or the US State Department has any intention of winning. Here; debt, deficit, and the dead dont matter. When it comes to lives that matter, the only difference between Michigan and Iraq or Afghanistan is that you are likely to get maimed or killed quicker in those remote Muslim wars than you will in Michigan or Maryland. Pointless sacrifices in either case. Indeed, if you included foreigners in the body count, poor policy choices have killed more folks in the past decade than all Islamic terror groups combined. Thats a number that you will never see above the fold.

Dying for democracy or freedom is one thing. Dying for elected incompetence, or political cowards and their ephemeral legacies, is something else. The dark side of democracy is the inclination to vote for the worst among us. The most offensive part of the wasted treasure and lives, abroad especially, is the companion banality. To wit: the enemy is not named, war is not declared, Islam is appeased, and those serial failures in the Ummah have no names or expiration dates.

The horns of modern conflict dilemma are two; no foreseeable end to small wars and no humane solution to the predictable refugee problem  no solutions short of open borders and cultural fratricide. After a decade of dithering, the great national security questions are now when not what or if.

Indeed, its a toss-up for which comes first, fiscal collapse or unilateral cultural surrender?

Now comes another American presidential election in 2016, dominated again, for the most part, by politically correct conventional wisdom on both sides of the aisle. Donald Trump is now a no mans land of candor between two pandering major American political factions. With the decisive womens vote in play, the Republicans are now feministing along with Democrats. Governor Nikki Haley of South Carolina is the now the femme face du jour for establishment Republicans. Haley is celebrated, right and left, as a rising political star.

She made the PC honor role by lowering a flag symbolic of Southern history and select racial scabs that just will not heal. No healing because state houses and the White House keep scratching racial sensitivities until they bleed. If all tainted American icons must fall, why not the Jefferson Memorial, Monticello, Mount Vernon, and every town and city in America named after George Washington?

If we are to take down all the monuments to all heroes who have fallen out of favor with millennials, then we might clear the public squares across America, starting with the capital. Indeed, Marion Barry could replace Thomas Jefferson at the Tidal Basin. Jeffersons soaring rhetoric could be replaced with rap, rant, or doggerel such as: The bitch set me up.

Withal, veiled history is still history. The past cannot be altered by fiat, felled statues -- or flags.

Gov. Haley was invited up from Dixie to respond to the Presidents State of the Union address. Faced with a target rich field on a national stage, you might think that Nikki would go after Obama or Clinton. No, Haley didnt make headlines for any critique of Democrats. She is now above the fold for friendly fire, a lame attack on Donald Trump. Clearly, Nikki is channeling the RNC.

Specifically, Haley accused Trump of being angry, as if anger would be a handicap in 2016. Trump volleyed with effect, accepting the angry label as the legitimate mantel for the mood of apostates in both parties.

The Haley cheap shot is a symptom of all that Trump rants about: clueless political elites, especially the Republican establishment. Ironically, Republicans are slip streaming Democrat operatives; playing the same shame game and trying to tango foxtrot the front runners. Nomenklatura of both parties are conspiring to veto the peoples choice, a foolish gambit especially for the righteous Right. Blue collar, evangelical, and conservative stay-at-home votes made Mitt Romney a footnote in the last election.

If Trump picks up his marbles and goes back to making money in 2016, he will take a legion of unhappy voters with him -- and Clinton III becomes a sure thing. Nikki Haley may have her own agenda too, a preference for any woman, even Hillary, rather than Trump. Playing the race and vagina cards in the primaries is usually a tactic of the left. Republican elites, by moving left too, are perilously close to alienating the angry, ethical, God fearing, hardworking, productive, and taxpaying demographics. Political apathy, like civic enthusiasm, is a created culture.

If conservative thinkers worthy of the name had any good instincts, they would allow the primaries to play out, winner take all. Let democracy work the way it is supposed to. Trust the wisdom of crowds. Who needs another anointed, politically correct shape shifter?

At the moment, unfortunately, the usual media pundits and the RNC have taken their eyes off the ball. Instead of illuminating Clinton sleaze, Republicans are directing most brickbats at their own front runner. Mrs. William Clintons most significant qualification for high office is her husbands coat tails. Indeed, Hillary may be the worst possible role model for women, wives, and girls in America.

If Trump gets the Republican nod, consider all the talent he has to choose from for vice president, cabinet posts, and department heads. The Republican bench is deep: a woman CEO, an accomplished black surgeon, two Hispanic pit bulls, and several portly, yet experienced, white governors. Politics and governing are team sports.

Hilarys bench is two shades of pasty white far left pandering, including a profligate socialist and, yes, a former mayor of smoke stained Baltimore, Maryland.

Donald Trump, warts and all, makes a better candidate than he does a defector. Republicans need to recalibrate their gun sights on the Obama/Clinton camps. Imagine, if it helps, Bernie Sanders as US Secretary of the Treasury.

G. Murphy Donovan writes about the politics of national security.
I hope to live long enough to see the Obama administrations disastrous track record objectively evaluated. The overwhelming media support Obama has received, combined with his demographic characteristics, personal charm, winning smile, sense of humor, and comedy timing, has kept his level of public esteem far above the merits of his presidential decisions.

As his second term winds down, some truth-tellers are beginning to emerge and discuss the quality of decision-making they experienced. Among the first is Robert Gates. Aaron Kliegman reports in the Free Beacon:

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday that President Obama thinks he is smarter than his advisers and that he surrounds himself with people who will not question his views. As a result, the White House has struggled to develop and implement effective strategy during the Obama administration, according to Gates. You know, the president is quoted as having said at one point to his staff, I can do every one of your jobs better than you can, Gates said on MSNBCs Morning Joe. Oh my God,  host Joe Scarborough said. Gates statement was in response to Scarborough, who asked, President Obama has actually been criticized for always thinking hes the smartest guy in the room  Did Barack Obama always think he was the smartest guy in the room?

As someone who studied and taught group decision-making at Harvard Business School (as well as a non-idiot with a few scraps of common sense), I can attest that this is the worst possible way to go about reaching collective decisions. The entire idea of such an approach is to bring together diverse information, experiences, and perspectives; weigh them; and reach a conclusion reflecting more considerations than one person could bring to the table.

So how did Obama come to such a level of arrogance?

One answer must be doting grandparents who raised him in the absence of both parents (who had better things to do with their lives). They must have consoled him with stories that he was very, very special. Perhaps, as dedicated leftists, possibly communists, they saw him with a historic mission ahead as a member of the group, African-Americans, that the CPUSA identified as the revolutionary vanguard in America.

As fate would have it, young Barack Obama entered the educational system of the United States at the precise moment when a desperate need to atone for past sins led to the lionization of black students who showed promise, and a corresponding reluctance to criticize them. This sort of condescension is racist at its heart, anchored in an unspoken belief in racial inferiority, but it masquerades as righteous anti-racism.

This is all speculation, of course. But something has to explain such an intellectually inadequate man rising to the level of responsibility Barack Obama achieved.

On second thought, I am very unlikely to live long enough to see any of this honestly and fairly appraised.
Bob Dole knows a lot about losing presidential races, and is a lifetime member of the Senate Club. If there is anyone who connotes Republican Establishment more than Dole (who won the GOP presidential nomination because it was his turn), I cant think of who that would be. So this, from the First draft blog of the New York Times, is hardly surprising.

Bob Dole, the former Kansas senator and 1996 Republican presidential nominee, has never been fond of Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. But in an interview Wednesday, Mr. Dole said that the party would suffer cataclysmic and wholesale losses if Mr. Cruz were the nominee, and that Donald J. Trump would fare better.

I question his allegiance to the party, Mr. Dole said of Mr. Cruz. I dont know how often youve heard him say the word Republican  not very often. Instead, Mr. Cruz uses the word conservative, Mr. Dole said, before offering up a different word for Mr. Cruz: extremist.

I dont know how hes going to deal with Congress, he said. Nobody likes him.

But Mr. Dole, 92, said he thought Mr. Trump could probably work with Congress, because hes, you know, hes got the right personality and hes kind of a deal-maker.
Demographic doom is just around the corner for the Republican Party. Unless it demonstrates compassion for illegal immigrants, it has no future. Just ask a Democrat. But even the deep thinkers of the left will concede that we're not quite there yet. If you want to see for yourself, here's a nifty gadget by Aaron Bycoffe and David Wasserman of 538.com. A small adjustment of the non-college-educated white (NCW) portion of the vote, along with very minor changes in the other segments, can easily get you to 270 electoral votes.

So the saner Democrats know the party has a real  albeit short-term  problem with NCWs and should do something about it. In four years, or eight at the most, these people can be discarded and ignored, but for the time being, they're still important. Yet while the liberal media accuses the Republicans of alienating the key demographic of the future  Hispanics  Democrats are busy alienating the key demographic of the present  working-class whites. They're in the hole with this group, and they're determined to dig deeper.

But because Hillary is such an insecure person  and politician  she's decided to win the nomination by totally alienating these self-same NCWs she'll need in November. Mildly pro-gun Bernie Sanders, of all people, has put such a scare in her that she's now anointed herself the Queen of the Gun Gestapo and the arch-enemy of the fiendish NRA. Message to Hillary: this doesn't work in western Pennsylvania. She may not realize this, but there are quite a few single-issue voters in those parts, and their issue is the Second Amendment. Democrats and Republicans. Regular and occasional voters. She's given the NRA all the ammunition it needs, and it's going to pull the trigger.

These NCWs in the Midwest are the key to a Republican victory. They're more opposed to immigration than any group in the country, so the decision by Hillary to get to the left of Obama on amnesty is going to kill her in this group. This is so stupid, politically, that only her terror of actually losing the nomination can explain it. Any of the three plausible Republican nominees will attack her on this score relentlessly. This issue alone would damn her in this demographic.

Another important issue is race-based affirmative action, or, as NCWs term it, racial discrimination against whites. The Republican nominee may not take this tack, but outside groups, modeled on the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, will be formed, similar to the fine effort underway by Restoration PAC to expose Hillary's lies on Benghazi. But it's not just affirmative action. She must endorse every ridiculous proposal Black Lives Matter makes, including a refusal to say those racist words, "all lives matter."

Now that she fears losing Iowa and New Hampshire, she must rely even more on her black firewall in South Carolina. If blacks start to abandon her, it's over. It's hard to get to the left of Sanders with black voters, but she'll try, even prompting speculation she may come out for reparations for slavery.

The working-class whites of the Midwest are well aware that any sacrifice that must be borne to advance the black cause will come at their expense. Whether it's disparate impact, HUD breaking up white communities, school busing, undermining the police, or reparations, they know that they wind up paying the bill, and they don't like it, at all. Special treatment of blacks means less than special for them, and that gets them angry.

In the bigger picture, Hillary's enthusiastic embrace of all things Obama, essentially promising his third term, is the root of her problem with NCWs, who've never liked him. She's forced to disregard his weak approval numbers and allow no daylight between herself and him, all in order to avoid alienating his most rabid supporters, the group she hopes will save her  blacks.

Compounding her problem is Obama's apparent indifference to his weak public approval. In his last year, he's coasting, allowing his true colors as a hyper-left critic of American power to come through. He does not attempt to advance America's interests in the world, because deep down he doesn't think we've been a force for good. We've been enriching ourselves at the expense of the underdeveloped and are due for a comeuppance. The working whites of this country are very patriotic, and they see what's happening. Tied tightly to Obama, Hillary will pay the price.

The more she digs, the deeper she'll be buried.

Fritz Pettyjohn was chairman of Reagan for President, Alaska, in 1979-1980 and is a co-founder of the Balanced Budget Amendment Task Force. He blogs daily at ReaganProject.com.
Dabq, the English language magazine published by Islamic State, devotes its most recent issue to the cause of killing Shia Muslims.

Contained in its 56 pages is the theological justification for the wholesale slaughter of Shia men, women and children.

Fox News:

The 13th issue of Dabiq, a copy of which was provided to FoxNews.com by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), is titled "The Rafidah: From Ibn Saba' To the Dajjal." Rafidah is derogatory term for Shia Muslims that translates to rejecters. In the forward of the issue, the terror group praises the Dec. 2 terror attack in San Bernadino, Calif., calling it a demonstration of Muslims willingness to make sacrifice for the sake of fulfilling their duty to Allah. The forward then uses the attaclks carried out by married couple Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik as a call to arms for targeting "crusaders" on their own soil. The spark has been lit here in Iraq, and its heat will continue to intensify  by Allahs permission  until it burns the Crusader armies in Dabiq, reads a quote from Abu Musab az-Zarqawi, an Iraq-based Al Qaeda leader killed in 2006. The issue also touches upon other matters, including an article on the recently killed executioner for ISIS, Jihadi John, an article praising the widows of ISIS fighters and a piece blasting Saudi Arabia. But what is most clear throughout the issue is a concerted effort to wipe out the Shia population of the Middle East. At first glance, it may seem odd that ISIS is focusing its efforts against fellow Muslims and not the West, but Mauro says that it is part of a very elaborate campaign on the Islamic States part. "It is still important for ISIL to attack the U.S. and Europe for branding purposes," Mauro said. "It helps them make their case that they are looked favorably upon by Allah and that they are growing stronger, regardless of whatever territorial losses they suffer on the ground.

Recently, it was discovered that Islamic State is cutting the salaries of their fighters in half. Along with this shift in emphasis to killing fellow Muslims, is this a sign that ISIS is weakening?

ISIS territorial losses have been significant but hasn't changed the strategic calculus of the US in going after them. They've been shown to be incapable of holding on to captured territory when pressed by trained soldiers. But they have also shown a capacity to absorb the kind of bombing being carried out by Russia and the US.

And they have yet to make a concerted effort to hold what they captured. The victory by Iraqi troops in Ramadi came because the Iraq government committed 10,000 troops against just a couple of hundred ISIS fighters. Most of them escaped to fight another day. The coming offensive to retake Mosul, a city of a million people, will tell us a lot about what ISIS is prepared to do to hold their most significant conquest in Iraq.
I set about gathering reports on the Islamic advance across the West with the plan to write up one weeks worth of information. However, at the mid-week point it became clear that the post would be much too long if I went the entire week. So I stopped. What you find below is a sample of overt and abject barbarism; stealth advance; and Western weakness, stupidity, and dhimmitude that unfolded in just under four days.

Australia: Police officers were threatened as Muslims followed them home, made death threats, and tracked their movement using drones (here).

Austria: A major bank offers accounts to asylum seekers free of charge while Austrians are charged large fees. The bank also shut down the account of an anti-immigration organization with no explanation given (here).

Canada: A Muslim man accused of sexual assault (committed in the United States) fought the court decision to strip him of his refugee status, claiming his life will be in danger if hes deported back to Somalia. The government assured its citizens that Canadian women will not be raped by Syrian refugees as is happening across Europe because Canada imports a better-quality invader. A textbook teaches children that Christians are persecuting Muslims in Syria. P.M. Trudeau visited a mosque where the imam repeatedly made vile misogynist remarks. A video of the P.M. surfaced from 2013 when he spoke at a mosque (where he also joined members in prayer). The minister of foreign affairs omitted the words Islam and Islamic when talking about Islamic terrorism (here, here, here, here, here, here, and here).

Denmark: There has been a surge in reports of mass sexual assault against Danish women by Muslim men. Some nightclubs are barring migrants due to complaints they are harassing female patrons. Many diseases, including diphtheria, are showing up in refugee centers. Some towns have begun programs of volunteers patrolling their villages to monitor antisocial behavior and prevent violence. One town has made pork a mandatory food at all public institutions, including schools (here, here, here, here, here).

Finland: An investigation is underway into a taharrush-like attack of a mother and daughter, where Muslim men cornered them, licked the daughter, and then beat the mother when she tried to intervene. A member of Shiite terrorist group entered the country posing as a refugee. (here and here).

France: Journalists were attacked in the Calais jungle migrant camp (with one attacker wielding a knife), and pro-immigration activists wanted video documentation of the attack removed from the internet. A Muslim student was expelled from a French university after making anti-Semitic statements, including threats that her country of origin could buy Jews and put them in ovens (here, here, and here).

Germany: A 13-year-old girl was kidnapped by Muslims and raped for 30 hours. A Muslim refugee sexually assaulted a woman, telling her shes just there for sex. Muslims stoned two Germans walking down the street. A German refugee aid worker considered quitting her job due to the outrageous behavior of refugees. Muslims continue to threaten and beat Christians in refugee centers. The first arrest was made of an asylum seeker who is alleged to have been one of the hordes of those who sexually assaulted women on New Years Eve. At least one German city is considering female-only transportation (buses, taxicabs, etc). After a ban on migrants was put in place at a local swimming pool to protect girls from sexual assault, those in charge caved to pressure from pro-immigrant groups and lifted the ban. An imam in Cologne said women and girls were raped on New Years Eve because they wore perfume. A major German newspaper reported that North African migrant criminality has been a long guarded secret in Cologne. Posters use visual images to discourage Muslim refugees from groping women; defecating in public places; and other uncivilized, if not outright illegal, behaviors. The Vatican ambassador said that Islam is part of the solution. Plans are developed to levy a tax against British drivers to help defray the cost of supporting Syrian refugees. The socialist party is paying pro-immigration activists $50 per hour to demonstrate and disrupt peaceful anti-immigrant marches. A new poll showed that over half of all Germans now fear refugees in the wake of the New Years Eve attacks. Refugees continue to flood Germany, with tens upon tens of thousands arriving in just a handful of days (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here).

Hungary: Muslim migrants attacked the police (here and here).

Israel: A mother of six children was stabbed to death. As her funeral procession wound through the streets, another (pregnant) woman was attacked. A major attack on a synagogue in Jerusalem was thwarted (here and here).

Italy: The pope said countries admitting refugees must change (here).

Norway: A search commenced for 20 Syrian war criminals currently at large (here).

Sweden: The state funds sniper training for Muslim refugees. Police can no longer include a suspects race or nationality, lest they sound racist. The state prosecutor has decided not to investigate police cover-ups of mass sexual assaults from the past two summer festivals. Jews are fleeing in record numbers (here, here, here, and here).

Switzerland: A Swiss city launched a campaign telling migrants not to harass women (here).

United Kingdom: Open borders activists staged a die in to protest immigration controls while also insisting recent mass sexual assaults were not perpetrated by Muslims despite unequivocal evidence they were. The Islamic State is flooding the U.K. with marijuana from an Albanian drug farm as a source of income that brings in billions of dollars. Fifteen hundred Brits have tried to join ISIS in Syria, and 800 have successfully done so. Four Muslims inspired by the Islamic State plotted to assassinate police officers and soldiers on the streets of London. Two Muslims eating in a restaurant laughed as they watched an Islamic State beheading video on their laptop computer. A Muslim school was found to have books in the library that condone death by stoning. The jury for the Rotherham abuse trial said the City Council had threatened to take away the children of one of the families who spoke out about the abuse. A Muslim businessman was convicted for having a slave workforce. Members of Action Palestine threw chairs, smashed windows, set off fire alarms, and assaulted the co-sponsor of a pro-Israel event. A Labor leader claimed that the media is responsible for Muslim radicalization and that prime minister David Cameron is fueling ISIS. A rape gang comprised of a handful of individuals was charged with trafficking white girls. The government spearheaded a new program to protect children from extremism and the spell of twisted ideologies (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here).

Somewhere in Europe: A Muslim man interacts sexually with a mannequin set just outside a store (here).

United States: The FBI confirmed that the San Bernradino jihadists attempted to detonate a bomb in the room where they slaughtered innocent Americans. Messages at the scene where a family of three were found dead in Minnesota included Allahu Akbar and Submit to Allah. Muslims working on a production line who are granted time off to pray want the line to shut down completely and all work to stop during prayer breaks. Two professors at Georgetown University teamed up with a suspected Muslim Brotherhood front group. A professor at Kent State University is under investigation by the FBI for being an Islamic State recruiter. A Muslim man who plotted to execute police officers in New York and Philadelphia pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. Philadelphia Muslims want two Muslims holidays added to the municipal calendar. Obama granted clemency to 14 Iranian criminals and dropped charges on 14 more. The Senate blocked a bill that would tighten screening for Syrian refugees. The U.S. will issue visas to 300,000 Muslim migrants (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here).

This overview is by no means an exhaustive list. Nor does it include the Muslim Brotherhood tearing down our country, which occurs every second of every day, or Americans threatened and attacked abroad, or the mounting threat from Iran, the ongoing threat of Saudi Arabian influence in America, refugee resettlement, media lies, pervasive ignorance and complicity among the ruling class, the brainwashing of our schoolchildren via textbooks and lessons that distort the truth about Islam, imams preaching hate and jihad in mosques across America, or any of the outrageous acts against this nation that occurred prior to just a few days ago.

Huge hat tips to Religion of Peace, Atlas Shrugs, Creeping Sharia, and Jihad Watch for their daily chronicling of Muslim madness around the world. Additional hat tips: Breitbart, Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, Tundra Tabloids, Sputnik News, Israel National News, Investigative Project on Terrorism, CIJ News, Siasat, Haaretz, The Daily Star, Front Page Magazine, The Express, AP, DW, NY Daily News, Bizpack Review, NY Times, NY Daily News
Flagstaff City Council took the first step toward the possible future widening of Humphreys Street Tuesday night by approving the purchase of right of way from a hotel developer with a 5 to 2 vote.

Vice Mayor Celia Barotz and Councilmember Eva Putzova voted against the purchase. Putzova said that there had not been enough public comment about the widening of Humphreys or the purchase of the property.

City Planning Director Dan Folke told Council last week that FMH Enterprises plans to build a 110-room Marriott Residence Inn near the intersection of Humphreys Street and Aspen Avenue. The hotel will take up half a city block and stretch from Humphreys Street to Beaver Street. The company also plans to purchase the Budget rental car lot on the oppose corner to provide additional parking for the hotel.

The propertys zoning already allows for a hotel, but city staff asked if FMH would be willing to move the hotel eight feet to the east and give the city the option to purchase the property for $155,600 in order to accommodate the possibility of widening Humphreys Street in the future, he said. The money to purchase the right of way would be included in the citys 2017 budget. In order to accommodate moving the hotel, the city sold 82 square feet of right of way on Beaver Street for $5,600 to FMH.

Folke explained that the city did not have to purchase the right of way immediately -- it could be done in the future since there were no immediate plans to widen Humphreys. The site plan for the new Marriott, with the eight-foot-wide right of way, has already been approved by staff and FMH is already in the process of getting building permits.

Humphreys Street is considered part of Highway 180 and therefore falls under the jurisdiction of the Arizona Department of Transportation, he said. ADOT would be in charge of any widening of the street. Currently, ADOT does not have the funding to widen Humphreys so it is unknown when that project might happen.

Barotz said she liked and supported the hotel project but asked Steven Shumway, the president and CEO of FMH, if the company would pursue its current site plan if the right of way was not purchased by the city or would the company change it and move the hotel back to the edge of the sidewalk on Humphreys.

Shumway said FMH would have preferred to build the hotel closer to the sidewalk on Humphreys Street. By moving the hotel eight feet to the east, the company had to reduce the size of 47 of its rooms, which would cost it hundreds of thousands of dollars every year. But the company understood the importance of the right of way for the city and the possible future widening of Humphreys.

Shumway said FMH always prefers to have a partnership with any community that it builds in.

Our mode of operation has always been to work under partnerships as opposed to just developers. Thats what we tried to do in this case, he said. We can build this hotel on this property through current entitlements exactly how we have it designed or really, just so you know, we would have designed it differently.  In an effort to come as a partner we have said this is good for the city, this is good for the community and this can be good for us, because if there are good feelings in the community typically a business will do better there. Thats really been our effort throughout this process is to just say What we can do to be a partner? This (the right of way) resolves some major issues, we understand.

Putzova said she also liked the project but was concerned that there wasnt enough public input on the purchase of the right of way.

We dont know what ADOTs intents are, she said. I dont know what the purpose of the land is. How will Humphreys be widened? Will it be widened all the way to four lanes? We havent talked about the other options.

Councilmember Coral Evans asked about strengthening the language on the partnership between the city and FMH on a possible future parking garage in the development agreement. Council will discuss the development agreement next week.

Shumway said FMH would have liked to have stronger language in the development agreement on the parking garage but the details as to who would do what, how the project would procced and how the proceeds from the garage would be split hadnt been determined yet. Until those items were determined, FMH wasnt comfortable committing to the project.

Council then voted 5 to 2 to approve the purchase of the right of way from FMH and unanimously voted to approve the sale of the public right on Beaver Street to FMH.
The media have heaped ridicule on Donald Trump for calling 2 Corinthians in his Liberty University address Two rather than Second Corinthians. Is this evidence of biblical ignorance? No, those who criticize this way of referring to Pauls letter are showing biblical ignorance.

Theres nothing wrong with either way of referring to 2 Corinthians. The author of the letter, Paul of Tarsus, never called his epistle Second Corinthians or the Second Letter to the Corinthians, nor would he have. This title is the invention of Bible compilers and copyists  who had to call it something. The reason Paul would never have called his letters to Corinth First and Second is because they werent. They were in fact his second and fourth letters to Corinth.

Paul founded the church at Corinth, Greece, on his second missionary journey, between 51 and 53 AD. On that first visit, he taught at Corinth for 18 months (Acts 18:11). In 54 AD, Paul traveled back east to Ephesus. He taught there for three years (Acts 20:31), during which he wrote 1 Corinthians, rebuking the Christians at Corinth for their licentious behavior. In the letter we call 1 Corinthians, Paul referred to another letter he had written previously to Corinth, warning the church against association with sexually immoral people (1 Corinthians 5:9). That letter has not survived.

After 57 AD, Paul traveled back west to Macedonia, where, in the city of Philippi, he wrote 2 Corinthians, to tell the Corinthian church that he was coming back to see them. In the letter we call 2 Corinthians, Paul referred to another severe letter of tears that he had written after he wrote 1 Corinthians and before he wrote 2 Corinthians (2 Corinthians 2:3, 4 and 7:8). This letter also has not survived. (By the way, in Colossians 4:16, Paul mentioned yet another letter he wrote, to the church at Laodicea, which has not survived. Paul thus wrote a total of 16 recorded letters, three more than the 13 preserved in our bibles today.)

First Corinthians, therefore, is really Pauls second letter to the Corinthians, and Second Corinthians is really Pauls fourth letter to the Corinthians.

When the media, who know next to nothing about the Bible, deride others for their understanding of it, they model, as Jesus said, the blind leading the blind.
Earlier this month, after eluding police since last summer, in Los Mochis, Mexico, drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was finally apprehended. During a raid of the hideout where the world's most notorious drug lord hid for six months, authorities found a .50 caliber high-powered rifle with a serial number that traced back to none other than Barack Obama, the U.S. Justice Department, and an ATF overseen by former attorney general Eric Holder's "Fast and Furious" gun-walking operation.

Sorry to have to be the bearer of bad news, but the guy responsible for El Chapo being in possession of such a dangerous weapon is the same person currently demonizing the NRA and looking for ways to frustrate the Second Amendment right of law-abiding Americans to keep and bear arms.

Dubbed "Fast and Furious," the failed sting operation Obama kept going, which started as "Operation Wide Receiver" in 2006 and was abandoned by Bush, involved federal agents allowing licensed firearms dealers in Phoenix-area shops to sell weapons to illegal straw buyers, hoping that after they were sold, authorities could track the arms to Mexican drug cartel leaders like El Chapo and arrest them.

Instead, the ATF lost track of most of what was sold.

The irony is that under the guise of wanting to track guns to Mexico, America's anti-gun evangelist put 2,000 weapons in the hands of criminal drug cartels. In turn, rather than the president's original goal being accomplished, violent chaos ensued when munitions were made available to some very bad people.

In 2010, after Obama's guns hit the streets of Mexico, U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was murdered with a "Fast and Furious" weapon. The following year, ICE Agent Jaime Zapata also fell victim.

Five years later, Nadir Hamid Soofi, one of two armed terrorists, the other being Elton Simpson, showed up at a Garland, Texas Mohammed cartoon contest to avenge Allah's honor with a "Fast and Furious" gun. Thankfully, an armed traffic cop killed the two ISIS sympathizers, both of whom arrived at the event wearing body armor, before they could kill any infidels.

Judging from the events in Garland, Texas, and the fact that thousands of intruders have successfully crossed the border illegally, surely more than a single "Fast and Furious" gun has been smuggled from Mexico back into the U.S.

And while purely conjecture, one can't help but wonder whether the "stolen federal agent's gun" Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez allegedly used to kill Kate Steinle in the sanctuary city of San Francisco might also have a serial number the president would rather keep secret.

Let's face it: the chance that a 5x-deported illegal felon could happen upon a federal agent's stolen .40 caliber handgun, under a bench, wrapped in a T-shirt, is a whole lot less credible than an illegal border-jumper managing to procure a "Fast and Furious" special on one of his round trips.

But that's not all. Thanks to "Fast and Furious" and a president convinced that law and order are somehow accomplished by treating villains as more trustworthy than the law-abiding, the Mexican people have also suffered greatly.

For example, in 2010, 14 teenagers near Ciudad Juarez were murdered at a party, shot by La Linea assassins, who came armed to the festivities with Obama-provided guns. There's also Mexican lawyer Mario Gonzalez Rodriguez. In 2011, before being murdered with a gun walked over the border and dumped in a shallow grave, Rodriguez was tortured for weeks by members of El Chapo's Sinaloa cartel.

Beauty queen Maria Susana Flores Gamez was also a victim. Ms. Gamez was used as a human shield during a shootout between cops and drug-runners. The gun found lying next to her corpse belonged to the latter group and was gifted compliments of Eric Holder and Barack Obama, both of whom, to this day, accept zero responsibility for all the bloodshed.

Now it's 2016, and Americans find out that after five of El Chapo's men were killed in a raid where Guzman was finally captured, serial numbers on high-powered weapons with Barack Obama's fingerprints all over them were found inside the hideout.

So it appears as if the president on a mission to educate the illiterate on gun safety also provided the most notorious and deadly drug lord on the planet with a rifle capable of stopping a car or taking out a helicopter.

Worse than that, when not working hard to restrict the sale of firearms, Obama, the one who lost track of 1,400, or 70%, of the 2,000 guns he purposely allowed to be walked across the border into Mexico, is reassuring Americans that he can properly vet the 250,000 ISIS-infiltrated refugees he plans on walking into this country.

Jeannie hosts a blog at www.jeannie-ology.com.
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The following editorial appeared in The Kansas City Star on Wednesday, Jan. 20:

To save money, the state of Michigan poisoned the children of Flint.

State officials thought so little of the impoverished city and its 100,000 residents, most of them poor and people of color, that they switched the water supply from the pure waters of Lake Huron to the brackish Flint River. Then they broke federal law by neglecting to treat the water with an anti-corrosion agent, which would have cost about $100 a day.

The waters heavy iron content ate into the water lines, about half of which are made of lead. The water smelled and tasted foul, but state officials said everything was fine, even though a university research team said the lead content was dangerously high.

Finally a pediatrician, Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, compared the blood lead levels of toddlers she was seeing with records on hand from previous years. She saw lead levels had doubled or even tripled since the water line switch.

Lead poisoning is irreversible. To save a relatively small amount of money, the state may have doomed these children to lower IQ levels, behavioral problems, growth delays, hearing difficulties and a host of other physical and neurological ailments.

Theres tons of evidence on what lead does to a child, and it is one of the most damning things that you can do to a population, Hanna-Attisha told CNN.

Michigan has committed a stunning act of governmental malpractice. When President Barack Obama travels to the state on Wednesday to applaud progress in Detroit and its auto industry, he should make a side trip to Flint. It would signal to a fearful community that the president of the United States cares about its plight.

The tainted water supply will cost the state and federal government for years. Flints families will need intensive services like nutritional programs and early childhood education to mitigate the damage.

But right now they need clean water. The state spent $10 million to hook the water back to its old source, but the corroded pipes are still leaching lead. The National Guard is going door to door, passing out bottles of water safe to drink.

The scandal ought to bring an end to the political career of Michigan GOP Gov. Rick Snyder, who personally reacted far too slowly to the crisis while some of his top officials improperly downplayed the threats as well.

And it should act as a cautionary tale to other states that wrongly think its smart policy to starve state budgets to the point where essential services begin to break down.

States can act irresponsibly with wasteful spending, yes. But refusal to spend  even when the law requires it  can cause immeasurable harm. Just ask the people of Flint.
If youre interested enough in the Android OS to be here reading this article, its quite likely you do just about everything on your phone. You likely have apps for fitness, productivity, shopping and banking. A fairly large swathe of the population at large makes use of mobile payment solutions in their many forms, such as Paypal, Android Pay, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Venmo. Interestingly enough, it would seem that these upstarts, known collectively as Financial Technology or fintech, stand to disrupt the multi-billion dollar banking industries that have been around for hundreds of years. Brian Moynihan, head honcho of Bank of America, goes as far as saying, it may allow part of our industry to be forever taken away from us.

Fintech hasnt been around terribly long in the grand scheme of things, getting its start through various elements such as Softcard, known as Isis back in the day, and Google Wallet, the predecessor to Android Pay. Bigger companies got into the swing of things through mobile payment apps that have slowly evolved over the years. From those earliest days, though, the new segment of services was gaining ground. Traditional banking began a bit of a freefall, with those reporting weekly branch visits according to one survey falling by 12 percent of U.S. bank account holders from 2010 to 2014, while users of mobile transaction services jumped from 9 percent to 27 percent of the same demographic. Every financial segment from consumer banking to wealth management, credit and even stock trading, were beginning to feel the pressure building in the mobile space.

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Speaking on the mobile front and the fintech revolution, wealth management firm SigFigs chief executive Mike Sha said, People have such a daily relationship with their smartphones now, almost no matter what their age Without a doubt, he has a point here. Just about anybody who owns a smartphone interacts with it on a daily basis and almost always goes beyond simple calling, texting and idle web browsing in their interactions. Indeed, the number of people who access the web more often from their phone than from a computer is somewhat staggering. SigFig, despite a userbase who tends toward the older demographic, reported recently that 50 percent of their users use their smartphone to reach the service. Mobile payment app Venmo, a fork of Paypal built for paying for meals, rent and other expenses, saw their total payments rise this quarter to a fairly jaw-dropping $2.1 billion. Clearly, for traditional banks, the writing is on the wall. Some, like Chase and Wells Fargo, already have mobile apps with slowly growing feature sets, but many of them arent quite on level to compete with the likes of Android Pay and Samsung Pay just yet.

While the fintech sector may lack the clout and legal backing of traditional banks, the appeal is obvious and in many ways, the writing is on the walls. Banks cant depend on their regulatory chops forever and thats becoming increasingly clear. Back in November, an advocacy group called Financial Innovation Now popped up to stress that point, formed by Apple, Google, Amazon, PayPal and Intuit. Investments in retail and consumer fintech elements more than tripled from 2014 to 2015, going from $2.2 billion to $6.8 billion. Most major banks are beginning to adapt, tying into services like Android Pay and Apple Pay as Wells Fargo has, or buying up smaller services in order to create their own solutions. CitiBank, in fact, has formed a separate unit for this purpose. Known as Citi FinTech, the new division was given orders by chief executive of global consumer banking Stephen Bird. Bird stressed that the bank had reached a pivotal time and had to adapt to the slew of modern competition, as well as modernization efforts from traditional opponents. While old-fashioned banking may never die completely, the threats to the cornerstone segment of the American market and many others are plain to see and must be acted upon soon. With things as they are, fintech stands to all but upend the traditional financial services industry.
GM or General Motors has been in the news quite a bit lately. After having given $500 million to Lyft, which the company stated would be used for developing autonomous cars, then buying Uber rival Sidecar earlier this week. Now they have launched their own car-sharing service, which is being piloted in Michigan. Starting in Ann Arbor, MI the service will have 21 on-demand GM vehicles that can be rented. Ann Arbor is about 35-40 miles from GMs headquarters in downtown Detroit. GM had already started a car-sharing service in New York, which was named Lets Drive NYC, but plans are to rebrand it to Maven when it launches in Chicago and NYC later this year.

These vehicles from GM that are part of Maven will also have Android Auto and Apple CarPlay support. Which isnt a huge surprise given that almost all of GMs models have support for both systems starting with the 2016 models. And having support for Android Auto and Apple CarPlay is a great thing for car rental services like this. As it allows the customer to have their own infotainment system with their own music, destinations and such. It just makes the whole experience that much better. The vehicles will also provide OnStar, SiriusXM Satellite Radio as well as AT&Ts 4G LTE service.

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Were not sure if car-sharing will do better than ride-sharing, but its something well find out pretty soon. Thanks to GMs investment in Lyft, drivers for Lyft are able to rent cars from Maven to drive people around in. Thats if they dont want to use their own car to drive others around. Something that would be good for both Lyft and GM, as it gets GMs Maven out there but also means that Lyft will have brand new cars all the time. With all of these ride-sharing companies popping up from Silicon Valley, Detroit or the Motor City, is looking to compete with Silicon Valley. As they are the home to the three American auto-makers  Ford, Chrysler and GM. Lets see how well this competitive environment can thrive in the future with autonomous cars and autonomous taxis as well.
Of all its core services, Maps is often seen as one of the biggest and most useful and with that comes Google Earth and Street View. Earth and Street View have helped millions of people all over the world experience places and sights that they never could in interactive detail that was never thought possible before. Even though weve yet to get out of January this year, Googles Street View team has been busy, releasing content from miniature railways and now theyre letting people climb one of the worlds most famous mountain ranges, Mont Blanc.

As Google explains on their blog, the Street View team partnered with world-renowned photographers as well as athletes. Doing all the hard work was Kilian Jornet, Ueli Steck, Laetitia Roux, Catherine Destivelle, Candide Thovex, Korra Pesce and Patrick Gabarrou. Each of these renowned athletes and guides had something different to bring to the table, for instance Jornet holds a speed record for climbing up and then back down Mont Blanc in just under five hours. Different members of the troupe took their hand at using Googles custom Street View hardware, and the end result is a fully-mapped out mountain range, including highlights like the 3842-meter peak of Aiguille du Midi. Theres a video with some info from the individual athletes down below, and of course it can all be explored using Street View here.

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Street View has become an interesting side-porject for the Google Maps team, and its arguably become part of pop culture, with the famous street view cars making social media posts the world over, 365 days a year. With this new addition, Googles Street View now offers users one more piece of culture to explore from the comfort of their tablets, phones or computers. While its nothing like being there, its at least a better of sharing the experience with people and we cant help but think Google is doing these sort things to shore up some VR content to help with their Cardboard project. Regardless, theres more fun and inspiring content to oggle over thanks to this latest expedition.
Google distributes Android for free. Allowing anyone and everyone to use it as they wish. There are two ways that Google makes money from Android, one is ads the other is revenue from Google Play. Of which a percentage is shared with the wireless carriers. However, when Google announces their earnings each quarter, they dont tell us how much they make from Android and a number of other services and products they have. Many of them are lumped together. Well, we now know how much Google has made from Android since its inception in 2008, thanks to an Oracle attorney.

Currently, Oracle and Google are in court, and last week Oracles attorney announced some numbers in regards to how much Android has made for Google. The search giant tried to get the judge to redact the information before it went public, but that was denied. It turns out that Android has driven in $31 billion in revenue since 2008. And $22 billion of that is profit for Google. While ads are still the biggest component of their revenue and profit, this is still a pretty big number for Google, over the course of 7 years. The reasoning behind this being relevant to the case is that, Google is being accused of using Oracles Java to develop Android without paying for it. Weve already heard that Android N will see the death of Java, which is slated to be announced at Google I/O in May.

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The case between Google and Oracle have been going on for about five years now. Now that Oracle have extended their claims to cover the recent versions of Android, they are now seeking over $1 billion in damages for Google not paying to use Java to develop the platform.

While Google does distribute Android for free, they are still making quite a bit of money on it. Largely thanks to developers for creating apps and games, whether they are paid apps or apps with ads in them, Google is still getting a cut. Google isnt too happy about this information being made public, however. Stating that this information is highly sensitive and could have significant negative effects on Googles business.
Not terribly long ago, Nokia broke Microsofts hold on them and began planning to create their own smartphones. Due to a non-compete clause, they were unable to manufacture smartphones for awhile. That clause has since expired and the rumor mill has been going wild with possible Nokia smartphones after relatively good reviews for the N1 Tablet, powered by Android. While Microsoft still owns the Lumia brand that Nokia made, Nokia can still manufacture smartphones under their own name. After an official statement denying a comeback in 2016, then a confirmation that would be a comeback, Nokias rumored smartphones have become an urban legend of sorts. As it turns out, just such a smartphone leaked a while back and it looks like its back to confirm its existence and provide us with some additional details courtesy of a leaker on Sina Weibo.

Looking at the images provided, this looks to be a fairly premium smartphone, albeit a bit thick. Sporting a unibody design language the smacks of iPhone 5S and the HTC One M9, the somewhat small phone is a bit taller and thicker than most in its size category, which should make for handling a bit more akin to the candybar phones of old that Nokia was known for. Whether this thickness is meant to conceal a massive battery is not said. Antenna lines flank the back, as well as a rather large and likely high-resolution camera with the flash up top. A very wide SIM slot is present on one side, suggesting either dual SIM or microSD support. A volume rocker and middle power button are visible on the other side panel. A middle power button is rare on such a small handset, but may prove to create a handling experience that is decidedly Nokia.

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According to the leaker, the phone is meant to come in under 500 Yuan, or roughly $75. With that sort of price point and a premium build, either this phone is meant as a love letter to a market Nokias had a long break from, or significant cuts have been made to keep the price low. Of course, the leak could always simply be wrong. Obviously, a release date and release territories are not on the table at this time and since this matches up to an earlier prototype leak, this may not even be the final design.
The fight to become King of mobile payments has become fraught with competition since Apple threw their hat in the ring with Apple Pay. Since then weve seen Samsung Pay and Android Pay launch, all offering similar services, but to slightly different ecosystems and their users. While Apple Pay is, unsurprisingly, locked entirely to Apple devices, Samsung Pay is currently exclusive to some Samsung devices but could end up coming to other models. Android Pay on the other hand has been available on all devices running Android  that are compatible with the service  since it launched towards the end of last year. Now, Samsung Pay is steadily starting to enable international payments.

As you might have imagined, Samsung Pay got off to a big start in South Korea, with the majority of big-name card issuers in the nation partnering with Samsung. These cards could be used with Samsung Pay inside of South Korea, but now KB Card, Samsung Card, Lotte Card, and Hana Card have partnered with their global counterparts Visa, MasterCard, UnionPay, JBC and co. This will allow users with KB Cards, Samsung Cards, Lotte Cards and Hana Cards to use them with Samsung Pay in the US and China. This might not mean much to the majority of readers, but this is an important step for any mobile payments platform, and particularly Samsung Pay. This is the first step for Samsung Pay to be used worldwide, and devices like the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy Note 5 can be used with older, mag stripe card machines. This makes Samsung Pay once again one of the more versatile payment options out there.

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This expansion to the US and China is described as Samsung Pays 1st Phase of international expansion, the 2nd Phase should see them head to Europe and South East Asia. Europe appears to be a tough market for payment options like Apple Pay and Samsung Pay to break into, as the card providers themselves seem intent on offering their own solutions, such as Barclaycards new app offering and many cards offering contactless payments, offering a tap and go payment solution from the cards themselves. Regardless, this is a big step for Samsung Pay and shows the industry that the South Korean giant is capable of expanding beyond their home turf and the US.
By now, almost everyone knows what Uber is and what it does. The popularity of the app has gone beyond proportions and has now reached a number of cities throughout the world. Now that it has been able to tap into different markets, the company is deciding to step into another market which is somewhat related to the service they provide: UberEats. UberEats is the first standalone app launched by the company which caters to food delivery service. The company is preparing to launch the app in 10 cities in the US. The cities on the list include Austin, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and many others. When it launches, users will be able to access the app after they have downloaded it from the Apple App Store or the Google Play store. According to Uber, the app will be available by the end of March.

For some time now, Uber has been testing how viable the food-delivery service will be. Theyve been using their main Uber app as a way to test the waters and see how well it will be accepted by those who enjoy the service. The service was tested for the last 18 months before its own standalone app was launched in Toronto. Despite only making this food-delivery service available now, UberEats was actually launched in Los Angeles in 2014. And ever since its inception, it has grown to include cities like New York, Austin, Chicago, Toronto, and Barcelona. Just like the main Uber app, UberEats partners with two restaurants per day where meals can be offered to customers. After an order is placed, the company delivers the ordered food via a courier in just a few minutes. A driver can also choose whether or not he wants to be an UberEats driver so he can get the $5 delivery fee charged on every UberEats order. And similar to Uber, UberEats lets you track your orders whereabouts on your smartphone as it makes its way to you.

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Seeing the rise for such service and how well it has been appreciated by the public, Uber has decided to take things to the next level by offering it in 10 cities in the US. The company hopes to build a new stream of income from the food-delivery service as much as it did with the original ride-hailing service. When it launches, UberEats delivery service will be available for lunchtime-only food deliveries before it grows to service other options. While UberEats is a new venture the company has planned, its certainly not the only one. Uber still has a number of services to roll out in the future such as UberRush. But for now, UberEats is its concentration.
2010 was a potentially difficult year for many smartphone customers who were becoming reliant on their devices Internet connection, because this is the year that many carriers across the world shut down their unlimited plans. Some carriers, such as Telefonicas O2 in the United Kingdom, simply converted their Internet plans from unlimited to a capped allowance, whereas other carriers would allow an existing unlimited plan to continue on (and these are now known as grandfathered plans) but new business was diverted into a capped allowance tariff  such as AT&T and Verizon Wireless. Since then, the carriers have invested millions if not billions into modern, high performance LTE networks and we are seeing the first tentative signs of a comeback of unlimited data plans. AT&T has recently announced some limited availability, but unlimited data, plans for customers who also subscribed their DirecTV or U-Verse TV services. However, in todays earnings call, Verizons Chief Financial Officer, Fran Shammo, said about unlimited data plans: At this point, we are not going to entertain unlimited.

The news does not come as a surprise for industry experts: many carriers around the world take a dim view of offering customers an unlimited data allowance, wary of a small minority of customers using a considerable amount of data and potentially disrupting other customers. There are many different ways that a network is able to identify those customers using a considerable amount of data, plus of course identifying what they are using it for. Similarily, there are many different techniques to control this behaviour including techniques such as throttling data speeds for some or all types of use. Some carriers reserve the right to throttle data speeds for certain customers performing certain tasks over their network even on a capped data plan.

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Verizon Wireless are instead concentrating on their core offerings for customers and have no intention of engaging in a price war with the competition  AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint  by offering a number of promotions to customers. Fran explained that the carrier would remain disciplined in the competitive environment. Promotions come and go. We cant react to everything in the marketplace. We have already seen both AT&T and Verizon claiming that they are not interested in a competitive price war with Sprint and T-Mobile US, although AT&Ts special promotional unlimited data plans would appear to fly in the face of this original claim. We may yet see Verizon Wireless release an unlimited data plan.
Xiaomi has become a big deal in their home market of China since they first launched, spurring online sales in China like no other. For the last couple of years however, expansion outside of China has been on their mind, and while theyve steadily branched out into newer markets in South East Asia, India has been their big success story. 2015 saw the Chinese firm take the nation by storm, even offering specific versions of devices just for India with the Mi 4i. Now however, theyre looking back to China to boost sales during 2016, and theyre taking a different approach to the one youd imagine.

The Chinese upstart has been in the news recently for missing their shipment targets for 2015 by as much as 12%, and now a source has been talking to Reuters with info on how they might turn things around for 2016. According to the source, Mi.com will continue to be the core business for the Chinese firm, but that theyre looking to expand sales in brick-and-mortar stores, boosting the number of Mi Home outlets from 20 to 50. The idea is to potentially double these offline sales throughout 2016. Mi Home stores arent just their only outlet for devices in China however, and they partner with the likes of Suning Commerce Group Co Ltd, GOME Electrical Appliances Holding Ltd and Beijing Digital Telecom Co Ltds D.Phone. Reuters has acquired information showing that Xiaomi wants to sell as many as 58 Million smartphones through these retailers. This compares to the 28 Million, or 40% of their overall sales, sold offline in store during 2015.

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China is currently undergoing a revolution of sorts outside of the major cities. As these establish cities reach capacity, the smaller outlying towns and smaller cities are being destroyed with new cities being built by the government in their place. This could be why Xiaomi sees potential to sell more devices offline in these stores, as the country steadily modernizes outside of the bigger cities and the audience for these devices grow. Regardless, 2016 is just getting started for Xiaomi, and the launch of the Mi 5 is looming overhead, with high expectations. A shift to more of a retail experience could work hand-in-hand with a fresh device launch like this.
The recent spate of traffic jams extending for miles through Flagstaff and to the north have raised some interesting questions about emergency responses on the narrow roads throughout the region.

In addition, some are exploring better ways to get out the word about emergencies and about snowplay traffic jams, too.

Medical, fire and police personnel already have sirens and flashing red lights at their disposal when they need to use an oncoming traffic lane to get around a jam. But when that jam goes on for miles, the risk of meeting a driver in the other lane is pretty high. (And for private vehicles, even higher.)

The law says that drivers either being overtaken by an emergency vehicle or about to encounter one coming at them should pull over to the right side as far as possible. The idea is to make a two-lane road into three lanes, with the emergency vehicle in the middle.

But if even one driver in either direction continues to hug the center line, the emergency responder has a problem. He can either slow down until the lane is clear or try to squeeze past the offender  there might still be enough room in the other lane if every driver on that side has pulled over.

The point is not only that drivers in jams should pay attention to the sound of sirens but also take evasive action to the right as a group. Sitting still might be a way to preserve your place in line, but it might not preserve a life.

Some have said there ought to be emergency notifications via smartphone along with sirens. Drivers, however, are not allowed by law to use smartphones in the county while moving, and in the city of Flagstaff they can only take phone calls, not read or send texts. The alternative, of course, is to have a passenger check for smartphone alerts. Or perhaps amend the law to exempt checking emergency alerts  especially for drivers in traffic jams who, after all, technically are not moving.

Mobile alerts for other emergencies such as floods or fires in places like Oak Creek Canyon have similar drawbacks for drivers, whose smartphones are a distraction on such a winding road. But the notifications can still get out to passengers, picnickers and hikers.

Thats why we are pleased to see the countys emergency services office making progress on improving cellphone service in Oak Creek Canyon  it will also help drivers in emergencies and injured hikers. Residents who object to 20-foot poles erected at the end of their streets need to have better arguments than aesthetics or health effects. The poles are the same height as streetlights and the American Cancer Society has posted the following on its website:

"At ground level near typical cellular base stations, the amount of (radiofrequency) energy is thousands of times less than the limits for safe exposure set by the US Federal Communication Commission (FCC) and other regulatory authorities. It is very unlikely that a person could be exposed to RF levels in excess of these limits just by being near a cell phone tower."

As for alerting drivers coming up from Phoenix to traffic jams and full parking lots at snowplay areas, bilingual message boards in English and Spanish might help, along with clear warnings about the penalties for ignoring No Parking and No Littering signs along Highway 180.

The best solution is to divert some of the snowplayers to other areas south, east or west of Flagstaff before they enter the city. There will still be plenty of tourists for local businesses to tap. But without some alternative destinations and the signs to direct them there, the jams will only get longer, no matter what language is used to dissuade them.
Alien Hybridization: I had sex with aliens and I liked it

Incredible news in the Daily Mail. Aliens have been breeding with women in Arizona.

A group of women in the US claim to have children fathered by aliens  and describe their sexual encounters with extra-terrestrials as the best theyve ever had.

You should see the other guy

Bridget Nielson, from Sedona, Arizona, and Aluna Verse, from Los Angeles, California, are among members of the Hybrid Baby Community who believe their children live on giant alien spaceshipsRecalling a sexual encounter with an alien on board a spaceship, Nielson said: It was great. It was an incredible super primal, super raw, super primal sexual experience. There was a really freedom and we were really going for it. It was the best sex I ever had.

Believe? And worry not humanoid man  Zorg has 15 hands, both male and female genitalia and never forgets a name. What he cant find, just isnt there.

The pair claim that between them, they have 13 children with aliens  and that the conceptions happen either through artificial insemination or real sexual encounters. Members of the group believe aliens have been harvesting their DNA to create children that combine the best of both human and alien characteristics over a period several years.

What are the best of human characteristics, then? Wed say circumspection, empathy, free will and the ability to spot a marketing executive at a hundred paces. The best alien characteristics are tricker to spot but are believed to include: huge eyes, very long fingers, GSOH, taking the bins out and always being ready for a cuddle.

The story continues:

The former marketing executive refutes claims pointing to a lack of evidence of such encounters with aliens, saying the extra-terrestrials only take women who, on some level, want to be taken.

Bridget is part of the HybridChildrenCommunity. Bring a wallet:

And:



Anorak

Posted: 21st, January 2016 | In: Strange But True Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
Transfer balls: desperate Pato agrees Liverpool deal and signs for Chelsea as his price keeps on falling

Transfer balls: Chelsea have agreed to pay Corinthians 8m for 26-year-old striker Alexandre Pato, says the Daily Express. Is that a good price for a lightweight but talented player who has largely failed to live up the promise shown in his early carer at AC Milan? Judging by the Pato chatter over the last few months, 8m is a snip.

April 3, 2014: The Daily Mirror declares Chelseas 40m Pato, deal  Abramovich green-lights Chelseas 40m Pato deal.

October 14, 2015, Metro says Alexandre Pato could be on his way to Arsenal or Spurs. A source is quoted: if a club comes in with an offer of 25m (18.5m), we will let him go.

November 2015: Pato is worth 15m, says TalkSport  and hed agreed to join Liverpool. Hes the new Luis Suarez  maybe:

On January 10, the Independent said Pato was heading to Liverpool, albeit for 11m.

And finally the Western Daily Press  reaches a new low price: Brazil star Alexandre Pato agrees 7 million deal with Chelsea.

Corinthians are desperate to sell Pato. Give it a week and 8m will look overpriced.

Anorak

Posted: 21st, January 2016 | In: Back pages, Chelsea, Liverpool, Sports Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
(ANSA) - Davos, January 21 - Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem told ANSA Thursday that "the decision on the bail-in was taken together...and it's fundamental to have a perfectly functioning banking union". He was answering a question on why, when many northern European countries have been able in the past to rescue banks entirely with public money, that option has now been removed for Italy because of the bail-in rules. Banking woes exacerbated by the new bail-in rules are due to the fact that "certain countries have brought behind them legacies from the past," Dijsselbloem said, replying to a question on why banking stocks have been taking a beating, especially in Italy. Speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, Dijsselbloem added that "it is now impossible to go back" on the new rules that have been adopted.


(ANSA) - Milan, January 20 - Italy's culture and creative industries generated a turnover worth as much as 47 billion euros in 2014 representing some 2.9% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), employing as many as 1 million people, Ernest & Young said Wednesday.

Some 41% of those employed in the sector are aged 15 to 39,according to a study entitled Creative Italy presented at the Milan Triennial, which was carried out by E & Y with support from professional associations spearheaded by the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Tourism (MIBACT) and the Italian Society of Authors and Publishers (SIAE).


(ANSA) - Rome, January 21 - Italy is "simpler" as a result of a reform of its unwieldy public administration, Civil Service Minister Marianna Madia said Thursday after the government approved the first 11 enabling decrees during a late-night cabinet meeting.

"Digital citizenship, a reduction in public companies and in red tape for investments. Today's enabling decrees deliver a simpler state," Madia said in a message to her Twitter account. The provisions passed by cabinet included an overhaul of Italy's port authorities and the incorporation of the State forestry corps into the Carabinieri police corps.

They also introduced controversial new disciplinary measures for civil servants accused of absenteeism in response to recent high-profile cases.


Firms: SACE, credit line worth 40 mln for Turkish companies In favor of Yapi Kredi to buy Italian goods and services

(ANSAmed) - ROME, JANUARY 21 - Italian financial insurance group SACE active in export credit guarantees a credit line worth 40 million euros to Turkish companies to import Italian goods and services. The credit line, SACE said, was provided by Ing Bank in favor of Yapi Kredi Leasing.



''Through this credit line guaranteed by SACE, Yapi Kredi Leasing can fund machinery bought from Italy, obtaining at the same time an alternative source of funding in the medium and long term'', said Cristina Morelli, head of Transportation & Special Industries at SACE. Turkey is a strategic market for SACE, as shown by constantly growing data and a portfolio of insured operations in the country exceeding two billion euros. (ANSAmed)
(ANSAmed) - ROME, JANUARY 21 - The head of public broadcaster Libyan National Channel (LNC), Haitham Kamouka, stressed Thursday its mission to ''reflect all opinions and give voice to the entire Libyan population'. During a meeting in Rome with Conference Permanente de l'Audiovisuel Mediterraneen (COPEAM) chief Pier Luigi Malesani, Kamouka underscored that the broadcaster's work aimed ''also to improve the country's image. Despite the fact that no Libyan citizen has committed violent crimes outside of the country, the chaos into which we have fallen has created prejudices that reflect - for example - on the strict visa policies that Libyans are subject to in many countries. Our television needs technical support and training from our partners to be able to carry out our duties.'' The two men reiterated the need to restore links - which have been tested by the difficult situation in Libya - between the COPEAM network and the North African broadcaster, one of the founders of the association. Malesani noted the recent training project supported by the Italian foreign ministry, an initiative that brought a group of Libyan journalists to Rome for three weeks for training at Italian state broadcaster RAI and the University of Rome 'La Sapienza'. In reiterating an invitation to the next COPEAM General Assembly, in Corsica from April 7 to 9, Malesani said he was convinced that this would be the ideal context to provide more realistic information on Libya in the presence of all Mediterranean television and radio stations. Malesani said that ''Libyan public television must commit to moving once and for all from a state-run television to a public one for all citizens''. (ANSAmed).


(ANSAmed) - BEIRUT, JANUARY 21 - Over 1,000 civilians including 238 children have been killed by Russian airstrikes in Syria since September 30, according to figures released on Thursday by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). The organization said that 7,677 civilians had also been killed over the past 14 months in attacks by Syrian regime planes and helicopters including 1,622 under age 18. In a report published last month, Amnesty International said that hundreds of civilians had been killed by Russian airstrikes on residential areas in which cluster bombs had also been used, accusing Moscow of war crimes. Human Rights Watch (HRW) has also reported Russian forces of using internationally banned cluster bombs in at least 20 airstrikes. SOHR, headquartered in the UK but with an extensive network of informants inside Syria, said that it had managed to document the killing of 1,015 civilians in Russian airstrikes, which also killed 893 Islamic State (ISIS) fighters and 1,141 members of armed opposition groups including Jabhat Al-Nusra, the Syrian affiliate of Al-Qaeda. (ANSAmed).
About Me Bagsy Born Beeston, Notts 1946, my family moved to Dorset 1959. Joined the Royal Navy age 15 years and 50 days serving 10 years. In frigates firstly then over 5 years in the Submarine Service as a Seaman/Diver, reaching the dizzy heights of Leading Seaman, before leaving to join the Merchant Service, working in Ocean Salvage and Harbour Tugs, passenger / cargo ships, trials vessels, etc. Qualified as Mate (Chief Officer) in 1976 and as Master (Captain) in 1978. For my final 20 years of 47 I worked in the Offshore Oil Industry initially on the drilling rig Stena Hunter, then the accommodation barge Borgland Dolphin and finally the Floating Production Platform Buchan Alpha. On the rigs I forged a number of long lasting friendships several of whom shared some of my extensive travels. Setting foot on Caymen, Bermuda, Bahamas and The Azores in March 2013 brought my countries / autonimous regions total to 148. The best, undoubtedly, was Antarctica, followed by Australia, Mongolia, Belize, Zimbabwe, China and Madagascar, in no particular order. Love to all our readers, your in my thoughts. Bagsy View my complete profile
Tunisia: Kasserine back to normal

(ANSAmed) - TUNIS, JANUARY 21 - Kasserine, the city which was at the centre of clashes between demonstrators and security force, yesterday as well, has returned back to normal. A reported 19 officers were injured in clashes on Wednesday.



Protests by unemployed youth, which kicked off last Saturday after the death of a 28-year-old whose name was scrapped from a list of new hires at the regional department for education, were reported across the country. Demonstrators were demanding jobs and more visibility. Last night, a police officer died in Feriana during violent clashes. The council of ministers has approved a package of urgent measures to boost development and employment in the region of Kasserine. (ANSAmed)
- ISTANBUL - ''The attack of the Turkish government on Kurdish cities and districts, including 24-hour curfews and service cuts, is endangering the lives of 200,000 people and is like a collective punishment'', Amnesty International said Thursday in a dispatch on security operations carried out since last summer by Turkish police and the army in the Kurdish-majority south-east against the Pkk and its youth armed wing Ydg-h.



The alarm raised by Amnesty is based on research on the ground and reorts by residents ''in areas that are at the moment not accessible to external observers'', including Turkish lawmakers. ''Cuts to water and electricity provisions together with the dangers connected with access to food and medical care during gunfire are having devastating effects on residents and the situation is probably set to quickly deteriorate if not confronted'', accused the NGO.



Ambulances were reported not to get access to cities under curfew to treat the wounded and bodies were not buried for over 10 days. According to Amnesty, moreover, ''several deaths could have been caused by snipers in areas far from the clashes'' and victims reportedly include ''children, women and elderly people''.



''While Turkish authorities appear determined to silence internal criticism, they have faced few from the international community'', denounced John Dalhuisen, director of the program for Europe and central Asia. ''Strategic considerations on the conflict in Syria and determined efforts to seek Turkey's help in halting the inflow of refugees towards Europe should not obscure accusations of serious human rights violations''.
- BERLIN - German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere wants to postpone indefinitely border controls in place for migrants in Germany, according to statements he made in an interview to public regional radio Mdr.

Such controls at Germany's borders should expire mid-February.

''I don't see at the moment a date in which the controls can be lifted'', stressed de Maiziere. He added: ''For a few weeks now we have been able to note and register almost all migrants entering Germany''.

Germany reintroduced in September 2015 border checks on refugees due to the constant inflow of migrants. Particular attention is given to the border with Austria, the last leg of the Balkan route. Such regulation has been extended several times and the last deadline would have expired on February 13.

The next extension, according to what announced by de Maizieere, will be indefinite.

''There is not more redistribution among the Laender without registration'', added the minister in the interview to Mdr radio, ''and we also send back men who have an entry document and don't ask for political asylum in Germany''.

Meanwhile new clashes were registered between police and migrants at the port of Calais, in northern France. Hundreds of illegal migrants seeking to reach Great Britain opposed security officers who fired tear gas to restore calm. For about one hour last night, police were heavily deployed to try to control a group of about 200-300 migrants accused of setting on a fire a road leading from the refugee cam - the so-called 'jungle' of Calais - to the ferries.

Officers late last night were able to disperse the crowd and free the road.
Pictured Left: The first Concorde flight leaves London for Bahrain - arriving at Muharraq at 15:20 local time 40 years ago today

That anniversary of that flight from London will be the highlight of events celebrating the aviation heritage shared by Bahrain and the UK. The first commercial flight of the Anglo-French supersonic airliner put Bahrain in the global spotlight as the delta-winged aircraft taxied in at Muharraq, with the eyes of the worlds press upon it.

However, that event was just one of a long line of aviation links between the two countries, which are being celebrated as part of the bicentenary of the relationship between the UK and Bahrain.

Hussain Al Shuail, under-secretary for civil aviation at Bahrains Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications, spoke yesterday of the very robust relationship between the two nations.

Speaking at the BAE Systems stand (pavilion B10) celebrating those links, he noted that the arrival of Concorde was just one episode in that relationship, pointing out the Spitfire XIX bought by Bahraini donations during World War II, which carried the islands name proudly under its cockpit.

The aircraft is at the show and will stay in Bahrain for much of the year, to be shown at various locations around the island.

Bahrain was also an important staging post through the 1930s for Imperial Airways, a predecessor of BA, which operated flights between the UK and India, while a British pilot set up the Gulf Aviation Company, the forerunner of Gulf Air, in 1950.

And the Royal Bahrain Air Force today operates the BAE Systems Hawk advanced jet trainer.

Britains ambassador to the island, Simon Martin, added that it was a wonderful time to be the UKs representative to the kingdom as the bicentenary was marked. The aviation links between the two nations, established in the past, would continue into the future, he said.





Hussain Al Shuail, under-secretary for civil aviation at Bahrains Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications, and British ambassador to Bahrain, Simon Martin, mark the 40th anniversary of Concordes first flight to Bahrain.


Speaking as the Bahrain Air Show opened, Maher Salman Al Musallam said the figures would be far better than 2014, when a loss of $166 million (BHD62.7m) was hailed as the best result for a decade.

In preceding years, the annual deficit had been as high as $560 million (BHD211m).

They will be good results, said Al Musallam. We are very optimistic that these are the right figures that we were looking for when we started the restructuring. We know that if we can bring this airline up to this figure, weve done the job.

The results will be officially announced in the spring.

The airline is widely expected to be making a major announcement on re-fleeting later today, according to sources at the national carrier.

Al Musallam has been on record as saying that Gulf Air could not break even so long as it remained a company that merely sold seats on its aircraft, rather than the wider range of services, such as engineering, ground-handling or consultancy, that other major airlines in the region could offer.

However, in December, it was announced that Gulf Air, Bahrain Airport Company and Gulf Aviation Academy will be brought together in the Falcon Group. This will have a common board of directors and will be jointly audited.

Falcon Group came into effect in the last quarter of 2015 and it remained too early to see the benefits, said Al Musallam.

However, he hoped that bringing together the three organisations would further boost Gulf Airs prospects.

The airline should be the driving force in the new grouping, he said, supported by the other organisations.

He added that Gulf Airs financial position had improved despite the Gulf being a very difficult, very combative part of the world, given the proximity of the big three Gulf carriers, Emirates Airline, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways, with their huge route networks.

They are like big malls and we are a small shop, said Al Musallam, admitting that Its very difficult to convince people to use Gulf Air rather than the big operators.

However, by keeping below the horizon of the three majors, Gulf Air had been able to focus on serving Gulf Cooperation Council nations with high frequencies, a tactic that was proving attractive with business executives wanting to fly to a meeting in the Gulf and return home the same day.

This approach would continue, said Al Musallam. It planned further expansion into Saudi Arabia, for example, and he was hopeful that a bilateral agreement would be signed  perhaps as soon as this week  that would enhance this.

I hope we will see a bilateral with the Saudis that will at least give us additional frequency to Riyadh and Jeddah.
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In a series of order events at the opening day of the Bahrain Airshow, It also said it would buy 16 Boeing 787s, as announced in 2008, but switch that order from the 787-8 to the larger 797-9 variant.

The single-aisle order will consist of 17 A321neo and 12 A320neo. Nine of the A321neos will be standard versions, while eight will be extended-range variants capable of flying to western European destinations. The airlines current A320/321 fleet already operates to Frankfurt, Paris and, occasionally, to London.

This [Airbus] order is based on the experience weve gained in operating the A321s, said Gulf Airs acting CEO, Maher Salman Al Musallam. They work very well.

The first aircraft from the new order, an A320neo, will arrive in June 2018.

Gulf Air at present operates six A330s for its long-haul sectors to London, Manila and Bangkok. The last thing we want to do is operate two wide-body types, Al Musallam said. However, it had become obvious that the airlines original order for Boeing 787-8s should be changed.

Is the -8 the correct answer for Gulf Air? No. Its not right because we need a larger aircraft with longer range and an aircraft that can be utilised throughout our network. I need a high-density aircraft to go to Manila and Bangkok. The -8 is fine for flying to London, but not to Bangkok and Manila because of the number of passengers.

The current A330s have a capacity of 214 passengers and Gulf Air finds itself competing with the major Gulf carriers that routinely put 400-seat capacity aircraft on the London run. A two-class configuration on the 787-9 will typically accommodate just fewer than 300 passengers.

Consultants and the airlines network planning team studying its long-haul needs over the past two years loved the A330neo, but we have a contract with Boeing, said Al Musallam. The 16 787-9s will be worth $4.2 billion, with the first due to be delivered in April 2018.

Ten will be delivered from 2018-20, with a second batch of six delivered in 2023-24, although the second batch may be cancelled or remarketed if Gulf Air feels it no longer


Chiefs of defence staff from across the region, along with top brass from the UK and the US were at the event  the first of its kind in Bahrain and running alongside the fourth Bahrain International Airshow.

The Kuwait Air Force (KAF) commander, Staff Major General (Pilot) Abdullah Al Foudary, (pictured right) said that the $12.2 billion deal for 28 Typhoons, announced in September 2015, had not yet been signed, among suggestions that Boeing will still be pushing its Super Hornet.

Foudary is himself an F-18 pilot.

A squadron of F/A-18 Hornets is currently flying operations over Yemen as part of the Saudi-led coalition from Khamis Mushayt Air Base on Saudis western border.

Al Foudary said that the legacy F/A-18s are likely to remain in service for the foreseeable future, with a replacement not expected until 2030.

Other KAF assets flying missions involved in the Saudi-led coalition are C-17s and KC-130Js. The latter are providing refuelling cover, as well as transport, humanitarian and air mobility operations, alongside the KAFs two C-17s.

Sources in Kuwait confirmed the contract had not been signed but fully expected the formalities to be completed soon.


The 21st annual Business Travel Awards, hosted by Buying Business Travel, celebrated the achievements of travel industry leaders with over 1200 people attending this years gala event. An independent panel of judges, including respected senior business travel buyers, carefully selected the best and most innovative brands from the travel industry.

Richard Oliver, Country Manager, UK & Ireland, said: It has been another fantastic year of growth for Qatar Airways, with not only a number of new routes announced but the continued expansion of our fleet which includes the Boeing 787, Airbus A380 and the Airbus A350. This award reiterates the quality of our renowned service and our commitment to our customers and we are honoured that the panel of judges recognised Qatar Airways as Best Long Haul Airline when compared to other carriers in this highly competitive market.
Asked and Answered: The Take Care Clause issue in U.S. v. Texas

Guest Blogger
Le CBD, cette molecule active du cannabis a aujourdhui le vent en poupe. Et cela est en grande partie du au fait quil permet...
The Air Force has a long history when it comes to the national blood donation system. The system dates all the way back to World War II when the Army Air Corps created the capabilities to transport much needed blood products from the United States into campaign theaters.This capability significantly increased the survival rate of wounded troops demonstrated from the previous war. From then until today the Air Force still provides this lifesaving capability not only in war, but during peacetime operations.Blood donations truly are the gift of life. Not only whole blood, but blood products such as plasma, can be rapidly infused into a severely injured person or given as treatment for various blood disorders. This provides lifesaving treatment to those who otherwise would not have survived.For those who have been deployed or watched a wounded warrior commercial, you have most likely seen firsthand recipients of this valuable gift. However, without people that are willing to roll up their sleeves and donate, these survivors would not be with us.The American Red Cross/International Red Crescent are the largest civilian blood donation organizations, with locations in all major cities, and a constant army of mobile donation sites. In addition, the U.S. military has their own blood donation organization: the Armed Services Blood Program, which collects blood specifically for the military community, answering the need 24/7 when a service member is wounded.During this National Blood Donor Month, you too can be a silent hero by giving the gift of life. Locate your local American Red Cross at www.RedCross.org , or the ASBP at www.militaryblood.dod.mil/Donors/where_to_give.aspx
by Victoria Ma

Holy Doors open in the cathedral, three places of pilgrimage and a number of churches where the Taiyuan martyrs were born. Killed in 1900, they were canonized by John Paul II in 2000. At least 10,000 faithful attended the opening of the Holy Door at the Portiuncula shrine in Banshishan, 1,700 meters above see level with temperatures 16 degrees below zero. The works of mercy include care for parents and neighbors, and helping those in need. The mission feeds hope.

Taiyuan (AsiaNews)  Catholics in the Diocese of Taiyuan hope to undergo conversion during the Jubilee of Mercy, starting with caring for their parents and grandparents, then their neighbors and the needy, guided by the light of holy martyrs of our diocese, Bishop Meng Ningyou of Taiyuan (Shanxi) said referring to the scores of martyrs killed in the Taiyuan area in 1900 that John Paul II canonized in 2000.

The diocese decided to open the holy doors in nine churches  the cathedral, three pilgrimage sites and a number of churches located in the martyrs birthplaces. They will stay open from Dec. 13 until Feb. 2, feast day of the Presentation of the Lord, which marks the end of the Year of Consecrated Life (Nov. 30, 2014 - Feb. 2, 2016) around the world.

As of Jan. 20, 53-year-old Bishop Meng has opened six of them. Two more will be opened on the 23rd and 30th with the last the Church of Our Lady of Seven Sorrows in Dongergou on Feb. 2.

Bishop Meng said that he was moved at every opening of the Holy Doors, as he witnessed the participation and enthusiasm of thousands of the faithful.

I was touched when opening the door at the Pontiuncula Church on Bansishan (Bansi Hill) on Jan. 13. (pictures 1-4) More than 10,000 Catholics, coming on foot or in queues of vehicles, braved the freezing weather of minus 16 degree Celsius at the pilgrimage site, he said. The Bansishan is 1,760 meters above-sea-level, and situated at 100 kilometers from Taiyuan city.

For the prelate, mercy requires a person to convert and transform his or her actions. Today, peoples lives are under pressure, indifferent to others needs, giving less attention to their parents and neighbors, he said. For this reason, he urged the faithful to live mercy with their own family, to forgive and take care of the needy and the sick. This adds more warmth to society as well as our small Church community, he noted.

What is more, the bishop plans to encourage the faithful to donate blood, whose supply drops in winter months.

Bishop Meng hopes that the Jubilee of Mercy will motive Catholics to spread love and compassion for others. This way, their actions will attract more non-Catholics to learn catechism and get baptized.

The opening of the Holy Door of the Cathedral on Dec. 13 drew about 6,000 Catholics, while other churches attracted 2,000 to 3,000 Catholics each time.

As the churches commemorate the love and sacrifices of the Catholic martyrs, I hope our faithful will be inspired by the martyrs faith and love in God when they enter the churches through the Holy Doors, the bishop said.

One of the nine churches, the Church of Our Lady of Rosary in Xinzhou, was granted the authority to offer plenary indulgences by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012.

The Diocese of Taiyuan has a population of 100,000 Catholics, served by 61 active priests and 30 sisters.

Below is a list of the churches in the diocese with Holy Doors for the Jubilee of Mercy:

1. Cathedral of Immaculate Conception in Taiyuan city, opened on Dec. 13, 2015;

2. Church of Our Lady of the Rosary in Xinzhou Church region, Dec. 16, 2015;

3. Church of Immaculate Conception in Yangjiabao, Jan. 2, 2016;

4. Church of Christ the King in Guchengying, Jan. 9, 2016;

5. Church of Our Lady of Grace (Portiuncula) in Bansishan, Jan. 13, 2016;

6. Church of Almighty God in Nanshe, Jan. 16, 2016;

7. Church of St. Anthony in Xiliulin, Jan. 23, 2016;

8. Church of Christ the King in Xijianhe, Jan. 30, 2016; and

9. Church of Our Lady of Seven Sorrows in Dongergou, Feb. 2, 2016.

[Photos: Courtesy of Taiyuan Diocese Website]
The stated GDP increase of 6.9% in 2015 is based on data manipulated by provincial authorities. They tend to inflate figures on investment, consumption, wages, trade, projects, and tax revenue. Xinhua reports allegations to this effect.

Beijing (AsiaNews) - Chinese economic growth of 6.9% for 2015, the lowest in the last 25 years, presented by the National Office of Statistics, could be even lower. Several observers say that looking at other indicators China's economy growth in 2015 could be much smaller.

According to some (anonymous) economists, quoted in todays edition of the South China Morning Post, growth might not exceed 5%.

Wang Baoan, director of the National Bureau of Statistics, presenting the data two days ago, defended their accuracy, but the problem lies with the data used.

However, Xinhua reported last month that the authorities in northeastern China had falsified economic data for years, causing distorted political decisions and leading to corruption cases. Economic data were inflated to show the success of authorities or provincial secretaries, as in the days of Mao Zedong. Data were falsified in many domains: GDP growth, investment, consumption, trade, as well as income and substandard housing area renovation.

Businessmen in southern China told AsiaNews that at least once a year they are invited by the Party secretary to propose huge projects and fake investments, that will not be realized, but are used to draw up inflated budgets and false revenue from taxation that can exceed the 50% of the real figures.
"May God give us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, courage to change the things we can and wisdom to know the difference....."
by Melani Manel Perera

The president of Sri Lanka partecipated at a ceremony marking Tamil Thai Pongal. Organised at a college, the events aim was to promote peace between ethnic groups starting with students. We should abandon the notion of affiliation based on blood, said the archbishop of Colombo during a Church feast. Let us unite to face our challenges"

Colombo (AsiaNews) - The contribution of religions, which go beyond racial and ethnic divisions, is important for peace and reconciliation, said Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena and Card Malcolm Ranjith, archbishop of Colombo. The president spoke at a ceremony marking Thai Pongal, the most important Tamil festival, which this year fell on 18 January.

At Thai Pongal, farmers traditionally exchange gifts in gratitude for a bountiful harvest. At this event, held at the Payagala Hindu College in Kalutara (south of Colombo), several cultural and religious activities were held to promote peace and reconciliation, starting with pupils.

"Building peace and reconciliation does not take place only through the implementation of laws and the adoption of a new Constitution. It can only be done through religious philosophies, said President Sirisena in his address.

Card Ranjith had already stressed these issues months ago, when the Catholic magazine Gnanartha Pradeepaya celebrated 150 years, an event where the president was himself present. In a country that is still suffering from the wounds caused by the war between the army and Tamil rebels, which lasted about 30 years, religion is essential in the construction of national unity, said the pralate during that event. For this reason, it is essential to strengthen national unity and shared values.

On that occasion, the archbishop also noted, "The time has come to move beyond divisions based on blood. We must overcome the idea of Sinha' (lion blood, i.e. Sinhalese blood), and embrace the notion of 'one blood', by coming together to face the challenges before us."

"I believe, he added, that to create a truly united country we must stop thinking about ourselves only as Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus or Catholics."

For the cardinal, "it would be simplistic to believe that we all must think and act the same way. When the majority seeks to impose its views on the minority, or when the minority pursues a vision that sharply differs from that of the majority, both create obstacles for unity."

Therefore, it is also important to refrain "from believing that everything belongs to us. Too many people  both in the north and in the south  are still suffering from the consequences of 30 years of civil war.

Today we cannot afford to give in to hatred, racism and religious ideologies that imprison us in behaviours from a dark past." Instead, "we must be able to think independently and understand the needs of humanity, the archbishop explained.

President Sirisena concluded the ceremony of Thai Pongal calling on all of the countrys religious leaders to work together. "I ask you all, the president said, to further the government's goal of building peace and brotherhood among people, eliminating fear and suspicion in various communities. Racial and religious differences cannot act as a barrier to the plan to build a free and just society. "
by Mathias Hariyadi

The members of Gerakan Fajar Nusantara, a sect considered heretical by mainstream Islam, have been expelled from their homes. In 2007, the groups founder was convicted for declaring himself the last prophet. As a result, the authorities have organised the relocation of the refugees to Java. "We must punish the movements false doctrine, but when its members are in danger, the state must intervene, a government minister said.

Jakarta (AsiaNews)  At least 1,200 people, members of a Muslim sect called Gerakan Fajar Nusantara (Gafatar for short) were forced to flee their village after their neighbours set their homes on fire because of blasphemy charges. The incident occurred yesterday in Moton Panjang, Mempawah Regency, Kalimantan Province (Borneo).

A week ago, local mainstream Muslims protested against the presence in the area of too many members of the Gafatar sect, whom they consider heretics. When sect members refused to leave, scores of Muslims attacked the blasphemers and set their homes, forcing them to flee.

The Indonesian government immediately intervened to move the refugees to Java, their place of origin with several ships docked at the port of Pontianak, the capital of Kalimantan ready to take on refugees.

Last month, Gafatar made the front pages in the local press in connection with certain disappearances. A doctor from Yogyakarta (Java) had reported his wife and daughter missing. Both were found a few days later in a state of shock.

Gafatar came into existence in 2006 when a charismatic leader, Moshadeq Ahmad, proclaimed himself as the last prophet of Islam and founder of a new school of thought.

In October 2007, the Indonesian Ulema Council declared Moshadeq a "false prophet" and his teachings "illegal", banishing the Gafatar from the Islamic community.

Although the movement's leader was tried, convicted and sentenced to four years in prison for wrongful interpretation of Islam, many of his followers continue to operate as a distinct movement in various Indonesian locations, especially in Kalimantan, where they organise charitable activities and social events.

As soon as he was informed of the attack on the village, President Joko Widodo expressed his solidarity with the victims. He also ordered the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security of Indonesia, Retired General Luhut Panjaitan, to deal with the emergency.

Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung slammed local authorities in Menpawah for not acting in time to protect the population and made a distinction between Gafatars false teachings and its members.

Although the movements ideas may be anti-Islam, he said he would respond appropriately to protect its members. Whenever people are in danger, the state must intervene to ensure their safety and protect life."

* Gerakan Fajar Nusantara means Dawn Archipelago Movement.
Envy was what led to the death of Jesus: the instrument, the ultimate instrument. Thus, Let us also ask the Lord the grace never, because of envy, to hand over to death a brother, a sister of the parish, of the community, or even someone in our neighbourhood. Everyone has their sins, everyone has their virtues. They are specific to each individual. Look at the good, and do not kill with gossip through envy or jealousy."

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - Pope Francis celebrated Mass this morning at Casa Santa Marta. His homily was centred on the first reading of the day (1 Sam 18:6-9; 19:1-7), which tells the story of Saul, the king of Israel, and his jealousy towards David.

In his address, the Holy Father said that Jealousy and envy always lead to death in the heart. They are a sickness that leads us to regard the good others possess as if it were against us. And this is an ugly sin. It is the beginning of many, many crimes.

Following the victory over the Philistines, the women joyfully sang, Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands. From that day forward, Saul looked on David with suspicion, fearing that David might betray him. Ultimately, Saul decided to kill him. Later he followed the advice of his son and reconsidered. But his wicked thoughts returned. Jealousy, the Pope said, is a sickness that returns and brings with it envy.

How ugly envy is! it is an attitude, it is an ugly sin. And jealousy or envy grows in the heart like a weed: it grows, but it doesnt allow good plants to grow. It harms everything that its shadow seems to fall upon. There is no peace! It is a tormented heart, it is an ugly heart! But the envious heart, too  we hear it here  leads to killing, to death. And Scripture says clearly: through the envy of the devil, death entered the world.

Envy kills, the Pope said. It does not tolerate others having something that I do not have. And it always suffers, because the heart of an envious or jealous person suffers. It is a suffering heart! It is a suffering that desires the death of others. But how many times, he asked, in our communities  and we dont have to look too far to see this  are people killed, through jealousy, with the tongue? Someone is envious of this, of the other, and they begin to gossip  and gossip kills:

I too, thinking and reflecting on this passage, invite myself  and everyone  to see if, in my heart, there is any jealousy, any envy, which always leads to death and doesnt make me happy; because this sickness always leads us to regard the good others possess as if it were against us. And this is an ugly sin. It is the beginning of many, many crimes. Let us ask the Lord to give us the grace not to open the heart to jealousy, not to open the heart to envy, because these things always lead to death.

According to the interpretation of Pilate  who was very intelligent, but a coward  envy was what led to the death of Jesus: the instrument, the ultimate instrument. They handed him over out of envy. Let us also ask the Lord the grace never, because of envy, to hand over to death a brother, a sister of the parish, of the community, or even someone in our neighbourhood. Everyone has their sins, everyone has their virtues. They are specific to each individual. Look at the good, and do not kill with gossip through envy or jealousy.
Popular religiosity "is a genuine form of evangelisation, which must always be promoted and appreciated, without minimising its importance. At the same time, Priests who carry out a ministry in shrines must have their heart permeated with mercy.

Vatican City (AsiaNews)  Pope Francis received in audience in the Paul VI Hall participants to the International Meeting of pilgrimage organisers, priests, shrine rectors and staff, who are in Rome to celebrate their Jubilee. His focus was on acceptance, physical and spiritual, including in the confessional.

In his address, the Holy Father told those present that Whoever he or she is, young or old, rich or poor, sick and troubled, or just a curious tourist, they must be able to find due welcome, because in each one there is a heart that seeks God, sometimes without fully realising it. Indeed, With welcome, so to speak, we stake everything.

To go on pilgrimage to shrines is one of the most eloquent expressions of the faith of the People of God, for it expressed the piety of generations of people who believed with simplicity and entrusted themselves to the intercession of the Virgin Mary and of the Saints. Such popular religiosity is a genuine form of evangelisation, which must always be promoted and appreciated, and its importance should not be minimised.

Curiously, in Evangelii Nuntiandi, the Blessed Paul VI spoke about popular religiosity, but said that it is better to call it popular piety. Then, in the AparecidaDocument, the Latin American Bishops Conference went further and spoke of popular spirituality. All three concepts are valid, but together. In the shrines, in fact, our people live out their deep spirituality, the piety that for centuries has shaped their faith through simple yet very significant devotions. Let us think how the prayer to Christ Crucified, or that of the Rosary, or the Via Crucis, is understood in some of these places.

It would be a mistake to believe that those who go on pilgrimage experience mass spirituality, rather than a personal one. In reality, individually pilgrims carry within themselves their history and faith as well as the lights and shadows of their life. Everyone has in his or her heart a special desire and a particular prayer. Those who enter a shrine feel immediately at home, welcomed, understood and supported.

I very much like the biblical figure of Anna, mother of the prophet Samuel. With her heart full of sadness, she prayed for a child to the Lord at the Temple in Shiloh. Eli, the priest, thought instead that she was drunk and wanted to throw her out (cf. 1 Samuel 1:12-14).

Anna represents well many of the people we meet in our shrines  their eyes set on the Crucifix or on an image of Our Lady, in a prayer full of trust their eyes swelling with tears. A shrine is really a privileged place to encounter the Lord and touch His mercy with ones hand. To go to confession in a shrine is to touch Gods mercy by hand.

Therefore, the key word that I want to stress today before you is welcome: welcome to pilgrims. With welcome, so to speak, we stake everything  an affectionate, festive, cordial and patient welcome. Patience is also necessary! The Gospels show us a Jesus who is always welcoming to those who approach Him, especially the sick, the sinners and the marginalized. And we recall His expression, Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me (Mt 10:40).

Jesus spoke of welcome, but above all He practiced it. When we are told that sinners  for instance Matthew or Zaccheus  received Jesus in their home or at their table, it was because, first of all, they felt welcomed by Jesus, and this changed their life. It is interesting that the Book of the Acts of the Apostles ends with the scene with Saint Paul, here in Rome, receiving all who came to him, (Acts 28:30). His house, where he dwelt as a prisoner, was the place where he proclaimed the Gospel. Welcome is truly crucial for evangelisation. Sometimes a word, a smile is enough to make a person feel welcome and liked.

Pilgrims who arrive at a shrine are often tired, hungry and thirsty. Often their physical state reflect their inner state. Therefore, such people have to be well received, both in material as well as spiritual terms. It is important that pilgrims who cross a shrines threshold feel that he or she is treated a guest, as a member of the family. They must feel at home, awaited, loved and looked at with eyes of mercy. Whoever he or she is, young or old, rich or poor, sick or troubled, or just a curious tourist, must be able to find due welcome, because in each person there is a heart that seeks God, sometimes without fully realising it. We should act in such a way that every pilgrim can enjoy the feeling of being finally understood and loved. Thus, on returning home, they will feel nostalgic for all they experienced and will want to return, but above all, they will want to pursue their journey of faith in their regular life.

A special welcome is offered by ministers of Gods forgiveness. A shrine is a house of forgiveness, where everyone encounters the Fathers mercy, who has mercy for everyone, and excludes no one. Whoever approaches a confessional does so because they are repentant, repentant of their sin. They feel the need to go there. They perceive clearly that God does not condemn them, but receives and embraces them, as the Father of the Prodigal Son, to restore his filial dignity to him (cf. Luke 15:20-24). Priests who carry out a ministry in shrines must have their heart permeated with mercy. Their attitude must be that of a father."


Best Offer!! Unique multi-generational 4397 sq ft character home with 3 separate living spaces plus one more 514 sq ft one bedroom suite above the 655 sq ft shop in the back. It has a beautiful faux paved courtyard in the back and 4 decks. It is located near the Landmark buildings,a trendy area with investment potential and is centrally located close to all amenities. It is situated on a .199 acre lot and has parking for up to 10 cars plus the shop space and an attached single car garage. Value of lot by real estate-$1.5 mil Value of home by insurance-$1.488 mil Value of shop and suite-$275k Virtual tour 1: https://unbranded.youriguide.com/1506_dickson_ave_kelowna_bc/

jan_verhagen@hotmail.com



10/18/2022



Find your next presale condo deal at www.ipresalecondos.com



Your presalecondo directory.

604-825-8881



09/27/2022

Privately owned single plot on a gentle slope in a serene, mature location. Lot 76 in Eastview section. Will accomodate one casket and one urn or two urns.

Price includes land only (interment fees and other funeral home and cemetery services are extra). Transfer to be completed onsite by Forest Lawn Memorial Park staff. Forest Lawn will waive transfer fee if pre-arrangements are made at transfer. Payment to be made by certified cheque. $24,000.00



murielfarrell@shaw.ca



09/27/2022



The Primerose Greek Restaurant is located in South Delta (5 minutes form Ironwood)



We are looking for full-time/permanent kitchen help/line cook. Full training provided.



You are clean, honest, hardworking, customer service driven and know your way around a kitchen.



Compensation is based on experience from $17-$20/hour PLUS tip & health benefits

sia_adjudani@msn.com



09/23/2022



Property: deferred reserve for future highway commercial. Along highway 2 corridor. Near Red Deer in between Calgary and Edmonton.

Contact: Todd Sparrow

403 358 8670



09/22/2022



Ann-Louise Jewellers is seeking a full-time Goldsmith to join our team. The successful candidate will join a team of goldsmiths who will help support our retail operations. The role will be based at our head office in Vancouver, BC.



The job duties include the following:



- Cleaning and polishing jewellery

- Fabricating/repairing jewellery such as necklaces, rings, earrings and more

- Sizing

-Soldering

-Retipping

-Hand fabrication

-Stone and metal identification

-Casting

-Operate laser machine



The candidate should have the following qualities:



- At least 5 years of goldsmithing experience

- Possesses a great attention to detail

Ability to work independently as well as within a team



To apply, please submit your resume to careers@annlouise.ca

careers@annlouise.ca



08/30/2022



We are looking for a full time individual with strong customer service skill, reliable team member to work as a FOOD PREP/FRONT COUNTER ATTENDANT.



Good communication skills.

Works well in a high pressure, fast paced environment, clean and organized.

Attention to detail.

Able to work selected days between Monday and Saturday (5:00pm- 10:15pm) evening shifts.

Punctual , efficient, hardworking and have a good attitude.

Permanent and long-term employment available.

Your responsibilities include but not limited to:



Packaging food by portion control, as well as boxing customer's order.

Ordering chicken, biscuits and taters from the kitchen.

Preparing sandwiches and salads.

Job Type: Full-time



Salary: From $15.25 per hour



Schedule:



Day shift

Night shift

leah@chicknjoy.com



08/24/2022



Pre-need and At-need cemetery and funeral service, packages, property. Inexpensive, affordable to fit your budget.

604 838 8888



08/24/2022

Norwegian Forest Cats are a naturally evolved breed with a sturdy build and a double fur coat. They are playful, and love snuggling. Go to http://gudrunsplace.ca for kittens.

16043291363



07/30/2022



ANILOM Cleaning Systems Ltd is currently seeking light duty cleaners for York House School in Vancouver. This is a part time permanent position Monday - Friday approximately 20 hours a week (about 4 hours a night) starting at 5:00 pm.

Please send your resume to: molina@anilomcleaning-floorcare.com



07/21/2022

 Must have at least 1-year commercial vehicle experience

 Must have a valid G Class drivers license and clean abstract

 Physically fit and be able to repeatedly lift, stack, pull, and carry heavy items (Up to 60lbs)





Contact: 4168182636, eric@bangkokfoods.com



07/12/2022



NOW HIRING

WAREHOUSE WORKERS



Why Join Us?

 Job security

 Performance bonuses

 Overtime pay

 Discount at Real Canadian Superstore

 Employee Share Ownership Program

 Medical and Extended Health Benefits

 And much more!



Scan the QR code to apply today!



Location: 350 SE Marine Drive, Vancouver

Vancouversouthjobs@loblaw.ca



06/23/2022

Oceanview Forestlawn Valleyview

gravelisting.com

6047225796



06/23/2022



HIRING FULL TIME DRIVERS AND WAREHOUSE WORKERS

in Vancouver and Richmond!

Day and night shifts are available.



FreshPoint Vancouver  Fresh Produce Distributor and Processor.



We offer comprehensive compensation, benefits (extended health and dental, company pension), and career advancement opportunities.



Opportunities:

 Class 3, 5 Ton (with air brakes) and Van Delivery Drivers

 Food Production Worker (AM and PM shift)

 Warehouse Shippers/ Receivers (Day and Night shift)



Visit us at www.freshpointcanada.com/careers for all vacancies!



Interested candidates, please contact us at

604-258-7621



06/23/2022

FT or PT caregiver for a senior lady

White Rock

604-329-1744



06/21/2022



DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITY IN KELOWNA:

Close to the LAKE/ BEACHES,

amenities, public transit, popular SOUTH PANDOSY (shopping, restaurants, great coffee shops) and more! LAND ASSEMBLY.

These two large lots combine to measure approximately 200 x 135, ideally suited for a CONDO or TOWNHOME DEVELOPMENT. Currently has 2 homes (including a home with a basement suite). See MLS 10255834 & MLS 10255824. $4,690,000

$4,690,000.

Call or Text Jody @ 250-469-4639 or email Jody@BuyKelowna.com



06/20/2022



DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITY IN KELOWNA, close to the LAKE/ BEACHES,

amenities, public transit, popular SOUTH PANDOSY (shopping, restaurants, great coffee shops) and more! LAND ASSEMBLY. These two large lots combine to measure approximately 200 x 135, ideally suited for a CONDO or TOWNHOME DEVELOPMENT. Currently has 2 homes (including a home with a basement suite).

Jody@BuyKelowna.com 250-469-4639



06/20/2022

Ocean view Cemetery (Burnaby)

Double depth plot in Heavens Gate

Can accommodate 2 caskets and 2 urns

Transfer fees to be paid by buyer

Transfer done at Cemetery office by staff

44,888

wendy



06/19/2022

Seeking an experienced passionate Executive Chef who is specialization in Chinese cuisine and to build and lead a culinary team for a 160 seat new concept Asian Fusion restaurant in downtown Vancouver.



Reporting to Senior Management, the Executive Chef is responsible for the day to day culinary operations in the kitchen. Presents culinary and industry trends to ensure the culinary experience are inspiring and creative for business development.



 Create authentic Chinese dishes by sourcing fresh ingredients, creating daily features, prepare and cook specialty foods, including freshly pressed or hand-pulled specialty noodles

 Create signature dishes that are memorable

 Chinese style pastry, Dim Sum, soups and a variety of sauces with Szechuan and other flavours

 Prepare and cook food for private events

 Analyze operating costs and other data

 Train staff in preparation, cooking, handling of food and execution on a timely basis

pyip@pinnacleinternational.ca



06/17/2022

Looking for FT Driver/Warehouse workers for our shop in Port Coquitlam. This is a union shop with benifits (health, dental, pension) after initiation period. Starting wage $19.50/hr. Delivering autoglass and accessories to the Lower Mainland.

604-941-8910/dcastro@pgwautoglass.com



06/15/2022

URGENT! Janitorial / Busser summer full-time work at Granville Island.

You will work with the Janitorial Team to ensure Granville Island is well maintained and kept in a high standard of cleanliness, sanitation and repair.

Responsibilities:

 Clean washrooms, windows, mop floors, waste removal and other general cleaning as required.

 Represent CMHC and Granville Island in a professional and courteous manner.

 Provide information to customers and tenants as required (i.e., question on lost and found items, directions).

 Bussing tables in three Public Market seating areas.

 Sweep and/or dry mop the Public Market seating areas as well as wet mop spills as needed.

 Sweep and monitor outdoor courtyard areas throughout the day.

Candidates must be fully vaccinated (2 doses) against Covid-19.



For more details and to submit your application directly online, visit: https://careers.cmhc-schl.gc.ca//job-invite/7916/



https://careers.cmhc-schl.gc.ca//job-invite/7916/



06/10/2022



Carpenter available

Decks, cedar, composite.

glass / aluminum railings.

custom cedar greenhouses.

removal / replacement laminate flooring.

finish carpentry

40 years experience

licensed, insured.

I speak english

Graham Maloney

604-842 1090



06/09/2022

Recruiting experienced line cook. Food and living expenses included. Located in Harrison Hot Springs, BC. Requirements: food safe level one, two years minimum experience of cooking on the line in a full service fast pace restaurant.

7788633878



05/10/2022

Double depth cemetery plot

Ocean view cemetery

4000 Imperial

Burnaby



Can accommodate 2 caskets and 2 urns

Sold out Heavens Gate

South facing

Lot 3605

Grave7

Price $44,888



Transfer to be completed at cemetery office. Fees to be paid by buyer



jharvey_3@hotmail.com



05/08/2022



SHANNON LAKE EXCLUSIVE LISTING

$780,000



Well cared for home, backing onto walking trails/lush green space, and walking distance to Shannon Lake Elementary!!



3 Large Bedrooms with ample closets.

2 Beautiful Living/Family Rooms.

1.5 Bathrooms -one with a cheater door to primary bedroom.



Great outdoor entertaining spaces with large deck.



Jennifer Schwitzer | eXp Realty

1100 - 1631 Dickson Ave, Kelowna BC

Call or Text 250.258.3967



05/06/2022



Store Manager / Cashier / Couple

camdenvariety@yahoo.ca



05/06/2022

We are a travel nurse company in search of Canadian nurses interested in High wage contracts.

7807185732



05/02/2022



WE ARE IN HAIDA GWAII AND LOOKING for FULL-TIME EMPLOYMENT FOR OUR FOOD TRUCK. WE WILL PROVIDE CASH, ACCOMMODATIONS, AND AN ADVANCE FOR TRAVEL EXPENSES. PAY IS 25. AN HOUR PLUS LARGE TIPS. CANADIAN CITIZEN NOT NECESSARY

jodygrange@gmail.com OR 250-661-9550



04/29/2022

*Experienced, full time caregiver for 3 month old

*Mon - Fri 8AM - 5PM

*Waterdown, ON

*Live out

*Immediate start

*References requires

973-879-8015 / breezy.bozik@gmail.com



04/23/2022

near Montreal (P Q) clean house 4 bdr 2 bath, peace spot, info and offer

contact :

housequebec@yahoo.com



04/17/2022

Looking for manager couple harrisonspamotel.com

6044176939



03/17/2022

Have your wedding shown in beautiful wedding photos

780-401-1899



03/08/2022

2 BED ROOM BASEMENT FORE RNT IN NE CALGAY-ALBERTA.

RENOVATED MOST DONE.

NO PET.MAX (2)

825-712-4901



03/05/2022



Affordable insurance for Albertans

Call/Email for a quote today and start saving!



Brittany Limb

Insurance Broker

Insureline Brokers Advantage

587-319-2614/brittany.limb@insureline.com



02/23/2022



Experience the Boardwalk difference:

-Free community engagement programs and events

-Exclusive discounts with local businesses

-24-hour customer service team & on-call security

-On-site cleaning staff,landscaping & snow removal

-On-call emergency maintenance



Features, amenities and lease terms:

-$299 security deposit

-Functional bachelor, 1, 2, and 3-bedroom suites

-Standard and upgraded suites

-6 and 12-month lease terms

-Shopping, schools, parks and transit nearby



Visit shorturl.at/chuIS for more information and to book a viewing! bwalk.com

780-414-6617



02/17/2022



Experience the Boardwalk difference:

-Free community engagement programs and events

-Exclusive discounts with local businesses

-24-hour customer service team & on-call security

-On-site cleaning staff,landscaping & snow removal

-On-call emergency maintenance



Features, amenities and lease terms:

-$299 security deposit

-Functional bachelor, 1, 2, and 3-bedroom suites

-Standard and upgraded suites

-6 and 12-month lease terms

-Shopping, schools, parks and transit nearby



Visit shorturl.at/jAFJ2 for more information and to book a viewing! bwalk.com

780-414-2085



02/17/2022



Experience the Boardwalk difference:

-Free community engagement programs and events

-Exclusive discounts with local businesses

-24-hour customer service team & on-call security

-On-site cleaning staff,landscaping & snow removal

-On-call emergency maintenance



Features, amenities and lease terms:

-$299 security deposit

-Functional bachelor, 1, 2, and 3-bedroom suites

-Standard and upgraded suites

-6 and 12-month lease terms

-Shopping, schools, parks and transit nearby



Visit shorturl.at/hkxEO for more information and to book a viewing! bwalk.com

587-416-9225



02/17/2022



Experience the Boardwalk difference:

-Free community engagement programs and events

-Exclusive discounts with local businesses

-24-hour customer service team & on-call security

-On-site cleaning staff,landscaping & snow removal

-On-call emergency maintenance



Features, amenities and lease terms:

-$299 security deposit

-Functional bachelor, 1, 2, and 3-bedroom suites

-Standard and upgraded suites

-6 and 12-month lease terms

-Shopping, schools, parks and transit nearby



Visit shorturl.at/hqtFH for more information and to book a viewing! bwalk.com

780-496-9769



02/17/2022



Experience the Boardwalk difference:

-Free community engagement programs and events

-Exclusive discounts with local businesses

-24-hour customer service team & on-call security

-On-site cleaning staff,landscaping & snow removal

-On-call emergency maintenance



Features, amenities and lease terms:

-$299 security deposit

-Functional bachelor, 1, 2, and 3-bedroom suites

-Standard and upgraded suites

-6 and 12-month lease terms

-Shopping, schools, parks and transit nearby



Visit shorturl.at/mqyK3 for more information and to book a viewing!

587-416-9205 | bwalk.com

587-416-9205



02/17/2022



Experience the Boardwalk difference:

- Free community engagement programs and events

- Exclusive discounts with local businesses

- 24-hour customer service team & on-call security

- On-site cleaning staff, landscaping & snow removal

- On-call emergency maintenance



Features, amenities and lease terms:

- $299 security deposit

- Functional bachelor, 1, 2, and 3-bedroom suites

- Standard and upgraded suites

- 6 and 12-month lease terms

- Shopping, schools, parks and transit nearby



Visit shorturl.at/vwQZ9 for more information and to book a viewing!

7804082688



02/16/2022



We are seeking a Warehouse/Shipping Associates for a distribution centre in Richmond, BC & Bolton, Ont.



You will help coordinate incoming and outgoing shipment activities.



Job Responsibilities:



Assemble, address, stamp, and ship merchandise or material

Unpack, verify, and record incoming merchandise or material

Arrange appropriate transportation of products

Job Qualifications:



Ability to handle physical workload

Ability to multitask and prioritize

Ability to thrive in fast-paced environment

Strong organizational skills

Shift : 8:00 am-4:30 pm



Payrate: $17.50-18/hr

yvonne.heddington@jombone.com



02/02/2022

Sister Teresa Has Over 40 Years Experience helping the community.

Catholic, Palm &Tarot Card Reader.

Tells past present & the future.

Helps in all problems in life and Removes all bad luck and negative energy. All Reading are private and

confidential.

(778)833-1305



01/20/2022

Fluent Mandarin and English

Experience in sales and service

$20.00 per hour

604-310-8936



01/19/2022

Grave 2 of Lot 605

Heaven's Gate

23 Superficial Feet

$55,000.00

patdowney@telus.net



01/17/2022



St. Joseph's School



Values-Based Education for Grade K to Grade 7

Open House Feb 9, 2022 - 9am to 1pm

www.saintjosephschool.ca/open-house



3261 Fleming St., Vancouver

604-872-5715

stjosephsvancouver@telus.net



12/14/2021

Stable job, competitive wage Benefits

Full time. sewing experience needed for sewing complete garments.

778-867-0050/vlady@verticalsuits.com



12/08/2021

NEOS Design is a landscape and maintenance services provider for both commercial and residential. Currently, we are looking for permanent & full-time landscape workers.



* Job duties: Performs all aspects of maintenance and landscape including mowing, trimming, planting, pruning, mulching, green waste pick-up and disposal, and landscape construction.

* Job Types: Full-time, Permanent

* No winter lay-off, all year around

* Salary: $22-25

* Group health and dental benefits

* Contact: Please call Yoshi(Owner) at 778-866-5531.

Thank you for your interest!

7788665531/ neosdesignlandscape@gmail.com



11/22/2021



Want a stable job at a growing manufacturing company? We are looking for warehouse workers for our Delta, BC location for the following shifts:

Morning (7am-3pm @ $17.00/hr)

Afternoon (3pm-11pm @ $17.80/hr)

Graveyard (11pm-7am @ $18/hr)

We offer health & dental benefits after 3 month probation.

Send your resume to hr@prepacmfg.com and indicate which shift you are interested in. Only open to candidates eligible to work in Canada.



hr@prepacmfg.com



11/16/2021

- MUST speak fluent English

- MUST have experience working in a medical office

- MUST have knowledge of EMR

send resume to " info@finchwestmedical.com "

info@finchwestmedical.com



11/10/2021

Start immediately.

Competitive wages and medical and dental benefit.

full time or part time

Production line work: grade, scale, organize, pack and label product in various containers.

No experience necessary. Starting wage 16.00 per hour

contact mdasilva@7seas or 604 247 1266 and ask for Michael



11/09/2021

Day, afternoon, and night cleaning/janitorial shifts available for Vancouver airport location. $17.05/hr plus benefits and premiums for special skills. Must be reliable and eligible to obtain security clearance. Apply today recruitment@alpineservices.ca

recruitment@alpineservices.ca



11/04/2021

Day, afternoon, night janitorial shifts available 7 days/week in downtown Vancouver location. $15.90/hr to start, goes up to $16.85 depending on role. Must be reliable with professional attitude.

recruitment@alpineservices.ca



11/03/2021



Located in Vancouver.We specialize in high quality Japanese and modern gardens.

We also offer masonry (pavers, walls etc), ponds, bamboo fence and regular maintenance (highly skilled pruning).

With experiences in both Japan and Canada we can create the garden you desire.



oukalandscape@gmail.com



10/09/2021

SWAN IS HIRING! Interested & qualified individuals are invited to review the job postings & specific application instructions for each available role:



Co-Executive Director - https://bit.ly/2XNnRuA

CLOSING DATE: 9am, Fri 15 Oct 2021



Netreach Program Manager (Mandarin Speaking) - https://bit.ly/3u6BLUp

CLOSING DATE: 9am, Tues 12 Oct 2021



Peer Program Coordinator (Mandarin Speaking) - https://bit.ly/3EIGAIy

CLOSING DATE: 9am, Fri 15 Oct 2021



projectcoordinator@swanvancouver.ca



10/05/2021

Office cleaning mon-fri 9am-1pm

Car required , $21/hour.

Near Cote de Liesse ( Montreal)

Michael 514 624 3437

mmack@videotron.ca



10/04/2021



Reliable full-time Cleaners needed for strata buildings in Beautiful West Vancouver. $20.50/hour plus raises, benefits and bonuses.

778-580-8607



09/29/2021

WORK ONLINE & BE YOUR OWN BOSS

No Experience Necessary

No Selling

No Inventory

1 ON 1 MENTORING

REGISTER FREE

www.mindaandjames.com



09/25/2021



Shared accommodation

Female preferred

1 BDRM apartment

$600

I work out of town

In town a few times of the year

For a short period at a time



nbosshart@yahoo.ca



09/25/2021



Hiring for cleaning positions in various BC locations $16.50/hour or higher. Full and part time.

kodi@integralservicesgroup.com



09/23/2021

Grave Plot Listings - BUY / SELL

gravelisting.com

6047225796



09/21/2021

At the present time we are recruiting for three families seeking Nanny Housekeepers



Vancouver (Kerrisdale)

$25-$27 per hour

1pm to 8pm or noon to 8pm

driver required



Children are 11 and 14 so the priority is housekeeping

Start Date: asap



Vancouver (south granville)

$25 an hour plus benefits

7:30- 4:30 Mon to Fri

driver req

5 year old and newborn in Oct

Start Date: asap

Housekeeper

Langley

$27 per hour full time

optimumnannies@gmail.com



09/16/2021



Looking for Health Care Aides to work with senior clients in the community. If you have training as a Nurse or Care Aide - international nurses welcome to apply - we'd love to hear from you. Shylo Home Healthcare is the original Home Care agency in Vancouver and offers very competitive wages and the best benefits in the industry. Please email your resume today.

HR@ShyloHomeHealthcare.ca



09/15/2021

Pharmacy Assistant



We are a methadone pharmacy but completely different. Clean and modern. Fun place to work great staff and patients



We start early but you leave early. Fulltime 3 or 4 day a week position available. Send Resume

alkarimtejani@yahoo.com



09/15/2021

We are an aluminum gate manufacturer in Surrey and looking for qualified aluminum welders with 3 years experience. Wage neg. based on experience

faiola@telus.net



09/14/2021

Water Treatment Operator / Labourer

for Sumas Environmental facility -Burnaby

Must be fit and able to lift heavy weights



Send resume to David Cullano

david@sumas.net



09/07/2021

We are a family of four with two young daughters (3 months old and 28 months old). I am a lawyer but currently a stay at home Mom, while my husband works as CEO for a company

in Ottawa. We are looking for a full time Nanny to help me with the day to day taking

care of our daughters, prepping food and doing light cleans (including cleaning up after meals).



We live on a 330 acre property in White Lake, Ontario (12 minutes from Arnprior and 40 minutes West of downtown Ottawa).



We are looking for someone who can commit to a minimum of 40 hours per week and up to 48 hours per week. We are open to live-in or live-out help. We need someone who can start immediately to replace our current Nanny.

rachelbraatz@gmail.com



09/07/2021



L.M. Generating Power

Rental Generator Technician

- AZ License Required

- Training Provided.

- Overtime after 40 hours, Double time on Weekends

- Deliver and Install Generators

- Work in the Shop on engines and electrical.

647-212-4853 jshaw@lmgenpower.com



09/02/2021



Looking for an Experienced Line Cook in an Old School Kitchen @ Venetis Restaurant Steak + Seafood House in Langley, BC - apply in person Tuesday-Sunday 4pm-8pm

6045343922



08/31/2021

Full-Time Nanny - Vancouver

Experienced nanny who can travel extensively with us (both locally and internationally)

Vancouver family with 2 children, 6 and 3

40-50 hours per week

Tues- Saturday

Wage dependent on experience: $25-$30/hour but paid in salary (with benefits, taxes paid via payroll)

Family car provided to nanny

Ability to swim well

Criminal record check

jbrealestatedata@gmail.com



08/30/2021

Gardening Job starting immediately. FT in Thornhill area

647-831-2916



08/18/2021

Green Solution Cannabis - use your retail experience, here! In search of reliable, dedicated and enthusiastic people to join our team! Duties include assisting with customer purchases, till, re-shelving product. Flexible shifts. FT/PT. Advancement possible for the right candidate! Offering 16-26/hour. Lodging may be available. Apply with your police check, sell safe and birth cert (copy) or immigration document by email: sscannabis2020sp@gmail.com.





780-614-1341



08/14/2021

FRONTLINE WAREHOUSING

Delta, BC



WAREHOUSE ORDER PICKER - Part Time - Sunday morning



Job description



Sundays Only 7:00 am.to 3:15 pm



Primary duties include:



picking product cartons,

creating pallet loads,

loading trucks,

receiving and storing cartons,

cycle counting and

carrying out regular warehouse housekeeping routines.



Candidates must:



possess a work ethic that's suited to working in a fast paced environment,

be able to maintain a high level of accuracy,

have good organizational skills and a consistent attention to detail,

have experience in driving a sit down propane forklift,

have a valid forklift operator certificate.

be able to perform significant amount of heavy lifting.

Some supervisory experience would be an asset.



Part-time hours: 8 per week



Job Types: Part-time, Permanent



Salary: From $18.68 per hour

v.kho@prepacmfg.com



08/13/2021

FRONTLINE WAREHOUSING



Our busy distribution warehouse distributes to all areas of North America and we are hiring for:



Afternoon Shifts:

*Monday to Friday; 3pm - 11pm

* Sunday to Thursday: 3 p.m. - 11 p.m.



Primary duties include:



picking product cartons,

creating pallet loads,

loading trucks,

receiving and storing cartons,

cycle counting and

carrying out regular warehouse housekeeping routines.



Candidates must:



possess a work ethic that's suited to working in a fast paced environment,

be able to maintain a high level of accuracy,

have good organizational skills and a consistent attention to detail,

have experience in driving a sit down propane forklift,

have a valid forklift operator certificate.

be able to perform significant amount of heavy lifting.

Some supervisory experience would be an asset.



Job Types: Full-time, Permanent



Salary: $19.38 per hour

v.kho@prepacmfg.com



08/13/2021

Our Company, Adams Beverages Ltd. is looking to fill a position for a full-time Warehouse Worker, Monday to Friday.



To fulfill this position we are looking for someone who can:



-Speak, read and write English



-Able to lift minimum 50 lbs.



-Must have their own way to and from work, transit is available



-Ability to work independently as well as with a team



-Great time management and customer service skills



-Ability to drive a forklift with proper certification would be an asset but is not mandatory



Please send your resume with cover letter.



Thanks!



Expected start date: 2021-08-03



Job Type: Full-time

604-580-6811



08/12/2021

Airbase Services is hiring a Sheet Metal Repair tech to repair aircraft ULDs (Unit Load Device). Will train, should have good mechanical aptitude. Duties include:

- Sheet metal patching, riveting, drilling, cutting, grinding, etc.

- Other duties as assigned by Supervisor

4131 Vanguard Road, Richmond

Contact: 604 649 6519 or franklin.leung@stsaviationservices.com.



08/11/2021



DOUBLE YOUR EARNING POTENTIAL with a reputable cleaning company. Do you have cleaning skills and the ability to relocate? We have long-term career opportunities for people (and families) in vacation spots across Canada. Live in some of the countryas nicest locations and live a better life.

courtney@integralservicesgroup.com



07/26/2021



NOW HIRING FULL TIME

Surrey, B.C.

Production Worker - Pet Food.

Start Wage: $19/hr + Benefits.

Mon - Fri Day Shift.

Measure & Mix Meat Ingredients.

Operate Patty Machine.

Training Provided.

Must be able to lift 50lb's.

Able to work in a Refrigerated Space.

Located Close To Transit Route



Resumes To: jamesraw@telus.net or call 604-530-4729



07/25/2021

SALE: Funeral Cemetery Plots

6047225796



07/20/2021

Hiring Production Worker for Window Manufacturer in Port Coquitlam

as Reliable, and self-motivated.

as Able to lift up to 50 lbs.

as Familiar with measuring tape.

Full time. MondayizFriday.

$17/h and up plus Benefits.

Career@SilverLineExteriors.com

778-558-8700



07/19/2021

Food Trading in Richmond

is hiring self-motivated, full time Warehouse Packer/Driver

Monday to Friday

Group Benefits





604-279-8815 / info@chevaliercanada.ca



07/06/2021

WAREHOUSE PACKER



Prepac Manufacturing is one of North Americaas largest and most successful RTA (Ready to Assemble) furniture manufacturers of innovative, stylish and value-based home furnishings.



www.prepacmfg.com



We are seeking a highly energetic and motivated individual for full time role as Packer/General Labor, with following duties:



-Pack components into boxes on a line as part of a team.

-Stack and move components, feed and receive from machines.

-Cleaning, tidying, general laboring duties.

-Work is repetitive and some heavy lifting

-Good hand-eye coordination, attention to detail and organizational skill.

- Must be energetic, caring and conscientious and able to achieve both quality and output goals.



Hiring for three shifts:



-Morning (7am-3pm)



-Afternoon (3pm-11pm)



-Overnight (11pm-7am)



Benefits: MSP, Group Life, Health, Dental, Vision Care, Short Term Disability, Group RRSP, Overtime available every weekend



$15.80-$16.55 per hour



Please apply with resume.





HR2@prepacmfg.com



07/06/2021

Cleaning opportunities available in downtown Vancouver!



Shift: 5:00PM-12:30AM

Pay: $15.20 per hour

recruitment@alpineservices.ca



06/23/2021

Langley Farm Market in Coquitlam is hiring Produce Stockers.



Duties: Stock and arrange produce in storage and on displays; pallet loading and unloading; customer service; clean and tidy the store.



Requirements: Able to lift up to 50 lbs; fit to perform loading/unloading tasks; flexible to work weekdays, weekends, evenings and/or statutory holidays.



To apply, please visit our store at 2168 Austin Ave, Coquitlam, and ask for Albert/Derek.

604-937-2168/ellahr@sft26.com



06/18/2021

Lead Auto Detailing Trainee wanted. No experience is needed but one has to be willing to learn. Must be willing to be imaginative, good at time management, and precise with work.

danielvib3851@gmail.com



06/18/2021

Seneca Building Maintenance Ltd. is hiring janitors for casino cleaning in Burnaby and Coquitlam. Wages range from $15.20-$17.25 and include extended health benefits. Full-time and part-time positions available. Facilities are 24/7 and we have morning, afternoon, and night shifts available. Training will be provided.

604-889-1738/ career@senecacleaning.com



06/15/2021

1 bedroom basement (ground level) available for rent starting from July 1st. Close to the Scottsdale Mall, Scott 72 and a few steps away from bus stops. Internet, and cable included. Call for more information

6045012528



06/12/2021

Spick & Span Space Cleaning

Looking for Cleaning Ladies Oakville ON

Detail oriented, energetic and reliable

Part Time, Week Days

17-22$/hr

647-830-1307



06/11/2021



Moving your elderly overseas? Hire a trained international travel companion. www.jet-companion.com

letsfly@jet-companion.com



06/08/2021



Hello Jeff here Iam a Canadian 47-year-old black guy looking to meet nice fun to be with Asian lady from age 35 to 45 I can send you my photo you send me yours just text to my phone number 604-716-5845

604-716-5845



06/07/2021



Franchising Opportunities in Janitorial & Caretaking a Vancouver / Lower Mainland



a Maximize your success a partner with a leading janitorial company

a Training & ongoing support provided

a Strata buildings & commercial spaces

a Flexible day & night contracts





Please contact Brian for details



604-327-1123



06/04/2021



Dickens area 2 bed garden suite. Avail July 1. $1250. No pets, smoking.

778.239.0800



06/04/2021

We are looking to hire TELUS telecommunication contractors.

Position is suitable for persons with technical background as ex-Shaw cable technicians, alarm technicians, network technicians

We provide work you provide own vehicle(white minivan) and tools

We will train the right candidates.

Email your resume at ivan@contraktel.com

604 338 4755 Ivan



06/02/2021

4 BR upper ste, 1.5 bathroom



$2,500/month shared utilities



for more information contact Angelita

6048171939



05/23/2021

One bedroom suite in Steveston with close access to transport. Students preferred.

Call 604 644 4176 for details.









5706chat@gmail.com



05/12/2021

Burnaby Window factory has immediate openings for assemblers, glaziers, drivers, window installers, factory workers. Experience preferred but will train. Apply with your resume retrowindow@telus.net



6042916751



05/05/2021



NOW HIRING



Locations: Vancouver and Richmond



Career Opportunities:

a Local Delivery Drivers (5 Ton Truck)

a Warehouse Workers (Day or Night Shift Shipper)

a Forklift Operator/ Shipper & Receiver

a Light and heavy Produce Packager/ Processors

We offer competitive compensation and benefits

(e.g. extended health and dental, pension, career growth).



Please apply at www.freshpointcanada.com/careers or contact HR at

604-258-7623 Ext 7623



05/04/2021

GARMENT MANUFACTURER IN VANCOUVER a

JOB OPPORTUNITIES



WORK AT OUR PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT INCLUDING SEWING AND PACKING TO GET ORDERS COMPLETED FOR SHIPPING.



EXPERIENCE IS NOT A MUST. ON SITE TRAINING WILL BE PROVIDED.



IF INTEREST, PLEASE CALL.

604-253-0411



04/30/2021



Abbotsford - Award winning StructureCraft is looking for full time production workers. Construction/manufacturing experience preferred but will train as well. $18/hr to start. 4x10 hr shifts on dayshift and afternoons. Only open to local applicants at this time.

pwessels@structurecraft.com



04/24/2021

Vancouver Architectural Design Firm is looking for senior Architectural Technologist w/ min 3 years local experiences. Revit proficiency is a must.

info@gradualarchitecture.com



04/18/2021



Motel in Tsawwassen is looking for housekeepers.

owners@beachgrovemotel.com



04/05/2021

Residential House Cleaner



Langley, BC based company seeks full time cleaner. Must have Valid drivers license and reliable vehicle.



Please check out my Rosie Clean page on Facebook for more details.



gail_alm@yahoo.ca



03/25/2021



HOUSE FOR SALE IN VICTORIA

Beautiful 3 floors custom built house. 2.85 acres in much desired area of Metchosin on quiet, no-thru road country lane. Over 4,000 sq ft with 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, nice home office/library and separate rentable carriage house suite. Great views of Olympic mountains, forests and sea. 15 minutes to major shopping area. Built in 1989 and well maintained by current owner since 2003. View at www.greeenviewestate.com



brian@greenviewestate.com



03/24/2021

Well-established BC Pest Control Business For Sale

A well-established pest control company a in business for more than 30 years a is for sale with a long-standing reputation, a mix of commercial and residential accounts and steady customer base. Owner is retiring but willing to ensure a smooth and successful transition. With a consistent financial performance year over year, this is a turnkey home-based opportunity with high potential for growth in the Greater Vancouver area. Asking price $200,000 with a cash flow of over $100,000 per year. Full financial details upon signing of NDA.

Pls contact W. RIchards at P: 778-987-0000 ext. 101 or

C: 604 312 3352



03/15/2021



Looking for a great place to work? Check out current job openings at BE Power Equipment Inc.

https://www.bepowerequipment.com/careers

humanr@bepressure.com



03/12/2021



NEWLY RENOVATED 2 BEDROOM BASEMENT APARTMENT FOR RENT



DETACHED HOUSE WITH PARKING AND FULL LAUNDRY



DOWNTOWN TORONTO (BLOOR AND SHERBOURNE AREA)



Walking distance to Eaton Centre, Yorkville, Eaton Centre, Ryerson and U of T. RENT IS $1875



AVAILABLE APRIL 1, 2021



(416) 525 - 5579

(416) 525 5579



03/09/2021

Internet business with house on 2,5 acre pristine lakefront property. Manitoba Canada. Email findmewaiting@hotmail.com

(204)7711789



03/02/2021

BUSINESS FOR SALE

EXCLUSIVE LISTING

$150,000. +HST

High Income Potential

Julia Standford, Broker of Record & Owner Homelife All Points Realty Inc.

"Each office is independently owned and operated

1-289-697-5000



02/24/2021

IMMIGRATING TO CANADA?

New agriculture-based business may qualify for Ontario Immigrant Nominee Programas Entrepreneur Stream. Pre-construction business start up cost: $600,000 with an annual estimated pre-tax profit of $264,000.



1-289-697-7000



02/24/2021

Busy money-making laundromat in East Van for sale. Owner is really motivated by retiring from long time business.

604-253-5799



02/21/2021



Parcel of land in Bellingham Washington for sale. Overlooks water, next to the university.



$299k



more details email mpbagha@aol.com

mpbagha@aol.com



02/05/2021

TELUS & Koodo

EXCLUSIVE OPTIK TV & INTERNET OFFERS...

DISCOUNTED BUSINESS & CORPORATE CELLULAR PLANS AVAILABLE....



FOR MORE INFO CALL OR TEXT PRAB 604-866-2458

604-866-2458



01/19/2021

Large Custom drapery and furniture manufacturer requires experienced seamstresses and upholsterers. Part-time and full-time positions are available. Located in north Richmond BC. Please email resumes to info@windowworks.ca

604 231-1433



01/11/2021

Looking for Home Childcare Provider: The primary focus of this job is to look after the children in the home by providing meals, before and after school care and guidance for homework, activities, and other routines. Must pass drug test, child abuse registry check, criminal record check, and child welfare check. Reference required.



trishweaver@shaw.ca



01/02/2021

Canada based Marketing Executive overseeing expansion to Philippines. $60,000 / Year.

ChrisJohnson@WeDeliverWellness.com



12/01/2020

Cemetery Plots Save $$

6047225796



11/18/2020



Cleaning Services

Home and Office



a Covid-19, Cleaning, disinfect and Sanitize your home or office

a Post renovation cleaning

a Move in, move out cleaning services

a Senior Home Services (Discounts)

a Homes with pets

a Carpet Cleaning & windows

a Non Toxic & biodAgradable products avail



aDaily, Weekly and bi-weekly Servicea

604.703.8280



Weare hiring the very best housekeepers right now

david@mabuticleaningservices.com



11/17/2020



Business opportunity. Highly profitable

since 2003, a well-run business consisting of 4 Pizza Franchisees n Southwest Ontario, The owner is retiring.

More info upon request. Serious inquiries only.

mundyk@me.com



mundyk@me.com



11/16/2020

Mature student or retired nurse required to help an elderly lady in her Richmond BC home in exchange for

room and board and some agreed upon renumeration. Duties include light housekeeping, some cooking and companionship. minimum 4 hours during the day and to be in the house overnight.

kenkar1@telus.net



11/14/2020

Female roommate wanted in a big house in Surrey BC. NS,NP. Close to bus stop. $500/ mo

6045621605



11/11/2020



Are You an RCA in Vancouver? Nurse Next Door is hiring registered care aides that can service Vancouver and North Shore. Start Immediately! $19-$24/hr

allison.lee1@nursenextdoor.com



11/05/2020

Paragon Roofing is looking for experienced roofers- 28 to 32 per hour

call 6043583436



10/27/2020

Etobicoke - Mississauga

Looking to hire Private PSW to care for 2 senior parents, In home 10pm-7am

daily

416-930-7245 rs.rosesanto@yahoo.ca



10/20/2020

Brooks and Palen Boutique Auctions hosting an online live auction October 28th at 6pm. pre bidding begins Oct 20. Visit www.brooksandpalen.com for full catalogue

Info@brooksandpalen.com



10/13/2020



Join the award winning Nurse Next Door team where your passion for caregiving will shine as you provide personal care to 1-4 seniors per day!



What you'll be doing:

- Follow a detailed care plan outlined by the Care Designer.

- Assist clients in all activities of daily living and personal care including light housekeeping, meal prep, bathing, grooming, laundry, etc.

- Use a mobile app to access the care plan, complete COVID-19 screeners, log in / out of shifts, and record progress notes.



What we are looking for:

- Passionate Companions, Caregivers, Health Care Assistants, Licenced Practical Nurses, or Registered Nurses.

- Strong English skills both verbal and written. Other languages an asset.

- Proven caregiving experience and a demonstrated ability to work as part of a collaborative Care Team.

- A minimum availability of 16-20 hours of availability each week, including a weekend.



Successful candidates will need:

- An ability to quickly install, learn, and operate an online app on their mobile phone.

- A clean TB test within the past year.

- A clean Criminal Record Check with Vulnerable Sector Search within the past year.

- A reliable vehicle and full Class 5 BC Driver's license is required (not N or L).



Join a team that is passionate about making a difference!



Apply online at: https://bit.ly/NNDMRalljobs or send your resume to Jasmin.Gill@nursenextdoor.com.



10/08/2020

WANTED: 5 Ton Delivery Driver



Trail Appliances is looking for enthusiastic and friendly individuals who can deliver home appliances to our customers' homes in a timely and professional manner.



$18.36/hr + $1.19/hr clean delivery bonus + $200/mth attendance, punctuality, and professional conduct bonus

Full-time, 40 hrs/wk + benefits

Must be available to work Saturdays and Sundays



As a Delivery Driver, you will...

- Load and unload large home appliances to and from 5 ton trucks

- Perform the pre-trip check-ups on the truck and follow safety procedures

- Provide safe delivery of products into the customer's home

- Represent Trail Appliances every step of the delivery process by providing exceptional customer service and with professionalism



We are looking for someone with:

- 1-2 years' experience with deliveries

- A valid Class 5 BC driver's license with clean driver's abstract

- The ability to consistently lift and move large and heavy items up to 100lbs

jobs@trailappliances.com



09/28/2020

2 Bedroom Apartment

Close to all amenities

Clean quiet building located on 80 st and 119 avenue Edmonton

No pets

No smoking



780-990-9157



09/26/2020



How has COVID-19 affected you? If you're a Canadian resident 55 and older, researchers at SFU want to hear about your experience with the pandemic and your future care plans. Take the survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.ca/r/covidacpsurvey

paneetg@sfu.ca



09/22/2020



Right at Home Canada Fraser Valley is looking for a team of special individuals for work in the Fraser Valley: Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Langley & Mission.



Our candidates will need:

*Satisfactory Criminal Reference Check including the Vulnerable Sector Search

*Graduate from an approved Care Aide, RCA, Nursing assistant, or PSW program

*Registered and in good standing with the BC Care Aide Registry

Current First Aid and CPR Certificates



Duties:

a Assists clients with activities of daily living such as feeding, lifts and transfers, bathing, skin care, oral hygiene, and toileting.

a Administers medication to clients and provides medication reminders, in accordance with established policy and delegation.

a Performs housekeeping duties such as sweeping and mopping floors, vacuuming, dusting, washing dishes, and laundry



Please email your resume to:

bthompson@rightathomecanada.com and 604-226-2578



09/09/2020



CAREGIVERS WANTED



Are you looking for work where you make a difference everyday?

Where you connect one-on-one with seniors to help them achieve Happier AgingA in their own home?



Nurse Next Door (Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge and Mission) is looking for casual, part-time companions, caregivers, health care assistants, licenced practical nurses, and registered nurses to join our award-winning team.



Join a team that is passionate about making a difference!



Learn more about our current job openings at:

https://bit.ly/NNDMRalljobs or call 604 803 5525



08/17/2020

fish plant workers needed

$15/hour starting wage

3777 Keith street, Burnaby, B.C



604-437-4070



08/05/2020



Hiring FT Fish Plant Workers.

8305 - 128 Street, Surrey, B.C.

Day Shift & Night Shift Available.

Wage: $14.60-18.00 (Depending On Experience).

No Previous Experience Is Required. Located On An Accessible Transit Route.

Email Resumes To: jpatla@pacific-salmon.com



07/15/2020

House for sale

Bathurst...New Brunswick

Older home 3 bdrm 1 bath

Asking 69900 offers

Call Chris 236 332 3919

Slaterboy@live.ca



06/21/2020

Fish plant worker needed

$15/hour

location: 3777 keith street, Burnaby, B.C

604-437-4070



06/10/2020



NOW HIRING FULL TIME

Abbotsford, BC

Production line workers for poultry processing plant.

Monday a Friday, occasional Saturday.

Start Wage: $15.12 - $16.84/hr

No experience needed - training provided.

Email resume.

ffjobs@farmfed.ca



05/25/2020

Looking for a rewarding career amid Covid -19 Pandemic? Experience not necessary, we will give the training!

Call Albert Quilay - 7785523036

agquilay1976@gmail.com



05/15/2020



Chinese & Vietnamese Restaurant for SALE , Penticton, BC -400k Rev sale from 4hours/day operate Coperated 12 y reg customers 3000sqft 80 seat Liq lic & 5 y Lease & can extend, new Decorated -www.saigononmain.com

-CAD185000

tunjoe701@gmail.com



05/12/2020

CNKW Vancouver hiring sales representatives for retail store at 1192 Robson St. 3-5days/week. Full/Part time. $15-$16/hr.

job1@cnkw.ca



05/09/2020

General Labourer/Packer

All Shifts Full Time

Salary $15.80-$16.55

Plus Benefits

hr@prepacmfg.com



05/05/2020

Eco Bins Metro Vancouver

Bin & Dumpster rentals

Junk removal Bins - Garbage & Debris

Landscaping Bins - Dirt Sod & Concrete

Green waste - Yard waste removal

10yd - 40yd Bins available

Mini excavator & Bobcat service



6047881351 ecofriendlyscapes@gmail.com



05/03/2020

fish plant workers needed

located 3777 Keith street, Burnaby B.C

$14/hour starting

604-437-4070



04/13/2020

Fish plant workers needed

located 3777 Keith street,Burnaby

starting wage $14/hour



604-437-4070



04/09/2020

FT-Live-in Assistant Superintendent-Don Mills Sheppard Hi-Rise. Position includes competitive salary, 2 bedroom apartment, plus benefits. Willing to train.

sroth@stellen.ca



04/06/2020

Cemetery / Funeral plots for sale - Forest Lawn, Ocean view, Valley View. Save Thousands! Contact for full list.

604-722-5796

gravelistings@gmail.com



03/23/2020

LOCATION DOWNTOWN MISSISSAUGA

HOUSE FOR SALE PRIVATE BY OWNER

$ 1,175,000 Detached, 4bed, 4b. 2500sq ft. prime lot backing onto treed trail.

Walking distance to City Hall, Square One, both elementary and secondary schools.

Plazas and 2 parks near by. Rec room in basement or tenants, plus cellar and washroom. Pantry beside kitchen additional storage or can be a laundry room. Contact for private showing.

ivanalika06@gmail.com



03/04/2020

Front Desk Receptionist wanted. Data entry, run errands, filing, answer phones, AR calls, etc.

$15.00 per hour, benefits after three (3) months, RRSP company plan after one (1) year. Must have valid driver's license and access to car



info@salsonelectric.com



03/02/2020



FreshPoint is Hiring!



Day & Night Order Pickers

Class 3 Drivers, Heavy Processors



What we offer: Competitive wage rate with full benefits - MSP, Dental, Extended Health, Vision and Pension Plan



We provide a great work environment and great company benefits!



If interested please apply at:

1020 Malkin Ave Vancouver, BC

Or Call HR at:

778-952-4745



02/26/2020



Food Safety - Sanitation Workers



For immediate start in Richmond BC

Shift - Mon to Fri (10pm to 6am)

$17/hr - Nightshift

No experience needed - we will train you.

Benefits - Health, Dental, Pension

To apply submit resume online

jobs.pssi.com or call 403-831-6896



02/26/2020

Well established Calgary 75 seat franchise restaurant for sale by owner. Excellent location in high income NW Calgary. Ideal for working couple/family or small buyer group. Buyer must first confirm they have enough cash and restaurant experience to be approved by franchise head office. Priced at 25% of insured replacement value $199k. Contact CalgaryRestaurantFSBO@gmail.com

CalgaryRestaurantFSBO@gmail.com



02/10/2020

Dental hygiene student looking for people with no dental cleaning over 2 years. Must be able to commit multiple appointments.

Lots of other benefits will be provided.



647-792-8777



02/04/2020



SPA Business for Sale in Toronto. Established in 1984, 4 facial/body rooms, 2 wax rooms, 3 pedi rooms, 5 mani tables, 3 hair stations, 3 makeup stations. conveniently located 1 1/2 blocks from subway, parking lot in front.

416.417.5201 glenn_davis@rogers.com



01/31/2020

5 tons truck driver needed. Full time.

zhengb@shaw.ca 7788620618



01/21/2020

Meat Specialist

Key Responsibilities:

Cut bon, or grind pieces of primal subprimal and offal meat

Clean equipment and uphold safety standards

Perform excellent customer service

Use of equipment such as knives cutters meat saws and grinders

Perform other duties as assigned

Qualifications

A minimum of 2 years experience operating meat saws grinders and knives in the Meat department

Ability to identify different meat cuts

Food Safe Certification

Fluency in Mandarin and/or Cantonese







Chevanna_Trafton-thompson@owfg.com



01/13/2020

SAWMILL POSITIONS AVAILABLE

A Metro Vancouver Sawmill is looking for qualified forklift operators with lumber experience, millwrights and entry level production workers.

Shift work may be required.

The successful candidates will meet qualifications, be able to work in a demanding high paced production environment, have a safety conscious attitude, be able to communicate clearly and participate in a team environment.

Wages and benefits as per Collective Agreement.

Please submit resumes to jobs.flavelle@apgroup.ca

Only those selected for an interview will be contacted. No telephone calls please.





jobs.flavelle@apgroup.ca



01/09/2020

2.1Acre w 6br home in South Surrey

$1.549 000.- Great potential .private deal

gtupy@shaw.ca

6043417955



01/03/2020



SantiMed Family & Walk-In Clinic in Calgary.

Taking care of your health is our priority.

Speak multiple languages.

Accepting NEW patients.

Refugee patients accepted.

We are experienced in family medicine, urgent care, women's health, weight management, mental health, facial rejuvenation and many other services.

We look forward to seeing you at SantiMed

We are open daily at 6am and Saturday from 8am to 4pm.

We have Walk-In all day.

www.santimedclinic.com



12/21/2019

MOA for Family Dr. Clinic in Vancouver

7787062218



12/19/2019

business for sale

Two stores in touristy area of BC , manufacturing and wholesale, all businesses under one company roof, products are giftware , clothing and accessories. Great for expanding business with overseas production

7783865544



12/13/2019

Class 1 driver for local work



778 4003223



12/12/2019



IELTS writing instructor. Ex-IELTS examiner.

watts.marc@gmail.com



11/26/2019



Earn Online Today

earn@toonices.co.uk



11/26/2019

4 Burial Plots Available Valley View Memorial in Surrey in Garden of the good Sheppard $25,000 for all four obo. Buyer Pays Transfer Fees



6042172391/ bjkirk@gmail.com



11/22/2019

Established custom metal fabrication shop located in Vancouver is seeking a dependable/reliable fabricator / installer .

We are looking for someone with experience in fabricating and installing gates, fences, staircases and railings in steel, aluminum and/or stainless.



We have a diverse multi-cultural work environment, with fun and exciting custom projects to work on, and a fast pace environment with an emphasis on safety in the workplace.

Please send a cover letter with your resume.





chaloos@hotmail.com



11/20/2019

VERY RARE

3-BEDROOM PLUS DEN 1275 SQ.FT.

COAL HARBOUR CONDO

ALL MAJOR APPLIANCES

A 24 HR. CONSEIRGE SERVICE

POOL SAUNA AND FITNESS ROOM

CLOSE TO SHOPPING RESTUARANTS AND SKYTRAIN

MAGNIFICENT VIEWS OF VANCOUVER, STANLEY PARK

AND NORTH SHORE MOUNTAINS

AVAILABLE IMMEDIATELY

CALL 604-970-5383 FOR MORE INFORMATION



11/04/2019

Saint Germain Bakery is hiring cleaner and Janitor full time @starting $18/H. Working hours 2-10:30pm. Full health and dental benefits. Please apply in person with resume at 6568 McMillan Way, Richmond, BC. Mon-Fri 8am-3pm look for Anthony Lok.

mzhao@saintgermainbakery.com



11/03/2019

Edmonton light pole company owner retiring and is anxious to sell his business. We import light poles from China and sell them throughout western Canada. All inventory, assets, equipment and contact information for $500,000.00. Tel: 780-719-9918

Lightpoledirector@hotmail.com



10/16/2019

FT and PT LO Nanny hskps needed in Van and North shore $20-$24 an hour

optimumnannies@gmail.com



10/04/2019

Clearner wanted

Tue-Sun $15-18/hr, 3hr/night downtown/van west area. need car.

6047153888



10/04/2019

Experienced seamstresses can earn

$16.50 a 18.75 per hour

doing Sewing Work at Home.



We pay your full earnings without any deductions.

You pay taxes when you file your income tax return.

Be your own boss.

Only work the days & hours you want to work.

If you donat have an industrial sewing machine,

we can help.



Apply in person or by phone:

Mon.- Fri. 8:30-18:00

3454 Bridgeway St. (near PNE), Vancouver

604-251-3525



10/01/2019

30 years of making you money from Canadian real estate. No exceptions!

jack@yorktongroup.com



10/01/2019

OWN YOUR OWN BUSINESS FOR A BARGAIN INVESTMENT OF ONLY $120,000



Our firm has aligned with a large Commercial Printer and as a result we have available for sale most of the equipment you would need to set up a ready-made print shop or add to your existing digital printing operation. The equipment has been well maintained and you will only have to add a few small pieces to boast a full-fledged printing company able to produce several million dollars in revenue annually.

The equipment available is listed and can be viewed on our website at https://printit247.com/t/%20Press%20Details with detailed descriptions and information as well as other items included in this great opportunity.

The seller will absorb the cost to safely and securely load the equipment, extra parts, supplies and miscellaneous items onto the transport to ship and insure the equipment while it is en route. The buyer is responsible for the transport cost to their destination and off-loading at their site.

The first best and reasonable offer will be accepted.



Contact: P.Lang@printit247.com anytime

or toll-free at 1.888.774.6864 Mon. - Fri/ 8am - 5pm



09/27/2019



*** SCRAP CAR REMOVAL***

TOP CASH AND FREE TOWING

4162564843



09/26/2019

HIRING

GENERAL LABOUR WAREHOUSE VAUGHAN

FullTime-Mon-Fri

7:30am-4:00pm

$14.50/hr



4168480023



09/25/2019

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aaa aYaa-aaaa 1.888.774.6864 Mon. - Fri/ 8 am - 5 pm

P.Lang@printit247.com/ 1.888.774.6864



08/13/2019

KABAYAN! FINANCE OR LEASE A BRAND NEW OR USED VEHICLE! NO DOWN PAYMENT! I WILL HELP YOU GET APPROVED! LOOK FOR MARICEL FROM CANYON CREEK TOYOTA

4034782866



09/18/2019

4 Funeral Plots Available Valley View Memorial in Surrey in Garden of the good sheppard $25,000 for all four.

bjkirk@gmail.com



09/18/2019

Sewing work

a Must have good sewing experience

a $16-20/h

a Benefits available after 3 months

a Must speak good english

Located on the regional airport of Pitt meadows.

Please contact by phone or email

778-867-0050

vlady@verticalsuits.com



09/10/2019

for sale single plot Ocean View Cemetary 4000 Imperial St Burnaby BC $29,500.00



604-250-4445



09/10/2019

AGASSIZ 18 acres for lease. Cert. Organic FVOPA. Pager# 604 450 5317



creedjo1@gmail.com



08/31/2019

for sale by owner single plot Ocean View Cemetary 4000 Imperial St. Burnaby BC

V5J1A4 $31,500.00

seahorses@telus.net



08/29/2019

Sewing work must have good sewing experience 16-20$/H benefits available after 3 months. Must speak good english please contact by phone or email, located on the regional airport of Pitt meadows.

vlady@verticalsuits.com/7788670050



08/11/2019

Reception position at a Richmond solo family practice clinic.

The individual applicant does not need MOA certificate or experience, but should have good English, Cantonese & Mandarin communication skills.

officefax9098@gmail.com



08/05/2019

Fiberglass assembly a positions available immediately

Tufport Industries Ltd. is a mature fiberglass business that has been making quality canopies and custom products for over 50 years. We are looking for an assembly worker to join our team for a full time, Monday to Friday position.

Starting rate at $19 per hour, but will offer higher for qualified applicant.

The employee will be expected to:

-trim fiberglass parts using air powered tools

-clean work area and equipment

-lift fiberglass parts up to 50lbs

-wear PPE as required

-other duties as assigned

Preference will be given to candidate who has:

-a forklift license and experience using forklifts inside and outside

-experience working with fiberglass

-experience using high powered air tools

-strong communication skills

Coveralls, mask, safety glasses, gloves, and steel-toed boots will be provided by Tufport





email: krista@tufport.com



07/29/2019





Looking for experienced hand knitters

-knit sweaters, hats, slippers

-work from home

-flexible hours



Office is located in Richmond,BC.



grknitting@gmail.com / 778 710 4062



07/15/2019

Sewing work must have good sewing experience 16-20$/H benefits available after 3 months. Must speak good english please contact by phone or email 778-867-0050 vlady@verticalsuits.com, located on the regional airport of Pitt meadows.

778-867-0050



07/12/2019

Personal assistant for green energy CEO. Female only. Contact for info

justadevil2@outlook.com



07/07/2019

Beautiful Glenora House FOR SALE. 15616 - 108 Ave. Edmonton, Alberta. 2,200 Sq. ft.

Mike

cell; 780-945-9511

780-945-9511



07/05/2019



NOW HIRING



FreshPoint is a leading produce distributor in North America and offer competitive compensation and benefits (e.g. extended health and dental, MSP, pension).



Opportunities (No experience required except for driver roles):

a Light Produce Packagers (Vancouver)

a Heavy Produce Packagers / Forklift OperatorsA (Vancouver)

a Delivery Drivers (5 Ton / Class 3) (Vancouver)

a Warehouse Shippers & Receivers (Day or Night Shift) (Vancouver)

a Office Clerk (Vancouver)

a Graveyard Order Confirmer (Vancouver)

a Heavy & Light Production Workers (Richmond)

a Traceability Admin Clerk (Richmond)

a And many more!



To apply or for more information, please visit www.freshpointcanada.com/careers or contact HR at 604-251-0287. We also welcome walk-ins at our Vancouver office located at

1020 Malkin Ave.



07/02/2019

National Food Delivery Franchise Business for Sale. Servicing established major national retailers.

Williams Lake B.C.

tagco.dev@shaw.ca



06/26/2019

NEED A SINGLE NEEDLE SEWER TO SEW LABELS IN A SCREEN PRINTING FACTORY.

STARTING IMMEDIATELY

INGRAM & KEELE AREA.

FAIR PAY + BENEFIT

CALL 416-670-5424

anh@avidapparel.ca



06/25/2019

Live in caregiver for senior with health& mobility issues. Must have some health care experience. Full time position. Call Jacquie

403-708-6649



06/22/2019



SUNSHINE COAST 4 BDRM HOUSE FOR SALE - Panoramic view home in Central Powell River. Near ocean & great salmon fishing! See walkthrough video/details at https://youtu.be/SUJtLY8wd40



w.albury@hotmail.com



06/15/2019



Japanese straight perm

Starts at $150



aFrom Hair Ona

2500A St. Johns St. Port Moody

Ph.604.936.8313



06/13/2019



BC Home + 21 Acres for Sale.

$2,788,000.00 Amazing House and Amazing views. Live or Invest.



See www.onsalebc.com for details or call Chad Stevenson

(250) 803-3021 email: bcgreen@telus.net



06/04/2019



Ang Pinakamalaking Roofing Company ng Vancouver ay nagtatrabaho ng ROOFERS.

Walang kailangang karanasan.

Kumita ng hanggang $ 40 / hr $ 1000 bonus sa pag-sign

604-379-0655



05/31/2019



Profitable restaurant, pub, motel, cold beer store with 10 VLTs for sale in Northern Alberta after 40 years. We are in the town centre and have regular customers. It is easy to run, great income with opportunity to expand.

tinnie.chow@gmail.com



05/30/2019

Looking for full-time experienced grower/nursery worker for a nursery in Langley. English required. Email resume. Only short-listed applicants will be contacted.

shailesh@natsnursery.com



05/16/2019



NOW HIRING



FreshPoint is a leading produce distributor in North America and offer competitive compensation and benefits (e.g. extended health and dental, MSP, pension).



Current Opportunities (No experience required except for driver roles):

Light Produce Packagers (Vancouver)

Heavy Produce Packager / Forklift Operators (Vancouver)

Delivery Drivers (5 Ton / Class 3) (Vancouver)

Warehouse Workers (Day or Night Shift) (Vancouver)

Heavy & Light Production Workers (Richmond)

And many more!



To apply or for more information, please visit www.freshpointcanada.com/careers or contact HR at 604-251-0287.

We also welcome walk-ins at our Vancouver office located at 1020 Malkin Ave.



05/13/2019

Fencing company seeks installers.



Langley, BC



We install decks, fences, arbors and custom projects.



Looking for experienced builders.



18$-25$ / HR

kennedy@westernrugged.com



05/09/2019



JOB FAIR

Immediate Janitorial Opportunities in Vancouver

When: Wednesday, May 1st, 2019 and Thursday May 2nd, 2019

Hours: 11:00AM a 7:00PM

Where: Holiday Inn Express: Metrotown, 4405 Central Boulevard, Burnaby (Capilano Room)

Please come prepared for a potential job offer (SIN, Government Photo ID). Candidates must be able to pass a government security clearance.



Contact us:

Gus Rodriguez

Tel. 416-909-1570

Email: augusto.rodriguez@cwservices.com



04/23/2019



DINER FOR SALE...Holdfast, Sk. Close to City, 49 seat, fully equipped, 3 bdr suite, attached garage, Profitable and an easy transition,Serious inquires only

call Tammy-306-488-0000



04/17/2019

ANTIQUE SHOW April 20 AGRIPLEX 6050 176 St Surrey Admission $5 : 9AM-3PM

1-778-347-6794



04/14/2019

For Sale Mobile Home Park

in Williams Lake

98 pads,s hop, one new single wide home that could be rented.

Also double wide home for onsite manager. Downtown location on city services.

Phone Don 250 392 3879



04/10/2019

Unique Business Opportunity



Buffalo Run Restuarant $389, 500.00 US

Buffalo Run Inn $1'200.000.00 US



www.buffaloruninn.com



1-877-828-6652



04/10/2019



Looking for man or woman to work in an Italian kitchen and also knows how to make pizza kitchen experience and knowledge is required for more info please contact the owner

450-937-7799



04/07/2019

Learn to Speak English in Vancouver - Study at Home

jsmith@fluencytutors.com



04/02/2019

Lessons to Speak English in Vancouver

Study at home!



jsmith@fluencytutors.com



04/02/2019

Looking to hire child care provider. Duties include: assume full responsibility for household in absence of parents, Perform light housekeeping and cleaning duties. Location: Vancouver, $14.5/hr, 35 to 40 hrs/wk.

rvlemcar2019@gmail.com



03/31/2019



FREE 4 DAYS CAMPING

BEAUTIFUL BIRCH BAY WASHINGTON

jamisonshults@me.com



03/29/2019

We are looking for nanny /cleaner to look after elderly couple for day to day activities also including house cleaning, preparing meals, hindi Speaking, must be able to work on weekends.



Work Hours 9:30am to 6pm

Pay Rate: $15 - $16 per hour

604-649-1000



03/27/2019

Leading janitorial company is seeking employees for the following positions in downtown Vancouver:

- Site Manager

- Custodial Supervisor (5)

_ Experienced floorcare custodians (3)

Fair wages and extended benefits are offered.

416-909-1570



03/26/2019



CAREGIVERS NEEDED IN VANCOUVER, BURNABY, RICHMOND & NORTH SHORE: Live-In, Hourly, & Over Night positions available today.

Competitive Wages, Regular Raises and Excellent Benefits (Extended Health & Dental).

HR@shylohomehealthcare.ca



03/16/2019

Profitable 3200sq ft DINER w 3 bedroom suite FOR SALE in SASK. $100,000 OBO. Eager to SELL, Serious Inquiries ONLY

306-488-0000 lanechange16@hotmail.com



03/14/2019

Valley View Cemetery - Garden of the Apostles, Surrey, BC 5 choice plots all touching in a single row $5227 each.Transfer will be at Valley View offices.

269-279-0396



03/11/2019

Very busy Transport Company in New Westminster requires a Full-time (M-F) Auto/Truck Mechanic or Mechanic's Helper. Ticketed preferred. Must have own tools. Very good wages and health benefits.

604-908-3755



03/06/2019

Looking for seamstresses. Contract per-piece basis. Located near SW Marine dr and Ontario st. Vancouver. Please contact for further information.

604-556-8534



03/05/2019



Security Guards Needed for Vancouver!



a Do you have SECURITY Experience?

a Do you have a British Columbia Security Guard Licence?

a Are you available ANYTIME - Monday to Sunday a Mornings/Afternoons (Day Shifts)

a Do you own a black suit? Do you live in Vancouver?



The positions offered include:

a High-end retail luxury stores, well known in the apparel and jewelry industry

a Uniformed and suit (black suit) positions available

a Pays $14-$18 an hour depending on experience

a Full management support

a Advanced and on-the-job training provided at no cost

a Possibility of advancement in the organization



Interested candidates can send their resume to careers@asapsecured.com, apply online through www.asapsecured.com or fax their resume to 1-905-875-1997 (Attention: Recruitment Manager).



Additionally, you can view ASAPas current job openings at INDEED (www.indeed.com) - search ASAP SECURED.

ASAP Secured will provide Security Guard Licence training FREE OF CHARGE to all candidates interest in receiving their full Security Guard Licence. Conditions apply. Please contact our recruiting manager for more details

careers@asapsecured.com



02/25/2019

Johal Berry Farms is looking for general farm labourers. location of work will be Pitt Meadows BC.

Worker should be able to lift up to 30 pounds. Work will be outdoors. $12.65 Hourly.

Please email resume

rita@johalberryfarms.com



02/20/2019



Private island in Belize C.A. 3+acres clear,clean title. 10 min. from SanPedro town Good for private home or eco-lodge Hurricane protected in quiet lagoon Some terms available 375,000.oo U.S

edwim.meldrum@gmail.com

edwin.meldrum@gmail.com



02/11/2019

In need of a live-in caregiver for a female senior with disability in Mississauga, Ontario. $14/hr, permanent position.light housekeeping, companionship, assist in food preparation and exercises. Accomodation provided. Email resume at crmipalar@yahoo.com

Crmipalar@yahoo.com



02/04/2019



Nas Microblading

Promotion:$160

Facebook: @nasmicroblading

Location: Burnaby, Port Coquitlam

604-357-3519/ nashonar@gmail.com



02/04/2019

ANTIQUE SHOW JAN 12 AGRIPLEX 6050 176 St Surrey, $5 9AM-3PM

778-347-6794



01/06/2019



CAN YOU SING?

SONGSTER STUDIOS - Free Recording Session. Work in our studios to become an amazing singer. All Ages welcome!

604-800-8288



12/27/2018

We are looking for cleaners and contractors to partner with our organization and to provide quality services to our clients .

We will offer training and teach skills to start your own business to provide you with a secured and stable monthly income. We have cleaning contracts all over Lower Mainland.



For details and information, please call Wilson at 604-754-4613 or email us at home@platinumleaf.ca.

6047544613



12/05/2018



Laundry Machine Operator



K-Bro Linen Systems has been a trusted leader in linen and laundry services since 1954.

We have immediate openings in our Burnaby hotel laundry production facility which is located just 7 minutes away from the Lake City Way Sky-Train Station!



Responsibilities:

- Operate machines to launder sheets, pillowcases, towels and other articles

- Operate a tunnel washing machine

- Operate an industrial dryer

- Loading and unloading of laundry equipment

- Sort garments and operate washing machines and dryers to clean and dry sheets, pillowcases, towels and other articles

- Check finished articles to ensure that they are properly laundered

- Record damaged or improperly laundered articles

- Assemble finished articles for delivery to the customer

Requirements:

- Must be reliable, hardworking, willing to learn and able to work independently

- Being in good physical shape

- Able to learn to use electronic equipment

- Full time - 40 hours a week

- 1 weekend day required

- On-the-job training will be provided. No experience necessary

Address: 8035 Enterprise Street, Burnaby, BC:

Directions: 7 minute walk from the Lake City Way Sky-Train Station

- Exit Lake City Way skytrain station

- Turn left onto Lake City Way

- First right onto Enterprise Street

- Follow the signs to our facility



We are currently recruiting to ll 25 full time permanent positions.

Pay rate is $15.50 per hour.



Laundry Machine Operator

Looking for long term stable year round employment?

Come and join our team!

Please come to our facility between 8:00 am and 4:00 pm to apply.

Please email opportunities@k-brolinen.com or call 604-681-3291 to ask any questions.



11/27/2018

Bar with 5 poker machines for sale 40000

5148653923



11/26/2018

Drywaller and painter needed full time. Must be personable and hard worker. More than full time if desired. Wages start from $23 - $28 depending on experience. Small jobs including patching, painting and texture. Benifits and car possible for right person.

Cfclean@telus.net



11/22/2018



Lindenwoods - Prestigous Shoreline Drive. Show home condition. Fully upgraded 3bedrm plus den. Hardwd floors, granite counters, appliances. Vaulted ceilings. Renoas include newer roof, furnace and hot water tank. $799,000.

204-918-2126



11/17/2018

LIVE IN CARE AID RQD. PREFER COUPLE OR FEMALE.

604-319-8780



11/08/2018

I would like to learn Visaya (Bisaya). I live in downtown Vancouver but have a family in Visayas and would like to take lessons from a qualified or experienced teacher in the Bisaya language.

604 441-0069



11/06/2018

ANTIQUE SHOW Nov 10 Agriplex 6050 176 St Surrey Admission $5 9AM-3PM 150 Tables

7783476794



11/04/2018

We service car dealers by repairing wheels. We are looking for a someone for general labor who can remove/install wheels and do deleaveries. Pay start at 17.0$/hour

Th18jobs@gmail.com



11/04/2018



3BED / 3.5 BATH TOWNHOUSE IN BEAUTIFUL EVANSTON (NW) CALGARY. WALKOUT BASEMENT (FINISHED) WITH ONE UPPER AND LOWER BALCONY. GRANITE THROUGHOUT THE HOUSE WITH A HEATED GARAGE.

ryan.mp@icloud.com



10/30/2018

Vertical Growers Network Ltd located in Leduc Alberta, has an IMMEDIATE opening for a Production Worker to join our team. This is a full-time position with the possibility of shift work and weekends. $15.00 / hr start, must be proficient in English

hr@verticalgrowersnetwork.com



10/29/2018

INDIA SALE PURCHASE OF PROPERTIES IN CHANDIGARH PUNJAB DELHI NCR BANGALORE MUMBAI GOA HYDERABAD

9316255513 NRISERVICES21@GMAIL.COM



10/25/2018

test

519-476-9009



10/24/2018

Website Content Management Services For A Great Price!

Singh_allan@hotmail.com



10/24/2018

one bedroom basement apt. for rent south Etobicoke "female "only

416 253 7581



10/11/2018

Subsea Tech diving has an administration and marketing position available.

Please apply and send your resume to:

6043497658

Info@subseatechdiving.com.

Info@subseatechdiving.com



10/08/2018



2,1 acre in S.Surrey 6br house $1.8 M

Possible financing,must have 1mill $ own cash

www.666-176streetsurrey.com

604 538 4883



10/08/2018

Cellfixx.ca can repair your cell phone. more than 10 years of experience. please call for detail info.

6044849376



10/02/2018

Live In Housekeeper / cook for our home $13/h.

7787923532 luc.batcu@gmail.com



09/28/2018



C&W Services is recruiting night cleaners from 9 PM - 5 AM at the Richmond Centre Mall. Wages ranges $13 - $16 per hour. Interested candidates may apply on site by attending the job fair:

When: September 28th, 2018

Time: 1:00 PM a 5:00 PM

Where: Richmond Centre Mall

(6551 No 3 Rd, Richmond, BC V6Y 2B6 - at the old Sears space entrance through the mall)

The individuals selected must meet employment eligibility compliance and complete a criminal background check.

604-404-7978 - Dennis



09/26/2018

Buy celpip and ielts certificates without writing the exam

aisherjoel19@gmail.com



09/26/2018

Buy your celpip and ielts certificates without writing the exam.

aisherjoel19@gmail.com



09/26/2018

HERRO

sheereen@gmail.com



09/24/2018

ANTIQUE SHOW Oct 6 Agriplex 17798 62 Ave Surrey $5 9-3 180 + Tables

7783476794



09/21/2018



MOTEL & PROPERTY FOR SALE IN NORTHERN BC. GREAT CAP RATE OVER 14% OWN THIS GROWING BUSINESS IN BEAUTIFUL McBRIDE.

36 ROOMS & HIGHWAY FRONTAGE

SHARE SALE$2,050,000.

DETAILS AT SOLONREM.COM



778-995-7467



09/18/2018

NOW HIRING!

Food Plant Cleaner

Are you looking for a Great Job with the Opportunity to Grow!

Positions available Downtown Vancouver, Langley, and Surrey!



Part Time, Full Time, and Casual



! What we offer:

Starting wage of $14.00 to $15.00 per hour depending on experience



Employer paid (50%) Extended Health Benefits!



We train you!



Employer paid work boots and safety gear!



What you need:



No experience necessary!



Evening, Graveyard and Weekend availability



Physically capable working with high pressure hoses in a wet work environment



Attend work Regularly and Consistently

Have a Strong Work Ethic and Initiative, and Strive for Excellence



Maintain good working relationship with Supervisors and Peers



If interested in this Job Opportunity or if you have any Questions please Email your Resume, or Call the Numbers below:



Rafael Olivares



rolivares@acciona.ca



604-786-9195



Mason McIntyre



mmcintyre@acciona.ca



250-216-6350

250-216-6350



09/18/2018

Live-in caregiver for person with a disability, Vancouver. Permanent, full-time, $13/hour, accommodation provided. English-speaking. High school grad. Tasks: personal care, housekeeping, laundry, food prep, medication.

JVM9533@gmail.com



09/13/2018

DIAMOND

ROUND 2.21 VS2 - H

GIA CERTIFICATE

H. & B. JEWELRY & LOAN

WWW.HBLOAN

503-222-6625

Celebrating our 70th Year



503-222-6625



09/11/2018



Fortune Teller Madam Eva love & relationship specialist Tells you Past Present & Future She Reads, Tarot cards & Palmistry Reading.

1-630-423-7747

630-423-7747



09/11/2018

We are looking for warehouse workers to join our team. Position is f/t permanent M-F, 7:30am-4pm. $14 to start + benefits after 3 months. We are located on Annacis Island. Must be able to communicate in english.

vanguard@telus.net



09/10/2018

2.1Acre 6br house South Surrey

666.176 street$1,799 000, 6045384883

gtupy@shaw.ca



09/07/2018



High Grade Medical Marijuana ( www.bbcmarijuana.com )



Website: https://www.bbcmarijuana.com/

Email: bbcmarijuana11@gmail.com





09/04/2018



6,200sf Luxury Home

ABSOLUTE AUCTION

NO RESERVE

Alexandria, Louisiana, USA

www.bonnetteauctions.com

LA#818

typeAd2



08/31/2018

Many Grave Plots / Crypts for sale. Save Thousands.. 604-722-5796





08/29/2018



FOR SALE - FREESTANDING BUILDING IN ABBOTSFORD! 21,530 sf bldg + 21,530 parkade on 1.25 acres. Vacant. C4 Zone allows Auto Sales, Retail, Fitness, School, Restaurant. Prime location, near Clearbrook Rd. Ideal for owner-user or investor.

604-662-5115



08/27/2018

For Sale or Lease Fully Equiped restaurant 50 seats Could include residence Busy northern mb mining community

204 358 0231 glen.otto60@gmail.com



08/27/2018



Ames Tile is looking for Warehouse Workers at our New Westminster & Burnaby locations. Must have excellent English skills & basic math skills both written & spoken. Experience working in a whse environment. Forklift experience an asset. Pays $19 per hour + great benefits.



08/24/2018

take message for me to philippines will pay 1000 dollars 604 833 4814



08/22/2018

Great Opportunity: Lot for Sale in greater Manila.



Due to personal circumstances only, Filipino/Swiss couple sell 1,300sqm lot in high-end community in Antipolo (Rizal).



Prize well under current market conditions. Ideal for residential purposes or investment.

Background details see: www.filinvest.com/projects/mission-hills

(>Santa Barbara 1).



Personal contact and details via private e-mail: braunzam@netplus.ch







08/22/2018

looking for a nanny

please call 604781 4662



08/21/2018



Home for Sale - Aurora Highlands



Priced to Sell In Auroraas Most Desirable Neighborhood - Aurora Highlands! Waiting for your personal touch.



Move-In Ready Bright Open Concept 4+1 Bedroom, 5 Bath.

Beautiful 2 Story Entrance, Updated Kitchen with New Stainless Steel Stove & Fridge. Main Floor laundry.

Upper Level Featuring Large Master Bedroom with ensuite, additional Bedroom with ensuite + 2 More Bedrooms & One More Bath.

All Bedrooms Have New Laminate Floors & New Broadloom Runner To Upper Level.

New Roof a17. Freshly Painted Interior & Exterior, Beautiful Finished Basement

With walk out To The Garden & Full Bath. Loads Of Storage.

$950,000



CONTACT

Margaret Lindzon, Sales Representative

Forest Hill Real Estate Inc. 416-488-2875



08/21/2018

MODERN CLEANING CANADA. TORONTO

Looking for full time/part time

commercial retail store cleaners

full training

benefits

call 416 816 5555







08/21/2018

Seeking caregiver for 9y/o (Langley) $13/hr FT. W/ cert or experience.General care,prep meals,bring to/fr school,help w homework,light housekeeping.To apply: jenniemcruz@gmail.com



08/20/2018

We are transport company based in Montreal, QC, looking for class one drivers to run long distance between Montreal and Western Canada/USA. We can get work permit ( LIMA ) to temporary workers. Please email mark@montcal.ca or call 514-366-1020 ask for Mark Tekin.

Our website is www.montcal.ca





08/17/2018



A qui la chance! Une Aubaine! TrAs belle maison intergAnArationnelle, situAe sur le bord du golf de Lachute rue (cul-de-sac) et aucun voisin arriAre prAs des services. PropriAtA bien AquipAe! Il y a une piscine intArieure, bain tourbillon et sauna sec, foyer au salon. 4 salles de bains, 4 chambres A coucher, magnifique cuisine, Thermopompe centrale,doit se vendre ! 399 000 $ 641 Rue Watson, Lachute, J8H4H1.



08/14/2018



2.1 Acres .6br house+garage South Surrey $1.799,000 604 341 7955



08/11/2018

Seeking a Mandarin-English instructor/ caregiver for my 4-year old.

Hrs: 8 a 12:30 pm Mon a Fri

Sept 4 a June 30

$21/hr

Expectations: Building a curriculum.

Creative thinking on learning methods. Tel 604-616-0622



08/08/2018

INVEST IN INDIA FOR SMART RETURNS

WE DEALS HOSPITALS/HOTELS/BIG HOUSES IN NEW DELHI NCR CHANDIGARH TRICITY PUNJAB MUMBAI,GOA,HYDERABAD,BANGALORE

BHALLA 9316255513

NRISERVICES21@GMAIL.COM



08/07/2018

aaaY aaaa aaaa aaaaaaaa aaaa, aaa 28 aaa, aaa 5a6a asaaa aaaaaa aaa aaaaaaa aa aaaa aaa aaaa aaaaaa aaaaa aa aaa aa aaaaa aaa:- 4168186782, 4169240195



08/02/2018

Tonk Kshatriya parents seeking a suitable match for their Canadian born girl, 34 yrs old, 5'3'' tall, educated in accounting. The boy should be hindu punjabi, attractive, athletic, vegetarian, educated. Plz send biodata with recent pictures.



e -mail: match4matri2018@gmail.com



08/01/2018

Now Hiring: Production Staff

No experience necessary

English is not required

$12.65 to $18.50 /hour

Day Shift (7:00 am a 5:30 pm)

Evening Shift (5:30 pm a midnight)

$1 per hour premium for evening shift

7 minute walk from the Lake City SkyTrain





Visit K-Bro at 8035 Enterprise Street in Burnaby or apply by email at SusanWong@k-brolinen.com





08/01/2018

Looking for interior doors, trim and hardware installers (man and woman) in the new construction in the Vancouver area. We can also train.

Please Call or Text 778 389 7347 or email jobs@polbayltd.com



07/31/2018

2.1 Acre 6br house-South Surrey

https://www.666-176streetsurrey.com

$1,799.000 604 538 4883



07/30/2018

P/T cleaner wanted. Pls call/text 6047153888 for detail.



07/29/2018



4 bedroom home / walkout basement .

Open house Sunday July 28

2-4 pm







Phenomenal Executive Home in one of the most sought out are in Brampton. Over 4000 sq ft w/ finished walkout basement facing a beautiful private secluded backyard. Many upgrades: hardwood flooring throughout, granite counter tops, stainless steel appliances, under mount sink, black splash, crown molding, oak wood stairs, upgraded master bathroom ensuite & much more. Close to all amenities, high ranking schools & major Hwys.



07/25/2018

Full Time Production Worker position at a HACCP Food Manufacturing Facility In Surrey BC

Hours in between 5:45 am -3:00 pm

Benefits: Medical 80% and Dental 80%

Requirements:

Must speak and understand English

Ability to take direction

Ability to stand for long periods of time.

Ability to work in a team environment

Able to handle working with Chicken and Beef

email your resume to tcoleman@yournanaskitchen.com









07/19/2018



HOME SHARE PROVIDERS NEEDED



in the City of Vancouver







We are: A community living agency supporting individuals with a developmental disabilities.







You are: A caregiver with a background in health care / support work / education, with an available room or suite in your home.







To find out more, call Edward @ 604-301-2810 or submit your resume to

ematsuda@develop.bc.ca





07/17/2018

5M REAL ESTATE LOAN FOR EXISTING HOTEL IN MOST EXPENSIVE ZIP CODE IN AMERICA 11962 - IN THE HEART OF THE HAMPTONS NEW YORK

7 ACRE PROPERTY -36 UNITS WITH POSSIBLE CONVERSION TO CO-OP OR CONDO



07/16/2018

Landscaping Laborers needed in Coquitlam $15-22/hr. Resume to info@lawncareplus.ca



07/12/2018



FreshPoint is hiring full-time delivery drivers (class 3 and 5), warehouse shippers and receivers (day or night shift), food production processors, produce packagers, red seal industrial millwright,

and many more in Vancouver, Richmond and Nanaimo!







We are a leading produce distributor in North America and offer competitive compensation and benefits (e.g. extended health and dental, MSP, pension).







*Production processors & packagers must be able to lift 25 lbs and have basic English proficiency. Drivers, shippers & receivers must be able to lift 55 lbs and have strong English communication skills.*







Vancouver: connect with Ran at



604-253-1551, careers@freshpoint.com, or apply in person at 1020 Malkin Ave., Vancouver.







Richmond & Nanaimo: connect with Dorothy at 604-242-0500, careers.fpfc@freshpoint.com, or apply in person at 3500 Viking Way, Richmond/ 4911 Wellington Rd., Nanaimo.







Visit www.freshpointcanada.com/careers and start a rewarding career today!



07/12/2018

Experienced cleaners required. Part time evening work. Location is in Vancouver. Monday-Friday. Must be reliable and bondable. Contact Tom at quest.task@telus.net for any further questions.



07/11/2018

Ocean View Cemetery - Garden of Eternity

Double depth crypt, south facing, no vault required. 604-217-4226.





07/08/2018



Where Is The Rape Capital- Watch Karolina Goswami on YouTube.



07/04/2018

Cleaner needed biweekly 4-5hr. 1 bdrm condo. Near Broadway Skytrain. $20/h. Send resume references ak1856046@gmail.com



07/02/2018

Drivers - Pit Stop Portables - Earn up to $50-$65k \ Yr. dhall@pitstopportables.com



06/29/2018

Lets check if you are brainwashed about India - Karolina Goswami on You Tube.



06/20/2018

Class 1 Truck Driver Needed. Local Work with great salary, full benefits, pension and unionized. Chip truck driver. Please email resumes to: 555basran@gmail.com or fax to: 778-297-4603.



06/13/2018

Would you like to work from home. Must have a sewing machine and be a experienced and competent sewer. I deliver new work to you and pick up completed work from you.



06/03/2018

2 burial plots- Valley View Memorial Surrey, $18000.00 email for info





06/03/2018

Diamond Precast - 7520, Conrad St., Burnaby, BC V5A 2H7 Ph: 604-415-5181







Production Workers with below attributes: Team player with Punctuality, Discipline in attendance , lifting 50 lbs, Follow Safe Working Procedures, General cleaning, Bring your resume and a great attitude and get excellent compensation.



06/01/2018

PartTime Cleaner needed. $14/hr. Richmond/Vancouver/Burnaby. Vehicle required. 604-715-3888



05/28/2018

Following 1(a) US trademarks for sale in 025 (Apparel) Class: Post-ModA, Sew CreepyA, ModpunkA, Calamity JaneA Inquire:larry@beaksofeagles.com



05/25/2018

We are looking to hire a cleaner to clean our office as well as cleaning our home in West Vancouver. please email us your resume at info@acecare.ca or call our 604-8415774 and ask to speak to Ali or Sanaz.



05/25/2018



NOW HIRING!



Explore Opportunities with ARYZTA

Tuesday, May 29, 2018 | 10 AM to 2 PM & Wednesday, May 30, 2018 | 2 PM to 6 PM



Front Office Area, North Entrance 6229 Laurel Street | Burnaby, BC V5B 3B3



OPEN POSITION



Production Workers | Sanitation Workers



IDEAL CANDIDATES WILL POSSESS THE FOLLOWING ATTRIBUTES



a Team player with strong employment attendance record

a High School Diploma or equivalent

a Previous experience in a manufacturing environment and/or the food industry is preferred

a 24/7 Availability for varied shifts

a Ability to get to work for scheduled shifts without relying on Transit



Bring your resume and a great attitude!



ARYZTA is an Equal Opportunity Employer



05/22/2018



Apply na at maging Garibaldi Kapamilya! Full-time glass production opportunities on Afternoon (2:30PM-11:00PM) and Graveyard (10:30 PM-7:00AM) shifts. Full training and benefits provided. 8183 Wiggins Street, Burnaby BC. To apply, send your resume to resumes@garibaldiglass.com.



05/15/2018

Futech Sign Supplies, Richmond.

Customer Service + Administrative Ass. F/T.

Exceptional customer service & communication skills

Strong multitasking skill

Proficient w/ MS Office

Preparation of sales materials

General upkeep of the store

Ability to work well under pressure

Fluency in written & spoken Eng

Pls send resume to hr@futechinc.com





05/14/2018

Need a Janitorial service for a reputable company in Vancouver.

one time a week ( approximately take3- 4 hrs each time )

Call :Ali -604 831 1914



05/09/2018





The North Shore Safeway locations are hiring Deli Production Clerks (Caulfield

Village, Westview, Lynn Valley and Parkgate).



a The position requires the preparation of hot and cold food and serving customers.

a Training is provided.

a We offer regular pay increases, flexible schedules and a comprehensive benefit plan.



To apply, send your resume to michelle.reynolds-tack@sobeys.com



05/04/2018



Glass Production Workers $17/hour

Day, afternoon, and night shifts avail hr@pfgglass.com or drop in to 27413 55th Avenue Langley, BC



05/04/2018

Huge Opportunity For You To Help Us Launch a Heart Health Product in China through Direct Sales. 819-321-9385



05/03/2018

Huge Opportunity For You To Help Us Launch a Heart Health Product in China through Direct Sales



05/03/2018

2 Cemetery plots for sale, Valley View Memorial Gardens, Surrey BC

250-579-8524



04/28/2018

HOUSE FOR RENT! BOLIVER HEIGHTS/GUILDFORD AREA. Close to schools, parks, mall, all amenities. 4 bedrooms, 1 full & 1 half washroom, rancher style home with huge patio deck & even RV parking. Small pets allowed. No smoking inside the home. Looking for long term tenants, preferably a family. Available from June 1st, 2018. Asking $1950 per month only. Call now to inquire...won't last! Vic - 604-710-2944 or 778-233-3442.



04/28/2018

Custodial Jobs

Building maintenance company is seeking employees for the following positions:

_ Experienced floorcare custodians

- Parking lot maintenance personnel

- Light and heavy duty janitors

Fair wages and extended benefits are offered. Please email your resume or contact info to office@prismbuilding.com



04/27/2018

fish plant workers needed.

located at 3777 Keith street burnaby

604-437-4070

starting wage $13/hour



04/24/2018

Sushi Restaurant in 120st&72ave Sry is hiring f/t, p/t kitchen position. send resume cheers5761@gmail.com



04/19/2018

Scarborough 2bdrm basement apartment rental for female. wi-fi, All utilities included. Tv only have a basic channels. The laundry on SITE. $550 each room.

Near Eglinton and McCowan.

www.facebook.com/roomsforrenttoronto



04/17/2018

Are you looking to buy / sell cemetery plots? private sales 604-722-5796



04/13/2018

Looking for cashier / cooking for crepe shop in downtown Toronto. Part time to become full time. Looking for mature responsible person.



4165582661 or email at crepeitup@gmail.com



04/12/2018



As one of Canadaas Best Managed Companies,

Fresh Direct Produce is currently searching for:





DELIVERY DRIVER

Qualifications: a Basic English a Class 3 driveras license

or Class 5 with air brake certification a Clean driving abstract

and excellent knowledge of streets in Metro Vancouver a Physically

fit and able to lift up to approx. 50lbs a Some weekend work is

required a Be responsible with a positive attitude



WAREHOUSE WORKER (NIGHT CREW)

Qualifications: a Basic English a Previous warehouse experience

preferred a Physically fit and able to lift up to approx. 50lbs a

Some weekend work is required a Be responsible with a positive attitude



We Offer: A competitive compensation package which includes a base salary,

annual bonus, group health benefits, employee discount, and development

opportunities. Youall also have a special bonus of $500 after 6 months

and 1 year working with us.







Please send your resume to

jobs@freshdirectproduce.com or phone 604-639-1206.



04/10/2018

778-888-888x

Phone number for sale.

8888888vancouver@telus.net



04/07/2018

English teacher available online. Native speaker, experienced. Connecticut state certified. $40.00 per hour. 860 379 1438



04/02/2018

FreshPoint is hiring



Day & Night Warehouse (Receivers, Shippers, Pickers),

5 Ton Drivers, Janitor/Sanitation



What we offer: Competitive wage rate with full benefits a MSP,

Dental, Extended Health, Vision and Pension Plan



We provide a great work environment and great company benefits.



If interested please apply at: 1020 Malkin Ave Vancouver, BC

Please email resume to: careers@freshpoint.com



03/27/2018



SGS BURNABY IS HIRING



SGS Burnaby, BC is looking to hire candidates within our Sample Preparation

and Weigh Room Departments. This position will consist of weighing samples,

crushing, pulverising and processing minerals samples for analytical laboratory testing.



Temporary Sample Preparation Technician and Weigh Room position available:



a 1 year contracts

a Shift premium available for night shifts



Required Qualifications:



a Minimum High school diploma is required.

a Must be well organized, & safety conscious.

a Flexible shift durations along with a variety of shifts available (days,

afternoons, nights and weekends).

a We also offer very competitive shift premiums.

a These positions will require lifting of up to 50lbs and a high degree

of mobility to perform essential functions of the job.

a Must be able to read, understand and follow work instructions in a safe,

accurate and timely manner.

lf interested, please send resumes to:

ca.recruiting@sgs.com



Please refer to our website for complete position and application details:

www.jobs.sgs.com/careers



SGS IS THE WORLDS LEADING INSPECTION, VERIFICATION, TESTING AND CERTIFICATION COMPANY.



03/27/2018

SALE PURCHASE PROPERTIES IN DELHI NCR CHANDIGARH TRICITY BANGALORE MUMBAI GOA HANDLE DISPUTED PROPERTY CASE

BHALLA: 91-9316255513

NRISERVICES21@GMAIL.COM



03/26/2018



~BC Ranch Lands of 1,374.3 Acres~

GREEN LAKE MEADOWS RANCH on

North Shore of Green Lake, BC in the

South Cariboo Region. Adjacent Range

Permit of 10,000 Acres with 100 C/C

For Sale By Owners: Phone Robert at

250 456-7341 or Ron 250 456-7727

$3,000,000.00 [under $2,200/Acre]

see pictures on Kijiji,BC of GREEN LAKE

MEADOWS RANCH



03/25/2018

General Excavation - 7788828605

lot digging/clearing, backfill, landscaping



03/23/2018

ANTIQUE SHOW MAR 31 Agriplex 6050 176 St Surrey 170 + Tables 9-3 $5



03/18/2018

Hiring Nail Tecnician

Toronto, 250 Dundas st West

at University Ave, St. Patric Station

Hiring New and Experience

Salary depends your skill/Experience

Call Susan 647-801-3134





03/07/2018



GMT LOGISTICS LTD,

Abbotsford,BC



Looking to Hire;

Company Drivers, Local Drivers,

Owner/Operators!!!



Lanes: BC-CA, BC-AZ



Good rates, full-time work for Class 1 Experienced Drivers.



Please call us @ 778-552-2928









03/06/2018

New Listing: Excellent Feng Shui! 3843 West 3rd Avenue Vancouver, BC. Close to all best schools, beaches, shopping! Call for your viewing. Judith Adamick @ Sutton 604 351 4116 or email judithadamick@gmail.com



03/05/2018

Spacious 2bdrm suite above ground avail now in a 4yr young home. Inc. heat, elect, cable. Located in North Delta 75a & 116th. Walking distance to school and shopping and transit friendly. Call 604-690-8586



02/28/2018

We are looking for a partner with a profitable investment proposal.Let your reaction reach me via email with full business details and proposal for a Joint venture partnership with you.Email to: lewis.natch@vclsgroup.com Name:Lewis Natch



02/26/2018

Antique Market Mar 3. Sullivan Hall 6306 152nd St Surrey : 830-2



02/26/2018

Join us @ RCCG Glory Chapel,Delta every Sunday @ 10am for worship. CHURCH OF ALL NATIONS;

11415 84Ave, Delta,BC; 6046004561;

www.rccgglorychapel.org



02/26/2018



Coast Spa Manufacturing

6315 a 202 St. Langley BC



Is HIRING

PRODUCTION WORKERS



Shift: 6:30AM-3PM OR 3:30PM-12AM

Monday to Friday v Transit Accessible



Please apply by email at HR@coastspas.com

Or apply in-person



02/20/2018

Looking for night time/early mornings sub contractors to clean restaurants. 7 nights a week. Must have own means of transport. downtown Vancouver and Coquitlam locations.

contact. Mike @ 604 970 4602.



02/19/2018

Casting call(Extra /background)

Need 17 to 45 yr olds ASAP!

3 week days availabilityas required

compensation: $12.50

employment type: part-time

Email your basic info and headshot please

Spring1870casting@gmail.com





02/17/2018



Fresh Start Foods

Production Worker Job (days or afternoons)

$14.00 per hour plus benefits ($$)!

Sanitation Worker Job (12:00am - 8:30am)

$16.00 per hour plus benefits ($$)!

Be able to lift 50 pounds. Work in cold, wet environment.

Address: 12411 Horseshoe Way, Richmond.

Call 604.277.7740 or drop off your resume to apply!



02/15/2018

Woodworking company in Woodbridge looking for experienced cabinet makers

ASAP

Call:4166972257



02/15/2018

1963 NY STEINWAY S GRAND PIANO 5.1'' $17,500 clare546@shaw.ca



02/14/2018



we are lookind team drivers for

california .68 per miles for team .34 each

call prince logistic 514-367-0000

ext 170 or 710

base in montreal we pay each trip



02/09/2018

Canadian born punjabi tonk kshatriya girl, 34 yrs old, 5'3'', certificate in accounting. Boy should be hindu punjabi in punjab India or Canada (34 to 38 yrs), (5'9" to 5'11"), attractive, athletic, vegetarian, educated. e-mail: matri.response2018@gmail.com



02/07/2018

Automotive Painter and Bodyman needed for a busy autobodyshop in Maple Ridge.

Please call 604-838-9374.



02/06/2018

Farm workers required for general farm labour, including picking blueberries, loading, lifting, pruning, weeding, and general maintenance. work will be outdoors. $11.35 hourly

location is Pitt Meadows. Please forward resume to: rita@johalberryfarms.com



02/05/2018

Bakery Helper + Driver Needed

Duties: Assisting pastry chef, Cleaning and packing duties, Delivery driving

Apply in person (10am-2pm):

449 McNicoll Ave, North York, ON

orderdesk.lapastry@gmail.com



02/05/2018

Security and smart home company looking for hard working individual.Tasks include drilling,wiring new construction homes.send resume to lee@encoresecuirty.ca



01/29/2018

Booster Juice In Tsawwassen Commons Is hiring full time and part time food service attendants.

Must be good with customer service.

Application forms can be received by emailing 1068860BCLTD@gmail.com



01/26/2018

Line cook for busy downtown restaurant, full-time afternoons and weekends. Must have breakfast experience. Apply in person after 2pm. 91 Front St East in the St Lawrence Market.



01/11/2018



SERVICE PROVIDERS WANTED.



$20 - $60/hour.



Cleaners, Handymen, Organizers, Tutors, Errand Runners, Yard Workers, Dog walkers and more.



Register now at zengivers.zengot.com





01/07/2018
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According The Australian, the state government is now saying that the measures are unnecessary and unreasonable.The Judicial Commission of Victoria Bill 2015 tabled in Parliament in December, didnt spell out the specific powers that allowed the random breath testing but did mention broad measures. Attorney-General Martin Pakula said breath testing would come under the banner of medical examinations.The Australian reported that he told 3AW on Wednesday that random breath tests were unnecessary and unreasonable for judges.The opposition has labelled the election promise as a media stunt.With this latest policy U-turn, following so many bizarre wrong-turns and whacky frolics, it's clear that what the Andrews government now needs more than anything else is a designated driver who can steer a steady and responsible course for Victoria, shadow attorney-general John Pesutto said in a statement.The promise was also made to test MPs, but it is unclear whether or not this will go ahead, the government saying the decision rests on speaker Telmo Languiller and Legislative Council president Bruce Atkinson.
The lawyer is now facing accusations that he sexually harassed the woman over a period of seven months, but a spokesperson for the firm said the womens claims were categorically denied.According to The Age, the firm maintains that the text-message relationship was inappropriate but consensual.I find you seriously hot  I'm thinking about you and your legs and everything else and it's driving me mad, he allegedly wrote in a text messageEvery time I look at you during the day I go crazy I want your body.The woman claims that if she didnt respond, he would become aggressive and abusive.Why are you f-----g ignoring me? I'm your boss. Show some respect, he allegedly said in another text.The woman is seeking damages and compensation, represented by Maurice Blackburn principal John Bornstein.This is a case that has featured a barrage of sexually charged, explicit material being sent by a senior person to a younger employee, including X-rated photographs, Bornstein said, describing the alleged harassment as relentless.It is behaviour that is at the extreme end of sexually harassing behaviour and it has no place in a law firm, footy club or any other workplace.We still have enormous work to do in getting organisations to confront wrongdoing  and where the wrongdoing is by someone highly regarded or valuable to the organisation, it is no excuse for failing to hold people to account.The woman claims she complained about the harassment to her practice manager and to one of the firms principal lawyers, after his behaviour, which started off as a sexually suggestive look, got progressively worse.Her claims will now be referred to the Human Rights Commission.
Upcoming health and safety legislation has forced world-renowned film director, Peter Jackson, to resign from his post as director of Weta Workshop.



The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, which is due to come into effect on 4 April, is said to be the cause of Jacksons decision as it will make directors personally liable for the health and safety of the business.



The Institute of Directors has said this new law will require directors to be on top of all aspects of the business at all times.



Peter Jackson, along with Jamie Selkirk, resigned from Weta Workshop, a design studio and physical manufacturing facility, as the new law would necessitate directors to have day-to-day involvement in the business.



The reason was centred around the law change, which will require them to be more involved on a daily basis, said senior communications manager for Weta Workshop, Erik Hay. As a manufacturing business, it's important they are. Peter felt he was not and decided to step out of the piece. They will still retain shares in the company.



The Act aims to help reduce New Zealands workplace toll of serious injuries and deaths by 25 per cent by 2020.



When it comes into effect, directors who are found responsible for workplace health and safety breaches can face a maximum fine of $3 million plus a jail term.



They will no longer be able to act as sleeping directors, passing responsibility onto management or other directors within the company.



The age of the sleeping director is absolutely dead and this reinforces the need for directors to be across all aspects of their role, with health and safety being a key consideration, chief executive of the Institute of Directors, Simon Arcus, told Stuff.co.nz.



Health and safety is now everyone's responsibility at the boardroom table  it's a collective responsibility, he added.


Australia needs 250,000 migrants a year to boost the economy in the next five decades and reducing net migration is a dangerous step to take, according to a new report.In its latest forecast report, the Australian government said it expects the number of people moving from overseas to work and live will remain stable at 215,000 per year. But a new report from the Migration Council of Australia says that this is not enough and reducing numbers would be a serious error, adding that the economic contribution of migrants has been seriously underestimated for years.The report includes the first comprehensive analysis in almost a decade of the impact of migration on Australia's key economic indicators and it concludes that migration is central to Australia's future prosperity.It explains that Australia's projected population will be 38 million by 2050 and migration will be contributing $1,625 billion to Australia's GDP. Moreover, each individual migrant will on average be contributing approximately 10% more to Australia's economy than existing residents."The economic impact of migration flows through into every aspect of the economy. It has a profound positive impact not just on population growth, but also on labour participation and employment, on wages and incomes, on our national skills base and on net productivity," the report says."In the absence of a migration programme, Australia's population in 2050 would be 24 million; with the program we project a population by 2050 of 38 million. This population increase adds economic gains in and of itself, however the interaction of migration with our economic indicators is complex, and the returns go far beyond the benefits of simple population gain," the report continues.It explains that over the next 35 years migration will drive employment growth and as migrants are concentrated in the prime working age group and are relatively highly educated they have a positive impact on the employment rate.It points out that by 2050, the percentage gain in employment of 45.1% outstrips the population gain of 37%."Further, migration will ensure Australia remains a highly skilled nation, as it will have led to a 60.4% increase in the population with a university education," the report says.It also argues that migration provides savings across the population in expenditures on education, transfer payments and government network infrastructure."Migrants who initially enter Australia on a student visa pay the full costs of their education, providing a saving to the government budget compared to the subsidised places offered to Australian born residents," the report says. "No other developed society can lay claim to the success that Australia has had with mass migration. In an increasingly uncertain global environment, policy must continue to innovate and push boundaries. New ways to attract migrants must be tested and refined."Fostering entrepreneurship, generating regional linkages and creating more effective skills transfer opportunities can all be assisted by migration. With the rise of a middle class in China and the increase of competition for skills, Australia cannot take for granted the successes of the past. Competition is only going to increase."
ahamidkhan2003 said: Hello Dear

I need an expert advice, if some one can give me please. My partner visa 309 has been refused because of Rukhsati, that she did not spend enough time with me. We both are in stress, and do not know what to do next. We are planing to apply visitor visa, and we have two choices left either contact to Terbunal AAP or apply again . which is the best option. That she can come here as quick as possible. please guide us. Click to expand...

Review at the AAT takes between 12 and 18 months. Unfortunately since you and your wife did not get the chance to spend much time together and collect evidence for all 4 categories, the chances for a successful review is slim. However, perhaps reapplying for another Partner visa would bring about a positive outcome. God Willing.On another note, I suggest for you to visit Mark Northam's website at www.mnvisa.com or email him at [email protected] . His contacts are all on his website. You could call him to get a professional advice.My honest humble advice is if you could spend a few weeks in Pakistan to be at close proximity to your wife, you could build up some strong evidence. Second option is applying for a family sponsored visa. Upon approval, your wife could come to Australia. Once she is here, do the following before lodging an offshore (subclass 309) Partner visa:1. Name her as the beneficiary of your Superannuation (Evidence for Nature of Commitment)2. Buy Last Will packet for couples. It is sold at $33 at Australia Post. Note each other as Executives of your "estates" (Commitment)3. Add her name on your car insurance, utility bills, house, mobile phone, home & contents insurance, life insurance (Joint Liability)4. Open a joint bank account and keep it active - buy groceries & pay bills using this account (Commitment & Financial)5. Keep sending her money and contacting her over the course of the future application (Commitment & Financial)6. Take lots of photos together with family and friends (Social Aspect)7. Apply for a credit card and add her as a secondary card holder (Joint Liability - Financial)8. Buy household (white goods) and electric appliances on both names (Nature of Household)9. Apply for a Photo ID for your wife using your home addess in Australia (Commitment)10. Help her with some household chores. Add this to you & your wife's statements on the Nature of your Household)11. Read and understand the Partner Booklet available for download from the Immigration websiteBare in mind that the Evidence in all 4 categories (Social, Financial, Nature of Household and Nature of Commitment) should exist at the time of your future application.Wishing you and your wife all the best! Take a deep breath and try to relax.
EV

By the end of 2020, California plans to have a third of its electricity coming from renewables, and half by 2030.vehicles are increasingly seen as an important factor that can help drive down emissions.The state of California has been extremely aggressive in bringing other states to have aggressive greenhouse gas goals and accomplishments: we at the city level are doing the same thing, Bob Hayden, from the San Francisco Department of the Environment, stated.Legislators also came up with incentives to encourage more citizens to swap their gasoline or diesel-powered vehicles for a green car, such as the permission for single-occupant vehicles with a Clean Air Vehicle Sticker to use high occupancy vehicle lanes or a deduction of up to $5,000 when buying a new full electric or plug-in hybrid light-duty car.Not only the state is encouraging people to be more eco-friendly but also organizations, such as Charge Across Town. Meg Ruxton, partnerships manager at Charge Across Town, has stated, I think we need to invest simultaneously in electric cars and charging infrastructure. Consumers are going to buy if theres charging in place, and businesses are going to put in charging stations if there are enough consumers with cars who are going to come and charge at their businesses.At a national level, the US Department of Energy believes that if hybrid or electric vehicles completely replace the fuel-powered ones, the countrys dependence on foreign oil will fall by between 30 to 60 percent and the carbon pollution from the transport sector will also fall by up to 20 percent.California and the US are not the only entities to care for the environment as more and more authorities worldwide encourage people to drive an EV car.Amsterdam, for instance, has more than 1,000 charging stations, and the legislators plan to increase that number to 4,000 by 2018. Also, all taxi journeys from the Schipol Airport are made in Tesla Model S vehicles, as CNBC reports.Arpad Horvath, professor at the department of civil and environmental engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, thinks that electric cars are not the only answer to having a cleaner environment, pointing out biofuels.The existing biofuel production system is unsustainable; the future will have to be based on plant waste or household waste or some other waste materials. Were still figuring out the best way to turn them into biofuels at scale, Horvath commented.
The first part of the plan consists in sharing the technology between the three core elements. Secondly, one brand will take the lead to develop new components and only then share them with the others. Finally, there is going to be a specific type of technology dedicated to each particular brand.As DS is regarded as the premium brand of the PSA Group, Bonnefont says it is aspiring to launch a number of new technologies for the group. The goal is pretty achievable if you think about one of the companys most recent concept cars, the Wild Rubis , introduced at the Shanghai Motor Show in 2013. At that time, the car placed special emphasis on technology, mostly on plug-in hybrid systems. It was powered by a 1.6-liter THP turbo gasoline engine producing 230 PS and an electric motor that adds 70 PS.Knowing this, its easy to understand why DS is focusing on electrification and plug-in hybrid technology. The carmakers boss has also explained that the company is currently reconsidering the technology associated with chassis, because its part of its DNA, referring to the original DS that went on sale in 1955.It is a DNA we share with Citroen. Citroen will follow its route, and we will go our own route, both of us with different technologies developed according to our own DNA, Bonnefont concluded.Apparently, DS has already started working on its own suspension system for its cars, having nothing in common with the system being developed by Citroen, as Autocar reports. DS Automobiles has recently unveiled the facelifted versions of its DS3 and DS3 Cabrio models, which feature new design elements, updated technology, and more upgrades.
SUV

With models that were either outdated or irrelevant for the European market, the company was struggling to find customers on an ever increasingly crowded segment. While Jeep had tradition and history on its side, the European clients felt more attracted to the posher vehicles offered by the local brands. So what if they couldnt cross the Rubicon Trail?Recently, though, Jeep managed to find a way of mixing its rich history with what people wanted, and came up with new models such as the Renegade or the controversial but pretty well received Cherokee It would appear that was all the American (now also Italian) brand needed, as sales took off spectacularly. Of course, the European market still has to play catch up to whats happening in the US, but Jeep will be really happy with how things have turned out for them recently.In 2015, the Europeans registered no less than 88,200 Jeep vehicles, an increase of 113 percent compared to the previous year, translating into a 132,2 percent increase in terms of revenue. That was enough to confer Jeep the title of fastest-growing brand on the European market last year.To get a very eloquent idea of the scale of this improvement, its enough to look at what happened in the UK, where last year alone Jeep sold more vehicles than the previous four years (2011 through 2014) combined. France too registered record sales, ending the year with a 208.5 percent increase over 2014. And the trend goes on in all the other main countries.As expected, the main driving force behind this rejuvenation was the excellent Renegade. The compactaccounted for 49.8 percent of total Jeep sales in the EMEA region (Europe, Middle East and Africa), with 54,800 units finding new owners during 2015. The improved Grand Cherokee came in second with 28,159 units sold, which translates into almost 24 percent of total sales.
SUV

Yes, it has been snowing pretty much all over the northern half of Europe, so that information doesnt really narrow down the possible locations where these cars are being put through their paces, but we can tell you that theyre all shot more or less in the same area, as all manufacturers are now focusing on cold weather tests.Now, when you hear somebody speak about an armored Mercedes-Benz G-Class, the kind of car that comes to mind is a luxuriousthat looks just like a normal one on the outside, only it can survive bomb blasts and .50-cal bullets. This one, though, is a little special.Mercedes-Benz has a long history of working together with Magna Steyr, an Austrian company that has been assembling the G-Class ever since 1979. Now, it would appear the companys military expertise is being put to good use once again, as its developing an armored military version of the G-Class SUV.By the looks of it, the Light Armored Patrol Vehicle is based on the chassis of the G500 4x4^2, the clear giveaway being that the LAPV also uses portal axles. This feature sees the axle moved higher than the center of the wheels with help from hub-mounted gears, further enhancing the cars already impressive off-road capabilities.Since this is a military project, there are no details about the cars specs such as armor thickness, engine power or dynamic performances. As the name suggests, the vehicles main role will be reconnaissance, and were assuming it will also receive some sort of mounted weapon when it goes into service.The car has an angled front bumper that gives it excellent approaching angles, a winch and a snorkel, for deep river bed crossing. While the interior remains hidden, the LAPV can probably double as an armored troop carrier, with a maximum capacity of eight, if we were to guess.Regardless of the engine choice, this car will surely be one of the fastest and most maneuverable vehicles in any of this worlds militaries, and one of the best looking as well. Not to mention its a god damn Mercedes-Benz.
The most powerful leader of the free world is the third U.S. President ever to visit the NAIAS event. The only two other U.S. Presidents to tour the Detroit Auto Show were Bill Clinton (1999) and Dwight Eisenhower (1960).As Barack Obama visited the show floor, he made stops at several exhibits, including the ones from Chevrolet, FCA, Ford, and ZF. The President stated that he wanted to see the industrys progress firsthand. Barack Obama also said that he believes that every American should be proud of what our most iconic industry has done.2016 is the year in which Obamas Presidency ends, so we expect the new presidential candidates to make their visits to the Detroit Auto Show as well. Once Barack Obama is no longer President of the United States of America, he will not be restricted by the Secret Service to drive a car whenever he wants.Before he became America's leader, Barack Obama used to own an MY 2005 Chrysler 300C. The old car was fitted with a V8 Hemi engine, and was owned by Obama between 2004 and 2007.He traded his 300C for a 2007 Ford Escape Hybrid in the summer of 2007. He then changed his car as he began his first presidential campaign. The decision was based on the fact that his old car had an EPA-estimated 18 MPG, while the new one obtained around 30 MPG, CNN noted in 2012. The vehicle change was made to end criticism against Obama for driving a gas guzzler, and to give the presidential candidate a more eco-friendly appeal.The person that eventually bought Obamas old car placed it on eBay and asked $1 million for it in 2012. That is around 50 times more than the average value of that particular model of car.
That seems to be a fitting label for the 2016 Chevrolet Camaro SS in these images from Camaro6 . Sure, this might seem like a Chevy with a wild color to an untrained eye, but those who suspect the reason for which GM didn't include Purple on the list of colors know better.Given the fact that Mopar has not only written history with its Plum Crazy shade of Purple but has also resurrected the eye candy hue , we understand Chevrolet's choice.However, the owner of this particular SS couldn't be bothered, so he turned to a wrapping specialist in order to dress his ride according to his preferences.The Camaro was handed over to Exterior Auto Solutions, a company based in Atlanta, Georgia. And we have to admit the team has done a brilliant job at making this Camaro stand out without turning to cheesy body parts.Aside from the obvious attention magnet effect of the color, the two-tone scheme, which sees multiple elements, such as the roof, wheels and badges, being dressed in Black, has a stunning effect. For one thing, the muscle machine looks just as impressive from any angle.Due to the Chrysler reasons mentioned above, Purple was never an easy color to find for Camaro owners. Sure, there have been some special editions over the years, but if you happen to meet such a Camaro while waiting for the traffic lights to turn green, you should consider yourself lucky. On the other hand, you could call yourself an opinion-splitter Camaro spotter.
Screenshot of Obama courtesy of WhiteHouse.gov.

President Barack Obama spoke about the automotive industry's recovery from the 2009 recession and the federal government's role providing financial assistance to automakers during a Jan. 20 speech in Detroit.

Obama touted the government's $85 billion bailout of the auto industry in his speech.

The automotive industry has added more than 646,000 jobs since the middle of 2009. Auto production has doubled and sales have reached an all-time high with 17.4 million sold in 2015. Exports of U.S. automotive products have increased 89% since 2009, according to the White House.

"President Obama made the tough call within his first few months in office to place a bet on American workers and American manufacturing  and to place a bet on Detroit  by providing temporary Federal assistance to rescue the American auto industry," according to a White House release. "He also initiated a broader commitment to the City of Detroit."

Obama headed to the North American International Auto Show, where he visited booths such as Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, General Motors, and Ford. In his speech, Obama said a Jeep Cherokee was the first vehicle he purchased at age 32.
Tesla Motors is suing a German auto parts maker for misrepresenting its ability to design and build the Model X's signature "falcon wing" doors, which caused delays for the electric crossover.

The lawsuit, which was filed on Tuesday in the U.S. District Court of Northern California, claims that Tesla paid Hoerbiger Automotive Comfort Systems to build the vertically rising doors for the Model X, but the company was unable to produce them to Tesla's standards between February 2014 and May 2015 like it said it could, according to The Wall Street Journal. The prototypes apparently leaked oil and sagged or produced excessive heat, which made them stop working.

The electric automaker cut ties with Hoerbiger in May 2015 and plans on stopping the supplier from demanding more payment, having asked the court to state that it didn't breach any contracts and to pay damages and attorney fees.

"We were forced to file this lawsuit after Hoerbiger decided to ignore their contracts with us and instead demanded a large sum of money to which they are not entitled," a Tesla spokeswoman said in an email. "We will vigorously prosecute this case."

Hoerbiger makes hydraulic systems for automotive parts like liftgates, trunk lids and convertible tops, Automotive News noted. The lawsuit notes that the company is seeking more compensation from Tesla than the $3 million it has already been paid.

In addition to the Model X's debut being delayed several times (initially from late 2013 to late 2015), Tesla said that it "incurred millions of dollars in damages," with such costs including those for retooling for the sports-utility vehicle and "premium payments" for a new supplier. The automaker added that Hoerbiger made "a series of unreasonable demands" after they cut ties, such as working with the supplier over the course of the Model X's life and paying damages "that are specifically barred by the parties' agreement."

Tesla has built an electromechanical door and hired a new supplier since ditching Hoerbiger, the lawsuit states, WSJ reported. The new supplier has yet to be identified.

A Hoerbiger spokeswoman declined to comment on the matter.
Jaguar Land Rover has achieved a first in its history by becoming the largest automaker in Britain.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders announced the achievement, revealing that JLR had its best year in a decade in 2015, in which it produced over 1.5 million vehicles, according to ITV News.

Over 500,000 were made at the company's manufacturing plants, which are located in Solihull, Castle Bromwich and Halewood. Last year also saw the automaker introduce 11 new cars to the market, which included the Jaguar XE and XF and the Land Rover Discovery Sport, as well as sell a record 100,000-plus registered vehicles for the first time.

JLR produced a total of 489,923 cars last year, marking a nine-percent year-by-year increase, The Guardian reported.

The accomplishment comes seven years after JLR almost collapsed during the financial crisis, producing only 158,000 cars. Tata, the Indian owner of the company, has since brought the luxury carmaker back to life by investing over 11 billion into research and development.

JLR has managed to create over 10,000 manufacturing jobs at its factories over the last five years, ITV News noted. The company currently has 35,000 employees in the U.K. twice the amount it had in the country five years ago.

Chancellor George Osborne of the British Conservative Party praised JLR's achievement, saying that it is a sign of balance for the U.K. economy, according to The Guardian.

"I am hugely encourage that manufacturing is at a 10-year high and exports are at a record level. All this means jobs and the security of a pay packet for workers and their families," Osborne said.

"Our plans to rebalance the economy mean we have to continue to build on our great manufacturing strengths in the Midlands and the north of England, and work together to ensure that Britain continues to prosper as a global leader in car production."

This also puts JLR ahead of Nissan, which had been the largest automaker in Britain since 1999. The Japanese car maker produce 476,589 vehicles in 2015, a 4.7 percent decline from the previously year, but it still has the biggest factory in the country, which is located in Sunderland and will be 30 years old this year.
The student pilot of an Air Force F-16 fighter that crashed Thursday morning in western Arizona remains missing after a daylong search, according to media reports.The jet, from Luke Air Force Base near Phoenix and assigned to the 56th Fighter Wing, crashed in a hilly area about 8:45 a.m. near the small town of Bagdad. Search crews and a sheriffs helicopter were sent to search the site.

The pilot was a Taiwanese Air Force student, The Associated Press reported.Brig. Gen. Scott Pleus, commander of the wing at the base, told reporters later Thursday the pilot hasnt been found.All indications lead me to believe that the pilot did not survive the accident, he said. But until we have 100 percent confirmation, we will continue search efforts. Hesaid the pilot has been training at Luke for six months. A board has been assembled to begin an investigation into the cause of the crash.
World View, which is developing a high-altitude balloon to carry tourists near the edge of space, will establish its launch site and manufacturing campus at Spaceport Tucson, Arizona. The companyannounced this week it will move in as the anchor tenant ofa new business park after striking a deal with Pima County. World View continues to conduct tests in preparation for a first commercial flight after the new facility opens later this year. As described on its website,passengers in a pressurized capsule will be able to ride beneath a helium balloon to 100,000 feet, for a ticket price of $75,000 per seat. Other balloons built and launched from the spaceport will be hired to carry research equipment and other cargo to higher altitudes.

Pima County approved a plan this week to invest $14.5 million for the construction of the launch and manufacturing facilities, while World View will rent the site for 20 years at a cost of about $23.6 million, according to a Tucson Sentinel report. Company officials didnt disclose financial details at the county board meeting, but said World View plans to increase its workforce from about 25 people to 400 over the next several years, according to the report. Spaceport Tucson sends a strong message to the aerospace community that Southern Arizona is a new center for the commercial space business, Poynter said in a statement. Arizona has now joined the rapidly growing list of states in the commercial space industry.
Winter doldrums wont stop the Weekender from heading out as SocialFlight has a few fun and informative events, all indoors. On Friday in Atlanta, Fulton County Airports Aviation Community Cultural Center-Contemporary Gallery opens its new aviation photography exhibit featuring 21 large prints by aviation photographer John Slemp. Southern Maine Aviation in Sanford will host a winter flying seminar followed by a five-alarm chili cook-off on Saturday. Enter your favorite spicy dish to compete for prizes in several categories. Donations for lunch will benefit the York County Community Action Corporation, to provide heating oil assistance to local military veterans.The fundraiser drawing for the Alton Bay Ice Runway also will be held.

Space is limited for two Saturday events taking place on each coast. In Joseph, Oregon, the Wallowa County Pilots Association and Chief Joseph Flyers will host their Winter Aviation Banquet. The event features dinner, a presentation by the chief mechanic at Ultima Thule Lodge in Alaska and raffle tickets for a chance to win a Cessna 172. Back east, the Potomac TRACON will bring back its popular Operation Rain Check event.Talk to FAA management and controllers about flight service and security elements in the Washington, D.C., area. Observe ATC traffic simulations and take a brief tour of one of the countrys busiest ATC facilities. For more on the weeks upcoming events, visit SocialFlight.
21 January 2016 15:46 (UTC+04:00)

By Gulgiz Dadashova

For Azerbaijan, the glory of being the most developed country of the region does not end with energy reserves, as the country is keen on using all advantages of its geographical location.

The countrys territory could be an alternative to Russia and Iran as the transport route between such important economic regions as Europe and Asia, offering favorable chance for the transport of goods and passengers. Azerbaijan can also play a significant role as an additional transport corridor to the existing through the Suez Canal maritime route. Furthermore, Azerbaijan is a connecting link between Russia and Iran, which can be realized with the North-South International transport corridor.

Azerbaijan is well aware of its transport opportunities and is trying to actively develop transport infrastructure both domestically and in the region as a whole.

Free economic zone may be established around Baku Port to develop and diversify the economy, attract direct investment and open new jobs.

We are now considering a proposal to create a free trade zone around Baku International Sea Trade Port, Taleh Ziyadov, the Port`s director general, told journalists on January 20. He hailed the proposal, saying if realized, it would revive the economy and push the non-oil sector.

Usually the goal of a FTZ is to increase foreign direct investment by foreign investors, namely an international business or a multinational corporation. Here certain economic activities are especially allowed and where free trade and other preferential policies and privileges different from the host country are granted. Such zones offer incentives to attract businesses from abroad, but also to be successful they have to outweigh their infrastructure and revenue costs.

FTZ ranges from a small size to a large dimension, from a zone inside a country to a cross-border zone involving more than two countries and further from an economic zone to an economic and administrative zone. FTZ can be a significant piece of the diversifying economy if executed correctly.

The project can draw up to $1 billion of foreign investment within a few years. The idea is to create not only a transit hub around the new port, but ensure economic recovery. This is possible through the establishment of free and special economic zones, and therefore proposed to establish free economic zone around the Port of Baku at Alyat, such as in Hong Kong or Dubai.

The Port, according to Ziyadov, can create conditions not only for cargo handling, but also for their packing and storage. He underlined that the initial plan of projects has already been drawn up and submitted to the head of state.

The new Port of Baku at Alyat is located on an area of 400 hectares (ha) of land, of which about 100-115 ha cover the area for the development of the international Logistics and Trade Zone. The northern areas around the port are reserved for future expansion of logistics, industrial, and manufacturing activity.

The New Port of Baku at Alyat enjoys favorable location at the strategic crossroads of the regional railroads and highways. Azerbaijans all main rail and highways meet in this location. Furthermore, the new site is in close proximity to Iranian market (200 km), Russian market (250 km), Turkish market (1,000 km), Central Asia (300-400 km), and West China (about 3,000 km).

As for the realization, not so much left to wait.

Ziyadov claims that the new port plans to handle million tons of cargo in 2015. Currently, the priority is given to the construction of the Ro-Ro terminal before the end of 2016. This is the main terminal for moving large trucks (TIRs) that travel between Turkey and Central Asia.

The construction of Phase 1 in the new Port of Baku at Alyat is scheduled to complete in 2017. This will allow the port to handle up to 10-11 million tons of cargo and 50,000 containers per year, which boost this transport corridor.

The second phase of the project involves the construction of three cargo berths, and the third phase - two more cargo berth. Following the second phase, the port capacity will reach 17 million tons of cargo and 150,000 containers, and at the end of the third stage - 25 million tons of cargo and 1 million containers.

Meanwhile, head of Azerbaijans Railways Javid Gurbanov announced that Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine will agree on a common pricing policy for freight traffic on the Trans-Caspian international transport routes by late February. This will open up a new route from the Izov station on the border of Ukraine and Poland till the Dostyk station on the border of Kazakhstan and China. A uniform tariff policy for cargo traffic from China to Europe through Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Ukraine will be agreed by mid-February after determining the distance from Ilyichevsk or Odessa to Georgian ports of Batumi and Poti, Gurbanov stressed.

Over the past decades, high tariffs on this route deterred transporters, but the competitive prices will ensure flow of cargo on the route. The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route is expected to transport approximately 300,000-400,000 containers by 2020, bringing hundreds of millions of manats in profit to Azerbaijan.

FEZ includes micro and macro objectives, common and special objectives that evolve step by step from the economic to the social and political level. The micro objectives evolved from creating trade, export, employment, foreign exchange, and attracting foreign capital to absorbing advanced technology, investment, and training personnel, but the macro objectives evolved from promoting regional development to carrying out structural reform and regional cooperation, experts say.

When creating such zones, the state usually invests only in the establishment of appropriate infrastructure, and all other investments come from private and foreign sources. Experts expect $1 billion to be invested in this project in first years, later increasing to tens of billions already.

The Baku Port already received proposals for cooperation from the world's largest ports, including Singapore, Dubai, Antwerp and Rotterdam ports. Major logistic companies and freight forwards are also interested in the project realized by Azerbaijan, which strategic importance for Eurasia and the world growth with each realized project.

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21 January 2016 14:22 (UTC+04:00)

By Aynur Karimova

President Ilham Aliyev embarked on a working visit to Switzerland on January 20 to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos.

As part of the visit, President Aliyev met with Vice Chairman of Lazard Europe Mathieu Pigasse.

During the meeting, President Aliyev highly praised cooperation between Azerbaijan and Lazard Europe. He said there is good potential for developing this cooperation even further.

Pigasse, who is Azerbaijan's financial adviser on the Southern Gas Corridor project, hailed Azerbaijan's rating. He said the reforms carried out in Azerbaijan have had a positive impact on the country's image, adding that this expands its opportunities for attracting additional financial resources.

The sides also discussed business relations between Azerbaijan and Lazard Europe, as well as opportunities for cooperation in other fields.

Later, President Aliyev met with Vahid Alakbarov, President of Russian Lukoil Company.

It was stressed that Lukoil has been successfully operating in Azerbaijan for more than 20 years and is a reliable partner. The company is a participant of giant Shah Deniz project, which is being successfully implemented. Cooperation between Azerbaijan's state energy giant SOCAR and Lukoil covers new fields.

The sides discussed prospects for cooperation between Azerbaijan and Lukoil.

As part of the visit, President Aliyev also met with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, and the sides hailed the development of Azerbaijani-Turkish friendly and brotherly relations in all fields.

They stressed the importance of regular high-level meetings in terms of the expansion of cooperation. The significance of joint participation of Azerbaijan and Turkey in international events was emphasized as well.

They also discussed the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, expansion of economic cooperation, and other issues of mutual interest.

Later, President Aliyev met with Robert Dudley, the Chief Executive Officer of BP.

They praised Azerbaijan-BP cooperation in the exploitation of Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli and Shah Deniz fields. They also pointed out successful continuation of geological survey on shallow part of Absheron peninsula waters.

Also, President Aliyev met with Mohammad Nahavandian, the Head of the Iranian Presidential Administration, and they praised the current high-level of bilateral ties

between the two countries, which have dynamically developed over the last years.

President Aliyev congratulated Iranian president and people on the occasion of the lifting of sanctions imposed on the country. He said this will contribute to rapid development of cooperation between the two countries in all fields.

The President noted that Azerbaijani-Iranian relations serves the best interests of both countries, and will contribute to the strengthening of stability and security in the region as well.

The sides broadly discussed the implementation of joint projects. The existence of wide opportunities for developing economic cooperation in banking, transport and other fields was emphasized.

Nahavandian, in turn, said the lifting of the sanctions opens up broader opportunities for Iran, adding Azerbaijan and Iran can take advantage of this to realize new projects and further deepen the cooperation through involving other countries. They underlined the importance of developing Azerbaijani-Iranian cooperation in the transport sector for the region.

Later, President Aliyev met with the European Commission Vice-President for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic.

They expressed satisfaction with the level of cooperation between Azerbaijan and the EU in various areas, including in the field of energy.

The sides stressed the importance of Azerbaijan's role in ensuring energy security of Europe, and the significance of the Southern Gas Corridor in this regard.

Successful realization of the Southern Gas Corridor project was emphasized, and the European Commission's full support for the implementation of this project was stressed during the meeting.

President Aliyev also met with Suma Chakrabarti, the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

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21 January 2016 16:22 (UTC+04:00)

By Laman Sadigova

Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry investigated the report disseminated by Armenian media that the delegation comprised of farmers of the separatist regime established by Armenia in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan visited Iran in October 2015 and met with Iranian officials.

The ministry conducted the investigation through its diplomatic channels, trying to find out the real state of things.

The spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, Hikmat Hajiyev, said that the Iranian embassy in Baku in its response note to the Ministry refuted the recent report of the Armenian media.

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.

Large-scale hostilities ended with a Russia-brokered ceasefire in 1994 but Armenia continued the occupation in defiance of four UN Security Council resolutions calling for immediate and unconditional withdrawal.

Armenia is unwilling to peacefully resolve the long-standing conflict and is interested in and determined to maintain the current status quo that means keeping part of Azerbaijans internationally-recognized territory under occupation.

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21 January 2016 12:50 (UTC+04:00)

Exclusive Trend Agency's interview with Amos J. Hochstein, Secretary of States Special Envoy for International Energy Affairs, Bureau of Energy Resources.

Can you please share your views on the current state of the U.S. - Azerbaijan relationship?

The United States and Azerbaijan enjoy a strong relationship, working together for the last 23 years since Azerbaijans independence. We have strengthened this bilateral relationship though our partnership on regional energy security. As is often the case with friends, we dont always agree on all things but we clearly understand the importance of the relationship. Both our countries work hard to ensure that whatever differences we may have dont affect our shared strategic interests both regionally and internationally.

You are known as a strong supporter of the Southern Gas Corridor. Can you please tell us what you think about Azerbaijan's contribution to regional and global energy security?

Azerbaijan plays a critical role in global energy security and in particular a key role for real energy security in Europe. In the 1990s, when the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, or the BTC, pipeline was being conceptualized, it was the vision and understanding of the leadership of Azerbaijan, who in sharing that vision with then President Clinton, at that time recognized that this pipeline was about more than just oil in a pipe, it was about the strategic nature of Azerbaijan as a member of the international community and the world energy community.

This pipeline allowed for oil from the Caspian region, for the first time, to reach international markets on a free market basis. I see the Southern Corridor as completing the circle that began with President Heydar Aliyev in the 1990s with BTC and being completed by President Ilham Aliyev with the Southern Gas Corridor.

Europe today suffers from a legacy of infrastructure that commits several countries to an untenable position of being forced to buy gas from Russia, a single dominant supplier who uses that position as political leverage for economic and political coercion. The Southern Corridor bringing gas from Azerbaijan all the way into Europe, is the only true diversification project in Europe today because it brings new gas through a new route providing real option for competition. That is why I believe Azerbaijans role in energy security in Europe is so critical and since energy security is the foundation of economic security and national security for every country, that means Azerbaijan plays a critical role in the overall national and economic security of Europe.

Secretary of State Kerry and other high-level officials often mention the Southern Gas Corridor in their speeches. Everyone also remembers the strong support of the US for the strategic and successful Baku Tbilisi Ceyhan oil pipeline. What does the US do in support of the Southern Corridor? What is your own role in this process?

As the Secretary of States Special Envoy for International Energy Affairs, Ive dedicated a significant portion of my time over the past nearly five years Ive been in this job, to ensuring the success of the Southern Corridor. Many years ago, at the beginning of the BTC discussions, most people doubted the possibility of translating the BTC from a vision into a reality because of the political challenges such a pipeline posed and yet it has become a reality. Compare that to the ambition of the Southern Corridor which is an even more complicated pipeline. It requires the building of infrastructure from Azerbaijan, through Georgia, Turkey, Greece to Albania and ultimately to Italy with an interconnection from Greece into Bulgaria.

This involves several governments, several systems of governance, different regulations, and a wide variety of legal issues; not to mention the technical complexity of such a pipeline. The United States, who has no companies involved in this project and has nothing to gain economically, believes that this critical project is so important that we have followed it from day one until today. We have worked to ensure that we do whatever we can, on an almost weekly basis, to offer the kind of support that smooths out differences when they arise and helps figure out the way forward when difficulties present themselves.

While I cant go into details of diplomatic engagements, I can assure you that not a week goes by when I or my team are not having discussions on these issues. And I want you to know, the commitment to this project is shared beyond my efforts but also by Secretary Kerry, Vice President Biden and President Obama; all have supported this project with action, not just speeches and words.

Recently, a bill driven by the Armenian lobby was introduced by Congressman Chris Smith. This bill does not just hurt the U.S. - Azerbaijan relationship, it also undermines strategic projects such as energy security and transportation that the US supports and has a negative impact of US allies in Europe as well as Israel and Turkey. What is your view on this bill? Some say the US Administration is against the bill, while some believe the State Department is behind it. Is there a clear answer to these questions?

It must be understood that the United States has three branches of government and that our Congress plays its own role. Every member of Congress has the prerogative, the right, to introduce legislation. The process is a long one requiring adoption of proposed legislation by both our House of Representatives and Senate; only then can it be signed into law by the President if he or she so chooses. I dont comment on what is and is not appropriate for Members of Congress to do. Each Member is entitled to express their views and propose legislation. But I will remind you that at this time it is a proposed legislation. The U.S. Department of State is not involved in legislation as that is the purview of the United States Congress.
21 January 2016 13:42 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijans Consulate General in Los Angeles held a commemorative event on January 19 to commemorate the 26th anniversary of the Black January tragedy. The event was jointly held with the Wende Museum. Specializing on the Cold War history and the Fall of the Berlin Wall, the Wende Museum is one of the most unique museums in the United States.

Held at the Museum, the event was attended by former U.S. co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group Ambassador Rudolph Perina, Los Angeles-based diplomats of various countries, representatives of academic and cultural institutions, community members and others.

At the outset, the event attendees paid tribute to the Black January martyrs with a moment of silence.

Welcoming the guests, the Museums Founder and Executive Director Justin Jampol expressed their satisfaction of hosting such an important memorial.

Addressing the event, Azerbaijans Consul General Nasimi Aghayev informed the participants about the Black January tragedy. He said: On January 20, 1990, Azerbaijan's capital city of Baku was invaded by 26,000 Soviet troops, which, at the order of Mikhail Gorbachev and his Politburo, stormed the city and began shooting indiscriminately into the peaceful demonstrators. Hundreds of civilians were killed, including children, women and elderly; people of different ethnic and religious backgrounds, both Muslim, Christian and Jewish. And a thousand were wounded.

The pretext was a massive popular uprising in the capital, calling for Azerbaijan's independence from USSR: proof that the Soviet authorities were presiding over a collapsing empire, and that Azerbaijan was leading the fight for independence, Aghayev continued.

However, the brutal regime utterly failed. After the massacre, a million people - young and old, men and women, Muslims, Jews and Christians - filled the streets to mourn the victims, defying the curfew and showing national solidarity. Heydar Aliyev, who would later become president and founder of modern Azerbaijan, fiercely denounced the bloodshed. His defiance helped to inspire the Azerbaijani people and Aliyev became a leader of the struggle for liberty, the Consul General noted. A year and half later Azerbaijan restored its independence.

What was the reaction in the West to Black January? The Nobel Peace Prize for Gorbachev! 10 months after the massacre, the Nobel Committee awarded Michael Gorbachev the Nobel Peace Prize. The Committee justified its position by stressing Gorbachevs leading role in the peace process and his many and decisive contributions to peace. The Committee and its supporters decided to be oblivious to many egregious crimes Gorbachev committed, which had nothing to do with the notion of peace. Ironically, Alfred Nobel would not have been able to establish his Nobel Prize in 1901, had it not been the immense fortune he and his brothers made with oil development in Baku. And Alfred Nobel would not have been able to even dream that his Prize would one day be awarded to a man who turned the very city of Baku into a bloodbath, Aghayev said.

Since the restoration of independence, Azerbaijan has gone from strength to strength. Under the visionary leadership of President Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan has become an island of stability in an otherwise unstable region, and an important geopolitical power. Azerbaijan is the centerpiece of the Caspian oil and gas developments, vital for global energy security, as well as other regional megaprojects. Today, Azerbaijan's freedom is solid and irreversible, and we always remember the victims of the Black January tragedy  the true heroes of our national liberation, the Consul General concluded.

Speaking at the event, former U.S. diplomat Dr. James Coyle of the Chapman University highlighted the role of Black January in the eventual collapse of the USSR, calling this tragedy the beginning of the end of the Soviet Union.

Following the speeches, a short documentary on Black January prepared by Azerbaijans Consulate General, as well as a CNN report on the massacre were shown.

The event concluded with the classical music performance.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli



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21 January 2016 19:34 (UTC+04:00)

By Nigar Orujova

The economic crises around the world set new rules for many countries especially those involved in the production of the black gold. However, show must go on and the international economy could not stop development.

In this situation, Azerbaijans favorable geographic location can be a new pot of gold for the country and the region as a whole. Currently, development of the transport sector is a priority for the countrys leadership in 2016.

The case is modern Silk Road route that is expected to be as important as its processor. Ferry across the Caspian Sea, railways and highways of Azerbaijan with access through the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway to Turkey, made the most important link of the new Silk Road.

Moreover, the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars and North-South projects contribute to the development of not only Azerbaijan but also the whole region, the senior fellow at the Analytical Center of the Institute of International Studies MGIMO, Russia, Ph.D, Leonid Gusev, said.

Today, BTK connects railways of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. However, in the future it is planned to connect railways of the Caucasus with the European railways through the Bosporus, he said. It is also planned that via this railway goods from Asia, particularly China, will be transported through Kazakhstan to Europe.

The expert considers the project important for the member countries as well as countries in Europe and Asia that may join it.

Gusev said it is important for the participating countries to raise funds to finance projects in a time of crisis attracting foreign investors.

The peak capacity of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars corridor will be 17 million tons of cargo per year. However, at the initial stage, this figure will be equal to one million passengers and 6.5 million tons of cargo.

The expert further noted that implementation of the project North-South would be very important for both Azerbaijan and Russia, Iran, Pakistan and India.

Land corridor through Pakistan is quite difficult because of the risks of possible sabotage, he believes. Parties should take into account all the risks. Although if the railway is built, the goods between Russia and India will be delivered much more quickly than by sea, said Gusev.

The annual transit of goods from Iran to Russia via Azerbaijan will reach about ten million tons.

In turn, the North-South railway will connect Northern Europe to South-East Asia. It will serve as a link to connect the railways of Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia.

Earlier, Russian political and public figure, a member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, Georgy Fedorov said expansion of highways within Baku-Tbilisi-Kars and the North-South international corridors will have a positive impact on both the economy of the participating countries of these projects and the region in a whole.

The expert noted that in time of crisis, it is particularly relevant to search for new options of economic cooperation and expansion of range of possible trade routes, the development of which is impossible without a good transport infrastructure.

Azerbaijan has already invested billions of dollars in the development of sea, railway, road and social infrastructure. Developed infrastructure and good business climate have paved the way to attract foreign direct investment in this sector, as well.

Azerbaijan also applies the principle of single window for transportation of transit cargoes through its territory via the railways, maritime transport, ports and terminals. This makes the country more attractive for entrepreneurs.

Moreover, the country has recently reduced transit costs by around 40 percent for foreign carriers heading to the Kazakh port of Aktau and Turkmenbashi port of Turkmenistan. The government also applies a 30-percent discount on the services of transit of oil and oil products by railway and transshipment via the sea terminals.

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Nigar Orujova is AzerNews staff journalist. Follow her on Twitter: @o_nigar

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A Beatrice man previously convicted of sexual assault appeared telephonically in Gage County District Court Wednesday for a hearing he requested in attempt to have property seized in the case returned to him.

Joseph J. Buttercase, 34, requested that various items from the case be returned. The motion was denied by District Court Judge Paul Korslund, largely due to the fact theres a current federal case pending against Buttercase for possession of child pornography.

Buttercase was sentenced in 2012 for a July 2011 rape and assault he committed in his Beatrice home.

The Nebraska Court of Appeals upheld the 2012 conviction and sentence of Joseph Buttercase, stating the court correctly exercised its authority to limit evidence submitted at trial and in overruling a motion for new trial.

Buttercase was sentenced to 26-41 years in prison by Gage County District Court Judge Paul Korslund on Dec. 4, 2012 after being convicted of first degree sexual assault, third degree domestic assault, strangulation and false imprisonment in an August 2012 jury trial.

The 31-year-old Beatrice man, appealed the sentencing, claiming the court erred by not including evidence of the victims past sexual history or testimony from a neighbor from the morning after the assault into court as evidence. He also said the sentence was excessive. The appeal was denied.

Buttercase was sentenced to 20-30 years for the sexual assault, a class II felony; 4-5 years for false imprisonment; 20 months to five years for strangulation; and one year for third degree domestic assault. All counts are to be served consecutively.

During a search of Buttercases home following his arrest, investigators found a video camera located near his bed as well as a computer.
21 January 2016 15:30 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

Italy-Azerbaijan Trade Institute has received a status of Italy-Azerbaijan Trade Chamber and has been registered by the Italian Economic Development Ministry.

Italian AGI news agency and Askanews news portal have released a relevant statement of Azerbaijan`s Embassy in Rome.

The statement notes that since its establishment in 2012, Italy-Azerbaijan Trade Institute has contributed to the strengthening of economic relations between the two countries.

Being one of Azerbaijan's major partners in Europe, Italy has been Azerbaijan's number one trade partner for the last eight years. It is the largest importer of Azerbaijani goods.



Currently, 45 Italian companies are operating in Azerbaijan in insurance, banking, trade, and other areas.

Italy has become the biggest trade partner of Azerbaijan in importing crude oil and oil products and mainly exports pipes for the oil sector, tobacco, leather and furniture to Azerbaijan.

The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Italy amounted to $554.8 million in January-February 2015, according to the Azerbaijani State Customs Committee. Some $485.7 million accounted for the export from Azerbaijan, and $69 million for import.

Italy recognized Azerbaijan's independence in 1991. The diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in 1992.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli



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21 January 2016 16:38 (UTC+04:00)

India and Azerbaijan have agreed to hold the 4th meeting of Inter-Governmental commission (IGC) on Trade and Economic, Science and Technology cooperation in Baku in early April, 2016, the Indian embassy reported.

As the Co-Chair of IGC, Minister of State for Commerce & Industry of India, Nirmala Sitharaman will be leading an Indian delegation to Azerbaijan. From the Azerbaijani side, the meeting will be co-chaired by Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources, Huseyngulu Baghirov.

The two sides will discuss enhancing bilateral cooperation in a wide range of fields, including trade and investment, transportation energy, chemicals and fertilizer, agriculture, financial sector, science & technology, ICT, health care and pharmaceuticals, education, culture, youth and sports, visa free travel, transfer of sentenced persons and tourism.

They will also discuss cooperation in development of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) which would link the western ports of India to Azerbaijan and Russia via Iranian ports. The proposed INSTC route would be much cheaper and shorter than the current sea route.

India and Azerbaijan enjoy age-old historical relations and cultural affinity. Both countries are vibrant examples of multi-culturism and tolerance. Business exchange between the two countries have emerged an important aspect of bilateral relations between the two countries.

Indian businessmen have been regularly participating in major business and events, including 'Baku Build', Azerbaijan International Travel and Tourism Fair (AITF). To facilitate ease of doing business for the entrepreneurs of the two countries, both sides would be discussing a number of agreements including the Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement and Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement which are expected to boost trade and investment between the two countries.

Indian company ONGC-Videsh holds 2.72% share in the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oil field and Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline and has an office in Baku.

Indias Gas Authority of India limited (GAIL) has signed a MoU with the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan, SOCAR to jointly pursue opportunities in LNG procurement and promotion. Under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme, more than 80 Azerbaijani professional have attended training programmes in India in the recent years.

The embassy of India in Baku along with the Indian Association in Azerbaijan actively participates in many local events, including International Culture Festival, International Food Festival, International Tea Festival, and organizes Indian festivals and events in Azerbaijan.

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21 January 2016 10:00 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

Carpets were something majestic, sacred and fascinating in the traditional families in Karabakh, the heart of Azerbaijan famous not only for its picturesque nature, but ancient culture.

The beauty and sophistication of the Karabakh carpets differing with unique mixture of colors -- no matter large or small -- is the most appreciated piece of the eastern carpet-making art throughout the world.

Archaeological evidence suggests that weaving art existed in this gorgeous part of Azerbaijan in the III millennium BC. Barda, located at the crossroads of great caravan routes of the Silk Road, was considered to an ancient center of carpet weaving in Karabakh.

In the sources dating back to the 9th to 16th centuries suggest that Arab historians wrote how carpets of these regions were popular throughout the Middle East.

Karabakh carpets have 33 compositions. Due to the peculiarities of wool belonging to the local sheep of the region, the carpets were distinguished by particularly their high, thick and fluffy pile.

Colorful Karabakh carpets, which are classified in four groups, represent a fabulous symphony of the most delicate shades of the amazing Karabakh nature.



Since ancient times red dye derived from plants and insects acts as a background for intermediate areas of Azerbaijani carpets.



Karabakh master could skillfully blend traditional local patterns with various cultural and artistic innovations that penetrated into Azerbaijan together with the Arabs, Turks, Seljuks, Mongols and Europeans for centuries.

Carpet specialist Roya Tagiyeva praises the Great Silk Road, which she thinks played a big role in the development of Azerbaijani carpet.

In the 13th century, Azerbaijan maintained close economic and cultural ties with China. Thus Chinese motifs and themes such as clouds, images of dragons and phoenixes appeared at the national carpet art, she said.

Karabakh masters creatively processed these elements, combining them with the local ornamental style and tradition, creating new ornamental compositions. Famous Karabakh so called "draconian carpets" are such as the "Khatai", "Gasymushagy" and "Chalabi".

Armenia's aggression against Azerbaijan and occupation of irs Karabakh region together with seven adjacent regions in the early 1990s made a heavy blow to the carpet weaving in this region. Now Karabakh carpet school is obliged to exist far from its original home, missing for native lands.

Karabakh carpets still retain their glory, featuring in many prestigious international auctions, estimated at tens of thousands of dollars.

Samples of the Karabakh carpet weaving as cultural heritage of Azerbaijan, kept in major museums, including the Louvre, Hermitage, and adorn the Vatican and the White House.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli



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21 January 2016 14:00 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

The Lifelong Mission documentary and the Last Refuge in a Foreign Land photo-book will be presented at Nizami Cinema on January 22.

The project was filmed by the Baku Media Center and supported by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation.

Arzu Aliyeva is the head of the project and the chief producer, whereas Ramiz Abutalibov, a recognized diplomat, is the head consultant.

Lifelong Mission reveals tumultuous story of the Azerbaijani delegation to the Paris Peace Conference in January 1919 led by Alimardan bey Topchubashov, the then Speaker of Parliament of the first Azerbaijan Democratic Republic existed from 1918 to 1920.

It took the creative team a good year and a half of substantial archive research in Baku, Tbilisi, Moscow, St.Petersburg and Paris followed by photo and video shooting and interviews with the experts on the Azerbaijani emigration to France.

Last Refuge in A Foreign Land edition is the first book dedicated to the lives of the members of the Azerbaijani delegation to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, and a number of the fellow countrymen fleeing to France to escape persecution by the Bolshevik (Communist) regime.

Lifelong Mission shot by the Baku Media Center is the second documentary produced by Arzu Aliyeva. Her first work, Objective Baku. Hitlers War on Oil was aired in Azerbaijan in May 2015 and broadcasted by the National Geographic in 26 countries over the world.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli



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21 January 2016 18:20 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

The paintings of Azerbaijans most popular artist-surrealist Mehriban Efendi will tour the world as part of a major Portuguese project "Surrealism Now", aimed at finding surrealists and promoting their works.



The world tour has started with the exhibition at the Cullis Wade Depot gallery in the U.S. state of Mississippi.



The project brings together 50 well-known surrealist painters from more than 30 countries including Azerbaijan, Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Spain, the U.S., Italy and others.

Mehriban officially joined the project in 2010 and since that time, the talented artist achieved great successes conquering international art arena.

Creating her paintings from the age of 5 to 6 years old, Mehriban did not imagine that the masterpieces she draw would be considered surrealism, which allowed Mehriban to express her space dreams on canvas.

Mehribans paintings has been included in the famous Italian "Byblos" studios latest catalogue, which will release in June and be presented in the top ten museums in the world.

Efendi took part in an international exhibition organized by Australian artist Paris Saint-Martin, becoming one of the top ten computer artists of 2003. The artist's piece was presented at an international exhibition in the Netherlands in 2009.



She is the winner of the prestigious Sandro Botticelli (named after the Italian painter of the Early Renaissance) award called For art and talent in 2014.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli



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21 January 2016 11:50 (UTC+04:00)

The BP company will allocate $150 million for modernization of certain sections of the Baku-Supsa oil pipeline and improvement of ecological standards in Georgia, the media outlets reported.



Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili has held his first meeting with the Executive Director of the BP company Robert Dudley .

The executive director provided detailed information to the Georgian side about the projects carried out by that the company in Georgia.

He said that despite the volatility of oil prices at the world market, the South Caucasus gas pipeline project is being implemented according to schedule and will be completed by 2018.

The Baku-Supsa pipeline transports Azeri Light oil produced from the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) offshore fields in Azerbaijan.The operator of the pipeline and the development of the field is British BP. The length of the pipeline, launched into operation in 1999, is 830 kilometers.

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21 January 2016 12:54 (UTC+04:00)

Iran will start negotiations with western countries to cooperate in construction of nuclear power plants, Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesperson of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) said.

If the western countries provide the needed investment, Iran will have no limitation for simultaneous construction of seven or eight nuclear power plants, Kamalvandi said, Irans Mehr news agency reported.

He further said that Iran has signed some 30 document with the Russian side in the last two years for construction of new nuclear power plants.

Groundbreaking ceremony of the two new nuclear power plants will be held in coming weeks, however construction of the first power plant will take about two years and then the second plant will be constructed, Kamalvandi said.

The new power plants will be similar to the Bushehr nuclear power plant, with some new specifications, Kamalvandi said, without unveiling any further details.

He also added that after building fifth, sixth and seventh power plants Iran plans to construct new power plants with its own experts.

Earlier Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the AEOI said that construction of two 1000-MW power plants will start soon.

We will build two other small power plants too in cooperation with China, Salehi said, adding that certain European and Asian states, including China, Japan and South Korea, are ready for cooperation.

Iran's only nuclear power plant Bushehr, which was inaugurated in September 2013, has a capacity of producing 1000 megawatts of electricity. The power plant is scheduled to produce up to 5 billion megawatt hours of electricity per year, which is about two percent of country's total electricity production.

Supplying the fuel for Bushehr NPP is guaranteed by Russia for 10 years. Russia delivered 82 tons of nuclear fuel in 2008 and 30 more tons in May 2011 to Iran. This amount meets the Bushehr NPP's fuel needs for four years.

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Bakersfield, CA (93308)

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Partly to mostly cloudy. Low near 65F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly to mostly cloudy. Low near 65F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph.
Bakersfield, CA (93308)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. Low 64F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. Low 64F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph.
The annual State of the Union address is rich in tradition, but the president used this years speech to once again defend his failed policies at home and abroad. Though he believes his government-down approach is the answer, I hear from Nebraskans every day who strongly disagree as they shoulder the consequences of an overgrown federal bureaucracy.

In his speech to the nation, President Obama said he recognizes the need to cut red tape. However, his administration has increasingly bypassed Congress and governed through the use of new regulations and executive orders. In fact, I launched my ongoing Regulation Rewind initiative to push back against the Obama administrations endless flow of burdensome rules.

The president also touted Obamacare. Meanwhile, millions of Americans continue to struggle under rising premiums and tax penalties. Many had their policies cancelled after being told they could keep them. More than half a million Americans lost coverage due to the collapse of Obamacares own co-ops, like Nebraskas CoOportunity Health, which have already squandered more than $1 billion in federal loans.

Additionally, President Obama tried to defend his foreign policy. A recent New York Times/CBS News poll found only 34 percent of Americans approve of his foreign policy decisions. As terror attacks continue around the world, including one within our own borders only weeks ago, the president is abdicating his responsibility as commander-in-chief by failing to propose a comprehensive plan to defeat ISIS and to address provocations by Iran and North Korea.

Mere hours before the State of the Union address, Iran captured 10 American service members at gunpoint and detained them overnight. Once the soldiers were freed, Secretary of State John Kerry thanked Iran for their cooperation and quick response. In turn, Iran released humiliating photos and videos of the incident on its state television network.

This State of the Union address was President Obamas last. Even before he leaves office, we have opportunities to advance sound policies and reverse parts of his failed agenda.

This week, the House voted to pass the Senate companion to my resolution to kill the Environmental Protection Agencys (EPAs) Waters of the U.S. rule, or WOTUS. Under this rule, the EPA would have the power to dictate local land use decisions and farming practices nationwide. The agency tried to push WOTUS forward in defiance of a court-ordered stay and promoted it with, as the Government Accountability Office found, illegal covert propaganda.

Immediately after the EPA finalized the rule, I introduced the resolution of disapproval in the House on behalf of all farmers, land owners and local officials frustrated by the administrations refusal to acknowledge their concerns. The legislation now goes to the presidents desk.

Earlier this month, Congress sent an Obamacare repeal bill directly to the president for the first time. Though the president issued an expected veto, this path to repeal shows Obamacare is on borrowed time. Either a new president will sign repeal into law next year, or the health care law will eventually collapse  as we have seen with its co-ops  under its own regulatory weight.

The House has also passed numerous solutions to ensure the safety of Americans, such as strengthening the Visa Waiver Program to prevent terrorists from exploiting loopholes, pausing the presidents refugee resettlement plan until updated screening procedures are in place, and imposing stronger sanctions on North Korea in the wake of recent nuclear activity.

Though the presidents State of the Union address was largely out of touch with the challenges our country faces, I remain optimistic we can reverse many of the failures of this administrations agenda both here at home and around the world.
The Great British Bake Off (GBBO) took the Best Challenge Show award at the 2016 National Television Awards (NTAs).

Last night (20 January), GBBO beat off competition from Bear Grylls, MasterChef and The Apprentice to take home the Best Challenge Show award at the NTAs.

GBBO also triumphed at last years NTAs, taking home the Skills Challenge Show award  beating MasterChef, Come Dine With Me and The Apprentice.

Accepting the award, GBBO judge Paul Hollywood said: A huge thank you ... in fact we all started crying again down on the row.

Fellow judge Mary Berry interjected adding that it felt strange not to have the shows co-hosts, Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins, there with them.

2015 winner Nadiya Hussain went up on stage with the pair to collect the award. She baked a four-tier 21st birthday cake for the NTAs this year, which was unveiled at the after-show party. The cake required 34 eggs, 2kg of sugar, 3kg of butter, 2.5kg of flour, 2kg of icing sugar and 4kg of fondant icing.

Hussain is currently writing a childrens book of stories and recipes, which will be in the shops in September.

Mary Berry in the papers

Mary Berry was in the newspapers this week defending her decision not to appear on the BBCs Strictly Come Dancing show, despite being approached. She said: My husband and children would kill me. I have two left feet and would make a terrible fool of myself.
When I was first elected to serve on the Lincoln City Council, I asked for the earliest meeting minutes in the history of the city. As I recall they were from 1871. I expected the proceedings to be full of colorful anecdotes about the Old West  perhaps a story about a shootout on O Street. Instead, the records spoke of managing a drainage ditch, buying a new fire apparatus, and other routine matters. This is the ordinary work of government.

I sometimes ponder how our leaders of the past would view the current condition of the country. If George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, or Theodore Roosevelt were suddenly placed in the context of modern society and government, would they recognize the problems we face? Or are things completely different?

One constant between the eras is the constitutionally-mandated State of the Union address. In modern times the address has evolved to a speech in the House of Representatives, full of expectations, controversy and drama. It is an essential part of our political tradition.

In the most recent State of the Union address, the president reasonably structured his remarks around four key issues: the use of technology for proper ends, economic security, a measured foreign policy, and a better type of politics.

Technology should be channeled toward proper progress for everyone. The economy should deliver widespread opportunity and security. Our national security strategy should chart a wise course between isolationism and over-intervention. Finally, we should pursue a new type of politics that aims to achieve constructive outcomes.

Most politics today is infested with an ugly dualism: a widespread desire for a better political approach, yet hypocritically laced with factional interests. The president showed his own brand of this inconsistency in front of the Little Sisters of the Poor, who were seated in the House Gallery. The Little Sisters dedicate their lives to serving the elderly and the poor with health care. They are forced to sue the presidents administration to preserve their basic freedoms of conscience and religious liberty. Unfortunately, while the president yearns for a new type of politics, he glossed over a legacy of division.

The presidents of bygone eras would be familiar with many of our challenges: providing stability and order, maintaining security and freedom, and negotiating tensions between progress and tradition. On the other hand, unforeseen dynamics have changed so much about the modern age. They likely would be startled by advances in technology, the growth of government, the complexities of a globalizing economy, and new social fractures.

In a recent conversation with a scholar on the founding moments of our country, we discussed the deep divisions between those who shaped our Republic  but also on the friendship that bound them together. Their divisions never rose above their desire to protect that friendship  a quality sorely missing in todays discourse.

In the midst of a tumultuous political season, clashing visions and coarsening rhetoric are widening political debates into seemingly irreconcilable divides. The hard work ahead lies in rediscovering a binding set of values. Many Americans feel their voices dont matter. If we want better politics, our nation must demand it.
At Bankrate, we strive to help you make smarter financial decisions. To help readers understand how insurance affects their finances, we have licensed insurance professionals on staff who have spent a combined 47 years in the auto, home and life insurance industries. While we adhere to strict editorial integrity , this post may contain references to products from our partners. Here's an explanation of how we make money . Our content is backed by Coverage.com, LLC, a licensed entity (NPN: 19966249). For more information, please see our Insurance Disclosure .

All providers discussed on our site are vetted based on the value they provide. And we constantly review our criteria to ensure were putting accuracy first.

Our insurance team is composed of agents, data analysts, and customers like you. They focus on the points consumers care about most  price, customer service, policy features and savings opportunities  so you can feel confident about which provider is right for you.

Bankrate follows a strict editorial policy , so you can trust that were putting your interests first. All of our content is authored by highly qualified professionals and edited by subject matter experts , who ensure everything we publish is objective, accurate and trustworthy.

Founded in 1976, Bankrate has a long track record of helping people make smart financial choices. Weve maintained this reputation for over four decades by demystifying the financial decision-making process and giving people confidence in which actions to take next.

Bankrates editorial team writes on behalf of YOU  the reader. Our goal is to give you the best advice to help you make smart personal finance decisions. We follow strict guidelines to ensure that our editorial content is not influenced by advertisers. Our editorial team receives no direct compensation from advertisers, and our content is thoroughly fact-checked to ensure accuracy. So, whether youre reading an article or a review, you can trust that youre getting credible and dependable information.

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You have money questions. Bankrate has answers. Our experts have been helping you master your money for over four decades. We continually strive to provide consumers with the expert advice and tools needed to succeed throughout lifes financial journey.

Coverage.com, LLC is a licensed insurance producer (NPN: 19966249). Coverage.com services are only available in states where it is licensed . Coverage.com may not offer insurance coverage in all states or scenarios. All insurance products are governed by the terms in the applicable insurance policy, and all related decisions (such as approval for coverage, premiums, commissions and fees) and policy obligations are the sole responsibility of the underwriting insurer. The information on this site does not modify any insurance policy terms in any way.

For many, purchasing a life insurance policy is one of those financial tasks you know you should do, but are reluctant to move forward because of the requirement for a medical exam. Fortunately, getting life insurance without a medical exam is possible, both through an employer or independently. But it doesnt come without a cost. Understanding your options could help you make the best choice for you.

Advertising Disclosure This advertising widget is powered by HomeInsurance.com, a licensed insurance producer (NPN: 8781838) and a corporate affiliate of Bankrate. The offers and clickable links that appear on this advertisement are from companies that compensate Homeinsurance.com LLC in different ways. The compensation received and other factors, such as your location, may impact what ads and links appear, and how, where, and in what order they appear. While we seek to provide a wide range of offers, we do not include every product or service that may be available to you as a consumer. We strive to keep our information accurate and up-to-date, but some information may not be current. Your actual offer terms from an advertiser may be different than the offer terms on this widget. All offers may be subject to additional terms and conditions of the advertiser. Compare life insurance providers quickly and easily See which provider is right for you. Zip code Location-Icon Created with Sketch. Your information is kept secure Age Caret Down Caret Up Please select age Coverage amount Info Hover for more The amount of coverage you need depends on many factors, including your age, income, mortgage and other debts and anticipated funeral expenses. Caret Down Caret Up Please select Coverage amount Policy type Info Hover for more Whole life insurance combines life insurance with an investment component. Coverage for life

Tax-deferred savings benefit if premiums are paid

3 variations of permanent insurance: whole life, universal life and variable life include investment component Term life insurance is precisely what the name implies: an insurance policy that is good for a specific term of time. Fixed premium over term

No savings benefits

Outliving policy or policy cancellation results in no money back Caret Down Caret Up Please select Policy type Find matches Powered by HomeInsurance.com (NPN: 8781838) Insurance Disclosure This advertising widget is powered by HomeInsurance.com, a licensed insurance producer (NPN: 8781838) and a corporate affiliate of Bankrate. HomeInsurance.com LLC services are only available in states where it is licensed and insurance coverage through HomeInsurance.com may not be available in all states. All insurance products are governed by the terms in the applicable insurance policy, and all related decisions (such as approval for coverage, premiums, commissions and fees) and policy obligations are the sole responsibility of the underwriting insurer. The information on this site does not modify any insurance policy terms in any way. View rate Arrow Right Bankrate Why Lemonade? It's a fresh twist on life insurance: easy, accessible and affordable. See more providers in Choose from insurers in View rate Arrow Right Show More

What is no-medical-exam life insurance?

No-medical-exam life insurance is exactly what it sounds like: a life insurance policy that does not require a physical for underwriting approval. No-exam life insurance is generally more expensive and may be limited in its coverage options, since the insurance company is taking on a greater risk by insuring someone without knowing their medical history.

Its also worth noting that if you get life insurance without a medical exam, your policy may include a waiting period. For example, with some types of permanent policies, your death benefit may not pay out in full until you have held your policy for two full years. However, many life insurers offer to reimburse at least 110% of the value of your accrued monthly premiums if you pass away before your waiting period expires.

Types of no-exam life insurance

Consumers have several options for obtaining life insurance without a medical exam. These options include simplified issue, guaranteed acceptance, group life insurance and term insurance, to name a few. However, keep in mind it is up to the individual carrier, and not necessarily the type of insurance policy. You will need to confirm with each individual provider that a no-exam option is offered.

Simplified issue life insurance

Simplified issue life insurance policies ask applicants to complete a health questionnaire that is typically short and focuses on getting a general sense for your overall health. The industrys standard upper limit on coverage is generally $500,000, but the amount varies by insurance company.

Guaranteed acceptance life insurance

Guaranteed acceptance life insurance policies are typically more expensive, but can be appealing because health status is not used to determine eligibility. Also known as guaranteed issue or final expense insurance, guaranteed acceptance life insurance policies are often used to cover burial and other end-of-life costs. Guaranteed issue whole life is generally available up to $50,000, but some companies restrict it to lower amounts.

Group life insurance

Group life insurance coverage is typically offered in the form of an employer-sponsored plan and is part of a companys benefits package. The employer holds the master policy and controls decisions, whereas employees are certificate holders if they opt in to coverage. Because of this, group life insurance often does not require a physical and the premium is discounted. Typically, the coverage limits for this type of insurance will be capped fairly low, though you often have the option to purchase additional insurance if you complete a medical questionnaire.

Term life insurance

Term life insurance is the type of policy that is only in effect for a certain amount of time. If you pass away during the term, the death benefit will be paid out to your beneficiaries. After the term ends, your policy will expire unless you have purchased a policy that has the option to convert or renew. You can not borrow against these types of policies, which makes them much less expensive versus other types of life insurance products. Numerous providers offer no-exam options for term life insurance but you will need to fill out an application that may include medical questions.

How to get life insurance without a medical exam

There are many ways to find life insurance policies that do not require a medical exam. First, if you work for someone else, you should inquire whether group life insurance is offered. If not, numerous providers offer no-exam medical policies and you will often see these companies advertised on television, in the mail or online. You may want to consider asking friends and family members which company they have used and if they would recommend a provider with a no-exam option. A quick internet search may also help you find companies that offer life insurance policies without a medical exam.

How much does no-exam life insurance cost?

It is important to note that you will typically pay more for no-exam coverage compared to someone who buys the same level of protection and gets a medical exam. In fact, most guaranteed issue life insurance policies can cost up to twice as much as a policy that requires a medical exam. That is because your insurer takes on a risk when they issue you a policy without knowing much about your health history and current level of wellness.

Insurers pass the increased risk on to you in the form of higher premiums. Generally, trying to secure cheap life insurance without a medical exam makes the most sense if you know you have a pre-existing health condition that will be identified during a physical. Its important to note, however, that even policies that do not require an exam will usually require that you respond to a health questionnaire. You should answer all questions honestly, as your application may be denied if the insurance company determines that you lied in your application. If you are generally healthy, you can usually purchase cheaper coverage by getting a physical as part of the life insurance underwriting process.

To begin the process of finding the best life insurance policy without a medical exam at a price that meets your budget, you might want to get quotes from at least three insurers. That way, you can compare your options and make sure you get the most affordable coverage possible for you.

Frequently asked questions


Latest Book News Kobo scholars take kiwi ingenuity to the world

Two Auckland booksellers are off to Denver this week to attend the 11th Winter Institute bookselling conference, thanks to sponsorship from Canadian eReading company Kobo, and Booksellers NZ.



Book sales start new chapter in 2015

Booksellers, publishers, authors and readers are ringing in 2016 with smiles on their face, as the Nielsen BookScan NZ 2015 Snapshot proves what we all know: Books are back, and theyre here to stay. Two Auckland booksellers are off to Denver this week to attend the 11th Winter Institute bookselling conference, thanks to sponsorship from Canadian eReading company Kobo, and Booksellers NZ.Booksellers, publishers, authors and readers are ringing in 2016 with smiles on their face, as the Nielsen BookScan NZ 2015 Snapshot proves what we all know: Books are back, and theyre here to stay.
Forsyth County resident Gene Kirby, 81, cannot build apartments on property he has owned for decades because it's in a Map Act corridor, so he uses the land to board and train dogs. (CJ Photo by Barry Smith)

WINSTON-SALEM When Gene Kirby bought nearly 42 acres of land along High Point Road in the early 1980s, he envisioned eventually going into business with his son and building apartments on the property.By the late 1990s, when his son was an adult and the Kirbys were ready to start building, the North Carolina Department of Transportation had other plans for his property.Kirby said.NCDOT had invoked North Carolina's Map Act on Kirby's property, which was within the corridor of a planned highway bypass around Winston-Salem. Under the state's Map Act law, when the DOT files the map with local governments, those governments aren't allowed to issue building permits within the corridor. The moratorium on development is supposed to end three years after the map is filed, but it can extend much longer than that if NCDOT has difficulty gaining clearance from environmental or other regulators to begin construction.Kirby and other property owners have sued NCDOT, and last February won a unanimous ruling from the N.C. Court of Appeals. If the Supreme Court upholds the appeal, then NCDOT could be on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation to property owners in those areas where it has invoked the Map Act.The appeals court ruled that when NCDOT invoked the Map Act, it exercised its power of eminent domain. Chief Judge Linda McGee wrote that when that power is exercised, it "requires the payment of just compensation."NCDOT appealed, and on Feb. 16 the N.C. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear that appeal.North Carolina is one of 13 states with Map Act statutes. However, North Carolina's three-year moratorium on building permits is longer than in other states, where it ranges between 80 and 365 days and requires the states to allow property owners to use their land when that moratorium ends.The Map Act was intended in part to keep the cost down for the Department of Transportation when it does take property to build roads.While the case before the Supreme Court involves properties in Forsyth County, the ultimate Supreme Court decision is likely to affect projects across the state. The Map Act has been invoked and lawsuits also have been filed in Guilford, Cumberland, Wake, Cleveland, and Pender counties.Matthew Bryant, lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said if they win at the Supreme Court, NCDOT would have to pay the landowners just compensation.Bryant said of the amount of payments across the state that would have to be made.Bryant called the Map Act "a giant train wreck," saying it has allowed NCDOT to lower its property acquisition costs by shortchanging a handful of landowners.Bryant said. "It has to be told that it's wrong." He's hoping the Supreme Court will do just that.The case has drawn a lot of attention from policy and advocacy groups across the ideological and political spectrum.The John Locke Foundation, Pacific Legal Foundation, Civitas Center for Law and Freedom, N.C. Justice Center, N.C. Association of Realtors, and N.C. Advocates for Justice have all filed amicus - or friend of the court - brief supporting the property owners in this case. The Wilmington Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization has filed a brief supporting NCDOT.said Jon Guze, director of legal studies at the John Locke Foundation.Guze pointed to NCDOT's assertion that, by invoking the Map Act, the state is using its regulatory powers and not eminent domain - which would require the state to compensate landowners for the loss of value or use of their property. The Map Act's powers do not resemble those in other legislation that governs conventional land use planning in the state, Guze wrote in his brief.Guze wrote.Calvin Leggett, the head of NCDOT's program development branch, last January said that by and large, the Map Act has worked well.Leggett said a lot of the frustration attributed to the Map Act actually is a result of the state's open planning process for building highways. That process identifies potential parcels of land being considered for future highway construction, he said, and that landowners are aware that their property may be part of a highway corridor.Bryant counters that the Map Act destroys the market for affected properties.Bryant said.Practically speaking, nobody makes improvements to property within the corridors because landowners are unable to sell their property, Bryant said.he said.While Kirby waits for NCDOT to act, he's using his land to board and train Labrador retrievers. The property has a mobile home for trainers, a kennel for the dogs, ponds, a mound, and fields for training purposes.Kirby, who turns 82 in February, just days after his case is scheduled to be heard in the Supreme Court, said he hopes the issue is resolved while he is alive. The issues are complex, and he doesn't want his family to have to deal with them, he said.Ben Harris, another plaintiff in the case, turns 65 later this year. In the early 1990s, he built 15 houses on property in the corridor.Harris said.Harris said the case has placed a financial strain on him.Bryant said others are in similar situations. Many of the plaintiffs are aging. He said he fields calls from children of plaintiffs wanting to know when their aging parents can sell their homes so they can make arrangements to move to other places.Efforts have been made to repeal the Map Act. Last year, a bill sponsored by Rep. Rayne Brown, R-Davidson, passed the House 114-0. But the bill never made it out of the Senate Transportation Committee.The chairman of the committee, Sen. Bill Rabon, R-Brunswick, said the upcoming case in the Supreme Court had an affect on the legislation.Rabon said.The Department of Transportation has retained four outside law firms to assist in defending the lawsuits, in addition to counsel from the attorney general's office.Sophia Spencer, public records manager for NCDOT, said in an email.While the hourly rate varies among the firms, some law firm partners could bill as much as $395 per hour for their legal work on the case, according to documents provided by the Department of Transportation.
Earlier this week , Project Veritas, the investigative journalism outfit led by James O'Keefe and known for explosive undercover videos, released their latest work - an investigation into Common Core and the big money being made off the controversial standards.In the video, undercover Project Veritas journalists catch an executive from textbook publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on camera describing that Common Core isn't about the kids, it's "about the money".Diane Barrow, an account manager for Houghton Mifflin's West coast division, is filmed saying, "You don't think that the education publishing companies are in it for education do you? No, they're in it for the money."When asked if she was in it for the kids, Barrow responds, laughingly saying "No, I hate kids".Watch:As many activist have noted over the years, the Common Core State Standards represent a multi-billion dollar windfall for publishing companies like Mifflin Harcourt and Pearson. Not only do the publishing companies stand to gain, but so do testing companies such as the ACT, SAT and the two Common Core consortia testing companies - the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC).Education activists also noted early on that the work groups which developed the standards were loaded with people who either worked for or had previous employment ties to education testing and publishing companies.One such education activist who pointed out the ties to these companies was Mercedes Schneider. In a blog post from 2014 , Schneider delved into the press releases about the Common Core standards and included a good amount of detail about the Common Core development work groups.In these work groups, Schneider noted that nearly none of them had any K-12 teaching experience in Math or English language arts and the majority of them had ties to Achieve, Inc, Pearson, the ACT, and The College Board. Schneider summarized the make-up of the work groups. (Emphasis and amplification is mine):"In sum, 5 of the 15 individuals on the CCSS ELA [Common Core State Standards English Language Arts] work group have classroom experience teaching English. None was a classroom teacher in 2009. None taught elementary grades, special education, or ESL, and none hold certifications in these areas.Five of the 15 CCSS ELA work group members also served on the CCSS math work group. Two are from Achieve; two, from ACT, and one, from College Board."Schneider closes with these statements; emphasis added is mine:"Those pitching for 'teacher development' of CCSS have just lost their case. Even if one considers the CCSS work group 'additions' not originally part of the CCSS MOU [Memorandum of Understanding] but "conceded" in the forced 2009 NGA publicizing of its CCSS work groups, one readily sees that current classroom teachers were intentionally excluded from the CCSS decision-making table - especially elementary school teachers, special education teachers, and teachers of English as a Second Language (ESL). And I have not even touched upon NGA and CCSSO's completely ignoring inclusion of teachers currently teaching in varied ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic regions."NGA and CCSSO [Council of Chief State School Officers] (and, by extension, USDOE[United States Department of Education) undeniably meant for CCSS to be something done 'to' teachers. NGA's and CCSSO's concentration of individuals versed in standardized assessment on their CCSS work groups speaks to the purpose of CCSS to both financially benefit education testing companies and usher unprecedented, nationwide standardized testing into the classrooms of those very professionals purposely excluded from the CCSS work group table."There you have it. Schneider's writing laying out the work groups, combined with Project Veritas's video of a publishing company executive outright saying that Common Core is "about the money," is very damning evidence indeed.This first video is certainly a bit of vindication for the millions of activists, parents, teachers and students out there who had been demonized for protesting Common Core as a machine that makes money off the backs of the children.If history has shown the public anything about Project Veritas, we know that even more videos will be coming. Stay tuned!
It was the idea of a North Carolina boy while he was attending Georgia Tech. The icon picture is Larry Patrick and Playboy Playmate Candy Loving who was representing Budweiser Beer. That was back in the days of real beer and real T#ts. Click on the picture to see Candy's Playboy picture--------->



I subscribe to the Atlanta magazine news feed and they send you links to various articles and post regarding Atlanta. Back in June they sent a post on the great Ramblin' Raft Race in Atlanta. You can also subscribe to an RSS feed for the latest articles on Beaufort County Now if you just click on the link at the bottom right of this website "RSS FEED".



For those who do not know about the race, it was started in the late 60s and ran through the 80's. The originator of the rat race was a Georgia Tech student named Larry Patrick. Larry had the idea of a casual float down the river and one of the local rock and roll radio stations, WQXI, picked up on the idea and became one of the sponsors.



I have posted before on the my early 70's adventures as a newly returned Vietnam veteran hell bent for leather and looking for good times. The life and death of a playboy and classmate post is here. The life and death of a playboy and classmate post is here.



I participated in the raft race and floated down the Chattahoochee on numerous occasions during the early 70's. One of my friends Tim and I used to float down the river with our girlfriends and various other friends from the Morgan Falls all the way down to the 41 highway exit which was about 10 miles. We also took our tried our hand at rafting on the Chatooga River in North Georgia. It was the site of the movie "Deliverance".Tim passed away in 2011. Here is that post on BCN.



I thought it might be of interest to some of the North Carolina residents who read BCN to read the story and the history of the raft race since it's founder was a resident of Kings Mountain, N.C. Larry Patrick passed at age 66 on October 25, 2015 of lung disease. I did not know Larry but I thank him for providing an event for some of my best memories.



The Man who made us float, a tribute to Larry Patrick



He left behind a vast treasure trove of pictures and memories of the raft race which was reviewed in this article in Atlanta magazine. I'm am not much of a writer, so I'll just refer you to the raft race history oral history which was written in the Atlanta magazine.Woodstock on the water, an oral history of the ramblin' raft race



The raft race became an icon for the wild and crazy 60s and the early disco days of the 70's that culminated in a timely death in the 1980's. Is just as well that it died as it began to have a negative impact on the Chattahoochee and the surrounding areas. There were rumors of nude swimming and topless rafters. I can neither confirm or deny such salacious stories.



Looking back on those days brings fond memories. It's easy to see how the over exuberance of the youth finally evolved into a respectable life of middle age and finally an old age of memories of bygone days. If you are lucky, sometimes you just grow out of it and other times you're forced out of it, and some never successfully make the transition. I may have accomplished all three of these milestones at the over time.



This article reminds me of a quote by one of my favorite automotive writers; Peter Egan.



"I sometimes think that if I'd not indulged in the excesses of life, I might have saved enough money to retire in a higher style than I am currently living. But then, of course, I wouldn't have the same diverse bank of vivid memories, both good and bad. And it's important, as we get older and hurl ourselves toward senility, to have stockpiled plenty of things worth forgetting. My work here is almost done."

UPDATE JULY 2016

Based on TMC article "TMc: RoboCops 2016", the police can arrest you years after the infraction based on pictures of the event. I just got the news that "It is now legal to shoot the hooch with hooch in Georgia." It is referenced the passage of a law making it legal to drink while floating down the Chattahoochee River.

That is just one more thing I can scratch off my potential liability list from forty Four year or so ago. I do not think I am in the picture below but current technology could use facial recognition to find me if I am there. As I remember it thought, there was this one girl in the raft that you could have recognized without the need of facial recognition software. Perhaps __) software could find her.

New Georgia Law
The family of a retired Tampa Police officer battling cancer celebrated a small victory Wednesday afternoon.

Jose Feliciano made the trip on an air ambulance from Puerto Rico to Tampa.

He was battling gastric cancer in Puerto Rico. But his family didnt think he was getting the help he needed.

The hospitals over there, it was just a runaround. You would hear one thing from one physician and another thing from another physician. Lots of contradictions, lots of unknowns. It was frustrating everybody, said his niece Elizabeth Castro.

Feliciano was a Tampa police detective for 26 years before retiring. So when the family reached out to his former partner, Anthony Tyson and other officers, they came up with a plan.

A GoFundMe page was started and after just a few days the family raised the $30,000 they needed to bring him back to the states.

I was devastated. I cant imagine something so horrible happening to someone so good. And to hear that he had this disease, I knew it was a bad disease and my heart bled for him, Tyson said.

Tyson, a police escort and Felicianos family greeted him when he arrived by air ambulance.

Hes the guy thats the strong force of our family, said his sister Madelyn Castro. So this is tough and to know him, to know the way he is, and to see him going through this, its very hard to take.

Joses nephew Alex Castro is now an officer at TPD and wears his uncles old badge number to show how much he loves him and plans to help him fight this disease.

He is an amazing man. Hes done so much for our community and hes done so much for my family. And hes the glue that holds my family together, Castro said. And without him, we wouldnt be as close as we are today and to even think of a world or a time without him is not a reality to me yet.

Jose Feliciano will go to Moffitt Cancer Center to undergo treatment. The family plans to keep everyone updated with his condition on their GoFundMe page.

This Gofundme.com site is not managed by Bay News 9. For more information on how the site works and the rules visit http://www.gofundme.com/safety.
A malfunctioning washing machine is being blamed for a fire that broke out at a Tampa apartment complex early Thursday morning.

According to Tampa Fire Rescue, the two-alarm fire started around 2 a.m. at the Westchester Manor Apartments, located at 9029 N. Central Ave.

When crews arrived, they found heavy smoke and flames coming from the roof of the two-story, eight-unit building. A second unit was called in to fight the fire.



All residents made it out of the building before firefighters arrived. There were no injuries reported.

The fire was extinguished by 3 a.m., but the building sustained heavy damage. One of the damaged units was vacant.

Investigators said the fire occurred in the outside laundry room of one of the units, and that the washing machine had experienced some kind of mechanical or electrical malfunction.

The fire caused extensive smoke and fire damage to the unit, while nearby units in surrounding buildings sustained smoke damage. The damage is estimated at $450,000.

Seven families were displaced, and the American Red Cross was notified that 14 people needed assistance.

Investigators from the State Fire Marshal's office are investigating.


A St. Petersburg woman is accused of stealing cosmetic procedures from two different doctor's offices.

Nicole L. Brown, 31, is facing felony charges of grand theft and obtaining property in return for a worthless check.

Police say Brown had 37 units of Botox and Juvederm injected on Jan. 7 at one doctor's office. They say she told the staff she had to go to her car to get her credit card, then left without paying.

The injectables were worth $870, police say.

Officers who started investigating the case realized Brown was suspected in a similar case in September at a different doctor's office.

On that occasion, Brown had 32 units of Botox and Juvederm injected, worth $902. Police say she paid for the procedure with a worthless check.

Brown was arrested Wednesday. She was released from the Pinellas County Jail on $4,000 bond.


Jones Calls for House Oversight Hearing on Waste in Afghanistan

News Release:



Greenville, N.C. Today, Congressman Walter B. Jones called on House Armed Services Committee (HASC) leadership to convene an oversight hearing before April on the waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer money in Afghanistan. The Senate Armed Services Committee is holding an oversight hearing on that topic this afternoon. The Senate hearing, and Jones request for a similar hearing in the House, come after the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction recently released reports identifying significant waste of American taxpayer money in Afghanistan. Jones believes House leaders owe it to taxpayers to demand accountability for how their money is being spent. The full text of Congressman Jones' letter to HASC Chairman Mac Thornberry and Ranking Member Adam Smith can be found below:



"Dear Chairman Thornberry and Ranking Member Smith:



Today the Senate Armed Services Committee will hold an oversight hearing on the Pentagon's Task Force for Business and Stability Operations projects in Afghanistan. The hearing will feature testimony from Mr. John Sopko - the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR).



The hearing is timely. As you may know, the SIGAR released a report last week on the Task Force's operations in Afghanistan. The findings were troubling. The Task Force wasted at least $54 million of U.S. taxpayers' money on projects to develop Afghanistan's oil, gas and mineral industries that did not yield any significant successes. The Task Force also came under scrutiny last year for spending $150 million to house employees in Afghanistan in plush villas instead of military facilities, and for spending $43 million on a gas station there when a comparable facility cost less than $500,000 in Pakistan.



Sadly, these are not isolated incidents. America has spent over $110 billion on Afghan reconstruction. Since the SIGAR was created in 2009, they have conducted 89 performance audits, 64 financial audits and 31 inspections, and identified billions in wasted taxpayer money.



While I applaud the Senate for conducting oversight of this problem, the House must not fail to do the same. Taxpayers find this waste of their hard-earned money outrageous. It is unfair to them to have their money continue to be wasted through fraud and abuse year after year. We owe it to them to stand up and demand accountability. In my opinion, this has not occurred often enough. In the seven years of the SIGAR's existence, Mr. Sopko has only testified before the House Armed Services Committee twice - in 2009 and 2013.



On behalf of the American taxpayers who pay our salaries, I strongly encourage you to convene an oversight hearing on the SIGAR's ongoing reports of wasted spending in Afghanistan before the April district work period."



Contact: Maria Jeffrey

Communications Director



Congressman Walter B. Jones (NC-3)



2333 Rayburn House Office Building

Washington, DC 20515



Maria.Jeffrey@mail.house.gov  (202) 225-3415


The University of South Florida has released its final report on the Dozier School for Boys.

USF anthropologists have discovered 51 unmarked graves at Dozier, a former boys reform school in Marianna, which researchers and former inmates believe to be the final resting places of predominantly African-American boys who were beaten to death.

Officials said most of the deaths that occurred there were because of illnesses, but others were more mysterious, involving shootings, drownings and beatings.

The 168-page USF report stops short of saying anything criminal happened at the school, which was established in 1900 and closed in 2011. However, the report also indicates that wasn't the focus of any investigations.

Researchers do say the remains show evidence of poor nutrition and no dental care. In one case, it appears a boy was shot, and in another, a boy may have been beaten to death, evidenced by kidney damage.

One set of remains was found with a lead ball  consistent with buckshot from a rifle  although law enforcement could not confirm what the lead ball was.

Using old maps, pictures and old school ledgers, USF researchers on Thursday presented a final report to the state of Florida that tries to piece together the conflicted past of the school.



USF researchers made positive DNA matches on seven of the remains and 14 presumptive matches from old school records and pictures from the 1950s.

Because thorough school records were not kept over the years, there are multiple holes in the history of the school once prided as a place for at-risk children and orphans.



"We see direct evidence of marginalization," the USF report says, "such as the discrepancies among those who lived and died, which of the deaths were investigated or even reported to the State."



Survivors of the school have told researchers that at least three boys were beaten to death, although evidence and remains could not confirm those accounts. In 1934, a 13-year-old boy died just 38 days after arriving at the school, according to reports.



USF, along with other agencies, has helped families cover the cost of reburials. A Pasco County funeral home donated caskets and services for free.

Two more sets of remains were recently positively identified. One of them is a St. Petersburg boy who died in 1935. The cousin of Grady Huff gave DNA samples that matched the remains from Dozier grave number 54.

The 17-year-old was sent to Dozier for stealing a car. His family never knew what happened to him.

It was a big relief to know they were working on it and there was a chance to identify his remains," said Elmer Hutchins, who lives in Pinellas Park.

Now, eight decades after his death, Huff's remains will be buried next to this of his father in Georgia.

It's like a weight has been lifted being able to send the remains back to where his father was buried, said Linda Julier, another cousin of Huffs from Pinellas Park. "To be able to put him with his dad - it's closure."

The death certificate lists Huff's cause of death as inflammation of the kidney followed by a hernia, but the family says they will never know exactly what happened to him.

USF officials say researchers will continue working to identify remains found at Dozier. The teams at work there will also be a part of a documentary about the school that will be released this fall.



Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), has called for a federal investigation into Dozier.




Governor McCrory Unveils Black History Month Commemorations

News Release:



Commemorations Throughout the State African American heroism, culture and art to be celebrated



Raleigh, N.C. From gold mining in Cabarrus County to freedom seekers joining a U.S. Navy Civil War blockade, Black History Month celebrations from the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (NCDNCR) will reflect the wide array of experiences of African-Americans in the state and nation. Governor McCrory announced today the lineup of programs that honor the 2016 Black History Month theme, "Hallowed Ground: African-American Memories."



"North Carolina can boast of many African-American accomplishments that include great musicians such as Thelonious Monk and Billy Strayhorn, artists such as Romare Bearden and John Biggers, the economic powerhouse of Black Wall Street in Durham and the civil rights activists of the Greensboro sit-ins and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee," notes Governor Pat McCrory. "These inspirational individuals have helped make our state and nation great."



Black history is commemorated every day at museums and historic sites within NCDNCR, and additional commemorations are planned for Black History Month this February.



"We appreciate the artistry in the buildings of enslaved craftsmen at Historic Stagville, the pride and refinement imparted at the former school now known as the Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum and the exhibit of one of the first African-American pilots for the former Piedmont Airlines at the N.C. Transportation Museum," explains NCDNCR Secretary Susan Kluttz. "We are thrilled to highlight African-American history from colonial times to the present. Much hallowed ground and many memories are here in our state."



The North Carolina Museum of History jump-starts Black History Month with the January 30 African-American Cultural Celebration. The annual event will feature storytellers, dancers, filmmakers, entrepreneurs, historians, authors and craftsmen. The free, family-friendly program will be from 10:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Other February programs there will feature former pilot Bill Wilkerson, Maceo Parker on funk music and the Wilmington 10.



"Black Gold: North Carolina Slavery and Reed Gold Mine" will be a tour given Saturdays in February at 1:00 p.m. at Reed Gold Mine in Midland. The tour will examine the presence and participation of the enslaved community in addition to the Germans, Scotch-Irish and Cornish settlers of Cabarrus County. There is a $2 fee and children under seven are admitted free.



"Palmer Personalities" will capture life at the esteemed Palmer Memorial Institute that now is Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum in Sedalia. It will celebrate prominent figures from the Harlem Renaissance and Palmer alumni who made a difference in their community. Reservations are suggested for the free February 13, 10:00 a.m. or 12:30 p.m. program.



African tales about the night sky will be featured at "Stagville Under the Stars" February 19 at Historic Stagville in Durham. The staff of Stagville and Morehead Planetarium will share folk tales and telescopes for a tour of the stars. The free program is at 6:00 p.m.



The meanings and uses of African songs and dances are presented in "Dancing Stories with April C. Turner" at the Museum of the Cape Fear in Fayetteville February 6 at 2:00 p.m. Traditional West African cultural community building concepts such as working together, integrity and perseverance are affirmed. The West African Wolof language also will be introduced in the free program.



Historic Edenton will offer the "Harriet Jacobs Walking Tour - Enhanced" in February. The tour focuses on Harriet Jacobs, who escaped slavery by boat after hiding in her grandmother's attic for seven years. She authored "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" and advocated equality for women and blacks. The enhanced tour will highlight Jonathan Overton, who fought in the Continental Army, free blacks and other civil rights pioneers in the area. The tour will be Fridays at 2:00 p.m., Saturdays at 10:00 a.m. and has a $5 fee. School groups can schedule weekdays and the student fee is $2.50.



"African-Americans in the Civil War Navies" will be presented at the CSS Neuse Civil War Interpretive Center in Kinston, featuring a sailor each week. The Union Navy enlisted about 18,000 men and some blacks volunteered or were forced to serve the Confederate Navy. River pilot Robert Smalls, who stole a ship and joined the Union Navy; and Benjamin Gray, who enlisted with the Confederate Navy at age 12, will be among those featured. The information also will be posted on social media. The museum fee includes the exhibit, and is $5 for adults, $4 for seniors/military, $3 for ages three to 12 years.



The N.C. Maritime Museum at Southport will expand the "Cruising the Line: African-American Sailors" exhibit, part of a larger "Blockade Running" exhibit. A new interactive touch screen funded by the Brunswick Civil War Roundtable will examine the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and the freedom seekers who used the Cape Fear River as part of the maritime Underground Railroad. The touch screen exhibit will examine men from the region and the vessels they served on. Museum admission is free.



Photographs, facsimiles of landmark documents and quotations by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and others are presented in "The Road to the Promised Land," an exhibit on view at the Museum of the Albemarle in Elizabeth City. The exhibit surveys from the emergence of King as a leader of the Civil Rights Movement during the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955 through the 1990s.



For more on these and other programs related to African American history, visit http://www.ncdcr.gov/blackhistory.African American history, visit http://www.ncdcr.gov/blackhistory.



Contact: Crystal Feldman

govpress@nc.gov


Buc-ee's, the fast-growing convenience store/gasoline station/and deli chain known for its clean bathrooms, has sued its brisket supplier for "unilaterally" raising the cost of barbecue.

Buc-ee's says the increase in brisket prices has cost the chain $550,000.

Buc-ee's, which is based in Lake Jackson and has grown to 24 locations in central and southeastern Texas, filed the lawsuit earlier this month in Brazoria County against it brisket supplier, Sadler's Smokehouse.

LONESTAR LIFE: How 20 Texas icons got their names

The two companies made an agreement in 2013 on how they'd buy and price select smoked brisket, according to the lawsuit, which included a copy of the pact. The deal included a provision that the price could not change unless Sadler's sent a written notice to Buc-ee's if it had a "significant change in circumstances" such as higher freight costs, according to the lawsuit.

If the two companies couldn't agree on a new price, representatives of both companies were to meet to discuss brisket prices at Buc-ee's office in Lake Jackson. And if they couldn't strike a deal after that, either company could terminate the contract for sandwich meat, according to Buc-ee's.

The chain, which sells both chopped beef and sliced beef sandwiches, said it never received a request to boost the cost of brisket and ended up paying more than agreed to. Buc-ee's is asking the court to require Sadler's to provide an accounting of brisket purchasing and supply activity between Oct. 1, 2014 through Nov. 1, 2015.

These are some of the many things you can buy at Buc'ee's:

Jeff Nadalo, general counsel for Buc-ee's, said in an e-mail that the company has no comment.

Sadler's Smokehouse was founded in 1948 selling smoked meat to the public from a small stand in Henderson, Texas, according to its website.

BOOMING BUSINESS: Dallas area finally gets its first Buc-ee's location

While the company stayed in Henderson, it decided to focus on its fast-growing wholesale business. In the Houston area, Sadler's pit-smoked meats are available from several retailers including Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, Fiesta Mart and Brookshire Bros.

Sadler's Smokehouse did not return a call seeking comment.
Federal prosecutors announced Wednesday that a Galveston man is headed to prison for life after pleading guilty to exploiting children through child pornography.

Jose Stephen Gracia, 45, of Galveston, was already a registered sex offender who had been convicted four times of crimes against children.
Exactly one year before the next U.S. president is inaugurated, the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination spent about 90 minutes in a high-end Beaumont home and collected hundreds of thousands of dollars from gushing supporters.

A photograph with Clinton cost attendees of the private fundraiser $2,700. It cost $1,000 to get in the door.
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Authorities are searching for a Houston man indicted on charges related to the production of child pornography.

John Ferguson, 36, is wanted for the production, receipt, access with intent to view and possession of child pornography, U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson announced Wednesday.

Ferguson is believed to have fled to avoid being arrested on the charges.

A criminal filed last month alleges Ferguson was accessing numerous files from a website known to contain child pornography. Authorities seized several items, including computers, from his residence during a search warrant and allegedly found more than 1,000 videos and 13,000 images of child pornography.

How to submit a tip Call the Crime Stoppers tip line

(713) 222-TIPS Call the FBI Houston Field Office

(713) 693-5000 Submit a tip online

tips.fbi.gov See More Collapse

The charges allege that an underage girl is seen being sexually assaulted in some of the videos.

The images and videos seized were sent to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The organization found that Ferguson had produced several videos, according to the charges. The child in the video was also identified, with help from the FBI.

Ferguson is a 5-foot-10 white male weighing approximately 180 pounds. He has brown hair and blue eyes. Investigators think he may be driving a older model, silver, two-door Ford Focus.

Anyone with information on Ferguson's whereabouts should call the Crime Stoppers tip line at (713) 222-TIPS or the FBI Houston Field Office at (713) 693-5000. Tips can also be submitted online at tips.fbi.gov.
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Manoj Mehta, MD, practices with Gastroenterology Consultants of The North Shore in Kenilworth, Ill. He is a fellow of the American Gastroenterological Association. He has lectured on a variety of subspecialty gastroenterology topics for various audiences

Dr. Mehta's clinical interests include IBD, the bacterial microbiome and how it affects health, IBS, therapeutic endoscopy, obscure gastrointestinal bleeding, bowel stenting for obstruction and management of complicated reflux disease. He performs endoscopic procedures at Evanston (Ill.) Hospital and Glenbrook Hospital in Glenview, Ill. He is compiling a video library of endoscopic techniques to help teach gastroenterologists in training as well as conceptually organize the techniques used by so many practitioners. He has traveled to Cambodia and Vietnam and has had the opportunity to visit rural and underserved medical clinics.

Dr. Mehta completed his medical school degree, residency and gastroenterology fellowship at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center in Chicago.

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A lease plan submitted for regulatory approval calls for North Georgia Medical Center in Ellijay to no longer offer inpatient services and for the facility's emergency room and medical offices to be leased to Atlanta-based Piedmont Healthcare, according to a Georgia Health News report.

Under the lease agreement submitted to state regulators by NGMC's owner, Atlanta-based SunLink Health Systems, Piedmont's hospital in Jasper, Ga., would take over operation of NGMC's ER, physicians' offices and imaging and outpatient surgery centers.

SunLink CEO Robert Thornton told Georgia Health News that NGMC has been losing money, as the hospital averaged about six inpatients for the past year. He said the hospital will not immediately end inpatient services, and the transition would take several months to complete.

More articles on healthcare finance:

South Carolina hospital closing down Thursday

Hospital tax exemptions halted in Illinois

Missouri hospital ceases operations: 5 things to know
The Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation has gifted New York City-based NewYork-Presbyterian with $75 million to create a unit dedicated to new mothers and newborns, according to Crain's New York.

The Alexandra & Steven Cohen Hospital for Women and Newborns will be part of NewYork-Presbyterian's Weill Cornell campus. It will be located in the David Koch Center, a planned ambulatory care facility, and will occupy six floors and 246,500 square feet.

The new hospital will house 75 private rooms and well-baby bassinets, 60 private neonatal intensive care bassinets, 16 labor and delivery rooms, five C-section suites, five post-acute car bays and 14 ultrasound rooms, according to the report.

The Alexandra & Steven Cohen Hospital for Women and Newborns will be the first NICU in the city with MRI capabilities and an operating room.

The donation is part of a $2 billion capital campaign that started in 2013 with a $100 million gift from Executive Vice President of Koch Industries, David Koch, according to the report.

The Cohen Foundation has also donated to other New York hospitals. In 2005, they gifted $50 million to NewYork-Presbyterian's Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital in Washington Heights for a pediatric emergency room. In 2010, Northwell Health renamed its children's hospital in New Hyde Park after the Cohens following their donation of $50 million.
Lawmakers in Wyoming have rejected Gov. Matt Mead's (R) proposal for Medicaid expansion, according to the Casper Star Tribune.

Gov. Mead initially opposed Medicaid expansion, but has come to embrace it and the savings it could bring to Wyoming, which add up to more than $30 million over the next two years, according to his administration. Expanding Medicaid would provide coverage to approximately 20,000 Wyomingites.

The state's largely Republican legislature also rejected Gov. Mead's Medicaid expansion proposal last year due to financial concerns, as they "don't trust federal promises to continue funding if the state expands the program," according to the report.

Rep. Tim Stubson (R), who made the motion to remove Medicaid expansion from the state's budget, said he's worried Medicaid expansion could draw people away from private insurers and toward the public insurance market. He's also concerned that if Wyoming expands Medicaid, it won't be able to reverse its course of action and remove Medicaid expansion from its budget.

Rep. Cathy Connolly (D) disagrees with Rep. Stubson and is in support of Medicaid expansion. She said the potential funds from Medicaid expansion are necessary to make ends meet in Wyoming.

After the committee of legislators voted to reject Gov. Mead's proposal, Healthy Wyoming  a group of Medicaid expansion supporters, which includes the Wyoming Hospital Association  held a press conference.

"It seems to be the only federal program we're willing to turn our back on," said Wyoming Hospital Association President Eric Boley during the conference. "We'll take highway funds, we'll take all other appropriations from the feds, but because it's attached to 'Obamacare,' we're willing to turn our backs on it."
CIOs arguably have some of the hardest jobs in healthcare today. These men and women face interoperability barriers, IT decisions that require significant financial investments and protecting hospital networks and patient records from aggressive hackers and vulnerabilities.

That's a tall order as it is, but recent analyses and surveys suggest many CIOs also wrestle with small budgets, meager staff buy-in and federal regulations  some looming and unimplemented.

Here are eight key events, themes and challenges for CIOs to focus on in the upcoming year.

Cybersecurity spend. Considering the value and breadth of data contained in patient health records, healthcare is arguably the industry that stands to lose the most from a weak cybersecurity infrastructure. But a 2014 industry benchmarking report from BitSight ranked healthcare's cybersecurity preparedness behind that of the finance, retail and energy industries.

The cost of a cyberattack for the average hospital is $3.5 million, but according to a HIMSS survey, 46 percent of hospitals spend less than $500,000 annually on cybersecurity. A PwC analysis put these numbers in a more micro perspective: While a data breach can cost a hospital $200 per health record, about $8 is spent protecting that same record.

Moody's has likened cyberattacks to natural disasters within healthcare organizations, and concluded that the threat of such attacks could begin to play a role in an institution's credit ratings. In the first half of 2015, over 42 percent of cyberattacks were healthcare-related, affecting tens of millions of patients. Clearly, allotting a significant chunk of hospital and health system expenditure to cybersecurity measures is not only a wise investment, but a necessary one. While 88 percent of CIOs and CISOs have reported increased cybersecurity budgets in recent years, according to a Southern Methodist University survey, an October Trustwave report found cybersecurity still accounts for less than 10 percent of budgets for most healthcare organizations.

In light of a Logicalis U.S. Global CIO Survey that reported 31 percent of CIOs are bypassed when it comes to IT purchasing decisions within their own systems, come 2016 it will be incumbent on CIOs to demonstrate their expertise and the need for adequate defense funding. The single biggest driving factor for cybersecurity investment is perceived risk reduction, according to a Dallas-based Southern Methodist University survey, and as cyberattacks are expected to become only more common, CIOs must demonstrate the enormous risks that stem from an underfunded cybersecurity program.

Optimization of IT systems. With hospitals and health systems having spent millions on EHRs, CIOs must ensure they are getting all the value they can from those investments. In a recent survey of CHIME members conducted by healthcare consulting firm Impact Advisors, most respondents said their top IT priority is getting more value out of their EHR investment.

"Call it performance, call it tech-based enabled improvement, call it optimization. Call it whatever the buzzword is, but [we're] trying to get more capability out of the investment we've made in the past few years in EHRs," says Todd Hollowell, COO of Impact Advisors.

EHRs aren't just electronic versions of medical records anymore, and to maximize the IT systems' value, healthcare organizations are capitalizing on EHRs' capabilities to offer multiple services to various end-users, including clinicians, patients, other health systems and even internal systems. For example, developers are creating enhanced clinical decision support systems for providers, and providers are bolstering patient engagement by encouraging patients to access and use portals. Internally, hospitals are starting to link their EHR data directly to administrative and billings functions to streamline and automate the revenue cycle.

All these functions directly impact a hospital's bottom line, and as reimbursement is increasingly tied to value and outcomes, using EHRs and IT systems to their absolute capabilities will become critical to maximize ROI.

21st Century Cures. The 21st Century Cures Act is journeying through the legislative branch of the government. Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, introduced the bill, and the House passed the bill In July with a vote of 344-77. At the time of publication, the bill was in the hands of the Senate.

The crux of the bill seeks to quicken the pace of healthcare innovation by allowing patient experience data to be considered in FDA risk-benefit assessments of devices and drugs.

Supporters of the bill claim it will help expedite innovation and bring new cures to market at a quicker rate. Opponents say an expedited review process won't allow for a full risk analysis of products, especially since the proposed amendments would allow device approval based on anecdotal evidence, such as patient stories, rather than scientific studies.

Wrapped into the 21st Century Cures Act bill are provisions related to health IT, including interoperability and telehealth. The bill requires IT to be interoperable and satisfy the following three requirements: 1) allow for secure transfer to and from any and all health information technology; 2) allow for complete access, exchange and use of all electronically accessible health information; and 3) do not allow any information blocking. The bill also calls for further research and studies related to telemedicine, though the American Telemedicine Association expressed disappointment in this, saying a call for a study is just a "snooze button" for CMS to delay action.

The bill will likely be even more health IT-heavy when it comes out of the Senate for a vote. According to Politico, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions plans to include a medical innovation bill in its companion to the 21st Century Cures Act. Also expected to be in this packaged legislation is the Transparent Ratings on Usability and Security to Transform Information Technology from Sens. Bill Cassidy, MD, (R-La.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) which would establish a rating system for users to compare certified health IT products.

Managing the data deluge. Healthcare is inundated with mountains of data. But large quantities of data are only as meaningful as the insights they yield, and the barriers to getting those actionable insights are many.

A Stoltenberg Consulting poll found 51 percent of healthcare IT leaders believe the most significant barrier to hospital data analytics is not knowing what data to collect or how much of it. The next largest barrier was a lack of organizational clarity on what to do with data and what to look for when analyzing it. Smaller but still significant percentages of respondents said the tools required to properly analyze data aren't available yet and analyzing big data is too intimidating.

As overwhelming as it may seem to design and implement data management and analytics strategies, experts expect the effort to yield big payoffs. Efficient data analytics are linked to significantly reduced costs, increased business intelligence and improved clinical outcomes. Some of the biggest drivers for hospitals and health systems adopting analytics are the increasing costs of care and the transition to pay-for-performance, according to a CDW poll.

Putting viable analytics tactics into place is complicated by a lack of common standards and common infrastructure, interoperability challenges and the difficulty of combining data from disparate sources. As in many other cases, healthcare holds its own set of challenges, such as HIPAA regulations and privacy concerns when it comes to analytics innovation, that make it a less forgiving sector than others. But as vendors increasingly offer big data collection and analytics components in software and the industry continues to acclimate to outcomes-driven incentives, turning the buzzword into results may become less intimidating and abstract.

Mergers and acquisitions. The effects of mergers and acquisitions ripple far beyond integrating leadership and aligning operational efficiencies  hospitals and health systems have to integrate their EHRs and information systems as well, which can often be a painful process.

First, eliminating redundancies in IT often means scrapping one organization's IT system for the better performing one  a bitter pill to swallow for an organization or CIO who has invested millions of dollars into selection and implementation.

Secondly, Mr. Hollowell says CIOs also have to develop long-term roadmaps to reach an ideal merged technological environment, which can become jolted and disconfigured when another organization comes into the mix. "You're either going to be an acquirer or be acquired," Mr. Hollowell says. "How do [you] integrate those systems so [you] don't have too much redundancy or fragmentation?"

Not only do CIOs have to form this vision, but they have to anticipate pushback and frustrations from other leaders when certain systems or apps have to be eliminated.

In a previous interview with Becker's Hospital Review, Paul Cioni, chief technology officer of private cloud application hosting company Velocity Technology Solutions, said the key is addressing technology integration during a merger before organizational changes like leadership structures and personnel. Focusing on technology first prioritizes finding efficiencies in operational processes, which then translates across the rest of the organization. "It forces the business process owners to embrace the best practices of each entity and to rationalize business processes for economies of scale. After all, that's why these acquisitions are being done  to gain scale," Mr. Cioni said.

Talent gap. Healthcare continues to digitize, but IT talent hasn't kept pace. And with growing and emerging demands, IT leaders are strapped to find employees with the right skills and know-how.

Nearly 70 percent of providers said the lack of qualified talent was the biggest challenge to achieving a fully staffed department and 30 percent said they scaled back or put an IT project on hold due to a shortage in staffing, according to the 2014 HIMSS Workforce Survey released in 2015.

The most desirable skills in IT departments are shifting. Once sought-after skills are now outdated. Instead IT needs experts in data science, analytics, cybersecurity and consumer engagement. In an interview with Becker's Hospital Review in early 2015, Bill Russell, CIO of Orange, Calif.-based St. Joseph Health, said, "You don't need as many people to run a cloud environment as you did in your traditional IT shop in the data center. You don't need to explain technology at workstations because we're designing [models] in such a way that we can run them without a device. You don't need as many feet running around, fixing TVs."

Apps, mHealth and BYOD. Many of today's healthcare app designers started their careers in other digital sectors, designing easy-to-use apps for consumers. That experience stuck when they moved into healthcare, as they now bring that easy-to-use mentality to healthcare-specific challenges. However, tomorrow's physicians will be more tech-savvy, and they will have higher expectations for mHealth and device integration in care settings. According to research by HIMSS, 69 percent of clinicians are already using mobile technology and devices to view lab results and other patient information. In 2016, pressure from patients and physicians to have their devices sync to records, enable portal access and share information securely will intensify.

Hospitals and health systems already feel increased pressure from consumers, physicians and other care team members to accommodate the use of third-party applications and devices, which requires revised privacy policies and safeguards. By 2018, 50 percent of the more than 3.4 billion smartphone and tablet users will have downloaded mobile health applications, according to a Research 2 Guidance report.

An April HIMSS survey found that 90 percent of provider respondents had downloaded apps to engage with patients. Thirty-one percent of organizations had designed apps specifically for patients and another 30 percent had plans to develop such mHealth apps. This growing prevalence of mHealth devices could lead to significant population health insights as systems manage care for patients in a wider radius. A great deal stands to be gained from a patient engagement perspective too: 72 percent of respondents said they believe apps encourage patients to take more responsibility for their health, according to a Research Now physician survey. Vendors have to do their part in developing API infrastructures that allow for healthcare applications to connect to their software, but CIOs will have to take their own steps to meet the intensifying demand. These changes might take some time to manifest, but meeting them head on requires strategic planning now.

Embracing the care continuum. As reimbursement is linked to value, clinical outcomes data are more entwined with the revenue cycle. Providing a connected care outlook in which an organization's policies and IT infrastructure reflect information sharing and all points of the care continuum largely falls on CIOs and the purchasing and data exchange choices they make.

"If you don't realize a lab test was administered because it was given to the patient off-site, and you don't have that connectivity, that's going to be a problem for your quality scores," says Stephen Kahane, MD, president of client organization for athenahealth. Dr. Kahane says CIOs have to be more vigilant with vendors and demand systems that enable greater connectivity with other companies' software and HIEs. "When you can integrate more stops along the care continuum into your data, you're going to be able to better measure quality," he says.

Enabling better connections with other providers will help the medical staff make informed decisions about care and reinforce the patient experience, as well. As patients become more engaged with their own health and have increased access to their data, they will expect their providers to be up to date on the care they've received, regardless of where they receive it.

"You're going to have to look for that openness in your software," Dr. Kahane says. "You've got to let others plug in."

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Here are six recent news updates on key health IT companies.

1. athenahealth, eClinicalWorks, Epic and NextGen Healthcare are among the first five vendors to adopt the Carequality Interoperability Framework.

2. Over the next three years, Microsoft will donate $1 billion in cloud services to nonprofit groups and university researchers.

3. Tuba City (Ariz.) Regional Health Care Corp. has selected Allscripts Sunrise and the Allscripts Care Director revenue cycle system.

4. Since Epic moved its headquarters from Madison, Wis., to Verona, Wis., in 2005, the health IT giant has given back to its new community through grants focused on "at-risk" populations.

5. A new partnership between Cerner and Infusion Express, an intravenous therapy company in Overland Park, Kan., deems Infusion Express a preferred provider of IV therapy services for Cerner's health plan members.

6. Despite reporting its 14th consecutive quarter of falling revenues in October, IBM received the most U.S. patents in 2015 for the 23rd year in a row in 2015, beating out Google, Microsoft, Intel and Samsung.

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Nacogdoches (Texas) Medical Center has named Jeff Patterson CEO, according to a news release published by KSLA.

Here are five things to know about Mr. Patterson.

1. He began his new role in December.

2. In this role, he will oversee the strategic, operational and clinical activities for the medical network, which comprises the 153-bed hospital and 10 outpatient centers.

3. Prior to joining NMC, Mr. Patterson was COO of Desert Regional Medical Center, a Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare hospital in Palm Springs, Calif.

4. Previously, he was senior director of business development for Tenet's Southern States Region, which comprises 14 acute care hospitals with more than 3,500 beds. He was also COO and associate administrator for business development at Lake Pointe Health Network in Rowlett, Texas.

5. Mr. Patterson replaces Gary Stokes, who retired in December after a decade as CEO of NMC.

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Sue Schade has resigned from her position as CIO of University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor to join Cleveland-based University Hospitals as interim CIO.

Ms. Schade has served as CIO of University of Michigan Health System since November 2012. Prior, she spent nearly 13 years as CIO of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. She received the HIMSS-CHIME John E. Gall Jr. CIO of the Year Award in 2014 and previously served on the CHIME board of directors.

At University Hospitals, Ms. Schade will direct the system's strategic IT initiatives while the system conducts a national search for a new CIO, according to UH. Her appointment is effective Jan. 25.

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The importance of gratitude  feeling and displaying an authentic sense of thankfulness  cannot be overstated in healthcare. Showing thanks is important in all types of interactions in the hospital setting, such as between the leadership and staff and between staff and patients. But little attention is paid to the right way of saying "you're welcome."

Every language has its own way of responding to "thank you," Paul Levy, former president and CEO of Boston-based Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center pointed out in a recent blog post. In Spanish, people say "de nada," or, "it's nothing." In English, a common response is "no problem," or "any time." In Australia, it's "no worries."

In other environments and situations, there may not be a wrong answer to "thank you," but in the hospital, there is. Showing gratitude is imperative in healthcare, and so is the way you accept it.

Hospital patients and their families are often anxious, scared and probably a little uncomfortable. Any time a hospital worker  whether they are the hospital CEO, their physician, nurse or a janitor  does something nice for a patient or family member, that person is truly grateful, according to Mr. Levy. Responding to their gratitude with a casual "no problem" or "it's nothing" belittles and devalues it.

Instead, a better response is "it's my pleasure," or "I'm so happy I could help." These forms of "you're welcome" show you truly understand their appreciation.

Mr. Levy said after training himself to respond to patients and their visitors in this way, people were eager to keep talking, compared to the conversation-stopping effect of the "it's nothing" response.

"I was able to learn so much more about people's fears, expectations, experiences, and hopes and then help translate those into improvements in the clinical environment," he wrote.
Massachusetts physicians and dentists are worried the state's newest coalition  a group that includes the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and HHS  will be a serious burden for practitioners who help patients with chronic pain management, according to the Boston Herald.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey announced Wednesday the coalition, the Interagency Group on Illegal Prescribing, which will investigate and prosecute prescribers, pharmacists and others who illegally prescribe or dispense opioids.

"The opioid and heroin epidemic is too large and too urgent a problem to allow silos and red tape to impede our efforts to combat it," Attorney General Healey said in a statement. "We will never truly address this crisis unless we reverse the culture of overprescribing of opioids that has taken hold over the past decade. I want to thank our partners who are joining together to combat the problem of illegal prescribing, and look forward to working with all of them collaboratively moving forward."

Physicians interviewed by the Boston Herald voiced concerns the new regulations will be too tough on pain management physicians or could lead to an uptick in heroin use as prescription pills become more expensive, according to the report.

"I recognize and understand that the vast majority of prescribers across this state are doing the right thing, are taking care of their patients, are serving those in need," said AG Healey, according to the Boston Herald. "There are also a number of folks who are in need of access to pain medication. This working group is not about them. This working group is about the fact that we do have actors out there in our state who are illegally, unlawfully prescribing prescription pain medication and that is causing great harm."

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House Republicans Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Kevin Brady (R-Texas) Wednesday subpoenaed U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew and three Internal Revenue Service officials for documents related to cost sharing reductions under the Affordable Care Act, according to The Hill.

Cost sharing reductions are payments given to people with incomes below a specific threshold who have chosen silver health plans on the federal exchange. They discount out-of-pocket deductibles, coinsurance and copayments.

Reps. Upton and Brady have repeatedly requested the information, according to the report. However, the administration has denied these requests because the documents are currently the subject of a lawsuit, House v. Burwell, according to the report. This lawsuit alleges paying cost sharing reductions with a congressional appropriation is unconstitutional. The Obama Administration argues appropriation is not necessary because the payments are mandatory spending under the ACA, according to the report.

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In December, the World Health Organization designated Zika as a "serious" emerging disease that requires action as soon as possible. Later that month, the first case of Zika in the United States was reported in Puerto Rico.

The following are five things to know about the Zika virus.

1. The Zika virus is spread through the bites of a certain type of mosquito located in tropical regions of the world that also spreads chikungunya and dengue viruses. According to the CDC, the most common symptoms of Zika are fever, rash, joint pain and conjunctivitis, and severe cases that require hospitalization are rare.

2. Even though Zika virus is not usually life-threatening, there have been links between infected pregnant women and poor pregnancy outcomes, including microcephaly, a condition in which a baby's head is much smaller than expected. In response to this link, the CDC issued interim guidelines for pregnant women during a Zika virus outbreak earlier this month.

3. Diagnosing Zika virus can be difficult, as it presents similarly to dengue, malaria and several other viruses, according to the CDC. Diagnosis should be based on symptoms as well as places and dates of travel, and there is a lab diagnostic test. Zika is not a nationally reportable disease in the U.S., but the CDC urges healthcare providers to report a suspected case to the local or state health departments.

4. There is no specific treatment or vaccine available for Zika virus. The CDC recommends treating the symptoms, including drinking fluids, getting rest and taking medication to help the fever and pain.

5. While outbreaks of Zika virus have occurred in tropical areas of the world, the disease is spreading as the mosquitoes spread. There have been no locally transmitted Zika cases in the U.S., other than the case in Puerto Rico. However, there have been several Zika cases confirmed in travelers returning to the U.S.  according to the Washington Post, there are roughly a dozen such cases in the U.S.
Reading (Pa.) Hospital was ordered by a federal judge to provide documents and information related to compensation for work a lawsuit claims employees did during unpaid meal breaks, according to a Reading Eagle report.

Here are six things to know about the issue.

1. According to the report, Henry Perkin, U.S. magistrate judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, ordered the following:

The hospital produce by the end of this month documents used for orientation and training related to compensation for missed or interrupted meal breaks

An analysis and report from the hospital of how often hourly employees missed meal breaks based on a new function of its electronic time clocks that required employees to "attest" to whether they received full breaks during their shifts

The hospital must produce designees for deposition

2. The order stems from a lawsuit filed by hospital employees Amanda Neifert and Evelyn Santoro in October 2013. According to the report, those employees' cases were dismissed when another employee, Susan Bell, was substituted into the case the following year. Court documents show the case consists of 25 opt-in plaintiffs who worked in different jobs at RH, according to the Reading Eagle.

3. In the complaint, employees allege the hospital violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by not paying employees for work they did during their unpaid 30-minute meal breaks, according to the report.

4. The plaintiffs want to be paid for work completed during the meal breaks and other damages under the FLSA.

5. The hospital declined to comment to the Reading Eagle, citing pending litigation.

6. Philadelphia attorney David Cohen, who is representing the employees, said the judge's ruling marks a step along the way in the bigger case, and he has also filed a state court class action lawsuit on similar allegations, according to the Reading Eagle.

"I think the ruling is important because it address one of the issues," he said, according to the report. "We are trying to make sure all of the plaintiffs in the case have their claims decided together and Reading Hospital's strategy and goal is to force them into separate litigations."

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National Nurses United is urging California Attorney General Kamala Harris to reject the proposed merger of two Catholic health systems: Renton, Wash.-based Providence Health & Services and Irvine, Calif.-based St. Joseph Health System.

Here are five things to know about the union's concerns.

1. NNU, which represents thousands of Providence and St. Joseph registered nurses in California, believes the planned merger could have a major impact on the cost, quality and availability of critical hospital services.

"NNU has substantial concerns about the impact of the proposed merger of these two hospital systems on patients, taxpayers, RNs and other employees, and the affected communities," Malinda Markowitz, an NNU vice president, said in a news release. "We are opposed to any and all mergers that don't guarantee patients and their communities a higher standard of care."

2. In light of its concerns, the union is urging Attorney General Harris to, at minimum, impose conditions that "are more robust and durable than what the hospital chains have proposed in their application."

3. NNU is also calling on Attorney General Harris to assess the impact of the proposed merger on charity care and other community benefits and its potential affect on essential services, among various other issues.

4. The union is strongly urging Attorney General Harris to deny the merger, or at minimum conduct a thorough review of the transaction, including holding public hearings, until concerns are adequately addressed.

5. NNU's concerns come as the health systems are working with the California Attorney General's office on next steps, with hopes of completing the review and approval process for the planned merger in 2016. It also comes as the Service Employees International Union and a cadre of 13 civil liberties and pro-choice organizations are asking the Oregon Attorney General to carefully examine the proposed merger.

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Arnold Schwarzenegger attending the Empire Magazine Film Awards held at the Grosvenor Hotel in London.

Arnold Schwarzenegger proved he is as indestructible as a Terminator by cycling down the wrong side of the road in Edinburgh.

The Hollywood actor, who won critical acclaim for his famous role in The Terminator in 1984, was spotted riding into oncoming traffic.

However, he seemed nonplussed and took the incident in his stride.

Schwarzenegger was in Scotland for an event at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre on Wednesday.

Fans paid up to 1,500 a head to see their hero in the flesh for a question and answer session about his career, hosted by presenter Jenni Falconer.

Talking about his rivalry with fellow action hero Sylvester Stallone, he said: "We hated each other because we both had big egos."

Before attending the black-tie dinner in his honour, the former Mr Universe displayed some pedal power, but apparently forgot he was in Scotland.

The moment was captured on a video which is proving popular on Twitter.

It shows the bareheaded former governor of California, dressed in jeans and a jacket, setting off with a couple of other riders.

Warning shouts can be heard from a few who had gathered to watch as the star pedalled off.

Within seconds, he was alongside a number 36 bus displaying Ocean Terminal.

A tweet on his official Twitter account said: "My first Edinburgh bike ride. A beautiful city! Catch my tour on Snapchat: ArnoldSchnitzel."

Schwarzenegger surprised London commuters in 2015 when he jumped on a Boris bike to take in the capital's sights.
A turkey that narrowly dodged becoming Christmas dinner is looking for a new home as a family pet.

Destined to end up on a festive plate, Turkules miraculously managed to survive being shot in the head with a bolt gun.

He was then loaded on to a holding lorry, along with 15 tonnes of other dead birds, and sent to a farm ready to be sold on to customers.

But much to the amazement of staff, the plucky bird popped up his head.

Taking pity on him, and not wanting to cause him any more distress, the farmer took Turkules under his wing - keeping him warm, fed and watered.

He even spent the festive period following the farmer around.

But with a lack of space to properly care for the turkey, the farmer took him to the Wood Green animal shelter in Godmanchester, Cambridgeshire, in the hope he can find a permanent home.

The national charity cares for and rehomes thousands of dogs, cats, rabbits, hens and ferrets every year - with Turkules an unusual addition.

"We're rarely asked to take in turkeys but we are delighted to help rehome this very lucky bird," said field and small animal welfare manager Marie Pavaday-Pillay.

"Turkules is such a character and he seems completely unfazed by his escapade. We would love to find him a new home where he has secure space to roam and enjoy his freedom."

Anyone who thinks they can offer Turkules a permanent home can call Wood Green on 0300 303 9333 or go to www.woodgreen.org.uk for more information.
Happier times: Richard Skinner models clothes from Blue Inc on the podium

Clothing retailer Blue Inc - which has more than a dozen stores in Northern Ireland - is shutting around 70 shops across the UK.

The company has not confirmed whether any of the stores here will be affected.

One staff member said no stores in Northern Ireland would be closing their doors as part of the cuts.

Blue Inc currently has 232 stores throughout the UK.

But despite repeated attempts, no one from the high street retailer responded to the Belfast Telegraph.

However, yesterday the firm's Twitter feed was flooded with queries from workers, asking whether their store was one of those facing the chop.

Many were told that "all staff should have been informed by their store manager and can speak with their area manager for support".

Another post from Blue Inc's Twitter account said: "The official list is yet to be confirmed with the team but some are closing this morning (Wednesday)."

Blue Inc, which is headed up by founder and chief executive Steven Cohen, expanded its Northern Ireland business with the opening of six new spots in 2012.

The retailer has a number of outlets in Belfast, including CastleCourt shopping centre, as well as Ballymena, Dungannon, Londonderry and Coleraine. At the time of its growth here, boss Mr Cohen said: "Our expansion programme has continued in Northern Ireland allowing us to add a further six new stores, reflecting an investment of approx 1m and the creation of more than 75 jobs."
The Co-operative Bank has announced it is to close its Belfast branch.

The branch closed at 3pm today while the news was broken to staff members.

It's understood the branch will shut its doors for good in June.

The Co-operative Bank has a small market share in here, with its current accounts making up less than 5% percent of the market in Northern Ireland.

The Belfast branch's future was first highlighted as under threat in 2013 when Co-operative announced it planned to close 50 branches. Last year, the bank closed 68 branches.

Liam Coleman, director of retail and commercial, at Co-operative Bank, said: The decision to close our branch in Belfast has not been taken lightly and we understand some customers will be disappointed, but this change is part of our ongoing business plan to turn the Bank around by restructuring and modernising the Bank into a simpler, sustainable and more efficient business. Unfortunately, part of that denotes closing branches where the number of transactions has declined significantly, means it is simply no longer sustainable.

We are writing to affected customers and, although there are no other Co-operative Bank branches in the local area, we want to reassure them of the steps we are taking to ensure they can continue to access their accounts and receive the high levels of service that they expect from us.

He said that customers could continue to access their accounts by telephone, online and mobile banking facilities. He added that there were three Post Office branches within one mile of the branch where customers can undertake most day-to-day banking transactions.

Mr Coleman continued: As we seek to return the Bank to a position of strength we must continue to modernise the business based on the demands of customers today. Our aim remains to provide branches where we know they are well used and we are investing further in our digital offering to provide customers with new, innovative ways to service their accounts as the trend for consumers to move their day to day transactions online accelerates.

Share prices for the bank were selling at 113.00 and had started to rise again after they were dashed from 121 in June.

Co-operative Bank has already seen mixed fortunes this year.
Bombardier could be thrown a lifeline for its struggling CSeries passenger jet amid reports a major US carrier is considering buying the aircraft.

Delta Airlines is weighing up its options over purchasing the plane, part of which is built in Belfast.

A Bombardier spokesman said "a number of airlines are expressing serious interest and confidence in the aircraft's abilities". He added that "momentum" was increasing on sales.

Sales to Delta would be a major boost for the Canadian-owned maker's long-delayed flagship passenger jet.

"We actually think at the right price it's quite a competitive airplane, particularly given the engine technology," Delta's chief executive Richard Anderson said.

"We're taking a very serious look at it."

Bombardier's production of wings for the long-overdue CSeries is Northern Ireland's biggest-ever inward investment programme, worth 520m.

Last year the company received a $1bn (660m) bailout from the Quebec regional government.

Bombardier currently has 243 orders for the CSeries. Its target is 300.

A spokeswoman for the firm said: "There is a high level of customer interest in the CSeries, particularly since the CS100 gained certification in December.

"Bombardier is pursuing a range of sales campaigns in the full knowledge that they will materialise over time as airlines assess their fleet requirements and make their purchase decisions. Any discussions with potential customers are confidential."

Craig West, editor of Airliner World, said: "I think the Delta story has real substance.

"While it already operates both the Boeing 737 and the Airbus A320 families, it also has huge numbers of McDonnell Douglas MD-80s.

"They were delivered between 1988 and 1993, so they're pretty long in the tooth."

Bombardier's east Belfast operation is trying to cut costs by a fifth over the next two years.

Staff recently rejected a two-year pay freeze for the 5,500 workforce and plans to extend the working week to 37 hours.

Earlier this year Bombardier said it was cutting around 60 temporary jobs here.

In May last year, it was revealed it was shedding 220 jobs, following the loss of 130 posts in February.

It also axed 390 positions in September 2014.
A skills gap could emerge in Northern Ireland, with jobseekers lacking the attributes for vacancies, it's been claimed.

The labour force survey showed that there were now 5,108 job vacancies in Northern Ireland - a number which has been rising since May last year, when there were 4,172 roles to be filled.

The separate claimant count showed that there were 38,700 people signing on during December.

Danske Bank chief economist Angela McGowan said the growing number of vacancies suggested there weren't enough people to fill jobs.

"This clearly suggests a gap between the skills of those registered as unemployed and the skills required in the current labour market.

"In the latest statistics we can also see evidence of a slowdown in the rate that people are leaving the unemployment register.

"Perhaps more needs to be done to help these individuals re-engage with the workplace."

The survey yesterday showed a total fall of 11,000 in claimants of jobseekers' allowance in the last 12 months.

The unemployment rate was 5.9% - a decrease of 0.1 percentage points over the quarter.

And the rate of economic inactivity - those who are out of the job market due to illness, studying, duties at home or disability - had also fallen to 26.7%.

But Northern Ireland still has the highest economic inactivity rate of the UK, well above the UK average of 21.9%. In total, 568,000 people were economically inactive over the period of the survey, from September to November 2015.

The long-term unemployment rate had also fallen to 48.9%, a fall of 4.6 percentage points on the previous year.

Enterprise Minister Jonathan Bell welcomed falling unemployment, but added: "While there is some indication of a reduction in economic inactivity, it remains to be seen whether this will continue in future."
A US-owned tech firm is creating 50 new jobs in Belfast as it moves into its new high-end offices in the city.

Cayan, which was formerly called Merchant Warehouse, is taking up two floors of the City Quays 1 building, which is owned by Belfast Harbour.

Now, as part of a 3m investment, it's expanding its workforce here. The new jobs will include customer support and software engineering posts.

The Boston firm has expanded rapidly since its launch in Northern Ireland in 2013, and currently employs 134 full-time staff.

Salaries for the new jobs will range from 18,000 for customer support staff to 30,000 for entry-level software engineers. Cayan works in a range of tech areas, but its latest growth is down to the success of its 'Genius' point-of-sale platform, which was developed in Belfast.

Sales of Genius terminals have grown by 35% on a quarterly basis since the launch in 2013, with clients such as Puma and Harley Davidson.

The company is now finishing off its new sci-fi themed headquarters, which comes complete with Wi-Fi stations and an Xbox room, which is fitted out with gaming chairs.

"Cayan's entire approach is different as we hire based on attitude and approach, and then train and support our people to help them progress and excel," Bronagh Major, Cayan HR manager said.

And the business is holding an open day in order to recruit new staff. Ms Major said: "We regard our customer support team as the voice of Cayan, providing the guidance and advice our customers need and appreciate.

"It's less about qualifications and more about approach and engagement - so anyone who has worked in a busy retail or service-based environment, such as a coffee shop, bar or restaurant, could have the initiative and skills which would make them excel at Cayan.

"We'd really welcome the chance to meet them and show them the career opportunities on offer."

The firm is holding its open evening at its new City Quays 1 offices on January 26.

Meanwhile, Enterprise Minister Jonathan Bell yesterday unveiled a tranche of 51 jobs across seven firms in the north west.

The investment, worth 3m, included 15 new jobs at Limavady company P & L Electrics Limited, and a further 10 jobs are being created at Seating Matters - a family business which makes specialist healthcare seating.
Michael Keaton has told how he was deeply affected by new film Spotlight as he discussed his own Catholic faith.

The 64-year-old plays Boston Globe journalist Walter "Robby" Robinson, who led a team of reporters to expose widespread child abuse and systemic cover-ups in the Catholic Church in Boston.

Keaton became visibly emotional as he discussed a scene where Rachel McAdams's character tells her devout grandmother about the reality of her church.

He said: "My mother was a devout catholic and I was an altar boy. My mum went to mass every day and when I think of what (those revelations) would have done to her... I think that's big, it's one thing to do, but crushing someone's faith is another level."

The actor, who said he still "drops in" to church, denied that the film's aim is to "beat up" the Catholic faith.

He said: "I haven't been Catholic since I was an altar boy, there's no pretending, I'm lapsed... But as much as I hate what's happened in the world based on organised religion and people's alleged faith, I'm a defender and think it's good for people.

"I'm totally cool with my vision of what people call God and I'm good there, but what this movie's about is not religion, but institutions. It's about people who take power and seek power and use that power to disadvantage the disenfranchised and the powerless and it happens in a lot of places, literally all over the world."

The actor was speaking alongside Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Robinson and Michael Rezendes, co-star Mark Ruffalo and the film's director Tom McCarthy.

Ruffalo, who is nominated for the best supporting actor Oscar for his portrayal of Rezendes, hailed the journalist as a "master" at what he does and said watching the two in action had reaffirmed his belief in the importance of the industry.

"I've always held (journalism) in high regard but what I got to learn from working with Mike and the rest of the Spotlight team was what deep commitment it takes and what it costs to do it."

Keaton added: "That's what we hope younger people, when they see this movie, can get excited about and feel the power."

Ruffalo praised the hard-hitting film as a rare opportunity.

He said: "It's one of those times that film is used as a tool to teach and coalesce ideas. It was a great honour to be in the right place at the right time to be in that dialogue, it doesn't happen often in your career."

The film has been nominated for six Academy Awards, including best picture, best director and best supporting actress for McAdams.

Spotlight is released in UK cinemas on January 29.
Celebrity Big Brother contestant Gemma Collins told a fellow housemate she is "100% pregnant" - but it later turned out to be a false alarm.

Viewers will see the former The Only Way Is Essex personality tell American reality star Tiffany Pollard on Friday night's show that she suspects she is pregnant.

But a spokesman for Channel 5 said: "Gemma believed she was pregnant but later found out this wasn't the case."

Two weeks ago, Strictly Come Dancing professional dancer Kristina Rihanoff announced she was pregnant on the show.

In a conversation with Pollard as the pair did the washing-up, Collins said: "I'm 100% pregnant. I know it, I know it, I know it. I'm excited but I'm nervous as well. I need a test."

She continued: "Listen, my belly, I know my belly when it's fat. I'm used to it. But this is a rock hard lump. I'm having a baby, I know I am, I'm scared. I definitely am. I can feel it in me."

When Pollard, 34, seemed unconvinced, Collins, also 34, told her: L ook, it's there."

Pollard conceded: "If it's hard down there, it's a sign."

Collins has been dating Stephen Mortimer since they met at the Sugar Hut nightclub in Brentwood, Essex, last year.

But Mortimer will not be present when his girlfriend leaves the Celebrity Big Brother house, as he handed himself in to police on Tuesday.

He had previously spent two years in prison for grievous bodily harm, and was released on condition that he lives at his sister's home.

He breached the terms by living with Collins and is now back in jail for a further 28-day stint.

Celebrity Big Brother's Bit On The Side panellist and comedian Vikki Stone was not convinced by news of the pregnancy, telling viewers: " She's a reality star. She knows how to make scenes."
Sam Smith said he was left "speechless" after a friend was allegedly racially abused

Sam Smith said he wanted to highlight how "ridiculous" it is to be racist in 2016 when he tweeted about a friend who was allegedly the target of abuse.

The singer, who has been nominated for the best original song Oscar for James Bond theme Writing's On The Wall, said earlier this week that he was left ''speechless'' after his friend was "verbally abused racially in London".

Some Twitter users suggested that Smith was naive to be surprised at such an incident and a few mentioned the term "white privilege".

In a statement posted on Instagram, the 23-year-old star said: "For the record, I was merely sharing an experience I had in the hope it would draw attention to how ridiculous it is to be racist in 2016.

"This is not about me in any way, it's about a deep rooted issue we have in our society that should now be extinct.

"I don't profess to know or remotely understand what it means to be on the receiving end of racist abuse, but having been bullied my whole life for being gay, what I do know is that it is wrong and completely unacceptable.

"Here's to people being allowed to be people."

It is unclear what exactly happened and Smith does not refer to a precise time or location in his series of tweets.

He wrote: "Just experienced my friend getting verbally abused racially in London. I am absolutely SPEECHLESS.

"I never ever ever ever thought that would happen here. Absolutely speechless and hurt.

"I feel like I have to shine some sort of light on it. The police were so unhelpful in the situation and its deeply shocked me.

" Humans are HUMANS.

"I feel like I have to say something. I'm just so upset. So UPSET.''

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said they were ''aware'' of the tweets, but were unable to comment further.
Sir Elton John has revealed he is going to scale back his touring to spend more time with his children.

The singer, who has two sons with his husband David Furnish, said he does not like being away from his family for long periods of time.

And he said he will be doing "fewer gigs in the future" to ensure he can be home with his two sons, three year-old Elijah and five year-old son Zachary, who has just started school.

He told BBC Radio 4's Front Row that he tries to juggle his touring schedule around parenting.

He said: "It's all based around the half terms now, and Zachary has started school, he started in September, half term has just finished. He is back at school now.

"He came to Toronto, but he came to LA, New York and Las Vegas, and I saw him there. They love travelling, they are used to it because they travelled when they were babies.

"But yes it is all based around half terms now.

"I am going away to Japan and Australia and various places for like five weeks and it is going to be very hard, I have never been away from them for that long. I will never be away from them for as long again."

Sir Elton, whose 33rd album Wonderful Crazy Night is out next month, said he will be doing "fewer gigs in the future".

And talking about fatherhood, he added: "I love doing the school run. Yesterday I picked him up at 3.10pm and I love that, it is part of my life now.

"They know what I do, they understand it, but while I'm away David will be here and he will be parenting and they will always have somebody to read them a story at 6.30 at night every night.

"When you have children they become the most important thing, it all revolves around them."
The catwalk is no longer the sole preserve of flawless young models. As Belfast Fashionweek launches today Lee Henry talks to three local people who are taking part in the event.

For those in the flush of youth, with pearly whites, flawless skin, luscious locks and fine figures to match, the world of modelling was made. Magazine covers, prestigious international shows, glitzy catwalks and big budget marketing campaigns have historically been reserved by the fashion fraternity for those on whom life is yet to make its mark, twenty or thirty-somethings who find themselves decades away from that first grey hair or even the hint of a crow's foot, and the general public, in turn, have grown to expect the same.

Brimming over with naive self-confidence, willing and able to put in long hours behind the scenes, and driven by the promise of riches beyond their friends' wildest dreams, the aspiring Giseles and wannabe Jamie Dornans of the world have reaped the resulting rewards, strutting their stuff on billboards and dancefloors from LA to Ibiza as muses for the industry's elite. Providing they maintained their physiques and showed up on time, there was always work to be had.

As the 21st century continues apace, however, times and tastes are changing, and rapidly at that. Today, readers, retailers, consumers and even governments are demanding that more minorities and generic demographics are represented in mainstream advertising, and as a result, the monopoly on modelling has been broken.

In 2016, thankfully, the transgender community is beginning to find a visual voice, plus-size models are now ubiquitous - with even the most conservative designers overcoming their fixation with size zero fashions to factor the larger lady into their collections - and mature models are increasingly flying the flag for those growing old gracefully, embracing their greys, their wrinkles, their age and their look with a confidence that is wonderful to see.

Cathy Martin, founder of Belfast Fashionweek which launched today, and owner of CMPR marketing and PR consultancy, represents many of Northern Ireland's jobbing older models.

"As our population ages," Cathy observes, "and the older population in Northern Ireland increases in size, so too does the requirement for products that suit this ageing generation.

"Those products need to be marketed, so it's only natural that the models wearing or using the products in the ad campaigns are of a suitable and appropriate age."

With the Belfast Fashionweek showcase unveiled, Cathy says one of the shows, Fifty Over Fifty, which will be staged in partnership with Age NI, will form an important style platform for 50-plus men and women here.

Siobhan Casey, Age NI's marketing director, says: "We are delighted to be associated with Belfast Fashionweek's new Fifty Over Fifty showcase to highlight how fashion, style, image and body confidence are important at any age - we all want to look good and feel great.

"Being part of Belfast Fashionweek's Coming of Age themed event this season demonstrates how the fashion industry is positively reflecting our ageing population and shows that older people are valuable and visible, in fashion as in life.

"We're looking forward to seeing Age NI volunteers and ambassadors on the catwalk, showcasing the best SS16 looks for men and women in later life and we'd love to see fashion-forward Age NI supporters of all ages at the show, too."

Cathy adds: "CMPR represents six older models, and they have marketed all sorts, from shopping centres and fashion outlets to travel and bank products.

"It is rare that even a 20-year-old would get enough purely photographic or fashion work to make a full-time living from modelling in this country; we just don't have the industry or the buying population.

"But there is definitely a demand here for older models, and most do it part-time as a hobby that they enjoy."

Denise O'Neill (52) from Lisburn originally modelled "as a bit of fun" in her early 20s, learning about the art of posing and composition from a friend, who was also a member of an amateur photography club.

Having married and given birth to two children - Claire, now 23, and Mark, now 20 - many years went by with only family pictures taken at home or during special occasions, weddings, birthdays and holidays abroad. The seed was sown, however, and Denise once again found herself posing for real at the tender age of 50.

"The opportunity arose initially from my passion for promoting grey hair as a positive choice for women which I had been doing via my blog, Grey is OK!, since September 2011," Denise explains.

"I had observed that older women in general were under-represented in the world of advertising, beauty, fashion and media, and I wanted to contribute and show that older women could and should be part of this world.

"Through my interest in the 'grey revolution', as I like to call it, I connected with a Nottingham-based company, White Hot Hair, which produces and sells products specifically for caring for grey hair. Jayne Mayled, the founder of the company, invited me to be a model on a two-day photoshoot. It was a wonderful experience and whetted my appetite to get back into modelling."

O'Neill subsequently learned about, and joined, Model Magic, one of several closed Facebook groups created by fashion professionals based in Northern Ireland to connect models with photographers, stylists, agents, training organisations, paying clients and other models as a means of encouraging participation in the industry, forming networks and ultimately assisting careers.

Denise says: "And I got my first paid modelling job at the age of 52 for the Forestside Shopping Mall AW15 campaign in September 2015. I had to pinch myself that it was really happening. There was a full team of people there, including advertising agency staff, the photographer, the fashion stylist, the make-up artist, the hair stylist and the other models taking part - and a dog.

"I was shown a storyboard picture of what the theme of the shoot was about, so that I was aware of the aim of the campaign, which was helpful in preparing me for the type of look that was required.

"I arrived at the shoot without make-up and was transformed into an elegant lady of style. It was great to be pampered and to dress up in beautiful clothes. We had such great craic and I enjoyed every minute."

One of Denise's co-models during that shoot was Garry Jackson (53), owner of Garry's Barber Shop on Holywood's Main Street by day, mature model by night (and the odd weekend).

Unlike Denise, Garry came to the modelling game later in life, at the invitation of Cathy Martin herself, who contacted him through his wife, Mari, about a specific job "because she felt I was just what they needed", says Jackson, which is to say a handsome man in his early 50s with a keen sense of style and penchant for personal grooming.

Aside from the Forestside job, Garry has since bagged paid work for Cookstown-based tailor Dee Graham, and has had to turn down other job offers due to his busy barber shop business.

"I was philosophical about modelling, when the offer came in from Cathy," Garry admits. "My only concern was that the job might be embarrassing or cheesy, as my mates would have had a field day with that.

"But it was very enjoyable and I got to meet and work with some very nice professional people who really put me at ease and made the whole experience very relaxed.

"I would recommend it to anyone thinking of taking it up. I would say that if the opportunity arises, just do it.

"It's really good fun."

Of course, it's not all primping and preening, laughter and modest pay cheques.

The day rate for models of all ages here is vastly inferior to that enjoyed by their counterparts based in London, for example. Although clients are increasingly seeking out older models to represent their products, jobs here remain few and far between. And then there is the little matter of the 'look' to consider.

Derek Dubery, a 49-year-old civil servant and part-time male mannequin, relocated to Northern Ireland from his native Kent in 2004 and subsequently entered the fashion arena after friends and workmates suggested he had what it took.

Derek describes himself as someone with a "quite well-developed sense of style, so the most difficult aspect of modelling so far has been wearing clothes I wouldn't usually be seen dead in. But that's the essence of the job. You try to make the best of the clothes you've been given".

All of the models agreed that confidence comes with age, and that the opportunity to express their artistic sensibilities in middle-age was one to be welcomed and not shunned.

Denise, for instance, was encouraged to take up the baton once again "by my own self-awareness, my determination and my self-belief that I could offer something", while Derek has used modelling as a means of shrugging off a lingering shyness.

"To be honest, this isn't something that the younger me would have ever imagined doing," Derek says. "I was a very geeky child and it's literally taken me half my life to grow out of that.

"I suspect that I'm now overcompensating somewhat.

"Doing fashion shows with four or five ex-Miss Northern Irelands is a slightly surreal experience, for example. You certainly need self-confidence and maybe being older helps with that."

As for the wider fashion world, Denise believes that companies such as M&S and Boots are leading the way in offering consumers a new, more representative aesthetic that speaks to and includes the older generation rather than ignoring and patronising men and women of a certain age.

She adds: "Their glamorous campaigns feature older models along with younger models and that is groundbreaking. I think that advertisers are finally realising that they have to cater for all age groups and show diversity, and this is a good thing for older models.

"I am an optimistic person and I really do believe that the industry is changing in its attitude and becoming pro-ageing, though more change is needed. Older people, just like younger people, want to look good and spend their money on fashion and beauty products, as well as all the other products and services to enjoy in life.

"We must remember that life doesn't stop when you are 50-plus. In fact, it gets better."
A teenager shot in the grounds of a Belfast hospital over 40 years ago may have been killed by a soldier, a Coroner's Court has heard

A teenager shot in the grounds of a Belfast hospital over 40 years ago may have been killed by a soldier, a Coroner's Court has heard.

Patrick Crawford (15) was hit while walking through the grounds of the Royal Victoria Hospital in August 1975.

At a preliminary hearing Belfast's Laganside court heard that ballistics evidence suggested the teenager was shot by a high velocity rifle, contradicting a confession from a man who claimed to have used a handgun.

It was also revealed that a pathologist commissioned by the now defunct Historical Enquiries Team found the trajectory of the bullet indicated it had come from an elevated position.

Mark McGarrity, barrister for the next of kin, said: "The concern is that the person who fired that bullet may have been a member of the Army."

The case is being heard as part of a review of Troubles-related deaths by High Court Judge Mr Justice Weir.

NI Attorney General John Larkin granted a fresh inquest into Patrick's death after representations from his family. An inquest in December 1979 recorded an open verdict, the court was told.

Judge Weir said: "The first coroner seems to have put forward to the jury the statement of admission by the person who said they had used a handgun. It could not have been very helpful."

It also emerged that the man who made the confession was not prosecuted in relation to Patrick's death, but later jailed for 10 years in connection with other offences including weapons and explosives charges.

Judge Weir said it was important to make progress in the historic case and to ensure that any vital evidence such as bullet fragments recovered from the scene was "carefully preserved".

He said: "Everyone can expect this will probably come in to be reviewed in a matter of months."

Peter Coll, barrister for the PSNI, said he understood the desire to move the case forward but could not give a definitive timeline for disclosure of documents.

Outside the court, Patrick's sister Maggie Crawford said: "His death had a major impact on our family - especially after our mother was killed in similar circumstances three years before.

"It devastated our family."
Assaults on staff at Northern Ireland's women's prison have increased alarmingly.

A total of 21 attacks were recorded at Ash House last year.

That is a significant rise on the three incidents recorded in 2013.

The south Belfast jail holds between 40 and 50 female inmates.

They include double murderer Hazel Stewart, serving a minimum of 18 years for killing her husband Trevor Buchanan and her ex-lover's wife Lesley Howell.

Both murder victims were found in a fume-filled garage in Castlerock in 1991.

In total, 43 assaults on prison officers were recorded between 2013 and 2015.

Attacks have risen sharply from three in 2013, to 19 in 2014 and 21 last year.

The figures were released by Justice Minister David Ford after an Assembly question from DUP MLA Alex Easton.

Finlay Spratt, who chairs the Prison Officers' Association, said assaults on staff were increasing across the prison system.

"We know assaults are rising and the reason is quite simple - we don't have the same number of prison officers today that we had two or three years ago," he told the Belfast Telegraph.

"There used to be four prison officers to look after 50 prisoners. That has now been cut back to two officers.

"Staffing levels have been cut all over the prison system. They talk about efficiency, and yes, we all have to be more efficient, but the safety of staff should come first."

Ash House is a housing block within the Hydebank Wood prison. Young offenders aged between 18 and 21 are also held at the site.

It is home to some of Northern Ireland's most notorious female killers.

'Black Widow' Julie McGinley served a 15-year sentence there for killing her husband Gerry.

Karen Walsh, who killed pensioner Maire Rankin and sexually assaulted her with a crucifix, is also held there.

Lindsay White, who beat 40-year-old homeless Polish man Marek Muszynski to death in Newry for just 50p, is another killer lodged at Ash House.

Last September it was revealed that almost 300 assaults took place on staff across the entire prison system in the past four years.

The figures were disclosed by Mr Ford after a question from Ulster Unionist MLA Robin Swann.

Mr Ford confirmed there had been a total of 282 assaults on staff in prisons in the four financial years beginning in 2011.

A detailed analysis carried out by the Prison Service found that crowding was the main factor. Mr Ford said a significant number of prisoners were moved from crowded residential areas in 2014 to address the issue.

The Prison Service also commissioned a pilot to evaluate the use of body-worn cameras to prevent violence and assist in the management of disruptive prisoners.
A limited inquiry into a loyalist bombing with alleged state collusion in Co Armagh could be heard as early as next year, a lawyer said.

A preliminary hearing in Belfast addressed inquests involving a Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) blast at the Step Inn in Keady in Co Armagh in 1976 during which Catholics Elizabeth McDonald, 38, and Gerard McGleenan, 22, died.

Researchers have claimed the fatalities were among up to 120 cases linked to the activities of a splinter of the loyalist grouping known as the Glenanne Gang and a legal challenge has been mounted surrounding links between the cases.

A judge pointed to an apparent divergence of views on paper between the families of Ms McDonald and Mr McGleenan on the best way to proceed, with the McGleenans believing an inquest largely confined to the bombing was possible by next year.

Adam Straw, barrister for the family of Ms McDonald, said: "We seek an inquest into state collusion. We think that that inquiry can itself be limited in terms of the issues it investigates and strictly limited in terms of the material it looks at and limited in terms of the disclosure it seeks.

"Much of the work has already been done by the Historical Enquiries Team (HET) process.

"It would be very far from an examination of the circumstances of every one of the deaths that were part of the Glenanne series.

"The number of deaths that may have issues to be investigated will be far more limited than the up to 120 that have been suggested."

Lord Justice Weir said he was seeking an indication of what other cases the families felt will be drawn in by next Friday.
A republican mural off the Falls road area of Belfast on March 14, 2009

A loyalist mural in the Shankhill area of Belfast on March 14, 2009

A republican mural in the Ballymurphy estate in Belfast on March 14, 2009

Belfast murals. A mural off the Newtownards Road dedicated to 'The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe' author C.S Lewis who was from the area. 2010.

Healy among the greats at Windsor Park

A Thomas Devlin murder appeal poster beside a UVF (Ulster Volunteer Force) mural in the Mount Vernon area of North Belfast opposite the flats where one of his killers had lived.

A Loyalist mural on the Newtownards road in Belfast

One of the mural, "Bernadette" in the Bogside. Supplied Picture

Born identity: The UDA mural in east Belfast where many young Protestants say pride in the British Army, and anger at flag protests, have reinforced their sense of Britishness

The Civil Rights mural in the Bogside.

The mural by artist Ross Wilson celebrating King Williams 1690 battle with King James replaces a UFF mural on a gabel wall on Linfield Avenue Sandy Row.

A project recording experiences of key figures from the Troubles and the peace process has been launched

Going back: The absurd psychology of paramilitarism fixating on UVF gunmen and Bobby Sands instead of icons like George Best, shows their mawkish self-mythologising

Residents gathered to watch the unveiling of the new mural opposite the Catholic church in Harryville, Ballymena, County Antrim. The old loyalist paramilitary mural close to a Catholic church which was the scene of weekly protests in the 1990s was removed at the weekend. It was replaced by an Ulster Scots mural featuring symbols such as a shamrock and Red Hand of Ulster. 2/4/06

A mural at Free Derry Corner depicting the events of Bloody Sunday.

Going back: The absurd psychology of paramilitarism fixating on UVF gunmen and Bobby Sands instead of icons like George Best, shows their mawkish self-mythologising

The UVF mural painted over one of George Best at Inverwood Court in east Belfast

A new UVF mural is being painted in Willowfield

Republican mural depicting former north Belfast IRA leader Martin Meehan revealed in the Ardoyne area of Belfast

Murals down the years ... republican mural depicting former north Belfast IRA man Martin Meehan is revealed in the Ardoyne area of Belfast.

Murals down the years ... A huge UFF mural was beamed to the world as cyclists passed it during May's Giro d'Italia

Murals down the years ... The Shankill Star Flute Band in Belfast carries a Lambeg drum dedicated to the memory of Brian Robinson, a UVF terrorist who shot Paddy McKenna dead at Ardoyne in 1989

Murals down the years ... former IRA sniper and Sinn Fein politician Martin Meehan aiming a rifle

The new mural takes shape on the Newtownards Road

The terrorist emblem it is replacing

A sinister loyalist mural in east Belfast has been removed to make way for a new image to commemorate the centenary of the Battle of the Somme, it can be revealed.

A large Red Hand Commando crest featuring two masked gunmen adorned the gable wall on the lower Newtownards Road until this week.

It has now been painted white and work is ongoing at the site.

So far two poppies have been painted, but it is not known exactly what sort of scene the new mural will depict.

A smaller Red Hand Commando crest beside the main mural appears to have been left untouched.

A spokesman for East Belfast ACT confirmed the mural replaced a Red Hand Commando image.

They said they understand the new mural will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme, adding that there will be further murals and exhibitions happening throughout east Belfast in the coming months.

The Red Hand Commando is understood to have been formed in 1972 and was closely linked to the UVF.

It was proscribed in 1973 and was linked to a number of murders and bombings during the 1970s, '80s and '90s, including the killing of former Sinn Fein vice-president Maire Drumm in 1973.

The RHC announced a ceasefire in 2007 and decommissioned in 2009.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close The new mural, honouring UDA gunman Stephen McKeag, in the lower Shankill area Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph The sabotaged mural of former Northern Ireland Secretary of State Theresa Villiers on the International Peace Wall in west Belfast Murals down the years ... former IRA sniper and Sinn Fein politician Martin Meehan aiming a rifle Murals down the years ... The Shankill Star Flute Band in Belfast carries a Lambeg drum dedicated to the memory of Brian Robinson, a UVF terrorist who shot Paddy McKenna dead at Ardoyne in 1989 Murals down the years ... A huge UFF mural was beamed to the world as cyclists passed it during May's Giro d'Italia Murals down the years ... republican mural depicting former north Belfast IRA man Martin Meehan is revealed in the Ardoyne area of Belfast. Republican mural depicting former north Belfast IRA leader Martin Meehan revealed in the Ardoyne area of Belfast A new UVF mural is being painted in Willowfield The UVF mural painted over one of George Best at Inverwood Court in east Belfast Going back: The absurd psychology of paramilitarism fixating on UVF gunmen and Bobby Sands instead of icons like George Best, shows their mawkish self-mythologising A mural at Free Derry Corner depicting the events of Bloody Sunday. Residents gathered to watch the unveiling of the new mural opposite the Catholic church in Harryville, Ballymena, County Antrim. The old loyalist paramilitary mural close to a Catholic church which was the scene of weekly protests in the 1990s was removed at the weekend. It was replaced by an Ulster Scots mural featuring symbols such as a shamrock and Red Hand of Ulster. 2/4/06 Going back: The absurd psychology of paramilitarism fixating on UVF gunmen and Bobby Sands instead of icons like George Best, shows their mawkish self-mythologising Fading Memories. A mural of David Healy at Carnforth Street, east Belfast A project recording experiences of key figures from the Troubles and the peace process has been launched File photo dated 03/05/07 of a Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) wall mural in north Belfast. The mural by artist Ross Wilson celebrating King Williams 1690 battle with King James replaces a UFF mural on a gabel wall on Linfield Avenue Sandy Row. The Civil Rights mural in the Bogside. Parade commemorating Brian Robinson - Shankill Road, Belfast Born identity: The UDA mural in east Belfast where many young Protestants say pride in the British Army, and anger at flag protests, have reinforced their sense of Britishness One of the mural, "Bernadette" in the Bogside. Supplied Picture Alan Lewis A Loyalist mural on the Newtownards road in Belfast A Thomas Devlin murder appeal poster beside a UVF (Ulster Volunteer Force) mural in the Mount Vernon area of North Belfast opposite the flats where one of his killers had lived. Alan Lewis Alan Lewis UDA wall mural in the Shankill Road area.8/9/09 Healy among the greats at Windsor Park Mandatory C - redit Darren Kidd/ Belfast murals. A mural off the Newtownards Road dedicated to 'The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe' author C.S Lewis who was from the area. 2010. Republican mural in West Belfast. 1998 A republican mural in the Ballymurphy estate in Belfast on March 14, 2009 Jeff J Mitchell A loyalist mural in the Shankhill area of Belfast on March 14, 2009 Jeff J Mitchell A republican mural off the Falls road area of Belfast on March 14, 2009 Jeff J Mitchell YCV paramilitary mural in the Village, Belfast / Facebook

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Whatsapp The new mural, honouring UDA gunman Stephen McKeag, in the lower Shankill area

DUP MLA Robin Newton welcomed the latest reimaging work and said he would encourage the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure and the Housing Executive to continue supporting the local community in their work with the murals. PUP councillor John Kyle also welcomed the transformation of the mural.

"There has been a programme of work under way in east Belfast, where murals are being expanded to cover a broader subject matter," he said.

"I would welcome this latest mural transformation, if it is going to feature the Battle of the Somme, it is very timely with this being the centenary of the battle.

"The Battle of the Somme is very important in terms of the history of the unionist community here."

Work continues to replace a number of murals in east Belfast. Last year, nine murals on Lord Street were transformed from paramilitary to cultural images, including one of the Belfast Giants.

In total, 23 murals across east Belfast are being - or have already been - reimaged, including the freshening up of a Titanic mural. However, a series of UDA murals known as Freedom Corner were repainted as they were, and another sinister black and white UVF mural depicting hooded gunmen proclaiming the right to defend themselves remains on a gable wall on the Newtownards Road.
Conor McKee, 31, was murdered in his home two weeks ago (PSNI/PA Wire)

Paramilitaries or organised criminals may be behind the drugs-related murder of a father-of-two in Belfast, police have said.

Conor McKee, 31, was blasted a number of times with a shotgun at his Glenpark Street home exactly two weeks ago.

His body was discovered in an upstairs bedroom by his mother.

Detective Chief Inspector Justyn Galloway, who is leading the investigation, said: "Our inquiries to date and the intelligence picture at my disposal have combined to make a number of main lines of inquiry in Conor's murder. These include the involvement of paramilitaries and individuals linked to organised crime.

"I have no doubt this assessment will prompt various reactions in the community but it is important to be clear that police remain open to all lines of inquiry and we will go where the evidence takes us.

"Just because Conor was involved in drugs does not mean the police service will walk away from what happened to him, or his mum, his dad, his partner and their children."

So far detectives from the Police Service of Northern Ireland's (PSNI) serious crime branch have interviewed more than 100 witnesses, visited over 250 homes and conducted four searches.

Two people arrested as part of the investigation remain on bail pending further inquiries.

Officers are also expected to revisit the scene to mount road stops and speak to pedestrians.

An electronic display sign will be used as part of the appeal on the Oldpark Road.

Mr Galloway added: "Our inquiries to date indicate that this was a drug-related murder. From previous experience, such an assessment can cause people to regard the killing as in some way acceptable or inevitable.

"This is a mistaken and, I believe, dangerous perspective for people to adopt. Drugs are wrecking lives in our community. The way to deal with the issue is through a co-ordinated, multi-agency approach involving health, education and law enforcement working alongside individuals, families and communities.

"It will not be resolved down the barrel of a gun.

"Previous drug related murders have proved the drugs problem will not be solved through violence."

Mr McKee was last seen in the area of Oldpark Road between 5pm and 6pm on Thursday January 7.

It is thought he was shot at his home at 6.15pm.

Officers want to hear from anyone who may have seen the victim, either on his own or in company.

They are particularly keen to hear from anyone who may have seen a man lurking in an alleyway beside Mr McKee's home around the time of the shooting.

Mr Galloway added: "I am also appealing to anyone who saw a man in the entry beside Conor's home at 5 Glenpark Street around this time. He was wearing a dark-coloured hoodie with a front pocket open at both ends and other dark clothing."

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at Musgrave Street on 101, or information can be passed anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Bangor-Belfast rail line and Medway Street have been closed

Houses in east Belfast have been evacuated during a security alert following the discovery of a suspicious object at Medway Street.

The Bangor-Belfast rail line and Medway Street have been closed and a number of premises evacuated.

A Translink spokesperson said: "The line between Belfast Central and Bangor is closed due to a security alert in the Sydenham area. Valid train tickets will be accepted on Ulsterbus and Metro services.

"Passengers should expect significant delays to their journey."

There are no further details at present.

This is a developing story and will be updated
The island of Ireland may be seen as a "safe haven" destination for overseas visitors this year due to security concerns about other parts of Europe, a tourism chief has predicted.

Tourism Ireland's chief executive Niall Gibbons said volatility elsewhere in the world is not a basis upon which to market the Irish brand, but he said it is nevertheless a factor that has to be considered.

Mr Gibbons was giving evidence to Westminster MPs in Belfast.

Members of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee were at Stormont as part of their inquiry into the tourism industry north of the border.

Tourism Ireland markets both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to the international tourism market.

In a committee discussion about issues that influence visitor numbers coming to the island, Mr Gibbons outlined the significance of geo-politics

"I think the geo-political situation is far more volatile than it was this time six months ago," he said.

"We have seen the attacks in Paris and difficult situations in Brussels and North Africa.

"In a strange way what that has done in terms of international tourism trends - since the Arab Spring (2011) started we have seen tourism traffic pushed from North Africa and southern Europe up towards northern European countries. Actually northern European countries have actually made gain shares.

"And what we are possibly likely to see this year is Ireland being seen as a more safe haven type destination.

"Not the basis upon which you want to build your brand, but it is something we do take very seriously so to speak, particularly in markets like North America... We now see 10% of all North Americans travelling to mainland Europe now coming to the island of Ireland, which is a very, very big market share - it's our biggest ever.

"So that geo-political one is one we have to be very conscious of."

M Ps heard from a number of other witnesses on the tourism sector in Northern Ireland.

One of the key issues was the campaign for the 20% VAT rate paid by tourism providers north of the border to be reduced to the 9% in operation in the Republic of Ireland.

The UK Government has proved resistant to the call, insisting the potential benefits would not sufficiently off-set the reduction in revenue take.

Stormont Finance Minister Mervyn Storey told the committee a VAT cut made sense not only in Northern Ireland, but across the UK.

"If we do this on a national basis we believe this would be of a huge benefit to the tourism product right across the nation," he said.
Members of the Fox family pictured with their legal team

The Lord Chief Justice is to meet with all victims' families next month as part of his review of legacy inquests.

It will be the first time Sir Declan Morgan has met such a large group of those bereaved by controversial killings and he will seek their views on how matters can be dealt with quickly.

He has asked Lord Justice Weir to conduct an intensive review of 56 long-delayed cases covering 95 deaths which are still in the coronial system.

Stalled inquests include killings carried out by paramilitaries and security forces - many involve claims of collusion or state wrongdoing. Some are being held for the first time or reheard after referrals by attorney general John Larkin QC.

Lord Justice Weir said: "Quite a lot of people feel that such a long period of time has elapsed without a decisive outcome that they would rather...that they would like the matter to be brought to conclusion in their lifetimes."

The Lord Chief Justice took over responsibility for the coroner's service late last year.

Lord Justice Weir is assessing whether hearings will be held within the next two years or later, if at all. He is also investigating whether full inquests will require a presiding high court judge, county court judge or a coroner.

A solicitor for the coroner said: "The Lord Chief Justice has invited all the families involved in the legacy cases to a meeting on February 12 where we will give them an opportunity to give their views on how best to ensure that all the cases are progressed as expeditiously possible through the inquest system."

A review was held in Belfast into the deaths of Charlie and Tess Fox, who died in September 1992 when UVF gunmen broke into their home in Moy.

A number of other cases have been linked to the murders.

Lord Justice Weir noted the prospect of holding a "super inquest" into a number of related deaths but warned that could take much longer to arrange.

Fox family solicitor Peter Corrigan told the court his clients favoured an inquest.

"We believe that it can be carried out and effectively investigated through the inquest process with a widened scope."
Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said he appreciated the importance of the Twelfth of July commemoration to the unionist community

Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness has said he would seriously consider attending a Protestant loyal order Twelfth of July commemoration if invited.

Stormont's Deputy First Minister said he appreciated the importance of the day to the unionist community and took pride in how events had recently passed off peacefully in his native Londonderry.

In an interview with Co Fermanagh-based newspaper the Impartial Reporter, the former IRA commander said he would not impose himself on the celebrations but would consider going along if invited.

Events to mark the victory of King William III over Catholic James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 have long been the source of intensified community tensions in certain parts of Northern Ireland.

While the majority of loyal order parades pass off peacefully, a number of flashpoints remain on the routes of disputed marches, with some recent Twelfths marred by outbreaks of both loyalist and republican violence in Belfast.

"It's important not to impose yourself on for example the Twelfth of July but what I do think is important is that people are big enough to invite you," Mr McGuinness said.

"I'd prefer to go to places where I am invited."

Asked if he would attend if invited, Mr McGuinness replied: "I would give very serious consideration."

But the sight of Mr McGuinness at a traditional parade is not likely to materialise in the near future, as the Orange Order has dismissed outright any notion of it extending an invite.

The institution referred to the deaths of more than 300 Orangemen at the hands of republican paramilitaries during the Troubles as one of the main reasons such an invite would be "beyond the pale".

"Many of our murdered brethren were serving or retired members of the Crown Forces," a spokesman said.

"Sinn Fein have never apologised, nor shown genuine remorse, for the murder of the Crown forces.

"To offer an invitation to Martin McGuinness would insult their memory and bring further hurt and distress to many families."

The organisation also cited the "organised and deliberate role taken by the republican movement in their continuing opposition to our parades".

"This remains very much evident with leading Sinn Fein representatives continuing to actively oppose and protest against our processions," he added.

"The Orange Institution is actively involved in bridge building at many levels, but there are some things that as an organisation and as a unionist community are at present beyond the pale."

On Thursday, Mr McGuinness tweeted: "To clarify, I was asked by a journalist if I would attend an Orange Parade. I said if an invite came I would consider it. #ReachingOut #Peace"
During a review of the Fox killings in Belfast, Mr Corrigan said the coroner's court must look into the wider circumstances and linked cases

A lawyer for the family of a couple gunned down by loyalists in Mid Ulster has claimed a public inquiry may be necessary to investigate alleged state collusion.

Charlie and Tess Fox were shot dead at their home in Moy, Co Tyrone, in September 1992. Members of their family believe soldiers and armed police were near the family home in the period before the murders.

A family solicitor said they were convinced state collusion was involved.

Peter Corrigan said: "It is not a fanciful belief, it is based on circumstances and evidence and Historical Enquiry Team reports."

A senior judge reviewing all legacy inquests has repeatedly said it is up to the Government to fund investigations into cases which cannot be dealt with by the inquest system.

During a review of the Fox killings in Belfast, Mr Corrigan said the coroner's court must look into the wider circumstances and linked cases, connected by the terrorist organisation and people involved and the area where the killings happened.

"This inquest has the capacity to do it by widening the scope in relation to the inquests and widening the scope in relation to the personnel and ballistics."

He said the case was linked to the murder of Co Tyrone pensioner Roseann Mallon because the same murder weapon was used.

Lord Justice Weir is reviewing all legacy inquests to determine when they can be held or if the coroner's system is not capable of dealing with some of them.

Mr Corrigan added: "If the court do determine that an inquest is not appropriate we would seek a declaration that the Mid Ulster murders can only be dealt with by a public inquiry."

The gunmen who killed the Fox family smashed their way into the house, having cut the phone lines. The bodies of Mr and Mrs Fox were discovered the next morning by their daughter who had become concerned at not having heard from them, the hearing was told.

Because there were criminal proceedings no inquest was held.

A lawyer said disclosure of documents had held up progress in having the matter dealt with.

Lord Justice Weir said if the matter became one for a public inquiry it could be held at some distant point in the future, if at all.

"It does rather sound as though this case, if it were to proceed in this linked way, might be well down the list for dealing with, if indeed it can be dealt with under the coronial system."

The Fox's daughter Bernadette McKearney said: "We all believe that there was collusion between the police force and loyalist paramilitaries.

"For the last 16 years this has been going on and we have been hindered because of the police and state services.

"In any other country police are there to help people with their inquests but in Northern Ireland, no.

"We are no further on and the way the judge spoke this morning I may not be around to see the end of this."
Greg Clark announced some powers are being returned to Rotherham council

The Government intends to hand back some of the decision-making powers it took from Rotherham Council in the wake of child sexual exploitation revelations.

The entire political leadership of the authority resigned in February last year over the revelations and the Government decided to intervene in the running of the authority with commissioners put in charge of many services.

But the Communities Secretary Greg Clark announced in a written statement that he plans to return some of the powers to the authority.

He said that nearly a year on challenges still remain "but there have been significant areas of progress".

"Today I am therefore proposing, on the recommendation of the Commissioner team, my intention to return certain functions to Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council," he said.

The functions being returned include education and schools, public health, leisure services, housing and highways maintenance.

However, the returned functions do not include licensing, children's services, adult social care, audit and other functions which are deemed to "still remain high risk".

Mr Clark said: "I am confident that this is the right time and these are the right functions to return to the council."
Debbie and Kieran with what they thought was a booking form for the property in Italy

An engaged couple will have to cancel their dream wedding abroad after falling victim to a cruel internet scam.

Debbie Powell and her fiance Kieran Murphy planned to get married in Venice in September.

Through the website Airbnb they booked a house for themselves and friends and family to stay in for the big day.

But the Belfast couple, who have been together two-and-a-half years, had their dreams dashed and were left feeling "sick to their stomachs" when they discovered the 1,600 they paid for the accommodation did not go to a legitimate property owner.

Instead, it appears it was transferred to internet fraudsters.

Airbnb said it was investigating the incident and providing the couple with support.

But Kieran, a civil servant, said he and his fiancee will have no option but to cancel their wedding after losing the money, and were speaking out to warn others.

Airbnb, which lists around 800,000 properties worldwide, provides an online marketplace for property owners to rent out spare rooms or whole properties.

Property listers can specify the type of accommodation and booking periods, set house rules and upload photos of their home.

However, despite security measures, some people have been duped by fake home owners.

Kieran (34) explained: "We got engaged last June on Debbie's birthday. We travelled to Venice last September and went to St Mark's (Basilica) to book where we were getting married.

"I had never heard of the website, but it was recommended to us, so in September we booked a house in Venice through Airbnb. We thought everything was fine."

Debbie, a theatre nurse, clicked a link that took them off the website and onto the site of the person who claimed to own the property.

The host confirmed the booking was available and provided bank details, after which Debbie paid the money directly from her account via a transfer.

Kieran explained they found out just this week they had been duped. "I hadn't been well and Debbie said we should just check any cancellation policy in case we had to cancel last-minute in September - but the emails kept bouncing back," he said.

When Debbie (38) was contacted by Airbnb she was given the devastating news they had fallen victim to an internet scam.

"She was left in tears on the phone when she realised what had happened," Kieran said. "We were told by the company our booking did not exist. Their site can be hacked and we have been scammed out of 1,600."

Debbie added: "God knows who we were exchanging emails with and have transferred this money to. Everything looked completely legitimate. We had no idea we weren't talking to Airbnb."

Debbie also told how the only good thing was that they found out before turning up in Venice with a group of people and nowhere to stay. But she added: "We are just sitting here now completely sick to our stomachs."

And Kieran said: "We could have been in Venice with our friends and family for our wedding but with nowhere to stay. It isn't worth thinking about."

The couple, who are contacting the police and Trading Standards, said the fraud "should never have happened" and that the company should have tighter security. "We have now no other option but to cancel our wedding," Debbie added. "My fiance, myself and all our friends are distraught."

"We want others to be careful," Kieran said. "We don't know if we will get our money back, so we are in limbo. It looks like if we do get married, it will be something here. Debbie is so upset."

A spokesman for Airbnb said customers should only pay via the website and no other page.

It added: "Airbnb protects hosts and guests by handling all payment and communication through our secure platform.

"When you keep your payment and communication strictly on the Airbnb platform, payments are accurate and your account is secure.

"It's one of the reasons that so many hosts and guests book through Airbnb. In the interest of providing excellent, outstanding customer service, we are in contact with the couple and are providing them with our support."

The company also told how its system automatically screens out personal information until a reservation has been booked, which helps keep accounts secure. Recently, it also implemented an anonymised email addresses system and a new security tab.
Victim: Eddie Girvan was tied up on chair and stabbed in chest

PSNI officers and forensic officers investigate. Police have said that the roads will remain closed for the next few hours. Photo: Kirth Ferris/Pacemaker Press

PSNI officers and forensic officers investigate. Police have said that the roads will remain closed for the next few hours. Photo: Kirth Ferris/Pacemaker Press

PSNI officers and forensic officers investigate. Police have said that the roads will remain closed for the next few hours. Photo: Kirth Ferris/Pacemaker Press

PSNI officers and forensic officers investigate. Police have said that the roads will remain closed for the next few hours. Photo: Kirth Ferris/Pacemaker Press

Collect picture of Eddie Girvan, the 70-year-old man found dead in his Station Road home in Greenisland last night. Pacemaker Belfast 19/01/2016

PSNI officers and forensic officers investigate. Police have said that the roads will remain closed for the next few hours. Photo: Kirth Ferris/Pacemaker Press

Collect picture of Eddie Girvan, the 70-year-old man found dead in his Station Road home in Greenisland last night. Pacemaker Belfast 19/01/2016

Pictured is police officers and forensics at the scene of an incident on Station Road in Greenisland on January 19, 2016 ( Photo by Kevin Scott )

Collect picture of Eddie Girvan, the 70-year-old man found dead in his Station Road home in Greenisland last night. Pacemaker Belfast 19/01/2016

Pictured is police officers and forensics at the scene of an incident on Station Road in Greenisland on January 19, 2016 ( Photo by Kevin Scott)

Police officers and forensics at the scene of an incident on Station Road in Greenisland on January 19, 2016 (Photo by Kevin Scott)

Eddie Girvan, whose body was found at his Greenisland home

Police investigating the murder of Greenisland pensioner Eddie Girvan are probing a potential link between his death and the sex industry.

It is understood that Mr Girvan often met women, some of whom were sex workers, on dating apps and online dating sites.

It is not known if Mr Girvan was aware of their connection with the sex industry.

However, his involvement with them is currently a line of inquiry for detectives investigating his murder.

Over the past six months, Mr Girvan had signed up to at least two interactive dating apps, which are increasingly being used by those people within the sex industry.

Officers are attempting to establish if there is a link between Mr Girvan's lifestyle and his brutal murder.

The 67-year-old's body was found in his Station Road home on Monday night. His hands were tied and he had a stab wound to his chest.

The PSNI told the Belfast Telegraph last night: "Detectives are making inquiries into Mr Girvan's friends, associates and lifestyle to build up a picture of his activities in the days leading up to his murder."

Three people - a 29-year-old woman and two men aged 23 and 24 - remained in police custody last night on suspicion of murder.

Officers were yesterday granted an extra 36 hours by a court to question the woman and the 23-year-old man.

According to a police source, detectives are probing a number of theories as to what may have happened to Mr Girvan.

"There is nothing really making sense at the minute," the source added. "We are working to find a convincing theory."

The PSNI indicated on Monday that Mr Girvan's body was discovered by chance as police officers were investigating an unrelated incident.

When officers arrived at his house at around 9.30pm, they found the victim dead in a chair.

A post-mortem examination set to be carried out will establish the time of death.

Mr Girvan is understood to have had a number of CCTV cameras around his property, including on the porch and in an upstairs bedroom.

Detectives will be reviewing any footage that may have been recorded in recent weeks and days for clues.

Officers are also keen to trace the movements of Mr Girvan's silver Hyundai car, which was seen driving dangerously towards Belfast and was later found on Tuesday morning in the Verner Street area of the city.

Mr Girvan, a retired plumber, is believed to have lived in Greenisland for around 40 years and was a collector of antiques.

He was separated with two daughters. The senior investigating officer in the case, Detective Chief Inspector John McVea, said it was a "horrific and shocking" crime and added that Mr Girvan had suffered a "painful and violent death".

He indicated Mr Girvan was seen in a nearby off-licence at about 2.30pm on Sunday. However, his whereabouts and movements, or who he was with, are unknown beyond this point.

Mr McVea appealed for anyone who saw Mr Girvan in the last few days to contact police.

East Antrim Alliance Party MLA Stewart Dickson said that he had known Mr Girvan most of his life, having gone to primary school and to Boy's Brigade with him. "(He) was always a very helpful, friendly person, someone who would have gone the extra mile to help people, doing odd jobs and was always willing when somebody needed something done in their home, a repair job or something like that," said Mr Dickson.
The scene of a car crash where two teenage students have died on the road between Markethill and Newtownhamilton in County Armagh. The incident happened on the Cladymilltown Road on Thursday morning. Photo Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker

The scene of a car crash where two teenage students have died on the road between Markethill and Newtownhamilton in County Armagh. The incident happened on the Cladymilltown Road on Thursday morning. Photo Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker

The scene of a car crash where two teenage students have died on the road between Markethill and Newtownhamilton in County Armagh. The incident happened on the Cladymilltown Road on Thursday morning. Photo Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker

PSNI Officers at the scene of a fatal one-vehicle crash which killed two teenage students on the Cladymilltown Road between Markethill and Newtownhamilton in County Armagh. Picture by Presseye

PSNI Officers at the scene of a fatal one-vehicle crash which killed two teenage students on the Cladymilltown Road between Markethill and Newtownhamilton in County Armagh. Picture by Presseye

PSNI Officers at the scene of a fatal one-vehicle crash which killed two teenage students on the Cladymilltown Road between Markethill and Newtownhamilton in County Armagh. Picture by Presseye

PSNI Officers at the scene of a fatal one-vehicle crash which killed two teenage students on the Cladymilltown Road between Markethill and Newtownhamilton in County Armagh. Picture by Presseye

The scene of a car crash where two teenage students have died on the road between Markethill and Newtownhamilton in County Armagh. The incident happened on the Cladymilltown Road on Thursday morning. Photo Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker

PSNI Officers at the scene of the fatal crash in County Armagh. Photo: Presseye

Two teenage engineering students aged 17 have been killed in a car crash in Co Armagh.

The tragic accident happened on the Cladymilltown Road, between Markethill and Newtownhamilton, on Thursday morning, where dense fog has made visibility extremely poor.

The 17-year-olds, named locally as Mark Hutcheson from Markethill and Andrew Gass from Tullyallen near Markethill, were the driver and front-seat passenger in a Vauxhall Astra.

A third boy is injured in hospital.

The students went to Southern Regional College together, studying engineering at the Armagh campus.

They were driving to the Portadown campus today for a competition when their car left the road and hit a tree.

College Chief Executive Brian Doran said staff and students were deeply shocked and saddened at the tragic deaths of "two young students who were great characters and shared a close bond" throughout school and college.

Describing the news as "devastating", he said his deepest sympathies and condolences are with the families and with the third student, "who survived the accident".

DUP MLA William Irwin told the Belfast Telegraph after visiting the scene: "Two of the lads lost their lives and one is injured.

"His condition is not known but he was able to get out of the car himself despite the extent of the damage, so hopefully the news may not be too serious for him.

"It's an absolute tragedy and a horrific loss for the families of both young men."

He described the families as "well-known" in the area.

The road was closed for much of the day.

Mr Irwin said: "Speaking to police, it seems that no other vehicle was involved and the car has left the road and hit a tree.

"With what has been described as the miraculous escape of the drivers involved in the lorry crash in Markethill last week, here only some days later, we are dealing with two fatalities and that is so hard to take in.

"Having lost a child of my own in an swimming accident some years back, I know just how painful and totally devastating this will be for the families involved and words really cannot describe the anguish this awful ordeal brings.

"My sincerest thoughts and prayers are with the families of the two young men and I would of course urge every driver to be aware, alert and take extra care on our roads."
Theresa Villiers has refused to be drawn on whether an EU exit would be good for Northern Ireland amid concerns over a split within her team at the Northern Ireland Office.

The Northern Ireland Secretary is reported to be considering campaigning against the UK's continued membership of the European Union during the forthcoming referendum.

In contrast, Northern Ireland minister Ben Wallace told MPs he believed a reformed EU was "where the UK wants to be".

Labour urged Mr Wallace to reassure the Stormont Executive and Northern Irish public about the region's future within the EU given the "mixed messages" from him and his ministerial boss.

Meanwhile, DUP MP Sammy Wilson tried to push Ms Villiers to back a British exit - referred to as Brexit - as he noted the positives of leaving.

The MP for East Antrim asked Ms Villiers: "While the devolution of corporation tax will be important in growing the Northern Ireland economy, would you also agree a vote to leave the EU would help the Northern Ireland economy insofar as it would release 18bn every year for expenditure on public services, would enable us to enter trade agreements with growing parts of the world, and would release us from the stifling bureaucracy of Europe?"

Ms Villiers replied: "Well, I'm afraid you're tempting me to engage in arguments which are rightly a matter for everyone in this country when they get to vote on that referendum.

"We promised a referendum in our manifesto - that's what we're going to deliver."

Margaret Ritchie MP earlier asked Mr Wallace: "Would you encourage your colleague (Ms Villiers) to argue for a yes vote in the EU referendum?"

Mr Wallace replied: "I think there's a temptation in front of me. I think what I'd say is, certainly up to date, membership of the European Union has been good for Northern Ireland. I hope and support the Prime Minister's efforts in achieving reform.

"A reformed EU is where the United Kingdom wants to be - an EU that works to the benefit of everyone in the United Kingdom - and I think if we can achieve that then we can take advantage of being neighbours of Ireland - one of the biggest economic partners of Northern Ireland - to make sure the economy can go from strength to strength."

Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Vernon Coaker also warned there was "very real concern" in the region about the impact of leaving the EU on trade and investment.

He told the Northern Ireland minister: "You will know there's very serious concern in Northern Ireland about a possible Brexit, in particular because of the fact that it's the only part of the UK with a land border with another EU country.

"Can I also (press you) to reassure the Executive and the people of Northern Ireland about this in view of the mixed messages on Brexit emanating from the ministerial team - in particular your views as opposed to the secretary of state."

Mr Wallace replied: "There is no mixed message. Both myself and (Ms Villiers) are keen for the EU to produce some reforms, as is the Prime Minister's strategy. And when those reforms - and maybe you know what the EU is agreeing, maybe you have a special hotline - are presented to this House, then we'll be able to make a decision.

"For my part, I believe in the past that membership of the EU has been good for Northern Ireland."
A 30-year-old woman has been remanded in custody in Northern Ireland accused of human trafficking.

Ancuta Schwarz, whose address was given as Karowan, Strasa, Berlin, appeared before a judge at Belfast Magistrates' Court.

She is charged with a number of offences including human trafficking for sexual exploitation and aiding and abetting the control of prostitution.

She was detained under a European Arrest Warrant and was extradited from Sweden following a three-year police investigation.

Defence barrister Michael Boyd said: "We do feel that there may be an element of double jeopardy. This lady has served nearly three years in Sweden."

The offences are alleged to have occurred between 2011 and 2013.

Requesting a four-week adjournment, the lawyer said "close comparison" of the facts of cases in Northern Ireland and Sweden would have to be made.

Mr Boyd added: "There is no application for bail at this stage. There is no address available in this jurisdiction."

A Police Service of Northern Ireland detective constable told the court that a male co-accused was expected to be extradited from Sweden next week.

The officer, who cannot be named for security reasons, said: "There is a second defendant in this case. It is a joint case."

Schwarz, who was dressed in a knee-length grey coat with leopard print collar and shoulders, sat impassively in the dock flanked by male and female prison guards for the duration of the brief hearing.

She occasionally ruffled her hands through long dark hair which had been pulled back into a loose ponytail, and glanced around the courtroom.

Granting a four-week adjournment District Judge Greg McCourt said: "You are remanded into custody until February 18."
SDLP leader Colum Eastwood has said a Brexit represents the biggest immediate threat to the economy of Northern Ireland and to the island as a whole.

Speaking ahead of delivering a keynote address in Brussels on Thursday night at an event organised by the Party of European Socialists Mr Eastwood said any result in Northern Ireland should be respected separately from the rest of the UK result and that a Brexit would fundamentally undermine successive Anglo-Irish Agreements.

He also urged the Taoiseach Enda Kenny to stand by those Agreements when meeting the British Prime Minister David Cameron next week.

Mr Eastwood said: "It appears more and more likely that we will be faced with a Brexit referendum this year, possibly as early as the summer.

"Tonight in Brussels Ill be outlining the devastating impact that a Brexit would have on Northern Ireland. A Brexit is a threat to farming families, a threat to our business community and a threat to our exports. In the case of Northern Ireland it is also a threat to the multiple arrangements and Agreements between the islands of Ireland and Britain.

"There is a huge amount at stake. I will be meeting with the Taoiseach in Dublin on Saturday. I will urge him to represent the interests of the entire island, not just the 26 counties, when speaking with the British Prime Minister in Downing Street next week.

"A Brexit would undermine and destabilise the fabric of successive Anglo-Irish Agreements. It would undermine and destabilise our North-South institutions. It would resurrect borders and resurrect barriers for business.

"As co-guarantor of those Anglo-Irish Agreements, the Taoiseach has a role and a duty to represent the interests of the North on this issue.

The selfish and sectional interests of some in the Tory party cannot be the only voice steering this decision and debate.

The SDLP has a clear view on what should happen. We will be fighting for the referendum vote in the North to be respected separately.

The vote of Northern Ireland citizens should be respected separately. After all, we have most to lose.

Villiers dodges Brexit question

Meanwhile the Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers has refused to be drawn on whether an EU exit would be good for Northern Ireland amid concerns over a split within her team at the Northern Ireland Office.

Ms Villiers is reported to be considering campaigning against the UK's continued membership of the European Union during the forthcoming referendum.

In contrast, Northern Ireland minister Ben Wallace told MPs he believed a reformed EU was "where the UK wants to be".

Labour urged Mr Wallace to reassure the Stormont Executive and Northern Irish public about the region's future within the EU given the "mixed messages" from him and his ministerial boss.

DUP MP Sammy Wilson tried to push Ms Villiers to back a British exit - referred to as Brexit - as he noted the positives of leaving.

The MP for East Antrim asked Ms Villiers: "While the devolution of corporation tax will be important in growing the Northern Ireland economy, would you also agree a vote to leave the EU would help the Northern Ireland economy insofar as it would release 18bn every year for expenditure on public services, would enable us to enter trade agreements with growing parts of the world, and would release us from the stifling bureaucracy of Europe?"

Ms Villiers replied: "Well, I'm afraid you're tempting me to engage in arguments which are rightly a matter for everyone in this country when they get to vote on that referendum.

"We promised a referendum in our manifesto - that's what we're going to deliver."

Margaret Ritchie MP earlier asked Mr Wallace: "Would you encourage your colleague (Ms Villiers) to argue for a yes vote in the EU referendum?"

Mr Wallace replied: "I think there's a temptation in front of me. I think what I'd say is, certainly up to date, membership of the European Union has been good for Northern Ireland. I hope and support the Prime Minister's efforts in achieving reform.

"A reformed EU is where the United Kingdom wants to be - an EU that works to the benefit of everyone in the United Kingdom - and I think if we can achieve that then we can take advantage of being neighbours of Ireland - one of the biggest economic partners of Northern Ireland - to make sure the economy can go from strength to strength."

Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Vernon Coaker also warned there was "very real concern" in the region about the impact of leaving the EU on trade and investment.

He told the Northern Ireland minister: "You will know there's very serious concern in Northern Ireland about a possible Brexit, in particular because of the fact that it's the only part of the UK with a land border with another EU country.

"Can I also (press you) to reassure the Executive and the people of Northern Ireland about this in view of the mixed messages on Brexit emanating from the ministerial team - in particular your views as opposed to the secretary of state."

Mr Wallace replied: "There is no mixed message. Both myself and (Ms Villiers) are keen for the EU to produce some reforms, as is the Prime Minister's strategy. And when those reforms - and maybe you know what the EU is agreeing, maybe you have a special hotline - are presented to this House, then we'll be able to make a decision.

"For my part, I believe in the past that membership of the EU has been good for Northern Ireland."

Cameron confident UK will stay in reformed EU

David Cameron insisted he is "confident" the UK will remain in a reformed European Union if he gets the deal he is seeking for a new relationship with Brussels.

The Prime Minister said he is in "no hurry" to secure a deal on a package of reforms to Britain's EU membership at the upcoming Brussels summit in February but if an agreement is reached he will "sell it very hard" to the public ahead of the promised referendum.

A deal at the European Council of February 18-19 is widely seen as essential if Mr Cameron is to stage his in/out referendum before the summer.

Mr Cameron told ITV News: "A deal could be done in February, there is progress in each of the four areas I have identified and with goodwill I think we could get that deal.

"What I am saying very clearly is if there is a deal on the table, there will be no funny business from me, I will pick it up, I will take it to the British people and I will sell it very hard because it will be right for Britain.

"But if it isn't ready in February, if it isn't what I want, if it isn't what I want, if it isn't what is right for Britain, then we will need to take more time. Getting this right is more important than getting on with it."

In an interview with French broadcaster TF1 he denied his reform demands were an attempt to "blackmail" fellow EU leaders into agreeing to reforms instead of risking a British exit.

"No, I don't believe it is. I mean, we have raised the concerns we have over many years, and I set them out very clearly in my manifesto that I put in front of the British people. And I don't think the things we're asking for are unreasonable."

He acknowledged the referendum was a "huge responsibility" but "I think now, asking the British people to stay in a reformed Europe or leave, it's the right time to do that, particularly if we can achieve these changes on competitiveness, on political union, on the euro, on migration".

"If we achieve these things, then I'm confident we'll stay in a reformed Europe," he added.

Asked if he felt "deeply European", the Prime Minister replied: "Of course. Britain is a European country, and I feel very much part of that."

The Prime Minister was interviewed in Davos on the latest stage of his diplomatic offensive to build support for his reform demands before heading to Prague for talks on Friday.

In his speech at the World Economic Forum event he said he was ready to be "patient" in order to get the right result.

Securing a deal next month was "achievable (and) doable", he said. But he added: "We are certainly not there yet."

Britain's demands for change on the four issues of migration, sovereignty, competitiveness and protection for non-euro states were "not outrageous asks", but offered "a huge prize", he said.

Prospects for a swift agreement were played down by French prime minister Manuel Valls, who said the negotiations had "only just begun" and warned that a deal "at any price" would not be acceptable.

Mr Cameron held talks with Mr Valls at the Swiss ski resort, along with Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte and his counterpart from Luxembourg Xavier Bettel.

A Downing Street spokeswoman said: "In all three the PM discussed the UK's renegotiation of its membership of the EU. Everyone agreed the importance of maintaining momentum towards getting a deal done, noting that there was a good understanding of the main issues and that with hard work solutions could be found in all four areas."

Sweden's migration minister Morgan Johansson told Channel 4 News: "I think that the Prime Minister is playing a game with quite high stakes here.

"We will see where it ends up but I hope the UK will still be a part of the European Union."
iPad voting is expected to be used for all votes at some stage in the future

Introducing voting on iPads is "more than enough modernisation" for MPs in the 21st century, ministers have been told.

The Commons' new iPad voting system was used for the first time on Tuesday as Labour sought to overturn the Government's plan to replace student maintenance grants with loans.

Speaker John Bercow ruled the issue applied solely to England, meaning the tablet system to record votes was needed to work out if Labour had secured the double majority required among all MPs and also English MPs.

This system is expected to be used for all votes at some stage in the future.

But Conservative David Nuttall has voiced his concern about further changes to how the Commons works.

Speaking in the Commons, Bury North MP Mr Nuttall asked Deputy Commons Leader Therese Coffey: "Do you not agree that the introduction of iPads into the voting process in the lobbies is more than enough modernisation for this century?

Ms Coffey replied: "I have always thought of you as a very traditional man.

"I'd say (the Lords) has been using that technology for some time.

"It is a useful thing to do and I look forward to the electronic recording of votes being introduced into this place in due course."
The drugs and other similar synthetic substances come in tablet, powder and liquid form

A teenage girl showed "no pain" as she danced naked around a bedroom with shards of glass on the floor in the Cork house where the designer drug 2CB was taken.

She was covered in so much blood, it was "impossible to tell" if she had any wounds to her body.

And she was "so out of it", she failed to recognise that a young man was lying on the floor having suffered a suspected heart attack, a witness revealed.

An 18-year-old man is in a critical condition and three others remain in hospital after taking the drug 2CB. The dangerous ecstasy substitute was consumed at a house party in the Greenmount area of the city.

Gerard Banks, who was first at the scene, explained how he was walking home when he heard "crazy shouting" coming from inside the house.

He said: "When we got into the house, there was blood everywhere.

"We just didn't know what we had stumbled upon.

"Those in the house were not in control of themselves. Some were injured and soaked in blood from head to toe."

Gardai at Anglesea Station in Cork are investigating the matter. They believe students had been socialising in the city before returning to the house late on Monday night.

A man has been arrested in Cork and was being questioned about supplying drugs.

The 29-year-old was being held at Bridewell Garda Station after a number of raids in the city on Tuesday night.

Three other men were also arrested, but were released without charge.

Gardai carried out raids at two addresses and discovered traces of the 2CB drug.

Drugs Minister Aodhdan O Riordain admitted that synthetic drugs such as 2CB are being continually re-packaged and that authorities are playing "catch-up".

Mark O'Regan and Wayne O'Connor, Irish Independent
Enda Kenny took part in a panel discussion on the second day of the forum in Davos, Switzerland

Ireland's emergence from economic meltdown provides a model for other nations, the Taoiseach has told the World Economic Forum.

Enda Kenny also defended his country's tax arrangements with multinational companies, telling the audience past claims that it was a tax haven for big businesses were without foundation.

Mr Kenny took part in a panel discussion titled How to Reboot the Global Economy on the second day of the forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Asked about his country's journey from financial crash to being the EU's fastest growing economy, the Taoiseach said: "We have set a model here of how government can actually deal with a very catastrophic position and yet, in a relatively short time, come through that.

"The important thing is you set down the foundations to continue that prospect for the future, that young people are given a sense of hope, given a sense of inspiration that they can play a part, follow their career ambitions and have a lifestyle."

He added: "As a small country we are a small model demonstration of how far you can move in a short time. The challenge is to put in place the process, the longer term economic strategy to be able to continue that for those that come behind us."

Mr Kenny took part in the event alongside Nobel economist Joseph Stiglitz, Brazil's finance minister Nelson Henrique Barbosa-Filho, and Zhang Xin, the chief executive of SOHO China Limited.

In terms of attracting foreign direct investment, Mr Kenny said Ireland's relatively low 12.5% corporation tax rate was not as important as the country's talent pool.

When the discussion turned to tax avoidance practices used by some multinational companies, Mr Kenny noted past allegations made in the US that Ireland had been a tax haven.

He described the claims as "completely false, baseless and untrue".

The Taoiseach insisted there had been "no special deals" with any companies.

"From our point of view we defend 100% the authenticity of the way we do business with international companies," he said.

Professor Stiglitz is a critic of austerity policies implemented by some eurozone countries.

At one point he was asked from the audience if his theory was undermined by the growth levels Ireland was now recording.

"I wouldn't call it a victory yet, you've turned the corner, which is great, and I have got to commend you for that," he replied. "Among the countries that had austerity, you did the best."

In response, Mr Kenny said: "We are not declaring any victory here, we're reporting progress and we are reporting the management of that progress for the future, in the people's interests."

Fianna Fail TD Billy Kelleher criticised Mr Kenny comments at the forum.

He said his contribution ignored "strong criticism" of his policies.

"By focusing on praising himself he ignores the much stronger argument that our recovery and ability to weather the crisis is based on the skills and enterprise of the Irish people built up over decades," he said.
Members of the Garda sub aqua unit at the scene near the village of Ardclough, Co Kildare, where a body was found inside a container dumped in the Grand Canal yesterday. Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Members of the Garda at the scene near the village of Ardclough, Co Kildare, where a body was found inside a container dumped in the Grand Canal yesterday. Brian Lawless/PA Wire

The Garda sub aqua unit at the scene near the village of Ardclough, Co Kildare

A coffin is taken from the scene near the village of Ardclough, Co Kildare, where a body was found inside a container dumped in the Grand Canal yesterday. Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Members of the Garda at the scene near the village of Ardclough, Co Kildare, where a body was found inside a container dumped in the Grand Canal yesterday. Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Kenneth O'Brien's body was found in the Grand Canal at Ardclough in north Kildare

Gardai have widened their search close to where the Kenneth OBrien's torso was found on Saturday but a murder location has still not been found.

A number of sheds and farmyards in Ardclough close to where the remains of the 33-year-old Dubliner were found are also being examined on Thursday.

A complex spiderweb of relationships involving the father and his personal life is being examined.

Threatening text messages and the phone records of the murder victim are at the centre of the garda investigation into his death.

Officers are working on the theory that the brutal murder may have been carried out by a man known to him whom he possibly met by arrangement, rather than gangland activity.

Gardai believe that the victims body was dismembered with either a chainsaw or a saw but a cause of his death has not yet been established.

Mr OBrien, originally from Ballyfermot in west Dublin, was last seen alive when he left his Clondalkin home on Friday morning.

Forensic gardai spent all day yesterday at the property at Lealand Road and they removed a number of items from the house.

Other officers spent the day taking statements from people who knew the tragic father-of-one.

Sources said that officers were desperately trying to build a full picture of Mr OBriens personality and relationships in an attempt to discover how he met such a grim fate.

This involves taking statements off everyone who knew him and attempting to make contact with anyone who had been speaking with him in recent weeks.

Everyone who knew Mr OBrien will have to be looked at closely, that is the nature of this, they said.

Gardai are not following a definite line of enquiry at this stage, but it is being investigated whether he may have been killed by someone because of events in his personal life, the source added.

The exact nature of the recent threats made to Mr O Brien were not disclosed but it is understood that he did not know his life was under threat.

However the property he lived at had CCTV cameras on it but it is not known when they were paced there.

Mr OBrien was not known to officers for involvement in serious offences and his only convictions were for relatively minor driving offences a number of years ago.

Sources said that gardai were unaware of underworld reports that suggested he may have been targeted by a notorious Clondalkin-based gang over an historical debt.

The mutilated remains of the dad-of-one, who had only moved back to Dublin from Australia in December were taken from the canal at Ardclough, Co Kildare, on Saturday.

It is understood that he only decided at Christmas to permanently move back to Ireland.

Mr OBrien was identified at 3.30pm on Tuesday after a DNA sample taken from the torso matched a sample provided by a member of his family.

The mechanic and JCB driver was the father of a little boy. He vanished on Friday after telling his family he was heading down the country to do some work.

They reported him missing on Saturday evening, but by then his torso had been discovered by two walkers who saw a suitcase in the canal.

The murder investigation is being carried out by officers at Leixlip Garda Station, who continue to appeal for information.

It is expected that it will be a lengthy investigation which will involve the detailed analysis of mobile phone traffic in an attempt to establish who the victim had been communicating with.

Irish Independent
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
More than a quarter of a million children are not getting a decent education, including pupils at three of the Government's flagship free schools.

New figures show that hundreds of state secondaries fell below the Government's floor targets after failing to ensure that enough pupils gained five good GCSE grades and made sufficient progress in English and maths.

An analysis of the data, carried out by the Press Association, also reveals that a child's chances of attending a decent school depend heavily on where they live, with 10 or more under-performing secondaries in some areas, and none in others.

Schools minister Nick Gibb said the results, based on last summer's GCSE grades, show how far the nation has come in raising standards, but added that the Government will tackle the "pockets of persistent under-performance".

Overall, 329 schools did not meet the minimum benchmarks. There are around 3,300 state secondaries in England.

Of those that did not make the benchmark, 312 failed to ensure that at least 40% of their pupils gained at least five C grades at GCSE, including English and maths, and that students make good enough progress in these two core subjects.

The other 17 schools were among 327 schools that opted in to a new "Progress 8" performance measure - which looks at the progress of pupils across eight subjects - and fell below a certain threshold for this target. From next year, all schools will be measured against "Progress 8".

Schools that are considered under-performing face intervention, such as being turned into an academy or given a new sponsor to try to raise standards.

The Department for Education (DfE) does not publish a list of schools falling below its floor targets but according to the Press Association's analysis, using the DfE's methodology for calculating under-performing schools, three of those falling below the benchmark were free schools - a key element of Conservative education reforms.

These are: Robert Owen Academy in Hereford, Saxmundham Free School in Suffolk and St Michael's Catholic Secondary School in Camborne, Cornwall, which was the only state secondary to fall below the floor standard in the county.

A total of 188 under-performing schools are academies, the analysis shows, while 50 are council-run, 45 are foundation schools, 14 are voluntary-aided and the others include university technical colleges, studio schools and further education colleges catering to 14 to 16-year-olds.

A DfE spokesman said free schools are a key part of the Government's drive for educational excellence.

"The number of free schools with exam results is still too small to allow robust conclusions to be drawn," he insisted.

"But under-performance at any school is unacceptable, and one of the strengths of the free schools programme is that when we spot failure we can act quickly."

In total, 250,955 youngsters are being taught in under-performing state secondaries - around 7.3% of the secondary school population, the data reveals. This is down from last year, when the figure was 274,351.

The Press Association's analysis also shows that five areas have at least 10 under-performing schools. These are Kent (20 schools), Birmingham (11), Lancashire (11), Lincolnshire (10) and Northamptonshire (10).

There were 41 areas with no failing schools.

Blackpool had the highest proportion of pupils at an under-performing school, with 48.6% of youngsters not getting a decent education. This was followed by Knowsley, at 47.7%, and Nottingham where 35.7%.

The top school for GCSE results this year was The Blue Coat School, an academy in Liverpool, where all 124 students gained at least five C grades, including English and maths, and the average points score per pupil was 696.1.

The figures also show a rise in the numbers of youngsters taking the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) subjects of English, maths, science, a language and either history or geography, the DfE said, with nearly 88,000 more teenagers taking these academic subjects compared with 2010.

Of those schools which entered all their pupils for the EBacc one reported a 100% pass rate: the Henrietta Barnett School, an academy in Hampstead, north London, according to the analysis of the figures.

Mr Gibb said: "The results show how far we have come in raising standards, but they also highlight where some pupils are still at risk of falling behind.

"We refuse to accept second best for any young person and we must now focus on extending opportunity for all. This Government is giving all young people, irrespective of their background, a fair shot in life and we must not let up the pace of reform now.

"Through our focus on delivering educational excellence everywhere and the dedication of our schools, we will tackle those pockets of persistent under-performance so every child fulfils their potential."

Russell Hobby, general secretary of the National Union of Head Teachers, said: "T here has been so much change that the national statistics generated by the Government are increasingly dubious. Comparing one year with another, or one group of schools with another, is precarious at best when the very basis of measurement is different each time.

"The Government must be careful what conclusions it draws. We desperately need stable measures of a stable examination system."

Shadow education secretary Lucy Powell said: "While I celebrate those schools that are performing well and I applaud teachers and others working tirelessly to get the grades, it is deeply concerning that a quarter of a million pupils are in failing secondary schools, and alarmingly the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers has grown for the third year in a row.

"The attainment gap is now bigger than when David Cameron took office in 2010."
An inquiry may be launched into how KPMG audited the books of lender HBOS in the run-up to its near collapse in 2008

The UK's accounting watchdog could launch an inquiry into how KPMG audited the books of lender HBOS in the run-up to its near collapse in the 2008 financial crisis.

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) said it will look into whether KPMG properly considered whether HBOS was a going concern in its 2007 accounts.

It will also look at whether the accountancy firm considered "material uncertainties" about the bank's business that needed to be disclosed in other financial statements.

The FRC said it has asked its executive counsel to undertake preliminary enquiries, which comes before any decision to formally investigate the matter.

The decision by the FRC comes after a long-awaited review of the HBOS saga by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) was published in November.

That review put the blame firmly on the bank's executives, saying they were ''ultimately responsible'' for the demise of HBOS, which had to be rescued by Lloyds and bailed out with 20.5 billion of taxpayer cash in 2008.

Treasury Select Committee chairman Andrew Tyrie said the decision by the accounting watchdog was welcome, but overdue.

Mr Tyrie said: "This is not before time. A great deal depends on the quality of audited accounts. They were found wanting during the financial crisis.

"It is essential that everybody fully understands why. That is why this investigation is so important. The committee will be keeping a close eye on it."

Simon Walker, director general of directors' lobby group the IoD, said the failure of HBOS "was one of the bleakest events in Britain's corporate history".

He added: "Shareholders and customers deserve to know what role the firm's auditors, KPMG, played in this scandal. The announcement of this long-overdue inquiry, therefore, is better late than never.

"It is absolutely right, therefore, that the FRC will look hard at HBOS's financial statements and at the appropriateness of the 'going concern' statement offered by the bank in 2007."

KPMG said: "We were pleased that the PRA and FCA's report issued last November recognised that KPMG provided a robust challenge and delivered clear warnings to HBOS and that this resulted in a more prudent approach to provisioning than would otherwise have been adopted.

"We will continue to co-operate with the FRC as it makes its preliminary enquiries. In the interests of everyone, it is now important that final conclusions are reached in a timely fashion."

After the November FCA and PRA report into HBOS up to 10 senior managers at HBOS in the run-up to its collapse could be banned from working in the City after the much-delayed publication of two damning reports into the bank's demise.

City watchdogs will look at taking potential further action against former HBOS senior management - including ex-chief executives Andy Hornby and James Crosby, as well as past chairman Lord Stevenson.

Only one former HBOS executive, Peter Cummings, has so far been formally investigated and fined.

HBOS, which was formed from the merger of Halifax and Bank of Scotland in 2001, was found to have expanded too rapidly and lent recklessly before the credit crunch and financial crisis struck.
The last photo taken of poisoned spy Alexander Litvinenko alive (Litvinenko Inquiry/PA)

Britain is embroiled in a furious diplomatic row with Russia after an inquiry concluded that President Vladimir Putin probably authorised the assassination of Alexander Litvinenko.

The Kremlin complained of a "gross provocation" after the official probe found the Russian leader was likely to have signed off the fatal poisoning of the dissident spy with radioactive polonium in London in 2006.

It prompted fresh acrimony over an episode that sent relations between the two countries into the deep freeze for more than five years.

The Government summoned the Russian ambassador and announced that the two men who allegedly carried out the killing - Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun - would have their assets frozen.

But the Litvinenko family's barrister warned it would be "craven" if the Prime Minister avoided substantial reprisals due to diplomatic considerations over crises in Syria and Ukraine.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Mr Cameron insisted Britain was "toughening up" its response to Russia.

He added: " Do we at some level have to go on having some sort of relationship with them because we need a solution to the Syria crisis?

"Yes, we do but we do it with clear eyes and a very cold heart."

The publication of the long-awaited report drew a blistering response from Russian ambassador Alexander Yakovenko.

Branding the inquiry a "whitewash" minutes after a meeting at the Foreign Office, he said: "This gross provocation of the British authorities cannot help hurting our bilateral relations."

Mr Litvinenko died aged 43 three weeks after he drank tea laced with polonium 210 at the Millennium Hotel in Mayfair, central London.

The revelation that the father-of-three had been poisoned with a radioactive substance triggered a major security alert.

A 2.2 million inquiry into the former KGB agent's death was finally held last year following a long battle by his widow Marina.

Sir Robert Owen's report detailed the episode over more than 300 pages, finding that Lugovoi and Kovtun were probably acting under the direction of Moscow's FSB intelligence service when they placed polonium 210 in a teapot at the hotel's Pine Bar on November 1 2006.

But it was his final, 18-word conclusion that made headlines around the world.

Referring to then-FSB chief Nikolai Patrushev alongside Mr Putin, the former judge wrote: "The FSB operation to kill Mr Litvinenko was probably approved by Mr Patrushev and also by President Putin."

Sir Robert pointed to Mr Litvinenko's work for British intelligence, criticism of the FSB and Mr Putin, and his association with other dissidents such as Boris Berezovsky as likely motives for the assassination.

There was also "undoubtedly a personal dimension to the antagonism" between Mr Putin and Mr Litvinenko.

Tensions dated back to their only face-to-face meeting in 1998, when Mr Putin was head of the FSB and Mr Litvinenko wanted him to bring in reforms.

The dissident made "repeated highly personal attacks" on the Russian leader after seeking asylum in the UK in 2000, including an allegation of paedophilia in July 2006.

Sir Robert wrote: "I am satisfied that, in general terms, members of the Putin administration, including the president himself and the FSB, had motives for taking action against Litvinenko, including killing him, in late 2006."

Lugovoi and Kovtun are both wanted by UK authorities but Russia has refused to extradite them. The pair are said to have tried to poison Mr Litvinenko at a meeting a fortnight before he ingested the fatal dose.

Lugovoi has been "lionised' in Russia since the killing, receiving an award from Mr Putin.

Scotland Yard's investigation remains open and European arrest warrants remain in place for the two men.
'The aim is not to make life as uncomfortable as possible for the prisoner, it is to retrain them so that they can become useful members of society and fulfil their own potential'

Much of Britain's prison system is a disgrace to a civilised country, a Tory former cabinet minister told the Lords.

Lord Fowler warned that jails were being used as "social dumping grounds" for people with mental illnesses and addiction problems after decades of political neglect and public disinterest.

"So much of our prison system is a disgrace to a civilised country. Prisoners should not be locked up in their cells for most of the night and day.

"About a fifth of prisoners spend 22 hours out of 24 in their cells. We should be retraining and offering education in prison, but in all too many cases we are not doing that.

"We should not be keeping prisoners in cells where you would not keep your dog," Lord Fowler said as he opened a debate on prison reform.

The former health secretary said that with the prison population set to rise from 85,000 now to 90,000 in five years' time, overcrowding needed to be tackled as a priority.

"The aim is not to make life as uncomfortable as possible for the prisoner, it is to retrain them so that they can become useful members of society and fulfil their own potential.

"There is no evidence what so ever that deliberate discomfort is a policy that works. We should give rehabilitation a chance," the Conservative peer said.

Lord Fowler said that sentencing needed to be reviewed and fewer people sent to prison as a result.

"I do not believe that prisons should be a social dumping ground for those with mental health problems, and those with alcohol and drug abuse problems. We must find better ways of dealing with these issues.

"Our policy over the last 50 years has been a notable failure, not good for the prisoners and certainly not good for the public.

"In 1970 we faced a prisons crisis, today we face a prisons scandal," Lord Fowler said.

Former justice of the Supreme Court, Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood, called for action on the "deep, systemic injustice" of prisoners being detained indefinitely.

The crossbench peer called for a radical overhaul of the indefinite detention for the protection of the public of certain prisoners system.

"It is a wholly discredited system, finally abolished in 2012. But there still remains some 4,500 such prisoners, of whom some 3,500 have served longer than their tariff terms, longer that is than the terms judged appropriate punishment for their wrong doing. And, indeed, 392 have served more than five times their tariff terms.

"Of course some of those released would re-offend, but that is the price that we must pay to end this ever growing stain on our justice system," Lord Brown said.

Liberal Democrat QC Lord Carlile of Berriew hit out at some of the "ludicrous" sentencing guidelines.

"I've sat as a recorder in the crown court on numerous occasions and felt I had to send someone to prison because the sentencing guidelines were just too prescriptive and did not contain the subjectivity the case needed," he said.

Former chairman of the Commons justice committee and Lib Dem peer Lord Beith warned that prison had an "extremely limited deterrent value" in relation to quite a few crimes and many criminals.

He said some people committed further offences to get back into prison, in some cases to get access to drug treatment, and in others where "they hadn't got anywhere much to go" in winter or at Christmas.

For the Liberal Democrats, Lord Marks of Henley-on-Thames said the overwhelming evidence was that short prison sentences did not work and far too many prisoners were serving them.

He said short sentences worked less effectively than community sentences in reducing reoffending and warned that prison overcrowding was a "major obstacle" to rehabilitation.
David Cameron has warned Argentina's new president that Britain will not negotiate over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands.

The Prime Minister and Mauricio Macri met at the World Economic Forum where Downing Street said they agreed there was an opportunity "to embark on a new chapter of relations" after several years of diplomatic clashes under the previous regime in Buenos Aires.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has called for a " reasonable accommodation" to be found with Buenos Aires over what it calls Las Malvinas, and suggested islanders should not have any veto over new arrangements.

Argentina's ambassador to London has hailed Mr Corbyn - who opposed the British military response to Argentina's invasion of the islands in 1982 - as "one of ours" and said he could push public opinion towards a resolution.

But Mr Cameron told MPs a change of status would "never happen as long as I am in Downing Street" unless it was backed by the local population, who in a 2013 referendum voted almost unanimously to remain British.

A Number 10 spokeswoman said Mr Cameron used the encounter in Davos to discuss potential UK help reforming the Argentine economy and ways to "significantly expand" the 1.14 billion of trade between the countries.

"They agreed that the economic reforms could lead to greater trade opportunities for UK businesses involved in infrastructure, oil and gas, mining and agritech," she said.

"On the Falklands, the Prime Minister was clear that our position remained the same and that the recent referendum was absolutely clear on the islanders' wish to remain British."

Mr Macri took power in December with a pledge to develop friendlier relations after the repeated diplomatic clashes that were a feature of the eight-year rule of Cristina Kirchner.

Asked whether Mr Corbyn's comments had any effect on the discussions, Mr Cameron's official spokeswoman said: "What matters is the Prime Minister's views about the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands hasn't changed.

"It's for the Falkland islanders to decide and that was one of the points that he made to President Macri in their discussions today."

The meeting was the first formal encounter between a British prime minister and an Argentinian president for 15 years and could pave the way for dealing with " some of the issues around fisheries and the environment in the South Atlantic, which is not a sovereignty issue but which matters to the Falkland islanders".
Nearly four out of five cars were exported last year

Car manufacturing has reached a 10-year high, with more vehicles exported than ever before, a new report has revealed.

Almost 1.6 million cars were built in the UK in 2015, an increase of 3.9% over the previous year, reported the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

Nearly four out of five cars were exported, up by 2.7% on 2014, despite a huge fall in sales to China and Russia.

Exports to Russia slumped by 69% and by 37% to China, where the economy has been slowing.

But this was offset by economic recovery in Europe, where demand for UK-built cars increased by 11% in 2015.

The region now accounts for 57.5% of all UK car exports. SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said membership of the European Union was "vital" for the automotive sector.

Production of the MINI increased by 12.4% last year to 201,000, Toyota by 10.4% (190,000), Vauxhall by 9.5% 85,000) and Jaguar Land Rover by 9% (489,000), while Nissan recorded a 4.7% reduction (476,000) and Honda was down by 2% (119,000), said the SMMT.

The United States overtook China as the biggest export destination, with demand up by a quarter last year, while health growth was also reported in Australia (53%), South Korea (55%), Turkey (41%) and Japan (35%).

Mr Hawes said: "Despite export challenges in some key markets such as Russia and China, foreign demand for British-built cars has been strong, reaching record export levels in the past year.

"Achieving these hard fought for results is down to vital investment in the sector, world class engineering and a committed and skilled UK workforce - one of the most productive in the world.

"Continued growth in an intensely competitive global marketplace is far from guaranteed, however, and depends heavily on global economic conditions and political stability.

"Europe is our biggest trading partner and the UK's membership of the European Union is vital for the automotive sector in order to secure future growth and jobs."

Chancellor George Osborne said: "Backing Britain's car industry has been a priority for this government and today we see the industry going from strength to strength.

"I am hugely encouraged that manufacturing is at a 10-year high and exports are at a record level. All this means jobs and the security of a pay packet for workers and their families.

"Our plans to rebalance the economy mean we have to continue to build on our great manufacturing strengths in the Midlands and the North of England, and work together to ensure that Britain continues to prosper as a global leader in car production."
Two Forsyth-area residents were charged Tuesday with obstructing a peace officer after Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks game wardens confiscated a deer that was being held captive on their property.

FWP warden captain Jack Austin said game wardens learned that an adult mule deer doe was being illegally held on private property north of Forsyth. Along with Rosebud County sheriffs deputies, game wardens served a search warrant at the property Tuesday morning, at which time they tranquilized and confiscated the captive deer. The deer was transported to a Miles City veterinarian and euthanized.

During the process of confiscating the deer, Austin said, officers arrested the landowners, Daryl and Brenda Duncan, on misdemeanor charges of obstructing a peace officer. Any charges dealing with holding the deer captive are pending.

FWP wildlife veterinarian Jennifer Ramsey said that, for the benefit of all wild animals, folks cannot be allowed to keep them. It is hard for folks to understand that you cant allow some folks to keep wild animals and not others.

People are more accustomed to thinking about the welfare of the individual animal (like they do with their domestic pets), which is of course important, Ramsey said. But theyre not as used to the perspective of having to consider the welfare of the population, which is what we have to do for wildlife.
Brendan Woodhouse travelled to Greece to help save refugees arriving on the shores of Europe (AP)

A firefighter and former Army medic who volunteered to help save refugees arriving on the shores of Europe has described how he risked his own life to save a baby girl from drowning in the sea.

Brendan Woodhouse, originally from Durham, travelled to Greece after initially working in refugee camps in Calais and Dunkirk.

During the two-week trip with Lighthouse Refugee Relief on Lesbos, he would often man the night shift in a lighthouse overlooking a dangerous part of the shore, and one evening saw a dinghy full of people capsize.

Diving straight into the pitch black sea off Korakas beach, the 39-year-old found a five-month-old girl face down in the water, and balancing her on his chest he began to perform CPR in the sea.

"She was not breathing and I needed to get back to shore," he said.

"I began to swim back to shore, weaving in and out of other people and life jackets and eventually managed to get my feet on to the sea floor.

"I was then able to give five rescue breaths and after the second one she sicked up all the water and within a second she was screaming.

"It was an unbelievable sight, it reminded me of when my children were born, just the sheer relief I felt that she was okay."

Mr Woodhouse, who has been a firefighter for 13 years and works in Nottingham, described the scene of horror that confronted him as the 35 people, half of whom were children, began to scream for help.

Having pulled on his wet suit, helmet and torch, he initially helped pull a family of five to safety before he saw a mother screaming, which directed him to the baby girl.

Despite having also served as a combat medic in Afghanistan, he described the events of December 23 as "the most traumatic moment of my life".

He said: "If people believe like I do that we are all the same and we should help each other when we're in need then we should get involved in this.

"Please join the various refugee help groups on the internet and there's no excuse not to be involved. People can donate at www.lighthouserelief.org."
Tareena Shakil, 26, a British mother who allegedly took her toddler to Syria to join Islamic State

A mother accused of taking her son to Syria to join Islamic State (IS) has told a court she feared going straight to hell if she stayed in England.

Tareena Shakil claimed conversations with a man named Fabio Pocas, whose online profile showed an armed man posing with the black flag of IS, helped to convince her to move to the self-declared caliphate.

The bright 26-year-old former college student said Pocas spoke of the perils of "living in the land of non-believers" before she travelled to Syria in October 2014.

However, she claimed to have been ignorant of the nature of IS, also known as Isis, and only discovered more about the group when she returned home in February 2015.

Shakil denies joining the banned terror group and encouraging acts of terror through Twitter posts.

She told a jury at Birmingham Crown Court: "He (Pocas) said you can't live in a country not ruled by sharia, its haram (forbidden)."

"He said 'look sister, you staying in England, just think, you're hanging over the gates of Jahannam (hell), and if you die the gates will open and that's where you'll be going.

Shakil, of Beechfield Road in Birmingham but formerly of Burton upon Trent Staffordshire, said she blocked Pocas online because she thought he was coming on to her.

However, the jury has read a log of what is said to be Shakil's Samsung phone which showed that having blocked Pocas on Facebook she was entering his name as a search term in YouTube a month later.

Married Shakil, who was giving her account for the first time, said she had been retweeting images of the black flag of IS but had no idea of their direct association with the terror group.

Instead, she said that to her it merely bore the shahada - the Islamic declaration of faith.

In relation to a series of other images and Islamic passages which the Crown claims show she was supporting terrorism, Shakil said she only retweeted things if she liked the look or sound of them.

Asked by Tim Moloney QC, her barrister, if they were meant to encourage acts of terror she replied: "No, not at all."

In one case, she retweeted: "Do I care what you have to say about IS. Noooo."

But she told jurors that this was meant "As in the caliphate, not the mujahideen (the group's fighters)".

In early September, she tweeted Sally Ann Jones, a jihadi widow who travelled to Syria and is alleged to have married fellow British extremist Junaid Hussain, who was killed in a US drone strike last year.

Asked to explain what she meant by her tweet, which read "Wish I was there", Shakil said it was just a reference to living in the self-declared caliphate.

Shakil went on: " I knew where she was, the Islamic State, but at that time I didn't know about the Islamic State."

She added: "I didn't know who this woman was nor had I read any of the disgusting things she said online.

"It was only after, when interviewed by police, that I found out who she was and what she had said.

"I wouldn't have even referred to her as 'sister', if I knew any of the things she had said."

She was also asked about her YouTube search in October of the extremist cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, killed in a US drone strike in Yemen in 2011, she said she just liked his stories about the Islamic tradition.

"As far as him being aligned to Al Qaeda, I don't dispute that," she said.

"But I didn't find that out until much later."

Opening the case against Shakil last week, Sean Larkin QC for the prosecution said Shakil was "radicalised" in 2014, and started posting messages and pictures in support of IS.

He said: " This was no spur of the moment decision. This was planned."

Mr Larkin added: "She travelled to Raqqa to set up her new life as part of Isis."

The trial continues.
The Crown Prosecution Service is reviewing its decision not to pursue criminal charges following the death of toddler Poppi Worthington after a High Court judge ruled the girl's father had sexually assaulted her.

The CPS previously decided there was "insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction" but has confirmed it is now "reviewing the case".

High Court family judge Mr Justice Peter Jackson had already found Cumbria Police conducted no "real" investigation for nine months into the death of the toddler, who collapsed with serious injuries at her home in Barrow-in-Furness in December 2012.

On Tuesday the judge ruled Poppi's father Paul Worthington had sexually assaulted her shortly before her collapse.

A CPS spokeswoman said it had conducted "a thorough review of the evidence in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors" after receiving a file on the case from Cumbria Police.

"This review included consideration of expert evidence which was carefully considered by the prosecutor who took advice from experienced counsel," she added.

"We decided there was insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction and therefore no one was charged with any offences relating to her death."

She added: "Following the findings of the Family Court judge we are now reviewing the case."

The CPS review came as the Independent Police Complaints Commission said o ne of three police officers investigated over the inquiry into Poppi's death could be sacked.

Following the judge's earlier criticism of the handling of the investigation which listed a string of basic errors, Cumbria Police made a self-referral to the IPCC in June 2014.

The force later confirmed that three officers were subject to the IPCC probe with one officer suspended and two others moved into different roles.

The suspended officer, believed to be then detective chief inspector Mike Forrester, has since retired, one was dealt with by management action and the other was "undergoing performance proceedings".

On Thursday, the IPCC - which submitted its report to Cumbria Police in 2015 - said the serving officer with the outstanding disciplinary matters could be dismissed if gross incompetence was proved.

Its statement said the IPCC will consider publication of the report once all relevant proceedings have concluded.

It is likely to be delayed until at least the completion of a second inquest into Poppi's death, which is yet to be arranged.

Poppi's death had been shrouded in secrecy with the March 2014 fact-finding civil court judgment - which contained the criticism of the police investigation - being kept private so as not to prejudice any criminal proceedings.

Meanwhile, an inquest controversially took only seven minutes to declare her death as "unexplained".

Last July, High Court judges ruled a second inquest into Poppi's death should take place after the original hearing in October 2014 called no evidence, as then coroner Ian Smith indicated he had taken account of and adopted the 2014 findings.

The CPS previously said that if any new evidence arose at the second inquest it would "consider this carefully with the police".

In his fact-finding judgment as part of care proceedings involving other children in the family, Mr Justice Jackson noted senior detectives thought a pathologist "may have jumped to conclusions" in her belief the child had been a victim of abuse.

The toddler was buried in February 2013, precluding a further post-mortem examination, after her body was released by the local coroner.

There is now said to be an "absence of evidence'' to find out how Poppi died, or definitively prove if or how she was injured.

Mr Worthington was arrested in August 2013 and questioned on suspicion of sexual assault but was not charged with any offence. He denies any wrongdoing.

Mr Justice Jackson came to his conclusions using the civil standard of proof on the balance of probabilities.

The judge made the same conclusions in his 2014 judgment but last year agreed to a review of the medical evidence following an appeal by Mr Worthington.
Brantano has 40 stores and 60 concessions across the UK

Discount shoe retailer Brantano has gone into administration, putting 2,000 staff at risk just three months after it was bought by an investment firm.

Administrators PwC said the Leicestershire-based business runs 140 stores and 60 concessions across the UK.

PwC lead administrator Tony Barrell said: "The continuing challenging conditions for 'bricks and mortar' retail stores are well documented.

"Like many others, Brantano has been hit hard by the change in consumers' shopping habits and the evolution of the UK retail environment."

Brantano was bought by retail investment firm Alteri Investors in October.

Mr Barrell said: "The administrators are continuing to trade the businesses as normal whilst we assess the trading strategy over the coming days and weeks.

"Staff will be paid their arrears of wages and salaries, and will continue to be paid for their work during the administration."

PwC deals partner Robert Moran was hopeful a new buyer could be found for the business.

Mr Moran said: "We are now assessing interest in the UK Brantano business as a whole or its parts and we welcome approaches from interested parties."

Alteri Investors bought Brantano as well as Jones Bootmaker from the Dutch-based Macintosh Retail Group for an undisclosed sum on October 27.

But since the sale PwC said Brantano has "experienced difficult trading conditions".

PwC added that Jones Bootmaker is not affected by this administration.

Brantano is one of the first sizeable retailers to collapse into difficulty this year after the key make-or-break Christmas trading period.
Scores of firms and pharmaceutical giants jointly declared the need to tackle resistance to antibiotics

More than 80 firms and pharmaceutical giants have issued a joint declaration on the need to tackle antibiotic resistance.

The declaration is being launched at the World Economic Forum in Davos and calls on governments and industry to work together to tackle the rise in so-called superbugs.

Antibiotic resistance is an increasing global threat and occurs when bacteria adapt and find new ways to survive the effects of antibiotics.

Estimates for the EU showed there are 400,000 cases of reported antibiotic-resistant infections each year, with 25,000 deaths.

Drug-resistant infections could kill an extra 10 million people across the world every year by 2050 if they are not tackled, figures also suggest.

The new Declaration on Combating Antimicrobial Resistance - drafted and signed by 83 companies and eight industry associations from 16 countries - sees commercial drug and diagnostic developers agreeing on ways to develop new medicines and vaccines, as well as preserving the effects of existing drugs.

This includes more rapid tests for illness to improve how antibiotics are prescribed, and cutting incentives that reward medics for prescribing antibiotics in large volumes.

It calls on governments to look at the financing arrangements for the research and development of new drugs, as well as antibiotic pricing to reflect the benefits they bring.

Furthermore, it says there is a need to reduce the link between the profitability of an antibiotic and the volume sold.

It also calls for more training for professionals in prescribing antibiotics, and support for initiatives aimed at ensuring affordable access to antibiotics in all parts of the world.

The declaration will be updated every two years.

Lord Jim O'Neill, chairman of the review on antimicrobial resistance, which will report to Prime Minister David Cameron, said: "This declaration from industry is a major step forward in establishing a properly global response to the challenges of drug resistance.

"The pharmaceutical industry, as well as society at large, cannot afford to ignore the threat of antibiotic resistance, so I commend those companies who have signed the declaration for recognising the long-term importance of revitalising research and development in antibiotics, and for their leadership in overcoming the difficult issues of collective action at play here."

Sir Andrew Witty, chief executive of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), one of the signatories, said: " At GSK we have a long heritage and expertise in antibiotics, we've been researching and providing these medicines since the Second World War and we remain committed to continuing in this area.

"I'm proud that in spite of the scientific challenges of antibiotic research, we still have an active pipeline, which includes a potential new and first-in-class treatment entering late stage development."

Paul Stoffels, worldwide chairman for pharmaceuticals at Johnson & Johnson, said: "We are pleased to be part of this important initiative to combat antimicrobial resistance. Antimicrobials are the backbone of modern medicine, and have played a key role in increasing life expectancy globally.

"At Johnson & Johnson, our long-standing commitment to innovation in antimicrobial research and development is evident through our legacy products and our new efforts to support ongoing research."

England's chief medical officer, Dame Sally Davies, said: "A secure supply of new antibiotics for the future is clearly of vital importance, and I look forward to seeing an advancement of discussions between companies and governments on how we build new and sustainable market models that properly incentivise the discovery and development of new antibiotics, whilst ensuring affordable access to these crucial drugs for all those who need them in all parts of the world."
Sir Amyas Morse says interventions of this type "can last for several years" (National Audit Office/PA)

The amount of taxpayers' money being spent on emergency humanitarian assistance trebled between 2010-11 and 2014-15 to more than 1 billion, and the aid budget risks being strained by being drawn into protracted crises, a watchdog warned.

The National Audit Office found that since 2011 the Department for International Development (DfID) responded to more than 30 crises, including the Ebola outbreak and the aid response to the Syrian war, spending 1.29 billion of its 9.52 billion budget on humanitarian assistance in 2014-15.

The spending watchdog raised concerns about the department's ability to decide how to end funding after a crisis.

It " does not have a comprehensive set of criteria which underpin whether, and then when and how, to exit from crises".

"Of the 32 crises that the department has responded to since 2011, it has designed programmes to support continuing involvement in 21," the report said.

"On an individual basis the department's teams have plans for moving from a crisis response on to the next phase of its interventions. But the department does not have a view of how its involvement across all of its crises might impact on the availability of funding for other purposes."

NAO chief Sir Amyas Morse said: "The Department for International Development is choosing to take action in an increasing number of crises in complex and dynamic environments, and is spending over 1 billion a year in doing so.

"Interventions of this type can last for several years and our international experience suggests that it is 'easier to get in than get out'. It follows that this type of crisis action is likely to represent an increasing proportion of DfID's budget, assuming that interventions continue to be initiated at the same rate as they have been."

In its assessment of disaster response spending the report concluded that "securing value for money in this context is inherently challenging for the department".

"It is well positioned to identify and then respond quickly to sudden-onset crises, and has established longer-term interventions for the more stable protracted crises, making it well placed to achieve value for money in those cases.

"However, the department's management of its more fluid and protracted crises has yet to reach a similar level of maturity."

The report said that while the department has "forged good working relationships with other Government departments" the relief effort in Nepal involved spending 3 million on deploying military helicopters which were never allowed to enter the country, with the cost ultimately falling on the DfID budget.

The Government was unable to get the necessary clearances for the three Chinooks to land in Nepal and they were diverted to India where they played no part in the relief effort.

"The total marginal cost to the Ministry of Defence for its support was 3.9 million, of which 3 million was for the military helicopters," the NAO report noted.

"T he department's budget will be decreased by 3.9 million and the Ministry of Defence's increased by the same amount."

DfID completed 123 fraud investigations in 2014-15, with gross losses of 2.3 million uncovered, of which 1.6 million was recovered.

The report said: "The department recognises that the nature of some humanitarian assistance, such as commodities and cash transfers, as well as the reality of working in conflict zones, can increase the risk of fraud."

Some 16 million was spent on contract staff in the 12 months to August 2015 and they had been "invaluable" in supporting the response in Syria, Nepal, Yemen and Sierra Leone, the report said.

But it said c ontractors can be expensive when deployed for long periods, and may lack experience of working within government.

A DfID spokesman said: "The NAO is right to recognise the UK's strong track record in humanitarian response. From the Syria crisis to fighting Ebola, the UK has proved itself to be a world leader.

"As the number of complex and protracted crises continues to rise, our work in some of the most dangerous places is not only saving lives but also benefiting Britain by building greater stability and security overseas."

"As with all DfID spend, we apply the most rigorous checks to ensure our aid reaches those who need it and achieves the very best value for taxpayers' money."
White students and those from a black ethnic background are less likely to go to a leading university than other ethnic groups, research shows

The gap between the proportion of rich and poor teenagers going to a top university is widening, new figures show.

The statistics, published by the Department for Education (DfE), also show that white students and those from a black ethnic background were less likely to go to a leading university than other ethnic groups.

Overall, around 5% of school leavers on free school meals (FSM) - a key measure of poverty - went on to study at a Russell Group university, considered among the best in the country, compared to 12% of their richer peers - a gap of seven percentage points. This is up from a gap of six percentage points in 2010/11.

And around 9% of FSM pupils were studying at one of the top third of universities, compared to 18% of their classmates - a gap of nine percentage points. This is up from a gap of seven percentage points in 2010/11, the data, which is classed as "experimental", shows.

The overall proportion of FSM students who stayed in education after age 18, progressing on to university or vocational training has risen by four percentage points since 2010, according to a DfE analysis, with 66% of youngsters continuing their studies in 2013/14.

Schools Minister Nick Gibb said that this rise is a " vindication of the remorseless focus on helping children from all backgrounds succeed."

According to the Russell Group, of the 14,140 FSM pupils who went to university in 2013/14, 1,820 (12.9%) went to a Russell Group institution.

Sir Peter Lampl, chairman of the Sutton Trust, a social mobility charity, said: "It is very worrying to see the access gap at our most selective universities widen at a time when overall higher education participation has improved for disadvantaged students.

"Today's figures tell us that we need renewed and concerted efforts from government, schools and universities alike to improve participation rates for disadvantaged students at selective universities. We need to see much better co-ordination of access work - and better information for schools - if we are to see significant improvements in the numbers of less advantaged young people going to selective universities."

A breakdown by ethnic background shows that around 11% of white sixth-formers and around 7% of those from a black background went on to a Russell Group in 2013/14, compared to 13% of Asian pupils, 13% of those from a mixed background and 19% of those with other ethic origins.

Around 17% of white pupils and 15% of black students were studying at a top third institution, compared to 22% of Asian teenagers, 20% of those from a mixed background and 28% of those with other ethnic origins.

Research published by Ucas last year suggested that teenagers from ethnic minorities are less likely to get an offer from a top university because they are more likely to apply for the courses and institutions that are the toughest to get in to.

The admissions service looked at offers made by English universities to young English applicants from different ethnic backgrounds and found that a lthough white students were more likely to get an offer from a selective university in general, this is because those with the same predicted A-level grades from Asian, black, mixed or other backgrounds were more likely to apply to the institutions and degree courses that had lower offer rates - effectively the hardest to get in to.

Actual offer rates to students from ethnic minority backgrounds are close to what would be expected, based on their predicted grades and the courses they want to study, Ucas concluded.

A Department for Education spokesman said: "We are determined to extend opportunity and ensure every child reaches potential - and today's results show rising numbers of children from disadvantaged backgrounds are progressing to university or vocational training after leaving sixth-form or college.

"We are providing 22m over two years for 35 collaborative networks around the country to give students single points of contacts for advice on how to access higher education and our best universities. In addition the pupil premium - worth 2.5 billion this year - is helping schools support young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and fulfil their potential."
Opening more roads on federal lands will probably not significantly increase Montana elk hunters success and decrease elk populations where they are over management objectives, based on the findings of a recent report to the Environmental Quality Council.

The report doesnt specifically state such a finding, but here is an accumulation of some of the facts that the report highlights that could lead to such a conclusion.

In 2014, about half of the 25,000 elk taken during the hunting season were killed on public land.

The highest hunter success rates were on private land where access was controlled, either through outfitting, an access fee or allowing only family and friends access.

The majority of public land in the state that cannot be accessed by the public  about 4,870 square miles  are in isolated sections owned by the state and Bureau of Land Management in Eastern Montana. Of these 3.1 million acres, less than one-third are considered elk habitat.

The lowest elk harvest rates are in northwestern Montana, but elk in those hunting districts are also at or below population objectives.

Resolution

These facts are just some of the many provided to the Environmental Quality Council last week in a report and interactive map created by legislative environmental analyst Joe Kolman. The report was written at the behest of last years Legislature following the passage of House Joint Resolution No. 13, sponsored by Rep. Kerry White, R-Bozeman.

In part, HJ-13 seeks a specific emphasis on identifying reduced hunter opportunity in areas where roads have been closed on federal land or where there are large landlocked areas.

Other views

Blaming low elk harvest on the closure of roads on federal lands ignores the real problems, said Mark Lambrecht of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, in testifying before the EQC. He pointed to increasing development in elk habitat, elk herds concentrating on private lands to avoid hunters and the increase in the number of predators on federal lands as three of the biggest issues.

Quentin Kujala, wildlife bureau coordinator for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, said although road access can affect hunter success and elk distribution to some degree, there are many other factors involved, including: available public land forage, the amount of security habitat for elk, nearby private land forage, the amount of hunting pressure during the archery and rifle seasons and hunting regulations and their effect on hunter traffic.

While it is clear some level of access is necessary to get hunters to elk for harvest and retrieval  its just as clear that road access can reach a point where elk are distributed out of the area, effectively removing them from harvest, Kujala said.

Bigger view

The goal is to try and find some balance in that equation, Kujala said, providing access for hunters without pushing elk off public lands.

Attracting elk and other wildlife to stay on public land is no easy task, he said, although his agency is on the front edge of understanding what the drivers are to wildlife distribution by collaborating on and leading new studies.

Some of FWPs own biologists partnered on a 2013 study that said in part that traditional concepts of elk security habitat which consisted of large tracts of heavily timbered and low road density public lands may need to be refined to include private lands that prohibit or restrict hunter access.

Also referred to as wildlife harboring, private lands holding large wildlife populations have grown to be a big challenge for FWP, with no easy answer available since private property rights are often invoked. Targeting federal lands may therefore seem like an easier political target.

Road closures

According to Kolmans report, almost 6,000 miles of forest roads have been decommissioned in the last 10 years, mainly in Western Montana. The Kootenai National Forest has closed almost 4,000 miles of road to public use, but also has another 4,000 miles of roadway still open to the public.

Overall, we have things pretty good in Montana, said Nick Gevock of the Montana Wildlife Federation. Theres broad satisfaction with what the Forest Service is doing.

Eric Johnston, representing the Forest Services Region One headquarters in Missoula, said the agency is a strong advocate for access to public land but has to try to balance the wishes of people who want different experiences  such as hikers versus off-highway vehicle riders. Even elk hunters have different wants, he pointed out.

Whites fight

White has been an outspoken critic of federal road closures to motorized use and formed a pro-motorized user group  Citizens for Balanced Use  in 2004 to fight the Gallatin National Forests travel plan. Hes also introduced and supported legislation to study the return of federal lands to state management, even though hes said such a transfer is too technically complex a task to undertake.

Neither Kolmans report nor officials on hand could answer some of Whites questions about whether road closures have led to wildlife returning to those affected public lands or if predator pressure has kept that from happening.

I know predators have a definite impact in my district, White said. Its huge.

He also noted that a 2013 University of Montana study found that 58 percent of off-highway vehicle owners said the most important issue facing OHV recreation is access to trails. In that year there were more than 77,000 registered off-highway vehicles in Montana.

All in 1 spot

No matter where elk hunters fall on the debate over road access, Kolmans report and map provide a wealth of information. For example, the hunting district with the highest success rate over the last 10 years is HD 455, a small area in the Big Belt Mountains north of Helena which is part of the Devils Kitchen management unit. Two out of every five elk hunters filled their tag in that district. The district has no inaccessible public land.

For deer hunters, in 2013 more than three out of every five hunters shot a mule deer in District 680, which is bordered on the south by the Missouri River and includes portions of Chouteau and Blaine counties. The best success for whitetail hunters was in HD 260, the Bitterroot Valley, where three out of every five hunters filled their tags in 2013 even though almost 90 percent of the land is privately owned.

The map and report can be found online at the EQCs website.
Christine Lagarde refused to say whether she will seek a second term as head of the IMF

Christine Lagarde has refused to say whether she will seek a second term as head of the International Monetary Fund after both Britain and Germany gave her their backing.

Chancellor George Osborne issued a statement saying the Government had nominated her to stay in the post.

The German government quickly followed, with a finance ministry statement saying Ms Lagarde "was a circumspect and successful crisis manager during the difficult period after the financial crisis".

Countries normally nominate their preferred candidate before the individual declares their intention to run.

At a panel in Davos, Switzerland, where the World Economic Forum is being held, Ms Lagarde said she was honoured but did not want to confirm whether she would agree to stand again.

The IMF has typically been run by a European official, while its sister organisation, the World Bank, by an American. Developing countries have increasingly opposed this informal arrangement.

The IMF's recent downgrade of growth forecasts and Ms Lagarde's future are on many minds at this week's World Economic Forum gathering, where she is a prominent presence.

Mr Osborne said: "At a time when the world faces what I've called a dangerous cocktail of risks, I believe Christine has the vision, energy and acumen to help steer the global economy through the years ahead."

The World Economic Forum meeting of business leaders and public figures has been overshadowed by turmoil in global markets and geopolitical security issues.

Speaking about China's economic slowdown, Ms Lagarde said the country needed to refine its communication on reforms it was taking and its market policies.

A Chinese market regulator said the concerns over growth were overstated. He said China has no option but to support growth this year, using its large financial reserves if needed.

"We cannot afford to let the growth rate fall too sharply, because that would ignite a lot of financial problems inside China. So we will have appropriately expansionary fiscal and financial policy this year," said Fang Xinghai, from China's Central Leading Group for Financial and Economic Affairs.
An International Red Cross vehicle leaves La Picota prison in the outskirts of Bogota (AP)

Colombia released a group of jailed rebels, marking another milestone in a peace process that could end Latin America's longest-running armed conflict.

President Juan Manuel Santos said late last year that he would pardon a group of 30 rank-and-file members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia as a unilateral confidence-building gesture.

The pardons were slow to arrive, generating some friction with the rebel group.

On Wednesday night, non-government organisations working with the rebels and a government official confirmed that some of the prisoners had been released. It was not immediately clear how many of the 30 had left government custody.

The fighters had been convicted of non-violent crimes including rebellion, illegal possession of weapons and false use of army uniforms. Several were weeks away from completing their sentences.

Four of the newly-freed men and women are expected to travel to Cuba in the coming days to participate in formal peace talks there.

The rebels have been in talks with the government for three years, working toward a ceasefire that would end a half century of drug-fuelled fighting.
European leaders have pledged to do what they can to make sure David Cameron can support Britain's continued future in the EU in a referendum expected this year.

Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte, whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the 28-nation bloc, said he is "fairly optimistic" a deal with Britain will emerge in February, but that he is "not absolutely sure".

Addressing a panel at the World Economic Forum at the Swiss ski resort of Davos, Mr Rutte voiced his strong support for Britain's continued membership of the EU as the country is outward-looking and trade-oriented.

Mr Cameron is seeking a series of reforms on things such as benefits, powers for national parliaments and movement of people.

The Prime Minister has voiced his hope that a successful renegotiation will lead to the British people backing Britain's future in the EU in the referendum.

French prime minister Manuel Valls said it would be a "tragedy" if Britain left the EU - the so-called Brexit.
People stand in a queue as Greek police check their documents before crossing the border into southern Macedonia (AP)

The European Union needs to come up with a comprehensive package of measures to deal with its migrant crisis, according to Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras.

Mr Tsipras said the measures should include more involvement by Europe-wide bodies in transit countries like his own, and a properly thought-out and paid-for relocation and resettlement plan.

Dismissing suggestions that his country has been reluctant to allow a bigger EU involvement in the eastern Greek islands, Mr Tsipras said that Europe has to cooperate more on the many difficulties it faces, not least the refugee crisis and the economic problems afflicting the euro currency.

Greece has been at the heart of both crises, and last year Mr Tsipras signed the country's third international bailout agreement in a little more than five years.

Mr Tsipras told a panel at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos that "we need more Europe" that is focused on building democracy, solidarity and employment.

Earlier, German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Europe will have to invest billions to deal with the refugee crisis that it has faced over the past year.

Mr Schaeuble indicated his strong support for efforts to deal with problems in the transit countries at the forefront of the crisis, such as Greece and Italy. He did not respond to a question on how many more refugees Germany can take in the current year.

At a panel at the World Economic Forum, Mr Schaeuble said it would be a "disgrace" if Europe became a fortress.

Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte, whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, said Europe has to come up with a comprehensive strategy to deal with the refugee crisis within the next two months.

Mr Rutte said nobody was talking about ending the Schengen Agreement, which allows free movement of people across European borders.
US secretary of state John Kerry at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland (AP)

The opposing sides will not initially meet face-to-face in planned Syria peace talks in Geneva next week, US secretary of state John Kerry has said.

It was a sign that obstacles remain in the latest diplomatic push to end the conflict.

The first UN-brokered meeting in the Swiss city will be "proximity talks" in which representatives of the government and opposition will gather separately, Mr Kerry said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The talks are tentatively planned to take place on Monday, but diplomats say that could slip by up to a few days.

The cautious, step-by-step approach points to the delicate task faced by UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura.

He is eager to make concrete progress towards ending the nearly five-year-old war that has claimed more than 250,000 lives, displaced millions and given an opening to Islamic State to seize land.

The intra-Syrian talks also come against the backdrop of a string of recent battlefield victories by the government that have bolstered President Bashar Assad's hand and plunged the rebels into disarray, raising the prospect that the Geneva talks could become moot as the situation on the ground evolves.

"You are not going to have a situation where people are sitting down at the table staring at each other or shouting at each other," Mr Kerry said. "You're going to have to build some process here."

Such talks have fallen apart before: An attempt in Montreux, Switzerland, in January and February 2014 collapsed when the Syrian delegation refused to discuss Mr Assad and branded the opposition terrorists.
Bullet holes riddle the walls of the home that Mexican marines raided in their search for drug lord Joaquin Guzman (AP)

Investigators are to quiz a politician about her relationship with Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

Police were transporting Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez to Mexico City for questioning, Mexico's attorney general's office said.

It is part of a probe into her alleged use of fraudulent documents to visit Guzman in April in the maximum security prison he escaped from a couple of months later.

The state politician, from Guzman's home of Sinaloa, has not been charged with any crime, but she resigned her position with the opposition National Action Party on Wednesday.

On Monday, El Universal newspaper published an interview with attorney general Arely Gomez in which she said the government believed Ms Sanchez spent New Year's Eve with Guzman in Sinaloa.

Guzman, of the Sinaloa cartel, was captured on January 8 after his second escape from a Mexican maximum security prison.
Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the report "cannot be accepted by us as a verdict"

Russia has sharply criticised the conclusions of a UK inquiry into the 2006 poisoning death of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko.

The report by Sir Robert Owen found there is a "strong probability" that Russia's FSB spy agency directed the killing, and the operation was "probably approved" by Russian president Vladimir Putin.

However, Mr Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday that "such a quasi-investigation such as the one being talked about today undoubtedly is able only to still further poison the atmosphere of our bilateral relations".

He added that the report "cannot be accepted by us as a verdict".

The Russian Embassy in London issued a statement saying they consider Mr Litvinenko's case - and the way the investigation was handled - to be a "blatant provocation" from British authorities.

In Moscow, Russia's Investigative Committee said the Litvinenko investigation ceased being a criminal investigation and had transformed into a full-fledged political event last year.

Mr Litvinenko died in November 2006 after he drank tea laced with polonium-210 at a London hotel.
Extremist groups in the Syrian province of Aleppo received reinforcements from Turkey, Russias Foreign Ministry has said.

The Islamist groups Al-Nusra Front and Ahrar ash-Sham groups got serious reinforcements from Turkey, ahead of the planned peace talks, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. Al-Nusra Front is al-Qaida's Syrian affiliate.

"Unfortunately, in recent days, its especially noticeable that ahead of the planned start of the inter-Syrian negotiations in Geneva the activities of terrorist groups have intensified.

"Obviously, theyre trying to turn the tide in their favor on the battlefield, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in Moscow.

Zakharova said that Russia is also concerned over Turkey's increased incursions into Syria.

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"It cannot be ruled out that fortifications [built by Turkey] along the Syrian-Turkish border may be used by militant groups as strongholds.

"While all parties involved pin their hopes on the start of a meaningful and inclusive dialogue between the Syrian government and the opposition, external forces continue to help militants in Syria, including terrorist groups, providing them with arms and ammunition," she said.

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Zakharova said that Moscow was surprised by recent comments from the United States, that they dont see Russia's efforts in regard to providing humanitarian aid to Syria.

"This is very strange, especially since the State Department allegedly sees everything, including Russian tanks that are being flown in or crawling into the territory of other states, but theres no humanitarian aid in sight," she said.

Zakharova said that Russias Emergencies Ministry has performed 30 flights not only to Syria, but also to Lebanon and Jordan in January, delivering 600 tons of food and essentials to those affected by war.

Russia has also been involved in evacuation of citizens who want to leave dangerous areas," she added.

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The spokeswoman said that the Syrian government has now sent an official appeal to UN secretary-general and chairman of the UN Security Council over the repeated incursions of Turkish troops into Syrian border areas.

Talks aimed at ending the Syrian conflict are set to take place on Monday. The first UN-brokered meeting in the Swiss city will be "proximity talks" in which representatives of the government and opposition will gather separately.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, the Nusra Front group seized two prominent media activists, shutting down their radio station and burning rebel flags in the process.

The opposition radio station, Radio Fresh, said on its social media pages that Raed Fares and Hadi Abdullah were abducted by Nusra in an early morning raid in the town of Kafranbel.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based group that tracks the country's civil war, says Mr Fares, who runs the station, was taken because he had criticised the group.

In January 2014, Islamic State militants sprayed his car with 40 bullets, putting him in hospital for three months, and in December of that year, Nusra detained and beat him for three days.

The nearly five-year-old war has claimed more than 250,000 lives, displaced millions and given an opening to Isis to seize land.
A second case of Ebola has emerged in Sierra Leone after health officials thought the epidemic was over.

A close relative of the first victim has tested positive for the virus that has killed more than 11,000 people, authorities said.

About 150 of the first victim's contacts were being monitored, and the new patient had been under quarantine.

Health ministry spokesman Sidi Yaya Tunis said the new patient was one of the people who prepared the initial victim's body for burial.

The 22-year-old died in mid-January, and relatives were allowed to hold a traditional funeral as authorities at the time did not suspect she had died from Ebola.

Ebola is spread through direct contact with the bodily fluids of victims, and corpses are especially contagious. Traditional funerals in the region where mourners touch the body were a major source of virus transmission during the epidemic in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.

The new cases in Sierra Leone have marked a major setback for the region, as virus transmission had appeared to stop.

Even in announcing the apparent end of the outbreak, though, World Health Organisation officials had warned that additional "flare-ups" of new cases were still possible.

However, Sierra Leone's new cases are particularly concerning to experts because no one identified the first victim as an Ebola patient, and burial precautions were not taken to prevent further infections.

There also had not been any known cases in Sierra Leone for two months, and it is still not known exactly how the 22-year-old contracted the virus.
Gunmen have fought their way into a restaurant near a beach in Mogadishu

A suicide car bomber rammed the gates of a restaurant near a beach in Somalia's capital before gunmen fought their way into the building in an attack that killed at least three people.

The assailants may have taken some hostages inside the Liido Seafood restaurant, which is popular with Mogadishu's elite and government officials, police said.

"The operation (to dislodge the attackers) is ongoing now. The (attackers) are still inside and fighting our troops," a spokesman said from the scene of the attack as gunfire rang out in the background.

He said he had counted at least three bodies outside the restaurant. An unknown number of people are still trapped inside the restaurant, he said.

Witnesses said that gunmen shouted "Allahu akbar," the Arabic phrase for "God is great," and entered the restaurant from the direction of the beach as clients, sitting behind razor wire, watched the seashore.

"They randomly fired at the people sitting near the beach before entering the restaurant," said witness Ahmed Nur, who was strolling along on the shoreline when the attack happened.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the violence, which bore the hallmarks of the Islamic extremist group al-Shabab, which has recently stepped up attacks.

Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for an attack last week on Kenyan peacekeepers in south-western Somalia. The al Qaida-linked group said it had killed about 100 Kenyans, but the Kenyan government has given no death toll.

Despite being pushed out of Somalia's major cities and towns, al-Shabab continues to launch deadly guerrilla attacks across the Horn of Africa country. African Union troops, government officials and foreigners are frequently targeted.
The report said hundreds of people were raped in South Sudan by soldiers from either side

South Sudanese government troops held women as sex slaves while attacking scores of civilians just outside UN bases, according to a UN report.

The report said hundreds of people, including pregnant women and under-18s, were raped in Unity state by soldiers from either side.

Tens of thousands have been killed in the conflict, which started more than two years ago, as government forces battle rebels.

The UN said sexual violence was centred in oil-rich Unity, and government soldiers were responsible for most incidents.

At least 35 women were raped by government soldiers in two months of 2015 outside their base in the Unity capital, Bentiu.

The government denied the reports of rape and other crimes, according to an official response published along with the UN report.
A student has been removed from classes for substituting "Isis" for the "United States of America" during the pledge of allegiance

A Connecticut high school student has been pulled out of classes and reported to police for substituting "Isis" for the "United States of America" during the pledge of allegiance.

Police said the 15-year-old student at Ansonia High School was not charged, but the case was turned over to the Department of Homeland Security.

He said the word Isis, which is a term commonly used for the Islamic State group, during the oath of loyalty to the country that students recite before class in some US schools.

The boy, who was not identified, now attends classes in a board of education annex building.

A lawyer representing the school and board of education said the boy's dismissal was "out of an abundance of caution".

The boy's mother said at a board meeting that removing her son from school was an irrational decision.
Three weeks ago, Liam Clarke, former Political Editor of this newspaper, (and my partner and husband of over 40 years and father of our three children) died.

Just before Christmas two years ago, Liam had been diagnosed with pseudomyxoma peritonei, a rare form of abdominal cancer which originates in the appendix and progresses slowly, but inexorably.

Some people are detected early enough for radical surgery, the Mother of All Surgeries (MOAS), which can extend their lives by a number of years. Liam was not. Chemotherapy had only a 15% chance of curing his cancer, and only a 25% chance of halting its progress. Chemo would have carried with it a host of side effects, among them peripheral neuropathy - tingling, pain, numbness, or weakness in the feet and hands. The risk of neuropathy was greater since he also had Type II diabetes.

Over the last six months, Liams condition had been deteriorating. He knew that he would soon have to make the decision to undergo chemo or palliative surgery, or both. That would have forced his hand into giving up work. For Liam, it was a no-brainer.

He wanted to continue to work as long as possible. When the time came, he often said, he wanted what he called a good death  the right to die with dignity, on his own terms.

As he wrote in the Belfast Telegraph on 11 June 2014 The fear of a slow, lingering death blights life now. And Liam was a man who wasnt afraid of living. Or of telling people how he felt.

He had a wonderful Christmas Day. In the afternoon he couldnt wait to try on Adams Star Wars slanket, a joke gift from Dan, Alice and Peter. Wielding a selfie stick as a light sabre, he posed for Peter to take a photograph, which he immediately insisted was posted on Facebook.

After I had gone to bed, Liam told Adam, Daniel and Alice individually how much he loved them, and how proud he was of us all. He welcomed Peter officially to the family, and spoke of his admiration and respect for my aunts Betty and Jean, and his aunt Martha and his 91-year-old father.

He was absorbed in his work. Mike Gilson, former editor of the Belfast Telegraph who had recruited Liam as Political Editor, told me at his leaving do this time last year, Liam was my Messi. He laughed when I told him Liam didnt have a clue who the brilliant Barcelona forward was.

The day Liam died, Ken Reid, Political Editor of UTV and an old friend and colleague, told a similar story. Last year during what became known as the Shared Future talks, Ken tweeted It is all going terribly well......NOT. Two minutes later, his mobile rang. It was Liam. I saw your tweet. Are the talks breaking down Ken? I had to tell him, Ken explained, I was tweeting about the rugby.

We would like to thank all who came to the house, his former colleagues in the Sunday News, The Sunday Times in both Dublin and London, and his colleagues in the Belfast Telegraph. While he loved his time with The Sunday Times reporting on the big security and political stories, I think he felt uniquely at home during his time with the Belfast Telegraph. He had a deep respect for Gilsons replacement as editor, Gail Walker - though I am sure he debated news values with her as passionately as he did with Mike. He deeply valued the advice and support of his colleagues, Johnny McCambridge, Debs McAleese, Martin Hill, Noel McAdam and everyone else in Independent Newspapers.

As an Irish citizen, born in Our Lady of Lourdes, Drogheda, he would have been deeply touched that President Michael D Higgins asked his aide-de-camp to extend his condolences to us in a private meeting. The Taoiseach, Enda Kenny and the Tanaiste, Joan Burton, were also represented at the service by the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs.

After leaving the Workers Party in the early eighties, Liam maintained the compassion and sense of justice which had characterised his beliefs. While he became more cynical about organised politics, he was often moved to tears by what he described as the essential goodwill of individuals from all political parties in Northern Ireland. He loved to tease me about my membership of the Irish Labour Party and the Labour Party of Northern Ireland. But he would have appreciated the presence of Shadow Secretary of State NI, Vernon Coaker at the service, whose insight and analysis he admired greatly.

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On the morning of the service, a very good friend introduced me to The Physicists Eulogy by Aaron Freeman You want a physicist to speak at your funeral. I have read it again and again since that day.

Liam, an atheist, would have found Freemans words comforting:

And you'll want the physicist to explain to those who loved you that they need not have faith; indeed, they should not have faith. Let them know that they can measure, that scientists have measured precisely the conservation of energy and found it accurate, verifiable and consistent across space and time. You can hope your family will examine the evidence and satisfy themselves that the science is sound and that they'll be comforted to know your energy's still around.

According to the law of the conservation of energy, not a bit of you is gone; you're just less orderly.

He might not have had a physicist at his funeral, but we did have Earl Storey, a great friend and former colleague, who paid tribute to him at Roselawn and who had us crying with laughter when he recalled how Liam loved a bargain. Yet at the same time he was the most generous man I have ever met.

There are so many to thank. Ingen Breen, our Zen priest and teacher, who broke off from a retreat in San Francisco to officiate at the service at Roselawn, and the Zen service at our house.

Aaron Black, who is making a film about Liams attitude to life and death, and who very kindly brought us a bottle of Liams favourite Irish whiskey so that we could drink to his life before he left the house for the last time on the day of the funeral.

All our friends and neighbours. All his colleagues and former colleagues. The moving tributes written by Hugh Jordan, John Burns, Peter Millar and Henry McDonald. The words of Garret OFachtna of Belfast Zen at Roselawn.

Politicians, members of all political parties in Northern Ireland  there were too many there to mention by name.

Thank you all.

In his Belfast Telegraph piece of 11 June 2014, Liam wrote:

The beauty of life in the face of death is a very Zen concept. Every moment should be lived as if it was our last  as it could be. It isn't a delay to be endured while waiting for something better, it is complete in itself.

A few weeks before he died, I read Liam an extract from an interview with the Spanish poet and opponent of Franco in the Spanish Civil War, Federico Garcia Lorca, two months before he was shot dead by the fascists near Granada.

As I have not worried to be born Lorca told the Sol journalist, I do not worry to die.

That, said Liam, would make a great epitaph.

Liam, we will miss you.
If the head of Isis's internal security unit tasked with hunting spies for the infidels was himself a spy for the CIA or MI6, well, then, maybe.

If up to one quarter of Isis militants in a city such as Raqqa happened to be compromised as informers for one of the myriad branches of the Iraqi, Syrian or Kurdish security forces, perhaps there would be a chance.

And if governments in Baghdad, Damascus, London or Washington had secret strategic insight into the political thinking of Isis leaders - especially those willing to turn the movement away from "armed struggle" towards democratic politics - then, possibly, Jeremy Corbyn's call for a back channel to be set up between Isis and the UK would not sound so much like naive rubbish.

Alas, of course, Corbyn's proposal for a secret link between Isis's top commanders and agents from MI5 or MI6 is yet another example of the Labour leader's breathtaking ability to appear more and more ludicrous and disconnected from reality as each week passes.

It also demonstrates his profound misreading of the peace process and the state of the Provisional IRA as it entered the 1990s.

There is no penetration of Isis like the British State had vis-a-vis the IRA, other republican groups or, indeed, loyalists, during the Troubles. Nor is there any compromising faction emerging within Isis's ranks that believes violence has run its course and is now acting as a barrier to its political wing's progress.

For someone who has earned a reputation over the decades as an ideologue, it is striking that Corbyn's call for an Irish peace process solution to a radically different problem in the Middle East exposes a shocking lack of ideological understanding on the Labour leader's behalf.

Given his closeness to Sinn Fein during the conflict he should know that its ideology was (at least in name, but not so often in its deeds on the ground) rooted in secularism. While the IRA and its leaders would often exploit sectarianism and tribal fear, it claimed to be influenced by the secular ideology of the 18th century United Irishmen, a group that was coloured by the anti-clerical French Revolution of 1789.

Of course the founding fathers of 20th century republicanism, whom the modern Republic is lionising in this centenary year, included Patrick Pearse (below left), who sought to exploit Catholic notions of blood sacrifice on Easter Week to obtain mystical, near-theological justification for the 1916 Rising.

Yet those around Pearse inside Dublin's GPO, and outside it too, were a mixed band of idealists fired up by often contradictory ideological visions - from the crude Marxist-syndicalism of James Connolly to those who wanted an Irish monarchy established to replace the English one.

By total contrast, an organisation such as Isis represents a coherent, holistic, all-encompassing, maximalist vision of the world and, indeed, the after-life, that spares no time for complexity or diversity. There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his Prophet.

Moreover, there is only one way in its Islam, and that is the Sunni tradition. All who do not accept its vision of the Muslim faith and fail to convert must either die or serve as slaves - sexual or otherwise in the case of captured women - to the true believers.

Even those who also believe in Allah and Mohammed from other traditions, but especially the Shia branch of Islam, in Isis's eyes are as much enemies of the one true way as Christians, Jews or, worse still, non-believers.

All of this is, quite literally, in a sense a world away from the ideology of Irish republicanism - even that branch of it which was really, as Conor Cruise O'Brien once described it, "good, old-fashioned Catholic nationalism dressed up in trendy gear".

At a superficial level there may be some parallels between that "good, old-fashioned Catholic nationalism" and extreme Islamism. There is the ubiquity of the death cult and the veneration of the armed martyr.

Some more naive observers of Irish republican/nationalist history point to the hunger strikes - from Terence McSweeney to Bobby Sands (left) - and draw a parallel with the suicide bomber and murderers of Hamas, al-Qaida and now Isis. Yet, it is in fact a wholly bogus comparison and one that displays confusion about the nature of tactics.

Over a decade ago I helped co-produce a documentary on the IRA bombing campaign for RTE. During one interview with a former IRA "engineering officer", who was responsible for blitzing Belfast in the 1980s, I asked him if anyone had ever volunteered for a suicide mission to blow themselves up at an Army checkpoint or a police station. He looked at me as if I had lost my sanity and said, quite emphatically, that if anyone had come forward offering to be a suicide bomber he would have stood them down from the organisation and sent them home (or, preferably, to the nearest psychiatrist).

So, what about the hunger strikers? Didn't they sacrifice their own lives for the cause? The IRA bomb strategist's answer was telling: with the hunger strike there was always until the bitter end at least a back door to life, a chance to call off the death fast and save themselves. There is no back door to life for the suicide bomber, especially one who is brainwashed and stupid enough to believe there are 72 virgins waiting for them after blowing themselves to pieces.

Unlike Islamism, Irish republican history is also punctuated by a series of compromises as purist militants come back to reality. So, a majority who followed the idealism of Pearse and Connolly ended up in 1921 siding with pragmatists such as Michael Collins and fighting a civil war to obtain what was essentially Home Rule for the 26 counties. Many of the diehards who violently opposed the 1921 Treaty eventually came to accept the dispensation, abandon armed struggle and formed Fianna Fail.

Some - but not all - of the guerrilla fighters of the 1956-62 border campaign, including Sean Garland, came around to compromise too and created the Official IRA.

Finally, the majority of Provisionals who accused old comrades such as Garland of treachery and "running away from the struggle" ended up in a partitionist Ulster parliament, accepting the 'unionist veto' and becoming merely persuaders for a United Ireland, because they too came to learn (eventually) that violence was not working.

Isis is hardly likely to split any time soon into those who want to keep on fighting and those who think they can bring about a caliphate in the Iraqi national parliament or a new post-Assad, all-party assembly in Damascus. There are no Michael Collins-style stepping stones towards Isis's ultimate goal - only one truth path littered with blood and gore.

Given the ideological and historical chasm between Isis-style medieval visions of Islam and Irish republicanism/nationalism, Jeremy Corbyn's call for a back channel is so absurd and ahistorical as to be meaningless.
The Montana Board of Housing said yes to helping fund one Billings housing project and no to another.

The nearly $3.4 million Red Fox Apartments project in the Heights won tax credits in the amount of the request, while a $4.2 million request to construct a 24-unit affordable housing project to be built by the YWCA Billings for the victims of domestic abuse was turned down.

The YWCA project was to be called Gateway Vista.

In an email, YWCA chief executive officer Merry Lee Olson said that the tax credits were highly competitive, with around 20 applications for $26.9 million in tax credits. Seven projects got the go-ahead to receive low-income housing tax credit allocations.

Olson noted that the board had not awarded any low-income housing tax credit allocations for Billings projects since 2009, so it was a good move for Montana Board of Housing to award some of the funds to this community.

Brenda Beckett, community development manager for the city of Billings, said the Red Fox project will be 15 one-bedroom and 15 two-bedroom units and will include accessible housing. The project had not been funded during previous board considerations, Beckett said.
Bangladeshi women and girls participate in a Dhaka rally marking the countrys 44th Victory Day, Dec. 16, 2015. The nation is planning to add six courts to handle the rising number of cybercrimes that mostly target females.

With just one court in the nation handling internet-related cases and reports of women and girls committing suicide after being victimized by online crimes, Bangladeshi authorities plan to establish six more so-called cyber courts by April 2016.

Girls and women in Bangladesh suffer heavily from cybercrimes with many being victimized by inadvertently having their nude photos or images posted online, officials and information technology experts say.

We have decided to increase the number of cyber courts to try the increasing number of cybercrime cases. Hopefully, the proposed cyber courts will start functioning in the next three months, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told BenarNews.

Cybercriminals who target women by posting sexually explicit videos online can be prosecuted under the countrys Pornographic Regulation Act of 2012 as well as the Information and Communication Technology Act of 2006, Kamal said.

The government, meanwhile, is trying to amend some provisions of the 2006 act as part of a Digital Security Bill of 2016 aimed at boosting cyber security, but human rights activists have raised concerns that this could impinge on free speech.

At present only one tribunal in Dhaka deliberates over such cases, but the caseload  especially cases in which women are victims  has increased exponentially along with an explosion of internet use in Bangladesh.

The number of internet users nationwide has grown to 54 million in 2016 from 1 million in 2008, government figures show.

Around 70 percent of cybercrimes target women, Tanvir Hasan Zoha, an expert who works with the governments information and communication technology division, told BenarNews.

The additional cyber courts that the government is proposing likely will be set up in six cities apart from the capital Dhaka: Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi, Sylhet, Barisal and Rangpur.

In addition to increasing the number, the government must impart training to the law enforcers to frame charges on cybercrimes, Zoha said.

Investigators lack expertise: Lawyer

But such crimes are hard to prove because investigators lack expertise needed to frame charges against cyber criminals who can out smart law enforcers, Prakash Chandra Biswas, an attorney who has taken on several cybercrimes cases, told BenarNews.

Because of this factor many women have been afraid to file charges.

The institution of the new tribunals will encourage the sufferers from outside Dhaka to seek justice, Biswas said.

Nonetheless the new courts represent a good start, he added, noting that more than 100 cases of cybercrimes are on the docket at the Dhaka court.

Women are the main victims of cybercrimes in Bangladesh, according to Abdullah Al Mamun, a researcher for the NGO Manusher Jonno Foundation, which conducts studies on pornography.

At least six girls committed suicides in 2014 [after] the cyber criminals released pornographic videos on the internet, Mamun told BenarNews.

In many cases, the humiliation caused by explicit photos or images of daughters or sisters circulating on the internet has led some families to sell their homesteads and move elsewhere, Mamun said.

In some cases, the women may have consented to being filmed in intimate moments with their boyfriends or husbands, but a jilted lover might post explicit footage online after their relationship had soured, Mamun added.

And in other cases, a third party might film a couple clandestinely, extort money from the couple or publish the content online.

In 90 percent cases, the boys release the objectionable videos and photos to punish the girls and women, he said.

Ostracized

A 22-year-old woman from the Brahmanbaria district, who requested anonymity, welcomed the governments decision to expand the nations cyber court system.

I did not go to the college for six months because everyone laughed at me and my family members, and [made] bad comments. My whole family was ostracized after my boyfriend secretly recorded our intimate moments and uploaded it on the web, she told BenarNews.

He did this after she discovered that he was cheating on her, the woman said.

Is it possible for my family to go to Dhaka to seek justice? The number of courts should be increased. The cyber criminals must be tried for the targeted crimes against girls and women, she said.
Radhika Vemula (center), the mother of Rohith Vemula who committed suicide at the University of Hyderabad, joins protesters on campus, Jan. 21, 2016.

The suicide earlier this week of a suspended research scholar who belonged to a community considered backward in India has thrown a spotlight on a centuries-old issue  caste discrimination.

Rohith Vemula, 26, a doctorate student of life sciences at the University of Hyderabad, hanged himself Sunday in the campus hostel in the southern Andhra Pradesh state. Hyderabad police have confirmed that Vemula committed suicide.

About four months ago, he and four other students and fellow members of the Dalit community, were suspended following an altercation with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) student leaders over ideological differences. The ABVP is backed by the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Long considered as untouchables, Indias nearly 180 million Dalits form the lowest rung of the caste hierarchy in Hinduism, the dominant religion in the country of about 1.2 billion people.

Vemulas death sparked widespread protests across the country that kept going on Thursday, with protesters demanding the ouster of Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya and university Vice Chancellor Appa Rao, who are being held responsible for the students suicide.

Even though the police have booked Dattatreya, Rao and ABVP member Susheel Kumar  on whose complaint the five Dalit students were suspended  for abetment of suicide, protesters are demanding that the trio be charged with murder under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act of 1989.

The act is designed to safeguard the rights of low-caste communities in India.

Rohith ended his life due to sheer discrimination and mental torture at the hands of the university management, Amit Kumar, a student at the University of Hyderabad, told BenarNews.

The accused should be charged with murder and given exemplary punishment so that it acts as a deterrent against those targeting members of a particular community. If this does not happen, we will not only continue but intensify our agitation, he said.

Anti-national charge

Rao is accused of ordering the suspension of the Dalit students on the recommendation of Dattatreya, who in August 2015 wrote to the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD), urging action against the five students. He had described them as anti-national  a charge, protesters believe, that drove Vemula to take his own life.

He (Vemula) was forced to take the extreme step as he had been accused of being anti-national, protester Manoj Kumar told BenarNews.

The university management had withheld his stipend for four months, besides banning him and the four other Dalit students from using the campus hostel and library, among other facilities. He was living under tremendous mental duress and ended his life under depression, he added.

Suspensions revoked

Buckling under mounting protests, the university Thursday revoked the suspension of the four surviving Dalit students.

We have revoked their suspension as a sign that we intend to reach out to the students. We appeal to the protesters to maintain calm and engage in a dialogue with us, the universitys Student Welfare Dean Prakash Babu told reporters.

But the revocation was rejected outright by the suspended students and protesters who are seeking justice for Vemulas family.

Initially, one of our demands was that our suspension be revoked. But, now, that Rohith is no longer with us, we are turning down the revocation until our demands for sacking the culprits and justice for Rohiths family are met, Vijay Kumar, one of the four suspended students, told reporters.

Damage control

As protests spread to several major cities across India, the BJP on Wednesday addressed the issue.

This is not a Dalit versus non-Dalit issue as being projected by some to ignite passions. A malicious attempt is being made to show it as a caste battle which it is not, said HRD Minister Smriti Irani in a clear reference to political rivals who have made a beeline to the Hyderabad university campus.

While referring to a suicide note left behind by Vemula, Irani said the document did not blame any minister or organization.

The two-page handwritten letter, which was found in the hostel room where Vemula died, said: No one is responsible for this act of killing myself. No one has instigated me, whether by their acts or by their words to this act. This is my decision and I am the only one responsible for this. Do not trouble my friends and enemies on this after I am gone.

But protesters said the university management has been known for its unfair treatment of Dalit students in the past, resulting in a string of suicides over the last decade.

Zuhail Kp, president of the universitys student union, told Times of India that, besides Vemula, eight other Dalit students had resorted to killing themselves.

Eight suicides is not a small number, but the university has still not woken up to the issues of Dalit students. Rohiths death only highlights a larger issue of caste-based discrimination, he said.
Protesters call for reforms of article 112 in Thailands criminal code, which frames the countrys Lese-Majeste law, Dec. 10, 2011.

Thailand prolonged its crackdown against dissidents, arresting five students Wednesday night and Thursday  just hours after a man was sentenced to six years in prison over Facebook posts ruled to have violated Lese-Majeste, the nations strict royal defamation law.

Four of the student activists, including their alleged leader, Siriwit Sereethiwat, were freed Thursday when a court ordered police to release them, but a fifth student was still in custody.

Siriwit was taken into custody Wednesday night outside Thammasat University in Bangkok. After spending the night in military custody, he was charged Thursday with violating a ban on protests and political gatherings, Pawinee Chumsri, of Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Three students who visited Siriwit  Cholthicha Jaengrew, Chanoknant Ruamsub and Korakoch Saengyenpant  were charged with the same offenses. A fourth student, Abhisit Napapant, was arrested and expected to remain in custody overnight.

The five are among seven members of the New Democracy Movement who allegedly defied a government order banning political gatherings. A Bangkok military court on Jan. 13 approved arrest warrants against the seven after they defied police summons.

They allegedly boarded a train on Dec. 7, 2015, intending to protest at Rajabhakti Park in southern Prachuab Province, a multi-million dollar project built by the military, but were stopped in Raja Buri province.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha defended the arrests.

I maintained that everyone must obey the laws and arrests can be done in many fashions, Prayuth told reporters.

According to Prayuth, Siriwit broke many laws by going to the park and through other violations of the public gathering law.

Under Article 44 of the countrys interim constitution, which the Thai junta invoked last year, after declaring an end to martial law, groups of five or more people who stage public demonstrations can be arrested.

If we let them go, that will mean they breach another [law] because they would illegally gather in another place one more time, Prayuth said.

After being freed from custody, Siriwit appeared in an online video in which he alleged that the people who arrested him roughed him up.

When I was forced to board a car, I was covered with a scarf and the eyes [blindfolded] so I could not see ... I was later forced into a brush and forced to sit down, Siriwit recounted in the video clip.

They kicked me to lie on the ground, hit my head, my back and kicked me , he added.

Lese-Majeste crackdown

Meanwhile, Piya Julkittiphan, 46, was convicted in Bangkok Criminal Court on Wednesday for posting two pictures with messages in 2013 that were deemed disrespectful or unfaithful to the monarchy, AFP reported.

The judge sentenced him to nine years but he has given useful testimony during the investigation so the court commuted one third of that sentence to six years imprisonment, the court said in its verdict.

Details of the posts were not provided as is commonplace in such convictions. Even when details are known, journalists must censor themselves to avoid violating the same law, according to AFP.

Thai Lawyers for Human Rights described Piya as a former stockbroker who was arrested in December 2014 and has been in custody ever since.

Prosecutions of Thailands tough royal defamation laws have shot up since a military coup in May 2014 followed a court order forcing then Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra from office. Because Lese-Majeste is considered a national security offense, those charged are tried by a military court.

The prime minister, who as a general led the coup by the Royal Thai Army, has vowed to get rid of critics of the monarchy and has called for stronger prosecution of cases involving royal defamation.
Billings Clinic rolled out on Wednesday a new program aimed at connecting mental health and substance abuse experts with Montana Department of Corrections clinicians in order to offer a wider range of expertise and knowledge in treating offenders.

Called Project Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO), the effort is the first Montana-based hub of a global initiative of the same name headquartered in New Mexico that works to team clinicians in smaller or rural areas with larger panels of specialists at medical centers through weekly virtual meetings.

"Our vision is really to expand upon the mental health care that we already provide," said Tricia Ayers-Weiss, the Department of Corrections clinical services division bureau chief.

The Montana panel, led by Billings Clinic, will initially include a psychiatrist, pharmacist, nurse and social worker, along with personnel from the Rimrock Foundation and the Montana Department of Corrections.

Beginning as soon as February, the panel will meet with behavioral health and addictions clinicians who work with offenders within the Department of Corrections getting ready to transition back into the community, going over related topics and spending an hour or so of members lending their individual expertise to specific cases.

The idea is that they can share their expertise and knowledge with the workers to improve the overall care of the people being treated while at the same time educating the clinicians.

"They feel empowered," said Dr. Eric Arzubi, Billings Clinic's psychiatry chair. "It helps the clinicians and it helps the patients. It's a win-win."

The Project ECHO hub will start out as a pilot, working initially only with the Passages Women's Pre-release center in Billings and will take on at most 40 weekly cases and consultations.

However, the goal is to expand its reach to other areas of the DOC, including other prerelease centers and possibly the state prisons.

Ayers-Weiss said that increasing the access to collaboration with the panel will help to address the limited access to psychiatric services within the Department of Corrections, all with the goal of preparing offenders to move back into the community.

"If we invest now in mental health before they get out, it sets them up before they're out to be successful," she said.

Arzubi said that, ultimately, he'd like to see it grow outside the corrections community.

"What we're trying to do with our next iteration is to provide support to primary care around the state," he said.

He called the lack of mental health services and workers in Montana a crisis and said that, while Project ECHO wouldn't put new workers into rural areas, it could help physicians and other medical staff in treating mental health or addiction issues they didn't have the resources or education to treat before.

"Let's take that knowledge and disseminate it," Arzubi said. "It's access to knowledge."

A $66,000 grant to Billings Clinic from the Montana Mental Health Trust in late 2015 is helping to fund the project.

Erika Harding, director of replication initiatives with the ECHO Institute at the University of New Mexico, said that the project's broader goal is to share knowledge and improve care through connecting experts through technology, sharing best practices, addressing complex issues through case-based learning and building a database to monitor results.

Project ECHO was developed by Dr. Sanjeev Arora, who was working to treat Hepatitis C in rural and underserved New Mexico, as a way for primary care physicians to treat people in their own communities.

Since then it has grown to operate 72 hubs focusing on more than 45 diseases, conditions or issues in 22 states and six countries.

"This is not a telemedicine model," Harding said. "This is a capacity-building model ... The point of ECHO fundamentally is to de-monopolize knowledge."

Officials will evaluate the Montana hub after six weeks and begin a formal evaluation in November.


For Immediate Release, January 21, 2016 Contact: Jaclyn Lopez, (727) 490-9190, jlopez@biologicaldiversity.org Two Florida Plants Threatened by Sea-level Rise

Receive More Than 7,800 Acres of Endangered Species Habitat Protection ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. As part of a settlement with the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today designated 7,855 acres of critical habitat protection under the Endangered Species Act for two Florida plants threatened by sea-level rise. Most populations of the aboriginal prickly apple and Florida semaphore cactus live at, or just above, mean sea level. The plants were protected under the Endangered Species Act in 2013 as the result of a Center petition and lawsuit. The Service has done a great job of moving quickly to get these plants the protections they need to survive sea-level rise, said attorney Jaclyn Lopez, the Centers Florida director. Management under the Endangered Species Act will ensure that these two beautiful and rare plants will be around for generations to come. The Service designated 4,411 acres for the Florida semaphore cactus in Miami-Dade and Monroe counties, and 3,444 acres for the aboriginal prickly apple in Manatee, Charlotte, Sarasota and Lee counties. The critical habitat designation requires federal agencies to consult with the Service to ensure that any federally funded or permitted actions will not damage or destroy the plants critical habitat. The aboriginal prickly apple lives in coastal strand vegetation communities and tropical coastal hammocks. Most of its 12 coastal sites are at risk of being wiped out by sea-level rise. The Florida semaphore cactus is found naturally in Biscayne National Park and on Little Torch Key. Sea-level rise may already be contributing to this plants decline as rising seas increase soil salinity in its buttonwood forests and rockland hammocks. If worst-case sea-level-rise projections become a reality, much of these plants habitat will be inundated. In order to survive, the plants will likely need to be reintroduced to suitable higher-elevation sites outside their historical ranges, and scientists predict that they will likely escape extinction only if emissions are reduced and the worst sea-level rise predictions are not realized. The critical habitat protections are part of a historic settlement agreement, signed with the Center in 2011, which requires expedited decisions on protection for 757 species around the country. The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 990,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.
Short or feature films from any Nigerian filmmaker can be submitted for the fourth edition of the NollywoodWeek Paris Film Festival. The deadline for entries is 12 February 2016. The official selection will be announced in March 2016.

The festival, which will be held at the Cinema l'Arlequin in Paris, France from 2 to 5 June 2016, will feature a more diverse film selection, more events and more audience surprises. "We are excited about this year's edition, which is growing into a global model and promises to be even bigger and better," says co-founder Serge Noukoue.

In just three years, this unique film festival has already made its mark with some noteworthy achievements:

 24 Nigerian films translated into French and screened in Paris

 Over 20 Nollywood actors, directors and producers hosted in the city of lights

 Partnerships, acquisitions and co-production deals for people active in the industry

 Over 5,500 attendees over the past three years

The co-founders Noukoue and Nadira Shakur are now looking forward to accommodating the growing audience size, as the festival gains attention from surrounding European countries. "Every year we receive festival goers from various countries outside of France and we want this to continue. This festival has become the festival to watch the best of Nollywood in Europe and this year will not disappoint," stated Shakur.

NollywoodWeek Paris has also raised the profile of a stigmatised industry, by enforcing a very strict film selection process that only allows top quality works to be in the official selection. "We want the terms 'NollywoodWeek' and 'quality' to be synonymous in people's minds," added Noukoue. "The festival also helps the directors get a feel for their audience and through the Public Choice Award, we can measure the audience's preferences."
Euronews English service will be fully available for the first time in Jamaica following a deal with Digicel Play and will also extend its distribution in Trinidad and Tobago through the same agreement. Euronews is currently broadcast to 722,000 households in the Caribbean region.

Arnaud Verlhac, worldwide distribution director of Euronews, said, "We are delighted to see Euronews associated with such a recognised brand in the Caribbean. By choosing Euronews, one of the key international news channel, for its channel line-up, Digicel Play is giving a firm thumbs up to the news content we are delivering and our ability to best serve the needs of the various cultural communities living in or visiting the Caribbean."



John Suranyi, CEO of Digicel Play for the Caribbean and Central America, comments, "Our customers deserve the best in terms of compelling content and Euronews fits that bill perfectly, offering a unique perspective on world events through factual analysis. We are delighted to be welcoming Euronews to the Digicel Play family."
LONDON - Web surfers will be able to peek into the gilded interiors of Queen Elizabeth II's home in a new virtual reality tour launched by Google.

Buckingham Palace, the queen's primary residence, has opened its doors to the tech giant for 360-degree photos of some of its richly-decorated rooms.

The tour can be viewed on a computer or in 3D on a mobile phone through the official British Monarchy YouTube channel -- one of several digital initiatives adopted by the royal household in recent years.

Visitors are welcomed by a virtual Master of the Household and then guided by curator Anna Reynolds through lavish chambers including the Throne Room.

At the end of the video, which lasts around 10 minutes, virtual visitors are also shown a secret door through which the queen arrives at receptions.

The programme is intended for schoolchildren and was created under Google's Expedition programme.

Instead of having a virtual guide, teachers dictate the tour and highlight interesting topics for pupils.

"For schoolchildren, Buckingham Palace is one of the most iconic, magical buildings in the world," said Jemima Rellie, director of content at the Royal Collection Trust, which worked together with Google.

Jennifer Holland, Expedition's programme manager, launched the tour at an event in London with pupils from a school in east London.

"We asked them, if you could go anywhere in the world where would you want to go and they replied -- Buckingham Palace," she said.

The photos for the tour were taken last week with a 16-camera rig placed in a circle.

The virtual tour will also be available through the official British Monarchy YouTube channel.

Click here to experience the tour in VR (virtual-reality) or 360 format, view through the YouTube app on a smartphone

Source: AFP
We keep a low profile at The Strategy Department, preferring to help our clients shine. But there are some trade secrets we can share. Here are some insights from our team about what unexpected skills it takes to be a strategist.

My Make OU via 123RF

People in the industry often view the strategist and the creative as different animals. However, spend enough time with both of these individuals and you will come to realise that there are actually more traits that they have in common than there are things that divide them. For one, being a good strategist requires a strong dose of creative thinking and ability; it is not only a game of numbers, graphs and death by PowerPoint!

You need to be capable of thinking in terms of new and inspiring ideas. You need to have an inquiring mind, almost childlike in nature. You need to be able to hone in on specific parts of the picture. You need the proficiency to see the world through the eyes of a diverse range of target groups and understand their varying frames of reference. And above all, you need to be ardent and fearless in selling your work - bearing in mind that regardless of how seamless and logical a particular approach might seem, strategy (as with creativity) is still, essentially, a subjective science. And there is never only one route that can be followed in answering the client's brief.

Let's examine each of these strategic skills in turn.

1: Analytical and conceptual

The best strategists tend to be both analytical and conceptual. On the one hand, it is the strategist's job to examine and understand the client's business scenario and marketing objectives, the competitive landscape, relevant consumer insights and key challenges - investigating and analysing evidence from multiple sources to help build a coherent argument for the strategic way forward. This is the systematic side to strategy, which postulates a reasoned solution to the task at hand. So because Consumer X thinks Y and not Z, the best way to reach Objective A is to communicate B and C about the brand.

However, to be purely analytical as a strategist is to miss out on the "magic" of strategy: its ability to captivate the client and inspire outstanding creative work. So as much as the best creative output is usually underpinned by a strong strategic foundation, it is also true to say that the most compelling strategic plans tend to be creative in their approach. This ability to wear two hats and be "strative" (i.e. both strategic and creative), to "see" things that logic alone might miss and to tell a good story that appeals to both reason and emotion, is what separates a good strategist from a great one.

2: Be curious

The basis of strategy is understanding. And understanding is the result of inquisition. For this reason, strategists seek out not only to understand the WHO, to determine the WHAT and ultimately the WHERE, WHEN and HOW - but always to explore and probe the WHY: the motivations, the reasons, the conundrums. Why do consumers think or behave in a certain way? Why is the competition faring better in the marketplace? Why has the brand failed to reach its full potential? Why is the communication not resonating? And so on.

It is this incessant (bordering on obsessive) curiosity that captures the essence of effective strategic planning. Without proper insight, we run the risk of oversight and there can be no foresight. This is also one of the reasons why a strategist's job is never truly complete (even after the strategy has been signed off), as circumstances change, brands and consumers evolve and there is always room to interrogate even the most well thought out plan. As strategists, we need to keep asking the difficult questions. So while curiosity may have killed the cat, a lack of curiosity is bound to kill the strategist! When we stop interrogating, we stop learning, we stop comprehending and we stop growing.

3: Detail-orientated yet discerning

As the cliche states, the devil is in the details. This is especially true for strategists, since a fair chunk of our time on any project is spent addressing the intricacies and finer points - whether in terms of conducting research, analysing the facts, evidence and insights or compiling the actual proposal. However, it is very easy to get bogged down in "analysis paralysis" as a strategist, or to cross the fine line between writing a strategy that is solid and watertight as opposed to one that is too exhaustive, too executional or too tactical.

Against this backdrop, the true value of strategy lies in its ability to capture the so-called "bigger picture" for the client and the creative team - to provide pertinent and concise direction that inspires, while still leaving something to the imagination. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to the "right" details when compiling a strategy. Ironically, less detail often makes for a stronger, more workable plan. This ability to be selective and brutal when choosing the most salient points around which to build a particular story is something that many strategists take years to develop. It is thus that strategy may be thought of as the art of sifting through the clutter, picking the gems and using these to create a mosaic - a picture that is detailed, yet clear and commanding in its simplicity.

4. Adaptable

This is an important one: adaptability. Our clients could be anyone from any industry and therefore we need to know their business almost as well as they do - and sometimes even better! We need to be able to demonstrate to the client that we are not only a supplier, but a valuable part of their business or marketing team as well. In effect, strategists need to be able to live in the world of the agency as well as the world of the corporate. Coupled with this, we also need to show an understanding of our clients' customers. This requires not only research, but also the imagination and empathy to be able to put oneself in the shoes of a consumer who is often very far removed from one's own personal reality.

Incidentally, the most innovative strategies are often the result of being challenged to step out of one's comfort zone, for this is where the aforementioned value of creative thinking - specifically in terms of being able to see things from a fresh perspective - comes into play. It is for this very reason, for instance, that male strategists are frequently assigned to female-oriented brands and vice versa. The mark of a true strategist is the ability to switch seamlessly from one brand or product category to another, learning to become not only a "jack of all trades" but a veritable master of all of them as well.

5: Courageous

Talented strategists all have one thing in common: the courage of their convictions. This includes being able to sell one's work in the most engaging and successful way possible. Even the most seasoned strategists agree that it can be scary to present a new idea and convince a client that it is "right" for their brand. As noted, strategy is largely subjective and there is always more than one path that can be taken. And very often, the "big idea" is a product of the strategist's intuition. Thus, it is vital to be able to present with passion and belief in the merits of the particular strategic direction that has been pursued. While this undoubtedly comes easier to certain people and personality types than others, it is nonetheless a skill that any strategist can refine and perfect through experience.

In closing, Cynthia Montgomery (author of the acclaimed 2012 book aptly titled The Strategist) accurately sums up the various core aptitudes required of a strategist, as well as the idea that strategic thinking, in itself, is an ability cultivated over time: "It takes time to develop the skills and sensibilities of a strategist. Part of it is 'science' - straight-up analytical ability, but a lot of it is judgment, a lot of it is 'feel'. Being a strategist is a way of seeing, a way of thinking, a way of acting. One learns to do it well through practice."
The African Innovation Foundation (AIF), in a joint collaborative effort with the government of Botswana, represented by the Ministry of Infrastructure, Science and Technology and the Botswana Innovation Hub (BIH), has announced that the next Innovation Prize for Africa (IPA) will be held in Gaborone, Botswana in June 2016.

The decision to host IPA in Botswana received endorsement from the Botswana President, Seretse Khama Ian Khama. Its selection as host country for IPA 2016 is seen in its commitment towards building its national innovation ecosystem. This is demonstrated by the government's catalytic role in capitalising on and supporting the knowledge economy through the development of a 57-acre Science Park, BIH. The iconic building in the BIH Park will be launched in September 2016, as Botswana celebrates 50 years of independence.

"Hosting IPA 2016 and celebrating African ingenuity in Gaborone will afford Botswana an opportunity to showcase its commitment to putting innovation at the centre of its development strategy," says the Botswana Minister of Infrastructure, Science and Technology, Nonofo Molefhi. "We are greatly honoured to have been selected to host IPA 2016 and look forward to showcasing the positive strides Botswana and indeed Africa is making in the innovation landscape."

Extending opportunities beyond award ceremony

This year's event with its 'Made in Africa' theme promises to be groundbreaking, extending beyond the Awards ceremony. AIF is offering several avenues of opportunity for local, national, regional and international growth and exposure to Africa's next cadre of innovators. The event will provide an unprecedented platform for African innovators and innovation enablers to network, share knowledge, explore business opportunities and boost collaboration.

The theme is based on the belief that Africa can position itself on the world map through self-innovation, carving its own success story of growth economies and creating incentives to commercialise and scale up homegrown innovations.

Walter Fust, AIF Chairman of the Board, says, "We are delighted to collaborate with the Botswana government in celebrating African ingenuity. With its many inspiring and success stories, Botswana is an excellent choice to host the fifth edition of IPA, helping us continue to catalyse the innovation spirit in Africa. 'Made in Africa' heralds a message of enterprise and prosperity for African innovators, and we encourage more Africans, especially young people and women to create transformation through innovation - not only in their lives - but in the broader community and their respective economies."

Selection, prizes

The IPA Call for Applications ran from August to October 2015 and attracted more than 3,600 respondents from 50 African countries, clearly demonstrating the creative potential that exists in Africa. Proposed innovations highlighted African ingenuity in diverse fields, from agriculture and technologies to green energy initiatives. The expert panel of judges will carefully select Africa's new crop of ingenuity this year from 985 successful submissions spanning 46 African countries through a rigorous, transparent process of critique, validation, interview and consensus.

The prizes offered are:

 Grand prize of US $100,000

 Second Prize of US $25,000

 Special Prize for Social Impact US $25,000

 Voucher for each IPA nominee of US $5,000

 Business development support for top 10 young innovators selected post Awards event

 Business development support for top 10 women innovators selected post Awards event

IPA is a landmark programme of the AIF, whose purpose is to increase the prosperity of Africans by catalysing the innovation spirit in Africa. It celebrates its 5-year milestone in helping to shape the innovation landscape in Africa. To date, it has attracted more than 6,000 innovators from 50 African countries, making it a Pan-African initiative. For more information, go to www.innovationprizeforafrica.org.
Last week the U.S. Energy Information Administration projected that U.S. coal-fired power generation will continue to decline and be offset by an increase from renewable sources. Coal is projected to decrease from 34 percent of generation in 2015 to 33 percent in 2017.

Chinas economy is growing more slowly than at any time in the past two decades. More than 190 nations have agreed that public policy must limit carbon dioxide emissions in efforts to slow climate change. Much of the Western United States is in severe drought that forced California city dwellers to cut water use by 20 percent. Some rivers in the Northwest are running so low that wildlife managers have trucked fish to spawning areas.

Against this backdrop of changing energy markets, Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., visited Billings this week to again condemn President Barack Obama for killing coal. As much as Daines and many other politicians enjoy bashing Obama (and he deserves some criticism), the president isnt the coal industrys biggest problem.

The market has changed. Neither Daines, nor Obama nor the legislatures of Montana and Wyoming control the market. Montana is an exporter of coal and coal-fired electricity. Those export customers in Washington state are plenty worried about the warmer, drier climate that is affecting their land, water and livelihoods. They want cleaner energy than Montana presently produces at Colstrip where units 1 and 2 are the oldest, most inefficient.

Cheaper gas vs. coal

The promise of Montana coal export markets is evaporating with the drop in global demand. As George Will writes elsewhere on this page, China is buying less coal and other commodities.

Take a look at how the market has changed the value of coal-fired power plants. Last month, the Associated Press reported that Talen Energy reduced the market value of its share of Colstrip plants by 87 percent in the past two years, cutting the value to $45 million. The former owner, PPL Corp., wrote down the value of its stake by more than $400 million in 2013.

What drove down the value of the Colstrip plant? Relatively cheap natural gas is a bigger factor than emission-reducing federal rules, according to a power sector analyst with UBS who told the AP: The prospects for coal versus natural gas have deteriorated.

Gatherings such as the event hosted Monday by the taxpayer-funded Big Sky Economic Development provide a great venue for venting and rallying. Unfortunately, trying to control the market isnt a viable option. Instead, Montana leaders must seize the opportunity to transition our energy industry to meet the demands of customers now and into the future.

What customers want

Montana must look forward. Its likely that the newer units 3 and 4 at Colstrip will continue to support jobs for many years to come. But demand for coal at the plant will be reduced as new, cleaner energy generation (gas, wind and solar) serve customers what they want.

We dont want anyone to lose jobs, but in a dynamic economy jobs are lost and new jobs are created. Any Montana workers who will be displaced by changes in the coal and electrical industries deserve training and support to land good, new jobs.

Our state has been creating jobs steadily. There will be new jobs, regardless of what happens to coal.

Montanas leaders in government and business should host summits on energy diversification. Lets figure out how to provide what energy customers want and how to best transition out of the energy they dont want.
Do Montanas kids have an equal opportunity to receive high quality public education?

Does the Legislature fund public education at a level that develops the full educational potential of each person"?

Every 10 years, the Montana Legislature appoints a School Funding Commission to take a fresh look at these questions to ensure the state is meeting its obligation under the Montana Constitution. This review considers many aspects of school funding, including the complex formula that distributes a guaranteed tax base to every school district. The current commission includes 12 legislators (six from each party) and four members of the public.

Since the commission meets so seldom, the importance of its work is magnified. As a member of the commission, my intent is to alert Montana voters to issues that may affect them and their communities across the state and give them the opportunity to contact me and other members to express their opinions. I will try to capture what I learned at the meetings, but my words do not represent the views of the commission as a whole.

Adequacy issues

Probably the thorniest problem is state funding for school facilities. In the case of Columbia Falls Elementary School District. No. 6 v. the State of Montana (April 2004), District Court Judge Jeffrey Sherlock ruled in favor of public school districts:  that the current Montana school funding system violates Article X, Section 1 of the Montana Constitution in that it fails to provide adequate funding for Montana's public schools. In the list of conclusions to support his decision, Sherlock wrote: Adequate and safe school facilities are an essential component of a quality education system.

His ruling clearly specifies that the state has a responsibility, at least in part, to ensure that school facilities are adequate and safe.

Historically, Montana has had two ways to provide state support to school facility improvements:

Since the 1990's, the state has partially reimbursed districts with below-average taxable value per student for a portion of their debt service payments on school bonds. But there is not enough money appropriated by the Legislature. Over the last year, Montana school districts owed $56.7 million in bond debt, and the available $8 million in state dollars paid for only about 14 percent of that.

After the court decision in 2004, the Legislature funded a study of deferred maintenance that concluded at least $350 million would be needed to catch up. Gov. Brian Schweitzer introduced a competitive grant process for local school districts. At first the Legislature funded it, but the 2015 Legislature did not fund any school facility maintenance projects.

School districts that were counting on state grants to fix aging buildings, leaky roofs or HVAC systems were hugely disappointed. The Billings District, for example, had submitted a grant for a $1.5 million project to complete heating/cooling upgrades for Senior High.

Large, medium and small districts across the state found local taxpayers were reluctant to raise property taxes to fund high-cost maintenance projects. The Montana Quality Education Coalition, Montana Rural Education Association, MEA-MFT, Montana School Boards Association, School Administrators of Montana and others have told the commission that their top priority is to ask the state to identify and allocate funds for public school facilities.

Consensus principles

The commission reached a tentative consensus on these principles for moving forward:

A more reliable, consistent source of funding should be dedicated to supporting school facility projects and debt service.

The responsibility for building projects should be a shared between the state and local districts, with both making contributions.

Local districts should have a mechanism for carrying over funds to accumulate in a maintenance account for large repairs like roofs, boilers, and energy upgrades.

The commission found that other Western states, such as Arizona and Wyoming, have developed successful programs to set standards and cover the cost of school facilities. Some states, like Washington, establish agreements to cover part of the cost for school facilities and local taxpayers cover the rest.

Montana lacks both the framework for equitable distribution of funds for school facilities and a dedicated, consistent source of state funding. Tackling these issues will be a significant focus of the commission's next meeting, tentatively set for April 4-5 at the Capitol in Helena.
MISSOULA  A man who exposed himself to girls in Missoula and Lolo has pleaded guilty in an agreement with prosecutors.

Cole Francisco was arrested in March 2015 after a series of incidents in which he exposed his genitalia to girls who were waiting at bus stops or walking home from school. The girls ranged in age from 11 to 15 years old.

In each incident, Francisco parked his car and made contact with the girls. He was not wearing pants or underwear when the girls approached his car.

Investigators later found ketamine, which can be used as a date rape drug, and a gun in Francisco's car.

Francisco originally was charged with four counts of indecent exposure, attempted indecent exposure and criminal possession of dangerous drugs.

Under the agreement, prosecutors dropped two indecent exposure charges. Francisco pleaded guilty to the remaining charges Tuesday in Missoula County District Court.

He will be sentenced March 22.

When he was arrested, Francisco was already on probation for masturbating while watching a woman outside her Missoula home. He also had a prior weapons-related conviction from California, in which he went into the bathroom of a women's dormitory to watch residents while carrying a pistol in his backpack.

In interviews with police, Francisco said he committed the offenses for sexual gratification and was unable to stop himself from committing the acts.

In September, Francisco was released from the Missoula County jail to live with his grandparents in Bigfork.
Mon and Burmese language statement urges official recognition of Mon National Day in Mon State (Photo: Internet)Mon and Burmese language statement urges official recognition of Mon National Day in Mon State (Photo: Internet)

Nai Htun Lwin, a member of the organizing committee for Moulmein Townships Mon National Day (MND), in an interview with MNA, said: We must at least work toward achieving Mon National Day as an office holiday in Mon State, even if it is not yet recognized by the entire country, because Mon people already observe the holiday themselves.

According to the Moulmein committee, the campaign will include the release of public statements, campaign songs, and distribution of promotional materials like stickers and cloth headbands.

Dr. Min Soe Linn, a Mon National Party member who was elected to the State Hluttaw (Parliament) in last years general election said: We have been interested in the recognition of Mon National Day as a public holiday for a long time, but this is a new approach thats never been tried before. In the 2008 Constitution, there is nothing about this, but we must work towards this goal as hard as we can. In the near future, when we are at the Hluttaw, we will once again discuss what we can do to achieve this.

During parliaments 11th session, Dr. Aung Naing Oo, a Mon State Hluttaw representative, asked for parliamentary approval for the official recognition of Mon National Day. He said that the Hluttaw Chairman had acknowledged the request and that he plans to deliberate the options as he moves forward.

According to Ashin Dhana, the manager of an association that supports ethnic Mon education, a statement promoting a Mon public holiday was already released on international Human Rights Day last year.

He said: As an ethnic group, we should have the right to observe Mon National Day. It is because the government does not give full rights to [ethnic] nationalities that many conflicts have occurred. As a Mon national and an indigenous person, I would like the MND to be set as an official holiday.

In February last year, Mon communities urged the government to approve the holiday during events marking the 68th Mon National Day.

Nai Htaw Mon, the Chairman of the New Mon State Party (NMSP), also asked the union government to go beyond verbal acknowledgement of Mon National Day and sanction official public observation, during Mon States 41st anniversary celebrations in March last year.

Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI
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A woman with a long history of alcohol abuse, including 79 arrests for intoxication in tribal court, will spend three years in federal prison for assaulting her husband with a tire iron.

U.S. District Judge Susan Watters on Thursday ordered Carol Edith Pretty On Top, 32 of Lame Deer, to serve a sentence at the middle of the guideline range of 33 months to 41 months. The judge noted Pretty On Tops angry, violent behavior when drunk but also her lack of a non-tribal criminal record.

But Watters said she considered Pretty On Tops tribal record  which includes nearly 100 arrests for reports of intoxication, assaults, breach of the peace, resisting arrest and other offenses in deciding a sentence. Of those arrests, 79 were for intoxication, according to the record.

I think thats a record for me to see, Watters said.

The judge also recommended Pretty On Top for substance abuse and mental health treatment while in prison and ordered her to register as a violent offender when released.

Pretty On Top apologized and said she wanted treatment for substance abuse.

Pretty On Top pleaded guilty in October to assault resulting in serious injury for beating her husband during a drunken fight on Jan. 19, 2015, in Lame Deer. She admitted she punched her now-ex-husband in the face, knocked him to the ground, stomped on him and threw a tire iron at him, striking him in the head.

The victim suffered severe bruising and was treated at St. Vincent Healthcare in Billings for a concussion, a fracture to his left orbital area and multiple contusions. He also needed seven staples to close a cut on his head.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John Sullivan recommended a high-end sentence, saying the assault was at least the third time Pretty On Top put her husband in the hospital but that she had not been convicted of earlier assaults.

A high-end sentence also would promote respect for the law and give Pretty On Top time to get a high school equivalency degree, Sullivan said. Pretty On Top continues to live at home and has been unemployed for most of her adult life, he added.

Alcohol treatment also was a top priority, Sullivan said. While Pretty On Top is pleasant when sober, she turns violent when intoxicated, he added. While Pretty On Top was on pre-trial release, she was drinking one to two liters of vodka every day, he said.

That is a staggering amount under any circumstances, but is especially egregious considering she was under a court order at the time to refrain from consuming alcohol, Sullivan said in court records.

In addition, Pretty On Top was using marijuana, prescription drugs and methamphetamine, he said.

Assistant Federal Defender Steve Babcock agreed that Pretty On Top needed substance abuse and mental health treatment but said a low-end term of 33 months was sufficient.

Pretty On Tops incarceration during the case has been a wakeup call, Babcock said. She feels way better. I do believe she wants to turn her life around, he said.
The GOP's anti-refugee bill, which would halt the resettlement of Syrian refugees, failed in the Senate yesterday, in part, because Democrats sought to add Donald Trump-inspired amendments to the bill.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) introduced an amendment to ban Muslims from entering the country and Senate Republicans were none too happy about it.

Republicans ripped the attempt to link the bill to the GOP presidential candidate. Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) called the effort ridiculous and said Democrats were trivializing the refugee issue by bringing the circus to town on the floor of the Senate. "I hate to see the Democratic leader try to trivialize this very important national security debate and discussion by injecting presidential election politics right in the middle of this," Cornyn said.

"The circus," as it were, could soon be the Republican nominee. What will they say then?

They've already said what they're going to say. They've all said they will support the Republican nominee regardless of who it is. They'll even support Donald Trump.

Days like today make me regret that Harry Reid is retiring.

Just in case you're wondering: no, the image of Donald Trump on the phone with Don Lemon will never get old.
Illinois Senate President John Cullerton in the state senate chamber. John Zich and Anne Ryan

CHICAGO  The political bickering that's driven the almost seven-month-old budget impasse in Illinois spilled into the public pension arena Thursday, leaving the state no closer to easing a fiscal burden that's saddled it with the lowest bond ratings of any state.

Gov. Bruce Rauner and his fellow Republican legislative minority leaders put their support behind a Senate Democratic pension reform plan that supporters believe won't run afoul of the state's stringent benefit protections.

Their support, however, was based on some revisions that the Democrats quickly rejected.

At a news conference with the House and Senate minority leaders, Rauner called the bill "a step in the right direction" and that he believes "with the wording picked properly, will be constitutional."

Rauner suggested that the plan's lead author, Democratic Senate President John Cullerton, was agreeable to changes.

But Cullerton quickly threw cold water on the Rauner endorsement.

"The plan he outlined at his news conference isn't what we talked about. It's not my plan," Cullerton said. "We apparently still have a fundamental disagreement over the role of collective bargaining in this process, in the sense that I think collective bargaining should continue to exist and the governor does not.

"This is not my plan, not the plan we discussed this morning, and it does not have my support," he added.

Rauner, who took office early last year, said he had resisted the plan previously because he did not believe it achieved sufficient savings, but said he had shifted his position "in the spirit of cooperation."

Rauner and the GOP leaders said the plan would trim about $1 billion off the state's pension contributions which are set to rise by $290 million in fiscal 2017 to $7.8 billion.

The plan would impact four of the state system's five pension funds, leaving the judges' fund out of it because the courts have been called upon to decide the legality of reforms.

The state Senate in 2013 passed Cullerton's original plan but it was rejected in the House and lawmakers eventually enacted House Speaker Michael Madigan's more expansive package that promised greater savings of about $140 billion in the coming decades, compared to Cullerton's $45 billion to $50 billion.

The Madigan plan cut benefits and raised employee contributions, but it was tossed aside in an Illinois Supreme Court ruling.

Cullerton had warning that his legal advisors believed the Madigan proposal would run afoul of the pension clause in the state constitution, and the state's high court justices agreed.

The court voided the reform package last May finding the benefit cuts violated the constitution's clause that gives contractual rights to membership in the funds and protects pension benefits form impairment or diminishment.

Supporters believe the legality of Cullerton's plan lies in contract law provisions that allow for "consideration" of changes to contract terms with employees if a cut is offset with a benefit.

Under Cullerton's original plan, employees would be asked to accept certain a cost of living cut in exchange for preserving their retiree healthcare subsidies. Employees could preserve both if they agreed to contribute more.

A wrench was later thrown in the healthcare choice by the high court's ruling in another case that applied the pension clause to retiree healthcare subsidies.

Cullerton revised his plan with a new choice proposed.

Current public employees would have the choice of keeping their current COLAs but future pay increases would not be counted toward retirement benefit calculations, or they could take a reduced COLA and continue to have pay raises counted.

Supporters of the Cullerton option believe it can hold up due to a footnote reference in the Illinois Supreme Court's May opinion that suggested the court might consider a plan that was negotiated with unions and offered some form of "consideration" for any changes.

Where Rauner and Cullerton now appear to be butting heads is on Rauner's insistence that the salary increase decision be removed from collective bargaining.

"In order for President Cullerton's bill to be constitutional, salary increases have to be taken out of collective bargaining," Rauner said.

Cullerton disagreed and Madigan accused Rauner of trying to divide Democrats.

"Despite the governor's desire to drive a wedge between Democrats in the House and Senate, neither President Cullerton nor I will agree to make changes proposed by the governor," Madigan said.

During the news conference, Rauner attacked Madigan saying he had "stonewalled and delayed" action on reforms.

Rauner later elaborated in a statement that followed the Democratic attack.

"Central to the Cullerton model is that future salary increases are part of the employee election, and that to ensure the proposal passes Constitutional muster current law must be changed to make the employee's election permanent. On that core principal, the governor's legal team and the President's legal team have agreed," a statement read. " If he no longer supports it, we urge him to immediately introduce new pension reform legislation that he thinks will be approved by the Supreme Court, and the governor will be open to considering it."

The GOP governor gives his second State of the State address next week amid a looming $5 billion deficit as the budget impasses continues.

Democrats want a tax hike to help close the gap and Rauner won't support one without Democratic support for his governance and policy proposals that include curbs on union powers over local government issues.

The state's unfunded pension tab continues to weigh on the state's balance sheet and credit profile although it's taken a backseat to the budget battle.

Illinois is the lowest rated state.

Fitch Ratings and Moody's Investors Service both place Illinois GOs at the BBB-plus level while Standard & Poor's assigns its A-minus rating.

Illinois' unfunded pension obligations worsened slightly in the last fiscal year while the funded ratio showed some modest improvement, according to data compiled and analyzed by the Civic Federation of Chicago.

The unfunded obligations grew to $112.9 billion for a funded ratio of 40.9% in fiscal 2015 from $111.2 billion and funded ratio of 39.3% a year earlier. The increase is more modest than the $11 billion added to the unfunded tab from fiscal 2013 to 2014.

The proposed fiscal 2017 contribution levels are up from previous projections due to weaker than expected investment returns and revised assumptions related to mortality rates and salary increases at several of the funds, the federation said.

"The state's funding plan and subsequently enacted changes defer a large portion of the required state contributions to later years and have been insufficient to prevent growth in the unfunded liability," the federation wrote.

The current funding plan took effect in 1996.
FREED PHOTOGRAPHY

WASHINGTON  The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board plans to discuss bank loans and dealer disclosure of markups to retail customers during its board meeting here next week.

At the meeting on Jan. 27 and 28, the board also will consider academic use of MSRB data, shortening the trade settlement cycle, savings accounts for individuals with disabilities and financial abuse of the elderly, according to an MSRB release.

The MSRB is expected to consider whether it should take action on bank loans. It has focused on bank loans so far by encouraging issuers to voluntarily disclose them. The self-regulator also made adjustments to its EMMA system last August to make it easier for issuers to disclose the loans on their homepages.

"Bank loans have certainly been a rallying cry for this organization," said MSRB executive director Lynnette Kelly. "We'll continue to talk about bank loan issues, what board members are seeing in the market, and any observations that people want to make."

While the board only plans to have a discussion on the topic, Kelly said there is nothing stopping the 21 board members from choosing to go out and solicit comments from the industry or ask the Securities and Exchange Commission for more information.

The board's discussion on markup disclosure in confirmations sent to retail customers will center on the criticisms and other comments market groups made in letters sent to the MRSB about the proposed changes to Rule G-15 on uniform practices.

Dealer groups criticized the proposal for not aligning with similar confirmation rule amendments proposed by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. FINRA's changes would require dealers to disclose the differential between the price to the customer and the dealer's reference price. The proposed rule changes also diverge in the timing of trades they would require dealers to consider, with the MSRB rule mandating dealers include trades occurring within two hours of the transaction and the FINRA rule spanning a full day of trading.

The groups also said the MSRB's rule will impose substantial costs on dealers if it is adopted.

No action item is scheduled on confirmation disclosure during the board hearing but Kelly said the next step for the board is to meet with FINRA to see if there can be a "meeting of the minds" on the type of proposal to pursue.

The MSRB board will also discuss a set of comment letters the self-regulator received in September about a proposal to give academics muni trade and pricing data that use anonymous dealer identifiers.

The July 16 proposal would prohibit academics from reverse engineering and redistributing the data. It also would require them to disclose their specific intentions for requesting the information. The data would only be available to academics with institutions of higher education and would have to be more than two years old to be eligible for release.

Researchers who commented on the proposal said the addition of anonymous dealer identifiers would improve liquidity and enhance transparency in the market.

But dealer groups said they were afraid the identifiers would open their members up to having their identities, trading strategies, and inventories discovered through reverse engineering. The groups instead advised the MSRB to release data that combines dealers with similar characteristics and excludes all primary trades.

The board is also planning to talk about several other initiatives the MSRB has focused on in the past, including improving EMMA such as by adding yield curves, and helping facilitate a market transition to a T+2 settlement cycle.

The MSRB's proposal to change muni trade settlements to two days from three after execution has general support from market groups and is tied to the SEC making similar changes as part of an industry migration that would be completed by the end of the third quarter of 2017.

The MSRB will additionally revisit its Rule G-15 on confirmation, clearance, settlement and other uniform practice requirements with respect to transactions with customers. A portion of that rule prohibits dealers from trading bonds in amounts below the minimum denominations set by issuers. The minimum denomination is usually set at $5,000 but can be as high as $100,000 if the issuer determines the bonds are unsuitable for retail investors.

The board's discussion will center on a possible request for comment on amendments that would allow more exceptions from the minimum denomination requirement in certain circumstances, such as beneficiaries of a will receiving set portions of an individual's bond holdings or parties in a divorce splitting investments.

The goal of any change would be to keep the rule as strong as possible while providing for exceptions that may not meet the rule exactly, but follow the spirit of it, Kelly said. She added a parallel goal would be to never create a situation where a trade creates more people holding a position below a minimum denomination than before.

For example, if an individual were to come into possession of $75,000 of bonds that have a $100,000 minimum denomination, the updated rule may allow the individual's dealer to sell bonds in an amount below the minimum denomination to individuals who already hold at least $100,000 of the bonds.

The re-evaluation of the rule is part of the MSRB's larger effort to update its rulebook to reflect current market conditions, Kelly said. Additionally, the MSRB is discussing its possible jurisdiction over tax-advantaged savings programs that help support individuals with disabilities maintain health, independence, and quality of life. The programs are a result of the Achieving a Better Life Experience Act of 2015 and may resemble 529 College Savings Plans in potentially falling under the MSRB's jurisdiction.

The agenda also includes plans to discuss efforts by state agencies, other self-regulatory organizations, and policy makers to protect elderly investors from the risk of, or actual, fraud. The MSRB does not have a specific rule that applies to the effort, but the board is fully engaged in monitoring the other agencies' activities, Kelly said.
A company planning a multibillion dollar pipeline project that would move hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil from the state moved one step closer to construction Wednesday following permit approval by North Dakota regulators.

North Dakota Public Service Commission members approved the siting permit for the Dakota Access Pipeline, which has been under review for more than a year.

The pipeline is to be built by Dakota Access LLC, a partner of Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners. The 1,168-mile, 30-inch diameter pipeline begins in western North Dakota near Stanley and would end near Patoka, Ill.

This project will take trucks off the road and provide a safe alternative to crude by rail, Commissioner Chairwoman Julie Fedorchak said.

Only two of the three commissioners voted Wednesday; Commissioner Randy Christmann removed himself from review of the project earlier this month due to a conflict of interest. The company is negotiating with Christmanns mother-in-law for an easement on a portion of her property.

Energy Transfer Partners issued a statement to the Forum saying it was pleased with the PSCs decision and hopes to achieve a similar outcome in Iowa.

Dakota Access Pipeline is an important energy infrastructure project that will provide a more direct, cost-effective, and safer manner to transport the currently constrained supply of light sweet crude oil out of the production areas in North Dakota to refining markets around the country, it said.

South Dakota and Illinois regulators have issued permit approval in their states. Approval is still pending in Iowa.

When completed, the Dakota Access Pipeline would transport as many as 450,000 barrels per day of Bakken crude with a future capacity of 570,000 barrels per day.

Tentative plans are to begin pipeline construction in the spring and have the line in service by late this year.

The route through North Dakota extends approximately 358 miles and passes through seven counties: Mountrail, Williams, McKenzie, Dunn, Mercer, Morton and Emmons.

The pipeline has an overall cost of $3.78 billion; $1.4 billion of the total cost would be invested in North Dakota.

Fedorchak said the project had an exhaustive review process, with hearings held in Mandan, Killdeer and Williston.

She said reclamation and protection against leaks were major priorities during the review process, leading to approximately 40 safety and reclamation requirements being included in the permit.

Among the items required in the permit include a monitoring system to be installed, monitoring 24 hours a day from a Texas site and remote shutdown capability in the event of a leak. Emergency response equipment also will be located in Bismarck, Epping, Williston and Watford City.

"We looked extensively at the safety plans, Fedorchak said. We listened to the public input and the company listened to the public input.

The companys most recent numbers put easements secured along the North Dakota portion of the route at 88 percent.

Commissioner Brian Kalk said the review process went well and that its important to continue to build energy infrastructure to get product to market.

This is the right decision, Kalk said.

Steve Cortina, a representative for the Local 563 Laborers Union, was among several members present Wednesday who applauded the decision after the vote was taken. The union represents members in North Dakota and Minnesota.

Cortina said between 300 and 500 jobs would be created for the construction phase of the project in North Dakota.

Its a huge boost, Cortina said of the project.

He said the union has supported the project for months and it would keep workers busy as infrastructure build out continues in the state.
When Gov. Jack Dalrymple paid a visit Thursday to a Century High School group dedicated to preventing suicide, he offered insight into how he copes with the stress of his job.

People criticize his work every day, he said.

"If you want to really solve this big worry or problem, I feel like you have to think through it," he said. "What I try to think about it is the bigger perspective of my entire life."

He said he realizes that a hassle on a given day is only temporary, and many better days lie ahead.

Dalrymple's comments came as part of an exercise during a meeting for Sources of Strength, a student-led organization that arrived at Bismarck schools in 2014.

The program aims to prevent suicide by promoting a positive support system in schools that encourages outreach among students and school employees.

"At CHS, we want to let people know that seeking help is a norm," junior Brooke Schulte said. "It's not taboo. Everyone goes through challenges."

Bismarck and Century high schools received a $12,200 grant this school year from the North Dakota Department of Health's Suicide Prevention Program to expand Sources of Strength.

Dalrymple said government itself has struggled to develop effective efforts to reduce suicide.

He said students such as the ones at Century are taking a new, fresh approach to addressing the problem themselves.

"This is your deal," he told the group of 50 gathered in the school's band room. "It's not something an administrator or superintendent told you that you have to do."

Though new to Bismarck schools, Sources of Strength exists in hundreds of schools throughout the United States and Canada.

Bismarck resident Mark LoMurray founded the organization after he attended 30 teens' funerals in three years.

"I walked away from that going, 'What we're doing is not working. I think we can get in front of this in a much different way,'" he recalled.

Students who participate go through training and host activities at their school. They are encouraged to implement what they learn in their everyday lives.

Dalrymple said he would like to see more students involved throughout the state.

"It looks very promising," he said. "As a governor, I'd like to figure out how to expand on this. Why can't we do this in every high school in North Dakota?"

Through Sources of Strength, students try to reach out to peers who feel isolated. Senior Christian Kilwein said one in eight students at Century cannot name a friend, and no one names them as a friend.

First lady Betsy Dalrymple said that approach is important.

"I think there are times in all of our lives when we feel we are a little removed from everyone else," she said. "I really appreciate that you are zeroing in on that."
Dozens of local Catholic college and high school students boarded buses bound for the nation's capital this week to participate in the annual March for Life event.

The March for Life draws hundreds of thousands of anti-abortion advocates to Washington, D.C., each year around the anniversary of the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion in the United States.

This year's march takes place Friday, and the students are likely to face a frigid walk down the National Mall after their 26-hour journey from Bismarck to Washington. A blizzard is expected to hit the East Coast city Friday and dump at least a foot of snow, according to the National Weather Service.

More than 130 students and chaperones from St. Mary's Central High School and other high schools within the Diocese of Bismarck packed onto buses Tuesday after Mass at Cathedral of the Holy Spirit.

St. Mary's students joined Fargo's Shanley High School students last year to carry the lead banner and guide the 500,000 activists participating in the march.

On Wednesday, more than 60 University of Mary students departed for the rally. They first attended a blessing at the Our Lady of the Annunciation Chapel on campus.

Before the march down the National Mall, around the Capitol and to the steps of the Supreme Court, students will attend a rally where they will hear from several prominent anti-abortion advocates, including Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina.
The vice chairman of the University of Minnesota Board of Regents is publicly questioning whether enrollment declines at one campus are because its too diverse, a question that has drawn criticism and calls for his resignation. At a meeting of the board that oversees the university system last week, Vice Chairman Steve Sviggum, a former Minnesota House speaker, asked the current Morris chancellor whether it was possible at all from a marketing standpoint that the campus had become too diverse. Sviggum says he has received a couple of letters from parents whose children aren't going to go to Morris because it's too diverse and wouldn't "feel comfortable there.
North Dakotas at-large congressman vowed to continue pushing to overturn a federal water rule following a presidential veto of a resolution of disapproval of the rule passed by Congress.

On Tuesday, President Barack Obama vetoed the resolution from Congress that was intended to vacate the Environmental Protection Agencys Water of the United States rule.

Rep. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., said in a statement Wednesday the rule oversteps federal authority.

This administrations brazen over-regulation and attempt to have jurisdiction over every puddle on every farm in every state harms the American economy and costs jobs, Cramer said. I will continue to work with my colleagues to kill this rule once and for all while supporting the states efforts to litigate this matter.

Cramer and the rest of the North Dakota congressional delegation along with state leaders have long slammed the rule as an example of the federal government overstepping its bounds in an attempt to strip states of water oversight.

State leaders and the delegation have said it would impact nearly all groundwater and subsurface water sources, making it unworkable for the states farmers and ranchers as well as industry and communities. The EPA has denied these claims.

Thirty-one states and multiple industry groups have filed suits against the EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. A federal court blocked implementation of the rule last fall.
Botswanas economic and business landscape for the past fifty years will be exclusively and extensively featured in a book to be launched by a local company in September 2016.

50Years of Economics and Business, a local company that is currently collecting content for the book, will publish it as part of the countrys celebration of 50 years of independence. The aim of the book is to chronicle the countrys business and economics success stories since 1966 when Botswana attained independence from Britain.

According to Business Development Partner at the company, Archie Thembe said the book will also showcase current businesses and enterprises, who will each tell their stories on how they have managed to make it this far. In reading their success stories in the book, prospective investors will also have a chance to weigh their options of investing in the mining-rich economy.





The discovery of diamonds in the late 1970s is considered by some as the most turning point for the country whose founding was President Sir Seretse Khama. The book, according Thembe, offers a lifetime opportunity for local companies to sell their products and services to local and international customers. This publication presents an opportunity for many stakeholders and businesses to share their experiences in the last 50 years, stressed Thembe.

Ahead of the highly anticipated launch of the book (1st September 2016), the company has sought partnership with trade and industry ministry and endorsements from Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC), Brand Botswana, Vision 2016, BOT 50,Primedia Outdoor Advertising, among other key stakeholders.
Five Rwandese female journalists attending media management training in Johannesburg were last week denied entry into South Africa as the diplomatic tiff between the two countries intensified.

The training that attracted over 30 women journalists was organised by Worlds Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WANIFRA) and Women In News, in partnership with the School of Journalism at Wits University. It is with sadness that we could not fix the diplomatic issues between the two countries of Rwanda and South Africa to bring you to training next week.

We are working closely with Wits University to see how we can bring the training to you, read an email from the organisers and addressed to the journalists, adding that, We hope to have a solution soon so we can welcome you in person to the Women in News programme.





One of the organisers Alison Meston Bunting told participants that they were planning to travel to Rwanda to conduct the training of women in the media there. This saga follows another incident in which South African government expelled three Rwandan diplomats that were linked to a raid on an exiled Rwandan generals Johannesburgs home in 2014.

Rwanda, according to Reuters retaliated by asking six South African envoys to leave. During that period, the source says armed men broke into the Johannesburg home of a former Rwandan army chief, General Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa, an exiled critic of Rwandas president, Paul Kagame.

It is reported that he was not home at the time. A diplomatic official said that South African security services had tracked the intruders and determined that they were intelligence personnel attached to the Rwandan Embassy.South African police had also been investigating the murder in Johannesburg of another exiled Kagame opponent, which Kagame and officials denied any involvement in the attacks on exiled opponents but rather called them traitors.

Meanwhile, the media management certificate course introduces the participants to management principles, finance for finance managers, people management, marketing and advertising, research and new technology, strategic planning and governance.

The theoretical principles are presented in the context of how they apply to the effective management of media organisations. It attracted female journalists from Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Malawi and Kenya.
Francistown City Council (FCC) Deputy Mayor Lechedzani Modenga who has been missing from office since November 24th 2015 will allegedly face a rebellion from his fellow Councillors upon his return.

This is according to information gathered by Northern Extra. The councillors say there is no option but to topple him from his position to pave way for a better candidate. A BDP councillor who didnt want to be named accused Modenga of neglecting his duties as deputy mayor.

During the November session, he was only present on the 23rd only to return the next day to drop a sick leave application. We have not seen him since that day and as councillors we are worried as there is no explanation given to us as to where he is, said the councillor.





Mayor Sylvia Muzila admitted to have last seen Modenga during the November full council meeting last year. She however denied knowledge of any plot by BDP councillors to topple her deputy. She said that Modenga has not violated any rules or regulations by not sitting in his office at the Civic Centre. Action can only be taken against a councillor who misses three consecutive full council meetings and in the case of Modenga he is currently free from any blame from FCC. He is not compelled to report at his office on a daily basis as his main area of focus is his ward where he is needed most by the electorate, she said.

But the mayors assertions were quashed by an insider who said that the deputy mayor must also do mayoral duties. He was worried that Modengas phones are never answered. In fact, on many occasions they are off air, the insider revealed.

Muzila said that the city clerk can always locate the deputy mayor and inform him whenever there is need for him to be in the office. Muzila distanced herself from the rumours that her deputy might be in financial difficulties hence avoiding those he owes money by staying away from the office. Councillor for Kanana ward, which shares a boundary with Modengas ward, Cornelius Gopolang also admitted that for a long time the deputy mayor has not been seen in public.

His sudden disappearance from the public is cause for concern since he is mandated to help Francistown residents in his office. If he is on sick leave, then the councillors have to know instead of speculating endlessly, Gopolang said.

Gopolang could neither confirm nor deny knowledge of the looming motion of no confidence on the deputy mayor. Efforts by this publication in the past two weeks to contact Modengas mobile numbers hit a snag as none was available.

Another BDP Cllr feared that if Modenga continues with his absence, the party could lose the ward to the opposition in the next election. He said that even his position of deputy mayor was also not safe. 

Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) councillor Gaone Majere did not hide his displeasure at the way Modenga is neglecting his office.

I used to think that the city mayor Sylvia Muzila was selfish when she did not delegate her deputy. He is always absent. The man does not take his position seriously hence the need to give him the boot, said Majere.He said that Modenga should be assisting the Mayor but that Muzila finds herself having to do everything all alone.

We should put friendship aside and kick him out for the benefit of the residents of Francistown. He has an office which is forever vacant, he said. He revealed that sometime in December 2015 he called Modenga to inquire about his whereabouts and that he said he was not feeling well. I then advised him to resign and hand over the reins to someone capable and he said that he would consider that around March 2016. I am not even sure if he was serious, he said.
WAR crimes prosecutors will Thursday seek to convince the International Criminal Court to put infamous Lords Resistance Army commander Dominic Ongwen on trial on charges, including keeping sex slaves in a rebel army.

Known as the White Ant, Ongwen faces 70 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role from 2002 to 2005 in the rebel groups reign of terror in northern Uganda, led by its fugitive chief Joseph Kony.

A former child-soldier-turned-warlord, Ongwen was Konys one-time deputy and one of the most senior commanders of the LRA, which is accused of slaughtering more than 100,000 people and abducting 60,000 children in a bloody rebellion against Kampala that began in 1986.





In the five-day confirmation hearing starting on Thursday, prosecutors will lay out the charges to a three-judge bench seeking to show that the evidence is solid enough to put Ongwen in the dock. The judges will then have to determine whether Ongwen should stand trial.

The prosecution will focus in particular on four attacks on camps housing people forced to flee the LRAs violence. More than 130 peoplemany of them children and babiesdied in these attacks and dozens of others were abducted, prosecutors said in the court document containing the charges.

LRA fighters under the joint control of Dominic Ongwen abducted civilians, forced them to carry looted items shot at them and threatened them with acts of violence, the charges read.

LONGEST-RUNNING CASE

In one instance after an attack on the Odek camp, northern Uganda, in April 2004 in which at least 61 men, women and children were killed, one individual was forced to kill an abducted man from Odek with a club and forced to inspect decomposing bodies, including that of his father, prosecutors said.

Ongwen, who has been wanted by The Hague-based ICC since 2005 in the courts longest-running case, was originally charged with seven war crimes and crimes against humanity. The ICCs chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda however in December broadened the charges to 70 which now also include eight sexual and gender-based crimes.

How local Ugandan media reported his capture. (Photo/AFP) Kony, Ongwen and senior commanders of Ongwens notorious Sinia brigade pursued a common plan to abduct girls and women to serve as domestic servants, forced wives and sex slaves, prosecutors said.

The victims had no choice but to submit to rape, enslavement, sexual slavery and become forced wives, they said. Ongwen is further charged with using children under 15 years old to fight in the LRA rebel army.

Born in 1975, Ongwen was transferred to The Hague a year ago shortly after surrendering to US special forces operating in the Central African Republic.

KONY REMAINS AT LARGE

President Barack Obama had deployed a small number of US troops to the region to aid the hunt for Kony, who remains at large. Washington had also offered a $5 million (4.5-million-euro) reward for Ongwens capture.

Experts believe Ongwen fled after falling out with Kony and almost being killed.

The LRA first emerged in northern Uganda in 1986, where it claimed to fight in the name of the Acholi ethnic group against the government of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. But over the years the LRA has moved across porous regional borders: it shifted from Uganda to sow terror in southern Sudan before moving into northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, and finally crossing into southeastern Central African Republic in March 2008.

Combining religious mysticism with an astute guerrilla mind and bloodthirsty ruthlessness, Kony has turned scores of young girls into his personal sex slaves while claiming to be fighting to impose the Bibles Ten Commandments.

Ongwens own troops were notorious for their punishment raids, during which they would slice off victims lips and ears as a grim calling card. But rights groups say Ongwen was himself initially a victimabducted at 14 by the LRA as he was walking to schoolwhich may prove a mitigating factor, should he be found guilty at trial.
The Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) rally held in Tutume village in the Nkange constituency on Saturday exposed cracks in the three-party opposition coalition front.

The most obvious sign of the divisions was the absence of Kgomotso Shongwe and all the six council candidates from the rally which was addressed, among others, by Ndaba Gaolathe and Motlatsi Molapisi who are secretary general and national chairman of the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) respectively.

Also in that order, the two are presidents of the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) and Botswana Peoples Party (BPP) respectively. Both parties alongside the Botswana National Front (BNF) are affiliates of the UDC. The rally also attracted Botswana Congress Party (BCP) senior politicians such as Batisani Maswibilili and Never Tshabang.





Conspicuous by their absence were Shongwe and all the ten council candidates for the constituency at the 2014 general election. The boycotting council candidates included the only BPP council candidate in the constituency, Onious Mpati. Apparently, the rally was the culmination of a three-day mobilisation effort in the constituency which was led by the BPP.

For starters, the Nkange constituency was one of the six constituencies allocated to the BPP countrywide during the constituency allocations among the UDC members in the run up to the last general election.

Because the party could not raise a candidate, it asked Botswana National Front to provide the candidate. When contacted for comment regarding his absence from the rally, Shongwe who doubles as chairman of the constituency, said that the time was not ripe.

After we have met and fixed our issues, I will call you and give you the answers you want. This is a difficult constituency hence the need for us to be careful, he said without confirming or denying that he had deliberately boycotted the event. Asked why he had boycotted an event led by his own party, Mpati referred this publication to Shongwe.

When addressing the rally on Saturday afternoon, Molapisi had assured some faceless disgruntled members of UDC that his party had no intentions of taking the constituency from anybody. Whoever will represent us in the next general election will be the best candidate as determined by the UDC. It could be somebody from the BPP, BNF, BMD or even BCP for that matter, he said.

The BCP, which is not a member of the UDC, is reportedly in talks with the UDC with the view to joining. Many on the side lines of the rally insisted that Molapisis message of assurance was directed to Shongwe and the council candidates.

There is suspicion that Shongwe is unsettled by the BPPs mobilisation activities in the constituency which he reads to mean that, should the party raise a candidate, it might ask the constituency back before the 2019 general election. Of course there is disunity which results from false perceptions. I am disappointed because I certainly did not expect the boycott.

We are committed to opposition cooperation. Our mobilisation activities should not alarm anybody. We are targeting BDP members and people who do not belong to any party.

Our members are going to be asked to vote for the opposition candidate here. Our intention is not to take the constituency from anybody, said Molapisi in an interview early this week.
The Umbrella for Democratic Change chairman for Nata-Gweta constituency and a member of the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) Galethata Zibani has vowed to topple Member of Parliament for Nkange constituency who is also Minister of Labour and Home Affairs Edwin Batshu in the coming 2019 general election.

Speaking at a well-attended UDC political rally to welcome new members in Tutume over the weekend, Zibani revealed that he is the one who destroyed former Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) MP Daniel Kwelagobe in the past general election in which Dr. Tlamelo Mmatli triumphed. Zibani boasted to his comrades that he will claim Batshus scalp in the 2019 general election.

I stand before you and proudly announce that as a former campaign manager for comrade Mmatli in Molepolole South, I and my comrades worked tirelessly to make it a point that the constituency is snatched from DK although sceptics did not believe it to be possible.





If we can bring down someone with almost 50 years as MP, it will be very easy to shoot down Batshu since he is a political novice who was simply given a go in politics due to his allegiance to President Ian Khama, he said.

When quizzed by the Northern Extra on the modus operandi they used in Molepolole South to cause an upset, Zibani was not prepared to disclose his weapon lest BDP use it against them. He however revealed that when they camped in Molepolole their main agenda was to win the hearts of as many youths as possible in order to frustrate the elders who are hell bent on voting for the ruling BDP.

The problem with our crop of elders is that they have been brain washed by the ruling party to a point where they cannot differentiate between right and wrong. When we entered Molepolole South, we had this in mind and whenever we entered a yard during our house to house campaigns, we targeted youths since we believed that they will in the long run lecture their elderly parents on the dangers of voting for BDP, he said.

He admitted that for UDC to wrestle the Nkange constituency from the ruling party, they will need to start their campaigns for 2019 as early as possible.

He told his comrades that threats by the Vice President Mokweetsi Masisi to recruit BMD members are a non-starter. I am a former BDP member and Masisi has never been a political heavyweight and as such, people should not be worried about his threats. He cannot mobilise people since he lacks the political charisma to do so, he said.
Not only is Africa endowed with fertile soils and rich flora and fauna that are the envy of the world, but so are the minds of some of her young entrepreneurs.

Local fashion designer, Ayanda Modisane who is yet to influence her unique line, which is also the first of its kind at least in Botswana - believes that Africa as a whole is a beautiful place. Unlike many other fashion designers, Ayanda has chosen to restrict herself to designing swimwear costumes at the moment.

Her costumes are not just ordinary, but have a specific identity as they are made up of African prints. Ayanda, who is the CEO of Print Swim, says that her fashion line was launched only last year, but the feedback has been impressive. My style is very daring yet classy. African prints just bring out a certain feel of power to clothing and with my line, everyone of any size feels scenic while wearing print swim, she said.





Even the highly rated Western films also use African print to appreciate and compliment the imagery of Africa. This has also motivated Ayanda to take a different angle in fashion to show what Africa is made up of. Africa has inspired my line from the wildlife, vegetation and its different cultures. Therefore, I decided to fuse all these factors into something that would make everyone admire our prints through print swimwear to have the feel of Africa.

An admirer of Ayandas print swimwear described it as a very unique fashion line and wished that Miss Africa pageant contestants could use it. It was launched at the right time when Botswana is celebrating its 50th Anniversary of independence because we are a tourism country as well, she added.

Ayanda says that in the first quarter her line will expand to South Africa, Namibia and Mozambique to host a few shows within those countries to get brand recognition. As the brand grows, Modisane looks forward to making print sandals and towels. Asked to define fashion, she said it is an art. Fashion is art and you are your own artist bringing out your current emotions to life with clothing, she said.
North Dakota Supreme Court Justice Lisa Fair McEvers announced her candidacy Wednesday to serve the remaining two years of the term to which she was appointed.

McEvers, 53, was appointed to the states highest court in November 2013 by Gov. Jack Dalrymple, stepping into the role effective Jan. 1, 2014.

She replaced Justice Mary Muehlen Maring, who retired at the end of 2013. McEvers is running for a two-year term to finish out the remainder of Marings term.

Ive always intended to run. I told the governor then I intended to run, McEvers said.

McEvers earned her law degree from the University of North Dakota School of Law then clerked for the state Supreme Court for the 1997-98 term.

After three years in private practice, she became a Cass County Assistant States Attorney. In 2005, she was appointed North Dakota Labor Commissioner and, in 2010, appointed to an East Central Judicial District judgeship. She was elected to an unexpired term in 2012.

McEvers said her background in the public and private sector gives her the experience to continue on the court and, so far, the job has gone as expected.

The thing that surprised me about the court was the amount of public outreach, McEvers said.

She said public outreach has included visits to schools across the state for events, something she said is a positive.

Its important for the court to have that interaction, said McEvers, indicating that many in the legal community know her but it will be important to travel across the state and get voters acquainted with her.

As a member of the court, she also sits on several state boards and commissions.

McEvers is a Minto native. She and her husband, James McEvers, have four children. Two of their children are in the North Dakota National Guard.
A public hearing in Stark County in March for a second attempt at a proposed wind energy project and transmission line project was set Wednesday by state regulators.

The North Dakota Public Service Commission scheduled a public hearing for a project proposed by Brady Wind LLC, an indirect subsidiary of Wilton, Conn.-based NextEra Energy Resources LLC.

The hearing for the transmission line is tentatively set for 10 a.m. Central Time March 2 at Dickinson City Hall, 99 2nd St. E., with the wind farm project hearing following at noon Central Time.

Commissioner Brian Kalk said the project was to be located in the southern part of Stark County 6 miles north of New England.

Brady Wind is proposing to put as many as 87 wind turbines in southern Stark County to generate 150 megawatts of electricity. The estimated cost of the project is $235 million.

The company is also looking to build a 19-mile, 230-kilovolt transmission line from the project to connect with an existing Belfield-to Rhame 230-kilovolt transmission line owned by Basin Electric Power Cooperative. The estimated cost of the transmission line is $12 million.

Its the second attempt for NextEra for a project in Stark County. A conditional use permit for a project of similar size, which was planned for a 61-square-mile area in eastern Stark County between Gladstone and Richardton, was rejected by the county commission in May.
A North Dakota senator is urging colleagues to override a presidential veto of a congressional resolution of disapproval over a federal water rule.

Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., spoke on the Senate floor on Thursday, asking other members to overturn President Barack Obamas veto of the congressional resolution earlier this week. The resolution that was vetoed was intended to vacate the Environmental Protection Agencys Water of the United States rule.

The EPAs attempt to expand its reach through the Waters of the U.S. rule is the No. 1 regulatory issue, Hoeven said in a news release. The EPA has sought through administrative fiat to seize authority it does not legally possess.

Since the resolutions passage last year, it was known by members of North Dakotas congressional delegation that the two-thirds majority needed to overturn a veto wasn't there.

Hoeven said hell push to have the rule defunded annually through the agencys appropriation bill as well as repeal it through other legislation.

Litigation is also another option already underway: Thirty-one states and multiple industry groups have sued the EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. A federal court blocked implementation of the rule last fall.

The full North Dakota congressional delegation along with state leaders have long slammed the rule as an example of the federal government overstepping its bounds in an attempt to strip states of water oversight.

State leaders and the delegation have said it would impact nearly all groundwater and subsurface water sources, making it unworkable for the states farmers and ranchers as well as industry and communities. The EPA has denied these claims.
RED LAKE INDIAN RESERVATION, Minn. -- Let's get one thing straight here right off the bat about this early January fishing excursion:

We'd picked the coldest day of a mostly wimpy winter to try our luck for rainbow trout and brook trout on the Red Lake Indian Reservation. The temperature the morning of Jan. 9 flirted with 15 below zero, and the brisk northwest wind made it feel even colder.

No matter, that. We'd be fishing in the heated comfort of portable shelters, and the trout in these small reservation lakes have a habit of biting regardless of the conditions.

You play the cards you're dealt when it comes to winter fishing, and it was going to take more than subzero cold to keep us off the ice.

The trip, which we'd booked through Seven Clans Casino along State Highway 89 at the southern boundary of the Red Lake Indian Reservation, was a rendezvous, of sorts, for a trio of fishermen from the Red River Valley and a trio from Minnesota's Iron Range.

Players in this rainbow trout reunion -- about a 2 -hour drive for both groups -- were Greg Clusiau and Blake Liend of Keewatin, Minn.; Justin Bailey of Bovey, Minn.; and Brad Durick, Kevin Grinde and myself from the valley. Durick and I live in Grand Forks, while Grinde resides in East Grand Forks.

Our hosts on this day were Daris Rosebear, 25, and his brother Davis, 26, of Red Lake, Minn. Daris oversees fishing operations for the casino, and Davis helps out with larger groups.

Winter attraction

Word's been getting out about the ice fishing on the reservation since the winter of 2012-13, when the Red Lake Tribal Council opened four small trout lakes -- which range from about 30 acres to 100 acres -- in reservation boundaries to year-round fishing for nontribal anglers who hire a tribal guide and buy a $10 daily permit.

More than 25 lakes in the reservation are open to nontribal anglers for open water fishing, but the walleye, bass and panfish lakes close at the end of October, as does a lake managed for lake trout.

The winter rainbow and brook trout fishing has been a popular option since 2012 -- and for good reason, as we were reminded last weekend.

Daris said this winter's late freeze-up has been good for business, as anglers who couldn't find safe ice anywhere else turned to the reservation to try their luck on trout.

Business has been brisk since Christmas, he said.

"There wasn't ice near the Twin Cities, so they came here," Daris said, adding he'd gone through two 50-permit books of nontribal licenses in the past few weeks and was well into a third.

If the weather had been more favorable, we'd have tried two lakes -- Island Lake and Kinney Lake -- Daris said, but with subzero temperatures, we'd focus on Kinney.

"Island Lake has been producing some high numbers," he said. "The average rainbow is between 12 and 16 inches, and brooks are 8 to 14 inches. Kinney has been a little slow, but they're bigger."

Three days earlier, a group of eight anglers had caught six 20-inch rainbows and iced limits of five trout each in about eight hours on Kinney, Daris said; traditionally, he says, action is best in the morning.

"Trout kind of slow down around noon, but we'll still catch them," he said.

On the ice

Within minutes of our arrival at Kinney Lake, the Rosebear brothers were drilling holes and setting up a six-person Clam thermal shelter atop 10 inches of ice above 45 feet of water. Despite the depth, the house wasn't more than about 100 yards from shore on the small lake.

Following the brothers' lead, Durick set up a smaller Frabill pop-up shelter near a beaver house where the depth dropped from 10 feet of water to 20 feet in a matter of steps. Brook trout favor shallower water, Daris said, while rainbow trout tend to dominate the deeper water, where they often suspend several feet off the bottom.

Liend found that out minutes into the morning when a chunky rainbow smacked his jigging spoon just a few feet under the ice outside the deeper house. That pattern would persist throughout the day in deeper water, while the trout near the beaver house generally cruised closer to the bottom in 16 feet of water.

Despite the cold snap, jigging spoons or small tungsten jigs were effective at putting trout on the ice, and the action was about the same both in shallower and deeper water. The trout were finicky, at times, and the electronics we used often showed the fish rising up to the bait only to turn up their noses at the last minute.

Clusiau, a veteran angler and fishing guide, said that didn't surprise him.

"I figured the cold snap had them biting not as well as good weather would have," he said. "Normally, the larger fish are less active."

By the numbers

Those who wanted to keep trout had no trouble catching their five-fish limits, and between all of us, we caught probably 50 rainbow trout and two bonus brookies in about five hours of fishing. The rainbows ranged from about 14 inches to nearly 20 inches, while the brook trout -- which resemble swimming jewels with their striking orange fins and pink, orange and yellow spots -- measured about 10 inches.

Pieces of nightcrawler or waxworms were the preferred baits, although Davis Rosebear caught several rainbows on a cigarette butt.

There'll be no judgments about the health dangers of smoking, but you know fishing's good when the fish will hit cigarette butts.

"I'd rate it right up there as far as being able to catch a bunch of trout in a short amount of time," Clusiau said. "(There's) no better place to take someone that wants to catch fish. I plan on heading back with my grandkids when spring rolls around. I can't imagine how they will react to fish after fish."

Bailey, a fishing guide and military veteran who also helps other veterans enjoy the outdoors through the Fishing with Vets organization, said his first fishing excursion to the Red Lake Indian Reservation definitely won't be his last.

"I didn't know what to expect, and the whole experience was amazing," he said, adding the Rosebear brothers were fun hosts and kept the crew laughing all day. "Plus, the fishing was (great). I will be making a lot more trips."
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 21/01/2016 (2464 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brandons annual winter festival has undergone a major organizational revamp ahead of this months cultural celebration  but organizers say the event itself will remain unchanged.

For starters, the festival has parted ways with its title sponsor, Lt.-Gov. Janice Filmon, and will no longer be called the Lieutenant Governors Winter Festival.

When we chatted with her, it was very cordial, event chair Richard Bruce said. I think every once in a while when the lieutenant-governors come in, they start to audit different things. This has been 13 years and it really is time that it became a community affair.

File photo Gino Jaune of Mauritius and Gina Muhlbach of the Phillipines dance at the Global Village Pavillion.

During their conversation, Filmon told Bruce she still supports the event and will attend its opening ceremonies when she can. However, Filmon will not be at the 2016 event, which runs Jan. 28-30, as she will be in Winnipeg marking the centennial of womens right to vote in Manitoba on Jan. 28.

Bruce says the name change wont affect funds available for this years festival, but it will allow for more freedom if the board decides to expand its reach and create new cultural events in the city.

It gives us an opportunity to do other cultural groups within the community, Bruce said. If this grows to do other educational or cultural things, you always have to go back to the patron to get permission to do that.

The second major change is that the festival has made an agreement with the city and will move forward as an independent incorporated not-for-profit organization.

This means any future funding from the city will be in the way of grants.

Thats not a for sure thing anymore, we have to apply for that  the (Grants Review Committee) could reduce it or increase it or leave it the same, Bruce said.

File photo Dancers with the Mauritius dance group Island Vibe perform for visitors.

The 2016 festival has been awarded a $15,000 grant from the city. In the past, the City of Brandon gave $1,000 to each pavilion and allocated staff to work on the event.

Bruce estimates the festival will cost upwards of $40,000 to put on and the rest of the funds will be found via sponsorship.

This years three-day event will have eight pavilions celebrating Ukrainian, Irish, Scottish, Metis, English, Mauritian, Chinese and Brazilian cultures.

Bruce says there will not be a First Nations pavilion for the second year in a row because Dakota Nation Winterfest again lands on the same weekend. The Hondurans say they will be back next year.

Anyone interested in volunteering can sign up at lgwf.ca.

File photo Melissa St. Goddard plays the fiddle at the Metis Pavilion.

 ewasney@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @evawasney
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 21/01/2016 (2464 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Three family farmers identified public perception as one of the biggest risks producers are facing in the agriculture sector.

Speaking in the FCC Theatre at Manitoba Ag Days in the Keystone Centre on Wednesday, Forrests Ryan Boyd, Wawanesas Simon Ellis and Teulons Kyle Willis said social media and the ability of lobby groups to cast a wide swath of influence will threaten agriculture in different ways.

Willis spoke candidly about some of the battles he has immersed himself in on social media with people he claims are misinformed about the industry. While he tries to avoid those conversations, he said sometimes he has to speak up.

Tim Smith/Brandon Sun Three-year-old Amelia Melvin of Brandon plays in the wheel well of a John Deere combine while exploring the Manitoba Ag Days farming show with her father on Wednesday. The three-day show wraps up today.

One woman railed on how farms treat animals, vowing to only eat deer or bear meat because it was wild and subsequently wasnt exposed to genetically modified organisms.

I couldnt take it anymore, said Willis, whose family farm is mixed crop and cattle, although they are looking to sell off the herd.

Willis said those same deer love his soybeans and corn, two crops that are almost exclusively GMO in Canada.

Were going to come up against roadblocks in the future that were not going to be able to grow certain crops because of fear-mongering.

He also finds it hypocritical for those same people to claim they are going to stop eating beef when they own vehicles with leather interiors and wear clothing made of leather.

We treat animals as well or better than anyone else, Willis said.

Its one of my biggest concerns and to me we have to support anyone who is in a battle to defend our livlihood.

Its not people making informed decisions that bother Willis, but alarmists who prey on peoples emotional connection to food.

Ellis, whose family has run a seed company for four generations, said the landscape has changed, and its important for producers to take an active role in the conversation.

Everyone right now has the same loud voice on the Internet, Ellis said. Its our duty as farmers to speak up about how we grow our food and raise our animals and show that it is safe and valuable to them in a sustainable fashion.

Ellis said a photo of performing a task around the farm posted to Facebook or Twitter can alter perceptions.

Tim Smith/Brandon Sun Ryan Boyd, a farmer from Forrest, speaks during a seminar titled Managing Risk, A Producer Perspective in the FCC Theatre during Manitoba Ag Days at the Keystone Centre on Wednesday. Farmers Simon Ellis and Kyle Willis also took part in the seminar.

For Boyd, who operates a mixed farm with his father, its about honesty and transparency.

Following his presentation, he said its all good to post a cute photo of a producer with a calf on the farm, but they also have to post a photo of the large sprayer using pesticides on fields.

I think its important we dont sugarcoat what we are doing, Boyd said. We have to be fully transparent with what we are doing. And if we cant post everything we are doing and be proud of it, then we really have to question what we are doing.

Boyd said its not up to the agriculture sector to tell consumers what they want. Rather, he said, its up to producers to be honest, keep and open mind, believe in what they are doing and let the consumer judge for themselves.

Other risks identified by the three farmers were the environment, labour shortage, market volatility and succession planning.

 ctweed@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @CharlesTweed
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 21/01/2016 (2464 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Just days after WestJet Encore launched its second daily flight out of Brandon, the airline has announced a reduction in service.

The number of flights per week between Brandon and Calgary will fall from 14 to 11, effective Feb. 15. The second flight will be removed entirely for the summer season.

With the downturn in the economy we are seeing less demand for travelto andfromenergymarkets into areas acrossCanada  including Brandon, WestJet spokesperson Lauren Stewart said via email, adding the airline has adjusted service to provide the most effective and efficient schedule to meet the needs of its customers.

The changes we have made still ensure that our guests have the ability to conveniently connect to the WestJet network, Stewart said. We do appreciate that this is unfortunate news for our guests in Brandon. We will continue to evaluate the situationand make changes as necessary.

Brandon Municipal Airport will continue to maintain the original flights to and from Calgary, which have been in place since the airline began service in 2013. (Flight WS 3242 departs Calgary at 9:45 a.m. and arrives in Brandon at 12:45 p.m. Flight 3243 leaves Brandon at 1:20 p.m. and arrives in Calgary at 2:37 p.m.)

Its the secondary flights that will only be available four times per week.

Flight WS 3250, which leaves Calgary at 7:50 p.m. and arrives in Brandon at 10:50 p.m., will be available Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

The flight departing Brandon at 6 a.m. and arriving in Calgary at 7:28 a.m. (WS 3257) will operate on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, according to WestJet.

Brandon Chamber of Commerce president Jordan Ludwig said he was surprised to see the second flight reduced so quickly after being launched.

I would think you would want to give it more of a chance, but obviously if theyre cancelling it, theyre not seeing the uptake or the rider volumes that are required to make that flight daily, Ludwig said.

With a good portion of WestJets ridership between Brandon and Calgary related to the Bakken oil field, Ludwig said he isnt shocked to see that business traffic is not where it once was.

Im not sure how long they can ride this out for, but Im pretty confident at some point itll bounce back, he said.

Ludwig encouraged Brandon citizens to continue to support the flights.

If we want air service, we absolutely have to support it, he said.

Although the second Brandon flight only launched this week, WestJet began booking the flights back in July.

While I can appreciate that the general public may view the service as lasting for only four days  in fact, for our purposes it was in our system for six months, Stewart said.

Mayor Rick Chrest chose to look at the situation in a positive light, considering the fact that Brandons flights are still increased from seven weekly to 11.

Its still going to be improved frequency over what we had been used to, he said. So thats positive that it wasnt completely cut  Were happy that theyre maintaining at least a part of the service.

Chrest said he understands the reality of the energy sector, and maintains that Brandons airport and market remain one of the shining stars for WestJet. The mayor remains optimistic about a potential eastbound flight.

Weve not been given any indication that there would be any concern that our case for an eastern flight would be affected by this, he said. Certainly our airport terminal expansion will also help that cause.

 jaustin@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @jillianaustin
WILLISTON  Toxic tap water has stricken the residents of Flint, Mich., and the catastrophe has hit home for two Williston businessmen, Chris Duell and Dan Provost, who believe they have the responsibility to try to do something about it.

The owners of the only water bottling plant in Williston -- C & D Water Supply -- call Flint home. Their business revolves around providing the community with fresh water and they understand the gravity of not being able to trust the water that comes out of homeowners faucets.

People take water for granted; we see it all the time, Duell said. If you dont have water, that becomes the most important thing in your home.

Provost hears the stories from his mother, who lives in the heart of the crisis. He said when residents of Flint turn on their faucets they can expect to fill a glass with brown, corrosive liquid.

The Flint River, which was the troubled water source, produces water so acidic it had eaten through much of the citys pipelines. The brown water is a result of eroded iron that has leaked into the supply. The water was never treated with an anti-corrosive agent that Duell said wouldve cost approximately $100 a day.

The outbreak of Legionnaire's disease has also concerned Michigan residents.

The Center for Disease Control states that Legionnaires disease is transmitted by inhaling mist or vapor, like that found in a shower. Although its unsure of where the source of the outbreak is, 87 Flint residents have been diagnosed with Legionnaires disease, resulting in 10 deaths.

Provost and Duell said they can recall many of the Flint homes were of older construction where lead solder was popular. There are now reports that there are elevated levels of lead in the water supply, which, they said, affects children and the elderly especially.

Flint was thriving, said Duell. Our whole families worked for General Motors and we were fortunate to have good, clean water.

It was perhaps fate that the Michigan natives should open a water company in Williston.

With the success Duell and Provost found at the height of the oil boom, they believe they have the financial ability to help their hometown. Even as they have experienced a slowdown, along with most businesses in the area, they knew it was something they had to do.

On Saturday, they will be loading up a semi-truck with 1,040 4-gallon bottles of water. They partnered with Duells stepfather, Craig Colvin, who is currently driving an empty truck from Michigan to North Dakota.

The drop point will be at the United Way in Flint on Monday where its expected to serve schools and restaurants that have otherwise been unable to cook food.

Duell and Provost opened a GoFundMe account for Williston residents who would also like to contribute.

I know we are in a bit of a crisis ourselves, but were not expecting $1,000, $100, or even $50, Duell said. Even 1, 2, or 3 bucks can help.

Their goal is $8,500, which would be sufficient to send a full truck of 26 pallets of water back to Michigan, which they are offering to do at cost.

Were not looking to make a profit, said Provost. This city has been very good to us. We want to show the positive of the city of Williston.
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 21/01/2016 (2464 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Its a thin line any interim leader must walk. You dont want to stray too far off the path in terms of policy and alienate supporters. You dont want to disparage the previous leader and point out mistakes. At the same time, you need to act effectively in government and build a base from which the party can rebuild.

This is the job before interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose, who was in Winnipeg Tuesday, one of several cities shes visiting this week for pre-budget consultations.

Ms. Ambrose went over some familiar ground while speaking at a Manitoba Chambers of Commerce luncheon. Speaking to the very business-friendly crowd, she pledged to be the Canadian taxpayers watchdog sitting in opposition in the House of Commons. As she put it, she isnt optimistic about the new and untested prime ministers ability to do no harm to the economy given the partys miscalculations on the impact of cuts to middle-income earners taxes on the economy.

She also chided the Liberal government for being weak on the Islamic State and terrorism, particularly after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he was pulling CF-18 fighter jets out of the bombing campaign against IS in Syria.

These are familiar refrains from the Tories  certainly something that was heard during the longest federal election in modern history. And as Ms. Ambrose points out, the percentage of voter support didnt change substantively between 2011 and 2015. In other words, if it aint broke, dont fix it, and the economy and security remain the Liberals Achilles heel.

However, there is also a softening from the leaders bench on some issues. As soon as Ms. Ambrose was elected interim leader by her peers, she announced her party would support an inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women  seemingly a

180-degree turn from the Conservatives under Stephen Harper. But in a meeting with the Winnipeg Free Press editorial board, Ms. Ambrose bristled at that portrayal, stating she has always been active on womens issues, particularly with her work on a national program to end domestic violence. In keeping with her line that her party tends to be the taxpayers watchdog, Ms. Ambrose is on record stating an inquiry should do more than just study the issue, but should include action.

At the same time, Ms. Ambrose doesnt have the ability to control her caucus colleagues like Mr. Harper did. The former prime minister was notorious for micromanaging his cabinet ministers, if only by virtue of his position. In official Opposition, banishment to the backbenches is not the carrot to control politicians. On that score, Ms. Ambrose has said she wont harness her colleagues. These are very intelligent, experienced, articulate people. I dont have to hold their hands  Im proud to allow them to take their files  to run with them. I have complete confidence.

One wonders what would have happened if the Rona Ambroses, the Jim Prentices, the Lisa Raitts were given that same ability while in government. To run their files with confidence, without the tight control of Mr. Harper. And to do so with the quiet competence Ms. Ambrose demonstrates. The government would have felt just a bit more democratic rather than autocratic.

In the next few months, it will be interesting to see who will come forward to run as Conservative leader before the May 27, 2017, leadership conference. Ms. Ambrose says she knows about 10 interested candidates, and time will tell who will make the big move forward. As for Kevin OLeary, Ms. Ambrose played it perfectly: I dont judge, she said about the possibility of the bombastic businessman throwing his hat into the ring.

A perfect response, from an interim leader who so far seems to be getting it right. Shame she wont run as leader.

 Winnipeg Free Press
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 21/01/2016 (2464 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

REGINA Manitobas civil service is clearly worried. A no-layoff clause is the most prominent provision in a tentative deal between the Manitoba government and the 14,000 members of the Manitoba Government and General Employees Union. The deal is clearly meant to put minds at rest, regardless of the next elections outcome.

But it is not the result of the next election that should be keeping civil servants awake at night. The mathematical reality of Manitobas financial situation should be much more concerning. And theres reason for hope: hard work now can avert eventual disaster.

First, lets usher the partisan bogeyman out of the debate.

Alberta Premier Ralph Klein and Ontario Premier Mike Harris are the names often associated with budget trimming. And yes, they were both Conservatives. But they were not the only ones who made difficult budgetary decisions.

As federal finance minister, Paul Martin tackled a spiralling deficit and soaring debt by making deep cuts. He reduced government spending by more than $25 billion and shrank the federal civil service by 45,000 positions. And he was a Liberal.

Saskatchewan Premier Roy Romanow is an even more striking example. From 1982 to 1991, Saskatchewans provincial debt went from zero to nearly $15 billion. Bond-rating agencies knocked its credit rating down to BBB, which meant there was a significant risk the province couldnt pay its bills. Romanow cut spending to the point he closed 1,200 hospital beds. And, of course, he was a New Democrat.

Political philosophy of Martin and Romanow ultimately mattered little  they had to cut spending or risk financial ruin. Math is absolutely non-partisan.

This has important implications for Manitoba. The provinces financial trajectory is well-known, and its not good. The government is spending half a billion dollars more than it has. Its debt is nearly $36 billion. Interest payments on the debt will total $842 million this year. Moodys, an international bond-rating agency, recently downgraded Manitobas credit rating.

If Manitoba continues on its current path, cuts will come regardless of which party is in power. Whether its a Conservative such as Mike Harris or a New Democrat such as Roy Romanow, financial necessity will negate partisan philosophy. A no-layoff clause that provides false security today could force deep cuts in the future.

This is not, however, a reason for civil servants or anyone else to panic. Manitobas trajectory is bad, but its ultimate destination is not yet determined. We have a choice.

According to the Frontier Centre, Manitoba has one of Canadas largest bureaucracies. Its financial weight is simply unsustainable. But if growth is curtailed through hiring freezes and reductions are implemented through retirements and other gradual steps, the situation will significantly improve. Realistically, some job losses will be unavoidable, but early action is the best way to prevent a future blizzard of pink slips.

The Progressive Conservatives and Liberals have both called for the government to get its budget under control, while the NDP has promised to keep its foot on the gas with spending. Voters will make an important choice in the coming election. But the result of that choice should not be the primary concern for Manitobas civil servants.

Its the math that should worry Manitobas civil servants  either Manitoba will gradually shrink its government to an affordable size now or the harsh economic realities of soaring interest costs will impose much deeper cuts in the future.

 Todd MacKay is the Prairie director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. His column was also published by the Winnipeg Free Press.
A North Dakota man accused of storing more than 1,000 pounds of homemade explosives in his garage is now facing criminal charges. Court records show 28-year-old Ross Petrie, of Williston, is charged with a felony called release of destructive forces. An affidavit of probable cause says law enforcement officers began serving a series of search warrants at Petries residence Oct. 10 after being informed that a narcotics lab could possibly be in operation. According to the affidavit, authorities discovered it was actually an explosives manufacturing operation in the garage of a townhouse complex. Officials say they evacuated more than 10 people from the building in which Petries townhouse was located.
A new lender is entering the Irish mortgage market.

Australian company Pepper will initially operate in a 20-strong broker network in the greater Dublin area, Galway, Cork and Limerick, but is expected to grow in time.

It is aimed at first time buyers, those switching lenders and investors and it is hoped its entry to the market will lead to lower rates from other institutions.

Pepper's Chris Helme said the company would also cater for people with previous credit problems.

He said: "They can have had some sort of life event (like losing their job), but in the last two years they've managed to restore their financial affairs and been up to date for that period.

"We don't feel that's a sector of the market that's being serviced today."

Chris Helme also admitted the company's rates will not be the lowest available, saying: "We're here to offer choice to customers, not to be the most competitive.

"We will look at every single case and individual on their own merits."
Christine Lagarde has refused to say whether she will seek a second term as head of the International Monetary Fund after both Britain and Germany gave her their backing.

British Chancellor George Osborne issued a statement saying the British Government had nominated her to stay in the post.

The German government quickly followed, with a finance ministry statement saying Ms Lagarde was a circumspect and successful crisis manager during the difficult period after the financial crisis.

Countries normally nominate their preferred candidate before the individual declares their intention to run.

At a panel in Davos, Switzerland, where the World Economic Forum is being held, Ms Lagarde said she was honoured but did not want to confirm whether she would agree to stand again.

The IMF has typically been run by a European official, while its sister organisation, the World Bank, by an American. Developing countries have increasingly opposed this informal arrangement.

The IMF's recent downgrade of growth forecasts and Ms Lagarde's future are on many minds at this week's World Economic Forum gathering, where she is a prominent presence.

Mr Osborne said: At a time when the world faces what Ive called a dangerous cocktail of risks, I believe Christine has the vision, energy and acumen to help steer the global economy through the years ahead.

The World Economic Forum meeting of business leaders and public figures has been overshadowed by turmoil in global markets and geopolitical security issues.

Speaking about Chinas economic slowdown, Ms Lagarde said the country needed to refine its communication on reforms it was taking and its market policies.

A Chinese market regulator said the concerns over growth were overstated. He said China has no option but to support growth this year, using its large financial reserves if needed.

We cannot afford to let the growth rate fall too sharply, because that would ignite a lot of financial problems inside China. So we will have appropriately expansionary fiscal and financial policy this year, said Fang Xinghai, from Chinas Central Leading Group for Financial and Economic Affairs.
The island of Ireland may be seen as a safe haven destination for overseas visitors this year due to security concerns about other parts of Europe, a tourism chief has predicted.

Tourism Irelands chief executive Niall Gibbons said volatility elsewhere in the world is not a basis upon which to market the Irish brand, but he said it is nevertheless a factor that has to be considered.

Mr Gibbons was giving evidence to Westminster MPs in Belfast.

Members of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee were at Stormont as part of their inquiry into the tourism industry north of the border.

Tourism Ireland markets both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland to the international tourism market.

In a committee discussion about issues that influence visitor numbers coming to the island, Mr Gibbons outlined the significance of geo-politics

I think the geo-political situation is far more volatile than it was this time six months ago, he said.

We have seen the attacks in Paris and difficult situations in Brussels and North Africa.

In a strange way what that has done in terms of international tourism trends - since the Arab Spring (2011) started we have seen tourism traffic pushed from North Africa and southern Europe up towards northern European countries. Actually northern European countries have actually made gain shares.

And what we are possibly likely to see this year is Ireland being seen as a more safe haven type destination.

Not the basis upon which you want to build your brand, but it is something we do take very seriously so to speak, particularly in markets like North America... We now see 10% of all North Americans travelling to mainland Europe now coming to the island of Ireland, which is a very, very big market share - its our biggest ever.

So that geo-political one is one we have to be very conscious of.

British MPs heard from a number of other witnesses on the tourism sector in Northern Ireland.

One of the key issues was the campaign for the 20% VAT rate paid by tourism providers in the North to be reduced to the 9% in operation in the Republic of Ireland.

The UK Government has proved resistant to the call, insisting the potential benefits would not sufficiently off-set the reduction in revenue take.

Stormont Finance Minister Mervyn Storey told the committee a VAT cut made sense not only in Northern Ireland, but across the UK.

If we do this on a national basis we believe this would be of a huge benefit to the tourism product right across the nation, he said.
James Murphy, I love you so much do you want to marry me?

A standard listeners call turned into the surprise of a lifetime for James Murphy when his girlfriend proposed to him live on the radio.

Wexford woman Joanne Leacy, from New Ross rang in to the South East regional station, Beat 102-103 for a standard request call but ended up asking the biggest question of all live on air.

Presenter Emma Nolan was completely surprised by the proposal and we are pretty sure James got a bit of a shock too!

James was driving at the time of the call, but thankfully said yes to the million dollar question, even though he had no time to phone a friend.

The couple have been together for a number of years and have a young daughter Caoimhe.

With 2016 being a leap year, according to old Irish tradition it is a year for women to take matters into their own hands and propose to their man.

After the shock proposal, presenter Emma Nolan rang back the happy couple some time later.

James said it was a big surprise and had no idea it was coming.

Their little daughter Caoimhe also took to the airwaves to share her excitement with Beat 102-103 listeners.
The Government is being accused of engaging in anti-competitive practice towards credit unions.

Concern is being raised about a new rule limiting deposits in credit unions to 100,000.
Gardai are investigating whether the motive for the murder of Kenneth O'Brien may have been of a personal nature.

The 33-year-old's dismembered body was found in a suitcase in the Grand Canal in Co Kildare at the weekend.
A new poll has found that the majority of Irish adults favour legalising abortion, in certain circumstances.

A Red C poll conducted for Newstalk has found that 61% believe abortion should be allowed for both significant fatal foetal abnormality/non-fatal foetal abnormality.

Some 59% felt that abortion should be allowed in the case of suicidal feelings on the part of the mother.

Find the full results of our poll on the issue of #repealthe8th here: https://t.co/QwTCB4XaGI #pknt pic.twitter.com/5LjAiDNurn  Pat Kenny Newstalk (@PatKennyNT) January 21, 2016

However, only 41% of people believe termination should be available in any circumstance felt necessary by the mother.

Results of the Newstalk / Red C poll live @NewstalkFM now #pknt pic.twitter.com/TbhHINXXSj  Pat Kenny Newstalk (@PatKennyNT) January 21, 2016

Some 48% of respondents believe the 8th Amendment should be removed from the Constitution, while 41% of respondents believe that it should not.

The Amendment reads: "the State acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother".

Sinead Mooney, joint managing director of Red C Research, said that where a woman is raped or gets pregnant by a family member, there's strong support for termination.

In cases of rape or incest, 78% believe abortion should be allowed, @NewstalkFM poll finds https://t.co/pY2vunvlNC pic.twitter.com/PhGhZ113kP  Newstalk Elections (@ElectionNT) January 21, 2016

We had a very strong support for legalising abortion in that circumstance, almost eight in 10 adults agreed that it should be allowed in those circumstances, she said.

And then from there, support began to deteriorate.

Differences amongst male and female respondents do not vary widely. The widest divergence is in the case of non-fatal foetal abnormality where 66% of men agree that abortion should be an option while only 57% of women agree with this assertion.

Speaking about the findings Richard Colwell, CEO of Red C Research said: The results of this exclusive poll for Newstalk show that the majority of adults in Ireland would like to see legal options for abortion within certain circumstances to be introduced in Ireland.

However, while seeking these changes, many remain committed to the ideals of the 8th Amendment.

Suggesting that while at a national level the people want to see abortion laws within Ireland revised, they still want to see careful governance retained. 

Shane Coleman, Newstalks political editor, said: There is a majority of people based on this poll who want to see changes in the 8th amendment but there is confusion in that.

What we do know is that only 48% of people want to see the 8th Amendment removed. That would suggest if there is a referendum, it is far from a done deal.
A cannabis factory containing up to 100 plants has been found in south Belfast.

Cultivation equipment was also seized when police officers raided a property at Mowhan Street yesterday.
Toulon president Mourad Boudjellal says he is serious about an approach he has reportedly made for the reigning European champions to join the Aviva Premiership.

The outspoken Toulon chief told www.lequipe.fr that his clubs Premiership presence would offer a huge added value.

Boudjellal has had an ongoing and often bitter battle with organisers of the Top 14  Frances premier domestic competition  about matters such as the salary cap.

Toulons expensively-assembled squad is packed with world stars like Bryan Habana, Matt Giteau, Leigh Halfpenny, Quade Cooper, Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe and Duane Vermeulen.

England superstar Jonny Wilkinson, meanwhile, inspired them to a first European title in 2013, with that trophy being retained the following season and in 2015.

Victory over Bath at the Recreation Ground on Saturday should secure a Champions Cup quarter-final place and keep them on course for an unprecedented fourth successive European crown.

Speaking about what will be widely viewed as an audacious and improbable move, Boudjellal said: I wrote for a contact.

If this is not possible the next season, maybe the one after that.

For them (the English), besides a big first, it would be a huge added value. And Im serious in my approach.
West Ham manager Slaven Bilic has denied making a move for Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge.

With both Andy Carroll and Diafra Sakho sidelined through injury and Mauro Zarate closing in on a deal to join Fiorentina, Bilic is keen to bolster his attacking options in the transfer window.

But the Hammers boss has dismissed speculation that Sturridge, the England striker who has featured just six times for the Reds this season due to a string of injuries, is poised for east London.

That is only a rumour and there is nothing behind it, said Bilic when asked about the Chelsea and Manchester City forward.

I am not talking about who we want  Daniel Sturridge is a big player and a big name  but that is only paper talk.

Sturridge has not trained with the Liverpool squad in six weeks, and manager Jurgen Klopp is reported to be growing increasingly frustrated with the situation.

But when it was put to Bilic that Sturridge, 26, may become available, the West Ham boss replied: What if? I would take Lionel Messi also, but it is only an if so there is nothing in it.

Bilic said Sakho, who this week was involved in a car accident, and Carroll are both ahead of schedule on their return from injury and are expected to be available in mid-February.

SB: "We are still looking around for more players but we are not panicking, we are not desperate to do anything, I am happy."  West Ham United (@WestHam) January 21, 2016

But the Croat revealed he remains interested in signing another striker with Nikica Jelavic, who scored in the 2-1 defeat at Newcastle on Saturday, possibly leaving the club in January.

We are not panicking, added Bilic. We know that we have a couple of players that are injured.

On the other hand there are a couple of players that may leave the club. Maybe Zarate, maybe Jelavic and if that happens, and it may happen, then we are going to try and get one striker.

Bilic, whose West Ham side entertain Manchester City in the Barclays Premier League on Saturday evening, has already been busy in the transfer market, signing highly-rated full-back Sam Byram from Leeds.

The 22-year-old was in talks with Everton, but opted to join the Hammers and trained with his new team-mates for the first time on Friday.

We have been tracking him for a long time and there was not only Everton interested in him, but a few other clubs, too, said Bilic.

According to the TV, he was quite close to signing for Everton, but we knew we had a good chance and we are delighted that he came to us.

I told him that I like young players and I told him my opinion and which areas he can improve and he liked it.

I didnt promise him anything, but what he really liked is that we had been watching him for a really long time and he realised that we were serious and that we have big plans for him, but it is up to him to show us in training and in games his improvement.
David Cameron insisted he is confident the UK will remain in a reformed European Union if he gets the deal he is seeking for a new relationship with Brussels.

The Prime Minister said he is in no hurry to secure a deal on a package of reforms to Britains EU membership at the upcoming Brussels summit in February but if an agreement is reached he will sell it very hard to the public ahead of the promised referendum.

A deal at the European Council of February 18-19 is widely seen as essential if Mr Cameron is to stage his in/out referendum before the summer.

Mr Cameron told ITV News: A deal could be done in February, there is progress in each of the four areas I have identified and with goodwill I think we could get that deal.

What I am saying very clearly is if there is a deal on the table, there will be no funny business from me, I will pick it up, I will take it to the British people and I will sell it very hard because it will be right for Britain.

But if it isnt ready in February, if it isnt what I want, if it isnt what I want, if it isnt what is right for Britain, then we will need to take more time. Getting this right is more important than getting on with it.

In an interview with French broadcaster TF1 he denied his reform demands were an attempt to blackmail fellow EU leaders into agreeing to reforms instead of risking a British exit.

No, I dont believe it is. I mean, we have raised the concerns we have over many years, and I set them out very clearly in my manifesto that I put in front of the British people.

"And I dont think the things were asking for are unreasonable.

He acknowledged the referendum was a huge responsibility but I think now, asking the British people to stay in a reformed Europe or leave, its the right time to do that, particularly if we can achieve these changes on competitiveness, on political union, on the euro, on migration.

If we achieve these things, then Im confident well stay in a reformed Europe, he added.

Asked if he felt deeply European, the Prime Minister replied: Of course. Britain is a European country, and I feel very much part of that.

The Prime Minister was interviewed in Davos on the latest stage of his diplomatic offensive to build support for his reform demands before heading to Prague for talks on Friday.

In his speech at the World Economic Forum event he said he was ready to be patient in order to get the right result.

Securing a deal next month was achievable (and) doable, he said. But he added: We are certainly not there yet.

Britains demands for change on the four issues of migration, sovereignty, competitiveness and protection for non-euro states were not outrageous asks, but offered a huge prize, he said.

Prospects for a swift agreement were played down by French prime minister Manuel Valls, who said the negotiations had only just begun and warned that a deal at any price would not be acceptable.

Mr Cameron held talks with Mr Valls at the Swiss ski resort, along with Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte and his counterpart from Luxembourg Xavier Bettel.

A Downing Street spokeswoman said: In all three the PM discussed the UKs renegotiation of its membership of the EU.

"Everyone agreed the importance of maintaining momentum towards getting a deal done, noting that there was a good understanding of the main issues and that with hard work solutions could be found in all four areas.
The European Union needs to come up with a comprehensive package of measures to deal with its refugee crisis, according to Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras.

Mr Tsipras said the measures should include more involvement by Europe-wide bodies in transit countries like his own, and a properly thought-out and paid-for relocation and resettlement plan.

Dismissing suggestions that his country has been reluctant to allow a bigger EU involvement in the eastern Greek islands, Mr Tsipras said that Europe has to cooperate more on the many difficulties it faces, not least the refugee crisis and the economic problems afflicting the euro currency.

Greece has been at the heart of both crises, and last year Mr Tsipras signed the countrys third international bailout agreement in a little more than five years.

Mr Tsipras told a panel at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos that we need more Europe that is focused on building democracy, solidarity and employment.

Earlier, German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Europe will have to invest billions to deal with the refugee crisis that it has faced over the past year.

Mr Schaeuble indicated his strong support for efforts to deal with problems in the transit countries at the forefront of the crisis, such as Greece and Italy. He did not respond to a question on how many more refugees Germany can take in the current year.

At a panel at the World Economic Forum, Mr Schaeuble said it would be a disgrace if Europe became a fortress.

Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte, whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, said Europe has to come up with a comprehensive strategy to deal with the refugee crisis within the next two months.

Mr Rutte said nobody was talking about ending the Schengen Agreement, which allows free movement of people across European borders.
Ecuadors president has said Julian Assange will be questioned at the embassy where he has been holed up for more than three years over allegations of sex assault.

In a significant breakthrough in the case, Ecuador has struck a deal with Swedish prosecutors that will see the WikiLeaks founder face questions over allegations he sexually assaulted two women, without having to leave the building.
President Vladimir Putin probably approved the assassination of Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006, a public inquiry has found.

In a dramatic conclusion, Robert Owen said it was likely the Russian leader signed off the killing of the former spy following a long-running feud.

His 300-page report said Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun were probably acting under the direction of Moscows FSB intelligence service when they poisoned the 43-year-old with radioactive polonium 210 at the Millennium Hotel in Mayfair.

Singling out then-FSB chief Nikolai Patrushev alongside Mr Putin, Owen wrote: Taking full account of all the evidence and analysis available to me I find that the FSB operation to kill Litvinenko was probably approved by Mr Patrushev and also by President Putin.

Mr Litvinenkos widow Marina said outside the High Court she was very pleased that the words my husband spoke on his deathbed when he accused Mr Putin have been proved by an English court.

Downing Street had no immediate comment on the report, but confirmed British Home Secretary Theresa May will be giving the UK government's response in an oral statement to the House of Commons in the next few hours.

There have been fears that linking the killing directly to Mr Putin could trigger fresh strain on relations between Britain and Russia.

Mr Owen pointed to Mr Litvinenkos work for British intelligence, criticism of the FSB and Mr Putin, and his association with other dissidents such as Boris Berezovsky as likely motives.

There was also undoubtedly a personal dimension to the antagonism between Mr Putin and Litvinenko.

Tensions dated back to their only face-to-face meeting in 1998, when Mr Putin was head of the FSB and Litvinenko wanted him to bring in reforms.

The dissident made repeated highly personal attacks on the President after seeking asylum in the UK in 2000, including an allegation of paedophilia in July 2006.

I am satisfied that in general terms, members of the Putin administration, including the president himself and the FSB, had motives for taking action against Litvinenko, including killing him, in late 2006, Owen wrote.

Although evidence was circumstantial, other cases suggested that in the years prior to Litvinenkos death the Russian state may have been involved in the assassination of Mr Putins critics.

Mr Owen said he was sure Mr Litvinenkos murder had been carried out by Lugovoy and Kovtun, who are both wanted by UK authorities but who Russia has refused to extradite.

The use of polonium 210 was at the very least a strong indicator of state involvement, as it had to be made in a nuclear reactor.

The inquiry heard evidence that Litvinenko may have been consigned to a slow death from radiation rather than shot in order to send a message.

Lugovoi has been lionised in Russia since the killing, becoming a member of the Duma, the Russian Parliament, and receiving an award from Mr Putin.

Mr Owen suggested that showed Moscow was signalling approval of the murder, although he stressed that by itself did not necessarily mean it was involved.

In a statement released from his deathbed in 2006, Mr Litvinenko had said: You may succeed in silencing one man but the howl of protest from around the world will reverberate, Mr Putin, in your ears for the rest of your life.

May God forgive you for what you have done, not only to me but to beloved Russia and its people.
Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Capt Amarinder Singh Wednesday launched his mass contact programme from the Dera Baba Nanak constituency where he interacted with farmers and students. Captain told the students that generating jobs and eradicating drug menace from Punjab will be his top priorities. Accompanied by local MLA Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Amarinder said after forming the government in the state, youths would be provided jobs as well as soft and easy loans to encourage them towards entrepreneurship.

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Russia has sharply criticised the conclusions of a UK inquiry into the 2006 poisoning death of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko.

The report by Robert Owen found there is a strong probability that Russias FSB spy agency directed the killing, and the operation was probably approved by Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Update 7.30pm:The assailants may have taken some hostages inside the Liido Seafood restaurant, which is popular with Mogadishus elite and government officials, police said.

The operation (to dislodge the attackers) is ongoing now. The (attackers) are still inside and fighting our troops, a spokesman said from the scene of the attack as gunfire rang out in the background.

He said he had counted at least three bodies outside the restaurant. An unknown number of people are still trapped inside the restaurant, he said.

Witnesses said that gunmen shouted Allahu akbar, the Arabic phrase for God is great, and entered the restaurant from the direction of the beach as clients, sitting behind razor wire, watched the seashore.

They randomly fired at the people sitting near the beach before entering the restaurant, said witness Ahmed Nur, who was strolling along on the shoreline when the attack happened.

One Twitter user has claimed: "Al-Shabaab makes a come back to Twitter after >2 years of hiatus."

Al-Shabaab makes a come back to Twitter after >2 years of hiatus. The group attacked a popular beach in Mogadishu. pic.twitter.com/W8tefqZCmX  Mukhtar M. Ibrahim (@mukhtaryare) January 21, 2016

The alleged Al-Shabaab Twitter account has tweeted, "Kenyan troops are inside our country- ruthless KDF continue massacring our people inside Somalia & they expect us to remain silent. there's noway you massacre our people & we leave your people & your country safe - it's our warning that it's high time you pull out from Somalia before more & more deadly attacks are carried out inside your country - Wabilahi Towfiq. #JihadDispatches" (sic)

According to RT, police say that the "car bomb exploded at beach cafe entrance".

MORE: 'Car bomb exploded at beach cafe entrance' - Police on Mogadishu attack https://t.co/GuAHuNFIOf pic.twitter.com/cRjjjLUS3g  RT (@RT_com) January 21, 2016

One twitter user states: "Gunfire subsides, for now. #AlShabaab gunmen in "full control" of of Beach view hotel in #Mogadishu, heavy casualties feared. #Somalia"

Previous:Gunmen have fought their way into a restaurant near a beach in Mogadishu after a suicide car bomber rammed the gates of the building, according to a Somali police official.

Captain Mohamed Hussein said he believes the attackers have taken some hostages inside the restaurant, which is popular with the citys elite and government officials.

He said the attackers opened fire on the customers of the restaurant, known as Liido Seafood, on Thursday evening before storming the building.

It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the ongoing attack, which bore the hallmarks of the Islamic extremist group al-Shabab.

Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for an attack on Kenyan peacekeepers in south-western Somalia last week.
The US Mint will feature an Asian American on its currency for the first time when it issues a coin next week...
NEW DELHI: India has raised the price at which it will buy new season wheat from local farmers in 2023 by 110 rupees...
The Bible has a rich desert theologyHe will cause rivers to flow, even in desert conditions. Christopher Brooks

Pastor Christopher Brooks and Evangel Ministries have demonstrated a unique model of urban ministry in Detroit, focusing not just on meeting immediate needs through traditional channels, but on fostering a vision of long-term, whole-life discipleship.

In a talk for the Oikonomia Network, Brooks offers invaluable perspective from his years of ministry, concluding that the gospel has the power to bring economic flourishing to impoverished communities. Poor communities are very similar to deserts, Brooks explains, where people feel trapped by the elements and desperate from the thirst. These feelings of fear and vulnerability, and feeling overwhelmed, is exactly what the poor feel on a daily basis, he says.

The good news is that Christ brings life and liberty to all people and in all places. We preach a gospel that tells people they dont have to relocate in order to experience the blessing and flourishing that comes from being in Christ, Brooks says. In other words, you shouldnt have to change zip codes for the gospel to work for you.

Thus, Brooks and his church have sought not only to meet temporal needs, but to help communities see the gifts and resources they already have, harnessing and connecting them accordingly. This isnt to say that its as easy as strolling into these communities and peeling open a Bible. It begins and continues with close and attentive relationships.

Any program for poverty alleviation or economic flourishing that is not centered upon discipleship is a failed enterprise before it even begins, Brooks says. Poverty alleviation starts and is built around relationships.

Brooks goes on to outline two other obstacles the church continues to face in serving poor communities struggles that surely prevail in many of our prosperous neighborhoods as well.

1. The Sacred/Secular Divide

The greatest gap in the church is surprisingly not the racial gap or the generational gap or even the income gap. But its the gap between Sunday and Monday. Sadly, many Christians have not been able to bridge the enormous gulf between work and worship. So this presents to us another great challenge. We have to give them a rich and robust theology of vocational stewardship, helping them to see that God has given us these vocations so that we might love him as we work faithfully unto his glory, and that we might love our neighbors as ourselves as we work for the good of humanity and generosity.

2. Hyper Polarization on Anti-Poverty Strategies

On the one hand you have those who take a more parental approach, an extreme liberal approach of big government and massive relief programs as the only effective way of helping the poor. On the other hand, you have those who take an extreme libertarian approachI believe the Bible presents to us a more balanced approachthat helps the church to realize that we were never called to operate in isolation in the desert. But that helping the poor requires us to collaborate effectively with civic organizations and social agencies and even the business community

For stories and examples of how Brooks and his church have fought to overcome these obstacles and empower people in their communities, listen to the whole talk.

I believe that God wants the church to operate like Moses did in the desert, when he opened up the rock and caused waters to flow, Brooks concludes. Were supposed to bring the promises of the Gospel alive, and we do this through effective acts of compassion and unleashing the enterprising spirit of the individual. If we do this, poor communities will be transformed and the poor will rise out of poverty.
LONDON: New steps from Group of Seven countries to cap Russian oil sales at an enforced low price will not be...
Poor Rod Serling. Had the Twilight Zone and Night Gallery host lived its assured hed provide the voice talent for the audio book version of Jane Mayers Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires behind the Rise of the Radical Right. Hed also have a steady gig lending his portentous phrasings to such addle-brained prose as the following from the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility [readers may insert Serlings Submitted for your approval at their discretion]:

Unchecked corporate cash in the form of political donations and lobbying expenditures has the power to exert undue influence over public policy and regulatory systems and threaten our democracy. Yet in spite of this power, most S&P 500 companies lack a formal system of lobbying oversight and dont fully disclose how monies are being spent, particularly through third-party organizations like trade associations. Investors are concerned that lobbying expenditures may inadvertently be diverted to groups advancing agendas contrary to the stated missions of companies, setting up potential conflicts of interest and exposing companies to reputational risk.

Sigh. Mayer and ICCR are working both sides of their levitating, shaking bed of anti-First Amendment, anti-Citizens United paranoia with Mayer seeking political intervention on one side and ICCR haranguing corporate shareholders with proxy resolutions on the other. In the meantime, the Republic remains a bastion of the freedoms that conjure 24-hour night terrors for the author and the so-called religiously motivated shareholder activists.

The dark money bogeymen searched for under those quivering bedsprings share the last name Koch, and we just cant have libertarian billionaires expressing free speech in the U.S. political system, according to Mayer, ICCR and a raft of other opponents that are hypocritically funded by progressive billionaires bearing names like George Soros, Bill Gates, Tom Steyer, Warren Buffett and Eric Schmidt  all noted by George Melloan in his review of Mayers book in the Wall Street Journal:

Ms. Mayer is highly selective about which super-wealthy dabblers in politics she wants to expel. Warren Buffett, whose $62 billion fortune ranks second only to that of Bill Gates ($76 billion), is not one of her targets. Rather she quotes him in support of her thesis, to the effect that the rich are winning the class war. Tom Steyer, the West Coast hedge-fund billionaire environmentalist, gets a bye as well. So does former Google CEO Eric Schmidt ($11 billion), a big campaign contributor to Barack Obama, and Steven Spielberg, who has generously shared from his $3 billion nest egg to aid the goals of Bill and Hillary Clinton. A host of think tanks and political websites depend on liberal deep pockets, but their donors do not figure in Dark Money. Politically active, left-of-center oligarchs are apparently wonderful people, not dangerous ones. Ms. Mayer mainly dislikes foes of big government. Her list of the rich and dangerous begins with figures whose heyday has passed, such as Richard Mellon Scaife and John M. Olin. For decades, their philanthropies supported conservative journals, scholars and think tanks, much as the Bradley Foundation does today, another organization that earns her contempt. But most of Dark Money is aimed at just two people, Charles and David Koch. The brothers, tied for fifth on the Forbes list with $41 billion apiece, are most notably backers of the Cato Institute, a Washington free-market think tank. They also host public-policy seminars, fund political groups and back candidates either directly or by way of the Koch Industries political action committee. Ms. Mayer argues that they and their ultra-wealthy allies on the right have become the single most effective special interest group in the country. The Kochs might answer, We should be so lucky.

In other words, like the spooky villains in a Scooby Doo cartoon, the Kochs havent been all that terribly successful  you know, because they couldve gotten away with it, too, if it werent for those meddling kids! Those kids, borrowing a quote from Walt Kellys Pogo, is us. As in: We the People. The record for tilting the political world in the favor of the wealthy, you see, hasnt been terribly successful, as noted by Melloan:

Authors who argue that rich people can buy elections dont get much support from history. The oligarchs behind Mitt Romney are still smarting from his defeat. In the 1930s, business titans could not buy victory for the anti-New Deal candidates who ran against Roosevelt. More than a century ago, during the Gilded Age, Congress managed to pass the Sherman Antitrust Act, to the sorrow of John D. Rockefeller and other one-percenters. It can be argued that the cynicism behind the politics-for-sale claim, even when displayed by a talented writer like Ms. Mayer, reflects a distrust of the American democratic systemas if the people are commodities to be purchased and not autonomous beings who can think for themselves. The cynicism also denigrates the work of activists and scholars who join up with Cato, the Manhattan Institute, Heritage, Brookings, Hoover, the Sierra Club, the World Wildlife Foundation, Common Causeor whatever organization one might choosebecause they believe in what those bodies stand for, not because they are the mindless slaves of some rich donor.

Even on the left, despite his comparatively paltry campaign war chest, Sen. Bernie Sanders is standing up admirably against the veritable Fort Knox accumulated from corporate and billionaire supporters of Hillary Clinton. But never mind such empirical evidence; its the heads of the brothers Koch that Mayer and the revolutionary nuns, priests and other religious over at ICCR desire on pikes despite agreeing with most every social issue the oil barons support, including immigration, legalized abortion and same-sex marriage. Further, they oppose the drug war and believe in a light-touch foreign policy.

But, to the left, the Kochs must be marginalized because their money derives from fossil fuels and they rally against the climate-change agenda and an overbearing regulatory regime. Tom Steyer, it should be noted, also made billions from the fossil-fuel industry, but hes since banked that fortune privately while publicly sporting the latest designer hair shirt. As noted by National Reviews Jonah Goldberg last week:

Democrats dont like Citizens United because they think it might blunt their advantages. According to OpenSecrets.org, of the top five organizations  i.e., unions and corporate PACs  that give to federal candidates, all (mostly public unions) give 97 percent to 100 percent of their donations to liberals and Democrats. Of the top ten, eight give almost exclusively to the Left. Of the top 25, 18 donate disproportionately to the Left. By the way, Koch Industries is No. 49 on the list, and the National Rifle Association is No. 74.

But  advocating for limited government and questioning whether humans are causing catastrophic climate change is beyond the pale according to the cartoonish mythology constructed by Mayer, ICCR and their cronies on the Left. Yes, theyre fine with billionaire moolah and labor union dues contributed to campaigns for progressive causes and office holders, but hypocritical and hyperbolic when it comes to libertarians and conservatives who exercise the same freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment and Citizens United. When it comes to the Kochs, however, their tainted billions are dark money, legal tender minted from a currency housed somewhere in The Twilight Zone.
 Pragmatic and Self-Critical Palestinian Official Claims the U.S. Created ISIS (Again) | Main | Palestinian Cleric: ISIS Must Conquer Rome, Washington and Paris 

January 21, 2016

New York Times "Terrorism" Double Standard

On the same day CAMERA slammed the New York Times for an article referencing Palestinian violence, including the stabbing of an Israeli civilian, as "resistance," the newspaper gave yet another indication that it is hesitant to describe violence against Israeli civilians as terrorism.

The Algemeiner yesterday reported on CAMERA's criticism of the Times adoption of the word "resistance":

To describe the history of violence by residents of the town of Sair merely as resistance is to describe the act of plunging a knife into an Israeli civilians chest  an act perpetrated by a Sair resident last October  as something readers are likely to associate with noble World War II partisans or fictional Jedi heroes,? senior CAMERA research analyst Gilead Ini told The Algemeiner. This outlandish abuse of language, meant to downplay Palestinian violence recalls The New York Times recent description of a butterfly knife wielded by a Palestinian attacker as a Boy Scout knife.? Contrasting this with the newspapers word choice when it comes to Israeli behavior, Ini said, The New York Times hasnt described rare acts of anti-Palestinian violence by Israeli extremists as resistance. On the contrary, a recent article referred to a Jewish terrorist network, even though the Times has not once used the phrase Palestinian terrorist in reference to the current wave of stabbing attacks targeting Israeli men, women and children.? Ini asked, Why does the newspaper have such a hard time straightforwardly dealing with anti-Israel violence?? He concluded: Palestinian assailants should not be confused with Boy Scouts. Violent antisemitism should not be confused with resistance. And New York Times advocacy journalism should not be confused with the fair and impartial reporting readers expect.?

Also yesterday, the newspaper called on its readers to "share their thoughts on recent terrorist attacks and memories of victims."

The newspaper lists a "chilling litany" of attacks on civilians, but recent Palestinian attacks against Israelis, including the slaying of Dafna Meir in front of her children last Sunday and the stabbing of a pregnant Israeli woman, are glaringly absent.

Although many of the terror attacks listed by The New York Times were deadly, mass casualty attacks, the newspaper does include the wounding of three Europeans in Egypt earlier this month.

Does The New York Times believe the stabbing of European civilians is chilling terrorism but the stabbing death of Israeli civilians is not?

Posted by GI at January 21, 2016 02:43 PM

How is it that the New York Times raises issues of terrorism committed against European civilians, but neglects such issues when they involve terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians? I'm referring to the recent Palestinian murder of Dafna Meir in front of her children.

Posted by: Thomas Kaplan at January 28, 2016 04:49 PM

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Bill Cosby, Monique Pressley, Brian McMonagle

In this Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2015 photo Bill Cosby, center, accompanied by his attorneys Brian McMonagle, left, and Monique Pressley, arrives at court to face a felony charge of aggravated indecent assault, in Elkins Park, Pa. The attorneys hired to defend Cosby in the sex-assault case are a study in contrasts. McMonagle, 57, is expected to lead the defense arguments inside the courtroom when Cosby, 78, returns to court Feb. 2 in a crucial bid to have the case dismissed.

(Matt Rourke/The Associated Press)

NORRISTOWN, Pennsylvania -- Prosecutors pursuing sex-assault charges against Bill Cosby say he wants special treatment in trying to have the case thrown out even before the first evidence hearing.

In a response to Cosby's motion to dismiss the case, suburban Philadelphia prosecutors alleged that Cosby may have been "committing similar crimes for decades and getting away with it, all over the country, using his celebrity and fortune to avoid the consequences."

Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele also said Wednesday that there was no valid agreement to never prosecute the comedian, as a former prosecutor claimed. Former District Attorney Bruce Castor is expected to testify next month for the defense that he made the deal to persuade Cosby to testify in the accuser's 2005 civil lawsuit.

Common Pleas Judge Steven O'Neill has scheduled a Feb. 2 hearing on the defense motion to dismiss the criminal case. Cosby has not yet entered a plea, and his lawyer did not immediately return a call for comment Wednesday. In his deposition, Cosby called his feelings toward the accuser "romantic" and their encounter that night in January 2004 consensual.

Steele argued that Castor maintains he granted Cosby immunity "via a press release," but said that fell far short of a court-approved immunity agreement. He noted that the press release quoted Castor as saying he could revisit the decision later if the need arose.

"Such a need did arise, but not until July 2015, when a federal judge -- over defendant's objection -- made portions of his civil deposition public for the first time," Steele wrote. "This new evidence, as well as the resulting public claims by numerous women that defendant had also sexually assaulted them, triggered a renewed investigation."

Cosby also acknowledged in the deposition that he had gotten quaaludes in the 1970s to use as a seduction tool, another factor Steele said he weighed as he considered charges.

The case marks the first time that Cosby has ever faced criminal charges despite years of accusations that he had drugged and molested women.

Both Cosby and his accuser say he gave her wine and three blue pills. The key question is whether she consented to the sexual activity that followed and what the pills contained. Cosby has said they were Benadryl pills, but her lawyers believe they were something stronger that left her semi-conscious.

Cosby, though, has described her as a willing participant in what he called a "petting" session that included digital penetration. She went to police a year later, near home in Toronto, and said she had been drugged and violated.

Cosby, now 78, settled her civil lawsuit after giving four days of often-combative deposition testimony in 2005 and 2006. His testimony, released last year, includes admissions that the long-married family values advocate had had a series of affairs with young women.

Steele also argued Wednesday that the hearing on the motion to dismiss is premature. He said the rules in Pennsylvania call for such motions to be filed only after a preliminary hearing. O'Neill scheduled the hearing in place of the preliminary hearing that had been set for the same day before a magistrate.

Steele also objected to defense efforts to disqualify his office because the Cosby case was an issue in his fall campaign against Castor. Steele called any comments he made during the campaign "straightforward."
A multi-million dollar investment by Singapore-based distribution company CouriersPlease has been hailed by the Lord Mayor as a vote of confidence in the south-west Brisbane industrial economy.

The $40 million, 11,800 square metre facility on Evans Road was parent company Singapore Post's first investment in Australia.

The $40 million CouriersPlease distribution centre at Salisbury is Singapore Post's first major investment in Australia.

Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said the building would replace a facility at Coorparoo and would more than double its capacity.

"There's no doubt Brisbane's western corridor is destined for massive growth over the next 20 years, with substantial population increases predicted for the area in line with the rest of the state's south-east corner," he said.
"WHSQ is waiting for the zoo to provide details of training records and safe work procedures before deciding whether this latest incident will be further investigated," the statement said.

A statement released by Workplace Health and Safety Queensland said they were waiting on further information from the zoo.

Enquiries into Thursday's tiger attack at Australia Zoo are continuing with Workplace Health and Safety.

41-year-old Che Woolcott was taking the 12-year-old Sumatran Tiger Ranu on it's morning enrichment activities when the incident occurred.

Tiger handler Che Woolcott was injured by Sumatran Tiger Ranu at Australia Zoo. Credit:Australia Zoo

"While walking through surrounding bushland at the Zoo, Ranu  Australia Zoo's 12 year old male Sumatran tiger  became overly interested in his surroundings and when his handler approached him to change direction, he swatted his paw resulting in a scratch on his left wrist, bicep and right side of the forehead," a statement released by the zoo said.

Head Keeper Kelsey Engel said Ranu was one of the most affectionate big cats living at the zoo.

"Ranu has grown up here, he has been here for a very young age," she said.
Tributes have continued to flow for a humble window cleaner who became a routine feature at a Dickson intersection for more than 20 years.

Ian "Scrubby" Stokes died at the Ainslie Village on Monday although little is known about the circumstances of his death.

The growing roadside memorial for Ian Stokes. Credit:Jamila Toderas

Canberrans who knew little about his life other than their near daily interactions have continued to leave flowers at the Antill Street and Northbourne Avenue intersection, with one leaving a poem in his memory.
Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night could stay Richard Hendrickson from the swift completion of his appointed rounds. And for 85 years, the weather elements WERE his appointed rounds. A retired poultry and dairy farmer who has died aged 103, Hendrickson was the longest-serving volunteer weather watcher in the US. Twice a day, every day since he was 17, he gathered the data from the small weather station on his property in Bridgehampton, New York, on the South Fork of Long Island.

Hendrickson was a member of the Cooperative Observer Program of what is now the National Weather Service. Established in 1890, the program entails a benevolent network of citizen spies, who serve as the eyes, ears and noses of the federal government as they record high and low temperatures, wind speed and direction, rainfall, snowfall and other statistics on the nation's coasts, in the mountains, on the prairies and in between.

Their work underpins local and national weather reports, boating and aviation forecasts, flood and hurricane warnings, and emergency preparedness plans of all kinds and, of course, farming. "I've been a farmer all my life," said Hendrickson two years ago. "You don't cut hay today and let it dry in the field if you know it's going to rain tomorrow."

Of the 8700 observers now serving, Hendrickson was the acknowledged master spy, having begun his work in 1930, when the agency was known as the U.S. Weather Bureau and the boss of the boss of the man who ran the agency was Herbert Hoover. It was a time before hurricanes had names.

His work harked back to Benjamin Franklin, who published Poor Richard's Almanack throughout the mid-18th century, and Thomas Jefferson, who kept assiduous records of the weather over four decades  less than half as long as Hendrickson did  from the late 18th century to the early 19th.
Melbourne's outer growth corridors will house more than half the new students. Wyndham, Cardinia, Melton, Whittlesea, Hume and Casey each need at least 10 new schools to absorb more than 10,000 new students within a decade. Schools play a central role in these outer growth corridors. Good schools help new suburbs grow into strong communities. Land is relatively cheap in new suburbs, but designing schools that link well with other community facilities is complex. Successive Victorian governments have recognised this. They have built innovative models of primary schools that integrate childcare and health facilities. The challenges are very different in the inner city, where Melbourne's five most central LGAs are all projected to experience rapid growth. Here, the great challenge is the high price and scarcity of land. Many existing schools are already overcrowded. In the past, governments' chief response to this challenge has been wishful thinking. In Docklands, for instance, young couples were expected to move out to the suburbs once they had children. Instead, they chose to stay. Despite promises from successive state governments, there is still no school in Docklands. State primary schools in neighbouring suburbs are full. Victorian planning ministers should have learnt the lesson: space for schools must be part of any large urban redevelopment plan.

Fishermans Bend shows that the lesson was not learnt. And there, the costs will be much higher. Fishermans Bend, rezoned for development in 2012, covers the industrial areas of Port Melbourne and South Melbourne. More than twice the size of Docklands, Fishermans Bend was originally projected to house about 80,000 people. Recent estimates suggest that the eventual number could be closer to 150,000. The rezoning process was problematic. While developers and existing landowners captured billions of dollars in windfall gains, no land was set aside for the many schools that will be needed. This was a very costly mistake. In time, Fishermans Bend will probably need between six and 10 state primary schools. Only two are currently planned: Ferrars Street School in South Melbourne, and the South Melbourne Park Primary School. We can estimate the excess cost of land acquisition for schools by looking at the case of the Ferrars Street School. Scheduled to open in 2018, Ferrars Street will be Victoria's first "vertical school", with multiple stories, and recreation facilities on the roof.

Yet even a vertical school requires a substantial footprint. Ferrars Street, which has a projected enrolment of about 500 students, sits on a site of just over 5000 square metres. This land is now worth roughly $24 million  compared to maybe $6 million before rezoning. Of course, primary school students become secondary school students, and the land required per student is similar. Added together, the land acquisition bill for state schools in Fishermans Bend will eventually run to hundreds of millions of dollars. Maybe three-quarters of this money will line the pockets of whoever owned the land before rezoning. This is waste on a massive scale that could have been avoided with a bit of sensible planning. Every dollar that is spent on excess land acquisition costs in Fishermans Bend is a dollar that cannot be spent on developing a school elsewhere. The wasted cost of this poor planning decision could have paid for dozens of new primary schools in outer growth corridors, where land is cheap. There is hope in sight, with broad recognition that school planning processes need to be improved. More transparency about detailed population projections would be a good start. Without a clear view of the challenges, it's too tempting for politicians to duck hard choices that span multiple electoral cycles.
Even 12-year-old boys would have to concede that the jokes in this Adam Sandler abomination are too stupid for the schoolyard, let alone a Netflix original movie.

Take the running gag with the donkey that sprays diarrhoea with the force and volume of a fire hose. Or the Native American characters being given names like Beaver Breath and Never Wears Bra.

Or the idiot who is blind in one eye but gouges out the other one so he can join a gang of one-eyed bandits.

Its almost too depressing to go on, particularly when you consider that the budget of $85 million was 10 times that of Netflixs powerful child-soldier movie Beasts of No Nation.
Up to 20,000 Brisbane cats a year would be desexed free or charge under a $6.5 million Greens council election commitment announced on Thursday.

Greens lord mayoral candidate Ben Pennings said the mobile desexing service would reduce the size of Brisbane's feral cat colonies and save native wildlife.

Greens lord mayoral candidate Ben Pennings says he'd spend $6.5 million over two years to desex 40,000 cats. Credit:Michelle Smith

"Unwanted cats pose a significant threat to Brisbane's wildlife," he said.

"Kittens are dumped, leading to feral cat colonies in Brisbane's suburbs and millions of native animal deaths each week.
"Here I am doing something I never imagined I'd be old or interesting enough to embark on: writing my memoirs," she wrote in the introduction. The September Issue's breakout star says she is "not retiring". And while the former Vogue stylist, and arguably second most influential woman in fashion after her long-time colleague and friend Wintour, plans to take more of a back seat with the biggest fashion magazine in the world. Just don't mention the "r" word. "I'm not running away from Vogue, because it has opened so many doors. But it will be nice to collaborate, and nice to go out [and] give talks to people. It's just another approach. I'm certainly not going into retirement. I don't want to sit around," she also told Business of Fashion. Grace Coddington in 1974, back when she was a model. Credit:Willie Christie/Random House

Used to working behind the scenes, with Wintour the face of the brand, Coddington had to be coaxed to star in the documentary and became the lovable star, not only for her softer, and dare we say, more likable personality to that of her boss, but also for her flair for fighting against trends and commercialism in the pursuit of beauty. After getting to know Coddington all too well having spent a year shooting with the fashion clique, R. J. Cutler, director of The September Issue said: "Every billboard, fashion magazine spread, every advertisement we see today has been influenced by Grace Coddington." Kim Kardashian and Kanye West's Vogue cover that divided the fashion masses but was one of the magazine's most popular editions. Credit:Vogue Viewers loved watching the blunt, artistic stylist with an unrivalled eye for beauty go up against a more pragmatic Wintour and, at times, win. Sometimes known as "Fashion's Ice Queen", Wintour has become known as one not to be messed with, but Coddington never seem seem to bow down to her, although she was never disrespectful either. "I started at American Vogue the same day as Anna did," she says in the movie. "I think we understand each other. She knows I'm stubborn. I know she's stubborn. I know when to stop pushing her ... She doesn't know when to stop pushing me."

But as Time Magazine put it, "If Wintour is the Pope, Coddington is Michelangelo, trying to paint a fresh version of the Sistine Chapel 12 times a year." Known for her preference for models over celebrities, she has worked on some of the magazine's most memorable shoots, including that Kimye front cover that divided the fashion masses. "Everybody thought that I was forced into doing it because they thought it was not very me, but actually, I'm the one that suggested it. Everybody was beating around the bush, and I said, 'Let's just do it. Let's embrace it.' That's who everybody wants to know about, so let's try to do it better than most people. That's why I thought, have someone like Annie Leibovitz shoot it. It will give it a stature and a weight so that it won't appear like another tabloid piece," she told Vogue.com recently. There are whispers that Conde Nast (Vogue's publishers and the same company that also heads up GQ, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, etc.) might be making a bigger move into digital  a medium that Coddington says has no soul.
Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore has struck a powersharing deal with the Greens, following the death of the council's deputy mayor.

The deal, or "memorandum of understanding", between Cr Moore and Greens councillor Irene Doutney will have the effect of cementing Cr Moore's position on council following the death in December of her political ally, Robyn Kemmis.

Greens councillor Irene Doutney is Sydney's new deputy mayor. Credit:Dallas Kilponen

"[This] is about giving the City of Sydney's communities and staff confidence in the continued effective governance and operation of this council," Cr Moore said.

The deal does not bind Cr Doutney and Cr Moore to vote together in all instances but Cr Doutney will agree to support the city's existing "budget" and "governance" arrangements unless she strikes a deal with the Lord Mayor specifying otherwise.
Organised crime groups have become so successful at importing drugs into Australia that the wholesale price being paid for ice, cocaine and ecstasy has dramatically fallen in the past 18 months.

The NSW Crime Commission says the illegal drug trade remains the main source of income for organised crime in Australia and at present illicit substances are in "plentiful supply".

Fairfax Media has learned that the wholesale price paid by Australian criminal groups to import cocaine from overseas was as high as $280,000 a kilogram three years ago. Eighteen months ago it had dropped to $240,000 a kilogram and now sells below $200,000 and as low as $180,000.

The cost for a kilogram of ice has fallen in the last 18 months from $220,000 to as low as $95,000 and ecstasy had dropped from $65,000 to $37,000.
A Sunshine Coast woman has warned others of a scam after she received an email, claiming to be from Australian Federal Police, for a bogus traffic infringement.

Gaye McGrath posted a copy of the fake AFP traffic infringement notice to a Sunny Coast Community Board on Facebook and told anyone who'd received the email to delete it immediately.

A print out of the email scam that is circulating. Credit:Gaye McGrath

"Be careful... I got one this morning. I also had one a few months ago that was a virus," one Facebook commenter wrote.

"The trouble is that it really frightens people. I got one and dismissed it. A friend got one and was distraught. Hated seeing her in this state," wrote another.
Hidden Creek Vineyard and Winery

Hidden Creek Vineyard and Winery in Laceyville displays its Farm Show award winners on its Facebook page, including the Governor's Cup for its Concord 1670 (second from right).

(Facebook)

Two surprises came out of the naming of the Governor's Cup dry grape winner at the Farm Show last week.

One was the wine itself, a Concord, a native American grape that everyone and his brother (and sister) make into wine across the state, either for sale or for their own consumption at home.

A shot of the Hidden Creek tasting room, in Laceyville, Wyoming County.

The other was the winery, Hidden Creek, which has been operating as quietly as any in the state over the past 10 years. For Ruthie and Russ Leichliter, building this business on their own terms on a 36-acre plot of land in Laceyville, Wyoming County, has been fine with them.

"We're a small mom and pop, we built from the ground up," she said by phone Wednesday afternoon. "My husband learned to make wine from his grandfather. We're all baby wineries in this part of Pennsylvania, but we're well on our way."

Ruthie said that she and Russ wanted a winery like the ones "they used to seek out and go look for" when they were living in Bucks County years ago, wineries such as Peace Valley and Buckingham Valley. She said that she worked the first five years for someone else before leaving that job and joining her husband full time with the business. "We came late into this industry," she said. "We weren't born into an eight-generation farm or hundreds of acres. And it's just he and I. It's just a ton of work. We basically make wine but do grow enough of our own grapes to produce some from it."

One of those grapes is Concord, a Hidden Creek staple and one of the vines that still manages to thrive in the rocky soil that dominates that section of northeastern Pa. Concord is one of a number of sweet and fruit wines that the couple produce albeit they do offer a small selection of dry wines.

The winner of that grape category the past few years has been vinifera, from Cabernet Reserve in 2015 to Cabernet Franc in 2014 and Meritage the year before that. All are dry wines out of a state that's trying to raise its profile among those nationally who judge the quality of a state's wine industry by the expanse of its premium selections.

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So the idea of a Concord, a sweet wine, taking first prize certainly raised some eyebrows around the state. Dr. Gary Pavlis said Wednesday he heard some of that negative reaction. Pavlis for years has helped direct the Farm Show judging and the Pennsylvania Wine Society judging for its Wine Excellence awards. A professor and agricultural agent at Rutgers University for almost 30 years, he largely dismissed the criticism, calling it much ado about nothing.

Writing in an email, he said: "PA makes a very wide range of wines and the idea that only a vinifera should win is wine snobbery at its worst. I do not buy or enjoy Concord for the most part but I can tell you that this was an amazing wine, about the best Concord I have ever had and my judges are trained to judge the wines on their merit, the word 'like' should never be uttered by any of them, and it is not. I think this is a win for the wine consumers in PA because it shows that very good wine is being made in the state from a vast variety of grapes."

As for the Leichliters, they were shocked to hear the news in December that their Concord entry has won the Governor's Cup. "There is a lot of competition and awesome wine out there," she said simply.

Hidden Creek also won a gold for its pumpkin wine, which is surprisingly hard to find around the region despite how many pumpkins you can see growing in fields along the side of the road. Ruthie said the decision to make pumpkin wine was inspired by her dad, who grew up on a farm with old-timers where they made pumpkin hooch. "So he told my husband, you have to make pumpkin wine. I always enter that one because, one, it is a fall wine, it only comes out then. And [with it being] an agricultural show, that's perfect."

As for the name of the winery, it doesn't sit by Hidden Creek. Rather, it's a creek that those visitors from around the eastern part of the state and the East Coast who stop by don't see . . . until they are exiting the winery.
A wanted person has been arrested after delaying commuters in one of Brisbane's busiest rail corridors.

Police asked public transport operator Translink to stop all services between Roma Street and Central stations after the trespasser was spotted on the tracks about 8.50am.

Trains were briefly suspended after a person was seen on the tracks between Central and Roma Street stations. Credit:Michelle Smith

A police spokeswoman said the offender was wanted before being seen on the tracks but couldn't confirm whether police were chasing them.

They were arrested just before 9am but police couldn't provide details of age, gender, or what the accused was wanted for.
Four cyclists have escaped serious injury after one was hit by a bus on the Gold Coast early on Friday.

Gold Coast Acting Senior Operations Supervisor Stuart Cutajar said a group of cyclists were on a morning ride in Palm Beach, when one of the group was clipped by a bus at the intersection of Dogwood Drive and Nineteenth Avenue, about 6.10am.

A group of cyclists were hit by a bus on an early morning ride on the Gold Coast on Friday.

The impact destabilised the cyclist, causing him to fall off his bike, which then brought three other riders down, Mr Cutajar said.

One man was taken to Gold Coast University Hospital suffering minor injuries, including hip pain and multiple abrasions.
It is alleged he sent thousands of dollars to the Jabhat al-Nusra group, a group it is further alleged he planned to leave Australia to join.

Omar Succarieh, pictured after his arrest in September 2014, will remain in custody until court reconvenes on January 28. Credit:Seven News

Omar Succarieh, 32, has been in custody since September 2014, when he was arrested as part of co-ordinated counter-terrorism raids across Sydney and Brisbane.

The defence team for a Logan man accused of financing a Syrian terrorist organisation has argued he should be released on bail because he has inadequate computer access in prison to prepare for his upcoming trial.

The 32-year-old is also charged with facilitating arrangements for Logan resident Agim Kruezi's passage to Syria, and causing money to be given to Mr Kruezi in preparation for an offence against the Crimes (Foreign Incursion and Recruitment) Act.

Australian Federal Police arrest a man during a raid on an Islamic store in Logan in 2014. Credit:Seven News

In a Supreme Court bail application on Thursday morning, Mr Succarieh's defence lawyer Saul Holt argued his client did not have adequate access to a computer in prison to review nearly 900 hours of telephone intercepted material the Crown will rely on to prosecute him.

Justice Jean Dalton agreed, reserving her decision until at least next Thursday, in order for the Department of Corrective Services to justify to her why he should not have access to a computer in his prison cell, in which he is locked up 14 hours a day.

"If I come to the conclusion there is not sufficient access to brief of evidence in prison, the obvious practical solution is to have the Department of Corrective services justify their position," she said.
A 28-year-old man has been charged over an elaborate bomb prank in inner Brisbane, which forced parts of a heavily populated riverside suburb into lockdown on Thursday night.

Two men burst into the popular Kangaroo Point music venue the Jazz Club about 8.30pm on Thursday, shouting "there's a bomb inside the toilet" to patrons.

It sparked a major police operation, as specialist police examined a device made of wires and batteries that had been placed in a public toilet block in riverside Captain Burke Park.

Captain Burke Park was locked down between Holman Street and the Brisbane River to the east, north and west.
Butter topped the listed of the five most ingested objects our pets consume on a regular basis, according to Pets Insurance Australia.

Decorative stones, string and dental floss, socks and underwear rounded out the list, all of which can cause severe damage to our beloved pets.

Dogs and cats are notorious for ingesting things they shouldn't. Credit:Jamila Toderas

Butter was known to cause pancreatitis, adding to the list of foods harmful to our pets.

Pet Insurance Australia spokeswoman Nadia Crighton said it wasn't just dogs that found themselves in trouble, with cats also notorious for ingesting string and dental floss.
Australian beekeepers have reacted strongly to international research just released claiming local honey was contaminated with high concentrations of natural poisons linked to disease.

The Australian Honey Bee Industry Council says that the results of the Irish research were based on outdated information about the amount of honey produced from the Paterson's curse plant.

The Australian Honey Bee Industry Council says local honey is safe to consume.

Researchers in Ireland found that Australian honey had much higher concentrations of pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs), with the average Australian sample having more than four times the concentration of toxins than honeys from elsewhere.

But the honey council says it has been working to remove the risk of plant toxins by "managing out" the supply of Paterson's curse honey in Australia..
New research has found Australian honey is contaminated with natural poison, but what does the research mean for those with a sweet tooth?

Is some Australian honey unacceptably high in toxins?

Yes... if the recent research is accurate and if you are going by European food standards.

The Irish researchers found that the Australian honeys tended to have much higher concentrations of toxins called pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) than brands from elsewhere.
It made Sue* feel like she should abandon the court process, take her children and run.

In the midst of an ugly court battle with her violent former partner, she told a Family Court-appointed psychologist that she shared her bed with her children at night.

''Sue'' is an Indigenous woman and domestic violence survivor. A critical appraisal by a court psychologist made her feel like a bad mother. Credit:Paul Jeffers

Sue is the daughter of a survivor of the stolen generations, and, like many Aboriginal people, was raised to keep her kids close.

But the court psychologist was critical, telling her dual sleeping was not appropriate and noting this example of "poor parenting" in the court report.
But the 17-year-old, who is exploring her sexuality, was disappointed to have the documentary's artistic merit questioned and be told by some staff that it would be offensive to the school community and families.

Issie Soudy, a VCE student at Oberon High School in Geelong, made a documentary about homophobia called Homo and was excited about screening it at the school's arts and technology night last year.

Sometimes with homophobia, there is a phobia about it.

Meetings were held and the 25-minute documentary with mild language but no nudity was screened, albeit in a separate room. "I wasn't happy with the way it was handled," Issie said and has the support of her mother, Emma Rutherford.

Alex Ivanov, 15, shared his experiences with homophobia in the documentary ''Homo''. Credit:Issie Soudy

The student who has turned teacher to educate the community about equality was disappointed that her film didn't receive more exposure but now it will because she is a finalist in the Midsumma Festival's inaugural art prize sponsored by Australia Post as part of its commitment to diversity and inclusion.

The school's assistant principal, Josh Baker, told Fairfax Media that because young children were attending the arts night, the school thought it was appropriate to screen the documentary in a different room so people had a choice to view it or not.

"We want our kids' artwork to be controversial because that it was art is," Mr Baker said. "I think it's OK to push the boundaries."
An independent review will be conducted into the Bennett Brook Disability Justice Centre in Perth after security concerns were raised when two inmates escaped on New Year's Eve.

Retired Supreme Court Justice Peter Blaxell, who previously examined child sex abuse at a state-run hostel, and Edith Cowan University Professor Colleen Hayward will analyse the facility's programs and services, and whether due consideration was given by the minister in determining resident suitability.

Justice Peter Blaxell will analyse the facility's programs and services, and whether due consideration was given to resident suitability.

The Lockridge facility houses people who have been accused, but not convicted, of a crime and have been deemed unfit to plead because of their disability.

Disability Services Minister Helen Morton had previously rebuffed calls from outraged residents and the opposition for an independent review, despite admitting her failure to give enough detail about the escapees had resulted in widespread "misinformation" about the centre.
As the title of this piece implies  amazing things are happening in the world of technology which tie in nicely to the three more big reasons to come to ITEXPO next week in Fort Lauderdale, FL.

First up is an amazing new session titled APIs: The Future of Business. I recently spoke with a business leader who told me her companys APIs have led them to enter numerous new markets  ones that were literally unimaginable to them before they opened their platform to developers. The point is, the opportunity here is twofold. If your company has data or a service which could be of value to others, now is the time to explore how to monetize it. If you are a developer or a company looking for new opportunities to grow revenue, the new data and services soon available will give you an unprecedented opportunity to become a market leader in a new space or disrupt an old one. This keynote event takes place Wednesday, January 27, 10-11 am.

The other two sessions focus on Money Over IP and Blockchain in Telecom.

Why are these sessions important? Because the telecom market is very similar to banking and finance. It was once bespoke and proprietary and then opened up. Moreover, many of the companies in telecom are in a terrific position to disrupt the disruption. Carriers have already become banks in some parts of the world There is no reason this cant spread.

Moreover, bitcoin is at an inflection point  some people are saying it has failed due to the fact that the Chinese have taken control of the currency. Here is an excerpt from Mike Hearn, a top Bitcoin developer.

Why has the capacity limit not been raised? Because the block chain is controlled by Chinese miners, just two of whom control more than 50% of the hash power. At a recent conference over 95% of hashing power was controlled by a handful of guys sitting on a single stage. The miners are not allowing the block chain to grow.

In addition, Zcash will soon be a totally private currency with no way to track how it changes hands. It will be a money launderers delight  but also great for people who dont really enjoy being part of the big data economy where your life can be investigated simply by monitoring what you buy.

Even more exciting, Dan Schulman, PayPal CEO enthusiastically discussed the huge opportunity in mobile finance from a conference at Davos, Switzerland this morning. Apparently, no one told him to dress up.

Schulman had a very insightful quote about the financial services market worth considering. I believe it applies to almost all industries to be quite honest.

We will see more change in the next five years than the last thirty.

Bottom line: ITEXPO will have amazing content and you really have to be there to take advantage of all the amazing opportunities available in the communications and technology world. In some cases this means protecting what you have and in others it means creating new value for your company, investors and shareholders.
Philadelphia: Two Glaxo Smith Kline scientists and three others were charged by a federal grand jury in Philadelphia on Wednesday with conspiracy to steal promising cancer research secrets from the pharmaceutical giant and market them to companies in China backed by the Chinese government.

US Attorney Zane David Memeger said Yu Xue, 45, of Wayne, Pennsylvania, Tao Li, 42, Yan Mei, 36, both of Nanjing, China, Tian Xue, 45, of Charlotte, North Carolina, and Lucy Xi, 38, of West Lake Village, California, were named in the indictment.

A drug laboratory. Credit:Bloomberg

If convicted on all charges, each defendant faces possible prison terms, fines, restitution orders and other penalties, Mr Memeger said.

Yu Xue was a senior level manager at GSK's sprawling research lab in the Philadelphia area where she clandestinely downloaded GSK trade secrets and confidential research data concerning the development of cancer-fighting monoclonal antibodies, according to the indictment.
Hollyoaks stars Emmett Scanlan and Claire Cooper share their wedding photos with HELLO!

Actors Claire Cooper and Emmett Scanlan, who have shared their wedding photos exclusively with HELLO! magazine this week, tied the knot in a starry New York City wedding. But when it came to choosing the wedding dress, the bride went closer to home.

Read the full interview in this week's HELLO! magazine, on sale now in all good newsagents and available to download on iPad, android, kindle fire and more formats. Or subscribe today to make sure you don't miss an issue!

Claire, who met Emmett when they starred in Hollyoaks, wore a stunning floor-length dress by Shropshire-based designer Claire Mischevani.

"Everyone got behind the wedding with such love that it was overwhelming at times," said Emmett Scanlan

The gown, which was made from duchess satin and embellished with lace and vintage crystals, was a perfect complement to the "chic and bohemian" theme for the day.

"Claire was torn between a very bohemian look and a more elegant style, so we had to come up with a design that would encompass both looks," the designer told HELLO!.

"When we were buying in Paris last September, we commissioned a company to make the intricate beaded back detail. The sketches take forever as you have to literally draw every single bead, but the results are truly stunning.

"It took hundreds of hours to construct and hand-embellish the gown, but Claire was thrilled with the results and so were we."

The designer met Claire, who will soon be seen in Kay Mellor drama In the Club, at an afterparty for the National Television Awards eight years ago. The actress had so much faith in her designer that she didn't feel the need to bring bridesmaids along to the dress fittings for a second opinion.

Blushing bride Claire admitted: "I felt that I needed to do my dress fittings by myself"

"I think you have to listen to your heart," said Claire. "I've watched so many episodes ofSay Yes to the Dress  it's my guilty pleasure  and I am mortified at how hideous friends and family can be. I hasten to add that no-one I know would be like that, but I felt that I needed to do my dress fittings by myself."

The dress was a huge hit. "Claire sent me such a lovely text the day after the wedding, thanking me for her gown, which literally brought a tear to my eye!" said the designer.

The couple's wedding ceremony, which was attended by many of their former Hollyoaksco-stars, was held in a former warehouse that offered picture-perfect views of New York City.

"It's something I'll never forget," said Emmett. "Everyone got behind the wedding with such love that it was overwhelming at times."
Latest News Australian Mortgage Awards 2022 broker winners reflect on big night Best of the best celebrate achievements

Household Capital enters strategic partnership with Genworth The insurer now has a 22% share of the firm

Leading aggregator Finsure has exceeded $1 billion of mortgage settlements a month less than five years after the company was founded.The aggregator surpassed the $1 billion milestone in December 2015 and exceeded growth expectations, according to Finsure managing director John Kolenda.This is a big milestone for Finsure and a fabulous achievement to build up the business to this level in just over four years, he said.We are well ahead of where I thought we would be when Finsure was established in 2011.The $1 billion settlements milestone is a testament to our strategy and recruiting good brokers.According to Kolenda, the aggregator now has more than 850 brokers and has plans to continue recruitment.Finsures settlements landmark also follows recent recognition as one of Australias fastest growing independent companies.In October, Finsure was ranked second in BRW Magazines latest top 100 Fast Starters list and the company was ranked second when the SmartCompany top 50 was named to celebrate Australias fastest growing SMEs in 2014-15.Finsure, which held its first international conference in Shanghai in October, recently revealed that it will be hosting its 2016 conference in Singapore, just prior to the Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix.Our 2016 international conference will be a great opportunity to celebrate all of the important milestones we have achieved over the year, Kolenda said.
by Bill Pearis

APTBS' Dion Lunadon atop the crowd at Death by Audio's final night



Market Hotel's long-awaited reopening happens this weekend with a two-night celebration: Friday (1/22) with VIA APP, Kill Alters, Dreamcrusher, and Malory; and Saturday (1/23) with Guerilla Toss, PC Worship, Pill and just-announced "special guest" headliners A Place to Bury Strangers. Both nights are $10 at the door. Be prepared to trudge through the snow, though. Flyers for both reopening parties are below.

In other news APTBS bassist Dion Lunadon (who also plays in Flowers of Evil and spent time in New Zealand band D4) is set to release his debut single as a solo artist. 'Com/Broke' will be released as a 7" single on February 19 via Infinity Cat. You can check out the A-side which is a fierce punk burner -- listen below.

Dion has a few solo shows coming up in NYC: January 26 at Berlin with Stuyedeyed; then Palisades on February 4 with Steep Leans, Sun Voyager, Magic Shoppe, and Warcries (tickets); and then he'll open for Ty Segall and The Men at Webster Hall on February 28 (tickets). Flyer for the Palisades show is below.



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Dion Lunadon - 2016 Tour Dates

Jan 26 - New York, NY - Berlin

Feb 4 - New York, NY - Palisades

Feb 28 - New York, NY - Webster Hall *
This tune was one of the first ones we wrote when we finished touring and went to the country to start writing....Once we had How Could You Know I think we had the confidence to step further into unfamiliar territory for the rest of the record. We had a lot of fun playing this one in Oli's living room with just a piano and 12 string guitar, and that method dictated how we wrote a lot of other songs on the album. It was important to us that they sounded great stripped right back.
In some ways, "Post Pop Depression" also picks up where "Lust for Life" left off. "Where those records pointed, it stopped," Mr. Homme said. "But without copying it," he continued, "that direction actually goes for miles. And when you keep going for miles you can't see these two records any more."

The lyrics reflect on memories, hint at characters and offer advice and confessions; they can be hard-nosed, remorseful, flippant, combative or philosophical. The album's theme, Mr. Pop said, is: "What happens after your years of service? And where is the honor?"...

...He continued: "In American life, because it's so hypercompetitive, what happens when you're finally useless to everyone except hopefully not yourself? What happens then? And can you continue to be of use to yourself? I had a kind of character in mind. It was sort of a cross between myself and a military veteran."
The Ziegfeld Theater, the last of NYC's massive, old-school "movie palaces," is going dark, closing for good in the next few weeks. It will then undergo a two-year renovation and become a corporate events space. The 1,300 seat theater, which opened in 1969, is currently showing Star Wars: The Force Awakens. If you haven't seen the new Star Wars yet, it might be worth making an effort to see it there. The only single-screen theater that will remain after Ziegfeld closes will be midtown's 571-seat Paris Theater. The new lease-holders do say they will still try and honor Ziegfeld's past and occasional hold movie screenings there.

In happier NYC cinema news, the two-screen Metrograph movie house will open at 7 Ludlow St (just above Canal) on February 17. The initial schedule includes screenings of Kubrick's Barry Lyndon and Scorsese's Age of Innocence on 35mm, Susan Seidelman's Desperately Seeking Susan, retrospectives of Fassbinder, documentarian Frederick Wiseman, and lots more. Metrograph's initial schedule is listed below.



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METROGRAPH - 2016 SCREENING SCHEDULE

Surrender to the Screen: Watching the Moviegoing Experience (March 4-10)

Titles include: "The Long Day Closes" (Terence Davies, 1992), "Vivre sa Vie" (Jean-Luc Godard, 1962), "Goodbye, Dragon Inn" (Tsai Ming-liang, 2003), "Taxi Driver" (Martin Scorsese, 1976), "Matinee" (Joe Dante, 1993), "Desperately Seeking Susan" (Susan Seidelman, 1985), "Variety" (Bette Gordon, 1983), "Demons (Lamberto Bava, 1985) and more.

Jean Eustache (March 9-17)

Extended engagements of Eustache's two features "The Mother and the Whore" (1973) and "Mes Petites Amoureuses" (1974), along with "Les Mauvaises Frequentations" (1963), "Santa Claus Has Blue Eyes" (1967) and more rare imported prints. Presented with support from the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and Institut Francais. Special thanks to Amelie Garin Davet, Mathieu Fournet, and Francoise Lebrun

"The Student Nurses" (One Week Revival: March 11-17)

The sole female filmmaker in a renowned boys' club, Stephanie Rothman made a small, but significant series of subversive exploitation films. One of her greatest films is the ensemble drama "The Student Nurses," which forgoes cheap psychologizing and sexual gratuity for a nuanced take on the professional and personal options faced by women. Metrograph will present a new 35mm print from Academy Film Archives, with support from the Women's Film Preservation Fund and Cinema Conservancy.

Welcome to Metrograph: A-F (March 16 - April 21)

Titles include: "The Age of Innocence" (Martin Scorsese, 1993), "Barry Lyndon" (Stanley Kubrick, 1975), "The Blood of a Poet" (Jean Cocteau, 1932), "Chelsea Girls" (Andy Warhol, 1966, image above), "The Clock" (Vincente Minnelli, 1945), "Comrades: Almost A Love Story" (Peter Chan, 1996), "Deux fois" (Jackie Raynal, 1968), "The Devil Probably" (Robert Bresson, 1977), "Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde" (Rouben Mamoulian, 1931), "Equinox Flower" (Yasujiro Ozu, 1958), and more. All films on 35mm or 16mm.

"A Space Program" (One Week Engagement: March 18-24)

World-renowned contemporary artist Tom Sachs transformed New York's Park Avenue Armory into a space station, immersing visitors into a large-scale installation, titled "Space Program 2.0. Mars." In this new documentary, co-directors Sachs and Van Neistat give viewers intimate glimpses into the production of this beautiful and playful world, following the crew as they embark on a risky mission to the red planet. "A Space Program" is a vivid work of art on its own terms.

Old and Improved (Sundays Beginning March 20)

Every Sunday starting March 20, we're pleased to present a new preservation or restoration. In some cases, these screenings mark the first times these prints have shown to the public. Titles include Dorothy Arzner's "Craig's Wife" (1936), Garson Kanin's "My Favorite Wife" (1940), Josef von Sternberg's "Crime and Punishment (1935), Apichatpong Weerasethakul's "Mysterious Object at Noon" (2000), Djibril Diop Mambety's "Touki Bouki" (1973), and Joyce Chopra's "Joyce at 34" (1972) plus shorts from New York's Youth Film Distribution Center. All titles on 35mm or 16mm.

Three Wiseman (March 25 - April 14)

Among the greatest and most influential documentary filmmakers who ever lived, Frederick Wiseman is more than just a capturer of reality on screen: he's a conjurer of unforgettable images and a true artist, chronicling the last half century of American life. Metrograph will show three of his earliest masterpieces--"Titicut Follies" (1967), "High School" (1968), and "Hospital" (1970)-- in new 35mm prints. The films were preserved by the Library of Congress National Audio-Visual Conservation Center from original camera negatives in the Zipporah Films Collection.

"Office 3D" (One Week Engagement: March 25-31)

Hugely popular Hong Kong auteur Johnnie To, primarily known for his action movies, surprised and delighted his fans this past year with the remarkable "Office," a stylish, buoyant musical shot in 3D featuring grand, eye-popping set design reminiscent of Jacques Tati's classic "Playtime." Adapted from her own stage play by Sylvia Chang, who also costars, "Office" takes place in an austere yet exquisitely realized high-rise, where two new assistants attempt to climb the corporate ladder and please the head honcho (played by the imperious Chang).

"Afternoon" (One Week Engagement: April 1-7)

Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang ("The River," "What Time Is It There?"), one of the most tirelessly brilliant filmmakers in the world, sits down for an extended conversation with his long-time muse Lee Kang-sheng, in a ramshackle rural house to discuss all manner of things professional and very personal. True Tsai fans, prepare to bliss out.

"The Measure of a Man" and Vincent London Retrospective (One Week Engagement: April 15-21)

One of the most robust and dynamic actors currently working in French cinema, Vincent Lindon officially arrived as a force to be reckoned with on the international stage when he won the best actor award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2015 for "The Measure of a Man." On the occasion of the release, Metrograph will present a selection of films that showcase four of his greatest performances. Each of them uncovers a different facet of this generous and vital leading man, a tough-guy and a romantic hero in equal measure. Films include "Seventh Heaven" (1997), "Friday Night" (2002), "Pater" (2007), and "Bastards" (2013)

"Los Sures" (One Week Engagement: April 15-21)

Thirty years ago, South Williamsburg was known as "Los Sures," a place imbued with vibrant life, a community of close-knit Puerto Rican and Dominican families living amidst everyday economic struggle. Today, with the neighborhood fully gentrified, it feels vital to remember this lost world, and Diego Echeverria's essential documentary, shot in the early eighties on 16mm, brings it all back to life, through the eyes of five different residents.

"Hockney" (One Week Engagement: April 22-28)

For the first time, the brilliant artist David Hockney has given us access to his personal archive of photographs and home movies; the result is an unparalleled visual diary of his life. Randall Wright's new documentary "Hockney" weaves together a portrait of the multifaceted artist from this intimate, never-before-seen footage and frank interviews with close friends. One of the great surviving icons of the 1960s, Hockney started his career with nearly instant success, but in private he has struggled with his art, relationships, and the tragedy of AIDS, making his optimism and sense of adventure truly uplifting.

Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Top Ten Films on 35mm (April 22-28)
Third Coast Percussion



Legendary American composer Steve Reich turns 80 this year and the Third Coast Percussion ensemble are celebrating with an album of Reich interpretations. That record is out February 12 via Cedille and you can watch them take on Reich's "Music For Pieces of Wood," which is on the LP, below.

Third Coast Percussion will be touring, playing compositions by Reich and composers influenced by him. One of these will happen in NYC, at the Met Museum on February 10. It will feature Reich's Sextet and Irish composer Donnacha Dennehy's Surface Tension, and tickets are on sale now.

Other dates of the tour will also feature the multi-media project "Wild Sound," by Glenn Kotche of Wilco. All dates are listed below.

In related news: The Mivos Quartet will perform Reich's Holocaust-related work "Different Trains," the contrapuntal "Triple Quartet," and "Violin Phase" at the Jewish Museum on February 4. It being presented by Bang on a Can and tickets are on sale.



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Between The Lines' Executive Producer Scott Harris hosts a live, weekly talk show, Counterpoint , from which some of Between The Lines' interviews are excerpted. Listen every Monday evening from 8 to 10 p.m. EDT at www.WPKN.org (Follows the 5-7 minute White Rose Calendar.) Counterpoint in its entirety is archived after midnight ET Monday nights, and is available for at least a year following broadcast in WPKN Radio's Archives . You can also listen to full unedited interview segments from Counterpoint, which are generally available some time the day following broadcast.

Listen to the full interview (30:33) with Jeremy Scahill, an award-winning investigative journalist with the Nation Magazine, correspondent for Democracy Now! and author of the bestselling book, "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army," about America's outsourcing of its military. In an exclusive interview with Counterpoint's Scott Harris on Sept. 16, 2013, Scahill talks about his latest book, "Dirty Wars, The World is a Battlefield," also made into a documentary film under the same title, and was nominated Dec. 5, 2013 for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary Feature category.

"How Do We Build A Mass Movement to Reverse Runaway Inequality?" with Les Leopold, author of "Runaway Inequality: An Activist's Guide to Economic Justice,"May 22, 2016, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York, 860 11th Ave. (Between 58th and 59th), New York City. Between The Lines' Scott Harris and Richard Hill moderated this workshop. Listen to the audio/slideshows and more from this workshop.

Award-winning investigative journalist and founder/editor of ConsortiumNews.com , Robert Parry has passed away. His ground-breaking work uncovering Reagan-era dirty wars in Central America and many other illegal and immoral policies conducted by successive administrations and U.S. intelligence agencies, stands as an inspiration to all in journalists working in the public interest.

Massachusetts Activists Mark MLK Holiday with 3-Day Walk Against Planned NED Fracked Gas Pipeline Posted Jan. 20, 2016 Interview with Hattie Nestel, organizer of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday Walk to Stop the NED Pipeline, conducted by Melinda Tuhus When it comes to opposition to proposed fracked gas pipelines across the country, one of the best organized grassroots movements is based in the hill towns of rural northwest Massachusetts. For over a year, property owners, local officials, the president of the state senate, and major environmental groups have all intervened in the permitting process for a pipeline with the process of FERC, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Opponents maintain that the Tennessee Pipe Line Company's Northeast Energy Direct pipeline isn't needed nor wanted to bring fracked gas from Pennsylvania through New York, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, which they say will be exported to Eastern Canada. In November, Kinder Morgan, Tennessee pipeline's parent company filed information with FERC indicating the company may want to use a substantial percentage of the gas to feed a massive gas-powered electric power plant that could be built somewhere along the pipeline's proposed route. More than 1,700 intervenors have filed their opposition to the pipeline with FERC, which may be the largest number for any proposed pipeline. Hattie Nestel, who is 77 years old and an opponent of the pipeline, was struck with the idea of organizing a three-day walk over the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend from the site of a proposed gas compressor station in the town of Northfield to the site of a planned pipe storage facility 34 miles away, in Plainfield. In less than a month  with no formal meetings or budget, and despite naysayers who doubted anyone would march for three days in mid-January's frigid temperatures  more than 100 people marched at least part of each day, from babies in strollers to octogenarians. Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus participated in the walk to learn firsthand from the mostly local residents about their concerns, and spoke with Hattie Nestel at the end of the second day of the walk. Here, Nestel explains why she took on the project and what defeating the pipeline will mean for residents and the environment of the area she calls home.

HATTIE NESTEL: It's relevant because if you really read and study Martin Luther King's life and his thinking and his commitments, he didn't always do what was popular; he didn't always do what people thought he should do; he did what some inner light guided him to do. He followed his inner light, and I just put this out to people, because my inner light said we should take this three-day walk to commemorate him and to fight the pipeline, and put the word out there about the pipeline. So, hundreds of people have been involved in this walk so far the first two days. Hundreds of people have walked, they've supported the walk, they've cooked for the walk. They're putting us up at night. Every need is met. It's just a beautiful explosion of people coming together - young children, young mothers, older people, whatever, to do this work to stop the pipeline. And I'm sure Martin Luther King's vision would have included the destruction of the earth as a real human rights violation and a lack of democracy, and those were things that were important to him.

BETWEEN THE LINES: So, this pipeline, just say a little bit about it. It's the Kinder Morgan pipeline. Just trace the path from where it enters Massachusetts and where it leaves and what people are doing to oppose it  and why.

HATTIE NESTEL: First of all, it comes up from the fracked fields of Pennsylvania, the Marcellus shale. The fracking process is very devastating to people, so that's part of the problem. It's devastating to the workers; they're inhaling all sorts of carcinogens and methane that's very bad for the environment. Wells have been destroyed; people are getting really sick in Pennsylvania, which is where I'm originally from. And then it goes up through New York by pipe, and they want to come through Massachusetts with a pipeload of this fracked gas. So, on many different levels, we don't want this fracked gas. We have all kinds of laws and constitutional amendments that say that protected land - conserved land - should be protected; it should not be destroyed. And this company is just in it for the profit. We'd have to pay for it, for the litigation, whatever was going on. Our housing values would be destroyed. But the worst thing is that species habitats would be destroyed; our waterways would be destroyed. Our forests would be cut down. We would no longer be the same pristine area we were if the pipeline were to come through.

And it's supposed to come through Hancock, go as far east as eight or ten towns and heading up into New Hampshire for something like nine towns through New Hampshire and back down to Dracut, Massachusetts, and go up for export to the Maritimes (Canada). So this wouldn't even be gas that we'd be needing or using, and it would push our prices up and take away our green energy jobs, and our Global Warming Solutions Act requires that we move forward with green energy and not with fossil fuels, so we really need to stop this pipeline; it's very clear.

BETWEEN THE LINES: So, you were walking the path of the pipeline. I know there were some issues with weather making it difficult to start at the starting point you had hoped, which is the proposed compressor station in Northfield. But the rest of the time, we've been following the path of the proposed pipeline. It's very rural. You were talking about conserved land. Apparently, the pipeline path goes right over, or right through, a lot of land that's in conservation, and that's illegal, right?

HATTIE NESTEL: Something like a thousand parcels would be impacted, and there's construction yards; there's the pipeline itself, which would have an easement of a 100 feet on either side of where they want to put the pipe in, and they would destroy everything. They would chemical it to kill the weeds; they'd cut down trees; all kinds of things. So we really want to stop the pipeline to avoid that kind of destruction. We value our lands, we value our quiet rural life. The compressor station would be very noisy, it would be lit up 24/7. If there was a fire there, there's nobody even there tending it. The medical people, the firefighters ... first of all, you can't put out a gas fire, you have to wait for it to die out. But they're not even prepared for that kind of fire, or an emergency. People are really very distraught over the idea that someone could have an easement through their property, very close to their house, their fields, their organic farms, their cow pastures, whatever. We also have a lot of legislators that are really with us. They live in these rural areas, several of them, and they listen to their constituents' concerns, and they're in there trying to stop it also. It's a very fraught process for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. They have every right to just go right ahead and permit this application without a lot of information and a lot of specific information. They have a lot of outdated information; they submitted it with 30-year-old maps which don't apply to our communities anymore.

People are really upset about this, so there's a lot of activism in Massachusetts to stop this pipeline, and we might do it, we just might do it.

For more information on the pipeline protest, visit hattienestel.com; nofrackedgasinmass.org; Stop the Pipeline Interviews by Hattie Nestel at nofrackedgasinmass.org/stop-the-pipeline-interviews-by-hattie-nestel.

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As part of his pledge to make America great again, Donald Trump wants to spend less on schools and get better test scores.

Speaking at a rally in Tulsa, Okla., on Wednesday, Trump, a business executive and a frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, lambasted the performance of American public schools students compared to their peers around the world. He said he was especially appalled because of all the money that goes to education in the U.S.

Were number one in terms of cost per pupil by a factor of, worldwide, by a factor of many. Number two is so far behind, forget it, Trump said. So were number one in the world in terms of spending. Were number twenty eight in the world in terms of, where do we stand? We have third world countries that are ahead of us, countries that you wouldnt believe, some countries that youve hardly heard of.

Trump said he envisioned a U.S. educational system that spends much less than it does now, but gets top-drawer results.

The PISA Numbers

So do international test scores, and our national education budget, back up what Trumps saying?

Lets turn to the most recent results from the Program for International Student Assessment, commonly if not always fondly known as PISA . PISA is administered in reading, math, and science. Scores remained stagnant in 2012, the most recent year from which data is available. And heres how my coworker Liana Heitin summarized the performance of U.S. students relative to their counterparts on the 2012 PISA:



Nineteen countries and education systems outranked American students in reading, up from nine in 2009.

Twenty nine nations and other jurisdictions outperformed Americans by a statistically significant margin in math, up from 23 in 2009. (So Trump is relatively close to the right answer when it comes to math.)

Twenty two education systems outperformed U.S. students, up from 18 in 2009.

Based on those comparisons, its not clear where Trump got the figure that were ranked 28th as far as PISA goes. But Trump certainly isnt alone in his general displeasure with the recent PISA results

.

As for Trumps claim that Third World countries are cleaning Americas clock? Once again, Liana helps you out with an interactive comparison of PISA results . You can make value judgments for yourself through the interactive chart, but here are a few comparisons:



In reading, countries that beat the U.S. by a statistically significant margin include Estonia and Poland, along with countries like Canada, Finland, and Japan.

In math, the U.S. got beat by countries such as Vietnam and Slovenia, along with Chinese Taipei and Switzerland.

In science, Estonia, Poland, and Slovenia beat the U.S., along with traditional PISA heavy hitters like Shanghai-China and Singapore.

(Some might also take issue with Trumps use of Third World instead of a phrase like developing nations.)

PISA has its detractors. It has been criticized by Tom Loveless of the Brookings Institution for how it handles Shanghais test scores , and more broadly by academics and other education advocates who believe it warps attitudes and approaches to K-12 .

Cash on the Barrel

And what about Trumps claim that America spends more per student than any other nation?

According to the 2014 Education at a Glance report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, among the OECDs 38 member nations and partner countries, the U.S. ranks fifth, at least when it comes to expenditures on secondary education. In primary education, the U.S. ranked fourth. So Trumps claim about the U.S. ranking tops in the spending department is off the mark. But, at least as far as OECD is concerned, America does rank relatively high.

Heres the OECDs chart on various U.S. educational expenditures, such as the share of total government spending that goes to education (including higher education), and how they compare to other nations:

But Wait, Theres More

Trump wasnt quite done with addressing education, at least in a tangential way.

Were going to bring education back to the states and back to the people and the parents ... We cant do any worse, Trump said later at the rally.

When it comes to shifting more K-12 policy power to states, the consensus is that the Every Student Succeeds Act just does that .

And, as he does with some regularity, Trump took a shot at the Common Core State Standards, which he has previously said are a disaster.

Under his presidency, Common core is out! The Second Amendment is in! Trump told the crowd.

ESSA requires states to adopt challenging academic standards , as my co-blogger Alyson Klein just wrote. But ESSA also says the federal government cant incentivize or coerce states into adopting a particular set of standards. The only way a Trump administration could back up Trumps campaign promise is through the passage of a new law banning common core outright. (Congress, as well as the nations governors and other K-12 officials, might wrinkle their nose at that idea.)



Ironically enough, Trump made that remark Thursday in Oklahoma, one of three states to at least nominally repeal the common core . The Sooner States new standards havent yet gone into effect.

Finally, on a related note, Trump recently made his views on gun control as it relates to schools very clear: He wants to get rid of gun-free school zones, which has been federal law for roughly 25 years. Once again, though, it would require a new federal law to get the kind of change in policy Trump wants.

Photo: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a news conference in New York last September. During a Thursday rally in Oklahoma, Trump blasted the Common Core State Standards as well as recent test scores from U.S. students.(AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

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October 3, 2022

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UB and Erie County join forces to fight opioid abuse

UB is in a unique position to effect positive change in terms of safe prescribing practices since we train so many of the regions health care providers. 

BUFFALO, N.Y.  The University at Buffalo and Erie County are joining forces to develop a comprehensive approach to fight Western New Yorks opioid abuse epidemic.

In 2015, the number of deaths from opiate overdoses in Erie County skyrocketed. The county estimates that once the data are complete, the number of overdose deaths from opiates may more than double, from 128 deaths in 2014 to nearly 280.

The spike in overdose deaths this year points to the need for major institutions in the community to come together to address the problem, said Gale Burstein, MD, MPH, Erie County, commissioner of health.

UB is the only institution in Western New York that educates health care providers of every type, she said. It trains our physicians, dentists, nurses, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, social workers and public health professionals. UB can be the role model for health care providers in the community on how to safely deal with acute and chronic pain, and how to recognize and treat opiate addiction.

Michael Cain, MD, vice president for health sciences and dean of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB, agreed. UB is in a unique position to effect positive change in terms of safe prescribing practices since we train so many of the regions health care providers, graduating more than 600 new health care professionals every year, he said. Our interprofessional focus, where we train students in all six health sciences schools to work with each other on multidisciplinary teams, is ideally suited to addressing this public health crisis.

In October, the Tower Foundation awarded a $64,500 grant to the county to develop guidelines for health care providers on safe prescribing practices and training for safe pain management, and how to screen and manage opioid addicts. The UB-Erie County partnership will leverage these efforts with a multidisciplinary approach focused on training current and future health care providers in safe acute-pain management. The partnership will work to educate providers, patients and the community about the risks of opioid pain medications and how quickly addiction and subsequently, even fatalities, can occur when opiates are prescribed -- even for legitimate reasons.

The effort will involve UBs health sciences schools  the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, the School of Dental Medicine, the School of Nursing, the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and the School of Public Health and Health Professions  as well as the School of Social Work. The UB Law School and the School of Management are adjunct participants. The partnership also takes advantage of resources at the university that have long been involved in exploring the origins and impact of addiction, such as UBs Research Institute on Addictions (RIA), a national leader in the study of substance use and abuse. According to Ken Leonard, director, the RIA has pioneered studies in the neurobiology, the causes and consequences, and the treatment of addictions.

RIA will help the university develop a comprehensive framework for education in addiction, based on current course offerings, as well as new ones under development, at the undergraduate and graduate levels, in addition to supporting graduate degrees, concentrations and certificate programs in disciplines that commonly address addiction-related issues, he said.

In the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, efforts are underway to enrich the curricula of medical residents who care for patients who are addicted or are at risk for addiction. Residency education is going to build on its existing practice of training residents to screen for, and properly manage, patients with substance abuse and related issues that affect patients and their families, Cain said.

Efforts are ongoing to recruit residents into fellowships that focus on pain and addiction who will then continue as faculty with expertise to educate and provide much needed care, according to Roseanne Berger, MD, senior associate dean for graduate medical education. UB sponsors fellowships in pain medicine, hospice and palliative care and in addiction medicine, she added. These fellowships build on the education included in the core residency years, which will be enriched by the collaborations with RIA and others.

Paul Wietig, EdD, assistant vice president in the UB Office of Interprofessional Education, is coordinating the effort. UB is making a major contribution to educating our health sciences students, as well as providers in the community, so that they can prevent, recognize and treat opiate addiction, he said.

The effort also will focus on empowering students in UBs health sciences schools to help disseminate public health messages to their peers about the dangers of opiates.
Matt Raybould has joined Stelrads new brand specialists team, responsible for the Midlands area covering the East and West Midlands, from Lincolnshire, across to Staffordshire and down to Oxfordshire.

Initially nine strong, the Stelrad brand specialists team comprises individuals whose role is to meet builders and plumbers merchant branch staff across their regions and heating installers at their local merchant branches, to introduce new products and new concepts for the use of radiators to the people who are at the sharp end of the heating business.

The brand specialists will travel their territories in distinctive Stelrad branded Mini cars and have distinctive Stelrad workwear uniforms that will make them stand out from the crowd.

Its an exciting time to be joining the leading radiator manufacturer in the UK, said Mr Raybould. A desk job is not the way forward for me and this role allows me to meet new people every day and travel extensively through my territory, introducing people to the huge range of Stelrad radiators available to them. Im enjoying the job hugely and looking forward to helping to develop our brand in the months and years ahead.
Padres stun Phillies as big brother gets best of little brother

The San Diego Padres stunned the Philadelphia Phillies in NLCS Game 2, scoring eight unanswered runs in a victory that evened up the playoff series.
Burnham-On-Seas Ritz Acoustic Club is tonight welcoming back a talented guitarist who has recently performed on Sky Arts.

Darren Hodge will be performing as the guest artist at the Ritz Club in Victoria Street this evening (January 21st) at around 9.30pm.

The performer, from Taunton, has appeared many times over the years at The Ritz as a young, up and coming artist. Having recently appeared on Sky Arts, he now performs across the UK and makes a welcome return to Burnham.

Darren Hodge is a young man from Taunton who is regarded by his peers as one of the top up and coming young guitarists in the country, said a spokesman at the club.

After picking up his first guitar seven years ago at the age of 12, Darren has been astounding audiences up and down the country with his ability and instrumental style of playing.

He has been very busy over the last couple of years and has already graced the stage with some of the top guitarists in the world including Tommy Emmanuel, Clive Carroll and Ben Hughes  all of whom are at the top of their field and have backed Darren as a future star.
A.L. (translated by Cosmin Ghidoveanu) Ziarul BURSA #English Section / 20 ianuarie 2016

An increasing number of European officials and analysts are threatening with the end of the European Union, whereas a few years ago that kind of statements was inconceivable.

The migrant crisis has become a major issue for the European Union, which is facing the biggest influx of immigrants since WW2.

The president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, yesterday said, in the European Parliament, that the European Union only has two months to deal with the migrant crisis, or else face the collapse of its passport-free Schengen zone.

"The March European Council (summit) will be the last moment to see if our strategy works. If it doesn't, we will face grave consequences such as the collapse of Schengen", Tusk warned yesterday, while also asking member states to apply the strategy agreed upon in the December EU summit, which stipulated the mandatory refugee quotas.

Moreover, Donald Tusk said the EU would "fail as a political project" if it could not control its external borders properly.

Austria recently announced that it has suspended the Schengen agreement, and everyone that wants to enter the country must show ID at the border. The chancellor in Vienna has explained that if the European Union (EU) can not secure its outside borders, then the EU member states have to reinforce their border security themselves. Norway, Sweden and Denmark have also suspended Schengen this week and have reinstated border controls.

Last week, the president of the European Commission (CE), Jean-Claude Juncker, said that the existence of the Euro would be meaningless if the Schengen space were to disappear. "Stopping the massive influx of refugees represents a priority, first and foremost for Germany, the most powerful economy of the 28 EU member states and the main destination for the newcomers to the European territory", Juncker further said, and he added that he can not accept for the relocation of the 160,000 refugees not to be implemented.

"Europe is currently returning to the Middle Ages or the early modern era, before the Industrial Revolution, a period full of dizzying incoherence- empires, kingdoms, confederations, minor states, [...]. It is a picture of a radically fractured world, as shown by the maps of the time", Robert Kaplan recently wrote in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) Online.

He says, in "Saturday's essay" published by the WSJ, called "Europe's new medieval map", that the separations in Europe had been visible for decades, since back when the EU was making efforts to expand its borders and its practical approach: "There were countries within the EU and outside it; countries within the EU Schengen space and outside it; countries that were capable of managing the financial rigor in the Eurozone and those that weren't.

But the deep roots of these divisions, in the history and geography of the continent, are less known.

The sturdy core of modern Europe approximates in large measure the Carolingian Empire founded by Charlemagne in the ninth century. The first Holy Roman Emperor, he ruled the lands from the North Sea down through the Low Countries and radiating outward to Frankfurt, Paris, Milan and so on. The weaker cousins of this Europe extend along the Mediterranean, from the Iberian Peninsula to southern Italy and the historically less-developed Balkans, heirs to the Byzantine and Ottoman traditions.

During the decades following World War II, this divide was suppressed because of Europe's relative isolation from its "near abroad"-that is, from the regions of North Africa and Eurasia that, for centuries, did so much to shape the distinctive character of the continent's periphery. Today that wider geography can no longer be ignored, as Europe's various regions adopt very different attitudes to the threats posed by Russia's bullying under President Vladimir Putin, the flood of refugees from the Middle East and the latest terrorist outrages at home and abroad.

The centralization imposed for decades by the EU and its distant, unrepresentative bureaucracy hasn't created a unitary Europe. Indeed, it has created a powerful backlash across the continent, one that the EU can survive only by figuring out how better to establish its legitimacy among its diverse nations".

In Kaplan's opinion, Europe's geographical defenses from the post-war period no longer work: "When the great mid-20th-century French geographer Fernand Braudel wrote his classic work on the Mediterranean, he didn't treat the sea itself as Europe's southern border. That, he suggested, was the Sahara. Today, as if to prove him right, migrant caravans assemble across North Africa, from Algeria to Libya, for the demographic invasion of Europe proper. The Balkans, too, have resumed their historic role as a corridor of mass migration toward Europe's center, the first stop for millions of refugees fleeing the collapsed regimes of Iraq and Syria".

"Europe thus now finds itself facing an unhappy historical irony", the WSJ editorialist writes, who further says that "the decades in which it was able to develop its high ideals of universal human rights, including the right of the distressed to seek havens in Europe, was made possible by the oppressive regimes that once held sway on its periphery. The Arab world was slammed shut for decades by prison states whose dictator-wardens kept their people in order. Saddam Hussein in Iraq, the Assad family in Syria, Muammar Qaddafi in Libya-they allowed Europe to have its idealistic cake and eat it, too.", Kaplan further writes, quoted by Mediafax.

The author further says: "Even worse to the European unity, geography and history have conspired to make some regions of the continent more vulnerable to the flood of migrants and refugees than others. As Germany and parts of Scandinavia lay down a very tentative welcome mat, Central European countries like Hungary and Slovenia erect new razor-wire fences. The Balkans, virtually separated from the rest of Europe by war and underdevelopment in the 1990s, have now been dealt another blow by the anarchy in the Middle East. At the southeastern extremity of Europe, Greece, once a poor Ottoman province, has seen its economic crisis exacerbated by its unlucky position as the gateway for hundreds of thousands of migrants fleeing the Arab world's turmoil".

"Another critical factor in the period of relative stability now coming to an end in Europe was the geopolitical role played by Russia", says Robert Kaplan, who mentions that "during the Cold War, the Soviet Union was an obvious strategic threat, but it was a threat well-managed by the U.S."

The author further writes: "Today, needless to say, Russia is very much back as a strategic player in Europe. If you were a Pole or a Romanian in the 1990s, Russia was conveniently weak and chaotic, and membership in NATO and the EU held out the prospect of lasting peace and prosperity. The strategic horizon is very different now: The future of the European enterprise appears uncertain, and a revived Russia has annexed Crimea, overrun eastern Ukraine and again threatens your own borders.

In this context we may be witnessing a remarkable reversal of Cold War alliances. Europe is again redividing into halves, but this time it is Eastern Europe that wants to draw closer to the U.S. because it increasingly doubts that NATO alone will be an effective defensive barrier against Russia. Meanwhile, the countries of Western Europe, worried about the tide of refugees and terrorist attacks at home, seek to draw closer to Russia (the Ukraine crisis notwithstanding) as a hedge against the chaos emanating from Syria.

Putin knows that geography and raw power-both military and economic-are still the starting point for asserting national interests. Europe's elites take a very different view.

After centuries of bloodshed, they have largely rejected traditional power politics.

To maintain peace, they have instead placed their hopes on a regulatory regime run by the post-national technocrats of Brussels. In their minds, the continent's divisions could be healed by the social-welfare state and a common currency. Distinctive national identities shaped by centuries of historical and cultural experience would have to give way to the European superstate, whatever its toll on the political legitimacy of the EU among the diverse nations of Europe.

In the U.K. and much of Western Europe, there is now a backlash against the overreaching of Brussels, and it is finding powerful expression in domestic politics. Social-welfare policies once touted as a balm for the continent's divisions have acted as a drag on national economies, and this stagnation has provided, in turn, the backdrop for nationalist (sometimes reactionary) politics and rising hostility to refugees".

As the EU continues to fracture, this power vacuum could create a 21st-century equivalent of the late Holy Roman Empire: a rambling, multiethnic configuration that was an empire in name but not in fact, until its final dissolution in 1806, Kaplan further says, and he added that there still is no alternative to American leadership in Europe: "For the U.S., a Europe that continues to fracture internally and to dissolve externally into the fluid geography of Northern Africa and Eurasia would constitute the greatest foreign-policy disaster since World War II. The success of the EU over many decades was a product of American power, stemming from the victory over Nazi Germany. For all its imperfections, the EU, even more than NATO, has been the institutional embodiment of a postwar Europe that is free, united and prosperous".

"The decades when we thought of Europe as stable, predictable and dull are over", says Kaplan, who mentions "The continent's map is becoming medieval again, if not yet in its boundaries then at least in its political attitudes and allegiances that the map of the continent is once again becoming medieval, if not through borders, at least through attitudes and political alliances.




Washington

The new Every Student Succeeds Act gives states and districts that want to push towards equity more flexibility to realize their visionbut there are also potential soft spots that could stall efforts to close the achievement gap if communities arent careful, acting U.S. Secretary of Education John King told a roomful of mayors.

ESSA, King said in a speech to the U.S. Conference of Mayors Wednesday, provides schools with new tools, but it also presents risks.

On the tools side of the ledger, King touted two programs in the law that are aimed at ensuring students are ready to learn: Preschool Development Grants (which help states expand early-childhood programs) and a program similar to Promise Neighborhoods (an Obama administration program that helps schools pair academics with wraparound services, such as health).

Getting further into the policy weeds, King said hes heartened that ESSA, the latest edition of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, requires states to look beyond test scores and incorporate other measures of student achievement. That means states can consider access to advanced coursework for low-income students, access to arts and music education, and chronic absenteeism when rating their schools.

But the law also allows states to come up with their own set of indicatorsopening the door, some civil rights advocates fear, to metrics that could make nearly every school look good, or obscure gaps between low-income and minority students and their more-advantaged peers.

Theres an opportunity for states to adopt accountability systems that are equity-advancing, King said. But theres also risk those new indicators will be used to distract from core [questions] of whether or not schools are delivering on their responsibility to educate students.

And the new law gives states and districts the leeway to develop their own interventions for schools that are in the bottom 5 percent of performers, those where more than one third of students dont graduate, and schools where historically overlooked groups of students are struggling.

King urged the mayors to make sure these interventions are meaningful.

We need to make sure that states are aggressive and leaning forward in trying to support the schools that are struggling the most, he said. We cant allow the intervention requirements to become just a bureaucratic compliance strategy.

He gave examples of remedies that he thinks could really make a difference, including the early-education and wraparound-service programs, or an intervention with research to back it up thats aimed at a particular group of students, such as English-language learners.

King did not explicitly suggest any of the strategies that characterized the Obama administrations early approach to turnaround, like closing a school, turning it into a charter, or making sweeping staff cuts. Those ideas were highly controversial and had a mixed record of success.

Integration and Resources

And King hit on an issue that many wished his predecessor, Arne Duncan, had touched on more often: the need to better integrate schools.

I think this question of socioeconomic integration is bound up with the question of resources in schools, " King said. Integration, he said, can help ensure that all students have access to the same kinds of programs and resources.

When you go many places in this country, its hard to find an affluent suburban school that isnt offering art and music and technology, he said. But then two miles away, sometimes two blocks away ... you have a school that doesnt have any of that. We need to see that as a community we all have a stake in every child.

King also told mayors to pay attention to another factor that can exacerbate resource inequitiesstate and local school finance systems that dont adequately serve the neediest schools.

And, in response to a question from the audience, King said career and technical education can help re-engage students who have dropped out of school, since theyll see an immediate connection between their coursework and potential employment.

Striking a more personal note, King, who is half Puerto Rican and half African-American, kicked off his speech with a nod to his own struggles as a recently orphaned teenager. And, as he has in other settings and interviews, he credited his teachers with saving my life.

He said hes the first education secretary to have been expelled from school. But I believe in second chances, he said. So I may not be the last.

Education Secretary John King Jr. listens as President Barack Obama answers questions from members of the media at the White House in October.

--Andrew Harnik/AP-File

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THE MOUNTAIN SHADOW

Author: Gregory David Roberts

Publisher: Hachette India

Pages: 873

Price: Rs 899



There is little doubt that Shantaram was a publishing sensation. The lively characters, the florid prose, the vibrant portrayal of Bombay  Gregory David Roberts produced a page-turner that ended up selling four million copies worldwide. Loosely based on Robertss life, readers were left entranced by the story of an Australian convict who escaped prison and thrived in the murky, treacherous underbelly of Mumbai, first as an amateur doctor in the citys slums and later as a passport forger for the local mafia. Even as purists sneered at its overly ornate prose, others devoured it with glee.

The Mountain Shadow, the first of the three proposed sequels to Shantaram, comes more than a decade after the astounding success of the first book. The Mountain Shadow is dominated by the several of the same characters that had so thrillingly delighted in Shantaram: Lin (also known as Shantaram), Karla, his soul mate, who is now married to a handsome Indian media tycoon, and a group of perennially-stoned, woozy expatriates.

It has been two years since the events in Shantaram. Lin returns from a smuggling trip to a city that seems to have changed too much, too soon. Many of his old friends are long gone and the new mafia leadership is immersed in a dangerous battle involving murder and drugs. The plot  much like in Shantaram  unravels in the sun-soaked, incommodious lanes of Mumbai, awash with drugs, petty criminals and nefarious police guys. The book chronicles Lins escapades for the Sanjay Company, which has undergone a major overhaul ever since the death of Khaderbhai, its founder, in Afghanistan. Lin later discovers that Khaderbhai had a spiritual guru called Idriss. If Shantaram saw Lin venture out on a path to seek love, spirituality and self-discovery, The Mountain Shadow gives you much of the same, just on a grander, almost unfathomable scale.

What worked for Roberts in Shantaram was his startling ability to tell a story and a quite a fascinating one at that. In The Mountain Shadow, the storytelling is muddled, bordering on the absurd in the some parts. Roberts hastily jumps from one event to another, introducing predictable characters with cliched backgrounds in between. By the end of it, you struggle to keep up with the sheer number of characters that Roberts brings to life in this enormous book. Despite its gargantuan size (almost 900 pages), Roberts strides through this one at dizzying pace, leaving you with a throbbing headache at the end.

And, the prose  enthralling in some parts  is a tad too purple for ones liking. In Shantaram, we were introduced to Robertss penchant for painting the most trite things with a colourful, multi-stroked brush. Unfortunately, he spills too much colour this time.

Riding a motorcycle is velocity as poetry, he begins in one of the earlier chapters in the book. ...The fine balance between elegant agility and fatal fall is a kind of truth, it carries a heartbeat with it into the sky. Eternal moments in the saddle escape the stuttering flow of time, and space, and purpose. Such hued descriptions run amok for a major part of the book.

More than the prose, its the random aphorisms that make you cringe. The book is replete with dictums such as If you cant stand the heat, then get out of the building, which Lin incidentally spots at a Hanuman shrine. Robertss favourite, however, is the one he uses rather unsparingly in the book: Writers never really die until people stop quoting them.



Despite its various shortcomings, Roberts somehow keeps you engaged with his vivid imagination and somewhat unorthodox subplots. An expatriate is bafflingly cursed by a Hindu holy man, a private detective is investigating a matter that involves the CIA, an Irish mobster wants to kill Lin's brother, and in spite of Lins desperate attempts, Karla is still proving to be elusive. Somewhere in the middle, Lin also makes a brisk, pointless trip to Sri Lanka.

The book, in parts, is a rich first-hand account of a convict's larger-than-life experience in a city teeming with compelling characters. In the other parts, it is self-indulgent twaddle that is loaded with homilies and overstated life lessons. At the end of the almost 900 pages, the moralism gets too overwhelming, almost claustrophobic. Roberts tries to capture every tiny moment in such resplendent grandeur that it gets annoying after a point. Lins sanctimonious approach does little to help matters. Throughout the book, Lin tries too hard to portray himself as a saint, abjectly failing in the end. While the first book had Bombay as its protagonist, The Mountain Shadow is all about Lin and his inexplicable desire to forgive everyone who has done some wrong to him. Such outpouring of compassion leaves you confused.

Towards the end, after Lin and Karla are reunited, the two face off in an aphorism contest, hurling maxims at each other almost at will, resulting in an embarrassing turn of events. This sequence aptly sums up the book. Roberts, this time, has taken the search for love, faith and god a little too far. The Mountain Shadow could have been a thriller just like its predecessor, had Roberts not been undone by his own ambition. Here, he has delivered a part-sensational, part-middling novel that produces sporadic flashes of literary genius, only to lose steam in the end. Unfortunately for Roberts, there won't be many quoting from this one.
Revv, a car rental company set up by former McKinsey associate partners, has launched its operations in Hyderabad, deploying a fleet of 50 cars across various models.

The company, based in Gurgaon, plans to launch operations later this month in Bangalore. According to Karan Jain, co-founder and COO, Revv, the company has seen a terrific response in Hyderabad after its launch. Our average fleet utility is more than 70 per cent, he said. We see enormous potential in Hyderabad and envision it becoming a 250-300 car market within the next one year. Jain, who started the company along with another former McKinsey associate partner, Anupam Agarwal, last July, says Revv hopes to start operations in one or two new cities every month over the coming months. Self-drive car rental firms are rare in India, as most people hire vehicles along with drivers.

But Revv sees opportunity in the self-drive market, with consumers wanting to rent vehicles instead of buying them. The company delivers the car to a customer anywhere in the city that it operates in. Revv provides self-drive cars for hourly, daily, weekly and monthly requirements. Tariffs start from a low of Rs59 an hour for a Hyundai i20 Grand, and goes up to Rs229 an hour for an Audi Q3.

Source : BS Motoring
Engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) is in talks with the Ahmedabad-based Adani group to sell its power plant in Punjab at an estimated value of around Rs 3,000 crore. If the deal gets through, it will be Adani's third acquisition of a power project in 17 months.

A banker said the talks with Adani are at an advanced stage. However, no decision has been taken yet as due-diligence is currently on. The acquisition will play an important role in Gautam Adani's plan to become India's biggest power producer and port operator in India.

For L&T, sale of assets is crucial as its stock has fallen 35 per cent in six months, following a weak order inflow outlook for fiscal 2016. It closed flat at Rs 1,102 on Thursday. Adani Power closed flat at Rs 26.60.

It will be a good acquisition for the Adani group as the entire power produced by the L&T plant is currently sold to Punjab State Power Corporation and the power purchase agreement is valid for the next 25 years. The plant - built on super-critical technology of Japanese company Mitsubishi - sources its fuel from south-eastern coalfields under a 20-year fuel supply agreement. The power plant has been running successfully for over a year with a technical availability of over 90 per cent in the first year of operations.

When contacted, an L&T spokesperson declined to comment on the "market speculation". An email sent to the Adani group did not elicit any response.

Adani group had earlier taken over Lanco's Udupi plant for Rs 6,000 crore in August 2014.

A few months later, the company announced takeover of Avantha group's Korba power plant for Rs 4,200 crore.

L&T and the Tatas had earlier sold off their stake in Dhamra port in Odisha to Adani in May 2014 for Rs 5,500 crore. In October last year, Adani Ports (ADSEZ) had also signed an agreement with L&T Shipbuilding to acquire Kattupalli port in Tamil Nadu at an enterprise valuation of Rs 2,000 crore.

Punjab power plant will not be the only sale by L&T in the recent times. The company sold a large commercial real estate project in Chandigarh in the second quarter of FY15 to raise Rs 1,800 crore. Later, the company sold a 5% stake in its listed subsidiary, L&T Finance, to raise Rs 600 crore.

In the coming months, it is also looking at the option of listing L&T Infotech by selling 15 per cent stake in the company for Rs 2,600 crore. L&T is also considering part-monetisation of its investment in L&T Seawoods project in Navi Mumbai, where it is developing a railway station and real estate properties around the station.

A WIN-WIN DEAL
FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX Founded by: Jawaharlal Nehru

Jawaharlal Nehru Newspapers published: National Herald, Navjivan (Hindi) and Qaumi Awaz (Urdu)

National Herald, Navjivan (Hindi) and Qaumi Awaz (Urdu) 1999: Lucknow editions were closed

Lucknow editions were closed 2008: Delhi editions shut down

Associated Journals Limited (AJL), the publisher of the now-defunct National Herald and two sister newspapers, on Thursday decided to revive the three dailies. AJL shareholders, who attended an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) here on Thursday evening, considered and approved several resolutions to convert the company into a not-for-profit one. AJL, founded by Jawaharlal Nehru in November 1937, published multiple editions of its newspapers  National Herald, Navjivan (Hindi) and Qaumi Awaz (Urdu). However, the Lucknow editions were closed in 1999, while the Delhi editions were shut down in 2008.Briefing media persons, AJL chairman and managing director Motilal Vora said notices for the EGM had been duly sent out to all members of the company, while public announcements had also appeared in three Lucknow newspapers in December 2015.He was flanked by Sam Pitroda. Senior Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Sheila Dikshit, Oscar Fernandes, Jitin Prasad and Sandeep Dikshit, among others, were also present. About 30 shareholders of the company were present at the meeting.Vora said the resolutions were in pursuance to the revival plan of the company since 2010, which includes conversion of the company to not-for-profit, and re-launching the newspapers. He said the company would now consider the revival plan of the newspapers and the editions to be revived. This decision of the EGM in essence formalises this larger purpose for which the company was founded in the first place, he added.

Fernandes told Business Standard on the sidelines that the important thing was that the EGM fulfilled the quorum required for passing the resolution. The members also considered changing the name of the company. The proposal is yet to be finalised and approved. Since January 18, former employees of AJL here have been sitting on a relay hunger strike in support of their seven-point charter of demands, under the aegis of the Associated Journals Employees Union (AJEU). Former AJEU general secretary Dileep Kumar Sinha had alleged AJL management was conspiring to siphon off company properties by proposing to change the name of the company at the EGM. They had also demanded revival of the dailies.

In 2012, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy had filed a case in a Delhi court alleging financial irregularities in National Herald. Congress president and vice president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi respectively are accused in the case. Last month, the Gandhis had appeared before the court, which granted them bail. Swamy claimed the AJL properties in India were to the tune of Rs 5,000 crore.
Lenders are close to finalising a new owner for Kolkata-based Electrosteel Steels, the first company where the strategic debt restructuring mechanism was applied last year, after the Reserve Bank of India allowed banks to take management control of defaulting companies.

The existing promoters, the Umang Kejriwal family with a 45 per cent stake in Electrosteel Steels, will focus on Electrosteel Castings and Sri Kalahasthi Pipes (formerly Lanco Industries).

The move to ratify the deal by lenders will be the one of the last of a series of steps taken to initiate the change of ownership.

In December, lenders had approved converting a part of the company's debt into equity following which the Electrosteel Steels' board approved conversion of debt aggregating to Rs 2,507 crore into 2,507.5 million equity shares of Rs 10 each. The board also approved the increase in authorised share capital of the company. An extraordinary general meeting for shareholders' approval was held earlier this month.

Bankers have approached quite a few companies, including Tata Steel, for this deal. "Finally it was decided to go ahead with this foreign company having roots in London and China," the source said.

Industry sources, however, indicated the deal could be transacted at a price lower than the current book value.

An India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) note on strategic debt restructuring said while the conversion of debt into equity would help companies by lowering their debt servicing burden, their long-term viability would depend on improvement in cash flow under the new management.

Electrosteel Steels' problems started with raw material supply for its 2.51 million tonne steel and ductile iron project. It had an irrevocable offtake agreement with Electrosteel Castings, a promoter group company, for procurement of coking coal and iron ore at a cost plus mark-up during the loan agreement with lenders.

Electrosteel Castings had been allotted the Parbatpur mine in Jharkhand with reserves of 231 million tonnes. It also had an iron ore mine and non-coking coal mine in Jharkhand. But the Supreme Court order on deallocation of coal blocks in 2014 and the new mining rules changed the prospects for the company.

Electrosteel Steels had to buy raw material from the market at high prices while finished product prices crashed. Operating losses rose to Rs 172 crore in 2014-15 and interest costs grew from Rs 177 crore in 2013-14 to Rs 452 crore in 2014-15.

In 2013, a consortium of 27 banks and financial institutions had supported a corporate debt restructuring proposal for the company that would translate into cash generation of Rs 2,000 crore. But the deallocation of coal blocks sent that plan crashing.

Till September 2015, the steel sector accounted for 21 per cent of the total number of corporate debt restructuring cases, having an aggregate debt of Rs 56,000 crore. The sector's share in total stressed accounts of scheduled commercial banks is 10-11 per cent.
Only three bidders - GMR group, GVK-led Mumbai International Airport and the Tata Realty-MIA Infrastructure consortium - will now be in the fray for the Navi Mumbai international airport, as the Union ministry of home affairs has rejected security clearance to the fourth shortlisted consortium of Hiranandani Developers and Zurich Airport.

The ministry's rejection comes close on the heels of Union ministry of civil aviation granting approval to City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco) for the issue of request for proposal (RFP).

A Cidco executive told Business Standard, "The ministry of home affairs has not cited any reason while refusing the security clearance to the Hiranandani Development-Zurich Airport consortium. With this development, there will be only three bidders in the fray." He, however, said Cidco would soon seek the state cabinet's approval for inviting RFPs from the three qualified bidders.

In its response, Hiranandani Developers spokesperson told Business Standard: "We understand that there are some deficiencies in our security clearance application, for which we have approached the government to understand it better. We are hopeful that the matter will be resolved shortly. We are extremely well-positioned to bid and are extremely excited about our prospects of successfully winning this tender."



The state government and Cidco hope to award the contract by June so that the first phase with passenger handling capacity of 10 million gets commissioned by December 2019. Cidco has put a trigger in the RFP that as soon as a particular percentage (of traffic growth) is crossed for three months, the developer will have to start work on phase two of the project to increase capacity to 25 million passengers.
By Daarel Burnette II



This post first appeared on the State EdWatch blog.

The Illinois governor and two Republicans proposed Wednesday a bill that would allow for the state to take over Chicago Public Schools. The district has financially struggled for years, and a series of school closings sparked a hunger strike and caused the mayor to almost lose his job .

Under the takeover proposal, filed by two Republicans and backed by the Gov. Bruce Rauner, a Republican, the state would amend its rules to establish an independent authority to wrest control of the school district from the mayor-appointed superintendent and its school board members. Most notably, the bill would allow the district to declare bankruptcy and establish that the state would not be liable for the school districts debt.

We dont come to this position lightly, Senate Republican leader Christine Radogno said in a press release. But the track record of Chicago and its public school system is abysmal. Despite a $600 million financial advantage provided by the state, Chicago continues to dig their financial hole deeper. It is constant crisis. The result always ends up a plea for more state money for Chicago at the expense of school districts in our suburban and downstate communities. It has to end. Taxpayers and schoolchildren deserve better. This is a lifeline.

The proposal drew harsh criticism from the citys powerful teachers union.

Since the governor was elected, government in Illinois has ground to a halt, and this proposal is just the latest example of the bull in a china shop methods in which he clumsily attempts to lead, the union said in a statement. A call for Springfield to assume responsibility of the finances of Chicago Public Schools is a nonstarter when state government has so far been unable to assume responsibility for its own budget.

Chicago schools districts credit rating was downgraded to junk status last year after a court rejected a state plan to reduce pension costs. City administrators estimate the districts debt to stand at around $1 billion and they have fought with teachers over wages and layoffs .

The mayoral-appointed school board in Chicago Public Schools has a history of unsustainable spending and borrowing, said Lennie Jarratt, a spokeswoman with The Heartland Institute, a Chicago-based free-market think tank. CPS has only two viable short-term options ... a state bailout or bankruptcy. Bankruptcy coupled with state fiscal oversight is the better of two bad options for the taxpayers of Illinois. Taxpayers do not deserve to be saddled with the financial mismanagement from the City of Chicago and its schools.

In the last decade, more and more states have proposed taking over academically and financially struggling urban school districts. The process has been criticized as ineffective and undemocratic .
Kiran Global Chems Ltd, a part of M S Jain Group, has launched an environment-friendly cement, branded Geocement, using patented technology. The company claims that using the product will help save water, reduce emission of carbon dioxide and cut down on construction time as well.

The company is planning to invest around Rs 200 crore to set up manufacturing facilties for this green cement and will have 12 geobinder and geopowder plants, two precast concrete units and four grinding plants at Vizag in Andhra Pradesh, Hospet in Karnataka and Tuticorin and Chennai in Tamil Nadu. The plants will produce four million tonnes of green concrete mix a year during the next three years.

The investment would be made partly from internal accruals and mostly from institutional borrowings. The green cement business would bring in around Rs 2,000 crore for the company by 2018-19. Besides, various cement manufacturers are approaching Kiran Global for technological tie-ups in order to add the green cement to their portfolios, company officials said.

Geopowder, a cement powder that could be used in construction, has to be mixed with Geobinder, a solution that works with the powder to complete the characteristics of the geocement. The company also offers Geocrete, a brand of concrete that includes the other components of the mortar, which could be directly used in concrete and construction. The Geocement binder has been developed by the company through research and has been patented.

The company claims that Geocement does not require water curing, attains maximum strength within seven hours and has a high life cycle. It uses fly ash, slag and silica, which come out as industrial waste from other industries. Geocement also reduces carbon dioxide emission, which is a major issue with the conventional cement industry.

"We have started distributing this to the bulk customers, such as builders and now we are launching the brand for retail. We are planning to sell it through e-commerce," said M S Jain, chairman, Kiran Global Chems Ltd.

However, the company has to work out the model for small quantity sales through e-commerce, as it has to look at the logistics solutions to reach the customer.

He added that the company has entered into an agreement with Australia based firm Wagner to offer its products to the Australian company for its projects in India. Wagner has been using eco-friendly cement for construction, and has also developed an Airport using similar technology. Kiran would offer the binder, which is a unique product in the segment.

India is the second largest manufacturer of cement and the industry emits 300 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, he said. Geocement can reduce emissions by up to 80 per cent, he added.

However, the company would be focusing on selling the products to those engaged in environment-friendly construction. With about 10-12 per cent of the buldings rated as Green, the market potential is above 3,000,000 tonnes per anum, said company officials.

Currently, 120 TPD of geobinder and 200 TPD of Geopowder are manufactured in Chennai and an 800 TPD precast concrete plant is being installed in the city, he said. The products will be marketed in the southern states initially in 2016 with plans of exporting the binder to other countries. The company has plans to introduce Geocrete in 25 kg packing for instant concrete and road repairs.

The product is priced at Rs 140 for a 35-kg pack of Geocement and Rs 225 for a 15-kg can of binder, which is costlier than ordinary cement. However, the prices would come down if bought in bulk, due to reduction in packing costs. While the brick-to-brick cost would be 10-15 per cent higher compared to the ordinary cement, the finished building cost would be lower by 10 per cent and turnaround time would be 50 per cent faster, the officials said.

The Rs 600 crore company, which is a major manufacturer of Sodium Silicate, which is an ingredient in the green cement, with 33 plants at present, and with presence in five countries -- India, South Africa, Egypt, UAE and Qatar. It is also setting up facilities in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia.
Chinese electronics firm LeTv, which recently changed its name to LeEco, has entered the Indian market with three flagship smartphones -- Le Max, Le 1s and Le Max Sapphire.

Le Max



The 6.33 inch display premium phone of the company is priced at Rs 32,000 for 64 GB and 36,000 for 128 GB variants.

The phone is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 octacore processor and a 4 GB RAM. Two varieties are available. One in golden colour with 128 GB internal memory and one in silver, with 64 GB internal memory.

The Le Max has an all-metal body with 21 megapixel (MP) rear camera and a 4 MP front camera.

The phone runs on Android 5.0 and has a 3400mAh battery. The dual-SIM phone has one micro and one nano SIM slots.

The phone will be available on Flipkart from February 16.

Le 1s



Le 1s is an economical phone with a 5.5 inch display and 3 GB RAM. It is priced at Rs 10,999.

The phone is powered by Octacore MediaTek Helio 64 bit processor and runs on Android 5.0. It has a 13 MP rear camera and 5 MP front camera. The phone has 32 GB internal memory. It will be available on Flipkart from February 2.

Le Max Sapphire



LeEco's flagship model Le Max Sapphire has 128 GB memory. It is priced at Rs 69,000. The phone has a Sapphire glass display which is hard to crack.

First glance



At first glance, the phones have amazing design. But, the price of Flagship phones, Le Max and Le Max Sapphire might be a backlog when it comes to sales. Even though the prices are justified with 4 GB RAM and other specifications, for Indian market this is a fairly new brand. Sapphire is priced more than iPhone 6 Plus.

The three phones comes with Le Tv library, which is the largest in Chinese market now. But, how the library would be in India is something we have to wait and see.

Partnerships



LeEco has announced partnerships with Eros Studio and Yupp TV. Yupp TV will provide 250 live channels in 12 languages. The content will be available on LeTv smartphones from the second quarter of 2016.

The company has already announced opening an R&D centre in Bengaluru with 1,000 employees. It will also have 555 service centres across the country.

Atul Jain, COO of LeEco India, said the company aims to be a leading smartphone brand in India, beating the current top three, Samsung, Micromax and Intex.
Within days of Softbank Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Masayoshi Son telling a room full of start-ups he would accelerate investment in India, real estate portal Housing.com has raised funds from the Japanese investor.

Housing on Thursday said it received Rs 100 crore as fresh capital from Softbank, which has been the biggest investor in the Mumbai-based company, and is expected to increase its hold further. Softbank holds more than 21 per cent in Housing.

A statement released by the start-up said it would be using the funds to "drive its new strategy and growth plans". Housing has so far received more than $100 million in funds. "Softbank is one of the world's largest and most successful investors. Their continued support, as both investors and advisors, is invaluable to us and signifies their long-term commitment. We are now well-capitalised to aggressively execute on our focused strategy and growth plans," said Housing CEO Jason Kothari. Housing's cash burn had crippled the firm in the first half of 2015 and played a part in the restructuring. Son, however, said at the start-up summit that cash burn in some businesses was a necessary evil.

"We need a constant balance. You cannot burn money (in a) stupid way. As long as you invest in (a) smart way, it is okay. Businesses need five to 10 years to make profit. It is okay not to make money, but what is important is customer acquisition, business model and customer satisfaction. The overall business should be created to get enough scale, active user base and you will make profits," Son said.

Softbank's portfolio now has stalwarts such as US telecom company Sprint, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba and Delhi-based Snapdeal and Paytm, apart from Housing and Ola.
XL Catlin on Thursday announced it has started the licensing process to establish a reinsurance branch in India.

An application has been filed with the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India (IRDAI) seeking to establish a reinsurance branch office of XL Insurance Company SE (XLICSE). The company said it expects to start operations in India later this year.

The decision to pursue market entry into India aligns with XL Catlins strategy of establishing a presence in emerging and developing markets, where economic activities are increasing. The re/insurance market would benefit from its global expertise, it said.

Greg Hendrick, XL Catlins chief executive of reinsurance, said: I am extremely pleased to have Brendan Plessis, our head of emerging markets, leading our team effort to establish a business in India. The development were seeing there means that the market represents significant opportunities for XL Catlin.



Hendrick said they have found in India a huge desire to have seamless access to reinsurance capacity. The local market needs a reinsurer with global scale and technical capabilities, with underwriters based locally who understand the risks and can offer breadth of product.



Mike McGavick, XL Catlins Chief Executive Officer, said traditionally the reinsurance market has been under-represented in the region, but they are now in a position to be in the first-tier of global foreign reinsurers opening owned branches in India.

XL Catlin has had service operations in India since opening its first offices in Gurgaon in 2004, delivering a range of business support services. In addition to a representative office in Mumbai, XL Catlin also has colleagues spread across offices in Gurgaon & Bengaluru.
Amidst the argument between Union ministers Uma Bharti and Prakash Javadekar over the future of dams in the upper Ganga basin, one question begs attention: how and when did an antiquated document dating back to 1916 become the basis on which the Democratic Alliance is deciding the fate of the people in Uttarakhand, its rivers and hydroelectric projects in the hill state?



The 1916 document is an agreement on how much water should flow through the weirs, dams and canals and the main stem of the Ganga river specifically across the ghats of Haridwar so that the Hindus taking a dip in the river continue to believe in its 'purity'. It was signed between the then British government, some kings of the era, Madan Mohan Malviya and others speaking on behalf of the 'Hindus'.

The agreement said that 1,000 cusecs of water would flow unfettered across the ghats of the city at the foothills at all times. At the time, no hydropower projects existed in what is now Uttarakhand.

The document has been introduced as the basis for NDA's policy for river flow in the Ganga basin in a case before the Supreme Court. But the government has reflected it ingenuously to say that following the 'spirit' of the agreement, it is now the government's stated policy to allow unfettered flow of 1,000 cusecs specifically in three tributaries of the Ganga (Alaknanda, Bhagirathi and Mandakini) and the main stem.

An expert panel that the government formed and now depends on to state its case before the Supreme Court has contradicted the government in its report on what the 1916 agreement really mandates. This report too has been put before the court.

Bone of contention

When and how did the government decide that 1,000 cusecs of water in three tributaries of the Ganga, besides in the main stem, are adequate and that other tributaries should not even be discussed?



Bharti, the water resources minister, has said the joint understanding between her and Javdekar, the environment minister, was that these three main tributaries would have no more dams and their waters would flow freely. According to her, all other lesser tributaries were to have the minimum 1,000 cusec limit.

It is not known on what scientific basis this understanding had developed between the concerned ministers.

The environment ministry did not respond to specific queries about how the 1916 report became the basis for government policy or what scientific analysis was conducted to decide that 1,000 cusecs of water flowing at Haridwar - as decided in 1916 - would ensure adequate environmental flows in the Ganga or the safety of the people in the hills when dams are built based on this agreement.

Discussions on this within the government have been confidential - people came to know of the decisions only when the government filed its affidavit before the apex court. But, even before the court the government has performed repeated flip-flops over the year. The latest affidavit of the government, Bharti has said, is also self-contradictory in parts.

She noted that one part of the affidavit said the waters in three tributaries would flow unrestricted and then the very next paragraph put a limit on it.

Seeking answers

The original case arose when the Supreme Court, of its own volition, asked the government whether the dams in Uttarakhand had played a role in the tragedy of 2013 when thousands were killed in the flash floods in the Kedarnath valley. It asked an expert body to provide a report.

While asking the question, the court ordered, "We direct the environment ministry as well as the state of Uttarakhand not to grant any further environmental clearance or forest clearance for any hydroelectric power project in the state, until further orders."



The expert body report said the dams had played a role in exacerbating the disaster. It asked for immediate ban on 24 projects in the pipeline, a perpetual ban on projects above the snowline and a comprehensive review of all the other projects before they were given a nod.

Since then the focus of both the court case and the policy of the government has changed. The court's focus has shifted to six particular hydroelectric projects and whether the government wants to clear these or not.

The critical cumulative assessments, comprehensive impact and safety studies as well as a scientific analysis of how much water is required in all the tributaries of the Ganga basin have been put on the back burner.

Reports that objected to specific projects the court has asked to look at separately have been over-ruled, and a new one was commissioned to see how these projects can be cleared with changes.

This committee was informed in its terms of reference that it should consider the "environmental-flow stipulation on the approved principle of constant unfettered flow of minimum 1,000 cusecs in all seasons."



It considered and dismissed it in two paragraphs saying the original 1916 agreement only refers to such water flow levels at Haridwar. The committee cleared five out of the six projects the court was focused on. This report too has been submitted to the court.

There are more than 60 other small and large dams already in the pipeline after this at various stages of development in Uttarakhand.

Wide impact

Environmental flows and the dams on the upper Ganga basin decide not just the safety of the people of Uttarakhand, the ecology of the hills ?and the country's hydroelectric power policy ?but also life in the entire riparian zone in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The NDA government's desire to clean up the Ganga too depends on the flow of water in the river - how much sewage it can take without turning into a sewage canal naturally depends on how much fresh water it has to begin with.

As of now, life of millions in the hills and the Gangetic plains has been left dependent on an ambiguous reading by the government of an agreement signed in 1916 that was merely meant to secure the flow of river at Haridwar ghats for religious bathing - that too 100 years ago.

Now all eyes are set on the Supreme Court. Will it continue to give primacy to the future of select six dams and its developers or be able to make the government answer the larger questions that were asked by the Supreme Court to begin with?
Telangana government has introduced an exclusive e-mail policy to be implemented from next month. Move aims to create a secure environment for e-mail communication system used by state machinery.



The new e-mail policy mandates all the staff to use only the official e-mail service being provided by the Informatics Center (NIC). The state government's IT department will begin training from next week to enable all 33 departments switch to the new system.



"Currently about 60-70% of the senior officers are using the official service for e-mail transactions within and outside the government while the usage of the official mail service at the lower levels is just around 30-40% as staff and officers at the lower rungs prefer using Yahoo, Google services etc to send the mails even for official purpose," Jayesh Ranjan, IT secretary of Telangana government told Business Standard.

This practice will be replaced with a new system of usage of e-mail service with all the built-in security protocols from next month, according to Jayesh Ranjan.

Once the new e-mail policy regime comes into force, an adverse ACR (annual confidential reports) entry will be made against any official who is found using a mail id other than official mail id provided by the state government.

The new policy also bars the officers and staff from down-loading the mails from their official account on any other e-mail service as the policy doe's not allow its users to provide their account details to private e-mail service providers. The official e-mail service has been provided to all the states by the NIC, which works under the Department of Electronics and Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology of the Central Government.

"There are certain security related risks inherent in e-mail communications which necessitate the adoption of requisite precautionary measures. Use of digital signature certificate and encryption shall, therefore, be mandatory for sending e-mails deemed as classified and sensitive, in accordance with the TS Information Security Policy and Guidelines to be notified by the GoTS (government of Telangana state)," the IT department stated in its orders.

The government has gone to the extent of recommending the officials on overseas trips to use only static IP addresses/Virtual Private Networks (VPN) or one-time password for accessing the official mail services in view of the security concerns that exist in other countries.

The government has also mandated all the users of official mail accounts to maintain latest operating system, anti-virus and application patches on their access devises.

The government machinery comprises of around 3 lakh employees at various levels in the state. Of this, clerical staff such as typists and other lower level employees are a not a part of this system as they need not have official e-mail accounts.

The state government has formulated its e-mail policy in line with the e-mail policy notified by Government of India last year.
The University of Hyderabad on Thursday revoked the suspension of four Dalit students, four days after a fifth so disciplined, Rohith Vemula, committed suicide and triggered nationwide protests.

The decision of the executive council came after student bodies and opposition political parties stepped up demands for resignation of of Union education minister Smriti Irani and Union labour minister Bandaru Dattatreya in this regard.

The issue of suspension of these five, part of an Ambedkar Students Association in the university, took a serious turn after Rohith committed suicide in protest. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal were among those who visited the campus and joined the student protest.

The Executive Council issued the following statement after its meeting: The Council after taking into account the extraordinary situation in the University, and after discussing the issue in detail, resolved to terminate the punishment imposed on the students concerned with immediate effect.



Further, P Appa Rao, vice chancellor, appealed for calm and harmony and to repose faith in internal mechanisms to resolve the issue. He urged the students and faculty to resume regular class work, research activities and administrative work without further delay.

Kejriwal visited the campus on Thursday and termed the death of Rohith a murder of democracy, beside demand the resignation of both ministers. Some organisations on the campus have formed a Joint Action Committee for Social Justice to press for the removal of both ministers, who, they say, precipitated matters and this led to Rohiths suicide.

Over a dozen faculty members of the scheduled caste and tribe communities had announced resignations to their administrative posts in protest against Irani's comment that the committees involved in the action against the five students also comprised Dalit members.
Africa is likely to be a significant source of meeting Indias hydrocarbon needs in the years to come, Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan said today.

In 2014, India imported 32 million tonnes of crude, 16% of its consumption that year, from Africa. This is expected to increase in the near future.

"Our GDP is growing at 7% and the energy demand is growing at CAGR of 8% from the last few years. With the prime ministers push on Make in India, the energy demand will further go up," he said during the inauguration of two-day India Africa Hydrocarbon Conference (IAHC).

African imports play a significant role in meeting the demands of India and Nigeria stood as the second largest supplier of oil to India in June, 2015.

The fourth IAHC aims to explore opportunities, bridge boundaries and boost bilateral trade between India and Africa. The conference will bring together leaders in the worlds of energy to network with other influential peers, gaining new perspective by hearing distinguished CEOs from India and abroad, exchange expert insights, and develop strategies for the next big steps towards enhanced energy cooperation. The conference will provide a global forum for energy ministers and delegates of African countries to share their vision and chart out the road map for extended energy cooperation in the coming days.

Twenty-two African nations are taking part in the conference. Nine of them will be represented by their ministers. These countries are Algeria, Morocco, Mauritius, Liberia, Sudan, South Sudan, Tunisia, Senegal and Equatorial Guinea. In the third Indo-African Summit held in New Delhi in October, 2015, the key areas were outlined in which India and Africa will work together. Energy security stands as one of the major focus area of the bilateral ties. Africa with its huge hydrocarbon resources and India with its rapidly rising demand of huge human resource, experience, technology and ability to invest capital are natural partners, poised for future growth. Owing to rich natural resources in Africa, there are opportunities at various levels to be partners in growth with India which is also visible in Indian Government Policies, with a push to the Indian national oil companies to enhance their partnerships with African nations.

Pradhan will also have bilateral meetings with the ministers representing the African countries.
Seekin greater energy cooperation with India, Sudan has offered state-owned ONGC Videsh Ltd three more oil and gas blocks for exploration and production. Currently, OVL, the overseas investment arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), has a 25% stake in Greater Nile Oil Project (GNOP) in Sudan that produces about 50,000 barrels of oil per day.

The offer was made by visiting Sudanese Oil Minister Mohamed Zayed Awad to Dharmendra Pradhan, minister of state for petroleum and natural gas.

They have offered three more oil blocks for exploration and production and also asked the current Indian companies operating in India to raise production, said Pradhan after meeting Awad on the sidelines of the 4th India-Africa Hydrocarbons Conference in New Delhi.

Awad said Sudan has offered Blocks 8, 15 and 24 for exploration of oil and has asked OVL to consider buying a stake in producing Block 17. Block 17 currently produces 7,000 bpd of oil. Sudan wants the Indian firm to raise output from the producing Block 17 and exploration areas offered and recoup the dues of $240 million from it. Star Oil is the operator of Block 17 with 66 per cent stake while the remaining is with Sudan's Sudapet.

Pradhan said Sudan is also keen on Indian firms setting up a coastal refinery to meet not just local fuel demand but also export to other African nations.

"The issue of $240 million pending dues was also discussed and modalities are being worked out for that," he said. Sudan has not paid OVL for the oil from GNOP it consumed. Sudan wants the Indian firm to raise output from the producing Block 17 and exploration areas offered and recoup the dues from it. Star Oil is the operator of Block 17 with 66% stake while the remaining is with Sudan's Sudapet.

Also discussed was renewal of licence for Block 2B, which is part of GNOP. The licence for the block expires in November and OVL and its partners China National Petroleum Company (40% stake), Petronas of Malaysia (30%) and Sudapet (5%) want a 5-15 year extension.

OVL had in 2003 bought a 25% stake in GNOP which comprised of Block 1, 2 and 4 in the undivided Sudan. Upon secession of South Sudan from Sudan, Blocks 2A, 2B and 4N are in Sudan and Blocks 1A, 1B as well as 4S are in South Sudan.

Block 2B is producing 50,000 bpd of oil while Block 4 is under exploration phase. The crude oil produced from oil field of GNOP, is transported through a 1504-km pipeline to Port Sudan at Red Sea.
The government on Thursday indicated that it is in favour of lifting the decades-old ban on some varieties of 'khesari' pulses, if it was found fit for human consumption.

Both food minister Ramvilas Paswan and agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh came out in support of lifting the ban.

Paswan, who was addressing the media on the completion of 19 months of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government also said lifting the ban would help reduce pressure on pulses imports. Khesari dal was banned in 1961 due to health concerns.

Singh, meanwhile, said three hybrid varieties of 'khesari' dal named 'Ratan', 'Prateek' and Mahateara' have been developed by the Indian Council of Agriculture Research and state agriculture universities which have low levels of the oxalyldiaminopropionic acid (ODAP) toxin.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has sought health ministry's approval to hold public consultation on approval of the three varieties.

"I read in newspapers that three new varieties of 'Khesari' dal have been developed. If these varieties prove to be fit for human consumption, I think its cultivation should be allowed. This will help reduce stress on pulses production and imports," Paswan said.

Paswan also said the National Food Security Act, which was piloted by the previous United Progressive Alliance government, is now expected to be implemented in all states, barring Tamil Nadu, by April this year.

This would bring the entire country under a common law and norms for public distribution of subsidised foodgrains, for the first time since Independence.
UPDATED The GED Testing Service has decided to lower the passing score for its high school equivalency exam, a move brought on by its recognition that students who passed the latest, tougher version of it were doing better in college than high school graduates.

The move, first disclosed Wednesday by the Atlanta Journal Constitution , will allow states to lower the passing score on the GED from 150 to 145. The GED Testing Service projected that if all states choose to use the new lower passing score, 100,000 people could pass one or more subjects of the test, and 25,000 could be eligible for a GED credential by passing all four sections.

The company issued a recommendation that states grant retroactive passage to those who failed with the previous score of 150, but each state can make its own decision. States are expected to release details on Jan. 26 about how theyll handle the change.

Current pass rates dropped significantly after Pearson and the American Council on Education, who make the test, released a more difficult version to reflect the Common Core State Standards. Fewer people are taking the GED , too, since the new version made its debut in January 2014. More are taking new, competing equivalency tests , the HiSET and the TASC.

Robert Schaeffer, the public education director for the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, said the GED is an important pathway to opportunity for young adults, and the new version made accessing those opportunities more difficult. Lowering the passing score is a move in the right direction, he said.

States are taking different approaches to the new passing score. GED Testing Service spokesman CT Turner said that some will start using it right away, others wont use the new score until March, and some might not use it at all. Others will use the lower cut score retroactively, granting passage to those who didnt reach the previous passing score.

Not all states confer diplomas for GED passage, but those that do could decide to confer diplomas retroactively. Georgia is one such state: It will grant diplomas retroactively to students who failed the GED with a cut score of 150, according to the Journal Constitution.

The decision to lower the passing score came from analyzing longitudinal data, Turner said. Tracking student performance into college, the company noticed that in several states, fewer students who passed the GED needed remedial coursework than those who earned high school diplomas.

In Oregons community colleges, for example, far fewer GED-passers needed remediation in math or language arts than those who earned high school diplomas. The GED Testing Service noted a similar pattern in Rhode Island and in North Dakota, he said.

The GED Testing Service aims to set its passing score to reflect the achievement of the typical high school graduate, and the data showed that a revision was needed, Turner said.

We wanted to make sure that the cut score is on par with the average graduating high school senior, Turner said. Thats what policymakers and the public expect from the GED: that it reflectsbut isnt ahead ofthe curve for high school performance.

He rejected the idea that the company erred when it set the original cut score at 150.

We did it based on sound research. We had a technical advisory group, we did a norming study. The only difference here is that in the past, we wouldnt have had this information for years and wouldnt have been able to make an adjustment so quickly. Now we have the data to take into account, very quickly, the actual performance of adult learners, what theyre doing once they pass, and how theyre performing.

Said FairTests Schaeffer: If thats not admitting they set the bar too high, then I dont know what is.

The GED exam is unchanged; the only change is that the passing score will be lowered, making it more inclusive, Turner said.

Along with the lower passing score, the GED Testing Service is introducing another change, too. Instead of just one cutoff pointpassing or not passingit now has three. A score of 145 will connote high school-level skills. A score of 165 will signify college readiness, and come with a recommendation that people who score at that level skip remedial work or placement tests, and enroll in credit-bearing classes. A score of 175 will connote not just college readiness, but college-level skill, and will come with a recommendation that students receive credit for coursework in the subjects in which they received those scores.

Since the GED covers math, language arts, science, and social studies, scores of 175 in each subject could suggestat colleges that decide to accept itthat students automatically earn three credits in math, three credits in science, three credits in social studies, and one credit in language arts, Turner said.

Ten percent of those who have taken the GED since January 2014 have scored a 175 or higher in one or more subjects, Turner said, so that means there could be college credit waiting for them.

Jeff Carter, the executive director of the National Council of State Directors of Adult Education, predicted that reaction to the GEDs move to lower the passing score will reflect a tension in his field.

The tricky part for us is that tension, he said. None of us want to present unnecessary new barriers to adult students, but at the same time, we all think there need to be high standards. Having healthy debate about that is something we need to continually do.
Equity markets globally are witnessing selling pressure, but the effect is more pronounced in emerging markets. Falling oil prices is resulting in oil producing nations withdrawing their savings from financial assets. Simultaneously, a slowdown in China is resulting in funds being withdrawn from emerging market funds. In the sell-off, Indias relatively stronger fundamentals are being overlooked.

Uday Kotak, the executive chairman of Kotak Bank, said in an interview: It is time we pulled I out of BRICS. Indian must walk alone. If you are today clubbed with Brazil, Russia, even China, it is not a good company to be in. This is Indias opportunity.

Unfortunately, a substantial amount of foreign money is invested in India through Emerging Market Funds ETFs (Exchange-Traded Funds). These funds allocate resources to countries based on its weightage. Take for example the Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF, which is the largest emerging market with over $30 billion in assets. The funds exposure to China is 27%, Taiwan (which is largely dependent on China) accounted for 14% of its exposure while India came in third with 13% of the portfolios exposure.

Thus, any redemption in the ETF would result in the fund manager selling their asset across all countries in order to maintain the country weightage. Indian markets unfortunately get trampled on account of the selling.

Redemptions in 2016 have picked up substantially as compared to August 2015, which saw the largest redemption in the previous year. According to a JP Morgan report, retail investors were heavy sellers of equity funds for two consecutive weeks in January 2016. Selling of equity funds, including mutual funds and ETFs exceed $25 billion over the past two weeks (weeks ending January 6th and January 13th). These figures would increase as many mutual funds have not reported their flows yet. ETFs alone accounted for selling of $16 billion in the two weeks of January 2016 as compared to $11 billion in August 2015.

The other group that has been a seller in the market are Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF). A report points out that SWFs especially from oil producing countries are selling their savings in financial assets to recoup the losses made by selling oil. Oil prices have crashed and are expected to remain low for some more time, which might result in further selling from these funds.

While some SWFs invest in markets through ETFs a large number of them invest in emerging market by following indices like the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) to park their money.

Its the combination of selling from both these fronts that is causing a panic in global market. Among the two, SWF selling is one to be feared. ETF selling is on account of redemptions by investors who want to reallocate their portfolio, but SWF selling is by countries that desperately need the money to balance their budget and meet their daily expense. They would not be too keen on redeploying their money in India despite its strong fundamentals, but ETF money can be re-routed.

Had India been treated as a separate investment entity, the selling would not have been as severe. Indian economy has its own set of problems with a weakening currency and toxic quality of banking assets. But there are sprouts of growth visible in a number of sectors, which will trickle down to other parts of the economy over time. But despite relatively stronger fundamentals, Indian markets are among the worst performing globally. As Kotak rightly pointed out India must walk alone. There need to be more India focussed funds and ETFs to take advantage of growth opportunity in India.

The government's efforts to separate India from other emerging markets are yielding results as can be seen in the sharp rise in foreign direct investments (FDI). A similar effort by both the government and the financial sector is needed to channelise FII investment in India which is leaving the shores unintentionally. Collateral damage is how Indian markets performance can be described in the global scenario.
IAFs Participation in Republic Day Parade 2016 . .

India would be celebrating its 67th Republic Day on 26 January 2016. As always, the Indian Air Force (IAF) will be an integral part of the Armed Forces contingents during the Parade. The IAFs participation shall consist of the aerial flypast, a marching contingent accompanied by the IAF Band, and a tableau. .

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The flypast comprises 27 aircraft of the Indian Air Force. Leading the parade would be the traditional Ensign formation comprising four Mi-17 V5 helicopters in an inverted Y formation. The second and the main phase will be led by Chakra formation of three Mi-35 helicopters in Vic formation, followed by three C-130J Super Hercules aircraft. This will be followed by the Globe formation comprising one C-17 aircraft along with two Su-30 MKI aircraft. The first fighter formation would comprise five Jaguar aircraft in the shape of an Arrowhead, followed by five MiG-29 upgrade aircraft in similar formation. The Sukhoi formation comprising three Su-30 MKI aircraft will fly in the last phase. The end of the parade will be marked by a single Su-30 MKI aircraft, pulling up vertically in front of the dais and carrying out the signature Vertical Charlie rolls. .

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The Air Force Marching Contingent comprises four officers, including two women officers and 144 airmen. The Air Force contingent will march on the tunes of the Air Force Band. .

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The Band consists of 72 musicians. Three Drum Majors would play appropriate tunes selected especially for the occasion. While marching past the saluting dais, the band will play the tune Galaxy Riders. .

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The theme for the IAF tableau is Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Operations by the Indian Air Force: In Service of the Nation and Beyond. The design would showcase the IAFs role in Uttarakhand, Kashmir, Yemen and Nepal rescue and relief operations by displaying models of C-17, C-130 and Mi-17 V5 aircraft. The IAFs contribution in recent HADR missions has been exemplary and has earned accolades for the Service. Through this theme, IAF would be able to re-affirm its commitment to this crucial role in the service of the Nation, and increasingly, beyond our borders as well. .

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RCD/MKR/BSK
India Signs Financing Agreement with World Bank for US$ 250 Million for Jhelum and Tawi Flood Recovery Project . .

The Financing Agreement for World Bank (IDA) assistance of US$ 250 million for Jhelum and Tawi Flood Recovery Project was signed between Government of India and the World Bank here today. .

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The Financing Agreement was signed by Mr. Raj Kumar, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs on behalf of Government of India and Mr. Onno Ruhl, Country Director in India, on behalf of the World Bank. A Subsidiary Agreement was also entered into between Government of India and Project Implementing Entity i.e. Government of Jammu & Kashmir. The Subsidiary Agreement was signed by Mr. Raj Kumar, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs on behalf of Government of India and Shri Sandeep Kumar Nayak, Principal Secretary, on behalf of Government of Jammu & Kashmir. Ms. Aparna Bhatia, Director (MI), DEA anchored the ceremony held at North Block, New Delhi. Representatives from State Government and the World Bank, among others, were present. .

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The objective of the project is to support the recovery and increase disaster resilience in Project Areas and increase the capacity of the Project Implementing Entity to respond promptly and effectively to an eligible crisis or emergency. .

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The project will focus on restoring critical infrastructure using international best practice on resilient infrastructure. The primary beneficiaries would be the communities in the districts of Jammu & Kashmir that were affected by loss of public service infrastructure that will be restored and improved under the project. By strengthening disaster risk management systems and institutions, the project will benefit the entire affected region. .

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The project has seven components: (i) Reconstruction and strengthening of critical infrastructure; (ii) Reconstruction of roads and bridges; (iii) Restoration of urban flood management infrastructure; (iv) Restoration and strengthening of livelihoods; (v) Strengthening disaster risk management capacity; (vi) Contingency Emergency Response; and (vii) Implementation Support. .

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It is a loan for an implementation period of 5 years. Government of Jammu & Kashmir is the implementing agency. .

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Nai Manzil Scheme Launched in Jammu and Kashmir on 20th January 2016 -Dr. Najma Heptulla . . Three Month skill development training in seven identified sectors for minority girls- Dr. Najma Heptulla . .

The Nai Manzil scheme has been launched, for the first time in Jammu and Kashmir. Dr. Najma Heptulla, the Minister of Minority Affairs informed this while briefing the media on the new initiatives of the Ministry for the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Dr Najma Heptulla said that the scheme was launched for girls in Srinagar on 20th January, 2016 in three institutions. The institutions are Skill Development Centre, University of Kashmir and two Madarsas (Madarsa Shahi-i-Hamdan in Pampore and Madarsa Imam Sadique in Shadi pur ,Bandipora. .

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Under the scheme girls from minority communities will be imparted three month skill development training in seven identified sectors relevant to the region. These include training in saffron processing, food processing, embroidery, computers IT (both software and hardware), Tourism/hospitality, electronics and plumbing. Trainees will also be given stipend of Rs.4500/-for the course. .

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Replying to a question ,the Minister said that the scheme has already been introduced at Patna and Motihari in Bihar and Bhandup in Mumbai. It will be introduced in other Madarsas too in phased manner. .

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Nai Manzil Scheme is an integrated Education and Livelihood Initiative for the Minority Communities. The scheme aims to benefit the minority youths who are school-dropouts or educated in the community education institutions like Madrasas, by providing them an integral input of formal education (up till Class VIII or X) and skill training along with certification. This will enable them to seek better employment in the organised sector and equipping them with better lives. The scheme covers the entire country. .

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Shri Nitin Gadkari and Dr Jitendra Singh inaugurate the 19th National conference on e-governance in Nagpur . . E-Governance aims at achieving maximum governance, minimum government" with citizen-centricity at its core: Dr. Jitendra Singh . .

The Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways and Shipping, Shri Nitin Gadkari and the Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region (I/C), Prime Ministers Office, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Department of Atomic Energy, Department of Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh inaugurated the 19th National conference on e-governance in Nagpur today. .

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The conference aims at discussing various aspects of e-Governance ranging from Technology Enabled Services to Cyber Security framework and is being attended by senior officers from the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), Government of India and Secretaries, General Administration Department (GAD) from different States. .

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Speaking on the occasion, Shri Gadkari said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi , the government is very progressive in outlook and hoped the new methods of governance will be effectively adopted very soon. He stressed the need for a visionary approach in carrying forward the campaign for e-Governance. He also emphasised the importance of decisiveness in administration. .

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Shri Nitin Gadkari also emphasized the role of collective efforts in working towards development. He also said Good Governance needs the help of e-governance for its success. He underlined the importance of e-governance in fast-track decision making management with transparency in a time bound manner. He also expressed confidence over the various plenary sessions to be held in the 2- day conference which will provide guidance to stake-holders and delegates in IT field. As the management depends on teaching, training, research and development, the 2-day conference will provide a big opportunity for understanding the e-governance and its various aspects, he said. .

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Highlighting the importance of e-Governance in present time, Dr Jitendra Singh said the e-governance should aim to ensure that it reaches to the last man of the country and accomplish the goal of Antodaya and secondly it has to be directed more towards upliftment of youth who are the backbone of the Flagship programmes of Central government like Start-up India, Digital India and Make in India. .

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Dr. Jitendra Singh emphasized the role e-governance in grievances redressal Mechanism and provision of citizen-centric online services. He informed about facility of Pension Portal launched by Department of Pensions through which nearly 8 lakh pensioners have lodged online complaints regarding pension related queries and the Department of Pension has cleared about 6.5 lakh grievances. Rests of the grievances are pending due to technical issues, he informed. .

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He also enlightened the delegates in the conference about steps taken in respect of good governance like abolishing the interview process for group C and D posts of Central government and adopting single page form systems for application of jobs, passport, bank loans etc. Essential tool for operation of e-governance is bureaucracy. Dr. Singh also stressed the importance of creating the work-friendly environment for bureaucracy. .

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Mentioning the recent method of selection process in Civil Services examination, he also informed that an expert Committee is constituted for re-examining the pattern of Civil Services examination to provide a level playing field for all the candidate belonging to different educational and social background. .

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Dr Jitendra Singh said that the e-Governance is aimed at achieving the ultimate objective of achieving maximum governance, minimum government" with citizen-centricity at its core. This can be achieved through ease and transparency in governance for which, during the last one-and-a-half year, the Central government has introduced wide series of revolutionary measures. .

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Dr Jitendra Singh disclosed that DoPT and ARPG are pursuing implementation of e-Office in all the Central Ministries and Departments and so far 24 Ministries in Government of India have initiated the process of implementation of e-Office. Some of these, for example like Ministry of Panchayati Raj has already achieved 100% e-Office platform, while Ministry of Rural Development has achieved 90% of it, he added. .

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Dr Jitendra Singh also informed that in its meeting held yesterday, the Union Cabinet gave a formal approval to an MoU with the Government of United Kingdom which would offer India an opportunity for exposure to the best practices in achieving a higher rating in the e-Governance Index during next two years. .

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In the inaugural function books on e-governance, back-ground papers, uncommon excellence, compendium on selected papers, report on decade of e-governance were also released. .

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The Secretary of Department of Administrative Reforms, Public Grievances (DARPG), Shri Devendra Chaudhry explained the overall nature and the plenary sessions to be held in the conference. He explained the importance of theme GATI for the conference and also said that it emerged out from the Prime Ministers concept of Art (Accounting responsibility, Transparency) for Governance. .

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Shri Swadhin Kshatriya, Principal Secretary Government of Maharashtra, Shri Vijay Kumar Gautam, Principal Secretary (Information Technology Department), Government of Maharashtra, also expressed their thoughts on the occasion. Large number of delegates from 15 states of the country, students of engineering colleges and citizens attended todays inaugural function. .

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Before the inaugural event, plenary session on theme of the GATI- Governance with Accountability Transparency & Innovation for Citizen Centric Services was also arranged in the presence of Shri Devendra Chaudhry, Secretary of Department of Administrative Reforms, Public Grievances (DARPG) and other distinguished experts on the subject. .

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Two day International Conference on Cooperative Federalism concludes today . .

The two day International Conference on Cooperative Federalism: National Perspectives and International Experience" concluded here today. The conference provided a platform to identify the best practices from other countries and come out with recommendations including changes in the institutional mechanisms to foster cooperative federalism in the Indian context. This was the first conference in the country where the subject of cooperative federalism was discussed at the international level. In addition to the senior policy makers and Government officials from Central and State governments, academics and practitioners and thinks tanks in India and international experts from Australia, Ethiopia, Germany, Switzerland, South Africa and Canada also participated in the Conference. .

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While delivering his valedictory address, Shri Arvind Panagariya, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog said that the decision of the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi to replace the Planning Commission by NITI Aayog is a landmark decision and a milestone. He said that under the PRAGATI initiative of the Prime Minister, regular meetings are held with State Chief Ministers and Chief Secretaries of the states via video conferencing and the progress made on various projects specially infrastructure projects is discussed. These discussions lead to the progress on these projects, he added. He said that after the first meeting of Governing Council of NITI Aayog held on 8th February, 2015, three sub-groups of the CMs were formed to appraise Centre on three issues namely centrally sponsored schemes, skill development and Swachh Bharat. On all three of these, the reports have been submitted, he added. The states have now power of decision making, he said. As we move forward, the states will be the masters of their fate, he said. He also said that different states have different priorities and this should be kept in mind while making schemes. .

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Speaking on competitive federalism, Shri Arvind Panagariya said that NITI Aayog is playing a role in this direction and particularly in the area of ease of doing business. He also said that survey of entrepreneurs is being done to ascertain the areas where entrepreneurs see the improvement has been made or not. He also said that Central government is welcoming the states who want to make changes in their laws. He also said that a model law on land leasing is being framed with the discussions with the states. We now need tenancy laws from owner as well as tenants point of view, he added. .

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Ms Naini Jayaseelan, Secretary, Inter State Council said that this is the first time that such conference is being held. She also said that for the first time a separate chapter has been devoted to cooperative federalism in the 14th Finance Commission. She said that this conference has provided a platform to understand various practices from the international experts that can be replicated in the Indian context and can help in the maximisation of common good. She said that the recommendations from this conference will be presented before the Prime Minister at the Conference to be held in March this year. .

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Shri Arun Maira, former Member, Planning Commission, Shri S. Narayan, former Union Finance Secretary, Shri G K Pillai, former Union Home Secretary, Shri Navneet Wasan, former DG, Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) and National Investigation Agency, Shri Nitin Desai, Chairman, Institute of Economic Growth, shared their views on the different sessions chaired by them on various themes including Institutions, mechanisms and processes to facilitate Cooperative Federalism, Fiscal Federalism with a focus on Institutional and Legal Mechanisms and on key social sectors namely Health and Education and Horizontal and Vertical cooperation on Internal Security and Crime and Green Federalism. .

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The experts emphasised upon the involvement of locally empowered governments and said that the capacity to govern at local levels must be strengthened. They also emphasised upon the lateral coordination for better coordination. Attention should be given on root level at the platforms of cooperation, speakers emphasised. The speakers also shared the experiences and practices being followed at international level. .

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The Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh had inaugurated the International Conference on Cooperative Federalism: National Perspectives and International Experience" yesterday. He had said that this International Conference aimed to enrich our national pursuits for Cooperative federalism with successful case studies practiced in other parts of the world. .

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The first mantra of the oil crisis was 'lower for longer'. Then "lower for even longer". Now in Davos, oil executives are starting to talk - or rather, whisper - about a new nightmare scenario: "A lot lower for a lot longer." Oil executives, policy makers and banks said in the first days of the World Economic Forum that a recovery will remain elusive in 2016 as major producers keep pumping and China's fuel appetite slackens. And they fret that prices could take another hit as Iranian crude freed from sanctions flows back on to world markets. "It is the ...
Christine Lagarde (pictured) picked up nominations from across Europe for a second term as leader of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as part of a selection process that member nations intend to complete by early March. Germany, France and the UK all came out for Lagarde, whose current term ends on July 5. Aleksei Mozhin, dean of the fund's executive board, said in an e-mailed statement on Wednesday that the board aims to reach a decision by consensus. Individuals can be nominated by a fund governor or executive director through February 10, the Washington-based institution ...
The Big Four accounting firms and their associates handled a high of 378 audit assignments or 26 per cent of the 1,451 companies listed on the NSE, during 2014-15.

An analysis based on annual reports of companies for that financial year showed these large groups  Deloitte, EY, Price Waterhouse and KPMG  accounted for 29 per cent of the total fees earned from these listed companies. And, that these four also had a significant portion of their earnings from fees for services other than audit.

Of the Rs 273 crore in non-audit fee earned by all accounting entities, the four accounted for a little more than half. In terms of number of companies, Deloitte led with 149, followed by EY Group (108), Price Waterhouse Group (65) and KPMG Group (58).

Deloitte also led the fees-earned list, with Rs 225 crore for FY15.The four groups earned Rs 589 crore in total fees, of the Rs 2,000 crore paid out by these companies, according to data provided by Prime Database, a Delhi-based research entity. This sum comes from data based on 1,421 companies for which total fee data is available. This was in comparison to the Rs 1,875 crore paid in 2013-14, a rise of seven per cent.

The average total fee was Rs 1.4 crore per company. Deloitte Group led with Rs 303.2 crore, followed by EY Group at Rs 121.2 crore, KPMG at Rs 99.4 crore and PWC at Rs 65.6 crore. The overall fee included payment for audit, for other services such as tax and cost audits, consultancy and reimbursements.

Their dominance was even stronger in the Nifty-500 subset, wherein they handled 229 of the 500 audits or 46 per cent of the total. Fees earned for services other than audit are seen as a source of conflict of interest, as is long tenures. Pavan K Vijay, managing director, Corporate Professionals, said: The company law provisions now expressly bar auditors from taking up non-audit work such as valuation, consulting, etc. The non-audit fee here could be for such services provided to companies in which they have no audit role.



Recognising these issues, the Companies Act, 2013, made provisions for rotation of auditors for all listed companies. In accordance with the new law, listed companies and those in the prescribed class cannot appoint or re-appoint an auditor for (a) More than two terms of five consecutive years, if the auditor is a company (b) More than one term of five consecutive years if the auditor is an individual.

However, these provisions are likely to have some impact only after the completion of five years.

Pranav Haldea, managing director, Prime Database, said, As far as large companies are concerned, they prefer the bigger firms because this gives better comfort to institutional investors. On an overall basis, as many as 791 audit entities audited the 1,450 NSE-listed companies in 2014-15. This implies that, on an average, an audit firm audited 1.83 companies. However, the top 10 audit firms accounted for this job at as many as 521 companies or 36 per cent of the total.

Auditor changes, including addition or deletion of one or more auditors for companies with joint audits, were seen in as many as 171 companies.
Georgetown Universitys Center on Education and the Workforce has unveiled an interactive web tool that pinpoints each states job market needs and shows how well colleges and universities are aiming students into those high-demand areas.

Higher education faces growing pressure to demonstrate the labor market value of postsecondary programs and credentials, the center said in announcing the new section of its website. The center, a nationally recognized source of analysis about the match between education and labor-market demands, said it hopes to help states set educational attainment goals, increase transparency about labor market outcomes, and improve alignment between education and the economy.

High school guidance counselors might find Georgetowns web tool useful, too, as they help students think through their education and work dreams. Helping high school students understand the future trajectories of specific jobs or fields of study is a valuableand often missingelement in too many advising relationships.

The website allows users to choose a state, and examine data about its college pipeline and employment demands. Choosing Missouri, for instance, shows software developers and all other computer occupations as the fields in top demand in the state. In Florida, by contrast, registered nurses top the list of in-demand jobs, followed by software developers.

Each states profile shows a list of the employers with the biggest online recruiting presence. It displays the percentage of online job ads that seek people with bachelors degrees, and names the top fastest-growing occupational cluster for college graduates (STEM in Missouri, food and personal service in Florida). The profile shows each states fastest-growing industry sector for college graduates (leisure and hospitality services in both Missouri and Florida). It also has a chart showing the portion of each states online job postings that require bachelors degrees, and which dont.

Each states profile also links to a national overview that Georgetowns Center on Education and the Workforce did last year, which looks at job and education trends nationally.

Art: Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce
Short covering in 2 out of last 3 sessions indicate pull back could be in offing. The respite may pull the index up, which is indicated by highest open interest in 15000 Put. Since the trade is aiming at trading the pullback, Call Ratio spread is recommended.

Disclaimer: Motilal Oswal Securities ( MOSL ) is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Board of India ("SEBI") and is licensed to carry on the business of broking, depository services and related activities.

Motilal Oswal Securities Limited is registered under SEBI (Research Analysts) Regulation 2014 SEBI Registration No :-INH000000412. MOSL, the spokesperson or his relatives, do not have financial interest in the securities mentioned above. The spokesperson has not served as a director, employee or officer at the subject company in the last 12 months. MOSL or its associate might be involved in market making for the subject company or have potential conflict of interest.

Shubham Agarwal is a head of Quantitative Research, Motilal Oswal Securities
Despite Vietnam lifting its ban on Indian groundnut imports, India is finding it tough to match last year's export figure. This is due to the overall slack in demand for the commodity in the international market.

Earlier, Vietnam had placed a ban on Indian groundnut over poor quality issues. It recently lifted the ban, allowing imports of groundnut from India after lobbying by the Indian Oilseeds and Produce Export Promotional Council (IOPEPC). However, according to industry players, this will not help much in touching even last year's total export mark, leave alone registering a growth.

As per IOPEPC data, during 2014-15, India had exported 708,390 tonnes groundnut and this year, the country's export have so far been 219,739 tonnes groundnut in first seven months of 2015-16 as against 281,898 tonnes in corresponding period last year. According to industry sources, groundnut exports may not cross 500,000 tonnes mark by end of March this year.

In terms of Vietnam, the data showed that India had exported about 148,000 tonnes to Vietnam alone, thereby forming 26 per cent of total Indian groundnut exports during 2014-15. According to exporters, some fresh demand from Vietnam may generate in near future. However, a ban of last 9-10 months has created a void which is not likely to be fulfilled this fiscal.

"Import banned by Vietnam is the one of the major reasons for sharp fall in groundnut export from India this year. The country had banned groundnut import from April 2015 as it had found pests in Indian consignments.

By end of March, country's total export is likely to be about 500,000 tonnes this year", said Sanjiv Sawla, chairman of IOPEPC.

Cautioning the exporters, Sawla stressed on the need to focus on quality of groundnuts since more and more countries are applying stringent norms on imports of food products considering the quality standards and food safety systems.

Vikram Duvani, managing director of Rachana Seeds Industry said, "Crop size was lower last year and domestic consumption was good which increased the groundnut price. Competing countries are offering cheaper rates. All this translated into lower export from the India."

Competing countries like Africa, Argentina, Brazil and the US offer groundnut at about $950-1,100 per tonne while India's groundnut prices are ruling at $1,000-1,150 per tonne in international market.

Country's export have decreased by 22 per cent to 219,739 tonnes groundnut in first seven months of 2015-16 as against 281,898 tonnes in corresponding period last year. IOPEPC data suggests that out of 281,898 tonnes export in the corresponding period 2014-15, Vietnam was the second largest importer with 43,983 tonnes after Indonesia that had imported about 102,230 tonnes. On the other side, demand from Indonesia has also decreased about 36 per cent to 65,602 tonnes in April to October period. Industry sources said that overall weak economy has affected the trade this year.

The council needs to closely examine the procedure for groundnut shipments to Vietnam. Preliminarily, it appears that the procedure is complex. Processors and exporters will have to take extra precaution for groundnut shipments to Vietnam. This positive development will boost exports of Groundnuts from India, said Mumbai based exporter.
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New Delhi, Jan 21 (ANI): Bollywood actor Tusshar Kapoor, who was recently present in the capital to promote his upcoming film, 'Kya Kool Hain Hum 3,' believes it is wrong to think that an adult movie can corrupt minds.

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The actor, whose film is introducing a new genre of porn-comedy to the Indian film industry, said it is wrong to single out adult-comedy as every genre could be adult.

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"I don't think adult movies can corrupt minds. Adult movies have been in existence since a long time. If you move into an adult crowd you will hear them cracking adult jokes, and we are not just making a movie around those jokes but knitting a story as well. If not anything else, at least we are trying to make an entertaining story along with adult humour. Just like we have a violent film, comedy film, action film, romantic film as a part of commercial cinema, we have adult comedy as commercial cinema too and I believe all these genre can become adult as well, then why comedy is cornered?" said Tusshar to ANI.

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Tusshar said that though people are creating hype about the film and its genre, it is important for everyone to know that there are no intimate scenes in the entire film.

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It is just because of the double meaning dialogues that the film has been given an A-certificate.

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'Kya Kool Hain Hum 3' stars Tusshar, Aftab Shivdasani and Mandana Karimi in the lead roles.

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The film is directed by Milaap Zaveri and is scheduled to hit the screens on January 22.
Expressing his grief over the loss of lives in the terrorist attack on Bacha Khan University in Pakistan which left 21 people dead, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Thursday said that any act of violence aimed at killing civilians is 'condemnable'.

"Any act of violence and killing of civilians is condemnable. Even the Prime Minister has said this and I would also like to say that what happened there was bad," Parrikar said at a press conference here.

He also said that a committee to look into security preparedness of important defence installations has been formed post the Pathankot terrorist attack.

"The incident is being investigated by the NIA. We will do analysis of our responsibilities after NIA does its primary exercise. We have asked the in charge of all defence installations to make an assessment of their bases themselves and make immediate steps to ensure that weaknesses are blocked," he said.

"We have also constituted a team which will visit these installations and prepare an action plan for their security after discussing with commanders," he added.

The defence minister also mocked the postcard letter, supposedly sent by ISIS, threatening to kill Prime Minister Narendra Modi and him.

"On a 50 paisa post card..(laughs)," he said when asked about threats.

At least 21 people were killed and 30 injured in yesterday's attack on the university.

Four suspected attackers also died in a battle that lasted nearly three hours at Bacha Khan University in Charsadda.
Bengaluru Police on Thursday said that it is taking the issue of a threat letter being received by the French consulate very seriously.

The French consulate in Bengaluru on Thursday received an 'intimidating' letter demanding that President Francois Hollande cancel his upcoming visit to India

Additional Commissioner of Police, West Zone, Bengaluru City, K S R Charan Reddy on Thursday said a police team has been sent to Chennai to investigate.

"Immediately the court's permission was taken since it is a non-cognisable offence. And the case is restored in the high court. A team has been sent to Chennai, further investigation is on. We have taken the matter seriously. We are touch with the French consulate ministers," Reddy told a press conference here.

"On 11th of this month a letter was handed over by French consulate officers to hygron.. police station which was received by them by post. The 'from' address indicates that it is an address from Chennai and the letter is also posted in Chennai. It is a single page letter with a India map in the background. In the middle of the map, three lines were written in English," Reddy added

"Run structured type of English from which we can understand that it is a general threat given to the French people in the sense that the French president, who is expected to be the chief guest in the Republic Day in Delhi is not supposed to come and take part as a chief guest. At the bottom of the letter the word Al-Qaeda was written," Reddy said.

Francois Hollande, who is the chief guest for Republic Day celebrations, is likely to be received by PM Modi at the Chandigarh Air Force Station.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to receive Hollande in Chandigarh on January 24, the first day of his visit.

As many as 71 high-rise buildings in the vicinity of Rajpath in the capital will be shut down either partially or completely on or before January 25 in view of Republic Day celebrations.

Modi and Hollande will also jointly lay the foundation of Interim Secretariat of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) in Gurgaon on January 25.

Given the high-profile visit, falling on the eve of the Republic Day, the city police and the administration authorities are taking no chances and have tightened security.

The event will be attended by senior ministers apart from delegates from India and France.
leaders on Wednesday condemned the deadly attack on Pakistan's Bacha Khan University, expressing alarm over another attack on an educational institution in Pakistan.

The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for bringing the perpetrators to justice.

UN Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq said in a statement that the Secretary-general is appalled by such acts of violence and calls for the perpetrators to be swiftly brought to justice, The Express Tribune reports.

In a statement issued by US Department of State, the deputy spokesperson Mark C Toner offered 'deepest condolences' to the victims and their families.

"It is particularly appalling that these terrorists continue to attack educational institutions, targeting Pakistan's future generations," he said.

According to the Dawn, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed grief over the attack in a phone call to Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who is in Switzerland on a six-day trip.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also condemned the attack that killed 21 people.

"Strongly condemn the terror attack at Bacha Khan University in Pakistan. Condolences to families of the deceased. Prayers with the injured," Prime Minister Modi said in a tweet.

European Union's (EU) High Representative and Vice-President Federica Mogherini said the university strike was "another attack against the innocent, the youth and the very future of Pakistan".
Attacking Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani for 'spreading factually incorrect evidence' with respect to the Dalit student suicide in Hyderabad University, the Congress on Thursday labelled her as 'half educated minister'.

"The HRD Minister yesterday rather resolving the issue started spreading lies.

It is uncalled for a minister. She is saying that the Dalit professor was heading the team of the sub-committee of executive council which is blatantly a lie," Congress spokesperson Madhu Yakshi Gaud said.

"The Minister who doesn't understand the difference between a certificate and a degree, what else to expect from a minister half-educated," he added.

Gaud further said that Irani as a minister had misled the nation, saying this is the reason the Dalit professors have resigned from their posts.

"She is spreading factually incorrect evidence," he added.

Meanwhile, ten professors belonging to SC/ST community on Thursday resigned from their administrative posts in the University of Hyderabad (UoH), in response to the 'fabridcated statements' by Union HRD Minister Irani over Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula's suicide.

"In response to the Honourable Minister's (Smriti Irani) fabricated statements, we the Dalit (SC/ST) faculty and officers lay down our administrative positions" said a press statement by UoH SC/ST Teachers and Officers Forum.

Irani, had yesterday termed the ongoing protest on Vemula's suicide as 'malicious' the attempt to 'project it as a caste battle'.

"This is not a Dalit versus non-Dalit issue as being projected by some to ignite passion," Irani told a press conference, while rejecting allegations that her Ministry had put pressure on the University to suspend Vemula.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is set to visit the University of Hyderabad to meet the students after the suicide of the Dalit student, Rohith Vemula, who was expelled from the university following a tussle with students affiliated with the student wing of the BJP, Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP).

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, YSR Congress Party leader Jagan Mohan Reddy and Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Derek O'Brien have already visited the University of Hyderabad to express their solidarity with the protesting students.



ALSO READ: Rohith Vemula suicide: Fresh protests rock campus, Yechury to visit

Rohith, a second-year research scholar of Science, Technology and Society Studies Department, and others were suspended from the hostel last year following allegations that they attacked Sushil Kumar after the screening of a controversial documentary 'Muzaffarnagar Baaqi Hai'.

Earlier this month, five students were thrown out of the hostel after they accused the university authorities of denying them access to campus facilities, except their classrooms and workshops.

The 28-year-old victim from Andhra Pradesh's Guntur district was found hanging at the hostel room of one of his friends around 7:30 p.m on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the students of the University continued their protest in the varsity premises demanding action against Vice-Chancellor Appa Rao, Minister of State for Labour and Employment Bandaru Dattatreya and ABVP leader Susheel Kumar.

The students of the prestigious Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) also began a one-day hunger strike here on Tuesday to express solidarity with their colleagues of the Hyderabad University.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is set to visit the University of Hyderabad to meet the students after the suicide of the Dalit scholar who was expelled from the university following a tussle with students affiliated with the student wing of the BJP, Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP).

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, YSR Congress Party leader Jagan Mohan Reddy and Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Derek O'Brien have already visited the University of Hyderabad to express their solidarity with the protesting students.

Rohith, a second-year research scholar of Science, Technology and Society Studies Department, and others were suspended from the hostel last year following allegations that they attacked Sushil Kumar after the screening of a controversial documentary 'Muzaffarnagar Baaqi Hai'.

Earlier this month, five students were thrown out of the hostel after they accused the university authorities of denying them access to campus facilities, except their classrooms and workshops.

The 28-year-old victim from Andhra Pradesh's Guntur district was found hanging at the hostel room of one of his friends around 7:30p.m. on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the students of the University continued their protest in the varsity premises demanding action against Vice-Chancellor Appa Rao, Minister of State for Labour and Employment Bandaru Dattatreya and ABVP leader Susheel Kumar.

The students of the prestigious Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) also began a one-day hunger strike here on Tuesday to express solidarity with their colleagues of the Hyderabad University.
Farmers in Gulbarga, Karnataka, are falling into debt as drought conditions prevail in the region while they await funds from the government.

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Karnataka has been facing major dry spell for the last two years, leading to drought and crop loss. This has in turn burdened the farmers with debt as they struggle to make both ends meet.

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The farmers said the federal government had released 227 million USD to the state but the government of Karnataka - run by Siddaramaiah-led Congress party - is yet to distribute the compensation to the farmers.

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A farmer, Sharanu Patil, said they are suffering due to the blame game between the state and federal government of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

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"We are facing difficulties here as the state government of Congress party is saying the money has not been given while the federal government of BJP is saying that they have released the money but the government is not distributing. Due to this (blame game), we farmers are suffering," said Patil.

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Patil also said some farmers have migrated to other states while others have sold their cattle for their livelihood.

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Meanwhile, Gulbarga's District Collector Vipul Bansal said the local administration has received 29 million USD from the government and the first tranche will be released immediately.

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"Because the number of farmers will be in excess of 3,75,000, we have appointed nine banks to help us enable the RTGS (real time gross settlement) into the accounts of all the farmers," said Bansal.

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For India's nearly 200 million marginal farmers, many of whom borrow heavily to cultivate plots smaller than two acres, the fate of one crop can make the difference between life and death.

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The impact of unseasonal rains and two straight years of drought on agriculture that sustains over two-thirds of India's 1.25 billion people have dented Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity in the countryside, contributing to a humiliating loss for the premier in elections last year in the largely rural state of Bihar.
The Senate Agriculture Committee approved a bill Wednesday morning that would reauthorize child nutrition programs, including the National School Lunch and Breakfast programs.

The bill would ease the controversial nutrition standards created under the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (the current version of the law), though it would not eliminate as many of the provisions as some child health organizations had feared.

What makes our country so great is that we never back down from a challenge when we have the opportunity to improve the lives of our children, ranking member Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Michigan, said in the committee meeting, citing work to negotiate a compromise.

The bill now faces consideration by the Senate. It drew praise from advocacy groups on all sides of the nutrition debate, but some school administrator groups said it wouldnt go far enough to ease administrative burdens and costly provisions.

As I outlined Friday, the bill would:



Delay new sodium restrictions from 2017 to 2019;

Ease requirements so that only 80 percent of grain items must be whole-grain rich, rather than 100 percent;

Maintain requirements that schools serve fresh fruits and vegetables;

Provide grants and loan assistance for school kitchen equipment upgrades; and

Create new requirements for verifying eligibility of some participating students.

Praise for Compromise

The School Nutrition Association greatly appreciates the leadership of the Senate Agriculture Committee in crafting a bipartisan reauthorization bill that offers practical solutions for school meal programs and the students they serve, School Nutrition Association President Jean Ronnei said in a statement.

The organization, which had criticized the nutrition standards, praised the bills inclusion of school equipment grants and changes to the administration of school meal programs.

The National School Boards Association called the bill an important and promising first step toward incorporating the local school district governance perspective in implementation of school meal programs.

Health advocacy groups that argued strenuously against changes to the school lunch rules also praised the bill. Among them, the Pew Charitable Trusts Kids Safe and Healthful Foods Project.

This proposal ensures that good nutrition remains the core ingredient in school meal programs, Jessica Donze Black, the projects director, said in a statement.

Continued Concerns

But some groups that represent districts and educational administrators opposed the legislation in letters to the committee this week.

The bill simply does not adequately address important operation and financial issues that exist in the current federal school meal programs, Michael Casserly, the executive director of the Council of the Great City Schools wrote.

In short, the Committee bill basically leaves in place the current federal requirements that limit local menu flexibility, restrict school cafeteria revenue, contribute to less attractive food offerings, reduce student participation in school meals, create plate waste, and increase local costs, the letter says. Moreover, the proposed new verification requirements appear to add to local administrative costs and may result in otherwise eligible low-income students being excluded from federal subsidized mealsanother cost that most school districts will then absorb without federal reimbursement.

AASA, the School Superintendents Association, said new verification requirements and program rules would come as school districts are also transitioning to the Every Student Succeeds Act. The organization also criticized the new verification requirements and said the bill wouldnt address all of its concerns with federal meal programs.

The priorities we advanced in reauthorization represented modifications, not complete overhauls, and we remain concerned that the proposed changes arent substantive enough to provide meaningful relief to schools, AASA legislative analyst Leslie Finnan wrote to the committee. Read her whole letter here.

Related reading on school lunches:

Follow @evieblad on Twitter or subscribe to Rules for Engagement to get blog posts delivered directly to your inbox.
South African pace spearhead Dale Steyn has expressed his disappointment for being repeatedly written off as on the verge of retirement, saying he is still one of the fittest players in the squad.

Steyn had been receiving criticism on his fitness since he was ruled out of the ongoing England series due to shoulder injury that he sustained during the opening Test in Durban.

Describing the criticism as 'absolute rubbish', the 32-year-old said that he had played 48 Tests in a row, insisting that the injuries could happen to anyone.

Steyn also expressed his desire to play 100 Tests for his side and to bring them back to the position where they used to be, Sport24 reported.

Steyn said that he once again wanted to lead his side as one of the senior players and wanted to win as many matches as he could for South Africa.

Earlier, South Africa's dip in form continued as they suffered a seven-wicket defeat in the third Test in Johannesburg to give England a series win and thereby losing the number one Test ranking to India.

AB de Villiers-led side, which had earlier suffered a humiliating defeat in the Test series against India, will now play their final match against England in Centurion from Friday.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday flayed the Centre over Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani's clarification over the death of a Dalit scholar and said the issue is not about Dalits but 'injustice'.

"We strongly condemn the caste angle given to Rohith Vemula's death by Smriti Irani. Yesterday, Irani's statements were shameful, she was lying," Kejriwal said.

He further slammed Minister of State for Labour Bandaru Dattatrey for his letter to the HRD Ministry, saying it is shameful that a responsible minister without inquiring into the facts has concluded that the Ambedkar Students Association is casteist.

"It is shameful that a Union Minister used words like 'extremist, casteist and anti-national' in his letter," he said.

"Talking about Ambedkar and his views, cannot be anti-national," he added.

Kejriwal further said it is the responsibility of the HRD Minister to provide justice to the Dalit students.

Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani in a clear reference to political rivals yesterday said that 'malicious attempts are being made to make the incident a 'Dalit v/s non-Dalit' issue to ignite passions'.

Irani evaded a query whether she agreed with Cabinet colleague Bandaru Dattatreya's view calling Ambedkar Students' Association 'anti-national'.

More than 10 SC/ST teachers of the University yesterday resigned from their 'administrative roles' protesting against Irani' remarks in Delhi that Dalit faculty members were also part of the University's probe that eventually led to the expulsion of research scholar Rohith Vemula and four others.

The teachers alleged that baseless and misleading statements by Irani were bringing down the morale of the Dalits holding administrative positions in the university.

Meanwhile, politicians from various parties continued to mount pressure on the Centre demanding action against Irani and her Cabinet colleague Bandaru Dattatreya, charged with abetting Vemula's suicide.

The Opposition has also been demanding the resignation of Hyderabad University Vice Chancellor Appa Rao.

Rohith, a second-year research scholar of Science, Technology and Society Studies Department, and others were suspended from the hostel last year following allegations that they attacked ABVP leader Sushil Kumar after the screening of a controversial documentary 'Muzaffarnagar Baaqi Hai'.

Earlier this month, five students were thrown out of the hostel after they accused the university authorities of denying them access to campus facilities, except their classrooms and workshops.

The 28-year-old victim from Andhra Pradesh's Guntur district was found hanging at the hostel room of one of his friends around 7:30 p.m. on Sunday.
A team of the Investigative Agency (NIA) on Thursday morning reached senior Punjab Police officer Salwinder Singh's residence as a part of the probe into his role in the Pathankot terror attack.

Singh went through several rounds of questioning by the NIA in connection with the terror strike at Pathankot Airbase as suspicion arose after several contradictions in his statements during his interrogation.

The investigators also questioned Salwinder Singh's cook and the caretaker of 'Panj Peer Dargah', which Singh had claimed to have visited before he was kidnapped by terrorists involved in the attack on Pathankot Airbase.

The shrine is located a few kilometres from Bamiyal, the village from where the terrorists were suspected to have infiltrated into India before mounting the attack.

Officials of the probe agency also said that there were similarities in the recent attack on the Pathankot Air Force station and a police station and some other targets in Dinanagar, both in Punjab.

Six terrorists had attacked the Pathankot base on January 2.

They were killed in a counter-operation by Indian forces that lasted for about three days and also claimed the lives of seven security personnel.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday greeted the people of Meghalaya, Tripura and Manipur on their statehood day.

Prime Minister Modi took to micro-blogging site twitter to extend his greetings.

"Greetings to people of Meghalaya, Manipur & Tripura on their Statehood Day. I wish these states the very best in their development journey," the Prime Minister tweeted.

Meghalaya, Manipur and Tripura were given the status of states on January 21, 1972.

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Meghalaya was a part of Assam before it was carved out as a full-fledged state under the North Eastern Region (Re-Organisation) Act, 1971.

The erstwhile princely states of Tripura and Manipur were merged with India in October 1949.
President Pranab Mukherjee condemned the terror attack on Bacha Khan University at Charasada, Pakistan on Wednesday.

The President said, "I am deeply saddened to learn of the barbaric terrorist attack on Bacha Khan University at Charasada, Pakistan today. The attack is all the more condemnable as the terrorists chose for this heinous crime the death anniversary of the great Badshah Khan, who worked tirelessly for peace."

"The strongly condemnable attack once again shows that no difference can be made between 'good' and bad terrorists and all forms of terrorism and all manner of support to them need to be completely eradicated," he added.

He also conveyed his heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families, and prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured.

At least 21 people were killed and over 30 others were injured as heavily-armed terrorists stormed the Bacha Khan University in Pakistan's restive northwest Khyber- Pakhtunkhwa province and opened indiscriminate fire on the students and teachers.
President Pranab Mukherjee will host a lunch for 100 women achievers on Friday at Rashtrapati Bhavan on the occasion of first anniversary of 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' scheme.

These 100 women achievers have been selected by the Ministry of Women and Child Development in collaboration with Facebook through a nation-wide contest and public nominations.

The contest namely #100Women was announced on the Facebook Page of the Ministry of Women and Child Development on Ju1y 15, 2015 through which nominations were invited in 20 categories namely: Access to justice protecting women & their rights; Agriculture and Animal Husbandry; Animal Welfare; Arts and Culture; Commerce Industry and Entrepreneurship; Community Mobilization; Disability and Disadvantage; Education; Environment, forests and wildlife; Globalizing India; Healthcare and Wellness; Hygiene and Sanitation; Improving the Child Sex Ratio; Innovation Science and Technology; Literature; Media; Nutrition; Sports; Women in Public Life and Women's Empowerment.

The 200 women nominees were shortlisted by a jury from 474 nominations received across the 20 categories.

The 200 shortlisted women nominees went for public voting from December 3, 2015 to December 20, 2015, out of which these 100 women were selected.
'The Hunger Games' star Sam Claflin is on an all new adventure as he and his wife Laura Haddock have been blessed with their first child.

Sources revealed that the 29-year-old actor and his wife welcomed their first child in December, reports E! Online.

The couple never openly said that they were expecting, however, Haddock was unable to hide her baby bump at the London premiere of 'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay-Part 2' in November, which made the news clear.

The duo has not revealed that sex or the name of their child yet. Claflin and Haddock tied the knot in July 2013.
Public cloud options now offer the scalability, computing power, storage and security to better enable digital government platforms and meet rising expectations for performance and value, according to Gartner, Inc.

Gartner predicts that by 2018, increased security will displace cost savings and agility as the primary driver for government agencies to move to public cloud within their jurisdictions.

"Many cloud service providers, such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and Google, invest heavily in incorporating higher levels of security into their products to continue building confidence that their data is more secure," said Neville Cannon, research director at Gartner. "Many of these providers can invest more than what most nations could afford, let alone the average government agency."

Mr. Cannon said that hindrances do remain, however, as nationalism and concerns about data sovereignty will slow benefit realization, as cost savings and agility are maintained as subsidiary drivers in the belief that data is more secure when retained within its jurisdiction.

Adoption will start to accelerate, and subject to appropriate analysis of the risks involved, the provider's capabilities and the technologies chosen to protect the data, public sector CIOs should look to use public cloud for hosting both public and low-to-medium levels of sensitive data.

Gartner's other predictions for the government sector include:

By 2018, more than 50 percent of the Tier 1 support services at government contact centers will be provided by virtual personal assistants.

"To improve efficiency and optimize business outcomes, government agencies are experimenting with smart machine technologies, such as virtual assistants, to deliver frontline services," said Rick Howard, research director at Gartner. "Advances in cognitive learning and natural-language processing technologies have reached the stage of commercial viability that government CIOs can factor them into technology roadmaps."

Deploying virtual personal assistants to conduct lower-level business functions, such as Tier 1 support services or claims resolution, sets the stage for the government workforce to shift to more value-added activities, such as case management and program evaluation.

Government CIOs should work with program managers to develop business use cases for various smart machine technologies and then construct scenarios for achieving the desired business results.

By 2018, more than 25 percent of government agencies will adopt 'BYO algo' policies to boost workforce-led innovation.

Gartner believes that the growing availability of self-service data discovery and business intelligence/analytic tools, as well as the creation of a "consumerized" digital work environment, will drive government agencies to actively seek the talent of workers who are encouraged to bring their proprietary intellectual property to work.

Next-generation (smart) data discovery tools and capabilities make insights from advanced analytics more accessible to business users or citizen data scientists. Gartner believes the performance of government workers and organizations will be determined by the methodologies and algorithms they uniquely employ to turn data into actions that increase efficiency and effectiveness.

"The formulation and adoption of BYO algo policies in government will help address the competitive disadvantage that public-sector employers often face in the quest to recruit top talent," said Mr. Howard. "By doing so, agencies will fully benefit from the talent of employees whose personal success rests on using all the digital tools at their disposal."

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Granules India rose 3.46% to Rs 121 at 14:30 IST on BSE after the company's wholly owned subsidiary, Granules USA entered into an agreement with Par Pharmaceutical Inc., to market generic version of Omeprazole and sodium bicarbonate.

The announcement was made by the company during market hours today, 21 January 2016.

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was down 85.21 points, or 0.35%, to 23,976.83.

On BSE, so far 2.14 lakh shares were traded in the counter, compared with an average volume of 2.3 lakh shares in the past one quarter. The stock hit a high of Rs 123 and low of Rs 118.15 so far during the day. The stock hit a record high of Rs 164.45 on 1 December 2015. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 75.20 on 28 April 2015. The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 20 January 2016, sliding 24.21% compared with Sensex's 5.71% fall. The scrip had also underperformed the market in past one quarter, skidding 23.36% as against Sensex's 11.88% fall.

The mid-cap company has an equity capital of Rs 20.94 crore. Face value per share is Re 1.

Granules India said that its wholly owned subsidiary, Granules USA has entered into an agreement with Par Pharmaceutical Inc., a subsidiary of Endo International plc to market the generic version of OTC omeprazole and sodium bicarbonate in North America following approval by the United States Food & Drug Administration (USFDA). The product is expected in July 2016. Par Pharmaceutical's omeprazole and sodium bicarbonate is the generic equivalent of Merck/MSD Consumer Care, Inc's Zegerid OTC.

Omeprazole is a proton pump inhibitor that decreases the production of stomach acid. Sodium bicarbonate is an antacid that raises stomach pH to keep the Omeprazole from breaking down in stomach acid.

On consolidated basis, Granules India's net profit rose 40.3% to Rs 30.98 crore on 19.1% rise in net sales to Rs 366.44 crore in Q2 September 2015 over Q2 September 2014.

Granules India produces finished dosages, pharmaceutical formulation intermediates and active pharmaceutical ingredients.

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Hindustan Zinc rose 0.79% to Rs 140 at 15:18 IST on BSE after net profit fell 24% to Rs 1811 crore on 11% decline in revenue to Rs 3385 crore in Q3 December 2015 over Q3 December 2014.

The result was announced during market hours today, 21 January 2016.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 124.78 points or 0.52% at 23,937.26.

On BSE, so far 1.56 lakh shares were traded in the counter as against average daily volume of 60,942 shares in the past one quarter. The stock was volatile. The stock rose as much as 1.9% at the day's high of Rs 141.55 so far during the day. The stock lost as much as 2.01% at the day's low of Rs 136.10 so far during the day. The stock had hit a record high of Rs 190.40 on 19 February 2015. The stock had hit a 52-week low of Rs 117.20 on 25 August 2015.

The large-cap company has equity capital of Rs 845.06 crore. Face value per share is Rs 2.

Hindustan Zinc's earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) declined 30% to Rs 1469 crore in Q3 December 2015 over Q3 December 2014, primarily on account of lower LME prices and impact of newly levied contribution to the District Mineral Foundation of Rs 84 crore, Hindustan Zinc said in a statement.

Hindustan Zinc's bottom line was impacted due to lower other income (non-operational income) during the quarter. Other income declined 32% to Rs 554.67 crore in Q3 December 2015 over Q3 December 2014.

Hindustan Zinc is a subsidiary of Vedanta (formerly known as Sesa Sterlite), a part of London listed Vedanta Resources plc, a global diversified natural resources company. The company is one of the largest integrated producers of zinc-lead and a leading producer of silver. As per the shareholding pattern, Vedanta holds 64.92% stake and the Government of India holds 29.54% stake in Hindustan Zinc as at 30 September 2015.

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The U.S. Department of Education will create an online search tool that will allow the public to see which colleges and universities have sought religious exemptions from Title IX, Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine Lhamon wrote Wednesday.

The Education Department has argued that Title IXs nondiscrimination protections apply to sexual orientation and gender identity. But the law also provides an exemption for religiously affiliated colleges and universities that request it.

Advocacy groups and some federal lawmakers called on the agency to make a list of campuses with such exemptions public to inform LGBT students college choices.

In recent years, the Department has received an increasing number of requests for religious exemptions from Title IX, Lhamon wrote in a letter to Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon.

Lhamon said she plans to publish requests for exemptions and her agencys responses online sometime in the coming months. The decision is part of the agencys overall commitment to transparency, she added, noting that the office for civil rights has already posted civil rights resolutions online.

To help schools meet their obligations under Title IX, the Department has clarified that Title IX protects all students, including LGBT students, and prohibits discrimination based on gender identity and gender nonconformity, Lhamon wrote.

Some have disagreed with the departments interpretation of Title IX . Cases related to the issue on the K-12 level are currently pending in state and federal courts.

LGBT rights groups, including the Human Rights Campaign, praised Lhamons decision.

We have been alarmed by the growing trend of schools quietly seeking the right to discriminate against LGBT students, and not disclosing that information publicly, HRC President Chad Griffin said in a statement. We are encouraged that the Department of Education is answering our call for greater transparency to help ensure no student unknowingly enrolls in a school that intends to discriminate against them.

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Tata Steel rose 2.52% to Rs 237.55 at 10:30 IST on BSE after the company said that its group company has signed an in-principle agreement with the Government of Quebec for a direct shipping ore project in the North Shore region.

The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 20 January 2016.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 82.96 points or 0.34% at 24,145.

On BSE, so far 2.95 lakh shares were traded in the counter as against average daily volume of 10.23 lakh shares in the past one quarter. The stock hit a high of Rs 239.25 and a low of Rs 233.65 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 411.40 on 23 January 2015. The stock had hit a 52-week low of Rs 200 on 29 September 2015. The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 20 January 2016, sliding 9.26% compared with Sensex's 5.71% fall. The scrip had however, outperformed the market in past one quarter, declining 3.78% as against Sensex's 11.88% fall.

The large-cap company has equity capital of Rs 971.22 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

Tata Steel's group company TS Global Minerals has signed an in-principle agreement with the Government of Quebec. This undertaking should lead to a decision, before 31 March 2016, with respect to a government participation in the direct shipping ore project (DSO Project) in Schefferville area, in the North Shore region. Parties also agreed to cooperate in creating favorable conditions in the transit activities of iron ore from Arnaud Junction to the multi-user dock of the Port of Sept-iles.

Tata Steel through its subsidiary Tata Steel Minerals Canada is completing a direct shipping ore project in Schefferville, in which the company has invested more than 1 billion Canadian dollar. The company plans to develop its DSO deposits in Quebec with the Government of Quebec.

Tata Steel's consolidated net profit rose 21.87% to Rs 1528.71 crore on 18.1% fall in net sales to Rs 29068.54 crore in Q2 September 2015 over Q2 September 2014.

Tata Steel is Europe's second largest steel producer. The combined Tata Steel group is largest steel producer in the world.

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Four telecom stocks lost 0.84% to 2.55% at 11:45 IST on BSE on media reports that the government is proposing to levy a 0.5% Swachh Bharat cess on petrol, diesel and telecom services.

Bharti Airtel (down 1.44% at Rs 304.95), Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (down 0.84% at Rs 17.65) and Reliance Communications (down 2.12% at Rs 67.05) edged lower. Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (up 2.13%) edged higher.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 100.16 points or 0.42% at 23,961.88.

According to reports, the government is considering further levies to fund its pet cleanliness programme viz. Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. The measures under consideration include a 0.5% cess on petrol, diesel and telecom services, a 1% cess on accumulated waste produced by mineral generation plants and a 0.5% increase in service tax, reports suggested.

Idea Cellular was off 2.55% at Rs 114.45. The company is scheduled to announce its Q3 December 2015 results today, 21 January 2016.

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A Band of Boys, a musical quartet which created a sensation with hit songs like "Gori", "Meri neend" and "Nain kataari" in early 2000 and then disbanded to pursue their own individual careers, are back!

The Indipop boy band is reuniting for the Mumbai Ballard Estate Festival, and the members are confident that they will be able to strike the right chords with the audience even after so many years, as they had not split, but just taken a break.

The band members -- Sudhanshu Pandey, Karan Oberoi, Chin2 Bhosle and Sherrin Varghese -- consider that their biggest strength is their connect with the audience at live gigs.

"Each member got busy with their personal musical journeys and the band took a backseat, leading to an unscheduled break and then the idea of being part of this music festival came along," the band members told IANS in a joint email interview.

"We discussed it and decided to make it the start point of our next step as a band. We felt this fest offers the best platform for all the fans to connect back with us, considering the fact that the band's biggest strength has always been our connect with the audiences at live gigs," they added.

Sharing that the break happened without a plan, the 'boys' say that the comeback was just a call away as they had all been in touch with each other.

Bringing the band together, Shubhra Bharadwaj, founder and creative director, Ferriswheel shared: "It's wonderful to see them together and hear their voices. It will be fantastic to see them perform, a big plus to see them on stage and reunite."

The group will also perform at the soft launch of Mumbai's Ballard Estate Festival on Saturday.

The fest will be held in October in Mumbai.
Insurgent groups should immediately stop intentionally targeting journalists and civilians, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday.

The Wednesday suicide attack on a mini bus in Kabul ferrying journalists affiliated with Tolo TV, Afghanistan's 24-hour news channel, was an atrocity designed to undermine the country's still-fragile freedom, it said.

Both the Taliban and an individual who claims to represent a group that affiliates with the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, which killed seven journalists from Tolo TV and its production wing and also injured 25 others including bystanders.

A Pashto-language Taliban statement described the bombing as "revenge" for alleged "false allegations" against the group.

The statement explicitly listed both Tolo TV and its news channel rival 1TV as "military targets" for allegedly serving as "informational warfare tools of the American and Crusading forces".

Human Rights Watch said: "The targeting of journalists reflects a depraved strategy to make freedom a casualty of the ongoing conflict.

"Designating journalists and other civilians as 'military targets' does not make them so, and deliberately attacking them constitutes a war crime."
Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN) have agreed to begin discussions on the possibility of having a BBIN Rail Agreement drawing on the draft Saarc Regional Rail Agreement template, media reported on Thursday.

It was also agreed that land ports and land customs stations, crucial for sub-regional trade and transit, will be given a special attention by all four countries, a report in Daily Star said.

An expert group will be constituted for exchanging best practices in water resources management and on specifics of the identified projects, power trade, inter-grid connectivity, flood forecasting and other areas of possible cooperation.

The four South Asian countries reached the consensus at the two-day third Joint Working Group (JWG) meetings on Sub-Regional Cooperation on Water Resources Management and Power/Hydropower and on Connectivity and Transit that ended in Dhaka on Wednesday.

The JWG on Water Resources Management and Power/Hydropower carried forward earlier discussions on scope for power trade and inter-grid connectivity cooperation in future power projects and water resources management between the four countries.

Specific hydropower projects under BBIN framework that could be concretised on equitable basis were discussed, said the foreign ministry of Bangladesh.

The JWG on Connectivity and Transit reviewed progress under the BBIN and made recommendations relevant to this process.

The next meeting of the JWG will be held in the second half of 2016 in India.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday assured that Bangladeshi minorities who have taken refuge in India to escape persecution would be granted citizenship.

"Minorities whether Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, whoever, those who have been persecuted in Bangladesh and taken refuge in India, we have not only validated the entry of such people but also validated their stay in India.

"We assure you, that time is not far when we will provide them with citizenship," he said.

The minister said the government has finalised the standard operating procedure for granting long term visas to such people.

"Now nobody will be able to harass these refugees," he said.

Rajnath Singh also hailed the Bangladesh government for its assistance in curbing smuggling of fake notes and cattle.

"Be it smuggling of fake currency or cattle, I am not saying completely, but to a large extent, Bangladesh is assisting India in curbing them. Not only that, Bangladesh is also assisting in extradition (of criminals).

This miracle has been possible, only because of the Indian government's diplomatic skill," Rajnath Singh said addressing a Bharatiya Janata Party rally here in North 24 Parganas district, some 50 km from Kolkata.

He assured that infiltration from Bangladesh would be completely eradicated.

"From fencing to installing flash lights, we will take all measures to secure the Indo-Bangladesh border so that not a single infiltrator manages to enter India," added the minister.
Bearish global cues, coupled with a weak rupee and long-liquidation positions, pushed down the Indian equity markets on Thursday and led to a barometer index closing the day's trade 100 points in the red.

The selling pressure led both the bellwether indices of the Indian equity markets to close at levels which were last seen during May 2014.

Initially, both the bellwether indices opened on a positive note due to Wednesday's late trading-hour short-covering rally and slightly higher crude oil prices.

However, the bellwether indices soon ceded their gains in sync with their bearish Asian peers.

Furthermore, investors were seen to be cautious regarding the slide in the rupee value which touched a low of 68.11 to a US dollar -- its weakest level in the since August 2013 during the intra-day trade.

It ended weaker by seven paise at 68.02 to a US dollar from its previous close of 67.95 to a greenback.

"Demand for dollars from the offshore market kept the spot hovering around the 68 handle," Anindya Banerjee, associate vice president for currency derivatives with Kotak Securities, told IANS.

"Over the near term, USD/INR would remains hostage to global markets, if they stabilise, then we can get a rebound in the rupee, or else depreciation would continue."

The weakness in the rupee value indicates the massive foreign funds outflow from the Indian equity and debt markets.

This was evident as foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers during the day's trade, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers.

According to data with stock exchanges, FIIs divested Rs.1,747.23 crore, while DIIs bought stocks worth Rs.1,267.74 crore.

Besides, caution prevailed over the upcoming US macro-data points of jobless claims and crude oil inventory figures.

Nevertheless, markets were able to pare some of their losses on the back of value-buying which took place in the later stages of the session.

The positive sentiments were supported after European markets opened in the green in anticipation of some positive comments from ECB (european central bank) president.

In addition, the selling pressure eased after an international banking major predicted that India will remain an attractive destination for investors given its relative strong macros.

The banking major's report added that the country is likely to clock a GDP (gross domestic product) growth rate of 7.5 percent this fiscal.

But the positive momentum was not strong enough to loosen the bear grip on the markets.

The barometer 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) receded by 100 points or 0.41 percent.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), meanwhile, ended the day's trade flat. It was down by 32.50 points or 0.44 percent at 7,276.80 points.

This is Nifty's lowest closing since May 30, 2014, when it had closed at 7,229.95 points.

The S&P BSE Sensex, which opened at 24,194.75 points, closed at 23,962.21 points -- down 99.83 points or 0.41 percent from the previous day's close at 24,062.04 points.

This is the lowest closing of the Sensex since May 15, 2014, when it had closed 23,905.60 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 24,351.83 points and a low of 23,862 points during the intra-day trade.

"Bearish Asian markets, weak rupee and long-liquidated positions dampened sentiments," Anand James, co-head, technical research desk with Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services, told IANS.

Vaibhav Agarwal, vice president and research head at Angel Broking, cited that while valuations have turned attractive, FIIs continue to remain net sellers which has limited any gains in the market.

"With earnings continuing to remain lacklustre, we expect markets to consolidate at lower levels before we see any uptick. We expect to see some positive bias ahead of the budget, which would be a key trigger for the markets," Agarwal noted.

Nitasha Shankar, vice president for research with YES Securities, elaborated that broader markets, however, managed to buck the trend as stock specific buying was seen post steep declines.

"Pharma, FMCG (fast moving consumer goods), energy and auto indices were major drags in trade today, while IT (information technology), media and reality indices along with banking ended in the positive territory," Shankar said.

Sector-wise, shares of automobile, healthcare, oil and gas, capital goods and FMCG came under intense selling pressure. In contrast, healthy buying was observed in stocks of banking, IT and consumer durables.

The S&P BSE automobile index plunged by 309.48 points, healthcare index receded by 236.32 points, oil and gas index declined by 137.82 points, capital goods index slumped by 120.95 points and FMCG index edged lower by 102.73 points.

The S&P BSE banking augmented by 226.09 points, followed by IT index which gained by 77.39 points and consumer durables closed higher by 46.75 points.

Major Sensex gainers during Thursday's trade were Axis Bank, up 5.21 percent at Rs.408.90; Wipro, up 1.58 percent at Rs.550.70, Infosys, up 1.32 percent at Rs.1,136.50, State Bank of India (SBI), up 1.24 percent at Rs.175.85; and Tata Steel, up 1.23 percent at Rs.234.55.

Major Sensex losers during the day's trade were Maruti Suzuki, down 4.11 percent at Rs.3,892.10; DrReddy's Lab, down 3.86 percent at Rs.2,757.55; Tata Motors, down 3.70 percent at Rs.329.40; Coal India, down 3.24 percent at Rs.288.30; and Sun Pharma, down 2.59 percent at Rs.773.25.
Booker Prize 2015 winner Marlon James's first trip to India turned out to be a bitter one. The Jamaica-born writer poured out his woes as he caught a connecting flight to Jaipur from Delhi.

James landed in Delhi on Wednesday to participate in the ninth edition of the Jaipur Literature Festival which began here on Thursday.

The first Jamaican to win the Booker Prize for his novel "A Brief History of Seven Killings", James described his harrowing experience in a Facebook post.

He said he got into a jeep to reach another terminal at the Indira Gandhi International Airport but "they won't let me in because it seems I don't have a ticket".

The writer became upset that he was asked to show proof that he indeed had a seat on the connecting flight.

His misery went up when he was told that his hand luggage was eight kilograms heavier and asked to show his ID.

And he learnt to his dismay that his bags were not going on to the plane as they had not been security checked.

James had to go back to the baggage drop. And now he was informed that his bag was overweight by 12 kg -- not eight. "Just like that it went up by 4 (kg)?" the disgusted writer asked.

James felt bad he was asked about his belt. The fact that he had not slept for 27 hours didn't help.

"I just want to board my flight. Oh, it's delayed, you say? Nice first impression, India," read the post.

The post got an overwhelming response, with many supporting the author and corroborating their own bad experience with airports and air travel in India.
BSF troopers gunned down an intruder from Pakistan along the international border in Punjab's Gurdaspur district, an official said on Thursday.

The body of the Pakistani intruder was later recovered by Border Security Force (BSF) troopers after a search of the area on Thursday.

BSF Deputy Inspector General R.S. Kataria said three Pakistani intruders were observed approaching towards Indian territory from the Pakistan side in the area of responsibility of Tash border out post (BoP).

"The BSF sentry challenged the intruders but they did not pay heed and continued with their aggressive posture and opened fire on the BSF troops.

"Sensing danger to his life and to check further misadventure of intruders, the BSF sentry fired on the intruders in self-defence," Kataria said.

One Pakistani intruder was killed and the two others managed to escape taking advantage of foggy weather and undulating ground, he said.

During a search of the area, the body of the unidentified Pakistani intruder was found near the border fence, he added.

In 2015, the BSF had interdicted three Pakistani intruders while they were trying to infiltrate into Indian territory.

Six suspected Pakistani terrorists had recently (January 1) attacked the Pathankot air base in Punjab, leaving seven security personnel dead, after infiltrating the border belt in the Gurdaspur-Pathankot sector.

Three terrorists had attacked Dinanagar town in Gurdaspur district on July 27, killing seven people.

In both incidents, the terrorists were neutralised by security forces.
The CBI on Thursday named Kerala CPI-M leader P Jayarajan as the 25th accused in the murder of RSS worker Kathirur Manoj in September 2014.

The CPI-M criticised the CBI for its action. The party's state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan termed it as "nothing but a political conspiracy".

"This is being done at the behest of the BJP national leadership and meant to appease the BJP and the RSS in Kerala.

"Till yesterday, the CBI said Jayarajan is not an accused and today, they say he is. He was not even questioned, then how come the CBI arraigned as an accused?" Balakrishnan asked reporters.

A court near here on January 19 rejected the 63-year-old Jayarajan's anticipatory bail plea in the murder case.

Manoj, who was among a group of people accused of making an unsuccessful bid on Jayarajan's life in 1999, was on September 1, 2014, attacked by a seven-member gang in Kathirur near Kannur.

The assailants first hurled a bomb at the RSS activist's vehicle and later hacked him to death.

Jayarajan, a former legislator, was asked to appear before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) earlier this month, but he moved an anticipatory bail plea in a court, which was rejected.

When he complained of uneasiness, Jayarajan was on Tuesday admitted to a hospital near here. Jayarajan is currently on bail in another murder case.

Though a similar anticipatory bail petition was rejected last year as well, Jayarajan was then questioned by the CBI in the state capital.

The probe agency has so far arrested 24 people in the case.

State Congress president VM Sudheeran, who is on his state-wide political yatra, on Thursday said he failed to understand why the CPI-M "is trying to run away?"

"Instead of facing the law, they are trying to run away and are challenging the legal system and also deceiving the people," said Sudheeran.
The Illinois governor and two Republicans proposed Wednesday a bill that would allow for the state to take over Chicago Public Schools. The district has financially struggled for years, and a series of school closings sparked a hunger strike and caused the mayor to almost lose his job .

Under the takeover proposal, filed by two Republicans and backed by the Gov. Bruce Rauner, a Republican, the state would amend its rules to establish an independent authority to wrest control of the school district from the mayor-appointed superintendent and its school board members. Most notably, the bill would allow the district to declare bankruptcy and establish that the state would not be liable for the school districts debt.

We dont come to this position lightly, Senate Republican leader Christine Radogno said in a press release. But the track record of Chicago and its public school system is abysmal. Despite a $600 million financial advantage provided by the state, Chicago continues to dig their financial hole deeper. It is constant crisis. The result always ends up a plea for more state money for Chicago at the expense of school districts in our suburban and downstate communities. It has to end. Taxpayers and schoolchildren deserve better. This is a lifeline.

The proposal drew harsh criticism from the citys powerful teachers union.

Since the governor was elected, government in Illinois has ground to a halt, and this proposal is just the latest example of the bull in a china shop methods in which he clumsily attempts to lead, the union said in a statement. A call for Springfield to assume responsibility of the finances of Chicago Public Schools is a nonstarter when state government has so far been unable to assume responsibility for its own budget.

Chicago schools districts credit rating was downgraded to junk status last year after a court rejected a state plan to reduce pension costs. City administrators estimate the districts debt to stand at around $1 billion and they have fought with teachers over wages and layoffs .

The mayoral-appointed school board in Chicago Public Schools has a history of unsustainable spending and borrowing, said Lennie Jarratt, a spokeswoman with The Heartland Institute, a Chicago-based free-market think tank. CPS has only two viable short-term options ... a state bailout or bankruptcy. Bankruptcy coupled with state fiscal oversight is the better of two bad options for the taxpayers of Illinois. Taxpayers do not deserve to be saddled with the financial mismanagement from the City of Chicago and its schools.

In the last decade, more and more states have proposed taking over academically and financially struggling urban school districts. The process has been criticized as ineffective and undemocratic .
There is a change in Pakistan where the civil society is slowly gaining ground, but the world needs to change its policies towards the country to make it self-reliant, instead of bailing it out, say experts on Pakistan.

They also maintained there is a need to be more realistic on India-Pakistan relations are concerned, given the competing, conflicting narratives of history in both the countries make any sort of "grand reconciliation" not possible in the short-term, though increasing contacts among the youth offer hope.

In a session titled "The Pakistan Paradox" on the opening day of the Jaipur Literature Festival here on Thursday, moderated by former Indian foreign secretary Shyam Saran, they also discussed the likely course of Pakistani nation could take, and what the rest of the world must do.

Pakistani journalist-cum-author Reema Abbasi said it was unfortunate that other aspects of the Pakistani life and society were being ignored with everything seen through the focus of terrorism, though she conceded it was a major issue.

The author of "Historic Temples in Pakistan: A Call to Conscience", she stressed recovering the plurality of Pakistani society.

"Very few students in Pakistan know about the plurality of their country," she said.

She also contended that there were two narratives in Pakistan, "completely at odds with each other", but the state's narrative was paid more attention by the international community over the public narrative, but this had "completely changed", especially after the attack on the Peshawar school in December 2014.

"Civil society, activists and media are getting more empowered," she maintained.

French South Asia security expert Christophe Jaffrelot, author of "The Pakistan Paradox: Instability and Resilience" (2015), maintained that Pakistan, where now a broader establishment of the military and some political leaders still held sway, still offered plenty of paradoxes and complications but it had become a sort of a "nation state" by now, having gotten over its fixation over defining its identity based on India as an hostile "other".

"India was a threat to Pakistan in the 1970s... today its more complex. Balochistan is gone, Karachi is a complicated game but the rest is some kind of nation state... time has made a contribution."

Jaffrelot also maintained that as far as India-Pakistan relations were concerned, Afghanistan was a key issue.

"Pathankot and Mazar-i-Sharif (attacks on an Indian Air Force base in Punjab and consulate in Afghanistan) came after (Indian Prime Minister Narendra) Modi's visit to Kabul, where he had offered the Afghans military helicopters," he noted.

"This was not taken in a very good way by Pakistan army, who have a constant temptation to use jihadi groups against India," he said.

He also noted that while Pakistan acts against some militant groups that "have gotten out of hand", it can set up new ones.

Jaffrelot also contended that the world must change its policy towards Pakistan, which was at a significant crossroads of South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East.

"Apart from remittances from Pakistanis in the Gulf, outsiders pay for Pakistan, be it the US, Saudi Arabia, IMF and China," he noted, urging the world powers to "stop helping Pakistan in the way you are".

"Its tax-GDP ratio is the lowest in the world. It needs to focus on fiscal reforms," he said.

Shyam Saran noted that Pakistan was the only country that figured both in China's "Silk Road Economic Belt" and oceangoing "Maritime Silk Road".

US-based history professor Venkat Dhulipala, meanwhile, contended that the idea of India as a "threatening outsider that keeps Pakistan united was oversold".

Dhulipala, author of the critically acclaimed "Creating a New Medina: State Power, Islam, and the Quest for Pakistan in Late Colonial North India" (2015), argued that Pakistan sees itself on the way to its pre-eminence in the Islamic world based on its possession of nuclear weapons, and this was also becoming a "driver for Pakistani politics".

Stressing that the world must take this into account, he also appeared pessimistic of India-Pakistan ties give the stress of competing narratives of history.

(Vikas Datta can be contacted at vikas.d@ians.in)
Amid a growing challenge from Democratic presidential rival Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton has brushed off a report that her private email server contained classified intelligence from some of the US intelligence community's most secretive programmes.

The former secretary of state told National Public Radio Wednesday that the report was a "leak" designed to harm her in the presidential race despite offering no evidence.

A Clinton spokesman even publicly accused investigators looking into her server as conspiring with Republican senators to embarrass her, according to CNN.

"As the State Department has confirmed, I never sent or received any material marked classified, and that hasn't changed in all of these months," he said.

"This, seems to me, to be, you know, another effort to inject this into the campaign. It's another leak."

Hillary Clinton also called an inspector general's letter a "continuation of an inter-agency dispute that has been going on now for some months."

Two government agencies flagged emails on Clinton's server as containing classified information, the inspector general said, including some on "special access programmes", which are a subset of the highest "Top Secret" level of classification, but are under subject to more stringent control rules than even other Top Secret information.

Clinton's campaign and the State Department have long denied that any information was handled improperly, saying that the information and emails in question were all retroactively classified.

The Justice Department is investigating if classified information improperly ended up on Clinton's email server. The server contained correspondence between Clinton and a variety of aides and friends.

Republican lawmakers requested the inspector general to investigate in March. The new report came a day after a new poll saw Sanders opening up a 60-33 percent lead -- his widest yet -- over Clinton in the crucial state of New Hampshire.

The Vermont senator's whopping 27-point lead over Clinton in the WMUR/CNN poll marked a climb of 10 percentage points for Sanders since mid-December and a drop of 7 points for Clinton.

It marks Sanders' highest support and widest lead in any poll in any state so far. His popularity in the state is also sky-high, earning a 91 percent favourability rating among Democrats there.

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)
Hitting back at the Congress, the BJP on Thursday accused the opposition party of "giving a communal colour or caste angle" to every untoward incident in the country.

"What has the Congress given us in 60 years? They target Dalits and non-Dalits for vote bank politics. They try to give communal colour or caste angle to everything. It is very unfortunate," Bharatiya Janata Party national secretary Srikant Sharma told reporters here.

"It is very sad to say that we've to invoke the caste issue even in 2016. It has become some kind of a compulsion," the party's media convenor added.

The Congress earlier on Thursday accused the central government of harbouring an "anti-Dalit attitude" towards Hyderabad University research scholar Rohith Vemula's suicide on January 17.

"The Congress never thought about social security. This is the first government which is working for social security. But, the anti-development people cannot digest the government's good work. Be it the incidents in Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka or other places, they have always blamed the Centre, whereas law and order is a state subject," Sharma said.

He added: "Those who indulge in vote bank politics must answer why they remain silent over the violence in Malda (West Bengal). Kejriwalji (Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal) went to Hyderabad, but did he go and meet even one family of the dengue victims in Delhi?"

"They are silent over law and order issues in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. But they blame the Centre for issues it is not even responsible for. This proves their dishonesty," said the BJP leader.
A local court hearing a case relating to the rape of a Danish woman here granted on Thursday more time to file a reply on Delhi Police's application for taking on record his medical and potency test report.

As defence counsel told Additional Sessions Judge Kaveri Baweja that he needed time to file reply, the court allowed the plea and listed the matter for January 27.

Additional public prosecutor Atul Srivastava on Tuesday moved an application to urge the court to take on record the medical and potency test report of accused Shyam Lal.

Arjun, Raju alias Chhakka, Mohammad Raja, Mahendra alias Ganja, Raju alias Bajji and Shyam Lal have been charged with robbing and raping a Danish woman at knife-point near New Delhi railway station in January 2014 after she sought directions to her hotel in Paharganj.

Besides, three minors -- allegedly also involved in the case -- were facing an inquiry before the Juvenile Justice Board.

Police said all the accused were vagabonds who took the woman to an isolated spot near the Divisional Railway Officers' Club close to the railway station, took away her belongings and then raped her.
Delhi will hold its fourth car-free day on Friday with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal leading a cycle rally, the city government said on Thursday.

The exercise, which is organised on the 22nd of every month to curb pollution and decongest traffic, comes after the recently concluded 15-day odd-even traffic restriction scheme.

Kejriwal will lead the cycle rally from the Delhi University campus to Chhatrasal Stadium in north Delhi.

The university's teachers and students will take part in the cycle rally. The government had decided to run 10 additional buses on the car-free stretch.
Launching a stringent attack on West Bengal's Mamata Banerjee government, union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said no one, including police, was safe in the state and asserted that the Centre would provide any number of central forces requisitioned by the Election Commission in the upcoming assembly polls.

The senior BJP leader called on the people to vote fearlessly in the polls and bring his party to power to usher in "real change" in the eastern state.

With the state assembly polls around three months away, the veteran leader hit out at the Trinamool Congress regime over a host of issues including the "deteriorating" law and order and lack of industry.

Days after four central ministers including Finance Minister Arun Jaitley praised the Banerjee regime at the Bengal Global Business Summit, Rajnath Singh ridiculed the investment conclave, saying unless the law and order situation improved, no industrialist would want to put in a penny in the state.

Assuring that those behind the January 3 violence at Kaliachak of Malda district would be unmasked and brought to justice, he flayed Banerjee for describing it as a "small incident" arising out of a dispute between the BSF and the locals.

He accused the state government of trying to shield those who attacked the BSF.

"The Malda incident is not a small incident, and I want to tell this state government and the chief minister that those who are behind this incident, they will have to be unmaskeda AJust a few arrests will not suffice," said Rajnath Singh, wondering why the state government did not make elaborate police arrangements to tackle the situation.

"Didn't the government know that such a large procession will be there? Was it not the state government's responsibility to make suitable police arrangement?" he asked at a party rally here in North 24 Parganas district, about 50 km from Kolkata.

The home minister said the situation could have been averted had a senior police officer been at the spot from the beginning.

"I assure you, all those behind the Malda incident will be unmasked, and their destination will be jail."

"The Trinamool government described itself as the government of 'Maa, Maati and Manush' (Mother, land and people). But neither Maa, Maati nor Manush is safe. No one is safe in Bengal. Even police are not safe here," Rajnath Singh said.

The BJP leader said the people's aspiration to bring change in the state gets defeated due to electoral malpractices.

"So, as India's home minister, I want to assure the entire people of Bengal, cast your votes fearlessly in this assembly polls. I will tell the Election Commission, whatever central forces may be required, we will provide all of that," he said.

He said there was a need to end political violence in the state.

"In other states, is done peacefully, political parties criticise each other on the basis of issues. But in Bengal, political rivals are perceived as enemies. This phenomenon was there during the Left Front rule and has continued under the Trinamool."

Assuring that the BJP will strive to bring back Bengal to its past glory, Rajnath Singh called upon the people to bring the party to power in Bengal.

Two days before the Narendra Modi government begins declassifying secret files on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Rajnath Singh flayed successive Congress regimes for not taking steps to unravel the mystery behind the revolutionary leader's disappearance.
Suresh Richard, a convict in the 2002 Gujarat riots, was arrested here on Thursday for allegedly assaulting a woman journalist when she went to interview him.

Revati Laul, a former NDTV journalist based in New Delhi, was in Ahmedabad to work on a book on the Naroda Patiya killings that left over 90 people dead in 2002.

She called on Suresh Richard aka Suresh Chhara at his house on Wednesday evening.

She alleged that she was punched and slapped by Chhara when she asked him some questions about his involvement in the riots.

Laul claimed that he first came half-naked. When she urged him to dress properly, he roughed her up and assaulted her. She managed to escape after Chhara's son and neighbours intervened.

"Without any provocation he started slapping me. He kept on punching me and banged my head on the wall. I somehow managed to flee from the spot," she told journalists.

Laul received first aid at a government hospital before lodging a complaint with police.

Chhara was released on parole by a court last week, reportedly to trace his teenage daughter who has been missing for some months.

Richard's former wife had alleged last month that he tried to rape her when he was released on parole a few months ago following which his parole was cancelled.

Chhara was convicted for 31 years for his involvement in the Naroda Patiya case.
Following the terror attacks in Pathankot this year and in Paris last year, terrorism will figure high during French President Francois Hollande's visit to India from January 24 to 26, a senior official said on Thursday.

"Following the horrendous attack in Paris and the recent terrorist attack in the Pathankot air base, it would be worth highlighting that cooperation between France and India on matters related to counter-terrorism has acquired a very significant dimension," external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said at a media briefing here.

"Both France and India are victims of terrorism and we can expect a lot of discussions on this particular issue," he said.

At least seven Indian security personnel were killed in a cross-border terror attack on the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot on January 2.

On November 13 last year, at least 130 people were killed in a series of coordinated terror attacks in Paris.

Stating that India's bilateral relationship with France was very comprehensive, Swarup said it covered a number of sectors such as defence, civil nuclear cooperation, railways, smart cities, science and research, space, and culture.

"In all these areas, we expect some forward progress during the French president's visit," he said.

"On the business side also, we have strong ties with bilateral trade of around $8 billion of which $5 billion are India's exports to France," the spokesman said.

According to Swarup, a CEOs' forum will be held in Chandigarh, where Hollande will land first on January 24, as well as an India-France business summit "at which we expect a number of B2B agreements to be signed in the presence of the two leaders".

During the course of the French leader's visit, the foundation stone of the interim secretariat of the International Solar Alliance will also be laid in Gurgaon.

The alliance, an initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was launched jointly with Hollande on November 30 last year during the Paris climate summit.
The Hyderabad university on Thursday revoked the suspension of four Dalit research scholars, but students continued to protest for the fifth day over the suicide of a Dalit student who too had been suspended.

Addressing the protesting students at the campus, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to sack his ministers Smriti Irani and Bandaru Dattatreya over the suicide by Rohith Vemula.

And protesting against Human Resource Development Minister Irani's "misleading" statement, 10 Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe teachers quit their administrative roles.

Under attack, the university's executive council decided to revoke the suspension of four students who along with Rohith were suspended in November after an alleged clash with an Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) leader. The ABVP is the student wing of the RSS.

"After taking into account the extraordinary situation in the university, it resolved to terminate the punishment imposed on the students with immediate effect," a university statement said.

Vice Chancellor P. Appa Rao urged the university community to maintain harmony.

Slamming Irani's statement that a Dalit headed the committee which expelled the five Dalit students including Vemula, 10 teachers quit their administrative posts and joined the students on protest.

Kejriwal visited the campus and sought the dismissal of Irani and Minister of State for Labour Dattatreya whose letters to the HRD ministry on the alleged assault on the ABVP leader reportedly forced the university to suspend Vemula - son of a farm worker - and the others.

The Aam Aadmi Party leader also asked Irani to apologize for "playing dirty caste politics" over Vemula's suicide. Modi "should dismiss both the ministers", he said to applause.

He demanded that Irani's name should be included in the FIR filed against Dattetreya, the vice chancellor and two ABVP leaders.

In New Delhi, the AAP demanded the arrest of Dattatreya, the BJP MP from Secunderabad.

BJP ally and Lok Janshakti Party MP Chirag Paswan also demanded a probe into a letter written by Dattatreya to the HRD ministry ahead of the Dalit research scholar's suicide.

"The suicide should be probed by an independent agency, which should decide who it should be probing. Those found guilty must not be spared, no matter how influential they are," he said.

The Congress called for Irani's dismissal from the cabinet for misleading people about the suicide.

Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala said in New Delhi that the "anti-Dalit mindset of the BJP and the RSS" had manifested itself over the last 20 months in various forms across the country.

He said Dattatreya, "on whose letter the HRD ministry pressurised for the expulsion of the five PhD Dalit students", should also be booted out of the cabinet.

The BJP hit back, accusing the Congress of "giving a communal colour or caste angle" to every untoward incident in the country. "It is very unfortunate," BJP national secretary Srikant Sharma said.

Sharma also demanded to know why Kejriwal, who visited Hyderabad, did not "meet even one family of dengue victims in Delhi".

"They (AAP) are silent over law and order issues in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. But they blame the centre for issues it is not even responsible. It proves their dishonesty," he said.
With his candid confessions on how he was "effeminate as a child" and how he used to have "sleepless nights" over the issue, Bollywood filmmaker Karan Johar stole the show on the first day of the Jaipur Literature Festival which began here on Thursday.

Talking about his book "An unsuitable Boy" at a session with Shobha De and his biographer Poonam Saxena at the front lawns at Diggy Palace, where the festival is being held, Johar said: "I hated the word 'Pansy' and I was called that as a child. I was effeminate as a child and I used to have sleepless nights over the fact that I am different from other children."

He said his parents were a big support system.

"Even when I weighed 150 kg, my mother said I was the best looking child in the world and my father told me that once I lost a little puppy fat, I can be a hero in Hindi films," said Johar.

Asked about the negative portrayal of homosexuals in his movies, Johar said he was the first Bollywood director who discussed the issue in films.

"Whether its 'Kal Ho Na Ho' or 'Dostana', I discussed the issue in the mainstream. I received so many letters from youngsters saying that my movies helped their parents identify their sexuality.

"Now there are so many films on LGBT and I am proud that I started it," he said.

Johar also spoke about the hard times his family faced.

"When my father had a few flop movies, we had to sell our jewellery and house. He was not invited for launch parties and it was terrible times," he said.

The director also spoke on rumours of a rough patch in his friendship with actor Shah Rukh Khan.

"Like every relationship, there have been ups and downs. However, Shah Rukh's family is part of my family."

According to the director, his best film was "Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna", and the least favourite was "Student Of The Year".

"However, it gave three good actors for Bollywood," he said.
This item originally appeared on the District Dossier blog.

Detroit Public Schools went to court on Wednesday to get a restraining order against teachers who have been staging sick-outs that have caused several school closures in recent months.

On Wednesday, 88 of the districts 97 schools were closed as a result of teacher sick-outs, according to the district. Since the sick-outs started, students have lost a cumulative seven instructional days, the district said in its filing in the Michigan Court of Claims.

The emergency filing sought a restraining order and preliminary injunction to stop the teachers from staging further sick-outs. The list of named defendants include the Detroit Federation of Teachers, the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO, ousted Detroit Federation of Teachers president Steve Conn, interim president Ivy Bailey, and several teachers. It also included unnamed teachers engaged in strike actions.

The motion accuses Conn, Bailey, and other defendants of engaging in organizing or encouraging others to strike.

Conn, according to the motion, has repeatedly called for and threatened a citywide strike. Michigan law bars teachers from striking.

Teachers have said that the sick-outs are intended to draw attention to poor working conditions at the schools, cuts to their benefits, and large class sizes, according to the Detroit Free Press.

The Detroit Federation of Teachers planned to hand out leaflets on Wednesday afternoon outside of the North American International Auto show, which is being held in the city, to call attention to shameful working conditions. President Obama was also in town to visit the auto show .

The district listed 15 adverse impacts of the teachers actions, including:

Depriving students of their right to attend school;

Adversely affecting students academic progress;

Exposing students to other risks while they are absent from school;

Disrupting the schedules of students caretakers;

Depriving students of school breakfasts and school lunches;

Wasting taxpayers money; and

Contributing to a decline in the districts student enrollment.

Ann Mitchell, the administrator for the Detroit Federation of Teachers, told the Detroit Free Press that the union was prepared to fight for our teachers because theyre fighting for the kids of Detroit. She did not know whether the actions would continue, according to the paper.

Its amazing that DPS wants to fight this way, she told the paper. Were going to stand for the teachers. Were going to represent them. There are big issues going on that theyre trying to call attention to. No one is dealing with those issues.


With the global economic situation currently at a critical phase, it is imperative that India and Africa forge deeper collaboration, particularly in the energy field, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Thursday.

"The global situation makes our collaboration more critical. The fourth India-Africa Hydrocarbons Conference looks to align and initiate future collaborations between India and Africa in hydrocarbons," Pradhan said inaugurating the two-day conference here.

As many as 25 African nations have been invited for the conference. Nine of them are represented by their ministers, who were present on the dais.

Informing the audience that India is importing around 18-20 percent of its oil needs from Africa at 32 million tonnes last year, Pradhan said: "African energy helps power the Indian economy."

"India is keen to diversify its energy sources," the minister said, adding that this was vital for the energy security of the country that imports nearly 80 percent of its oil requirements.

Crude accounts for two-thirds of total imports from Africa while petroleum products account for a third of India's exports to Africa.

"The compound annual growth rate of India's hydrocarbons' consumption has been at 7 percent, while the world average is on this count is only at 3 percent," Pradhan said, underlining the country's growing demand for oil and gas.

He said Indian state-run enterprises have invested in acquiring hydrocarbon assets in Africa in countries like Sudan, South Sudan, Mozambique, Gabon and Egypt.

Earlier, Petroleum Secretary K.D. Tripathi, addressing the conference, said the current continuing slump in global oil prices is an "opportune time" for forging partnerships between importers and exporters from India and Africa.
With much at stake in West Asia, India must rethink its strategy and extend military support for peace in that region, even as it cannot have a single firm policy on Pakistan, former national security advisor Shiv Shankar Menon has said.

"Our approach and behaviour should change in defence of our interests in West Asia," Menon said in a lecture hosted by the Society for Policy Studies (SPS) at the India Habitat Centre Wednesday evening, listing the compelling reasons as its seven million citizens working there, the $35 billion inward remittances and large oil imports, among others.

"I've no doubt that sooner rather than later India will have to make real political and military contributions to stability and security in this region that's so critical to our economy and security," Menon said alluding to New Delhi's present policy of participating in a military resolution only under a UN flag.

Menon, a former foreign secretary, said there was a huge change in the West Asian (Middle East) situation today with four key players - Iran, Turkey, Egypt and Israel - having their own unique positions. If these were to get together, the problem could theoretically be resolved. At the same time, one must not look at the old Western order anymore, he added.

Yet, he also saw a positive outcome from this. "To my mind this world is as much of a challenge as an opportunity for a country like India that wants to change the reality that we have inherited. I only hope that we once again show the wisdom to seize the day," he said.

Menon said India faced a different situation from what it had got used to, benefiting from 20 years of average growth of over 6.5 percent.

"We can no longer assume that others will guarantee the safety of the sea lanes that carry our foreign trade and our energy supplies. Nor can we assume that a benign international order will keep the peace," he said.

"We will have to decide how far we wish to assume new responsibilities, and how far we are willing to compromise on strategic autonomy and work with others on these security issues," Menon said to a packed audience comprising diplomats, officials and members of the strategic community.

"At the same time, many more powers, facing the same uncertainty, are and will be willing to work with India in this effort, as we already see in maritime security and counter-terrorism," Menon said.

Menon, who began his career with the Indian Foreign Service in 1972, was the country's national security advisor between January 2010 and May 2014, and the foreign secretary between October 2006 and July 2009.

The 66-year-old, who played a key tole in forging the India-US nuclear deal, rubbished the notion that India's policy on Pakistan was not working and maintained that it was not possible for New Delhi to have a one-size-fits-all approach with the neighbour.

"We can't have one policy, dealing with many Pakistans," he said, referring to multiple actors there, each with a different notion and agenda -- civil society, the government, the army, Inter-Services Intelligence, religious groups and terror outfits.

"So you run multiple policies," he said, adding it was in India's interests to have good relations with Pakistan. They, in any case, have nothing to lose, unlike India. "They have no tourism to talk about and no investment to start with," he added.

Menon, who has also been India's envoy to four strategically-important countries, namely Pakistan, Sri Lanka, China and Israel, alluded it was also because of multiple actors in Pakistan that one faced peculiar situations.

Towards this, he took the example of how the surprise Lahore visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend Pakistan Premier Nawaz Sharif's grand-daughter's wedding was followed by an attack at Pathankot in Punjab. This, he said, was a pattern which had become commonplace.

"Despite this, the prospect is that the dialogue process will continue with several engagements foreseen in the coming months. It is still an open question whether the optics of India-Pakistan dialogue can be converted to substantive results," he said.

"India has consistently sought to find a modus vivendi or to normalise relations with Pakistan in our own interest."

Considered an expert on China and fluent in Mandarin, Menon also spoke at length on India's emerging relations with its northern neighbour with which it shares a 4,000-km-plus border.

"We need to find a new equilibrium with China," said the key aide of former prime minister Manmohan Singh, who was also his special representative to conduct border talks with China.

Menon said in recent years, India had managed to both compete and work with China, more so since there were some 11,000 Indians studying and working there, as also because of the Asian giant being India's largest trading partner for merchandise goods.

"We have little to gain and much to lose if we treat our relationship with China as a zero-sum game. Since both countries have major internal reform and structural adjustment to undertake, the present pattern of cooperation with competition should continue for the foreseeable future, but there are new factors which suggest that India and China need to find a new equilibrium." he said.

"As for the bilateral issues that divide us -- like the boundary, trans-border rivers and China's activities in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir -- we have found ways to manage differences in the last 30 years while growing the relationship," he added.
India's largest naval ship, the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, arrived here on Thursday on a three-day visit.

The carrier is accompanied by a destroyer, INS Mysore, which is an Indian frontline missile destroyer, Xinhua news agency reported.

The visit to Colombo by INS Vikramaditya is its maiden overseas port call after its arrival in India two years ago. It is a manifestation of the close maritime cooperation and mutual trust between India and Sri Lanka, the Indian high commission here said.

The ship is the largest and newest of the two aircraft carriers operated by the Indian Navy, and is equipped with a variety of integral weapons and sensors.

During their stay in Colombo, the crew of the ships will have professional interactions with Sri Lanka Navy personnel.

The ships will also take part in an exercise with the Sri Lanka Navy.
India on Thursday expressed deep concern over the death of three protesters in Nepal in police firing during the day and said that political problems needed political solution.

"Deeply concerned at the loss of three lives in police firing in Morang district in Nepal's Terai today (Thursday)," External Affairs Ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said on the ministry's Twitter account late on Thursday evening.

"Political problems need political solution," he added.

At least three people were killed and five others injured in Morang district when anti-government protesters clashed with police.

Nepal's southern plains, the Terai, has witnessed killing of at least 56 people and policemen in five months in anti-constitution protests launched by the Samuktya Loktantrik Madheshi Morcha.

Tension flared up in the southern town of Biratnagar bordering India after cadres of the Morcha attempted to disturb a programme organised by ruling CPN-UML's (Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist-Leninist) youth wing with the Youth Association of Nepal (YAN).

Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli, the CPN-UML chief, was supposed to address the programme but cancelled it, sensing the mood of the protesters.

Local authorities imposed a curfew in Rangeli area after the violent clash during which Morcha members set fire to a police station in Dainiya in Rangeli bazaar.

Toyam Rai, chief district officer, confirmed to the media that two people were killed at the clash site while the third succumbed in a hospital. Police fired shots in the air and lobbed teargas canisters to disperse the crowd.
A 26-year-old Indian-American entrepreneur from Nevada, in southwestern US, has been invited on Shark Tank, the popular American television series, the American Bazaar reported on Wednesday.

Shaan Patel will be pitching for investment for his startup '2400 Expert', a company that prepares students for SAT (scholastic assessment test) and ACT (American college testing) on the January 29th episode of ABC's hit show which has the ability to make multi-millionaires in a few years of those who manage to get a deal.

While SAT is more of an aptitude test, testing reasoning and verbal abilities, ACT is and always has been a curriculum-based achievement test, measuring what a student has learned in school.

Patel's start-up '2400 Expert' offers six-week courses in 20 major US cities and online.

A Clark High School graduate, Patel put in nearly 2,000 hours of work into developing the curriculum and books for his prep course.

His product pitch claims 100 strategies developed by a perfect-scoring SAT student, double the course hours and half the price of top instructors.

"The secret to getting on Shark Tank is to ignore Shark Tank. Entrepreneurs who would like to get on Shark Tank should not focus on getting Shark Tank. Instead, they should focus on building their business," the American Bazaar quoted Patel as saying in an interview to CBS.

Patel who has bootstrapped the venture is not resting on the possibility of whether he gets a deal or not on the TV series. However, he is creating a buzz within the community with his call-up on the show, said the report.

"You should start with a great idea, but more importantly great execution of that idea. Once you have done that, Shark Tank will be much more interested in what you have to offer," Patel said.

Patel is also trying to "recruit" viewers for his Shark Tank episode. And he's throwing a viewing party on January 29, 2016 at his alma mater Clark High School where he'll also be giving away $30,000 worth of SAT prep books and another $100,000 in prep courses to the general public, revealed the report.
The International Solar Alliance (ISA) headquarters in Gurgaon will be a new beginning for solar power development in the country, the government said on Thursday.

Prime Ministe Narendra Modi and visiting French President Francois Hollande will jointly lay the foundation stone of the ISA headquarters next week.

Both the leaders will also inaugurate the ISA interim secretariat at the National Institute of Solar Energy in Gurgaon in the national capital region.

"The ISA will be a major international body headquartered in India", New and Renewable Energy Ministry (MNRE) Secretary Upendra Tripathy told reporters here.

"It will be a new beginning for accelerating development and deployment of solar energy for achieving universal energy access and energy security of the present and future generations," he said.

Declaring India's intent to build an iconic structure for the ISA secretariat, Tripathy said India had offered Rs.100 crore ($15 million) for creating an ISA corpus fund.

The union power ministry said in a release here that the ISA is an Indian initiative.

"It is an alliance of 121 solar resource-rich countries lying fully or partially between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn," a MNRE statement said here.

The ISA was jointly launched by Modi and Hollande on November 30, 2015, at Paris during the 21st Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Representatives from around 70 countries, including more than 30 heads of states and government, participated in the ISA launch ceremony, the statement added.

The MNRE said it had formed an interim administrative cell to facilitate the setting up of the ISA.
US Vice President Joe Biden, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Thursday expressed satisfaction at the recently-launched four-nation mechanism to boost the peace process in Afghanistan.

The quadrilateral mechanism of Afghanistan, China, Pakistan and the US is now discussing a roadmap to restart the peace negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban groups.

Senior officials of the four countries are scheduled to hold the next round of talks in Islamabad on February 6, following two rounds of talks held earlier this month in Islamabad and Kabul.

US, Pakistani and Afghan leaders met in Geneva on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum and deliberated upon the four-way process.

"All the leaders expressed satisfaction at the two meetings of the quadrilateral consultative groups held in Kabul and Islamabad, " the prime ministers office in Islamabad said.

"They agreed to keep focus on the goal of ensuring peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan which was both in the interest of Afghanistan and the region," an official statement said.

US and Afghan leaders also condemned the attack on a Pakistani university that killed 21 students, teachers and security guards on Wednesday and conveyed their sorrow and grief over the incident.

"Both the leaders appreciated the resolve of Pakistani nation in its war against terrorism and extremism," the statement said.

The four-way process is seen important in view of the formal participation of the US and China, the two important countries which can play key role to push the peace process forward.

The Taliban have not formally shown reaction to the process however, with their unofficial websites and online media opposing the process.
Rome, Jan 21 (IANS/AKI) The mayor of the southern Italian town of Quarto on Thursday said she was resigning "in a gesture of love" after a criminal probe alleged the Naples mafia had backed her election and infiltrated her administration.

"This is a defeat for politics but it is also a victory for the Camorra," Rosa Capuozzo told the media, adding she would not run for mayor of Quarto again.

Capuozzo was elected as Quarto's mayor for the grassroots Five-Star Movement list. On Tuesday she appeared before the Italian parliament's anti-mafia commission and was questioned by prosecutors for several hours.

Last week, she was ejected from the Five-Star Movement after initially refusing to resign following the anti-mafia investigation. She is now at the centre of a bitter row with the party, which has built its success on its anti-corruption stance and clean party image.

Capuozzo claims she told her former party's leaders about blackmail threats she received from former councillor Giovanni De Robbio, who was expelled from the Five-Star movement last year after wiretaps from an anti-mafia investigation suggested he was linked to the Camorra.

Capuozzo's husband Ignazio Baiano is under investigation by Naples prosecutors for alleged false declarations and breaches of building regulations which may have been used by De Robbio to blackmail Capuozzo, according to anti-mafia prosecutors probing Quarto.

Before Capuozzo won power in Quarto last year, the previous administration was dissolved over alleged mafia links.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday sought the dismissal of central ministers Smriti Irani and Bandaru Dattatreya as well as the vice chancellor of Hyderabad University over the suicide of a Dalit research scholar.

Addressing a gathering of students at the campus, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader also asked Human Resource Development Minister Irani to apologize for "playing dirty caste politics" over Rohith Vemula's suicide.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi "should dismiss both the ministers", he said to applause.

Kejriwal demanded that Irani's name should be included in the FIR filed against minister of state for labour Dattetreya, vice chancellor P. Appa Rao and two leaders of the ABVP, the student wing of the RSS.

Vemula hanged himself to death in the campus on Sunday after he and five other Dalit students had been suspended by the university on charges of assaulting an ABVP leader.

The ABVP leader later approached Dattatreya, the BJP MP from Secunderabad who wrote to the university calling the group to which Vemula and his friends belonged as casteist, anti-national and extremist.

Kejriwal demanded a probe into the phone calls Irani made to the university to aggressively pursue the issue after Dattatreya wrote letters to her.

The AAP leader said since harassing Dalits was a non-bailalable and cognizable offence, police should immediately arrest them.

"The VC should be removed immediately," he told the students who have been holding protests since Vemula's suicide.

He accused Irani of playing "dirty caste politics" and asked her to "seek forgiveness from the country".

Vemula's suicide has sparked major protests in the university - and beyond.

Quoting medical reports and an affidavit filed by the university registrar, Kejriwal insisted that the allegation of assault on the ABVP leader was concocted.

He denounced Dattatreya for calling Vemula and his friends "anti-national, casteist and extremist" -- allegations which led the university to act against Vemula.

"It is a matter of shame that a responsible central minister, without inquiring the facts, concluded that the Ambedkar student group of which Vemula was a member was casteist and anti-national."

Vemula was the son of a farm worker who joined the university on the strength of his academic merit, Kejriwal said.

"When such bright students have to commit suicide, it is a shame on the entire society."

Targetting the Narendra Modi government, he said it was appointing people with RSS and ABVP background as vice chancellors and directors.

"They have no ideology. They are neither for Hindus nor Muslims nor Dalits. They are only hungry for power. They are giving a message that if you don't follow them, they will teach you a lesson," he said.
A letter allegedly conveying Al Qaeda's warning to French President Fancois Hollande not to visit India for the coming Republic Day parade has been received here, Bengaluru Police said on Thursday.

Bengaluru police registered a case on January 14 under the Indian Penal Code after court permission since it is a non-congnisable offence, Additional Commissioner of Police (East) Charan Reddy said.

"The letter - which ends with words 'Al Qaeda' - was received by the French consulate here and handed over to the Highgrounds police station on January 11," he said. The case was registered at the Highgrounds police station.

The single page letter, with an Indian map in the background, contains three lines in the English language, warning French President Francois Hollande not to participate in the Republic Day celebrations in New Delhi on January 26.

The letter also contains a warning to the French people in unstructured English.

The police officer said that the letter's address indicated it was posted in Chennai in Tamil Nadu.

"A police team sent to Chennai found the address mentioned on the envelope to be non-existent," Reddy said.

The ACP said security at the consulate was beefed up after the recent Paris terror attacks.

The consulate did not respond to attempts to elicit comments on the threat letter.

Security in Delhi has been tightened to "an unprecedented level" ahead of the Republic Day celebrations, official sources said earlier.

Chief guest Hollande will watch the Republic Day parade on Rajpath, where President Pranab Mukherjee will take the salute at the parade.

The French president's visit to India comes over two months after the terror attacks in Paris in which 130 people were killed.

Meanwhile, Goa Police are investigating a letter received at the secretariat in Panaji on January 14, which threatened Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar for allegedly pursuing anti-beef policies. 'IS' was scribbled on the threat letter.
Costco Slave Labor Suit Dismissed

If you purchased some bulk shrimp from Costco last summer, it's possible that your shrimp cocktail included seafood that was "derived from a supply chain that depends upon documented slavery, human trafficking, and other labor abuses" -- at least according to a lawsuit against the company.

A California woman sued the retailer last August, alleging that the company's Thailand-sourced shrimp were produced with slave labor, despite its supplier code of conduct which prohibits human rights abuses. That's false advertising, Monica Sud argued in her putative class action.

But it turns out, Sud had never purchased Thai shrimp from Costco, slavery-sourced or otherwise. Her suit was dismissed last Friday for lack of standing.

Something Smells Fishy

Monica Sud's suit was based on the fact that Costco sells shrimp from Thailand. Thailand is the world's third largest exporter of seafood, but its massive seafood industry is also includes gross human rights violations. The State Department's 2015 human trafficking report, for example, highlighted forced labor in Thailand's fishing industry and determined that "some Thai officials are complicit in trafficking crimes."

According to Sud's suit, Costco knowingly sold prawns that were produced with slave labor and fed using "the product of pirate fishing and the use of 'ghost ships.'" Such alleged practices would contradict the company's public statements that its suppliers do not engage in human rights abuses.

That contradiction, Sud alleged in her federal class action lawsuit, violates California's unfair competition and false advertising laws. "Human suffering cannot be ignored to enhance a company's economic bottom line," Sud's lawyer said at the time. "California consumers are unknowingly supporting slave labor."

But There's a Catch

Except Sud wasn't one of those consumers, it turns out. Since Costco is a membership-based wholesaler, restricting its bulk goods to those who buy in to its retail warehouses, all purchases require a Costco card -- and Costco keeps track of what you buy.

Despite Sud's declarations that she and her mother purchased Thai prawns from Costco, the company produced her purchase history from January 1, 2011, through October 25, 2015. In over four years, Sud had purchased prawns sourced from Vietnam and Indonesia, but not Thailand.

The Northern District of California dismissed her suit for lack of standing, but did give Sud the opportunity to amend, meaning Costco's shrimp worries may not be over just yet.

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Actress Lavanya Tripathi, who is basking in the success of latest Telugu film "Soggade Chinni Nayana", says she'd love to pick up roles that allow her to go through the process of self-discovery.

"I'd love to do roles where I discover myself more. Though I'm happy with the kind of roles I've done so far, my dream would be to do the kind of roles that show people to look beyond the material world we are living in," Lavanya told IANS.

With two back-to-back hits including last year's "Bhale Bhale Magadivoy", she says she doesn't feel like she's on cloud nine.

"I just feel normal and happy. It's probably because I don't know how to react to such overwhelming success," she said, and added that the success of "Bhale Bhale Magadivoy" boosted her confidence.

Lavanya currently awaits the release of forthcoming Telugu crime-comedy "Lacchimdeviki O Lekkundi", in which she essays a character with three different shades.

Did she find playing such a character challenging?

"I actually enjoyed, because it brought out all the craziness, which obviously one can't portray in real life. It also allowed me to play around with the characters," she said.

Of the three characters, Lavanya found Ankalama to be the toughest.

"Ankalama is this really dangerous avatar and pulling it off was physically challenging. I had to do this song where I'm dressed like kaali with trishul and damaru in my hand. It required a lot of energy to dance with so much of weight," she said.

Next up for her is a yet-untitled Telugu film with Allu Sirish.

"It's a film really high on family sentiments. It's coming out really well. I may also sign a road film soon," she added.
The Pakistani security establishment is unlikely to be happy with Indian military aid to Afghanistan, and in the short run this could lead to more Pathankot-like attacks, says South Asia politics and security expert Christophe Jaffrelot.

"If India helps Afghanistan mililtarily, it could result in more Pathankots," Jaffrelot, a professor at the Centre for Studies in International Relations at the Paris Institute of Political Studies and author of several books on India and Pakistan, told IANS in an interview at the Jaipur Literature Festival on Thursday.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Kabul and agreed to provide helicopters to the Afghan forces, and the attacks on the Indian Air Force (IAF) base at Pathankot in Punjab and the Indian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif in Afghanistan followed, he said.

"The Pakistan Army has not taken the Indian offer of helicopters in a very good way. They already have a constant temptation to use jihadi groups against India," said Jaffrelot.

"In the 10 years of (Congress rule), India gave Afghanistan aid but no military aid. You had talks, skirmishes, talks, skirmishes... India could live with that. It cannot live with a Pathankot every month," he said.

On Pakistan, Jaffrelot, whose most recent book "The Pakistan Paradox: Instability and Resilience" (2015), dealt with the country's curious paradoxes, said the world has to change its approach towards Islamabad.

"One solution will be to stop bailing it out... force it to reform its fiscal structure. The rich don't pay taxes there. The state has no resources for development," he said.

"The way must be trade, not aid," he said, noting increased trade with Pakistan will also create more employment in the populous country. "This has to be among the first steps."

Earlier, at a session titled "The Pakistan Paradox", Jaffrelot maintained that a crackdown by the Pakistani security establishment on certain military groups makes "no real difference" for India.

"Recently, the head of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi was killed in an 'encounter'... The Pakistani forces only crack down on any group when it gets out of hand - and set up new ones. They still distinguish between 'good' and 'bad' Islamists."

Jaffrelot, who has also studied Indian politics, epecially the Hindu right and has authored "The Hindu Nationalist Movement and Indian Politics" (1996), "India's Silent Revolution - The Rise of the Lower Castes in North India" (2003), "Saffron Modernity in India: Narendra Modi and his Experiment with Gujarat" (2015), also cautioned against the rise of majoritarianism in India.

"There is a risk of India becoming a mirror image of Pakistan... it would not be a very wholesome prospect," Jaffrelot told IANS.

Noting it was a global trend with the success so far of Donald Trump in the race for the US presidential candidacy and right and far-right wing political parties in Europe, he said India had so far resisted this with its diversity and secularism.

"Majoritarianism, which would imply the majority community or Hindus are first-class citizens and minorities are not, can happen in practice, it dosn't need a constitutional change. Israel is an example. They have not changed the law, but still," he said, adding any such change would have implications.

"Things like 'ghar wapsi', beef ban, 'love jihad' and the like would lead to more estrangement, and 'ghettoisation' of the minority communities," he said,

Apart from the security aspects of such an outcome, India would lose its "moral high ground" and its "soft power" would diminish," he warned.

(Vikas Datta can be contacted at vikas.d@ians.in)
A day before Amit Shah is slated to return for a full-term as the BJP president, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will host a dinner for party office-bearers on January 23.

A BJP functionary said the dinner will coincide with Shah completing the remainder of the term of Rajnath Singh, who demitted the post after joining the union cabinet following the party's triumph in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

The Bharatiya Janata Party had on Wednesday announced the schedule for the election of the party's national president.

The party's returning officer Avinash Rai Khanna said the nomination will take place on January 24 and the scrutiny will be done on the same day. If necessary, the election will be held on January 25.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Varanasi and Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh on Friday to distribute aids and devices to the differently-abled people, a PMO release said on Thursday.

He will visit Lucknow to address the sixth convocation of the Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University. The prime minister will also pay homage to Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar at the Ambedkar Mahasabha.

"The prime minister will arrive in Varanasi to attend Divyangjan Sashaktikaran Samaroh -- a programme for the distribution of aids and devices for the differently-abled people," the release said.

In Lucknow, he will also distribute e-rickshaws at a function to be organised by microfinance institution Bharatiya Micro Credit.
Mrinalini Sarabhai has been a major influence on Ahmedabad's cultural life since 1948 when, with Vikram Sarabhai, she set up Darpana Academy, six years after her marriage with him. More importantly, she will be remembered as a legendary classical dancer and choreographer at the national level and abroad. Right from her first performance in Paris, she was recognized as the High Priestess of Indian Classical Dance.

If Rukmini Devi brought Bharatanatyam out of the temple to the open stage and accorded it dignity, Mrinalini steadied it there and gave it contemporary significance. Beginning with solo dances, she created choreographic works in which, while remaining rooted in the tradition and without moving away from its aesthetics, she projected themes socially relevant today. This was done chiefly in two dance forms - Bharatanatyam and Kathakali.

It required daring and a social vision for her to have projected in one of her earliest dance dramas the inhuman treatment of a bride for dowry. With the local folk dance and its costumes, she tellingly communicated with society. She traced the roots of violence in society to the days of the Mahabharat. Giving glimpses of our natural luxuriance in 'Meghdoot', she urged the modern Indian mind to let flowers bloom. On Western classical music she created 'Shakuntala', in which Shakuntala asks elders questions. Her 'Tasher Desh' celebrated the liberation of a stifled free impulse - and she performed it in China as well!

Rather than remaining confined to the centre, her Bharatanatyam freely spread in all directions with strength and clarity. Huge crowds earlier required Kathakali to be eminently spectacular. In 'Manushya', she performed with Chatunni Panicker. She did away with traditional costumes and make-up and portrayed man's evolution from birth till death. Son Kartikeya as a kid perhaps prompted it. That probably was the first Kathakali performance by a woman. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had special words of praise for this creation. Talking of daring innovations, she had daughter Mallika play the man in 'Nalakhyan' much later.

Endowed with exceptional intellect like her parents and husband, Mrinalini was a multi-talented personality. At an early age, she was Rabindranath Tagore's favourite at Shantiniketan. Like Tagore, Gandhiji remained her guiding force all through life. She was a trustee of Sarvoday Internantional Trust and held a special programme on Gandhi Jayanti days at Natarani, Darpana. She considered dance and drama as twin sisters. Her collaboration in giving artistic directorial touches to 'Koi Pan Ek Phoolnu-n Naam Bolo To' is still remembered. Besides poetry and an autobiography, she wrote dramatic scripts.

Four decades ago, she held a series of performances of original Gujarati plays. She supported research in the local indigenous folk form Bhavai. With an American scholar she translated 'Swapnavasavadatta'. Her 'Friends of the Tree' rushed to where trees were being felled.

Darpana's music section has a reputation. Puppetry had it earlier. Kuchipudi and Kalaripayattu are also taught here. Darpana, in fact, has become a tradition. In the family the tradition has been passed on from Mallika to Ravanta and Anahita. Many of us are privileged to have seen the four dancing on stage together.

Mrinalini had a fascination for Krishna - Krishan as 'ananda' permeating the universe. The glow and serenity on her face were, without exaggeration, to be seen to be believed. It seemed, everyone around her body agreed, she was ready to speak and demonstrate a 'mudra'!

(S.D. Desai is a veteran Ahmedabad-based art critic. He can be contacted on sureshmrudula@gmail.com)
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was cremated in Taihoku, Japanese name for Taipei, as the coffin was too long to be put in plane bound for Tokyo, where the body was originally scheduled to be taken for performing his last rites, a British website claimed quoting a Taiwanese official present at the cremation.

The website, www.bosefiles.info has been coming out with serialised 'revelations'' backing the theory that the Indian revolutionary leader died inA a plane cash on August 18, 1945, in Taiwan.

In its latest post on Thursday, the site created by London-based journalist and Netaji's grand nephew Ashish Roy referred to the evidence provided by Tan Ti-Ti, who was in charge of issuing cremation permits in Taipei, together with that of other local officials, to buttress its claim.

Tan Ti-Ti, in his testimony contained in the British Foreign Office's file number FC1852/6 of 1956, said that he personally attended to Bose's body at the concerned crematorium.

It also transpires from the file that Japanese army officers probably did not issue a death certificate in Bose's name to maintain secrecy about his demise.

Ko Keng Yuan, who was the Director of the Health Centre in Taipei, stated the matter of Bose's death and whether the cremation permit was issued under an assumed name "were important secrets of the Japanese military".

Eleven years after the alleged air crash, British Consul General in Taiwan Albert Franklin wrote to the Taiwanese government requesting an investigation into the death of Bose.

In response, C.K. Yen, Chairman of the Taiwan Provincial Government, sent a detailed police report dated June 27, 1956. This included an interview with Tan Ti-Ti, who said the cremation took place on August 22, 1945.

A Japanese army officer who accompanied the body told Tan Ti-Ti: "The deceased was Bose, the Indian leader who, proceeding to Tokyo on important business, was injured when his plane was involved in an accident."

The previous day - August 21, 1945 - the same Japanese officer, according to Tan Ti-Ti, "submitted the death certificate of a certain Ichiro Okura".

Yen clarified to Franklin that during World War 2 in the case of military personnel A- Bose was then Supreme Commander of the Indian National Army - without family members in Taiwan, "permission for cremation was granted on the strength of a certificate from a military hospital".

This appears to have occurred in the case of Bose, the website claimed.

The police findings based on a report prepared by Taiwan's Department of Health said: "There is a register of cremations at the Municipal Health Centre and the officers of the Health Centre are of the opinion that the entry was made in the name of Ichiro Okura."

Tan Ti-Ti confirmed that on the day of the cremation, the same Japanese army officer "came to the crematorium in a car in the company of an Indian", said to be Bose's aide-de-camp Colonel Habibur Rehman, who survived the crash.

He went on to say "the Indian, it was said he was Bose's follower, some said he was an aide-de-camp; he was dressed in the white garment of Japanese soldiers under medical care, wore slippers, parts of his face were bandaged; he was tall and swarthy, wept bitterly and seemed extremely sorrowful".

Tan Ti-Ti asserted he and another person called Lin Sui Mu opened the coffin. He added the body had been "put into a coffin for conveyance to Tokyo but the coffin was too big for aeroplanes available at the timea. It was, therefore, cremated in Taipei.

The next day (August 23, 1945), the Indian (Col. Rehman) and the same Japanese army officer came to collect the ashes, Tan Ti-Ti further maintained.

Tan Ti-Ti's testimony matches that of Colonel Habibur Rehman.

"I requested the (Japanese) Army authorities to arrange for the early transportation of the body either to Singapore or Tokyo, preferably to Singapore," Rehman testified on August 24, 1945.

He went on: "On 21-8-45 a senior Japanese Staff Officer informed me in the hospital that the length of box (coffin) did not allow the box being put into the plane. He suggested that the body be cremated in Taihoku.

"Seeing no other alternative, I agreed to the suggestion and the body was cremated on 22-8-1945 at Taihoku under the arrangement of the Army authorities. The ashes were collected on 23-8-1945."
Pakistani authorities on Thursday said it was too early to draw conclusions about who was behind sickening violence at the Bacha Khan University in northwest Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

"It is premature to draw any conclusion as to who may be behind the Charsada University attack before investigations are complete," Foreign Office spokesperson Qazi Khalilullah said here.

"Initial investigations reveal that attackers were in contact with their handlers reportedly operating from Afghanistan," Khalilullah said during the weekly briefing here in Islamabad.

Islamabad was likely to renew its demand from Kabul to eliminate Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan's sanctuaries from Afghan soil, he added.

Following the attack on the state-run university, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) director general Lt Gen. Asim Saleem Bajwa said on Wednesday the Bacha Khan University attackers were in touch with their handlers in Afghanistan during the assault.

"The attackers were in touch with a number from Afghanistan," the chief military spokesperson told a news briefing in Peshawar.

He said the SIM cards used in the phones were of Afghan origin. He added that a mobile phone recovered from one of the attackers was receiving calls even after he had been killed.

Pakistan Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif called Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani and shared investigation details of the attack with him, Bajwa said.

Asim Bajwa said Gen Sharif also shared these details with Afghan chief executive Abdullah Abdullah and commander of Resolute Support Mission and US Forces in Afghanistan Gen John Campbell.

He said investigation on the Charsadda university attack revealed it was "being controlled from a location in Afghanistan through an Afghan cell phone by a TTP operative".

Four terrorists, armed with sub-machine guns, pistols and hand grenades, launched the attack around 8.45 a.m. when the campus was enveloped in thick morning fog.

According to eyewitnesses and officials, the terrorists scaled the rear wall of the campus and entered the guest house of the vice chancellor.

At least 21 people, mostly students, were killed and dozens injured in the brazen attack at the university, claimed by splinter group of TTP, though the fugitive leadership of the umbrella group denied involvement.
The National INvestigation Agency sleuths on Thursday raided six places in Punjab's Gurdaspur and Amritsar towns as part of the ongoing probe into the January 2 terror attack at the air force base in Pathankot.

The places where the raids were carried out belong to suspected Punjab Police officer Salwinder Singh and his two companions who were allegedly kidnapped by terrorists hours before they mounted the attack at the air base.

"Two days after the lie detector test of Salwinder Singh, we carried out raids at six locations, four in Gurdaspur and two in Amritsar," an NIA official, requesting anonymity, told IANS.

"The locations include the residential places of Singh, his friend Rajesh Verma and his cook Madangopal."

Singh's lie detector test was conducted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday.

Singh, at present, is posted as assistant commandant of 75th Punjab Armed Police after being shunted out as the superintendent of police (headquarters) at Gurdaspur.

Six Pakistani terrorists -- believed to be from the outlawed Jaish-e-Mohammed terror outfit -- sneaked into Punjab from across the border and took the Punjab Police officer hostage before taking away his vehicle.

They attacked Singh's friend and cook, but left the police officer himself unharmed and untouched, rasing suspicions about his role in the whole apisode.

The six terrorists later attacked the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot, killing seven security personnel.
State-run chopper operator Pawan Hans (PHL) on Thursday declared a dividend of Rs.7.76 crore for 2014-15.

"The Minister for Civil Aviation P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju received a cheque of Rs.3,95,84,735 from B.P. Sharma, chief managing director, Pawan Hans, as dividend for the year 2014-15," the ministry of civil aviation said in a statement.

"Pawan Hans has declared a dividend of Rs.7.76 crores for the financial year 2014-15. A cheque of Rs.3,80,15,265 has also been paid to ONGC as being 49 percent shareholder of PHL."

According to the ministry, PHL has been making profits since 1992 and has paid Rs.223.69 crore dividend as on 2014-15.

"For the financial year 2014-15, PHL's operating revenue increased to Rs.538.15 crore (Rs.529.57 crore in the previous year). The net operating profit for 2014-15 is Rs.79.13 crore against Rs.73.03 crore in the year 2013-14," the statement elaborated.

"This year the company has managed to turn around with net profit after tax of Rs.38.81 crore against Rs.38.57 crore during previous year and has declared dividend at the rate of 20 percent of the net profit after tax (i.e. Rs.38.81 crores) to Govt. of India and ONGC."

The company has a paid up share capital of Rs.245.62 crore.

Further, the ministry revealed that the company has prepared a 'Strategic Business Plan 2020' which envisages industry trends, future challenges and growth opportunities of general aviation sector in India particularly helicopters, seaplanes, small fixed wing aircraft and development of heliports.

"Fleet acquisition under options of leasing and procurement routes through which 20 new helicopters in various categories like light, medium and heavy and 2 seaplanes will be procured," the statement cited.

In addition, the ministry informed that the company's prospects for an IPO (initial public offering) is being reviewed with SBICap and work plan for the same is being prepared in a time bound manner.

"Construction of Rohini Heliport is in full swing. Independent internal committee has been constituted for monitoring Heliport progress," the ministry noted and assured that efforts are underway to complete the project within the stipulated time frame.

The proposed date for the project completion is set for February 16, 2016 as per contractual agreement, while operationalisation is expected by June 30, 2016.

"Pawan Hans intends to manage and operate to develop more such heliports to promote regional connectivity in various parts of the country under Heli-Hub concept through viability gap funding model with state and central government," the statement pointed out.

Besides, the ministry disclosed that PHL plans to venture into MRO (maintenance, repair and operations) business.

"To start with, the MRO facility is being planned to be established at Rohini at Delhi and Juhu at Mumbai through PPP (public private partnership) model/develop, manage and operate revenue based model," the statement added.

Presently, the company operates its helicopter fleet in various parts of the country for operations of ONGC, NTPC, GAIL, GSPC, Oil India, MHA (Ministry of Home Affairs), BSF and various state governments.

The company runs the helicopter services from Phata to the holy shrine of Kedarnathji during the May-June and September-October seasons every year.

It promotes 'Heli-Tourism' in other parts of the country as well, such as Amarnath Shrine.

Currently, the country's largest chopper operator is designated as a 'Mini Ratna-I category PSU.'

PHL has its own fleet of 43 choppers. It also operates and maintains six Dhruv helicopters belonging to BSF and HAL.
As the debate over Net neutrality and Free Basics intensifies, particularly with the sparring match between the telecom regulator and some stakeholders like Facebook, here's a primer on these issues:

Q: What is Net Neutrality?

A: The expression "network neutrality" was coined by American academic Tim Wu in his 2003 paper "Network Neutrality, Broadband Discrimination". It calls for governments, Internet service providers and other stakeholders to treat all data on the Internet equally -- therefore, not charging users, the content providers, platforms, sites, applications or the mode of communicating differentially.

Q: What is Free Basics?

A: A service from Facebook and a part of its Internet.org platform on digital inclusion, Free Basics is an app that promises to make Internet accessible to more people by providing them a range of some basic services for free such as news, health, travel, jobs, sports, communication and other information.

Q: Is Free Basics against concept of Net Neutrality?

A: The supporters of net neutrality say that by allowing only certain sites and platforms on the app, and by allowing the services only through some service providers, the concept clearly goes against the spirit of net neutrality of open and free access to the World Wide Web and its attendant offerings.

Q: How does Free Basics work?

A: Through this platform, Facebook allows developers to create services (content and applications) that integrate with Free Basics, especially in areas like education, health, economic empowerment, civic participation and critical information. Once downloaded, they can access these services free of charge through the app and through a particular Internet service provider who will partner with Facebook.

Q: Why is there a demand to ban Free Basics in India?

A: This demand is being being made by several people who claim to be supporters of net neutrality and they say Facebook intends to offer the services only through chosen service providers. This is being seen as discriminatory. The social networking site also has the option to reject the entry of any business participant. This apart, there is a charge that the service is pandering to the interests of telecom service providers by not allowing Internet telephony, or hi-resolution images and videos that can potentially slow down the service.

Advertising is another area of debate, as there is no clarity on whether Facebook will introduce it in the future or not. However, Facebook's contention is that it is providing a free service to those who cannot pay for access. It says it does not stop anyone from accessing the Internet through other service providers.

Q: Does concept of Net Neutrality affect bandwidth differential charges?

A: Today, one pays the telecom operator or data service providers towards two aspects -- for the speed at which content is downloaded and uploaded, and the amount of information in terms of bits that is accessed. Net neutrality calls for uniformity in such tariff. This may be impossible because service providers have to invest in infrastructure and different bandwidths call for different level of investments.

Q: How does Net Neutrality concept work in other countries, especially the US?

A: In the US, the regulator, Federal Communications Commission, has issued some rules to Internet service providers, like no blocking of legal sites, no throttling by making some site responses slow, and no paid prioritisation to enable some sites to jump the queue in delivering content. The courts have given limited ruling in favour of the regulator, but debate there still continues.

Q: If Net Neutrality has impact on bandwidth, how will this have impact on services like Netflix?

While Netflix is a subscription-based service, what is of concern is the extra money which subscribers have to pay for bandwidth to Internet service providers for accessing it through their networks. Here lies the problem. There have been attempts in the past for zero-rated services, where content from some platforms is not taken into account for computing the tariff. But the question is: Will such a plan not go against net neutrality?
Is 2016 the Best Year Yet for Small Business Hiring?

For many years it has been an employer's market. The economic downturn of the last decade put people out of work at worst and on a tortuously slow career track at best.

These have been the years of making do for employees as corporate America has slashed jobs and replaced them with contract gigs, all of which is good news for you, the small business owner, according to The Daily Herald. Why? Because big business is no longer attractive to many American workers and, generally speaking, they are not expecting much anymore.

The Small Biz Advantage

"Big business no longer has its allure," Cathleen Faerber of The Wellesley Group, a search firm, says of today's job market."So many people have been burned by the callousness of corporate America that smaller businesses should be better able to attract the best and the brightest."

Sound delightful? That's not all. The rest of the "good news" is that American workers expect very little. Salaries are not going up and you can pick up a talented professional once beyond your price range for a song now.

"We have not seen rises in salaries," says Jean Kripton Durham, owner of the Chicago employment agency Kripton Durham. She explains that candidates who have been ousted from jobs in recent years are more realistic about salary levels than before the economic downturn.

But Kripton Durham points out that you, as the small business owner, need to have something to offer, even if it is not money. You have an advantage as a small business if you are "clear on what makes the company stand out" in the marketplace.

How Can You Stand Out?

Employers who offer respect, reliability, stability, a congenial environment that is truly collaborative might be able to snag great employees that would have been attracted to big companies before.

"In the '70s," Faerber says, "you knew the company would take care of you. But people today look at job opportunities with their eyes wide open. Candidates want to be treated right. They want that sense of (job) security that privately owned businesses can offer. Smaller businesses have great opportunities and more stability." If that is how you see your business and you are ready to hire, now is the time, she says, and that is your pitch.

Consult With Counsel

If you have questions about hiring or any other aspect of business operations, speak to a commercial attorney.

Follow FindLaw for Consumers on Google+.

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Lok Janshakti Party's Lok Sabha member from Bihar Chirag Paswan on Thursday demanded a probe into a letter written by union minister Bandaru Dattatreya to the HRD ministry ahead of the Dalit research scholar's suicide in Hyderabad.

The LJP is part of the National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre, which is led by the Bharatiya Janata Party. Bandaru Dattatreya is a BJP leader.

"There is certainly a role of the letter written by Dattatreya in the whole affair of Rohith Vemula's suicide. Now, why and in what capacity - whether as the local member of parliament or in any other capacity - he wrote the letter and what impact this letter had needs to be probed by an independent agency," Chirag said.

"I reiterate our earlier stand that the whole suicide matter should be probed by an independent agency, which should decide who it should be probing. Those found guilty must not be spared, no matter how influential they are," the parliamentarian said.

Chirag, whose father Ram Vilas Paswan is a union minister, said that if need be, an LJP delegation would meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding the matter.

The LJP leader led a delegation that visited the University of Hyderabad on Tuesday in the wake of suicide by Rohith Vemula, a Dalit research scholar at the Hyderabad University, on Sunday.

Asked if Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani's role should also be probed, Chirag said it was too early to point fingers at anyone or demand their resignation.
The murder of ex-Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in 2006 in Britain was "probably" approved by President Vladimir Putin, an inquiry has found.

Putin is likely to have signed off the poisoning of Litvinenko with polonium-210 in part due to personal "antagonism" between the pair, it said, BBC reported.

Home Secretary Theresa May said the murder was a "blatant and unacceptable" breach of international law.

But the Russian Foreign Ministry said the public inquiry was "politicised".

It said: "We regret that the purely criminal case was politicised and overshadowed the general atmosphere of bilateral relations."

Dmitry Preskov, Putin's spokesman, said Moscow's official response to the report will happen through "diplomatic channels", the Russian news agency Interfax was quoted as saying.

Prime Minister David Cameron said Britain would have to go on having "some sort of relationship with them (Russia)" because of the Syria crisis, but it would be done with "clear eyes and a very cold heart".

The long-awaited report into Litvinenko's death found that two Russian men - Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun - deliberately poisoned the 43-year-old in London in 2006 by putting the radioactive substance polonium-210 into his drink at a hotel.

Sir Robert Owen, the public inquiry chairman, said he was "sure" Litvinenko's murder had been carried out by the two men and that they were probably acting under the direction of Moscow's FSB intelligence service, and approved by the organisation's chief, Nikolai Patrushev, as well as the Russian president.

He said Litvinenko's work for British intelligence agencies, his criticism of the FSB and Putin, and his association with other Russian dissidents were possible motives for his killing.
The Congress on Thursday demanded the sacking of Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani from the cabinet for "misleading" people about the suicide of Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula in Hyderabad.

Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala told reporters here that the "anti-Dalit mindset of the BJP and the RSS" has been manifesting itself over the last 20 months in various forms across the country.

"The minister has hoodwinked, misled the country and it is one more attempt on part of the (Narendra) Modi government to perpetuate their anti-poor and anti-Dalit agenda. She should be sacked forthwith," Surjewala said.

Vemula ended his life on Sunday. He was staging a protest along with four other Dalit research scholars over their suspension following an alleged clash with some leaders of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, a students wing of the RSS.

Surjewala said union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya, "on whose letter the HRD ministry had pressurised for expulsion of the five Ph.D. Dalit students", should also be removed from the cabinet.

He said a university board had, in its first report, revoked the suspension of the five Ph.D. Dalit scholars and alleged that its decision was reversed under pressure of the HRD ministry and the vice chancellor.

He said the SC/ST Forum of teachers of Hyderabad University also has found fault with some of Irani's remarks.

Surjewala said Irani and the Bharatiya Janata Party should tell if the university had taken action against the five Dalit scholars for their slight verbal argument with the campus ABVP chief.

"Was the quantum and nature of punishment justified? Does the HRD minister and her colleague Bandaru Dattatreya feel that anyone who does not agree with the opinion of the BJP or ABVP activists is anti-national?" Surjewala asked and added that there was no apology for the mistakes.

Surjewala also asked if Irani should "as a mother" and custodian of educational institutions not have visited the family of Vemula to offer condolences.

The Congress spokesperson asked Irani if she agreed with her ministerial colleague Ramvilas Paswan's suggestion that there should be an inquiry into the scholar's death.

Surjewala sought action against vice chancellor Appa Rao, BJP legislator Ramchandra Rao and Dattatreya. "They should be arrested in the case," he said.

Surjewala said adequate compensation should be given to the family of Vemula.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday demanded the dismissal of the vice chancellor of Hyderabad University over the suicide of a Dalit research scholar.

Addressing a gathering of students at the campus, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader also asked Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani to apologize for "playing caste politics" over Rohith Vemula's suicide.

"The VC should be removed immediately," Kejriwal said to applause from the students who have been holding protests ever since Vemula took his life on Sunday after being suspended from the university.

"Our second demand is that Smriti Irani tried to play dirty caste politics (on Wednesday). She must seek forgiveness from the country."

Kejriwal said he was ready to stage a sit-in at Vice Chancellor P. Appa Rao's office to seek his ouster but was advised against it by the student community.

Vemula's suicide has sparked major protests in the university. He was suspended and his stipend blocked after he and his friends were accused of assaulting an ABVP student leader.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) is the student wing of the RSS and is allied to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Quoting medical reports and an affidavit filed by the university registrar, Kejriwal insisted that the allegation of assault on the ABVP leader was concocted.

He particularly blamed central minister and BJP leader Bandaru Dattatreya for calling Vemula and his friends "anti-national, casteist and extremist" -- allegations which led the university to act against Vemula.

"It is a matter of shame that a responsible central minister, without inquiring about the facts, had concluded that the Ambedkar student group of which Vemula was a member was casteist and anti-national."

Vemula was the son of a farm worker who joined the university on the strength of his academic merit, Kejriwal said.

"When such bright students have to commit suicide, it is a shame on the entire society."
The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed a Delhi High Court order quashing the 60 percent admission quota for the wards of Group A officers of the All India Central Services in the elite Sanskriti School.

An apex court bench headed by Justice Anil R. Dave, however, said the quota will also cover the children of central government employees of civil, defence and allied services whose jobs are transferable.

The order came after Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi told the apex court that during a high court hearing, the government had filed an affidavit that the 60 percent quota in admissions would cover the wards of Group A, B and C employees of the central government with transferable jobs. But the court was told that this was not considered by the high court.

Staying the high court order and clearing the decks for admissions in Sanskriti School, the apex court said that no preferential treatment will be accorded to anyone in the admission process.

The apex court had earlier extended time till January 31 for Sanskriti School to accept applications for admission.

The central government and the Sanskriti School moved the apex court challenging the Delhi High Court verdict quashing 60 percent quota in admission for the wards of group A officers of all India services like IAS, IFS and IPS.

The Delhi High Court order of November 6 came after it examined the validity of the 60 percent quota for the children of group A officers.

While quashing the reservation for the children of the top officers belonging to all India services, the high court had said: "Reserving seats for a particular branch of the Indian service disadvantages children of persons engaged in other branches of the Indian services."

The high court had asked the government to see whether Sanskriti School could be made a part of the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan.

The school was allotted land at a premium of Re.1 and a ground rent of Re.1 per annum.

The central government had also declared that various government agencies and ministries donated Rs.15.94 crore to the managing society for setting up the school.

"The state cannot provide funds to any private individual to establish a school for an elite segment of society," the high court had said.
As the Indian government prepares to declassify secret files on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on January 23, his 120th birthday, those espousing different theories about the eventual fate of this revolutionary leader of the freedom movement are feverishly pushing claims and counter-claims.

The theory that Netaji died on August 18, 1945, in a plane crash in Taiwan has been contradicted by many, including the Centre-appointed Justice Manoj Kumar Mukherjee Commission, while several others claim that the nationalist leader resurfaced after the alleged plane crash.

One among the popular theories has spoken of Netaji being the 'Gumnami Baba', a hermit living in Uttar Pradesh till 1985, and another that he faked his death in the alleged plane crash and fled to the erstwhile Soviet Union.

With a Britain-based website now coming out with serialised "revelations" backing the plane crash theory, not only has the debate intensified but also prompted a large section of the Bose family and historians and researchers questioning the timing and motive of the sensational claims made by www.bosefiles.info.

Ashish Ray, veteran London-based journalist and creator of the website, has quoted the testimonies given at various times by five people who were present during the great leader's final hours.

Ray, a grandnephew of Netaji, has posted the testimonies of two Japanese doctors and a Taiwanese nurse who treated Bose, his personal interpreter and Colonel Habibur Rehman Khan, Bose's aide-de-camp.

However, Ray's claims have been outrightly rejected by Open Platform -- a forum of Netaji's extended family -- and 'Mission Netaji', a non-governmental organisation.

Mission Netaji head Anuj Dhar, who has written several books on Netaji's disappearance, describes the revelations made by the website as "trite, hackneyed and even misleading".

"The revelations rely heavily on the obsolete 1956 Shah Nawaz Khan Committee report which was prepared by the Congress MP (Khan) to please the then Congress government. Not only that, the testaments of the doctors are drawn from the report by British Army officer JG Figgess, who again was an unreliable character," says Dhar, who blames successive Congress governments for the persisting mystery behind Netaji's disappearance.

Dhar says Figgess, who in his report in 1946 affirmed that Bose died in the plane crash, "had everything to gain by confirming the theory that Bose, along with the INA treasure, perished in the crash".

"There are evidence indicating that Figgess and some other supporters of the air crash theory looted the INA treasure," claims Dhar, asserting that the documents used in the website to buttress the claims have been in the public domain for long.

Questioning the timing of Ray's revelations, Netaji's grandnephew Chandra Kumar Bose claimed it to be an attempt to derail the declassification campaign.

"The declassification of the central files is sure to bring out skeletons out of the cupboards of many and, fearing this, attempts are being made to thwart the process. Ray's revelations are designed to prevent the truth from emerging," said Chandra Kumar, Open Platform convenor.

Furthering the claims that Netaji had escaped to Siberia hoping to get asylum from the erstwhile Soviet Union, prominent BJP leader Subramanian Swamy has been propagating that Bose was killed in a Siberian Gulag on the orders of Joseph Stalin.

However, Dhar and other researchers have rejected Swamy's assertions.

"Swamy's claims are heavily premised on Nehru's stenographer Shyam Lal Jain's testimony before the GD Khosla Commission wherein he stated that Nehru was aware of Netaji's captivity in Yakutsk Prison in Siberia. However, Swamy has not been able to give any evidence of Netaji being executed there," asserts Dhar.

While the Narendra Modi government will declassify the secret central government files on Netaji in a phased manner beginning Jan 23, there are many who believe that unless files maintained by foreign spy agencies, particularly the erstwhile KGB and the British MI5, are declassified, the Netaji mystery will not be solved.

The movement for solving the 'Netaji's Russian mystery' got a further push from West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who in September last year set the declassification ball rolling by making public 64 classified files that were in the possession of the state government.

Debunking the air crash theory, Banerjee called upon the Modi government to engage with their Russian counterparts and get the secret documents declassified.

Dhar's assertions of 'Gumnami Baba' being Netaji living incognito in Uttar Pradesh's Faizabad have also met with stiff opposition. Netaji's grandniece Madhuri Bose contends that her granduncle could not have chosen renunciation over his motherland.

"Netaji in his writing 'Pebbles on the Seashore' had said: 'Embracing Sanyasa when your country needs you is only a refined form of betrayal'. So a man who had such a belief cannot have lived a life of a monk as has been claimed for long," says Madhuri.

Amid all the assertions and counter-assertions, there are still some who opine that many classified files containing crucial evidence have been destroyed long before the declassification campaign had even begun. And as such the mystery surrounding one of the country's most charismatic leader could remain unsolved.
Sri Lankan authorities on Thursday temporarily suspended kidney transplants for foreigners at government and private hospitals after a racket in India was linked to six local doctors.

Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne ordered a full investigation into claims by Indian police that the doctors attached to some private hospitals did kidney transplants for Indians involved in a major kidney racket, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Indian police have filed cases against six Sri Lankan doctors in relation to the racket on the charge of conducting paid kidney transplants in violation of ethics.

The Sri Lankan doctors have been accused of allegedly doing 60 kidney transplants.

Police in Nalgonda in Telangana in India arrested the kingpin in the kidney racket, Suresh Prajapathi, and two of his cronies, who facilitated the transplants.

The police also arrested Prajapathi's accomplice Dilip Umedamal Chouhan.
A high alert has been sounded in Madhya Pradesh after a suspected terrorist in custody escaped by jumping off a moving train near Itarsi railway station.

"Syed Ahmed had been arrested in Vellore in Tamil Nadu from where he was being taken on Raptisagar Express on a court warrant to Lucknow. He managed to jump off the train when it was running slow near the Itarsi station," Hoshangabad Superintendent of Police Ashutosh Pratap Singh told IANS on Thursday.

Ahmed had threatened to blow up a number of places, including a 'dargah' (Sufi shrine) in Lucknow, and had a number of cases registered against him in Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, he said.

Sources said the suspected terrorist had apparently managed to loosen his handcuffs and unchained himself before jumping off soon after the train passed Itarsi station in Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday night.
Disney is all set to release the heroic action-thriller, "The Finest Hours" in India on February 5.

The film will release across Indian cinemas in 2D, 3D and IMAX formats and promises to transport audiences to the heart of the action, read a statement.

Directed by Craig Gillespie, the film features a stellar cast comprising Chris Pine, Casey Affleck, Ben Foster, Holliday Grainger, John Ortiz and Eric Bana.

The movie is based on a remarkable true story of the greatest small boat rescue in the US Coast Guard history.

The incident occurred on February 18, 1952, when a massive nor'easter (a macro-scale storm) struck New England, pummelling towns along the eastern seaboard and wreaking havoc on the ships caught in its deadly path. The vessels included the SS Pendleton, a T-2 oil tanker bound for Boston, which was literally ripped in half, trapping more than 30 sailors inside its rapidly-sinking stern.
At least three people died and five were injured in Mornag district of Nepal on Thursday after anti-government protesters clashed with police.

Nepal's southern plain which is called Terai is the centre of unrest since the last five months where at least 56 people and policemen have been killed in anti-constitution protests launched by the Samuktya Loktantrik Madeshi Morcha.

Tension flared up in the southern town of Biratnagar bordering India, after cadres of the Morcha attempted to disturb a programme organised by the ruling CPN-UML's (Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) youth wing with the Youth Association of Nepal (YAN).

Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli who is also the chairman of the UML, was supposed to address the programme but cancelled it later, sensing the mood of the protesters.

Local authorities imposed a curfew in Rangeli area after the violent clash during which Morcha members set fire to a police station in Dainiya in Rangeli bazaar.

The Rangeli area was tense since Wednesday afternoon after YAN declared it will hold a public rally and invited the prime minister to address the gathering in an attempt to reach out to the Madeshi constituency to defuse the months long tension.

Toyam Rai, chief district officer of the area, confirmed to the media that two people were killed at the clash site while a third succumbed in hospital. Police fired shots in the air and lobbed teargas canisters to disperse the crowd and control the situation.

Matters turned violent after Morcha cadres vandalized the houses of two UML members in Rangeli on Wednesday evening.
Pakistani authorities on Thursday said it was too early to draw conclusions about who was behind the deadly attack on the Bacha Khan University in northwest Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

"It is premature to draw any conclusion as to who may be behind the Charsada University attack before investigations are complete," Foreign Office spokesperson Qazi Khalilullah said here.

Speaking at the weekly briefing in Islamabad, Khalilullah said, "Initial investigations reveal that attackers were in contact with their handlers reportedly operating from Afghanistan."

Islamabad was likely to renew its demand from Kabul to eliminate Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan's sanctuaries from Afghan soil, he added.

Following the attack on the state-run university, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) director general Lt Gen. Asim Saleem Bajwa said on Wednesday the Bacha Khan University attackers were in touch with their handlers in Afghanistan during the assault.

"The attackers were in touch with a number from Afghanistan," the chief military spokesperson told a news briefing in Peshawar.

He said the SIM cards used in the phones were of Afghan origin. He added that a mobile phone recovered from one of the attackers was receiving calls even after he had been killed.

Four terrorists, armed with sub-machine guns, pistols and hand grenades, launched the attack around 8.45 a.m. when the campus was enveloped in thick morning fog.

According to eyewitnesses and officials, the terrorists scaled the rear wall of the campus and entered the guest house of the vice chancellor.

At least 21 people, mostly students, were killed and dozens injured in the sickening violence at the university, claimed by splinter group of TTP, though the fugitive leadership of the umbrella group denied involvement.
A day after winning the endorsement of Sarah Palin, Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump won the indirect backing of another establishment figure as he held a 20-point lead in a key primary state.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz would be even worse for the Republican Party than the real estate mogul Trump were he to win the presidential nomination, former presidential nominee Bob Dole told the New York Times on Wednesday.

Warning of "cataclysmic" and "wholesale losses" for the Republican Party if Cruz prevails, Dole, who unsuccessfully challenged then Democratic President Bill Clinton in 1996, said Cruz had made enemies in Washington.

"I don't know how he's going to deal with Congress," Dole told the Times. "Nobody likes him."

Trump, on the other hand, could "probably work with Congress, because he's, you know, he's got the right personality and he's kind of a deal-maker", Dole added.

Dole has endorsed former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and previously said he might "oversleep" on Election Day if Cruz ends up the nominee.

Questioning Cruz's commitment to the Republican Party, Dole called him an "extremist" and said Cruz chooses "conservative" as his label.

"If he's the nominee, we're going to have wholesale losses in Congress and state offices and governors and legislatures," Dole said.

Dole said only Trump seemed to be able to take Cruz on, and he added that the real estate mogul seems to have "toned down" his rhetoric.

He added that Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton was beatable -- but not for Cruz.

"I think she'd be a pretty easy target in the general, if we nominate the right person," Dole said. "If (Cruz) does it, I think she'll win in a waltz."

The 92-year-old former lawmaker is only the latest establishment Republican to express concern about Cruz's growing strength in the Republican primary polls, after Iowa Governor Terry Branstad on Tuesday said he hoped that Cruz was defeated.

Meanwhile, Trump, who won former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee Palin's endorsement on Tuesday, led by 34 percent to 14 percent over Cruz among voters in New Hampshire's February 9 Republican primary.

Bush and Florida Senator Marco Rubio are tied for the third spot with 10 percent each in the new CNN/WMUR Poll.

But Cruz has grown the most since a December poll: He's climbed from 6 percent to 14 percent, largely on the strength of a favourability rating that has jumped from 46 percent in December to 55 percent now.

Trump, though, dominates on the two issues that likely voters have identified as most important: the economy and the threat of ISIS.

Nearly half -- 48 percent -- of Republicans say Trump would best handle the economy, far ahead of Bush, Cruz and Ohio governor John Kasich, with just 7 percent each.

And 32 percent say he'd best handle the Islamic State, ahead of Cruz's 14 percent, Bush's 12 percent and Rubio's 10 percent.

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)
Castigating the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal over the Malda violence, union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday assured that those behind the incident would be unmasked and brought to justice.

Describing the January 3 violence in Malda district's Kaliachak, where a police station was attacked and several vehicles torched, as "not a small incident", Rajnath Singh said no one in Bengal including police were safe.

"The Trinamool government described itself as the government of 'Maa, Maati and Manush' (Mother, land and people). But neither Maa, Maati nor Manush is safe. No one is safe in Bengal. Even police are not safe here," Rajnath Singh said at a party rally here in North 24 Parganas district, about 50 km from Kolkata.

"The Malda incident is not a small incident, and I want to tell this state government and the chief minister that those who are behind this incident, they will have to be unmasked.

"Who are responsible for the Malda incident, that needs to be unravelled. Just a few arrests will not suffice," said Rajnath Singh, wondering why the state government did not make elaborate police arrangements to tackle the situation.

"Didn't the government know that such a large procession will be there? Was it not the state government's responsibility to make suitable police arrangement?" he asked.

The home minister said the situation could have been averted had a senior police officer been at the spot from the beginning.

"I assure you, all those behind the Malda incident will be unmasked, and their destination will be jail.

"The criminals have become so emboldened that they are now attacking police stations. Do the people of Bengal want such governance?" he asked.

Rajnath Singh also rejected Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's claim that the incident was merely a dispute between the BSF and the locals.

"This was not a dispute between the BSF and a mob. Can the attackers on the BSF be called a mob?

"This government is trying to shield those who attacked the BSF, a force which secures our borders and has been giving a befitting reply to Pakistan.

"But those who attacked the BSF personnel are roaming scot-free. How can this happen?" asked Rajnath Singh.

"That's why I assure you, this incident will be unravelled and we will do whatever it takes."

According to reports, protesting against remarks allegedly made to "hurt religious sentiments" in Uttar Pradesh, a large number of people on January 3 went on a rampage in Kaliachak, torching vehicles including those belonging to the Border Security Force (BSF) and also attacked a police station.
A 21-year-old youth was killed by three men, including two of his uncles, for trying to have an affair with the wife of one of them. All three have been arrested, police said on Thursday.

Pradeep Kumar was killed by his uncles Bijender Singh and Devender Singh with help from two others, Mangal Singh and Dharmender alias Dharma.

Pradeep Kumar, a resident of Siraspur village in Delhi, had left for Garauli Kalan village in Gurgaon on November 11, 2014 but went missing, police said.

A police officer told IANS that there was a monetary dispute between the uncles and their nephew but the main cause for the murder was that Pradeep Kumar wanted to have an affair with one of their wives.

All the three arrested -- along with Dharmender alias Dharma, a resident of Rajasthan's Alwar district -- plotted to kill Pradeep Kumar.

They took him to a marriage party in Rewari in Haryana, murdered him in a car and dumped the body.
HALF A BILLION RISING

The Emergence of the Indian Woman

Anirudha Dutta

Rupa

247 pages; Rs 395



The last few decades of social transformation in India have seen a distinct gender divide amongst its beneficiaries. This has, however, changed in the last few years. Improved literacy levels, greater participation in the workforce and enhanced social mobility are slowly resulting in the rise of half of the Indian population that constitutes women. Half a Billion Rising, Anirudha Dutta's latest book, seeks to chronicle some of these transformations through the life stories of women from across the country. Cutting across regions, socio-economic strata and the invisible rural-urban divide, Mr Dutta has travelled the length and breadth of India for almost two years to record these stirring testimonies of change.

From Munger to Dimapur and Bhavnagar to Allahabad, the author chronicles compelling stories that put a human face on social, economic and demographic indices, yielding interesting insights. For instance, when Mr Dutta asked girls across the country what motivated them to forge better futures for themselves, the majority of them said it was their mothers. Whether as faithful champions of their daughter's rights or as victims of oppression from whom their daughters aspired to be different, Half a Billion Rising demonstrates how maternal figures play an important role in shaping their daughters' lives, a fact not easily quantified by demographics.

Mr Dutta writes about the agents of social change - mothers, teachers, non-governmental organisation (NGO) workers - who have helped fan the ambitions of their daughters and pupils. For example, Chandra, born around 1940, was married off after she completed class 10 and nobody bothered to find out how she'd fared in the examinations. But she in turn, fought for the interests of her son and daughter and they have both, consequently, done well professionally. Girls like Ms Chandra's daughter, with flourishing careers, often become role models in themselves. In Mumbai, Mr Dutta meets Tanvi, a young Bihari doctor who is married to an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology. She has become a role model because when she was married, her parents had to pay no dowry. Amongst her circle of relatives and friends in Bihar, the commonly held belief is that she secured a good "catch" without dowry because she herself was highly educated.

With better and more widespread education, urbanisation, smaller family sizes and the breakdown of the joint family (and, consequently, less interference from conservative family members), more women are entering the workforce and quietly transforming their lives. Mr Dutta also writes about other, less obvious change drivers, like the story of Vidya Hande, who was able to seek better job opportunities in Hyderabad, merely 300 km away from her home in Nanded, mainly because improved road infrastructure made it convenient and safe for her to travel alone.

The book is engaging, leaving the reader with a sense of hope that half a billion Indians are actually on the rise. Mr Dutta prophesies the far-reaching ramifications of this social transformation - newly-empowered women will drive the growth of online portals and offline sales of convenience products like pre-cut vegetables. Some Indian men will become stay-at-home fathers and more of them will become more handy around the house. Girls will marry late, have fewer children and more freedom. In the interim, he writes, while in some (probably more affluent) households, wives and mothers teach their husbands and sons to change nappies and cook, other less fortunate women will just have to wait for this amidst the heightened fear of rape and gender violence.

The reader cannot help but wonder if a few case studies and conversations are enough to justify the generalisations. Mr Dutta occasionally gives the impression of seeing only what he wants to see, and ignoring the rest. He writes, for instance, of meeting young village girls in Seohar, Madhya Pradesh, attributing to them a newfound sense of confidence and freedom, based simply on the fact that they were wearing jeans. The fact that Madhya Pradesh still has some of the highest rates of child marriage, and women's literacy rates that are way below the national average, are aspects he chooses not to see.

Towards the end of the book, Mr Dutta makes another noteworthy generalisation, this time about the half billion he has not written about in the rest of the book. He avers that while the women he has met have all been ambitious and driven, the few boys he has spoken to, have not. He writes, "This is a recurring pattern - the boys watch more TV, buy more expensive things... spend more time playing outdoors with friends and study less. Girls are the exact reverse."



Mr Dutta concludes rather interestingly with a follow-up on the lives of most of the women he interviewed during the fieldwork for this book. They all seem to be living happily ever after, that too on their own terms. The reader is left with an almost fairytale-like euphoria, an ending that one would love to believe in. A niggling, nagging doubt remains, as it always does with observations that rely too heavily on anecdotal evidence. If instead of bright-eyed girls egged on by their strong mothers to write their own destinies, Mr Dutta had chosen to meet rape victims, indigent widows, abused wives and child brides across the country, would he have still believed in the extent of the transformation? There are no easy answers, which is why while Half a Billion Rising is an interesting, optimistic read - what it prophesises is sadly not going to happen in a hurry.
K T S Tulsi is the only lawyer-politician who claims to commute to the Supreme Court and Parliament on bicycle. Representing the organisers of a vintage car rally on Thursday, Tulsi sought that the rally be exempted from the order - that old vehicles be kept off the roads - passed by the court of Chief Justice T S Thakur. The judge told him not to ask for space to park his bicycle in the court complex as it was already congested. The judge also warned him that since Tulsi took up cases for and against powerful people, he should be more careful while riding his bike. The court did not grant his prayer for exemption to the vintage rally; instead, it asked him to approach the National Green Tribunal. Now Tulsi has to cycle his way to the tribunal a few kilometres away, near India Gate.
The process of keeping Mehbooba Mufti of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) happy continued on Thursday, but the putative Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) kept her cards close to her chest.

In Kashmir, the 15th day ceremonies after the death of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed were observed on Thursday. was not discussed. The Bharatiya Janata Party has still been kept in the dark about when a government would assume office in the state.

While observers made light of the fact that Mehbooba Mufti's brother Tassaduq had paid a visit to Kashmir, this is being seen only as part of mourning. It is highly unlikely that Tassaduq will play a political role in the state. Such a move might alienate Mehbooba from her party members looking for excuses to attack her.

In a related development, India and the World Bank signed a $250-million credit agreement under the Jhelum and Tawi Flood Recovery Project for reconstruction and recovery support in flood-affected areas in which public infrastructure and livelihoods were impacted severely. The agreement is envisaged as strengthening the capacity of the state government to respond to and better manage natural disasters in the future.

The credit agreement has been in the works for a while. Concluding it now could be seen as granting one of the demands of Mehbooba that J&K must get priority in rehabilitation and relief.

The project will focus on 20 flood-affected districts - Anantnag, Baramula,Budgam, Bandipora, Ganderbal, Kupwara, Kulgam, Pulwama, Shopian, Srinagar, Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Reasi, Doda, Kishtwar, Ramban, Poonch, Rajauri and Udhampur.

The credit agreement for the project was signed by Raj Kumar, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, and Onno Ruhl, World Bank Country Director, India.

Following the continuous spell of rains in September 2014 that caused the Jhelum, Chenab and Tawi rivers, including their tributaries, and many other streams to rise above the danger mark, the Kashmir government has been demanding more money for the recovery and rehabilitation of the region, reconstruction of ruined infrastructure and compensation to people who lost everything in the floods. Due to the unprecedented heavy rainfall, the catchment areas, particularly the low-lying areas, were flooded for more than two weeks. Three hundred lives were lost and more than 648,000 hectares of agricultural and horticultural land affected.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders across Maharastra today expressed displeasure over Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal not meeting them while he was on a visit to the city yesterday.

Kejriwal had appeared before a local court in connection with a case for allegedly holding a rally without required permission during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. He had left shortly after the hearing.

Local Aam Aadmi Party leaders said its chief has "no vision" for party's expansion in Maharashtra.

Suspended party leader and a former key face of AAP in Maharashtra, Mayank Gandhi accused Kejriwal of "demolishing party's base" in the state.

"Kejriwal wants its Delhi team to be kept intact while he wants no challenge from its leaders of other states. This is why he deliberately destroyed party's base in Maharashtra and Mumbai," he said.

Only party leaders Preeti Sharma Menon, Meera Sanyal along with a handful of supporters were present outside the Kurla court.

A senior state leader on condition of anonymity said, "Volunteers in the state and Mumbai are extremely discouraged because Kejriwal has ruined party's base in Maharashtra. Volunteers now feel that it is a wastage of time being associated with the party."



He said it has happened for the first time that there was no strong supporters' base behind the party chief during his visit to Mumbai.

Another leader said they had hoped that Kejriwal would give some time to meet them and discuss issues but it was dejecting that he did not even spare a single minute to meet party workers here.

Meanwhile, party spokesperson Preeti Sharma has said, "Mayank Gandhi, Sanjay Parmar (former treasurer) have been suspended, while Anjali Damania and Medha Patkar are no longer with the party, so there arises no question of these people accompanying Kejriwal."



"There were scores of volunteers and supporters along with Meera Sanyal, Kumud Mishra," she said.
As many as 1,000 farmers committed suicide in Maharashtra in 2015, the state government today told the Bombay High Court.

The court, which has taken up the issue of farmer suicides suo motu (on its own) as a PIL, suggested that the government may rope in corporates to deal with the crisis.

"In this way, suicides could be prevented as business houses would readily come forward to help farmers under the corporate social responsibility," the bench of Justices Naresh Patil and Girish Kulkarni said.

Business houses should be urged either to adopt villages or provide equipment including tractors to the farmers free, it said.

Government officers from a few districts, who were present in the court (last time they had been asked to be present), stated that the government had introduced some schemes, which prompted the court to ask whether the number of suicide had gone up or come down after these measures were introduced.

The officers conceded that the number had increased.

The judges then asked the government to find out the reasons for this. "It is necessary to know the causes to tackle the problem," the bench said.

The court took up the issue in response to media reports that over 600 farmers committed suicide in Maharashtra in 2015. But the government pleader Abhinandan Vagyani today stated that the number was in fact 1,000.

The court also suggested that the government may promote collective farming as a solution. It would especially help the farmers with small land-holding who are unable to recover the cost of cultivation, said the bench.

Asking the government to come out with welfare schemes for farmers, the judges said the schemes should not remain only on paper but strictly implemented.
Nearly 1,200 rhinos were killed by poachers in South Africa last year, officials said today, a slight decrease on 2014, but another year of carnage fuelled by Asian-led demand for their horn.

"By the end of December 2015, the number of poached rhinos was 1,175," Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa told reporters.

Fewer than 100 rhinos were poached in 2008, since when numbers have rocketed. A record 1,215 were killed last year.

The slaughter has been driven by demand for their horn in countries such as China and Vietnam, where they are prized for their purported medicinal properties.

The horn is composed mainly of keratin, the same component as in human nails, but it is sold in powdered form as a supposed cure for cancer and other diseases.

The soaring price of rhino horn and the poaching crisis has sparked a debate on whether to legalise sales in an attempt to stifle the lucrative black market trade.

Legally dehorning a rhino would see a farm owner put the animal under anaesthesia, then saw off the horn.

A South African judge in November lifted a domestic ban on trade in rhino horn, alarming conservationists.

The government appealed against the decision, but lost its latest hearing yesterday.

The case, bought by two game breeders, came ahead of a meeting in Johannesburg this year of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which could lift the global ban.

Some experts believe the real figures on poaching deaths are far higher as many carcasses are never recovered.

South Africa is said to be home to around 20,000 rhinos, some 80 per cent of the worldwide population.
"Have we forgotten the bomb?"

Absurdity can be a good thing every once in awhile. For most movies a simple plot point such as the nuclear annihilation of Britain, for example, proves to be fertile ground for a wellspring of hilarity. While most movies need to follow a traditional three-act narrative structure in order to be a success, some movies on the other hand only need to revel in the randomness of an event in order to be a truly and strangely hilarious comedy. Richard Lester's 1969 film 'The Bed Sitting Room' proves to be a wildly disjointed, completely absurd comedy about the last twenty or so people living in England after World War III.

"God save Mrs. Ethel Shroak, Long live Mrs. Ethel Shroak, God save Mrs. Ethel Shroak." It's not that Mrs. Ethel Shroak (Dandy Nichols) is actually the queen of England, it's just that she happens to be the next in line of succession after an atomic bomb wiped out the whole of England including all of Parliament as well as the royal family. As The BBC (Frank Thornton) lets the residents know on the fourth anniversary of the war, the conflict was the shortest war in history, lasting only two minutes and twenty-eight seconds up to and including the signing of the peace treaty. Now, the twenty or so survivors of the war wander the wastelands picking up bits of discarded shoes, digging up false teeth, or in the case of Nurse Arthur (Marty Feldman) informing people that they are in fact dead even if they don't know it yet.

As Father (Arthur Lowe), his wife (Mona Washbourne), and their daughter Penelope (Rita Tushingham) ride around the tube lines in the last operating underground train, the rest of the population is left to toil above. Poor Electricity Man (Henry Woolf) is required to peddle a stationary bicycle in order to keep the power on. The slightly deranged Shelter Man (Harry Secombe) lived out the war in a radiation bunker looking at old films is going mad and is shocked to discover the changed world above, and Sergeant (Dudley Moore) and Inspector (Peter Cook) keep the peace in their hot air balloon made of an old police car. As the rest of English society goes about their daily lives, they have to maintain an awareness of radiation exposure which as it happens is in the process of mutating Lord Fortnum of Alamein (Ralph Richardson) into a living, breathing bed sitting room complete with papered walls, curtains, and a fireplace.

Really, when it comes down to it, all you need to know about what type of comedy 'The Bed Sitting Room' is going to be is stated at the 01:40 mark where the cast of the film is listed in order according to height. That brief and odd credit moment proves to be a silent setup for the rest of the film. If you're not at the very least chuckling a little bit by that notice, then I fear that 'The Bed Sitting Room' is just not going to be your particular brand of comedy. Similar to watching something of the more crazy and obscure skits from 'Monty Python's Flying Circus.' The whole film is completely random with only the thinest of plot threads to hold anything together.

As this film is an adaptation of a stage play by Spike Milligan and John Antrobus, I can only imagine what it would have been like to see this thing performed live. As a film, 'The Bed Sitting Room' is perhaps one of the strangest comedies I've come across. It's a movie that I find hilarious, but at the same time, I know this isn't a movie that I can grab just anyone and force them to sit down and watch it with me. Aside from my wife, I can perhaps think of only a dozen people at most who would even remotely find this film even the slightest bit funny. But, I guess that's the nature of comedy, one man's Daffy Duck is another man's Donald Duck.

When it comes down to it, 'The Bed Sitting Room' is one of those movies that I suggest everyone give it a chance, at least, ten or fifteen minutes. If you can get through The BBC's news report as he kneels in the mud and speaks through the husk of a television screen while wearing only the upper half of a tuxedo jacket, I think you'll be in great shape for enjoying the rest of the film. If you have a hard time getting through that much, then 'The Bed Sitting Room' just isn't going to be your movie. I loved it myself, but then again this is my brand of comedy. The weirder and more random the better.

The Blu-ray: Vital Disc Stats

'The Bed Sitting Room' arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber and their Studio Classics line. Pressed onto a Region A locked BD25 disc and housed in a standard Blu-ray case, the disc opens directly to the film's main menu.
A 26-year-old man was killed today and another injured when the motorcycle they were riding was hit by a heavy vehicle in Sotipulia on the Delhi-Jaipur National Highway, the police said here.

The incident took place when the duo was on their way to Behror, police added.

The deceased has been identified as Sanjay Dhanka.

Meanwhile, Pintu (29) has been admitted to a private hospital in a critical condition, they said.

The heavy vehicle was impounded, while its driver fled the scene, police said.
Around 10,000 people staged a mass protest in the Moldovan capital Chisinau today as tensions in the pro-Western nation flared following the secret midnight swearing-in of a new government.

Lawmakers of the impoverished former Soviet republic yesterday approved a new government amid political turmoil, with protesters storming the parliament building and opposition legislators attempting to block the vote.

The swearing-in of the new cabinet has exacerbated tensions over alleged high-level corruption in the country of 3.5 million wedged between Ukraine and Romania.

Opposition protesters marched along the capital's main avenues in sub-zero temperatures and rallied in front of the parliament building, which was blocked off by a police cordon six rows deep.

Clutching state flags, protesters urged the authorities to hold snap elections as they chanted "down with the government" and "down with parliament."



"Yesterday we were cheated, they trampled on democracy, freedoms, human rights and laws," opposition leader Andrei Nastase said.

"All of this is happening because Moldova's chief oligarch Vlad Plahotniuc usurped the country," he said, referring to one of the targets of the protests.

Plahotniuc, one of Moldova's richest men, is accused of using his fortune to meddle in politics.

Another opposition leader, Renato Usatii, vowed protesters would "topple this regime."



"Down with thieves and the illegal government!" he said, pledging to continue the protest tomorrow.

Some protest leaders met with parliament speaker Andrian Candu who said afterwards that "there are too few reasons to hold snap elections", and urged giving the new government a chance to work.

Security meanwhile has been tightened to prevent a repeat of yesterday's clashes.

Moldova has been locked in political crisis over a USD 1-billion corruption scandal that triggered mass demonstrations and the arrest of Vlad Filat, who served as prime minister from 2009 to 2013.

President Nicolae Timofti has endorsed the new government despite the protests.

"I hope that this government, formed following a long period of political instability and the government's temporary fulfilment of its obligations, can competently and skillfully govern in this difficult situation," Timofti said in a statement after the swearing-in ceremony.
In fresh violence in Nepal, three persons, including a woman, were killed today when police opened fire to quell clashes between agitating Madhesis and ruling CPN-UML youth wing cadres in a town bordering India, forcing Prime Minister K P Oli to cancel his visit there.

Violence erupted in Rangeli Municipality of southern Morang district after hundreds of activists of Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha (SLMM) armed with batons, knives and petrol bombs tried to disrupt an event hosted by Youth Association of Nepal (YAN) to honour the Prime Minister.

Police tried to stop the clashes with batons, tear gas and blank shots, but as the protest became violent they were forced to fire at the crowd, Home Ministry spokesman Yadav Koirala said.

Morang Chief District Officer Swayam Raya said three persons were killed during the clashes and eight others were also injured.

The deceased have been identified as Draupadi Devi Chaudhary, 60, Shivu Majhi and Mahadev Hrishi.

DIG Madhav Joshi said the injured have been rushed to a local hospital.

Prime Minister Oli cancelled his visit after the tension in the area.

CPN-UML general secretary Ishwor Pokharel and other senior leaders had reached the venue to address the gathering.

The Madhesi Front had earlier issued warning asking the YAN not to organise the programme, saying that it would foil any attempt to honour the prime minister.

Madhesis, largely of Indian-origin, are agitating for the last five months in southern Nepal districts to oppose the new Constitution that divides the country into six federal provinces, claiming the federal structure incorporated in the new charter does not satisfy their demands.

Meanwhile, the talks between the protesting Madhesi groups and the government continued today with the agitating leaders and the Prime Minister holding a meeting here. But no agreement was reached at the meeting.

A top leader of the United Democratic Madhesi Front, the main group leading the protests, said that the two sides were at the same position they were earlier and no progress was made.

Madhesis, who share strong cultural and family bonds with Indians, demand demarcation of provinces, fixing of electoral constituencies on the basis of population and proportional representation. So far, over 50 people have died in the agitation.
As many as 37 Italian toy pistols and revolvers have been seized by DRI officials in the national capital, ahead of Republic Day celebrations next week.

These duplicate fire arms, which were imported from Paris and declared as blank-sound toys, were seized from Foreign Post Office here yesterday, a press release issued today by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) said.

The imported firearms are exact replicas of regular weapons, it said.

These look-alike fire arms, 34 pistols and three revolvers, are replicas of Bruni Mod 85 Cal 9 MM pistols, New Police Cal 9 PAK pistols and Bruni Mod revolvers, all made in Italy, the release said.

"The imported fire arms are exact replicas of regular weapons. However, these look alike fire arms come with muzzle constrictors and can't be used in firing blanks. Reportedly, these look-alike firearms are in great demand by criminals," it said.

The detection of unauthorised import of look-alike firearms close to the Republic Day celebrations next week has been informed to the Delhi Police, the release said.
At least four Egyptian policemen were killed when some identified militants stormed a police checkpoint in the country's restive North Sinai governorate.

The attack took place in Al-Arish city of the governorate late last night.

The militants targeted a group of policemen and killed four of them. A few others were injured during the exchange of fire with the militants, police said.

Egypt's North Sinai has witnessed many violent attacks by militants since the January 2011 revolution that toppled ex- president Hosni Mubarak.

The attacks targeting police and military personnel increased after the ouster of Islamist ex- president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 by military following massive protests against his rule. More than 600 security personnel have been killed since then.

The military has launched security campaigns in the area, arrested suspects and demolished hideouts belonging to the terrorists, including those facilitating tunnels leading to the Gaza Strip.
41 life convicts are set to walk free as Delhi Sentence Review Board (SRB) has recommended their release while rejecting the cases of 60 others, including tandoor case's convict, Sushil Kumar Sharma, and Kishori Lal who was convicted in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

A senior Delhi government official said that out of 41, fourty convicts are those who have spent over 14 years in jail and one is terminally-ill convict and admitted at DDU Hospital since a long time. An application for his premature release was sent to President Pranab Mukherjee for his nod.

The SRB, chaired by Delhi Home Minister Satyendar Jain, had in December also recommended the release of 44 life convicts from Tihar Jail.

The official said that the Sentence Review Board is a quasi-judicial body which has Law Secretary, Home Secretary, Session Judge and a top level police officer as its members.

"In its meeting held last week, SRB had received a total of 101 life convicts' cases from Tihar Jail authorities. Out of 101, we have recommended to free 41 life convicts while cases of 60 others have been rejected," Jain said.

The Home Minister said out of 41 life convicts, recommendations for freeing 38 have been sent to Lt Governor Najeeb Jung for approval.

Two other cases, were probed by the CBI, were sent to the Centre as the matter is related to central probe agency.

"The 60 cases which were rejected include former Congress leader Sushil Sharma, convicted of murdering his wife Naina Sahni and trying to burn her body in a tandoor in 1995. Besides, the case of Kishori Lal who is convicted in the anti-Sikh riots, was also rejected by the SRB," the official added.
At least five Egyptian policemen, including three officers, were killed when militants stormed a police checkpoint in the country's restive North Sinai and opened fire on them, the Interior Ministry said today.

Three other conscripts were injured during the exchange of fire with the militants in Al-Arish city late last night.

The militants targeted a group of policemen and killed five of them. Security forces have cordoned off the area and are searching for the attackers, the ministry said in a statement.

Egypt's North Sinai has witnessed many violent attacks by militants since the January 2011 revolution that toppled president Hosni Mubarak.

The attacks targeting police and military personnel increased after the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 by military following massive protests against his rule.

More than 700 security personnel have been killed and over 18,000 have been injured since 2011.

The military has launched security campaigns in the area, arrested suspects and demolished hideouts of the terrorists, including those facilitating tunnels leading to the Gaza Strip.
A day after high level of ammonia forced the closure of Wazirabad and Chandrawal treatment plants, 50 per cent water supply was restored from both the facilities that serve large parts of the capital, including Lutyens' zone.

Delhi Water Minister Kapil Mishra had visited the Wazirabad plant in the morning.

The plants had to be shut down on the evening of January 19 as level of ammonia touched 2.6 ppm (parts per million), much higher than the safe limit of 0.02 ppm.

"Presently, the ammonia content has also considerably reduced up to 1.0 mg/l and 50 per cent pumping has been restored from Wazirabad and Chandrawal plants. As and when the ammonia level decreases upto the acceptable limit pumping will be increased in a phased manner," a statement issued by Delhi Jal Board (DJB) said.

In fact, raw water quality is being continuously monitored at half an hour intervals in DJB's laboratories to check the ammonia levels.

The Delhi government took up the issue with Haryana government authorities and sought its intervention for taking necessary steps to prevent entry of pollutants in downstream Yamuna.

Delhi Chief Secretary K K Sharma has written a letter to his Haryana counterpart apprising him of the "deteriorating" water quality. The government has also assured the Delhi Jal Board of taking "corrective measures".

New Delhi Municipal Corporation area, North Delhi, North West Delhi, Central Delhi and parts of West and South Delhi are among the areas that did not receive treated water last evening.

Water tankers will be available at telephone nos, 29941825 (Sarita Vihar), 26100644 (R K Puram), 29234746, 29234747 (Grater Kailash I), 23814338, 23810930 (Chandrawal Water Emergency), 27304656 (Ashok Vihar Water Emergency), 27700789, 27700474 (Holambi Kalan), 25274679, 25275259, 25275260 (Paschim Vihar), and 1916, 23538495, 23527679 (Central Control Room).
At least six people, including two policemen, were killed and 26 others injured today in an explosion that took place when a police team raided a militant hideout in the Egyptian capital near the pyramids.

The blast took place in Cairo's Al-Haram district ahead of Monday's anniversary of the 2011 revolution that ousted former strongman Hosni Mubarak.

Six people were killed when a blast took place after a team of security personnel attacked a militant hideout in Giza area here. The area was cordoned off by the security forces after the explosion.

Earlier today, at least five Egyptian policemen were killed when militants stormed a police checkpoint in the country's restive North Sinai and opened fire on them.

The country has witnessed several violent militant attacks since the January 2011 revolution which toppled Mubarak, killing over 700 policemen and injuring over 18,000.

The attacks targeting police and military further increased after the ouster of Islamist ex-president Mohammed Morsi in 2013 following massive protests.
Maharashtra government, which had launched a crackdown against 'hoarders' of pulses and other commodities, released 70 per cent of the confiscated stocks to their original owners, an RTI query has revealed.

RTI activist Anil Galgali had filed two applications with Food and Civil Supply and Consumers Protection Department seeking information on the quantity of stock seized during the crackdown and returned, quantity still in possession of the government and cases filed against 'hoarders'.

In its reply, the department said as on January 4, 2016, a total of 1,23,028 metric tonnes (MT) of tur, turdal, other pules and edible oils were seized in Mumbai, Thane, Amaravati, Aurangabad, Pune, Nashik and Konkan divisions. 85,546 MT (or 70 per cent) of the seized pulses and edible oils were released to the same owners.

S S Supe, Deputy Secretary of the Department, said the department was still in possession of 37,480.608 MT of pulses and edible oils.

According to the information furnished, 100 per cent seized stocks were returned in Aurangabad, Amravati, Pune and Nasik divisions.

Most of the stocks were seized from Mumbai/Thane followed by Konkan division. During raids, aimed at curbing the sky-rocketing prices of these commodities, the department seized a total 59,731 MT of pulses and oils from Mumbai and Thane rationing areas. 52,747 MT of pulses and oils were seized from Konkan rationing area.

"Despite carrying out 5,592 raids on hoarders, the department has filed FIRs in only 50 cases. This raises questions about the government's ability to take action against hoarders," said Galgali.

In Mumbai/Thane division, stocks weighing 59,731 MT were confiscated. Of these, 56,574 MT was returned to the 'hoarders' (original owners), he said.

"I demand state government come out with the true picture about the raids, which were hyped and publicised. Later on most of the seized stocks were returned to the hoarders. The government should explain this," added Galgali.

When contacted, Secretary of the Department Deepak Kapoor declined to comment on the quantity of seized pulses which had been returned to the original stockists.
Thu 21/01/2016I know the Portland well  I was a seafarer in my twenties on its maiden voyage from Korea to Australia.The move is of questionable legality, including extreme bullying and harassment and that will be tested in coming months. This is an Australian workplace by any definition. The ship never leaves Australian territory.As you would expect in a dispute which went for two months, the MV Portland dispute was subject to Fair Work Commission hearings and Federal Court proceedings. The Federal Court never found against the union.OK then, lets apply that logic to the Senate.Sensible Senators know that we shouldnt be promoting Flag-of-Convenience shipping, which is essentially a tax avoidance scam by registering your vessel in Liberia or Mongolia and then paying your workers as little as possible  if you pay them at all.Besides, there is an ongoing Senate inquiry into Flag-of-Convenience shipping which is yet to report.So by Minister Cashs own logic, the Government should cancel the licence, right?Apparently not.While were on the subject of thumbing your nose at the Senate, Minister Cash has form. As Assistant Minister for Immigration, Ms Cash is the respondent in an upcoming High Court case.The Gillard Government in 2013 passed the Offshore Resources Act, which offers labour market testing and appropriate protections for Australian workers in the offshore oil and gas sector.The Abbott Governments regulations were subsequently disallowed by the Senate, so Ms Cash immediately made an obscure ministerial determination over the top.The Federal Court later ruled the determination invalid, so the Minister narrowed the determination, effective immediately.The matter is listed for the High Court on February 19 but possibly because they thought they would lose, the Government in December sneakily revoked the Ministerial Determination and Declaration and issued another effective that day.At an industry shipping forum today, which both Alcoa and the Government have declined to attend, committed industry stakeholders including three crossbenchers will be sitting around the table, trying to find a way forward to maintain an industry which has served us well.It is counterintuitive for the Government to poke key Senators in the eye and maintain a ruthlessly partisan approach to matters requiring long-term political stability. The same goes for offshore visas.Malcolm Turnbull said when he was appointed as Prime Minister that he would have a different approach to Tony Abbott in dealing with the crossbench, and indeed with the community. It seems not all of his ministers got that memo.In the meantime, my old workplace, the MV Portland, sails into the night leaving its crew jobless and serious questions unanswered in its wake.
At least nine persons including four policemen have been killed and 20 others injured in a powerful blast near the ancient pyramids of Giza in Egypt.

The explosion took place when a police team raided a militants' hideout near a road leading to the pyramids in the Cairo suburb of Giza ahead of Monday's anniversary of the 2011 revolution that ousted former strongman Hosni Mubarak.

Nine persons were killed in the blast that occurred after a team of security personnel attacked the militants' hideout in Giza area, police said.

The area was cordoned off by the security forces soon after the explosion.

The militants exchanged gunfire with security forces which resulted in the bombs, belonging to the militants in the apartment, getting exploded, police said, adding that some of the injured people are said to be in critical condition.

Yesterday, at least five Egyptian policemen were killed when militants stormed a police checkpoint in the country's restive North Sinai and opened fire on them.

The country has witnessed several violent militant attacks since the January 2011 revolution that toppled Mubarak, killing over 700 policemen and injuring over 18,000 others.

Attacks targeting police and military further increased after the ouster of Islamist ex-president Mohammed Morsi in 2013 following massive protests.
City's BJP-ruled municipal corporations criticised the AAP government's decision to audit their accounts, and termed the exercise as a "political drama" to avoid paying the "funds due" to the civic bodies.

"Its nothing but a political drama as the AAP government wants to delay further payment of funds which it owes to the three municipal corporations. The exercise is against the rules also since Delhi government has no jurisdiction to order audit of autonomous municipal corporations," said Harshdeep Malhotra, Mayor of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC).

South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) passed a censure motion in its standing committee meeting today condemning AAP government's audit decision.

Malhotra said these corporations are already audited by independent auditors and the government could have the audit reports of previous years to verify utilisation of budget and funds.

"We are audited every year and the government may have the audit report of 2014-15 to satisfy its curiosity," Malhotra said, adding, what would happen if Centre directed audit of Delhi government's spendings and budget utilisation.

The SDMC standing committee passed the censure motion criticising the audit decision as a "political move" by Delhi government, said Leader of House in SDMC, Ashish Sood.

"We oppose politicisation of the whole issue although we welcome them for checking our accounts. We would welcome it more if the government had also announced payment of Rs 3,000 to municipal corporations as per the 3rd Delhi Finance Commission recommendations," Sood said.

Mayor of North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) Ravinder Gupta alleged it was "an attempt to defame the government.

"Regular auditing framework is already there and the Delhi government cannot carry out a fair audit in such time," he claimed.

The Delhi government today appointed a fact-finding committee to audit the accounts of all the three municipal corporations and directed it to submit its report within a week.

The audit decision has come in the wake of the three mayors meeting the President Pranab Mukherjee yesterday, seeking his intervention for release of funds by Delhi government.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is set meet next week to discuss revamping the best picture race and fight the perception that it is racist amid criticism over the lack of inclusion at this year's Oscars nominations.

The board members will meet on January 26 and there are suggestions that Academy may return to 10 best-picture contenders among other changes, reported Variety.

The lack of diversity in nominations for the 88th Academy Award has led to a call for boycott of Oscars by some actors while some major Hollywood stars have publicly spoken out against it.

Geoerge Clooney, Jada Pinkett Smith, Spike Lee, David Oyelowo and Lupita Nyong'o are some of the celebrities who have slammed the Oscars nominations this year.

There is a strong possibility that the Academy will rethink the membership which was even hinted by its president Cheryl Boone Isaacs in a statement where she called for swift changes within the body.

She had also said that the Academy "is taking dramatic steps to alter the makeup of our membership" and there will be a "review of our membership recruitment in order to bring about much-needed diversity..."



The meeting next week is a regularly-scheduled event in the Academy's calendar but the diversity row is likely to take the centerstage.
A rocket fired from Afghanistan hit a shop in a restive Pakistani tribal region close to the Afghan border today, killing three people, officials said.

The incident happened in Angoor Adda Bazaar in the South Waziristan tribal district, one of the seven semi-autonomous regions where the Pakistani military has been battling Taliban and Al-Qaeda linked militants for more than a decade.

"One of the two rockets fired from Afghanistan's Birmal town hit a bread shop, killing three Afghan nationals who were residents of South Waziristan," a senior military official told AFP.

The second rocket fell in a secluded place.

The official said it was still unclear who had fired the rockets.

An intelligence official confirmed the incident.

The bazaar had been closed for six months after skirmishes between Pakistani and Afghan troops over construction by Pakistan close to the border. Officials said it re-opened just a week ago.

Pakistan's mountainous western border became a hotbed of Islamist militants following the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

The military began a long-awaited push to clear insurgent bases from the North Waziristan tribal district in June 2014 after a bloody Taliban attack on Karachi airport sank faltering peace talks.

(Reopens FGN 8)



Afghanistan is concerned about the sanctuaries and safe havens that the terror groups enjoy in Pakistan, with Rabbani hoping that the government in Pakistan "will take this issue seriously."



Rabbani said the US can play a role in persuading Pakistan to "change course and act in good faith."



He noted that despite the fact that peace efforts with the Taliban have not met with desired results, Afghanistan is optimistic about making progress in talks with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the former prime minister of Afghanistan and founder and active leader of the Hezb-e Islami group.

"This is an important development," Rabbani said.

On whether Afghanistan has a vision on how it will manage its ties with India and Pakistan, he said Kabul's relation with one country is not at the expense of its relations with any other country.

"If you are close with one country, it does not mean we are moving away from other countries. We want to have good relationswith all the countries in the region, that includes Pakistan and India," he said.
The Canberra ODI saw the second part of the now-famous Virat Kohli-James Faulkner banter almost bordering on a sledge, with the Indian superstar trying to upset the Australian all-rounder during another of his superlative innings.

During the Melbourne match, when Faulkner tried to instigate Kohli, the Indian batsman's classic retort was, "I have smashed you enough in my life. Go and bowl."



In Canberra, Kohli started from where he left at MCG, belting the left-armer for 29 runs off 16 deliveries, which included four boundaries.

But according to Australian newspaper 'Perth Now', when Faulkner missed a chance to run Kohli out, the Indian vice-captain did not miss an opportunity to ask the Aussie as to why was he "fast asleep".

Two days back, Kohli, while interacting with fans on Indian team's facebook page, said: "The opposition has every right to use that as long as it doesn't cross the line. And you have every right to reply as long as it doesn't cross the line again.

"I think there have been a lot of smart comments over the years and mine turned out to be a perfectly timed one. I didn't intend to do that, I just said what came to mind, which was actually not far off from the truth. That banter is enjoyable on the field but at the same time you need to focus on your game. That was a fun moment, I guess.
The four-day-long All India Presiding Officers' Conference, which aims to facilitate a dialogue between the presiding officers of Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and other legislative bodies in the country, commenced here today.

"This is the 78th edition of the annual conference. Gujarat is hosting this event for the third time. On the first day today, secretaries of different legislative bodies held a meeting," Gujarat Assembly Speaker Ganpat Vasava told reporters while giving out details of the conference.

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, who is the chairperson of the conference, is scheduled to arrive here this evening to chair the Speakers' Conference to be held tomorrow and the day after, he added.

In the past, Gujarat had hosted this event in 1973 and in 1992.

"Around 350 delegates from across India, including Speakers and Deputy Speakers of Lok Sabha, Deputy Speaker of Rajya Sabha, Speakers and Deputy Speakers of all the Legislative Assemblies and Legislative Councils as well as secretaries will take part in this annual event," he added.

"On January 22 and 23, there is a conference of Speakers and Deputy Speakers, which will be chaired by Sumitra Mahajan, while on January 24, all the delegates would be taken for a tour of important tourist destinations in Gujarat," he added.

Speakers and Deputy Speakers of 31 state Assemblies and seven state Councils are expected to remain present here, Vasava said.

"The main aim of this conference is to establish direct dialogue between the presiding officers of Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and other legislative bodies of India. These delegates will engage in discussions to bring about positive changes in various legislative and parliamentary procedures," the Gujarat Assembly Speaker said.

Two subjects have been selected by the standing committee of Lok Sabha for this edition of conference.

"The first subject revolves around role of legislators in strengthening democratic institutions, while second subject is related to ensuring maximum attendance of MPs and MLAs during sessions as well as improving quality of discussions during sessions," Vasava said.
Around 22,000 jihadists have been killed by the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group since mid-2014, France's defence minister said today.

"The figure given by the coalition... Is about 22,000 dead since the start of operations in Iraq and Syria," Jean-Yves Le Drian told the France24 channel, adding that the figure was "approximate".
Argentina's government has announced tighter new rules for the country's airspace, including a measure that could let the air force shoot down planes suspected of illegal activities.

The rules include expanded radar coverage aimed at detecting and deterring drug and flights.

Opponents have jumped on the protocol for potentially shooting down unresponsive planes, saying it amounts to a death sentence. But Security Secretary Eugenio Burzaco said yesterday that would only be a last resort.

New President Mauricio Macri has vowed to crack down on drug trafficking and Burzaco says there were some 400 irregular flights into the country last year.

The fatal shoot-down of a missionary plane in Peru in 2001 led that country to suspend a similar policy until last year.
With Modi government under attack over a Hyderabad University student's suicide, BJP today accused the Ambedkar Students Association (ASA) of being a part of 'Hate-India campaign' chain and alleged ultra-Left bodies have created a 'camouflage' student fora to conceal 'nefarious objectives'.

Rohith Vemula, a Dalit research scholar who committed suicide, belonged to ASA.

BJP also attacked Congress for joining Leftists to create an 'orchestrated campaign' against the Modi government and was making Hyderabad varsity a big issue keeping in view Hyderabad corporation elections in mind. It asked why going to Malda, Kashmir, Pathankot was not a priority for Rahul Gandhi.

BJP general secretary P Muralidhar Rao claimed police investigations have revealed that the caste of both the parents of Vemula was Vaddera, which is an OBC in Telanagana.

"Organising Beef Festival, celebrating Mahisasur, Hiranya Kashyap, conducting prayers for Yakub Memon's death, supporting terrorism in various parts of the country shows for what these organisations stand for. Divisive forces organise these in campuses. Ideologies which want to see India as weak are promoting Divide India Campaigns. ASA in HCU is part of this chain," Rao said on Twitter.

Answering queries on social media on "Activities on campuses in support of anti-national forces", Rao said "Great conspiracy to malign Modi government as anti-dalit. In last one and half years relentlessly, they tried and were exposed repeatedly. HCU is the latest in sequence. For Congress and other pseudo secular forces, this time too they got exposed."



He said "Whole campaign is based on falsehood. Congress, Leftists have joined to create an orchestrated campaign against Modi government."



"All over the country ultra-Left organisations have created camouflage student forums to conceal nefarious objectives," the BJP leader said.

In reply to a question, Rao said "Police investigation has revealed his parents belong to Vaddera caste which comes under OBC in Andhra & Telangana." Asked again, he confirmed "Yes, both belong to Vaddera it is on record by the parents."



He said Rohith's suicide note is "self-revealing." "Connecting suicide to ideological adversaries is baseless and all the forces will be exposed in days to come," Rao said.
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange will be questioned by Swedish authorities at his Ecuadorean embassy hideout here, where he is holed up since June 2012 after being wanted in Sweden over allegations of rape and sexual assault.

Ecuador's President Rafael Correa confirmed that a deal has been struck with Swedish prosecutors that will see Assange face questions over allegations he sexually assaulted two women, without having to leave the diplomatic building.

President Correa said the Swedish authorities will submit questions to Ecuadorian officials, who will then quiz Assange about them, UK media reports said.

Assange, an Australian national, sought political asylum at the embassy in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden as he feared being transported to the US to be quizzed over the activities of WikiLeaks that caused considerable harm to the US foreign policy interests.

Assange, 44, is wanted for questioning in Sweden over sex assault allegations against two women, which he has always denied.

Negotiations began in June last year between Ecuador's acting foreign minister Xavier Lasso and the Swedish justice ministry's international affairs chief Anna-Carin Svensson.

An Ecuadorian government statement had indicated a deal in December 2015: "The agreement, without any doubt, is a tool that strengthens bilateral relations and facilitates, for example, the execution of such legal actions as the questioning of Assange, isolated in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
Unsurprisingly, the occupied Malheur Wildlife Refuge buildings contain over 4000 native artifacts, belonging to the Burns Paiute tribe. The militant rebels are not making the native Americans feel good about their occupation, and apparently call the natives "savages."

The Burns Paiute Tribe is rightly demanding the United States live up to treaty obligations, and prosecute any damages to their artifacts and archaeological resources.

Via ICMNT:

Occupation leader Ammon Bundy, from Arizona and son of Cliven Bundy, the Nevada rancher involved in a standoff with the federal government over copy million in unpaid grazing fees on public land, has offered to meet with the tribe but the tribe says he has no right to hold their history hostage and have refused to grant him even the appearance of such authority by meeting with him.

"Some of the members of the community were open to them," Roderique says, "when they first came but now the county chained and locked everything up and said no you can't have your meeting in town."

Harney County officials have stated they will not allow the militants to use any county-owned building for fear of more takeovers of public property.

"They tried to ask us for our gathering center and our facility was booked up. We just kind of laughed and said they want to use our 'savage' facilities?"

Roderique was referencing a "Harney County Committee of Safety" website made by supporters of the takeover who profess to exist "to secure the property and lives of the association members from threats from the savages."
At least 12 migrants were killed and several more went missing today when their boat sank while trying to cross the Aegean Sea from Turkey to EU member Greece, Turkish media reports said.

The boat, carrying some 50 migrants, struck trouble after leaving the western Turkish resort of Foca in the Izmir region for the Greek island of Lesbos.

Twenty-eight people were saved while up to dozen more are still feared missing, NTV television said.

Turkey, which is home to some 2.2 million refugees from Syria's civil war, has become a hub for migrants seeking to reach Europe, many of whom pay people smugglers thousands of dollars for the risky crossing.

Ankara reached an agreement with the EU in November to stem the flow of refugees heading to Europe, in return for financial assistance.

Brussels vowed to provide three billion euros as well as political concessions to Ankara in return for its cooperation in tackling Europe's worst migrant crisis since World War II.

But onset of winter and rougher sea conditions do not appear to have deterred the migrants, with boats still arriving on the Greek islands daily.
In the wake of the recent terrorist attack on Pathankot IAF base, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today advocated equipping the Border Security Force (BSF) and the state police with advanced weapons and gadgets.

Punjab is a border state and hence more prone to cross-border attacks. The recent Pathankot and Dinanagar attacks are testimony to it, he said.

It's the need of the hour to provide ultra-modern gadgets and weapons to the state forces and BSF to check terrorism, he argued.

"The government of India must treat Punjab at par with the north eastern states and allocate liberal funds to modernise the state Police," Badal added.

Badal didn't agree with J-K Governor N N Vohra's suggestion on Tuesday that a separate Ministry be created out of the Home Ministry to handle security related issues.

"The state police should be well-equipped on pattern of north eastern states for dealing with internal problems while BSF deployment be increased on J-K pattern for checking infiltration into Punjab from across the border," he said.

He said Punjab is fighting the country's war against drug, though not a single ounce is produced in the state.

The state lies on the transit route of drug supply and is battling hard to act as a "barrier" to save the country from poison of drugs, Badal said.

Claiming that the state government has been able to cut off the supply line to a large extent, Badal said the Punjab police has put the peddlers behind the bars.

On Khadoor Sahib by-poll, the Chief Minister said the SAD-BJP alliance was fully prepared for it and people would repose faith in them.

Earlier, addressing the gathering, Badal alleged that forces inimical to the progress of the state were bent on disturbing its hard-earned peace.

However, SAD-BJP alliance would not allow these forces to succeed, he said. "We are committed to following the footsteps of our great Sikh gurus to protect peace, communal harmony and brotherhood in the state," added Badal.

He also announced that Rs 300 crore will be spent this year for providing canal water for irrigation in Doaba region.
Shops and business establishments remained shut here today in support of a strike call given by separatist groups to commemorate the 26th anniversary of the Gawkadal massacre, in which 52 civilians were killed in alleged firing by security forces on a procession in 1990.

Lal Chowk and its adjoining areas of Gawkadal and Maisuma observed shutdown on the call of separatist groups, including both factions of the Hurriyat Conference.

The killings in Gawkadal on this day in 1990 took place two days after the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Kashmir Valley. In Gawkadal, the protesters were demonstrating against the alleged highhandedness of security forces in another part of the city a day earlier.

The strike call, however, did not affect public transport.

Hardline Hurriyat Conference chairman Syed Ali Geelani has appealed to international human rights organisations to ensure an impartial investigation into all such massacres in Jammu and Kashmir.

Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah tweeted about the Gawkadal incident, saying "the next few weeks are dotted with anniversaries of black days/events that should shame & sadden us".

Congress leader Salman Soz said, "January 1990 has got to be one of the worst months in Kashmir's history. Massive exodus of Pandits and horrific killings in Gawkadal."



Meanwhile, a shutdown was observed in many areas of south Kashmir following the killing of a youth in firing by security forces.

The Shutdown was observed in many areas of Pulwama, Shopian, Anantnag and Kulgam districts of south Kashmir after Parvaiz Ahmad was killed when security forces opened fire on a group of youths who were protesting against an encounter in Naina Batapora village of Pulwama yesterday, the officials said.
Troubled British bank Barclays announced a new round of job cuts today, axing 1,200 positions at its investment banking division, exiting Russia and closing offices across Asia.

The job losses, confirmed by a bank spokesman, are the first round of cutbacks unveiled by new chief executive Jes Staley, and come on top of 7,000 jobs cut since 2014.

The latest cull will fall mostly on Asia, where Barclays will shut offices in Australia, South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines, and cover those countries from other locations.

Barclays will also completely exit Russia and handle that country from London.

The lender's investment division will however continue to focus on its two home markets in the UK and United States.

Fewer than 100 positions in the British capital will be affected by the restructuring.

The bank will maintain offices in China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Singapore and India, while keeping its derivatives and prime services business in Asia.

"With these actions, we are accelerating the investment bank strategy outlined in 2014, focusing on its core strengths and running the business for returns," Barclays said in a brief statement that did not specify the number of job cuts.

"We continue to build on the business's dual home markets in the UK and US and remain committed to a strong presence in Asia and EMEA, consistent with operating a leading global investment bank within the Barclays Group."



The appointment of 58-year-old American investment banker Staley late last year was seen as an attempt by the bank to focus anew on its investment arm.

Barclays is one of several banks implementing job cuts in a tough environment for investment banks, as slowing global growth and stricter capital rules affect lenders.

Staley is the former chief executive of JP Morgan's investment bank and became Barclays boss on December 1.

Barclays added today that it expected to report "broadly flat" income at its investment banking arm on March 1, when it will post the group's annual results.

Barclays' investment banking wing was rocked in 2012 by the Libor rate-rigging scandal.

The recent stock market turmoil and commodity price rout is expected to have played a part in the decision to further scale-back its investment banking presence.

Barclays shares rallied 2.24% to close at 186.13 pence in an upbeat London market with the FTSE 100 index surging 1.77% highter to 5,773 points.
Bhagat Singh's grand nephew, Abhitej Singh Sandhu today said the youth will not allow the Chandigarh International Airport to operate until the Central Government names the airport after the martyr.

"If the naming is not done soon, the youth of the country will not let the Chandigarh International Airport to operate till the time the Central Government names it after Shaeed-e-AzamSardarBhagat Singh," Sandhu told PTI.

Both Punjab and Haryana governments had proposed and agreed to name the airport after Bhagat Singh, a national icon of the country's freedom struggle, he claimed and said the Haryana government should stand by its earlier decision to name the airport after Bhagat Singh.

Both legislative assemblies of Punjab and Haryana in 2009 and 2010 had passed resolutions to name the airport after the martyr, Sandhu said.

Both Punjab and Haryana governments have locked horns over the naming of Chandigarh International Airport after Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar stirred a hornet's nest by reportedly proposing the name of late RSS leader Mangal Sein instead of Bhagat Singh.

The Punjab government wants the airport to be named after Bhagat Singh while the Centre is yet to take a decision in naming the airport after the martyr.

The issue also has attained political overtones with the Indian National Lok Dal and, Punjab Pradesh Congress condemning the BJP Government in Haryana reported proposal to name the airport after Mangal Sein.

A major controversy also had erupted in Karnataka recently when Jnanpith awardee Girish Karnad suggested that Kemegowda International Airport at Bengaluru be named after Tipu Sultan.
US Vice President Joe Biden would hold a trilateral meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in Davos to help the two neighbours co-operate and co-ordinate on counter-terrorism measures, the White House said.

Biden, Sharif and Ghani are in Davos to attend the World Economic Forum meeting.

Biden's meeting with Sharif and Ghani will be held today as part of the efforts of the Obama Administration to help the two neighbours co-operate and co-ordinate on counter-terrorism measures and kick-start the reconciliation process with the Taliban, the White House said.

Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and the US have called on all Afghan Taliban groups to start talks with Kabul to find a political solution to the long-running conflict in the war-torn country.

On Monday, officials from the four countries, which are part of the quadrilateral coordination group, met in Kabul to discuss a roadmap for reviving the stalled peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban.
A BJP worker was allegedly thrashed today by supporters of Independent MLA Sheikh Abdul Rashid and some locals when he objected to the lawmaker's targeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the killing of a civilian in the south Kashmir town.

Shabir Ahmad, who claims to be the youth president of the district BJP unit, entered into a verbal duel with the supporters of Rashid, who had staged a sit-in in Pulwama town against the killing of a youth in firing by security forces during stone-pelting protests after an encounter yesterday.

Initially, police personnel intervened and separated the two groups.

Later, as the BJP worker was talking to the media, a group of local youths pounced on him and the policemen had to come to his rescue a second time.

Following the incident, BJP media in-charge Altaf Thakur has demanded registration of a case against the supporters of the Independent MLA who were involved in the assault on Shabir.

Shabir claimed that "they had painted a picture of the prime minister with blood" and he was "protesting against it".

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the MLA denied the allegations.

"We had organised a peaceful sit-in in front of the Deputy Commissioner's office in Pulwama against the brutal killing of Parvaiz Ahmad Guru by security forces yesterday in the district.

"Scores of volunteers led by Rashid started the protest early this morning and were soon joined by hundreds of locals," he said.

Rashid demanded the arrest of the personnel involved in the killing of the youth during the stone-pelting protests yesterday and rejected any magisterial probe, claiming that such inquiries have yielded nothing except provide cover to the killers.

"It is shameful that police tried to justify the killing by dubbing Parvaiz a mobster. Let police answer if being part of a mob is such a heinous crime that someone should be murdered?" charged Rashid.
Bolivian President Evo Morales, the country's first indigenous head of state, marked a record-setting 10 years in office today with an ancient ceremonial rite in the pre-Incan city of Tiahuanaco.

In a dawn ceremony, the leftist leader extended his arms to receive the first rays of the morning sun before breathing in the incense from a large pyre lit to bring good fortune.

The ritual, set to the sounds of Andean music, was held at the archaeological site of Tiahuanaco (or Tiwanaku) in western Bolivia, a collection of stone ruins thought to have been a spiritual and political center from AD 400 to 900.

"With this small but very important act, I would like to take the opportunity to express our gratitude for these 10 years of service to the Bolivian people," said the president, who faces accusations of seeking to cling to power for up to a decade more.

Morales took office on January 22, 2006, after defying centuries of discrimination against Bolivia's indigenous communities to win a landslide election victory.

He has since presided over a period of robust economic growth and transformative changes for the long-suffering indigenous majority.

A former coca grower who got his start in politics as a union leader, he has deftly managed the resource-rich economy, which has more than tripled in size during his decade in office.

With the opposition riven by infighting, Morales (56) has won resoundingly in the past three presidential elections: 54 per cent of the vote in 2005, 64 per cent in 2009 and 61 per cent in 2014.

But Morales, who is already the longest-serving president in Bolivian history, is increasingly accused of trying to cling to the presidency for as long as he can.

Three years ago, Bolivia's Supreme Court cleared the way for him to serve a third term when it ruled that his first term was exempt from a new constitution adopted in 2009 that imposed a limit of one reelection for sitting presidents.

His current term ends in 2020, but now he is pushing for a referendum to amend the constitution and enable him to serve until 2025.

Morales will officially mark the anniversary tomorrow with a ceremony in Congress, where he will deliver a nationally televised address.
Worries over a British exit from the European Union weighed on participants at the World Economic Forum today, with France's prime minister warning that it would be a "tragedy" that could prove an inspiration to populists around the region at a time when many countries are contending with massive numbers of refugees.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said he's in no hurry to hold a referendum on his country's future in the EU, if a deal on his reform proposals doesn't emerge at a summit of European leaders in February. But he insisted that his aim is to "secure" Britain's future in a reformed EU, a stance that he says is the best outcome for both sides.

"If there's a good deal on the table, I will take it," he told an audience of mainly business leaders in the Swiss ski resort of Davos. "But if there isn't the right deal, I'm not in a hurry. I can hold my referendum any time up until the end of 2017. And it's much more important to get this right than to rush it."



One of the major tenets of the manifesto of Cameron's Conservative Party, which won a governing majority in last May's general election, was a pledge to hold a referendum on Britain's future in the EU by the end of 2017 after a renegotiation process.

Britain's future in the EU is set to be the main discussion point a summit of the EU's 28 leaders on Feb. 18-19. The thinking until very recently was that an agreement would emerge then, paving the way for a referendum in the summer.

The refugee crisis that has engulfed Europe over the past few months as people leave conflict zones, notably from Syria, has raised worries that a deal may not be achieved in time for one thing a referendum date will need time to legislate.

Many European issues are up in the air at the moment, including what to do with the Schengen Agreement that allows borderless travel across much of the continent.

Cameron laid out his four reform proposals, which he insisted were "not outrageous asks." He said he wants to "hard-wire" competitiveness into the EU's DNA, make sure non-euro countries like Britain aren't discriminated by the 19 EU countries that use the euro currency, get Britain out of the idea of an "ever-closer union" and curbs on migration and benefits.

Since joining what was then known as the European Economic Community in 1973, Britain's membership has often been strained. Over the past few years, a groundswell of opinion in the country thinks exiting the EU is the best option, especially at a time when many of its members are getting closer together, notably with the creation of the euro currency. In last May's election, the U.K. Independence Party, which aims to get Britain out of the EU, won 4 million, or just under 13 percent of the total. Many supporters of Cameron's Conservatives would likely vote for Brexit too whatever deal emerges.
British Prime Minister David Cameron said today he was optimistic of securing a deal in February to reform the European Union after France warned that his demands could not be met at any price.

As attention at the annual gathering of the rich and powerful in Davos, Switzerland, turned to the spectre of a so-called Brexit, Britain got warmer words from EU powerhouse Germany and the Netherlands.

"I very much hope that we can, with the good will that is clearly there, reach an agreement at the February European Council. I would like that," Cameron told an audience of billionaires and global leaders in the ski resort.

Cameron has said he wants to land a deal with his fellow EU leaders by February so that he can campaign to stay in the bloc ahead of a referendum on membership, which he has promised to hold by the end of 2017.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said earlier today that a British EU exit would be a "tragedy", but warned that Cameron's demands for reform could not be met at any price.

A British EU exit would be "a very bad thing," Valls told reporters in Davos.

"There needs to be a deal, but not at any price," the French prime minister said.

"Anything that allows us to simplify the organisation of Europe, yes. Anything that throws into doubt the foundations of the European project or the eurozone, no."



Valls said Cameron was unlikely to win over fellow EU leaders by the time of their February 18-19 summit in Brussels, at which France will be represented by President Francois Hollande.

Negotiations on London's demands only started a short time ago, Valls pointed out, though he still hoped a solution could be found in February.

In contrast to France's downbeat assessment, Cameron received encouragement from Germany and the Netherlands.

Germany's veteran Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble warned of the danger a Brexit would present to the EU.

"I hope that the British will stay in Europe and with us," Schaeuble said in Davos. "It would be a disaster otherwise."



Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the EU needed more of Britain's economic "culture" and said he was optimistic of a February deal.

Cameron insisted he was prepared to bide his time if he was not satisfied with the progress of negotiations.

"If there's a good deal on the table I will take it," he said in Davos, where he gave a presentation in a solo session.
With the unsettling closure and uncertain future of a vast original area of Disneyland which has remained mostly undisturbed since park opening in 1955, it seems fitting to reflect upon some things which made it memorable. This is the first of a series of pieces, and also the most indirect  it'll take me six paragraphs to make my real point.

One thing every parent knows is the delight of "the unexpected moment" when your child comes upon a character at a Disney park without warning.

There's less of that these days, with "Character Meet and Greets" having been turned into controlled experiences and fewer instances of the characters simply walking the parks and freely mingling with the guests. (You tend to see much more of this at the Tokyo Disney Resort.)

On a trip to Disneyland when my daughter was about 4 or 5 years old just under a decade ago, we entered the park early, passed through Main Street, and were taking the walkway up to Sleeping Beauty Castle that curves to the right, past Snow White's Grotto. The white marble statues of Snow White and the Dwarfs were a gift from the Ambassador of Italy, I explained to my daughter. They reside in a man-made grotto with a waterfall.

On the walkway itself is a full-size replica of the wishing well from the film Snow White. If you lean over and listen, you will hear Snow White singing. My daughter was listening intently, looking into the well, and when she turned around there was Snow White  pretty, indeed, as a picture. But live she was and my daughter's eyes grew round. Like silver dollars. Snow White knelt, took my daughter's hand, and for the next five minutes, nothing in the world existed except my daughter's conversation with Snow White, who was naught but kind and gentle, and most interested in my daughter's life at that moment. This is the true magic of Disneyland.

It was so early that there were no other people in the immediate area.

It still happens on occasion, and sometimes even adults get sprinkled with pixie dust. To get from the mainland to Tom Sawyer Island you take a small wooden raft on which you stand for a few minutes. And who piled in right after about 20 of us last November but The Bootstrappers, a rogue bunch of pirate musicians standing mere feet away. It was unexpected, and we were thoroughly delighted  children again for a brief two minutes.

The rafts to Tom Sawyer Island, and the island itself (designed, it is said, personally by Mr. Disney) closed on January 11 and will undergo the chop  literally in this case, since half the island is being removed  to make way for a massive 14 acre new land devoted to Star Wars.

What exactly will remain of Tom Sawyer Island is unknown to us for the next 18 months, but for the moment, let yourself be serenaded by The Bootstrappers as you make your way across the Rivers of America.
CBI is estimated to have unearthed prime properties worth around Rs 2000 crore belonging to Pearls group so far as questioning of its Chief Nirmal Singh Bhangoo continued to bring out more assets including two posh hotels in Goa.

The questioning of Bhangoo, accused of running Pearls ponzi scheme in which allegedly five crore investors were lured with attractive returns and about Rs 45,000 crore were raised, is continuing for the last 12 days since his arrest on January 9 this year, sources said.

During questioning, he, along with other executives, also in custody, is coming up with details of their properties, which shows that the money collected from depositors was allegedly diverted to the accounts of PACL and PGF which purchased such properties in India and abroad, they said.

No reaction was available from the company despite repeated emails to the address given on their website.

The sources claimed that during interrogation so far they have given details of properties worth at least Rs 2000 crore at present rates and it is counting.

They said Golden Palm Hotel in Calangute and another Golden Palm Hotel and Spa in Colava areas of tourist haven Goa, Pearls Business Park and Pearls Omaxe in Pitampura, Pearls Corporate (W. Mall) in Rohini in the National Capital are the allegedly latest disclosures by Bhangoo.

Besides agriculture land of around 800 acres near Bengaluru with the aim of developing Pearls Township, 37 residential plots and commercial properties in Gurgaon and 50 residential and comemrcial properties in Punjab were also allegedly purchased by the group, they claimed.

Earlier also, Bhangoo and other executives have allegedly admitted to have purchased 66 commercial properties in the heart of the national capital--Connaught Place--considered to be one of the poshest business addresses. Besides, huge land bank in Delhi and Gurgaon was also admitted to by them, the sources claimed.
Chambal Fertilisers today reported a net loss of Rs 163.32 crore for the December quarter due to fall in value of its investment in the subsidiary company.

The company had posted a profit of Rs 144.73 crore in the year-ago period.

Total income from operations rose to Rs 2,835.11 crore in the quarter under review from Rs 2,824.64 crore in the year-ago period, Chambal Fertilisers and Chemicals Ltd (CFCL) said in a regulatory filing.

"Based on the fair valuation from an independent valuer, the company has made a provision of Rs 296.18 crore on account of diminution in the value of its investment in CFCL Technologies Ltd, Cayman Islands, a subsidiary company. The same has been shown as exceptional item in the financial results," it added.

CFCL Tech, through its subsidiaries and step down subsidiaries, provides information technology solutions, outsourcing and other services.

The Board of the company today gave its approval to CFCL Tech to sell and dispose off the business that is being carried through its subsidiaries and step down subsidiaries including ISGN Solutions Inc, USA.

Shares of the company today closed 6.73 per cent down at Rs 54.05 on the BSE.
Chief Electoral Officers of 12 states, including those of five poll-bound states, today shared their experience on holding elections.

The meeting of the CEOs took place weeks before the Election Commission is likely announce the schedule for assembly polls in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Pudducherry, West Bengal and Assam.

Sources described the meeting as a regular affair where CEOs or Deputy CEOs gather at Nirvachan Sadan to share their experiences.

The meeting is held at regular intervals.

As EC prepares to hold assembly polls in the five states in the next few months, Commission teams have already visited Assam and West Bengal.

They would be in the southern states of Kerala, Pudducherry and Tamil Nadu sometime in the first week of February.
So long, People's Frontline. Adios, Comrade in Arms.

China's armed forces have shut down newspapers published by the country's seven military regions as part of a programme to downsize and streamline the world's largest standing military.

The papers, also including War Flag, Vanguard and People's Armed Forces, have been gradually superseded by official news and propaganda television and websites for soldiers whose access to the internet and smart phones is restricted.

The military's People's Liberation Army Daily said all the publications ceased publishing last week. The oldest is, Soldiers News, dated from 1930.

The closures leave the storied PLA Daily as the military's sole remaining daily publication, although state broadcaster CCTV also devotes an entire channel to the armed forces staffed by uniformed officers.

China is in the process of cutting 300,000 personnel from the 2.3 million-member military, reorganising its command structure and jettisoning non-essential functions such as arts troupes.

The reforms also aim to strengthen the Communist Party's ultimate control over the military, preventing any attempts to make it loyal instead to the people and nation rather than the ruling party.

They also come as China has become more assertive in pressing its claims to territory in the East China Sea and South China Sea, increasing tensions with its neighbours.
Chinese President Xi Jinping announced today billions of dollars in special loans and investments in the Middle East as Beijing seeks to boost its economic ties and clout in the region.

Xi offered China's financial support in an address to the Cairo-based Arab League after holding talks with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi during his first tour to the Middle East as president.

Xi arrived in Cairo late yesterday from Saudi Arabia and will travel tomorrow to Iran, the last leg of his three-nation tour.

Xi offered USD 55 billion in loans and investments to the Middle East.

"China will offer USD 15 billion as special loans for industrial projects in the Middle East," he told the Arab League.

Another USD 10 billion would be provided as commercial loans to boost cooperation in the energy sector and an equivalent amount will be offered as preferential loans, he said.

Xi also announced the establishment of a common investment fund worth $20 billion for Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Beijing has long taken a backseat to other diplomatic players in the Middle East but analysts say the region is crucial to Xi's signature foreign policy initiative -- known as "One Belt One Road" -- touted as a revival of ancient Silk Road trade routes.

China, the world's second-largest economy, also relies heavily on oil and gas imported from the energy-rich Middle East.

"We are not setting up proxies or building a sphere of influence in the region," Xi told the Arab League.

Xi signed a slew of separate agreements with Cairo for undertaking projects in sectors like electricity, transportation and infrastructure.

"The total investments in these projects would be USD 15 billion. These projects will offer a new impetus to the economic development of Egypt," he said in a joint statement with Sisi.

Sisi said the agreements were the "best evidence of the two countries' determination to improve their levels of cooperation."



In an article in state-run newspaper Al-Ahram ahead of his visit, Xi expressed China's backing for Egypt running its affairs without outside interference.

"China supports the people of Egypt in making independent choices for the future of their own country," he wrote.
China will promote Haryana among its provinces, cities and companies as an ideal investment destination for education, healthcare, science and technology sectors, a Chinese Minister said today.

International Department Minister of the ruling Communist Party of China, Song Tao during a meeting with Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who is leading an official and business delegation to invite foreign direct investment to the state, said there were so many complementary ties between economies of Haryana and Chinese provinces.

The Chinese minister, who hosted a banquet for the delegation, expressed appreciation for the various initiatives of the BJP-led Government at the Centre and in different states, a statement by the Haryana Government said.

Song said that he was impressed by the Haryana government's policy of zero tolerance for corruption, according to the statement.

The minister also promised to enhance Chinese efforts for cultural exchanges and people to people interactions with Haryana.

In the meeting, the Haryana Chief Minister said India and China have a strong relations since centuries ago and it is more important to be good neighbours rather than being just neighbours.

He said he was looking forward to attracting a large number of Chinese companies.

The Chief Minister was leading an official and business delegation to Japan and China to invite foreign direct investment to the state.

Khattar curtailed his visit to China due to the Indo-French business summit on January 24 in Chandigarh, which will be attended by Prime Minsiter Narendra Modi and French President Francois Hollande.
Thane prison authorities today told the Bombay High Court that they have provided a bed, blanket and pillow as requested by artist Chintan Upadhyay, arrested for allegedly murdering his wife Hema and her lawyer Harish Bhambhani.

The prison authorities were responding to a petition filed by Chintan, who is lodged in Thane jail, seeking a bed to sleep in his cell as he is unable to sleep on the floor due to spondylitis.

The jail authorities today told a division bench headed by Justice R V More that a bed, blanket and pillow have been provided to Chintan, and if in future he requires such facilities then he may request the jail superintendent.

Following this, Chintan's lawyer withdrew the petition.

Chintan was arrested on December 28, last year in connection with the murder of his estranged wife Hema and her lawyer Bhambhani.

Four others accused in the murder case -- Pradip Rajbhar, Vijay Rajbhar, Shivkumar Rajbhar and Azaad Rajbhar -- are also currently lodged in judicial custody.

However, the main accused, Vidyadhar Rajhbhar, is still at large.

Hema, an installation artist, and Bhambhani were found dead in a drain in Dhanukar Wadi in suburban Kandivli on December 11, last year.
City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) has appointed Nirmala Niketan to study the socio-economic and demographic profile of Navi Mumbai, which will help the authority to plan effective development of Navi Mumbai.

"The Research Unit of the College of Social Work, Nirmala Niketan will conduct the study, which will provide the benchmark progress of Navi Mumbai and the direction in which city is moving," CIDCO said in a statement.

The survey and studies will be helpful to policy makers, planners and administrators in particular and others in general, it said.

"Without the co-operation and necessary help from the citizens it will not be possible to get response and reliable data. Incorrect information will however, lead to a wrong database, which will result in faulty planning. The success of the survey thus critically depends on the quality of response from public," CIDCO said.

The duration of survey will be from third week of January to May.

"These studies have played a key role in shaping up Navi Mumbai and will continue to provide guideline for the better future of citizens of the city," it added.
Drug major Cipla today said it has received approval from competition watchdog CCI over the proposed investment by Mauritius-based FIL Capital Investments in its consumer healthcare business vertical.

The Competition Commission of India has granted approval to the proposed investment by FIL Capital Investments (Mauritius) II Limited in Cipla Health Limited, subsidiary of the company, Cipla Ltd said in a regulatory filing.

The order of the CCI will be sent to FIL Capital Investments (Mauritius) II Ltd subsequently, it added.

The company however added that "the investment is still subject to, amongst other conditions precedent, approval from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board and the transfer of company's consumer healthcare business to Cipla Health Ltd.

Last year the Mumbai-based drug maker had inked an investment agreement with FIL Capital Investments (Mauritius) II Limited for its consumer healthcare business.

Through the consumer healthcare business, Cipla has entered the over-the-counter (OTC) healthcare market in India.

Earlier, the company's board had approved divestment of its consumer healthcare business to Cipla Health, a wholly- owned subsidiary, by way of a slump sale for a consideration of Rs 10.5 crore.

Shares of Cipla today ended at Rs 581.65 apiece on the BSE, down 2 per cent from previous close.
The National Green Tribunal today castigated the Himachal Pradesh government for delay in deciding the mode of transport which it would prefer to ply on the 51-km long Manali-Rohtang highway, an eco-sensitive area.

The green panel also took exception to the state government's stand that it was mulling to purchase environment friendly electric buses to curb pollution in the state, after having tested CNG buses.

"You have taken more than a year to decide which vehicles should go to Rohtang Pass. You make a statement before us stating as to which mode of transport you would prefer in this region--CNG or electric.

"Come with clear cut instructions on the matter. We will ask the Ministry of Heavy Industries to buy two electric buses for the state and you put them on trial. But, please do something," a bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar said.

The observations came after the state government told the bench that it has yet not decided about the mode of transport in the eco-sensitive area of Rohtang pass.

In August last year, the state government had told the green bench that it has planned to introduce CNG buses for regular operation from Vashist to Rohtang Pass and its trial runs have been successful.

However, the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, in a power-point presentation to the bench, had demonstrated the possibility of running electric and hybrid buses from Manali to Rohtang and said it was ready to part- finance state government in purchase of 25 electric buses.

It had also told the green panel the cost of these 25 buses would be Rs 50 crore and the funding of the project would be in the 75:25 ratio.

The Tribunal has banned tourism and commercial activities in the Rohtang Pass area to check environmental degradation and melting of the glaciers, which have been receding at a fast pace of 20 metres a year since 1986.
Colombia released 16 FARC guerrillas today, the first to walk free under a pardon issued in peace negotiations that appear to be closing in on a deal to end a half-century conflict.

The jailed rebels, the first out of a group of 30 to be pardoned, were released in a goodwill gesture to reciprocate for a unilateral ceasefire declared six months ago by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), said the office of the government's high commissioner for peace.

"This is a first, unilateral gesture by the government after evaluating the observance of the FARC's unilateral ceasefire and the resulting reduction in violence and advances in the (peace) process," it said in a statement.

The FARC welcomed the release as a "positive gesture," but called on the government to also free 80 other rebels with health problems.

The newly freed inmates themselves insisted the move was only a first step.

"We still can't break into applause, because our comrades are still in prison," Sandra Patricia Isaza, one of those freed, told journalists.

The jailed guerrillas were serving sentences for rebellion, a catch-all charge against FARC members. They had not been convicted of serious crimes.

President Juan Manuel Santos's government pardoned them on November 22.

Under the terms of their release, the rebels -- nine men and seven women freed from two Bogota prisons -- must promise not to re-enter the FARC.

But four of them will be allowed to travel to the three-year-old peace talks in Havana, where they will be briefed as "authorized civilians," the government said.

Political analyst Jorge Restrepo called the release a key "trust-building gesture" as negotiators seek to chart a post-conflict future in which the FARC will transition from a guerrilla group to a political party.

"For the first time, we will see the FARC acting in society. We will see who they are, what they're going to do and whether they will participate in politics," he told AFP.

The peace talks in Havana have made several key advances in recent months, and the two sides have set a deadline of March 23 to sign a final accord -- though the FARC have warned that "substantial" obstacles could get in the way.

The two sides have signed deals on four of the six agenda items at the talks: justice for victims, land reform, political participation for ex-rebels and fighting the drug trafficking that has fueled the conflict in the world's largest cocaine-producing country.
After talks with Congress leaders from Tamil Nadu, Rahul Gandhi today held consutlations with leaders from poll-bound Assam and Puducherry on the strategy in which the issue of alliances figured prominently.

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, who is completing his third consecutive term as Assam Chief Minister, met Rahul Gandhi along with PCC Chief Anjan Datta and AICC General Secretary C P Joshi.

While the party's central leaders described the meeting as merely "ongoing consultations", Gogoi is already on record saying that the party wants to go it alone in the north-eastern state. There had been a speculation regarding a possible alliance between Congress, Badruddin Ajmal's AIDUF and Asom Gana Parishad.

In a separate meeting, senior leaders of Puducherry Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) also apprised the Congress Vice President about the current political developments in the union territory.

AICC general secretary and former Union Minister of State V.Narayanasamy, Leader of Opposition V.Vaithilingam and PPCC president A.Namassivayam met Gandhi.

Yesterday, Gandhi had held deliberations with Congress leaders from Tamil Nadu on the strategy to be adopted in the poll-bound state where the issue of forging an alliance holds the key to prospects of the party.

A section in the party believes that the high command would opt for an alliance with DMK and other like-minded parties like DMDK in the state ruled by AIADMK.

Only last month, DMK chief M Karunanidhi had said that Congress would be invited to join the alliance led by his outfit for coming assembly elections in Tamil Nadu.

Karunanidhi's statement had come nearly three years after snapping ties with Congress.

Congress is out of power in Tamil Nadu for nearly five decades and has generally been aligning with either of the Dravidian parties- DMK or AIADMK. Sometimes, it had contested alone too but without much success.

Reports had it that some leaders from Tamil Nadu had utilised the opportunity to press for their demand for removal of PCC Chief E V K S Elangovan.

AICC has given signals that the decision on the issue of alliances would be taken keeping in mind the aim of checking ruling BJP in 2019 Lok Sabha elections and the view of the state units on tieups in their areas.
National Aluminium Company Ltd's (NALCO) former CMD Abhay Kumar Srivastava has been put on trial for allegedly acquiring assets of over Rs 2.5 crore disproportionate to his income by a Delhi court, which also framed charges against his wife for abetting the crime.

While Srivastava was charged for the alleged offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act, his wife Chandini Srivastava was put on trial under section 109 (punishment of abetment) of the IPC.

This is the second case in which charges have been framed against them. The couple, along with five others, has been put on trial in another corruption case by the court.

"Order on charge is announced. Charge framed against both the accused persons. Both the accused plead not guilty. Come up for prosecution evidence on March 17," Special CBI Judge Vinod Kumar said.

CBI has alleged that Srivastava, a public servant during the check period from May 3, 2001 to February 25, 2011, had acquired huge immoveable and moveable assets which were disproportionate to the extent of Rs 2,29,49,746 to his known sources of income.

Regarding his wife, the agency has alleged that she had abetted the commission of offence by Srivastava.

It has claimed that gold bricks and jewellery were found in a bank locker which was opened by Chandini impersonating as Anita Bajaj, a co-accused in the graft case.

During the arguments, the court had asked the agency to explain that when 10 gold bricks were recovered from the bank locker, why only seven gold bricks were being counted in the assets of accused.

CBI had told the court that of the 10 bricks, three were connected with a separate trap case wherein the bribe was converted into gold bricks.

The counsel appearing for the accused had told the court that it would be for the CBI to prove that these gold bricks belonged to his clients.

"I am of the opinion that if three gold bricks are part of bribe in trap case....It does not mean that the acquiring (sic) of three gold bricks has been explained by the accused.

"The said bribe money does not form 'known source of income' in any manner," the judge said, adding "therefore, all the 10 gold bricks have to be counted in the list of assets.
In a bid to take pressure off the Crime Branch in dealing with the increasing instances of cyber crimes, such cases would now be probed at the police station level, the Kanpur Zonal IG today said.

Until now the Crime Branch of the district concerned used to handle the cases related to cyber crimes.

In a letter to all the SSPs the SPs concerned, Zonal IG Ashutosh Pandey today said the Crime Branch was finding it difficult to focus on other cases due to increasing number of crimes related to the cyber world.

He instructed them to register cases related to cyber crime at the police station concerned instead of sending them to the Crime Branch.

This would take pressure off the Crime Branch which could undertake other necessary tasks, the IG said in the letter.

The IG also assured that in case any police station does not have a senior inspector-level officer to deal with such cases, they will be made available within 24 hours of getting request for posting such an officer.
Cybercriminals are targetting India, US and other countries with fraudulent "tax deduction" emails to steal information, security software firm Symantec said.

"During the last 3 months, Symantec has observed malicious emails claiming to be from India's Income Tax Department. The report shows 43 per cent of these scam emails were delivered in India, followed by the US (20 per cent), and the UK (14 per cent)," Symantec Senior Security Response Manager Satnam Narang told PTI.

He added that there have been at least two types of emails in circulation -- one that claims that thousands of rupees have been deducted from the recipient's bank account as a tax payment and the other copies the template of an actual intimation sent by the IT-Department.

Narang said the activity could grow further towards the closing of the financial year as people file their income and other taxes.

"While each email differs in its template, the goal is the same: to infect computers with an information-stealing Trojan that logs keystrokes. It also collects system information like titles of open windows and the operating system version that is sent back to attacker command and control server," he said.

The mails stating that money has been deducted contain an attached file that claim to be a receipt for the payment.

The alleged receipts are ZIP files that contain information-stealing malware that Symantec detects as Infostealer.Donx, he said.

On the other hand, the authentic looking mail with the Personal Account Number (PAN) (used to identify taxpayers in India) contains an attached ZIP file that is not password- protected.

"Contrary to what the email claims, the ZIP file does not contain a PDF. Instead, it contains another information- stealing Trojan that Symantec detects as Trojan.Gen," Narang said.

He added that the attackers spoof the domain for email addresses belonging to the Income Tax Department of India in an effort to make the emails look more convincing.

"In India, the IT-Department does send intimation emails to taxpayers. While these emails include attachments, they are password-protected using the taxpayers' PAN and date of birth/date of incorporation. This is unique to each entity and adds credibility that the source of the email is the IT Department," he said.

Narang added that one should avoid opening suspicious looking mails and report the email to Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In).
Coming out in support of Hyderabad University students who are agitating following suicide by a scholar, dalit faculty members today threatened to step down from administrative positions if their key demand of revocation of suspension of four other students is not met.

The forum for Scheduled Caste faculty said that some of its members would step down from their administrative positions as a mark of solidarity with the agitating students.

The forum members demanded revocation of suspension of four students who were punished along with research scholar Rohith Vemula over their alleged involvement in assault on an ABVP leader. Rohith committed suicide in his hostel room on Sunday.

"We have taken a decision to lay down all our administrative position which some of our colleagues are holding...We are expecting some kind of decision from the authorities, if not done, we will be forced to do that," Sudhakat Babu, a forum member, said.

Vemula's alleged suicide following his suspension has snowballed into a major row with BJP's rivals wading into it and demanding the removal of Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani and Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya, accusing them of being responsible for the death.

The agitating students are demanding resignation of Dattatreya, removal of Vice Chancellor Appa Rao Podile, Rs five crore compensation to Rohith's family and employment to a member of his family, besides revocation of suspension of four students.

Politicians from various parties continue to throng the campus. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and CPI General Secretary S Sudhakar Reddy are expected to visit the campus today.

Students have been sitting on an indefinite hunger strike from yesterday as a part of the ongoing agitations.

Meanwhile, Irani yesterday spoke on the issue and accused political rivals of attempting to "instigate" students on the issue and dismissed demands for her resignation.

CPI(M)'s Sitaram Yechury, TMC MP Derek O' Brien and YSR Congress President Y S Jaganmohan Reddy visited the university yesterday and met the agitating students.
Congress today flayed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's silence over the suicide by a Dalit research scholar in Hyderabad Central University while accusing the BJP of playing caste politics over it.

"What has happened to Rohith Vemula in Hyderabad? Is this is not casteism and victimisation," Congress Rajya Sabha MP Kumari Selja said.

"Both the Union ministers are accountable for what has happened," she said while seeking immediate dismissal of HRD Minister Smriti Irani and Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya.

"How can one in the government call a bright student anti-national," the Congress leader said, adding the role and functioning of the Vice Chancellor of the university too is "questionable".

"Modi should speak and take action against his ministers," she said, adding that the PM must show the country that he delivers on what he says.

"The negative politics of BJP is spreading to educational institutions of the country too," she said adding the Modi government was responsible for "vitiating" the atmosphere of the country.

She said the "anti-Dalit mindset of the BJP, RSS and the government has been manifesting itself in various forms across the country, with blatantly partisan crimes and atrocities being committed against Dalits with active encouragement from the Central Government."



Hitting out at Irani, she said that the HRD minister had been lying in a bid to "protect" the perpetrators.

"Irani yesterday came up with a set of lies that have been thoroughly and totally exposed in less than 12 hours of her assertions," she said.

Selja said Irani should have visited the family of the victim and also assessed the ground situation.

"Irani is making baseless claims on the suicide to misguide the country," Selja said adding, the BJP has been playing "casteist politics" over the issue.

She alleged Irani had "misled" the country by saying a "blatant lie" that the sub-committee of the Executive council, which recommended the expulsion of five Dalit students of whom Rohith Vemula later committed suicide, was headed by a Dalit faculty member.

The claim has been proved to be patently false by none other than the University's SC/ST Teachers and Officers Forum, who have not only made public the truth of the committee having been headed by an upper caste man, but have also decided to resign from all administrative positions in protest against the Ministers' "fabricated" statement, she said.
JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav today described the dalit student incident in Hyderabad University a "national shame" and accused the government of working against the interests of students from deprived sections of the society.

Citing a parliamentary committee report, the Rajya Sabha MP said it had raised serious concerns over the lackadaisical approach of the HRD Ministry and UGC as they had failed to take concrete measures to fill up the 27 per cent seats reserved for the OBC community.

"The HRD Ministry confessed that 40 per cent of the reserved category seats continue to remain vacant," he said, adding that lack of support group for dalit students, who face lot of pressure to succeed due to poor background, leads to disproportionately frequent suicides among such students.

"The dismal representation of faculty from suppressed classes of society also contributes to caste discrimination because students from similar backgrounds do not even find support group to hear their difficulties and to give them proper advice," Yadav said in a statement.

"Our heads bow down when the cases of suicide like that of Rohith Vemula happen and it a national shame for us," he said.

He noted that "atrocities, abuses and discrimination" against dalits and backward classes are not new in the country but such incidents are increasing manifold now in universities also. "It is a worrying trend that this caste system has reached central institutions and universities.

(Reopens DEL22)



Stepping up the attack on the government on the issue, JD-U demanded immediate resignation of Union Ministers Smriti Irani and Bandaru Dattatreya and pitched for a CBI inquiry into the whole episode.

The party has also decided to send a two-member fact- finding team comprising its general secretary K C Tyagi and Rajya Sabha MP Pawan Varma to Hyderabad tomorrow, JD-U general secretary Javed Raza said.

Tyagi alleged that Union Minister of Labour and Employment Dattatreya built "pressure" on HRD Minister Irani on the ABVP student assault incident after which she "pressurised" the Hyderabad University to act.

"Both the ministers should resign from the post to ensure a fair probe so as the Vice Chancellor (Appa Rao)," he added.

Attaching no importance to the fact-finding team sent by the HRD Ministry to look into the issue, Tyagi said that "very junior" persons have been sent to look into the matter.

"We demand a CBI inquiry into the case. We also urge the state government to recommend a CBI probe into it," he said.
Latching on to the revocation of suspension of four Dalit scholars of Hyderabad University, Congress today demanded immediate sacking of HRD Minister Smriti Irani and Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya and an apology by the Prime Minister for Irani's "misconduct".

"Belated decision of Hyderabad Central University to revoke the suspension of four dalit Ph.D. Scholars (colleagues of deceased Rohith Vemula) proves the guilt, complicity and collusion of BJP-ABVP-University authorities in perpetuating anti-poor, anti-dalit agenda on the University campus".

"Regrettably, had this decision been taken prior to 17th January, 2016; Rohith Vemula would have been alive today," party's chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala said in a strongly- worded statement.

He said that the decision to revoke order confirmed the "lies, deception and falsehood" meted out by the HRD Minister.

"It also establishes the completely illegal and unconstitutional pressure used by HRD Ministry earlier leading to suspension of five dalit Ph.D. Scholars and consequent suicide of Rohith Vemula", he said.

Besides, he claimed that it "confirmed" the role of Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya; BJP MLC Ramachandra Rao; ABVP activists; University Vice-Chancellor Appa Rao and others.

Congress, he said, therefore, demands that Irani and Dattatreya as also Appa Rao should be immediately sacked.

He wanted a sitting High Court judge to inquire into the role of Irani, Dattatreya and University authorities.

Fair and adequate compensation along with a job should be given to the family of Rohith, he said, adding that "above all, Prime Minister Narendra Modi must apologize to the Nation."



Earlier in the day at a press conference, he stepped up the attack on the HRD Minister demanding that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with his ministerial colleagues should apologise to the nation and dalits for her "misconduct of misleading the nation"



"...Irani is lying through her teeth in a bid to protect the ABVP leader. She is misleading the nation by giving false information," Surjewala said, seeking to dismiss the claims of Irani on the issue.

Irani had yesterday said that the ABVP leader, who was attacked in student rivalry earlier, also belonged to the OBC community as was Dattatreya, who had written a letter to her about the attack.

In the statement later, he said, "HRD Minister shockingly and shamelessly lied to the Nation, manufactured non-existent facts and misstated the complete set of events, purely with a view to defend the illegal intervention by her ministerial colleague, Shri Bandaru Dattatreya...".

Surjewala recalled that only yesterday the Vice



Chancellor publicly justified the suspension of the five dalit Ph.D. Scholars and defended HRD Ministry.

"Shockingly, HRD Minister, Ms Smriti Irani then held a press conference yesterday afternoon justifying the decision of University authorities qua suspension of five dalit Ph.D. scholars", he said.

He claimed that the HRD Minister "shamelessly" brushed aside the "overwhelming evidence" against ABVP activists relating to "social boycott" and use of "insulting and intemperate language" against dalit students on the campus.

Besides, he said she went to the extent of rejecting contents of letter dated December 18, 2015 addressed by Rohith and others to Vice Chancellor of University alleging "systematic persecution and humiliation" of dalit students besides demanding that either poison be administered or a rope be given to all dalit students to hang themselves in light of prevailing anti-dalit mindset.

Surjewala said that the "illegal" action of the University authorities against the five students followed five successive "unjustified" communications of HRD Ministry to University asking for action against them.

"All this stood exposed with the SC/ST Teachers Forum calling HRD Minister's statement as 'fabricated' and ten professors and Medical Officer of the University resigning today from all administrative responsibility", he said.

At the press conference, singling out Irani for attack, he said, "She is the custodian of all universities. She committed the unpardonable sin of lying to the nation. She spoke a number of lies to cover up a lie."



Surjewala said that by "shamelessly" justifying suspension of the 5 Dalit scholars, what is the justification now left of any fair or impartial enquiry.

"The truth is that the Education Minister has hoodwinked the country, has misled the country", he told reporters.

He demandned that action should be taken against the Vice Chancellor as also against Dattatreya and also BJP MLC Ramchandra Rao and they should be arrested in the case.

Besides, he wanted "fair and adequate" compensation be given to the family of Rohith and a job given.

Dattatreya and Hyderabad University Vice Chancellor Appa Rao and three others have been named in an FIR lodged with the Cyberabad police over the alleged suicide of 26-year-old PhD scholar Rohith who was found hanging at the Central University's hostel room on the campus on Sunday.

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi has also targeted Irani and Dattatreya, saying the ministers and the VC have "not acted fairly" that forced the Dalit scholar to take the extreme step.
Six persons, facing trial for allegedly gangraping a 52-year-old Danish woman here two years ago, today sought time frm a Delhi court to reply to police's plea seeking to place on record medical and potency test report of a 55-year-old accused.

Additional Sessions Judge Kaveri Baweja granted time to the defence counsel to file the response and fixed the case for January 27.

The prosecutor has sought court's permission to file original medical records and potency test report of accused Shyam Lal, who has claimed to be impotent, saying it was untraceable earlier.

The court had pulled up the police for filing documents at a belated stage as it had already reserved the judgment in the case for today, which would now be pronounced later.

According to the prosecution, the nine accused, all vagabonds, had allegedly robbed and gang-raped the Danish tourist at knife-point on the night of January 14, 2014, after leading her to a secluded spot close to the Divisional Railway Officers' Club near New Delhi Railway Station.

All the nine accused were arrested. The six adult accused - Mahendra alias Ganja (26), Mohd Raja (22), Raju (23), Arjun (21), Raju Chakka (22) and Shyam Lal (55) - are in judicial custody and facing trial.

Three other accused are juveniles against whom inquiry before the Juvenile Justice Board is in progress.

The accused are facing charges of alleged gangrape, kidnapping, wrongful confinement, dacoity with an attempt to cause death or grievous hurt, criminal intimidation and receiving stolen property under the IPC.

During recording of their testimonies, the six adult accused have claimed innocence and alleged that the police had falsely implicated them.
Delhi Government today criticised the Centre in Supreme Court for backing Sanskriti School in its fight to retain the 60 per cent quota for wards of top officers, saying that the union government's stand supported the "creation of class within class."



"We are supporting the Delhi High Court judgement (quashing 60 per cent quota for Group A officers). Our stand is not in consonance with central government. The rules for admission to army schools apply all over the country. But here you (Sanskriti School) have created a class within a class," advocate Siddharth Dave, appearing for the Delhi Government, submitted before a bench headed by Justice A R Dave.

Submitting that it was a class that has been controlling the school which was running on "an illegal foundation", he questioned the Centre's support to the school management saying it was not within the meaning of 'State'.

However, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi said the Centre was in the picture as the school was for the wards of its employees who are in transferrable jobs just like army schools and such others set up by different public sector undertakings which reserve seats upto 75 per cent for their employees' children.

Delhi Government said the school was on the land allocated by the government and they cannot in any manner do away with the rules laid down under the Delhi Schools Education Act.

Senior advocate Arvind Dattar, assisting the court as amicus curiae in the matter, said it has to be looked into what was the status of the society which has got a largesse like government land for running a school.

"What is the public service or public function that society is performing. The law is not clear," he said.

The Attorney General said an affidavit was already filed to include the Group B officers with transferrable jobs to be included in the ambit of the 60 per cent quota.

The bench was told that at present, besides 60 per cent quota for Group A services, 25 per cent seats were for economically weaker sections, 10 per cent for general public and five per cent is for management quota.

The Delhi Government said the schools have to follow the notification issued by it, by which the management quota has been abolished in all schools in the national capital.

The apex court was told that the notification was under challenge before the Delhi High Court which will be heard on January 28.

While concluding the day's hearing, the bench made it clear that it was not considering the issue of notification and passed the interim order that Sanskriti School will admit wards of all central government with transferrable jobs within the existing 60 per cent quota.
The Delhi government today appointed a fact-finding committee to audit the accounts of all the three municipal corporations and directed it to submit its report within a week.

The move comes as all the mayors of NDMC, EDMC and SDMC have been demanding release of funds due to them from the government.

Senior IAS officer A Anbarasu, Secretary Revenue-cum- Divisional Commissioner, will head the committee while Additonal Secretary (Urban), Sandeep Kumar Mishra will be its memeber, said an order by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.

In his order, Sisodia said the Divional Commissioner can co-opt any or all district magistrates, additonal magistrates and sub-district magistrates to do the audit.

He said that during the last one year, people of Delhi have undergone several day-to-day difficulties due to various agitations, strikes, demand notices by the staff of civic bodies inlcuding doctors, nurses, teachers, sanitation workers regarding non-payment of salaries and arrears.

"The Government of NCT of Delhi is pleased to appoint a Committee under the Chairmanship of A Anbarasu to inspect and scrutinise the accounts of North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) and South Delhi Muncipal Corporation (SDMC)and to report to this government whether municipal corporations are duly performing the obligatory functions mandated under Section 42 of the DMC Act, 1957," Sisodia said in the order.

Sisodia further said that under the provision of section



42 of Delhi Muncipal Corporation (DMC) Act, the muncipal corporations are under obligation to perform certain functions which have not been done so by the corporations as reported by citizens time and again.

Mayors of the three BJP-ruled municipal corporations in Delhi met President Pranab Mukherjee yesterday and sought his intervention for release of funds and implementation of the recommendations of the Fourth Delhi Finance Commission by the AAP government.

To take stock of the grant under Plan and Non-Plan heads to be released by the government, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal recently held a meeting with all the three mayors and told them that the AAP dispensation has released almost all its dues under both heads.

In the meeting, government had clarified that 100 per cent of funds have been released to both NDMC and EDMC while 80 per cent of funds has been released to SDMC and the remaining amount will be given to it by January 18.

Mayors of all three civic bodies and councillors of the BJP had on January 11 taken out a march from Rajghat to Delhi Secretariat demanding the release of funds to the civic bodies and implement recommendations of Delhi Finance Commission.

Councillors from opposition Congress had also joined their ruling counterparts in SDMC House in slamming the Kejriwal government for "not releasing funds" to the three municipal corporations.
Delhi Police today conducted a series of mock drills in South Delhi to check the alertness of the security forces ahead of Republic Day.

Amid a high alert situation, security across the national capital has been stepped up.

The two mock drills were conducted at Hauz Khas village and Khan Market between 5 PM and 7 PM jointly by Delhi police and NSG, said a senior official.

Bomb disposal squads, quick response teams, emergency response vehicles, dog squads, fire tenders, ambulances etc. were kept in loop during the exercise, whose prime objective was to check the alertness of the security forces amid a high alert situation, he said.
Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has his prison food tasted by a dog each day before he eats it to prevent anyone poisoning him, an official has said.

After his January 8 recapture, Guzman was returned to Altiplano, the same high-security prison that he escaped from through a tunnel six months ago.

A K9 unit guards the area where Mexico's most-wanted criminals are held, including Guzman, as part of new measures implemented three months ago, Eduardo Guerrero, the head of Mexico's penitentiary system, told Radio Imagen yesterday.

"A K9 tastes the food first because we must care for his physical integrity in case someone wants to poison him," Guerrero said, adding that the same thing is being done for other imprisoned drug barons.

Authorities have taken steps to prevent another escape, moving Guzman to a different cell 11 times since he was sent back to the prison.

"He was depressed when he arrived, tired, which is what he said in his first interview. He was very tired of being on the run," said Guerrero.

Officials gave Guzman a copy of the classic novel "Don Quixote" because "we think that it's an excellent book and I think that we must start giving him this type of reading material, so that he starts reading.
The European Union urged German auto giant Volkswagen today to compensate European consumers in the same way as its US customers over the emissions test scandal.

Volkswagen chief Matthias Mueller held talks with EU Industry Commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska about the scandal, in which Europe's biggest car maker fitted 11 million diesel engines worldwide with devices aimed at cheating emissions tests.

"Commissioner Bienkowska invited the group once again to reflect on adequate ways to compensate consumers," a spokeswoman for the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, said after the talks in Brussels.

"She repeated her clear view that EU consumers should be treated in the same way as US customers. Mr Mueller agreed to come back to the Commissioner on the points discussed," the spokeswoman added.

In the United States where Volkswagen is under investigation, the company has offered a "goodwill package" of USD 1,000 worth of gift and fidelity cards to buyers of affected cars.

But there has been no such offer in Europe, leading to complaints that consumers in the 28-nation bloc are being treated unfairly.

The EU has also been pressing VW to provide more details so it can assess environmental and health impacts of the scandal.

The Commission said Mueller had "committed to sharing without delay all technical information needed for the Commission to assess that the planned corrective measures are effective."



"The Commissioner reiterated that it is equally urgent to share full details concerning the deviations observed in CO2 emissions and (fuel) consumption data," the spokeswoman said.

Brussels is set to unveil new details soon of a system by which EU member states check the safety and environmental standards of all cars to be put on the market, to prevent a repeat of the scandal, the Commission said.
Officials say a former anti-narcotics officer and a Chinese national have been arrested in a drug bust in the Philippine capital that yielded USD 6.7 million worth of high-grade crystal methamphetamine.

Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and police officials said they confiscated 64 kilograms of crystal meth during a raid today on a Manila house that turned out to be a clandestine narcotics laboratory.

Both suspects were inside the house when it was raided.

Marine Lt Col Ferdinand Marcelino, superintendent of a navy training school, was the drug agency's former lead investigator. He has denied links to drug syndicates, saying he was on a legitimate intelligence mission.
Accusing HRD Minister Smriti Irani of misrepresenting facts in Rohith Vemula suicide case, dalit faculty members of Hyderabad University have threatened to quit their 'administrative positions' even as agitating students today said they plan to enlist support from campuses across the country to expand their stir.

The members of Dalit (SC/ST) faculty of Hyderabad University in a statement said that it is unfortunate that the Union minister "misrepresented" the facts of the case by stating that the senior most Dalit professor actually headed the executive council sub-committee which took the decision to suspend the students, while it was headed by an "upper caste" Professor Vipin Srivastava.

"Such a baseless and misleading statement coming from Honourable Minister of HRD amounts to bringing down the morale of the Dalits holding administrative positions in this university as well as other universities...In response to the Honourable Minister's fabricated statements, we the Dalit (SC/ST) faculty and officers will lay down our administrative positions," the statement said.

When contacted, a senior faculty member told PTI, "We (faculty and other officials) are going to give up our administrative posts if the minister doesn't correct her statement."



The faculty body further said that it is unfortunate that since its inception, no Dalit representation has been given in the Executive Council of University of Hyderabad.

They said it was just a coincidence that the chief warden was a Dalit and he only implemented the orders of the higher authorities that proclaimed of suspension of five students, including Rohith.

"By deflecting this issue, the Honourable HRD Minister is absolving herself and the Honourable Minister Bandaru Dattatreya from being responsible for the death of Rohith Vemula," the teachers' body alleged.

Expressing solidarity with the agitating students of the varsity, they demanded immediate revocation of suspension and withdrawal of all police cases filed against the students.

Rohith, whose body was found hanging in a hostel room on January 17, was among the five research scholars who were suspended by university in August last year and also one of the accused in the case of alleged assault on the ABVP leader.

Seeking to step up their protest over the issue, the agitating students of the university said they would organise a "Chalo-HCU" programme on January 25 and urged their colleagues from other universities across the country to join the campaign.

They have also called for burning effigies of Smriti Irani across the country.

The indefinite fast started by a group of students on the HCU campus seeking "justice" for the student entered the second day today.

Meanwhile, ABVP leader Nandanam Susheel Kumar, who is named as an accused in the case of abetting suicide of Rohith, demanded a "fair" inquiry into the incident and denied that he had lied about being manhandled by Rohith and other students of Ambedkar Students' Association (ASA) on August 3 last year.

"Reasons for Rohith's suicide should be thoroughly



examined. When a person like Rohith could confront so many people like us (and) also there was hearing by the High Court in two days, what made him go into depression?" Kumar told reporters here.

"Why did these people send Rohith to some other person's room without sending someone along with him? There are many issues in this. There should be a fair inquiry. And whoever is the culprit, let it be me or let it be anyone else, the culprit should be punished," he said.

Buttressing his claim that he was manhandled, the ABVP leader said he can produce records that he was admitted to hospital and underwent operation.

Vemula's alleged suicide following his suspension has snowballed into a major row with BJP's rivals wading into it and demanding the removal of Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani and Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya, accusing them of being responsible for the death.

The agitating students are demanding resignation of Dattatreya, removal of Vice Chancellor Appa Rao Podile, Rs five crore compensation to Rohith's family and employment to a member of his family, besides revocation of suspension of four students.

(Reopens BOM9)



Meanwhile, Dalit activists today staged protests and



blocked a road in Mumbai.

A 'rasta roko' was staged at Shivaji Chowk in Chembur and activists shouted slogans against BJP ministers Irani and Dattatreya.

Former Maharashtra Minister Chandrakant Handore was detained by police during the protest.

RPI leader Ramadas Athavale, who had gone to Hyderabad yesterday to express solidarity with Vemula's family, had to face the ire of students who said his party was a constituent of the BJP-led alliance, despite his condemnation of the people responsible for Vemula's suicide.
Delhi Police today claimed in court that all evidence proved the guilt of film-maker Mahmood Farooqui in a case in which he is facing trial for allegedly raping an American researcher.

Concluding its final arguments before Additional Sessions Judge Sanjiv Jain, the police explained the reason for delay in lodging the FIR in the case, saying the woman had returned to the US on expiry of her research visa to be with her family.

Advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing for the complainant, submitted before the court that the 30-year-old US native had to wait for her research visa to get renewed so that she could return to India and lodge the FIR.

The court will begin hearing the defence counsel's final arguments in the case tomorrow.

Farooqui, whose interim bail was also extended till the next date of hearing, had earlier denied the allegations levelled against him.

The court had commenced hearing final arguments in the case on last week when the police had said the testimony of the alleged victim, who had trusted Farooqui and considered him a friend, nailed the accused.

The trial in the case had commenced on September 9 last year when the woman appeared in the court and recorded her statement.

The American woman, during in-camera proceedings, had alleged that Farooqui had raped her at his Sukhdev Vihar residence here on March 28 and later apologised to her in several e-mails exchanged between them. Farooqui had claimed he had been falsely implicated by her.

The court had started trial in the case after framing charges of rape under section 376 (rape) of IPC against him.

The police had on June 19 lodged an FIR against Farooqui on the complaint of the woman after which the 'Peepli Live' co-director was arrested.

On July 29, a charge sheet was filed against Farooqui alleging he had raped the research scholar from Columbia University at his house in south Delhi.
Foreign Direct Investment flows into India nearly doubled in 2015 while the US emerged as the top host country for FDI last year, the UN's trade agency has said.

Global FDI flows "unexpectedly" increased significantly by 36 per cent, according to the annual report of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

"Global FDI unexpectedly increased significantly to USD 1.7 trillion and this is closer to the pre-crisis level and it is the highest since the global financial and economic crisis," said James Zhan, UNCTAD's Directorof the Division on Investment and Enterprise.

Just ahead of the release of the report on global investment in 2015 and forecasts for 2016, Zhan yesterday said, "The bad is that part of this global FDI are not really in the productive sector and is due for either inversion or corporate reconfiguration."



Developing economies, as a whole, saw their FDI reaching a new high of USD 741 billion -- 5 per cent higher than 2014, the report said.

Asia remained the largest FDI recipient region in the world, surpassing half a trillion US dollars and accounting for one-third of the global FDI flows, it said.

The US bounced back as the top host country for FDI in 2015 with FDI worth USD 384 billion, the report said.

The US is followed by Hong Kong (USD 163 billion), China (USD 136 billion), Netherlands (USD 90 billion), the UK (USD 68 billion), Singapore (USD 65 billion), India (USD 59 billion), Brazil (USD 56 billion), Canada (USD 45 billion) and France (USD 44 billion) as the top 10 FDI host economies of the world.

FDI flows to the developed countries bounced back sharply reaching their second highest level ever at USD 936 billion.

In Africa, Latin America as well as transition economies there was a decline in FDI last year partly because of stumbling commodity prices and regional instability.

FDI flows are expected to decline in 2016, UNCTAD said.

This reflects "the fragility of the global economy, volatility of global financial markets, weak aggregate demand and significant deceleration in large emerging economies", it said.

Elevated geo-political risks and regional tensions could further amplify these economic challenges, the report said.
At least five Egyptian policemen, including three officers, were killed when militants stormed a police checkpoint in the country's restive North Sinai and opened fire on them, the Interior Ministry said today, in the latest attack claimed by the Islamic State group.

Three other conscripts were injured during the exchange of fire with the militants in Al-Arish city late last night.

The militants targeted a group of policemen and killed five of them. Security forces have cordoned off the area and are searching for the attackers, the ministry said in a statement.

The Islamic State terror group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on jihadist websites.

Egypt's North Sinai has witnessed many violent attacks by militants since the January 2011 revolution that toppled president Hosni Mubarak.

The attacks targeting police and military personnel increased after the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 by military following massive protests against his rule.

More than 700 security personnel have been killed and over 18,000 have been injured since 2011.

The military has launched security campaigns in the area, arrested suspects and demolished hideouts of the terrorists, including those facilitating tunnels leading to the Gaza Strip.
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The National Food Security Law will be implemented in all states and Union Territories, barring Tamil Nadu, by April this year, Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said today.

Till now, 25 states and UTs have rolled out the law while 11 are in the process of doing so, he said.

The law was passed by Parliament in 2013 and state governments were given one year to implement it. Since then, the deadline has been extended thrice till September 2015.

The food law provides legal entitlement to 5 kg of subsidised foodgrains per person every month at Rs 1-3 kg to two-thirds of India's population.

"When we came to power, the food law was implemented in only 11 states. Now, it has been rolled out in 25 states. All states and UTs, barring Tamil Nadu, will implement by April this year," Paswan told reporters here.

Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Megalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Andaman Nicobar, Mizoram, Dadar and Nagar Haveli and Tamil Nadu are 11 states which are yet to implement the food law.

The minister said that direct cash transfer of food subsidy is being implemented on a pilot basis in Puducherry and Chandigarh. "Dadra and Nagar Haveli, is also in full readiness for implementation of this pilot cash transfer/DBT scheme," he added.

Outlining steps taken in last 19 months to strengthen Public Distribution System (PDS), Paswan said digitisation of ration cards is one of the important components for making PDS leak proof and the government has digitised 97 per cent of total 24.99 crore ration cards across the country and soon 100 per cent will be digitised.

Over 10.10 crore ration cards have been seeded with Aadhaar, online allocation of foodgrains implemented in 19 states/UTs, 61,904 fair price shops (FPS) have been automated by installing 'Point of Sale' devices, he said.

"By March this year, about 2 lakh FPS will have this device," he said.

The minister further said that the transparency portal to display all operations of PDS has been launched in 27 states and UTs. Online system for redressal of PDS grievances has been put in place in all states.

That apart, rules for payment of food security allowance to the beneficiary in the case of non-delivery of foodgrains have been notified, he added.

In order to provide nutritional security to economically vulnerable sections and to have better targeting of 'other welfare schemes' for poor, Pawan said, a committee of ministers under his chairmanship has not only decided continuation of foodgrain allocation for Other Welfare Schemes but also recommended for providing milk and eggs.

Total food subsidy to implement the food law is estimated to be Rs 1.3 lakh crore.

The government said meanwhile that it is considering



supplying fortified rice and wheat atta via other welfare schemes and is awaiting set quality norms from the food safety regulator FSSAI.

"We are looking at food fortification. FSSAI in February 2015 had taken out standards on wheat atta. It is yet set standards for rice atta. We are waiting," Food Secretary Vrinda Sarup said.

The Centre has allocated 61 million tonnes of foodgrains to states for distribution under PDS and other welfare schemes as on January 18 of this fiscal.

On FCI reforms, the Food Minister said the government has initiated work to bring all FCI godowns connected on an online platform to check reported leakage.

So far, the depot online system has been initiated in 30 sensitive places. The system will be put in FCI-owned depots by May this year and other hired depots by year-end, he added.

On construction of modern silos for foodgrains storage, the Minister said it is aiming to create 10 million capacity by 2020 under public private partnership (PPP) mode at various locations in the country.

A silo with a capacity of 5 lakh tonnes will be completed this fiscal and another silo with a capacity of 15 lakh tonnes will be set up next fiscal.

At present, the country has a total storage capacity of 79.6 million tonnes.

On future plans, the Food Minister said the government will set up a centre of excellence on food in partnership with the UN agency World Food Programme and also upgrade Kanpur- based National Sugar Institute as international institute.

He also hoped passage of the Consumer Protection Bill and Bureau of Indian Standards Bill in Parliament this year. These two bills have already been passed in the Lok Sabha.
Calling for a pioneering revolution in the food processing sector in the state, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today sought the support of Union Food Processing Ministry for formulating a "Comprehensive Action Plan" to achieve the goal.

Interacting with a high-level team of Union Food Processing Ministry here, Badal noted that the Ministry along with the state government should formulate an ambitious plan within a month so that a big push could be given to the food processing sector in the state.

He said that the hard working and resilient farmers of the state have led the country's Green Revolution (foodgrain production), White Revolution (milk production) and Blue Revolution (fish production) and now it was time their indomitable spirit of entrepreneurship was channelized in the food processing sector.

The Chief Minister said the Punjabi farmers made the state a leader in foodgrains production but it has reached a point of saturation.

In such a scenario, processing of foodgrains, meat, fish, milk, fruits, vegetables and other could do wonders in supplementing the income of farmers, he said.

"I firmly believe that food processing is the panacea of all ills faced by the farmers," he said.

The Chief Minister urged the representatives of the Union Food Processing Ministry to open demonstration-cum-training centres across the state to encourage farmers to take up food processing.

He said that these centres that will exhibit the techniques, ways and finished products, would act as a catalyst in making food processing a mass movement in the state.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister also gave his nod for a tie-up between Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University and National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management (NIFTEM) for introduction of several courses in food processing.

To further boost the food processing sector in the state, he asked NIFTEM to explore the feasibility of setting up dedicated training centres for milk, fruits and vegetables, honey, fish and meat processing by becoming a technical knowledge partner of the state.

During the meeting, it was decided that 200 programmes would be held across the state from February to November at a cost of Rs 18 crore to impart highly skilled training to farmers.

Terming the AAP as a "bunch of unprincipled leaders",



Badal reiterated that due to the ongoing "tug of war" in the party, it would "vanish" from the political arena of the state before the 2017 assembly elections.

"What else can be the fate of the party whose leaders are making beeline to quit the party formed about two years ago. It is a clear indication that this house of cards will crumble soon," he claimed.

On the occasion, he listed the major initiatives taken by the state government for various sections of the society.

Later on interacting with reporters, Badal termed the Uri terror attack as an "attack on sovereignty and integrity of the country".

He said the entire country must unite against such attacks.

Replying to another question, the Chief Minister said there was no move regarding the appointment of new SGPC chief.

He said after the recent judgment by Supreme Court on Sehajdari issue, the Union government would issue notification for the new house of SGPC after which the meeting of apex Sikh religious body (SGPC) would take place.
German brewers will be clinking glasses this year to the 500th anniversary of their "purity law", even as craft label designers complain the decree is cramping their style.

Known in German by the verbal mouthful "das Reinheitsgebot", one of the world's oldest food safety laws limited the ingredients of the amber brew to just water, barley and hops, although yeast was later added to the approved list.

A Bavarian nobleman and early consumer rights advocate, Munich's Duke William IX laid down the law on April 23, 1516, worried that the medieval staple was being adulterated with sawdust, soot and poisonous plants.

Today the regulation -- far from being a remnant of the days of knights and castles -- is a global selling point for German lager, pils and weissbier varieties around the world, say brewers.

"In contrast to our colleagues abroad, German brewers don't use artificial flavours, enzymes or preservatives," said Hans-Georg Eils, president of the German Brewers' Federation, at the Green Week agricultural fair in Berlin.

The keep-it-simple brews indeed suit a trend toward organic and wholesome food, agreed Frank-Juergen Methner, a beer specialist at the National Food Institute of Berlin's Technical University.

"In times of healthy nutrition, demand for beer which is brewed according to the Reinheitsgebot is on the rise too," he said.

Some simply follow their gut feeling as they hail the law, which will mark its 500th birthday at an April 22 ceremony in Ingolstadt, and nationwide a day later, the Day of German Beer.

"Munich's beers, they are so good -- I really believe there's no better," said Nick Zanic, sitting in a Bavarian bar, expressing a widely held local sentiment.

With even small towns and ancient monasteries making their own centuries-old brands, Germany has 3,500 breweries that exported about 1.5 billion litres (396 million gallons) last year.

In a country where beer has long been king, per capita consumption has dropped off to 107 litres (226 pints) a year from 150 litres in the 1970s.

Most of Germany's breweries stick to the old Bavarian regulation that evolved over the centuries and became imperial law in 1907.

Beer experts acknowledge that the intentions behind the rule may not always have been as a pure as the beer itself, and that it was also aimed against international competitors.

Until the 1950s, Bavaria banned the import of beers from other states.
'Goa Carnaval' this year will begin on February 6 and will be one of the most colourful and vibrant editions of the festival, the state's tourism minister Dilip Parulekar said today.

The Carnaval, which will continue till February 9, will aim to spread the message of peace, unity and harmony and be a tribute to the state's diverse population and heritage, he said.

Unveiling this year's edition of the Carnaval, which attract tourists from across the globe, Parulekar said the state was working hard to make it the premiere state tourism event.

"The Goa Carnaval is one of the biggest highlights in the state and the country. It is a colourful and vibrant spectacle which gives one a glimpse into Goa's glorious past and is a shining example of how traditions have been carried over time," Parulekar said.

He said Goa was working on the project in association with an UK-based art organisation Brouhaha International. "The project is entitled 'Destination Carnival' which is aimed at exchange of ideas and talent across three countries namely the UK, South Africa and Goa," he added.

The main float parade of the Carnaval will be held in Panjim on February 6, followed by float parades in Margao (February 7), Vasco (February 8) and Mapusa (February 9).

Safety, security and cleanliness aspects have been taken into account to ensure that the celebration is a truly memorable one, he said, adding, King Momo, the legendary character who declares the Carnaval open, will be chosen shortly.

Anticipating a huge footfall for the event, he said, Goa is drawing up elaborate plans and measures to ensure 100 per cent safety for everyone and have increased deployment of police at tourist spots.

Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) is also organising the annual wine festival 'Grape Escapade 2016' from February 4 to February 7 at the DB Bandodkar Grounds, Campal, he said.

An array of programmes, folklore, music and dance performances will be presented, while food courts and Goan delicacies will also be banqueted during the five-day wine festival, he added.
Goa government will amend Factories Act to allow women to work overnight in different industrial establishments as it is of view that certain norms restricting employment of women at night has had a "deterrent effect" on their job prospects.

"The amendment to the Act would be done empowering the state government to vary the current time limits with respect to employment of women while ensuring safety of women who work in any factory or manufacturing process between the hours of 7 PM and 6 AM, which will improve the employability of women and also help the industry to select the staff of their choice," stated a statement released by the Department of Information and Publicity.

The suggestion to allow women to work overnight in the industrial units was put up by the Industrial Promotion Board citing similar amendments in states like Maharashtra, Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

The government will have to amend section 66 of Factories Act, 1948 for the purpose.

For male workers, the government has expressed its intention to increase total hours of work per week, including overtime, from 60 to 72 and to 75-125 hours.

"Any objections or suggestions to the said proposal may be forwarded to the Secretary, Factories and Boiler department, before February 29, 2016," it stated.

Government is of the view that "privatisations and globalisations" have brought in unprecedented competition in the industry.

"Survival has become the main problem against the backdrop of opening of the economy since 1991. Flexibility in hours of work is indispensable to maintain the pace of production.

"In modern times, there cannot be discrimination against the female workers as far as job opportunities are concerned. Specified provision restricting the employment of women at night has deterrent effect on employment of women," it stated.

The central government has launched various initiatives to make business at ease and the programme such as "Make In India" has been a major step in this regard, the release stated.

"Attracting investment in state in pursuance to this initiative has multiple benefits not only through generation of revenue but also creating employment opportunities," it added.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today ruled out any pre-poll alliance with any party for the coming assembly elections in the state but said the Congress was open to "electoral understanding" in some seats.

"We are not for any pre-poll alliance. But we are open for some electoral understanding in some seats," he told reporters here.

Gogoi's statement came a day after Badaruddin Ajmal, chief of AIUDF which has significant base among the state's over 34 per cent Muslim population, made an offer for pre-poll alliance with Congress.

"We don't know what will happen after the elections. But there will be no pre-poll alliance," he asserted.

Asked about his meeting with Rahul Gandhi, Gogoi said the Congress vice-president has already made it clear that the Assam unit of the party will take a final decision.

Elections to the 126 member Assam assembly is expected to be held in April-May.

Gogoi, who won a third straight term as Chief Minister in the last elections in 2011, said his idea of political understanding means, if someone does not want to vote for Congress, he or she should vote for any party but not the BJP.

Asked whether the joining of several Congress leaders, including once his most trusted Himanta Biswa Sarma in BJP will affect Congress, he said their switching over to BJP was a "good riddance" for Congress.
Buoyed by the success of its flagship programme 'Beti Bachao Beti Padhao' (BBBP) which will complete a year tomorrow, the government has decided to extend the scheme to 61 more districts this year to improve the skewed child sex ratio in those places.

The programme was launched in 100 districts with poor sex ratio across the country in January last year.

An increasing trend was registered by the Women and Child Development (WCD) Ministry, the nodal agency for its implementation in at least 50 per cent of the BBBP districts during the first three months of its launch in comparison to the sex ratio at birth in 2013-14.

"More than 50 per cent of our districts showed improvement during initial months of the launch of BBBP. Therefore, we have decided to launch the scheme in 61 more districts this year," a senior Ministry official said.

The first landmark achievement of the programme was registered this month when Haryana declared an upward trend in its child sex ratio, crossing the 900-mark for the first time in the past ten years.

"It is due to BBBP's success that for the first time in ten years, Haryana's sex ratio at birth for December 2015 has crossed the 900 mark with 903 girls per 1,000 boys," he said.

Out of the 100 "worst districts" in India for sex ratio, Haryana accounts for 12 districts. Haryana has had the dubious record of being the worst among states in sex ratio with just 879 females per 1,000 males.

Through BBBP, the government sought to improve the declining trend of child sex ratio (CSR) in 100 selected districts from every state and UT from the current level of 918, by preventing gender-biased sex selection and ensuring survival, protection and education of a girl child.

"In past one year, we did several awareness programmes under the BBBP including radio programmes in Hindi and regional languages, TV adds, SMS campaigns, mobile exhibition vans in all 100 districts," the official said.
Granules USA, a subsidiary of Granules India, today said it has entered into an agreement with Par Pharmaceutical to market generic version of OTC omeprazole and sodium bicarbonate in North American market.

The company said it expects the US Food and Drug Administration's approvals by July this year.

Par Pharmaceutical's, a subsidiary of Endo International plc, omeprazole and sodium bicarbonate is the generic version of Merck/MSD Consumer Care Inc's Zegerid.

Omeprazole is a proton pump inhibitor (PPI) that decreases the production of stomach acid. Sodium bicarbonate is an antacid that raises stomach pH to keep the omeprazole from breaking down in stomach acid.

"...Through this exclusive agreement with Par Pharmaceutical, we can strengthen our OTC product basket and widen our offerings in the North American store brand market for meeting retailers' and consumers' desire for competitive market choices and alternatives," CMD Granules India Ltd Krishna Prasad Chigurupati said.

Robert Fisher, President of Consumer Health division of Granules USA said, "Continuing to reduce healthcare costs through our partnership with retailers, Granules is happy to offer consumers affordable medication choices."



Shares of the company were trading 3.42 per cent up at 120.95 on BSE.
The by-election for Choryasi Assembly constituency in Surat district witnessed a low turn-out of 38.04 per cent today.

Some 1.48 lakh voters out of the total of 3.91 lakh stepped out of their houses to vote. The polling was peaceful, district authorities said.

The collector's office said 87,416 male voters and 61,575 female voters cast votes between 8.00 AM to 5 PM.

Counting of votes will be held on January 24.

The by-election was necessitated after sitting BJP MLA Rajendra Patel (60), popularly known as Raja Patel, died of dengue infection at a Mumbai hospital last August.

There are 26 candidates in the fray including 24 independents.

BJP has fielded Patel's daughter Zankhana Patel (35), while Dhansukh Rajput (57) is Congress's candidate.
Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel today inaugurated a veterinary hospital and a newly-constructed road, both built by Reliance Industries (RIL) in Jamnagar district.

RIL has constructed the 30km long road for the State Government's Road and Building Department. It connects Panada Patiya village on State Highway 25 and Changa Patiya on State Highway 27.

It is a two-lane all weather road, which can be expanded to four lanes. Built at a cost of Rs 86.96 crore, it connects eight villages and provides direct benefit to more than 2 lakh people.

Moreover, two major bridges have been built on it to cross the rivers Panna and Sasoi. Besides, eight minor bridges and culverts have been constructed on the pathway.

The road will allow the commuters to bypass Jamnagar city, while commuting between Rajkot and Dwarka. As a result, Jamnagar city will witness fewer vehicles entering it, leading to reduction in traffic and congestion and pollution.

The veterinary hospital is located near RIL's refinery complex in Jamnagar, the largest such facility in the world.

The hospital consists of main hospital building, cattle shed, stable, bio-medical waste room, fodder storage and staff quarters equipped with modern amenities. It is equipped with X-ray room, laboratory, pharmacy, operation theatre, library and other associated infrastructure.

On the occasion, RIL's Group Senior Vice-President (Corporate Affairs) Dhanraj Nathwani donated Rs 25 lakh to the Chief Minister's Swachchhata Nidhi, which supports cleanliness drive.

The Chief Minister later visited the RIL refinery.
The scientist who claims to be about to carry out the first human head transplant by next year says that he has successfully done the procedure on a monkey in China.

Maverick neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero said he tested the procedure in experiments on monkeys and human cadavers.

The monkey head transplant was carried out at Harbin Medical University in China, Canavero told New Scientist.

The monkey survived the procedure "without any neurological injury of whatever kind," he said, but that it was killed 20 hours after the procedure for ethical reasons.

Canavero says that the success shows that his plan to transplant a human's head onto a donor body is in place.

He says that the procedure will be ready before the end of 2017 and could eventually become a way of treating complete paralysis.

"I would say we have plenty of data to go on," Canavero told the science magazine.

"It's important that people stop thinking this is impossible. This is absolutely possible and we're working towards it."



The team behind the work has published videos and images showing a monkey with a transplanted head, as well as mice that are able to move their legs after having their spinal cords severed and then stuck back together, The Independent reported.

Fusing the spinal cord of a person is going to be key to successfully transplanting a human head onto a donor body. The scientists claim that they have been able to do so by cleanly cutting the cord and using polyethylene glycol (PEG), which can be used to preserve cell membranes and helps the connection recover.

It is not the first time that a successful transplant has been carried out on a monkey. Head transplant pioneer Robert J White successfully carried out the procedure in 1970, on a monkey that initially responded well but died after nine days when the body rejected the head.

The newly-revealed success is likely to be an attempt to help generate funds for the ultimate aim of giving a head transplant to Valery Spriridonov, the Russian patient who has been chosen to be the first to undergo the procedure.
French President Francois Hollande said today that a coalition waging a bombing campaign against the Islamic State group would "accelerate" air strikes.

"The pace of the interventions will be accelerated and France will play its role in this," Hollande said in a speech to ambassadors.

His comments came after a meeting by the defence ministers of seven countries in the coalition, who said their strategy was to free the IS "power centres" of Raqa and Mosul in Iraq and Syria.

"They also decided to reinforce support to Arab and Kurdish forces fighting Daesh on the ground," he said, using an alternative name for IS.

Hollande told ambassadors that 2016 must be a "year of transition" in Syria, which is entering its fifth year of war.

Peace talks are due to take place with all parties on Monday.

"The moderate opposition has agreed to attend. The key question of who will govern Syria should not be avoided," he said.
After four detective fictions and three films, popular novelist and screenplay writer Piyush Jha says he has now written a story about serial-killers.

"I had this huge data-base of serial killers across the world in my mind. My earlier novels were about detectives. This time I wanted to do something different. I always wanted to make a movie or write on serial-killers," he says.

Jha's latest book, "Rakshasas: India's No 1 Serial Killer" is a thrilling narrative of a serial killer's life and the unusual and challenging investigation to catch him while uncovering a chilling trail of unspeakable torment and cruelty.

The book published by Westland was launched at the recently concluded Crime Writers' Festival here.

Clearing the air about how the crime of serial killing is not solely a western phenomenon, he says, "People here think serial killers are in America, not in India. There are a whole bunch of serial killers in India. The youngest serial-killer in the world is an Indian."



The 44-year-old author says he feels that the genesis of most offenders lay in deprived livelihoods or devastating experiences, and therefore his narrative of Rakshas' life is consciously empathetic in tone.

"I had to empathize with the character to understand him better. In most of the cases you'll see they either had harrowing childhoods or have come out of broken families, " he says.

Digressing from his usual pattern of portraying women as negative characters in his plot, the filmmaker's latest hero is a woman IPS officer who carries out perilous investigations to nab the criminal.

"People have always asked me why each of my novels portray women as evil. So this time, I had this lady IPS officer solving the case," the author says.

Jha is most known for his films "Sikandar" (2009), "King



of Bollywood" and "Chalo America" and his Bestseller crime-thriller novels, "Mumbaistan," "Compass Box Killer" and "Anti-Social Network."



Whether it is writing screenplay or a novel, for Jha who dons multiple hats, telling stories is what matters most, not the medium.

"I am a story teller. My karma is to tell story. Today I am telling it on paper, tomorrow I'll tell it on screen," says the author who began his career as an advertising executive.

Meanwhile, his recent novel is set to be soon be adapted into a film by Jha himself.

According to the author, reality is more "barbaric" that is reflceted in fiction. On the contrary to what might many people think, we are "restrictive" in our writing, he said.

"We are reflecting reality, rather creating reality. Though let me tell you reality is more barbaric. I have a bonus section in my book which tells you about the real serial-killers in the world. Read that and know the truth yourself," he says.
IL&FS Engineering and Construction Company has won a Rs 52.40 contract from Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) for laying and construction of a pipeline in Gujarat.

"IL&FS Engineering and Construction Company Ltd has received the letter of acceptance (LoA) from GAIL for laying and construction of a pipeline along the associated works for pipeline replacement project in Gujarat region," the company said in a regulatory filing on Thursday.

The total length of the 12 inch pipeline is 85 km, it said.

"The total value of the contract is Rs 52.4 crore, and is to be completed within 16 months from the date of issue of LoA," the company said.

The firm is executing an EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contract for Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas for laying a pipeline from Mangalore Port to Mangalore Cavern.

The 48-km long pipeline would cost around Rs 213 crore.

The company recently commissioned Halol Godhra Dahod pipeline project that includes laying of 103-km high pressure gas transmission pipeline on EPC basis for Gujarat State Petronet Ltd.
Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal have agreed to begin discussions on the possibility of having a rail network connecting the four SAARC countries to improve connectivity and regional trade.

The discussions were held during the two-day third Joint Working Group (JWG) meetings on Sub-Regional Cooperation on Water Resources Management and Power/Hydropower and on Connectivity and Transit that ended here yesterday.

The four countries - Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN) - also agreed to give special attention to the construction of land ports and land customs stations, crucial for sub-regional trade and transit, the Daily Star reported.

It was also decided to constitute an expert group for exchanging best practices in water resources management and on specifics of the identified projects, power trade, inter grid connectivity, flood forecasting and other areas of possible cooperation.

The JWG on Water Resources Management carried forward the discussions held earlier on the scope for power trade and inter-grid connectivity cooperation in future power projects and water resources management between the four South Asian countries.

Specific hydropower projects under BBIN framework that could be concretised on equitable basis were discussed, said the Bangladesh foreign ministry said in a statement.

The JWG on Connectivity and Transit reviewed progress under the BBIN and made recommendations relevant to this process.

The next meeting of the JWG will be held in the second half of this year in India.
India is looking at raising crude oil imports from Africa as part of efforts to diversify sourcing of energy and reducing dependence on the Middle East, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said today.

India imports nearly 80 per cent of its oil needs. Nearly two-third of this volume traditionally was supplied by exporters in the Middle-East led by Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait. This dependence over time has been brought down.

The country imported 99.36 million tons of crude oil in April-September this fiscal, 57 per cent of which came from the Middle-East region.

"We imported 32 million ton of crude in 2014 from Africa, including 3 million tons from North Africa and 29 million tons from West Africa, mainly from Nigeria and Angola. This constitutes approximately 16 per cent of our consumption. This is going to increase in the coming years," Pradhan said.

Speaking at the inaugural session of the 4th India-Africa Hydrocarbons Conference, he said over the past two decades, the African hydrocarbon sector has been expanding rapidly as also the interests of Indian oil companies in the continent.

"As a matter of policy, the present Indian government is keen to move towards a geographically diversified energy basket. This has resulted in India's greater focus on Africa as a vital region for sourcing petroleum products in coming years," he said.

Crude import from Africa has played an important role in India's energy security.

Of the 99.36 million tons of crude oil India imported in April-September this fiscal, Africa supplied a third of it while South America accounted for a little less than 16 per cent.

At 11.59 million tons, Nigeria is the third largest supplier of crude oil to India in April-September, behind Saudi Arabia (19.56 million tons) and Iraq (17.01 million tons).

Pradhan said India's scarcity of domestic energy resources can be offset by Africa's surplus energy reserves - which accounts for about 15 per cent of current proved accessible global oil reserves.

"Over the past two decades, the African hydrocarbon sector has seen rapid growth. The new discoveries in Africa have seen oil reserves grow by over 100 per cent and gas reserves grow by over 55 per cent. We believe that this will greatly improve Africa's position as an exporter of not only oil but also gas," he said.

India has emerged as the fastest growing major economy in the world with over 7 per cent GDP growth, he said, adding that the country's energy consumption has been constantly increasing.

The Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of Indian primary energy consumption in the last 15 years has been about 7.3 per cent as compared to a global CAGR of 3 per cent. "I expect energy demand to go up further," he said.

Pradhan said as per the International Energy Agency's



(IEA) World Energy Outlook 2015, India will contribute around 25 per cent of the growth in global energy demand. It would thus be the single largest contributor to energy growth globally.

Indian upstream companies have been active in Africa's hydrocarbon sector.

"In Mozambique, Sudan and South Sudan, Indian companies have major presence in exploration and production segments with total investments of nearly USD 7-8 billion now," he said. "Indian companies also hold interest in key oil and gas projects in Gabon, Libya and Egypt."



"We are confident that India, apart from being an attractive market for crude oil and gas, would be an able partner for African nations across the industry value chain," he said.

Indian companies are already providing comprehensive Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) services to the hydrocarbon sector in Africa. Presently, they are working in Algeria, Nigeria, Libya, Sudan and Ghana.

Pradhan had said during the India Africa Forum Summit in October last year, Prime Minister had announced 50,000 scholarships for African students and research scholars.

India has also offered a concessional credit of USD 10 billion over next 5 years for African countries.

"We have good scope to tap into this line of credit for oil and gas projects in Africa. I call upon public and private sector both in India and Africa to identify viable projects which can be financed and pursued through this line of credit," he said.
A senior Indian-origin imam has been conferred an honorary doctorate by the University of Leicester in recognition of his work for his local community.

Muhammad Shahid Raza, who serves as Head Imam at Leicester Central Mosque and is a leading Muslim cleric and teacher in the UK, was born in Bihar and studied in Moradabad, Agra and Meerut before moving to the UK.

"The city of Leicester has always been a place of significance in my life since I emigrated here from India in the late '70s. One of my first responsibilities as Imam of Leicester Mosque and then Leicester Central Mosque was to oversee the moral and spiritual education of children," he said in reference to the honour.

"I have always strived to instill in my students a desire to achieve academically and integrate themselves as valuable members and contributors to society. I am delighted to note that many of my former students have gone on to graduate from this university and of those many are now working in this city as civil servants, teachers and doctors or owners of small businesses.

"For this reason I reflect on this award fondly and I hope it will further inspire the young Muslims of Leicester," Raza said.

He was awarded his honorary Doctorate of Laws by University Chancellor Lord Grocott at the university's degree ceremony at De Montfort Hall today before an international audience of graduating students and their families.

Raza leads the Friday prayers at Leicester Central Mosque and is credited with designing and conducting the first in-service training course for imams in the UK.

As executive secretary and registrar of the Muslim Law (Sharia) Council UK, he is engaged in a number of initiatives directed towards the wider community in Britain, Europe and North America through his association with organisations such as the InterFaith Network UK and the InterFaith Youth Trust in London, the university said in a statement.

In the 2008 New Year's Honours list, he was awarded an OBE for services to the Muslim community in Leicester.

Reverend Canon Dr Stephen Foster, Coordinating and Anglican Chaplain to the University of Leicester, said, "Muhammad Shahid Raza has been a hugely influential figure in our city and County as a leading Muslim cleric and teacher over a period approaching 40 years."



"In terms of Interfaith dialogue over that period, again his influence has been profound. As we presently travel sensitive times and roads in interfaith issues, his wisdom and insight into same will continue to be so important both locally and far beyond. The University of Leicester I know honours him...Rightly and gratefully so," Foster said.
With the lifting of nuclear- related sanctions against Iran, Indian products would face tough competition in the market, exporters body FIEO today said.

Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) President S C Ralhan said that now all the major exporting countries including China, the US and Europe would rush to tap the Iranian market and in this scenario, Indian products would face tough competition.

"The competition will intensify now after lifting of the sanctions. Indian exporters would have to price their products accordingly and also enhance standards to remain competitive in the Iranian market," Ralhan told PTI.

However, he added, the prices of raw materials such as crude oil would come down further.

ALSO READ: India looking to deepen cooperation with Iran

This would help in balancing the trade balance between India and Iran. While India's exports to Iran stood at $4.17 billion in 2014-15, imports were aggregated at $8.95 billion. The trade balance is in the favour of Iran.

He said India should now focus on exporting both goods and services in sectors such as IT, iron and steel, chemicals and machinery as investments will would increase in Iran after lifting of the sanctions.

India mainly exports cereals, man-made fibres, plastics, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, steel and aluminum to Iran.

The bilateral trade between the two countries may also get a boost with the two nations considering a free trade pact.

India and Iran have agreed to examine the scope and the feasibility of entering into a preferential trade agreement.

Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia had recently said there has been a robust rupee trade between the countries and India would continue to build on that.
InterGlobe Aviation, which operates India's largest airline IndiGo, today reported a 23.7 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 657.28 crore for the three months to December, and said it will miss the 111-fleet target by March following labour issues at Airbus.

The delays could throw a spanner in the ambitious growth plans of IndiGo, which has been betting on the more fuel-efficient A320 Neos (new-engine option) whose delivery was to start from this month and had even told this to investors during the recent IPO launch.

As per the original plan, IndiGo was to induct 10 A320 Neos by this March 31, 2016, which would have further boosted its bottomline as these new planes consume up to 15 per cent less fuel, which cost almost 35 per cent of operational cost.

IndiGo President and Whole-Time Director Aditya Ghosh said that out of these 180 Neo planes, it has already financed 35 and there is no difficulty in getting the funds as this is a market that is always on the short-supply.

To tide over the plane shortages, Ghosh said the airline would be looking at more short-term leases, but refused to elaborate. He parried a query whether the airline will be seeking compensation from Airbus for delays.

The airline management attributed the good set of numbers, the first post-IPO, to lower fuel prices that declined more than 20 per cent in the quarter, and higher passenger and ancillary revenues, wherein the latter soared 27.5 per cent.

To questions from analysts on the aircraft acquisition plans and meeting the stated target of 111 fleet by this March and 132 by 2017, Ghosh said, "As of now we have no clarity on the delivery of aircraft from the supplier. We are in talks with both Airbus and Pratt & Whitney, the engine suppliers to the aircraft maker.

"So as of now, we are set to miss the target. As of now we have a fleet of 101 aircraft, after taking 17 planes from Tiger Airways on lease and will have 3 more by March and the remaining 2 by September, completing our announced 22 new leases."



The carrier, which got listed last November after a highly successful public issue raising a little over Rs 3,000 crore, had a net profit of Rs 531.57 crore in the year-ago period.

IndiGo's revenues climbed to Rs 4,407.49 crore in the reporting quarter, an increase of nearly 12 per cent compared to Rs 3,938.79 crore in the same period a year ago, Chief Financial Officer Pankaj Madan said.

"Our business continues to perform well on the back of increase in fleet size, robust passenger demand and low fuel prices," Ghosh said.

The most profitable carrier in the country since 2009,



IndiGo, flew 8.33 million passengers in the December quarter compared to 6.53 million people flown in the year-ago period.

The no-frills airline saw its fuel cost decline about 20 per cent to Rs 1,165.86 crore as against Rs 1,453.52 crore in the same period a year ago, Madan said.

"Lower fuel prices enabled us to lower our fares for our customers, further stimulating market demand and increasing the propensity of people to travel," Ghosh said.

It can be recalled that IndiGo had made history by ordering as many as 430 aircraft from Airbus. It had ordered 100 Airbus A320s in June 2005, 180 A320neos in June 2011 and 250 A320neos in August 2015. Each of these orders was the largest single order of aircraft by number from Airbus at the time of the order, according to the European planemaker.

Out of the 180 planes on order, 150 are A320Neos and the rest 30 are A320.

Airbus had promised to deliver the first batch of A320Neso by December 30, 2015. But instead it delivered the first plane to Lufthansa yesterday and then next will be to Qatar Airways.

On December 19, 2015, Indigo had informed the exchanges that there was no clear visibility about the delivery of A320 Neos due to "industrial reasons" at Airbus.

"On 17 December 2015 after close of business hours, we have received an official notification from Airbus that the A320Neo aircraft, the first of which was to be delivered on December 30, 2015, has been delayed due to 'industrial reasons'," InterGlobe Aviation told the exchanges.

"At this time, we do not have a clear visibility of its future A320 Neo delivery schedule and the potential for additional delays exists. We are looking at mitigating the potential shortfall in capacity through other options," it added.

In the third quarter, the company's total expenses stood at Rs 3,474.59 crore, higher than Rs 3,186.18 crore in the 2014 December quarter.

"The rupee depreciated from Rs 63.04 to Rs 66.15 over this period which had an impact on the overall costs," Madan said.

"The total debt was Rs 3,930 crore, all of which is aircraft related and no capital debt," he added. The firm's cash balance stood at Rs 5,746.3 crore, including free cash worth Rs 2,097.4 crore.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today said a plan has been finalized to complete soon the fencing of India's border with Bangladesh to control infiltration from across the border.

He commended Bangladesh for helping India in controlling fake Indian currency racket and for extraditing criminals who escaped to that country.

"We want to control infiltration from Bangladesh completely. I want to assure you that to stop infiltration and secure the Indo-Bangladesh border, we have already finalised a plan of putting up fencing and flood lights," he told a public meeting here.

Singh said "you have seen how we have established good relations with Bangladesh through exchange of enclaves. I must say that whether it's a case of fake currency or cow smuggling or extradition of criminals, Bangladesh is helping us a lot in many ways."



"It is the credit of India's foreign policy," he added.

Singh said the minorities of Bangladesh who were coming to India fearing persecution would be given citizenship in future too.

"For the last few years, an issue has been there that those minorities of Bangladesh who are coming to India are not being provided with social security here. After taking over as Home Minister, I have taken the step of making valid the entry and stay of those minorities coming from Bangladesh. In future also, we will give them citizenship," Singh said.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo broke ground today on the country's first ever bullet train line, heralding the project as a symbol of "major cooperation" with China.

The controversial USD 5.6 billion project sparked a fierce bidding war between China and Japan as the two Asian powerhouses jostle to build key infrastructure projects in Indonesia and the wider region.

Widodo kicked off the first construction phase at a tea plantation in West Java, where one of the stations along the line will be situated.

"Send my regards to (Chinese) President Xi Jinping," Widodo said at the event, attended by Chinese officials.

"This is a (sign of) major cooperation between Indonesia and China," he added, calling for the two trading partners to further expanded ties in other industries.

The bullet train should in theory be able to travel up to 350 kilometres an hour between the sprawling capital Jakarta and the mountain-fringed city of Bandung, about 160 kilometres away.

It is a key project for Widodo, who has pledged to overhaul the archipelago's rickety infrastructure in a bid to attract investors and boost growth in Southeast Asia's largest economy, which last year dipped below five percent.

Last year Jakarta asked for proposals from investors for the ambitious project, with China and Japan bidding so intensely a senior minister likened Indonesia to a pretty girl being courted by many admirers.

After a chaotic bidding process, China was awarded the contract -- infuriating Japan, which was long expected to build the track given its high-speed rail expertise.

Indonesia lacks a mass-transport system, forcing its increasingly affluent 250 million people to rely heavily on private transport, resulting in grinding traffic in the biggest cities.

Widodo said he hoped the high-speed railway would spur demand for future public transport alternatives in other parts of Indonesia, as well as speed up the movement of people and goods between cities, helping economic growth.

Construction of the line is expected to finish by 2018, and it should be operational the following year.
Insurance sector regulator Irdai has imposed a penalty of Rs 5 lakh on New India Assurance Company for violating mediclaim policy guidelines.

Pressing its charge that New India Assurance was not in compliance with the Health Insurance Regulations, 2013, Irdai said the company did not mention 'Mediclaim Policy 1996' in its list of products, submitted to the regulator, that were withdrawn.

"The insurer has submitted a list containing deemed withdrawn product along with other products...Vide letter dated 27 May, 2014 and in no list the name of 'Mediclaim Policy 1996' was specified.

"Non submission of the said product in any of the categories mentioned and renewing the policies is non compliance with the provision of Regulation 4(a) of Health Insurance Regulations, 2013," Irdai said.

By not filing the said product in the manner in which it is envisaged to be filed and by renewing the policies without getting clearance from the Authority, the Insurer has violated Regulation, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irdai) said.

"Therefore, under the powers...The Authority levies a penalty of Rs 5,00,000 on the insurer. The insurer is directed to ensure compliance to all the provisions of the regulations notified by the Authority," it said in the order.

Irdai said the penalty amount of Rs 5 lakh should be remitted within a period of 15 days from the date of receipt of this order.

Besides, it said the company did not get prior approval of the Authority for renewal of the Mediclaim Insurance Policy 1996 and warned it to desist from doing so.

"Therefore, renewing a policy of the product for which no prior approval of the Authority is obtained is in deviation of Regulation of IRDA (Health Insurance) Regulations 2013 The Insurer is warned for this deviation", it said in the order.

Mumbai headquartered New India Assurance is one of the five wholly government-owned general insurance companies of India.
Libyan officials say Islamic State militants have attacked one of the country's major oil terminals, setting storage tanks on fire at the coastal Ras Lanuf facility.

State-run National Oil Corporation's spokesman, Mohammed al-Hariri, and Osama al-Hadairi, the spokesman for the oil facilities' security unit, say the attack took place early yesterday.

There were no details on the size of destruction or possible casualties.

The IS affiliate in Libya, which controls the central city of Sirte, has carried out several such attacks and destroyed at least a dozen oil tanks.

Attacks on the nearby Sidra oil port completely destroyed 16 out of 19 fuel tanks there, dealing a heavy blow to Libya's already embattled oil sector.

Libya slid into chaos following the 2011 ouster and killing of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
US Secretary of State John Kerry today said the US-led coalition bombing Islamic State strongholds in Syria and Iraq will reach their goal of "seriously denting" the group by the end of 2016.

"I think that by the end of 2016, our goal of very seriously denting Daesh in Iraq and Syria and of trying to have an impact on Mosul and Raqa will be achieved," Kerry told reporters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, using an alternative name for Islamic State (ISIS).

"We are on track, we are doing serious damage to Daesh today. They lost 35%, 40% of their territory that they control, 40% in Iraq, 20% to 30% total," he said.

The coalition includes Gulf states and Britain. Russian and French jets have also been pounding ISIS positions.

Kerry said he would meet the foreign ministers of 24 coalition nations in Rome on February 2 to discuss strategy and possible "additional commitments".

"(Defence Secretary Ashton Carter) was just in Paris meeting with coalition members, they are all committed," Kerry said.

The US has called on allies to contribute special forces as a key part of their effort to bolster coalition forces fighting the jihadist group.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today met US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew here at the World Economic Forum and discussed the upcoming Economic and Financial Partnership summit between the two countries.

Jaitley also met the Finance Ministers of Switzerland and Australia among a host of bilateral meetings with the government and business leaders here on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting.

Jaitley and Lew, who earlier in the day described India as the bright spot of the world economy and pressed for continuation of reform agenda in India, discussed recent macroeconomic developments as well as India's reform agenda.

They also discussed ways to attract greater infrastructure investment to boost potential growth and support the global economy.

The two leaders also discussed priorities for the sixth annual US-India Economic and Financial Partnership, which is expected to take place in April in Washington.
A local private firm is awaiting the Government's permission to conduct field trials of a breakthrough technology that is aimed at controlling population of 'Aedes aegypti', the female mosquito responsible for transmitting dengue and chikungunya.

Jalna-based Gangabishan Bhikulal Investment and Trading (GBIT) is testing the technology, developed by British company Oxitec, which can eliminate 'Aedes aegypti' through generically-modified (GM) male mosquito.

Shaibal Dasgupta, a top scientist with GBIT, claimed that when the OX513A, a genetically engineered male mosquito, mates its female counterpart, the gene is passed on to the offspring, which do not survive beyond the larva stage'.

The progeny does not survive till adulthood and they die a natural death which helps in controlling the mosquito- transmitted diseases over a period of time, he said.

GBIT is awaiting Government's permission to conduct field trials of this technology, which has already been released in Brazil and is at an advance stage of approval in other countries, Dasgupta said.

He said GBIT is optimistic the Government will provide an enabling environment for its eventual release in India.

The company said the genetically engineered male mosquito will suppress the mosquito population to a level at which it cannot spread diseases.

This technology is not only environment-friendly but also effective in controlling the rising health menace caused by mosquitoes, Dasgupta said.

According to a WHO report, every year 7,25,000 people are affected by mosquito-borne diseases globally and a large number of people die due to dengue in India. Hence, this technology assumes a greater importance for our country, he added.

According to GBIT's website, the company is investing in and incubating novel ideas related to human health and agriculture. It is founded by Badrinarayan Barwale, who set up Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company Ltd (MAHYCO) - a pioneer in high quality production of hybrid/open-pollinated seeds.
JBM Solar(P) Ltd, part of the Gurgaon-based conglomerate JBM Group, will commission the "largest" solar power plant in Haryana by April 2016.

With a total investment of Rs 120 crore, the solar power plant once commissioned, would have a capacity to produce 20 MW electricity.

"The plant will be commissioned in April 2016 and will be the largest on-ground solar power plant till date in Haryana," a press statement said.

The project was awarded to the company by the Haryana government in June last year with an aim to increase the share of renewable power in its total energy consumption, it said.

JBM Group Chairman S K Arya today laid the foundation stone of the solar power plant at Barwas village in Bhiwani, Haryana.

This is the second solar power plant of JBM Group. Last year, the group had commissioned a 250-KW solar plant at the rooftop of India Habitat Center, New Delhi.

JBM Group forayed into solar power generation in 2015 with plans to invest Rs 1,600 crore through its new entity JBM Solar Pvt Ltd.

The company expects to have an installed capacity of 300 MW by 2018.

JBM Solar is an independent power producer focusing on on-ground as well as rooftop projects.

Speaking of this new undertaking, Mr. Sumant Sinha,



Chairman and CEO, ReNew Power said, "ReNew Power is proud to be instrumental in accomplishing DMRC's initiative of going solar.

As we look forward to the implementation of this project, we also hope to be a part of many such ventures in future."



ReNew Power, which recently achieved 1 GW of commissioned solar and wind energy capacity in March 2016, is installing many similar rooftop projects with reputed off-takers pan India. Some of ReNew Power's notable achievements:



1) ReNew Power is the best capitalized renewable energy company in the country.

2) ReNew Power is the largest capital raiser in debt markets in the renewable energy IPP sector in the last 5 years with over Rs. 8,000 crore of debt sanctions.

3) In September 2015, ReNew Power installed and commissioned India's tallest wind tower.

It is a lattice/tubular tower (hybrid tower) of 120 m height, installed for the first time anywhere on-shore in the world.

4) In September 2015, ReNew Power launched the first-ever infrastructure bond issuance credit enhanced by IIFCL, rated AA+.

5) First company to get a $250 million line from OPIC to debt finance solar projects.

6) Portfolio of over 300 MW (including rooftop solar) for fulfilling the green power



Requirements of large industrial and commercial consumers across states.

7) Over 20 MW of commissioned and under-construction project capacity in distributed solar with marquee customers from various industry sectors like automobile, textile , IT and ITES, hospitality etc.

8) All ReNew Power projects are UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) registered.

9) Currently, commissioned ReNew Power projects are mitigating 2.08 million tons of CO2 emissions till date, and will mitigate more than 52 million tons of CO2 emissions in their lifetime.

About ReNew Power Ventures Pvt. Ltd.

ReNew Power Ventures Pvt. Ltd, an Independent Power Producer (IPP) company, is committed to leading change in the country's current energy portfolio by delivering cleaner and smarter energy choices and thereby reducing India's carbon footprint. ReNew Power's mission is to play a pivotal role in meeting India's growing energy needs in an efficient, sustainable and socially responsible manner. The company creates value through reliable and efficient generation of non-conventional power through innovation in solar and wind power solutions. ReNew Power has more than 2,500 MW of commissioned and under-construction clean energy capacity across nine states in India (Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Jharkhand Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh). For more information please visit: http://www.Renewpower.In. Follow ReNew Power on Twitter @ReNew_Power [https://twitter.Com/renew_power ].

About Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) For implementation and subsequent operation of Delhi MRTS, a company under the name Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) was registered in 1995. The Delhi Metro has been instrumental in ushering in a new era in the sphere of mass urban transportation in India. The swanky and modern metro system introduced comfortable, air conditioned and eco-friendly services for the first time in India and completely revolutionized the mass transportation scenario not only in the National Capital Region but the entire country. Media contact: Tanushree Mukherjee



Tanushree@renewpower.In +91 9871357402



Executive, Corporate Communications ReNew Power Ventures Pvt. Ltd.

Photo: http://photos.Prnewswire.Com/prnh/20150519/10123113 Source: ReNew Power Ventures Pvt. Ltd.
Fresh protests over unemployment and poverty in central Tunisia today raised fears of growing social unrest five years after the country's revolution ignited by similar grievances.

The discontent spread to several towns in central Tunisia, with demonstrators taking to the streets.

Protests and clashes with security forces started in Kasserine following the death on Saturday of an unemployed man who was electrocuted atop a power pole near the governor's office.

Ridha Yahyaoui (28) was protesting after his name was removed from a list of hires for coveted public sector jobs.

"It's as if we were back in 2010-2011," Al-Shuruk newspaper wrote, referring to the revolution that overthrew dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

The uprising was sparked by the death of Mohamed Bouazizi, who set himself on fire in nearby Sidi Bouzid, in protest at unemployment and police harassment in December 2010 and died a month later.

In the face of this week's burgeoning unrest, Prime Minister Habib Essid cut short a European tour to return home today.

Essid is to chair an emergency cabinet meeting on Saturday and give a conference, his office said in a statement.

Despite the success of Tunisia's political transition in the past five years, the authorities have failed to resolve the problems of social exclusion and regional disparities.

Tensions remain high in Kasserine, where security forces have used tear gas and water cannon against crowds of hundreds of demonstrators, and the protests have since Tuesday spread to nearby towns.

As on the previous days, protesters today set up roadblocks with burning tyres and pelted security forces with stones, an AFP correspondent said.

In Feriana, 30 kilometres away, a policeman was killed yesterday during an operation to disperse demonstrators, the interior ministry said.

A security source told AFP that he died when his vehicle was overturned.

Today, a crowd of more than 1,000 gathered outside the governor's office in Kasserine demanding information on a government announcement the previous day of plans to create 5,000 jobs.

"We've had enough of promises and being marginalised. We were the ones who led the revolution and we will not stay silent," said protester Marwa Zorgui.
Kalpataru Power Transmission Ltd (KPTL) today said that it has bagged four orders for power transmission projects totalling Rs 1,295 crore.

"The company has secured new orders/notification of award of approximately Rs 1,295 crore," KPTL said in press statement.

First order is for establishment of transmission system strengthening for transfer of power from new hydroelectric power projects in Bhutan to India.

The 400 KV transmission line project to be constructed in West Bengal and Bihar worth Rs 864 crore has been awarded by the company's 100 per cent subsidiary Alipurduar Transmission Ltd. This is the third BOOM (Build Own Operate Maintain) project to be executed by the company.

The other order is for turnkey transmission line project in Nepal worth approximately Rs 238 crore from Nepal Electricity Authority.

The company also got order for construction of 380 KV overhead transmission lines in Saudi Arabia worth approximately Rs 146 crore.

The project is implemented by Kalpataru IBN Omairah, a joint venture between IBN Omairah Contracting Company and KPTL, where KPTL owns 65 per cent equity stake.

Another order is for transmission tower supply project worth Rs 47 crore from Power Grid Warora Transmission Ltd (a subsidiary of Power Grid Corp).

Managing Director, KPTL Manish Mohnot said: "The order inflow in the year till date is over Rs 6,150 crore which is over 1.4 times last year's revenues. Strong pipeline of orders from both domestic and international markets, provide us clear growth visibility for next two years."



KPTL is a specialised EPC company engaged in power transmission & distribution, oil & gas pipeline, railways, infrastructure development, civil contracting and warehousing & logistics business with a strong international presence in power transmission & distribution.

The company is executing several contracts in India, Africa, the Middle East, Australia, CIS, SAARC, North America and Far East.
The maiden three-day Kameng River Festival 2016, set off to a colourful start at picturesque Pacha Morang village here today.

Sikkim Tourism Parliamentary Secretary D N Sherpa, who had to travel by road from Guwahati since Wednesday as choppers failed to take off due to inclement weather, inaugurated the festival.

Sherpa announced to provide technological support from his state to boost the tourism industry of Arunachal Pradesh.

"Sikkim has close resemblance with Arunachal and both the states could help each other in development of tourism and other industries. I assure you of providing all the technical knowhow to develop the tourism industry in the state by sending experts soon to suggest the state government," he said.

Development of tourism depends on concerted efforts and all stakeholders must join hands for its development in the state, he said, adding that the success of tourism in Sikkim also lay in the peace prevailing in that state.

Tourism Parliamentary secretary Mama Natung while stressing on tourism marketing called for creating conducive atmosphere in the state to woo tourists by sensitising the people.

Assuring all support Power, Tax and Excise Parliamentary Secretary Tapuk Taku urged the people of East Kameng to strive for keeping the Kameng river clean, which he said, could be a source of livelihood if tourism industry developed in the district.

Health & Family welfare Parliamentary Secretary Karya Bagang advocated for preservation of wildlife and environment for development of eco tourism in the district.
The condition of Kerala Congress (Mani) leader Jose K Mani, who is on an indefinite fast seeking to save the rubber farm sector from collapse, deteriorated today on the fourth day of his stir, doctors said.

A team of government doctors this evening visited Mani, son of Kerala Congress (M) supremo and former Finance Minister K M Mani.

Doctors said he was getting weaker by the day and had high blood pressure.

Though they insisted that Mani be shifted to a hospital, he refused, saying he would not go back till his demands, including a complete ban on import of rubber and pegging of prices of rubber at Rs 200 per kg, are met.

"This is an uncompromising fight to save rubber farmers. I will not go back from this struggle. I am committed to the cause of farmers and cannot ignore their hardships," Mani said.

Earlier, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy visited the Kottayam MP, who is staging a protest in front of a statue of Mahatma Gandhi with a large number of farmers and wished him all success in the struggle.

Mani has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking his intervention to find a lasting solution to the problems of rubber farmers.

His major demands also includeRs 500 crore allocation from Central Price Stabilisation Fund to grant subsidy to thousands of farmers who are completely dependant on rubber for their livelihood in the state.

He has also sought a complete reorganisation of rubber board and waving tax of rubber farmers till the product gets a reasonable price.
Backing the agitating students of Hyderabad university, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today called the suicide of a dalit research scholar at the premier institute a "national shame" and accused the Centre of trying to indulge in "casteist politics".

Coming out all guns blazing against HRD Minister Smriti Irani, AAP leader while addressing the agitating students here said her statement yesterday about Rohith Vemula's death as well as subsequent agitation by university's students was a clear attempt to make it a caste issue for which she must apologise.

"Rohith was a very bright student. He was Dalit but he did not come from reserved quota, he came on merit. When such bright students have to commit suicide, I think it is a shame on the entire nation and society," he said.

Demanding immediate sacking of the university's Vice Chancellor, Kejriwal said Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya's letter to HRD Msinister Smriti Irani seeking action against Ambedkar Students Association was an example of coming to judgement before enquiring about the issue.

"It is shameful that a responsible minister without inquiring into the facts has already concluded that Ambedkar Students Association is casteist. He mentioned three words about the students -- anti-national, casteist and extremist," said Kejriwal.

He said the students were considered innocent till Dattatreya intervened.

Kejriwal said anyone who discusses Ambedkar's thoughts can never be casteist and anti-national, saying there can be "nothing more national than that".

Kejriwal accused Irani of misleading the country on the issue saying "attempts are being made to paint it as a caste issue. Irani must apologise for trying indulge in casteist politics."



He further said "her statement was disgraceful. She spoke lies after lies. She was even trying to create confusion over his (Rohith) caste."



Irani had yesterday alleged that a malicious attempt was being made to project it as a "dalit versus non-dalit issue to ignite passions" for political gains and strongly refuted allegations of interference or putting pressure on university authority to take action against the dalit students.

Expressing solidarity with the students, Kejriwal said the whole country was with them and that whatever is needed will be done to ensure justice to them.

The Delhi Chief Minister said he offered to sit on a dharna to press for VC's sacking but the students have asked him not to do so as now the fight is to ensure justice to Vemula.
Four terrorism suspects have been shot dead by police in the Kenyan coastal town of Malindi while two others escaped, police said.

Police said the dead from yesterday's raid included Suleiman Mohamed Awadh, who features on a "most wanted criminals" list with a USD 20,000 (18,000 euro) bounty on his head.

The list was issued after an attack on Kenya's Garissa university in April 2015, when Shebab militants killed 148 people.

Police said the suspects threw a hand grenade and fired at officers during the early morning raid in the tourist town, which is especially popular with Italian visitors and is home to wealthy playboy Flavio Briatore's "Lion in the Sun" and "Billionaire" resorts.

"The terrorists were heavily armed and they engaged our officers in the shoot-out and, in the end, four of them were fatally wounded," said Malindi police chief Matawa Muchangi.

Awadh, a 25-year-old who was local to the area, was identified among the dead.

The police chief added that two other suspects escaped with injuries during the raid on a rented house close to Malindi's airport.

Afterwards, police found weapons and mobile phones in the house as well as a letter said to be a request to Al-Qaeda's East Africa affiliate, the Shebab, requesting funds. Maps of Malindi were also found with the police station, a supermarket and the popular tourist Marine Park highlighted.

Muchangi credited public cooperation for "the succesful operation".

Tourism in Kenya has suffered in recent years as travel warnings along the coast and terrorist attacks elsewhere have deterred foreign visitors.
A special NIA court in Kerala has convicted 21 people belonging to the Popular Front of India of terrorist acts for organising a terror camp in Kannur in 2013.

The National Investigation Agency said the case pertains to conduct of a secret training camp. It claimed training was imparted in use of swords and explosives inside a building owned by Thanal Foundation Trust at Narath under the Mayyil police staion in the Kannu district in 2013.

The agency said the court found 21 accused persons guilty of the charges including criminal conspiracy, membership of unlawful assembly, possession of arms and explosive substances, inciting communal disharmony, assertions prejudicial to national integration besides organising a terrorist camp.

The case was first registered by state police before the NIA took it over in August, 2013.

Among those convicted, Abdul Azeez has been sentenced to seven years jail under various section of IPC and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and has also been fined Rs 5,000, while others have been sent to 5 years in jail and fined Rs 5,000 each.

Another accused in the case, Khamarudheen, was acquitted of all the charges, the agency said.
Kerala, which is facing drought in MICE (Meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) travellers to the state due to liquor ban in the state, has drawn up a strategy to overcome the problem by issuing short-term liqour licenses to hotels.

"There has been some impact on MICE travel to the state since the ban on liqour. We are planning to issue short-term licenses to hotels to overcome the problem," Kerala Tourism deputy director Nandakumar K P today told PTI.

Currently, only five star hotels can serve liqour.

He indicated that with the state assembly elections slated to be held in a few months, the directive might come in once the new government takes charge.

MICE tourists, he said, account for 25 per cent of total arrivals but on revenue terms the share is much bigger.

Moreover, Sri Lanka is posing a threat to Kerala tourism as natural beauty there is similar and it too is offering ayurvedic treatment.

"Sri Lanka is offering their destination cheaper and many are getting attracted to it. It is an international destination," Nanda Kumar said.

However, authentic ayurveda treatments and scenic backwaters and overall experience of tourists will keep Kerala going strong, he said.

In 2014, 9,23,366 foreign tourists and 1,16,95,411 domestic tourists visited the southern state. As of October 2015, 7,75,390 foreign tourists and 76,71,277 domestic tourists were recorded to have visited Kerala.
Two daughters of controversial IFS officer Devyani Khobragade are "no longer Indian citizens" as they hold American passports, government told Delhi High Court today.

The brief submission was made by the Centre before Justice Manmohan, who was hearing a petition filed by Khobragade on behalf of her daughters challenging revocation of their Indian passports.

The counsel for Khobragade, a former Deputy Consul- General of India in New York, contended that the government had impounded the Indian passports of the diplomat's daughters without following due process of law and not issuing them show cause notice or hearing them.

After brief submissions, the court listed the matter for further hearing on March 30 after Khobragade's lawyer sought a passover since senior advocate Amit Sibal, who was to argue, was not present in court.

The court had in May last year stayed the December 30, 2014 order by which the government had revoked the passports.

Defending its decision, the government had said that Khobragade had obtained US and Indian passports for her daughters in violation of law and without informing External Affairs Ministry (MEA), raising serious questions about her "trustworthiness and integrity".

It had also said she had obtained Indian diplomatic passports for her daughters by "suppressing material facts" which established that she "wilfully and blatantly violated the Indian Passport Act".

Countering the allegations, Khobragade had contended that in her 16 years of service she was "routinely adjudicated" as 'outstanding' or a very good officer with the highest degree of credibility and integrity.

She had also denied the allegation that she had violated the passport and citizenship laws by obtaining American and Indian passports for her two daughters, who she claimed were entitled to have Indian diplomatic passports.

Khobragade was arrested on December 12, 2013 on visa fraud charges for allegedly making false declarations in a visa application for her maid. She was later released on a USD 250,000 bond.

It had triggered a diplomatic row between US and India which had retaliated by downgrading privileges of some categories of US diplomats, among other steps.
Christine Lagarde garnered strong backing from Europe today for a second mandate as IMF managing director.

With her term coming to an end in July, the International Monetary Fund formally began accepting nominations for who will guide the global crisis lender for the next five years.

Lagarde, who has led the IMF through one of its most difficult challenges, the rescue of the eurozone from meltdown, has only said that she is open to another term.

But she drew immediate endorsements from Germany, France, Britain, and the Netherlands, while the United States praised her performance in the role without giving its formal backing.

British finance minister George Osborne today tweeted that he was "delighted to nominate @Lagarde for new term as head of IMF".

He described her as "an outstanding leader with vision and acumen to steer global economy in years ahead".

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble also backed Lagarde's candidacy.

She had proven to be a "far-sighted and successful crisis manager in difficult times," the German finance ministry in Berlin said in a statement.

The Netherlands's finance minister, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, tweeted that his country "fully supports her candidacy," while France, where Lagarde was minister of finance before taking the IMF job, also endorsed her.

Meanwhile, speaking to CNBC television from Davos, Switzerland, US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew refrained from a formal endorsement, without having seen any other nominations.

But he expressed strong approval of her performance.

"I have a very close working relationship with her, (and) the highest regard for her," Lew said. "I think she has done a great job, you know. I look forward to continuing to work with her."



On the first day that nominations for the powerful position were open, there were no other names being mentioned as candidates. But the Fund will be taking nominations through February 10. After a review of the candidates, the IMF executive board aims to have decided on a candidate by March 3.

Lagarde (60) easily won a contest with several developing country candidates to take over the IMF in 2011 as Europe was sinking deep into economic crisis.

But her win came amid criticisms that the IMF's top job should not be locked down by a European, as it has since the institution was created in 1944.
Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Afghan Taliban follow the dictates of Pakistan's notorious spy agency ISI which exploits the various 'Islamic' organisations on the issue of Kashmir for its "despicable personal interests", a top militant commander has said.

Hafez Saeed Khan, the chief of the ISIS-Khorasan which is the branch of dreaded Middle Eastern group in Afghanistan and Pakistan, said this in an interview to latest issue of Dabiq - the English-language magazine published by the Islamic State.

"In reality, we've seen before how the tawaghit (evil powers) of Pakistan, and specifically their army and intelligence, would exploit the various 'Islamic' (Pakistani state-backed jihadi) organisations on the issue of Kashmir for their despicable personal interests," said Khan, who was recently designated as a global terrorist.

"They also exploited the zeal of the people of Kashmir for the sake of their own interests, not out of any concern for the affairs of the Muslims, nor for the sake of establishing Allah's law in the land. And how would they establish Allah's law over there when they don't even establish it in their own lands!" the ISIS commander lashed.

Saeed said that the degree of Pakistani 'interests' always fluctuates back and forth, doing so especially in the last years, until the people of Kashmir hit a roadblock and there was no one to save them from the quagmire into which they were thrown.

"Because of this, many of the people of Kashmir and members of the other terrorist organizations have joined ISIS," he claimed, adding that there is a "big opportunity" for ISIS to expand in Kashmir.

"There are specific arrangements in those regions and the Muslims will soon hear pleasant about the Khilafah's expansion to those lands," he claimed.

"The apostate factions and agents of the tawaghit of 'Pakistan,' such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, do not have control over any territory in the regions of Kashmir, because they proceed in accordance with the orders of the Pakistani intelligence, as they are the ones who direct their work, pushing them forward when they wish and pulling them back when they wish," he said.

"They also conceal their work when they wish, depending on the local and global atmosphere and based on personal material interests, without any consideration for the interests of the Muslims in Kashmir," Saeed said.

Similarly, he also claimed that the Afghan Taliban seeks its guidance and dictates from the ISI.

Saeed, a defected Taliban commander, claimed that Afghan



Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansoor and his associates have strong and deep ties with Pakistani intelligence.

"They live in the most important cities of Pakistan such as Islamabad, Peshawar, and Quetta," he said.

"Even Akhtar Mansoor's advisory council contains members from the Pakistani intelligence! On top of that, Pakistani intelligence aids him in everything he does," he said.

"His ties to the Pakistani intelligence agency 'ISI' became clear when its former head, the murtad (apostate) retired general Hamid Gul passed away several months ago - that general who Pakistani intelligence hired to manage the 'Islamic' organisations so that they would be submissive to the interests of the local and global tawaghit," he said.

In October 2014, Saeed abandoned the Taliban, along with five other commanders, and pledged allegiance to ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
A London borough has launched a pilot scheme to test the DNA of dog poo to try and catch irresponsible owners who fail to clear up dog faeces in public places.

Samples of dog mess will be collected by officers from the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham Council and park rangers during the next three months.

DNA will then be compared to a database of registered owners, the BBC reported.

Registering dogs is voluntary for owners but will be required by law from April.

The pilot is being carried out in local wards Abbey, Mayesbrook and Longbridge, the report said.

The council said it will assess the scale of the dog mess problem during the trial and whether people who fail to come forward to register their pets are responsible for the majority of it.

Councillor Darren Rodwell at Barking and Dagenham Council said: "This scheme, which is in response to concerns raised by our residents, is about bringing considerate owners on board with us now, enabling us to gather evidence so we can get tough on inconsiderate owners later."



Registering pets with animal DNA specialists PooPrints is free for the first 1,000 registrations, the council said.

Gary Downie, managing director of PooPrints UK said the technique was useful "in this age of austerity".

He said it would ensure dog owners who do clean up after their pets are "not tarred with the same brush by the actions of those dog owners not playing by the rules".
The Manipur government is giving accent on sectors like health, power and education to be among the front-ranking states of the country and region, Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh said today.

Singh, while addressing the public in 45th Statehood Day celebration held here, also mentioned about the hindrances being faced by Manipur while taking up development works like short period of working season, lack of inflow of central funds, frequent bandhs and blockades etc., an official release said.

He made an appeal to the people of Manipur, government officials, non-government organisations and other stake holders to work together to make a progressive Manipur.

The Deputy chief minister Gaikhangam who presided over the Statehood day function said that Manipur has been marching ahead towards development in the last about 15 years, the release said.

Function was graced by Phungjathang Tonshing minister, health and family welfare, Manipur as the guest of honour and attended by ministers, parliamentary secretaries, MPs, MLAs, civil and military officials apart from the general public.

(REOPENS DEL14)



On December 22, Home Minister Rajnath Singh had written to Manipur Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh asking him to discharge his Constitutional obligations of keeping the National Highways open and ensuring supplies of essential commodities.

Last Wednesday, Singh told the Chief Minister that despite repeated efforts of the Ministry, nothing substantive appeared to have been done to remove the economic blockade and expressed grave concern over the continued blockade of NH-2 causing severe difficulties to the people, especially with regard to availability of essential commodities.

The Home Minister had made it clear to the Manipur Chief Minister that if the Manipur government fails in its Constitutional duties, government of India may have to explore other measures under the provisions of Constitution of India to ensure that difficulties of local people are alleviated.

Singh had conveyed to him that continued blockade of NH-2 is likely to adversely affect democratic process in the forthcoming elections by hampering movement of the people, including the election officials.

Election to 60-member Manipur assembly will be held on March 4 and 8.
Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma today expressed hope that poverty would be eradicated within 10-15 years as the programmes initiated are enough to transform the state.

"After 10-15 years, there will be no reason for our people to be poor provided we execute the programmes already undertaken by the government," Chief Minister Mukul Sangma said here.

He also said, "These programmes are enough to transform state and create opportunities for the people to come out of poverty."



Sangma was addressing a function organized to mark the 44th Meghalaya Day celebrations.

He said poverty and backwardness are still the biggest challenges confronting the state and its policy makers.
MIC Electronics today said it has partnered with South Korean consumer electronics giant LG's affiliate firm LG Innotek to jointly develop highly energy efficient LED Lighting products.

"MIC Electronics Ltd and LG Innotek reached an agreement to jointly develop highly energy efficient LED Lighting products using the components manufactured by LG Innotek," MIC Electronics said in a BSE filing.

The company plans to launch these products by March this year, it added.

"Considering the extensive experience of MIC in the LED product technologies and its established brand image, LG Innotek gave its consent to MIC focusing its LG Innotek Brand name on all the LED Lighting products manufactured by MIC using the components manufactured by LG Innotek," the filing said.
Unidentified miscreants fired in the air demanding levy from a construction company engaged in road construction between Kurdeg to Gariajor upto the border of Chattisgarh in Simdega district, police today said.

The gang, claiming to be members of Janhit Kranti Party from adjoining Chattisgarh, arrived at the company's construction site at Gariajor on Wednesday night and demanded five per cent of the project cost as levy, police said.

The gang members fired in the air triggering panic among a dozen of employees present and snatched a mobile phone of one of the employees, police said.

They were demanding levy in the name of one Brijraj Nagesia.

The employees of the company have parked their valuable equipment including JCV machines, dumpers in the Kurdeg Police station campus.

A case has been registered in this connection on the statement of the employees, sources said.

Superintendent of Police Rajeev Ranjan said the name of the organization featured for the first time in the district.
Ailing former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed today arrived here for treatment after he was granted 30-day prison leave by the government to undergo an urgent spinal cord surgery.

Nasheed, 48, who has been jailed for 13 years under anti-terror laws, landed at Heathrow Airport after a brief stop over in Sri Lanka, following his release by the Maldivian government for medical treatment in the UK.

Reports said that Nasheed is due to meet his lawyer Amal Clooney, wife of Hollywood star George Clooney.

Following an international intervention, Nasheed left the Maldives on Monday for Sri Lanka after resolving a last-minute legal dispute with the government over his 30-day release for the surgery in the UK.

Nasheed was supposed to leave on Sunday after a deal brokered by diplomats from India and Sri Lanka as well as Britain, but his departure was delayed as the government imposed new conditions on his trip.

The Maldivian government was insisting that he nominate a family member to stay in Male to guarantee his return.

Nasheed initially refused this proposal, but finally agreed to the offer.

According to Maldivian government, Nasheed had signed an undertaking to return after his treatment and his brother has agreed to act as guarantor.

Nasheed, the country's first democratically elected leader, was sentenced to 13 years in jail in March over the arbitrary arrest of chief criminal judge Abdullah Muhammed during his presidency.

He was elected in 2008, ending three decades of rule by former strongman Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

Nasheed resigned as the Maldives leader in February 2012 after weeks of protests over the judges arrest on corruption allegations.

The former president had appealed his prison sentence after backtracking on his earlier decision and opted to go to the Supreme Court instead.

In his appeal, Nasheed had sought a lesser penalty under the new penal code that came into effect in November. The Supreme Court had also been asked to nullify the charges lodged against him in the lower court and the subsequent sentence.

India, the US and the European Union had all expressed concern over Nasheed's imprisonment and conviction. His conviction drew widespread criticism over the apparent lack of due process in the 19-day trial.

The current President Abdulla Yameen was elected in controversial polls in 2013 and is the half-brother of Gayoom.
Mohamed Nasheed, the former Maldivian president serving a 13-year jail sentence on terror charges, today left for London for urgent surgery after a brief stop over in Sri Lanka, his party has said.

Nasheed, 48, arrived here on January 18 after he was released by the Maldivian government to seek medical treatment in the UK following an international intervention.

"He left Colombo early this morning," Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) spokesman Hamid Abdul Ghafoor said.

Sri Lankan foreign ministry denied that Nasheed had met President Maithripala Sirisena and other government leaders during his two-day stay in Colombo.

Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera and Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake visited Male last week to broker the arrangement which was also supported by India, the UK and US, officials said.

Nasheed was supposed to leave on Sunday after a deal brokered by diplomats from India and Sri Lanka as well as Britain, but his departure was delayed as the government imposed new conditions on his trip.

The Maldivian government was insisting that he nominate a family member to stay in Male to guarantee his return.

Nasheed initially refused this proposal, but finally agreed to the offer.

According to Maldivian government, Nasheed had signed an undertaking to return after his treatment and his brother has agreed to act as guarantor.

Nasheed, the country's first democratically elected leader, was sentenced to 13 years in jail in March over the arbitrary arrest of chief criminal judge Abdullah Muhammed during his presidency.

He was elected in 2008, ending three decades of rule by former strongman Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

Nasheed resigned as the Maldives leader in February 2012 after weeks of protests over the judges arrest on corruption allegations.

The former president had appealed his prison sentence after backtracking on his earlier decision and opted to go to the Supreme Court instead.

In his appeal, Nasheed had sought a lesser penalty under the new penal code that came into effect in November. The Supreme Court had also been asked to nullify the charges lodged against him in the lower court and the subsequent sentence.

India, the US and the European Union had all expressed concern over Nasheed's imprisonment and conviction. His conviction drew widespread criticism over the apparent lack of due process in the 19-day trial.

The current President Abdulla Yameen was elected in controversial polls in 2013 and is the half-brother of Gayoom.
The opposition NCP today questioned the propriety of sending Maharashtra Food and Civil Supplies Minister Girish Bapat on a study tour to Japan, and also asked why his son was accompanying him.

Bapat is on ten-day tour of Japan organized by the state Urban Development Ministry.

"The government needs to explain the propriety of sending a minister not related to the department on foreign tour," NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said here.

"It will also have to explain why the minister's son is accompanying him on this official tour," Malik said, stating that on this tour, sponsored by the Japanese funding agency JAICA, Bapat's son Gaurav and his PRO Sunil Mane are accompanying him.

"The government will have to explain Gaurav Bapat and Sunil Mane's exact role on the tour," Malik said.

Pune Municipal Commissioner Kunal Kumar and CEO of Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority Mahesh Zagde are accompanying Bapat, along with other officials.

JAICA has granted a loan of Rs 1,000 crore to a river development project in Pune. Similar short and long-term loans are being sought by the corporation for water supply schemes. It is expected to enter into agreements with JAICA during the current tour.

A BJP source justified Bapat's inclusion saying he was the guardian minister of Pune district.
A UK website set up to catalogue the last days of Subhas Chandra Bose has released the evidence given by a Taiwanese official who claimed to have prepared Netaji's body for cremation after his death in a plane crash in 1945.

The testimony, contained in UK Foreign Office file No FC1852/6 and dating back to 1956, is among the last few documents to be released by www.Bosefiles.Info set up to establish that the Indian freedom fighter died in the crash on the outskirts of an airfield in Taipei on August 18, 1945.

"Taiwanese official Tan Ti-Ti, who was in charge of issuing cremation permits in Taipei, together with that of other local officials, put to rest any controversy about the last rites performed on Subhas Bose's body," the website said.

There has been controversy for decades as to whether the account of the plane crash is true, despite two Indian government investigations concluding that is how Bose met his end.

The proof contained in the Taiwanese police report sent to the British Foreign Office was, the file indicates, forwarded by the British High Commission in Delhi to the Indian government in July 1956.

Albert Franklin, British Consul General in Taiwan, wrote to the Taiwanese government requesting an investigation into the death of Bose on May 15, 1956.

In response, C K Yen, Chairman of the Taiwan Provincial Government, sent a detailed police report dated June 27, 1956.

This included an interview with Tan Ti-Ti, who said the cremation took place on August 22, 1945.

A Japanese army officer who accompanied the body told Ti-Ti: "The deceased was Bose, the Indian leader (on occasions he mentioned him as the Indian commander) who, proceeding to Tokyo on important business, was injured when his plane was involved in an accident."



The previous day - August 21, 1945 - the same Japanese officer, according to Tan Ti-Ti, "submitted the death certificate of a certain Ichiro Okura."



Yen clarified to Franklin that during World War II in the case of military personnel (Bose was then Supreme Commander of the Indian National Army) without family members in Taiwan, "permission for cremation was granted on the strength of a certificate from a military hospital."



This appears to have occurred in the case of Bose.

The police findings based on a report prepared by Taiwan's



Department of Health said: "There is a register of cremations at the Municipal Health Centre (formerly under the Welfare Section of the Taipei Municipal Government) and the officers of the Health Centre are of the opinion that the entry (regarding cremating Bose) was made in the name of Ichiro Okura."



Tan Ti-Ti confirmed that on the day of the cremation the same Japanese army officer "came to the crematorium in a car in the company of an Indian," believed to be Bose's ADC Colonel Habibur Rehman, who survived the crash.

Tan Ti-Ti asserted he and another person, called Lin Sui Mu, opened the coffin as the body had been "put into a coffin for conveyance to Tokyo but the coffin was too big for aeroplanes available at the time."



It was, therefore, cremated in Taipei.

The next day (August 23, 1945), the Indian (Col Rehman) and the same Japanese army officer came to collect the ashes, Tan Ti-Ti added.

His version of events matches with Col Rehman's statement recorded on August 24, 1945, which said "the body (of Bose) was cremated on 22-8-1945 at Taihoku (Japanese name for Taipei) under the arrangement of the (Japanese) Army authorities. The ashes were collected on 23-8-1945."



On January 23, this year, the Indian government is slated to declassify a set of hitherto secret documents relating to Bose.

"I would be surprised if the Government of India files contradict anything our website has claimed," said Ashis Ray, creator of bosefiles.Info.

Bose's daughter, Professor Anita Pfaff, who lives in Germany, has gone on record to say she finds the story of the air crash to be credible.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the World Economic Forum in Davos today that his country will need more US military aid because of the nuclear deal with Iran.

Israel is currently negotiating a new 10-year military aid package with Washington that it says will need to grow beyond the USD 3.1 billion yearly currently provided by the United States.

The figure excludes US spending on projects including Israel's Iron Dome missile defence system.

Netanyahu reiterated his argument that the nuclear deal that has seen sanctions lifted against its regional rival Iran would require Israel to increase spending to maintain its military edge.

The influx of cash, he said, would allow Iran to further back proxy militants, including Israeli enemies Hezbollah.

Netanyahu said it would be important to "resist Iranian aggression in the region, which continues and might even accelerate given the amount of funds that they're going to get with the lifting of sanctions.

"And the strongest way to stop Iranian aggression is to bolster America's allies, first and foremost (of) which is Israel."



He added that "we're talking about a bigger package. But remember that even over a 10-year period, it pales in comparison to the enormous funds that Iran gets."



The United States has unblocked an estimated USD 100 billion of Iranian assets held abroad and settled a long-running international dispute that will see Iran get USD 1.7 billion directly from Washington following the implementation of the nuclear deal.

Netanyahu, whose country is believed to be the sole nuclear power in the Middle East, though it has never declared it, strongly opposed the accord and labelled it a "historic mistake".

His outspoken criticism, including in an address to the US Congress, led to troubled ties with the United States.

He has since scaled back his rhetoric and visited Washington in November as part of efforts to move past the rift.

A US delegation is due in Israel next week as part of discussions over the new military package, with the current agreement due to expire in 2017, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.

Israel's total defence budget amounts to some USD 16 billion, excluding the US aid.

Netanyahu's Davos appearance was dominated by issues such as Iran and Syria, but he briefly addressed the conflict with the Palestinians.
Researchers in China have created a special metal oxide transparent glass with long lifetimes that can help protect living cells by absorbing and blocking damaging ultraviolet (UV) rays.

The dangers of UV light prompted scientists from the South China University of Technology to search for versatile materials that block UV and can withstand long radiation exposure times without falling apart.

They demonstrated that the new glass effectively protects living cells and organic dyes, and believe it could also be developed as a transparent shield to protect electronics in space.

The researchers used a metal oxide - cerium (IV) oxide (CeO2) - well-known for its ability to absorb UV photons to craft the composite glass-based UV absorber.

Other key features of the final composite material are the optical transparency of the glass and the material's ability to suppress the separation of photo-generated electrons and holes.

This slows down a light-induced reaction that would lead to the ultimate breakdown of the material under prolonged exposure to UV radiation.

The method the team developed is based on the self-limited nanocrystallisation of glass.

"Self-limited nanocrystallisation of glass can be achieved by taking advantage of the rigid environment of the solid-state matrix, rather than the conventional solution and vapour conditions to modulate the ionic migration kinetics," said Shifeng Zhou from South China University of Technology.

"It allows us to create glass-ceramics embedded with a CeO2:fluorine (F) nanostructure," Zhou added.

The group's innovative approach for fabricating the UV absorber has important implications "for the construction of novel glass materials with new functions via microstructure engineering," researchers said.

Among the group's key discoveries was finding that the self-limited nanocrystallinization of glass is indeed an effective way to functionalise it.

The special glass they created suppresses photocatalytic and catalytic activity, while boasting an extremely high UV-absorbing capacity.

Potential applications for the group's work include radiation hardening of electronic devices, serving as a biological shield, and preserving cultural artifacts and relics.

The findings were published in the journal Optical Materials Express.
The United States today began enforcing new visa rules on some travellers who have visited or who have dual nationality with states considered seedbeds of terrorism.

The Department of Homeland Security said would-be US visitors who have been to Iran, Iraq, Sudan or Syria since March 2011 will now always have to apply for a visa.

This will be the case even if the traveller is from a country in the US visa waiver program -- the 40 nations seen as friends of America whose citizens can visit freely.

In addition, citizens of visa waiver countries who hold dual Iranian, Iraqi, Sudanese or Syrian nationality will have to apply for a full visa before travelling to America.

The department said it had started to implement the new rules today, but there had already been reports of travellers falling afoul of the controversial regulations.

Yesterday, the BBC reported that its journalist Rana Rahimpour, who has joint British and Iranian nationality, had been kept from boarding a US-bound flight.

The State Department refused to comment on specific cases.

"We will carry out the law that Congress passed and the president signed," a senior administration official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"The Department of Homeland Security... Is working closely with the Department of State and other partners to ensure that the new amendments... Are appropriately implemented."



Homeland Security said dual nationals and travellers who had visited the four targeted countries would still be eligible for visas if they apply for them properly.

But they will no longer be able to skip the visa process by registering with the Electronic System for Travel Authorizations (ESTA) like fellow waiver country citizens.

Members of allied forces who fought alongside US troops in Iraq will be exempted from the new rules, and aid workers and journalists may be exempted on a "case-by-case" basis.
An NGO has moved the National Green Tribunal alleging indiscriminate dumping of waste including plastic bags in a green belt in Ghaziabad's Vasundhara area, prompting the green panel to seek response from the Uttar Pradesh government on the issue.

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar issued notices to Uttar Pradesh government, Ghaziabad Nagar Nigam and others while seeking their reply by February 22.

The directions came while hearing a plea by NGO Friends which claimed that green belt in the stretch between Kanawali Ki Pulia and Sector-19 in Vasundhara is in very bad condition.

"It is very shocking that the local administration and the departments concerned have not taken any cognizance of the deteriorating condition of the green belt despite many emails being sent to the Commissioner of Nagar Nigam and the District Magistrate Ghaziabad," the plea, filed by advocate Sugriva Dubey, said.

The NGO sought directions to immediately remove polythene bags, garbage and illegal encroachments from the green belt and stop any kind of disposal of municipal solid waste in the area.
The NIA, which is probing the Pathankot terror attack case, today conducted searches at five places including office and residences of Punjab Police SP Salwinder Singh and his friends.

Singh's residences in Amritsar and Gurdaspur were searched by the NIA officials, sources said.

The Gurdaspur office of the SP and residence of his jeweller friend Rajesh Verma, whose throat was slit allegedly by the terrorists after kidnapping them along with a cook, was searched by the NIA sleuths.

Residences of cook Madan Gopal and a woman friend of the SP and the jeweller were also searched by the NIA teams.

The development came after interrogation of Singh by the NIA for several days in Delhi.

Amritsar Police Commissioner Jatinder Singh Aulakh said that the NIA team had sought assistance of police which was provided to them.

NIA sleuths along with a police team reached the residence of Salwinder Singh at Chowk Jai Singh inside the walled city in Amritsar where the search operation was carried out.

A lie detector test on the Salwinder Singh was conducted yesterday by the NIA as part of the probe into the attack on Indian Air Force base in Pathankot.

He will also be subjected to behavioural tests.

Singh is now posted as Assistant Commandant of 75th Punjab Armed Police after being shunted out as Superintendent of Police (Headquarters) Gurdaspur.

Sources said Singh is expected to be produced before a team of scientists soon. The panel will include a 'behavioural analyst' and 'psychoanalysts' which will give a scientific assessment of his personality.

The NIA is questioning Singh to ascertain the sequence of events that took place after he was allegedly kidnapped on the intervening night of December 31 and January 1 by terrorists of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed(JeM).

Singh came under the scanner after he had said that he and the cook were released after their abduction whereas one of their friends, who was travelling with them -- Rajesh Verma -- had been left bleeding midway by the terrorists.

Also, his statement that he was returning from a shrine which he often visited, was found to be allegedly incorrect after NIA questioned the caretaker of the dargah, Somraj, who told the probe agency that the police officer had come for the first time.

Terrorists had struck at the IAF base on the intervening night of January 1 and 2 in which seven security personnel were killed in the encounter that lasted for three days.

Four bodies of terrorists were recovered while two others are believed to have been burnt in the building where they were hold up during the encounter which lasted for 80 hours.
Against the backdrop of the alleged suicide of Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula at Hyderabad University, members of Congress student wing, National Students Union of India today allegedly threw stones at an ABVP office here and reportedly assaulted one of its office-bearers.

"We have arrested five members of the NSUI. They had assembled at the ABVP office and raised slogans. One of them pelted stones at the ABVP office breaking the windowpanes. They have been booked under charges of criminal trespass," DCP (Central) Sandeep Patil told reporters here.

The incident took place when Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) State Secretary Basavesh Khore was allegedly assaulted by the NSUI members, after he asked them not to protest in front of the building, Patil said.

NSUI members had gathered in front of the ABVP office to protest against one of the ABVP activist's comments allegedly calling Vemula, a terrorist during a debate on television last evening, police said.
Two powerful Shiite militias are top suspects in the abduction of three Americans last weekend in a southern neighborhood of the Iraqi capital, an Iraqi police commander and a Western security official in Baghdad said today.

The Americans were abducted in Dora, a mixed neighborhood that is home to both Shiites and Sunnis, on Saturday. It was the latest in a series of brazen high-profile kidnappings undermining confidence in the Iraqi government's ability to control state-sanctioned Shiite militias that have grown in strength as Iraqi security forces battle the Islamic State group.

Two Shiite militias Asaib Ahl al-Haq and Saraya al-Salam were likely behind the attack, the Iraqi and Western official told The Associated Press today.

"Nobody can do anything in that neighborhood without the approval of those militias," the police commander said. The Western security official confirmed that Iraqi and US intelligence assessments had narrowed down the suspects to those the two groups.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.

The US Embassy in Baghdad has confirmed that several Americans are missing and said they are working with Iraqi authorities to locate them.

Baghdad authorities said the three Americans were kidnapped from a "suspicious apartment" without elaborating, and have provided no other details. There has been no claim of responsibility.

The identities of the three were not made public and the two officials the Iraqi commander and the Western official did not elaborate on the investigation that is underway.

However, another Iraqi intelligence official told the AP this week that from the Dora neighborhood the Americans were taken to Sadr City, a vast and densely populated Shiite district to the east, and there "all communication ceased."



Following the dramatic collapse of the Iraqi security forces in the summer of 2014, Shiite militias filled the vacuum, growing more powerful militarily than the country's own security forces. In addition to being some of the most effective anti-IS forces on the ground in Iraq, Shiite militias also run security in many Baghdad neighborhoods.

The Iraqi government-allied militias are now officially sanctioned and known as the Popular Mobilization Committees.

But many trace their roots to the armed groups that battled US troops after the 2003 invasion and kidnapped and killed Sunnis at the height of Iraq's sectarian bloodletting in 2006 and 2007. In the fight against IS, human rights groups have accused them of abuses targeting Sunni civilians, charges denied by militia leaders.

Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Iranian-backed and one of the most powerful Shiite militias operating in Iraq, has repeatedly spoken out against the presence of US forces in Iraq in the fight against IS. Saraya al-Salam is run by Iraq's influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr whose Mahdi militia often battled with US forces between 2003 and 2011.
Recovering from a major terror attack back home, Pakistan today said its resolve to fight terrorism is getting stronger every day and is taking very decisive action against terrorists.

Speaking here at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said his government has taken very decisive action against terrorists.

"When I took over, terrorists were creating havoc all over the country. I called a meeting of all political parties. We discussed bordering areas near Afghanistan.

"We deployed huge troops and started operations. So far, we have been able to destroy the infrastructure and destroy their network. It started reducing and terrorists are now on run and are picking up soft targets like the one yesterday," Sharif said.

At least 20 people, mostly students, were massacred on Wednesday by Kalashnikov-wielding Taliban suicide attackers who stormed a prestigious university in restive northwestern Pakistan and opened fire.

"Pakistan has paid a very heavy price in terms of lives. There is a huge economic loss also. But our resolve to fight against terrorism is getting stronger every day," Sharif said.

The Prime Minister also said that revival of economy is very important for Pakistan.

"We inherited three challenges - one is economic problems, second is power shortage and the third is terrorism. We have been successful on all three fronts," he noted.

"We inherited GDP growth of 3 per cent and now we are 4.2 per cent and we expect 5 per cent this year. Unemployment is also decreasing very sharply," Sharif said.

Noting that revenue is increasing, he said a very good turnaround is taking place in Pakistan. "We also have China Pakistan economic corridor. This is going to benefit entire region, not just two countries. Pakistan is on right track," he added.
Pakistan observed a day of mourning today after the bloodbath in Bacha Khan University in this northwestern town where militants killed 21 people, mostly students, before being eliminated by the army.

The national flag was flying on half-mast at all official buildings and all national ceremonies were cancelled. Special prayers were held at several places for the victims.

The provincial Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government has declared three-day mourning starting today.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that his government was determined to wipe out the menace of terrorism from Pakistan.

"The terrorists will see a ruthless response by the state. Cowards and their financiers will see our national resolve to eliminate terror from the country. The entire nation is united and one against terrorism," Sharif stressed.

The Prime Minister has directed all security agencies to hunt down the patrons and financiers of Charsada terror attack, a Prime Minister's Office statement said.

Heavily-armed militants yesterday stormed the Bacha Khan University named after iconic leader Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan alias Baacha Khan and opened fire on students and teachers.

There were over 3,000 students inside the university along with an additional 600 guests who had arrived to attend a poetic symposium to mark the death anniversary of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan who died on January 20, 1988.

Omar Mansoor, Peshawar school attack mastermind and a commander of the Hakimullah Mehsud faction of the Tehreek-e- Taliban Pakistani, claimed responsibility for the assault.

The death toll today rose to 21 as one more student Ayaz succumbed to his injuries at a hospital in Peshawar.

The attack that killed 19 students, a professor and a staffer was a grim reminder of an assault on an army-run school in Peshawar on December, 2014 that killed 150 people, mostly students.

Meanwhile, police today registered an FIR against four unidentified attackers who were killed by security forces. The case was registered at Serdheri police station under the Anti- Terrorism Act on behalf of the Counter-Terrorism Department.

At least 17 suspects, including five facilitators of the varsity attack, were arrested during search operations today in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and FATA, sources said.

The special teams conducted operations in Peshawar, Dara Adamkhel, Khyber Agency and other areas to arrest the terrorists involved in the university attack. The suspects were shifted to an undisclosed location for interrogation.

Separately, the district police today launched search operation in surrounding areas of the university and arrested more than 100 suspects.

Military spokesman Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa said in press



conference after clearance operation yesterday that the attackers' handlers have been identified.

He said that no efforts will be spared to eliminate them.

"The attackers were in touch with a number from Afghanistan," Bajwa said. "The terrorists were continuously conversing on their mobile phones, two of which we have recovered and collected data from."



He said the SIMs used in the phones were of Afghan origin and added that a mobile phone recovered from one of the attackers was receiving calls even after he had been killed.

Pakistani government has decided to raise the University attack issue with Afghan government, sources said.

Security has been put on high alert in Charsadda city and surrounding areas after the attack.

Police said that check posts have been set up on all the roads of Charsadda and snap checking is underway.

Heavy contingents of police have been deployed at the university to avoid any untoward incident.

Officials also recovered four grenades, 16 magazines and 240 cartridges from the site of the attack.

Those killed in the attack included Syed Hamid Hussain, a professor at Chemistry department, who had challenged the attackers with his pistol shots.

The victims, mostly students, were being buried in their ancestral graveyards across the province amid touching scenes.

The canteen owner of Bacha Khan University said that all attackers were of short height and sported a light beard.

From their looks, it can be ascertained that the terrorists were even younger than students.

Two out of the four terrorists blew themselves up whereas two others were gunned down by security forces.

According to sources, all four terrorists belonged to Afghanistan and were part of the Tariq Geedar group.

This is the same Tariq Geedar group whose commander 'Omar Naaray' was issuing directives regarding the attack on Army Public School in Peshawar. This group has also been involved in shooting at a PIA plane in Peshawar.

Separately, security forces in Peshawar defused a bomb planted near Lahore Adda. One person was arrested in this connection and shifted to an undisclosed location for interrogation, police said.
Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Nagaland and Head of Forest Department, M Lokeswara Rao unveiled the Amur falcon conservation plaque near the roosting site in Pangti village under Wokha district.

Speaking on the occasion yesterday, Rao said the conservation plaque of Amur falcon will be turned in the monument in future as it reveals the story of effort of people of Pangti towards conservation of wildlife.

He said the big conservation moment started in Nagaland with the preservation of Amur Falcon by Pangti village communities and conservation movement has spread all over and communities are now committed to preserve the rich biodiversity of state.

Rao felt that the conservation movement should continue while asserting that the Forest department has committed to protect and conserve the rich biodiversity of the state with the help of communities.

He informed Pangti has been nominated for India Bio-diversity Award 2016.

The migratory bird Amur falcons were first spotted roosting in Pangti in the year 2001 in flock of thousands.

In the subsequent years the flock increased into massive numbers.

Owing to lack of awareness for conservation of Wildlife, the village hunters by tradition started looking for the birds for delicacies. In the year 2006 the hunters started using net for trapping the birds on commercial scale for sustenance.

However, following about random killing of Falcons in October 2012, Awareness campaign for protection & conservation of the migratory bird started on war footing in 2013 by State Forest and Wildlife Department and various NGOs.

Responding to awareness campaign of State Forest and Wildlife Department and various NGOs, the village council together with the entire community resolved to protect and conserve the migratory bird Amur Falcons and prohibited killing of Falcons in any form.

Pangti was declared as "Falcon Capital of World" in 2013.

In recognition of its efforts for protection and conservation of migratory bird, the Pangti Village Council has been conferred with various prestigious awards by various Agencies, which include The meritorious Award 2014 by Department of Forest, Government of Nagaland, The Governors Commendation Certificate Government of Nagaland, The Earth Heroes Awards 2014 by Royal bank of Scotland and The Balipara Foundation Award 2014 Assam.
Escalating its attack on the Centre over the issue of a dalit scholar's alleged suicide in Hyderabad University, Congress today demanded immediate sacking of HRD Minister Smriti Irani and Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya.

"...Irani is lying through her teeth in a bid to protect the ABVP leader. She is misleading the nation by giving false information," Congress chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala said, seeking to dismiss the claims of Irani on the issue.

Irani had yesterday said that the ABVP leader, who was attacked in student rivalry earlier, also belonged to the OBC community as was Dattatreya, who had written a letter to her about the attack.

Insisting that the HRD Minister "justified the unfairness" meted out to Rohith Vemula, who committed suicide, and four other suspended Dalit students, Surjewala said, "She is the custodian of all universities. She committed the unpardonable sin of lying to the nation. She spoke a number of lies to cover up a lie."



"We demand that Union Minister Smriti Irani should be sacked for attempting to hide facts along with Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya, against whom an FIR has been lodged," he said, a day after the Congress seemed to have piped down its attack on the Centre.

Dattatreya and Hyderabad University Vice Chancellor Appa Rao and three others have been named in an FIR lodged with the Cyberabad police over the alleged suicide of 26-year-old PhD scholar Rohith who was found hanging at the Central University's hostel room on the campus on Sunday.

Alleging the Proctorial Board's report was changed due to pressure by BJP, Surjewala said, "Just on the basis of ABVP leader's statement, five dalit PhD scholars were suspended."



He claimed that following pressure from the university authorities and the HRD Ministry, and statements of ABVP leaders, the Board was forced to overturn their decision.

Surjewala's remarks indicated that the main opposition party was stepping up its offensive on the issue. Only yesterday, the Congress had climbed down from its demand for resignation of Irani in connection with the case but had insisted on a probe by a sitting high court judge against her.

"The culpability of Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani should be investigated by a sitting high court judge and the Union Labour Minister should be immediately sacked," another party spokesman Deepender Singh Hooda had said yesterday, when asked whether the party stood by its demand for sacking of Irani.

Two days ago, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi had also targeted Irani and Dattatreya, saying the ministers and the VC have "not acted fairly" that forced the Dalit scholar to take the extreme step.

Tearing into the arguments put forth by the HRD Minister,



Surjwala said she spoke a "blatant lie" that the decision of the Proctorial Board declaring the five Dalit students not guilty was an "ex-parte decision".

He said that the security officer on duty and Dr Anupama Rao had appeared before the board.

Besides, he said Irani's claim that the executive council's sub-committee that justified punishment to Rohith and four other students had a dalit professor was not correct.

He said that the university's SC/ST Professor forum has stated that the statement of the Minister was "false and fabricated".

"Third lie was when she justified hostel suspension of the students by saying that it was hostel warden's decision. Doesn't she know that warden only implement the decision of the University authorities and Executive Council," Surjewala asked.
: Madras High Court has closed a PIL seeking a directive to the state Government to build barrages along the 110 km path of Kollidam river, a major water source to 13 districts, as also Chennai and directed the petitioner to approach the authorities concerned.

"In our view, the matter falls totally within the domain of the Government. As to where a barrage should be made, what project should be undertaken,how funds should be allocated, it is for the Executive Government to consider," the first bench, comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana said



They gave the direction recently on PIL filed by an Advocate K Rajendran.

Noting that the petitioner had earlier approached it on the matter, the court felt this aspect has to be examined by government and not by intervention of Judicial Proceedings.

"The petitioner is free to approach the concerned authorities without giving rise to any fresh cause of action in a PIL."



Rajendran had submitted that river Kollidam, the biggest branch of Cauvery, travels 110 km from Upper Anaicut in Trichy District up to Anaikaran Chatram in Nagapattinam District is supplying drinking water to State Capital Chennai City through "New Veeranam Project".

Apart from this, the underground water aquifier supplies water to 13 districts, 83 town habitations and several hundred villages and serves nearly about two crore people, he said.

Alleging that each year several TMC's of water overflows in the m River wasted without any storage dams, barrages and reaches the sea, he said in the year 2005 nearly 90 TMC feet water is wasted.

If the situation continues for some more years in the Kollidam and Cauvery river belt, the salt water from Bay of Bengal would percolate underground and intrude good water aquifer in the river belt and future generations would face desert like situation in the Cauvery delta.

Emphasizing that it was the State Government's duty to construct at least seven barrages across Kollidam in its 110 Km path, he alleged that the proposal to build dams had been put in cold storage at least for the past 10 years.

Hence he prayed for a direction from the Court to the Government to construct a barrage across Kollidam at an estimated cost of Rs 400 crore.

In the meantime, he prayed for an interim injunction, restraining the authorities in any manner allowing pumping out of underground water and transporting to other districts.
Eight garment units in the north-eastern states will be dedicated to the nation in another month by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Textiles Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar said here today.

"Works for the units, each of which is being set up at a cost of Rs 18.18 crore, is going in full swing. These will become operational in another one month and will be dedicated to the nation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi," he said.

He was addressing the 'Make in India-Textile Industry- Strategy for Growth' function, organised by Indian Texpreneurs Federation ((ITF) tonight, to facilitate him for implementing various textile sector friendly measures.

Hearing grievances and suggestions from ITF, he said as suggested, he would depute officials in the rank of Secretary or Joint secretary level or he himself visit the city once in three months to learn and solve the problems faced by the industry, which plays a major role in the Indian economy.

On demands by the industry on rationalisation of duty on Man Made Fibre, abolition of Hank yarn Obligation and signing of Free Trade Agreements with European Union and emerging markets, he said his ministry had already taken up the issue with the Commerce and Finance Ministries.

On problems due to effluent discharge and achieving Zero Liquid Discharge, Gangwar said he would consult environment and pollution ministries and give feed back o the industry.

Earlier in the day, Gangwar visited Palladam High Tech Weaving Park, about 35 km from here and said the centre was keen on developing the technical textile sector in a big way.

The Indian textiles sector has contributed 60 per cent of cotton products and 40 per cent of man-made fibre products, while it was the reverse in other countries, he said.

Gangwar inaugurated a workers hostel in the park and an additional hostel block with 66 rooms, constructed at a cost of Rs six crore, with 50 per cent subsidy under Scheme for Textile Industry Workers Accommodation.
Shiv Sena is yet to receive a response from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on a report it sent more than a month ago detailing "adverse" impact the proposed Jaitapur nuclear power plant would have on the green belt in Maharashtra' Konkan region.

Sena, a key constituent of BJP-led ruling alliances in Maharashtra and at the Centre, is strongly opposing the mega nuclear plant at Jaitapur on the ground it will "adversely" impact the fragile ecosystem in the coast region.

"We have not received any response from the PMO on our report which presented facts on why the Jaitapur nuclear power project should be scrapped," senior Sena leader Ramdas Kadam, who is also Maharashtra Environment Minister, said.

Asked if his party is expecting a reply anytime soon, he said "we will hopefully get a response soon. But it is the prerogative of the PM to respond at a time he feels appropriate."



Opposition Congress and NCP used the issue to mock Sena. Silence from the PMO indicates the party's diminishing clout vis-a-vis BJP. It should not waste time in quitting the BJP-led alliance if it is truly concerned about Marathi pride, their leaders said.

Congress spokesperson Al-Nasser Zakaria said it is high time Sena understood it is no longer trusted by its senior partner.

"Silence from the PMO (on the report) for over a month indicates Sena's diminishing standing in front of BJP. Though they are the oldest allies, Sena is no more a trusted ally of BJP," he said.

NCP Mumbai President Sachin Ahir said the party-led by Uddhav Thackeray should not forget its primary agenda of safeguarding Marathi pride.

"It is high time Sena quit the alliance as it seems they are no longer wanted by BJP. If they remember that their primary agenda was to safeguard Marathi pride, they will withdraw support to BJP-led government at the Centre and in Maharashtra," he said.

Sena had in December sent a report running into 418 pages to the PMO. It included objections raised by the Konkan Bachao Samiti, report of Madhavrao Gadgil Committee and details of a public hearing conducted by B J Waghmare Janhit Samiti. The report had also attached details of a public hearing conducted by Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) on the project.

The project is to come up in Ratnagiri district where French firm Areva will set up 6 nuclear reactors with a total power generation capacity of about 10,000 MW.
The political slugfest over the suicide by a dalit student in Hyderabad continued unabated today with Congress and other opposition parties calling it a "national shame" and unrelenting in their demand for sacking of Union ministers Smriti Irani and Bandaru Dattatreya.

The BJP on its part hit back at the opposition parties on their criticism of the Modi government over the incident, claiming they were using the "opportunity for cheap political advantage" while its ally LJP sought an "independent probe" by CBI or some other agency.

"We demand that Union Minister Smriti Irani should be sacked for attempting to hide facts along with Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya, against whom an FIR has been lodged," Congress chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala told reporters in Delhi.

Insisting that Irani "justified the unfairness" meted out to Rohith Vemula, who committed suicide, and four other suspended Dalit students, Surjewala said, "She is the custodian of all universities. She committed the unpardonable sin of lying to the nation. She spoke a number of lies to cover up a lie."



"...Irani is lying through her teeth in a bid to protect the ABVP leader. She is misleading the nation by giving false information," Surjewala said, seeking to dismiss the claims of Irani on the issue.

Irani had yesterday said that the ABVP leader, who was attacked in student clashes earlier, also belonged to the OBC community as was Dattatreya, who had written a letter to her about the attack.

Calling the suicide a "national Shame", Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal flew down to Hyderabad to give his backing to the agitating students of Hyderabad Central University(HCU) and accused the Centre of trying to indulge in "casteist politics".

Hitting out at Irani, the AAP chief while addressing the agitating students said her statement yesterday about Rohith Vemula's death as well as subsequent agitation by the university's students was a clear attempt to make it a caste issue for which she must apologise.

Kejriwal accused Irani of misleading the country on the issue, saying "attempts are being made to paint it as a caste issue. Irani must apologise for trying to indulge in casteist politics."



He further said "her statement was disgraceful. She spoke lies after lies. She was even trying to create confusion over his (Rohith) caste."



JD-U demanded immediate removal of Irani and Dattatreya and pushed for a CBI inquiry into the whole episode.
Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) has arrested a police sub-inspector for demanding a bribe of Rs 2,000 from a complainant.

The accused PSI Narayan Raosaheb Navale, attached to RAK Marg police station in Wadala, was arrested yesterday for the offence, police said.

According to police, on January 4 the complainant had gone to RAK Marg Police Station to register a complaint that his mobile phone had been stolen. However, Navale refused to register the FIR.

On January 10, when the complainant met Navale again, the latter demanded Rs 2,000 bribe for the registration of FIR. The next day, the complainant approached the ACB and filed a complaint against Navale.

On January 14, the Mumbai unit of ACB verified the complainant's claim and arrested him yesterday, a police said.
After getting funded by leading industrialists, Anand Mahindra and Nadir Godrej, online citizen engagement platform LocalCircles today said Dalmia Group Managing Director Puneet Dalmia has become an investor in the company.

LocalCircles, which enables citizens to connect with national and local governance, will use the funds to expand its presence, strengthen technology and recruit more talent, LocalCircles Chief Strategy Officer K Yatish Rajawat said.

He, however, declined to comment on details of the investment.

"We have a user base of about one million users. We see this growing to about 30 million in the next 3-5 years. We will use the funds to double our presence to 200 cities," he added.

Sachin Taparia, Chairman and CEO, LocalCircles said the company represents Social Media 2.0, which is focussed on solving real world problems by bringing people together.

"What LocalCircles has built is incredibly unique as it takes Social Media to a new level and enables the common citizen to become part of a community beyond immediate friends and family.

"A community that comes together to assist each other locally as well as engages with the administration on making things better locally and nationally," Dalmia said.

LocalCircles senior management team comprises of Sachin Taparia, former Managing Director at Boeing International, Abhishek Gupta, formerly at Oracle Inc, Mukesh Gupta, former executive of Juniper Networks and Rajawat, former Group Managing Editor of Dainik Bhaskar group.

The advisory board of LocalCircles includes Nadir Godrej, Managing Director of Godrej Industries, RC Bhargava, Chairman Maruti Suzuki and Anand Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra Group.
Russian President Vladimir Putin "probably approved" the murder of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko who died in a London hospital in November 2006 from radioactive poisoning, a British public inquiry concluded today.

Litvinenko died days after being poisoned with radioactive polonium-210, which he is believed to have drunk in a cup of tea.

The finding by Robert Owen, a retired High Court judge, in a 328-page report represented by far the most damning official link between 43-year-old Litvinenko's death and the highest levels of the Kremlin.

Two Russian men, Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun, have been accused of his murder. They deny killing him.

There is a "strong probability" they were acting on behalf of the Russian FSB secret service, the inquiry found.

Owen said that taken as a whole the open evidence that had been heard in court amounted to a "strong circumstantial case" that the Russian state was behind the assassination.

But when he took into account all the evidence available to him, including a "considerable quantity" of secret intelligence that was not aired in open court, he found "that the FSB operation to kill Litvinenko was probably approved by [Nikolai] Patrushev [head of the security service in 2006] and also by President Putin".

Marina, Litvinenko's widow, welcomed the report's "damning finding" and called for the UK to impose sanctions on Russia in a statement read outside the Royal Courts of Justice, where the inquiry took place. But she said that she has been given indications that the UK would do nothing.

"I'm also calling for the imposing of targeted economic sanctions and travel bans against named individuals including Mr Putin. I received a letter last night from the home secretary promising action. It [signalled] that the prime minister would do nothing in the face of the damaging findings of Sir Robert Owen," she said.

She called on the UK to expel all Russian intelligence operatives, to impose economic sanctions, and for travel bans on individuals, including Putin.

UK home secretary Theresa May is due to give the UK government's response to the findings in a statement to the House of Commons later on Thursday.

The findings will cause a significant diplomatic headache for the British government.

Litvinenko, a former agent in the Russian FSB federal security service (FSB) or secret police, had acquired British citizenship shortly before his death, after fleeing Russia six years earlier. British Prime Minister David Cameron will come under pressure to respond robustly to the state-sponsored assassination of a UK citizen on the streets of London, The Guardian reported.

While he lay dying in a London hospital bed, Litvinenko had pointedly told Scotland Yard that the Russian President had given the orders for his killing.

At the time of his death, Litvinenko was working for the British intelligence service MI6 and also for Spanish intelligence, passing on information on Russian organised crime networks and their links to the Kremlin. Litvinenko was due shortly to become a star witness in a number of trials.

The poison used in the killing - the radioactive isotope polonium-210 - is exceptionally toxic and posed a huge potential public health risk, after traces of it were left in multiple locations around London by the murderers.
Russian President Vladimir Putin "probably approved" the murder of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko who died in a London hospital in November 2006 from radioactive poisoning, a British public inquiry concluded today.

Litvinenko died days after being poisoned with radioactive polonium-210, which he is believed to have drunk in a cup of tea.

The finding by Robert Owen, a retired High Court judge, in a 328-page report represented by far the most damning official link between 43-year-old Litvinenko's death and the highest levels of the Kremlin.

Two Russian men, Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun, have been accused of his murder. They deny killing him.

There is a "strong probability" they were acting on behalf of the Russian FSB secret service, the inquiry found.

Owen said that taken as a whole the open evidence that had been heard in court amounted to a "strong circumstantial case" that the Russian state was behind the assassination.

But when he took into account all the evidence available to him, including a "considerable quantity" of secret intelligence that was not aired in open court, he found "that the FSB operation to kill Litvinenko was probably approved by [Nikolai] Patrushev [head of the security service in 2006] and also by President Putin".

Marina, Litvinenko's widow, welcomed the report's "damning finding" and called for the UK to impose sanctions on Russia in a statement read outside the Royal Courts of Justice, where the inquiry took place. But she said that she been given indications that the UK would do nothing.

"I'm also calling for the imposing of targeted economic sanctions and travel bans against named individuals ... including Mr Putin. I received a letter last night from the home secretary promising action. It [signalled] that the prime minister would do nothing in the face of the damaging findings of Sir Robert Owen," she said.

She called on the UK to expel all Russian intelligence operatives, to impose economic sanctions, and for travel bans on individuals, including Putin.

UK home secretary Theresa May is due to give the UK government's response to the findings in a statement to the House of Commons later on Thursday.

The findings will cause a significant diplomatic headache for the British government.

Litvinenko, a former agent in the Russian FSB federal security service (FSB) or secret police, had acquired British citizenship shortly before his death, after fleeing Russia six years earlier. British Prime Minister David Cameron will come under pressure to respond robustly to the state-sponsored assassination of a UK citizen on the streets of London, The Guardian reported.
Days after a 17-year-old ragpicker was allegedly murdered by three persons here after setting him afire, his father and some right-wing activists today claimed he was killed because he was a 'Hindu' and the brutality meted out to him was like an act of IS.

However, police have denied any communal angle behind the murder of Sawan Rathod in Kasba Peth area of the city last week.

Sawan, a pavement dweller, was hospitalised last Wednesday after he sustained severe burns when the accused trio, suspecting his involvement in stealing vehicle batteries, poured petrol on him and set him ablaze on January 13. He died in hospital on January 15.

"When my son was admitted to hospital, he told me that he was set on fire by three suspects after they came to know that he was Hindu," Sawan's father Dharma claimed.

Milind Ekbote, president of 'Samast Hindu Aghadi', alleged that the amount of cruelty exerted by three suspects was "inhuman" and the act resembles the "modus operandi" of Islamic State (IS). He demanded a probe by ATS into the incident.

Ekbote said they will organise a protest at the Police Commissioner's office here on January 27.

Activists of various right-wing bodies said the police had botched up the investigation in the case.

"We had given a video clip to the cops in which the deceased was seen telling that he was set on fire by three suspects, after they came to know that he was 'Hindu'.

"It is as good as the dying declaration and police should investigate the communal angle. They failed to take his dying statement when he was being treated at state-run Sassoon Hospital," said Ramesh Rathod, city unit president of 'Banjara Kranti Dal', the community to which the deceased belonged.

Police had arrested Ibrahim Shaikh, Juber Tamboli and Imran Tamboli in connection with the murder.

When contacted, DCP (Zone I) Tushar Doshi dismissed the claim of the activists and the boy's father as an "afterthought".

"Nothing of this sort (communal) surfaced in our investigation so far," he added.
Pakistan army chief Raheel Sharif today called Afghan leaders, including President Ashraf Ghani, and chief of US military mission there to seek cooperation against handlers of a deadly Taliban assault at a university after initial probe linked the attackers to Afghanistan.

The attack at Bacha Khan University in northwestern town of Charsadda yesterday killed 21 people, mostly students.

Army spokesman Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa in a series of tweets said that General Sharif called "President Ashraf Ghani, CEO Dr Abdullah Abdullah and Command Resolute Support Mission in Afghan Gen John Campbell and shared details with them."



"As investigations and leads so far, Charsadda terror attack was being controlled from a location in Afghanistan through Afghan cell phones by a Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan operative," he said.

"The COAS (the Chief of Army Staff) asked for their cooperation in locating and targeting those responsible for this heinous act and bring them to justice," Bajwa said.

Bajwa indicated yesterday that soil of foreign country was used in the attack but did not blame Afghanistan.

Militant leader Umar Mansoor, who masterminded Peshawar school attack of December 16, 2014 which killed 150 people mostly students, claimed responsibility for yesterday's attack.

Foreign Office (FO) spokesman Qazi Khalilullah said that the investigation into the attack will be completed shortly and action will be taken against terrorists and their facilitators involved in attack.

He said the terror attack has further strengthened the country's resolve for elimination of terrorism.

Pakistan maintains contacts with the Afghan government at various levels to find a solution to different issues related to the security, Radio Pakistan quoted Khalilullah as saying.

He said Pakistan desires peace in Afghanistan and the recent Heart of Asia conference in Islamabad was a big step in that direction.

He said meetings of four-nation group on Afghanistan will continue and all issues related to the reconciliation process involving the Afghan government and Taliban will be resolved within its framework.
AAP government has urged Union Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma to renominate Delhi as a UNESCO World Heritage City, a year after the Centre pulled it out of the race for the coveted tag.

The decision to pull out Delhi barely a few months before its fate was to be decided at the 39th Session of the World Heritage Committee in Bonn last year, had left heritage experts and lovers disheartened.

In a letter to Sharma dated January 20, Delhi Culture Minister Kapil Mishra said, there has been no "formal communication" to the Delhi government, regarding last year's withdrawal of nomination and that any endeavour in this regard should not be looked at with political considerations.

"Just before the meeting in Bonn, the nomination was either withdrawn by the government of India or deferred. There has been no formal communication to the Delhi government in this regard.

"It may be relevant to highlight that the Delhi government had spent a considerable amount of time and resources on the nomination process and proceeded with the nomination only after the Ministry of Urban development gave its consent on February 19, 2015," Mishra wrote.

The Centre earlier last year had decided to "pull out" Delhi's nomination as the World Heritage City, saying the prestigious tag, if granted, will put "lot of restrictions" on carrying out infrastructure works in the national capital.

Sharma, however had said that the Centre was open to the idea of renominating the city.

In its bid to re-enter the race for the UNESCO tag, the government has again proposed "Delhi's Imperial Capital Cities", namely Shahjahanabad in old Delhi and Lutyens' Bungalow Zone (LBZ) in New Delhi, for the nomination to the World Heritage List.

Mishra requested Sharma that the dossier be sent for the next nomination cycle at the 40th Session of the World Heritage Committee, scheduled to be held in Istanbul, in July and that it be "pursued vigorously".

"With its rich and cosmopolitan cultural heritage, Delhi is like a 'Mini India'. It is essential that this rich cultural heritage of Delhi is projected before the world in right earnest. Any endeavour in this regard should not be looked at with political considerations," he said.

The dossier was prepared by Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) which listed Shahjahanabad, dotted with Mughal-era heritage and Lutyens' Bungalow Zone, (LBZ) part of the new imperial capital designed by Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens and Sir Herbert Baker after the 1911 Delhi Durbar.

Meanwhile, Nalanda university is the 2015 entry from the country for the UNESCO World Heritage City tag in the cultural heritage segment in pursuance of which the Ministry of Culture through the Archaeological Survey of India had sent an over 200-page-long nomination dossier on January 23 last year.

The fate of the ruins of the ancient university in Bihar will be decided at the 40th Session of the World Heritage Committee.
A genomics research company here today announced the launch of an advanced RNA sequencing test, called 'PositiveSelect', for cancer, intended to aid oncologists select the best treatment for patients.

According to Positive Bioscience, the sequencing test is based on whole RNA sequencing and enhances the utility of comprehensive genomics profile manifold, bringing genomics test closer to clinical practice.

"PositiveSelect, India's first RNA sequencing test for cancer treatment is the most advanced genomics test for cancer based on whole RNA sequencing. It detects genomic alterations in 25,000 genes as compared to 4-5 genes through conventional testing," Positive Bioscience CEO Samarth Jain told reporters here.

He said that patients will be able to buy PositiveSelect, designed to provide oncologists with a clinically actionable report that can identify molecular alterations in a patient's tumour and match those alterations with relevant targeted therapies and clinical trials, starting March 1 this year.

"This is a comprehensive genomic solution for solid tumours like lung, breast, ovarian, prostrate as well as haematological cancers," he said.

"The test employs RNA sequencing to detect all classes of genomic alterations, including base pair substitutions, insertions and deletions, copy number alterations, rearrangements and gene fusions," he said.

Jain said governments can play a big role in taking the technology forward by making people aware so that there is a better chance of managing the disease.

"PositiveSelect will be available in all leading hospitals of the country on a prescription of oncologists," he added.
A South Korean court said today it had acquitted a man of sympathising with North Korea for following its Twitter account, arguing that simply reading Pyongyang's social media posts did not violate Seoul's security laws.

Seoul prosecutors earlier charged the 73-year-old journalist with "distributing" materials that praised the communist North by following Pyongyang's official Twitter account, @uriminzok.

Lee was, however, found guilty of supporting the North in his own blog postings and was sentenced to a one-year jail term, suspended for two years.

South Korea's National Security Laws, enacted in 1948 to protect the fledgling state from infiltration by the communist North, ban its citizens from praising or sympathising with Pyongyang.

Domestic critics and international rights groups argue that the law is open to abuse and stifles free speech, but officials insist it is justified by the continued threat from the nuclear-armed North.

The Seoul Western District Court ruled that, because Lee only followed North Korea on Twitter and did not re-tweet or mention any of the posts on his own account, he had not broken the law.

"It can't be said that he 'distributed' those posts as they were only shown on Lee's own account and were not shown to other people, such as Lee's followers," the court said in a statement.

North Korea joined the global social media networks in 2010 and has posted more than 17,500 tweets since then, mostly criticising its major foes -- South Korea and the US -- and praising its ruling Kim family.

Its Twitter account has over 18,500 followers.
A South Korean man suspected of being behind an explosion at a controversial Tokyo war shrine was re-arrested today, accused of carrying and using gunpowder.

Tokyo police said Jeon Chang-Han, 27, now faces a new charge of violating Japan's explosives control law after he was held for trespassing on the shrine last month.

"He allegedly filled a metal pipe with black gunpowder and carried it to a toilet inside Yasukuni Shrine," a police spokesman told AFP.

"He also allegedly blew up the pipe filled with gunpowder in the toilet."



Japanese prosecutors had Jeon arrested in December on the charge of illegal entry into the shrine after a suspected explosion damaged a bathroom there on November 23.

No one was hurt, but the incident stretched already frayed nerves in the Japanese capital just days after jihadists killed 130 people in Paris.

The Yasukuni shrine in central Tokyo honouring millions of Japan's war dead, including several senior military and political figures convicted of war crimes after World War II, remains a diplomatic flashpoint in Northeast Asia.

Visits by senior Japanese politicians routinely draw an angry reaction from China and South Korea, which see it as a symbol of Tokyo's militaristic past.

Jeon is believed to have initially left Japan after the blast but was taken into custody when he re-entered the country in early December, reportedly carrying two kilogrammes (4.4 pounds) of gunpowder.

The Yasukuni shrine has been a target of occasional attacks by activists in the past.

A South Korean national was charged two years ago with attempting to set fire to the building, while a man was also arrested in December 2014 for suspected arson, according to media reports.
The European Union should impose sanctions on Chinese state media, a journalism advocacy group said today, denouncing broadcasts and reports of "forced confessions" by detainees.

The call by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) followed the broadcast of a purported confession by Swedish activist, Peter Dahlin, who has been detained by authorities on accusations of threatening state security.

State broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) on Tuesday aired footage of a dazed and harried Dahlin apologising to China for his alleged actions. The official agency Xinhua also published quotes from the video.

"We are outraged by the dissemination of forced 'confessions' that have no informational value," said Benjamin Ismail, an Asia-based campaigner for RSF, in a statement posted on the organisation's website.

"By knowingly peddling lies and statements presumably obtained under duress, CCTV and Xinhua become mass propaganda weapons and cease de facto to be media."



RSF called on the EU to adopt sanctions against the outlets, saying doing so would be in line with EU actions in 2013 against Iranian state media officials whose broadcasts of forced confessions were said to be associated with violating the right to a fair trial.

Dahlin, who worked for the Chinese Urgent Action Working Group, disappeared earlier this month as he prepared to board a flight to Thailand, and appears to have been caught up in a crackdown on human rights lawyers.

CCTV's video of Dahlin showed the Swede confessing that he had "violated Chinese law through my activities here".

Two purported Chinese colleagues of Dahlin were also shown declaring their guilt.

Xinhua said Dahlin's group was "encouraging the masses to oppose the government".

The purported confessions were the latest in what RSF described as "an alarming threat to freely reported and information".

On Monday CCTV broadcast a video of Hong Kong bookseller Gui Minhai, a naturalised Swedish citizen, confessing to a years-old mainland drink-driving offence and saying he did not want Stockholm to interfere with his case.

Gui was rumoured to be preparing a tell-all book about the love life of President Xi Jinping. He disappeared from Thailand late last year before reappearing on Chinese national television in police custody.

While forced public confessions are an old practice in Communist China, they have experienced a resurgence under President Xi Jinping, who took power in 2012.

At least three Chinese journalists have appeared on state television to give apparent confessions about the harm their work had done to the state.
Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir has refused to publicly speak on reports that Riyadh was trying to buy nuclear weapons from Pakistan, but said the Kingdom will do whatever it takes to protect itself.

"I am not going to get into details of discussions we have with foreign governments, and certainly not allied governments. I'm sure you understand," he said.

"I would not discuss these things in a public forum, certainly not on television," he told CNN when asked about nuclear cooperation with Pakistan.

His remarks came a day after US Secretary of State John Kerry warned both Saudi Arabia and Pakistan against indulging in trade of nuclear weapons, saying there will be "all kinds of NPT consequences" if Riyadh went ahead with any such plan.

The warning from Kerry came amid media reports that Saudi Arabia is trying to buy nuclear weapons from Pakistan.

Top Pakistani leaders have in recent weeks warned Iran of serious consequences if it attacked Saudi Arabia, which many analysts see as a nuclear threat from Islamabad to Tehran.

"Saudi Arabia is committed to two things. I always say two things we do not negotiate over, our faith and our security. Saudi Arabia will do whatever it takes in order to protect our nation and our people from any harm. And I will leave it at that," Al-Jubeir said.

"I discussed the bilateral relationship with Pakistan, which is a strategic one. We discussed the regional situation. We discussed ways to promote security and stability in the region. We discussed the negative and aggressive Iranian interference and the affairs of the region," he said.

Responding to a question, the minister said Iran should seize interfering in the affairs of other regional countries.

"Iran should cease to support terrorism. Iran should cease to assassinate diplomats and blow up embassies. Iran should cease to support militias whose objective is to destabilise countries in the region. Iran should cease its policy of negative propaganda in the region. Other than that, things should be fine with Iran," he said.

Al-Jubeir said most countries are concerned over Iran getting billions of dollars as a result of the nuclear deal.

"I think most countries in the world are concerned that Iran will use these funds in order to fund its nefarious activities rather than use them to develop its country and improve the living standards of its people. I hope I'm wrong," he said.

Lashing out at Iran, he said Tehran harbours the leadership of al-Qaeda, including one of Osama bin Laden's sons, and this is a country that has been aggressive and has demonstrated no inhibitions in using terrorism.

"This is a country that has provided troops and recruited troops in a sectarian war in Syria that has allowed Bashar al-Assad to murder more than 250,000 of his people and to render 12 million of them refugees or displaced persons," he said.
The Supreme Court today agreed to hear an appeal challenging Delhi High Court decision dismissing DTC's plea for grant of six months to approach DDA to change the land use of the Millennium Bus Depot site on the banks of Yamuna here.

"List it for hearing tomorrow," a bench of Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justice R Banumathi said when senior advocate Harish Salve mentioned the matter for urgent hearing.

The High Court, on October 20 last year, had shot down the plea of Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) on the issue saying it was an abuse of court process to seek extension of time after undertaking to shift it.

It also said that the high court had in 2012 given six months to either shift the depot or change land use of site and there was "no justifiable reason" now for further extension.

The court had observed in its six-page order that as Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has stated it was not possible to change Delhi's Master Plan with regard to the site, steps taken for changing land use have "failed".

The high court had in 2012 given DTC six months to relocate its depot or get the Master Plan 2021 amended to enable it to continue functioning from its current location on the banks of river Yamuna.

The order had come on the petition of two environmental activists, Anand Arya and Manoj Misra.

On expiry of six months, a contempt plea was filed by the petitioners against DTC for not relocating its Millennium Bus Depot, built at a cost of Rs 60 crore for the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

DTC had undertaken that it would shift the depot by October 31, 2014, to another site provided by DDA. The deadline for relocation was later extended to August 20 by the court.

The 50-acre millennium depot was built on the river bank initially as a temporary depot during the 2010 games, with a parking space for around 1,000 buses along with various facilities including five workshop-cum-scanning centres, a logistic centre and two CNG-filling stations.
The upcoming small finance banks will take time to develop a retail deposit franchise and securitisation of loans will be instrumental for their development, Moody's Investors Service said on Thursday.

In both India and China, securitisation is an important funding tool for NBFCs, which in turn lends to under-served individuals, micro enterprises and SMEs, it said in a report.

The Reserve Bank on India in September 2015 granted in-principle approval to 10 entities, including eight micro-finance institutions (MFIs), to operate as small finance banks. "Securitisation will continue to be instrumental for these small Indian finance banks, as it will take time for them to develop a retail deposit franchise.

"At the same time, NBFCs and MFIs will continue to fund through securitisation as the sector grows," Moody's said.

The development of domestic securitisation markets will help both India and China achieve the objective of financial inclusion, it added. Securitisation refers to a pooled group of financial assets or loans that together create a new security, which is then marketed and sold to investors.

With the aim of promoting financial inclusion to under-served segment, the small finance banks will accept deposits and extend credit to marginal farmers and small business units. Their mandate overlaps with the target market of MFIs. Moody's said, till recently, policies to promote financial inclusion in India had mainly focused on bringing individuals into the ambit of formal financial institutions.

However, in recent years, the focus has broadened to include improving the availability of credit to micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

In both India and China, non-bank finance companies (NBFCs) are key providers of credit to individuals and small businesses that would otherwise have limited access to bank loans or would incur high interest costs for such loans, said Georgina Lee, Moody's Assistant Vice President.

"While there are various funding avenues open to NBFCs in India and China, securitisation has proven to be reliable and competitively priced, and is therefore an important source of the funds the NBFCs use for lending," Lee said.
A shuttle service would be run on a defunct railway track between Patna Sahib and Patna Ghat to facilitate movement of Sikh pilgrims during the 350th birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Gobind Singh.

An assurance in this regard was given by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu to Food Processing Industry Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, a Punjab MP, when she met him at his office here.

Badal requested Prabhu to ensure that pilgrims visiting Patna Sahib during 350th anniversary celebrations of Sikh Guru Gobind Singh are not inconvenienced and urged him to rename Patna Ghat railway station in keeping with Sikh history.

The Railway Minister said he has taken up the issue with Bihar government.

Earlier Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had also written to his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar on the issue.

Harsimrat said the Railway Minister assured her that the ministry would run a shuttle service between the present in operational track between Patna Sahab and Patna Ghat, a Punjab government statement said.

She said this shuttle service, which would be run between the 10 km tract every hour, would cater to 800 passengers during each journey.

Thanking Prabhu for accepting her request, Badal said this would facilitate pilgrims in approaching Patna Sahab Gurdwara during the 350th anniversary celebrations as the present road leading to the Gurdwara was very narrow and congested.

She also requested the Railway Minister that the Patna Ghat station be beautified as per Sikh architecture heritage.

The SAD MP from Bhatinda also requested the Central government to take up the issue of creating road access from Patna Ghat station to the ghat of the Ganga river. She said this issue would also be taken up with the Bihar government.

Badal also announced that she would request the Punjab government to run special trains to Patna Sahib under the Mukh Mantri Teerath Yatra Yojna from next year, the statement said.
A 20-year-old Indian-origin woman in Singapore was today jailed for a week for torturing her Filipina maid by slapping, hitting and punching her.

Vidya Jayasankarr committed one count of voluntarily causing hurt to the family's domestic helper Miezel Cagas Limbaga and was ordered to pay SGD 4,800 compensation.

Limbaga cooked, cared for her employers' children and had no days off.

She slapped 31-year-old Limbaga and grabbed her neck in late January last year, according to a report by The Straits Times.

The culprit and her husband, Janardana Jayasankarr, 52, had been charged with hurting the Filipina, who had been working for them since October 2014.

Both pleaded guilty earlier to have hit the maid when they were unhappy with her.

The husband, as employer, admitted to two counts of causing hurt to the maid while two other similar charges will be considered when he will be sentenced on February 19, 2016.

Court documents said that, on January 20 last year, the man grabbed Limbaga's T-shirt and dragged her to the master bedroom at night.

He was unhappy with her for opening the fridge and microwave earlier that day, and accused her of stealing food.

In the bedroom, the couple took turns to hit and scold the maid for all her previous wrongdoings.

The man slapped the maid on her face, punched her on her stomach and chest and his wife grabbed the helper's neck.

After scolding her for some time, the couple allowed her to return to her room. The man admitted to causing hurt to the maid on three other occasions in late November 2014 and in January 2015.

These beatings came to light when another Filipina saw bruises on Limbaga's face, chest area and arms and made a police report on January 22, 2015.

On further investigation, police officers went to the Jayasankarrs' home and Limbaga was sent to a hospital on the same day. She was found to have bruising on her scalp, cheeks, upper chest, back, sacral area and left hip.

The couple had since agreed to give the victim compensation of SGD 1,000, according to their lawyer Rajan Nair.

But the prosecution argued that this was insufficient and asked for compensation of SGD 4,800 for loss of earnings, as Limbaga had stopped working in January 2015 and was residing in the Philippine Embassy in the city-state.

While working for the couple Limbaga was paid SGD 400 a month.
The NDA Government has launched skill development programme for girls of Muslim community in Jammu and Kashmir under its Nai Manzil initiative.

"We launched the skill development programme in three Madarsas for girls in Jammu and Kashmir yesterday. The programme is being launched under our Nai Manzil initiative.

"We will provide the girls area-specific training, based on local requirements as part of the programme," Union Minority Affairs Minister Najma Heptulla told reporters here today.

The Minister said girls from economically poor background will be trained at three institutions which include a development centre in Kashmir University and Madarsa Shahi-i-Hamdan in Pampore and Madarsa Imam Sadique in Shadipur in Bandipora.

She said training will be given in seven areas including saffron and fruits processing, traditional embroidery, tourism, hospitality, software and hardware, electronics and plumbing.

The Minister said students will be trained in these areas over a period of three-month beyond learning hours and also offered stipend of Rs 4000 each.

"We will also give them certificates from Sector Skill Councils," she said.

Heptulla said the World Bank too has taken note of the Nai Manzil prorgamme and offered loan of USD 50 million.

"This is for the first time that the World Bank has offered loan to the Ministry. The bank has appreciated our programme and also recommended African countries to implement similar programmes," she added.

Heptulla said her Ministry has sought more funds from Finance Ministry in the upcoming budget.

Nai Manzil scheme, already introduced in Mumbai and Patna, is an integrated education and livelihood initiative for minority communities.
Gold bars valued at Rs 2.21 crore, smuggled into India from Sri Lanka, were today seized from a car by Directorate of Revenue Intelligence officials at a toll gate on a national highway in Tamil Nadu.

A total of 8.325 kg of gold was seized from the van. It included 62 bars with foreign markings, each weighing 100 grams, two bars weighing one kg each with similar markings and one cut piece gold bar, a DRI release said here tonight.

The DRI acted on specific intelligence that gold bars were being smuggled to India from the island nation by boats through coastal villages near Nagapattinam. They were then moved to Thanjavur and later transported to Chennai by car.

DRI officers were deployed in and around coastal villages and at important road junctions and highways connecting Chennai to Thanjavur.

The van was intercepted at Valvathankottai toll gate on Tiruchirapalli-Thanjavur National Highway early this morning.

The two occupants on being questioned admitted that they were transporting the gold received from Nagapattinam coast and bought from Sri Lanka into India through boat.

The duo were arrested for violations under the provision of Customs Act, 1962, the release said.
Japan's SoftBank has made a fresh investment of Rs 100 crore in Housing.Com to help the realty portal consolidate its position in the heavily contested online property segment.

Housing.Com, which competes with the likes of Rupert Murdoch-backed PropTiger, Magicbricks and Commonfloor, said it is building scalable revenue streams around its product.

"Housing.Com has secured a fresh round of funding from Softbank, its largest investor. The new Rs 100 crore infusion will well-capitalise the company to drive its new strategy and growth plans," the Mumbai-based firm said in a statement.

In December 2014, Softbank had led a USD 90 million funding round in Housing.Com. It had over 30 per cent stake in the portal. However, neither parties disclosed the increase in stake after the fresh infusion.

"We continue to remain excited by Housing's prospects and we know that this infusion will help Housing get to the next level and further consolidate its presence in the Indian real estate market," said Jonathan Bullock, SoftBank Representative on Housing Board.

SoftBank had said last week that it may scale up its planned investment of USD 10 billion in the coming years as the telecom and Internet giant sees the "beginning of Big Bang" for the world's second most populous market.

SoftBank, had in 2014, announced plans to invest USD 10 billion in India over a decade. It has already put in USD 627 million into online marketplace Snapdeal and other companies like Housing.Com and Ola.

Founded in 2012, Housing.Com has raised over USD 100 million in capital from leading investors, including SoftBank, Nexus Ventures, Falcon Edge and Helion Ventures.

"Softbank is one of the world's largest and most successful investors... (It) signifies their long-term commitment to the company. We are now well-capitalised to aggressively execute on our focused strategy and growth plans," Housing.Com CEO Jason Kothari said.

Housing.Com has decided to focus on buying and selling homes, the largest and most lucrative segment of the real estate market, and the funds will be deployed towards the same. Earlier, its focus was on listings of properties.

The infusion of fresh funds comes at a time when speculations were rife about eCommerce major Snapdeal buying the company.

The funding has come after restructuring of Housing.Com operations after the exit of its co-founder and former CEO Rahul Yadav from the firm in July last year.

In November, it named Jason Kothari as its CEO. Later in the same month, it decided to restructure its business to focus only on buying and selling of apartments and also reduce its employee strength.

Yesterday, it announced the appointment of its co-founder Snehil Buxy as its chief product officer.

With 85 million visits in 2015 and 1.7 million verified listings to date, Housing.Com has acquired an online community for real estate (India Real Estate Forum), a popular CRM for developers (HomeBuy360), and a data analytics and due diligence firm for real estate (Realty Business Intelligence).

Hired in 2014 after his over 10-year stint at Google,



Arora was promoted to president in June last year. While at SoftBank, he spent nearly USD 4 billion investing in startups around the world in a hunt for a break-through technology company capable of driving future growth.

Some of his deals were, however, criticised by shareholders while some others questioned his compensation and qualifications.

He received USD 135 million pay package including a joining bonus in 2014-15, and was paid USD 73 million last year.

SoftBank, burdened with USD 80 billion debt, has been on a selling spree in recent weeks. This month, it sold USD 10 billion worth of shares in Alibaba as well as most of its shares in Japanese gaming company GungHo Online Entertainment in a deal valued at about USD 685 million.

It also announced sale of its stake in Finnish game maker Supercell.

(Reopens FES127)



Ola co-founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal said Arora has been "a great friend, guide and mentor to me personally".

"I am sure he will continue to be a source of support and inspiration to the Indian startup ecosystem. I look forward to engaging with him in his role as an advisor to SoftBank in the time ahead," Aggarwal added.

SoftBank had led a USD 210 million funding round in Ola in October 2014. Since then, it has participated in subsequent fund raising as well.

"SoftBank, as an investor, has played a key role in Ola's growth story and we will continue to leverage the vast network and expertise that they bring to us as partners," Aggarwal said.

Last August, Arora spent USD 483 million to buy SoftBank shares as a "personal bet" in the company.

Arora, in a tweet, said he has sold those shares to Son, incurring a "small loss".

Reports said Arora did not want to be re-elected as a representative director and has also stepped down from his post of Chairman from Yahoo Japan.

He also reportedly resigned from his position as Director of Sprint, a US-based telecom firm that SoftBank acquired.
All set for the release of her first biopic, "Neerja", actress Sonam Kapoor here met Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Sonam, 30, will be seen in the role of Neerja Bhanot, a 23-year-old girl who is the youngest Ashoka Chakra award winner in India, in Ram Madhvani-helmed film.

The biopic is an untold story of Neerja, a flight attendant on Pan Am 73 which was hijacked by Libyan terrorists in Karachi, saved 359 passengers at the cost of her life in 1986.

"'Neerja' is a special film. Sonam met the chief minister regarding her the film last night," sources said.

The film, which also has veteran actress Shabana Azmi in a key role, is scheduled to release on February 19.
The Joint Action Committee for Social Justice and the University of Hyderabad Teachers' Association today rejected an appeal made by the varsity Vice-Chancellor Prof Appa Rao Podile to restart the classes and restore normalcy.

The Hyderabad Central University (HCU) is roiling in the aftermath of the suicide of Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula.

"At a time when the legitimacy of Prof Appa Rao to continue as a VC is in question, without attending to the protesting students, who are on indefinite hunger strike, the absconding VC and Executive Committee met today (not inside the campus) and issued a circular.

"We outrightly reject this illegitimate circular since it came through a Committee headed by the VC, who in our opinion is not the legitimate VC anymore, but in fact a criminal on the run," the Joint Action Committee for Social Justice alleged in a statement.

Rao should immediately surrender to police, it said.

Earlier, in a fresh appeal the VC said, "It is once again fervently appealed to all in the University to contribute to resuming regular class work, research activities and administrative work without further delay. I would also greatly appreciate all the teachers, students, officers and supporting staff in rising to the occasion."



He said other observations/suggestions from all the teachers will be taken forward using internal mechanisms and within the limits of the University, after the agitation is called off completely and complete peace is restored on the campus.

"Several individuals/groups of the teachers have expressed their concern and offered their services to resolve the matter. I profusely thank the University of Hyderabad Teachers' Association (UHTA), members of the SC/ST Teachers' Forum and all other individuals who have reached out to resolve the matter," he said.

But UHTA denied it had reached out to the varsity.

"We take objection to some of the statements made in the appeal...UHTA did not offer its services neither it has the authority to resolve the situation," it said in a resolution.

Seven members of the the Joint Action Committee are on an indefinite hunger strike for fulfilment of its demands following Rohith's suicide.
At least eight persons were injured in a clash between agitating students and policemen in front of the office of the Persons with Disabilities (PwD) Commissioner B Sairengpuii this afternoon.

Aizawl district Superintendent of Police Lalhuliana Fanai said the students, who were protesting against the appointment of Sairengpuii as PwD Commissioner, were trying to enter the office and the police had to use lathis and resorted to tear gas to disperse them.

"After the police dispersed them, the students regrouped and began pelting stones at policemen compelling them to use force against them," he said, adding that the regrouped students continued to surround the office even as police continued their vigil.

Police said eight persons, including six policemen, were injured in the clash.

Student leaders said that though a number of students were injured in the clash, two were taken to hospital.

Mizo Students' Union, Aizawl City College Joint Students Union and Mizoram Blind Society have been protesting against the appointment and extension of service of Sairengpuii and the PwD Commissioner.

They alleged that Sairengpuii, retired state secretariat service officer and younger sister of Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla's wife Lal Riliani, was appointed as the PwD Commissioner though she did not the requisite qualification.
Sudan has offered ONGC Videsh Ltd three more oil and gas blocks for exploration and production and invited Indian firms to set up a coastal refinery to boost fuel supplies to the African continent.

The offer made by visiting Sudanese Oil Minister Mohamed Zayed Awad is part of the African nation's efforts to seek greater energy engagements with India, to which it owes $240 million in oil dues.

OVL, the overseas investment arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), already has a 25% stake in Greater Nile Oil Project (GNOP) in Sudan that produces about 50,000 barrels of oil per day.

"They have offered more oil blocks for exploration and asked for Indian companies' expertise to raise production from existing fields," Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said after meeting Awad on sidelines of the 4th India-Africa Hydrocarbons Conference here.

Awad said Sudan has offered Blocks 8, 15 and 24 for exploration of oil and has asked OVL to consider buying a stake in producing Block 17. Block 17 currently produces 7,000 bpd of oil.

Pradhan said Sudan is also keen on Indian firms setting up a coastal refinery to meet not just local fuel demand but also export to other African nations.

"The issue of $240 million pending dues was also discussed and modalities are being worked out for that," he said.

Sudan has not paid OVL for the oil from GNOP it consumed. The cash-starved nation wants the Indian firm to raise output from the producing Block 17 and exploration areas offered and recoup the dues from it.

Star Oil is the operator of Block 17 with 66% stake while the remaining is with Sudan's Sudapet.

Also discussed was renewal of licence for Block 2B, which is part of GNOP. The licence for the block expires in November and OVL and its partners China National Petroleum Company (40% stake), Petronas of Malaysia (30%) and Sudapet (5%) want a 5-15 year extension.

OVL had in 2003 bought 25% stake in GNOP which comprised of Block 1, 2 and 4 in the undivided Sudan. It lies in the prolific Muglad basin about 780 kms in the South-West of Khartoum, the capital of Sudan.

Upon secession of South Sudan from Sudan, Blocks 2A, 2B and 4N are in Sudan and Blocks 1A, 1B as well as 4S are in South Sudan.

Block 2B is producing 50,000 bpd of oil while Block 4 is under exploration phase.

The crude oil produced from oil field of GNOP, is transported through a 1504-km pipeline to Port Sudan at Red Sea.

Upon secession of South Sudan from Sudan in July 2011, the contract areas of Blocks 1, 2 and 4, spread over both the areas, were split with major share of production and reserves are now situated in the South Sudan.

Post secession, as the government of Sudan's share of total production from Sudan was not sufficient to meet requirements of local refineries, foreign firms were asked to sell their share of crude oil to it.

However, the payment of dues on account of crude oil purchased by government of Sudan has not been received, officials said, adding that OVL's share of the outstanding dues is about $240 million.

OVL's share of oil production from GNOP, Sudan, was 0.7 million tons in 2014-15.

OVL had along with state-owned Oil India Ltd constructed and financed a 741-km multi-product pipeline from Khartoum refinery to Port Sudan for $194 million. OVL's share of project cost was 90% while the rest was borne by OIL.

The pipeline was handed over to government of Sudan in October 2005. The lump sum price, together with lease rent was to be given to OVL in 18 equal half yearly instalments effective from December 2005.

While the payment of 11 half-yearly instalments due till December, 2010 was received from the government of Sudan, remaining seven instalments due from June 30, 2011 to June 30, 2014, are yet to be released.

OVL, whose share of investment in the project was $158.01 million, has been following up for realisation of $98.94 million from government of Sudan at various levels.
A suspected terrorist, who was being taken from Tamil Nadu to Lucknow for a court hearing, escaped by jumping off a running train with his handcuffs on near Itarsi railway station, police said today.

Syed Ahmed Ali (38) jumped from Raptisagar Super Fast Express at around midnight yesterday and fled, Hoshangabad's Superintendent of Police Ashutosh Pratap Singh said.

He said Ali was being taken from Vellore in Tamil Nadu to a railway magistrate in Lucknow on a production warrant in connection with a case when he escaped from the running train before it was about to enter the Itarsi station -- one of the biggest railway junctions in the country.

Ahmed had allegedly threatened to blow up Taj Mahal and a dargah in UP. He was arrested in October 2015 in Tamil Nadu after he threatened to blow up Christian Medical College, Vellore.

According to documents with Vellore Police, Ali hails from Tripura. "He might have acquired a false domicile certificate. We are checking it," Singh said.

According to police sources, Ahmed might be a Bangladeshi, who obtained Tripura's domicile certificate unlawfully.

Meanwhile, the police have launched a massive manhunt to nab Ahmed, the SP added.
Peace talks aimed at ending Syria's brutal conflict will likely be delayed by a few days past the scheduled start date on Monday, the United Nations said.

"It is likely the 25th may slip by a few days for practical reasons," said Jessy Chahine, a spokeswoman for UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura, who is scheduled to host the talks.

In an email to AFP today, Chahine stressed though that "we are still aiming for that date and we will in any event assess progress over the weekend."



Her comment contradicted a statement earlier today from US Secretary of State John Kerry.

"It may be a day or two for invitations but there is not going to be a fundamental delay. The process will begin on the 25th and they will get together and see where we are," Kerry said on the sidelines of meetings at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The latest bid to end Syria's nearly five-year war through indirect talks between the government and part of the opposition has long been scheduled to start in Geneva on Monday.

But a dispute over who should represent the Syrian opposition at the talks has cast a shadow of uncertainty over the start of the negotiations.

Yesterday, the main coalition of opposition bodies, the so-called High Negotiations Committee, announced its own delegation to the talks.

But its decision to name a member of the Jaish al-Islam rebel group as its chief negotiator has drawn criticism both from some of its own members, and opposition figures excluded from the coalition.

The National Coordinating Committee for Democratic Change, a key opposition body still present in Damascus, said the choice was "not acceptable".

And Haytham Manna, an opposition figure who does not belong to the High Negotiations Committee, accused it of including "war criminals" in its delegation.

Damascus's delegation will be headed by the Syrian ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar al-Jaafari, and overseen by Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Moqdad, the Syrian government source has said.
The United Nations has said that crucial talks on ending the Syria conflict would likely be delayed by a few days, as a dispute over who will represent the opposition intensified.

The talks, scheduled to open in Geneva on Monday, are part of the biggest diplomatic push yet to resolve a civil war that in nearly five years has left more than 260,000 dead and forced millions from their homes.

World powers agreed last year in Vienna on an 18-month roadmap that would lead to the peace talks, a transitional government and then elections.

But the office of UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura, who is hosting the talks, said the January 25 deadline for the start of talks would probably be missed.

"It is likely the 25th may slip by a few days for practical reasons," Jessy Chahine, a spokeswoman for de Mistura, told AFP in an email yesterday.

"We are still aiming for that date and we will in any event assess progress over the weekend," she said.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said he was confident the talks would go ahead as planned.

"It may be a day or two for invitations but there is not going to be a fundamental delay," Kerry said on the sidelines of meetings at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

"The process will begin on the 25th and they will get together and see where we are," he said.

Diplomats appeared to be scrambling to resolve the key question of who will represent Syria's fractious opposition at the talks with President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

The main coalition of opposition bodies, the High Negotiations Committee, announced a delegation to the talks on Wednesday but its composition quickly came under fire.

The group named Mohamed Alloush, a political leader of the Saudi-backed Islamist armed group Jaish al-Islam, as its chief negotiator at the talks.

The National Coordinating Committee for Democratic Change, a key opposition body still present in Damascus, said it was "not acceptable" for the delegation's chief to come from the armed opposition.

"This sends the wrong political message to the Syrian people," it said.

The pro-regime Al-Watan daily called Alloush's appointment "a provocative step with the sole goal of thwarting any possible dialogue". Syria's ally Russia has said it considers Jaish al-Islam as a "terrorist" group.
The Facebook page of Taiwan's newly elected president Tsai Ing-wen has been flooded with tens of thousands of hostile comments, many of them demanding reunification with mainland China.

Tsai, chairwoman of the China-sceptic Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), was elected Saturday in a sweeping victory by voters increasingly uneasy about warming ties with China under outgoing President Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang (KMT) party.

The posts, many of them written in simplified Chinese used on the mainland and not the traditional characters more commonly used in Taiwan, started to appear on Tsai's Facebook page last evening.

"I don't care who becomes the president in Taiwan... The only one thing I care is [when] we can recover the little Taiwan," Chenxi Cui posted in English today.

Another, Lily Liao, said: "Loving mother country is a pride, harming mother country is shame."



Lawyer-turned-politician Tsai brushed off the attacks, and responded with a series of posts encouraging democratic debate on the island.

"Last night lots of netizens from the mainland visited my Facebook page. To this, I want to say 'welcome'," she wrote in a Facebook message.

It was not clear who was behind the barrage of comments, but Chinese authorities have been known to encourage an army of sometimes paid posters to write entries supportive of party policies.

Tsai also posted a photo of a supporter waving a flag of the Republic of China, Taiwan's official title, featuring the Chinese phrase: "What is great about this country is that every person is entitled to exercising their own rights."



Taiwan is a self-ruling democracy since splitting with China in 1949 after a civil war, but has never formally declared independence, and Beijing sees it as part of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary.

After her landslide win, Tsai pledged to maintain the "status quo" across the Taiwan Straits, but the president-elect has refused to recognise the "1992 consensus" -- a tacit understanding between the outgoing KMT and Beijing that has been the bedrock of warming ties since 2008.

Beijing responded to the election rout by warning that it would resolutely oppose any bid by Taiwan to seek independence.
As grieving Pakistani parents lament the government's failure to keep their children safe, analysts say the Taliban have sent a message with their latest campus massacre -- a national crackdown on extremism has failed and they can hit targets at will.

The rampage at Bacha Khan university left 21 people dead yesterday and shattered the sense of security growing in the troubled northwest, a year after Pakistan's deadliest ever extremist attack, a 2014 assault on a school in nearby Peshawar.

The chilling similarities between the two atrocities starkly underscored the failings of a government- and military-led initiative launched in the wake of the strike on the army-run school.

"It happened again," said Zaheeruddin, father of Kashan Zaheer, a ninth grade student who was wounded in the assault which saw Taliban gunmen storm the Peshawar school and kill more than 150 people, most of them children, a year ago.

"Staff and students were martyred again. The government has failed. It has not been able to provide us security."



The Peshawar attack, carried out by the same Taliban faction that claimed the latest strike in nearby Charsadda, prompted the military to intensify an offensive in tribal areas where jihadists had operated with impunity.

The military says it has killed thousands in the campaign and swept others over the porous border into Afghanistan.

The government launched a much-vaunted National Action Plan to combat extremism, including the creation of military courts and the resumption of executions after a six-year moratorium.

Together the initiatives are credited with making 2015 the least deadly in terms of militant attacks since the formation of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistani (TTP) in 2007.

But the Bacha Khan attack was a message, said Peshawar-based senior analyst and retired brigadier Saad Khan -- that despite the pressure "they can hit any target".

The killing of young people "brings a lot of pain, despondency and hopelessness, and that arouses emotions against the government, the same government which claimed it had broken the back of the terrorists," he said.

Defence and security analyst Talat Masood said the government and military had failed to follow through.

"This is the same pattern. They are looking for soft targets and it is simply impossible to provide security to the soft targets, especially those near the border (with Afghanistan)," he told AFP.

"Pakistan needs to do a lot more."



Among the criticism is that little has been done about key issues including oversight of Pakistan's thousands of Islamic seminaries, widely seen as breeding grounds for intolerance.

The resumption of hangings has been particularly controversial, with rights activists saying that the majority of the more than 300 people executed in the past year were not linked to extremism.

And observers such as the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies argue that execution is no deterrent for militants who are already prepared to die for their cause.
Three school girls and two women were today killed when a bus hired for a tour by a Surat-based municipal primary school overturned near Keshod town in Junagadh district, police said.

The incident took place around 8.30 AM when the bus, carrying around 75 students of Tadvadi Primary School from Rander area in Surat, turned turtle killing three girl students and two women, Keshod police inspector K V Chadappa said.

The deceased were identified as Nisha Rabari, a class 5th student, Divya Bharti and Bhavu Bambha (both students of class 7). Two deceased women, who were hired as cooks, were identified as Champa Rajkotia and Ramila Rathod.

The luxury bus had been hired by the school, run by Surat Municipal Corporation, for a tour of Saurashtra region, police said.

"We have learned that around 75 students along around six teachers and two women cooks were there in the bus. After paying visit to Somnath temple, the bus was coming towards Junagadh via Keshod this morning," said Chadappa.

"We suspect the bus overturned after one of its tyres burst, killing three girl students and two women cooks. 18 others, including some teachers, were injured in the accident and have been referred to Junagadh civil hospital," he added.

After the accident, the bus driver fled from the spot, police said adding, "We have lodged an FIR and started further investigation."



Meanwhile, Gujarat Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama has asked the authorities to extend all the help required to the victims.

"I got to know that three children and two women were killed in the accident. I have asked the District Collector of Junagadh as well as school authorities in Surat to extend all the necessary help. The government will also provide compensation to the kin of victims as per the rules," Chudasama said.
Stoutly defending the government on the issue of discharge of excess water from Chembarambakkam dam, which reportedly inundated vast areas in heavy rains last year, AIADMK today sought to turn the tables on DMK in the Assembly, charging them with inaction on incidents during their regime.

During the debate on the Governor's address, PWD Minister O Panneerselvam said relief work for unseasonal rains in 2008 during DMK regime was undertaken only after 11 days.

"For rains since March 10, 2008 deliberations happened on March 21 and only the following day did ministers and officials undertake relief work," he said replying to DMK MLA Anbazagan.

The DMK member had alleged that surplus waters from Chembarambakkam dam was not released at the appropriate time.

"Stalin (DMK treasurer) described (in a protest meeting) only such action as work on war footing," he said. "If work on war footing means deliberations after 11 days, let the people of Tamil Nadu themselves decide."



He then referred to DMK's recent claims of quick action by party chief and then Chief Minister Karunanidhi to plug breaches in the Puzhal lake in 1999.

Citing a media report, he said, "It is clear that the breach occured as no action was taken for a month when there was seepage."



Also, Karunanidhi had not answered opposition's doubts over the issue then and had said these queries could be replied to only after an inquiry.

"Karunanidhi did not hold any inquiry over the issue and till today no reason for the lake breach has been made known. At least now Karunandihi and Stalin should tell us why action over a small seepage was not taken for a month which led to a big breach," Panneerselvam said.

On release of waters from Chembarambakkam reservoir, he said it was done in a proper, staggered fashion as per flood water regulatory rules after warning people on the banks of river Adyar.

From December 1 morning, when the level was capped at 22.08 feet, inflow began increasing. This being the case 10,000 cubic feet per second of water was released by 10 AM, which was subsequently raised to 12,000 feet by noon and to 29,000 cusecs by 6.00 PM.

The same level was maintained till 3 PM the following day and later the water released was decreased in a phased manner.

"I appeal to the opposition to not level false charges against the government for political reasons over release of water from Chembarambakkam even after my explanation, "he said.

On December 13, government had termed as "malicious" reports that the Chennai floods were a result of "failure" in managing water release from dams and said the deluge was a "rarest of rare natural calamity" and people had been alerted about it.
The second national conference of All India Brahmins' Association beginning here from January 23, will appeal to the state govenrments to strictly follow the reservation guidelines of 50 per cent, as ordered by the Supreme Court.

Tamil Nadu and Karnataka were not following the Apex Coiurt ruling of 50 per cent reservation, instead sticking with 69 per cent reservation in education and employment fields, Ramasundaram, District president of the Association, told reporters here today.

The two-day conference will appeal these governments to implement the Court order, so that other sections of the society also benefit, he said, adding that the association has already filed a petition in this regard in the Supreme Court.

It will also appeal the Centre to expedite the construction of Ram Temple at Ayodhya, he said, adding that the Centre should also celebrate the Samadhi day of Adi Shankara, as spiritual day and declare a holiday.

Ramasundaram said that the association has already requested the State Government to take steps to remove the statues of E V Ramasamy 'Periyar', which were illegally constructed in front of Chidambaram and Srirangam temples.

The conference will also appeal the Centre to confer Bharath Ratna' on T V Rama Subba Iyer, the founder of Tamil daily, Dinamalar, who was also a freedom fighter and also build a memorial at his birthplace in Nagercoil, Ramasundaram said.
Director Tom Hooper, whose latest film "The Danish Girl" has been nominated for four Oscars, will receive the Honorary Dragon Award at Goteborg Film Festival.

"The Danish Girl" will have its Swedish premiere at the festival.

The London-born helmer, who won an Oscar for "The King's Speech" in 2010, will be present in Goteborg to receive the honorary prize.

As previously announced, Tobias Lindholm's "A War", Mads Matthiesen's "The Model" and Runar Runarsson's "Sparrows" are among the eight Nordic films set to compete for a Dragon Award.
The chief executive of Turkey's biggest industrial conglomerate Koc Holding, Mustafa Koc, died aged 55 today after a heart attack, triggering grief and shock in the Turkish business world.

"We lost Mustafa Koc despite all efforts by doctors as a result of a heart attack he had at his home," the American Hospital in Istanbul said in a statement.

Koc was the leader of the third generation of one of Turkey's biggest industrial dynasties, founded by his grandfather Vehbi Koc in the 1920s.

Under Vehbi Koc and his son Rahmi, the Koc conglomerate expanded to become the most important of the holding companies that dominate Turkish industry, with diverse interests in energy, banking and the automobile sectors.

It owns Turkey's single largest industrial enterprise, the Tupras oil refining group, as well as prominent household goods maker Arcelik and the Yapi Kredi Bank.

It also has a thriving auto industry joint venture with Ford (Ford Otosan) and with Fiat (TOFAS).

Mustafa Koc took over as chief executive of Koc Holding in 2003. He is survived by his father Rahmi Koc, 85. Founder Vehbi Koc died in 1996 aged 94.

The Hurriyet daily said Mustafa Koc had arrived in Istanbul late yesterday after a trip to Ankara where he met President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in an unpublicised meeting.

He had been due to fly to the World Economic Forum in Davos later today. Reports said Koc had suffered the heart attack during a morning workout.

Turkey's family-run conglomerates -- including Koc and other groups like Sabanci Holding -- are the mainstays of the country's economy with interests in every sector.

Koc Holding and some 100 subsidiaries alone account for around nine percent of Turkish exports and eight percent of its GDP.

The family is one of the richest in Turkey: according to 2015 estimates by the Turkish edition of Forbes magazine, Mustafa Koc had a fortune of over USD 1 billion and his father Rahmi USD 2.5 billion.

"He was a smart man and an honest man. He has lost his life very young and we are in shock today," Guler Sabanci, chairperson of the rival Sabanci Holding, told CNN-Turk.

"The culture and the family he was brought up in provided him with a social sensibility. He was a pioneer; rest in peace," she added.

"We have lost one of our most successful, energetic and productive sons," added Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek on Twitter.
Major stretches in New Delhi and Central Delhi areas will be made out of bound for motorists from tomorrow evening in view of a full dress rehearsal for the Republic Day parade, police said today.

The rehearsal for the parade shall start at 9.50 AM on Saturday from Vijay Chowk. The parade shall take Rajpath, pass through India Gate area, and head towards Tilak Marg, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg and Netaji Subhash Marg to reach Red Fort by 12 noon, after which all restrictions will come to an end.

"In order to facilitate the parade, the Rajpath stretch between Vijay Chowk and India Gate will be closed for general public from 6.30 PM tomorrow.

"By 11 PM, small stretches on both sides of intersections with Rafi Marg, Janpath and Man Singh Road will be blocked too for stopping the cross traffic," Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Sharad Agarwal said.

He further said that by 9.15 AM on the following day, the C-Hexagon near India Gate will be blocked for motorists and in the next 45 minutes, restrictions will be put on both carriageways in Tilak Marg, leading to Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, Netaji Subhash Marg and Red Fort.

However, cross traffic will be allowed in those roads, depending upon the movement of the parade, he said.

Also, from 7 AM on Saturday, the New Delhi Area comprising of Rashtrapati Bhawan, South and North Avenues, Pandara Raod, Motilal Nehru Marg, Sher Shah Road, Purana Qila Road, Copernicus Marg, Kasturba Gandhi Marg and Ashoka Road, will be turned into a restricted zone where entry will be restricted for buses, cabs and auto-rickshaws, police said.

"Commuters moving between South and North Delhi shall have to take either the Ring Road stretch connecting Sarai Kale Khan and Kashmere Gate or the route from Sardar Patel Marg to Rani Jhansi Road, passing through Mother Teressa Crescent Road and Mandir Marg," Agarwal said.

For those who commute in the metro, boarding and deboarding will not be allowed at Central Secretariat and Udyog Bhawan metro stations from 5 AM and at Race Course and Patel Chowk metro stations from 8.45 AM on Saturday.

All restrictions will end by 12 noon on Saturday, police added.
A German-Turkish man with alleged radical Islamist ties went on trial today accused of plotting a pipe bomb attack, possibly targeting a bicycle race, last year.

The 36-year-old identified only as Halil D. Faces up to 10 years jail if found guilty by a state court in the western city of Frankfurt of having planned a potentially lethal attack.

Police in a raid last April found a pipe bomb packed with nails and metal ball bearings, as well as weapons, ammunition and dangerous chemicals, in the basement of his building in Oberursel near Frankfurt.

Prosecutors claimed there was a "jihadist motivation" behind the alleged plot to commit a "serious subversive act of violence" and said D. Had ties to Germany's ultra-conservative Islamic Salafist community.

Police were tipped off by a building supplies store where he and his wife had in late March purchased three litres of hydrogen peroxide, a bleaching agent and disinfectant that can be used in improvised explosive devices.

The couple had provided the shop with false personal details, said police.

Authorities, fearing a bomb attack plot, cancelled a professional bicycle race that had been planned in the area for May 1.

The suspect's wife was also detained but released in July after she claimed she did not know about the materials her husband kept in the basement and said they bought the chemicals to remove mould.

Defence lawyer Ali Aydin argued that the man -- who was already known to police for previous offences ranging from assault to illegal weapons charges -- had not seriously planned an attack.

The man in the dock declined to speak and was fined USD 217 for refusing to stand despite repeated requests from the presiding judge.

The trial, held under tight security, was expected to call scores of witnesses and experts and run for 30 days of hearings until mid-June.
The Pentagon today announced the transfer of another two inmates from the Guantanamo Bay military prison, bringing the controversial facility's remaining population down to 91.

Tariq Mahmoud Ahmed Al Sawah was sent to Bosnia, while Abd al-Aziz Abduh Abdallah Ali Al-Suwaydi was transferred to Montenegro.

According to their leaked prisoner files, Sawah is a citizen of Egypt and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Al-Suwaydi is from Yemen.

The transfers mark another step as the administration of US President Barack Obama struggles to close the facility. About 780 inmates have been held there since it opened in January 2002.

"The United States is grateful to the government of Montenegro for its humanitarian gesture and willingness to support ongoing US efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility," the Pentagon said in a statement announcing Al-Suwaydi's release.

"The United States coordinated with the government of Montenegro to ensure this transfer took place consistent with appropriate security and humane treatment measures."



The statement did not give further details, but typically Guantanamo inmates are released on condition they undergo a rehabilitation or reintegration program to make sure they do not threaten US security interests.

Al-Suwaydi (41) was allegedly an Al-Qaeda member and explosives trainer, according to his file. He was captured in Pakistan in February 2002.

Sawah (58) was captured in December 2001 and first recommended for release in 2007.

He allegedly admitted to being in Al-Qaeda and developing explosives for the jihadist group, including limpet mines for use against US ships and a prototype shoe bomb.

Despite this purported past, he was a "highly prolific source and has provided invaluable intelligence," Sawah's file states. The 2008 document notes he was morbidly obese at the time.

Of the remaining 91 men in Guantanamo, 34 have been approved for transfer. The rest face ongoing, indefinite detention.

Obama wants these 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" so he can shut the Cuban prison.

But delays, bureaucratic hurdles and political opposition mean it is increasingly likely the clock will tick down on his presidency before Guantanamo closes.
Two men were detained for questioning in the troubled Brussels neighbourhood of Molenbeek during police raids in the last two days linked to the deadly Paris attacks, prosecutors said today.

The investigating magistrate will decide later today whether there is enough evidence to continue holding the pair or release them, the federal prosecutor's office said in a statement.

"Both were arrested due to their possible ties with different suspects in this case," it said, referring to the November 13 attacks when men armed with automatic weapons and suicide bombs killed 130 people and wounded many more across Paris.

The suspects were identified as Belgian national Zakaria J, who was born in 1986, and Moroccan national Mustafa E, who was born in 1981.

Neither weapons nor explosives were found in the raids on Wednesday and Thursday in Molenbeek, the impoverished immigrant neighbourhood where a number of jihadists have stayed over the last two decades.

French President Francois Hollande has said that the Paris attacks were planned in Syria but prepared and organised in Belgium. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Last week the authorities announced that Belgian police have identified three safe houses used by key suspects including presumed ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Molenbeek resident who was killed in a French police raid days after the Paris attacks.

The premises include a flat in Charleroi, a town south of the capital Brussels where a major airport is located, a house in the rural village of Auvelais near the French border, and a flat in Brussels.

The Belgian authorities have formally charged 10 people in the case, including a number from Molenbeek.

Four suspects remain at large, including Salah Abdeslam who allegedly drove suicide bombers to the French national stadium outside Paris, as well as Mohamed Abrini, suspected of having helped scout out the attack sites. Both are from Molenbeek.
Two youths, who were allegedly abducted from Shirdi, have been rescued and 12 people, including three women, arrested in connection with the matter, police said.

The group of alleged abductors was arrested yesterday. One pistol, four live cartridges, two four-wheelers and 13 mobiles were seized from them, Additional Superintendent of Police (rural) Sunil Kadasane told reporters yesterday.

Shahbaz Shaikh (22), son of an onion trader, and his friend Rahul Chavan (23), both residents of Yeola tehsil, were allegedly kidnapped on Sunday night from near Shirdi railway station.

The duo received a phone call from a woman on Sunday afternoon asking them to come to Shirdi. When Shahbaz and Rahul reached near Shirdi railway station, their car was stopped by a bunch of people, who kidnapped them at gunpoint and forcibly took them into another car, the ASP said.

Kadasane said the duo were then taken to a bungalow in Ahmednagar.

"Shahbaz was then made to call his brother Anjum to inform his family of their abduction and that Rs 30 lakh be paid as ransom to the abductors in Pune," the officer said.

After the ransom call, Shahabaz's uncle, Hussain Shaikh, lodged a complaint with the local police on Monday.

Police swung into action and formed three special squads and a team was sent to Pune. Teams were also sent to Thane, Mumbra, Kalyan, Ahmednagar.

Anjum and Shaikh went with one of the squads along with Rs 30 lakh to Pune in bid to nab the abductors.

On specific tip offs, the teams kept a close watch on Salman Shakil Adamane (26), a resident of Shrirampur, and Ganesh Rasal from Yeola. Salman was traced in Shrirampur and held on Monday.

He told police about their plan and the whereabouts of his other accomplices. Subsequently, police traced the two youths with the help of sim card locator in a bungalow on Ahmednagar- Shirdi road, rescued them and arrested all the gang members in the wee hours yesterday.

The arrested are identified as -- Salman Admane (26), Ganesh Rasal (33), Kiran Kadu (21), Samir Baig (26), Rakesh Mahanor (22), Nadeem Pathan (25), Mangesh Pawar (28), Ganesh Shirsath (34), Swapnil Salvi (23), Pooja Jain (25), Rachana Salve (45), her daughter Raveena Salve (21).

The ASP said the accused belonged to Ahmednagar and Nashik districts.

They were produced before a local court yesterday which remanded them in police custody till January 24.
Russian President Vladimir Putin "probably approved" the killing of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko who died in a hospital here in 2006 from radioactive poisoning, a British inquiry concluded today in a damning report, triggering a diplomatic row with Moscow.

43-year-old Litvinenko, a former agent in the Russian federal security service (FSB) or secret police, died days after being poisoned with radioactive polonium-210 which he is believed to have drunk in a cup of tea.

The finding by Robert Owen, a retired High Court judge, in a 328-page report represented by far the most damning official link between Litvinenko's death and the highest levels of the Kremlin.

While he lay dying in a London hospital bed, Litvinenko had pointedly told Scotland Yard that the Russian President had given the orders for his killing.

There is a "strong probability" they were acting on behalf of the Russian FSB secret service, the inquiry found.

Two Russian men, Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun, have been accused of his murder. They deny killing him.

Owen said that taken as a whole the open evidence that had been heard in court amounted to a "strong circumstantial case" that the Russian state was behind the assassination.

But when he took into account all the evidence available to him, including a "considerable quantity" of secret intelligence that was not aired in open court, he found "that the FSB operation to kill Litvinenko was probably approved by [Nikolai] Patrushev [head of the security service in 2006] and also by President Putin".

At the time of his death, Litvinenko was working for the British intelligence service MI6 and also for Spanish intelligence, passing on information on Russian organised crime networks and their links to the Kremlin. Litvinenko was due shortly to become a star witness in a number of trials.

British Prime Minister David Cameron's official spokeswoman said Downing Street was taking the findings "extremely seriously" and that the Prime Minister found them "extremely disturbing".

The spokeswoman said: "The conclusion that the murder was authorised at the highest levels of the Russian state is extremely disturbing. It is not the way for any state, let alone a permanent member of the UN Security Council, to behave.

"Regrettably, these findings confirm what we and previous governments already believed."



The spokeswoman said measures taken against Russia in 2007 remained in place, adding: "In the light of the inquiry's findings, we are considering what further action we should take."



In Moscow, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, "We regret that a purely criminal case was politicised and darkened the general atmosphere of bilateral relations.
British education publisher Pearson today unveiled plans to axe 4,000 jobs, or ten per cent of its global workforce, to combat weak demand, sending its share price surging.

Pearson, which last year sold the Financial Times daily business newspaper and a 50-per cent stake in The Economist Group to focus on education, announced the radical restructuring in a trading update.

"We have undertaken a rigorous, bottom-up review of our markets, our operations and our financial plans," it said in a statement.

"As a result, we are taking further action to simplify our business, reduce our costs and position ourselves for growth in our major markets."



The firm hopes to implement the "majority" of the 4,000 job cutbacks by the middle of this year, completing the cull by the end of 2017.

The overhaul sent the company's share price spiking 14.8 per cent to 754.50 pence, topping the leaderboard on London's FTSE 100 index, which rose 0.4 per cent in early afternoon deals.

Pearson also slashed its full-year earnings forecast again, after a similar downgrade in October.
UN Security Council ambassadors arrived in Burundi today to protestors telling them not to interfere, as they came to push the government to open up serious talks with the opposition and accept peacekeepers.

A crowd of hundreds of protesters backing the government, carrying signs in English that said "genocide will not happen" and "stop interfering in Burundian affairs", greeted the diplomats as they landed in the capital Bujumbura, an AFP reporter with the council said.

At a meeting planned for tomorrow, the council hopes to persuade President Pierre Nkurunziza to agree to an African Union proposal of 5,000 peacekeepers, which his government has branded an "invasion force".

Before UN diplomats arrived, the AU expressed its "fervent hope" the diplomats will persuade Burundi to begin serious talks and agree to the deployment of peacekeepers to prevent further violence.

AU Commission chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said in a statement that there was an "urgent and imperative need for a strong unity of purpose" to solve the crisis.

Discussion of the peacekeeper deployment is expected to be a key element of talks at the AU summit in Ethiopia on January 30-31.

An AU deadline for Burundi to accept the force has long passed with no action yet taken to deploy the peacekeepers, named the African Prevention and Protection Mission in Burundi (MAPROBU).

Dlamini-Zuma expressed "the fervent hope" that the UN ambassadors will "contribute toward achieving" the rapid deployment of MAPROBU and the "immediate resumption of the inter-Burundian dialogue", in reference to stalled talks between the government and opposition.

But the protestors who had been waiting for the diplomats made clear their opposition.

"Rwanda, stop Burundian refugees military recruitment," another protestor's sign read.

Relations between Rwanda and neighbouring Burundi are tense, with Bujumbura accusing Kigali of backing armed rebels and political opponents of Nkurunziza. Rwanda has denied all the claims.

Burundi descended into bloodshed in April when Nkurunziza announced his intention to run for a controversial third term, which he went on to win in July elections.

More than 400 people have died in the violence and at least 230,000 have fled to neighbouring countries.

Hours before the UN diplomats arrived, Burundian rebels named a fugitive ex-general who fled after leading a failed coup bid last May as their leader.

Ex-general Godefroid Niyombare, a former intelligence chief, is the leader of the Forebu rebels, said spokesman Edward Nibigira, himself a former senior police general.
Danish lawmakers today gave a final nod to drastic reforms curbing the rights of asylum seekers as legal and human rights experts castigated Copenhagen for turning its back on its international commitments.

The new law backed by the country's right-wing government would delay family reunifications, confiscate migrants' valuables and make already stringent permanent residency requirements even tougher.

Danish Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen meanwhile appeared before the UN today for a review of Denmark's human rights policies.

In the Human Rights Council's first review of the country's rights record since 2011, several countries decried Denmark's tighter migration rules and voiced alarm over rising xenophobia.

In Copenhagen, the Danish speaker of parliament presented the bill today in its final form to the assembly for its second reading, and was a last chance for lawmakers to demand changes.

Just one request was presented and swiftly rejected by legislators, as a majority have already agreed to back the bill in its existing form following thorny negotiations.

"The big legislative work... Has already been done," said University of Copenhagen political science professor Kasper Moller Hansen said of today's expeditious procedure.

As a result, Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen's minority government, supported in parliament by an anti-immigration far-right party that has for 15 years dictated increasingly restrictive immigration policies, is assured of winning a January 26 parliamentary vote.

Fearing a domino effect across Europe, the UN refugee agency UNHCR has decried the bill, saying it "could fuel fear (and) xenophobia".

Once a champion of refugees' rights, Denmark would be in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the UN Refugee Convention, the UNHCR concluded in a January report.

Unfazed, Copenhagen maintains it is not able to finance more migrants nor integrate them into society.

"Denmark's immigration policy is decided in Denmark, not in Brussels," Integration Minister Inger Stojberg of Rasmussen's Venstre party has repeatedly said.

The confiscation of migrants' valuables has been the reform that has dominated international headlines.
Union Minister Sanjeev Balyan today visited the 32-year-old Kailwada gangrape victim and assured her justice, while ordering the state police to apprehend the remaining culprits within three days.

In a strongly-worded message to the police, the minister said that those arrested should be booked under the stringent National Security Act.

In a shocking incident, a 32-year-old married woman was raped by two men two years ago. They had also filmed the entire incident and circulated the clip on the social media. The accused had been blackmailing the victim since then.

The accused, Irshad and Nazer, were arrested at Kailwada village near here on January 17.

The search is on for four others who had allegedly aided in the crime and were named in victim's statement.

This is the second such case in Muzaffarnagar district. A 40-year-old married health worker had allegedly committed suicide on January 13 after the video of her gangrape was uploaded on social media.

Meanwhile, Hindu activists and former block president Virender Singh have threatened to hold a 'mahapanchayat' if no "positivesteps" were taken in the case.
The US has strongly condemned the terrorist attacks on a popular university in Pakistan and on mediapersons in the Afghan capital Kabul, saying the incidents underscore the threat to peace and prosperity in the region.

"These reprehensible attacks, against students and teachers in Pakistan and members of the media in Afghanistan, underscore the ongoing threat that terrorists pose to the region and to the peaceful and prosperous future we seek to build together," said Ned Price, spokesperson of the National Security Council, the White House.

"We offer our deepest condolences to the victims of the attacks and to their families, and we stand with the people of the region against all forms of extremism and terrorism."



Describing yesterday's attack on Peshawar's Bacha Khan University, named after the iconic Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, as appalling, State Department Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner said the terrorists clearly targeted Pakistan's future generations.

"The United States stands with the Government of Pakistan and their efforts to create a secure, stable, and prosperous country, and we will stand side by side with Pakistan in its ongoing fight against terrorism," Toner told reporters.

Heavily-armed militants had stormed the university, firing indiscriminately on students and teachers. 20 people - 18 students, a professor and a staffer - died in the attack.

Responding to a question, Toner said the US is concerned about the ongoing threat of terrorist outfits in Pakistan.

"We've said many, many times that no one suffers more from terrorism than the people of Pakistan, the Government of Pakistan, and we're committed to working with them to address how we can combat these terrorist threat, whether it's ISS or other groups that are active still in Pakistan, rather, going forward," he said.

The US stands with the government and people of Pakistan and their efforts to create a secure, stable, and prosperous country, and we will stand side-by-side with Pakistan in its fight against terrorism," he said.

In Afghanistan, seven employees of popular Afghan TV channel TOLO were killed when a suicide car bomber rammed into their minibus.

At least 25 other people were wounded in the bombing near the Russian embassy in downtown Kabul - the first major attack on an Afghan media organisation since the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001.

Afghan security forces are developing the capacity and capability to confront the challenges posed by terrorism.

"Ultimately, we feel that the best way forward is for an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned peace process. We welcome Pakistan's involvement and support for this process, but that's ultimately what's going to, we believe, end this ongoing conflict in Afghanistan," Toner said.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will meet US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew in Dovas on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.

"... The Secretary will hold bilateral meetings with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, and Brazilian Finance Minister Nelson Barbosa," the Department of Treasury said in a statement.

Both Jaitley and Lew are in Davos to attend the World Economic Forum.

The two leaders are expected to discuss bilateral economic relationship during their meeting today.
Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu today accused the politicians visiting Hyderabad University after suicide by a Dalit researchscholar of vitiating the atmosphere by making political speeches.

"Politicians should not interfere in University affairs. That is my advice to all. Let peace come," Naidu told reporters here.

"University is like a temple. When you go to temple, you are supposed to remove your chappals and enter. Similarly, politicians should remove their chappal of politics outside the University.

"If you go there...Offer condolence. Find out quietly what is the situation and then pass it on to the concerned person, rather than making political speeches, accusing and blaming this party and the other, thereby further vitiating the atmosphere," Naidu said.

The statement assumes significance in the wake of visit to the Hyderabad Central University (HCU) by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi two days ago after suicide by Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemulu.

Naidu denied allegations that Union minister Bandaru Dattatraya had interfered in University affairs and said the Minister had only forwarded a petition received by him to the Human Resource Ministry which forwarded it to Vice-Chancellor.

A Congress MP also forwarded a complaint in this regard to the Vice-Chancellor, Naidu pointed out.

Stating that the Union government had nothing to do with the issue, Naidu said different universities have different situations. "It is a divisive agenda of the Congress and communists that has spoiled the atmosphere of the university."



"An inquiry committee has been appointed. Let the committee give its report and then let the concerned people take appropriate action," he said.

Earlier, speaking to reporters at Kanyakumari, he slammed Congress and the opposition parties, they were "using the opportunity for cheap political advantage."



Rejecting Opposition allegations against the Centre and Dattatraya, who has been accused in the suicide case, Naidu said the Centre as well as the Ministers have nothing to do with the alleged suicide.

He said that Congress was following a 5D policy of defame, disinformation, divert attention, delay development and disrupt Parliament and thus derailing progress of the country.

He appealed to the opposition to shed its "negative and destroying role" and help pass important bills including GST and Real Estate bills in the coming Budget session.
Veteran danseuse and Padma awardee Mrinalini Sarabhai, the exponent of classical dance forms who used her art to highlight the problems faced by modern society, died here today due to age-related problems.

She was 97.

Mrinalini Sarabhai was admitted to a city-based hospital yesterday, but was brought to her home early today morning where she breathed her last.

Sarabhai choreographed over 300 dance-dramas touching upon modern subjects and contributed immensely to popularise the art in the country and abroad.

Coming from the family of achievers, an exponent of classical dance forms, she broke the barrier of tradition of the age-old dance performance based on religious themes while introducing tales of modern times.

Some of her dance-dramas -- like the musical Krishna-Gopala and This Mahabharata -- mirror today's world.

"My mother was a modern woman with deep roots in our tradition," said her grieving daughter Mallika Sarabhai, who is also a renowned danseuse.

"Without compromising an inch from the classical dance forms of Bharatnatyam and Kathakalli, using them she created numerous dance-dramas highlighting the problems faced by modern society," Mallika said.

Her reputation for innovation is unmatched -- from classical dance to cutting-edge performance art. Her creative expressionism made her dance form simple, eloquent and visually inspiring, she said.

Born into the renowned Swaminadhan family of Chennai with roots in Kerala, Sarabhai began her training in Bharatanatyam at an early age from her guru Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai. She later learnt Kathakalli.

After early schooling in Chennai, she went to schools in France and Switzerland. She returned to India to become a student at Rabindranath Tagore's university in Santiniketan, where she was introduced to other art forms, at a time when the atmosphere was charged with the spirit of nationalism.

Sarabhai also trained in Java (Indonesia) and the United States of America, where she studied acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
Vietnam's ruling Communist Party today opened an eight-day congress to name the country's new set of leaders, who will determine the pace of critical economic reforms, and relations with key trading allies, China and the US.

Held every five years, the Communist Party of Vietnam's 12th Congress has brought together 1,510 delegates representing Vietnam's 63 provinces, ministries, and other party organisations.

It ends January 28 when the names of the general secretary, the prime minister, the president, the chairman of the National Assembly and other top functionaries will be announced.

The general secretary is the de facto No 1 leader of the country, although Vietnam professes a collective leadership through a Politburo that handles day to day affairs, and a larger Central Committee that meets twice a year to decide policy.

Delegates stood up and clapped when the 16 Politburo memberswalked into the conference hall at the National Convention Centre near the city centre.

The stage was set against the backdrop of a bust of the country's revolutionary leader, Ho Chi Minh, portraits of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin, and the national flag and the hammer-and-sickle red flag for the party.

Delegates also sang the national anthem and the L'Internationale, the official song of communism.

Vietnam is one of the last remaining communist nations in the world, with a party membership of 4.5 million, but like its ideological ally China, the government believes in a quasi-free market economy alongside a strictly controlled society that places several restrictions on its 93 million people.

The congress is not expected to hold any major surprises.

Despite the veil of secrecy that the party pulls around its inner workings, it appeared yesterday that an internal power struggle had ended before the congress, and the tussle was won by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, 71, (pronounced New-yen Foo Chong) who is expected to keep his job, albeit for half the five-year term in an apparent compromise with his rival, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung (pronounced New-yen Taan Dzoong).

Also, a Dung protege is likely to be given the post of the National Assembly chairman, while the prime minister and the president's posts will go to a neutral candidate and a Trong supporter.
Water supplies in the major Asian rivers, including the Brahmaputra and the Indus, may increase in the coming decades, a new study has found, dispelling fears of climate experts that water flow in these rivers would drastically decline in future.

"This is good because social and economic development in the surrounding areas, including China, India, Nepal and other countries in Southeast Asia, are closely tied to climate change and access to water," said Deliang Chen, a professor in the University of Gothenburg in Sweden.

A report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) from 2007 suggested that the glaciers in the Himalayas will be gone by 2035, the researchers said.

"This mistaken claim and the subsequent debate pointed to a need for a better understanding of the dynamics of climate, glaciers and future water supplies in the region," said Chen.

Since the statement by IPCC in 2007, the Tibetan Plateau has been a focus of international environmental research.

The research group led by Chen, in collaboration with researchers from the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has studied future climate change and its effect on the water balance in the region.

The great Asian rivers have their source on the Plateau or in the neighbouring mountains.

The study modelled the water flows upstream in the Yellow River, the Yangtze, the Mekong, the Salween, the Brahmaputra and the Indus. The studies include both data from past decades and simulations for future decades.

The results show that water flows in the rivers in the coming decades would either be stable or would increase compared to the period from 1971-2000.

The Tibetan Plateau is the highest and most extensive area of high land in the world, and what happens there affects water resources for almost a third of the world's population, the researchers said.

The study was published in the journal Global and Planetary Change.
'Whistle-blower' kids have brought an end to the practise of open defecation at many villages in Indore district, Collector P Narhari claimed today.

Some 10,000 children in the district, aged between 5 to 12, have become part of 'Vanar-Sena' (army of monkeys, a name derived from Ramayana) which seeks to discourage open defecation.

These children contributed immensely to government's efforts, Narhari said, speaking to reporters at Depalpur after inspecting four villages in the tehsil.

A group of 20 to 30 children has been formed in every village and they keep a vigil at the open places, customarily used for defecation, and blow whistles to shame anyone who is heading to such spots to answer the call of nature.

Some children who are especially naughty are even known to snatch away water tumblers from people's hands, forcing them to go back, the collector said.

Latrines have been built at almost all the houses in 610 villages under 312 village panchayats, he claimed, and expressed hope that Indore district will be announced as open defecation-free very soon.

The district authorities are running a campaign against open defecation since September 1, 2015. Some 25,000 latrines have been built in villages in the last four months with government's financial aid and another 15,000 have been built using other resources, the collector said.
A new case of Ebola has been confirmed in Sierra Leone, officials said today, the second case since west Africa celebrated a declared end to the epidemic last week.

The World Health Organization said the new case was the aunt of 22-year-old Marie Jalloh, who died of Ebola on January 12.

The 38-year-old woman "was a primary caregiver during (her niece's) illness," WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told AFP in an email.

He added that the patient had developed symptoms on yesterday while she was being monitored at a quarantine facility.

"The patient is being treated now," Jasarevic said.

Sierra Leone's health ministry spokesman Sidi Yahya Tunis also confirmed the new case, saying the aunt had helped wash Jalloh's body to prepare it for an Islamic burial.

"We are expecting other cases particularly from those who washed the body before the burial of Marie," he told reporters.

Ebola is at its most infectious as people are dying or in the bodies of those who have died from the virus.

After Jalloh's case was confirmed last week, officials in Sierra Leone said 100 people she had contact with had been quarantined, sobering that came just days after the region thought it had overcome the devastating epidemic.

Officials in Freetown have urged the public not to panic and to work together to avoid any further spread.

A week ago, WHO announced the end of viral transmission for the outbreak which began in December 2013 and killed more than 11,300 people, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

But officials warned that a recurrence remained possible and stressed the importance of a quick, effective response to potential new cases.

Jasarevic told AFP that Sierra Leone has taken all the necessary steps following the new flare-up.

"It is a concrete demonstration of the government's strengthened capacity to manage disease outbreaks," he said.

Tunis said the latest patient had been taken from her home in the central city of Magburaka to a military hospital in the coastal capital, Freetown, which is fully equipped to handle Ebola cases.

He added that screenings, including checkpoints at major roads, were being installed to check for those displaying signs of the virus, which is spread via the bodily fluids of recently deceased victims or carriers showing symptoms.
Which political party has control over 7, Jantar Mantar road which was once a main office of AICC/INC and hub of political activity?



There seems no definite answer as Ministry of Urban Development has claimed that there is no information about the political party to which it was allotted, the RTI response from the Ministry said.

"As per the records of lease-1 Section of Land and Development Office, there is no information as to which political parties the property at 7, Jantar Mantar Road, New Delhi was allotted. However, a copy of letter dated April 16, 1958 from the office of Settlement Commissioner, where it has been stated that the requisition portion of the premises are in occupation of AICC," P T Jameskutty CPIO of Urban Development Ministry said.

In response to Subhash Agrawl, he said in the available records, it has been stated that the property was sold to All India Congress Committee (AICC) through negotiation.

"It has also been stated in the note that Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel Smarak Trust has claimed that on April 30, 1977 Ashok Mehta, President, Indian Nation Congress (INC) and four others executed a deed in favour of the Trust transferring all its rights. But the Trust was informed that it would not be possible to executed the deed in favour of the Trust as it had not entered into transaction with them," he said.

However, in the file notings given with the reply show that Department of Legal Affairs has given an opinion in August 1993 saying that legal ownership rests with central government.

As there was no final agreement between the central government and the AICC and after the lapse of 40 years nobody has right to invoke the principle of primary estoppal particularly in view of the fact that INC/AICC is no more in existence in its original organisational structure, after repeated splits in the party, it said.

The property was given to Surdar Dharam Singh in 1920 through lease which was later purchased by Nawab Abdul Hassan Khan who left for Pakistan after partition following which Central Government declared it evacuee property.

In 1959, the central government decided to sell entire property to AICC at a price of Rs 6.10 lakh. In addition, the party was asked to pay Rs 96,962 as additional premium and Rs 4849 as AGR up to July 14, 1959 on account of permanent change from residence to office, the file noting says.
The prosecution in the 2008 Mumbai attack case will challenge in the Lahore High Court the rejection of its plea by a Pakistani anti-terrorism court to form a commission to examine the boat used by LeT terrorists to reach the Indian coast.

"We are going to challenge the trial court's decision to reject our plea regarding formation of acommission to examine the boat -'Al-Fauz' - usedby alleged terrorists of Mumbai attacks in the Lahore High Court," a prosecution lawyer said.

He said the prosecution was preparing a petition in this regard and would soon challenge theAnti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Islamabad's verdict in the superior court.

The prosecution believes theboat is a "case property" and it needs a government commission to examine and endorsement in this respect, he said.

During a hearing on January 13, the ATC dismissed the plea of the prosecution to form the commission.

No hearing was held yesterday as the judge was busy in the hearing of another case. The court adjourned the hearing till January 27.

According to the Federal Investigation Agency, the alleged terrorists of Mumbai attacks used three boats, including 'Al Fauz' to reach Mumbai from Karachi.

It said security agencies have also traced the shop and its owner from where the culprits bought the engine and the boat while a bank and a money exchange company were also traced which were used for the transaction of money.

The 10 LeT militants had left Karachi on the boat on November 23, 2008. En route, they hijacked another boat, killing four of its crew. They allegedly forced the vessel's captain to take them close to the India shores. The captain was killed when the vessel reached Mumbai's coast.

On November 26 that year, the gunmen left their vessel, moored off the coast of Mumbai in inflatable boats and docked in an area of fishing shanties. They broke up into smaller groups to carry out the attack that killed 166 people.

Pakistani authorities arrested seven alleged members of the LeT involved in the attack including LeT operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi who is said to be the mastermind of the Mumbai attack.

A trial is underway against them at the ATC since 2009.

Lakhvi secured bail in December, 2014 and was subsequently released from Adiala Jail on April 10 after the Lahore High Court set aside the government's order to detain him under a public security act.
Delhi High Court today asked the AAP government whether the appeals against its single judge verdict quashing the point system for nursery admission would survive in view of the recent circulars relating to the admission criteria issued by the administration.

A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jaynat Nath asked the Delhi government to place before it the two circulars issued recently to see whether the petitions are "infructuous" or not.

"You (Delhi government) produce notifications of December 31, 2015, and January 6, 2016," the court said, adding that it will then decide whether the appeals survive or not.

Under the earlier system, out of a total 100 points, 70 were given to a child living in the neighbourhood of the school. Additional 20 were given if a sibling was studying there, five points more if either parent was an alumni and another five points if it was an inter-state transfer case.

Advocate Gautam Narayan, appearing for Delhi government, submitted that the petitions would survive and have not become infructuous.

He said the government has challenged the single judge's finding which has to be set aside and added that Delhi School Education (Amendment) Bill (DSEAA) cleared by Delhi assembly recently was also pending approval from the Centre.

The court asked the government counsel to produce the DSEAA Bill along with the notifications before February 4.

Directorate of Education (DoE) in its December 31, 2015, circular has asked the schools to develop and adopt clear, well defined, equitable, non-discriminatory, unambiguous and transparent criteria for nursery admissions.

On January 6, the AAP government scrapped management quota from private schools. "There will be 25 per cent reservation for economically weaker sections, rest 75 per cent will be made available to the general public," the notification had said.

Earlier in December 2014, during hearing of appeal against its single judge order, the court had refused to grant interim stay on its single judge verdict quashing the point system for nursery admission brought in by Lieutenant Governor for private unaided schools here.

It had dismissed the application for interim stay moved by the education department of Delhi government and said that it will hear the main appeal on merit.
A women's organisation was today ordered by authorities not to go ahead with its demonstration at the famous Shani Shingnapur temple in Ahmednagar district on January 26 to demand that women be given equal rights for prayers at its sacred platform.

The Ranragini Bhumata Brigade on its part headed for a showdown with the authorities by deciding to book a helicopter from which its chief Trupti Desai was planning to alight by a rope and take darshan just to break an ancient "custom" that bars women from climbing up to the holy 'chauthara' (sacred platform).

Joint Charity Commissioner of Pune region Shivkumar Dige in his order preventing members of Ranragini Bhumata Brigade from going ahead with its protests said there was apprehension of damage to property if the outfit goes ahead with its demonstration at the 'chauthara'.

The temple trustees should hold a meeting with Brigade members and hear what the latter have to say, the order said.

Fearing restrictions on the protests, Desai said she was booking a helicopter and seeking permission for the flight from the district collector and planned to alight (in the temple premises) by a rope from the helicopter.

"Women want equality, which was given in the Constitution of India on January 26. Hence we want to protest on this day," Desai said, as the agitation over certain restrictions on women at popular shrines such as Haji Ali in Mumbai and Sabrimala temple in Kerala reached Shani Shingnapur, about 300 km from Mumbai.

The temple trust and most villagers have strongly opposed the plan, fearing the move might "anger" the Shani Dev. To foil the attempt, villagers have announced that they would form a human chain around the temple to "protect" the God from "being impure".

"One woman mistakenly went to the chauthara (platform) and took darshan. After this, the management washed the area as it had become 'impure' and insulted motherhood. In December, four of us (women) tried to storm through the barricades, but were pushed back," Desai said.

In November, a woman offered prayers at the popular shrine in 'breach' of the age-old practice of prohibiting entry of women, prompting the temple committee to suspend seven security men and the villagers to perform purification rituals.

(REOPENS DEL52)



"As I have been reading regarding the issue, I



thought it is important to maintain the law and order situation and to prevail the sanctity of the temple. I have issued a notice to the organisation not to go to the temple trust," Dige stated in the order.
The World Bank will help the government fund the Jhelum and Tawi Flood Recovery Project and will tender a loan worth USD 250 million for it.

"The (central) government and the World Bank today signed a USD 250 million credit agreement under the Jhelum and Tawi Flood Recovery Project for reconstruction and recovery support in flood-affected areas in which public infrastructure and livelihoods were impacted severely," World Bank said in a statement today.

The Jhelum and Tawi Flood Recovery Project will focus on 20 flood-affected districts -- Anantnag, Baramula, Budgam, Bandipora, Ganderbal, Kupwara, Kulgam, Pulwama, Shopian, Srinagar, Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Reasi, Doda, Kishtwar, Ramban, Poonch, Rajauri and Udhampur.

The credit agreement for the project was signed by Raj Kumar, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, and Onno Ruhl, World Bank Country Director, India.

The continuous spell of rains in September last year caused Jhelum, Chenab and Tawi rivers, including their tributaries and many other streams, to flow above the danger mark.

Due to the unprecedented heavy rainfall, the catchment areas, particularly the low-lying ones, were flooded for more than two weeks.

The Jhelum breached its banks at several places and over a million families were affected, directly or indirectly, and some 300 lives were lost.

More than 648,000 hectares of agricultural and horticultural land were affected, causing huge loss to crops, plantations and animals.

"The project will focus on restoring critical infrastructure disrupted by the floods using international best practice. The infrastructure will be designed to improve resilience to future flooding and landslide as well as seismic risk," said Kumar.

It will also strengthen the capacity of the state government to respond to and better manage natural disasters in future, the World Bank said.

"This region is highly vulnerable to natural disasters that can push millions into poverty. In addition to reconstruction, which includes reconstruction of roads, bridges and public infrastructure, the project will also help the region be better prepared for future," said Ruhl.

He stressed that the challenge is to build smart so that the fragile eco-system is not undermined.

It will incorporate lessons from previous national and global post-disaster recovery projects to ensure recovery is targeted, effective and more resilient to future disasters, he added.

Besides, the project will also strengthen and reinforce existing weak and vulnerable flood control infrastructure. Investments will primarily include rehabilitation and renovation of storm water pumping stations in several areas.

Apart from reconstruction, the project will focus on disaster risk mitigation.
A global Muslim body today condemned the attacks on Saudi missions in Iran earlier this month and denounced Tehran's regional "interference".

Foreign ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, in a statement, said it "condemns the aggressions against the missions of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Tehran and Mashhad".

The statement came in an extraordinary meeting requested by Saudi Arabia after protesters in Iran burned Riyadh's embassy in Tehran and a consulate in the second city of Mashhad.

Such "aggressions" contravened international law as well as the OIC charter, said the communique, which member state Iran rejected.

The violence against Riyadh's missions occurred after the kingdom executed dissident Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, a driving force behind anti-government protests.

Sunni Saudi Arabia and some of its allies cut diplomatic ties with Shiite Iran as a result of the violence against its missions.

Nimr was one of four Shiites put to death on January 2 alongside 43 Sunnis. All were convicted of "terrorism".

The 57-member OIC said it "rejects and condemns Iran's inflammatory statements" over the executions, "considering those statements a blatant interference in the internal affairs" of Saudi Arabia.

It also denounced "Iran's interference in the internal affairs of the states of the region and other member states (including Bahrain, Yemen and Syria and Somalia) and its continued support for terrorism".
With the Opposition mounting pressure on the Centre to remove two Union Ministers over the suicide by a Dalit research scholar in Hyderabad Central University, UP Governor Ram Naik has said it would be wrong to axe them before their guilt has been proved.

Expressing grief over the death of Hyderabad Central University's (HCU) student Rohith Vemula, he said those who are guilty would be punished.

The governor who was here yesterday to attend the centenary function of an educational institution, was speaking to reporters after the event.

"Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani is getting the matter probed and an inquiry team has been sent there. Hence, it will be wrong to demand someone's resignation before anything has been proved," Naik said.

The HCU student who was pursuing PhD in science technology and society studies for the past two years, was found hanging in a hostel room on January 17.

Rivals of Centre's ruling BJP have demanded removal of Union Ministers Smriti Irani and Bandaru Dattatreya, blaming them for the suicide.
A 20-year-old youth, who allegedly joined Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT) militant outfit a week back, was arrested by security forces from his house in Shopian district of south Kashmir.

Gazi Fayaz Ahmad Dar was arrested during a joint raid by the troops of 62 Rashtriya Rifles and police from his house at Kundlan village, 60 kms from here, last evening, a police officialsaid today.

He said an AK assault rifle with a magazine and 90 rounds of ammunition were recovered from Dar'spossession.

Dar was among four youths including a policeman who reportedly joined the LeT group together on January 15 after the policeman deserted the force and ran away with four AK assault rifles and some ammunition.

Constable Shakoor Ahmad Parrey who was posted as Personal Security Officer (PSO) of Sub-Divisional Police Officer Bijbehara, and two others are still absconding and efforts are on to nab them, the official said.
Mosquito-borne Zika virus has begun cropping up in the US as Florida and Illinois, for the first time, have respectively recorded three and two cases of the disease which has caused birth defects in Latin America, according to health officials.

A Hawaiian newborn was confirmed by the health officials last week as the first case in the US. He was born with microcephaly, a Zika-associated condition involving a malformed skull and brain. Texas has also recorded its cases.

A traveller returning from El Salvador in November fell ill with fever, rash and joint pain. Following a month-long testings and investigations, it was confirmed that he had brought the virus into the country.

"The mother likely had Zika infection when she was residing in Brazil in May 2015 and her newborn acquired the infection in the womb. Neither the baby nor the mother are infectious and there was never a risk of transmission in Hawaii," Hawaii health officials said in statement yesterday.

All of those diagnosed with Zika in the US were reportedly infected in countries overseas where Zika began circulating, health officials said.

Two of the Florida cases occurred in Miami-Dade County residents who travelled to Colombia in December; the third case is a resident from the Tampa, St. Petersburg area who travelled to Venezuela in December. Blood tests were confirmed by the state public health laboratory in Tampa.

According to officials, there is no official tally of US cases is available. So far, they say, there is no evidence that the virus has begun to spread locally in the US.

The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention issued a yellow travel alert late Friday, advising pregnant women to consider postponing travel to Mexico, Puerto Rico and more than a dozen other countries in South America, Central America and the Caribbean where the mosquito-borne Zika virus is circulating. The agency warned all travellers to these areas to take precautions and avoid mosquito bites.

The virus has quickly spread across South America and the Caribbean in recent weeks. Over 3,500 cases of microcephaly have been reported in Brazil and 46 babies have died.

The Zika virus, which is transmitted by mosquitoes, cannot spread between humans. However, for pregnant women, it can be transmitted to the foetus which can cause microcephaly in which the brain and skull are abnormally small.

The Aedes Aegypti mosquito is common in warm climates, including Southeast Asia, Africa, South America, Central America, the Caribbean and the Southeast US.

Zika virus often produces flu-like symptoms like fever, headaches and joint pain as well as skin rashes and conjunctivitis among others.
By Anshuman Daga and Lawrence White

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Barclays has embarked on a fresh round of job cuts to its investment banking business worldwide on Thursday which would result in a complete exit from cash equities in Asia, an internal memo showed, as new Chief Executive Jes Staley wields the axe in a bid to slash costs and boost returns.

The harsher-than-expected cuts are among the most sweeping worldwide culls by an investment bank in recent years, as Staley in common with peers at other European lenders moves to reduce costs amid a tough global environment for banks.

Barclays will shutter its investment banking businesses in countries including Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Russia, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand, the memo said, with those markets to be covered from financial hub cities in their respective regions.

A spokesman for Barclays in Hong Kong declined to comment on the cuts because they are not public.

With 10 of Europe's biggest lenders announcing 130,000 job losses since June, bank chief executives are looking to cut in businesses where they lack scale to focus on more profitable markets.

The reduction in jobs are also in response to the turmoil in global equities and commodities markets, which is making it harder for investment banks to make money in the traditional business lines.

The cuts in the London-headquartered bank were announced to staff in meetings on Thursday across the Asia-Pacific region, according a source with direct knowledge.

"Asia is bearing the brunt," the source added.

The total number of jobs to be shed in the latest Barclays reduction is unclear, but a source with direct knowledge of the matter said the Asian equities cuts alone could total about 200 people. A separate source with knowledge of the cuts said the Asia total would be 450 people.

The Financial Times previously reported that Barclays would shed as many as 1000 jobs worldwide in the latest cull.

Barclays is also exploring the sale of its global precious metals business, the memo said, as well as shuttering cash equity sales across Central Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, the memo showed.

The lender will also end its onshore markets coverage in Brazil.

on Jan. 5 reported the cuts in the Asia investment banking business and exits from South Korea and Taiwan, as Barclays retreated from peripheral Asian businesses to focus on hubs including Hong Kong and Singapore.

(Reporting By Anshuman Daga and Lawrence White, additional reporting by Xiaowen Bi; Editing by Denny Thomas and Stephen Coates)
By Lawrence White and Xiaowen Bi

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Barclays will close its cash equities business across Asia and exit South Korea and Taiwan entirely, according to a memo seen by and a person with direct knowledge of the matter, as part of a global cost-cutting plan to boost profits.

The London-based lender will close its equity research, sales and trading and convertible bond trading businesses in Asia, the memo said, leaving the bank with equity derivatives and prime brokerage services in the region.

The number of jobs to be lost in Asia as part of the cuts was not yet clear, the source with direct knowledge of the plans said, but would likely be around 200 people. The source requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

A spokesman for Barclays declined to comment.

The British bank's latest cuts reflect the harsh environment for investment banks in Asia after the region's economies and markets failed to deliver sustained growth following the 2008 financial crisis.

on Jan. 5 reported the bank's retreat from South Korea and Taiwan, as part of Chief Executive Jes Staley's desire to trim in countries where the bank's corporate relationships are weaker to focus on core centres, including Hong Kong.

Sources had told earlier this month that Staley saw the pace of restructuring at the lender as being too slow, and that further cuts would be required.

The bank pushed its bonus payments back to March, the sources said.

Barclay's pullback from the stockbroking business in Asia forms part of a wider retreat by European banks, as global cost-cutting reaches peripheral businesses in a region where a drop in Chinese trading volumes and local competition have hit profits.

The pullback comes a year after rival British lender Standard Chartered also announced its exit from the Asian equities business.

(Reporting By Xiaowen Bi and Lawrence White; Editing by Miral Fahmy and Stephen Coates)
By Anshuman Daga and Lawrence White

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Barclays will cut about 1,000 jobs in investment banking worldwide and close its cash equities business in Asia as new Chief Executive Jes Staley wields the axe in a bid to reduce costs and boost returns.

The harsher-than-expected cuts are among the most sweeping by an investment bank in recent years and follow similar moves by other European lenders seeking to cut costs in a tough global environment for banks.

Barclays will shut its investment banking businesses in countries including Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand, an internal memo seen by showed, with those markets to be covered from financial hub cities in their respective regions.

The axe will also fall across central and eastern Europe, and South America, with offices closing and activity routed back through the lender's home base in London.

The memo did not give details on how many jobs will be affected but people with knowledge of the matter said 1,000 positions would be axed, the majority of them in Asia, a region where falling trading volumes and stronger competition from local banks has hit profits.

The latest cull would come in addition to the 19,000 cuts announced by Staley in his three-year cost reduction plan.

At the end of 2014, Barclays investment bank employed around 20,500 people according to its annual report, while the bank as a whole had about 132,300 employees.

Spokesmen for Barclays in Hong Kong and London declined to comment on the job cuts. By 1058 GMT, shares in Barclays were up 0.5 percent, outperforming in a 0.2 percent stronger STOXX Europe 600 Banking index.

Ten of Europe's biggest lenders have announced 130,000 job losses since June, with bank chief executives pulling back from businesses where they lack scale to focus on more profitable markets.

The reduction in jobs is also in response to the current turmoil in global equities and commodities markets, which is making it harder for investment banks to make money in traditional business lines. The MSCI all-world country index is trading at its lowest since June 2013.

The cuts were announced to staff in meetings on Thursday across the Asia-Pacific region, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. "Asia is bearing the brunt," the source added, declining to be named as they were not authorised to speak to the media.

Barclays is also exploring the sale of its global precious metals business, the memo said.

While a market-making member of the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA), the bank has been winding down its precious metals business for a number of years.

Since 2014 head of spot gold trading Marc Booker, head of metals and mining sales Martyn Whitehead, and product manager for metals Jonathan Spall have all left the bank, leaving just three people in London, two sources said.

As well as shutting cash equity sales across Central Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, the memo showed, Barclays will close its Moscow office and all Russian clients with deal with London-based staff.

In the Americas, it also plans to end its onshore markets coverage in Brazil and direct clients to teams in New York and London, although it will still handle banking services locally.

on Jan. 5 reported the cuts in the Asia investment banking business and exits from South Korea and Taiwan, as Barclays retreated from peripheral Asian businesses to focus on hubs including Hong Kong and Singapore.

(Additional reporting by Xiaowen Bi, Simon Jessop and Jan Harvey; Editing by Denny Thomas and Elaine Hardcastle)
LONDON (Reuters) - British finance minister George Osborne said on Thursday he will nominate Christine Lagarde for a second term as managing director of the International Monetary Fund, as support for her candidacy also emerged from other European countries.

"At a time when the world faces what I've called a dangerous cocktail of risks, I believe Christine has the vision, energy and acumen to help steer the global economy through the years ahead," Osborne said in a statement.

Lagarde has no obvious challengers and has said she is open to serving another term. But last month a French court ordered her to face trial over her role in a payout of some 400 million euros ($434 million) to businessman Bernard Tapie.

Accused of alleged negligence over the Tapie affair while she was serving as France's finance minister, Lagarde has said she will appeal against the court's decision.

Osborne had previously nominated Lagarde for her first term in 2011.

At a briefing in Davos, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls added an apparent message of support for Lagarde after being asked whether France backed her reappointment.

"French authorities support Christine Lagarde," Valls said according to an English translation of his words. He added that the finance ministry would be making a statement in Paris on Friday.

Spain will also back Lagarde and nominate her for a second term, an official source at the country's Economy Ministry said on Thursday.

(Reporting by Andy Bruce in London,; Steve Adler in Davos and Andres Gonzalez in Madrid; Editing by Catherine Evans)
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. oil prices crashed below $27 dollars a barrel on Wednesday for the first time since 2003, caught in a broad slump across world financial markets with traders also worried that the crude supply glut could last longer.

Oil has fallen more than 25 percent so far this year, the steepest such slide since the financial crisis, piling more pain on oil drillers and producing nations alike. Yet they keep pumping more oil into an oversupplied market.

Venezuela requested an emergency OPEC meeting to discuss steps to prop up prices, but other delegates dismissed the idea. A UAE shipping firm became one of the first to resume direct business with Iran after international sanctions on Tehran were lifted at the weekend, a reminder of how quickly more oil may flow.

"The Iranians are clearly stepping it up to battle for market share in Europe," said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital LLC in New York. Not only is that a major market for Saudi Arabia and Russia, but U.S. oil is now flowing unfettered to Europe for the first time, "so it's a battle royale."

U.S. crude for February delivery, which expired at the end of the day, slid $1.91, or 6.7 percent to settle at $26.55. New frontmonth March futures fell nearly 4 percent on the day to close at $28.35 a barrel.

Brent futures for March delivery fell 88 cents to settle at $27.88 a barrel, a 2.7 percent loss after pulling back from a new contract low of $27.10.

The latest step lower, the 11th decline in 13 days for Brent, set off a new round of panic buying on bearish options, sending the oil volatility index to its highest level since early 2009 when the financial crisis was starting to ebb.

Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst with SEB in Oslo, said a "very broad-based sell-off across assets and across the world" amplified pressure on oil prices.

World equities sank to their lowest level since 2013. The MSCI World Equity Index has dropped 11.1 percent in January, which if sustained would be the worst monthly loss since October 2008, the month after Lehman Brothers went bankrupt. [MKTS/GLOB]

On Tuesday, the International Energy Agency warned that the world could "drown in oversupply" of oil in 2016, with the lifting of sanctions against Iran allowing that country to add its exports to the global glut.

The selloff triggered a further slide in shares of big U.S. shale drillers, as investors feared much of the sector would struggle to withstand a prolonged period with prices below $30. Continental Resources dropped more than 8 percent.

But oil prices may keep falling until traders see they are "slow(ing) down shale much faster," said Schieldrop, referring to the desire of Saudi Arabia and other OPEC producers to protect market share from U.S. shale producers.

Energy market watchers expect the global crude glut to persist through at least the end of this year, adding to stockpiles that in some places are testing tank limits.

U.S. commercial crude oil stocks are forecast to have risen by 3 million barrels last week. Data from the American Petroleum Institute, a U.S. industry group, was due later on Wednesday.

(The price of Brent has been corrected to 88 cents, not 77 cents, in paragraph 6. In paragraph 8, the first name of analyst Bjarne Schieldrop has been added.)

(Additional reporting by Libby George in London and Keith Wallis in Singapore; Editing by Mark Potter, Adrian Croft and Frances Kerry)
Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde on Thursday said China should communicate better with its financial market.

The IMF chief said China is going through a list of transitions.

There is a communication issue, which do not like, she said.

The remarks were made at a session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, seen in a video feed monitored by Reuters.
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India has developed three lentil varieties of a particular strain that was banned five decades ago amid concerns that it led to nerve damage and paralysis, a move aimed at stepping up local supplies to curb domestic prices and cut imports.

The government-backed Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has developed the lentil, popularly called pulses, variety after India agreed to lift a five-decade-old ban on the grade.

The new varieties are safe for human consumption, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said in a statement.

Annual output of khesari, the lentil variety, is estimated at 350,000 tonnes.

Every year Indians consume about 22 million tonnes of lentils used to make a thick stew called dal, commonly taken with rice or flat bread across South Asia.

About a fifth of the volume is imported from countries such as Canada, Austria and Myanmar, which grow the legumes mainly to sell to India.

(Reporting by Mayank Bhardwaj, editing by David Evans)
By Elizabeth Piper

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - "Keep it simple, visual and factual" - that is the advice of the most powerful man in advertising to Britain's campaign to stay in the European Union, saying it must focus on the benefits to trade, investment and jobs to win the debate.

A second-generation immigrant, Martin Sorrell, who has built the world's biggest advertising group WPP (WPP.L) over 30 years, is passionate about staying in the EU and does not rule out personally contributing to the 'in' campaign at a later date.

But if Britain were to vote to leave the 28-nation bloc in a referendum Prime Minister David Cameron hopes to hold this year, he would feel a conflict between his head and heart - with logic suggesting that he should move his headquarters from its now home, while patriotism may compel him to do otherwise.

"Keep it simple, make it as uncomplicated as possible, make it as visual as you can possibly can," he said in an interview at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos.

To make his point, he cited a poster campaign carried out in 1979 by advertising company Saatchi & Saatchi, where he worked at the time, on behalf of Britain's then opposition Conservative party under Margaret Thatcher.

The poster, showing a long line of people queuing for unemployment benefit under the slogan "Labour isn't working", is credited with helping the Conservatives win that year's parliamentary election.

Sorrell did not suggest what the catchphrase for the 'in' campaign might be, saying: "That's not my job." But he urged it to offer an alternative vision of immigration as a positive force to counter a growing feeling among some voters that Britain is already a "crowded isle".

"As a second-generation immigrant, and I am probably subjective about it, I think immigrants are a net benefit not a net disadvantage," said Sorrell, whose father's parents were from Ukraine and mother's were from Poland and Romania - the first arriving in England around the turn of the 20th century.

FUTURE ROLE

The referendum will not only shape Britain's role in world trade and affairs, but also the EU, which is struggling to maintain unity over migration and financial crises.

Although official campaigning on both sides of the debate will not begin until Cameron has finished negotiations with the bloc which he hopes will secure a better membership deal for Britain, the battle lines have already been drawn.

Much of big business in Britain has sided with Cameron, pressing arguments that the EU's single market helps spur trade, attract investment and create jobs while the uncertainty of a possible 'Brexit' does little for the economy.

Some smaller businesses and hedge funds are keener on leaving the bloc. Others say an exit would have little impact.

Roger Carr, chairman of BAE Systems, Europe's biggest defence contractor, supports remaining in a reformed European Union and says there is an understanding that business should support the government's position to negotiate a better deal.

"I am a supporter of making it better, more competitive and therefore seeking to improve it, but I still believe you can do that more effectively as a family member within rather than as a critic outside," he told .

Although an exit would not directly hurt BAE, which mostly deals with governments, he said the tone of relationships would change and it could hurt security. He is not working on contingency planning if Britain votes to leave.

But Dominic Barton, global managing director at McKinsey business management consultancy, said some other companies were spending "a lot of money" on planning for a British departure which could mean moving offices out of Britain.

"I know one global bank that is spending $75 million, because you've got to think about (your) real estate footprint, moving people, tax implications," he said.

"And even though you don't think it's going to happen, as a leader you've got to have a backup plan."

EMOTION OR LOGIC

For Sorrell, his team as yet have not started looking into a move, which, he suggests, would be a wrench.

He moved WPP, which owns agencies including JWT, Ogilvy & Mather and Grey, to Ireland in 2008 to cut its tax bill after the then Labour government proposed the potential "double taxation" of corporate profits. He returned in 2013, but said some board members were against it.

He said the company returned for "I hesitate to say it" patriotic reasons and some board members were against it, making it "difficult to say" whether the company would move again.

"And forgetting about the emotional side for a minute ... purely logically ... if we came out of Europe it would probably make sense to be in Europe. It could be Paris, Berlin, Madrid, Milan, Frankfurt," he said, adding there was no plan to do so.

Most business leaders are, like many opinion polls, split over which side of the debate has the upper hand. Some polls suggest that those favouring a departure from the EU have a small lead but with so many Britons undecided, any clear picture is difficult to gauge.

That's where a simple campaign comes in, says Sorrell, who argues that many of those as yet undecided over which way to vote simply do not have enough information.

"If I look at the polls ... (they are) saying the key battle ground is the undecideds," he said.

"And the key battleground with the undecideds apparently is that they say they haven't got the information. So it would be about laying out the case cogently ... It's very easy, you take the leading factors and you just lay them out - investment, trade and jobs."

(additional reporting by Martinne Geller; editing by Anna Willard)
By Devika Krishna Kumar

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. oil prices crashed below $27 dollars a barrel on Wednesday for the first time since 2003, caught in a broad slump across world financial markets with traders also worried that the crude supply glut could last longer.

Oil has fallen more than 25 percent so far this year, the steepest such slide since the financial crisis, piling more pain on oil drillers and producing nations alike. Yet they keep pumping more oil into an oversupplied market.

Sure enough, fresh data from the American Petroleum Institute on Wednesday showed U.S. crude stocks rose more than expected last week. Crude inventories rose by 4.6 million barrels in the week to Jan. 15 to 485.2 million, well above analysts' expectations for an increase of 2.8 million barrels, the industry group said.

Venezuela requested an emergency OPEC meeting to discuss steps to prop up prices, but other delegates dismissed the idea.

A Middle Eastern shipping firm became one of the first to resume direct business with Iran after international sanctions on Tehran were lifted at the weekend, a reminder of how quickly more oil may flow.

"The Iranians are clearly stepping it up to battle for market share in Europe," said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital LLC in New York. Not only is that a major market for Saudi Arabia and Russia, but U.S. oil is now flowing unfettered to Europe for the first time, "so it's a battle royale."

U.S. crude for February delivery, which expired at the end of the day, slid $1.91, or 6.7 percent to settle at $26.55. New front-month March futures fell nearly 4 percent on the day to close at $28.35 a barrel.

The March futures contract fell 14 cents to $28.21 a barrel in post-settlement trading after the API data.

Brent futures for March delivery fell 88 cents to settle at $27.88 a barrel, a 2.7 percent loss after pulling back from a new contract low of $27.10. That was down a further 8 cents in after-hours trading.

The latest step lower, the 11th decline in 13 days for Brent, set off a new round of panic buying on bearish options, sending the oil volatility index to its highest level since early 2009 when the financial crisis was starting to ebb.

Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst with SEB in Oslo, said a "very broad-based sell-off across assets and across the world" amplified pressure on oil prices.

World equities sank to their lowest level since 2013. The MSCI World Equity Index has dropped 11.1 percent in January, which if sustained would be the worst monthly loss since October 2008, the month after Lehman Brothers went bankrupt. [MKTS/GLOB]

At this point, analysts say, the oil market is being weighed down by falling equity prices and that is reinforcing the existing fears about global economic health.

On Tuesday, the International Energy Agency warned that the world could "drown in oversupply" of oil in 2016, with the lifting of sanctions against Iran allowing that country to add its exports to the global glut.

The sell-off triggered a further slide in shares of big U.S. shale drillers, as investors feared much of the sector would struggle to withstand a prolonged period with prices below $30. Continental Resources Inc fell as much as 18 percent before closing down 5.4 percent.

But oil prices may keep falling until traders see U.S. shale producers slowing production, said Schieldrop, referring to the desire of Saudi Arabia and other OPEC producers to protect market share from U.S. drillers.

Energy market watchers expect the global crude glut to persist through at least the end of this year, adding to stockpiles that in some places are testing tank limits.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) will report official inventory data on Thursday.

(Additional reporting by Libby George in London and Keith Wallis in Singapore; Editing by Frances Kerry and Lisa Shumaker)
By Roslan Khasawneh

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices succumbed to concerns of a supply overhang on Thursday, erasing modest early gains as analysts said a persistent global surplus of crude would keep pressuring the market.

U.S. oil futures plunged below $27 dollars a barrel on Wednesday for the first time since 2003, caught in a broad slump across world financial markets as investors worried that a huge oversupply in crude was coinciding with an economic slowdown, especially in China.

Broad market sentiment remained bearish as producers around the world pump 1 million to 2 million barrels of crude every day in excess of demand, creating a huge overhang of stored oil.

Oil prices erased early gains on Thursday, with front-month West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures trading at $28.01 per barrel at 0745 GMT, down 34 cents from their previous close.

International benchmark Brent was down 30 cents at $27.58, after also hitting its lowest since 2003 in the previous session.

In addition to worries about global oversupply, concerns are growing that China's economy could slow further and cut demand in the world's second-largest oil consumer.

"Lower commodity and oil prices reflect weakening demand," HSBC said on Thursday.

ANZ bank said prices were likely to come under more pressure after the release later in the day of the U.S. Energy Information Administration's official oil stocks data.

Meanwhile, Venezuela has requested that OPEC hold an emergency meeting to discuss steps to prop up oil prices, although delegates from other members of the oil cartel said such a meeting was unlikely.

(Additional reporting by Henning Gloystein; Editing by Tom Hogue and Subhranshu Sahu)
By Devika Krishna Kumar

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices rebounded more than $1 a barrel from 12-year lows on Thursday, heading for their biggest daily gain this year as rallying financial markets gave some bearish traders reason to take profits on record short positions.

U.S. crude vaulted back to $30 as hopes for easier monetary policy from Europe fueled a recovery in European and U.S. stock markets.

Prices did not falter on U.S. data showing a larger-than-expected rise in record high crude and gasoline stockpiles. Instead, the report triggered buying among traders who had feared the figures could be even worse.

Still, few traders expected a quick recovery from this year's 20 percent slump, with oil under pressure from a deepening supply glut and signs of economic weakness in China.

"The fundamentals are still weak and you still have worries about economic growth and its impact on fuel demand, so this is probably a sign that things have been overdone more than anything else," said Gene McGillian, analyst at Tradition Energy in Stamford, Connecticut.

He said the market was going to be vulnerable to small turnarounds, given this year's free-fall.

Benchmark Brent futures for March delivery rose $1.57 to $29.45 a barrel, a 5.6 percent gain, by 12:33 p.m. EST (1733 GMT). U.S. crude rose $1.45 or 5.1 percent gain to $29.80 per barrel.

But Brent has lost more than 25 percent of its value in January and is on track for its biggest monthly fall since 2008.

Thursday's rally got going after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said it would be necessary to review the Bank's monetary policy stance in March, fueling hopes for more quantitative easing.

"The market, especially the equity markets, want stimulus and need stimulus in order to keep the rally going," said Brian LaRose, a technical analyst with United-ICAP.

"It's all about economic expectations here and the U.S. equity markets are going to be in the driver's seat over the near term."

Gains accelerated after the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that nationwide crude stocks rose by 4 million barrels, more than the forecast 2.8 million barrels. Still, traders were encouraged that stockpiles at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub rose by only 191,000 barrels, which was less than some had feared.

Iran's return to the oil market this month has added to worries, after the lifting of international sanctions.

(Additional reporting by Simon Falush in London, Roslan Khasawneh and Henning Gloystein in Singapore; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
By Nidhi Verma

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - As Iran fully returns to oil markets after the lifting of sanctions, Tehran is working to re-establish its national oil company as the sole marketer of Iranian crude and steering customers clear of middlemen.

In a letter to refiners in India, a National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) executive said the right to sell Iranian oil in that country had not been granted to "any other parties". Separately, an NIOC source said the policy of direct marketing by the state company was being applied worldwide.

Iran emerged from years of economic isolation last weekend when world powers led by the United States and European Union lifted crippling sanctions against the Islamic republic in return for Tehran complying with a deal to curb its nuclear ambitions.

The sanctions had cut Iranian crude exports from a peak near 3 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2011 to just over 1 million bpd in recent years.

Some of Iran's crude was suspected of being marketed through middlemen during the sanctions period, although it has never been clear how many such intermediaries were operating or the volumes involved. With sanctions lifted, Tehran is keen to get back full control of its crude exports.

In a letter seen by Reuters, Seyed Mohsen Ghamsari, the director for international affairs at NIOC, told customers in India - the second-biggest buyer of its oil after China - that they should stay clear of middlemen.

"It has recently come to our knowledge that Iranian crude oil has been offered to some Indian customers through some parties rather than National Iranian Oil Company," Ghamsari said in the letter dated Jan. 13.

"In this respect, we hereby would like to inform you that ... National Iranian Oil Company has the sole right to market and sell Iranian crude oil and this right is not granted to any other parties for (the) Indian market."

Indian refining sources said they had begun discussions in the middle of last year with Russian company Promsi, which was then offering attractive terms for the sale of Iranian crude oil, according to another document seen by .

With sanctions still in place at the time, the NIOC source said the state company had agreed to sell some of its oil through Russian companies, although adding that in the end no oil was supplied.

"Now NIOC will directly market its oil across the world," said the source.

Promsi, registered as a construction material wholesaler in the southwest Russian city of Togliatty, was founded in 2010, according to company data. It is listed by the Russian energy ministry as a federal state enterprise.

An official with Promsi declined to comment.

Indian refiners, including Reliance Industries, have recently shown interest in raising imports from Iran after sanctions were scrapped, Ghamsari told earlier this month.

India, as Iran's biggest oil client after China, is one of NIOC's key targets for increased sales now that the barriers to the open trade of its crude have been lifted.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Henning Gloystein and Tom Hogue)
By Manolo Serapio Jr and Rajendra Jadhav

MANILA/MUMBAI (Reuters) - Physical gold demand in Asia slowed this week as prices rose, curbing seasonal buying in China ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday and moving Indian offers to a discount.

Spot gold touched a 1-1/2-week high of $1,109.20 an ounce on Wednesday as tumbling equities and oil prices burnished bullion's safe-haven draw.

"There's a bit of speculative demand. Some Chinese people are buying with stock markets collapsing, but not huge," said

Ronald Leung, chief dealer at Lee Cheong Gold Dealers Ltd in Hong Kong.

Gold in Hong Kong sold at a premium of $1.20 to $1.50 an ounce over the global spot benchmark this week, unchanged from last week, said Leung.

In China, the world's top gold consumer, Shanghai Gold Exchange prices were at a premium of between $3.50 and $5 an ounce to spot prices from $2 to $3 last week, according to calculations.

Traders expect a surge in Chinese buying next week as the Lunar New Year approaches, usually a brisk period for gold demand.

But buying ahead of the Chinese New Year is unlikely to be aggressive amid a slowing economy, said William Wong, assistant head of dealing at Wing Fung Precious Metals in Hong Kong,

China's economy, the world's second-biggest, grew 6.9 percent in 2015, the slowest in 25 years. Japanese investment bank Nomura expects growth to slow to 5.8 percent this year.

In India, the world's second-largest gold user, domestic prices have risen to the highest in nearly three months, slashing demand and sending physical prices to a discount to the global benchmark.

"Demand is very poor at every level in the supply chain due to the sudden rise in prices," said Harshad Ajmera, proprietor of JJ Gold House, a wholesaler in Kolkata.

Indian dealers were offering a discount of between $1.25 to $2 an ounce to the global price after charging a premium of up to $1 last week.India's gold prices have risen 6 percent this year, peaking at 26,658 rupees ($392) per 10 grams on Wednesday, the highest since Oct. 29.

"Consumers have seen gold trading below 25,000 rupees just three weeks back. Now they are struggling to adjust with prices above 26,000 rupees," said a Mumbai-based dealer with a private bank.

Earnings for Indian farmers have declined as they contend with the first back-to-back drought in nearly three decades. This has crimped gold demand in the rural areas that account for about two-thirds of India's total consumption.

($1 = 68.0450 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Manolo Serapio Jr. in Manila and Rajendra Jadhav in Mumbai; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
By Henning Gloystein

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil prices stabilised in early Asian trade on Thursday after hitting fresh 2003 lows the session before, but analysts said a persistent global glut would keep pressuring markets.

U.S. oil futures crashed below $27 dollars a barrel on Wednesday for the first time since 2003, caught in a broad slump across world financial markets as traders worried that a huge oversupply in oil was coinciding with an economic slowdown, especially in China.

In early Thursday trading, oil prices stabilised, with front-month West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures trading at $28.70 per barrel at 0021 GMT.

That was over $2 above its last close, although traders said that the jump was misleading due to the roll-over of front-month contracts overnight.

Yet broader market sentiment remained bearish as producers around the world pump 1-2 million barrels of crude every day in excess of demand, creating a huge storage overhang.

"We believe prices are likely to come under more pressure after the release of EIA inventory data," ANZ bank said on Thursday.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration is due to publish official storage data later in the day.

(Reporting by Henning Gloystein; Editing by Joseph Radford)
CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - U.S. oil major Chevron said on Thursday it plans to sell 75 percent of its South African business unit which includes a 110,000 barrel a day refinery in Cape Town.

Chevron said its call for expression of interest was in line with a three-year asset sales programme it announced in 2014.

(Reporting by Wendell Roelf; Editing by James Macharia)
HAMBURG/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Volkswagen said on Thursday there were no grounds to replicate in Europe a compensation programme it plans for U.S. drivers affected by its diesel emissions scandal, rejecting a demand from the European Union's industry commissioner.

The German carmaker said it was paying compensation in North America because it had yet to agree with local regulators how to fix affected vehicles, and so customers there would have to wait longer for a solution than elsewhere.

VW admitted in September it had cheated U.S. environmental tests by using software to mask nitrogen oxide emissions that can cause or exacerbate respiratory disease. It added that up to around 11 million vehicles worldwide could have had the software installed, including about 8.5 million in Europe.

In the United States, VW has promised goodwill compensation worth $1,000 each to tens of thousands of owners of VW vehicles that breach emissions limits.

Last week, EU industry commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska wrote to VW chief executive Matthias Mueller with a list of demands, including that he consider compensation for affected VW drivers in Europe.

"We are concentrating in Europe on the repair and service process," VW said in a statement on Thursday following a meeting between Mueller and Bienkowska in Brussels.

"The situation in the USA and Canada is not automatically comparable with other markets in the world," it said. "Therefore this action (the compensation scheme) cannot simply be rolled out in other markets."

The European Commission said in a separate statement after the meeting: "Commissioner Bienkowska invited the group once again to reflect on adequate ways to compensate consumers."

"She repeated her clear view that EU consumers should be treated in the same way as U.S. customers. Mr Mueller agreed to come back to the Commissioner on the points discussed."

(Reporting by Jan Schwartz and Barbara Lewis; Writing by Georgina Prodhan; Editing by Mark Potter)
Two weeks ago, Nobel laureate Venkatraman Ramakrishnan reportedly dismissed homoeopathy  along with astrology  as being harmful and bogus. Ramakrishnan, an Indian-born American and British structural biologist, was delivering a lecture titled On Nobodys Word: Evidence and Modern Science at Panjab University in Chandigarh. Hindustan Times quoted him as saying: No one in chemistry believes in homoeopathy. It works on placebo effect.In his dismissal of the 200-year-old system of medicine, Ramakrishnan questioned a belief system that has a huge following not only in India but across the world. According to a report in Business Standard, globally, more than 600 million people use homoeopathy; of this, about 100 million are Indians. In India alone, there are more than 200,000 practitioners of homoeopathy. The AYUSH (ayurveda, yoga, unani, siddha, homoeopathy) ministry, established in 2014, has a dedicated body for research in homoeopathy. Given the high cost of allopathic treatment and the side effects that accompany evidence-based modern medicine, Indians often turn to the scientifically unproven, though mild and relatively inexpensive, homoeopathic treatment that claims to treat conditions, ranging from respiratory problems to mental health conditions.

The science behind it



Developed in the late 18th century by German doctor Samuel Hahnemann, homoeopathy is based on two principles, both of which bear little scientific evidence. One, homoeopathic practitioners believe that like cures like, which simply means that a substance that could cause certain symptoms in a healthy person could, in minute doses, relieve the same symptoms in a sick person. For instance, peeling an onion triggers runny nose and watery eyes  symptoms that are often found in a person suffering from common cold. Homoeopaths claim that such symptoms could be treated by Allium cepa, a medicine prepared from red onions.

The second principle on which homoeopathy works involves diluting a substance  plant, animal material or chemical  rigorously in water or alcohol, so much so that only some or no traces of the actual substance remain. Homoeopathic practitioners, however, believe that the more a substance is diluted, the greater is its power to treat the symptoms.

Is it effective?



They [homoeopaths] take arsenic compounds and dilute it to such an extent that just a molecule is left. It will not have any effect on you. Your tap water has more arsenic, Ramakrishnan was quoted as saying. And there is scientific evidence to back his views. In 2015, in one of the most extensive studies on homoeopathy to date, the National Health and Medical Research Council in Australia reviewed more than 170 research papers on the alternative system of medicine to conclude that there is no reliable evidence that homoeopathy is effective for treating health conditions. A 2005 Lancet study found that the clinical effects of homoeopathy are placebo effects.

Critics often question a basic principle underlying homoeopathy called water memory, or the supposed ability of water to remember the shape of the substance it contained, even though none of the molecules may have been left after multiple dilutions. A 2010 report on homoeopathy by the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee said: We consider the notion that ultra-dilutions can maintain an imprint of substances previously dissolved in them to be scientifically implausible.



However, homoeopaths believe that the focus on water memory is overblown.

All homoeopathy is not non-molecular, says Raj Kumar Manchanda, director-general at the Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy, an autonomous organisation under the AYUSH ministry. It is only when, in certain cases, low potencies are not effective that you might have to go for higher potencies. So, seventy to eighty per cent of combinations are as molecular as any other allopathic or ayurvedic or traditional drug. It is only twenty to twenty five per cent that are non-molecular.



Manchanda  as do others who swear by homoeopathy  cites a study by the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay that found that homoeopathic medicines do contain medicinal molecules in nano sizes even after high dilutions.

However, there is little research to suggest whether the medicines really work.

Claiming that homoeopathy is therapeutic without research is not right, says B Dinesh Kumar, president of the Indian Pharmacological Society. There is a need for validation of homoeopathy as a system of medicine.



Limitations



Manchanda says that homoeopathy works well in most sub-acute and chronic cases. However, he advises against the use of homoeopathic medicines in acute and life-threatening conditions. Since homoeopathic remedies are believed to stimulate the bodys immune system so that the body heals on its own, in acute cases the bodys immune mechanism sometimes doesnt have enough time to react, says Manchanda.

He even recommends the use of allopathic medicine when the infection is severe and following it up with homoeopathy in the long run, since it has no known side-effects.

It is not that homeopathy is without risks, though. In 2009, the US Food and Drug Administration ordered that Zicam, a homeopathic cold remedy, be pulled off the shelves after it found that, in 130 cases, people had reported losing their sense of smell.

According to Manchanda, however, homoeopathic medicines are incapable of causing any damage. It is possible that after giving homoeopathic medicine you may not improve, but it is not possible that it will cause any harm, he adds.
Country's largest smartphone company Samsung India is increasing its devices portfolio with an aim to strengthen the mobile ecosystem that the company is trying to establish for quite some time now.In its latest attempt to counter competition from growing number of Chinese smartphones firms, the Korean giant has launched a range of smart watches and introduced virtual reality device - first time in India. The moves will help the company stay future ready, Manu Sharma, vice president, marketing, IT and mobile, Samsung India said.

The recent launches come immediate after country's largest watch company - Titan - entering the smart watch market. Chinese smartphone company Lenovo too has come up with its range of smart watches under its brand - Motorola. According to Counter Point Research, in 2015, some 4,00,000 wearable devices were sold in India. Out of which 25 percent were smart watches. The wearable devices market is expected to grow to 2 million units in 2016.

Samsung, despite being the market leader in the smartphones market in India, has faced stiff competition of late.

From Indian handset maker Micromax during the past two years to a fleet of Chinese smartphone companies during the past few quarters. During 2015, Samsung has launched 17 4G LTE devices ranging from Rs 8,000 to Rs. 60,000 price band. The company also came up with a dedicated online team which now looks after its sales, marketing, distribution and new tie-ups for e-commerce - headed by Asim Warsi, its erstwhile mobile and IT head in India. According to estimates, at least 20 percent of smartphones are now sold online in India.

According to Sharma, the latest devices will help Samsung's "smartphone sales positively". Apart from that, Samsung will increase its focus on India centric products and services. "While, now our R&D center in Noida designs all models for India, features such as ultra-light mode are specially introduced for the market's need here", he added. Samsung recently came up with J-series of smartphones with an option to choose lower internet data consumption mode.
Youll need to navigate a complex set of rules and regulations unique to California.

Expect to pay more in taxes and have a higher cost of living than you would in almost any other state.

Tap into the right resources to get the help you need and make sure youre within the law.

California is home to more than 4 million small businesses, which employ 7.1 million people across the state. Small businesses make up 99.8% of all businesses within the state and employ 48.8% of the states workforce, making them a vital part of the Golden State economy. Californias gross domestic product (GDP) grew at a rate of 3.5% through the third quarter of 2018, which outpaced the U.S. economys national growth rate of 3.4%.

The states unemployment rate stands at a healthy 4.3%, which is slightly higher than the national unemployment rate of 3.6%. The top five industries in the state are finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing; professional and business services; government and government enterprise; information; and educational services, healthcare and social assistance.

How does this economic landscape translate to the fortunes of small businesses throughout the state? What unique challenges do Californias small business owners face despite these strong economic indicators? Business News Daily got in touch with some of the states entrepreneurs to find out.

Complex regulations

California is known for experimenting with new regulations. The states willingness to rely on new regulatory measures makes compliance a moving target, which can be a challenge for some businesses. The recent California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, for example, is the states response to the European Unions General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and requires businesses to take measures to protect any consumer data they collect, analyze and utilize.

California has a complex and ever-changing regulatory landscape, and that shifting landscape can be one of the trickiest parts of owning a business in the state, said Matt Sole, president of Anago of the Bay Area. That is not to say that the regulatory environment is a negative aspect of doing business in the state; rather, it is more a cost of doing business in this great state.

California is typically on the forefront of policy initiatives and works to ensure all Californians have the opportunity to earn a living wage, that businesses and employees operate on a fair and level playing field, and that we have a sustainable future by monitoring our natural resources and environmental impact, Sole added.

Most business owners we spoke to view regulatory compliance as a fact of life, regardless of which state they operate in. While California frequently creates new regulatory requirements or revises old ones, many entrepreneurs are willing to roll with the punches.

High taxes

California is generally known as a state with relatively high taxes, something that business owners universally recognize. While taxes vary by entity (for example, a C-corp will be taxed differently from an LLC), the general consensus is that they are steeper in California than in nearby states.

Taxation is always a contentious issue in California, said Rodney Yo, owner of Best Online Traffic School. I consider it an expensive place to do business.

According to the Tax Foundation, the states top corporate income tax rate is 8.84%, and its overall business tax climate ranks 49th in the nation. Individual taxes, which impact pass-through entities like LLCs, are also high. The top individual income tax rate is 13.3%. Tax Freedom Day, which represents how long it takes taxpayers to meet their tax burdens, falls on April 23 for California; thats seven days later than the national Tax Freedom Day, placing it at No. 38 in the nation.

California businesses have sales and use tax levied by states, counties and municipalities on transactions. If you hire employees, you will need to register for California employer taxes, which include the employee withholding tax, employment training tax, unemployment insurance tax and disability insurance. Then theres the California franchise tax, which is due annually. Check out the California Tax Service Center for forms youll need. [Need help with your taxes? Check out our reviews and best picks for online tax software.]

Its no secret that California is a higher-tax state, and that can cause some strain on businesses because, really, who enjoys paying taxes? Sole said.

However, Sole said the tax dollars that are directed to public projects such as infrastructure maintenance and public transportation also serve to benefit businesses that rely on regular travel, like his.

Still, the high tax burden can be excessive for some companies, even to the point of driving them out of the state, said Matthew Ross, co-owner and COO of The Slumber Yard.

California taxes are a big disadvantage for business owners, he said. To be quite honest, taxes are the primary reason why we decided to move our company from California to Nevada. Why pay 13% more in taxes when you can just live an hour away and save yourself tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars per year? Its a no-brainer, in my opinion.

Cost of living

California is a wealthy state overall, making the cost of goods, services and wages higher than in many other states. Businesses operating in California stand to make more money, but the cost of doing business is also much higher than elsewhere.

We decided to move out of California in 2018, Ross said. It was simply becoming too expensive from both a tax and operational standpoint. Of course, theres the tax issue, but in California you also have to deal with higher wages, higher cost of living, higher commercial property rents and more.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, per-capita personal income is significantly higher in California than the nation at large. Californians make $62,586 on average each year, while the average American pulls down $53,712 annually. While this means the average Californian has more to spend, it also contributes to a heightened cost of living.

Moreover, Californias income is not evenly distributed. There is a relatively vast income disparity in the state, which puts lower-income Californians at risk of being priced out of every market and giving them fewer disposable dollars to spend on small business goods and services.

As of Jan. 1, 2019, hourly wages have changed in the state. For businesses with 25 employees or fewer, minimum wage is $11 this year. Next year, it will be $12. For businesses with 26 employees or more, minimum wage is $12 in 2019, and that moves to $13 next year. But these numbers vary by city. For instance, in Oakland, the minimum wage in 2019 is $13.80, but its $15.65 in Mountain View.

The yearly minimum salary for exempt employees in California is twice the minimum wage for 2,080 hours per year. As the minimum wage goes up, so do the minimums for exempt employees. Thats $47,760 for small companies and $49,920 for larger companies. [Need help managing your payroll? Check out our reviews and best picks of payroll services for small business.]

Competitive labor market

Californias economy is doing well, and unemployment is low (4.3% as of March 2019), making the labor market highly competitive. As many small business owners told us, it is currently an employees market. This means that, to attract and retain top talent, businesses have to offer attractive compensation and benefits. While talent may seem freely available, businesses must heavily consider the labor market when devising their compensation packages and workplace cultures.

The market to find skilled labor is competitive, Yo said. It is definitely an employees market right now. However, it has also become easy to find talent across the world to work virtually.

A competitive labor market means it takes more time and effort to fill open positions with qualified candidates. Some entrepreneurs view the competitive labor market as an opportunity to improve their internal processes and position themselves advantageously for the future.

Given the continued growth of the California economy, combined with a low unemployment rate, it has become an employee market where businesses have to compete hard for talent, Sole said. My time to fill a position has increased over the last couple years, but we are still able to find the skilled talent we need, and it has helped push me to evaluate our compensation and incentive plans to ensure Im providing a great place to work.

Sole added that competing with large companies in the area can be difficult, but a steady flow of new people moving into the state has helped to ease the burdens of a competitive labor market.

Frequently asked questions

These questions are commonly raised when one starts a business in California. The answers below will help you to file the necessary documents, pay the appropriate fees and understand the basics of starting a business in California.

How do you start a business in California?

Starting a business in California requires you to select a business structure and file the appropriate tax and employer identification documents.

Do you need a business license in California?

Most businesses require licenses or permits to operate. The license you require will depend on your location and the type of business you plan to operate. There are general business licenses, which vary by city. If you operate in multiple locations, you may need a license in each city or unincorporated section where you operate.

There are specific licensing requirements for regulated professions and industries. The California Government Online to Desktops offers the CalGold Business Permit Assistance, which is a database of regulated industries. If you sell or lease merchandise in California, youll need a sellers permit. Plus, youll need to register your business entity  including various kinds of partnerships, LLCs and corporations  with the California secretary of states office.

You may also need other permits, depending on your industry. For instance, restaurants will need a health permit, a building permit, signage permits and more. In some cases, you may even have to take some short classes. Contact your county clerk to ask about local licenses and permits. The CalGold site can also help.

How do you obtain a business license in California?

You can obtain a California business license by accessing CalGold to find the appropriate licensing office for your location and business type. Once youve identified your licensing office, fill out and submit an application for a business license.

How much does a business license cost in California?

Business licenses are administered by cities in California, so prices vary from place to place. Typically, business licenses cost between $50 and $100.

How do you register a business name in California?

If you intend to use a doing business as (DBA) name that is different from the official name of your LLC, you must register it within 40 days of the launch of the business. Locate the appropriate office near you and file an application for your DBA.

How much does a DBA cost in California?

Filing fees for DBA applications are charged by the counties in California and vary by city. Typically, the fee is around $40.

What is a California corporate number?

California corporations are assigned a seven-digit corporate number that starts with a C, while LLCs are assigned a 12-digit corporate number that begins with the four digits of the year of incorporation. These numbers are distinct from tax ID numbers and are assigned to every new entity incorporated in the state by the secretary of state or the Franchise Tax Board.

What is your California state employer ID number?

Your California state employer ID number, also known as your EIN, is used for taxation purposes and on other state and federal documents to identify your business. To find out your state EIN, you can contact the Employment Development Department or the federal Internal Revenue Service.

How much is the LLC fee in California?

In California, an LLC must file the LLC-1 Articles of Organization by mail or online. The fee to file the LLC-1 Articles of Organization is $70, plus $5 for a certified copy. LLCs must also pay an annual minimum tax of $800 to the California Franchise Tax Board for every year they are in business.

Is the LLC fee deductible in California?

According to the California Tax Service Center, the annual LLC fee is considered a deductible ordinary and necessary business expense and, as such, can be deducted from your tax bill.

Resources for small businesses in California

If youre a small business owner in California looking for resources to help you move forward, here are a few organizations you might want to learn more about.

California SCORE

People who want to grow typically know what they want but dont know how they get there or finance their growth. We get involved in those conversations.  Harper Thorpe, chair of Sacramento SCORE

SCORE offers volunteer business professionals and expert mentors to give counsel and guidance to entrepreneurs looking to start or expand their businesses. The services are entirely free and driven by volunteers. Here are some of the chapters in California:

Central Valley SCORE

Bakersfield SCORE

Sacramento SCORE

Tuolumne County SCORE

Modesto-Merced SCORE

San Luis Obispo SCORE

Monterey Bay SCORE

U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) District Offices

The SBA offers financing and grants, as well as consultations and counseling services. There are also opportunities to apply for federal government contracts through the SBA and avenues for obtaining assistance in the wake of natural disasters.

The Governors Office of Business and Economic Development

Established by current Gov. Edmund G. Brown, the GO-Biz office, as it is called, is intended to guide small businesses through the various regulatory processes and help entrepreneurs get started. In addition, the office assists with international trade and serves as a linchpin between small businesses and additional resource outlets.

GO-Biz

California Small Business Development Centers

California hosts dozens of small business development centers. Each is dedicated to supporting the development and retention of small business, from crafting business plans to navigating the states tax code. You can find your regions small business development center at the link below.

California SBDC Network
A day before the open house discussion on differential pricing of data, a full-scale war of words has broken out between telecom regulator Trai and social network Facebook over the Net neutrality debate.

Terming Facebook's action as diversionary, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said the whole consultation exercise has been reduced to "a crudely majoritarian and orchestrated poll".

"Neither the spirit nor the letter of a consultative process warrants such an interpretation which, if accepted, has dangerous ramifications for policy-making in India," Trai said in its letter to Facebook on January 18.

According to the regulator, the campaign by Facebook to defend its free Internet platform Free Basics in India is "wholly misplaced" as "the consultation paper is on differential pricing for data services and not on any particular product or service".

Facebook India on Wednesday responded to Trai's allegations, saying it's being singled out.

"We would note that we are not aware of a similar request (from Trai) having been made to any other commentator who did not answer these specific questions," it said in the reply.

"And we continue to believe that the original comments submitted were responsive to the general questions raised in the consultation paper, which clearly covers such topics as the Free Basics programme," Facebook Public Policy Director for India, South and Central Asia Ankhi Das said.

Trai also spoke of "the self-appointed spokesmanship", in which "you have not been authorised by your users to speak on behalf of them collectively".

The regulator went on to say that despite giving an opportunity to people who shared their views through the Facebook platform, "text of Trai's communication was not in turn conveyed by you (Facebook) to those who had sent responses to Trai using your platform".

It all goes back to December 2014 when Airtel decided to charge separately for Internet-based calls, but withdrew the plan later after facing protest.

The debate heated up after Airtel launched its free Internet platform Airtel Zero and Facebook followed suit with its Internet.org, which was later rechristened as Free Basics.

Trai has started a public consultation on whether plans or schemes allowing differential pricing of the Internet based on its usage should be allowed or not.

This is the first consultation paper from Trai which has received maximum comments -- around 24 lakh -- till January 7, the deadline which was extended from the earlier December 30.

The social network behemoth claims that the number of comments in support of Free Basics to be more than 1.35 crore as against Trai's official figure of around 24 lakh.

Facebook thinks that "someone with access to designated Trai e-mail account appears to have blocked receipt of all e-mails from Facebook".

In a separate letter addressed to Trai, Facebook said it found that "on December 17 at 5.51.53 GMT, an individual with access to the Trai e-mail account designated to accept comments took action that blocked Facebook from delivering any additional e-mail".

The regulator has cited a similar instance of user complaint on non-functioning of an e-mail address during the response period, which was "brought to its notice and the situation was immediately rectified".

"It is surprising that it took over 25 days for you to inform Trai about this," Trai said in the January 18 letter.

According to Trai Chairman R S Sharma, the regulator will firm up its views on differential pricing of data services by the end of this month.

Google offers virtual reality tour of Buckingham Palace

From Aditi Khanna

London, Jan 20 (PTI) The royal corridors of Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth II's home, which is usually the preserve of paying visitors or guests, can now be seen through a new virtual reality tour.

The queen's primary residence can be accessed via a new video uploaded on the 'British Monarchy YouTube Channel' as part of a larger Google Expeditions Pioneer programme.

The palace will be the first UK landmark to feature in a related virtual field trip intended for schoolchildren around the world.

"For schoolchildren, Buckingham Palace is one of the most iconic, magical buildings in the world. We're terrifically excited that, thanks to the virtual reality potential of Google Expedition, children, their teachers and families can visit the palace wherever they live," said Jemima Rellie, director of content and audiences at the Royal Collection Trust which has collaborated with Google for the project.

"Virtual reality is really something. It's a game-changer. It is entirely different. It is the most physically immersive experience you can get without actually being at the palace. It's not going to replace a visit, but if you are unable to get to the palace, it is the best alternative out there," she said.

Using a special app and a cardboard stereoscopic viewer and smartphone, pupils from selected countries will be guided through the palace's grand entrance, up the grand staircase, through the throne room, picture gallery, green drawing room, ballroom and white drawing room.

The Buckingham Palace tour is one of 150 such tours on the free app available to 500,000 pupils who have signed up so far in schools across the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Denmark and Sweden.

Other countries are to be included as the project expands this year.

The photos for the tour were taken last week with a 16-camera rig placed in a circle.

The general public can access the 360-degree tour via the YouTube Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gen0NgJjry4.

Visitors can stand at the bottom of the grand staircase and, although not able to move, have an almost complete view of the architectural wonder dating back to the early 18th century.


Global company, First Data, announced yesterday that they intend to establish a research and development center in Ireland that will house up to 300 highly skilled employees to centralize work on a number of the companys leading technology platforms.



This will be the companys first Irish location outside of Dublin. First Data currently employs approximately 300 workers in two separate facilities in Dublin. The new R&D center will be located in Nenagh, County Tipperary.



First Data supply commerce-enabling technology and solutions, serving approximately six million business locations and 4,000 financial institutions in 118 countries around the world.

The companys 23,000 owner-associates are dedicated to helping companies, from start-ups to the worlds largest corporations, conduct commerce every day by securing and processing more than 2,300 transactions per second and $1.9 trillion per year.



An Taoiseach Enda Kenny TD yesterday commented, "First Data's investment is a vote of confidence in the Mid -West and in the Irish workforce. The Government is determined to support strong job creation all over the country as the best way to keep the recovery going."

Source: www.businessworld.ie

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It was announced today that Europes new airline association, Airlines for Europe (A4E), has been officially launched.

It has been established by Europes five largest airline groups  Air France KLM, easyJet, International Airlines Group, Lufthansa Group, Ryanair. The association represent the interests of its members when dealing with the EU institutions, international organisations and national governments on European aviation issues.

The five CEOs  Alexandre de Juniac, Carolyn McCall, Willie Walsh, Carsten Spohr and Michael OLeary are the main representatives of the Association.

A4E will grow its member base over the next months, uniting European airlines to take forward changes that will increase their competitiveness and result in lower fares and more choice for passengers.



They have set out three important measures. Firstly, they want to lower the cost of the EUs airports by ensuring that monopoly airports are effectively regulated, delivering reliable and efficient airspace by reducing the cost of Air Traffic Control (ATC) provision through completion of the Single European Sky and better economic regulation at EU level.



Secondly, they want to deliver reliable and efficient airspace by reducing the cost of Air Traffic Control (ATC) provision through completion of the Single European Sky and better economic regulation at EU level.



Finally, they want to stimulate more economic activity and jobs by creating the right regulatory environment, removing unreasonable taxes.



The five CEOs today commented, "Today marks the beginning of a new era for European airlines. With the endorsement of the five largest airline groups in Europe, A4E will be a powerful vehicle to address the industrys issues.

"For the first time, low-cost and network carriers are creating an association to support the adoption of a new European Aviation Strategy. Today we also call on all airlines in Europe to join us and make our voice even more powerful."



Source: www.businessworld.ie

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It was announced today that Irelands largest shopping centre and leisure destination is to be sold. Blanchardstown Centre will be formally released to the market by joint agents, JLL and Eastdil Secured, in early February 2016.



The Blanchardstown Centre has annual footfall in excess of 16 million per annum, exceptionally high by European standards.

Furthermore, it has a comparison goods market potential of 603.5m, placing it third within the Republic of Ireland. The scheme is the dominant centre in its core catchment, achieving market shares of 31.4%.

John Moran of JLL, joint selling agent with Eastdil Secured commented, "This is a very exciting time to bring such a prestigious and unique European asset to the market, set against a backdrop of spectacular growth in the Irish retail industry driven by strong economic recovery. There has been a wave of international, institutional capital chasing the very best of Irish real estate"

He added, "We expect strong international interest in the development which offers potential for both rental growth and development opportunity."

The Irish Times reports that the owners of the Centre, Green Property Group, will seek about 1 billion for the asset.

Source: www.businessworld.ie

About us
Irish dispatch technology company, iCabbi, have today announced plans to expand to the UK and US.

They are targeting 15m annual recurring revenue (ARR) within two years

The company has seen exponential growth of 300% in the past year on the back of seed funding rounds totalling 1 million in 2012 and 2013.



The seed funding was led by Dublin BIC through the AIB Seed Capital Fund and co-investment from Enterprise Ireland and the Bloom Equity Group, a HBAN business angel syndicate.



The Dublin BIC-supported company has now set its sights on the US, its highest growth potential market. Seventeen companies with 2,000 cars are currently working with iCabbi, with 30 more companies covering 10,000 cars scheduled to go live this year. US revenues are expected to hit 3.6 million by the end of 2016.



Furthermore, iCabbi has also established a strong presence in the UK with more than 50% of large taxi companies (500+ cars) using its software. To grow this presence further, it is also announcing the purchase of Disc (formerly Solution Telecom) in a deal worth 1.2 million, which has been developing telephony solutions in the for taxi industry since 2010.



iCabbis recently announced that it would be adding 20 jobs in 2016 to its Dublin headquarters in Howth this year. Positions are spread across research and development, customer service, sales and marketing, and technical support. The company has a significant presence in Ireland, with more than 70% of private taxi companies with 50+ cars using its software.



Investment Manager at Dublin BIC, Richard Watson today commented, "iCabbi is a great example of a disruptive Irish tech start-up company which has entered into a phase of accelerated international growth and is positioned for significant expansion over the months and years ahead.

"These are the companies that are driving Irelands economic growth and we are thrilled to support and to be a part of that. Taxi companies have historically been slow to adapt to technology, allowing companies like Hailo and Uber to take huge market share. iCabbi is enabling taxi companies to compete with these internet giants."

Source: www.businessworld.ie

About us
Barclays has embarked on a fresh round of job cuts to its investment banking business worldwide on Thursday which would result in a complete exit from cash equities in Asia, an internal memo showed, as new Chief Executive Jes Staley wields the axe in a bid to slash costs and boost returns.

The harsher-than-expected cuts are among the most sweeping worldwide culls by an investment bank in recent years, as Staley in common with peers at other European lenders moves to reduce costs amid a tough global environment for banks.

Barclays will shutter its investment banking businesses in countries including Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Russia, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand, the memo said, with those markets to be covered from financial hub cities in their respective regions.

A spokesman for Barclays in Hong Kong declined to comment on the cuts because they are not public.

With 10 of Europe's biggest lenders announcing 130,000 job losses since June, bank chief executives are looking to cut in businesses where they lack scale to focus on more profitable markets.

The reduction in jobs are also in response to the turmoil in global equities and commodities markets, which is making it harder for investment banks to make money in the traditional business lines.

The cuts in the London-headquartered bank were announced to staff in meetings on Thursday across the Asia-Pacific region, according a source with direct knowledge.

"Asia is bearing the brunt," the source added.

The total number of jobs to be shed in the latest Barclays reduction is unclear, but a source with direct knowledge of the matter said the Asian equities cuts alone could total about 200 people. A separate source with knowledge of the cuts said the Asia total would be 450 people.

The Financial Times previously reported that Barclays would shed as many as 1000 jobs worldwide in the latest cull.

Barclays is also exploring the sale of its global precious metals business, the memo said, as well as shuttering cash equity sales across Central Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, the memo showed.

The lender will also end its onshore markets coverage in Brazil.

Reuters on Jan. 5 reported the cuts in the Asia investment banking business and exits from South Korea and Taiwan, as Barclays retreated from peripheral Asian businesses to focus on hubs including Hong Kong and Singapore.

Barclays is closing investment banking units in Australia and Russia, as well as Asian countries such as Indonesia and Thailand, as part of a review of global operations, it said in an internal memo to staff on Thursday.

The London-based lender is also cutting its onshore markets coverage in Brazil and cash equities sales and execution businesses in Central Europe, the Middle East and North Africa as part of some of the deepest cuts by any bank in recent times. Reuters reported the bank's retreat from South Korea and Taiwan on Jan. 5.

The memo reviewed by Reuters also showed that Barclays is exploring exiting its precious metals business globally. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie
Euro zone banks are required to pay their annual contributions to a rescue fund by the end of June so that it can reach a 10 billion euros target in 2016, a member of the fund's board said on Thursday.

The Single Resolution Fund (SRF), set up to rescue failing euro zone banks, was agreed after the 2009-2012 banking and debt crisis as part of plans so that taxpayers would not have to pay for bank bailouts.

The fund is financed by banks and aims to have 55 billion euros at its disposal by 2024 when a transitional phase ends.

"Approximately 4,000 banks or credit institutions in the euro area will have to pay by the end of June," Timo Loyttyniemi, vice president of the fund's board, told a news conference.

Each bank will pay an amount tailored to its liabilities, Loyttyniemi said. The fund should have at least 10 billion euros by the end of 2016 from contributions, he said. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie

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Oil fell on Thursday, dipping back towards 12-year lows on persistent concerns about a supply overhang and the outlook for demand.

Oil futures dropped to their lowest levels since 2003 this week as investors worry that a glut of crude is combining with slowing demand due to economic weakness, especially in China.

International benchmark Brent was down 17 cents at $27.71 a barrel by 1052 GMT. Brent has lost 26 percent so far in January, on track for its biggest monthly fall since 2008.

Front-month West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures traded at $28.17 per barrel, down 18 cents from their previous close.

Broad market sentiment remained bearish as producers around the world pump 1 million to 2 million barrels of crude every day in excess of demand, creating a huge overhang of stored oil.

Iran's return to the oil market this month added to the glut, after the lifting of international sanctions aimed at discouraging the country from obtaining nuclear weapons.

"There are worries surrounding demand and oversupply," said Hans van Cleef, senior energy economist at ABN Amro in Amsterdam.

He said weaker demand in the Middle East, which has been hit by lower oil prices, could add fuel to the sell-off and there was little to stop crude falling to $20 per barrel.

Indicating the glut may grow further, Iraq's Oil Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi told Reuters the country's southern region planned to increase output by up to 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) this year to over 4 million bpd.

Concerns are also growing that China's economy could slow further and cut demand in the world's second-largest oil consumer.

"Lower commodity and oil prices reflect weakening demand," HSBC said on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Venezuela has requested that OPEC hold an emergency meeting to discuss steps to prop up oil prices, although delegates from other members of the producer group said such a gathering was unlikely. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie
A controversial draft bill called the Utah Public Lands Initiative would protect part of the Bear's Ears region but would not make it a national monument as tribes have requested. (Credit: Josh Ewing)

<span>SALT LAKE CITY  Conservation groups are slamming a draft bill called the </span><a href=http://robbishop.house.gov/uploadedfiles/discussion_draft_20jan16.pdf target=parent>Utah Public Land Initiative</a><span>, released Wednesday by Utah Congressmen Rob Bishop and Jason Chaffetz. </span>

<span>The bill would rewrite the rules covering 18 million acres of federal public land in seven counties in eastern Utah. Aaron Weiss, media director with the Center for Western Priorities, says the bills wilderness designations are packed with loopholes that would pave the way for more development.</span>

<span>At the end of the day, Rob Bishop picked winners and losers, says Weiss. And the winners are the oil and gas companies and the Bundy land-seizure agenda, and the losers are the people of Utah and Utahs public lands.</span>

<span>Bishop has said the bill is needed to protect some areas while providing more certainty for commercial ventures in others. But a coalition of conservation groups put out a statement criticizing the plan, saying it would permit drilling next to protected areas, allow permanent grazing, encourage ATV use on areas that are currently roadless and release wilderness study areas for development.</span>

<span>The legislation, when introduced, also is expected to bar the president from using the Antiquities Act to designate national monuments in that part of Utah  an end run around the tribes that want to establish the Bears Ears National Monument. David Jenkins, president with the nonprofit group Conservatives for Responsible Stewardship, warns this bill has national implications.</span>

<span>Its his model legislation that he would like to replicate as a way to handle public lands nationwide, says Jenkins. And in our mind, this completely turns on its head the entire conservation and stewardship ethic that weve seen since the days of Theodore Roosevelt in this country.</span>

<span>Bishop, who chairs the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources, has not indicated when he plans to actually introduce the bill in Congress.</span>
SHARE Gilda Ramirez

By Chris Ramirez of the Caller-Times

The Corpus Christi Hispanic Chamber of Commerce elected new leaders and secured a permanent job for its interim president before its merger with another business group is finalized.

The Hispanic chamber's board of directors Tuesday elected its executive committee that will serve with this year's chair, Rosie Gonzalez Collin.

Elected were Philip John Ramirez, the chairman-elect for 2017; Eric Villarreal, secretary; Carmen Arias, treasurer; Greg Perkes, parliamentarian.

Eddie Garcia, who served as chairman last year, also will be on the executive board. Mark Casanova and John Garcia were elected to the board of directors.

Members of the Hispanic chamber and the Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce voted overwhelmingly Dec. 29 to unite the organizations.

In a statement to the Caller-Times, the Hispanic chamber said Gilda Ramirez will continue to serve as interim president, while taking on a full-time role as its vice president of small business, international outreach and education affairs.

Ramirez, the former director of the Antonio E. Garcia Arts & Education Center, has filled in to lead the Hispanic chamber since November.

That's when Teresa Rodriguez Bartlett, the previous president, left to become chief public affairs and business development officer for the Corpus Christi Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Ramirez said the two chambers are hammering out the logistics of uniting, such as creating bylaws and agreeing on a new name.

Twitter: @Caller_ChrisRam

EDITOR'S NOTE: An earlier version of this article incorrectly reported the positions to which Mark Casanova and John Garcia were elected. They were elected to the board of directors.
When is hurricane season? Here's what you need to know in South Texas
PHOTOS BY GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES Staff Sgt. San Juanita Garcia (right) receives a scholarship check from the The Beatrice Perez Chapter of The American GI Forum of Texas Inc. during The Annual Veterans and Youth Education and Technology Scholarship Program on Wednesday at Moody High School in Corpus Christi.

SHARE Hannah Crawley from J.A. Garcia Elementary School holds tablets as her school received a total of 10 tablets from the The Beatrice Perez Chapter of The American GI Forum of Texas Inc. GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES Principal Lorena Ceballos from Robstown High School (left) and Mayor Mandy Barrera from Robstown collect six laptop computers from the The Beatrice Perez Chapter of The American GI Forum of Texas Inc. during the Annual Veterans and Youth Education and Technology Scholarship Program on Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016, at Moody High School in Corpus Christi. GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES Spc. Victoria Franco (center) displays her scholarship check she received from the The Beatrice Perez Chapter of The American GI Forum of Texas Inc. during The Annual Veterans and Youth Education and Technology Scholarship Program on Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016, at Moody High School in Corpus Christi. GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES Amanda Cameron (center) and Caleb Galvan from George Evans Elementary School receive 10 tablets from the The Beatrice Perez Chapter of The American GI Forum of Texas Inc. during The Annual Veterans and Youth Education and Technology Scholarship Program on Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016, at Moody High School in Corpus Christi.

By Fares Sabawi of the Caller-Times

San Juanita Garcia, 25, has been around the world because of the Army.

The Premont native left the small South Texas town to serve her country in Iraq and Africa.

"It was a shocker," Garcia said. "That was definitely an extreme eye opener on how much we take for granted."

Now, Garcia is pursuing another dream: Getting a college education.

The Beatrice T. Perez Chapter of The American GI Forum of Texas, Inc. awarded Garcia and four other veterans with $1,000 scholarships Wednesday at the Annual Veterans and Youth Education and Technology Scholarship Program.

Each year, the event helps minority veterans go back to school to achieve college degrees.

"It's so important to this community," Patsy Vazquez-Contes, the event coordinator, said. "This offers the American dream to our veterans."

Corpus Christi Police Cmdr. Michael Alanis gave the keynote address at the program. Alanis recalled how his own experience in the Air Force helped him go back to school.

"I won't say I failed (college), but I didn't do well," Alanis said. "When I went back to school (after joining the Air Force), I was a different person."

Alanis eventually got his bachelor's degree from Midwestern State University. Now he's working on a master's degree.

"You need to be a lifelong learner," Alanis told the scholarship recipients. "There's always something you can learn."

Local schools also benefitted from the program.

Moody and Robstown high schools each received six laptops. J.A. Garcia and George Evans elementary schools each received 10 tablets for disadvantaged students.

Garcia said she the local support is valuable to her and the other scholarship winners.

"You'd think you just have your family standing with you," Garcia said. "In reality, you have the entire community wanting to make sure you're successful."

Scholarship Recipients

Jennifer Monreal: Del Mar College

Sgt. Noah Maxwell: Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

Staff Sgt. San Juanita Garcia: Del Mar College

Spc. Joe Ayala: Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

Spc. Victoria Franco: Del Mar College

Twitter: @Caller_Fares
FILE PHOTO

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By Julie Garcia of the Caller-Times

The Nueces County Commissioners Court established 17 early voting locations for the upcoming primary election.

The locations were chosen Wednesday with input by leaders from the local Democratic and Republican parties, and are based on population density and voter turnout in previous elections, said James Shumaker, Nueces County deputy county clerk.

There could be more additions to the list of 17 before the March 1 primaries, Shumaker said.

"They're fairly well spread out with most of the concentration is clustered more toward population density in the city and county," he said. "They're equitable among precincts based on what we're projecting voter turnout to be."

Fourteen early voting locations were used during the November constitutional election.

The motion passed unanimously, but not before commissioners expressed concern about voter accessibility.

"To me, look at the population. Where do you reach people every single day? The universities," said Commissioner Joe A. Gonzalez.

Though Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi is an early voting site, Del Mar College was taken off the list. Gonzalez said it may not have a history of high voter turnout, but young people may be motivated by the upcoming presidential election.

"If they're (at Del Mar), it's accessible. It's easier to remind them to go out and vote," Gonzalez said.

Voter turnout was low at the Heldenfels Adminstration Building, which is where early voting was set up on Del Mar's East Campus in previous elections, said Claudia Jackson, Del Mar's executive director of strategic communication and government relations.

"The college always wants to be part of the electoral process; if we were a viable election site, we would still want to be on the list," Jackson said.

With continuing struggles to become compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, Commissioner Mike Pusley wanted to make sure voters are not discouraged when they find their longtime polling location has been consolidated.

"People will call me on election day and say, 'I used to vote over here and it's closed, and now where do I go vote?'" Pusley said. "(Shumaker) provided us with information we need to answer those questions this morning."

Twitter: @Caller_Jules

EDITOR'S NOTE: An earlier version of this article incorrectly the date for the March 1 primary election.

POLLING LOCATIONS:

Bishop Community Center, 102 W. Joyce Street, Bishop

CCAD - NASCC, 308 Crecy St. , Corpus Christi

Council for the Deaf, 5151 McArdle Road, Corpus Christi

David Berlanga Community Center, 1513 2nd Street, Agua Dulce

Driscoll ISD , 410 W. Avenue D, Driscoll

Ellis Memorial Library, 700 W. Avenue A, Port Aransas

Ethel Eyerly Senior Center, 654 Graham Rd., Corpus Christi

Greenwood Senior Center, 4040 Greenwood Drive, Corpus Christi

Hilltop Community Center, 11425 Leopard Street, Corpus Christi

Johnny Calderon, 710 E. Main Street, Robstown

Kaffie Middle School, 5922 Brockhampton Street, Corpus Christi

Magee Elementary (Star Annex), 4201 Calallen Drive, Corpus Christi

Nueces County Courthouse, 901 Leopard Street, Corpus Christi

Peerless Cleaners, 2802 Santa Fe St., Corpus Christi

Petronila Elementary, 2391 Co Rd 67, Robstown

Schlitterbahn, 14353 Commodores Drive, Corpus Christi

Texas A&M Corpus Christi, 6300 Ocean Drive, Corpus Christi

March 1, 2016 Primary Election Early Voting Dates and Times:

February 16 -19 8:00 a.m. -5:00 p.m.

February 20 7:00 a.m. -7:00 p.m.

February 21 12:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

IN OTHER BUSINESS

The Nueces County Commissioners Court Wednesday:

Approved an agreement with Knight Security Systems for purchase and installation of surveillance cameras in jail elevators. The cameras and labor will be paid for by the commissary fund, not Nueces County taxpayers, said Sheriff Jim Kaelin.

Authorized an agreement with LNV, Inc. to remodel the break room in the Keach Family Library to expand the children's program area. The construction will be taken from the Precinct 3 coffer.

Received a briefing on Nueces County air quality compliance from the Corpus Christi Air Quality Group. The county remains in compliance with Environmental Protection Agency standards of ozone levels staying below 70 parts-per-billion.
Until about 20 years ago, Japanese men could be neatly fitted into one of two roles: student or salaryman. Perhaps things were never quite that simple, but the picture is certainly more complicated today. From the construction worker with the deep tan to the hipster young businessman with the two-block haircut to the cafe owner with three-day stubble and a passion for jazztoday, it is impossible to describe the typical Japanese man.

While much has been written about Japanese women and their changing roles in the family, the workplace and society, there is a surprising lack of conversation about whats happening with men. What is the experience of being a man in Japan today?

The enduring economic recession in which Japan has been languishing since the 1990s, the global financial crisis of 2008 and the Tohoku earthquake/tsunami/nuclear disaster have all impacted profoundly on the realities of the lives and mindsets of todays Japanese men (and women, for that matter). These past decades of economic decline have created diminished expectations in terms of employment prospects and professional advancement and have led to a great unravelling of the traditional sense of masculine identity and purpose in life (ikigai). The result: What it means to be a man in Japan today is in a state of major transition.

Previous generations of Japanese men were defined in terms of their specific, tightly circumscribed role within the greater structure of society. In Edo-period Japan, a man might be a samurai, merchant or farmer. In Showa Japan, a salaryman or teacher. Today, men (and women) are no longer defining themselves in such singular ways. Identities and roles have become multiple. Todays young people form the hashtag generation, who take inspiration from the media in interpreting and defining their plural identities. Today, there exists the choice to be multiple.

While this opening up of possibilities for men seemsto a Western mindset at leastliberating and positive, it should also be borne in mind that choice can create confusion, especially when there are so few real-life aspirational examples to follow. Todays young men want lives that are different from those of their fathers, with their numbingly long hours, declining prestige and lack of fulfilment. Rather, such lives offer a shining example of what they dont want. Young men are searchingfor greater meaning in their lives and their own identities.

This article is part of the Cultural Radar series

This search, however, is not one that you will hear men talking about. Masculinity (otokorashisa) is a term that feels irrelevant to mens lives today and is dropping out of everyday vocabulary. Asked what it means to be masculine, men in their 40s will respond with the standard answers, that masculinity is being responsible, committed, able to get things done. The emphasis is firmly on a mans deeds rather than who he is. If you ask younger men, they tend to be dumbfounded by the question and eventually mumble some pleasantry about kindness (yasashisa)a trait valued for both men and women in Japanese society.

This search for purpose and identity amongst todays young men can be likened to a type of search for do  ('path' or 'way'). In Edo Japan, bushido (the do or way of the warrior) provided the structure and strictures around how a samurai should act, treat others, live and die. Today, ones do is about finding the passion that can guide your life. The logic is that in pursuing your passion, you learn how to live. This do could be your jobif you love your job, that isbut, more likely, it is your personal interests: your hobby, your family, your love of travelling. It is what sets your heart on fire and makes life worth living.

What does this mean for marketers?

Todays men want to hear about what makes them feel good about themselves. Ads that persist in holding up one-dimensional visions of menlaying out set roles in the assumption that all men will see happiness in conformityhave lost relevance and resonance. To resonate powerfully, marketers need to connect with mens inner purpose: who they want to be apart from what society, their employer or women demand they be. Brand messages that connect with how todays young Japanese men want to feel about themselves, rather than holding up models illustrating how others will perceive them, are likely to have greater impact, triggering deeper emotional connections.

In summary, masculinity in Japan is becoming increasingly diverse, fluid and plural, with more opportunity for individuals to discover and pursue their own passions, purpose and value. Today, being a man is not a set definition cemented into the expectations of society and family, but is evolving into a personal assessment. Unlikely to articulate their emerging identities in words, todays Japanese men are defining themselves through their actions. To do is to be. For men, theres no need to talk about it.
Settling bills and paying retailers via your mobile is being taken to a whole new level in Southeast Asia and India, with a significant increase in mobile payment adoption. Its a growing business and about to get much bigger.

Recent research from Forrester shows that online and mobile-based purchases in Southeast Asia are expected to exceed US$22 billion in 2015, while India is expected to grow 55 per cent from its present size of US$2 billion to US$19 billion by 2019. IDC meanwhile also predicts that the Asia-Pacific is expected to lead the world in mobile payment developments.

Growth in the region is being driven by two factors  the low banking population and the increasing growth of smartphone penetration, according to Naveen Mishra, industry principal, telecom at Frost & Sullivan Asia-Pacific.

We are witnessing tremendous potential for a cashless society, he says. At present, mobile payments are mostly being used for low-ticket items but this will move to larger purchases.

With growth potential for mobile payments looking healthier than ever, multiple players including banks, credit card companies, mobile operators and financial technology (fintech) startups are all getting in on the act, while Apple Pay is also expected to launch in Singapore next year. Uses for mobile payments range from settling bills to mobile recharge, sending money from one to another and merchant payments.

Sam Ahmed, SVP head of marketing Asia-Pacific at MasterCard, believes that the rapid increase of urbanisation and smartphone ownership across the region is leading to an increase in demand for products and services that meet the needs for convenience and comfort.

Empowered with smartphones, the large demographic of digitally savvy youth in Southeast Asia and India are more connected and have access to a variety of merchants and enhanced payment experiences, he says.

Players are using a variety of methods to build brand awareness. Malaysia-based Soft Space, which provides a mobile point-of-sales payment platform, reaches out to consumers via traditional financial institutions. Soft Space also offers discount coupons and partners with merchants with strong branding to lure users.

We believe that this is the fastest way to scale, says Chang Chew Soon, founder and chief executive of Soft Space. Asias financial ecosystem is highly regulated and partnering with banks is the fastest way to grow.

Understandably, where money is concerned, the main challenges for mobile payment operators revolves around security and trust.

Convenience is also a consideration, according to Soft Space, which believes that it is vital to have enough acceptance points for users to regularly use their mobile phone to pay, so much so that it becomes habit.

The other big hurdle is the varying levels of infrastructure and regulatory landscape across Asia-Pacific, where no two markets are alike.

Sophisticated markets have an extremely high smartphone penetration and a government that supports technology and innovation, says MasterCards Ahmed. Then you have developing markets which are slowly but surely gaining more traction but lack the infrastructure to make mobile payments a viable option just yet.

EXPERT OPINION

Must-have transactions will drive adoption in this region

Zhi Ying Ng, researcher for eBusiness and channel strategy, Forrester

The growth of mcommerce, or mobile commerce, is strong. This upward trend of purchasing goods and services on smartphones will continue into 2016. Peer-to-peer (P2P) payments relating to mobile money services have contributed to the growth in mobile payments, and we expect remittances to drive this growth further as more providers move into the mobile payment space in oder to facilitate cross-border remittances.

Bill payments are also among the first few types of mobile payments that consumers across Southeast Asia region are using. Mobile remote commerce is gaining traction, but the uptake of proximity payments has been low to date.

Forrester identified a range of players involved in this sector including contactless payments, digital wallets and mobile payment systems. In terms of raising brand awareness, mobile payment providers are adopting a number of strategies. In the Philippines, telcos are leveraging existing relationships with retail outlets, creating roadshows to build awareness. In Singapore, some banks use push notifications to inform consumers of new mobile payment services.

Consumers need to be motivated to adopt such systems with must-have transactions that persuade them to sign up in the first place and encourage repeat usage. Additionally, providers also need to ensure that any new payment system is demonstrably better than existing alternatives like cash and plastic cards.
Former AirAsia head of marketing Schrene Goh has joined the company as head of marketing communications, brand and digital, marketing division.

The company has also appointed TBWA as its creative agency for its postpaid-services business, awarding the account in December last year after a pitch process that began in August. BBDO, the company's creative agency since 2013, will focus on the prepaid-services business.

We have been very fortuitous to have BBDO as our agency for both the prepaid and postpaid business for three years, Jasmine Lee, U Mobiles chief marketing officer, told Campaign Asia-Pacific. They have done great work for us, culminating in a Kancil award win for a U Card campaign."

John Teoh, managing director of BBDO Kuala Lumpur, described U Mobile as a valued partner. The team has enjoyed working with this dynamic company over the past three years and we have achieved many milestones and great success together, he added. In 2016, we look forward to continuing our focus on the work, helping to deliver real growth and business results for U Mobile.

Lee said that the company decided to expand its agency roster because its range of products and services has "grown exponentially" over the past few years.

As such, our marketing needs have grown in tandem, she said. When we were planning for this year, we thought it would be a good idea to add another agency, as we do foresee our marketing needs to keep growing.

Aaron Cowie, group CEO at TBWA Kuala Lumpur, said that the team is passionate about the U Mobile brand and excited to get started.

We will be working with U Mobile to continue challenging the status quo and to behave in new and unexpected ways, he added.

New year resolutions

In a statement, U Mobile CEO Wong Heang Tuck said that the company has been growing at phenomenal speeds and is always looking for talent to play a role in further elevating U Mobiles image with its stakeholders.

As the number four telco in the country, U Mobile was reported as having 3.5 to 4 million subscribers at the end of 2015's third quarter. Most notably, it managed to sign up 2 million new customers via its Vision 2 Million campaign, which took place in late 2014.

Lee declined to disclose the companys annual marketing budget or spend, adding that the company does not disclose the breakdown of its business operational costs.

Asked what the priorities for the brand will be in the coming months, she said that as a data-centric telco, U Mobile puts great investment and emphasis on providing the best data experience to customers.

Our marketing mix is very much reflective of that business strategy, she said. Over the years, we have been increasing our digital investment, and this year we are looking at 35 percent of our marketing expenditure going into this channel.

Lee said the company is definitely looking to refine its marketing expenditure in the future, and in 2016, will continue to live up to its reputation as a challenger brand: One that is determined to roll out products and services that are unheard of so our customers can reap maximum benefit from their mobile experience, she added. On the brand front, we want to be admired for changing the landscape so that the full potential of data is made available to our customers."
| BY Ricki Green |

Kicking off the New Year with vigour, DDB has appointed two more world-class creative directors to join the team. Mike Felix (right) and Brett Colliver (left) both worked at DDB early in their careers before individually moving overseas to travel and work at other top-agencies.

Felix began his career at DDB from 2005-2009 where he won Emerging Talent and a Grand Prix Axis before heading overseas. He has worked in four countries, collected over a hundred awards and worked at Droga5 New York where he created global work for Motorola.

Colliver also returns to DDB where he worked as an art director for five years from 2007, before moving to Melbourne and then most recently working at Colenso. In that time hes won awards at all of the major global shows including Cannes, Webbys, Mashies and Facebook awards for clients including DB Export, Samsung and Burger King. Outside of the DDB offices, Colliver keeps busy as the head of AWARD School in Auckland.

Says Shane Bradnick, ECD, DDB: Im really pleased to welcome back Brett and Mike as a Creative Director team. Both started here early in their careers and have gone on to achieve great things at agencies around the world.

Says Damon Stapleton, CCO, DDB: These guys have a wealth of experience and have earned their stripes around the world. Were excited to have them starting the next phase of their careers and helping us achieve our ambitions. Were lucky to have them back.

Says Felix: Im excited to be back at DDB. Theres a killer team, great clients and that extra DDB New Zealand thing you cant put your finger on. And Michelle still works on reception.

Says Colliver: Its an amazing and scary time to work in advertising, because, as we all know, everything is changing. But Damon, Shane and Justin are leading the agency in an exciting direction, which I cant wait to be a part of. Until I get replaced by a bot.
| BY Ricki Green |

The Communications Council has announced the 2016 Call for Entries for the Australian Effie Awards, with the closing date set for Thursday 21 April.

Running for the eighth consecutive year, the awards celebrate the effectiveness of creative communications, recognising campaigns that can demonstrate outstanding measurable results.

Following an annual review, four new categories will be introduced this year to award work in important and evolving areas, including:

 Online Brands  for brands or services in any category that exist only online;

 Use of Data  where data has been used to develop insights, target consumers and demonstrate results;

 Environmental Sustainability  for marketing programs that have measurably shifted audience behaviour toward more environmentally sustainable choices; and

 Insight & Strategic Thinking  for campaigns that show the greatest insights and strategic thinking that lead to the communications idea and achieve marketing objectives.

The full list of 24 categories is as follows:

 Best State Campaign

 Beverages  Alcoholic & Non-Alcoholic

 Digitally Led Ideas

 Environmental Sustainability

 Financial Services

 Food, Confectionery & Snacks

 Government

 Health and Well-being

 Insight & Strategic Thinking

 Long Term Effects

 Most Original Thinking

 New Product or Service  Not For Profit & Cause Related Marketing

 Online Brands

 Other Consumer Goods

 Other Services

 PR-Led Campaign

 Retail/Etail

 Return on Investment

 Short Term Effects

 Small Budget

 The Effective Advertiser of the Year

 Travel, Leisure & Media

 Use of Data

Says Anthony Freedman, chairman, Effies: The Australian Effie Awards ceremony has become an important annual event for the marketing communications industry in Australia, providing both a showcase and a benchmark for excellence in the area that matters most to our clients  delivering results. For those considering entering this year, winning cases from the past seven years, and dedicated research on the habits of effective advertising, are available on our website to aid the entry process. Good Luck!

For the second year running, agencies are also invited to nominate clients for the Effective Advertiser of the Year Award, to celebrate those who champion effectiveness.

An extended and final deadline of Thursday 5th May 2016 is available for those unable to meet the initial entry deadline of Thursday 21st April, though a late fee will be incurred.

Round One Judging will take place on 16th June, with finalists announced on 22nd June. Round Two Judging is set for 26th July.

All Effie winners will be announced at an awards dinner and presentation in Sydney on Thursday the 8th of September.
| BY Ricki Green |

IBM has today announced the appointment of Amanda Johnston-Pell as chief marketing officer, IBM Australia and New Zealand. Reporting to Kerry Purcell, managing director, IBM Australia and New Zealand, Johnston-Pell will also be a member of the IBM Australia and New Zealand board.

In this role Johnston-Pell will focus on driving collaboration across the business to deliver deep industry and innovative solutions and services to clients in the areas of cloud, cognitive, social, mobile and security.

Johnston-Pell brings more than 20 years experience working with Fortune 500 companies, cross-industry knowledge and entrepreneurial credentials to IBM. She will remain a board director of New York based start-up MOSH., which she co-founded in 2013. The interactive social platform enables brands, artists and causes to connect and build deep, personalised engagements with fans and customers, and was one of ten global start-ups selected to participate in the inaugural Cannes Lions Innovation Start-up Academy 2015. Johnston-Pell is also a non-executive director of the Australian American Leadership Dialogue, and chair of the Young Leadership Dialogue.

Prior to joining IBM, Johnston-Pell held a number of senior executive positions in North America and corporate advisory roles to Fortune 500 companies. Previously she also held senior positions at Telstra including executive director, brands and marketing communications group, and executive director sales and marketing at BigPond.

Says Purcell: Amanda brings strong cross industry credentials and a proven record in driving marketing and communications to have a direct impact on business outcomes. This will be critical as IBM continues to work with our clients to bring them transformative industry solutions.
What does it mean if my partner is looking at racy pictures on social media?
The opposition's draft legislation is set to be introduced into the Legislative Assembly's first sitting period next month and shared with community groups and victims' advocates for feedback. It would apply to an attacker who hit another person without provocation. Penalties for assault would apply even if a one-punch attack could not be proven.
Icon Cancer Care will invest $15 million to install two linear accelerators in the private facility after it was given the OK by the federal government and a $4 million grant to replace the radiation machines at the end of their 10-year lifespan.
"Apart from abusing the trust of their employers and imposing additional tasks on their colleagues, workers who illegitimately take sickies can leave themselves financially exposed when they actually fall ill if they have already exhausted their entitlement to sick leave.



"Employers have a right to request evidence from employees claiming sick leave such as medical certificates, and if workers exploit the entitlement, we will likely see more employers request these.



"Workplaces should operate on the basis of mutual respect and trust.
Ms Gardiner was a long serving staffer to Julia Gillard when she was deputy prime minister and worked for Mr Shorten when he was a minister in the former Labor government as well as in opposition. She has clocked up almost a decade of service in total with the ALP, including time with former Queensland premier Anna Bligh, as well as for AFL club St Kilda.
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.
Business as usual or a real life Truman Show? Well let you decide after watching this video, but either way, color us intrigued, as its not every day that we get a glimpse inside a North Korean car dealership.



It was shot by Eric Tseng, who visited North Korea a few months back, in the fall of 2015.

North Korea appears to have its own auto manufacturer, wrote Tseng on his YouTube channel. On a recent visit to the country, we toured the companys salesroom in Pyongyang. It was hard to discern what was real and what wasnt.

Its been reported that foreign tourists to the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) follow tightly controlled and prearranged tours that only go through the best, most modern and developed parts of Pyongyang and other cities, while being accompanied at all times by local guides. Of course, with the exception of always being escorted, you could say the same applies to any tours around the world.

What makes North Korea different are claims that some aspects and parts of the tours are a heavily staged show for tourists  which is what Tseng suspects was happening in this car dealership, and more specifically, the customers interested in the vehicles.

While Tseng was uncertain about the brand, we reported about it back in 2013. Its called Pyeonghwa Motors and is believed to be one of only two carmakers that ever existed in the country, but it stopped production in 2012 after 12 years. Now, it seems to import cars from China.

Video
With tensions between the West and Iran easing and world powers lifting international sanctions, the Middle Eastern country has the opportunity to attract some major players from the auto industry in its market.



One of these is Audi, which came out unscratched from the dieselgate scandal, in terms of sales last year, and still has a goal of reaching 2 million annual sales by 2020.

Representatives of the four-ring brand are currently in Iran, as AutoNews reports, for talks with possible local importers and to examine the prospects for business: There is growing potential for luxury cars, said an Audi representative.

As the VW Group-owned brand plans to enter the Islamic Republic, Daimler has similar intentions, as letters of intent have been signed by its trucks division with joint venture partners Iran Khodro Diesel and Mammut Group.

BMW, on the other hand, says that a future entry on the Iranian market depends on political and economic developments.

The report indicates that German companies may be able to export goods worth 10 billion ($10.9 billion) to Iran. This is the first time that Iran is opening up as a market, after it was shut off, following the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

PHOTO GALLERY
Hondas fuel-cell, hydrogen-powered Clarity will go on sale in the States before the end of 2016, starting with California.



Honda said its expected to be priced around $60,000, with a targeted monthly lease under $500. With that in mind, the Japanese carmaker expects limited volumes in the early stages of production, as deliveries will begin through certified fuel cell vehicle dealers in Los Angeles, Orange counties, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Sacramento.

The company will apparently start by leasing the vehicles, eventually moving to retail sales with increased volumes and market coverage coincident with increasing vehicle supplies and the growing hydrogen refueling station network  as Honda puts it.

To top it off, the Claritys underpinning will serve as a base for a next-gen Honda plug-in hybrid, as John Mendel, executive vice president of American Honda Motor Co, said:

The new Clarity Fuel Cell and Accord Hybrid arriving this year, along with the new plug-in hybrid coming by 2018, are critical steps toward a new generation of Honda advanced environmental vehicles and a true volume pillar for Honda and our product portfolio in the U.S. The Clarity Fuel Cell is a potential game changer because it offers an uncompromising, zero emissions customer experience, with performance, utility, range and refueling time on par with todays gasoline-powered cars.

The hybrid variant will be a new, 50-state volume vehicle in the Honda line-up and will feature the next-generation i-MMD plug-in system which, according to Honda, will offer significant improvements in battery capacity and power. In fact, the future Honda plug-in automobile will more than triple the 13-mile all-electric range of the previous Accord Plug-In Hybrid Sedan.

In case you forgot, the Clarity is powered by a fuel cell stack with an output of more than 100kW (134hp) and an electric motor which generates 174hp (177 PS). The fuel cell powertrain is comparable to a 3.5-liter V6 in size and it fits entirely under the hood, making room for a spacious cabin.

PHOTO GALLERY
Second only to the NAFTA region, the EMEA represents 10 percent of Jeeps global sales and this is where the brand recorded its best year ever.



In Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), Jeep sold 117,620 vehicles last year, up 55.7 percent in comparison with 2014, while in Europe, the company was the fastest-selling automotive brand, with a 132.2 percent increase.

The top-selling country in the region was Italy, where 14,995 new registrations were recorded, and Germany did not disappoint either, as sales increased by almost 42.6 percent versus 2014.

In the United Kingdom, Jeep sold more vehicles last year than in four years, 2011-2014, a 176.1 percent growth year-over-year, and this is also the market where Jeep was the fastest-growing car brand in 2015.

In France, 8,585 units were sold, mainly driven by Renegade, a 208.5 percent increase, while in Spain, the company delivered more units in 2015 than in the previous three years combined (2012-2014), up 205.4 percent.

Accounting for 49.8 percent of total Jeep sales in EMEA was the Renegade, with more than 54,800 units finding new homes in 2015, followed by the flagship Grand Cherokee, which sold 28,159 units. The carmaker said that the Cherokee increased its performance year-over-year and the Wrangler was steady with 14,109 units sold.

PHOTO GALLERY
With Lexuss bold claim that the all-new LC 500 is its most dynamic car since the LFA, its quite clear the Japanese luxury brand believes it can properly compete with its German and Italian rivals.



Perhaps the most surprising thing about the LC 500 is its design which is almost identical to that of the concept that preceded it, the LF-LC. Typically, marques water down concept cars for production massively, but with the LC 500, Lexus has retained all the futuristic shapes and lines of the LF-LC while ensuring it remains legal for road use around the world.

Its inevitable that once sales of the LC 500 begin, a number of different variants will hit the market. Although unlikely to see the light of day, British artist Khyzyl Saleem has imagined how the LC 500 would look as an apocalyptic drift car.

Reminding us of this crazy NASCAR-powered Lexus LFA drifter, Saleems creation adds some aggression to the LCs curvaceous design. Most notably a set of impossibly-wide wheels and tires have been fitted as has a large bootlid lip spoiler.

Given the fact that an LFA drifter actually exists, were not entirely ruling out the possibility of an LC that does powerslides for a living becoming a reality. Just dont bet on it.

PHOTO GALLERY
The US Department of Transport has announced that it will allocate a substantial budget into the research and development of autonomous vehicles over a decade.



The news was confirmed by the departments secretary Anthony Foxx at the 2016 Detroit Auto Show and will involve $4 billion in investments over the the decade following 2017.

Foxx said that the money will fund pilot projects that help accelerate the development and adoption of safe vehicle automation through real-world pilot projects.

The investment will be focused on practical and genuine developments in the field with fully autonomous vehicles, not semi-autonomous cars, the main focus of the government. More specifically, it is hoped that level 4, that is cars which have complete control with or without a driver on-board, can be operational.

Beyond the money itself, the plan will set out to form a unified set of safety rules relating to autonomous cars across the United States. Individual states will still be able to implement their own policies and it is hoped that more will join the likes of California, Nevada and Michigan in permitting the use of autonomous cars on public roads.

PHOTO GALLERY
Photo: Kate Bouey

There is still no word when, or if, charges will be laid in relation to a massive gas spill last year in Coldstream.

It was on Nov. 25 when emergency crews responded to a report of a fuel spill at the Centex gas station, next to Coldstream Elementary School.

The spill resulted in the school being closed for the day as was the Coldstream municipal office which is across the street from the spill site.

On Wednesday, Rick Wagner, environmental emergency response officer with the B.C. Ministry of Environment, said it may be some time yet before the investigation is complete.

At this point it is still an outstanding investigation, said Wagner. They have up to two years to lay charges, but I do not expect it to be anywhere near that long.

Wagner could not say when the investigation will wrap up.

Wagner said charges could be filed based on the information obtained during the investigation and if there was a failure on someone's part.

Enforcement could range from a letter of warning to a ticket and fine of up to $575 to criminal charges.

If it is more serious, you can actually be charged and go in front of a judge, he said.
Photo: Facebook Celia, Kyle and Monique Ruppel were treated inside a hyperbaric chamber after suffering carbon monoxide poisoning.

Kyle and Monique Ruppel don't care if their baby daughter ever sleeps through the night.

Baby Celia, just 15-months old, is being credited with saving her family from almost certain death due to carbon monoxide poisoning.

Carbon monoxide, commonly referred to as the silent killer because it is colourless, odourless, tasteless and non-irritating  can kill quickly.

In a Facebook post, Monique Ruppel said Celia literally saved their lives.

As Monique tells it, Celia typically wakes up once during the night. Mom and dad get up with her and help her get back to bed.

This past Friday morning at about 3 a.m., Celia awoke for a second time.

"I attempted to make my way to her room, but only made it a few feet before being completely overwhelmed with vertigo," wrote Monique.

"Kyle immediately woke and we quickly realized something was wrong. We both suffered from dizziness, headache, nausea and burning eyes."

Monique said they were able to pack a bag and woke up Celia.

"She began vomiting and, while I held her, my cat collapsed at my feet."

Kyle's father called 911.

The family was eventually airlifted to Vancouver for treatment, including three two-and-a-half hour dives in a hyperbaric chamber.

"We are all feeling very well and expect to make a full recovery," said Monique.

"The support we have received this weekend has been incredible. We thank all our friends and family for helping us through."

Now, the family is urging people to install a working carbon monoxide detector.

"We are so thankful Celia woke up. We often wished she would sleep through the night, but we do not feel that way anymore.

"Our sweet, sweet baby saved us all."
Photo: Darren Handschuh

Kody Perreault will likely not spend any more time in jail, after pleading guilty to assault and assault with a weapon (a vehicle).

The 22 year old received three months for the assault and 60 days for assault with a weapon. However, Justice Mark Takahashi gave Perreault credit for time served, as he has been in custody since the charges were filed late last year.

Perreault was also given a one-year driving prohibition, a lifetime ban on weapons and must submit a DNA sample.

While this was not Perreault's first brush with the law, Takahashi took into account the effort he was making to turn his life around. Perreault has taken several courses while in jail and expressed his desire to leave his criminal life in the past.

He plans to move from Vernon to the Lower Mainland, where he will work for a construction company.

Perreault is required to regularly report to a probation officer and must abide by a 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew except for work or with permission from his parole officer.
Photo: The Canadian Press

Hundreds of people have been running through the streets of a tiny town in southwestern Spain, chasing a fancy-dressed, beast-like figure and pelting it with turnips.

The event Wednesday was part of the bizarre 'Jarramplas' festival, which is held in Piornal each Jan 19-20.

Following the yearly tradition, a town volunteer donned a costume of multicolored ribbons and a protective devilish mask with horns. He then charged through the streets, beating a drum until he couldn't stand the punishment anymore.

Local farmers supplied some 18 tons of turnips for the festival. Its origins are uncertain, but the local tourism office says the 'Jarramplas' figure represents a cattle thief. Others say it has religious roots.

The festival finished later Wednesday with musical and gastronomic celebrations.
Photo: Contributed - NCC

A southeastern British Columbia ranch 11 times the size of Stanley Park has been protected from development by its owners.

The Nature Conservancy of Canada says Bob and Barb Shaunessy have registered a covenant on their 4,500-hectare ranch located on the west side of Windermere Lake near Invermere.

Conservancy spokeswoman Lesley Neilson says the covenant is registered with the land-title office and prevents the ranch from being subdivided and developed for residential or vacation homes if its sold.

Neilson says the ranch, which has operated since 1898, is connected to other conservation and Crown lands and acts as a corridor for animals such as grizzly bear, elk and the deer.

The Shaunessys have long-welcomed non-motorized use of their property and are working with the regional district to create a legacy trail that would cross the land and connect Invermere and Fairmont hot springs.

The conservancy has protected more than 1.1-million hectares of land Canada-wide since 1962 and about a quarter of that is found in B.C.

"That use, the cattle grazing there done in a sustainable way, is completely compatible with our ecological conservation goals in protecting the open spaces so those big animals like the grizzly bear and elk and the deer can move through," says Neilson.

"The biggest value from it, from sort of the ecology-conservation point of view, is maintaining that movement corridor for these wide-ranging animals."
Photo: Contributed

UPDATE: JAN. 21

Hunter's owner has informed Castanet that his dog has been found safe and sound.

ORIGINAL: JAN. 20

A dog is missing after rushing away from a car crash in West Kelowna Wednesday afternoon.

The two-vehicle collision occurred about 3 p.m. on Highway 97, in front of Canadian Tire.

One of those involved in the crash said when he exited his vehicle, his dog jumped out a broken window and ran toward Home Depot.

The three-year-old dog, named Hunter, has not been seen since. You can call 250-681-0295 if you see the dog.

One woman received treatment at the scene of the crash.

She was inside an Acura sedan that went off the road, down a small embankment and came to rest in a snowbank.
Photo: Facebook

A group of Nicola Valley residents has decided to put its money where its mouth is.

The residents of Miller Estates have agreed to purchase Dry Lake, a 130-hectare parcel of land on which BioCentral planned to dump human waste biosolids.

In a story published in The Province, resident Libby Dybikowski said it's a very happy day for her and her neighbours.

"I'm relieved. We can enjoy our drinking water without fear," said Dybikowski.

"We've been living in a kind of hell, but it's come together."

The residents have agreed to purchase the land from BioCentral for $450,000  about $50,000 more than the company paid for it.

Dybikowski and the group Friends of the Nicola Valley have been fighting for almost a year to keep BioCentral from dumping the biosolids on the property.

The area is less than two kilometres away from their drinking-water supply.

Several municipalities in B.C. contracted BioCentral to dispose of biosolids, including the Regional District of Central Okanagan.

RDCO waste now goes to a site near Clinton.
Photo: Contributed - ICBC

Insurance fraud is a $600-million business in B.C.

That according to ICBC, which today issued its 2015 'Hall of Shame.'

The insurance corporation says fraudulent insurance claims result in an additional $100 in yearly premiums for 'honest' drivers in the province.

While the vast majority of ICBC's customers are honest, there are some drivers who choose to exaggerate or make false claims.

To that end, ICBC is launching an anti-fraud campaign to raise awareness about fraudulent insurance claims and its financial impact on all B.C. drivers.

A man who torches his vehicle then claims it was stolen, a woman embellishing the extent of her injuries to collect two paycheques, and a man crying wolf to get out of doing the dishes  these are just some of the highlights found in ICBC's fraud files in 2015.

Insurance industry estimates indicate 10 to 20 per cent of auto insurance claims contain an element of fraud or exaggeration.

And ICBC is committed to catching fraudsters in the act as one of the ways to help reduce pressure on rates.

The most common types of insurance fraud include false claims, exaggerated claims and organized fraud. An example of a false claim is when an owner fabricates a story about their vehicle being stolen when it was actually disposed of by the owner.

Exaggerated claims are when a driver or passenger embellishes a claim by overstating their injuries or the damage to their vehicle. And organized fraud are planned events such as staged collisions and jump-in schemes.

Here are two examples provided by ICBC:

Dirty Dishes

From headaches to back pain, a man complained to ICBC that his injuries are so severe after his MVA that he couldn't even help his wife with simple household chores, like washing the dishes. Shortly after his crash, our investigators collected footage of him lifting box after box of heavy floor tiles at his work site. For his attempt to falsify his injuries, he was convicted of fraud, fined $1,500, and is likely back on dish duty.

Double Dipping

A Vancouver woman involved in a collision claimed she was unable to return to work because of her injuries. After receiving an anonymous tip, our investigators obtained evidence confirming that she had been working since the crash  effectively collecting two paycheques at once  one from her employer, and another from ICBC. For exaggerating the extent of her injuries, she was convicted and served with a one-year driving suspension as well as a $1,750 fine.

In 2015, ICBC ,says it opened approximately 7,500 fraud investigations, which includes almost 5,000 claims investigations.

The work of its Special Investigations Unit led to a 98% conviction rate on all charges laid, resulting in approximately 550 fraud convictions from 2010 to 2015.
Photo: Contributed - tzahiV

This past week, the world was horrified to learn of yet another terror attack, this time in Burkina Faso, where roughly 30 citizens, including six Canadians from Quebec, were murdered in a senseless act of violence.

Particularly disturbing is that these Canadians were all serving in the region as humanitarian workers, helping those who are less fortunate.

This terror attack has renewed calls on the Liberal Government to state a clear and coherent position on the allied campaign against terrorism.

As many citizens will recall, the Liberals made a promise that they, if elected, would immediately withdrawal Canadas CF-18s from the allied aerial campaign against ISIS. With the election over last October, the Liberal Government has stated it will honour this promise, however to date our CF-18s continue to be a valuable part of the coalition air campaign against ISIS.

This week, there is a meeting in Paris of our allied Defence Ministers in Paris on the coalition against ISIS, and has been widely reported, Canada was not invited.

Although the Liberal Government has been clear that it intends to withdraw our CF-18 aircraft, the Government has also stated it will implement other measures that have yet to be announced.

The Official Opposition believes that Canada should continue to stand with our allies in the war against terror, as it has long been a Canadian tradition to stand with our allies to fight for those who are less fortunate or unable to stand against tyranny and oppression.

This remains a challenging subject, and one that can be divisive. I hear frequently from citizens who strongly support the mission, but also hear from those who are upset that our CF-18s are still actively bombing, despite promises that they would be withdrawn. I will continue to provide updates on this subject as they become available.

On an entirely different subject, late last week the Supreme Court announced that it will extend the deadline for Parliament to provide a legislative response to the assisted suicide ruling from last year. Although the Government requested a six month extension, the Supreme Court granted four months to reflect the time Parliament was dissolved as a result of the recent election.

There are roughly twelve weeks in which the House of Commons will be sitting over the next four months, so this will be a subject that will likely feature prominently once the House of Commons resumes sitting next week.

Although much of my time will be spent in Ottawa over the next few months, I welcome your comments, questions, and concerns. One of the highlights of my time in Ottawa is hearing directly from citizens throughout Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola on issues of importance to our local communities. In turn I am often able to share this information in members statements, speeches, and questions within the House of Commons.

I am truly excited for this next Parliament to get underway, and to begin raising issues of concern in Ottawa. Ultimately this is how we help build a stronger Canada.

I can be reached at [email protected] or by phone at 1.800.665.8711.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
Photo: Castanet Staff - File Photo

If you were asked to name the three most populated cities in the Okanagan, you probably wouldn't hesitate.

Kelowna, Vernon, then Penticton.

And you would be correct - until now.

According to BC Stats, population estimates for 2015 show West Kelowna has nudged past Penticton as the third most populated city in the Okanagan.

Stats show West Kelowna with an estimated 2015 population of 34,484, an increase of 5.3 per cent over 2014.

Penticton has seen a population decrease of 0.3 per cent to 33,964.

"We are a growing municipality," said West Kelowna Mayor Doug Findlater.

Penticton is one of just a handful of Okanagan municipalities (Enderby, Oliver, Peachland) whose estimated population has gone down.

Vernon remains the second most populated at 40,497 (+3.4 per cent) while Kelowna is at 124,378 (+2.3 per cent).

Figures also show Lake Country with the highest growth. Lake Country saw 7.6 per cent growth in 2015  making it the fastest-growing community in the province.

Burns Lake was at the other end of the scale, with a population decline of 7.7 per cent.

Growth is important to communities as they prepare yearly budgets. A growing population means a growing tax base, which means more taxpayers to share the tax burden.
Photo: Facebook

Two men from Lumby skied out of mountainous backcountry northeast of Mabel Lake early Thursday morning, just before a search for them was getting underway for a second day.

It's a huge, huge relief, said Trevor Honigman of Vernon Search and Rescue. It's a vast area and, although we were tracing their tracks yesterday, they had been up there for days and the number of tracks was daunting to say the least.

A helicopter-winch rescue team and a ground crew spent hours Wednesday trying to locate the two men after their families reported that they had not checked in.

The two had been using a marker beacon ping to let people know they were okay, but it was not heard yesterday.

They had a technical issue with their spot unit, explained Honigman.

The two men are experienced back country skiers and had taken the proper equipment on their days-long journey, Honigman had reported.
A quick check of other city's in Canada shows Kelowna residents pockets are being drained by high gas prices when compared to fellow Canadians.

Edmontonians are paying 63.9 cents/L for gas while Kelowna sits at 95.9? Kelowna residents are paying a 33% premium for regular gas.

Now that's highway robbery!

Travis Salter
Photo: Contributed

The lawyer representing Pier Robotti in the Roxanne Louie murder case has withdrawn from the case.

Bob Maxwell did not elaborate on his reasons for doing so, other to say that defence lawyer Don Skogstad has taken over.

Maxwell, who made the decision this week, said the preliminary inquiry in the case is going ahead as scheduled in early February.

Pier Robotti was charged with being an accessory after the fact and indignity to a body in the case. His charge was later upgraded to second-degree murder.

His sister Grace Robotti is also charged with second-degree murder.

Both Maxwell and James Pennington, who is representing Grace Robotti, have expressed frustration over how long it has taken to get full disclosure, with it being a year since the Robottis first appeared in court.

Louie, a 26-year-old single mother and Osoyoos Indian Band member, was reported missing in early January 2015 after failing to show up at Penticton Regional Airport for a flight back to Vancouver.

A search ended with the discovery of her body in the Naramata/Chute Lake area.

Several rallies calling for "justice for Louie" have been held at the Penticton courthouse.

Most recently, a candlelight vigil was held for the victim.
Photo: Facebook

Jake the dog has been put down.

The presa canario belonging to Peachland resident Drew Panton was euthanized earlier today.

A Supreme Court decision came down Tuesday ordering the animal be put down.

The decision upheld an earlier court decision.

Jake was deemed a dangerous dog after a vicious attack on a 12-year-old lhasa apso/Wheaton terrier while the pet was being walked by its owner in Peachland on Jan. 1, 2015.

Panton had one last chance to see Jake Wednesday before the dog was euthanized.
If you have just started your journey in an online casino or are looking for a new site to play,...
Oluwatosin Olaiya, MBChB1,2; Deborah L. Dee, PhD2; Andrea J. Sharma, PhD2; Ruben A. Smith, PhD2 (View author affiliations) View suggested citation Summary What is already known on this topic? Breast milk is the optimal source of nutrition for most infants and confers many health and economic benefits to both mother and child. Maternity care practices that occur during the intrapartum hospital stay influence the initiation and duration of any and exclusive breastfeeding. What is added by this report? Among adolescent mothers (for this report, adolescents are defined as persons aged 1219 years) who initiated breastfeeding, the self-reported prevalence of experiencing breastfeeding-supportive maternity care practices ranged from 29.2% (not receiving a hospital gift pack that contained formula) to 95.4% (receiving information about breastfeeding from hospital staff). Among the maternity care practices with a significant independent association with any and exclusive breastfeeding for 4 weeks and 8 weeks, there was a positive dose-response relationship between the number of practices experienced by adolescent mothers and their breastfeeding outcomes. What are the implications for public health practice? The intrapartum period is a critical time to reach adolescent mothers with evidence-based maternity practices. Receiving evidence-based breastfeeding-supportive maternity care can increase the prevalence of any and exclusive breastfeeding among adolescent mothers.

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The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that infants be breastfed exclusively* for the first 6 months of life, and that mothers continue breastfeeding for at least 1 year (1). However, in 2011, only 19.3% of mothers aged 20 years in the United States exclusively breastfed their infants at 3 months, compared with 36.4% of women aged 2029 years and 45.0% of women aged 30 years. Hospitals play an essential role in providing care that helps mothers establish and continue breastfeeding. The U.S. Surgeon General and numerous health professional organizations recommend providing care aligned with the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI), including adherence to the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding (Ten Steps), as well as not providing gift packs containing infant formula (2,3). Implementing BFHI-aligned maternity care improves duration of any and exclusive breastfeeding among mothers (4,5); however, studies have not examined associations between BFHI-aligned maternity care and breastfeeding outcomes solely among adolescent mothers (for this report, adolescents refers to persons aged 1219 years). Therefore, CDC analyzed 20092011 Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) data and determined that among adolescent mothers who initiated breastfeeding, self-reported prevalence of experiencing any of the nine selected BFHI-aligned maternity care practices included in the PRAMS survey ranged from 29.2% to 95.4%. Among the five practices identified to be significantly associated with breastfeeding outcomes in this study, the more practices a mother experienced, the more likely she was to be breastfeeding (any amount or exclusively) at 4 weeks and 8 weeks postpartum. Given the substantial health advantages conferred to mothers and children through breastfeeding, and the particular vulnerability of adolescent mothers to lower breastfeeding rates, it is important for hospitals to provide evidence-based maternity practices related to breastfeeding as part of their routine care to all mothers, including adolescent mothers. PRAMS is a surveillance project that collects state-specific, population-based data on maternal attitudes and experiences before, during, and after pregnancy among women with a recent live birth. Because PRAMS surveys are completed by mothers at approximately 29 months postpartum, CDC categorized the duration of any and exclusive breastfeeding as 4 weeks and 8 weeks to ensure that all respondents had an equal opportunity to be included in the analysis. CDC used 20092011 PRAMS data (the most current data available) from New York City and 10 states that included the maternity practices module during at least 1 study year and met the 65% response rate threshold. The module assessed breastfeeding-related maternity care mothers experienced during the delivery hospitalization. Only mothers who had a hospital birth, initiated breastfeeding, and lived with their infant at the time of the survey completed the maternity practices module. CDC analyzed nine questions that assess breastfeeding-supportive (BFHI-aligned) maternity practices; eight correspond to the Ten Steps and one assesses distribution of hospital gift packs containing formula (Table 1). Adolescent mothers with infants who were full-term (37 weeks), weighed 2,500 g at birth, and were never admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit were included in the analysis. Mothers with missing data on maternity practice questions, breastfeeding variables, or covariates (age, race/ethnicity, and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children [WIC] participation) (n = 126) were excluded. The final sample size included 1,325 adolescent mothers, weighted to represent 104,030 adolescent mothers. CDC estimated the prevalence of any and exclusive** breastfeeding for 4 weeks and 8 weeks. Of the nine BFHI-aligned maternity practices adolescent mothers experienced, five were significantly associated with breastfeeding outcomes. For those five significantly associated practices (significant practices), CDC calculated adjusted prevalence ratios and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) by using predicted marginal proportions from logistic regression models (6) to assess the association between the number of maternity practices experienced and any or exclusive breastfeeding at 4 and 8 weeks postpartum. CDC also assessed the dose-response relationship between the total number of these five significant practices that mothers experienced and breastfeeding prevalence. All regression models controlled for covariates. Statistical significance was defined as p<0.05. Among this sample of adolescent mothers who initiated breastfeeding, 64.4% (95% CI: 59.569.1) reported any breastfeeding for 4 weeks and 40.9% (95% CI: 36.245.7) reported exclusively breastfeeding 4 weeks. The prevalence of any and of exclusive breastfeeding for 8 weeks declined to 44.6% (95% CI: 39.749.5) and 30.9% (95% CI: 26.635.6), respectively. The prevalence of BFHI-aligned maternity practices experienced during the delivery hospitalization varied across the nine selected practices: 95.4% of adolescent mothers received information about breastfeeding, whereas only 29.2% reported they did not receive a gift pack that contained infant formula (Table 2). Only four maternity practices (receiving information about breastfeeding, receiving assistance with breastfeeding, newborn staying in the same hospital room as the mother, and receiving a phone number to call for breastfeeding help after hospital discharge) were experienced by more than 80% of adolescent mothers; however, none of these practices were associated with study outcomes. Feeding only breast milk at the hospital and breastfeeding in the first hour after the baby was born were the two maternity practices significantly associated with all breastfeeding outcomes (any and exclusive breastfeeding at both 4 and 8 weeks) (Table 2). Only 7% of adolescent mothers reported experiencing all five of the practices significantly associated with any of the breastfeeding outcomes (breastfeeding in the first hour after delivery, feeding the infant only breast milk at the hospital, hospital staff encouragement to breastfeed the infant on demand, not using a pacifier in the hospital, and not receiving a hospital gift pack that contained formula); 9.6% reported not experiencing any of the five practices (Table 3). There was a significant dose-response relationship between the number of practices experienced and any or exclusive breastfeeding for 4 weeks and 8 weeks. The association between the number of maternity practices experienced and the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding for 8 weeks was statistically significant only among adolescent mothers who reported experiencing all five practices.

Discussion Breast milk is the recommended source of optimal nutrition for most infants. Although the maternal and child health advantages associated with longer duration of any and exclusive breastfeeding are well documented (1,3,7), this study determined that among adolescent mothers who initiated breastfeeding, prevalence of any and exclusive breastfeeding was low. Specifically, the prevalence of any breastfeeding for 8 weeks among adolescent mothers (44.6%) was 40% lower than among PRAMS respondents aged 20 years (74.8%). The prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding for 8 weeks among adolescent mothers (30.9%) was approximately 25% lower than among PRAMS mothers aged 20 years (40.7%). Maternity care practices a mother experiences during her intrapartum hospital stay can influence whether she chooses to initiate breastfeeding and how long she continues breastfeeding. The Ten Steps and the elimination of gift packs containing formula are elements of evidence-based maternity care that are associated with longer durations of any and exclusive breastfeeding (3). This study determined that among the five BFHI-aligned maternity practices with a significant independent association with breastfeeding, a positive dose-response relationship exists between the number of practices experienced by adolescent mothers and their breastfeeding duration and exclusivity. However, many adolescent mothers who initiated breastfeeding were not provided this supportive care. Specifically, approximately half of adolescent mothers were exposed to fewer than three and 9.6% were not exposed to any of the five maternity practices associated with breastfeeding duration and exclusivity in this study. Previous research indicates that the majority of adolescent mothers want to breastfeed their infants, and a substantial proportion make their decision to breastfeed late in pregnancy or during the delivery hospitalization (8). Although breastfeeding is sometimes described as natural, it is also a learned behavior, and many mothers, including adolescent mothers, often need assistance to meet their infant feeding goals. To breastfeed, a mother must establish lactation, the physiologic process of producing breast milk, which occurs through a supply and demand relationship. Breastfeeding initiation and the early biologic processes that establish lactation typically occur during the intrapartum hospital stay (9). Approximately 99% of U.S. births occur in hospitals (10). Thus, the intrapartum hospital stay provides a critical opportunity to offer adolescent mothers accurate information about breastfeeding to enable them to make an informed decision about how they will feed their infant, and to provide assistance with breastfeeding, all of which contribute to the knowledge, skills, and confidence adolescent mothers need to continue breastfeeding after hospital discharge. The Surgeon Generals Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding includes a number of recommended actions that can be taken to improve support for breastfeeding mothers. One of the action steps calls on health care clinicians to ensure that maternity practices throughout the United States are fully supportive of breastfeeding (3). This study demonstrates that adolescent mothers are not receiving care that is consistent with evidence-based guidelines. The Ten Steps are evidence-based maternity practices that support breastfeeding and that are meant to be delivered to mothers as a comprehensive package (3,5). The findings of this study indicate that it is important for hospitals to ensure that all mothers, including adolescent mothers, experience practices that are aligned with the Ten Steps, and that they do not receive hospital gift packs that contain formula as part of routine maternity care, to help them meet their personal infant feeding goals. This findings in this report are subject to at least three limitations. First, PRAMS data are self-reported and might be subject to recall bias. Second, the maternity practices module was asked only of mothers who initiated breastfeeding; thus, it was not possible to assess how the practices influenced breastfeeding initiation. In addition, the inclusion of only mothers who initiated breastfeeding might explain why the steps that are typically associated with breastfeeding initiation were not significantly associated with duration or exclusivity of breastfeeding. Finally, this study included only those adolescent mothers with healthy newborns; hence, the results might not be generalizable to more vulnerable infants, such as those who are born preterm, and who might be most in need of the health protections breast milk provides. Breastfeeding confers numerous health advantages that are particularly important for adolescent mothers and their children, who constitute a vulnerable group, both in terms of being at risk for suboptimal breastfeeding and related health effects (1). Ensuring that adolescent mothers (and all mothers) receive optimal, evidenced-based maternity care, can improve breastfeeding duration and exclusivity rates, ultimately leading to improved maternal and child health outcomes.

Acknowledgments Brian Morrow, Denise DAngelo, Division of Reproductive Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, CDC; Qun Zheng, Kathy Perham-Hester, Mary McGehee, Alyson Shupe, Jennifer Morin, George Yocher, Kelsi E. Williams, Chinelo Ogbuanu, Jane Awakuni, Theresa Sandidge, Sarah Mauch, Amy Zapata, Tom Patenaude, Diana Cheng, Emily Lu, Patricia McKane, Judy Punyko, Brenda Hughes, Venkata Garikapaty, JoAnn Dotson, Brenda Coufall, David J. Laflamme, Ingrid M. Morton, Eirian Coronado, Anne Radigan-Garcia, Candace Mulready-Ward, Kathleen Jones-Vessey, Sandra Anseth, Connie Geidenberger, Alicia Lincoln, Kenneth Rosenberg, Tony Norwood, Sam Viner-Brown, Mike Smith, Tanya Guthrie, Ramona Lainhart, Laurie Baksh, Peggy Brozicevic, Christopher Hill, Linda Lohdefinck, Melissa Baker, Katherine Kvale, Amy Spieker, PRAMS Working Group, CDC; CDC PRAMS Team, Applied Sciences Branch, Division of Reproductive Health, CDC.

Corresponding author: Oluwatosin Olaiya, OOlaiya@cdc.gov, 404-639-2599.

1Epidemic Intelligence Service, CDC; 2Division of Reproductive Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, CDC.

TABLE 1. Correspondence of the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding and indicators from the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System maternity care practices module, 20092011

WHO/UNICEF Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding* Corresponding indicator from PRAMS maternity practices module 1. Have a written breastfeeding policy that is routinely communicated to all health care staff. 2. Train all health care staff in skills necessary to implement this policy. 3. Inform all pregnant women about the benefits and management of breastfeeding. Hospital staff gave me information about breastfeeding. 4. Help mothers initiate breastfeeding within one hour of birth. I breastfed in the first hour after my baby was born. 5. Show mothers how to breastfeed and how to maintain lactation, even if they are separated from their infants. Hospital staff helped me learn how to breastfeed. 6. Give newborn infants no food or drink other than breast milk, unless medically indicated. My baby was fed only breast milk at the hospital. 7. Practice rooming in allow mothers and infants to remain together 24 hours a day. My baby stayed with me in the same room at the hospital. 8. Encourage breastfeeding on demand. Hospital staff told me to breastfeed whenever my baby wanted. 9. Give no pacifiers or artificial nipples to breastfeeding infants. My baby used a pacifier in the hospital. 10. Foster the establishment of breastfeeding support groups and refer mothers to them on discharge from the hospital or clinic. The hospital gave me a telephone number to call for help with breastfeeding. The hospital gave me a gift pack with formula

TABLE 2. Weighted prevalence of maternity care practices and adjusted prevalence ratios of any breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding (4 weeks and 8 weeks) by each maternity care practice experienced among adolescent* mothers  10 states and New York City, Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System, 20092011

PRAMS module maternity practice Experienced the practice (%) aPR (95% CI) Any breastfeeding Exclusive breastfeeding 4 weeks 8 weeks 4 weeks 8 weeks Hospital staff gave me information about breastfeeding 95.4 0.83 (0.671.02) 1.02 (0.631.64) 1.39 (0.792.45) 1.41 (0.672.98) I breastfed in the first hour after my baby was born 59.0 1.26 (1.071.48) 1.42 (1.121.82) 1.63 (1.252.14) 1.46 (1.052.03) Hospital staff helped me learn how to breastfeed 83.1 0.98 (0.801.21) 0.83 (0.631.09) 1.32 (0.901.95) 1.25 (0.782.02) My baby was fed only breast milk at the hospital 38.9 1.33 (1.151.54) 1.57 (1.271.95) 2.46 (1.903.18) 2.40 (1.753.30) My baby stayed with me in the same room at the hospital 91.3 1.00 (0.771.29) 0.96 (0.651.41) 1.41 (0.822.45) 1.15 (0.632.11) Hospital staff told me to breastfeed whenever my baby wanted 72.5 1.28 (1.041.58) 1.70 (1.232.35) 1.39 (1.001.92) 1.43 (0.962.13) My baby did not use a pacifier in the hospital** 36.1 1.19 (1.031.37) 1.32 (1.061.63) 1.00 (0.791.26) 0.94 (0.701.25) The hospital gave me a telephone number to call for help with breastfeeding 80.0 1.07 (0.891.29) 1.22 (0.911.63) 1.16 (0.851.58) 1.14 (0.781.66) The hospital did not give me a gift pack with formula** 29.2 1.16 (1.001.34) 1.23 (0.991.53) 1.42 (1.131.79) 1.31 (0.971.77)

TABLE 3. Weighted prevalence of the number of maternity care practices* experienced by adolescent mothers and multivariate association between the number of maternity care practice experienced and any breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding (4 weeks and 8 weeks)  10 states and New York City, Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System, 20092011

Maternity care practices experienced* aPR (95% CI) Any breastfeeding Exclusive breastfeeding No. Prevalence (%) 4 weeks 8 weeks 4 weeks 8 weeks 0 9.6 1.00 Ref. 1.00 Ref. 1.00 Ref. 1.00 Ref. 1 18.3 1.00 (0.591.68) 1.54 (0.623.82) 0.99 (0.472.09) 0.85 (0.371.98) 2 28.1 1.53 (0.972.41) 2.47 (1.045.85) 1.13 (0.562.30) 0.96 (0.432.14) 3 22.4 1.73 (1.102.72) 3.24 (1.387.57) 1.97 (1.013.85) 1.86 (0.873.97) 4 14.3 1.66 (1.052.64) 2.97 (1.267.03) 2.43 (1.254.72) 1.69 (0.783.68) 5 7.4 1.82 (1.132.92) 3.68 (1.558.73) 2.49 (1.244.97) 2.23 (1.014.92) P-value for linear trend <0.05 <0.05 <0.05 <0.05

Suggested citation for this article: Olaiya O, Dee DL, Sharma AJ, Smith RA. Maternity Care Practices and Breastfeeding Among Adolescent Mothers Aged 1219 Years  United States, 20092011. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2016;65:1722. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6502a1external icon.
Kathrine R. Tan, MD1; Karen A. Cullen, PhD1; Emilia H. Koumans, MD2; Paul M. Arguin, MD1 (View author affiliations) View suggested citation Summary What is already known on this topic? Malaria cases are rarely diagnosed in the United States; however, malaria is potentially fatal if the diagnosis or treatment, or both, are delayed. Febrile travelers who recently visited a malaria-endemic area should be tested for malaria without delay by blood smear microscopy, with results available within hours. Empiric treatment of malaria is not recommended. What is added by this report? During the Ebola epidemic, there were deficiencies in malaria diagnosis, treatment, and laboratory practices in the United States related to concerns about exposure of laboratory and clinical staff members to Ebola. What are the implications for public health practice? Malaria evaluation should be prioritized in febrile persons who travelled to malaria-endemic areas regardless of travel to an Ebola-affected country. Timely and immediate education is needed for health care providers and laboratory managers to encourage adherence to guidelines for evaluation and management of malaria in the febrile traveler to prevent poor outcomes.

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Among 1,683 persons in the United States who developed malaria following international travel during 2012, more than half acquired disease in one of 16 countries* in West Africa (1). Since March 2014, West Africa has experienced the worlds largest epidemic of Ebola virus disease (Ebola), primarily affecting Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia; in 2014, approximately 20,000 Ebola cases were reported (2). Both Ebola and malaria are often characterized by fever and malaise and can be clinically indistinguishable, especially early in the course of disease. Immediate laboratory testing is critical for diagnosis of both Ebola and malaria, so that appropriate lifesaving treatment can be initiated. CDC recommends prompt malaria testing of patients with fever and history of travel to an area that is endemic for malaria, using blood smear microscopy, with results available within a few hours (3). Empiric treatment of malaria is not recommended by CDC (4). Reverse transcriptionpolymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing is recommended to diagnose Ebola (5). During the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, CDC received reports of delayed laboratory testing for malaria in travelers returning to the United States because of infection control concerns related to Ebola (6). CDC reviewed documented calls to its malaria consultation service and selected three patient cases to present as examples of deficiencies in the evaluation and treatment of malaria among travelers returning from Africa during the Ebola epidemic. Malaria parasites can be detected by microscopic examination of a Giemsa-stained drop of the patients blood (a blood smear). CDC recommends that both thick and thin blood smears be obtained immediately for all febrile patients who have a compatible travel history, regardless of other associated symptoms, and that results be available within hours (3). Malaria can be conclusively ruled out in 24 hours by three negative smears collected at 12-hour intervals. Blood smears also provide information about the infecting species and level of parasitemia (percentage of infected red blood cells), which, along with signs and symptoms, determine appropriate antimalarial treatment. Severe malaria, defined as the presence of 5% of infected red blood cells, or at least one of several complications, should be treated with intravenous antimalarials (4). Treatment of malaria without information from the blood smear can lead to poor outcomes because of incorrect antimalarial selection, inappropriate treatment of severe malaria with oral antimalarials, and misdiagnosis of other febrile illnesses that are not malaria. Empiric treatment of malaria is not recommended (4). Since October 2014, travelers from countries with ongoing Ebola virus transmission have been screened upon arrival at U.S. airports to ascertain risk factors and signs and symptoms of Ebola, and are assigned to one of four risk categories. Healthy travelers who are classified as having low but not zero risk for Ebola are actively monitored by state or local public health authorities; travelers must check their temperature twice daily for 21 days after arrival, and must call the health department for evaluation if symptoms or temperature 100.4F occur. A person with fever or symptoms suggestive of Ebola who had an epidemiologic risk factor within 21 days before symptom onset is considered a person under investigation for Ebola.** Because malaria is endemic year-round and countrywide in the countries where Ebola transmission is occurring (3), persons who have fever and are under investigation for Ebola should always receive immediate malaria testing (7). At CDC, the Malaria Branch of the Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria conducts malaria surveillance and provides clinical consultation for the diagnosis and management of malaria. Through this consultation service, CDC became aware of delays in malaria diagnosis and treatment related to concerns about Ebola. Three case reports are presented to illustrate inadequate diagnosis and treatment of malaria in persons who traveled to Africa during the Ebola epidemic.

Case 1 In March 2015, a man aged 34 years entered the United States after visiting Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Senegal. He was afebrile, classified as having low but not zero risk for Ebola, and was enrolled in the active monitoring process. Seven days after returning to the United States (day 1 of illness), he developed nausea, anorexia, and a 105.8F fever; early that morning, he called emergency medical services (EMS) rather than the local health department. When he told EMS responders his travel history while en route to the hospital, the responders stopped the vehicle, donned personal protective equipment, and then proceeded to hospital A, where the patient was placed in isolation and was given oral medications for his fever. Blood was drawn for malaria testing, but the laboratory would not process the specimens, citing concern about possible Ebola exposure. The state laboratory agreed to test the specimens. At 3:00 p.m. that afternoon, malaria PCR test results were determined to be positive, and Ebola RT-PCR results and influenza test results of a nasopharyngeal swab were both negative. The state health department and CDC advised hospital A to begin antimalarial treatment immediately. Because blood smear microscopy was not done, it was not known whether the patient had hyperparasitemia (5% parasitemia), which is one sign of severe malaria, and for which parenteral antimalarials are indicated. However, because hospital staff members feared Ebola, they were not comfortable placing an intravenous catheter. The patient was given an oral antimalarial (artemether-lumefantrine) on the evening of day 1, and was transferred to hospital B on day 2, where a thin smear confirmed Plasmodium falciparum malaria with a 2.5% parasitemia. He completed oral therapy, had no complications, and was discharged 3 days later.

Case 2 In March 2015, 1 day before traveling to the United States from Kenya, a man aged 69 years developed subjective fever. No Ebola transmission has been reported in Kenya. On the third day of fever, he visited an urgent-care clinic and reported his recent travel to Kenya. No tests were performed, and the patient was given a prescription for the antimalarial mefloquine for empiric treatment of suspected malaria. He was unable to fill the prescription because local pharmacies did not have the medication in stock. The man continued to have fever, myalgias, and weakness, and went to an emergency department (ED) at midday. Blood was drawn for malaria testing, but malaria microscopy services were not available on weekends. The patient was released from the ED and told that the laboratory results would be available in 2 days. He received no treatment. His fever persisted, and his weakness increased; at midnight he visited a different ED, again reporting his travel to Kenya. Because of his history of travel to Africa, he was placed in isolation and his medical assessment was suspended for the next 4 hours until the hospital staff members were assured that a traveler from Kenya was not at risk for Ebola. Blood smear microscopy was positive for P. falciparum, but the level of parasitemia was not reported. He was treated with oral atovaquone-proguanil and discharged later that morning. He completed his antimalarial treatment and recovered with no complications.

Case 3 In May 2015, a woman aged 31 years returned to the United States from Sierra Leone and visited an ED with fever and abdominal pain. The hospital laboratory refused to perform any diagnostic testing, including malaria smears, until a diagnosis of Ebola was ruled out. After discussions involving clinicians, the state health department, and CDC, and hours after arrival, a malaria rapid diagnostic test that had been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for laboratory use only was performed at bedside and was negative. Following a negative Ebola RT-PCR result 9 hours later, other laboratory tests were performed, leading to the diagnosis of a urinary tract infection. A malaria smear was not performed. The clinical outcome for this patient is not known.

Discussion Malaria is a common cause of fever among travelers who have been to areas where the disease is endemic. Patients in whom a diagnosis of malaria is suspected should be urgently evaluated. One study evaluating the etiology of fever among returned travelers seeking care at a multicenter, multinational travel clinic network found malaria to be the most common single etiologic diagnosis, accounting for 21% of all diagnoses (8). Health care providers should ask patients with fever about places of recent travel. Febrile persons with history of travel to a malaria-endemic area should be tested for malaria with blood smear microscopy without delay, irrespective of whether travel occurred in an Ebola-affected country. Although current recommendations for preparing malaria smears remain the standard (9), CDC has developed a Giemsa staining procedure that inactivates viruses, including Ebola virus, during slide preparation to increase the safety of this testing procedure (7). These three case reports illustrate inappropriate practices in evaluation and management of febrile travelers and inadequate diagnosis and treatment for malaria because of concerns about possible exposure to Ebola. In case 1, the hospital laboratorys reluctance to process the patients blood specimen introduced delay in malaria testing, and PCR testing rather than blood smear testing for malaria was performed at the state laboratory. Furthermore, intravenous access is of paramount importance to deliver fluids and medications in dehydrated or very ill patients; therefore, unrestricted access to parenteral interventions was important should the patients condition have deteriorated. In case 2, a prescription for empiric malaria treatment was provided without laboratory diagnosis, contrary to CDC recommendations (4). Furthermore, delayed malaria testing occurred when clinical assessment was halted until hospital staff members could be reassured that the patient was not at risk for Ebola. In case 3, Ebola infection control fears led to the use of a bedside rapid diagnostic test to rule out malaria, despite this test not being approved by the Food and Drug Administration for point-of-care testing. Using a rapid diagnostic test to rule out malaria instead of blood smear microscopy is also contrary to CDC recommendations (4). An internal review of Ebola-related inquiries to CDC found that 1) recommended steps in the evaluation of febrile persons who traveled to an area with endemic malaria (3) were followed in the evaluation of fewer than one third of febrile travelers, regardless of whether they had come from an Ebola-affected country; 2) although intravenous antimalarials are recommended for all patients with severe malaria to rapidly reduce parasitemia, increase the probability of survival, and decrease the likelihood of complications (10), only one third of patients with severe malaria received intravenous antimalarials; and 3) more than one third of the antimalarials received by travelers were prescribed empirically (Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria, Center for Global Health, CDC, unpublished data, 20142015). The findings in this report are subject to at least two limitations. First, the case reports were selected intentionally to illustrate the occurrence of suboptimal practices; however, the prevalence of these practices is not known. Second, the cases described were reconstructed from consultation notes, and clinical details were missing for some of these cases, such as the outcome of case 3. These selected case reports indicate inadequate implementation of current malaria diagnostic and treatment guidelines among febrile travelers who had been to malaria-endemic countries, related, in part, to health care provider and laboratory concerns about risks for possible exposure to Ebola during diagnostic evaluations and clinical procedures. It is important that all febrile patients with history of travel to a malaria-endemic country be tested for malaria as soon as possible using blood smear microscopy, regardless of their other risk factors, with results available within hours (3). Further information on safe diagnosis of malaria can be found in CDCs Guidance for Malaria Diagnosis in Patients Suspected of Ebola Infection in the United States (7). It is also critical that after receipt of a positive malaria test result, appropriate antimalarials, including parenteral antimalarials for severe malaria, be started without delay (4). Empiric treatment of malaria is not recommended (4).

Acknowledgments Shirley Lecher, Achala Jayatelleki, Eyal Leshem, Christopher Lehmann, Elliot Raizes, Paul Mead, CDC.

Corresponding author: Kathrine R. Tan, ktan@cdc.gov, 404-718-4701.

1Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria, Center for Global Health, CDC; 2Divison of Reproductive Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, CDC.

Suggested citation for this article: Tan KR, Cullen KA, Koumans EH, Arguin PM. Inadequate Diagnosis and Treatment of Malaria Among Travelers Returning from Africa During the Ebola Epidemic  United States, 20142015. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2016;65:2729. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6502a3external icon.
How a Population Health Approach Improves Health and Reduces Disparities: The Case of Head Start

Steven M. Teutsch, MD, MPH; Ariella Herman, PhD; Carol B. Teutsch, MD

Suggested citation for this article: Teutsch SM, Herman A, Teutsch CB. How a Population Health Approach Improves Health and Reduces Disparities: The Case of Head Start. Prev Chronic Dis 2016;13:150565. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5888/pcd13.150565external icon.

On This Page Acknowledgments

Author Information

References

Good health is a life-long process. Many of the most critical behaviors are established in early childhood and need reinforcing at each life stage. To encourage physical activity, for example, young children should engage in fun, active play daily; schools should ensure that physical activity is a normal part of daily life; parents should participate in physical activity at work, home, or both and include their children; and elders should be encouraged to stretch, move, and improve their strength. Children who understand and demonstrate healthful behaviors will bring those messages home to parents. They can advocate for healthful food (and perhaps not pester parents for unhealthful foods!), encourage parents to stop smoking for their childrens sake, and seek fun active activities rather than more screen time. Thus, the family unit with young children can become an important force for sustaining more healthful living. Amplifying the positive impacts of parents as a childs first teacher can set a child on a healthful trajectory for life.

The health of Americans sadly lags that of most other developed countries (1) and is beset by large disparities among racial/ethnic groups and the socially disadvantaged. Recognition that this problem cannot be solved by better and more accessible medical care alone has led to the resurgence of interest in population health (2) and its underlying determinants: behaviors and social and environmental conditions. The ecologic model of health recognizes the biological determinants of health and emphasizes the importance of family, community, institutions, laws, policies, and customs as well as the built and natural environments. Intrinsically it means that improving health and even disease outcomes requires intervention at multiple levels. According to the Guide to Community Preventive Services, effective interventions almost invariably require multiple components (3). To continue with the physical activity example, an effective strategy might include physician counseling, physical education programs in school, easy access to parks and recreation facilities, safe neighborhoods, complete streets (4), active transportation, education about the importance of physical activity, and encouraging families to participate in activities together. Implementing such multipronged interventions in the community can be challenging. Yet multicomponent and multigenerational approaches have the potential not only to improve the health of children but also can use parents and grandparents motivation to raise healthy children to improve their own health behaviors and thereby accelerate changes in social norms.

Health literacy, the ability of people to understand health and disease that empowers them to take action, is important, but by itself is insufficient. It can provide individuals and families with needed health information, motivate them, enhance communication with providers, and facilitate peer-to-peer communication. Although awareness is growing that health literacy is integral to health, it needs to be embedded in a more comprehensive set of policies, programs, and conditions that promote health and enable individuals to make healthful choices the easy choices.

Vulnerable low-income families in the United States have a disproportionate share of unhealthful determinants and poor health outcomes. While lack of access to medical care is one barrier, health literacy, access to culturally relevant programs, ability to satisfy basic needs, and financial insecurity are other typical barriers this population faces. Head Start and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), along with many other agencies, foundations, and community-based organizations, provide health and education services to low-income families. Nurse Family Partnership provides public health nursing and health education services to low-income women. United Way provides workforce development, financial literacy, and health education across the country. First 5 California provides resources and tools to parents to help them navigate health and education for their children aged less than 5 years.

But Head Start is one of the longest-standing programs providing health and education services to low-income families. It serves approximately 1 million children aged 0 to 5 years and requires its grantees to coordinate health-related services such as basic screenings, health education, and referrals to health care providers as well as coordinating support for routine home visits and parent education workshops to understand the needs of families and children and promote preventive health services.

A 2001 survey of Head Start directors in the Johnson & Johnson Head Start Fellows program found that although grantees had access to health education materials and resources to conduct health education trainings, these sessions were often poorly attended and the materials were not well understood (5). In response, the University of California, Los Angeles/Johnson & Johnson Health Care Institute (HCI) was formed to rectify these limitations and improve health literacy among Head Start families.

HCI is now working in partnership with the American Academy of Pediatrics National Center on Early Childhood Health and Wellness. It uses the structured framework it developed for health promotion that builds staff leadership capacity and trains Head Start staff to implement health promotion programs for their families using culturally adapted, low-literacy materials on topics such as management of common childhood illnesses, effective use of the clinical care system, obesity prevention, home safety, mental health, and oral health. Family trainings capitalize on families innate motivation to care for their children. The trainings include experiential group learning activities, hands-on skill-building, and creation of social networks. This approach helps not only parents and children but also Head Start staff, who gain knowledge to care for their own children. The staff also see themselves as stronger role models for healthful living for their families, which also motivates family participation and engagement (6). The health literacy components are complemented by environmental changes, such as providing more healthful foods and more physical activity at schools, visiting community grocers to learn about how to buy and prepare healthful, affordable foods, and working with grocers to sell more healthful products (7). Since 2001, HCI trained staff from 300 grantees, who reached more than 120,000 vulnerable families across the United States.

Results of the health promotion program among more than 9,000 families at 55 sites were impressive: emergency department visits declined by 58% and school days missed were reduced by 29%, enhancing school readiness (8). Parents work-loss days decreased by 42% (8); such decreases are critical for low-wage workers at high risk of losing those jobs if they miss work, thus enhancing job security and incomes. Since income is itself a determinant of health and loss of a job a major life stressor, these indirect benefits of the program are also critical to a familys well-being. Over the longer term, life-long improvements in health behaviors, higher graduation rates, and better job opportunities in healthier, more supportive communities should pay off in reduced rates of major chronic diseases as well. Partially in response to these successes, Head Start has incorporated health literacy into its proposed revised performance standards.

A comprehensive health literacy program coupled with population health interventions can reduce short-term and long-term disparities between the general population and Head Start children, families, and staff. Short-term benefits include fewer unnecessary emergency department visits, greater self-confidence for parents, better relationships and engagement with Head Start staff, and better health decision making. In the longer term, more healthful behaviors will contribute to reduced rates of cardiovascular disease and obesity. Because the social capital for implementing these programs resides in each Head Start agency, the programs are scalable and sustainable.

As this multidimensional health literacy and population health intervention illustrates, once parents have the knowledge, tools, and motivation to protect the health of their children, and barriers are removed, meaningful change can occur. When provided with simple health information in a low-literacy format, thermometers, and tips on how to improve health behaviors on a limited budget, along with changes in their school and community environments, parents were able to take positive action. Their empowerment and knowledge also better enables them to more appropriately access the clinical care system, ask appropriate questions, and understand and adhere to clinical recommendations. We can help set entire families and communities on a better health trajectory. A life-course approach and improved health literacy coupled with healthful programs and policies can reduce health disparities and make a real difference in peoples lives.

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Acknowledgments

This work was done with the support from the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies Contribution Fund.

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Author Information

Corresponding Author: Steven Teutsch, MD, MPH, 841 Moon Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90065. Telephone: 323-352-8079. Email: steventeutsch@gmail.com.

Author Affiliations: Steven M. Teutsch, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, California, and Public Health Institute, Oakland, California; Ariella Herman, Carol B. Teutsch, Anderson School of Management, University of California, Los Angeles, California.

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References

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Life expectancy, health risks, health expenditure. Compare your country: United States. http://www.compareyourcountry.org/health?cr=oecd&cr1=oecd&lg=en&page=0. Accessed October 16, 2015. Teutsch SM, Fielding JE. Rediscovering the core of public health. Annu Rev Public Health 2013;34(1):28799. CrossRef external icon PubMed external icon Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The guide to community preventive services. http://www.thecommunityguide.org/. Accessed October 16, 2015. Smart Growth America, National Complete Streets Coalition. What are complete streets? http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/complete-streets/complete-streets-fundamentals/complete-streets-faq. Accessed December 19, 2015. Herman A. The status of health care in Head Start: a descriptive study. Los Angeles (CA): UCLA Anderson School of Management; 2000. Herman A, Nelson BB, Teutsch C, Chung PJ. A structured management approach to implementation of health promotion interventions in Head Start. Prev Chronic Dis 2013;10:E155. CrossRef external icon PubMed external icon Herman A, Nelson BB, Teutsch C, Chung PJ. Eat Healthy, Stay Active!: a coordinated intervention to improve nutrition and physical activity among Head Start parents, staff, and children. Am J Health Promot 2012;27(1):e2736. CrossRef external icon PubMed external icon Herman A, Jackson P. Empowering low-income parents with skills to reduce excess pediatric emergency room and clinic visits through a tailored low literacy training intervention. J Health Commun 2010;15(8):895910. CrossRef external icon PubMed external icon

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"Disturbed and unhappy," that is how the current Academy Awards president feel towards the allegedly 'racist' Oscars issue that's buzzing over the entertainment industry. Cheryl Boone Isaacs said that this is a hard topic to comment on. It's seriously bothering her that certain issues like this one comes out of a highly recognized institution.

Isaacs announced in the public, addressing the existing concern about the lack of diversity in the Oscars nominations, leaning favorably to the white actors. According to her, the Academy is looking into the matter and studies on a possible system upgrade to address it. She also shared about the Academy's pure intention to promote diversity.

ET Online reports that Oscars shared its plan to further evaluate the membership recruitment and bring changes wherever it is needed to make things transparent and diverse. She promises that this change would be implemented starting this year and those to follow.

The Academy Awards formulates the idea of making it mandatory to recognize everyone regardless of their gender, race, society background and sexual orientation. The Academy has already started dealing with the situation, but they believe that there's a lot of things to be done.

As the first ever African-American who become head of the Academy, President Cheryl Boone Isaacs recognized the dark areas in its system and she promised to bring about positive changes, including diversity. She appreciate the ones who took courage to come forward, show their belief in fair recognition through airing out their sentiments toward the organization, says Chicago Tribune.

The outpouring disappointment over the #OscarsSoWhite issue affects the positive anticipation it usually gets every year. The growing number of actors who detach themselves from the Academy and their dissatisfaction towards the snubbing incident in the nominations bring forth a threat of a massive boycott if the system is not changed.
If there is any indication of how ready to be released "Deadpool" is, it is the fact that some fans were surprised and amazed at a special, full-length screening of the movie. Here is a roundup of everything a fan needs to know about the hotly anticipated movie.

It's 'Amazing'

Fans still need to wait nearly a month to see "Deadpool," but a few lucky ones in New York and Los Angeles were treated to some surprise screenings of the film. Fans unknowingly went to earlier-announced fan appreciation events held in the two cities on Monday only to get the surprise of their lives. Fans thought that the separate events, held at the Bow Tie Chelsea Cinemas in New York and AMC Century City15 in LA, were just going to offer them a sneak peek and exclusive first-look footage of the movie, as announced in the Eventbrite pages. Once they took their respective seats and the movie started, it did not end until the whole movie was shown. Fans cannot be any more surprised, elated and wowed.

Though it was announced that they will have a chance to meet some special guests, fans did not know the extent of the surprise they will be getting. Turned out the "surprise guests" were actually "Deadpool" himself, Ryan Reynolds; Stan Lee; TJ Miller; director Tim Miller; and Deadpool creator Rob Liefield. Attendees were beyond thrilled. The reaction to the movie was overwhelmingly positive, as reported by Uproxx. Fans used their Twitter accounts to revel on the movie. One called the movie "outstanding." Some called it amazing. Many claimed it is now one of their favourite movies. Some fans advised moviegoers when the movie is officially released to wait for the "tag at the end of the credits."

Even before this surprise took place, the movie is already highly anticipated. The public release of two trailers on Christmas Day, where Deadpool can be heard saying he is after someone of his "naughty list," already garnered millions of views within the first 24 hours on YouTube, as reported by GQ.

Deadpool Here Is Not Deadpool in "X-Men Origins"

Even if it was also Reynolds who portrayed Deadpool in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," the actor shared that the Deadpool in this first full-length feature film of the supervillain turned hero is nowhere the same. "Deadpool appearing in Origins is not the Deadpool we are representing in this film, in any way shape or form," Reynolds told SiriusXM.

It's So Good, It's Banned in China

"Deadpool" is banned in China. While it means some sales money can be lost from that part of the world, it is not entirely a bad thing. It just means the R-rated film has achieved what it set out to do. China asserted that the movie is so full of violence, nudity and graphic language that it is not appropriate to be shown in the country. For others, it just means that their money will be worth it. After all, Reynolds once said that "Deadpool's greatest superpower is annoying the s**t out of people," as reported by Games Radar.

"Deadpool" will be out in U.S. cinemas on Feb. 12. It will be shown earlier in the U.K., on Feb. 4. The full trailer can be watched below.
New Cameroon plant agreement signed

21 January 2016

Mira Company has signed an agreement with the Cameroons Ministry of Industry and Technological Development to construct a 1Mta cement plant in Douala. The deal allows the Swiss engineering company to benefit from provisions in Cameroons law which offers incentives to private sector investors in the central African country.



Shandong Design and Research Institute has reportedly been awarded the contract for the project. The plant is expected to be officially put into operation by the end of 2016.

Published under
Hanson UK appoints new CEO

21 January 2016

Daniel Cooper has been appointed chief executive officer of Hanson UK, replacing Patrick OShea, who stepped down at Christmas after eight years at the head of the construction materials business.



Daniel was previously northern regional general manager for Hanson Australia. He graduated from Murdoch University in Perth with a double major in commerce and economics and joined Pioneer Concrete in Australia in 1993. Hanson acquired Pioneer in 2000 and Daniel held a number of operational, commercial and customer service management roles including regional general manager for Western Australia.



Patrick OShea joined Hanson PLC in 1990 and held a variety of senior financial and operational roles before becoming managing director of Hanson Aggregates UK in June 2004. When Hanson PLC was acquired by HeidelbergCement Group in 2007, Patrick was appointed CEO of the combined UK business, which brought together Hansons aggregates and building products operations with HeidelbergCements Castle Cement business.

Published under
[] 2016 20160121 20:07:07 

Stock Code: 000530; 200530 Notice No: 2016-013



Short Form of the Stock: Daleng Gufen; Daleng B







Dalian Refrigeration Co., Ltd.



Public Notice on Resolution of



1st Extraordinary Shareholders General Meeting of 2016







The Company and its whole members of Board of Directors ensure that the public notice is real,

accurate and complete, and there are no any fictitious statements, serious misleading or important

omissions carried in this notice.







There was no augmentation, rejection or changing of proposals in the Shareholders General

Meeting. No involved in the case of changing the previous proposals of the general meeting of

shareholders.







I. Particulars about holding and participants of the meeting



(I) Particulars about holding of the meeting



1. The date and time of the meeting



On-site meeting: 3:00 pm, January 21, 2016



Internet polling: From January 20, 2016 to January 21, 2016



(1) Voting through the trading system of Shenzhen Stock Exchange: 9:30-11:30 am and 1:00-3:00

pm dated January 21 2016;



(2) Voting through the Internet voting system of Shenzhen Stock Exchange can be made anytime

from 3:00 pm January 20, 2016 to 3:00 pm January 21 2016;



2. Place of the meeting: The conference room on 8/F of the Company



3. Way of holding: On-site votes plus network polling



4. Convener: The Board of the Company



5. Presidency: Ji Zhijian



6. The meeting is in line with the relevant laws and administrative regulations, departmental rules



and regulations, regulatory documents and relevant provisions of the articles of association of

the company.



The Announcement of holding 1st Extraordinary Shareholders General Meeting of 2016 was

published in China Securities and Hong Kong Commercial Daily dated January 5, 2016.The

precautious announcement was published in China Securities and Hong Kong Commercial Daily

dated January15, 2016.







(II) Particulars about participants of the meeting



1. Particulars about general information of attending the meeting



19 shareholders and shareholders representatives attended the meeting, representing118,





233,371shares, taking 32.83% of the Companys total share capital 360,164,975 shares.



Among them



11 shareholders and shareholders representatives attended the on-site meeting, representing

117,982,171 shares, taking 32.76% of the Companys total share capital 360,164,975 shares.



8 shareholders and shareholders representatives attended the network meeting, representing

251,200shares, taking0.07% of the Companys total share capital 360,164,975 shares.



2. Particulars about shareholders of A shares attending the meeting



16 shareholders of A shares and their representatives attended the meeting, representing

79,848,223 shares, taking32.57% of the Companys 245,164,975 total A shares.



Among them



8 shareholders of A shares and their representatives attended the on-site meeting, representing

79,597,023 shares, taking 32.47% of the Companys 245,164,975 total A shares.



8 shareholders of A shares and their representatives attended the network meeting, representing

251,200shares, taking 0.1% of the Companys 245,164,975total A shares.



3. Particulars about shareholders of B shares attending the meeting



3shareholders of B shares and their representatives attended the meeting, representing

38,385,148shares, taking 33.38% of the Companys 115,000,000 total B shares.



Among them



3 shareholders of B shares and their representatives attended the on-site meeting, representing

38,385,148shares, taking 33.38% of the Companys 115,000,000 total B shares.



0 shareholders of B shares and their representatives attended the network meeting, representing 0

shares, taking 0% of the Companys 115,000,000 total B shares.



4. Other attendance



Directors, supervisors and senior executives of the Company and the witness attorney engaged by

the Company



II. Particulars about discussion of the proposals



(I) Ways of voting: On-site votes plus network polling



(II) The shareholders of the Company and their proxy present at the meeting discussed the

proposals. By voting termwise, the following proposals were passed:







1. Report on Electing the Directors of 7th Session of the Board



1.1 Elected Mr. Ji Zhijian to be director







Number of shares

represented (share)



For



(share)



For

proportion



Against

(share)



Abstention

(share)



present shareholders



118,233,371



118,002,171



99.80%



230,200



1,000



Including: A shares



79,848,223



79,617,023



99.71%



230,200



1,000



B shares



38,385,148



38,385,148



100%



0



0



Present shareholders below 5%



6,376,188



6,144,988



96.37%



230,200



1,000



Including: A shares



2,992,540



2,761,340



92.27%



230,200



1,000



B shares



3,383,648



3,383,648



100%



0



0









1.2 Elected Mr. Liu Kai to be director







Number of shares

represented (share)



For



(share)



For

proportion



Against

(share)



Abstention

(share)



present shareholders



118,233,371



118,002,171



99.80%



230,200



1,000



Including: A shares



79,848,223



79,617,023



99.71%



230,200



1,000



B shares



38,385,148



38,385,148



100%



0



0



Present shareholders below 5%



6,376,188



6,144,988



96.37%



230,200



1,000



Including: A shares



2,992,540



2,761,340



92.27%



230,200



1,000



B shares



3,383,648



3,383,648



100%



0



0







1.3 Elected Mrs. Xu Junrao to be director







Number of shares

represented (share)



For



(share)



For

proportion



Against

(share)



Abstention

(share)



present shareholders



118,233,371



118,002,171



99.80%



230,200



1,000



Including: A shares



79,848,223



79,617,023



99.71%



230,200



1,000



B shares



38,385,148



38,385,148



100%



0



0



Present shareholders below 5%



6,376,188



6,144,988



96.37%



230,200



1,000



Including: A shares



2,992,540



2,761,340



92.27%



230,200



1,000



B shares



3,383,648



3,383,648



100%



0



0







1.4 Elected Mr. Ding Jie to be director







Number of shares

represented (share)



For



(share)



For

proportion



Against

(share)



Abstention

(share)



present shareholders



118,233,371



118,002,171



99.80%



230,200



1,000



Including: A shares



79,848,223



79,617,023



99.71%



230,200



1,000



B shares



38,385,148



38,385,148



100%



0



0



Present shareholders below 5%



6,376,188



6,144,988



96.37%



230,200



1,000



Including: A shares



2,992,540



2,761,340



92.27%



230,200



1,000



B shares



3,383,648



3,383,648



100%



0



0

















1.5 Elected Mr. Kudou Sinn to be director







Number of shares

represented (share)



For



(share)



For

proportion



Against

(share)



Abstention

(share)



present shareholders



118,233,371



118,003,171



99.81%



230,200



0



Including: A shares



79,848,223



79,618,023



99.71%



230,200



0



B shares



38,385,148



38,385,148



100%



0



0



Present shareholders below 5%



6,376,188



6,145,988



96.39%



230,200



0



Including: A shares



2,992,540



2,762,340



92.31%



230,200



0



B shares



3,383,648



3,383,648



100%



0



0







1.6 Elected Mr. Kijima Tadatoshi to be director







Number of shares

represented (share)



For



(share)



For

proportion



Against

(share)



Abstention

(share)



present shareholders



118,233,371



118,003,171



99.81%



230,200



0



Including: A shares



79,848,223



79,618,023



99.71%



230,200



0



B shares



38,385,148



38,385,148



100%



0



0



Present shareholders below 5%



6,376,188



6,145,988



96.39%



230,200



0



Including: A shares



2,992,540



2,762,340



92.31%



230,200



0



B shares



3,383,648



3,383,648



100%



0



0







1.7 Elected Mrs. Dai Dashuang to be independent director







Number of shares

represented (share)



For



(share)



For

proportion



Against

(share)



Abstention

(share)



present shareholders



118,233,371



118,002,171



99.80%



230,200



1,000



Including: A shares



79,848,223



79,617,023



99.71%



230,200



1,000



B shares



38,385,148



38,385,148



100%



0



0



Present shareholders below 5%



6,376,188



6,144,988



96.37%



230,200



1,000



Including: A shares



2,992,540



2,761,340



92.27%



230,200



1,000



B shares



3,383,648



3,383,648



100%



0



0







1.8 Elected Mr. Liu Jiwei to be independent director







Number of shares

represented (share)



For



(share)



For

proportion



Against

(share)



Abstention

(share)



present shareholders



118,233,371



118,002,171



99.80%



230,200



1,000



Including: A shares



79,848,223



79,617,023



99.71%



230,200



1,000









B shares



38,385,148



38,385,148



100%



0



0



Present shareholders below 5%



6,376,188



6,144,988



96.37%



230,200



1,000



Including: A shares



2,992,540



2,761,340



92.27%



230,200



1,000



B shares



3,383,648



3,383,648



100%



0



0







1.9 Elected Mrs. Wang Yan to be independent director







Number of shares

represented (share)



For



(share)



For

proportion



Against

(share)



Abstention

(share)



present shareholders



118,233,371



118,002,171



99.80%



230,200



1,000



Including: A shares



79,848,223



79,617,023



99.71%



230,200



1,000



B shares



38,385,148



38,385,148



100%



0



0



Present shareholders below 5%



6,376,188



6,144,988



96.37%



230,200



1,000



Including: A shares



2,992,540



2,761,340



92.27%



230,200



1,000



B shares



3,383,648



3,383,648



100%



0



0







2. Report on Electing the Supervisors of 7th Session of the Supervisory Committee



2.1 Elected Mrs. Mao Chunhua to be supervisor







Number of shares

represented (share)



For



(share)



For

proportion



Against

(share)



Abstention

(share)



present shareholders



118,,233,371



117,917,371



99.73%



315,000



1,000



Including: A shares



79,848,223



79,629,923



99.73%



217,300



1,000



B shares



38,385,148



38,287,448



99.75%



97,700



0



Present shareholders below 5%



6,376,188



6,060,188



95.04%



315,000



1,000



Including: A shares



2,992,540



2,774,240



92.71%



217,300



1,000



B shares



3,383,648



3,285,948



97,11%



97,700



0







2.2 Elected Mrs. Dai Yuling to be supervisor







Number of shares

represented (share)



For



(share)



For

proportion



Against

(share)



Abstention

(share)



present shareholders



118,233,371



117,881,509



99.70%



350,862



1,000



Including: A shares



79,848,223



79,629,923



99.73%



217,300



1,000



B shares



38,385,148



38,251,586



99.65%



133,562



0



Present shareholders below 5%



6,376,188



6,024,326



94.48%



350,862



1,000



Including: A shares



2,992,540



2,774,240



92.71%



217,300



1,000



B shares



3,383,648



3,250,086



96.05%



133,562



0









3. Report of actual amount exceeded estimated total amount of routine associated transactions for

year 2015



The shareholder Mr.Ji Zhijianholds A shares of 942,300 sharesMrs. Xu Junraoholds A shares

of 663,500 shares ), Dalian Bingshan Group Co., Ltd.holds A shares of 76,855,683shares,

Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.holds B shares of 35,001,500 sharesare the correlative shareholders,

They were avoided from voting this proposal.







Number of shares

represented (share)



For



(share)



For

proportion



Against

(share)



Abstention

(share)



Present non-correlative

shareholders



4,770,388



4,552,088



95,42%



217,300



1,000



Including: A shares



1,386,740



1,168,440



84.26%



217,300



1,000



B shares



3,383,648



3,383,648



100%



0



0



Present non-correlative

shareholders below 5%



4,770,388



4,552,088



95.42%



217,300



1,000



Including: A shares



1,386,740



1,168,440



84.26%



217,300



1,000



B shares



3,383,648



3,383,648



100%



0



0







Details of the proposal could be found in the notice on resolution of the Board of Directors

published in China Securities, Hong Kong Commercial Daily and http://www.cninfo.com.cn/ on

January 5, 2016.







III. Legal Position Paper Issued by the Lawyer



1. Name of lawyer firm: Liaoning Huaxia Lawyers Firm



2. Name of lawyer: Mrs. Bao Jinxing, Mrs. Ma Nan



3. Conclusion of opinions:



The lawyer believed that convening and holding procedures of this Shareholders General

Meeting was in line with regulations of the law, legislation and the Articles of Association; the

participants of the Meeting have lawful and valid qualification; the voting procedures and results

of this Shareholders General Meeting were true, legitimate and valid. 





IV. Documents available for reference



1.The decisions of the Shareholders General Meeting that acknowledged by

the present directors and the recorder and stamped by the board of directors;



2. Legal opinions;



3. Other relevant documents.







Board of Directors of Dalian Refrigeration Co., Ltd.



January 22, 2016





 Stock Code: 000530; 200530 Notice No: 2016-013Short Form of the Stock: Daleng Gufen; Daleng BDalian Refrigeration Co., Ltd.Public Notice on Resolution of1st Extraordinary Shareholders General Meeting of 2016The Company and its whole members of Board of Directors ensure that the public notice is real,accurate and complete, and there are no any fictitious statements, serious misleading or importantomissions carried in this notice.There was no augmentation, rejection or changing of proposals in the Shareholders GeneralMeeting. No involved in the case of changing the previous proposals of the general meeting ofshareholders.I. Particulars about holding and participants of the meeting(I) Particulars about holding of the meeting1. The date and time of the meetingOn-site meeting: 3:00 pm, January 21, 2016Internet polling: From January 20, 2016 to January 21, 2016(1) Voting through the trading system of Shenzhen Stock Exchange: 9:30-11:30 am and 1:00-3:00pm dated January 21 2016;(2) Voting through the Internet voting system of Shenzhen Stock Exchange can be made anytimefrom 3:00 pm January 20, 2016 to 3:00 pm January 21 2016;2. Place of the meeting: The conference room on 8/F of the Company3. Way of holding: On-site votes plus network polling4. Convener: The Board of the Company5. Presidency: Ji Zhijian6. The meeting is in line with the relevant laws and administrative regulations, departmental rulesand regulations, regulatory documents and relevant provisions of the articles of association ofthe company.The Announcement of holding 1st Extraordinary Shareholders General Meeting of 2016 waspublished in China Securities and Hong Kong Commercial Daily dated January 5, 2016.Theprecautious announcement was published in China Securities and Hong Kong Commercial Dailydated January15, 2016.(II) Particulars about participants of the meeting1. Particulars about general information of attending the meeting19 shareholders and shareholders representatives attended the meeting, representing118,233,371shares, taking 32.83% of the Companys total share capital 360,164,975 shares.Among them11 shareholders and shareholders representatives attended the on-site meeting, representing117,982,171 shares, taking 32.76% of the Companys total share capital 360,164,975 shares.8 shareholders and shareholders representatives attended the network meeting, representing251,200shares, taking0.07% of the Companys total share capital 360,164,975 shares.2. Particulars about shareholders of A shares attending the meeting16 shareholders of A shares and their representatives attended the meeting, representing79,848,223 shares, taking32.57% of the Companys 245,164,975 total A shares.Among them8 shareholders of A shares and their representatives attended the on-site meeting, representing79,597,023 shares, taking 32.47% of the Companys 245,164,975 total A shares.8 shareholders of A shares and their representatives attended the network meeting, representing251,200shares, taking 0.1% of the Companys 245,164,975total A shares.3. Particulars about shareholders of B shares attending the meeting3shareholders of B shares and their representatives attended the meeting, representing38,385,148shares, taking 33.38% of the Companys 115,000,000 total B shares.Among them3 shareholders of B shares and their representatives attended the on-site meeting, representing38,385,148shares, taking 33.38% of the Companys 115,000,000 total B shares.0 shareholders of B shares and their representatives attended the network meeting, representing 0shares, taking 0% of the Companys 115,000,000 total B shares.4. Other attendanceDirectors, supervisors and senior executives of the Company and the witness attorney engaged bythe CompanyII. Particulars about discussion of the proposals(I) Ways of voting: On-site votes plus network polling(II) The shareholders of the Company and their proxy present at the meeting discussed theproposals. By voting termwise, the following proposals were passed:1. Report on Electing the Directors of 7th Session of the Board1.1 Elected Mr. Ji Zhijian to be directorNumber of sharesrepresented (share)For(share)ForproportionAgainst(share)Abstention(share)present shareholders118,233,371118,002,17199.80%230,2001,000Including: A shares79,848,22379,617,02399.71%230,2001,000B shares38,385,14838,385,148100%Present shareholders below 5%6,376,1886,144,98896.37%230,2001,000Including: A shares2,992,5402,761,34092.27%230,2001,000B shares3,383,6483,383,648100%1.2 Elected Mr. Liu Kai to be directorNumber of sharesrepresented (share)For(share)ForproportionAgainst(share)Abstention(share)present shareholders118,233,371118,002,17199.80%230,2001,000Including: A shares79,848,22379,617,02399.71%230,2001,000B shares38,385,14838,385,148100%Present shareholders below 5%6,376,1886,144,98896.37%230,2001,000Including: A shares2,992,5402,761,34092.27%230,2001,000B shares3,383,6483,383,648100%1.3 Elected Mrs. Xu Junrao to be directorNumber of sharesrepresented (share)For(share)ForproportionAgainst(share)Abstention(share)present shareholders118,233,371118,002,17199.80%230,2001,000Including: A shares79,848,22379,617,02399.71%230,2001,000B shares38,385,14838,385,148100%Present shareholders below 5%6,376,1886,144,98896.37%230,2001,000Including: A shares2,992,5402,761,34092.27%230,2001,000B shares3,383,6483,383,648100%1.4 Elected Mr. Ding Jie to be directorNumber of sharesrepresented (share)For(share)ForproportionAgainst(share)Abstention(share)present shareholders118,233,371118,002,17199.80%230,2001,000Including: A shares79,848,22379,617,02399.71%230,2001,000B shares38,385,14838,385,148100%Present shareholders below 5%6,376,1886,144,98896.37%230,2001,000Including: A shares2,992,5402,761,34092.27%230,2001,000B shares3,383,6483,383,648100%1.5 Elected Mr. Kudou Sinn to be directorNumber of sharesrepresented (share)For(share)ForproportionAgainst(share)Abstention(share)present shareholders118,233,371118,003,17199.81%230,200Including: A shares79,848,22379,618,02399.71%230,200B shares38,385,14838,385,148100%Present shareholders below 5%6,376,1886,145,98896.39%230,200Including: A shares2,992,5402,762,34092.31%230,200B shares3,383,6483,383,648100%1.6 Elected Mr. Kijima Tadatoshi to be directorNumber of sharesrepresented (share)For(share)ForproportionAgainst(share)Abstention(share)present shareholders118,233,371118,003,17199.81%230,200Including: A shares79,848,22379,618,02399.71%230,200B shares38,385,14838,385,148100%Present shareholders below 5%6,376,1886,145,98896.39%230,200Including: A shares2,992,5402,762,34092.31%230,200B shares3,383,6483,383,648100%1.7 Elected Mrs. Dai Dashuang to be independent directorNumber of sharesrepresented (share)For(share)ForproportionAgainst(share)Abstention(share)present shareholders118,233,371118,002,17199.80%230,2001,000Including: A shares79,848,22379,617,02399.71%230,2001,000B shares38,385,14838,385,148100%Present shareholders below 5%6,376,1886,144,98896.37%230,2001,000Including: A shares2,992,5402,761,34092.27%230,2001,000B shares3,383,6483,383,648100%1.8 Elected Mr. Liu Jiwei to be independent directorNumber of sharesrepresented (share)For(share)ForproportionAgainst(share)Abstention(share)present shareholders118,233,371118,002,17199.80%230,2001,000Including: A shares79,848,22379,617,02399.71%230,2001,000B shares38,385,14838,385,148100%Present shareholders below 5%6,376,1886,144,98896.37%230,2001,000Including: A shares2,992,5402,761,34092.27%230,2001,000B shares3,383,6483,383,648100%1.9 Elected Mrs. Wang Yan to be independent directorNumber of sharesrepresented (share)For(share)ForproportionAgainst(share)Abstention(share)present shareholders118,233,371118,002,17199.80%230,2001,000Including: A shares79,848,22379,617,02399.71%230,2001,000B shares38,385,14838,385,148100%Present shareholders below 5%6,376,1886,144,98896.37%230,2001,000Including: A shares2,992,5402,761,34092.27%230,2001,000B shares3,383,6483,383,648100%2. Report on Electing the Supervisors of 7th Session of the Supervisory Committee2.1 Elected Mrs. Mao Chunhua to be supervisorNumber of sharesrepresented (share)For(share)ForproportionAgainst(share)Abstention(share)present shareholders118,,233,371117,917,37199.73%315,0001,000Including: A shares79,848,22379,629,92399.73%217,3001,000B shares38,385,14838,287,44899.75%97,700Present shareholders below 5%6,376,1886,060,18895.04%315,0001,000Including: A shares2,992,5402,774,24092.71%217,3001,000B shares3,383,6483,285,94897,11%97,7002.2 Elected Mrs. Dai Yuling to be supervisorNumber of sharesrepresented (share)For(share)ForproportionAgainst(share)Abstention(share)present shareholders118,233,371117,881,50999.70%350,8621,000Including: A shares79,848,22379,629,92399.73%217,3001,000B shares38,385,14838,251,58699.65%133,562Present shareholders below 5%6,376,1886,024,32694.48%350,8621,000Including: A shares2,992,5402,774,24092.71%217,3001,000B shares3,383,6483,250,08696.05%133,5623. Report of actual amount exceeded estimated total amount of routine associated transactions foryear 2015The shareholder Mr.Ji Zhijianholds A shares of 942,300 sharesMrs. Xu Junraoholds A sharesof 663,500 shares ), Dalian Bingshan Group Co., Ltd.holds A shares of 76,855,683shares,Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.holds B shares of 35,001,500 sharesare the correlative shareholders,They were avoided from voting this proposal.Number of sharesrepresented (share)For(share)ForproportionAgainst(share)Abstention(share)Present non-correlativeshareholders4,770,3884,552,08895,42%217,3001,000Including: A shares1,386,7401,168,44084.26%217,3001,000B shares3,383,6483,383,648100%Present non-correlativeshareholders below 5%4,770,3884,552,08895.42%217,3001,000Including: A shares1,386,7401,168,44084.26%217,3001,000B shares3,383,6483,383,648100%Details of the proposal could be found in the notice on resolution of the Board of Directorspublished in China Securities, Hong Kong Commercial Daily and http://www.cninfo.com.cn/ onJanuary 5, 2016.III. Legal Position Paper Issued by the Lawyer1. Name of lawyer firm: Liaoning Huaxia Lawyers Firm2. Name of lawyer: Mrs. Bao Jinxing, Mrs. Ma Nan3. Conclusion of opinions:The lawyer believed that convening and holding procedures of this Shareholders GeneralMeeting was in line with regulations of the law, legislation and the Articles of Association; theparticipants of the Meeting have lawful and valid qualification; the voting procedures and resultsof this Shareholders General Meeting were true, legitimate and valid. IV. Documents available for reference1.The decisions of the Shareholders General Meeting that acknowledged bythe present directors and the recorder and stamped by the board of directors;2. Legal opinions;3. Other relevant documents.Board of Directors of Dalian Refrigeration Co., Ltd.January 22, 2016
Airline research firm Hopper said flights booked in January are averaging about 14 percent lower than the same time last year. (David McNew / Getty Images)

Tumbling oil prices have eased motorists' pain at the pump for months. Now travelers checking in at the gate have reason to smile too.

Airfares this month are cheaper than they've been in years, according to travel experts, a result of airlines passing along some of their fuel cost savings to consumers. Also, competition among airlines is heating up as ultra low-cost carriers like Frontier and Spirit, which offer cheap seats with no bells and whistles, give American, Delta and United a run for their money.

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Round-trip flights booked in January are averaging $210, about 14 percent less than a year ago, according to airline research firm Hopper. "We've been tracking this for about four years now, and we've never seen prices this low," said Patrick Surry, Hopper's chief data scientist.

It certainly doesn't hurt that it's January, when prices typically drop because of the post-holiday lull. And the discounts  with fares as much as 23 percent lower than a year ago  are despite a $6 hike many airlines tacked on to their base fares earlier this month.

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But the trend of cheaper flights may continue. "We have a perfect storm of great fuel prices, competition from budget carriers and airlines trying to fill inventory," said Robert Firpo-Cappiello, editor-in-chief of Budget Travel Magazine, who predicts prices in 2016 will be "shockingly low."

How low are fares now? On Thursday, a round-trip flight from O'Hare to Honolulu in early February was $577 on American Airlines, almost 20 percent cheaper than normal. A flight from O'Hare to Los Angeles was $44 each way on Spirit Airlines.

Also this week, major carriers were offering flights from Chicago and Baltimore for $40 each way, according to George Hobica, founder and president of Airfarewatchdog.com.

Hopper's Surry expects flights to some warm locales  like Miami, New Orleans, Las Vegas and Orlando  to drop between 15 and 20 percent this month. Typically pricey international destinations should also be a steal in January, he said. Flights to Rio de Janeiro could fall 23 percent, to under $700 round-trip. There may even be savings of between 5 and 10 percent on typically pricier fares to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, according to Surry's research.

To catch the best deals, travelers need to be flexible and willing to travel on a Tuesday or Wednesday, Hobica said. "They are giving away seats on those days," he said.

But the less flexible traveler need not feel left out. Competition for customers this season is so fierce, experts say, that there are plenty of super-cheap airfares to be snagged on high travel days like Friday and Saturday too. "I'm seeing lower prices across the board," said Budget Travel's Firpo-Cappiello.

Even less busy markets with fewer airlines are seeing lower prices, he added. "There are shockingly low fares (even) in places such as Topeka, Kan., that are just a little off the beaten path."

Consumers are warned to act fast because these fares won't last forever. In the old days, discounted fares lasted weeks; these days, many last only hours at a time, experts said.

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Prices are likely to rise 5 to 6 percent as the busy summer travel season approaches, Surry said, but they'll still be low. "The continued competition and low fuel prices might mean that we see less of a rise than usual this summer," he said.

While flights out of Chicago are cheap, they aren't the lowest. Travelers flying out of New York, Houston, Fort Lauderdale and Honolulu will benefit from the lowest airfares, Surry said.

Airlines certainly are seeing benefits from cheap oil, which has pushed jet fuel prices to less than $1 per gallon. On Thursday, United Continental Holdings said its fourth-quarter profit rose to $823 million. Southwest on Thursday reported a record fourth-quarter profit of $536 million.

But travel experts warn consumers to be careful when jumping on fares that appear to be super-cheap. Those seemingly low base fares climb quickly with fees and add-ons, like extra leg room and checked luggage.

"Think about the total cost of your trip," Surry said. "Consider that as part of your planning because it can be a significant add-on to the ticket price."

crshropshire@tribpub.com

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The Chicago plant will continue to make BelVita, Mini Chips Ahoy and Cheese Nips. Oreos, Ritz and Graham crackers will move to the new lines in Mexico. (Reed Saxon / AP)

Mondelez International warned 277 workers Tuesday of pending layoffs at its plant on Chicago's Southwest Side, the company confirmed Wednesday morning.

In July, Mondelez announced it would cut 600 of the 1,200 jobs at the longtime bakery as it plans to move some operations to Mexico. On Tuesday, the company gave the 60-day notice required by state law to 277 of those workers, said Laurie Guzzinati, a Mondelez spokeswoman.

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All 277 workers affected are members of the plant's largest union  the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Local 300. The layoffs are scheduled to begin March 21.

The WARN notices issued Tuesday  required under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act  represent the first round of cuts coming to the Chicago plant as a result of Mondelez's investment in Mexico, Guzzinati said in an email.

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"As the investment/transition progresses, we expect there will be additional impact to the Chicago bakery," Guzzinati said.

Meanwhile, the baker's union continues to fight the cuts in advance of contract negotiations. The plant's other two unions have already negotiated a shutdown package with Mondelez, but not Local 300. The current contract for the BCTGM expires Feb. 29.

"You don't agree to giving up jobs in this contract when you're trying to secure jobs in the next contract," Ed Burpo, president of Local 300, said in an interview Wednesday. "We still feel (the jobs) can be saved, and the reason we believe they can be saved is we intend to fight like hell for them."

Those who got notices Tuesday have been at the plant eight years or less, Burpo said. A letter to workers said employees will be laid off in reverse seniority order.

Mondelez projects it will save about $46 million a year by installing four production lines at the Salinas, Mexico, plant rather than making that investment at the Chicago plant at 7300 S. Kedzie Ave.

The Chicago plant will continue to make BelVita, Mini Chips Ahoy and Cheese Nips, among other products, on seven production lines that will be upgraded. Nine lines will be shut. Oreos, Ritz and Graham crackers will move to the new lines in Mexico.

gtrotter@tribpub.com

Twitter @GregTrotterTrib
Iron Grate BBQ offers Southern-style meat-and-three meals. Here the Milwaukee rib is accompanied by hotlinks, pulled pork, smoky grits, mac and cheese, baked beans and mustard greens. (Monica Eng / Chicago Tribune)

Move over St. Louis, Texas and North Carolina  Milwaukee's about to land on the barbecue map.

At least that's the hope of chef Aaron Patin, who on Friday is debuting something called the Milwaukee rib. The dish is the star attraction at his just-opened Iron Grate BBQ on Milwaukee's south side  which for some Chicago barbecue lovers is closer than Chicago's South Side. There, Patin shares a couple of things with Hawthorne Coffee Roasters: an open space converted from an old cowboy bar, and a common goal of creating a taste that's unique to the city.

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So what the heck is a Milwaukee rib?

"It's a special cut of spare rib with the belly still attached to it," Patin explained in his dining room last week. "My biggest complaint with ribs was there was never enough meat. You're always eating the meat between the bones. To achieve the cut of ribs  St. Louis or spare ribs  you have to take it off the meat. But I thought, 'Why not leave the meat attached to the rib to make it more meaty?'"

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The resulting product is a luscious marriage of smoky pink meat layered with melty fat that sometimes loses its bone before it hits the plate.

"When you come here for ribs you won't get a slab, you'll get it by the pound," said Patin who grew up in Lake County and was sous chef at Millennium Park's Park Grill. "To utilize as much as we can off of the animals, some meat might come from the tips and some might come from the belly end, and the bone can fall off when I slice it."

But the Milwaukee rib is just one part of the Iron Grate menu, which offers Southern-style "meat-and-three" meals (meat and three sides) based on the talents of an offset smoker named Edna. Patin built the smoker with a farmer friend from Kankakee, Ill., out of recycled materials, including a 500-gallon propane tank. Fed with oak and cherry wood, Edna touches almost every dish on the menu  from Texas-style beef brisket, hot links and pulled pork to mustard greens and grits  yes, smoky grits.

"We basically take two hours to make instant grits," Patin said. "We do add a little milk, but the soulfulness comes from the drippings we collect (from the smoking meat). That's how we give them such a deep flavor."

Edna also produces a smoked cider vinegar that flavors Patin's mustard greens, cole slaw and baked beans. The smoker even plays a role in the mac and cheese, made with smoked Roma tomatoes, gouda and cheddar.

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Customers can buy Iron Grate meats by the pound ($11-$16), but most dine-in customers are expected to choose a meat-and-three combo that goes for $15 with one meat choice and $30 for three meat choices.

Some who've been following Patin's career  most recently as sous chef at Milwaukee's James Beard-nominated modernist restaurant Ardent  were a little surprised by his casual barbecue turn. Still, he says his fine dining skills are applicable anywhere you want to make good food.

"There's just as much care and concern and thought to the actual cooking here," he says. "It's just presented in a much simpler way."

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Despite a lengthy licensing process with Milwaukee officials for his outdoor smoker, Patin says he loves his adopted city and its distinctive culinary traditions. These include, of course, butter burgers, frozen custard and fish fries, but also the lesser known hot ham and rolls.

"It's kind of an early morning thing where you go get yourself some hot ham and rolls and a little bit of butter and call it a day," he says of Milwaukee's post-church Sunday snack that usually features boiled or baked ham. "So I'm thinking, 'Why not get some hot ham that's deliciously done in the smoker and do that Milwaukee style?'"

Iron Grate BBQ is open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday through Sunday (or until the food runs out). Patin expects to expand to Wednesday through Sunday when "patio season starts."

Monica Eng is a food and health reporter for WBEZ Chicago Public Media.
Chicago police gather information from a woman at the scene of a shooting at 48th Street and King Drive in Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood on Jan. 19, 2016. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)

With the city off to a violent start in the first days of 2016, Chicago police and the Cook County Sheriff's Office announced plans Wednesday to team up on the West Side to combat gangs and remove illegal guns from the street.

The partnership isn't new, but typically in the past the sheriff's office has helped during summer when violence peaks. In summer 2014, for instance, the sheriff's office dispatched more than 100 officers from its central warrants and electronic monitoring units to some of Chicago's most violent areas, focusing on capturing fugitives and recovering illegal guns.

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Officials said the partnership will be more coordinated than before, targeting gangs in the Harrison and Austin police districts, among the most violent in the city. But they released few specifics.

Interim police Superintendent John Escalante and Sheriff Tom Dart will help coordinate the effort, according to Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.

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A statement issued by the Police Department said the partnership would continue just through the end of January, but Guglielmi said the two would work together in February as well, but the focus may shift to other police districts.

"Some of this had been done, (but) this will be on a much higher level," Dart said at a news conference at Chicago police headquarters. "This is not ... just a Chicago problem. It's a county problem. It's a state problem."

Through Tuesday, 190 people were shot across the city, more than double the 78 a year earlier, according to a Tribune analysis. Homicides have risen to 29, compared with 16 a year earlier, the analysis found.

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Both shootings and homicides also were up sharply for 2015.

A day after a gang-related shooting that targeted Chicago high school students, the Police Department planned to announce a new initiative to stop gang violence. Jan. 20, 2016. (CBS Chicago)

Neither Dart nor Escalante would say how many sheriff's officers would be assisting Chicago cops.

Escalante disagreed that the partnership was an acknowledgment that the Police Department needs more officers.

"The sheriff's office has certain responsibilities that we don't," he said. "They do the electronic monitoring checks for people that are on home monitoring. They do the evictions. They have arrest warrants that they're looking to serve, so there are things that they're doing in the city that we have really no role or responsibility in.

"But we know they're in the city. We know they're going to be in certain areas that we're going to be in," Escalante said. "So that's what we're talking about, just coordinating resources a little better."

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jgorner@tribpub.com

Twitter @JeremyGorner
Initially, Rosemont police Officer Richard Drehobl appeared composed as he explained how he came to shoot a man dead while off duty.

But at the first mention of his relationship to the man  his brother-in-law, Joseph Caffarello  Drehobl's voice started to crack.

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And when he got to the moment when he fired on the man who he said was "like a brother," the officer broke down. He cried, rocked in his chair and buried his hands in his face, saying, "That was the last thing I wanted to do."

A video of Drehobl's interview with Illinois State Police about the shooting on Jan. 7, 2015, has been released in response to the Tribune's Freedom of Information request.

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Since the shooting, the national spotlight on police conduct has greatly intensified, sparking protests in Chicago and elsewhere. This shooting was markedly different from those that have caused the most controversy, in that the officer was off duty, he and the person he shot were related and were both white, and no one has disputed that Caffarello posed an imminent threat to the officer and others.

Cook County prosecutors concluded there was "insufficient evidence" to charge Drehobl.

The videotaped interview with state police  the outside agency that handled the investigation  took place two days after the shooting. Investigators questioned Drehobl in a conference room in the presence of the officer's attorney, Terrence Lefevour, and Assistant State's Attorneys Maria McCarthy and Guy Lisuzzo.

Drehobl described how he had graduated from Cook County Police Academy with about three months of training that included firearms qualification and scenarios in which he had to decide whether to fire his weapon. The son of a former Rosemont police chief also named Richard Drehobl, he'd been a patrolman with Rosemont for about four years.

It was Drehobl's father who called him that morning, asking him to go to Caffarello's house because another officer had seen him speeding and blowing through stop signs. Officer Jason Sheridan had tried to stop Caffarello outside his home, but he became belligerent and went inside.

When Drehobl arrived with a close friend of Caffarello's, fellow police Officer Eric Herrera, Caffarello's wife Deanna, who is Drehobl's sister, ran out yelling to her brother, "Take this!" and handed him Caffarello's .45-caliber handgun, which he said he put in the glove box of his car.

Drehobl and Herrera went inside to try to calm Caffarello, but he was a large man and he shoved them and squeezed Drehobl's neck before he broke free, the officer said.

Herrera left, and Caffarello went upstairs, screaming, "Where's my gun?" Drehobl said he knew Caffarello owned another handgun. Feeling "petrified," Drehobl said, he told his sister, who was then pregnant, to leave with him and the couple's 2-year-old son, Joey.

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The three left in Drehobl's car, but Caffarello followed in his own car, drove around the block and struck them head-on at about 19 mph, causing an air bag in Drehobl's Acura to deploy, according to an accident reconstruction by police.

Drehobl said he got out of the car and screamed at Caffarello to stay in his. When Caffarello got out, Drehobl said, he was afraid Caffarello had a gun or would take one, and Drehobl drew a handgun from a clip he carries on his hip when off duty. Caffarello walked toward Drehobl, despite the officer screaming at him to stop.

"He told me he was going to kill me," Drehobl said, crying and pausing to compose himself. "He continued to come aggressively toward me. That's when I had no other choice, because I was in fear for my life, (but) to pull the trigger, and I shot him. ... He stopped in his tracks, and then he collapsed to the ground."

A Rosemont building inspector and former Rosemont fire chief who happened to pass by saw the shooting corroborated Drehobl's account, according to police records.

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"I had to do what I had to do ... because I was scared for my sister and nephew," Drehobl said. "I didn't want him to kill anybody. I just love my sister and my nephew with all my heart. I love Joe too, but I didn't know what was wrong."

Drehobl said Caffarello was "like a brother" to him, but that Caffarello had lost his job with the Illinois Tollway a couple of years before after being caught sleeping on the job and other alleged misdeeds.

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Deanna Caffarello met her future husband in grade school but told police that Caffarello had "never been the same" since getting injured on the job and self-medicating with prescription narcotics, records show. He had threatened her but never hurt her, she said.

Neither Drehobl nor Deanna Caffarello could be reached for comment. Since the shooting, Rosemont officials said, Deanna Caffarello gave birth to a healthy baby boy.

Rosemont village spokesman Gary Mack said there were no disciplinary actions or changes in policy made in response to the incident.

rmccoppin@tribpub.com

Twitter @RobertMcCoppin
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner took aim Thursday at the Democratic legislative leaders he has been warring with in Springfield, announcing he had struck a deal with Senate President John Cullerton on pension legislation while blasting House Speaker Michael Madigan as "unreasonable" and "irresponsible."

That claim of an agreement was quickly rejected by Cullerton, who said Rauner's pension proposal was "not my plan, not the plan we discussed," and by Madigan, who repeated his refrain that the governor is anti-middle class.

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The back-and-forth was not unusual for a trio of politicians who have spent the past year jockeying for the upper hand in a struggle over whose vision will prevail at the Capitol. But the volume is now higher and the tone more aggressive as Rauner transitions from a wait-and-see approach to a campaign-style offensive heading into next week's State of the State speech.

The pension announcement Thursday was the latest in a series of markers Rauner's team is attempting to lay down as the governor reboots into campaign mode  he's out in public more and going back to the rhetoric that marked his successful 2014 primary election victory.

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Rauner relaunched his attack on what he calls government "union bosses" and took off the shelf his contention that Illinoisans had become "broken" and victimized by "corrupt" deals. He even worked in a reference to now-imprisoned Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who he said was "playing footsie with the unions for (his) own political benefit."

Rauner declared that public workers were not "guaranteed" collective bargaining of "anything," and he warned that union-allied Democrats who oppose his ideas had better "wake up."

"One of the things that's going to happen this year is our legislators are going to get called out. They talk against the Chicago political machine. They talk against the speaker. They say, 'Oh, I stand up. I work for my district.' They're not working for their district," Rauner said.

"They take money from the Chicago political machine. They vote for the speaker to stay in power, and it's breaking our state. And the legislators around the suburbs of Chicago and downstate better wake up and start smelling the coffee and deal with the votes for the right thing," he said.

Asked by reporters how those lawmakers would be "called out," Rauner responded: "You watch."

The onetime private equity investor already has pledged to use his personal wealth to help bankroll campaigns of supportive Republicans as well as to try to erode the Democratic supermajorities in the House and Senate if he serves two terms.

While Rauner sought to divide Cullerton and Madigan over the pension proposal, the governor also used a standard political geographic ploy of playing to anti-Chicago sentiments outside the city, particularly regarding cash help to Chicago Public Schools.

"We have been subsidizing the patronage and abuse in CPS for years," Rauner said. "Their suburban taxpayers, their downstate taxpayers are sending extra cash to CPS. They better wake up and protect their taxpayers," Rauner said.

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The governor's remarks came a day after he labeled Mayor Rahm Emanuel a failure, raised the specter of a Chicago bankruptcy and declared plans to take on the Chicago Teachers Union.

The tough talk follows periods of quiet from the first-term politician, who largely kept out of the public eye while state government trudged through a budget stalemate that remains unresolved. Now, facing a major address next week and a budget speech next month, Rauner is attempting to show he's doing something even though his top priority  passage of a five-point legislative agenda opposed by Democrats  remains held up in the political fight.

So on Thursday, Rauner reversed course and endorsed a years-old pension proposal first backed by Cullerton, which some at the Capitol consider the state's best bet for finding savings in the financially troubled pension system after the Illinois Supreme Court threw out more aggressive legislation last year.

Even as the governor touted his alleged deal with Cullerton, Rauner took shots, saying the Senate Democrat had refused to back an alternative plan proposed by the administration "because it saved too much."

"It made too much change, he won't support it," Rauner said. "So we've said, 'OK, you guys won't do significant reform. Let's take a small step in the right direction. President Cullerton, let's do your bill.'"

But there was a catch: Rauner said he wants the legislation altered to exempt employee raises from collective bargaining rights.

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"Salary increases come out of collective bargaining so the union has nothing to do with it in the future," Rauner said. "That is necessary and a requirement for this to be constitutional. Our lawyers have agreed, (Cullerton's) lawyers have agreed."

Rauner later contended he was seeking only a "technical" fix and that Cullerton already had approved the change. The governor maintained that the Cullerton pension proposal was constitutional through the theory of "consideration," which means some benefits could be scaled back if workers agreed and were given something in return.

The mere mention of a change to collective bargaining rights fits a familiar pattern. On multiple occasions, Rauner has tucked union-weakening poison pills into policy proposals, ensuring that union-allied Democrats wouldn't go along with his ideas. This time was no different.

"We apparently still have a fundamental disagreement over the role of collective bargaining in this process, in the sense that I think collective bargaining should continue to exist and the governor does not," Cullerton said in response to Rauner's announcement about the alleged deal.

The We Are One Illinois coalition of public unions, which backed Cullerton's original bill, said Rauner's proposal would force workers to choose between two "diminished" options and was "clearly unconstitutional."

Gov. Bruce Rauner holds a news conference about the Illinois pension system with state Senate Republican leader Christine Radogno and House Republican leader Jim Durkin on Jan. 21, 2016, at the Thompson Center in Chicago. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)

Under the Illinois Constitution, public pensions cannot be "diminished or impaired" once granted, which the state Supreme Court held last year when tossing out a 2013 pension law that included benefit cuts. Justices said state worker retirement benefits that are promised on the first day of work cannot be later reduced during the term of employment, only increased.

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A footnote in that ruling, however, mentioned that "additional (retirement) benefits may always be added, of course  and the state may require additional employee contributions or other consideration in exchange."

Rauner said he was "amazed and appalled" that since the ruling, no action had been taken to try a new fix for the pension problem. Rauner put the blame on Madigan: "He has stonewalled, delayed and done nothing."

The governor proposed his own pension plan in July that would, among other things, explicitly prohibit bargaining on pensions, salaries, overtime compensation and other items. Democrats immediately rejected it, and pension policy experts said at the time that even if it were enacted, it likely would fail a legal challenge.

In addition to his legislative battle with Democrats, Rauner is fighting with the largest state public employee union in negotiations over a new contract. Last week he moved to take those talks one step closer to a strike.

Meanwhile, as contract talks with Chicago teachers are underway, Rauner made a bid Wednesday to take over the city's public school system, saying he wanted to "take on the teachers union in Chicago."

Rauner's inability to split Democrats Cullerton and Madigan is similar to the GOP governor's attempt to try to use Chicago's city and school money woes to get Emanuel to support Rauner's pro-business, union-weakening agenda.

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Emanuel has rejected Rauner's plans, prompting the Republican governor to label the mayor as a "failure" on several fronts and a Democrat hiding behind Madigan.

Asked Thursday how he expects to get Madigan on board for anything in Springfield while blasting the powerful speaker publicly, Rauner smiled.

"He's taught us how to work with him," Rauner said. "Peace through strength."

kgeiger@tribpub.com

rap@aol.com
While campaigning for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin addressed recent reports that her son Track was arrested earlier this week in a domestic violence case. Jan. 20, 2016. (AP)

While campaigning for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin addressed recent reports that her son Track was arrested earlier this week in a domestic violence case. Jan. 20, 2016. (AP) (Associated Press)

Sarah Palin, like Donald Trump, the presidential candidate she endorsed this week, is a blank screen.

You can project whatever you want on her and she'll willingly reflect back what you wish to see. If you hate President Barack Obama and yearn for some idealized vision of America, she'll blame all the world's ills on him and then reassure you that the straight-talking Mama Grizzly wrapped in an American flag is going to make everything OK.

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If you're paranoid about the government, she'll be paranoid with you. If you think someone's coming for your guns, she'll confirm that unfounded fear.

She's the affirmation of your deepest concerns, a defender of American values and the comforting reminder that the problems you face aren't your fault, and that you're not alone.

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She is, in other words, a charlatan of the highest order.

Agna Hurst was at a Trump/Palin rally Wednesday in Oklahoma and told Bloomberg: "With Sarah Palin, I just can feel it, she speaks from her heart."

Respectfully, no she doesn't, Ms. Hurst. She speaks from YOUR heart.

She wants to be what you want her to be, so you'll support her, and buy her books, and donate money to her super PAC, and ignore the fact that her family is hypocrisy come to life.

She is not sincere. She is not smart. And she is not a good person.

How else can you reconcile her decision at Wednesday's rally to take her son's recent arrest on domestic violence charges and blame it, effectively, on Obama. She cited her son's post-traumatic stress disorder from military service  no small matter, of course  and then implied that Obama's handling of America's veterans and the way they are cared for led her son to, according to a police report, punch his girlfriend in the face, kick her in the knee and threaten suicide with an AR-15 rifle.

She made no comment about the woman, who police say hid under a bed in the Palin home crying. She made no reference to the many soldiers who suffer PTSD and don't commit violent assaults. She made no reference to the fact that, despite this country's pitiful treatment of veterans and their mental health, she is a millionaire entertainer who could undoubtedly afford to get her son the best treatment available.

Paul Rieckhoff, the head of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, told NBC News: "It's not President Obama's fault that Sarah Palin's son has PTSD. PTSD is a very serious problem, a complicated mental health injury and I would be extremely reluctant to blame any one person in particular."

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Anyone with half a brain and a modicum of decency would be reluctant to blame one person for such a problem. But Palin has no such decency. She took Trump's stage and used it to shift responsibility for her son's actions onto someone else, and to play into the everything-is-Obama's-fault narrative she knows her admirers want to hear.

So goes the party of personal responsibility.

Trump is no better. His thousands-strong audiences are coming to his rallies and hearing their own fears and biases and suspicions projected back at them.

They've spent years listening to politicians promise them legislative acts that were never remotely possible  repeal Obamacare, defund Planned Parenthood, ban gay marriage  and now they're rightfully angry. When you're angry, nothing feels better than having someone validate that anger and throw it right back at you five times louder and angrier.

But getting duped by one set of people only to be duped by another isn't progress. Palin and Trump do nothing but spout platitudes and make vague promises based on zero actual policy proposals.

They're a match made in reality television heaven, fabulists who feather their own nests by telling you the world's crumbling and they're the only ones who can patch it up.

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It's like the old musical, "The Music Man." Con man Harold Hill rolls into River City, Iowa, and convinces the locals that they have trouble, selling them a solution that will never come.

Hill sings to the people: "Well, either you're closing your eyes to a situation you do not wish to acknowledge, or you are not aware of the caliber of disaster indicated."

That pretty well sums you up if you're buying what Palin and Trump are selling.

All politicians are con artists, to one degree or another. But these two are the worst kind.

They shout the things people want to hear shouted and they accept responsibility for nothing, giving others permission to do the same.

They're blank screens. Empty souls. And terribly, terribly bad for the country they claim to love.

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rhuppke@tribpub.com
Former Redflex CEO Karen Finley arrives for a hearing Aug. 20, 2015, at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

The often secret but legendary power politics at City Hall played a major role in a bribery scheme that propelled Chicago's red light camera program into the largest in the nation, a key player testified Wednesday.

Karen Finley, 55, the ousted CEO of Redflex Traffic Systems, told federal jurors that among the many benefits her company reaped from paying bribes to a political insider was his advice on which connected lobbyists to hire and what politicians to court.

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John Bills, whose longtime political connections helped him rise through the ranks at City Hall to become the No. 2 official in the city's Department of Transportation, is on trial on charges he took up to $2 million in bribes and gifts from Redflex and Finley.

The scheme was first exposed by the Tribune in 2012.

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Finley, who pleaded guilty in August after working out a deal with prosecutors, said she first met Bills in 2003 over drinks in the Signature Lounge atop the John Hancock Center. The get-together came on the eve of a key meeting at City Hall as Redflex prepared for a "head-to-head faceoff" with a competitor over the lucrative Chicago deal.

Former Redflex CEO Karen Finley arrives to the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago on Aug. 20, 2015, before her guilty plea. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

"We sat and talked with John, and the essence of the discussion was giving Redflex some tips in working with the city, how to navigate the process, what we were up against, that sort of stuff," Finley testified.

Redflex won the initial contract, but a political problem arose in 2007 as Bills was pushing to give Redflex a deal to expand the program in a "sole sourced" deal that would have eliminated any competition as the number of cameras installed throughout the city grew to more than 100.

Finley testified that one of Redflex's main competitors for the business had aligned itself with 14th Ward Ald. Edward Burke, the dean of the City Council and chairman of its powerful Finance Committee.

The competing vendor, American Traffic Solutions, had complained about Bills' cozy relationship with Redflex, and Burke  a decadeslong political ally to the owner of an ATS subcontractor  had worked to torpedo the sole-sourced deal.

In response, Redflex decided that it needed more clout than just Bills' influence at City Hall and sought out his advice on how to accomplish that goal, Finley testified. She said Bills recommended an all-out political attack.

Jurors were shown Finley's note of one conversation with Bills in which he advised her to hire longtime lobbyist William Filan because of his close ties to Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, who also runs the vaunted 13th Ward Regular Political Organization.

"Filan  Mike Madigan, speaker of the house, daughter is attorney general," Finley scribbled on a piece of paper as she spoke with Bills. "Filan came up with Madigan  stronger than Burke (Madigan)."

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Bills rose through the ranks at City Hall as a precinct captain and top fundraiser in Madigan's political army. Prosecutors have made no allegations that Madigan or any other elected official has done anything improper on Bills' behalf.

Bills attorney, Nishay Sanan, opened his questioning of Finley by asking her how she pulled off another bribery scheme she pleaded guilty to in Columbus, Ohio.

"In that case you hired a lobbyist who bribed elected officials, correct?" he asked.

"Yes," she said.

Sanan has repeatedly argued that Bills did not have the power or authority to steer tens of millions of dollars in contracts to Redflex.

Finley testified that she hired Filan on Bills' advice, as well as other lobbyists, and that Redflex eventually emerged with the contract. Filan did not return a telephone message Wednesday. Other well-connected lobbyists and consultants hired by Redflex at the time included Greg Goldner, Mark Fary, Bill Griffin and Michael Kasper.

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Finley said Bills warned her about political sabotage at City Hall, including fears that Redflex's bid could be doomed if a page or two from its proposal was "accidentally" lost.

"There was a concern that one of the (competitors) might have gotten to someone in procurement," she said.

Under questioning from U.S. Attorney Zachary Fardon, Finley also testified that Bills was working at City Hall to bring more business to Redflex from the very beginning of their relationship  and those plans included expanding to mobile speed camera vans as well as cameras on buses, at stoplights and even on the city's fleet of street sweepers.

"He was very good at getting more systems installed in the city," she said.

Fardon showed jurors numerous emails that detailed Bills' cozy relationship with Redflex.

"John Bills very much wants Redflex to continue to be the exclusive provider of camera enforcement equipment in the city," one high-level company executive wrote Oct. 11, 2004, in an email to Finley and others. "It is very clear that Mayor (Richard M.) Daley has embraced camera enforcement and wants to expand the program to include other things (i.e: street sweepers, city busses, etc.). John is convinced that, based upon prior experience, this concept will become a very hot item very quickly.

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"He has told us that with the current financial situation in the city (they may actually lay off workers this week) he sees very little chance that they would reject another public safety program that also happens to generate revenue," wrote Robert Warner, the director of customer management for Redflex.

Finley testified that Redflex was struggling to pay its bills in 2003 when the Chicago deal first arose.

"Redflex was very cash-strapped," she said. "We were really struggling with cash flow, making payroll and paying vendors. It was a really tough time.

"Chicago was a major city, and Redflex didn't have any major cities at that time."

She also testified about the company's hiring of a Chicago consultant who was paid $1,500 to $2,000 in commissions for every new camera that was installed, money that was then intended for Bills.

She said she initially had doubts about hiring Martin O'Malley for the job because he lacked experience and computer savvy, but she testified that she was still only a vice president in 2003 and her concerns were overruled by then CEO Bruce Higgins.

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"Basically, he was John's guy and we were going to hire him," Finley said she was told. "Whenever I tried to fight with Bruce on something, I didn't win, and it really wasn't a battle I wanted to take up."

But O'Malley's commissions became a problem within the company after the program  and the commission checks  began to expand in 2006 and 2007, Finley said. She recalled the fallout on one occasion when O'Malley mistakenly filed a $52,000 commission invoice to Bill Braden, the construction manager in Redflex's Chicago office.

"I didn't want Bill Braden to know what kind of money Marty O'Malley was making because it was so much more than Bill and he was a harder worker than Marty," Finley testified.

Jurors were shown an email string between Finley and another Redflex executive, Jennifer Dwiggens, in which Finley sought advice on how to explain O'Malley's exorbitant pay.

"I haven't come up with any spin that he couldn't see through in a second," Dwiggens wrote to Finley in May 2007. "Maybe it's best that he learn about it and learn what the real world is truly like. It's not like it would do any good to bitch about this to John Bills. It may make him very angry, but that's not necessarily a bad thing."

"Very good point," Finley replied.

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Finley also testified about Bills' demand that Redflex give him a job after he retired in 2011 after a 32-year career with the city.

She said she turned to Goldner, another politically connected consultant hired by Redflex to promote red light and speed camera enforcement. Goldner, who owned Resolute Consulting, had managed campaigns for Mayors Daley and Rahm Emanuel.

Finley was shown an email she had received from Redflex's general counsel about hiring Bills.

"I have introduced John Bills to Kasper and Resolute," Andrejs Bunkse wrote in the email in June 2011. "They both will be able to give him a job. Bills is happy."

After he retired from the city that same month, Bills took a part-time, $35,000-a-year post on an obscure Cook County employee appeals board long known as a haven for those with political clout. Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle has refused to say who asked her to appoint Bills to the post.

Kasper, a longtime lawyer and political ally to Madigan, said Wednesday he played no role and that the email read in federal court Wednesday was mistaken.

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"I have never had a role in getting him a job," Kasper said.

Bills also took a job working for a Redflex-funded nonprofit run by Resolute.

Finley teared up early in her testimony when Fardon asked about the impact of her guilty plea.

"I will have a felony record for the rest of my life," she testified, her voice cracking with emotion.

Finley, who was fired as president and CEO of Redflex Traffic Systems Inc. after Tribune stories exposed the corruption, said her plea deal calls for up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

In exchange, she said, she promised to provide truthful testimony in the government's case against Bills.

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Fardon also questioned Finley about numerous false statements she has made to her own staff, in depositions, internal Redflex investigations, even in initial interviews with federal agents.

"Ms. Finley, why did you lie over and over again about this scheme?" Fardon asked.

"I was scared," she said.

dkidwell@tribpub.com

Twitter @davidkidwell1
Aurora Mayor Thomas Weisner, right, and Fire Marshal Gary Krienitz share a handshake at the Aurora Central Fire Station Thursday. Weisner had just announced that Krienitz is his recommendation to be the next fire chief in the city. (Mike Mantucca, The Beacon-News)

Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner on Thursday recommended Fire Marshal Gary Krienitz, a 19-year Aurora Fire Department veteran, as the new Aurora fire chief.

Krienitz, 43, would take office Feb. 20, the day after the retirement of current Chief John Lehman takes effect. Weisner said Krienitz was chosen from a field of "six very strong candidates" from within the department, a sign of the good leadership developed by Lehman during his time as chief.

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"How fortunate we are to have well-trained, qualified firefighters in our department," Weisner said.

He added that because Krienitz may become chief at a relatively young age, "he has the potential to serve many years in the job."

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Weisner made his announcement Thursday afternoon in the main bay of the Central Fire Station downtown. Many Fire Department leaders and rank-and-file members attended the announcement, as well as members of the Aurora Police Department  including Chief Kristen Ziman, just appointed herself two weeks ago  aldermen and members of the public.

The Aurora City Council must approve the appointment. Aldermen will discuss it at a special meeting of the committee of the whole at 5 p.m. Jan. 26. The City Council will convene for its regularly scheduled meeting at 6 p.m. that night, where it will vote on the mayor's recommendation of Krienitz for fire chief.

Serving in the Aurora Fire Department for 19 years, Krienitz began as a paramedic before being promoted to lieutenant and then captain. In April 2015, he was appointed as Aurora's fire marshal.

Krienitz is a graduate of Waubonsie Valley High School in Aurora.

"When I was in high school at Waubonsie Valley, a friend gave me an opportunity to ride with Medic 4 at Fire Station 4. Little did I know that brief ride-along would have such an impact on who I would become," he said. "Now to be considered for the position as the next chief of the Aurora Fire Department is such a great honor."

In 2014, Krienitz was named firefighter of the year in Aurora. Along with Pvt. Jason Larson and Pvt. Dan Murphy, he earned the department's top award for efforts during a dangerous motel fire that resulted in them saving the lives of two people.

A member of the National Fire Protection Association and the International Association of Arson Investigators, Krienitz holds more than 15 certifications, including being a certified evidence technician, rescue specialist, arson investigator, emergency medical technician, juvenile fire setter counselor, and personal trainer. He has completed more than 50 training courses through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Illinois Fire Service Institute, the Illinois State Police Academy for Arson and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Krienitz earned his fire science degree from the College of DuPage and was a team leader with the DuPage County Fire Investigation Task Force.

Weisner also praised Krienitz for his work in the community. He mentors youth at Calvary Church, teaches Junior Achievement classes at local schools, and has put his training to use with medical missions in Guatemala, Cambodia, the Philippines, Brazil, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Belgium, Slovakia and Ethiopia.

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Krienitz thanked Lehman for mentoring him "for my entire career." He also thanked all the firefighters in Aurora, who he said always supported him. He called them "smart and excellent."

He also thanked his wife, Stephanie, "for her unwavering support." They have two children, Claire and Kevin.

"To every citizen ... and property owner in the city of Aurora, you can count on me to serve with professionalism, dignity and humility," he said.

slord@tribpub.com
Elgin has challenged in court an Illinois Commerce Commission ruling that allowed ComEd to put up these power lines near Bowes Creek Boulevard as part of its Grand Prairie Gateway project. (Mike Danahey / The Courier-News)

Oral arguments are set to be heard March 1 in the appellate court of the Illinois Second Judicial District in Elgin regarding the city of Elgin's challenge to the Illinois Commerce Commission's approval of ComEd's Grand Prairie Gateway project, according to court records.

"This effort shows the City Council and city staff being supportive of residents' concerns about the project," Councilman Rich Dunne said Wednesday. "A group of them led by a task force formed at the Bowes Active Adult subdivision spent more than $30,000 opposing the project."

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While towers holdings power lines that are part of project already are in place on Elgin's far west side and elsewhere, the city filed a brief in late July with the appellate court challenging the Illinois Commerce Commission's approval of the work that was granted in October 2014.

Last fall, Elgin Mayor Dave Kaptain said the appeal represented "following the process through to completion," after he and other city councilmembers and staff had heard from residents in subdivisions affected by the power lines, such as the three at Bowes Creek, who had urged Elgin to pursue the matter.

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Elgin has challenged in court an Illinois Commerce Commission ruling that allowed ComEd to put up these power lines near Bowes Creek Boulevard as part of its Grand Prairie Gateway project. (Mike Danahey / The Courier-News)

"The Grand Prairie Gateway transmission project was approved by the Illinois Commerce Commission in October of 2014," said ComEd spokesman David O'Dowd. "The City of Elgin has filed an appeal of the ICC Order arguing primarily that the law required ComEd to identify an 'alternate route' for the transmission line in the Elgin area, comprising about 12 miles of the 60-mile route."

"The Public Utilities Act does not require that a utility identify an alternate route if there is good cause for not doing so," according to O'Dowd. "ComEd already owned significant property rights-of-way in the area and to identify and construct the line on an alternate route would be significantly more expensive and disruptive to customers. The ICC agreed that ComEd demonstrated 'good cause' for not identifying an alternate route in this area."

While not involved in any appeal, South Elgin Village President Steve Ward said Wednesday he was glad to hear Elgin was still pursuing the matter.

According to Ward, ComEd had told South Elgin of its initial route, changed the route after community discussions, then had concerns that led it to change back to the initially presented path.

"If Elgin is able to make its case, maybe this will help us, too," Ward said.

According to the brief, among the city's contentions is that "the commission erred in finding that ComEd met its burden of showing good cause for failing to identify an alternative route for the project through the city of Elgin."

It also contends the commission erred in finding ComEd met its burden of showing that the proposed route was "the least cost means to achieve its objectives and was equitable to all customers."

Prior to the ICC's 2014 approval, administrative law judges Terrance A. Hilliard and Heather Jorgenson issued an order recommending the ICC deny Commonwealth Edison's submitted plans for the $250 million project.

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Elgin has challenged in court an Illinois Commerce Commission ruling that allowed ComEd to put up these power lines near Bowes Creek Boulevard as part of its Grand Prairie Gateway project. (Mike Danahey / The Courier-News)

"The Commission finds that ComEd has failed to identify an alternate right of way for 20 percent of the project (from Elgin to Wayne), and it has failed to show good cause why it should be excused from providing and identifying an alternative right of way for that part of the project," the order stated.

The route is set to span close to 60 miles  from a substation in Byron to one in Wayne and through Ogle, Dekalb, Kane and DuPage counties  and to hold a 345,000-volt power line. The utility hopes to have the line in service by 2017.

"The Grand Prairie Gateway line will create immediate customer savings by reducing grid congestion, increasing customers' access to lower-cost generation, including wind power, and will reduce carbon emissions by 473,000 tons over 15 years," O'Dowd said. "A detailed analysis indicates that customers will save approximately $250 million collectively within that time frame."

MDanahey@tribpub.com
Hinsdale village officials will encourage, rather than require, property owners to shovel the sidewalk after it snows.

Instead of writing new ordinances and imposing fines, the Village Board will use emails, cable TV and post cards to remind residents that clearing snow and ice from public sidewalks adjacent to private property is the property owner's responsibility.

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"Where the staff and I came out on this is, at this point, it's not a good idea to have fines for a whole variety of reasons," said Village President Thomas Cauley, Jr.,

The village trustees said they had heard complaints from residents about walks that were not shoveled after snowfalls, particularly on routes to and from schools, the downtown shopping area and train stations.

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After it snowed Dec. 28, Public Services Department employees drove around the schools to see how many of the sidewalks were shoveled. The majority of property owners had cleared the sidewalk, they reported. Only two or three homeowners on each block had not shoveled. Because it was during the holidays, village officials recognize that some of those homeowners may have been out of town.

That is one reason an ordinance could be difficult to enforce.

The village staff surveyed more than 20 municipalities in the area. Of the towns that had an ordinance requiring residents to remove snow from public sidewalks adjacent to their homes, Chicago issued the most citations, 226, last year, followed by Oak Park with 14, the staff reported. The other towns with citations, such as Barrington, Glenview, Naperville and River Forest, issued about 10 citations a year or fewer. All the towns listed first issued a warning to the property owner, before writing a citation.

Hinsdale officials have decided to address the situation by broadcasting reminders about shoveling snow on the local cable channel 6. Residents who have signed up on the village website, www.villageofhinsdale.org, to receive the village's weekly electronic newsletter, will read about it there, and reminders will be included in customers' bi-monthly water bills.

Community service officers and staff from community development also will carry postcards that they will hand deliver to households that need a reminder, said George Peluso, director of public services. The general guideline will be those homes where the sidewalks have not been cleared within 24 hours after it has stopped snowing and the accumulation is 2 inches or more may get a postcard that expresses understanding there may be difficulties and offering village assistance or referral to snow removal contractors.

The staff will maintain a database to track which sidewalks are problems.

The village also printed a brochure with snow removal guidelines that is available at public buildings and by request. It explains the village plows snow after 2 inches have fallen and lists the areas that crews from the Public Services Department or a contractor hired by the village clear of snow and ice. They include the platforms at and the sidewalks near the downtown and Highland Metra train stations.

The flier reminds residents not to shovel snow into the street, to remove the snow around fire hydrants, and advises homeowners who have sump pumps that drain into the public right of way to check that ice does not build up.

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kfornek@pioneerlocal.com

Twitter: @kfdoings
Police and paramedics work the scene of crash between a school bus and two semi-trucks on Green Bay Road in Beach Park on Wednesday. (Joe Shuman, News-Sun)

Nine children injured when their school bus and two semitrucks crashed in Beach Park Wednesday afternoon have all been released from local hospitals, school officials said Thursday.

"There were no serious injuries, so we were really fortunate," said Nancy Wagner, superintendent of Beach Park School District 3.

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Most of the kids were back in school Thursday, though some stayed home with headaches and minor "bumps and bruises," she said.

The bus was taking 56 students home from Kenneth Murphy Elementary School when it was struck from behind while stopped in traffic on Green Bay Road at Major Avenue, forcing it to collide with another semitruck in front of it, said Detective Christopher Covelli, a Lake County sheriff's office spokesman.

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The school's principal, Matt Mayer, said he rode the bus with students this morning "just to try to make it normal."

But Mayer said the children and their parents were even happier to see their school bus driver, a fixture on the route for about 15 years, for at least one more ride.

Wagner said the driver, "well-loved" by children who know him as Mr. Hand, decided to retire after the crash. But he came back to ride with the children Thursday morning and introduce them to their new driver, Wagner said.

"We're saying goodbye which is sad for us, and he will be missed," she said.

The driver of the truck that crashed into the bus, Milos Ostojic, 55, of the 900 block of Clark Drive in Gurnee, has been charged with failing to reduce speed to avoid an accident, driving without proof of insurance and not having a driver's license on him, Covelli said.

Covelli said he wasn't sure whether Ostojic was driving the semitruck for work.

Illinois Secretary of State records list Ostojic as the president of Golija Express, Inc. According to Lake County court records, Ostojic was cited for speeding in 2012 and 2009, tickets that resulted in supervision, traffic school and fines.

His next court date is scheduled for Feb. 8

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lzumbach@tribpub.com

Twitter @laurenzumbach
According to a local survey commissioned by the Sierra Club, 70 percent of respondents support a transition plan to retire the Waukegan lakefronts coal-fired power plant. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

Members of the environmental-activist group Clean Power Lake County returned to the Waukegan City Council this week to tout the results of a local poll commissioned by the Sierra Club that reported 70 percent of respondents supporting a transition plan to retire the lakefront's coal-fired power plant.

Sister Kathleen Long from Most Blessed Trinity Parish, who presented the poll's findings before the council Tuesday, said she believes the survey shows that "our community is asking for change, for a healthier, clean-energy Waukegan."

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"We want to work with you, as leaders in the city, (with) citizens in the various wards, and we want to work with NRG, the current owners of the coal plant," Long said. "We see each other as partners. How can we move this issue forward, especially when looking at (plans) for lakefront redevelopment?"

Officials with the Sierra Club and the Global Strategy Group, a New York-based research firm, released the poll results last week, saying the findings were drawn from 300 interviews conducted with registered voters in Waukegan between Dec. 11 and Dec. 20, 2015.

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Of those supporting retirement of coal-based operations at the Greenwood Avenue plant, a reported 78 percent were black, 73 percent were Latino and 64 percent white. Higher numbers in each category were reported when respondents were asked if they supported more energy generation from solar fields.

From a political perspective, a reported 77 percent of those in favor of transitioning the plant away from coal were Democrats and 58 percent Republican or independent. Global Strategy vice president Anthony Baumann said during a Jan. 14 media conference call that the pollsters had taken "great care" to cover all nine wards in the city and all demographics.

Baumann added that support for ending coal operations at the plant was "pretty solid across demographic lines, but in particular among Latino voters, with 81 percent of that cohort favoring a transition away from coal" when the question was presented a second time after listening to statements for and against the practice.

Christine Nannicelli with the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign in Illinois said last week that she believes the poll results reflected an ongoing effort to push for NRG to explore other options for generating power at its Waukegan Station.

"We've knocked on hundreds of doors in the county and talked to thousands of residents, and it's good to see this poll reflecting what we've heard," Nannicelli said. "The real question here is whether Waukegan will be part of (a transition), or will it be left behind?"

In December, Clean Power Lake County members presented the City Council with a reported 2,000 petitions signed by residents calling for the formation of a task force to study options for plant operation and future land use. Asked what response she had fielded from city officials following that effort, Nannicelli said, "We have yet to hear a ton of feedback, (but) the feedback was positive."

"Now I think the team is just ready to follow up with each of (the aldermen) one by one to build support for this transition task force," added Nannicelli, saying that "the urgency of a community transition plan should be absolutely clear to Mayor (Wayne) Motley and the City Council."

At Tuesday's council meeting, Motley told Long that he had spoken with Waukegan Station representatives earlier in the day. Elaborating on that following the meeting, Motley said the discussion revolved around setting up a meeting with not just local plant managers but officials with the New Jersey-based parent company.

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"I'm trying to set up a meeting with NRG and the Sierra Club," Motley said. "I've been trying to do that for a while, and (NRG is) a little bit hesitant, and I understand that. But we're trying to get all the ducks in a row, and I'll work something out."

Motley added that he feels the situation is a complicated one, saying "you've got a several-hundred-million-dollar investment down there" while weighing environmental and economic concerns.

"I'm not opposed to clean energy," Motley said, "but they pay the city of Waukegan in taxes almost $900,000 (annually). That's substantial. They're the second-highest taxpayer in the city of Waukegan."

Reached for comment on the Sierra Club polling on Wednesday, NRG spokesman David Gaier reiterated recent statements pointing out that the company expressed a commitment to continue operations at the Waukegan Station with coal shortly after acquiring the plant in August 2014.

"The plan's central focus was to clean up and modernize the Illinois fleet with a more than half-billion dollar investment  one that's already producing historic and massive emissions reductions," Gaier said in a statement. "We've now completed a project to install state-of-the art environmental controls at Waukegan, along with a $3 million investment for a Waukegan solar project that is moving forward rapidly.

"The recent poll notwithstanding, there are a great many supporters of NRG's Waukegan Station, which is safely and reliably producing affordable power, providing many skilled and well-paying jobs, significant tax revenue for the city, and additional economic benefits for Waukegan and the region."

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According to an asset list posted by NRG last autumn, Waukegan's coal-fired boilers generate 689 megawatts of power, or enough to cover 550,000 residences. The $3 million solar project referred to by Gaier is aimed at installing energy panels on the roofs of Waukegan Public School buildings, a project that is reported to be making progress this winter after stalling last summer. A list of schools to be fitted with panels is reportedly expected to be finalized by the end of this month.

dmoran@tribpub.com

Twitter @NewsSunDanMoran
Two Chicago men, one of them on the run from authorities in Virginia, have been charged with prostitution-related crimes at a hotel on Naperville's far northwest side.

Kendall K. Johnson, 24, and Terrell Jackson, 21, were arrested shortly before midnight Friday at the Red Roof Inn, 1698 W. Diehl Road, according to police records.

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Naperville police Cmdr. Jason Arres late Wednesday confirmed Jackson and Johnson "operated together" out of the hotel room, "and were conducting their business in the shared space."

A document included in Johnson's court file said he "posted an online ad and admitted to attempting to arrange sexual encounters in exchange for money."

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Johnson also allegedly provided a detective with the alias "Chatirika Johnson," as well as a phony date of birth, at the time of his arrest, according to records.

Arres said Jackson contacted or was contacted by a man who went to the room, where Jackson allegedly performed a sex act on him in exchange for an undisclosed amount of money.

"Police are still finishing their investigation, and more details will be forthcoming, once the investigation is complete," Arres said.

Johnson, of the 9400 block of South Champlain Avenue, was charged with attempted prostitution, obstructing identification and being a fugitive from justice, according to jail records. He is being held without bond at DuPage County jail.

Jackson, of the 200 block of North Laporte Avenue in Chicago, was charged with prostitution and freed on bond, police and court records showed.

Information provided Wednesday by the Arlington County (Va.) Police Department showed Johnson was arrested in March 2015 on a complaint filed by a 26-year-old man.

The man told police "an individual that he solicited from a backpage website robbed him at his residence of cash and a Macbook (computer)," a police spokeswoman said via email. Johnson "was located a short time later  and arrested for robbery, grand larceny and grand larceny with intent to sell."

Johnson later pleaded guilty to the grand larceny charge. He became a fugitive after allegedly violating the terms of his probation in that crime.

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Court records show Johnson has waived extradition to Virginia. He is scheduled to next appear in court Tuesday and again on Feb. 2.

Attempts Wednesday to reach Jackson at his home for comment were unsuccessful. His preliminary court hearing date is pending.

wbird@tribpub.com
Former state Sen. Kirk Dillard of Hinsdale and his successor in the 24th District, Chris Nybo of Elmhurst, both are running in the March 15 primary election to be delegates for Jeb Bush at this summer's Republican National Convention in Cleveland.

Dillard said he was asked by a Bush representative last summer to run.

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"He was a great governor and is a decent man, and he has shared the most insight into what he would do as president," Dillard said.

Nybo said he was approached in August 2015 to be a delegate for the former Florida governor.

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"In Florida, I always liked his record on job creation and creating a balanced budget," Nybo said.

Dillard said he previously was a delegate for George W. Bush and John McCain. He has been going as a staff member to Republican National Conventions since Ronald Regan was president in the 1980s.

"I love conventions," Dillard said. "It's like Cubs and Sox fans going to those conventions for their teams; if you're in politics, this is the ultimate, full emersion into politics. It's exciting and makes for great people watching."

Dillard said he is surprised Bush no longer is the front-runner, a position he seemed to have secured midway through 2015. Dillard said he believes Bush still has a chance to get the nomination.

"It's possible, if the Republican Party wakes up," Dillard said. "Anything is possible in politics. I've been around long enough to know that.

He said Ted Cruz and Donald Trump would have a tougher time beating Hillary Clinton.

"I think Gov. Bush is highly electable; he has great relationships with a lot of different people, and he speaks Spanish, which I think is a definite plus," Dillard said.

He said he believes Trump's current popularity in polls is due mainly to people wanting a change.

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"People are angry," he said. "It's clear people are looking for a change. Looking to an outside candidate may be the way to go, but you need to be very careful. Barack Obama was an outside candidate."

Nybo said he believes the apparent strong support for Trump isn't necessarily real support for the former reality TV star.

"A lot of people are expressing their frustration with the process, rather than what they actually think about the candidates," said Nybo, who, if elected, will attend his first convention.

"I don't put a whole lot of stock in early polling. I always like to look at the undecided, which we don't really know about, yet."

Even though Bush's poll numbers are low, Nybo believes the former Florida governor shouldn't make any big changes in his campaign strategy.

"He needs to keep doing what he's doing and let the people start voting," Nybo said. "Early primaries have always had surprises. Things will really take shape in February and March."

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cfieldman@pioneerlocal.com

Twitter: @chuckwriting
For-profit tutors and groups of two or more people conducting business at the Park Ridge Public Library will need to open their wallets beginning in March.

The Park Ridge Library Board approved a new policy Jan. 19 requiring tutors and "business organizations" to register with the library, sign in and out on the days they use the library to meet with clients, and pay a $10 hourly fee.

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The sign-in policy will begin Feb. 1 and the fee will begin March 1, according to Library Executive Director Janet Van De Carr. Only cash and checks will be accepted for payment.

The vote was 5-3 in favor of the new rules. Voting for the policy were trustees Char Foss-Eggemann, Joe Egan, Dean Parisi, Michael Reardon and Robert Trizna. Voting against the policy were trustees Stevan Dobrilovic, Judy Rayborn and Jerry White. Trustee Patrick Lamb was absent.

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Van De Carr said staff is working on a plan that will address how the policy is enforced by employees of the library and what should be done if patrons refuse to register or pay.

The policy will require library staff to approach patrons and ask them if they are conducting business, Van De Carr said.

"That really is the only way we'll be able to monitor use in the building," she acknowledged. "If we don't recognize someone as a businessperson who regularly uses the library, we will have to inquire and inform people of our policy."

According to the policy, the registration, sign-in and fee requirement will apply to "two or more individuals meeting in the library in the course of providing or receiving any goods or services for profit." A business organization is defined in the policy as "any individual, trust, estate, sole proprietor, partnership, association, company or corporation engaged in the occupation of providing goods or services."

The policy will not apply to caregivers or individuals who are conducting work by themselves, library trustees have said.

In large part, the library will have to rely on the honor system in determining if patrons are profiting from the work they are doing in the library, Van De Carr said.

"All we can do is expect people to be honest when we ask them the question," she said.

The plan is to require all tutors and businesspeople to use the former newspaper and magazine alcove on the second floor after they sign in at the reference desk, Van De Carr said.

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A press release, which Van De Carr said was drafted by library trustees, says that the new policy on conducting business in the library is in response to "demand for the commercial use of space in the library and the impact on patrons."

Citizens listen as a speaker addresses a Park Ridge Public Library policy that will regulate business conducted in the building during a Jan. 19 library board meeting. (Jennifer Johnson / Pioneer Press)

"Patrons have reported that their comfort and their welcome have waned as table space has become increasingly unavailable due to business activity in both the adult areas of the building and in the children's section," Egan said in the release. He continued by saying that the policy "balances the interests of the entire community, choosing registration and an hourly fee for commercial activity instead of an outright ban of such activity."

During the board's Jan. 19 meeting, citizens addressed the library trustees for roughly 90 minutes, all but one of the 16 speakers expressing opposition to the policy, particularly the $10 hourly fee attached. The majority identified themselves as parents and library users.

"I won't go to this library, I won't bring my children to this library," Park Ridge parent Jen Saviski told the Park Ridge Herald-Advocate after the policy was approved. "I'll take them to a library in a community that welcomes their residents, welcomes the education of our young people. I'm disgusted. I just moved here."

Salena Flint, a Chicago resident who said she is considering moving to Park Ridge, visits the Park Ridge Library with her son, but questioned if the business policy will lead to other fees.

"When will I be charged for taking him there as a non-resident?" she asked. "It's only a matter of time before they revisit these issues and start asking the librarians to do something, like policing for people who are not residents."

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The library currently charges non-Park Ridge residents for computer use and for attendance at some programs.

Mary Beth Clarke, who identified herself as an independent tutor who uses the library, said she will no longer tutor students at the Park Ridge Library.

"I think our board has lost a lot of trust in the community," she said.

During the meeting, Trustee Dobrilovic had proposed that the library wait 90 days after the start of the policy before charging tutors and businesspeople, but the motion failed.

Though a number of citizens have spoken out against the policy at library meetings, expressed opposition on social media and signed a Change.org petition to keep the library "a free space," Trustee Reardon said he has spoken to many people in the community who favor the regulation of business in the library.

"This isn't as one-sided as people would have us believe  at least not the people talking to me," he said.

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The Jan. 19 meeting also included a lengthy dialogue between Trizna and former library board member Dick Van Metre, who said the fee-based policy is not what the library needs.

"There has been, with the library board, a feeling that people who are using library services without paying for them are not carrying their weight, even though, as taxpayers, they are paying for them," Van Metre said. "I do not like the idea of switching to a fee-based library. I don't think that has any relevance to the library's mission. I think it detracts from it."

It was Trizna who, during a July 2015 board meeting, suggested that the library was "subsidizing" local tutors by allowing them to use the library at no charge. The board initially backed away from addressing the issue, but began considering a policy after hearing from a local tutoring center owner who suggested filling library tables and computer stations with his own tutors in attempt to save money.

In his blog this week, Trizna called an anonymous poster a "freeloading tutor" when the individual referred to the library's tutoring and business policy as "idiotic" and accused Trizna of "targeting people who are helping people learn."

"We're not 'targeting people who are helping people learn,'" Trizna wrote in response. "We're 'targeting' freeloaders (and non-resident parasites) who think they're so special that they're entitled to free space to run their private, for-profit businesses. It's not our fault if those two groups aren't mutually exclusive."

jjohnson@pioneerlocal.com

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Twitter: @Jen_Pioneer
A Merrillville woman was sentenced Wednesday to six years in prison for dealing in a narcotic drug.

Lorna Katherine Zaber, 33, admitted she sold heroin on May 1, 2014, to a confidential informant working with Lake County Drug Task Force investigators. Zaber admitted she sold the informant the heroin, which was in a folded piece of aluminum foil. The deal occurred in the 6200 block of Johnson Street in Merrillville.

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Lake Superior Court Judge Salvador Vasquez said he would recommend that Zaber be housed in the Indiana Department of Correction purposeful incarceration program for chemically addicted offenders and that if she successfully completes the program, he will grant a request to modify her sentence.

Two other dealing charges, each punishable by six to 20 years, were dismissed.

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Intimidation charge brought against Hammond man

A Hammond man has been charged in Lake Superior court with intimidation involving a Hammond police officer who arrested him on misdemeanor charges of possession of marijuana and possession of paraphernalia.

Robert William Bretthorst, 32, of the 3251 176th Place, told the officer he hates the Hammond police while he was being driven to the Hammond City Jail. The officer gave him his last name but wouldn't not reveal his first name to Bretthorst.

Later, police found Bretthorst posted threatening messages on Facebook in which he allegedly threatened the officer, said he knew the officer's address and lauded the death of police officers.

"The only type of good cop is a dead cop, every cop is bad in some way shape or form," one of the posts said, according to the probable cause affidavit.

The intimidation charge is a Level 6 felony, which is punishable by six months to 30 months.

Man in dress gets probation for battery

A Chicago man was sentenced Wednesday to two years of probation for battery with moderate bodily injury.

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Kenneth Lakeith Floyd, 21, admitted that on July 22, he and co-defendant Marckell Giles approached the victim dressed as women at a liquor store in Illinois. They asked the man for a ride, and when he refused, Floyd pointed at his purse and implied he had a gun inside. The victim was afraid and drove the men to Hammond, where Giles and Floyd told him to get out of his car. When he refused, they punched him.

Floyd, who wore a dress, fuzzy knee-high socks and a faux fur jacket to his sentencing hearing, must earn his high school diploma during the first year of his probation.

Lake Superior Court Judge Salvador Vasquez cited Floyd's extensive contacts with police in Illinois as an aggravating factor.

Giles, 23, of Chicago, was sentenced last week to two years of probation.
Throughout the 2015-16 academic year, Indiana University Northwest and its surrounding community are exploring the themes of its chosen book, "Operation Homecoming: Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Home Front, in the Words of U.S. Troops and Their Families," edited by Andrew Carroll. The book is a series of shared stories, letters and experiences that tell the story of America's military  through their eyes.

IU Northwest invites the campus and community to attend the following events planned for the remainder of the academic year.

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Thursday, Jan. 28

Book discussion. Topic: Families of veterans

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Noon, Gallery for Contemporary Art, Savannah Center

(catered by the Veterans Cafe)

Thursday, Feb. 18

Book discussion

Topic: Veterans health issues. Vietnam War Veteran Jim Chancellor will discuss post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Noon, Bruce W. Bergland Auditorium, Savannah Center

PBS film screening: "On Two Fronts"

A film that addresses being a minority in the military

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1:30 p.m., Bruce W. Bergland Auditorium, Savannah Center

Veterans Resource Fair

11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Moraine Student Center

Thursdays, Feb. 11 and 18

Writing workshops

Professor William Allegrezza will offer assistance to anyone wishing to contribute a story for a local compilation of military stories.

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1-2 p.m., Hawthorn Hall, Room 418

Friday, March 25

Book discussion

Topic: Future of America's Military

Noon, Gallery for Contemporary Art, Savannah Center

Presentation of narratives from Northwest Indiana veterans and families

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1-2 p.m., Bruce W. Bergland Auditorium

Dramatic readings from text

2-3 p.m., Bruce W. Bergland Auditorium

'Operation Homecoming' Author Andrew Carroll speaks to campus

3-4 p.m., Bruce W. Bergland Auditorium

Book signing and reception

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4 p.m., Savannah Center

Tuesday, April 12

Book Discussion

Topic: LGBTQI issues in the military

Noon, Gallery for Contemporary Art, Savannah Center

The book is available for purchase at the IUN bookstore, as well as through www.amazon.com.

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For more information, contact Crystal Shannon at 219-980-6961 or crshanno@iun.edu.

 Community contribution
A technical paper written by researchers of Purdue University Calumet's Center for Innovation through Visualization and Simulation (CIVS) and AK Steel about a way to improve steel production based on a concept developed at the steel company's Dearborn, Mich. Works has been selected to receive a national award this spring.

The paper, titled "Investigation of Co-Injection of Natural Gas and Pulverized Coal in a Blast Furnace," will receive the Association for Iron and Steel Technology's (AIST) 2016 Josef S. Kapitan Award-Ironmaking, May 16 at the AIST conference in Pittsburgh, Pa.

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AK Steel Technical Manager, Ironmaking Stuart Street initiated the collaborative project to use the unique skill set available at the Purdue Calumet CIVS research facility, as well as to support further advances of industry-university research.

Multi-faceted research team

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The research team includes lead writer and Michigan City resident Tyamo Okosun, a Purdue Calumet alumnus, CIVS research assistant and doctoral student at Purdue's West Lafayette campus. Other team members are Street, of AK Steel, former students Yan Chen and Jiaqi Zhao, and Purdue Calumet faculty/staff members Chenn Zhou, CIVS director, and Bin Wu, CIVS research engineer.

The industry-funded project used the CIVS for computational fluid dynamics modeling and analysis. The researchers conducted a parametric study of blast furnace operation, exploring ways to increase performance and efficiency. More specifically, they explored the use of natural gas as the carrier fuel for pulverized coal injection (PCI). PCI has been utilized in blast furnaces for decades as a substitute for reducing undesirable coke.

Importance of natural gas utilization

"Ultimately, the goal is to improve the fuel replacement ratio by replacing coke with coal and natural gas," Okosun said. "The less coke used, the cleaner the gases."

As expressed in their paper, the researchers determined that natural gas utilization for pulverized coal injection could improve total burnout from 77 percent to 87 percent. Their research also uncovered the likely cause of wear and ablation in the configuration of blast furnaces. Finally, they discovered that natural gas as the PCI carrier also potentially could improve blast furnace productivity by some 2.5 percent.

Purdue Calumet's CIVS is an interdisciplinary research facility that combines advanced simulation techniques with 3-dimensional visualization technologies to provide innovative solutions in response to industrial and research challenges.

Campus MLK observance Thursday features unique race relations activist

A race relations expert who also is a musician, actor, lecturer and author of the book, "Klan-Destine Relationships," highlights Purdue Calumet's annual Martin Luther King Jr. celebration, next week.

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Daryl Davis is the featured presenter at the celebration's traditional Convocation at 11 a.m., Thursday in the Student Union & Library's Alumni Hall. Davis has been interviewed by such media outlets as CNN, CNBC, Good Morning America, The Learning Channel, National Public Radio and The Washington Post for his unique approach to race relations as a black man who has developed relationships with the Ku Klux Klan.

Dangerous, but astonishing results

"I will speak about how some of the things I've done in my life tie into Dr. King's Dream  specifically, the hows and whys of my quest and journey to seek out leaders of members of the Ku Klux Klan and engage them in dialog," Davis said. "While some of my encounters were indeed dangerous, others had absolutely astonishing and surprising, positive results."

Davis will deliver his message with words, performance and music. Known for his energetic, boogie-woogie piano style, Davis has played with such musicians as Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis.

Student dancers of the Wirt-Emerson School for Visual and Performing Arts in Gary also will perform.

Admission is free. The observance is sponsored by the university's Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Celebration Committee in conjunction with the Multicultural Campus Council.

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Wes Lukoshus is assistant vice chancellor of marketing and communications. He can be contacted at lukoshus@purduecal.edu.
The current formula for determining township funding will remain intact, at least for another year.

State Rep. Hal Slager, R-15th, withdrew for consideration House Bill 1065 during Thursday's local government committee meeting. The bill authored by Slager and co-authored by Rep. Bill Fine of Munster would've changed the formula established by the Department of Local Government Finance calculating the rate a township reaches its spending threshold established in 2013.

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Slager said the bill was designed to do "nothing more than clarify the township rate calculation," but that he didn't have the 2015 figures he needed. He did say that Calumet Township, the bill's impetus, has seen its spending rise 21 percent, to $10.2 million, and that rather than reduce its employee rolls, it moved employees around to different funds for payment.

"There have been great reductions, but there's been an administration payroll increase," Slager said. "We have reason to keep holding our intentions, but we're not ready to re-litigate. There's a better time and place."

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Griffith Town Council President Rick Ryfa said the threshold should've been calculated by a true mathematical mean average, but the DLGF set the calculation as a weighted average, which allowed Calumet Township to get under the threshold.

"The 2016 budget remains under the threshold, but the deadline for turning in 2015 spending is the end of February, so we'll see where we're at then. If (Calumet Township Trustee Kim Robinson) reduced those numbers, we applaud her," said Ryfa.

Ryfa reiterated that either way, Griffith residents are now paying $1 million to the township, down from $3 million in 2013. That amount is more than what Munster pays, and comparable to what Highland pays, to North Township.

"A 66 percent decrease in taxes is really good," Ryfa said.

Calumet Township Trustee Kim Robinson, along with Calumet Township Trustee Board Chairman Darren Washington, township accountant Steve Dalton and Indiana Township Association Director Debbie Driskell were in Indianapolis ready to testify at the meeting. Their presentation showed a reduction of total employees to 47 in 2015  from 75 in 2014  and $4,040,493 in total disbursements, which was down $383,836 over 2014.

Despite the reductions she and her team were ready to present, she was glad the bill was withdrawn because even though Calumet Township was the bill's intended target, its passing would've had farther-reaching repercussions.

"It would've affected other townships who have the money to fight (H.B. 1065), and we would've had to latch on to their suit," Robinson said. "Griffith has a contiguous township (in St. John Township), but Muncie in Center Township and Ft. Wayne in Wayne Township don't, and they would've sued.

"We're still working toward being compliant and keeping our budget under the threshold, but I'm exuberant."

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The Town of Griffith voted last week to send a resolution to the Calumet Township Board stating it wants to leave the township and requesting the board vote to allow it. The Calumet Township Board has yet to meet and decide whether to take action.

Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
Critics of a plan to allow alcohol sales at the Indiana Dunes State Park aren't happy with a bill before the Indiana House of Representatives that would eliminate hearings before county liquor boards for license applications for locations for "economic development purposes."

House Bill 1247, authored by Rep. Sean Eberhart, R-Shelbyville, and co-sponsored by Rep. Tom Dermody, R-LaPorte, comes just a few months after Pavilion Partners was denied a liquor license for the pavilion at Indiana State Park.

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"We think it's over the top," Jim Sweeney, co-founder of the grassroots organization Dunes Action, said of Eberhart's bill.

Dunes Action opposes a liquor license for the pavilion and also is against a 17,000-square-foot banquet and conference center adjacent to the pavilion planned by Pavilion Partners, but does not oppose renovation of the pavilion, which Pavilion Partners also is undertaking in a public/private partnership with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.

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"Regarding the legislation itself, it's taking away the authority of the local boards and that's been a state mandate," Sweeney said. "It's an end run around the local board and local opinion."

Senate Bill 188, proposed by Sen. James Merritt, R-Indianapolis, would have allowed the Indiana Department of Natural Resources to bypass local liquor boards and apply for licenses with the Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission. Merritt said earlier this month the focus of the bill was Fort Benjamin Harrison in his district; that bill has since been withdrawn.

Pavilion Partners' request for a liquor license bounced between the Porter County Alcoholic Beverage Commission and the state ATC before the local board ruled 3-1 in September against the license.

The state board upheld the ruling in October; Pavilion Partners has filed for an appeal with an administrative law judge.

House Bill 1247, which would be retroactive to Jan. 1, would bypass county liquor boards; would prohibit the state board from considering the permit location in granting or denying a permit in many instances; eliminates the "good moral character and repute" requirement for a beer retailer; and repeals the "high and fine reputation" requirement for a liquor retailer's permit, among other measures.

Eberhart could not be reached for comment on the intent of the bill, but Sweeney said the bill's message is that local opinion doesn't matter in granting liquor licenses.

"I think the bill is a kick in the teeth for the ATC for turning that request down" for Pavilion Partners, he said. "Why on earth would the state not want the ATC to consider the reputation of the applicant?"

Ralph Levi, who sat on the local board last year through appointment by the Porter County Board of Commissioners and voted against providing a license to Pavilion Partners, called the timing of the bill "interesting," and wondered why there was a sudden move to change the procedure to procure a permit.

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"I think it's amazing that (House Bill 1247) could have someone convicted of murder get a license. If I'm reading that correctly, there's nothing to stop it," he said. "I don't think local control should be given up."

Former local board member Rudy Sutton, who was appointed by the Porter County Council and also served last year and voted against a license for Pavilion Partners, declined comment because he said he didn't have enough information.

Amy Lavalley is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
The Hobart Board of Works approved the purchase of 10 new squad cars from an area dealership Wednesday, saving the city more than $8,000 than if it had gone through a state program.

The squad cars will cost $24,377 each from Thomas Dodge Chrysler Jeep in Highland, compared to $25,188.25 each through the state program.

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Police Chief Rick Zormier said the savings would be even more significant, about $1,900 per vehicle, if the two dealerships offered the same engine. The Highland dealership's vehicles have V8 engines, which he said are preferable over the state program's smaller engines.

The city also received a good rate on the lease financing of the vehicles, at 1.6645 percent.

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"It's a very good lease price. No one can come close to it," City Attorney Anthony DeBonis said.

The board also agreed to authorize for bids for a new 2015 or 2016 model ambulance for the fire department.

Lt. Robert Scott, the department's EMS director, said there are two 2007 model year ambulances purchased in 2006, both of which have about 100,000 miles on them, that he would like to replace.

He said the department's other two ambulances were purchased in 2012 and are paid off.

But Mayor Brian Snedecor said it was decided to purchase only one ambulance at this time.

"It's been tough this year, with all the purchases we have going," Snedecor said.

Scott said the ambulances cost about $200,000 to $250,000 each.

Bids are due on Feb. 17.

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In other action, the board agreed to a month-to-month lease at the current rate with the Northwest Indiana Law Enforcement Academy until they can come up with a new lease.

Zormier said the academy doesn't plan to move from its current location inside the Hobart police/court/community building on East Fourth Street.

The board also approved an agreement between the city and Indiana Department of Transportation concerning use of the right-of-way and maintenance improvements on Indiana 51, although DeBonis wasn't happy with some of the wording in the standard contract.

"This gives us just two hours to replace any damage on Indiana 51 that we might cause. We may need to find money in the budget for spare light poles (and other items)," DeBonis said.

Karen Caffarini is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
Valparaiso police are investigating the theft of an engagement ring worth $3,120 from a local jewelry store.

Police were sent shortly after 2 p.m. Wednesday to Majestic Jewelers, 2109 LaPorte Ave., for a silent panic alarm, and were told while they were on their way that two black males left the store in a red car going east on LaPorte Avenue. Police were not able to locate the car.

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An employee at the store told police that shortly before 2 p.m., the two men entered the business.

One was in his late 20s, around 5 feet 10 inches tall, weighing 170 pounds and wearing a black, hooded sweatshirt, a black stocking cap and black sweatpants. The second man also was in his late 20s, about 6 feet tall, 170 pounds, had tattoos on his neck, and was wearing a black jacket with black sweatpants.

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The employee told police the second man asked about the engagement ring, and she escorted him to a display case at the southwest corner of the store that contained several rings.

The employee removed a ring, described as a white gold engagement ring with a marquise-cut center diamond and two rows of smaller diamonds on each side, from the case and handed it to him.

The man said he wanted to purchase the ring and the employee walked him to the register counter. He said he still had the ring and the employee said that was OK and rang up the purchase, according to a police report.

The man provided an American Express credit card for payment and the card was declined. While the employee was attempting the transaction, the other man received a phone call and left the store.

The first man said he wanted to look at other rings and the employee walked him back to the display case, where he asked to see another ring, according to a police report. She told him he could only have one ring out at a time and she requested the first ring back, but the suspect said he did give it back and police said he acted offended by the employee's accusations.

The first man told the employee to search him and while the two were arguing about the ring, the man received a phone call and exited the store as he was talking on the phone, the report said.

The employee then activated the store's silent panic alarm, and saw the men leave in a smaller red car. She believed she saw a third passenger in the car, the report said.

Another witness told police two people waited in the car, which he described as a small Chevrolet or Saturn.

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Amy Lavalley is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
Get friendly with a Siberian Sled Dog at Morton Arboretum Jan. 30-31. ( Morton Arboretum)

You'll hear the sound of "Mush" when Husky Heroes demonstrate sled-pulling and skijoring, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 30-31, at the Morton Arboretum, 4100 Illinois Rte. 53, Lisle.

The annual visit of the Siberian sled dogs draws as many as 8,000 people, reported Diana Fischer-Woods, special events coordinator.

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"We'll have the dog sled demonstrations going on in the concert lawn area four times a day," Fischer-Woods said. "Visitors can interact with the dogs when they're not running. They can pet them  they're very affectionate dogs. It provides a lot of photo opportunities for people."

The races will go on even if there's no snow because they can use rigs that have wheels.

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Visitors can have a hands-on experience with a sled and dog in the courtyard behind the Visitors Center. "People can get on the sled and pretend they're a musher," Fischer-Woods said.

The event is covered by the regular admission fee.

For details, call (630) 968-0074 or go to www.mortonarb.org.

Another canine caper

Children ages 3-5 will have a great workout at Downward Dog Yoga with Miss Cara, 3:45-4:45 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 26 at La Grange Public Library, 10 W. Cossitt Ave. They will act out a story using animal yoga poses.

For details, call (708) 215-3210 or go to www.lagrangelibrary.org.

It's a date!

Dinner, dancing, games and crafts will make for a full evening of fun at Daddy Daughter Date Night, 6-8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 5 at Clarendon Hills Middle School, 301 Chicago Ave. The theme is "Under the Sea," so girls, ages 4-10, are encouraged to wear their favorite mermaid costume. The cost is $40 per couple for residents; $50 for nonresidents; $8 and $10 per additional daughter. Register by Feb. 1.

For details, call (630) 323-2626 or go to www.clarendonhillsparkdistrict.org.

A fantastic future

That's what kids will envision at "The Wonderful Things You Will Be" Storytime, 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 23 at Barnes and Noble, 297 Oakbrook Center, Oak Brook. Emily Winfield Martin's book offers rhymes about being brave, bold, creative and clever. There will be related activities.

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For details, call (630) 684-0586 or go to www.barnesandnoble.com.

Say what you see

Bring your children to the Westchester Public Library, 10700 Canterbury St. before Friday, Jan. 29 to see the silly picture in the Youth Department and enter a Caption Contest. Winners will be announced on Monday, Feb. 8. Prizes promised are a doo-dad or a thing-a-ma-bob!
With the scope and penalties of Chinas social credit system being further clarified in 2021, legal and regulatory compliance has become more important than...
"This fashion show is my idea of contemporary man. He loves quality, but at the same time pays a lot of attention to details," Canali's creative consultant Andrea Pompilio told Xinhua in an interview at the men's fall-winter 2016-17 fashion week that just came to an end in Milan.

A model displays a creation for Canali men's Fall-Winter 2016-17 collection during Milan Fashion Week in Milan, Italy. (Xinhua/Jin Yu)

The new collection of the Italian family-run company founded in 1934 was an exercise in equilibrium and contrasts. Luxurious and studied elements came together for a seemingly minimalist look with shapes, materials and colors combined for a contemporary take on traditional tailoring.

"My man is somebody travelling in the world so that he has a lot of influence from art, food and everything, he is very open-minded," Pompilio went on saying. The designer, who began his career working for different world-famous brands, highlighted that tradition is certainly important for him.

"But though I am designing in Italy and I love the made in Italy, when I am designing I am designing a very global man," he said. In fact, he explained to Xinhua, there is much difference in working for different brands. Some are fashionist, some others more classic or minimal.

"But in the end, I think my man is very international. Everything is now global, and men are also global. They read international magazines and buy international items. I think their minds are not so different in New York, Beijing, Seoul or Milan. I think everybody now knows how to wear a tie, how to have perfect moccasins, what matches and what not," he said.

Pompilio noted that men have fundamental items of clothing such as jackets, coats and pants. "That's why my attention is very strong especially on details, because details can make a lot of difference," he pointed out.

His suggestion for those who do not know from where to start to dress themselves was "think first to the pieces that you absolutely want to wear, a jacket or a coat for example, and then start to build the overall look." "But I have to tell you that my look is very simple. I have always my shirt, my denim, I pay a lot of attention to my shoes and jackets, a lot of attention to outwear pieces," he told Xinhua.

Alan Prada, vice director of L'Uomo Vogue magazine, observed that a focus for the next fall-winter season was put on coats. "We saw a variety of them at this fashion week, including many full of creativity, not the usual single-breasted ones blue or grey color, but also more fanciful shapes, like double-breasted, cashmere and lighter colors, pied de poule or striped," he noted.

There was not a dominant trend, however, as nowadays every designer does what he likes, Prada told Xinhua in an interview. "Then for me simplicity always wins and I suggest to always look carefully at yourself in the mirror and try to be the most objective possible with yourself, because it is useless to try to imitate looks that are not suitable for you," he said. "It is better instead to look for something that fits you and then try to vary it," he added.

It might be easier in Europe, Prada went on saying, where there is a culture of high fashion and you may go to the tailor or enter a shop and ask the salesperson for an advice, and they can help you with what is best for you. "In other situations you may ask a friend... however, it is always very important to be self-critical," he said.

Among the basic things, ties should never be coordinated with suits or shoes, but "should only be a colored or fanciful note which makes the overall look harmonious," he told Xinhua. His suggestion for those who get up in the morning and are in a hurry was "start with the item of clothing that will be the most eye-catching in the end, which in the summer could be a shirt or a t-shirt and in the winter a jacket or a coat, and it will set the direction for all the rest."

And last but not least, "never exaggerate: if you have a fanciful shirt or a printed t-shirt, or colored paints or sneakers, the rest should be quite plain, try to wear just one fanciful item of clothing," Prada highlighted.

When she opened the closet of her boyfriend for the first time and only found white, black and grey shirts, besides jeans of course, Italian fashion influencer Eleonora Carisi, founder of the JouJouVilleroy website, thought that it was a good starting point but certainly not enough.

"I would say that men should have a basic starting point, but a blue or grey suit should never be missing in the closet," she explained to Xinhua. In her view, two types of men or rather two sides of the same man emerged from this fashion week.

A more classic, tailor-made luxury man was presented for example by Ermenegildo Zegna, Canali and Salvatore Ferragamo, Carisi told Xinhua, while from the other side a super eccentric man walked down the runways of Calvin Klein or Versace, the latter a sort of spaceman dressed with oversize down jackets and iridescent jackets.

"This man who somehow wants to travel in the space and may like to wear a silver shirt in the night certainly is an original, eccentric one, but he might be the same one who dresses in a very classic elegant way during the day. Today's man is able to combine different faces together, he is flexible and global," Carisi said.
A container ship of COSCO. [Xinhua]

Chinese shipping giant COSCO consolidated its hold over the Greek port of Piraeus Wednesday, agreeing to pay 368.5 million euros for a 67 percent stake in the country's biggest harbor, after increasing its offer to clinch control over a key thoroughfare into Europe.

COSCO will pay 22 euros a share for the stake in Piraeus, according to the Athens-based Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund. COSCO had been asked to submit a better offer last week after it emerged as the sole candidate bidding to buy the stake in Piraeus, an outcome that Greek officials called disappointing.

The offer accepted is a 70 percent premium to the closing share price of Piraeus Port of 12.95 euros Wednesday and values the entire business at 550 million euros. HRADF said the whole value of the COSCO agreement would come to some 1.5 billion euros, taking into account purchase price, investments, dividends and income from the concession agreement.

The result could provide Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipraswith some breathing space as he battles domestic opposition to state asset sales and tries to push through changes to pensions that have prompted strikes, including from seamen. Officials said last week the government would do its utmost to ensure Greece got the best possible price for a majority stake in Piraeus, a port that is key to China's plans to create a modern commercial empire pumping Chinese goods throughout the continent.

Hong Kong-listed, Chinese state-owned COSCO was the only confirmed bidder for the 67 percent stake in Piraeus, where COSCO already runs container operations at two piers. APM Terminals, owned by Danish shipping conglomerate AP Moller-Maersk A/S and Philippines-based port operator International Container Terminal Services Inc. were also short-listed but didn't put in a binding bid, dropping out at the last minute in the long-delayed sale.

Analysts see Chinese investment in Piraeus as a key part of China's Belt and Road initiative, which envisages creating the 21st century land and maritime equivalent of the Silk Road. Since the Chinese shipping behemoth started container operations in 2009, traffic has surged at Piraeus, making the harbor one of the fastest-growing ports in the world. Premier Li Keqiang called Piraeus China's gateway to Europe in a visit to Greece in June last year.

The Piraeus sale is also seen as a yardstick in Greece's lacklustre state asset sales program, a key revenue-raiser tied to the country qualifying for billions in rescue funds from its European partners and the International Monetary Fund.

HRADF said COSCO agreed to mandatory investments of 350 million euros in the next 10 years and the income accruing to the Greek state from the concession agreement of some 410 million euros. The amount includes expected revenue from dividends and additional investments up to the end of the concession agreement in 2052.

Of the mandatory investments, 300 million euros will be spent in the first five years, mainly in relation to cruise and ship repairing operations. Officials expect COSCO could spend another 270 million euros in investments up to 2052. They said COSCO had originally bid 17.5 euros a share for the stake.

The transaction will be two-step deal: COSCO will buy a 51 percent stake in Piraeus for 280.5 million euros and will acquire the additional stake in the next five years for 88 million euros on completion of the terms in the shareholder agreement, including investments.

Greece will initially retain a 23 percent stake in the company, with that dropping to 7 percent on conclusion of the two-step process.

COSCO's supremacy at Piraeus is thought to be a prerequisite to unleashing more Chinese investment in Greece, where unemployment has soared and foreign investment dried to a trickle amid six years of political turmoil and concerns of financial collapse. Xinhua reported yesterday that the Chinese Prime Minister called Tsipras yesterday to underline China's keen interest in bolstering ties with Greece.

Greek officials expect Chinese investment in projects such as a major freight and logistics center on the outskirts of the Greek capital and a new airport planned for the island of Crete.

The Piraeus sale will be the first state asset sale the Tsipras government can claim since the leftist prime minister came to power a year ago, vowing to halt privatizations and tear up the two bailout agreements that forced higher taxes and cuts in wages and pensions on Greeks. He has tempered his tone since being forced in July to accept a new, 86 billion euro bailout to keep Greece in the eurozone.

Last month, the government wound up previously agreed deals for the privatization of 14 regional airports and the sale of seaside resort in Athens. Both those deals had been halted when Tsipras came to power last year.

COSCO has seen five separate Greek premiers, not including caretakers, since it won the license to operate Pier II in 2008 for 30 years at a cost of 490 million euros. The deal has become a regular campaign issue as Greek politicians seek votes from union workers, such as those in the Piraeus docks, unhappy about austerity measures.
Scientists have begun calibrating China's first dark matter probe in order to produce more accurate data, more than a month after the detector started to search for signals of the invisible material.

China's Monkey King sharpens eyes to search for dark matter.

The Dark Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) Satellite, dubbed "Wukong" after the Monkey King character from the Chinese "Journey to the West" legend, was launched on Dec. 17, 2015, on a Long March 2-D rocket from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

Like the Monkey King who can see through objects with his sharp eyes, the satellite has the most sensitive and accurate detectors especially designed for dark matter. These started working a week after the satellite entered a sun-synchronous orbit.

Chang Jin, DAMPE chief scientist and vice director of the Purple Mountain Observatory, said Wukong has already collected more than 100 million high energy particles, including protons, alpha and cosmic-ray particles and nuclides. Scientists will look for high-energy electrons and gamma rays among them, which could be residue of dark matter's annihilation or decay.

"Now the payload looks perfect, but it's not enough. If the calibration goes well, the signs we seek will pop out from the data," said Chang.

The payload has four major parts - a plastic scintillator array detector, a silicon array detector, a BGO calorimeter, and a neutron detector - together comprising about 76,000 minor detectors. DAMPE scientific application chief designer Wu Jian said the payload was designed with very high accuracy, but colliding with cosmic rays will change the detectors' performance, so they need constant calibration.

Wukong is sending back about 20 GB of data a day. DAMPE advanced data process sub-system designer Zang Jingjing said all the data will be analyzed by a special computer equipped with 128 10-cored CPUs.

"After calibration, the detectors will collect more useful data and screen out signal noises. That will save us a lot of time," said Zang.

Dark matter, which does not emit or reflect electromagnetic radiation that can be observed directly, is one of the huge mysteries of modern science. Exploration of dark matter could give scientists a clearer understanding of the past and future of galaxies and the universe, and would revolutionize the fields of physics and space science.

Wukong is designed to undertake a three-year mission, but scientists hope it can last five years. It will scan space nonstop in all directions in the first two years and then focus on areas where dark matter is most likely to be observed. Initial findings will be published as early as the second half of this year.
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Chinese police handed over a suspected drug trafficker to Vietnam on Thursday as part of anti-drug cooperation between the two countries, local authorities said.

Dang Chau (transliteration), a major suspect wanted by Vietnamese police in relation to a July 2015 case in which 171.5 kg of heroin and two guns were seized, was handed over at Youyiguan border gate in Pingxiang City in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Dang was caught by police in Guangxi on Nov. 16.

China and Vietnam began a joint two-month campaign on Sept. 8, 2015 during which 3,256 alleged drug traffickers were detained and 3,912 kg of drugs seized.

Police in Guangxi and Yunnan Province, which borders Vietnam, have established border liaison offices in several neighboring Vietnamese provinces since 2000, improving cross-border law enforcement cooperation.
Egyptian Ambassador to China Magdy Amer [Photo/China Today]

Relations between Egypt and China are not only the result of the modern era; they are rooted in history. There is no doubt that the similarities and rapprochement between the two civilizations show that their association originated long ago. Their links since ancient times were among the most important factors that helped to deepen and consolidate present relations and exchanges between the two countries. Both have ancient civilizations built on agriculture. They are aware of the strong connection and reverence their peoples have for their homeland and its soil. Neither has displayed colonial or expansionist tendencies and their relations with neighboring countries have always been peaceful and neighborly. As the two civilizations were associated in the past, the two countries are now linked by ties of friendship, cooperation, and exchanges based on mutual benefit, whether in bilateral relations or in cooperation at the international level.

READ: A new milestone in Sino-Egyptian relations

As the two countries share many common interests, they should expand their cooperation and exchanges. China has, in recent years, become an exporter of investments, having formerly long been an investment destination. It is consequently looking for suitable markets and areas in this respect. Egypt, with its strategically important location and potential as regards physical and human resources, is one of the most suitable destinations for Chinese investment.

While China is looking for markets in which to invest, Egypt is at the same time attracting foreign investment in order to revive its economy. Chinese investments enjoy a big advantage because they could be described as friendly to the environment and society. China lays great store on maintaining development of the countries that receive its investments, protecting their social environments, and taking care not to drain their resources. Furthermore China is ready to transfer its technology, offer skills training, and use the local workforce. All these are advantages that promote a preference for Chinese investments.

As for China, it pays particular attention to Africa, and is keen to consolidate its ties of friendship and cooperation with African countries. Egypt is indeed the gateway to the African continent. Egypt is associated with African countries through agreements on trade exchanges and customs exemptions. These create many investment and industrialization advantages in Egypt as regards exports to African markets. Egypt is also close to the European market, which is one of the main destinations for Chinese exports. Projects and investments in Egypt could provide China with a springboard for the export of its goods and products to Europe.

Egypt and China also have a common interest in joining hands to address the threat of terrorism, which is no longer confined to the Middle East. Both countries support political and diplomatic efforts in the international arena because they have the same objectives: to achieve security, peace, and stability in the world; adopt the principle of resolving differences and problems through peaceful means and non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries; and to commit to the principles of international law and work under the umbrella of the United Nations. The latter is especially true in light of the growing role China plays in the international political arena of settling disputes and resolving differences. As a neutral intermediary. China works according to the principles of its foreign policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries. The country respects the sovereignty of others and works under the United Nations umbrella, a stance which Egypt shares, particularly as Egypt attained last October a non-permanent seat in the UN Security Council for the two years from 2016 to 2017, representing the continent of Africa.

There is no doubt that relations between China and Egypt have the potential for further development and prosperity, evident in their mutual presidential visits. These began in December 2014 with a state visit by President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to China. This was followed by a second visit in September of 2015 to take part in Chinas celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the Chinese Peoples War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the Anti-Fascist War. The event included the participation of a contingent from the Egyptian army in the military parade held by the Chinese army to mark the occasion. The visit of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to China witnessed many fruitful meetings with President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang, and Chairman Zhang Dejiang of the Standing Committee of the National Peoples Congress. These meetings resulted in the signing of a document upgrading the relations between the two countries to the level of a comprehensive strategic partnership. That visit, as with so many important events, reflected the firm resolve of both sides to expand their cooperation to the optimum extent. During the visit, the two sides signed seven governmental agreements in the fields of space, new and renewable energy, economy, and trade cooperation, among others.

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Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi(R front) greets Chinese President Xi Jinping (L front) upon his arrival in Cairo, Egypt, January 20, 2016. [Xinhua]

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived here Wednesday for a state visit to Egypt, the second leg of his three-nation Middle East tour.

To welcome the first visit of a Chinese president in 12 years, Egypt sent eight fighter jets to escort Xi's plane when it entered the country's airspace.

Xi was received by his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, and a number of senior officials at Cairo International Airport in the afternoon.

"If you drink from the Nile, you will return," Xi quoted an Egyptian proverb in his written remarks upon arrival, recollecting his visit to Egypt 16 years ago.

Xi said he is happy to see that the Egyptian people, under the leadership of President Sisi, are working hard to maintain social stability, develop the economy and better people's livelihood.

"We believe that the people of Egypt, with their diligence and wisdom, can surely overcome difficulties and challenges in their path, and continue to make progress, so that to realize the Egyptian dream of building a strong country and enriching the people," Xi said.

Xi's visit comes as China and Egypt mark the 60th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic ties.

Egypt was the first Arab and African country to build diplomatic relations with China. The two sides, treating each other with mutual understanding, respect, trust and support, have been developing their ties in a healthy and stable manner, said Xi.

Recalling Sisi's visit to China in December 2014 when China and Egypt elevated their ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership, Xi noted that bilateral relations are at a important phase now, and that the two countries should well inherit their past traditions and break new grounds for the future.

Xi said he looks forward to exchanging views with Sisi and other Egyptian leaders on ties and issues of common concern, and mapping out long-term plans for the development of bilateral relations.

Xi's Belt and Road Initiative is expected to be a focus during his talks with Egyptian leaders, which is estimated to offer important opportunities for Egypt's renewal.

In a signed article published on Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram on Tuesday, Xi wrote that "China welcomes Egypt and other Arab countries to get on board the fast train of its development, and hopes that our respective development and growth could be well aligned and mutually reinforcing."

During his stay in Cairo, Xi will also deliver a speech at the Arab League headquarters to elaborate China's propositions on promoting peace and development in the Middle East.

Just ahead of Xi's visit, China published its Arab Policy Paper, reaffirming the strategic significance that Beijing attaches to the region.

It is China's long-held diplomatic principle to consolidate and deepen China-Arab traditional friendship, read the paper, the first of its kind issued by the Chinese government.

It meanwhile underlines China's wish to enrich and deepen all-round, multi-layer and wide-ranging cooperation with Arab nations, and safeguard peace, stability and development of the region and the world at large.

Before Egypt, Xi paid a state visit to Saudi Arabia. His Middle East tour, his first overseas visit in 2016, will later take him to Iran.
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The UN refugee agency said Wednesday it has repatriated more than 6,000 Somali refugees on a voluntary basis from the Dadaab settlement in northeast Kenya to areas in southwest of Somalia which have been pacified.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said some 248 returnees were assisted to return by flight to Mogadishu and Baidoa in southwest Somalia in December.

"During the month of December, 248 returnees were assisted to return by flight to Mogadishu and Baidoa. In total and as of December 31 2015, 6,101 Somali refugees returned home since December 8, 2014, when UNHCR started supporting voluntary return of Somali refugees in Kenya," UNHCR said in its latest report.

According to UNHCR, the first repatriation flight to Baidoa, was organized on Dec. 7, taking 63 refugees from Dadaab camps which marked exactly one year since the first road convoy of Somali refugees left.

So far the UN refugee agency has managed to repatriate 3,900 refugees by road and 2,201 others by air to Mogadishu and other areas in southern Somalia.

During the reporting period, new born registration was carried out across all camps, 869 babies issued with birth certificates were registered; out of the 869 new born registered 37 were assigned in-situ (birth) status.

"As a result, compared to an annual performance target of 15,550 children registered and issued documentation under regular birth registration procedure, a total of 10,646 children have been registered as at December 31, 2015, representing 68.46 percent of progress towards the target," UNHCR said.

The UN agency said 76 new refugees were registered by Kenya's Department of Refugee Affairs (DRA) and subsequently registered by UNHCR.

"The new arrivals registered were relocated cases from Nairobi who adduced the DRA registration forms while others were identified as vulnerable cases and were registered on protection grounds," it said.

Kenya, Somalia and the UNHCR in 2013 reached a tripartite agreement for the voluntary return of these refugees to Somalia by the end of 2016.

The UNHCR argues Somalia is still insecure and there are still insufficient social amenities to accommodate all of them.
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At least 17 people including children have died following an outbreak of diarrhoea in the last two weeks in southern Somalia, authorities said on Wednesday.

Hawaadley District Commissioner in the Middle Shabelle region, Ali Mohamed told reporters the situation was yet to be contained by medical authorities in the town since most of them were ill-equipped to handle cases of outbreaks.

Ali said the recent flooding was the main course of the outbreak, saying El Nino weather phenomenon had exposed residents to water borne diseases.

"During the El-Nino period late last year, the Shabelle River burst its banks and now there is a lot of water lying in the village. We have only one hospital in the village with no capacity to handle such situations," said Mohamed.

Humanitarian agencies estimate 145,000 people were affected as a result of the El-Nino phenomenon last year, most in the central and northern parts of Somalia.

While launching the Humanitarian Response Plan Tuesday, Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia Peter de Clercq said Somalia was still facing a humanitarian crisis with 4.9 million people in need of humanitarian assistance and another 308,000 children under the age of 5 years acutely malnourished.
Representative Chris Smith (left)

with Li Heping (right).

(Photo: China Aid)

China Aid

Translated and written in English by Brynne Lawrence.

(Tianjin, ChinaJan. 19, 2016) Officials in Chinas northern Tianjin Municipality formally arrested another prominent human rights lawyer on suspicion of subverting state power on Jan. 8.

On July 10, 2015, authorities took Li Heping from his home during a nationwide crackdown on human rights lawyers and detained him at an undisclosed location. On the morning of Jan. 19, Lis wife, Wang Qiaoling, went with his defense lawyer, Ma Lianshun, to Tianjin Municipal Detention Center No. 1 to inquire after his whereabouts.

According to a message from Ma, a police officer at the detention center disclosed that the No. 2 Branch of the Tianjin Municipal Procuratorate approved Lis official arrest on Jan. 8. Lis relatives have not yet received an official notice of the arrest.

China Aid exposes human rights abuses, such as those experienced by Li Heping, in order to promote human rights and rule of law in China.

China Aid Contacts

Rachel Ritchie, English Media Director

Cell: (432) 553-1080 | Office: 1+ (888) 889-7757 | Other: (432) 689-6985

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.chinaaid.org
Li Heping (right) with Congressman

Chris Smith (left).

(Photo: China Aid)

China Aid

Translated by Carolyn Song. Written in English by Brynne Lawrence.



(Tianjin, ChinaJan. 20, 2016) The family of a detained human rights lawyer received a notice from officials in Chinas northern Tianjin Municipality on Jan. 19, informing them of his formal arrest on suspicion of subverting state power.

The lawyer, Li Heping, was originally apprehended on July 10 during a crackdown on legal professionals and human rights activists. For the past six months, authorities held him at a location that remained undisclosed until his family received the notice. Currently, he is imprisoned at Tianjin Municipal Detention Center No. 1.

A translation of the arrest notice can be read in full below.

China Aid exposes human rights violations, such as those experienced by Li Heping, in order to promote human rights and rule of law in China.



Tianjin Municipal Public Security Bureau

Arrest Notice





Tianjin Public Security Bureau [pre] arrest no. [2016] 23



Wang Qiaoling:





After receiving the approval of the No. 2 Branch of Tianjin Municipal Peoples Procuratorate, our bureau arrested Li Heping at 7:00 p.m. on Jan. 8, 2016, on suspicion of subverting state power. Now, he is detained at Tianjin Municipal Detention Center No. 1.

Tianjin Municipal Public Security Bureau

01/08/2016

Note: The detention centers address is Dabian Village, Xiqing District, Tianjin

China Aid Contacts

Rachel Ritchie, English Media Director

Cell: (432) 553-1080 | Office: 1+ (888) 889-7757 | Other: (432) 689-6985

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.chinaaid.org
Indonesian women look at scale models of Chinese-made bullet trains on display at a shopping mall in Jakarta.[Photo/Agencies]

Indonesia's first high-speed railway, being built by China, will be a significant boost to the country's economy and act as a catalyst for other key infrastructure developments regionally, according to experts following the project.

Titissari Rumbogo, a planning and public policy scholar at the University of Indonesia, told China Daily the line will have a strong "multiplier effect" for economic growth in countries throughout Southeast Asia.

"It will be especially important in job creation, both in terms of construction and for local factories that are expected to produce train components," said Rumbogo.

The 150-kilometer line, slated to be completed by 2019, will connect the capital city Jakarta and the third-biggest city Bandung, stopping at four stations on the west side of Java during its first phase.

It will also involve the creation of many new residences along the route, according to Bintang Perbowo, president director of the Indonesian state construction firm, PT Wijaya Karya.

"With these new areas being opened up, people will choose to live there. There will also be the future development of a new city," Bintang told the Jakarta Post.

Harun al-Rasyid Lubis, executive director of Indonesia's Infrastructure Partnership & Knowledge Center, said the project was just the beginning of a wider national railway network, and urged the Indonesia government to extend the high-speed rail to Surabaya in eastern Java.

The high-speed railway is not only the first in Indonesia, but also in Southeast Asia, where new infrastructure development is currently in hot demand, and many view the ambitious project as becoming a blueprint for further regional infrastructure cooperation.

"China's success in this high-speed rail project will open up opportunities for it in other projects in Indonesia and other countries," said Emirza Adi Syailendra, a researcher at the S. Rajaratnam of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

Despite being Southeast Asia's largest economy, Indonesia has missed most of its economic targets set for 2015, resulting in its slowest growth since 2009.

The Jakarta government is now banking on infrastructure development and foreign investment as part of a renewed push for economic growth, as its traditional raw material sectors struggle in current global economic conditions.

President Joko Widodo said in a cabinet meeting earlier this month that he wanted to see infrastructure development accelerate this year, particularly railway projects, Jakarta Post reported.

Emirza wrote in a recent note that a well-timed completion of the Jakarta-Bandung railway will also play well for Widodo's administration as a major economic accomplishment, especially as it is slated for completion in a national election year.
A fully-loaded container ship of COSCO departs from the Port of Qingdao in Qingdao city, East China's Shandong province in this file photo. [Photo/IC]

Chinese shipping giant Cosco consolidated its hold over the Greek port of Piraeus Wednesday, agreeing to pay 368.5 million euros for a 67 percent stake in the country's biggest harbor, after increasing its offer to clinch control over a key thoroughfare into Europe.

Cosco will pay 22 euros a share for the stake in Piraeus, according to the Athens-based Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund. Cosco had been asked to submit a better offer last week after it emerged as the sole candidate bidding to buy the stake in Piraeus, an outcome that Greek officials called disappointing.

The offer accepted is a 70 percent premium to the closing share price of Piraeus Port of 12.95 euros Wednesday and values the entire business at 550 million euros. HRADF said the whole value of the Cosco agreement would come to some 1.5 billion euros, taking into account purchase price, investments, dividends and income from the concession agreement.

The result could provide Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipraswith some breathing space as he battles domestic opposition to state asset sales and tries to push through changes to pensions that have prompted strikes, including from seamen. Officials said last week the government would do its utmost to ensure Greece got the best possible price for a majority stake in Piraeus, a port that is key to China's plans to create a modern commercial empire pumping Chinese goods throughout the continent.

Hong Kong-listed, Chinese state-owned Cosco was the only confirmed bidder for the 67 percent stake in Piraeus, where Cosco already runs container operations at two piers. APM Terminals, owned by Danish shipping conglomerate AP Moller-Maersk A/S and Philippines-based port operator International Container Terminal Services Inc. were also short-listed but didn't put in a binding bid, dropping out at the last minute in the long-delayed sale.

Analysts see Chinese investment in Piraeus as a key part of China's One Belt, One Road policy, which envisages creating the 21st century land and maritime equivalent of the Silk Road. Since the Chinese shipping behemoth started container operations in 2009, traffic has surged at Piraeus, making the harbor one of the fastest-growing ports in the world. Premier Li Keqiang called Piraeus China's gateway to Europe in a visit to Greece in June last year.

The Piraeus sale is also seen as a yardstick in Greece's lacklustre state asset sales program, a key revenue-raiser tied to the country qualifying for billions in rescue funds from its European partners and the International Monetary Fund.

HRADF said Cosco agreed to mandatory investments of 350 million euros in the next 10 years and the income accruing to the Greek state from the concession agreement of some 410 million euros. The amount includes expected revenue from dividends and additional investments up to the end of the concession agreement in 2052.

Of the mandatory investments, 300 million euros will be spent in the first five years, mainly in relation to cruise and ship repairing operations. Officials expect Cosco could spend another 270 million euros in investments up to 2052. They said Cosco had originally bid 17.5 euros a share for the stake.

The transaction will be two-step deal: Cosco will buy a 51 percent stake in Piraeus for 280.5 million euros and will acquire the additional stake in the next five years for 88 million euros on completion of the terms in the shareholder agreement, including investments.

Greece will initially retain a 23 percent stake in the company, with that dropping to 7 percent on conclusion of the two-step process.

Cosco's supremacy at Piraeus is thought to be a prerequisite to unleashing more Chinese investment in Greece, where unemployment has soared and foreign investment dried to a trickle amid six years of political turmoil and concerns of financial collapse. Xinhua reported yesterday that the Chinese Prime Minister called Tsipras yesterday to underline China's keen interest in bolstering ties with Greece.

Greek officials expect Chinese investment in projects such as a major freight and logistics center on the outskirts of the Greek capital and a new airport planned for the island of Crete.

The Piraeus sale will be the first state asset sale the Tsipras government can claim since the leftist prime minister came to power a year ago, vowing to halt privatizations and tear up the two bailout agreements that forced higher taxes and cuts in wages and pensions on Greeks. He has tempered his tone since being forced in July to accept a new, 86 billion euro bailout to keep Greece in the eurozone.

Last month, the government wound up previously agreed deals for the privatization of 14 regional airports and the sale of seaside resort in Athens. Both those deals had been halted when Tsipras came to power last year.

Cosco has seen five separate Greek premiers, not including caretakers, since it won the license to operate Pier II in 2008 for 30 years at a cost of 490 million euros. The deal has become a regular campaign issue as Greek politicians seek votes from union workers, such as those in the Piraeus docks, unhappy about austerity measures.

Maria Petrakis is a freelance who contributed this to China Daily.
China will set up 100 trade information offices this year to collate trade-related data from its major export provinces and assess them for potential risks, government officials said on Wednesday.

In addition, the country will also set up lobby groups in the United States, Brazil and India this year to tackle growing global trade frictions against its products.

Yin Zonghua, vice-chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, said as many as 94 trade disputes were filed against Chinese companies and products in 2015, mainly by the United States and emerging economies like Brazil, India and Mexico.

Most of the disputed related to China's steel, auto parts, fastener, household electrical appliances, agricultural products, garment and shoe-making industries. They came amid an overall slowdown in the number and value of trade friction cases.

China's overall exports amounted to 14.14 trillion yuan ($2.15 trillion) in 2015, down 1.8 percent on a year-on-year basis, the first drop since 2010, according to data from the General Administration of Customs.

CCPIT has so far established 52 trade information offices and passed on nearly 2,600 trade-related early warnings to 32,000 companies. The information dissemination was to help the companies enhance their risk prevention levels and be better prepared for changes in the global trade system.

To catch up with its more mature trade partners, CCPIT established China's first overseas civil lobby group in Brussels to help Chinese companies' global expansion in the European Union last year.

Shen Danyang, spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, said even though China is a leading goods trader, it still has a long way to go before it can change from being a large goods trader to a strong goods trader.

"Chinese manufacturers from both the State-owned and private sectors are not only confronting cumbersome issues such as the appreciation of the yuan and rising financing costs, but also fierce competition with emerging countries in the low-end product market," said Shen.

Yin Jiang'an, general manager of Dongguan Jinmaoda Furniture Co, a leading furniture maker from Dongguan in Guangdong province, said the frequent changes in European technical standards are hampering Chinese furniture product exports to the EU market.

The EU standards stipulate that foreign furniture sold in the EU must meet their criteria on environmental, ecological and formaldehyde emission standards. Many Chinese furniture makers believe these standards are complicated and costly to achieve.

"It costs a lot of money to fulfill the ecological details adopted by the EU Commission in 2009. It is also the reason why many furniture factories in Dongguan's Dalingshan area are now developing a broad-based domestic strategy," said Yin.
Operational, funding plan considered ideal for other nations

Indonesia's first high-speed railroad project, which started construction on Thursday, could become a financial and operational model for other headline infrastructure projects in the region, according to rail industry and funding experts.

Scheduled for completion in 2019, the $5.5 billion line from Jakarta to Bandung is being developed by PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia-China - a consortium involving Indonesian state-owned companies and China Railway International Co Ltd, a subsidiary of China Railway Corp.

It is being 75-percent financed through a loan provided by China Development Bank, with the remainder of the funding from the JV partners themselves.

Zhou Qinghe, president of CRRC Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Co, which is part of the country's largest train manufacturer China Railway Rolling Stock Corp, said such enhanced regional cooperation, especially in rail transportation, could become the norm in the future, will help stimulate trade, and attract further investment.

The Chinese trainmaker has a manufacturing base in Malaysia involved in production, assembly, testing, maintenance and refurbishment, with an annual production capacity of 100 electric trains and light railway engines.

The 150-kilometer Jakarta-Bandung link, given its length and complexity, is expected to create more than 41,000 jobs a year during construction, he said. It will carry 44,000 passengers daily, and travel time between the two central hubs will be reduced to under 40 minutes from the current 3-5 hours.

"The line will provide a boost to local industries such as power generation, logistics, smelting, parts manufacturing, infrastructure, electronics, and even food and beverage supply - it represents balanced growth, in a number of sectors."

The stations and their surrounding areas will also be able to feed off the project, resulting in rich opportunities for real estate and other associated sectors.

Across the Association of Southeast Asian Nations region, CRRC is already targeting projects in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand, with rising demand for both electric locomotives and commuter trains for city and suburban lines.

"Ongoing plans by Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia to build high-speed rail links will further fuel the hope that Southeast Asia could one day have a similar European-style railway system," said Zhang Xiaojing, director of the Institute of Economic Research for China and ASEAN at Beijing-based University of International Business and Economics.

Zhang said that because most Southeast Asian nations have only just begun to build new railway lines or buy new trains, they are keen to acquire technological support from China, too, to assist in daily operations, maintenance, staff training and other services.

China Railway Corp, the country's railway operator, has also said it plans to accelerate the pace of its building, both of high-speed and regular railways, in countries including Indonesia, Malaysia, Russia and the United States, to compete with rivals from Japan, Germany and France.
SHANGHAI - Shanghai aims to vigorously attract foreign investment to intelligent manufacturing in the following five years.

According to a plan released by the Shanghai municipal commerce commission, foreign investors will be encouraged to put their money into industries such as robotics, high-grade NC machine tools, 3D printing, intelligent control systems and NC integrated service.

The city will also support foreign investors to set up research and development centers and innovation platforms in Shanghai.

Advanced manufacturing industry bases will be established and preferential policies will help the founding of foreign-funded manufacturers in Shanghai, according to the commission.

Shang Yuying, director of the commission, said the plan will offer new opportunities to foreign investors and assert Shanghai's determination to promote the restructuring and upgrading of the manufacturing industry.

By the end of last year, the city had some 9,100 foreign-funded manufacturers, about one quarter of the city's foreign-funded companies.
The headquarters of the People's Bank of China in Beijing. [Photo by Shi Yan/China Daily]

BEIJING - China's central bank on Wednesday announced that it will try to issue digital currency "as soon as possible."

A team in the central bank is examining domestic and global experiences. Digital currency costs less in circulation than traditional paper, facilitates trade, boosts transparency, and cuts money laundering and tax evasion, according to the People's Bank of China at a conference on digital currency.

They will improve the central bank's control of currency to better support development, and bolster new financial infrastructure and complete payment systems, it added.

The team was set up in 2014 and has made progress on technology, legal issues, and the impact on financial systems.
Despite Shanghai's overall economic slowdown, the city's services industry managed to achieve an annual growth of 10.6 percent in 2015, according to the latest official data.

The city's total output value exceeded 2.49 trillion yuan ($380 billion), with a year-on-year growth of 6.9 percent, 0.1 percent higher than figures in the first three quarters and 0.1 percent lower compared to the previous year, according to a report released by Shanghai Municipal Statistics Bureau.

In particular, the tertiary industry experienced growth of 10.6 percent with a total value-added output of 1.69 trillion yuan, accounting for 67.8 percent of the city's total output value, up 3 percentage points year-on-year.

"The rapid growth of the tertiary industry is a major driver of the city's economic growth, which is moving ahead gradually along with the more in-depth structural transformation of the city," said Tang Huihao, the bureau's chief economist.

Reforms taking in the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone have also had a certain effect, as the statistics showed.

A series of measures and policies have been released in the FTZ, which has attracted foreign direct investment accounting for 67 percent of the city's total$58.9 billion, a year-on-year surge of 86.5 percent. Contracts in the service sector in the zone last year were worth $54.5 billion, a yearly jump of 95.7 percent.

"The ongoing opening of various services activities in the zone highlights the rising importance of the services sector in the city's economy," said Xu Bin, a professor of economics and finance at China Europe International Business School.

Furthermore, the total amount of renminbi settlements on cross-border transactions increased three-fold on a yearly basis. The volume of direct overseas investment also rose 2.8 times.

About 45 multinational companies launched their regional headquarters in the city in 2015.

In the meantime, building a scientific and technological innovation hub has been a major focus of the city since early 2015. Currently, the number of multinational corporations' research and development centers in Shanghai accounts for nearly a quarter of the total number in the country.

The proportion of Shanghai's investment in research and development in its GDP has also risen from 3.6 percent in 2014 to the current 3.7 percent, reaching the level of developed economies.

"Construction of a technological innovation center will enhance the city with faster growth, which is already on the way to establishing an international economic center, a financial center, a trade center and a shipping center," said Yu Lei, a researcher with the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

The statistics also pointed to the worsening situation of industrial enterprises in the city. The value-added industrial output of large enterprises with an annual turnover of at least 20 million yuan exceeded 3.1 trillion yuan, a 0.8 percent decline from a year ago. The total value of exported goods was more than 756 billion yuan, down 1.6 percent year-on-year.

Overall, Shanghai is in the process of upgrading its industrial structure to achieve stable economic growth in the next year.

"Economic development is expected to result in a gradual growth of 6.5 to 7 percent in 2016, with more work taking place on transforming the city into a scientific and technological hub with global influence," said Tang.
Airbnb Inc, the US-based lodging website, is optimistic that its business in China will maintain rapid growth this year as China has become world's largest outbound tourism market.

According to Airbnb, the number of Chinese outbound tourists that book accommodations through Airbnb has increased by 700 percent in 2015. Although China is entering a new phase in economic development, with growth slowing, the guesthouse booking platform is positive about its increase.

"We don't see any impact on our business and have a very positive outlook for business with outbound travelers in 2016," said Varsha Rao, vice president of global operations at Airbnb, adding "we hope to maintain the growth level of last year."

"Our business in China is still growing. We are building awareness, focusing on millennial travelers born between the early 1980s and 2000s travelling to other parts of the world."

China had the world's largest number of outbound tourists in 2015, and about 120 million Chinese traveled overseas in 2015, up from 109 million the previous year, according to data from the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA).

Since 2012, China has ranked first worldwide for outbound tourists, according to the World Tourism Organization.

The rapid growth of the Chinese outbound tourist market means huge opportunities for Airbnb. China has become the fastest growing market for them and more and more Chinese travelers prefer a unique travelling experience different from staying at a hotel.

"It is different from staying in the hotel; it's about creating stories that you can share with your families and friends when you come back," Rao said.

Due to concentrating on outbound travel, Chinese short-term rental platforms such as Tujia.com and Mayi.com seem not to constitute a threat to them.

Founded in August 2008 and based in San Francisco, it has connected 50 million users in more than 34,000 cities of 190 countries. About 2 million homes are offered on the website.

Last year, it finished a series-E fundraising of $1.5 billion and introduced Chinese investors such as China Broadband Capital and Sequoia Capital China to step up their expansion in China's market. It has established a team of more than 10 people so far.

"To be relevant to Chinese travelers and users, we need to learn more to localize. Both of these Chinese partners have had a good track record of helping American companies localize," adding they help Airbnb in building relations with governments and recruiting members of the team in China.

Moreover, it has cooperated with Chinese community-based travel websites Qyer and Mafengwo, so travelers could reserve rooms provided by Airbnb through these two platforms.

"The users of the two websites are mainly youths keen on individual overseas travel. They are adventurers and like to try new destinations and looking for different travel experience. We will continue to build deep relationship with local partners like Mafengwo and Qyer in 2016, Rao said."

Ma Tianjiao, an analyst with the Beijing-based Internet consultancy Analysys International, said, "Nowadays people are willing to try something different during a trip. They are not satisfied with a hotel, which provides single and unfeatured service, but short-term rental platforms could offer diversified living experiences."

However, Airbnb still face challenges in the domestic market.

"Unlike Europe and US consumers, Chinese consumers need to cultivate the idea of sharing homes. There are a lot of vacant houses in China, but few of the owners are willing to share them with travelers," said Ma, the analyst.
Xiwang Group, a company located in Zouping, Shandong province, and owner of three listed firms, strengthened its efforts to tap the overseas market by joining hands with Japanese company Sumitomo Corporation on Wednesday.

Sumitomo Corporation, a Fortune Global 500 company, will cooperate with Xiwang by sharing 40 percent of the registered assets of Xiwang International Trade Co Ltd, while Xiwang Group will hold 60 percent, according to the agreement signed by the two companies at Zouping on Wednesday.

Xiwang International Trade, a company owned by Xiwang Group, focuses on foreign trade in the fields of food commodities including corn and sorghum-related products.

Wang Di, president of Xiwang Group, said by joining hands with Sumitomo, Xiwang International Trade will be a competitive platform for Xiwang to expand into overseas markets through moves like acquisitions.

Xiwang will also introduced high-end overseas food into Chinese markets, said Wang.

Xiwang Group is a corn processing heavyweight in China. The company's products have been sold to more than 60 countries and regions. Last year, the company's sales reached 31.23 billion yuan.
The German multinational software firm SAP has fulfilled its 2011 promise to invest $2 billion in China within five years, company CEO Bill McDermott told Chinese media recently.

McDermott says he is confident about Chinas economic growth and adds that SAP will increase its investments in the Chinese markets in the long term.

While reports did not specify how the money was spent, SAPs plans for the $2 billion included nearly doubling its workforce and the number of its offices in China, Bloomberg reported in 2011. Investments were to focus on sales-force training and developing software that could be exported to other countries.

McDermott also says he believes SAP can boost Chinas economic development with innovative technologies. The 45-year-old company, whose name stands for System Analysis and Program Development, makes software to manage business operations and customer relations.

McDermott gave a speech titled Winners Dream to hundreds of Chinese youth at Tsinghua University in Beijing recently. He told them that with a creative and enterprising spirit, he fulfilled his career dream, and that spirit could do the same for them.

renjie@chinadaily.com.cn
Eric Tsang closes his eyes during the two sessions of Guangzhou city, Guangdong province, Feb 2, 2015. [Photo/IC]

ERIC TSANG, a Hong Kong actor, has reportedly confirmed his resignation as political advisor to Jiangmen, a city in Southeast China's Guangdong province. Tsang has never shown up at an annual session of Jiangmen Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the political advisory body, since he was elected in 2011. Changjiang Daily on Wednesday calls for more binding regulations on political advisors, who are supposed to help improve social governance:

In fact, it is not a surprise that Tsang chose to resign his position as the only "celebrity" political advisor for Jiangmen, given his five-year absence from all the local political events and the fact that he is also a member of the CPPCC Guangzhou Committee. The two cities normally hold their annual sessions at the same time, and he has reportedly focused on Guangzhou.

This highlights that long-awaited uniform regulations on political advisors are yet to take shape. A binding mechanism to streamline, supervise and regulate the election and resignation of all political advisors needs to be established.

In Tsang's case, he should have quit his advisory job in Jiangmen years ago despite his "dual-city membership", something that should not have existed in the first place because it would inevitably lead to his long absence from the annual two sessions of at least one of the cities.

True, the Guangdong provincial committee of the CPPCC dismissed two incompetent celebrity members including Sun Shuwei, the 1992 Olympic diving champion, in 2006. But that is hardly enough.

Celebrity political advisors, who have abundant firsthand information and experience regarding their careers, are of unique importance to the local governance. However, they should be chosen for their advisory contributions and qualifications, instead of just their celebrity status.
Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani will visit China from Jan 25 to Jan 28, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei announced on Wednesday.

Both countries "attach great importance" to the official visit, Rabbani's first to China as Afghan foreign minister, and the first high-level visit between China and Afghanistan this year, Hong said.

Chinese leaders will meet Rabbani, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who invited Rabbani, will discuss various issues with his Afghan counterpart, Hong said.

The China-Afghan relationship "has kept going forward", said Hong.

The two countries last year celebrated the 60th anniversary of their diplomatic ties and the Year of China-Afghanistan Friendly Cooperation.

"We hope the visit will help implement the consensus between the two countries' leaders, plan the development of this year's bilateral relationship, push bilateral cooperation in economic and trade, security, culture and international and regional affairs, and strengthen the two countries' strategic partnership," said Hong.
Cindy Sun and her fiance are reconsidering their honeymoon plans after hearing that a bonus would be abolished that provides extra leave for couples choosing to marry later than the norm.

Sun, 29, a civil servant in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, had planned to tie the knot in May this year. But now there's a new wrinkle.

"Although Jiangsu has yet to implement regulations under the amended Family Planning Law, we are still worried we won't get the 10 extra days off," said Sun.

The legal age for marriage in China is 22 for men and 20 for women. While all newlyweds are granted three days of holiday, the previous law gave men over the age of 25 and women over 23 additional leave as a bonus for marrying later.

Many Chinese couples are likely to lose the extra holiday after changes to the law took effect on Jan 1. Regional regulations often lag behind national changes.

The exact number of days given to those who marry later varies from province to province. In Shaanxi and Sichuan provinces it was seven days.

The extra leave was initiated to encourage couples to marry and raise children later to soften population growth. With China abolishing its one-child policy and encouraging couples to have two children to offset an aging population, the law was amended and the late marriage leave was eliminated.

On average, Chinese are choosing to marry at around 25 - late by conventional standards - and the old policy had naturally lost some of its incentive value. But some couples had been banking on it.

"The extra leave is quite important to us because the normal three-day holiday will only be enough for our wedding," Sun said.

Some couples acted quickly. The Chaoyang office of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Civil Affairs reported a spike in marriage registrations on the last day of 2015 to around 300 from the usual 70. Similar spikes occurred in Shanghai and Guangzhou.

The anxiety over the end of the late-marriage leave reflects a need to review the country's statutory annual holidays, as people are very particular about their "precious" time off, an editorial in Beijing News said.

"Ending extra holidays for late marriage does not necessarily mean less leave," said Sun Wenjie, a lawyer with Ling Yun Law Firm. "It takes time for local authorities to issue policies under new or amended laws."

Legislators in Guangdong province were the first to pass new regional regulations on family planning, giving new mothers an extra 30 days for maternity leave, on top of the existing 98 days.
Newspapers published by the seven regional military commands of the People's Liberation Army ceased operations on Friday, the military's flagship newspaper PLA Daily reported on Wednesday.

The oldest of them, Soldiers' News, published by the Guangzhou Military Command, was established in 1930; the youngest, Comrade-in-Arms of the Beijing Military Command, was born in 1949.

The closures are thought by some observers to indicate that the new regional military command structure announced in November by Xi Jinping, China's president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, has begun to exert its influence.

PLA units typically close their publications upon being reassigned.

Others closed were the Jinan Military Command's Vanguard, the Shenyang Military Command's Forward, the Chengdu Military Command's War Flag, the Nanjing Military Command's People's Frontline and the Lanzhou Military Command's People's Armed Forces.

The newspapers were said to have had publication frequencies ranging from three to five days a week. Circulation numbers were not released to the public because all were internal publications.

According to PLA Daily, the seven newspapers published their last issues on Friday, each with an article bidding farewell to readers and expressing support for ongoing military reforms.

For many who have served in the PLA, the newspaper of his or her command is the most familiar publication. The papers have long been regarded as the most important information platform for troops, even after the rise of the Internet and smartphones to which soldiers have restricted access. Officers and soldiers would read the newspaper regularly as part of their cultural and political education programs.

A senior publicity officer at the Jinan Command who asked not to be named said that editors and reporters at Vanguard are waiting for instructions about their new assignments.

An officer at the Beijing Command who also requested anonymity said the new regional military commands will not have their own newspapers.

In late November, Xi Jinping announced that the seven regional military commands would be reorganized. The new commands will be responsible for military operations, while the headquarters of the Army, Navy and Air Force will take charge of managing and training troops, he said.

In another development, the performing arts troupe of the Nanjing Military Command was disbanded recently, according to PLA Daily. The report did not provide details.

Xi said at the national commemorative parade on Sept 3 that China would cut the number of its troops by 300,000.
Smaller producers should leave market, association leader says

China's fireworks industry must phase out illegal family factories and enhance company branding to ensure the safety of its products, an association leader said after two blasts within a week killed at least 13 people and injured at least 60.

Three people were confirmed dead and another one remains missing after blasts destroyed a fireworks plant in Jiangxi province at around 0:30 am on Wednesday. Another 53 people were hospitalized, China Central Television reported.

The incident followed a blast at a fireworks factory that killed 10 people and injured another seven on Jan 14 in Kaifeng, Henan province.

"The country's fireworks industry is now standing at a major crossroads to reduce the small players and crack down on illegal factories," said Wu Zhengli, secretary-general of the China Fireworks and Firecrackers Association and a member of the National Work Safety Firecrackers Group.

An overwhelming majority of China's fireworks producers are small and medium-sized enterprises. More than 80 percent of the accidents involving fireworks factories were caused by illegal operations by small players, he said.

A preliminary investigation found that the Kaifeng factory had illegally rented property to unauthorized fireworks producers, the State Administration of Work Safety said in an online statement.

China's fireworks production is concentrated in Hunan and Jiangxi provinces. Private enterprises account for a majority of the production, according to the association.

"One of the major problems of the industry is that the major companies have not established brands to enable consumers to distinguish between products by legal companies and illegal ones. That gives breathing space for illegal companies to sell their products," he said.

That makes it crucial for legal companies to increase their branding efforts to reduce the market for illegal companies, he said.

China is the world's largest producer, consumer and exporter of fireworks and firecrackers, according to the association.

The country has about 4,000 producers of fireworks and firecrackers. About 400 producers are being eliminated each year due to a saturated market.

The production and sales of fireworks nationwide are already falling by 20 to 30 percent each year as local authorities impose bans on fireworks to reduce air pollution, he said.

Wang Haoshui, chief engineer with the work safety watchdog, said in an interview with Legal Daily in 2014 that the fireworks industry is the second-most deadly in China after coal mining. There were 24 accidents and 59 deaths in the first nine months of last year, according to the State Administration of Work Safety.

A lack of training and expertise is also a major reason for the large number of accidents, Wu said.

"In Hunan and Jiangxi, most of the workers in the industry are migrants who were hired from nearby provinces. The fact that most factories suspend operations in the summer also increases the turnover of workers," he said.

Another major challenge faced by the fireworks industry is how to integrate the sales of products into e-commerce channels, he noted.

Some fireworks producers in Liuyang, Hunan province, have also taken to e-commerce platforms, including JD.com, to sell their products in Hunan province.

On Saturday, the police in Shanghai said they had captured 15 suspects who were allegedly using online platforms to sell fireworks illegally. The police also seized 5,334 boxes of fireworks.

Wu said the country currently has no clear regulation covering the sales of fireworks on e-commerce platforms, and the association is working on amendments to laws and regulations.

"We need to stipulate clearly how online sales can be conducted, and the safety of transportation must be the top issue," he said.

xuwei@chinadaily.com.cn

Major fireworks factory blasts

Jan 14, 2016

10 dead, 7 injured in Tongxu county, Henan province

July 12, 2015

22 dead, 25 injured in Ningjin county, Hebei province

Sept 22, 2014

14 dead, 33 injured in Liling, Hunan province; economic losses reached 16.7 million yuan ($2.5 million)

Aug 16, 2010

34 dead, 152 injured in Yichun, Heilongjiang province; economic losses estimated at 68.1 million yuan

Nov 10, 2007

11 dead, 2 injured in Liuyang, Hunan province

June 30, 2000

37 dead, 12 severely injured in Jiangmen, Guangdong province; economic losses estimated at 30 million yuan
Obstetric nurses in the Central Hospital of Enshi, Hubei province, take care of newborns at the hospital. Li Yuanyuan / for China Daily

The Year of the Goat is the cause for a slight decline in the number of newborns in 2015 over previous year, said nation's top health authority.

China had 16.55 million babies born last year, 320,000 fewer than 2014, the Year of the Horse, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

China began to allow couples with one side being an only child to have a second child in late 2013, which made 11 million couples eligible.

Experts expected back then the policy would bring one million more babies compared with 2014.

Facing the slight decrease last year, some said the policy change could hardly reverse a downward trend of the population.

The National Health and Family Planning Commission, in response, rejected that view in an online statement issued on Wednesday.

The decline is due to the Year of the Goat and the decreasing women of childbearing age, it said.

There is an old Chinese saying " (shi yang jiu bu quan)", that means nine out of 10 people born in the Year of the Goat are unlucky and will suffer from great misfortune throughout their life.

After that the Year of the Goat, China is expected to welcome 17.5 to 21 million newborns annually in five years, it projected.

In 2015, the number of women aged 15 to 49, deemed to be of childbearing age, fell by five million over 2014.

The group between 20 and 29 years old, considered the reproductive prime, has declined by 1.5 million.
A woman waits for a taxi in the snow on a road in Hunchun, Northeast China's Jilin province, Jan 19, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

The strongest cold wave in decades is about to sweep across China as people were advised to stay indoors and warned of upcoming heavy snow and freezing rain in the next few days.

According to the weather forecast, Beijing this Friday will face a low that may drop below -16.7 degrees Celsius. It's a record low temperature first recorded in this century on Jan 6, 2010.

Shanghai will feel the coldest air in three decades in upcoming days, with its suburban area expected to endure a temperature of -8 degrees - and even -10 degrees on Sunday and Monday, according to the Shanghai Meteorological Service.

The Ministry of Transport announced Wednesday a highway traffic emergency, its highest warning, urging transport agencies across the country to ensure a reliable transport infrastructure and safe transport of goods and passengers by spreading real-time weather and traffic information and arranging a 24-hour shift to monitor possible risks.

In Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang province, heavy sleet forced the cancellation of many flights to cities in the Pearl River Delta in south China's Guangdong province on Wednesday.

The rare freezing weather is more of a "natural disaster" than a simple cold wave, said Guokr.com, a popular and influential science website, in a post on its Twitter-like Weibo account.

A polar vortex featuring very cold temperatures went south and settled in Siberia and will cause a lasting cold spell in major parts of China in the next few days, the website explained.

Besides the polar vortex, a northward subtropical high will produce strong rainfall, and even heavy snowfall, in eastern and southern parts of China, especially Zhejiang province, which is located where the polar vortex is expected to collide with the subtropical high.

This kind of cold wave is so strong that it was last seen in 1991, the website said, urging people to stay at home during the severe cold wave, if possible.

The website's post was reposted over 40,000 times and commented on 9,000 times in less than a day, showing how concerned people are about the cold wave.

"Wish my boss would let me have a few days off," one Weibo user said.

"Wondering if it is lucky or unlucky to see such a rare cold wave that's way older than me," another joked.

Extreme and rare as it is, experts say the bitter cold is unlikely to bring that much damage and disorder to people's lives, as did the last cold wave in the winter of 2008.

"Unlike the cold wave in 2008, consisting of several continuous days of sleet and freezing weather, the upcoming cold wave will not last long. Besides, it's in late January when the temperature is cold enough, so the temperature can't drop more," Zhang said.
China "strongly condemns" the terror attack on a university that killed more than 20 people in Pakistan, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said on Thursday.

At least 22 people were killed at the university in Pakistan's northwest province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa a day earlier, after a group of gunmen climbed the outside wall of the institution and cut the barbed wire fence to jump into the premises, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The Pakistan Taliban claimed the attack.

"China strongly opposes terror attacks against innocent civilians. It supports Pakistan in striking terrorism to maintain national stability and people's safety," Hong said.

The attack happened just over a year after more than 130 children were killed when Taliban militants attacked a school in Peshawar on Dec 16, 2014.
Actor Wen Zhang portrays marshal Zhang Xueliang in TV series, Shao Shuai.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Most Chinese are familiar with the name Zhang Xueliang because of the Xi'an Incident, which changed the course of Chinese history but made the military leader lose freedom for the rest of his life.

The Xi'an Incident, which occurred on Dec 12, 1936, halted China's civil war and united the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, who together turned their guns against the Japanese invaders.

While scores of screen titles hail him as a patriotic hero, a recent hit TV series stretches its tentacles to his lesser-known early years, when the young Zhang was still a playboy and a troublemaker for his prestigious family.

Shao Shuai (Young Marshal, Zhang's nickname), a 48-episode biopic, has been airing on Beijing Satellite TV since Jan 11, with two episodes every night.

For those who missed the earlier episodes, streaming-video sites Youku and Tudou provide a second chance, as the series has been released on the two online platforms.

With flashbacks to Zhang's last years in the United States, the series mainly chronicles the legendary figure's life from the age of 12 to 36.

His multiple romances, including first wife Yu Fengzhi and soul mate Edith Chao, are featured in the series.

Actually Zhang's life was more dramatic and astounding than a writer could fictionalize.

At 12, the first and most spoiled son of Northeast China's warlord, Zhang Zuolin, Zhang had to live with his dictator father's four concubines after losing his mother.

At 27, the young man had to take his father's position after Zhang Zuolin was murdered by Japanese invaders.

At 36, Zhang allied with Yang Hucheng, a general commanding much of northwestern China, to arrest the Kuomintang's leader, Chiang Kai-shek, to force him to make a truce with the Communist Party.

After that it was all downhill, just like Zhang told the historian Te-Kong Tong: "All my stories conclude at 36."

After the truce, Zhang accompanied the released Chiang to the Nationalist government's capital but was put under house arrest for the next 40 years.

He regained his freedom only after Chiang died in 1975.

The TV series' writers were never short of material.
Chinese dancers perform at the National Theater in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Jan. 18, 2016. China's Tianjin Art Troupe staged on Monday a culturally captivating performance aimed at celebrating the upcoming Lunar New Year. [Photo/Xinhua]

Crowds of hundreds cheered, clapped and waved as China's famous Tianjin Art Troupe staged a culturally captivating event in a performance aimed at celebrating the upcoming Lunar New Year in Dhaka.

The performance included traditional Chinese musical instruments, dance, acrobatics and martial arts and many more exquisite recitals.

The Bangladesh-China Friendship Center (BCFC), in association with the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Bangladesh and Bangladesh's National Academy of Fine and Performing Arts, organized the performance presented by the Tianjin Art Troupe of China.

The performance, "Beautiful Tianjin" took place on Sunday night at the National Theater of the academy in Dhaka.

BCFC President M. Delwar Hossain said the 32-member Tianjin Art Troupe was visiting Bangladesh to showcase its performance to the local people as part of celebrations for the Chinese New Year, which falls on Feb. 8.

He expressed his hope that the Chinese New Year will bring much more success for the People's Republic of China and for people in Bangladesh and elsewhere in the world.

Ruhul Amin, a Dhaka University student, said: "I am really impressed by the the troupe's performance. I've never seen such an excellent performance in my life. I'm delighted that they organized the program."

All the attendees agreed that the wonderful program will help build a deeper understanding between China and Bangladesh.
Performers dance The Beauty With Half Makeup. [Photo/Culturalink.gov.cn]

Chinese New Year celebrations in South Korea kicked off on Jun 17 in Seoul with a variety show. The event, themed Culture of China, Festival of Spring, featured Chinese ethnic charms such as dance, Peking opera, acrobatics, cross talk, magic performance and singing.

Highlights of the three-hour show were the nostalgic song, Love for Hometown, Mother, skillful acrobatics and dances of Chinese ethnic groups. All aimed to promote a better understanding of Chinese Spring Festival culture among Korean citizens.

The next two weeks will be followed by various activities celebrating Chinese New Year, including the exhibition of intangible cultural heritages from Hubei province, the lantern dance from Fenghuang of Hubei province, a Chinese craft show and concerts from China and Korea.

Since 2009, a series of activities celebrating the New Year has been held by the State Council Overseas Chinese Affairs Office. This year, nine Chinese art groups performed around the world to share this Chinese cultural feast with more overseas Chinese.

Zhang Jianmin, the deputy director of the Secretariat and Administrative Department of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council, spoke before the performance. He noted that overseas Chinese function as a bridge, bringing China and other countries together. The State Council has always been and will continue to be concerned about their lives and development in other countries.

Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Qiu Guohong, the president of the Korean Overseas Chinese Association, Han Shenghao, and 2,000 locals and overseas Chinese in Korea also enjoyed the show.
Creations by shortlisted designers of the Yoox Estethica Sustainability awards are eco-friendly but present signature styles as well.[Photo provided to China Daily]

More awards are being given to masterminds who use natural fabrics and more sustainable methodologies, Xu Junqian reports in Hong Kong.

The dress dyed in yam juice is Chinese designer Su Renli's statement of cool comfort. She drew inspiration from the country's ancient craftsmen while stitching the chocolate-brown piece. To organizers of the YES fashion awards for environmental protection, any "eco-conscious designer" is good news.

After all, the fashion industry is a top global polluter. It is also a big consumer of resources. It is estimated by World Wildlife Fund that to produce 1 kilogram of cotton, sufficient for the making of a T-shirt or part of a pair of jeans, as many as 20,000 liters of water may be needed. And the popularity of such clothing has fueled unsustainable consumerism.

The environmental and social problems arising from the fashion industry can be blamed on a key reasoncheap fashion is "too cheap" while most of the luxury fashion companies "are not being responsible" either, says Orsola de Castro, founder of Estethica, a part of London Fashion Week that has promoted sustainable fashion since 2006.

This year, Estethica is partnering with online luxury retailer Yoox.com to launch fashion awards aimed at supporting and promoting designers in Asia who are committed to social and environmental responsibilities without compromising their signature styles.

"For all these years, we have been talking about the rising power of Asia's fashion and luxury industry from a retail point of view. I think it's time to look squarely at the power of creativity here," De Castro said prior to the event's launch in Hong Kong.
French designer Nicolas Favard takes in an Asian point of view in his creation during his 11 years in China. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Nicolas Favard, a French jewelry designer, was wearing two asymmetric earrings on a December day - one bulky and the other, a slimmer one with a stud.

He says ornaments should enhance one's style and complement the wearer's personality.

"They (my earrings) show that I have a bit of this and a bit of that," he says. "But designer jewelry expresses things beyond what words can say."

At 35, Favard has spent 11 years in Beijing. When he first arrived in the country in 2004, few understood what tailor-made contemporary designs were about.

"After the 1960s, people lost the habit of wearing jewelry. Back then, people bought what they saw in magazines," Favard says at his workshop in western Sanlitun.

"They wanted brand-name things that reflected their status," he adds.

When he started teaching jewelry-making at the Central Academy of Fine Arts a decade ago, students tended to look up to European designs for inspiration. At the time, students also preferred working on ideas alone and were inclined to leaving the handcrafting part of the process to professional goldsmiths.

Favard, however, started his career as an apprentice with a local jeweler in his hometown, La Rochelle, at the age of 16. He was trained rigorously in techniques and the nature of different materials. In Europe, the craftsperson is often also the designer, says Favard.

Favard's impression of Chinese ornaments before he set foot in the country was a Chairman Mao badge - he would later develop designs based on the badge.
Chinese healthcare giant Ciming Checkup has moved into the virtual healthcare sector.

On Jan 16, Beijing Ciji Network Technology, a subsidiary of Ciming Checkup, launched its new service, Jijiankang, an app that is able to record and analyze a user's health data and provide professional advice and health management service.

More than 30 million health checkup reports have been input into the database of the app, and people who have had health checkups with Ciming and Health 100  a company which merged with Ciming last year  can read the digital reports after following a simple registration process. People can also input health reports from other checkup services into the app database through uploading report photos to the app.

Further services, such as health management advice and cancer risk evaluation, are available once users pay online.

Han Xiaohong, founder of Ciming Checkup, said the company estimates that the app will accumulate data from more than 100 million health reports in the next three years, becoming the world's largest health report database.

Related:

Mattel to provide toys at Beijing hospitals
A top medical institution at the University of Texas announced on Tuesday that it had partnered with a Chinese group to establish a referral office in Beijing.

It is the latest move by an overseas group to tap into the rising medical market of China, where the newly affluent have begun seeking the world's best medical services.

MD Anderson Proton Therapy Center in the US said it would join in the venture with China's Concord Medical Services Holdings in creating the referral office, which will be dedicated to providing free services to Chinese patients seeking proton therapy. MD Anderson's application and treatment process will be used.

The office was envisioned to help Chinese patients overcome distance and language barriers and provide them with the best medical experience available.

Previously, renowned hospitals like the Mayo Clinic and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center created liaison offices in China to help people who can afford treatment overseas.

Industry analysts put the number of potential patients in the country at around 3,000 each year.

Concord Medical, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, began working with MD AndersonPTC in 2012, according to Adam Sun, the company's chief information officer. The company is the second-largest shareholder of MD AndersonPTC.

Proton therapy is radiation treatment using a beam of protons to deliver radiation directly to a cancer tumor, destroying abnormal cells while sparing healthy tissue. It is used to treat cancers in the head, neck, brain and prostate, as well as cancers in children.

In its 10th year of operation, MD AndersonPTC treats 800 patients a year on average. About 10 percent are international patients, including about 20 from China in 2015, said Matthew Palmer, director of proton therapy development at MD AndersonPTC.

"Our partnership has proved to benefit Chinese cancer patients tremendously," Sun said. "As one of the most advanced radiotherapy technologies, proton therapy has significant advantages in local control rates, secondary reactions and a decrease in long-term side effects.

"We hope to expand our circle of influence, help more patients by establishing the referral center and provide the best quality of life to cancer patients."

Currently, the average five-year survival rate for a Chinese cancer patient is about 30 percent, much lower than the US average of 70 percent.

MD Anderson Cancer Center has seen an increasing number of Chinese patients seeking treatment in recent years. Getting to Houston, however, has proved daunting to many.

"We hope we can help Chinese cancer patients benefit from advanced medical services and research achievements," Sun said.

Shan Juan in Beijing contributed to this story.
A stevedore works at Qingdao port in Shandong province, July 1, 2015. [Photo/IC]

For those who are bearish on the Chinese economy, they need to square their assumptions of dim growth prospects for the world's second-largest economy with the seemingly unstoppable rise of outbound Chinese tourists.

If China was really heading for a hard landing, it is more than likely that its people should have generally been feeling the pinch and, as a precaution, postponed, if not abandoned, their planned overseas tours.

But that is not what seems to be happening.

Although the Chinese economy grew by only 6.9 percent last year, the slowest pace in 25 years, Chinese travelers have defied the headwinds to make around 120 million outbound trips in 2015, up 12 percent from the year before.

With China the top source of tourists worldwide for the fourth consecutive year, after more than a decade of double-digit growth, it is fairly reasonable to take that number as an important barometer of the country's rising living standards. Although much faster, the continuous surge in the number of outbound tourists, up from 10 million in 2000, is definitely in line with the 50-percent jump in the average income level in China between 2010 and 2015.

And according to a Bank of America Merrill Lynch forecast, the number of outbound Chinese travelers is expected to rise to around 174 million by 2019, spending about $264 billion annually.

Such a forecast is not a sure bet even after Chinese travelers spent $164.8 billion overseas in 2014, a fourfold increase over 2008. There are simply too many uncertainties concerning economic growth and financial stability around the world nowadays.

But it reflects the still-growing enthusiasm of Chinese consumers to travel more and shop more elsewhere.

Chinese tourists' contribution to other economies has become more evident than ever. For example, China sent a record 4.99 million visitors to Japan in 2015, more than double the previous year's figure. These Chinese tourists not only spent about 80 billion yuan ($12.16 billion) during their visits, helping to boost the Japanese economy, they also encouraged the Japanese government to consider raising its target of boosting the number of annual visitors from 20 million to 30 million by 2020.

Of course, those with a pessimistic view can shrug off the bullishness signaled by Chinese globe-trotters as not significant enough to justify strong confidence in the 10-trillion-dollar Chinese economy that is struggling with overcapacity in industrial sectors and overstock in the property market amid long-term challenges like a rapidly aging population.

And they may point to favorable conditions such as increased disposable incomes, extended national holidays, relaxed visa restrictions and the rising value of the Chinese currency as reasons for a large part of this spectacular growth story of Chinese outbound tourists for the better part of the past decade.

Nevertheless, they cannot turn a blind eye to the simple but complex fact that more and more Chinese people are travelling overseas to join an army of consumers deemed as the world's largest and most favorable spenders in spite of the increasingly loud talk of a possible hard landing at home.

Thus, second thoughts on the underlying changes taking place in the Chinese economy seem more than needed.

During a recent chat with one of my friends who spent a weeklong family tour of Japan last year, I could not help expressing my puzzlement at the ostensible contradiction between China's record number of overseas tourists and the scary stories about its economic slowdown.

But he mentioned his family's plan to visit Singapore during the coming Chinese Spring Festival. "When you've started, you know, it is hard to stop."

The author is a senior writer with China Daily.

zhuqiwen@chinadaily.com.cn
Russian students show collages featuring Chinese words at the No 1 Middle School in Heihe city in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province in April. [Qiu Qilong / for China Daily]

It is a difficult and grisly issue for many.

At times, the topic is rarely tackled, and sometimes treated as a taboo subject.

This is partly understandable on the grounds of its anthropological significance.

As things stand, apart from a few exceptions of specialists of china - native-born resident and talented students - most of the foreigners living in china are illiterate, myself included.

Of course, some are fluent in Chinese, others gabble some words but at the very end, a bunch of them are able to read and write easily the mandarin. According to a generally accepted definition illiterates are somewhat epithet that many deny or fail to acknowledge.

Regardless of whether they agree, this is a very tough situation.

According to a more cruel interpretation, an illiterate turns out to be someone having little or no formal education.

A less appreciative acknowledgement suggests that illiterates are marked by a sense of inferiority to an expected local standard. If this argument was pushed to its logical consequence, illiterates are ignorant, considered as marginalized people, and low educated.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) defines literacy as, "the ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute, using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts. Literacy involves a continuum of learning in enabling individuals to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in their community and wider society".

Of course, few foreigners will recognize themselves in such category.

This situation is not unique to China. This is also the case in most of the Asian countries.

Having the privilege of living in china, many feel incorrectly to be part of the world's elite. In a way, they are. In many companies, the expatriates are often considered as the lucky ones. In an extremely competitive labor market, not everyone has the opportunity to stay a while in China.

Although most of them are illiterate individuals, they dont blame themselves for such failure. Rather, they view themselves as successful. Tough, they should be humble. As Confucius said, Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance.

It is the ultimate paradox that the wealthiest ones are often the less gifted.

The latter are mostly working for multi-national corporations with well-paying jobs, living in luxury apartments. As they usually stay in china for short periods - three to five years - they are highly stressed and under daily pressure, they dont have the time to make the effort. Realizing the enormity of the task, most made a rather feeble attempt to learn the language.

Position of dependence

Thus, they live in a position of dependence at the mercy of translators. Everyday life, for every little thing, they require help or guidance.

Can they access to the Chinese culture and its inner thoughts?

Can they understand the local way of thinking?

Unable to read and write the mandarin, they are inevitably excluding themselves from the community, the mysteries hidden beneath the appearances.

The situation is becoming increasingly intolerable particularly when they live within a western married couple or even alone.

Others will find through a relationship with a local mate a suitable solution to deal with the problem. Normally those ones will have the tools to begin developing a better understanding of the mandarin. This is indeed generally the case, although not always. Some, due to a lack of courage or by ease of living, will remain illiterate. As elderly people, they still cling to their wives or girl friends to survive.

Of course, this distortion can be redressed by a passionate love. But, at the long run, this imbalance will increasingly squeeze the average couple. Over time, perceptions related to empathy decline. How long the state of grace will last? At the end, they will lock themselves up in their dreams before the sunsets.

What can be done to change things for the better?

This may be a good time to re-examine the reading and writing pedagogy by concentrating on needs of adults with learning disabilities and very little spare time.

Regardless of the solution, it would be useful to stimulate this debate and to highlight the need for change.

The original blog is at: http://blog.chinadaily.com.cn/blog-2067059-34134.html
The exterior of the Nasir-ol-Mulk Mosque in Shiraz, Southern Iran. As sunlight cascades through its vibrant stained glass windows, every inch of the Nasir-ol-Mulk Mosque bursts with color. The mosque, in Southern Iran, is illuminated with a kaleidoscope of colors when light shines through its windows. With its stained glass, beautiful patterned carpets and intricately detailed ceiling tiles, the mosque attracts worshipers and tourists alike. [Photo/IC]

Chinese President Xi Jinping left Beijing on Tuesday for state visits to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iran.

The Mideast area has long been a hot spot in the global geopolitical arena. While tensions are almost the only focal point for the world's attention, what has been relatively ignored is its rich bounty of natural and cultural landscapes. From the Great Sphinx in Egypt and small Persian rug shops in Iran, to the stunning city view of Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, historical wonders and modern developments ceaselessly work together to make the Mideast another ideal travel destination for international tourists.
Taiwan's tourism authority has raised the daily quota from 5,000 a day to 8,000 between Nov 21 last year and Feb 19 to cope with the growing demand for travel during Spring Festival, which falls on Feb 8.[Photo/Xinhua]

Taiwan has become one of the most popular travel destinations for mainland residents during the winter holiday season thanks to an increase in the quota allowed for tour groups.

The island's tourism authority has raised the daily quota from 5,000 a day to 8,000 between Nov 21 last year and Feb 19 to cope with the growing demand for travel during Spring Festival, which falls on Feb 8.

The authority raised the quota for tour groups several times in 2014 and allowed visits by tourists from more mainland regions. Residents in 47 mainland cities can now visit Taiwan as individual tourists.

As cooperation has strengthened between the two sides, cross-Straits tourism has boomed in recent years.

Zhang Hui, public relations representative at online travel agency Ctrip, said the raised quotas had led to a 50 percent increase in customers to Taiwan so far this year compared with last year.

In 2015, more than 4 million mainland tourists visited Taiwan, surpassing those from Japan to become the biggest spenders.
Video / Chinadaily.com.cn

On the fifth day, they met.

Molly Sano traveled from the United States to China to find her adopted son's biological parents, hoping her public pleas for help would allow her to reunite the boy with his family before an incurable genetic disorder robbed him of his sight.

It worked. News about Sano's trek to Ningbo, Zhejiang province, on behalf of 2-year-old Bennett, reached the ears of Shi Boning, director of the Hearing Diagnosing and Screening Center of the Affiliated Hospital of Ningbo University.

He searched the center's records until he found a case similar to the boy's and reached out to the child's father, surprised to find the phone number in the case file was still active. Five days after Sano landed in Ningbo, the families embraced.

"Finding Bennett's bio-parents, I've helped my son find his roots," Sano said. "I have no regrets about this trip to China."

Sano adopted the boy in 2014. Born deaf in Ningbo, Bennett was diagnosed in December with a rare disorder and is expected to gradually go blind. His mother wanted him to see his family before he lost his vision and feared waiting would make it more difficult to find them.

When they met, Bennett's biological mother, a migrant worker in her 30s, immediately burst into tears and tried to explain why she abandoned her son. She repeatedly said: "I really had no other choice."

Molly Sano meets Bennett's biological mother in Ningbo, Zhejiang province. CUI YIN/CHINA DAILY

Bennett's Chinese parents were eager to tell the story of his birth and his family. Besides an older brother, who also is deaf, which was mentioned in a note left by Bennett's side when he was found, he also has a sister and a younger brother born with normal hearing. Bennett was born on April 1, 2012. His parents expected him to take care of his older brother in the future, but their hopes drained away when they found out that he could not hear either.

"We worked in a factory where the monthly payment was only about 1,000 yuan ($152)," Bennett's biological father said.

On May 18, 2012, his parents made the decision to give him up and Bennett was placed at the south gate of a luxurious residential area. His father didn't leave until he saw a security guard collect the boy and take him safely to the police station.

Later transferred to the Enmei Child Welfare Association in Ningbo, Bennett remained there until Sano came for him and took him to her home in Seattle.

With photos, Sano told the couple about the boy's daily life in a family of four, where he attends school and is growing up like a normal child. The two mothers added each other on WeChat, a popular messaging app, and Sano offered to send photos of Bennett every year. Flying back to Seattle on Wednesday, Sano said she will bring greetings from Bennett's biological parents to the city.
Afghan policemen and fire-fighters inspect the wreckage of a bus that was hit by a suicide bomb attack, in an area near the Russian embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan January 20, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

KABUL - At least eight people were killed and 27 others wounded after a suicide car bomb rocked near the Russian Embassy in the western part of the Afghan capital of Kabul on Wednesday, witnesses and sources said.

The attacker targeted a minibus carrying local media workers,Kabul Police Chief General Abdul Rahman Rahimi told reporters.

Seven civilians, including two women, died in addition to the bomber on the spot while 25 civilians wounded as a result of the explosion,Rahimi said citing initial information.

The number of casualties may change as the victims were shifted into different hospitals,Rahimi noted.

The suicide blast occurred at around 05:10 p.m. (1240) along Dar-ul-Aman road. The attacker rammed his sedan into a minibus running along the four-line road, witness Jamal Formuli told Xinhua.

Some bystanders were among the casualties. The number of people aboard the targeted bus was not immediately clear.

Security forces have cordoned off the area for precautionary measures.

The Criminal Investigation Department of Afghan National Police launched an investigation into the incident.

Unofficial sources said the bus belongs to Kabora, a local media production. They said no member of the Russian Embassy was hurt in the attack.

No group has claimed responsibility yet for the attack.

The blast came months after the Taliban militants announced some private TV channels as their targets over what they said releasing of imbalanced reports and siding with the government.
Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung (C, bottom) speaks during the opening ceremony of the 12th National Congress of Vietnam's Communist Party in Hanoi, Vietnam, January 21, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

HANOI - The opening ceremony of the 12th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) was held in capital Hanoi on Thursday morning.

As many as 1,510 delegates representing over 4.5 million Vietnamese communist party members attend the congress, which is scheduled to last till Jan. 28.

The congress is being held under the theme of establishing a pure and strong party, fostering national unity, simultaneously and comprehensively boosting reform, resolutely defending the nation and maintaining peace and stability, while striving to soon turn Vietnam into a modern industrialized country.

During the event, participants will discuss the five-year implementation of the 11th national party congress resolution (2011-2015), review 30 years of the reform cause, map out directions and tasks for the national development during the 2016-2020 period, among others.

On Wednesday, the 12th National Party Congress held a preparatory session to adopt the working regulations of the congress, and elected the Presidium, the Secretariat, and the Delegate Eligibility Appraisal Board of the 12th National Party Congress.

They also adopted the working agenda and election regulations at the 12th National Party Congress, and reports on examining the eligibility of the delegates.

Nguyen Phu Trong, General Secretary of the 11th CPVCC was elected as Chairman of a 17-member Presidium of the 12th National Party Congress.

The 12th National Party Congress is set to produce a new Politburo and Secretariat of the CPV Central Committee, which will pave way for the election of the country's new leadership.

Earlier, the 14th plenary session of the 11th CPVCC, the final session of the 11th CPVCC before the 12th national party congress, was held during Jan. 10-13.

Regarding personnel work, the 11th CPVCC had discussed in a "democratic and straightforward manner", and voted to adopt the nomination of several members of the 11th CPVCC for re-election in the 12th tenure as "special" cases, along with nominations of Politburo members and CPVCC Secretariat of the 11th tenure for re-election in the 12th tenure as "special" cases.
When Abozahrah Abdalrhman picked up the phone and said ni hao (hello), no one would have guessed he was a foreigner born and bred in Saudi Arabia.

The 27-year-old speaks fluent Chinese, practically without any accent, and is now studying in a master's program on communication engineering at the University of Science and Technology in Beijing.

He chose China over Japan and South Korea when applying for the overseas study program in 2008, because of the pleasant impression his first trip to the country made on him back in 2004.

"I loved the weather, the sea, the mountains and local culture in Shenzhen," he recalled.

Seven years of living in China has made Abdalrhman feel China is a home away from home. He lives with his Saudi wife and their daughter in Beijing. Not only does he have many Chinese friends, he knows his way around.

"I really love my Chinese friends, and they are very enthusiastic and always ready to help".

There's now no problem for him to arrange travel alone, getting train and air tickets and booking hotels.

Abdalrhman visited Hong Kong, Guangzhou in Guangdong province, Shanghai and Chengdu in Sichuan province and is particularly impressed by the landscapes of China.

"The mountains and forests were so different from what we have back at home," he said.

He even drove himself on a car trip to Hebei and Henan provinces during summer.

Abdalrhman is just one of an increasing number of students from Saudi Arabia who have benefited from the Saudi Arabian government's scholarship program back in 2006, according to Mohammed A. Alshraim, of Saudi Arabia's culture administration in China.

The Middle Eastern country has since sent about 1,600 students to China, most of them majoring in engineering and medical sciences, business administration and finance.

"China, to Arab countries, is especially important since the Silk Road initiative," said Alshraim, adding that many students come to explore Chinese culture and customs and understand Chinese people, in addition to studying.

The country's cultural mission has signed 18 education and science cooperative agreements with 18 Chinese universities, he said.

About 700 students have finished their studies and returned to Saudi Arabia so far.

yangfeiyue@chinadaily.com.cn
CAIRO - Chinese President Xi Jinping started Wednesday his visit to Egypt, a country to which his last trip dates back to 16 years ago and which now looks forward to boarding the development train of the world's second largest economy.

Xi's visit is aimed at aligning the development plans of the two nations.

CHINA'S PARTICIPATION

"My visit to Egypt is to cement and deepen the China-Egypt relationship in an all-round way, and advance practical cooperation between our two nations for new achievements," Xi said when meeting Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail shortly after his arrival in Cairo in the afternoon.

The Chinese government encourages and supports qualified enterprises to participate in large-scale projects in Egypt, Xi said.

He proposed that the two sides make more efforts to synergize their development strategies and step up cooperation within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, so as to translate their consensus into concrete results as soon as possible.

Prior to Xi's visit, experts from both countries have agreed that as Egypt eyes a series of mega projects, the new Suez Canal for instance, to revitalize the economy, China's experience could certainly help.

"China stands ready to boost cooperation with Egypt in infrastructure construction and continue pushing ahead industrial capacity cooperation," the president said.

Words have already been put into practice. China Electric Power Equipment and Technology Co., Ltd said it had reached a deal with its Egyptian partner to build a 1,210 km power transmission line at 500 KV in the southeast of the Nile Delta in Egypt.

As the largest project of its kind in Egypt, the line will be used to transmit electricity for three gas-fired power plants and one nuclear power station, the company, which attended the China Science and Technology Exhibition in Cairo on Wednesday, told Xinhua.

Meanwhile, China's CGC Overseas Construction Group is working to combine China's agricultural technology, Egypt's natural resources and global capital to help the North African country develop agriculture on the west side of the Nile, the company told Xinhua at the exhibition.
On January 19-20, Chinese President Xi Jinping paid a state visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Xi and Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud held in-depth talks to reach a consensus on deepening bilateral relations, as well as discussing international and regional issues of common concern.

Both sides had jointly announced to build a comprehensive strategic partnership, which will push forward the development of bilateral ties at a stronger and broader level.

Saudi Arabia is the only Arab state of the Group of 20 Countries (G20) and a major state in the Arab and Islamic world.

Saudi Arabia has been China's largest trading partner in West Asia and North Africa for many years. It is the world's largest crude oil supplier too.

The unique geographical location makes Saudi Arabia a promising participant, builder and beneficiary of the "Belt and Road" initiative.

Both sides decided to lift bilateral ties to the comprehensive strategic partnership and build a community of China-Saudi energy strategic docking to enhance the "Belt and Road" initiative that would act as the wing of pragmatic cooperation.

Global public opinion shows that Xi's this visit has opened a new era for stronger bilateral ties and a broader prospects for the friendly cooperation between China and Saudi Arabia as well as China and the Arab world.

Comments by Xu Xiujun, associate researcher with the Institute of World Economy and Politics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; comics drawn by Chi Ying
Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) meets with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (R) in Cairo, Egypt, Jan 20, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

CAIRO - Chinese President Xi Jinping said here Thursday that his country is willing to participate in Egypt's key projects like the development of the Suez Canal Corridor and the construction of a new administrative capital.

Xi made the remarks during talks with Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, who held a grand welcome ceremony for the Chinese leader outside the historic Quba Palace.

President Xi also invited Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi to attend the Group of 20 summit in the Chinese city of Hangzhou this September.
Children cheer as Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi walks with President Xi Jinping at the presidential palace in Cairo on Thursday. REUTERS

China and Arab states should build peace, promote development, boost industrialization, support stability and partner people-to-people exchanges in the Middle East, President Xi Jinping said on Thursday.

Addressing the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, he said China decides its position on issues based on their merits and the fundamental interests of the people in the Middle East.

Instead of looking for a proxy in the Middle East, we promote peace talks; instead of seeking any sphere of influence, we call on all parties to join the circle of friends for the Belt and Road Initiative, Xi said.

He added that instead of attempting to fill a vacuum, China seeks to build a cooperative partnership network for win-win outcomes.

The president said there is hope in the Middle East and all parties should look for it by pursuing dialogue and development.

The Palestinian issue should not fall into oblivion, and we must bring hope to the Palestinian people as early as possible, Xi said.

Earlier on Thursday, China and Egypt signed 21 documents on cooperation, endorsing a five-year plan to boost two-way ties and pledging to co-build the trans-Eurasia Belt and Road Initiative.

The initiative was put forward by Xi in 2013 with the aim of promoting common development along the ancient land and maritime Silk Roads.
(Photo : Credit: ANTHONY WALLACE/ Staff from Gettyimages) Missing Hong Kong publisher Gui Minhai confessed on Chinese state TV that he voluntarily handed himself over to the authorities.

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A missing Hong Kong publisher has resurfaced in China. He was shown confessing to his crimes on Sunday, Jan. 17 on Chinese state television.





Gui Minhai, a Swedish national, went missing in October 2015. He was reportedly staying in Thailand when he disappeared, prompting speculations about his whereabouts.



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Gui explained that he handed himself voluntarily over to the authorities. He reportedly handed himself over after 12 years of running from a drunk-driving conviction. According to Xinhua, Gui was involved in a fatal accident that led to the death of a college female student in the eastern city of Ningbo in 2003.



Thousands of activists rallied in Hong Kong last week over the disappearance of several publishers, some of whom are known to be critics of the Chinese government.



Gui allegedly fled China while on a suspended two-year jail term. He told CCTV during an interview that, "I am taking my legal responsibilities, and am willing to accept any punishment."



Gui Minhai, 51, is one of five missing booksellers from Hong Kong . The others are Cheung Jiping, Lui Bo, Lam Wingkei and Lee Bo. Cheung Jiping and Lui Bo were last seen in mainland China in October 2015, the same as with Lee Bo, while Lam Wingkei was last seen in Hong Kong in October 2015.



Gui Minhai is a China-born Swedish national and the owner of the Mighty Current publishing house in Hong Kong. Protesters believe that he was unlawfully transported to China because of an unpublished book about the private life of the Chinese president.



Gui went on vacation to Thailand, but failed to return in October 2015 until he appeared on Chinese state TV.



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(Photo : Getty Images) Hui Zhang, a Chinese nanny (like the one pictured above), admitted to killing the parents of a baby who died in her care.

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A Chinese nanny and her partner have admitted to killing and dismembering the bodies of the parents of a baby who died while in the nanny's care.



Hui Zhang, along with her partner Te Lu, admitted in a Paris court on Tuesday that they are responsible for the gruesome death of the dead baby's parents.



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"It's true, said 34-year-old Hui at the start of the hearing. I killed them, and I will regret it for the rest of my life."



The baby reportedly died while being babysitted by Hui. The nanny and her partner then invited the child's parents to their home, having decided to offer the dead baby's parents some money so that they will not report the boy's death.



Their plans, however, turned awry as the child's parents became enraged and attacked both Hui and Te.



Hui claimed that she only killed the enraged couple in self-defense, saying that they tried to attack her and her partner with a butcher's knife.



After killing them, she proceeded to chop the two dead bodies in the bathroom, using an electric saw. She used a washing machine to cover up the noise.



Afterwards, she put the cut up body parts in rubbish bags, and cleaned her apartment.



Te, on the other hand, denied helping Hui to chop up the dead bodies. He claims to have fallen unconscious during the fight and remained so the whole time his partner chopped the bodies.



"He was violently hit, it has been medically recorded," Eric Dupond-Moretti, Te's lawyer, said in explaining that that Te was not complicit in the murder.



After regaining consciousness, Te helped Hui dispose of the remains either by foot or by public transport.



The case first came to light in June 2012 when joggers stumbled upon a leg that was cut off at the ankle in the Vincennes forest. A few days later, a dog was able to locate a human torso in the vicinity. A search for more body parts, however, resulted in failure.



Before the bodies were identified, Hui and Te already turned themselves in and admitted to the crime. They led the police to the other body parts. The dead baby's body, however, was not found.



The baby's grandfather told investigators that Hui was giving the baby sleeping pills. Other parents, however, gave positive remarks about Hui's service.



Authorities say that Hui and Te, who arrived in Paris in 2004, showed no indications that they were predisposed to committing this kind of crime. Investigators describe Hui as an intelligent and forceful character, and the more dominant figure in their relationship.



They flew to China after the murders, and closed their bank accounts in France. They returned soon after. They said that they always wanted to return, although police believe that they are worried about China's death penalty.



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TagsChinese nanny, Chinese nanny Hui Zhang, Hui Zhang Te Lu, dismembered body
(Photo : Reuters) China has defended its South China Sea activities, but Tokyo has expressed solidarity with countries contesting China's claim on the Spratly Islands.

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China has defended its construction of military and civilian facilities in the South China Sea.



Admiral Wu Shengli of the People's Liberation Army Navy defended China's development activities in the much-contested region during a teleconference with US Chief of Naval Operations John Richardson on Wednesday.



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"Our necessary defensive step of building islands and reefs in the Nansha [Spratly] Islands is not militarization, but this has been maliciously hyped up by certain countries and media," Wu claimed.



China's construction of an airstrip on Fiery Cross Reef -- and the landing of Chinese aircraft on the facility recently-- has been the source of intense diplomatic wrangling between China and rival claimants Vietnam and the Philippines.



The Chinese admiral said the airstrip will provide a service to the rest of world, and help China fulfill its international obligations.



Beijing, however, is yet to announce whether the airstrip will be open to foreign aircrafts.



"Level of Threat"



Speaking to Johnson, Wu addressed concerns raised by other claimants about China's aggressive military posture in the area.



"We will certainly not seek the militarization of the islands and reefs, but we won't not set up defenses," said Wu. "How many defenses depends on the level of threat we face."



Other nations that regard Chinese naval presence in the South China Sea as a security concern have added their voices to the diplomatic row over Beijing's construction of facilities in the disputed waters. Tokyo has expressed solidarity with countries contesting China's claim in the territory.



Japanese foreign minister Fumio Kishida said earlier this month that the sudden presence of Chinese aircraft in the Spratly Islands is an indication that China is determined to impose its will over the area in spite of the rival claims of other nations.



"Japan is gravely concerned about China's act, which is a unilateral change of the status quo," Kishida said of the Chinese aircraft landings. "Japan will continue to cooperate with other countries concerned to protect the freedom of the seas," he added.



Japan's Concern



Japanese naval commanders have asserted that China's maritime activities in the South China Sea constitute a security concern for Japan's defense forces. Citing a US-Japan defense agreement signed in April 2015, Admiral Katsutoshi Kawano, chief of the Joint Staff of the Japan Self-Defense Force, said in June last year that Japan reserves the option to send vessels out to patrol the South China Sea alongside US naval forces.



"Of course, the area is of utmost importance to Japanese security," said Kawano. "We don't have any plans to conduct surveillance in the South China Sea currently, but depending on the situation, I think there is a chance we could consider doing so."



Wu said the PLA Navy is prepared to defend China's sovereignty over the Spratly Islands., but he did not elaborate further on the statement.


(Photo : Reuters) China and Persian Gulf states have agreed to accelerate free trade talks as the two sides vowed to reach an agreement before the year ends.

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China and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states have agreed to sign a free trade deal before the year ends after more than a decade of negotiations, which began in July 2004.



Talks with Beijing on a free trade agreement (FTA) have been going on for more than a decade now and both sides have agreed to expedite the talks in a bid to sign the deal before the end of the year.



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The announcement was made by the two sides during Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to Saudi Arabia.



Expedite FTA Talks



A joint statement released by China and the GCC on Wednesday said the two sides will step up negotiations and prioritize the passage of the FTA by holding the next round of talks in February.



"China and the GCC have decided to accelerate the pace of negotiations, review the progress made and hold the next round of negotiations in the second half of February 2016," the statement said.



"China and the GCC also commit themselves to work closely to conclude a comprehensive free trade agreement within the year of 2016."



Talks Suspended



China and the GCC (which is composed of Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates) started the FTA talks in 2004. However, it was suspended in 2009.



In a press conference on Wednesday, China's Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng said China and the GCC 'will meet each other halfway' and conduct concerted efforts to reach a high standard FTA before the end of 2016.



Gao said the two sides reached an agreement in 2009 on the market access of 97 percent of commodities within the framework of the trade in goods.



But changes in the international market had forced the GCC to stop all its ongoing FTA talks with 17 other countries aside from China, Gao pointed out.



Leaders Welcome Restart of Negotiations



News about the restart of the negotiations was welcomed by both President Xi Jinping and Saudi Arabia King Salman.



The two leaders expressed 'delight' about the restart of the talks and said they will keep abreast with all developments regarding the FTA negotiations.



Trade between the Gulf and China, the world's second-largest economy, has been growing.



Two-way trade between China and Saudi Arabia alone reached $69.1 billion in 2014, according to China's official Xinhua news agency.



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TagsGulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) China Free Trade Agreement, China GCC FTA Negotiations
(Photo : YouTube Screenshot) China prepares for its worst icy weather in 30 years. Schools have been suspended, and emergency personnel are on standby.

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The National Meteorological Center of China on Wednesday released a weather alert signalling possible snowstorms in the southern part of the country and a significant temperature drop of 14 degrees Celcius -- with temperatures hitting a 30-year low in cities like Shanghai and Changsha.



Bracing for the week of extremely cold weather, school have been suspended while emergency respondents are on standby. From Wednesday to Saturday, cold air from the south is expected to travel along Yangtze River regions. It will reportedly bring up to 30 mm of snow.



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The city of Beijing is likely to experience its lowest temperature in almost 30 years -- as low as negative 17 degrees Celcius. However, the city will only see light snowfall.



Hail may also be expected in mountainous areas in the southern part of the country. On the other hand, two days of heavy snowing in expected in Zhejiang province. It will cover most of the province by a 15-cm blanket. Qiandao Lake will be reportedly closed to public.



Farmers have been advised to put organic fertilizers on their crops and vegetables as the frost may damage the plants as well as to reinforce utilization of plastic greenhouses for the mean time. However, a farmer from Hunan province has complained that loss is imminent. In fact, he foresees that only one-tenth of his crops are likely to survive as temperature will drop below zero for several days.



Even electricity establishments are preparing for the cold weather, removing ice from core facilities. The government is also taking extra measures to avoid power failure, traffic jams and train or flight delays to lessen the impact of the bad weather as the Chinese Lunar New Year is fast approaching.



Experts say the upcoming frost will not be like the winter in 2008, when China was affected by its worst blizzard in five decades - leaving more than 100 people dead and causing damages worth about 150 billion yuan.



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TagsWinter Season, cold weather, Temperature
(Photo : Reuters) An American diplomat said sanctions against North Korea have been readied by the United States and its allies even if China 'may not like them.'

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The United States and its allies will push through with sanctions against North Korea which China may not like if Beijing continues to refuse to lend support to global efforts to denuclearize Pyongyang, a top American diplomat said on Wednesday.



Deputy Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who was in talks with the South Korean President in Seoul, issued the warning to China, a day before he was to make a trip to the mainland to talk with Chinese officials and pressure them into cooperating with the US and other nations in imposing sanctions against the erring country.



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China's economic leverage



Blinken said he will pressure Chinese authorities to use their economic leverage on the North and force it to abandon its nuclear weapons program.



"I think what we will be talking to China about is that we will, both in terms of sanctions and in terms of our defense postures, have to take additional steps in order to use the leverage we have in order to defend ourselves and our allies if North Korea doesn't change its behavior," Blinken said in an interview.



Blinken said the additional steps the US and its allies will take will not target China, but he pointed out that China though "may not like them."



Secondary sanctions



The American diplomat said the US has already readied sanctions, including secondary ones, that it will impose against North Korea. He said they are the same sanctions imposed against Iran.



He explained that the sanctions will target third party countries doing business with North Korea.



Some experts say the secondary sanctions the US will put in place may economically hurt China the most as it has been the largest trading partner of North Korea for decades.



US missile system



Reports indicate that South Korean President Park Geun-hye was amenable to the US offer to deploy its missile system to Seoul as a form of security amid the growing nuclear and missile system of North Korea.



China has vehemently opposed the deployment of the missile system saying it would destabilize the security in the Korean peninsula.



"I think China has an incentive to use its own leverage to achieve the result and thus make it less necessary for us and our partners to take steps that China may not like," Blinken said.



Nuclear test



Over the years, China has failed to put as much pressure on North Korea as Washington wants over fears that such a move may make North Korea more aggressive or worse, push its government to collapse.



Blinken said North Korea's nuclear test this month was proof of China's reluctance to impose sanctions on the North after six decades of supporting its economy.



Japan, the US, and South Korea recently met at a trilateral meeting in Seoul to discuss the fate of North Korea after its nuclear test on Jan. 6.



They urged China to support the United Nations Security Council to adopt a resolution that will authorize "strong and comprehensive" sanctions against North Korea.



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TagsNorth Korea nuclear test, US Deputy Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, secondary sanctions, China's economic leverage
(Photo : Getty Images) Chinese President Xi Jinping and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi during an official welcoming ceremony in Cairo, Egypt, 21 January 2016.

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China's President Xi Jinping arrived in Egypt on Wednesday evening, officially kick starting the second leg of his three-nation Middle East tour.



The Chinese leader was greeted by his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and several senior ministers on his arrival. This is the first visit by a Chinese President to Egypt in 12 years.



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On his arrival, President Xi nostalgically quoted a famous Egyptian proverb, "If you drink from the Nile, you will return", recollecting his visit to Egypt many years back as a senior Chinese minister.



On Thursday, Xi was given a complete ceremonial welcome by the Egyptian President - clearly showing the importance that Cairo attaches to this historic visit.



The grand welcome ceremony was followed by hours of serious dialogues by the respective presidents and ministers of both countries. The three hours of negotiations led to the signing of 21 economic deals between both countries - m arking a new era of close economic ties between China and Egypt.



China has also pledged $1 billion to Egypt's Central Bank and an additional $700 million loan to the state-owned National Bank of Egypt.



China's one billion aid will surely help Egypt in boosting its foreign exchange reserves, which has been sharply declining ever since the political uprising in 2011.



President Xi's historic visit to Egypt also marks 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and Egypt. Egypt also was first Arab country to initiate diplomatic ties with China.



Some political analysts, however, have been quick to point out that Xi's historic visit has come close on the heels of the 4th anniversary of Egypt uprising, celebrated annually on Jan. 25. The revolt led to the end of Hosni Mubarak's 30-year autocratic rule.



China has clarified that President Xi's visit has nothing to do with anniversary of Egypt uprising.



The president's final stop in his Middle East tour is Iran. President Xi's visit to Iran will be closely watched by international community because during his visit to Saudi Arabia, he apparently pledged China's support for the Yemeni government, which is engaged in war against Iran-backed militants.



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A tremendous play revealing romantic love is a luxury some people in the world simply cannot afford says Liz Vercoe Related link

Dembe (Fiston Barek) and Joe (Sule Rimi) in The Rolling Stone by Chris Urch



The Rolling Stone runs until 20th February; 2 hours. For tickets (numbered seats are now offered), concessions and under-30s reduced prices



Orange Tree Theatre

Box Office: 020 8940 3633



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FulhamSW6.com HammersmithToday.co.uk, PutneySW15.com, ShepherdsBushW12.com, WandsworthSW18.com and WimbledonSW19.com Some time ago on holiday in Botswana, an American lady at dinner with us and local guides mentioned, in passing, a marriage between two men. Later one of the young guides, wide eyed and clearly plucking up courage, asked, "Is it OK to talk about homosexuality in your countries? Are you not offended? Here it is illegal." Being gay in Botswana meant you could be imprisoned for up to 14 years.



This last piece of information is to be gleaned from a world map of laws at the centre of the programme of The Rolling Stone, Chris Urch's second play and here as a co-production with the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester. The map also shows that in Uganda, where the play is set, the penalty is even worse 14 years to life.



That's the official penalty, but this play is set in 2010 when a local Ugandan newspaper called The Rolling Stone stirred up murderous religious fervour and self-righteous violence against gay and lesbian people by outing them in the paper, hundreds at a time. For three months, before it was closed by a courageous legal action, it published photographs, names and addresses on the slightest evidence and linked these people with paedophilia and terrorism.



The play opens in a modern African church, cleverly hinted at by designer Joanna Scotcher using swathes of blue velvet beneath the Orange Tree balcony and place-setting gospel music from musical director James Fortune. Soon we meet two men out on a lake, talking about the starry night sky and comfortably learning about each other. Julian Moore-Cook plays Sam, a half-Irish, half-Ugandan doctor who is over from Derry, possibly seeking to understand more about himself. Outwardly he is muscular and strong but captures the inner vulnerability of never really fitting in, anywhere. Fiston Barek plays his friend and soon to be lover Dembe, a slight, almost spindly man with a fearless innocence and joyful smile that comes from feeling loved and at home. His is a performance you can't take your eyes from.



Dembe's lawyer father has recently died leaving him and his twin sister Wummie (Faith Omole) to finish their studies at medical school and their big brother Joe (Sule Rimi) hoping to be made Pastor of the local church. The cast is completed by haughty hip-rolling Mama (Jo Martin), their motherly but social-ladder-climbing neighbour, and her daughter Naome (Faith Alabi), who has mysteriously stopped speaking. Disturbingly Mama hopes Joe can cast out whichever demons have possessed Naomi, "in the name of Jesus".



So here we are, in the oppressive Ugandan heat, at the crossroad of science and reason and magical thought or, if you wish, blind belief. And everything gets put to the test by the sudden attack on homosexuals. It's a witch hunt that can't even be challenged; quite the opposite, in fact, for it demands denunciations from those who want to stay untainted.



Writer Urch, director Ellen McDougall and this really tremendous group of actors convincingly show us what it is to be a mere human in fear for your life and livelihood and, through poverty, have nowhere to run. It took six years just to get the church built on a bit of waste ground and as Mama says bitterly, "We are standing on neglect". In those circumstances what seems the best option at the time may be the worst with hindsight. But the worst option at the time might mean there is no future in which to have hindsight.



The sweet understanding between the voiceless Naome and honest Dembe, the bitterness of Wummie in being forced from hope, and the agony for an ambitious pastor in discovering his congregation has a dangerously hardline take on Godliness, keep audiences on the edge of their seat. In the world they create for us love, as most of us know it, is a luxury.



And yet somehow, despite these helpless lives, as crushable as ants, this play is ultimately a story of hope that goodness will prevail.



Liz Vercoe

Images: Manuel Harlan.



January 20, 2016
'90 Minutes' Don Piper explains why he hates watching the news Guest Reviewer | 20 January, 2016 by Michael Foust

CHICAGO (Christian Examiner)  Author and speaker Don Piper spent more than a decade in the broadcasting business, but he's not a big fan of television news.

In fact, Piper says he "hates" watching it.

That's because Piper  the man whose near-death experience is the subject of the "90 Minutes In Heaven" book and movie  grows tired of seeing bad news.

"I actually was in the broadcasting business for 11 years, and I would be passing by the newsroom and you could see that a hubbub was going on, and something horrific had just happened in the news," he told the Christian Examiner. "And you're thinking, 'What on earth is going on? Are we officially out of control here? Have we descended into anarchy?'"

When Piper turns on the news, he said he's "very mindful of the fact that the very first 15 minutes is going to be who killed who, and who robbed who." The bad news, though, simply makes Piper long for heaven.

"Thank God there is a better place where none of that exists  no pain, no suffering, no death, none of that happens," Piper said. "It makes you want to go right away. I've seen it, and I can't wait to go back. But we're here now, and we're all here for a reason."

"90 Minutes In Heaven," which was in theaters last fall and is now on DVD, tells the story of Piper's recovery from a 1989 car wreck in which responders declared him dead. It was during the time in which his heart stopped beating that he says he visited the gates of heaven. The movie stars Hayden Christensen (Anakin Skywalker in the second "Star Wars" trilogy) and Kate Bosworth ("Superman Returns")

The "90 Minutes" book was a New York Times bestseller and has sold 2.7 million copies.

Piper was serving as a pastor in 1989 when an 18-wheeler truck plowed over his car as he was crossing a bridge on the way home from a church conference. The person driving the truck was an inmate. Piper said he is often asked if he forgave the man.

"The answer is yes  immediately. I never actually blamed him. He didn't get in the truck that day and say, 'I think I'm going to go kill somebody with my truck.' It was an accident."

Piper has always wanted to meet the inmate but never has done so. That's because the man was out of prison by the time Piper had recovered from his many injuries, and Piper never could track him down. Piper addressed the issue of forgiveness in a follow-up book, "Getting to Heaven."

"I wrote him a letter in the book," Piper said. "I wanted him to know that I forgave him and that I did want to meet him. I wanted him to know how to get to heaven. So I explained to him how to accept Christ."

Revenge, Piper added, serves no purpose.

"We need to try to help people get into heaven and help them have a better trip on the way," Piper said. "I asked God when I came back: Why did you send me back to this world? I wanted to stay there. But I know it's to help people understand that even though you're going through a long, dark night and you're in extreme pain and suffering, there is a better place, and you can have a meaningful life on the way there."
Radio ad labels Cruz 'phony' Christian 21 January, 2016 by Gregory Tomlin , |

DES MOINES, Iowa (Christian Examiner)  A new radio advertisement in Iowa is attacking Republican Sen. Ted Cruz's credibility as an Evangelical Christian, Politico has reported.

In the advertisement, which began airing this week, a female voice cites a December 2015 report from the political news site which said Cruz told a group of moderate Republicans in New York that opposing gay marriage would not be one of his top priorities.

But the ad doesn't tell the whole story. In addition to the fact that U.S. Supreme Court settled U.S. law on gay marriage in Obergefell v. Hodges in June 2015, the same report noted that Cruz's comments "do not contradict what the Texas Republican senator has said elsewhere," but instead reveal the candidate's shift to priorities where results remain achievable.

Cruz has said on multiple occasions that he believes the definition of marriage should be left to individual states because the federal government is not empowered by the Constitution to define it. In the full conversation documented on Politico's website, he is recorded as saying the same thing.

The new ad, however, claims that Cruz "tells them [New Yorkers] one thing, tells Iowa another."

The attack ad doesn't end there. It also cites Cruz's charitable contributions of $44,000 between 2006 and 2010. That figure, the ad says, means Cruz gives "less than 1 percent to charity and church."

"He doesn't tithe? Isn't he a millionaire? His wife worked for a big Wall Street bank, right?" One of the women says just before the advertisement concludes with its verdict that Cruz is a "phony" Christian.

The Cruz campaign reportedly has not responded to the commercial directly, but on Jan. 20 it posted to its website an article by conservative radio host and former editor of RedState.com Erick Erickson.

"Ted Cruz is a not an academic evangelical. He's a country music evangelical. He lost his father, found Jesus, got back his father, lost his sister, and did what it took to keep his family above water. When he gets on a stage and connects with Christian audiences, yes he is trying to woo Christians to his side, but he also believes in the power of scripture. This is not a stunt for Ted Cruz," Erickson wrote.

Erickson also linked his comments to a Cruz campaign documentary which explores the candidate's faith and that of his family. Cruz also announced his candidacy for the presidency at the conservative Liberty University.

The ad's claim that Cruz is not an authentic Christian also runs contrary to other critics on the opposite end of the spectrum who claim Cruz is a thoroughly right-wing Christian Dominionist, or a proponent of Christian Reconstructionism  an effort to turn America into a theocracy.

According to Politico, Americans United for Values, which is spending $125,000 to air the commercial, is overseen by Republican strategist Nick Everhart, who has faced political and legal trials of his own recently.

Once the darling of Strategy Group for Media, an organization that has worked to elect Christian candidates to office and which has been tied to Rand Paul's past campaigns, Everhart faced a potential prison sentence in 2015 after he was fired from the political strategy firm and found guilty of trying to later access his work files surreptitiously. He was eventually granted probation.

If Everhart is overseeing the ad run, he is likely the source of some of comments in the December Politico article, as well. In that piece, writer Mike Allen said he spoke with "an adviser to a rival campaign, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wants to stay behind the scenes."

"There's an Iowa Ted and a New York Ted," the adviser told Allen in language virtually identical to the ad now targeting Cruz. "He sounds different behind closed doors."

Just who is fronting the money behind the anti-Cruz ad remains a mystery. A Federal Elections Commission filing only lists a generic contact email and post office box number for Americans United for Values.

The treasurer for the organization is listed as Brian Kinnett. A web search of the name yielded several possibilities of individuals behind the new PAC, but none could be immediately confirmed. Christian Examiner's call to the phone number listed in the FEC filing was not immediately returned.

With the Iowa caucuses scheduled for Feb. 1, the late advertisement targeting Cruz's evangelical bona fides follows Donald Trump's latest salvos against Cruz. Trump said at a campaign rally last month:

"Just remember this. You gotta remember, in all fairness, to the best of my knowledge, not too many evangelicals come out of Cuba, okay? Just remember that ... just remember."
A new report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed that Lyme disease has spread to almost half of the counties in the United States.

According to the agency, areas in the country that previously did not have this disease are now in danger of being affected by this infection, Scientific American has learned.

Based on the data presented by the CDC, only 30 percent of the country's counties had traces of Lyme disease in 1998. But, this year, that number spiked to 45 percent. This means that from the 396 counties, the spread has now spread to over 840 counties across 35 states in the country.

According to the researchers from the agency, the disease spreads through the blacklegged ticks, also known as the Ixodes scapularis or the deer ticks. Other carriers include the western blacklegged tick or the Ixodes pacificus. These insects commonly inhabit grasslands and wooded regions.

The researchers noted that the spread of the disease to other regions means these parasites are also growing in numbers and reaching other areas in the country.

"It's important for people to be aware that there may be ticks in areas where they haven't seen them previously so that they can take these steps to help protect themselves and their families," Rebecca Eisen, a biologist for the CDC and lead author of the study said in a statement.

According to Dr. Bobbi Pritt, the director of clinical parasitology at Minnesota's Mayo Clinic, certain environmental factors could have contributed to the increase in the ticks' population.

"Warmer temperatures, increases in rainfall, and milder winters can favor tick survival," he said. "These factors can also favor survival and expansion of the mammals and birds that the ticks feed on."

As explained by the CDC, the early symptoms of Lyme disease are similar to those of the flu. These include headaches, fever and fatigue. During its early stages, this illness can be treated by simply taking antibiotics, CBS News reported.

However, if left unchecked, the disease could develop other serious conditions such as cognitive problems, mood disorders and muscle pain.

To prevent getting the disease, experts strongly advice the public to protect their selves from the infectious ticks. They can do this by wearing tops with long sleeves and long pants. They should also spray insect repellants on their skin and clothes.

In addition, after spending time outdoors, they should place their clothes inside the dryer for around 20 minutes to kill the ticks attached to them. They should also regularly check members of their families and pets for ticks.
About 19,000 people have been killed by ISIS in Iraq and over 3.2 million have been displaced since 2014, a recent report by the United Nations said, adding that the range of atrocities committed by the militant group include war crimes, crimes against humanity and "possible genocide."

As many as 3,500 women and children, mainly from Yezidi community remain in ISIS captivity, being held as slaves or sex slaves subjected to sexual violence.

"It is likely that most of the members of [these] communities located in areas of ISIS control have been killed, abducted or [already] fled," the report said.

"The violence suffered by civilians in Iraq remains staggering. The so-called 'Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant' continues to commit systematic and widespread violence and abuses of international human rights law and humanitarian law."

Iraq lies in ruins from the ongoing carnage by ISIS and the continued fight between IS and other groups fighting it including Iraqi security forces.

"During the reporting period, ISIL killed and abducted scores of civilians, often in a targeted manner. Victims include those perceived to be opposed to ISIL ideology and rule; persons affiliated with the government, such as former Iraqi security forces, police officers, former public officials and electoral workers; professionals, such as doctors and lawyers; journalists; and tribal and religious leaders," the report stated.

"Others have been abducted and/or killed on the pretext of aiding or providing information to government security forces," it continued. "Many have been subjected to adjudication by ISIL self-appointed courts which, in addition to ordering the murder of countless people, have imposed grim punishments such as stoning and amputations."

The group that has captured vast stretches of land in Iraq and Syria, uses appalling methods of killing including bulldozing, throwing people from buildings, beheading, and burning alive. Also, the terrorist organization has killed many people in bomb attacks, often through suicide bombers.

The report gave details of some individual instances of sexual violence perpetrated by ISIS, such as a Quran-recitation contest in Mosul where sex slaves were given as prizes for winners.

"Even the obscene casualty figures fail to accurately reflect exactly how terribly civilians are suffering in Iraq," Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, UN's human rights chief, said in a statement. "The figures capture those who were killed or maimed by overt violence, but countless others have died from the lack of access to basic food, water or medical care."
As a young woman, Sarah Sumner never allowed herself to be angry, until her parents divorced when she was 22. The experience was one inspiration behind her doctoral dissertation (at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) on godly anger, which has blossomed into a book, Angry Like Jesus: Using His Example to Spark Your Moral Courage (Fortress Press). San Franciscobased Her.meneutics writer Dorcas Cheng-Tozun spoke with Sumner, former dean of A. W. Tozer Theological Seminary, about bringing a healthy dose of righteous anger to todays church.

Why is the topic of godly anger so significant to you?

Over the years, working in Christian organizations, I have seen fudging and compromise and blatant refusals to do things in a Christian way. And then people want to cover it up. That makes me angry. I dont mean blustery anger, where I want to slam the door. It motivates me to try righting wrongs in a structured, strategic way.

Whats the difference between sinful and godly anger?

Sinful anger does not trust God, while godly anger does. Sinful anger is prideful, while godly anger flows from humility. Sinful anger participates in evil, while godly anger abhors evil. But the main difference is that godly anger is loving. Its not about feeling self-righteous.

In the book, you connect godly anger with virtues such as faith, love, and hope. How can anger express such qualities?

You cant have godly anger without faith, in part because its risky. Showing godly anger is bound to displease certain people. You need to have faith that God will sustain you through any backlash.

Godly anger is the guardian of love. Psalm 7:11 says that God is a righteous judge who displays his wrath ...

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America's abortion rate is now the lowest since the traditionally Catholic rally started in 1973.

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Image: March for Life

Despite predictions of a weekend blizzard, the March for Life is on.

"Just a reminder: we will be marching for life no matter the weather on Friday!" the organization posted on Facebook. "Why? Because we march for those who have no voice and a little cold and snow won't stop us!"

This year, evangelicals will be coming early to the traditionally Catholic rally held in Washington, D.C., each year. Focus on the Family and the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) are hosting a new conference just before the rally aimed at increasing the level of engagement in the pro-life cause among evangelical Christians.

With sessions on social justice, adoption, and fatherlessness, the conference ends Friday morning, so attendees can march together as evangelicals.

The burgeoning annual march comes a few weeks after the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) reported declining abortion numbers.

In late November 2015, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention found a 4.2 percent drop in the number of abortions for the 2012 reporting year [from 2011], stated NRLC president Carol Tobias. While the CDC only includes and compares data from 47 state health departments, the information we can glean from this latest information gives us reason for hope that Americans, and especially women facing unexpected pregnancies, are rejecting abortion.

America's abortion rate was already at the lowest level since 1973, the year before Catholic convert Nellie Gray organized the first March for Life.

The Associated Press (AP) verified the abortion rate drop in an independent study last summer, which found that the decline was sharper in many pro-choice states ...
Immigration, particularly from Muslim countries, has dominated headlines and presidential debates recently, and not without cause. Civil wars in the Middle East, mass migration, declining birth rates among ethnic Europeans, and radical Islamic terrorism have contributed to deep tensions globally and within our country between those who believe our obligation is to protect our country, culture, and families from the cancerous force of radical Islam, and those who believe our obligation is to aid those fleeing persecution from radical Islamic groups, like ISIS. The US church has a unique opportunity to offer a different way forward, to advocate for compassionate and wise aid for refugees in a way that blesses both them and their new community.

The debate over resettling 10,000 Syrian refugees in the United States was made more complex and distressing by the mass sexual assault of German women by what appears to have been North African and Middle Eastern asylum seekers in Cologne, Germany on New Years Eve. Details about exactly what happened and who was responsible are still sketchy, likely to remain so because of the intense debate over refugees in Germany right now. Over the past few years, far-right nationalism has gained momentum across Europe, and in Germany there have been mass protests against Chancellor Angela Merkels policy of accepting asylum seekers. On the other side, there has been an effort to minimize crimes committed by refugees so as to protect the asylum program.

This tension between the political left who support the refugees and the far right who see them as a threat is simply not conducive to accurate and unbiased reporting. On the contrary, both sides have reasons to silence parts of this event ...

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On a street corner in Ontario in 1915, a young woman jumped onto a chair, raised her arms to heaven, closed her eyes, and stood motionless for a time. The crowd around her grew, along with taunts, questions, and jeers. After a while, a man reached up to touch her arm, seeing if he could cause the statue to move. The young woman opened her brown eyes, glanced around her, and lept off the chair as she shouted, People! Come follow me! Quick!

Running down the street with the befuddled crowd in tow, she led them through the door of the Victory Mission. That night she preached to a small crowd of 50. The next night the crowd had multiplied, with people standing outside the mission to hear her preach. They came dressed in overalls and in their Sunday best. They arrived by foot, horseback, wagon, and bicycle. Soon the meetings were pushed out onto the lawn to accommodate everyone. By the end of the week, the crowd had grown to 500. Many were convicted, weeping and giving their hearts to the Lord.

The 25-year-old preacher was Aimee Semple McPherson, a young mother and widow who had remarried. While unorthodox, McPherson overcame various trials to become a pioneer evangelist and pastor, an activist for social justice and compassion, and the founder of the Foursquare Church. Later known as Sister, McPherson is regarded as a spiritual mother of the modern Pentecostal movement.

At a young age, McPherson faced several serious struggles. In 1910, newlyweds Robert and Aimee Semple sailed for Hong Kong to serve as missionaries. Within months, they both contracted malaria, to which Robert succumbed. Aimee survived, giving birth to a baby girl six weeks after burying her husband on foreign soil. In 1912 she married Harold McPherson and gave birth to a son in 1913. A year later, Aimee began to hemorrhage internally, leading to an emergency hysterectomy that didnt go well. Dying in the hospital, she continued to proclaim the Good News. The nurses wept. The doctor cleared his throat...muttering he had never witnessed such a scene: the dying woman was preaching, calling souls. As her life was ebbing out of her, she heard a voice say, Now, will you go? With what she thought would be her last breath, she said yes.

Creative Pioneer

That answer would lead her to become not only a pioneer female preacher, but also Americas best-known evangelist of the Roaring Twenties. She persevered amidst criticism and controversy saying, Orthodox ministers, many of whom disapproved even of men evangelists such as Moody, [and] Spurgeon . . . disapproved all the more of a woman minister. First as a traveling evangelist and later in her culturally diverse church, the Angelus Temple in California, Aimee emphasized the gospel of reconciliation and love rather than fear, hellfire, and damnation. She was the first to launch and operate a Christian radio station, and perhaps the first to hold satellite services when using her radio station to organize simultaneous meetings all over southern California, with two-way radio hookups from eight cities. Weaving stories into her theatrical sermons, she invited people to give their lives to Christ and further challenged believers to be active in service for him.
Update (Feb. 6): Almost 80 current faculty members at Wheaton College have jointly asked the Illinois school to drop its attempt to fire Larycia Hawkins and restore her to the classroom instead.

We have carefully examined the written theological statement that Professor Larycia Hawkins submitted to the Wheaton College administration on December 17, 2015, stated 78 professors in a group letter published on Friday by The Wheaton Record. Our judgment is that Professor Hawkins has not failed to affirm or model the Wheaton College Statement of Faith or Community Covenant."

The college has about 200 full-time faculty. Some posed with signs supporting their colleague. Alumni expressed mixed reactions in the comments section of the student newspaper's exclusive post.

The Record also published an interview with Hawkins in which she explains, among other topics, her vision of a win-win scenario: reconciliation between herself and the college.

"Its ...

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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.
ADHD news: Adults can have it too, says new study

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is not only specific to kids; the condition can also be seen in adults even past the age of 60, a new Dutch study has found.

According to MedPage Today, Sandra Kooij of the European Network of Adult ADHD reported at the American Professional Society of ADHD and Related Disorders (APSARD) meeting that there are about three percent of adults past their 60's in Netherlands who still suffer from the mental disorder.

ADHD was once considered as a disorder common among children, but further studies found that adults can carry the symptoms too.

Using statistical modeling to determine the prevalence of the condition, Kooij and her team found that out of 231 participants studied, 2.8 percent and 4.2 percent had syndromatic ADHD and symptomatic ADHD, respectively.

The researchers then concluded that ADHD does not disappear as the patient reaches adulthood.

Despite the recent findings, researchers suggest that more studies should be done to probe deeper into how the condition will affect older adults.

In relation to the Dutch study, Dr. Lenard Adler, a New York University School of Medicine professor of psychiatry, said that about 60 percent of children who have ADHD can grow up into adults who still have the condition, according to NPR.

The difference is that adults learn how to live with their condition and they have come up with a system to deal with their focus or attention problems.

Adults who have ADHD require the same intervention as children  drugs, psychotherapy, or a combination of both. Medications intended for ADHD are just as effective in adults as in children.

However, there's a caveat  the older population have other health issues such as heart disease and hypertension. As a precaution, doctors should be careful when they prescribe the treatments to the older population.
Apology to LGBT community must be followed by action, senior Anglicans warn Archbishop of Canterbury

Senior Anglicans who wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury on the eve of last week's Primates Meeting have thanked him for his apology for the way the Church has treated the gay community, but warned that his words must be followed by action.

Eighty-five senior Anglicans who originally signed a letter to Archbishop Justin Welby have written again to thank him for the apology he made to LGBT Christians at the end of the Primates Meeting, but added that words alone are not enough.

They warned that words without action will further undermine trust and cause "yet more pain".

At the end of their week-long meeting, during which the conservative Archbishop of Uganda left early, the remaining Primates of the Anglican Communion agreed by a substantial majority that The Episcopal Church should face "consequences" for consecrating gay bishops and approving same-sex marriage.

About the lesbian and gay community, Archbishop Welby said: "I want to say how sorry I am for the hurt and pain in the past and present that the Church has caused and that the love we have at times completely failed to show." This followed the publication of an open letter to Welby calling for repentance for the way the Church had behaved towards the LGBTI communities.

The latest letter, signed by more than 80 people including cathedral deans, retired bishops and senior clergy and laity, says that failure to carry into action the commitments on equality and opposing criminal sanctions would seriously undermine trust and lead to further pain for LGBTI Christians.

They say the stance taken in the Primates' Communique is a welcome first step: "These are significant and important words, which will engender hope that the Church might finally start to alter the way in which it conducts this debate. That said, we believe that words alone are not enough."

The letter draws attention to the lack of action on commitments first given in 1998, when similar words were used in Resolution 1.10 from the 1998 Lambeth Conference, which laid down a conservative, Biblically-orthodox line on sexuality.

The 85 signatories tell the Archbishop: "You will therefore understand that we will want to hold the Primates to account for their commitments. We are deeply aware that words without action will undermine further the trust of our LGBTI brothers and sisters, and sadly cause yet more pain."

The letter goes on to urge all the Primates who agreed to the communique "to remain true to your word and resolute in your determination to implement these statements swiftly."

Jayne Ozanne, co-ordinator of the two letters and a member of General Synod, told Christian Today: "Our initial letter asked in essence two things  the acknowledgement that the Church had failed in its duty of care to LGBTI members of the Body of Christ, and repentance for pain and rejection that it has caused. The Primates' communique following the 2016 Primates Meeting has done both, added to which they have reaffirmed their rejection of criminal

sanctions against gay people.

"Archbishop Justin has gone one step further and personally apologised for the pain that the Church has caused. We therefore need to recognise these positive statements for what they are, and take them as a sign of hope that the Primates will work with us to fight injustice. To do otherwise would of course involve a betrayal of trust."

The communique and personal apology are the strongest statements made yet by the Anglican Primates against criminal sanctions, which still exist in many parts of Africa.

One signatory, the Ven David Newman, a leading evangelical and Archdeacon of Loughborough, said: "I know that many across the Church will want to welcome, as I do, the lead the Archbishop has given in making such a full and heartfelt apology for the hurt and pain the Church has caused our LGBTI brothers and sisters in Christ. My prayer is that his lead will shape the tone of how we talk about this issue and instigate a renewed determination across the communion to confront homophobic prejudice wherever it infects our attitudes to others.

"I hope that significant steps will be taken to stand against the criminalisation of people purely on the grounds of their sexuality. As followers of Christ I believe we can do so much more to model his welcoming love to people in all their potential and vulnerability."

Other signatories include Vicky Beeching, a theologian and LGBT campaigner, the Very Rev Mark Bonney, Dean of Ely, Canon Chris Chivers, Principal of Westcott House, Cambridge, Canon Jeremy Davies, former Precentor of Salisbury Cathedral, Dr David Ison, Dean of St Paul's, Dr Jeffrey John, Dean of St Albans and Prof Diarmaid MacCulloch, specialist in church history at the University of Oxford.

Lambeth Palace has not yet commented on the letter, but in response to other people who have written regarding the Primates Meeting, his office said: "Archbishop Justin has asked me to write thanking you for your message following the recent Anglican Primates' gathering in Canterbury. You will not be surprised to learn that we have received an enormous number of messages and letters, some angry and distressed at the outcome, while others were supportive of it.

"Archbishop Justin fully recognises the strength of feeling that attends any discussion which touches on human sexuality. The communique that was issued at the end of the meeting seeks to respect that... As you will see, the Primates condemn homophobic prejudice and violence, and resolve to work together to offer pastoral care and loving service irrespective of sexual orientation. This conviction arises out their discipleship of Jesus Christ. Importantly they also reaffirm their rejection of criminal sanctions against same-sex attracted people.

"The communique states the Primates' intention to develop a newly agreed process so that it can be applied to any unilateral decision which threatens unity. It is their hope and expectation that the conversation will develop and continue in the months ahead.

"As a global Anglican family each Primate represents but one voice in a Communion where the majority are from the Global South. That is also true for the Archbishop of Canterbury, although he chairs the meetings. It is important to know that the Primates made the unanimous decision to remain walking together in the Communion, however painful it might be, as a deep expression of their unity in the body of Christ."

The response also pointed towards the Archbishop's latest blog on the subject, in which he says: "As I said in the press conference on the final day of the meeting, I am deeply sorry for the pain that the church has caused LGBTI people in the past  and the present  and for the love that too often we have completely failed to show in many parts of the world, including England. The worst thing about that is that it causes people to doubt that they are loved by God. We have to see that changed."

He also admits he feared the Primates Meeting would end in schism: "It's no secret to say that before the meeting, the signs were not good. It really was possible that we would reach a decision to walk apart  in effect, to split the Anglican Communion."

He concludes: "If Christ's flock can more or less stay together, it's hope for a world that tears itself apart  a sign of what can happen with the love and mercy of God through Jesus Christ."
Asylum seekers facing freezing temperatures find refuge in Arctic Norway church

Three asylum seekers have sought refuge in a local church in Arctic Norway, after a bus-load of migrants were returned to Russia on Tuesday.

Norway's right wing government has started to use busses to move asylum seekers across its Arctic border with Russia. They have defended the move by saying that some of the 31,000 who arrived in Norway last year did not qualify for protection, and they needed to be returned to ensure a fair system.

Two men and a woman arrived at a Protestant church in Kirkenes on Thursday and "asked for asylum from the church," Jessem Dervola, an administrator at the Soer-Varanger parish told Reuters.

Police are present outside the church, where the current temperature is -25 degrees celsius.

The local church authorities plan to meet today to decide what action to take, Dervola said.

On Tuesday evening a bus carrying 13 single men to the Russian border left the reception centre at Kirkenes, immigration police confirmed.

This has been criticised by the UN, which said the move was likely to be in breach of the UN refugee convention.

"They can end up in a no man's land where they risk freezing to death," said Vincent Cochetel, the UNHCR's regional coordinator for the refugee crisis in Europe, last week. "There are large cracks in the Russian asylum system. We believe Norway is wrong to regard Russia as a safe country for people who need protection."

The authorities gave the refugees only hours between being told their applications for asylum had been rejected and their deportation, with no chance to appeal, according to Halvor Frihagen, a migration lawyer in Oslo.

"I do not know of any similar deportations since the Nazi occupation of Norway during the war, when Jews were arrested and given no opportunity to appeal. It is the most serious situation since that time," Frihagen told the Guardian.

In the face of potential deportation, asylum seekers in Norway have turned to drastic action to avoid police.

Around 40 people fled an asylum centre in Vadso "because they heard that the police had come to the centre and they are afraid," explained an unnamed asylum seeker at the Oscarsgata asylum centre.

"We haven't slept well these past few months because we think the police can come at any moment and take us."

The asylum seekers at the same centre said they had started a hunger strike in protest of their treatment and lack of communication.
Christian MP slams religion in public life report

A Christian MP has slammed a report on the declining influence of Christianity as "insidious" and "conformist".

Sir Edward Leigh, president of the Catholic Union of Great Britain, lambasted last month's "Living with Difference" in an article for House Magazine. The MP for Gainsborough said the report was nothing but a "clever attempt to denude the public square... while promoting religious indifferentism".

"Great Britain is tolerant precisely because it is a Christian country," he wrote. "If we banish religion from public life I fear we will become increasingly victim to a creeping conformist totalitarianism dressed in a therapeutic guise."

In addition to rubbishing the report's findings, he also suggested it made unsubstantiated accusations against Catholics who will view it as a "specific attack."

"The report," wrote Leigh, "in a mealy mouthed way accused Catholic schools of fostering sectarianism without giving any supporting evidence."

"How insidious and ingenious to employ the victims of sectarianism as an argument in favour of destroying those victims' schools, culture, and right to live out the fullness of their faith in modern Britain."

The Conservative MP, who this week led a debate against the Government's plans to allow Ofsted to inspect church groups and sunday schools, also attacked the sort of society the report called for as "dull, dreary, conformist and obsequiously inoffensive."

"We would certainly be even more subject to the tyranny of naked materialism and self-centredness."

The staunch article called for the report to be ignored. It was one of a number of responses published in the magazine from parliamentarians of all faiths.

Other contributors included David Urquhart, the Bishop of Birmingham and Convenor of the Lords Spiritual, Baroness Massey, a Labour peer and secretary of the All Party Parliamentary Humanist Group and Baroness Neuberger, a crossbench peer and Senior Rabbi at the West London Synagogue.
Christian theology professor offers 5 tips for effective reading of the Holy Bible

Christians know how important it is to grow in God's Word and refer to the Bible as the authority on faith. However, some believers are unable to commit wholeheartedly to their daily Bible readings.

Dr. Bruce Ware, a Christian theology professor at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, offers help to facilitate Bible reading. "How wise is the person who is committed to a diligent input of Scripture, and how great are the derived benefits," he writes in an article for Desiring God.

Ware then shares five tips for effective Bible reading:

1. Commit yourself to consistent Bible reading.

"Consistency, rather than haphazardness, should mark our reading of God's work," he says. "Of course, we all know that emergencies arise and life's messes interrupt. But it is one thing to have a few pauses in an otherwise consistent Bible reading plan, and another simply to read only when it is convenient to do so."

Ware says that God's Word will have its "greatest potential impact" only when Christians read it regularly.

2. Engage in both fast-paced and slow-paced reading.

For Ware, there are two forms of reading that would benefit believers. "Fast-paced reading is necessary if we are to cover the whole of the Scriptures at some kind of regular interval," he explains. "It doesn't have to be a 'read the Bible in a year' programme, necessarily, but I would hope each of us would commit to reading every single book and chapter of the Bible at least every two or three years."

On the other hand, slow-paced reading will encourage people to "soak in and glory in the beauty" of the passages. Certain Scriptures can only be seen, felt, or marvelled when people read it purposefully and prayerfully, adds Ware.

3. Notice the "who" as much, or more than, the "what" as you read.

Ware wants Christians to pay attention to Bible verses that reveal truths about the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

"While it is important to learn what the Bible teaches each step along the way, even more important is coming to a clearer and brighter and richer and deeper understanding of who the true and living God is who stands behind and in all of Scripture," he says.

The more people grow in knowledge about God, the more His attributes, actions, plans, and purposes become clearer.

4. Seek informed minds and stirred affections.

"God intends the truth of His Word to travel first into our minds, but then from our minds to our hearts. God intends for us to know the truth of his Word," explains Ware. "But he also wants us to see its beauty, and marvel at the richness of the Word. In short, we must grow, through our reading of Scripture, in knowing (mind) and loving (heart) the glorious truths we encounter along the way."

According to the professor, it is quite dangerous if Christians read God's Word consistently without being stirred by His Word. When this happens, people should pray to God and ask for more understanding.

5. Commit yourself to hear and heed, understand and obey, what you encounter in the Bible.

Lastly, Ware says that God's Word helps people live out their day-to-day lives correctly. "Let's resist the temptation to have minds growing in the knowledge of God's Word that nonetheless fail to live out the truth of what we have come to know," he says.
Duggar pastor Ronnie Floyd tells Christians what to do when their faith is put to the test

Pastor Ronnie Floyd of Cross Church in Arkansas, also known as the family pastor of the Duggar family from the cancelled TV reality show "19 Kids and Counting," offered tips on what people should do whenever their faith is being put to the test.

"The secularisation of America has done so much to disrupt American Christianity," Floyd said, according to The Christian Post. "Initially, it tried to make us become extinct... unsuccessfully. And then it attempted to neutralize us... and to some degree, a little successful. And now, the attention has turned toward silencing the church."

But Floyd stressed that the church of God must not be silenced, and they should not allow what happened in Judges 17:6 to happen again: "In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit."

When people are trying to keep the church quiet, Floyd said Christians must do three things: "Seek the Lord, reach the lost, engage the culture."

As for reference, Floyd shared the Bible verses Colossians 4:2-6. They say, "Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."

When Christians prevail in prayer, Floyd said that the church of God in America will have a revival. "Great prayers always precede great movements of God," he said.

Christians need to convey to non-believers how strong their faith in God to inspire them to get to know Him as well. "Because I choose to believe God. What are you believing? God can do anything, anytime, anywhere, with anyone... My God can do more in a moment than you can do in a lifetime," he said.
Have humans always been prone to evil, and can we learn our way out of it?

A bloodthirsty massacre of 27 people... When my radio woke me up this morning, I feared the worst. Where had this terrible crime occurred? Soon enough I realised I could calm down. It had happened ten thousand years ago. The reason the news programme was discussing the event was the bodies had just been uncovered and analysed.

A team of scientists from Cambridge University had been looking at the bones which were discovered in Kenya. Their conclusions were fascinating.

One of the team remarked that, "These human remains record the intentional killing of a small band of foragers with no deliberate burial, and provide unique evidence that warfare was part of the repertoire of inter-group relations among some prehistoric hunter-gatherers."

As the conversation on the radio developed, it became obvious that the researchers had been surprised to find such evidence of brutal violence. It seems there had been a working presumption that 'warfare' or organised slaughter of this kind had only happened after the development of agrarian societies  in other words, war only began when there was territory or produce worth capturing.

But we now seem to have evidence that even before there was a 'reason' for such violence, it existed.

Frankly, I'm astonished that anybody's surprised by this. The Christian worldview tells us that violence is sadly an inherent part of our condition as fallen humans. Because of our propensity to sin, violence will periodically erupt. Whether its causes are in some sense understandable or justified is a secondary issue.

Looking at one of the first recorded sins in the Bible, it's clear that Cain's response to Abel's sacrifice being found acceptable to God was a murderous one. The former Chief Rabbi, Lord Sacks, suggests that envy of others' possessions can play a big role in encouraging violence. "If we read the Book of Genesis carefully, we see that the great threat to humanity is sibling rivalry and what Rene Girard calls 'mimesis, the desire to have what your brother has rather than rest content with your own," he says. If this is true, this instinct would have been present for as long as humans have been humans, rather than being prompted by the rise of agriculture.

Human sinfulness  in this case envy and violence  is intrinsic to all societies in all times. That's why, even in societies which are equal, just, wealthy and relatively peaceful, we see outbursts of violence. Our propensity to sin tips over into evil acts.

Another article ruminating on evil has something to say about this. Lloyd Strickland examines different philosophers' approaches to the subject. His starting point is the Vatican newspaper's suggestion that the characters in the new Star Wars film aren't malevolent enough, and takes us on a brief tour of how Socrates, Leibniz and Hannah Arendt have each dealt with the existence of evil.

It's a good read and draws out some of the differing ways in which evil has been thought of throughout the last few millennia.

His conclusion leaves a little to be desired, though. "The Vatican might (understandably) like its villains to be truly devilish in nature," he argues, "but in reality, most bad guys tend to be those who do not think clearly, or who just do not think at all."

This seems a bit naive. In placing the responsibility for evil on defective thinking, we find ourselves in a very modern dilemma. It suggests that steering clear of evil can be taught or learned.

It also seems to imply that we should be able to think our way out of evil as a society  that with enough education and effort we can prevent evil from happening. The Christian worldview says this just isn't possible. Evil exists because of sin and ultimately because of the Devil. So rather than learning, teaching or even evolving our way away from it, we need forgiveness.

The forgiveness offered by Jesus isn't about avoiding the reality of evil or indeed about pretending it will never happen. It's about acknowledging that it does happen  and we have played a part in it. But then it moves us through sanctification. This means as we are "conformed to the image of the Son" we became less entranced by evil and more prone to doing good  while still acknowledging that we'll fail from time to time.
Justin Welby: Decision for unity of Anglican Communion was a 'God-moment'

The decision of the Anglican Primates last week to maintain the unity of the Anglican Communion was a "God moment", Justin Welby has said.

Last Wednesday, the Primates Meeting of Anglican archbishops reached a climactic moment in which the Communion had to decide whether to "walk together at a distance, or walk apart", the Archbishop wrote in a reflection on the meeting, published today.

"And what happened next went beyond everyone's expectations. It was Spirit-let. It was a 'God-moment'," he said.

The Primates agreed to "walk together", though the US Episcopal Church was suspended from full participation in the Anglican Communion for consecrating a gay bishops and approving gay marriage.

"As leaders of our Anglican Communion, and more importantly as Christians, we looked at each other across our deep and complex differences  and we recognised those we saw as those with whom we are called to journey in hope towards the truth and love of Jesus Christ," Welby said.

The Episcopal Church faces three years of penalties. Its bishops will "no longer represent us on ecumenical and interfaith bodies, should not be appointed or elected to an internal standing committee and... while participating in the internal bodies of the Anglican Communion, they will not take part in decision making on any issues pertaining to doctrine or polity," according to a statement from the Primates.

While celebrating the unity that was achieved, Welby admitted it remains fragile due to the complex nature of the Communion, which spans 165 countries. "It is always costly. It is always painful. It feels very fragile," he said.

"We must repent of wounding others who are especially vulnerable", the archbishop added, explicitly referring to LGBTI people. "Peronally the fact that people are persecuted for their sexuality is a constant source of deep sadness... I am deeply sorry for the pain that the church has caused LGBTI people in the past  and the present  and for the love that too often we have completely failed to show in many parts of the world, including England.

"The worst thing about that is that it causes people to doubt that they are loved by God."

Welby reiterated his desire for the Primates to "seek to make decisions bearing each other in mind, taking each other seriously, [and] loving one another despite deep differences of view".

"It's clear in Christian teaching that it's not for us to divide the body of Christ, which is the church," he said.

Welby added that the Primates had committed "in every part of the Communion" to evangelism. "To proclaiming the person and work of Jesus Christ  inviting all to embrace the beauty and joy of the Gospel and to proclaim that to everyone."
Muslim workers quit Wisconsin jobs after company limits prayers to scheduled breaks

About 53 Somali Muslims have left their jobs at a manufacturing plant in Brillion, Wisconsin after the company imposed a policy requiring them to pray only during scheduled company breaks.

Before the new policy, Ariens Manufacturing had allowed 53 Muslim employees to leave the production line twice per shift daily to pray two of the required five prayers under Islam. They prayed for five minutes at a time, according to ABC2 WBAY.

According to a guide by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Muslims are required to hold morning, noon, afternoon, sunset and night prayers every day that take about 15 minutes each consisting of washing and praying.

"We are asking employees to pray during scheduled breaks in designated prayer rooms. Our manufacturing environment does not allow for unscheduled breaks in production," according to an Ariens spokesperson.

"If someone tells you, 'You pray on your break,' and the break time is not the prayer time? It will be impossible to pray," said Masjid Imam Hasan Abdi.

But Ariens is offering the affected employees a way to accommodate them, adding that it respects Islam.

"We are open to any of the employees returning to work under the new policy or will look for openings in shifts that do not coincide with prayer time. We respect their faith, and we respect their decision regardless of their choice to return to work or not," the company said.

Ten of the 53 employees have said that they wish to stay in their current positions under the new policy.

The Equal Opportunity Employment Commission says that "an employer does not have to accommodate an employee's religious beliefs or practices if doing so would cause undue hardship to the employer... [such as] decreased efficiency."

Dan Ariens, president and CEO of Ariens, said his family has operated manufacturing businesses in northeast Wisconsin for more than 80 years.

"We consulted with local representatives who are of Muslim faith to help provide sustainable solutions. We want to be clear that no one was terminated here. We are asking employees to use two scheduled breaks for religious observation, and are offering designated prayer rooms," he clarified.

He said the company is "open to any of the employees returning to work under the new policy and I have sent a letter to each of them re-stating that offer."

"Let me be clear: we respect their faith, we respect the work they have done at Ariens, and we respect their decision regardless of their choice to return to work or not," he said.
Prejudice or principle? Why the UMC banned Intelligent Design from its annual conference

The United Methodist Church has rejected a request by a group promoting so-called "intelligent design" to have a display at its General Conference in Oregon in May.

The decision, reported by the Christian Post, appears to raise questions about the limits of tolerance in what is actually quite a tolerant denomination. More widely, it hints at a broader issue: when is an argument to be regarded as settled beyond the point at which it can be reopened?

From the UMC's point of view, it may not in fact be such a big deal. It's the first time the denomination has had "outside exhibitors" at its annual conference and it is entitled to be picky about whom it includes. It is on record as being opposed to creationism in general and sees intelligent design  of which more later  as a fig-leaf or stalking-horse for that.

Its spokeswoman Diane Degan told the Christian Post: "The Commission on the General Conference determined that the application by the Discovery Institute did not meet the guidelines established for exhibitors in that it was not consistent with the purpose of the exhibitor programme."

She said the programme stated that "exhibits are not to provide a platform to survey or test ideas but to provide products, services and resources which are credible and proven to help local church ministries, and, in their opinion, it conflicted with our social principles".

The vice-president of the Discovery Institute, which had asked for the display, is not happy. John West pointed out that the UMC's policy referred to its opposition to the introduction of "faith-based theories such as Creationism or Intelligent Design" into public schools, which he said was not the Discovery Institute's policy.

"I would point out that the UMC's slogan is 'open hearts, open minds, open doors,' and UMC leaders claim to be in favour of open dialogue," he said. "But banning us from even having an information table is not open-minded. It's close-minded in the extreme."

But what makes intelligent design so inimical to UMC values?

Its first use was in a book entitled Of Pandas and People, a 1989 textbook designed for high school biology classes. It was originally aimed at defending creationism, but after a ruling against the teaching of that theory by the Louisiana Supreme Court in 1987, references to creationism were changed to "intelligent design".

The movement is fundamentally a version of the teleological argument for the existence of God. While it encompasses a range of views about evolution, with some proponents saying God simply guided the process, others are keen to argue that some life-forms demonstrate an "irreducible complexity" that means they have to have been specially created by an intelligent directing force. It critiques evolutionary explanations of life, saying that they are inadequate accounts of origins. It usually avoids saying that the intelligent designer is God, but the implication is clear.

Because of its apparent attempt to bring untestable assertions into the scientific arena it is widely regarded as a pseudo-science whose assertions don't stand up to scrutiny. Scientists have been withering about it: the US National Academy of Sciences has said that "creationism, intelligent design, and other claims of supernatural intervention in the origin of life or of species are not science because they are not testable by the methods of science", while it has also been condemned by the US National Science Teachers Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

But still: the Discovery Institute argues that people should be allowed to make up their own minds. Arguments based on freedom of speech are often strong ones. However, the UMC has taken the view  expressed though it is in dusty legalese  that in allowing the promotion of intelligent design at its conference would to connive at something which is, not to put too fine a point upon it, not true.

In this respect, it is surely right. It's always possible to find things about life and its development that evolutionary theory has not yet succeeded in explaining. To argue from this that the answer must be "God did it" is ultimately self-defeating. Science advances, the number of unknowns diminishes, and God is driven into a smaller and smaller space accordingly. This "God of the gaps" approach has long been discredited.

The UMC appears to have taken the view that giving a platform  no matter how small  to a view as mistaken as this undermines the credibility of the gospel because it encourages people to believe things that aren't true. Building a faith around falsehood is putting people's souls in peril.

The Discovery Institute may not like it, but the UMC is surely right to stand its ground.

Follow Mark Woods on Twitter: @RevMarkWoods
Saeed Abedini: Freedom is like 'being born again'

Pastor Saeed Abedini has said his release feels like "being born again" as he returns to the US today.

The Iranian-born pastor who converted to Christianity from Islam was sentenced to eight years in jail in Iran in 2012. He was released on January 16 this year as part of a prisoner swap.

"Today was like my first day of my life, so... I was born again," Abedini told attorney Jay Sekulow, who has worked for his release on behalf of the American Centre for Law and Justice.

Freedom is like "being born again, again," he said in a phone call.

Abedini has been staying in Germany since his release but is expected to return to America today.

His family have been warned that although he is physically in good health, his mental and emotional wellbeing has suffered.

"It was a long journey to get him from an Iranian prison to freedom," said Robert Pittenger, a US Congressman who has campaigned for Abedini's freedom. "But as is the case with all former hostages, it's a longer journey back to an old life. Here, he's taking the first step of another long journey. It's a very challenging recovery."

"His kids want their daddy back," said Pittenger. "But their daddy is a different man than he was when he went inside that prison."

Although those considered to be 'ethnic Christians', such as Armenians or Assyrians, are allowed to practice their faith in Iran, the government is especially intolerant of those who convert to Christianity from Islam and converts are forbidden from praying in public churches. This is thought to be one reason why Abedini, a former Muslim, was dealt with harshly.

Listen to Abedini speaking to Sekulow below:
Secularism in France needs overhaul to combat radicalisation, warns education minister

France's principle of secularism needs to be "reappropriated" following fatal terrorist attacks in Paris, the country's Minister of Education has said.

Najat Vallaud-Belkacem defended France's secularist ethos as a positive influence but said it had been twisted by right-wing politicians and used to attack Islam. Far from rescinding on the country's secular philosophy, she said it was essential to the struggle against radicalisation in France.

"We have to reappropriate the concept of laicite [secularism] so we can explain to our young pupils that whatever their faith, they belong to this idea and they're not excluded," she said in an interview with the Guardian.

"Secularism is not something against them; it protects them," she insisted.

Last January 17 people in Paris were killed when jihadi gunmen attacked the officies of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket. More recently, 130 were killed in a series of attacks around the French capital.

After the attacks France, which is a secular republic, faced criticism for failing to tolerate religious expression leading to the isolation and radicalisation of young Muslims. The government has banned religious symbols in schools such as crosses and turbans, and Muslim girls are forbidden from wearing headscarves. However Vallaud-Belkacem said secularism was the solution, not the problem.

"Laicite is about saying we're in a country where individuals can have whatever beliefs, or lack of beliefs, they choose and the public powers must be neutral towards them," she said.

"That's why in schools, we ask pupils not to wear distinctive religious symbols, because schools should be indifferent to beliefs and everyone must be treated equally. But there had been a growing sense of incomprehension among pupils over what this meant, with some pupils feeling it was an aggressive attack on who they were."

She added: "If a big number of young pupils felt secularism was an attack on them, it was because the term had been misused and deformed in the public debate for years by the extreme-right and the right as an attack on Islam. The term had often been misused to point out how Muslims were different to others, and that is clearly problematic."

She said: "So we really wanted to work on that concept of secularism and specially train teachers on it."

Vallaud-Belkacem was interviewed while travelling to the UK where she will meet education secretary Nicky Morgan to learn how British schools tackle social inequality.

In addition to internal questions over combating extremism, France's schools struggle with significant inequalities. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development labels France one of the least egalitarian education systems in the world.

Only five per cent of children from working-class backgrounds achieve doctorate level and only four per cent reach the elite graduate schools.

Vallaud-Belkacem's visit comes after Nicky Morgan announced a new "educate against hate" website to combat extremism in British schools. She disagreed with France's banning of the head scarf but said it was "very much up to schools" in Britain if they wanted to ban Muslim girls from wearing full face veils.
Tajikistan shaves 13,000 men's beards in fight against radicalism

Police in Tajikistan have shaved the beards of almost 13,000 men, closed more than 160 shops selling traditional Muslim ware and convinced over 1,700 women to stop wearing head-scarves in a bid to fight against "foreign influences".

Police chief Bahrom Sharifzoda held a press conference on Tuesday to declare the success of the government's campaign to minimise foreign influences in the country during 2015.

The secular government of Tajikistan, a Muslim-majority nation, has sought to regulate aspects of everyday life to ensure the retention of traditional Tajik values and avoid influences of neighbouring Afghanistan and other conservative Muslim nations.

During 2015, 12,818 men with beards deemed to long were "brought to order," said Sharifzoda.

In total, 89 prostitutes wearing hijabs were arrested in the year and 1,773 women were "convinced" not to wear head-scarves, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio liberty. More than 160 shops selling traditional Islamic clothing were also shut down.

These actions by police are not typical of the secular state, though President Emomali Rahmon actively discourages foreign beliefs and practices, according to Radio Liberty.

Last week, the Tajik parliament voted to ban Arabic-sounding "foreign" names and marriages between first cousins, which is expected to be approved by Rahmon.

In September, the country's only Islamic political party, the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan, was banned by the Supreme Court.

The nation was formerly a part of the Soviet Union and remains heavily dependent on Russia, having struggled economically since its independence.

Rahmon has ruled the nation since 1994 and the parliament has granted the president and his family life-long immunity from prosecution and designated him "the founder of peace and national unity of Tajikstan."

There are thought to be up to 2,000 fighters from Tajikistan with ISIS in Syria.
The mark of the beast: What does it mean for the Church today?

The book of Revelation is written in a sort of visionary code which takes a lot of unscrambling. The key to the code has been imagined very differently over the centuries. Some people think Revelation was referring to the events of the time it was written, around AD 95. Others think it provides a symbolic account of the history of the Church during the last 2,000 years or so. Still others  a view particularly popular in the US  believe it is a prediction of the future and that specific world events can be identified in its chapters.

One of the vivid images John uses is in chapter 13, where he talks of beasts rising out of the sea and of the land. Of the second beast he says it was "given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.

"This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666." (Revelation 13:15-18)

People have always wondered about the "mark of the beast" and the "number of the beast". The "mark" in Greek is charagma, used for seals on documents or designs on coins. When barcodes began to be used on products, some people thought that this was the mark of the beast. Now it's being suggested that we will make transactions and be identified by microchips under our skin; again, some have said that this is the beast's mark.

There is nothing very biblical about this sort of speculation, because it's so detached from the world John knew. All we know about prophets indicates that God spoke through their own experience and reflection rather than dropping ideas straight into their heads. This is  like most of Revelation  a mysterious passage, but the likelihood is that the charagma was the head of the Emperor on a coin. It's put in this way to echo the command in Deuteronomy 11:18 to "Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads"  a command observed today by Jews who wear phylacteries. So this becomes a warning of the power of a godless economic and political system which seeks to dominate everyone.

And what about the number of the beast, 666? Again, this has been interpreted in all sorts of ways. Sometimes it's identified with the mark, but it appears to be different.

The most likely candidate is the Emperor Nero. Jimmy Akin has a good explanation of this. In New Testament Greek, the language of Revelation, the letters of the alphabet doubled as numbers. The first nine letters of the alphabet stand for one to nine, the next as 10-90 and so on.

Everything that John says about the beast points to an association with Rome and the Roman Empire. In Aramaic, Nero Caesar would have been pronounced something like Neron Qaisar. And if you use the Aramaic numbering system, which works like the Greek, Nero's number adds up to 666.

Furthermore, if you miss off the final N in Neron  an alternative spelling  you get a numerical value of 616. Some early Greek manuscripts give the number of the beast as 616.

This all sounds very convincing, though it's worth noting that Irenaeus, who wrote within a century of John, doesn't mention Nero as a candidate.

But if it was Nero, what does this say to the Church today?

It's another way of warning about the power of a state that is opposed to God. The Bible is ambiguous about the state. In Romans 13 Paul says: "Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established." But in Revelation  written against the background of Nero's persecution, when the streets of Rome were lit by the bodies of Christians being burned alive for their faith  the state is a ravening beast. It's a dragon; it is "Babylon the great, the mother of prostitutes and of the abominations of the earth" (17:5).

It's likely that John had a particular individual in mind as the beast. In our own time people have identified him with Hitler and Stalin. But if we limit the beast to an individual we are probably missing something important: evil is not just personal, it's corporate and political as well. If even the currency we use to buy food and pay our bills with is tainted, we are faced with all-pervading evil.

The reaction of some Christians to living in a compromised state is to withdraw from it and see it as the enemy. But this is only one way of looking at it; Paul is much more positive. The prophet Jeremiah tells the exiles from Jerusalem to "seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare" (29:7).

But Revelation's message is clear: the state is also Babylon. We might like living in our own country and even be patriotically proud of it, but our true citizenship is in heaven.
The world turned upside down: What the Beatitudes tell us about the Kingdom of God

There's an old English ballad, written during the English Civil War, called The World Turned Upside Down. It's about the Puritan Parliament's decision to ban the celebration of Christmas. Though this is hardly a live issue any more (we 'celebrate' Christmas from mid-September, of course, these days), I love the title of the song.

It speaks of the possibility of flipping the globe on its axis  changing the status quo so radically, that the blood runs to your head and gravity is subverted. In fact, that's the topic of a modern song of the same name, written about that same period in history and the Diggers' attempts to build a 'common treasury for all.' This all came to mind while I was watching my favourite viral video of the last year or so...

There's just something about it that warms the heart... most people will struggle not to burst into applause when the tortoise gets turned the right way up.

Why? Because we realise there's something deeply wrong with the situation. The tortoise is on its shell, legs in the air, and there's nothing it can do to put itself right. Its whole world is the wrong way up and it needs someone else to come along and flip it upside down to make everything right.

Our faith can be a bit like this. Jesus tells us he's going to turn the world upside down, and that if we follow him, we can be part of turning everything the right way up. In the Beatitudes, he tells us how we should live in the light of that.

But what does it mean that people and the world are upside down? First, there's that feeling we all have sometimes that all is not well. That the things we do wrong and the wrong things that other people do to us make everything in some way wrong. On a small scale, it could be the lies that cause a friendship to end. It could be the selfishness that causes a family to argue and maybe even break up. It could be those very small things we all do wrong, which mount up and make us and others around us miserable.

On a bigger scale it's the same. We only have to look at what's happening in Syria and Iraq where there are now millions of refugees to know that there's something deeply wrong with the world. We only need to glance at what's happening in Nigeria and Pakistan at the moment to know that people with evil intentions have got the upper hand. That's not right. You only have to look at the fact that a million people are relying on Food banks to know things are the wrong way up in our country too.

So, everything is the wrong way up. It can't continue indefinitely, or we despair.

In the Beatitudes, Jesus is turning everything the right way up. He's also telling us that we can't do it on our own. We can only do it through him, and alongside others who are part of his body  the Church.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." (Matthew 5:3-4)

This doesn't sound like the way our world works. The poor and those in mourning aren't the ones we usually see on the front of our newspapers and Saturday night TV.

"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." (Matthew 5:5-6)

Again, this doesn't sound much like our world. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness often end up getting killed. Think of Martin Luther King, or Archbishop Oscar Romero. And the meek? They certainly don't get precedence in our world. Those who get the attention, who are called 'blessed' by our society, are those who push themselves forward, even if they've got nothing of substance to say. Think of Celebrity Big Brother. Think of those politicians who sound like clanging cymbals.

"Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God." (Matthew 5:7-9)

This, too, sounds a long way away from our world in 2016. Those who make war are rewarded with political office and with big contracts to make more and more bombs and guns. And those who try to promote peace? Well, what about those brave Christians who demonstrate outside arms fairs here in London only to find themselves arrested and on trial?

"Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

"Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." (Matthew 5:10-12)

Again, I'm not sure we see much of that in our world. In the UK and the USA where it's safe to be a Christian we've even been guilty of forgetting the people who are persecuted for Jesus' sake. All over the world from North Korea to South America, Christians are being persecuted right now because of their faith in Jesus.

The world just doesn't look like Jesus says it will. Richard Rohr puts it this way, "This is the world I was born into. It is preoccupied with domination and status-quo logic and finds itself incapable of understanding, much less believing most of the clear teaching of Jesus. Poverty, meekness, tears, justice, mercy, purity of heart, peacemaking, persecution are His opening statements. But try to get elected in a Christian country while following those teachings!"

So, if the current world doesn't live up to what Jesus promises here, what are we to make of that? Did Jesus just get it wrong? Is this just the way it is and we have to deal with it? No!

The world is becomng as Jesus describes. The Kingdom is coming. Yet this doesn't mean it's down to us to change everything. Actually, the reality is already different to what we thought. So, coming back to the Beatitudes  Jesus has already flipped the world around. We just have to look at the new map and act accordingly.

The world is turned upside down by Jesus' death and resurrection. Jesus is the one who turns the whole world and our lives the right way up. We just need to turn up, join in and point others towards the world as it should be, the world as it is becoming, the world as it truly is and will be.
Trusting God's faithfulness, even when times are hard

Then Jesus said to them: "Do you still not understand?" (Mark 8v21)

Are you a great hero or heroine of the Christian faith? Or do you tend to find it a somewhat up and down journey?

I've always rather admired people whose spiritual journey seems to be much more dynamic than my own. I had a friend from college who wrote a blog while facing terminal cancer, and her journey of faith was both humbling and awe-inspiring.

But not all of us are like that! So it was reassuring, when I was speaking to an older and wiser Christian this week, to discover that during a time of serious trial some years ago he had found himself (somewhat unsettlingly) really scared. His openness somehow gave me permission to feel more human about my own struggles.

When we read the Gospels, too, we see that Jesus' first disciples are often rather fragile in their faith journey. Jesus' words to them in Mark 8v21 portray something of their far-from-victorious Christian living: "Do you not yet understand?" he asks them. And in the preceding verses he has expressed similar sentiments: "Do you still not perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes and fail to see? Do you have ears and fail to hear? And do you not remember?" To adapt a famous phrase of Homer Simpson, at this point they seem be more "doh!-sciples" than disciples!

The context, of course, is vital. Jesus has just performed a miracle in which 4,000 people (v9) have been fed with seven loaves and a few fish. It's an event which mirrors an earlier, similar act in which five loaves and two fish feed an even bigger crowd (Mark 6v30-44). The difference is that the first crowd was Jewish, the second very probably Gentile. The inference is clear: Jesus is the living bread for both groups  in other words, for everyone, regardless of ethnicity. What amazing acts!

So here are the disciples who have witnessed two spectacular and similar miracles involving loaves. Moreover, in between them, Jesus has calmed a storm and healed some sick people. Yet, as they embark on a journey by boat (v13), they still begin to worry that they haven't got enough bread with them, and mistakenly think Jesus is having a go at them for their inadequate meal planning (v14-16).

There are two repsonses to this:

It's encouraging that the disciples are sometimes as spiritually slow as we are. As one writer summarises it: "They are worried about having no bread, when they have just witnessed the King of glory multiplying loaves for thousands!" And yet isn't that often so much like our own experience? We look back on the faithfulness of God in the past  perhaps in both dramatic and small, intimate ways  and yet when the next difficulty or trial comes along we immediately start to worry or panic! It's reassuring to know that Jesus' first disciples had similar struggles.

It's challenging that we so easily fail to get the point. Our similarity with the disciples should not make us complacent, however. Yes, it's easy to doubt Jesus even quite soon after he has shown great faithfulness to us in some way. But does he sigh (v12) about us and speak those same words: "Do you still not understand?" He is the utterly reliable Christ who can certainly perform mighty acts but ultimately accomplishes his greatest work through the brokenness of a cross  as he may through the brokenness of our lives. Either way, we can trust him.

Be still my heart, a hymn by John Newton, helps us to ask for God's help when we find ourselves, however often, being more like "doh!-sciples" than trusting disciples of Jesus: "Brought safely by His hand thus far, why will you now give place to fear? How can you lack if He provides, or lose the way with such a Guide? Though rough and thorny be the road, it leads you on, apace to God; then count your present trials small, for God will make amends for all." Amen!

The Rough Guide to Discipleship is a fortnightly devotional series. David Baker is a former daily newspaper journalist now working as an Anglican minister in Sussex.
Should Christians embrace a secular society?

France's much-vaunted principle of laicite [secularism] is not fit for purpose in the modern world, according to one of its most senior ministers.

It is a core principle of French civil society: religion has no influence in policy-making. Religion and society don't mix.

Secularism is rooted in particularly French soil, in a battle for influence between the Catholic Church and the secular authorities. This battle was decisively won by the state in 1905 with the passing of a law on the separation of the Church and the state. Secularism in France is not necessarily hostile to religion, but there has always been a strong anti-clericalist movement directed at Catholicism.

Now it's Muslims who are the target. Ostensibly in the sacred name of secularism, there are moves to exclude all consideration of religion from public life. One example of this is the school lunch controversy: in several towns, Muslim pupils who had previously been able to choose a non-pork option have been told, "It's pork or nothing."

It's against this background that the Minister of Education, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, has said that young people need to know that "whatever their faith, they belong to this idea [of laicite] and they're not excluded". She's called for the principle of secularism to be "reappropriated" after the Paris attacks and panic about Islamist extremism.

There is a sense in which France is having the same debate as every other European country  how far do you go in accommodating views and lifestyles that diverge from those of the majority? However, it's doing so with a potentially powerful weapon  laicite  in the hands of people who want to divide, exclude and reject.

The situation in Britain is very different. With an established Church, the assumption is that religion is part of civil society, not set apart from it. Yes, the boundaries are  rightly  being tested, but the principle is that religion matters.

However, the French situation helps throw our own into sharper relief. Proponents of the sort of hard-edged secularism that tells Muslim children that it's "pork or nothing" for lunch are engaged in a winner-takes-all battle with religion that is the reverse of liberalism. They want to use the law to exclude religion.

That's a view that's found in the UK too. But it runs completely counter to our national values and to our national interests. Christians in the UK should be all in favour of secularism, as long as it's understood as being genuinely inclusive. We shouldn't be arguing for the privileging of one religion or one denomination above another (and we should admit that the establishment of the Church of England is a bit of an anomaly here, to put it no more strongly than that) but neither should we allow it to be assumed that the absence of religion from the public square is the most desirable end point.

Instead, we should aim for a state in which everyone, religious and non-religious, is able to practise their faith or lack of it and contribute the best they have to the common good. That means making every effort to accommodate people's theological quirks, even at the risk of a little public inconvenience.

This kind of "soft secularism" is good for atheists, good for believers and good for the country. One of the dangers the Church faces is that it will be eroded by the strident, Dawkinsite voices of those claiming that religion is bad, full stop. The other, rather more under our control, is that the sort of persecution narrative beloved by some sections of evangelicalism will dominate to such an extent that we claim too much, and start defending historic privilege as though we were defending the gospel itself. They're different things, and we will flourish best as Church and nation if we admit it.

Follow Mark Woods on Twitter: @RevMarkWoods
Will the Pope visit Britain? 'Never say never', Vatican official declares

"Never say never" to the Pope visiting Britain, the Pope's foreign secretary told ITV News yesterday.

Liverpool-born Archbishop Paul Gallagher said that Pope Francis "certainly might" visit Britain, and were he to do so, he would enjoy showing the Pontifix around his hometown in the north of England.

"I think he has enormous respect for Britain, our traditions," Gallagher added. "He seems to be really quite familiar with our literature for example and I think he likes Britain and the British as far as I can see."

Just two reigning Pope's have visited the UK in the past. The first state visit was made in September 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI, while Pope John Paul II made a pastoral visit in 1982.

Gallagher also shared the Vatican's opinion on Britain's involvement in the EU.

While saying that the decision lies with the British electorate, on leaving the EU, he said: "we would see it as being something that is not going to make a stronger Europe. Better in than out."

His remark has angered the Leave.EU campaign.

A spokesperson from the organisation said: "I expect the British people will completely ignore and forget the Vatican Foreign Secretary's confessional.

"What on earth has EU membership got to do with the Roman Catholic church as a faith or the Vatican as a City State?"
With sanctions lifted, Iran quickly bares plan to build 2 nuke plants with help from Russia and China

Iran is set to start construction of two new nuclear power plants in the "near future" with the assistance from Russia and China, the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation announced on Tuesday.

"Construction of two 1000-MW power plants will start soon,'' Ali Akbar Salehi was quoted by the country's news agency FARS as saying, Fox News reported.

With sanctions now officially lifted following implementation of the landmark deal, the official said they intend to work with other countries to improve Iran's nuclear power network. "We will build two other small power plants, too in cooperation with China.''

He said a handful of European and Asian countries have expressed renewed interest in cooperating with Iran to help develop its nuclear industry. Apart from China, countries like Japan, South Korea and certain European states are ready for cooperation, he added, according to the Washington Free Beacon.

In December last year, Iran said it would begin construction of another new nuclear plant built in cooperation with Russia, which signed a contract to build two reactors in the country.

Iran is permitted under the deal to continue building nuclear reactors despite concerns from some experts that the technology could be used "to clandestinely continue weapons research."

On Tuesday, Iran's Ambassador to Russia Mehdi Sanaei told Sputnik that the lifting of sanctions offers a number of opportunities for renewed cooperation between the two countries.

"Recent events urge our countries to develop closer cooperation in many areas. While some countries only seek to create and maintain tensions, Iran and Russia should work together to stabilise the situation and to combat international terrorism,'' he said.

A state department official has told Free Beacon that this would not violate past agreements with Iran.

The latest announcements come three days after the Obama administration declared the official implementation of the nuclear agreement with Iran following a U.N. report that the country had fully complied in scaling back its nuclear programme.

The deal states that Iran is allowed to cap its nuclear activities in exchange for lifted sanctions. The West had long suspected Iran was using its nuclear programme as a cover to build a bomb. Iran denied the accusation.

Despite praising Iran's negotiators, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country's top decision maker, meanwhile continued to express deep mistrust of the United States, FARS said.

Hours before the deal's implementation, four Americans jailed in Iran were freed in exchange for the release of seven Iranians. Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, former U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati, pastor Saeed Abedini and Nosratollah Khosravi, were flown to a U.S. military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany to be evaluated.

A fifth American, student Matthew Trevithnick, was also released, according to Fox News.
Sen. John McCain is pressing Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter not to demote retired Gen. David Petraeus after his misdemeanor conviction for sharing classified information with his biographer.

Petraeus, who became director of the CIA after his Army retirement, was sentenced last year to two years probation and a $10,000 fine. A decision to reduce his retired rank to the 3-star lieutenant general could cost him thousands of dollars in benefits.
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One of the state's smallest school districts -- tiny Olfen ISD in rural west Texas -- is moving ahead with a schedule change that would likely take months of public debate in a more populated environment.

On Jan. 12, the Olfen school board unanimously approved what it believes is the first four-day school week under a change approved by the state Legislature last year.

Previously, Texas public schools were required to provide instruction on 180 days, but new guidelines have translated that into minutes. The number is ridiculously huge, but allows for more flexibility.

Olfen ISD has one school with about 70 students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade and eight teachers. The community of Olfen, whose name reflects its German heritage, sits in the middle of a triangle that takes in the towns of Ballinger, Paint Rock and Rowena, said Superintendent Gabriel Zamora.

The district's new schedule will include school-as-usual Monday through Thursday, with 25 minutes added to each day and optional attendance on Fridays, when all staff will be present, according to an announcement.

Plans call for offering tutoring and enrichment activities on Fridays, said Zamora, who also teaches seventh and eighth grade science.

Zamora said he would like to see the tutoring sessions become mandatory for students who are failing, but that remains under discussion.

The district's enrollment is up from the 56 attending at the end of May, Zamora said. Nearly all of them are transfer students from other districts, since only one pupil lives within the district's geographical boundaries, which Zamora estimated at about 28 square miles. Some students come from San Angelo, about 35 miles west.

The announced schedule change was well planned and has generated local excitement and outside interest, Zamora said.

"Some people have visited already in an effort to enroll their students for next year," he said.

As for the few negative comments, Zamora said those have come from people who didn't know the whole story, such as those who mistakenly thought the school would be closed on Fridays.

"I know it's not the solution for every school in the state, but it's a solution for us," he said.
A day after a national hotel trade group released a negative report about Airbnb -- its direct competitor -- the rental site released its own report estimating how much it gives back financially to the communities where it operates.

Airbnb, the popular and fast-growing home-sharing service, released a report Thursday that outlined $2 billion in potential tax revenue the companies could give back to cities in the U.S. On Wednesday, a report funded by the American Hotel & Lodging Association claimed some Airbnb hosts function illegally and operate essentially as full-time hotels without the same health and safety oversight.
A quick-thinking wrecker driver helped police nab five suspects early Thursday morning after they hauled a safe out of a chicken restaurant along Interstate 45 in north Houston.

The burglary occurred about 3 a.m. at a Frenchy's chicken shop in the 5500 block of the North Freeway, said Lt. Larry Crowson of the Houston Police Department.
A suspect has been arrested in the shooting death earlier this month in Los Angeles of a Houston teenager who was visiting relatives in the area.

Cameron Frazier, 21, was arrested Monday outside his home in Vista in connection with the slaying of 17-year-old Kristine Carman on Jan. 6, according to reports from the Los Angeles Times.
A tanker truck hauling chicken steroids overturned in a traffic crash early Thursday morning in Brazoria County, blocking a roadway in the area.

The two-vehicle crash happened about 3 a.m. on FM 2917 near FM 2004, according to the Brazoria County Sheriff's Office.

Deputies said two people were rushed to a hospital in Angleton after the wreck,. Details of their injuries were not released.

It was not known what led to the crash. It does not appear that any of the chicken steroid spilled from the tanker. Workers will offload the product from the wrecked tanker into another truck.

All northbound and southbound lanes of FM 2917 are blocked while crews clear the scene. It may be hours before the roadway reopens.
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Students hunched over a large wooden table in silence as they expertly worked with colorful beads, designing products on tan felt mats. At the back of the class, colorful necklaces and bracelets hung with attached tags bearing the symbol of a phoenix.

In Terri Sanders' art class at Hauke Alternative High School, students work as a collective called the Phoenix Trade, where they turn scraps into profits. They roll paper beads to create low-cost jewelry and starter kits to donate to local nonprofits.

Houston-based nonprofit Project Row Houses, an arts organization in the historically African American Third Ward, was chosen to be a recipient. The jewelry will be sold at Project Row Houses artist gift shop, and the proceeds will go back to the organization so that they can continue to support local artists.

"I wanted the kids to know the importance of giving back to community outreach  and we decided we were going to choose another artist community and help support them," Sanders said.

Many of Sanders' students haven't taken art in years. That's because Hauke Alternative is a school of last resort for many students.

At Conroe ISD, underperforming kids may be taken out of enrichment programs, like art, to receive supplementary tutoring for core classwork.

But when a high school student continues to underperform, is at risk of dropping out or is experiencing issues like drug-addiction or an unexpected pregnancy, teenagers from across the district may find themselves at Hauke Alternative High School's doorstep for one last shot at a high school diploma.

About 165 students attended Hauke Alternative during the 2015-16 school year, and about 20 percent are from The Woodlands.

"I see when we get kids here, they've not had art in several years," Sanders said. "I try to make my program special and well-rounded because a lot of these kids have just not been exposed to what a regular high school two- to three-year art program is."

Because the high school receives a lot of community outreach and support, whether it's through local organizations or through the city of Conroe, Sanders wanted to give back. And along the way, her students learned about community service and philanthropy.

"What first became just making some jewelry and taking them to Project Row Houses became even broader for the kids, so they've really learned a lot from it," Sanders said. "They learned a skill that they can use outside of school if they wanted to."

For 16-year-old Dulce Reyna who hasn't had art class since Kindergarten, finally doing something creative was like a breath of fresh air. She relishes in the brightly colored jewelry she's personally designed.

"You get to put your own ideas and design it your own way. I feel creative," Rayna said. "The money they get, they share out in the artist community. We get help, and we try to help, too."

Students began making beads during the last few weeks of spring and continued throughout the fall. After rolling different colored and sized beads, students varnish them to protect them from the elements and then string them on plastic cords, leather or metal chains.

In December, they personally delivered 50 handmade pieces of jewelry to Project Row Houses, and the class expects to make a second shipment before the end of the school year.

"As they made the beads, each student made a necklace for themselves, then they continued to make beads, knowing that additional jewelry would go to another artist," Sanders said. "The awesome thing about it was that the kids were so willing to help another community out. They were so loving and kind to the fact that they were helping someone else."

Not everyone was as enthusiastic about bead- and jewelry-making. The Phoenix Trade was a hard sell for Eduardo Vasquez, who didn't think much of it. But after working with his hands, he's come around to enjoy the process.

"I thought it was going to be boring, but then I started getting into the process, and I thought this isn't bad," Vasquez said. "I'm getting to help other people."

While the Houston-area community enjoys Rayna, Vasquez and other student work from the Phoenix Trade, Sanders intends to take it a step further.

Hauke Alternative art students are gearing up Phoenix Trade production to send their work to highschoolers in Bamako, Mali.
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Houstonians are due to get another specialty pizza choice soon when a popular gelato joint in the Heights brings a taste from Chicago to the Bayou City.

Louie Comella with Gelazzi, located at 3601 White Oak, will soon add Connies Pizza to the roster of gelato, Italian ice, and pastries that he serves up daily.

Even if you dont know about Gelazzi you have likely seen the large colorful mural painted by popular street artists Daniel Anguilu and Wiley Robertson that reads "Greetings from Houston on the side of the building.

When it came time to add pizza to his business, he and his business partner Leigh Rubino decided to add Connies Pizza to the mix.

For those not in the loop, Connies is one of the most famous pizza chains in the Chicago area. Chicago-native Comella is friends with the companys top brass and wanted to bring a slice or two of iconic brand to Houston.

Hell be making two varieties of Connies Pizza at the White Oak location, and a third version of his grandfathers own Chicago thin crust pizza.

Comella plans to start selling the pizza on Saturday, Jan. 23 at 4:30 p.m., with lunch service starting in March. Pizza will be served until 11 p.m. daily.

For now hell only be selling full pizzas, priced anywhere from $16 to $25 depending on toppings and size.

Individual slices will likely come later.

This is a small place as it is, Comella said Thursday. I wish I could make more, but as it is I have a hard time keeping the gelato made up.

RELATED: Shop's gelato tastes sweet in summer heat

Volume wont trump quality, Comella says.

Anyone who has worked at a small pizza place knows that the ovens can be unforgiving in any climate.

Comella gets rather animated when discussing Connies Pizza, which is served at sporting events and music festival all over Chicago. He notes that this is not a franchising deal, more of an agreement that he and the Connies people were able to come to. Theyve said he can make their pizza anywhere they like in Texas.

He wants to recreate the Connies flavor he remembers from growing up in Chicago.

If you taste it at a location in Chicago, it will taste that way here in Houston, Comella says. Hes using Chicago ingredients that are distinctive to the Connies flavor.

Expect to see Connies Chicago deep dish pan and Connies stuffed pizza soon at Gelazzi. Hes also recreating his grandfathers Chicago thin crust pizza and meat balls.

He expects plenty of Chicago-area expats to come in droves for the Connies flavor, and for Houstonians to finally taste what Chicagoans have been raving about for years now.

Its not uncommon to hear New York City or Chicago transplants complain about the lack of authentic pizza from their respective homelands here in the land of Tex-Mex and barbecue.

When Comella came to Houston nearly 15 years ago he saw in the Heights lot of the features from the neighborhoods he spent time in Chicago. Now the Heights will also have a pizza to match.

There is nothing like this in Houston, he says.
Area attorneys are invited to the Jan. 26 lunch meeting of the Katy Bar Association at 11:30 a.m. at Willowfork Country Club, 21055 Westheimer Parkway, Katy.

Guest speaker Teresa Lechner-Fish, with Gardere Wynne Sewell, LLP, will present "Trademark Basics: What Are Trademarks? How Should They Be Used? And How Can They Be Protected."

She will identify examples of service marks, trademarks and trade names (collectively, "trademarks"), guidance on how trademarks should be used to identify goods and services, and suggestions on how trademarks can be protected in the marketplace.

She has prepared and prosecuted hundreds of chemical and chemical engineering business development considerations, including licensing and due diligence.

Her experience includes senior chemical engineer, intellectual property coordinator business development and analysis of return on investment on patents and trademarks, and she is a patent holder.

Her professional activity includes member of the Katy Bar and Houston Bar Associations, Intellectual Property Law Section State Bar of Texas, American Chemical Society and American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

Her education includes master of science degree from University of Tulsa and Oklahoma State. In 2005, she received her Juris Doctor from the University of Houston.

KBA President Sarah Springer said, "As we begin the New Year, 2016, may we be blessed with peace and good will. We welcome you to our meeting, invite you to join us for lunch, and earn an hour of CLE."

For information, email David.Frishman@DavidFrishmanLaw.com or call 281-391-2147.
Jedediah Smith, famous mountain man, trapper, explorer and map maker, may not have been the first white man to enter the Nevada area  some Spanish conquistadors most likely had crossed the same deserts and mountains before him  but Smith certainly was the first to spend any significant time exploring the region. He made two trips across Southern Nevada and one across sections of the central part of the state when all of it was just a blank area on any maps of the day.
Harris County Judge Ed Emmett has found a replacement to finish El Franco Lee's term on Commissioners Court, following the sudden death Jan. 3 of the Precinct 1 commissioner, Emmett's spokesman said Wednesday.

Emmett offered the job to someone and this person has accepted, said the spokesman, Joe Stinebaker. Stinebaker said he does not know the person's identity.

Emmett plans to announce his selection at a news conference at 10 a.m. Friday. His goal was for the commissioner to be in place for the yearly budget meeting on Jan. 26. Lee's permanent replacement will be elected in November, and Democratic officials will have to pick a name to replace Lee's on the fall ballot.

But in Texas, it falls to a county judge alone to replace a commissioner who leaves office mid-term. Emmett began getting calls from interested parties within an hour after news broke of Lee's death.

Over the ensuing two and half weeks, about 20 or 30 candidates expressed interest in the job or had their names tossed into the hat for consideration. Emmett added additional names to the list for consideration. Ultimately, Stinebaker said, Emmett considered five or six people for the job.

He began by asking Lee's widow, Ethel Kaye, who goes by the name Kaye, if she was interested in the job. She declined. Stinebaker said Emmett went on to consult with Kaye Lee about her husband's replacement.

Emmett said previously that the person he hoped to pick would be a placeholder. He wanted the individual to be familiar with county government and be able to do the job in a way Lee would have liked. He also said he wanted the candidate to be an African American Democrat, since Precinct 1 is a predominantly Democratic and because Lee was the first African-American member of commissioners court.
A call to add an early-voting site at the campus of a historically black college in Waller County came to an impasse Wednesday, as commissioners and members of the public debated whether it was needed and where it would go.

Commissioners voted 3-2 to postpone the decision on whether to offer two days of early voting at Prairie View A&M University ahead of the March 1 primary, with County Judge Trey Duhon and Commissioner Jeron Barnett, who represents the students, dissenting.
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The director of Harris County's Veterinary Public Health department told his staff Wednesday he plans to leave at the end of February for a similar post in Montgomery County.

During three years leading the agency, Dr. Michael White decreased the kill rate at the county's animal shelter by 20 percent, forged relationships with rescue groups and pushed for a $24 million bond issue to fix the outdated county shelter on Canino Road, said Dr. Umair Shah, head of Public Health and Environmental Services for the county.

White worked for Harris County for five years treating incoming animals. He became director in 2013, after his predecessor, Dawn Blackmar, came under scrutiny for euthanasia practices, including leaving euthanized animals in view of living animals.

The overall kill rate including sick, injured and "unadoptable" dogs and cats was 80 percent when White took over. For 2015 the kill rate for that group was 60 percent. Without including the sick, injured and "unadoptable" animals, the kill rate dropped from 56 to 31.7 percent under White, Shah said.

White encouraged Commissioners Court to lower adoption fees, and he fostered relationships with about 120 rescue groups, getting them to take on more pets. He made it possible for animals that other counties wanted to get a ride in a Harris County van. He sometimes drove that van himself, Shah said.

White told Shah and others that the county could not expect to adopt its out way out of what he considered a community-wide problem. He made a big push for public education and spaying and neutering pets.

White lives in Montgomery County and has been commuting over an hour to the Harris County shelter, which Shah said is a "challenging job."

"He provided such leadership in our animal world and showed an incredible amount of passion for animals here. It does take a toll personally," Shah said.

The new Veterinary Public Health director will oversee the construction and remodeling of the Canino Road shelter, which includes three facilities that will be built in phases. The plan, which got backing from a 2015 bond measure, calls for a new adoption center, a new holding area for pets and a new isolation and quarantine building for sick animals. The design calls for a remodeling of the current shelter facility for animal intake.
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With 29 captures last year, the state's 10 Most Wanted list of fugitives is constantly changing.

A new fugitive is generally added about every two weeks to replace those who have been captured, officials said.

The latest version includes a registered sex offender who was last seen in Houston, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Robert Houston Hayes, 56, was added to the list Tuesday. Released Oct. 23 from the South Texas Intermediate Sanction Facility in Houston, Hayes was scheduled to arrive the next day at a halfway house in El Paso but never showed up.

According to his ankle monitor, his last GPS location was in Junction, where he removed the monitor and fled, DPS said.

Warrants have also been issued for his arrest in New Mexico for probation violation and failure to appear in court.

In 1998, Hayes was convicted of sexual assault of a child and sentenced to three years in prison in Nebraska after an incident involving an 11-year-old girl.

Prior to being incarcerated in Texas in 2013 for failing to register as a sex offender, Hayes lived in Amarillo and the Albuquerque area. He also visited Las Vegas during the last year, according to DPS.

This month's featured fugitive is Benjamin Dominguez, whose last known address was in El Paso. A reward of up to $15,000 is offered for information leading to his arrest.

Anyone with information on any of the state's most wanted fugitives can call Texas Crime Stoppers at 1-800-252-TIPS (8477). Tips can be made anonymously.
SOQUEL, Calif. (KSBW-TV) The Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office is asking for the public's help in solving the arson of six cars in Soquel.

On January 20, 2016 just after midnight, Central Fire was dispatched to a dumpster fire at a business complex in the 2900 block of Park Ave, Soquel where they found a car on fire.
A man serving time in an Alabama prison for murder is catching flak from the victim's family because of Periscope, Montgomery's WSFA-TV reports.

Devin Williamson was convicted in the shooting death of 25-year-old Jervarin Mushat on Dec. 25, 2011. According to an earlier report, Williamson was accused of shooting Mushat after an argument over money.
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While on her crusade for votes for Donald Trump, Sarah Palin addressed the "elephant in the room" and connected her son Track's recent arrest on domestic violence charges to what she calls President Obama's neglect of veterans.

During a Trump rally on Wednesday in Tulsa, Okla., Palin attested to her personal link to veterans returning from the war zone who "come back a bit different  they come back hardened."

She said that with Trump in the Oval Office, America will have a "commander in chief who will respect them and honor them."

Back in the spotlight: Sarah Palin's wildest lines in her Trump speech

Track Palin served in Iraq in a Stryker brigade. He was arrested Monday night at the Palin family's Wasilla, Alaska, home on domestic violence charges after he allegedly had a fight with his girlfriend. The girlfriend reportedly said he had threatened to kill himself with an AR-15 rifle.

"When you go to vote in the primary, March 1st, you can make it a Super Tuesday for the rest of America by leading the way with the vote for the next commander who will respect our troops, who will give them what they are deserving, who will treat our troops better than illegal immigrants in America. Well we're in this together," Palin said.

See Palin's full speech on veterans, including her son, during the Tulsa rally in the video below:

Palin's speech in Tulsa is her first stop after her guest appearance in Iowa on Tuesday, where she announced her endorsement for Trump, instead of Ted Cruz, whom she supported in his 2012 Senate campaign.

Click through the gallery above to see the wildest lines from Palin's Trump endorsement speech.
Sarah Palin, who one day will be the U.S. Poet Laureate, endorsed Donald Trump for president in a speech for all the ages.

The rambling speech touched on everything from the troops to The Apprentice as she freestyled for Trump minutes in Ames, Iowa.
Check out the Houston Chronicle's Cruz News each morning for fresh updates from the Houston-based presidential campaign of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

Who's the real outsider here?

This weird race is getting weirder. Ted Cruz on Wednesday characterized his top rival, Donald Trump - long seen as a threat to the Republican establishment - as the Republican Party's establishment candidate.

In 2015, Cruz was the first to declare a presidential candidacy, staking out territory as an anti-establishment fighter, as proven by his political record fighting Republicans for conservative causes.

But Trump, a true political outsider, stole some of that thunder when he entered the race as another anti-establishment candidate. Now he and Cruz are vying for the top spot in polls, with the admitted establishment candidates falling ever more by the wayside.

For months, Cruz spoke lightly of Trump, cautiously respecting him as a fellow fighter against the "Washington cartel." He explicitly deflected reporters' attempt to prod out some criticism of Trump.

But Wednesday, he stood before reporters in New Hampshire to offer it.

"The Washington establishment is rushing over to support Donald Trump," he said.

A Trump-Cruz battle over who is more anti-establishment could push both candidates farther to the extreme. It could also push establishment supporters in the Trump crowd, if the billionaire mogul opts to takes Cruz's critiques against him.

The broad shift towards hostility between the two kicked off at last week's GOP presidential debate, when the two candidates traded harsh words over Cruz's birthplace and Trump's values.

Recent days mark the first times on the campaign trail that Cruz has openly offered criticisms of Trump. The Texas senator has said that his own rise to the top spot in some polls has left his leading rival "rattled" and nervous,"  assertions reinforced by Trump's recent Twitter-tirades trashing Cruz.

Cruz also called Trump "a deal-maker" who will give way to the party leaders. Trump has countered that Washington is gridlocked because no one makes deals.

Here's what Cruz tweeted in December:

Apparently it's on.

Read the full story at the Houston Chronicle.

This tweet

Read the full story at the Houston Chronicle.

Wide support

According to a Pew Research survey released Wednesday, old wealthy people are the most enthusiastic Cruz supporters, though not by any dramatic margin.

Pew reported widespread Republican approval for Cruz, with 53 percent of respondents predicting his hypothetical presidency would be better than average.

Among Republicans, only Trump won greater approval, but just by three points.

The survey asked 702 likely Republican voters, "If Ted Cruz were to become president do you think he would be a great, good, average, poor, or terrible president?"

Each successively older age bracket sported more "great" or "good" responses (46 percent among ages 18-39, 54 percent among ages 40-64 and 59 percent among ages 65 and older).

Similarly, each higher income bracket showed more Cruz affinity than the one below it (48 percent for $30,000 and below, 50 percent for $74,999 - $30,000 and 58 percent for $75,000 and up).

Morbid business

Former colleagues told the New York Times that Cruz was "obsessed" with the death penalty as a clerk at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Cruz makes no effort to hide his affinity for capital punishment. For him, it's part of a Reagan-esque "tough on crime" approach to running a country.

In his autobiography, he wrote that the grisly details of rapes and murders in his mind justified ending the offender's life. And, he wrote, he made a point of including the details in the legal briefs he wrote for the Court.

But his former colleagues told the Times they found it improper for a young clerk to add such flare to court documents. One said it "made a lot of people really angry."

Making people angry has been a common theme through Cruz's dynamically successful political career.

Birther talk won't die

Opponents have dogged Cruz over his Canadian birth to an American mother. A federal lawsuit even asked a judge to rule whether Cruz is eligible for the presidency. Cruz maintains he is eligible.

He indicated that when a child sought his signature Wednesday on a copy of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Act  he underlined the clauses that he says make him eligible. A Washington Post reporter got hold of the paper and tweeted it.

Careful with Cubans

In a letter to Defense Secretary Ash Carter Wednesday, Cruz decried plans to include Cuba in a regional security conference to be hosted in Jamaica later this month by U.S. Southern Command.

In past years, Cuba has been banned from the annual Caribbean Nations Security Conference. But this year it was invited  part of a push by the Obama administration for warmer relations with the neighboring nation.

Cruz has consistently opposed expanding the U.S.-Cuban relationship. In his letter, Cruz called the island nation's leadership an "implacable enemy of the United States."

"Given this reality, it seems recklessly premature to participate in a joint security exercise with Cuba this month," Cruz wrote.

His father fled Cuba after his imprisonment by the regime of Fulgencio Batista, which was overthrown by an insurrection led by Fidel Castro. Cruz's father supported Castro, but repented years later upon learning that Castro was communist.

A powerful ally

Tuesday was tough for Cruz. First the governor of an important primary state denounced him, then a big tea party figure endorsed his rival. But he came away with at least one important ally: Glenn Beck, former Fox News anchor and founder of The Blaze.

In a Facebook post, Beck ripped Sarah Palin for her Wednesday endorsement of Trump, Cruz's main rival.

While not mentioning Cruz, Beck's criticisms of Trump echoed one of Cruz's main talking points: that the billionaire Manhattanite is a Democrat in disguise.

Beck is a loud voice among Cruz's demographic; he's a constitutional stalwart and a self-described conservative crusader. His comments will likely reaffirm Cruz's claims that he's the only real conservative in the race.

Not your grandpa's political ad

Videos out of the Cruz campaign have looked like work out of Hollywood television studios more than out of political campaigns. This new ad looks like a preview for an action movie, coming soon to theaters near you.

The Cruz campaign said the ad was produced by a volunteer.

Ethanol matters

Cruz walks a fine line in Iowa, sticking firmly to his oft-touted free-market principles while campaigning in a state that deeply depends on government support for ethanol biofuel.

That position has won him Iowan hostility  most notably a denouncement from the governor  but he's heralding it to prove his stalwart status.

According to the Washington Times, Cruz told a New Hampshire audience Wednesday he was "getting hit, literally, with millions of dollars of attacks on exactly this issue [ethanol]."

He cast the ethanol battle as one familiar to his followers: Cruz against the political establishment. His campaign and support committees have also invested millions in Iowa TV ads this week.

Screening refugees

Cruz hopped briefly off the campaign trail to cast his Senate vote for a bill that would tighten restrictions on Syrian and Iraqi refugees seeking shelter in the United States. The bill ultimately failed.

An estimated 16 million people have been displaced by war in Syria, where five years of civil war has destroyed half of the nation's structures, and Iraq, where an international military coalition has been battling insurgents since the U.S. invasion in 2003.

Cruz and other Republicans have warned that insurgents with the Islamic State or other militant group could pose as refugees to enter the U.S.

In November, Cruz told CNN that "to bring to this country tens of thousands of Syrian Muslim refugees" was "nothing short of lunacy."

Looking forward

A new TV ad by the Cruz campaign narrowly targets to a South Carolina audience, CNN reports.

The 30-second clip reel begins with images of Islamic State fighters and an Iranian mullah, then hones in on the U.S. Army base in Fort Jackson, S.C. It portrays President Barack Obama as a threat to the prosperity of the Army and offers Cruz as an attractive alternative.

"Ted Cruz: Rebuild our military. Kill the terrorists," the ad says.

South Carolina will host the nation's third primary caucus on Feb. 20.

Or, check out yesterday's Cruz News.
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Donald Trump on Thursday morning tweeted a bizarre attack at his top rival, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

It's a Photoshopped rendition of Cruz's 2015 autobiography, "A Time for Truth."

But someone renamed it, "A Time to Lie." They also pushed Cruz's hair line back to the top of his head, fattened up his cheeks a bit, rocked one of his eyeballs off center and added a disingenuous smirk to Cruz's lips. It seems Cruz's earlobe was also made slightly pointy.

After months of cordial encounters, Trump and Cruz are getting vicious. Gone are the days when Cruz would politely brush off reporters' prodding for him to critique his leading opponent, offering instead acclaim for Trump's good character. Now the two are vying for the top spot and the heat is on.

RELATED: Cruz News Thursday: Trump and Cruz go at it

It started late last year when Trump began to raise questions of Cruz's birthplace and presidential eligibility then escalated at the January GOP presidential debate when Cruz questioned Trump's "New York values."

Early this week, Trump called Cruz a "nasty guy," and on Wednesday Cruz launched his sharpest attack yet against the billionaire mogul, calling him the candidate for the Washington cartel.

The first primary caucus is little more than a week away. Attacks between the top rivals are expected to escalate before then.
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This list was updated on Feb. 1, 2016

AUSTIN - From Deer Park to Dallas, local governments are under fire from pro-gun Texans who are accusing them of illegally banning guns in their public buildings.

Due to a new law that went into effect Sept. 1, Texans can now file a complaint against any local government entity or state agency they believe has improperly banned the carrying of handguns by those with a license to carry.

Nearly three dozen complaints have been filed so far against everything from zoos to police departments. See a full list of the complaints below and read more about the continued fight and confusion over the new law on HoustonChronicle.com.

Attorney General Ken Paxton's office will investigate and decide whether to sue any of the entities against which complaints have been filed. The new penalties law impacts only signage posted by local government entities and state agencies; private businesses can continue to ban guns as they please.

If you are a local governmental entity and want to contact the Houston Chronicle regarding your complaint, please email Lauren McGaughy at lauren.mcgaughy@chron.com or on Twitter @lmcgaughy.

Date: 09/14/2015

Entity: Hays County Government Center

Location: San Marcos, Hays County

Complainer: Mike Cox

Description: Signs at the entrance of the multipurpose building

Date: 09/18/2015

Entity: Tom Bean City, Grayson County

Location: Tom Bean City Hall

Complainer: David Schaab

Date: Signs at the entrance of the multipurpose building

Date: 08/27/2015

Entity: McLennan County

Location: Waco, McLennan County

Complainer: Terry Holcomb

Description: Signs at the entrance of the multipurpose building

Date: 09/07/2015

Entity: Pasadena Convention Center

Location: Pasadena, Harris County

Complainer: David E. Hoobler

Description: Signs put up when a gun show was on the premises

Date: 09/22/2015

Entity: Austin City Hall

Location: Austin, Travis County

Complainer: Michael Cargill

Description: Signs at the entrance of the multipurpose building

Date: 10/10/2015

Entity: Forth Worth Zoo

Location: Fort Worth, Tarrant County

Complainer: Larry Martin

Description: Signs at the entrance of the zoo

Date: 09/21/2015

Entity: Bexar County Appraisal District Office

Location: San Antonio, Bexar County

Complainer: Shane Brysch

Description: Signs at the entrance of the building

Date: 09/25/2015

Entity: Mineola Nature Preserve

Location: Mineola, Wood County

Complainer: Daniel Watson

Description: Signs put up during a concern where alcohol was served

Date: 09/30/2015

Entity: Kleberg County Courthouse

Location: Kingsville Kleberg County

Complainer: Robert Shaw

Description: Signs at the entrance of the multipurpose building

Date: 09/18/2015

Entity: Will Rogers Exhibit Hall

Location: Fort Worth, Tarrant County

Complainer: Bill Davis

Description: Signs at the entrance of the exhibit hall

Date: 10/01/2015

Entity: Fort Worth Zoo

Location: Fort Worth, Tarrant County

Complainer: Ronald Phillips

Description: Signs at the entrance of the zoo

Date: 10/09/2015

Entity: Dallas Arboretum

Location: Dallas, Dallas County

Complainer: Bradley Young

Description: Signs posted at general admission and member services

Date: 10/12/2015

Entity: Melissa City Hall

Location: Melissa, Collin County

Complainer: Gari Sansing

Description: Signs at the entrance of the building

Date: 10/12/2015

Entity: Dallas Zoo

Location: Dallas, Dallas County

Complainer: Thomas Walker

Description: Signs at the entrance of the zoo

Date: 10/13/2015

Entity: Madison County Courthouse

Location: Madisonville, Madison County

Complainer: Don Dean

Description: Signs at the entrance of the multipurpose building

Date: 09/04/2015

Entity: Cedar Park Convention Center

Location: Cedar Park, Williamson County

Complainer: Bobby Jones

Description: Signs at the entrance of the building

Date: 10/19/2015

Entity: Workforce Solutions, Alamo

Location: Seguin, Guadalupe County

Complainer: Bob Kucera

Description: Signs as you enter office

Date: 10/01/2015

Entity: City of Glenn Heights Council Chambers

Location: Glenn Heights, Dallas/Ellis Counties

Complainer: Blayne Rush

Description: Signs at the entrance of the building

Date: 10/14/2015

Entity: Deer Park Community Center

Location: Deer Park, Harris County

Complainer: David Koenig

Description: Signs at the entrance of the building

Date: 10/21/2015

Entity: Abilene City Hall

Location: Abilene, Taylor County

Complainer: Steve Savage

Description: Signs at the entrance of the multipurpose building

Date: 09/03/2015

Entity: Killeen Police Department

Location: Killeen, Bell County

Complainer: Terry Holcomb

Description: Signs at the entrance of the building

Date: 09/09/2015

Entity: Woodway Police Department

Location: Woodway, McLennan County

Complainer: Terry Holcomb

Description: Signs at the entrance of the building

Date: 10/30/2015

Entity: Elgin Independent School District Administrative Building

Location: Elgin, Travis County

Complainer: Oscar Lee James III

Description: Signs at the entrance of the admin. building

Date: 11/24/2015

Entity: Houston Zoo

Location: Houston, Harris County

Complainer: T. Edwin Walker

Description: Signs at the entrance of the multipurpose building

Date: 11/23/2015

Entity: Lake Dallas City Building

Location: Lake Dallas, Denton County

Complainer: Laird Lind

Description: Signs at the entrance of the multipurpose building

Date: 12/08/2015

Entity: Brazos County Courthouse

Location: Bryan, Brazos County

Complainer: Ricky Fowler

Description: Signs at the entrance of the multipurpose building

Date: 01/04/2016

Entity: Dallas County Tax Office

Location: Dallas, Dallas County

Complainer: Christopher Barker

Description: Signs on the outside and the inside of the building

Date: 12/11/2015

Entity: Omni Theater, Fort Worth Museum of Science and History

Location: Fort Worth, Tarrant County

Complainer: Jim Cerrato

Description: Signs at the entrance of the building

Date: 01/05/2016

Entity: Wichita County Courthouse and Annex

Location: Wichita Falls, Wichita County

Complainer: Christopher Reltsma

Description: Signs at the entrance of the building

Date: 12/22/2015

Entity: McLennan County Courthouse and Annex

Location: Waco, McLennan County

Complainer: Randall Gates

Description: Signs at the entrance of the multipurpose building

Date: 01/08/2016

Entity: Nueces County Appraisal District

Location: Corpus Christi, Nueces County

Complainer: Kelly Harlan

Description: Signs at the entrance of the building

9 additional complaints since 01/08/2016:

Bell County Justice Center

Wilbarger County Auditorium

Universal City Municipal Building

Johnson City Hall

Hidalgo County Administration Building

Plano Sports Authority Starcenter

Brazoria County Sub-Tax Office,

Blanco County Courthouse

Sabine County Courthouse.
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.
Just before the attacks, my father had open-heart surgery at the Clinique Ambroise Pare in the Parisian suburb of Neuilly. A team of cardiological craftsmen cleaved his chest, separated his breastplate, mechanically circulated and oxygenated his blood, shut off his heart and lungs, cooled his heart, and stopped its beat. They removed his diseased aortic valve and replaced it with one fashioned of chemically treated bovine tissue. The hospital does this five times a day, and, according to Mathilde, the nurse, We do not make mistakes. This is civilization. Whatever were clashing with, civilization is not it.

I was oblivious to the first reports. My father was at last conscious and out of the ICU; I had taken the Metro back to my apartment, where I collapsed into a sleep so drugged and exhausted that I didnt hear the sirens. When my brother called me, I knew from his voice that something was wrong. He quickly reassured me: Hes fine. But there have been some terrorist attacks.

We spent the next week crossing the city to the cardiology ward. Every television was tuned to the news. The patients, hooked up to wires and tubes and catheters, lay in their beds and watched, doubly stunned by the lifesaving invasion of their bodies and the rape of their city. Walking down the wing, I heard the same sound echoing from every roomaccounts of eyewitnesses accompanied by the steady beep-beep-beep of heart monitors. The nurses eyes, like those of everyone in Paris, were red-rimmed.

France is now under a State of Emergency. It is the first to be declared nationally since the 1961 Generals putsch. The National Front subsequently made major gains in the first round of regional elections. The authorities have been given the power to set curfews and forbid mass gathering; the security services may conduct house searches at any time without judicial oversight. Strict security checks are in place at all airports, train stations, and ferry terminals; border controls have been reestablished. The interior minister can, without a warrant, order house arrest for persons whose activities are dangerous for security and public order. Ive lost count of the number of raids reported in the newsit is in the thousandsand the number of people taken into custody.

The government has written to the EU Human Rights Council announcing that it expects to violate various human rights guaranteed by the EU convention. It has also asked the Council of State if it would be legal to create detention centers for those under a fiche Sthreats to public safety or the safety of the State. After every terrorist attack, we learn that the terrorists were fiche S. There are 20,000 people, apparently, who are so classified, but only 10,500 have been placed on the list because theyre radical Islamists. Former president Nicolas Sarkozy, the conservative rival of President Francois Hollande, has called for considering anyone who has looked at a jihadist website a jihadist. A leaked draft of proposals from the Interior Ministry, published in Le Monde, suggested blocking public Wi-Fi and banning anonymization software. The interior minister has reassured the public that this, at least, is not under serious consideration.

What happened seems unspeakable: people reach for the phrase ce qui sest passethe thing that happened. The defiantly jubilant Christmas lights are at odds with a steady, melancholy December rain and the omnipresent police and the troops clad in woodland camouflage. Its clear where the troops came from: France has a formidable conventional military force; theyve come from bases. It isnt as clear where the flics are fromnot just the men, but all the vehicles and equipment. Where were they before? They are everywhere: on foot, on motorcycles, in vans. Police vehicles, sirens screaming, scatter cars like small birds. The winos and petty drug dealers are nowhere to be seen. I cannot dispel every rumor, but let me assure you that the French police are armedveryand that there is no neighborhood in Paris that they wont enter.

None of us feels safer from terrorism for their presence, but at least no one is worried about normal urban crime. From that, weve never felt safer.

Photo by VP Photography
Women in Online Work  program pentru femeile care isi doresc sa munceasca in companii internationale, de la biroul de acasa
Nearly half a million people had already seen the video before Dan Ilic tried to upload it to Facebook. A self-professed investigative humorist, Ilic manages the Facebook page for Hungry Beast, an Australian comedy show. The videotitled Is labiaplasty the new fad?had been circulating on YouTube since the Hungry Beast released it in 2011, and Ilic wanted to repromote it after seeing mentions of labiaplasty in the news. But soon after clicking Post, he received a notice from the social site that the content had been removed and that he was banned from logging in for 24 hours. There was no additional explanation.

Facebook has punished me with a 24hr ban for uploading a @hungry_beast story about labiaplasty to the HB FB page: pic.twitter.com/hhbIuDo28H  Dan Ilic (@danilic) January 16, 2016

A few days later, Ilic posted an edited version of the video that began with its own notice: This story has been edited to meet Facebooks guidelines. In the edited version, Mark Zuckerbergs poorly photoshopped face obscures any potentially offensive material throughout the six-minute video.

Ilics experience highlights the changing nature of censorship. Until recently, Ilics choice to publish would have been an editorial decision, the kind news organizations make every day, and limited only by the law of the land. Today, its also limited by the laws of Facebook.

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Social media platforms dominate todays information ecosystem. More than 60 percent of Americans get their news on Facebook or Twitter, and that number is growing. News sites and social platforms have an increasingly symbiotic relationshipeach looking to the other to boost traffic and business. As this relationship grows, social medias content regulations will increasingly affect what publishers publish.

This marks a fundamental shift of power from government to private corporations, calling into question the means by which we protect, limit, or debate free speech. Jillian York, director for international freedom of expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, says publishers should consider what this means for them. The rules under which theyre publishing are no longer law, says York. Theyre proprietary terms of service.

York is also the co-founder of Online Censorship, an organization that offers users a place to report incidents of social media censorship, in the hopes of bringing more transparency to the process. The site, which launched in November 2015, is both a resource for social media users looking for recourse and a way to collect data and track censorship across multiple platforms.

Ilics video likely violated Facebooks terms of service, which includes a ban on genitaliaone of many filters Facebook uses to weed out inappropriate content. But it isnt always easy to ascertain why content is censored. In March 2015, University of Waterloo student Rupi Kaur had a photo twice removed from Instagram. The photo showed Kaur in bed, fully dressed but with menstrual blood leaking through her pants and onto the sheet. In April, Crains New York was temporarily banned from Facebook for promoting a cover story about the legalization of pot in New York State. And in August, Facebook blocked links to a Center for Immigration Studies report on the large number of jobs being filled by immigrants with a notice that the links included content that other people on Facebook have reported as abusive. In each instance, Facebook said the removal was an error and reinstated the content.

thank you Instagram for providing me with the exact response my work was created to critique. you deleted my photo twice Posted by Rupi Kaur on Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Some governments are taking advantage of social medias newfound power, pressuring them to further national security interests. In the US, thats meant enlisting social media companies to help fight ISIS and other forms of extremism. Earlier this month, a bevy of Silicon Valley firmsamong them Google, Facebook, and Applemet with national security officials at the White House to discuss ways to fight terrorism online. Items on the agenda included a discussion on how to make it harder for terrorists to leverage the internet to recruit, radicalize, and mobilize followers to violence, according to a memo published by The Guardian.

For the government, acting through social media can be a way to bypass due process. If Congress passed a law trying to outlaw some of the content that the US government wants tech companies to delete and censor, says Trevor Timm, director of the Freedom of the Press Foundation and CJR columnist, it would be struck down as unconstitutional.

York, of the EFF, says one of the goals of Online Censorship is to shed light on how content is moderated, as well as how social sites define terms like hate speech and terrorism. Much of social medias editorial guidelines are a black box, inaccessible to the public since they belong to private companies.That lack of transparency means its unclear what factors go into the decision to take down a post. Among the data Online Censorship collects is the language of the removed post, whether the poster was an individual or an organization, and the reason given for the removal.

In one case, Facebook removed a cartoon that was critical of Israel, implying that the nation silences criticism by labeling it as anti-Semitic, and suspended the associated account for three days. It was unclear whether the post was removed because of the cartoon itself or the accompanying post, and whether it had triggered an algorithmic response or had been reported by users. Additionally, says York, its not always possible to know if content on Facebook is taken down due to a government request or because a user violated the social giants terms of service.

Disgraceful: Facebook deletes cartoon by @LatuffCartoons and suspends our account. @Facebook is commiting suicide pic.twitter.com/NDGo3NZ3Z7  Palestine Info Centr (@palinfoen) January 11, 2016

Sarah Meyer West is a strategist at Online Censorship, and part of her job is to review incoming reports. An especially concerning incident, she says, came from Mariana Diaz, a writer and lawyer in Venezuela. In November, Diaz had posted to Facebook a short docudrama by a Venezuelan artist about the conditions of political prisoners in a Caracas prison known as The Tomb. But she noticed soon after uploading the video that it had disappeared. When she tried to reupload it, she got a message that the action was disallowed, but was given no further explanation.

West says the report stood out because content is usually removed once its been posted, but in this case the link to a third-party site was itself blocked.

News organizations are increasingly publishing directly to social media, using native platforms like Medium, Snapchat Discover, or Facebooks Instant Articles. Cory Haik, who was the director of emerging news products at The Washington Post when the paper opted in to Instant Articles, says thats the future of publishing. If I can project five years from now, referral traffic wont be a thing, she says. It will be native distribution of content.

Haik, who is now at Mic, believes publishers still have leverage with the social giants, adding that shes witnessed a really great exchange between publishers and platforms in the last year.

York, on the other hand, hopes newsrooms will find alternatives to native platforms. Its essentially ceding power to a corporation both in terms of privacy and speech, she says.

Timm, of the Foundation for Freedom of the Press, agrees that publishers should avoid relying too heavily on any one platform; otherwise, playing the role of watchdog becomes difficult. Newsrooms need to be aggressively reporting on the practices of Facebook, says Timm.

Unlike individuals who feel they are unjustly censored and have no way to appeal, journalists and news sites have a public platform, thereby returning the conversation of what should and should not be protected speech back into the public sphere.

As god and the founding fathers intended.

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

Chava Gourarie is a freelance writer based in New York and a former CJR Delacorte Fellow. Follow her on Twitter at @ChavaRisa
A New York man is about to go on trial in vehicular homicide case that tests the limits of criminal consequences. He wasnt behind the wheel when a police officer was struck and killed  he was leaning against the guardrail.

Prosecutors say James Ryan was charged because his drunken driving on the Long Island Expressway set in motion a series of events that ended in the officers death. Nassau County Police Officer Joseph Olivieri was struck and killed after arriving to investigate a pair of accidents Ryan allegedly caused in October 2012.

The crashes have already been the subject of vigorous court battles, including an appeals court decision supporting the 16-count indictment. But Ryans attorney believes prosecutors have overreached.

I think the district attorneys office has been blinded by the allegations of alcohol use, said defense attorney Marc Gann. Theres nobody else to criminally blame so they blame Ryan.  Its extremely unusual for a person not driving to be charged with a vehicular death.

Ryan, a 28-year-old part-time student, could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted of aggravated vehicular homicide, manslaughter, driving while intoxicated and other charges. A spokesman for county prosecutors declined comment, citing the upcoming trial.

This factual situation is certainly rare and relatively unique, said Joseph McCormack, an adjunct law professor at St. Johns University who serves as the New York state traffic safety resource prosecutor.

McCormack said prosecutors are employing the legal principle of causation/foreseeability, in which suspects are charged in events that are foreseeable results of their actions. In one such case from 1994, a New York City man was convicted of murder in the death of an officer who was had been chasing after him in a robbery investigation and fatally fell through a skylight.

More recently, in 2013, Nassau prosecutors convicted a man of vehicular manslaughter for the death of a motorcyclist who crashed into his wrecked car after he crashed while driving intoxicated.

According to prosecutors, Ryans Toyota first clipped a BMW on the expressway, stopped farther down the road in the high-occupancy lane and then was hit by another car. A few minutes later, an SUV driver apparently did not see Ryans vehicle, which had been turned sideways from the earlier crashes, and smashed into Ryans car before hitting Olivieri.

Prosecutors say Ryan had been drinking in a Manhattan bar and at the time of the accidents had a blood-alcohol level of 0.13, above the states 0.08 threshold of drunkenness.

A state judge initially dismissed the charges, finding Olivieris death was solely attributable to the SUV driver, who was never charged.

A state appeals court later reinstated the charges, saying it was reasonably foreseeable that the defendants conduct would cause collisions and that the police would respond and be required to be in the roadway, where they would be exposed to the potentially lethal danger presented by fast-moving traffic.

It also noted Ryans actions need not be the sole cause of death and, indeed, the defendant need not have committed the fatal act to be liable.

Leonard R. Stamm, a Maryland attorney and dean of the National College for DUI Defense, did not agree with that ruling.

It appears that the appellate court took a much broader view, Stamm said in an email. It is not reasonably foreseeable that driving drunk would cause that kind of fatal accident.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
A verbal altercation that turned into a physical confrontation between two men on May 23, 2010, in Portland, Maine led to the recent Supreme Court ruling to affirm a trial courts decision to uphold an insurers summary judgment.

After William Googins commented about Eric Bensons female companion, Googins struck Benson in the face, causing him to fall backwards, hit his head on the pavement and die. Although Googins testified multiple times in deposition that he intended to strike Benson in the face, he testified, also, that he did not intend or expect to hurt Benson by punching him. Googins pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and served about two years of a ten year prison sentence.

Bensons estate sued Googins, who settled for a $400,000 stipulated judgment against himself based on his contractual admission that his negligence caused Bensons death. Googins assigned to Bensons estate all of Googinss rights under a homeowners policy issued by Metropolitan Property And Casualty Company to Googinss grandmother, with whom he claimed to live, which made him an additional insured under the policy. Based on the judgment, which the estate agreed not to execute against Googins personally, the estate filed what is known as reach-and- apply lawsuit against Metropolitan under Maine Insurance Code Section 2904, which permits a judgment creditor to have proceeds of his judgment debtors insurance policy paid to the creditor to satisfy the judgment.

In the ensuing litigation with the estate, Metropolitan was granted summary judgment of non-coverage based upon the policys intentional loss exclusion. That ruling was challenged on appeal to the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine and affirmed in Metropolitan v. Estate of Eric E. Benson, 2015 Me LEXIS 168, decided December 1, 2015.

Metropolitans intentional loss exclusion read as follows:

1. Intentional Loss. We do not cover bodily injury or property damage which is recently expected or intended by you or which is the result of the your intentional and criminal acts or omissions. This exclusion is applicable even if:

A. you lack the mental capacity to govern your conduct;

B. such bodily injury or property damage is of a different kind or degree than reasonably expected or intended by you; or

C. such bodily injury or property damage is sustained by different person than expected or intended by you.

In the course of its opinion, the Supreme Court identified the three elements of required proof to establish coverage for Bensons death under the homeowners policy. First, to qualify as an insured under the policy, Googins must have been a resident of his grandmothers household. Second, the injury must have arisen from an occurrence, defined by the policy as an accident. Third, Bensons injury and death cannot be result of an intentional loss. Metropolitan was within its right to deny coverage if any one or more of these three elements was not satisfied. Metropolitan, in its arguments on appeal, assumed the first two coverage predicates were satisfied, so the Supreme Court did not address them.

Instead, the Court concentrated on the policys intentional loss exclusion, observing that, by use of disjunctive language in its first sentence, that exclusion actually creates two separate exclusions. The first excludes coverage for bodily injury or property damage reasonably expected or intended by the insured  here assumed to be the status of Googins as a resident of his grandmothers household. The second exclusion, according to the Court, is for bodily injury or property damage resulting from an insureds intentional and criminal acts or omissions. The opinion on appeal focused on the second part of the intentional loss exclusion, not the first. Although the Supreme Court had previously addressed exclusions similar to the first, it had not considered before the language found in the second exclusion. Whereas the earlier decisions establish that an expected or intended policy exclusion applies only when the insured has acted with the intention or expectation that another will be harmed by the insureds intentional act, the Court held that those decisions did not apply to the second clause of the intentional loss exclusion, i.e, that the insureds expectation or intention to create harm is not necessary to invoke the second exclusion.

As precedent for that proposition, the Maine Court looked to a sister state decision from Massachusetts, coincidentally litigated by the same insurer, Metropolitan. That decision, Metropolitan Property Casualty Insurance Co. v. Morrison (2011) 460 Mass. 352, 951 N.E. 2d 662, held that the second exclusion is unambiguous and applies where the insured intended to commit only the conduct that caused injury and where the conduct was criminal. Instead of requiring proof of the insureds intent to cause the ultimate harm, the Massachusetts court held that the exclusion was distinct from other exclusions because it is predicated on conduct that is both intentional and criminal. This was persuasive to the Maine Supreme Court, which concluded that the second clause of the intentional loss exclusion is unambiguous and requires an intentional and criminal act, but not the intent to cause the injury inflicted. That Court held that the explanatory language of the policy intentional acts exclusions three subparts, A, B and C, were unnecessary to consider, since the second exclusion is itself unambiguous.

The Court noted its ruling was limited to the precise language of the second of the two intentional loss exclusions, triggered by intentional and criminal acts or omissions. The new ruling, the Court said, does not affect the Courts previous decisions construing the first of the two intentional loss exclusions, which is without the limiting principle of criminality. That first exclusion, the Court repeated, applies only when the insured has acted with the intention or expectation that another will be harmed by the insureds intentional act. The court observed that if in such cases, involving the first exclusion only, the Court had held that coverage for an act is excluded as intentional if it is merely volitional, then all losses that resulted from an insureds conscious action would not be covered. Such an interpretation would have been sweeping and effectively negated coverage in nearly all cases, the Court said.

Referring to the evidentiary context of the case before it, the Court found that the summary judgment record established that the act of Goggins was both intentional and criminal. Intentional conduct was established by Gogginss testimony multiple times in deposition that he intended to strike Benson in the face. Because the Court did not rely upon the first of the two intentional acts exclusions of the Metropolitan policy, Googinss testimony that he did not intend or expect to hurt Benson by punching him was held by the Court to be irrelevant to the second exclusion, because that exclusion is predicated on whether the insured intended to commit the act causing the harm, not on whether the insured intended the ultimate harm that occurred.

There was no genuine issue of material fact, either, whether Googinss conduct was criminal. He pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated assault and served over two years in prison as a result of punching and ultimately killing Benson. Although the guilty plea to assault, standing alone, did not conclusively prove intent as a matter of law, because assault can be committed recklessly, this was beside the point regarding the second exclusion, according to the Court, because Googinss testimony in deposition demonstrated an unequivocal intent to strike Benson in the face.

Since there were no genuine issues of material fact regarding applicability of the second intentional loss exclusion, the Court upheld the trial courts grant of summary judgment of no coverage in favor of Metropolitan.
Police should not use stun guns on people who try to evade custody but pose no safety risk to the officers or others, a federal appeals court decided in a ruling that will affect law enforcement procedures in five states.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals waded into an evolving legal field this week when it ruled in the case of a mentally ill man in North Carolina. A three-judge panel said Ronald H. Armstrong, clinging tightly to a sign post to avoid being taken to a hospital, was no threat to anyone when he was shot five times with a Taser by Pinehurst police. Minutes later, Armstrong was dead.

The appeals court said the officers used excessive force, but they could not have been expected to know they were going too far because of a patchwork of conflicting legal decisions on similar cases across the country. Because of the muddled legal landscape, the officers were entitled to qualified immunity that barred Armstrongs estate from collecting damages, the court said.

Going forward, however, the court made it clear that officers facing circumstances similar to those in Armstrongs case must keep their stun guns holstered.

While qualified immunity shields the officers in this case from liability, law enforcement officers should now be on notice that such Taser use violates the Fourth Amendment, Judge Stephanie D. Thacker wrote.

The Richmond-based appeals courts decisions are binding in North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, Maryland and Virginia.

The North Carolina Justice Academy said in a memo to law enforcement agencies that the opinion dramatically changes the legal landscape governing stun gun use. It advised police departments to revise their written policies and comply with the ruling, and said officers should be ready to defend any use of force against a noncompliant subject.

Dana Schrad, executive director of the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police, said she plans to notify members about the ruling.

Clearly this will be something that, if it stands, will have an impact on a lot of police procedures, she said.

She said if officers are reluctant to use their stun guns, they may resort to other physical means more likely to cause injuries.

Or they will step back and not intervene at all, which would not be in anyones best interests, she said.

Karonnie R. Truzy, attorney for Armstrongs estate, said he was disappointed with the immunity ruling but gratified that the case established a clear rule for police.

This solidifies what everyone in the public thinks should be happening: When you are unarmed and no threat, you should not be subject to force, Truzy said.

Dan McCord Hartzog Jr., attorney for the Village of Pinehurst and the three police officers, declined to comment.

The ruling follows Novembers release of video showing police in South Boston, Virginia, repeatedly shocking a man they picked up for a mental health evaluation. Linwood R. Lambert Jr. died, and a prosecutors investigation of the incident has languished for two years, prompting objections from civil rights leaders. Lamberts estate also has filed a lawsuit, but that case probably will not be affected by the later decision in the Armstrong case.

The Armstrong decision was first reported by The Fayetteville Observer in North Carolina.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
A leak from an underground natural gas storage facility that has sickened Los Angeles residents and sent thousands from their homes has been out of control for 12 weeks and a possible fix is expected no sooner than March. Here are some things to know about it:

SCOPE OF THE PROBLEM

Gov. Jerry Brown declared an emergency for the Southern California Gas Co. leak that some environmentalists are calling the worst disaster since the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.

The leak first reported Oct. 23 has foiled efforts to contain it and some attempts may have made the problem worse.

In addition to bathing the Porter Ranch community in a foul smell that is blamed for nausea, nosebleeds, headaches and other symptoms, it has also released an immense amount of climate-changing methane equivalent at one point to about a quarter of the states total output of the gas.

A SoCalGas executive has said the leak is unprecedented and financial filings show the company anticipates spending $50 million a month for the complex effort to cap the leak and up to $7,500 a month for each of the 4,500 families being relocated through as late as April.

It also faces more than two dozen lawsuits, some of which are seeking class-action status.

POSSIBLE DANGER

The company has said the leak, which is located about a mile from the nearest homes, does not pose an imminent threat to public safety, but crews are working under safety restrictions around the flammable gas and efforts to stop the leak may have weakened the well and created a greater problem.

The Los Angeles Times reported Friday that a blowout is a concern after seven attempts to plug the leak by pouring a muddy mix into it.

A blowout would send a large amount of gas directly up the well instead of dissipating through the ground and could cause a massive fire if sparked. Workers cannot use cellphones and wear watches at the site because of fire danger.

If the wellhead fails, the thing is just going to be full blast, Gene Nelson, a physical sciences professor at Cuesta College said. It will be a horrible, horrible problem. The leak rates would go way up.

Attempts to stop the high-pressure leak with a briny solution have created a crater around the wellhead and opened up a vent in the ground some 20 feet from the well.

Sempra Energy, which owns the gas company, would not comment on the blowout danger.

The company is drilling a relief well to intercept the well and plug it about a mile-and-a-half underground where it taps into a vacant oil field storing natural gas.

THE GAS COMPANYS RESPONSE

SoCalGas initially acted slowly to publicly acknowledge the leak and notify residents about what happened.

It eventually apologized for its response and has posted on a website daily updates and results from twice-daily air quality tests as part of efforts to be more open with the public about whats going on.

In summarizing air quality reports, the company understated levels of the cancer-causing chemical benzene found in the community.

After inquiries from The Associated Press, SoCalGas acknowledged Thursday that higher-than-normal readings had been found at least 14 samples. It previously stated that just two air samples over the past three months showed elevated concentrations of the compound.

A spokeswoman said the error was an oversight that would be corrected.

The incorrect information was still on the website Friday.

WHERE IS THE GOVERNMENT?

An alphabet soup of state and local government agencies are overseeing work at the site of the leak and issuing a variety of orders to fix the problem.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health ordered the company to relocate anyone seeking to move while the leak continues. The South Coast Air Quality Management District issued a notice of violation for the leak and can assess penalties ranging from $1,000 to $1 million a day for each day of the nuisance.

The state Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources is overseeing efforts to stop the leak and will investigate the cause once its plugged.

California lawmakers proposed bills this week that will carry stronger regulations to prevent future incidents like the one at the Aliso Canyon facility.

One proposed bill would require safety valves on such wells. The leaking well previously had a safety valve, but it was removed in 1979 after it leaked. A replacement wasnt required.

Lawmakers want the company to cover the costs of the leak, pay for greenhouse gas emissions and not pass them on to customers through higher rates.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
'Someday Baby', Bob Dylan, Khathia Buniatishvili and WTF Does It Means to be Talented?

(Photo : Photo by Val Wilmer/Redferns))

Bob Dylan's "Someday Baby" hits the radio and it is a good little song. Off The Modern Times album, it suffices. It's obvious talent fades with age and beautiful, right? Gone is the god who blew the world asunder with the Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde album. He let go of what made him Bob Dylan. Is this typical with others? Two classical pianists of note, Georgian-born Khatia Buniastishvili, and Ukrainian-born Valentina Listisa, continue to frustrate critics with the way they interpret the sacred classics, which have been trodden on so much they have almost become derivative. Are they failing their talent? What does it mean to be talented anyway?

Art is a business but it also is a form of personal expression. There was a time in history, back before the dawning of the horseless carriage, that sentences in literature could sprawl on longer than the state of Nebraska or a Marvel movie. Not today. Sentences stop. Quickly. Can't carry on too long. Your editor may go postal. Or take away the publishing button. The truest talent is to avoid the deadly serpents of expectation and irrellevancy. Talent lies in the art of perception.

There are two type of performers, artists and attention seekers. Khatia Buniatishvili is quite beautiful. She dresses, for what the classical world might think, somewhat provocatively. Andrew Clements, reviewer for The Guardian online lamented the Georgian-born pianist's "rash, immature" playing during a recent concert. To quote Mr.Clements, "There's no doubting Khatia Buniatishvili's talent. The Georgian pianist has an imposing technique at her disposal and, when she puts her mind to it, the ability to produce moments of insight and refined sensibility." So, essentially, she doesn't interpret the music like Glenn Gould? Does that make her less talented than Gould? It does if Khatia is to carry Gould's message, trying to speak in his voice with his piano phrasings.

Talent is a manifestation, not a solidified object. We each form it to our individuality. What I am telling you now I sure as hell hope I am not saying a year from now. That is why films and records are made, to capture a snapshot of the artist's mind. In his Rolling Stone review for Dylan's 1970 album Self Portrait,when Greil Marcus famously asked, "What is this shit?" he not only immortalized a bad album, but immortalized himself. He shocked the journalistic world by asking a very unprofessional and somewhat rude question. In the annals of literature committed to paper "What is this shit?" won't stand the course of time but Greil Marcus, as a Rock critic, as a literary talent for his time frame, will. Talent isn't always clean and eloquent.

So, what the f*ck is talent? Merriam-Webster defines talent as "a special ability that allows someone to do something well." According to Mr. Clements, one could interpret her talent as her ability, her technique she uses to play music, not to create it. But Khatia is up there creating and Jane Doe, who utilizes the same technique, works in a factory or did a couple of performances and faded off into the sunset.

Another reviewer lamented Ukrainian pianist, Valentina Lisitsa's interpretation of Beethoven's Piano Sonata In D Minor Op. 31 No. 2 "The German composer's works require the utmost discipline in tempi, but Lisitsa's penchant for brushing aside the inner details of phrases and always being ahead of the pulse threatened to derail the performance." Discipline is an inherited skill. It flies in the face of Merriam-Webster's very definition of talent. It's a socialist word, no discrimination or distinction. Everyone with half a brain could play it. That is not talent.

No one is born talented. They are infected by it. It spreads throughout their body and possesses their very soul. If you want to see it, watch Valentina and Khatia when they sit behind the piano. Watch what happens when they strike the first chord. It is also fickle. It can never be weighed, measured or summoned in the same dosage every single time. Sometimes, it is a trickster. It convinces you that one thing is better than another.

 2016 The Classical Art, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

TagsBob Dylan, Khatia Buniatishvili, Valentina Lisitsa, Talent and Critics, Singers and Pianists
Father Cassian Folsom and How the Monks of Norcia Became Best Selling Recording Artists

A Benedictine monk reads in the library at Pluscarden Abbey on July 20, 2015 in Elgin, Scotland. Monks at Abbey which owes its foundation to King Alexander II of Scotland in the year 1230, are warning their peaceful way of life will be threatened if a possible route for a new dual carriageway linking the A96 road between Forres and Fochabers will run close to their retreat near Elgin. (Photo : Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

The Monks of Norcia are more than just a secular religion devoted to making great beer. Instead, they are sensitive musicians dedicated to restoring the town of Norcia with Gregorian chant--a form that was omnipresent in the region until 1810. Father Cassian of the Monks, an American, has now made himself and his fellow devotees best selling recording artists.

The sacred town of Norcia is home to St. Benedict, the founder of Western monasticism. Existing for nearly 800 years, the piazza and Basilica in the town fell silent under the new Napoleonic code that was imposed. Some 200 years later, Father Cassian Folsom, an American, immigrated to Italy and returned the music to the church.

Coming in 2000, he and two other monks formed a choir and filled the valley with music once more.

Their devotion is rooted in music. Singing for the monks is an act of prayer, one that brings them closer to God. But, the monks never knew that their chants would rank them among the top selling Classical artist at the end of 2015 per Billboard.

C-lite spoke to Fr. Cassian last year when their debut LP, Benedicta, took the top slot in the Classical Traditional Album category, and he said of their musical faith:

"It's a way for us to express our faith, so while one might be able to merely say "I love you" to God, singing it has a bit more fervor. All the texts that are set to music are from our liturgy so each chant has a distinct quality to it."

Perhaps it's the listeners ability to hear the devotion in the chant that makes it both accessible and attractive or maybe it's the believability of the monks singing that has been able to sell the album entirely on its own.

Whatever the case may be, the liturgy is now in the circle of Best Selling musicians, a realm they never envisioned themselves entering.

Congratulations, once again, the Benedictine Monks and all their success as musicians.

 2016 The Classical Art, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

TagsFather Folsom Cassian, Monks of Norcia, Benedicta
AKRON, Ohio -- An Akron man reported being robbed at gunpoint as he went to meet a woman he first encountered on an online dating website.

Instead of a date, four men robbed the 22-year-old at gunpoint, according to police reports.

One of the suspected robbers, Christian Ruffin, 20, is charged with aggravated robbery.

He is being held in the Summit County Jail on $100,000 bond after his initial court appearance on Wednesday.

The 22-year-old man told police that he went to meet the woman about 1 a.m. Monday at a home in the 800 block of Sheridan Avenue. He got out of his car and the group surrounded him, according to police reports.

One of the men pulled out a revolver and demanded money. They stole $60, a cellphone, drugs and a credit card, according to court records. The group also unsuccessfully tried to steal the man's car.

Akron police are trying to identify the others involved in the robbery.

Ruffin was granted enrollment in a drug-treatment program after an August conviction for felony drug possession.
AKRON, Ohio -- An Akron woman whose trial began Thursday devised a plan to get her ex-boyfriend arrested, not killed, her defense attorney said during opening statements.

Tiffany Powell, 34, wanted James Harris arrested for violating a protection order so she could get full custody of their five children, defense attorney Kerry O'Brien.

Powell devised a plan to lure Harris, 69, to her home on April 28, 2014, then call police to get him arrested. Instead a fight broke out in the basement of her Minota Avenue home that left Harris dead.

"There was a plan to get him arrested," O'Brien said. "If anything happened other than that it wasn't intended by Ms. Powell. She never intended for anyone to get killed."

Powell faces charges of complicity to aggravated murder and obstructing justice. Summit County Common Pleas Judge Thomas Teodosio is presiding over the trial.

Powell's ex-boyfriend and co-defendant Paul Reed was convicted of bashing Harris in the head with a metal pole, then slamming his head against the floor until he died.

Reed was convicted in February of murder and was sentenced to life in prison with parole eligibility in 15 years. Reed is expected to testify in Powell's defense next week.

Powell has a 7th grade education and met Harris when she was 14. The two started a relationship after Harris' wife died. Their children are all between 5 and 14 years old.

Harris was a retired school teacher and a father of 10, including five children with Powell.

O'Brien called the fight the result of a love triangle. He said Harris had previously fought with Harris and Powell.

"She devised this hair-brained idea to get Mr. Harris in trouble," O'Brien said. "It's not the smartest thing in the world, but when you consider her background, how little she's accomplished, the only thing she wanted to save were her kids."

Assistant Summit County Prosecutor Jon Baumoel said during his opening statement that Powell wanted Harris killed before an Aug. 5, 2014 trial in Stark County Domestic Court that could have given Harris permanent custody of their children.

Powell found a then-19-year-old woman she met at a battered women's shelter to help with her plan, Baumoel said. She paid the woman $100 to contact Harris and tell him she had a used car and washing machine for sale. Harris in his retirement fixed up cars and appliances and resold them.

Once Harris arrived, she planned to call police. She believed they would arrest him for violating a protection order. Baumoel, however, said there was no protection order barring Harris from being near Powell.

Harris drove to the home Powell and Reed had recently moved into on Minota Avenue. The 19-year-old woman led Harris to the basement, where Reed waited to attack Harris, Baumoel said.

Reed hit Harris with the metal pole, placed his knee on his back, grabbed his hair and slammed his head against the ground at least 15 times.

Powell called 911. She told the dispatcher her ex-boyfriend broke into her home and attacked her boyfriend. O'Brien argued this meant Powell was surprised by the fight and never intended for anyone to be killed.

Baumoel portrayed the call as a lie used to cover up her plan and make it look like a case of self-defense.
AKRON, Ohio -- On Tuesday morning, just as Akron City Hall employees were arriving at work, a well-known black activist wearing paper "SWAT" logos on his sweater walked in and handed out mock indictment letters to public officials.

Mayor Dan Horrigan got one, as did the city's police chief, the head of the city's probation department, Summit County Prosecutor Sheri Bevan Walsh, the Akron school board and Judge Tammy O'Brien.

Raymond Greene Jr., a leader with the civil-rights focused Akron Organizing Collaborative, also left the city departments with a report commissioned after race riots in 1968 decimated West Akron and set the entire city on edge. The report made a series of recommendations on improving race relations.

While the city has modified many of its policies -- such as hiring requirements -- to help diversity, often at the behest of black leaders, Greene says the city hasn't done enough. With a new mayor in the office, Greene says his organization is sending a message: They want a seat at the table.

In nine indictments (you can read the full copies below), Greene claims the city refused to "take the necessary steps to demilitarize police within the Black community," "eliminate harsh Zero-Tolerance practices" in city schools, "provide diversity in the hiring of prosecutors" and "make apprenticeships widely known and available to low income neighborhoods."

Indictments are documents stating formal charges in criminal cases. They are not delivered by SWAT teams. Greene said he picked the SWAT theme to echo complaints about police brutality.

"When we do something wrong, when people of color do something wrong, we get served by a swat team that comes into our house and terrorizes our kids, scares our family and scares our community," Greene said. "Nobody takes us serious, so in order to take us seriously we decided to do to them what they done to us."

The city's police department has implemented programs in the past year to improve community relations, including securing grants to supply body cameras on police officers, arranging regular "Coffee with the Chief" meetings with the police chief and has invested more in training programs.

But Greene said his organizing collaborative has been trying to schedule a meeting with the city's newly elected leaders since November, with little success, and wants to hold a forum on civil rights in February. The indictments served as invitations to that event.

But Greene said his organizing collaborative has been trying to schedule a meeting with the city's newly elected leaders since November, with little success.

"We are hoping they are going to call and schedule this meeting with us on the third week of February," Greene said. "If they don't meet with us then, we'll schedule another action."

City spokeswoman Christine Curry said the city wasn't prepared to comment on the mock indictments or the references to civil rights report.

One of the four people Greene said responded to his request for a meeting was Akron City Councilman Russel Neal, Jr.

Neal represents Akron's Ward 4, home to the epicenter of the 1968 race riots along what was then Wooster Avenue (since renamed Vernon Odom Boulevard). He says he often hears the kind of frustrations that are spelled out in the mock indictments.

"You can't say you want citizen engagement and then dictate the terms," Neal said. "We truly have to be open and then listen to the citizenry. I hope they do consider what's in that report. Those who ignore their history are bound to repeat it."

Neal said he is optimistic that the presence of a new mayor, as well as several new cabinet members, will help thaw relationships with some of the city's more disaffected civic leaders like Greene.

Here is a look at the fake indictments Greene handed out (click here to view on mobile), followed by the 1969 report on civil disobedience (click on mobile).

This report has been updated to include information about community police programs implemented in recent years.
CLEVELAND, Ohio - A $1.6 million renovation has brought the historic but underused Alta House in Little Italy back to luminous vitality as the new home of Cleveland Montessori School, previously housed at nearby Holy Rosary Church.

On a gray Wednesday morning, the school's second day in its new home, parents pulled up at the East 125th Street curb and dropped off heavily bundled children on slippery, snow-dusted sidewalks. Some parents parked and walked their children by hand to the front door.

Director Tina Schneider stood in the 20-degree chill outside the landmark, two-story brick building to greet them.

"This is fantastic!" she said when asked how she felt about her school's new home. "We're very excited. The children are happy, the teachers are excited, and the space is fantastic. It's ideal."

Historic architecture

An American Renaissance-style palazzo and community anchor, Alta House was built in 1912-14 south of Mayfield Road as an expanded community center and Cleveland Public Library branch, financed by Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller.

It was designed by New York architect George Browne Post, who also designed the Ameritrust Rotunda building in downtown Cleveland (now a Heinen's supermarket) and the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street in Manhattan.

The original Alta House, as it appeared in 1969.

The library was an addition to the original Alta House, a Queen Anne-style brick building built in 1900 at the southeast corner of Mayfield Road and East 125th Street.

Also financed by Rockefeller, the original building served as a settlement house for Italian immigrant families, and was named for the oil giant's third daughter, Alta Rockefeller Prentice.

The original Alta House burned in 1980, at which time the 1914 building was expanded with a two-story addition and a trio of bocce courts that now face Mayfield Road.

In recent decades, Alta House has provided services for seniors and social activities including Italian lessons and bocce games.

The property also showed signs of financial strain such as crumbling window wells, peeling paint on window sashes and a small tree that sprouted from the building's brick cornice.

The makeover

The renovation, designed by Cleveland architect Joseph Linek, included new gas-fired boilers, pipes and wiring.

Status quo ante: Peeling paint on Alta House windows, summer of 2015.

The budget didn't include enough money to scrub soot-blackened brick facades, but windows have been restored, and solid oak floors have been sanded and surfaced with a clear finish. The interior gleams with new LED lighting. The mood is bright and ebullient.

Inside the 17,000-square-foot building are half a dozen classrooms for children from pre-K to third grade, filled with small wooden desks, cubbies and work tables.

Mark Croce of Euclid said Wednesday that he was impressed after walking his 8-year-old daughter Mia inside.

"It's a great use of this space," he said. "It's been underutilized in the recent past. It's good to see it vibrant again."

The teaching method

Invented by Italian physician Maria Montessori (1870-1952), the method named for her emphasizes educating children in small, multi-age groups in which they help teach each other, guided by teachers and assistants.

On Wednesday morning, students worked on projects that included writing, arithmetic, pinning flags with names of countries on world maps, and counting long strings of beads extended on ribbons of fabric that stretched across classroom floors.

In one room, a child sounded out "Mary Had a Little Lamb" on a xylophone. Nearby, a low table was set with white ceramic bowls, juice glasses and a bowl of Graham crackers.

Cleveland Montessori is a pre-K-8 program with 137 students in three buildings, including Alta House. Twenty three children attend grades 4-5-6 at the Murray Hill School in Little Italy, and another 10 are in grades 7-8 at the Montessori High School in University Circle.

Tuition ranges from $5,500 to $10,000, and more than half of the racially and socioeconomically diverse students receive scholarship assistance, said David Hussey, president of the school's board of trustees.

Money raised by Montessori and Alta House for the renovation included federal historic tax credits worth $240,000.

A rendering shows the proposed second phase expansion of Alta House, which would give the property a new facade facing north to Mayfield Road in Cleveland's Little Italy.

Hussey said the school is collaborating with Alta House to raise another $1.4 million for a second-phase expansion on the north side of the 1914 building, replacing the earlier one built in the 1980s.

An anchor reborn

Jacqueline Anselmo, president of the Alta House board of trustees, said the organization's traditional services will continue, and that intergenerational programming involving the school and local seniors will be added.

A school open house is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 3, from 5 to 7 p.m.

Linek, the architect, said he was honored to play a role in extending "the legacy of this building for the next 100 years."

As he stood next to a circle of children sitting on the floor and working on a math problem in the Alta House reading room Wednesday, he marveled, "This is it. This is what you want to promote."
CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio -- The first of six in-car dashboard-mounted cameras has been installed in one of the police department's cruisers.

Although all officers on the force are outfitted with body cameras, these will be the first "dashcams" that the Cleveland Heights Police Department has ever had, thanks in part to a $20,000 grant through the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office.

The city had to match that $20,000 to purchase the half-dozen cameras, at a cost of $5,000, plus the cost of installation, along with accompanying training on use and storage.

"The four new cruisers we've ordered for this year are getting them," Police Capt. Annette Mecklenburg said at Tuesday's (Jan. 19) City Council meeting. "And the first one was already installed in one of our newer SUVs."

In related business, Mecklenburg will be sworn in as Cleveland Heights' new police chief prior to the Feb. 1 City Council meeting.

Mecklenburg was filling in at Council's Committee-of-the-Whole meeting on Jan. 19 while retiring Chief Jeffrey Robertson met with officials and alumni from Cleveland Heights Citizens Police Academy.

-- In other business at the regular Jan. 19 meeting, council formally accepted a petition for rezoning from developers interested in building a Circle K convenience store and gas station on the site of the old Center Mayfield Theater.

Developers have already introduced the idea of tearing down the theater, which closed in the 1990s, and is already zoned commercial.

But the rezoning request involves the two houses on Vandemar Street nearest to the 1.5-acre commercial site at the corner of Mayfield Road, across from the relatively new AutoZone store. They would like to take those homes down as well.

No referral was made at Tuesday's meeting, with Mayor Cheryl Stephens explaining that "we're going to accept the document, then read the document and think about it."

One resident living down the street on Vandemar arrived at Tuesday's meeting to see if council was going to take any immediate action on the proposal, and plans to return for any future discussions and hearings.

Geri Blair, who has lived in her house on Vandemar for 42 years, said it's a quiet street where the residents all know each other and are predominantly homeowners.

"If they tear down those two houses, it's going to be a huge commercial lot," Blair said. "And to put a gas station in a residential area, that's just ridiculous."

Blair also believes that traffic flow will be negatively impacted and residential property values will go down.

"There are so many spots along Mayfield Road where they could put this instead," Blair said, suggesting another parcel such as the old Baker's Square property or somewhere else closer to Severance Town Center.

Officials with Cushman & Wakefield/CRESCO Real Estate, the marketers of the commercial property at Vandemar and Mayfield did not attend either meeting and were unavailable for comment.

-- Council also briefly discussed the changeover from the departing HealthSpan urgent care clinic -- formerly Kaiser Permanente on Severance Circle -- over to a MetroHealth System 24-hour emergency department.

"We're still trying to nail down the (local) income tax impact," City Manager Tanisha Briley told council, adding that MetroHealth is planning on bringing 60 jobs into the facility.

Stephens speculated that there may be a support staff for doctors as well, to further boost the payroll.

Cleveland Heights Fire Chief Dave Freeman was asked if rescue squads would be using the new facility a lot.

"It's just another option for us," Freeman said. "Most of our patients request to go to University Hospitals or Cleveland Clinic. But in the case of something like a heart attack and given the proximity, MetroHealth might be the best option."

-- Council also authorized Briley to issue a Request for Qualifications from executive search firms to help the city find a new Economic Development Director, a position that has been vacant for nearly a year.



Greg Zucca resigned last February after seven months on the job to take a position with the Economic Community Development Institute (ECDI).
Film-Star Wars Release Date

Daisy Ridley's Rey and John Boyega's Finn will return in "Star Wars: Episode VIII" on December 15, 2017.

(Film Frame/Disney/Lucasfilm via AP)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- "Star Wars" fans let out a collective, Darth Vader-esque "Nooooooo!!!!" Wednesday after Disney announced it was pushing back the release date for Episode VIII by nearly seven months.

The studio didn't provide any reasons for moving the film from its original May 26, 2017 release to its new date of December 15, 2017, only offering that "Episode VIII is currently in preproduction and will begin principal photography in London next month."

Does the new release date indicate some kind of trouble with the production or is the force simply stronger in December? Let's take a look at the possible reasons why you'll have to wait even longer to find out just what Luke's been up to on that island this whole time.

1. The script

Despite J.J. Abrams BFF Greg Grunberg saying "The Force Awakens" director read Rian Johnson's script for Episode VIII and said, "It's so good, I wish I were making it," there are rumors Johnson is rewriting it. According to the Meet the Movie Press podcast, "Star Wars" fans' response to Rey, Finn and Poe has been so overwhelming, Johnson is reworking the script to focus more on the heroes from TFA instead of spending time introducing new characters. The original release date for "The Force Awakens" was also pushed back from May 2015 to last December to spend more time on the script.

2. Potential Star Wars overload

With the first "Star Wars" anthology film, "Rogue One," hitting theaters on December 16, the new release date gives fans a full year between movies set a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. While Disney has proven with the "Avengers" movies that you can pull off a hugely successful franchise with an aggressive release schedule, you can bet the studio is going to be more protective of its $4 billion investment. Both the "Harry Potter" and "Hunger Games" series seemed to avoid fan burnout after loosening their release schedules.

3. Crowded summer movie schedule

The traditional summer blockbuster season is getting so crowded, studios are starting to schedule their big tentpole movies as early as March. Summer 2017 is already shaping up to be one of the most competitive movie seasons in history with "Guardians of the Galaxy 2," "World War Z 2," "Cars 3," "Wonder Woman," "Despicable Me 3," "War for the Planet of the Apes" and the untitled "Spider-Man" reboot all on the calendar. I didn't even mention the "Baywatch" movie.

4. Christmas just works

What do the top three grossing movies of all-time have in common? "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," "Avatar" and "Titanic" were all released around Christmas. The holidays, traditionally left for Oscar contenders and kid-friendly animated features, not only afford families the opportunity to watch movies together, the time off from school and work offer plenty of free time for multiple viewings. Less competition also means more screens are available for highly profitable 3D and IMAX showings.

5. Rinse and repeat

Yes, the pent-up demand for a new "Star Wars" movie was huge, but you don't become the biggest movie in U.S. history in record time by accident. Disney's marketing campaign for "The Force Awakens" was deliberate, measured and highly effective. The first trailer for "The Force Awakens" came out more than a year before the actual film. Every subsequent teaser, trailer and commercial got the "you must watch this now" treatment seemingly from every news outlet. Disney used its TV networks brilliantly, heavily promoting "The Force Awakens" on ESPN, ABC, Disney Channel and Disney Junior. Now it has the proven strategy and calendar to do it again.

6. The toys!

"Merchandising is where the real money from the picture is made," the wise Yogurt said in "Space Balls: The Movie." It just makes sense for "Star Wars" to be December movies from a merchandising standpoint -- you're going to move a lot more Kylo Ren helmets during the holidays than in the middle of the summer. I know because I had the hardest time finding one this past Christmas.

7. "The Avatar" factor

Episode VIII's new release date puts it in direct competition with "Avatar 2" -- or does it? As it stands, the long-awaited sequel to the No. 1 worldwide grossing movie of all-time is scheduled to hit theaters a week after "Star Wars" on December 25, 2017. While "Avatar 2" is being made by 20th Century Fox, Disney does have a stake in its success. That's because it's building a huge Avatar-themed land at its Animal Kingdom theme park at Walt Disney World. So, taking on James Cameron in a high-stakes game of chicken seems unlikely. Cameron has always taken his time with projects -- the first "Avatar" sequel was originally planned for 2014. Perhaps Disney knows something about "Avatar 2" that the rest of us don't yet.
Rising Star

Cleveland-based Rising Star Coffee Roasters has scheduled a weeklong fundraising effort to raise money for a school located in a coffee-producing region of Ethiopia.

(Marvin Fong, The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Rising Star Coffee Roasters and the non-profit Chain Collaborative have created a short-term venture to raise funds for a school in an Ethiopian village that produces coffee beans.

Rising Star has scheduled a weeklong series of donation events to benefit the Suke Quto School Project, which aims to help the children of coffee pickers and producers at Suke Quto Farm.

Here's what's coming up:

Sunday, Jan. 24-Sunday, Jan. 31: "Suke Week" will be held. A dollar from all retail sales of Suke Quto coffee will go directly to the project.

Thursday, Jan. 28: Rising Star will host a "Thursday Night Throwdown" latte-art competition and accept donations.

Friday-Sunday, Jan. 29-31: Rising Star will hold a special pop-up pour-over bar. Customers will get a cup for a donation. The pop-up bars will be 1-3 p.m. each day at Rising Star locations: Friday at 1455 W. 29th St., Saturday at 412 Superior Ave., inside the Old Arcade, and Sunday at 2187 Murray Hill Road.

It's the first time Rising Star has been involved with this endeavor. Co-owner and green coffee buyer John Johnson said the project is a priority for the company.

"They (Chain Collaborative) like to identify coffee producers who have a need, and they try to work with roasters in the U.S. Their whole thing it is to bridge the gap between drinkers in the U.S. and the growers in the origin countries," he said.

"It's something we're all very passionate about. We don't have the resources to commit to put someone on the ground in Guatemala or in Africa. So that's one of the nice things about this fundraiser, to make sure the people who are growing our coffees see a tangible benefit."

Rising Star General Manager Robert Stockham said they hope to raise "a few thousand dollars" with the weeklong initiative.

"Because we haven't done anything like this we don't know what to expect," he said, agreeing with Johnson about the importance of the fundraiser.

"We always want to give back to the community; it's more than just the community of Cleveland. The people who work in these coffee regions work long hours often for little money."

The farm is in the Oromia region, one of Ethiopia's largest coffee-producing areas, and is the middle of a two-year plan to fund a school. The farm is located in the south-central part of the country, more than 300 miles southeast of the capital, Addis Ababa.

Rising Star, with a roasting facility and three retail outlets, was established in Cleveland in 2010.
Save Lakewood Hospital petitions.jpg

Save Lakewood Hospital representatives stand outside Lakewood City Hall with petitions that could overturn City Council's decision to close the hospital.

(Chanda Neely, cleveland.com)

LAKEWOOD, Ohio -- A ballot issue asking voters whether they want to overturn Lakewood City Council's decision to close Lakewood Hospital won't make in on the March 15 ballot, elections board spokesman Mike West said late Thursday.

The board last week finalized a list of municipal issues for the primary, and early voting starts Feb. 17.

Save Lakewood Hospital turned in 3,468 signatures to Lakewood City Hall Thursday morning. According to the city charter, if at least 2,269 are valid, City Council must vote to either 1.) repeal the ordinance to close the hospital or 2.) put the issue on the ballot for voters to decide.

Cuyahoga County Board of Elections has 20 days to determine whether Save Lakewood Hospital gathered enough valid signatures to put the hospital closure on the ballot.

Inpatient services are slated to end at the hospital Feb. 5.

The city signed a deal in December with Cleveland Clinic to close the hospital and build a $34 million health center and emergency department, after nearly a year of talks. Cleveland Clinic plans to build the health center at the southwest corner of Belle and Detroit avenues, across the street from the current hospital, and open it mid-2018.

How does a referendum work?

According to the charter, Lakewood residents have 40 days after an ordinance takes effect to file a petition to put a referendum on the ballot to have the law repealed. Petitioners must obtain the number of valid signatures equal to 15 percent of the voters who cast ballots in the previous mayoral election.

Voters in November rejected a ballot issue that would have required a public vote before the city could close Lakewood Hospital or reduce services.

"It is the deal of the century for the Clinic; and for the citizens of our town, it amounts to legalized robbery," Save Lakewood Hospital spokesman Kevin Young said. "We are ready to see that justice is brought to this great city."

Council can vote any time after the elections board validates the petitions, said Lakewood Law Director Kevin Butler. If council members choose to put the issue on the ballot, it must be considered during the next scheduled election within one to six months, or in a special election with an estimated $150,000 price tag.

Butler said he thinks the issue could possibly make the March ballot.

What does City Council say?

"I've only grown more confident that we made the right decision necessary to position Lakewood for the best health care for generations to come," City Council President Sam O'Leary said. "Voters made a sound decision two months ago, and we need to move forward."

"We will deal with this issue as expeditiously as possible," O'Leary said.

What's the plan for the hospital?

Cleveland Clinic will pay the city $8 million to prepare the hospital building for redevelopment, and leave the city with $24.4 million for a health and wellness foundation as part of a deal council approved in December.

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Lakewood Schools Construction

Lakewood schools say the district is nearly $6 million over budget on the construction of new elementary buildings and adding to the high school, but will not need to ask taxpayers for help. (Lakewood City Schools)

LAKEWOOD, Ohio - Lakewood schools are nearly $6 million over the estimated construction costs for Grant, Lincoln and Roosevelt elementary schools and the new wings at Lakewood High.

As late as July, school officials were saying the projects were on budget and schedule. But board members learned Tuesday they were over budget.

Lakewood Fiscal Officer Kent Zeman said the district won't ask taxpayers for more money, nor will they raid district's operating budget, which pays teachers and staff.

A combination of factors are behind the overrun, including:

A spike in construction costs -- nationally, but particularly in Cuyahoga County because of new construction or renovations being done in anticipation of next summer's Republican National Convention.

Rising cost of historical preservation.

Unexpected issues with the soil at all of the sites. Construction standards from when the original buildings were constructed have changed, making the existing soil unsuitable for modern construction standards. The district spent nearly $1 million to replace it.

Asbestos remediation at Grant Elementary and the Lakewood High School.

The district is required to pay 69 percent of the overrun from money outside its general fund so that the current operating needs of the District and its five-year forecast will not be affected.

Superintendent Jeff Patterson said the district will approach the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission in the spring for additional money to offset the increased cost.

The district received $50 million in state funds in 2013 from the commission to rebuild the three elementary buildings and finish the high school. Voters overwhelmingly supported a $50 million bond issue later that year to round out funding for the master facilities plan.

The board will pass a resolution in March in order for the facilities board to consider the request at its April meeting.

The district could find money to pay its share from:

The district's permanent improvement funds.

Funds from the

Prior and current construction funds, since the district planned the work in three phases. Some funds from previous phases remain and could be used to cover the increased costs. If at the end of the project, money remains in a contingency fund, that will go toward making up the difference.

Food service funds.

Donations. Zeman said the district has received a $300,000 donation from a donor to be put towards reconstruction. In addition, the Lakewood Ranger Foundation is soliciting donations.

Interest earnings from district investments.

The state will provide its 31 percent of the funding, if needed, at the end of the project.

Despite the budget challenge, Patterson said the buildings are still scheduled to be completed on time, with the elementary schools opening in August 2016 and the high school wings ready for use in August 2017.
Save Lakewood Hospital petition.jpg

Save Lakewood Hospital representatives Pam Wetula and Kevin Young watch a Lakewood city clerk go through the group's petitions to get a referendum on the ballot that, with voter approval, would overturn City Council's decision to close the hospital.

(Chanda Neely, cleveland.com)

LAKEWOOD, Ohio -- Save Lakewood Hospital submitted petitions Thursday for a referendum that could overturn City Council's decision to close the hospital.

The group turned in 3,468 signatures to be vetted by the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections. It needs 2,269 valid signatures -- or 15 percent of voters who cast ballots in the last mayoral election -- for the issue to go on the March 15 ballot.

"We are advocating an open bidding process for our city's hospital that will include multiple health care operators," Save Lakewood Hospital spokesman Kevin Young said.

Lakewood City Council debated for nearly a year the plan to close the hospital and build a family health center and emergency department in its place. Voters in November rejected a ballot issue that would have required a public vote before the city could close Lakewood Hospital or reduce services.

"Citizens have the right to petition their government," Lakewood Mayor Michael Summers said. "If this gets to the ballot, I have the utmost confidence in the citizens of Lakewood to know the difference between truth and rhetoric, and to vote to invest in the future of Lakewood."

Cleveland Clinic plans to build a $34 million health center at the southwest corner of Belle and Detroit avenues, across the street from the current hospital. The family health center is scheduled to open in mid-2018.

Cleveland Clinic will pay the city $8 million to prepare the hospital building for redevelopment, and leave the city with $24.4 million for a health and wellness foundation as part of a deal council approved in December.

Save Lakewood Hospital's argument

Young said city officials were careless when they signed the deal, that he called "legalized robbery."

"It is the deal of the century for the Clinic; and for the citizens of our town, it amounts to legalized robbery," Young said. "We are ready to see that justice is brought to this great city."

Save Lakewood Hospital says closing the hospital would mean an increase in city taxes.

The city would be losing its biggest employer, along with $280 million that it generates annually, the group says.

The city and Cleveland Clinic's side

Closing the hospital will have no impact on city taxes and that the Cleveland Clinic is giving the city enough cash to cover the remainder of the lease on the hospital that expires in 2026, Lakewood Mayor Michael Summers said.

"This financially-viable agreement secures health care needs now, and gives us the ability to weather the financial implications of this change," Summers said.

Cleveland Clinic and Lakewood city officials said they have to close the hospital because of declining revenue and patient admissions.

The majority of patients who live in Lakewood now use the hospital for outpatient services, Cleveland Clinic officials said. Hospital operations lost an average of $1 million per month in 2015.

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Check out the companies making headlines after the bell Wednesday:



Viacom popped after the bell when it slashed pay for its executive chairman by 85 percent. The mass media company said it would cut the pay of famed leader Sumner Redstone to $2 million for the 2015 fiscal year, versus a total of $13 million in 2014, the company said in a release. The company also chopped the bonus for President and CEO Philippe Pierre Dauman to $14 million, a 30 percent decline.

An acquisition, paired with in-line guidance, boosted shares of cybersecurity company FireEye after hours. It announced Wednesday it would buy privately held iSIGHT Partners, a global intelligence monitor of cyberattacks. The move will make FireEye one of the largest intelligence operations in the world, according to a FireEye statement. In addition, FireEye said its Feb. 11 earnings are expected to be within previously issued guidance ranges, with fourth- quarter revenue in the range of $184 million to $185 million.

Chesapeake Energy was dinged after the bell when U.S. oil recorded its worst settlement since May 2003, with West Texas Intermediate (WTI) prices for February delivery settling at $26.55 a barrel. Chesapeake, the second-largest producer of natural gas and the 12th largest producer of oil and natural gas liquids in the U.S., has been the subject of worry among some investors in investment firm Southeastern Asset Management, who called for patience even as energy prices spiral.

"We don't know when supply and demand will rebalance and adjust prices, and thus far, our energy assumptions have been wrong. Patience is critical because both energy prices, along with the stocks of Chesapeake and Consol, can turn rapidly," Southeastern said in a shareholder letter it released Dec. 31, referring to its two primary energy holdings.


David Cameron will urge business leaders on Thursday to speak out and help him keep Britain in the EU, as he attempts to launch his referendum campaign with a barrage of corporate support.

Mr Cameron, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, will urge business leaders to overcome their fears of entering the political domain, declaring: "This is a once-in-a-generation moment and the stakes are high."

The prime minister is acutely aware that business leaders only belatedly entered the Scottish referendum debate in 2014, but argues that their voice was influential when it was finally heard.

Mr Cameron's aides and pro-EU campaigners have been holding private talks with business chiefs to urge them to speak out early in the referendum campaign, which is expected to start next month.

"The voice of business must be heard in Britain and across the whole continent," Mr Cameron will tell an audience of global business and financial chiefs at the Swiss resort.

"If you want a more competitive Europe, where the single market is completed, where there are more trade deals and fewer regulations: join me in making that case.

"If you believe, like I do, that Britain is better off in a reformed European Union, then, when the time comes, help me make that case for Britain to stay."
Presidential hopeful Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey signed more than 100 new laws on Tuesday.

However, it is the more than 60 bills that the governor pocket-vetoed that are garnering attention. One bill in particular is drawing Jersey ire; the bill proposed making daily recess mandatory for public-school students in kindergarten through fifth grade.

"Decisions about recess should be left to schools and parents, not 120 legislators in Trenton," Joelle Farrell, a spokeswoman from the governor's office, told CNBC. His office declined to comment further.
Europe needs to spend a lot more money on dealing with the migrant crisis, the head of the Eurogroup of finance ministers told CNBC on Thursday.



"We need to spend a lot more in dealing with the migrant crisis in the region where the vast majority of the refugees still are, in Syria, in Jordan, in Lebanon," Jeroen Dijsselbloem told CNBC on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos.

"That requires extra money and many member states have put it up, we have made money available from the EU budget but we'll have to do more," he added. "That we need to open up more budget for the crisis is very clear to me."

Europe's migrant crisis has been a hot talking point at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos this year, but the region's measures to deport migrants "who don't deserve international protection" need to be improved, the vice-president for Jobs, Growth and Competitiveness in the European Commission, told CNBC.



"We have to treat newcomers as human beings. People want to come to Europe to have a better life and we have to respect their will but we have to look at how sustainable the current influx is," Jyrki Katainen said on Thursday on the sidelines of WEF in Davos.

"We have a relocation scheme, we're also helping the member states take care of their external borders because it's the precondition for freedom of movement in Europe. But we also we are making our procedures faster to return those who don't deserve international protection."

The refugee crisis in Europe has been a talking point at Davos this year, especially as more than one million migrants have arrived in the continent in 2015, most of whom fleeing war and persecution in the Middle East.

However, with divisions across Europe over controlling the movement of migrants and questions over integration, concerns are being raised over the effectiveness of the region's response.

While the German President Joachim Gauck told an audience at Davos on Wednesday that a cap on migrants might be "morally and politically right," Sweden's prime minister told CNBC yesterday that it was wrong to say that refugees lead to insecurity and that the crisis could be controlled without closing borders.


For two decades, there's been evidence that people who suffered childhood trauma  violence, sexual abuse or family dysfunction  are much more likely to have a chronic health problems and engage in risky behavior.

Terry Vine | Getty Images

Now, 14 community health centers around the U.S. are acting as laboratories for an experiment to see if screening and then treating people for trauma can improve the results from treatment they get for their diabetes, heart disease, pulmonary disease or other ailments. While the main goal of that project is to get participants leading healthier, happier and longer lives, there's also a potential positive financial side effect. If the project works  and the lessons learned are expanded on a large scale  it may help create savings of billions of dollars for the health-care system by reducing overall medical spending. "This is a great opportunity here," said Dr. Winston Wong, medical director of community benefit at Kaiser Permanente, the nation's largest managed health-care organization, when asked about the possible financial savings. Kaiser Permanente is backing the Trauma Informed Primary Care project, which is being conducted by the National Council for Behavioral Health, a group of about 2,500 mental health and treatment organizations. Kaiser Permanente operates a health insurance plan with nearly 10 million members, and as such has an interest in strategies that could hold down medical costs. Since last spring, the centers participating in the project have been screening groups of clients: Each center decides what physical conditions to focus on, and what level of trauma to use as a cut-off point. Patients who meet those criteria are given the option of receiving help to deal with their trauma along with their chronic condition.

Asked how much the project could save in medical costs if expanded more broadly, Wong said, "I don't think anybody actually has calculated" that figure. That said, the medical costs associated with trauma are often very high.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in 2012 that "the total lifetime financial costs associated with just one year of confirmed cases of child maltreatment ... is approximately $124 billion." And "the lifetime cost for each victim of child maltreatment who lived was $210,012"  comparable to the costs for patients who had strokes or type 2 diabetes, CDC said. The woman who is overseeing the trauma project, Cheryl Sharp, noted that chronically ill people who have past trauma can quickly rack up large hospital bills as they cycle in and out of emergency rooms, with costs often borne by public programs like Medicaid. "I am one of those people," said Sharp, who is senior adviser of trauma informed services at the National Council for Behavioral Health. Sharp, 58, said she grew up in "in a home with a mother who was in and out of psychiatric institutions" and also had medical trauma herself from "being very sick as a child" and undergoing invasive treatment over multiple hospital stays. Her childhood experience, she said "created a firestorm within me" that led to years of self-destructive behavior, she said. Sharp had multiple stays in mental hospitals, abused substances and attempted suicide nine times, she said. But Sharp got help to address her trauma when she was in her early 30s.

Others haven't been so fortunate. A major study conducted by Kaiser Permanente and the CDC from 1995 to 199 evaluated more than 17,000 people for childhood trauma. The Adverse Childhood Experiences [ACE] Study asked participants if they had experienced 10 different kinds of trauma, including physical, sexual and emotional abuse. The answers were tallied to give a participant an "ACE Score." Two-thirds of the participants ended up having at least one ACE. Nearly 90 percent of participants had at lease one additional ACE. And more than half of the participants had three or more ACEs, the study found. In a published report, the study's author noted that people who have an ACE score of four or more also had much higher rates of alcoholism, drug abuse, suicide attempts and numerous sexual partners than the general population. There was also between a 1.4-to-1.6-fold increase in physical inactivity and severe obesity.

While the findings were dramatic, and have fueled ongoing, related research, Wong of Kaiser Permanente and others said the health-care system still tends to treat trauma-related psychological conditions and physical illness as separate issues. Wong also said that there is a "long track record" of primary care physicians and behavioral health specialists "not integrating very well." Sharp, the trauma project's manager, said that even as primary care doctors were aware of the role trauma might play in chronic health conditions, "they didn't know what to do" about it. That lack of knowledge spurred Trauma Informed Primary Care project.

watch now

"There was this core problem," said Jennifer Perlman, a doctor of psychology who is coordinating the Trauma Informed Care project at the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless. "Our clients have very, very high rates of exposure to trauma. Early life trauma and later life trauma."

"We wanted to find a way to help our clients address the core issues," Perlman said.

Despite that desire, there was some concern among providers participating in the project about the reaction patients would have when given the ACE questionnaire. "Providers have fears that when we ask questions about their life history, people are just going to collapse," Perlman said. But in fact, she said, since the project began, clients were relieved to be able to share their experiences, she said, adding that "no one declined the screening." So far, about 25 people with diabetes and ACE scores of 8 or higher are being treated through the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, she said. Based upon the coalition's experience to date with the project, "I would like to be screening all our our population," Perlman said, noting that the group has about 10,000 clients.
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CLEVELAND  You can't buy a great cheeseburger on the Internet, and that is the simple fact behind the new driver of downtown real estate development. Restaurants are the new retail, and celebrity chefs today are fast becoming just as powerful as names like Macy's and Neiman Marcus were a half century ago. "I think these days you're finding our developers lead at the ground floor with the restaurant, and everything fills out around it. Retail these days as we all know because of the Internet, is a fairly precarious proposition," said Chris Ronayne, president of University Circle Inc., a development, service and advocacy organization in this Ohio city.

Cleveland has embraced the "foodie" culture, as young millennials move downtown. They are the force behind a 70 percent jump in the city's downtown population to over 13,000, according to the Downtown Cleveland Alliance. Apartment growth is already robust, with 4,000 units in the planning stages, and job growth in professional services and technology is helping to fill more and more housing. There is one common denominator in all the growth.

Owner-Chef Zack Bruell directs his staff at Cleveland's L'Albatros Diana Olick | CNBC

"We've got a dozen great-happening vibrant retail centers in Cleveland that are really part of the resurgence, and they seem to be over and over again led by the chefs," said Ronayne.

Cleveland housing is also the most affordable in the nation, with an average sale price of $74,502, according to Coldwell Banker's 2015 Home Listing Report. That is prompting more young residents to move back home after college. One of Cleveland's celebrity chefs, Zack Bruell, said these are the people filling his restaurant tables and his kitchens.

"The kids that left Cleveland to be educated somewhere else would stay in Chicago, they'd go to San Francisco, Los Angeles or New York. Now those people are coming back to Cleveland. That's the future," said Bruell. "Look at what the cost of living in Cleveland is. It's really affordable, and there is a sophistication here that exists in those markets, so you can practice your craft here and maybe buy a house, save some money and raise a family, which would be very difficult there."





Bruell, who owns and operates 10 Cleveland-area restaurants, from a French brasserie to an Asian fusion eatery, said restaurants are driving downtown development and employment, and names like his are at the heart of it. Bruell said he has expanded his staff from 250 to 470 in just the past two years.

"The developers or the landlords come to me, so I've got, sort of have, an upper hand in choosing where I go. I'm going to transform a neighborhood or help transform a neighborhood. I'm part of that," said Bruell, standing in L'Albatros, one of his restaurants that already had a good crowd seated around the bar on a cold Wednesday afternoon.

While brick-and-mortar retail is flailing across the nation, restaurant sales are growing. Stronger employment also means more people are eating out for lunch.

Chef Zack Bruell at the Alley Cat restaurant, one of ten he owns in Cleveland. Source: Denise M. Kramer

"Americans are using their [gas] pump price savings to go out to eat," said Chris Christopher Jr., director of consumer economics at IHS Global Insight. Cleveland has also benefited from a new government program that has awarded more than $160 million in tax credits to the city's development projects, leveraging almost $1.5 billion in redevelopment, according to CBRE, a commercial real estate services company. Abandoned office buildings are being converted to apartments and hotels. "As this wave of new residential properties has swelled, it has been a catalyst for development activity downtown. As more young workers are moving downtown, businesses have taken note, choosing to remain in the CBD rather than expand to the suburbs," researchers wrote in a recent report by CBRE titled, "Resurgence in Midwest Secondary Markets." Restaurant growth is fueling downtown commercial property prices as well. Office vacancies are down and rents are up. Occupancy in apartments is at 97 percent, according to CBRE, which estimates downtown Cleveland has seen $5.5 billion of new investment since 2010.

Chef Bruell's Alley Cat restaurant opened last summer in Cleveland Source: Denise Kramer
Following are excerpts from the transcript of a CNBC interview by Hadley Gamble and Haider Al-Abadi, Prime Minister of Iraq.



HG: Welcome back to CNBC, I'm now joined by His Excellency, the Prime Minister of Iraq. Your Excellency, why are you here in Davos today? Because years of corruption and conflict and now this low price environment for oil are really having an impact on your funds and your ability to fight the Islamic State. How much money are you looking for, and what's it going to take to defeat ISIS?

HAA: Well, at the moment, we are achieving victory over ISIS. We have liberated large areas of Iraq from ISIS control. ISIS are on the run now, and they have been defeated in many areas. We have planned for this year, 2016, to get ISIS out of Iraq. We are working now, we are sending more troops up north to liberate it from Daesh and I think that is the last stronghold of Daesh. It's-, clearly Daesh is running out of steam, we understood in the last week or two they have slashed the salaries they're paying to their terrorists, which means we are winning and we are stopping the funding for them. Unfortunately, Daesh has been receiving some funds from somewhere, not everybody is working hard to stop their smuggling and funding, but I think we are achieving it, but what has hit us last year, or in the past year and this year, is this huge drop of oil prices. We have to sustain this war with Daesh, we have to sustain our economy. Iraq was dependent on oil for many years, but now we have introduced, my government has introduced reforms now in the economy and we are very much successful. We have slashed government spending by a large margin, of course in relationship to that, of course corruption will be slashed, that's why I think that many corrupt people now are hitting back, but they are not successful so far, I hope they will not be successful. I think I have three wars at the moment. One with Daesh, one with corrupt people, and the third one with the economy, and we are working very hard on this.

HG: Talk to me a little bit about what you're hoping to hear from other leaders, and in fact the investment community here at the World Economic Forum? Because essentially what you have are major international corporations still doing business in Iraq. Can you assure them that their people are going to be kept safe by your government, and also are we going to see the privatisation of assets like we've seen with Saudi Aramco, for example?

HAA: Well yes, I think we have 16 governments out of 18 are very safe, and there are many multinational companies who are working, of course many IOCs, multinational companies are working in Iraq, and they are very safe and business is booming. I can give this guarantee they can work safely in Iraq and Iraq is a very good opportunity for them. Yes, there are challenges, I understand, but I think we are meeting these challenges. I think Iraq has got a lot of potentials that have been untapped so far, they can be tapped, Iraqi society I think is very, very, robust, they stood up to terrorism and to harshness and I think we can well move forward. So my message is very clear, we have been talking with the IOCs to have, like, a balance between protection and prices of oil, and how much a barrel of oil is costing. So far I think it's costing a lot, and this is unsustainable, the current prices of a barrel of oil.

HG: Can you give me a figure then in terms of what it's going to take, in terms of the monetary commitments that you need to defeat Daesh?

HAA: Well, it's tough this year. I think it has been very tough last year. If you remember, last year, our budget was, the price of oil was about $57 per barrel. We ended up receiving $45 per barrel, and that was very harsh for us. This year, we had placed the oil price at $45 per barrel, but now we are selling it for about $23, $24 per barrel. That's very harsh for us, but I think with reforms, we've slashed government spending by quite a large scale and we are winning. We haven't seen a public backlash, in actual fact the public is very understanding, but I think there is quite a challenge ahead because I have to use many of my resources to fight Daesh. The military must be enabled to fight Daesh, and of course they need resources, ammunition, armourment, equipment, and I think this has to be sustainable, and that's why we are here. We are talking with the World Bank, with IMF, with many multinational companies who are willing, I've seen a lot of willingness on their part to help, and I was very much encouraged by them asking for a meeting with us, which I think is a very encouraging sign.

HG: Tell me a little bit about that, because we have seen, of course, progress of the Iraqi special forces in Ramadi of course, and you also have to commit, I think, to the broader picture here, which is what do you really want, not just from the international community, but from the United States in particular. Do want weapons? Do you want loans? I mean, what is it exactly that you need from the President?

HAA: I think it was in the past three, which is training, weapons, air support, and now there is a fourth one, which is economic support. We don't want-, to be honest with you, we don't need cash as a thing, but we need facilities, more facilities, and Iraq has got a huge potential. Iraq is not going to become corrupt-, or bankrupt, sorry. Iraq is an oil producer, it's got a lot of potentials, and we're much, much better off in the future than we are at the moment. So I think that's what we are looking for at the moment. We are receiving some support, but still we are expecting other support, and I hope, I mean, through our contacts here and in other places, we hope we are going to get that.

HG: Talk to me a little bit about the regional context here. Because at the moment we have Iran and Saudi Arabia, your neighbours, not speaking. They're both involved in this Vienna Process in Syria, for example. Where do you see the future of that country going, and does Bashar Assad have a role to play there, and also in terms of fighting the Islamic State, isn't it a problem if Saudi and Iran aren't on the same page?

HAA: Well, we have a fundamental interest in seeing peace in Syria for a simple reason. Because Daesh is running across Syria and Iraq, and if this year we're going to push Daesh out of Nineveh and Mosul, now what's going to happen in Syria and how are we going to control the border when our next neighbour will be Daesh on the other side of the border? I think these are many questions which we have to answer, not only us but the international community, so we look very favourably for the political solutions in Syria, we hope everybody will take part. Of course this escalation between Iran and Saudi Arabia is not helpful at all, because it's polarising the whole area between sectarianism and other regional conflict, which really doesn't help now when we're fighting this enemy, Daesh. Daesh, I have to alarm everybody, is very dangerous.

Although it is on the defeat at the moment, but they have a huge capability of recruiting young people, and so I think there is no country in the world who doesn't have their citizens fighting either in Syria or Iraq. This is a very dangerous organisation, they shouldn't be given a chance now when they are defeated, or they are going to be defeated, and I think one element is political solution in Syria. I hope everybody will work on that, there is now a process, I think it is slow, in my opinion, it has to be more courageous to be pushed forward, it must be implemented otherwise the Syrian people have, I think, paid a heavy price. There are about 10 to 11 million people either internal refugees, or refugees outside Syria, the whole Syrian economy has been damaged, the infrastructure, I think it's not serving anybody. Now the situation in Syria is a breeding ground for terrorism for the whole world. We have seen what happened in Istanbul, in Paris, in Jakarta. This is a very formidable and dangerous organisation, terrorist organisation, Daesh is, so our resources must be there. If we join forces then we can direct our resources towards fighting Daesh and eliminating Daesh from Syria.

HG: The barrier to that, at least within the context of Syria, is going to be whether Basahar Assad stays or goes. What's your take on what needs to happen to move this process?

HAA: Well this is the decision by the Syrian people, of course. I think any transition of power must be gradual, must be calculated. We don't want to see what happened in Iraq in 2003, where all the military was dissolved and everything was dissolved, and you ended up with a weaker state, and it took us quite a long time to restore order in the country, and still we are suffering from that. I think in Syria, the institution of the government must stay. The army and other institutions. So I think the question is how will you do that? How will you change the regime in a sense by making it more acceptable to others, more accommodating to others, and at the same time keeping the institutions in place, or the useful institutions.

HG: Talk to me a bit, then about the roles that the Kurds have to play, not just in Iraq, but also in the fight against the Islamic State. There is a history there of disagreements, at least when it comes to energy and resources, but we understand of course that now Kurdish fighters have been seen operating in other areas. What role do they have to play in fighting Daesh going forward?

HAA: Now we are working together, especially with the Kurds inside Iraq. I think we are now working with Kurds inside Syria, as well, but there is a problem in Turkey. Turkey consider-, their major problem is the Kurds are among the Daesh, that's a problem for us. Now they're fighting the PKK and other Kurdish elements in Turkey and they're extending their fight towards Iraq, and of course they want to extend it towards Syria, and I think this is to us is an alarm. I think Turkey is looking to go back to the Ottoman Empire thing, I don't think there's a place in the region for that. We have to keep a very good relationship with our neighbour, Turkey, we've been working very hard to keep that good relationship, and with the Prime Minister of Iraq, I'm very keen to improve our good relationship, which we have done, but of course the extension of the crossing of Turkish military units into Iraq is not helpful at all. I cannot see any role for them to fight inside Mosul because they are not doing that. If they want to fight Daesh, Daesh is there on their border with Syria. They can fight Daesh there. I don't think it is helpful that-, if Turkey has an interest on Iraqi territory, that's not helpful for us, not helpful for them. I think they have to shift their priority from considering the Kurds as their problem to Daesh as their major problem. I think that their bombing of some targets inside turkey by Daesh, that's an alarm to them, they must take it seriously.

HG: Given what we've seen coming from Turkey over the last couple of years, the evolution of their fight against the Islamic State, do you think they're doing enough to take out ISIS?

HAA: I hope they do, but don't forget Daesh, ISIS, have a relationship, some of their leaders, with the Turkish establishment in the past. We have some proof and they know it. I think smuggling of Daesh, was only done through Turkey . I think that ought to be stopped. The Turks are telling us otherwise, they're eager to fight Daesh, but I'm telling them frankly, I'm not seeing evidence of that. I hope to see more evidence of that.

HG: Your Excellency, the Prime Minister of Iraq, thank you so much for joining us at CNBC.

HAA: Thank you.
Following are excerpts from the transcript of a CNBC interview by Steve Sedgwick and Jin Liqun, President of AIIB.



SS: I think a tone from a lot of those gentlemen was mildly positive, despite the oscillation in the market. Amidst all that, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, which of course was a Chinese-led initiative, is open for business. The development bank launched last weekend in a sign of Beijing's growing financial influence. The bank expects to lend $10-15 billion per annum for the first five or six years. Russia is at the front of the queue for financing of $1 billion worth of projects. I'm delighted to welcome to the programme Jin Liqun, who is the President of the AIIB. So thank you very much indeed for joining us. Well, look, so many questions, but if I may start off on the oscillation, the concerns we're seeing coming out of China, and indeed the broader Asian region, do you think the markets are getting a little bit overdone?

JL: I think it's quite often then market would overreact to any volatility, so I think the decision makers, investors, and all those who are very much close to this, should stay calm, and indeed the Chinese fundamentals are very good, but of course this economy's growth has slowed down for good reason, because we need to aim at quality, not quantity. After three decades of fast growth, it's only natural for the economy to stay-, move forward on a more solid basis and to achieve better quality, higher level, you know, growth, and in return for better environmental protection.

SS: You mentioned, sir, and it was a very key point, I think, that the regulators, the authorities should remain calm. Do you think they have remained calm throughout this, or actually there's been a little bit of a knee jerk reaction?

JL: Well, I think in the times of volatility, probably some people will be a little bit worried, but if you look at the Chinese regulators and the government, I think they managed to do a very good job. Indeed, you see the outcomes are pretty good, and compared to a couple of months ago, a couple of weeks ago, the Chinese market is more stable.

SS: I guess the point from an investor point of view would be if the Chinese stock market is not a barometer, and the oscillation we are seeing on that market is not a barometer of that slow decline in growth, but to a steady level, a more long term level, that we're seeing, why is there such a whole series of reactions from authorities about the market if they're not so worried about the broader economy?

JL: The Chinese stock market is still in its early stages of development. The correlation between the virtual economy and the real economy is not that close as compared to the relationship between stock market in United States or western countries. So in this regard, I don't think it is right to make judgement on the real sector economy purely by the volatility of the stock market. And also, you see, we have a group of investors in the stock market who are not very mature, and who want to make quick bucks, and sometimes they overreact, but I think for any country, the regulators, the decision makers, are moving on a learning curve. I'm proud to say the Chinese regulators are pretty fast on their learning curve.

SS: It's not just Chinese investors who are on that steep learning curve and need that education! So look, let's get back to your remit, because I think this provides a very interesting opportunity, and perhaps more pressure on you to make the right investments. Am I right?

JL: The AIIB, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, is initiated by China, but this bank is owned by, at this moment, 57 member countries. So it's not a Chinese bank, it's a bank of all the founding members, and we have more than 30 countries on the waiting list, eager to join. So we manage this bank by the international highest possible standard and the mandate is to promote sustained economic development in Asia. This should be very good news for the non-Asian countries also. For instance, a more developed Asia will be very good business opportunities for companies in Europe, North America, that is why so many non-regional members are very keen on joining hands with the Chinese and other Asian countries.

SS: Joining and borrowing from, as well, and it's very interesting that Russia is at the front of the queue, wanting a loan, given the fact that this is an oil rich country which has such key links with China and the region.

JL: We focus on connectivity. All of the countries in this region, first the Eurasian land, and also some of the South East Asian countries, connectivity by sea routes, connectivity on the land by road and railways are all very much important. So when AIIB invest in a country, we don't look at the benefit for a particular community, particular country, we look at the connectivity of the entire region.

SS: So just a final question, and I know you've had this one before, but I mean, for those who say it's a competitor to the World Bank, it's a competitor to the Asian Development Bank, I'm sure you've got a well-rehearsed answer for them.

JL: You know, contrary to the expectations of some of the people who are very much worried whether this could be a rival to World Bank, ADB, this is not true. We have already become very close partners. We are very much grateful to the World Bank, the ADB, for their generous support in the course of setting up this bank. You see, when 70 years ago, the World Bank was created, the economy was pretty small. 50 years ago, when ADB was created, the economy was bigger. Now half a century later, we are dealing with a much, much bigger Asian economy, global economy. What's the worry?

SS: Yes. Sir, thank you very much indeed for joining us, it's been a real pleasure. Jin Liqun, who is the President of the AIIB.
Following are excerpts from the transcript of a CNBC interview by Geoff Cutmore and Steve Sedgwick, and John Rice, Vice-Chairman of GE.



GC: Good morning, John, nice to see you.

JR: Hi, Geoff.

GC: Thanks for coming and joining us at this time of the morning. So Sri led into us by saying there are still people out there who believe that China is not going to slow rapidly from here, and that we should stop being so negative about the Middle Kingdom. Just give us, very quickly, a thumbnail sketch of why we should be optimistic about China.

JR: Well, you know, Geoff, people have been predicting a hard landing in China for a long time, and we are of the view that a growth rate of 6% ish, maybe a little more, maybe a little less, it's the world's second largest economy, there's plenty of room for growth. If you're in the infrastructure businesses and you take a long cycle view, you have to bet on China. You have to be part of it.

GC: And they're going to buy some of your business, Haier stepping in where Electrolux weren't able to complete. Do you think this deal will get signed off at the government and at the regulator level? Because I know there will be concerns about selling anything to China, in the US.

JR: We believe so. We believe it's really a very good strategic fit. It's really good for our business and our employees in the United States, they're going to commit to keep the headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky, they're maintaining employment levels. They already have a manufacturing base, they're a credible US company, and they're a very progressive management team. I mean, if you look closely at Haier, they are doing things that a lot of companies around the world wish they were doing.

SS: But there will always be those, John, and good morning to you, who will use China relationships, or sales to China, as a stick to beat up people with, and actually beat the corporate sector with, and Donald Trump has been very aggressive about his language about Apple, not GE, and where they should produce iPhones, and their goods, as well. It's a lot more complicated than that, as you were saying to us off camera, but what do you say to those American politicians, and those with very loud stances in the US who say we shouldn't be doing so much with China, we shouldn't be exporting jobs to China, we shouldn't be producing American goods in China.

JR: We have thousands of jobs in the United States that exist because we can do business in China. In our jet engine business, our gas turbine business, our healthcare business, all of this, it's a global ecosystem, it's a global supply chain, and it feeds into our production, whether that production takes place in the United States or another country, and because we have access to markets like China, we can maintain and grow those jobs.

GC: The situation with the election this year does make closing of deals like Haier just a little bit more interesting, and a little more sensitive. Do you think there is a risk that Donald Trump, and others who want to bang this drum about America first, climb aboard your Haier deal and start to create problems?

JR: We're going to spend a lot of time with everybody who's interested in this to make sure that they understand the facts and the reason that this combination will help protect jobs in the United States and create a stronger business, and we think in the end that that logic will carry the day.

SS: John, let's move on to other issues, as well. You and I were at an event last night, and it was a fantastic event where a lot of people had some really good exchanges of views about other issues, and things that are very close to GE, as well, including the electrification of countries, as well. How is GE's power and electric portfolio looking at these lower oil prices, as well? How are your activities looking there? Is it less profitable? Is it more difficult to make money out of some of these areas because of what's going on in commodity prices?

JR: It's a complicated answer, right? At one level, it makes fuel costs low, but it gives governments that need to invest in some of these technologies less money to spend. So one of the challenges is how do you get capital and connect capital from where it is, and there's lots of it around, to the infrastructure projects around the world that need to be financed. So this shortfall of infrastructure investment that you hear a lot about, one of the big reasons is that things aren't getting financed the way they used to, and lower commodity prices, whether it's oil, gas, copper, iron ore, coal, really creates pressure on governments, and we've got to be creative in terms of how we come up with financing solutions.

GC: I had a very interesting interview yesterday with Mr Rajan at the Indian Central Bank, and I notice here in the conversations in the corridors, where people are saying, 'Maybe we're not going to put more money into China yet,' everybody's trying to work out how they can get an angle on India right now. GE's had business in India for a long time here. Just a thought on how well you think Mr Modi is doing with these reforms, because a lot of people are starting to scratch their heads and ask, 'So where's the delivery? Where's the implementation?'

JR: Reforms are hard. You're talking about big structural challenges that have taken decades, maybe centuries, to create. So unwinding them and fixing them takes time. We believe that the Prime Minister, and the rest of the Indian leadership team, is committed to do it, and when you look at the government of India today, it's a very competent group of people. We've been going there for a long time, as you mentioned, we've been doing business there, we won one of our largest orders ever at the end of the year, to modernise Freight Rail Locomotives. India is definitely moving forward, and, you know, we want to be part of it.

GC: And just a wrap up comment, or question. We have at the moment, as you've seen, tremendous volatility in financial markets right now, but there seems to be a bit of a disconnect between how financial markets are feeling and how some corporates are doing, and GE's stock prices, back where Steve and I used to buy it when we were still part of the family here, obviously it's been a big ride over the last 10 years for GE, but things look a whole lot better now that the group has slimmed down. John, just talk to that. How disconnected is the nervousness over financial assets and the actual economic activity that you're engaged in.

JR: Well, you know that you can still buy GE stocks, so feel free.

SS: Yes, we don't get that company discount any longer!

GC: We don't get the discount, John!

JR: Feel free. It's the difference between the headlines and the facts. When you look at the headlines, there is a lot to be anxious about. When you look at the facts, in our world, we've concentrated our capital on technology infrastructure businesses, we're moving away from financial services in a world that needs infrastructure, so we had some of our biggest years ever in countries last year that are in the middle of this geopolitical tension and where you see all the negative headlines. So if you're in the right businesses, and doing the right things, there's still business.

GC: Nice to have you with us John, thanks so much for coming down so early in the morning for us.
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Europe's much-vaunted banking union may still be a work in progress but the European Commission's head of financial regulation told CNBC that banks in the region are far more resilient now than before thanks to new rules in the financial sector.

"Banks are better capitalized, they are more resilient, we've now got a situation from the beginning of January that if a bank goes down, it's actually not the taxpayers in future that will have to bail it out," Jonathan Hill told CNBC on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos on Thursday. Europe's banking system was hard hit by the global financial crisis and, as a result, a raft of lenders in Cyprus, Ireland and Spain either received bail-outs or wound up. In effect, taxpayers and (in the case of Cyprus) some depositors bore the brunt of the bailouts.

Antonio M. Rosario | Getty Images

In order to prevent future financial shocks permeating the entire region, the euro zone is creating a more integrated and regulated banking union in order to create what the European Commission hopes will be a "safer and sounder financial sector for the single market." Initiatives within the union include creating a single supervisory mechanism overseen by the European Central Bank, a single resolution mechanism  and crucially, a single resolution fund to rescue banks -- for the banking sector. Put simply, once informed by the ECB that a bank is in trouble, the single resolution board "will be responsible for taking most decisions on the best course of action and will prepare for the resolution of the stricken bank. The fund, which will amount to 55 billion euros within eight years, will be financed by all the banks in the banking union countries," the Commission states on its website. Hill is responsible for ensuring that financial markets are properly regulated and supervised and have a role in implementing the banking union. He said that stress tests carried out by the ECB on the region's banks had "shown that the banking sector in Europe is far more resilient" however, if some of the regulations being introduced  such as the capital requirements regulation -- were not "working in the right way," the banks should let the commission know, Hill said.

"We're trying to look at the effect of the regulation that we passed over the last six, seven years since the crisis to make sure we've got it right. We need to make the system safe but we want to do it in a way that doesn't limit growth." Hill is also responsible for establishing a "Capital Markets Union" (CMU) by 2019 for all 28 member states of the EU. This aims at essentially mobilizing capital in the region for the rest of the economy, particularly small and medium-sized businesses and infrastructure projects that will create more jobs. Hill was not worried that current market volatility would affect the progress of capital markets union, saying it was a project for the long-term. "What I'm trying to do with the Capital Markets Union, as well as the Banking Union, is to take measure for the long-term, to put infrastructure in place that will help investment and growth for many years to comebut I didn't say we would complete CMU by 2017 because I don't think that's realistic, there are a whole complex of issues that interlink (to resolve)."
The market sell-off has lowered valuations for a group of stocks, posing potential buying opportunities for investors with a long-term perspective, market watchers believe. "If you look at the market on a company-by-company basis, there are lots of wonderful businesses at 10 or 11 times earnings," value investor David Katz told CNBC . "We'd be pretty aggressively buying into this weakness." So far in 2016, the S & P 500 is down 8 percent, on track for its worst monthly performance in seven years as investors assess the consequences of the collapse in energy prices and lower economic growth from China. Indeed, big tech and those companies with exposure to China and oil have been hit the hardest. The rapid capitulation this year, however, has led many investors to consider if it's time to apply the "buy low, sell high" proverb. Read More Pro Uncut: The full interview with Jamie Dimon With data from FactSet, CNBC Pro searched for large-cap S & P companies with low P/E multiples in relation to the historical five-year average, solid balance sheets and dividend yields of at least 2 percent. Among those names, we then looked for the ones with "buy" ratings from Wall Street analysts. One of the names on the list is Cisco , which has a trailing P/E multiple of 12, pays a dividend yield of 3.7 percent, has 53 percent of its assets in cash compared with 22 percent in debt. To be sure, the stock screen above is meant to spark investment ideas, but more homework is always required.

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The farmland bubble may have burst in some Corn Belt states, like Iowa. But acreage prices proved resilient across the U.S. and, if not a bumper year in 2015  an average increase of 2.4 percent and increases in land value of 8 percent or more in some states  it looks better when compared to the flat year for equities. But individual investors, for the most part, have stayed away from the big agricultural bets being placed on global food demand increasing over time, driving up land prices even further. Institutions, like the mega pension fund TIAA-CREF , the super-wealthy investor set and overseas agricultural giants are still snapping up land this year, and potentially scouting what will seem like bargains years from now as farm real estate values have started to decline.

Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The situation leaves Paul Pittman, CEO of Farmland Partners (FPI ) REIT, frustrated. His company's stock price has been badly beaten up  down more than 20 percent since its 2014 IPO. Yet the dividend has been hiked up three times, Pittman said, and now yields close to 5 percent. The farmland REIT continues to acquire more acreage. Farmland Partners currently owns 257 farms with an aggregate of 107,838 acres (including 126 farms totaling 32,963 acres under contract), including acreage in Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia. And Pittman is continuing to bag more land in undervalued areas, like the Southeast. "There's an excess amount of water there," said Pittman, whose REIT doesn't own farmland in water-challenged California.

Yet the stock trades at a substantial discount to its net asset value, according to Daniel Altscher, a senior research analyst at FBR Capital Markets. He has a buy rating on the stock. "Everything is going well," he said. "This is a new asset class, and so it's misunderstood," said Pittman, a former investment banker. "These are still early days for farmland REITs."

Farmland REIT Gladstone Land Corp. (LAND ) has also been hit hard  the stock price has sunk 30 percent in the past year. Yet it owns 34 farms in five states, including California, where vegetables and berries are grown. The REIT has also been snapping up more farmland in California, Florida and other states. Due to its large landholdings, Gladstone is also very undervalued, said Maxim Group analyst Michael Diana in a recent research report. He has a target price of $14 on the stock, which yields 5 percent. Pittman doesn't like the comparison to other farm REITs, and the Farmland Partners CEO has a point: His REIT's shares are only down 5 percent in the past year, compared to the 30 percent dive in LAND shares and 27 percent decline in shares of American Farmland (AFCO). "We are trading ... let's say, less disappointing than the others," Pittman said.

All the farmland REITs suffer from one key headwind related to stock market dynamics: They are small REITs and can be volatile and illiquid in trading. Buying just 1,000 shares in Farmland Partners can move the stock up or down by a lot. "That's a risk," Altscher said. It's also a risk exacerbated by the lack of institutional money in these REITs. Because they are micro-cap stocks  with market caps ranging from $75 million to $125 million  institutions cannot easily invest. Most institutional investors are barred from holding large stakes in any one stock, and the size of these REITs makes it impossible for institutions to invest without breaching single-stock holding limits. "These are relatively small market-cap stocks, so attracting broad-based institutional attention is much tougher than retail," Altscher said. Farmland Partners does have more than 20 institutions in its stock and said its shareholder makeup is at least 40 percent to 50 percent institutional, but Pittman said there are no "household names" among those investors. "Someone who has to make $20 million allocation can't come into a $120 million float company," he said.

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Right now the biggest issue for Farmland Partners and the other farm REITs is crop prices, which have plummeted. These REITs generate income by leasing its land to tenant farmers. But rents can slump when crop prices are soft. And wheat and corn prices, among other crops, have all plummeted. Pittman said the entire agricultural stock complex, from Deere and Monsanto to the farm REITs, has been hit in the commodities slump. "The rate of growth is going down, but not consumption," he said. "It's not too low demand, but it's too much supply while the increase in demand growth is slowing." The average investor may assume it's a one-to-one relationship, and bad corn price means bad results for all agriculture, from tractor and seed sales to the farm REITs, but Pittman said it's not that simple. "The farmer still has to rent. The farmer can decide they are not buying another tractor, and the farmer can fight about rent, but can't just say, 'No, I won't rent land." Crop insurance, which has become more sophisticated in recent years, protects rent in the short term, though longer term, if they remain low, "crop prices will impact farmland rents," said David Rodgers, senior real estate analyst at Robert W. Baird.

Farmland Partners is also diversifying into less volatile specialty crops. Now corn, soybeans and wheat are mostly grown on the REIT's farms, said Pittman. But lately Farmland Partners has been buying up blueberry farms in Michigan. The company has also started doing solar power projects on land it owns, as well as natural gas pipeline easements.

Aging farmers also offer more farmland buying opportunities, Altscher said, adding that the average age of today's farmer is 58, so lots of farmland will hit the market in the next several years as farmers retire.

"We'll keep buying high-quality farms," Pittman said, "and build a large portfolio." Altscher said a major concern among investors that's kept these stocks down is the chart on farmland prices being extremely high relative to historical levels. Some investors are worried that farmland is in a bubble. "Headlines everywhere are saying asset values are at an all-time high and the price of corn was ripped apart," Altscher said. He added that from this point of view, things can't end well. If farmland rents go down, then the value of the real estate goes down, and ultimately, a business that operates with as much as 50 percent leverage  considered a normal level of debt in farming  can't continue to operate profitably. "Farmers can sustain a year or two of low prices, but if it's lower for a decade, I would be worried," he said.

Farm sector profitability declined for the second straight year in 2015, according to the USDA's Economic Research Service, with net farm income projected to be $55.9 billion and down about 38 percent from 2014 levels, according to a November 2015 analysis. If the projection is correct, it would represent a drop of 55 percent from the recent high of $123.3 billion in 2013. Crop receipts were projected by the USDA in November to decrease by $18.2 billion (8.7 percent) in 2015, led by projected declines of $8.6 billion in corn receipts, $5.7 billion in soybean receipts and $2.7 billion in wheat receipts.

A lower-for-longer worst-case scenario explains why analysts say the farmland REITs are trading at below net asset value. "I don't believe that," Altscher said, but he added the situation could take a long time to sort out, and these are slower-moving businesses. "It's not a get-rich-quick scheme. Owning it is a long-term investment and not a flip." Pittman said that his company  and its investors  do need to be willing to accept that maybe it can't grow for a while, and the challenge is to get investors to understand that farmland is not going to massively devalue because farmer profitability suffers for a few years. "When you have a bad Christmas sales season, the retailers get dinged, not the mall REITs," he said. But he said there's no simple answer now, because farmland values could be flat for a few years. The worst farm bubble ever was in the 1980s and lasted five years.

Some investors have stuck with timberland REITs, which have been around longer and are much bigger. For example, Plum Creek Timber (PCL ) has a $7.29 billion market capitalization and yields more than 4 percent. Revenue comes from cutting down trees and selling acreage. "With these REITs, housing and packaging needs drive demand," Rodgers said. Morningstar expects lumber consumption to surge for several years, though, driven by significantly rising housing starts, according to Morningstar analyst Daniel Rohr. The housing peak won't come until 2019, the report stated. Miracle Mile Advisors portfolio manager Duncan Rolph prefers timberland REITS to farmland. "They have been pretty popular," he said. "And they will continue to do well. But it's a bit early for farmland REITs. They need to be more liquid." Yet year-to-date and in the past one year, Plum Creek Timber has fared no better than Farmland Partners, and it's suffered much more amid the current bearish market sentiment, down 16 percent already this year, to a 52-week low level, and compared to FPI's 7 percent year-to-date decline.

Even Rolph admits, though, that farmland has had double-digit returns for the last 10 years. "That's a nice premium. And farmland REITs have a more attractive yield than bonds," he said. But, he cautions, take a long-term perspective. "Demographics are in your favor," Rolph said.

Real estate/Real asset annualized returns, 19952014



Farmland: 12.7 percent

Total REIT return: 11.3 percent

Apartments: 9.8 percent

Commercial real estate: 9.6 percent

Timber: 8.1 percent

Gold: 5.8 percent



(Sources: National Council of Real Estate Fiduciaries  NCREIF, MSCI US REIT Index, Bloomberg)
Allegations of China abducting associates of a Hong Kong bookstore have gained momentum in recent days, with one former Hong Kong police official saying it may not be an isolated incident.



Five members of a Hong Kong publisher specializing in books critical of Chinese Community Party elites were reported missing last year, triggering widespread speculation that mainland officials had spirited them across the border as a silencing mechanism.

"This case has grabbed international attention but I'm aware of several incidents of a similar nature that have occurred," said Steve Vickers, former head of the Royal Hong Kong Police Criminal Intelligence Bureau and current CEO of political and corporate risk consultancy Steve Vickers & Associates.

"There have been a series of other incidents involving booksellers, which I've had a look at, where people have come across [the border] to have discussions with them."

Sometimes, those chats result in booksellers being paid to cease and desist their publications but in other cases, they are forced across the border, he explained.
Almost immediately after taking the gavel, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan announced he will make tax reformoften considered a noble cause but a futile exercise a priority in the upcoming year.

"Instead of a tax code that all of us can live by, we have a tax code that none of us can understand," he said last month, speaking at the Library of Congress. "The only way to fix our broken tax code is to simplify, simplify, simplify. Close all those loopholes and use that money to cut tax rates for everyone."


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For many travelers, a free flight or hotel stay feels more elusive than ever. Program trends have made it tougher to rack up miles and points. American Airlines recently announced it would join Delta and United in awarding miles based on fare rather than distance flown, with the new program expected to be in place sometime this year. (Smaller airlines, including JetBlue and Southwest , also use spend-based programs.) On the hotel side, chains have shifted away from awarding loyalty points if you book with a third-party site instead of directly with them. None of the dozen biggest programs offer awards in such cases, according to a recent analysis from CardHub.com. Leisure travelers who only make a few trips each year  and tend to focus on finding bargain rates  may find such changes a loyalty killer. But even business travelers focused on gaining status rather than free travel may find it's time to reassess their strategies. "Calculate the dividend you get from the program," said Jeff Berry, research director for Colloquy, a loyalty market research firm.

Some programs have more value potential than others. A new CardHub.com report found JetBlue is the most rewarding airline for frequent flyers, while Delta offers more value for average and light travelers. Among hotels, they note, Wyndham Rewards was the best for travelers of all spending levels. (See charts below for airline and hotel reward scores.) But it's more complex than that. Consider what kind of travel you do and how much you're likely to spend, explained Berry, as well as what kind of benefit you're looking for. Free travel? Elite status? Then see which approaches make the most sense.

Business travel

Check the policy. Best strategies for business travelers largely depend on their corporate travel policy. Even before airlines began their shift to award miles based on fare, many large and mid-size companies were restricting details, like fare class, price and booking time frame, said Greeley Koch, executive director of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives. They may also require employees to book through specific channels. "If you deviate from anything, you end up on a reporting list that goes to senior management," he said. So picking a pricier fare or stalling to book at the last minute in a bid to earn more miles is unlikely to fly as a regular approach. (Companies had been worried about that kind of behavior change, he said, but it hasn't materialized.)

Consider a co-branded card. If the bosses allow you to book work travel with a personal card, an airline- or hotel-branded card can be a valuable option to accelerate rewards toward free travel  or getting harder-to-come-by premium upgrades. For those travelers teetering on the edge of elite, a few hotel and high-level airline cards also provide a bump toward status, based on meeting spending thresholds or just having the card. "Hands down, in most cases you're getting a better deal than you would from a general-purpose rewards card," said Odysseas Papadimitriou, chief executive officer and founder of CardHub.com. For workers required to book with a corporate card, which personal card to choose is more up in the air, he said. If you're taking only the occasional trip on your own, leisure traveler strategies (see below) may apply. Maximize the itinerary. Route is the one area where most business travelers still have leeway to get creative within corporate policies, said Koch. Airlines often have bonus mile deals on select routes, upping reward opportunities if your trip takes you to, or could be routed through, one of those point cities. Opting for connecting (instead of nonstop or direct) flights can also generate more segments for travelers hoping to gain elite status, at the cost of more travel time.

Leisure travel

Go general with travel cards. Fee-carrying airline and hotel cards don't pay off for infrequent travelers, especially those looking for flexibility to base travel choices on whichever provider and booking sites are offering the best deal, Papadimitriou said. For those consumers, the most rewarding option is a card offering cash-back or general travel rewards that can be redeemed "for pretty much any travel purchase," he said. Even on fee-free cards, travelers can easily get 1 to 2 percent back in the form of cash, points or miles, he said. Bonus offers could yield up to $400 in value for new cardholders. Consider your home market. Which airline program is most rewarding may be a moot point if you live in an area where choice of carriers is limited. "If you're based in Atlanta, I think Delta has about 80 percent of the lift out of the Atlanta market," said Douglas Quinby, vice president of research for travel industry research firm Phocuswright. "You're going to have to play with Delta." But in such cases, focusing your efforts on one program could pay off faster. Perks on an airline-branded credit card, such as waived bag fees and discounts on in-flight purchases, can more than balance out any annual fee.

Work in booking rewards. Sites  including Expedia , Orbitz and Hotels.com  have their own reward programs. If you aren't loyal to a particular hotel or airline, booking site loyalty may have a faster payoff.
A general election due will take place in Ireland "in a few weeks' time" the country's incumbent Prime Minister Enda Kenny told CNBC, who said he hoped to win the continued trust of the Irish public in order to continue Ireland's economic recovery.

"I'll make the announcement (on the date of elections) in a very public forum in the not too distant future," Irish Taoiseach Kenny told CNBC on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday. Refusing to be drawn on the exact date of the vote  although the vote must take place before April 11  the Taoiseach said the Irish people would "have their say in a few weeks' time."

Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny Georges Gobet | AFP| Getty Images

"Elections are obviously something that you can never pre-judge. I would like to think that people would give us their continued trust and confidence to finish the job that they gave us which was to fix our public finances and to put our country back to work," he said. "We still have many challenges up ahead but we put in place a very good platform for the future and if we continue to manage that successfully in the people's interest."

Kenny said it was worth reflecting on how far the country had come since the height of its financial crisis when it required a euro zone bailout. Since then, however, Ireland has become a poster-child for austerity measures and recovery, earning itself the "Celtic Phoenix" moniker. In 2016, the European Commission predicts Ireland will see its economy grow 3.6 percent, unemployment fall to 8.8 percent and gross public debt fall further. "It's important to think about where we were five years ago. You were locked out of the markets, you couldn't borrow money, unemployment was 15 percent and 300,000 jobs were lost and disappointment and disillusionment everywhere," he said. "But because of the plan and strategy put together, which people dealt with, we're now in a very different position. We'll have our deficit eliminated by 2017 and our debt is now falling below 100 percent (of GDP) and towards European norms which is great progress but it's not a victory by any means."
The global oil glut will grow even larger and may last for a long time, closely followed oil analyst John Kilduff said Thursday.

"We have a ways to go" before oil bottoms, said the founding partner of Again Capital, an alternative investment manager specializing energy and metals.

"There's a new wrinkle to this bearish market almost on a daily basis, ... whether it's Iran ramping up exports or the worsening conditions in China," Kilduff said on CNBC's "Worldwide Exchange."

Read MoreOil stabilizes near 2003 lows on oversupply, demand worries



He said Iran, which has just rejoined the export market, has discounted its official selling price for European customers to compete with Russia and Saudi Arabia. "India especially is [also] stepping up to resume purchases in a big way of Iranian oil."

In this massive market share battle, which now includes the re-entry of U.S. crude exports, Kilduff said there's skepticism among traders about whether Iran will be able to deliver after being barred from international markets for so long because of sanctions over its former nuclear program.

"[But] I would totally caution against not believing in them," he said, referring to Iran. "They can do it. There's a ton of floating storage. The ability to ramp up their infrastructure to achieve this ramp-up in exports is easily done."
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As the Middle East grapples to contain the terrorist group that calls itself Islamic State, the prime minister of Iraq has cast doubt on neighboring Turkey's willingness to combat the problem. Haider Al-Abadi, who has led Iraq since 2014, told CNBC on Thursday from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland that Turkey viewed the Kurdish population within its border as a greater problem than the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or Daesh.) "The Turks are telling us otherwise, (that) they're eager to fight Daesh. But I'm telling them frankly, I'm not seeing evidence of that. I hope to see more evidence of that," Al-Abadi said. "I think they have to shift their priority from considering the Kurds as their problem, to Daesh as their major problem. I think that the bombing of some targets inside Turkey by Daesh, that's an alarm to them. They must take it seriously," he later added.

Haider Al-Abadi on set in Davos, Switzerland with Hadley Gamble.

ISIS has claimed responsibility for a terrorist attack in Baghdad last week that killed at least 50 people.

Istanbul also suffered a suicide bombing this month, which Turkish authorities blamed on the Islamic State. Turkey is also struggling to contain Kurdish insurgents and a massive influx of refugees from the conflict in Syria. Al-Abadi told CNBC that Turkey had extended its fight against the PKK, an armed group calling for an independent state within Turkey, into Iraq and hoped to do so into Syria as well. However, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu insisted on Wednesday that Turkish troops in Iraq were there purely to combat ISIS, according to Reuters. Nonetheless, the Iraqi prime minister accused Turkey of seeking to re-establish its once-mighty empire that spread from Europe to North Africa and Iraq. "I think Turkey is looking to go back to the Ottoman Empire thing, I don't think there's a place in the region for that. We have to keep a very good relationship with our neighbor, Turkey, we've been working very hard to keep that good relationship, and as the prime minister of Iraq, I'm very keen to improve our good relationship, which we have done, but of course the extension of the crossing of Turkish military units into Iraq is not helpful at all," Al-Abadi said.



Iraq-Saudi feud impedes ISIS fight
Those anticipating a recovery in oil prices after the recent bludgeoning are likely to be disappointed. According to a senior analyst, prices are likely to sink further from the 12-year trough reached this week.

"It certainly isn't (the bottom for oil)," said John Kingston, President and Director of Global Market Insights at McGraw Hill Financial Global Market Insights.

Clues for the future direction of oil prices could be gleaned from futures contracts. While front-month March WTI and European Brent crude contracts are around $28 a barrel--the WTI contract had slumped to as low as $26.19 on Wednesday, the lowest level since May 2003--but the sharp decline in the prices of front-month benchmark contracts over the last 19 months has caused oil contracts to go into contango.



Contango refers to a market phenomenon in which the front-month or near-term futures contracts are trading less than or at a discount to longer-dated futures contracts. This indicates ample supply for the immediate future.


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China still has "plenty of room for growth," GE 's vice chairman told CNBC on Wednesday, rejecting fears of a hard landing for the world's second-largest economy.

"There is plenty of room for growth. If you are in the infrastructure business and you take a long view, you have to bet on China, you have to be a part of it," Hong Kong-based John Rice said from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The Chinese economy has slowed steadily since 2010. On Tuesday, it posted 6.9 percent growth for 2015, in line with economists' estimates in a Reuters poll. Growth is seen by the International Monetary Fund at 6.3 percent in 2016 and 6 percent in 2017.

A woman is reflected on the black door of a General Electric (GE) refrigerator at a store selling electronics and appliances in Montebello, California on January 15, 2016. Frederic J. Brown | AFP | Getty Images

GE remains committed to China, announcing plans last Friday to sell its appliances business to Haier Group for $5.4 billion, in one of the largest Chinese acquisitions of an American company yet. The transaction has been approved by the boards of directors of GE and Haier and is targeted to close in mid-2016. However, regulatory approval could be delayed in the run-up to the presidential elections in November. "We believe it is really a very good strategic fit," Rice told CNBC. "It is really good for our business and our employees in the U.S. They are going to commit to keeping the headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky, maintaining employment levels. They already have a manufacturing base; they are a credible U.S. company and they have a very progress management team," he added.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, has criticized U.S. corporate giants that use cheaper Chinese labor rather than manufacture at home. His plan to "make America great again" includes pressing Apple to manufacture its products back in the U.S. Regarding GE's presence in China, Rice said: "We have thousands of jobs in the United States that exist because we can do business in China, in our jet engine business, our gas turbine business, our health-care business. "All of this, it's a global business ecosystem, it is a global supply chain and it feeds into our production, whether that production takes place in the United States or another country." Concerns about China's handling of its economy and financial sector were piqued last summer when authorities intervened in equity markets and devalued the currency amid a stock market rout.

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There are "positive trends" for the global economy in the current market volatility, U.K. chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne has told CNBC. Speaking to CNBC in Davos, Osborne said that while he is looking "with some concern" at what is going on in world markets, underlying that are trends that will benefit the global economy. "Internationally we need a big of a sense of perspective which is, underlying all this volatility are some transformations and transitions which are fundamentally good for the world  China becoming a more consumption based economy, energy being cheaperin the European Union and the euro zone, the European Central Bank ready tostep in and support the euro zone," Osborne told CNBC in a TV interview. "Because of the very sharp falls in the oil price the markets are unstablebut fundamentally for most western economiesthe fall in the price of energy is a good thing."

EU referendum

One uncertainty hanging over the U.K. economy is the potential for a "Brexit"  Britain leaving the European Union (EU). U.K. prime minister David Cameron said on Thursday that he was in "no hurry" to call a referendum if the terms of the renegotiation of Britain's relationship with the EU was not right. A referendum on whether the U.K. will stay in the EU could be as early as this summer. While some have argued that a brexit would harm business in Britain, Osborne denied that the prospect of a referendum has damaged the country's economy. "I don't think it's harming the U.K economy because the most recent numbers this week show we're creating jobs, employment is at a record high, we are getting a lot of investment. Do I think getting this relationship rightis important to our economy, yes I do," Osborne said. "Within a reformed EU and with proper protection for countries like Britain that aren't in the euro, we can have that European Union."

UK tech in focus

The Chancellor also talked about the U.K.'s growing tech scene which is one of the most vibrant in Europe. Britain has the most number of unicorns  start-ups valued at over $1 billion  in Europe. Venture capitalists invested a record $3.6bn (2.46bn) in the U.K. tech scene in 2015, up 70 per cent from the year before, according to London and Partners, the city's promotional company. But when asked why the country has not produced any companies the size of Spotify, Osborne said that the slow progress on the EU's digital single market has hampered the abilities to grow to that size. "I think it might be something to do with the fact that Europe has not been able to create a digital single market and we're working hard at trying to do that. Frankly, I think it's all taken far too long, it's far too slow," Osborne said. "But if you could create that digital single market, you'd have 500 million odd customers to sell into." The digital single market is an EU project to harmonize rules across the 28-nation bloc in areas such as access to content and copyright.


Russian President Vladimir Putin likely personally sanctioned the nuclear murder of ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko, a British judge ruled Thursday. The dissident died in 2006 after drinking green tea poisoned with radioactive polonium-210 in a London hotel. Litvinenko had predicted that Russia would assassinate him and claimed on his deathbed that Putin likely ordered his killing. After a six-month public inquiry, a British judge ruled that the one-time KGB agent was murdered on the orders of Russia's FSB security agency  and that the action was "probably approved" by Putin.

Alexander Litvinenko is pictured at the Intensive Care Unit of University College Hospital on November 20, 2006 in London, England. Natasja Weitsz | Getty Images

It is the first time British authorities have made a formal direct link between Russia's government and the Kremlin foe's slow death. The ruling was welcomed by the 44-year-old's widow, who called on Putin and others named in the report to face sanctions. "I am of course very pleased that the words my husband spoke on his death bed when he accused Mr. Putin of his murder have been proved true," Marina Litvinenko said. "If you commit this crime, in the end you will face justice." Litvinenko's body was so radioactive that the autopsy was conducted by medics in protective clothing and he was laid to rest in a lead-lined casket. Two Russians, Andrei Lugovoi, and Dmitry Kovtun, were previously identified by British prosecutors as having carried out the killing. Both deny involvement, and Moscow refuses to extradite them although international arrest warrants are still in place. Thursday's inquiry report, which was the work of judge Sir Robert Owen, said the two were "were acting on behalf of others when they poisoned Litvinenko," most likely "under the direction of the FSB."

Owen concluded: "The FSB operation to kill Mr. Litvinenko was probably approved by [FSB chief Nikolai] Patrushev and also by President Putin." British Home Secretary Theresa May said she would summon the Russian ambassador over Moscow's failure to cooperate with the inquiry, and announced asset freezes on Lugovoi and Kovtun. In a statement, London's Metropolitan Police said the killing was "cold and calculated" and carried out with "no regard for the safety of the public." The inquiry was told that Litvinenko had been the victim of a "a miniature nuclear attack on the streets of London."

Investigators and scientists told the inquiry that a radioactive trail was left at hotels, restaurants and other sites across London visited by Kovtun and Lugovoi, a former FSB agent who is now a senior Russian lawmaker. A lawyer for the police said the killing may have exposed hundreds or even thousands of Londoners to radioactive contamination. The inquiry was ordered in 2014 after May bowed to pressure from Litvinenko's widow and British lawmakers. Owen heard from 62 witnesses over six months of public hearings and  behind closed doors  saw secret intelligence evidence about Litvinenko and his links to U.K. spy agencies.

Litvinenko was such a vocal critic of Putin that he published an article accusing Putin of pedophilia, Owen noted. He "was regarded as having betrayed the FSB" with his actions, and "there were powerful motives for organizations and individuals within the Russian state to take action ... including killing him," the judge wrote. Russia, which has always denied involvement, dismissed entire inquiry as "politicized." "The process, despite its name, wasn't transparent for the Russian side or the public, given the specifics of non-public examination of evidence under the pretext of 'secrecy'," said Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for Moscow's foreign ministry. Litvinenko was working for MI6, Britain's foreign intelligence service, investigating corruption among Russians officials. He had also accused the Russian government of involvement in a series of apartment building explosions in 1999 that were blamed on Chechen rebels. In an interview with the Interfax news agency, Lugovoi described Thursday's inquiry report as "absurd."

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U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher opening Thursday amid ECB President Mario Draghi's press conference.

Dow futures traded about 4 points higher after spiking more than 100 points amid Draghi's remarks that downside risks have increased again and the central bank needs to review, possibly reconsider policy stance at the next meeting, Dow Jones reported.

Draghi also said he expects rates at present or lower levels for an extended period of time, and that the central bank has the power, willingness and determination to act, noting it has plenty of instruments, Dow Jones said.

"If Draghi is actually going to talk about more liquidity, there's a potential ... that maybe the Federal Reserve is going to stop talking about raising interest rates," Robert Pavlik, chief market strategist at Boston Private Wealth, said of the initial gains in futures.

Still, there's "concern that this might not follow through," he said. S&P 500 futures also dipped into negative territory after initially rising on Draghi's remarks.

The euro briefly fell below $1.08 after earlier topping $1.09. The U.S. dollar index traded more than half a percent higher.



European stocks jumped more than 2 percent Thursday after Draghi's comments. Earlier, the European Central Bank kept rates unchanged.

Read More ECB leaves rates on hold, focus switches to Draghi



Dow futures earlier fell 100 points in pre-market trade as concerns surrounding global growth, uncertainty in China and fresh lows in oil prices continued to grip markets.



On the data front, the jobless claims came in at 293,000, a six-month high, according to Reuters. The January Philadelphia Fed index showed minus 3.5.



Treasury yields traded lower, with the 2-year yield near 0.80 percent and the 10-year yield at 1.96 percent, as of 9:10 a.m. ET.



U.S. stocks were set to stabilize after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite closed Wednesday at levels not seen since 2014.


What if President Frank Underwood from Netflix drama "House of Cards" had a debate with Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump?

"He wouldn't," Kevin Spacey, the actor who plays Underwood, told CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

"There would be a terrible accident on the way to the debate, and, it would be terrible and very sad," Spacey jested.

Viewers of "House of Cards" will understand the mean streak that Underwood has shown in past series. Without revealing any spoilers, let's just say that he has fewer people in his life than a few years ago.

When asked if he could do an impression of Trump, Spacey said he needed a tie that went down to his knees because he wasn't sure why the presidential hopeful wore such long ties.
"There's a lot of challenges in a lot of different economies, but we're feeling good about our technology and our offerings. There's a bit of slowdown in some economies, but I feel pretty good about where we are," she told CNBC's " Squawk Box " at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise is in good shape, despite some pockets of economic weakness around the world, CEO Meg Whitman said Thursday.

Investors and economists alike are worrying about a possible slowdown in global growth. China said this week its GDP for 2015 was the weakest in 25 years. The International Monetary Fund also cut its global growth forecast for 2016 to 3.4 percent.

However, Whitman said: "Business around the globe seems quite strong to me right now. You have to remember, we have invested a lot in R&D, we have reshaped our sales force."

She also said Hewlett-Packard's split last year has helped the company zero in on its goals. "The benefit of focus in this split is something that I underestimated," she said.

On Nov. 2, Hewlett-Packard competed a split that created two publicly traded companies: Hewlett Packard Enterprise and HP Inc. Enterprise sells commercial computer systems, while HP Inc. is in charge of selling personal computers and printers.



Hewlett Packard Enterprise's stock has fallen nearly 17 percent since the split was complete, while HP Inc. 's shares have dropped more than 30 percent, according to FactSet.

HPE since Nov. 2

Source: FactSet
A few elections ago, when I was working on Galleon Group's trading desk, we spent all summer devising a game plan for each of the candidates: George W. Bush and Al Gore. We thought Bush would be great for health-care and defense stocks but Gore would be better for all other sectors. So we planned accordingly, even up to the recount in Florida.

In normal election years, it's much easier to quantify which candidates will be good for the market versus the ones that will weigh heavily on it. Typically it's like predicting the outcome of a bowling ball and a feather put on both sides of the scale  one will go up and the other down. But this is anything but a typical election year. There is  the Trump factor.
Visit these 9 enduring favorites over Homecoming weekend

Here are just nine of Columbia's true cultural and culinary institutions, all worth visiting this weekend.
Paramount Pictures Michael Stone, (voiced by David Thewlis) and Lisa Hesselman (voiced by Jennifer Jason Leigh) meet in a Cincinnati hotel, in the disturbingly realistic Anomalisa, which has been nominated for the Oscar for Best Animated Feature.

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By John Beifuss of The Commercial Appeal

In 2004, in what was no doubt a first, the Motion Picture Association of America awarded an R rating to the "South Park" team's infamous "Team America: World Police" for "graphic crude and sexual humor, violent images and strong language  all involving puppets."

Perhaps it's a testimony to the disturbing dream realism of "Anomalisa" that no such clarification is attached to the new movie's MPAA classification. "Anomalisa" has been rated R for "strong sexual content, graphic nudity and language," but there is no reference to puppets, even though the film is populated entirely by puppet-like figures, brought to life onscreen via the painstaking process of stop-motion animation.

Nominated this year for the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, in competition against the more traditional likes of Pixar's "Inside Out" and Studio Ghibli's "When Marnie Was There," "Anomalisa" is the latest project from dark pixie Charlie Kaufman, primarily known as the writer of such cranial excavations as "Being John Malkovich" and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." Adapted from his own stage play, "Anomalisa" is Kaufman's second feature as a director (after "Synecdoche, New York"), with animation specialist Duke Johnson credited as co-director. Together, the men and their collaborators have created an existential character piece that plumbs the uncanny valley  the term given to the distressing sense of unease caused by the sight of robots and other figures that look almost human  to thrilling effect. The movie could have been produced more easily and cheaply as a live-action feature, but the animation production process is integral to its meaning. The action that unfolds is relatively mundane, but the viewer's awareness that the characters are dolls inside miniature environments and that even the simplest noises  a door closing, paper rustling  are sound effects added in postproduction invests each moment with a mythical quality.

"Anomalisa" chronicles a day in the fracturing life of a minor-celebrity motivational speaker and author named Michael Stone (voiced by David Thewlis). Michael and the other characters are obviously dolls but also are more or less realistic, except for the cracks around the edges of their faces, which suggest design flaws and mechanical interiors. Perhaps less obvious at first is that all the characters except Michael share the same face and same voice (provided by Tom Noonan), whether man, woman or child. This is a sign of Michael's alienation from humankind; less flatteringly, it's a sign of his ego. The movie treats its less-sophisticated-than-Stone secondary characters  chatty cabdrivers, blank hotel clerks, and so on  with a condescension that inseparable from the perpetually irritated Michael's mental condition. "There's something wrong with me," Michael admits, long after the viewer has reached this diagnosis and perhaps the conclusion that the movie's literally inhuman stop-motion world is a projection of Stone's madness. (If there are functional alcoholics, why not functional maniacs?)

The setting is a dismally elegant upscale hotel in Cincinnati, where Michael  a handsome if slightly paunchy middle-aged married man with an English accent  has arrived from his home in Los Angeles (the movie capital, not coincidentally) to give a speech. After awkwardly trying to negotiate a reunion with the ex-lover he betrayed a decade earlier, and drinking more than one "Belvedere martini with a twist," Michael meets Lisa (Jennifer Jason Leigh), a shy, nervously talkative, self-deprecating phone-service employee from Akron who has come to hear Michael's speech. Michael is startled: Lisa appears to him as an individual, with a distinctive face and a "miraculous" voice. A Cyndi Lauper fan, Lisa delivers an intimate a cappella rendition of "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" that is humorous and heartbreaking (even as it affirms she is a rube compared to Michael, who prefers opera). Played out in the impersonal, artificial and claustrophobic spaces of the hotel, the encounter between Michael and Lisa provides the film with something of a plot, as well as a sex scene that is more intimate and believable than those found in most live-action movies.

Leigh is nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for "The Hateful Eight," but her work here is just as impressive, even if she is "only" heard; she gives the movie a soulfulness that is remarkable, given its "replicant" aesthetic. The voice artistry of Thewlis and Noonan also is impeccable, and perfectly matched to the craftsmanship of the animation and design. "Anomalisa" may be depressing in terms of story, but it's exciting in terms of filmmaking  it's like nothing that's come before it.

'Anomalisa' Opens Friday exclusively at the Malco Studio on the Square.  Rated R for sexual content, graphic nudity and profanity.
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Approached by 2 men at ACE Cash Express on Getwell Road

By Kayleigh Skinner of The Commercial Appeal

Memphis police were investigating after a woman told officers she was kidnapped and robbed at a gas station Wednesday.

The victim told police she was leaving the ACE Cash Express gas station at 1414 Getwell Road around 2:45 p.m. when two men approached her and forced her to get into her car, said MPD spokesman Louis Brownlee. One of the men implied he was armed.

The suspects made her drive to a Bank of America ATM at 3495 Park Ave. and withdraw cash against her will, she told police. After she took out the money and gave it to the suspects, they got out of the car and fled on foot, Brownlee said.

Once the men left, the victim drove to Memphis Firehouse 30 on the corner of Getwell Road and Rhodes Avenue and told officials she had been kidnapped and robbed.

No arrests had been made and the situation was under investigation, Brownlee said. No shots were fired and the victim was not injured, he said.
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By Kayleigh Skinner of The Commercial Appeal

Memphis police have identified the man shot outside a home in Raleigh earlier this month.

Gregory Webber was found unresponsive, the victim of an apparent gunshot wound outside a home in the 3900 block of Laura Springs Drive in Raleigh on Jan. 12 at 4:25 p.m. Webber was pronounced dead on the scene.

Prior to the shooting, the victim and several others were standing outside the home when a burgundy SUV with several people inside drove by and shots were fired, said MPD spokesman Louis Brownlee.

No arrests had been made and anyone with information is asked to call CrimeStoppers at 528-CASH, Brownlee said.
January 20, 2016 - Stephanie P. Love (left), Shelby County Schools, Shelby County Board of Education, District 3, confers with Shelby County Commissioner Eddie S. Jones, Jr. during a Board of County Commissioners meeting Wednesday afternoon when the group discussed a resolution requesting the Tennessee Legislature to place a 3-year moratorium on ASD expansion. (Yalonda M. James/The Commercial Appeal)

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By Linda A. Moore of The Commercial Appeal

The Shelby County Commission will send to the Tennessee General Assembly a legislative package that supports placing a three-year moratorium on school takeovers by the state and keeping some juvenile offenders under the care of the juvenile court system until they are 25.

The commission voted on its legislative agenda Wednesday in a special called meeting to make the legislature's Thursday deadline for filing bills.

Parents and advocates of the state's Achievement School District asked commissioners to vote against a resolution that asked for a three-year moratorium on ASD takeovers until there is evidence it can outperform the Shelby County Schools Innovation Zone turnaround model for underperforming schools.

Elijah Sledge, parent of a student in an ASD school, asked the commission to think about the consequences.

"A lot of things can go wrong in that three years," Sledge said. "I just don't want our kids to get lost."

Tosha Downey, advocacy director with advocacy group Teacher Town USA, pointed out that were it not for ASD, iZone would not exist.

And while the ASD is not improving as quickly as iZone, it will still take both the iZone and the ASD to move these schools forward, she said.

"I've always been on board in putting moratorium on them, but the more I hear from parents that say don't take away our options, that's a real issue," said Commissioner David Reaves, education committee chairman.

The resolution passed 7-4. Commissioners Mark Billingsley, George Chism, Heidi Shafer and Reaves voted no. Commissioner Walter Bailey was absent.

The commission also backed Sheriff Bill Oldham and juvenile court Judge Dan Michael in support of blended sentencing legislation that would allow some juvenile offenders to stay in the juvenile justice system until they are 25 years old.

The legislation is based on evidence that brain development isn't complete until age 25, using "old science with new findings" Michael told the legislative affairs committee Wednesday morning.

The legislation would allow juvenile court to "pour on the services," reduce the prison population and leave Department of Corrections with empty beds, and it is expected to be cost neutral, he said.

It has the potential to be a "paradigm shift," Oldham said.

The commission will also petition for: full funding of the state's Basic Education Program; funding of prekindergarten classes for all at-risk children; enhanced sentencing for repeat drug trafficking, burglary and domestic violence offenders; opposition to the legalization of marijuana; funding and prioritizing the completion of State Route 385 between Millington and Downtown Memphis; and allowing law enforcement to seek emergency and automatic orders of protection for victims of domestic violence when an arrest is made and deadly force is used.

Resolutions backing the Opportunity Scholarships voucher program and opposing the elimination of training and certifications for open-carry handgun owners were withdrawn.
Former state senator David Fowler announces the lawsuit he filed Thursday on behalf of five plaintiffs challenging same-sex marriage in Tennessee. Fowler heads the conservative Family Action Council of Tennessee.

By Richard Locker of The Commercial Appeal

NASHVILLE  A day after state lawmakers killed a legislative effort to ban same-sex marriage in Tennessee, five residents filed a lawsuit opening a new court challenge that they hope will eventually lead the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse its 2015 ruling legalizing same-sex marriage across the nation.

The lawsuit, filed in Williamson County Chancery Court, specifically asks state courts to declare Tennessee's marriage license law  which still says that a license can be issued only to one male and one female  is invalid in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling.

As a result, the suit asks that Williamson County Clerk Elaine Anderson be enjoined from issuing any marriage licenses until the issue is resolved. The county, just south of Nashville, is heavily Republican and the state's most affluent county but David Fowler, the lawyer who filed it, said it was filed there only because he and the five plaintiffs live there.

The plaintiffs include three ministers, who say they are subject to criminal penalties under the Tennessee law if they fail to sign and return a marriage license to the issuing clerk's office within three days after solemnizing the marriage. The suit asks the court to declare that the criminal sanction is unenforceable if the ministers do not sign or return it because they are unsure if the license law is valid.

Fowler, a former state senator who heads the conservative Family Action Council of Tennessee, said that the lawsuit is essentially a means to return the same-sex marriage issue to the courts where he hopes it will eventually work its way back to the U.S. Supreme Court and create an opportunity for the high court to reverse its June 26 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges.

"The bottom line is to say to the state courts of Tennessee, you have to decide what the Supreme Court of the United States really did," he said. "They purported to do two things that are mutually exclusive: rule a law invalid and then rule that everyone has a right to get married under an invalid law. That inconsistency must be pointed out, raised and resolved. And this lawsuit seeks to do that."

In essence, Fowler said he believes that by striking down the part of Tennessee law that limits the issuance of marriage licenses to one man and one woman, the Supreme Court effectively made the entire Tennessee marriage license statute invalid under a legal doctrine called "elision" because the Tennessee legislature never intended the license statute to apply to same-sex couples.

But, he said, the court cannot and did not enact a new Tennessee marriage license law and neither has the Tennessee legislature, which he said is the only entity with the legal power to write laws setting out the duties of Tennessee county clerks.

Fowler said he's representing the plaintiffs through the Constitutional Government Defense Fund, which he said is an arm of his Family Action Council. He said he is looking for "people with the courage to speak up" to file similar suits in East Tennessee and in Shelby County.

Hedy Weinberg, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, called the lawsuit "just one more attempt to circumvent" the Supreme Court's same-sex marriage ruling. "It undermines our American value that the government should treat everyone equally under the law and not discriminate.

"Obergefell ensures that loving, committed same-sex couples in Tennessee and nationwide who want to build and share a life together will be treated with the same respect and dignity as everyone else," she said. "The decision made clear that the freedom to marry is a fundamental right protected by the United States Constitution and this decision is the law of the land. Regardless of any personal opinions to the contrary, Obergefell in no way affects the religious liberty of those who are against marriage equality."
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Depending on where Memphis residents live, they are likely to have varying opinions about the condition of the city's roadways.

Those who routinely travel on Elvis Presley Boulevard near Brooks or along the eastern part of Winchester, for example, probably don't think the condition of those major roads is so great.

The relevancy of this is a report by transportation research group The Road Information Program (TRIP) that found 23 percent of local- and state-maintained major urban roads in Memphis are in poor condition, compared to 20 percent in Chattanooga, 9 percent in Nashville and 6 percent in Knoxville.

Statewide, 11 percent of major urban roads are in poor condition, showing signs of deterioration, including potholes, ruts and cracks, TRIP says.

TRIP and American Automobile Association Memphis held a news conference Tuesday to discuss the study.

TRIP says a new federal surface transportation program will help by increasing highway funding by 15 percent, but won't solve the problem.

That will not happen until Congress can agree on a long-term funding plan for the nation's roadways.

Memphis Public Works Director Robert Knecht countered that he does not think Memphis roads are as bad as a new study implies.

He said he would rate a majority of Memphis roads in at least fair condition, and roads that have been resurfaced in recent years are in even better shape.

Who is right?

Like we said earlier, it depends on where you live.

But the condition of city streets is a critical quality-of-life issue that can have a serious impact on safety and vehicle maintenance costs.

The report said the cost of road deficiencies ranged from $1,821 per driver in Memphis to $1,282 in Knoxville by way congestion-related delays, traffic crashes and vehicle operating costs.

But the news was not all negative for Memphis. The city was nowhere close to making TRIP's list of 25 urban regions with the poorest major roads.

We realize that the state bears of some the responsibility in helping cities maintain state roadways.

Still, maintaining streets is one of those bed-and-butter core services that taxpayers expect the city to stay on top of.

After it was reported that the city's repaving cycle was decades long, former mayor A C Wharton, with the approval of the City Council, launched an aggressive $15 million plan last summer to repave the city's streets.

The city's goal was to have streets repaved on an average of 25 years, instead of a 29-year cycle.

Knecht said the city repaved about 685 lane miles  more than a tenth of 6,818 lane miles of city-maintained roads  from July 1, 2012, through June 30, 2015.

He added that Public Works crews had an outstanding year filling potholes in fiscal 2015, patching 79,260 potholes in the year ending last June 30, compared to 47,504 the previous year.

During his successful campaign for Memphis mayor, Jim Strickland touted that his administration would work to maintain quality core services. Knecht cited that fact and said he expects the city to continue to improve on maintaining its roadways.

We hope so, because there is nothing worse that than running over a teeth-jarring pothole and losing a hubcap or flattening a tire, or almost hydroplaning because of water-filled ruts during a heavy rain.
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By Noah Feldman

Is the separation of church and state unconstitutional?

You read that right. The Supreme Court said Friday that it would consider whether Missouri's constitution, which bars state aid to religious groups, violates the U.S. Constitution by discriminating against religion.

This claim sounds crazy, and to those who wrote the Missouri constitutional provision in the 1870s, it would've been. But the claim, in fact, isn't utterly absurd  if you consider the historical circumstances in which the provision was drafted. And although it's a long shot to change existing church-state law, the case has the potential to be a landmark.

Start with the very simple facts: Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Missouri, applied for state funds to improve its playground. Under the U.S. Constitution as interpreted by the Supreme Court, a church may get generally available funds from the government. But under Missouri's constitution, the church isn't eligible for the funds, so it can't get the money.

The relevant state provision  Article 1, Section 7  says "no money shall ever be taken from the public treasury, directly or indirectly, in aid of any church, sect, or denomination of religion  and that no preference shall be given to nor any discrimination made against any church, sect, or creed."

As written, this provision is framed more strongly than the Establishment Clause of the federal Constitution, which never mentions money but says Congress may not enact an establishment of religion.

In a 2004 case, Locke v. Davey, the U.S. Supreme Court said that it was permissible for Washington state's constitution to bar state funding of religion to a greater extent than the Establishment Clause requires. Under that precedent, Trinity Lutheran would seem to have no case. Missouri can do what Washington does: protect the separation of church and state without violating the religious liberty of religious funding applicants.

Here's where things get complicated. The Missouri provision was adopted in 1875, in the wake of a national effort to pass a federal constitutional amendment that would have similarly enacted a ban on state funding of religious institutions. That effort was spearheaded by Maine Republican presidential candidate James G. Blaine, and the national amendment was nicknamed for him.

The Blaine Amendment was deeply politicized. At the time, it was understood by everyone to be targeted at Catholic institutions. The word "sectarian" was code for Catholic.

Republicans hoped to force Democrats into the tough political position of either supporting the amendment and alienating Catholic voters, or opposing it and letting themselves be criticized for opposing the separation of church and state. Republicans had gotten the idea from Ohio, where a brutal denominational fight over state funding of Catholic institutions had helped elect Gov. Rutherford B. Hayes.

In congressional debates, concern for the separation of church and state was interspersed with blatant anti-Catholicism from Republicans. The federal amendment failed, but it arguably helped the Republicans reach a tie in the general election, which then led to the political deal that made Hayes president.

But numerous versions of the Blaine Amendment, or "baby Blaines," passed in other states. Missouri's provision is typical of them. In historic terms, the amendments played a meaningful role in strengthening the separation of church and state as an American ideal. They had little immediate effect in practice, since states already weren't funding Catholic institutions.

Historians of church-state relations, myself included, have pointed out the anti-Catholic origins of the state Blaine amendments. The crucial question for the U.S. Supreme Court is whether this aspect of the history should be used to render the state amendments inoperative as violations of free religious exercise of the equal protection of the law.

In Locke v. Davey, the court ducked the issue, saying it hadn't been shown that Washington state's constitutional provision, enacted more than 25 years after Missouri's, was a state Blaine.

The court could conceivably duck the issue again. Trinity Lutheran will argue that its case isn't covered by the Locke precedent because its playground-resurfacing project is different from the money at issue in that case, which prevented students from using scholarship money to major in theology. The court would then have room to say that where there isn't a strong connection to religion, states must give funding to religious institutions on equal terms with nonreligious ones. But the distinction with Locke is highly tenuous, since the court said in that case that the scholarship funding wouldn't have violated the Establishment Clause.

For Trinity Lutheran to win, it probably needs the court to go into the seedy history of the Blaine Amendment and say that state Blaine amendments violate federal equal protection laws because of the bias inherent in their adoption. Their best precedent is Romer v. Evans, a 1996 case in which the court struck down a Colorado state constitutional amendment that was inspired by anti-gay animus.

That outcome would be defensible, but probably wrong. The Blaine history is certainly replete with nasty anti- Catholic bias reminiscent of today's Islamophobia. But the animus was at all times intertwined with a legitimate constitutional aim  namely, separation of church and state. And strong separation remains a plausible constitutional vision, even though the court no longer embraces it  for example, by allowing state funding of religious schools through vouchers.

Regardless of outcome, the case will be one for the history books.

Noah Feldman, a Bloomberg View columnist, is a professor of constitutional and international law at Harvard.
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The great thing about Uber and other on-demand services is that they flex according to demand (and, yes, I do realize that is a fairly self-evident statement). Take an available pool of resource and an ever-changing demand and join the two via a flexible platform and you should have a way to deliver better outcomes for all concerned. It's the reason that Amazon Web Services, Uber, Airbnb and countless other demand-based services have flourished.

But it's also happening in other areas that one wouldn't expect. In December, the southern Indian city of Chennai was hit by severe flooding. The repercussions were major as contaminated water supplies raised serious health risks. If you're a big employer in Chennai, you have some moral, if not some legal, obligation to do as much as you can to help your staff.

But that's hard to do when everyone is scrambling and when most of the people who can help are busy helping themselves or others. This is the situation that Flex, a Fortune 500 company with a significant employment footprint in Chennai, was in. As a caring employer, Flex wanted to do what it could for its staff but lacked the resources on the ground to do so. Instead, the company turned to HealthTap SOS, a new service from health IT vendor HealthTap.

HealthTap SOS is a tool for population managers -- large multinational corporations, governments and insurance companies -- to offer health and related services to their employees. HealthTap offers real-time supplementary disaster relief via HealthTap's network of 85,000 doctors globally. Via mobile or Web, affected parties can access information or individual advice. In the case of Chennai, Flex employees were able to access doctor-created information personalized for incident-specific health concerns, as well as care via live doctor consultations.

The interesting thing here is the possibility of using HealthTap as a way to augment existing relief resources and processes. By virtually deploying doctor knowledge and expertise to jump-start the relief process, including before local first responders arrive, HealthTap has the potential to improve relief efforts across a range of disaster events -- from natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods and tornadoes to man-made disasters such as nuclear accidents, chemical spills or even acts of terror.

A simple case in point from the Flex/Chennai situation: Through its network of doctors, HealthTap provided thousands of residents with information on mitigating the spread of Leptospira, a potentially harmful bacteria often found in stagnant pools of water. Shortly after the disaster, HealthTap and Flex worked together to ensure that an entire population received on-point information about the do's and don'ts of accessing water during a flood: how to use the limited supply of clean water together with sugar to keep hydration levels up, and how to remain safe until access to physical resources became readily available.

Flex seems to be pretty happy about what HealthTap enabled it to achieve as well.

"We are so thankful for HealthTap's speed and efficiency," said Paul Baldassari, chief human resources officer of Flex. "We needed to quickly provide thousands of our employees with accessible, easy-to-use information and virtual care, and that's exactly what HealthTap delivered. Access to physical resources was extremely limited, and through HealthTap's proprietary technology and deep domain expertise, we were able to help our employees and their loved ones during an extremely difficult situation. We are proud to partner with HealthTap and support their efforts to bring this much-needed service to population managers around the world."

It may be very much a cliche, but this is one example of Uberization that I can totally relate to.
I had arrived home from visiting my family last Saturday around 10 p.m., and noticed a couple of email messages arriving from a CPA customer, just before I went to bed. I took a quick glance, immediately spotting the phrases none of our programs work and all the file names on our server have changed. Those phrases were all of the symptoms I needed. As I would confirm later, the customer had been struck by ransomware.

For the uninitiated, ransomware is a rather insidious form of malware that attempts to render all of your important files unreadable, until you pay the perpetrator a ransom to restore them. This malware was first seen in Russia in 2011, and by 2013, it was well entrenched in the United States.

Most forms of ransomware work by using strong cryptography with a unique key to encrypt files on drives available to the infected PC. The software normally places a note in various folders, telling the user what to do to recover the files. This usually involves a payment, often in the $300-$500 range in bitcoins, for which the bad actor may or may not actually supply the encryption key, allowing the victim to recover the files. The methods of infection include accessing an infected website, and malware attached to email messages.

This malware genus has grown in occurrence and sophistication in recent months. One of the best known forms, called CryptoWall, has just entered Version 4, with a greatly improved ability to hide from antivirus software and firewalls. The distributors of CryptoWall are believed to have made more than $25 million in 2015 alone. There have been recent indications that the bad actors are concerned about maintaining the belief that paying the ransom will really allow for file recovery. As such, in some instances, they have been found on PC help forums, assisting victims with file recovery and payment issues. How big of them!

In my customer's case, the files were stored via a mapped drive on a server. The malware seemed to ignore the local drive, and went immediately to the server drive, encrypting the customer's tax and accounting databases. I requested that the customer run Malwarebytes, my go-to removal tool, to eradicate the actual infection from any PCs, which it did. In the interim, I confirmed that no infection existed on the PC, and began to plan for file recovery.

Thankfully, this customer understood the importance of mitigating risks. As such, even though they already had regular cloud-based backups of their server, they had asked me to configure a local backup to a removable drive, early in the week of their infection. Since that drive was not mapped to a PC, it was unaffected. By midmorning Sunday, the files were restored, and their applications operational.

This customer had a happy ending, but many do not. Some pay the ransom and never get their files back. At a minimum, most ransomware victims suffer a major disruption of their businesses. Even worse, with the growing sophistication of this malware, there is no guarantee that a victim will not be hit again.

So, how can you avoid being a victim, and be prepared if the worst happens?

1. Plan

The time to figure out how you would respond to such an incident is NOT the minute it happens. Figure out in advance who to call for help, how to reach them quickly, and where your passwords, install disks and other important items are. File them where they can be easily found, but NOT on a PC whose infection can prevent you from accessing the details needed to fix it.

2. Back up and test

The salvation of my customer was in its ability to restore from a backup. To protect yourself from various risks, including ransomware, you need a good backup strategy, which must include monitoring backup status and testing of the restore process to ensure that restored files are usable. A backup process without testing may not be worth much.

3. Use antivirus software and firewalls

Much has been written of late about the growing obsolescence of antivirus software, and to some extent firewalls. This is claimed because these products are signature-based, and active malware signatures change rapidly. The fallacy of this argument, however, is that for every malware item with newer signatures in the wild, there are hundreds still making the rounds that have older signatures, and can thus be blocked. I suggest that you ignore the theorists, and implement a good firewall and antivirus package. Keep them up to date and monitor them.

4. Perform software updates

Ransomware, like many malware programs, makes use of vulnerabilities in Windows, OS X and other software to infect your systems. You must faithfully ensure that updates get applied. I encounter many customer PCs that have not had an update in months. These are sitting ducks. Also, dont forgot firmware updates for your network and IoT devices, which can also help prevent attacks.

5. Restrict mapped drives

Make sure that server drives are only mapped to the user PCs where they are actually needed. Use read-only folders where possible. If an infected PC cannot access the server drive, it cannot infect it. Note that cloud drives can be susceptible as well, as a recent report by Krebs on Security confirms.

6. Know who uses your PCs

Restrict the use of each PC to only authorized people. In an office environment, keep them locked down, so that maintenance personnel or other passers-by cannot use them for a quick Web search. At home, avoid letting your kids use any PC with work-related data.

7. Respond if the worst happens

If you find yourself encrypted and without a backup, you may be forced to pay the ransom. I find it distasteful to even suggest this approach, but if the value of your data is sufficient, you may be forced to make that decision. Even the FBI has stated that this may be the best course of action in some cases. As I said above, malware authors, out of concern that people will not trust them and stop paying, are doing a better job of making sure the victims can get their files back. There are, however, no guarantees with this approach.

Bottom line: The best cure for ransomware is diligent prevention. Once you are infected, your options may be limited, expensive and unpleasant.

Related video: Ransomware marketplaces and the future of malware
Advocacy group I Am the Cavalry is urging organizations that manufacture and distribute medical devices to adopt a cybersecurity version of the Hippocratic Oath.

The group, which advocates for better security in life-impacting computers like those used in modern cars, medical devices or critical infrastructure, has published an open letter to the health-care industry, calling for a commitment to five principles when creating, using and maintaining medical devices.

Those principles are security by design, collaboration with security researchers, ensuring that evidence of potential failures is captured and preserved for later analysis, safeguarding critical elements under the assumption that they'll operate in adverse conditions and providing easy-to-install security updates.

These principles are similar to the ones listed in the Five Star Automotive Cyber Safety Program that I Am the Cavalry proposed to the auto industry in 2014.

The group's open letter to medical device manufacturers and other health-care industry stakeholders goes into specific details about how to achieve those five goals. The recommendations include: avoiding unprotected remote access, supply chain rigor, avoiding known flaws, implementing known methods and processes of receiving vulnerability reports and interacting with external security researchers, providing incentives for external researchers, tamper-resistant logging, isolation and segmentation of components, securing the update process and more.

Security researchers have found serious vulnerabilities in many types of medical devices in recent years, including flaws that could allow hackers to alter the dosage of insulin and drug infusion pumps or remotely access pacemakers to deliver potentially deadly shocks.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has taken note of these issues and seems decided to drive some change. Earlier this week the agency published draft cybersecurity guidance for medical device manufacturers, specifically focused on planning for, assessing and responding to vulnerabilities.

Some manufacturers are already on board with the proposal. Germany-based Drager, a company that produces patient monitoring technologies, has had a coordinated vulnerability disclosure policy since last year and views I Am the Cavalry's proposals as the basis for establishing cybersafety norms in the medical device industry.
THE SUPERSONIC passenger plane Concorde took off for the first time forty years ago  Connexion looks back at the chequered but never dull history of this feat of French and British aeronautical engineering.

Concorde dominated the skies and headlines for 27 years before being retired in 2003. Launched in 1976, the great white bird made its maiden voyage between Paris and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil via Dakar in Senegal in 4hrs 45mins, flying at a speed of 2,200kph.

Concordes troubled future was foreshadowed even before it welcomed its first passengers. In 1973 concerns were raised about its commercial viability as a result of the petrol crisis  the planes design meant it needed to burn a lot of fuel to achieve supersonic speeds. That same year safety concerns were also raised when Concordes Soviet competitor Tupolev TU-144 crashed in Val dOise, killing 14 people.

These twin crises led to orders for Concorde being cancelled around the world  leaving just 13 models, belonging to the project initiators Air France and British Airways.

Issues around safety and economic viability would return to haunt Concorde throughout its lifetime. In 1981 Air France and British Airways decided to suspend flights to South and Central America  that year the former had sustained losses of 362million francs as a result of Concorde flights being half full.

By the end of the year Concorde was flying from Paris to just one destination: New York. Curiously enough, the US had initially been a reluctant participant in the Concorde story, finally granting it permission to fly to John F Kennedy airport in 1977 after a two-year struggle to get approval. Its first flight to the Big Apple was completed in 3hrs 39mins.

It seemed that Concordes worst days were behind it  the new decade brought with it a period of prosperity for the Paris-New York route, and by 1986 Air France was reporting commercial viability.

On the back of this success, Concordes designers decided to revamp the 1976 original, laying plans for a larger super-Concorde that would consume less fuel and carry more passengers.

Concordes future looked bright. In 1992 it flew around the world in 32 hrs 49 mins, breaking the previous record set by US jet Gulfstream IV in 1988. It took things up another notch in 1995, recording a new record of 31 hrs 27 mins when the AF1995 flew from New York and back again, stopping at Toulouse, Dubai, Bangkok, Guam, Honolulu and Acapulco en route.

But disaster struck in 2000 when the Concorde F-BTSC crashed into a hotel in Gonesse, a suburb of Paris, shortly after taking off from Charles De Gaulle airport, killing 113. A subsequent inquiry found that a metal sliver that had fallen from a preceding flight had punctured one of F-BTSCs tyres, causing it to burst and damage a fuel tank. The subsequent fire knocked out an engine and caused the plane to pitch and fall before crashing.

Though Concorde would continue flying for three years, its reputation never recovered. The once acclaimed great bird of the skies was now increasingly regarded as a fragile creature, and dozens of previous incidents of damage that had previously gone unremarked on became the subject of intense media scrutiny.

In 2001, to counteract this negative publicity, Concorde launched another revamped model, its fuel tanks protected with Kevlar and wheels hardened to stop them bursting. In a highly publicised demonstration of confidence the then transport minister Jean-Claude Gayssot was aboard its maiden flight.

However it was all to no avail. Two years later Concorde took off for the last time, with thousands of well-wishers gathered to watch it leave Roissy airport. By then the climate of public need had shifted away from speed towards size  the 800-seat super-jumbo A380 would begin flying in 2005, a response to growing concerns about fuel-efficiency and the environment.

Today it takes 8hrs 45mins to fly from Paris to New York. In 1980 it took barely more than three and a half thanks to Concorde. Though it has since been consigned to the scrapheap, the great old bird lives on in the memories of those who experienced it.

And the great bird of the skies might just become a phoenix and rise from the ashes  plans are under way to restore a single model to service. The Concorde Club, a group of enthusiasts, said last year it had secured 160million in funding and planned to use it to purchase and restore the jet on display at Le Bourget airport in Paris. A tentative date of 2019 has been set for it to resume flying  exactly half a century after its first test flight.

Did you ever get to fly on Concorde? Tell us about your experience here if so.

Photo:spaceaero2
PRESIDENT Francois Hollande wants to extend France's state of emergency for another three months, it has been reported.

MP Claude Bartolone, the president of the Assembly, said that M Hollande is 'very likely' to ask the French Parliament in the next few days to extend the country's state of emergency until May 26.

It is currently due to expire on February 26, but has been criticised over its 'excessive and disproportionate' restrictions on key rights.

The day before M Hollande met M Batolone to discuss a further extension of emergency powers, and speeding up related constitutional reform, four UN rights specialists urged France 'not to extend the state of emergency' after its current deadline amid concerns over restrictions of freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and the right to privacy. In a statement, the experts said they had "stressed the lack of clarity and precision of several provisions of the state of emergency and surveillance laws" to government officials in Paris.

France's state of emergency was first imposed immediately after gunmen and suicide bombers launched a series of attacks in the capital on November 13, leaving 130 dead and hundreds injured. At the end of November, it was extended for three months to February, and new powers were added. Its emergency policing powers have allowed numerous police raids and house arrests, some of which the French government wants written into law as part of a constitutional reform package.

The proposed constitutional reform includes making any future state of emergency easier to declare and impose. More controversially, it will give authorities the power to strip French citizenship from people who have been 'definitively convicted' of terrorist offences, if they have another nationality - a plan that has divided the political parties.

See also: What does state of emergency mean?

Photo: Pablo029 / Wikimedia Commons
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.
As previously noted, Corbyns critics within the Labour Party are starting to hone in on a sore spot for their new overlords: the disproportionate poshness of the hard left.

Today a leaked demographics analysis of Labour Party members, reported by The Guardian, allows us to start quantifying that trend:

the reports summary warns: Groups which are over-represented as Labour party members tend to be long-term homeowners from urban areas (particularly inner city area) who have high levels of disposable income. Those who are under-represented tend to be either young singles/families who rent properties on a short-term basis and require financial assistance or those who live in rural communities. According to the document, Labour has analysed 80% of its partys membership using Mosaic, a classification system used to categorise people into different social bands.It points out that high-status city dwellers living in central locations and pursuing careers with high rewards are highly over-represented. As a group they make up 4% of the general population in contrast to 11.2% of party membership, it says. The report says the party has 36,646 members categorised as coming from a category it calls city prosperity, and 19,917 of these have joined since the general election  an increase of 119%. In contrast, the summary also points out that families with limited resources who have to budget to make ends meet are under-represented in the party, making up 4% of membership, in comparison with 8.7% of the population. Even in this category, however, since the general election there has been an increase in the number of members from 5,966 to 7,101. Labour is also attracting 10% of its overall membership from those categorised by Mosaic as being in prestige positions  affluent, home-owning married couples enjoying financial security. This category makes up 9% of the general population. The party appears to have had less success trying to attract elderly voters since the election  a key target group if the party is to win in 2020, according to the report. The data shows that the party has 11,190 members categorised as vintage value  people over 70 who tend to live alone in social or private housing. Around 3,000 of these members have joined since the general election  an increase of 41%.

In short, those Corbynites who have joined the Labour Party since the leadership election are almost three times more likely to be well off, city-dwelling professionals than the population at large. This chimes with the history of the hard left and with the criticisms levelled by various Labour figures who raise concerns that those pursuing radical ideological change are not primarily concerned with the well-being of the least well-off.

The failure to attract voters outside existing urban strongholds is also bad news for Labour electorally. The General Election saw the Party pile up votes in urban seats which it already held, but stand still or go backwards elsewhere. Piling up activists in the same places will only replicate that performance.
Daniel Hannan is an MEP for South-East England, and a journalist, author and broadcaster. His most recent book is How we invented Freedom and why it matters.

Why now? What prompted David Cameron, apropos nothing in particular, to talk tough about Muslim extremism and deporting people who dont speak English? There is, I think, only one explanation.

The proposal itself is utterly uncontroversial. I have never met a newcomer to this country who doesnt want to speak English. Those who arrived too late to acquire fluency are, as youd expect, determined that their children should have the advantages they lack.

Nor is official hectoring about language skills especially new. In Tuesdays Telegraph, James Kirkup dug up a quotation from John Patten, then a junior Home Office minister, from as long ago as 1989:

No one would expect or indeed want British Muslims, or any other group, to lay aside their faith, traditions or heritage. But they must not forget that for the child to prosper in Britain and to reach his or her full potential, he or she will also have to have fluent command of English.

Well, obviously. You wont find many British Muslims taking issue with the idea that their kids should speak the global language.

So why, 27 years later, again advance a proposition that no one is seriously going to oppose? And why garnish it with harsh-sounding talk about extremism and deportation?

Because this isnt really about language lessons or about domestic extremism. Its about the EU referendum.

We know that the Prime Minister plans to persuade us to accept the Brussels system by talking up the security angle. In his most recent speech on the subject, he tried to present EU membership as not just a matter of jobs and trade but of the safety and security of our nation.

This is not an obviously easy sell. Voters are alarmed by the deepening migration crisis. They fret that there might be another bout of trouble in the eurozone, with Britain yet again being forced to bail out a currency it didnt join. Taking back control of our money, taxes and borders seems the safer option.

So the Prime Minister needs to make some Right-wing noises, ideally about Islamic extremism or immigration or both. Its true that there is no obvious link between language skills and jihadism (the loathsome people who have left Britain to fight in Syria overwhelmingly speak English). And there is even less of a link to EU migration policy.

But a referendum is not a maths exercise. It is messy and emotional. A general sense of insecurity is putting some voters off the EU. The Prime Minister  I dont blame him for this, he has a campaign to fight  aims to win them back by using the word security a great deal.

He cant address peoples specific concerns about the European migration crisis, but he can create an inchoate sense that he is taking tough action. Referendums often come down to hunches and instincts, to the taste of the campaigns, to what we might pretentiously call their gestalt. Between now and June, David Cameron aims to come across as the hardest of hard men.

Never mind that nothing much is being announced. Never mind that it would surely make more sense to require people to learn English as a condition of settlement rather than trying to expel them later. Never mind, either, the concerns of many patriotic, Tory-inclined Muslims who feel that, even though the Prime Minister has a point, he neednt have expressed it in a way that singled out one community. That singling out is, in a sense, the whole point: its what makes David Cameron come across as uncompromising.

The announcement is a sign of just how determined the Prime Minister is to keep us in the EU. As Tim Montgomerie wrote recently:

I underestimated Downing Streets determination to organise everything in terms of avoiding Brexit. The go-slow on cuts, the living wage announcement, the retreat on tax credits, the extra money for defence: this pre-referendum behaviour is pretty boilerplate pre-election behaviour.

Will it work? Im not sure. One thing that being in politics has taught me is that voters are less impressionable than their leaders sometimes assume. The day after the Prime Ministers announcement, some concrete news came from Brussels: unless Britain agreed to take quotas of refugees from other EU states, it would no longer be able to return illegal immigrants to safe countries.

I reckon most voters will see such Euro-blackmail for what it is. They will grasp that, if this is how Eurocrats treat us before we vote, we could expect far worse after voting to remain. It will be difficult, in such circumstances, to convince people that remaining in is the safer option.

For there is a truly vast irony here. While the Prime Minister could in theory try to deport migrants who dont speak English, and while it is even conceivable that our politicised judges might uphold such deportation orders, he cannot apply the same test to migrants from the EU. They will continue to have the right to settle here as if they were UK nationals, English language or no English language.

In other words, the whole proposal serves only to show how little authority we have vis-a-vis the EU. The Brussels authorities, ultimately, can tell us whom to admit and in what numbers, and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it.
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The mosquito-transmitted Zika virus casts a long and frightening shadow across the Caribbean and Latin American countries.

In an apparent bid to avert cases of microcephaly in babies, Jamaica's health ministry advised women to delay or avoid pregnancy for the next 6 to 2 months while health officials keep a close watch on the Zika virus outbreak that swept through its neighbors in recent months.

In addition, the government is also urging pregnant women to protect themselves from mosquito bites. Just like dengue fever and chikungunya, Zika virus is also transmitted by Aedes aegypti mosquito.

According to a report by ABC News, while the island country has no registered cases of Zika-linked birth defects, the government fears a similar alarming surge that occurred in Brazil where 3, 500 babies were reportedly born with neurological damage.

However, Jamaica's Minister of Health Horace Dalley remarked that they can't stay complacent for it's just a matter of time before the mosquito-borne disease will hit the country as mentioned by US News and World Report. Confirmed cases in neighboring Haiti seemed to have strengthened this view.

As the likelihood of Zika outbreak inches closer to the island nation, Jamaican health authorities are also calling on every citizen to undertake self-help measures such as cleaning their surroundings, destroying the breeding sites of mosquitoes, and repairing household plumbing system as stated in a news article by Jamaica Observer.

In another note, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recently issued a travel alert to American travelers to avoid certain countries in the Caribbean and Latin America where Zika virus outbreaks were documented.

See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare
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In a rural Alabama county with population of just 10, 591 people, local health authorities are enmeshed in a struggle to put to a halt the tuberculosis (TB) outbreak that already resulted in three confirmed deaths.

In three days of widespread testing involving 800 residents of Perry County, doctors and officials from the state's Public Health Department documented 47 positive cases of tuberculosis infection.

"I would say that there are probably not very many towns at all in the United States that have a case rate that high," remarked Pam Barrett of ADPH's Division of Tuberculosis Control as quoted saying by AJC.

The impoverished town of Marion is experiencing a deadly outbreak of tuberculosis that resembles Somalia's. The situation is so severe that its incidence rate stands at 253 cases per 100, 000- a hundred times higher than the statewide average according to Jezebel.

This puts the sleepy Alabama town in the same league of developing countries with extremely high incidence rate of tuberculosis such as Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Kenya, the Gambia, and Haiti.

The situation has gone increasingly precarious for residents in the TB-inflicted town of Marion.

The fight against TB was losing ground due to residents' poor access to health care services, widespread poverty, and above all, mistrust by the locals against authorities. Health officials explained that it is extremely difficult for their personnel to get some reliable data on the ground that could've possibly helped keep the outbreak from getting worse.

"For most of us, it's not too hard to come up with the main people that you hang around. But if you're doing maybe some things that you don't want other people to know about, or doing some things you're ashamed of, you don't want people in your business, and you're not going to tell me," observed Pam Barrett according to a New York Times article.

See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare
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A recently published US government report reveals that HIV testing is uncommon among sexually active teens and young adults--a worrying situation that remains unchanged for nearly a decade.

Data from national health surveys administered to high school students from 2005 to 2013 and young adults (age 18 to 24) from 2011 to 2013 yielded disappointing results despite active reproductive health campaigns led by federal and local health authorities.

According to research findings from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), almost 50% of US high school students were reportedly having unprotected sex. Experts noted that having sex without using condoms poses extreme risk of contracting HIV. Nearly 15% of those surveyed admitted having multiple sex partners.

"Without HIV testing and diagnosis, adolescents and young adults cannot take advantage of HIV care and treatment that can improve their health and reduce the risk of transmission to others," the official statement from the researchers said as quoted in a report by Latinos Health.

The report added that only 22% of sexually active high school students and just 33% of young adults were known to have received HIV tests at least once- a troubling indication of the youth's under-appreciation of sex education or lack of knowledge on the importance of reproductive health as mentioned by Daily Mail.

"Adolescents and young adults face multiple barriers to HIV testing," remarked senior research author Michelle Van Handel of CDC in Atlanta as quoted by Reuters.

These hindering factors often include the lack of confidentiality in HIV-specific healthcare services, soaring costs of HIV testing, and inadequate sex education. In a society that shuns HIV, such services are often stigmatized by shame-laden public perception. Furthermore, conservative resistance to CDC-recommended sex education lessons resulted to teens and young adults with poor knowledge of their reproductive health.

See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare
Printer Friendly Version First And Last Letter Of An Aborted Writer By Daljit Ami 21 January, 2016

Countercurrents.org Rohith Vemulas letter written before his suicide attests to the prevalent hopelessness in the country.It doesnot matter what your relationship with the writer of the letter was because his letter takes the responsibility of defining that relationship. Whatever your relationship with the writer of the letter is, it counts. This letter is kneaded in depression, detachment and anger. This letter is simultaneously addressed to inner and outer discourses. It states the cost of living with dreams int hese murderous times. Rohith has not addressed this letter to anyone in particular and after concluding with Jai Bhim has not signed the letter with his name. In the current times, every human being dreaming of an emancipated society, tolerance, equality, justice and social justice can read this letter by placing his/her name at two places in the letter. If you write your name in the beginning, then this letter has been addressed by your contemporary to you. If you write your name at the end then this is your final letter to your contemporaries. This is going to be a drill. .

I would not be around when you read this letter. Dont get angry on me. I know some of you truly cared for me, loved me and treated me very well. I have no complaints on anyone. It was always with myself I had problems. I feel a growing gap between my soul and my body. And I have become a monster. I always wanted to be a writer. A writer of science, like Carl Sagan. At last, this is the only letter I am getting to write. I always wanted to be a writer. A writer of science, like Carl Sagan. I loved Science, Stars, Nature, but then I loved people without knowing that people have long since divorced from nature. Our feelings are second handed. Our love is constructed. Our beliefs colored. Our originality valid through artificial art. It has become truly difficult to love without getting hurt. The value of a man was reduced to his immediate identity and nearest possibility. To a vote. To a number. To a thing. Never was a man treated as a mind. As a glorious thing made up of star dust. In every field, in studies, in streets, in politics, and in dying and living. I am writing this kind of letter for the first time. My first time of a final letter. Forgive me if I fail to make sense. My birth is my fatal accident. I can never recover from my childhood loneliness. The unappreciated child from my past. May be I was wrong, all the while, in understanding world. In understanding love, pain, life, death. There was no urgency. But I always was rushing. Desperate to start a life. All the while, some people, for them, life itself is curse. My birth is my fatal accident. I can never recover from my childhood loneliness. The unappreciated child from my past. I am not hurt at this moment. I am not sad. I am just empty. Unconcerned about myself. Thats pathetic. And thats why I am doing this. People may dub me as a coward. And selfish, or stupid once I am gone. I am not bothered about what I am called. I dont believe in after-death stories, ghosts, or spirits. If there is anything at all I believe, I believe that I can travel to the stars. And know about the other worlds. If you, who is reading this letter can do anything for me, I have to get 7 months of my fellowship, one lakh and seventy five thousand rupees. Please see to it that my family is paid that. I have to give some 40 thousand to Ramji. He never asked them back. But please pay that to him from that. Let my funeral be silent and smooth. Behave like I just appeared and gone. Do not shed tears for me. Know that I am happy dead than being alive.

From shadows to the stars. Uma anna, sorry for using your room for this thing. To ASA family, sorry for disappointing all of you. You loved me very much. I wish all the very best for the future. For one last time, Jai Bheem I forgot to write the formalities. No one is responsible for my this act of killing myself. No one has instigated me, whether by their acts or by their words to this act. This is my decision and I am the only one responsible for this. Do not trouble my friends and enemies on this after I am gone.

This letter should be read repeatedly because it is a last letter written by a contemporary to his anonymous contemporaries. This is not the final letter of our times. This is not the first letter of Rohith. He had written a letter to the Vice-Chancellor of the University on 18 December 2015. That letter also needs to be read; because the two letters share much in common which connect Rohith's death and life together in a string. To The Vice Chancellor Subject: Solution for Dalit problem Sir, First, let me praise your dedicated take on the Self-Respect movements of Dalits in HCU campus. When an ABVP president got questioned about his derogatory remarks on Dalits, your kind personal interference into the issue is historic and exemplary. 5 Dalit students are socially boycotted from campus spaces. Donald Trump will be a lilliput in front of you. By seeing your commitment, I am tempted to give two suggestions as a token of banality. 1. Please serve 10mg Sodium Azide to all the Dalit students at the time of admission. With direction to use when they feel like reading Ambedkar. 2. Supply a nice rope to the rooms of all Dalit students from your companion, the great Chief Warden. As we, the scholars, PhD students have already passed that stage and already members of Dalit Self-Respect movement unfortunately, we here are left with no easy exit, it seems. Hence, I request your highness to make preparations for the facility EUTHANASIA for students like me. And I wish you and the campus rest in peace forever. Thanking You,

Yours sincerely

Vemula R Chakravarti

14SKPK01 After reading this, Rohith's death emerges as a murder instead of a suicide. These letters might fail to identify the killers in the court. Rohith was active in social and political movements.He addresses his comrades in arms as a family and apologizes for having to disappoint them. It is a political letter which should be read and understood, politically.The author's last letter will not perish with his body. It must be read again and again. Sometimes as a reader and at other times as a writer. It is not easy to write it, and it is not easy to read it. Though, it has become truly difficult to love without getting hurteven so through this difficulty the value of life and love have increased. The anger risen in the name of Rohith is infact the song of life and love sung in difficult conditions.If ones heart wells up with sorrow, it is imperative to sing this song. Author is an independent filmmaker and freelance journalist. (The article has been translated from Punjabi by Baljeet Kaur who is a student activist from Tata Institute of Social Science.)







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When A Campus Mourns: Collective Loss And leaving Inertia Behind

By Aparna Vincent & Sinjini Bhattacharya

21 January, 2015

Countercurrents.org

In the last seven years that we have spent on the University of Hyderabad Campus, we have been reluctant participants and many a time mere onlookers to many political struggles on this campus. We have consciously and unconsciously kept a careful distance from political organizations of various hues. Hence, we write not as experts who are proficient in facts or as scholars worthy of being called as activists, but as students who share the shock and grief at the sad demise of a fellow research scholar. Like many on this campus, we share a sense of shame, guilt and anger at ourselves for not having done anything to prevent it.

We have never met Rohith, never knew his name. We know him only in his death. And yet we share the pain of this collective loss. Words are all that we have at this moment to mourn his loss, and to take in the transformation of a beloved campus from an academic centre, which we naively believed promoted freedom, to a space which has time and again failed to safeguard the very freedom which is a prerequisite for any centre of learning. While the process of this transformation may have begun before, Rohith's death makes this reality an open raw wound. Because, for us this campus will never be the same again.

The events that followed Rohith's death were deeply saddening and unnerving: the shock of discovering the body of a fellow researcher; a peaceful protest to get the institutional head to come down; and students resorting to songs, as a means of protest, which filled the gloomy night. And yet, the administration felt the need to shield itself from the outpouring of grief with the help of a massive police force. After a long night of negotiations, lathis came raining down on the students, and spared none.

Rohith's body was long gone by the time we had "woken up." As we walked into Shopcom (short for Shopping Complex, an on-campus gathering place for political discussions, tea, provisions, food, and campus news) on the morning of 18th January, the scenes unfolding were quite different from those of any other day. Groups of people huddled together. Over conversations many voids were filled up. Friends narrated and discussed the events of the previous night, while policemen stood around and watched nonchalantly. Some took a stroll on the campus and others joined the students in the line for dosas and idlis at the small kiosk in Shopcom. Rapid Action Force (RAF) men stood ready to step into action at a moment's notice. Students gathered around the makeshift venue in protest, many with red, puffy eyes from crying all night. Those who knew Rohith were inconsolable. Some walked around with sprained and swollen limbs, thanks to the police and their wieldy lathis. A collective sense of loss loomed in the air.

This is not the first time police has entered this campus. In the recent past, the Kiss of Love protests on campus had also seen massive police deployment. But the need to have RAF personnel on standby and water cannons on the ready is something most of us have not been able to wrap out heads around. The fear that campus spaces are shrinking became a little more real that day.

As the morning rolled on the campus became witness to sights and sounds thus far unknown to many of us. The images of that morning will remain with us for a long time to come. Rows of daily-wage sanitation workers joined the students at Shopcom notwithstanding the fact that each day of not working is a day of lost wages. These sanitation workers are magnanimous in their support. One of them told us in a private conversation later: ":"tum hai toh hum haitum nahi toh hum nahihumara kaam nahi." Her words reflect the feeling of solidarity they share.

In the same Shopping Complex Rohith's inconsolable mother mourned the loss of her dear son. She was sitting at the same spot where our fellow research scholars had built the "Dalit Ghetto" after being boycotted from social spaces on campus. When we saw Rohith's mother for the first time, she was being helped by one of the female cleaning staff and a relative to walk a few steps to the washroom. Her face will haunt us and will remind us how as a student community we failed to step up and be there for a fellow student.

Philip the dog slept peacefully through all the din, refusing to move away from the venue of protest.

A letter that Rohith wrote to the Vice Chancellor a few weeks before his death was photocopied and circulated amongst those who were assembled at Shopcom. The words in that letter reflected the anger, the isolation and the sheer helplessness of a scholar who came to the university with dreams of rising above all the obstacles that university had imposed on him. It is to his credit that even in those moments of utter dejection he showed the courage to speak not just for himself but for many like him who are let down by our institutions time and again.

Photos of Rohith were circulated both online and offline. Rohiths friends shared his Facebook album which contained pictures of his one-room house. Others shared personal anecdotes about him, stories of time spent together, words exchanged, of shared joys and sorrows, of angst at the system and of the hope for a brighter tomorrow. One of Rohiths friends shared this memory on his Facebook wall

I remember the time Rohith shared the picture of his house and the sewing machine used by his mom. I was happy, sad and angry. Happy for him, who defied all odds. Sad about the apathy the society has and angry about the bloody caste system. When we spoke next time, I could not speak anything, except that I was honoured to have him as my friend. I was struggling for words, and he consoled me.

These words bring out the magnitude of loss and the angst at a system which did not deliver justice in spite of the struggle. He further expressed his emotions in a poem that he wrote in Rohith's memory.

My brother, I have no more tears to shed,

Only the anger remains

Something that will remain with me for the rest of my life

Definitely, there shall be a reckoning

May not today

But someday

Definitely, there shall be a reckoning.[i]

These images and stories made him all the more real, and his struggle and determination something to be looked upto with respect.

Soon Rohith's death had transcended the boundary walls of our campus and was no longer an isolated struggle. As news spread other campuses around the country also joined in solidarity with the protesting students at the University of Hyderabad. Scores of articles were posted online and suddenly University of Hyderabad was trending on Facebook. Opinions were expressed and analysis drawn out. Going through the different points of view expressed both in the online and offline platforms was both heartening and saddening at the same time. It reiterated the fact that we had woken up, but a little too late.

By mid-morning of 18th January, media had descended on campus. First it was the local channels and then came the national ones. Soon, OB vans were all around, and cameramen and journalists were trying to talk to students and public gathered in different venues of protest on campus. We had made national news, albeit for all the wrong reasons. In the cacophony of voices one could hear journalists mechanically deliver news to their bosses sitting in newsrooms: "The mother is crying". Some of us couldn't help but wonder if all this media attention would in the end be detrimental to the cause in itself. The wariness towards the media was also evident when constant announcements were made on behalf of Rohit's family who didn't want to speak to the media. Ironically, the media is also the only way to reach out to the world at large and keep Rohith's cause alive. The media has since then camped on campus. Although we know that they will move on to bigger news in a few days one can only be hopeful that the plight of students here would have reached a few more by then.

The University of Hyderabad Teachers Association (UHTA) has shown their solidarity with the student's cause on various occasions. This time was no different. It was heartening to see teachers come forward and join the rallies with students. In a scenario where the administration has turned its back on the agitating students the reassuring presence of the faculty and words of solidarity from them makes us believe that voices of dissent should be raised again and again.

The political parties were also on campus almost as soon as the news broke out in the media. Local politicians came and promised to speak to higher party officials and support the student's cause for getting justice. By Tuesday morning some big political names were en route to our campus. Over the last two days of protest political leaders came, met protesting students and shared words of solidarity. Shopcom, the daily meeting point of students on campus was suddenly cordoned off. Among the bevy of security personnel, RAF and police the sense of insecurity increased for many campus residents. The approach to Shopcom at a point of time was blocked with swanky SUVs and our spaces were no longer the way we remembered them, and no longer ours. Through all this the student community tried to hold on to its cause. The Joint Action Committee kept on reminding everyone, politicians and students alike, that "the struggle is ours". While all are welcome in solidarity, the movement began, and shall remain, that of students.

In the last two days of protest, students have walked the length and breadth of campus in rallies agitating against a callous and apathetic administration. Slogans filled the campus air even as the police and RAF stood guard.

Rohith tere Sapnon ko

Hum Manzil tak Pahunchayenge "Rohith Hum Sharminda Hai

Tera Katil Zinda Hai" "Jai, Jai, Jai, Jai Bhim,

Phule, Ambedkar, Kanshiram" "Johar Rohith Vemmula" "Rohith Vemmula Lal Salaam"

"Rohith Vemmula Neel Salaam" "Tum Ek Rohith Maroge..

Har Ghar Se Rohith Niklega"

These slogans are reflective of a wide range of emotions the student community has experienced in the hours that followed Rohiths death. Along with invoking Rohiths memory and saluting his sacrifice, these slogans bring out the sense of shame, guilt and dejection that each of us in this campus community experiences in not having been able to prevent such an incident. They also remind us of the fight that still remains to be fought for the marginalized and unheard voices amongst us. The energy that they disseminate gives us a ray of hope , while reminding us that there is still a long way to go.

In the seven years we have spent in the University of Hyderabad, this campus has been witness to many protests and agitations. What made the events of last two days unique for us was a sense of common loss which loomed on all our minds and the way in which a large section of the campus community came together forgetting their immediate differences.

Over the last two days, common themes in all our conversations have been the sense of loss, pain and utter hopelessness. Rohith's death and the events thereafter changed us and the way we look at our campus for good. Even as we type these words down the struggle continues at shop com with a feeble hope for justice. University of Hyderabad is still trending on national media and other social networking sites. Words of consolation and words of solidarity continues to pour in. More big names promise to visit campus. However, justice still eludes Rohith and everyone associated with him on this campus. What awaits the future of this campus, only time can tell. It has become obvious , to all of us who live in this space, that there is an urgent need to fight wherever and whenever justice is at stake.

Aparna Vincent is a Ph.D Scholar in the Department of Political Science, University of Hyderabad. Her current research is on Rhetoric and Symbolism in Protest Politics.

Sinjini Bhattacharya is a Ph.D Scholar in the Department of Political Science, University of Hyderabad. Her areas of interest include Religious Politics in India, Peace and Conflict Studies and Conflict Transformation.




A Posthumous Interview With Rohith Vemula

By C.P Surendran

21 January, 2016

Dailyo.in

CP SURENDRAN (CPS): Why did you take this extreme measure? And you have used for your hanging the blue banner of the Ambedkar Students Association? Are you making a statement?

Rohit: What am I supposed to do? I have been out there with my friends, living in the open, for close to 15 days for a fight with an ABVP leader that never quite happened. Nandanam Susheel Kumar says we beat him up, but his doctor now says he was in the hospital for an appendicitis operation. Its all like a movie just now, and its taking place in a lot of heads. I used the ASA banner to hang myself because I couldnt find anything handy. Also, it gave me a sense of camaraderie in my last moments.

CPS: Your first letter to the Hyderabad University vice-chancellor makes fun of him for not taking active steps to stop what you think is the persecution of Dalit students.

Rohit: That mans problem is his career. I wrote that hurried sarcastic letter to Professor Appa Rao (and it was not good English, I admit) fully knowing nothing would come of it. The tone of the letter comparing him to Donald Trump was not likely to persuade him on a course of positive action. In any case, he would have done nothing, because in the final count, all of us want to have an office and an income. God knows what he must have gone through to reach the position of a vice-chancellor. Cant have been easy, Brahmin or not. Why would he risk it especially since the union minister of education, Smriti Irani, and let's not get into her qualifications because there are none, had asked in writing four to five times as to why no action has been taken against us. Which vice-chancellor will not have a heart attack when he sees the three lions of the government of India lying on his table, and one of them staring right into his eyes?

CPS: You were a talented child

Rohit: Perhaps, academically. But when you see the little stills of my home, my mothers sewing machine, the tacky red fridge and plastic chairs now, what you are seeing is progress, by a 100 times. So imagine what it was like when I was a child. When you are an untouchable and smart, you have no idea where you are going no matter how well you perform in class. You become a little mad. Dr Ambedkar was a little mad at his country. Its that madness which he used to go to Columbia and become a great man. You are not likely to understand this. This is a country with several time zones at the same time. People like us are living in the middle of the 19th century. There are manual scavengers, also untouchable, who live in the eighth century. And then there are well-to-do urban elite who live in the future.

CPS: There is a lot of difference between your first letter, which talks about the cruel treatment of Dalit students in the university, and then the more philosophical suicidal note, which says:

"I always wanted to be a writer. A writer of science, like Carl Sagan. At last, this is the only letter I am getting to write...Our feelings are second handed. Our love is constructed. Our beliefs coloured. Our originality valid through artificial art. It has become truly difficult to love without getting hurt. The value of a man was reduced to his immediate identity and nearest possibility. To a vote. To a number. To a thing. Never was a man treated as a mind. As a glorious thing made up of star dust

Here too your language seems under pressure. The sentences are disjointed. You begin by saying you wanted to be another Carl Sagan and in the third sentence you have moved to "it has become truly difficult to love without getting hurt". Are you generally saying we dont get to live our dreams? But isnt that the real Indian problem? Ambedkars Constitution assures us equality of opportunity on paper. But as a people we are denied the pursuit of happiness, because even Ambedkar thought it was a bit much? It's like some sort of chimera meant only for a few?

Rohit: When you are about to end your life, the language is not what you think of. Its the enormity of what you are about to do. Theres a point you reach in your mind. And you help yourself with rationalisations. I thought of my terrible childhood, the poverty, the desertion by my father, the insecurity and fears, the accident of my Dalit birth and so on. I am sure a million others have had similar experiences, yet we go on, dont we, as if nothing has happened? Because we dont think happiness is our goal.

We see the naked kids begging in the street; I cant remember a single instance of a minister or a vice-chancellor or anyone powerful stopping his car, and calling up a concerned department or have the children adopted by an agency. We see suffering. We see a Rohit Vemula right there, or an Ambedkar, and we have sped by to our jobs and to our lives, which are tough enough without getting involved in some other drama. I think I have come to the end of my rope or my politics because I find all of it a bit too much. It makes no sense: Die now, die later. Its all the same, isnt it? A good suicide is one where time is laughed at. At this point I dont feel much. Its as if I am acting out a scene in a movie.

CPS: You say in your letter, please dont bother, that there should be no violence after your death.

Rohit: What else can I say? I wish the world went up in flames. But somehow that doesnt seem the right thing to say when one is ending ones insignificant life. I just wish the government gave money they owe me in scholarship to my family. Some Rs 1,75,000. It all comes down to that. I have often wondered why my scholarship never comes on time.

CPS: Are you saying Smriti Irani has time to shoot off letters to the V-C demanding action against you, but no time to discipline the workings of her department?

Rohit: You are saying it, arent you? All this love and awe of the IITs and IIMs. If only they got some primary schools going with good teachers who dont beat the shit out of kids!

All of it comes from a lack of respect for individual life. We are just too many. The more you think of this awfully stupid country, the more awfully stupid your life situation comes across as. Albert Camus was right when he said the biggest philosophical question of the 20th century was to end ones life or not. He concluded life was the real option. I think its the other way.

I am not blaming anyone. I am not bitter. I am just saying, I am done. Really, truly done.

C.P Surendran's 3rd novel , Hadal , was published last year . His fifth volume of poetry, Available Light , is scheduled to come out later this year . He is the former editor in chief of DNA






Rohith Vemulas Suicide Shows The Need For A Politics Of Intersection

By Kishalaya Mukhopadhyay

21 January, 2016

Countercurrents.org

Rohith Vemulas suicide is part of a long procession of incidents of systematic violence and discrimination against the Dalits of the country. It would be far too simplistic to just pin the blame flatly on the state or the Hindutva brigade, both of which certainly are partially responsible for the institutional murder of Rohith. As an article in Countercurrents points out (Pattanayak, 2016), even the progressives, liberals and the Left, who are supposed to be the flag-bearers of the struggle against all forms of oppression, have to shoulder the blame. As the article referred to argues, it is indeed true that the Indian academicia is largely dominated by upper caste left liberals. This is not to suggest that instead of people like Romila Thapar we should rather have historians who suggest that ancient India had developed aeroplanes or nuclear bombs. The point is that while the leftists, largely dominated by the Marxist Leninist variety, claim to be the vanguards of all those who are marginalized, they have historically considered identity issues like those of gender, caste, ethnicity to be subordinate to class. One can still find many veteran or even young communists walking in a rally related to gender oppression who will reveal their dogmatic class reductionist mindset.

But why are we discussing this now? Shouldnt we be protesting and condemning Rohiths murder? There, this is precisely what the left, old and rusty and impervious to new ideas, would love to cry out loud. They would bring forth concepts like reactive politics, as in giving an immediate reaction to an act of injustice, as opposed to proactive protest, which is supposedly a long term political project. But this is really old wine in a new bottle. We are fairly familiar with the distinction traditionally drawn between economistic and political goals, reformist and revolutionary approaches and so on, especially by our Marxist Leninist comrades. The point is, while it may be useful at times to set apart the short term from the long term to arrive at a consensus over what to do next, what is problematic is the total suspension of the latter for facilitating the former. This actually translates into presentism  an obsession with immediate action by totally avoiding a dialectical engagement with ideological principles. A cliched question arises at this point with a rather cliched answer to it, but nonetheless needs to be reiterated as the matter stands unresolved why do the leftist forces do this? The answer to this lies somewhere in the spectrum between they are opportunists and they are well intentioned but they sometimes get temporarily derailed. The intention of this essay is not to make a moral assessment of the left, but to point out some stark realities which need to be reflected upon. The bitter truth is that a large section of the leftist organizations see some new recruitments to their cadre base or as one leftist comrade pointed out once, the mere creation of a spectacle (you know, media attention and all) as success. Of course, it would be wrong to suggest that a movement is a failure just because it doesnt achieve some desired goals. But it is equally ridiculous to start blowing trumpets just because some University VC has resigned.

Which brings us back to Rohith Vemulas suicide. The left in India has already started putting the blame squarely on the fascist state, the Sangh parivar and so on. They are happy to have created a spectacle  injured protesters after clashes with police who have generously returned the favor with baton charge and water cannon. But once again, the left has emphasized on showing immediate reaction without any sincere engagement with the complexity of the issue. The practice of having sectarian squad rallies, for instance, in which effigy of a convenient and tangible enemy is burnt (in this case, perhaps VC of University of Hyderabad or BJP Minister Bandaru Dattatreya), must be seen as a logical extrapolation of the reductionist compulsiveness of leftist political praxis. One may object at this point, saying if we instead burn effigy of an abstract target like Brahmanical hegemony, most people will not be able to relate. But what are the leftists doing to help people relate? Let alone engaging with society at large, even within their own organizations, there is a lack of sensitization and engagement on complex issues especially relating to identity, as it would either mean questioning their own long standing views which they hold as gospel truth and are ready to defend by spewing quotes and jargon with little regard to coherence or relevance, or pissing off some cadres embracing conservatism. There is a culture of imposed-from-above consensus building within the organizations, which discourages critical thinking. The inevitable result of this is that a vast number of people are still not able to figure out the difference between a Rahul Gandhi offering solidarity with Rohith Vemula, obviously doing so purely for narrow parliamentary power politics and the lefts ritualistic rallies, barricade breakings, voluntary arrests, sloganeering and burning of effigies without clarifying their politics. It is tempting to ask if there is effectively any difference at all! It is perhaps not so surprising then that sections of the Dalit activists find the slogans of upper caste dominated leftist organizations much like the mantras of the Brahmin priest!

But it is not just the left of the orthodox Marxist variety but those pursuing identitarian politics (like LGBTQAI community activists, Dalit activists, ethnicity based separatist activists etc.) who need to introspect as well. There may be many approaches towards the meaning of identity, but one interesting way to look at it would be from the angle of oppressor or oppressed identity. Context decides whether a particular identity is oppressed or oppressor. Add to this formulation the understanding that all of us are carrying multiple identities all the time. So a person may have to face discrimination as a Dalit but if he is a capitalist, he is also an oppressor in a different dimension. Depending on the context, the person or others may choose to give emphasis on any of these identities as the relevant site for offering resistance. If a Dalit capitalist faces some kind of social boycott because of his Dalit identity, this is the identity that may become the focus of the immediate political reaction, but without forgetting the other identities that he may carry (capitalist or worker, fat or slim, beautiful or ugly) and the meanings they carry in different contexts. There is an obvious advantage of this approach over the one that uses an analytical framework that universalizes the primacy of a particular identity as the core site of oppression (and consequently resistance). This formulation resolves the problem of finding a practical political expression of the theoretical position of intersection among various forms of oppressions and identities.

One of the main reasons why a Dalit activist would tell a non-Dalit leftist also interested in fighting caste oppression that the latter just wont get it(what is often called standpoint politics) is because of a lack of trust, which is not surprising given the current practices and track record of the left with regard to identity issues (other than class) which was discussed a little earlier. Much of identity politics also uses the same approach as the dogmatic Marxist one  that of giving primacy to a particular identity as the main one (the fallacy of such an approach has already been outlined  no such overarching identity exists that can account for all forms of oppression within that category)  partly as a reaction to the Marxist or orthodox class reductionist dogmatism, it may be argued. An important disclaimer is in order at this juncture  it is not being suggested as some indeed do, that no meta narrative can be offered. Instead, the above formulation is an invitation to paying closer attention to multiple identities that co-exist simultaneously and have complex interactions among each other. Instead of sweating over trying to find the common minimum program based on interests, it would be much easier to forge solidarity on the basis of mutual empathy.

Kishalaya Mukhopadhyay, independent activist and blogger; associated with an initiative called The Commons; teaches Media Studies and pursuing MPhil in Development Studies from Institute of Development Studies, Kolkata.

Pattanayak, S. (2016, January 19). Rohith Vemula: Indian Left And the Dalit Student Suicides. Retrieved January 20, 2016, from Countercurrents: http://www.countercurrents.org/pattanayak190116.htm

Marx, K. (1970). Preface. In A contribution to the critique of political economy. New York: International.




Condemn Casteist Actions of Hyderabad University Authorities

By PUDR

21 January, 2016

Countercurrents.org

PUDR strongly condemns the authorities of the Central University of Hyderabad for their caste based victimisation of Dalit students, which, on 17th January, 2016, resulted in Rohith Vemula , a Dalit Research Scholar in Science Technology and Society Studies in the University, committing suicide. Rohith was one of five Dalit research scholars, student leaders and activists of Ambedkar Students Association (ASA), who were expelled from the hostel, prohibited from entering the administrative building and common spaces on the University Campus as per orders issued by the VC on 16 Dec., 2015.



Following extensive protests today by Dalit and other rights groups, in Hyderabad and other cities, Gadchibowli police have been forced to accede to the protestors demands. The Union Minister of State for Labour, Bandaru Dattatreya has been booked under the SC-ST Prevention of Atrocities Act, and abetment to suicide, IPC . As per news reports, charges of abetment have also been filed against the VC, University of Hyderabad, and two ABVP, Hyderbad unit leaders, including Susheel Kumar, President, ABVP, Hyderabad University unit.



Bandaru Dattattreya had been instrumental in the actions taken by the University authorities. In the wake of allegations made by Susheel Kumar against ASA activists in August 2015, he had written to the MHRD drawing attention to growing casteist, extremist and anti-national activities on Campus, and ironically accusing the University of a partisan passivity. ASA was cited as an example of such politics, having not only protested against capital punishment to Yakub Memon, but according to the Minister, as also having beaten up Susheel Kumar of ABVP when he opposed them. In this regard, it needs to be remembered that the ASA is a very active Dalit students organisation with a growing reach and presence in HUC.



The VCs orders, enforcing the boycott of the five student,s, were based on two inquiries, one by the Proctorial Committee, and a second Sub-Committee of the Executive Council, into a police complaint by Susheel Kumar accusing the five students, of having beaten and abused him. The blatantly biased nature of these two reports is evident from their contradicting the initial findings of the Proctorial Committee whereby the accused students had been given a clean chit. The VCs actions were thus in absolute complicity with Dattatreyas.



Let us not forget that such discrimination is an everyday reality. Statistically, 2 in 100 Dalits make it to institutes of higher education, and have to face discrimination in various forms, at every step. As the documentary Death of Merit based on data generated by dalit students across universities revealed, between 2007 and 2012, 19 Dalit students in premier institutes of higher education in India committed suicide as a result of traumatic experiences of being victims of caste-based discrimination. Of these, 4 were from Hyderabad. Also as per TOI March 2013 report, there were 9 suicides from universities in Hyderabad of which 8 belonged to SC/ST/OBC community and 1 to minority community. In 2014, Aniket Ambhore, fourth year electrical engineering student at Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, committed suicide by falling from the sixth floor of a hostel inside the campus. Caste-based discrimination causing tremendous stress was given as a reason. In a typical illustration of the administrations casteist character, when, after Dalit research scholar Senthil Kumars suicide in HCU, the committee protesting against the University Administration demanded an enquiry and compensation, the Registrars response was that there was no such provision in university guidelines. The horrific callousness of the administration was once again visible in the forced and hurried cremation of Rohiths body, with no consideration for his family and friends sentiments. How little has changed is apparent from the fact that in the year 2002, when 10 Dalit scholars were rusticated by the University of Hyderabad administration for questioning corruption, the Chief Warden responsible for the action, was none other than the current Vice-Chancellor!



It is a telling comment on the casteist nature of our society that it has taken the death of one student, ostracisation and harassment of four others, lathi charges, use of water cannons, and huge police deployment continued for criminal action to be initiated in what are out and out instances of caste based victimisation of Dalit students, and atrocities punishable under the law, and the Constitution.



Much still remains to be done if Rohiths death is not to go waste. In the interests of justice, PUDR asks all democratic sections to join us in demanding:

>> Immediate revocation of the VCs orders expelling the 4 other scholars-Dontha Prashantha, Seshu Chemudugunta, Vijay Kumar, P.Sundar ,Sunkanna Velpula >> The VC and Susheel Kumar be booked under the Prevention of Atrocities Act for their malicious actions resulting in Rohiths death. >> Probe by the SC- ST Commission into the workings of the two committees.



>> Setting up of active mechanisms in Universities for redressal of caste-based grievances

Moushumi Basu and Deepika Tandon

(Secretaries)

pudr@pudr.org




Rising Ambedkarite Assertion Is The Biggest Challenge To Brahmanical Hegemony In India

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

21 January, 2016

Countercurrents.org

Hyderabad Central University scholar Rohit Vemulas tragic death has created a sense of grief and outrage all over the country. Students are at unease and the nation perhaps for the first time after years reflecting the somber mood that something terribly wrong has happened. Rohiths extraordinary letter in death has become a classic perhaps for every one of us to keep us, read and reread it and ponder over as who is responsible for Rohiths untimely death.

There are a number of people right from the right-winger to left thinkers to Ambedkarites who are decrying Rohiths suicide while many making this act as a heroic. I want to make it very clear that Rohith was not a coward even when his last act showed that he had lost hope from all corners perhaps including his own people who he might have thought would help him. We are happy that teachers are not taking classes and seeking revocation of the suspension of these students but why has it taken so long since August. Cant we understand and read a young sensitive mind who come under tremendous pressure with loads of hope from families that their children will study and will get a job. Definitely many become vocal in politics and social movements which is important but none can deny that the hope and aspirations of their parents is that they will study and find a stable honorable lives for them. Hence, Rohith did not get justice from the University, which remain absolute brahmanical in nature with Dronacharayas sitting and wanting every one to become an Eklavya. Todays Ambedkarite students are not ready to become Eklavya and that is the root cause of brahmanical games of saam daam dand bhed to crush the revolutionary spirit of Ambedkarism which has become the main challenging ground to brahmanical hegemony. Therefore, it is important to understand that while the parochial brahmanical forces were doing their work what did we do or plan to do in future to stop such desperation of our bright young children. We cant allow this to happen but for that we need lot of introspection, which people ignore deliberately in their blame game, which of course is well known to all of us. My only point is that it is time we create a strong support and solidarity group of people in every city which not only support them in their future endeavors but most importantly act on time to suggest the right guidance which does not destroy their life due to our rhetoric and jargons.

After May 2014 elections, the Hindutva forces have been active in the University campuses all over the country as education is the most important sector for the Sangh Parivar. ABVP is hyper active and they are after all those who differ with them. Ambedkarite students have become the biggest threat for them apart from the left. The Hindutva was quite comfortable with Congresss upper caste seculars who did not change radically. The left associations and student Unions in the past had been anti reservationists and therefore there was a huge credibility crisis particularly whenever question of their relationship with the Dalit Bahujan organisations came into focus but off late organisations like AISA have been raising this issue and worked more on the Dalit issues which is a positive side. Dalit groups too have understood that if there is a possibility of alliance it could only be with the left progressive elements who have to focus not just on imperialism and capitalism of international variety but Brahmin bania imperialism in India too. Unless we speak unambiguously on the brahmanical imperialism in India and the way it enslaved people and tried to crush their spirit, we cant really eliminate it. The Ambedkarite-PeriyaristPhule-ite Bahujan philosophy and social action has revitalized the entire movements and they become the real challenge for the brahmanical elite class who are ready to discuss pros and cons of international terrorism, American imperialism and capitalism but glorify Indian culture as the most tolerant. So the Hindutva is comfortable in countering every one on international ground or when you start speaking on Islam as they want to look more liberal in all terms than the theocratic Saudi regime. Dalit Bahujan discourse is a nightmare for Hindutva intellectuals as well as those who claim to be liberal. I can vouch many of the so-called intellectuals, sarkari babus in our secretariat; professors in our universities have filled with filth regarding Ambedkar. Once you speak to them their faces turn pale. Dalit Bahujan discourse actually exposes the brahmanical myth of tolerance and multiculturalism and therefore there are attempt to crush this spirit through various means. When you fail through a counter arguments then bring the power of administration to suppress these voices. Yes, the biggest power to crush rising Dalit Bahujan assertion in India is actually brahmanical manipulation in power circles whether it is administration, judiciary and finally horizon of media which is totally in the control of corporate misinterpreting everything.

I would just narrate one incident on January 18th at the Shastri Bhavan in Delhi when the students of various Universities in Delhi protested. The media was making a mockery of the students. Some of the photographers were aiming to take photographs of some of the girl students who were standing at one corner talking among them, perhaps smoking. The photographers wanted to take a photograph perhaps for a negative comment. There was verbal altercation when a girl stopped them to take photograph or video of a private affair. The reporter including the Times Now was angry and was shouting, if we put our cemara down, the police will beat them up and none would care for them.. aukat samajh aa jayegi he said. Many of the reporters wanted to walk out from the place but perhaps the incident was so powerful that they could not do so. At four when all the students came from JNU, the police did not give them time and started using water cannon. I was taking photographs but became very upset and in exasperation I shouted this is unethical. A media photographer who was taking photographs asked why you think police is wrong? How will they handle these students who are hooligans. Does the media feel that the protesters have no right to protest against something wrong has happened? We can understand polices duty but when there is section 144 then why police allow the protest? When the protest is there why cant the Ministers or bureaucrats come and speak to students? Why they allowed the students to be handled by the police who misbehaved with them.

Today, HRD Minister Smriti Irani said this is not a caste issue. BJP is trying to convey that Bandaru Dattratreya is a backward caste person. A TRS MP said on TV that the Rohith was not a Dalit. What do they want to convey. They say that Rohith has not charged any one in his letter written before suicide and that he was suffering from depression. We want to ask who called Rohith anti national? Why is the Sangh Parivar not allowing students to organize seminars, conferences of their choices including film, Mujaffarnagar abhi baki hai when they can bring a Subrahmanyan Swamy to Delhi University and organize a seminar on Ayodhya. The entire government machinery is clearly visible here in the service of brahmanical forces and the real threat for them come from the Ambedkar-Periyar-Phule discourse and therefore attempt to deify Ambedkar and deny his literature to people and crush the spirit of those who swear by his idealism. Many of our friends were upset with political leaders visiting Hyderabad University but why are two chief minister M/s KCR and Chandra Babu Naidu silent on the issue? The PM who tweet every day has kept quiet so far though he speak through his arrogant spokesperson appearing on various corporate channels.

Rohiths letter to Vice Chancellor on December 18th is widely been ignored where he calls him worst than Donald Trump and asked him to give suicide pills and a rope to all the Dalit students so that the University can live in peace. This is a castigation of the entire structure of Hyderabad University, which has seen shameless caste discrimination over the year. There are reports that around reports that in the past 15 years over 10 Dalit students have committed suicide inside the Hyderabad University Campus, which indicate how the University has become a slaughterhouse for the Ambedkarite Dalit students. We dont know whether the University ever felt necessity to look into these affairs as why one community of students feeling suffocated and isolated. Unfortunately, in the caste ridden Indian academia the answer to these questions would be that they dont have merit or the people suffering from depression or other psychological disorder as the Sangh Parivar elements are now claiming about Rohith.

Sangh Parivars lie machine is at work. Having been exposed on the issue of their anti-Dalit stand, they are now trying to save face and charging Rohith and other students with various charges including being arrogant and terming every one as brahmanical who disagree with them. The fact is that Rohiths letter to vice chancellor is an eye opener and it is surprising why the VC did not even bother to speak to him and other boys. Was it because they were Dalits and particularly Ambedkarites ? It is now coming to light now that the action taken against Rohith and his friends were on the basis of order from Union HRD Minister Ms Smriti Irani who claimed that her Ministry does not interfere in the University administration. Ms Irani has become the hallmark of what is ailing our educational system. She has lost the plot as she continue to play in the hands of Sangh Pracharaks who are determined to destroy our education system and corrupt it with their brahmanical thoughts. It is not without doubt that people like Deenanath Batra are welcome in the HRD while a sinister campaign is launched against the respected historians terming them as left wing. It looks as if the Ministry is on the fast mode to change everything, which has rightly been defined by Sitaram Yechury as Hindutva Revival Department (HRD). The letter written by Smriti Irani on the instance of another Minister from the state Mr Bandaru Datratreya clearly violate the autonomy of an institution which Ms Irani is claiming so proudly to show her innocence.

The worst part is the Hindutva machinery outside is terming now that Rohith was suffering from some mental disorder or depression because his friends had not supported him. Whether Rohiths friend supported him or not is another matter but in this case the Hindutvas monsters can not shy away from the fact that they are prima facie the people who were responsible for his death. The Vice Chancellor of the University was simply an administrator who did not stand in front of the pressure being put by the political leaders and a letter from HRD minister was treated like an order.

Today, many in the media are crying how a Dalit student has faced the wrath. Some are suggesting that this is not caste violence but a case of two groups fighting with each other and political leaders jumping in to support their group. This is a clear attempt to deflate the whole issue of caste prejudices prevalent in our institutions. Sanghs open agenda is to kill the rebellion spirit among students particularly those with Ambedkarite stream hence it is working on multiple agenda. One side, it is pushing Ambedkar to a demi god status by erecting memorials many of which were being demanded by Dalits for years but at the same point of time it need to be know whether the government is sincerely created these monuments or spending money from Special Component Plans for Dalits. At the time when Dalit scholars are not getting scholarship, when the government has stopped all the welfare measures in our villages, when the land and livelihood of our people are being snatched to make way for big corporations to loot them, it is Hippocratic to think that this government respect Ambedkar and his socialist vision. Ambedkar might have issues with various political leaders of his time but it does not mean he was pro Sangh or pro capitalist both of whom he despised terming the Hindu Raj as calamity for the nation. The government has clearly do not believe in Ambedkars socialist agenda and hence the students and all the followers of Dr Ambedkar who are alive because of his writings and life for the cause have become a threat for the Hindutva status quoists. As Ambedkar said, he would love if there were Voltaires here who could dissent against the brahmanical hegemony, which that was complete. Today, this hegemony is being challenged by none other than young revolutionary Ambedkarites who did not pick up guns but who with their thoughts and ideas have become the biggest dissenters of our time against Brahmanism which is being claimed by Bandaru Datratreya and others like him as being anti national. Yes, speaking against brahmanical crookedness in India is next to being anti-national in the eyes of those who did nothing except selling this nation to foreign multinationals and were absolutely absent during our freedom struggle.

Institutions feel offended if you suggest you want to speak to student on Ambedkars vision of India. We have faced this many times. At one premier institution in Delhi where I was a guest speaker two years back, I was not allowed to speak by a senior faculty when I raised caste question. Can you imagine this happen in a prestigious medical college of Delhi and student and faculty remain helpless as none wanted to disturb. The brahmanical status-quoists under this government have been blowing their trumpet very high. They have become extra powerful thinking they can do anything at their whims and fancies because they think nothing would happen to them.

The education system suffers from the Dronacharya syndrome. The teachers dont want Dalit students. If they are there, they want to make them mainstream which means you dont ask any uncomfortable question but most of the time complains about you. Most of them are patronizing and at many central Universities, which I call, have been converted to merely primary schools where master scholars are suppose to just listen. Many of the students who wanted to speak to me about their subjects stop because they suggest that if they write of what I tell them will not fetch them good marks. So even if you dont like Lord Rama or can expose the entire Ramayana or Gandhi, you have to love them in your answer-sheets otherwise you may lose good marks. What kind of institutions are we making? What kind of students will we create where you have to just appreciate the brahmanical dharma as the best culture of the world, the most tolerant, vibrant and in this context the Dalit Bahujan thought is a direct challenge. None other apologetic of tolerance brand will challenge it as the brahmanical supremacy has to be exposed through their own mythological crookedness and when you force students to write about their greatness then one can understand what kind of scholar will we create from the corrupted institutions.

Go to any university and seek the books of social sciences. How many of our students in the schools and colleges know about Savitri Bai Phule, Joti Rao Phule, EVR Periyar, Sahu Ji Maharaj or even Bhagat Singh. All the students have known to these icons through their socializing and external efforts and not through our regular curriculum where you find Gandhi, Ram Mohan Roy, Vivekananda, Dayananda Saraswati and many more. Ambedkar is reduced to the constitutional drafter and Bhagat Singh, a hotheaded person who disagreed with Gandhi. Now we are getting new icons in history who are Deen dayal Upadhyaya and his integral humanism, Veer Savarkar who sought relief from the British and apologized, Shayama Prashad Mukherjee and many others who mostly sided with the British.

Definitely our educational institutions are under the brahmanical assault which got emboldened under the new power elite took over India but Rohiths death has a lot to be answered by all others who were he close associate. Many friends suggest he should have fought but we must realize he was fighting since August so what has happened? Why did he commit suicide? Why did he write that he is still alone and felt unwanted since childhood? A person who is with the social movements and yet feeling lonely is a big answer to many things. We must understand that as a student his first aim was to complete his education as he was carrying a lot of hope from the family and friends who were supporting that time. Since August, he had not got his scholarship money from the university and for the past 12 days he was out in open. People came and joined hand but it too delayed response when the things were lying since August. Why is that we could not resolve this issue? Why is that friends in and around Hyderabad who might be in the faculty, teachers, academics, administrators ever tried to resolve this issue which should not have been a big deal even if the Sangh was asking for their rustication. Was Rohith frustrated that there was no solution in the sight and that merely sitting on hunger strike or dharna is not going to take him anywhere? It happens. We have seen when we fight for a cause. Many times the cause is left deep aside and the leaders carry one with the issue. Their interest is not in solving the issue but carrying it forward, making noise. These are dark realities of our time. You might be looking the issue from your big angle but for those for whom every single minute remaining outside and losing their time is painful, agonizing is a terrible wait. People dont wait when justice is delayed whether by the delaying tactics of people or legalities of judiciary. For a young fresh sensitive mind, these are hard to bear. He fell to it. Definitely that is not a crime. It is our abject helplessness. When one sees no solution in sight he become a loner or at the end lose hope in everything including himself. When one sees becoming a tamasha himself a sensitive soul will walk out. That is the reality of our time. I can vouch for it as I have passed through this phases in my life feeling utterly lonely from childhood and it remain till today even when I am very active with people. It is terrible. We can fight with our enemies but we become helpless when those we expect to support and stand with us are not there or just using it. Dalit Students need peer support groups who are in effective positions around them, who can guide them and resolve the issue through negotiations or even by approaching to right authorities or courts. Young minds cannot sit on indefinite dharnas in front of those where none listen to you, this deaf and dumb government but from our side, we cannot afford to lose them and hence it is the duty of those who can influence administration and staff locally. Universities must be given clear guidelines, as they have no right to destroy the career of students and must be given everything in writing. The government departments whether educational institutions or secretariat never give anything in writing or never even acknowledge a letter. This must be made mandatory as what efforts the institution did to bring the students back to his studies. Universities or law cannot be for retribution otherwise there is no difference between us and IS.

The University Vice Chancellor need to own the responsibility apart from the Union HRD Minister and the other minister Bandaru Datratreya. As I said Dalit students face deep rooted prejudices in our campuses and isolation is not the issue. Will the government ask the universities to form special committees so when such cases come they are handed sensitively? Can we ask the government to make stricter law so that students do not face harassment because of their caste, identities and ideologies? Let universities and colleges become space for diverse opinion, dissent and sensitive to the cause of society, which will help India in creating an enlightened society. We must remember that youth will revolt against parochial and vicious moral policing of all kind if allowed in the campus. Ambedkarites youths want a modern democratic republic of Dr Ambedkars dream and perhaps that is the biggest challenge for those whose dream a Manuwadi India. Rohiths death has clearly shown the line that it is fight between Manuwad and Manavvad and you have to decide which side of ideology do you wish to associate as your decision will make or break India.

Vidya Bhushan Rawat is a social and human rights activist. He blogs at www.manukhsi.blogspot.com twitter @freetohumanity Email: vbrawat@gmail.com




By Zach Osowski

INDIANAPOLIS  Barely two weeks after the start of session, both ISTEP fix bills are now officially law after being signed by Gov. Mike Pence Thursday.

Senate Bill 200, which will shield schools from A-F grades stemming from the 2015 ISTEP test, passed the Indiana House 97-1 Thursday.

House Bill 1003, shielding teachers from bad ISTEP scores, received unanimous support in the Indiana Senate. Both of the bills are retroactive to last July, well before any scores were released.

"Today we are delivering on a promise," Pence said. "A promise to protect our teachers and our schools during what we all know is a transition year."

During the signing, Pence thanked the leaders of both chambers for their quick work on the two bills and thanked Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz for her leadership on the ISTEP issue, which Ritz predicted could be a problem back in early 2015.

"We appreciate her passion for our kids," Pence said. "Thank you for your leadership on this issue."

Both bills were fast-tracked by the General Assembly after becoming a priority for Pence and legislative leaders.

SB 200 bill will allow schools to choose the highest of their grades from the 2014 and 2015 ISTEP tests. For example, if a school got a "D" this year but a "B" last year, it can keep the "B."

Rep. Robert Behning, R-Indianapolis, is the House sponsor of the bill. He said this bill is a hold-harmless for the schools after the "unfortunate debacle with the implementation of ISTEP."

Behning said the bill does not protect schools who may receive an "F" this year after an "F" last year. Both those failing grades would count towards a potential school takeover.

Behning did say the Indiana State Board of Education is not expected to enforce any takeovers this year. Both Caze Elementary School and Washington Middle School in the Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corp. could be eligible for a takeover if they get an "F" on the 2015 test. Grades will be released Tuesday.

HB 1003 will protect teachers from bad ISTEP grades with a similar idea to SB 200. The law allows teachers to use their ISTEP scores on their year-end evaluation if it helps them. If not, the scores can't be used to determine wages or bonuses. There was no discussion in the Senate on the bill before it passed unanimously.

Before voting on the ISTEP bills, the House Education Committee heard a bill that lawmakers hope will bring more top students into the teaching profession.

House Speaker Brian Bosma is the author of House Bill 1002, which will create a scholarship program for top high school students who want to go into teaching.

Bosma said students in the top 20 percent of their class pursuing a teaching degree would be eligible for a $7,500 per year scholarship. The money would come with stipulations designed to keep the student in education. The loan would be forgiven after five years of teaching at the same school. If the person using the scholarship leaves before five years, they would have to pay the money back.

Bosma said research shows after five years, a teacher is much more likely to stay at a certain school and in the profession.

Although it could be passed this year, HB 1002 would have to be funded next year when lawmakers will craft the next budget. Bosma said, for now, the program would cap at 200 students, which equates to $1.5 million a year.

"Our hope is to attract the best and brightest to education," Bosma said.

John Barnes, a spokesman for the Indiana Department of Education, said this bill could remove some of the cost barriers that are keeping students away from becoming teachers.

"Teachers are not in it for the money," Barnes said. "But they are certainly aware of the economic pressures that exist."

The bill passed the education committee unanimously.
FILE - A teacher's manual for the test sits on a computer table where students take the ISTEP test at Emmons Elementary School in Mishawaka, Ind. Wednesday May 1, 2013. Issues with the computer based testing program have caused some problems with the ISTEP test. The Indiana Department of Education said in a statement that administration of the ISTEP+ exams' online portion resumed Wednesday morning, but that schools are being asked to decrease their daily test load to 50 percent of normal levels until further notice. (AP Photo/Joe Raymond)

By The Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS (AP)  Some Indiana school officials say students faced frozen screens and error messages during a test run of the online ISTEP exam.



Wayne Township Schools superintendent Jeff Butts says many students in the suburban Indianapolis district faced technical troubles during Wednesday's readiness test. A new contractor handled the assessment. Butts tells The Indianapolis Star that students can't afford to have such problems during a timed exam.



Greenwood schools officials say they sent students back to class when the readiness test wouldn't load.



Pearson Education is running the ISTEP exam that begins in February under a $33 million, two-year contract. Pearson spokesman Scott Overland says the practice test is designed to stress the system so problems can be corrected.



Similar glitches occurred under previous vendor CTB/McGraw Hill.
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By Susan Orr of the Courier and Press

The Indiana Department of Labor has issued a safety order against Pittsburgh Glass Works' Evansville site following a small fire in which an employee was injured.

Pittsburgh Glass Works, also known as PGW, makes automotive glass. Its Evansville plant, which employs about 525 people, is off U.S. 41 North, at 424 E. Inglefield Road in Northern Vanderburgh County.

State officials issued the safety order against the company on Jan. 6, and the document was posted on the Department of Labor's website several days ago.

PGW's Human Resources Director, Debbie Castrale, said the fire happened July 8 at a work station. She said several employees responded to the scene with fire extinguishers. One of them inhaled both smoke and fire extinguisher spray, and was hospitalized overnight as a result, she said.

According to the safety order, the fire happened at a grinding machine that had either a low level or no coolant in it. On the floor below the machine were absorbent rags and mats saturated with cutting oil and grinding fluid. The fire started when a spark from the machine fell onto the mats and rags.

The report also said that portable fire extinguishers were not placed within the required 75 feet of employees; and that employees were not properly trained in fire extinguisher use.

The state is proposing a combined $10,500 in fines related to these violations.

PGW has scheduled an informal conference with state officials next week to discuss the matter. An informal conference can result in a settlement and a reduced financial penalty.

"We really have fully cooperated with the investigation and have taken several actions to address the concerns. We're going to be talking to the (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) people about those actions," Castrale told the Courier & Press.
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David Hayden

Evansville

Having read Joel Mathis' and Ben Boychuyk's views concerning "Is violence the true face of Islam?," I'll have to say that Boychuyk makes the most sense. Mathis may have some Muslim friends, and some 100 Philadelphia Muslims may have marched in support of the Philadelphia police, but he misses the point about Islam and violence.

Political Islam is the problem with Islam. Political Islam began when Muhammad led his few followers to Medina in 622 A.D. As the religious, political, and military leader of his companions, Muhammad used violent tactics to make his religious and political ideas supreme in Medina by 628 A.D. By 630 A.D. Muhammad had control of Mecca and almost all of Arabia. By his death in 632 A.D., he had gained this control through violence, and yes, he reportedly received well over 100 revelations from his god, Allah, urging Muhammad and his Muslim companions to use violence to spread the faith. After Muhammad's death, the Muslims continued to use violence to spread their influence over Palestine, Syria, present day Iraq, Persia (Iran), Afghanistan, parts of India, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and Spain. All of this took place using violent jihad within a span of 100 years. To deny this history of jihad is to deny the face of militant Islam.

But militant, violent Islam is just one face of Islam, the other face is the one Joel Mathis talks about. A face of Muslims who want to live their lives and faith in peace and abhor the violence perpetrated by Islamic violent jihad. I am all for Muslims who seriously and openly denounce violent jihad. The problem is that political Islam controls the narrative. Muslim reformers like M. Zudhi Jasser, Raheel Raza and many others are marginalized by political Islamists such as The Muslim Brotherhood. the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), other front organizations of the Muslim Brotherhood, and Imams who preach hatred and jihad to bring shari'a law to infidel nations.

We must understand this about Islam: The jihadists take their religion very seriously. They believe they are following the dictates of their Allah. The history of Islam is full of violent jihad to make the world safe for the spread of Islam.

To repeat what has been repeated ad nauseam by those who believe that political Islam is the major threat facing the world today: not all Muslims agree with Islamic Jihad, but those Muslims who do are in control of the narrative. We must understand the jihadist mentality, but not live in fear of it.
Key chain commemorating the states bicentennial made by Steadfast Media are among the items that will be for sale at River City Mercantile. Photo by Heather Vaught

By Abbey Doyle of the Courier and Press

While the The Bitterman Mini Shoppes & Farmers Market closed its doors permanently earlier this month, shoppers looking for a retailer offering local and handmade goods don't have to go far  River City Mercantile is opening next month across the street.

"It is important to downtown," said Mike Miller, who owns the Bitterman Building and the building where River City Mercantile is located. "It is important to the growth of downtown and for the artistic community to have an outlet like this to sell their merchandise."

Miller said the community responded well to the concept of the Bitterman  an indoor farmers market and upscale flea market featuring around 30 vendors  but he decided to close it so he could have more free time for personal reasons. When talking about the impending closure with Bitterman vendor and family friend Heather Vaught, the two discussed her taking on the business.

"I'm happy there will be the outlet moving forward," Miller said. "It's going to be great."

Miller said the plans for the Bitterman to become the new home to an upscale grocery is in the final stages. The local store will focus on healthy food options including vegan and gluten free items on the first floor and gift items and local vendors on the second floor.

Vaught, River City owner, is excited about the new business venture. She owns Steadfast Media, which creates wedding stationery and a line of Evansville pride products. The company has recently created and produced products to celebrate the state's bicentennial and other regional items.

While River City Mercantile will feature many of the same vendors as the Bitterman, she said it will have more a retail and less a market feel. Vaught is bringing in other small vendors from Indiana and across the country. Vendors will include Steadfast Media, Evansville Collective, Drizzle, Ginger Cat Knits, Timberview, Hat & Rabbit, 6th Street Soapery, Nee Nee Ree, Shimmer & Shine, Bruce's Heirloom Rugs, Wilhite Woodworking, Tribe & Trade, Miller Made Collective, Meagan Williams-Delong, Dickinson Woodworking, Conway Goods, Stay Home Club, Explorer's Press, Beholder Badges, Be Handmade and Rifle Paper Co.

River City will be the home of Sunshine Juice Co., serving juices and smoothies. The retailer also will sell brewed Lucid coffee and have a seating area with free Wi-Fi.

"It's going to be a nice retail place for people of all ages to come and get some local and smaller national brands, good handmade items," Vaught said. "There will be a little bit of something for everyone."

The store is undergoing a complete renovation. Wood floors and exposed brick with all new fixtures from Miller Made Collective will give the store an urban, high-end retailer feel, Vaught said.

"We want to give Evansville a different kind of shopping environment," she said. "Somewhere hip where people can come and shop and hang out."

River City hopes to have its grand opening Feb. 5 and 6 with normal business hours 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays at 223 Main Street, next door to Twilight Bistro. Find them on social media @shoprivercity.
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See, before that, labor laws were thought wholly unconstitutional, as they interfered with the free market and all that. People started to accept them only after a bunch of paternalistic buttwads argued that we needed to protect all these feeble, lost women who had somehow stumbled into the workforce. Many started to worry about what would become of the poor dears who were fleeing the nest with no idea how incompetent they were. What if they couldn't compete with the boys and resorted to becoming, as Frank Reynolds calls them, who-ers? They couldn't make up for low wages with long hours because, as one judge argued in a 1908 case, women were simply too weak to work more than 10 hours a day. (Of course, after working 10 hours a day for table scraps, everyone would start to consider prostitution.)

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So when these labor laws were struck down in 1924, it was actually regarded as a win for women's equality. A few years later, though, a little thing called the Great Depression happened, and people started to wonder if they might have taken this whole thing in the wrong direction. In 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act (spearheaded by Frances Perkins, the first woman appointed to the U.S. Cabinet and a feminist icon if there ever was one) established the minimum wage as it exists today -- for people with all types of genitals, this time.
For whatever reason, Wall Street has become obsessed, all of a sudden, with the price of crude oil. Of course there has been a glut in oil for well over a year, but analysts and investors saw no correlation between oil and the value of stocks in other sectors of the market until this month. Now it appears that we have a full-blown crisis centered on plunging oil prices.

To be blunt, we have a president who could care less about the price of oil or oil-related companies. Think about it: That industry has been heavily supportive of Republicans and states such as Texas, the home of President George H.W. Bush and President George W. Bush. This is not exactly beloved political territory for President Obama. That's why Obama gave little thought to the implications of an agreement with Iran that frees up a massive amount of Iranian oil and accelerates the glut.

Up until now the presidential contest on the Republican side has been dominated by issues related to terrorism and immigration. The Democratic candidates have spent their time fighting over who can redistribute wealth the fastest and to the greatest extent. The problem is that by November, the wealth they want to give away might not even be there.

Yes, the decline of China's economy kicked off this year's Wall Street correction, but the entire market appears to be rising or falling in tandem with the price of crude.

This is a serious situation that could spin completely out of control. With the IMF having already warned of an economic slowdown worldwide and the Atlanta Fed's now-revered system of predicting U.S. GDP suggesting growth in the last quarter of 2015 at only .7 percent, talk of a recession is increasing. Yes, it costs a lot less to fill your gas tank, but if the company you work for lays you off due to an economic slowdown, those extra savings won't mean much. We could possibly see housing, manufacturing and retail stop dead in their tracks if this situation does not reverse itself.

And as the presidential-year economic meltdown of 2008 helped put Republicans on the defensive, such an event this year could spell doom for the Democrats.

How would Hillary Clinton defend Barack Obama and John Kerry's idiotic agreement with Iran once Republicans point out how it's freeing up of Iranian crude oil and helping to destroy our economy?

The Republican candidates must address this matter quickly with a plan to stabilize the oil and financial markets before a meltdown takes place. That plan might start with a strong message to Saudi Arabia.

The U.S. government allows sales of military equipment and provides military support for Saudi Arabia, such as in the recent Saudi battle against rebel forces in Yemen. But while we were helping the Saudis last year, they were accelerating the slide in oil prices by refusing to cut production as the glut in oil deepened, in part to kill off U.S. oil producers. Should we be so cooperative with a nation whose intent was  and is  to run our own domestic oil companies out of business?

Years ago the late Secretary of State Alexander Haig told me that Iran's top goal is not the defeat of the United States nor the destruction of Israel. He stated that Iran's greatest goal has been and always will be conquering Saudi Arabia. It was a conversation I have never forgotten. And my guess is it is a concept the Saudis understand all too well.

A presidential candidate who devises a strategy to force the Saudis to reverse their position on oil production, and therefore stabilize both the oil and stock markets, might take true control of the race in the coming weeks. Reminding them of their vulnerability and need for U.S. goodwill and our powerful defense contractors would be a good place to start.

Since the Saudis no longer seem to cooperate with OPEC, perhaps they should be encouraged to form a new "cartel": one with the United States that helps stabilize the price of oil and our financial markets. In exchange for less Saudi oil production, we'll grant the Saudis continued access to U.S. defense systems and assistance.

Matt Towery is a nationally syndicated columnist, pollster, author and attorney. He is the author of the new book "Newsvesting: Use News and Opinion to Grow Your Personal Wealth." To find out more about Matt Towery and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
Microsoft is set to donate US$1 billion in cloud services to non-profit organisations and universities.

In a blog post published today, Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella said the plan is to give access to the same cloud tools to non-profits, charities and researchers that might not be able to afford it.

The program is estimated to reach over 70,000 non-profit and non-governmental organisations globally over the next three years.

If cloud computing is one of the most important transformations of our time, how do we ensure that its benefits are universally accessible? said Nadella.

What if only wealthy societies have access to the data, intelligence, analytics and insights that come from the power of mobile and cloud computing?

According to another blog post from Microsoft president and chief legal officer Brad Smith, a separate Microsoft Cloud non-profit program will be established to manage the fund and provide cloud services globally.

Services that will specifically be included are Microsoft Azure, Enterprise Mobility Suite, CRM Online and Office 365. Researchers will also be granted free Azure storage under the Microsoft Azure for Research program.

Smith also announced that the program will look to fund low-cost broadband connectivity in underserved communities. Microsoft would invest in new technology combined with free cloud services to connect more communities in rural areas around the world.

Our approach reflects the unmet need we see in communities around the world, the confidence we have in the ability of non-profits and researchers to solve these challenges, and the ambition we have for Microsoft Philanthropies to drive digital inclusion and empowerment programs around the world, said Smith.

Nadella is expected to provide more detail on the donation later today at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.
Acurus staff at the Fortinet awards ceremony in Cancun, Mexico.

Melbourne's Acurus has been recognised as Fortinets 'Top 2015 Enhanced Technology Partner for the Asia-Pacific.

Acurus was recognised last week at Fortinets global partner conference in Cancun, Mexico, which was attended by 1,200 partners from 60 countries.

Fortinet Australia senior director Jon McGettigan said that Acurus has "excelled at solving enterprise security challenges by installing and configuring a wide variety of Fortinets high performance solutions in a cost-effective manner.

Acurus is an IT consulting business servicing the healthcare, retail, telecommunications, utilities and insurance industries in Australasia.

Acurus managing director Jason Matser said that Fortinet's attention to detail has been unwavering" and that the company was "delighted" to win the award.

Fortinet is a US-based vendor founded in 2000 by brothers Ken and Michael Xie. The company sells high performance network security products and services including their flagship FortiGate firewall.

"Fortinet's growth and success could not have been achieved without the partnership of all of our resellers and distributors working together with us to deliver security without compromise," Ken Xie said.
Dick Smith, founder of the eponymous electronics reseller, is considering standing in the next federal election as an independent against former speaker Bronywn Bishop.

Farifax Media has reported that the aviation industry has been urging Smith to run for the seat of Mackellar on Sydneys northern beaches.

"I have been asked to stand and I am thinking about it. I would only do it as an independent," he told Fairfax Media. "The first person I would ring if I do decide to stand is Bronwyn, I still consider her a friend."

The politician and the entrepreneur were reportedly friends from childhood, having lived on the same street and attended the same primary school.

Smith told Fairfax that he wanted to fight the "staggering increase" in red tape in non-airline aviation under the current government and that private polling by the aviation lobby indicated he had a good chance of winning.

"They told me they spent money on polling and 'you would romp it in'," said Smith. "I'm concerned that the aviation industry is being completely destroyed under the Coalition."

Bishop herself is a fan of aviation, having forced to stand down from the speakers chair last year after admitting to spending more than $5,000 of public money on a helicopter for a return trip from Melbourne to Geelong, to attend a Liberal Party fundraiser.

Dick Smith started the business named after himself in 1968 as a car radio installation store in Sydney. The venture had become a national electronics retail chain by the time he sold off his interests to Woolworths in 1982. The business was in the headlines earlier this month for falling into receivership while owing $220 million to unsecured creditors.
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Citrix Retiring 'High Touch' Account Restrictions That Were Panned By Partners

Joseph Tsidulko

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Citrix Systems has quietly discontinued a long-standing approach to handling its largest enterprise customers that prevented partners from profiting from those lucrative accounts, and therefore was highly unpopular with its channel.

The "High Touch" designation for massive customers -- typically those with more than 10,000 employees and 5,000 virtualized desktops -- will no longer limit the opportunities Citrix partners typically enjoy to joint sell through two popular rewards programs, the company told CRN.

Under the now-abandoned model, partners couldn't collect Citrix Advisor Rewards (CAR) fees for referring High Touch accounts unless they received a special invitation to participate in the program. And renewal fees for partners through the Subscription Advantage Rewards (SAR) program weren't available for High Touch customers.

[Related: Citrix Makeover: 9 Sweeping Changes Being Demanded By Elliott Management]

Four years ago, the restrictions for both CAR and SAR programs went into effect for 1,100 inaugural High Touch accounts. At the time, the Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based software vendor said the majority of enterprise customers wanted Citrix to directly manage their accounts and provide direct access to internal sales teams.

Some 500 customers currently maintain the High Touch designation, Citrix told CRN.

Kimberly Martin, Citrix's new channel chief, told partners attending the company's partner summit last week in Las Vegas that Citrix was opening to them those enterprise accounts.

"When I came in, I heard a lot about this," Martin told CRN of the High Touch designation. "That our partners didn't like it."

As Citrix revamps its business under the influence of an activist investor, with a pillar of that process being an emphasis on bringing order to its channel, the High Touch restrictions sent the wrong message, she said.

"We're making it simpler and clearer that [partners are] welcome into those accounts," Martin told CRN.

Carl Gersh, a director of sales and marketing for Forthright Technology Partners, a Miramar, Fla.-based Citrix partner, said of the program change: "From a channel perspective, it's big news."

"It's good news for Citrix partners because it rolls back a program that wasn't well-received, to put it mildly," Gersh told CRN. "For partners concerned that Citrix is going to do more stuff direct, it's actually the opposite. They're doing more with the partner community and opening up the accounts."

While partners were never outright prohibited from selling to customers like FedEx or Coca-Cola, Gersh said, that was the de facto consequence of withdrawing the two most-significant incentives for engaging such accounts -- referrals through CAR and renewals through SAR.

And even though High Touch restrictions never affected more than a limited subset of partners, ending the approach has a broader significance for the channel by telegraphing a shift in thinking for the virtualization vendor, Gersh said.

Citrix's Martin told CRN that by making High Touch customers fair game, without restriction, for the channel, Citrix is telling partners it wants to be joint selling into those accounts just like it does for the midmarket.

But the midmarket is where Citrix sees the greatest opportunities for growth for its partner community, she said.

Gersh agreed that "everyone should be thinking about how to sell Citrix to midmarket."

And "the CAR program is phenomenal," Gersh said, adding that he wishes other vendors would adopt a similar incentive model.

Through CAR, Citrix will pay 8 percent to 12 percent to partners who register a referral for an account, even if the customer ultimately buys from another partner or direct from Citrix.

PUBLISHED JAN. 20, 2016
Data center News

Strange Bedfellows: Atlantis, Backed By Cisco, Inks Hyper-Converged Deal With Dell

Matt Brown

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Atlantis Computing, a hyper-converged infrastructure startup funded partly by Cisco Systems, has inked an agreement to sell its solution on Dell servers.

The Atlantis solution is yet another highly valued technology being embraced by legacy vendors eager to grab a piece of the fast-growing hyper-converged market opportunity. Besides investing in Atlantis, Cisco is also partnering with Nutanix rival SimpliVity. In addition, sources say, Cisco is preparing a new hyper-converged appliance based on technology from startup Springpath.

CRN has reported that Cisco has made an undisclosed investment in Springpath and has the option of acquiring the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based startup, which competes with SimpliVity.



[Related: CRN Exclusive: VCE President Says No Plan For Dell, Cisco UCS Is The Way To Go]



Nutanix, SimpliVity and Dell declined to comment for this story.

Integral Networks, Sacramento, Calif., has signed on with Atlantis rather than with Nutanix, which also has an OEM relationship with Dell, said Bryan Badger, president of Integral. He said his company partnered with Atlantis because of its more aggressive price point for midmarket customers and strong solution provider technical support.



"Dell is a huge Nutanix partner. But we didn't feel we had the close technical ties with Nutanix to pull it off on our time frame," Badger said. "Atlantis offered to hold our hand all the way through to help us get started."

Seth Knox, vice president of product marketing at Atlantis, said the agreement with Dell is certain to help drive more Dell hardware sales.

"Partner with everybody -- that's kind of the Dell approach," Knox said. "They just want to sell more hardware, and the more people they partner with, the more hardware they sell. Nutanix can help them do that. We see it as a good thing. When we launched our hyper-scale product line, Dell's strategy with hyper-converged seemed unclear. So we started with the others."

More recently, Dell reached out to Atlantis to be added as a server platform, Knox said. "We saw a lot of demand from customers and partners that were Dell shops that wanted Dell on this platform. So we started working with Dell on adding them to the platform. They moved us toward the FX2 platform. It has good capabilities from a networking perspective and having integrated networking is good from a hyper-converged perspective."



For now, there's room in the market for all the vendors, Knox said. "The market's growing really fast. Definitely over 100 percent CAGR [compound annual growth rate] per year," Knox said. "There's a lot of room. Awareness of the category has gone up dramatically in the last couple of years. A lot of customers are looking to replace traditional systems with hyper-converged. The market will go through the same consolidation cycle [as the rest of the industry] at some point, but will support a lot of different competitors.

"There are a lot of vendors that have jumped into the hyper-converged fray, continued Knox. SimpliVity and Nutanix have substantial customer bases and have established themselves, and [there are] a host of startups that don't have much customer traction. We have a sizable customer base based on the software products, but we're a new entrant from the hardware perspective. We're building momentum very quickly."



By adding the Dell FX2 server to its roster of platforms for its CX-4 system, Atlantis' all-flash hyper-converged buyers can now choose to purchase Dell, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Lenovo or Cisco products as well as an Atlantis-branded server from Super Micro -- all sold 100 percent through the channel.

The CX-4 system is geared toward the remote office/back office market. Knox said these customers generally have no on-site IT staff and prioritize availability.

The CX-4 system on Dell meets those needs, Knox said, and comes in at a price point of around $60,000. The equivalent configuration from Nutanix would cost $87,000 and an equivalent SimpliVity system would cost about $75,000, he said.

"We've designed the system to be able to take advantage of any server vendor, but not be reliant on any one," Knox said. "It's available through distribution, which is important for channel partners. They might have an existing large x86 business based on HP or Lenovo, and prior to us, their options were to resell Nutanix and SimpliVity, and they might be competing against their own x86 business. Now they have the option to use something at a little lower price point."

PUBLISHED JAN. 20, 2016
Security News

FireEye Acquires Threat-Intelligence Analyst iSight

Joseph Tsidulko

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Cybersecurity technology developer FireEye turned the page on a difficult year Wednesday by revealing the acquisition of a prominent threat-intelligence monitoring firm in conjunction with its preliminary financials for the entirety of 2015.

The acquisition of global cyberthreat researcher iSight Partners, based in Dallas, brings under FireEye's roof a threat-intelligence platform that monitors cybercriminals in all corners of the world with the aim of warning customers before debilitating attacks are even launched.

Dave DeWalt, FireEye's CEO, said on an investor call discussing the acquisition that iSight gives FireEye an "attacker view" of cybercrime. That complements the "victim view" delivered by subsidiary Mandiant, and its own "machine view" of cybercrime -- a combination that adds up to "nation-state-grade intelligence infrastructure" for stopping cyberattacks, he said.

[Related: FireEye's Future: 6 Reasons Analysts Are Skeptical About The Security Vendor's Outlook]

FireEye, based in Milpitas, Calif., paid $200 million in cash, with an additional $75 million in performance-based earn-out value for iSight shareholders -- $41 million in cash and 1.8 million shares of FireEye stock.

The acquisition, which closed Jan. 14, was made public after the stock market closed Wednesday, along with preliminary financials that revealed 36 to 38 cents loss per share on quarterly revenue of about $185 million -- results that were within the company's guidance.

DeWalt said the company is closing the year with billings up 35 percent over 2014, and more than triple what they were in 2013, the year of the company's IPO. FireEye closed a record number of transactions, new deals and new customers in 2015, DeWalt said, and iSight's technology and expertise will expand the company's addressable market.

FireEye continues transforming "from a single-product vendor to a complete, intelligence-led threat management platform" with nine components, the CEO said.

DeWalt told investors iSight brings "a different and complementary perspective on threat environment."

By merging "two of the world's leading threat intelligence organizations," FireEye achieves a combination of machine intelligence and human intelligence that's needed to address the escalating threat climate, he said.

FireEye's existing portfolio offers advanced machine learning capabilities that absorb information from tens of millions of virtual machines running in the data centers of more than 4,000 customers, according to the company.

Two years ago, FireEye bought Mandiant, an Alexandria, Va.-based endpoint security and incident response services company that added a human intelligence component obtained from interacting in the field with targeted customers.

Now, iSight's global network of more than 250 threat researchers that track bad actors in 29 languages adds insight into the behavior of the attackers, DeWalt said.

The company studies the tools and techniques of cybercrime, cyberespionage and hacktivism, helping block attacks before they occur through an early-warning system.

That final capability, which is already being integrated into FireEye's platform, will enrich the portfolio FireEye offers to government and commercial entities, he said.

Jane Wright, senior analyst for security at Technology Business Research, told CRN the iSight acquisition was a smart move.

FireEye competitors like Symantec and Intel point to high volumes of threat information that they accumulate from their huge customer bases.

"Being a younger company with a more limited scope, FireEye didnt have firsthand access to as much threat information," she said. "But it will gain this when it acquires iSight Partners."

That will benefit the company's channel by leveling the playing field for FireEye vs. its competition.

"This acquisition will help channel partners feel more confident that FireEye has its finger on the pulse of many of the threats and attacks that are happening overall, not just the ones happening inside FireEye's own customer base," Wright told CRN.

FireEye CFO Mike Berry, in presenting the financial picture, told investors that one of the "key takeaways" should be how the company's journey from a product to a platform impacts the billing mix.

Sales of the company's security appliances are slumping as customers opt for an as-a-service delivery model, he said.

"We're clearly seeing a shift in customer buying behavior to cloud solutions," Berry told investors.

PUBLISHED JAN. 20, 2016
Security News

ForeScout Lands $76M In New Funding, Hits Unicorn Status As It Invests In Beating Cisco

Sarah Kuranda

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There's a new "unicorn" startup on the block: On Thursday, ForeScout Technologies revealed that it had raised $76 million in a late-state funding round that valued the Campbell, Calif.-based security vendor at more than $1 billion.

"We like joining the unicorn club," CEO Michael DeCesare said in an interview with CRN. "From my side, it's nice to see the investors seeing the progress that we're seeing in the business."

The funding round was led by Wellington Management Co. LLP and adds to the $80 million the company had raised to date.

[Related: ForeScout Channel Chief Jumps To Risk Management Vendor Prevalent]

ForeScout has been on an incredible growth trajectory in recent years, averaging 50 percent year-over-year growth annually and exceeding that in 2015, with 77 percent revenue growth, to $125 million, according to the company.

The company's technology looks to capitalize on the exploding Internet of Things market, providing an agent-less visibility and enforcement security solution for all connected devices.

DeCesare said the funding will be put toward three categories of investment.

The first, he said, is more sales ammo to beat its largest competitor -- Cisco -- in the field. While the company already does "incredibly well" against the San Jose, Calif., networking giant, DeCesare said he plans to drive sales-capacity investments that will help knock the vendor out of opportunities where it is already well-entrenched with the rest of its portfolio.

"We are putting together a really strong roster of individuals on the sales side," DeCesare said.

That sales investment includes the hiring of sales executives, channel account managers, presales expertise and more, he said. DeCesare said ForeScout will also be investing in updating its sales compensation plans in the coming months to drive more sales through the channel.

Second, DeCesare said, ForeScout will use the funding to invest in R&D and third-party integrations to keep pace with the exploding IoT market, which it works to secure with its CounterAct platform.

Finally, he said, ForeScout will be investing in building out a technical support organization, run by former VCE executive Jason Pishotti, who serves as senior vice president of customer support and consulting.

"Those are the three buckets we will be investing in," DeCesare said. "It's all about fueling the company for growth.  I think the growth trajectory is only going up."

DeCesare said this round of funding will likely be the company's last, as it fulfills its operating capital needs. However, he said, an IPO isn't off the table in the coming months, when the time is right.

"I'm ready for the IPO," DeCesare said. "We certainly have the scale and growth and vertical market penetration to be a public company, but we aren't dependent on an IPO."

Russell Zientek, vice president of security at Centennial, Colo.-based Arrow Electronics, said in an email that the funding "solidifies ForeScout's place in the market and establishes them as a leader."

"The funding and $1 billion valuation is a testament to ForeScout's technology, and really proves to validate that the company is continuing to lead its market as it becomes a large and well-funded partner," Zientek said.

Zientek said he would like to see ForeScout continue to innovate and to invest in its channel partners, particularly around its programs and partner enablement. Those investments will help set ForeScout apart from other "unicorns" in the market, he said.

"When you look at other unicorns in the space, it's mostly tech startups with heavy amounts of financing that lack true profitability," Zientek said. "ForeScout has a proven technology with real customers and real channel partners having great success with their deployments. They are tried and tested in a way that other unicorns are not."

PUBLISHED JAN. 21, 2016
There is universal agreement that modern warfare or crime fighting is not just about bullets, bombs and missiles in physical space. Its also about hacking in cyber space.

But over the past decade there has been much less agreement over how much of a threat hackers are.

On one side are those  some of them top government officials  who have warned that a cyber attack on the nations critical infrastructure could be catastrophic, amounting to a cyber Pearl Harbor.

Those warnings prompted the recent book by retired ABC TV Nightline anchor Ted Koppel titled, Lights Out: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath.

Other experts argue just as forcefully that while the threats are real and should be taken seriously, the risks are not even close to catastrophic. They say those who predict catastrophe are peddling FUD  fear, uncertainty and doubt.

A recent example of that view was an op-ed in the Christian Science Monitor by C. Thomas, a strategist at Tenable Network Security, who uses the nickname Space Rogue.

He argued that the biggest threat to the U.S. power grid or other industrial control systems (ICS) is not a skilled hacker, but squirrels. They, along with other small animals, cause hundreds of power outages every year and yet the only confirmed infrastructure cyberattack that has resulted in physical damage that is publicly known is Stuxnet (a computer worm that destroyed centrifuges used in the Iranian nuclear program), he wrote.

That theory was immediately disputed by other experts, including Thomas P.M. Barnett of Resilient, who wrote in a blog post that the comparison is like calling the common cold a bigger threat than cancer. The cold is much more frequent, but is much less of a threat than cancer  or as he put it, cancer is low probability but far higher impact.

Still, growing evidence of intrusions into the power grid and other critical infrastructure by hostile foreign nation states is enough to make even anti-FUD experts wonder about how low-probability a major attack is.

The Associated Press reported last month on security researcher Brian Wallaces discovery that hackers had penetrated Calpine Corp., a power producer with 82 plants operating in 18 states and Canada.

While accurate attribution of attacks is notoriously difficult, digital evidence pointed to Iran. Wallace found that the hackers had already taken engineering drawings, some labeled mission critical, that were detailed enough to let the intruders, knock out electricity flowing to millions of homes.

And this was just one incident of about a dozen during the past decade in which, sophisticated foreign hackers have gained enough remote access to control the operations networks that keep the lights on, the AP said, quoting anonymous experts.

The Wall Street Journal reported on one of those last month  that in 2013, Iranian hackers infiltrated the control system of a dam in Rye, N.Y., just 20 miles outside of New York City.

[ BACKGROUND ON CSO: Dire warnings don't yield better critical infrastructure security ]

And the Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT) said recently that it had received reports of 295 incidents involving critical infrastructure in the 2015 fiscal year, up from 245 in the previous year, or 20.4 percent.

The threat is a human adversary and it is foolish to think technology alone will stop a human adversary.

Robert M. Lee, cofounder, Dragos Security; former U.S. Air Force cyber warfare operations officer

None of these intrusions have resulted in a known cyber attack that has taken down even a portion of the grid yet. But Robert M. Lee, cofounder of Dragos Security and a former U.S. Air Force cyber warfare operations officer, told the AP that if relations between Iran and the U.S. degrade, and Iran wants to target these facilities, if they have this kind of information it will make it a lot easier.

That does not mean he thinks Armageddon is at hand, however. Lee told CSO that even with that kind of access, he doubts attackers could, control the operations networks or damage infrastructure enough to keep power down for longer than a few hours.

Jeremy Scott, senior research analyst at Solutionary, has a similar view. The threat is real and serious  we are highly dependent on critical infrastructure for our daily lives and it would have a significant impact, he said, but it would not be the crippling blow that some would think.

Of course, both Lee and Scott stress that they are speaking in the present tense. The possible damage from a cyber attack could grow worse if hostile hackers improve their skills over time.

The threat is real and serious  but it would not be the crippling blow that some would think

Jeremy Scott, senior research analyst, Solutionary

Mark Gazit, CEO of ThetaRay, agrees that the current threat from hackers is not at the catastrophic level, but believes that as nation-state hackers get more sophisticated, their reach is definitely getting closer and closer to the mission-critical junctures of ICS operations.

Meanwhile, the cyber security of ICSs remains notoriously weak  they were originally designed for reliability, not for connectivity, and are difficult to upgrade or replace. A lot of security problems are baked in, said Kevin Fu cofounder and chief scientist at Virta Labs.

Its legacy hardware and the systems are unusual  its not your desktop computer of 2016. Even if you had the budget, theyre hard to buy, he said.

Indeed, James Lewis, director and senior fellow of the Technology and Public Policy Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), famously told CBSs 60 Minutes in November 2009, that major electrical generators require a lead time of three or four months just to order them.

Machine-based solutions using advanced algorithms can provide real-time detection, actionable intelligence and uninterrupted response.

Mark Gazit, CEO, ThetaRay

It's not like if we break one, we can go down to the hardware store and get a replacement, he said.

Of course, even hostile nation states would be unlikely to seek to disable the U.S. in a major way, since it would be seen as an act of war that would trigger a ferocious response, and could also have a major effect on the stability and economy of every other nation in the world, including their own.

There are also assumptions, even if they are not confirmed officially, that if nations like North Korea, China, Russia and Iran have breached ICS facilities in the U.S., the U.S. has penetrated their facilities as well, creating the cyber version of the balance of terror.

Lee and Scott, asked about that, both issued a terse, no comment.

But Gazit said he suspects it is true. History shows that no playing field ever gets too one-sided, he said. When one side develops skills, the other side develops skills as well.

None of those constraints apply, however, to terrorist groups like the Islamic State (commonly called ISIS), which have an apocalyptic view of international relations. They are not seen as a cyber threat now, but could become one.

Groups like ISIS are mostly using the Internet for recruiting purposes, said Justin Harvey, CSO at Fidelis Security, but I dont think this will always be true. It is only a matter of time before ISIS gets their collective stuff together and starts funding cyber terrorism.

Fu believes that the best anyone can do in analyzing cyber threats is an educated guess. The risks are real, he said. Everything could be fine for 10 years, but there is no way of giving any meaningful assurance that it will stay that way.

At what point will an entity like terrorists develop that capability? We dont know.

And that gets back to an issue on which most experts agree. Whether the threat level is catastrophic or not, American ICS operators need to improve their security. That means improvements in both technology and the skills of the humans running it.

When it comes to technology, the emphasis should be on detection and rapid response more than on prevention, they said.

Stop investing so much in prevention technologies and focus on detection platforms that forensically examine network and endpoint metadata for threats, Harvey said.

Gazit agrees. Machine-based solutions using advanced algorithms can provide real-time detection, actionable intelligence and uninterrupted response, he said, providing the necessary alerts to human beings so they can make the right decision at the right time.

According to Lee, the big focus needs to be on the training and empowering of security personnel. The threat is a human adversary and it is foolish to think technology alone will stop a human adversary. To counter flexible and persistent adversaries requires empowered and trained defenders.

Organizationally, the Industrial Control Systems Joint Working Group is a partnership between federal agencies and private ICS owners.

Fu said if ICS operators would simply use the formula established by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, they would substantially improve their security.

You need to think about the risks, about what controls youre putting in place to mitigate them, and then how you are measuring them to see if those controls are effective, he said. People tend to forget the third one, but its very important.

More on critical infrastructure protection
The state Medical Examining Board on Tuesday reprimanded a Litchfield physician for his abuse of alcohol and violating professional boundaries with an office employee.

In unrelated cases Tuesday, the board also fined two Brookfield doctors and a physicians assistant from Milford.

In the Litchfield case, Dr. James OHalloran III was additionally reprimanded for prescribing controlled substances for five patients without adequate documentation or safeguards, according to a consent order approved by the board Tuesday. OHalloran works full-time for the state Department of Correction, but these actions took place in his private practice, the consent order said.

In 2014, he had a personal relationship with an employee, and his prescription pad was stolen, David Tilles, a staff attorney for the state Department of Public Health, told the board. The investigation was launched in February 2014, when a pharmacist reported to state officials that a prescription appeared to be forged, Tilles said.

Under the order, OHallorans license was also placed on probation for five years, and he is permanently restricted from practicing in a setting alone. He also must attend therapy sessions and agreed to refrain from drinking alcohol or using controlled substances. He will have random drug and alcohol tests while on probation.

OHalloran agreed to attend an average of 10 support group meetings a month and to provide DPH with evidence of his attendance.

His attorney, David A. Haught, of Hartford, said OHalloran has been on a leave from the correction department that expires Wednesday and has given up his private practice. He said OHallorans urine tests have all been clean since October 2014.

The board also fined two doctors who practice together in Brookfield  Dr. Larry S. Wasser and Dr. Ganesh Natarajan  $2,000 each for allowing unlicensed medical assistants to take X-rays from 2010 to 2015, according to consent orders they each signed.

A former employee of Wasser had complained about the practice to the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. The doctors have changed their office practices so they are no longer violating state law, the consent orders said.

Their attorney, Barry Cepelewicz, of Stamford, told the board that the two pulmonologists were not aware what they were doing was wrong until state officials contacted them.

They appreciate the serious nature of this,' he said. As soon as they found out, they have just stopped doing this.

In another case, the medical board fined a physicians assistant from Milford $3,500 for writing controlled substance prescriptions for his adult son without a properly established doctor-patient relationship, state records show.

In 2013 and 2014, Parimal Patel, who worked at an urgent care office, wrote prescriptions for his son without the knowledge of his supervising physician, according to a consent order Patel agreed to on Dec. 30.

In January 2014, Patel signed an agreement with the state Department of Consumer Protection, in which he said he will not prescribe drugs for himself or his family except in an emergency. In March 2015, he allowed his certificate to prescribe controlled substances to lapse. In addition to the fine, the medical board on Tuesday also reprimanded Patel and said he cannot apply to have his registration reinstated until he completes coursework in prescribing controlled substances.

This story was reported under a partnership with the Connecticut Health I-Team (c-hit.org).
Double murder trial day 4: A star witness for the prosecution backed out in the courtroom
State Board of Education lays down law on race, gender teachings

School boards will have to follow new requirements for notifying parents about policies involving access to bathrooms and locker rooms.
Denver, Atlanta and Memphis all have one thing in common: each was recognized as Googles 2015 eCity of their respective states.

eCity awards recognize the strongest online businesses community in each state, according to the online site.

Memphis is a musical city  its the birthplace of the blues and rock n roll and a hotspot for country, a Google economic impact report said. The city also has a technology focus. The University of Memphis has a specialty in sensor research and has pioneered fully reconfigurable modular body-worn sensors for easy and portable vitality, cardiac and The Center of Excellence for Mobile Sensor Data-to-Knowledge, or MD2K, is head- quartered at the U of M and is responsible for the sensor research. The center, which was one of 11 centers to be award- ed by the National Institutes of Health in 2014 for its role in the Big Data-to-Knowledge (BD2K) initiative, is made up of researchers from 12 universities and Open mHealth.

Were very pleased that MD2Ks research played a role in Memphis being recognized by Google as its Tennessee eCity, Santosh Kumar

Open mHealth is a leader in source data integration tools.

The researchers develop tools that will make gathering, analyzing and interpreting health data easier with the help of mobile and wearable sensors. All of the data the team piles is used to find out how biological, behavioral, social and environmental factors can contribute to health and disease risk.

Were very pleased that MD2Ks research played a role in Memphis being recognized by Google as its Tennessee eCity, Santosh Kumar, the Centers director and lead investigator, said in the press release. As we continue to develop Big Data- enabled innovative mobile technologies to improve health, we hope to bring additional positive recognition and opportunities to the University and the Memphis community.

The full list of cities that can be found on an award on Googles economic report.
As countless people clamour for a recipe they think might bag them a mate, others are starting to wonder: do we need to worry if our partner leaves the house with cookware?

by Samantha Selinger-Morris
British politics feels unhealthily one-sided, as was again evident yesterday at a depressing Prime Ministers Questions. On the Government benches: greasery and forced hilarity. On the Labour benches: despair as their leader failed to dent David Camerons streamlined bodywork.

No MP asked Mr Cameron about the Dublin Convention, the European agreement which deters some refugees from crossing our borders.

We learned yesterday that this is under threat. It was the biggest political development of the morning yet Tory loyalists avoided it for fear of upsetting their Whips. The Opposition Left has talked itself into a position so devoutly in favour of new arrivals to our shores that it, too, was silenced.

British politics feels unhealthily one-sided, as was again evident yesterday at a depressing Prime Ministers Questions. On the Government benches: greasery and forced hilarity. On the Labour benches: despair as their leader failed to dent David Camerons streamlined bodywork, writes QUENTIN LETTS. Pictured: Mr Cameron

And so the PM whooshed past the danger, waving to one and all like a toddler on a merry-go-round. Wheeee! What a time he is having, unquestioned, unopposed, unchecked. Undemocratic.

John Baron (Con, Basildon & Billericay), honourable yet laborious critic of Brussels, did at least raise the EU renegotiation and asked for a meeting. Mr Cameron mocked him. To guffaws from sycophants, he told the round-shouldered Baron: I have always felt he has slightly made up his mind already and wants to leave the EU whatever the results. I do not want to take up any more of his time than is necessary. In other words: get stuffed, mate, youve already decided your hand on the EU.

Precisely the same can be said of Mr Cameron, whose renegotiation so resembles a charade. I write that as one who a few months ago might have wanted to stay in the EU had there been a proper renegotiation.

Yet Ministers now treat Euroscepticism with nonchalance. They barely go through the motions of respecting the coming referendums Leave camp. What a blatant, contemptible lie this renegotiation has become. I have seldom felt such fury. Blood boils my bones like casserole juices bubbling round a rabbit carcass.

David Cameron is pictured above leaving Downing Street before Prime Minister's Questions yesterday

But where is the danger for Mr Cameron, who intends to retire by 2020? Jeremy Corbyn stood at the Commons despatch box yesterday with his usual, admirable lack of nerves but I am afraid he is a dead loss in the Commons.

He lacks the suavity, shrewdness and quickness demanded for parliamentary combat. When Mr Cameron has nothing else to say he just mentions the Falkland Islands or nuclear weapons and the Tory herd moos its approval. It is too easy for him.

Leave campaigners on the Right, moronically, are refusing to unite. And yesterday the Labour partys own Leave group held a launch. Or lunch as a sign outside the door of the 10.30am event said.

The arguments made at this event were strong ones, which in a perfect world would grab honourable Labour party supporters. Kate Hoey (Vauxhall) gave us a pungent minute on the lack of democratic accountability in Brussels  i.e. the fact that the European Commission, which runs our lives to such an extent, is unelected.

Kelvin Hopkins (Luton N) cogently laid out a case for how the EU undermines workers bargaining powers. Roger Godsiff (Hall Green) said the people of this country have never been told the truth about European federalists. The EU suited the boss class.

All this was intelligently argued, but the youngest person on the platform was 64, white and male. Does that matter? It does. The Stay campaign is going to be slick. It will be fronted by people with sparkly teeth and cuties with tight, ballooning jumpers. The Leave lot at present are all dandruff and grumbles.

Back in the Commons, there was no sign of Michael Gove  who is apparently about to deny Euroscepticism like St Peter after the Last Supper. Rubber-spined Philip Hammond, Foreign Secretary, sat near Mr Cameron, eyes hollow. Around and behind Mr Cameron was a claque of job-seeking Osrics, cackling at his every evasion.
Blow: As the unelected European Commission tears up EU migration rules, David Camerons bid to renegotiate our terms of membership lies in tatters

As the unelected European Commission tears up EU migration rules, David Camerons bid to renegotiate our terms of membership lies in tatters.

True, his manifesto aim of cutting net arrivals from the current 336,000 a year to fewer than 100,000 was never convincing.

But the eurocrats move to coerce us into accepting a quota of perhaps 90,000 asylum seekers a year from the Middle East and Africa, while continuing to offer open access to EU citizens, makes a complete mockery of his hopes.

It also exposes the futility of his negotiating stance, under which he seeks to discourage mass immigration merely by restricting EU nationals access to British benefits. A fat lot of difference such tinkering will make, given the scale of the demographic tsunami facing us.

Indeed, the message has gone out loud and clear from the Commission: We in Brussels, not the British Parliament or people, will decide who may settle in the UK  and if you refuse to cooperate, we will withdraw your right to send migrants back to their point of entry to the EU.

This is disgracefully unjust, since Mr Cameron has displayed far more wisdom on the refugee crisis than those seeking to impose their will on Britain.

It was his humane plan only to welcome families (not young single men) chosen from refugee camps on Syrias borders. Thus, he hoped to deter asylum seekers from risking the lethal sea crossing to Greece and Italy.

An added advantage was that by vetting refugees in the camps, we could reduce the risk of importing terrorists and other undesirables. But Angela Merkel had other ideas. In a rare and perhaps politically fatal lapse of judgment, she threw open Germanys borders to all.

The results have been as calamitous as they were predictable: a tidal wave of migrants, mostly men of working age, sweeping across Europe in quest of better lives. Among them, of course, are some who have brought with them religious animosities (not to mention a lascivious contempt for Western women).

No wonder Italy and Greece have been unable to cope, defying the rules in an act of self-preservation by waving migrants through without vetting.

Too late, after the mass sex attacks in Germany on New Years Eve, Mrs Merkel has realised her blunder.

More than 12,000 people have been sent to other EU countries from Britain since 2003. Pictured: Migrants from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan walk this week in very cold weather, through snow in Macedonia to a camp

Yet instead of strengthening border controls on Europes furthest shores, she is conspiring with the Commission to make all EU countries take a share of the new arrivals, according to population size and jobless rates.

Which brings us to the most bitter irony of all. As yesterdays hugely encouraging jobs figures show (and much credit to George Osborne) this country is doing extraordinarily well. But this, in turn, makes us more attractive to migrants willing to work for low wages.

Indeed, the steady rise in real pay is stalling, while youth unemployment remains disturbingly high at 13.7 per cent, as settlers take the starter jobs.

Little surprise, then, that resentment is growing  as shown by the abuse endured by migrants in Middlesbrough, who have been crassly allocated homes easily identified by their red doors.

Even the IMF warned on Tuesday, that mass migration is putting social cohesion under tremendous strain.

Yet this is the context in which the eurocrats seek to blackmail us into accepting tens of thousands more migrants, against voters express wishes.

As Daniel Hannan drily observes on this page: If this is how they treat us now, before our referendum, imagine how theyd treat us if we voted to stay.
Social media users have shared some of the most ignorant things they've ever heard in a new thread that makes for some very interesting reading.

After one user posted the question: 'What is the single dumbest thing you've ever heard somebody say?' on Reddit, they were flooded with responses ranging from mildly absurd to completely unbelievable.

It wasn't long before the discussion went viral as more than 2,300 people commented in the first five hours, and by the following afternoon there were over 20,000 responses.

Reddit users have shared the stupidest things they've ever heard in a discussion which has now gone viral

One user said that his brother, a park ranger, had been asked how long it took for a deer to become a moose

One user wrote: 'My brother used to be a park ranger. One time a lady asked him how long it took for a deer to become a moose. He said about 7 years'

Recalling a particularly cringeworthy moment, Echung97 said: 'In high school there was a particularly "ditzy" girl. She thought North was up. When confronted with the idea of birds flying North in the summer she thought they went to space...'

One user, Geekworking, was apparently still reeling in disbelief from a conversation he'd overheard between two strangers. He said: 'I overheard two women talking about a party that one of them was planning. They hit the topic about getting ice for the party.

'One of them suggested that the other look into renting an instant ice machine. The other asked what is an instant ice machine.

'So she explains that it is the same thing that they have at serve yourself soda fountains and that it will instantly make as much ice as you want. All you have to do is push the lever and you will never run out of ice.

'The first woman tried to explain that the ice just falls out of a hopper, but the second woman would not believe her and kept insisting that it was instant and would make an infinite amount of ice.'

Fellow Reddit user Jewrome215 said: 'My coworker when talking about how versatile and amazing potatoes are: "I love potatoes so much. Like, I don't understand how the Irish got sick of them during the famine." Then she argued with me when I tried to correct her. She's 27.'

Another added: 'My friend got a flat tire and the girl I was with said, "at least only the bottom is flat." I tried to explain the whole tire was flat but she is dim.'

Whodeyraider was dumbstruck by a comment from one of his school mates: 'Had this girl in one of my high school classes enlighten everyone to the fact that, "blind people can drive, if the seeing eye dog is in the car."'

Kate Middleton's personal details were accidentally leaked while she was pregnant in 2012. One person's coworker believed this was in breach of the Geneva Convention

One user, who apparently needed to brush up on the British Monarchy wrote: 'They can't release Kate Middleton's hospital records to the public because of the Geneva Convention.'

He later added: 'I would love for it to have been a simple mistake, but I don't think it was. My coworker implied HIPAA (US law) still applied to Kate Middleton and her medical records because both of our countries signed the Geneva Convention treaties and are allies. Didn't sound like she was referencing an oath.'

Masterzombehh recalled: '2 days ago our local pet store was having a sale on all reptiles. This lady walked up to one of the employees and asked if ferrets were reptiles. She got a good long slow blink for that one'

Looking at a world map, a 26-year-old woman confused India with Texas, and African with South America

Another user recalled someone claiming that: 'The female lion is called a tiger.'

Azryhael described a '22-year-old who was raised Catholic' saying: '"Look, Easter's on a Sunday this year!" announced unironically.'

Meanwhile, ChillaxBro said: 'I was standing down on the docks in Florida watching the sunset when some man comes up to a cruise Captain and asked, "How many sunset cruises do you do a day?" The Captain just stared at him.'

One Canadian user was dumbfounded by someone who asked him: '"Do you have cars up in Canada?" I was at a restaurant right on the US border...'

CellarDoor_86 wrote: 'While trying to help someone with their geography, I pointed at a map and asked her to identify the place I was pointing at. She said "Texas"... I was pointing at India. She later said that Africa was South America. Edit: She was 26 at the time.'

One user wrote: 'When I was a kid, people used to say I looked like Harry Potter, and my dumbass friend would make fun of me for it.

'Me: At least I don't have an English accent.

'Friend: Neither does Harry Potter.

'Me: Yes he does.

'Friend: No, he's from London.
As the temperature plummets and winter tightens its grip, it is no surprise that doctors are bracing themselves for an influx of miserable patients.

As we all huddle indoors, swapping germs, there is always an increase in colds and flu.

Cold weather can exacerbate conditions such as asthma, arthritis, angina and circulation problems, but up to a quarter of the population may get symptoms of a different illness, one so little known that most will not even understand why they are suffering.

Up to a quarter of the population may get symptoms of an allergy to the cold, including rashes and swelling

Symptoms include rashes, swelling, sneezing, watery eyes, dizziness and headaches; just like a bad bout of hayfever. However, it is not pollen that these sufferers are reacting to but, as bizarre as it sounds, they are allergic to the cold.

While she feels the reaction is 'extremely rare', GP Dr Helen Webberley nevertheless says it is a real phenomenon.

'Like any allergy, a reaction to the cold is brought on by mast cells [a type of white blood cell] in the body releasing the chemical histamine as a result of a trigger. This can cause allergic reactions such as rashes, watery eyes and sneezing,' she says.

'Strong antihistamines can usually help alleviate the symptoms. These are relatively safe medicines with few side-effects. In some cases you might need to carry an EpiPen loaded with adrenaline to help with a severe allergic reaction.'

Identifying the cold as a trigger, however, is more tricky: 'We can do tests to detect whether people are allergic to cats, dogs or pollen but when it comes to more unusual things such as cold, we haven't really got to grips with what is going on. Perhaps more people suffer from it than we realise,' says Helen, who works with internet chemist oxfordonlinepharmacy.co.uk.

For Jenny McDonagh, 39, it took years, and a move from Scotland to a warmer climate and back again, before anyone understood what was wrong. 'I've always suffered from sensitive skin,' she says, 'my mum and my grandma have it, but aged 12 or 13 I noticed that cold weather was affecting it.'

It's just like a bad bout of hayfever. However, it is not pollen that these sufferers are reacting to but, as bizarre as it sounds, they are allergic to the cold. Strong antihistamines can usually help alleviate the symptoms

Jenny, a children's party business owner, lives with her husband Mark, 42, and sons Callum, six, and Alfie, three, in Linlithgow, Scotland. 'When any part of my body was exposed to cold wind, it would go blotchy and red then blister. Even parts that were not exposed would be affected. If my face was exposed I'd get a large blister like a water bubble under my eyes. The trouble was I wasn't able to see my GP when the symptoms were flaring up, which meant they were unable to diagnose anything.

'I moved to London in my 20s and the problem seemed to go away. The temperatures in the South are much higher. Mark and I moved back in 2010 and I remember that first winter; I was playing in the snow with the children and my skin became so red and sore I was crying in pain. Only sitting in a hot bath for about an hour seemed to alleviate the symptoms.

'I visited my GP again and it was only after he looked through my medical history and symptoms that he was able to diagnose urticaria, or hives, brought on by cold. He told me it is more common than people realise but added: 'Fancy moving back to Scotland when you're allergic to the cold!' ' A recent U.S. study concluded that between 15 and 25 per cent suffer at some point, although typically for about five years.

I remember that first winter; I was playing in the snow with the children and my skin became so red and sore I was crying in pain. Only sitting in a hot bath for about an hour seemed to alleviate the symptoms

No one knows the cause but it is thought to occur most frequently in young adults.

Prescription-strength antihistamines control Jenny's symptoms: 'The GP gave me fexofenadine hydrochloride and I take one tablet every morning. They are like a miracle. I've been taking them for over five years now and they have really helped.

'A couple of years ago we got snowed in and I ran out of tablets and the flare-ups started again. I wouldn't be without the tablets now. I take them even in the summer because the weather can be so cold here. We keep the house above 21c. Outside, anything above 5c is usually OK but if there's a cold wind and that gets on to my skin, I can suffer.

'I have young boys who love playing out so I can't stay indoors all the time. If we take the boys out and it's really cold, we can't stay for too long. Mark will say: 'Come on boys, Mum's going red, we have to go!' The flare-ups last for only an hour or so but it can be painful. Only an extreme change of temperature seems to help. I stand in a hot shower or sit in a hot bath until my skin goes down.

'When I was pregnant and breastfeeding, I wasn't allowed to take the tablets. Even if I sat on the wooden floor of our house and it was a bit cold, my legs would start to blister.'

Swollen red skin is not the only symptom of a cold-induced allergy. Amanda Friedland was in perfect health until she started reacting badly to winter weather after her early-onset menopause 12 years ago. The 54-year-old charity worker says that since then, every cold snap brings a litany of symptoms.

'When it started, I was constantly coughing and sneezing and assumed I had a really bad cold that was lasting for months,' says Amanda, who is divorced and lives with her two teenage sons in Manchester.

'But as the weather improved, my cold disappeared. During the summer I didn't suffer nearly so badly from sneezing, even when the pollen count was high.

'For a couple of years, as the weather got colder and damper and I started having sneezing fits and runny eyes and all the usual symptoms of an allergy, I assumed I had yet another cold. I used to feel quite depressed because the sneezing fits could last for hours. They interrupted my sleep, so I'd feel tired and upset.

A recent U.S. study concluded that between 15 and 25 per cent suffer at some point, although typically for about five years. No one knows the cause but it is thought to occur most frequently in young adults

'I would get headaches and feel dizzy from all the sneezing. It became embarrassing and antisocial. At one point, a couple of friends began to think that I might be allergic to them because every time we met over the winter months, I'd have a sneezing fit. At work meetings, if I started sneezing I would have to leave the room because nothing seemed to help.'

Eventually, Amanda went to her GP for tests but they were all clear. 'The doctor said I could spend a lot of money trying to get to the bottom of it but I'd probably find out it was something I couldn't avoid, so I haven't explored further.'

Like Jenny, Amanda has been prescribed antihistamines but sometimes even these are not powerful enough: 'If it's really bad, I take over-the-counter antihistamines on top of my prescription drugs.

'My sinuses have become so blocked and nasal tissues so inflamed thanks to the sneezing that I went to the doctor last year. He found I'd developed nasal polyps. I had to have them removed under general anaesthetic, which helped with the blocked nose sensation but not with the allergic symptoms.

'Nothing seems to help those apart from antihistamines  as long as I take them. If I forget, I will feel awful and develop a slight fever. I've grown so used to it that I don't let it affect my everyday life. I don't watch the weather forecast worrying about whether it's going to be cold.
Crow's feet, dark circles, bags and crepey skin - the eye area is the first place on the face to show signs of ageing.

Until now, our beauty arsenal has included creams and serums, injectables, lasers and even surgery.

But theres a new weapon on the scene that is harnessing some unlikely, cutting-edge technology: 3D printing.

Scroll down for video

A new beauty weapon for ageing eyes uses cutting-edge technology: 3D printing. The crescent-shaped eyepatches covered, on the underside, with tiny spikes help produced collaged. Above, after the treatment

Its being used to manufacture the latest wrinkle-busting gadget and beauty experts are touting it as the most exciting innovation since Botox.

Designed by Welsh company Innoture, Radara are crescent-shaped eyepatches covered, on the underside, with tiny spikes. These claim to anti-age the skin by smoothing crows feet and rejuvenating skin around the eyes.

They do this by mimicking the action of micro-needling, a painful technique used by aesthetic doctors that involves puncturing the skin with tiny needles, which helps to stimulate the body to produce the skin-plumping protein collagen.

Yet Radara can be used at home and - most importantly - they dont hurt. Because they are made on a 3D printer, the tiny spikes are much finer than those used in micro-needling techniques - you can hardly see them - and they are made of flexible plastic rather than titanium or surgical steel.

I heard about this new technology at Face, Britains largest medical aesthetics conference held in London, and was invited to be one of the first to put it to the test.

As a 39-year-old mother, I felt I was a worthy candidate: I have dark circles and crepey skin around my eyes, and feel I look tired and drawn.

Designed by Welsh company Innoture, Radara claim to anti-age the skin by smoothing crows feet and rejuvenating skin around the eyes. They do this by mimicking the action of micro-needling, Above, before

I cannot be persuaded to leave the house without foundation and under-eye concealer.

While Radara is designed to be used at home, you need to buy it from a clinic and be shown how to use it safely and effectively. I visited PHI in Londons Harley Street, one of the first clinics to offer it.

First, Dr Benji Dhillon took photographs of my face using a 3D-imaging machine, which assesses lines, wrinkles and skin texture. Happily, he pronounced my skin in fairly good condition for my age, though I did have sun damage and some lines.

Because they are made on a 3D printer, the tiny spikes are much finer than those used in micro-needling techniques - you can hardly see them - and they are made of flexible plastic rather than titanium or surgical steel. As a 39-year-old mother Hannah, above, left, before, right, after, felt she was a perfect candidate

Dr Dhillon was confident that a four-week course of Radara would make a difference.

Where Botox freezes muscles to smooth out dynamic wrinkles caused by movement, Radara acts on static wrinkles - those that stay etched on your face even when its relaxed and expression- free, he says.

The only other way to do that is with fillers, that plump up and disguise the furrows, or moisturisers. Then there are clinical procedures such as chemical peels, lasers and micro-needling, but these can all involve pain, red, scaly skin, trips to the clinic and downtime while skin recovers.

Radara patches claim, in contrast to botox and derma rolling, leave no marks on the skin. Theyre made from a medical-grade polymer - a flexible foam that feels like a waterproof plaster. Above, a woman models the patch

Ill admit that micro-needling has never appealed. Its usually done using a Derma Roller, which looks like a small, paint roller, but is covered in small metal needles.

A treatment that makes your face bleed sounds like torture.

Micro-needling works by creating micro injuries in the skin, which triggers an inflammatory response, says Dr Maryam Zamani, an aesthetic doctor and eye surgeon at Londons Cadogan Clinic. The injuries stimulate new collagen production as skin begins the healing process. So within a few months, lines and wrinkles can be filled out, giving a smoother, younger look.

My skin felt plumper, my under-eye shadows less obvious and I found myself wearing less make-up without thinking about it

But even Dr Zamani concedes it can be an unpleasant experience.

It requires topical anaesthetic to numb the face, and skin does bleed and is left red and sore, she says. So theres a days recovery time.

Radara patches, in contrast, leave no marks on the skin. Theyre made from a medical-grade polymer - a flexible foam that feels like a waterproof plaster.

One side is covered in 2,000 microscopic structures, similar to needles, each less than 0.5 mm long. This is long enough to make tiny holes or microchannels in the skin.

As well as stimulating collagen and elastin - two proteins that give your skin strength, shape and firmness - the little holes allow beauty products to penetrate much more deeply into the skin.

The Radara patches comes with a pure, high-grade hyaluronic acid serum. This is a substance naturally produced in the body to moisturise and protect tissues.

According to makers, as well as stimulating collagen and elastin - two proteins that give your skin firmness - the little holes allow beauty products to penetrate much more deeply into the skin. Above, before the treatment

Its found in the skins inner layer, where it provides elasticity, hydration and softness.

The patches are the vehicle that gets it to where it needs to be, says Dr Dhillon.

Initial studies, while small, are promising. In a clinical trial of 32 women, Radara patches and serum were shown to reduce lines and wrinkles by 35 per cent in four weeks (compared to 24 per cent for the serum alone), with noticeable results after only a fortnight and continuing to improve for up to four weeks.

And using the patches is straightforward. They go on in the evening, after cleansing. You peel the backing off the patch and press it, needle-side down, to the outer edge of each eye for a few seconds, to create the microchannels.

You then remove the patches and put them to one side while you smooth on the serum, before finally reapplying. They dont slip off, so you can walk around.

Hannah felt there was a definite difference that continued for a couple of weeks. She said her skin felt plumper, her under-eye shadows less obvious and she found herself wearing less make-up without thinking about it

While you can feel the needles - if you press hard when applying them - its not painful. It feels like a strip of Velcro. After five minutes you discard the patches and wipe off any remaining serum.

So, did it work for me? I had to wait a patience-testing four weeks before I noticed any improvement.

But there was a definite difference that continued for a couple of weeks. My skin felt plumper, my under-eye shadows less obvious and I found myself wearing less make-up without thinking about it. A couple of friends remarked that I looked well.

Just after finishing the course, I returned to PHI for another scan, which showed my lines and wrinkles had reduced by 18 per cent.

Compared to the 35 per cent improvement seen by the women in the trial, I felt a little disappointed.

Its important to recognise that your skin was in a good condition to begin with, says Dr Dhillon.

You achieved a good degree of improvement for a non-invasive product. We do tend to see a bigger change in people who have more lines and wrinkles to start off with.

This suggests its a restorative rather than preventative treatment. And the effects arent long-lasting. When I returned for a final scan four weeks later, the 18 per cent improvement had dropped to 8 per cent.

This is in line with the clinical data, which demonstrates an improvement up to four weeks post treatment and not longer, says Dr Dhillon. What I believe its best for is as a maintenance treatment between treatments such as Botox.

But the cost could mount up. The recommended price of Radara is 240 for a four-week supply, plus consultation fees.

For now, its only crows feet that Radara promises to tackle. But the technology means theres no reason why patches cant be made to treat frown lines, the upper lip, forehead or decolletage.
From the moment she placed a white-gloved hand on his shoulder, splendidly fringed in scarlet and silver, female hearts were lost.

There was only one man in St Petersburg, in Russia, in the whole world: brooding Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, all 6ft 1in of him.

As his dance partner Natasha went all weak at the knees, so did the million or more female viewers captivated by the BBC's lavish adaptation of Tolstoy's epic novel War And Peace.

Natasha Rostova and Prince Andrei waltz in the BBC's lavish adaptation of Tolstoy's novel War And Peace

A collective breath was exhaled. 'May I request the pleasure of a dance?' the handsome prince asked. 'You certainly may,' we all sighed.

The heart-stopping Tsar's Ball scene in Sunday night's episode was a romantic tour de force.

Viewers took to social media to praise the sequence, filmed at the Catherine Palace south of St Petersburg, which showed the couple falling in love. They called it, 'a fairy tale moment of unequivocal beauty', and likened it to 'this generation's Mr Darcy in the pond', referring to Colin Firth's wet-shirted turn in the 1995 adaptation of Austen classic Pride And Prejudice.

But compared with James Norton's dazzling Russian aristocrat, Firth's Darcy was but a damp Derbyshire bumpkin, dripping with pondweed. Even Aidan Turner's Ross Poldark, stripped to the waist, scythe in hand, is reduced to the sort of lunkish, half-naked brute you find showing off his torso on dating websites.

If it was true romance you were after - with all its subtleties and agonies, as opposed to base lust - you will have found it here.

Our heroine, played by Downton's Lily James, was a picture of nerves and anticipation. When she spots her dashing prince, a dozen emotions flit across her face.

Viewers took to social media to praise the sequence, filmed at the Catherine Palace south of St Petersburg, which showed the couple falling in love. They called it, 'a fairy tale moment of unequivocal beauty'

Some compared with James Norton's dazzling Russian aristocrat to Colin Firth's iconic incarnation Darcy

Has he seen me? Will he come over? Don't let him come over! Do let him come over! He's coming over! And before she has gathered her thoughts, he is there, asking her to dance.

As Andrei leads her on to the ballroom floor, flutes start to trill. A princely hand is placed in the small of her back and Natasha draws a great, quivering breath. Violins strike up, and they are waltzing.

Leo Tolstoy could have been proud of Andrew Davies' faithful interpretation. This is how the Russian master described the scene: 'The moment he put his arm round that slender, supple, quivering waist, and felt her stirring so close to him and smiling so close to him, the champagne of her beauty went to his head.'

Then comes the best bit. The music fades, the camera draws kissingly close . . . and Andrei, who has worn an expression of tortured, philosophic misery for the past three episodes, smiles, tentatively at first, and then like a sunbeam. Natasha, radiant in his reflected light, beams in return.

The music rises again and we see Andrei and Natasha sharing a private joke. For it is not enough for a romantic hero just to know how to dance but also to make you laugh.

The camera cuts to the Rostov drawing room. 'It's him!' Natasha cries from her post at the window.

Laura Freeman argues scriptwriter Andrew Davies, veteran of Middlemarch, Pride And Prejudice, Bleak House and Little Dorrit, deserves a Bafta, an Emmy, and even a knighthood for services to fluttering hearts

The pair walk in the snow. A chaperone lags hopelessly behind. There is a slope. Natasha trips. Deliberately, we suspect, the wily minx. He falls, too, and with snow on her nose and in his hair, Andrei gently, smittenly, kisses her.

Was this the most rapturous, most soaringly romantic, most swoon-inducing scene in all period-drama history? Having watched it a dozen times now, I can confidently say: Yes.

Scriptwriter Andrew Davies, veteran of Middlemarch, Pride And Prejudice, Bleak House and Little Dorrit, deserves a Bafta, an Emmy, a Golden Globe, even a knighthood for services to fluttering hearts.

Was this the most rapturous, most soaringly romantic, most swoon-inducing scene in all period-drama history? Laura thinks so, a fact she puts down to the subtlety and restraint of the intimate dance scene

What made the sequence so enchanting was its subtlety, its restraint. At no point did Andrei rip off his frock coat to reveal muscles honed in a Russian banya, as Aidan Turner seems contracted to do whether he is playing the Cornish Ross Poldark or mercenary Philip Lombard in the BBC's Christmas Agatha Christie adaptation And Then There Were None.

Nor was Natasha ever in any danger of accidentally- on-purpose falling out of her dress. Unlike today's celebrities, she did not attend her first ball in transparent lace, with a cantilevered bust. Instead, she was blushingly lovely in demure white silk.

Make no mistake, Andrei and Natasha oozed sex appeal of the highest order

In a week when even Fifties-set Call The Midwife gives us a glimpse of bra and suspenders, television has had to go back to Tsarist Russia for a heroine to keep her clothes in place.

And what a contrast the exquisite yet sensual waltz was to the thrusting gyrations of Strictly Come Dancing.

In a time when we are led to believe a dance is only sexy if a man and a woman engage in the most eye-watering manoeuvres, here was the refined, elegant, counterbalance.

For make no mistake, Andrei and Natasha oozed sex appeal of the highest order. So starved are we of chaste, old-fashioned romance that Sunday night's scenes came like manna from heaven.

No wonder all my chats with girlfriends this week began: 'Did you see?' We are in an ecstasy of longing for the lost rituals of courtship, only too ready to chuck our smartphones - with their ghastly dating apps - into a river for an evening with Andrei.

Andrei and Natasha share a joke on the edge of the dance floor as romances hot up in the BBC drama

Not since Amy Dorrit and Arthur Clennam yearned for each other over 14 episodes of Andrew Davies' 2008 BBC adaptation of Dickens' Little Dorrit, have I been so captivated by an onscreen romance.

You can keep your battle scenes when it comes to a Sunday night costume drama - it's slowly unfurling love stories that keep us watching. And War And Peace has one of the best.

Could Davies have realised the ball scene more beautifully? Could James Norton have danced Andrei more handsomely? Could Lily James have glowed any pinker? No.
As the countrys Chief Medical Officer, Dame Sally Davies - the so-called nanny-in-chief of the nation - is keen to advise us all what to eat and drink to be healthy.

In her latest warning this month, Nanny Davies said that drinking even one glass of wine a day can put us at risk of developing cancer.

However, this strict advice came as a surprise to those people who have been guests at her 3 million home in North London, where they have been offered fine vintages.

Dame Sally Davies, the UKs Chief Medical Officer, recently advised one glass of wine increases cancer risk

At her French farmhouse retreat, the wine collection is also impressive, although Dame Sally has said she drinks only at weekends.

So is it a case of do as I say rather than do as I do? And what makes this 66-year-old with a brilliant medical career tick?

Unlike many of her more cautious predecessors, who tended to advise ministers in private rather than broadcast their concerns publicly, some in Whitehall believe that Dame Sally goes out of her way to cultivate controversy.

For example, last week, in an urgent video appeal, she urged parents not to use antibiotics for children with coughs or colds so as to try to limit the risk of antibiotic infections. Instead, she advised them to keep surfaces clean, wash hands regularly, carry tissues for coughs and sneezes, and to bin them after use.

Overweight airline passengers have been in her sights, too. A few months ago, she said: Ive often wondered why aircraft dont charge by total weight of the person and their luggage, because it would seem to be quite a clever way of doing it.

Her office later tried to defuse the subsequent row by insisting it was a harmless throwaway remark.

The so-called nanny-in-chief, who also warns parents against antibiotics for their children, is keen to advise us all what to eat and drink However, she serves fine vintages at her 3 million home in North London, above

Nanny Sally has also made it known that David Cameron (with whom she regularly speaks) might have to introduce a sugar tax to combat the growing obesity crisis.

Indeed, she went so far as to say that the risk to the nation from obesity was as dangerous as the terror threat, and called for it to be included on the Governments National Risk Register of Civil Emergencies.

No wonder she has her critics.

Former Tory chairman Lord (Norman) Tebbit ridiculed her latest drink tea instead of wine edict, saying: The Chief Medical Officer regards a quiet glass of sherry as too risky to contemplate. Poor creature. She must shudder in her shoes at the risks taken every Sunday morning by celebrants at Holy Communion sipping at the Communion wine.

Nanny Sally has also made it known that David Cameron might have to introduce a sugar tax to combat the growing obesity crisis and said risk to the nation from obesity was as dangerous as the terror threat'

As I look forward to my 85th birthday in the spring, and my brothers 89th in the autumn, she is unlikely to persuade me to desist from my nightly half-bottle, or he from his.

Roy Lilley, a former NHS Trust chief, scathingly likened her to a mother-in-law. There are some wonderful mothers-in-law. Kind, wise and helpful. The NHS has acquired its very own mother-in-law. Sadly, not the sympathetic, sensible, supportive variety. More the bossy, superior poking-her-nose-in kind.

She is pronouncing on our drinking habits. The guidance is incomprehensible. What if you are a small bloke or a big woman? What about age? Over 65 is the cut-off? Some 50-year-olds are knackered, some 70-year-olds are Olympians.

Roy Lilley, a former NHS Trust chief called her guidance 'incomprehensible' and stressed that it doesn't take into account difference in individuals. He added: 'What if you are a small bloke or a big woman?'

So thank goodness for the NHSs very own mother-in-law Sally Davies, aka Chief Medical Officer, aka Hello! magazine, E-list celebrity wannabe.

The celebrity jibe, in particular, may wound Dame Sally, but she will not be diverted from her interventionist approach to public health - especially at a time when the financial imposition of such problems on the NHS is putting Britains national health system near breaking point.

Certainly, the first woman chief medical officer in 150 years likes to lead by example.

Last autumn, she described her typical working day. Most mornings I wake up at 5.45 listening to Classic FM on the radio alarm.

Dame Sallys home is in the middle of Islingtons so-called luvvie-land: Jeremy Corbyns new shadow defence secretary Emily Thornberry lives two streets away

I jog with a friend of mine two days a week. Before we set off, I prepare a pot of coffee (decaffeinated, of course) and berries and yogurt. Breakfast is ready when I return. We usually run about 2.5 miles.

She leaves her Georgian terrace house, in a conservation area in Islington, North London, at 7.40.

Her predecessor had a chauffeur-driven car to take him to work but that, she said, disappeared with the austerity cuts, and so she often takes the bus to Whitehall.

But tucked away in a Cabinet Office document that lists her salary as 215,000 (almost 80,000 more than the Prime Ministers), is the revelation: Dame Sally Davies has the occasional use of an official car for the journey between her home and office.

On at least one day last week, she was collected by a seven-seater Ford taxi. According to her spokeswoman: Usually, she gets the bus to work. Today, she paid for her own taxi as she was carrying a heavy bag.

So is this another example of a do as I say rather than do as I do approach?

Dame Sally says she works like crazy and relaxes by hosting parties in her home, which has a marble floor and is stuffed with exotic ornaments: Burmese puppets, fertility figures, Buddhist images, Afghan ceramics and Nigerian statuettes. She says she enjoys cooking - especially bread-baking and jam-making

Regardless, she recommends that adults are on the move for at least two-and-a-half hours a week. It doesnt matter how you do it, just do it. Get off the bus two stops early or cycle to work. Do your own housework. Youre better being fit and a bit fat, than skinny and unhealthy.

For her part, Dame Sally says she works like crazy and relaxes by hosting parties in her home, which has a marble floor and is stuffed with exotic ornaments: Burmese puppets, fertility figures, Buddhist images, Afghan ceramics and Nigerian statuettes.

She says she enjoys cooking - especially bread-baking and jam-making, which she describes as energy making.

Sally Davies was born in Birmingham in 1949. One of three children, her father was a theologian and scholar; her mother, a Cambridge science graduate and teacher. She went to private Edgbaston High School For Girls

Sally Davies was born in Birmingham in 1949. One of three children, her father was a theologian and scholar; her mother, a Cambridge science graduate and teacher.

A poor performer at primary school, she failed her 11-plus. Redemption came when her parents sent her to the private Edgbaston High School For Girls. She then studied medicine at Manchester University, where, most un-Health Nanny-like, she experimented with cannabis.

She later admitted: I never smoked, so I couldnt smoke joints, but I did have some cookies, until, on the third or fourth occasion, I had hallucinations and I have never touched it since.

Dame Sally has repeatedly questioned whether Government drug policy should be run by the Home Office, with the emphasis on it being a law and order issue, or by the Department of Health

I understood through that what my father said to me when I told him I was going to try it. He said drugs de-civilise you - you stop being a civilised person.

Despite this experience, she has radical views of drug problems.

Dame Sally has repeatedly questioned whether Government drug policy should be run by the Home Office, with the emphasis on it being a law and order issue, or by the Department of Health.

Interviewed on BBC Radio in 2013, she said: Of course, its a medical problem - addiction is a medical problem and it becomes a public health problem, and then our society is choosing to treat that as a criminal justice issue.

Dame Sally says she works like crazy and relaxes by hosting parties in her home, which has a marble floor and is stuffed with exotic ornaments

But her view has been criticised by anti-drugs campaigners. Peter Stoker, of the National Drug Prevention Alliance, says: When people say they want it treated as a health matter, what they really mean is they want it decriminalised. There are health implications to using cannabis, but there are also social and legal problems.

However, Dame Sally has always stopped short of calling for decriminalisation. But clearly she approaches drugs - like all matters - by bringing scientific evidence directly to the heart of national debate. Its a fun challenge, she has said.

During her varied career, she has had stints as a consultant haematologist, a professor at Imperial College, and director of research and development for NHS London.

Her first marriage put a temporary halt to the upward trajectory in her career path.

Her husband was a diplomat, and she moved with him to Madrid when he became First Secretary at the British embassy in 1978. She learned Spanish and perfected her cookery skills.

Dame Sallys home is in the middle of Islingtons so-called luvvie-land: Jeremy Corbyns controversial new shadow defence secretary Emily Thornberry lives nearby, close to former Labour minister Margaret Hodge

Returning to Britain, she disliked her role as an appendage to her husband, and they divorced in 1982. The same year, she remarried but her second husband died, aged 38, of leukaemia six months later.

In 1989, she married Dutch-born Willem Ouwehand, who is professor of experimental haematology at Cambridge University. They have two daughters: a 24-year-old who has a degree in gender studies and is now at the Left-leaning think-tank the Institute For Public Policy Research; and a 20-year-old who is at medical school.

Dame Sallys home is in the middle of Islingtons so-called luvvie-land: Jeremy Corbyns controversial new shadow defence secretary Emily Thornberry lives two streets away, close to former Labour minister Margaret Hodge, whose neighbour was Tony Blair when he was elected Prime Minister in 1997.

Apart from the (very occasional) glass of fine wine, Dame Sally also enjoys the trendy recipes of Israeli chef Yotam Ottolenghi - who is a byword for exquisite, expensive Mediterranean dishes and snacks on raw veg

Not surprisingly, Dame Sally has strong views about the role of women in society.

Two years ago, when asked if she had ever favoured female doctors over men, she replied: I probably do positively discriminate because, as men appoint in their own image, so do I appoint in my own image.

I like having bright, sparky women around, so I do understand how difficult it can be for the men to actually challenge the stereotypes and think differently.

She has also said that the male Y chromosome carried a bulls**t gene, which allowed some men to blag their way into top jobs.

I have been much entertained by many men, as I have gone through my career, who are great at bulls****ing, she added.

Named as the sixth most powerful woman in Britain in a BBC poll in 2013, Dame Sally has no such doubts about her own ability.

She has said: The imposter syndrome is particularly prevalent in women, where you wonder whether you can do it, and I clearly can, but theres also how you do it.

With three important jobs - she also heads the National Institute For Health Research (which improves the health and wealth of the nation through research) and sits on the executive board of the World Health Organisation - Dame Sally can afford a converted farmhouse (with pool) in the Aveyron region of south- west France.

Such a lifestyle allows her to keep fit and healthy.

Indeed, she has said, jokingly, about her prodigious energy: If I could package it, Id be rich, wouldnt I?

At work, she makes a point of eating snacks of raw, chopped vegetables (prepared herself, of course).

Apart from the (very occasional) glass of fine wine, she also enjoys the trendy recipes of Israeli chef Yotam Ottolenghi - who is a byword for exquisite, expensive Mediterranean dishes.

Food is clearly important to her. Last year, her younger daughter wrote in a student newsletter that her parents are amazing cooks, and described their Spanish and Indonesian signature dishes.
A Maryland mother whose daughter was born with severe and life-long mental disabilities because she drank during her pregnancy is cautioning others against expectant mothers consuming alcohol, warning that even a small amount could result in devastating consequences.

Kathleen Mitchell, 61, drank regularly while carrying her daughter Karli, who is now 43. At the time, she says, most people didn't realize the risks involved - which is why it took years for doctors to recognize that Karli's developmental delays - which have not been diagnosed as the result of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome - were caused by Kathleen's drinking.

Now vice president of the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Kathleen is sharing her story to raise awareness about the issue, and urge mothers-to-be to recognize that no amount of alcohol is worth the risk to their children.

Worthy cause: Kathleen Mitchell (right) drank while she was pregnant with Karli (left), who has Fetal Alcohol Syndrome - and she is now speaking out to warn others

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, or FASD, are a group of conditions caused by mothers who consume alcohol while pregnant.

Children who are afflicted can have abnormal facial features, low body weight and lack of height, poor coordination, hyperactive attention, learning disabilities, speech delays, and health problems.

Most of this is well-known today, so it's easy to forget - or not realize, if you were born in the past 40 years - that there was a time when the effects of alcohol on an unborn baby weren't common knowledge.

The first major literature on the issue was released in 1973, when the University of Washington Medical School published a paper listing many of the negative side effects caused by drinking during pregnancy. Since then, recommendations from doctors against drinking have grown stricter.

Unfortunately, that paper came too late for Kathleen, who gave birth to Karli in the same year it was published. Karli is now in her 40s, lives at home with parents, and, according to theWashington Post, has the mental age of a first grader.

Kathleen started drinking alcohol before she was 12, and quite liked getting drunk occasionally.

WHAT IS FETAL ALCOHOL SYNDROME? Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) is a complex condition, denoting a collection of features including stunted growth, facial abnormalities and intellectual impairment. There remains uncertainty in the medical community over the relationship between alcohol consumption and harm to the fetus, though most doctors recommend abstaining entirely. While FAS occurs in babies born to women who consume alcohol, most babies of women who consume alcohol are not affected, as other factors, including nutritional status, genetic make-up of mother and fetus, age, and general health, are also thought to play a role. Advertisement

'My parents didnt know,' she told Daily Mail Online, explaining that her dad worked 'non-stop' and her mom had seven children to take care of. 'I didnt drink every day or all the time when I was a young person, but I was experimenting. [But] Im sure there was quite a bit of denial in our family during those years.'

When she was 17, Kathleen gave birth to Karli's older brother and dropped out of school. Within a year she was pregnant again, this time with Karli.

Kathleen kept drinking throughout her pregnancies, and explained that in those days, people weren't aware of the dangers of drinking while expecting. In fact, she said, some encouraged it.

'Wine was thought to be good for the baby's blood,' she added. 'The beer hops were sure to create a fat bouncy baby.' Or so people told her.

Though her own mom wasn't a drinker, Kathleen saw other pregnant women drinking all the time, toasting their pregnancies and sipping at their baby showers, and she saw no reason not to do so, too.

Advocate: The 61-year-old Maryland resident said when she was pregnant in the early '70s, the risks of alcohol during pregnancy weren't known

When she gave birth to Karli, nothing immediately seemed wrong. The little girl didn't have facial abnormalities like some FASD babies, in fact, she seemed physically fine. But as she grew, problems arose.

'She had chronic ear infections as a baby,' Kathleen said. 'I was so worried and kept bringing her to the pediatrician. He told me it was because she had colic, due to allergies. She also had very small ear canals. [But] he instructed me not to worry, and said that this was very common.'

Not a day goes by that I dont ask myself, 'What if?'

But Karli started to miss milestones, too. She was slow to pull herself up, to crawl, and to walk. She had motor skill problems and had trouble talking. Again, though, the doctor blamed these issues on the toddler's ear infections.

'The physician [probably] didnt even have FASD in his line-up,' Kathleen told the Washington Post. 'Very few are trained to diagnose the disorder, and the number was even fewer back then. No one ever asked me about my alcohol use.'

Then, for a while, doctors thought Karli might have cerebral palsy. She continued to be delayed in more and more ways as she grew, not learning how to tell time, ride a bike, or handle money.

When Karli was 16, Kathleen - who had by this time gotten sober - took her to Georgetown University Hospital for testing, and it was there that she finally got her Fetal Alcohol Syndrome diagnosis. Kathy was struck with guilt knowing that her actions had led to Karli's problems.

'I thought I would die from the grief and guilt,' she said. 'It was one of the worst days of my life, and at that moment I knew that I had to do what I could to prevent this from happening to another child.'

Getting by: Karli, 43, has disabilities and lives at home with her mom and stepdad; she also receives the care of an aide

Now that she is an adult, Karli can't recognize social cues. She is dependent on the help of others, and relies heabily on her parents and an aide. Kathleen explained to the Washington Post that Karli can't remember to brush her teeth and can only follow one rule or step at a time - she can't be given a long set of instructions at once.

She lives with her mom and stepdad, where she collects dolls, plays dress-up, and loves Hello Kitty coloring books. She keeps busy, but can't do it alone. She takes aerobics and Zumba classes, goes to a weekly movie matinee, and attends activities set up by a program for people with disabilities.

Once a week, for a few hours, she works as a stock clerk at a clothing store. And at night, her mom tucks her into bed in her Hello Kitty pajamas, and she sleeps with a Tinker Bell nightlight.

Kathleen 'adores' Karli, calling her a 'blessing' and 'a forever innocent child'.

'But not a day goes by that I dont ask myself, "What if? What if alcohol hadnt been a part of my life?"' she said, adding: 'It breaks my heart to think about why Karli is disabled.'

Kathleen has planned for Karli's future, and knows her daughter will always be taken care of - because she has to be.

'Our family is very close,' Kathleen told Daily Mail Online. 'When I go, Karli will always be loved and cared for by her siblings and nieces and nephews.'

Kathleen also puts a lot of energy into preventing this from happening to others. At the nonprofit National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, she works on raising awareness. Karli volunteers there with her, and was even presented with the Daily Point of Lights Award by former president George H.W. Bush in 1999

'I hope that our story helps women to know that alcohol is not safe when you are pregnant, or are at risk for pregnancy,' Kathleen said.
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An orphaned Chihuahua has captured the hearts of animal lovers across the country after he was pictured behind bars at an animal shelter in California with his paws placed in a prayer position, 'begging' someone to rescue him and take him home.

In a series of striking images captured by Los Angeles-based photographer John Hwang, the unnamed pooch is standing on his hind legs in a basic enclosure, his nose pressed up against the chain fence surrounding him, with his paws placed together in a prayer position.

'Up and down, up and down, he shook his paws towards anyone that came by, as if pleading, begging for his freedom,' Mr. Hwang wrote on his Facebook page, while sharing the images.

Begging for a home: This Chihuahua was pictured 'praying' in his kennel enclosure after being picked up by an animal control officer

'In his concrete confinement he paced back and forth restlessly. He squeezed his face through the fence, taking in a deep breath of the vibrant world that he can no longer be a part of.'

It was Mr Hwang's friend, Rose Gallardo, who first alerted the photographer to the plight of the poor pooch, after she helped an animal control officer to rescue him from a McDonald's parking lot in Los Angeles.

He was, she told the Huffington Post, doing a good job of evading capture, noting that he was 'too smart and kept running through the parking lot' and out of the officer's grasp.

Worried that the tiny puppy would run in front of a moving car however, Ms Gallardo stepped in to help capture the frightened animal, stopping her car near to the Chihuahua and allowing it to approach her, before she picked him up and handed him over to the officer.

Keeping the faith: Photographer John Hwang took the moving images at the Baldwin Park Animal Shelter in Los Angeles earlier this month

Hopeful: 'Up and down, up and down, he shook his paws towards anyone that came by, as if pleading, begging for his freedom,' Mr. Hwang said of the dog's behaviour

'The officer was amazed at how submissive the dog was towards me,' she said of the incident, describing the adorable dog was 'the sweetest precious baby'.

Eager to do more to try and help the small animal find a home, she shared his story on her Facebook page, and also alerted Mr. Hwang, who lives near the Baldwin Park Animal Shelter, where the dog had been taken, and where he frequently visits to take images of orphaned animals in need of a home, in the hopes that by sharing the pictures on his Facebook page, he might help them to find a loving family.

'I just do it for the love of dogs,' he explained to the Huffington Post, adding that he has rescued four dogs in the past.

But this particular photography subject proved to be so much more special than Mr. Hwang could ever have expected, with the photographer admitting he was stunned when the pooch stood up on his hind legs while he was taking pictures, and then proceeded to almost clasp his hands together in prayer over and over again.

Moving on: Thankfully, the unnamed animal has been rescued from the shelter by a non-profit organization called Doggy Smiles Rescue

And far from being a one-off occurrence, the Los Angeles resident revealed that the dog kept repeating the action over and over, noting that he would 'pace back and forth in the kennel' and then return to the front of his enclosure to 'beg' once again.

Unsurprisingly, the striking images immediately struck a chord with animal lovers, and the praying pooch has since been rescued by a non-profit organization called Doggy Smiles Rescue, which works to rescue dogs from high-kill shelters and provide them with a loving home, while helping them to find a permanent family to live with.

The organization shared an image of the dog on its Facebook page on January 12, where dozens of people have quickly sent in offers to adopt the puppy.
From Hollywood royalty like Cate Blanchett and Ralph Fiennes to celebrities such as Angela Lansbury and Jane Fonda, Australian director Gillian Armstrongs list of people shes worked with is long and starry.

Which is why it might come as a surprise to some to hear that her latest project is a little bit less blockbuster. In fact, this time Gillian worked with people she hadn't even met, who submitted their stories via amateur smartphone video recordings.

This week, the award-winning film director reveals her latest project, The Inspiring Story of Us, a crowd-sourced 23-minute film which features normal, everyday Australians instead of actors and was compiled by Gillian from 55 hours of submitted footage.

Award winner: Acclaimed director Gillian Armstrong reveals her latest documentary project

It was a huge risk making this film as when I posted that I wanted peoples stories I didnt know how many people would enter or what I would be dealing with, Gillian says to Daily Mail Australia.

But in the end, after 120 people sent in stuff, the hardest part was cutting it down and deciding who to include in the documentary. I mean, I wanted a mix of town and country, young and old, man and woman  we couldnt have more than one story in a certain niche for example.

The people who were selected to speak and act in the film include a young woman who runs an open day at her mosque, a duo who started a mobile washing-machine service for the homeless, and a woman who makes joyous yarn bombs, Jane Balke-Anderson.

All these people are doing extraordinary things just by being, Gillian says.

Feature length film: The entirely crowd-sourced film features regular Australians from various walks of life

Extraordinary people: The film features countless 'extraordinary' people, including a young Muslim woman

The media is full of negativity these days. In the age of the Kardashians, people want to be on TV so that they become famous, not make a difference. These people I picked were perfectly happy not becoming celebrities, they were just decent people who were happy in their lives.

When I set out to do the project, and asked people to shoot their own, real lives, I hoped there would be tiny flecks of gold, and of course there were plenty in there, amidst hours of footage that needed to be cut.

The film, commissioned by Commonwealth Bank, was made by the people in it via clips from smartphones and video cameras they each submitted.

Gillian says it was hard to relinquish all control and just ask people questions, which they would then answer in their short films, but she managed it and sent out six questions to everyone that is featured.

Success story: The documentary is the largest crowd-sourced film to be made

Difficult task: Armstrong says it was hard to 'let go' of the directing process, but she is pleased with the results

When the tapes came in I was shouting at the screen, she says, as I wasnt there to direct and control the situation. I realised how important my wording was, and how I needed to ask direct questions in my notes beforehand in order to get the answers I wanted.

It was hard for me, as a director, to let go, but actually people did fantastic stuff on their own. Camera phones have made everyone good at shooting stuff, so for amateur footage, I think it looks really great.

'I'm going to meet two of the people for the first time next week, which feels weird. Having seen so much of their lives and edited so much of their footage these past few weeks I feel as though I know each and every one of them. I'm not sure how I should act when I actually meet the people!'
Would you let your children take control of your love life? Two mothers with disastrous dating histories did just that for a new television documentary - with surprising results.

In Britain, three million single parents have to juggle home, work and children alongside their search for 'The One'. Fortunately, online dating has helped make this process quicker and easier.

A modern phenomenon is websites such as 'My Lovely Parent' that allows kids to play cupid, creating profiles for their unlucky-in-love mums or dads before picking suitors for them.

Essex-based Danielle has decided to hand over the dating reigns to her adorable 12-year-old daughter Jessica

After a failed marriage and a three-year string of unsuccessful dates, Danielle decided to hand over the dating reigns to her adorable 12-year-old daughter Jessica, who she lives with in Essex.

'Me and my mum look at Tinder together, sometimes,' joked Jessica. 'I think mum is quite fussy, she always says no. I think my mum is single because she hasn't found the right guy for her.'

Brunette Danielle, 38, isn't anxious about relinquishing control to her pre-teen child. 'I'm not actually that nervous because I haven't done a good job myself,' she said.

'On the websites that I'm on, I just don't know what to write. I'd rather someone write it for me. What's the worst that can happen?'

She added: 'Jessica's got a right to play a part in all of this because if she didn't like any of the men I probably wouldn't give them a go. I probably wouldn't even entertain a date with them.'

Hampshire-born Katie decided to let her boys - 21-year-old Jay and 15-year-old Harry - take control of her search for love

Jessica - with the help of her granddad David - pens a dating profile for her mother (exposing her love of EastEnders and dancing) before uploading a flattering picture.

'I'm not really looking for a dad or anyone like that,' Jessica said. 'I just want my mum to be happy.'

Eight men responded to Danielle's page, which Jessica then whittled down to her favourite three. She then met and interrogated the trio before deciding to send her mum off on a date with Justin - 'a male version of mum'.

Danielle revealed she would love to meet a reliable man who can offer her some support and give her a confidence boost. 'If nothing comes of this, I've decided I'm not going to look any more,' she said.

Jessica added: 'I think she does worry about how she looks. I don't think she has much confidence in herself.'

Despite a few pre-dinner nerves, Danielle's date with Justin at a local steak restaurant is a success. 'He's got really nice big eyes and he made me feel comfortable straight away,' she said.

'At first I didn't fancy him but I understand how he could make you feel special. I think he could look after someone like me. I can see why Jessica chose him and she did really good job.'

Brunette Danielle, 38, isn't anxious about relinquishing all control to her pre-teen Jessica. 'I'm not actually that nervous because I haven't done a good job myself,' she said.

The pair decided to move on to a bar and agreed to go on a second date. 'I'm never choosing my own men again,' she joked.

Meanwhile, Hampshire-born Katie let her three boys - 21-year-old Jay, 15-year-old Harry and 5-year-old Rocky - take control of her search for love.

The world of online dating is completely alien to the 39-year-old, who recently came out of a 12 year relationship  she has never been on a date with someone she has not met before.

Harry said: 'I think she's single because she does more for us than she does for herself. Not one man has asked to take her out. I'm quite surprised really. Look at her, she's beautiful isn't she?'

The boys set up an online profile for their mother describing her love of shopping, alongside an embarrassing video of her singing in the kitchen.

The world of online dating is completely alien to Katie who recently came out of a 12 year relationship  she has never been on a date with someone she has not met before

After just a week, Katie's profile received 10 responses. After careful consideration and a gruelling interview round, the boys sent their mum off for a night out with a man called Danny.

'I think Harry and Jay picking a man for me is more perfect than me picking a man for myself,' she said. 'I've never done it before and I think they know me better than I know myself.'

A glammed-up Katie meets Danny at a posh Japanese sushi restaurant in Mayfair but after an awkward start things take a further nose five when he reveals he doesn't like fish.

Undeterred by the experience, Katie is ready to go on more dates - with a different man off the website. 'Now I've dated I'm really keen to have more dates, 100 per cent,' she said.

'I'm nearly 40 and I want to meet someone who is my soul mate and can put me first.'
She has been making headlines with her very candid account of the heartbreak she suffered after being jilted ahead of her wedding day.

And now, the so-called 'Backpacking Bride' Katy Collins, from Formby, Merseyside, has appeared on ITV's This Morning to share her excitement after her travel blog was turned into a book.

After her fiance left her in 2012, Katy quit her PR job, sold her house and car, and went travelling around the world.

Katy Collins, 30, appeared on This Morning to reveal the things she misses most about living in England

She also revealed that the thing she misses most about England is 'proper pub grub' and that since her newfound fame she has been on the receiving end of a stream of proposals from smitten strangers.

Speaking via FaceTime from the Philippines, Katy, 30, told Holly and Phil that she felt compelled to embark on her adventure in order to 'make something good comes out of a bad situation.'

It comes as Katy's book, The Lonely Hearts Travel Club, is released today.

Holly - who had been out all night partying at last night's National Television Awards - asked Katy what had given her the strength to embark on a round-the-world adventure following her break-up.

She replied: 'I just kind of knew deep down that I wanted to make something good come out of what was a really horrible, confusing and upsetting situation, and I decided to go completely opposite.

'Everyone was saying to me: "The world is your oyster," so I decided to go and see if that was true.'

When asked by Phil if she was a typically adventurous person, she replied: 'No. I like to-do lists, I like order, I like to see where I am, so it was completely out of character.

Speaking from the Philippines via FaceTime, Katy told This Morning: 'This week has been insane'

Holly and Phil introduced Katy as 'Bridget Jones goes backpacking' on today's This Morning

'But I think I needed that, I think I needed to kind of push myself, to kind of find myself again in the non-cheesiest way.'

When Holly suggested that her adventures had not inspired many people, but led to Katy getting proposals from men, she coyly replied: 'Yeah. This week has just been insane, I never expected any of this to happen.

Her book deal was granted after she turned her experiences into a blog, called Not Wed Or Dead. Pictured right: Her new book's cover

'This has all happened because I've had the courage and the confidence, I guess, to say "I'm not going to let this affect me and I'm going to do what I want to do".'

She confided that she had never imagined she'd be a published author, adding: 'It's a dream come true. Since I was a little girl I've always loved to write and I've also found out the news today that it's going to be taken into paperbacks in three weeks' time.

'So to be able to hold a copy of my book, it's been really emotional.'

Since embarking on her adventure, Katy has already visited Thailand, India, Nepal, France and South America.

But she admitted that she would be returning home eventually. 'I miss my friends and family too much, and English food,' she said. 'Pub grub - you can't get that anywhere.'

Her appearance comes as her former fiance claimed that the pair had in fact split up three months before the wedding.

Thom Soutter, 30, a London City legal worker, said he broke up with Katy in February 2012, despite her claims that she was left on what was meant to be the couple's big day.

Yesterday it emerged that Thom is now engaged to another woman, Alyson Mobey, 29. He hit out at the way his ex-girlfriend, who admitted having an affair with Thom's friend, has treated him since the split and believes her book will be more fiction than fact.

Tom Soutter (left) broke off his engagement to Katy Colins (right) shortly before their planned wedding, inspiring her to travel and write a book. It has now emerged he is engaged again to Alyson Mobey (left)

He told The Sun: 'It's not anything like the way it's been portrayed.

'I wish Katy well but I'm not pleased she's chosen to do this. I don't want to be portrayed as this horrendous person.

'I'd already walked out once. My mistake was I went back. We tried to make it work but it wasn't happy on both sides.'

Thom said he felt Katy had become obsessed with the wedding and that it came between them. He also disputed he claims that she sold their 130,000 home in Stockport, Cheshire, and said she left to go travelling eight months after the split instead of the next day.

Former Manchester Airport public relations worker Katy told earlier this week how the heartbreak of her split from Thom inspired her to write the book.

Despite having a good job, Katy set off after the split and backpacked around south-east Asia and India

The 30-year-old said: 'His decision, although devastating at the time, was the wake-up call I needed. I had a good job, a lovely house and lived a comfortable lifestyle but it lacked adventure.

'That is something I hoped travelling half-way around the world on my own would give me, and luckily it paid off.'

The couple met at Salford university before their engagement was called off weeks before the 20,000 planned ceremony and after guests had already told them they were coming.

It is understood he bought her out of her share of their home in Stockport, Greater Manchester and she set off to backpack around the world with a broken heart.

Her heartbreak has since turned to the joy as she started writing a popular blog which she has led to her securing a three-book deal with Carina UK, part of world-renowned publisher Harper Collins.

Her book is the first of three and the series has been hailed as 'Bridget Jones goes backpacking'

The 30-year-old, pictured at Machu Picchu in Peru, is looking forward to a writing career after quitting her job

Despite having her wedding dress still hanging, unused, in a wardrobe, Katy says Thom did her the biggest favour he could have by calling off the wedding, as she has since had so many great experiences.

She added: 'I have climbed an active volcano in Chile, slept in a Thai jungle, got covered in Holi powder in India, skydived in France and even taken a flight past Mount Everest.'

Thom went to work at a law firm in the Middle East after their break, where is believed to have met his new fiancee. The couple have since moved back to London.
Tiffany also went with Ross to her dad's Mar-a-Lago club after New Year's

Before heading back to school, the couple spent some time with Marla, 52, at One World Observatory in New York City

It looks like Tiffany Trump has gotten past the crucial 'meet the parents' milestone with her new beau, as the couple recently spent some time with Tiffany's mom, Marla Maples.

Last week, Marla, 52, shared a sweet Instagram snap of herself and daughter Tiffany, posing together in white tank tops at the One World Observatory in New York City on January 10.

Now Tiffany has posted another picture from that day, this time showing her snuggling up to boyfriend Ross Mechanic, 21.

Meeting mom: Last week, Marla Maples (left) shared a picture of herself at One World Trade with daughter Tiffany Trump (right)

It's serious: Today, Tiffany is back at the University of Pennsylvania - but she shared her own snap from the day, featuring her boyfriend, Ross Mechanic

When Marla first posted her own image - in which the mother-daughter duo look almost like twins with their matching blonde hair and tops - she cryptically wrote that she was spending time with Tiffany 'and friends' while enjoying the beautiful view.

Tiffany, now back at school and the University of Pennsylvania, revealed today that one of those special 'friends' was actually her boyfriend - who posed for another picture in front of a Hudson River backdrop on the same day

'I  NYC,' she captioned the loved-up photo, in which Ross has his arm around her back and she rests one of her hands on his chest.

Romantic getaway: The 22-year-old and her 21-year-old boyfriend were at dad Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago club earlier this month, suggesting Ross has now met both of Tiffany's parents

All to herself: Tiffany shared photos from her Mar-a-Lago while she was there - though the scene seemed deserted

In the news: The couple, both of whom attend the University of Pennsylvania, only recently went public with their relationship

It seems that Tiffany introduced Ross to her mom just after the young man - who is also a student and Penn - got the chance to meet her dad, Donald Trump.

Just after New Year's, the couple were together in Palm Beach, Florida, where Tiffany stayed at Donald's Mar-a-Lago club after getting back from a Christmas ski break with her mom.

On January 4, Tiffany shared a poolside picture from Mar-a-Lago, followed by a beach snap of a beautiful sunset the next day. Ross shared his own poolside picture, though his was taken at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, Florida - suggesting he was either partying elsewhere, or wasn't actually invited to stay at the Donald's resort.

On the move: Tiffany and mom Marla, 52, also spent time together in New York in December before going on a ski trip for Christmas

Smart and wealthy: Tiffany's boyfriend Ross is a software engineering student from New York

Different backgrounds: He is also a registered Democrat, whose parents are also both Democrats

He also posted a cute selfie of the couple as they looked to be enjoying time on a boat.

It has to be good news for both Ross and Tiffany that her dad has been accepting of the relationship, as Daily Mail Online revealed exclusively in December that Ross is unlikely to be voting for him.

The software engineering student is a registered, active Democrat whose Facebook 'likes' include Hillary Clinton, NARAL Pro-Choice NYC, and the Penn Green Campus Partnership for environmental sustainability and policy development.
The Queen enjoyed tea and cake with members of the Women's Institute as she made her annual visit to the Sandringham branch.

Her Majesty, who is patron of the WI, joins members at West Newton village hall for a post-Christmas meeting every year towards the end of her annual winter break.

The 89-year-old monarch wore royal blue and she was greeted by the National Anthem sung by 25 members as she arrived in a green Range Rover.

The Queen enjoyed tea and cake with members of the Women's Institute as she made her annual visit to the Sandringham branch

Her Majesty, who is patron of the WI, joins members at West Newton village hall for a post-Christmas meeting every year towards the end of her annual winter break and appeared to leave the meeting with a gift

The queen paired her blue coat with gloves to keep out the winter chill and accessorised with a jewelled brooch and pearl earrings.

She was joined by presenter Sian Williams, this year's guest speaker, who left the BBC in November to front Channel 5's 5 News.

She said: 'When I got the call from the branch chairwoman Yvonne Brown, I wasn't sure I could make it because of work commitments.

'Then she pointed out it was an invitation from the president, the Queen, and I didn't feel I could say no.

'I'm very nervous as it's the smallest but most intimidating audience I'll ever speak in front of.

The queen paired her blue coat with gloves to keep out the winter chill and accessorised with a jewelled brooch and pearl earrings

The monarch wore royal blue and was greeted by the National Anthem sung by 25 members, pictured meeting a member of the WI

The Queen arrives at the West Newton village hall in a green Land Rover to meet with the members as per her annual tradition

This year, presenter Sian Williams was the guest speaker and went for a scarlet trench coat and matching skater dress

Sian said before the event: 'I'm very nervous as it's the smallest but most intimidating audience I'll ever speak in front of'

'Last time I met the Queen I didn't know whether to nod or curtsy or bow so did all three. This time I better get it right.'

After the meeting, the Queen appeared to leave with a gift from the members.

This year there had been speculation the Duchess of Cambridge - who lives with the Duke of Cambridge and their two children at nearby Anmer Hall - would join the meeting on Thursday but there was no sign of her as the Queen arrived shortly before 3pm.

It came after Kate last year wrote to the branch expressing an interest in joining.
In addition to his images, Benjamin also created a Change.org petition asking for more shark

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A creative photographer tied up a model in shark-infested waters for a series of breathtaking images in the hopes of showing the true beauty of the vastly feared animals.

Benjamin Von Wong, 29, from Montreal, Canada, headed to Fiji with his model Amber Bourke, who donned an ethereal white dress for the underwater cave shoot. In addition to highlighting the sharks' natural allure, the photographer wants to use the images to advocate for their protection.

'Sharks are almost always depicted as menacing and terrifying, yet it is humans that are responsible for killing them in the millions just to make soup,' he explained on his website. 'I wanted to create a series of images that would help break those stereotypes and show that it is possible for us to co-exist together in perfect harmony.'

Natural beauty: Photographer Benjamin Von Wong headed to Fiji stunning underwater photographs of a model surrounded by sharks

Under the sea: In the images, his model Amber Bourke can be seen wearing an ethereal white gown and holding a shepherd's staff

In the captivating images, Amber can be seen in a cave in the water wearing a flowing white dress, which was designed by Ali Charisma specifically for the shoot. Sharks are swimming around her in perfect harmony as she poses with a shepherd's crook.

'There lies an entire universe underneath the ocean that we think so little about let alone have a chance to experience very often and so I wanted to create a shot that captured all of this magic and mystery,' Benjamin explained in a behind-the-scenes video from the shoot.

Benjamin told Daily Mail Online that he met Amber through Facebook after he made a status saying that he was looking for a freediver who would be interested working with him in Fiji. 'I didn't mention sharks until later,' he admitted.

And while the adventure was undoubtedly a success, it wasn't as effortless to put together as it looked. Benjamin explained on his site that at first he didn't know anyone in Fiji who would be willing to help him tie down a model while sharks swam around.

In order to make his vision a reality, Benjamin teamed up with Tourism Fiji and the Barefoot Collection, who provided him with a full crew of divers along with the help of marine biologist and shark expert Thomas Vignaud.

Custom-made: Amber's beautiful white dress was designed by Ali Charisma specifically for the magical underwater shoot

Difficult conditions: The images were shot in an underwear cave, and Benjamin explained that there were only two hours a day when the light was just right

Perfect conditions: The photographer said over the course of three days they spent six hours waiting for sharks to get close enough to Amber

However, Benjamin and his team had to battle limited oxygen and find unique ways to communicate underwater in order to achieve the perfect shot.

Benjamin explained that the only time of day where there were visible light rays and active sharks was between 11am and 1pm, which only gave him a small window of two hours a day to try to create the images he wanted to portray.

For each photo, he and his team would have to weigh Amber down in a 'perfectly lit rock formation' while her dress was placed so it would flow beautifully. When everything was in place, they would give Amber the shepherd's crook and wait for sharks to pass by.

Benjamin admitted that over the course of three days they waited a total of six hours - which is a long time to be under water.

Diving in: Amber and the team of expert divers can be swimming into the underwater cave to prepare for the shoot

Attention to detail: Benjamin explained that they would weigh Amber down and fix her dress so it flowed just right before every photo

Professional: Amber, who can be seen receiving oxygen from a diver, would have to pose for as long as she could without oxygen

Benjamin explained that the only time of day where there were visible light rays and active sharks was between 11am and 1pm

He and his team also tries to remain very still so they wouldn't startle the sharks. However, much of the shoot was a guessing game. When a shark got deep enough into the cave, Amber would rip off her oxygen mask and pose for as long as she could go without air.

'Everyone is on a ticking clock. You only have a certain amount of oxygen; the water is cold and no one can communicate,' he explained in the video. 'When you add the final components. which is to have sharks appear, and once they do, it is a rush to get everyone out of the way just to leave her in perfect rays of light, hoping all of these things come together in a single instant to capture a beautiful photo.'

But with all of the complexities of the shoot, Benjamin told Daily Mail Online that getting the sharks to trust them enough to 'swim close to the action' was the most difficult aspect of achieving the photos.

Benjamin said he learned a great deal about how sharks maintain the intricate balance in the ocean, serving as shepherds of the sea. He was so moved by the experience, he even released a Change.org petition asking for the creation of more shark sanctuaries.

Spreading the word: The photographer said he hoped his images will prove that sharks are beautiful and far from the 'menacing' creatures they are made out to be

On her game: Whenever a shark would get close enough to her, Amber would have to rip off her oxygen mask and start posing

Final adjustments: One expert diver can be seen adjusting Amber's dress while another held her shepherd's staff

Smile for the camera! Benjamin (left) can be seen taking an underwater selfie with Amber and another diver from his team

'My hope is that viewers find the images beautiful and that they see a different side of sharks than what Hollywood puts in front of them,' he told Daily Mail Online. 'I hope that they get engaged enough with the images to hopefully take 10 seconds to sign the petition to encourage the creation of shark sanctuaries in my parents home country of Malaysia.'

Benjamin is close to reaching his goal of 7,500 signatures as more than 5,000 have already supported his cause. Meanwhile, his images are taking the internet by storm.

'I hope that by creating a series like this we can help transform the way that we see sharks and prove that there is something truly beautiful and worth protecting,' he said. 'Just like sharks are shepherds of the sea, we are shepherds of our generation.'

And his photo series has certainly had an impact. More than 2.4 million have viewed the images on Imgur, and they have also been wildly popular on Reddit.
Forget cut-out coupons or 2-for-1 deals - a new phone app is allowing models, bloggers and actors to dine for free at secret hotspots in exchange for a simple social media 'shout out'.

Lifestyle app called INTO has been designed for talents with large online followings to enjoy free meals up to a certain value at some of Sydney's finest cafes and restaurants.

The Sydney-based app - dubbed 'a helping friend' - is available exclusively to models, celebrities, bloggers, actors, artists and athletes who are signed with an agency.

A new app is allowing models, bloggers and actors to dine for free at secret hotspots in exchange for a social media 'shout out' (stock image)

Models Ping Hue and Anna-Christina Schwartz enjoying a free juice after redeeming the offer via the app

Once the user is logged into their account on their smartphone, they would get full access to a personal 'list of quality offers for your daily needs around you'.

'Discover free and highly discounted real-life experiences on the app map, tap to redeem and show your app certificate in the venue to identify yourself, all-in-one, too easy,' the description reads.

'INTO helps you to feel at home in your city and around the world whether it's in-between castings or after work. Tab along and you will see offers available to you and the distance from where you are.

'Benefit, discover and experience. INTO is your exclusive friend in your pocket.'

The lifestyle app called INTO has been designed for revellers with large social media followings

Models can enjoy free meals and coffee up to a certain value at some of Sydney's finest cafes (stock image)

The app is a clever promotional tool to attract diners to businesses by allowing models and bloggers to boast about the delicious meals to their large social media followers

The app is a clever promotional tool to attract diners to businesses by encouraging models and bloggers to boast about the delicious meals and products to their large social media followers.

'Into allows you to share experiences via your social media channels. Boost your following on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter organically and unforced,' the app reads.

INTOs co-founder Lucas Foerstch said the app was not only beneficial for social media influencers but also businesses as well.

'INTO users promote themselves while at the same time promoting the quality venues we have on the app,' he told News Corp.

'The end result is that businesses benefit from talent who are actively trying to grow their social media followings. And the agency benefits as more followers for their talent means more bookings/jobs for that talent.'

Sydney model Holly Greenstein got a haircut and blow dry at a hair salon in Bondi Beach via the lifestyle app

Once the user is logged into their account , they would get full access to a personal 'list of quality offers'

Three Williams cafe in Redfern, south of Sydney, is just one of several businesses who offer free $25 meals through the app.

'Attracting those people with a lot of followers is an organic way for us to get our name out there. Their followers might think, "Oh, I'll give that place a crack. If it's good enough for her, it's good enough for me",' cafe owner Toby Iaccarino told News Corp.

'We're not on the main drag. We're located a little bit off the beaten track so if we can attract those people to us, then great.'
Anxiety can leave people vulnerable to panic attacks which is a sudden acceleration of an overwhelming physical response to fear, stress or excitement

Ever felt so stressed about something it feels like you cant breathe?

Most people will admit to familiar pangs of unease, worry, and fear from time to time but while anxiety can engulf everyone, the cause is often less clear.

It could be a hospital visit, sitting an exam, or starting a new job, that triggers feelings of a tight chest or nervousness,

When a person suffers from anxiety, they may also be vulnerable to panic attacks - a sudden acceleration of an overwhelming physical response to fear, stress or excitement.

Sensations felt during a panic attack could include a pounding heartbeat, feeling faint, nausea, and feeling unable to breathe.

Official figures released last week from England's Health and Social Care Information Centre showed almost half of adults have struggled with emotional disorders such as anxiety and depression - and women are more likely to suffer.

It is clear that anxiety is a common emotion that nobody is immune from and celebrities are no exception.

Here, Healthista reveals five of the most influential women in the public eye who have admitted to suffering from anxiety.

JENNIFER LAWRENCE

Its hard to believe that the jesting Jennifer Lawrence is a victim of an emotional disorder, but in an interview with Vogue magazine, the loveable blonde admitted to suffering from anxiety as a child.

When speaking with French magazine, Madame Figaro, Miss Lawrence stated that before starting school her mother used to tell her that there was a light in me, a spark that inspired me constantly.

She then goes on to say that when she started school the light went out.

Thinking back to her school days, she described herself as a weirdo.

She assumes that it was a kind of social anxiety, as her fears seemed to stem from parties and field trips.

Jennifer Lawrence has admitted she struggled with anxiety as a child and credits acting with curing it

Miss Lawrence believes that the true cure for her anxiety was when she started acting.

She stated that she had been to see a health professional, but it had not worked.

However, the first time she found herself on stage her mother had said she saw the change that was taking place in me. She saw my anxieties disappear.

Miss Lawrence said that acting made her happy and made her feel capable, whereas before I felt worthless.

TAYLOR SWIFT

Taylor Swift oozes confidence in every aspect of her career.

Seeing her strutting down the runway at the Victoria Secret fashion show you cant help but wish you could be her.

This bold blonde could fool anyone as she swans across a stage, but even she has admitted to having battled with anxiety.

Taylor Swift revealed she developed anxiety while in a relationship with an unidentified ex-boyfriend

During a performance at the Grammy Museum, Miss Swift revealed to the audience that she had developed anxiety while in a relationship with an unnamed ex-boyfriend.

Although fans have theorised that she is referring to former boyfriend Harry Styles, she has not confirmed these speculations.

When introducing the song Out of the Woods, she candidly states that it felt very fragile, it felt very tentative.

She also expresses that she constantly harboured fears that the relationship would not last, and would worry about what would be the next thing that might deter this.

She implied that she lacked confidence regarding the stability of the relationship, saying how long do we have before this turns into just and awful mess and we break up? Is it a month? Is it three days?

EMMA STONE

Emma Stone is most known for her charm and great sense of humour.

However, when talking about her childhood, she admitted to Vogue in 2012 that she has had experience with anxiety and panic attacks.

She recalled that, the first time I had a panic attack I was sitting in my friends house, and I thought the house was burning down.

Emma Stone told Vogue in 2012 that she experienced panic attacks and often worried about people dying

'I called my mum and she brought me home, and for the next three years it just would not stop.

She explained that she used to go to the school nurse at lunch time wringing her hands, and would continuously beg her mum to tell her exactly how the day was going to be.

Stating that, I just needed to know that no one was going to die and nothing was going to change.

Miss Stone says that when she discovered acting the immediacy of it helped her to prevent the anxiety from effecting her thoughts.

You cant afford to think about a million other things, she states, you have to think about the task at hand.

LEONA LEWIS

In 2014 Leona Lewis tweeted a handwritten letter to her fans opening up about her battle with depression.

In an attempt to reach out to other people who may understand her feelings, the letter highlights the downs she felt before leaving Simon Cowells record company, Syco.

The downs were outweighing the ups. So Im writing this letter for anyone who has ever felt the same way.

Leona Lewis wrote an open letter to fans about depression but later said she believed it was actually anxiety

In 2015, during an interview with The Telegraph, she spoke out again about her emotional battles, explaining that she now denies the claim of depression originally stated in her open letter, and now says that she thinks she was suffering from anxiety.

Miss Lewis admits that she worries a lot about family and the future, but she has now taught herself how to prevent negative thoughts.

MADONNA

Madonna is a veteran of the music world.

In her 30-year career she has performed in front of millions of people all over the world.

However, even this seasoned performer has revealed that she regularly suffers with panic attacks.

In an interview with Dazed & Confused in 2008 she remarks that there are times on stage when she feels invincible, but she goes on to say that there are other times when she feels like she might just die on stage.

She states, I have panic attacks where I feel like everyone is breathing my air and I cannot live up to everybodys expectations.

She explained that its difficult to describe the reasons for the attacks, but highlights that she knows that it is not a fear of performing that sparks them, but thinks they are triggered by a feeling of claustrophobia.

When an attack occurs she deals with them by turning her back to the audience, taking a deep breath, and telling herself that it is only temporary.

This article originally appeared in and is re-produced here with the permission of Healthista.
Brave: Mary, 61, Sandra, 54, and 46-year-old Kerry Lloyd are taking part in a pioneering gene project, after all being diagnosed with breast cancer within a little over a year of each other

When three sisters were diagnosed with breast cancer within little over a year of each other, they were devastated.

But now Mary, Kerry and Sandra Lloyd are offering hope to others  by donating their DNA to a landmark project that could transform treatment of the disease.

Analysing their genetic code could reveal the link between the sisters illnesses, helping to improve doctors understanding of the disease.

The sisters are among the first of 25,000 Britons with cancer who will have their entire genetic code read as part of the 100,000 Genomes project.

Mapping DNA reveals information that could lead to faster and more accurate diagnoses and help scientists develop more targeted treatments. It is even predicted that it could make chemotherapy obsolete within 20 years.

And the project will not just help cancer patients, because it looks for all kinds of clues in our DNA for developing diseases.

Children with rare genetic illnesses have already been helped by the project, which is the largest piece of research of its kind in the world.

Mary Lloyd, 61, of Northampton, was diagnosed with cancer in November 2013, after discovering a lump in her breast.

Only two months later, Kerry, 46, received the same news following a routine mammogram.

Just over a year later, in February 2015, 54-year-old Sandra was diagnosed. All three have been successfully treated, and Kerry and Sandra, who both live in Leicester, have returned to their jobs as teaching assistants.

Their mother, Eileen, also had breast cancer, increasing suspicions that faulty DNA runs in their family.

Tests have already suggested their cancers were not linked to the BRCA gene, which is the most common cause of inherited breast cancer and is carried by actress Angelina Jolie.

The sisters have given samples of their breast tumours and of blood and it is hoped that the results, due in the spring, will reveal a rogue gene.

Their three other sisters and their children could then be tested for it, and either be treated or monitored closely.

Mary, a retired social worker, said: It was devastating when we were all diagnosed but we joined the project without hesitation.

We think it is one of the positives that has come out of our condition. We hope it will help other people who find themselves in the same situation.

The project has diagnosed two girls whose illnesses were a mystery at Londons Great Ormond Street Hospital. Georgia Walburn-Green, four, from Newbury, Berkshire, had kidney problems and developmental issues.

Treatment: The sisters are among the first of 25,000 Britons with cancer who will have their entire genetic code read as part of the 100,000 Genomes project. Mapping DNA reveals information that could lead to faster and more accurate diagnoses and help scientists develop more targeted treatments (file image)

An extremely rare faulty gene was found to be the cause, and while there are no drugs for her condition, the gene is now being studied to find a treatment.

Jessica Wright, also four, from East Sussex, who suffered from a range of problems including epilepsy, was found to carry a different rogue gene and there is a treatment that could help her.

Launched just over a year ago with 300million of funding, the project has just received a further 250millon from the Government.

Sir Harpal Kumar, of Cancer Research UK, said: The comprehensive mapping of patients DNA will reveal a vast amount of information that could help doctors and scientists develop new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer more effectively.
Doctors treating a man with stomach pain were astonished to discover a huge tapeworm inside him that was more than 6.2 meters long.

The 38-year-old had gone to hospital after three days of vomiting and feeling weak.

There, he told doctors that over the past two years he had suffered from pain in his stomach and abdomen, loss of appetite, weight loss and long-term anaemia due to iron deficiency.

Medics from the Hubei University of Medicine, in Shiyan, China, examined him but found nothing remarkable, the New England Journal of Medicine reports.

But when they looked at his stools under a microscope they found an oncosphere  the egg of a tapeworm.

Scroll down for video

A 38-year-old Chinese man was found to have a tapeworm more than 6.2 metres (20 foot) long inside him. The red arrow points to the worm's head, known as its scolex, which attaches to the small intestine

The man came to doctors complaining of a stomach ache, weakness and weight loss. When they examined his faeces they found the egg of a tapeworm (pictured)

The man revealed he had a tendency to eat raw beef, which is a known cause of infection with such worms.

Doctors immediately gave him the drug praziquantel, which is used to treat parasitic infections.

He also drank mannitol, a colourless sweet-tasting crystalline alcohol, as a laxative.

Two-and-a-half hours later he excreted a tapeworm that was more than 6.2m in length.

A tapeworm is a parasite that can live in a person's bowel. It tends to be flat, segmented and ribbon-like.

Humans can catch them by touching contaminated stools and then touching their mouths, by swallowing food or water that contains traces of contaminated faeces or by eating undercooked, contaminated pork, beef or fish.

After the mans worm was sent for analysis, it was, unsurprisingly, identified as a Taenia saginata - a beef tapeworm.

Beef tapeworms can grow up to 25m in length, though most are around 5m long.

When medics examined the worm they found it was a Taenia saginata - a beef tapeworm. It had thousands of segments attached to the head and neck which have eggs in them  known as the gravid proglottid (pictured)

The man is thought to have caught the tapeworm after eating raw beef. Image shows a beef tapeworm's head

Its head  known as a scolex  attaches to the surface of the small intestine via suckers.

Doctors identified the worms scolex and also found it had thousands of segments attached to the head and neck containing eggs  known as the gravid proglottid.

These eggs tend to break off and are excreted in the faeces.

Symptoms of a tapeworm infection include stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhoea as well as weight loss and malnutrition.

However, some patients have no symptoms and are unaware of their infection until they see segments of the worm in their stools.

Fortunately for the man, beef tapeworms can be easily treated with medicationand after three months he had a follow up meeting and had regained weight and his appetite had returned.

However, infection with other tapeworms can lead to serious complications.

This is because their larvae can settle in other parts of the bod, including the muscle and brain - and can cause seizures.
Found bacteria competed for space and killed each other like antibiotics

Experiment on the BBCs Trust Me I'm a Doctor cultured them for 4 weeks

Tests on the beards of random men found more than 100 types of bacteria

They may have increasing become the go-to fashion accessory for men, hanging off the faces of Hollywood actors, Shoreditch hipsters, and even royalty.

But the debate over whether the big and bushy look is actually a health hazard has divided opinion as much as whether or not it is a good look.

Images of trapped food or a runny nose tricking down into the course strands of facial hair put many people off sporting the likes of the Hollywoodian and the Old Dutch.

And a recent study in New Mexico found traces of enteric bacteria, the sort usually found in faeces, in randomly sampled beards.

Now an experiment on the BBCs Trust Me I'm a Doctor claims to have settled the debate once and for all.

Prince Harry has been famously sporting a beard. New research shown on Trust Me I'm a Doctor suggests beards could be a breeding ground for antibiotics

Hollywood A-listers including Jake Gyllenhall and Christian Bale are famous beard-wearers with research divided on whether they are healthy or unhealthy additions to the face

In fact, the programme has discovered that beards could potentially be harbouring the next generation of antibiotics.

Dr Chris van Tulleken wandered the streets of Camden in search of willing subjects with facial hair.

'Are we surrounding our mouths with giant microbial mats and if so, could it be doing us harm?' he asked.

He swabbed the beards of a random assortment of 20 men before sending them off to be tested.

Dr Adam Roberts, a microbiologist based at University College London, then cultured the samples to see what he could grow.

He successfully managed to grow more than 100 different bacteria from the beards, predominantly types that are commonly found on skin.

When you get a competitive environment like a beard where there are many different bacteria, they fight for food resources and space, so they produce things like antibiotics Dr Adam Roberts, microbiologist, University College London

There was also traces of another, called Barnesiella which can be found in the small intestine  but does not necessarily mean it came from faeces.

More remarkably, they found part of a species called Staphylococcus epidermidis was killing other bacteria.

Further tests using this bacteria against a particularly drug-resistant form of E. coli found it attacked and killed it.

'When you get a competitive environment like a beard where there are many different bacteria, they fight for food resources and space, so they produce things like antibiotics,' he said.

He said some bacteria had evolved to produce toxins to kill others and these toxins are used to create antibiotics drugs.

Antibiotic-resistant infections kill at least 700,000 people a year, projected to rise to 10 million by 2050. There have been no new antibiotics released in the past 30 years.

And they warned that purifying and properly testing a novel antibiotic is so expensive and has such a high failure rate that it is unlikely to be used any time soon.

Microbiologists tested beards similar to those found on Tom Hardy (left) and Liam Gallagher (right) and found they contained different types of bateria

Researchers compared their remarkable findings to one published in the Journal of Hospital Infection in 2014.

The study at an American hospital found clean-shaven men were most likely to be carrying harmful germs on their faces, rather than their bearded counterparts.

Fresh-faced hospital colleagues were three times as likely to be harbouring a species known as methicillin-resistant staph aureus, the latter part of MRSA.

However, both are likely to do little to dissuade critics that beards are a breeding ground for germs and infection with other studies backing the 'unhygienic' corner.

A study by Dr Ron Cutler, of Queen Mary University of London, found it was vital for fuzzy-faced men to wash and groom regularly and ensure the area under the hair hasnt become sore from ingrown hairs.

Manuel Barbeito, a microbiologist in the U.S. Army in the 1960s, was conscious of germs spreading though his lab on coats and shoes, and wondered if beards were also a culprit.

The experiment was done by the BBCs Trust Me I'm a Doctor show. Pictured (left to right) are Dr Chris van Tulleken, Dr Saleyha Ashan, Dr Michael Mosley, Miss Gabriel Weston

Theorising that beards are an ideal breeding ground for bugs, he wanted to see if more bacteria and viruses were being spread by lab workers with facial hair.

He asked his employees to grow thick, burly beards and then sprayed them with non-infectious bacteria.

The study found that the bacteria did in fact cling to the beards, and washing the hair did not make it bacteria-free.

Though cleaning reduced the amounts of germs on the beard, enough bugs remained 'to produce disease if put into contact with a suitable host', he said.

Professor Anthony Hilton, head of biological and biomedical sciences at Aston University, said other research has confirmed beards can spread bacteria.

The study, published in the journal Anaesthesia, looked at whether surgical masks caught bacteria falling from surgeons faces, and whether having a beard affected how many bacteria fell.

What they found was that men with beards do harbour a significant number of bacteria, more than non-bearded men and women, Dr Hilton previously told MailOnline.
Mr Hall served for 12 years as a sapper with the Royal Engineers and in the Royal Logistics Corps and spent three years in Cyprus

A former soldier battling terminal skin cancer believes his illness was caused by his time abroad with the army  when sun cream was not issued to troops.

Lee Hall, 44, was devastated to be told the stage four melanoma had spread to his lungs, liver and spine following treatment to remove the deadly tumour.

Doctors say the deadliest form of skin cancer is likely to have been triggered by his time serving at an army base in Cyprus.

He admits he didn't take his own sun protection and using sun tan lotion was the 'last thing on my mind' during his deployment.

The step-father-of two, from South Shields, who also served in Bosnia, is now calling for the Army to issue it routinely and warning troops to be more aware of the potential killer.

'Soldiers are going out to these hot countries and doing a job, risking being killed every day by gunfire and the like, but they do not realise they are also risking being killed every day in other ways  by the sun,' he said.

'When I went to Cyprus I was a 21-year-old lad, and sun cream was the last thing on my mind.

'Skin cancer was just never heard of, and I'd never even heard of sun cream either.

'I had only been abroad once before. It was a brand new experience, and skin cancer was something I never really knew about.'

Mr Hall served for 12 years as a sapper with the Royal Engineers and in the Royal Logistics Corps and was stationed in Cyprus for three years from 1993.

The Army confirmed Mr Hall's melanoma was 'attributable to service'  but added that sun cream is now 'either issued or readily available' to all service personnel, depending on where they are serving.

Mr Hall first visited his GP in March 2012 three months after his wife Heather, 52, noticed a mole on his back had grown in size.

Tests revealed the mole was a melanoma and he had an operation to remove it.

Doctors discovered the cancer had spread deeper than expected and he underwent more surgery which involved doctors cutting flesh from his back and creating a skin flap to cover the wound.

Subsequent biopsies came back negative and he was in good health and having regular check-ups until August 2014 when he started getting pains in his ribs.

In October 2014 doctors revealed the melanoma had spread and he was then given the devastating news his cancer was terminal two months later.

Mr Hall visited his GP in 2012 three months after his wife Heather, 52, noticed a mole on his back had grown

The mole on his before he went to the GP and it was diagnosed as a deadly melanoma (left) and after his first operation to remove it (right)

'Finding out the cancer was terminal was very difficult for my family but I'm a very happy person and I try not to let anything get me down,' he said.

'The prognosis was that Christmas 2014 was going to be my last Christmas, but I'm still here.'

Incredibly, Mr Hall, who is being treated with a new side effect-free immunotherapy trial drug, was told last year his cancer had shrunk.

A further scan in December showed no signs of the cancer growing and there were also signs of improvement.

Now Mr Hall wants to increase awareness about the disease among troops stationed in hot countries.

During his military career, he spent time in the Falklands, Germany and London.

'Doctors think my cancer was caused by serving in hot countries while I was in the army.

'We were never offered, nor issued any sun cream,' he said.

Mr Hall, pictured in hospital receiving cancer treatment, wants his story to encourage others to get moles checked out by doctors. He is now terminally ill

Mr Hall said he had never heard of skin cancer as a 21-year-old serving as a sapper with the Royal Engineers and in the Royal Logistics Corps

'I also have heard sun cream is still not issued to some soldiers serving abroad, which I think is a disgrace.

'I do not hold any ill will towards the army. I loved my time in the Army and if I had my time again I would do it exactly the same, but this time I would wear sun cream. '

Mr Hall, who also worked as a taxi driver for 12 years, has since raised more than 6,000 for a local cancer charity.

He wants his story to inspire others to get suspicious moles checked out sooner.

'It takes a doctor 30 seconds to look at a mole and put your mind at rest and say 'it's nothing to worry about,' he said.

I loved my time in the Army and if I had my time again I would do it exactly the same, but this time I would wear sun cream Lee Hall, 44

'I didn't listen to my wife when she told me my mole was getting bigger. I waited three months and if I hadn't then I might not be terminally ill now.

'I know people are worried about what the result could be, but if it is cancer not speaking to a doctor is not going to change anything  it is going to make it worse.'

An army spokeswoman offered sympathies to Mr Hall, adding service personnel were now briefed on environmental factors prior to deployment.

Sun blocks and creams are now 'readily available' but the spokesperson was unable to say what the procedures were at the time Mr Hall was serving.

'We offer our sincere sympathies to Mr Hall,' the statement said.

'We can confirm all service personnel receive briefing and training prior to deployment or assignment to different climates, and this includes environmental and healthcare factors.

'Sun block creams of various strengths are either issued or readily available, as appropriate, and guidance reminds personnel that they should be used and re-applied frequently.'

To make a donation to Lees fundraising go to his JustGiving page here.
Instead, sufferers are kept '

Weve all lay in our beds tossing and turning and unable to sleep.

But can you imagine gnawing exhaustion night after night, leaving you unable to function and knowing you will be dead in a few months time?

This is the fate of those with fatal insomnia, thought to affect just 100 people worldwide.

The condition occurs because sufferers bodies cant prepare for a nights sleep, meaning they never drop off, journalist David Robson reports in a BBC Future report.

This happens when proteins called prions become misshapen, damaging the brain.

Fatal insomnia is a cruel condition which means sufferers are not able to sleep for months on end (file photo)

As well as insomnia, it also leads to sweating, impotence, tremors, difficulty walking, weight loss, dementia, hallucinations, and anxiety.

Usually beginning in midlife, it progresses to death within seven months to three years.

But in 2014, a 16-year-old boy became the youngest person to die of the disease.

His symptoms include slurred speech and double vision, which became so bad he was unable to balance or walk, LiveScience reports.

In another case, a Venetian man called Silvano first noticed signs of the devastating illness that had killed dozens of his family when his pupils turned into tiny black pinpricks.

Checking himself into the University of Bolognas sleep unit, the 53-year-old told doctors: Ill stop sleeping, and within eight or nine months, Ill be dead,' BBC Future reports.

Years of research means scientist snow understand that fatal insomnia occurs when prions in the brain start folding abnormally.

This can either occur as a result of a tiny genetic mutation - in which case the disease is called fatal familial insomnia - or randomly, which is known as sporadic fatal insomnia.

The condition occurs when proteins called prions in the brain become misshapen. This damages the part of the brain called the thalamus (pictured in red), which alters systems in the body to induce sleep

The misshapen prions begin to poison nerve cells in a walnut-sized part of the brain called the thalamus.

When doctors examined Silvanos thalamus after his death, it looked like it was riddled with worm-holes.

The thalamus is linked to the body's sympathetic nervous system, which controls unconscious actions.

It regulates the bodys unconscious actions, including hormone levels, temperature, blood pressure and heart rate.

In healthy people, at night, hormone levels alter and blood pressure is dropped to induce slumber.

But for those with fatal insomnia, these actions don't happen and so they remain awake, in a permanent pre-sleep state.

This is because damage to the nerve cells by the poison sends the body's systems haywire.

When we nod off, the thalamus also orchestrates waves of electrical activity in the brain. These work as a 'dimmer switch', shutting down the conscious activity we see in the day.

This is so we descend from light 'rapid eye movement' sleep into a deeper 'slow wave sleep', which is when the brain repairs itself and memories form.

Without this calming mechanism, people stay switched on, and even if they are able to fall into a stupor, it is no replacement for deep, restorative sleep.

However, one patient, known as 'DF', whose case was described in the medical journal Mescape General Medicine, found ways to induce sleep, even for only 15 minutes at a time.

When we sleep, the thalamus also regulates brain waves that shut off conscious activity, so we descend into deep 'slow wave' sleep. If the thalamus is damaged people lack this 'dimmer switch' and suffer insomnia

Last year, Italian researchers announced a clinical trial to see if a commonly prescribed antibiotic could prevent, or slow the formation of the prions in the brain.

Doxycycline, which is normally prescribed to prevent malaria, showed promise helping patients with CreutzfeldtJakob disease (CJD), another prion disease.

The drug appears to stop the poisonous proteins clumping together, allowing them to be broken up by the brains natural enzymes.

Silvanos relatives were all asked to take part in the trial, but this apparently threw up some ethical issues.

This was because scientists had to genetically test each one of them, to see who carried the genetic mutation and should be treated.

But unsurprisingly, many did not want to be told of their impending demise, and spend every waking moment in fear of it.

Instead, the scientists designed the trial so participants would not know whether they were receiving the placebo or the real drug.
Last week Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg shared a picture of himself taking his daughter to be vaccinated.

'Doctor's visit - time for vaccines!,' he shared on the social mediaste , along with a cute snap of Max in a colourful and geometric patterned onesie.

The picture sparked a heated debate about immunisations, with some praising the billionaire for protecting his daughter, and other children, from illness.

But anti-vaccination supporters, who believe ingredients in vaccines may put children at risk of developing autism and other harmful diseases, were quick to criticise his decision.

Now Dr Anita Milicic, an immunologist from the University of Oxford, has spoken out on the matter .

She insists there is no evidence vaccines can cause autism or other diseases.

In fact, failing to be immunised leaves children at risk of meningitis, polio, measles and tetanus, among other potentially life-threatening illnesses.

Here, writing for The Conversation, she explains why no parent should leave their child unvaccinated...

Last week Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg shared this photograph of his daughter Max at the doctors, about to be vaccinated. The snap ignited debate about whether vaccinations are unsafe

Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg recently posted a photo on the social networking site of his two-month-old daughter in the doctors surgery waiting to be vaccinated.

It provoked a storm on social media, with millions of people commenting on the pros and cons of vaccination.

So was Zuckerberg right to have his child vaccinated? You take your perfectly healthy, happy baby to the doctor, she stabs her in the leg with a needle and youre left holding a child that screams the place down for two minutes.

Well, its either that or risk catching meningitis, pneumonia, polio, diphtheria, measles, tetanus, or rubella.

In 1980, measles alone caused around 2.6m deaths. Global immunisation has brought this down, but still 115,000 people died from measles in 2014, mostly small children.

Why, when we have a safe and effective vaccine against measles?

There are many logistical obstacles to successful vaccination globally, especially in poor countries, but thats a different discussion.

Lets instead focus on busting some vaccination myths that have contributed to the recent rise of several infectious diseases in developed countries.

In February last year, Mr Zuckerberg said: 'The science is completely clear: vaccinations work and are important for the health of everyone in our community.' Pictured with wife Priscilla Chan and daughter Max

MYTH 1: MMR VACCINE CAUSES AUTISM

Rarely has a piece of misinformation single-handedly caused so much damage.

In 1998, a Lancet paper by Andrew Wakefield proposed a causal link between the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine and autism.

Autism is usually diagnosed in preschool children (four-year-olds in the UK), and the second dose of MMR is given between ages three and four. The two can coincide, but there is no causality.

A formal inquiry found the research fraudulent and unethical  the children with autism were subjected to unnecessary invasive procedures such as colonoscopies and lumbar punctures.

It was discredited and the paper retracted. But the damage was done. The MMR vaccine uptake in the UK fell from 94 per cent to under 70 per cent.

In 2013, measles returned, resulting in serious illness, hospitalisation and even deaths in the UK and US.

Myths about vacciantions have contributed to the recent rise of several infectious diseases in developed countries, argues Dr Anita Milicic, an immunologist from the University of Oxford

MYTH 2: THE HPV VACCINE ISN'T SAFE

This claim is based on selective reporting of unexpected symptoms following a vaccination.

Since 1990 health providers are required to report all adverse events that occur after vaccination, the VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System).

To date, over 30,000 adverse events and 200 deaths have been recorded for the new HPV vaccine Gardasil (from nearly 200m administered doses).

Why vaccinate your child? Its either that or risk them catching meningitis, pneumonia, polio, diphtheria, measles, tetanus, or rubella Dr Anita Milicic, an immunologist from the University of Oxford

When a vaccine starts collecting bad reports, the number of reported adverse events goes up sharply. This does not mean the vaccine is the cause of these events, or deaths.

What it means is that a death occurred after the person was vaccinated. People of all ages die worldwide every day. Some will have even received a vaccine prior to their death.

The only way to ensure that the reported adverse events are linked to a vaccine is to compare the number of the same events in a similar but unvaccinated sample of the population.

In November 2015, the European Medicines Agency completed a thorough review of HPV vaccine safety and found no concerns.

MYTH 3: VACCINES CONTAIN TOXIC CHEMICALS

Aluminium salts are commonly added to improve the immune response to the vaccine. Aluminium occurs naturally in breast milk, formula milk, some foods and drinking water.

The total amount of infant exposure through food and vaccination is well within the recommended safe levels.

Thiomersal is a vaccine preservative containing a form of mercury that is easily excreted from the body (unlike methyl mercury found in tuna fish).

Failing to vaccinate children leaves them at risk of suffering meningitis, pneumonia, polio, diphtheria, measles, tetanus, or rubella. Pictured is an artwork depicting meningitis bacteria

The concerns about its toxicity are only theoretical and have not been scientifically proven.

Thiomersal is not found in the childhood vaccines routinely used in the UK.

Formaldehyde is used in vaccine production to inactivate toxins from bacteria and viruses. A pear contains around 50 times more formaldehyde than is found in any vaccine.

Unlike most drugs, the vaccine patient information leaflets list every ingredient used in the vaccine production, including trace substances, so that anyone with a severe allergy to any of these substances is consulted prior to vaccination.

MYTH 4: VACCINES CAN GIVE YOU THE DISEASE THEY'RE MEANT TO BE PROTECTING YOU FROM

It is impossible to get a disease from a vaccine made with killed bacteria or viruses, or made with only part of the bacteria or virus.

In rare cases, vaccines that contain a live weakened virus can cause a mild form of the disease they protect against.

The live oral polio vaccine did cause polio in a handful of cases and has not been used in the UK since 2004.

Anti-vaccination activists claim vaccines contain toxic chemicals such as formaldehyde. But a pear contains around 50 times more formaldehyde than is found in any vaccine, Dr Milicic says

The MMR vaccine very occasionally causes a mild form of measles or mumps that can last for a day or two.

This kind of vaccine is only a risk to children with weak immune systems, such as those with cancer, who instead have to rely on protection through herd immunity.

MYTH 5: VACCINES ONLY PROFIT BIG PHARMA

Yes, vaccines are profitable, but far less profitable than most drugs, amounting to only 1-2 per cent of global pharmaceutical sales.

It takes decades and hundreds of millions of dollars in investment to develop and licence one vaccine.

Without recouping these costs there would be no investment to develop new vaccines.

Babies and young children are prone to infections, so it is integral they are vaccinated. Dr Milicic said: 'If they do catch something, it might just be too late'

Some vaccines are too costly for global coverage  although the manufacturers sell them at a reduced price to the developing countries and organised vaccination initiatives.

And, as we are currently in the Decade of Vaccines, greater vaccine accessibility and improved pricing transparency are high on the agenda of the WHO and GAVI (a Global Vaccine Alliance), and major funders such as the Gates Foundation.

We are fortunate to live in a time where we have access to vaccines against many terrible diseases. We should take advantage of this.

As most parents will know, babies and young children are particularly prone to infections.

Dont compromise your childs health by denying them vaccination. If they do catch something, it might just be too late.
In 1939, a plan to assassinate Hitler at his 50th birthday parade was hatched

MIDNIGHT IN BERLIN by James MacManus

MIDNIGHT IN BERLIN

by James MacManus

(Duckworth Overlook 16.99)

In 1939, a plan to assassinate Hitler at his 50th birthday parade was submitted to the highest echelons of the British Establishment.

The killing would be followed by a military coup aiming to take out the Nazi regime.

Rejected on the grounds that it would not be sportsmanlike behaviour, this stillborn plot is the springboard for a rivetingly detailed novel about the diplomatic intrigues that went on behind the scenes.

Arriving in pre-war Berlin with his sexually adventurous wife Primrose, military attache Noel Macrae is highly intelligent, resourceful and an expert marksman.

Convinced the assassination is necessary, he takes dangerous risks to get it off the ground. Soon, he finds himself embattled with the British ambassador and falling in love with a beautiful Jewess who works in the brothel favoured by Nazi leader Reinhard Heydrich.

Even though the outcome is known, this is a cracking novel, which totally grips and left me thinking: if only.

THE QUEENS CHOICE by Anne OBrien

THE QUEENS CHOICE

by Anne OBrien

(Harlequin 12.99 )

Mother-of-nine and widow of John, Duke of Brittany, Joanna of Navarre is faced with a choice.

Henry of Lancaster, now King Henry IV of England, has proposed. Should she follow her heart and become Englands Queen? Or stay in Brittany and act as regent for her son?

Joanna marries Henry in 1403, but their affection (alluded to by contemporary observers) is severely tested.

Henry has deposed his cousin, Richard II, releasing a toxic mix of vendetta and hatred for generations to come.

Regarded as an untrustworthy foreigner, Joanna is plotted against and Henrys illness, possibly psychosomatic but which kills him in the end, imposes strains on their relationship.

Very well written and researched with just the right amount of detail, this is a straightforward, high-quality historical novel that treats readers as grown-ups.

FOR THE MOST BEAUTIFUL by Emily Hauser

FOR THE MOST BEAUTIFUL

by Emily Hauser

(Doubleday 12.99)

Thanks to Homers Iliad, which gave us its battles and heroes to remember for all time, the story of the Trojan War is written into our cultural DNA.

What Homer neglected, however, were the women - brave, seductive, resourceful fighters who were operating behind the scenes.

The first of a trilogy in which the feminist banner is raised, For The Most Beautiful concentrates on two of these women.

Krisayis is daughter of the Trojans High Priest and loved by the Trojan Prince, Troilus.

Briseis, princess of Pedasus, is married to Mynes, but ends up a slave to Achilles and falls in love with him.

The violent struggles during this epic historical event that decide the fates of these women are intensely described, and there is no doubting Hausers passionate involvement with, and knowledge of, her subject.
Tom Blass has dived in with endless curiosity and keen eye for detail

The naked shore: of the north sea

by Tom Blass

(Bloomsbury 20)

Who would have thought that a book about a treacherous expanse of freezing, grey-green water, feared by mariners through the centuries, could turn out to be such a delight?

Yet when Tom Blass first mentioned his intention to write a biography of the North Sea to an acquaintance familiar with the subject, he was bluntly informed: It is impossible. There is so much. You will drown in it.

This books takes readers on a bracing voyage that combines history with sociology, anthropology and fun

Undaunted, Blass dived in and his endless curiosity and keen eye for the telling detail, allied to some fine writing, takes readers on a bracing voyage that combines history - a masterly introductory chapter summarises the North Seas enduring strategic and military importance - with sociology, anthropology and an ample measure of fun.

A journalist who has studied law and politics, Blass begins his journey aboard the MV Longstone, a lineal descendant of John Masefields dirty British coaster, that is bound for Gothenburg, Sweden, with a cargo of car parts and cat food.

As the ship approaches the coast of Skagerrak, he obligingly provides the correct pronunciation: Skayraack, like the rasping of a crow.

Heading for the islands of Heligoland (once British territory until bizarrely swapped with Germany for Zanzibar) his thoughts turn to Erskine Childerss ripping spy yarn, The Riddle Of The Sands.

Set largely in the fog-shrouded waters of the North Seas Frisian Islands, it was credited with alerting the British government to the threat of a German naval invasion during the early 1900s.

Ever informative, Blass provides Childerss last words after his involvement in the murky politics of the Irish Civil War ended before a firing squad: take a step or two forward lads, itll be easier that way.

On a more cheerful note, the book charts the birth of the seaside holiday, which Blass dates back to a point in the mid-18th century when the windswept beaches of the North Sea became an alluring destination, with the invention of the bathing machine creating exciting opportunities for voyeurs, the fairer sex very much included.

27% Of the Netherlands lies below sea level Advertisement

A scandalised observer in Ramsgate, Kent, reported that hundreds of females were paying unhealthy attention to men frolicking in the icy water just as they came into the world.

Lobbing in another of his arresting factoids, Blass writes that there are now more swimming pools per head in the Shetlands than anywhere else in Europe (indoors and heated, presumably).

A large and colourful cast of characters marches through the book, from Hulls hard-drinking, free-spending fishermen and their sparky ladies - among them Betty, As trim as a stoat and fond of her fags - to underwater bomb disposal experts, thriving pub owners, binocular-wielding twitchers and a taciturn Humber lifeboat coxswain known as Spanish Dave.

Pressed by Blass for tales of peril and heroism in the roiling seas off Spurn Point, Dave prefers to mention the rescue of a chap trying to reach the Netherlands in a rubber dinghy, navigating with the aid of a road map, and the time he saved a dachshund that had been washed overboard. Then theres the resoundingly-named Captain Pilgrim Lockwood, whose net trawled up what looked like a bit of scrap metal but turned out to be a harpoon from the Mesolithic Period when mammoths roamed what was once dry land.

A mong much prime marginalia in Blasss zig-zagging narrative, we learn of the wildly incongruous pairing of the unlovely North Sea port of Ostend, in Belgium, and the late, great Marvin Gaye, who was persuaded by a local impresario to spend time there in retreat from the curse of women, drugs and unpaid taxes.

His masterpiece, Sexual Healing, was recorded in a nearby studio, and Gaye was filmed playing darts (inexpertly) with a bunch of jolly Flemish fishermen. Eventually he headed back to the U.S., where his father shot him dead during a row.
Chief Justice T S Thakur teased senior lawyer K T S Tulsi

The courtroom erupted in laughter during the hearing of a pollution case in the Supreme Court when Chief Justice T S Thakur teased senior lawyer K T S Tulsi, who represented 170 vintage car owners seeking an exemption from the ban on old vehicles to hold a rally in February.

On one hand you ride a cycle to Parliament and court, I thought you had a point to make, and on the other hand you are asking permission for vintage cars to ply. The media will publish a photo of you on a cycle and on the other side of you driving a polluting vintage vehicle Mr Tulsi, the CJI told Tulsi.

When the lawyer insisted that he was seeking permission for only one event, Justice Thakur asked Tulsi to approach the NGT which had issued the ban.

Doping report

The Punjab governments eagerness to release a report on substance abuse has irked the Centre.

The Punjab government made public a survey on the opioid-dependent population in the state, but the Centre asked it to immediately remove it from its website as the report has not yet been officially accepted.

According to senior government officials, the survey was conducted by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and the report was sent to Punjab government for its comments. But instead of giving its comments and suggestions, the state government uploaded it on its official website, officials said.

All eyes on PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi could break his silence on the suicide of a Dalit student in Hyderabad which has taken a political colour with the government having to clarify that there is no caste angle to it.

The PM is visiting Lucknow on Friday to attend the convocation ceremony at the Baba Bhimrao Ambedkar University which is also embroiled in a controversy over alleged casteist remarks made by a professor.

New CBDT chief

Senior revenue service officer Atulesh Jindal was appointed Chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the apex policy-making body of the Income Tax department. He will succeed A K Jain, who completes his term this month-end.

Jindal, a 1978 batch IRS officer, is currently working as member (Revenue) in the CBDT. His batchmate Jain was made acting chairman of the board following superannuation of Anita Kapur on November 30.

Nadda in UN team

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon named Union Health Minister J P Nadda as a member of the first high-level UN advisory group of a global movement that will address the major health challenges faced by women, children and adolescents.

The high-level advisory group of Every Woman Every Child will be co-chaired by Michelle Bachelet Jeria, President of Chile and Hailemariam Dessalegn, Prime Minister of Ethiopia.
India's top green watchdog has once again found a Coca Cola plant pumping out toxic waste water into a pond surrounded by vast swathes of agricultural fields near Delhi.

This is the second time it has happened in less than two months.

One of the two effluent treatment plants (ETPs) at Cokes Hapur facility has long been defunct, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) said in its inspection report, calling it a matter of serious concern.

Coca Cola plants in Varanasi and Kerala have also faced charges of environment law violations

This could mean 350 KLD (kilo litres a day) of high strength organic waste-water from the fruit juice section flows out raw. The board filed the report before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on January 14.

Raw or partially-treated discharge from the Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt. Ltd (HCCB) plant, operational since 1999, might be flowing into the underground drainage system - this was established by the water quality in the 75m x 75m pond, said the report.

The ETP was dry; there was no waste-water in it, the report said.

Submitting photographs to back its findings, the CPCB said: Had the ETP been operational, gases - mainly methane - would have been collected and utlised. There was nothing in the gas holder.

The CPCB had filed its first inspection report on November 19 as asked by the National Green Tribunal (NGT). The report, carried first by Mail Today, said the two sewage treatment plants (STPs) and one of the two ETPs were defunct.

Overall, the plant throws out 1,900 KLD of industrial waste water and 100 KLD of sewage.

The NGT found the report alarming and sought immediate action. However, they had to order a second inspection when the HCCB said it only had one ETP, and it was functioning.

The latest CPCB report trashes HCCBs claim and says the plant needs to fix its clean-up systems immediately.

HCCB said on Wednesday: We have informed the tribunal that we only have one ETP, which is functioning. The CPCB is incorrect. We will file a detailed response.

HCCB has till February 9 to come clean on its entire drainage and waste-water clean-up plan of its bottling plant in western Uttar Pradesh which is already battling groundwater crisis. The CPCB has stood by all of its earlier findings.

The pond was overflowing with effluents. There was a growth of mosquitoes and flies. The coliform (found in excreta) count in the pond was about 3,500 times more than what should be in treated waste water, it had said.

The report had also spoken about the soil in the surrounding fields becoming infertile.

Water quality in the pond - with inlet and outlet at the same corner - is also poor on organic strength indicators. This major water polluting industry has no facility for online pollution monitoring, the CPCB had said, adding that the consent to operate the bottling plant expired a year ago, something the HCCB denied.

The NGT ordered the inspection in July last year after a lawyer filed a petition, complaining of groundwater contamination.

The petitioners lawyer, Vikas Gaur, said: Despite the present case, pollution continues.
Two days after Mail Today reported on a group of ethical hackers cracking down on 70 Facebook users engaged in copying pictures of unsuspecting girls from their albums and misusing them by morphing those images, the popular social networking site claimed that it continues to put in place strong safeguards to check the misuse of users photographs.

Mail Today was the first to report that pictures of female Facebook users were being misused to promote online sex chats and pornographic content.

Acting as whistleblowers, a team of 15 white-hat hackers of Kerala Cyber Warriors brought down several Facebook profiles and pages engaged in the act.

Experts claim that despite several measures being in place, it is often hard to contact Facebook and get objectionable content blocked. (Picture for representation only.)

Reacting to the story, Facebook issued an official statement claiming that it has developed several techniques to help detect and block these types of abuse.

We care deeply about protecting peoples safety and recognise that Indian women are often deterred from being online because of safety concerns. Facebook does not tolerate impersonation in any way and we remove profiles that impersonate other people," it said in a statement.

It added that the firm is working with a variety of charities, academics and communities in India to help shape their products, policies and education programmes.

Explaining the measures taken by Facebook to ensure online safety, the statement said: When someone receives a friend request, our systems are designed to check whether the recipient already has a friend with the same name, along with a variety of other factors that help us determine if an interaction is legitimate.

Facebook also launched Photo Checkup in India to show people what privacy controls they can choose for their photos on the site. The Photo Checkup helps users to choose who they share new posts with and gives them control over who can like and comment on their profile pictures. We have run education campaigns in English and Hindi to help educate women on our safety and privacy controls, which has led to higher engagement and posting of photos by the women, it said.

However, experts said despite several measures it is often hard to contact Facebook and get a content blocked.

It is really difficult to delete a fake profile. They do not remove the content till the time there is mass report abuse or a user furnishes his/her identity proof. Some of the abuse and pornographic content are uploaded in such a way that it doesnt violate their community standards. Filthy captions and use of vernacular language goes unchecked. Facebook only takes down pages or profile with nude pictures, a hacker of Kerala Cyber Warriors said.

Cyber experts believe more than 40 per cent of female users on Facebook are victims of such crimes in India. It is difficult for a common user to find the option to report a fake account.

Such crime has become rampant. We have helped over 2,000 people in three months to get fake profile and content blocked on Facebook. In these cases, we ask for their identity cards with links of fake profiles. Such profiles get blocked within few hours, cyber crime expert Kislay Choudhary said.

Bengaluru techie met her killer on Facebook

By Mail Today Bureau in Bengaluru

Kusum Singla was strangled in her apartment by a man she met on Facebook

Less than a month before she was killed, 31-year-old Kusum Singla, a techie with IBM in Bengaluru, befriended a man on Facebook.

Two days after Kusum was found dead, the Bengaluru police managed to nab her killer from his hideout in Haryana.

The youth had strangled the woman in her apartment in the upmarket JP Nagar locality in the city on Tuesday, and had escaped to Gurgaon with her personal belongings, including jewellery, and debit and credit cards.

Kusum Singla (31), a divorcee, had been transferred to Bengaluru from Noida just six months ago by the company. She had rented accommodation, which she shared with another girl, in Mahaveer Kings apartments in Kadugodi in southeast Bengaluru.

On the day of the crime, Kusum was seen entering the apartment with an unidentified man at around 3.30pm. Four hours later when her room-mate returned she found Kusums lifeless body in the house.

During investigation, police analysed Kusums call records and zeroed in on a few suspicious numbers and tracked their movement using mobile towers. One particular mobile number to which she frequently made calls was traced to Haryana.

When the police back-tracked the movement of the subscriber, they found out that he was present in the area when the murder was committed on Tuesday around the same time.

Bengaluru police reveal the identity of Kusum Singla's murderer Sukhbir Singh, who was nabbed in Haryana

The police formed six different teams to identify and nab the killer.

The accused has been identified as Sukhbir Singh, a resident of Ribar village in Hatin taluk, Haryana. As Kusum was single, he befriended her on Facebook and they had even met each other on several occasions. As he was unemployed, he hatched a plot to cheat Kusum and take her money. On Tuesday, he entered her apartment, took advantage of the situation, and strangled her and escaped the spot with her credit cards, debit cards, cheque books and smartphone, said Bengaluru City Additional Commissioner of Police (East) P Harishekaran.
It was not only for Pathankot. Pakistani handlers are regularly giving real-time guidance to sleeper cell operatives from across the border, according to intelligence sources.

India Today TV has obtained exclusive information which shows how the various terror sleeper cells are guided by their handlers in Pakistan over the phone.

The various recordings include a telephone conversation between Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (HuJi) chief Jan Mohammad and his contact, a terrorist named Imtiyaz, at Darugmul in the Kashmir valley.

An unprecedented alert has been issued ahead of the Republic Day celebrations in the wake of the January 2 Pathankot attack

The HuJi chief used a Mobilink Pakistani mobile number +923******737 while Imtiyaz used a BSNL mobile number 946****805.

In the recording, Jan tells Imtiyaz to get hold of assault weapons.

Sources say a lot of conversation between terrorists in India and their handlers in Pakistan happens using codes. For example, chotta maal means pistols, while bada maal refers to assault rifles, typically an AK-47. An improvised explosive device is referred to as American Girl.

During the conversation, HuJis Jan Mohammad asked Imtiyaz to go to a pre-decided location and get hold of a pistol which has to be handed over to a contact in the Valley two days later.

In another such conversation, a terrorist named Yusuf Baloch, leader of the Al Badr group, called up a person named Mir, who is on a mission in the Valley. The Al Badr leader used the Pakistani mobile number +923******197, operated by Ufone, while Mir used an Aircel J&K number +729****948.

Yusuf talked about sending a person across the Line Of Control. In the conversation, the Indian contact of the Pakistani handler is very concerned about the level of training of the person who is being sent across the border.

Intelligence sources tell India Today TV that the reference to education in the conversation is actually a reference to the level of training the terrorist has received. Mir wants to ensure that the terrorist who is coming across is well-trained in operations.

According to intelligence sources, terrorists in India talk to their handlers not just about the movement of personnel across the border and shipment of weapons and ammunition, but things as basic as the handler telling his operative where to get hold of a second SIM card from, without giving any proof of identity.

Dont give away any personal details. Open a new Gmail account in another name. And stay in constant touch with the new SIM, was the direct instruction given by a handler to his agent operating in the Valley.
The curious case of a Lutyens building on Jantar Mantar Road has put the urban development ministry (MoUD) in a quandary.

The ministry has no record to show who owns the much-valued property.

Officials are digging out files to trace the owner after an RTI query by activist Subhash Agarwal raised the pertinent question: Who owns 7, Jantar Mantar?

The activist was told that the property was allotted to the undivided Congress party in 1969. The building is now in a dilapidated state and almost resembles a ghost bungalow.

Faded grandeur: The building is now in a dilapidated state and almost resembles a ghost bungalow

Apart from housing the office of Bihars ruling party Janata Dal (United), the premises also houses a dhaba.

As per the records of lease-1 Section of Land & Development Office, there is no information as to which political parties the property at 7, Jantar Mantar Road, New Delhi was allotted, reads the RTI reply received recently.

Mail Today visited the site on Thursday and found smaller companies and NGOs are also running their offices from the property.

Lack of maintenance over the years has turned the old building into a hazard zone.

No clarity

Documents show there is no clarity on the ownership of any building made on land given to a political party after division in that party. Records said that the Union of India had sold the property to the All India Congress Committee, which used it as its office.

Later, the AICC split into the Congress (O) and the Congress (R) in 1969. The Congress (O) managed to retain the rights over the premises, while the Congress (R) moved out.

The Congress (O) merged into the Janata Party in 1977.

An NGO, Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel Smarak Trust, claims to be the holder of the property. It has claimed that on April 30, 1977, Ashok Mehta, the then president of the Indian National Congress, the AlCC, and four others had executed the deed in favour of the Sardar Vallubh Bhai Patel Smarak Trust, transferring all its rights and interest of obtaining convenience of the said property from the government as was agreed in 1959.

The deed

Documents received in compliance with the Chief Information Commissioners verdict reveal that MoUD had declined to entertain a deed executed on April 30, 1977 by Ashok Mehta in favour of Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel Smarak Trust.

The Trust was informed that it would not be possible to execute the deed in favour of the Trust as it had not entered into transaction with them, said the RTI reply.

However, HK Gupta, administrative officer at the Trust library, said all the occupants have the permission of the Trust.

They give rent to the Trust since years, he said.

When asked about the ownership of the property, he said the matter is in court.

The question

Raising question on the governments policy to provide land to political parties at cheaper rates, Agrawal said: The current status of the building puts a big question mark on a policy where there is no clarity about ownership of any building made on land provided to a political party after division in the party. Agrawal said since political parties and the Union government are not in favour of complying with the CIC verdict in June 2013 holding political parties under purview of the RTI Act, it is unjustified for the government to indirectly fund political parties through heavily subsidised land.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh addressed a rally in Ashoknagar

With the 2016 West Bengal Assembly elections round the corner, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is targeting fringe districts that share borders with Bangladesh to begin its poll campaign.

It is perhaps easier for the saffron brigade to make political inroads in such pockets riding on the strong anti-Muslim sentiments.

On Thursday, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh addressed a mammoth rally in North 24-Parganas' Ashoknagar area - another West Bengal district that shares a border with Bangladesh.

Last week, Union minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari held a rally in South Dinajpur district, another bordering district. The rally was initially slated to be held in Malda district but it was shifted from there to Dinajpur as the state administration did not grant permission.

A series of meetings by the BJP top brass are lined up in the run up to the state polls.

Other saffron biggies like all-India president Amit Shah and Union HRD minister Smriti Irani are also scheduled to address rallies in Burdwan districts Asansol and Kolkatas twin Howrah district, respectively, this month.

West Bengal's population is over 28 per cent Muslim, which plays a crucial role in the electoral fate of any political formation.
The Narendra Modi government is all set to make khadi a zero-effect, zero-defect global product.

The government has decided to harness solar energy to power charkhas (spinning wheels) across the country to enable handspun khadi to become the zero-carbon footprint green fabric of India.

Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Giriraj Singh has received the Prime Ministers go-ahead for the project and the field trial of the solar charkhas has already begun on a pilot basis in the Khanwa village of Nawada district in Bihar.

Singh has also submitted a vision document for the revival of the khadi industry in the country.

The aim is to make khadi the worlds most eco-friendly fabric

Singh is slated to meet officials from the PMO to discuss the vision document on Friday.

The vision of this initiative is multi-pronged: Ideological, economic and social. It is to add technology to spinning by charkhas as per the vision of Gandhiji who wanted the application of science to the spinning wheel; only that technology should not replace humans. On the other hand, solar charkhas will make khadi the green organic yarn that does not hurt the environment, Singh told Mail Today.

According to the minister, while harnessing solar power for spinning would not involve the use of electricity, it would also drastically reduce water consumption.

For making a metre of khadi fabric, three litre of water is required; for making a metre of mill fabric, 55 litres of water is needed, Singh said.

The new-age charkhas have been named nano spinning mills and the MSME ministrys new slogan is Nano Spinning Mills as the new Charkhas.

The need of the hour is decentralised production which is able to create more jobs and make Khadi competitive in terms of reducing the cost of yarn and production, said Singh.

In the next phase of implementation, the ministry would extend the solar charkha scheme to all the villages in India that are covered under the Adrash Gram Yojna.

The ministry has found that even at the experimental stage, the technology has yielded Rs 6,000 to Rs 9,000 a month for every household involved in the exercise.

The ministry plans to introduce 1,000 such spinning wheels in all villages.

With just 400 spinning wheels now, the village is earning around Rs 15 crore a month, with 1,000 such wheels, the income of the villagers will go up to Rs 30 crore. We will achieve this before 2016 ends, Singh said.

According to the estimates of the ministry, the solar spinning wheels will also generate employment. Estimates say 10 people are engaged in every solar spinning wheel. Thus in the village alone, 10,000 jobs would be created.

Given the number of parliamentary constituencies and the villages under the Adarsh Gram Yojna, we shall be able to create 70 to 80 lakh jobs in 2016-17, Singh said.

According to studies conducted by the MSME ministry, solar charkhas have boosted production 20 times.
Royal Mail shares rose 3 per cent today as the mail delivery firm hailed strong Christmas trading and reported better than expected parcel volumes and a good performance from its logistics unit.

The company, which is now fully privatised, also said it was on track to meet its cost reduction target, offering some reassurance to investors that its turnaround plan is starting to work.

Royal Mail has been facing growing revenue challenges created by dramatically reduced mail volumes following the shift from addressed letters to emails, while the parcels market has been buoyed by the boom in online shopping.

Festive cheer: Royal Mail hailed strong Christmas trading and reported better than expected parcel volumes and a good performance from its logistics unit

The group saw parcel volumes in the UK rise 4 per cent in the nine months to the end of December, better than it had expected. It handled 130 million parcels in December alone - a 6 per cent increase compared to last year.

Charles Huggins, investment analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown said: 'Double-digit revenue growth in European parcels was a highlight, while the decline in UK letters was smaller than expected.

'The group coped well with higher UK parcel volumes in December, but competitive pressures here show no sign of easing.'

Royal Mail's chief executive, Moya Greene said: Once again, our postmen and women delivered a great Christmas - even better than last year's strong performance. This is because of the commitment of our people and our investment in additional temporary staff and sorting capacity.

But the 4 per cent growth in parcel volumes, which was better than expected, only partly offset the 3 per cent decline in letters, although that was better than expected.

Overall group revenue was 1 per cent higher, but UK revenues were down 1 per cent amid falling letter revenues and just a 1 per cent revenue increase at its parcel business.

Royal Mails Global Logistics Systems arm - a ground-based delivery network across Europe  also saw strong growth, with volumes up 11 per cent, thanks especially to good performances in Italy and Poland - though its profitability in Germany remained under pressure.

Ms Greene added: We remain on track to deliver at least a 1 per cent reduction in underlying operating costs before transformation costs ... for the full year.

In mid morning trading, Royal Mail shares on the FTSE 100 index were nearly 3 per cent, or 12.0p higher at 433.5p.

The stock has had a volatile ride since its controversial sell-off by the British government, at an undervalued 330p a share, in October 2013,

Royal Mail became fully privatised in October last year, when the Government sold its final 13 per cent stake in the business for nearly 600million.

It gave free shares to Royal Mails 143,000 employees when it did so, taking their stake in the business to 12 per cent.

In a bid to profit from the online boom, Royal Mail recently bought London-focused same-day delivery service eCourier and acquired cloud capabilities through its purchase of shipping and parcel data management company NetDespatch.

Industry watchdog Ofcom is undertaking a review of regulation of Royal Mail, looking at whether the prices Royal Mail charges rival companies to have access to its delivery network is fair.

It is also investigating whether Royal Mails targets are reasonable since it is still obliged to deliver to every home six days a week under a universal service' obligation.

Jasper Lawler, market analyst at CMC Markets, said: 'Royal Mail remains under competitive pressure but cant take the go-to corporate cost-saving measure of slashing jobs because of its deal with unions and restrictions due to its universal service obligation.'

But he added that today's trading update was a proof that Royal Mail is moving in the right direction.

He said: 'Royal Mail shares are coming off 10-month lows but relative to the FTSE 100 at 3-year lows is actually doing ok.'

Turnaround: Royal Mail chief executive Moya Greene said: We remain on track to deliver at least a 1 per cent reduction in underlying operating costs before transformation costs ... for the full year

Helal Miah, investment research analyst at The Share Centre, said: 'Overall, these are relatively pleasing results for the group and this sentiment was demonstrated by the shares rising by 4 per cent in early trading.

'The crucial Christmas period saw encouraging numbers and the groups cost control programmes remain on schedule.

However, Royal Mail operates in a very competitive environment where price reduction and margin compression is likely, while the letters business can only fall.'

Miah said The Share Centre maintained a hold recommendation on the stock.

Meanwhile, Alex Joyner, senior analyst at Galvan Research said: It looks like Royal Mail has delivered the goods this Christmas.

Todays figures should reassure investors that Moya Greene is starting to turn things around.

But he warned that there was 'plenty of work still to do', and said, 'it looks like more cost-cutting will be necessary before we start to see a longer-term recovery in the share price.

And Robin Byde at Cantor Fitzgerald said Royal Mail had reported a positive nine month trading update.

The company reported a strong Christmas trading period, the European parcels business (GLS) is trading particularly well, cost reduction plans in the core UKPIL division are on-track and guidance for the full year remains unchanged, Byde said.

He added: We think that the benefits of scale in the fast changing UK delivery market are underappreciated, the company has plenty of scope to support margins through self-help measures and is good value.
Jobs threat: Brantano has gone into administration

Budgetshoe retailer Brantano, which has 140 stores and 60 concessions in the UK, has gone into administration.

The store, which employs 2,000 staff, including 200 at its head office in Coalville, Leicestershire, had been acquired by retail investment fund Alteri Investors in October 2015.

However, it had struggled on the high street as shoppers changed their habits and moved online.

Administrators PwC said all staff would be paid while the stores traded as normal.

It added that the firm was assessing whether the whole or parts of the Brantano business could be sold.
The UK's accounting watchdog has given in to pressure to look again at KPMGs auditing of Halifax Bank of Scotland, the bank that nearly collapsed during the financial crisis of 2008 and was later acquired by Lloyds.

The Financial Reporting Council said it would initially launch a preliminary enquiry into whether KPMG committed misconduct when signing off HBOSs books for 2007.

Depending on the findings of the enquiry, the FRC could decide to launch an official in-depth investigation.

Enquiry: The Financial Reporting Council is launching a preliminary enquiry into whether KPMG committed misconduct when signing off HBOSs books for 2007

The accounting regulator said it will look into whether KPMG properly considered whether HBOS was a going concern in its 2007 accounts and whether it should have included material uncertainties in the lenders financial statements.

The FRC was already invited by the Bank of England to have a look at KPMGs work in 2007 and 2008 as HBOS lurched towards disaster. It did so, but decided the criteria for an investigation were not met.

At least one FRC members - Paul George - has worked for KPMG in the past. And John Griffith-Jones, who chairs the FCA, one of the City regulators that compiled the report into HBOS, is also a former chairman of KPMG in Britain.

Todays decision comes after repeated calls from Andrew Tyrie, the chairman of the influential Treasury Select Committee, to re-examine KPMGs auditing of HBOS in the wake of two recently published reports into the collapse of the lender.

In November, the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority published a report, while another one was carried out by barrister Andrew Greene. Both blamed the collapse of HBOS on the banks executives.

Investigation: Andrew Tyrie has repeatedly called on the FRC to re-examine KPMGs auditing of HBOS

However, so far only one former executive, Peter Cummings, has been formally investigated and fined.

The FRC at the time said it found no reasonable grounds to suspect misconduct in its review of HBOS audits, but it seems to have undergone political pressure with today's decision.

Tyrie said: This is not before time. A great deal depends on the quality of audited accounts. They were found wanting during the financial crisis.

It is essential that everybody fully understands why. That is why this investigation is so important. The committee will be keeping a close eye on it.

Simon Walker, director general of directors' lobby group the IoD, said the failure of HBOS was one of the bleakest events in Britain's corporate history.

He added: Shareholders and customers deserve to know what role the firm's auditors, KPMG, played in this scandal. The announcement of this long-overdue inquiry, therefore, is better late than never.

It is absolutely right, therefore, that the FRC will look hard at HBOS's financial statements and at the appropriateness of the 'going concern' statement offered by the bank in 2007.

KPMG said: We were pleased that the PRA and FCA's report issued last November recognised that KPMG provided a robust challenge and delivered clear warnings to HBOS and that this resulted in a more prudent approach to provisioning than would otherwise have been adopted.

We will continue to co-operate with the FRC as it makes its preliminary enquiries. In the interests of everyone, it is now important that final conclusions are reached in a timely fashion.
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The young woman's skin is charred black, cracked and blistered from the flames.

But she hasn't been caught up in some tragic house fire, or car accident. Instead she had tried to fight off the three men who were raping her.

Shama's bravery was met with fire: her attackers doused her in kerosene and set her on fire, leaving her on the point of death.

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Hurt: Sonia (pictured) was travelling home with her friend Prajuna when two truck drivers, who had befriended their families, offered them a lift home. But instead of taking them back, they raped the schoolgirls, leaving them to walk home half-naked and bleeding

Tricked: Twelve-year-old Pinky had gone to see a wedding procession when a female neighbour who invited her to her home. There, she gagged Pinky and handed her over to her brother-in-law, who raped the young girl. They then threatened Pinky to remain silent, but she found the bravery to tell her parents, who reported it to police. Smita hopes telling stories like this one will encourage others to speak out

Smita Sharma met her during that week. Surrounded by her family and friends, and barely able to speak through the pain.

'I've never seen a person who was burnt to this extent before,' Smita told MailOnline.

'Her brother and sister were in the hospital room, and they allowed me in. Technically I shouldn't have been there.

'But her mother wanted me to tell her story.'

Smita has been telling the story of India's victims of rape through her stunning images for the past two years, giving a voice to the women and girls who all too often are blamed for becoming a victim.

Shama - whose name has been changed to protect her identity, as have all of the victims who are pictured - was no different.

'When I went back to my hotel that night, after taking the pictures, a few of the neighbours of this girl, and the boys, were sitting exactly behind me, at the next table,' Smita recalled.

'I overheard them talking about the girl, saying she had a bad character, talking about her modesty, trying to blame her.'

None of it, of course, was true

Smita said: 'She had hope, she was studying. She was the only one in her family to get a university education. She wanted to support them.'

But in India the victims are treated as the criminals in a country where excuses are made for the perpetrators.

'There was one lawyer - a defence lawyer - who pointed his finger at me,' Smita said.

''You media people,' he told me, 'you are blowing it out of proportion. Anyone from the age of 12 to 40, that is consensual sex, not rape.'

'And he's a lawyer. That angered me. I know as a journalist I should not get emotional, but I was really angry.'

Brink of death: Shama tried to fight off her three rapists so, in retaliation, they doused her in kerosene and set her alight. Photographer Smita Sharma met her in hospital in Varanasi after her mother decided to tell the 20-year-old's story. Shama died a week after the attack

Power: Mansi, 13, was trafficked and raped by a man, but managed to run before he could sell her to a brothel. She reported the incident, but instead of the man being prosecuted, she was held. The man came from the Yadav community and has financial influence. Mansi was not the youngest victim - Smita met the mother of a six-year-old, and nuns mourning a 72-year-old, during the course of the project

When Smita talks, it is clear that it is not for nothing that she has named her project Chronicles of Courage: it not only refers to the girls who survived, but also the families willing to break the taboo and speak out for those who weren't as lucky.

There was one lawyer - a defence lawyer - who pointed his finger at me. 'You media people,' he told me, 'you are blowing it out of proportion. Anyone from the age of 12 to 40, that is consensual sex, not rape.' Photographer Smita Sharma

In the last two years, the project has brought the 35-year-old into contact with some of the most shocking crimes committed in a country where 36,735 rapes were committed in 2014 alone, according to data from India's National Crime Records Bureau.

Smita is only able to gather their stories by using her camera as armour, protecting her from the worst at the time. It is only when she begin to develop the images that she can allow the full horror of what she has heard to sink in.

Like with the story of Tabbu, a six-year-old girl who was raped and murdered by a man whose parents knew he had raped before, but were choosing to ignore it.

'They were looking for a girl for him to marry, hoping it would sort the problem,' Smita said.

It didn't: the little girl was last seen riding on his shoulders. Hours later, he would be one of the concerned villagers hunting for Tabbu.

It was only after the woman who watched the man and the girl walk away together revealed what she had seen that the villagers beat a confession out of him.

He then took Tabbu's parents to where he had left her, uncovered in the field.

'When I was talking to her mother, Shamima, she told me if he had raped her, she could have lived with it, but why did he have to kill her? At least I could have had my daughter with me then.'

The alleged perpetrator's father committed suicide that night from the shame by jumping in front of a train.

Then there was the 20-something woman, whose body was found by girls on their way to school days after she had been killed and abandoned in a street, with ants coming out of her eyes.

Forced: A local political party tried to pressure Kalpana, 17, to marry her rapist after she became pregnant. But Kalpana refused to withdraw the case or marry him. Kicked out of home, she moved to Kolkata where she works in a hair salon. Smita believes that, in some more rural areas, the more educated and empowered women become, the worse the problem gets

Grief: Hemanti's daughter Sumana was just 20 when she was repeatedly gang raped by three men, before they murdered her. The attackers are now in prison, but the family are now pressuring the family to drop the charges. In India, blaming the victim rather than the perpetrator is a widespread problem - and one which Smita hopes to counter with her project, called Chronicles of Courage

Vulnerable: Rabri, is the mother of Rajani, 15, who was repeatedly raped by a man from her village when she went to the toilet outside

The office worker had been raped and killed by a man in his 20s, and a 17-year-old.

'Her mother was so angry,' said Smita. 'A girl like that, ending up in such a brutal way.... it is just brutal.'

The first girls Smita spoke to were Sonia and her friend Prajuna, who were just 14 when men who had been family friends offered them a lift home.

'They raped them side by side, in next door rooms. The girls were bleeding heavily. It is an area with no light and no electricity.

'They woke up in the middle of the night, half naked and bleeding. They walked more than five kilometres home.'

The family were brave, however, and the men were arrested and jailed.

In return for their bravery, they were threatened by the village leader - something Smita herself has experienced when trying to tell these women's stories.

On one occasion, Smita found herself surrounded by 10 or 12 men, all armed with knives and the like, sent to threaten her by the head of the village.

'They asked me what I was doing there - they were very protective of everything in the village, of the village's honour [being damaged if the story became public]. It is a lot about honour and shame.'

Smita managed to talk them down: had she not, she has no doubt she would have died that day. Ever since, she has pretended to be a health worker, even visiting other homes, offering advice, to make her story more plausible.

So far, more than 20 survivors, or their families, have agreed to speak to Smita - an impressive figure in a country where so much taboo surrounds the victims of rape.

Even Smita, who was molested by a professor as a young woman, knows how hard it is to speak out. She was told to keep quiet when she was attacked - and, being young and 'naive', she did.

'People are speaking up more than they used to, especially in the cities,' she said.

'But then if you go to the small towns or villages, it's worse.

'It seems to me the more the women are getting educated, the more they are getting empowered, the more they are being targeted.'

Revenge: Nurse Parama, 23, was raped by her ex-husband in front of his four friends. The friends, who were invited to witness her humiliation, clapped and cheered during the rape. She filed a complaint and he was arrested in 2013. He is currently out on bail and has remarried.

Photographer: Smita Sharma (pictured) has started a Kickstarter page, where she is raising funds for two groups which work in the community educating people about sexual violence

Shama was one of those educated girls - the only member of her family to get to university - when she was raped and burned alive.

Shortly before the attack, she and her mother had tried to get help, reporting the boys who would eventually murder her to the police. Like so many others, she came up against a police force which is often happier to look the other way.

On that occasion, they said they would look into it, but nothing was done until after Shama's death, when an outside organisation began to help the family get the justice their daughter deserved.

It is Shama's story, and those of all the other survivors, which spur Smita on.

'It is the fact they always try to justify why it happened - that is the thing which makes me feel I've got to continue, no matter what.'
Only five months after giving birth, Bethany was back on a surf board and admits she can't wait to teach Tobias to ride the waves

'I want to show him a shark might have bitten off my arm, but that doesn't stop you in life,' says Hamilton

The 25-year-old pro-surfer lost her left arm in a shark attack in Hawaii when she was just 13 years old

She says nursing and changing diapers were a challenge with only one arm so she uses her feet to lift her son's legs during changing time

Hamilton admits the first three months after giving birth were brutal since Tobias was colicky

Bethany Hamilton gave birth to son Tobias, now seven months old, on June 1, 2015

Changing her seven-month old son's diaper is not just routine for Bethany Hamilton.

The 25-year-old pro-surfer, who lost her arm in a horrific shark attack, has to use her feet to lift Tobias' legs, then prays he doesn't wriggle too much as she struggles to fasten the diaper.

Yet despite the daily challenges as she adapts to her life as a new mom, Bethany tells Daily Mail Online exclusively she could not be any happier.

Today the inspiring athlete reveals all about her new life as a mom since Tobias arrived in June last year and tells how she cannot wait to inspire her son with her story.

'I'm so excited to tell my son about my accident, as he will see how I'm not your typical mom,' says Bethany.

'As soon as he's old enough, I'm going to explain how I ended up with one arm, but then tell him life got even better because of what happened to me.

'I want to show him a shark might have bitten off my arm, but that doesn't stop you in life, it just makes you even more determined and stronger.

Pro-surfer Bethany Hamilton, 25, lost her left arm in a shark attack but says it will not stop her from teaching seven-month-old son how to surf just like mom

Hamilton and her husband Adam welcomed Tobias into the world on June 1, 2015 but she admits the first three months were 'brutal' due to him being colic

'I want to show him a shark might have bitten off my arm, but that doesn't stop you in life, it just makes you even more determined and stronger,' Bethany tells Daily Mail Online

'Losing my arm made me gain so much and I'm excited to show Tobias photos of me back on the surf board to prove it.

'I hope my journey encourages him to follow his own dreams.'

Bethany was the victim of a brutal shark attack in 2003 at the age of 13. She lost her left arm.

But in a story that inspired the hit movie Soul Surfer, starring Dennis Quaid and Carrie Underwood, Bethany refused to give up on her surfing dreams and began competing four years later becoming the 20th ranked woman among surfers.

Life's biggest challenge arrived on June 1, 2015 - when she and her husband Adam Dirks welcomed a beautiful baby boy into the world, weighing 7.9 pounds and measuring 21 inches long.

Bethany tells Daily Mail Online her pregnancy and labor were plain sailing, but life with baby Tobias has not been quite so easy.

'I was one of the lucky women who breezed through my pregnancy, never got morning sickness and felt amazing,' says Hamilton.

'The only thing I slightly struggled with was my hunger and for the first time in my life found myself in the fridge having midnight snacks.

'Then giving birth was one of the best moments that has ever happened in my life.

'It was a natural birth and I didn't have any drugs, everything went really smooth.

'When I first held him in my arms it was just immediate love and you just know you would die for him.

'It was instant love and so magical to hold a child that has grown inside me, knowing I had brought another life into the world.'

But once Bethany and Adam, a youth minister, brought Tobias home from the birthing center, that's when life began to get a little harder.

'It was instant love and so magical to hold a child that has grown inside me, knowing I had brought another life into the world,' says Bethany

A determined Bethany waited only five weeks after she gave birth before hopping back on her board again and says she can't wait to teach her son how to surf

Adam, Bethany and Tobias wished every a Happy New Year with this sweet family selfie

'First I arrange the diaper with my one arm, then I use my feet to lift his legs before reaching and fastening the diaper with my one hand,' Hamilton reveals the struggles of changing Tobias with just one arm

Bethany admits, 'Being a mom is fantastic, but the first three months were brutal.

'Tobias had colic and any mom that has dealt with that will know just how hard that is too deal with, so much so it's hard to enjoy the time together.

'You just have to keep thinking it won't last forever and you will one day get through it.

'Of course the sleep deprivation was hard, but learning to change his diapers with one arm has become harder the more active he gets.

'I have to use my feet and the more he moves, the harder it is, so I have to try my best to distract him.

WHAT IS COLIC? Colic is a fussy period where your baby may scream and cry and there's nothing you can do to comfort him or her. There is no exact cause but some common theories include overstimulation, gas, food allergies and anxiety. If a baby cries for more than three hours a day, more than three days a week for at least three weeks, it's colic. About one in five babies between two weeks and three months old go through these crying spurts. Colic is not due to disease. In fact, research shows there is no medical issues with these babies. They are typically healthy and full of energy. New parents can try to sooth their baby by pacing back and forth across the room with baby in a carrier, rock the baby gently, take the baby out for a walk or drive, lay baby on his or her belly and rub his or her back and/ or give baby infant gas drops. Advertisement

'First I arrange the diaper with my one arm, then I use my feet to lift his legs before reaching and fastening the diaper with my one hand.

'It's even harder as we use re-usable diapers, which have a button that you have to fasten.

'It's definitely not easy and some days I get so frustrated, but I always get there in the end.

'Thankfully we live in Hawaii, so he is basically going to be running around with no clothes on all the time, so at least I don't have to worry about dressing him in warm clothes.

'Nursing was also tricky to start with, learning how to maneuver him into the right place with one hand, but I figured that out too and now I just feel so thankful that I am able to feed my son.'

Yet despite the trials and tribulations of adapting to life as a mom with just one arm, Bethany would not change a thing.

'I'm loving being a mom and watching him grow,' she says.

'The first time he smiled gave me so much joy it was insane and there is never a dull moment in my life now.

'There is not a single second to be bored.'

Bethany was just 13-years-old when a shark attacked her while she was surfing in Hawaii. She lost her left arm

A new film on Bethany's life called 'Surfs Like A Girl' will be out this year. It's focusing on the untold story of her journey and showcasing her extraordinary ability

'I might have lost an arm, but I really have gained so so much. I have a wonderful husband and a son and a magical career. That is a lot of blessings to be thankful for,' Bethany tells Daily Mail Online

Unsurprisingly, a determined Bethany waited only five weeks after she gave birth before hopping back on her board again - and can't wait to teach her son how to surf.

'I went for an hour the first day, then the next time I went for four hours, but by the third time I felt like my body was going to collapse and I knew I had to take my time.

'I needed to listen to my body and not rush things, but being so impatient that was hard.

'Now I am back surfing whenever I get the chance and love it even more knowing my husband and son are on the shore watching me.

Hamilton hopes that one day Tobias shares the same passion for surfing as she does and right now is focusing on getting him used to the ocean.

'I never ever think about the dangers of sharks when I think of putting my son in the water, it's just not something that ever crosses my mind.

'You cannot live your life like that, or you would be afraid to do anything.

'I dream about us surfing together.'

This year a new film on Bethany's life will be released called 'Surfs Like A Girl' focusing on the untold story of her journey and showcasing her extraordinary ability.

'I might have lost an arm, but I really have gained so so much,' she admits.

'I have a wonderful husband and a son and a magical career.
Ashe, 61, has only been charged with tax fraud, as prosecutors have said diplomatic immunity may preclude any bribery charges

She told the court she knew what she was doing was wrong

Yan wanted the U.N. and officials in the Caribbean nations to support her

Ashe was the U.N. Ambassador to Antigua and Barbuda at the time

The Chinese CEO of a global human rights foundation has admitted bribing a senior U.N. official with cash, Rolexes and BMWs in return for influence.

Sheri Yan, the head of the Global Sustainability Foundation, pleaded guilty in a New York federal court to one count of bribery in connection with illicit payments made to John Ashe, the former General Assembly president.

He is accused of accepting $1.3million of bribes from Chinese businessmen to support their interests within the United Nations and Antigua.

Choking back tears, 60-year-old Yan admitted that beginning in 2012, she agreed with others to pay Ashe, who was also the U.N. ambassador from Antigua and Barbuda, to influence officials in Antigua and the United Nations to support business interests.

'While I was doing these things, I knew that they were wrong,' Yan said through a Mandarin interpreter.

Sheri Yan, 60, the head of the Global Sustainability Foundation has admitted bribing a U.N. official with cash, Rolexes and BMWs in return for influence. She is pictured, left, outside a court in New York on Thursday

Choking back tears, the 60-year-old philanthropist (far left in a court drawing) admitted she agreed with others to pay John Ashe (right), who was also the U.N. ambassador from Antigua and Barbuda, to influence officials

The plea by Yan, a U.S. citizen, comes less than a week after the former finance director at the foundation, Heidi Hong Piao, pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with authorities in their continuing investigation.

Both women were arrested in October by the FBI as prosecutors unveiled charges over a multi-year scheme to pay more than $1.3million in bribes to Ashe.

Unlike Piao, though, Yan's plea came without any agreement to cooperate with authorities. Under a plea agreement, Yan, who also is known as Shiwei Yan, agreed not to appeal any sentence of seven-and-a-quarter years in prison. Her sentencing is set for April 29.

The bribes Ashe allegedly received included more than $800,000 from three businessmen that were arranged through Yan and Piao, prosecutors said.

In court, Yan said she and others paid Ashe to persuade officials in Antigua to enter into contracts with foreign companies, and to use his U.N. position help her and others promote business ventures from which we intended to profit.

Yan (pictured right with her attorney outside the Manhattan federal court last week) said through a Mandarin interpreter that she knew her conduct was wrong

Prosecutors have also charged Ng Lap Seng, a billionaire developer from the Chinese territory of Macau who allegedly paid $500,000 in bribes to Ashe through intermediaries.

Those intermediaries included Francis Lorenzo, a now-suspended deputy U.N. ambassador from the Dominican Republic, and Jeff Yin, Ng's assistant, prosecutors said.

Ashe, Lorenzo, Ng and Yin have pleaded not guilty.

Ashe, 61, has only been charged with tax fraud, as prosecutors have said diplomatic immunity may preclude any bribery charges.

But prosecutors have said they were examining the issue and likely would bring further charges.

A lawyer for Ashe did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Victim: Akai Gurley, 28, who was shot and killed by a rookie cop after leaving a friend's apartment

A rookie New York Police Department officer who killed an unarmed man in an unlit Brooklyn housing project stairwell is about to go on trial.

The court case is expected to feature testimony about the officer's panicked and shaken state in the aftermath of the shooting.

Jury selection began Wednesday in the case against Officer Peter Liang, who had been with the force for about 18 months when he killed Akai Gurley, 28.

The officer has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and other charges.

Prosecutors say Gurley was innocent and never posed a threat to Liang.

After the shooting, prosecutors say, Liang, 28, argued with his partner for at least four minutes about how to respond before the victim received any medical attention.

During the exchange, Liang said, 'I'm going to be fired,' according to Liang's partner, a key prosecution witness.

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Accused: Peter Liang (center) arriving at a courtroom in Brooklyn, New York, on Wednesday

The shooting occurred in November 2014 while the 28-year-old Gurley was visiting the Louis Pink Houses, a public housing complex in Brooklyn. Liang and his partner Shaun Landau were patrolling the complex where reports of violent crime had spiked.

Liang had his gun drawn as they descended onto an eighth-floor landing in a darkened stairwell, prosecutors said. Meanwhile, Gurley, who was leaving his friend Melissa Butler's apartment, opened the door into the seventh-floor landing after giving up his wait for an elevator.

Liang, gun in his left hand and a flashlight in his right, fired a shot, prosecutors said. The bullet ricocheted and struck Gurley in the chest, who made it down two flights of stairs before collapsing.

'What the f*** happened?' Landau asked Liang, according to a police report obtained by the New York Times.

'It went off by accident,' Liang allegedly replied.

After the shot struck Gurley, he and Butler ran down two flights of stairs.

As Gurley collapsed on the fifth floor landing, Butler began crying and went knocking on doors with bloody hands, looking for help, according to the police report.

With the help of a neighbor, Butler called 911. The EMS instructed her how to perform CPR on Gurley, who was still breathing.

Meanwhile the two police officers were arguing over who should call their superior officer and report that Liang's gun had been discharged, still unaware that Gurley had been hit.

Even after the officers walked down the stairs and saw the dying Gurley, they did not perform CPR, even though they were trained to do so, according to the police report.

Defense attorneys have indicated that Liang will take the witness stand to tell jurors he didn't mean to fire his weapon.

At a pretrial hearing, a police lieutenant who's also expected to testify, quoted Liang as telling him, 'I shot him by accident,' and described the officer as 'unsteady on his feet and incoherent.'

The investigation of the shooting was closely watched in New York City following the December 2014 decision not to indict a police officer in the chokehold death of Eric Garner. That decision  along with the another grand jury's refusal to charge an officer in the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri  prompted mass protests decrying the grand jury system as biased.

The apartment that Akai Gurley exited before he was shot and killed by a rookie police officer at a housing project in East New York Brooklyn

The stairwell looking down to the 7th floor, at the housing project in East New York Brooklyn
Malia Obama's high school will have to find another commencement speaker when she graduates this year.

Her father, President Barack Obama, says he'll be too emotional to get through a speech without crying.

Obama told lunch guests at the Jolly Pumpkin Brewery in Detroit on Wednesday that he'll just 'cry and sit there' when the 17-year-old graduates. He said he'll be too overcome to say anything.

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Close: Barack Obama and daughter Malia walk across the South Lawn of the White House last August

The pair were pictured earlier this month at Honolulu Zoo in Hawaii during the family's Christmas vacation

The president visited Detroit on Wednesday to discuss a resurgence in the auto industry, but also took the opportunity to address the water crisis in Flint, Michigan.

'If I was a parent in Flint, I'd be beside myself over my kids' health,' Obama said according to CNNPolitics.

Malia is a senior at the private Sidwell Friends School in Washington, a private school that charges $37,750 in tuition, according to its website. She is expected to start college in the fall.

Malia is reportedly choosing between two New York schools for her undergraduate education.

New York University and Barnard College are her two top choices, according to NBC New York.

The First Daughter wants to be a filmmaker, the station reported.

The subject of Malia's impending departure from the White House also came up last week when Obama held a town hall in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

He told the audience he can't talk about the subject a lot because it makes him cry.

Sisterly love: First Daughters Malia, 17 (left), and Sasha Obama, 14, at the national Christmas tree lighting ceremony near the White House last month

Supporting their dad: The girls were seen flanking their father when Obama conducted the annual turkey pardoning ceremony in November

Malia Obama, 17, is the oldest daughter of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama (pictured)
It has been valued at $30,000 but is expected to fetch a lot more

Now the car is set to be auctioned off at the Philadelphia Auto Show

The humble car was dwarfed by the SUVs used by the Secret Service

It was the humble car that was dwarfed by Secret Service SUVs as it carried Pope Francis through the streets of Philadelphia.

And now one of the two custom-made, black Fiat 500Ls, that were created for the Papal visit to the city last year is set be sold off later this month at the Philadelphia Auto Show.

The sale of the car takes place on January 29 and the Max Spann Real Estate and Auction Company has valued it at $30,000.

A custom-made black Fiat 500L that was used by Pope Francis on his visit to Philadelphia is to be auctioned off at the Philadelphia Auto Show later this month

The sale of the car takes place on January 29 and the Max Spann Real Estate and Auction Company has valued it at $30,000

The small Fiat 500L was dwarfed when it travelled in a motorcade alongside the Secret Service's SUVs

However, as the car was used by the Pontiff it is unknown how much the five door car will actually end up fetching.

But any potential buyer should be aware that in terms of performance, it crawls from 0-60 in nine seconds but is economic as it does 33 miles to the gallon.

Anyone looking to place a bid on the Fiat can do so in person or online on the day of the sale and the proceeds will benefit four charities run by the archdiocese of Philadelphia.

Mr Spann, president of the auction company said: 'I think there's going to be tremendous interest.

'Being that it was used by the Pope, there are intangibles. So it is really hard to predict what price it will fetch.

Pope Francis has picked more modest vehicles than his German predecessor who had a preference for a luxury Mercedes Popemobile

Fiat Chrysler made two Fiat 500Ls for the pope's use in Philadelphia last year, with the US Secret Service providing the licence plates.

Francis also used models of the same vehicle in New York and Washington during his inaugural US tour, drawing massive crowds and delighting Americans with his humble manner.

Archbishop of Philadelphia, Charles Chaput, said: 'When we learned that these vehicles would be given to us, we wanted to find some way for the public to see them and answer Pope Francis's call to love and care for the poor.'

While Donna Crilly Farell, who was part of the committee that organised the Papal visit to Philadelphia added: 'The Fiat is such an icon of Pope Francis's visit.

'Several Catholic charities will enjoy simply incomparable benefits as a result of the auction.'

The second Fiat, which Catholic authorities said they may sell at the same auction, will go on display at the auto show, which runs from January 30 to February 7.

In 2013, the Pontiff even called on priests to stop driving flashy cars and pick something more 'humble'

The proceeds of the sale of the car will benefit four charities run by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia

The archdioceses of New York and Washington said they also anticipated each taking possession of two Fiats made available for the pope in their cities, but had not decided what to do with them.

Since succeeding Pope Benedict in 2013, the former cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina has eschewed some of the more ostentatious trappings of his office and has chosen to live in a Vatican guest house rather than the opulent papal apartments.

He has also picked more modest vehicles than his German predecessor who had a preference for a luxury Mercedes Popemobile.

In 2013, he even called on priests to stop driving flashy cars and pick something more 'humble'.

He said: 'A car is necessary to do a lot of work, but please, choose a more humble one. If you like the fancy one, just think about how many children are dying of hunger in the world.'

However, since using the Fiats on his US visits, the manufacturer says their brand image has been 'greatly enhanced' in the U.S.
Passengers on the cruise have filed a class action against cruise operator

This revelation has emerged from defence documents filed by Carnival

Carnival knew TC Pam would impact on the cruise before its departure

Passengers were taken to Hobart and Melbourne instead of Pacific Is lands

Carnival Australia knew a tropical cyclone was headed into the path of its eight-day cruise to New Caledonia before passengers were even on-board, passengers claim.

A class action against Carnival has filed in the New South Wales Supreme Court accusing the cruise company of false or misleading conduct for not informing passengers of the 'significant change' which saw them sail to Melbourne and Hobart instead of the Pacific Islands on March 10 last year.

Carnival's defence documents revealed the cruise company was updated at 4.30pm on March 10 that Tropical Cyclone Pam was moving south into the path of the intended journey, but passengers continued to be let on-board until 5pm, the Herald Sun reported.

Cruise passengers have filed for class action after their eight-day holiday, bound for New Caledonia, was diverted just three-hours in. Instead they were taken to freezing Melbourne and Hobart

In a Facebook page the group developed, many have shared their 'demoralising' stories of walking around in bathrobes just to stay warm where it was 'too cold to even sit and enjoy the scenery'

In the lead up to the cruise setting off, Carnival was also changing the order the cruise liner would be docking at ports in New Caledonia and it had been monitoring Tropical Cyclone Pam for four days before the departure from Sydney.

Passengers believed there was no excuse for the late notice.

'The defendant knew or ought to have known before the ship left Sydney that the ship would not proceed on the cruise to the region of New Caledonia,' the passengers' statement of claim read.

Carnival's lawyers said 2,000 passengers were given letters at 10.30pm on March 10 just after the ship's departure informing them of the change in itinerary.

'As you know, we've been keeping a close eye on Tropical Cyclone Pam located in the South Pacific. Based on the latest forecast... to ensure your comfort and safety, it is now evident we must change our course and proceed south in order to avoid the storms path,' the letter read.

'We apologise for this unexpected change in plans. I know how much you were looking forward to our scheduled itinerary and regret Mother Nature is not co-operating with us.'

Idyllic New Caledonia, where the passengers thought they would be going, on their Carnival cruise

To avoid the path of Tropical Cyclone Pam in the South Pacific, the cruise ship headed south towards Hobart. Pictured is Tasmania's Salamanca Markets, a weekly market featuring food and craft stalls

Daily Mail Australia has contacted the lawyer who filed the class action, Allanah Goodwin, from Arnold Thomas & Becker Lawyers.

A spokesman for Carnival told Daily Mail Australia any changes the itinerary were not taken lightly.

'As this is now a matter for the court to determine, it would not be appropriate to participate in commentary on the case prior to the hearing,' the spokesman said.

'When Carnival Spirit departed Sydney on March 10, we were fully intending to deliver a South Pacific itinerary.

'In fact, on departing from Sydney, Carnival Spirit headed northward towards New Caledonia as planned.

Many passengers made fun where they could, however disappointed they did not get the international, tropical holiday they had planned and paid for

The cruise was diverted from the tropical paradise due to Cyclone Pam. But the class action claims that the carrier company knew, or ought to have known, about the dangerous weather conditions prior to departure

'She is happy with the tan she is getting from the tropical sun of Hobart,' one wrote alongside a picture they uploaded of a woman rugged up

'However, forecasts showed that instead of tracking away from New Caledonia the severe weather system was making an unexpected shift to the west.

'In the light of the changed forecast, we stand by the decision for Carnival Spirit to change course to the south on a revised itinerary well clear of the severe weather.'

Last year, The Daily Telegraph reported as many as 400 passengers aborted the cruise when it docked at Melbourne after they had flown from that city to Sydney to board the cruise, only to be taken back home.

The passengers were originally told that they would not be compensated for the change in itinerary, but after receiving complaints, Carnival Cruise Lines offered $150 on-board credit, as well as 50 per cent of their purchase to be credited off future purchases.

But for many passengers the offer was far too little, with some even referring to it as 'hush money'.

Anse Vata Beach in New Caledonia. Passengers also complained they had packed for the tropical destination, and were forced to spend money on winter clothing

'This 'gesture' is not viable for the Aussie battlers on this cruise, paying again is unaffordable! Families saved, made sacrifices [and] took long service leave,' a petition launched by the group said.

For some, it had been their first holiday in years, saving $4,000 to $5,000 for their family's cruise tickets, with one even going into debt that amount in order to have a relaxing break from work.

It was even more insulting, many said, because they had been forced to spend an exorbitant amount of excess money on snow jackets and winter clothing appropriate for the unexpected destination.

Passenger Tom Pittman reiterated the compensation offered was inadequate because the company have an annual 50 per cent off sale.

'This is a slap in the face,' Lucretia de Jong, the passenger who mounted the class action, wrote on Facebook.

'Since when do you pay to get your own compensation?'

They tried to find humour at holidaying in the 'gateway to Antarctica', when they had made the journey for the tropics

As many as 400 passengers aborted the cruise when it docked at Melbourne after they had flown from that city to Sydney to board the cruise

'They got our money and we got pneumonia!' a Facebook page set up for the group of angered passengers wrote

In search of a more generous outcome, Ms Goodwin was hired to lead the class action claim.

Strong monsoonal winds developed in late February, the case alleges, and Cyclone Pam formed on March 6, four days before the cruise ship's departure.

But it departed despite obvious risks, and did not inform passengers of the likely and drastic change, leaving them unable to obtain refunds.

In the contract customers made with Carnival Spirit, a clause reads: 'We will do everything we reasonably can to make sure everything goes according to plan; however, sometimes changes can happen that may affect your holiday experience. This could include weather.

'We will attempt to offer a revised itinerary as close as possible to the original itinerary.

'We will notify you of these changes as soon as we can.

'If we are forced to cancel your cruise for any reason prior to departure we will provide a full refund.'

In a Facebook page the group started, many have shared their 'demoralising' stories of walking around in bathrobes just to stay warm where it was 'too cold to even sit and enjoy the scenery'.

'She is happy with the tan she is getting from the tropical sun of Hobart,' one wrote alongside a picture they uploaded of a woman rugged up.
there could be an outbreak of diphtheria

Refugees have brought the potentially fatal and highly-contagious bacterial infection diphtheria into Denmark and authorities are warning hospitals there could be an outbreak.

Two Libyan refugees were found to have the infection, the Danish State Serum Institute (SSI) said on Tuesday.

Diphtheria - spread through coughs and sneezes, or contact with someone with the infection or their belongings - has not been seen in the country since 1998.

Refugees: Two Libyan refugees were found to have diphtheria in Denmark. It is the first case of the infection in the country since 1998 (stock image)

'The infection [diphtheria] can be very dangerous if one isnt vaccinated against it,' Kurt Fuursted, spokesperson for the SSI told Danish newspaper Metroxpress.

'There is no doubt that infectious diseases are coming in with the refugees that we arent used to. There have been discussions on whether all refugees who come to Denmark should be screened.'

The newspaper also reported that other refugees had been found suffering from tuberculosis and malaria.

Health Minister Sophie Lunde told Metroxpress that officials will discuss possible changes to screening policies.

The Danish vaccination programme recommends that babies are inoculated against diphtheria.

Two refugees were found to have diphtheria, while others had been found suffering from tuberculosis and malaria (stock image)

WHAT IS DIPHTHERIA? The potentially fatal bacterial infection mainly affects the nose and throat, but sometimes the skin. It is highly contagious and is spread by coughs and sneezes, or by contact with someone with the infection or their belongings, such as clothing. It is usually caught after being in close or prolonged contact with someone who has the infection or is carrying it. Diphtheria is usually a problem in Africa, South Asia and the former Soviet Union, where less people are vaccinated. Source: NHS Choices Advertisement

Earlier this week, it was revealed that a number of Danish nightclubs had started demanding that guests can make themselves understood in English, German or the native tongue to be allowed entry.

The language requirements have reportedly been put in place in several establishments across Denmark in the wake of reports of 'foreign men in groups' harassing female guests.

Denmark has previously come under fire for a controversial proposal to confiscate valuables and cash of refugees and migrants in order to finance their upkeep while they are seeking asylum.
For decades, Dr Hans Asperger was hailed as somewhat of a hero: a paediatrician who dedicated his life to children and discovered the form of autism which he would later give his name to.

But the devout Catholic may not have been the saint which many had argued he was in the years after his name was given to the disorder on the autistic spectrum he discovered early in his career.

A new book is taking a closer look at Dr Asperger, and his links to the Nazi party and their death programmmes aimed at killing off disabled children during the Second World War.

In a Different Key: The Story of Autism, by John Donvan and Caren Zucker, explores the links between Dr Hans Asperger (pictured) and Hitler's interest in eugenics, and the dictator's euthanasia programme

In particular, the letter he sent condemning a little girl to death discovered in 2010.

In a Different Key: The Story of Autism, by John Donvan and Caren Zucker, explores the links between Dr Asperger, who died in 1980, and Hitler's interest in eugenics, and the dictator's euthanasia programme.

It reveals how the doctor, who was born in 1906 just outside Vienna, was working at the city's University Childrens Hospital throughout the 1930s, where he was studying mental disorders in children.

And he continued to work throughout the war, after Austria was annexed by Hitler in 1938.

Despite people looking into links during the 1990s, 'no evidence that Asperger had directly participated in any Nazi medical crimes', the authors wrote in an article for The Tablet.

In fact, psychologists Viktoria Lyons and Michael Fitzgerald would argue that far from being part of the evil Nazi schemes, he 'tried to protect' children from being sent to concentration camps.

It would take years for the so-called 'smoking gun' to be discovered - and when it was, it would be damning, according to Donvan and Zucker.

The letter, discovered by Herwig Czech, a historian at the University of Vienna, was written by Dr Asperger to Spiegelgrund, an institution which had come to specialise in killing disabled children under the Nazi regime.

In it, he suggested they take Herta Schreiber, then a two-year-old girl who had suffered encephalitis, and was not, in his opinion, developing as she should.

He describes the child as a 'burden' and suggests permanent placement at the Spiegelgrund seems absolutely necessary', according to Donvan and Zucker.

The little girl died, aged three, on September 2, 1941. Like most of the children in Spiegelgrund, her cause of death was put down as pneumonia, but was far more likely to have been the poison phenobarbital, the centre's method of choice for killing children.

Arguments are still on-going about whether Dr Asperger supported the euthanasia programme, or was trying to save children

In a Different Key also claims Dr Asperger was on the Nazi's approved list for doctors, sometimes signed letter 'Heil Hitler' and gave a speech, apparently in favour of the eugenics programme which would send thousands to their deaths.

However, it may also not be so clear cut.

It has also been argued that he was trying to protect children, arguing that those on the autism spectrum could be useful to society in papers published during the war years.

In Neurotribes: The Legacy of Autism and How to Think Smarter about People who Think Differently, Steve Silberman claims this made Asperger the opposite of a Nazi sympathiser who in fact saved lives..
Javier Orelly, 28, was arrested on Tuesday after he allegedly beheaded his pet pit bull and a duck

A Florida man was arrested on Tuesday after decapitating his pit bull because it 'looked at him weird', according to an arrest report.

Javier Orelly, 28, faces two animal cruelty charges and a possession of marijuana charge following Thursday's incident in West Palm Beach.

Police found Orelly 'digging a grave in front of his apartment' with a beheaded pit bull and duck nearby. He also told police that he beheaded the duck too.

Deputies were called to the scene after an anonymous caller claimed to have seen a man 'kicking and throwing around his dog' and was worried the man was going to kill the dog, the arrest report said, according to Click Orlando.

A deputy saw 'two large knives, a small medieval ax and some money' on a red towel. A piece of dead animal skin attached to a stick was behind the dog's head.

Below the stick was a carving reading 'totura' - believed to be a misspelling of 'tortura' which means 'torture' in Basque - in large letters.

Orelly initially told police that the dog bit him.

He later said 'the dog looked at him weird, so he stabbed it in the neck', the arrest report stated.

He said that he was having difficulty cutting off the dog's head and got a bigger knife, which he described as a medieval hatchet.

He then 'kept chopping the head until it came off', the arrest report said.

The beheaded duck was discovered near the dog.

Police found Orelly digging a grave outside his West Palm Beach, Florida, apartment with a dead dog and duck placed nearby. Pictured top right can be seen a 'grave marker' Orelly was thought to be using

Near the grave was a carving of the word 'totura' - believed to be a misspelling of 'tortura', which means 'torture' in Basque

Several rocks and stones were seen in the area of the grave. Officials said Orelly was 'stressed and needed to sacrifice animals to cleanse himself'

According to deputies, 'Orelly was stressed out and needed to sacrifice animals to cleanse himself,' the police report said.

A judge on Wednesday ordered Orelly on have a mental-health examination and return to court on Friday, according to WPTV.

Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control Capt Dave Walesky told the Sun Sentinel that Orelly had not been reported for animal abuse before.

Under US law, some animal sacrifices are legal if the animal is humanely killed for legitimate religious purposes, but the slaughter of cats and dogs is prohibited in Florida.

Walesky told the Sun Sentinel: 'As far as Palm Beach County is concerned, it's not uncommon for us to get reports of animals that have been disposed on the side of the road or in other parts of the county that appear to have been involved in some sort of Santeria [an Afro-Caribbean religion] ritual.

'But usually, in most cases, it doesn't involve a dog.'

Orelly made a court appearance on Wednesday and faced two animal cruelty charges and a possession of marijuana charge following Thursday's incident
Lakeisha Nicole Holloway, 24, of Portland, Oregon, who is facing a total of 71 charges after mowing down pedestrians on the Las Vegas strip

A woman accused of intentionally plowing her car into a crowded sidewalk on the Las Vegas strip has now been charged with 71 crimes.

Lakeisha Nicole Holloway, 24, of Portland, Oregon, was already facing murder and child endangerment charges after she allegedly drove her car, which had her three-year-old daughter as a passenger, at people standing close to the Bellagio Hotel.

The hit and run killed mother-of-three Jessica Valenzuela, 32, from Buckeye, Arizona, and people from various other states were hurt, with some seriously injured during the incident close to where the Miss World pageant was taking place.

One man still remains in a serious condition at University Medical Center in Las Vegas.

And yesterday, Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson revealed that a total of 71 felony charges would be filed against Holloway including 34 new attempted murder and 34 new battery with a deadly weapon charges.

Mr Wolfson explained the additional crimes she is accused of reflect the injuries of those struck by Holloway's 1996 Oldsmobile sedan outside the Planet Hollywood and Paris Las Vegas resorts.

A charge of leaving the scene of a crash was dropped and Mr Wolfson decided not to charge Holloway with driving under the influence of drugs, despite blood tests finding that she had marijuana in her system shortly after the crash.

Mr Wolfson added that if she is convicted of all the charges against her, she could face the rest of her life behind bars.

However, her attorney Scott Coffee said Holloway plans to plead not guilty to the charges.

He explained: 'We are reviewing the case as things come in, and will determine what we'll do going forward.'

Mr Coffee also said Holloway has been taken off suicide watch at the Clark County jail, where she remains held in a solo cell pending a court date on February 4.

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson revealed that a total of 71 felony charges would be filed against Holloway including 34 new attempted murder and 34 new battery with a deadly weapon charges. Pictured is the aftermath of the crash outside the Bellagio

Mr Wolfson explained the additional crimes she is accused of reflect the injuries of those struck by Holloway's 1996 Oldsmobile sedan outside the Planet Hollywood and Paris Las Vegas resorts

The hit and run killed mother-of-three Jessica Valenzuela, 32, from Buckeye, Arizona, pictured, and people from various other states were hurt

He also confirmed that her daughter is now being cared for by family members but declined to identify the relatives.

Police say Holloway arrived in Las Vegas from Portland, Oregon, and told investigators that she and her daughter had been living for at least a week in the car that she parked at casinos.

Records in Oregon show she changed her name in October to Paris Paradise Morton, but Mr Coffee said she has been using the name Holloway in Las Vegas.

She has been detained without bond since her arrest shortly after the December 20 incident.

Holloway, a former part-time U.S. Forest Service employee, told detectives she had been trying to sleep in her car but became stressed when she was repeatedly chased off by security guards, a police report said.

The incident took place the night the final of the Miss World pageant was being held in Las Vegas

Holloway may have stopped in Las Vegas en route to Texas, where her daughter's estranged father lives

Holloway may have stopped in Las Vegas en route to Texas, where her daughter's estranged father lives, and the couple may have quarreled, according to Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Sheriff Joe Lombardo.

He said it was otherwise unclear what might have 'caused her to snap.'
Seven newborn babies have been breastfed by the wrong mothers in New South Wales hospitals in just four years.

The revelation emerged from Freedom of Information documents showing the mix ups happened between 2011 and 2015.

'In all cases the error was discovered soon after the incidents occurred,' the documents say.

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A total of seven babies, including Stefanie Phillip's (above with her daughter, Ellie) baby, were breastfed by the wrong mother in New South Wales hospitals

The Ministry of Health also reported there were no recorded instances of similar incidents happening at private hospitals.

Opposition health spokesman Walt Secord told Daily Mail Australia the baby mix-ups were 'very serious' matters.

'I'm a dad and I realise how important first contact is between a mother and a newborn,' he said.

'For this to happen to a mother and a newborn is devastating.'

Ellie (above) was one of seven babies that ended up in the wrong hands between 2001 and 2015

Stefanie Phillips, from Bateau Bay, on the NSW Central Coast, said what happened to her should not happen to anyone else.

'It really does shock me,' she told The Daily Telegraph after the revelation emerged.

'I think the lack of midwives is really the problem... if they are short-staffed the government has to do something about it.

'I would not want this to happen to another mother, especially a first-time mother.'

When news of the bungle emerged last year, Ms Phillips - who was at Gosford Hospital on August 18 - said she was left extremely upset after a midwife told the new mother her baby Ellie had been in the arms of a stranger.

Ms Phillips was a patient at Gosford Hospital on August 18 and she was left extremely upset by the bungle

Ms Phillips told 7News the midwife said: 'The [unknown] mother had breastfed your daughter for two hours and got photos with her.'

'[The mother] did everything - [including] skin-on-skin - that I wanted to do with her [Ellie],' Ms Phillips said.

While the risks of disease being transferred via breastmilk is slim, Western Sydney University's midwifery professor Hannah Dahlen told the Telegraph the 'psychological risk' was a whole other story.

Health Minister Jillian Skinner said baby mix-ups were 'extremely rare' in the public hospital system.

'Hundreds of thousands of babies were born in NSW public hospitals over the past five years and there were seven occasions where this error occurred. The error was soon discovered,' she said in a statement.

'NSW Health has strict protocols in place for the identification of newborns in public hospitals and the separation of mothers and babies. These protocols are regularly reinforced with midwifery staff.

'In the rare cases where an error occurs, immediate serological tests and breast milk screening are undertaken. The affected mothers are offered counselling and support.'
Republican White House hopeful Rand Paul thinks Donald Trump is preoccupied with the precious.

He said Wednesday on CNN that the billionaire GOP front-runner is so power-hungry that he's like Gollum, the detestable creature from the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy who became obsessed with obtaining the ring  so much that it corrupted him.

'One candidate on this national stage wants you to give him power,' Paul, a Kentucky senator, wrote on Facebook. 'He tells you he is rich, so he must be smart.'

'This race should not be about who can grasp the ring,' his geek-leaning posting read. 'Electing Gollum should not be our objective. This race should be about which candidate will best protect you from an overbearing government.'

But Paul says he's not lusting after the power of the Oval Office, unlike Trump.

NASTY, BRUTISH AND SHORT: Sen. Rand Paul (right) told CNN's Jake Tapper (left) that Donald Trump is the 'Gollum' of the Republican primary race

MUST HAVE THE PRECIOUS: In the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy, Gollum's lust for the power of the one true ring turns him into a bitter creature and consumes him with ugliness, crushing his childlike alter-ego in a hail of material covetousness

POWER-HUNGRY? Paul says Trump craves power, like Gollum in 'Lord of the Rings,' and wrote a scathing mini-essay on Facebook explaining the similarities

'I am the only one on this national stage who really doesn't want power or dominion over you,' he wrote.

'I want to set you free, I want to leave you alone, and I want a government so small you can barely see it.'

Trump is lapping the field in national polls, leads by wide margins in New Hampshire and South Carolina, and is running neck-and-neck with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in Iowa.

Paul's poll numbers are in the low single digits. His underwhelming numbers froze him out of last week's main stage debate in North Charleston, South Carolina.

But Trump's other Republican rivals have taken pot-shots at him, calling him everything from 'a jerk' and 'a junkyard dog' (Jeb Bush) to 'beyond crazy' (Lindsey Graham.

Bush, too, is polling in the life-support range. Graham folded up his campaign tent last month.

On CNN's 'The Lead,' anchor Jake Tapper asked Paul 'how on Earth  or I guess I should probably say how on Middle Earth  is Donald Trump like Gollum?'

BITTER CLINGER: Paul said he would have liked to have the endorsement of former Alaska governor and tea party heroine Sarah Palin (left), who swung her support to Trump (right) on Tuesday

GROUNDSWELL: Thousands stood in line Tuesday in chilly Tulsa, Oklahoma to hear Trump and Palin speak

'Gollum was after his Precious, his little ring, the ring of power,' Paul said.

'And I think Donald Trump, in some ways, represents that, in the sense that he's so smart and he's so rich, if you just give him power, he's going to fix everything.'

'I want the presidency to have power taken away from it, because I think the president has gotten too powerful,' he added. 'I don't hear that from Donald Trump.'

Paul rebooted his well-worn claim that The Donald 'is a fake conservative,' and said winning a high-profile endorsement this week from former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was a fig leaf over his lack of right-wing credentials.

'He isn't a conservative,' Paul insisted. 'And the endorsement may help people to think he is.'

Tapper pressed him on whether he was comparing Trump's appearance to the ghastly swarfish Gollum's.

'You'll concede that  that he's better looking than Gollum, though?' he asked.

'No, it was not a physical comparison at all,' Paul admitted.

HE'S GOT LOW-P: 'I want the presidency to have power taken away from it,' Paul said, 'because I think the president has gotten too powerful'

It's not the first time a politician has drawn the Gollum comparison.

In 2014 a Turkish doctor was banned from civil service after his social media accounts distributed an image comparing the creature's facial expressions to those of Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Erdogan sued the man for the insult and asked a court to send him to prison for two years.

But Peter Jackson, the filmmaker behind the live-action 'Lord of the Rings' series based on the epic trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkein, insisted the doctor was actually sharing images of 'Smeagol,' Gollum's childlike alter ego.

'Smeagol is a joyful, sweet, character. Smeagol does not lie, deceive, or attempt to manipulate others,' Jackson said last month in a statement.
Hillary Clinton's spokesman suggested that the inspector general who informed Congress about some of her emails being of the 'above top secret' distinction was coordinating with Republicans to take down the Democratic frontrunner.

'Actually, I think this was a very coordinated leak yesterday,' said Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon during an interview on CNN.

Fallon charged that Inspector General Charles I. McCollough 'put two Republican Senators up to sending him a letter so he would have an excuse to resurface the same allegations he made back in the summer that have been discredited.'

Meanwhile, CNN's Alisyn Camerota tried pointing out that McCollough isn't a Republican.

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Hillary Clinton's spokesman Brian Fallon suggested that an inspector general who alerted Senate Republican to additional classified emails was working with those pols to take down the former secretary of state

Hillary Clinton's campaign has said all along that none of the emails that passed through her homebrew server were classified at the time - they were only deemed as such after the fact

On Thursday, McCollough sent a letter to lawmakers informing them that some of the emails found on Clinton's homebrew server were even more sensitive than top secret.

The Jan. 14 letter was addressed to Sens. Richard Burr, who serves as the chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and Bob Cover, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Yesterday, reporters at Fox News and the Associated Press got their hands on the letter and reported what McCollough had found.

McCollough wrote that a recent review done by the intelligence agencies found 'several dozen' additional classified emails, including material from 'special access programs.'

That distinction, known as SAP, is more sensitive than 'top secret,' of which two of Clinton's emails were identified as being in a random sample pulled from the server last summer.

SAP content is restricted to only those who 'need-to-know' the intelligence because the source, often a human asset, could be put in danger.

Currently, about 1,340 emails from the server have been designated 'classified.'

The Clinton campaign line has been that the material was not deemed classified when it hit the secretary of state's private email account  it was given the label after the fact.

McCullough sent the letter in response to inquiries from congressional committees about the classification methods used to review the Clinton emails.

In responding to the request, McCullough said he sought sworn declarations from those involved in reviewing the emails.

'These declarations cover several dozen emails containing classified information determined ... to be at the confidential, secret and top secret/sap levels,' according to the letter, which also was obtained by The Associated Press.

The Clinton campaign dismissed the finding by referring to 'the same interagency dispute that has been playing out for months.'

In a statement yesterday, the campaign said the finding 'does not change the fact that these emails were not classified at the time they were sent or received.'

The campaign added: 'It is alarming that the intelligence community IG, working with Republicans in Congress, continues to selectively leak materials in order to resurface the same allegations and try to hurt Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.

The Justice Department's inquiry should be allowed to proceed without any further interference.'

Fallon reiterated the point on CNN today.

The State Department is under court order to release the 55,000 emails that Clinton submitted to her former agency that were on her home-brew server and were not personal.

Almost all have been released, with the last batch expected Jan. 29.

John Kirby, a spokesman for State, told the Associated Press that the department is committed to releasing Clinton's emails in a way that protects sensitive information.
Entrepreneur Dick Smith is considering challenging former speaker Bronwyn Bishop at the next election to unseat the 73-year-old in a bid to push through aviation reform.

Polling has indicated Mr Smith could romp it in at the Mackellar electorate in Sydneys north shore which his embattled friend Mrs Bishop has held since 1994, Sydney Morning Herald reported.

The businessman and philanthropist has signalled he would run as an independent if he were to go head to head against Mrs Bishop, who resigned as federal speaker last year following 'choppergate'.

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Former speaker of the Liberal Abbott government Bronwyn Bishop (pictured in July) will be contested at the next election by entrepreneur Dick Smith

The businessman and philanthropist has signalled he would run as an independent if he contests Mrs Bishop in the seat of Mackellar

Mr Smith last year flagged he was considering running against the former Prime Minister in his north shore seat of Warringah, just south of Mackellar.

A group of senior figures in the aviation industry had paid for polling of voters in the area, and found Mr Smith would win if he chooses to run.

If he were to be elected, he said he would fight the increase in red tape in non-airline aviation.

The first person I would ring if I do decide to stand is Bronwyn, I still consider her a friend, Mr Smith told Sydney Morning Herald.

Mrs Bishop resigned as speaker in August after weeks of scrutiny surrounding her alleged abuse of parliamentary expenses, following revelations she spent $5,227 of taxpayer dollars for an 80-kilometre helicopter ride to a Liberal Party fundraiser

He is 18 months younger than Mrs Bishop and theyd grown up on the same street in East Roseville, both attending Roseville Public School.

Mr Smith has lived in the electorate for decades, and has also previously worked in the electorate

Though Mrs Bishop has held the electorate since 1994, her popularity has been deeply wounded following the choppergate scandal which saw her resign as speaker in disgrace.

Her resignation last August came after weeks of scrutiny surrounding her alleged abuse of parliamentary expenses, following revelations she spent $5,227 of taxpayer dollars for an 80-kilometre helicopter ride.

The drive from Melbourne to Geelong to attend a Liberal Party fundraiser would have taken approximately one hour.

It later emerged she had booked a $6,000 private plane to travel 160-kilometres from Sydney to Nowra in NSW to attend a party fundraiser.

Though Mrs Bishop has held the electorate since 1994, her popularity has been deeply wounded following the choppergate scandal which saw her resign as speaker in disgrace

It was then revealed shed also billed taxpayers more than $1,000 for two chauffeured trips in Sydney.

Pre-selection nominations opened in NSW on Tuesday, and Mrs Bishop announced she will be recontesting her seat.

Malcolm Turnbull has reportedly said he supports all his colleagues in Parliament being re-elected.

However, former leader John Hewson said it would look particularly bad for Mrs Bishop to run.

It will look particularly bad in my view, where I think if you create a new impression of a new and dynamic government, the more new and dynamic people you can bring in, I think would be a good thing, Mr Hewson said, ABC reported.

Former Liberal Victorian premier Jeff Kennett said she had brought great discredit to herself, the Government and her leader.

Others within the party have reportedly shown her their support and said she would not re-contest the seat if she did not believe she could win.

Tony Abbott has not yet confirmed whether he will be re-contesting Warringah.
WikiLeaks founder: Julian Assange will be questioned at the embassy where he has been holed up for three years over allegations of sex assault

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will finally be questioned over rape and assault allegations after Swedish police struck a deal with Ecuador for him to be interviewed at the London embassy he fled to more than three years ago.

In a significant breakthrough in the case 44-year-old Mr Assange is to face questions about the claims without having to leave the building, Ecuador's president has announced.

President Rafael Correa said the Swedish authorities will submit questions to Ecuadorian officials, who will then quiz Mr Assange about them.

This is finally going to happen, what could have been done three years ago, Mr Correa added.

Mr Assange has been living in the embassy in Knightsbridge, West London, for more than three years and has been granted political asylum by the Ecuador government.

Ecuador said last week that he can leave his hideout in its embassy and go into exile in the South American country if Swedish prosecutors do not charge him after questioning him.

In an interview on public radio, Ecuadors Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said: If they don't charge him, he can leave.

'We hope we won't have any problem with the United Kingdom. He would likely come to Ecuador, because he has already been granted asylum in our country.

Officers: Last October police stopped standing guard outside the Ecuadorian embassy in London for the first time in more than three years. Scotland Yard had faced criticism about the 12.6million cost of the operation

Australian Mr Assange is wanted for questioning in Sweden over sex assault allegations against two women, which he has always denied.

He fears being transported to the United States to be quizzed over the activities of WikiLeaks if he goes to Sweden.

But Mr Assange has said in the past that he would welcome being questioned at the embassy.

Last October police officers stopped standing guard outside the Ecuadorian embassy in London for the first time in more than three years.

Announcement: Ecuador's President Rafael Correa (pictured yesterday in Quito) said the Swedish authorities will submit questions to Ecuadorian officials, who will then quiz Mr Assange about them

Scotland Yard said at the time that it had removed the permanent guard of officers who have been stationed outside ready to arrest Mr Assange since 2012 - at a total cost of 12.6million.

Ecuadors Foreign Minister: Ricardo Patino said Mr Assange can go into exile in the South American country if Swedish prosecutors do not charge him

The controversial activist has been living in the embassy to avoid being extradited to Sweden over rape allegations.

The Metropolitan Police previously said that while they were removing the 24/7 guard outside the embassy they will still do their best to arrest the WikiLeaks founder.

The outspoken former computer hacker still faces immediate arrest should he emerge from the embassy, with police assuring 'every effort' would be made to detain him in order that he can be extradited.

The police's decision to end their round-the-clock surveillance came after repeated attacks on the cost of the operation.

Officers insist that they will not relent in their efforts to arrest Mr Assange, who was accused of rape by a Swedish woman after visiting the country five years ago.

He denies the allegation, but says he cannot travel to Sweden to stand trial lest he be extradited to the US, where he fears prosecution over WikiLeaks' publication of secret military and diplomatic records.

Three charges of sexual assault were dropped by Swedish prosecutors in August due to the statue of limitations.

Turned into a film: Mr Assange was portrayed by actor Benedict Cumberbatch in 2013 movie The Fifth Estate

Mr Assange has been granted asylum by Ecuador on political grounds, but is reported to have annoyed embassy staff and become frustrated at being confined to just a few rooms, with a small balcony giving him his only chance to get fresh air.

This is finally going to happen, what could have been done three years ago Rafael Correa, President of Ecuador

The country's Left-wing government is believed to have considered a series of plans to smuggle Mr Assange out of the UK - including appointing him an Ecuadorian diplomat or disguising him in fancy dress.

Swedish officials had said towards the end of last year that they were optimistic about reaching an agreement with Ecuador which could pave the way for the questioning of Mr Assange in London.

Justice ministry spokesman Cecilia Riddselius said talks between Swedish officials and their counterparts in Ecuador had been 'very good, very constructive' and could lead to a general agreement on legal cooperation 'in time for Christmas'.
MPs and HGV drivers have warned that EU plans which would force Britain to accept 90,000 refugees in the next year as part a quota will make Calais 'even more of a magnet' to migrants.

There has been widespread fury at the plans from Brussels but a failure to agree a quota could see the UK denied the right to deport asylum seekers to their country of arrival.

Number 10 last night vowed to fight the proposal, which is a major blow to David Camerons EU referendum ambitions.

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There has been widespread fury at the plans from Brussels, but a failure to agree a quota could see the UK denied the right to deport asylum seekers to their country of arrival (Pictured: The Calais Jungle)

MPs warned the meddling by eurocrats and judges meant Britain had lost control of its borders.

This is scandalous, said Sir Gerald Howarth, a former Tory minister. The tribunal should have no business in this matter. We have very strict laws on immigration and asylum that are set by Parliament.

It is not for the courts to undermine them in this way.

The European Commission wants a new quota system under which member states share out the estimated 1.3million people expected to arrive in Europe this year.

Britain, which would be expected to take around 90,000, has been warned that  if it refuses  it will lose its right to send home migrants who should have made their claims elsewhere.

MPs and hauliers warned this would make Calais even more of a magnet for asylum seekers. Richard Burnett of the Road Haulage Association said: The floodgates would open. The migrants that are already there dont want to be in France, they want to get to the UK, and this would just make the problem far far worse.

Tory backbencher Peter Bone said: This is absolutely absurd. It is typical of the European Union to want to change the rules to penalise Britain.

AND STILL THEY COME THROUGH THE ICY BALKANS... It is a scene that proves how desperate migrants are to reach safety in Europe, as hundreds of families continue to trek through the Balkans, despite snow and sub-zero temperatures. As this picture from Macedonia shows, more than 2,000, including large numbers of children, are crossing daily from Macedonia into Serbia  even though temperatures yesterday plunged to -19C (-2F). Many of those travelling through the Balkans do not have winter clothing or shoes, putting them in serious danger of hypothermia. As this picture from Macedonia shows, more than 2,000, including large numbers of children, are crossing daily from Macedonia into Serbia  even though temperatures yesterday plunged to -19C The UNs refugee agency, UNHCR, last night warned that some have pneumonia but are refusing hospital treatment and insist on pressing on with their journeys. UNHCR spokesman Liene Veide said: The weather isnt stopping people; its just making the trip more difficult. People are very determined and want to keep on their journey. This makes it challenging to provide immediate assistance. Even when they are sick they are not willing to stay here in a hospital. Save the Children said women and children in particular are in danger of hypothermia. They reported that distressed migrants have been arriving in Serbia with blue lips and shaking from the cold. Exhausted mothers told aid workers they are unable to keep their babies warm and dry, and that some have slipped while carrying them on icy roads. Yesterday a five-year-old girl and a woman died of cold as they tried to reach Greece by sea. Police said the girl died after the vessel she was travelling on capsized. Officers also rescued another boat, but were unable to save one woman, who also died of hypothermia. Advertisement

Genuine asylum seekers should be delighted to be looked after in the first safe country they reach. Why would they need to be offered a choice? The longer we stay in the EU, the more there will be a creep that weakens our ability to control our borders.

Lord Green, who chairs the pressure group Migrationwatch, said: If the result of this is that asylum seekers know they will never be sent back to Europe once they get across the Channel, it is bound to increase the pressure on our borders at Calais.

Ukip leader Nigel Farage said the chaos already seen at Calais could increase as more desperate migrants massed there.

1-0 TO ITALY! ROME CLAIMS VICTORY IN BATTLE TO SHARE MIGRANT BURDEN Rome yesterday declared it was one nil to Italia after Brussels revealed it wanted to axe rules that keep most asylum seekers in the first EU country they reach. Italian officials have argued the Dublin Regulation places an unfair burden on southern countries that have been inundated with migrants. But the European Commissions plan to replace Dublin with an allocation mechanism yesterday received a hostile reaction from Eastern Europe. The Visegrad 4 group of Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic has been resisting the idea of the EU having a permanent quota system to share out new arrivals. They see this as an unacceptable snatch of power from capitals by Brussels. A Polish source warned: Our position has always been to stress the importance of the security of the external border. Weve been saying for a long time that a permanent mechanism [to distribute refugees] does not seem to be a good response to the crisis itself, it does not provide an overall solution. We need time and great care in the process, not a mechanism that automatically relocates people this way or the other  that would be chaotic and haphazard. Vincenzo Scarpetta, of the think-tank Open Europe, said: If the idea is to replace Dublin with a permanent relocation mechanism and binding quotas then good luck with that. We have seen from the existing quota system how problematic that would be with member states. It would be seen as a huge transfer of power from national capitals to the EU. EU leaders in September agreed to relocate 160,000 asylum seekers but only 300 have been moved so far. Advertisement

Number 10 insiders insisted there was no prospect of the UK accepting the quota scheme.

The Government also says it is determined to bolster security at Calais to deter would-be illegals.

One EU source said the timing could not be worse for Mr Camerons renegotiation: Its like theyve laid out a minefield in front of him.

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker says he wants a deal on refugees around the same time as one is struck on Mr Camerons reform demands.

He said he was convinced the EU Council in February will reach a fair deal for Britain  paving the way for a referendum in June.

But Mr Juncker added: I am worried we wont have enough time there to tackle the refugee question in sufficient depth. I recommend to [European Council president] Donald Tusk that he holds a further summit.

We cant have a success on the UK and not address the refugee quotas, that would be a mistake.

Government insiders said the row made the prospect of a referendum in June even more likely, not less. Number 10 is unlikely to want to risk holding a vote after a summer of migrant chaos, sources said.

Asked whether the UK will lose its ability to remove people under the Dublin rules when the new scheme comes in, Natasha Bertaud, European Commission spokesman, said: Its very premature to talk now about what the future proposal will look like.

We will set out our plans in March. There are systemic deficiencies in the way the current Dublin system is working and it does need to be overhauled.

International Development Secretary Justine Greening said the UK would strongly argue against any attempt to scrap the first country of entry rule, adding: Its important and its obviously one weve made use of.

Eurosceptic Tory Philip Hollobone said: This is an outrageous proposal from the European Commission and underlines why the best future for Britain lies outside the EU.

It is increasingly clear that the EU does not even have respect for its own external frontiers when its very happy for asylum seekers to wash around within its boundaries to claim refuge wherever they choose.

I thought the Prime Minister saw the EU as a guarantor of our security but this flies in the face of that.

International Development Secretary Justine Greening said the UK would strongly argue against any attempt to scrap the first country of entry rule, adding: Its important and its obviously one weve made use of'

Meanwhile judges punched a further hole in Britains porous borders last night by letting a Calais migrant gang across the Channel.

The immigration tribunal ruling  justified on human rights grounds  paves the way for thousands of similar claims.

The ruling concerned four young Syrian men  two under-16s and a 17-year-old and his mentally-ill 26-year-old brother  all living in the notorious Calais Jungle.

They were desperate to be reunited with their siblings or parents in the UK, the Immigration and Asylum Tribunal in central London heard.

The claims should have been dealt with in France but, after lawyers argued the asylum system there was in meltdown, judges said they had a right to a family life in the UK.

Although the Home Office is understood to be planning an appeal the four refugees will be allowed to travel over from Calais because the tribunals decision has immediate effect.

Their barrister Michael Fordham QC said the situation would apply to others  certainly, I would say, any unaccompanied minor in this camp with a sibling in the UK.

The ruling was delivered while ministers were still reeling from the news, revealed in yesterdays Mail, that Brussels wants to rip up the so-called Dublin Regulation.

This states that asylum seekers should lodge their claims in the first safe country they reach inside the EU. Those who do not, and who later arrive in Britain, can be forcibly sent home.

Lawyers for the Syrians said the conditions in the camp were 'intolerable' and they should be brought to the UK

Can we just refuse to open the door? Mail's political editor JAMES SLACK examines the latest attempt by the eurocrats to seize control of our borders

What is the EU threatening to do?

The European Commission  the EUs unelected policy-making body  wants to scrap the rule that means refugees must claim asylum in the first safe country in which they arrive. This is known as the Dublin Regulation.

Instead, it would introduce a new dispersal scheme for migrants to be shared out across the continent. The IMF is predicting the number of arrivals to the EU will be 1.3million in each of the next three years  a total of 3.9million.

Who is pushing the idea?

In addition to Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, Germany and Italy  which has come under great strain from migrants arriving by boat  are strongly in favour of quotas.

Angela Merkel is under huge domestic pressure after taking one million asylum seekers last year. The Cologne sex attacks by migrants have triggered a significant backlash against the German leader.

What would it mean for the UK?

The Commission wants to use a complex formula to share out the migrants, based on population size, unemployment rates and other factors.

This would see Britain take approximately 11.5 per cent of new arrivals each year, or around 90,000. Only Germany and France would be expected to take a greater share.

Can we refuse?

Yes. Britain is not a member of the Schengen agreement and has to opt-in if it wishes to join EU immigration policies (though it is duty bound to comply with general rules on free movement.)

ASYLUM-SEEKERS GIVEN LESSONS ON HOW TO FLIRT Asylum-seekers in Belgium are to be given lessons in civilised flirting so they learn to respect women. Tips such as be funny and make eye contact, but dont stare have been listed in brochures to be distributed to refugee centres across the country. Other statements include: If a women is wearing a sexy dress, that doesnt mean she wants to have sex. The guidance is an attempt to avoid a repeat of the attacks on women in Cologne, and asylum seekers are warned there will be zero tolerance towards such behaviour. The Belgian government admitted there are no fixed flirting rules, but said useful pointers will be given. Advertisement

Yesterday, Number 10 was clear that  while it has yet to receive a formal proposal from Brussels  it has no intention of taking part. In a shrewd move by David Cameron, Britain set up its own scheme for taking vulnerable Syrian refugees direct from refugee camps. Some 20,000, predominantly women and children, will arrive by 2020. This is in stark contrast to the huge numbers of single males who have poured into Germany, Sweden, Italy and Greece.

So what is the problem?

Some in Brussels are fed up with Britain allegedly not taking its fair share, despite this country receiving 30,000 asylum claims last year. In a move described as blackmail by one Tory MEP, the Commission is threatening to stop Britain sending back asylum seekers who have already lodged claims elsewhere in Europe, if we refuse to join the quota scheme.

Last year, 750 people were sent back to the country where they first came into contact with the authorities under the Dublin rules. In 2010, the number was 1,545.

How important is the Dublin agreement to Britain?

The numbers sent back to mainland Europe are low compared with the scale of the asylum problem. Last October alone, more than 5,000 people sought refugee status in the UK.

In part this is because many EU countries, notably Italy and Greece, ignore the Dublin rules and wave migrants through. However, it is thought to have a significant deterrent effect.

If Dublin is scrapped and migrants know that once they make it to Britain it will be almost impossible to kick them out, even more will mass at Calais and lay siege to lorries. Some MPs and MEPs fear the scenes of bedlam witnessed last summer will be nothing compared to what lies ahead if Dublin is axed.

And what does all this mean for David Cameron?

In some respects, it is his worst nightmare. Downing Street was given no warning of the plan by Brussels. The proposals are due to be formally tabled in March, which is likely to be in the middle of his planned EU referendum campaign. It also pulls a key plan from his campaign strategy: namely that the EU makes Britain more secure. And its a reminder of the ambition of Brussels to dictate the immigration policies of individual member states. Tory MPs have seized on it as yet more proof of why Britain must leave the EU if it wants to retake control of its own destiny

Could it all be a stunt?

With Brussels, anything is possible and cynics at Westminster wonder if it is making an idle threat. The eurocrats are desperate to keep the UK in the club. Imagine what a publicity coup it would be for Mr Cameron if he were able to go to the Council of Ministers in March and announce he had saved Britains power to send back asylum seekers after all.

It is thought the legal ruling could open the door to other similar cases brought by others. File photo
The price of oven gloves is set to soar after new European Union safety rules came into law yesterday.

MEPs yesterday approved plans to ensure that all oven gloves are tested and certified to prove they can withstand heat of up to 200 degrees Celsius  meaning existing ones may have to be pulled from the shelves.

European Commission proposals for washing up gloves and oven gloves that are merely decorative to be included in the legislation were scrapped, but any oven gloves marketed as being protective will have to undergo the tests.

Protective: MEPs yesterday approved plans to ensure that all oven gloves are tested and certified to prove they can withstand heat of up to 200 degrees Celsius (file image)

Rubber gloves will also have to be tested to ensure they can withstand everyday kitchen detergents and cleaning products.

The government, which had described the move as completely bonkers and an EU power grab for our kitchen sinks, unsuccessfully voted against the legislation in a meeting of ministers.

The diktat came into law after MEPs gave it the final seal of approval at the European Parliament in Strasbourg yesterday.

A British government spokesman said: Were fighting hard to fix the aspects of our EU membership that cause so much frustration in Britain  so we get a better deal for our country and secure our future.
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If youre fed up with all that slipping and sliding on the ice, theres some good news  theres a big thaw on the way and temperatures look set to climb as high as 14C (57F).

After a series of freezing nights in which the mercury plunged as low as -12C (10.4F), the cold was clinging on yesterday, with frost covering the banks of the River Avon at Malmesbury, Wiltshire.

Meanwhile there was a spectacular scene at Kinder Downfall, a waterfall in the Derbyshire Peak District, which froze solid, attracting daring climbers to the ice.

But the chill is expected to end over the next 24 hours, with the Met Office predicting temperatures will rise as the week comes to an end.

Scroll down for video and forecast

Cold and clear: A frosty day on the River Avon yesterday, looking across towards the Wiltshire market town of Malmesbury which dates back to the 6th century. It comes as forecasters predict temperatures will rise over the coming days, giving respite from the cold

Wow: There was a spectacular scene at Kinder Downfall yesterday, a waterfall in the Derbyshire Peak District, which froze solid

Long-range forecasts from the Met Offices Hadley Centre research unit predict 2016 could be the warmest in history, breaking global records for a second year in a row after 2015.

Forecaster Emma Sillitoe said: It is looking like it is going to be mild for the next few days after the cold snap we have had. Tonight might be a bit warmer than last night.

'We could see temperatures hovering around freezing in the North, and further south it will be about 1C or 2C. Friday will be a wet day though, with heavy rain coming in from the west.

But she said it would become bright and breezy across the country once the rain front had moved through.

Into the weekend, Saturday is going to be nicest day, with some nice periods of sunny spells.

Going for a stroll: Canada Geese navigate the frozen water at Epping Forest in North London yesterday as temperatures fell below freezing

On the lookout: Two deer look across the frosty bracken at Richmond Park in South-West London yesterday after another frosty star

Predictions from the Met Office for 2016 suggested this year will set a record, with global average temperatures expected to be between 0.72C and 0.95C above the long-term average of 14C.

Last year, the global temperature was 0.75C above the long-term average for 1961 to 1990, and the warmest in records dating back to 1850, according to the analysis produced by the Met Office Hadley Centre and the University of East Anglias (UEA) Climatic Research Unit.

The temperature was 1C above the average for 1850 to 1900, putting the world already halfway to the 2C limit to which countries have agreed to curb temperature rises, in a bid to avoid dangerous climate change.

Peter Stott, head of climate monitoring and attribution at the Hadley Centre, said: 2015 was a record-breaking year for our climate.

Cold: Snow in fields near Stirling on another cold day in Britain yesterday, although temperatures are expected to rise later this week

Impressive sight: Frost lies on the ground on the hillside surrounding Corfe Castle in Dorset yesterday as Britain endured another icy start

Global mean temperatures reached 1C above pre-industrial levels for the first time and the years average global temperature was the highest ever recorded.

Man-made global warming and the effect of a strong natural El Nino phenomenon in the Pacific are pushing temperatures to new highs.

Professor Phil Jones, from UEAs Climatic Research Unit (CRU), said: While there is a strong El Nino-elevated global temperature this year, it is clear that human influence is driving our climate into uncharted territory.

2015s global average temperature was at the top end of predictions for the year made in 2014, and broke the record set in the previous year, the data shows.
Hitting out: Former minister Steve Webb turned on George Osborne for his stealth tax raid on next eggs, which could snare up to 1.5million workers

The former minister who masterminded the pensions revolution last night turned on George Osborne for his stealth tax raid on nest eggs.

Steve Webb, the longest-serving pensions minister until he lost his seat, hit out at the Governments savings cap which could snare up to 1.5 million workers.

Mr Webb, the driving force behind freedoms which let savers cash in pensions, urged the Chancellor to stop raiding the pensions piggy bank.

The former MP, now a policy expert for a leading insurer, called on Mr Osborne to scrap absurd and complex Treasury plans to slash the amount workers can save in a pension in a lifetime as well as moves to curb the tax relief savers can receive on their retirement pots.

Mr Webb  who famously said savers could use freed cash to buy a Lamborghini  said Aprils tax grab would punish the most prudent.

He was pensions minister from 2010-2015 and is now Director of Policy at Royal London

Mr Webb told the Daily Mail: When the Chancellor and I worked on the pension freedoms, we were trying to promote and reward individual responsibility and choice. The constant reductions on limits to pensions tax relief go in the opposite direction  they actually punish people for saving too much.

Every time the Chancellor needs a bit of cash it seems like he dips in the pensions piggy bank. But every time he does this he adds many thousands to the people who have to worry they are saving too much.

The Chancellor must use his Budget to scrap these absurd and complex limits on pension saving which penalise rather than reward those who have worked and saved hard. Money Mail is fighting to keep tax breaks for middle-class pension savers.

From April the most that can be held in a pension falls from 1.25 million to 1million. Anyone breaching that faces a penalty charge of 55 per cent. As a minister Mr Webb oversaw cuts to the maximum; in 2012 it fell from 1.8 million to 1.5 million, then to 1.25 million in 2014.

The Treasury originally insisted only the wealthiest would be hit but experts warn even savers earning 45,000 could be caught if they save heavily over decades.

The Chancellor is also considering moves to slash the 34.3billion of pension tax relief, which could see it scrapped or limited to a basic level, hitting workers earning more than 42,385. Another option is ending the 25 per cent lump sum that can be taken tax-free from pots.

Last night Tories criticised the plan. Jacob Rees-Mogg, MP for North East Somerset, said: If things are constantly changing that is an enormous disincentive to long-term saving.

Plans: Chancellor George Osborne is also considering moves to slash the 34.3billion of pension tax relief, which could see it scrapped or limited to a basic level, hitting workers earning more than 42,385. Another option is ending the 25 per cent lump sum that can be taken tax-free from pots

Mark Garnier, of the Treasury select committee, said tax relief curbs, which could help basic rate tax payers but hit higher earners, would anger middle-class voters similar to when child benefit was cut for people earning more than 50,000. It feels like a war of attrition on higher earners, he said.

Workers also called on the Chancellor to reconsider.

IT project manager Trevor Osborne earns around 55,000 a year and has about 500,000 saved.

The 44-year-old married father of two, of Stratton Audley in Oxfordshire, said: All the changes make me not want to save into a pension any more. The cuts to the lifetime allowance, combined with the potential changes to tax relief for higher earners, seem to be a double whammy.

The Treasury said: The reduction of the lifetime allowance only affects 4 per cent of the very wealthiest pension savers approaching retirement, and was brought in to ensure that those with the broadest shoulders contribute the most towards reducing the deficit.
The animal's health had deteriorated after two months in colder waters

They caught it with nets then put in a

A tropical dugong swept more than a thousand kilometres from its natural habitat has been rescued after struggling in open water for several months.

Marine vets and staff from Sea Life and Sea World banded together on Thursday morning to finally capture the dugong in Merimbula Lake, southern New South Wales, before airlifting it back to Queensland in an RAAF Hercules.

Serious concerns were held for the 2.7 metre-long animal's health, after it was shown to have lost a large amount of blubber as well as suffering severe body lesions from the colder waters.

After recovering in marine mammal park Sea World, the 400 kilogram dugong is set to be returned to its home in southeast Queensland's Moreton Bay.

Marine vets and staff from Sea Life and Sea World capture a 2.7 metre long tropical dugong in Merimbula Lake

A spokesperson from the Office of Environment and Heritage NSW confirmed to Daily Mail Australia the animal was in serious trouble when it was rescued.

'National park staff had recorded a significant deterioration in the animal's condition, which triggered today's successful rescue.'

The Office of Environment and Heritage spokesperson said it was 'extremely rare' for the animals to migrate this far from their native environment in northern Australian waters.

National Parks and Wildlife Service Far South Coast Regional Manager Stephen Dove thanked the local community for their part in the rescue.

'The dugong will spend some time at Sea World regaining its health and we are all hoping it will make a full recovery with the ideal outcome being its eventual return to Morton Bay.'

'The wellbeing of the dugong is the team's highest priority so the decision to attempt this relocation was based on improving its welfare and giving it the best chance of survival.

The sea mammal was shown to have lost a large amount of blubber as well as suffering severe body lesions from being in colder waters

Rescuers used nets to snare the mammal then put in a water tank before airlifting it back to Queensland in a RAAF Hercules

A team of experts attempted in vain to capture the animal on Wednesday, after the dugong swam under a causeway and further up Merimbula Lake.

A crowd of onlookers in boats, kayaks and on paddle boards assembled with nets in a bid to intercept the sea mammal, but it managed to bypass them and dash under the causeway.

It is believed the sea mammal was caught in warmer ocean currents when it was swept hundreds of kilometres down the coast.

An update on the dugong's condition and the details of the rescue will be issued by the Office of Environment and Heritage later on Thursday.

The dugong travelled a massive 1,100 kilometres interstate from Moreton Bay to Merimbula Lake
Ministers wasted 3 million of British aid money sending unwanted helicopters to help out with the aftermath of the Nepal earthquake, a new report reveals today.

The three Chinook helicopters were deployed last year.

But, in an embarrassing turn of events, the Nepalese government rejected the offer of help, saying it did not need the massive helicopters and was concerned they could damage buildings left unstable by the earthquake.

The diplomatic wrangle meant that the three military helicopters only made it as far as India. They were eventually returned to the UK almost a month later without flying a single rescue mission.

The Nepalese government said it did not need the massive helicopters and was concerned they could damage buildings left unstable by the earthquake. Pictured, a Chinook helicopter at RAF Odiham in Hampshire

A report by the National Audit Office (NAO) today reveals that the fiasco cost British taxpayers 3 million. The cost was initially borne by the Ministry of Defence, but was eventually billed to the Department for International Development (Dfid).

The study also reveals that some British aid to Syria has been stolen by armed groups operating in the country. It says: The items that are stolen by these groups vary, but food baskets are particularly targeted.

And it warns that Dfid does not know how much of the millions poured into crisis zones like Syria ever reaches its intended targets.

Commenting on Dfids use of UN agencies in Syria, where 1.1 billion of British aid has been spent, the report says: The department has not usually been able to identify how much of its funding benefits recipients, and how much goes to meet the support costs of UN bodies and their partners.

The study found that initial work by officials suggests as much as a third of aid money channelled through the UN and charities may be spent on security, support staff and project monitoring.

Total taxpayers money being spent on emergency humanitarian assistance trebled between 2010-11 and 2014-15 to more than 1 billion.

The NAO said the aid budget risks being strained by being drawn into protracted crises.

Fiasco: The diplomatic wrangle meant that the three military helicopters only made it as far as India. They were eventually returned to the UK almost a month later without flying a single rescue mission. Pictured, rescue workers remove debris following the earthquake Nepal, in April 2015

Disaster: Rescue workers inspect the site where buildings collapsed in an earthquake in Kathmandu, Nepal, in May 2015

The report found that since 2011 the Dfid responded to more than 30 crises, including the Ebola outbreak and the aid response to the Syrian war, spending 1.29 billion of its 9.52 billion budget on humanitarian assistance in 2014-15.

The spending watchdog raised concerns about the departments ability to decide how to end funding after a crisis.

It does not have a comprehensive set of criteria which underpin whether, and then when and how, to exit from crises.

Dfid sources last night said ministers had been disappointed that the Nepalese authorities had refused to allow the Chinooks to operate. A source said ministers had been responding to a request from the UN for helicopters to help with the emergency.

Survivor: People free a man from the rubble of a destroyed building after an earthquake hit Nepal, in Kathmandu, Nepal, in April 2015

Clean up: People clear rubble in Kathmandu's Durbar Square, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that was severely damaged by an earthquake on April 25 2015

A spokesman insisted Dfid did its best in often difficult circumstances, adding: The NAO is right to recognise the UKs strong track record in humanitarian response. From the Syria crisis to fighting Ebola, the UK has proved itself to be a world leader.

Working in conflict-affected countries carries inherent risk but we do not tolerate any misuse of aid. As with all our work, we apply the most rigorous checks to ensure our aid reaches those who need it and achieves the very best value for taxpayers money.

Speaking in London yesterday, the international development secretary Justine Greening acknowledged the difficulties of operating in Syria. She said : Its important that we are careful about how we approach spending this, so we have very rigorous checks in place, we work with tried and tested partners and we have very strong monitoring and evaluation that sits behind all of our programmes.
Max Mosley was yesterday revealed to be almost single-handedly bankrolling the organisation set up to offer independent regulation of the Press under the Governments state-backed scheme.

Impress admitted it will rely on 3.8million in donations over four years from the family of the ex-motor racing boss who became a fervent anti-Press campaigner after the News of the World published photos of him at an orgy.

Last night Walter Merricks, chairman of Impress, insisted it would not be beholden to Mr Mosley or anyone else.

Impress admitted it will rely on 3.8million in donations from the family of the ex-motor racing boss (pictured) who became a fervent anti-Press campaigner after the News of the World published photos of him at an orgy

Hailing a new era in Press regulation, he said Impress had signed up its first ten small publishers, even though it has no code of practice for journalists.

He said Impress had refused an offer of a licence to use the highly respected Editors Code, followed by virtually every newspaper journalist in Britain, and instead would hold a consultation to develop its own code.

Its publishers include The Ferret, a crowd-funded Scottish investigative journalism website, and View Digital, a digital magazine aimed at the community and voluntary sector in Northern Ireland.

Small publishers will pay 50 a year for Impress regulation.

Impress has applied to be recognised by the Press Regulation Panel  set up under the controversial Royal Charter.

Steve Coogan, Hugh Grant and Mosley give evidence to the Committee on Privacy and Injunctions in 2011

The Charter was agreed between the three main political parties and anti-Press campaigners Hacked Off after the Leveson Inquiry recommended voluntary, independent self-regulation.

Mr Merricks said: Whilst we will regulate these titles with fairness and vigour we will also support them in their desire to publish great journalism. No national or regional newspaper has yet signed up.

The majority  including the Daily Mail  are overseen by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), which can impose 1million fines for serious and systemic wrongdoing.

IPSO has said it will not seek official recognition under the Charter.
Vladamir Putin may have ordered the murder of Alexander Litvinenko after he claimed the Russian President was a practising paedophile, it was revealed today.

Mr Litvinenko accused his rival of abusing children just weeks before two assassins slipped radioactive polonium 210 into his cup of tea in a London hotel in October 2006.

The former Russian spy, who joined MI6, wrote in an article: 'He (Putin) was a paedophile' and said a picture of the president kissing the stomach of a young boy near the Kremlin was the evidence.

Describing the incident on the Chechenpress website in July 2006 he said: 'Putin kneeled, lifted the boys T-shirt and kissed his stomach. Nobody can understand why the Russian president did such a strange thing as kissing the stomach of an unfamiliar small boy'.

Litvinenko also taunted Putin by claiming a film of him abusing young boys existed.

Sir Robert Owen said today in a major report on his murder that Mr Putin 'probably' ordered it and admitted Litvinenko's 'highly personal attacks' may be a motive for his death.

Feud: Alexander Litvinenko accused his rival of abusing children and said a picture of Putin kissing a boy's stomach (right) proved it just weeks before two assassins slipped radioactive polonium 210 into his cup of tea in a London hotel in October 2006

Controversy: Litvinenko used this meeting between Vladimir Putin and a young boy on June 28, 2006 on Moscow's Kremlin Cathedral Square as evidence the Russian leader is a pedophile

He said: 'It hardly needs saying that the allegations made by Mr Litvinenko against President Putin in this article were of the most serious nature. Could they have had any connection with his death?'

Sir Robert admitted there were 'several reasons' why Russia wanted him dead - enough to target him on British soil.

His sensational report has sparked an international diplomatic row between Britain and Russia ignited today after an independent probe into the killing of Alexander Litvinenko said President Putin had 'probably' personally authorised the 2006 killing.

David Cameron, pictured today at the World Economic Forum in Davos, has condemned the 'appalling' murder but admitted he still needs to work with Russia

Mr Litvinenko - who had accused the Russian president on his death bed - was killed by two FSB spies who slipped radioactive polonium 210 into his tea pot at a Mayfair hotel in central London, Sir Robert Owen said today in a major report.

Prime Minister David Cameron today said the report outlined what happened was 'absolutely appalling' but he admitted the Syria crisis meant Britain had to have a relationship with Russia albeit one with 'clear eyes and a cold heart'.

Mr Cameron said the last Labour government had reacted properly to the killing in 2007 once the 'state sponsored nature of the assassination had become clear.

He said the Government had done the right thing today by ensuring Interpol warrants were in place the assassins and freezing their UK assets.

But as the war of words escalated, a spokesman for Putin said 'such a quasi-investigation such as the one being talked about today undoubtedly is able only to still further poison the atmosphere of our bilateral relations'.

Mr Litvinenko's widow Marina urged Britain to impose sanctions on Russia has a result of the findings which today prompted the Russian Ambassador to claim there had been a 'whitewash' to cover up the 'incompetence' of the UK's security services.

Ambassador Alexander Yakovenko said it was 'unacceptable' for Britain to link Russia to a state-sponsored assassination.

Sir Robert's inquiry named Andrei Lugovoi, left, and Dmitri Kovtun, right, as the two men responsible for carrying out the orders to kill Litvinenko by slipping radioactive polonium into a teapot

In his report, inquiry chairman Sir Robert today said he was 'sure' two assassins Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun placed the polonium 'into the teapot' knowing it would kill their target.

The extraordinary 320 page report provoked fast moving developments throughout the day.

THE MAN WHO STARTED TODAY'S WAR OF WORDS: SIR ROBERT OWEN SPENT A YEAR INVESTIGATING ALEXANDER LITVINENKO'S DEATH Sir Robert Owen today ignited a war of words between Britain and Russia with his bombshell conclusion President Putin had 'probably' personally ordered the killing of Alexander Litvinenko. A former High Court judge, Sir Robert was first handed the Litvinenko file as an assistant coroner for North London. His inquiry at the High Court heard seven months and was completed in almost exactly a year. Despite repeated requests, Sir Robert was not able to hear evidence from either of the two men he named today as assassins. But he did hear from the family of Mr Litvinenko and a string of expert witnesses as he built a picture of what happened and why. Testimony was given on the potency of polonium 210, Mr Litvinenko's treatement after he was poisoned and statements made by the alleged assassins in Russia. Advertisement

The report found Mr Litvinenko was deliberately poisoned by others - namely Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun.

It is a strong probability that Mr Lugovoi poisoned Mr Litvinenko under the direction of Moscow's FSB intelligence service. Mr Kovtun was also acting under FSB direction, possibly indirectly through Mr Lugovoi but probably to his knowledge.

The FSB operation to kill Mr Litvinenko was probably approved by then-FSB chief Nikolai Patrushev and also by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The report prompted an immediate reaction from Marina, Mr Litvinenko's widow, who demanded sanctions and the expulsion of all Russian spies from London.

Theresa May said the killing was a breach of international law and told MPs the Russian Ambassador would be summoned to the Foreign Office.

But following the meeting, Ambassador Yakovenko blasted the report as a 'whitewash' which was covering up British 'incompetence'.

Prime Minister David Cameron intervened in Davos, telling reporters the 'appalling' findings of the report confirmed what ministers had believed since 2007 - that the Kremlin had ordered an assassination on the streets of London. He said the necessary relationship between Britain and Russia would be continued with 'clear eyes and a very cold heart.

Moscow reacted with derision as a spokesman for President Putin dismissed the report as an example of 'subtle British humour' that would do nothing but 'poison' bilateral relations.

Following the publication of report, Mrs Litvinenko said: 'The chairman found as a fact and to a high degree of probability that the FSB directed Mr Lugovoi and Mr Kovtun to murder Sasha and also found as a fact that both Vladimir Putin and Nikolai Patrushev, director of the FSB at the time, personally approved the assassination.'

She told waiting journalists outside the High Court that Mr Cameron should now expel all Russian agents from London and impose economic sanctions on Russia.

'This report confirms what we've always believed, and what the last Labour government believed at the time of this dreadful murder, which is it was state sponsored action.' David Cameron reacting to the public inquiry into the killing of Alexander Litvinenko today

She continued: 'I'm, of course, very pleased that the words my husband spoke on his deathbed when he accused Mr Putin of his murder have been proved true in an English court with the high standards of independency (sic) and fairness.

'But now it is time for David Cameron. I'm calling immediately for expulsion from the UK of all Russian intelligence operatives ... based at the London embassy.

'I'm also calling for the position of targeted economic sanctions and travel bans against named individuals including Mr Patrushev and Mr Putin.'

Speaking in Davos, the Prime Minister said: 'What happened was absolutely appalling and this report confirms what we've always believed, and what the last Labour government believed at the time of this dreadful murder, which is it was state sponsored action.'

He said Britain's actions in 2007 had continued, adding the relationship with Russia was 'tough'.

Mrs Litvinenko, speaking on the steps of the High Court in London today, called for the expulsion of all Russian spies from London following the public inquiry

RADIOACTIVE TRAIL ACROSS EUROPE... Following one of the most extensive criminal investigations in British history  and a 2.25million inquiry  the Mail here lays bare a blow-by-blow account of how the state-sponsored assassination of Alexander Litvinenko unfolded. October 2004 Sir Robert Owen believes Andrei Lugovoi may have started plotting when the pair met in London to discuss a business proposal. By then Mr Litvinenko was being paid 2,000 a month by MI6 to pass information about organised gangs linked to senior Kremlin figures. October 16, 2006 Mr Litvinenko travels by bus to an office in Mayfair for a meeting in the boardroom of security firm Erinys. He meets consultant Tim Reilly, along with Russians Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun, who had flown to London that morning from Moscow. They are carrying a vial of polonium-210 from a Russian nuclear reactor. They attempt to kill Litvinenko by spraying a small amount of polonium-210 into his cup. Sir Robert concluded that Lugovoi and Kovtun knew they were using a deadly poison and intended to kill Litvinenko, but did not know precisely what the poison was. The assassination fails as Litvinenko does not take a sip. A month later the green baize tablecloth is still contaminated with radiation. After the meeting they go for lunch at Itsu in Piccadilly, which is contaminated. October 17 The assassins move to the Parkes Hotel in Knightsbridge, which they also contaminate. Once again they meet Mr Litvinenko, but do not try to poison him. October 18 Lugovoi and Kovtun fly back to Moscow from Gatwick, contaminating the plane with radiation. October 19 Mr Litvinenko makes a speech publicly blaming Vladimir Putin for the murder of a Russian journalist. October 25 After an almost certain rebuke, Lugovoi returns to London, contaminating the aircraft. October 26 He meets a contact called Badri Patarkatsishvili, a wealthy Georgian, and contaminates his car. He is visited by Mr Litvinenko at his hotel, the Sheraton Park Lane, where radiation is also later found. They met the following day before he returned to Moscow on a BA flight. October 28 Kovtun flies from Moscow to Hamburg, where he visits his ex-wife. Traces of radiation are later found in her flat as well as locations including his mother-in-laws home. October 31 Lugovoi arrives in London with his family on a BA plane that also tests positive for polonium. They were ostensibly visiting to watch CSKA Moscow football club play at Arsenals ground. November 1 Kovtun arrives in London, meets Lugovoi and they start planning their assassination attempt by luring Mr Litvinenko to central London. Lugovoi calls Mr Litvinenko and suggests a meeting at the Pine Bar in the Millennium Hotel. Litvinenko takes a bus from his home in Muswell Hill, north London, then a Tube to Piccadilly Circus where he has a 3pm lunch with his associate Mario Scaramella. He fields calls from an increasingly irate Lugovoi. By this stage the killers have ordered three teas, three gin and tonics, one straight gin, one champagne cocktail, one Romeo y Julieta cigar No 1, and some green tea. The bill is 70.60. Moments before Mr Litvinenko arrives, some polonium is sprayed from a vial into the pot of green tea and this time he does drink some. Before leaving, Lugovoi returns to the bar with his eight-year-old son Igor. Lugovoi introduced him to Mr Litvinenko and Igor shakes his contaminated hand. Mr Litvinenkos teapot gave off readings of 100,000 becquerels per centimetre squared  10,000 ingested is enough to kill someone. The biggest reading came from the spout. Their table registered 20,000 becquerels. There were traces on bottles of Martini and Tia Maria behind the bar, the ice-cream scoop and a chopping board. After putting the poison in Mr Litvinenkos teapot, Kovtun goes to his room and tips the rest of the liquid solution down his bathroom sink. At 5.20pm Mr Litvinenko gets a lift home from his friend Akhmed Zakayev. Mr Litvinenko later falls violently ill. November 4 Mr Litvinenko admitted to Barnet General Hospital, north London, under his pseudonym Edwin Redwald Carter. November 17 Medics transfer him to University College Hospital, where he is placed under armed police guard. November 20 The polonium starts to take hold and he suffers weight and hair loss. Scotland Yards counter-terrorism unit begins investigation. November 22 Litvinenko has a heart attack in the night. November 23 He dies and Scotland Yard launch a major operation and London is put on lockdown as chemical experts try to clear up radiation. Scotland Yard detectives were dispatched to Moscow in search of evidence but repeatedly obstructed. Advertisement

He added: 'We must now read the report in its entirety and take everything into account but be in no doubt, this shocking event was reacted to years ago when it happened and we are toughening our action again today.'

The Prime Minister said he was not ruling out further punitive action against Russia but links could not be severed.

'Do we at some level have to go on having some sort of relationship with them because we need a solution to the Syria crisis?,' he said.

'Yes, we do but we do it with clear eyes and a very cold heart.'

Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that 'such a quasi-investigation such as the one being talked about today undoubtedly is able only to still further poison the atmosphere of our bilateral relations.'

Mr Peskov said the report 'cannot be accepted by us as a verdict.'

But speaking to MPs in the House of Commons, British Home Secretary Theresa May condemned a 'blatant breach of the fundamental tenets of international law' - but she admitted the findings were not a surprise and announced few new measures in response.

Mrs May said the findings were 'deeply disturbing' and added it was a 'blatant and unacceptable breach of the most fundamental tenets of international law'.

But she warned: 'But we have to accept this does not come as a surprise.'

Russian Ambassador Mr Yakovenko, summoned to meet Europe Minister David Lidington, said: 'I told him we consider the Litvinenko case and the way it was disposed of a blatant provocation of the British authorities.

'Second, we will never accept anything arrived at in secret and based on evidence not heard in open court of law.

'Third, the length of time it took to close this case in this way makes us believe it to be a whitewash of the British special services incompetence.

Marina Litvinenko, holding a copy of today's report, has urged the British government to take harsh action against Russia based on the findings

Russian Ambassador Alexander Yakovenko was summoned to meet Europe Minister David Lidington at the Foreign Office following the report. Mr Yakovenko, pictured left following the talks, told Mr Lidington the report's findings were 'unacceptable'

'Fourth, we noticed the British government suspended the coroners inquest which was open for public and media and where the investigative committee in Russia took part as an interested person, in favour of a public inquiry in secret, at the height of concern over Russia and Ukraine in 2014.

'We view it as an attempt to put additional pressure on Russia in connection with existing differences on international issues.

'Fifth, for us it is unacceptable the report concludes the Russian state was in any way involved in the death of Mr Litvinenko on British soil.'

Mr Yakovenko said the row would inevitably hit British-Russian relations.

Mr Lidington told Mr Yakovenko 'the Russian State's probable involvement in this murder was deeply disturbing, demonstrating a flagrant disregard for UK law, international law and standards of conduct, and the safety of UK citizens,' a spokeswoman for the Foreign Office said.

'The minister set out the UK Government's deep concern regarding the findings of the independent Litvinenko Inquiry report,' she said.

'He made clear that the inquiry's conclusion concerning the Russian State's probable involvement in this murder was deeply disturbing, demonstrating a flagrant disregard for UK law, international law and standards of conduct, and the safety of UK citizens.

BROTHER CALLS REPORT A SMEAR ON PUTIN AND BLAMES BRITAIN Younger brother Maxim Litvinenko blames Britain The brother of murdered Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko has blamed British secret services were responsible and branded today's report blaming Putin as a smear. Younger brother, Maxim, today said it was 'ridiculous' to blame the Kremlin and that he believes British security services had more of a motive to carry out the assassination. Alexander was a former Russian spy who joined MI6 and it was revealed today that he had accused President Putin of being a paedophile in an online article, just months before his death. However, Maxim claims the report is a 'smear' on Putin, and far from being an enemy of the state, his brother had plans to soon return to Russia and had even contacted old friends about the move. Maxim, a chef, who lives in Rimini, Italy, said: 'The sentence is a set-up to provide more bad publicity against the Russian government,' reports The Mirror . He also went on to downplay Alexander's role as a spy, working for either Russia or MI6, saying he was 'more like a policeman'. Alexander worked to combat serious organised crime such as murders and arms trafficking, but did not know any state secrets, his brother claims. 'It is the Western media that have called him a spy,' he added, claiming that the report - 10 years after the death - was a set-up to put pressure on the Russian Government. Maxim said he and his father have no faith in the report, and even doubted the accepted fact the polonium was responsible for Alexander's death. He also suggested that several other deaths could be linked, including the suicide of Boris dissident Berezovsky, who financially supported Alexander, and the owner of a nightclub - where polonium was found - who died. His views differ vastly from Alexander's wife, Marine, who today urged Britain to impose sanctions on Russia after the report, which has severely strained international relations between the two nations. But Maxim today claimed she only made such comments as she lives in London and has to 'play the game', despite the fact that he too initially blamed the Russian regime for the death. Maxim, left, and his brother Alexander (right) in November 2006. Maxim claims his brother, far from being an enemy of the state, had plans to soon return to Russia Advertisement

'The minister said that this would further complicate bilateral relations, undermine trust, and damage Russia's reputation internationally.

'This was a reminder of why the UK had introduced a series of steps to respond to Russia in 2007.

Earlier, the Prime Minister's official spokeswoman today said Britain had expelled four Russian diplomats over the killing in 2007, suspended talks on a bilateral visa regime and distanced British links with the FSB.

In the year's since, diplomatic relations between Britain and Russia have eased - particularly following the bombing of a Russian airliner by ISIS last year.

Mr Cameron has met with President Putin several times as Prime Minister - including at the Sochi Winter Olympics and in Downing Street.

The Litvinenko family lawyer today indicated the Government moves would not be enough, telling a press conference a failure to take significant action over 'nuclear terrorism' on the streets of London would be 'craven' and an 'abdication of responsibility'.

Ben Emmerson QC said a judicial process had now linked President Vladimir Putin and the Moscow authorities to the murder of the dissident in 2006.

At a press conference following the report's publication today, Mrs Litvinenko and her son Anatoly demanded action from the British government against Russia

Theresa May, speaking in the Commons today following the report's publication, said the Russian Ambassador would be summoned to the Foreign Office

He said: 'The responsibility now that lies on Government is to act in a way that shows determination and the requisite degree of courage,' he told a press conference after the publication of Sir Robert Owen's inquiry into the former spy's death.

'It would be craven for the Government, for the Prime Minister, to do nothing in response.

HOW PUTIN'S ASSASSINS CARRIED OUT THEIR TASK: INQUIRY REVEALS THE TEAPOT USED TO POISON LITVINENKO Sir Robert Owen's report today revealed chilling details about the method of killing used by the FSB assassins who killed Alexander Litvinenko. Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun slipped their radioactive poison into a teapot used by Mr Litvinenko at a Mayfair hotel in central London. They left a radioactive trail in a number of locations around the capital, including a hotel sink where they deposited leftover polonium. The revelation that Litvinenko, a father-of-three, had been poisoned with a radioactive substance triggered a major security alert following his death. The inquiry also uncovered a first attempt at the killing earlier in October. Advertisement

'It would be an abdication of his responsibility to do the thing which, after all, is the first function of a state, which is to keep its people safe.'

Sir Robert found Lugovoi and Kovtun had made an earlier attempt to poison Mr Litvinenko, also using polonium 210, at a meeting in London on October 16 - a fortnight before he ingested the fatal dose, the report found.

It said the pair then placed the substance in a teapot at the Millennium Hotel's Pine Bar on November 1, 2006.

They left a radioactive trail in a number of locations around the capital, including a hotel sink where they deposited leftover polonium.

Hotels, airports, restaurants and even a football stadium were contaminated by radioactive material.

The revelation that Litvinenko, a father-of-three, had been poisoned with a radioactive substance triggered a major security alert following his death.

Alex Goldfarb, a close friend of Mr Litvinenko, today said: 'I think it is a very proper and fair finding, because nobody in the Russian hierarchy would dare to order such a murder without Mr Putin's approval.

'The finding is an ultimate justice. As you remember, on his death-bed Sasha Litvinenko named Mr Putin as the person responsible for this poisoning and now it has become a legally established fact.'

In an interview with the Interfax news agency, Lugovoi called the charges against him 'absurd.'

'As we expected, there was no sensation,' he said. 'The results of the investigation that were announced today once again confirm London's anti-Russian position and the blinkered view and unwillingness of the British to establish the true cause of Litvinenko's death.'

In a statement released from his deathbed in 2006, her husband had said: 'You may succeed in silencing one man but the howl of protest from around the world will reverberate, Mr Putin, in your ears for the rest of your life.

'May God forgive you for what you have done, not only to me but to beloved Russia and its people.'

Sir Robert's 300-page report said Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun were probably acting under the direction of Moscow's FSB intelligence service when they poisoned the 43-year-old with radioactive polonium 210 at the Millennium Hotel in Mayfair.

David Cameron could face a fresh diplomatic row with Vladimir Putin, pictured in Moscow today, if Russia refuses to extradite alleged assassins Andrey Lugovoy and Dmitry Kovtun

Singling out then-FSB chief Nikolai Patrushev alongside Mr Putin, Sir Robert wrote: 'Taking full account of all the evidence and analysis available to me I find that the FSB operation to kill Litvinenko was probably approved by Mr Patrushev and also by President Putin.'

In his report, Sir Robert wrote: 'I am sure that Mr Lugovoi and Mr Kovtun knew that they were using a deadly poison and that they intended to kill Mr Litvinenko.

'I do not believe, however, that they knew precisely what the chemical they were handling was, or the nature of all its properties.'

He continued: 'I am sure that Mr Lugovoi and Mr Kovtun were acting on behalf of others when they poisoned Mr Litvinenko.'

'MAY GOD FORGIVE YOU FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE': LITVINENKO BLAMED PUTIN ON HIS DEATHBED Mr Litvinenko, pictured in 2002 Alexander Litvinenko levelled his accusations against President Putin and the Kremlin when he knew he was going to die. Speaking from this death bed, he said: 'I would like to thank many people. My doctors, nurses and hospital staff who are doing all they can for me, the British police who are pursuing my case with vigour and professionalism and are watching over me and my family. 'I would like to thank the British government for taking me under their care. I am honoured to be a British citizen. 'I would like to thank the British public for their messages of support and for the interest they have shown in my plight. 'I thank my wife Marina, who has stood by me. My love for her and our son knows no bounds. 'But as I lie here I can distinctly hear the beating of wings of the angel of death. I may be able to give him the slip but I have to say my legs do not run as fast as I would like. 'I think, therefore, that this may be the time to say one or two things to the person responsible for my present condition. 'You may succeed in silencing me but that silence comes at a price. You have shown yourself to be as barbaric and ruthless as your most hostile critics have claimed. 'You have shown yourself to have no respect for life, liberty or any civilised value. 'You have shown yourself to be unworthy of your office, to be unworthy of the trust of civilised men and women. 'You may succeed in silencing one man but the howl of protest from around the world will reverberate, Mr Putin, in your ears for the rest of your life. 'May God forgive you for what you have done, not only to me but to beloved Russia and its people.' Advertisement

When Lugovoi poisoned Mr Litvinenko, it is 'probable' that he did so under the direction of the FSB, the report found.

Sir Robert said Kovtun also took part, adding: 'I conclude therefore that he was also acting under FSB direction, possibly indirectly through Mr Lugovoi but probably to his knowledge.'

The Metropolitan Police today said it still had warrants out for the two men accused of the killing.

The murder came against a backdrop of a long running personal feud between Putin and Mr Litvinenko.

Mr Litvinenko made a string of personal attacks on the Russian leader in the years after their only face to face meeting in 1998.

The most dramatic allegation came in an article Litvinenko wrote in July 2006 accusing President Putin of paedophilia.

Just days before he fell ill, Litvinenko accused Mr Putin of responsibility for the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya. The report said there was 'undoubtedly a personal dimension to antagonism' between the two men.

The inquiry was told Litvinenko became involved with MI6 after arriving in Britain, receiving regular payments for consultancy work.

The final report said: 'It may not take much imagination to consider how the FSB would have reacted to a report that one of its own former officers was working with British intelligence.'

Mr Cameron will face growing calls to impose sanctions on high-profile individuals in Russia if the Kremlin refuses to extradite Andrey Lugovoy and Dmitry Kovtun, the alleged assassins.

Downing Street had no immediate comment on the report, but confirmed Home Secretary Theresa May will be giving the Government's response in an oral statement to the House of Commons in the next few hours.

Liberal Democrats called for travel bans and the freezing of assets for those involved in the death of Mr Litvinenko.

Lib Dem leader Tim Farron said: 'A UK citizen was killed on the streets of London with polonium. It was an attack on the heart of Britain, our values and our society.

'I call for EU travel bans, asset freezes and co-ordinated action to deal with those who committed this evil assassination. I have called for a new Magnitsky Law to make sure that these people are held to account for what they did.

'These assassins trampled over British sovereignty and we cannot let this go unanswered.'

There is overwhelming evidence linking the pair to the murder but both deny any involvement and Russian President Mr Putin has so far refused to extradite them.

The death of Litvinenko marked a post-Cold War low point in Anglo-Russian relations, and ties have never recovered.

The Foreign Office is eager to avoid a full-blown row, partly because Mr Putin's cooperation is badly needed in the fight against Islamic State terrorists.

In 2011, Mrs Litvinenko and her son marked five years since the death of Mr Litvinenko at his graveside in Highgate Cemetery, North London

Litvinenko's wife Marina, who has led a ten-year campaign for justice, believes sanctions should be imposed.

She said: 'If proved, particularly in an official way in a court, you definitely need to react.

'They still survive. They are able to travel. I think there should be a very serious discussion about what kind of sanctions and against whom.'

Mrs Litvinenko, 52, is certain that vital information has been suppressed by Moscow.

She said: 'Both Lugovoy and Kovtun had plenty of opportunities to present their case. It is a shame that the opportunity was not there to question them.

'They could have been questioned about: if they did it. Did they do it by themselves? Who sent them to do it? How did they obtain that polonium?

'Why was it that a weapon of mass destruction was used to carry out a murder in Britain?

'Questions have been raised about Mr Putin [that] he needs to answer.

'He gave Lugovoy an honour, he made him an MP, he made him a TV star.

'He obviously appreciated Lugovoy's activities.'

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said those responsible for Litvinenko's murder should be subject to a ban on travelling to the UK and excluded from the British banking system.

'By poisoning one of their own on British soil, the Russian government completely disregarded the rule of law both within the UK and internationally,' he said.

Litvinenko, 43, a fierce critic of Mr Putin, was given polonium in a cup of green tea during a meeting at the Millennium Hotel in Mayfair.

It took him three weeks to die.

He had been working with MI6 and other agencies in the UK.

Last night Mr Putin's spokesman said the Kremlin had no interest in the findings of Sir Robert's inquiry.

Dmitry Peskov said: 'It is an inquiry that is taking place in Great Britain and in this case it is not a topic that is of interest to us, or that is on our agenda.'

THE ASSASSINATION OF ALEXANDER LITVINENKO: THE TIMES, PLACES AND NUMBERS BEHIND A STATE SPONSORED KILLING Some of the key statistics contained in the inquiry into the death of Alexander Litvinenko: 50 micrograms - minimum amount of polonium 210 believed to have been put into the teapot from which Mr Litvinenko drank at the Millennium Hotel in London on November 1, 2006. 26.5 micrograms - amount of polonium 210 believed to have been swallowed by Mr Litvinenko. 100 grams - approximate amount of polonium 210 made in nuclear reactors each year around the world. 4.4 gigabecquerels - the radioactivity of Mr Litvinenko's likely total intake of polonium 210. This is the equivalent of 4.4 billion becquerels, or 176 kilograms of uranium. Roughly 10,000 becquerels, when ingested, is enough to kill a person. 49,000 becquerels per gram of tissue were found in Mr Litvinenko's kidneys, the most contaminated of his organs. Some 3,500 becquerels per gram of tissue were found in his lungs, the least contaminated organ. 2,000 per month - Mr Litvinenko's payments for supplying information to British intelligence, which began in 2004. 2.2 million - total cost of the inquiry into Mr Litvinenko's death. 22 - days after his poisoning that Mr Litvinenko died, on November 23, 2006. 60 - locations examined and assessed as part of the police investigation into his death. Over 200 officers were involved. 15 - countries to which requests for legal assistance were made as part of the investigation. 135,000 - approximate number of words in the inquiry report, running to almost 330 pages. 17 months - total length of the inquiry from the formal setting up date to the submission of the report. Hearings lasted for 34 days and a total of 62 witnesses gave oral evidence. Advertisement

ECHOES OF THE COLD WAR: TIMELINE OF THE KILLING OF ALEXANDER LITVINENKO AND THE INVESTIGATION INTO HIS SHOCKING DEATH 1998 - Alexander Litvinenko claims at a Moscow press hearing that the FSB - the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation - instructed him to kill high-profile billionaire Boris Berezovsky. 1999 - Mr Litvinenko is arrested and spends nine months in jail. 2000 - Mr Litvinenko flees Russia and seeks political asylum in Britain - it is granted the following year. 2002 - Mr Litvinenko co-writes a book, in which he accuses his former FSB superiors of carrying out a number of apartment block bombings in 1999. November 1 2006 - Mr Litvinenko meets Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun at the Millennium hotel in London's Mayfair. Mr Litvinenko is admitted to a hospital in north London several hours later November 17 2006 - His condition deteriorates and he is transferred to University College Hospital in central London. November 21 2006 - The Kremlin dismisses as 'sheer nonsense' claims that the Russian government was involved in the poisoning. November 23 - Mr Litvinenko dies in intensive care. November 24 - Mr Litvinenko's family releases a statement, accusing Russian president Vladimir Putin of involvement in his death. May 2007 - The CPS announces its decision to prosecute Lugovoi for murder. July 2007 - Moscow refuses an extradition request for Lugovoi. July 2014 - The Home Secretary announces that Sir Robert Owen is to chair a public inquiry into Mr Litvinenko's death. January 2015 -The inquiry opens and takes evidence for seven months January 21 2016 - Sir Robert's report is published. Advertisement

It's a breach of international law says Theresa May - but Britain WON'T be kicking out all Russia's spies as the family demands

Home Secretary, pictured at the despatch box today, told MPs the findings of the inquiry were not surprising

Home Secretary Theresa May today told MPs the findings of a public inquiry into the killing of Alexander Litvinenko represented a breach of the 'most fundamental tenets of international law'.

But she announced only that Interpol warrants would be issued for the arrest of the two men blamed for carrying out the killing in a London hotel. Any assets Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun still hold in Britain will also be frozen.

Marina Litvinenko had called for all Russian diplomats and spies to be expelled from London and for David Cameron to impose sanctions on the country.

Mrs May told MPs: 'It goes without saying that this was a blatant and unacceptable breach of the most fundamental tenants of international law and of civilised behaviour.

'But we have to accept this does not come as a surprise. The inquiry confirms the assessment of successive governments that this was a state-sponsored act.

'This assessment has informed the Government's approach to date.'

Mrs May confirmed the Metropolitan Police's investigation into Mr Litvinenko's murder remains open.

She added: 'I can tell the House today that Interpol notices and European Arrest Warrants are in place so that the main suspects, Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun, can be arrested if they travel abroad.

'In light of the report's findings the Government will go further and Treasury ministers have today agreed to put in place asset freezes against the two individuals.'

Mrs May also said: 'Russia's continued failure to ensure the perpetrators of this terrible crime can be brought to justice is unacceptable.'

She told MPs she has written to the Director of Public Prosecutions asking if any further action should be taken in terms of extradition and freezing criminal assets.

Mrs May added the Russian ambassador in London will be summoned to the Foreign Office, noting: 'We will express our profound displeasure at Russia's failure to cooperate and provide satisfactory answers.

'Specifically we have and will continue to demand that Russian government account for the role of the FSB in this case.'

Mrs May later told MPs: 'You are absolutely right in your description of what has happened in relation to Lugovoi in Russia.

'And I think that tells you everything you need to know about Russia's attitude to this action that took place here on the streets of London.

'Russia of course does participate, it is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and of course there will be national interests which require the British Government to engage guardedly with Russia.

'There are of course issues relating to Syria and the resolution of the conflict there as an example of that.'

Shadow home secretary Andy Burnham said the killing of Mr Litvinenko using radioactive material exposed thousands of Londoners to unacceptable risk.

'This, as you said, this is one of the most shocking and disturbing reports ever presented to this Parliament,' he said.

'It confirms that the Russian state at its highest level sanctioned the killing of a British citizen on the streets of our capital city and in so doing exposed thousands of Londoners to unacceptable levels of risk.

'An unparalleled act of state-sponsored terrorism that must meet with a commensurate response.

'So far reaching are the implications of this report it is important not to rush to judgement today, time must be taken to digest its findings and consider our response.'

Mr Burnham also said the UK should try to prevent Russia from staging the 2018 World Cup.

Metropolitan Police Commander Ball today said: 'It is important to remember that behind the significant global interest in this case, this remains an investigation into the murder of a man on the streets of London. Marina and Anatoly Litvinenko have shown immense courage and dignity since Alexander's death and with them, we remain committed to bringing those responsible to justice.

He added: 'This remains an ongoing investigation and I am unable to comment on the evidence or say anything further at this time.'

Was Litvinenko killed because he suggested Putin was a paedophile? The theories over why the Russian dissident was really a target

Mr Litvinenko, pictured with his book 'Blowing Up Russia: Terror From Within', frequently wrote critically about President Putin and accused him of being a paedophile

The possible motives for the killing of Alexander Litvinenko were the centre of large parts of Sir Robert Owen's inquiry.

Despite only meeting face to face on one occasion, there was a bitter feud between President Putin and his former KGB colleague.

And a report by Mr Litvinenko suggesting allegations of paedophilia against the Russian president was highlighted by the inquiry as a possible key moment.

The inquiry was told that the report - in July 2006, just months before the assassination - was the 'climax' of Mr Litvinenko's attacks on the Kremlin leader.

In his report, Sir Robert said: 'It hardly needs saying that the allegations made by Mr Litvinenko against President Putin in this article were of the most serious nature.

'Could they have had any connection with his death?

'Nor were these the last public allegations that Mr Litvinenko made against President Putin.

'Only a matter of days before he fell ill, Mr Litvinenko publicly accused President Putin of responsibility for the murder of Anna Politkovskaya.

'And, as I have already described, in the statement that he signed on his deathbed, he accused the Russian President of responsibility for another murder  his own.'

Mr Litvinenko had a long record of run-ins with the Kremlin.

In 1998 Mr Litvinenko took the extraordinary decision to blow the whistle on an alleged FSB plot to murder prominent tycoon Boris Berezovsky, culminating in a press conference in which he publicly denounced the agency in front of the world's media.

The report said Litvinenko was 'regarded as having betrayed the FSB'.

Mr Litvinenko co-authored two books following his arrival in Britain. Blowing Up Russia, published in 2001, asserted that a number of apartment bombings in September 1999, which killed hundreds and were officially blamed on Chechen separatists, were actually the work of the FSB.

Another book, The Gang From The Lubyanka, set out allegations of corruption and involvement in organised crime. The report said the idea of betrayal was 'compounded' by Litvinenko's campaigning in Britain.

Mr Litvinenko was an associate of both Mr Berezovsky and Akhmed Zakayev, both of whom were leading opponents of the Putin administration.

Mr Litvinenko made a string of personal attacks on the President Putin in the years after their only face to face meeting in 1998.

The report said there was 'undoubtedly a personal dimension to antagonism' between the two men.

The inquiry was told Mr Litvinenko became involved with MI6 after arriving in Britain, receiving regular payments for consultancy work.

The final report said: 'It may not take much imagination to consider how the FSB would have reacted to a report that one of its own former officers was working with British intelligence.'

THE LITVINENKO INQUIRY DISMISSED A STRING OF CONSPIRACY THEORIES ABOUT WHO ELSE MIGHT HAVE KILLED HIM The Litvinenko inquiry dismissed a series of possible theories over who was responsible for the former spy's death. Boris Berezovsky Chairman Sir Robert Owen referred to suggestions the billionaire oligarch, a fellow dissident, could have killed Litvinenko because he was being blackmailed over illegal activities in the UK. Litvinenko did 'occasionally make comments suggesting taking some form of action' against his long-standing friend after he reduced the amount of money he was giving him. But Sir Robert said he was 'quite satisfied these were never put into effect'. 'Litvinenko and Berezovsky remained friends until the end of Litvinenko's life,' he wrote. 'There was no blackmail and therefore no motive for Berezovsky to have Litvinenko killed.' Berezovsky died in 2013.' UK intelligence agencies Lugovoi has also claimed he could have been 'framed' by British agents after an 'operation involving Litvinenko and possibly Berezovsky that went wrong'. He said the polonium could have been planted on him and Kovtun and left in places they visited. Sir Robert said: 'I am entirely satisfied that UK intelligence agencies, and for that matter UK government bodies more generally, played no part at all in Litvinenko's death'. Organised crime Litvinenko had been 'preoccupied' by fighting organised crime since his days in the KGB, forerunner to the FSB, the report said. He wrote books and articles seeking to expose links between the FSB and Russian mobsters, and towards the end of his life was working with Spanish authorities on investigations into Russian gangs there. Sir Robert found the involvement of Russian organised crime was 'not implausible' but was 'not supported by the evidence that is available to me'. Police had not uncovered any links, and there were no indications that Lugovoi or Kovtun were 'commissioned to kill Litvinenko by members of crime gangs'. 'I am satisfied... that Lugovoi and Kovtun in fact received their orders from another source,' the chairman said. Mario Scaramella Sir Robert said it had been thought at one stage that Italian lawyer Mario Scaramella could have been involved in the killing, as he met Litvinenko the day he fell ill. The dissident even initially suggested himself that Scaramella could have been responsible - but Sir Robert argued that was a ruse to lure Lugovoi back to the UK to face justice. The Italian was not contaminated with polonium, the report said. 'Mr Scaramella clearly regarded Litvinenko as a friend,' Sir Robert wrote. 'He had no motive to kill him.' Chechen groups Sir Robert said there was 'no evidence to support the involvement' of Chechen groups Litvinenko had clashed with in the past. He also dismissed the possibility that Alexander Talik, whom Litvinenko had previously accused of being an FSB agent, played any part. Advertisement

Lugovoi sent Beresovsky a T-shirt saying 'nuclear death is knocking at your door'

One of Alexander Litvinenko's alleged killers sent a T-shirt bearing the words 'nuclear death is knocking on your door' to Britain years after the dissident's death, the inquiry heard.

Andrei Lugovoi was said to have given the top to an associate in Moscow and asked for it be delivered as a 'gift' to billionaire Boris Berezovsky, a friend of the poisoned spy, in 2010.

The front of the black T-shirt had the words 'POLONIUM-210 CSKA LONDON, HAMBURG To Be Continued', while 'CSKA Moscow Nuclear Death Is Knocking Your Door' was printed on the back.

The front of the black T-shirt, pictured left, had the words 'POLONIUM-210 CSKA LONDON, HAMBURG To Be Continued', while 'CSKA Moscow Nuclear Death Is Knocking Your Door' was printed on the back, right.

Inquiry chairman Sir Robert Owen's final report said the writing was 'in extraordinary terms'.

It said: 'Taken on its own (and without, of course, the benefit of oral evidence from Mr Lugovoi), it would be difficult to know what to make of this T-shirt.

'On any view, it demonstrates that Mr Lugovoi approved of Mr Litvinenko's murder. It was also, clearly, a threat to Mr Berezovsky.

'Further than that, the T-shirt could be seen as an admission by Mr Lugovoi that he had poisoned Mr Litvinenko, made at a time when he was confident that he would never be extradited from Russia, and wished to taunt Mr Berezovsky with that fact.

'Alternatively, it could, perhaps, be seen as an extraordinarily tasteless joke.'

Berezovsky died at his Berkshire home in 2013.

One of the Litvinenko assassins who laced cup of tea in Mayfair hotel with Polonium-210 opens a... Moscow tea shop with his model wife

Andrei Lugovoy, who poisoned a pot of tea to kill Alexander Litvinenko, is now running a tea shop in Moscow with his wife

The glamorous wife of a former KGB agent accused of lacing Alexander Litvineko's tea with Polonium-210 has set up a restaurant chain - and its 'signature' is its specially brewed tea.

Ksenyia Lugovoy, 26, a model and TV star, the wife of Russian MP Andrei Lugovoy, owns a small chain of shabby-chic tea shops in Moscow, charging 5.25 for a pot of one of its exotic blends.

The Ded Pikhto successful chain of tea shops come as the Met Police want her husband extradited over the death of former Russian agent, Litvinenko.

Litvinenko met Lugovoy and Dmitry Kovtun at a hotel in Mayfair back in May 2006 - when it is alleged he drank a cup of lukewarm green tea laced with the radioactive poison.

On his deathbed in a London hospital in November that year, Litvinenko said his murder had been ordered by Russian president Vladimir Putin and named Lugovoy and Kovtun as the assassins.

Both men have protested their innocence and have refused to be questioned at the inquiry into Mr Litvinenko's death.

Richard Horwell, QC for the police, told the inquiry that the pair were tasked with killing Litvinenko, but that the plan had taken three attempts to execute.

He told the court the finger points 'unwaveringly' towards the duo.

But Kseniya, who, at 26, is 22 years her husband's junior, said she had 'never heard' of Lugovoy's alleged involvement in the sinister case before their kitsch Black Sea wedding in 2011.

Ksenyia Lugovoy, 26, (pictured) a model and TV star, the wife of Russian MP Andrei Lugovoy, owns a small chain of shabby-chic tea shops in Moscow, charging 5.25 for a pot of one of its exotic blends

Popular: The three cafes charge between 350 roubles (3.75) and 490 roubles (5.25) a teapot, offering their clientele a range of exotic brews - including their own blend of strawberry, along with apple, ginger and honey

And she is unapologetic about her choice of business - and boasts about the signature home-brewed fruit teas.

'I love our full flavoured 'Ded Pikhto' berry tea,' she boasted.

There is no hint of deadly radioactive isotopes here, of course, and this is made from fresh strawberry, along with apple, ginger and honey.

It's just cowardly folly to appease this thug, writes EDWARD LUCAS

Contempt: Russian President Vladimir Putin

Russia has murdered a British citizen on the streets of London. It has blustered, gloated and lied. And we are not going to do much about it.

That is the dismal upshot of the public inquiry into the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko in 2006.

What is abundantly clear is that the British Government is not going to respond properly to the outrageous behaviour of what is a rogue state in all but name.

And by properly, I mean we should be launching major money-laundering investigations into the tide of dirty Russian cash which swills through our financial system.

We should be telling the crooked bankers, lawyers and accountants who facilitate this theft from the Russian people that the game is up.

We should be expelling Russian spies from London, in the full glare of publicity, and prosecuting those who co-operate with them, betraying our country for money, favours and flattery.

And we should be urging our Nato and European Union allies to join us in fighting back against all forms of Russian subversion, mischief-making and influence-peddling  in everything from energy supplies to propaganda.

In understated legal language, yesterdays report by Sir Robert Owen, a retired judge, tells an extraordinary tale.

Mr Litvinenko, a fugitive former Russian spy, had intimate, first-hand knowledge of the murky overlap between the Russian state and organised crime.

He advised MI6, Britains overseas intelligence service, in particular on the activity of state-sponsored Russian gangsters in Spain  touching on the financial interests of the highest levels of power in Moscow. That may have been the motive for his murder.

But Sir Robert also highlights other possibilities  the personal antagonism between Mr Litvinenko and the Russian president Vladimir Putin, for example.

Litvinenko accused Mr Putin of staging a series of apartment-block bombings in 1999 that killed more than 300 people, his aim to create a climate of fear in which Russians would yearn for a strong leader. Almost overnight, Mr Putin became Russias most popular politician.

More sensationally, Mr Litvinenko also accused Mr Putin of being a practising paedophile.

Sir Roberts report contemptuously dismisses the conspiracy theories around Litvinenkos death  that he poisoned himself, was bumped off by British intelligence, or fell foul of gangland associates.

It deals with other myths, too. The polonium isotope that killed Mr Litvinenko would not have cost million of pounds for the quantity used. Nor did it leave a radioactive signature that could be traced back to a top-secret plant in Russia.

To my mind, these points add yet more credibility to the report. It does not back every allegation against Russia  just those where the evidence is incontrovertible.

Russia is a highly bureaucratic and centralised country. It is inconceivable that anything as risky and important as the assassination of a British citizen, especially one working for MI6, would not be signed off at the highest level.

Sir Robert also had access to secret documents and witnesses  from MI6, from the domestic spy agency, MI5, and from the Government code-crackers of GCHQ.

He makes it clear that the secret evidence implicated the highest levels of the Russian state in the murder. Spywatchers surmise that it may include an electronic intercept  a Russian government communication, probably obtained by Americas National Security Agency, and shared with its ally, GCHQ.

Clearly, the Americans want no details of this to come out. If we are indeed able to snoop on the Kremlins secrets, it is best not to give clues of how we do it.

The contempt Mr Putin and his cronies have shown for Britain is astonishing.

Mrs Litvinenko arrived at the High Court today with her son Anatoly Litvinenko to hear the results of the public inquiry into her husband's death

Yesterday, they dismissed our legal system as a politicised sham, and have accused us of colonial thinking for having the temerity even to request the extradition from Russia of the men identified in the report as the assassins, Dmitry Kovtun and Andrei Lugovoi.

By contrast, the greatest credit for the report goes to Mr Litvinenkos widow, Marina. With dignity and determination, she has pursued her demand for an inquiry  in the teeth of sustained opposition from the British authorities.

Only when relations between the two countries cooled after Russia attacked Ukraine in 2014 did the Government finally back down and agree to give Mrs Litvinenko and the other witnesses their day in court. Yet none of the evidence given to the inquiry will have come as a surprise to the authorities. Britains intelligence services are all too well-informed about the depravity, greed and murderous brutality that reign in the Kremlin.

They report this in graphic detail to Mr Cameron and other leaders, to the point that the Prime Minister feels physically repelled by Mr Putin when he has to meet him in person.

But the unusually blunt language used in the report creates a diplomatic problem. It is not only the reptilian Russophiles in the City of London who want, for their own self-interested reasons, to maintain a working (ie lucrative) relationship with the Putin regime.

It is the pinstriped appeasers closer to Downing St who are the bigger problem. Our own diplomats see the naming and shaming of the Putin regime not as an opportunity to be exploited, but as an obstacle to be overcome.

They believe that Russias help is indispensable in the attempt to start peace talks over Syria, where Mr Putins ally President Assad is benefiting from the Russian aggression against militant opposition armies.

That is a catastrophically mistaken approach. If we want to bring the Assad regime to the negotiating table, we should be increasing pressure on its backers, such as Russia and Iran, not soft-soaping them.

The Russian state murdered Mr Litvinenko to send a message to other Russians: do not defect; do not co-operate with Western spy agencies. If you do so, we will hunt you down and mete out a slow, agonising death.

It was a message to Britain, too: Russia can do what it likes in the streets of our capital city. British citizenship bestows no protection.

What message will Mr Cameron send in response?
One of the four prisoners released by Iran earlier this week is revealing how he stayed strong despite being held for more than four years.

Amir Hekmati, a former Marine from Michigan, was arrested in August 2011 while in Iran to visit his dying grandmother, and was accused of being a spy for the CIA.

He was put in prison for the next four years, where his family claims he was tortured, drugged, kept in solitary confinement for a year and even at one point falsely told his own mother had died.

When asked on Tuesday how he managed to stay strong and make it through, Hekmati told reporters; 'I didn't want to let my fellow Marines down and the reputation of the Marine Corps, so I tried my best to keep my head up and withstand all the pressures that were put upon me, some of which were very inhumane and unjust.'

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Powerful: Hekmati (pictured enjoying his freedom on Wednesday) says he stayed strong because 'I didn't want to let my fellow Marines down and the reputation of the Marine Corps'

Great feeling: He was reunited with his family earlier this week in Germany (pictured left-to right are his brother-in-law Dr. Ramy Kurdi , sister Sarah Hekmati, Congressman Kildee, Amir and sister Leila Hekmati)

The Evin prison in Tehran, at the foot of the Elburs mountains, where Hekmati was held for years

Hekmati went on to say during his press conference, held in Germany: 'Hearing about some of my fellow Marines supporting me really gave me the strength to put up with over four years of some very difficult times that me and my family went through.'

He was still awaiting trial at the time, though he was no longer facing a death sentence.

Bloomberg View spoke to his sister last May about what Hekmati had been enduring in Iran's Evin prison, reporting: 'The Marine's torture was both physical and psychological. Amir's feet were beaten with cables. His kidneys were shocked with a Taser.

'He was drugged by his interrogators, who then forced him to suffer through withdrawal. Amir was also kept in solitary confinement for months on end and held in a cell so small for the first year of his imprisonment that he could not fully extend his legs.

'He was allowed to walk outside his cell once a week.'

His sister also claimed: 'His jailers took advantage of this and falsely told him his mother had been killed in a car accident.'

She said she had gotten this information from relatives who visited Hekmati and brief phone conversations they were allowed to have, which lasted five minutes.

Hekmati, 32, admitted on Tuesday he began to get nervous before boarding the plane to leave Iran, noting: 'I was worried that maybe the Iranian side was going to make new demands at the last minute or that the deal wasn't going to work out, so up until the last second we were all worried and concerned.'

He also said that his release from prison was like being 'born again' and that he and the three other prisoners celebrated as soon as they left Iranian airspace.

'That's when we knew we were leaving,' said Hekmati.

'As soon as we got out of Iranian air space, champagne bottles were popped.'

His family has been writing about his experience for the past few years on the blog Free Amir, and alleging horrific treatment.

They wrote at one point of his captivity: 'Amir was forcibly given drugs, such as lithium, by prison officials. Officials would intentionally and abruptly stop this medication to induce a painful withdrawal response.'

They also claim he endured 'mental torture' and was 'constantly shackled' while he awaited trial on false charges.

'It hurts us even more knowing that he is risking solitary confinement for choosing to starve himself in hope that action will finally be taken and his case will finally move forward and he will be one day closer to coming home and being reunited with our family,' wrote his family.

Hekmati, 32, is a former Marine from Michigan who was released from an Iranian prison earlier this week

Hekmati is now looking towards the future, and hoping to put his horrifying past behind him, saying: 'I am well and I'm only going to get better, I hope. This has really been an exceptional time for me.'

He added: 'I just feel truly blessed to see my government do so much for me and the other Americans.'

In exchange for four Iranian-American dual nationals, some of whom had been held for years, and a fifth American, Washington granted clemency to seven Iranians and withdrew arrest warrants for 14 others.
The arrival of the Fitbit, Apple Watch and other health trackers has triggered a 118 per cent surge in sales of wearable tech, say experts.

Three million of the gadgets were sold to Britons last year, according to retail analysts Mintel.

One in seven people now owns wearable technology, with 63 per cent of wrist-worn devices sold last year being fitness bands. This rises to one in five of younger people aged 16-34.

Manufacturers are presenting the bands, which combine sensors and tracking devices, as the key to a healthy lifestyle.

Gadgets: One in seven people now owns wearable technology, with 63 per cent of wrist-worn devices sold last year being fitness bands. Pictured, an Apple Watch

Devices like the Apple Watch, which has an eye-watering starting price of 299, the Fitbit and the Microsoft Band can measure the pulse, steps and calories burned during the day.

There are also specialist functions that track work-outs, whether that involves a weight session, a jog or a daily commute by bicycle.

In the future, health information collected by the devices will even be transmitted to doctors.

The smartwatches and bands connect to smartphones, highlighting the arrival of calls, emails and texts.

Products like the Apple Watch also allow wearers to pay for items by waving their wrist over a till terminal, open an electric door and pass through airport security.

They can also respond to voice commands, and Volvo has recently announced a partnership with Microsoft to smooth the business of driving.

Speaking instructions into the Microsoft Band on the wrist will set the navigation, start the heater, lock the doors, flash the lights or sound the horn.

In the future, people will be able to summon self-driving cars to pick them up.

Fitness aid: Manufacturers are presenting the bands, which combine sensors and tracking devices, as the key to a healthy lifestyle. Pictured, file image of joggers in Hyde Park

Many of the devices include GPS satellite tracking that can plot the route the user has taken on a run or cycle ride, confirming the distance and time taken.

But while millions of people are prepared to spend hundreds of pounds on these devices, others have privacy and security concerns.

One in 10 say they plan to buy or upgrade to a new fitness band within the next 12 months and another 8 per cent say the same of smartwatches.

However, three in five consumers say they would worry about the security of their personal data if it was stored on a wearable device.

The accuracy of the health monitors has also been called into question.

It emerged this month that several Fitbit owners in the U.S. are suing the company because the devices underestimated their heart rates during workouts. One claimant said her Fitbit recorded a rate of 82bpm, when it was in fact at 160bpm.
Under fire: Former White House supervisor Andrea Elaine Turk is accused of doctoring time sheets in order to pocket taxpayers' money

A former White House supervisor is accused of stealing taxpayer's money and doctoring time sheets in order to pocket her ill gotten gains.

Former Director of White House Services Andrea Elaine Turk will appear in court in Washington, D.C on Thursday afternoon to face theft of government property charges.

Turk allegedly changed the time sheets for her own financial gain while working as a manager who approved time sheets and employee work schedules, according to FBI record first obtained by NBC.

Turk, who was fired in 2013 and hired in 2009, allegedly forced an employee to accept overtime pay for hours that the staff member did not work so that the employee could give that money back to Turk.

'(The employee) initially responded that she did not want to assist Turk in this manner and suggested that Turk seek financial assistance or ask for a loan,' according to the FBI affidavit.

'When (the employee) also expressed concern that she and Turk would be discovered and get into serious trouble, Turk replied that the Human Resources department did not pay attention to such issues and would never discover their conduct.'

The employee also said that Turk made her feel obligated to do certain things for her like babysit her child and pick her child up from daycare.

Turk supervised a staff of 15 while the alleged misconduct took place and was making $85,000 per year, according to NBC.

Turk was allegedly illegally obtained at least $11,000 between 2012 and 2013, according to The Washington Post.

'When we became aware of the facts described in the complaint we took appropriate personnel actions, including terminating the employee, and referred the matter to the Department of Justice,' a White House official told NBC.

Place of work: Former Director of White House Services Andrea Elaine Turk will appear in court in Washington, D.C on Thursday afternoon to face theft of government property charges

'With respect to any questions about the law enforcement investigation, we would direct you to the Department of Justice.'

Turk allegedly obtained cash from the employee via cash and wire transfers.

'(The employee) made the first payment to Turk in cash,' the records said.

'Following the initial cash payment, Turk requested that Employee A make future payments via online wire transfers, directly from (the employee's) bank account to Turk's bank account. Turk provided Employee A with her bank account information.'
A senior zookeeper who was attacked by a Sumatran tiger at the zoo owned by Steve Irwin's family has received stitches to his left arm and head.

Che Woolcott, 35, was 'scratched' by 12-year-old tiger Ranu during their routine morning walk in an off-display area at Australia Zoo in Beerwah on the Sunshine Coast on Thursday.

The handler was rushed to Nambour Hospital with puncture wounds and deep scratches after the tiger 'swatted his paw' at him when he was approached to change direction.

Head curator Kelsey Engle said Ranu became 'interested in his surroundings' during the bushwalk and left the handler with a 'couple of scratches'.

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Che Woolcott, 35, was 'scratched' by 12-year-old tiger Ranu during their routine morning walk in an off-display area at Australia Zoo, pictured with tiger Manus

The handler was rushed to Nambour Hospital with puncture wounds and deep scratches after the tiger (pictured) 'swatted his paw' at him when he was approached to change direction

Terri Irwin, the widow of the famous naturalist and 'Crocodile Hunter' Steve Irwin, confirmed the attack, saying one of the tigers had become 'hot and bothered' in the summer heat.

She tweeted: 'One of our tigers got hot & bothered and scratched a keeper. Keeper is ok, tiger is ok.'

Ms Engle claimed that Ranu was one of the zoo's most affectionate tigers and said the incident 'wasn't an attack or a mauling'.

Mr Woolcott, who has worked with the tigers at the zoo since 2003, had a close relationship with Ranu as he has helped look after the tiger since it was a cub.

'Not a day goes by that I don't enjoy coming to work,' he previously said. 'Tigers are amazing animals and it's a great opportunity having such a rewarding relationship with these majestic cats.'

Paramedics rushed to the zoo on Steve Irwin Way just before 11am following reports a handler had been attacked.

A Queensland Ambulance spokeswoman said the puncture wounds were not 'life threatening'.

'We received word a man had suffered puncture wounds to his left wrist and forehead,' a Queensland Ambulance spokesman said.

Terri Irwin confirmed the attack, saying one of the zoo's tigers had become 'hot and bothered' in the summer heat

The man has been rushed to hospital after the attack at Australia Zoo in Beerwah on the Sunshine Coast (pictured)

Paramedics rushed to the zoo (pictured) on Steve Irwin Way just before 11am following reports a handler had been attacked

'One of those wounds is not considered serious, but the other is more significant.'

Terri later tweeted: '@AustraliaZoo's tiger handler has received stitches & is heading home this afternoon. Thanks 4 everyone's support.'

The 12-year-old male tiger had become 'overly interested in his surroundings' during a routine morning 'enrichment session'.

'At around 10.40am this morning, one of Australia Zoo's experienced tiger handlers was scratched during a routine morning enrichment session,' an Australia Zoo spokesman said.

'While walking through surrounding bushland at the Zoo, Ranu  Australia Zoo's 12 year old male Sumatran tiger  became overly interested in his surroundings.

'When his handler approached him to change direction, he swatted his paw resulting in a scratch on his left wrist, bicep and right side of the forehead.

'Both Ranu and the handler are well. Our much loved Ranu will continue his normal enrichment routines at Australia Zoo.'

In November 2013 Australia zoo handler Dave Styles, 33, was seriously injured when he was savaged by a 120kg male tiger after the cat became overexcited during a toy session

It is not the first time a handler has been attacked at the zoo, which was set up by Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin's father Bob in 1970.

In November 2013 Dave Styles, 33, was seriously injured when he was savaged by a 120kg male tiger after the cat became overexcited during a toy session.

It is not known whether the tiger, Charlie, is the same animal that attacked a handler today.

There are currently three Bengal tigers living at Australia Zoo along with seven Sumatran tigers.

Workplace health and safety inspectors are currently investigating the attack at the Beerwah wildlife park.

It is not known whether the tiger, Charlie, (pictured with Styles) is the same animal that attacked a handler today

Bindi Irwin was filmed feeding huge saltwater crocodiles at Australia Zoo one week ago (pictured)
Jailed: Rasadhurai Raguvannan

A shopkeeper who faked an armed robbery to cover up his theft of 13,000 from the till has been jailed - after his stores CCTV system recorded him plotting the charade.

Rasadhurai Raguvannan, 36, and his employee Sathiyanathan Kanagasabai, 35, claimed three thugs raided their shop and post office armed with a handgun and a hammer.

The pair said the crooks had made off with 12,000 and the stores CCTV hard drive - and even posed behind the counter for a local newspaper as they recounted their ordeal.

Armed police were deployed, but officers became suspicious when security footage from neighbouring businesses showed nobody entering or leaving the store at the time of the alleged raid.

Days later, they discovered the CCTV hard-drive in the Allenton Convenience Store and Post Office, in Allenton, Derby, had been reconnected.

An audio recording caught the pair discussing their plan.

Raguvannan and Kanagasabai each admitted perverting the course of justice.

Raguvannan, from Northampton, also admitted stealing 13,063 in cash and equipment from the shop and was jailed for 20 months.

His co-defendant, of Wolverhampton, told police he did not know Raguvannan had been stealing.

He was handed a ten month sentence, suspended for two years, and was ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work.

Judge Nirmal Shant QC, said: The statements that both of you made referenced two weapons being brandished by people and it being an armed robbery.

The result was that armed officers attended, detailed statements were taken from you both and, at least for a period, an investigation was started to see if these people could be apprehended.

Prosecutor Esther Harrison told the court Kanagasabai had called police to report the raid, saying it had happened as they were closing up at 10.30pm on July 9.

The next day, following a police appeal for information, the pair posed for the local newspaper as Raguvannan described how the supposed robbery unfolded.

Rasadhurai Raguvannan, 36, and his employee Sathiyanathan Kanagasabai, 35, claimed three thugs raided their shop and post office armed with a handgun and a hammer (stock image)

He told a reporter: It was petrifying, I was shocked and scared. I have never had a gun pointed at me before - I did not know what was going to happen.

Officers then found the CCTV hard-drive the pair had claimed had been taken in the raid had been reconnected.

Sean Poulier, representing Raguvannan, told Derby Crown Court the criminal enterprise was launched to ease his clients financial difficulties.

He added: The money was used to keep the business afloat.

At one stage he said he was going to pay it back but it must have been clear that he was never going to be able to pay it back and so came the reports of the robbery.

The court was told that members of the Sri Lankan community had clubbed together to loan Raguvannan the money to pay back the Post Office.
For many people Australia Day means spending time in the sunshine, having a barbecue while decked out in gear covered in the flag.

However consumers are being urged to take extra care to make sure they are buying Australian made products and merchandise to support local farmers.

Much of the 'Aussie' merchandise being sold by Coles and Woolworths ahead of the Australia Day celebrations, including eskies, stubby holders, singlets, thongs and flags, are made in China.

People are being urged to shop locally and buy Australian made products this Australia Day

'The large supermarkets are all about maximising profit, which means that if it's cheaper to sell bacon that's travelled 13,000 kilometres from Canada, then that's what they'll do,' said Keith Louie, CEO of Aussie Farmers Direct.

'The heavy interest around the federal government's country of origin labelling reforms demonstrates that Australians have a keen interest in where their food and products come from, and buying only high-quality Australian goods and produce is a good way to celebrate Australia Day with pride,' he added.

Some seafood products including prawns and various fish that are on sale in Coles and Woolworths are from parts of Asia including Thailand and Vietnam.

Deli meats such as bacon and salami from Canada are on the big supermarket's shelves, while avocados from New Zealand and oranges from the US are also available.

Much of the Aussie merchandise on supermarket shelves has actually been made overseas

Man eskies, stubby holders, singlets, thongs and flags, are made in China

Mr Louie urged people to support local farmers when doing their Australia Day shop, and keep an eye out for fresh homegrown produce.

'Our customers know that produce sourced from Australia is naturally fresher than the imported stuff. And buying Australian ensures that you're supporting the local economy and local businesses,' he said.

'So as people start planning their Australia Day menus, I'd ask them to them to support retailers like Aussie Farmers Direct, who are fair dinkum about supporting local farmers,' Mr Louie added.

A number of seafood products including prawns and various fish that are on sale in Coles and Woolworths are from parts of Asia

He also revealed Aussie Farmers would be donating money from each sale of their Australia Day BBQ Packs to the Aussie Farmers Foundation which supports rural and regional communities across Australia.

Coles told Daily Mail Australia 100 per cent of their meat is Australia, as well as '94 per cent of our fresh produce'.

'In the lead up to Australia Day, lamb is a clear Aussie favourite as we see volumes double in preparation for summer BBQs with lamb chops and legs topping the shopping list across the country. Like all of our fresh meat, our lamb is 100 per cent Australian,' a spokesman said.

'Coles has an Australian first sourcing policy and more than 94 per cent of our fresh produce is Australian-grown, while the majority of our prawns are also Australian.
A family attempting to smuggle a large haul of fruit, nuts and plants that were potentially carrying economy-threatening toxic fruit flies were thwarted by a keen-nosed sniffer dog.

The Perth family were flying home from Sydney when they tried to get 68 bananas, 15 mangoes, six kilograms of betel nuts, two kilograms of plant material, two pineapples, three plants and seven ginger bulbs past biosecurity officers at the Perth Domestic Airport.

Department of Agriculture and Food WA Border Biosecurity acting director Lloyd Mason told Daily Mail Australia that all up, there was about 42 kg of fruit confiscated.

Jackson the sniffer dog (pictured) and his handler intercepted the family with the prohibited items

Some of the large haul of prohibited fruit - including 68 bananas, 15 mangoes and six kilograms of nuts

The items found by sniffer dog Jackson comprised the largest haul by a detector dog team in three years, an official said

He also said the intercepted items - which could carry pests like the destructive Queensland fruit fly - was the largest haul made by a dog unit in three years.

'The items posed a considerable quarantine risk to our valuable agricultural industries and could have spread a range of unwanted pests and diseases,' a press release quoted him as saying.

The fruit were also on a list of items travellers are prohibited from taking into WA.

A written warning was given to the family as it was their first offence, and the fruit disposed of in a 'deep burial'.

Numerous bags full of fruit, nuts and other plant items were found in the family's possession

The Queensland fruit fly, an invasive pest which can be carried by bananas

Bananas and mangoes are known carriers of the Queensland fruit fly, which WA suffered an outbreak of last November.

The state had been one of only three in the country free of the fruit fly before it was discovered in Perth, the WA Today reported.

That outbreak - which damaged the state's economy, was likely caused by fruit carrying the pests crossing borders, it was reported.

One infected fruit was all it took to cause an outbreak, Mr Mason said.

Since its arrival, authorities have been working to eliminate the pest from a quarantine zone in Perth.

Queensland fruit flies are not the only pest which bananas and mangoes can host.

They also carry the Mediterranean fruit fly - a damaging species already in WA.

The family were stopped at the Perth Domestic Airport by a sniffer dog and his handler

Mangoes can carry mango scab and mango seed weevil.

Ginger, like that discovered by the detector dog, can carry silver leaf and spiralling white flies, and bananas, coffee bean weevil and banana aphid.

Mr Mason said other threats to WA included vegetables, some nuts, seed and other plant material, in addition to honey and other hive products.

'If introduced to Western Australia, these pests, weeds and diseases could compromise our national and international markets and devastate the States agricultural industries.

He also pointed out that people had the chance to declare items or deposit them in a quarantine bins in Australian airports.

People needed to remember that what they carried with them could also have 'hitch hikers', he said.

Authorities in WA could issue fines of between $400-$1000 for bringing in restricted items.

'If we go to prosecution for repeat offenders fines can be up to $50,000,' Mr Mason said

Bananas are known to carry the Queensland fruit fly and are on a list of fruit travellers are prohibited from taking into WA
Hortencia Medeles-Arguello was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday for operating the biggest sex-trafficking ring to ever be busted in Texas

The woman behind the biggest sex-trafficking ring ever busted in Texas has been sentenced to life in prison by a federal judge Wednesday.

Hortencia Medeles-Arguello, known as Tencha, was the mastermind behind the sex-trafficking operation that lasted for ten years at several locations in Houston where undocumented women and underage girls were forced to have sex with men for $500-an-hour.

A three year investigation by the federal government found that the 71-year-old woman and 14 other people were operating the illegal ring.

'Undocumented women and girls were forced to have sex with men at various cantinas,' according to the evidence prosecutors presented at trial, KPRC reported.

'There were about 17 rooms at Las Palmas and the rooms were nasty, horrible, dirty,' federal prosecutor Ruben Perez, who tried the case, told KPRC.

'These women came to American in search of the American dream and instead they ran smack into the American nightmare.

'They didn't come to America to be a prostitute, they came to make a better life for themselves, their kids, families and for their loved ones.'

During the trial, 12 rescued victims testified that they were forced to engage in prostitution against their will and recounted the horrors of their ordeal.

Some of the girls were recruited as young as 14 years of age, the FBI said in a statement.

The underage girls were locked in rooms at times and forced to comply to the demands of Tencha or pimps at gunpoint.

Hortencia Medeles-Arguello (left) operated the ring for over ten years with 14 other people including, Alfonso Diaz-Juarez (right). He is still on the run and the FBI has a $50,000 reward for information leading to his arrest

'Undocumented women and girls were forced to have sex with men at various cantinas (including the one above),' according to the evidence prosecutors presented at trial

'We had to work six-days a week from 3pm to 2am. On weekends we had to work later,' one victim of the sex-trafficking organization told KPRC.

During the trial, one victim who testified said that she was eventually impregnated by a 'customer' and was moved to another area of the bar, according to the FBI's statement.

Luckily, because of the move, she found a way to escape.

'[Tencha] looked for as many avenues to make money by taking advantage of these women as possible,' IRS Criminal Investigation Houston Assistant Special Agent in Charge Mary Hammond told KPRC.

'She charged for parking. She charged to enter the club. She charged to utilize the rooms, she charged extra for sex.

Pictured above is one of the venues that was used to operate the ring

'She even charged up to $500 per hour for customers to have sex with the youngest looking children.'

Hammond's office assisted the FBI and the United States Attorney's Office with the investigation.

According to the FBI, Tencha made more than $1.6million in a 19-month period 'by supplying the upper floor of her cantina for prostitutes to ply their trade'.

The only person who has not been apprehended by authorities is Alfonso Diaz-Juarez, who is on the run.

The FBI says that Diaz-Juarez is a 48-year-old Mexican citizen and they believe he travels between Texas and Mexico.

There is a $50,000 reward for information leading to his arrest. Anyone who can help with his whereabouts is asked to contact the FBI in Houston at 713-693-5000.
A woman is refusing to pay a $186 defect notice for her brand new, $250,000 Mercedes-Benz, she has instead elected to go to court to fight the fine in front of a Sydney magistrate.

On October 7, 2015, Ms Mehajer, 29, wife of Auburn Council's controversial deputy mayor, Salim Mehajer, was allegedly told to 'walk home' by police who gave her a defect notice for her brand new $250,000 Mercedes-Benz 4WD.

Mr Mehajer told Daily Mail Australia that the couple would be fighting the defect notice because 'it had been unlawfully and unjustly issued to us.'

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Ms Mehajer has been to court with her husband, Salim (pictured) in a supporter role

'Additionally, the conduct of the officer was also questionable as he had advised Aysha to "leave the Vehicle and walk home",' Mr Mehajer said.

The defect notice read 'Vehicle does not comply with Australian Standard - Side Exhaust'.

The Deputy Mayor, who became a household name after his controversial wedding caused havoc in the streets of Auburn, Sydney, which had been illegally blocked for the event, says he checked to see if the defect notice was valid before deciding to fight it.

'Contact was made with the higher authorities in Mercedes-Benz Australia to confirm why they would release a vehicle that was not Australia standard compliant, Mr Mehajer said.

Tim Clarke, Senior Engineer at Mercedes-Benz Australia responded to Mr Mehajer's questions in a letter viewed by Daily Mail Australia.

'Mercedes-Benz Australia/Pacific Pty Ltd confirms that all Mercedes-Benz 463 G63 vehicles are fitted with an Identification Plate....confirming the vehicle is certified to the Australian Design Rules.

The couple are confident the court will overturn the $186 defect notice issued by NSW police

Mr Mehajer spoke out against the notice, and the officer who issued it on a Facebook post which has since been deleted

'The G63 twin exhaust outlets in front of the rear axel, on the left hand side of the vehicle complies with, and is certifies to ADR 42/04, Clause 10- "Exhaust Outlets" by the Australian Government Department of Infrastructure and Transport.'

The letter goes on to state that the configuration is also accepted by NSW regulations.

Mr Mehajer posted about the incident on Facebook calling the police 'fools' and questioning the Commissioner on their adequacy.

Mr Mehajer says it is important to fight the fine because it was 'unlawfully' given

'Dear Commissioner, those that are carrying the respected NSW Police Force Badge are continuing to make a fool not only of themselves, but of our country,' the Facebook post read.

'So friends, today one of my vehicles, Namely Mercedes G63 AMG- which was purchased straight from the Mercedes dealership BRAND NEW, was considered as a MAJOR defect and not road worthy.

'Immediately, registration was cancelled and was told to walk home- and leave the vehicle behind.

The defect notice lists the side-facing exhaust as the problem, however Mercedes-Benz says their vehicle meets Australian standards

'So the question why (sic) raised; "Why sir?" his reply, "the exhaust is on the side causing emission to the drivers beside you it should be [at] the rear".

'Mercedes Sydney was contacted and laughed Hysterically (sic) at such ridiculous [performance] by the Police.

'I remind you, I'll always use the negativity as more motivation to work even harder and become even stronger.

'The reason I never give up hope is because everything has become basically hopeless...'

He has said that fighting the fine is important because he would like to stop the 'inconvenience' his 'wife has suffered' from happening to other road users so they can also

The couple first made waves when Sydney streets were illegally blocked for their elaborate wedding

He said they are fighting the fine to 'stand up against such injustice and ignorance on behalf of the relevant officer at the time' so the 'inconvenience' his 'wife suffered' would not happen to anyone else.

The matter will be mentioned at Burwood Local Court on February 9.

Daily Mail contacted Mercedes-Benz for comment.
She feared for her life after waiting 5 hours to be

Ms Lewis was on her way to her 21st birthday when she was bitten

was trying to save the snake from the road

A veterinary student bitten by a copperhead snake as she was trying to remove it from the road says she thought she was going to die, after a five hour wait for anti-venom last Friday.

Emma Lewis of Glenorchy, Tasmania spent her 21st birthday in intensive care at the Launceston General Hospital after first seeking treatment at St Helens Hospital.

The animal lover told Daily Mail Australia that they didn't have the necessary facilities at St Helens Hospital to administer the anti-venom she required to survive.

Veterinary student, Emma Lewis was bitten by a snake as she was trying to remove it from the road says she thought she was going to die, after a five hour wait for anti-venom at the weekend

Ms Lewis said that soon after the snake (pictured) bite she was in excruciating pain and her hand started swelling

We were 30 minutes out of St Helens, on the way to Tomahawk for my 21st birthday when we saw the snake,' Ms Lewis said.

Snakes are attracted to the road because of the heat but everyone runs them over so I wanted to pick this one up.'

'At first I didn't feel a thing but 10 seconds after I was in the most pain I have ever been in, my hand started swelling instantly.'

Without mobile reception, Ms Lewis and her fiance drove to the St Helens District Hospital seeking help but on their arrival there were no stocks of anti-venom

After an excruciating three-hour wait an ambulance finally became available, but not before Ms Lewis' hand (pictured) had become swollen and her vision blurred

Without mobile reception, Ms Lewis and her fiance drove to the St Helens District Hospital seeking help but on their arrival there were no stocks of anti-venom.

Options to be transferred to Launceston General Hospital were also tied up with existing jobs. At this point Ms Lewis didn't think she would survive.

'I thought I was going to die, but at least I would die doing something I love,' she said.

After an excruciating three-hour wait an ambulance became available, but not before her hand had become swollen and her vision blurred.

She was then finally administered the required medicine at Launceston General Hospital five hours after being bitten. Ms Lewis was released from hospital on Monday and is now recovering at home.

Tasmanian Health Service Clinical Director Dr Peter Renshaw said there are huge risks involved when giving anit-venom to patients. Without the proper support, including pathology monitoring and intensive care, it could prove fatal.

Anti-venom is given in a controlled specialist medical environment where intervention can occur, Dr Renshaw said.

Dr Renshaw said the best clinical practice was taken in Ms Lewis' case.

With modern first aid measures and the closeness of Tasmanian rural locations to a major hospital, clinical advice and evidence confirms this provides the safest outcome for patients.

Dr Renshaw said if bitten by a snake, call 000 for an ambulance and, if possible, immobilise the limb with bandaging.

The animal lover (pictured) said St Helens Hospital could not administer the anti-venom she required to survive because they did not have the adequate facilities
The best country in the world has been revealed as Germany, according to a new report.

Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States came in second, third and fourth, respectively, in the inaugural Best Countries report released on Wednesday at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The report looked at 60 nations across the world and based the rankings on factors including sustainability, adventure, cultural influence, entrepreneurship and economic influence.

Germany was named the country in a report revealed on Wednesday at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Pictured above is the Reichstag building in Berlin

Canada came in second place in the rankings, which surveyed 60 nations across the world. Pictured above is Vancouver

The United Kingdom came in third place in the rankings, which factored in sustainability, adventure, cultural influence, entrepreneurship and economic influence. Pictured above is Big Ben at Westminster Palace in London

The United States ranked fourth on the Best Countries list. It was also named the most powerful country in the report. Pictured above is an aerial view of New York City

Sweden came in fifth in the report, which was a joint project between US News & World Report, New York-based BAV Consulting and University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business. Pictured above is an aerial view of Stockholm

Spending power of consumers in a country also contributed to the ranking, according to USA Today.

To gather the data, more than 16,200 business leaders and other members of the public were surveyed.

The study is a joint project between US News & World Report, New York-based BAV Consulting and University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business.

BEST COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD 1. Germany 2. Canada 3. United Kingdom 4. United States 5. Sweden 6. Australia 7. Japan 8. France 9. Netherlands 10. Denmark Advertisement

The organizations launched a Best Countries website in Davos at the forum to present its findings.

Though the United States did not finish in first, it was named the most powerful country in the report.

'How a nation is perceived outside its borders is critical to its success,' Martin Sorrell, WPP's chief executive officer, told USA Today.

WPP is an advertising firm and the the parent company of BAV.

'Smart, thoughtful and responsible administrations pay attention to image and reputation, because a better image contributes towards more foreign direct investment, more tourism and a 'made-in' or 'created-in' premium,' Sorrell said.

'Smart, thoughtful and responsible administrations pay attention to image and reputation, because a better image contributes towards more foreign direct investment, more tourism and a 'made-in' or 'created-in' premium,' Sorrell added.

Rounding out the top ten are: Sweden (fifth), Australia (sixth), Japan (seventh), France (eighth), Netherlands (ninth) and Denmark (tenth).

Australia was ranked the sixth best country in the world. Pictured above is the Sydney Opera House in Sydney

Seventh in the ranking was Japan. Pictured above right is the Asakusa, the Senso-Ji (Senso Temple) in Tokyo

France was ranked eighth on the list of the world's best countries. Pictured above is the Eiffel Tower in Paris

Ranked ninth on the list of the world's best countries was the Netherlands. Pictured above is a seaport in the Netherlands
Australian internet users watching hit shows from overseas Netflix libraries are being blocked by the streaming service as its crackdown on 'geo-dodgers' begins.

uFlix, a company the offers a service that hides your location while online, said a number of its users are being blocked by Netflix.

'Some users are starting to have issues with Netflix blocking non-Australian content when going through uFlix,' a statement from the Melbourne-based company said.

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Australian internet users illicitly watching hit shows from overseas Netflix libraries are being blocked by the streaming service as its crackdown on 'geo-dodgers' begins

'Though it is only affecting a few users at the moment, we expect this number to grow.

'We are working on a solution to get around these new measures and apologise for the inconvenience to those who are currently only getting Australian Netflix.

'We ask all users who are being blocked by Netflix to submit a support ticket. The error you will receive whilst trying to stream content will be 'You seem to be using an unblocker or proxy. Please turn off any of these services and try again'.'

uFlix managing director Peter Dujan said the crackdown from Netflix is an attempt to keep an out-dated approach alive.

Netflix recently announced it would increase efforts to stop because accessing its service from different countries

uFlix, a company that alters the DNS settings and IP address of its customers to make it appear as though they are logged in from another country, said a number of its users are being blocked (stock image)

'It is a last ditch effort to keep an archaic business model alive,' Mr Dujan said, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

'At the end of the day it's simply a game of cat and mouse, and this is our job, so let's play.'

However, it appears other methods people use to access international libraries are still working.

'No problem on my end. Just checked using my vpn connection... full access to Netflix USA,' one person wrote on Reddit.

Many Australian customers use services such as uFlix - or other DNS modifiers and VPNs - to access larger libraries available overseas, particularly the US

Making A Murder is one of the most popular recent shows on Netflix, and is available to Australian customers without having to use 'geo-dodgers'

Marvel's Jessica Jones is also available to Australian customers, despite the library being significantly smaller overall than others

'VPN working fine,' another added.

Netflix's announcement it would tighten restrictions on 'geo-dodgers' was slammed by consumer advocacy groups in Australia.

Choice criticised the move by the streaming giant, pointing to the fact only 1300 items are available in the Australian library, compared to move than 8500 in the US.

Many Australian Netflix subscribers will be shocked to find that theyll be downgraded from accessing U.S. Netflix to the much smaller Australian library  losing out on thousands of titles, Choice director of Campaigns and Communications Matt Levey said.

Consumer groups have slammed Netflix's plan to block Australians from accessing international libraries, pointing to the lack of content available locally

TV SHOWS NOT AVAILABLE ON AUSTRALIA'S NETFLIX LIBRARY Scrubs Louie Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Wilfred Blue Mountain State One Tree Hill Trailer Park Boys The Tudors Buffy the Vampire Slayer Cheers McLeod's Daughters Portlandia Knight Rider Dawson's Creek Melrose Place Saved by the Bell Hawaii Five-O It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Scandal Star Trek Gilmore Girls Californication Breaking Bad The Walking Dead Doctor Who Twin Peaks Sherlock Parks and Recreation 30 Rock Revenge White Collar The X Files New Girl Dexter Advertisement

Up until now, Australians could shop internationally for content using a simple unblocking service and their Australian account to access Netflix international catalogues.

Rather than putting barriers up, its time to recognise Internet as global. Regional copyright deals are as outdated as video cassettes. Ultimately, Australians should be able to pay for international services directly rather than be locked into sub-standard versions.

As out Prime Minister has noted, it is not illegal for Australians to circumvent geo-blocks. People are going out of their way, often paying for a VPN service and a Netflix account, to legitimately watch the content they love.

Hit TV show Breaking Bad (pictured) is one of thousands not included in Australia's Netflix library

Australian Netflix subscribers can only watch a small fraction of the shows available on the US library, with The Walking Dead another of the unavailable shows

Some of the more popular content not available to Australian customers includes: Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, Louie, Doctor Who and Sherlock.

Other blockbuster movies, such as The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and The Wolf of Wall Street, cannot be watched on an Australian account.

Vice President of Content Delivery Architecture David Fullagar announced the geo-blocking blitz in a blog post earlier this month.

'We are making progress in licensing content across the world and, as of last week, now offer the Netflix service in 190 countries, but we have a ways to go before we can offer people the same films and TV series everywhere,' Mr Fullagar wrote.

The U.S. library boasts around 8,500 programs, including Doctor Who (pictured), yet only about 1,300 can be seen in Australia

'Some members use proxies or unblockers to access titles available outside their territory. To address this, we employ the same or similar measures other firms do. This technology continues to evolve and we are evolving with it.

'That means in coming weeks, those using proxies and unblockers will only be able to access the service in the country where they currently are.'

Netflix launched 'globally' earlier this month, and is now available in more than 190 countries.
The Obama Administration will announce as early as Thursday its plan to introduce new visa requirements for European travelers who are dual nationals of Iran, Iraq, Sudan or Syria, or who have visited any of these countries in the last five years.

US officials and congressional aides involved in discussions say the Homeland Security Department will outline how it will phase in the new rule, designed to make it harder for Europeans who have fought for the Islamic State to enter the United States.

The law passed by Congress in December only affects a minority of Europeans, but it has prompted great concern in countries whose citizens generally enjoy visa-free travel to the United States.

The Obama Administration will announce as early as Thursday new visa requirements for European travelers (pictured is Obama in Detroit on Wednesday)

And it has drawn Iranian charges that the United States is violating last summer's nuclear accord by penalizing legitimate business travel to the Islamic Republic.

Iraq and Syria were targeted specifically because the Islamic State has seized significant territory in each country for its would-be caliphate. Iran and Sudan, like Syria, are designated by the United States as state sponsors of terrorism.

The officials and aides weren't authorized to speak publicly on the matter and demanded anonymity.

The rule will affect European travelers who are dual nationals of Iran, Iraq, Sudan or Syria, or who have visited any of these countries in the last five years (file photo)

The biggest question mark concerns groups of individuals that could be exempted from the law, allowing them to continue traveling to the U.S. under the Visa Waiver Program.

According to a congressional aide, the administration will create exceptions for those who traveled to any of the four countries for government or United Nations work, or for humanitarian or journalistic reasons. Legitimate business with Iran also wouldn't be punished. No waivers appear to apply to dual nationals.

Administration officials wouldn't comment.
A bodybuilder businessman wound down his restaurant chain leaving staff about $125,000 out of pocket in unpaid superannuation - and then took off on a holiday to Las Vegas with his glamorous girlfriend.

Social media posts have emerged of Sunshine Coast restaurant owner Todd Young and partner Kristine Ruth on the Las Vegas sunset strip and reportedly at the Grand Canyon earlier this month - the couple posting holiday updates online just days after Mr Young's business went belly-up.

Documents lodged with the regulator, ASIC, show Mr Young appointed liquidators on December 29. Screenshots show the couple checked in on Facebook at Gordon Ramsay's restaurant at Caesar's Palace casino, Las Vegas, on December 31.

Bodybuilder and pizzeria operator Todd Young (pictured at the gym) wound down his business, leaving his staff $125,000 out of pocket in unpaid super, and then took off on a holiday to Las Vegas

Active couple: Mr Young and his partner Ms Ruth posted photographs indicating they were in the United States on holiday not long after

Just two days after winding up his company Todd Young Investments Pty Ltd, Mr Young and his partner Kristine checked in at the Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas

Vegas icon: The pair tucked in for a lunch at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas where they dined at a Gordon Ramsey restaurant

A former staff member, who did not want to be named, said he was furious upon learning the couple had taken off for a holiday in the south-west of the United States, which, according to the Sunshine Coast Daily, also appears to have involved a helicopter ride at the Grand Canyon.

'I was pissed to think that my money as well as everyone else's money had gone with him,' a former employee who is owed super told Daily Mail Australia. 'I feel sorry for the suppliers to be honest'.

Creditors are counting their losses with ASIC documents show the company owing debts of $738,278, including $399,199 to the Australian Tax Office as well as outstanding payments to suppliers, including $9497 for Amphora Wine Group and $2601 to Pitchers Hospitality Supplies.

Another former employee who worked at Mr Young's Mooloolaba pizzerias and is owed an outstanding $1600 joked online: 'Here is our super! He took it to Vegas'.

Liquidator Travis Pullen said it was too early to know whether there would be a return to employees of their super.

'I have to wait until I've completed my investigation into the affairs of the company to see if there's any assets available for creditors,' Mr Pullen said.

Mr Young (pictured left and right taking a shirtless mirror selfie) is believed to have embarked on the trip after winding up his business

'I live for myself and answer to nobody': Mr Young's social media accounts were filled with inspirational messages as well as bathroom mirror selfies

Off to Vegas, baby! An elevated view of the Las Vegas cityscape - which Mr Young and his partner enjoyed

'Employees don't have to do anything at the moment - I'll be writing to employees should be investigations recover any assets.

'If I do recover, say, a pot of money out there, I'll be writing and telling them what to do then.'

Mr Young and Ms Ruth, whose LinkedIn profile lists her as an account executive at Channel Seven Queensland, had both de-activated their Facebook profiles on Thursday morning.

A request to Mr Young for comment went unreturned. Records show Mr Todd's Facebook page was littered with quotes, some of them apparently written by himself.

One said: 'You have to suffer and experience what it is like at the bottom before you have a real appreciation of what is at the top! Todd Young'.

An online description of himself read: 'I live for myself and answer to nobody'.

'You have to suffer and experience what it is like at the bottom before you have a real appreciation of what is at the top!' a quote on Mr Young's website said
Police yet to name suspect, but investigation has

Police are seeking to determine if they had any problems during this time

woman and her friends Jessica Kumala and Hani studied in Australia

The curious case of the cyanide in the coffee could have come straight from the pages of an Agatha Christie whodunnit - and now Australian police have been asked to help solve the mystery.

In what is suspected of being a murder, a young Indonesian woman who met two girlfriends in a Jakarta cafe suddenly cried out that her coffee tasted terrible before collapsing and dying within the hour. Tests found that she had been poisoned by cyanide, traces of which were found in the coffee.

Now police in the Indonesian capital have called in the help of Australian Federal Police to look into the backgrounds of all three young women because they had all studied together in Sydney and Melbourne.

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Wayan Mirna Salihin and her partner Arief Soemarko: the young Indonesian woman while having coffee with friends

The Australian investigators have been asked to look into the relationships of the dead woman, Wayan Mirna Salihin - known as Mirna to her friends - and the other two, Jessica Kumala and a pal known only as Hani.

According to Jakarta police today, the three young women had agreed to meet at a coffee shop in the city on January 6.

Jessica was the first to arrive and ordered a cocktail for herself and a cold Vietnamese coffee.

Minutes later, Mirna and Hani arrived and Mirna proceeded to drink the coffee.

'It's awful - it's bad,' Mirna cried.

Shortly afterwards she collapsed with convulsions and began to foam at the mouth. She died as she was being rushed to hospital.

Her friend Jessica Kumala, who was with her when she died, has been the focus of the investigation so far

Wayan Mirna Salihin and two friends were having coffee at Olivier cafe in Jakarta when she collapsed and died

Now Jakarta police are determined to find out if any problems had arisen between the three young women while they were studying in Australia.

'We have contacted the Australian Federal Police because we need some information,' the head of Jakarta Police general crime division, Senior Commander Khrisna Murti, told the Jakarta Post.

Although Jakarta police have not yet named a suspect, they admit that their investigation has so far focused on Jessica.

She has been questioned on several occasions and her home has been raided as officers investigate what they say is a murder.

It is understood they have not found enough evidence to name Jessica as an official suspect.

Jakarta police are seeking to determine if the three women had any issues when they were studying together at Billy Blue College of Design in Sydney

Tests found that she had been poisoned by cyanide, traces of which were found in the coffee she was drinking when she collapsed and died

According to the Jakarta Post, Mirna and Jessica reportedly studied together at the Billy Blue College of Design in Sydney before moving on to the Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne.

The paper said that Jessica continued to work in Australia following her graduation in 2008 before finding a job in Indonesia last month.

Commander Khrisna said police will check the information provided by Australian officers along with testimony provided by witnesses.
Tim Beaumont is the Labour representative for Picton in Liverpool

A councillor has been accused of racism after he put on an 'Allo Allo-style' French accent during a meeting.

Tim Beaumont, the Labour representative for Picton in Liverpool, meant to use the comedy accent as a joke during a city council debate on the city's listed buildings.

During his speech Cllr Beaumont told the meeting of the full council at Liverpool Town Hall: 'When it comes to architecture and heritage we are not short of opinions - and opinions can be wrong.

'For example, when the Eiffel Tower was built, Guy de Maupassant and Alexander Dumas wrote a letter saying...'

Then in a French accent he continued: 'We protest with all our strength at the useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower.'

Cllr Beaumont then continued by adopting an upper class toff accent when referring to architect Henry Heathcote Statham's attack on Tower Bridge in London, to more laughter in the council chamber.

But his comments met with resistance from the local Green party which later accused the ruling Labour group of 'casual racism'.

Party leader Tom Crone failed to see the funny side and later emailed Liverpool City Council's Chief Executive Ged Fitzgerald saying Cllr Beaumont's speech, and the reaction of other councillors, was 'distasteful' and 'some will consider it as casual racism'.

Cllr Crone wrote: 'During the debate on listed buildings, Cllr Tim Beaumont chose to mimic a French accent in part of his speech; this was followed by others shouting '" vill say ziz only vonce" and "Allo Allo".

'We, the Green group of councillors have discussed this matter and, whilst we do not wish to raise a formal complaint, we do wish to make clear that we consider this behaviour as distasteful and something which should not be part of a council meeting.

'You will be aware that comments of this nature can lead to other, more serious, expressions and that some will consider it as casual racism.

'As leader of the Green Group, I am requesting you to write to the Labour Chief Whip and the group leaders of the other parties, together with Independent councillor Martin Cummins, to ask that they refrain from such behaviour in future council meetings.'

Gordon Kaye acting as Rene Artois (pictured) in the British hit comedy Allo Allo. A reference to this programme has landed a Labour councillor in hot water

A surprised Cllr Beaumont said: 'I was just using humour as a rhetorical device to liven up the debate. When you are trying to make your point in the chamber you try to think of different ways to get people to listen to you.

'If we have a problem with funny accents someone needs to also tell the television industry.

'I always try and conduct myself in the right way as a councillor, sometimes I use humour when standing up for my residents. That is what I shall carry on doing.'

Liverpool's Labour Mayor Joe Anderson leapt to Cllr Beaumont's defence.

He said in an email: 'Listen carefully, I shall say this only once, Tim Beaumont is not racist.
A man who has blocked his neighbours' views of Wellington Harbour by building a massive wooden fence says he doesn't need to consider its impact on them.

Peter and Sylivia Aitchison claim the protruding fence has slashed $900,000 of value from their stunning $1.6 million waterfront apartment.

But neighbour and fence builder David Walmsley told the Environment Court in Wellington on Wednesday it was 'too bad', and he was entitled to do what he wanted with his own land, stuff.co.nz reported.

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A New Zealand man has been taken to court for building a large fence on his property, blocking neighbours view of Wellington Harbour

Peter Aitchison (pictured) has taken his neighbour to court after he built an ugly four-metre wooden wall around his property - obstructing stunning water views of Wellington

The dispute began last year when Mr Walmsley erected the wooden fence as part of a playground, with the fence designed with the intent of creating 'privacy'.

When the Aitchinsons complained to the council for giving the all clear for the building plans, they were told its 'hands were tied'.

The matter was then taken to the Environment Court, which ruled the council had made an error in assessing the initial design proposals.

The council agreed with the finding and ordered Mr Walmsley to take down the fence - but he is yet to do so.

The large fence was built as part of a playground and to provide privacy, according to Stuff NZ

Mr Aitchison claims the protruding fence has slashed $900,000 of value from their stunning $1.6 million waterfront apartment (stock image)

TIMELINE OF WELLINGTON HARBOUR FENCE SAGA 2000: The first fence was built on the property, which was later pulled down March 2011: A second wooden wall, dubbed 'Fence 2.0' was taken down, after the council issued an abatement notice to Mr Walmsley April 2015: The fence is built, prompting the Aitchison family to ask for it to be taken down Local council said it was unable to force David Walmsley to remove his fence October 2015: The Aitchisons take the matter to the Environment Court, which rules the council made a mistake in approving the initial plan Council accepts the Environment Court's decision and says the fence has to be taken down Mr Walmsley refuses to act on the new order January 2016: The Aitchisons return to court - along with the local council - and hope to have the fence reduced in size, if not removed entirely Advertisement

When asked if it was simply a case of 'bad luck' for the Aitchisons in court on Wednesday, Mr Walmsley agreed, saying it was 'to be expected.'

'I think, yeah, pretty much, if it blocked their view,' he said, according to Stuff NZ.

'It's not necessarily too bad, and it's something to be expected.'

His lawyer, Tom Bennion, previously told the court that there were still significant water views from the Aitchisons' top-floor and eastern end of their terrace.

The Judge and environment commissioner visited the property earlier in the week to inspect the extent of the obstruction caused by the fence.

The latest drama is the most recent chapter in a bitter feud dating back 20 years, according to Mr Aitchison.

Last year, he told the NZ Herald Mr Walmsley had repeatedly tried to build fences on his property because he was angry with developers behind Mr Aitchison's home.

The newspaper also reported two previous fences have been taken down, including 'Fence 1.0' at 'the turn of the century', and a third in March 2011.

The case is ongoing.

Peter Aitchison (pictured) had his picturesque view ruined by the large wooden fence built by his neighbour

The ugly fence has become something of an eyesore for residents who have their views of the harbour blocked by it
Wawman was not charged. She was released by police without bail

She says she is innocent and said police called her 'a filthy English whore'

Georgia Wawman, 26, claims her life has been ruined after her arrest in Buenos Aires

The British woman known as the Barbie Bandit who was accused of involvement with a notorious Argentinian armed gang has protested her innocence and said: I wouldnt say boo to a goose.

Georgia Wawman, 26, claims her life has been ruined after her arrest in Buenos Aires last week, where she was detained for eleven hours and referred to by police as a filthy English whore in Spanish.

She said one of the officers 'used the word for prostitute and words which mean "You are the daughter of a thousand whores".'

Miss Wawman was accused of being part of a gang that carried out 16 robberies in the Argentinian capital, who tied up their wealthy victims before ransacking their mansions.

Her family insist she is innocent and say she had been intimidated by Argentinian police.

Speaking to The Sun, she recounted how she was naked except for a skimpy crop top when her house was raided by twenty officers.

She said her first instinct was to protect her two-year-old son Milo.

Miss Wawman recalled: I rolled him up in the duvet and covered him with my body expecting to be shot dead.

She said police shouted at her Who are you, where is he while pointing their guns at her as she lay defenceless.

At the house one of them [police officers] asked sarcastically: Who you think the Falklands belong to now? I told them they were British and was shocked minutes later when they put me in handcuffs.

At the station I was ordered not to speak, refused a phone call and given no food and water for hours.

She continued: Im entirely innocent yet the world now knows me as the Barbie Bandit.

Ive been set up and humiliated by the police and my life is ruined. Anyone who knows me will tell you I wouldnt say boo to a goose.

Police sources in Buenos Aires deny the claims of mistreatment.

Miss Wawman was accused of being part of a gang that carried out 16 robberies in the Argentinian capital, who tied up their wealthy victims before ransacking their mansions

Police sources in Buenos Aires deny the claims of mistreatment.

Argentinian police released this photo of the items seized during the raids in the capital's neighbourhoods of Manzanares and Del Viso. It includes police uniforms, laptops, guns and ammunition, jewellery and watches

Miss Wawman, whose father Richard is a documentary maker, went to St Johns School in Marlborough, Wiltshire.

After school Miss Wawman later moved from Marlborough to a luxurious rural property in Argentina with her Argentine stepmother.

Several months later she relocated to Buenos Aires with her then boyfriend Jose Mino, 32, who is the alleged leader of the gang and was also arrested in the raids.

On Facebook she describes herself as a full time mummy after having a child with her ex-boyfriend.

On Tuesday, a picture emerged of Miss Wawman giving the middle finger to camera, as a school friend revealed she has always been a troublemaker.

They said she would steal sweets and was banned from the school prom  but always got out of trouble by 'batting her eyelashes'.

'She would have fitted in well at St Trinian's,' Wawman's friend added.

Miss Wawman, whose father Richard is a documentary maker, went to St Johns School in Marlborough, Wiltshire

After school Miss Wawman later moved from Marlborough to a luxurious rural property in Argentina with her Argentine stepmother

A file picture of Argentinian police in Buenos Aires last year. The Barbie Bandit was accused of involvement with a notorious Argentinian armed gang

One former school friend said yesterday: 'Georgia was probably the naughtiest girl at school.

'She always hung around with the bad girls and would get in trouble for smoking and talking back to teachers. She had lots of detentions but always got out of trouble by batting her lashes.

'She was an innocent public school girl when I first met her but she used to get in trouble at secondary school. She always used to nick sweets from the local shop.

'She would've been in trouble with the police before for drinking under age  we all were.

'She was banned from the prom for being naughty but her mum went to the school and demanded that they let her go.'

Other friends leapt to her defence, saying the 'sweet and innocent' mother of one never had any problems with the police.

Miss Wawman's friend Amy Jackson said she had been a 'very normal' girl.

She added: 'She wasn't a goodie two-shoes but she wasn't as bad as some [schoolchildren] could be. She didn't get in a lot of trouble at all in school.'

Another close friend, who became best friends with Miss Wawman after meeting her at 14, said: 'Georgia has never been a bad person, never got into trouble with the police. I cannot believe someone so sweet and innocent could be accused of something so horrendous.'
A Melbourne woman gave birth to a baby girl in the backseat of an Uber in New York City on Tuesday.

Marina Arthur, and her husband Andrew were in the back of the cab heading to the hospital when their second child, Hazel, made it clear she would not wait another minute to make her arrival.

The couple's Uber driver, Rafael Abreu, knew that the trip to the hospital would take another 30 minutes because of the heavy traffic, and left the car to flag down the police.

Marina Arthur gave birth to her second child, Hazel, in the back of an Uber cab in New York City

The woman's cab was stuck in traffic when she went into labor, and still around 30 minutes from the hospital

New York City Sheriffs Deputy Jeff Rivera arrived on the scene to find Ms Arthur squatting in the back seat, mid-labor, with Mr Arthur's face a shade of white Ive never seen before' the New York Post reported.

The police officer instructed the couple, and their driver to turn the heat up in the car, to keep the baby warm before she could arrive safely to hospital.

'I said, "Were gonna fly down there. Ill have you there in seven or eight minutes. No problem",' Deputy Rivera said before activating his siren.

A police officer escorted Ms Arthur (pictured here with her first child Willow) to hospital, and through the congested city streets

Ms Arthur's brother congratulated her on Facebool

When the Uber driver first approached police Rivera thought there had been an accident.

'The (driver) looked really scared. He just kept saying, Baby, baby in my car!"' Rivera said.

The mother, and her child were delivered safely to the hospital, met out the front by medical staff.

Ms Arthur's brother, Calum Alexander, who lives in Melbourne, congratulated his sister on the birth of their second child with a Facebook post.

'Congratulations to my sister Marina and brother-in-law Andrew on their new baby girl, Hazel! Born in very extraordinary circumstances!'

The woman and her daughter were reportedly delivered safely to the hospital

'She sent us a message explaining what happened  she seemed quite excited about it in retrospect,' Mr Alexander told the Sydney Morning Herald.

'She said Hazel just wanted to come out.

'We can't wait until we speak to her a bit more once she's rested,' he said.

Hazel has a tow-year-old sister, Willow, who was also born in the city after the Arthur's moved their four years ago.




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The former fiancee of a woman, who travelled the world and wrote a book after she claimed he jilted her at the altar, has said they split up three months before the wedding.

Thom Soutter, 30, a London City legal worker, said he left Katy Collins in February 2012, despite her accusations that she was left on what was meant to be the couple's big day.

Heartbroken Miss Collins, also 30, from Formby, Merseyside, quit her PR job, sold her house and car and went travelling around the world.

While on her travels she wrote a blog called The Lonely Hearts Travel Club, which is due to be published today.

Yesterday it emerged that Mr Soutter is now engaged to another woman, Alyson Mobey, 29. He hit out at the way his ex-girlfriend, who admitted having an affair with Mr Soutter's friend, has treated him since the split and believes her book will be more fiction than fact.

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Tom Soutter (left) broke off his engagement to Katy Colins (right) shortly before their planned wedding, inspiring her to travel and write a book. It has now emerged he is engaged again to Alyson Mobey (left)

He told The Sun: 'It's not anything like the way it's been portrayed.

'I wish Katy well but I'm not pleased she's chosen to do this. I don't want to be portrayed as this horrendous person.

'I'd already walked out once. My mistake was I went back. We tried to make it work but it wasn't happy on both sides.'

Mr Soutter said he felt Miss Collins had become obsessed with the wedding and that it came between them. He also disputed he claims that she sold their 130,000 home in Stockport, Cheshire, and said she left to go travelling eight months after the split instead of the next day.

Former Manchester Airport public relations worker Miss Collins told earlier this week how the heartbreak of her split from Mr Soutter inspired her to write the book.

The 30-year-old said: 'His decision, although devastating at the time, was the wake-up call I needed. I had a good job, a lovely house and lived a comfortable lifestyle but it lacked adventure.

'That is something I hoped travelling half-way around the world on my own would give me, and luckily it paid off.'

Katy said the heartbreak of the suddenly-ended engagement inspired the travelling and writing which led to her new book deal

Mr Soutter, a legal worker in the City of London, said he wished his former fiancee well with her writing career.

He told The Sun earlier this week: 'I am very much looking forward to marrying Alyson.... it's a pity that a failed relationship from four years ago has been made so public now.'

He insisted he gave Miss Collins an 'amicable financial settlement' and they split up because they were both unhappy.

The paper reported that he and Katy split after he admitted having an affair, breaking the news to her when she returned from a trip to Uganda.

Despite having a good job and a home, Katy set off after the split and backpacked around south-east Asia and India

Since she split from her former fiancee, Katy has trekked in the Himalayas (left) and travelled around South America (right)

The couple met at Salford university before their engagement was called off weeks before the 20,000 planned ceremony and after guests had already told them they were coming.

Mr Soutter had even told his friends and family on Twitter that he was 'celebrating 8 years with the soon to be Mrs Soutter'.

But the relationship fell apart and he moved out soon after she returned from Africa and reportedly ended his affair soon after.

It is understood he bought her out of her share of their home in Stockport, Greater Manchester and she set off to backpack around the world with a broken heart.

Her heartbreak has since turned to the joy as she started writing a popular blog which she has led to her securing a three-book deal with Carina UK, part of world-renowned publisher Harper Collins.

Katy says that, despite her initial heartbreak, she is now glad her planned wedding fell apart, as she has had so many experiences since

Her new book is the first of three she has been signed up for and has been described as 'Bridget Jones goes backpacking'

The 30-year-old, pictured at Machu Picchu in Peru, is looking forward to a career in writing after quitting her PR role when she left the UK

Katy, from Formby, Merseyside, said: 'Ironically, an editor called me on what would have been our third wedding anniversary. It is poignant to think how far I'd come through hard work, being brave and wanting to live the biggest life I could.'

Despite having her wedding dress still hanging, unused, in a wardrobe, she says Mr Soutter did her the biggest favour he could have by calling off the wedding, as she has since had so many great experiences.

She added: 'I have climbed an active volcano in Chile, slept in a Thai jungle, got covered in Holi powder in India, skydived in France and even taken a flight past Mount Everest.'

Mr Soutter went to work at a law firm in the Middle East after their break, where is believed to have met his new fiancee. The couple have since moved back to London.

The Lonely Hearts Travel Club is available for pre-order now. It is released digitally on January 21.

Katy, pictured in Thailand, says she has enjoyed experiences the like of which she would not have known had she not split up

Her former fiance says he wishes her well with her writing career but would rather the details of their split had not been made public
An ISIS supporter charged with killing four people across two states in 2014 in a protest against US foreign policy was on a federal terror watch list, prosecutors have claimed.

Ali Muhammad Brown had written in his diary that he had planned to follow ISIS and 'learn the way of jihadis' according to prosecutors in New Jersey.

Brown, 31, was jailed for 36 years for an unrelated armed robbery although he now faces trial for the four murders.

Ali Muhammad Brown, pictured, wrote in his journal that he wanted to receive Jihadi training from ISIS

Prosecutors claimed Brown, pictured, who was jailed for 36 years for an armed robbery in New Jersey is also responsible for the murders of four people across two states and is also facing terrorism charges

Records show Ali Muhammad Brown, 29, has confessed that he killed the men - including University of Richmond student Brendan Tevlin - because 'all these lives are taken every single day by America, by this government. So a life for a life'.

According to prosecutors Brown, views US military intervention in the Islamic world as that 'evil' against which he must act.

The armed robbery was committed around the same time as the four murders. According to prosecutors, Brown also faces terrorism charges. This will be the first time that New Jersey's anti-terrorism statute, enacted after the September, 11, 2001 attacks, will be used.

Before Brown was sentenced for the armed robbery on Wednesday, assistant prosecutor Jamel Sempter revealed the contents of Brown's journal to an Essex County judge.

The prosecutor also said Brown was on a federal watch list, although he did not elaborate.

Dave Joly, a spokesman for the FBI's Terrorist Screening Center, said the agency does not publicly confirm or deny whether an individual is included on its terror screening or no-fly lists.

Brown, who has refused to participate in most of the court hearings, was flanked in court by 10 sheriff's office deputies.

He said little, refused to sign any papers and once pulled an ear plug out of his ear to better hear a judge's question.

Brendan Tevlin, 19, left, pictured with his mother Allison, was murdered at a traffic lights on June 25, 2014

Executed: Gay friends Ahmed Said, left, and Dwone Anderson-Young, right, were executed after they arranged to meet a friend outside a club who they had earlier met online

Gunned down: Leroy Henderson, 30, was shot dead and Brown was linked to the killing by shell casings found at the scene

Brown also attended a status hearing on the murder and terrorism charges in New Jersey. His lawyer, Albert Kapin, told the judge that he still wants to get some more evidence and plans to file some motions in the terrorism case. But Kapin would not say if he would seek to have the charges dismissed.

The New Jersey slaying victim, Brendan Tevlin was shot at a West Orange traffic light on June 25, 2014. The 19-year-old University of Richmond student was driving to his home to Livingston.

Brown also faces three aggravated murder charges in Washington: the April 27, 2014, shooting of 30-year-old Leroy Henderson in Skyway, south of Seattle, and the June 1, 2014, shooting deaths of two young men outside a Seattle gay nightclub, Ahmed Said and Dwone Anderson-Young.

Authorities in Seattle have said that Brown described himself to detectives as a strict Muslim who was angry with the U.S. government's role in Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan because of the death of innocent civilians and children.

New Jersey passed its anti-terrorism statute following the September 11 attacks.

Other states have similar laws, though they have rarely been used. Some state charges, such as ones filed against gang members in New York, have failed to survive the courts. More recently, though, New York state successfully prosecuted two cases under its terrorism law against men who had planned bomb attacks.

Brown told investigators he carried out the killings in retaliation for U.S. military action in the Middle East, and described himself as a strict Muslim, according to court documents.

In his journal, Brown said he was interested in receiving jihadist training, prosecutors said on Wednesday.
A teenage mother died just two hours after seeing her GP in the same hospital she had given birth in just a month earlier.

Cheyenne Clements, 18, from Bellingham, south east London, passed away in Lewisham Hospital hours after she told relatives she felt unwell.

The teen had fallen ill with 'flu like symptoms' over the Christmas period but her family claim that she could not get the vital diagnosis she needed because her local doctor's surgery was 'closed'.

Cheyenne Clements, 18, pictured with her son, died in Lewisham Hospital just a month after giving birth there

Instead Cheyenne had to wait until January 4 to see her GP and after their appointment she was rushed to hospital on the advice of her doctor.

However, it proved too late and in a cruel twist of fate Cheyenne passed away just hours later in the same hospital she gave birth to her baby, Oscar, in.

Her sudden death has devastated her family and aunt, Marion Woods, 66, called the incident a 'terrible tragedy'.

Mrs Woods said: 'They took her into resus and after the best part of an hour a doctor came out and said she didn't make it.

'At 5.10pm she went to the doctors, at 7pm she was dead.

'They just said, she didn't make it.'

Grieving Mrs Woods said her niece was 'looking forward to being a mother'.

She said: 'She was posting things on Facebook, she named him before he was born, she knew it was a boy.

'She bought bits and presents for him.

'She just had the first Christmas with Oscar, it's such a shame the doctors weren't open.

Tragic: Cheyenne's aunt said the teen was 'looking forward' to being a mother to her son Oscar, pictured

'Everyone has a cold and doesn't think much of it. The hospital and doctors are shut over Christmas. It was just a series of events.'

The youngster's passing is a further blow to the family who lost Cheyenne's mum, Maria, just five years ago, aged 47.

Cheyenne's dad, who travelled with her in the ambulance, was a full-time carer for his wife, who had MS.

Mrs Woods said: 'My brother looked after his wife for about 20 years.

'Since Cheyenne was born her mum was always poorly, it's a sad story.

'He was shocked after Maria died.'

It is believed Oscar will continue to live with Mr Clements' and the family have set up a JustGiving page in the wake of Cheyenne's death.

More than 2,000 has been raised so far with donations coming across the world as people reach out to help the family.

Cheyenne had just enjoyed her first Christmas with her son, pictured a photo of them from her Facebook page

A poster called Jamie lee percy, donated and wrote: 'Sorry it's not much but hope it helps in some sort of way thoughts are with you all at this sad time Oscar has definitely got a beautiful angel looking over him sleep tight angel xd.'

Terrie Grinham wrote: 'Such a devastating thing to happen, having given birth at the same time makes it all the more real, send love to you all, you are doing an amazing thing in her memory and for that beautiful little man x you deserve to raise so so much, really hope this helps xxx'

Paul Graham simply wrote: 'Rest in Peace Cheyenne you'll be deeply missed sweetheart x'

Remembrance: People have written touching tributes and donated money in memory of Cheyenne, pictured

Rob and Caroline Britchford posted: 'We are sorry for your loss. Cheyenne was a pleasure to know and it has saddened and our Scout troop to which she belonged to some years ago.'

Mrs Woods said: 'The object of the Justgiving page is to give Cheyenne the best funeral we can at the end of her short life and to give her beautiful son, Oscar, a little savings pot at the beginning of his life, from the Mummy he will never know.
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Rusted and rotting, these ghostly photographs show the brittle remains of the Costa Concordia - the once grandiose cruise liner that sank off the coast of Italy in 2012, killing 32 people.

The luxury liner, which was carrying 4,200 passengers at the time, ran aground off the island of Giglio after an ill-judged salute by the ships captain.

Inside the ship's theatre, only the metal supports of what were once comfortable seats remain, while the stage is in pieces and speakers are covered with rust.

The inside of the Costa Concordia, four years after the deadly disaster, is covered in bright green and blue coral and moss

Sea plants are seen over the walls and ceiling of one of the ship's entertainment rooms, which once hosted thousands of people

Pieces of the ship's interior can be seen rotting and rusting after it smashed into a rock and sank in 2012 while off the coast of Italy

Hundreds of pieces of debris are seen in one of the ship's rooms, while wiring, left untouched since the ship grounded, hang down

Grime and other sea debris hang from the ship's support frames inside what was once the ship's casino room

For more than three years the doomed ship lay on its side where it had crashed, a chilling reminder of the 32 lives lost.

These stunning images are contained in a new book, named Concordia, which has been published by White Press, and features photos by Jonathan Danko Kielkowski and words by Christoph Schaden.

The haunting photographs show how corridors once filled with thousands of people have become unrecognisable after the harsh salt water which filled its rooms corroded its interior.

Inside its stairwells, what appears to be coral gives off an illuminating green glow as it spreads over the ceiling, while debris still lies scattered nearby.

Another photograph shows an empty bar with a row of stools where merry drinkers once sat and chatted are now covered in orange rust.

Thirty-two people were killed when the ship ran aground in the seas near the Tuscan island of Giglio in 2012, making it Italy's worst maritime disaster since the Second World War.

After a rock carved a hole in the side of the ship and flooded its engines, the 144,500-tonne liner listed a trapped passengers inside. The captain of the cruise ship was sentenced to 16 years in jail for manslaughter.

Francesco Schettino, dubbed 'Captain Coward' after he fled the ship before the 4,200 passengers were safely ashore, was handed the sentence last year in Grosseto, Tuscany.

A court heard that Schettino was a reckless idiot who had been showing off to a waiter on board the ship, and a friend on Giglio island, when he steered the ship close to the shore on the night of January 13.

A rusting and rotting slots machine is pictured lying on its side in a room abandoned on January 13, 2012, when the ship began listing

A close up photograph of the casino shows the slot machines lying empty with their doors hanging open

The 54-year-old was given ten years for manslaughter, five for causing a shipwreck, one for abandoning ship, and a further month for giving false information to port authorities.

But despite the guilty verdict in February, Schettino remains a free man and still has the right to two legal appeals which can take years to process, meaning he may never see the inside of a cell.

It wasnt until May 2015 that the cruise liner was towed away from its resting place, travelling more than 10 miles to a port in Genoa so it could finally be scrapped.

It became the most expensive maritime wreck recovery in history, with salvage and scrapping efforts estimated to have cost roughly 1.2billion.

Hundreds of casino chips, which are now worthless, lie scattered across the floor next to the ship's grand piano

The images are taken from a book by Jonathan Danko Kielkowski. Named Concordia, it features the photographs he took by swimming out to the wrecked cruise liner
Christopher Eugene Brooks, 43, is set to be executed tonight for the rape and murder of Jo Deann Campbell

A man who raped and bludgeoned a 23-year-old woman to death with a dumbbell in Alabama is set to be executed this evening.

Christopher Eugene Brooks will be put to death by lethal injection at 6pm CST unless the Supreme Court or Alabama's governor orders a stay of execution.

He will be the first prisoner executed in Alabama for two years and the first in the state to use a new lethal drug combination including the sedative midazolam.

Brooks, now 43, sexually assaulted Jo Deann Campbell in her own apartment in Homewood on December 30, 1992, before killing her with an eight-pound dumbbell.

The pair had met working at a nearby summer camp but were not romantically involved, her sister Corinne told WWLP.

Miss Campbell let Brooks and his friend Robert Leeper stay at her place for the night, but the next day she did not show up for work.

Police found the young woman's body, naked from the waist down, stashed under her bed.

Brooks and Leeper were caught days later after they were tracked down using Miss Campbell's credit card.

A bloody fingerprint belonging to Brooks was found on the doorknob in Mrs Campbell's bedroom, his palm print was discovered on her ankle and semen found on her body matched his DNA.

Brooks was found guilty of murder, rape and robbery whereas Leeper was only found guilty of robbery as DNA did not link him to Miss Campbell's body.

Brooks (left) sexually assaulted Jo Deann Campbell (right) before killing her with an eight-pound dumbbell

Miss Campbell's (pictured with her mother) body was found shoved underneath her bed and was naked from the waist down

Miss Campbell (left, and right with her father Joe Campbell) let Brooks and his friend Robert Leeper stay at her place for the night, but the next day she did not show up for work

Brooks' execution is set for 6pm CST (7pm EST) in the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. His victim's family are expected to attend the execution.

Local Birmingham CBS reporter Jamie Ostroff tweeted that his final meal request was two peanut butter cups and a Dr. Pepper, after Brooks did not eat breakfast.

He has appealed to the Supreme Court, but if that is denied his only other hope will be a stay of execution from Alabama Governor Robert Bentley, who did not halt the other six executions that have so far taken place on his watch.

A federal appeals court has already turned Brooks down.

The lethal injection used tonight will be the first in Alabama to use midazolam as a sedative. It will be the first of three drugs administered before the murderer's lungs and then heart are stopped.

In their appeal to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Brooks' attorneys said: 'Alabama intends to use an execution protocol on Brooks that has never been used in Alabama and that is the subject of two pending federal court cases.

'Brooks should not be the subject of Alabama's experiment to see if it can carry out an execution using this protocol while the very validity of the protocol is at issue in ongoing federal court proceedings.

'Brooks would suffer the most irreparable harm imaginable if Alabama was permitted to carry out his execution. This Court should grant a stay of execution.'

It is set to be the third lethal injection in the U.S. this year, following the executions of Oscar Ray Bolin Jr in Florida and Richard Masterson in Texas.

The last death row inmate executed in Alabama was Andrew Lackey, who broke into the home of 80-year-old Second World War veteran Charles Newman before stabbing him to death.
The moment he stole from a friend to buy heroin was the moment 'something shifted' in Australian comedian and actor Greg Fleet, who has had his slate wiped clean after admitting his crime.

Fleet was on Thursday granted a diversion by Magistrate Graeme Keil who deemed him 'worthy of a second chance' after he admitted the theft last year.

Fleet was arrested after a friend reported him to police for stealing $2,800 worth of jewellery and selling it to buy heroin.

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Actor and comedian Greg Fleet (pictured) had his slate wiped clean in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday, after admitting to stealing jewellery from a friend to feed his heroin addiction

Mr Fleet pleaded guilty to stealing a diamond ring and bracelet worth $2,800 from Fairfax Media journalist and ex-housemate Wendy Squires (pictured) in October, 2015

Fleet told the court he had discussed his habit on stage while he was trying to pretend it wasn't still happening

The well-known funny man told the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday he had been clean for 18 months and the drug was 'no longer on his radar'.

'After a very long time of being an addict it was probably the moment that shifted something in me,' Fleet said.

His long-standing drug addition has been fodder for his comedy acts, and he told the court he had discussed his habit on stage while he was trying to pretend it wasn't still happening.

'I almost became something of a professional addict,' he said.

The 53-year-old father of one said his addiction could 'come back at any time' but he didn't think it would.

'I remain vigilant, but enough time has passed,' Fleet said.

Defence lawyer Emily Buchanan said the crime had been a source of mortification for Fleet, and there had been repercussions for his family.

He had made numerous attempts at reparation and apologised many times, Ms Buchanan said.

The Melbourne-based performer said his addiction could 'come back at any time' but he didn't think it would

The 53-year-old father of one told the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday he had been clean for 18 months and the drug was 'no longer on his radar'

Prominent social campaigner Les Twentyman had come to court to provide a character reference, she told the court.

Mr Keil said Fleet's was a stressful industry with significant peaks and troughs.

Fleet, who has appeared on Full Frontal and Neighbours, thanked the court before walking free.

'I really do appreciate it,' he said.

The 53-year-old, who is famous for his stand up comedy, and appearing on television shows Full Frontal and Neighbours, has struggled with heroin addiction and the abuse of the drug ice for 20 years - much of which he detailed in a memoir released in August.

In his book These Things Happen, Mr Fleet recounts his grizzly addiction with methamphetamine in the early 2000s, according to an extract published by The Herald Sun.

'I have taken ice. I have smoked it, I have injected it, I have snorted it. Believe me, I am not bragging,' he wrote.

In an attempt to beat heroin, Mr Fleet had a naltrexone implant inserted, lasting for six months, to block the euphoric effects of the drug

But Mr Fleet and his girlfriend Catherine instead turned to ice, which made them 'insane' and violent

In an attempt to beat heroin, Mr Fleet had a naltrexone implant inserted, lasting for six months, to block the euphoric effects of the drug.

But Mr Fleet and his girlfriend Catherine instead turned to ice, which made them 'insane' and violent.

After six months of the horror ice had inflicted on them, Mr Fleet and his girlfriend gave up ice and began using heroin again which he continued to struggle with.

He now claims to be 18 months sober, and replied to a friend on Facebook in January with the line: 'the only place I put heroin these days is into the eyes of the Bourgeois!'

In his book These Things Happen, Mr Fleet recounts his grizzly addiction with methamphetamine in the early 2000
Mexican prison chiefs have hired a dog to test jailed cartel boss Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman's food for poison amid fears that someone might try and assassinate him.

The feared drugs lord was recaptured on January 8 some six months after he escaped through a tunnel from Altiplano high security prison.

Authorities are also investigating his relationship with opposition politician Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez, who is alleged to have used fraudulent documents to visit the crime boss in prison in April 2015, shortly before his dramatic escape.

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Mexican prison chiefs have hired a dog to test the food of drugs lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman, pictured

Mexican authorities also want to question politician Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez, pictured, about 'El Chapo'

El Chapo, pictured, was recaptured by Mexican authorities on January 8 and faces extradition to the US

Eduardo Guerrero, head of Mexico's prison system told Radio Imagen that the dogs would screen food intended for high risk inmates.

He said: 'A K9 tastes the food first because we must care for his physical integrity in case someone wants to poison him.'

Authorities have taken steps to prevent another escape, moving Guzman to a different cell 11 times since he was sent back to the prison.

Guerrero said: 'He was depressed when he arrived, tired, which is what he said in his first interview. He was very tired of being on the run.'

Officials gave Guzman a copy of the classic novel 'Don Quixote' because 'we think that it's an excellent book and I think that we must start giving him this type of reading material, so that he starts reading.'

Meanwhile, investigators are to quiz a politician about her relationship with the cartel leader.

Police were transporting Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez to Mexico City for questioning, Mexico's attorney general's office said.

SInce his return to prison, Mexican authorities have moved him to different cells 11 times in a fortnight

It is part of a probe into her alleged use of fraudulent documents to visit Guzman in April in the maximum security prison he escaped from a couple of months later.

The state politician, from Guzman's home of Sinaloa, has not been charged with any crime, but she resigned her position with the opposition National Action Party on Wednesday.

On Monday, El Universal newspaper published an interview with attorney general Arely Gomez in which she said the government believed Ms Sanchez spent New Year's Eve with Guzman in Sinaloa.
Nisham was arrested in 2013 for letting his son, 9, drive his Ferrari

An Indian multi-millionaire has been sentenced to life in jail for murder after he rammed his Hummer into a security guard for being slow in opening a gate.

Mohammed Nisham chased the guard with his SUV inside apartment complex in Kerala, south India, pinned him against a wall before getting out of the car and beating the man with an iron rod.

His victim K Chandrabose, 50, died a few days after the incident, which took place in January last year, after suffering severe internal bleeding and crush injuries.

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Guilty: Mohammed Nisham, 39, pinned the guard against a wall with his SUV for 'being too slow to open the gates' and beat him with an iron rod

'The court awarded life sentence for the murder and 24 years in jail for other offences,' the public prosecutor involved in the case, C.P Udayabhanu said.

'He is a repeat offender and we are satisfied with the judgement.

Nisham, 39, was also fined eight million rupees (83,000), half of which he must donate to the victim's family.

Nisham made his fortune from beedis, the hugely popular hand-rolled Indian cigarette packed with tobacco leaves, and also owns hotel and jewellery businesses in the Middle East..

Mohammed Nisham has been sentenced to life in prison and to pay an eight million rupees (83,000) fine

He is the proud owner of at least 18 high-end cars worth an estimated $4m (2.6m), including a Bentley and a Lamborghini.

In the past he has been accused of beating up a man who 'stole' his parking spot, as well as locking a female police officer in his Rolls Royce for having 'stopped and questioned him'.

In 2013, he was charged with allowing his son to drive his Ferrari F430, and was caught because he filmed the child behind the wheel and sharing it on social media.

This is not the first time his name has appeared in a criminal case, but until now, prosecutors have cited lack of evidence against him or simply ordered him to pay fines.

Reckless: Nisham has had several police cases filed against him, including one for allowing his nine-year-old son (above) to drive a Ferrari on a public road in 2013 which he filmed and posted on YouTube

Irresponsible: Nisham let his son take the wheel of the 127,000 supercar on his ninth birthday - with nobody else in the vehicle except for his six-year-old brother

Nisham has been named in 16 criminal cases - including for rape and attempted murder - CatchNews reports.

He let his nine-year-old son take the wheel of the 127,000 supercar on his birthday - with nobody else in the vehicle except for his six-year-old brother.

The boy drove it for several hundred metres along a road - all filmed by his proud family, who then uploaded the footage to YouTube.
The US Navy is planning to make job titles gender-neutral - putting the future of long-established names like 'midshipman' in doubt.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus ordered a review of all job titles to determine whether references to 'man' can be removed from positions such as seaman and yeoman.

The review was set up 'to ensure (titles) were representative of all sailors and did not discriminate based on gender', the Navy announced.

The US Navy is planning to make job titles gender-neutral - putting the future of long-established names like 'midshipman' in doubt

But the idea has already run into choppy waters after attracting criticism from former Republican presidential nominee John McCain, who retired from the Navy 35 years ago. Thousands of people took to social media to attack the plan.

McCain told Fox News: 'The United States Navy and Marine Corps have too many real enemies to defeat and deter.

'The Secretary of the Navy should have better things to do than adding the English language to the list.'

But others heralded the move as a positive step forward in gender equality.

John Richardson, the Chief of Naval Operations, was given the task of looking at references to 'man', which currently appears in 20 Navy titles.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus ordered a review of all job titles to determine whether references to 'man' can be removed from positions such as seaman and yeoman

He then brought in Mike Stevens, the Navy's master chief petty officer, to help lead the review.

And he is due to put together a working group that will produce a detailed report by April into which titles should be altered.

The group will 'canvass the fleet, talk with sailors to hear their thoughts, and provide recommendations based on feedback,' Fox News reports.

According to Navy Times, Stevens said rating titles have 'come and gone' numerous times over the last 250 years.

He said: 'We've done this somewhere around 700 times  we've stood up rates, we've stood down rates. I was talking to a corpsman the other day and guess what they used to be called? Pharmacist's mate. You could go down the list and so many rates have had different titles.'

SEXISM AT SEA: HOW REFERENCES TO MEN HAVE BECOME WIDESPREAD From famous phrases like 'man overbaord' and 'man the lifeboats' to even the most junior of job titles such as 'cabin boy', references to men remain widespread in terminology used on the high seas. While ships are handed female names and are christened by female 'sponsors' at their launching ceremony, seafaring slang and Navy jargon is awash with male-oriented phrases and words. There are the long-established Navy titles 'midshipman', 'yeoman' and 'seaman' as well as the positions of 'signalman', 'torpedoman's mate' and 'minemen'. The website Military.com lists US Navy job titles and includes a number of references to men. These are just some of the titles that may find themselves under review in the next few weeks. Yeomen: These staff are given clerical and administrative duties Torpedoman's Mates: Look after underwater explosive weapons Utilitiesmen: Maintain the likes of plumbing, heating and fuel storage Signalmen: Jobs include standing watch on signal bridges, operating voice radio and displaying ensigns and flags From famous phrases like 'man overbaord' and 'man the lifeboats' to even the most junior of job titles such as 'cabin boy', references to men remain widespread in terminology used on the high seas Ship's Servicemen: Operate shipboard retail and service activities using microcomputers Aircrew Survival Equipmentmen: Charged with keeping safety equipment such as life rafts and aviation survival gear in working order Personnelmen: Provide information and counseling about Navy activities to enlisted people Minemen: Task is to detect and neutralize underwater mines and test and assemble underwater explosive devices Machinery Repairmen: Replace or repair engine parts Hospital Corpsmen: Help to prevent injury and disease on board and provide medical care to Navy people and their families Fire Controlmen: Work with sophisticated electronic search and weapons control systems Enginemen: Work on internal combustion engines used to power Navy's ships and small craft Damage Controlmen: Look after damage control, firefighting, and warfare defense Advertisement

He said an engineman he had spoken to who was against the idea of changing his job title eventually suggested the idea of the position being renamed 'propulsion mechanic'.

Stevens said change 'needs to work it's way up through enlisted leadership so when they show up in Washington D.C. and go in my conference room and start working on this, that they are the voice of their people.'
A former Lord's Resistance Army commander ordered his men to cook and eat the flesh of abducted civilians and used rape to turn children into sex slaves or soldiers, a court has heard.

Dominic Ongwen, himself a former child soldier who rose through the ranks of Joseph Kony's rebel group, is also accused of slaughtering locals in a campaign of terror across Uganda.

Surrendering last January after years on the run as one of the world's most wanted criminals, he faces 70 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court.

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Dominic Ongwen (pictured), a former commander in the Lord's Resistance Army, stands in the courtroom of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where he is facing war crimes charges

Prosecutors say he ordered his men to cook and eat the flesh of captured civilians and used rape and brutalisation to turn children into child soldiers

Today's confirmation of charges hearing is a test for prosecutors who must convince judges that their case, hastily reinvestigated since his surrender, is strong enough to merit a trial.

Prosecutor Ben Gumpert told judges Kony found children easiest to shape by a process of brutalisation into the fighters he needed.

Ongwen, by turns generous and cruel, played a role in this.

Mr Gumpert said: 'Witnesses tell of how he instructed his personal escorts to administer dreadful beatings and... even, on at least one occasion, to kill, cook and eat civilians who had been abducted in attacks.'

Ongwen was the 'tip of the spear' of the group which sowed terror in northern Uganda, he claimed, and was one of the group's most senior commanders for more than a decade.

Prosecutors allege that from 2002 to 2005, Ongwen 'bears significant responsibility' for 'terrifying attacks' in northern Uganda when civilians were treated by the rebel group as 'the enemy'.

Dressed in a grey suit, lilac shirt and grey tie, Ongwen, who turned himself in to US special forces in January 2015, listened intently to the prosecutor.

He is alleged to have led attacks on four displaced persons camps into which civilians had been driven by the LRA's bloody campaign.

'This was not just a civil war between people in uniform, Mr Gumpert said. 'The LRA attacked ordinary Ugandan citizens who wanted no more than to live their lives.

'Large numbers lost their lives in indiscriminate acts of murder. Some were tortured in cruel ways.

'Hundreds were abducted to carry away the loot, and if they could not walk fast enough, they were beaten.'

Ongwen looked visibly uncomfortable during his appearance in court today, where he was accused of both generous and cruel with his subordinates in order to help brutalise children into becoming soldiers

'Nursing mothers whose babies slowed up the progress or who simply cried too loudly saw them killed or thrown into the bush and left behind,' Mr Gumpert said.

A video taken by Ugandan authorities showed thatched huts burned to the ground and abandoned corpses of children in shallow graves in the aftermath of an attack.

More than 130 people - many of them children and babies - died in these attacks and dozens of others were abducted, prosecutors said.

He added that Ongwen played a crucial role in transforming abducted children into soldiers, whom Kony saw as 'most easily molded into the ruthless killers he needed'.

They were forced to perform 'individual acts of torture and murder designed to convince recently abducted children that they were so steeped in blood that there could be no acceptance for them back in civilian society,' Mr Gumpert said.

Ongwen, first indicted in 2005 and sent to the court a year ago, is the only member of Kony's murderous army in the court's custody.

Kony remains free despite years of efforts in Northern Uganda and neighboring countries to track down and capture him.

Several other indicted members of the group, which rose against Ugandan President Yoweri Musuveni in the late 1980s, are believed dead.

Ongwen, born in 1975, was visibly ill at ease in an environment very different from that in which he had spent his life after being abducted as a child, rising to say he did not need to hear the charge sheet.

'Whether the charges are read or not, it is all going to be a waste of time,' he said in his native Achioli language through an interpreter. 'You may speak five words and only two are true.'

Joseph Kony, the leader of the insurgency, is one of the world's most wanted men due to his use of child soldiers and widespread war crimes

Mr Gumpert said Ongwen's own traumatic childhood could at most be a mitigating circumstance at sentencing.

'Child abusers are overwhelmingly likely to have been abused themselves as children,' he said.

Following the hearing, the judges will then have to determine if Ongwen should stand trial. Ten of the charges against Ongwen were kept secret for 'security reasons'.

Lawyers for Ongwen, who pleads not guilty, will argue for the charges to be dropped next week.

A former child-soldier-turned-warlord, Ongwen, whose surname translates to 'White Ant' in his native Acholi language, was Kony's one-time deputy.

The LRA is accused of slaughtering more than 100,000 people and abducting 60,000 children in its bloody rebellion against Kampala.

It first emerged in northern Uganda in 1986, where it claimed to fight in the name of the Acholi ethnic group against the government of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.

But over the years it has moved freely across porous regional borders, shifting from Uganda to sow terror in southern Sudan before heading into northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, and finally crossing into southeastern Central African Republic in March 2008.

Combining religious mysticism with a bent for astute guerrilla tactics and bloodthirsty ruthlessness, Kony has turned scores of young girls into his personal sex slaves while claiming to be fighting to impose the Bible's Ten Commandments.

Experts believe Ongwen fled after falling out with Kony and almost being killed.

It's believed Kony's forces are responsible for the deaths of more than 100,000 people and kidnapping 60,000 children
Muslim children in Britain are being forced to watch beheading videos with relatives, it was revealed today.

Nearly 2,000 young people have been referred to a Government de-radicalisation programme over the last four years, according to records released under Freedom of Information laws.

Some 415 children aged ten and under and 1,424 children aged 11 to 15 in England and Wales were referred to the Channel scheme, figures obtained by the National Police Chiefs' Council show.

Scheme: Nearly 2,000 young people have been referred to a Government de-radicalisation programme over the last four years, according to records released under Freedom of Information laws (file picture)

The 1,839 youngsters were earmarked for the programme, set up in the wake of the 2005 London bombings to stop youngsters falling into extremism, between January 2012 and December 2015.

The children were referred over fears that they were at risk of radicalisation, reported BBC News.

Concerns: Sally Bates, of the National Association of Head Teachers, said some young children had watched beheading videos with their family

Sally Bates, of the National Association of Head Teachers, said some young children had watched beheading videos with their family.

She told the BBC: That does raise a number of concerns and that's where I can understand that referrals are then made from teachers.

Since last July teachers have been legally obliged to report any suspected extremist behaviour to police as part of the Government's Prevent anti-radicalisation strategy.

It emerged yesterday that a ten-year-old Muslim boy had been quizzed by police after mistakenly writing that he lived in a terrorist house rather than a terraced house.

The youngster made the error during an English lesson at a school in Accrington, Lancashire, and the following day police arrived at his home to interview him and examine the family laptop.

Miqdaad Versi, assistant secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said yesterday that he was aware of dozens of cases similar to that of the schoolboy.

A London mother has now told of a similar incident after her 14-year-old son was questioned by counter-terrorism officials when he mentioned the word eco-terrorists in school.

Ifhat Shaheen told the BBC that he was taken aside at Central Foundation School in the Old Street area of the capital and asked if he was affiliated to the Islamic State group.

A teacher's job is to teach children and not to spy on children, she added.
sprawling mansion, called Buckland Newton Place, is located on the edge of Buckland Newton, Dorset

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The sumptuous rooms, elegant lawns and breathtaking Dorset views of Buckland Newton Place inspired Thomas Hardy to write some of his finest work.

And now the handsome Georgian mansion has gone on the market for a cool 3.25million.

The former vicarage is a Grade II listed home on the edge of Buckland Newton in Dorset and features seven bedrooms and five bathrooms.

Hardy called the hamlet Newland Buckton in his works and the Church of the Holy Rood, which sits next to this property, is mentioned in his 1887 novel The Woodlanders.

The author, whose novels include Far From the Madding Crowd, Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure, set most of his stories in the semi-fictional region of Wessex.

The lounge, part of the former vicarage, could have been an inspiration for Hardy who set stories in the semi-fictional region of Wessex

The stunning backdrop to the mansion with its sprawling landscape which leads up to the Dorset home on the edge of Buckland Newton

The handsome study area part of the home, which includes five bathrooms, two sitting rooms, a drawing room, dining room and library

Hardy's Wessex eventually included Dorset, Wiltshire, Somerset, Devon, Hampshire and much of Berkshire and the sites associated with his own life, which inspired the settings of most of his novels, continue to attract literary tourists and casual visitors.

The Woodlanders was Hardy's eleventh novel and was published in 1887. It is set in the woodland village of Little Hintock and focuses on the love triangle of characters Grace Melbury, Giles Winterbourne and Edred Fitzpiers.

The village features in the book when, returning from a secret meeting with his lover Felice Charmond, Fitzpiers hears the clock of 'Newland Buckton' church strike midnight.

Ed Sugden, from estate agents Savills, said: 'Hardy country is renowned as being beautiful rolling Dorset countryside and that's what this property offers.

'The modern houses are beginning to overtake period homes, but when you have a particular gem like Buckland Newton Place it stands out from all the others.

'We know that because of the number of people who are interested, it's attracting a lot of attention.'

This property, Buckland Newton Place, which was described by renowned architecture scholar Nikolaus Pevsner as 'characterful', sits next to the medieval church, parts of which date back to the 13th and 15th century.

Buckland Newton Place is being sold for 3.25million. The church on the left of the picture dates back to the 13th and 15th century

The dining area of the 18th century home was restored by the current owners who are selling because they are mostly based in London

The home is only 13 miles away from Hardy's birthplace in Higher Bockhampton. The writer was born in 1840 and died in 1928, aged 87

The red-brick house was built in the early 18th century and added to in about 1850, so would have been standing next to the church when the village inspired the author.

It has nine acres of sloping lawns, a small lake and paddocks, with spectacular views of the rolling countryside stretching out beyond.

It has been restored by the current owners, who have lived there for more than ten years, but are now selling as they are mostly based in London.

The seven-bedroom home has five bathrooms, two sitting rooms, a drawing room, dining room, study, library and kitchen.

A front view of the handsome 18th century mansion - the church next to it is mentioned in Thomas Hardy's 1887 novel The Woodlanders

It is full of 18th century features, including wood panelling, sash windows, decorative plasterwork, original fireplaces and flagstone floors.

The property also comes with a separate three-bedroom cottage with its own lane access, with garaging, stables and stores, ideal as staff accommodation or to host extra guests.

Mr Sugden added: 'It's in an elevated position overlooking the church and its own land.

'It really is a perfect Georgian-style home, with its period facade and sash windows.

'The current owners have also done a great job opening it up through extensive renovations over an 18-month to two year period.

'It's an ideal country house, surrounded by beautiful hills, as well as all the benefits of being close to the south coast and the sea.'
Doctor said he 'studied' the station 'for hours' in the

Dr Julius Awakame, 50, advised a patient to get help from a 24-hour church TV channel based in Nigeria because she might be possessed by demonic 'special forces'

A NHS psychiatrist advised a patient to get help from a 24-hour church TV channel based in Nigeria because she might be possessed by demonic 'special forces'.

Dr Julius Awakame, 50, recorded medical notes diagnosing the woman as having a history of 'satanic ritual abuse' and said her issues could not be addressed by regular treatment.

Instead he gave her the name of the television station run by a church in Lagos adding: 'neither psychiatry not psychology would be able to help because there are special forces at play.'

The woman - known as Patient A - claimed Awakame also told her to get 'nice holy water' before 'switching off' during the consultation at a health centre in Harwich, Essex.

When community psychiatric nurse Martin Rowe later quizzed Awkame whether she she was possessed, the medic replied: 'She may well be' and claimed she had been thrown out of her local church due to her condition.

The doctor's employment with the North Essex Partnership Foundation Trust was terminated the following month.

Today Awkame - who has since returned to his native Ghana - faced being struck off after he was found guilty in his absence at a medical tribunal of a number of misconduct charges.

The consultation took place on January 23 2014 when Awakame was treating the vulnerable woman as an outpatient.

The hearing, in Manchester, was told he was made aware she had a 'Dissociative Identity' - a personality disorder - and a 'history of previous satanic ritual abuse' before making a record of it in his notes.

But Awakame, formerly of Ipswich, then told Patient A she had been 'initiated through satanic ritual' and wrote down a website address for her to access.

He told her the TV station was 'specifically targeted for people who experienced similar situations.'

And he said her problems 'could only be addressed by the church' before he wrote down the name and suggested she write a book about her experiences.

He also told Patient A he had watched the TV station and said there were 'many people who had similar problems' to her.

The patient further claimed Awakame told her to ask the church to send her some 'nice holy water' to help with her problems. She later spoke to Mr Rowe about the encounter and the nurse quizzed Awakame.

When the nurse told Awakame that Patient A thought she might be 'possessed' he replied: 'She may well be.'

The doctor also said he 'studied' the TV station 'for hours' and said the woman's church had recognised she was possessed and had thrown her out.

Speaking of her emotional state following the meeting, Patient A said: 'I had pretty much switched off after hearing Dr Awakame tell me that no psychiatrist or psychologist could help me as throughout my childhood my parents had told me that no one would believe me and no one would help me'.

Awakame was reported to a consultant psychiatrist at the Trust by Mr Rowe the day after the consultation.

Following an investigation he was subsequently sacked and referred to the General Medical Council.

Awakame, who worked in various hospitals in the NHS from 1997 to 2014, will be disciplined next month by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service.

He is currently working as a lecturer in 'health informatics' in his home country where he graduated in medicine in 1993.

Awakame, who worked for North Essex Partnership Foundation Trust (pictured), faces being struck off after being found guilty of misconduct charges

He studied for a masters degree at the University College of London and a PhD at the University of Leeds.

In an email to the panel he said he had left clinical medicine and added: 'I consider all these proceedings flogging of a dead horse. But I understand the GMC has to go through the motions.'

He said he did not have the 'time or resources' to be involved in the proceedings.

David Kyle, chairman of the fitness to practise panel dismissed a claim that Awakame had asked Patient A to get 'nice holy water.'

But he said: 'The Tribunal explored the possibility of Patient A being biased as well as considering her overall reliability. In the event, the Tribunal did not consider there was any such bias.

'Her oral evidence to the Tribunal was consistent with her written statement. Despite the lapse of time and her complex mental health problems, she was a reliable and credible witness who was doing her best to give an accurate account of events.

'There is unchallenged evidence that at an early stage of the consultation Dr Awakame knew about the patient's diagnosis and previous history.
Killed: Saint Landry Parish Sheriffs Office SWAT team shot 40 year old Timothy R. Albert after he threatened to shoot his girlfriend with a rifle

Authorities in central Louisiana have fatally shot a man after a four-hour hostage standoff with police at a home.

St. Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby Guidroz tells news outlets that 40-year-old Timothy R. Albert died from two gunshot wounds after police entered the home near Port Barre on Wednesday afternoon.

Authorities say Albert was armed and had barricaded himself inside the home, where he was holding his girlfriend hostage.

Guidroz says Albert pointed a high-powered rifle at officers when they entered. Shots were fired and Albert was hit. He was taken to a hospital, where he died. The woman was unharmed.

Deputies responded to a neighbors call saying that Albert, armed with a rifle, was chasing a woman in the yard. She was later identified as his girlfriend, 34 year old Mindy Babineaux.

He then allegedly dragged her by the arm into the trailer. When deputies arrived, they saw the rifle and Albert barricaded himself in a back room.

Police had arrived to the scene around 11 a.m. Authorities say a three-year-old child was safely removed from the home after the standoff began.

St. Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby Guidroz says the situation was personal because he knew Albert and his family.

Call out: Deputies responded to a neighbors call saying that Albert, armed with a rifle, was chasing a woman in the yard. She was later identified as his girlfriend, 34 year old Mindy Babineaux who was unharmed

Repeat offender: St. Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby Guidroz says the situation was personal because he knew Albert and his family. Guidroz says Albert had a history of aggravated assault and two outstanding warrants

According to court records in St. Landry Parish, Albert was arrested twice in 2015, once for simple assault and resisting by flight and again in September for domestic abuse battery.

He was also arrested in 2011 for domestic abuse battery and in 1998 for distribution of drugs.

He told KLFY authorities exhausted all measures before using deadly force.

'We had a negotiator here who does an excellent job. She tried to convince him to put the weapon down and come out. We had the local preacher who knew Timothy Albert.'

The standoff ended when deputies heard Albert threaten to shoot his girlfriend.

'It happened fast. I can tell you that when he made the comment that he was going to shoot her, we didn't hear her say a word. We went in and shot tear gas.'

Aftermath: The standoff ended when deputies heard Albert threaten to shoot his girlfriend. Police say they exhausted all measures before using deadly force

Guidroz says deputies shot Albert when he leveled his weapon toward them.

Albert and Babineaux had two children.

Babineaux was also unharmed, although she is apparently upset with the way deputies responded.

'She's got feelings for the guy and she thought we could resolve this by leaving the scene and letting him keep the rifle. We had to end the threat. We did what we had to do, unfortunately we had to take him out.'
Malherbe Francois (pictured) gunned down Beauglais Bazelais on the doorstep of his own home in North Miami-Dade, Florida

A homeless man has been jailed for 15 years for murdering his cross-dressing voodoo priest lover who he claimed had threatened to kill him with 'magic' powder.

Malherbe Francois gunned down Beauglais Bazelais on the doorstep of his own home in North Miami-Dade, Florida, following a heated row in February 2013.

A court how Francois, 24, feared Bazelais, 44, was plotting to kill him with a powder concoction he had in a bottle.

He accepted a plea deal admitting to second degree murder rather than claiming self-defense during a trial.

According to the Miami Herald, prosecutors said the case was made more complicated by the 'religious undertones'.

Bazelais' body was found by police outside his home in the 1000 block of Northwest 113th Terrace.

According to a police report, he was a voodoo priest who 'charges money for casting spells and healing' and had a room specifically for voodoo rituals which included animal sacrifice.

Police say the cross-dresser invited homeless Francois to live with him. Francois is said to have told officers Bazelais drugged him before they first had sex and they went on to become lovers.

Hours before his death, Bazelais was in North Miami-Dade cemetery to 'collect souls for a voodoo ceremony', Miami Herald reports.

He later returned home with another Haitian man and a 'spirit' and called Francois over.

When he arrived, the report claims, there were a number of men watching ritual videos and Francois started packing to leave. But Bezelais is said to have shouted: 'I could do what the hell I want and Im going to make sure you are dead.'

After Francois took hold of a Glock .40-caliber pistol Bazelais is then said to have started 'walking toward him with a white or yellow magic substance on his hands,' the police report said, according to the Miami Herald.

Three shots were fired and Francois left, later calling police from a gas station to report what had happened.
The families of the three London teenage jihadi brides have said that two of them 'are already widows' after their new husbands died fighting for ISIS extremists.

Shamima Begum, Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase fled the UK last year and were last heard living in the 'hellishly dangerous' ISIS capital of Raqqa.

In an interview with Vice News, it was revealed the families had been told all three girls were married to approved men, with two of the husbands dying within months.

Tasnime Akunjee, a lawyer representing two of the families, said Amira had married an Australian jihadi who was killed in combat, while Kadiza's new husband had also died.

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Widows: Amira Abase, left, and Kadiza Sultana are thought to have lost their husbands since fleeing to Syria in February last year

Runaways: From left to right, Amira Abase, Kadiza Sultana and Shamima Begum. All three have now lost contact with their families in London

The three schoolgirls from East London ran away from home nearly a year ago after apparently becoming radicalised by extremists.

A lawyer for their relatives revealed earlier this week that they have not been heard from for several weeks as ISIS territory has been bombarded by Western and Russian air strikes.

Solicitor Tasnime Akunjee said that communications in Raqqa, the town where ISIS is based, have become harder as the bombing campaign has intensified.

'They are in Raqqa, or were there certainly up until a few weeks ago,' he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

He agreed it was a 'hellishly dangerous ' place and added 'contact has been lost with them for some weeks now, so to be honest we have no idea what their status is at the moment'.

Mr Akunjee suggested that Western governments' attempts to cut off ISIS's links with the outside world had hampered the families' attempts to stay in touch with their daughters.

'When you have that warzone strategy in front of you, what can parents half-way across the world do to communicate with their children?', he said.

Contact: Shamima Begum, left, and her friends are stranded in war-torn Raqqa, according to their lawyer Tasnime Akunjee, right

The lawyer - who has represented a string of alleged extremists and called on Muslims not to co-operate with the police - was speaking after the announcement of a new Government anti-terror strategy.

Education Secretary Nicky Morgan was visiting Bethnal Green Academy, where the missing girls were at school, to reveal the plans.

A new website called Educate Against Hate will advise parents on how to tell if their children are at risk of being radicalised and flag up potentially worrying behaviour.

Meanwhile, schools watchdog Sir Michael Wilshaw said that teachers should be free to ban girls from wearing face veils in class 'if it is stopping good communication'.

Mr Akunjee said he was sceptical about the initiative and suggested that the existing counter-terror programme, Prevent, had 'collected criticism all along the route'.

Danger: The three schoolgirls are living in ISIS-held territory in Syria (file photo)

He added: 'I would agree that something needs to be done, surely. The difficulty is in trusting in a system that has continued to produce, frankly, no results, and indeed attract criticism from pretty much every source there possibly could be.'

The lawyer, who works for a firm in Brentford, West London, once described Prevent as 'straightforward, paid-for spying on the community'.

Shamima, 16, Kadiza, 17, and Amira, 16, went missing in February last year and were caught on camera flying from Gatwick to Istanbul.

It emerged in July that at least two of the girls had married older men who were chosen for them by ISIS commanders.

At the time Mr Akunjee suggested that the trio were 'starting to grow roots socially, and deep roots', meaning that they may never return to Britain.

The girls' families blamed the police for failing to intervene and stop them travelling to Syria.
Judge Hilary Watson has made a number of disturbing findings about a case she has been asked to look into by Coventry City Council

Children were made to perform 'sexual activities' with each other and animals at a hotel, a family court judge has concluded.

Social workers from Coventry City Council had asked Judge Hilary Watson to investigate a series of allegations made by a number of children in their care.

The judge has now made a number of shocking findings of facts after analysing evidence at a court hearing in the city.

She said the allegations were made by four children aged between eight and 14 against a man they knew.

No one was identified in her written ruling, in which limited detail about the incidents was made public.

The children spoke of travelling to Birmingham on a bus and indicated that the hotel was in the city. They also indicated that activities had been recorded on video.

Judge Watson said some of the 'suggestions' might seem 'fantastical', but concluded they were probably a 'grim reality'.

She said: 'In my judgment, the children are telling the truth when they describe being taken... to a hotel where they had wine and tablets and were made to perform sexual acts watched by other people.

'It is suggested that the accounts are not to be believed because the children report sexual activity with (a) dog and other animals. A rabbit was described as being frightened ... and running off.

'Such suggestions might seem fantastical but become a grim reality when seen in the context of my findings that the children have been made to perform sexual activities with each other for the sexual gratification of (the man), for the video camera, and for other people.'

The judge added: 'It is highly probable that the children were made to perform sexual acts on animals.'

Judge Watson said police were involved in the case but she did not reveal whether anyone has been charged with any offence.

Judge Watson said the man at the centre of the case had denied all allegations.

The allegations were raised to social workers at Coventry City Council (whose headquarters are pictured)

She said: 'He told the court the children are not telling the truth... He is unable to offer any explanation for why the children should lie and can only guess that they have observed sexual activity of this sort in films.'

She said the man had denied harming children or threatening them.

But Judge Watson made a series of findings against him and said he had 'orchestrated' sexual activity between children.

'(He) created a climate of fear and the children were compliant to his requests through fear,' the judge concluded.

'He threatened them with violence which was not used because the threat was enough.'
A lawyer for her family has now claimed they believe she was a 'victim'

Aitboulahcen died alongside him in a shootout with French special forces

Hasna Aitboulahcen's family claim she was not armed and was 'murdered'

Hasna Aitboulahcen's family are suing French police, claiming she was 'murdered' when she was killed in a shootout alongside Paris attacks mastermind Abdelhamid Abaaoud

French prosecutors today said a female jihadi who was killed in a police raid after the Paris attacks died of asphyxiation - however her family claim she was murdered.

Hasna Aitboulahcen, 26, died in a Saint-Denis apartment alongside Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the ringleader of the attacks.

Proescutors said she died of asphyxiation after another fanatic's suicide vest was detonated.

But her family's lawyer Fabien N'Doumou said she may have been shot by police.

Today the families of Boulahcen and Tarek Belgacem, who was in his 30s, began legal proceedings against the police claiming their loved ones were not carrying weapons when they were 'murdered' by officers.

Aitboulahcen died five days after the November 13 Islamic State terror attacks on Paris, in which 130 innocent people were killed.

She was in a hideout in the northern suburb of St Denis, when thousands of rounds of gunfire were poured inside by police commandos.

Aitboulahcen died alongside her cousin Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the Belgian-Moroccan ringleader of the attacks, and Chakib Akrouh, another suspected terrorist.

But Aitboulahcen's family believe she was innocent of any wrongdoing, and should have been given the chance to give herself up.

Fabien Ndoumou, lawyer for her family, said: 'I consider that Hasna Aitboulahcen is a victim.

'She was under pressure from her cousin who threatened her family and the families of her friends.'

Aitboulahcen's mother, sister and brother have filed a complaint against persons unknown for terrorism and murder on January 13 with Paris anti-terrorist judge Christophe Teissier.

The same kind of complaint has also been filed by the father of Belgacem, who was shot by police outside a Paris police station on January 7.

He allegedly approached police with a meat cleaver and was wearing a fake suicide bomb vest, while shouted 'Allahu Akbar'.

But his family said many of these details were fabricated by the police, and point to the fact that detectives refuse to release video of what really happened.

Police said they found a handwritten note on Belgacem's body in which he pledged allegiance to ISIS, but his father, Taoufik Belgacem, said this was planted.

Mr Belgacem said his son was 'normal, like all young people, a good person', and said complaint of manslaughter had been lodged against the policeman who shot him dead.

He added: 'They could have fired at him without killing him.' Police have, in turn, denied any wrongdoing and indicated they would contest the complaints.

Firefighters and police officers gather at the Saint-Denis flat where Aitboulahcen was killed alongside her cousin on November 18
A law graduate subjected his former lecturer to a hate campaign after the academic bumped into him in a corridor, a court heard.

Luke Harker sent abusive emails to law professor Christian Twigg-Flesner after the accidental collision in 2012.

In one email, Harker told the academic: 'I would love to throw you on your head and break your glasses.'

Harker has now been was handed a decade-long restraining order for the abusive messages he sent the Hull University lecturer.

Law graduate Luke Harker (left) has been left with his career in tatters after he was given a restraining order for stalking his former lecturer, Christian Twigg-Flesner (right), and sending him abusive messages

Scarborough Magistrates Court heard that over a two-month period, 26-year-old Harker sent several threats to the academic, who was at the time on blood-thinning medication for a health problem.

They included one message calling his former lecturer a 'greedy negroid Jew', despite the fact that the victim was neither Jewish nor black.

Professor Twigg-Flesner said in his victim statement: 'Initially I thought it was a hoax. I am taking Warfarin and any blow to the head could be potentially fatal.'

The spark for the hate campaign was a chance encounter in a corridor while Harker was a second year student, the court heard.

Katy Varlow, prosecuting, said the professor's failure to move out of the defendant's way triggered a strange obsession from the student.

She said: 'He felt aggrieved that it was done on purpose. He retained his ill feeling, and it built up before he let him know how he felt - this was completely unprovoked.'

Harker then fired off a series of emails between last August and October.

In the end - and despite his boasts about his intellect and superior linguistic skills - Harker was snared after sending them from the email account he'd registered with the university.

The court heard how Professor Twigg-Flesner, a commercial law lecturer, was shocked by the content of the emails.

The hate campaign was sparked when the pair accidentally collided in a corridor at Hull University

In police interview, Harker claimed he had called the professor a 'Jew' because in his opinion, he had a Middle Eastern look.

Miss Varlow added: 'The victim is neither of African origin nor is he Jewish, he describes himself as white European.'

Harker admitted a sole charge of racial aggravated harassment without violence but escaped jail. He is prohibited from contacting the professor or visiting the university's campus.

As well as the restraining order, he was handed an 18 week sentence, suspended for two years, and will carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.

His solicitor Robert Vining said: 'I've personally told the defendant this conviction means his chosen (legal) career has now effectively ended.'

He said that the only explanation his client had offered for his behaviour was that after failing to kickstart his legal career, he'd began feeling under a enormous amount of pressure which forced the ill-will towards his old lecturer to boil over.

The court heard that Harker, of Scarborough, had previously been cautioned for harassing a female co-student in 2014.

He had hoped to launch a legal career, but two years after graduating he is currently unemployed and living with his parents.
A dog owner who told a woman her Jack Russell was attacking her because it doesnt like Muslims, is facing a possible jail sentence.

Candice Legister said Fiona Connolly, 43, laughed in her face after making the offensive remark as she walked through Little Wormwood Scrubs Park in the borough of Kensington and Chelsea, southwest London.

Connolly watched on as her pet raced towards Candice Legister and chewed at her dress, Westminster Magistrates' Court heard.

Crime: Fiona Connolly, pictured, was found guilty of the racially aggravated harassment of Candice Legister

The next day Miss Legister bumped into Connolly in Tesco Express in Kensington and Chelsea, and asked her if she was sober.

She said Connolly replied: Yes, you stupid black b***h.

Speaking about the incident in the park, Miss Legister told the court Connolly made the comments as she was trying to shake the Jack Russell off.

She explained: I said would you please keep the dog away from me?

She laughed and said no because my dog doesnt like Muslims.

I said to her how dare you.

I explained to her that I was a Christian and this had nothing to do with the matter.

Connolly denied making either remark and said she had ahalf-Muslim, half-Catholic daughter.

She also denied she was a racist, despite having convictions for three racially aggravated offences.

She said: I have lots of mixed culture friends from different religions, shes making it up.'

Connolly was convicted of using racially threatening language in 2010 and was convicted for racially aggravated criminal damage and racially aggravated common assault in 2012.

Referring to her conviction in 2010, she said: I was in a nightclub, I was attacked by a bouncer and the camera evidence went missing.

Senior district judge Howard Riddle found Connolly guilty of racially aggravated harassment during the confrontation in Tesco on July 15, noting her inconsistent account of the events.

Victim: Miss Legister, pictured, said that Connolly called her a 'stupid black bitch' outside a supermarket

However, he cleared her of religiously aggravated harassment the day before.

He said: In the circumstances I am satisfied that she did say 'my dog doesnt like Muslims.'

That in itself may or may not be an offensive comment but it isnt a threatening comment in its own right.

On that basis Im not sure that the religious element is made out.

Judge Riddle said that Connolly probably wasnt racist in the ordinary sense of the word, but, given her previous convictions, it is clear that she makes racist comments when she has been drinking.

Referring to the confrontation in Tesco, Judge Riddle said he accepted Miss Legister's account of events.

The incident involving Connolly's Jack Russell happened at Little Wormwood Scrubs park in Chelsea, pictured

He said: I have heard the effect that had on the young mother.

Im sure that the facts are made out and Im sure that the racially aggravated offence on July 15 is made out, so on that matter I find you guilty.

Connolly, of Kensington, will be sentenced for racially aggravated harassment on January 29.
Evan Patrick Cater, from Madison Heights, who has been charged with trespassing on a neighbour's property

A Virginia man has been charged with trespassing after he was allegedly caught on his neighbour's property hiding behind a dog kennel with a gun, a camouflage mask and bacon coated in a 'suspicious' oil.

Evan Patrick Cater, from Madison Heights, is also facing a charge of public intoxication after neighbor Bobby Wood spotted him in his back yard after being alerted by his dogs.

Mr Wood said he shouted towards Cater and asked him to leave but when he didn't respond, he called the police.

He appeared before Amherst General District Court yesterday charged with felony wearing a mask in public, misdemeanor trespassing, public intoxication and carrying a gun while intoxicated. He will next appear in front of a Grand Jury.

According to the Lynchburg News and Advocate, Cater is accused of hiding behind the dog gun with the mask and a 9mm handgun.

He was also carrying a bag of bacon, which was covered in an 'unknown oily substance.'

A sheriff's deputy, who testified in court said that when they arrived at the scene, they talked to the suspect who smelled of alcohol and claimed he was just relaxing.

It was then that he was detained by police after the incident in October last year.

Mr Wood also told the court that his wife had heard Cater shooting firearms in his own neighbouring backyard and reported him to authorities.

This prompted Cater to speak out against a 'no-shoot' zone, which included his home and part of the street, after it was approved by authorities.

He appeared before a meeting of Amherst Board of Supervisors and told them he had been shooting an assault rifle and other automatic firearms in his backyard.
Shocking footage has been released of a Russian bomber exploding shortly before it was due to take off in Ukraine.

The Tu-95 Bear plane was beginning its run at an airfield in Ukrainka in the Kiev Oblast province when part of the left wing suddenly exploded, causing the plane to tip to its left.

As a huge plume of smoke and fire emerges from the rear of the vehicle it skids off the runway and onto a field in a ball of flames.

The bomber was preparing for take-off in Ukraine when an explosion occurred on its left wing

The Tu-95 then veered off the runway and crashed, with two people on board said to have been killed

The Russian government is said to have grounded all Tu-95s (pictured) after the crash

The incident took place last June but the video has only just emerged in the past 24 hours and has been uploaded to YouTube.

It is understood two of the five-man crew were killed in the explosion, while the Russian Ministry of Defence suspended all Tu-95 flights following the crash.

According to The Aviationist, in a statement released last year a Russian government spokesman blamed the incident on engine failure and said the plane was not carrying ammunition.

The four-engine turboprop-powered strategic bomber was believed to be more than 60 years old.

Despite the ban, another Bear class aircraft then crashed a month later in July 2015 while on a training mission near Khabarovsk in eastern Russia.

An RAF Typhoon jet escorts a Russian Tu-95 Bear bomber away from UK airspace in September 2012

Tu-95s have previously been spotted flying close to UK airspace in recent years, with RAF bombers dispatched last year to escort them away from around Scotland.

The Ministry of Defence confirmed last April that Typhoon jets were scrambled from RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland to meet the Bears and lead them away.

Two Bears were also spotted near Bournemouth last January with a carbon-copy response from the RAF.
A pair of male prostitutes have been jailed for 25 years each for murdering their florist client in his New York apartment and then telling police he accidentally died during rough sex.

Juan Carlos Martinez-Herrera and Edwin Faulkner were found guilty of murder, kidnapping and robbery by a Manhattan jury in October - two years after John Laubach was suffocated to death.

Laubach, 57, a regular client of the prostitutes, was discovered tied to a bed post with an electrical cord in March 2012. His hands and feet were tied together and he had duct tape over his mouth.

Juan Carlos Martinez-Herrera (right) and Edwin Faulkner (left) were found guilty of murder, kidnapping and robbery by a Manhattan jury in October - two years after John Laubach was suffocated to death

Sentencing yesterday, Justice Bonnie Wittner said Laubach has been kind to the escorts and let them showed and leave their clothes at his home.

She also rejected defense suggestions that the death had been accidental during a rough sex session, the New York Daily News reports.

The newspaper said Laubach's friend Steven Kopf told the court that Faukner, 33, was a 'soulless drone' and described Martinez-Herrera, 35, as a 'manipulative, self-serving, greedy little b***h'.

Together, he said, the pair wre a 'deadly combination for sure'.

After the sentencing, District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance said: 'The defendants in this case displayed an utter disregard for human life.

'Thanks to the work of my Offices prosecutors, they must now take responsibility for their horrendous crimes.'

During the trial it was revealed that although Laubach's Chelsea apartment had clearly been ransacked, cops found no signs of forced entry.

An autopsy later revealed Laubach's cause of death was asphyxiation.

John Laubach (pictured) was discovered dead in March 2012.

Following the grim discovery, Martinez-Herrera and Faulkner were arrested on suspicion of killing Laubach, who was well-known in his neighbourhood for carrying his pet parrot on his shoulder,

They told police that the victim - whom the court heard 'regularly paid' young Hispanic males for sex - had accidentally suffocated to death during a particularly rough sex session at his apartment.

But jurors at Manhattan's Supreme Court found the two prostitutes guilty of first-degree murder following less than a day of deliberations.

Faulkner's lawyer, Daniel Scott, had earlier addressed the court, saying the killing was accidental.

'John Laubach died engaged in raw sex for which no one is criminally responsible,' he said.

Martinez-Herrera, meanwhile, testified in his own defense.

He claimed that Laubach was performing a sex act on him when he turned 'purple and blue'.

He added that Faulkner had told him to leave Laubach strapped to the bed on March 2, 2012, because police would not believe that he had died accidentally, the Daily News reported.

They stole valuables from the victim to make it look like a botched robbery, he said.

The two men fled to Florida after the killing, where they were arrested. It is thought police were able to catch them after monitoring their cell-phone activity.

Both Faulkner and Martinez-Herrera are no strangers to the law. Faulkner has several prior arrests, including drug possession and selling fake marijuana.
The United States has confirmed they are stepping up efforts to help Turkey stop ISIS militants from sneaking over their borders from Syria.

U.S. officials have confirmed that they will offer anti-tunnelling technology and aerostate surveillance balloons to Ankara so they can seal the last piece of unsecured border, that has served as a thoroughfare for ISIS fighters, black-market goods and war material.

They also said that they would also be prepared to share methods for detecting the materials used in improvised explosive devices.

An ISIS flag can be seen fluttering on a hill in the town of Tel Abyad in Syria close to the country's border with Syria. The United States has confirmed they are stepping up efforts to help Turkey stop ISIS militants from sneaking over the border

ISIS controls the Syrian side of the border and the effort to secure it assumed new urgency after November's deadly Paris attacks.

It is believed some of those who launched the attacks used or attempted to use the Syria-Turkey border to travel between ISIS-held territory and Europe.

Tomorrow U.S. vice president Joe Biden is due to arrive in Turkey and will meet with President Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to discuss the fight against ISIS.

Turkish steps to secure the border include the deployment of 25,000 more regular army troops and the installation of concrete barriers and fences.

Still, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter told Congress last month that 'Turkey must do more to control its often porous border' with Syria.

During a visit by Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Joseph Dunford two weeks ago, Turkey proposed that the United States train a group of Sunni Arabs to help secure the area on the Syrian side of the border.

But U.S. officials said that they want to know more about the proposed fighters before agreeing to support them.

U.S. officials have confirmed that they will offer anti-tunnelling technology and aerostate surveillance balloons to Ankara so they can seal the last piece of unsecured border. Pictured is a refugee camp on the Turkey/Syria border

It comes as U.S.-Turkish discussions have been complicated by competing priorities.

Turkey is focused on containing Kurdish separatists and the United States has the stated aim of destroying Islamic State militants who control areas of Syria and Iraq.

A senior U.S. defense official said: 'We can try to move ISIS up in sort of the priority ranking but when somebody perceives something as a true existential threat, it's difficult to argue with that.'

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson visited Turkey in an effort to respond to that Washington has not been specific about steps it wants Turkey to take.

But an official said: 'We have made a list, a much more specific list. And that will be filtered through ... their view of the problem and what's feasible, what they think they can do.'

The Homeland Security secretary's visit culminates lower-level talks that have been going on since August.
Police are looking to trace the family of this pensioner who was found wandering in a remote Herefordshire village and cannot remember how he got there or who he is

Police are looking to trace the family of a North American pensioner who was found wandering in a remote Herefordshire village and cannot remember how he got there or who he is.

The grey-haired man was discovered by two passers-by who saw him looking lost in the tiny country parish of Credenhill on November 7 last year.

He was taken to Hereford County Hospital where he told doctors his name was Roger Curry but said he could not remember anything else about himself.

West Mercia Police have since been unable to identify him despite contacting nursing homes, care agencies, local authorities and neighbouring forces.

They also believe Roger Curry is not his real name and is actually a friend of the pensioner who has since died.

The mystery pensioner speaks with an American or Canadian accent but detectives have also drawn a blank internationally after contacting the embassies of both countries.

Doctors say he is displaying signs of dementia but have no records of him ever receiving treatment.

Police today released photographs of the man in the hope a friend or relative will recognise him.

Adam Vanner, missing persons co-ordinator at West Mercia Police, said: 'We checked CCTV in the area where Roger was found to see if we could retrace his steps.

'We contacted nursing homes, care agencies, local authorities and neighbouring police forces.

'We ran his fingerprints through our database and put out a national broadcast to every force to see if he matched with any of their missing people.

'Roger does not say much but speaks with either an American or Canadian accent, so we contacted both embassies.

'We notified the Missing Persons Bureau and our corporate communications put out an appeal through the local media.'

Mr Vanner confirmed that their first public appeal for information had been positive, with one person getting in touch saying they recognised the man, saying they believed he had served in the Army in Hereford.

The police have now contacted the man who would be his ex-commanding officer and are in the process of checking records of all ex-servicemen dating back to the Second World War.

However, the name provided by the caller has yet to offer up a match.

The grey-haired man was discovered by two passers-by who saw him looking lost in the tiny country parish of Credenhill on November 7 last year. He was taken to Hereford County Hospital where he told doctors his name was Roger Curry but said he could not remember anything else about himself

Police have described the man as white, tall and of slim build with grey hair, blue eyes and grey stubble.

He is said to squint, so may normally wear glasses. He was found wearing a black hooded top, black jogging trousers, grey and blue socks and trainers.

A spokesperson for West Mercia Police added: 'Following all lines of enquiry, we have yet to receive any missing person reports of a man matching his description or going by the name Roger Curry, but enquiries are ongoing to establish if he has been reported missing by family or friends nationally or internationally.

The mystery pensioner (pictured) speaks with an American or Canadian accent but detectives have also drawn a blank internationally after contacting the embassies of both countries

'Officers are eager to hear from anyone who can identify him from his photo.'

Herefordshire Council is currently paying for Roger's care but said the Department for Work and Pensions will not give funding without knowing his true identity.

Mandy Appleby, the authority's head of safeguarding, said: 'Roger is currently in a supportive care environment in a residential home in Herefordshire.

'Unfortunately, since he was found he has not been able to communicate anything about himself, his background or even his real name.

'If we can identify who Roger is and better understand his background, we can ensure he's receiving the right care to meet his needs.'

Louise Vesely-Shore, from the National Crime Agency's Missing Persons Bureau, said they only saw 'a handful' of people in Roger's situation each year and most were identified 'quite quickly'.

She added: 'People with no memory are often taken to hospital to see if there is a physical or mental issue which requires treatment.

'They could have been in a car crash and have a head injury or suffer from dementia.

'Treatment can sometimes help them to remember pieces of information which can help identify them.'
For the latest on the migrant crisis visit www.dailymail.co.uk/migrantcrisis

Comes as German president said it was 'necessary' to limit refugee influx

Some cases held in Cologne which suffered mass sex attacks by migrants

on decision whether they can stay

They have been waiting more than year

The German government has announced that border checks on migrants will 'continue indefinitely' as the country faces unprecedented levels of immigration.

Speaking to German radio station MDR, interior minister Thomas de Maiziere admitted the new restrictions, introduced in September, will remain for the foreseeable future.

He said 'I don't foresee a moment when we can end it.'

Glum: Angela Merkel has come under increasing pressure over her open-doors migrant policy as it emerged more than 200 migrants were suing her government for taking too long to process their asylum applications. Pictured right: Migrants walk in the so-called 'Mahgreb Quarter' in Duesseldorf, Germany

The admission comes as Chancellor Angela Merkel is coming under increasing pressure domestically from opponents to the country's liberal immigration regime, and from migrants complaining the process is taking too long.

According to EU Observer, many German politicians want to see dramatic reductions in the number of people seeking asylum from the war-torn Middle East.

Meanwhile, indignant refugees in Germany are suing Angela Merkel's government, claiming it is taking too long to process their asylum applications.

More than 200 migrants in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia have launched a lawsuit against the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees because they have been waiting over a year for a decision on whether they can stay in Germany.

Migrants pass into Macedonia from the northern Greek village of Idomeni. News of the lawsuits came on the same day that German president Joachim Gauck told global financial and political players gathered at Davos for their annual conference that it is 'morally and politically necessary' to limit Europe's refugee influx

Migrants carry blankets distributed by non-governmental organisations after their arrival at a refugee camp in the northern Greek village of Idomeni. About 1,000 refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq are stranded after Macedonian authorities stopped letting them through, citing problems with transit flows further north

The cases being heard in several courts across the state  including Cologne which witnessed a terrifying frenzy of sexual attacks against women by migrants on New Year's Eve  allege 'inactivity' on the part of officials.

News of the lawsuits came on the same day that German president Joachim Gauck told global financial and political players gathered at Davos for their annual conference that it is 'morally and politically necessary' to limit Europe's refugee influx.

Failure to do so, he warned, gave ammunition to extremists, adding: 'Limits are not unethical: they help to maintain acceptance within society.'

This goes against the policy of Chancellor Merkel who refuses to say just how many people are enough, even as her popularity slips and her countrymen fear that they can cope with no more.

Germany's refugee authortiy (BAMF) is struggling to cope with the backlog of refugee applications following the arrival of more than million people last year. In all there are 360,000 unprocessed applications in the bureaucratic logjam.

Even the justice minister for North Rhine-Westphalia, Thomas Kutschaty, said he understood the anger of migrants, adding; 'Uncertainty about when an asylum application will finally be decided drives many people to despair.

'It can't be the case that asylum seekers are forced to take legal action against the state after crossing the border, so that it finally makes a decision about their application.'

Court sources told Germany's Rheinische Post newspaper that BAMF is often spurred to process claims more quickly if it is threatened with legal action.
The woman drugged, kidnapped and allegedly raped for six days in a sex dungeon by the doctor dubbed 'Sweden's Fritzl' has spoken of her harrowing ordeal.

The woman, who is in her 30s, told police how Dr Martin Trenneborg drugged her using strawberries Rohypnol and told her he had sex with her while she was unconscious.

The woman, who cannot be identified, said he then drove her 350 miles to a farmhouse and locked her in a secret bunker he had spent five years building and held her for six days.

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Sweden's Fritzl: Martin Trenneborg, pictured in court, told his victim exactly how he had drugged her, and even revealed that he had raped her while she was unconscious

She told police how they got in touch on the phone and how he had charmed her by pretending to be an American stock broker living in London.

The pair met in her flat in Stockholm on September 10 for two hours, during which they had sex.

In her statement to detectives in Sweden, she said: 'When we were having sex he kept staring at me. Like, the whole time.

We drank some champagne. But only a little. Then he wanted us to eat the strawberries, he was actually feeding me them as a romantic gesture

Stared right into my eyes... a lot, and that's very unusual, that you do that the whole time.'

However, despite noticing the strange behaviour, she agreed to meet him for a second date two nights later.

He arrived at her flat in Stockholm and fed her chocolate-dipped strawberries, marking which of the berries he had laced with Rohypnol by drawing on the stem leaves, she told police.

'We drank some champagne. But only a little. Then he wanted us to eat the strawberries, he was actually feeding me them as a romantic gesture.'

She alleges he then raped her while she was passed out, before taking her in a wheelchair to his car and put a mask of an old woman on her face, to conceal her identity.

Planned: Police found two rubber masks in Trenneborg's bedroom, which the woman said he used as disguises during their journey from Stockholm to Kristianstad

Disturbing: The two masks were found in the doctor's bedroom in his home in Kristianstad, where he had planned on keeping the woman locked up 'as a girlfriend' for years

He drove from Stockholm to his home, a large property in Axeltorp, a village outside Kristianstad, some five hours drive south of Stockholm, during which time he also injected her with a soporific to keep her sedated.

She told police the only memory she has of the journey to Trenneborgs hideout is that she briefly woke up and saw that she had a machine monitoring her pulse attached to her finger.

Her next recollection is when she was laying on the bed in the bunker.

It felt like one long nightmare. When I woke up I had two needles stuck into my arm. He was sitting on a chair beside the bed

'It felt like one long nightmare. When I woke up I had two needles stuck into my arm. He was sitting on a chair beside the bed, she said.

'I remembered that it felt very surreal and I told myself that it could not be real. Suddenly he started talking to me in Swedish.

'He told me that the door was the same as they have in bank vaults, that the walls were made of thick concrete and that no one would hear me scream how much I tried and that it is impossible to get out from there.

'He also said that if I was going to attack him and kill him. All I would have been left with was a stinking corpse. There was no way for me to get out of the bunker without his assistance.

'There was a small room beside the kitchen in the bunker. When I asked him what that was supposed to be in the future he said that it would be his own torture chamber. He said it with a smile and I don't know if he was joking.

Kidnapper: Trenneborg had spent five years building the bunker, and told his victim he was the only person who could open the door - so if she killed him to escape, she would be left with 'a stinking corpse'

Prison: The woman told police Trenneborg had warned her that he would chain her to the bed and give her nothing to eat but crisp bread

'He was uncomfortably quiet all the time. And I did not know what would happen if he would torture me, kill me or rape me.

'At one point he told me that if I were to try to escape, he would punish me by chaining me to the bed and I would get nothing to eat but crisp bread.'

'He only said that he would keep me there a few years and that he would release me after that', she told police during her interview.

Every time he came I didn't know what was going to happen, whether he would rape me or torture me or murder me

Trenneborg, who worked as a freelance physician, is believed to have built the 60 square meter bunker himself, starting in 2010.

The concrete-enforced walls are 12.5 inches thick and the bunker has a bedroom, functioning toilet and a fully fitted kitchen.

The dungeon even has a small, covered courtyard, where the person living there would be able to go outside without being seen by neighbours.

The victim also told police of her life inside the bunker, and how Trenneborg made feeble attempts to groom her to make her want to stay.

She revealed Trenneborg made clear his intention was to keep her locked up 'as a girlfriend', to 'have sex two or three times a day, clean and cook'.

'He would come in at around half past seven in the morning, and then he would take me out in the court yard he built.

She described how he then left her alone in the bunker, returning after work at around six.

'Every time he came I didn't know what was going to happen, whether he would rape me or torture me or murder me.

'On the Wednesday he said he wanted us to sleep together, so I am was to shower in his house, and then I cooked meat hash while he showered and then he wanted us to sleep together.

Hidden: The bunker also has a small covered courtyard so the person held captive could go outside without being seen by the neighbours

Trenneborg took blood and vaginal samples from his victim to ensure she did not have STDs and gave her contraceptive pills (seen being held up in the picture) so he could have unprotected sex with her

'Then he told me that from then on this is how it is going to be, us sleeping together, every night.

She told a medical examiner that it was obvious that Trenneborg wanted to lie down and cuddle, and that he had told her it was 'okay' for her to keep her underwear on.

He asked her to put her head on his chest and placed her hands on his body. She told the doctor she did not sleep a wink that night.

She told police that although she was terrified he would rape her again, he did not force her into any sexual activities while in the bunker.

Trenneborg also told her of his plans to bring in another woman, saying he had a 'celebrity' in mind, or possibly the woman's own mother.

He said that he wanted to have unprotected sex with me. I got some pills from him, it was birth control pills and he told me that he did not want me to get pregnant

'He said that he wanted to bring another woman to the bunker. He was targeting some kind of celebrity. His plan was to dress as a plumber and knock on his victims door and then kidnap her.

'He said that he would kidnap the other woman as soon as the bunker was ready. I would be in two months, give or take according to him.

'He wanted to install a shower with hot water and a couple of other things before taking in another woman.

'He asked me if my mum was as pretty as me. Then he said that perhaps my mum could be the other girl in the bunker. The thought of him bringing my mum to the bunker, scared the life out of me.

Trenneborg also withdrew blood and took vaginal samples from the woman which he tested at a lab in his place of work, later confessing that he did this to ensure she did not have any STDs.

'He said that he wanted to have unprotected sex with me. I got some pills from him, it was birth control pills and he told me that he did not want me to get pregnant.'

After a few days the doctor drove back to the woman's home in Stockholm to bring her some personal possessions, only to discover that she had been reported missing and police had broken into her flat.

Evil: The doctor drugged the woman using chocolate-dipped strawberries, marking which of the berries he had laced with Rohypnol by drawing on the stem leaves

Evidence: Police found traces of flunitrazepam - Rohypnol - on the juice and champagne bottles and the glass in the woman's flat

The doctor is believed to have panicked, and brought the woman to Stockholm where they visited a police station together on September 18.

Prosecutors say the doctor forced the woman to tell police a fake story that she was safe and well, in order to call off the search, but officers grew suspicious and took her to one side.

The woman then told police the full story of her horrific ordeal, after which Trenneborg was arrested.
Police say that Sheehan posed as about a dozen women online; none of them were hurt

That led them to a website where Sheehan was reportedly posing as the woman in conversations asking to be kidnapped and raped

Groveland Police started investigating Sheehan on a tip from a woman who found an online profile with her pictures

A married man has been arrested and charged with posing as several different women online and putting those women in danger by asking other men to kidnap and rape them.

Thomas Sheehan, 45, kept his head down as he appeared in Massachusetts court on Tuesday to face charges of soliciting rape, soliciting kidnapping, soliciting assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

Police first started investigating the former limo driver and airport worker from Quincy, a suburb south of Boston, when they received a tip from a woman who found a fake online profile with her pictures.

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Shameful: Thomas Sheehan, 45, was arraigned in court on Tuesday on charges he posed as several women online and asked men to kidnap and rape them

Further investigation showed that he was impersonating the woman on a website called collarspace.com, and had been in talks with other men, asking them to kidnap and rape her.

The profile also led them to several others allegedly created by Sheehan, using the photos of about a dozen women stolen from Facebook.

They say Sheehan even posted the women's addresses in some cases, along with pictures of one woman's two young daughters.

Sheehan reportedly used the screen name Cutegirl42543 in conversations with one man, saying things like 'So would u at some point come here stalk me and kidnap me?'

'Sheehan solicited men to use dangerous weapons on the woman as part of the assault that he was soliciting,' prosecutor Tom Ralph said.

Terrifying: One of the alleged victims, left, speaks with a local Boston reporter after Sheehan's arrest. She asked not to be identified by the face

'None of these women was aware or consented to the graphic and violent rape requests that Sheehan made on their behalf,' Ralph said.

Sheehan pleaded not guilty to the charges in court on Tuesday. His attorney claimed that since none of the women were actually hurt, it was all just fantasy role play.

Six of the alleged victims were in court on Tuesday to see Sheehan charged.

'We all just want to stand up and smile at him, to let him know that it's not just this one victim that we are all here together,' an anonymous victim said.

One of the women gave several TV interviews, but refused to be identified by face on camera.

She says she used to work with Sheehan at Logan Airport but hadn't seen him since the late 80s.

A judge set bail at $15,000 and said that if Sheehan posts it, he will be banned from the internet and seeing children as well as put on house arrest.
This heartbreaking baby orangutan misses her mother so much she hugs herself constantly as a source of physical comfort.

Orphaned at a very early age, the baby, named Joss, was kept illegally as a pet for two years in Ketapang, West Borneo, before being handed over to the International Animal Rescue and the Natural Resources Conservation Agency.

Now the IAR have released a video showing the traumatic after effects Joss is dealing with as part of a campaign to raise funds for her treatment and care.

Baby orangutan Joss misses her mother so much she hugs herself constantly, pictured,

She was found in West Borneo by a team from International Animal Rescue who have since taken her to a rehabilitation centre, pictured, and are preparing her to eventually be returned to the wild

The little creature is seen repeatedly throwing herself onto the floor and banging her head against the wall, stopping only briefly when offered a bottle of milk by one of IAR's vets.

She was owned by a man named Dahlan, who admitted buying the creature for around 25 because he felt sorry for her and did not realise it was illegal to keep the primates as pets.

Joss lived in his house with his wife and four children, regularly being 'treated like a cuddly toy' which caused severe psychological harm to her, according to IAR vets.

When Dahlan realised he could not legally keep her he gave her up to the IAR.

She had previously been kept illegally as a pet for two years by a family of six in West Borneo, pictured

IAR vets believe although the family were kind to her their cuddles and affection were traumatic

After examining and observing Joss, IAR veterinarian Jaclyn Eng said: 'Joss hugs herself constantly because she misses the physical contact and comfort she should still be getting from her mother.

'Her life up until now must have been very traumatic and stressful for her to behave in this abnormal way.

'Animals usually develop stereotypical behaviour as a coping mechanism in response to a stressful situation.

'Our team has never seen such a young baby orangutan exhibiting stereotypical behaviour like this.

'It is extremely distressing to watch because it must reflect the mental and emotional trauma little Joss is suffering.'

She added: 'At first we tried to comfort and hold her but she was obviously so stressed in her new surroundings that she did not want us to touch her and kept climbing off our knees and walking around on her elbows.

Joss hugs herself so much that the team of vets caring for her said she looked deformed to the naked eye

She was voluntarily handed over to the IAR by owner Dahlan, right, when he realised it was illegal to keep an orangutan as a pet

'We also tried to settle her down with a giant cuddly teddy bear but that didn't help either. She just kept banging her poor head against the wall.'

Joss is the 99th orangutan taken to the IAR Indonesia rehabilitation centre and it will take many years of treatment before she is able to be released back into the wild.

Alan Knight OBE, IAR chief executive, added: 'The video of Joss is so distressing that at first I wasn't sure we should make it public.

'But this is the grim reality of what is happening to orangutans in Indonesia. As a result of the relentless destruction of the rainforest, compounded by the devastating fires which wiped out millions more acres during the latter half of 2015, these Great Apes need more help than ever if they are to survive.

'It's likely that little Joss saw her mother being brutally killed before she was snatched from the forest and sold as a pet.

'You only have to look at her to see the nightmare she has been through during her short life.

'The vets at our centre in Ketapang are working hard to help her but only time will tell whether she will make a full recovery from such a terrible start in life.'
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Hundred of migrants clashed with French police in Calais today while trying to jump on trucks bound for Britain.

Riot officers used tear gas and baton charges to break up around 300 refugees gathering near the Eurotunnel entrance.

It came after hundreds of UK-bound migrants were involved in rioting last night as they fought with police trying to destroy their makeshift homes the so-called 'Jungle' refugee camp.

Tear gas and baton charges were used by officers as they tried to restore order next to the so-called 'Jungle' refugee camp in the port town.

Riot: A refugee dodges tear gas as he runs through the Junge today as migrants clashed with police

Gassed: Migrants run for cover as French riot police throw tear gas after hundreds of migrants tried to board trucks bound for Britain near the A16 motorway near the site of the Eurotunnel in Coquelles, near Calais

Duck and run: Around 300 migrants tried to board trucks protected by French police, according to witnesses

Smokescreen: A migrant runs near clouds of tear gas in a field near Calais as migrants gather in the hope of attempting to board lorries making their way across the Channel to Britain

Face off: A French riot police officer guarding trucks keeps watch over migrants trying to sneak into Britain

A French riot police officer gestures next to migrants near the A16 motorway near the site of the Eurotunnel

It came after the Pas de Calais prefecture handed the migrants an ultimatum to get out of a stretch of the Jungle before it was demolished.

A police spokesman said: 'Up to 300 migrants were involved, and they became extremely violent.

'There was more than an hour of fighting before the situation finally calmed down at around 10pm.'

The deadline comes this afternoon.

If they do not move on, they will be forcibly evicted, according to the terms of the official order.

Migrants look on as French riot police stand guard after migrants tried to mount several trucks on the A16 motorway near the site of the Eurotunnel in Coquelles, near Calais

On patrol: French riot police officers walk in front of a fence with the lettering 'Calais' near the A16 motorway

Run: Young refugees run from police during the chaotic scenes today as police descended en masse

Bulldozers moved in this week to clear sections of the Jungle, which currently contains more than 5,000 people who want to start a new life in Britain.

The prefecture has proposed giving those displaced priority in new containers opened a week ago to shelter up to 1,500 migrants, but thousands more will have nowhere to go.

Many of the migrants view the makeshift containers  which contain electricity plugs and heating  as prisons and want to stay in their tents and bivouacs.

Some migrants have began blocking the port road or throwing stones to slow down UK-bound traffic so they can jump aboard.

Police fear there will be more trouble as the attempts to evict the migrants intensify.

French riot police monitor The Jungle migrant camp in Calais after a night of rioting by hundreds of refugees

French riot police officers stand at the entrance of the Calais migrant camp. Tear gas and baton charges were used by officers as they tried to restore order next to the so-called 'Jungle' refugee camp in the port town

Keeping watch: French police officers stand on their van at the entrance of the Calais migrant camp

French police detain migrants (seen in the background) in The Jungle. Bulldozers moved in this week to clear part of the Jungle, which currently contains more than 5,000 people who want to start a new life in Britain

French police detain a migrant (second right) in the Calais migrant camp in northern France on Thursday

It came as British MPs and HGV drivers warned that EU plans to force Britain to accept 90,000 refugees in the next year as part a quota will make Calais 'even more of a magnet' to migrants.

There has been widespread fury at the plans from Brussels but a failure to agree a quota could see the UK denied the right to deport asylum seekers to their country of arrival.

Number 10 last night vowed to fight the proposal, which is a major blow to David Cameron's EU referendum ambitions.

The European Commission wants a new quota system under which member states share out the estimated 1.3million people expected to arrive in Europe this year.

Britain, which would be expected to take around 90,000, has been warned that  if it refuses  it will lose its right to send home migrants who should have made their claims elsewhere.

MPs and hauliers warned this would make Calais even more of a magnet for asylum seekers. Richard Burnett of the Road Haulage Association said: 'The floodgates would open.

'The migrants that are already there don't want to be in France, they want to get to the UK, and this would just make the problem far far worse.'
Will Smith broke his silence this morning about the controversy surrounding his wifes proposed Oscar boycott, saying that he also wont be attending this years ceremony because he believes that Hollywood is going in the wrong direction when it comes to diversity.

The 47-year-old star of Concussion sat down with ABCs Robin Roberts on Good Morning America to share his thoughts on this years overwhelmingly white Academy Award nominations, and his wife Jada Pinkett Smiths videotaped call to action

I think that diversity is the American superpower. That's why we're great, he told Roberts in the exclusive interview.

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Star speaks out: Will Smith sat down with Robin Roberts on Good Morning America Thursday to talk about the controversy surrounding this year's Oscars. The 47-year-old star said he won't be attending the ceremony

Blunt talk: The Concussion star said he believes the American film industry is moving in the wrong direction when it comes to diversity

So many different people from so many different places adding their ideas, their inspirations, their influences to this beautiful American gumbo.  so when I look at the series of nominations of the Academy, it is not reflecting that beauty.

A growing number of Hollywood heavyweights, including Spike Lee, Michael Moore and George Clooney, have publicly criticized the Academy for failing to nominate people of color in any of the major acting categories this year.

Mark Ruffalo, who is nominated for an Oscar this year in the Best Supporting Actor category for his performance in Spotlight, added his voice to a chorus of discontent over the issue of diversity, telling BBC News this morning that he too was considering skipping the ceremony.

'It isn't just the Academy Awards,' the 47-year-old actor said. 'The entire American system is rife with a kind of white privileged racism that goes into our justice system.'

This is so deeply not about me. This is about children who are gonna to sit down and they are gonna watch this show and they are not going to see themselves represented. Will Smith on Oscars boycott

In an interview with Variety this week, Clooney, himself a two-time Oscar winner, said Hollywood has been moving in the wrong direction on diversity over the past decade.

On Thursday, Smith seemed to echo that sentiment, recalling his personal experiences as an Oscar nominee in 2001, for the film Ali, and in 2006 for his role in The Pursuit of Happyness.

I've been nominated twice for Academy Awards, and Ive never lost to a white person, he said with a laugh. The first time I lost to Denzel [Washington], and the second time I lost to Forrest Whitaker.

I see this list and series of nominations to come out, and everyone is fantastic... but it feels like it's going in the wrong direction,' he added.

There was a regressive slide towards separatism, towards racial and religious disharmony, and that's not the Hollywood that I want to leave behind.'

His better half: Smith revealed that wife Jada did not consult him before releasing a video Monday calling on other actors to boycott the Oscar ceremony

On Monday, Jada Pinkett Smith celebrated Martin Luther King Jr Day by releasing a video on Faceboook calling on African American actors and other players in the entertainment industry to skip the Academy Awards.

Her call to action was quickly picked up by other prominent figures in Hollywood, including David Oyelowo, Idris Elba and Whoopi Goldberg, who publicly criticized the Academy for failing to include minorities in this years list of nominees.

Will Smith told Roberts that he was out of the country at the time his wifes video came out, and that he was initially blindsided by the scandal that erupted in the wake of its release, which he said Jada had not coordinated with him.

She's deeply passionate and when she is moved, she has to go. And I heard her words, and I was knocked out.

Boycott: Jada Pinkett Smith has revealed she will not be attending the Oscars, or watching it on television, in response to the lack of nominations for people of color

There's a position that we hold in this community, and if we're not a part of the solution, we are part of the problem. It was her call to action for herself and for me and for our family to be part of the solution.

Some critics, including Will Smiths former Fresh Prince of Bel Air co-star Janet Hubert, accused Pinkett Smith of launching the boycott just because her husband did not get an Oscar nod for his starring role in Concussion  but the actor says its only part of the story.

'Had I been nominated and no other people of color were, she would've still made the video anyway.

'This is so deeply not about me, he stressed. This is about children who are gonna to sit down and they are gonna watch this show and they are not going to see themselves represented.

When asked if he was planning to attend the February 28 Oscars ceremony without Jada, Smith flatly said, No.

We've discussed it, and we're a part of this community, but at this current time, we're uncomfortable to stand there and say this is OK.

CRITICS SLAM ACADEMY AWARDS FOR LACK OF DIVERSITY Chorus of critics: (L to R) Idris Elba , Whoopi Goldberg, David Oyelowo and Mark Ruffalo have condemned the Oscars' lack of diversity among the nominees 'It isn't just the Academy Awards. The entire American system is rife with a kind of white privileged racism that goes into our justice system,' - Mark Ruffalo 'This institution doesnt reflect its president and it doesnt reflect this room. I am an Academy member and it doesnt reflect me, and it doesnt reflect this nation,' - David Oyelowo 'You have to ask the question  are black people normally playing petty criminals? Are women always the love interest or talking about men? Are gay people always stereotyped? Are disabled people ever seen at all?' - Idris Elba '... the idea that we could go two years in a row, where 40 actors could be nominated and none of them were black, is just crazy,' - Michael Moore 'I can't help ask the question: is it time that people of color, recognize how much power and influence we have amassed that we no longer need to ask to be invited anywhere,' - Jada Pinkett Smith 'How is it possible for the 2nd consecutive year all 20 contenders under the actor category are white? And let's not even get into the other branches. 40 white actors in 2 years and no flava at all. We can't act?! WTF!!' - Spike Lee 'Hollywood is like the Rocky Mountains, the higher up you get the whiter it gets and this year's Academy Awards will be yet another Rocky Mountain Oscar,' - Rev Al Sharpton 'Somebody asked was I gonna watch the mother****ing Oscars. F*** no! What the f*** am I gonna watch that bulls*** for? They ain't got no n***** nominated. All these great movies and all this great s*** ya'll keep stealing from us. F*** you! F*** you! - Snoop Dog to TMZ 'Why is this a conversation that we only have once a year? Every year we get all fired up and then the rest of the year nobody says anything.... So Im not going to boycott, but Im going to continue to bitch as I have all year round because Im tired of seeing movies where no one is represented except a bit of the population, not all of it,' - Whoopi Goldberg 'If you think back 10 years ago, the Academy was doing a better job. Think about how many more African Americans were nominated.... And all of a sudden, you feel like were moving in the wrong direction,' - George Clooney Advertisement

On Monday, Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs, who is African American, weighed in on the so-called #OscarsSoWhite scandal, saying in a statement she was 'heartbroken and frustrated about the lack of inclusion' and promised to implement sweeping changes that would hopefully result in a more diverse group of nominees, and Academy members, in the years to come.

In his interview on GMA, Smith pointed a finger of blame at the Academy's current membership, saying that it presented a hurdle for people of color and women to achieve success.
A former cop accused of fatally stabbing his girlfriend in her driveway is suing New York City's transit authority for $50 million because he fell and injured himself on a platform later that night.

Arthur Lomando fell from the platform of 168th Street hours after allegedly killing Suzanne Bardzell with a machete-like knife.

The 44-year-old former NYPD officer hit debris as he fell, and had to have both his feet amputated.

Now, he is suing the New York Transit authority, blaming the crowded platform for his lost limbs - as he awaits trial for murder.

Arthur Lomando (left) fell from the platform of 168th Street station hours after allegedly killing Suzanne Bardzell (right) with a machete-like knife, and later had both his feet amputated. Now, he is suing the New York Transit authority, blaming the crowded platform for his lost limbs - as he awaits trial for murder

Lomando's attorney Andrew Plasse says his client was jostled as the station was overcrowded.

In documents filed in New York, Plasse says Lomando either slipped or was hit by falling debris, according to The Record.

However, authorities believe Lomando tried to kill himself by jumping in front of a subway in reaction to Bardzell's death.

Lomando was wanted by police after Suzanne Bardzell's blood soaked body was discovered in her parked car on the driveway of her New Jersey home.

An hour later the former cop threw himself in front of a subway train at Amsterdam and St Nicholas avenue in Harlem.

He survived the collision and was today under arrest in his hospital bed.

The grim discovery of the mother-of-two's body was made by officers at around 3.30pm on October 22, Bergen County prosecutor John Molinelli told the New York Daily News.

Lomando was alleged to have repeatedly struck the 48-year-old special education teacher with a large machete shortly after she pulled into the driveway of her home.

The Volkswagen SUV was still running when officers arrived at the scene.

A warrant for Lomando's arrest was issued by detectives investigating her death.

At 4.30pm officers found Lomando after being called to reports that a man had thrown himself under a train.

He was taken to Harlem Hospital Center, where he has reportedly undergone surgery for severe head and leg injuries.

The special education teacher, who had two sons, was said to have met Lomando online three years ago.

Her death comes after she filed an order of protection notice against her boyfriend following a number of domestic violence incidents.

'There's a history of domestic violence between them - they were in a dating relationship for three years, and it looked like for the entire three years, there had been some instance of violence between them,' Mr Molinelli told a press conference, according to cbslocal.com.

'But most recently in early October, Ms Barzdell did make application to court and had a restraining order issued against Mr Lomando.'

Prosecutors were said to have confirmed that Lomando was a former NYPD officer, according to cbslocal.com.
Couple are also charged with abusing her and her three-year-old sister

They are accused of murdering and torturing Mackenzie by starving her

A father and stepmother who allegedly starved their five-year-old daughter to death have gone on trial accused of murder, torture and child abuse.

Mackenzie Maison weighed just 25 pounds and was 'extremely pale' when her 'lifeless' body was carried out of her home in Port Huron, Michigan, on May 26 last year, a court heard.

Police officers who viewed Mackenzie's body after she died saw that she was bruised 'from head to toe', a jury was told.

Her father, Andrew Maison, and stepmother, Hilery Maison, face charges of child abuse, torture and murder, and are also accused of abusing Mackenzie's younger sister.

Mackenzie Maison (pictured with her stepmother Hilery Maison) was allegedly starved to death and weighed just 25 pounds when she died on May 26 last year

Mackenzie's father Andrew Maison (left) and stepmother Hilery Maison (right) face charges of child abuse, torture and murder

Accused: Hilery and Andrew Maison spoke to each other during a break in their trial on Thursday

Prosecutor Mona Armstrong told a jury on Wednesday that they would hear 'a case about suffering, unimaginable suffering, that two young girls endured at the hands of the defendants'.

Mackenzie weighed 25 pounds on the day of her death, Armstrong said, the same weight she was when she was two years old.

The prosecuting attorney added that the girl's three-year-old sister was just 17 pounds when she was taken to the hospital that day and has since doubled in weight, the Times Herald reported.

Fireman Steven Conard was one of the first on the scene shortly after 8.30pm on the day Mackenzie died.

He told the court that Andrew Maison was attempting to give CPR to Mackenzie on the kitchen floor, but firefighters took her into an ambulance where they tried to revive her.

Conard said the father claimed he was giving his daughter a bath when she became unresponsive.

Mackenzie weighed 25 pounds on the day of her death, Armstrong said, the same weight she was when she was two years old

Police officers told the court that Mackenzie (pictured with stepmother Hilery Maison) was bruised 'from head to toe'

Paramedics tried to resuscitate Mackenzie in the ambulance but she was pronounced dead after arriving at St. Joseph Mercy Port Huron Hospital.

Detective Brian Kerrigan, who viewed Mackenzie's body after she died, was in court on Thursday and said he saw bruises on her body.

'It was obvious to me that there was a lot of bruising in different stages of healing on her body, basically from head to toe,' he said.

Police officer Andrew Teichow told the court on Wednesday that, after arriving at the hospital, he also spotted bruises on the girl's body.

'She was extremely thin. Her bones were coming out of her skin is what it looked like,' he said.

Fellow police officer James Morgan said cops spoke with the accused parents inside the home after Mackenzie was taken to hospital.

He said Mackenzie's three-year-old sister was one of three children sitting on a couch and that she appeared 'emaciated'.

'She seemed to have very low energy and spoke very quietly,' Morgan said, adding that she pointed to an empty glass and asked for milk.

The two other children in the room were Hilery Maison's biological children.

Andrew Maison's (pictured in court in June last year) attorney, Frederick Lepley, said his client loved his children and that he was a hard-working father

Michael Boucher, representing Hilery Maison (pictured in court in June last year), said Mackenzie and her three-year-old sister had underlying medical conditions and struggled to eat

Andrew Maison's attorney, Frederick Lepley, said his client loved his children and that he was a hard-working father.

Michael Boucher, representing Hilery Maison, said Mackenzie and her three-year-old sister had underlying medical conditions and struggled to eat.

'Even with the biological mother, there were complaints about health problems,' he said.

Mackenzie's mother, Shelby Coffee - who is not standing trial - paid tribute to her daughter last year.

'She was five years old. She was the brightest little girl. Very independent, beautiful... and she was my world,' she told WJBK.

She added: 'Watch out for your kids. No matter what, no matter if you think you can trust each other or not.
Donald Trump made an about-face on Wednesday and said Ted Cruz is a 'nasty guy' hours after declaring at a rally that he likes his rival and calling him 'nice.'

'This country needs help. It needs leadership...And it needs it fast. And Ted is not the right guy, hasn't got the temperament,' Trump said during a CNN interview with Don Lemon.

He added, 'I mean, look, everybody dislikes him. I mean he's a nasty guy that everybody dislikes.'

At an event in Norwalk, Iowa, that morning Trump complimented Cruz and asked his audience members for their opinion of him. In response, one said, 'He's two-faced.'

Trump laughed and began to filet Cruz over his renounced Canadian citizenship and loans he took from banks that he improperly disclosed to the government.

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Donald Trump made an about-face on Wednesday and said Ted Cruz is a 'nasty guy' hours after declaring at a rally in Norwalk, Iowa, that he likes his rival and calling him 'nice'

MORE LIKE BUSTED SAYS TRUMP: Yesterday the GOP front-runner berated Cruz, seen here at his own rally on Wednesday, over the excuses he gave for both his dual citizenship in Canada and mistakes he made in filing forms - that he didn't know. 'How did he not know that?' Trump said

At the rally in Norwalk Trump first he asked his audience, 'Do we all like Ted Cruz?'...I like him. I think he's a nice guy.' An audience member shouted 'No!' and he said, 'You don't like him?' The Trump supporter said, 'He's two-faced' and Trump laughed and repeated her

'It's worse than Hillary when you think about it,' Trump said of the Goldman Sachs and Citibank loans.

The GOP front-runner said Cruz is portraying himself as 'Robin Hood' and claiming he's going to protect Americans from big banks when he's really in their pocket.

'Goldman Sachs owns him,' Trump said. 'Remember that folks, they own him, and what he did was wrong.'

Cruz admitted last week in a letter to the Federal Elections Commission that he 'inadvertently omitted' the loans - one of which came from his wife's employer - on federal forms.

He included them in his personal disclosures, however, and his campaign said in a statement, 'These transactions have been reported in one way or another on his many public financial disclosures and the Senate campaigns FEC reports.

'While the details of these transactions have been entirely transparent for years, it has come to our attention that one of these transactions may inadvertently not have been listed exactly the way the FEC requires.'

The campaign says the candidate was not aware of the mistake until he was contacted by the New York Times for its report.

Still, Trump said Wednesday that what Cruz did is 'wrong.'

'It's wrong, its really wrong, and so you can say what you want, but it's absolutely wrong,' Trump said in Norwalk.

He berated Cruz over the excuses he gave for both his dual citizenship in Canada, which he renounced a year and a half ago, and the filing forms - he didn't know.

'How did he not know that?' Trump said in reference to Cruz's Canadian citizenship. He's a 'smart guy,' Trump said, shifting to the loans, 'He doesn't know that?'

He added, 'I think we gotta get a little bit fair in here, because he says things that are so wrong.'

Cruz hit a rough patch this week when Tea Party crusader Sarah Palin endorsed his opponent in Iowa, a state with weight in the nomination process and one that is critical to the conservative senator's efforts to win the GOP nomination

At the top of his remarks about Cruz - which lasted some eight minutes - Trump asked his audience, 'Do we all like Ted Cruz?'

'I like him. I think he's a nice guy,' he said, answering his own question.

While Trump was talking an attendee shouted, 'No!' in response to his previous query.

'No, you don't like him?' Trump replied. The Trump supporter proclaimed, 'He's two faced!'

Repeating her, Trump laughed and told the room she said 'he's two faced.'

'A lot of people don't like him, frankly, but look Ted Cruz has a problem... he's got a problem. He was born in Canada. He was a Canadian citizen until just recently.

'A Canadian citizen, and he's running for president,' Trump said.

Continuing with the Cruz birther issue and the fact that the U.S. senator was born on foreign soil, Trump said, there's a 'real question as to what the definition is' of natural born citizen - a requirement to hold the office of president.

'It's unsettled law,' Trump said. 'Honestly, Ted has a problem.'

Cruz spokesman Rick Tyler denied this morning that his candidate isn't very well liked.

'Voters like Ted Cruz, and weve got lots of polling to prove that,' Tyler said on CNN's New Day. 'In fact the Gallup poll, a national poll, showed that Ted Cruz was the most likeable, most favorable politician running in 2016.'

And he said, getting in a jab at Trump, 'Donald Trump is not very liked by the voters.'

NO QUESTIONS: Ted Cruz is seen here refusing to answer questions from the media yesterday on Capitol Hill. Palin's decision to endorse Trump was unexpected and sent ripples through the race. The ex-Alaskan governor was on friendly terms with Cruz, who she endorsed in 2012 for the US Senate, but picked Trump instead

Trump and Cruz have an on-again, off-again bromance that is often undercut by the fact that only one can become the GOP nominee.

'Nobody in Congress likes him. Nobody likes him anywhere once they get to know him,' Trump said Sunday on ABC's This Week. 'He's got an edge that's not good....Very nasty guy.'

On a radio show yesterday Trump brought the bank loans back up and said that in failing to disclose them correctly Cruz committed a 'tremendous sin.'

Cruz hit a rough patch this week when Tea Party crusader Sarah Palin endorsed his opponent in Iowa, a state with weight in the nomination process and one that is critical to the conservative senator's efforts to win the GOP nomination.

On the same day the state's long-serving governor, Terry Branstad, said at a press conference that it would be a 'big mistake' for Iowans to support him.

Branstad, whose state heavily relies on its agriculture sector for financing, said his beef with Cruz was over renewable fuels and suggested that the Texas senator was bought and paid for by 'big oil.'

'So we think that once Iowans realize that fact, they might find other things about him attractive, but I think it would be very damaging to our state,' he said.

The next morning, in Norwalk, Trump said, 'I understand what he's saying, I understand exactly what he's saying and I think it hwas more than ethanol.'

Reveling in Cruz's misfortune, Trump said, 'Yesterday was a W. That was a good day for Trump.'

Palin's decision to endorse Trump was unexpected and sent ripples through the race. The ex-Alaskan governor had praised the billionaire in the past, but she's on friendly terms with Cruz, who she endorsed in 2012 for the US Senate.

A spokesman for his campaign whacked Palin in TV appearance before the endorsement was finalized and said her brand, not Cruz's, would be hurt if she followed through with her plans to publicly back Trump.

After Bristol Palin publicly denounced Cruz over the hit on her mom the Texas lawmaker sent out a tweet professing his admiration for the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate whom he credits with getting him elected to federal office.

Back at work on Capitol Hill yesterday after an unflattering news cycle thanks to Palin's endorsement of his opponent, Cruz declined to take questions from the media.

At a rally in New Hampshire that evening, however, a rejuvenated Cruz said, according to NBC News, 'We're seeing the Washington establishment abandoning Marco Rubio and unifying behind Donald Trump.'
The widow of a British bomb disposal hero killed in Afghanistan has accused army chiefs of forcing her husband to play 'Russian roulette' with his life due to a lack of expert kit.

Staff Sergeant Olaf 'Oz' Schmid, 30, of Truro, Cornwall, was among 22 explosives experts killed between 2008 and 2013.

An internal review of the Army's tactics has revealed the best remote-control bomb disposal robots were not taken to Helmand province due to a lack of armoured vehicles.

Christina Schmidt, pictured left, has accused army top brass of forcing her late husband, British bomb disposal hero Staff Sergeant Olaf 'Oz' Schmid, pictured left and right, to play 'Russian roulette' with his own life

Staff Sergeant Schmidt was honoured with a full military funeral at Truro Cathedral, pictured his wife stands behind his coffin. At the funeral he was called 'a soldier of the very highest calibre' by commanding officers

The damning report said this forced troops into highly dangerous 'hands-on' work, to the point of exhaustion.

Reacting to the report, Christina Schmid, 40, said a lack of support from the military left the bomb disposal teams playing a dangerous game.

Christina Schmid receives the George Cross awarded to her late husband, at Buckingham Palace

She said: 'Shame on those up the chain who just move on up in desk jobs and reacted slowly or passively at that time.'

Sergeant Schmid was killed in 2009 while defusing a roadside bomb, on the day before he was due to fly home.

He had neutralised 64 devices during his five-month tour and was posthumously awarded the George Cross for his service.

He had met Christina when he was 13 and she was 17, while she was on holiday in Cornwall and he lived in Mylor.

They kept in touch and met up again when she was four months pregnant with her previous boyfriend's baby, later named Laird.

The couple married in 2007 and planned to move from Winchester to Cornwall, where Sergeant Schmid's family still lives.

He was honoured with a full military funeral at Truro Cathedral at which commanding officers called him 'a soldier of the very highest calibre'.

Speaking after her husband's death, Christina said: 'The politicians wanted to play with the big boys [the Americans] but we are not one of the big boys any more.

'We didn't have the resources or the money. They didn't think it through.'

The internal review found that carrying heavy equipment in searing temperatures left soldiers 'physically degraded' by the time they reached the sites of hidden Taliban bombs.

It led to the worst loss of improvised explosive device disposal (IEDD) operators and Royal Engineer search team members since Northern Ireland in the early Seventies.

Sergeant Schmid had warned his wife that the odds were stacked against him, and the bomb which killed him was the third he dealt with that day in temperatures of 50C.

The report also explained that some IEDs could have been defused without risking lives if 'more modern' robots to tackle them remotely were provided.

It said: 'Experience has shown that some devices could have been dealt with without going near them.

'Had a more reliable remote means been available, the personal risk to these critical operators may have been reduced.'

A significant change in the Taliban's bomb-making tactics was missed 'and it took time and cost lives to catch up', the review said.

It also said that new equipment would take up to a year to reach the front line, by which time the threat had changed, rendering it obsolete.
The Florida mother of an 8-week-old boy who was was found buried in a shallow grave near their home has been sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Kristen Bury, 32, pleaded no contest Wednesday to aggravated manslaughter in the September 16 death of son Chance Walsh.

As part of a plea deal she must now testify against the child's father, 36-year-old Joseph Walsh, who faces second-degree murder and child neglect charges.

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'Monster': Kristin Bury's own family called the 32-year-old a 'monster' in court after the woman was sentenced to 25 years in the death of her infant son

Chance Walsh (left and right) was eight weeks old when police say his father beat and choked him to death in September. The boy's body was then left to decompose in his crib for a week before his parents buried him

Investigators say Chance was buried near their home in Sarasota before his parents left Florida to start a new life together.

After Bury was sentenced, her mother, Sally Susino, tearfully told the judge her daughter lacks the 'mother's instinct to love and protect her young.'

Chance's other maternal grandparent, John Murawski, called Bury a 'monster,' and said the child and his parents 'slipped through society's cracks,' reported ABC Action News.

Chance Walsh was last seen alive on September 9. Authorities said they became involved in the disappearance when Sally Susino called them October 4, concerned about the baby's well-being.

Bury's mother told officers she had tried and failed to locate the baby and that his parents told relatives contradicting stories that the boy was dead, and that they had given him away.

Police from the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office appealed for help in finding the boy, though a later search of the couple's home revealed blood spatter and evidence of a body.

Bury, 32, pleaded no contest Wednesday to aggravated manslaughter. Her husband, 36-year-old Joseph Walsh (right), faces second-degree murder and child neglect charges

Officials said Bury, pictured in court in October, did nothing to stop her husband from killing their son and then helped him dispose of his body in the woods

Bury and Walsh were arrested in Ridgeport, South Carolina, on October 6 on child neglect charges after the pair got into a car accident. Chance was not with them at the time.

According to a probable cause affidavit, the couple revealed to detectives that Chance died in the early hours of September 16.

Walsh is accused of beating his infant son inside their Sarasota home and shoving a baby wipe down his throat until he choked to death after several hours of gasping for breath.

The boys body was then left to decompose in his crib for more than a week before his parents buried Chance in the woods in North Port, Florida.

Bury eventually led police to Chance's grave, where the infant was found wearing only a diaper.

By watching him decompose, she showed a total disregard for life and that day that she helped bury him amongst garbage in the shallow grave of a homeless camp, with nothing more than a diaper, as if his life had no value, Sally Susino told the court in her victim impact statement.

Bury is seen being led out of the courtroom after collapsing in tears during her plea hearing

Harsh words: Chance's grandmother, Sally Susino, said her daughter lacks the 'mother's instinct to love and protect her young'

Listening to her mothers words, Bury collapsed to the floor in whimpers and sobs next to her attorney.

Susino also revealed that her daughter had three children and that she traded her firstborn son in exchange for money, a car and an apartment. The fate of that child remains unknown.

Her second son, Duane, died in 2014 two weeks after his birth from a suspected kidney infection stemming from a botched circumcision, according to a family friend.

Susino told the court her daughter deserved a harsher sentence and panned the plea deal as a miscarriage of justice.

I hope she enjoys her new life, Susino concluded.
Litvinenko was killed by spies using radioactive Polonium 210 in his tea

Cage - the notorious campaign group that back Jihadi John - today waded into the row over the assassination of Alexander Litvinenko by comparing it to drone strikes on ISIS terrorists.

The group tweeted a question suggesting President Putin might have considered Mr Litvinenko a national security threat but one unreachable with a 'drone strike'.

A public inquiry published today sensationally claimed Mr Putin 'probably' personally ordered the assassination of a man who whom he had a long running personal feud.

Campaign group Cage waded into the aftermath of a public inquiry report revealing President Putin had probably 'personally' authorised the killing of Alexander Litvinenko

The group made comparisons with the first British drone strike on ISIS terrorists in Syria last year when David Cameron announced he had taken steps to protect national security

In a series of further tweets, Cage linked to articles questioning the motives for the killing and suggesting British drone strikes - which Prime Minister David Cameron announced for the first time in September - were a 'departure' for the UK.

Cage rose to prominence after the identity of the ISIS executioner known as Jihadi John was revealed as Londoner Mohammed Emwazi.

The group found itself at the centre of a bitter public row last year when its representatives described the man behind the Islamic State beheadings, Jihadi John, as a beautiful, kind man.

At an extraordinary press conference hours after the identity of Jihadi John was revealed, CAGE spokesman Asim Qureshi said the man involved, Mohammed Emwazi, wouldnt hurt a fly and that the British security services were at least partly responsible for radicalising him.

His comments put CAGE  a group which claims to campaign for communities affected by the war on terror  at the centre of a furore.

Boris Johnson called CAGE apologists for terror and Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond suggested the organisation and others like it bore a huge burden of responsibility for the actions of terrorists such as Emwazi.

CAGE was left facing difficult questions  not just over its support for Emwazi, but also over support for a whole range of individuals linked to terror.

Among the damaging revelations was the emergence of a video of Qureshi which showed him calling on Muslims to support jihad at an extremist rally.

Qureshi later said he was talking about the right to self-defence.

He added: Everyone who was at that demonstration would know that Asim Qureshi and CAGE are people who do not advocate terrorism in any way.

David Cameron stunned MPs in September by revealing the UK had used military force in Syria without parliamentary authority and against a Briton.

Claims: At an extraordinary press conference hours after the identity of Jihadi John was revealed in February 2015, CAGE spokesman Asim Qureshi (pictured) said Mohammed Emwazi wouldnt hurt a fly

There was a terrorist directing murder on our streets and no other means to stop him, said the Prime Minister.

A second Islamic State fanatic from Britain, Ruhul Amin, died with the main target, Reyaad Khan, in the secret operation on August 21.

A third, Junaid Hussain, was killed three days later by a US drone in a joint operation with the UK.

Stephen Marvin, a former school friend of Amin, said he deserved his fate. Its hard to say he didnt get what he deserved in the end, he told ITV News. He was my childhood best friend but he was a totally different person in the last 12 to 18 months so it was hard to sympathise with him.

The revelation that Khan, 21, from Cardiff, had been assassinated in the first RAF drone strike against a Briton triggered claims of extra-judicial killing.

But Mr Cameron insisted the attacks were an act of self-defence and not a softening-up exercise to persuade Parliament to vote for further military action against Islamic State targets in Syria.

Some of the IS plots had been foiled while others were still active, he added.

Asked if he would do it again, the Prime Minister told MPs: If it is necessary to safeguard the UK and act in self-defence, and there are no other ways of doing it, then yes, I would. The choice we were left with was to think, this is all too difficult, throw up our arms and walk away, and then wait for the chaos and terrorism to hit Britain, or to take action in the national interest.
Amazon is offering refunds to anyone who bought hoverboards on its website.

The move comes amid growing concerns that the two-wheeled balance boards are not safe and continue to remain a fire hazard.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission is investigating more than three dozen instances of hoverboards smoking or bursting into flames.

The e-retail giant has agreed to provide full refunds on all hoverboards purchased through its online store at any of the company's sites including the U.S. and in Britain.

Playing with fire: This hoverboard was charged for around 10 hours before is exploded while being taken for a test ride. 17 states have reported at least one fire caused by them over the holidays (file image)

The CPSC said it was looking into at least forty blazes involving the smart boards, thought to be caused by lithium-ion batteries and the hoverboards' electronic wiring.

Over the last couple of months, countless videos have been produced and posted to YouTube of the products bursting into flames for no apparent reason.

In the very worst cases, entire homes have been burned down and users have received burn injuiries.

Earlier this week, a hoverboard was blamed for starting at house fire in California that killed two dogs.

The blaze, at a family home in Santa Rosa, broke out on Monday while the device was plugged into a wall socket to charge, fire crews said.

Fortunately the homeowner, named locally as David Carpenter, was out at the time while picking up his daughter from soccer practice.

A hoverboard has been blamed for starting a house fire in Santa Rosa, California, that killed two dogs and caused $250,000 worth of damage while the owner was collecting his daughter from soccer practice

According to neighbors, smoke and flames were pouring out of the upstairs windows while the two dogs were trapped inside.

Santa Rosa Fire Battalion Chief Mark Basque estimates the blaze caused $200,000 to $250,000 in damage.

A total of eighteen firefighters and four fire engines were required to extinguish the blaze.

Experts are also urging users to wear safety gear, as some falls can be serious.

CPSC Chairman Elliot Kaye said that the boards also sent a serious falling risk.

'The current designs of these products might not take fully into consideration the different weights of different users, potentially leading to the units speeding up or lurching in a manner that a user would not have reason to anticipate,' he said.

The CPSC welcomed Amazon's decision to offer refunds, and has called on other retailers and manufacturers to do the same.

Burning rubber: The fires are thought to be caused by badly-wired lithium-ion batteries inside some cheap units, often manufactured in China, which can easily overheat and burst into flames (file image)

HOW TO SPOT A SAFE HOVERBOARD Consumers are advised to check the packaging has a manufacturer's name and contact details In the past few months, hoverboard companies have come under fire for issuing products that can suddenly explode. Many of these occurrences were found to be a result of counterfeit devices. One consumer found instructions that include: 'Get off the bus, get off before you stop intelligent drifting scooter balance state, one foot down, the other one foot in the left drifting scooter again.' KCC Trading Standards Operations Manager James Whiddett said: 'The first thing consumers should do is check the packaging. 'They won't have manufacturer details on them. 'Plugs won't go into your socket properly and without a fuse, they're very dangerous. 'The product itself should have a CE mark on it and the ones we have found have nothing on them at all. 'These things have batteries in them that can overheat and catch fire and we've seen that happen in the county already. Remember the golden rule, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.' The instructions should contain all the information you need to use the product safely and the manufacturers name and address should be included so you can contact them if anything goes wrong. Check for spelling mistakes on the box; this is a giveaway for counterfeits. They also often copy safety marks, so take a close look to be sure they are genuine. Advertisement

Amazon stopped selling many models in December but despite this latest decision, The Everything Store is still selling hoverboards on its site including a model from Swagway, which is listed as one of the 13 companies whose products are being investigated by the CPSC.

Amazon's refund offer is the latest in a series of hiccups for hoverboards, which have been banned by all three major U.S. airlines, along with smaller airlines.

'Poorly labeled, powerful lithium-ion batteries powering hoverboards are the issue,' Delta Airlines said in a statement at the time.

'Delta reviewed hoverboard product specifications and found that manufacturers do not consistently provide detail about the size or power of their lithium-ion batteries.'

Colleges have also banned them and the U.S. Postal Service will only agree to transport the devices by ground. A leading manufacturer, Swagway, has been hit with a class-action lawsuit.

Some hoverboards contain lithium-ion batteries that top 160 watt hours, exceeding regulatory limits. Its possible, therefore, that the devices could overheat and spontaneously combust

Hoverboards, which consist of a self-balancing board between two small wheels, were among the must-have Christmas gifts of 2015.

However, the devices, which range in price from $200 to $2,000, have become notorious for starting fires - with at least 17 of 50 states reporting at least one over the holidays.

From left to right is Kendall Jenner, Brooklyn Beckham and Wiz Khalifa, all using hoverboards. Anyone found riding the two-wheeled electric vehicles in New York could face a $500 fine

Meanwhile, Australian consumer affairs minister Kelly O'Dwyer has been asked to consider a country-wide ban on the devices following a fire in Victoria.

While the exact cause of the fires has not been established, it appears the fault lies with the lithium-ion batteries mounted inside.

Millions of devices, from laptops to phones and e-cigarettes, are fitted with the batteries which are preferred to older nickel-cadmium units because they are more powerful, last longer, and do not develop a 'memory' if not fully charged each time.

While the batteries are perfectly safe if undamaged and wired properly, there is concern that some hoverboards are being manufactured incorrectly, leaving them at risk.

Good quality devices have special circuits that prevent the batteries from overheating or being overcharged, dramatically reducing the chance of catastrophic failure.

However, poorly manufactured, non-branded units, often from China, usually do not have these additional safety systems.

Some hoverboards contain lithium-ion batteries that top 160 watt hours, exceeding regulatory limits. Its possible, therefore, that the devices could short-circuit, overheat and spontaneously combust

In the UK, National Trading Standards said 15,000 of the 17,000  or nine in ten - of the gadgets it has examined since October have been detained, mainly for having non-compliant electrical components that could explode or catch fire.

And New York City has officially banned hoverboards. Anyone found riding the two-wheeled electric vehicles on the street or sidewalk could face a $500 fine and have their hoverboard impounded.
The Taliban today warned media organisations not to promote immorality and foreign culture after claiming responsibility for killing seven journalists at the country's most-watched television channel.

The suicide car bomb attack in Kabul yesterday was condemned by governments, human rights groups and rival news organisations as an assault on press freedom.

The Taliban said they targeted Tolo TV, Afghanistan's largest private television channel, because it was producing propaganda for the U.S. military and its allies.

In a statement, it said the company was attacked for 'promoting obscenity, irreligiousness, foreign culture and nudity.'

It added: 'Its workers were anti-jihad and anti-Islam elements trained by foreign intelligence toiling for the Americans.'

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The Taliban warned media not to promote immorality and foreign culture after claiming responsibility for killing seven journalists in a suicide bomb attack (above) at the country's most-watched television channel

Two women were among the dead while at least 25 people were also injured in the blast, which happened in the Afghan capital Kabul close to the national parliament and government ministries

The Taliban openly threatened to target the station last year after it reported allegations of summary executions, rape and kidnappings by Taliban fighters during the battle for the city of Kunduz.

Although some details of those reports have been disputed, Tolo insists it was scrupulous in reporting all sides of the fighting, including allowing Taliban spokesmen a right of reply.

Tolo, which created Afghanistan's first 24-hour news channel, has won a reputation for fast, credible reporting in a media landscape that features scores of newspapers, broadcasters and online sites.

The warning comes after a Taliban suicide bomber killed seven people during a rush-hour attack on a minibus carrying television production workers near the Russian embassy in Kabul.

Two women were among the dead while at least 25 people were also injured in the blast, which happened in the Afghan capital Kabul close to the national parliament and government ministries.

It was the latest in a series of suicide attacks in Kabul that have coincided with renewed efforts to revive a peace process with Taliban insurgents that broke down in July.

A suicide bomber has killed four people during a rush hour attack near the Russian embassy in Afghanistan

The attackers, driving a car packed with explosives, targeted a minibus carrying employees of popular Afghan TV channel TOLO, just months after the Taliban declared the network a legitimate 'military target'.

The bus was taking employees home from the company's office in central Kabul when the attack took place, at around 5 pm local time.

The bombing left some staff members burning inside the vehicle, one employee said, adding that the bus was mostly filled with behind-the-scenes workers from the channel's graphics and dubbing departments.

The loud explosion sent a plume of smoke rising in the sky, with ambulances and firefighters rushing to the scene which was littered with charred debris.

Rajab Noorzayi said his daughter Zeinab worked for Kaboora Productions and was on the bus at the time of the attack. 'I'm looking for her but the police say everyone has been taken to hospital,' he said.

The attackers, driving a car packed with explosives, targeted a minibus carrying employees of popular Afghan TV channel TOLO

The bus was taking employees home from the company's office in central Kabul when the attack took place, at around 5 pm local time

The loud explosion sent a plume of smoke rising in the sky, with ambulances and firefighters rushing to the scene which was littered with charred debris

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. The Taliban has threatened media organisations in the past.

But Kabul police spokesman Basir Mujahid said the target of the attack on Darulaman Road remained unclear.

'Police are working to identify the victims of today's attack, but there was no military convey (in the area), they were all civilians,' Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said on his Twitter page.

A Russian Foreign Ministry source said the attack was not directed at its embassy, according to Interfax news agency.

There were no immediate claim of responsibility.

Since the start of the new year, Kabul has seen at least six bomb attacks. On Sunday, a rocket landed near the Italian embassy in Kabul, wounding two security guards.

Envoys of Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States met in Kabul this week to lay the ground for a negotiated end to 15 years of war, and urged the Taliban to join peace talks.

Afghan security forces remove a destroyed vehicle after a suicide attack near the Russian embassy in Kabul

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack., but the Taliban has threatened media organisations in the past

No Russian staff were hurt in an explosion, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The embassy building suffered some minor damage, the ministry said, and staff will now increase security measures.

The Taliban in October declared TOLO and 1TV, both privately run news stations as legitimate 'military targets'.

The group said the move was in response to their reports claiming that Taliban fighters raped women at a female hostel in Kunduz, after the group briefly captured the northern city in late September last year.

The Taliban rejected the reports as fabrications, saying they were examples of propaganda by the 'satanic networks'.

The attack, which highlights the growing dangers faced by journalists in Afghanistan, comes just two days after a second round of a four-country meeting in Kabul aimed at reviving talks with the Taliban.

The Taliban in October declared TOLO and 1TV, both privately run news stations as legitimate 'military targets'

Wreckage is seen at the site of a blast, in an area close to the Russian embassy in the west of the capital of Kabul, Afghanistan

Delegates from Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States convened in the Afghan capital Monday for a one-day meeting seeking a negotiated end to the 14-year Taliban insurgency.

The first round of the so-called 'roadmap' talks was held in Islamabad last week as the four nations try to lay the groundwork for direct dialogue between Kabul and the Islamist group.

Taliban representatives were notably absent in both rounds and analysts caution that any substantive talks are still a long way off.

The Taliban has stepped up attacks on government and foreign targets in Afghanistan this winter, when fighting usually abates, underscoring a worsening security situation.

Observers say the intensifying insurgency highlights a push by the militants to seize more territory in an attempt to wrangle greater concessions during talks.

Pakistan - the Taliban's historic backers - hosted a milestone first round of talks directly with the Taliban in July.

But the negotiations stalled when the insurgents belatedly confirmed the death of longtime leader Mullah Omar, sparking infighting within the group.
Police have arrested a 22-year-old man on suspicion of terror offences during a raid on a religious Muslim family in Berkshire.

More than 40 counter terrorism officers swooped on the large family home today in an operation led by Scotland Yard.

Neighbours said they raided the two-storey home belonging to a very religious family who regularly travelled to Mecca for the Hajj and used to have boys over to study the Koran.

Police have arrested a 22-year-old man on suspicion of terror offences during a raid in Berkshire. PIctured: An officer stands guard outside the home

Four generations of the same family live within the premises, which consists of two semi-detached houses which have been knocked through to create one large home with an annexe.

Two officers stood guard over the front entrance of the home as forensics searched a silver Ford Focus parked in the driveway.

Other officers bagged up the contents of bins as their colleagues moved in and searched another parked vehicle, a green BMW.

Neighbours spoke of their shock at waking up to discover dozens of officers in their residential street.

One elderly man living opposite the house at the centre of the police search said he had seen police officers taking all of the family members out of the home, including elderly parents.

Police were later seen removing a baby's basket from the home, thought to belong to the newborn child living in the house.

A mother whose parents live near the raided home said: 'I remember kids used to go there to read Koran, our Holy Book, but they've stopped doing that now. Quite a lot of boys used to go, they used to teach boys only.

'I thought they were a very religious family, that's all I know. They would go to Mecca twice a year for Ummah and Hajj and to us they were really religious, so I don't know what they have done.'

Police officers searched a green BMW as part of the operation led by Scotland Yard in London

More than 40 counter terrorism officers swooped on the large family home today before searching the family home

Neighbour and pastor John Vamba said he had woken up to find police cars in his street.

'I'm just surprised to be waking up and looking out the window and seeing so many police cars,' the 43-year-old said.

'Especially when you see they are Metropolitan Police and you are wondering why they are here. When you see it on the TV you see it's happening somewhere else and now it is happening just across the road.'

He said he and his wife Mercy had lived on the street for some 13 years and known the inhabitants of the raided home just to say hello to.

'I've just known them just across the road,' he explained.

'This family is very isolated, I don't think they are very community-minded people. They are always in their house, so we wouldn't really tell much about them.'

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said no firearms were deployed during the pre-planned operation targeting the home and a business premises in Berkshire.

The spokesman said: 'Officers from the MPS counter Terrorism command [SO15] have today, Thursday, detained a man 22-year-old man from Maidenhead at 9am on suspicion of commission, preparation or instigation of terrorism contrary to section 41 of the terrorism act.'

The man is in custody at a police station in central London, police said.

Superintendent Bhupinder Rai, of Thames Valley Police, said: 'I understand that the local community may be concerned following today's operation.
Cases of babies born with unusually small heads continue to rise in Brazil where researchers say they have found new evidence linking the increase to the Zika virus.

Microcephaly is a neurological disorder in which infants are born with smaller craniums and brains, and is believed to be caused by the mosquito-borne virus first seen in Africa in 1947.

The surge of cases since the virus was first detected last year in Brazil led the ministry to link it to the fetal deformations and warn pregnant women to use insect repellent to avoid mosquito bites.

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In this photograph, a baby named Luiza who suffers from microcephaly has her head measured by a doctor in Pernambuco state, Brazil. Researchers believe the disorder may be linked to the Zika virus

Dejailson Arruda holds his daughter Luiza at their house in Santa Cruz do Capibaribe, Brazil. Brazilian health authorities believe her condition is related to the Zika virus that infected her mother during pregnancy

Elison, 10, nurses his two-month-old brother Jose Wesley, after he was born with microcephaly

Scientists are unable to definitively prove the link between the condition and the Zika virus, but strongly suspect the mosquito-borne virus is responsible for the outbreak of the disorder in Brazil

Angelica Pereira applys perfume to her daughter Luiza - who suffers from microcephaly - as her father Dejailson Arruda holds her at their house in Brazil

Discovered in Africa in 1947, scientists remain clueless as to how the terrifying virus has struck the Americas so quickly since its first known case last year.

Brazil's Ministry of Health said the number suspected cases of microcephaly increased to 3,893 by January 16 from 3,530 cases 10 days earlier.

The number of reported deaths of deformed babies rose to 49, ministry officials said at a news conference.

So far, health authorities have only confirmed six cases of microcephaly where the infant was infected with the mosquito-born Zika virus.

But on Tuesday, Brazilian researchers took another step towards proving Zika causes microcephaly.

The Fiocruz biomedical center in Curitiba announced it had found Zika in the placenta of a woman who had a miscarriage, proving the virus can reach the foetus.

Until now, researchers had only found Zika in the amniotic fluid of two pregnant women.

A pregnant woman waits to be attended to at the Maternal and Children's Hospital in Tegucigalpa in Honduras. Women in the country have been told to avoid getting pregnant for the time being because of the Zika virus

'This is a significant advance, but we still cannot scientifically state that Zika is the cause of microcephaly,' said Jean Peron, an immunology expert who is experimenting on pregnant mice at the University of Sao Paulo's Institute of Biomedical Sciences.

The Zika virus is transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is also known to carry the dengue, yellow fever and Chikungunya viruses.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a travel advisory last week warning pregnant women to avoid 14 countries and territories in the Caribbean and Latin America affected by the virus.

Last week, U.S. health authorities confirmed the birth of a baby with microcephaly in Hawaii to a mother who had been infected with the Zika virus while visiting Brazil last year.

In Colombia, which has the second highest Zika infection rate after Brazil, the government is advising women to delay becoming pregnant for six to eight months to avoid the risk.
A 34-year-old biker beat a 14-year-old girl in the head with his motorcycle helmet, attempted to rape her and then stomped her to death, a jury has been told.

April Millsap went missing along the Macomb Orchard Trail in Armada, Michigan, in July 2014 before her partially-clothed body was found in the woods nearby.

At her murder trial, prosecutors said that James D VanCallis attacked Millsap along the trail, hit her with his bike helmet, dragged her into the woods and then killed her as part of a failed rape attempt.

April Millsap, 14, was found dead along the Macomb Orchard Trail in Armada, Michigan, in July 2014 after prosecutors say she was beaten to death by James D VanCallis, 34

Assistant Prosecutor William Dailey told a jury of seven women and seven men that 'she was literally beat and stomped to death,' the Detroit Free Press reports.

Dailey added that Millsap was found with her clothes 'literally ripped off her,' her shorts and underwear around her ankles, and her shoes removed.

Her backpack was missing, while her phone was found nearby - all of which were taken by VanCallis, Dailey argued.

At an arraignment hearing back in October 2014, a court was told how Millsap had been out walking her dog Penny along the path on the night of her murder.

Witnesses reported seeing her talking to a man on a motorcycle who they identified as VanCallis, before continuing up the walkway.

According to prosecutors, Millsap then text her boyfriend saying 'I nearly got kidnapped OMFG' before going missing.

VanCallis, pictured at an earlier hearing, is accused of beating Millsap over the head with his motorcycle helmet before dragging her into the woods and stomping her to death as part of a failed rape attempt

Jennifer Millsap (the mother of the victim, pictured alongside husband David Lichtenfelt) recalled calling and texting her daughter on the day she vanished before being told she had died

In court Jennifer Millsap, the teen's mother, told how she sent text messages to her daughter on the day she was killed, and after two hours with no response, she called and left a voicemail.

When she again received no response she got in touch with Millsap's boyfriend before going to the trail to start searching.

At 6.28pm she said she spoke to the boyfriend who confessed he had received a text from Millsap saying she was nearly kidnapped.

Unbeknownst to Millsap, her daughter's body had been discovered by joggers further along the trail who had been alerted by her dog, which was standing guard over her and barking.

Ms Millsap said that during her own search she encountered a police officer who escorted her to the station where she was asked to wait for ten hours, and said she knew something had been found.

The following day, back at her home, an FBI investigator arrived with a picture of Millsap and asked her to confirm the identity before revealing that her daughter was dead.

Joggers found Millsap's body along the trail after her dog Penny, who she had been walking at the time she was killed, began barking and alerted them

Speaking to jurors at the trial, the prosecution added that a fitness app on Millsap's phone had been tracking her walk via GPS when she was attacked.

He said it recorded her going into the woods, before taking off in the direction of a home where investigators say VanCallis's motorbike was filmed parked on surveillance footage.

Defending VanCallis, attorney Azhar Sheikh said his client was charged with the crime before any forensic or DNA evidence linking him to the scene.

He added that 900 of the 1,000 tips received about the murder had nothing to do with VanCallis, adding that prosecution witnesses have differing accounts of some evidence.

VanCallis is charged with first-degree murder, felony murder, kidnapping and assault with intent to commit penetration.
One of the formerly conjoined twin boys born in Jacksonville just over a year ago is now at home.

The Florida Times-Union reports Conner Mirabal was released from Wolfson Children's Hospital on Wednesday, weighing a healthy 22 pounds.

His brother, Carter Mirabal, has had a slower recovery and current weighs 16 pounds, remains hospitalized and under the watch of a team of doctors.

Their mother, Michelle Brantley, says both boys are doing fine.

Doctors say Carter, the smaller twin, is 'thriving', but still has a way to go before being discharged.

Stronger each day: Conner Mirabal (left) was discharged from Wolfson Children's Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida, on Wednesday, following the surgery in December 2014, while Carter (right) has 'a way to go'

Home time: It is the first time Conner has left hospital since his birth in December 2014, and his final separation surgery in May

Tough: The boys were born conjoined from the sternum to the lower abdomen by tissue on December 12, 2014, and underwent their first of many separation surgeries shortly after their birth

It took a 17-member surgical care team nine hours to separate Carter and Conner Mirabal as they split their fused livers and bile ducts during the high-risk operation

Both boys were born conjoined from the sternum to the lower abdomen by tissue on December 12, 2014. Shortly after their birth, they were transported to Wolfson for the first of multiple surgeries, including the final separation May 7.

Conner Mirabal was discharged from Wolfson Children's Hospital in late November and transferred to Brooks Rehabilitation, where he received inpatient physical therapy.

He returned to Wolfson in December for pediatric medical care, including a surgical procedure.

It took a 17-member surgical care team nine hours to separate Carter and Conner Mirabal as they split their fused livers and bile ducts during the high-risk operation.

There was only a 25 percent chance that they would live.

Florida conjoined twins Carter and Conner Mirabal were successfully separated last May, five months after they were given only a 25 percent chance of survival at birth

A 17-member surgical care team worked for nine hours to separate Carter and Conner Mirabal, splitting their fused livers and bile ducts during the high-risk operation (pictured is one of the boys after the separation)

Although Carter and Conner had to undergo two previous operations, one of which occurred just a day after they were born, their specialized care team spent months preparing for this final surgery

'Carter and Conner are miracle babies, they continue to prove that to us each and every day!' the boys mother, Michelle Brantley, wrote on their Facebook page Prayers for Carter and Conner at the time.

'It's hard to believe that we no longer have conjoined twins, we now simply have identical twin boys!'

'They are doing extremely well for the circumstances,' the mother wrote. 'We're not in the clear but so far everything is going well.'

Mother-of-three Brantley, 24, wanted her two boys to have 'the best life possible,' she told People Magazine.

'If that meant they had to be conjoined the rest of their life, then okay,' she said.

Although Carter and Conner had to undergo two previous operation, one of which occurred just a day after they were born, their specialized care team spent months preparing for the final surgery.

Major operation: The surgery took place at Wolfson Children's Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida

'Ultimately we want to give these babies the chance to live full, independent lives,' Dr. Daniel Robie, the chief of Pediatric Surgery at Wolfson Children's Hospital, said on the boy's GoFundMe page.

'And it is within our capabilities to do that.'

Following the surgery, Dr. Robie said the boys are 'doing very well now' and that he 'couldn't have asked for a better outcome'.

Brantley was completely taken by surprise when she first found out she was pregnant last year, just eight months after giving birth to her first son Gage with fiance Bryan Mirabal.

Conjoined twins are rare, happening in about one in 200,000 pregnancies and Conner and Carter's parents were warned the boys might not even make it past 32 weeks' gestation

Mother Michelle Brantley and father Bryan Mirabal embrace as they prepare to hold their boys separately for the first time

The new mother had been on a birth control shot considered 99 percent effective and wasn't planning to have another child until five or six years down the road, Mirabal's sister Jasmine wrote on the boys' GoFundMe account.

And the parents were in for an even bigger shock when they found out during a July ultrasound that the twins they were now excitedly expecting were actually conjoined.

Conjoined twins are rare, happening in about one in 200,000 pregnancies.

Brantley and Mirabal, 26, were then told their babies might not make it past 32 weeks' gestation and only had a 25 percent chance at survival if they were born.

But now Brantley will get to hold Carter and Conner, who were born on December 12, 2014, separately in her arms for the first time.

It's a gift she said has made this Mother's Day 'beyond special'.

'Hopefully we can go home soon,' she said. 'And start our lives.'

A nurse tucks in one of the baby boys, sleeping in their own cribs for the first time since their birth
Saudi Arabia's top religious cleric has ruled that chess is forbidden for Muslims because it is a 'waste of time' and promotes gambling.

Grand mufti Abdul Aziz bin-Abdullah issued the fatwa ahead of a major chess tournament in Mecca tomorrow.

He said the game was 'an opportunity to squander money' and fell under the category of gambling which is banned in the Qu'ran.

Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti Abdul Aziz bin-Abdullah (left) has issued a religious fatwa declaring that chess (right, file picture) is forbidden for Muslims because it is 'a waste of time' and promotes gambling

He added: 'The game of chess is a waste of time... it causes enmity and hatred between people.'

Abdullah made the declaration while answering questions from viewers on his weekly show With His Eminence The Mufti, it was reported by The Middle East Eye.

Muslims often follow personal religious guidance given by senior clerics, but their declarations are not legally binding.

Musa Bin Thaily, president of the law committee at the Saudi Chess Association, said a tournament would go ahead as planned tomorrow despite the fatwa, which he said was issued last month.

He said on Twitter: 'Many things are said to be illegal and religiously banned in #Saudi.

'For example, the religious society view, bans the public musical festivals, but they're everywhere, the view isn't enforced by the law.'

Men playing chess in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. Grand mufti Abdullah said the game was 'an opportunity to squander money' and fell under the category of gambling which is banned in the Qu'ran (file picture)

He added that the Grand Mufti 'being an old man in his 80s' was unaware that players do not usually bet on the outcome of games.

One of Britain's greatest ever chess players, Nigel Short, said banning chess in Saudi Arabia would be a 'great tragedy.'

He told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme: 'I don't consider chess to be a threat to society.

It's not something that is so depraved as to corrupt morals.'

Iran banned chess after the 1979 Islamic revolution because of it's association with gambling.
Speaking in Davos he said: 'If there isn't the right deal, I'm not in a hurry'

David Cameron today said he is in 'no hurry' to hold an EU referendum before the end of 2017 without a 'good deal' on curbing migration.

Speaking to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the Prime Minister tried to quash claims he was racing to hold an in/out vote this summer to avoid defeat.

The Prime Minister was believed to want to secure a quick renegotiation deal at the next EU Council meeting in mid-February and hold a referendum in June.

Britain wants a deal that will make it less attractive to migrants and will also have to fight to keep the power to deport asylum seekers to their country of arrival in the EU.

But today he said: 'If there's a good deal on the table, I will take it. But if there isn't the right deal, I'm not in a hurry. I can hold my referendum any time up until the end of 2017 and it is much more important to get this right than to rush it'.

'No rush': David Cameron speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos today, where he said he would not hurry through an EU referendum

There has been widespread fury at the plans from Brussels, but a failure to agree a quota could see the UK denied the right to deport asylum seekers to their country of arrival (Pictured: The Calais Jungle)

Britain's demands for change on the four issues of migration, sovereignty, competitiveness and protection for non-euro states were 'not outrageous asks', but offered 'a huge prize', he said.

AND STILL THEY COME THROUGH THE ICY BALKANS... As this picture from Macedonia shows, more than 2,000, including large numbers of children, are crossing daily from Macedonia into Serbia  even though temperatures yesterday plunged to -19C It is a scene that proves how desperate migrants are to reach safety in Europe, as hundreds of families continue to trek through the Balkans, despite snow and sub-zero temperatures. As this picture from Macedonia shows, more than 2,000, including large numbers of children, are crossing daily from Macedonia into Serbia  even though temperatures yesterday plunged to -19C (-2F). Many of those travelling through the Balkans do not have winter clothing or shoes, putting them in serious danger of hypothermia. The UN's refugee agency, UNHCR, last night warned that some have pneumonia but are refusing hospital treatment and insist on pressing on with their journeys. UNHCR spokesman Liene Veide said: 'The weather isn't stopping people; it's just making the trip more difficult. 'People are very determined and want to keep on their journey. This makes it challenging to provide immediate assistance. Even when they are sick they are not willing to stay here in a hospital.' Save the Children said women and children in particular are in danger of hypothermia. They reported that distressed migrants have been arriving in Serbia with blue lips and shaking from the cold. Exhausted mothers told aid workers they are unable to keep their babies warm and dry, and that some have slipped while carrying them on icy roads. Yesterday a five-year-old girl and a woman died of cold as they tried to reach Greece by sea. Police said the girl died after the vessel she was travelling on capsized. Officers also rescued another boat, but were unable to save one woman, who also died of hypothermia. Advertisement

Success in the renegotiation could deliver the UK 'the best of both worlds' by allowing it to be within the single market while retaining control of its borders and remaining outside the single currency and the ever-closer union sought by some other member states.

'I think that is a prize worth fighting for, it's a prize worth negotiating for, if necessary it's a prize that we will have to be patient in order to achieve, but it's a prize I'm determined to deliver in this, my second term as Prime Minister,' Mr Cameron said.

Officials are still believed to be in a race to get the renegotiation deal finalised so there is less chance a major event that reduces support for the EU takes place before the vote.

A senior EU source revealed this week that Mr Cameron's team believe a terror attack similar to what happened in Paris would be 'manna' for Eurosceptics if it happened shortly before the poll.

If EU leaders agree a renegotiation deal at a summit in Brussels next month, it would pave the way for an early referendum in June.

Strategists believe a vote before the height of the summer when more migrants are expected to try and make the journey to Europe would be preferable.

However, they are concerned that it could just take a single 'flashpoint' in the crisis that dominates news bulletins to encourage people to support the Leave campaign.

Today the Dutch Prime Minister claimed Europe 'cannot cope' with the migrant crisis and has just six weeks to save the Schengen Agreement.

Mark Rutte said Europe had just six to eight weeks to get a handle on the influx of refugees from conflict zones in the Middle East and elsewhere.

While he believed the borderless travel zone could be saved, he said the bloc must first agree on a replacement of the failed Dublin system, which says migrants must seek asylum in the first EU country they enter.

Last night MPs and HGV drivers warned that EU plans which would force Britain to accept 90,000 refugees in the next year as part a quota will make Calais 'even more of a magnet' to migrants.

There has been widespread fury at the plans from Brussels but a failure to agree a quota could see the UK denied the right to deport asylum seekers to their country of arrival.

Number 10 last night vowed to fight the proposal, which is a major blow to David Cameron's EU referendum ambitions.

MPs warned the meddling by eurocrats and judges meant Britain had lost control of its borders.

'This is scandalous,' said Sir Gerald Howarth, a former Tory minister. 'The tribunal should have no business in this matter. We have very strict laws on immigration and asylum that are set by Parliament.

'It is not for the courts to undermine them in this way.'

The European Commission wants a new quota system under which member states share out the estimated 1.3million people expected to arrive in Europe this year.

Britain, which would be expected to take around 90,000, has been warned that  if it refuses  it will lose its right to send home migrants who should have made their claims elsewhere.

MPs and hauliers warned this would make Calais even more of a magnet for asylum seekers. Richard Burnett of the Road Haulage Association said: 'The floodgates would open. The migrants that are already there don't want to be in France, they want to get to the UK, and this would just make the problem far far worse.'

Tory backbencher Peter Bone said: 'This is absolutely absurd. It is typical of the European Union to want to change the rules to penalise Britain.

Warning: Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte (left) gestures next to French Prime Minister Manuel Valls (right) during a session at the World Economic Forum at Davos today where he wanted Schengen is the brink of collapse

A young boy peers at the camera while he waits in a queue for food distributed by aid organisations in Idomeni. After Macedonia closed its side of the border refugees were left stranded at the site for up to two days

'Genuine asylum seekers should be delighted to be looked after in the first safe country they reach. Why would they need to be offered a choice? The longer we stay in the EU, the more there will be a creep that weakens our ability to control our borders.'

Lord Green, who chairs the pressure group Migrationwatch, said: 'If the result of this is that asylum seekers know they will never be sent back to Europe once they get across the Channel, it is bound to increase the pressure on our borders at Calais.'

Ukip leader Nigel Farage said the chaos already seen at Calais could increase as more desperate migrants massed there.

1-0 TO ITALY! ROME CLAIMS VICTORY IN BATTLE TO SHARE MIGRANT BURDEN Rome yesterday declared it was 'one nil to Italia' after Brussels revealed it wanted to axe rules that keep most asylum seekers in the first EU country they reach. Italian officials have argued the Dublin Regulation places an unfair burden on southern countries that have been inundated with migrants. But the European Commission's plan to replace Dublin with an allocation mechanism yesterday received a hostile reaction from Eastern Europe. The Visegrad 4 group of Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic has been resisting the idea of the EU having a permanent quota system to share out new arrivals. They see this as an unacceptable snatch of power from capitals by Brussels. A Polish source warned: 'Our position has always been to stress the importance of the security of the external border. 'We've been saying for a long time that a permanent mechanism [to distribute refugees] does not seem to be a good response to the crisis itself, it does not provide an overall solution. 'We need time and great care in the process, not a mechanism that automatically relocates people this way or the other  that would be chaotic and haphazard.' Vincenzo Scarpetta, of the think-tank Open Europe, said: 'If the idea is to replace Dublin with a permanent relocation mechanism and binding quotas then good luck with that. 'We have seen from the existing quota system how problematic that would be with member states. It would be seen as a huge transfer of power from national capitals to the EU.' EU leaders in September agreed to relocate 160,000 asylum seekers but only 300 have been moved so far. Advertisement

Number 10 insiders insisted there was no prospect of the UK accepting the quota scheme.

The Government also says it is determined to bolster security at Calais to deter would-be illegals.

One EU source said the timing could not be worse for Mr Cameron's renegotiation: 'It's like they've laid out a minefield in front of him.'

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker says he wants a deal on refugees around the same time as one is struck on Mr Cameron's reform demands.

He said he was 'convinced the EU Council in February will reach a fair deal for Britain'  paving the way for a referendum in June.

But Mr Juncker added: 'I am worried we won't have enough time there to tackle the refugee question in sufficient depth. I recommend to [European Council president] Donald Tusk that he holds a further summit.

'We can't have a success on the UK and not address the refugee quotas, that would be a mistake.'

Government insiders said the row made the prospect of a referendum in June even more likely, not less. Number 10 is unlikely to want to risk holding a vote after a summer of migrant chaos, sources said.

Asked whether the UK will lose its ability to remove people under the Dublin rules when the new scheme comes in, Natasha Bertaud, European Commission spokesman, said: 'It's very premature to talk now about what the future proposal will look like.

'We will set out our plans in March. There are systemic deficiencies in the way the current Dublin system is working and it does need to be overhauled.'

International Development Secretary Justine Greening said the UK would strongly argue against any attempt to scrap the 'first country of entry' rule, adding: 'It's important and it's obviously one we've made use of.'

Eurosceptic Tory Philip Hollobone said: 'This is an outrageous proposal from the European Commission and underlines why the best future for Britain lies outside the EU.

'It is increasingly clear that the EU does not even have respect for its own external frontiers when it's very happy for asylum seekers to wash around within its boundaries to claim refuge wherever they choose.

'I thought the Prime Minister saw the EU as a guarantor of our security but this flies in the face of that.'

International Development Secretary Justine Greening said the UK would strongly argue against any attempt to scrap the 'first country of entry' rule, adding: 'It's important and it's obviously one we've made use of'

Meanwhile judges punched a further hole in Britain's porous borders last night by letting a Calais migrant gang across the Channel.

The immigration tribunal ruling  justified on human rights grounds  paves the way for thousands of similar claims.

The ruling concerned four young Syrian men  two under-16s and a 17-year-old and his mentally-ill 26-year-old brother  all living in the notorious Calais Jungle.

They were desperate to be reunited with their siblings or parents in the UK, the Immigration and Asylum Tribunal in central London heard.

The claims should have been dealt with in France but, after lawyers argued the asylum system there was in meltdown, judges said they had a right to a family life in the UK.

Although the Home Office is understood to be planning an appeal the four refugees will be allowed to travel over from Calais because the tribunal's decision has immediate effect.

Their barrister Michael Fordham QC said the situation would 'apply to others  certainly, I would say, any unaccompanied minor in this camp with a sibling in the UK'.

The ruling was delivered while ministers were still reeling from the news, revealed in yesterday's Mail, that Brussels wants to rip up the so-called Dublin Regulation.

This states that asylum seekers should lodge their claims in the first safe country they reach inside the EU. Those who do not, and who later arrive in Britain, can be forcibly sent home.

Lawyers for the Syrians said the conditions in the camp were 'intolerable' and they should be brought to the UK

Can we just refuse to open the door? Mail's political editor JAMES SLACK examines the latest attempt by the eurocrats to seize control of our borders

What is the EU threatening to do?

The European Commission  the EU's unelected policy-making body  wants to scrap the rule that means refugees must claim asylum in the first safe country in which they arrive. This is known as the Dublin Regulation.

Instead, it would introduce a new dispersal scheme for migrants to be shared out across the continent. The IMF is predicting the number of arrivals to the EU will be 1.3million in each of the next three years  a total of 3.9million.

Who is pushing the idea?

In addition to Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, Germany and Italy  which has come under great strain from migrants arriving by boat  are strongly in favour of quotas.

Angela Merkel is under huge domestic pressure after taking one million asylum seekers last year. The Cologne sex attacks by migrants have triggered a significant backlash against the German leader.

What would it mean for the UK?

The Commission wants to use a complex formula to share out the migrants, based on population size, unemployment rates and other factors.

This would see Britain take approximately 11.5 per cent of new arrivals each year, or around 90,000. Only Germany and France would be expected to take a greater share.

Can we refuse?

Yes. Britain is not a member of the Schengen agreement and has to opt-in if it wishes to join EU immigration policies (though it is duty bound to comply with general rules on free movement.)

ASYLUM-SEEKERS GIVEN LESSONS ON HOW TO FLIRT Asylum-seekers in Belgium are to be given lessons in civilised flirting so they learn to respect women. Tips such as 'be funny' and 'make eye contact, but don't stare' have been listed in brochures to be distributed to refugee centres across the country. Other statements include: 'If a women is wearing a 'sexy' dress, that doesn't mean she wants to have sex.' The guidance is an attempt to avoid a repeat of the attacks on women in Cologne, and asylum seekers are warned there will be 'zero tolerance' towards such behaviour. The Belgian government admitted there are 'no fixed flirting rules', but said useful pointers will be given. Advertisement

Yesterday, Number 10 was clear that  while it has yet to receive a formal proposal from Brussels  it has no intention of taking part. In a shrewd move by David Cameron, Britain set up its own scheme for taking vulnerable Syrian refugees direct from refugee camps. Some 20,000, predominantly women and children, will arrive by 2020. This is in stark contrast to the huge numbers of single males who have poured into Germany, Sweden, Italy and Greece.

So what is the problem?

Some in Brussels are fed up with Britain allegedly 'not taking its fair share', despite this country receiving 30,000 asylum claims last year. In a move described as blackmail by one Tory MEP, the Commission is threatening to stop Britain sending back asylum seekers who have already lodged claims elsewhere in Europe, if we refuse to join the quota scheme.

Last year, 750 people were sent back to the country where they first came into contact with the authorities under the Dublin rules. In 2010, the number was 1,545.

How important is the Dublin agreement to Britain?

The numbers sent back to mainland Europe are low compared with the scale of the asylum problem. Last October alone, more than 5,000 people sought refugee status in the UK.

In part this is because many EU countries, notably Italy and Greece, ignore the Dublin rules and wave migrants through. However, it is thought to have a significant deterrent effect.

If Dublin is scrapped and migrants know that once they make it to Britain it will be almost impossible to kick them out, even more will mass at Calais and lay siege to lorries. Some MPs and MEPs fear the scenes of bedlam witnessed last summer will be nothing compared to what lies ahead if Dublin is axed.

And what does all this mean for David Cameron?

In some respects, it is his worst nightmare. Downing Street was given no warning of the plan by Brussels. The proposals are due to be formally tabled in March, which is likely to be in the middle of his planned EU referendum campaign. It also pulls a key plan from his campaign strategy: namely that the EU makes Britain more secure. And it's a reminder of the ambition of Brussels to dictate the immigration policies of individual member states. Tory MPs have seized on it as yet more proof of why Britain must leave the EU if it wants to retake control of its own destiny

Could it all be a stunt?

With Brussels, anything is possible and cynics at Westminster wonder if it is making an idle threat. The eurocrats are desperate to keep the UK in the club. Imagine what a publicity coup it would be for Mr Cameron if he were able to go to the Council of Ministers in March and announce he had saved Britain's power to send back asylum seekers after all.

It is thought the legal ruling could open the door to other similar cases brought by others. File photo
The person who won 33million on the Lotto has still yet to come forward to claim their prize

An unclaimed lottery ticket worth 33million - half of the UK's biggest-ever Lotto jackpot - was bought in Worcester, organisers Camelot have revealed.

A company spokeswoman confirmed no one has yet lodged a claim for the money and it is holding a press conference tomorrow in an effort to jog memories and unite the life-changing prize with its owner.

Camelot has previously said it is 'highly unusual' that no one has come forward following the level of hype and excitement around this particular draw.

The clock is ticking because the winner has 180 days from the date of the draw to claim the prize. If it remains unclaimed, the 33million will go to National Lottery projects.

However, it wouldn't be the biggest amount to go unclaimed: in June 2012, a winning Euromillions ticket bought in the Stevenage and Hitchen area of Hertfordshire went unclaimed. The jackpot had been 63.8million.

And there are a collection of 1million prizes waiting to be claimed in Preston, Staffordshire, Hull, Swansea, Rochdale, Lancashire, Liverpool and Durham.

The winning numbers for this month's biggest ever jackpot draw were 26, 27, 46, 47, 52 and 58. The total jackpot of just over 66 million was the result of 14 rollovers.

A Camelot spokesman said a 'very small' number of people within the company know where the ticket was bought.

They have only announced broader area of Worcester, identified to include at least 100,000 people, to ensure the ticket-holder can maintain anonymity if they so wish.

Nothing more about the lucky ticket, including whether it was bought by an individual or a syndicate, is known, the spokesman added.

She said the purpose of the Worcester announcement is to 'raise awareness in that area' that will hopefully lead to the ticket-holder realising they have won and coming forward to make a claim.

Players around the country have been astonished that - despite having beaten odds of around 45 million to one - the winners seem to be unwilling to claim their prize.

David and Carol Martin, from the Scottish borders, won the other half of the record 66million Lotto jackpot

David and Carol Martin, both 54, from Hawick in the Scottish Borders, celebrated winning the other half of the jackpot amid a flurry of media attention last week.

The couple were tucking into bacon and black pudding rolls when they discovered they had won half of the historic 66million prize money - catapulting them to the top of the Lotto rich list.

The Martins have joked about how they had to dash out to a local supermarket to pick up a 5 set of champagne flutes because they didn't have any when their friends arrived with a bottle of bubbly at their 176,000 semi-detached house in Hawick.

As well as unveiling details of some initial spending plans, and their hopes for an early retirement, they hinted they may look to help some of those affected by the floods which hit the UK recently.

In October, it was feared four Lottery winners may have torn up million-pound tickets after wrongly thinking they had lost because of a draw blunder.

Camelot put the wrong Millionaire Raffle codes on its website for 40 minutes until bosses noticed and corrected the error.

One of those tickets was bought in Worcester.
A pair of elderly US yachtsmen attempting to sail from Norway to America have been rescued for the seventh time after their 'last hurrah' expedition floundered on the rocks.

Brothers Bob Weise and Steve Shapiro, who were attempting to reach Maine in the US, were rescued by lifeboat crews after their yacht's engine faltered two miles off the coast of Cornwall in the UK.

It is the seventh time they have been rescued since embarking on their adventure in July - having already been plucked from the sea off Norway, Denmark, Scotland and Ireland.

Brothers Bob Weise and Steve Shapiro, who were attempting to reach Maine in the US, were rescued by lifeboat crews after their yacht's engine faltered two miles off the coast of Cornwall in the UK

Brothers Bob Weise (right) and Steve Shapiro (left), who were attempting to reach Maine in the US, were rescued by lifeboat crews after their yacht's engine faltered two miles off the coast of Cornwall in the UK

The incident off the coast of St Ives on Tuesday is the second time they have been assisted in three days.

On Sunday RNLI rescuers were called out to guide them into the right berth after they tried to moor themselves to a fisherman's buoy.

Their vessel, the Nora, is now undergoing repairs in the port - but the undaunted pair, who have earned a 'Captain Calamity' reputation, have vowed to continue their mission.

Mr Weise, an ex-US Army helicopter pilot, said: 'We're having great fun.

'Everywhere we go the people are welcoming... seamen are always helpful, even if they think you are crazy and don't know how to sail.

'One of the coastguard fellows said: "You guys could sink." And, I said, "You know, there's worse places to die than at sea".'

On Sunday RNLI rescuers were called out to guide them into the right berth after they tried to moor themselves to a fisherman's buoy

Their vessel, the Nora, is now undergoing repairs in the port - but the undaunted pair, who have earned a 'Captain Calamity' reputation, have vowed to continue their mission

Speaking to Canadian radio station CBC, he added: 'I've done everything in life. I've skydived. I've flown helicopters. I've been to Vietnam and Alaska.

'You know, to me, it's just an adventure.'

The pair left Norway in July and anticipated it would take them a year to reach their final destination of Maine, USA.

The latest rescue happened when the Nora's propeller shaft broke and they developed battery problems as they sailed away from St Ives.

Lifeboat crewman David Holland-Kemp boarded the yacht as they drifted dangerously and ended up towing them back to the harbour.

Their actions have angered some locals, with fisherman Grant Lorris saying they 'do not have a clue what they're doing'.

But Mr Shapiro, a screenwriter and author originally from California, said he had been sailing since he was nine and insisted their vessel is 'very safe and sturdy'.

He added: 'We're taking [the boat] across the oceans and we're finding out things that nobody knew were wrong with it.

The RNLI costs 410,000 per day to run and rescues on average 24 people - meaning each person costs 17,000 to rescue

The latest rescue happened when the Nora's propeller shaft broke and they developed battery problems as they sailed away from St Ives

'It has nothing to do with seamanship. It's totally the mechanics of the boat.'

The RNLI costs 410,000 per day to run and rescues on average 24 people - meaning each person costs 17,000 to rescue.

But Mr Weise, an ex-US Army helicopter pilot from Idaho, dismissed the concerns of his fellow sailors.

'We're fit, and when we come ashore people say "can we help you?" like we're infirm, but I can understand their concern,' he said.

The pair encountered a similar problem in August when they had to be towed to shore near Aberdeen after running aground.

Whist under tow one of the veterans slipped on the deck and landed on his side with a thump.

A spokeswoman from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said: 'The UK Coastguard has responded on two occasions over the last three days to assist the crew of the Nora.

'The crew and their vessel were brought to a place of safety near St Ives.
The FBI has yet to locate a missing hard drive belonging to the San Bernardino terrorists and crack the encryption on the cell phones they left behind, investigators said.

Two phones that Syed Farook, 28, and his Pakistani wife Tashfeen Malik, 29, had tried to destroy are highly encrypted, according to assistant director David Bowdich, who runs the FBI's Los Angeles field office.

The information on the devices could help authorities expose the radicalized couples possible links to a terror network and any other plans they may have had.

The digital footprint is incredibly important for us to hopefully learn any contacts, any context, and ultimately any intent on their part, Bowdich told Fox News. I think thats very, very important.

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The FBI has yet to locate a missing hard drive belonging to the San Bernardino terrorists (pictured above, Tashfeen Malik and her husband Syed Farook) or crack the encryption on the cell phones they left behind

Bowdich believes the data could also reveal information about any further attacks they had planned after the couple killed 14 people on the morning of December 2.

'Im certainly not looking past the possibility of a potential secondary attack based on the amount of ammunition they had,' he added.

The missing drive and phones could also help investigators close an 18-minute gap in the couples activities after the attack and before they were both shot dead in a gun battle with police.

The FBI has hired private contractor to help crack the encrypted codes but they face a difficult, if not impossible task, according to experts.

Mark Turnage, CEO of OWL Cybersecurity told Fox that some commercially available programs for encryption are all but unbreakable.

David Bowdich, chief of the FBI's Los Angeles field office, believes the data could also reveal information about any further attacks they had planned after the couple killed 14 people on the morning of December 2

Syed Farook (left) and his Pakistani wife stormed a holiday party and opened fire on December 2 last year

Earlier this month, authorities appealed for the publics help in piecing together Farook and Maliks movements in the aftermath of the attack on the Inland Regional Center.

The couple stormed a holiday party shortly before 11am and opened fire, killing 14 and injuring a further 22.

We want to know as much as we can know about their activities leading up to and following the shooting, Bowdich said at the news conference on January 5.

Authorities said investigators had accounted for all but 18 minutes of a nearly four-hour span beginning when Farook left home at 8.37am and ending when he and Malik died that afternoon.

Authorities have been combing through the couple's belonging to find out potential links to a terror network or other attacks they may have had planned. Pictured, the weapons they carried on December 2

'Im certainly not looking past the possibility of a potential secondary attack based on the amount of ammunition they had,' Bowdich said. Above, ammunition carried by the couple at the scene of the shootout where they died

But the timeline contains a gap beginning at 12.59pm during which the husband and wife were not captured on any surveillance cameras or spotted by witnesses, leaving open the possibility that they visited a storage unit, residence or business.

Bowdich said that after conducting 550 interviews and collecting some 500 pieces of evidence, investigators continue to believe Farook and Malik were inspired by Islamic extremism but not directed by any foreign entities.

Contrary to early reports, there was no indication that Farook had stormed out of the party at the social services agency, where he worked, or had argued with anyone.

He said Farook had even posed for photos at the party before leaving abruptly and returning with his wife to carry out the deadliest terror attack on U.S. soil since September 11, 2001.
Crucial new evidence suggesting that toddler Noah Chamberlin is still alive has been discovered - one week after he disappeared in the woods by his grandmother's house in Tennessee.

However, authorities have refused to say exactly what was found, and how it links to the case of the missing two-year-old.

'We have some leads that we have recovered,' Madison County Sheriff John Mehr said at a press conference Thursday, according to USA Today.

Noah has been the focus of a state-wide FBI-backed search in the town of Pinson, after his grandmother lost sight of him during an afternoon stroll last Thursday, January 14.

Investigators have already hit out at conspiracy theorists who speculate that the boy's parents, Jacob and Destiny Chamberlin, are behind the disappearance.

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First major find: Investigators said Thursday they had 'recovered leads' that two-year-old missing boy Noah Chamberlin (pictured with his family) was still in the woods, but would not discuss the evidence any further

Since last Thursday, search crews have canvassed the woods surrounding the grandparents' Pinson home. Authorities said Noah's disappearance is not considered suspicious and they hold out hope

Skeptics have been calling on officers to raid the family's home, with wild accusations claiming the child was covered in wet concrete or buried under an outhouse on the family property.

'We have interviewed the entire family multiple times. We can find no reason, none whatsoever, to discredit them,' Chester County Sheriff Blair Weaver said at a press conference on Tuesday, according to the Jackson Sun.

Madison County Sheriff John Mehr added: 'The family has been cooperative and supportive. The FBI and TBI have been doing background and support (operations) for us. A behavioral science unit has been called in to assist.'

Noah was reported missing at 1.19pm on Thursday after he disappeared while on a walk in the woods behind his grandparents' Pinson home, law enforcement officials said.

His grandmother had taken him and his four-year-old sister on a nature hike when she said she lost sight of him.

Authorities said the trio had sat down to talk while in the woods and when the grandmother turned around, he was gone.

'They sat down to talk and she was paying attention to the granddaughter, and when she turned around he was gone,' Madison County Sheriff's Office spokesman Tom Mapes said. 'She immediately went to look for him.'

Police this week hit back at conspiracy theorists that speculated the boy's parents Jacob and Destiny Chamberlin (pictured with Noah and their daughter, his older sister) are behind the disappearance

Neighbors insist Jacob and Destiny (pictured with their kids) are 'very Christian' and 'would never harm' Noah

Noah (pictured on Santa's lap) was reported missing at 1.19pm on January 14 after he disappeared while on a walk in the woods behind his grandparents' Pinson home, law enforcement officials sai

But as the search has stretched to nearly a week, officers have had to issue a plea to the public to desist from posting rumors on the police official Facebook group as it 'distracts' from their attempts to chase legitimate leads.

One man wrote on the Chester County Sheriff's Office page: 'That little boy never went on a walk. It was just a story given to police.'

The allegations come days after Weaver made a plea to the public for more volunteers to help search for the two-year-old who has been missing since Thursday.

Defending the family, neighbors told local reporters Jacob and Destiny are 'very Christian' and 'could never' harm their children.

Chester County Sheriff Blair Weaver (pictured on Sunday) said the family had 'no reason' to harm Noah

Search crews looking to locate Noah from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and other agencies are pictured above on Sunday. As of late Sunday afternoon, Weaver said search crews had found no sign of him

'Jacob is a very Christian young man. He's very inspirational as far as believing in the good Lord,' Gary Rinks, owner of a truck business in the area, told WREG.

Asked if Jacob and Destiny could have harmed Noah, Rinks replied: 'Under no circumstance. None whatsoever.

He added: 'It truly upsets me very much so because I know the young man as he is. Like I say, a Christian man and he loves his family.'

Police maintain they are confident the search and rescue mission will lead to bringing Noah home safe.

'We have total faith that we're going to find Noah and we're going to bring him home safe,' Weaver told WSMV.

Due to frigid temperatures, the Chester County Sheriff's office initially called for a law-enforcement-only search.

However, as time went on with no sign of Noah, Weaver asked for civilian volunteers to help with the search.

Hundreds of volunteers along with law enforcement from several state and agencies have joined the search

'Been cold, wet, muddy, lots of hills, lot of hard terrain, lot of swamps, lot of bottoms,' David Terry, one of the volunteers said of the search for Noah.

Authorities said last week that his disappearance was not considered suspicious.

Since Thursday, hundreds of volunteers along with law enforcement from several state and local agencies have canvassed the woods surrounding the home in search of the boy.

Some volunteers have traveled from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida and Mississippi have joined in the search for Noah.

According to an endangered missing child alert for Noah, he is described as a white male with blonde hair and blue eyes who stands two feet tall and weighs 25 pounds. He was last seen wearing a long-sleeved gray shirt and blue jeans

On Saturday night, a candlelight vigil was held for the boy as Pinson residents remain hopeful the boy will be found.

Mapes said on Sunday that an Amber alert has not been issued because the investigation is not a search for an abducted child but remains as one for a missing child, and asked for people to 'pray hard.'

This morning, volunteers and churchgoers gathered at Pinson Baptist Church and prayed for the missing boy.

'Something like this happens which is tragic and you hate it, and yet in the middle of it you see people really do care,' pastor of the church, Rev. John Gaters said.

'They really, honestly care about this child, they care about this family. I'm amazed.'

According to an endangered missing child alert for Noah, he is described as a white male with blonde hair and blue eyes who stands two feet tall and weighs 25 pounds.
his footing while tending to the landscape

worker ended up in the moat after

A worker at the Los Angeles Zoo was rescued by firefighters this morning after falling into the gorilla enclosure and injuring his leg.

City fire officials say the animals in the enclosure were secured while the 61-year-old victim was extricated from the enclosure using ladders, ropes and a litter at around 8.30am.

The zoo employee was strapped to a backboard and lifted about 15 feet from a planted moat.

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Zoo emergency: A worker at the Los Angeles Zoo was rescued by firefighters this afternoon after falling into the gorilla enclosure

Extracted: The 61-year-old victim, who suffered a possible femur fracture, was pulled out of the gorilla habitat using ropes, ladders and a litter

Zoo officials the man fell 15-20 feet after losing his footing while doing landscaping work

Whisked away: The injured zoo staffer was taken to a hospital in fair condition after the fall

He was then taken to an ambulance and transported to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center suffering from a possible femur fracture. He was listed in fair condition this afternoon.

It took emergency responders from the Los Angeles Fire Department about 30 minutes to remove the injured man from the moat.

The dramatic rescue was captured from the air by KTLA's Sky5 chopper, which showed the victim being raised from the moat and carried away.

The zoo was closed when the worker fell into the exhibit that's home to western lowland gorillas, which could weigh more than 350lbs.

In a statement to Daily Mail Thursday afternoon, a spokesperson for the LA Zoo revealed that the victim is a grounds maintenance worker who was tending to the landscape when he somehow lost his footing and fell 15-20 feet into the moat.

Business as usual: School children arrive at Los Angeles Zoo Thursday after the incident at the gorilla habitat

Hulking animals: The LA Zoo exhibit where the accident took place is home to four western lowland gorillas, which could weigh more than 350lbs (this image shows gorillas at the LA Zoo in 2008)

According to the zoo representative, at the time of the incident the four gorillas that live in the enclosure were still secure in their night 'bedrooms.'
Human remains have been found at an Arizona crash site where an F-16 fighter jet piloted by a student from Taiwan went down, the military has said.

Luke Air Force Base officials said the pilot was likely to have been killed in the crash at around 8.45am local time on Thursday in a remote area of northwest Arizona.

'While this is not conclusive, it is another indication the pilot did not survive the accident,' the base said in a late-night news release, which added that a coroner will make the final identification.

Officials from the suburban Phoenix air base said the man with the Taiwanese Air Force was flying solo and engaged in air-to-air combat training with an instructor when his F-16 went down.

It is still unclear why the plane crashed.

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Human remains have been found at an Arizona crash site where an F-16 fighter jet (file picture) piloted by a student from Taiwan went down

Brig. Gen. Scott Pleus, commander of the 56th Fighter Wing at Luke, said rescue crews had been on the ground searching for the pilot, whose name wasn't released.

'All indications lead me to believe that the pilot did not survive the accident,' Pleus said.

Pleus said the student pilot had been in a training program for the past six months at Luke, which is a major pilot-training base for the Air Force and foreign military services.

He said an interim safety board has been formed to conduct a preliminary investigation into the crash.

According to Fox News, authorities believe the rugged terrain may have made it more difficult to find the pilot.

Bagdad is about 85 miles northwest of the base, which is located in suburban Glendale.

Yavapai County sheriff's spokesman Dwight D'Evelyn says the Sheriff's Office was contacted by the Air Force and sent a helicopter to the area.

Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesman Quentin Mehr sent troopers, a rescue helicopter and explosive ordinance and hazardous material teams, spokesmen said.

Sean Kauffman, of the Williamson Valley-Bagdad Fire District, says fire officials were told the crash occurred about 10 miles southwest of Bagdad.

Recent previous crashes involving F-16s from Luke included one on a training mission in southern New Mexico. That pilot ejected safely.

So did an instructor pilot and a student pilot in June 2013 after their two-seat F-16 hit several birds during takeoff from Luke. The jet crashed in a farm field.
This is the heartbreaking moment a man was overcome with emotion as he put his hand on his slain sister's corpse following a restaurant attack in Somalia.

Twenty people were killed when a suicide car bomber rammed the gates of a seaside restaurant in Somalia's capital Mogadishu last night and Islamists fought their way inside firing at diners.

Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack and the deadly siege inside the the Liido Seafood restaurant, which is popular with Mogadishu's elite and government officials, police official Capt. Mohamed Hussein said.

The security forces took control of the restaurant just before dawn, ending the siege Hussein stated. It's unclear whether the assailants are included in the more than 20 that were killed.

Today grieving relatives came to terms with the attack as they searched for loved ones on the beach.

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Heartbroken: A Somali man cries on Friday after identifying the dead body of his sister on the beach following an overnight attack on a beachfront restaurant in Mogadishu, Somalia

Terror: Relatives carry away a dead body from the beach following an overnight attack on a beachfront restaurant in Mogadishu

Blasts and bursts of gunfire could be heard as Somali special forces went from room to room pursuing the al-Shabab gunmen who were holed up inside the restaurant

Hussein said the security forces rescued many people who had been trapped inside the restaurant's hall, where a party was taking place when the attack started on Thursday.

Witnesses said the gunmen shouted 'Allahu akbar', Arabic for 'God is great', and fired indiscriminately at people sitting near the beach.

'They randomly fired at the people sitting near the beach before entering the restaurant,' said witness Ahmed Nur, who was strolling along on the shoreline when the attack happened.

'The place was packed when the [gunmen] came, so the number of casualties will probably rise,' Hussein said.

Conflicting reports claim two car bombs were set off during the siege.

Somalia Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke wrote on Twitter: 'I unreservedly condemn the barbaric attack @ Liido. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims #Somalia.'

Islamic extremist group Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for Thursday's attack, in a broadcast on its online radio.

The terror group, which is fighting to overthrow the internationally backed government in Mogadishu, carry out regular attacks in the capital.

The Islamists are on a mission to disprove claims they are close to defeat since being routed from Mogadishu in mid-2011 and losing several alleged commanders in US drone strikes.

Attack: Ambulances pictured at the scene of the blast where at least 20 people have been killed by terrorists

Location: The attack took place close to Lido Beach in Somali's capital Mogadishu, in the east of the country

Al-Shabaab attacked Kenyan peacekeepers in south-western Somalia last week.

The group claimed it had killed about 100 Kenyans and seized armaments and military vehicles.

The Kenyan government has given no death toll, saying instead that there were some fatalities.

Despite being pushed out of Somalia's major cities and towns, Al-Shabaab continues to launch deadly guerrilla attacks across the Horn of Africa country.

African Union troops, government officials and foreigners are frequently targeted.

The Lido beach area in Mogadishu is busy with restaurants, including upmarket establishments popular with business people and diaspora Somalis who have returned home to the city.

The same restaurant was bombed in February 2013, reportedly killing a Somali soldier.

Somalia Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke wrote on Twitter: 'I unreservedly condemn the barbaric attack @ Liido. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims #Somalia'
A 12-year-old girl has died from flu just four days after she first started showing symptoms.

Piper Lowery, from Port Orchard, Washington, got a high fever on January 12 and died from complications from a deadly strain of flu on January 16.

Her mother, Pegy Lowery, said she took her daughter to see a doctor straight away and was prescribed the antiviral medicine Tamiflu.

The doctor told Mrs Lowery, who was down with flu herself, to bring her back if her condition did not improve over the next few days.

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Tragic: Piper Lowery, 12, died from flu just four days after she first started showing symptoms

She took Piper back to the doctor three times and the schoolgirl's temperature rocketed as high as 105F, Q13 Fox reported.

'She continued to have high fevers just like me. it was horrible,' Mrs Lowery said.

After Piper vomited blood, her mother took her to hospital.

When they arrived at the hospital parking lot, Piper collapsed into her mother's arms. She did not regain consciousness.

'Her legs were spaghetti noodles. It just went that way and she said, "Oh momma" and she collapsed in my arms,' an emotional Mrs Lowery said.

Piper, who was otherwise healthy up until she got the flu, died hours later. Doctors said the flu attacked her kidneys, causing renal failure.

Pegy Lowery (pictured with Piper), said she took her daughter to see a doctor straight away and was prescribed the antiviral medicine Tamiflu

Piper, who was otherwise healthy up until she got the flu, died hours after collapsing in a hospital parking lot

Paying tribute to her only daughter, who was conceived after 10 years of trying and after numerous rounds of IVF, Mrs Lowery said: 'She loved life.

'I want people to remember her smile, her smile and the freckles all over her face.'

Piper, who attended Manchester Elementary School in Port Orchard, is the second person to die from flu in Kitsap County so far this winter and the first child to die from flu there since 2009.

Dr Susan Turner, from the county health district, said: 'Our hearts go out to the families of these individuals.

'These tragedies remind us that influenza can be a very serious illness, especially in young children.
A shopkeeper is proving that 'every little helps' in business - after painting his sign in a strikingly similar style to Tesco.

Sris Kumar, 41, is risking the wrath of the supermarket giant after he named the shop Hereford Express using red-white-and-blue colours.

The shop, on Folly Lane in Hereford, changed its signage two weeks ago and pictures of it have been shared hundreds of times on social media.

Sris Kumar, 41, is risking the wrath of the supermarket giant after he named the shop Hereford Express using red-white-and-blue colours

Customers on social media have likened it to Tesco Express, with one writing: 'I think someone might be in a wee bit of trouble with Tescos

The shop, on Folly Lane in Hereford, changed its signage two weeks ago and pictures of it have been shared hundreds of times on social media.

But despite the close comparison to Tesco, Mr Kumar, who took over the shop last year, is adamant he has not copied the logo.

The father-of-two said: 'We changed the shop sign two weeks ago. I like the colours and wanted it to stand out from the other shops.

'Of course I have been to Tesco before but to my eye, ours isn't the same. The font is different and we have more blue dashes.

'There are also other things which make our sign unique. The word Hereford looks nothing like Tesco either.'

But customers have been quick to draw comparisons, with some posting pictures of the shop next to Tesco signs.

User ragwert posted on a local Hereford website: 'I think someone might be in a wee bit of trouble with Tescos.'

 Slide me  But despite the close comparison to Tesco, Mr Kumar, who took over the shop last year, is adamant he has not copied the iconic logo

Twitter user Roger added: 'The font/styling/colours are virtually identical to Tesco. I think they've wasted money on that makeover as they'll have to remove it when Tesco get on the case*'

Two years ago Tesco lost its bid to trademark the five blue dashes which underline the store's name on their signs.

The Intellectual Property Office rejected their claim saying that while it was recognised that the dashes might be associated with Tesco, they only represented punctuation.

A Tesco spokesman yesterday refused to comment on the Hereford Express signage.

He added: 'We do not comment on specific cases but we always take appropriate steps in order to protect our brand.'

In 2010, exclusive superstore Harrods has told a roadside cafe to change its sign because it is too similar to the luxury brand, the store has claimed.

In 2010, exclusive superstore Harrods has told roadside cafe Hollands to change its sign because it is too similar to the luxury brand, according to owners Nigel and Leyla (pictured) Holland the store has claimed

The Tokyo 2020 logo (left) is set to be scrapped as there have been accusations that it was copied from the Theatre de Liege logo in Belgium

Hollands Cafe Lounge received a letter on May 15 from the shop's bosses accusing them of 'copyright infringement' of their famous sign.

But the family-run restaurant, which nestles on the side of the busy A12 near Rivenhall, Essex, is a far cry from the million-square foot store in Knightsbridge, London.

In 2011, a blogger in the US wondered into an Apple shop in China but later realised that the shop - emblazoned with logos everywhere - was a total fake, with no affiliation to the company.

She noticed that the signage said Apple Store  but then realised that Steve Jobs electronics giant never writes those words on its signs.

Upon closer inspection, she noticed other things that werent quite right, as the sales people didn't have their names written on the badges, only 'staff', and the stairs in the store were badly made.
Bill Clinton's presidential library in Arkansas is preparing a mass release of documents related to Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump this spring, potentially roiling the GOP nomination race.

The National Archives, which operates the 12-year-old library, is releasing the documents in response to a Freedom of Information request.

The billionaire developer and real estate tycoon has a long history with the Clintons, and current Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton notably attended his third wedding in 2005.

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Donald Trump, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and former President Bill Clinton at a charity golf game in New York in July 2008

The former president has been stumping for his wife's presidential campaign in New Hampshire in recent weeks

Although Republicans will almost certainly use whatever information is damaging about Trump against him on the campaign trail, he has explained his relationship with the couple as simple politics, since Hillary Clinton was a senator in New York during the 2000s, the city where Trump is based.

GOP critics have pointed out Trump's generous campaign donations to Democrats over the years, which he has explained as 'investments' to gain influence, and he famously said in a 2015 that Bill Clinton was the best president of the modern era.

He was also a registered Democrat for several years, although a registered Republican since 2012.

All of that has made Trump susceptible to attacks for not being a true conservative, which his supporters have dismissed.

Former Alaska Gov. and 2008 vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin mentioned such criticism on Tuesday in an endorsement speech of Trump.

The documents being released could describe meetings between Trump and Clinton as he was considering a presidential bid as a Reform Party candidate in 2000

The Clinton Presidential Library opened in late 1994 and is operated by the National Archives

Clinton in Salem, N.H. on Wednesday

A discussion between the two last spring, just before Trump launched his campaign in June, is also likely to surface even though it fell outside of Clinton's presidential tenure, according to a report in Mediaite. Trump was confronted about the phone call at the very first GOP debate in August.

The offices of Presidents Clinton and Barack Obama and have a 60-day window to review the involved documents and respond to the FOIA request. They can then either approve material for release or request an extension.
The father of a British man convicted of killing his American wife and their baby daughter believes his son is innocent - and claims his daughter-in-law shot the child before killing herself.

Almost exactly ten years after the horrific event which became known as the 'Entwistle slayings,' Neil Entwistle's father, Cliff, from Worksop, Nottinghamshire, claims he has identified 'glaring holes' in the case against his son.

His son Neil, now age 37, a former IT consultant, was sentenced to life in prison in 2008 after being found guilty of the murder of his American wife Rachel and their nine-month-old daughter Lillian in their Boston home.

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Ten years after the event which became known as the Entwistle slayings, Neil Entwistle's father, Cliff, (pictured right) from Worksop, Nottinghamshire, claims he has identified 'glaring holes' in the case against his son (left)

Neil was sentenced to life in prison in 2008 after being found guilty of the murder of his American wife Rachel and their nine-month-old daughter Lillian (both pictured) in their Boston home

The bodies of 27-year-old Rachel and baby Lillian were found on January 22, 2006 in the master bedroom of the family's rented home where they had been living for only ten days.

Autopsy results showed that Rachel died of a gunshot wound to the head and Lillian of a gunshot wound to the torso.

But now, on the 10th anniversary of the murders, Neil's parents maintain that their son is not guilty.

Mr Entwistle said: 'There is no way on God's Earth that my son would murder his wife and child. He was not given a fair trial, key evidence that proves his innocence was swept under the carpet and people are finally beginning to realise this.'

Mr Entwistle has now recruited Australian detective turned crime author Duncan McNab to look into the case and the pair believe that Neil had 'no chance' even before his trial began.

Mr Entwistle said: 'A book which portrayed Neil as a cold-blooded killer was given the go ahead to be published on the day of the trial.

'Members of the jury would have seen that book everywhere and would, of course, been influenced by it.

'That just goes to show what kind of environment my son was tried in.'

Neil Entwistle pictured leaving Framingham district court following his arraignment for the murders

Mr Entwistle claims that other crucial factors including Rachel's state of mind at the time of the killings and the fact she had gunshot residue on both sides of her hands went unnoted by the judge.

Mr Entwistle said: 'Rachel had post-natal depression and I just don't understand why this wasn't brought up in court at all.

'I remember one occurrence when Yvonne and I were speaking to her on the phone and she asked if we had received photos of Lillian from Christmas that she had posted over.

'When we replied that we hadn't, she put the phone down and, according to Neil, ran upstairs sobbing.

'She had been having problems since Lillian was born. This is what should have been addressed.'

On the day of the deaths, in January 2006, Mr Entwistle says that Neil was making breakfast when he heard a gunshot and rushed upstairs to find Lillian already dead before Rachel turned the gun on herself.

Mr Entwistle said: 'Inevitably, the finger was pointed at Neil when he got on a plane and rushed home to Worksop.

'But why wouldn't he have done? Have you ever been through a traumatic incident? The natural instinct is to go home to your family.

'It would have been the same wherever he was in the world.

'He didn't go off running to Bolivia and shack himself up somewhere- he came home because he simply didn't know what else to do.'

When Neil returned home, his father said he knew immediately that his son was 100 per cent innocent.

Mr Entwistle said: 'He was in a state of shock - we all were. I telephoned Rachel's parents immediately.'

Mr Entwistle has criticised the British Government for ignoring the family's requests for legal help and for instead turning Neil over to the American Embassy.

Rachel Entwistle and Neil Entwistle with their baby daughter Lillian Entwistle in an image posted on the Entwistle family website. The bodies of Rachel and her 9 month-old daughter were found in a bed at their home

Both of the bodies were found on a bed in this rented home in Hopkinton on January 22, 2006

Mr Entwistle is angry that his family had nobody.

Cliff said: 'In America it was easy for them to jump to the conclusion that this British man had killed his family before hopping on a plane back to England.

'Imagine being alone in a situation like that- what do you do?'

Author Duncan Mcnab is now hoping to publish a book on the 'reasonable doubt' surrounding Neil's conviction and Cliff has said this has finally given the family 'some hope'.

Mr Entwistle said: 'We won't stop until we have a re-trial. We will continue to stand by the fact that our son is completely innocent.'

Yvonne explained that she and Mr Entwistle fly over to America once a year to see their son.

She said: 'Not a day goes by where we don't think of Neil, or of our granddaughter, Lillian.

'I miss them every day. Every birthday and Christmas goes by and all I feel is emptiness. But I will never give up fighting.'
A Saudi billionaire using diplomatic immunity to shield him in a divorce battle with his Pirelli calendar girl ex-wife is seriously ill with cancer', a court has heard.

Former supermodel Christina Estrada claims Walid Juffali's immunity is void because he is unable to carry out his diplomatic duties, meaning the post has now come to an end under Article 39 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

Lawyers for Walid Juffali, who was appointed as St Lucias permanent representative to the International Maritime Organisation in April 2014, had sought to prevent Ms Estradas claims about the businessman's health being made public.

Dispute: The High Court in London is considering whether Walid Juffali, who is worth 4billion, genuinely has legal immunity that would defeat former supermodel Christina Estrada's claim to a share of his wealth

The Saudi billionaire is using diplomatic immunity to shield him in a divorce battle with his ex-wife (pictured arriving at court today, left, and yesterday, right). But Christina Estrada claims he is seriously ill with cancer'

However, Mr Justice Hayden lifted restrictions on the claims being reported during a hearing at the High Court in London on Thursday.

The court is considering whether Mr Juffali, who is worth 4billion, genuinely has legal immunity that would defeat Ms Estradas claim to a legally binding settlement and a share of his wealth, which includes an estate in Windsor and a seven-bedroom home in a converted church in Knightsbridge.

Mr Justice Hayden told the court that claims Mr Juffali is currently in hospital in Switzerland were 'plainly relevant to my future case management.

He added: In many respects, transparency is one of the central aspects of this case. To assert immunity from a transparent legal process whilst at the same time seeking to inhibit the publication of assets of the wifes claim seems to me to raise a question of fairness.

In my judgement it would be manifestly unfair to seek to micromanage the flow of information into the public domain in a case in which the public is entitled to hear the arguments in full and on both sides.

Mr Justice Hayden issued an order on Wednesday for Philip Hammond, the Foreign Secretary, to certify whether Britain had formally accepted Mr Juffali as a diplomat.

There is no record of Mr Juffali, 60, attending any meetings of the IMO since his appointment in April 2014, nor does he possess any known qualifications in shipping or maritime law.

In court: Lawyers for Mr Juffali, who was appointed as St Lucias permanent representative to the International Maritime Organisation in 2014, had sought to prevent Ms Estradas claims about his health being made public

Ms Estrada says it is not possible for her to bring any financial claims against Mr Juffali in his Saudi homeland

Expensive: Mr Juffali owns Bishopsgate House (pictured), a country estate in Egham, Surrey, which includes a maze and tennis court. The estate is next to Windsor Great Park and is just four miles from Windsor Castle

His appointment as a diplomat to represent the Caribbean island in London was never formally announced to the St Lucian public.

Mr Juffali, chairman of one of Saudi Arabia's biggest conglomerates, has strenuously denied his diplomatic position was sought in order to avoid a settlement in the UK courts, and says it was made in accordance with standard diplomatic procedures.

Allen Chastanet, the leader of the opposition, denounced Mr Juffali's appointment as 'odd, awkward and immoral' and called for the Saudi to be removed.

Lawyers for Ms Estrada are also arguing his immunity is limited to his official, diplomatic functions and does not extend to the family court proceedings because he is 'a permanent resident' of the UK with strong and enduring ties to the country, including those with his ex-wife and his daughter, who was born in England.

Denying he is seeking to evade his responsibilities to his former partner and their teenage daughter, Mr Juffali claims he pays her around 70,000 a month in voluntary payments.

Mr Juffali says he made 'generous' provision and acquired for his ex-wife a property in Beverly Hills, California. He divorced her in Saudi Arabia after 13 years of marriage.

Ms Estrada, 53, says it is not possible for her to bring any financial claims against him in his Saudi homeland.

Last month the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office wrote to St Lucia's government formally requesting that Mr Juffali's immunity be waived to allow Ms Estradas case to proceed.
Multiple parties who had viewed the documentary 'Weiner' before its cut for the Sundance Film Festival are saying that scenes showing Hillary Clinton's team pressure top aide Huma Abedin to cut ties with her sex pest husband were left on the cutting room floor.

The Hollywood Reporter wrote that Clinton's people told Abedin to ditch ex-congressman Anthony Weiner in the wake of another sexting scandal, which plays out in the new film.

The reason, they suggest, is that Abedin's relationship with Weiner will sully Clinton's chances to win the White House.

Those scenes, however, are no longer in the movie, but offered 'the kind of rare window into the cutthroat machinations of a presidential campaign that is typically reserved for such fictitious shows as "House of Cards,"' Hollywood Reporter wrote, calling the material 'explosive and potentially damaging' to the Clinton campaign.

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Huma Abedin and husband Anthony Weiner in New York last April

Weiner in 2011 admitted sending inappropriate photos and text messages to as many as six women before and after his wedding to Abedin. He identified himself by the nickname 'Carlos Danger'

The film explores Weiner's 2013 bid for mayor of New York City giving audiences a behind-the-scenes look at a creative and political gamble that badly backfired.

The politician, who resigned from Congress in 2011 after revelations that he sent lewd text messages to women and was then hit with a second scandal during his New York mayoral run two years later, is shown as a panicked, erratic candidate who appears to have badly miscalculated the wisdom of allowing unfettered access.

The 90-minute documentary - produced with Weiner's cooperation - was directed by a former Weiner chief of staff, Josh Kriegman, who led his district office in 2005 and 2006.

Kriegman was joined by Elyse Steinberg in the making of the film.

In the cut of the film viewed by the New York Times Abedin fares significantly better than her husband, demonstrating a 'steely calm' in the face of repeated indiscretions, the newspaper reported getting an exclusive preview.

Weiner 'provides an unfettered look at the implosion of Mr. Weiners mayoral campaign and a wrenching inside account of the couples interactions in the aftermath of his second explicit texting scandal,' the Times wrote.

The report describes several 'juicy moments' about Weiner in the film, including even a spur-of-the-moment escape from the rear of a McDonald's restaurant to avoid interacting with a woman with whom he had sent inappropriate texts.

Weiner arriving at Huff Post Live studios in New York in an undated photo

Abedin remains a close confidante of Clinton - who has endured her own share of humiliation over her husband's misconduct. The film captures Abedin at the height of her time as one of the top staffers at the State Department and before Clinton's presidential campaign.

She is shown at a humiliating press conference standing alongside Weiner to say she has forgiven him but also as a brutally honest spouse at other times such as a moment in an elevator when she glances at Weiner and says, 'I'm not wild about those pants.'

Abedin also comes across as a cold calculator at times.

The film shows one moment when a young campaign staffer is about to leave the couple's New York apartment, only to have Abedin say, 'Just a quick optics thing? I assume those photographers are still outside. So, you will look happy?'

At another moment, the Times report says, the couple is shown in a small office asking associates for campaign donations, with Abedin using a 'sweet voice' and asking, 'How was the engagement? I want all the details.'

Minutes later, she hangs up and tells Weiner in a flat tone, 'His wife is going to max out, and hell try to raise another five.'

Weiner appears enthusiastic for redemption - especially from Abedin. Asked at one point if Abedin wanted him to re-enter politics, Weiner says 'she did,' going on to explain, 'She was very eager to get her life back that I had taken from her,' referring to the first sexting scandal in 2011.

Weiner exchanged a long series of texts with a woman named Sydney Leathers, who eventually went public with them

A note Weiner sent to Leathers

Weiner's texts to Leathers occurred after he resigned from Congress for a first instance of sending inappropriate messages

The showing of the film at the Sundance this Sunday is bad timing for Clinton's campaign. especially on the heels of the release of 13 Hours, the Hollywood account of the Sept. 2012 terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans. Clinton was secretary of state at the time - and Huma was at her side.

GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump has been making hay on the campaign trail over Bill Clinton's sexual misconduct, and recently rented out a movie theater in Des Moines to show free screenings of 13 Hours - a week and a half before the Feb. 1 Iowa caucuses.

Hillary Clinton does not directly appear in Weiner, only in news footage. But Abedin is front-and-center throughout the film, portrayed as the would-be savior for her husband's political prospects.



Abedin has come under scrutiny from congressional Republicans over her actions at the State Department, ranging from questions about personal billing and vacation practices to her influence on the agency as well as the Clinton family's charity, the Clinton Foundation.

Weiner is scheduled for release in movie theaters on May 20, as well as a television premiere on Showtime in October.

According to the Times report, Abedin and Weiner have asked to see the movie before its release, but have been refused.

Both Abedin and a Clinton campaign spokesperson declined to comment to the newspaper.

Filmmaker Kriegman denied that Clinton's team appeared in the documentary, according to the Hollywood Reporter, which continued to raise questions about what had been expunged.

In the Sundance version, at least one figure central to Hillaryland is on screen.
Pope Francis today overturned centuries of tradition that banned women from a foot-washing service during Lent, upsetting conservatives and delighting women's rights activists.

Until now, only men or boys were formally allowed to take part in the service, in which a priest washes and kisses the feet of 12 people to commemorate Jesus' gesture of humility towards his apostles on the night before he died.

But in a letter to the Vatican department that regulates rites of worship, Francis said the group should be made up of 'all members of the people of God,' including women.

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Pope Francis (pictured today) has today overturned centuries of tradition that banned women from a foot-washing service during Lent, upsetting conservatives and delighting women's rights activists

The ritual takes place in Catholic parishes around the world the world on Holy Thursday, four days before Easter.

While some parishes in the 1.2billion member Church had already included women and girls, most have stuck to the written rules, particularly in developing countries.

'This is great news, a wonderful step forward,' said Erin Hanna, co-director of the U.S.-based Woman's Ordination Conference, which promotes a female Catholic priesthood.

'This means that change is possible, doors seem to be opening in the Vatican,' she said.

Since his election in 2013, the pope has included women when he has presided at the foot-washing services, continuing a practice he started when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires.

He has held these services in a home for the elderly and even included Muslims when he held them in Italian jails, outraging traditionalists.

Previously, only men could take part but in a letter to the Vatican department that regulates rites of worship, Francis (pictured) said the group should be made up of 'all members of the people of God,' including women

The ritual takes place in Catholic parishes around the world the world on Holy Thursday, four days before Easter, and Pope Francis himself washes and kisses the feet (pictured) of Christians

'I feel very sorry for priests who have been trying to obey liturgical law on this issue ... they may well feel betrayed,' said Joseph Shaw, head of a traditionalist group called The Latin Mass Society.

'Liturgical conservatives who have sought in recent decades to keep the rules ... often in the face of considerable pressure, may well feel the rug has been pulled from under them by this decree,' he said in a statement.

A decree issued on the pope's behalf by Cardinal Robert Sarah of Guinea said Jesus had 'given his life for the salvation of all of humanity' and the group should be a mix of men, women, old people, young people, the sick and the healthy.
A bomb attack has killed nine people including six police officers and injured 10 others near a road leading to the Egyptian pyramids in Cairo.

The bomb exploded as a team of officers raided an apartment in the suburb of Giza, police said.

The Interior Ministry said in a statement the building was booby-trapped and the device went off when they tried to defuse it.

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Crime scene: The bomb exploded as officers raided an apartment in Giza, which was booby-trapped

Aftermath: Pictures show the aftermath of the bomb blast in the suburb of Giza, in Cairo, Egypt, on Thursday

Security forces detain an unidentified man at the scene of a bomb blast in a main street in Giza, Egypt

It blamed Thursday's blast in the Al-Haram district on the blacklisted Islamist Muslim Brotherhood movement of ousted president Mohamed Morsi.

'Police had information that a group of Muslim Brotherhood members were preparing to carry out aggressive acts in the coming days using explosives and crude bombs,' the ministry said on its Facebook page.

'This group was using an apartment in a Cairo building, and on Thursday night the police raided this apartment where they found a number of crude bombs.

'When the bomb squad expert was dealing with one of the bombs, it exploded...'

Heavily armed: Security personnel stand guard at the scene of a bomb blast in a main street in Giza

Rescue workers pictured with a body after the bomb exploded as a team of police officers raided an apartment

Islamist militants have stepped up attacks on Egyptian soldiers and police since the army toppled Morsi in 2013, following mass protests against his rule.

The neighbourhood of Al-Haram has witnessed several attacks and gunfights since the overthrow.

It is known to house many of Morsi's sympathisers and used to be a regular venue for clashes between his supporters and security forces in the aftermath of his ouster by then army chief and now President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

The district also houses several hotels frequented by tourists visiting Cairo, given its proximity to the pyramids.

The explosion on Thursday came ahead of Monday's anniversary of the 2011 revolution that ousted longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

Security forces have questioned residents and searched more than 5,000 homes in central Cairo as a 'precautionary measure' to prevent street protests on the anniversary, security officials said on Thursday.

Explosion: Six police officers were killed and 10 people were injured in the blast close to the pyramids in Cairo

Blame: The interior ministry said the bomb had been planted by the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood movement

The ten-day search campaign was based on surveillance and intelligence gathered over months and focused on young, pro-democracy activists inside and outside the country, including foreigners.

'We are very concerned and will not allow protests,' a senior official said. 'These movements are aimed at polarising society and mobilising the masses against the government.'

Security forces nationwide are bracing themselves for the anniversary of the revolt.

In central Cairo there has been a heightened police presence for days, with riot trucks and civilian cars carrying plainclothes officers prowling the streets day and night, often accompanying forces raiding apartments.

Officials, including the current president, have voiced concern over attempts to mark the anniversary with new protests, and security forces have arrested a number of activists accused of planning demonstrations.

The Cairo bombing comes after gunmen killed five policemen late Wednesday when they attacked a checkpoint in the North Sinai town of Al-Arish.

The Islamic State group's Egyptian affiliate, the Sinai Province, claimed that attack.

The Interior Ministry said the building was booby-trapped and the device went off when it was being defused
An Iran-backed militia that killed four British hostages abducted in 2007 is suspected of being behind the kidnapping of three American citizens in Baghdad, according to Iraqi and U.S. intelligence sources.

Gunmen from the Shia militia, known as the League of the Righteous, are thought to have snatched the men from an apartment in the Doura neighbourhood in southeastern Baghdad on Sunday.

Iraqi and U.S. authorities have narrowed their investigations down to just two Shia militia groups, the League and the Saraya al-Salam, or Peace Brigades, loyal to the radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

Abduction: Three Americans working for a defence contractor in Baghdad, Iraq, were kidnapped from this apartment on Sunday by Iran-backed Shia militia known as the League of the Righteous, security sources said

Victim: The same militia group was responsible for the kidnapping of British computer expert Peter Moore (pictured) and his four bodyguards in May 2007 in Baghdad

The League was also responsible for the kidnapping of British computer expert Peter Moore and his four bodyguards in May 2007 in Baghdad.

Although Mr Moore was released in December 2009, all four of his bodyguards - Jason Creswell, Jason Swindlehurst, Alec MacLachlan and Alan McMenemy - were killed in captivity, in what became one of the worst kidnapping incidents in modern British history.

Officials added that while Iran is thought to support the organisation behind the kidnapping, which is also known by the Arabic name Asaib Ahl al-Haq, there is no reason to believe Tehran ordered the kidnapping.

The kidnapping of the U.S. security contractors could complicate relations between Washington and the Iraqi government, which relies on the Shia militias to lead the fight against ISIS.

A Western official revealed to news agency AP that the League was involved today.

Nobody can do anything in that neighborhood without the approval of those militias, an Iraqi police commander told the agency, referring to the area in which the contractors were abducted and supporting the officials claims.

Nobody can do anything in that neighborhood [Doura] without the approval of those militias. Iraqi police commander

The League - one of Iraq's most powerful armed groups - claims to have launched thousands of attacks on both British and U.S. troops. It also claimed responsibility for the killing of five British soldiers when their helicopter was downed in Basra in May 2006.

An Iraqi intelligence source previously told Reuters: 'They were abducted because they are Americans, not for personal or financial reasons.'

The three men are employed by a small company that is doing work for General Dynamics Corp, one of the world's largest defense contractors.

The corporation is working in Iraq under a larger contract with the U.S. Army, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The Iraqi government has struggled to rein in the Shia militias, many of which fought the U.S. and British military following the 2003 invasion and have previously been accused of killing and abducting American and British nationals.

Probe: The men were snatched from the Doura district (pictured) to put pressure on Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, sources said, though there is no indication that the operation was ordered by Tehran

Baghdad-based analyst Hisham al-Hashemi, who advises the government, said the kidnappings were meant to embarrass and weaken Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who is trying to balance his country's relations with rival powers Iran and the U.S.

'The militias are resentful of the success of the army in Ramadi [a city in central Iraq] which was achieved with the support of the U.S.-led coalition and without their involvement,' he said.

Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province and formerly home to half a million people, was recaptured from majority-Sunni ISIS forces late last year.

Shia militias were kept out of the battle against ISIS in Ramadi for fear of aggravating sectarian tensions among the Sunni population in the western city.

Baghdad touted the military's advance there last month, with backing from coalition airstrikes, as evidence of a resurgent army after it collapsed in 2014.

The State Department said on Sunday it was working with Iraqi authorities to locate Americans reported missing, without confirming they had been kidnapped.

Asked about the kidnapping at the daily U.S. State Department news briefing on Tuesday, spokesman John Kirby said only: 'The picture is becoming a little bit more clear in terms of what might have happened.'

Kirby declined to say whether Secretary of State John Kerry had contacted Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif about the kidnapping.

Hostility between Tehran and Washington has eased in recent months with the lifting of crippling economic sanctions against Iran in return for compliance with a deal to curb its nuclear ambitions and a recent prisoner swap.
Social services were aware of concerns for an eight-year-old boy who died at home from scurvy a year before his death, a leaked report has revealed.

The authorities previously claimed that Dylan Seabridge was 'invisible' to them because he was home-schooled and rarely came into contact with the outside world before his death from the easily curable disease in 2011.

But a report now shows that both a lawyer and a head teacher reported their concerns about the boy being home schooled - because his mother, Julie, suffered from mental health issues - to social services more than a year before he died.

Glynn and Julie Seabridge thought their son Dylan was suffering from growing pains before he died of scurvy

Education officials even visited their Pembrokeshire home but had no legal power to force the parents to let them see Dylan, according to an unpublished case review leaked to BBC Wales.

The Children's Commissioner for Wales Dr Sally Holland told the BBC: 'This is a rare case, but I don't think Dylan Seabridge is the only child under the radar in Britain so we should be learning what we can from this case and of course as quickly as possible.'

Dylan collapsed at the family home in the remote village of Eglwyswrw in Pembrokeshire, west Wales in December 2011, but his parents claimed they believed he had 'growing pains'.

After his death it emerged he had scurvy - which is caused by a deficiency of vitamin C and is almost unheard of in modern-day Britain.

His parents Glynn, 47, and Julie had not sought medical advice for the youngster because they thought he was suffering from 'growing pains', it emerged today.

Former teacher Mrs Seabridge, 46, and her husband were both unemployed and home schooling their son at the time of his death.

The parents rejected a Home Office pathologist's conclusion that the rare condition - caused by lack of vitamin C - was to blame, but a coroner has today found scurvy killed Dylan

She had taught IT in a secondary school until 2009, when she left her post due to ill health.

An inquest in Milford Haven last January heard how Mr Seabridge called 999 on 6 December 2011 after the boy's health deteriorated.

Paramedics who attended the family home found Dylan unconscious and not breathing with bruising to his ankle and knee as well as swollen legs.

FORGOTTEN CONDITION: SCURVY AND ITS SYMPTOMS Scurvy was at one time common among sailors deprived of fresh fruit and vegetables while at sea but is now incredibly rare. Symptoms of scurvy are lethargy, spots on the skin, spongy gums and bleeding from the nose. Treatment involves taking vitamin C supplements and eating food that is high in the essential vitamin such as cabbage, grapefruit, sweet potatoes, lemons, broccoli, limes and tomatoes. NHS guidance says the condition should be treated quickly to reverse its harmful effects. Advertisement

He was rushed to hospital but suffered a heart attack and doctors were unable to save him.

Home Office pathologist Dr Deryck Simon Jones, who carried out the post mortem examination, concluded that Dylan's death was due to scurvy.

The parents, reject this finding. Their lawyer, Katie Hanson, told the inquest: 'The parents don't accept that Dylan died of scurvy.'

A specialist from Belgium, Professor Joris Dlanghe, also questioned whether Dylan had scurvy claiming that other deficiencies such as folic acid would have been present too but were not.

Dylan's parents had given their son painkillers for his 'growing pains' shortly before his death.

They were initially arrested and charged with neglect but the Crown Prosecution Service later dropped their case against them.
Suhaib Majeed, 21, of St Johns Wood, London, wrote a letter while he was awaiting trial to encourage his sister, Bisha, to listen to a series of lectures by jihadist cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, jurors were told

A British Muslim who is alleged to be one the leaders of an Islamic State-inspired plot to assassinate soldiers, police and civilians tried to radicalise his sister from his prison cell, a court has heard.

Suhaib Majeed, 21, of St Johns Wood, London, wrote a letter while he was awaiting trial to encourage his sister, Bisha, to listen to a series of lectures by jihadist cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, jurors were told.

In the correspondence, found in a search of the Kings College, London physics students St Johns Wood family home, Majeed told her he was putting his faith in Allah and that he was content with his will.

Even before his arrest on 24 September 2014, Majeed had been encouraged to radicalise his sister by an online contact during a discussion of marriage, the Old Bailey heard.

Majeed allegedly threw a Russian-made self-loading pistol, silencer and ammunition from his bedroom window when armed police raided his home, but denied procuring a gun for terrorist purposes.

Prosecutor Brian Altman QC said: During a further search of Majeeds home address, the police found a letter he had written from prison to his sister.

In it, there are clear elements of jihadi narrative and the encouragement of her radicalisation.

As well as a reference to the hereafter series of lectures on the progress of the human soul into the afterlife, Majeed said: This life is worthless and nothing but a station we stopped at before getting to the final destination which is everlasting jannah [paradise].

He and medical student Tarik Hassane, 22, known as The Surgeon, are said to have been the ringleaders in a terrorist plot to murder police, soldiers and civilians in the UK using a moped and firearms.

The plan is said to have developed after Hassane, who was studying in Sudan, pledged his allegiance to ISIS in July 2014, with Majeed carrying out his orders in Britain.

Nyall Hamlett (left) and Nathan Cuffy (right) were said to be involved in the arms deal for a Baikal IZH pistol

Court artist sketch of (left to right) Tarik Hussane, 22, Suhaib Majeed, 21, Nyall Hammlett, 25, Nathan Cuffy, 26

Nathan Cuffy, 26, is accused of arming the murderous plot, while Nyall Hamlett, 25, is said to have been the middleman for the transfer of the gun and ammunition.

The four British Muslims, all from west London, allegedly called themselves the Turnup Terror Squad in online chats using the encrypted messaging app Telegram.

The court heard Hassane carried out hostile reconnaissance on potential targets, including the Shepherds Bush police station and the Parachute Regiment Territorial Army Barracks at White City, using Google streetview.

Tarik Hassane exchanged coded messages as they plotted a drive-by terror attack, a court has heard

Majeed allegedly picked up a gun just two days after IS released a fatwa on YouTube ordering followers to kill disbelievers and bring terror to the West.

All four were arrested in September and October 2014, but did not answer questions in police interviews.

In prepared statements, they each lied about their knowledge of or involvement in criminal activity, said the prosecutor.

Hassane categorically denied involvement in getting a firearm for terrorist purposes and claimed he needed a false identity to buy and store a moped to avoid the Compulsory Basic Training (CBT) test.

He also claimed he disagreed with the activities of ISIS and denied sending the fatwa to others, insisting: It goes completely against the fundamental principles of Islam.

Majeed admitted reading the fatwa, but said he did not hold the beliefs in it.

Hamlett, who has since admitted transferring the gun and ammunition to Majeed, claimed he was shocked when he was shown pictures of the police station and TA barracks and insisted it was not the sort of activity he would be involved in.

Cuffy denied any knowledge of the gun seen being thrown out of Majeeds bedroom window and claimed four guns and ammunition found at his home were not his, but had been handed to him by a friend who had asked him to store two bags.

Hassane, of North Kensington; Majeed, St Johns Wood; Hamlett, of Paddington; and Cuffy, of Notting Hill, deny conspiracy to murder between 8 July 2014 and 25 September 2014 and preparation of terrorist acts between the 8 July 2014 and the 7 October 2014.

The trial was adjourned until Monday when the prosecution will continue to open its case.
to throw her down stairs and slash her face

Melo is accused of choking and hitting her in front of their newborn daughter before

The woman whose boyfriend forced her to walk the streets of New York City completely naked is breaking her silence following his arrest.

The 22-year-old woman, whose identity is not being revealed, claims that Jason Melo, 24, choked and punched her in front of their two-month-old daughter before making her strip off all her clothing and walk around their block.

She also claims Melo told her that if she did not do as he asked he would throw her down the stairs and slash her face.

Her claims were revealed as Melo appeared in Manhattan Criminal Court on Thursday. He was charged with assault in the third degree, menacing in the second degree, and endangering the welfare of a child

In a series of ten Instagram videos posted yesterday, Melo, speaking in Spanish, appears to confess to the crime before begging for forgiveness, saying:'I was wrong to do what I did, sending her out naked, I apologize. If I could turn back time I wouldn't do it.'

He then adds in another video; 'Please forgive me, I want you all to know that I am not as bad as you think.'

Jason Melo appears for arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court in front of Judge Guy Mitchell. He is charged with assault in the third degree, menacing in the second degree, and endangering the welfare of a child

Melo appears with his attorney Andres Manuel Aranda for arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court

Melo furrowed his brow during his arraignment, where he was charged on several counts on Thursday

Horrific: The woman, 22, who was allegedly forced to walk the streets of New York City naked by her boyfriend Jason Melo is breaking her silence (above)

Awful: Melo is accused of choking and hitting her in front of their newborn daughter (above) before threatening to throw her down stairs and slash her face

History: The woman also provided photos of previous abuse she claims to have suffered at the hands of Melo, and can be seen in one photo with redness and scratching on her face (above)

Behind bars: Melo (above) was arrested Wednesday evening and was charged on several counts on Thursday

'I was so scared of him, I didn't know what to do, I couldn't even think,' the woman said in an interview with Univision.

'He started threatening me, he threatened to slash my face.'

Please forgive me, I want you all to know that I am not as bad as you think. I just want to tell you all that I feel bad, as a man. You don't know what was going through my mind Jason Melo via Instagram

She said that since the incident occurred she has been hiding out in her apartment afraid while she takes care of her newborn daughter.

The woman also provided photos of previous abuse she claims to have suffered at the hands of Melo, and can be seen in one photo with redness, brushing and scratching on her face.

And despite Melo's repeated apologies, just 24 hours before he expressed how sorry he was he had posted another video in which a man mocks the woman's cruel punishment by imitating her walking around naked.

In other videos posted at the top of his page, Melo said after the incident: 'I was wrong to do what I did, sending her out naked, I apologize. If I could turn back time I wouldn't do it.

'Please forgive me, I want you all to know that I am not as bad as you think. I just want to tell you all that I feel bad, as a man. You don't know what was going through my mind.

'I came from a woman, I have a daughter, and I have two sisters. But look what you pushed me to do. I am sorry for everything.

'This the last video I will make, I don't want any interviews, I don't want anything.'

In a written comment below the final video, he writes: 'Last thing from me, just that I feel so bad about this cruelty that it's opened my eyes to a person I loved blindly.

In a post alongside apology videos (pictured) he released, Melo writes: 'I hope my family is OK, I have a world ahead of me with goals to achieve, I won't do anything else to affect my life, I apologize to ALL the mothers'

In the video a man, believed to be Melo, can be heard shouting at his girlfriend in Spanish calling her a 'w****' and a 'b****' while accusing her of texting other men

The woman, who is initially wearing a towel, is then stripped and made to walk around in the street while trying desperately to cover herself with the dust jacket from a motorcycle (right)

On his Instagram page, Melo is pictured drinking champagne, in expensive restaurants and smoking cigars. At the top of his page, he writes: 'How Good It Feel Knowing That I Will Be Millionaire And Successful Forever'

Melo, who lives in Harlem but is believed to be from the Dominican Republic, describes himself alternately as a 'entrepreneur' and a 'comedian' on social media.

At the top of his Instagram page, Melo writes: 'How Good It Feel Knowing That I Will Be Millionaire And Successful Forever.'

His page is then littered with pictures of him posing in suits, alongside motivational posters, including one that reads: 'Live in such a way that if someone spoke badly of you no one would believe it.'

Other images show him drinking champagne, smoking cigars, and dining out at fancy restaurants.

On social media Melo describes himself as an 'entrepreneur' and a 'comedian' while uploading images of motivational posters, including this one

In the original footage, a man believed to be Melo shouts in Spanish: 'Take off your towel! Co-operate b***h. Show what you are, so pretty and so great. She's a tart. Let's go. Let's go. Say hi to the camera and say why you're doing this.

'Take off your towel and pay the price for the shame I feel after telling you how pretty you were and that I wanted to start a family with you, but it the meantime you were talking to seven other men.'

The woman retorts: 'But not to have sex with them.'

This only serves to anger him further and he scoffs: 'Oh wow, not to have sex! But conversations about kissing, with "love", "babe" and the pictures.'

As she continued to walk away from him, he said: 'Take off your towel. You're going to pay the price like a w***e'. Since you're a w***e, pose like a w***e. Damn w***e'

'Now the guys you're talking to will see if you're worth it, talking to seven men while I was with you.'

He then ripped the towel from her, leaving her completely naked in the street, apart from a pair of boots. As she tried to hide between parked cars, he continued to hurl insults at her.

She then tried to cover her modesty with the protective sheet from a motorbike.

As she stands with the sheet wrapped round her, he says: 'Now, like that, yes. That's what you're worth. Do you really think I'm going to stay with you while you're sending and receiving naked pictures, you damn b***h?'
The German government is unable to say where more than half of the one million asylum seekers allowed into the country have ended up, MailOnline can exclusively reveal.

Government statistics show that Germany registered 1.1million applications by the end of last year under its EASY system, which does not record much more than an applicant's country of origin.

German Interior Ministry spokesman Dr Harald Neymanns admitted that delays in the processing of asylum seeker applications would account for some of those missing.

But he also said that in some cases refugees may not have stayed in Germany but instead gone on to a different country elsewhere in the EU.

In the dark: The German government is unable to say where more than half of the one million asylum seekers allowed into the country have ended up. Migrants are pictured walking to get a bus after arriving in Dortmund

Spread around the country: Migrants are pictured arriving at the train station in Dortmund, western Germany

A third explanation is that the refugees may not have existed in the first place - because some asylum seekers have been found to apply multiple times in an attempt to get sent to the city of their choice.

EASY stands for Erstverteilung von Asylbegehrenden, which translates as Initial Allocation System for Asylum Seekers.

The system, operated by the German Ministry For Migration And Refugees, aims to provide urgent first assistance to new arrivals by spreading them around the country based on a quota system.

Once the applicant's county of origin has been taken, officials assign the refugee a place where they are to be cared for, and where they can then make an application for asylum.

It is the responsibility of the location and state where they are assigned to care for them, and provide accommodation.

North Rhine Westphalia, which includes Cologne, takes far more of the immigrants than any other part of Germany with 21 per cent, whereas Bremen takes the least with less than 1 per cent. In the capital Berlin it is just over 5 per cent.

The asylum seeker is then expected to make their application for asylum once they arrive at the end state destination.

But of those refugees, only 476,649 - 326,529 men and 150,120 women - have so far gone through with the process and registered for asylum.

That means more than 600,000 are unaccounted for.

Police in Munsterland in North Rhine-Westphalia today carried out a series of raids as part of the ongoing investigation into the Cologne New Year sex attacks. Pictured is Cologne cathedral on December 31

Glum: Angela Merkel has come under increasing pressure over her open-doors migrant policy as it emerged more than 200 migrants were suing her government for taking too long to process their asylum applications. Pictured right: Migrants walk in the so-called 'Mahgreb Quarter' in Duesseldorf, Germany

It comes as police in Munsterland in North Rhine-Westphalia today carried out a series of raids as part of the ongoing investigation into the Cologne New Year sex attacks.

Officers say they have so far recorded 821 complaints of criminal incidents including hundreds of sex attacks.

The raids in Munsterland targeted two refugee centres, seizing 150 asylum seekers who were questioned in-depth.

They found that many claimed to be from Syria but were mostly from North Africa, a suspicion which has already been widely reported. But they also found that every second person had been registered at least twice on the EASY system.

It is entirely possible that if somebody doesn't like where they are being sent, that they simply re-apply again later in order to get sent somewhere else Dr Harald Neymanns, spokesman for the German Interior Ministry

According to Dr Neymanns, the main objective of EASY is to provide the basics that refugees from a war-torn country would need, namely a roof over their head and food.

He said: 'It is entirely possible that if somebody doesn't like where they are being sent, that they simply re-apply again later in order to get sent somewhere else.

'Many prefer to be in the big cities, and it might also be that they want to be sent somewhere they know they have contacts or relatives.'

He said that delays in the processing of applications meant that there may be many people in asylum seeker centres who had not been able to make their application yet because of the backlog, and therefore it was difficult to know an exact figure for how many of the 600,000 were still in Germany but not yet registered.

He added that others might not have stayed in Germany and had instead gone on to a different country. With regards to the numbers who had left Germany, or who did not exist in the first place, he said it was 'almost impossible' to tell.
Propaganda: The 13th issue of ISIS' online magazine Dabiq (pictured) calls for the destruction of the Shiite minority - which it calls the Rafidah - and claims Shia Muslims have 'declared a hidden war against the Muslims'

ISIS has used the latest issue of its online magazine Dabiq to declare an all-out war on fellow Muslims.

The Sunni terror group dedicates much of the 56-page propaganda publication to justifying the killing of Shia Muslims, who it claims are apostates to the Sunni majority.

Although not the first time ISIS has called for the killing of Shia Muslims, the magazine makes it clear that ISIS is calling for a concerted effort to wipe out the Shiite population of the Middle East.

The magazine, the 13th issue of Dabiq, is entitled: 'The Rafidah: From Ibn Saba to the Dajjal. The word 'rafidah' is a derogatory term for Shiite Muslims and can be translated as 'rejecters'.

It contains pages of violent rhetoric directed against Shiites, which it refers to as 'the followers of deviant desires'.

Some of them are Jews who fake Islam to spread their deviance, just as Paul of the Jews faked Christianity to spread his deviance, it reads, quoting the Tabii ash-Shabi who died in 104AH [719AD].

The Rafidah hate Islam just as the Jews hate Christianity. They did not enter Islam longing for Allah or fearing Him, rather out of spite for the people of Islam and so as to inflict harm upon them.

It continues: The Jews and the Rafidah are two sides of the same coin.

Our condition dictates that we deal with the matter with courage and clarity and endeavour for a solution The solution as we believe, and Allah knows best, is to expose the Rafidah...to fight them and stop them, it continues.

The propaganda magazine claims the minority Shiites have 'declared a hidden war against the Muslims'.

'Even though the Americans are also a major enemy, the Rafidah are more severely dangerous and more murderous...than the Americans,' it adds.

Even though the Americans are also a major enemy, the Rafidah [Shiite] are more severely dangerous and more murderous...than the Americans. ISIS magazine Dabiq

They took the Americans as allies, supported them, stood in their ranks in the face of the mujahidin [jihadists], and sacrificed and continue to sacrifice for the Americans everything precious so as to end jihad and the mujahidin.

Although ISIS has been slaughtering and torturing Shiite Muslims throughout its reign of terror in the Middle East, this is one of the most explicit calls for the Shiite branch of Islam to be destroyed.

As ISIS took vast swathes of western and northern Iraq throughout the summer of 2014, there were frequent reports of fighters' capturing groups and releasing the Sunnis while singling out the Shias for execution.

The latest issue of the magazine also praises the December 2 terrorist attack launched in San Bernardino, California.

It claims the couple demonstrated Muslims willingness to make sacrifice for the sake of fulfilling their duty to Allah.

Murderous: As ISIS took vast swathes of western and northern Iraq throughout the summer of 2014, there were frequent reports of fighters' capturing groups and releasing the Sunnis while singling out the Shias for execution. Pictured, ISIS rebel militant soldiers on the frontline in Aleppo, Syria

On this particular occasion the attack was unique, it reads. The mujahid [jihadist] involved did not suffice with embarking upon the noble path of jihad alone. Rather, he conducted the operation together with his wife, with the two thereby aiding one another in righteousness.

The magazine also published an obituary for British fighter Mohammed Emwazi - also known as Jihadi John - saying that he had been killed in November by a drone strike in the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa, in Syria.

It reported how, on his last attempt to leave the UK for Kuwait, Emwazi was stopped at the airport and kept for questioning by MI5.

It says he presented himself as unintelligent, as was his method when dealing with intelligence agencies, and thereby escaped by tricking MI5.

He later became known as the balaclava-clad executioner who appeared in a string of videos showing the beheadings of Western hostages.
The brother of the Unabomber Ted Kaczynski has revealed the terrifying moment he realized who was behind the 17-year bombing campaign that left three people dead and dozens injured.

David Kaczynski, 66, said that his wife Linda turned to him and asked: Dont be angry at me - has it ever occurred to you that your brother might be the Unabomber?

David sat immobilized as he read his brothers manifesto and realized that his own flesh and blood was a mass murderer and the target of one of the biggest FBI manhunts in history.

TedC was sentenced to life in prison in 1998 for killing three people and injuring 23 during his years-long bombing campaign

In his new memoir, Every Last Tie: The story of the Unabomber and His Family, published by Duke University Press Books on February 5, David says that he wrestled with his secret for seven months before finally tipping off the authorities and becoming the man who turned in his own brother.

David, who is seven years younge5 than his brother, also revealed details of the agonizing meeting between his elderly mother and Teds victims in which she told one widow: I wish hed killed me instead of your husband.

The autobiography features a poignant series of pictures which show Ted as a young boy, smiling innocently sitting next to his father.

A photograph of Ted at 16 as he was going to Harvard marked what David called the beginning of the end and his brothers descent into paranoia, mental illness - and murder.

Theodore John Ted Kaczynski was sentenced to life in jail with no chance of parole in 1998 for killing three people and injuring 23 during his bombing campaign that lasted from 1978 and 1995.

He became known as the Unabomber because he targeted universities and airlines with homemade devices in a protest at the rise of modern technology which he believed was destroying society.

Ted (left), who was seven years old than his brother David, shunned physical contact and whenever he was hugged he would squirm

The Kaczynski family in 1952: Wanda, Teddy, Ted Sr., and Davy outside family home in Evergreen Park, 1952. David writes that he felt that his brother had a well-developed superego and no heart which left his parents clueless how to deal with him

Unabomber Teddy leaves for leaves for Harvard in 1958. This photograph of Ted at 16 as he was going off to Harvard marked what David called the beginning of the end of his brother's descent

David writes that he felt that his brother had a well-developed superego and no heart which left his parents clueless how to deal with him.

'Ted didnt return our parents love,' says David and recalls a worrying incident when he pulled out a chair from under his mother as she was serving dinner.

When told to go to his room he did so - laughing as he went.

When Ted was 10 he got a friend to lie that he was not at his house when in fact he was, a lie which caused his parents to panic and call the police.

David writes that at 10pm Ted called home and smugly told his mother: Come pick me up. David says that her distress only served to amuse him.

David also describes the letters Ted sent to his parents as cruel and emotional bombs because they were filled with abuse.

In one that Ted sent to David he talked about how he was going to draw aside the veil on his soul for the last time and said that he had a dream which featured a shapeshifting, satanic character.

The demon tried to steal David away and Ted had to kill it in order to save his brother.

In the 1970s Ted briefly returned home to live with his parents in Illinois to earn some money and David got him a job at a factory where he was working.

I remember feeling a slight rush of adrenaline. My emotions were a mixture of fear, dismay, anger. Id sometimes reacted this way when reading one of Teds hurtful letters.

But when Teds relationship with a female co-worker ended he took it badly and began writing nasty limericks about her on the walls around the site.

David got his brother sacked after which Ted locked himself in his room for three days in a sulk, emerging with a three page note which he gave to David to explain himself.

Now aged 73, he will die in the Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, where he is being held.

Last Tie is the most detailed account so far of how David and his wife ended the manhunt which, at its peak, required 125 FBI agents and cost millions of dollars.

The Unabombers trail of destruction had baffled the bureau starting in 1978 when he sent his first bomb to the University of Illinois at Chicago which exploded and injured a security guard.

The bomber had set off another device in the cargo hold in 1979 during an American Airlines flight, injuring 12 and forcing it to make an emergency landing.

He had killed computer store owner Hugh Scrutton near his shop in Sacramento in 1985 and murdered advertising executive Thomas Mosser with a bomb sent to his home in North Caldwell, New Jersey in 1994.

The bomber also killed California Forestry Association president Gilbert Murray in 1995 with a package bomb sent to his Sacramento office.

In August of that year Linda somehow put the pieces together and decided to ask her husband if Ted could be responsible.

She knew that he was paranoid about modern technology and she knew that one bomb had been placed at the University of California at Berkeley, where Ted was once a mathematics professor.

Linda said: David, dont be angry with me. Has it ever occurred to you, even as a remote possibility, that your brother might be the Unabomber?

David was shocked - he knew his brother was a loner but never considered he was capable of violence.

Unabomber Ted in front of his Montana cabin in 1972. Ted wrote his brother: I get just choked with frustration at my inability to get our stinking family off my back once and for all, and stinking family emphatically includes you'

The following month, at Lindas urging, he read the Unabombers 35,000 word manifesto when it was published in the Washington Post and compared it to letters his brother had sent him.

As David read lines railing about the damage the Industrial Revolution had caused, a terrible feeling came over him.

David writes: As I finished the first paragraph I sat immobilized, my eyes glued to the screen. I read on.

I remember feeling a slight rush of adrenaline. My emotions were a mixture of fear, dismay, anger. Id sometimes reacted this way when reading one of Teds hurtful letters.

In the opening lines of the manifesto I detected a tone similar to Teds when he wrote letters condemning our parents.

Only here the indictment was vastly expanded. On the surface the phraseology was calm and intellectual but it barely concealed the authors smouldering rage.

As much as I wanted to, I could not turn to Linda and honestly say that the writing was not my brothers.

David began researching the case, reading articles, descriptions of the bomber which, to his relief, did not match his brother.

Over the next seven months he and Linda spent their evenings comparing the Unabombers letters to his manifesto with David so anxious he could only use the words UB instead of Unabomber.

David writes: Each day felt different as the pendulum of belief swung between one kind of doubt and its opposite.

Workers prepare to unload the cabin of Unabomber suspect Kaczynki after it arrived by truck at the former Mather Air Force Base in Rancho Cordova, California. The 10 x 12-foot cabin was moved from Montana by the defense to exhibit to jurors during the trial

One day Id read the manifesto and could almost hear my brothers voice speaking each word. Id say to myself: The truth is staring you in the face, only you refuse to see it.

The very next day Id reason with myself: Linda has planted a suspicion in your mind. Youve been worried about your brother. Our fear is built on worry and projection, nothing more.

The final straw was when David wrote to Ted, who was living in a remote cabin in Montana, to see if he could give him a chance to explain himself.

His response made David realize that his brother had gone further over the edge than he had realized.

Ted wrote: I get just choked with frustration at my inability to get our stinking family off my back once and for all, and stinking family emphatically includes you.

I DONT EVER WANT TO SEE YOU OR HEAR FROM YOU, OR ANY OTHER MEMBER OF OUR FAMILY, AGAIN

Without Davids tip-off to the FBI it is not clear if his brother would ever have been caught as he was so good at covering his tracks.

But after telling the authorities David had to confront his mother Wanda and in March 1996 told her the truth at her home in Schenectady, New York.

David recalled telling Wanda, who at that time was a 79-year-old widow: Mom, Im really concerned that Ted might be involved in these bombings. Im really scared.

His mothers response was to blurt out: Oh. Dont tell anyone!

David, above, recalled telling mother Wanda, at his right, who at that time was a 79-year-old widow: Mom, Im really concerned that Ted might be involved in these bombings. Im really scared. His mothers response was to blurt out: Oh. Dont tell anyone!

David understood she had spent her life consumed with worry over her elder sons vulnerability, his social awkwardness, her inability to fit in.

Only after David explained his suspicions in depth did she agree to allow FBI agents in to go through her belongings to tell Teds story, including his baby book.

David writes: I still remember the poignancy of Moms gesture as she held up Teds baby book.

In effect she was saying, Youre looking for the Unabomber and well do everything in our power to help you stop the violence.

But dont forget for a moment that the person were delivering to you is a family member, someone we love.

Its the little baby that came out of my womb fifty-some years ago, the child and man Ive worried about ever since because of his emotional problems, because his little psyche never really healed from that hospital experience. Dont forget for a moment that there is a human dimension to this tragedy.

The hospital experience David refers to happened to his brother when he was just nine months old and he had an allergic reaction which caused a severe rash.

He was in and out of hospital for eight months and at the time hospital rules banned parents from visiting apart from a few hours a day.

Ted was on his own when he endured needles being put into him and invasive tests which his mother believed it left him with a deep fear of being abandoned.

The incident was one of many troubling episodes in Teds upbringing.

FBI sketch of the Unabomber before he was apprehended with brother David's help

He was born on May 22, 1942, in Evergreen Park, Illinois and was the son of second generation Polish immigrants.

Ted was a maths prodigy with an IQ of 167 but was socially extremely awkward and did not like being out in public.

He shunned physical contact and whenever he was hugged he would squirm.

At the age of 16 Ted was accepted to Harvard but signed up for a series of psychological experiments which some have speculated were part of a secret CIA program known as Project MKUltra.

It was carried out by psychologist Henry Murray and is described by David as unethical and psychologically damaging and using deceptive tactics to study the effects of emotional and psychological trauma on unwitting human subjects.

The effect was to exacerbate Teds increasingly obvious mental health issues.

After graduating from Harvard Ted became an assistant professor of mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley in 1967.

But he quit two years later and began his isolation from the world, moving to a remote cabin in Lincoln, Montana that he built for himself where he wanted to become self-sufficient, away from the evils of modern technology.

In 1990 Ted and Davids father killed himself after being diagnosed with terminal cancer.

While David was devastated, Ted wrote a note to his brother saying that their dad was doing what he had to do.

David writes that his marriage to Linda was the last straw for his brother and that he effectively disowned him.

By this stage it was clear that he was on a very dark path.

One of Teds letters said: I have got to know, I have got to, got to, got to know that every last tie joining me to this stinking family has been cut forever and that I will never never have to communicate with any of you again. . . . Ive got to do it now. I cant tell you how desperate I am. . . . It is killing me.

Ted Kaczynski admitted all of the allegations against him in a plea deal which saw him given eight life sentences and avoid the death penalty.

Among the most powerful episodes in the book is the meeting between David, his mother and the widow of one of Teds victims at a federal building in Sacramento, California.

Teds mother tried to explain that his mental illness was the real reason for his actions but the widow cut him off and said: He knew what he was doing!

The room froze. Wanda Kaczynski told her: I wish he had killed me instead of your husband.

David writes that the widows hardness began to slowly melt and was replaced by concern.

He writes: She sat quietly for a moment, then gently eased herself down from her chair and knelt directly in front of Mom, looking up into her face.

The widows eyes were once again brimming with tears. She was a mother, too. On that very simple human level, she could relate.

With quiet urgency, she said: Mrs. Kaczynski, you dont deserve any of this. Dont ever imagine that we blame you. Its not your fault.

You have nothing to blame yourself for. You dont deserve this burden.

Every Last Tie: The story of the Unabomber and His Family by David Kaczynski and published by Duke University Press Books on February 5 is available from Amazon




Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has never voted in a Republican presidential primary election in his home state of New York, voter records show.

The same can be said of Trump's daughter Ivanka and his wife Melania.

The revelation will give his rivals a fresh line of attack as the billionaire presses voters to embrace him in upcoming primaries and caucuses.

Iowans will caucus on February 1, and New Hampshirites will follow them eight days later in the first-in-the-nation primary.

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PRIMARY FRESHMAN? Donald Trump has never voted in a Republican presidential primary, voter records show, even as he stumps for voters to support him in this year's primary contests

PRIMARY NO-SHOWS: Trump's daughter Ivanka (left) and wife Melania (right) also have not turned up to cast ballots in presidential primaries, according to election records

The records, pulled in September from the Board of Elections of the City of New York, show that Trump has voted consistently in general elections since 1989.

But his primary voting record is thin: just a New York City mayoral primary in September 2013 and a primary election for a U.S. Senate special election in September 2010.

There is no indication that he has voted in a presidential primary of any kind since 1989, a time-frame during which he has said he was a Democrat.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's campaign was eager to pile on via email.

'Donald Trump spent years as a Democrat and is not and has never been a conservative,' Bush press secretary Kristy Campbell told DailyMail.com.

'It should come as a surprise to no one that he has never voted in a Republican primary.'

Catherine Frazier, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's press secretary, blasted The Donald for not being 'a true conservative.'

Cruz is Trump's nearest polling rival nationally and in Iowa.

'He speaks like a conservative out of political convenience not personal conviction,' Frazier told DailyMail.com. 'And voters can see that. They do not want a dealmaker who will compromise and serve as paymaster to the Washington cartel.'

PUSHBACK: A Ted Cruz spokesperson blasted Trump for being a fake conservative and said his thin primary voting history is proof

NOT SURPRISED: A Jeb Bush spokesperson said 'Donald Trump spent years as a Democrat and is not and has never been a conservative,' so his absence from GOP primary elections is no shock

A political operative who consults with a GOP Trump opponent provided the document to DailyMail.com.

They show election dates when each Trump voter, what type of ballot they used (for instance, R for 'regular' and A for 'absentee') and a column marked 'voter type'  always R for 'registered,' according to a New York City elections division clerk.

A Trump spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

A clerk who answered a call Thursday at the New York City Board of Elections said the records, as dictated over the phone, were accurate.

Voting records for Trump's adult sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, were not immediately available.

Trump is leading by wide margins in New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida, and nearly every other state where pollsters take the Republican electorate's temperature.

In Iowa, he is running neck-and-neck with Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in some polls, and leading him comfortably in others.

On Thursday in Las Vegas, Trump boasted of a new Emerson College poll that shows him leading Cruz there by 10 points.

'Cruz is going down,' he told a packed ballroom at the South Point casino. 'He's like a nervous wreck. He's going down. He's had his moment.'
A Texas couple who have lost all three of their children at birth have paid tribute to them in a beautiful and heartbreaking family photo.

Laura McBride enlisted the help of Georgia photographer Brandy Angel in creating the photo, which shows her and her husband Tony walking along a bridge, besides silhouettes of the daughter and two sons they never got to raise.

She gave the photo as a surprise to Tony for Christmas and he called it 'his favorite gift ever'.

If they had survived, the couple's sons Christopher and Tyler would be 22 and 18 respectively and their daughter Kieran Shane would be just over one year old.

All together: A couple in Texas recently had a family picture taken, with the ghosts of the children they lost at birth added in

Love: Laura and Tony McBride hired Georgia-based photographer Brandy Angel to do the photo shoot, after reading about Angel providing a similar family photo for a woman who lost her son

In a post on Facebook, Mrs McBride says she first found out about the idea from an article she read about Angel creating a similar image for a bride who wanted her deceased son in her wedding photos.

Mrs McBride says she called Angel in Georgia, to see if there was anyway to get her to come to Texas for a photo shoot, and learned that the photographer was traveling to Texas over Thanksgiving and would be staying just an hour away.

It was at that moment that she knew 'God had led me to her,' Mrs McBride writes.

Mrs McBride kept the real reason for the photo shoot from her husband, telling him it was just a normal photo shoot with their family.

Life changing: Mrs McBride gushed about the opportunity to get a family photo with her children on Facebook recently

At the end of the shoot, the McBrides went off to do some couple's shots with Angel, and it was those pictures that she used for the memorial picture.

Heather Pinheiro, a New Jersey web designer who volunteers her time for these projects, helped add the shadows of the three children after the shoot.

The last step was to wrap the picture and surprise Mr McBride with it on Christmas morning. She tells ABC News that her husband loved it so much, he started crying.

'This picture shows that although not here physically, I believe they are with us every day,' Mrs McBride writes on Facebook.

'I am proud to share this photo, but this right here, is my life...different from most, but what I carry with me every minute of every day.
Downing Street has declared war on ambulance-chasing law firms who are tormenting British troops with spurious legal claims.

David Cameron has ordered sweeping changes to legal aid, no-win no-fee agreements and the civil court regime in a bid to stop the witch-hunt against soldiers who were simply doing their jobs.

In an unprecedented move, the Prime Minister is also threatening to sue law firm Leigh Day to recover millions of pounds it has claimed in costs.

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David Cameron (pictured at the World Economic Forum) has ordered sweeping changes to legal aid, no-win no-fee cases and the civil courts in a bid to stop the witch-hunt against British soldiers who were doing their jobs

The intervention follows a Daily Mail campaign revealing how troops who served in Iraq are being mercilessly hounded by legal aid lawyers.

In a concerted fightback, the PM has instructed officials to:

Impose a strict time limit for lodging claims against British troops that would end the flood of new cases;

Ban foreigners who have not lived in the UK for 12 months from claiming legal aid;

Crack down on the no-win no-fee deals used by the lawyers to tout for business;

Strip legal aid from lawyers under investigation for wrongdoing in relation to the notorious Al-Sweady inquiry.

The blitz  which will be overseen by the National Security Council  will not stop the current controversial inquiry by the Iraq Historical Allegations Team (IHAT).

Whitehall officials have been warned that scrapping the probe before it is completed would be fraught with legal difficulty, and could even lead to the UK being dragged to the International Criminal Court at the Hague.

But the crackdown is designed to have the twin effect of stopping more claims entering the system, and to stop spurious legal challenges being lodged when IHAT decides a claim is unfounded.

Taxpayers money has been used to launch more than 1,500 compensation claims on behalf of alleged victims of mistreatment. Mr Camerons aim is to prevent such witch-hunts from taking place again, by choking off access to the public money the lawyers rely on.

A No 10 source said: The Prime Minister is deeply concerned at the large number of spurious claims being made against members of our Armed Forces.

He is absolutely clear that action needs to be taken and has asked the National Security Council to produce a clear, detailed plan on how we stop former troops facing this torment.

Mr Camerons aim is to prevent witch-hunts against British soldiers from taking place, by choking off access to the public money the lawyers rely on. He is said to be 'deeply concerned' at the number of spurious claims

GUARDSMAN: 'IT IS FANTASTIC THEY ARE TRYING TO PUT AN END TO THIS' Joseph McCleary, 34, faced a court martial in 2006 A guardsman who was cleared of the manslaughter of an Iraqi looter ten years ago but faces a third investigation into the incident hopes he will now be left alone. Joseph McCleary, 34, along with two other soldiers, faced a court martial in 2006 after an Iraqi teenager they had arrested drowned in a canal. They were cleared of any wrongdoing, but the case was taken to the Iraq Historical Allegations Team. The Mail informed Mr McCleary, a father of two, that IHAT was examining the case in April last year  12 years after the incident  but he knew nothing about it. He said of the Government announcement: It is fantastic they are trying to put an end to all of this. For soldiers having to go to war and then come back to all of this years later is so upsetting. They make you feel guilty even though you have already been cleared of wrongdoing. Mr McClearys case has been referred to the Iraq Fatality Investigations inquiry in London. Advertisement

Key to the crackdown  parts of which will be fast-tracked on to the statute books this summer  is putting in place a new time limit for making legal claims.

By putting a cut-off point of, for example, two or three years, it would no longer be possible to lodge claims against troops who served in Iraq. It would also prevent a repeat of the lengthy probe which has taken place into Iraq following any future military action by Britain overseas.

At the same time, people who have not been resident in the UK for 12 months will not be entitled to legal aid. This would strip away the incentive for lawyers to hunt for cases in Iraq or Afghanistan as there would be no money in it for them.

So-called no-win no-fee agreements, known as conditional fees, face a complete overhaul. In instances where cases were allowed to proceed, lawyers would get only their costs plus a small fee  again removing much of the financial incentive to hound the UKs soldiers.

And in what would be a legal first, No 10 is also plotting to take draconian action against Leigh Day which  along with Public Interest Lawyers  has led the charge against British troops.

Leigh Day has been referred to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal as a result of the failure to disclose a key document to the Al-Sweady inquiry, which examined claims that British soldiers went on a killing and torture spree following a fierce battle in southern Iraq in 2004.

The document  which showed that the claimants had been members of the Mahdi Army, and not the innocent civilians they made themselves out to be  could have brought the inquiry to an early end.

Taxpayers money has been used to launch more than 1,500 compensation claims on behalf of alleged victims

If the tribunal finds against Leigh Day, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon will be tasked with seeking to recover as much of the 31 million of taxpayers money spent on Al-Sweady as possible, including the millions pocketed by Leigh Day.

The Legal Aid Agency has also been asked to review all legal aid contracts to establish whether legal aid should be restricted on an interim basis in relation to any firm under investigation for misconduct, and whether such contracts should be scrapped entirely after disciplinary proceedings have been completed.

'IT'S ABOUT TIME SOMETHING IS DONE TO STOP HOUNDING TROOPS' Former platoon sergeant Richard Catterall A decorated soldier left to rot as ambulance-chasing lawyers repeatedly hounded him over the death of an Iraqi man 12 years ago has welcomed the Governments announcement. Former platoon sergeant Richard Catterall shot Muhammad Salim because he was armed with an AK-47 and he believed he was going to kill him and his comrades in Iraq in 2003. The soldier, then 34, was cleared by a military investigation only to be told the Iraq Historical Allegations Team (IHAT) was investigating the death. Then, even after IHAT found he had acted in self-defence, he faced another inquiry despite suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and agoraphobia. Mr Catterall, 46, said last night: It is about time something significant was done to stop the hounding of troops. It is excellent that they are looking to stop all these claims. Ultimately, though, they should have been there to protect soldiers from the beginning. Advertisement

This would choke off Leigh Days access to funds, making it harder for claims currently in the system or poised to be submitted to proceed.

The No 10 source said: It would be unprecedented for the Government to sue a law firm in this way  but if they are found to have acted improperly, then it will be the right thing to do.

The public, and the soldiers who have been subject to malicious lies, would expect nothing less.

Officials are also looking at providing more support to IHAT so it can deal with claims more quickly  removing the uncertainty hanging over soldiers, which can currently last for years.

By making it harder for lawyers and their clients to obtain legal aid or lodge a judicial review, it is hoped IHAT will feel more able to promptly throw out spurious claims.

Soldiers who have been subjected to the witch-hunt welcomed the Governments action.

A soldier quizzed as part of the Al-Sweady inquiry said: This is extremely good news. The time of appeasing human rights campaigners who have ridden this gravy train round the track countless times has to come to an end.

Mr Cameron has acted after being horrified by a string of revelations in the Mail.

These included that an agent named Abu Jamal, who lives in Basra, is paid 40,000 a year by the Ministry of Defence to ferry around witnesses for IHAT.

According to a grieving widow of a dead Iraqi, the agent, who has handed over 1,000 cases to Public Interest Lawyers and Leigh Day, cold-called her weeks after her husbands death in 2003. Her testimony was the greatest proof yet that law firms touted for business in the aftermath of the war.

A Leigh Day spokesman said: Over the last 12 years many cases of abuse made against the MoD during the course of the occupation of Iraq have come to light and been accepted by the Government. They include the appalling torture and murder of Baha Mousa in 2003. In addition, the Government has paid compensation for over 300 other cases relating to abuse and unlawful detention of Iraqis.

The vast majority of serving Army soldiers do a first-class job in protecting this country but the evidence shows that this is by no means the case for all.

No-one is above the law, not us, not the British Army and not the Government. We cannot imagine that the Prime Minister is proposing that this should change.

We have made it very clear that we refute all of the allegations that have been laid before us by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority.

A former British soldier is to be re-investigated over the shooting of a man 26 years ago, it has emerged.

Aidan McAnespie, 23, was killed in Aughnacloy, Co Tyrone, in February 1988 as he walked through an Army checkpoint.

Northern Irelands Public Prosecution Service is to re-examine the decision not to proceed with a prosecution against the soldier who fired the shot.
A dramatic new gun video released by the National Rifle Association in America has targeted Australia's gun restrictions and enraged gun fanatics.

It uses advertisements from nearly two decades ago when then-Prime Minister John Howard implemented strict new gun control laws after the Port Arthur massacre to warn U.S. citizens that their weapons will be taken away if the country adopts similar gun laws to Australia.

The video splashes headlines across the screen like 'Have you handed in your illegal firearm?', 'The Australian firearms buyback ends' and 'Personal protection is no reason to have a gun' as an ominous soundtrack plays.

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The video uses a foreboding feeling and dramatic music to emphasise its message

Created by the NRA, a U.S. gun lobby, it implies that Americans should be wary when politicians discuss Australia's gun laws

The video uses speeches by U.S. President Barack Obama and Democratic presidential campaign hopeful Hillary Clinton to make its point

It highlights phrases used in ads such as 'the penalties for not complying are severe' and 'If you own a gun which you keep to protect yourself, your family, or your property, you must dispose of it properly'.

An ad aimed at duck hunters is highlighted, showing how pump-action and semi-automatic shotguns were outlawed for recreational hunting.

The start of the video clips of U.S. President Barack Obama and presidential hopeful, Democrat Hillary Clinton referencing Australian gun laws during speeches.

It then says: 'Here's what President Obama and Hillary Clinton don't want you to know... what they're talking about, when they're talking about AUSTRALIA', before launching into the examples of the ads.

The video said it was U.S. citizens' last chance to 'stand and fight' and support the NRA

One of the messages used in the video to push for the NRA's cause

This Youtube commenter said 'Americans would go insane with rage' if the country had gun laws put in place like those in Australia

At the end, the video makes its purpose to whip up opposition to Australian-style gun laws clear, saying: 'this is your last chance' to 'stand and fight' and 'help the NRA stop Australia-style gun control from coming to America'.

It is not the first time the NRA has targeted Australia's gun laws.

And the reaction on social media is a war of words between people who don't believe in gun control and those who believe Australia's gun laws work.

Among the many comments are people who say they are U.S. citizens listing their gun collections they could not own in Australia and claiming they have guns so they can fight back against their government if it becomes too oppressive.

On the other side are people who point out that Australia, in comparison to the U.S., has not had any gun massacres since the one in Port Arthur almost 20 years ago.

The Port Arthur massacre, which led to Howard cracking down on gun ownership, occurred in Tasmania in 1996, when Martin Bryant, a man with a history of violent and erratic behaviour, killed 35 people at Port Arthur when he opened fire with an automatic rifle.

The gun buy-back introduced by Mr Howard purchased and destroyed more than 631,000 firearms.

But controls over firearms have since been slowly wound back.

Mick Roelandts, firearms reform project manager for NSW Police, looks at a pile of about 4,500 prohibited firearms that were handed in under the Australian government's buy-back scheme in 1997
A $2.3billion government program set up to get the handicapped and severely disabled employment is now being investigated for corruption, cronyism, bid-rigging, and not actually even employing the disabled it is meant to serve.

AbilityOne, a government program funded with taxpayer money, is meant to hire companies that employ the severely disabled, according to CNN.

For a company to get a government contract, its employees must be at least 75 percent disabled.

SourceAmerica is the subject of a federal investigation for not distributing $2billion in federally-funded disabled work program money unfairly

SourceAmerica is supposed to award contracts to companies that employee at least 75 percent severely disabled people - but at least one company says that wasn't the case. Its top lawyer said the company acted like the 'mafia'

CNN says that their sources tell them that companies who are awarded contracts by SourceAmerica aren't even hiring the disabled - but rather people with 'made up disabilities'

While SourceAmerica (above) touts hiring the severely disabled, sources tell CNN they are actually awarding contracts to companies without disabled people, or ones whose 'disability' could be not speaking English

However, a hiring manager at one company routinely awarded contracts by SourceAmerica, which decides which companies get the AbilityOne money, anonymously told CNN that only about 10 percent of the company's employees were severely disabled.

The owner of another company, Ruben Lopez, owner of Bona Fide Conglomerates, which cleans government buildings, says that after 10 years, and for no reason, his contract was taken away and given to the company of a man who sits on the board of SourceAmerica.

Lopez complained and then says he was blackballed and given no more contracts. He not only sued the Vienna, Virginia-based SourceAmerica, but decided to work with the feds to take down the company.

Ruben Lopez says his company's contract with SourceAmerica was taken away and given to a friend of the company instead

Lopez had a contract for his company, which hires the disabled, to clean the federal courthouse in Las Vegas (above) until it was unceremoniously taken away from him and given, he says, to a crony of SourceAmerica

He wore a wire and spent months secretly recording SourceAmerica's top lawyer, Jean Robinson.

Tape recordings repeatedly have Robinson comparing SourceAmerica to the 'mafia' and her saying that they've been getting away with it for so long that they don't even know any other way to do business.

'They're like - they're like the mafia,' she can be heard saying on the tapes. 'I mean, and they pride themselves in it. They don't care. You know, we are dealing with the mafia here, the old - the old SourceAmerica mafia.

'People have been doing it for so many years, and they're not going to stop. They're just - it's like an addiction. They're just, so much time has passed, they've been getting away with it for, you know, for what, 25 years, and they don't know how to do it different.'

When the tapes came to light, Robinson was fired.

CNN says that their sources are telling the outlet that far from hiring the severely disabled, the companies that are reaping millions from the taxpayers are hiring people with 'made up disabilities,' or that their 'disability' means they only speak Spanish or another language.

SourceAmerica refused to speak with CNN but denied all allegations. It also called Lopez 'disgruntled.'
Three people were injured Wednesday after a wayward fire truck smashed through a Dairy Queen in North Texas, all-but destroying the shop.

The crash occurred about 12pm at the restaurant in Farmersville.

Investigators are looking into what caused the truck to cross over the westbound lanes and slam into the Dairy Queen along East Audie Murphy Parkway, but say it was being returned from a service and not driven by a firefighter.

Three people - the person driving the truck, a customer sitting in their car in the parking lot and a Dairy Queen employee - were injured during this incident, NBC DFW reported.

Crash: The fire truck was being returned from a service when he lost control and slammed into the Dairy Queen in Farmersville, Texas, on Wednesday around lunch time. Three people were injured

Officials are still trying to determine what caused the truck to cross over the westbound lanes and slam into the Dairy Queen along East Audie Murphy Parkway

Scene: Investigators say the truck was being returned from a service and not driven by a firefighter

While the restaurant's facade was destroyed, a lot of damage was also done to the interior, as seen here

'It happened right in front of me,' restaurant manager Babbett Pattillo told NBC.

'I mean, I was on the phone looking out of the highway and taking an order when it came right beside me. It just took out everything.'

The facade of the store was destroyed, and much damage was done to the interior as well.

Dairy Queen employee Natalie Boden, 19, was working at the drive-thru window at the time of the crash.

Speaking from her hospital bed, where she is recovering from scrapes and bruises, she said she was suddenly knocked down by debris.

'I was worried about my customers in line because I thought it just ran right over them. But they're all okay. Everyone else is okay. It's just a mess now,' she said.

'We were just doing our own thing. Nobody saw it coming.'

Victim: Dairy Queen employee Natalie Boden, 19, gives an interview from hospital after the crash Wednesday

Clean up: Three people were hurt Wednesday when a fire truck crashed into the side of a Dairy Queen restaurant in Farmersville

The company that was servicing the truck, Siddons-Martin Emergency Group in Denton, released a statement to NBC about the incident.

'Siddons Martin is cooperating with the authorities to determine the nature and cause of this unfortunate accident,' the statement said, in part.
Emergency teams in a Chinese city witnessed devastating scenes yesterday as a man plunged to his death after the safety mattress they tried to install couldn't fit due to an illegally parked Mazda.

The car was parked beneath the building in Beijing and hampered the rescue team's efforts to save the man who jumped to his death, the People's Daily Online reports.

The case has sparked debate online as to whether the owner of the car should be held accountable for the man's death.

Illegal: The Mazda was parked in a forbidden area and hampered rescue attempts by emergency services

Angry: Some internet users in China have been debating online as to whether the owner of the car is to blame

According to Chinese media, firefighters inflated the mattress and attempted to place it right underneath the building where the man was threatening to commit suicide.

One of the firefighters who was at the scene told Chinese media that he heard a boom and then 'a man jumped from the ninth floor and landed outside of the cushion on the ground'.

A firefighting expert told the People's Daily, 'rescue cushions will always have a minimal gap however not that big a gap for someone to fall through'.

The expert said that judging solely on the photos, the vehicle did stop the cushion from being placed correctly.

In the way: A firefighter told the People's Daily that the vehicle did stop the cushion from being placed correctly

Tragic: The suicidal man plunged to his death from the 9th floor of the high-rise building in Beijing, China

An image was posted to Chinese social media informing internet users of the incident.

This has led to heated debate online as to whether the car's owner should be to blame for the man's death.

One user wrote: 'The owner is indeed an illegal parking villain however the man's death is not his fault.

While another said: 'Since the car was parked illegally, why was it not removed during the rescue attempt?'
A distressed Chinese man whose wife allegedly refused to give him a second child lost control and threatened to commit suicide last week.

Rescuers spent 16 hours persuading the man, identified as 33-year-old Zhang Guiping, to come down from a 130-foot-tall transmission tower, reports Huanqiu.com, an affiliation of the People's Daily Online.

The incident took place in the afternoon of January 13 in Hengfeng County, Hunan Province. Fortunately, Zhang, father of a five-year-old boy, walked away unharmed.

Distressed: 33-year-old Zhang threatened to kill himself after his wife said she didn't want another child

Long wait: It took rescuers 16 hours to get him down from the high voltage tower in Hengfeng County, China

The Henfeng County Police told reporters they received a call at around 4pm local time (10am GMT) from a woman claiming her husband was going to kill himself.

They immediately went to the scene where they found Zhang high up the tower, extremely anxious and refusing to come down.

His hysterical wife was waiting at the bottom, along with other family members, hoping he would eventually change his mind.

The tower Zhang had climbed was so dangerous with such a high voltage of electricity running through it, rescuers were hesitant to climb up and retrieve him.

As well as electricity risks, the weather conditions were very severe.

To ensure his safety, the emergency services waited throughout the night with Zhang, they also put safety cushions on the floor to break his fall if he jumped.

Two rescuers risked their lives to give him supplies that included water while he was up the tower.

One witness who lives in the village told reporters: 'When I went out to see what was going on, the man had already climbed half way up the tower. He was already past the high-voltage risk area.'

Eventually after 16 hours, an anxious Zhang climbed down from the tower on his own accord.

High risk: With bad weather conditions and a chance of electric shock, rescuers risked their lives to save him

Safety: Special cushions were placed on the ground by rescuers overnight in case Zhang decided to jump

According to a report from news.sohu, when he was up the tower a woman could be heard shouting from below: 'Come down. Don't think about the other, we have to consider the child we have.'

Zhang's wife had reportedly told him she did not want to have another baby, so he climbed up the high-voltage tower and threatened to take his own life.

The couple already have a five-year-old son, but this was not enough for Zhang.

After an investigation, it was discovered he was jealous of the fact his neighbours had more than one child, but his wife would not commit to giving him another.

Given his mental state, Zhang was sent to the Hengfeng Psychiatric Hospital for treatment.

From January 1 this year, all couples in China were allowed to have two children. This has ended the country's one-child policy which was imposed by the government in 1979 to control population growth.

For families living in the countryside, they were allowed to have two children if the first was a girl.
Apple has already started a buzz surrounding rumoured plans to do away with the headphone jack, but now, developments for the iPhone 7 could be taking an even bigger leap  Li-Fi.

A Twitter user has revealed an image to show that the company may be testing Li-Fi technology for the iPhone 7, which would mean data transmission runs on visible light waves, instead of radio.

Li-Fi is reportedly 100 times faster than Wi-Fi, and would be significantly more secure.

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This new wireless system hit speeds of 224 gigabits per second in the lab, and has the potential to revolutionize internet usage. The Li-Fi technology uses visible light between 400 and 800 terahertz (THz), and transmits messages through binary code

The post tweeted by user @kyoufujibaya, Li-Fi testing is already imminent. May appear in the next iPhone 7 according to iOS code in iOS 9.1 firmware

The post tweeted by user @kyoufujibaya, according to The Huffington Post, reads, Li-Fi testing is already imminent. May appear in the next iPhone 7 according to iOS code in iOS 9.1 firmware.

In an image accompanying the tweet, the developer highlights where the code says, LiFi Capability, indicating that this suggests Li-Fi testing plans for the next wave of iPhones.

Scientists have taken to the streets in recent years to test the capabilities of Li-Fi, and it's recently undergone testing in offices and industrial environments in Tallinn, Estonia.

This new wireless system hit speeds of 224 gigabits per second in the lab, and has the potential to revolutionize internet usage.

Harald Haas from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland invented Li-Fi in 2011.

Haas demonstrated that he could transmit more data than a cellular tower by flickering light from a single LED, according to ScienceAlert.

The system works in a similar way to Morse code, using visible light communication (VLC), but operates at speeds that are too high to be detected by the naked eye.

The Li-Fi technology uses visible light between 400 and 800 terahertz (THz), and transmits messages through binary code, giving it in-lab speeds fast enough to download 18 movies of 1.5 GB each second.

'We are doing a few pilot projects within different industries where we can utilise the VLC (visible light communication) technology,' Deepak Solanki, CEO of Estonian tech company, Velmenni, told IBTimes, UK.

A FASTER, MORE SECURE WI-FI Lab tests have shown that Li-Fi can hit speeds 100 times faster than current Wi-Fi systems. Speed is not the only advantage of Li-Fi. The system uses visible light communication between 400 and 800 terahertz to transmit messages in binary code. Visible light cannot pass through walls, making Li-Fi a much more secure system, and less susceptible to interference. While the system seems promising, it won't likely replace Wi-Fi entirely, at least not anytime soon. Instead, researchers are now looking to retrofit devices with Li-Fi to use the two wireless systems together to optimize speed and security. Advertisement

'Currently we have designed a smart lighting solution for an industrial environment where the data communications is done through light.

'We are also doing a pilot project with a private client where we are setting up a Li-Fi network to access the Internet in their office space.'

Since the light can't travel through walls, Li-Fi could also be a more secure option down the line, and suffer from less interference from other devices.

The system works in a similar way to Morse code, using visible light communication (VLC), but operates at speeds that are too high to be detected by the naked eye. Since the light can't travel through walls, Li-Fi could also be a more secure option down the line, and suffer from less interference from other devices

The system isn't likely to replace Wi-Fi entirely in the years to come, and ripping out the existing infrastructure isn't feasible.

But the two could be used in partnership to create faster and safer networks.

Instead, researchers are working on retrofitting current devices to be Li-Fi compatible.

PureLifi, a company created by Haas and his team, is offering a 'plug-and-play- application for secure wireless access, ScienceAlert says.

A French tech company called Oledcomm is also working with Li-Fi, and is installing its own system in local hospitals.
It is the flagship of the US Air Force's drone operation, conducting surveillance and airstrikes against the Islamic State, al-Qaeda and other militant groups.

However, a Washington Post investigation has revealed the Reaper drone has been hit with an unprecedented number of technical problems, causing the 2.5 tonne craft to fall from the sky.

Electrical faults have beset the craft, causing 20 large Air Force drones to be destroyed or sustain at least $2 million in damage in accidents last year, the worst annual toll ever, it claims.

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Drone down! Overall, the report claims says more than 400 large U.S. military drones, or several different type, have crashed since 2001. Pictured, a faulty temperature control valve caused a Reaper to crash during a training mission in California in March 2009.

The Pentagon has shrouded the extent of the problem and kept details of most of the crashes a secret, the paper claims.

Overall, the report claims says more than 400 large U.S. military drones, or several different type, have crashed since 2001.

'Military drones have slammed into homes, farms, runways, highways, waterways and, in one case, an Air Force C-130 Hercules transport plane in midair,' it says.

'No one has died in a drone accident, but the documents show that many catastrophes have been narrowly averted, often by a few feet, or a few seconds, or pure luck. '

The documents reveal a $3.8 million Predator carrying a Hellfire missile crashed near Kandahar in January 2010 because the pilot did not realize she had been flying the aircraft upside-down.

Another armed Predator crashed nearby after the pilot did not notice he had squeezed the wrong red button on his joystick, putting the plane into a spin, the Post says.

The wreckage of a Predator drone that crashed into Kandahar air base in May 2011.

While most of the malfunctioning aircraft have perished in combat zones, dozens have been destroyed in the United States during test and training flights that have gone awry.

In April, a 375-pound Army drone crashed next to an elementary-school playground in Pennsylvania, just a few minutes after students went home for the day.

Ten Reapers, each costing an estimated $14m, were badly damaged or destroyed in 2015, at least twice as many as in any previous year, according to Air Force safety data.

A damaged Predator that crashed into a barrier at the airfield in Jalalabad in July 2012.

Ten Reapers, each costing an estimated $14m, were badly damaged or destroyed in 2015, at least twice as many as in any previous year, according to Air Force safety data.

According to accident-investigation documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. Investigators have traced the Reaper problem to a faulty starter-generator, but have been unable to pinpoint why it goes haywire or devise a permanent fix.

One accident report, released last year, pinpoints the armed drone's depleted backup batteries and generator failure, according to an Air Force investigation report.

The investigation does not say where the aircraft was flying or what operation it was supporting.

The MQ-9 was carrying an undisclosed weapons load, and was destroyed at a loss of $14.1 million.

The aircraft was flown by a crew from the 432nd Attack Squadron at Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota.

One accident report, released last year, pinpoints the armed drone's depleted backup batteries and generator failure, according to an Air Force investigation report.

One report states the primary cause was the failure of the generator, along with the depletion of the backup batteries.

The MQ-9 took off Dec. 12, 2014, from an undisclosed deployed operating base on a classified mission in the Middle East, according to the Accident Investigation Board report. Shortly after takeoff, the Reaper's pilot briefly lost satellite link with the aircraft.

When the connection was re-established, the pilot's control screen displayed a battery warning and a starter-generator failure.

The pilot attempted to reroute the aircraft to a predetermined location where a launch and recovery element could retrieve the aircraft.

On the way, however, the Reaper lost battery to the point where it couldn't lower its landing gear.

The launch and recovery element on the mission directed the Reaper to intentionally crash in nearby mountains.

The report states the primary cause was the failure of the generator, along with the depletion of the backup batteries.

Additionally, a delay in uploading software for the launch and recovery element added additional loiter time, and a decision to not lower the landing gear earlier contributed to the decision to crash the aircraft.

In November, an MQ-9 Reaper crashed on Wednesday near Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, according to the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing.

'There is no indication of injuries or damage to civilian property as a result of the crash,' according to a wing news release.

'The cause of the crash is currently under investigation, but enemy fire was not a factor.'
Stephen Hawking thinks we're playing a dangerous game by trying to contact aliens.

The physicist believes that if aliens discovered Earth, they are likely to want to conquer and colonise our planet.

'If aliens visit us, the outcome could be much like when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans,' he said in a recent interview.

But co-founder and former director of the Seti Institute, Jill Tarter, doesn't think this will be the case.

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Stephen Hawking thinks we're playing a dangerous game by trying to contact aliens. The physicist believes that if aliens discovered Earth, they are likely to want to conquer and colonise our planet. But co-founder and former director of the Seti Institute, Jill Tarter, doesn't think this will be the case

She argues that any aliens who have managed to travel across the universe will be sophisticated enough to be friendly and peaceful.

'The idea of a civilisation which has managed to survive far longer than we have...and the fact that that technology remains an aggressive one, to me, doesn't make sense,' Tarter told Business Insider.

'The pressure of long-term survival  of limiting population...I think requires that the evolutionary trends that ratcheted up our intelligence...continues to evolve into something that's cooperative and take on global scale problems.'

She claims that humans have become kinder as civilisation has evolved, with the taste for warfare declining. The same, she said, may be true of other advanced civilisations.

The latest data collected by Nasa and other space agencies suggests there could be as many as 40 billion potentially habitable planets in our galaxy, the Milky way (Kepler 186f shown). Even though alien civilisations would be a lot rarer, some experts have concluded there might be as many as 3,000

EARTHLINGS WOULD ASK ET FOR HELP Scientists have learned what people would say on making first contact with aliens - and it is not 'take me to your leader.' Instead, they are much more likely to ask the extraterrestrials for help. The Earth Speaks project last year involved surveying 2,000 people from 70 countries around the world. It was carried out by scientists who have been listening out for radio signals from extraterrestrials since 1960, so far without success, to see what people would say to ET. Seti (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) scientist Dr Doug Vakoch said: 'One of the striking commonalities - men and women, young and old - was a message: 'Please help.' 'A sense that we are in very precarious time in our development as a civilisation. Our technologies are greater than our social stability. 'So if we make contact with another civilisation that may be more advanced they may have got through the tech bottleneck and may have some advice.' Advertisement

The latest data collected by Nasa and other space agencies suggests there could be as many as 40 billion potentially habitable planets in our galaxy.

Unlike Hawking, many say we should not fear contact with an alien race - and in fact, failing to make contact could in itself prove to be a huge mistake.

Proponents of Seti (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) have said we should consider 'Active Seti' - sending out messages, rather than just listening, in the hope someone is out there.

Dr Seth Shostak, director of Seti, argues that any aliens capable of interstellar travel would be at least several centuries more advanced than us.

Dr Seth Shostak, director of Seti, argues that any aliens capable of interstellar travel would be at least several centuries more advanced than us. They would almost certainly have already spotted the human race through leaking early TV transmissions and radar signals, so there is no point hiding the Earth from them now

WE COULD FIND ALIEN LIFE IN THE NEXT 10 TO 20 YEARS, SAYS NASA There at least 200 billion Earth-like planets in our galaxy  and now Nasa officials claim we could be on the verge of finding life on one. During a talk in Washington last year, the space agency announced that humanity is likely to encounter extra-terrestrials within a decade. 'We are going to have strong indications of life beyond Earth in the next decade and definitive evidence in the next 10 to 20 years,' Ellen Stofan, chief scientist for Nasa. 'We know where to look, we know how to look, and in most cases we have the technology.' Advertisement

They would almost certainly have already spotted the human race through leaking early TV transmissions and radar signals, so there is no point hiding the Earth from them now.

'We have already yelled 'yoo hoo',' said Dr Shostak in an earlier interview.

'What we want to do is follow up with something with a little more substance.'

It may be that the ETs have been waiting for Earth to call them under the rules of contact between galactic civilisations, he added.

'Maybe the galactic value system says it should be the civilisation that has the most to gain that should make contact,' said Dr Shostak.

'The biggest downside of not doing Active Seti is we may forego an opportunity for contact.

'We shouldn't hope for alien salvation, but we should hope for an expansion of our perspective.
Solve this riddle: how do you put three pigeons into two pigeonholes, with no two pigeons ending up in the same hole?

If it seems impossible, don't worry; in the classic principles of nature, at least two of the pigeons must end up in the same hole.

Anything else violates the conventional notions of counting.

But according to Chapman University, in the weird world of quantum mechanics, it is possible to solve the problem.

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Solve this riddle: how do you put three pigeons into two pigeonholes, with no two pigeons ending up in the same hole? A team of Chapman University researchers demonstrates how to put a large number of particles into two boxes, without any two ending up in the same place

QUANTUM ENTANGLEMENT In quantum physics, entangled particles remain connected so that actions performed by one affects the behaviour of the other, even if they are separated by huge distances. This means if you measure, 'up' for the spin of one photon from an entangled pair, the spin of the other, measured an instant later, will be 'down' - even if the two are on opposite sides of the world. Entanglement takes place when a part of particles interact physically. For instance, a laser beam fired through a certain type of crystal can cause individual light particles to be split into pairs of entangled photons. The theory that so riled Einstein is also referred to as 'spooky action at a distance'. Einstein wasn't happy with theory, because it suggested that information could travel faster than light. Advertisement

This is because, they claim, particles on opposite ends of the universe can be connected, without any previous interaction.

The phenomenon suggests there is a new type of quantum reality that impacts all matter.

The effect similar to something known as entanglement.

In quantum physics, entangled particles remain connected so that actions performed by one affects the behaviour of the other, even if they are separated by huge distances.

But in the new theory, cosmic particles don't need a previous connection to have taken place.

'They have no interaction, they have no idea that the other particle even existed,' Jeff Tollaksen of Chapman University in Orange, California told the New Scientist.

Instead, their behaviour is influenced by measurements made in the future.

In the new study, the researchers came up with the pigeon hole thought experiment to demonstrate their point.

Swap the pigeons for electrons in their test. You can send electrons through a interferometer, which splits them in two.

According the the New Scientist, the researchers can then 'post-select' some of the electrons to influence their past state

Measuring the path of any electron will make it pick a side. If the electrons are connected in the classical sense, they will deflect each other.

Quantum entanglement describes how the state of one sub-atomic particle can instantly influence the state of the other, no matter how far apart they are. This offended Albert Einstein, since passing information between two points in space faster than the speed of light is supposed to be impossible

But looking at the path of any pair of electrons that have been 'measured in the future' will show that no deflection took place.

'A linkage must exist, because its as if the particles know the other is there, and avoid each other,' the New Scientist writes.

DUTCH TEAM BACKS CONFIRMS 'SPOOKY ACTION AT A DISTANCE' The Dutch team entangled electrons held in tiny diamond traps 0.8 miles (1.3km) apart on opposite sides of the campus at Delft University. It then did the Bell test which does a measurement on two sides of an entangled pair choosing randomly between possible 'questions' at both sides. Depending on which question is asked, a different property is measured. The test used pairs of single electrons, to make sure that all the entangled pairs were measured, allowing the team to close the detection loophole. The 0.8 miles (1.3km) distance between detectors was also too far to allow light to travel between them in the time it took to ask a question and get an answer. This closed the locality loophole. If found that the 'spooky action at a distance' phenomenon was indeed real. Advertisement

This means no two pigeons are ever found in the same box

The study flips the classic pigeonhole principle on its head, in the discovery of a new phenomenon that the authors are referring to as the 'quantum pigeonhole principle.'

The team from Chapman University's Institute for Quantum Studies (IQS) details the findings in a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

'This discovery points to a very interesting structure of quantum mechanics that was hitherto unnoticed,' said Yakir Aharonov, Ph.D., and co-director of Chapman's IQS.

'This now requires us to revisit some of the most basic notions of nature.'

'It is still very early to say what the full implications of this research are,' said Jeff Tollasken, Ph.D., co-author of the PNAS paper and o-director of IQS.

'But we feel one should expect them to be major because we are dealing with such fundamental concepts.'

'But if your only tool is a hammer, then you tend to treat everything as if it were a nail,' says Tollasken.

'The problem was that the 'hammer-type' measurements usually are not the most useful in figuring out how the quantum world links the future with the present in subtle and significant ways.'

The team has spent two decades taking new types of 'weak measurements,' and Tollaksen says these are 'akin to tapping something softly with your finger rather than smashing it with that hammer, which forces each pigeon to be in a single box.'

These findings have implications that would revolutionize the basic principles of nature, and could bring the concept of 'non-locality' into greater understanding.

In this theory, particles separated by huge distances remain connected, and can affect each other's behaviours  even if they are at opposite ends of the universe.

'Non-locality is regarded as the most profound discovery of science and is the resource for the future of technology,' says Tollasken.
The game can be played on desktop browsers and is available from the Netherlands Aerospace Centre's website

a 'planning challenge' to test spatial awareness and the ability to plan ahead in three dimensions

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If you have ever dreamed of walking in space like British astronaut Tim Peake did last week, this test could be for you.

It has been designed to put you through your paces when it comes to spatial awareness and control, to see whether you have what it takes to be an astronaut.

As well as giving users a taste of space from their sofas, the results of the test will be used to improve the selection of real future astronauts.

It can be played on the Netherlands Aerospace Centre's (NLR) website and was jointly developed by the NLR, European Space Agency (ESA) and Swedish Defence Research Agency FOI.

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Esa has released an online game that lets people try their hand at completing tasks from an astronaut's point-of-view (screenshot shown above). It has been designed to put people through their paces when it comes to spatial awareness and control, to see whether you have what it takes to be an astronaut, even though the space agency is not currently recruiting

The challenge is currently in beta and can only be played on a desktop browser, however, it supports all browsers including Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari and Internet Explorer.

It seeks to give users a taste of challenges faced by astronauts working in three-dimensional space.

In a weightless universe, up can become down and left can become right depending on which way an astronaut is floating and this can lead to disorientation.

During a spacewalk, for example, this effect intensifies as the blackness of space offers little for astronauts' brains to use for orientation.

Working and using objects in this environment is something astronauts must excel at, so is a key aptitude that trainers look for in selecting candidates at Esa's European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany.

The test has been developed by the European Space Agency (ESA), Swedish Defence Research Agency FOI and the Netherlands Aerospace Centre (NLR). It's designed to be played on a computer, rather than a smartphone. This image shows the controls

In a weightless universe, up can become down and left can become right depending on which way you are floating, meaning astronauts need excellent spatial awareness. An image of Tim Kopra taken by Tim Peake on the latest space walk is shown above

Users taking the test are confronted with four challenges: Planning, control, angles and arrows. They are then given a 'mission' that measures a certain set of skills.

For example, the 'planning' challenge tests people's ability to navigate a white shape through a 3D environment to a green target, as if they were trying to dock a craft, for example.

It requires them to plan their moves using on-screen arrow keys from the perspective of an astronaut, sometimes rotating the shape.

Users taking the test are confronted with four challenges: Planning, control, angles and arrows. They are given a mission that measures a certain set of skills. For example, the 'planning' challenge tests people's ability to navigate a white shape through a 3D environment to a green target, as if they were trying to dock a craft, for example. A screenshot showing instructions for the task is shown above

The task requires players to plan their moves using on-screen arrow keys from the perspective of an astronaut, sometimes rotating the shape. Once they have scheduled the movements, the player must press 'Execute!' to see whether they have accomplished the mission

MYTHS: BECOMING AN ASTRONAUT MYTH: All astronauts have perfect vision. FACT: It's okay if you don't have 20/20 vision. As of September 2007, corrective surgical procedures of the eye are allowed, as long as a year has passed since the date of the procedure with no permanent adverse effects. MYTH: All astronauts have advanced degrees like, a PhD. FACT: While a Bachelor's degree from an accredited university is necessary, an advanced degree is not required. MYTH: Astronauts are required to have military experience in order to be selected. FACT: Military experience is not required. MYTH: You have to be a certain age in order to be an astronaut. FACT: There are no age restrictions. Astronaut candidates selected in the past have ranged between the ages of 26 and 46. Advertisement

Once they have scheduled the movements, the player must then press 'Execute!' to see whether they have accomplished the mission.

'Each challenge contains different levels that give you the opportunity to test your astronaut skills,' Esa exolained.

'The task is made harder because all your moves need to be programmed beforehand and the goal is to use as few as possible.'

The test takes between 30 and 60 minutes to complete, but users don't have to make a user ID and can skip each level after just one attempt.

European Astronaut Centre experts in robotics and spacecraft docking worked with psychologists to design the test, which has a practical application for Esa as well as being fun for users.

It could lead to new tests for future astronauts.

Esa's Head of Astronaut Training, Rudiger Seine, said: 'By "playing" with the test online you will help the team validate it, essentially making sure it works.

'For us, the more people who participate, the better.'

The head of Esa's astronaut centre, Frank De Winne, added: 'Esa is not currently running a selection campaign but developing tests for astronaut selection takes time and needs to be done right.'

While Esa is working on tests, Nasa is currently accepting applications until 18 February for astronauts who could be part of a Mars mission.

Those interested in applying must be a US citizen with a bachelor's degree in science, maths, or engineering, along with at least three years of professional experience or a minimum of 1,000 hours of pilot-in-command time in jet aircraft.

Astronaut candidates must also pass the Nasa long-duration spaceflight physical and presumably tests similar to Esa's.

The test takes between 30 and 60 minutes to complete, but users don't have to make a user ID, It is also possible to skip over failed challenges and progress quickly trough easier ones (screenshot of completed task shown)

European Astronaut Centre experts in robotics and spacecraft docking worked with psychologists to design the test, which has a practical application for Esa as well as being fun for users. It could lead to new tests for future astronauts, for example. This incredible image taken by ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst shows the disorientation of spacewalks

'Some people would be surprised to learn they might have what it takes,' Brian Kelly, director of flight operations at Johnson Space Centre, said.

'We want and need a diverse mix of individuals to ensure we have the best astronaut corps possible.'
Astronomers have spent decades scouring the heavens for signals from aliens on other planets, but to no avail.

Rather than being too far away, or too technologically advanced for us to spot, however, researchers now believe there is a much simpler reason our efforts have been met with deafening silence - ET is already extinct.

A group of astrobiologists has claimed that life on other planets, if it managed to get going at all, would likely be brief and would die out quickly.

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Astronomers have been peering at the sky for clues (Parkes radio telescope pictured) that there may be alien life forms on other planets for decades, but a new theory suggests that in the majority of cases, life would have died out quickly after appearing on a planet as it was not able to alter the climate of its world enough to survive

And they said that while many planets could have potentially been habitable, and may have once teemed with microbial life, runaway heating or cooling would have left their surfaces inhospitable.

In their new theory, the researchers looked at the role life can play in helping to control the climate of a planet, making it more habitable in the process.

They argue that while both Mars and Venus may once have been planets that could have hosted life four billion years ago, any life there failed to stabilise the environment.

ALIENS: FRIENDS OR FOE If there are any intelligent alien life forms out there, Stephen Hawking thinks we're playing a dangerous game by trying to contact them. The physicist believes that if aliens discovered Earth, they are likely to want to conquer and colonise our planet. 'If aliens visit us, the outcome could be much like when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans,' he said in a recent interview. But co-founder and former director of the Seti Institute, Jill Tarter, doesn't think this will be the case. She argues that any aliens who have managed to travel across the universe will be sophisticated enough to be friendly and peaceful. 'The idea of a civilisation which has managed to survive far longer than we have...and the fact that that technology remains an aggressive one, to me, doesn't make sense,' she said. Advertisement

This resulted in Mars becoming a frigid desert while Venus became a boiling hothouse.

The researchers, based at the Australian National University, argue that life may well have emerged multiple times on other planets following the heavy bombardment of wet rocky worlds by asteroids.

But they said almost all of this life would go rapidly go extinct unless it was able to evolve fast enough to regulate greenhouse gases and so maintain stable surface temperatures.

Dr Aditya Chopra, the lead author of the paper and an astrobiologist at the Australian National University, said: 'The universe is probably filled with habitable planets, so many scientists think it should be teeming with aliens.

'Early life is fragile, so we believe it rarely evolves quickly enough to survive.

'Most early planetary environments are unstable.

'To produce a habitable planet, life forms need to regulate greenhouse gases such as water and carbon dioxide to keep surface temperatures stable.'

Dr Chopra and his colleagues, whose work is published in the journal Astrobiology, said life in the universe may depend on something they call the Gaian bottleneck.

This is where life plays a key role in modifying and regulating its environment to ensure its survival.

Earth provides a classic example of this as early organisms began regulating the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and eventually produced enough oxygen for other new organisms to emerge.

Life on most planets would not have had a chance to evolve beyond being microbes before dying out under the new theory. If true, it will dash hopes that we will one day meet complex and intelligent life forms (illustrated)

The surface of Mars (pictured) may once have teemed with microbial life four billion years ago, but it failed to stabilise the planet's climate causing the red planet to become a frigid world. This would have ultimately caused life on the planet to die out before it got going properly, the scientists said

Unfortunately for those of us hoping to meet an alien life form, the Gaian bottleneck results in near universal extinction of life on other planets.

That said, recent discoveries with telescopes such as the Kepler Space Telescope have revealed that rocky Earth-like worlds are perhaps far more common than had been previously believed.

Indeed, a growing number of planets are being discovered in the so-called 'habitable' zone around their stars  the area where liquid water could be expected to exist.

Even the basic ingredients for life  hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, sulphur and phosphorus - are also thought to be abundant.

Yet despite the efforts of astronomers, like those involved in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, no signs of any life has been seen coming from these planets.

Our failure to find definitive signs of life even on our planetary neighbours may therefore be explained by this theory.

Telescopes such as Nasa's Kepler space telescope are revealing a growing number of rocky Earth-like planets that exist in the habitable zone around their stars. Some have even been found around stars similar to our own sun. But the theory suggests that if life did exist on any of these, it has probably already died out

Dr Chopra continued: 'The mystery of why we haven't yet found signs of aliens may have less to do with the likelihood of the origin of life or intelligence and have more to do with the rarity of the rapid emergence of biological regulation of feedback cycles on planetary surfaces.'

Professor Charley Lineweaver, from the Planetary Science Institute at the Australian National University, who co-authored the paper, said Earth may be one of the rare places where life was able to gain enough of a foothold to ensure its own survival.

'Life on Earth probably played a leading role in stabilising the planet's climate,' he said.

He added that should we find evidence of bacteria having once lived on other planets, it will help to support their theory.
It shaped the world around us by throwing up mountain ranges, creating new islands and grinding down continents, but Earth's tectonic activity may have started far later than many believe.

A new study has found evidence that suggests the planet's plate tectonics  where segments of the Earth's outer shell glide over the mantle below  began around three billion years ago.

The findings may provide new ways of understanding the Earth's history and how the movement of the planet's crust began to alter the chemistry of the oceans where life first evolved.

Geologists claim to have found evidence that suggests the Earth's tectonic plates began to move three billion years ago. The early Archean Earth pictured on the left shows the magnesium rich-protocontinents that existed before plate tectonics started while the image on the right show the continents as they are today

Geologists have widely believed that tectonic activity began on Earth around 4.5 billion years ago, shortly after the planet first formed.

However, there are some who claim it may have only started within the last 800 million years.

The new study, conducted by geologists at the University of Maryland, provides new geochemical evidence by analysing trace elements that correlate the magnesium levels in the crust.

HOW PLATE TECTONICS STARTED Exactly how plate tectonics started on Earth has remained shrouded in mystery. But geologists believe they have discovered what may have been the trigger that first kick-started the grinding, scraping and tearing of the continental plates as they drift on layers of molten rock. They believe a vast plume of molten mantle may have risen up from deep inside the planet, pooling beneath the surface causing the hard crust, or lithosphere, above to weaken. This weak spot would have stretched over time as more material from the deep mantle pooled there and it would have created a tear that then grew to create the boundaries of the tectonic plates. Mantle plumes are thought to be one of the ways that large volcanoes can form far away from the edge of tectonic plates. So the new model raises the prospect that a series of similar volcanoes may have sprung up early in the Earth's history, tearing the crust to form the tectonic plates. Advertisement

Ming Tang, who was the lead author on the work, said: 'By linking crustal composition and plate tectonics, we have provided first-order geochemical evidence for the onset of plate tectonics, which is a fundamental Earth science question.

'Because plate tectonics is necessary for the building of continents, this work also represents a further step in understanding when and how Earth's continents formed.'

The researchers were able to pin down the date for when tectonics began by looking at how the levels of magnesium in the crust appear to have changed.

Compared to Mars, Mercury and Venus, the Earth's crust contains less magnesium.

However, samples from the Moon, which is thought to have formed when another planet collided with the early Earth, suggest in the past our planet had far higher levels of magnesium.

It is thought as plate tectonics started, it created more granite  a rock that contains little magnesium  by dragging water underneath the crust.

By looking at the levels of magnesium in the ancient rocks, the researchers hoped to reconstruct when this key step must have occurred.

However, magnesium tends to be soluble in water and so in many ancient rocks it has washed away.

The movement of the Earth's tectonic plates are responsible for shaping the world around us through earthquakes (road damage after an earthquake pictured), volcanoes and the grinding of the continents. But this may have started up to 1.5 billion years later than was previously believed, according to the new research

To overcome this Mr Tang and his colleagues looked at other insoluable elements that typically occur alongside magnesium in rock  nickel, cobalt, chromium and zinc.

They found that the ratios of these elements can be used to infer the amount of magnesium that was present.

Higher ratios of nickel to cobalt and chromium to zinc correlate to higher magnesium content.

By compiling data on these elements from ancient rocks over a period that spans between four and 2.5 billion years ago, the researchers were able to work out when magnesium content changed.

Their results suggest that three billion years ago, the Earth's crust had around 11 per cent magneiusm oxide by weight but within half a billion years this had dropped to four per cent.

Today the planet's crust contains just two or three per cent magnesium oxide.

Mr Tang said: 'To our knowledge, we are the first to discover this correlation and use this approach.

The Earth's crust is now a mosaic of tectonic plates that are constantly moving and grinding against each other (illustrated). Their formation resulted in an increase in the amount of granite in the crust, which is low in magnesium, while before plate tectonics, our planet is thought to have had far higher levels of magnesium

'Because the ratios of these trace elements correlate to magnesium, they serve as a very reliable "fingerprint" of past magnesium content.

'Because the evolution of continental crust is linked to many major geological processes on Earth, this work may provide a basis for a variety of future studies of Earth history.

'For example, weathering of this magnesium-rich crust may have affected the chemistry of the ancient ocean, where life on Earth evolved..

However, Mr Tang said their findings, which are published in the journal Science, may not close the debate on when plate tectonics began.

He added: 'It certainly adds a compelling new dimension to the discussion.'

Dr Roberta Rudnick, the senior author on the study who is now a geologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, said: 'It's really kind of a radical idea, to suggest that continental crust in Archean had that much magnesium.
Jack Dorsey has been kicked out of the 'billionaires club'.

A crashing stock market has caused the personal fortune of the 39-year-old Twitter CEO to fall from $2.2 billion to $944 million in just four months.

Yesterday morning, Dorsey's two companies - Twitter and Square - fell six per cent and 11 per cent respectively.

A crashing stock market has caused the personal fortune of the 39-year-old Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey, to fall from $2.2 billion to $944 million. Twitter has also been plagued by technical woes in recent days

Twitter shares were a record low before rising 4.1 per cent later in the day. But the social media site is still down 57 per cent in the past 12 months.

Mobile payments company, Square, fell below its initial public offering price of $9 for the first time on Wednesday before recovering slightly. It's stock is down 28 per cent this year.

Reports of Dorsey's falling wealth were first made by Kate Vinton, who tracks the worlds wealthiest people for Forbes.

At the Forbes 400 in September, we pegged Dorseys net worth at $2.2bn, thanks in large part to Squares $6 billion dollar private valuation,' she writes.

'His net worth dropped $800 million to just below $1.4 billion when the company went public in November at $11.20 a share.

Twitter shares were at a record low yesterday before rising 4.1 per cent later in the day. But the social media site is still down 57 per cent in the past 12 months

Mobile payments company, Square, fell below its initial public offering price of $9 for the first time on Wednesday before recovering slightly. It's stock is down 28 per cent this year

'Now, with both companies struggling on the stock market, hes fallen out of the three-comma club with a net worth of $944m as of 10:30 am.'

In October, Dorsey was reappointed as CEO of Twitter, after being forced out in 2008.

But many still disagree with the way he runs Twitter, including experiments to introduce an extra-long tweet, which could chance the nature of the platform completely.

And it's not just Twitter's slumping share price that Dorsey has to worry about. Technical probelms have also plagued the site.

On Tuesday, millions of internet users were unable to use Twitter for more than an hour-and-a-half after the site crashed.

WHO IS JACK DORSEY? Jack Dorsey originally called the site Status, then called Obvious, before settling on Twttr, later renamed to Twitter Date of birth: November 19, 1976 (age 39) Education: New York University, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Bishop DuBourg High School Place of birth: St. Louis, Missouri Title: Founder and CEO of Twitter and Square Jack Dorsey was born in St Louis and had a speech impediment growing up, according to a report in CNET. As a result of his speech problem, he became introverted used to stay indoors and listen to police scanners to pass the time. Years later, memories of those shorts bursts of communication inspired his idea for microblogging. Dorsey co-founded Twitter with Biz Stone and Evan Williams in 2006  but his history there hasn't always been peaceful. The 39-year-old originally called the site Status, then called Obvious, before settling on Twttr, later renamed to Twitter. When it was first launched, it was referred to as a form of SMS. The top comment on the site read: 'This is NEVER going to catch on.' Williams replaced Dorsey as CEO of Twitter in 2008 after Dorsey was effectively forced out of the firm. New York Magazine said Dorsey was forced out because he was too quirky, leaving on time every day for yoga classes and fashion lessons. He returned to Twitter in 2011. Last year he was named permanent CEO of the firm. Advertisement

Users of the micro-blogging site were confronted with the image of a broken robot along with a message that read 'something is technically wrong'.

They were couldn't to login to the social network, or view and send any tweets using either desktops or mobile devices.

An outage map created by downdetector.co.uk showed the problem affected users in Western Europe, including the UK, and in Japan.

Twitter reversed a glitchy software update and resolved outages not long after the problem was reported.

For approximately one-and-a-half-hours this morning, Twitter users across Western Europe and Japan were confronted with the image of a broken robot (pictured) and could not view or send tweets

Wall Street has long worried about Twitter's stagnant growth in users and advertising revenue, and analysts said the outage added to the concern.

'The current market malaise and the recent site outages are compounding the negatives and having a very negative reaction on the shares,' said Victor Anthony, Axiom Capital Management analyst.

Some users who tweeted with the hashtag #twitterdown reported they had not experienced problems or that their service had been restored.

Others said they were still having problems after Twitter's announcement.

Many pointed out that Twitter could not have been down for everyone since #twitterdown was among the top trending hashtags on the site.

Twitter currently has just over 300 million users but had its slowest user growth in 2015.

It was eclipsed by photo-sharing app Instagram, which is owned by Facebook Inc and surpassed 400 million users last year.
Every order will have $5 delivery fee and take about 30 to 40 minutes

have had access to UberEats since December

Uber is expanding its car-hailing kingdom to include food delivery.

Over the next few weeks, the firm will be rolling out UberEATS in 10 major cities across the US.

A lunchtime-only version is already available in select cities, but the full launch will allow users to choose from dozens of local restaurants and full menus, from 10 am to 10 pm.

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UberEATS is making its way to 10 cities across the US. This new move will allow users to order food from dozens of local restaurants and have it delivered with in 30 to 40 minutes for delivery.

HOW DOES IT WORK? Download the UberEATS app (available by March) and add your delivery address. Enter your drop-off location. Choose from full menus from dozens of restaurants in your location Place your order and follow along as your meal is prepared and delivered. After an order is placed, Uber sends it to the restaurant and shoots back an estimated delivery time to the customer. When the item is close to being ready, Uber locates a driver in the vicinity of the restaurant and lets them decide if theyd like to pick it up and drop it off. Advertisement

The 10 major US cities are New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago Austin, Washington D.C, Houston Dallas, Seattle and Atlanta.

Uber has also developed a new standalone app for the new service that works similar to the original car requesting app.

After an order is placed, Uber sends it to the restaurant and shoots back an estimated delivery time to the customer.

When the item is close to being ready, Uber locates a driver in the vicinity of the restaurant and lets them decide if theyd like to pick it up and drop it off, reports The Wall Street Journal.

If more than one person orders from the same place and around the same time, Uber will bunch all of the orders into a single trip and give one drive the opportunity to earn multiple delivery fees.

Every order will have a delivery fee of about $5, but it will vary by city, and Uber says all deliveries will be with a 30 to 40 minute time frame.

Uber shares part of the fee with the driver and charges the restaurant a fee for every order placed through the app.

The 10 major US cities are New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago Austin, Washington D.C, Houston Dallas, Seattle and Atlanta. Uber has also developed a new standalone app for this new service that works similar to the original car requesting app

UberEATS fully opened up in Toronto, Canada last month.

Residents have access to the standalone app that hosts more than 100 restaurants in the city and delivers from 10 am to 10 pm, which is the same time for its operation in the US.

UberEATS in the US, as of right now, only caters to the lunch crowd with a limited menu available from 11 am to 2 pm, but customers do receive their food within 10 to 15 minutes.

The firm plans to keep the lunch service, but will rename it 'Instant Delivery' and pay drivers an hourly rate instead of a share of the delivery fee.

Every order will have a delivery fee of about $5, but it will vary by city, and Uber says all deliveries will be withing a 30 to 40 minute time frame. Uber shares part of the fee with the driver and also charges the restaurant a fee for every order placed through the app

One challenge Uber might face with this new service is converting Uber drivers into delivery drivers.

According to The Wall Street Journal, food delivery creates new hurdles for drivers, as they just wont be picking up and dropping off anymore.

Drivers will have to get out of their cars, pick up food and quickly make their way over to the destination.

Uber plans to have the UberEATS app completely rolled out by March and will run on both iOS and Android.
In their latest bizarre sighting, alien hunters claim to have spotted a UFO being followed by military aircraft in Bulgaria.

Images circulating on conspiracy forums show a 'saucer-shaped UFO' circulating high above the fighter jets.

Website Portal 12 said a reader provided the pictures, which were taken in Nova Zagora in Bulgaria's southeastern plains.

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In their latest bizarre sighting, alien hunters claim to have spotted a UFO (top left) being followed by military aircraft in Bulgaria, Images circulating on conspiracy forums show a 'saucer-shaped UFO'

'Military planes chased an unidentified flying object near Nova Zagora yesterday afternoon,' said a translated version of its report.

'The craft were flying at very low altitude in the area above the villages of Gaz, Zagortci, and Han Asparuhovo.'

The report says the event was witnessed by a number of people, although no one else has come forward to make confirm the sighting, according to the Express.

It adds that the spectacle lasted about five minutes, before the UFO abruptly changed direction,causing the military planes to also perform 'spectacular manoeuvres.'

Scott C Waring, editor of website UFO Sightings Daily, who comments on a large number of UFO claims, spotted the story.

'A UFO was seen over farm land near some very tall power lines and it was being monitored by a military aircraft,' he wrote.

Website Portal 12 said a reader provided the pictures, which were taken in Nova Zagora in Bulgaria's southeastern plains

Scott C Waring, editor of website UFO Sightings Daily, who comments on a large number of UFO claims, spotted the story. 'A UFO was seen over farm land near some very tall power lines and it was being monitored by a military aircraft,' he wrote

'The UFO seems to not be in any kind of hurry to move and the jet seems like it's only there to identify the craft to those back at base.

'I don't think any military will risk deliberately shooting at an alien craft.'

A number of people, however, have said that the craft looks like it has been added to the images after they were taken.

Another explanation is that the UFO is simply a military drone.

According to paranormal expert Lee Speigel, drones are increasingly being mistaken for alien spaceships.

'The thing about drones isthat you can make them look like UFOs,' Mr Speigel said when speak to HuffPost Live.

'You can go to the local hardware store, and for not a lot of money, you can pick up the materials you needto make people go crazy.'

THINK YOU'VE BEEN ABDUCTED BY ALIENS? IT MAY BE SLEEP PARALYSIS Agents Mulder and Scully may have said 'the truth is out there' in the X Files, but it may instead be buried inside the brains of people who claim they have been abducted by aliens. Those who believe they have had a close encounter of the so-called 'fourth kind' may suffer from false memories or sleep paralysis, a psychologist has claimed. A rare form of the condition, which can involve hallucinations or the feeling of being dragged out of bed, may explain 'alien abductions' that people sincerely believe happened but can't remember. Writing for The Psychologist, Christopher C French, of Goldsmiths, the University of London, who specialises in the psychology of paranormal belief and experiences, said there are plausible explanations for why people 'see' flying saucers and think they have been abducted. He noted that most of the people making these claims are clinically sane, but their belief in life in outer space may influence what they see or feel in strange situations. Advertisement
Nasa has warned that claims of a new planet lurking in our solar system are premature.

The space agency warned that the controversial Caltech paper claiming a ninth planet exists beyond Pluto was 'just a prediction'.

It called for caution - but pledged 'if it's there, we'll find it'

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The gas giant is thought to be almost as big as Neptune and orbiting billions of miles beyond Neptune's path  distant enough to take 10,000 to 20,000 years to circle the sun.

In a YouTube video, Jim Green, director of planetary science at NASA addressed the new findings.

'The January 20 paper in the Astronomical Journal is fueling our interest in planetary exploration,' Green said.

'Stimulating a healthy debate that's part of the scientific process.

'It is not, however, the detection of a new planet. It's too early to say with certainty that there's a so-called 'Planet X' out there.

He pledged Nasa experts would take part in the process to try and find it.

'It's all about starting the process that could lead to an exiting result.

'If Planet X is out there, we'll find it together.

Alan Stern, a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute who is the principal investigator for NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto and beyond, was also sceptical.

'This is about the fifth or 10th prediction like this.  Not one has panned out,' he said

'If they do find it, it'll be more like Number 19, not Number 9,' he told GeekWire in an email.

'And if it is found, it'll confirm lots of work predicting the Oort Cloud is littered with planets, and the solar system made dozens to hundreds of them.'

Yesterday scientists say they finally have 'solid evidence' for Planet X, a true ninth planet on the fringes of our solar system.

The gas giant is thought to be almost as big as Neptune and orbiting billions of miles beyond Neptune's path - distant enough to take 10,000 to 20,000 years to circle the sun.

This Planet 9, as the two Caltech researchers call it, hasn't been spotted yet.

They base their findings on mathematical and computer modeling, and anticipate its discovery via telescope within five years.

The two reported on their research Wednesday in the Astronomical Journal because they want people to help them look for it.

'We could have stayed quiet and quietly spent the next five years searching the skies ourselves and hoping to find it.

'But I would rather somebody find it sooner, than me find it later,' astronomer Mike Brown told AP.

The six most distant known objects in the solar system with orbits exclusively beyond Neptune (magenta) all mysteriously line up in a single direction. Such an orbital alignment can only be maintained by some outside force, Batygin and Brown say. Their paper argues that a planet with 10 times the mass of the earth in a distant eccentric orbit anti-aligned with the other six objects (orange) is required to maintain this configuration.

HOW THEY FOUND IT Researchers inferred Planet X's presence from the peculiar clustering of six previously known objects that orbit beyond Neptune. They say there's only a 0.007% chance, or about one in 15,000, that the clustering could be a coincidence. Instead, they say, a planet with the mass of 10 Earths has shepherded the six objects into their strange elliptical orbits, tilted out of the plane of the solar system. Advertisement

'I want to see it. I want to see what it looks like. I want to understand where it is, and I think this will help.'

Researchers inferred Planet X's presence from the peculiar clustering of six previously known objects that orbit beyond Neptune.

They say there's only a 0.007% chance, or about one in 15,000, that the clustering could be a coincidence.

Instead, they say, a planet with the mass of 10 Earths has shepherded the six objects into their strange elliptical orbits, tilted out of the plane of the solar system.

During the solar system's infancy 4.5 billion years ago, they say, the giant planet was knocked out of the planet-forming region near the sun.

Slowed down by gas, the planet settled into a distant elliptical orbit, where it still lurks today.

Once it's detected, the researchers insist there will be no Pluto-style planetary debate.

'This would be a real ninth planet,' says Brown, the Richard and Barbara Rosenberg Professor of Planetary Astronomy.

For the first time in over 150 years, there is solid evidence that the solar system's planetary census is incomplete

'There have only been two true planets discovered since ancient times, and this would be a third.

'It's a pretty substantial chunk of our solar system that's still out there to be found, which is pretty exciting.'

They ought to know; one of them, Mike Brown, is the so-called Pluto killer.

'My daughter, Lilah, has suggested that we call it Pluto.

'That way Pluto can be a planet again,' he said of the discovery.

'We have found evidence that there's a giant planet in the outer solar system,' Brown told Popsci.

'By 'giant' we mean the size of Neptune, and when we say 'outer solar system' we mean 10 to 20 times farther away than Pluto.'

Brown and Konstantin Batygin, a theoretical astrophysicist at Caltech who specializes in solar system dynamics, think Planet X formed in the early stages of the solar system, some 4 billion years ago, when the large planets (including Planet X) were still rocky cores.

If Planet X's core had been able to stay in the inner solar system and carry out the rest of its formation, it could have accumulated enough gas or ice to become another giant like Jupiter or Neptune, the pair told Popsci.

HOW WILL THEY PROVE FIND? The team has time on the one large telescope in Hawaii that is suited for the search, and they hope other astronomers will join in the hunt. Subaru, an 8-meter telescope in Hawaii that is owned by Japan. It has enough light-gathering area to detect such a faint object, coupled with a huge field of view -75 times larger than that of a Keck telescope. Advertisement

But because the large cores of the other planets were packed so tightly in the inner solar system, there wasn't enough room for them all to develop, and Planet X was 'kicked out.

'There would have been a gas nebula around the solar system at the time that would have slowed it down as it plowed through the gas, putting it into this eccentric orbit,' Brown said.

'I could not imagine a bigger deal ifand of course that's a boldface 'if'if it turns out to be right,' Gregory Laughlin, a planetary scientist at the University of California (UC), Santa Cruz told Science.

'What's thrilling about it is [the planet] is detectable.'

The team has time on the one large telescope in Hawaii that is suited for the search, and they hope other astronomers will join in the hunt.

Subaru, an 8-meter telescope in Hawaii that is owned by Japan. It has enough light-gathering area to detect such a faint object, coupled with a huge field of view75 times larger than that of a Keck telescope.

'Although we were initially quite skeptical that this planet could exist, as we continued to investigate its orbit and what it would mean for the outer solar system, we become increasingly convinced that it is out there,' says Batygin, an assistant professor of planetary science.

'For the first time in over 150 years, there is solid evidence that the solar system's planetary census is incomplete.'

Meanwhile, Brown and other colleagues have begun searching the skies for Planet Nine.

Only the planet's rough orbit is known, not the precise location of the planet on that elliptical path. If the planet happens to be close to its perihelion, Brown says, astronomers should be able to spot it in images captured by previous surveys.

The putative ninth planetat 5,000 times the mass of Plutois sufficiently large that there should be no debate about whether it is a true planet.

If it is in the most distant part of its orbit, the world's largest telescopessuch as the twin 10-meter telescopes at the W. M. Keck Observatory and the Subaru Telescope, all on Mauna Kea in Hawaiiwill be needed to see it.

If, however, Planet Nine is now located anywhere in between, many telescopes have a shot at finding it.

'I would love to find it,' says Brown.

'But I'd also be perfectly happy if someone else found it. That is why we're publishing this paper. We hope that other people are going to get inspired and start searching.'

In terms of understanding more about the solar system's context in the rest of the universe, Batygin says that in a couple of ways, this ninth planet that seems like such an oddball to us would actually make our solar system more similar to the other planetary systems that astronomers are finding around other stars.

First, most of the planets around other sunlike stars have no single orbital rangethat is, some orbit extremely close to their host stars while others follow exceptionally distant orbits. Second, the most common planets around other stars range between 1 and 10 Earth-masses.

If, however, Planet Nine is now located anywhere in between, many telescopes have a shot at finding it.

'One of the most startling discoveries about other planetary systems has been that the most common type of planet out there has a mass between that of Earth and that of Neptune,' says Batygin.

'Until now, we've thought that the solar system was lacking in this most common type of planet. Maybe we're more normal after all.'

Brown, well known for the significant role he played in the demotion of Pluto from a planet to a dwarf planet adds, 'All those people who are mad that Pluto is no longer a planet can be thrilled to know that there is a real planet out there still to be found,' he says.
Javier Mascherano has been sentenced to a year in prison and fined 815,000 (625,000) for two tax offences.

However, the Barcelona star is not likely to be spending a year behind bars, after his lawyer David Aineto requested the prison sentence to be substituted for the fine, which he is yet to pay.

Mascherano's lawyer is also attempting to have the offences removed from his criminal record by paying an additional fine.

In Spain people handed sentences of less than two years are not normally required to serve their sentence, unless they are being punished for violent crime, if they agree to a fine.

Javier Mascherano leaves court in Barcelona on Thursday after admitting two counts of tax fraud

The Barcelona and Argentina player was handed a one-year prison sentence, which will not be applied

Mascherano (left), who paid the amount with interest last year, has to pay a fine of 625,000

Mascherano, 31, was given four-month and eight-month sentences for the two offences which took place in 2011 and 2012.

The Argentine star had already repaid the full 1.6million (1.15million) debt owed to the tax authorities before he was given his punishment.

Mascherano also paid the interest on the money, but has still been hit with a new fine.

His tax offences were for failing to declare earnings from image rights he ceded to companies which he owns in Portugal and the United States.

MASCHERANO RESPONDS IN A STATEMENT Through this communication I would like to clarify some of the questions that have recently been linked to me. Today I have reached a full and final settlement with the Spanish tax authorities that has been agreed by all parties. Now that the matter has been finally resolved, and with the peace of mind of knowing that the situation has reached an end I would like to make a short statement. After agreeing my arrival at Barcelona I engaged the services of a prestigious Spanish tax firm of the highest professional standing and excellent reputation. Having in consideration my situation, they recommended to me certain financial structures, all of which they informed me were common practise, totally transparent and accepted by the law. I was assessed by these professionals from 2010 until 2014 when I decided to change my advisors in view of the proceedings that had been initiated against me along with evidence that my problem was no longer just a possibility but had become a reality. The hearing on Thursday lasted only 10 minutes, according to reports in Spain My new advisors recommended that I should pay all the taxes being reclaimed by the Inland Revenue presenting what is referred to as corrections over all the relevant fiscal years. Now, finally, and after a bitter and painful episode in my life I have finally reached agreement which leaves me safe in the knowledge that I am fully up to date with all my financial obligations. I am a professional sportsman and I do not have great knowledge of neither legal nor tax-related matters. For that reason I need to rely on the support of those people trained to deal with such matters that, for me, are complicated. Throughout my career I have been honest and responsible, respecting my team mates at the clubs and all those countries where I have lived. This situation I have found myself in I will treat as one more experience in my life from which, hopefully, I can emerge stronger, at peace and content in the knowledge that I am once again in compliance with the law. I reserve the right to take possible action against those advisors who mismanaged my affairs and recommended things to me that were not correct. Advertisement

Mascherano was handed a four-month sentence and an eight-month sentence for the separate offences

The former Liverpool midfielder pictured arriving at the court for Thursday's hearing in Barcelona

Mascherano published an open letter after the verdict in which he insisted he was an 'honest and responsible person'.

He wrote: 'After agreeing my arrival at Barcelona I engaged the services of a prestigious Spanish tax firm of the highest professional standing and excellent reputation.

'Having in consideration my situation, they recommended to me certain financial structures, all of which they informed me were common practise, totally transparent and accepted by the law.

'I was assessed by these professionals from 2010 until 2014 when I decided to change my advisors in view of the proceedings that had been initiated against me along with evidence that my problem was no longer just a possibility but had become a reality.

'My new advisors recommended that I should pay all the taxes being reclaimed by the Inland Revenue presenting what is referred to as corrections over all the relevant fiscal years.

Mascherano lawyer is hoping to reach agreement for him to pay another fine instead of going to jail

Mascherano (centre) was in action for Barcelona against Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday night

'Now, finally, and after a bitter and painful episode in my life I have finally reached agreement which leaves me safe in the knowledge that I am fully up to date with all my financial obligations.

'I am a professional sportsman and I do not have great knowledge of neither legal nor tax-related matters. For that reason I need to rely on the support of those people trained to deal with such matters that, for me, are complicated.

'Throughout my career I have been honest and responsible, respecting my team mates at the clubs and all those countries where I have lived.

'This situation I have found myself in I will treat as one more experience in my life from which, hopefully, I can emerge stronger, at peace and content in the knowledge that I am once again in compliance with the law.

'I reserve the right to take possible action against those advisors who mismanaged my affairs and recommended things to me that were not correct.'

Family man: Mascherano and his wife Fernanda pictured on holiday in Formentera in 2013

Mascherano is not the only Barcelona star who is having financial problems, with Messi set for a court appearance later this year after he and his father were also charged with tax fraud through image rights arrangements.

Messi's trial has been set for May 31-June 3, conflicting with the start of the centennial Copa America in the United States.

The Copa America Centenario will kick off June 3, meaning the five-time world player of the year will not have the best of preparations ahead of Argentina's opening game.

Messi's lawyers are expected to try to change the trial dates.

Meanwhile, in September Neymar had over 30m of assets frozen after being accused of not paying all his taxes.
From Amsterdam to Budapest, travellers see the Rhine/Main and Danub

The Rhine has held an irresistible fascination for visitors to Germany for thousands of years.

For the Romans, it represented the limit of their civilised world. Eastwards from the Rhine was the barbarian world.

When he visited the Rhine Valley, Julius Caesar was appalled to find the locals had a subsistence diet of fish and birds' eggs. In the movie Gladiator when Russell Crowe's character Maximus Decimus Meridius unleashes hell, he is in Germania fighting the barbarians.

German gem: Miltenberg is one of the loveliest towns on the river, writes Frank Barrett of his Rhine cruise

By the 18th Century, the Rhine Valley, especially the Rhine Gorge, famous for its castles and the Lorelei Rock, had become the happy hunting ground of Romantic era painters and writers.

It is such an extraordinarily scenic place, it was easy to imagine all sorts of weird things happening here.

When writer Mary Shelley passed through on a journey that took her to Switzerland, she is said to have had the idea for her famous novel after seeing Frankenstein Castle near Frankfurt.

Last summer I travelled on Uniworld's new SS Maria Theresa river-cruise ship for part of its journey from Amsterdam to Budapest: the two-week journey roughly splits into a week on the Rhine/Main followed by a week on the Danube (and vice versa on the return journey from Budapest to Amsterdam).

In terms of scenery, the early part of the journey is unexceptional.

The vessel left late in the day allowing travellers plenty of time to see the sights of Amsterdam.

Opulent: Uniworld's new SS Maria Theresa river-cruise ship is a luxurious vessel from which to take in the beautiful scenery

By the time we were running at the river-cruise-ship equivalent of full steam ahead, we were preparing for dinner.

It was then time for bed and, as the vessel keeps rolling on through the night, by morning we were approaching Cologne: you can spot the spires of the city's famous cathedral long before you reach the berth in the city centre.

Cologne Cathedral has had a curious stop-start existence. Construction began in 1248 but came to a halt in 1473.

Some 400 years later, building began again and was completed  following the original medieval plan  in 1880.

The cathedral is the largest Gothic church in Northern Europe and has the second-tallest spires  its two huge spires give it the largest facade of any church in the world. It is also famous as housing the relics of the Three Wise Men.

According to legend, they were martyred for their faith and their bodies buried in Constantinople, from where they were subsequently removed to Milan and then to Cologne.

Perhaps the most miraculous thing about Cologne Cathedral is that it survived the ferocious bombing of the city by the Allies during the Second World War, despite being hit on 14 separate occasions.

The Rhine has another famous war connection 40 miles up-river. Here the battle to cross the Ludendorff  the famous Bridge at Remagen  was a pivotal moment in the eventual defeat of the German army.

Eary visitor: Maximus Decimus Meridius, played by Russell Crowe in Gladiator, fought in this part of Germany

By Remagen, the sides of the valley climb and the vessel enters the heart of the wonderful Rhine Gorge where you watch every castle in the expectation of seeing Rapunzel letting down her golden tresses.

Many of the smaller towns south of the Lorelei are not very well known as tourist places, but they're all delightful.

The lovely little river town of Rudesheim, often described as the gateway to the Rhine Gorge, is a glorious place to wander around. It's a centre of winemaking, with plenty of opportunities to sample the local vintages.

Soon the ship leaves the Rhine and joins the Main en route to the Danube. One of the loveliest towns is Miltenberg.

The area around here was where the Romans erected their stoutest defences against the troublesome barbarians.

Maximus might have unleashed hell there, but this is the most heavenly part of Germany  far more attractive than better known places such as the Black Forest or the Harz Mountains.

From Miltenberg, the cruise rapidly approached the halfway point near Nuremberg and marked my journey's end. I was extremely sorry to leave.
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It was up against idyllic tropical hideaways and exclusive villas, but a modest-looking hotel in Chester has been voted the best in the world.

Seven-bedroom Edgar House was judged the number one small hotel worldwide by members of internet review site TripAdvisor in its annual travellers choice awards.

The boutique bolthole, which is perched on the citys ancient walls overlooking the River Dee, opened less than three years ago in a grand Georgian house, but has already won a string of accolades.

Of more than 400 reviews posted on the popular  but controversial  reviews site, all but three have rated it excellent. (The remainder settled for very good.)

Seven-bedroom Edgar House in Chester, Cheshire, described by one expert reviewer as a 'supercool bolthole' was judged the best small hotel worldwide

Edgar House beat other small hotels in New Zealand, Australia, Costa Rica and the Italian island of Capri to the title

Luxury: All of Edgar Houses seven bedrooms are individually designed and cost from 169 a night

Having had a 400,000 makeover, it boasts individually designed rooms, free-standing baths, a mini-cinema serving popcorn and ice cream and an honesty bar inside a phone box. Rooms start from 169 per night  but it does not cater for children under 14 and is described as designed for adults.

Happy guests include former 007 Sir Roger Moore, who visited last year with his wife Kristina and later thanked the owners on Twitter for his very pleasant stay.

Hotel guide Alastair Sawdays describes Edgar House as a super cool bolthole with a position thats hard to beat, Chesters equivalent of the royal box.

It beat the globes most exclusive hotels with fewer than 30 rooms, including The Place luxury villas on the Thai island of Ko Tao and the intimate La Minerva on the Italian resort of Capri.

Edgar House co-owner Mike Stephen, who runs it with partner Tim Mills, said: 'We are over the moon to be recognised by TripAdvisor as a 2016 Travellers' Choice Awards winner.

'To be named the number one small hotel in the world is an incredible honour and we can't find the words to say how thrilled and humbled we are.

'We'd like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to all of our team and, of course, to the wonderful hotel and restaurant guests for supporting us.'

Sumptuous: The hotel has had a 400,000 makeover with free-standing copper baths, a mini-cinema serving popcorn and ice cream and an honesty bar inside a phone box

Features include a mini-cinema serving popcorn and ice cream and an honesty bar inside a refurbished phone box

Hotel guide Alastair Sawday's describes Edgar House as a 'super cool bolthole with a position that's hard to beat'

James Kay, of TripAdvisor, said: 'These awards are based on guest feedback gathered throughout the year, so what sets the winners apart is not just a high standard of service and accommodation, but that they deliver this day in, day out.

'There are nearly one million hotels and B&Bs listed on TripAdvisor worldwide, so the fact that the UK is home to so many winning properties speaks volumes for the quality and competitiveness of UK hospitality.'

Other UK winners include South Lodge guest house, in Bridlington, Lincolnshire, which was named the seventh best B&B in the world.

Blackpool had two hotels named among the best worldwide, the North Ocean and the Queens Promenade.

The other small hotels in the top 10 are: The Pillars Retreat, Taupo, New Zealand; Saffire Freycinet, Coles Bay, Australia; Nayara Springs, La Fortuna de San Carlos, Costa Rica; The Place Luxury Boutique Villas, Ko Tao, Thailand; La Minerva, Capri, Italy; The Old Rectory Hotel, Martinhoe, United Kingdom; Riad Kheirredine, Marrakech, Morocco; Spirit of the Knights Boutique Hotel, Rhodes Town, Greece and The Dairy Private Hotel, Queenstown, New Zealand.
Passengers travelling to Austria on British Airways flights have been turned away at the airport by staff misunderstanding new rules created to control the flow of migrants to the country.

Gary Preston and his family had booked a trip to Salzburg to see the Christmas markets in December, but his partner Karen was refused entry to the plane at Gatwick airport after staff checked her passport.

The member of staff informed her that the Austrian government had recently changed the guidelines for visitors to the country and that they needed a minimum of three months left on a passport when allowing entry - as hers expired in March 2016, it was invalid for travel.

Gary Preston and family t were prevented from boarding a BA flight to Austria because Mr Preston's partner only had three months left on her passport

Mr Preston told Simon Calder at The Independent: 'She stopped on my partner Karens. She said something had come up on her computer she had to check. She then called a colleague and broke the news to us.

'She also informed us that BA themselves would be fined up to 50,000 if they let Karen on board.'

The family then visited the the team at the BA sales desk at Gatwick airport where they pointed them towards information on the Foreign Office's travel pages that indicated visitors only had to have a valid passport for the duration of their stay in order to visit.

But they were told they were unable to help because of constantly changing rules in Austria's travel policies.

The family on trip to see Salzburg's Christmas markets in December

He later followed up with a tweet to BA where he again pointed them towards information on the Foreign Office's travel pages.

But BA stuck to their guns and again explained that they were unable to help, advising: 'You'll need to take your complaint up with gov.uk directly, Gary. We can't comment on their incorrect information.'

TRAVEL TO AUSTRIA: THE FACTS EU citizens can travel to Austria as long as their travel document is be valid for their entire stay. Non-EU citizens need a travel document that is valid for at least three months after the last day of their stay, in accordance with rules surrounding travel within the Schengen zone. Advertisement

However, when Mr Preston followed his query up with the Austrian Embassy, he was told that BA were wrong and passengers only needed a valid passport for the duration of their trip, as per Foreign Office guidelines.

The Independent has reported that the misunderstand on BA's part was likely down to a new EU ruling that requires all non-EU citizens wanting to travel to the Schengen Zone to have a travel document that is valid until at least three months after the intended date of departure from the territory of the Member States.

BA said in a statement: 'Our Customer Service agents work extremely hard to deliver a high standard of service to all of our customers, and to ensure that we abide by strict regulations regarding each country's entry requirements.

'We are very sorry that on this occasion we made a mistake. We are currently investigating this case to ensure that it does not happen again.
If there was an accolade for the most glamorous frocks at the 2016 National Television Awards, they would no doubt have had it in the bag as the female stars of Coronation Street led the alluring displays at this year's glitzy ceremony.

The soap stars pulled out all of the stops for what is arguably the biggest night on the British TV calendar, particularly long-time Weatherfield girl Tina O'Brien who took the plunge in a low-cut floor-length gown.

The 32-year-old actress was certainly dressed to impressed as she walked the red carpet in a design that showed off both leg and cleavage.

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Glam: The soap stars pulled out all of the stops for what is arguably the biggest night on the British TV calendar, particularly long-time Weatherfield girl Tina O'Brien who took the plunge in a low-cut floor-length gown

The dress featured an incredibly plunging neckline that conceded inches below the bust, with the design's sparkling fabric around the torso doing even more to draw attention to the daring nature of the style.

The garment cinched in at the waist to highlight Tina's svelte frame before billowing down in a floor-length skirt which featured a daringly high thigh split.

The petite star gave herself some added heel height with a chic peep-toe stiletto, while toting her essentials in a glittering silver clutch bag.

See full coverage of the 2016 National Television Awards with more red carpet pictures

Stunning! The 32-year-old actress was certainly dressed to impressed as she walked the red carpet in a design that showed off both leg and cleavage

Tina wasn't the only one who was sure to turn heads at the event as her co-star Catherine Tyldesley also dazzled in a floor-length black number

Dare to bare! The 32-year-old's frock featured a risque sheer fabric around the decolletage which ran along one arm and around the back

Svelte: The frock was the perfect choice to show off the fitness enthusiasts slim figure as its clinging fabric left little to the imagination

Her blonde locks were swept into an elegant up-do, while her face modeled an alluring make-up look comprised of a striking red lipstick and black smokey eyeshadow.

But Tina wasn't the only one who was sure to turn heads at the event as her co-star Catherine Tyldesley also dazzled in a floor-length black number.

The 32-year-old's frock featured a risque sheer fabric around the decolletage which ran along one arm and around the back.

Beautiful: Catherine's signature blonde tresses were worn in a pin-straight style around her pretty face which looked to be sporting a strong contour and shimmering highlight to make for a sculpted, yet dewy, make-up look

The frock was the perfect choice to show off the fitness enthusiasts slim figure as its clinging fabric left little to the imagination.

Ensuring the all black style wasn't too placid, the gown was adorned with intricate embellishments around the bust and neck for added finesse.

Catherine's signature blonde tresses were worn in a pin-straight style around her pretty face which looked to be sporting a strong contour and shimmering highlight to make for a sculpted, yet dewy, make-up look.

Lovely in lace: The Rovers' favourite barmaid Kym Marsh also rocked a show-stopping style, pouring her slim curves into a gothic style floor-length gown which was crafted in lace

Intricate: The lace teased a glimpse of the fitness fanatic's toned abs, while a nude fabric ran across the bust and from the waist down beneath the dress to protect her modesty

Going all out! Kym'a raven locks were worn in a curled up-do which boasted plenty of volume at the crown to flatter her stunning face which rocked a dramatic make-up look

The Rovers' favourite barmaid Kym Marsh also rocked a show-stopping style, pouring her slim curves into a gothic style floor-length gown which was crafted in lace.

The lace teased a glimpse of the fitness fanatic's toned abs, while a nude fabric ran across the bust and from the waist down beneath the dress to protect her modesty.

Her raven locks were worn in a curled up-do which boasted plenty of volume at the crown to flatter her stunning face which rocked a dramatic make-up look.

The 39-year-old posed up a storm on the red carpet as she was joined by Corrie co-star Antony Cotton.

Strike a pose! The 39-year-old posed up a storm on the red carpet as she was joined by Corrie co-star Antony Cotton

Vision in white: Brooke, 23, cut a more demure figure in a floaty white dress which was accompanied by a gold belt to create a more feminine silhouette

Finishing touches: The actress instilled a splash of colour into the look with a striking red lipstick

Actresses Brooke Vincent and Sair Khan, 27, also went all out, with the latter opting for a skintight black dress which boasted key-hole detailing and mesh sleeves.

Brooke, 23, cut a more demure figure in a floaty white dress which was accompanied by a gold belt to create a more feminine silhouette.

But while some of their outfits were winners, their luck didn't continue inside of the event as Coronation Street lost out on Best Serial Drama to BBC One rival EastEnders.

Sizzling! Sair Khan, 27, went all out in a skintight black dress which boasted key-hole detailing and mesh sleeves
John Partridge has been trying to build bridges with many of the housemates he's come to have words with in the Celebrity Big Brother house.

However there was no love lost between him and house rival Gemma Collins on Wednesday night's show, as the actor blasted her during a task for making him cry.

A luxury meal task saw the actor, 44, unburden himself following a character-guessing game, with him blasting: 'I didn't cry at my father's funeral, or through my mother's illness, and I regret you, Gemma, making me cry.'

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'I regret you, Gemma, making me cry': There was no love lost between John Partridge and house rival Gemma Collins on Wednesday night's Celebrity Big Brother, as the actor blasted her during a task for making him cry

Angered by Gemma's behaviour over the past two weeks, and her decision to be the only housemate to label herself as someone others would be 'jealous' of, John snapped.

Stood in the garden, John threw a stern stare at the former TOWIE star before he could hold his tongue no longer, when he was prompted to tell the house his biggest regret.

Speaking clearly and succinctly, he turned to his fellow housemates and declared: 'I regret letting people get to me so much.

'I didn't cry at my father's funeral, or through my mother's illness, and I regret you, Gemma, making me cry.'

See more of the latest news and updates from the Celebrity Big Brother house

Unphased: A task saw the actor, 44, unburden himself following a character-guessing game, with him blasting: 'I didn't cry at my father's funeral, or through my mother's illness, and I regret you, Gemma, making me cry'

But never one to take a verbal bashing lightly, the Essex star, 34, quipped: 'You should really try and forget about me. You're obsessed with me!'

But the war of wills didn't end there, as following the task Gemma and John tore chunks out of each other again.

Trying to tentatively build bridges, Gemma told John that he thought more of their clashes 'than what it is'.

However, John wasn't in the forgiving mood and told her he wasn't 'having it', before the ITVBe star declared: 'I don't carry any ill feeling in me, I say what I need to and move on.'

A high opinion of herself: Angered by Gemma's behaviour over the past two weeks, and her decision to be the only housemate to label herself as someone other would be 'jealous' of, John snapped

Fuming: Stood in the garden, John threw a stern stare at the former TOWIE star before he could hold his tongue no longer, when he was prompted to tell the house his biggest regret

Not in the forgiving mood: Speaking clearly and succinctly, he turned to his fellow housemates and declared, 'I regret people get to me so much,' before laying into Gemma

But the two opposing housemates once again found themselves at odds following a surprise round of nominations following Kristina Rihanoff's departure that evening.

Called to the living room, the group were told they would be casting their nominations in front of the group, however, what they didn't realise was a single nomination would see the housemate put up for eviction.

And in a twist, which saw seven housemates nominated for the boot, Stephanie, John, Gemma and Tiffany found themselves receiving the most votes from their fellow celebs.

'You should really try and forget about me. You're obsessed with me!': Vever one to take a verbal bashing lightly, the Essex star, 34, quipped that he needed to 'forget' about her

Nominated again: The two opposing housemates once again found themselves at odds following a surprise round of nominations following Kristina Rihanoff's departure that evening

Stephanie found herself being nominated for her outburst against Gemma on Monday night's show, following the former TOWIE star's declaration that her behaviour was 'disgusting'.

But the most surprising moment of the nomination round for Stephanie came when she found her friend Scotty T casting one of his votes in her name due to her relationship with Jeremy.

Explaining his reasons, for nominating the former Hollyoaks star he said: 'I've watched how he [Jeremy] struggled with all that stuff over the past few days. It's messed him up a bit.'

John found himself put up for eviction thanks to his clashes with various housemates, including, Megan, Stephanie and Gemma.

However Darren Day's vote left the stage star thinking about his behaviour, with his long-time friend admitting that John had 'genuinely hurt' him.

Tense: Called to the living room, the group were told they would be casting their nominations in front of the group, however, what they didn't realise was a single nomination would see the housemate put up for eviction

Diabolical: In a twist, which saw seven housemates nominated for the boot, Stephanie, John, Gemma, Tiffany, Daniella, Megan and Jeremy found themselves receiving the most votes from their fellow celebs

Not so popular: Stephanie found herself being nominated for her outburst against Gemma on Monday night's show, following the former TOWIE star's declaration that her behaviour was 'disgusting'.

Causing a stir? Meanwhile it was Gemma's self-centered and catty attitude that saw her nominated, with house nemesis John leading the way, describing her as 'the biggest gameplayer here'

Explaining his decision was down to John's nominating him the week before, Darren said: 'It hurt me and my feelings, and hurt me in my heart. It felt like a punch to the f***ing stomach.'

Meanwhile it was Gemma's self-centered and catty attitude that saw her nominated, with house nemesis john leading the way, describing her as 'the biggest gameplayer here'.

While her previously loyal friend Christopher Maloney was left needing to vomit after he was forced to nominate her due to her messy and selfish behaviour in the house.

However the house was almost unanimous when it came to Tiffany with seven of the 10 housemates nominating her as one of their choices.

Outraged at being singles out by her fellow celebs, the fiery American reality star proclaimed: 'I don't give a f***!'

However due to the one vote rule seven housemates in total are up for eviction this week, with John, Stephanie, Tiffany, Gemma, Megan, Danniella and Jeremy all nominated.

'It felt like a punch to the f***ing stomach': However Darren Day's vote left John pondering his behaviour, with his long-time friend admitting that John had 'genuinely hurt' him

'I don't give a f***!': However the house was almost unanimous when it came to Tiffany with seven of the 10 housemates nominating her as one of their choices

But John was in for one last surprise on Day 15, as his BFF, Darren Day, gave him a verbal lashing following the nominations.

Walking into the bedroom, the West End star walked straight up to his friend and vented: 'I'm sorry. But you hurt me like f*** mate.'

And while he tried to disarm the situation, a hint of bitterness crept through into John's words, as he replied: 'You told me that three or four times, so I knew that already.'

But not feeling remotely sorry for his nomination and public vent, Darren countered: 'I can't help how you made me feel.'

Trying to find a way to move on from the fraught and tense stand-off, John rationalised the ill-feeling isn't something that is 'going to go away', but Darren was keen to have the last word.

'The reasons its not going away,' he explained coolly. 'Is because you hurt me so much.'
They're more used to sitting side-by-side on a daytime panel show.

But when they hit the National Television Awards in heels, the vast height difference between Gloria Hunniford and her Loose Women co-star Penny Lancaster was instantly evident on Wednesday.

Statuesque Penny, who's more used to making husband Rod Stewart look diminutive by comparison, towered over her tiny counterpart as they posed for an hilarious picture.

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Mind the gap! Gloria Hunniford (left) and Penny Lancaster (right) laugh off the height difference as they pose for a photo at the National Television Awards on Wednesday night

Luckily, Gloria found the height discrepancy amusing and giggled as she rested a head on the model's bosom.

Leggy Penny had given her co-panelist quite a disadvantage in three-inch gold heels, not to mention her incredible never-ending legs.

The former catwalk star was looking ultra-glamorous in a soft pink one-shoulder dress, which teased her slender pins with a daring side split.

See full coverage of the 2016 National Television Awards with more red carpet pictures

Cute twosome: Gloria rested her head on Penny's bosom as the paired posed for a picture

Leggy model: Penny did her counterpart no favours in the gold skyscraper heels

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Forget the weather: Penny Lancaster shed her top layer to show off her gorgeous nude-coloured outfit

Playful: The catwalk star certainly knew how to get the right angles

Meanwhile, 75-year-old Gloria was all in black in a full length jacket that swept along the floor as she picked out flat patent shoes.

The pair had perhaps been hoping to have more to celebrate after Wednesday night's ceremony, thanks to the ITV programme's NTA nomination.

Though it was not to be, because Loose Women sadly lost out to This Morning in the Live Magazine Show category.

Looking gorgeous: Statuesque Penny is more used to making husband Rod Stewart look diminutive by comparison

Red carpet moment: Unfortunately, the Loose Women did not walk away with the NTA gong on Wednesday

There was enough of the Loose Women in force to make sure there were no dampened spirits among the group.

Katie Price, Jamelia, Nadia Swalha and Jane Moore were all joining the 11-strong army of television personalities in London.

Asked about joining the female group, Katie told The Mirror on Wednesday night's red carpet: 'It's amazing I'm part of the new team. I can't vouch for being part of the award but I'm so glad that I'm here. I hope they win,' she said of the show while talking exclusively to Mirror Celeb.

'However, asked about whether there should be more men on the show, she added: 'They need to get some hunks on it. That would be good viewing, some good looking men.'

Feeling loose and loud: The Loose Women (from left) Jamelia, Katie Price, Andrea McLean, Kaye Adams, Gloria Huniford, Nadia Swalha, Jane Moore, Penny Lancaster, Sherrie Hewson, Coleen Nolan and Linda Robson were out in force, sure to tear up the red carpet

Demure: Katie Price was playing it safe for once, plumping for a black peplum hem dress
She rarely puts a foot wrong on the red carpet.

So it was little surprise to see that Tess Daly managed to showcase her sartorial sizzle on the red carpet at the National Television Awards, in London, on Wednesday night.

Stepping out at the O2 Arena in a figure-flaunting black and gold dress, which featured sheer detailing down one side, the 46-year-old presenter flaunted her legs to the max.

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A dazzling dress: Tess Daly managed to showcase her sartorial sizzle on the red carpet at the National Television Awards, in London, on Wednesday night

Heading down the red carpet, the Strictly Come Dancing presenter flashed a huge smile as she strolled into the venue - where she was later rewarded with a win by Strictly in the Talent category.

Slipping her slender frame into the fitted black number, which featued fold art deco detailing, Tess was able to showcase her enviable figure.

Featuring thigh-to-floor sheer panel detailing on the sides, the Stockport-born star was able to flaunt her slender, toned legs.

See full coverage of the 2016 National Television Awards with more red carpet pictures

A folden display: Stepping out at the O2 Arena in a figure-flaunting black and gold dress, which featured sheer detailing down one side, the 46-year-old presenter flaunted her legs to the max

A winning smile: Heading down the red carpet, the Strictly Come Dancing presenter flashed a huge smile as she strolled into the venue - where she was later rewarded with a win by Strictly in the Talent category

Adding further definition to her pins, the presenter rounded her outfit off with a pair of gold metallic stillettos.

Tess decided to keep her look uncluttered, and accessorised minimally with a pair of gold ear studs, her wedding ring and a leather clutch.

Wearing her hair pulled back in a chic, messy ponytail, the BBC favourite wore her long golden mane off of her face.

Opting for a subtle and natural palette of make-up, she only added a hint of mascara and a slick of nude lip gloss to accentuate her features.

Figure-flaunting: Slipping her slender frame into the fitted black number, which featued fold art deco detailing, Tess was able to showcase her enviable figure

Legs ahoy! Featuring thigh-to-floor sheer panel detailing on the sides, the Stockport-born star was able to flaunt her slender, toned legs

Shining style: Adding further definition to her pins, the presenter rounded her outfit off with a pair of gold metallic stillettos

Blonde beauty: Wearing her hair pulled back in a chic, messy ponytail, the BBC favourite wore her long golden mane off of her face

And while Tess was no doubt one of the winners in the fashion stakes on the evening, the presenter - who is married to fellow TV host Vernon Kay - also clinched a victory at the awards.

Beaming as she held the gong for best Talent Show, the bubbly blonde was clearly delighted that in her role as Strictly Come Dancing's co-presenter, she had helped the show to victory.

Fighting off competition from Saturday night rival The X Factor, The Voice and Britain's Got Talent, the hugely popular ballroom show waltzed away with first place on the night.

Strictly stunning: And while Tess was no doubt one of the winners in the fashion stakes on the evening, the presenter - who is married to fellow TV host Vernon Kay - also clinched a victory at the awards

Victory shout: Beaming as she held the gong for best Talent Show, the bubbly blonde was clearly delighted that in her role as Strictly Come Dancing's co-presenter, she had helped the show to victory

Winners: Picture with professional dancer, Brendan Cole, Tess celebrated beating off competition from Saturday night rival The X Factor, The Voice and Britain's Got Talent
He's one of Hollywood's biggest stars - and has been the face of several high-profile brands.

And Hugh Jackman was happy to fulfill his duties as an ambassador for Montblanc this week by attending an exclusive party hosted by the luxury goods company in Switzerland.

The 47-year-old cut a sophisticated figure in a navy blue suit alongside Monaco royal Charlotte Casiraghi, 29, at the German watchmaker's 4810 Collection Gala Dinner on Monday.

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Swanky: Wolverine actor Hugh Jackman cut a stylish figure in a navy blue suit at the Montblanc 4810 Collection Gala Dinner in Geneva on Monday, accompanied by Monaco royal Charlotte Casiraghi

The Wolverine actor - who was announced as Montblanc's Global Brand Ambassador outside of the US in January 2014 - also wore a classic white shirt and purple tie during the event in Geneva.

His female companion, who is the eighth-in-line to the Monegasque throne, looked elegantly regal in a black crew-neck dress with red lipstick.

Charlotte, daughter of Caroline, Princess of Hanover, finished off her glamourous look with diamond earrings and tied up her lush brown locks in a bun.

Exclusive: Hugh, a global brand ambassador for watch company Montblanc outside the US, posed alongside eighth-in-line to the Monegasque throne Charlotte and French actor Pierre Niney, 26, (left) at the Swiss gala

The pair posed for a photo with French actor Pierre Niney, 26, who was dressed in an almost identical manner to the X-Men: The Last Stand star.

Before the gala dinner, Montblanc's ambassadors from around the world participated in a press conference to mark the company's 110th anniversary.

Charlotte, from Monte Carlo, evidently made time for a wardrobe change in-between duties.

Influencers: Montblanc's international array of brand ambassadors attended a press conference on Monday

The editor-at-large of fashion magazine Above loosened her shoulder length brunette locks and opted for a simple, sleeveless grey dress - and a Montblanc watch.

They were joined by another global superstar, Taiwanese actress Gwei Lun-Mei.

The 32-year-old wore her black hair cropped and poured her slim curves in a stylish white dress.

The watchmaker: Montblanc's CEO Jerome Lambert (left) looked rather diminutive next to his three brand ambassadors at the press conference marking the company's 110 years this week

Meanwhile, Montblanc CEO Jerome Lambert - who previously helmed Swiss watch company Jaeger-LeCoultre - looked rather diminutive next to the three brand ambassadors.

The occasion was one of the many highlights of the 26th Salon International de la Haute Horologie (SIHH), a private trade fair for professionals in fine watchmaking.

The Sydney-born actors attendance came just days after he had a chance encounter with his X-Men co-star James McAvoy in Budapest on Saturday.

The pair ran into each other in a hotel and Instagram fan Hugh couldnt help but share a selfie of the incidental reunion with his followers.

Hugh wrote on the image-sharing website: 'Walking through the lobby in Budapest and who do I bump into... the one and only young Prof Charles Xavier.

The stars grinned widely for the camera, while James, who stars as a young Professor Charles Xavier in the franchise, gave a thumbs up.
The Town That Took On The Taxman

Rating:

10,000 BC: Two Tribes

Rating:

Taxes, as American businesswoman and self-styled Queen of Mean Leona Helmsley liked to say, are only for the little people.

Theres a certain satisfaction in knowing that Leona went to jail for tax-dodging. However cynical and criminal she was, though, her words contain a bitter kernel of truth.

Comedian Heydon Prowse didnt raise many laughs in The Town That Took On The Taxman (BBC2) when he pointed out that global behemoth Facebook pays less tax in Britain than the average shopkeeper, and Amazons tax rate in the UK works out at 0.002 per cent.

Shopkeepers from Crickhowell are taking the town offshore in protest of the taxes paid by multinationals

Meanwhile, eight trillion euros flow in and out of the Netherlands every year via a Dutch loophole that enables big firms to avoid almost all their taxes.

This loophole doesnt exist by accident. Amsterdam accountants love it. Paying taxes is an individual choice, said Dennis, a Dutch tax consultant. Moral responsibility is make believe, its like Santa Claus.

This documentary followed the efforts of small businesses in one Welsh town, Crickhowell, to copy the mega-corps and shame Her Majestys Revenue & Customs by unravelling those loopholes.

The beauty of the programme was how Prowse, playing the part of a dim innocent with a camera, goaded the townsfolk into finding out how the financial sleight-of-hand was performed. He knew the Crickhowellians, like the viewers, would start off sceptical. Taxes, after all, pay for our schools and hospitals. Its unpatriotic to evade them, not to mention illegal.

But the realisation of how the multi-national brands play us for mugs soon had everyones blood at boiling point. If Starbucks doesnt pay fair taxes, it isnt merely able to boost profits  it also undercuts the little man and put him out of business.

It was no coincidence that the fieriest Crickhowell campaigner was also the bloke who ran the towns independent coffee bar: Steve, a former special forces soldier.

ROYAL PET OF THE WEEK Lucy Worsleys fascinating account of the Russian Revolution in Empire Of The Tsars (BBC4) included footage of Nicholas II riding on parade in 1913, with his little dog trotting at his horses heels. Imagine if the Queen took a corgi to Trooping the Colour. Advertisement

Steve was so angry that, when he and his neighbours visited the weaselly money-men of Old Amsterdam, he found the canalside building where Irish rock band U2 have their financial headquarters and banged on the door, demanding that Bono show himself.

Programmes about tax law are hardly appealing. Millions of potential viewers must have shied away from this one-off show, just because of the word taxman in the title.

Prowse did well to focus on the personalities of the aggrieved tradesfolk, such as Irena the Russian optometrist, who also owned the local ice-cream deli, or Jeff, who sold wet weather gear  surely the closest you could get to printing money in the Brecon Beacons. But the shows big drawback was its failure to explain how the rest of us can sign up. If the Fair Tax campaign means paying just 0.002 per cent, you can count me in and call me Bono.

Audiences who had been watching Celebrity Big Brother were not likely to be seduced by the title of 10,000 BC: Two Tribes (C5). It sounds like a history programme, and Channel 5 viewers are not noted for their intellectual leanings. But a warning at the start did the trick: The following programme features highly offensive language from the start and constantly throughout, as well as nudity.

Audiences who had been watching Celebrity Big Brother were not likely to be seduced by the title of 10,000 BC: Two Tribes (C5)

This is history in a grubby loincloth: 12 ordinary people  a student, a policeman, a builder and so on  are driven to a remote hilltop in Bulgaria, handed an assortment of stone knives and animal skin clothes, and left to get on with it.

When the series launched last year, it fell apart almost immediately. The neolithic campers couldnt cope. Two cracked up within 24 hours, and the rest were unable even to light a fire or keep the flies from swarming over their food. Again and again, the producers were forced to step in.

This year the challenges are easier  almost too easy. Food, shelter and a map were provided. But the arrival tonight of 12 more people, a rival tribe, might make things more awkward.
Heidi Klum was dressed to impress when she arrived at Sydney's Circular Quay on Thursday for the filming of Germany's Next Top Model.

The 42-year-old model showed off her incredible physique in a stunning black and white one-shoulder dress.

The predominantly black number splashed with white stripes was perfectly draped over her runway ready figure, while also featuring a sultry slit to showcase a glimpse of her trim legs.

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Showing them how it's done: Heidi Klum was certainly dressed to impress when she arrived at Sydney's Circular Quay on Thursday for the filming of Germany's Next Top Model

As she gracefully strut along the sidewalk, the blonde beauty's silky tresses blew in the breeze.

A pair of black strappy platform heels accentuated her model height, while the rest of her accessories were kept to a minimum with the exception of a pair of delicate stud earrings.

Later on the model chose to shield her eyes from the strong Sydney rays, slipping on a pair of circular-framed sunglasses.

No doubt Heidi was showing other model hopefuls exactly how it's done during the filming of the reality television show.

Stunning: The 42-year-old model showed off her incredible physique in a stunning black and white one-shoulder dress

Strutting it: A pair of black strappy platform heels accentuated her model height

The star appeared relaxed on set as she chatted to fellow Germany's Next Top Model stars

The mother-of-four has in fact been the host and judge of the German version of the program founded by Tyra Banks since 2006.

Touching down on Wednesday, the 5ft 9in stunner kept her famous figure well under wraps as she sashayed her way through Sydney International airport in a loose-fitting patchwork jacket and jeans after her long-haul flight from Los Angeles.

Ensuring all eyes were turned her way, Heidi made a colourful entrance thanks to her unique choice of footwear.

On set: The beauty was surrounded by cast and crew members for the filming of the reality show

Very stylish: The predominantly black number splashed with white stripes was perfectly draped over her runway ready figure

Since landing, Heidi has wasted no time in getting acquainted with the country's native wildlife.

On Wednesday afternoon she shared a heart-warming video showing herself smiling next to a very cuddly koala.

Appearing smitten, the America's Got Talent judge was keen to show off her furry friend to the world, captioning the video: 'Meet my new friend Harry!'

Ready for her close-up: Heidi looked her usual glamorous self with her long blonde locks preened to perfection

Selfie time: Heidi took some time to take a picture perfect snap

In the cute video, the German catwalk queen sported an ear-to-ear grin as she cosied up to her new friend who is perching in a tree branch in the Australian bush.

Clearly not understanding the magnitude of the star before him - the friendly marsupial restlessly fidgeted about, more concerned with grabbing for leaves than posing with Heidi for a snap.

But the former Victoria's Secret Angel persevered, trying to angle herself and the koala in the frame for the perfect selfie.

Look there: It seems something certainly caught Heidi's eye during filming

Giggles: No doubt the runway sensation was having a great time on set

Having a blast: Everyone appeared in good spirits despite the blistering heat in Sydney

Still super: The model looked absolutely stunning as she soaked up the sunshine

'And here I am with little Harry in the bush!' she cooed in the short clip.

'Look how cute he is! Do you like it with us here?' she gushed.

Heidi was in Australia to launch the line this time last year to promote her lingerie range Heidi Klum Intimates with local lingerie brand Bendon, which she took over from fellow supermodel Elle Macpherson in 2014.

Ready to be impressed! Heidi and her fellow judges sat down to watch contestants walk a make-shift runway

Marks out of 10? It appears the stars gave the model wannabes feedback on their performances
After weeks of back and forth denials and confirmations it looks like there will finally be a Friends reunion.

The entire cast, except for Matthew Perry, who has a pre-taped segment, are reuniting on February 21 for the Must See TV: A Tribute to James Burrows, according to TVLine.

Yes, that means Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer are returning to the little screen together.

It is finally happening: (Clockwise from L) Matt Le Blanc as Joey, Lisa Kudrow as Pheobe, David Schwimmer as Ross, Matthew Perry as Chandler, Jennifer Aniston as Rachel, and Courteney Cox Arquette as Monica are getting back together

This comes after multiple denials of an actual reunion, including co-creator Marta Kauffmann telling Us Weekly there will be no Friends movie.

'For me, why go back to that territory again? she told Us Weekly. 'That was about a certain time in your life, and I had just left [the] Friends time of my life. This is about the time of my life I'm looking toward.'

'I will say there will never be a Friends reunion movie,' she added.

First there was the blow that Matthew Perry would not be part of the long-awaited special Friends episode.

No reunion: David Schwimmer denied that his Friends character Ross Gellar will reunite with pals Chandler Bing, Rachel Green, Phoebe Bouffay, Monica Gellar and Joey Tribbiani for a special episode last week

And then David Schwimmer denied any existence of a so-called 'reunion' for Ross Gellar and pals Chandler Bing, Rachel Green, Phoebe Bouffay, Monica Gellar and Joey Tribbiani.

Correcting one reporter who asked about the exciting event, which was revealed last week, the 49-year-old explained that the actors are planning an NBC tribute, which will also include the stars of Frasier and Cheers.

He said: 'There's no Friends reunion. It's a tribute to Jimmy Burrows who we love and I'm just thrilled to be a part of it.

'As many of us that can be there will be there and the casts of so many shows are going to try to be thereFrasier, Cheers, Will and Grace, it goes on. Taxi.

'This man is an incredible director who helped define situation comedy in this country in the last 40 years so I love him and I'm excited to be there.'

Burrows served as a director for the Nineties sitcom throughout its 10-year run, with other TV projects also including 3rd Rock from the Sun, Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory during his expansive career.

Paying tribute: David revealed other actors including that of Cheers and Fraiser will unite to pay tribute to NBC director James Burrows, pictured in LA in February 2014, and his work in television

Following the news that Chandler actor Matthew would not be taking part in the tribute, which will reunite stars Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow, Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox, David did express his deep disappointment.

'I wish I could say it was going to be a reunion. [It's a] 5/6 reunion,' David told E! News this week, adding: 'Sure I'm sad, but I'm happy for him, he's doing a play in London and it's thrilling. I did one there and it was fantastic.'

Just last Wednesday, fans of the sitcom that ran from 1994 to 2004 were reacting with great excitement when a network executive suggested that Perry along with his co-stars would be back together.

The TV event would have marked the first time that the famous six-piece had been reunited on television for 12 years.

'It's not the reunion everyone is hoping for': Matthew Perry will introduce the Friends special from London

'The other five are going to be on this special': Perry will be absent from the tribute for Jim Burrows but Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox will be in attendance

But Matthew broke the news during filming for The Graham Norton show in the British capital late last week, confirming that it would be a documentary and not an episode.

He said: 'It's not the reunion everyone is hoping for, they are celebrating Jim Burrows who was a director of Friends.

'The other five [Friends] are going to be on this special and I am going to introduce them from London. I'm doing the play here so I can't be there.'

Perry is due to make his West End debut in his own play The End Of Longing on February 2 at the Playhouse Theatre.

'I can't be there': NBC execs had hinted on Wednesday that the six stars might reunite for the televised tribute to their former sitcom director however Perry will be in London performing in the West End

'I knew it would be a success': Matthew admitted he had no idea Friends would become such a phenomenon

Good company: Matthew joins Miriam Margolyes, Gemma Arterton and Jack Savoretti on The Graham Norton Show on BBC One, 15th January at 10.35pm

A gathering of sorts: Five out of the six Friends will be appearing together in LA for the special tribute to Burrows which is set to air on February 21

Iconic: The sitcom ran from 1994 to 2004 on NBC and was a huge ratings winner, turning its previously unknown cast into A-list stars

While talking to Norton, Matthew admitted that although he was confident Friends would not flop, he had no idea it would become such a phenomenon.

The 46-year-old asserted: 'I knew it would be a success and that we had something special, but I didnt know the giant hit it would become.'

However it seems not everyone got the memo about Perry's unavailability for the NBC special which is set to air on February 21.

As keen Le Blanc retweeted the news of a Friends reunion, writing 'Should be a fun time!', and his tweet was later retweeted on Kudrow's official Twitter feed.

Beloved: Fans watched as the characters evolved over the course of a decade on television

Didn't get the memo: LeBlanc and Kudrow both seemingly endorsed the notion of a Friends reunion. After LeBlanc tweeted 'Should be a good time!' Then Kudrow retweeted it

Excitement in the air: LeBlanc and Kudrow were clearly looking forward to the reunion

The fan favourite show lasted a decade and chronicled the lives of a group of tight-knit friends living in New York City.

But over the years, the stars have made no secret of why they are no longer interested in revisiting their characters or even reconnecting.

Cox recounted the obstacles she was often up against when trying to reunite her co-stars just for dinner during an interview on The Late Show With David Letterman in 2014.

'Let me tell you something,' she said. 'There's six friends and I've been trying to put together a cast dinner for 10 years. It doesn't happen!'

'I can get the girls to come, maybe Matthew Perry. Matt LeBlanc canceled last time right at the last minute. Schwimmer lives here [in New York City], so it's just not gonna happen.'

Co-stars: Jennifer Aniston, pictured in Los Angeles in August, starred as Rachel, while David Schwimmer, pictured in New York in December, portrayed Ross

Not so fast: Courteney Cox, who starred as Monica on the sitcom, has described the the obstacles she encountered when trying to reconnect with her former co-stars. She's pictured in Los Angeles in November

Kudrow has cited her age as the primary reason she isn't interested in reprising her Friends role.

'I'm too old,' she told HuffPost Live in 2013. 'I wouldn't even have an interest in seeing what those people are doing 10 years later as parents that have to be responsible. It would be so different that it wouldn't be Friends anymore.'

LeBlanc also believes the magic of Friends would be lost now that the characters are older.

'Friends was about a finite period of time in your life, like after college and before your life really gets started. That's sort of where you're away from home and you're away from college, and your friends are your family,' he said onThe Meredith Viera Show.

'Once that's over, nobody wants to see Joey at his prostate exam,' he joked.
They picked up the award for Live Magazine show and in true tradition, Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield seriously let their hair down at the National Television Awards.

The television presenters, who are well known for getting a little tipsy at the awards each year, shared the snap on Instagram as they downed tequila, alongside co-host Rylan Clark.

Holly can be seen grimacing as she stands in her elegant white ball gown, while Phillip and Rylan are still downing their drinks as the shots are taken.

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Tequila time: They picked up the award for Live Magazine show and in true tradition, Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield seriously let their hair down at the National Television Awards

Bottoms up! The television presenters, who are well known for getting a little tipsy at the awards each year, shared a couple of snaps on Instagram as they downed tequila, alongside co-host Rylan Clark

Bubbly blonde Holly captioned the image with the words: 'Here we go!!! @schofe @rylanclarkneal #nta xxx.'

Phillip also shared a snap of the pair of them kissing their award, as well as a couple of other hilarious shots of them drinking.

He also posted a picture of himself with his wife, Stephanie and wrote: 'With ma girl.'

They weren't the only stars letting their hair down in style on the night and a host of other attendees took to social media to share their best moments.

See full coverage of the 2016 National Television Awards with more from the winners

Oh dear: Holly did not appear to be loving the taste of her shot and the trio are no doubt nursing sore heads in the morning

They did it! The silver fox and his co-star also shared a picture of them kissing their gong

Sweet: His wife, Stephanie was also present and he shared his picture, writing: 'With ma girl'

Celebrity Juice presenter, Keith Lemon also got in on the action, sharing a picture of himself with Holly as they partied the night away.

Holly pulled quite the face as she stuck her tongue out and went to lick his face.

Cheeky Keith captioned the image with the words: 'Holly enjoying some lemon pie,' as he wore a big smile on his face.

He also caught up with his co-star Fearne Cotton who appeared to be in high spirits in an embellished lemon coloured dress.

Lick-y man: Keith Lemon was in fine form as his Celeb Juice co-star Holly stuck her tongue in his face

Wide-eyed! He also caught up with Fearne Cotton who stars on the show with him

Disco fever: Fearne shared a picture of her look on the way to the awards while sitting in the car with her disco ball clutch in hand

The stars of The Voice also looked to be having a wild night out, with pregnant presenter Emma Willis sharing a funny snap of her with judges Ricky Wilson and Boy George.

She also shared a picture of her co-host Marvin Humes as he fixed her shoe on the red carpet, like the absolute gent that he is.

While Caroline Flack posted a glamorous image of herself and I'm A Celebrity winner Vicky Pattison, who was giving her a big kiss on the cheek.

Good Morning Britain hosts Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid, shared a picture of their journey to the venue, captioning the image with the words: 'Date night.'

Chair they go! The stars of The Voice also looked to be having a wild night out, with pregnant presenter Emma Willis sharing a funny snap of her with judges Ricky Wilson and Boy George

Cutie: She also shared a picture of her co-host Marvin Humes as he fixed her shoe on the red carpet, like the absolute gent that he is

Pucker up! While Caroline Flack posted a glamorous image of herself and I'm A Celebrity winner Vicky Pattison, who was giving her a big kiss on the cheek

Double trouble: Good Morning Britain hosts Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid, shared a picture of their journey to the venue, captioning the image with the words: 'Date night'

The Coronation Street stars celebrated their night out from the comfort of their seat, with Kym Marsh sharing a picture of her with Jennie McAlpine and Antony Cotton.

She wrote: 'The gang tonight @antonycotton @jenniemcalpine.'

While choreographer Brian Friedman posed up a storm with Hollyoaks star Jorgie Porter.

Away from the cobbles: The Coronation Street stars celebrated their night out from the comfort of their seat, with Kym Marsh sharing a picture of her with Jennie McAlpine and Antony Cotton

Two's company: While choreographer Brian Friedman posed up a storm with Hollyoaks star Jorgie Porter

Jess Wright was all about family on the night, sharing a picture of herself with her famous sibling, as he celebrated his birthday.

She wrote: 'Me & @wrighty_ tonight at #ntas close in age & felt like we were each other's twin growing up even though we fought like cat & dog too. Happy birthday bro.'

The TOWIE star also shared a snap of her mother Carol who looked lovely in a monochrome dress.

Brotherly love: Jess Wright was all about family on the night, sharing a picture of herself with her famous sibling, as he celebrated his birthday

Love: The TOWIE star also shared a snap of her mother Carol who looked lovely in a monochrome dress
The cream of Britain's television talent stepped out in force to attend the annual National Television Awards in London on Wednesday night.

And while it gave Phillip Schofield a good opportunity to catch up with some familiar faces, he only had eyes for his wife Stephanie as they arrived on the red carpet outside The O2 in Greenwich.

The This Morning presenter and the television producer put on a sweet display as they cuddled into each other before heading inside the star-packed venue where they took a pew alongside his television wife Holly Willoughby and the rest of the programme's team.

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Television's ultimate power couple: Phillip Schofield put on a sweet display with wife Stephanie as they arrived on the National Television Awards red carpet at London's O2 on Wednesday evening

Phillip, 53, cut a dapper figure as he picked out a plain black suit which was the perfect fit for his slim figure.

He paired it with a crisp white shirt, a jet black tie and some freshly-polished lace-up leather shoes.

Stephanie, meanwhile, opted for a floor length gown which featured a scoop neckline and capped sleeves.

See full coverage of the 2016 National Television Awards with more red carpet pictures

Sartorially in sync: Phillip, 53, cut a dapper figure in a sharp black suit while Stephanie looked elegant in a floor-length lace-overlay gown

Smiles all round: Phillip and his television wife Holly Willoughby couldn't hide their happiness as they headed to the stage to pick up the Live Magazine Show gong

Overjoyed: The This Morning co-workers giggled as they strode down the walkway hand-in-hand

Well done us: Holly, 34, took centre stage as she was joined by most of the ITV programme's crew, including part-time presenters Eamonn Holmes, Ruth Langsford and Rochelle and Marvin Humes

Say cheese: Phillip and Stephanie beamed with pride as they posed for a celebratory Instagram photo backstage

The blonde - who has been married to television's favourite silver fox for 23 years this March - looked sensational in the lace-overlay and semi-sheer number as she held her partner close.

The married couple were in for a treat of an evening as This Morning took home the Live Magazine Show gong.

Phillip was clearly overjoyed as he and his partner in crime Holly, 34, headed to the stage to pick up the trophy hand-in-hand.

Three cheers to us: Holly, Phillip and fellow host Rylan Clark toasted the accolade with shots

One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor: The jubilant presenters captured the moment they necked tequila and it was plain to see Holly far from enjoyed it

Smooch: Phillip and Holly puckered up to their new silverware as they both documented the night on their personal Instagram accounts

Backstage The Cube host shared a sweet moment with his wife after picking up the silverware as he documented the night of celebration on his Instagram page.

The pair smiled sweetly for the camera before the festivities turned raucous as Phillip, Holly and fellow host Rylan Clark were seen downing shots - with Phillip revealing tequila as their choice of tipple.

Expressing his gratitude on Twitter late in the evening, the silver-haired star gushed: 'Thanks so much for your tweets, our amazing @itvthismorning team are so thrilled. Thank you for your continued support xx.'

'You've made us very very happy!!! Thank you!' Holly added.

While Phillip called it a night at a sensible hour, the mother-of-three partied into the early hours of Thursday morning and she certainly paid for it.

'FYI... Still going!!!' she tweeted at 3am before her harsh wake-up call merely hours later.

Clearly feeling the effects of the night before, she wrote: 'Oh my,' alongside an embarrassed-face Emoji.

'Yeah': The much-loved hosts cosied up for a sweet selfie backstage as they partied long into the night
She is known for her fan girl antics after she met One Direction last year.

And on Wednesday Rebel Wilson shared a love note on social media which she and Kelly Osbourne had written for Justin Bieber.

The 35-year-old told social media users: 'This is HOW to pick up Justin Bieber' while she cuddled up to the bad-boy at Jennifer Lopezs All I Have club launch in Las Vegas.

Lots of laughs: Rebel Wilson (R) and Kelly Osbourne (L) wrote a love note for Justin Bieber on Wednesday night while attending Jennifer Lopezs All I Have launch in Las Vegas

She showed off her comedic sense of humour in the note which read: 'To JB, I'm Kelly and I'm Rebel, we are just wondering where you are taking us? Your hotel or our hotel?'

Underneath the potential options, the two funny women drew two boxes, giving the pop star a choice of location.

In another penned letter to Justin, Rebel and Kelly wrote: 'We think you should take our sexy, hot assess out after the show (nothing weird)'.

After handing out the two love notes to the Sorry singer the two females posed for a selfie with him while captioning the shot 'Successful mission #HowToBeSingle'.

Funny: The pair showed off their comedic sense of humour and wrote: 'To JB, I'm Kelly and I'm Rebel, we are just wondering where you are taking us? Your hotel or our hotel?'

No stopping them: In another penned letter to the bad boy, Rebel and Kelly wrote 'we think you should take our sexy, hot assess out after the show (nothing weird)'

Three's not a crowd: Following the two love notes, the two females posed for a selfie with Justin and captioned it 'Successful mission #HowToBeSingle' on social media

Say cheese! The three placed their heads closely together while displaying large smiles

In the snap, Rebel and Kelly beamed towards the camera while leaning in towards Justin.

Squeezed between the two, the hit-maker displayed a smirk for the camera while hiding his hair underneath a cap.

At the exclusive event, Rebel stunned in a black fitted piece which featured a neutral coloured pattern.

The long sleeves garment dropped to her knee, showing off her bare legs and beige coloured high heels.

Gather in: They also posed for photos with fans from the crowd

Making an impression: At the event Rebel stunned in a black fitted piece which featured long sleeves

Trendy: Kelly looked stylish as she dressed in cream coloured slacks and a matching coloured trench coat

The Australian actress wore her blonde locks out with a curl and opted for a natural make-up look.

Kelly looked stylish as she dressed in cream coloured slacks and a matching coloured trench coat.

She styled her lavender locks with a curl at the end while slicking it to the right-side.

The Australia's Got Talent judge accessorised her red carpet look with a black chocker necklace and walking cane.

The launch comes after Jennifer Lopez signed a multi-million dollar deal with The Axis in Planet Hollywood, Vegas, for a performance residency.
She is known for her luscious looks and killer figure.

And on Wednesday Lara Stone left little to the imagination as she posed for a racy photo shoot for Vogue Australia.

While standing knee-deep in the waters of Bondi Beach, Australia, the 32-year-old showed off her ample cleavage and toned figure as she posed in a soaking wet white T-shirt.

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Turnig heads:Lara Stone put on an eye-popping display as she posed in a soaking wet T-shirt and bikini bottoms for a Vogue Australia in Sydney on Wednesday

The Dutch model ample chest could be seen through the long-sleeved top which hugged tightly around her body, highlighting her feminine curves.

She finished off her barely-there attire with a pair of matching white panties.

For the beachside shoot, Lara wore her wet blonde locks out, allowing them to flow in the wind behind her.

On show: The 32-year-old showed off her ample cleavage through her wet white T-shirt

Nothing's off limits: Lara left little to the imagination as she posed for the shoot in Bondi Beach

Matching: She also displayed her long model legs in a pair of white knickers

From the back: The tiny bottoms gave bystanders a glimpse of her toned behind

Natural: Lara wore her wet blonde locks out, allowing them to flow in the wind behind her

This is work? The model appeared to be having a ball twirling around in the ocean

Helping hand: Lara received a helping hand by a production worker during the photoshoot

The covergirl displayed her natural beauty wearing minimal make-up on her complexion.

The supermodel's male companion also left heads turning as he went shirtless for the shoot, showing off his incredible six pack.

The unknown model displayed his sun-kissed skin and multiple tattoos in nothing but a pair of white trunks.

He slicked his wet brunette locks back away from his face.

Quick fix: The woman realigned Lara's soaking wet shirt multiple times throughout the day

Hunk: The supermodel's male companion also left heads turning as he went shirtless for the shoot, flaunting his incredible six pack

Saucy: The unknown model showed off his tattoos in nothing but a pair of white trunks

Full view: He slicked his wet brunette locks back away from his face

Close: While standing in the water he wrapped his arm tightly around Lara while giving her a kiss on the forehead

During the shoot he wrapped his arm tightly around Lara as he brought her in to his bare chest.

In another pose, the pair angled their heads closely to one another while Lara placed her arm around the male's neck.

Later in the day they were pictured walking hand-in-hand out of the water towards the sand before bursting into laughter.

Iconic Vogue photographer Mario Testino was on hand to snap the racy shoot, which will appear in a forthcoming issue of Vogue Australia.

Looking at something? The male model stared at Lara as she wrapped her arm around his buff torso

Summer day: The waves crashed against their bodies as they changed poses

Romantic shoot: They were later pictured walking hand-in-hand out of the water back towards the beach

The Peruvian photographer has worked with Lara in the past, producing her cover for British Vogue last year.

She touched down in Sydney last weekend and began working on Tuesday, with the beauty spotted strolling around the city after a shoot in the harbour.

Earlier in the week Lara gushed over the photographer, telling the Daily Telegraph: 'I love shooting with Mario, hes a fair-dinkum bloke, and its bonza being able to do it in Sydney  such a cool and vibrant city.'

Her beachside gig comes four months after she finalised her divorce from comedian David Walliams after five years of marriage.

Cheeky: They both were all smiles during the water-themed shoot

Fun times: They regularly broke into fits of laughter

What's next: They took a moment and stood in the water waiting for instructions

Job well done! After the shoot the pair celebrated with a high five

Lara has not been linked to anyone romantically since splitting from her husband in March last year.

The pair were married for five years before their separation was revealed. Their divorce was finalised in September.

The duo tied the knot in 2010 at Claridges and welcomed a son together three years later.

They had been dating for three years before David, a star on Britain's Got Talent and across British comedy series, popped the question.

Professional: Iconic Vogue photographer Mario Testino was at the grounds snapping the racy shoot

Working holiday: Lara touched down in Sydney last weekend and began working for the magazine on Tuesday
Dakota Johnson accidentally dropped the 'F' bomb during a hilarious appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in New York City on Wednesday.

The 26-year-old got caught up in the moment after introducing the host to The Acting Game, which she revealed she played with her famous family over the holidays.

The improv game involves acting out various bizarre phone call scenarios and Dakota, whose parents are Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson, was first tasked with pretending she was being dumped by fiance Darth Vader.

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Whoops!: Dakota Johnson accidentally dropped the 'F' bomb on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday

Dakota managed to maintain a straight face as she picked up the phone and said: 'Hello? Hi babe. Did you just wake up? Where are you? Who the f***?'

However the pair then burst out laughing, and Jimmy told the Fifty Shades Of Grey star to hang up the phone, adding to the audience: 'It's an adult game!'

After Jimmy pretended to be a chef revealing his recipe for turkey stuffing - which mostly consisted of him saying 'shove it up the turkey's butt' in a French accent, it was Dakota's turn again.

On the line: As well as chatting about the new film How To Be Single, Dakota taught Jimmy a new game she played with her famous family over the holiday - The Acting Game

Showing her skills: The actress explained the game involves acting out different improv scenarios on a phone

This time, the star was receiving a call telling her she had been rejected by clown school.

'Hello? Oh yes, this is Bubbles. Wait what? But why? Whats the reason  because I couldnt do the balloon dog? Really?' she said, feigning tears, as Jimmy giggled.

'What am I going to tell my dad? Yes, hes Big Laughs. Im Bubbles. What am I going to do?'

Hilarious: Jimmy couldn't stop laughing as Dakota acted out being dumped by Darth Vader, and then getting rejected from clown school

What a look!: The 26-year-old chose a statement Gucci dress for her interview in New York City

Dakota chose a statement Gucci dress for the talk show appearance, which featured a ruffled skirt in different pink hues.

The designer number was adorned with a sparkly yellow bow print on the waist, while glittering shoulder detail finished off the statement frock.

The midi-length dress flashed a hint of skin with its plunging neckline.

Sitting pretty: Dakota wowed in the colourful number which featured a ruffled skirt in different pink hues

Colourful: The designer number was adorned with a sparkly yellow bow print on the waist, while glittering shoulder detail finished off the statement number

Dakota added a pair of ankle-strap gold shoes with a block heel and finished her look off with an extra pop of colour by slicking on a bright red lip colour.

The actress appeared on the show to promote her new film, How to Be Single, a comedy based on a book of the same name by Liz Tuccillo.

Rebel Wilson stars as Robin, an independent party girl who helps her friend Alice (Dakota) figure out how to deal with life as a single girl in New York.

Fun and games: Dakota and the host took it turns to play, with the actress taking on the role of a woman dumped by her fiance Darth Vader and a clown school reject

Ready for awards season: It's an exciting start to 2016 for Dakota, the daughter of actors Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson, who recently received a People's Choice Award for her role in Fifty Shades Of Grey

It's an exciting start to 2016 for Dakota, who recently received a People's Choice Award for her role in Fifty Shades Of Grey.

On top of her gong for Favorite Dramatic Movie Actress, she has also been nominated for the 2016 EE BAFTA Rising Star Award.

Dakota has been nominated for the coveted award for her exceptional performances on the big screen. She is up against a host of critically acclaimed talent including Brie Larson, John Boyega, Bel Powley and Taron Egerton.

Toning it down: Before changing into her designer frock, Dakota arrived at The Tonight Show studios in a more casual coat and sweater combo
He's gone from bodybuilder to action film superstar to the Governor of California, but Arnold Schwarzenegger finally came unstuck when he faced British bus lanes.

The Hollywood A-lister enjoyed a cycle around Edinburgh on Thursday after attending a Q&A with fans in the city the previous evening.

However, Arnold - who has lived in America for four decades - became confused with the UK road system and began cycling against traffic on the wrong side of the road.

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I'll be bike! Arnold Schwarzenegger enjoyed a cycle around Edinburgh on Thursday after attending a Q&A with fans in the city the previous evening

Wrong way, Arnie: Despite the fact that he was faced with oncoming traffic, including giant double decker buses, the star seemed to have the American road system ingrained on his mind as he cycled the wrong way

Despite having a bodyguard following behind on another bike, the pair found themselves riding straight into oncoming buses on Lothian Road.

Unluckily for him, he had caught the attention of a camera crew, who caught the faux pas on film.

Despite his dangerous mistake, the actor seemed to be making the most of his stint in Scotland.

The Running Man star was in good spirits as he rode around the town, documenting his journey on social media and stopping in front of the city's historic castle.

Speeding around the city, the keen cyclist cut a relaxed figure in a leather sleeved bomber jacket and navy jogging bottoms.

Smiling and laughing along with passers-by - who were mainly shouting that he was going in the wrong direction - the former Governor of California couldn't keep the grin off his face.

Tweeting a snap of himself he posted: 'My first Edinburgh bike ride. A beautiful city!'

Wheely dangerous! Arnie ended up dicing with death as he ploughed down Lothian Road's bus lane

Oblivious: The star didn't seem to hear the shouts of concerned pedestrians who desperately tried to alert him that he was going in the wrong direction

Aye'll turn back! The 68-year-old was so occupied by the pleasant journey and taking several snapchats that he ended up cycling the wrong way down a busy street, forcing the star to make a U-turn

The Cycling Man: Despite his faux pas, the Hollywood star seemed in good spirits as he rode around the town

Conan the Cyclist: Speeding around the city with the wind in his hair, the keen cyclist cut a relaxed figure in a leather sleeved bomber jacket and navy jogging bottoms

It's not the first time British roads have left the actor in a tricky situation.

During a ride around London on a Boris Bike last summer, he was nearly knocked down by several motorists.

Tweeting at the time of the incident in June, one road user posted: 'On the bus to work, and genuinely just nearly ran over @Schwarzenegger riding a Boris bike across Piccadilly Circus #nohelmet #illbeback.'

Cycling selfie: Tweeting a snap of himself he posted: 'My first Edinburgh bike ride. A beautiful city!' before letting his fans know that they could keep up-to-date with his journey on snapchat

Terminator tyres: Smiling and laughing along with passers-by - who were mainly shouting that he was going in the wrong direction - the former Governor of California couldn't keep the grin off his face

Near-miss: The active star also enjoyed a trip out on a Boris Bike during his visit to London last summer. But it seemed the star hadn't grasped the concept of cycling on the other side of the road in England

Being a good sport, Arnie cracked a Terminator joke in response, joking: 'Don't worry, I would have been fine- living tissue over a metal skeleton.'

Another tweeter then apologised for nearly knocking Arnie off his bike as he was driving down Regent Street, with the star simply replying: 'You're forgiven.'

Again, the Hollywood hardman had documented his day in another hilarious snapchat video which saw him taking in the sights of the city.

I won't be back! Arnie seemed in good spirit despite the news the next chapter in his most famous film series, The Terminator, has been dropped by film company Paramount

Meanwhile, the next chapter in Arnie's most famous film series, The Terminator, has been dropped by Paramount, who have given away the film's expected release date.

The Baywatch reboot - starring Dwayne Johnson, Zac Efron and Kelly Rohrbach - will open in its place on May 19, 2017.

Terminator: Genesis, the third film in the series, was released in July 2015 and was critically panned.

Despite the fact Arnie had reprised his iconic role and starred alongside Game of Thrones actress Emilia Clarke, the movie earned just $89 million domestically and $440 million worldwide.

Axed: Arnie's Terminator 4 has had its release date replaced by the Baywatch reboot, which will now open in its place on May 19, 2017. The news comes after Terminator: Genesis was critically panned

Kicking back: Arnie appears to be enjoying a relaxing jaunt across the UK, as later in the day the actor took a comfy seat in a hotel in Brimingham - following his departure from Edinburgh

Slave to the machine? The man who helped to bring down Skynet appears to have developed a love for all things Apple, as the Hollywood star produced a silver iPad to pass the time

Checking in? A keen advocate of social media, the former Governor of California appeared engrossed in the iPad, as he sat with two friends

Just a tap away: The Terminator star showed off his deft technological skills as he swiped and tapped away on the tablet
He has spent the week shooting for his highly-anticipated guest editorial of Vogue Australia with international models Lara Stone and Jessica Hart.

And after wrapping up his contribution for the April edition, legendary fashion photographer Mario Testino called upon another leggy beauty to help him celebrate the occasion on Thursday night.

The iconic 61-year-old snapper bought model Heidi Klum along to the official Vogue Australia Mario Testino wrap party held at millionaire hotelier Justin Hemmes' Vaucluse mansion, The Hermitage, which boasts uninterrupted views of Sydney Harbour.

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Another day, another model! Legendary fashion photographer Mario Testino brought Heidi Klum along to his official Vogue wrap party held in Sydney on Thursday (pictured with editor in chief Edwina McCann)

In true supermodel fashion, Heidi sported a revealing thigh-high split gown which flashed a glimpse of her lithe legs.

Sporting a golden sun kissed complexion, the striking blonde wore her locks tied off her face into a loose bun as she shared a laugh with her old friend Mario.

Halting festivities to pause for a quick snap, Mario wrapped his arms around the 42-year-old German model's waist, as the pair posed for a snap with Vogue magazine editor-in-chief Edwina McCann.

Model behaviour: Sporting a golden sun-kissed complexion, the striking blonde wore her locks tied off her face into a loose bun for the special event

Heidi is in Sydney filming scenes for the new season of Germany's Next Top Model, but the star happily took time out from her busy schedule to join Mario at the star-studded bash.

Ahead of the function, which marks the end of Mario's five-day shoot, Vogue also took to Instagram to give fans a sneak peek at the party's lavish venue.

Sharing an idyllic shot of the stunning location, which boasts sprawling lush lawns, it was easy to see why the heritage-listed estate was selected to host the legendary snapper's celebratory bash.

'It's a wrap! #MarioTestino celebrates the end of shoot week,' Vogue wrote.

Scenic: The party was held at millionaire hotelier Justin Hemmes Vaucluse mansion, The Hermitage, which boasts uninterrupted views of Sydney Harbour

Breathtaking: It's easy to see why the stunning property, which boasts sprawling lush lawns, was selected to host the legendary snapper's wrap party

Also on hand to help the famed photographer celebrate his visit to Australia and work with the monthly fashion title, was Jessica who shot a sultry bikini editorial with him earlier in the week.

A number of Australian fashion elite were also in attendance, including Australian model Gemma Ward and designers Nicky Zimmermann and Dion Lee.

Guests sipped on Dom Perignon champagne and enjoyed seafood canapes overlooking the Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House.

Despite being shot by Mario during the week, Dutch beauty Lara Stone did not attend the star-studded celebrations, instead jetting out of the country on Thursday afternoon ahead of the party.

The blonde stunner shared a black and white selfie as she waited at Sydney's International airport for her plane to depart after it was delayed due to tumultuous weather.

Only the best! Guests sipped on Dom Perignon champagne and enjoyed seafood canapes overlooking the Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House

'Dude where's my plane': Despite being shot by Mario during the week, Dutch beauty Lara Stone did not attend the star-studded celebrations, instead jetting out of the country on Thursday afternoon ahead of the party

'Dude where's my plane,' she captioned the image, no doubt taken while she waited at the departures terminal.

Meanwhile, after touching down in Sydney on Wednesday after a long haul flight from Los Angeles, Heidi Klum wasted no time getting straight into work as she spent the day filming for Germany's Next Top Model at Sydney's Circular Quay on Thursday.

The mother-of-four has been the host and judge of the German version of the program founded by Tyra Banks since 2006.

Meanwhile Mario, who has had some of the biggest names in film, fashion and royalty pose for him, will guest edit the upcoming April edition of Vogue Australia.

The photographer, who is one of the most highly regarded photographers in the industry, gained international recognition for his intimate portraits of Diana, Princess of Wales.

He is also well known for his pictures of Kate Moss, whom he describes as his greatest muse.

Showing them how it's done! Heidi wasted no time getting straight into work after touching down in Sydney as she spent the day filming for Germany's Next Top Model at Sydney's Circular Quay on Thursday

Effortless: The Victoria's Secret alumni showed off her incredible physique in a stunning black and white one-shoulder dress

One of the most prolific photographers in the industry, Mario's illustrious career has spanned 35 years.

While the subjects of his work often err on the side of international fame, his portfolio also includes those whom he encounters on his travels.

Mario's visit comes after a partnership was struck between Vogue and Destination NSW.

Born in Peru, he abandoned his studies of Economics, Law and International Affairs to study photography in 1976.

His work first appeared in Vogue in 1983, and the rest, as they say, is history.

He has gone on to create images for international brands such as Chanel, Valentino, Calvin Klein and Mercedes Benz.
She was given momentous opportunity to pose in the bare buff for Playboy's final 'nude' issue.

So its no wonder Pamela Anderson ensured all eyes were on her when she attended a glamorous Playboy party in Semmering, Austria on Wednesday night.

Turning heads as she passed by, the 48-year-old confidently showed off her slender limbs and ample assets in a sexy ensemble.

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Star of the night! Pamela Anderson ensured all eyes were on her when she attended a glamorous Playboy party in Semmering, Austria on Wednesday

The satin-like number, which boasted a plunging neckline and a tight waistline with ruched detail, highlighted her toned curves and sun-kissed complexion perfectly.

With her blonde tresses left loose in glossy curls, the Baywatch bombshell accentuated her pretty facial features with well-defined eyes, peachy lips and tinted cheeks.

As she mingled with fellow guests, Pamela cut a relaxed and content figure while downing a few glasses of champagne.

Party time: The 48-year-old confidently showed off her slender frame in a sexy ensemble

Not alone: The model was also joined by Bambi Nina Bruckner on the night

She's a knockout! The satin-like number, which boasted a plunging neckline and a tight waistline with ruched detail, highlighted her toned curves and sun-kissed complexion perfectly

The night on the town also no doubt gave the star and fellow party attendees the opportunity to raise a glass to Pamela's naked shoot for the last ever edition of nude Playboy.

The January/February issue - which was released at the end of last year - marks the model's 13th time gracing the cover of the iconic adult mag.

The racy shots show Pamela sprawled out on what looks to be the floor of the Playboy mansion alongside a slab from the Hollywood Walk of Fame, brandished with Hugh Hefner's name.

Looking fine: Earlier on, she slipped her toned curves into a figure-hugging black number

A beauty: With her blonde tresses left loose in glossy curls, the Baywatch bombshell accentuated her pretty facial features with well-defined eyes, peachy lips and tinted cheeks

Speaking about her decision to front the publication one final time, she told ET: 'I got a call from (Hugh Hefner's) attorney who said, "We don't want anybody else. There's nobody else, could you do the last cover of Playboy?"

Anderson then revealed that she had to ask permission from her two teenage sons before agreeing to pose nude one last time.

She said the boys - now 19 and 17 - 'were teased, and made fun of, and had a few fist fights over their mom" when they were growing up.'

Doing the rounds: The pretty star also arrived for an apres-ski party at Austrian ski resort Zauberberg Semmering in Steinhaus

Keeping it chic: She cut a stylish figure in an off-white overcoat and black pumps
He's enjoying some downtime from shooting his latest film.

But Pierce Brosnan, 62, and his beloved wife Keely, 52, were forced to cover up in uncharacteristically bad weather in Malibu, California, on Wednesday.

The couple headed to The Sunset Restaurant for a lunch date and obviously bit off more than they could chew, returning to their car with a couple of brown paper bags containing their leftovers.

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Grey day: Pierce Brosnan, 62, and his beloved wife Keely, 52, were forced to cover up in uncharacteristically bad weather in Malibu, California, on Wednesday

Wet, windy and cold, their trip to the coast resembled Pierce's native Irish homeland rather than the sunshine state.

The handsome former Bond star donned a navy baseball cap, quilted jacket and fleece worn over a navy t-shirt.

He teamed the items with a grey pair of jeans and some comfortable walking trainers. Embracing his greying hair, the silver fox sported a beard for a rugged look.

Save it for later: The couple headed to The Sunset Restaurant for a lunch date and obviously bit off more than they could chew, returning to their car with a couple of brown paper bags containing their leftovers

Meanwhile, Keely wrapped up in a knee-length beige coat with a tasseled hem.

She appeared to struggle with the blustery conditions as her matching beige scarf flailed in the wind over her shoulder.

Making her way along the sand strewn walkway in a pair of pumps, her cheeks were rosy red from the cold.

But the couple aren't fazed by a lack of sunshine.

Gloomy: Wet, windy and cold, their trip to the coast resembled Pierce's native Irish homeland rather than the sunshine state

On Tuesday, they went on a gentle bike ride in overcast conditions with their 19-year-old son Dylan.

Pierce and former entertainment reporter Keely married in 2001 and share another son Paris, who turns 15 next month.

The Mamma Mia star was previously married to Australian actress Cassandra Harris, with whom he had sons Chris, 42, and Sean, 32.

On yer bike: On Tuesday, Pierce and Keely went on a gentle bike ride in overcast conditions with their 19-year-old son Dylan

The couple's daughter Charlotte lost her battle with ovarian cancer in 2013 at the age of just 42, the same condition which claimed Cassandra's life.

In his latest project, Pierce stars opposite Jackie Chan, who plays a restaurant owner in London's Chinatown who embarks on a one-man mission to track down a group of rogue Irish terrorists responsible for the death of his daughter.

Brosnan plays former IRA member turned government official Liam Hennessy in the action thriller set for release later this year.
Brooks Ayers is writing a tell-all book.

But the 48-year-old reality star won't be able to dish on his ex-girlfriend, Vicki Gunvalson of The Real Housewives Of Orange County fame.

That's because, as her rep explained to UsWeekly on Thursday, the 53-year-old blonde made him sign a 'fiercely written and executed confidentiality agreement.'

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The battle is on: Brooks Ayers is writing a tell-all book. But the 48-year-old reality star won't be able to dish on his ex-girlfriend, Vicki Gunvalson of The Real Housewives Of Orange County fame. That's because, as her rep explained to UsWeekly , the 53-year-old blonde made him sign a confidentiality agreement; here they are seen in 2012

The statement from Gunvalson's rep also said: 'Vicki is not at all concerned about her former boyfriend writing a book.

'He can write whatever he wants except he cannot write about Vicki, her career, family or anything else concerning her.

'Vicki long ago had the boyfriend sign a fiercely written and executed confidentiality agreement. He cannot write about her at all. That was signed in the very beginning [of their relationship].'

He's not happy: On Tuesday Ayers told Page Six he will reveal the truth behind stories that damaged his reputation. 'They basically pitched me as this poor guy from Mississippi preying on a vulnerable, successful, self-made woman,; he told the site; here they are pictured in 2011

But on Tuesday Ayers told Page Six he will reveal the truth behind stories that damaged his reputation.

'They basically pitched me as this poor guy from Mississippi preying on a vulnerable, successful, self-made woman,' he told the site. 'Im not bound contractually by anything to not share the intel about what transpires behind production, Bravo, what they try to do, etc.

'I didnt fake cancer,' he added. It has been reported he lied about having non-Hodgkin lymphoma. 'Who in their right mind would fake cancer?' he added.

What is the truth? Ayers and Gunvalson have been in a public battle following his admission that he fabricated documents from cancer hospital City of Hope. Ayers maintains that he does in fact have cancer; here Vicki and Brooks are seen in a reunion special for season eight in 2013

He has since said that the producers of Vicki's Bravo show pushed him to fabricate stories about his ill health to drive up ratings.

Ayers then put much of the blame for his split with Gunvalson on her daughter, Briana Culberson, 28. He parted ways with Vicki in August.

'[She] hates my guts and got paid handsomely the past three seasons to do nothing but bring drama into her own moms life regarding me,' he told Page Six.

'Im going to expose all of that.'

Tears: Gunvalson with Heather Dubrow, Tamra Barney and Gretchen Rossi on RHOC

But the former Bravo standout did explain why he feels the need to write the book.

' Im not doing this because she did it to me, but shes a grown woman and shes making business decisions to continue earning money,' he said.

'Im a grown man, and I want to do what I can do to rehab my reputation.'

He also said: 'I want nothing but the best for her, and she wants the best for me.'

Ayers and Gunvalson have been in a public battle following his admission that he fabricated documents from cancer hospital City of Hope. Ayers still maintains that he does in fact have cancer.

In November, the reality siren talked to Bravo's Andy Cohen about whether or not Ayers has cancer.

With her pals in 2013: In Hawaii with Barney and Dubrow for their Bravo show

Gunvalson said there were 'red flags' when she was dating Brooks. She also confirmed they had split.

Her RHOC co-stars have accused Gunvalson of helping Brooks lie about his cancer diagnosis.

She responded with this statement last fall: 'I never meant to bring any of you into this and I do wish you all would not have turned your back on me but come and help me.
She's one of the most familiar young faces in the fashion industry.

But Georgia May Jagger took to the sidelines on Thursday as she joined the front row at the Louis Vuitton show during Paris Men's Fashion Week.

The 24-year-old looked casually cool in her ensemble as she joined others in the industry at the catwalk event, while also supporting her half-sister Jade who designed the jewellery for the show.

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Simply chic: Georgia May Jagger rocked cool and stylish separates as she joined the front row at the Louis Vuitton show during Paris Men's Fashion Week on Thursday

Although she opted for comfort, she did it in the most stylish manner, teaming simple separates to show off her slender model figure.

She rocked an on-trend black top with a chunky zip down the front, undone to reveal a hint of her bare decolletage and chest, with a pair of slim-fitting black trousers.

Adding another element to the look Georgia rocked a funky printed loose-fitting blazer over the top.

The stunner also rocked a thick black choker around her neck and a silver chain - designed by her sister for Louis Vuitton - and finished off her look with a pair of platform heels to add further height to her willowy frame.

Cheeky! The 24-year-old showed off a hint of decolletage in a super-cool unzipped black top, teamed with a colourful printed silk blazer

Support! Georgia was at the show to support her older half-sister Jade, 44, who designed the jewellery for the collection

Wild thing: Jade looked cool in an oversized tiger printed shirt, worn with a chic blazer and skinny jeans

The blonde beauty kept the rest of her appearance uncluttered and simple, with just a touch of natural make-up on her striking features and her hair fuss-free, loose and in undone waves.

During the show she happily posed with her sister Jade, 44, who took a walk on the wild side in her oversized tiger print shirt and skinny jeans.

The designer capped off her ensemble with a smart black blazer, ankle boots and some chunky jewellery of her own.

Georgia was incredibly proud of Jade - whose father is also rocker Mick Jagger - as she shared a snap of herself on Instagram after the show and gushed: 'So proud of my sister @jadejezebeljagger designing the jewellery for @Louisvuitton.'

Sisters doing it for themselves: Georgia May and Jade attend the Louis Vuitton Menswear Fall/Winter 2016-2017 show as part of Paris Fashion Week

Good times: The pair can't resist but share gossip as they wait for the show to begin in the French capital

All smiles: The socialites were clearly enjoying themselves as they headed-up the front row

Strike a pose: A model takes to the runway in the fashion house's latest celebrity-filled show

Dressed to impress: The two women cut stylish figures in their synced trouser ensembles

Last week the sisters were seen out as a twosome in London as Georgia celebrated her 24th birthday: the duo headed out to upmarket restaurant Sexy Fish in Mayfair.

However, her celebrations were somewhat overshadowed by the fact her mother Jerry, 59, confirmed she is to marry News Corporation owner Rupert - who is 25 years her senior - on the same day via an announcement in The Times. which is part of the media heavyweight's empire.

The announcement read: 'Mr Rupert Murdoch, father of Prudence, Elisabeth, Lachlan, James, Grace and Chloe Murdoch, and Miss Jerry Hall, mother of Elizabeth, James, Georgia and Gabriel Jagger, are delighted to announce their engagement.'

A spokesperson for the Murdoch family added to MailOnline: 'They have loved these past months together, are thrilled to be getting married and excited about their future.'

Model maven: Georgia may have been covered in separates but she still managed to draw attention to her slim frame with her flattering trousers and snug top

So proud! She gushed on Instagram from the show: 'So proud of my sister @jadejezebeljagger designing the jewellery for @Louisvuitton'

Heading home: Following the dazzling showcase, Josh McLellan and Georgia May made a sharp exit

Big smiles! The blonde beauty and her pal flashed a toothy grin as she emerged to photographers
She has been spending time in Australia working on Germany's Next Top Model.

But it seems that Heidi Klum's business ventures are expanding in the antipodes.

She has revealed she will be launching a swimwear range this summer with New Zealand based Bendon, the company she has already created an underwear line with.

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Heidi Klum has revealed she is launching her own swimwear line with New Zealand based company Bendon

The 42-year-old model, businesswoman, TV presenter and reality show judge announced the news on her social media.

She posted a shot of herself in a bikini, presumably from her range, surrounded by a team of people, including the photographer Rankin, who shot the campaign.

The racer back two piece enabled her to show off her washboard abs and lean physique.

Working hard: The 42-year-old model announced the news on her social media and posted this shot of herself in another bikini she had created, along with the team and photographer Rankin, who shot the campaign

She appeared to be standing on a white ledge, and with her hair slicked back she raised her hands giving the victory sign.

Heidi captioned the image: 'Big things to come... Heidi Klum Swim launching this summer.'

An image was also released of the model in her self designed swimwear.

Not her first: She has already designed an underwear line - Heidi Klum Intimates, with the brand

With her back to the camera the model showed off her pert posterior in the shot.

The team were standing ankle deep in water in a swimming pool, with a white wall and clear blue sky behind them.

According to Womens Wear Daily, the collection is set to role out in the Southern Hemisphere in July and in the Northern Hemisphere in October.

Launch: According to Womens Wear Daily , the collection is set to role out in the Southern Hemisphere in July and in the Northern Hemisphere in October

It will consist of cover ups and swimwear.

Heidi told the fashion publication: 'Most of my career has been spent rolling around on beaches around the world, and I still love it, so we've been working on this for a while.'

She also revealed the designs would be simple saying: 'I'm not a huge fan of strange tan lines.

'There are so many complicated swim shapes out there but I don't want 10 straps on my back.'

Heidi revealed that performance had also been a key part of the design - she said she goes to water parks a lot with her four children - Leni, 11, Henry, 10, Johan, nine, and Lou, six.

Showing them how it's done! Heidi has been in Sydney, Australia filming for Germany's Next Top Model - she is seen here on Thursday

The German born model added it had to look good and hold up while it was wet.

Heidi launched her first range with Bendon in January 2015 - she partnered with them on Heidi Klum Initmates.

It was in the wake of Elle Macpherson finishing her longstanding partnership with the brand.

Heidi has been busy Down Under, as well as filming for Germany's Top Model, in Sydney, she found time to attend a Vogue party with Mario Testino.

The photographer, who has had some of the biggest names in film, fashion and royalty pose for him, will guest edit the upcoming April edition of Vogue Australia.

He is one of the most highly regarded photographers in the industry, gained international recognition for his intimate portraits of Diana, Princess of Wales.
Former The Hills star Kristin Cavallari was involved in a car crash in Chicago on Thursday.

The mother-of-three's vehicle was hit by another car, according to TMZ, before she was taken to hospital to be treated for minor injuries.

'She was hit by another driver in Chicago. She is doing fine and will be discharged from the hospital shortly,' a representative for the reality star told Today.

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Lucky escape: Kristin Cavallari was taken to hospital on Thursday after a car accident, but she avoided serious injury

The 29-year-old's children and husband Jay Cutler weren't with her at the time of the accident.

Chicago Bears quarterback Cutler, 32, was seen arriving at the hospital shortly after she was admitted.

TMZ said earlier on Thursday that police officers were at the hospital compiling a report of exactly what happened.

It has been a difficult few months for Kristin, whose brother Michael was found dead in Utah last month after having been missing for a fortnight.

Supportive: The 29-year-old shoe designer's husband Jay Cutler - who wasn't with her at the time of the accident - was seen arriving at the hospital shortly after she was admitted

Doting mother: The couple have three children - son Camden, three, son Jaxon, 20 months, and daughter Saylor, 2 months

Following her tragic loss, Kristin said she was seeking solace in her children, and her two-month-old newborn daughter Saylor.

She wrote on Instagram: 'My little angel, Saylor. She has been my light throughout this whole thing and has given me so much strength. Thank you baby girl for coming when u did.'

The couple also have two sons Camden, three, and Jaxon, 20 months.
Florida to Obama: Don't give us a Cuban consulate

South Florida, long the unofficial US capital of Cuban anti-Communist exiles, has a request now that relations with the regime on the island are thawing: no Cuban consulate in our backyard.

Miami-Dade County on Wednesday approved a resolution urging President Barack Obama "to refrain from establishing a Cuban consulate" in the area.

The county has the largest Cuban-American population in the US, but many of them came to the area "fleeing oppression and injustice at the hands of the Cuban government," the resolution said.

Miami-Dade County in Florida has the largest Cuban-American population in the US Joe Raedle (Getty/AFP/File)

A Cuban consulate in Miami-Dade county "could inflame passions and create security risks," the resolution says.

Commissioner Esteban Bovo, son of a veteran of the failed anti-Castro 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, introduced the symbolic resolution.

However, it is up to the federal government to determine where foreign legations are placed.

Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado, who was born in Cuba and whose father was a political prisoner on the island, also opposes a Cuban consulate.

"I'm going to go to federal court if the State Department grants a license to Cuba to establish a consulate here," he told the Miami Herald newspaper. He fears a consulate would be a magnet for protests.
Australian horse racing trainers to appeal multi-year bans

Danny O'Brien and Mark Kavanagh have vowed to appeal their multi-year bans after becoming the latest Australian trainers to be found guilty of doping horses amid a cobalt crisis engulfing the racing industry.

The Victorian Racing and Appeals Disciplinary Board on Wednesday banned O'Brien for four years and Melbourne Cup winner Kavanagh for three years.

Vet Tom Brennan pleaded guilty, despite saying he did not know cobalt was in the horse drips, and was banned for five years.

Trainer Mark Kavanagh (L) and jockey Corey Brown celebrate with the trophy after winning the Melbourne Cup on their horse Shocking, in 2009 William West (AFP/File)

The Flemington trainers argued that they were not aware of the level of cobalt in vitamin supplements.

Kavanagh, who won the Melbourne Cup with Shocking in 2009, was found guilty of one cobalt administration charge and O'Brien of four.

The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal granted a stay of proceedings to both the Flemington trainers who will still be allowed to race.

O'Brien, who won the 2007 Caulfield Cup, told reporters he looked forward to the appeal.

"Finally they (Racing Victoria) will be called to account for their flagrant disregard of racing rules," he said.

Another high-profile cobalt case is pending with Black Caviar trainer Peter Moody expected before the disciplinary board on charges next month.

Moody's horse Lidari tested positive last year.

He faces a three-year ban if found guilty.

Four other Australian trainers have already been hit with lengthy bans in what has become a cobalt crisis for Australian racing.

More trainers have horses that have tested positive for cobalt and are awaiting charges.

Australian racing rules describe cobalt as a naturally occurring trace element which may normally be present in horses at very low levels. It is also found in vitamin B12.

Cobalt is believed to improve endurance, however, trainers have been warned of severe side effects.

The Australian Racing Board set a threshold level of 200 micrograms per litre with bans enforced for higher concentrations from January 1 last year.
Graft allegations hit ally of Japan PM

A Japanese minister who was the country's top negotiator for a huge trans-Pacific trade deal was accused of corruption on Thursday, piling pressure on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ahead of parliamentary elections this year.

Weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun claimed that Economy and Fiscal Policy Minister Akira Amari, who also serves as Japan's chief negotiator for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and his staff accepted a 12 million yen ($102,000) "bribe" from a construction firm.

The allegations against a key ally of the prime minister come ahead of upper house elections in July and as the government looks to ratify the TPP, a massive multi-nation deal of which Japan has been a key player.

Japanese Economic Revitalization Minister Akira Amari answers a question from an opposition lawmaker during the Upper House's audit committee session, at the National Diet in Tokyo, on January 21, 2016 Yoshikazu Tsuno (AFP)

Opposition lawmakers pressed Amari in parliament over the report, with the minister responding that he had only just read it, adding: "I will thoroughly investigate the matter and fully carry out my responsibility to explain what happened."

The minister acknowledged that he had met with officials from the construction company, which Shukan Bunshun did not identify, but said he could not recall the details.

The magazine said the company was looking for Amari's help in settling problems with a quasi-public housing agency over damage caused by a road project.

It cited a company official as saying the firm had wined and dined the minister's staff and had given them gifts and envelopes stuffed with cash, including on two occasions handing a total of one million yen to Amari himself.

Shukan Bunshun said the official had recorded conversations and held other records, including expenses logs and photocopies of cash given to the minister.

The magazine, like many of its weekly counterparts, has gained a reputation for feisty journalism. In 2014, one of its rivals published a report on corruption allegations against the industry minister that eventually led to her resignation.

Abe said of the allegations in parliament: "Minister Amari said he will swiftly investigate the issue and will offer full explanations."

"I firmly believe he will do just that."

Abe's Liberal Democratic Party government, which came to power three years ago, has seen several ministers resign over a variety of scandals.

The latest claims are a potential blow to the premier as he seeks the cooperation of other parties to secure a two-thirds majority in the upper house needed to help amend Japan's constitution.

Abe is also looking to have the TPP, which is to be formally signed in New Zealand next month, ratified by Japanese lawmakers during the current session of parliament

The pact aims to create the world's biggest free-trade area, bringing together 12 Pacific Rim countries including the United States, Japan and Australia.
Thai junta accused of arbitrary detention of student

A student activist was snatched from a Bangkok street, bundled into a car and assaulted by soldiers, his lawyer said on Thursday, in a dramatic act of military muscle-flexing apparently caught on CCTV.

The activist, Sirawitch Sereethiwat, has been a perennial thorn in the military's side since it seized power in 2014 and clamped down on freedom of expression and public dissent in the kingdom.

Widely circulated security camera footage appears to show three uniformed soldiers grab Sirawitch on a busy street outside his university late Wednesday night. The 24-year-old student is then seen frog-marched into a white car and driven away in front of stunned bystanders.

Thai soldiers are seen patrolling an intersection in Bangkok Pornchai Kittiwongsakul (AFP/File)

He spent the night in military custody and was charged Thursday at a Bangkok police station with violating a junta ban on protests and political gatherings, Pawinee Chumsri, of Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, told AFP.

In a video clip filmed Thursday at the police station, Sirawitch, also known as Ja New, said he was blindfolded, slapped and kicked while in military custody.

"He was abducted and physically assaulted," Pawinee said, repeating the allegations.

"This is an enforced disappearance and arbitrary detention. It's illegal."

Three other activists -- all members of the student-led New Democracy Movement -- were also arrested when they visited the police station and face action in a military court.

The four have been charged with violating the junta's ban on public gatherings for campaigning against a controversial multi-million-dollar park built by the military that has been dogged by graft allegations.

Mass protests were staged outside of Bangkok's Thammasat University -- where Sirawitch and other New Democracy Movement members are students.

The group has embarrassed the military with protests and brazen social media campaigns in defiance of the junta ban.

Outside of their activities, there have been relatively few high-profile anti-coup protests across Thailand with the military tightening its chokehold on the country since the May 2014 coup.

A junta spokesperson confirmed the arrest but denied the allegations of assault.

"He was treated leniently and in accordance with the law, there was no violence," Colonel Winthai Suvaree told reporters, adding that the activists have "refused to cooperate" with authorities.

In typically flippant fashion, Thailand's stern junta leader brushed off the students' arrests and took a swipe at Siriwitch's academic status.

"I want to ask how long he has been a student and when he will graduate," Prayut Chan-O-Cha told reporters.

People who oppose the junta are routinely accused of being in the pocket of self-exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, a billionaire who sits at the heart of Thailand's political rupture.

Analysts say the military wants to be in control of the country during the twilight years of the reign of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who is 88 and in poor health.

A student (C) is surrounded by police during a rally at Democracy Monument in Bangkok, in September 2015, when around 200 pro-democracy protesters rallied peacefully in defiance of the ruling junta's ban on political gatherings Christophe Archambault (AFP/File)
Kenya police kill four terror suspects in tourist town shoot-out

Four terrorism suspects were shot dead by police in the Kenyan coastal town of Malindi morning while two others escaped, police said.

Police said the dead included Suleiman Mohamed Awadh, who features on a "most wanted criminals" list with a $20,000 (18,000 euro) bounty on his head.

The list was issued after an attack on Kenya's Garissa university in April 2015, when Shebab militants killed 148 people.

Two Kenyan General Service Unit Officers stand guard outside the police station in Malindi, where four terrorism suspects have been shot dead on January 21, 2016 Ivan Lieman (AFP/File)

Police said the suspects threw a hand grenade and fired at officers during the early morning raid in the tourist town, which is especially popular with Italian visitors and is home to wealthy playboy Flavio Briatore's "Lion in the Sun" and "Billionaire" resorts.

"The terrorists were heavily armed and they engaged our officers in the shoot-out and, in the end, four of them were fatally wounded," said Malindi police chief Matawa Muchangi.

Awadh, a 25-year-old who was local to the area, was identified among the dead.

The police chief added that two other suspects escaped with injuries during the raid on a rented house close to Malindi's airport.

Afterwards, police found weapons and mobile phones in the house as well as a letter said to be a request to Al-Qaeda's East Africa affiliate, the Shebab, requesting funds.

Maps of Malindi were also found with the police station, a supermarket and the popular tourist Marine Park highlighted.

Muchangi credited public cooperation for "the succesful operation".
Iran's return to international stage 'now possible': Hollande

French President Francois Hollande said Wednesday that Iran's return to the international scene was "now possible" after a nuclear deal saw sanctions lifted against the country.

"It depends only on this great country to succeed," Hollande said just days ahead of a visit by President Hassan Rouhani to Paris, the first by an Iranian president in 17 years.

Hollande said a "de-escalation" of tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia was necessary and France was willing to play a role in this.

French President Francois Hollande (L) welcomes his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani for a meeting during the 70th UN General Assembly on September 27, 2015, in New York Alain Jocard (AFP/File)
France's Hollande says Iraq, Syria air strikes to be 'accelerated'

French President Francois Hollande said Thursday that a coalition waging a bombing campaign against the Islamic State group would "accelerate" air strikes.

"The pace of the interventions will be accelerated and France will play its role in this," Hollande said in a speech to ambassadors.

His comments followed a meeting by the defence ministers of seven countries in the coalition on Wednesday, who said their strategy was to free the IS "power centres" of Raqa and Mosul in Iraq and Syria.

France has been involved in the US-led coalition air strikes in Iraq since September 2014 - (ECPAD / EMA / ARMEE DE L'AIR/AFP/File)

"They also decided to reinforce support to Arab and Kurdish forces fighting Daesh on the ground," Hollande said, using an alternative name for IS.

He told ambassadors that 2016 must be a "year of transition" in Syria, which is entering its fifth year of war.

UN-brokered Syrian peace talks are tentatively set for next Monday in Geneva, despite disagreements over who will represent the opposition.

"The moderate opposition has agreed to attend. The key question of who will govern Syria should not be avoided," Hollande said.

The president also announced a visit to Egypt, Jordan and Oman, without giving a date, saying: "We must do everything to work together for stability in the region."

He said that a "de-escalation" of tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia was necessary.

Hassan Rouhani is due in Paris next Monday in the first visit by an Iranian president to France in 17 years, a trip that coincides with the scheduled Syria peace talks.

Russia and Iran are accused of propping up their ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Switzerland on Wednesday that this country would throw its weight behind a political solution in Syria.

"There is no military solution to the crisis," he said.
Xi signs Egypt deals as China looks to boost Mideast clout

Chinese President Xi Jinping announced Thursday billions of dollars in special loans and investments in the Middle East as Beijing seeks to boost its economic ties and clout in the region.

Xi offered China's financial support in an address to the Cairo-based Arab League after holding talks with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi during his first tour to the Middle East as president.

Xi arrived in Cairo late Wednesday from Saudi Arabia and will travel on Friday to Iran, the last leg of his three-nation tour.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (left) held talks with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and was to address the Cairo-based Arab League on January 21, 2016

Xi offered $55 billion in loans and investments to the Middle East.

"China will offer $15 billion (13.8 billion euros) as special loans for industrial projects in the Middle East," he told the Arab League.

Another $10 billion would be provided as commercial loans to boost cooperation in the energy sector and an equivalent amount will be offered as preferential loans, he said.

Xi also announced the establishment of a common investment fund worth $20 billion for Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Beijing has long taken a backseat to other diplomatic players in the Middle East but analysts say the region is crucial to Xi's signature foreign policy initiative -- known as "One Belt One Road" -- touted as a revival of ancient Silk Road trade routes.

China, the world's second-largest economy, also relies heavily on oil and gas imported from the energy-rich Middle East.

"We are not setting up proxies or building a sphere of influence in the region," Xi told the Arab League.

- Deals with Egypt -

Xi signed a slew of separate agreements with Cairo for undertaking projects in sectors like electricity, transportation and infrastructure.

"The total investments in these projects would be $15 billion. These projects will offer a new impetus to the economic development of Egypt," he said in a joint statement with Sisi.

Sisi said the agreements were the "best evidence of the two countries' determination to improve their levels of cooperation."

In an article in state-run newspaper Al-Ahram ahead of his visit, Xi expressed China's backing for Egypt running its affairs without outside interference.

"China supports the people of Egypt in making independent choices for the future of their own country," he wrote.

Xi's visit to Egypt comes just ahead of the January 25 anniversary of the 2011 revolution that toppled longtime Egyptian autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

Mubarak's ouster was followed by unrest and a military overthrow of his Islamist successor Mohamed Morsi, the country's first freely elected president, by then-army chief Sisi.

- Saudi-Iran row -

Later Thursday Xi was to visit the famed temple city of Luxor to attend celebrations marking six decades of diplomatic relations between Cairo and Beijing.

His trip to Luxor is also seen as an attempt to lure Chinese holidaymakers to Egypt, whose economy is heavily dependant on revenues from the tourism sector.

In Saudi Arabia, Xi met with King Salman and oversaw the opening of a joint-venture oil refinery in the Yanbu Industrial City on the Red Sea.

Saudi Arabia is China's biggest global supplier of crude.

Few details have emerged of Xi's talks with leaders in Riyadh but late on Wednesday the Saudi Press Agency reported that the two countries decided to establish a "comprehensive strategic partnership".

During his visit to Riyadh, Xi had been expected to seek to ease tensions between Saudi Arabia, the region's main Sunni power, and Shiite rival Iran.

Saudi Arabia and a number of its Sunni Arab allies broke diplomatic ties with Tehran this month after protesters angry over Riyadh's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric ransacked Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran.

Iran and Saudi Arabia back opposing sides in a range of Middle East conflicts, including in Syria and Yemen, and there are fears the row could derail diplomatic efforts to resolve them.

Xi was expected in Iran, just days after sanctions were lifted when Tehran implemented its historic nuclear deal with world powers.

China, with the United States, Britain, France, Germany and Russia, was among the countries that reached the agreement with Iran in July to curtail its nuclear activities in exchange for ending international sanctions.
War crimes court told of Ugandan rebels' reign of terror

War crimes prosecutors Thursday lifted the veil on a campaign of terror by the notorious Lord's Resistance Army in northern Uganda, telling how children were beaten and bullied to become soldiers, with some burnt alive.

Former LRA commander Dominic Ongwen faces 70 charges including war crimes and crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court, where prosecutors described years of brutality, rape and cruelty, even acts of cannibalism.

"For well over a decade until his arrest in January 2015, Dominic Ongwen was one of the most senior commanders in the LRA," Prosecutor Benjamin Gumpert told The Hague-based court.

Ugandan rebel commander Dominic Ongwen stands in the courtroom of the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague, on January 21, 2016 Michael Kooren (ANP/AFP)

A former child soldier turned rebel commander, Ongwen "was the tip of the spear" of the movement, Gumpert said.

He is the first commander of the LRA to appear before the ICC, which has also issued an arrest warrant for the group's fugitive chief Joseph Kony, who has evaded an international manhunt for years.

Gruesome images of the bodies of LRA victims, burned out huts and the abandoned corpses of children were shown to the three-judge panel on the opening day of the hearing.

- Burnt alive -

Witnesses said Ongwen, who is about 40, ordered his hostages "at least on one occasion to kill, cook and eat civilians," Gumpert said.

Prosecutors are seeking to convince ICC judges that the evidence is solid enough to put him in the dock. The judges will rule on whether the case can proceed at a later date.

They allege that from 2002 to 2005, Ongwen "bears significant responsibility" for "terrifying attacks" in northern Uganda.

Dressed in a grey suit, lilac shirt and grey tie, Ongwen, who turned himself in to US special forces in January 2015, listened intently to the prosecutor.

But in a brief address to the court, he insisted reading out the charges was "a waste of time".

Ongwen, whose surname means "White Ant" in his native Acholi language, was one of Kony's one-time deputies.

The LRA is accused of slaughtering more than 100,000 people and abducting 60,000 children in its bloody rebellion against Kampala that began in 1986.

The prosecution, which was to resume the hearing on Tuesday, is focusing on four attacks on camps in northern Uganda housing people forced to flee from the LRA.

More than 130 people -- many of them children and babies -- died in these attacks and hundreds of others were abducted, prosecutors said.

In one attack on the Pajule camp in October 2003, forces under Ongwen's command carried out an early morning raid.

- Ten Commandments -

"There was a boy who tried to run away. He was shot in the stomach and his intestines spilled out," said prosecutor Kamran Choudhry, quoting a witness.

The two children of another witness were locked in a hut and "he was forced to watch as LRA fighters called for fire and set the hut ablaze," Choudhry said.

After the attack at least 200 civilians were captured in "one of the largest instances of mass abductions in the history of the LRA."

The LRA first emerged in northern Uganda in 1986, where it claimed to fight in the name of the Acholi ethnic group against the government of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.

But over the years it has moved freely across porous regional borders, shifting from Uganda to sow terror in southern Sudan before heading into northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, and finally crossing into southeastern Central African Republic in March 2008.

Combining religious mysticism with a bent for astute guerrilla tactics and bloodthirsty ruthlessness, Kony has turned scores of young girls into his personal sex slaves while claiming to be fighting to impose the Bible's Ten Commandments.

Born in 1975, Ongwen was transferred to The Hague a year ago shortly after he unexpectedly surrendered to US special forces operating in the Central African Republic.

Experts believe Ongwen fled after falling out with Kony and almost being killed.

Rights groups point out Ongwen was himself initially a victim -- abducted at 14 by the LRA as he was walking to school -- which may prove a mitigating factor in sentencing if he is found guilty at trial.

Uganda's LRA commander Dominic Ongwen told his troops "at least on one occasion to kill, cook and eat civilians" according to witness testimony, say ICC prosecutors.

Ugandans living in the Lukodi disctrict of Gulu follow the live broadcast of Dominic Ongwen appearance before the International Criminal Court at The Hague, on January 21, 2016 Isaac Kasamani (AFP)

Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) commander Dominic Ongwen (centre) was arrested in 2015 - (Uganda People's Defense Force/AFP/File)

Soldiers of the Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF) patrol in the jungle in the Central African Republic as they look for Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) fighters on June 24, 2014 Michele Sibiloni (AFP/File)
Gates and Dangote team up against malnutrition in Nigeria

Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote and tech billionaire Bill Gates on Thursday announced plans for a $100-million scheme to cut malnutrition in the continent's most populous nation, Nigeria.

Dangote said the partnership between his Dangote Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation would address the problem, which affects some 11 million children in northern Nigeria.

The announcement was made in Abuja, a day after both men signed a deal to ramp up immunisation programmes in the northern states of Kaduna, Sokoto and Kano, where Dangote is from.

Nigerian President Mohammadu Buhari (C) poses with tech billionaire Bill Gate (L) and Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote, after signing on to the Abuja Agreement on Polio Eradication at the presidency in Abuja, on January 20, 2016 Philip Ojisua (AFP)

US philanthropist Gates, who also met President Muhammadu Buhari, told reporters Nigeria's key resource was its young population. Some 44 percent of the 170 million population are aged under 14.

The Microsoft founder said their prospects would be "greatly damaged if we don't solve malnutrition".

The new scheme will fund programmes to 2020 and beyond, using local groups in the northwest and northeast, which has for the last seven years been ravaged by Boko Haram's Islamist insurgency.

Dangote and Gates have previously worked together on polio eradication programmes, which resulted in the country being taken off the global list of endemic countries last year.

Nigeria is Africa's leading economy and number one oil exporter, but poverty remains acute for all but a fraction.

Average life expectancy is 52 -- five years fewer than the overall rate for sub-Saharan Africa -- with high rates of infant mortality and for children under five.
Flag from iconic Holocaust ship to dock in US museum

The flag of an iconic ship that tried to take Jewish Holocaust survivors to what would later become Israel is destined for a museum in the United States, an auction house said Thursday.

The SS Exodus was the most famous of hundreds of ships that sought to transport European Jews to the land that later became the nation of Israel immediately after World War II.

The Israeli flag that flew from the ship was sold in Jerusalem for $144,000 to two Jewish American brothers in the real estate business, the auction house involved in the sale confirmed.

An employee of the Kedem Auction House in Jerusalem shows the flag of the iconic SS Exodus ship recently sold to two Jewish American brothers for $144,000 Menahem Kahana (AFP/File)

The flag was to be auctioned publicly, but was removed after the brothers reached an agreement to buy it and then donate it to the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.

Meron Eren, owner of the Kedem Auction House in Jerusalem that handled the sale, said he was glad the flag would be available for those wanting to learn about the Holocaust.

"My personal preference is to always have national institutions as the buyers of historical items, who will leave the items accessible to the general public, and I am glad that this is the case with the Exodus's flag," he said.

The Exodus sailed to British-mandate Palestine in 1947 with 4,500 Jewish survivors of Nazi camps on board who had no legal immigration certificates.

British seamen boarded the ship shortly before it docked and the families were eventually deported back to British-controlled Germany, where they were held in camps.

The images of Holocaust survivors being held behind barbed wire fences caused uproar and helped increase support for Jewish emigration to Israel.
'Snowzilla' blizzard pummels Washington, New York

A deadly blizzard walloped the eastern United States on Saturday, paralyzing Washington and New York under a heavy blanket of snow as officials warned millions of people to remain indoors until the storm eases up.

At least eight people were killed in three states in road accidents, officials said, as snow piled up from Arkansas to New York. Forecasters said the storm -- dubbed "Snowzilla" -- would last into Sunday as it moved menacingly up the coast.

Anticipating heavier snowfall, Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York placed a travel ban on the city and its immediate suburbs beginning mid-afternoon, essentially shutting down the giant metropolitan area.

Snow plows work downtown in Washington, DC on January 23, 2016 Mladen Antonov (AFP)

Metro and bus networks were shut down in Washington for the entire weekend, and largely shut in Philadelphia and New Jersey on Saturday. Thousands of motorists were stranded for hours on an ice-coated highway in Kentucky.

And more than 200,000 people were without power.

In the capital Washington, more than 16 inches (40 centimeters) of snow was already on the ground, with a total of two feet or more expected by midnight. Similar snow totals were logged in New York, more than initially expected.

"There's no reason to be out there," Washington mayor Muriel Bowser told NBC News. "It will be driving snow and windy and we need to take heed."

City police chief Cathy Lanier said whiteout conditions -- virtually zero visibility -- had been reported in some areas and urged residents to stay indoors so snow plows could work to clear the streets.

A blizzard warning was in effect for a large swath of the eastern United States from Washington up to New York, the National Weather Service said, as battalions of snow plows and salt spreaders labored through the night and into Saturday.

The storm is expected to affect about 85 million Americans -- about one quarter of the US population. Before it's all over, it could cause more than $1 billion in damage, NWS officials said.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a Republican presidential contender, left the campaign trail in New Hampshire to oversee the emergency response in his snowbound state.

"The snow is difficult and the visibility is no more than a quarter of a mile," Christie told a press conference, stating there were 90,000 power outages across the state.

"For anybody out there that's at home right now thinking this might be a good time to go out in the northern part of the state, it is not."

- New York braced -

Cuomo placed a travel ban on America's most populous city beginning at 2:30 pm (1930 GMT).

"The national weather service has increased their forecast for the amount of snowfall," Cuomo said.

"Thirty inches would be one of the most serious amounts of snowfall that we have had in decades and to protect public safety, we're going to be closing down the roads."

The NWS reported that New York could see up to 25 inches of snow and that travel was extremely dangerous "due to heavy snowfall and strong winds with whiteout conditions likely."

All Broadway shows were cancelled and hockey and basketball games in various cities also fell victim to the weather.

Thousands of flights were scrubbed and train lines in Philadelphia were also badly hit.

If the blizzard leaves as much snow in Washington as forecast, more than two feet, it could surpass a record set in 1922 by a storm that dumped 28 inches over three days and killed 100 people after a roof collapsed at a theater.

US Capitol Police said they were lifting a decades-old sledding ban, but the national monuments, Capitol building and Smithsonian museums were all closed.

Even a massive snowball fight in Washington's Dupont Circle neighborhood, which 3,000 people said on Facebook they would attend, had to be postponed from Saturday to Sunday due to the storm's ferocity.

Justin Wilcox and Arun Prakash, both 32, were taking selfies in the snow.

"We just came back from some holidays in India so the weather is a difficult adjustment," said Wilcox.

- South struggles -

Snow and sleet also hit the southern states of Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, West Virginia and Virginia -- unusual for the region.

"We're having a lot of accidents," said Pat McCrory, governor of North Carolina.

Six people were killed in road accidents, Nicole Meister, a spokeswoman for the state's emergency management office, told AFP.

Nearly 120,000 people were without power in the state, emergency officials tweeted -- with electricity restored to some homes Saturday.

Elsewhere, one person was killed in Kentucky and another in Virginia, officials told AFP.

Virginia state police tweeted that they responded to 989 crashes and 793 disabled vehicles across the state Friday.

Matt Huctherson skis down a hill in a residential neighbourhood during a blizzard in Arlington, Virginia on January 23, 2016 Andrew Caballero-Reynolds (AFP)

A man tries to push a car stuck in the snow, January 23, 2016 in Prince William County, Virginia Karen Bleier (AFP)

Women pose for a picture while visiting Central Park as snow falls on January 23, 2016 in New York Kena Betancur (AFP)
Syria picks UN envoy as chief negotiator for peace talks

Syria's UN envoy will be the regime's chief negotiator in upcoming peace talks, a government source said Thursday, as a dispute over the opposition's representatives threatened to delay the negotiations.

The latest bid to end the Syrian war through indirect talks between the government and opposition was scheduled to begin on January 25 in Geneva.

But a disagreement over which parts of the opposition will be present, and who will represent them, is posing new obstacles.

Syria's UN representative Bashar al-Jaafari served as Damascus' chief negotiator during a previous round of peace talks in 2014 Vasily Maximov (AFP)

Syria's ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar al-Jaafari, will be the government's chief negotiator, with Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Moqdad heading the delegation, the Syrian government source said.

Jaafari also served as the regime's chief negotiator in a previous round of peace talks in Geneva in 2014.

The Al-Watan daily, which is close to the government, said the delegation would also include several senior lawyers and other foreign ministry officials.

On Wednesday, the main coalition of opposition bodies, the so-called High Negotiations Committee, announced its own delegation to the talks.

But its decision to name a member of the Jaish al-Islam rebel group as its chief negotiator has drawn criticism both from some of its own members, and opposition figures excluded from the coalition.

The National Coordinating Committee for Democratic Change, a key opposition body still present in Damascus, said it was "not acceptable" for the delegation's chief negotiator to come from the armed opposition.

- 'Provocative step' -

"This sends the wrong political message to the Syrian people," it said in a statement.

And Haytham Manna, an opposition figure who does not belong to the High Negotiations Committee, accused it of including "war criminals" in its delegation.

He told AFP it was "impossible" for him to participate in an opposition delegation with figures like Mohamed Alloush, whose Jaish al-Islam group is active mostly around Damascus.

Damascus has not responded officially, but Al-Watan said "observers" deemed Alloush's appointment "a provocative step with the sole goal of thwarting any possible dialogue".

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday reiterated that Moscow viewed the Jaish al-Islam group and the powerful Ahrar al-Sham rebel organisation as "terrorist" groups.

There is also disagreement about whether the opposition will be represented by one or two delegations.

The High Negotiations Committee insists it must be the sole opposition representative, but other opposition figures and Syria's Kurds have been excluded from its ranks and also want to participate in the talks.

Al-Watan said that Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry had discussed the issue in Zurich on Wednesday.

The newspaper said Lavrov had proposed a joint delegation, with half the members chosen by Moscow -- a close ally of President Bashar al-Assad -- and the rest by the High Negotiations Committee.

The daily said Kerry would now raise the proposal with Saudi officials, who have pushed back against the attendance of other opposition figures at the talks.

It reported that Kerry would warn that Moscow was ready to insist two opposition delegations attend the talks.

The High Negotiations Committee said Wednesday it would not attend the Geneva talks if another delegation was added.

It also said negotiations were impossible if civilians continued to face regime strikes and siege tactics.

According to Al-Watan, the UN's special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, will travel to Riyadh for talks on Sunday and hold a press conference on the Geneva talks on Monday.

More than 260,758 people -- including 76,000 civilians -- have died since the start of the Syrian civil war in March 2011 Karam Al-Masri (AFP/File)

Staffan de Mistura -- the UN's special envoy for Syria -- will chair the peace talks in Geneva Kirill Kudryavtsev (AFP/File)
US special forces playing key targeting role in IS fight: Carter

US special forces are directly engaged in pinpointing targets and launching raids against the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq, Defence Secretary Ashton Carter said Thursday.

"These forces have already established contact with new forces that share our goals, (opening) new lines of communication to local, motivated and capable fighters, and new targets for air strikes and strikes of all kinds," Carter told an audience at the Ecole Militaire, a training school for French officers in Paris.

The US has called on allies, including France and Britain, to contribute special forces as a key part of their effort to bolster coalition forces fighting the jihadist group.

US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter (L) addresses a joint press conference with French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian after a working meeting on the battle against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, on January 20, 2016 Alain Jocard (AFP)

None provide precise figures on how many of their special forces are operating in the region, but it has become increasingly clear that elite Western troops are providing more than training, and shifting towards more of a frontline role.

In Iraq, "we now have a specialised expeditionary targeting force in place that is preparing to work with the Iraqis to begin mounting sudden, long-range raids, going after ISIL's fighters and commanders, killing or capturing them wherever we find them, along with other key targets," Carter said.

The defence secretary was in Paris for a meeting on Wednesday of seven counterparts from key countries in the anti-IS coalition.
Sri Lanka bans foreigner kidney transplants after organ racket tip

Sri Lanka banned kidney transplants for foreign nationals on Thursday following reports of an organised organ harvesting racket involving patients and donors from neighbouring India.

Health minister Rajitha Senaratne said he ordered the immediate halt after Indian police warned Sri Lankan authorities that some patients from India had paid donors for organs and had the transplants carried out at private hospitals in Colombo.

"We decided to stop all transplants involving foreigners until we get to the bottom of this," the minister told reporters in the capital.

Health minister Rajitha Senaratne said he ordered the immediate halt after Indian police warned Sri Lankan authorities that some patients from India had paid donors for organs and had the transplants carried out at private hospitals in Colombo Ishara S. Kodikara (AFP/File)

"I have asked for details from our (police) criminal investigation department about this."

He said the local police had been told of six Sri Lankan doctors who had transplanted kidneys allegedly "bought" from Indian donors in violation of local laws.

"According to our law, organs cannot be bought or sold," the minister said.

"If any Sri Lankan doctor had carried out a procedure involving a bought organ, we will make sure that such person is struck off the medical list."

Local media reports had claimed that four local hospitals had been arranging transplants for Indian kidney patients with organs from their home country.
Kerry admits some of Iran funds could be sent to 'terrorist' groups

US Secretary of State John Kerry admitted Thursday that some of the funds Iran will recover as a result of sanctions relief could be directed to groups that Washington considers "terrorist" organisations.

His remarks at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, come as the United States lifts a litany of sanctions levied on the Islamic Republic over its nuclear programme as part of a deal implemented this month following years of talks.

Kerry had earlier said the US stands by separate new ballistic missile-related sanctions on Tehran, a move Iran described as "bizarre".

US Secretary of State John Kerry, pictured on January 21, 2016, says the United States stands by its new ballistic missile-related sanctions on Iran Jacquelyn Martin (Pool/AFP)

When asked by US broadcaster CNBC, however, whether a portion of the funds unblocked by the lifting of the nuclear sanctions would be directed to organisations Washington labels as "terrorist", Kerry replied: "I think that some of it will end up in the hands of the IRGC or of other entities, some of which are labelled terrorists."

"I'm not going to sit here and tell you that every component of that can be prevented."

Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is not designated a foreign terrorist organisation by the US State Department, despite efforts by US lawmakers for it to do so. The US Treasury, however, has since 2007 considered the IRGC's Quds Force, which is responsible for external operations, a "terrorist" entity.

According to the Treasury, Iran will receive an estimated $55 billion as a result of the easing of restrictions on its economy thanks to the implementation of the nuclear deal.

"If we catch them (Iran) funding terrorism, theyre going to have a problem with the United States Congress and with other people, obviously," Kerry later told reporters.

"I'm just trying to be honest. I cant tell people that no, some amount might not. But we dont believe that that is what has made the difference in the activities of Iran in the region."

The US, meanwhile, unveiled new missile-linked sanctions against Iran on Sunday, almost immediately after the nuclear sanctions were scrapped.

"We stand by our sanctions," Kerry said earlier.

"We think they have been used judiciously and effectively and we are looking to move on now to put to test the willingness of Iran and other countries in the region to try to reduce tensions and move in a different direction."

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who was also in Davos, criticised that US decision.
US Army secretary nominee worries about force size

President Barack Obama's pick for the next secretary of the US Army said Thursday he is worried about broad cuts to the service, which is set for a dramatic downsizing.

Eric Fanning, who was nominated to the Army's top civilian post in September and would be the first openly gay person to fill the position, told a long-delayed Senate confirmation hearing that budget cuts were reducing military preparedness at a time of growing international instability.

The Army is due to shrink to 450,000 active duty soldiers by 2018, down from a peak of 570,000 during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Acting US Secretary of the Army Eric Fanning testifies during his confirmation hearing on January 21, 2016 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC Alex Wong (Getty/AFP)

Later cuts could see troop numbers reduced further still, to 420,000.

"I do worry about the size of the Army today," Fanning said.

"Two years ago when we targeted 450 (thousand,) we didn't have ISIL, we didn't have Russia as provocative as it is," he added, using an acronym for the Islamic State group.

Though he was nominated months ago, Fanning's confirmation has been stalled by political squabbling.

Kansas Republican Senator Pat Roberts blocked his confirmation for reasons related to the closure of the Guantanamo Bay military prison.

Roberts wants guarantees that no inmate from the controversial facility would ever be transferred to a Kansas federal prison site under consideration in the event Guantanamo closes.

But lawmakers in the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday seemed set to vote in favor of Fanning's nomination, which the full Senate would also need to approve.

"You are about to be secretary of the Army, I think you are well qualified," Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said. "I look forward to voting for you."

Fanning has held an array of different posts in Congress and at the Pentagon over the past 25 years, including as an undersecretary of the Air Force, a deputy undersecretary in the Navy and he was chief of staff to Defense Secretary Ashton Carter.

Fanning said he supported women, who are now eligible to apply for any job in the US military including in commando units, to be required to register for the draft in case a national crisis sees the re-institution of mandatory conscription.
Wooed by Trump, young US evangelicals face a dilemma

The young evangelical Christians at Liberty University in Virginia, a coveted voting bloc wooed this week by Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump, are facing a bit of a dilemma.

Should they vote as most evangelicals have in the past, for a "pro-life" anti-abortion candidate, or should they embrace a new set of values?

Daniel Timm, a 26-year-old student at the university in Lynchburg, skipped Trump's speech on Monday -- he went to class instead. He says he has yet to make up his mind over which Republican White House hopeful to back.

People sing Christian rock songs before US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, on January 18, 2016 Nicholas Kamm (AFP)

His Bible in hand, Timm attended Sunday evening services at Grace Presbyterian Church, a red brick building in an industrial area on the outskirts of town.

"The values I appreciate in a candidate are honesty and being pro-life. Those are major things I look for," Timm said after a service attended by some 20 worshippers.

A regular church-goer, Timm says he is torn between backing Trump and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul.

"Both Paul and Trump intend to talk about things that other candidates refuse to talk about, like immigration," he said.

"They both professed to be Christian men, and I'll take their words on that," he added, dodging debate on whether Trump -- who misquoted a Bible verse on Monday -- really is a man of faith or just tries to project that image.

In any case, Trump's offensive in this land of evangelical Christians has seen some success.

Many young people on hand Monday said they saw the billionaire real estate tycoon as a man willing to eschew political correctness, even perhaps to try to restore the role of Christianity in multi-faith US society.

Some 11,000 people, most of them young, turned out to hear Trump, who depicted himself as a protector of Christianity.

Paul, who hails from the Tea Party faction of the Republican party, is very popular among young people. Within that demographic, he is even overshadowing Texas Senator Ted Cruz.

- Vote Democrat -

The candidates clearly favored by evangelical voters in opinion polls -- Cruz, Paul or Trump -- do not have the same success with young voters.

"If he (Trump) claims to be a Christian or that he truly believes in Christ, it's not very apparent," said 18-year-old student Joschua McMillion, who skipped the Trump rally, instead joining a small group protesting his campus visit.

McMillion, who is African-American, said Democrat Bernie Sanders is the only candidate who has spoken of the Black Lives Matter movement and the racial problems that plague the United States, including police violence against blacks.

"The main (Republican) candidates haven't said anything about this," McMillion said, adding that it was increasingly likely he would vote for Sanders even though he is a Democrat.

"He's my favorite at this point," McMillion said.

Like McMillion, many young evangelicals attach a lot of importance to Christian values. But they are shaking up the hierarchy of priorities, stressing social issues sometimes associated with the political left.

Abortion and same-sex marriage are important issues, said 22-year-old student Meredith Fuller.

"I don't know if I would feel comfortable controlling someone else's choices, so I don't know if I would feel comfortable with someone controlling my choices either," she said.

For now, Fuller says she does not know who she will vote for "because I don't see any of them voicing concern about issues that concern me in particular" such as the fate of "people who are being marginalized by society."

Fuller said her opinions do not represent those of most students at Liberty University. But she is less and less isolated.
Hit musical 'Cats' returns to NY after 16-year hiatus

Hit musical "Cats," one of the most celebrated theatrical productions of all time, is returning to New York after a 16-year hiatus on Broadway, its producers announced Thursday.

The musical, composed by Britain's Andrew Lloyd Webber and based on T.S. Eliot's "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats" made its debut in London in 1981, before running for 7,485 performances for 18 years across the pond.

It is being revived at the Neil Simon Theatre, where preview performances will begin on July 14 and the official opening night is set for August 2.

A scene from the musical "Cats" which will return to Broadway at the Neil Simon Theatre Roslan Rahman (AFP/File)

"We are delighted to join together to bring Andrew Lloyd Webber's phenomenal musical back to Broadway," said co-producers The Shubert Organization and The Nederlander Organization in a joint statement.

The revival means that Lloyd Webber will have the rare distinction of having three musicals running simultaneously on Broadway in addition to "The Phantom of the Opera" and "School of Rock -- The Musical."

"Cats" is one of the longest-running shows in Broadway history. It has been put on in more than 30 countries, been translated into 15 languages and has been watched by more than 73 million people worldwide.

Originally directed by Britain's Trevor Nunn, "Cats" opened in the West End and went onto win seven Tony Awards in New York, including best musical. Both the original London and Broadway cast recordings won Grammy awards.

Its hit song "Memory" has been recorded by dozens of artists, including Barbra Streisand and Barry Manilow.
World Muslim body condemns attacks on Saudi missions in Iran

A global Muslim body on Thursday condemned the attacks on Saudi missions in Iran earlier this month and denounced Tehran's regional "interference".

Foreign ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, in a statement, said it "condemns the aggressions against the missions of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Tehran and Mashhad".

The statement followed an extraordinary meeting requested by Saudi Arabia after protesters in Iran burned Riyadh's embassy in Tehran and a consulate in the second city of Mashhad.

Secretary General of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Saudi Iyad Ameen Madani (R) shakes hands with Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi during an emergency meeting in the Saudi city of Jeddah, on January 21, 2016

Such "aggressions" contravene international law as well as the OIC charter, said the communique, which member state Iran rejected.

The violence against Riyadh's missions occurred after the kingdom executed dissident Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, a driving force behind anti-government protests.

Sunni Saudi Arabia and some of its allies cut diplomatic ties with Shiite Iran as a result of the violence against its missions.

Nimr was one of four Shiites put to death on January 2 alongside 43 Sunnis. All were convicted of "terrorism".

The 57-member OIC said it "rejects and condemns Iran's inflammatory statements" over the executions, "considering those statements a blatant interference in the internal affairs" of Saudi Arabia.

It also denounced "Iran's interference in the internal affairs of the states of the region and other member states (including Bahrain, Yemen and Syria and Somalia) and its continued support for terrorism".

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attended the meeting but his country "declared its rejection of the communique," the document said.

It added that Lebanon also "distances itself" from the meeting's final statement.

The OIC calls itself the collective voice of the Muslim world.

Tensions between the leading Sunni and Shiite nations have caused concern around the globe. China, France and Pakistan have all sought a de-escalation.

- 'Continuous attacks' -

At the start of Thursday's meeting, OIC Secretary General Iyad Madani called for "building bridges of understanding and restoring mutual trust" through dialogue.

This will prevent conflicts "that will waste energy and hinder the development of our people," he said.

Tensions between members "distract us from addressing the real challenges", including "terrorism", which threaten members of the organisation, Madani told the group based in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah.

The final communique underscored the "importance of reinforcing relations of good neighbourliness" among members.

Iran sacked a senior security official over his failure to stop the attack on Riyadh's embassy, while Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday said the attack was against Islam.

But Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir charged at Thursday's meeting that Iran respects neither Islam nor the charter of the OIC.

"The importance of this meeting is in the fact that this aggression is not the first but only a part of a series of continuous attacks that diplomatic missions have been subjected to in Iran for 35 years," Jubeir said.

"It is important to point out that the aggression against the kingdom's missions comes as part of Iran's aggressive policies and its continuous interference in the internal issues of the countries in the region".

Saudi Arabia and Iran support opposite sides in the conflicts in Syria and Yemen. Iran has also consolidated its influence in Iraq and Lebanon.

Riyadh had also called for an emergency meeting of the Arab League after the attack on its missions.

The Cairo-based body on January 10 expressed full support for Saudi Arabia in dealing with the "hostile acts and provocations of Iran".
UN council welcomed by protests in Burundi

UN Security Council ambassadors arrived in Burundi Thursday to protestors telling them not to interfere, as they came to push the government to open up serious talks with the opposition and accept peacekeepers.

A crowd of hundreds of protesters backing the government, carrying signs in English that said "genocide will not happen" and "stop interfering in Burundian affairs", greeted the diplomats as they landed in the capital Bujumbura, an AFP reporter with the council said.

At a meeting planned for Friday, the council hopes to persuade President Pierre Nkurunziza to agree to an African Union proposal of 5,000 peacekeepers, which his government has branded an "invasion force".

A military vehicle, carrying men tied up, drives through the Musaga neighbourhood of the city of Bujumbura on December 11, 2015

Before UN diplomats arrived, the AU expressed its "fervent hope" the diplomats will persuade Burundi to begin serious talks and agree to the deployment of peacekeepers to prevent further violence.

AU Commission chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said in a statement that there was an "urgent and imperative need for a strong unity of purpose" to solve the crisis.

Discussion of the peacekeeper deployment is expected to be a key element of talks at the AU summit in Ethiopia on January 30-31.

An AU deadline for Burundi to accept the force has long passed with no action yet taken to deploy the peacekeepers, named the African Prevention and Protection Mission in Burundi (MAPROBU).

Dlamini-Zuma expressed "the fervent hope" that the UN ambassadors will "contribute toward achieving" the rapid deployment of MAPROBU and the "immediate resumption of the inter-Burundian dialogue", in reference to stalled talks between the government and opposition.

But the protestors who had been waiting for the diplomats made clear their opposition.

"Rwanda, stop Burundian refugees military recruitment," another protestor's sign read.

Relations between Rwanda and neighbouring Burundi are tense, with Bujumbura accusing Kigali of backing armed rebels and political opponents of Nkurunziza. Rwanda has denied all the claims.

Burundi descended into bloodshed in April when Nkurunziza announced his intention to run for a controversial third term, which he went on to win in July elections.

More than 400 people have died in the violence and at least 230,000 have fled to neighbouring countries.

Hours before the UN diplomats arrived, Burundian rebels named a fugitive ex-general who fled after leading a failed coup bid last May as their leader.

Ex-general Godefroid Niyombare, a former intelligence chief, is the leader of the Forebu rebels, said spokesman Edward Nibigira, himself a former senior police general.

The rebel force, which announced its formation in December after months of unrest and bloodshed in the troubled central African country, calls itself the Republican Forces of Burundi, or "Forebu" after its French acronym.
One killed in fresh violence as UN Security Council arrives in Burundi

At least one person was killed as gunfire and explosions rocked the Burundi capital Thursday evening, a local official and witnesses said, just as a UN Security Council delegation arrived to push for an end to months of political unrest.

One youth was shot dead by police after a grenade went off in Bujumbura's northeastern Mutakura area, a local administrative source said, adding that a second person was injured by gun shots. The information was confirmed by several witnesses.

Explosions and gunfire were also heard between 6:30 pm and 8:00 pm (1630-1800 GMT) in the central Bwiza district, in southern Musaga neighbourhood and in the north of the city, residents said.

Burundian protesters hold banners as the US ambassador to the United Nations (not seen) arrives at Bujumbura airport on January 21, 2016 Griff Tapper (AFP)

The unrest erupted shortly after UN Security Council ambassadors landed in Bujumbura to push the government to hold serious talks with the opposition and accept peacekeepers.

The delegation is seeking an end to the violence that has gripped the country since last April, when President Pierre Nkurunziza's announced his ultimately successful re-election bid.

Upon arrival Thursday, the UN team was greeted by hundreds of protesters backing the government, carrying signs in English that said "genocide will not happen" and "stop interfering in Burundian affairs".

At a meeting planned for Friday, the council hopes to persuade Nkurunziza to agree to an African Union proposal of 5,000 peacekeepers, which his government has branded an "invasion force".

AU Commission chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma expressed "the fervent hope" that the UNSC ambassadors will "contribute toward achieving" the rapid deployment of the peacekeepers and the "immediate resumption of the inter-Burundian dialogue", in reference to stalled talks between the government and opposition.

Two former Burundian presidents also appealed to the UNSC to take action and pleaded for an AU force to be sent to the country.

"We really need that force," said Domitien Ndayizeye, who led the landlocked nation from 2003-2005.

The UN must "stop this bloodletting that is making our young people disappear," added Jean-Baptiste Bagaza, in power from 1976-1987.

Discussion of the peacekeeper deployment is expected to be a key element of talks at the AU summit in Ethiopia on January 30-31.

An AU deadline for Burundi to accept the force has long passed with no action yet taken to deploy the peacekeepers, named the African Prevention and Protection Mission in Burundi (MAPROBU).

- Tensions with Rwanda -

But the protesters who had been waiting for the diplomats in the capital made clear their opposition.

"Rwanda, stop Burundian refugees' military recruitment," another protest sign read.

Relations between Rwanda and neighbouring Burundi are tense, with Bujumbura accusing Kigali of backing armed rebels and political opponents of Nkurunziza. Rwanda has denied all the claims.

Burundi descended into bloodshed in April when Nkurunziza announced his intention to run for a controversial third term, which he went on to win in July elections.

More than 400 people have died and at least 230,000 have fled to neighbouring countries. The UN has warned that the violence could escalate into ethnic killings and mass atrocities.

Hours before the UN diplomats arrived, Burundian rebels named a fugitive ex-general who fled after leading a failed coup bid last May as their leader.

Ex-general Godefroid Niyombare, a former intelligence chief, is the leader of the Forebu rebels, said spokesman Edward Nibigira, himself a former senior police general.

The rebel force, which announced its formation in December after months of unrest and bloodshed in the troubled central African country, calls itself the Republican Forces of Burundi, or "Forebu" after its French acronym.

The rebels formed the force "to protect the population" and uphold the Arusha Agreement that paved the way to the end of the 1993-2006 civil war but which they say Nkurunziza violated by running for, and winning, a third term.
Kerry spoke to Iran about Americans missing in Baghdad

US Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday he had spoken to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif about the fate of three Americans missing in Baghdad.

Washington has not commented publicly on reports the three were kidnapped by an Iranian-backed Shiite militia, but Kerry confirmed he had raised the case with Tehran.

"I've raised it with Foreign Minister Zarif," Kerry told reporters at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, on January 20, 2016, spoke with US Secretary of State John Kerry at the World Economic Forum Fabrice Coffrini (AFP/File)

"I asked him ... if Iran knew any way to provide help or if there were some way they could have an impact on getting the right kind of outcome," he added.

"He said he would take that under advisement and try to do what he can. He didn't have any immediate knowledge whatsoever about it."

Iraqi authorities are searching for the three Americans, whom the Baghdad security command said were seized last week from a "suspicious apartment" in south Baghdad.

Iraqi officials have dubbed the case a kidnapping, but US officials still speak cautiously of a "disappearance," in what could become a politically explosive case.

The three were allegedly taken just as Kerry and Zarif were finalizing the implementation of the Iran nuclear deal and the release of five US prisoners held in Iran.

If one of the Iranian-backed militias that operate in Iraq was responsible for a kidnapping this would feed the anger of US critics who see both deals as a capitulation.
Visitors to Middle East, North Africa will triple by 2030: UN

The number of international tourists to the Middle East and North Africa will triple to 195 million in 2030 despite concerns over security, the head of the United Nations tourism body said Thursday.

The region's tourism sector -- a key source of jobs and foreign currency -- has repeatedly bounced back after attacks by extremists that frightened off visitors, said Taleb Rifai, secretary general of the UN World Tourism Organisation.

"The story of tourism in the Middle East is a story of mixed description. It is a success story without doubt. Today we have over 60 million international visitors coming to the Middle East. This is a growth that has tripled in less than ten years," he added at the Madrid international tourism fair Fitur.

Tourists relax on the beach at the Bella Vista Hotel in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Hurghada on January 9, 2016, the day after the hotel came under attack Mohamed El-Shahed (AFP/File)

"Our long term forecast for 2030 is that the Middle East and North Africa will receive 195 million international tourists. That is triple the amount that we receive now," he said.

International tourism arrivals in the Middle East grew for the third consecutive year in 2015, expanding by 3.0 percent, but were down by eight percent in North Africa in large part due to deadly attacks in Tunisia.

The number of international visitors to Tunisia -- which was shaken by an attack on the Bardo museum in Tunis followed by one in the resort of Sousse that killed 59 tourists -- fell to 5.2 million last year from 7.2 million in 2014.

But Rifai, a former Jordanian tourism minister, pointed to the example of Egypt which has repeatedly managed to rebuild confidence and revive tourist numbers after attacks, most vividly after the massacre of tourists by extremists in Luxor in 1997 in which over 60 people were killed.

Egypt suffered a slump in visitors last year following the crash of a Russian airliner on October 31 over the Sinai Peninsula that killed all those on board.

The Islamic State group said it downed the plane a bomb smuggled on board at the airport of Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh airport.
Lionel Messi's tax fraud trial conflicts with Copa America

MADRID (AP)  Lionel Messi's tax fraud trial has been set for May 31-June 3, conflicting with the start of the centennial Copa America in the United States.

The Copa America Centenario will kick off June 3, meaning the five-time world player of the year will not have the best of preparations ahead of Argentina's opening game.

Messi's lawyers are expected to try to change the trial dates.

FC Barcelona's Lionel Messi, from Argentina, holds up his Ballon d'Or (Golden Ball) award as European Footballer of the Year prior the Spanish La Liga soccer match between FC Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, Jan. 17, 2016. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

The Barcelona playmaker is already expected to have a shorter preparation ahead of the tournament if his side reaches the Champions League final, which is scheduled for May 28 in Milan.

Argentina plays its first game on June 6 in Santa Clara, California. Then on June 10 in Chicago before travelling to Seattle for a match on June 14.

Messi and his father, Jorge Horacio Messi, have been charged with three counts of tax fraud and could be sentenced to nearly two years in prison if found guilty.

They are accused of defrauding Spain's tax office of 4.1 million euros ($4.4 million) in unpaid taxes from 2007-09.

The attorney's office called for a prison sentence of 22 months and 15 days for Messi and his father, along with a fine in the amount defrauded, payment of all legal proceedings and the loss of any possible tax benefits for a year and a half.

The case is centered on the alleged unlawful activities of Messi's father, but authorities said the Barcelona player knew enough to also be named in the case.

The Barcelona court said that although Messi was unfamiliar with tax issues, there was sufficient evidence to believe he could have known and consented to the creation of a fictitious corporate structure to avoid paying taxes on income from his image rights. Authorities said some of the income came through companies located in tax havens.

Spain has recently been cracking down on tax evasion as part of its fight to repair the country's public finances after a prolonged recession triggered by the collapse of its once-booming real estate sector.

Messi is not the only Barcelona player set to appear in court in the coming months.

Brazilian striker Neymar has been asked to testify in an investigation into alleged irregularities involving his transfer to the Catalan club.

Neymar's parents, former Barcelona president Sandro Rosell and current president Josep Bartomeu also will have to appear before a judge on Feb. 1-2.

Last year, Barcelona defender Javier Mascherano admitted to a court that he failed to pay nearly 1.5 million euros ($1.6 million) in taxes owed for 2011 and 2012.

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Haiti Senate approves measure calling for suspension of vote

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP)  A majority of Haitian senators on Wednesday approved a resolution calling for the suspension of presidential and legislative runoffs set for this weekend.

However, political observers and lawmakers said the resolution calling for the Jan. 24 vote to be halted, among other measures, is non-binding and can't actually stop the final round of Haiti's elections.

"This can't force the CEP's hand," said constitutional historian Georges Michel, referring to the acronym for the Haitian council that oversees the electoral process. "They can just ignore this vote and the senators know that."

A police officer helps a child that was overcome by teargas during a protest against President Michel Martelly's government to demand the cancellation of the Jan. 24, elections, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2016. Disputed election results have brought paralyzing street protests and many broad accusations of electoral fraud from civil society and opposition groups. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

Reached hours before the lawmakers voted, electoral council spokesman Roudy Stanley Penn said he could not provide a response when asked what the body would do if Haiti's Senate endorsed the measure. He could not be reached Wednesday evening.

The Sunday presidential runoff pits government-backed candidate Jovenel Moise against opposition contender Jude Celestin, who argues Haiti's electoral machinery is rigging the vote. He leads an opposition alliance alleging "massive fraud" in favor of Moise.

Moise, an agricultural entrepreneur who was plucked from political obscurity by outgoing President Michel Martelly, was the leading vote-getter in the disputed Oct. 25 first round that was endorsed by international monitors. Celestin came in second place.

Electoral authorities say Celestin's name and photo will still appear on ballots because he never officially withdrew from the race.

Martelly, who is barred from seeking a consecutive term, is due to leave office Feb. 7. He has argued that the opposition has spread unsubstantiated allegations about "massive fraud" to improve their chances at gaining power.

Opposition Sen. Steven Benoit, one of numerous presidential candidates who did not make the two-candidate runoff, said he was hopeful that the Senate resolution could motivate authorities to halt the elections and prevent what he believes is interference from the U.S. in Haitian politics.

Fifteen senators voted to authorize the resolution, while five others abstained. Three senators were not in the chambers and the upper house's president does not cast votes. Sunday's legislative runoffs are intended to fill the remaining six seats.

Haiti's influential Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday called for sweeping recommendations from a special electoral commission to be adopted and for new Provisional Electoral Council members to advance plans for the final round of balloting.

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Governor's emails show debate over blame for Flint water

LANSING, Mich. (AP)  A day after doctors reported high levels of lead in Flint children, Gov. Rick Snyder's top aide told him the "real responsibility" for the city's water issues rested with local government officials, emails released Wednesday showed.

Then-chief of staff Dennis Muchmore later told the governor that residents were "caught in a swirl of misinformation" about lead contamination and that it was up to city and county leaders to confront the issue, according to the emails.

"Of course, some of the Flint people respond by looking for someone to blame instead of working to reduce anxiety," Muchmore wrote. "We can't tolerate increased lead levels in any event, but it's really the city's water system that needs to deal with it."

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder delivers his State of the State address to a joint session of the House and Senate, Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2016, at the state Capitol in Lansing, Mich. With the water crisis gripping Flint threatening to overshadow nearly everything else he has accomplished, the Republican governor pledged a fix Tuesday night during his annual State of the State speech. (AP Photo/Al Goldis)

In a Sept. 25 email, Muchmore said he could not "figure out why the state is responsible" before noting that former state Treasurer Andy Dillon had signed off on the city's plans to build a water pipeline from Lake Huron, which required a temporary switch to the Flint River during construction.

So, he explained, "we're not able to avoid the subject."

Muchmore also said two state agencies and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency could not "find evidence of a major change" in lead levels.

By early October, the Snyder administration was forced to acknowledge the validity of the lead concerns and help Flint return to the Detroit water system.

The two-term Republican released more than 270 pages of emails a day after his annual State of the State speech in which he apologized again for the emergency and pledged to act. He called the release of the messages  which are exempt from Michigan's public-records law  "unprecedented" but necessary so people "know the truth."

He did not release the emails of his staff, drawing criticism from Democrats and open-government advocates. The rest of the administration is subject to the Freedom of Information Act.

According to Muchmore's emails to Snyder, officials at the Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Health and Human Services felt some people in Flint were trying to turn the lead issue into "a political football," claiming the agencies were underestimating the danger and trying to shift responsibility to the state.

Flint's water became contaminated with lead when the city began drawing from the river in 2014 as a cost-cutting measure while under state financial management. The water was not properly treated to keep lead from pipes from leaching into the supply.

Snyder has said he was first briefed on the "potential scope and magnitude" of the crisis on Sept. 28. State epidemiologists validated local physicians' findings on Oct. 1, and the governor said he immediately ordered the distribution of filters along with water and blood testing.

In December, Snyder learned that the task force he appointed to investigate the crisis had concluded that the Department of Environmental Quality was primarily to blame.

The task force chairman, Ken Sikkema, said in a separate message that the finding was "critical and urgent" and could not be delayed until the group completed its report.

Snyder aide Jarrod Agen told the governor on Dec. 28 that the task force's "harsh" verdict suggested that personnel changes at the environmental department scheduled for after the holidays should not wait. Agency Director Dan Wyant's resignation  and the firing of three other staffers  should take effect the next day.

Also Wednesday, Snyder asked President Barack Obama to reconsider the denial of a federal disaster declaration to address the crisis, saying it poses an "imminent and long-term threat" to residents.

Obama declared an emergency  qualifying the city for $5 million  but concluded that the high lead levels are not a disaster based on the legal requirement that disaster money is intended for natural events such as fires or floods. Snyder had estimated a need for up to $95 million over a year.

In his appeal letter, Snyder called the decision a "narrow reading" and likened the crisis to a flood, "given that qualities within the water, over a long term, damaged the city's infrastructure in ways that were not immediately or easily detectable."

The community about 75 miles north of Detroit, has about 100,000 residents, with about 40 percent of them living below the poverty line. The population is nearly 60 percent black.

The lead which can lead to behavior problems and learning disabilities in children and kidney ailments in adults  has left Flint residents unable to drink unfiltered tap water.

Flint Mayor Karen Weaver refused to call for Snyder's resignation while at the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Washington, D.C., saying investigations should go forward.

"I'm staying focused on what I need to get from him right now," Weaver said Wednesday.

The Michigan House on Wednesday approved Snyder's request for $28 million more in the short term to pay for more filters, bottled water, school nurses and testing and monitoring  on top of $10.6 million allocated in the fall. The money would also replace plumbing fixtures in schools with lead problems and help Flint with unpaid water bills. The measure moves to the Senate for expected action next week.

Snyder plans to make a bigger request in his February budget proposal. He also announced the deployment of roughly 130 more National Guard members to the city.

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Associated Press writers Ed White in Detroit, Tammy Webber in Chicago, John Flesher in Traverse City, Michigan, and Jesse Holland in Washington contributed to this report.

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Governor's emails: http://bit.ly/1ZCXsUq .

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Follow David Eggert at http://twitter.com/DavidEggert00 . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/author/david-eggert .

Flint, Mich. Mayor Karen Weaver participates in a news conference during the U..S. Conference of Mayors Winter Meeting in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder says Michigan will commit $28 million in the short term to pay for filters, bottled water and health professionals in Flint's water crisis. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

Flint, Mich. Mayor Karen Weaver responds to a reporter's question at a news conference during the U..S. Conference of Mayors Winter Meeting in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder says Michigan will commit $28 million in the short term to pay for filters, bottled water and health professionals in Flint's water crisis. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Mark Wahlberg, Massachusetts governor meet to discuss film

BOSTON (AP)  Mark Wahlberg and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker have met to discuss a film the actor is working on.

An aide for the Republican governor says the two met briefly on Wednesday to "have a friendly talk" about an upcoming movie.

The aide didn't specify which movie, but the Oscar-nominated actor is working on a feature film about the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.

FILE - In this Dec. 13, 2015 file photo, Mark Wahlberg attends the premiere of "Daddy's Home" at AMC Loews Lincoln Square, in New York. Wahlberg and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker have met to discuss a film the actor is working on. An aide for the Republican governor says the two met briefly on Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016, to have a friendly talk about an upcoming movie. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File)

Wahlberg announced in 2014 he was seeking a pardon from Massachusetts for violent assaults he committed as a teen in his native Boston.

In one incident, Wahlberg, then 16, attacked two Vietnamese men while trying to steal beer near his home in the city's Dorchester neighborhood in 1988.

Baker has the ultimate authority to grand pardons.
Attack on Denver's fire chief appears random, unprovoked

DENVER (AP)  Investigators say the attack on Denver's fire chief near the department's headquarters appears to have been random and unprovoked.

Chief Eric Tade was in an unmarked SUV on Tuesday afternoon when a woman jumped into the vehicle and stabbed him in the hand and leg. Tade was hospitalized with minor injuries and was released that evening.

On Wednesday, he described the attack as "a very surreal experience," adding that the scariest part was being trapped and restrained in the SUV. Police say 42-year-old Marlene Zacevich-Rodriguez was arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault.

The Denver Post reports (http://goo.gl/IRBqj3 ) the investigation is ongoing, but detectives say they do not believe Tade was targeted because of his job.

Booking documents do not indicate if Zacevich-Rodriguez has hired an attorney.

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Pinkett Smith says Oscars backlash not really about Oscars

NEW YORK (AP)  Jada Pinkett Smith says the backlash to the all-white acting nominees for the Academy Awards "isn't really about the Oscars."

Pinkett Smith on Monday said she wouldn't attend or watch the Feb. 28 ceremony. A video she posted helped prompt calls for a boycott of the awards show.

In another video posted Wednesday by "Entertainment Tonight" she says, "This whole Oscar controversy isn't really about the Oscars."

FILE - In this Feb. 24, 2015 file photo, Jada Pinkett Smith arrives at the world premiere of "Focus" at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. Pinkett Smith says the backlash to the all-white acting nominees for the Academy Awards isnt really about the Oscars. Pinkett Smith on Monday, Jan. 18, 2016, said she wouldnt attend or watch the Feb. 28 ceremony in a video that helped prompt calls for a boycott of the Academy Awards. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)

Pinkett Smith says her plea was about black people taking back their power in an industry that doesn't value people of color.
Mexican state lawmaker to be questioned about 'El Chapo'

MEXICO CITY (AP)  A state lawmaker from Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's home of Sinaloa has been brought in to speak to investigators about her relationship with the recently recaptured drug lord, Mexico's attorney general's office said late Wednesday.

Federal police were transporting Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez to Mexico City for questioning regarding an investigation into her alleged use of fraudulent documents to visit Guzman in April in the maximum security prison he would escape from a couple of months later.

The lawmaker has not been charged with any crime, but she resigned her position with the opposition National Action Party on Wednesday.

On Monday, El Universal newspaper published an interview with Attorney General Arely Gomez in which she said the government believed Sanchez spent New Year's Eve with Guzman in Sinaloa.
GM unites car-sharing services under new brand 'Maven'

DETROIT (AP)  The final destination is a mystery, but General Motors is taking another step on its fast-moving journey into new ways of getting around.

The company on Thursday announced that it's formed a brand called "Maven" that will run its car-sharing ventures, including a new one that will begin competing with ZipCar next month in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and spread to other metro areas later this year.

GM executives said they expect their main business model of selling cars to people will continue to be large, but they also see big changes coming with ride- and car-sharing.

In this Jan. 4, 2013 photo, Lyft driver Nancy Tcheou waits in her car after dropping off a passenger as a taxi cab passes her in San Francisco. The final destination is a mystery, but General Motors is taking another step on its fast-moving journey into new ways of getting around. The company on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016, announced that its formed a brand called Maven that will run its car-sharing ventures, including a new one that will begin competing with ZipCar next month in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and spread to other metro areas later this year. GM executives said they expect their main business model of selling cars to people will continue to be large, but they also see big changes coming with ride- and car-sharing. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

"We see significant opportunity as that change occurs," GM President Dan Ammann said. "We very much as a company want to make sure we're at the forefront of that."

The unveiling of Maven comes on the heels of two new mobility deals announced by GM this year: a $500 million investment in ride-hailing company Lyft and the purchasing of the remnants of defunct ride-hailing company Sidecar.

Maven already has 21 parking spaces and new GM vehicles assigned to the area around the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor, including spots in dormitory lots. It's also expanding a residential car-sharing project to more apartment buildings in New York City and to Chicago.

The Ann Arbor project will let people rent cars for as little as $6 per hour through a smart-phone app that connects to the cars' OnStar system. Customers will be able to sign up for the cars and remotely unlock them through the app.

The service is recruiting customers and is in testing now, but should be open to the public in February, said Julia Steyn, GM vice president of urban mobility.

As recently as last year, GM executives seemed nonplussed by trends toward a transportation-sharing economy, but Ammann said plans were in the works long ago with the 200-mile Chevrolet Bolt electric car and deals in the works.

The company doesn't expect a huge boost in revenue initially, but with 5 million to 6 million people worldwide already sharing vehicles, "we see it as a real commercial opportunity," Ammann said.

For now, Lyft will remain outside the Maven brand, but GM sees it as a way to deploy self-driving Bolts in limited geographic areas, Ammann said, declining to estimate just when that will happen.

Automakers have been poking around new mobility for a while. In 2008, Daimler AG started Car2Go, a car-sharing service that now operates in 29 European and North American cities. Last year, Daimler bought RideScout, an Austin, Texas, app that shows the fastest way to get somewhere using buses, bikes and other transportation.

BMW AG operates its own car-sharing service, DriveNow, in nine European cities. Toyota Motor Corp. is part of a program in Grenoble, France, that lets people take short trips in tiny electric cars. Honda Motor Co. partnered with ZipCar, providing a fleet of Honda Fits for one-way rental.

Ford Motor Co. last year started a car-sharing service called GoDrive in London, which lets people use 50 cars across 20 locations. Drivers can book and access their cars through a mobile phone app. In Bangalore, India, Ford is testing the idea of a small group of co-workers or families sharing one vehicle.

Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford said the company understands some of its experiments will fail, and others could change dramatically. He also said Ford will likely find partners or acquire companies just like GM has done, along with doing some projects on its own. But he says it's no longer enough to just make and sell cars without addressing those who want to share vehicles or hail rides.

"We have to do both," Ford said last week. "One thing we can't afford to do is put our head in the sand and wish it weren't so. It is so."

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Auto Writer Dee-Ann Durbin contributed to this report.
The Afghan reporters recognized the voice threatening them with death on the Islamic State group's local radio station. It was a former colleague, who knows their names and where they work.

The threats were made during a discussion program on 'Voice of the Caliphate,' an elusive radio station operated by one of the extremist group's newest affiliates. The so-called Khorasan Province has battled Afghan forces and the Taliban alike, carving out an enclave in Nangarhar, a rugged eastern province bordering Pakistan.

It has adopted the media strategy of its mother organization in Syria and Iraq, including the production of grisly, professionally made videos showing battles and the killing of captives. But in impoverished Afghanistan, where few have access to the Internet, radio could prove more effective at recruiting fighters and silencing critics.

Fear: An Afghan shopkeeper, right, listens to Islamic State Radio at his shop in Jalalabad, capital of Nangarhar province, Afghanistan. In the impoverished country where few have access to the Internet, radio could prove more effective at recruiting fighters and silencing critics

The group is actively targeting other media outlets to prevent them from competing with its chilling broadcasts. Militants bombed a building housing two radio stations in the provincial capital, Jalalabad, in October, and attacked the local offices of the independent Pajhwok news agency and Voice of America in July.

The menacing broadcast in mid-December, in which a former local radio broadcaster called on reporters to either join IS or risk being hunted down and killed, could be heard across Jalalabad.

'It is a great concern for us because he knows all the journalists who are working locally,' said Shir Sha Hamdard, chairman of the Journalists' Union of Eastern Afghanistan.

'He also knows that as journalists we do not take sides and that our only weapon is the pen. We've tried to talk to representatives of IS to make sure they know this but we haven't been successful,' he said. He and other Jalalabad-based reporters asked that The Associated Press not name the IS broadcaster for their own safety.

IS radio can be heard across Nangarhar on an FM frequency for 90 minutes a day in both the Pashto and Dari languages. Programs include news, interviews, vitriol against the Afghan government and the Taliban, recruitment propaganda, and devotional music in multiple languages.

The message is clear: the Afghan government is a doomed 'puppet regime' of the Americans. The Taliban are a spent force hijacked by Pakistan. The caliphate is coming.

'Soon our black flag will be flying over the (presidential) palace in Kabul,' an announcer crowed in a recent broadcast.

The IS affiliate 'is against everything  free media, civil society, education, all of which they say are secular, un-Islamic,' said Haroon Nasir, a civil society activist in Nangarhar. He said the message likely resonates among young men in impoverished rural areas, where after nearly 15 years of war many have soured on both the U.S.-backed government and the Taliban.

In those areas  which make up most of Afghanistan  Internet access is spotty at best, and computers and smartphones are a luxury. Just 10 percent of Afghanistan's 30 million people have access to the Internet.

But nearly everyone has a radio.

Chilling: The message on the radio is clear - the Afghan government is a doomed 'puppet regime' of the Americans. The Taliban are a spent force hijacked by Pakistan. The caliphate is coming

A 2014 study by Altai Consulting found that 175 radio and 75 television stations had been set up since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that toppled the Taliban  which had one radio network and banned television. Wind-up radios that operate without electricity or even batteries have been widely distributed since then.

IS militants are believed to use mobile broadcasting units and cross back and forth along the porous border with Pakistan, making them difficult to track. The National Directorate of Security, the Afghan intelligence agency, did not respond to requests for comment.

Hazrat Hussain Mashriqiwal, the spokesman for the Nangarhar police chief, said 'Voice of the Caliphate' broadcasts had been banned and were rarely picked up, especially in Jalalabad.

But residents tell a different story. Jalalabad shopkeeper Janat Khan said IS radio is popular chiefly due to its novelty. 'Most people are listening to them because they want to know about Daesh and its strategy,' he said, referring to the extremist group by its Arabic acronym. 'The preachers are strong, their message is clear  they talk against the Taliban and against (President Ashraf) Ghani's government.'

Although IS and the Taliban both want to impose a harsh version of Islamic rule, they are bitterly divided over leadership and strategy, with the Taliban narrowly focused on Afghanistan and IS bent on establishing a worldwide caliphate.

Tuning in: An Afghan shopkeeper, listens to Islamic State Radio at his shop in Jalalabad, capital of Nangarhar province. The radio address spreads fear and works as recruitment for ISIS

The U.S. State Department recently added the IS Afghan affiliate to its list of foreign terrorist organizations. It said the group emerged in January 2015 and is mainly made up of disenchanted former Taliban fighters.

Over the last six months the group has taken over four Nangarhar districts, where it has imposed the same violent interpretation of Islamic law championed by the IS group in Syria and Iraq, including the public execution of alleged informers and other enemies. In August, students at Nangarhar University staged a pro-IS demonstration. Security forces swooped in to make arrests and have since cracked down on campus activism nationwide.

As the group has expanded its reach, its media strategy has grown more sophisticated and more brutal.

'They have not only made every attempt to promote themselves through all mediums from mainstream media to social media, but they have also resorted to coercing tactics to force local media to publish their news and follow their agenda,' said Najib Sharifi, director of the Afghan Journalists' Safety Committee.
Pakistan university attack shatters dreams, stokes fear

CHARSADDA, Pakistan (AP)  When Islamic militants stormed the university campus in this Pakistani town, chemistry professor Hamid Hussain was carrying a concealed pistol. Locking his students in his classroom he opened fire on the assailants, buying his pupils enough time to escape before he was gunned down.

The survival of Hussain's students in a massacre that left 20 others dead is a legacy of a bloodbath that targeted another school in northwestern Pakistan two years earlier. After that 2014 attack, in which 150 people, mostly children, were killed, the government trained educators to carry concealed weapons so they could be a first line of defense  giving security forces time to react.

Hussain, the 32-year-old son of an impoverished shopkeeper who despite his humble heritage earned a PhD in chemistry in Britain, was praised as a hero Thursday for his quick action. His students managed to get away as he single-handedly took on the militants during the assault Wednesday that killed 19 students and another professor and wounded 22.

Sajjad Hussain, right, brother of a slain teacher Hamid Hussain, holds Hamid's son Hashir Hussain while villagers visit his house for condolences in Swabi, Pakistan, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. Assistant chemistry professor Hamid Hussain was carrying a concealed pistol when Islamic militants stormed his university campus in northwestern Pakistan, opening fire on the assailants and buying his students enough time to escape before he was gunned down along with another teacher and 19 students in an hours-long siege that ended with army killing all four attackers. (AP Photo/Riaz Khan)

Hussain was shot twice, once in the head and once in the chest, just above his heart. His brother, Ashfaq Hussain, noticed a cut on his elder sibling's right hand  an injury, he suggested, that could have been caused when he tried to reload his 9mm pistol and a sign of his limited training.

In his home village of Swebi, Hussain's relatives mourned the death of a loving family man who dreamed of touring the world. Hussain was the first in his family to finish secondary school, let alone university, and his father had scrimped and saved to fund his son's studies.

Among the mourners was Hussain's 3-year-old son, clutching a bag of multi-colored candies. Hussain had celebrated his son's birthday just a few days earlier, inviting some of his students to the party.

Wednesday's attack raised grim echoes of the 2014 school massacre in the nearby city of Peshawar, raising questions about whether security forces are able to protect the country's educational institutions from extremists.

A breakaway Taliban faction claimed responsibility for the assault  the same faction, headed by Khalifa Umar Mansoor, that claimed the Peshawar school assault.

The university in Charsadda is named after one of Pakistan's greatest secular leaders who often espoused communist philosophy, Abdul Ghaffar Khan, also known as Bacha Khan. The attack coincided with the 28th anniversary of Khan's death on Jan. 20, 1988.

Girls' schools have been particularly vulnerable to extremists' attempts to prevent Western-style education. Malala Yousafzai was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize after the teenager was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman in 2012 for her vocal support for gender equality and education for girls. She said she was "heartbroken" by Wednesday's massacre.

In the Swiss resort of Davos, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that his country was determined to fight extremism in the wake of the Charsadda attack. "Our resolve to fight against these elements is getting stronger every day," he said, speaking at a debate moderated by The Associated Press at the World Economic Forum.

Sharif said the attack was the result of "blowback" from Pakistani authorities' efforts to dismantle extremists' infrastructure and hideouts. "The terrorists are on the run," he contended. "Their ability to strike back has been considerably destroyed."

The army has been pounding militant hideouts in the tribal areas on the border with Afghanistan since June 2014, disrupting operations for the Pakistani Taliban militants, who have been waging a war against the state for over a decade, killing tens of thousands. Because of that campaign, analysts say the extremists have turned to attacking soft targets such as schools.

As families buried the dead on Thursday, Pakistanis observed a day of nationwide mourning, with flags on parliament and other official buildings flying at half-staff.

There was tight security at all Pakistani schools and educational institutions, where schoolbags were scanned and teachers and students checked before being allowed in.

Cricket legend-turned-politician Imran Khan, who heads the party that rules the northwestern provincial government, said it was impossible to provide police guards at every school or educational center. He said there are around 64,000 educational institutions in his province alone.

Khan added that there had been intelligence reports of a threat to schools some days earlier, although provincial Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak said the threats were never specific. He said the university administration refused a proposal of setting up a police checkpoint on the campus, but that police patrols toured there twice a day.

He said the timely reaction of the police prevented the death toll rising even higher.

Several Pakistani opposition politicians criticized the government's efforts to combat militancy. A National Action Plan was drawn up in the wake of the Peshawar school killing and included plans to set up counterterrorism cells and intelligence-sharing arrangements  neither of which has happened.

Speaking in his home village, just after his brother's funeral, Ashfaq Hussain's sadness was tinged with frustration. "If people can stand up to take bullets to their chest, why can't the government take action?" he said.

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Shahzad reported from Islamabad. Associated Press Writer Angela Charlton in Davos, Switzerland, contributed to this report.

Pakistani villagers offer prayers during the funeral of a victim killed in an attack on Bacha Khan University in Charsadda, Pakistan, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. Pakistan observed a day of mourning Thursday after a deadly attack by Islamic militants who stormed a northwestern university the day before, gunning down students and teachers and spreading terror before the four gunmen were slain by the military. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)

Pakistani university students pray for victims of Bacha Khan University, in Lahore, Pakistan, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. Pakistan observed a day of mourning Thursday after a deadly attack by Islamic militants who stormed a northwestern university the day before, gunning down students and teachers and spreading terror before the four gunmen were slain by the military. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)

Pakistani students pray for victims of Bacha Khan University, at a school in Karachi, Pakistan, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. Pakistan observed a day of mourning Thursday after a deadly attack by Islamic militants who stormed a northwestern university the day before, gunning down students and teachers and spreading terror before the four gunmen were slain by the military. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)

Pakistani students leave a local university during a security drill in Lahore, Pakistan, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. Pakistan observed a day of mourning Thursday after a deadly attack by Islamic militants who stormed a northwestern university the day before, gunning down students and teachers and spreading terror before the four gunmen were slain by the military. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)
UK judge: Putin 'probably approved' killing of ex-KGB agent

LONDON (AP)  Almost a decade after former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko lay dying in a London hospital bed, a British judge has concluded who poisoned him: two Russian men, acting at the behest of Russia's security services, probably with approval from President Vladimir Putin.

That finding prompted sharp exchanges Thursday between London and Moscow, and a diplomatic dilemma for both countries. With Russia and the West inching closer together after years of strain, neither side wants a new feud  even over a state-sanctioned murder on British soil.

Judge Robert Owen, who led the public inquiry into the killing, said he was certain that two Russians with links to the security services had given Litvinenko green tea containing a fatal dose of radioactive polonium-210 during a meeting at a London hotel. He said there was a "strong probability" that Russia's FSB, the successor to the Soviet Union's KGB spy agency, directed the killing and that the operation was "probably approved" by Putin, then as now the president of Russia.

Marina Litvinenko, widow of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, places her arm around her son Anatoly during a press conference in London, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. Judge Robert Owen said Thursday he is certain that Litvinenko was given tea laced with a fatal dose of polonium-210 at a London hotel in November 2006. He says there is a "strong probability" that the FSB directed the killing and the operation was "probably approved" by Russian President Vladimir Putin. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

Before he died, Litvinenko accused Putin of ordering his killing, but Owen's report is the first public official statement linking the Russian president to the crime, and it sent a chilling jolt through U.K.-Russia relations.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said the evidence in the report of "state-sponsored" killing was "absolutely appalling." Britain summoned the Russian ambassador for a dressing-down and imposed an asset freeze on the two main suspects: Andrei Lugovoi, now a Russian lawmaker, and Dmitry Kovtun.

Home Secretary Theresa May said the involvement of the Russian state was "a blatant and unacceptable breach of the most fundamental tenets of international law and of civilized behavior."

Moscow has always strongly denied being involved in Litvinenko's death and accused Britain of conducting a secretive and politically motivated inquiry.

Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the "quasi-investigation" would "further poison the atmosphere of our bilateral relations."

He said the report "cannot be accepted by us as a verdict."

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zhakarova said the British inquiry was neither public nor transparent, saying it had turned into a "shadow puppet theater."

"There was one goal from the beginning: slander Russia and slander its officials," she told reporters in Moscow.

Litvinenko fled to Britain in 2000 and became a critic of Russia's security services and of Putin, whom he accused of links to organized crime and other alleged transgressions including pedophilia, Owen said in the report. He was a very vocal annoyance, feeding inside information about Russia's secrets to Western intelligence services, and  the judge said  was widely regarded within the FSB as a traitor.

"There were powerful motives for organizations and individuals within the Russian state to take action against Mr. Litvinenko, including killing him," Owen wrote in the 326-page report.

The judge said the case for Russian state involvement was circumstantial but strong. Owen said Litvinenko had "personally targeted President Putin himself with highly personal public criticism," allied himself with Putin's opponents and was believed to be working for British intelligence.

Litvinenko had co-written a book in which he blamed former FSB superiors of carrying out bombings of Russian apartment buildings in 1999 that were blamed on Chechen militants. He also accused Putin of being behind the 2006 contract-style slaying of Anna Politkovskaya, a journalist who exposed human rights abuses in Chechnya.

Owen said the method of killing, with radioactive poison, fit with the deaths of several other opponents of Putin and his government, and noted that Putin had "supported and protected" Lugovoi since the killing, even awarding him a medal for service to the nation.

"I am sure that Mr. Lugovoi and Mr. Kovtun placed the polonium-210 in the teapot at the Pine Bar on 1 November 2006," he wrote  probably under the direction of the FSB.

He said the operation to kill Litvinenko was "probably" approved by then-FSB head Nikolai Patrushev, now head of Putin's security council. He said it was "likely" the FSB chief would have sought Putin's approval for an operation to kill Litvinenko.

Marina Litvinenko, the spy's widow, said she was "very pleased that the words my husband spoke on his deathbed when he accused Mr. Putin have been proved by an English court."

She urged Cameron to expel Russian intelligence agents operating in Britain and impose economic sanctions and travel bans on Putin and other officials linked to what her lawyer, Ben Emmerson, called "a mini-act of nuclear terrorism on the streets of London."

"It's unthinkable that the prime minister would do nothing in the face of the damning findings," Marina Litvinenko told reporters.

Britain's scope for strong action is limited, however.

U.K.-Russian relations have remained chilly since the killing of Litvinenko, who was granted British citizenship shortly before his death, and worsened with Russia's involvement in the separatist fighting in Ukraine. But the inquiry's report comes as the two countries are cautiously trying to work together against the Islamic State group in Syria, and neither wants a major new rift.

May, the home secretary, announced asset freezes against Lugovoi and Kovtun, and said Interpol had issued notices calling for their arrest if they traveled abroad. Russia refuses to extradite them.

Lugovoi is now a member of the Russian parliament, which means he is immune from prosecution in his country. In an interview with The Associated Press, he called the British investigation a "spectacle."

"I think that  yet again  Great Britain has shown that anything that involves their political interests, they'll make a top priority," he said.

Lugovoi also claimed he would have liked to testify at the inquiry but "was not allowed." The judge said both Lugovoi and Kovtun declined to give evidence.

Kovtun, now described as a businessman, told the Tass news agency that the conclusions were based on "false evidence" presented in closed hearings.

Political figures in Russia have cast the political inquiry as politically driven by a hostile West, and have highlighted the fact that parts were held in private because Britain was unwilling to disclose intelligence material.

Vyacheslav Nikonov, a political analyst close to the Kremlin, called the case "a black box into which no one was allowed to look, except for the judge," and claimed "decisions were made for purely political reasons."

Dmitry Oreshkin, an opposition-minded Russian political analyst, said the findings meant "the relationship with the West will systematically get worse"  something that suited Putin's interests.

Owen, a retired High Court judge appointed by the government to head the inquiry, heard from dozens of witnesses during months of public hearings last year and also saw secret British intelligence evidence.

In his report, the judge laid out the overwhelming scientific evidence against Lugovoi and Kovtun, including a trail of radiation that stretched from the hotel teapot to the sink in Kovtun's room and even to Emirates Stadium, the home of the Arsenal soccer team where Lugovoi attended a game.

Litvinenko died after three agonizing weeks in which his hair fell out, he vomited blood and his organs failed. A urine test conducted by a doctor on a hunch shortly before Litvinenko's death revealed the presence of polonium-210, an isotope that is deadly if ingested in tiny quantities.

He lapsed into unconsciousness Nov. 22, after telling his wife he loved her and died of heart failure the next day. His body was so radioactive that he was buried in a lead-lined coffin in London's Highgate Cemetery.

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Associated Press writers Katherine Jacobsen, Lynn Berry and Vitnija Saldava in Moscow and Sylvia Hui in London contributed.

FILE - In this Friday, May 10, 2002 file photo Alexander Litvinenko, former KGB spy is photographed at his home in London. On Thursday Jan 21, 2016, British judge Robert Owen will release the long-awaited findings of a public inquiry into the killing of Litvinenko _ and is likely to point a finger at elements in the Russian state. (AP Photo/Alistair Fuller, File)

FILE - In this Tuesday, March 12, 2013 file photo, former KGB agent Andrei Lugovoi speaks at a news conference in Moscow, Russia, about the 2006 poisoning in London of former Russian agent turned Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko. British police have accused Lugovoi and his associate Dmitry Kovtun, the two Russians Litvinenko met for tea, of carrying out the killing, sponsored by elements in the Kremlin. Both deny involvement, and Moscow refuses to extradite them. On Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016, British judge Robert Owen will release the long-awaited findings of a public inquiry into the killing of Litvinenko  and is likely to point a finger at elements in the Russian state. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze, File)

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting of the presidential education council in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. Putin probably approved a plan by Russia's FSB security service to kill a former agent turned Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko who died after drinking tea laced with radioactive poison, a British judge said on Thursday in a report that led Moscow to accuse Britain of souring bilateral relations. (Sergei Ilnitsky/Pool Photo via AP)

Marina Litvinenko, widow of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, reads a statement outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. President Vladimir Putin probably approved a plan by Russia's FSB security service to kill former agent Alexander Litvinenko, a British judge said Thursday. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Marina Litvinenko, right, widow of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, arrives at the Royal Courts of Justice for the Litvinenko Inquiry statement following publication of the report in London, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. A British judge is set to release the findings of a lengthy public inquiry into the 2006 poisoning death of Litvinenko. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Marina Litvinenko, second right in black coat, widow of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, arrives at The Royal Courts of Justice for the Litvinenko Inquiry statement following publication of the report in London, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. A British judge is set to release the findings of a lengthy public inquiry into the 2006 poisoning death of Litvinenko. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

A taxi stops in front of the Millennium Hotel on Grosvenor Square in London, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. British judge Robert Owen is set to release Thursday the findings of a lengthy public inquiry into the 2006 poisoning death of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko. One day in 2006, Litvinenko a former KGB agent who claimed to know dark Kremlin secrets had tea with two Russian men at the hotel. Three weeks later, he died of radioactive poisoning  after making a deathbed claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered his killing. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

A dog walks in front of the Millennium Hotel, center, on Grosvenor Square in London, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. British judge Robert Owen is set to release Thursday the findings of a lengthy public inquiry into the 2006 poisoning death of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko. One day in 2006, Litvinenko a former KGB agent who claimed to know dark Kremlin secrets had tea with two Russian men at the hotel. Three weeks later, he died of radioactive poisoning  after making a deathbed claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered his killing. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

FILE - In this July 26, 2010 file photo, Viktor Ivanov, head of the Russian anti-narcotics agency, speaks at a news conference in Moscow. One day in 2006, a former KGB agent who claimed to know dark Kremlin secrets had tea with two Russian men at a London hotel. Three weeks later, he died of radioactive poisoning  after making a deathbed claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered his killing. Moscow has always denied involvement, and almost a decade on, no one has been brought to justice. On Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016, British judge Robert Owen will release the long-awaited findings of a public inquiry into the killing of Alexander Litvinenko  and is likely to point a finger at elements in the Russian state. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

FILE - In this Wednesday, June 5, 2013 file photo, Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, meets with Drug Control Agency Chief Viktor Ivanov at the International Anti-Drug Forum in Moscow, Russia. One day in 2006, a former KGB agent who claimed to know dark Kremlin secrets had tea with two Russian men at a London hotel. Three weeks later, he died of radioactive poisoning  after making a deathbed claim that Putin had ordered his killing. Moscow has always denied involvement, and almost a decade on, no one has been brought to justice. On Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016, British judge Robert Owen will release the long-awaited findings of a public inquiry into the killing of Alexander Litvinenko  and is likely to point a finger at elements in the Russian state. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev, File)

FILE - In this Wednesday, June 5, 2013 file photo, Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, shakes hands with Drug Control Agency Chief Viktor Ivanov at the International Anti-Drug Forum in Moscow, Russia. One day in 2006, a former KGB agent who claimed to know dark Kremlin secrets had tea with two Russian men at a London hotel. Three weeks later, he died of radioactive poisoning  after making a deathbed claim that Putin had ordered his killing. Moscow has always denied involvement, and almost a decade on, no one has been brought to justice. On Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016, British judge Robert Owen will release the long-awaited findings of a public inquiry into the killing of Alexander Litvinenko  and is likely to point a finger at elements in the Russian state. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev, File)

FILE - In this Tuesday, March 12, 2013 file photo, former KGB agent Andrei Lugovoi speaks at a news conference in Moscow, Russia, about the 2006 poisoning in London of former Russian agent turned Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko. British police have accused Lugovoi and his associate Dmitry Kovtun, the two Russians Litvinenko met for tea, of carrying out the killing, sponsored by elements in the Kremlin. Both deny involvement, and Moscow refuses to extradite them. On Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016, British judge Robert Owen will release the long-awaited findings of a public inquiry into the killing of Litvinenko  and is likely to point a finger at elements in the Russian state. (AP Photo/Misha Japaridze, File)

FILE - In this Nov. 24, 2006 file photo, Andrei Lugovoi, left, a former KGB officer, speaks to the media as his associate Dmitry Kovtun listens in Moscow, Russia. British police have accused Kovtun and Lugovoi, the two Russians former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko met for tea, of carrying out the killing, sponsored by elements in the Kremlin. Both deny involvement, and Moscow refuses to extradite them. On Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016, British judge Robert Owen will release the long-awaited findings of a public inquiry into the killing of Litvinenko  and is likely to point a finger at elements in the Russian state. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

FILE - In this Nov. 1, 2007 file photo, Andrei Lugovoi, left, a former KGB officer, and his associate Dmitry Kovtun attend a news conference in Moscow, Russia. British police have accused Kovtun and Lugovoi, the two Russians former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko met for tea, of carrying out the killing, sponsored by elements in the Kremlin. Both deny involvement, and Moscow refuses to extradite them. On Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016, British judge Robert Owen will release the long-awaited findings of a public inquiry into the killing of Litvinenko  and is likely to point a finger at elements in the Russian state. (AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev, File)

FILE - In this Nov. 1, 2007 file photo, Andrei Lugovoi, left, a former KGB officer, and his associate Dmitry Kovtun agttend a news conference in Moscow, Russia. British police have accused Kovtun and Lugovoi, the two Russians former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko met for tea, of carrying out the killing, sponsored by elements in the Kremlin. Both deny involvement, and Moscow refuses to extradite them. On Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016, British judge Robert Owen will release the long-awaited findings of a public inquiry into the killing of Litvinenko  and is likely to point a finger at elements in the Russian state. (AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev, File)

Marina Litvinenko, widow of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, second left, with her solicitor Elena Tsirlina, leaves Matrix Chambers on Grays Inn following a press conference and media interviews in London, Thursday Jan. 21, 2016. President Vladimir Putin probably approved a plan by Russia's FSB security service to kill former agent Alexander Litvinenko, a British judge said Thursday. (AP Photo/Tim Ireland)

Marina Litvinenko, widow of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, center, shakes hands with a police officer, next to her solicitor Elena Tsirlina, left, as she leaves Matrix Chambers on Grays Inn following a press conference and media interviews in London, Thursday Jan. 21, 2016. President Vladimir Putin probably approved a plan by Russia's FSB security service to kill former agent Alexander Litvinenko, a British judge said Thursday. (AP Photo/Tim Ireland)

Marina Litvinenko, widow of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, leaves Matrix Chambers on Grays Inn following a press conference and media interviews in London, Thursday Jan. 21, 2016. President Vladimir Putin probably approved a plan by Russia's FSB security service to kill former agent Alexander Litvinenko, a British judge said Thursday. (AP Photo/Tim Ireland)

Anatoly Litvinenko, son of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, picks up a copy of the report during a press conference with his mother Marina Litvinenko in London, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. Judge Robert Owen said Thursday he is certain that Litvinenko was given tea laced with a fatal dose of polonium-210 at a London hotel in November 2006. He says there is a "strong probability" that the FSB directed the killing and the operation was "probably approved" by Russian President Vladimir Putin. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at a meeting of the presidential education council in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. Putin probably approved a plan by Russia's FSB security service to kill a former agent turned Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko who died after drinking tea laced with radioactive poison, a British judge said on Thursday in a report that led Moscow to accuse Britain of souring bilateral relations. (Sergei Ilnitsky/Pool Photo via AP)
The Latest: US drops rivalry to multilateral Argentine loans

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP)  The latest developments from the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, where top executives and world leaders are gathered this week. All times local.

10:35 p.m.

The United States says it will no longer oppose lending to Argentina from multilateral banks.

In this handout picture released by the Office of the President of Argentina, President Mauricio Macri, right, shakes hands with British Prime Minister David Cameron, during a meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. (The Office of the President of Argentina Photo via AP)

The U.S. Treasury statement follows a meeting between U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew and Argentine Finance Minister Alfonso Prat-Gay at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday.

It says the policy change was prompted by the Argentine government's "progress on key issues and positive economic policy trajectory."

Argentina is in the process of renegotiating about $10 billion of unpaid debt to US hedge funds that refused to give it debt relief at restructurings in 2005 an 2010.

Market-friendly Mauricio Macri took office as Argentine president in January, replacing Cristina Fernandez, who frequently clashed with Washington.

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9:15 p.m.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden saw something surprising at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos.

Argentine President Mauricio Macri asked political rival Sergio Massa to join him and Biden in a photo during a meeting Thursday. Massa ran against Macri in last year's presidential election.

Biden commented, "I want the American press to observe something. The new president brought a member of the opposition with him. That's what we've got to do at home."

Biden had a day packed with diplomatic meetings in Davos on Thursday, including talks with leaders of Israel, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq and Cyprus.

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8:15 p.m.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his government is working on ways to boost the economy beyond a previously planned $10 billion deficit.

Speaking Thursday to The Associated Press at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, Trudeau said, "We will do what needs to be done." He didn't elaborate.

The drop in oil prices has hit Canada's economy hard, and the Canadian dollar is diving too. Trudeau has vowed to spend billions on infrastructure in an effort to stimulate the economy in a budget being announced in the coming weeks.

Trudeau also said Canada is "committed to continuing" in the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State extremists, even though there Canada is pulling out warplanes. Speaking to young entrepreneurs in Davos, he said, "Yes there's a need for ... military engagement."

He also described Canada's decision to welcome refugees from Syria's civil war as "a punch in the face" to the Islamic State group.

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6:55 p.m.

On the day the World Food Program joined more than 100 other humanitarian agencies in an appeal to bring about an end to the conflict in Syria, the U.N. agency's top official says 400,000 people in the country remain isolated in 15 besieged areas.

In an interview Thursday with The Associated Press, WFP Executive Director Ertharin Cousin says recent cease fires that have allowed the organization to reach places like the town of Madaya "must be expanded further."

Cousin said the WFP is reaching, along with partners, around 3.9 million people in Syria and supporting approximately 1.9 million people outside Syria with food assistance. The challenge, she said, is that over 7 million people need assistance.

The WFP is a regular presence in Davos and Cousin says its presence allows it to "give visibility" to issues business people don't see.

She says donors have "never been more generous but the challenges have never been greater."

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6:40 p.m.

Argentina's President Mauricio Macri has met with British Prime Minister David Cameron in an attempt to improve relations that have long been frosty, especially over the disputed Falkland Islands.

Macri says he wants the two sides "to talk about all of the pending issues," including the Falklands. Britain lost and then recaptured the South Atlantic islands after an Argentine invasion in 1982.

Macri says the two sides are acknowledging differences, but are talking.

Thursday's meeting took place during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. A spokesperson for Cameron said the prime minister maintained Britain's position and that a recent referendum showed "the islanders wish to remain British."

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6:25 p.m.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is playing down an Israeli plan to seize 370 acres (150 hectares) of West Bank land, calling it a "routine" survey of land whose fate hasn't yet been fully determined.

The Israeli leader spoke to reporters Thursday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he had meetings with business and world leaders including U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry.

The U.S. State Department has condemned the planned expropriation of land in the West Bank near the city of Jericho as incompatible with Israel's avowed commitment to a two-state solution. Palestinians and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also condemned the plan announced Wednesday by Israeli's Defense Ministry.

Netanyahu said "there has been no decision on what to do with this land" and reiterated his longstanding "open call" for peace talks with the Palestinians.

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5:45 p.m.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is encouraging the leaders of ethnically split Cyprus to seize the positive momentum in ongoing reunification talks.

Ban lauded Nicos Anastasiades, the Cyprus Greek Cypriot president, and breakaway Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci on making significant progress in eight months of talks and for demonstrating that they can reach compromises on thorny issues.

But he acknowledged after meeting both men Thursday in Davos that a "number of sensitive and difficult issues" still remain.

The U.N. chief also urged international actors, especially Cyprus' guarantor powers Greece, Turkey and Britain, to do their utmost to support the leaders in the talks.

Cyprus was split in 1974 when Turkey invaded after a coup aimed at union with Greece.

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5:10 p.m.

The vice president of China says the country "has the confidence and capacity to maintain medium to high growth."

Concerns about a slowdown in the world's second-largest economy have roiled financial markets in recent weeks. China's growth fell to a 25-year low of 6.9 percent last year.

Li Yuanchao said that after years of super-high growth, China is entering another phase, dubbed the "new normal."

The country is trying to shift its focus from an overreliance on manufacturing toward more consumer spending and small business. Li said: "The economy will grow more steadily and have more diversified driving forces."

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4:30 p.m.

The office of the U.N. special envoy for Syria says peace talks initially scheduled to start Monday between government and opposition representatives in Geneva are likely to be delayed by a few days.

Jessy Chahine, spokeswoman for special envoy Staffan de Mistura, said in an email Thursday that the start date was likely to slip "for practical reasons"  without elaborating  but that "we are still aiming for that date and we will in any event assess progress over the weekend."

The intra-Syrian talks are set to become the third in Geneva since the conflict erupted nearly five years ago, leaving at least 250,000 dead. Diplomats and other officials say the makeup of the invitees list is among the sticking points.

The annual World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos is about global diplomacy.

In Davos, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the talks will likely be delayed "a day or two." Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davotoglu, Syria's northern neighbor, insisted no "terrorist groups" should be allowed to take part.

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2:45 p.m.

British Prime Minister David Cameron says he is not asking for anything "outrageous" from European Union leaders so that he can campaign for the country's continued membership in the 28-country bloc.

In a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Cameron said Thursday that his aim is to "secure the future of Britain in a reformed European Union."

He said that if a deal does not emerge at a February summit of EU leaders then he can wait. His party's manifesto pledge was to hold a referendum by the end of 2017.

If offered a good deal at the summit, Cameron said he would take it.

Cameron laid out his four reform proposals. He wants changes to rules affecting migration and benefits; to "hard-wire" competitiveness into the EU's DNA; to make sure non-euro countries like Britain aren't discriminated by the 19 EU countries that use the euro currency; and to get Britain out of the idea of an "ever-closer union."

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1:20 p.m.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif says his country is increasingly determined to fight extremism after a university attack by Islamic militants that killed 21.

Sharif, speaking Thursday in the Swiss resort of Davos, said, the country's resolve to fight against these elements is "getting stronger every day."

He said the attack was the result of "blowback" after Pakistani authorities' efforts to dismantle extremists' infrastructure and hide-outs.

Even as his country mourned the students killed at Bacha Khan university in the town of Charsadda, Sharif insisted that the extremists' "ability to strike back has been considerably destroyed." The terrorists are "on the run," he insisted.

Sharif was speaking at a debate moderated by The Associated Press at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

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1:10 p.m.

US Treasury chief Jack Lew says the beneficial effect of lower oil prices on consumers may not yet be fully apparent.

The plunge in oil prices has unnerved financial markets in recent weeks as investors worry it means the global economy is weakening and requiring less energy.

But in a panel in Davos, Switzerland, Lew stressed how the drop in oil prices acts like a tax cut for the majority of people and countries, which are net oil consumers.

He said consumers "have more money in their pockets" and that people are either spending or improving their household finances by saving or reducing debt. In either case, he said, that strengthens the economy in the longer term. "I don't think that money is just evaporating," he said.

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12:30 a.m.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras says the European Union needs to come up with a comprehensive package of measures to deal with its migrant crisis  including more involvement by Europe-wide bodies in transit countries like his and a properly thought-out and paid-for relocation and resettlement plan.

Dismissing suggestions that his country has been reluctant to allow a bigger EU involvement in the eastern Greek islands, Tsipras said Thursday that Europe has to cooperate more on the many difficulties it faces, not least the refugee crisis and the economic problems afflicting the euro currency.

Greece has been at the heart of both crises, and last year Tsipras signed the country's third international bailout agreement in a little more than five years.

Tsipras told a panel at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos that "we need more Europe" that is focused on building democracy, solidarity and employment.

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12:15 p.m.

European leaders said they will do what they can to make sure British Prime Minister David Cameron can support his country's continued future in the European Union in a referendum expected this year.

Mark Rutte, the Dutch Prime minister whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the 28-country EU, said Thursday he's "fairly optimistic" a deal with Britain will emerge in February, but that he's "not absolutely sure."

Addressing a panel at the World Economic Forum at the Swiss ski resort of Davos, Rutte voiced his strong support for Britain's continued membership of the EU as the country is outward-looking and trade-oriented.

Cameron is seeking a series of reforms on things like benefits, powers for national parliaments and movement of people. He has voiced his hope that a successful renegotiation will lead to the British people backing Britain's future in the referendum that is expected this year.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said it would be a "tragedy" if Britain left the EU  so-called Brexit.

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11:45 a.m.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble says Europe will have to invest billions to deal with the refugee crisis that it's faced over the past year.

Schaeuble indicated his strong support for efforts to deal with problems in the transit countries at the forefront of the crisis, such as Greece and Italy. He didn't respond to a question on how many more refugees Germany can take in the current year.

At a panel at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, Schaeuble said Thursday it would be a "disgrace" if Europe became a fortress.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, said Europe has to come up with a comprehensive strategy to deal with the refugee crisis within the next two months.

Rutte said nobody was talking about ending the Schengen Agreement, which allows free movement of people across European borders.

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11:15 a.m.

Christine Lagarde has received the backing of both Britain and Germany to head the International Monetary Fund for a second term.

British finance chief George Osborne issued a statement Thursday saying his government nominated her to stay in the post. The German government quickly followed, with a finance ministry statement saying Lagarde "was a circumspect and successful crisis manager during the difficult period after the financial crisis."

Countries individually nominate their preferred candidate.

At a panel in Davos, Switzerland, Lagarde said she was honored but did not want to confirm yet whether she would agree to stand again. She later told reporters that she was prepared to stay in the post if IMF member states would like her to stay.

The IMF has typically been run by a European official, while its sister organization, the World Bank, by an American. Developing countries have increasingly opposed this informal arrangement.

Lagarde, who is French, was in Davos to attend the World Economic Forum, a meeting of business leaders and public figures.

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11:00 a.m.

A Chinese market regulator says the country has no option but to support growth this year, using its large financial reserves if needed.

As concerns over a slowdown in the world's second-largest economy roil markets, Fang Xinghai, from China's Central Leading Group for Financial and Economic Affairs, said Thursday: "We cannot afford to let growth rate to fall too sharply, because that would ignite a lot of financial problems inside China. So we will have appropriately expansionary fiscal and financial policy this year."

At a panel in Davos, Switzerland, Ray Dalio, the chairman of Bridgewater Associates, said the biggest concern was China's currency. As it weakens, that will weigh on the global economy.

He said: "That happens at a time there is a weakness in the rest of the world."

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10:00 a.m.

The annual elite economic gathering in the Swiss Alps resort of Davos is about global diplomacy, too.

War and diplomatic tensions from the Mideast to South Asia are high on Thursday's agenda. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden is meeting with the leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan, and later Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu  all of whom are holding a flurry of talks with other envoys as well.

Britain's David Cameron, China's Vice President Li Yuanchao, and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu are taking the stage later Thursday at the World Economic Forum.

And U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, fresh from talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, is joining Davos with a full schedule.

US Vice-President Joe Biden, center, poses with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, left, and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for the media prior to a meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. Biden held a trilateral meeting with Ghani Sharif to help the two neighbors co-operate and co-ordinate on counter-terrorism measures, the White House said. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks at a session called Global Shapers on Pluralism, in Davos, Switzerland on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. Trudeau is attending the World Economic Forum where political, business and social leaders gather to discuss world agendas. (Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a panel session at the 46th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. The overarching theme of the meeting, which takes place from 20 to 23 January, is "Mastering the Fourth Industrial Revolution". (Laurent Gillieron/Keystone via AP)

Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao speaks at a special session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. World leaders are holding a flurry of diplomatic meetings at the World Economic Forum and worried CEOs are debating about how to deal with this year's volatile markets and low oil prices.(AP Photo/Michel Euler)

British Prime Minister David Cameron speaks during a panel session at the 46th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. The overarching theme of the meeting, which takes place from 20 to 23 January, is "Mastering the Fourth Industrial Revolution". (Laurent Gillieron/Keystone via AP)

US Secretary of State John Kerry, left, jokes with Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter, center, during a bilateral meeting at the 46th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. The overarching theme of the Meeting, which takes place from 20 to 23 January, is "Mastering the Fourth Industrial Revolution". (Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP)

President of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades shakes hands with Turkish Cypriot Leader Mustafa Akinci, right, in front of German Klaus Schwab, center, founder and president of the World Economic Forum, WEF, during a panel session at the 46th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. The overarching theme of the Meeting, which takes place from 20 to 23 January, is "Mastering the Fourth Industrial Revolution". (Laurent Gillieron/Keystone via AP)
Russia displays naval might off Syria's Mediterranean coast

ONBOARD THE VICE ADMIRAL KULAKOV (AP)  Russian warships equipped with an array of long-range missiles cruise off Syria's coast to back the air campaign in Syria and project Moscow's naval power worldwide.

The military demonstrated its might on Thursday by inviting a group of Moscow-based reporters on board the Vice Admiral Kulakov destroyer, which sailed alongside the flagship of the Russian naval group, the Varyag missile cruiser.

By establishing a long-term presence in the eastern Mediterranean, the Russian military has revived a Soviet-era capability to project naval power far from its borders.

Capt. 1st Rank Stanislav Varik the commander of the Russian navy destroyer Vice Admiral Kulakov, gestures as he speaks to reporters on board his ship in eastern Mediterranean on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. Russian warships equipped with an array of long-range missiles cruise off Syria's coast to back the air campaign in Syria and project Moscow's naval power in the Mediterranean. (AP Photo/Vladimir Isachenkov)

The display of Russia's military operations came before planned peace talks between the Syrian government and opposition next week in Geneva, which are meant to pave the way for a political settlement for Syria. Since Russia launched its bombing campaign in Syria on Sept. 30, its warplanes have flown more than 5,700 missions in support of Syrian government troops.

The warships, accompanied by support vessels, have rotated on duty off Syria's shores, reviving a Soviet-era practice when Soviet warships maintained a permanent vigil in the Mediterranean.

The Varyag has sailed from its Pacific port, while the Vice Admiral Kulakov has come from the Russian base of Severomorsk on the Kola Peninsula.

The bigger cruiser carries long-range anti-ship missiles and powerful air defense systems used to help protect the Russia air base and the warplanes operating from it.

The destroyer is armed with an array of anti-ship cruise missiles, torpedoes and anti-aircraft weapons, but its main mission is hunting for enemy submarines.

"My ship is in eastern Mediterranean to protect and defend other ships and cargo vessels and to provide search and rescue at sea if necessary," said Capt. 1st Grade Stanislav Varik, the commander of the destroyer.

He emphasized that his ship is optimized for engaging submarines, and added that his crew had successfully tracked several foreign submarines during its stint in the eastern Mediterranean.

"There are submarines belonging to several nations here, and we have spotted, identified their class and tracked some of them," he said without offering further details.

The Russian naval facility in the Syrian port of Tartus has served as the key supply and support point since Soviet times. It is now the only such facility outside the former Soviet Union.

Russian warships come here for refueling and get other supplies, and some get minor maintenance there.

The Varyag, the flagship of the navy's Pacific Fleet, has replaced its sister ship, the missile cruiser Moskva on a stint near Syria. The cruisers are equipped with long-range Fort air defense missiles, the navy equivalent of the famous S-300 Russian air defense systems.

Like the Moskva earlier, the Varyag has kept close to the shore to help protect Russian warplanes after Turkey downed a Russian jet in November.

A Russian navy helicopter takes off from the deck of the Russian destroyer Vice Admiral Kulakov on patrol in eastern Mediterranean on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. Russian warships equipped with an array of long-range missiles cruise off Syria's coast to back the air campaign in Syria and project Moscow's naval power in the Mediterranean. (AP Photo/Vladimir Isachenkov)

A Russian marine stands guard on deck of the Russian navy destroyer Vice Admiral Kulakov on patrol in eastern Mediterranean with the Russian missile cruiser Varyag visible at distance on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. Russian warships equipped with an array of long-range missiles cruise off Syria's coast to back the air campaign in Syria and project Moscow's naval power in the Mediterranean. (AP Photo/Vladimir Isachenkov)

The Russian navy destroyer Vice Admiral Kulakov on patrol in eastern Mediterranean on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. Russian warships equipped with an array of long-range missiles cruise off Syria's coast to back the air campaign in Syria and project Moscow's naval power in the Mediterranean. (AP Photo/Vladimir Isachenkov)

The Russian navy missile cruiser Varyag on patrol in eastern Mediterranean on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. Russian warships equipped with an array of long-range missiles cruise off Syria's coast to back the air campaign in Syria and project Moscow's naval power in the Mediterranean. (AP Photo/Vladimir Isachenkov)

A Russian navy helicopter flies over the Russian missile cruiser Varyag on patrol in eastern Mediterranean on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. Russian warships equipped with an array of long-range missiles cruise off Syria's coast to back the air campaign in Syria and project Moscow's naval power in the Mediterranean. (AP Photo/Vladimir Isachenkov)

Crew stand guard on the Russian navy destroyer Vice Admiral Kulakov on patrol in eastern Mediterranean on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. Russian warships equipped with an array of long-range missiles cruise off Syria's coast to back the air campaign in Syria and project Moscow's naval power in the Mediterranean. (AP Photo/Vladimir Isachenkov)

A Russian marine stands guard on board the deck of the Russian navy destroyer Vice Admiral Kulakov on patrol in eastern Mediterranean with the missile cruiser Varyag seen at distance on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. Russian warships equipped with an array of long-range missiles cruise off Syria's coast to back the air campaign in Syria and project Moscow's naval power in the Mediterranean. (AP Photo/Vladimir Isachenkov)

The Russian navy missile cruiser Varyag on patrol in eastern Mediterranean, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. Russian warships equipped with an array of long-range missiles cruise off Syria's coast to back the air campaign in Syria and project Moscow's naval power in the Mediterranean. (AP Photo/Vladimir Isachenkov)
The Latest: Russian ambassador calls UK report 'provocation'

LONDON (AP)  The latest developments in the lengthy British public inquiry into the 2006 poisoning death of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko.

4:35 p.m.

Russia's ambassador to London says a British inquiry's findings into Alexander Litvinenko's death is a "provocation."

FILE - In this Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012 file photo, Marina Litvinenko, the widow of former Russian intelligence officer Alexander Litvinenko, speaks to the media as she leaves at the end of a pre-inquest review at Camden Town Hall in London. On Thursday Jan. 21, 2016, British judge Robert Owen will release the long-awaited findings of a public inquiry into the killing of Litvinenko _ and is likely to point a finger at elements in the Russian state. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File)

Alexander Yakovenko says it is "absolutely unacceptable that the report concludes that the Russian state was in any way involved in the death of Mr. Litvinenko on British soil."

The British government summoned Yakovenko to the Foreign Office Thursday to express "deep concern" at the inquiry's finding that Russia's FSB security service likely ordered the killing, probably with the knowledge of President Vladimir Putin.

The Foreign Office called the findings "deeply disturbing, demonstrating a flagrant disregard for U.K. law, international law and standards of conduct, and the safety of U.K. citizens."

Europe Minister David Lidington repeated Britain's demand that Russia hand over the two prime suspects.

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4:20 p.m.

Russian officials are sharply criticizing the conclusions of a British inquiry into the 2006 poisoning death of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko.

British Judge Robert Owen says Litvinenko was given tea laced with polonium-210 at a London hotel in November 2006. He says there's a "strong probability" that Russia' FSB spy agency directed the killing and the operation was "probably approved" by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

But Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Thursday that "such a quasi-investigation such as the one being talked about today undoubtedly is able only to still further poison the atmosphere of our bilateral relations." Peskov said the report "cannot be accepted by us as a verdict."

Russia's Investigative Committee said the Litvinenko investigation ceased being a criminal investigation and had transformed into a full-fledged political event last year.

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11:50 a.m.

The British government says it will freeze the assets of Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun, the two main Russian suspects in the killing of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko.

Home Secretary Theresa May, who is in charge of justice issues, also told lawmakers that the government is summoning the Russian ambassador to the Foreign Office to express its "profound displeasure."

May said that the conclusion that the Russian state is probably involved in the murder of Litvinenko was "deeply disturbing." She described it as a "blatant and unacceptable breach of international law and civilized behavior."

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10:55 a.m.

Russia's Foreign Ministry says Moscow does not consider the conclusions of a British inquiry into the 2006 poisoning death of a former Russian spy to be impartial because it claims the result had been predetermined.

Spokeswoman Maria Zhakarova says in a statement Thursday that "we regret that a purely criminal case has been politicized and has darkened the general atmosphere of bilateral relations."

Zhakarova adds "clearly the decision to suspend the coroner's inquest and begin 'public hearings' was politically motivated."

British Judge Robert Owen says Litvinenko was given tea laced with a fatal dose of polonium-210 at a London hotel in November 2006. He says there's a "strong probability" that Russia' FSB spy agency directed the killing and the operation was "probably approved" by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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10:40 a.m.

A Russian lawmaker named by a British inquiry as one of the possible killers of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko is calling the charges against him "absurd."

Andrei Lugovoi, now a member of the Russian parliament, tells the Interfax news agency on Thursday "the results of the investigation that were announced today once again confirm London's anti-Russian position and the blinkered view and unwillingness of the British to establish the true cause of Litvinenko's death."

British Judge Robert Owen says Litvinenko was given tea laced with a fatal dose of polonium-210 at a London hotel in November 2006. He says there's a "strong probability" that Russia' FSB spy agency directed the killing and the operation was "probably approved" by President Vladimir Putin.

Lugovoi insists the inquiry just allows Britain to further its political interests and says "I hope that this polonium trial will debunk the myth of the impartiality of British justice."

As a lawmaker, he is now immune from prosecution in Russia.

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10:05 a.m.

The widow of poisoned former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko is relieved with the verdict of a British public inquiry into his death and is urging the British government to take steps against Russian agents operating inside Britain.

Marina Litvinenko said Thursday outside the High Court in London she was "very pleased that the words my husband spoke on his deathbed, when he accused Mr. Putin, have been proved by an English court."

Judge Robert Owen said Thursday he is certain that Litvinenko was given tea laced with a fatal dose of polonium-210 at a London hotel in November 2006. He says there is a "strong probability" that the FSB directed the killing and the operation was "probably approved" by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Owen said Litvinenko "had repeatedly targeted President Putin" with "highly personal" public criticism.

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9:40 a.m.

A British judge says Russian President Vladimir Putin probably approved a plan by Russia's FSB security service to kill former agent Alexander Litvinenko.

Judge Robert Owen said Thursday he is certain that Litvinenko was given tea laced with a fatal dose of polonium-210 at a London hotel in November 2006. He says there's a "strong probability" that the FSB directed the killing, and the operation was "probably approved" by Putin.

Litvinenko, a vocal critic of Putin, died after he was poisoned with polonium-210. He had fled from Russian to Britain in 2000 after breaking with Putin and his inner circle.

British police have accused Dmitry Kovtun and Andrei Lugovoi of carrying out the killing, sponsored by elements in the Kremlin. Both deny involvement, and Moscow refuses to extradite them.

The case led to a souring of British ties with Russia.

Two people stand in front of the Millennium Hotel, center, on Grosvenor Square in London, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. British judge Robert Owen is set to release Thursday the findings of a lengthy public inquiry into the 2006 poisoning death of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko. One day in 2006, Litvinenko a former KGB agent who claimed to know dark Kremlin secrets had tea with two Russian men at the hotel. Three weeks later, he died of radioactive poisoning  after making a deathbed claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered his killing. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

FILE - In this Friday, May 10, 2002 file photo Alexander Litvinenko, former KGB spy is photographed at his home in London. On Thursday Jan 21, 2016, British judge Robert Owen will release the long-awaited findings of a public inquiry into the killing of Litvinenko _ and is likely to point a finger at elements in the Russian state. (AP Photo/Alistair Fuller, File)

Marina Litvinenko, widow of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, with Ben Emmerson QC, before she reads a statement outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. President Vladimir Putin probably approved a plan by Russia's FSB security service to kill former agent Alexander Litvinenko, a British judge said Thursday. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Marina Litvinenko, widow of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, reads a statement outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. President Vladimir Putin probably approved a plan by Russia's FSB security service to kill former agent Alexander Litvinenko, a British judge said Thursday. .(AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Marina Litvinenko, widow of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, reads a statement outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. President Vladimir Putin probably approved a plan by Russia's FSB security service to kill former agent Alexander Litvinenko, a British judge said Thursday. .(AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
The Latest: Norway halts deportations to Russia

IDOMENI, Greece (AP)  The latest developments in Europe's immigration crisis. All times local.

7:50 p.m.

Norwegian police say they have halted deportations of asylum-seekers to Russia to further review their cases, after three people sought refuge in a church in the far north of the country.

A child carries a piece of firewood as people form a line to receive food distributed by non-governmental organizations at a refugee camp in the northern Greek village of Idomeni Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. About 1,000 refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq are stranded at Greece's northern border with Macedonia, after Macedonian authorities stopped letting them through citing problems with transit flows further north on the Balkan route which have caused a chain reaction. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

Tor Espen Haga, spokesman for the Kirkenes police, says the two men and a woman, who were not further identified, were among 34 people scheduled to be returned by bus to Russia across the Storskog border near the town, but that officials felt they needed "to further study their cases."

Haga said Thursday that the three migrants in the church would be arrested once they leave the premises. He did not give further details.

Last year, some 5,500 people crossed from Russia at the remote Arctic border post, many of them on bicycles. Haag said that some of the migrants had permits to stay in Russia where they had been living for years and did not qualify for asylum. So far, Norwegian officials have returned some 230 migrants at Storskog "with a few hundred more" expected later, Haag said.

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7:45 p.m.

Slovenia's interior minister says only refugees who wish to seek asylum in Austria or Germany will be allowed to enter the country and continue their journey toward Western Europe.

Vesna Gyerkes Znidar said the new rule is being implemented as of Thursday.

The same restriction has been announced by Croatia, Serbia and Macedonia, the countries on the so-called Balkan migrant corridor that starts in Greece.

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5:40 p.m.

A city in Denmark has made pork mandatory on municipal menus, including for schools and daycare centers, with politicians insisting the move is necessary for preserving the country's food traditions and is not an attack on Muslims.

Frank Noergaard, a member of the council in Randers that narrowly approved the decision, says it was made to ensure pork remains "a central part of Denmark's food culture."

Denmark is a major pork producer, but pork is forbidden to Muslims and Jews. Most of the asylum-seekers who have arrived in Denmark this year are Muslim.

Noergaard, a member of the anti-immigration, populist Danish People's Party that proposed the council motion, said Thursday that it wasn't meant as a "harassment of Muslims," but added that he had received "several complaints about too many concessions" made to Muslims in the small, predominantly Lutheran country.

Last week, the Danish government announced plans to force asylum-seekers to hand over valuables to help cover their housing and food costs while their cases are being processed.

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5:15 p.m.

Turkey's coast guard says 12 migrants have drowned after a boat taking them to the Greek islands capsized in rough weather.

A coast guard statement said 26 others were rescued on Thursday off the Turkish Aegean resort of Foca, near Turkey's third-largest city, Izmir.

One of the survivors, 31-year-old Iraqi national Yusuf Ali, told the state-run Anadolu Agency that he lost his wife and child in the incident.

Ali was quoted as saying: "The boat started to take in water. We just couldn't stop it. My daughter and my wife drowned in the water."

Anadolu said security forces had detained two alleged human smugglers.

About 40 migrants have died so far this year off Turkey's coast while trying to cross into Greece, the coast guard says.

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3:35 p.m.

The governor of Bavaria is praising neighboring Austria for introducing a cap on the number of refugees allowed into the country.

Horst Seehofer says he wants a similar limit for Germany, even though Chancellor Angela Merkel has repeatedly rejected the idea.

Seehofer, whose center-right party is part of Merkel's governing coalition at the national level, has become one of the most prominent critics of her handling of the refugee crisis. He told reporters Thursday in the town of Kreuth that tensions with Merkel on the refugee issue "inevitably" affect other areas of the federal government's work.

Seehofer has accused Merkel of creating a "strong magnetic effect" when she announced Sept. 4 that Germany would take in refugees stranded in other European countries.

Almost 1.1 million asylum-seekers arrived in Germany last year.

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3:15 p.m.

The Czech prime minister says all EU nations must work to increase the protection of the external border of the European visa-free Schengen travel zone and to ensure a proper registration of all incoming migrants to be able to reduce their influx.

In a debate Thursday in Parliament's lower house, Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka says that's a more effective response to the migrant crisis than to reintroduce border checks as some EU nations have done.

Sobotka says his government is ready to deploy forces to close the Czech border if necessary but would prefer an all European action on the external EU border. He says EU migrant registration "hotspots" in Greece and Italy have been far from effective yet.

Sobotka also dismissed the views of some that there's an "automatic" link between the migrants and terrorism but added that those who don't respect the rule of law should be expelled from the EU.

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1:45 p.m.

An Italian ecumenical mission is in Lebanon this week to work out the final details of a pilot project to bring as many as 1,000 refugees to Italy on humanitarian visas so they're not tempted to risk sea crossings to Europe.

The U.N. refugee agency has welcomed the initiative, one of many types of private sponsorships that are enabling particularly vulnerable refugees to reach safety and start new lives in third countries.

In this case, the Federation of Protestant Churches in Italy and the Rome-based Catholic Sant'Egidio Community teamed up to ask the Italian government grant 1,000 humanitarian visas for refugees in camps in Lebanon, Morocco and Ethiopia. Organizers say a first group of 100 refugees in Lebanon could arrive by the end of the month or early February.

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12:25 p.m.

A newspaper reports that least two German states make refugees hand over assets above a certain amount to pay for their upkeep.

The practice mirrors similar rules in Switzerland, where authorities can make refugees surrender any assets above 1,000 Swiss francs ($996).

German daily Bild reported Thursday that the southern state of Bavaria, where most of the 1.1 million asylum seekers to Germany last year first set foot, sets the bar at 750 euros ($818).

The neighboring state of Baden-Wuerttemberg allows refugees to keep just 350 euros.

German officials say refugees are treated in the same way as German residents who have to use up their own funds before receiving basic welfare payments.

Denmark is due to vote on introducing a similar measure this month.

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12:15 p.m.

Macedonian authorities have reopened their borders to asylum-seekers heading north to wealthier European countries, but are only letting in people whose stated final destination is Germany or Austria.

About 1,700 people had been stranded for up to two days in freezing temperatures at Greece's northern border with Macedonia. The crossing opened just before midday Thursday.

Greek police are now asking migrants to state on their ID papers which country they are heading for. In November, Macedonia and other Balkan countries imposed a first check on transient migrants, excluding all but Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans, whom they deem refugees and not economic migrants.

The new limitation follows an Austrian decision to only allow in migrants heading for Austria or Germany, which shook up migration patterns in the Balkans.

People form a line as they wait to receive food distributed by non-governmental organizations at a refugee camp in the northern Greek village of Idomeni Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. About 1,000 refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq are stranded at Greece's northern border with Macedonia, after Macedonian authorities stopped letting them through citing problems with transit flows further north on the Balkan route which have caused a chain reaction. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

People form a line as they wait to receive food distributed by non-governmental organizations at a refugee camp in the northern Greek village of Idomeni Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. About 1,000 refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq are stranded at Greece's northern border with Macedonia, after Macedonian authorities stopped letting them through citing problems with transit flows further north on the Balkan route which have caused a chain reaction. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

Syrian refugees warm themselves around a fire in freezing temperatures at a refugee camp in the northern Greek village of Idomeni Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. About 1,000 refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq are stranded at Greece's northern border with Macedonia, after Macedonian authorities stopped letting them through citing problems with transit flows further north on the Balkan route which have caused a chain reaction. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

People form a line as they wait to receive food distributed by non-governmental organizations at a refugee camp in the northern Greek village of Idomeni Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. About 1,000 refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq are stranded at Greece's northern border with Macedonia, after Macedonian authorities stopped letting them through citing problems with transit flows further north on the Balkan route which have caused a chain reaction. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

A child stands with other refugees around a fire to warm up in freezing temperatures at a refugee camp in the northern Greek village of Idomeni Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. About 1,000 refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq are stranded at Greece's northern border with Macedonia, after Macedonian authorities stopped letting them through citing problems with transit flows further north on the Balkan route which have caused a chain reaction. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Kerry says Syria peace talks may be delayed by a day or 2

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP)  Next week's planned start of Syria peace talks may be delayed by "a day or two" for logistical reasons, but the process will begin roughly on time, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday.

Kerry said any delay in the U.N.-led negotiations would be due to sending out invitations to participants. Kerry met earlier with the U.N. special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, who is to convene the talks between the Syrian government and the opposition on Monday in Geneva.

"When you say a delay, it may be a day or two for invitations but there is not going to be a fundamental delay," Kerry told reporters as he sat down to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the World Economic Forum. "The process will begin on the 25th and they will get together and see where we are."

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the 2016 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. Kerrys trip is expected to last nine days and to encompass stops in Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Laos, Cambodia, and China. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

Kerry met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Zurich on Wednesday in a bid to overcome differences over which Syrian opposition groups would be eligible to attend the talks. It was not clear whether progress was made in resolving the issue, which has threatened to delay the talks.

After that meeting, Lavrov said the U.S. and Russia agreed that the Syria talks should not be postponed until next month. But both sides said there was still work to do on determining which opposition groups are deemed terrorist organizations and therefore ineligible for the peace talks and a cease-fire that is envisioned to take effect once the negotiations begin.

The negotiations are the first step in a U.N.-endorsed 18-month political transition plan for Syria aimed at ending the nearly five-year civil war.

Russia and Iran, countries which back Syrian President Bashar Assad, have immense differences with Saudi Arabia, other Arab states, the United States and Europe over which opposition groups should be considered terrorists.

One dispute is over the groups Ahrar-as-Sham and Jaish al-Islam. Russia and Syria consider terrorists; Saudi Arabia, the United States and others view as legitimate opposition groups.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Thursday that only three groups are now on the terrorist list: the Islamic State group, al-Qaida-affiliate al-Nusra and al-Qaida itself. Those groups had been identified as terrorist organizations from the start of the international process to get the peace talks started, meaning consensus on any others remains elusive.

Kerry is due to visit Saudi Arabia this weekend to pursue the matter.

At their meeting, Kerry and Netanyahu tried to play down tensions that have flared between the United States and Israel recently over the implementation of the Iran nuclear deal and U.S. criticism of Israeli policy in the West Bank.

Netanyahu's office responded angrily to criticism of Israeli settlements raised on Monday in a speech by the U.S. ambassador to Israel, saying it was "unacceptable and untrue" as well as inappropriate at a time of heightened violence with the Palestinians.

Netanyahu brushed aside the concerns, saying "My biggest concern is having time to talk to my friend, John Kerry."

Shortly after the meeting, Kerry tweeted that he had "stressed importance of strengthening" Israel's security and the Palestinian economy and had condemned recent Israeli-Palestinian violence.

In an interview with CNBC television, though, Kerry acknowledged strains in U.S. relations with Israel and "a difference of opinion" over the Iranian nuclear deal. He said the agreement with Iran made Israel safer.

"Of course I respect Israel's perception of the threat Israel faces. We understand that. We disagreed on how we would manage it," he said. "We don't disagree there are threats, and a threat. We believe that ... Israel was facing a country that is in opposition to Israel and Israel's existence, that was moving toward a nuclear weapon and moving at a rate that was extremely disturbing."

Earlier Thursday, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden met with Netanyahu and "reaffirmed the unshakable U.S. commitment to Israel's security," the White House said in a statement.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the 2016 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. Kerrys trip is expected to last nine days and to encompass stops in Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Laos, Cambodia, and China. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)
Tunisian officer killed as unrest over joblessness spreads

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP)  A Tunisian police officer died in clashes with young protesters who had overturned his car during one of a series of demonstrations against mass unemployment, as unrest triggered by the death of an unsuccessful job-seeker spread to at least 11 cities around the country.

Tensions have risen in the Kasserine region since Sunday when a young man was electrocuted after scaling a transmission tower to protest his rejection for a government job. Protests spread overnight into Thursday to several cities, including the capital, Tunis.

Unemployment is around 15 percent in Tunisia, but far higher outside the capital region. Among young people, it's around 30 percent.

Police forces stand by tear gas during clashes in the city of Ennour, near Kasserine, Tunisia, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016. Tunisia has declared a curfew in the western city after clashes between police and more than 1,000 young protesters demonstrating for jobs. Tensions have risen in Kasserine since Sunday when an unemployed youth killed himself by scaling an electricity transmission tower to protest his rejection for a government job. (AP Photo/Moncef Tajouri)

"We have been waiting for things to get better for five years, and nothing has happened. We're tired of broken promises," said Yassine Kahlaoui, a 30-year-old jobseeker who was among more than a thousand of people gathered at the local government building in Kasserine.

Interior Ministry spokesman Walid Louguini said the police officer was attacked by the crowd as he tried to leave his car during a protest in Feriana, in the Kasserine region. Louguini said unrest elsewhere injured 59 officers; medical officials estimated about 40 injured among protesters.

The suicide five years ago of another unemployed youth in the area set off a popular uprising that overthrew Tunisia's longtime ruler Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, and eventually gave rise to the "Arab Spring" uprisings across North Africa.

Tunisia's government on Wednesday announced a series of measures for the outlying regions and an investigative commission to look into allegations of corruption.

A police officer holds his gun during clashes in the city of Ennour, near Kasserine, Tunisia, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016. Tunisia has declared a curfew in the western city after clashes between police and more than 1,000 young protesters demonstrating for jobs. Tensions have risen in Kasserine since Sunday when an unemployed youth killed himself by scaling an electricity transmission tower to protest his rejection for a government job. (AP Photo/Moncef Tajouri)

Protesters face police forces in the city of Ennour, near Kasserine, Tunisia, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016. Tunisia has declared a curfew in the western city after clashes between police and more than 1,000 young protesters demonstrating for jobs. Tensions have risen in Kasserine since Sunday when an unemployed youth killed himself by scaling an electricity transmission tower to protest his rejection for a government job. (AP Photo/Moncef Tajouri)
Police open fire on ethnic protesters in Nepal, killing 3

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP)  Police fired on ethnic protesters in southern Nepal on Thursday, killing at least three and wounding eight, in fresh violence likely to trigger more trouble in the Himalayan nation facing severe shortages of fuel and other supplies because of the protests.

Government administrator Devi Bahadur Bhandari said the police acted as the ethnic Madhesi protesters tried to attack a political rally organized by the ruling Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) in Rangeli, near the border with India. Police tried to stop the attackers with batons, tear gas and blank shots before firing live rounds into the crowd killing two protesters.

Police said another protester was also killed by police in nearby Dainiya. Further details on the circumstances there were not available.

The protesters have been demonstrating and imposing a general strike in much of southern Nepal for months and have blocked a key border crossing through which Nepal gets much of its fuel and other supplies from India. At least 50 people have been killed since August in protest-related violence, but no major violence had been reported in the last month until the deaths Thursday.

The Madhesis say the constitution carved Nepal's seven states unfairly with borders that cut through their ancestral homeland. They want a larger state, more government representation and more local autonomy.

Talks between the protesting groups and the government have continued. Madhesi leaders and Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli met Thursday in Kathmandu but reached no agreements.
Former Zenit player found guilty of beating wife to death

MOSCOW (AP)  A former Zenit St. Petersburg player has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after being found guilty of beating his wife to death.

The federal investigative committee says Vladimir Dolgopolov was found guilty of "intentionally causing severe damage to health, leading to the death of the victim."

The committee, Russia's main investigative agency, said Dolgopolov attacked his wife "during a domestic dispute" at an apartment in St. Petersburg.

Dolgopolov played for Zenit as a defender in the 1980s and 1990s, winning a Soviet league title and playing in European club competitions. He also played for Dynamo Moscow.
Sarah Palin's re-emergence underscores Republican split

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)  If the Republican Party is on the verge of an implosion, Sarah Palin may have been the one who lit the fuse.

The firebrand conservative has had a complicated relationship with Republican leaders since bursting on the national stage in 2008 as the surprise pick for the vice presidential nomination. What started with an embrace by party leaders evolved into wary tolerance, followed by a potentially irreparable split  a microcosm of the party's broader struggles with its most restive members.

So it's perhaps little surprise that Palin is re-emerging on the national political scene at this moment of reckoning for Republicans. While she's hardly the conservative kingmaker she once was, Palin remains a favorite of the tea party insurgency, and her endorsement of Donald Trump for the 2016 Republican nomination gives him an added boost of conservative, anti-establishment credibility.

Former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin speaks to a crowd as she introduces Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at a rally in Tulsa, Okla., Wednesday, Jan 20, 2016. (AP Photo/Brandi Simons)

"He's been going rogue left and right," Palin said Tuesday, with a beaming Trump standing by her side. "He's been able to tear the veil off this idea of the system."

Her endorsement of the billionaire real estate mogul some less than two weeks before the Iowa caucuses kick off the state-by-state presidential nomination process.

Trump remains the Republican front-runner in a race that has shaken the Republican Party and sidelined traditional politicians once thought to be heavy hitters. His rise has worried Republican leaders who fear he would be unelectable in the general election against the eventual Democratic nominee. Hillary Clinton remains the front-runner in the Democratic race, though she is facing a growing challenge by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Palin owes her place on the national stage to the mainstream Republican Party. She was a little-known Alaska governor when Sen. John McCain  seen by some Republicans as an embodiment of the party establishment  tapped her as his running mate for the 2008 election that Barack Obama ultimately won.

Palin was an awkward fit as No. 2 on the ticket, but she built an enthusiastic following with conservatives. She blended more neatly into the tea party movement that blossomed during the first years of Obama's presidency and flirted with a White House run of her own in 2012 before concentrating on political punditry and reality television.

Mainstream Republicans have tried for the past several years to keep their system together by bringing lawmakers elected as disrupters into the fold rather than pushing them aside. It's a strategy that succeeded in winning the party the House in 2010 and the Senate in 2014, but it did little to achieve such conservative goals as overturning Obama's health care law or blocking increases in the nation's debt ceiling.

Now, the Republican Party system is cracking, leaving some in the establishment feeling they would be the outsiders in a party helmed by Trump  or by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a frequent tormentor of Republican leaders who is also strong contender for the nomination.

"I thought I was a traditional Republican conservative," says Bob Dole, the 1996 Republican presidential nominee who represented deeply conservative Kansas in Congress for decades.

Dole has been an especially vocal critic of Cruz, who has blamed Republican failures in presidential contests on the party's tendency to elect mainstream candidates like the longtime Kansas senator. However, Dole suggested in an interview Wednesday that he might be able to make peace with a Trump presidency, saying the businessman's reputation as a "dealmaker" could mean he's able to work with Congress.

Palin's endorsement of Trump is seen as a knock against Cruz, who has been on the rise in Iowa for several weeks. She campaigned for Cruz when he ran for the Senate in 2012, and he's said her support was instrumental in his victory.

Now it's Trump and Cruz who are pushing the anti-establishment movement further than she ever managed. Strong showings in Iowa by the billionaire and the senator could turn the Republican race into a two-man contest.

To be sure, a slew of politically experienced rivals are still hoping to blunt Trump's and Cruz's momentum once voting begins. But for now, more mainstream voters are dividing their support among Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, making it difficult for any one of them to mount a strong challenge.

In most recent elections, Republicans have tended to nominate center-right candidates who were seen as having the best prospects in the general election. Even after the 2010 tea party takeover in the House, the party nominated Mitt Romney  the former governor of moderate Massachusetts  in the 2012 presidential race.

Four years later, many Republican voters not only believe that nominating a centrist would cost them another shot at the White House, but they also are deeply skeptical that an establishment Republican president would follow through on their priorities.

"I'm so sick of the Republicans," said Scott Doremus, a retired commercial airplane pilot from Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, who is supporting Cruz. "Republicans have become just like Democrats."

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AP writers Scott Bauer in North Conway, New Hampshire, and Jill Colvin in Norwalk, Iowa, contributed to this report.

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Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC
Mascherano expected to avoid jail time in tax case

MADRID (AP)  Although he is not expected to serve any time in jail, Barcelona defender Javier Mascherano was handed a one-year prison sentence Thursday for not properly paying taxes in Spain.

Mascherano was also fined nearly 800,000 euros (about $850,000) and prevented from receiving any tax benefits for a year. The prison sentence is expected to be replaced by another fine or dismissed entirely.

The sentencing came nearly three months after the Barcelona defender had reached a deal with prosecutors and the attorney's office for failing to pay nearly 1.5 million euros ($1.6 million) in taxes for 2011 and 2012. He already paid back everything he owed.

FC Barcelona defender Javier Mascherano, from Argentina, leaves the court after answering questions in a tax fraud case in Barcelona, Spain, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. Mascherano has accepted a one-year prison sentence for not properly paying taxes in Spain but is not expected to face any jail time. The sentencing on Thursday came nearly three months after the Barcelona defender had reached a deal with prosecutors and the attorneys office for failing to pay nearly 1.5 million euros ($1.6 million) in taxes for 2011 and 2012. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

The Argentine player, who has played for Barcelona since 2010, was accused by Spain's tax office of concealing part of what he earned in image rights.

In a statement, Mascherano said he got into trouble after following the advice of the people he hired to manage his taxes after arriving in Spain. He said he had thought everything was being done under the law.

"This deal gives me back the tranquility to know that I am up to date with my obligations," he said. "During my entire career I have been honest and responsible. I take this as another experience, and I come out of it stronger and in peace knowing that I'm doing things the right away again."

Barcelona published the player's full statement on its website.

Mascherano said he may take legal action against the tax consultants that he originally hired who, he said, "recommended what was not correct."

The player spent only a few minutes in court on Thursday as the sentencing was announced.

"The situation is that Javier Mascherano has been sentenced today due to accusations that he has accepted," said one of the player's lawyers, David Aineto. "He has been sentenced because of those accusations and he has accepted the verdict of the justice. Now he has to pay the fine and the Mascherano case will be closed."

The judge is expected to decide in the next few days whether the prison sentence will be replaced by a fine of about 21,000 euros ($22,900) or if it will be dismissed.

Mascherano's sentencing comes only a day after a Barcelona court set the dates for Lionel Messi's tax fraud trial.

Messi and his father are expected to appear before a judge May 31-June 3 for allegedly defrauding Spain's tax office of 4.1 million euros ($4.4 million) in unpaid taxes from 2007-09. They have been charged with three counts of tax fraud and could be sentenced to nearly two years in prison if found guilty.

Another Barcelona player set to appear in court in the coming months is Neymar, who has been asked to testify in an investigation into alleged irregularities involving his transfer from Brazilian team Santos to the Catalan club.

Neymar's parents, former Barcelona president Sandro Rosell and current president Josep Bartomeu also will have to appear before a judge on Feb. 1-2. Neymar also had some of his assets frozen because of accusations of tax fraud in Brazil.

Spain has recently been cracking down on tax evasion as part of its fight to repair the country's public finances. Spain's tax office also is investigating midfielder Xabi Alonso's taxes for 2010, when he played for Real Madrid before moving to Bayern Munich in 2014.

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Tales Azzoni on Twitter: http://twitter.com/tazzoni

FC Barcelona defender Javier Mascherano, from Argentina, arrives at court, in Barcelona, Spain, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. Mascherano has accepted a one-year prison sentence for not properly paying taxes in Spain but is not expected to face any jail time. The sentencing on Thursday came nearly three months after the Barcelona defender had reached a deal with prosecutors and the attorneys office for failing to pay nearly 1.5 million euros ($1.6 million) in taxes for 2011 and 2012. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

FC Barcelona defender Javier Mascherano, from Argentina, answers questions in a tax fraud case at the court in Barcelona, Spain, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. Mascherano has accepted a one-year prison sentence for not properly paying taxes in Spain but is not expected to face any jail time. The sentencing on Thursday came nearly three months after the Barcelona defender had reached a deal with prosecutors and the attorneys office for failing to pay nearly 1.5 million euros ($1.6 million) in taxes for 2011 and 2012. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

FC Barcelona defender Javier Mascherano, centre, from Argentina, leaves the court after answering questions in a tax fraud case in Barcelona, Spain, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. Mascherano has accepted a one-year prison sentence for not properly paying taxes in Spain but is not expected to face any jail time. The sentencing on Thursday came nearly three months after the Barcelona defender had reached a deal with prosecutors and the attorneys office for failing to pay nearly 1.5 million euros ($1.6 million) in taxes for 2011 and 2012. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Army secretary nominee worried about cuts to Army's size

WASHINGTON (AP)  The Obama administration's nominee to be the Army's top civilian official said Thursday he is worried about plans to reduce the Army's size to about 450,000 active-duty troops.

Eric Fanning told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday that improving the Army's state of readiness is challenging because of the threat posed by Islamic State militants and other demands.

"I do worry about the size of the Army today," Fanning told the committee.

If confirmed by the Senate, Fanning would be the first openly gay leader of a U.S. military service.

The committee met to consider Fanning's nomination to be Army secretary shortly after he stepped down from the job in an acting capacity. Committee members had expressed concern a federal law governing requirements for filling openings that require Senate confirmation would be violated if Fanning continued as acting secretary. Chairman Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Fanning's resignation "cured" the problem.

McCain, a frequent critic of the Obama administration's national security policies, said the decision to cut the Army from a wartime peak of 570,000 soldiers was "budget-driven" and made before the growth of the Islamic State militant group or Russia's invasion of Ukraine. If mandated budget cuts, known as sequestration, aren't reversed, "the Army will shrink to 420,000 troops, increasing the risk that in a crisis, we will have too few soldiers who could enter a fight without proper training or equipment," McCain said.

Fanning didn't dispute McCain's assessment.

The Army has a plan to improve readiness, Fanning said, but there are hurdles to overcome. "The demand on the force, the size that it is, makes it difficult to keep it trained," he said.

When top Defense Department officials directed the Army two years ago to go down to 450,000 troops, it was understood those cuts would come with risk. But the risk has only increased, Fanning told the committee.

"So I am concerned," he said. "It's preventing us from doing the other things we want to do in the Army to keep it readier and to keep it whole."

Fanning said it is too early to tell if the United States is winning the fight against IS.

"We clearly are putting a lot of pressure on ISIS, but they are also showing they can put pressure on us," he said. "They are not contained."

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Man in Hungary gets 3 years' probation for Holocaust denial

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP)  A Budapest court on Thursday sentenced a Hungarian man to three years' probation for publicly denying that the Holocaust happened.

The case stems from a June 2012 speech in which Ferenc Oroshazi read excerpts from "Fatelessness," a semi-autobiographical novel by Hungarian Holocaust survivor and Nobel Prize-winning author Imre Kertesz, and said they proved that the Holocaust didn't happen.

"Fatelessness" narrates the experiences of a 14-year-old boy, Gyuri Koves, in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald death camps. Kertesz drew upon events from his own life for the book.

In one excerpt, Koves is asked about the gas chambers upon returning from the death camps and says that he did not see any although he heard about them. Oroshazi claimed that showed that the Holocaust did not take place.

An earlier request by Oroshazi to have Kertesz take the stand at the trial was rejected by the court.

Oroshazi was present only at the start of Thursday's court session. He left after saying he didn't accept the legitimacy of Hungary's Basic Law, as the Constitution is now called, and refusing to recognize the authorities' right to put him on trial.

Oroshazi's lawyer appealed the verdict, asking for his client's acquittal.
Renzi confident time is right for Rome to host Olympics

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP)  Italian Premier Matteo Renzi believes Rome's time has finally come to host the Olympics again.

Renzi met with IOC President Thomas Bach in Lausanne on Thursday and backed Rome's bid for the 2024 Games.

Rome, which last held the Olympics in 1960, lost out to Athens in the final round of voting for the 2004 Games. It was forced to withdraw its bid for the 2020 Olympics after the government of then Premier Mario Monti declined to provide financial backing.

"It's the right moment for Rome," Renzi said. "It's coming from a heavy defeat in 2004 and then the 'no' from Monti's government. But now the government is here. We will give our all, nose to the ground and pedal right until 2017. Rome is a very strong candidacy. We respect everyone but don't fear anyone."

The IOC will select the host city in 2017. Los Angeles, Paris and Budapest, Hungary, are the other bid cities.

"Everyone turned up their nose at the beginning but then they understood that an event like the Olympics is a great occasion," Renzi said. "The plans are already ready. The government is working with CONI because sport is a piece of Italian culture and an investment in the future.

"I don't know if Rome is in front but it is definitely an extraordinary candidacy. If we win, it will be an extraordinary ride because Rome knows how to unite tradition and innovation."

Also present at the meeting in Lausanne were Italian Olympic Committee president Giovanni Malago and bid chief Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, who once again underlined the fact that "70 percent of the venues already exist and are ready."

Both sides said Rome's bid fits in with the IOC's "Olympic Agenda 2020" program, which pushes for flexibility and lower costs in bidding for and hosting the games.

"It was an excellent meeting in an atmosphere of great enthusiasm," Malago said. "The work that's been done and the great professionalism was appreciated. We are in harmony with the Agenda 2020 and ours is a low cost bid. Today was a fundamental step and on Feb. 17 we will present the definitive dossier."

Bach said the Italian bid "brings together Rome's great history and its great Olympic history while addressing the Olympic Agenda 2020 principles of sustainability and legacy."

Montezemolo has announced a bid budget of 24.9 million euros ($27 million)  more than double the previous estimate of 10 million euros (nearly $11 million) but significantly less than the budgets of main rivals Paris and Los Angeles.

The small, left-wing movement Radicali Italiani called for a public referendum on Rome's bid at the beginning of the month, citing spiraling costs of recent Olympics.

Montezemolo said last week that he didn't see the "necessity" for a referendum since the city council voted overwhelmingly in favor  38-6  of the bid last year.

An IPSOS poll found that three out of four Italians are in favor of Rome's bid, out of 2,200 people surveyed.

On a national scale, 77 percent support the bid, while that goes down to 66 percent of the 800 of those surveyed who live in Rome. The figure rises back up to 76 percent if the 400 who live in the provinces are included.
UN Security Council visits violence-wracked Burundi

BUJUMBURA, Burundi (AP)  Members of the U.N. Security Council arrived in Burundi Thursday to try to help end political unrest that sparked deadly violence.

France, the U.S. and Angola are leading the 15-member council delegation that will be in Burundi until Friday.

"We've seen escalating violence, climate of fear and tension before in Burundi. Immediate, inclusive (political) dialogue held outside Burundi vital," Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., said on Twitter ahead of the trip.

Young men hold a banner on the road that the convoy of the United Nations Security Council delegation took, in Bujumbura, Burundi Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. A delegation of the U.N. Security Council arrived in Burundi Thursday to try to help end political unrest that has sparked deadly violence. (AP Photo)

U.N. human rights chief Zeid Raad al-Hussein in a report last week spoke of gang rapes of women by security forces, torture and signs of ethnic repression.

His office cited growing signs that Tutsis are being targeted in the Hutu-majority country that borders Rwanda, where a 1994 Hutu-led genocide targeted Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

President Pierre Nkurunziza's decision to seek re-election last April touched off street protests that led to a failed coup in May and a rebellion that has left the country on the brink of civil war. Opponents and supporters of Nkurunziza in the capital, Bujumbura, have been targeting each other in gun, rocket and grenade attacks and the violence has spread to the provinces. There has been a wave of extrajudicial killings that human rights activists blame on government security forces.

Vital Nshimirimana, a Burundian human rights activist, told The Associated Press that the U.N. must be prepared to tackle what he said was the root cause of the conflict: the president's decision to seek a third term despite widespread opposition. "Violence will not stop in Burundi as long as President Nkurunziza continues to disregard the country's constitution, which limits him to two terms in office," Nshimirimana said.

Human Rights Watch said the ambassadors "should use their time in Bujumbura to persuade President Pierre Nkurunziza to accept a strong U.N. political mission with a substantial international police force."

The U.N. estimates that more than 230,000 people have fled to neighboring countries since April 2015 and 432 people have been killed.

A confidential report from the U.N. peacekeeping department to the Security Council, obtained last week by AP, said U.N. peacekeeping troops should be deployed to Burundi only as a last resort if violence worsens. The report said the focus now should be on promoting political dialogue and deploying African Union peacekeepers.

Burundi's government has said it would fight an AU force as invaders.

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Guyana awards British Tullow Oil exploration license

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP)  Guyana says it has awarded British-based petroleum company Tullow Oil PLC a 10-year exploration license in an offshore basin near the South American country believed to contain large amounts of oil and gas.

Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman says the company will work with Eco Atlantic Oil & Gas of Canada to explore an area of 1,800 square kilometers (695 square miles). Tullow already has a joint-venture agreement with Repsol of Spain in another nearby area.

Trotman said Thursday that the government signed a production-sharing deal with Tullow and Eco Atlantic should they discover commercial quantities of oil and gas.
Migrants, refugees still flow to Greek islands' shores

CHIOS, Greece (AP)  Half buried in the fine yellow sand of one of this Greek island's most popular beaches lies one of the few signs of the drama that has played out over the past year: The remains of two torn and deflated dinghies by the water's edge.

Far from the spotlight, local residents, aid groups and government officials have struggled to deal with an unprecedented wave of refugees and migrants reaching the shores of Chios from Turkey, which lies four miles away at its closest point. And with few signs of a let up, authorities are bracing for another potentially brutal year.

Even during the winter, overloaded dinghies continue to arrive in droves on Greece's eastern Aegean islands, halting only when the sea is too rough. The crossing is brief but perilous, and hundreds have died. Six bodies were recovered off the coast of nearby Samos island earlier this month.

In this photo taken on Friday, Jan. 15, 2016, an Afghan man squats after his arrival from Turkey to the shores of the Greek island of Chios, on an dinghy crammed with refugees and migrants. Even during the winter, overloaded dinghies continue to arrive in droves on Greeces eastern Aegean islands bordering Turkey, halting only when the sea is too rough. The crossing is brief but perilous, and hundreds have died. Six bodies were recovered off the coast of nearby Samos island earlier this month. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Chios, an island of 50,000 residents, saw the second-largest number of arrivals in 2015, behind its northern neighbor Lesbos, where about half of all asylum-seekers landed. Although the islands of the eastern Aegean have been on the migrant-smuggling route for more than a decade, numbers were minimal until recently.

In 2014, about 6,500 people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa reached Chios. Last year, the figure skyrocketed to nearly 120,000, with the flow increasing dramatically in the last few months of the year.

"It was something completely different from the previous years, and the previous years were something completely different to what would be normal," said Chios Mayor Manolis Vournous. "It is something extreme, it is something abnormal. And we mustn't get used to this abnormality."

Vournous doesn't hide his concern over what the coming year will bring.

October, November and December each brought about 20,000 people to the island, accounting for about half of the year's total, he said. "This doesn't allow me to think the flow will lessen in the next few months."

The mayor has welcomed plans for one of the European Union's "hotspots" to be set up on Chios to help in registering and fingerprinting new arrivals. Although such processing already takes place, the hotspots will have more EU involvement in identifying those who can be sent to other EU countries under the bloc's relocation scheme and those deemed economic migrants who will face deportation.

Last year's dramatic surge left authorities scrambling to house, feed and provide basic care for the thousands who had survived the dangerous sea journey and were anxious to move north through the Balkans to more prosperous European countries.

"In the last year the increase was incredible," said Commander Christos Fragias, deputy head of the coast guard on Chios.

"Nobody was prepared to deal with all these people who arrived in 2015," Fragias said. "When you have such large flows, some duties that we have as the coast guard couldn't be carried out because the priority was to deal with the migrants."

Still, Chios has weathered the storm remarkably well.

The island has largely managed to avoid the chaotic scenes of refugee protests and mad crushes outside registration centers that have scarred islands with far fewer new arrivals. On Chios, a system is now in place that aims to process new arrivals as quickly as possible, provide safe and clean temporary shelter and allow them to quickly move on.

This success is primarily due to the close cooperation among local government, police, coast guard, aid groups and volunteers. Weekly or even daily coordination meetings are held to iron out any difficulties before they become full-blown problems.

But getting to this point hasn't been easy.

Joe Cooper, head of the Chios field unit for the U.N. refugee agency, took up his post at the end of October, just as the influx of new arrivals surged.

"That was a kind of nightmare period. It rained as well  slashing rain," Cooper said as several hundred people who had arrived that morning waited to be processed at the registration center, their wet clothes drying by space heaters dotting the cavernous former leather tanning factory.

"It was a mess, but what was clear even then was the political will, just the humanity of the authorities here and the desire to help people."

The municipality opened up stadiums for people to sleep in, while volunteers stepped up to help increase capacity in a tent camp hastily set up in the town's park to accommodate the overflow.

"Everyone really came together," Cooper said.

Local residents have also stepped up to help.

In the nearby village of Karfas, 62-year-old Despina Kalaitzidaki joined her neighbor, Giorgos Myrisis, a 72-year-old retired merchant marine captain, in setting up a volunteer center to hand out dry clothes to those arriving soaked from their sea journey.

"We saw their anxiety. We saw their longing when they arrived. We saw them kneeling and kissing the earth because they managed to arrive alive and didn't drown," said Kalaitzidaki. "They were suffering. They were hugging. All this cannot leave you indifferent."

With winter arriving and the tent camp in the park clearly inadequate, the municipality cast around for a solution. They came up with an ingenious idea  build a camp in the dry moat of Chios town's medieval castle. The space was free, it was in the town center yet tucked away from the bustle of daily life and it allowed easy access to the nearby port for ferries.

The 800-person camp began operating in November, complete with prefabricated houses reserved for the most vulnerable such as unaccompanied children, the disabled, women traveling alone or with young children.

"It's not somewhere that would be acceptable to spend six months or a year living, but for what people use it for, which is to spend a night or two, it's safe, it's clean and it's warm and they can have a shower and volunteers bring food," Cooper said.

Among those staying at the camp one recent night was Issam Boukamer, a 22-year-old amateur boxer from Libya who made it to Chios after he and another 57 people were rescued by the coast guard when the dinghy they were crammed into began taking on water.

Boukamer, who speaks French and taught himself English by watching videos, dreams of reaching Germany, where he said he wants to work and study French literature.

"I want just to live in peace because in my country there are many terrorists and many problems," he said, describing aerial bombardments and attacks by the Islamic State group.

But other countries along the route have closed their doors to the flow. Macedonia, on Greece's northern border, now only allows those from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan to cross.

Boukamer is unfazed.

"We must try. There's nothing impossible, you know? We were living a hard life, and this is not hard for me," he said. "I have a goal, I must achieve it. I have a dream."

In this photo taken on Friday, Jan. 15, 2016, An Afghan mother holds her baby as she sits on a bench after their arrival , from Turkey to the shores of the Greek island of Chios, on an dinghy crammed with refugees and migrants on Friday, Jan. 15, 2016. Even during the winter, overloaded dinghies have continued to reach Greek islands in droves, halting only when the sea is too rough. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

In this photo taken on Friday, Jan. 15, 2016, An Afghan man with his daughter walks after they receive a wristband tags at Tabakika registration center, Chios island, Greece. Chios, an island of 50,000 residents, saw the second-largest number of arrivals in 2015, behind its northern neighbor Lesbos, where about half of all asylum-seekers landed. Although the islands of the eastern Aegean have been on the migrant-smuggling route for more than a decade, numbers were minimal until recently. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

In this photo taken on Friday, Jan. 15, 2016, refugees wait their turn at the Tabakika registration center, Chios island, Greece. Chios, an island of 50,000 residents, saw the second-largest number of arrivals in 2015, behind its northern neighbor Lesbos, where about half of all asylum-seekers landed. Although the islands of the eastern Aegean have been on the migrant-smuggling route for more than a decade, numbers were minimal until recently. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

In this photo taken on Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016, a woman carries her young boy inside the Souda camp for refugees and migrants in front of the stone wall of the castle of Chios island , Greece. Chios, an island of 50,000 residents, saw the second-largest number of arrivals in 2015, behind its northern neighbor Lesbos, where about half of all asylum-seekers landed. Although the islands of the eastern Aegean have been on the migrant-smuggling route for more than a decade, numbers were minimal until recently. AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

In this photo taken on Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016, clothes for children are seen below a painting at a volunteer center in Karfas village handing out dry clothes for refugees and migrants that arrive in the island of Chios, Greece. Chios, an island of 50,000 residents, saw the second-largest number of arrivals in 2015, behind its northern neighbor Lesbos, where about half of all asylum-seekers landed. Although the islands of the eastern Aegean have been on the migrant-smuggling route for more than a decade, numbers were minimal until recently. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

In this photo taken early Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016, Afghan refugees disembark from a dinghy after crossing a part of the Aegean sea from Turkish coast to the Greek island of Chios. Chios, an island of 50,000 residents, saw the second-largest number of arrivals in 2015, behind its northern neighbor Lesbos, where about half of all asylum-seekers landed. Although the islands of the eastern Aegean have been on the migrant-smuggling route for more than a decade, numbers were minimal until recently. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

In this photo taken on Friday, Jan. 15, 2016, migrants and refugees are seen inside a bus heading to the registration center after their arrival from Turkey to the shores of the Greek island of Chios, on an dinghy. Chios, an island of 50,000 residents, saw the second-largest number of arrivals in 2015, behind its northern neighbor Lesbos, where about half of all asylum-seekers landed. Although the islands of the eastern Aegean have been on the migrant-smuggling route for more than a decade, numbers were minimal until recently. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

In this photo taken on Friday, Jan. 15, 2016, An Afghan family who arrived on a dingy on the Greek island of Chios wait outside a volunteer center with the map of Europe, right, and a Greek flag, left. Chios, an island of 50,000 residents, saw the second-largest number of arrivals in 2015, behind its northern neighbor Lesbos, where about half of all asylum-seekers landed. Although the islands of the eastern Aegean have been on the migrant-smuggling route for more than a decade, numbers were minimal until recently. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Refugees and migrants warm up themselves above a makeshift fire, after they arrived from Turkey to the deserted Greek island of Pasas near Chios, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016. Thousand of migrants and refugees continue to reach Greece's shores despite the winter weather. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

In this photo taken on Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016, refugees looks on their smart phone inside the Souda camp for refugees and migrants in front of the stone wall of the castle of Chios island, Greece . Chios, an island of 50,000 residents, saw the second-largest number of arrivals in 2015, behind its northern neighbor Lesbos, where about half of all asylum-seekers landed. Although the islands of the eastern Aegean have been on the migrant-smuggling route for more than a decade, numbers were minimal until recently. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

In this photo taken on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016, a general view of the 800-person Souda camp placed in the dry moat of the Greek island Chios towns medieval castle which began operating in early November 2015. Chios, an island of 50,000 residents, saw the second-largest number of arrivals in 2015, behind its northern neighbor Lesbos, where about half of all asylum-seekers landed. Although the islands of the eastern Aegean have been on the migrant-smuggling route for more than a decade, numbers were minimal until recently. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

A Syrian man with one leg walks at the Greek deserted island of Pasas after he arrived with others from Turkey, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016. Thousand of migrants and refugees continue to reach Greece's shores despite the winter weather. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

In this photo taken on Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016, an Afghan couple use a blanket to calm their baby inside the Souda camp in Chios island, Greece. Chios, an island of 50,000 residents, saw the second-largest number of arrivals in 2015, behind its northern neighbor Lesbos, where about half of all asylum-seekers landed. Although the islands of the eastern Aegean have been on the migrant-smuggling route for more than a decade, numbers were minimal until recently. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
South Africa reports small drop in number of killed rhinos

JOHANNESBURG (AP)  South Africa on Thursday reported a slight drop in the annual number of killed rhinos, but conservationists said rhino poaching remains unacceptably high and some warned that a South African court ruling in favor of a domestic trade in rhino horn could further imperil the threatened animals.

Poachers killed 1,175 rhinos in South Africa in 2015, down 40 from the previous year as a result of law enforcement efforts to protect wildlife, said Edna Molewa, the environment minister. South Africa reported 13 poached rhinos in 2007 and 83 in the following year as demand for rhino horn in parts of Asia, particularly Vietnam, began to accelerate.

Despite the surge in poaching within the last decade, Molewa said at a news conference that a "much-feared, year-end spike" in rhino poaching that usually happens in December did not occur in 2015, and she described South Africa's rhino population as "stable."

FILE - In this Sunday, Dec. 20, 2015 file photo, rhinos have a mud bath in the Hluhluwe game reserve in Hluhluwe, South Africa. A South African court has dismissed a government effort to preserve a ban on the domestic trade in rhino horn, prompting warnings from some conservationists that the threatened rhino population will be even more vulnerable to poachers. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam, File)

Kruger National Park, the country's biggest wildlife reserve, has between 8,400 and 9,300 white rhinos and 826 were killed there last year, according to government data. South Africa is home to most of the world's rhinos.

Meanwhile, a Pretoria court dismissed a government effort to preserve a ban on the domestic trade in rhino horn, prompting the government to declare it will try to take the case to South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal.

The South African government had sought to appeal a November decision by a Pretoria court that rescinded a moratorium on the local trade, but a court rejected that bid on Wednesday. In the November ruling, Judge Francis Legodi of the North Gauteng High Court said the government had failed to properly consult the public before imposing the ban in 2009.

The legal battle pits those who say legalization will spur poaching in South Africa against rhino breeders and others who believe a regulated trade will undercut poaching. The regulated trade would likely allow the sale of horn stockpiles and the harvesting of horns from living rhinos.

"With immediate effect, anybody who wishes to purchase a rhino horn here in South Africa can do so," said Pelham Jones of the Private Rhino Owners Association. Horn buyers would require a permit, would be subject to a periodic audit and cannot export a horn, he said.

Jones said possible buyers would be "commodity speculators" who hope that an international ban on the rhino horn trade, in place since 1977, will eventually be lifted.

South Africa has proposed that the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, which oversees the trade of wild animals and plants, discuss lifting that ban at its next meeting in Johannesburg in September.

Molewa, the environment minister, said her application to the Supreme Court of Appeal, once filed, would effectively reinstate the ban on local rhino horn trade for the time being.

Peter Knights, executive director of San Francisco-based WildAid, said there is concern that rhino horn sold locally in South Africa could be laundered into the international market, increasing the threat to rhinos.

Consumers believe rhino horn, which is ground into powder, has medicinal benefits, but there is no scientific evidence to support the belief. The horn is made of keratin, a protein also found in human fingernails.

Ahead of a trip this month to Gabon, Kenya and South Africa, U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said she was encouraged during a visit to Vietnam by public awareness campaigns against the use of rhino horn. And yet, she said in a conference call with journalists, "its mythology is leading to the wiping out of that iconic species from Africa."

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Cruz no favorite with fellow Republican senators

WASHINGTON (AP)  Republican senators are confronting an unsettling possibility: Sen. Ted Cruz, their least favorite colleague, stands within reach of becoming the party's presidential nominee and standard-bearer.

Worse than that, many GOP lawmakers and aides fear the Texas senator could ruin Republicans' chances of hanging onto control of the Senate in November's elections, alienating voters in a half-dozen key swing states with his hardline stances on issues from immigration to abortion.

And yet, these fellow Republicans say they're essentially powerless to stop him. Any attempt to weaken Cruz in his primary campaign against Donald Trump and other GOP candidates risks bolstering his argument that he's running against the "Washington cartel." So there's little Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republicans can do beyond watch in dismay as Cruz, isolated and boxed out in the clubby Senate after repeatedly angering colleagues, rises in the polls in first-voting Iowa and elsewhere.

In this photo taken Jan. 20, 2016, Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, leaves the Senate Gallery on Capitol Hill in Washington. Republican senators are confronting an unsettling possibility: Sen. Ted Cruz, their least favorite colleague, stands within reach of becoming the partys presidential nominee and standard-bearer. (AP Photo/Molly Riley)

With Cruz as the nominee, "state and local races that take place in ideologically moderate electorates could be a bloodbath," says Josh Holmes, McConnell's former chief of staff and a GOP strategist. Vulnerable Republican senators are partly insulated by strong campaign organizations, "but there is no question their job could get tougher," Holmes says.

In the presidential primaries, Cruz has attempted to make a virtue of his rejection by the Washington establishment, and his allies say he will actually help fellow Republicans by energizing the base and turning out evangelicals and others.

One of his favorite lines on the stump is quoting a newspaper article that, according to him, said, "Cruz can't win because the Washington elites despise him."

"I kinda thought that was the whole point of the campaign," Cruz says, almost always generating applause.

Back in the Senate, Cruz has alienated fellow Republican senators on so many occasions they are hard to count. And now, with Democrats optimistic they might win the five seats needed to retake control of the Senate  four if they keep the White House  Republicans are desperate to protect vulnerable incumbents in states like Pennsylvania, Ohio and New Hampshire, where a Cruz candidacy could turn off independents.

"He's a very rock-ribbed conservative and very intelligent young man, very knowledgeable, put it that way," says Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah. "And I haven't seen any great desire on his part to really bring the party along with him so that's something that worries me. ... I think it would help him a lot if he would learn how other people feel and work with other people a little bit better, and I think that naturally will occur."

Some GOP lawmakers and pollsters view Cruz as more problematic than businessman Trump, since Trump might have more cross-over appeal to independents. Polling shown to House Republicans recently identified Cruz as the most difficult presidential nominee for any of them to share a ballot with.

""He would definitely be a negative," said GOP Rep. Pete King of New York, who represents an evenly divided Long Island district. King dismissed Cruz as a "fraud" and said, "I don't know of anyone else in Washington, certainly, who gets this opposition from his own people. ... I'm talking about people as conservative as he is who just can't stand him."

In one clear barometer, four GOP senators have endorsed Florida Sen. Marco Rubio's bid for president, while none has backed Cruz.

On the other hand, Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, one of the most vulnerable Republican incumbents this year, says, "If you run a good campaign and let people know what you stand for, you don't have to worry as much about the top of the ticket."

Still, Cruz has become such a pariah that one of his colleagues, Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, told supporters at a campaign fundraiser for his own re-election that he would vote for liberal Sen. Bernie Sanders for president before Cruz, according to one person who attended the event. Burr did not appear to be joking, said the person, who demanded anonymity to discuss the private gathering.

The negative reactions started shortly after Cruz arrived in the Senate in 2013. During a confirmation hearing for former GOP Sen. Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense, Cruz implied, without offering evidence, that Hagel had received compensation from North Korea. That drew rebukes from fellow GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John McCain of Arizona.

Later that year, Cruz pushed for confrontation with President Barack Obama over the new health care law, coordinating with tea party conservatives in the House. Their strategy resulted in a 16-day partial government shutdown that caused the GOP's poll numbers to temporarily plummet.

In December 2014, Cruz again infuriated fellow Republicans when he kept the Senate in session in a failed bid to oppose Obama's immigration policies. This had the result of allowing Democrats to confirm a raft of Obama nominees, mostly lifetime judicial choices, who might otherwise have languished.

Last year, in a dramatic breach of decorum, Cruz delivered a floor speech in which he accused McConnell of lying about scheduling a vote on the federal Export-Import Bank. Senate leaders were livid and went so far as to block Cruz's routine request for a roll-call vote, something all but unheard-of.

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Associated Press writer Scott Bauer contributed from Madison, Wisconsin, and Marc Levy contributed from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

FILE - In this Feb. 27, 2015 file photo, Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y. stands outside the House chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington. Republican senators are confronting an unsettling possibility: Sen. Ted Cruz, their least favorite colleague, stands within reach of becoming the partys presidential nominee and standard-bearer. He would definitely be a negative, said King, who represents an evenly divided Long Island district. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
US, coalition looks to boost propaganda war on Islamic State

PARIS (AP)  U.S. and coalition forces are battling Islamic State militants in the skies and on the ground across Iraq and Syria, but the allies are increasingly also targeting the airwaves, where they now are losing the propaganda war.

In Paris this week, Defense Secretary Ash Carter made clear the coalition must get better at projecting its own messages and touting its successes. He has spent much of his time giving speeches lately at doing just that  painting an increasingly rosy picture of victories in Iraq and Syria and describing a constrained Islamic State that is losing momentum.

The multipronged effort includes not only talking up military victories in Iraq and Syria, but also countering jihadi messaging that can recruit or inspire followers around the world to join the group or launch their own solo attacks in western nations.

U.S Defense Secretary Ashton Carter delivers a speech during a conference in Paris, Thursday, Jan 21, 2016. Carter said Wednesday that defense ministers from France and five other nations have agreed to intensify the campaign against Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, and that the coalition will work together to fill the military requirements as the fight unfolds over the coming months. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

So far, efforts by the U.S. and others to combat that propaganda campaign have been slow to form, with officials acknowledging that they are losing the communications war.

Speaking Thursday at Ecole Militaire, a military war college in Paris, Carter said IS uses the Internet "to give encouragement or even instruction to people who have already been radicalized, or radicalizing some of these poor lost souls who sit in front of a screen and fantasize about a life as a jihadi."

And a senior defense official said that Islamic State "fanboys" are able to amplify the militant group's message, spreading it faster and more broadly than their number might suggest.

In recent weeks, Carter and his military leaders have been more outspoken and upbeat in their assessment of the battles against the Islamic State, particularly in Iraq. Last month, Iraqi forces buttressed by coalition airstrikes and bridging equipment were able to take back the city of Ramadi. And officials are now talking about a new campaign plan that maps out the fight in coming months to take back key IS power centers in Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria. Raqqa is the Islamic State's de facto capital.

"We're having some success, we're going to have more in the future, I would like to have even more, but democracies are slow, and they only tell the truth," said Carter. "And in a message-driven Internet world, that puts you at a structural disadvantage compared to people who are nimble, agile, and lie. But we ought to try to do better."

The senior defense official also said the U.S. is considering what it might contribute for a new strategic communications center the British are setting up to convey its anti-IS message.

One option could be to assign someone from the Defense Department to be at the center, but the official said it was not clear if that would be a civilian or a military service member. The defense official said the five other mainly European coalition countries that Carter met with this week also support the effort.

The official was not authorized to talk about the discussions publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Responding to a question at the war college, Carter said that it will also be important to have other moderate religious leaders speaking out against the IS message. It takes mainstream religion, he said, to counter the arguments of religious extremists.

He said officials need to do more to encourage Internet providers to try to limit extremists' use of the Internet as a recruitment tool, without unduly impeding online freedom.

"We have to eliminate their ability to exploit the Internet," said Carter, "which is supposed to be a tool of civilization, of human communication, human understanding, human commerce, and not be used as an instrument for evil."

French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian also spoke briefly this week about the Islamic State group's grip on vulnerable youth in the West and elsewhere.

"We must also uproot Daesh in the minds," Le Drian said, using another name for IS. "We must refuse the discourse of a war of religion. This war takes place in Syria, Iraq, Libya. ... But it also takes place in our households, where minds that are the most easily influenced are seduced and enrolled by the propaganda of Daesh."

France is the European country with the greatest number of youths who have either gone to Syria, are planning to go or have returned. Some who took part in the Nov. 13 Paris attacks that killed 130 had traveled to Syria. That includes one considered a ringleader.

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Associated Press Writer Elaine Ganley contributed to this report.

U.S Defense Secretary Ashton Carter delivers a speech during a conference in Paris, Thursday, Jan 21, 2016. Carter said Wednesday that defense ministers from France and five other nations have agreed to intensify the campaign against Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, and that the coalition will work together to fill the military requirements as the fight unfolds over the coming months. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

U.S Defense Secretary Ashton Carter delivers a speech during a conference in Paris, Thursday, Jan 21, 2016. Carter said Wednesday that defense ministers from France and five other nations have agreed to intensify the campaign against Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, and that the coalition will work together to fill the military requirements as the fight unfolds over the coming months. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Flight attendant accused in North Dakota, Virginia threats

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP)  A flight attendant accused of making a phony bomb threat that forced a flight he was working to make an emergency landing in North Dakota is accused in a similar incident in Virginia.

Justin Cox-Sever, who was a SkyWest Airlines flight attendant from Tempe, Arizona, was charged last week in a Virginia federal court with making a bogus bomb threat that forced a SkyWest flight to Chicago to return to Charlottesville last July.

Cox-Sever doesn't have a lawyer for the Virginia case. His lawyer for the North Dakota case, Neil Fulton, declined to discuss the case in detail via email Thursday.

FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Burleigh County Sheriff's Department in Bismarck, N.D., shows Justin Cox-Sever, 22, of Tempe, Ariz. Cox-Sever, a flight attendant accused of making a phony bomb threat that forced a flight he was working to make an emergency landing in North Dakota, is accused in a similar incident in Virginia. Cox-Sever, who was a SkyWest Airlines flight attendant from Tempe, Arizona, was charged Jan. 13, 2016, in a Virginia federal court with making a bogus bomb threat that forced a SkyWest flight to Chicago to return to Charlottesville last July. (Burleigh County Sheriff's Department via AP, File)

Cox-Sever, 22, was previously charged in a North Dakota federal court with disrupting a Sept. 9 SkyWest flight from Minneapolis to Dickinson that led to the temporary shutdown of the Dickinson airport after the plane landed. Prosecutors say he stuffed a bag with towels and reported it as a suspicious package making beeping noises, leading the pilot to declare an in-flight emergency.

FBI Special Agent Daniel Genck wrote in an affidavit that Cox-Sever admitted planting the bag on the North Dakota flight and fabricating the bomb threat in the Virginia case. Genck said Cox-Sever reported that someone had written a threat on a wall of the plane's bathroom, but that he later admitted that he wrote the threat himself after he recanted a claim of being extorted by someone threatening harm to his family.

Cox-Sever pleaded not guilty in the North Dakota case and is scheduled to stand trial next month on charges related to interfering with the operation of an airplane. He faces three similar counts in the Virginia case, which hasn't been scheduled for trial.

"For right now, the North Dakota charges are being taken care of first and then Virginia will go," said Brian McGinn, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in the western district of Virginia.

Cox-Sever is no longer employed by SkyWest, though the airline won't say whether he was fired or left willingly. He is not allowed to fly without court approval while his cases proceed.

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2 dead, 2 injured after eastern Oklahoma bank robbery

EUFAULA, Okla. (AP)  A bank president was fatally shot during a robbery Thursday in eastern Oklahoma and the suspected gunman was killed after an ensuing car chase, authorities said.

FBI Special Agent Terry Weber said at a news conference that a man walked into the Bank of Eufaula, about 125 miles east of Oklahoma City, Thursday morning and shot a bank employee.

The state banking commissioner, Mick Thompson, confirmed that the bank's CEO and president, Randy Peterson, was killed.

Authorities block a street at the scene of a bank robbery Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016 in Eufaula, Okla. The FBI says two people have been shot to death, including a bank employee, during a bank robbery at the Bank of Eufaula. (Kevin Harvison/McAlester News-Capital via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

The suspect attempted to take another employee hostage on his way out of the bank, Weber said. When the woman resisted, the suspect shot her, then took a customer hostage and left the bank in a vehicle.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol pursued the suspect and hostage.

A trooper "initiated a tactical procedure to stop the vehicle," OHP spokesman Lt. John Vincent said.

Vincent said the trooper along with officers from two other law enforcement agencies were involved in a short exchange of gunfire with the suspect, who Vincent said was a black male dressed as a woman.

Weber said the suspect, who was later identified as 39-year-old Cedric Lamont Norris, was killed and the hostage was injured in the gunfire.

She and the female bank employee were both out of surgery and are expected to survive, Weber said.

It wasn't immediately clear who shot Norris or the hostage. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation is handling that aspect of the investigation, Vincent said.

No law enforcement officers were injured during the pursuit or shootout.
Ennio Morricone music has starring role in Tarantino film

NEW YORK (AP)  All Ennio Morricone asked of Quentin Tarantino, after committing to score his new Western, "The Hateful Eight," was that the director feature his music prominently and give it the space needed to convey its message.

Given how Tarantino feels about the award-winning composer, he hardly needed to ask.

"Ennio Morricone, as far as I am concerned, is my favorite composer," Tarantino said onstage as he accepted the 87-year-old Morricone's third Golden Globe Award for best original score. "When I say 'favorite composer,' I don't mean movie composer. ... I'm talking about Mozart, I'm talking about Beethoven, I'm talking about Schubert."

FILE - In this Dec. 6, 2013 file photo, composer Ennio Morricone appears at a photo call to promote his German 2014 concerts, in Berlin, Germany. Morricone won a Golden Globe award on Jan. 10, 2016 for composing the score for "The Hateful Eight," a film by Quentin Tarantino. He was also nominated for an Oscar for best original score on Jan. 14, 2016. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, File)

Getting Morricone to score "The Hateful Eight" was a coup for Tarantino, who tried before to get a soundtrack out of the prolific Italian composer. Some of Tarantino's films, like "Kill Bill: Vol. 2" and "Django Unchained," have featured existing music that Morricone originally composed for movies directed by Sergio Corbucci, Don Siegel and Sergio Leone in the 1960s.

Morricone's music played a central role in the cinematic experience of Leone spaghetti Westerns like "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" and "A Fistful of Dollars," and it's similarly front-and-center in "The Hateful Eight," which also earned Morricone an Oscar nomination. In Tarantino's hands, Morricone's music gets a starring role, serving as a narrator that helps move the story along, foreshadowing coming plot twists and accentuating the building suspense.

"The duration of the music piece inside the film is paramount for the mission of the film and the music score," said Morricone. "If you just have 30 seconds, the music cannot play its role, which is to express what you cannot see and hear through the images and dialogue."

Morricone spoke to The Associated Press, via a translator, from his home in Rome. His remarks have been edited for clarity and brevity.

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Associated Press: Do you have a general process that you go through when you decide to score a film?

Morricone: Sometimes I discuss it with the director when the movie is just an idea, and in this way I can even contribute my own ideas. But it depends on the kind of approach of the director. In the case of Tarantino, he came to me after filming, when the movie had already been shot. I told him, if there is going to be a next time  a next film with Quentin Tarantino and Ennio Morricone  I would like to start discussing the music beforehand, when you have the first idea of the film so I can really make a full contribution with my music.

AP: Some are calling this your first score for a Western film in more than 40 years, but in recent interviews you've said you don't consider "The Hateful Eight" a true Western. As someone who helped define the genre almost half a century ago, could you explain what constitutes a true Western film?

Morricone: What I consider a true Western film contains adventure and drama, set in a very specific geographic location, with prairies ... horses and guns. This is what makes a Western film a Western film. In the case of 'The Hateful Eight,' we have the cowboy hats and the guns, but we also have the presence of snow and the fact that almost all the film takes place in the same location and the same interior. This does not make it a Western movie, in my opinion. In fact, when I read the script, I never thought that this would be a Western movie.

AP: You've scored so many films. How do you stay so prolific?

Morricone: I started as an arranger ... writing pop songs. I started working on very easy kinds of music pieces for the radio, for television and then for the theater and then little by little I started to compose the film scores. All these experiences added together, together with my studies  because you can't forget that I followed all the studies that a real classic composer has to follow  led me to be so prolific, so fresh and so original over the years.

AP: What drew you to film composition?

Morricone: I must say that I have never looked for a particular kind of job assignment. It was the other way around. People called me to do something. It was the case for the pop songs, and then for the radio and then for the television and then for the theaters and last, but not least, for the cinema. So maybe it's that the people who called me, the producers and the filmmakers, they understood that I could be a good composer for film.
Brazil trying to develop vaccine against Zika virus

SAO PAULO (AP)  President Dilma Rousseff says Brazil is trying to develop vaccine against the Zika and dengue viruses.

She says the Health Ministry is working with Brazilian and foreign laboratories to obtain a vaccine against dengue and the Zika viruses that are transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito.

Brazilian officials have linked the Zika virus has been linked to the large number of cases of microcephaly, a rare birth defect.

This January 2016 image provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows a Zika virus, a mosquito-borne disease that has been linked in Brazil to a large number of cases of microcephaly, a rare birth defect. Infants with microcephaly have smaller than normal heads and their brains do not develop properly. (Cynthia Goldsmith/CDC via AP)

The Health Ministry has said the number of cases of microcephaly has risen to 3,893 since authorities began investigating the surge in cases in October.

Rousseff also called on Brazilians to redouble their efforts to eliminate the mosquito and its breeding grounds.
Israeli police arrest left-wing activist after TV report

JERUSALEM (AP)  Israeli police confirmed on Thursday the arrest of a prominent left-wing activist who was caught on tape boasting that he has put the lives of Palestinians who sell land to Israeli settlers at risk.

Police arrested the activist, Ezra Nawi, last week after the respected Israeli investigative program "Uvda" aired hidden-camera footage of him saying that he has turned over Arab land dealers to Palestinian authorities, knowing they could be killed or tortured. A gag order had prevented publication of his name.

The sale of Palestinian land to Jews is seen as treason among Palestinians, and some of those said to have sold land to Jews have in the past been killed under unclear circumstances.

Nawi's arrest comes as dovish Israeli groups say they have come under fire for being critical of government policies toward the Palestinians, with hard-line Israeli politicians and activists stepping up pressure on the organizations through legislation and accusations that they are disloyal.

The Uvda report showed amateur footage captured by a right-wing activist who went undercover and infiltrated Nawi's group, Ta'ayush. In one scene, Nawi tells the impostor how he goes after land dealers.

"I turn them over immediately, their pictures and their phone numbers to the Palestinian security forces," he says. The activist asks what the security forces do to stop the sale of land. Nawi answers: "It catches them and kills them."

The "Uvda" report was not clear whether Nawi's actions have gotten anyone killed. Nawi's lawyers argue that he hasn't committed any crime.
Republican US senators fear Ted Cruz could win nomination

WASHINGTON (AP)  Republicans in the U.S. Senate are confronting an unsettling possibility: Sen. Ted Cruz, their least favorite colleague, stands within reach of becoming the party's presidential nominee and standard-bearer.

Worse than that, many Republican lawmakers and aides fear the Texas senator could ruin Republicans' chances of hanging onto control of the Senate in November's elections, alienating voters in a half-dozen key swing states with his hardline stances on issues from immigration to abortion.

And yet, these fellow Republicans say they're essentially powerless to stop him. Any attempt to weaken Cruz in his primary campaign against Donald Trump and other Republican candidates risks bolstering his argument that he's running against the "Washington cartel." So there's little Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republicans can do beyond watch in dismay as Cruz, isolated and boxed out in the clubby Senate after repeatedly angering colleagues, rises in the polls in first-voting Iowa and elsewhere.

In this photo taken Jan. 20, 2016, Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, leaves the Senate Gallery on Capitol Hill in Washington. Republican senators are confronting an unsettling possibility: Sen. Ted Cruz, their least favorite colleague, stands within reach of becoming the partys presidential nominee and standard-bearer. (AP Photo/Molly Riley)

With Cruz as the Republican nominee, "state and local races that take place in ideologically moderate electorates could be a bloodbath," says Josh Holmes, McConnell's former chief of staff and a Republican strategist. Vulnerable Republican senators are partly insulated by strong campaign organizations, "but there is no question their job could get tougher," Holmes says.

Cruz has attempted to make a virtue of his rejection by the Washington establishment, and his allies say he will actually help fellow Republicans by energizing the base and turning out evangelicals and others.

One of his favorite lines on the stump is quoting a newspaper article that, according to him, said, "Cruz can't win because the Washington elites despise him."

"I kinda thought that was the whole point of the campaign," Cruz says, almost always generating applause.

On paper at least, Cruz would not seem an obvious anti-establishment figure. He attended elite universities, was a national collegiate debating champion and served as a law clerk for a U.S. Supreme Court chief justice. His wife works as an executive at Goldman Sachs.

But in the Senate, Cruz has alienated fellow Republican senators on so many occasions they are hard to count. And now, with Democrats optimistic they might win the five seats needed to retake control of the Senate  four if they keep the White House  Republicans are desperate to protect vulnerable incumbents in states like Pennsylvania, Ohio and New Hampshire, where a Cruz candidacy could turn off independents.

Some Republican lawmakers and pollsters view Cruz as more problematic than businessman Trump, since Trump might have more cross-over appeal to independents. Polling shown to Republicans in the House of Representatives recently identified Cruz as the most difficult presidential nominee for any of them to share a ballot with.

On the Democratic side, former Sen. Hillary Clinton is facing an unexpectedly tough challenge from liberal Sen. Bernie Sanders.

The negative reactions started shortly after Cruz arrived in the Senate in 2013. During a confirmation hearing for former Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense, Cruz implied, without offering evidence, that Hagel had received compensation from North Korea.

Last year, in a dramatic breach of decorum, Cruz delivered a floor speech in which he accused McConnell of lying about scheduling a vote on the federal Export-Import Bank. Senate leaders were livid and went so far as to block Cruz's routine request for a roll-call vote, something all but unheard-of.

Rep. Pete King, who represents an evenly divided district in New York state, dismissed Cruz as a "fraud" and said, "I don't know of anyone else in Washington, certainly, who gets this opposition from his own people. ... I'm talking about people as conservative as he is who just can't stand him."

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Associated Press writer Scott Bauer contributed from Madison, Wisconsin, and Marc Levy contributed from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

FILE - In this Feb. 27, 2015 file photo, Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y. stands outside the House chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington. Republican senators are confronting an unsettling possibility: Sen. Ted Cruz, their least favorite colleague, stands within reach of becoming the partys presidential nominee and standard-bearer. He would definitely be a negative, said King, who represents an evenly divided Long Island district. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
The Latest: Sailor gets prison in Navy bribery scandal

SAN DIEGO (AP)  The latest on Navy officials accused of taking bribes in exchange for classified shipping schedules and other information (all times local):

11:55 a.m.

The first of nine defendants in a massive U.S. Navy bribery case has been sentenced to 27 months in prison for providing classified information to a Malaysian defense contractor.

Petty Officer 1st Class Daniel Layug told a San Diego federal court Thursday that he made a mistake and let his ego and greed lead him to betray his country.

U.S. District Court Judge Janis Sammartino said in handing down the sentence that Layug put the United States at risk.

Prosecutors asked for the 27-month term, saying Layug was the least culpable in the case but that his sentencing would set the bar in the case. He faced five years.

Layug is among seven defendants including military officers who have pleaded guilty. Two others have pleaded not guilty.

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10:20 a.m.

Prosecutors say a sailor who provided a Malaysian defense contractor classified shipping schedules in exchange for more than $10,000 in cash, a digital camera, hotel stays and other gifts will be sentenced in one of the Navy's worst corruption cases.

Petty Officer 1st Class Daniel Layug is scheduled to appear Thursday in federal court in San Diego. He has pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to commit bribery. He faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

Layug has admitted he gave information to Singapore-based Glenn Defense Marine Asia Ltd., or GDMA.

GDMA President Leonard Glenn Francis has pleaded guilty to bribing sailors and officers. Prosecutors say he used the contacts to bilk the Navy out of some $20 million.
Scientists release endangered Puerto Rico parrots into wild

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP)  Scientists have released 16 endangered Puerto Rico parrots into the wild amid a growing push to save the U.S. territory's last native parrot species.

Natural Resources Secretary Carmen Guerrero says the parrots were released Thursday at the Rio Abajo Nature Preserve. She says they were selected from a group of 30 that lived for a year in a large cage learning survival skills. The selected parrots left their cage within an hour of officials opening it.

Guerrero said the number of natural nests built in the wild in recent years also has increased.

FILE - In this June 23, 2011, file photo, a Puerto Rico parrot is pictured inside a fly cage at El Yunque National Forest protected habitat in Luquillo, Puerto Rico. Scientists released on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016, 16 endangered Puerto Rico parrots into the wild amid a growing push to save the U.S. territory's last native parrot species. Local and U.S. officials have been working to increase the population of a bird that saw its numbers dwindle to 13 in the early 1970s. (AP Photo/Ricardo Arduengo, File)
VA chief to Congress: You can't fire your way to excellence

WASHINGTON (AP)  Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald on Thursday disputed claims by members of Congress that his scandal-plagued agency hasn't dismissed enough employees, saying, "You can't fire your way to excellence."

McDonald told the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee that he and other top leaders are turning the VA around, "providing more and better care than ever before" and holding employees accountable, including firing about 2,600 workers since he took office 18 months ago.

The VA has struggled to respond in the nearly two years since a scandal emerged in Phoenix over chronic delays for veterans seeking medical care, and falsified records covering up the long waits. Similar problems were soon discovered at VA medical centers nationwide, affecting thousands of veterans and prompting an outcry in Congress.

FILE - In this Feb. 24, 2015 file photo, Veteran Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald speaks to reporters outside VA Headquarters in Washington. McDonald is pushing back against claims by members of Congress that the VA has not fired enough people to turn around the scandal-plagued agency. McDonald told a Senate panel Thursday,Jan. 21, 2016, that you cant fire your way to excellence. Instead, he said the VA must inspire its 340,000 workers to do better while recruiting and hiring new employees who understand the agencys mission. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

Despite the scandal, his "vision for VA (is) to become the No. 1 customer-service agency in the government," McDonald said.

The agency has "a lot of work to do to reach that goal, but we are making progress," he said, noting that VA increased the number of health care appointments by more 1.2 million last year, completing 96 percent of those within 30 days of clinically indicated dates or those preferred by veterans.

McDonald's comments came as he outlined a 12-point plan he said would achieve "breakthrough outcomes" by the end of President Barack Obama's term. The plan includes improving veterans' access to health care, making it easier for veterans to navigate the complicated VA website, reducing chronic backlogs in disability claims and continuing to reduce veteran homelessness.

McDonald praised passage of a 2014 law intended to make it easier for veterans to receive private care, noting that VA authorized 12 million private appointments last year alone. The move to private care was intended to alleviate chronic delays many veterans face in getting treatment at the VA's nearly 1,000 hospitals and outpatient clinics, or to make it easier for veterans who live far away from a VA health site.

Bolstered by the new law, the VA hired more than 41,000 people last year, bringing the total number of employees to more than 340,000, McDonald said. The new hires included 14,000 health care workers, 1,300 of them doctors and 3,600 of them nurses.

Still, McDonald said the agency is plagued by "critical shortages" in health care, including 34 vacant positions directing VA medical centers nationwide.

"Negative news articles" published since the wait-time scandal broke out in Phoenix have hampered recruitment efforts and made it difficult for the VA to hire and retain qualified workers, McDonald said. Employment applications are down by about 75 percent compared to two years ago, he said.

Many Republican lawmakers have urged the VA to fire more workers to demonstrate what they say is sorely needed accountability at an agency hamstrung by career employees who face few consequences for wrongdoing. Lawmakers were flabbergasted last year after two high-ranking VA officials were demoted rather than fired amid allegations that they forced lower-ranking regional managers to accept job transfers against their will and then stepped into the vacant positions themselves.

Disappointment turned to anger after it was revealed that even the demotions were rescinded following a paperwork mix-up. "Frankly, this ineptness clearly illustrates that VA can't even slap a wrist without missing the wrist," said Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee.

Earlier this month, the VA said that the two senior executives, Diana Rubens and Kimberly Graves, were demoted to general workers within the Veterans Benefits Administration.

Rubens, a former top official at the VA's Washington headquarters, now serves as assistant director of the VBA's Houston regional office. Graves, a former director of VBA's 14-state North Atlantic Region, serves as assistant director in Phoenix. Both received unspecified pay cuts.

Senators appeared generally sympathetic to McDonald's message, in contrast to often contentious hearings in the House.
The China risk: what leaders in Davos say about it

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP)  Worries over China's economic future have dominated many of the talks at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Here are some of the top quotes of the day.

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"China has the confidence and capacity to maintain medium to high growth."

Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao speaks at a special session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. World leaders are holding a flurry of diplomatic meetings at the World Economic Forum and worried CEOs are debating about how to deal with this year's volatile markets and low oil prices.(AP Photo/Michel Euler)

-Li Yuanchao, Vice-President of China, on how the government will support the economy while it shifts its focus from manufacturing toward more consumer spending.

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"There is a communication issue."

-Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, on the trouble China has had in telling investors how it intends to manage financial markets.

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"The real question is: 'Are they prepared to follow through on an agenda they charted out?'"

-US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew on China's promise to make its markets more open and reform its economy.

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"There are no loose cannons that are going to be running China ... The commitment to market reforms is a very real commitment."

-Ray Dalio, chairman of investment firm Bridgewater Associates, on the dedication of the Chinese leadership to modernize their markets and economy.

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"The sea is rough but we've got to ride it."

-Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on how China's slowdown is affecting the rest of Asia.

Chinese Market Regulator Fang Xinghai, right, speaks with Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde, left, during a panel session at the 46th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. The overarching theme of the meeting, which takes place from 20 to 23 January, is "Mastering the Fourth Industrial Revolution". (Laurent Gillieron/Keystone via AP)

Chanda Kochhar, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of ICICI Bank, left, speaks as Sri Lankas Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe listens during a debate hosted by the Associated Press Regions in Transformation: South Asia at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. The debate focused on the future of South Asia and the global trends and national priorities that are affecting its transformation. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
US-born forward Giuseppe Rossi ready to leave Fiorentina

FLORENCE, Italy (AP)  American-born forward Giuseppe Rossi has made it clear he is on the verge of leaving Serie A club Fiorentina in search of more playing time.

Italian media have reported he is close to joining Levante, which is last in the standings of the Spanish top-flight, after starting just four league matches this season as he recovers from a fourth knee operation.

On Thursday he wrote a long message on Twitter in response to a fan of Fiorentina, the Florence club known as the 'Viola' in Italy.

Fiorentinas Giuseppe Rossi, right, tries to dribbles past AC Milans Keisuke Honda during the Serie A soccer match between AC Milan and Fiorentina at the San Siro stadium in Milan, Italy, Sunday, Jan. 17, 2016. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

"I'm the first to be disappointed because I owe a debt to the Fiorentina fans," Rossi said. "I gave my all in everything I've done, from therapy to training in recent times, because I wanted to continue to give them emotions on the pitch. But it's hard to do when chances are few and far between.

"Football is life for me, and if you take that away from me I can never be happy. I hope that you and the Fiorentina fans can understand me because I want to smile again. I'll always keep the Viola in my heart, and I can never forget the goosebumps you gave me on Sundays."

Levante will reportedly have the right to buy Rossi at the end of the season for around 6 million euros ($6.5 million) but the 28-year-old is keen to return to Italy.

"It's a 'see you later', not a goodbye," Rossi said as he left Fiorentina's training center. "I am very disappointed, we'll see how it ends."

It would be a return to Spain for Rossi, who joined Fiorentina in 2013 after six years at Villarreal.

The Italy forward  who was born in New Jersey  also played for Manchester United, Newcastle and Parma.

Rossi tore his right anterior cruciate ligament during a game for Villarreal against Real Madrid in October 2011 and needed three operations before returning in May 2013 with Fiorentina.

He also missed four months of the 2013-14 season with a sprained ligament, and was left out of Italy's World Cup squad because of that injury.

Rossi underwent a fourth operation on his troublesome right knee in September 2014 and missed the whole of last season.
Former fugitive pastor in Vegas child sex case found guilty

LAS VEGAS (AP)  A former Las Vegas area pastor who fled the country after he was accused of sexually assaulting girls as young as 7 in his congregation has been found guilty.

A Clark County District Court jury on Thursday found Otis Holland, 59, guilty of 15 felony charges, including child sexual assault and lewdness. He faces life in prison, with sentencing scheduled for March 16.

The long-delayed trial started in early January, but Holland has been in jail since his arrest in January 2012 in Tijuana, Mexico. A prosecutor said he had fled the country following his initial arrest in December 2010. Known to his United Faith Church congregation in Henderson as "Reverend Otis," he was also featured before his arrest on the television show "America's Most Wanted."

Prosecutors said Holland focused on sex as a path to spirituality. He taught from the pulpit that most women have burning desires blocked by sexual hang-ups that he could teach them to get past, if given the chance.

Multiple women have testified that they had sex or sexual contact with the former pastor when they were teens. They said that at the time, they didn't talk about the abuse with their parents, who had sent them to Holland for counseling against misbehavior like skipping school or smoking cigarettes.

One woman said she was 14 when Holland first took her after Sunday church services to a limousine fitted with a back seat that reclined into a bed and used a sex toy on her and told her he wanted to show her something that would relieve tension and frustration. Another said she started having sex with Holland when she was 15 and that he took her to get monthly birth control injections. The Associated Press typically does not identify people who say they have been hurt in sexual assault cases.

Holland has denied wrongdoing. His defense attorney suggested that the accusers concocted stories about being abused because they thought they loved the pastor and were jealous of his adult relationships, including with at least two other women from the church.

His attorney, Carmine Colucci, couldn't immediately be reached for comment. But in court he had cast Holland as a generous leader who shared vehicles with church members when they needed wheels. He told a jury: "The limousine wasn't used solely for sexual activities. It was used for transportation."

Holland is also facing additional charges in a related case.

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More than pride at stake as England faces South Aftrica

Although England has already won the series, the fourth test against South Africa offers some incentive for both sides  pride for the hosts and places in the team for the tourists.

England took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series by winning the third test by seven wickets last Saturday at the Wanderers in Johannesburg, its first series victory over South Africa in 11 years.

The final test starts Friday at Centurion.

Englands Stuart Broad, holds his man of the match trophy after the match presentation on the third day of the third test cricket match between South Africa and England, at Wanderers stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, Saturday, Jan. 16, 2016. England beat South Africa by 7 wickets. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Many of England's runs in the series have come from the three middle order batsmen: Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow. They are averaging 58, 73.60 and 115 runs, respectively, and their form has been a key factor in England's successes.

The three go about scoring their runs in different ways, highlighted by the innings in which Bairstow and Stokes put on a record-breaking sixth wicket partnership of 399. While Stokes bludgeoned 30 fours and 11 sixes in his 258, Bairstow complemented him with a more measured approach to his 150 not out. The two worked perfectly in tandem to dominate the South African bowling and serve as an example of the power of the English batting through the series.

One aspect of the fourth test will be whether Alex Hales is able to perform at the top of the order and retain his place in the test side ahead of Sri Lanka's visit to England in the summer.

"A lot of runs have been scored by Joe, Ben and Jonny," captain Alastair Cook said. "They've scored the majority of the runs, which is great for those guys but others haven't quite contributed, myself included. We've got the opportunity to do that and I'm really looking forward to this week to see how people respond."

For South Africa, it has been a series to forget.

"We haven't won a test match, I think, for 12 months, so. We are rebuilding a little bit," recently appointed captain AB De Villiers said.

South Africa's highlights have included Hashim Amla's 201 in Cape Town, Temba Bavuma becoming the first black South African to score a century and both Kagiso Rabada and Dane Piedt picking up five wicket hauls. Still, South Africa has failed to gel as a team and give a complete performance.

The South African bowling has suffered in contrast to the ruthlessness of the English. While Stuart Broad took 6-17 in 12.1 overs to seal the outcome of the third test, the South African pace bowlers have been unable to respond.

The difference in class is evident in the bowling averages of the top five bowlers in the series. Broad and Steven Finn average 16.46 and 26.09 runs per wicket, while Morne Morkel, Rabada and Piedt average 33.70, 37.55 and 40.66, respectively.

"They are very, very smart and very skilled," De Villiers said.

The South African captain added: "I'm not only optimistic about this next game, but our future as well, so (we are) really going to focus on that and our strengths and how we can develop as a team."

Cook was not fazed by De Villiers' confidence.

"I think he is obviously trying to wind everything up to make it competitive," he said.

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This story has been corrected to show that the 4th test starts Friday.

Englands captain Alastair Cook, during the match presentation on the third day of the third test cricket match between South Africa and England, at Wanderers stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, Saturday, Jan. 16, 2016. England beat South Africa by 7 wickets. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
Latest: Ex-US Marine released from Iran grateful for support

FLINT, Mich. (AP)  The latest on the return to the United States of former Iranian prisoner Amir Hekmati (all times local):

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4:40 p.m.

Amir Hekmati waves after arriving on a private flight at Bishop International Airport, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016, in Flint, Mich. The 32-year-old Hekmati, a former U.S. Marine who was released from an Iranian prison as part of a deal with Iran is returning to home to Michigan. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

A former U.S. Marine recently released from Iran in a prisoner-swap deal says he's grateful to be home in Michigan.

Amir Hekmati emerged from a plane Thursday afternoon at Flint's Bishop International Airport. He expressed appreciation for the "many people" who "traveled this road with me."

The 32-year-old Hekmati was at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany since his weekend release. He recounted Tuesday how disbelief turned to joy when he and three fellow Americans realized they were being freed.

Asked about his 4 years in Iranian prison, Hekmati said "it wasn't good," but that his Marine training helped sustain him.

Convicted by an Iranian court of spying and sentenced to death in 2012, Hekmati was later retried and given a 10-year sentence on a lesser charge.

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4:15 p.m.

A former U.S. Marine recently released from an Iranian prison in a prisoner-swap deal has landed in his home state of Michigan.

The plane carrying Amir Hekmati arrived Thursday afternoon at Flint's Bishop International Airport. He's emerged to waiting reporters and well-wishers, including members of the American Legion.

The 32-year-old Hekmati was at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany since his weekend release. He recounted Tuesday how disbelief turned to joy when he and three fellow Americans realized they were being freed.

Asked about his 4 1/2 years in Iranian prison, Hekmati said "it wasn't good," but that his Marine training helped sustain him.

Convicted by an Iranian court of spying and sentenced to death in 2012, Hekmati was later retried and given a 10-year sentence on a lesser charge.

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9 a.m.

A former U.S. Marine recently released from an Iranian prison in a prisoner-swap deal is returning to Michigan.

The office of Michigan Congressman Dan Kildee says Amir Hekmati is scheduled to arrive Thursday afternoon at Flint's Bishop International Airport.

The 32-year-old Hekmati has been at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany since his release over the weekend. He recounted Tuesday how disbelief turned to joy when he and three fellow Americans realized they were being freed.

Asked about his 4 1/2 -years in Iranian prison, Hekmati said "it wasn't good," but that his Marine training helped sustain him.

Convicted by an Iranian court of spying and sentenced to death in 2012, Hekmati was later retried and given a 10-year sentence on a lesser charge.

Amir Hekmati arrives on a flight at Bishop International Airport, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016, in Flint, Mich. Hekmati, a former U.S. Marine who was released from an Iranian prison as part of a deal with Iran, returned home to Michigan. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Amir Hekmati waves after arriving on a private flight at Bishop International Airport, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016 in Flint, Mich. Hekmati, a former U.S. Marine who was released from an Iranian prison as part of a deal with Iran is returning home to Michigan. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

In this image made from video, former U.S Marine Amir Hekmati, center, is flanked by Michigan congressman Dan Kildee, left, and Hekmati's brother-in-law Ramy Kurdi as he speaks to the media in Landstuhl, Germany, Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2016. Former U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati, who was one of four Americans released by Iran as part of a prisoner swap, is in good health and looking forward to getting home soon, a congressman said Tuesday. U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, a Democrat from Hekmati's home state of Michigan, said he spent several hours with the 32-year-old, who spent 4  years imprisoned in Iran before his release over the weekend. (APTN via AP)

In a Monday, Jan. 18, 2016 photo provided by the Hekmati family, U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Flint Township, Mich., meets with former Iran prisoner Amir Hekmati at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany. Hekmati was detained in August 2011 on espionage charges. Kildee told reporters that he's been working to free Hekmati and couldn't wait to meet him in person. (Courtesy of the Hekmati Family via AP)

Amir Hekmati speaks with the media after arriving on a flight at Bishop International Airport, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016, in Flint, Mich. The 32-year-old Hekmati, a former U.S. Marine who was released from an Iranian prison as part of a deal with Iran, landed in his home state of Michigan on Thursday. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
New bond insurer files lawsuit against Puerto Rico govt

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP)  Another bond insurer has filed a lawsuit against Puerto Rican government officials over how they diverted tax revenues to meet certain bond payments amid an economic crisis.

The lawsuit filed by New York-based Financial Guaranty Insurance Company was consolidated on Thursday with a similar one filed two weeks ago by Assured Guaranty Corp. and Ambac Assurance Corporation.

Financial Guaranty accused U.S. territory government officials of violating the constitution, according to the lawsuit filed Jan. 19. It said that at least $164 million of pledged funds have been diverted for what it called unconstitutional uses. The company said it insures some $1.2 billion of Puerto Rico's debt.

The U.S. territory recently defaulted on $37 million in interest on bonds, and officials have said there is no money available for future payments.

Financial Guaranty said in the lawsuit that the recent default meant the company had to pay more than $6 million in claims.
Former US Marine released from Iran lands in US

FLINT, Michigan (AP)  A former U.S. Marine recently released from an Iranian prison in a prisoner-swap deal landed in his home state of Michigan on Thursday.

The plane carrying Amir Hekmati arrived at Flint's Bishop International Airport. He emerged to waiting reporters and well-wishers, including members of the American Legion.

The 32-year-old Hekmati was at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany since his weekend release. He recounted Tuesday how disbelief turned to joy when he and three fellow Americans realized they were being freed.

In this image made from video, former U.S Marine Amir Hekmati, center, is flanked by Michigan congressman Dan Kildee, left, and Hekmati's brother-in-law Ramy Kurdi as he speaks to the media in Landstuhl, Germany, Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2016. Former U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati, who was one of four Americans released by Iran as part of a prisoner swap, is in good health and looking forward to getting home soon, a congressman said Tuesday. U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, a Democrat from Hekmati's home state of Michigan, said he spent several hours with the 32-year-old, who spent 4  years imprisoned in Iran before his release over the weekend. (APTN via AP)

Asked about his 4 1/2 -years in Iranian prison, Hekmati said "it wasn't good," but that his Marine training helped sustain him.

Hekmati was detained in August 2011 on espionage charges. He says he went to Iran to visit family and spend time with his ailing grandmother. After his arrest, family members say they were told to keep the matter quiet.

Convicted by an Iranian court of spying and sentenced to death in 2012, Hekmati was later retried and given a 10-year sentence on a lesser charge.

Hekmati was born in Arizona and raised in Michigan. His family is in the Flint area. He and his family deny any wrongdoing, and say his imprisonment included physical and mental torture and long periods of solitary confinement in a tiny cell.

In a Monday, Jan. 18, 2016 photo provided by the Hekmati family, U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Flint Township, Mich., meets with former Iran prisoner Amir Hekmati at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany. Hekmati was detained in August 2011 on espionage charges. Kildee told reporters that he's been working to free Hekmati and couldn't wait to meet him in person. (Courtesy of the Hekmati Family via AP)
The Latest: At Davos, Soros blasts Trump's 'fear mongering'

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP)  The latest developments from the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, where top executives and world leaders are gathered this week. All times local.

10:55 p.m.

Philanthropist George Soros says he believes Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump doesn't have "any chance of being elected."

In this handout picture released by the Office of the President of Argentina, President Mauricio Macri, right, shakes hands with British Prime Minister David Cameron, during a meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. (The Office of the President of Argentina Photo via AP)

Soros, who was speaking at the World Economic Forum at Davos, said Trump is doing the work of the Islamic State group by "fear mongering."

Soros said the popularity of Trump will lead to a "landslide" for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, saying she is "campaigning for the general elections and the Republicans are fighting in the primary.

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10:35 p.m.

The United States says it will no longer oppose lending to Argentina from multilateral banks.

The U.S. Treasury statement follows a meeting between U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew and Argentine Finance Minister Alfonso Prat-Gay at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday.

It says the policy change was prompted by the Argentine government's "progress on key issues and positive economic policy trajectory."

Argentina is in the process of renegotiating about $10 billion of unpaid debt to US hedge funds that refused to give it debt relief at restructurings in 2005 an 2010.

Market-friendly Mauricio Macri took office as Argentine president in January, replacing Cristina Fernandez, who frequently clashed with Washington.

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9:15 p.m.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden saw something surprising at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos.

Argentine President Mauricio Macri asked political rival Sergio Massa to join him and Biden in a photo during a meeting Thursday. Massa ran against Macri in last year's presidential election.

Biden commented, "I want the American press to observe something. The new president brought a member of the opposition with him. That's what we've got to do at home."

Biden had a day packed with diplomatic meetings in Davos on Thursday, including talks with leaders of Israel, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq and Cyprus.

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8:15 p.m.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his government is working on ways to boost the economy beyond a previously planned $10 billion deficit.

Speaking Thursday to The Associated Press at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, Trudeau said, "We will do what needs to be done." He didn't elaborate.

The drop in oil prices has hit Canada's economy hard, and the Canadian dollar is diving too. Trudeau has vowed to spend billions on infrastructure in an effort to stimulate the economy in a budget being announced in the coming weeks.

Trudeau also said Canada is "committed to continuing" in the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State extremists, even though there Canada is pulling out warplanes. Speaking to young entrepreneurs in Davos, he said, "Yes there's a need for ... military engagement."

He also described Canada's decision to welcome refugees from Syria's civil war as "a punch in the face" to the Islamic State group.

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6:55 p.m.

On the day the World Food Program joined more than 100 other humanitarian agencies in an appeal to bring about an end to the conflict in Syria, the U.N. agency's top official says 400,000 people in the country remain isolated in 15 besieged areas.

In an interview Thursday with The Associated Press, WFP Executive Director Ertharin Cousin says recent cease fires that have allowed the organization to reach places like the town of Madaya "must be expanded further."

Cousin said the WFP is reaching, along with partners, around 3.9 million people in Syria and supporting approximately 1.9 million people outside Syria with food assistance. The challenge, she said, is that over 7 million people need assistance.

The WFP is a regular presence in Davos and Cousin says its presence allows it to "give visibility" to issues business people don't see.

She says donors have "never been more generous but the challenges have never been greater."

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6:40 p.m.

Argentina's President Mauricio Macri has met with British Prime Minister David Cameron in an attempt to improve relations that have long been frosty, especially over the disputed Falkland Islands.

Macri says he wants the two sides "to talk about all of the pending issues," including the Falklands. Britain lost and then recaptured the South Atlantic islands after an Argentine invasion in 1982.

Macri says the two sides are acknowledging differences, but are talking.

Thursday's meeting took place during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. A spokesperson for Cameron said the prime minister maintained Britain's position and that a recent referendum showed "the islanders wish to remain British."

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6:25 p.m.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is playing down an Israeli plan to seize 370 acres (150 hectares) of West Bank land, calling it a "routine" survey of land whose fate hasn't yet been fully determined.

The Israeli leader spoke to reporters Thursday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he had meetings with business and world leaders including U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry.

The U.S. State Department has condemned the planned expropriation of land in the West Bank near the city of Jericho as incompatible with Israel's avowed commitment to a two-state solution. Palestinians and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also condemned the plan announced Wednesday by Israeli's Defense Ministry.

Netanyahu said "there has been no decision on what to do with this land" and reiterated his longstanding "open call" for peace talks with the Palestinians.

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5:45 p.m.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is encouraging the leaders of ethnically split Cyprus to seize the positive momentum in ongoing reunification talks.

Ban lauded Nicos Anastasiades, the Cyprus Greek Cypriot president, and breakaway Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci on making significant progress in eight months of talks and for demonstrating that they can reach compromises on thorny issues.

But he acknowledged after meeting both men Thursday in Davos that a "number of sensitive and difficult issues" still remain.

The U.N. chief also urged international actors, especially Cyprus' guarantor powers Greece, Turkey and Britain, to do their utmost to support the leaders in the talks.

Cyprus was split in 1974 when Turkey invaded after a coup aimed at union with Greece.

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5:10 p.m.

The vice president of China says the country "has the confidence and capacity to maintain medium to high growth."

Concerns about a slowdown in the world's second-largest economy have roiled financial markets in recent weeks. China's growth fell to a 25-year low of 6.9 percent last year.

Li Yuanchao said that after years of super-high growth, China is entering another phase, dubbed the "new normal."

The country is trying to shift its focus from an overreliance on manufacturing toward more consumer spending and small business. Li said: "The economy will grow more steadily and have more diversified driving forces."

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4:30 p.m.

The office of the U.N. special envoy for Syria says peace talks initially scheduled to start Monday between government and opposition representatives in Geneva are likely to be delayed by a few days.

Jessy Chahine, spokeswoman for special envoy Staffan de Mistura, said in an email Thursday that the start date was likely to slip "for practical reasons"  without elaborating  but that "we are still aiming for that date and we will in any event assess progress over the weekend."

The intra-Syrian talks are set to become the third in Geneva since the conflict erupted nearly five years ago, leaving at least 250,000 dead. Diplomats and other officials say the makeup of the invitees list is among the sticking points.

The annual World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos is about global diplomacy.

In Davos, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the talks will likely be delayed "a day or two." Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davotoglu, Syria's northern neighbor, insisted no "terrorist groups" should be allowed to take part.

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2:45 p.m.

British Prime Minister David Cameron says he is not asking for anything "outrageous" from European Union leaders so that he can campaign for the country's continued membership in the 28-country bloc.

In a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Cameron said Thursday that his aim is to "secure the future of Britain in a reformed European Union."

He said that if a deal does not emerge at a February summit of EU leaders then he can wait. His party's manifesto pledge was to hold a referendum by the end of 2017.

If offered a good deal at the summit, Cameron said he would take it.

Cameron laid out his four reform proposals. He wants changes to rules affecting migration and benefits; to "hard-wire" competitiveness into the EU's DNA; to make sure non-euro countries like Britain aren't discriminated by the 19 EU countries that use the euro currency; and to get Britain out of the idea of an "ever-closer union."

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1:20 p.m.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif says his country is increasingly determined to fight extremism after a university attack by Islamic militants that killed 21.

Sharif, speaking Thursday in the Swiss resort of Davos, said, the country's resolve to fight against these elements is "getting stronger every day."

He said the attack was the result of "blowback" after Pakistani authorities' efforts to dismantle extremists' infrastructure and hide-outs.

Even as his country mourned the students killed at Bacha Khan university in the town of Charsadda, Sharif insisted that the extremists' "ability to strike back has been considerably destroyed." The terrorists are "on the run," he insisted.

Sharif was speaking at a debate moderated by The Associated Press at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

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1:10 p.m.

US Treasury chief Jack Lew says the beneficial effect of lower oil prices on consumers may not yet be fully apparent.

The plunge in oil prices has unnerved financial markets in recent weeks as investors worry it means the global economy is weakening and requiring less energy.

But in a panel in Davos, Switzerland, Lew stressed how the drop in oil prices acts like a tax cut for the majority of people and countries, which are net oil consumers.

He said consumers "have more money in their pockets" and that people are either spending or improving their household finances by saving or reducing debt. In either case, he said, that strengthens the economy in the longer term. "I don't think that money is just evaporating," he said.

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12:30 a.m.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras says the European Union needs to come up with a comprehensive package of measures to deal with its migrant crisis  including more involvement by Europe-wide bodies in transit countries like his and a properly thought-out and paid-for relocation and resettlement plan.

Dismissing suggestions that his country has been reluctant to allow a bigger EU involvement in the eastern Greek islands, Tsipras said Thursday that Europe has to cooperate more on the many difficulties it faces, not least the refugee crisis and the economic problems afflicting the euro currency.

Greece has been at the heart of both crises, and last year Tsipras signed the country's third international bailout agreement in a little more than five years.

Tsipras told a panel at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos that "we need more Europe" that is focused on building democracy, solidarity and employment.

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12:15 p.m.

European leaders said they will do what they can to make sure British Prime Minister David Cameron can support his country's continued future in the European Union in a referendum expected this year.

Mark Rutte, the Dutch Prime minister whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the 28-country EU, said Thursday he's "fairly optimistic" a deal with Britain will emerge in February, but that he's "not absolutely sure."

Addressing a panel at the World Economic Forum at the Swiss ski resort of Davos, Rutte voiced his strong support for Britain's continued membership of the EU as the country is outward-looking and trade-oriented.

Cameron is seeking a series of reforms on things like benefits, powers for national parliaments and movement of people. He has voiced his hope that a successful renegotiation will lead to the British people backing Britain's future in the referendum that is expected this year.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said it would be a "tragedy" if Britain left the EU  so-called Brexit.

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11:45 a.m.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble says Europe will have to invest billions to deal with the refugee crisis that it's faced over the past year.

Schaeuble indicated his strong support for efforts to deal with problems in the transit countries at the forefront of the crisis, such as Greece and Italy. He didn't respond to a question on how many more refugees Germany can take in the current year.

At a panel at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, Schaeuble said Thursday it would be a "disgrace" if Europe became a fortress.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, said Europe has to come up with a comprehensive strategy to deal with the refugee crisis within the next two months.

Rutte said nobody was talking about ending the Schengen Agreement, which allows free movement of people across European borders.

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11:15 a.m.

Christine Lagarde has received the backing of both Britain and Germany to head the International Monetary Fund for a second term.

British finance chief George Osborne issued a statement Thursday saying his government nominated her to stay in the post. The German government quickly followed, with a finance ministry statement saying Lagarde "was a circumspect and successful crisis manager during the difficult period after the financial crisis."

Countries individually nominate their preferred candidate.

At a panel in Davos, Switzerland, Lagarde said she was honored but did not want to confirm yet whether she would agree to stand again. She later told reporters that she was prepared to stay in the post if IMF member states would like her to stay.

The IMF has typically been run by a European official, while its sister organization, the World Bank, by an American. Developing countries have increasingly opposed this informal arrangement.

Lagarde, who is French, was in Davos to attend the World Economic Forum, a meeting of business leaders and public figures.

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11:00 a.m.

A Chinese market regulator says the country has no option but to support growth this year, using its large financial reserves if needed.

As concerns over a slowdown in the world's second-largest economy roil markets, Fang Xinghai, from China's Central Leading Group for Financial and Economic Affairs, said Thursday: "We cannot afford to let growth rate to fall too sharply, because that would ignite a lot of financial problems inside China. So we will have appropriately expansionary fiscal and financial policy this year."

At a panel in Davos, Switzerland, Ray Dalio, the chairman of Bridgewater Associates, said the biggest concern was China's currency. As it weakens, that will weigh on the global economy.

He said: "That happens at a time there is a weakness in the rest of the world."

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10:00 a.m.

The annual elite economic gathering in the Swiss Alps resort of Davos is about global diplomacy, too.

War and diplomatic tensions from the Mideast to South Asia are high on Thursday's agenda. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden is meeting with the leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan, and later Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu  all of whom are holding a flurry of talks with other envoys as well.

Britain's David Cameron, China's Vice President Li Yuanchao, and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu are taking the stage later Thursday at the World Economic Forum.

And U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, fresh from talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, is joining Davos with a full schedule.

US Vice-President Joe Biden, center, poses with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, left, and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for the media prior to a meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. Biden held a trilateral meeting with Ghani Sharif to help the two neighbors co-operate and co-ordinate on counter-terrorism measures, the White House said. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks at a session called Global Shapers on Pluralism, in Davos, Switzerland on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. Trudeau is attending the World Economic Forum where political, business and social leaders gather to discuss world agendas. (Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a panel session at the 46th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. The overarching theme of the meeting, which takes place from 20 to 23 January, is "Mastering the Fourth Industrial Revolution". (Laurent Gillieron/Keystone via AP)

Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao speaks at a special session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. World leaders are holding a flurry of diplomatic meetings at the World Economic Forum and worried CEOs are debating about how to deal with this year's volatile markets and low oil prices.(AP Photo/Michel Euler)

British Prime Minister David Cameron speaks during a panel session at the 46th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. The overarching theme of the meeting, which takes place from 20 to 23 January, is "Mastering the Fourth Industrial Revolution". (Laurent Gillieron/Keystone via AP)

US Secretary of State John Kerry, left, jokes with Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter, center, during a bilateral meeting at the 46th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. The overarching theme of the Meeting, which takes place from 20 to 23 January, is "Mastering the Fourth Industrial Revolution". (Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP)

President of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades shakes hands with Turkish Cypriot Leader Mustafa Akinci, right, in front of German Klaus Schwab, center, founder and president of the World Economic Forum, WEF, during a panel session at the 46th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. The overarching theme of the Meeting, which takes place from 20 to 23 January, is "Mastering the Fourth Industrial Revolution". (Laurent Gillieron/Keystone via AP)
What We Know: Key takeaways in case of poisoned spy

A British judge has concluded that two Russians, acting at the behest of Moscow's security services and probably with approval from President Vladimir Putin, poisoned ex-KGB agent and fierce Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko. Here's what we know:

 Judge Robert Owen cited abundant evidence that Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun placed radioactive polonium-210 in Litvinenko's tea at a London hotel on Nov. 1, 2006. He died on Nov. 23.

 Owen concluded there is a "strong probability" the poisoning came under the direction of Russia's FSB spy agency, and that the operation was probably approved by then-FSB chief Nikolai Patrushev and by Putin.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and President's aide Andrei Fursenko attend a meeting of the presidential education council in the Kremlin in Moscow, Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. Putin probably approved a plan by Russia's FSB security service to kill a former agent turned Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko who died after drinking tea laced with radioactive poison, a British judge said on Thursday in a report that led Moscow to accuse Britain of souring bilateral relations. (Sergei Ilnitsky/Pool Photo via AP)

 Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denounced the inquiry as a "quasi-investigation" that would "further poison the atmosphere of our bilateral relations" with Britain.

 British Prime Minister David Cameron said the evidence in the report of a state-sponsored killing is "absolutely appalling," and Britain summoned the Russian ambassador for a dressing-down and imposed an asset freeze on Lugovoi and Kovtun.

 Interpol has issued notices calling for their arrest, although Russia refuses to extradite them. U.K.-Russian relations have been chilly, but the report comes as the countries are cautiously trying to work together against the Islamic State group in Syria, and neither wants a major new rift.
Alabama carries out 1st execution in more than 2 years

ATMORE, Ala. (AP)  Here is the latest on the execution of Christopher Eugene Brooks in Alabama. (All times are local):)

6:38 p.m.

A man convicted of the 1992 rape and beating death of a woman has been put to death in Alabama's first execution in more than two years.

This Jan. 20, 2016, photo provided by the Alabama Department of Corrections shows Christopher Eugene Brooks, convicted of the 1992 rape and beating death of a woman. Brooks is scheduled to receive a lethal injection Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016, in Atmore, Ala., in what would be Alabama's first execution in more than two years. (Alabama Department of Corrections via AP)

Authorities say 43-year-old Christopher Eugene Brooks received a lethal injection in a procedure starting at 6:06 p.m. local time Thursday at a state prison in Atmore. Corrections Department spokesman Bob Horton says Brooks was pronounced dead at 6:38 p.m.

Brooks was condemned for the slaying of 23-year-old Jo Deann Campbell on New Year's Eve of that year. Prosecutors said Campbell was beaten in her apartment with a dumbbell and sexually assaulted.

Alabama's last execution was in 2013. Brooks' execution was the first using Alabama's new lethal drug combination featuring the sedative midazolam.

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6:05 p.m.

The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a last-minute request to stop Thursday evening's scheduled execution of a man convicted of a woman's 1992 rape and murder.

The nation's highest court issued a brief statement Thursday evening that it had denied the request by an attorney for 43-year-old inmate Christopher Eugene Brooks. It did not elaborate.

Brooks was scheduled to receive a lethal injection Thursday evening at a state prison in Atmore.

Brooks' attorney had asked the U.S. Supreme Court for the stay, arguing that Alabama's new lethal drug combination needed further scrutiny.

4:35 p.m.

An official says Alabama inmate Christopher Eugene Brooks has been visited by three attorneys, two friends and a clergy member ahead of his scheduled execution Thursday evening.

Department of Corrections spokesman Bob Horton also says a clergy member will be allowed to stay with Brooks until he is led into the execution chamber at the state prison in Atmore. The 43-year-old inmate is to receive a lethal injection at 6 p.m. CST. He was convicted of the 1992 rape and murder of 23-year-old Jo Deann Campbell.

Horton says state law requires the prison warden to administer lethal injection drugs. He is to do so from a separate room via an intravenous line after the death warrant is read.

Brooks has been in a nearby holding cell since Tuesday. He requested two peanut butter cups and a soft drink for his final meal.

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1:25 p.m.

A federal judge is ordering Alabama prison officials to keep medical records for a state inmate set to receive a lethal injection Thursday night.

U.S. District Judge W. Keith Watkins issued the order hours before the scheduled execution of Christopher Eugene Brooks. Brooks was condemned for the slaying of a woman who was sexually assaulted and bludgeoned to death in Birmingham in 1992.

Watkins' order responded to a motion filed by lawyers representing Alabama death row inmates. The judge says prison officials must preserve any logs kept by the execution team and any data generated by an electric heartbeat monitor. But he didn't say inmates' lawyers will get to see them.

Inmate attorneys cannot witness the insertion of the intravenous line into Brooks' body before the planned execution, Watkins ruled. He also denied a request for drug packaging and records to be preserved.

The attorneys represent six inmates challenging the state's execution method.

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12:55 p.m.

Relatives of a woman raped and killed in 1992 say they're headed to an Alabama prison where the inmate convicted in the case is scheduled to be executed Thursday evening. But Corinne Campbell, a sister of murder victim Jo Deann Campbell, says the family members haven't decided whether to witness the planned execution.

Corinne Campbell told The Associated Press by phone Thursday that she, another sister and her mother were in route to the correctional facility in Atmore.

She said her sister was very welcoming and trusting and that Christopher Eugene Brooks had showed up uninvited ahead of the 1992 killing, asking for a place to stay.

Brooks is scheduled to receive a lethal injection at 6 p.m. CST at the Atmore facility.

The sister says she still misses her slain sister: "She was young, energetic, bubbly, hard-working. The young lady had no enemies."

She added of Brooks: "We hope he has asked for forgiveness from God."

This item has been updated to correct the spelling of Corinne Campbell's first name.

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3:35 a.m.

A man convicted of the 1992 rape and bludgeoning death of a woman is scheduled to be put to death Thursday in Alabama's first execution in more than two years.

Forty-three-year-old Christopher Eugene Brooks is to receive a lethal injection at 6 p.m. CST. Brooks was condemned for the death of 23-year-old Jo Deann Campbell.

Prosecutors said Campbell was beaten in her apartment with an 8-pound dumbbell and sexually assaulted.

Alabama's last execution was in 2013. It's to be the first using the state's new lethal drug combination featuring the sedative midazolam.
Car manufacturing hits 10-year peak as nearly 1.6 million built in 2015

Car manufacturing has reached a 10-year high, with more vehicles exported than ever before, a new report has revealed.

Almost 1.6 million cars were built in the UK in 2015, an increase of 3.9% over the previous year, reported the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

Nearly four out of five cars were exported, up by 2.7% on 2014, despite a huge fall in sales to China and Russia.

Nearly four out of five cars were exported last year

Exports to Russia slumped by 69% and by 37% to China, where the economy has been slowing.

But this was offset by economic recovery in Europe, where demand for UK-built cars increased by 11% in 2015.

The region now accounts for 57.5% of all UK car exports. SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said membership of the European Union was "vital" for the automotive sector.

Production of the MINI increased by 12.4% last year to 201,000, Toyota by 10.4% (190,000), Vauxhall by 9.5% 85,000) and Jaguar Land Rover by 9% (489,000), while Nissan recorded a 4.7% reduction (476,000) and Honda was down by 2% (119,000), said the SMMT.

The United States overtook China as the biggest export destination, with demand up by a quarter last year, while health growth was also reported in Australia (53%), South Korea (55%), Turkey (41%) and Japan (35%).

Mr Hawes said: "Despite export challenges in some key markets such as Russia and China, foreign demand for British-built cars has been strong, reaching record export levels in the past year.

"Achieving these hard fought for results is down to vital investment in the sector, world class engineering and a committed and skilled UK workforce - one of the most productive in the world.

"Continued growth in an intensely competitive global marketplace is far from guaranteed, however, and depends heavily on global economic conditions and political stability.

"Europe is our biggest trading partner and the UK's membership of the European Union is vital for the automotive sector in order to secure future growth and jobs."

Chancellor George Osborne said: "Backing Britain's car industry has been a priority for this government and today we see the industry going from strength to strength.

"I am hugely encouraged that manufacturing is at a 10-year high and exports are at a record level. All this means jobs and the security of a pay packet for workers and their families.
Talks due to resume over junior doctors contract dispute

Talks are to resume in a bid to find a resolution to a bitter dispute between doctors and the Government over a new contract.

Officials from NHS Employers, the British Medical Association (BMA) and the Government will join representatives from the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) for talks on Thursday and Friday.

The BMA has suspended a 48-hour strike planned for January 26, saying it wanted to give NHS trusts as much notice as possible to avoid disruption to patients.

A strike on January 12 led to around 4,000 operations and procedures being cancelled

But the BMA said "significant progress" still needs to be made to avoid a strike planned for February 10, when full labour by junior doctors, including emergency care cover, is due to be withdrawn.

It said "differences still exist between the BMA and the Government on key areas, including the protection of patient safety and doctors' working lives, and the recognition of unsocial hours".

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said the main sticking point is the issue of weekend pay, in particular whether Saturdays can be classed as part of the normal working week.

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

Under the new contract, 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.

The move to cut weekend pay is offset by an 11% rise in basic pay for junior doctors.

The BMA has so far rejected the offer, saying there is still some way to go to agree boundaries around premium pay.

It said there is also still disagreement over "punitive" rates for exceeding working time regulations.

A strike on January 12 led to around 4,000 operations and procedures being cancelled alongside thousands more routine appointments.
Shoreham Airshow cancelled for 2016 following last year's disaster

The Shoreham Airshow will not go ahead this year after a crash killed 11 and injured more than a dozen at last year's event.

The decision to cancel the annual display was taken out of respect for those affected by the crash, but also in view of the probe into the incident, the organisers said.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch is examining what caused a vintage Hawker Hunter jet to crash on to the A27 in West Sussex on August 22.

A member of the Legion of Frontiersmen lays a wreath on the Old Shoreham Tollbridge as a memorial service took place for the victims of the air crash

Shoreham Airshow Ltd said it remained "fully committed" to the investigation and there had been "careful consultation and consideration" given to whether any display should go ahead this year.

The organisers said: "The decision has been taken primarily out of respect for all those affected by last August's tragedy and also in view of the ongoing Air Accidents Investigation Branch investigation - and any review of their regulations that the Civil Aviation Authority may subsequently undertake.

"We understand that this decision may be disappointing for many who have been part of the extended Shoreham Airshow family over the years.

"We would like to thank everyone who has supported the air show for the last 26 years, particularly local volunteers and the surrounding community."

The company said it would consider if an event should take place in 2017 "when and if it is appropriate to do so".

It continued: "In the meantime, we continue to be fully committed to assisting the Air Accidents Investigation Branch with their ongoing investigation.

"The thoughts and deepest condolences of everyone at Shoreham Airshow Ltd remain with all of the victims of the tragedy."

The disaster was the deadliest at a British airshow since the 1952 Farnborough crash when a de Havilland DH.110 hit spectators, killing 31.

New rules covering vintage aircraft were brought in by the Civil Aviation Authority following the Shoreham air crash in August but these only relate to air display

The pilot of the Hawker Hunter, Andrew Hill, 51, from Hertfordshire, was voluntarily interviewed under caution by officers from the Surrey and Sussex Major Crime Team in connection with last year's accident.
Predator warning as draft Savile abuse report damns 'deferential' BBC culture

Another "predatory child abuser" could be lurking at the BBC today, a leaked draft of a report into sexual abuse by broadcaster Jimmy Savile warns.

The review condemns the corporation over its "deferential culture" and "untouchable stars", and criticises it for having managers who were "above the law".

BBC director-general Tony Hall said the review, by Dame Janet Smith, will be " invaluable" in helping the organisation to learn from the past and ensure what he recognised as a "dark chapter" in its history is not repeated.

A leaked copy of the BBC review apparently accuses the broadcaster of having a 'deferential culture' and 'untouchable' stars

Rapes, indecent assaults on both boys and girls, and incidents of "inappropriate sexual conduct" with teenagers over the age of 16 were all "in some way associated with the BBC", the draft report states, adding that three of Savile's victims were only nine.

The report also warns that it was possible another "predatory child abuser could be lurking undiscovered in the BBC even today".

Incidents occurred at "virtually every one of the BBC premises" in which Savile worked, the report said, and more than 100 employees at the corporation told the review they had heard about Savile's sexual conduct.

But while staff said they were aware of his sexual behaviour, they were scared to report it to managers, the draft report, published by news website Exaro, states.

Investigations into allegations of sexual assault were "wholly inadequate", and the BBC was criticised for failing to properly examine his personality, despite rumours about him and that he worked with children.

But retired judge Dame Janet accepted denials from senior bosses that they were aware of his sexual activity, according to the leaked document, and she does not criticise the BBC for not discovering the abuse.

She does condemn the corporation for its culture, according to Exaro, saying: "My general impression is that most staff (other than those who had been in the higher echelons) felt that the management culture was too deferential and and that some executives were 'above the law'."

The BBC's "talent" was held in "awe" by most staff, who treated them "deferentially", she said, adding: "It would be a brave person indeed who would make a complaint against such a person."

A statement on the Dame Janet Smith Review website expressed disappointment at the leak of the draft and said it was out of date.

It said significant changes have been made to its content, adding that the report " cannot be relied upon in any circumstances".

The leaked draft was published a day after the review announced that the long-delayed final report would be published within six weeks.

It said this was because "the review has been informed by the Metropolitan Police that it is no longer concerned that publication of the report could prejudice its ongoing investigations".

It said final checks were being carried out ahead of delivery to the BBC and publication. Drafts of the report will have been seen by numerous parties involved in the review.

Commenting after the leaked report, Lord Hall said: "Firstly, my thoughts and all our thoughts are with the victims of Jimmy Savile and their families. What happened was a dark chapter in the history of the BBC.

"Dame Janet Smith's report will be invaluable in helping us understand what happened and to help ensure that we do everything possible to avoid it happening again.

"The review has said that the copy leaked to the media is an early draft which has changed considerably, so, while I am impatient to learn those lessons, the responsible thing must be to act on the final report, which we have not received."

Liz Dux, a specialist abuse lawyer at Slater and Gordon, which represents 168 alleged Savile victims - many of whom where allegedly assaulted at the BBC - said the leaked report's findings were "deeply disturbing".

She said: "That little has been done at the BBC to prevent another predatory abuser using their celebrity and influence to target the young and vulnerable is of grave concern."

She called for legislation to be brought in to make it mandatory to report suspected abuse.

BBC Trust chairman Rona Fairhead said the review dealt with "very troubling issues" and the corporation was grateful to those who had come forward.

She said: "We will provide every possible assistance to enable swift publication (of the final report), and make sure the BBC takes all appropriate action to address the report's conclusions."
Johanna Konta revelling in grand slam spotlight

Johanna Konta is aiming to embrace the pressure of reaching the Australian Open third round after she beat China's Saisai Zheng in straight sets.

Konta eased past Zheng 6-2 6-3 to move into the third round of a major tournament for only the second time, after she reached the last 16 at the US Open last year.

It was only the third time in 14 grand slam matches that Konta had been expected to win based on rankings, but she showed few signs of nerves until a late wobble at the end of the second set.

Johanna Konta marched on in Melbourne

The 24-year-old has had problems in the past controlling her composure on court but says she is enjoying the extra tension as she goes deeper in the draw.

"Obviously there's tension, there's nerves from me, my opponent, the hundreds of people around me and the situation as it is in the match," Konta said.

"But that's normal and I'm going to encounter that every single time I play.

"I hope to encounter that every time I play because it means there's a lot of enjoyment there and good competitiveness."

Konta, fresh from her first-round dismantling of Venus Williams at the Rod Laver Arena, found herself back on the peripheral Court 8 on a damp and grey morning in Melbourne Park.

The change in atmosphere did not, however, faze the British number one, who hit 26 winners to Zheng's nine and confirmed a comfortable victory in an hour and 22 minutes.

"There was a really good atmosphere out there," Konta said.

"I had a lot of great support. It was pretty loud still, even for a smaller court. I don't get too fazed where they put me, the lines are in the same places."

Konta will now face the Czech Republic's world number 66 Denisa Allertova, to whom she lost in three sets in the French Open first round last year.

It will represent a significant step up on Saturday but the bottom half of the draw is opening up for the Briton who, having usurped Williams, is now enjoying the ninth seed's path.

With second favourite Simona Halep already out, it means the most fancied players in Konta's quarter are now Karolina Pliskova, Ana Ivanovic and Madison Keys - all top 20 opponents but not unbeatable.

Before then, however, the world number 47 will team up with compatriot Heather Watson in the second round of the doubles on Friday, when they take on Jocelyn Rae and Anna Smith in an all-British clash.

The match could have a strong influence on who plays doubles in Britain's Europe/Africa Zone Group I Fed Cup matches against Georgia and South Africa next month, and Konta also has her eye on the Olympics later this year.

"It's great preparation for us in the Fed Cup and it's also an Olympic year," Konta said.
Cameron warns Argentina: No negotiation over sovereignty of Falklands

David Cameron has warned Argentina's new president that Britain will not negotiate over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands.

The Prime Minister and Mauricio Macri met at the World Economic Forum where Downing Street said they agreed there was an opportunity "to embark on a new chapter of relations" after several years of diplomatic clashes under the previous regime in Buenos Aires.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has called for a " reasonable accommodation" to be found with Buenos Aires over what it calls Las Malvinas, and suggested islanders should not have any veto over new arrangements.

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron

Argentina's ambassador to London has hailed Mr Corbyn - who opposed the British military response to Argentina's invasion of the islands in 1982 - as "one of ours" and said he could push public opinion towards a resolution.

But Mr Cameron told MPs a change of status would "never happen as long as I am in Downing Street" unless it was backed by the local population, who in a 2013 referendum voted almost unanimously to remain British.

A Number 10 spokeswoman said Mr Cameron used the encounter in Davos to discuss potential UK help reforming the Argentine economy and ways to "significantly expand" the 1.14 billion of trade between the countries.

"They agreed that the economic reforms could lead to greater trade opportunities for UK businesses involved in infrastructure, oil and gas, mining and agritech," she said.

"On the Falklands, the Prime Minister was clear that our position remained the same and that the recent referendum was absolutely clear on the islanders' wish to remain British."

Mr Macri took power in December with a pledge to develop friendlier relations after the repeated diplomatic clashes that were a feature of the eight-year rule of Cristina Kirchner.

Asked whether Mr Corbyn's comments had any effect on the discussions, Mr Cameron's official spokeswoman said: "What matters is the Prime Minister's views about the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands hasn't changed.

"It's for the Falkland islanders to decide and that was one of the points that he made to President Macri in their discussions today."
Mum who took child to Syria tells jury 'I didn't know about Islamic State'

A mother accused of taking her son to Syria to join Islamic State (IS) has told a court she feared going straight to hell if she stayed in England.

Tareena Shakil claimed conversations with a man named Fabio Pocas, whose online profile showed an armed man posing with the black flag of IS, helped to convince her to move to the self-declared caliphate.

The bright 26-year-old former college student said Pocas spoke of the perils of "living in the land of non-believers" before she travelled to Syria in October 2014.

Tareena Shakil, 26, a British mother who allegedly took her toddler to Syria to join Islamic State

However, she claimed to have been ignorant of the nature of IS, also known as Isis, and only discovered more about the group when she returned home in February 2015.

Shakil denies joining the banned terror group and encouraging acts of terror through Twitter posts.

She told a jury at Birmingham Crown Court: "He (Pocas) said you can't live in a country not ruled by sharia, its haram (forbidden)."

"He said 'look sister, you staying in England, just think, you're hanging over the gates of Jahannam (hell), and if you die the gates will open and that's where you'll be going.

Shakil, of Beechfield Road in Birmingham but formerly of Burton upon Trent Staffordshire, said she blocked Pocas online because she thought he was coming on to her.

However, the jury has read a log of what is said to be Shakil's Samsung phone which showed that having blocked Pocas on Facebook she was entering his name as a search term in YouTube a month later.

Married Shakil, who was giving her account for the first time, said she had been retweeting images of the black flag of IS but had no idea of their direct association with the terror group.

Instead, she said that to her it merely bore the shahada - the Islamic declaration of faith.

In relation to a series of other images and Islamic passages which the Crown claims show she was supporting terrorism, Shakil said she only retweeted things if she liked the look or sound of them.

Asked by Tim Moloney QC, her barrister, if they were meant to encourage acts of terror she replied: "No, not at all."

In one case, she retweeted: "Do I care what you have to say about IS. Noooo."

But she told jurors that this was meant "As in the caliphate, not the mujahideen (the group's fighters)".

In early September, she tweeted Sally Ann Jones, a jihadi widow who travelled to Syria and is alleged to have married fellow British extremist Junaid Hussain, who was killed in a US drone strike last year.

Asked to explain what she meant by her tweet, which read "Wish I was there", Shakil said it was just a reference to living in the self-declared caliphate.

Shakil went on: " I knew where she was, the Islamic State, but at that time I didn't know about the Islamic State."

She added: "I didn't know who this woman was nor had I read any of the disgusting things she said online.

"It was only after, when interviewed by police, that I found out who she was and what she had said.

"I wouldn't have even referred to her as 'sister', if I knew any of the things she had said."

She was also asked about her YouTube search in October of the extremist cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, killed in a US drone strike in Yemen in 2011, she said she just liked his stories about the Islamic tradition.

"As far as him being aligned to Al Qaeda, I don't dispute that," she said.

"But I didn't find that out until much later."

Opening the case against Shakil last week, Sean Larkin QC for the prosecution said Shakil was "radicalised" in 2014, and started posting messages and pictures in support of IS.

He said: " This was no spur of the moment decision. This was planned."

Mr Larkin added: "She travelled to Raqqa to set up her new life as part of Isis."
Mascherano gets prison sentence for tax fraud but expected to avoid serving time

Javier Mascherano's lawyers are seeking to convert a one-year prison sentence into a fine after the Barcelona midfielder admitted two counts of tax fraud, according to reports in Spain.

The 31-year-old appeared in court on Thursday and accepted the one-year sentence as well as a fine of 815.000 euros (625,000), although it is expected he will not serve any prison time with his legal representatives having requested the sentence be suspended and replaced with a fine.

Mascherano, who joined Barcelona from Liverpool in 2010, admitted fraud last year and according to a court filing has repaid 1.75million euros (1.35m), the full amount he owed plus interest.

Javier Mascherano has admitted tax fraud

Following Thursday's ruling, the Argentina international released a statement via his Twitter account and the Barcelona website in which he said: "I'm a sporting professional, I don't have a great understanding of tax and legal matters.

"Therefore, to deal with what are for me technical and complicated matters, I have to rely on other people.

"Throughout all my career I have been an honest person, responsible and respectful of my team-mates and the clubs that I have played for and the countries I have lived in.
Protesters breach Moldovan parliament after new premier appointed

By Alexander Tanas

CHISINAU, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Protesters forced their way into the Moldovan parliament demanding snap elections on Wednesday, after lawmakers appointed the country's third prime minister in less than a year in a bid to end months of political deadlock.

Waving flags and shouting slogans, a dozen protesters scuffled with police in riot gear and accused lawmakers who appointed Pavel Filip, a member of the main pro-European coalition, of being traitors.

Police later secured the building and the situation appeared calm, though the head of one of the smaller political parties was injured and TV footage showed blood dripping down his face.

The protests could presage more instability in Europe's poorest country, which has been without a proper government since a no-confidence vote toppled the previous administration in October after a $1 billion banking scandal.

The president had nominated Filip, IT and communications minister in the last government, as a compromise candidate after two earlier candidates were rejected. But protesters see him as part of a discredited establishment.

Moldova needs a stable government to unlock further funding from overseas lenders, including the International Monetary Fund, that was withheld in the wake of the banking scandal and subsequent political crisis.

Filip faces an economic challenge as well as a political one.

The IMF, in a report on Wednesday, estimated the economy shrank by 1.75 percent last year, although it did forecast a modest recovery in 2016. Drought and a sharp downturn in neighbouring Russia have added to Moldova's worries.

"The people of Moldova don't need a government that says pleasant things, but a government that solves their problems," Filip said after the vote, which took place while around 3,000 people protested outside parliament.

MORE TRANSPARENCY

Moldova's ruling elite has been the target of mass protests over the banking fraud, which saw the equivalent of one-eighth of Moldova's gross domestic product disappear overseas.

Despite being touted as a compromise figure, opposition lawmakers as well as the protesters resisted Filip's appointment. He has close ties to Vladimir Plahotniuc, one of Moldova's richest but most unpopular men.

Filip's party originally wanted Plahotniuc as their candidate for prime minister, but President Nicolae Timofti refused to nominate him. Opposition lawmakers argued that, under Filip, Plahotniuc would be the real power behind the scenes.

The appointment follows the rise and fall of two prime ministers in the past year. Chiril Gaburici resigned in June following claims he falsified his school diplomas, and his successor, Valeriu Strelet, was ousted in a no-confidence motion in October.

The IMF, which is in talks with Moldova about new funding, has urged a clean-up of the financial sector.

Insiders say the $1 billion banking fraud, a steady haemorraghing of money in unsupported loans over several years, reflects deep-seated corruption in Moldova and involved some degree of complicity from many of those in power.

"Long-standing deficiencies in identifying ultimate beneficial ownership of banks need to be urgently corrected," the IMF said in its report.
Saudi-backed shipping line UASC resumes Iran business

By Jonathan Saul

LONDON, Jan 20 (Reuters) - United Arab Shipping Company is resuming business with Iran following the lifting of Western sanctions, despite the deep-seated political rivalry between the Islamic Republic and Saudi Arabia, one of the shipping line's main shareholders.

A nuclear deal between world powers and Iran led to the removal on Saturday of international oil export prohibitions as well as restrictions on banking, insurance and shipping.

Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia has grave reservations about the lifting of sanctions on its main regional rival, with which it cut ties earlier this month after its Tehran embassy was attacked following Riyadh's execution of a Shi'ite cleric.

Other Gulf nations which hold stakes in UASC also have difficult relations with Iran.

But a source close to the shipping line made clear that for UASC, commercial considerations were more important than political difficulties.

Kuwait-headquartered UASC told Reuters on Wednesday it had "started accepting shipments to and from Iran".

"It is important to note that a number of sanctions are still in place, therefore, the ability to accept cargo volumes to/from Iran will continue to be based on UASC's strict internal compliance check, which is in line with the international laws and applicable sanctions," it said in a statement.

With U.S. sanctions still in place, which exclude U.S. individuals, banks and insurers from trading with Iran including business denominated in dollars, shipping and marine insurance sources say many foreign companies are likely to tread carefully.

UASC, founded in 1976 and with corporate offices in Dubai, is owned by the governments of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Iraq.

Qatar holds a 51 percent stake in the group, Saudi Arabia has 35 percent and the remaining nations have smaller holdings.

Sunni Muslim power Saudi Arabia cut relations with Shi'ite Iran earlier this month.

The crisis erupted when Saudi Arabia executed a Shi'ite cleric on Jan. 2 and Iranian protesters retaliated by storming and setting fire to the Saudi embassy in Tehran.

In solidarity with Riyadh, Kuwait and Qatar subsequently pulled out their ambassadors from Tehran, and the United Arab Emirates downgraded its ties. Bahrain and two non-Gulf states, Djibouti and Sudan, severed relations completely.

The source close to UASC told Reuters it was business as usual despite the tensions.

"Whatever makes sense commercially and whatever benefits customers are a priority. That is how UASC looks at this matter," the source said. "Qatar and Saudi being the largest shareholders in UASC clearly do not impact its commercial activities."

"Historically, since the company's foundation, politics normally stayed away from the board room," the source said. "UASC is commercially managed."

The source said UASC weathered Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, even with staff relocating for a while.

"If you look at the shareholding nations' relationships ... they were not always at the best levels," the source said. "Meetings continued and services were normal," the source said, referring to the 1991 Gulf War in which a U.S -led coalition forced Iraq out of Kuwait.

UASC said prior to cutting ties, the Iranian market represented around 2 to 3 percent of the group's overall business.

The container market has been hit by a slowdown in demand from Asia, especially China. The sector is also suffering one of its worst recessions due to worries over the world economy and a surplus of vessels available for hire, leading shipping lines to seek what opportunities they can.

NEW OPPORTUNITIES

UASC, which suspended all Iran business in April 2013, said it would initially service the Islamic Republic using smaller feeder ships via third parties that shipped containers to Iran from the United Arab Emirates. It aimed to resume direct calls as soon as possible.

"For the shipping industry, the relaxation of sanctions is likely to create opportunities resulting in additional volumes due to the expected increase in infrastructure projects as well as the ability of Iranian consumers to access a wider range of foreign goods," the UASC statement said.

Iran had depended on foreign ships for much of its imports, but has relied more on land routes and its own commercial fleet, particularly since 2012, as layers of sanctions led to an exodus of Western shipping firms, causing supply disruptions.

In August last year the world's number three line, France's CMA CGM, and number four, Evergreen of Taiwan, were the first to resume direct services to Iran. In late December MSC of Switzerland, the world's second biggest container shipping line, resumed direct calls.

The world's biggest line Maersk said this week it was "looking into how and when we can resume container transportation services to/from Iran", without providing further details.

German container line Hapag Lloyd said this week it would continue to offer only feeder services, which started in November, adding it would handle "all Iran cargo with utmost care in terms of compliance".

According to consultancy Alphaliner, UASC's market share, based on fleet capacity, is estimated at 2.6 percent versus nearly 15 percent for Maersk.
Syria talks may not start on Jan. 25, "pressure, momentum" needed - UN envoy

GENEVA, Jan 20 (Reuters) - The United Nations Special Envoy for Syria said on Wednesday that peace talks might not start as planned in Geneva on Jan. 25th but that major powers must maintain diplomatic pressure on the warring sides to come to the table.

Staffan de Mistura, in an interview on CNN from the Swiss resort of Davos, said he would know on Sunday whether the negotiations could start the next day, but added that they had to be "serious talks about peace" linked to "concrete demonstrations" such as ceasefires and aid convoys.

"I believe we can start talks, perhaps not on the 25th (of January), but we need to maintain the pressure and the momentum," he said. He said he believed Russia, Syria's ally which has been bombing rebel positions for months, had a strong interest in not being embroiled for too long in the conflict.
U.S. justices target Alaska moose hunter's hovercraft claim

By Lawrence Hurley

WASHINGTON, Jan 20 (Reuters) - The Supreme Court took aim on Wednesday at a U.S. government regulation that banned an Alaska moose hunter from riding his hovercraft through a conservation area in a case that touches upon simmering tensions over federal control of public lands.

Long-time hunter John Sturgeon contends the federal government cannot prevent him from traveling through the federal Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve on his hovercraft to access moose-hunting grounds.

At issue is whether the U.S. National Park Service has the authority to issue a regulation than bans hovercraft use, a legal question that could have implications for other park service regulations including limits on oil and gas extraction.

Sturgeon was traveling on the Nation River in 2007 when park service rangers detained him and said he could not use his hovercraft. He contends the regulation has no force because the river is owned by the state of Alaska, which allows hovercraft.

People in some parts of the country, especially the West, have complained about too much federal control of public lands. The cause was embraced by armed protesters who on Jan. 2 took over buildings at a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon and continue to occupy them.

The state of Alaska filed court papers supporting Sturgeon, saying that in a 1980 law the U.S. Congress specifically limited park service jurisdiction over land within a conservation area that is not federally owned.

The rule banning hovercraft, which travel on a cushion of air, has been in place since 1996.

During Wednesday's oral arguments, none of the nine justices expressed agreement with the rationale of an 2014 ruling by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals backing the federal government.

The appeals court said park service regulations are limited in scope only if they are Alaska-specific. That would mean national regulations like the hovercraft ban could be interpreted more expansively to cover land within a conservation area not federally owned.

"It's a ridiculous interpretation, is it not?" Justice Samuel Alito of the ruling.

The justices appeared to struggle with how to resolve the case. Justice Stephen Breyer hinted at this frustration when, while asking about the complicated law in question, he broke off and said amid chuckles in the courtroom: "Who drafted this?"

Breyer suggested the case be returned to lower courts.

Alaska said the ruling could impact park service efforts to regulate oil and gas extraction on its land in that state and elsewhere.

A ruling is due by the end of June.
Attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan underscore threat to region -W. House

WASHINGTON, Jan 20 (Reuters) - The White House on Wednesday condemned attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan, saying they underscore the ongoing threat that militants pose to the region.

"We offer our deepest condolences to the victims of the attacks and to their families, and we stand with the people of the region against all forms of extremism and terrorism," National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.
Haiti considers postponing Sunday presidential vote-Prime Minister

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Haiti could postpone a presidential runoff election if the opposition commits to taking part at a later date, Prime Minister Evans Paul said on Wednesday, adding the Jan. 24 vote will go ahead if no such agreement is reached before.

Paul told Reuters that negotiation were on to break an impasse, after the opposition candidate Jude Celestin earlier this week vowed to boycott the election over alleged irregularities in the first round.

Haiti has been rocked by violent opposition protests in the past few days, with demonstrators demanding the election be suspended.
Haiti in talks about delaying Sunday presidential runoff -Prime Minister

By Joseph Guyler Delva

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Haiti could postpone a presidential runoff election if the opposition commits to taking part at a later date, Prime Minister Evans Paul said on Wednesday, adding the Jan. 24 vote will go ahead if there is no deal to end a political stalemate.

The Caribbean nation has been rocked by protests this week after opposition candidate Jude Celestin vowed to boycott the vote over alleged fraud in the first round. The runoff has already been postponed twice during an inquiry into the allegations.

"We are in the middle of a series of negotiations," Paul told Reuters. "President (Michel) Martelly and I have been talking about the possibility of considering a postponement of Sunday's election."

Elections and transfers of power in Haiti have long been plagued by instability. The nation of about 10 million people has struggled to build a stable democracy since the overthrow of the 1957 to 1986 dictatorship of the Duvalier family and ensuing military coups and election fraud.

Under the constitution a new president should be in place by Feb. 7, but Martelly's five-year term ends in May, potentially leaving room for flexibility around the dates.

Under discussion is a possible March election, but the two sides differ on whether Martelly should stay in office until a new president is sworn in.

Opposition parties have been pushing for an interim government to be set up. They want Martelly to leave office by the constitutional deadline.

Martelly has repeatedly opposed the idea of an interim government, a move he said could plunge the country into deep political uncertainty.

Paul said any delay would have to be matched with a commitment from Celestin to participate in a runoff at a later date.

"President Martelly and I are open to consider such a possibility. But it would not be responsible to postpone the election sine die, vaguely hoping that Mr. Celestin would agree one day to change position," he said.
Mexico, Central American countries OK plan for stranded Cubans

SAN JOSE, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Mexico and Central American countries approved a plan on Wednesday for more flights that would allow thousands of Cubans stranded in Costa Rica to continue on to the United States.

Regional governments meeting in Guatemala deemed as a "success" the first pilot trip last week, when 180 Cubans flew to El Salvador, took a bus to Mexico and received transit visas to go to the U.S. border.

"This allows us to pass to the second stage, with two weekly flights following the same route," said Manuel Gonzalez, Costa Rica's foreign minister.

The authorities, who did not specify how many people would leave on each flight, plan to give priority to pregnant women, children and families among the 7,800 Cubans trapped in Costa Rica since mid-November when Nicaragua closed its borders.

The flights will begin on Feb. 4, and regional governments will meet again in mid-February to evaluate the plan.
U.S. offers Turkey technology to block Islamic State at Syria border

By Warren Strobel, Jonathan Landay and Phil Stewart

WASHINGTON, Jan 21 (Reuters) - The United States is accelerating efforts to help Turkey clamp down on its border with Syria, senior U.S. officials said, and for the first time will offer technologies to Ankara to help it secure the frontier.

Washington and Ankara have been discussing for months how to seal the last piece of unsecured border, a 98-kilometer-long (60 mile-long) stretch that has served as a thruway for Islamic State fighters, black-market goods and war materiel.

Islamic State controls the Syrian side of the border, and the effort to secure it assumed new urgency after November's deadly Paris attacks. Some of the Paris attackers used or attempted to use the Syria-Turkey border to travel between Islamic State-held territory and Europe, the officials said.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden is due to arrive in Turkey on Thursday and will meet with President Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to discuss the fight against Islamic State.

Biden's visit to Istanbul is the latest in a string of high-level visits to the NATO ally. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson in February will lead an inter-agency delegation and offer the Turkish government a menu of specific border-control technologies, the U.S. officials told Reuters.

Aerostat surveillance balloons and anti-tunneling technology are on the U.S. menu of equipment likely on offer, and the U.S. is prepared to share methods for detecting the material used in improvised explosive devices, the officials said.

"We like what we're seeing in terms of their actions and we want to work with them to tighten the screws a little bit further," a senior administration official said of Turkey. He and others requested anonymity to discuss diplomatic negotiations.

Turkish steps to secure the border include the deployment of 25,000 more regular army troops and the installation of concrete barriers and fences.

Still, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter told Congress last month that "Turkey must do more to control its often porous border" with Syria.

During a visit by Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford two weeks ago, Turkey proposed that the United States train a group of Sunni Arabs to help secure the area on the Syrian side of the border, U.S. officials said.

The officials said that the United States wants to know more about the proposed fighters before agreeing to support them.

U.S.-Turkish discussions have been complicated by competing priorities. Turkey is focused on containing Kurdish separatists and the United States has the stated aim of destroying Islamic State militants who control areas of Syria and Iraq.

"We can try to move ISIL up in sort of the priority ranking but when somebody perceives something as a true existential threat, it's difficult to argue with that," a senior U.S. defense official told Reuters, using an alternate acronym for Islamic State.

Johnson's trip is an effort to respond to Turkish complaints that Washington has not been specific about steps it wants Turkey to take, the U.S. officials said.

"We have made a list, a much more specific list," the senior administration official said. "And that will be filtered through ... their view of the problem and what's feasible, what they think they can do."

The Homeland Security secretary's visit culminates lower-level talks that have been going on since August.

Those talks "gained new urgency" after Islamic State-directed shootings and bombings that killed 130 people in Paris on Nov. 13, a second senior administration official said.

"The fact that they came up through Syria, through the remaining border gap is something that has gained everyone's attention," this official said, declining to be more specific.
Romania - Factors to watch on Jan 21

BUCHAREST, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Here are news stories, press reports and events to watch which may affect Romanian financial markets on Thursday.

DEBT TENDER

The finance ministry aims to sell 200 million lei ($48.20 million) worth of July 2027 treasury bonds.

CENTRAL BANK POLICY

Romania's central bank deputy governor Liviu Voinea said on Wednesday there was room to further cut the minimum reserve requirements if needed.

CENBANKERS

Central bank governors and their deputies from southeastern European countries dismissed on Wednesday any significant impact of the U.S. rate hike on their economies, with some saying it was rather positive.

CEE MARKETS

Central Europe's main currencies and stocks fell and government bonds firmed on Wednesday as a renewed fall in oil prices cut risk appetite and pushes global equities prices lower.

POWER

Central and southeastern Europe day-ahead power prices jumped on Wednesday as colder weather was forecast to lift demand and wind power generation was estimated lower, traders said.

For the long-term Romanian diary, click on

For emerging markets economic events, click on

For an index of all diaries, click on
Poland - Factors to Watch Jan 21

Following are news stories, press reports and events to watch that may affect Poland's financial markets on Thursday. ALL TIMES GMT (Poland: GMT + 1 hour):

DATA

Polish statistics office is to release December industrial output, PPI and retail sales data at 1300 GMT.

FX-LOANS DRAFT LAW

The president's office draft law that would enable banks' clients to convert their mortgages from Swiss franc into zlotys may be sent to the parliament by mid-2016, Maciej Lopinski, a minister in the office told Rzeczpospolita daily.

He added that the plan is to provide a "wide fiscal support" for those banks which will convert their loans, among other things, through a lowering of the bank tax.

CENTRAL BANK

The ruling party Law and Justice (PiS) does not plan to amend the central bank law or change the basic policy targets of the bank, Puls Biznesu daily quoted a finance ministry source as saying.

****Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.****
China military reports landing drills days after Taiwan election

BEIJING, Jan 21 (Reuters) - A Chinese military unit based in a city that lies opposite self-ruled Taiwan has carried out live fire exercises and landing drills, state television reported just days after an independence-leaning opposition party won elections in Taiwan.

China considers Taiwan a wayward province, to be brought under its control by force if necessary. Defeated Nationalist forces fled to Taiwan in 1949 after the Chinese civil war.

In a piece late on Wednesday, state television's military channel said the 31st Group Army, based in the southeastern Chinese city of Xiamen, had carried out the drills in "recent days", though it did not give an exact location.

It showed amphibious armoured vehicles ploughing through the sea towards a landing spot, helicopters firing missiles at locations on shore and soldiers parachuting down from helicopters.

The report made no direct mention of the Taiwan election. China's Defence Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Taiwan's Defence Ministry said it was "aware of the information", and declined further immediate comment.

Xiamen sits opposite Taiwan, and right off Xiamen's coast is Kimnen, an island controlled by Taiwan since 1949 and until the late 1970s a place regularly shelled by China.

Since Tsai Ing-wen and her Democratic Progressive Party won by a landslide Taiwan's presidential and parliamentary elections on Saturday, China has warned against any moves towards independence and that it will defend the country's sovereignty.

Tsai has said she will maintain peace with China, and Chinese state-run media has also noted her pledges to maintain the "status quo" with China.

China's military, the world's largest, held live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait in September, though Taiwan's Defence Ministry described them at the time as routine.
Indonesia's porous border triggers alarm bells in fight against militants

By Kanupriya Kapoor and Randy Fabi

JAKARTA, Jan 21 (Reuters) - The ease with which three separate groups of ethnic Uighur militants sneaked into Indonesia is ringing alarm bells for security forces, who are on high alert for a far deadlier attack than last week's assault on Jakarta.

At least 10 Uighurs, who hail from China, arrived in the world's most populous Muslim nation over the last 18 months to join Islamist radicals, exposing an extensive support network ready to welcome wannabe jihadis.

Police fear the same network could assist in the return of battle-hardened Indonesian Islamic State fighters from Syria, who could then launch more calculated attacks, similar to that which hit Paris last November.

Indonesia's sprawling archipelago of 18,000 islands is too vast to control the movements of militants, drug smugglers, human traffickers and refugees, police say.

"There is enough security at the main entry points," the country's police chief, Badrodin Haiti, told Reuters. "But there are more traditional points for entering illegally, where usually fishermen bring people in."

With around 500 Indonesians taking one-way trips to join Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, authorities had not considered the Southeast Asian nation's porous border to be a pressing security issue until recently.

But last month's arrest of an Uighur individual, Ali Mehmet, after police found bomb-making equipment in a house in a Jakarta suburb, spotlighted how easy it is for people to be smuggled into Indonesia.

Uighurs come from Xinjiang in far western China, a region Beijing says is home to Islamist militants and separatists.

Jakarta says it is working with China to stem the flow of Uighur militants, who police say are responding to a call by Santoso, Indonesia's most high-profile backer of Islamic State, to join his band of fighters.

UNDERGROUND NETWORK

Fishermen from the Indonesian island of Batam, an area notorious for trafficking, were suspected of helping Mehmet to cross over from neighbouring Malaysia, his lawyer, Asludin Hatjani, told Reuters.

"Clearly they communicate with people here before arriving, mainly via Whatsapp," he said, referring to a social media application widespread on mobile telephones.

Using the underground support network, the former bread vendor made his way to the Jakarta suburb where, authorities believe, he and his housemates plotted an attack on the capital.

"It is clear from the police evidence that Mehmet was caught living in a house where there were bomb-making materials and he was with people related to the plan," Hatjani said.

Mehmet was innocent, however, he said, adding that his client had been at the wrong place at the wrong time. "As his lawyer, I can say that he was here for tourism purposes and stress relief after getting divorced from his wife."

But police suspect Mehmet was one of several militants, including the four Indonesians who launched last week's Jakarta attack, who received funding from Islamic State members in Syria.

Two more Uighurs were arrested this month after police found bomb-making equipment at their house.

Police say they are starting to identify network members who are in jail or on the run. But with at least 1,000 supporters of Islamic State in Indonesia, experts say fighters returning from Syria could receive ample help.

"The network of Islamic State sympathizers is quite widespread and they are believed to be in several locations," said Jakarta-based terrorism expert Rakyan Adibrata, who advises parliament.

Authorities want to prevent a rerun of history.

In the 1980s and early 1990s, Indonesians and Malaysians returning from battling the Soviet Union in Afghanistan formed the transnational group Jemaah Islamiyah, which was responsible for the 2002 Bali bombings that killed more than 200 people.

In response to the Jakarta assault, which killed eight people, including the four attackers, Indonesian President Joko Widodo agreed to new rules allowing security forces to arrest returning Islamic State fighters.

But spotting them on their return home remains the problem.
PRESS DIGEST - RUSSIA - Jan 21

MOSCOW, Jan 21 (Reuters) - The following are some of the leading stories in Russia's newspapers on Thursday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

VEDOMOSTI

www.vedomosti.ru

- Russian car makers will ask Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev for support during his visit to Avtovaz plant on Friday.

KOMMERSANT

www.kommersant.ru

- Russian President Vladimir Putin has promised to protect Jews living in Europe from anti-Semitism, the paper writes.

- The number of Russians byuing goods in shopping malls before the News Year holidays has shrunk by 20 percent in the past two years, the paper writes.

- Human rights activists have asked the General Prosecutor's office to investigate why there is a shortage of state-funded medications for HIV positive inmates of jails in Russia.

- Local authorities in several Russian regions have decided to withdraw subsidised fares in public transport for students, the daily reports.

ROSSIISKAYA GAZETA

www.rg.ru
Three asylum seekers seek refuge in Arctic Norway church

OSLO, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Three asylum seekers sought refuge in a church in Arctic Norway on Thursday, a local church official said, as police in the town prepared to return a group of migrants back to Russia.

Norway's right-wing government is tightening asylum rules in response to the influx to Europe of migrants and refugees, saying some of the 31,000 who arrived last year did not qualify for protection.

Measures include sending back to Russia any who have a long-term residence permit there. Critics say Oslo is violating asylum seekers' rights by not allowing them to appeal.

Two men and a woman arrived at the Protestant church in the town of Kirkenes earlier on Thursday, said Wenche Jessem Dervola, an administrator at the Soer-Varanger parish. "They have asked for asylum from the church," she told Reuters.

Jessem Dervola said local church authorities would meet later Thursday to decide what action to take. Police were present outside the church, she said. Temperatures on Thursday were around -25 degrees Celsius (-13 Fahrenheit).

On Tuesday, Norwegian police sent a group of 13 people to Russia by bus. They were from Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen and Pakistan. A second group was due to depart on Thursday.

It was not immediately clear whether the three people were to be among them. Neither was it clear what nationality they were. Local police declined to comment when contacted by Reuters.

Some 5,000 asylum seekers arrived in Norway in 2015 via Russia, out of the total 31,000 asylum seekers that came last year. Germany took in over 1 million asylum seekers in the same period.
Mozambique's opposition Renamo calls off rally after official shot

MAPUTO, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Mozambique's opposition Renamo party cancelled a planned rally on Thursday in the port town of Beira after a senior official was shot and wounded on Wednesday, as the ruling party rejected claims it was behind such attacks.

Manuel Bissopo, the party's secretary general, was shot by unknown assailants in Beira, the second largest city in the southern African country and his party's stronghold. He was taken to hospital, police said, and his bodyguard was killed.

Renamo's leader, former civil war rebel leader Afonso Dhlakama, put off the planned rally but has not spoken about the attack on Bissopo yet, party spokesman Antonio Muchanga said.

Bissopo was wounded in the leg and arm, he added.

"We condemn the attempt to silence the opposition. It is a deliberate attack on democracy. We want those responsible for the shooting to be brought to justice," Muchanga told Reuters.

"They want to perpetuate a single party system, while the country adopted democracy," he said.

The attackers shot Bissopo moments after he gave a news conference to denounce attacks on Renamo members, actions he blamed on the Defence and Security Forces (FDS) that he said were acting at the behest of the ruling Frelimo party.

"We deny that Frelimo and the government are behind the attempted assassination of Mr Bissopo," Frelimo spokesman Damiao Jose said in reply.

"Also, we have to say that Frelimo is not engaging in pursuing Renamo members. We play by the rules of democracy, we don't work in the shadows," he told Reuters.
Britain's EU reform must not curb euro zone integration - Hollande

PARIS, Jan 21 (Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande laid down conditions for a deal with Britain on EU reform on Thursday, insisting that they must not hold back further euro zone integration.

British Prime Minister David Cameron is trying to negotiate changes to the 28-nation bloc before a Feb. 18-19 summit and says he will campaign for Britain to stay in if his demands are met.

However, Hollande left the door open to reaching an agreement later, saying only that it was best to strike a deal at the February summit.

In Davos, his Prime Minister Manuel Valls voiced hope for progress at the summit, allowing at least a decisive step. "But of course not at just any condition, that wouldn't make sense."

Speaking in a new year's address to France's diplomatic corps, Hollande said that Britain's demands were not "insurmountable", but a deal must respect the European Union's founding principles, including on the free circulation of people within the bloc.

"I will be particularly vigilant that the euro zone can pursue its integration, for me that is the essential point," Hollande said.

"If Britain wants to go its own way within the European Union we can allow it, but that cannot prevent the countries that want to go further in integration, monetary for example," Hollande said.

He added that France and Germany would offer proposals before year-end to strengthen euro zone institutions and what he called "solidarity instruments" to ensure stability and growth.

Cameron is due to meet EU leaders in Davos to press his case. He will also meet British business leaders to ask them to voice their support for his push to change Britain's relationship with the EU, which he says will benefit their companies.
Greece demands that migrants declare final EU destination

ATHENS, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Migrants and refugees arriving in Greece must state their final destination to travel further into the European Union, a Greek police source told Reuters on Thursday, following moves by neighbouring states to quell migrant flows.

Serbia on Wednesday said it would deny migrants access to its territory unless they planned to seek asylum in Austria or Germany.

"As of today, the final destination - as stated by the migrants - will be registered in the official documents," the official said without disclosing the reason for the decision.

It was not clear whether the refugees would be banned from travelling further depending on their final destination. But most migrants were expected to state Austria or Germany, refugee agency officials said.

Greece, a main gateway to Europe for migrants crossing the Aegean sea, has faced criticism from other EU governments who say it has done little to manage the flow of hundreds of thousands of people arriving from Turkey on its shores.
Yemen oil port fire from Saudi-led air strike kills at least 9

CAIRO, Jan 21 (Reuters) - An air strike by a Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen killed at least nine people on Thursday at an oil facility on the Red Sea operated by its Houthi opponents, oil workers and medics said.

A news agency run by the Saudi-backed Yemeni government, www.sabanew.net, put the death toll at 16, quoting an unnamed source. It said the cause of the fire was not known.

Medical sources in the nearby port city of Hodeidah said the attack on the facility at Ras Isa, which local oil workers said was used to load tanker trucks with refined products for domestic distribution, also wounded at least 30.

"The bodies were either burned or mutilated," one source told Reuters by text message.

Pictures showed fire trucks trying to put out flames rising from fuel trucks as black smoke covered the area.

A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition declined to comment.

The Ras Isa complex is Yemen's main oil export terminal, which oil workers said was not hit.

No shipments have left there since the coalition of Arab states launched a military campaign in March last year in support of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi against the Iran-allied Houthis.

The United Nations says nearly 6,000 people have been killed in the fighting, which began after the Houthis advanced on the southern port city of Aden, where Hadi had been based. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced.

In eastern Yemen, four government soldiers were killed and four wounded in a bomb attack on their vehicle near al Wadia, a post on the Saudi border, a government official said.
Belgium detains two further suspects over Paris attacks

BRUSSELS, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Belgium has arrested two more men suspected of links to the Paris attacks on Nov. 13 in which 130 people were killed, the Belgian federal prosecutor's office said on Thursday.

The men, identified as Belgian national Zakaria J., born in 1986 and Moroccan national Mustafa E., born in 1981, were arrested during two house searches on Wednesday and Thursday morning in the Brussels district of Molenbeek, prosecutors said.

"Both were arrested due to their possible ties with different suspects in this case," the prosecutor's office said in a statement. "The Investigating Judge will decide later today upon their possible further detention."

No arms or explosives were found during the searches, it added.

Since the November Paris attacks federal prosecutors have already taken 10 people into custody over their suspected involvement, which appear to have been prepared mainly in Belgium.

If the two latest detainees are kept in custody, their number would rise to 12.

Last week, investigators said a number of the Paris attackers used two apartments and a house in Belgium as possible safe houses in the weeks leading up to their coordinated shooting and suicide bomb assault on the French capital.
Ukraine investigates Coca-Cola and Pepsico over Crimea map row -MP

KIEV, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Ukrainian prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation into the online publication by U.S. drinks companies Coca-Cola and Pepsico of a map that showed Crimea as a part of Russia, a Ukrainian lawmaker said on Thursday.

Russia annexed the peninsula from Ukraine in March 2014, leading to condemnation from Western governments and the imposition of economic sanctions on Russia. Ukraine and most other countries have refused to recognise the annexation.

Coca-Cola last month said that the map, which appeared on Dec. 30 on Coca-Cola's page on VKontakte, a Russian social networking site similar to Facebook, had been changed by an advertising agency without Coca-Cola's approval.

Georgy Logvinsky, a lawmaker from the party of Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk, quoted an official letter sent to him by the prosecutors' office, stating that "officials of Coca-ola company and Pepsico abused their powers, which caused significant damage to Ukraine's interests".

The letter said that the maps were posted on the official websites of Coca-Cola and Pepsico.

"Officials of Coca-Cola and Pepsi can go to prison. Prosecutors of Crimea have started criminal proceedings under Part 1 of Article 364-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine," Logvinsky wrote on Facebook.

This article cited by Logvinsky allows prosecutors to arrest suspects for up to three months.
Three killed in fresh violence on restive Nepal plains

By Gopal Sharma

KATHMANDU, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Three people were killed in southern Nepal on Thursday when police fired on protesters trying to disrupt a rival group's political gathering, officials said, amid a deepening crisis over a new constitution.

Nepal has been in turmoil since adopting its first republican constitution last September, with protesters in the lowland south saying the charter deprives them of a fair say in how the country is run.

They have prevented supply trucks from entering from India and choked the landlocked Himalayan nation with a fuel shortage.

Two people were killed at Rangeli, 215 km (135 miles) southeast of Kathmandu, when police fired at ethnic Madhesi activists to stop them from disrupting a gathering organized by the youth wing of Prime Minister K.P. Oli's political party.

Eight others were also injured in the firing, according to Devi Bahadur Bhandari, assistant district administrator of Morang district where Rangeli is located. It was the first deadly incident in more than a month.

"Action became necessary to prevent clashes between the two groups that could have resulted in bigger casualties," he said.

A third person was shot dead at nearby Gainiya, police official Kamal Singh Bam said. More than 50 people have died since protests began four months ago.

The United Madhesi Front, which is leading the protests, wants state boundaries to be redrawn to give their communities more power. The Front said this week that talks with government negotiators that started two weeks ago had become "meaningless".

The Madhesi community in Nepal's lowlands, many of whom trace their origins to India, are battling upper-caste elites from the hills who control the country's main political parties.
Saudi-Iran dispute jeopardises Yemen peace talks

By Yara Bayoumy and Mohammed Ghobari

DUBAI/CAIRO, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Worsening enmity between rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran is jeopardising peace prospects in Yemen where a nine-month-old war has given Islamist militants a foothold in Riyadh's backyard.

Yemen's principal warring factions -- fighters loyal to the ousted Saudi-backed Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi who are battling the Iran-allied Houthi militia and loyalists of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh -- held talks last month in Switzerland to try to end a war that has killed some 6,000 people.

They were due to meet again on Jan. 14 in a bid to seal a lasting peace. But the Riyadh government cut diplomatic ties with Shi'ite Iran in a row sparked by Saudi Arabia's execution of Saudi Shi'ite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr on Jan. 2.

Shortly after the row in which the Saudi embassy in Tehran was stormed, the U.N.-brokered talks between the two opposing sides were postponed, with no clear date set to resume.

Saudi Arabia, a conservative Sunni Muslim monarchy, sees revolutionary Iran as the paramount threat to the Middle East's stability, because of its support for Shi'ite militias that Riyadh says have inflamed sectarian violence.

For the Al Saud dynasty, the recent nuclear deal was a double blow, freeing Iran from sanctions it believed helped check its regional ambitions and raising the spectre of better ties between Tehran and Washington, Riyadh's ally.

While Yemen's government has long been mired in conflict with Islamist militants, secessionists and tribal fighters, its war coincides with unprecedented turmoil in the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia's campaign in Yemen marks the first time it has openly confronted what it sees as Iranian regional expansionism.

As long as the war rages in Yemen, there is more space for militants to gain territory as they exploit the security vacuum.

Islamic State and al Qaeda have both emerged in Yemeni regions where they had not previously been present before Saudi Arabia entered the conflict and a Saudi-led coalition began bombing the Houthis in March 2015.

Saudi Arabia and Iran blame each other for Yemen's conflict, further embittering a regional rivalry between the two nations being played out from Syria to Iraq and Lebanon to Bahrain.

"The situation in the region will probably harden the Saudis' position against the Houthis - who they view as Iranian proxies," said April Longley Alley, senior Arabian Peninsula analyst for the International Crisis Group.

In turn, she said, that could empower "more messianic trends within the Houthi movement that see events in the region as the beginning of the end for the Saudi monarchy".

"EXISTENTIAL NECESSITY" FOR SAUDI

On the battlefield in Yemen the struggle is deadlocked.

Despite Saudi-led air strikes, the Houthis firmly control Sanaa. Hadi's fighters, backed by mostly Emirati and Saudi forces, have taken control of the now de facto capital - the southern port city of Aden.

A senior diplomat following Yemen said that for the Saudis, the success of the Yemen war was "an existential necessity."

"From what I see on the ground, the Houthis and Saleh are losing more and more, but there are limits to that. The Houthis are invincible in the north," he said, adding this means the likelihood that either side will stop fighting is unlikely.

The United States, which backs the U.N.-sponsored peace talks, is a major supplier of weapons to Saudi Arabia and U.S. officials say intelligence-sharing with Riyadh about potential targets in Yemen has been boosted since March.

Coinciding with Saudi Arabia's cutting ties with Iran, the Saudi-led coalition intensified air strikes on Houthi positions.

Days after the break-off, Tehran accused Saudi Arabia of bombing its embassy in Yemen's capital of Sanaa, an accusation vigorously denied by Riyadh. Eyewitnesses and residents on the ground also said there was no damage to the embassy.

Pro-Saudi commentators suspected Iran aired the accusation to divert attention from the attack on Riyadh's embassy in Tehran by protesters enraged at the Shi'ite cleric's execution.

The clash showed just how quickly rhetoric from the marbled offices in Tehran and Riyadh plays out on the ground in Yemen, stiffening positions among proxies and halting progress in ending a war that has displaced tens of thousands.

Mokhtar al-Rahbi, Hadi's press secretary, told Reuters the attacks on the Saudi mission had served to harden the views of Sunni Gulf Arab countries, many of whom downgraded their ties in some manner with Iran, against the government in Tehran.

"Iran will find itself solitary, fighting everyone and this will reflect on the Yemen crisis because Iran will now have to give some concessions in Yemen ... in return for some flexibility in the positions of Gulf countries."

Rahbi also blamed Iran for the failure of the U.N.-brokered peace talks to bear fruit, because the Houthis had "procrastinated" on carrying out key demands.

The latest round of talks in December took place amid a precarious and widely violated truce.

LOW PRIORITY FOR IRAN

Iran's strategic stake in Yemen is less than in Syria where it is President Bashar al-Assad's only regional supporter and in Iraq, where it maintains close ideological ties to the Shi'ite-led government.

But Saudi observers are convinced of Iran's commitment to its allies in Yemen. Many cite remarks by one Iranian official who applauded what he referred to as Iran's control over four Arab capitals - Beirut, Damascus, Baghdad and Sanaa as proof of what they see as Iran's dangerous designs on Yemen.

"It is so dangerous for Saudi Arabia, even internally, to accept Iranian hegemony over Yemen or Syria so the price is already high for Saudi Arabia," said prominent Saudi political commentator Jamal Khashoggi.

Unlike the conflicts in Syria, where Iran has sent fighters from its elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and in Iraq, where IRGC advisers work alongside Shi'ite Iraqi militias fighting Islamic State, the extent and robustness of Iran's support to the Houthis is more murky.

But Alley, of ICG, says Iran has made "a very small investment in the Houthis and reaped a large political return".

"Ironically, the conflict is encouraging the very relationship that Saudi Arabia fears, pushing the Houthis more into the Iranian camp, despite Tehran's reluctance to get more deeply involved," Alley said.

Ali Fathollah-Nejad, an Iran expert at the German Council on Foreign Relations, says that while Iran could play a positive role in moderating "perhaps" a few forces in Yemen, its role there had been exaggerated to justify Riyadh's intervention.

Some speculate that the Yemen war may one day turn into a pawn to be traded in the region's larger struggle for power.

"To the extent Iran has a strategy in Yemen I suspect they will want Riyadh to concede Syria and Iraq to Iran, in exchange for Iran abandoning its support for the Houthis," says Karim Sadjadpour, a Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

One Western diplomat involved in regional diplomacy believes resolving the Yemen crisis depends on progress in Syria.

"If there is serious decisive action in Syria -- a political process accompanied by conflict on the ground or vice versa -- Saudi and allies will want to get rid of Yemen more quickly, in order to be able to focus on Syria," the diplomat said.
"Zero chance" of Syria talks without goodwill steps from Damascus-opposition negotiator

By Tom Perry

BEIRUT, Jan 21 (Reuters) - There will be no Syria peace talks if the government does not take humanitarian steps outlined by the U.N. Security Council, including a halt to attacks on civilians and an end to blockades, the opposition's chief negotiator said on Thursday.

The negotiations, which are due to be begin on Jan. 25 in Geneva, look increasingly uncertain for reasons including a dispute over the composition of the opposition delegation.

Mohamad Alloush, named chief negotiator on Wednesday by a Saudi-backed opposition council, is a member of the politburo of Jaysh al-Islam (Islam Army), a major rebel faction which Russia considers a terrorist group.

"The session will not take place until the measures are implemented ... While no measures are taken, the chances are zero," Alloush told Reuters by telephone, referring to humanitarian steps outlined in a Dec. 18 U.N. Security Council resolution that endorsed a peace process for Syria.

"We don't want to go to Geneva ... for photos," he said.

The opposition has said clauses in the U.N. resolution including a release of arbitrarily detained people and a halt to attacks on civilian areas must be implemented before talks.

Damascus has said it is ready to take part, but the United Nations said on Monday it would not issue invitations until major powers that endorse the talks, including the United States and Russia, agree on who should represent the opposition.

U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura, who is tasked with launching the negotiations, said on Wednesday they may be delayed from the planned Jan. 25 start date.

The nomination of Alloush may add to the complications. While Russia views Jaysh al-Islam as a terrorist group, many of President Bashar al-Assad's foes view it as a legitimate part of the Syrian opposition.

Russia, an ally of Assad, has meanwhile sought to widen the opposition delegation to include the main Syrian Kurdish party, the PYD, among others who did not attend last month's Riyadh conference that established the new opposition council.

The PYD and affiliated YPG Kurdish militia set up an autonomous administration over wide areas of northern and northeastern Syria as the government's authority diminished after the onset of the uprising in 2011.

The Syrian opposition accuses the Kurds of cooperating with Damascus - a charge they deny. The YPG has meanwhile established close ties with the United States, and is an important partner in the fight it is leading against Islamic State in Syria.

Alloush said the PYD's "natural place" was with the government delegation. Russia and Iran, which both back Assad militarily, have rejected what they describe as Saudi-led efforts to organise the Syrian opposition for the talks.
Pressure mounts on Italy's Renzi to strike EU deal on 'bad bank'

By Isla Binnie

ROME, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has set himself up as a man who does not like to compromise, but he needs to reach a deal quickly to stop Italy's banks sinking under the weight of bad debts which are stifling a fledgling economic recovery.

Italy's lenders hold 201 billion euros ($220 billion) in non-performing loans (NPLs) which grew during the recent three-year recession and are clogging the system, slowing the release of new credit that the economy badly needs.

Besides the NPLs, which are loans in default and highly unlikely to be repaid in full, the Bank of Italy says there are a further 160 billion euros of problematic debt that could become NPLs. Taken together, these doubtful loans represent around 22 percent of Italy's annual gross domestic product.

Unnerved by the growing weight of bad debts, investors - already rattled about global economic growth - have been off-loading Italian banking stocks over the past week. They have focused especially on the most vulnerable lenders, including Monte dei Paschi, Italy's third-largest bank, which has lost 40 percent of its value this month.

It sent alarm bells ringing in Rome and Brussels, which both want to avert the possibility of a failing Italian economy that could weigh down the euro zone, but have struggled to find a solution after almost a year of fruitless discussions.

Other European countries like Spain and Ireland moved swiftly in the wake of the financial crisis to set up special asset management vehicles - so-called "bad banks" - designed to take soured loans off lenders' balance sheets at knock-down prices and seek to sell them on.

Italy decided not to follow suit, arguing its banking system was more robust, but it has since endured its worst recession since World War Two, which has led to tens of thousands of firms going bust and bad loans surging. And now it faces stricter EU rules on state aid that complicate efforts to set up a bad bank.

"The important thing is to move quickly because the banks that have bad loans do little lending and this is not helping the economy," said Francesco Giavazzi, a professor of economics who advised a former government on spending cuts.

"Waiting has caused a mess."

The talks are being held against a backdrop of mutual recriminations between Renzi and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who has acknowledged that relations with Italy were poor, partly due to the banking storm.

For months neither side has appeared willing to soften their stances, and Brussels rejected Italy's proposals for a bad bank vehicle which would let banks sell soured loans with state guarantees that would make them more appealing on the market.

But the presentation of a new Italian plan last week, to give lenders the option to buy guarantees, signalled a desire in Rome to seek a compromise. EU officials have asked Italy to provide further details, with this week's stock market rout adding extra urgency for a deal to be struck.

MISSED CHANCE?

At the height of the financial crisis, Europe was much more lenient in allowing member states to salvage their sagging lenders. Ireland scooped bad credit off its banks' balance sheets and into an asset-management vehicle in 2009 while Spain did so in 2011, laying the foundations for far stronger economic growth than the meagre 0.8 percent Italy expects for 2015.

Rome argued that its banking system pursued a more conservative loans policy than in many other countries and pointed out that only one bank, Monte dei Paschi, had needed a government bailout in the crisis.

But between 2009 and 2014 the rate of companies failing in Italy has outpaced other developed economies, with 75,000 firms going bust, leaving mountains of unpaid debt with their banks, according to research firm Impresa Lavoro.

Total impaired debts accounted for 17.5 percent of gross loans in Italy at the end of September, compared with only 2 percent in Germany, 4 percent in France and 7 percent in Spain, according to Royal Bank of Scotland.

The European Commission is now taking a more severe line to prevent state aid that it says could distort the market. Under new rules approved by the EU in 2013, shareholders and bondholders must bear the cost of bank failures before taxpayer money can be used in any rescue - including the creation of a state-backed bad bank.

This has become a contentious political issue in Italy - where thousands of small savers hold bank bonds - and made it more difficult for it to follow the examples of euro zone peers who were quicker off the mark in setting up bad banks.

Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said last September that Italy might have missed a chance.

"Maybe this country realised a little late that something should have been done when European legislation still permitted it. The legislation on these things is much more restrictive since 2013, because of state aid rules."

LOAN PRICING

Another central obstacle to a deal between Rome and Brussels is the issue of how bad loans would be priced.

The Commission says NPLs must be sold at prices determined by the market, which typically do not exceed 20 percent of the loan's nominal value. But Italy argues the market is not functioning properly and is pricing the loans far too low, according to sources close to the matter.

If Italian banks were forced to sell their bad loans at 20 percent of their value, they would have to book losses of around 20 billion euros after taxes, according to Reuters calculations.

Italy, the euro zone's third-largest economy with a debt-to-GDP ratio of 133 percent - the highest in Europe after that of Greece - is ill-placed to take on chunks of the bank debt, but it also cannot afford a full-blown banking crisis.

Compounding the problem, Italy has a fragmented, traditionally unprofitable banking system, with 680 lenders, many of them small and regional.

A government reform last year aimed at spurring mergers between cooperative banks to strengthen them has so far failed to produce a single tie-up as the banks involved haggle about top jobs. By contrast, consolidation cut the number of banks in Spain to 14 last year from 55 since the 2008 financial crisis.

But the market turmoil this week has piled the pressure on Italian and EU officials to shore up Italy's banking system.

EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, in an interview with Corriere della Sera newspaper on Thursday, looked to calm worries about the sort of losses stakeholders in lenders might have to chalk up in the creation of bad banks. If there was an element of state aid, the losses imposed on bank shareholders and bondholders could be "very light", she said.

Meanwhile Antonio Patuelli, president of Italian banking association ABI, urged Rome to conclude talks with the EU on the bad bank plan as soon as possible.

"We think such a long drawn-out negotiation is at the root of the current market uncertainty, along with other factors," he said. "Any sort of conclusion would be better than this uncertainty."
Pan-Islamic body urges de-escalation in Saudi-Iran dispute

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, Jan 21 (Reuters) - The world's largest Muslim body called for a de-escalation of tensions between regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran, telling member countries that unity was required to eradicate terrorism.

The pan-Islamic Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which is based in the Saudi city of Jeddah, appeared to take a balanced response to the Riyadh-Tehran crisis after the Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council both took stridently pro-Saudi positions.

The dispute escalated after Riyadh's execution of a prominent Shi'ite Muslim cleric, which led Iranian protesters to storm Saudi missions in Tehran and Mashhad. Riyadh cut its diplomatic ties with Tehran in response. Other Gulf countries took varying measures to downgrade ties with Iran.

Without naming Saudi Arabia and Iran, OIC Secretary General Iyad Madani, a Saudi, said that the continued strains in relations between some member countries was contributing to "deepening the fractures in the Islamic political entity".

Warning against widening sectarian tensions, he said the attacks against Saudi Arabia's diplomatic missions had "breached diplomatic norms".

"This situation turns us from effectively addressing the true challenges that threaten the future of our member states and their peoples," he said, before going on to name recent attacks by suspected Islamist militants in Afghanistan, Turkey, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Libya and Mali.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, who spoke at the emergency OIC meeting which Riyadh had called for, said the attack on the kingdom's diplomatic missions was not an isolated incident, and that Tehran had done very little to end them.

"It is the responsibility of the host government to take measures, not to issue statements aim at deflecting blame more than offering practical protection to diplomatic missions," Jubeir said, according to state news agency SPA.

Iran's deputy foreign minister Abbas Araqchi told Reuters on the sidelines of the meeting:
With symbolic handshake at Davos, Cyprus leaders ask elite to back peace

By Paul Taylor

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 21 (Reuters) - With a symbolic handshake at the World Economic Forum, the leaders of Cyprus pledged their commitment to reach a settlement to reunite their divided Mediterranean island this year and appealed for international financial support.

Cypriot President Nikos Anastiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci made an unprecedented joint appearance before global business and political leaders in Davos to proclaim their aim to build a peace bridge between Europe and the Middle East.

"At a time when Europe is enduring a deep crisis, primarily linked to the tragic events unfolding in Cyprus' immediate neighborhood, myself and Mustafa are working tirelessly to reunify our country," Anastasiades said.

He called for a substantial financial contribution from the international community to finance a solution for Cyprus.

Both leaders stressed that they had not yet concluded a deal and that difficult issues remained over territory, property and compensation, but both said they were working for an agreement in 2016.

WEF president Klaus Schwab called Cyprus "a ray of hope just where the Middle East meets Europe".

Cyprus has been split since Turkish forces invaded the north of the island in 1974 in response to a short-lived Greek Cypriot coup backed by Greece's then military rulers.

The last attempt to broker a settlement foundered in 2004 when Greek Cypriots rejected a U.N. peace plan accepted by the Tukish Cypriots, and Cyprus joined the European Union as a divided island, leaving the Turkish Cypriots isolated.

Akinci said he and Anastasiades were of the same generation and represented the last chance to reunite the island. The generation born after them knew only division.

Energy cooperation based on recent offshore gas discoveries off Cyprus could provide a crucial incentive to reach a deal, he said.

"With this solution, newly found hydrocarbon resources in the Eastern Mediterranean will act as a source of peace and cooperation rather than conflict and tension," Akinci said.

In a concerted international drive to support the peace process, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hosted a lunch with the two leaders and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden also met them to offer his backing.

A diplomatic source in New York said the U.N. special envoy for Cyprus, former Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide, had told the Security Council in a closed session last week that 90 percent of a Cyprus deal was done but the last 10 percent remaining was the most difficult.
German minister slams Austrian move to cap numbers of asylum seekers

BERLIN, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Germany's interior minister on Thursday criticised Austria's unilateral move to cap the number of people it will allow to claim asylum and to tighten border controls, saying the migrant crisis needed wider solutions.

"The Austrian decision was an Austrian one," Thomas de Maiziere said in Berlin. "We are focussing on a European solution."

"We are counting on common, European solutions that are agreed upon mutually and we want to avoid national decisions, especially those which have consequences for others, as long as is possible," he added.

Austria wants to restrict the number of asylum claims to no more than 1.5 percent of it 8.5 million population, spread over the next four years. Roughly 90,000 people, more than 1 percent, applied for asylum last year.

The measure runs counter to German efforts to negotiate a European-wide solution with the support of Turkey, the gateway to Europe for most migrants.
Mexico won't nominate Carstens for IMF, backs Lagarde - gov't source

MEXICO CITY, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Mexico will not nominate Central Bank Gov. Agustin Carstens in the race to lead the International Monetary Fund, and supports incumbent Christine Lagarde's offer to continue in the role, a Mexican government source said on Thursday.

"Mexico is not going to present a candidate and backs France's nomination," the source said. "The government recognizes his leadership and talent, as we support an important ally of Mexico's structural reforms."

The source said Finance Minister Luis Videgaray had met with Lagarde in Davos to express his support for her candidacy.
South Africa's Zuma criticised for Davos panel no-show

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 21 (Reuters) - South African President Jacob Zuma missed a Davos panel talk on Africa on Thursday, the continent's top showcase at the alpine gathering, prompting questions about his commitment to drumming up interest in his country's struggling economy.

Zuma's office denied he was a 'no-show' at the discussion, which featured Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and Rwandan President Paul Kagame, saying it had told Davos organisers last week of a "scheduling change".

It also dismissed as "inaccurate and mischievous" a domestic media report that Zuma had only pulled out of the event late on Wednesday, and said South Africa's delegation was being well-received at the event.

"The message that South Africa is open for business is being communicated by the President, Ministers and business leaders in all sessions in Davos," it said in a statement.

In Zuma's absence, South Africa had no representation on the CNBC-sponsored Africa panel. Instead, he attended a bilateral meeting with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven to discuss "warm and strong bilateral relations".

When contacted by Reuters to ask why Zuma was not on the Africa panel as scheduled, spokesman Bongani Majola reacted by saying: "Are you sure about that?"

Davos organisers were yet to respond to Reuters' questions on the timing of the president's withdrawal from the event.

Zuma, a 73-year-old Zulu traditionalist with no formal education, has long been criticised for his leadership, with opponents saying he lacks the skills and understanding to run a sophisticated emerging market economy.

The concerns have deepened over the last year as Pretoria has struggled to deal with a slump in the price of commodities such as platinum, coal and iron ore that has hit growth and the currency, the rand.

Last month he sent domestic markets and the rand into a tailspin after firing respected finance minister Nhlanhla Nene and replacing him with David van Rooyen, a political unknown whose only budgetary experience was as a small-town mayor.

Four days later, he sacked van Rooyen to bring Pravin Gordhan back to a position he occupied from 2009 to 2014, restoring some calm to markets but refusing to admit he had done long-term damage to South Africa's reputation.

The opposition Democratic Alliance said Zuma's failure to attend the panel was typical of his indifference to the plight of an economy forecast to grow at less than 1 percent this year.
Children hit by slow aid flow for "unprecedented" Ethiopia drought-agencies

By Katy Migiro

NAIROBI, Jan 21 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Donors are not responding fast enough to an "unprecedented" drought in Ethiopia, where over 400,000 children under five are severely malnourished despite strong economic growth and big development gains over the last decade, aid agencies said.

Ethiopia is experiencing its worst drought in 50 years, and 10.2 million people - one-tenth of the population - cannot feed themselves because their crops and animals have died.

"We've definitely been ringing the alarm since last summer but I think, sadly, sometimes it takes pictures of children suffering to get people to actually take things seriously," Carolyn Miles, president of Save the Children in the United States, said after visiting Ethiopia's Afar and Amhara regions.

About one-quarter of the $1.4 billion needed to respond to the crisis has been pledged, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said, but most of these contributions have not yet been paid.

In a malnutrition centre in the northeastern lowlands of Afar, Miles met a little boy who had been admitted for severe malnutrition for the second time in two months.

"Sending kids back into a situation where they don't have enough food to really stay out of severe malnutrition, some of those kids are really suffering," she said.

Ethiopia is the charity's humanitarian priority globally.

Africa's second most populous nation has been hit by two consecutive failed rains, most recently due to the El Nino weather phenomenon - a warming of sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific - which is causing hunger around the globe.

"This drought is on a scale and a level that nobody has ever seen before," Charlie Mason, Save the Children's humanitarian director, said. "It's an event driven by El Nino that is very much unprecedented and potentially catastrophic."

Ethiopia received less rain in 2015 than at any time since meteorological records began in the 1960s, Mason said.

FOOD AID INADEQUATE

In Amhara, Miles met a mother who was unable to breastfeed her three-month-old twins because income from her restaurant had fallen by 70 percent and she was not getting enough food aid.

Families told Miles they were receiving food aid every six weeks or so but it only lasted about one week. "It's just not enough of a ration for people to live on," she said.

The government has taken a lead, giving $300 million in emergency aid over the last few months, but the scale of the crisis is immense, agencies said.

"Trying to feed the population of Greater London every month, spread across a country the size of France and Spain is no mean feat," said Mason.

The World Food Programme (WFP), the main provider of food aid, has received only 13 percent of the money it needs up until June, which is part of the total $1.4 billion U.N. target.

"These contributions do not come close to meeting the $481 million which is required," the WFP said in emailed comments. "Urgent contributions are essential now to be able to sustain the response."

It takes about three months for food aid pledged by a donor to reach the person who needs it. The largest donor is the United States, which gives aid in the form of food to be shipped around the globe.

The WFP tries to speed up the process by asking for cash to buy food locally, but there is not enough food on sale in the region to meet Ethiopia's needs.

"In order for that food to make any difference it's got to be pledged right now," said Miles.
U.N. Security Council arrives in Burundi in push for peace talks

By Michelle Nichols

BUJUMBURA, Jan 21 (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council plans to meet with Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza on Friday to push for peace talks, diplomats said, during its second visit in less than a year to the tiny African state wracked by political violence.

The 15-member Security Council arrived in Burundi's lakeside capital Bujumbura on Thursday evening for a one day visit.

Hundreds of pro-government protesters lined the road from the airport to the hotel housing the diplomats, some drumming and dancing, while others held signs with messages such as: "Burundi is sovereign, stop interfering in Burundi home affairs."

Nkurunziza's decision in April to seek a third term in office sparked political unrest after opponents said the move was unconstitutional. He won a disputed election in July, but worsening violence has raised fears the country could slide back into civil war and ignite an ethnic conflict.

"The trip by the Security Council could not be coming at a more critical time," said U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power, speaking in New York. "The time for preventative diplomatic measures is now before the situation has spiralled further out of control."

The United Nations says at least 439 people have been killed and warns that number could be "considerably higher," while some 232,000 people have fled Burundi.

While the Security Council is divided on how to deal with Burundi, Deputy French U.N. Ambassador Alexis Lamek said the council was unified on the "seriousness and the gravity of the situation."

"Burundi is on the brink of a very dangerous crisis ... and it has to be prevented at any cost," Lamek said, speaking in Addis Ababa on his way to Burundi.

The violence is being closely watched in a region scarred by the 1994 genocide in neighbouring Rwanda that killed more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus. Burundi and Rwanda have the same ethnic mix - about 85 percent Hutus and 15 percent Tutsis.

A 12-year civil war in Burundi, which ended in 2005, pitted a Tutsi-led army against Hutu rebel groups.

The Burundi government says there is no risk of return to the ethnic bloodletting of the past.

Only one round of peace talks was held in December in Uganda, whose President Yoweri Museveni is mediating. The Burundi government refused to take part in a second round set for Tanzania earlier this month because it blamed some of the participants for recent months of violence.

Along with fears of an ethnic conflict, the political unrest has also sparked an economic crisis.

Burundi's cabinet passed a 2016 budget that slashes public spending by 16 percent and expects foreign aid to almost halve as relations with donors have soured during the turmoil. Burundi relies on the European Union for about half its budget and Brussels has partially suspended new aid over the crisis.
Fearing genocide, ex-Burundi presidents plead for U.N. troops

By Michelle Nichols

BUJUMBURA, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Two former Burundi presidents pleaded for the United Nations Security Council on Thursday to back the deployment of international troops to the African state gripped by political violence because it "runs the risk of becoming another Rwanda"

Diplomats of the 15-member council arrived in Burundi's capital Bujumbura on Thursday evening for its second visit to the tiny landlocked state in less than a year, where fears of an ethnic war have also led to an economic crisis.

The Security Council is due to meet President Pierre Nkurunziza on Friday. Violence broke out after Nkurunziza's decision in April to seek a third term. His opponents said the move was unconstitutional but he went on to win a disputed election in July.

Hundreds of pro-government protesters lined the road from the airport to the U.N. envoys' hotel, welcoming them with drumming and dancing and signs with messages such as: "Burundi is sovereign, stop interfering in Burundi home affairs."

There were several grenade explosions on Thursday in Bujumbura, but no further details were known, diplomats and police said. Since April, at least 439 people have been killed and the number might be "considerably higher," the United Nations said. Some 232,000 people have fled the country.

The envoys, led by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power and senior Angolan and French diplomats, met Jean-Baptiste Bagaza, Burundi's president from 1976-87 and Domitien Ndayizeye, president from 2003-05.

Bagaza said armed outside support was necessary to reassure Burundians. Both former presidents called on the Security Council to back such a move.

"Otherwise we run the risk of becoming another Rwanda," Bagaza said. "We already have a heavy death toll, a great deal of destruction to the economy."

The African Union said in December it was ready to send 5,000 peacekeepers to protect civilians in Burundi, but Nkurunziza has rejected the mission and said that Burundians would fight against any peacekeepers.

The violence is being closely watched in a region scarred by the 1994 genocide in neighbouring Rwanda, which killed more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus. Burundi and Rwanda have the same ethnic mix, about 85 percent Hutus and 15 percent Tutsis.

A 12-year civil war in Burundi, which ended in 2005, pitted a Tutsi-led army against Hutu rebel groups. The Burundi government has said there is no risk of a return to the ethnic bloodletting of the past.

Ndayizeye told the Security Council that Nkurunziza's government was "a dictatorial regime which is imposed only through force" and that the crisis "is leading us over the abyss economically speaking."

Burundi's cabinet passed a 2016 budget that slashes public spending by 16 percent and expects foreign aid to almost halve as relations with donors have soured during the turmoil. Burundi relies on the European Union for about half its budget and Brussels has partially suspended new aid over the crisis.

Before the U.N. envoys arrived, a group of soldiers and police who defected from the government announced they had formed an official rebel movement, The Republican Force of Burundi. Godefroid Niyombare, a former major general who lead a failed coup attempt in May, has been appointed its leader.
Austria says refugee cap is "wake-up call" for Brussels

By Noah Barkin

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Austria's decision to impose a cap on the number of refugees it accepts is a "wake-up call" for Brussels and raises the chances of a swift deal between European countries on the migrant crisis, Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz said.

"I am of the view that our measures could help Europe to get an agreement quicker," said Kurz, whose portfolio also includes European affairs and migration. "The steps we have taken are a wake-up call for Brussels that things need to move faster."

Speaking to Reuters in Davos, Kurz rebuffed criticism of the move from Berlin, saying Germany had helped prompt the decision by sending migrants at its border back into Austria.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is under intense pressure at home to introduce a similar ceiling, has called the Austrian move "unhelpful" and her Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere criticised Vienna on Thursday, questioning whether it could even be implemented.

Austria announced on Wednesday that it would cap the number of people allowed to claim asylum this year at 37,500, less than last year's total, and reduce that ceiling annually to 25,000 by 2019.

Its chancellor said border controls would be stepped up "massively", although Kurz said nothing had changed at the border with Slovenia yet.

"The fact that Germany sent refugees on its border with Austria back presented us with an even bigger challenge," Kurz said. "In that sense this was a factor, if you will, that led to higher rather than lower figures."
Samarco, Brazil gov't move closer on $4.8 bln dam-disaster accord

By Anthony Boadle

BRASILIA, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Brazil's government and Samarco Mineracao SA moved closer to a deal to settle a 20 billion-real ($4.8 billion) lawsuit for damages related to a deadly November dam disaster, Brazil's attorney general said on Thursday.

The two sides met in Brasilia on Thursday and talks have "advanced significantly" with the likelihood that the outline of an accord can be completed by early February, Attorney General Luis Inacio Adams told reporters after the meeting.

Brazil sued Samarco, a 50-50 joint venture between Brazil's Vale SA and Australia's BHP Billiton Ltd, for 20 billion reais ($4.8 billion) after an iron ore tailings dam burst. The resulting tsunami of mud roared through river valleys in two states, killing at least 17 and dumping mine waste as far away as the Atlantic Ocean.

It is considered Brazil's biggest-ever environmental disaster. Samarco has been shut down since the dam burst.

"Negotiation of the agreement is under way and we made considerable progress today," Adams said. "We agreed on the actions that have to be carried out. There was convergence between the companies and federal and state governments on what has to be done."

If agreement is reached and financing is provided for 38 actions agreed to on Thursday to resolve the social and environment impact of the disaster, Samarco would be allowed to restart operations, Adams said.

Work should take up to 10 years and Samarco will not have to pay all at once, Adams added, saying Vale and BHP would have to guarantee Samarco's financial commitment to the recovery plan.

The company's new chief executive officer, Roberto Carvalho, said it did not have the funds available now, but told Reuters: "If it is operating again, Samarco will easily have enough funds."

Not all who attended Thursday's meeting were as positive as Adams, whose office needs to sign off on any accord. Marilene Ramos, president of IBAMA, Brazil's environmental protection agency, said Samarco's initial proposal for dam-disaster remediation offered "much less" than she expected.

"The program that Samarco presented is a package of short-term actions focused on areas hurt by the disaster," she said. "The part where they propose new actions we consider very incomplete, and we need faster action."

The recovery plan includes setting up a privately run foundation that would be responsible to a board made up of local communities, universities and research centers, government agencies and Samarco.
As the shock over yet another jolting terror attack in Pakistans Khyber Pakhtunkhwa targeting students sunk in, the implications of the bloodbath, though unrelated, on the India-Pakistan interplay could be fathomed. The attack has opened another window for India to drive home the point that the unidimensional approach in dealing with terrorism will not work for Islamabad.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was quick to condemn the terror strike on Bacha Khan University as it came days after the Indian Air Force (IAF) base in Pathankot was attacked.

Despite the Pakistan governments assurances, endorsed by Rawalpindi, on punishing Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) leadership for the Pathankot attack, New Delhi remains sceptical if the Kashmir terrorists would be dealt with by Islamabad in a similar manner as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

The deadly wave of terrorism in the subcontinent has travelled swiftly this month from Mazar-e-Sharif to Pathankot passing through Jalalabad and Charsadda. It strengthens the Indian position that any dialogue between India and Pakistan should be focused on terrorism which has overtaken all other pending issues.

The recent terror strikes are almost falling into a pattern. The attack on the Indian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif was followed by the Pakistani diplomatic outpost in Jalalabad being stormed.

The Jalalabad incident happened just when the Mazar-e-Sharif attack was being linked to Pakistan.

Whenever the India-Pakistan foreign secretary talks resume, Islamabad will walk into the dialogue as victim of terrorism.

India would flag the fact that terrorism is a multi-faceted monster. A positive outcome is possible if Pakistan walks the talk on its assurances given to India. Unlike the despondency-ridden past, the leadership on the either side has made the right noises.

New Delhi has refrained from accusing Pakistan directly for the Pathankot attack. The Modi government has gone to the extent of allowing Pakistani investigators to verify claims on JeMs involvement in the Pathankot attack on the ground.

Despite a deluge of anti-India remarks on social media after the Bacha Khan attack, the Pakistani leadership has avoided making any reference about India.

The conspiracy theorists in Pakistan, however, had a field day as expected in building stories around the latest terror strike by pointing fingers at India.

The fact that the mastermind of the Peshawar school attack Umar Mansoor of the TTP owned the strike amidst conflicting claims also reflected the deep roots of terrorism within the country.

As the details of the attack trickled in, the symbolism of the terror strike on the university named after Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, known as Frontier Gandhi on this side of the border, was not lost in India. A close associate of Mahatma Gandhi, Abdul Ghaffar Khan, the towering Pathan, had died on this day in 1988.

The general buzz in the security establishment in New Delhi was that by striking in a brazen manner the Pakistan Taliban has demonstrated its ability to carry out attacks despite the military action by the Pakistan Army.

The experts also viewed the development as a fallout of the events in Afghanistan where Pakistan, China and the US are pushing the Taliban to come on negotiating table for a political settlement aimed at buying lasting peace.

New Delhi has noted how Pakistan is on a reconciliatory trip. Apart from backing truce talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan, it has proposed to mediate between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

On the eastern border, it has offered to address Indias concern on the Pathankot attack instead of contesting the charge.

The winds of change have been acknowledged but positive vibes are wrapped in apprehensive cloak considering the fact that the Pakistan jihad factory was established to wage war against India. In another difference from the past, Pakistans military establishment and the political leadership have given the impression of being on the same page on foreign policy.

Pakistan army chief General Raheel Sharif was sitting next to prime minister Nawaz Sharif when Indias concerns on Pathankot were addressed. The two even travelled together to Saudi Arabia and Iran. It is unusual for the army chief and the prime minister to travel in the same aircraft.

There is hope in New Delhi that the rescheduled foreign secretary-level dialogue will be held in the spirit of this changed attitude.
The January 2 terror attack on the Pathankot airbase has reopened the Pandora's box of fault lines that delineate the dynamics of the India-Pakistan relationship. The actionable evidence given by the Indian government to Pakistan suggests the involvement of a militant organisation, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) from Pakistan, and for once, Islamabad has not issued a blanket denial.

Attacks

Immediately after the audacious attack, the Pakistan government offered its condolences as well as full cooperation. Emphasising the willingness on Pakistan's side to strengthen the goodwill PM Narendra Modi's December 25 visit to Lahore displayed, it is in addition a reconfirmation of Pakistan's commitment to eliminate terror within and without. And that is where there is not merely an overwhelming scepticism, but also a need to ask questions to which there are no satisfactory answers.

Pakistan, having lost almost 60,000 people in the last decade, as per South Asian Terrorism Portal, is in a fight to eliminate terrorism in its myriad forms all over Pakistan.

And while the military's Zarb-e-Azb seems to have dealt a crushing hand to different sections of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan in the FATA, on Pakistan's western border, not much has changed regarding militant organisations that ostensibly operate against India. The debate over "state-run", "non-state actors" and "rogue elements" have muddied the narrative to such an extent that no clear policy seems to have emerged. The civilian-military consensus on dealing with terrorism is the driving force behind the National Action Plan, which came into existence after the Peshawar massacre of 144 people, mostly children, unarguably the most horrific terror attack in Pakistan's history. While there is a decrease in terror attacks within Pakistan, there is much that still needs to clearly define its position regarding terrorism in general. This is what Pakistan needs to do for itself, and for the bigger good of its neighbourhood.

Undeniable is the legitimacy of Pakistan's demand to have a resolution to the Kashmir issue, as well as those of Sir Creek and Siachen Glacier. India's apparent blatant rejection of any proposal to arrive at a solution acceptable to both parties in addition to the people of Kashmir is the roadblock in carving a new dynamic between the two nuclear-armed nations with a history of four wars. Regarding Kashmir as its "jugular vein", Pakistan's civilian and military establishments have always been categorical in their demand of resolving the Kashmir issue, which for many overly-optimistic Pakistanis would be complete annexation of Indian-occupied Kashmir to Pakistan through a UN intervention.

Narratives

There is another part of Pakistan's populace that recognises the right of self-determination for Kashmiris, the idea anathema to the Indian military and civilian establishment, thus deepening the mistrust between the two countries. Amidst the jostling narratives exists the tool of "jihad", of a "freedom-fight" to "liberate" the Muslim-majority Kashmir from India.

The debacles of armed interventions in Kashmir, mixed with a proxy war of state-sponsored jihadis, bloodied by terrorist acts of non-state actors have sullied Pakistan's legitimate demand for resolving the Kashmir issue. Pakistan, which has learnt no lessons from its "strategic" intervention in the Afghan war as an American ally against the "godless" Russians, needs to restrategise its stance vis-a-vis Kashmir.

Questions

The sealing of offices and arrests of members of JeM bring to fore the uneasy question: Why are banned militant organisations allowed to rename and rebrand themselves and operate with impunity in Pakistan? Why are people like Masood Azhar, with a history of India-centric terrorism, taken into "protective custody", in line with the security agencies' cosmetic handling of known militants?

While cases like that of alleged mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks receive shoddy legal attention because of lack of evidence and absence of testimonies of witnesses, there is little or non-existent attention to banned groups that hold huge rallies to incite violence against India and other "infidels". As the civilian and military leadership of PM Nawaz Sharif and chief of army staff Raheel Sharif appear united to eliminate terrorism without any classification of "good" and "bad" terrorists, the India-centric militants seem to be on bottom of the list of Pakistan's "bad guys". That is what Pakistan needs to have a long and hard look at it.

As Pakistan and India embark on a new phase of their relationship, it is imperative to leave no stone unturned to dispense justice to the victims of the Pathankot attack.

Collection of evidence, apprehending of suspects, formation of strong cases and prompt trials would display Pakistan's willingness to dissociate itself from the allegation of categorisation of terrorism, of turning a blind eye to India-centric terror, and of classification of good and bad militants.

Whereas it is important to keep the peace with its neighbour, and lessening of hostilities in the region, Pakistan must act for the sake of Pakistan.

Pakistan needs to end all forms of terrorism for Pakistan. Only then will Pakistan find peace within and outside its borders.
RICHMOND  Using a drone to help fix power lines is OK. Using a drone to spy on a sunbathing neighbor is not OK. But drawing a legal distinction between good drones and bad drones may be a tricky task for the Virginia General Assembly.

Several legislators have proposed new laws to give property owners more privacy from proliferating eyes in the sky. The patrons seemed to have difficulty Wednesday convincing a House of Delegates subcommittee their proposals were narrow enough to outlaw "creepy stuff," a term used throughout the meeting, without hurting a fast-emerging industry.

Proponents said their bills were aimed at surveillance and harassment, but committee members pointed out that, as written, some of the bills would make it a crime to use a camera-rigged drone in your own backyard if the photos also showed a neighbor's property, even if the drone didn't cross the property line.

"It's just not illegal," said Del. Rob Bell, R-Albemarle, the chairman of the House Courts of Justice subcommittee on criminal laws, which took up a block of eight drone-related bills. "It's not actionable. It's not anything."

"As you go forward, I would not reject the fundamental premise of trying to protect the privacy of people, like my kids in my backyard," said Del. L. Scott Lingamfelter, R-Prince William, the patron of a bill to make capturing or disseminating unauthorized drone images a misdemeanor offense.

Using a drone to look in someone's window is already covered by the state's anti-peeping law.

Representatives from several industries spoke at the meeting to request exemptions for activities such as newsgathering and the inspection of power lines. Most bills already include utility exemptions.

Looming over the discussion is the lack of clarity on airspace rights, which Del. David B. Albo, R-Fairfax, hopes to remedy with a bill that would give property owners rights up to 500 feet, the maximum flying height for drones under rules set by the Federal Aviation Administration.

"It seems from our research that Thomas Jefferson and John Smith and all the people before them knew that you would get rights to the grass and everything underneath because you could mine, Albo said.

"But apparently they never predicted that there might be these aerial drone things that could be controlled by things called computers. They really missed the mark on this one."

The idea of establishing a 500-foot no-trespassing zone above homes raised more questions. A representative from quarry company Luck Stone asked how it would apply in a 400-feet-deep quarry. Would the air column begin at the bottom? Or the top?

Speaking on behalf of Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who attended the first-ever drone delivery of medicine in Wise County last year, Secretary of Technology Karen Jackson said the bills could hurt the economy.

"We are very, very concerned about all these bills," Jackson said.

One exception to Jackson's statement was a bill filed by Del. Terry G. Kilgore, R-Scott, that would prohibit localities from enacting their own drone regulations, an idea widely supported by the subcommittee.

The subcommittee took no action on the bills and said it would revisit them next week.

A visibly frustrated Del. C. Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah, said the body couldn't do anything because it hadn't been offered any solutions.

"We have three different patrons who seem to care enough to file a bill," Gilbert said. "But we're going to be the ones that have to figure this out."
Several GOP lawmakers held a news conference Wednesday to promote their health care agenda and throw water on a plan by hospitals to pay a "provider assessment" that would cover part of the costs of providing publicly funded health insurance for low-income, able-bodied adults.

Republicans have blocked expanding Medicaid in Virginia and have said they will continue to do so. GOP Del. John O'Bannon likened Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association's plan to a "shell game" and said it was unsustainable.

GOP lawmakers also want to curtail a decades-old requirement that its hospitals get approval before proceeding with major construction projects or equipment purchases, a plan the hospital association opposes.
Editors note: This is the second installment of a series on John Mercer Langston. The first article published on Jan. 15.

The story of John Mercer Langston just gets better. A man of mixed heritage born in 1824 to Ralph Quarles, a white plantation owner in Louisa County and Lucy Jane Langston a former slave emancipated by her common-law husband Ralph Quarles. Upon his fathers death in 1834, John Langston came into a significant inheritance and would relocate to Ohio with his pre-designated guardian, Quaker William Gooch.

A portion of his inheritance was set aside for education and he would receive both a bachelors and a masters degree from Oberlin College. After he was denied admission to law school due to his race, he accomplished the equivalent by reading for the law and was admitted to the Ohio Bar in 1854. One can read for the law still today, though it is a difficult process.

He along with his brothers would become engineers for the early 19th century civil rights movement. His brother Charles was the great grandfather of the famous writer and poet Langston Hughes.

Langston served as town clerk in Ohio, becoming one of the first African Americans in the U.S. to hold an elected position. He and his brother were active in the Underground Railroad in Ohio, and after the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation that legislatively established the United States Colored Troops, Langston is credited with recruiting for the 54th Massachusetts and the forming of the 127th Ohio regiment.

At the end of the Civil War, Langston was appointed inspector general for the Freedmans Bureau. In 1868, Langston and his family moved to the District of Columbia where he was instrumental in founding the law school at Howard University and serving as its first dean. He would later also serve for an interim period as the president of the university.

His intelligence and capabilities did not go unnoticed in political and diplomatic circles either: Senator Sumner of Massachusetts, assisted by Langston, drafted the Civil Rights Act of 1875. Subsequently, President Grant appointed Langston a member of the Board of Health for the District of Columbia. In 1877, President Hayes appointed Langston as U.S. Minister to Haiti.

His diplomatic service ended in 1885 and Langston returned to Virginia and was appointed by the state legislature as the first president of Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute, now known as Virginia State University.

Encouraged by the Republican Party, in 1888 Langston ran for a seat in the United States Congress from Virginia. He lost the election but contested the results as a product of voter fraud and intimidation. After 18 months, the congressional elections committee declared John Mercer Langston the official winner; he took his seat and served the remaining six months as the first African American from Virginia to be elected to Congress.

He lost his reelection bid, and it would be 100 years before another African American from Virginia would be elected to Congress.

A native son of Virginia, John Mercer Langston is a remarkable man worthy of tribute. For more information, read John Mercer Langston and the Fight for Black Freedom.

Until next week, be well.

Zann Nelson is an award-winning freelance writer specializing in historical investigations. She is the immediate past president of Friends of Wilderness Battlefield, Inc., president of History Quest, and resides on a farm in Culpeper. She can be reached at M16439@aol.com
STRATFORD-UPON-AVON - England - Researchers for Cambridge University have uncovered a long forgotten Shakespeare manuscript at his birthplace and home that may prove he foresaw the EU Referendum.

Few historical figures in English history exemplify this country more than Shakespeare and this is why the discovery of this manuscript carries such import.

Professor Richard Charringcross, who headed the research team, discovered the manuscript hidden in a hole positioned directly behind the poets privy.

We believe this is the area where Shakespeare wrote his best stuff. He would come here, sit down and bang, the creative juices would flow as he plopped and strained away the days mundane troubles, professor Charringcross revealed in his new documentary, to be aired on BBC7 in March.

The text of the manuscript reveals a glimpse into Britains future, and is a sort of call to arms for the English people to resist the EU Referendum In calls from the artless spur-galled puttocks that are so intent on selling off the country to the mad mustachio purple-hued maltworms that tout their wares like one of our French witherd pears: it looks ill, it eats drily.

Shakespeare then goes on to describe a person that remarkably sounds like David Cameron,  I scorn you, scurvy Camo-Maroon. What, you poor, base, rascally, cheating, lack-linen treachurist! Away, you mouldy rogue, away!

As for Jean Claude Juncker, Shakespeare leaves no doubt about his credentials, ..Junker, a most notable coward, an infinite and endless liar, an hourly promise breaker, the owner of no one good quality.

The full manuscript will be revealed when the documentary airs in March on BBC7.
ALASKA - USA - Sarah Palin says she may run for president of Bulgaria in 2012 and she thinks she could win.

When asked if she could defeat Barack Obama in a presidential run she said she believes she could. Sarah Palin is even thinking of flying into Bulgarias capital city, Sofia, to prove her point.

Im going to beat Barack at being president by going to Bulgaria and being president right there. I think its somewhere between Russia and North Korea, or is that South Korea? Anyway, just watch me beat Obama folks. Im going to one up him for sure. Vote Team Grizzly for 2012! Mrs Palin yelped during a photoshoot in her hometown of Wasilla.

One of her election campaigners, Ed Masters, told CBS news of how she has improved since the early days: Shes gotten a lot better since those intensive geography lessons we put her through. Definitely, shes going to give Obama a run for his money this time.

The former vice-presidential candidate and governor of Alaska says she hasnt made a formal decision yet if shell run in 2012 but its plain obvious to everyone that shes going to.
Whether its in medical technology, magnetic materials or understanding how children learn language, a great deal of Dal research is driven by graduate students. Dalhousie hosts more than 3,300 masters and PhD students across the university, each of them making their own contributions to discovery, innovation and the generation of new knowledge.



On Wednesday morning (January 20), Kelly Regan, Nova Scotias minister of Labour and Advanced Education, is on campus to recognize the contributions of those grad students supported by the Nova Scotia Graduate Scholarship program. Launched in 2014, the program aims to invest $3.7 million annually in graduate student research when its fully phased in over the next few years.



"These scholarships help support graduate students who are committed to continuing their education and research here in Nova Scotia," says Minister Regan. "Not only will these scholarships help more students and young people build a life and career here in Nova Scotia, they will also help boost our economy as research turns into new products and more opportunities."



Making an impact in our region



Bonita Squires is one of those students. Originally from British Columbia, she is the first student in Dalhousies new Health PhD program, hosted by the Faculty of Health Professions. What brought her to the east coast was her work in sign language interpretation, and it was through her connections with the Atlantic Provinces Special Education Authority (APSEA) that she was inspired to pursue PhD studies.





Its an organization thats really unique across North America, says Squires, explaining the organizations pan-provincial approach to working with children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing, integrated within the school system. Her research focuses not on the childrens physical ability to hear, but their literacy and language acquisition skills. In her research  supervised by Elizabth Kay-Raining Bird of the School of Human Communication Disorders and Helene Deacon from the Departent of Psychology and Neuroscience  she plans to conduct an assessment study and an intervention with teachers and students in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick focused on morphemes, the various components of words that add or modify meaning.



Ive met so many students and adults in the community who are deaf or hard-of-hearing, some who do and others who do not use sign language, and you see these patterns, says Squires. We need to learn more about what their language ability is: how are their language skills developing, how is their literacy evolving?



Research talent



As Nova Scotias leading research institution, Dalhousie hosts the majority of NSGS awards in the province. In the programs first year (2014-15), 155 masters and PhD students received scholarships. This year (2015-16), there were an additional 115 scholarships awarded. Across both years, approximately 30 per cent of the scholarships went to international students, helping support recruitment and retention of global research talent to the province.



Dinesha Thapa, a masters student in Dalhousies Department of Pharmacology, came to Nova Scotia from Nepal to study how non-addictive natural constituents found in cannabis plants may hold potential drug solutions for chronic pain.



This scholarship really means a lot for the people like me who come from underdeveloped nation in quest of new drug discovery, says Thapa, whose project is supervised by Melanie Kelly. I will always do my best to bring something new in the field of new drug development by continuously working in pharmacological research.



The awards are valued at $10,000 annually for two years for masters students and $15,000 annually for four years for PhD students. The recipients, selected based on nominations made by Dalhousies academic departments and administered using the Canada Graduate Scholarship application processes, must be conducting research linked with at least one of Nova Scotias priority research areas. In 2015-16, Dals recipients covered all nine priority areas  many connecting with multiple priorities  with the largest concentrations in health and wellness (49), life sciences (43) and ocean science and technology (23).



Heres more details on some of the Dal students supported by Nova Scotia Graduate Scholarships:



Simon Meynell, from Halifax, is a Masters of Science student in Physics. Supervised by Ted Monchesky, hes working on developing new magnetic materials to make high-speed and low-power electronic devices that would dramatically reduce their energy consumption and improve data storage.



Were rapidly approaching an upper boundary on the amount of information you can store in your magnetic hard disk  like a computer  so theres a push for unconventional methods for storing digital information, explains Meynell. His research looks at how skyrmions (little magnetic knots, as he describes them) may offer ways to store information at a greater density.

Chris Samson, originally from Little Anse, Nova Scotia, is a PhD student in Biomedical Engineering. His masters work at Dal was supported by an NSGS award and focused on improving electronics within ultrasound imaging and surgical treatment equipment to better manage large amounts of data faster and improve image quality. The resulting advances aim to improve patient care and help establish Nova Scotia as a leader and innovator in biomedical engineering.



This is the best research group Ive ever been a part of, he says of his work in Jeremy Browns lab. "Everybody is very intelligent, very friendly, basically interested in what theyre doing. Everybody is able to talk about what theyre doing, bounce ideas off of each other.

Shane Forbrigger, also from Halifax, is a masters student in Mechanical Engineering whose research in Yajun Pans lab focuses on improving training tools for medical students and practicing physicians. Instead of physical models focused on a single ailment/practice, Forbrigger is focused on improving the controls interface for virtual simulations of minimally invasive surgeries.



I was interested in robotics and controls, and wanted to be able to contribute something thats helpful to the world at large, not just a theoretical work, he explains. The end goal of my research is to produce something that can be used in these simulators: How do we create a realistic interface so the interaction between the human and the computer environment feels as real as possible?
There is one question Norma Williams has kept coming back to time and time again throughout her career when faced with a challenging situation: What are we doing about it?



Its a straightforward question, but the reasons for asking it have rarely been so for Williams, who has spent the majority of her career assisting organizations on issues of diversity and equity.



My upbringing taught me to look for solutions and look to a way forward that is inclusive rather than exclusive, says Williams, who joined Dal last month in the newly created role of executive director for diversity and inclusiveness.



Growing up as an African Nova Scotian woman, Williams had a personal window into understanding how people were treated differently because of their race, gender or other characteristics irrelevant to their knowledge, skills or ability.



Williamss determination to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem developed early on in her life, in large part thanks to the influence of her family.



Her mother became the first African Nova Scotian secretary after being taken under the wing of community activist Dr. Pearline Oliver, who fought tirelessly in the 1940s and 1950s to break down barriers for African Nova Scotians in the realms of education and employment. Williamss mother later went on to become the womens editor of the New Glasgow Evening News.



Her late great uncle, noted Halifax lawyer and rights activist James R. Johnston (18761915), also served as a source of inspiration, having been the first Nova Scotian of African descent to graduate from Dalhousie in the late 1800s. (Today, Dal hosts a national chair in Black Canadian Studies that bears his name.)



All around me have been great examples of people who have persevered, says Williams.



Creating inclusive workplaces



This unique perspective and her extensive work on anti-racism, diversity and equity initiatives throughout her career make Williams an ideal candidate for her new role, which is dedicated to supporting the universitys efforts to make Dalhousie a more diverse and inclusive place in which to work and study.



Williams dove into this kind of work head-first after finishing her undergraduate studies at Dal, taking on a position at the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission in the early 1980s. A secondment to work on personnel and staff programming for the province piqued her interest in human resources and so she later enrolled in the public administration certificate program at Dal.



Once finished, Williams remained immersed in education, only this time on a professional level as anti-racism project officer at the Halifax District School Board and then as co-ordinator of race relations, cross-cultural understanding and human rights at the Halifax Regional School Board (an amalgam of three school boards in the region). With an interest in curriculum, she then pursued her Masters in Education at Mount Saint Vincent University before working as a staff trainer and human resources manager in various government departments.



In her new role, which reports to President Richard Florizone, Williams will support the university community in cultivating an inclusive and respectful climate and culture for all students, staff and faculty.



Im thrilled to have Norma joining us at Dal, says Dr. Florizone. It it is terrific to have her knowledge and energy to help us to move diversity and inclusion to new levels at Dal.



Overall responsibilities for the position will include: consultation, implementation and review of the recommendations arising out of several internal and external reports (Belong, Backhouse Task Force, Restorative Justice, national Truth & Reconciliation); working with partners to build capacity to address climate and culture issues on campus; and the development of a long-term plan for diversity and inclusiveness across the university. Further details will take shape as the work advances.



A brighter future



Williams says the hardest part of working on diversity issues is accepting that change takes time. She laments the fact that First Nations, African Nova Scotian and disabled individuals are still not getting employment opportunities consistent with their knowledge, skills, abilities and numbers in the province and that acceptance of LGTBIQ individuals in workplaces is still not what it ought to be.



While Williams, her mother and many others have managed to move beyond the confines of a limiting work life, others have not yet had the same opportunities, she says. She brings up the 1951 poem Harlem, part of the suite Montage of a Dream Deferred in which American writer and activist Langston Hughes ponders the implications of setbacks such as these in his one-of-a-kind voice:

What happens to a dream deferred?



Does it dry up

Like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore

And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over

Like a syrupy sweet?



Maybe it just sags

Like a heavy load.



Or does it explode?



To me thats always been a place that I go back to because the question is, what happens to a dream deferred? says Williams. And within the diverse communities of Nova Scotia there have been many dreams deferred. I believe we can all play a part in ensuring a better Nova Scotia for all.



Williams says returning to Dal all these years later has been revealing and heartening in many respects. She says shes noticed a greater level of general interest to move forward from outdated systemic practices and some of the initiatives people asked about and wished for at Dal when she was a student are gaining traction in a positive way.



Its not over, but its certainly moving forward, she says. So from that perspective returning to work at Dalhousie at this time gives me the sense that together we can make a positive change. What is occurring at Dalhousie can give rise to a present and future state where all, to quote Martin Luther King, are judged by the content of their character.


A father claimed the book based on Snow White contained illustrations and phrases that were "indecent" and contained "sexual innuendo. (Photo: Facebook)

Doha: A book based on Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" has been removed from a Qatar school library after it was deemed to contain "indecent" illustrations, local media reported Thursday.

Officials from Qatar's Supreme Education Council intervened after a complaint from the father of a pupil at the Spanish SEK International School, based in the Gulf state's capital Doha.

The father claimed the book contained illustrations and phrases that were "indecent" and contained "sexual innuendo," the Al-Sharq newspaper reported. It is not known which specific images caused offence, but the book cover shows a smiling Snow White being held by the prince who in the story revives her with a kiss after she eats a poisoned apple, English-language website Doha News reported.

SEK principal Vivian Arif told Doha News that the school took "immediate action" after receiving the complaint. "SEK International School Qatar is proud to be established in this country and presents its formal apologies for any offence that this unintended situation may have caused," Arif was quoted as saying in a statement.

The school opened in September 2013 and has more than 150 pupils from 27 different countries, according to its website. It offers classes for students from the ages of three to 18.

The book was based on the Disney animated version of Snow White, released in 1937 and based on the Brothers Grimm fairytale. The removal of the book comes less than a fortnight after Qatar banned film "The Danish Girl" -- about an artist who undergoes one of the world's first sex changes -- after protests about the film's alleged "depravity".
Visitors stand at the entrance to the ruins of St Elijahs Monastery after completing a tour there, at Forward Operating Base Marez in Mosul, Iraq. The monastery has been reduced to a field of rubble, yet another victim of the Islamic State's relentless destruction. (Photo: AP)

Irbil: Satellite photos obtained by The Associated Press confirm what church leaders and Middle East preservationists had feared: The oldest Christian monastery in Iraq has been reduced to a field of rubble, yet another victim of the Islamic State groups relentless destruction of heritage sites it considers heretical.

St Elijahs Monastery stood as a place of worship for 1,400 years, including most recently for US troops. In earlier millennia, generations of monks tucked candles in the niches, prayed in the chapel, worshipped at the altar. The Greek letters chi and rho, representing the first two letters of Christs name, were carved near the entrance.

This month, at the request of the AP, satellite imagery firm DigitalGlobe tasked a high resolution camera to grab photos of the site, and then pulled earlier images of the same spot.

Before it was razed, a partially restored, 27,000-square-foot stone and mortar building stood fortress-like on a hill above Mosul. Although the roof was largely missing, it had 26 distinctive rooms, including a sanctuary and chapel.

One month later photos show that the stone walls have been literally pulverized, said imagery analyst Stephen Wood, CEO of Allsource Analysis, who pinpointed the destruction between August and September 2014.

Bulldozers, heavy equipment, sledgehammers, possibly explosives turned those stone walls into this field of gray-white dust. They destroyed it completely, he said from his Colorado offices.

On the other side of the world, in his office in exile, in Irbil, Iraq, Catholic priest Rev Paul Thabit Habib, 39, stared in disbelief at the before- and after- images.

Our Christian history in Mosul is being barbarically levelled, he said in Arabic. We see it as an attempt to expel us from Iraq, eliminating and finishing our existence in this land.

The Islamic State group, which now controls large parts of Iraq and Syria, has killed thousands of civilians in the past two years. Along the way, its fighters have destroyed whatever they consider contrary to their interpretation of Islam.

St Elijahs joins a growing list of more than 100 religious and historic sites looted and destroyed, including mosques, tombs, shrines and churches. Ancient monuments in the cities of Nineveh, Palmyra and Hatra are in ruins. Museums and libraries have been pillaged, books burned, artwork crushed  or trafficked.

US troops and advisers had worked to protect and honour the monastery, a hopeful endeavour in a violent place and time.

I would imagine that many people are feeling like, What were the last 10 years for if these guys can go in and destroy everything? said US Army reserve Colonel Mary Prophit, who was deployed there in 2004 and again in 2009.

Built in 590, tragedy struck at St Elijahs in 1743, when as many as 150 monks who refused to convert to Islam were massacred by a Persian general. In 2003 St Elijahs shuddered again  this time a wall was smashed by a tank turret blown off in battle. Iraqi troops had already moved in, dumping garbage in the cistern.

The US Armys 101st Airborne Division took control, painting over ancient murals and scrawling their divisions Screaming Eagle, on the walls. Then a US military chaplain, recognising its significance, began a preservation initiative.

Roman Catholic Army chaplain Jeffrey Whorton, who celebrated mass on the monasterys altar, was grief-stricken at its loss.

Why we treat each other like this is beyond me, he said. Elijah the prophet must be weeping.

At the Vatican, spokesperson Rev Federico Lombardi, noted that since the monastery dates back to the time Christians were united, before the break with Orthodox and Catholics, the place would be a special one for many. He said it was the first news he had had of the destruction.

Unfortunately, there is this systemic destruction of precious sites, not only cultural, but also religious and spiritual. Its very sad and dramatic, Lombardi told AP.
The report also expressed concern that Islamabad's "full spectrum deterrence" doctrine has increased risk of nuclear conflict between the two South Asian neighbours. (Photo: AFP)

Washington: Pakistan's nuclear war heads which are estimated to be between 110-130 are aimed at deterring India from taking military action against it, a latest Congressional report has said.

The report also expressed concern that Islamabad's "full spectrum deterrence" doctrine has increased risk of nuclear conflict between the two South Asian neighbours. "Pakistan's nuclear arsenal probably consists of approximately 110-130 nuclear warheads, although it could have more. Islamabad is producing fissile material, adding to related production facilities, deploying additional nuclear weapons, and new types of delivery vehicles," Congressional Research Service (CRS) said in its latest report.

In its 28-page report, the CRS noted that Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is widely regarded as designed to dissuade India from taking military action against it, but Islamabad's expansion of its nuclear arsenal, development of new types of nuclear weapons and adoption of a doctrine called "full spectrum deterrence" have led some observers to express concern about an increased risk of nuclear conflict between Pakistan and India, which also continues to expand its nuclear arsenal.

CRS is the independent research wing of the US Congress, which prepares periodic reports by eminent experts on a wide range of issues so as to help lawmakers take informed decisions.

Reports of CRS are not considered as an official view of the US Congress. "Pakistan has in recent years taken a number of steps to increase international confidence in the security of its nuclear arsenal," said the CRS report authored by Paul K Kerr and Mary Beth Nikitin.

Moreover, Pakistani and US officials argue that, since the 2004 revelations about a procurement network run by former Pakistani nuclear official A Q Khan, Islamabad has taken a number of steps to improve its nuclear security and to prevent further proliferation of nuclear-related technologies and materials, it said.

A number of important initiatives, such as strengthened export control laws, improved personnel security, and international nuclear security cooperation programmes, have improved Pakistan's nuclear security, the CRS said.

"However, instability in Pakistan has called the extent and durability of these reforms into question. Some observers fear radical takeover of the Pakistani government or diversion of material or technology by personnel within Pakistan's nuclear complex," the CRS said.
Muzaffarabad: The Pakistan-based chief of a militant alliance fighting Indian security forces in Kashmir openly condemned on Wednesday a crackdown by the Pakistan government against another group India blames for an attack on an air base.

Syed Salahuddin, the chairman of the United Jihad Council (UJC), an alliance of pro-Pakistan militant groups based in Pakistani occupied Kashmir, had claimed responsibility for the assault in Pathankot on January 2.

The claim of responsibility was met with a sceptical response among Indias security establishment, which blames another group called Jaish-e-Mohammed. Last week, Pakistan arrested the head of Jaish-e-Mohammed as well as several other leaders of the group and shut down offices and seminaries linked to the outfit.

We are at a loss to understand whether they (the Pakistan government) are concerned about the interests of the country that feeds them or that of its enemy? Salahuddin told a news conference, referring to the governments crackdown.

Pakistan is not only an advocate but also a party to the longstanding Kashmir dispute and therefore the Pakistani people, government and media should play the role of a patron rather than of an adversary.

Salahuddins public comments could cause further tensions between the two neighbours, with New Delhi accusing Islamabad of tolerating groups openly hostile to India. He spoke at the Press Club in Muzzafarabad, capital of Pakistani occupied Kashmir. Police outside the club made no move to arrest him. Following the January 2 attack on the Indian Air Force base, the United Jihad Council had warned that their attacks can engulf all of India if the issue of Kashmirs divided rule is not resolved.

Since the attack in Pathankot, Pakistan has said it is clamping down on Jaish-e-Mohammed, which India has long accused Pakistani authorities of tolerating, while it investigates Indian assertions that the attack was the work of the militants based in Pakistan.

India has demanded that Pakistan take action against the group and last week announced that the two countries would reschedule talks between their foreign ministers while the investigation into the air base attack was carried out.

Jaish-e-Mohammed militants are blamed for a 2001 attack on Indias parliament that nearly led to a war between the nuclear-armed rivals.
At least 20 people, mostly students, were massacred today by Kalashnikov-wielding Taliban suicide attackers who stormed a prestigious university here in restive northwestern Pakistan and opened fire, in a grim reminder of the 2014 Peshawar army school attack.



The gunmen entered the Bacha Khan University named after iconic leader Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan alias Bacha Khan in Charsadda, some 50 km southwest of Peshawar in Khyber- Pakhtunkhwa province, and opened fire on students and teachers in classrooms and hostels, police said.



Earlier, reports said that 21 people and four terrorists were killed but later army spokesman Lt Gen Asim Bajwa held a press conference and stated that 20 people -- 18 students, a professor and a staffer -- and four terrorists had been killed in the attack.



The militants used the cover of thick, wintry fog to scale the walls of the university before entering buildings.



Blasts and heavy gunfire were heard from inside the campus where a poetic symposium was in progress to mark the death anniversary of Bacha Khan who died on January 20, 1988.



There were about 3,000 students and 600 guests on the campus when the attack took place, Vice Chancellor of the university Dr Fazal Rahim said.



Omar Mansoor, Peshawar school attack mastermind and a commander of the Hakimullah Mehsud faction of the Tehreek-e- Taliban Pakistani (TTP), claimed responsibility for today's assault.



He called local media from a mobile number in Afghanistan to claim that they have carried out the attack.



A spokesman of the militant group said it was revenge for those killed by security forces since Peshawar school attack. The attacks would continue, he warned. But the spokesman of another Taliban faction, Mohammad Khurasani, condemned the attack and said they were not involved in it.



Bajwa said "major breakthroughs" had been made in identifying the terrorists who attacked the university.



The Inter-Services Public Relations chief said the four terrorists were using two mobile phones on which phone calls were received from different locations including Afghanistan.



Federal Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid visited university and told the media that the operation launched by security forces to clear the campus has been completed.



He said the attack was in response to military operation in the province which has broken the back of militants.



The victims were shot in the head or chest. Images from inside the university showed a pool of blood on the floor of a dormitory and charred corpses of two alleged militants lying on a staircase.



11 people were injured in the attack and were shifted to a hospital. An emergency has been declared in all hospitals in the town. All schools have been closed in the area.



Professor Hamid Hussain of chemistry department, who heroically fought back attackers, was among the dead.



Bajwa said security forces have gathered substantial intelligence data from Bacha Khan University to ascertain the whereabouts of terrorists and find out facts like who provided them ammunition and who were there facilitators.



One of the mobiles kept on ringing even after the terrorists using it was killed. Afghan sims were used in the phones, he said.



"We have prepared an intelligence picture about identity of terrorists and NADRA has also provided maximum information on basis of finger prints," Bajwa said.



He said initially all information cannot be disclosed about the attackers, their handlers and locations due to the sensitivity of the incident.



In response to a question about threats of attacks to educational institutions, Bajwa said such threats exist because the country is passing through a war phase.



He said, "We have to fight this war with unity and every citizen and institution has to play its role in eradication of this menace of radicalism."



He said operation Zar-e-Azb is in full progress and will continue till the achievement of the desired goal of complete eradication of terrorism.



Bajwa said the terrorists are on the run and attacking soft targets which reflects their frustration and fragility.



Army chief Gen Raheel Sharif rushed to the spot along with Corps Commander Peshawar and other top military officials where he was briefed about the operation.



General Raheel also visited the Charsada hospital where he condoled the loss of lives and met all those injured in the attack. He also chaired a special security conference at the Corps Headquarters in Peshawar.



Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who is in Zurich to attend the World Economic Forum, condemned the cowardly attack, saying those killing innocent students and citizens have no faith and religion. Sharif expressed sorrow and grief on the loss of precious lives in the terror attack.



Sharif telephoned General Raheel Sharif and discussed the Charsada terror attack. Both of them agreed that the war against terrorism and extremism will continue with full might.



The Prime Minister also announced a one day national mourning to be observed tomorrow for the victims of the attack.



"The terrorists will see a ruthless response by the state. Cowards and their financiers will see our national resolve to eliminate terror from the country. The entire nation is united and one against terrorism," Sharif stressed.



The Prime Minister has directed all security agencies to hunt down the patrons and financiers of Charsada terror attack, a Prime Minister's Office statement said.



Today's attack comes a little over a year after Taliban militants massacred over 150 people, mostly students, in an assault on an army-run school in Peshawar in December, 2014.
Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), which was in the news following a suicide by a Dalit student of University of Hyderabad, has been having a tussle with the president of the Allahabad University Students Union, a woman, allegedly over ideological differences.





Richa Singh, a research scholar, created history after she defeated her nearest ABVP rival to bag the post of president in the students union last year to become the first woman president in varsitys 128-year history.



Richa, however, has found the going tough as the other office bearers of the union, who all ABVP nominees are not on the same page.



The ABVP leaders on Wednesday forced the varsity vice-chancellor to cancel a programme organised by Richa inside the campus which was to be attended by senior journalist Siddharth Varadarajan.



Though the VC was also scheduled to attend the programme, he not only backed out at the eleventh hour but also refused permission to organise the programme on the campus after ABVP leaders embarked on a fast outside his residence in protest against it. ABVP leader and unions vice-president Vikrant Singh had threatened to block entry of the participants into the campus.



Tension prevailed in the varsity campus and security personnel in strength were deployed as a precautionary measure, police sources here said.



Earlier Richa had successfully thwarted the ABVPs attempt to organise a programme inside the varsity campus in which firebrand BJP MP Yogi Adityanath was scheduled to take part.



The programme was however held at a venue outside the varsity.

If we cannot invite Adityanath then we will not allow Varadrajan, said an ABVP leader.



Richa had earlier alleged that she faced threat to her life from the ABVP leaders, who were deeply upset by her win at the union polls last year. Varsity officials said that they had written to the district authorities to take measures to prevent any clash inside the campus.



The varsity officials also apprehended that the ongoing confrontation between Richa and the ABVP leaders could turn violent affecting the academic atmosphere in the varsity.


Over two lakhs old age beneficiaries who had not received pensions from municipal corporations for the last three years might get pensions from the Delhi government within next two months.



The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked the Aam Aadmi Party government to revise the cap it has put on the number of pensioners under its jurisdiction. Currently, over four lakh people get pensions from the city government.



The three corporations give pensions to over two lakh beneficiaries under their welfare scheme.



A senior official with the North Delhi Municipal Corporation said around 80,000 beneficiaries have not been given pensions for over two and a half years. While the cash-strapped East Corporation has not been able to give pensions to over 30,000 people for the last three years.



NGO Social Jurist had filed a petition in the High Court in this regard. The MCDs have not scrapped their welfare scheme, but they dont have funds to continue giving pensions to the beneficiaries. The court has asked the Delhi government to revise its cap on the number of beneficiates to include those who get pensions from the municipal corporations, said Ashok Agarwal, petitioner, Social Jurist.



Experts feel around 10 lakh people in Delhi qualify the criteria to get pensions. The court has asked the Delhi government to revise its cap and give clarification within two weeks.

Even the court has directed the city government to collect the list of beneficiaries from the municipal corporations in the next four weeks. So within two months, not only those two lakh people who have not been getting pensions but also others who are eligible under the welfare scheme will get pensions across Delhi, added Agarwal, also an advocate.



The three mayors and Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhayay met President Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday and informed him about the financial crisis being faced by the civic agencies due to acute shortage of funds.



They requested him to intervene into the matter and direct the Delhi government to pay the pending arrears of the Third Delhi Finance Commission to municipal corporations and implement the recommendations of the Fourth Delhi Finance Commission.



They told the President that the city government is not releasing the funds despite the courts order, and the corporations are not able to pay salaries, pensions and continue with development work.
Reports that a mahapanchayat could be convened in communally sensitive Muzaffarnagar district to deliberate on recent incidents of alleged rape and circulation of video clips on them on the social media have sounded alarm bells in the Uttar Pradesh police.





According to police sources, two incidents of alleged rape in the past few days and circulation of their video clips have triggered tension in the district. In both cases, the culprits hailed from a particular community.



In one incident a health worker had committed suicide after she was allegedly raped and video clip of that was circulated on the social media. Hundreds of women health workers staged a protest and threatened to go on strike if the culprit was not arrested. The police acted swiftly and arrested the accused.



The matter had barely subsided when another incident rocked the district. A woman, who was a resident of Khatauli area in the district, was allegedly gang-raped and a video clip of rape later circulated on the social media, sources said.



Hundreds of locals had demonstrated before the police station, demanding stern action against the accused.



The victim also got her statement recorded at a local court in which she named the accused.



There were intelligence inputs that the local saffron leaders were planning to organise a mahapanchayat to discuss the incidents. Any such gathering could spark further tension, said a district police official in Muzaffarnagar.



We will hold the mahapanchayat if the police fail to take action against the offenders. We will not take such incidents lying down, said a local saffron leader.

The police were on the edge over reports of the mahapanchayat and were taking steps to defuse the tension by speaking to community members.



Two years back the district had witnessed large-scale communal riots after a mahapanchayat over killing of two Jat youths at Kaval village. As many as 60 people had lost their lives in the riots and thousands were displaced.


Delhi Police on Tuesday arrested four men in Uttarakhands Haridwar district over suspected links with extremist militant group Islamic State (IS).





Sources said they were collecting matchboxes to make bombs, using explosives attached with the heads of the sticks.



The group allegedly planned to target the ongoing Ardh Kumbh Mela at Haridwar, trains heading there and strategic locations in Delhi and NCR.



The accused have been identified as Akhlaq ur-Rehman, a resident of Chandanpur village, Mohammad Aziz Shah and Mohammad Mehroz of Landhaura Town, and Mohammad Osama of Jaurasi village.



They are of 18 to 22 years of age and students of first and second year of graduation. Mehroz was a second-year Biomedical Sciences (BMS) student of Ayurvedic College in Uttarakhand.



They had conducted a recce of Ardh Kumbh Mela and railway tracks in Haridwar. Four to five recces in Delhi and Noida had also been conducted.



Their locations were traced to Uttarakhand. Since Sunday, police teams had been conducting raids in Haridwar, said Special Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Arvind Deep.



Police have also recovered a laptop and mobile phones from their possession.

Delhi Police along with Uttarakhand Police had been keeping a close vigil on the group for days before they were nabbed.



Akhlaq was acting as the coordinator amongst the four and they were working on directions from someone through social networking websites.

They had also received funds for their activities.



They were produced before a court in Delhi on Wednesday and sent to 14-day police remand, Deep added.



The four men were under the radar of Intelligence Bureau and Delhi Polices Special Cell for their online activities.



Sources said around 160 people are under technical surveillance following their suspicious online activities linked to IS sympathisers.



It is alleged that the accused were regularly visiting IS-supported websites, Facebook groups and stayed in regular touch with some supporters through WhatsApp.



They were also in touch with some people who were believed to be in IS territories in Iraq and Syria.

Delhi Police have booked the suspects under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
A 52-year-old businessman and his two employees were crushed to death when a sand-laden truck overturned on a car inside an Indian Oil petrol pump in south Delhis Hauz Khas on Tuesday.



The cars occupants were returning to their homes in southeast Delhi from Haryanas Bhiwani district, police said.



The truck driver is absconding. The truck  HR 38P 4623  had to be lifted with a crane, while a team of Delhi Fire Services had to cut open the Hyundai Accent to pull the occupants out. The incident occurred at 9.40 pm.



The car was completely crushed. While two of the occupants died on the spot, one succumbed to his injuries at AIIMS Trauma Centre, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (South District) Prem Nath.



The victims have been identified as businessman Rajiv Suri, Rupesh, 30, and 27-year-old Bablu Mehto. Rajiv lived with his family at Kalkaji F-Block, while Rupesh and Bablu were relatives and residents of Govindpuri.



Rajiv owned a factory, manufacturing hoardings and banners in Noida. Rupesh and Bablu were employed as consultants at the factory, another police officer added.

Rajiv had left home for a business-related visit to Bhiwani on Tuesday. He had recently signed a contract with a businessman in Bhiwani.



Rajiv was driving the car. He had asked Rupesh and Bablu to come to his house on Tuesday morning, the officer added. Rajiv had also informed his wife that he would return home by 10 pm.



Eyewitnesses told police that the incident occurred when the truck was taking a U-turn under IIT Delhi flyover. The driver apparently lost control while trying to avoid hitting a car parked at the turn.



An employee of Indian Oils Sant Service Station told police that the truck went to the petrol pump and damaged two fuel dispensers.



It ended up collapsing on and crushing the car, Sant Service Station employee Mukesh Kumar said in his statement to police.



On the basis of Mukeshs statement, a case of rash driving and causing death by negligence has been filed with Safdarjung Enclave police station.



The trucker had been overpowered by the petrol pump staff, but he somehow managed to flee.



A call was made to the police control room on which two fire tenders and a crane were also sent to the spot.



We suspect that the driver was in an inebriated condition. The footage of CCTV cameras at the petrol pump has been retrieved, the officer said. The investigating officers have contacted the trucks owner and received details about the driver. He is absconding.



Rajiv is survived by his wife and 18-year-old son. The bodies were handed over to their families after post-mortem on Wednesday.



Rupesh and Bablu hailed from Bihars Madhubani district. Rupesh lived with his wife and five-month-old son. They had got married around two years ago. Bablu was Rupeshs brother-in-law and lived with his wife and two sons.


Opposition BJP and the Congress have virtually come together to mount pressure on the Delhi government to roll back the latest hike in value added tax (VAT).





The Delhi Congress said it was an unwarranted decision to hike VAT on petrol from 25 per cent to 27 per cent and diesel from 16.6 per cent to 18 per cent per litre (leading to a price hike of 96 paise per litre in petrol and 53 paise per litre in diesel).



The BJP said the government is passing on its own failure on the revenue generation front to the citizens with an additional burden of Rs 7,000 crore this fiscal.



Delhi Congress chief spokesperson Sharmistha Mukherjee told reporters that the Arvind Kejriwal government on realising that the target set for VAT collection was unrealistic, decided to hike VAT on petrol and diesel in a bid to mop up more money at the cost of milking the people dry.



She said it was an absolutely uncalled for decision as the AAP government, which, instead, should have revved up the tax collection machinery.



Mukherjee and Delhi Congress leader Chattar Singh also hit out at the AAP for raising the VAT on petrol and diesel twice in the last seven months between July 2015 to January 2016.



Mukherjee said though the people of Delhi have been made to pay for the mistakes of the Kejriwal government, it has no shortage of funds in earmarking a whopping Rs 526 crore for self publicity and a 400 per cent hike in the salaries of the MLAs.



Leader of Opposition of the BJP Vijender Gupta, in a separate statement, said: There is no justification for second increase within a short period of six months. It clearly underlines the falling revenue collection and failure of the Delhi government to control it.



Gupta said there are about 70 days left in the current financial year but the much publicised VAT model of the government has clearly shown signs of failure.



The government has chosen to burden citizens with a VAT hike in place of augmenting of its own resources. Even with this increase, there appears to be little possibility of the government achieving its VAT collection target of Rs 24,000 crore, said the BJP leader.



The Leader of Opposition said so far the government has collected only Rs 1,500 crore on stamp duty, registration charges, excise and land revenue. which is just 25 per cent of the projected target.



The poor revenue generation is likely to impact the spending on development projects, he said.



When asked about the sagging revenue collection and its possible impact on spending, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia all department heads have been told to prepare reports on needs related to spending and the government will discuss the issue with them soon.


A court in Andhra Pradesh has dismissed the bail pleas of YSR Congress MP P Mithun Reddy and another party leader who were arrested for allegedly assaulting an Air India official in November last year.



Fifth Additional Sessions Judge Shyam Prasad in Tirupati dismissed the bail applications of Mithun Reddy and another YSR Congress leader Madhusudan Reddy yesterday on the ground that they did not cooperate with the investigation official, Renigunta Circle Inspector K Sainath said.



Mithun Reddy and Madhusudan Reddy were arrested by the AP police last Sunday. They are at present lodged in judicial custody till January 30 in Nellore district prison, Sainath said.



A petition seeking their police custody for further examination for two days will come up before another court in Srikalhasti today, he said.



The MP, having received a notice from the investigating official in connection with the case, had given an assurance that he would appear before the police, but had gone abroad and thus "did not cooperate" in the investigation, the CI said.



Another ground for rejecting their bail pleas was that the MP's followers and others created law and order problem by causing damage to public property after their arrest on January 17, he said.



Earlier, a lookout notice was issued against the MP. He was detained by immigration officers at Chennai airport after he returned from Bangkok on Sunday. The immigration officers later informed the Andhra Pradesh police.



A team of the AP police travelled to Chennai and brought Mithun Reddy to Chittoor district and placed him under arrest along with Madhusudan Reddy.



Mithun Reddy, who represents Rajampet constituency in Kadapa district, was booked for allegedly slapping a station manager of Air India at Tirupati airport on November 26, 2015, and a criminal case was registered against him and several others.



According to the police, Mithun Reddy went to the cabin of AI manager Rajasekhar at the airport and picked up an "argument" with him regarding boarding passes for his relatives for a flight before allegedly slapping him.



The parliamentarian, however, had refuted the charge, saying that there is some ulterior motive behind the entire episode.



A case was registered against Mithun Reddy and others under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 448 (house trespass) of IPC.



During the course of the investigation, the police had identified alleged involvement of 19 people, including the MP. Out of the 19 people, 16 have already been arrested and released on bail.



As the MP had gone abroad, the AP police had approached the Ministry of Home Affairs for initiating a look out notice against him at all international airports in the country, the CI said.
A UK website set up to catalogue the last days of Subhas Chandra Bose has released the evidence given by a Taiwanese official who claimed to have prepared Netaji's body for cremation after his death in a plane crash in 1945.



The testimony, contained in UK Foreign Office file No FC1852/6 and dating back to 1956, is among the last few documents to be released by www.bosefiles.info set up to establish that the Indian freedom fighter died in the crash on the outskirts of an airfield in Taipei on August 18, 1945.



"Taiwanese official Tan Ti-Ti, who was in charge of issuing cremation permits in Taipei, together with that of other local officials, put to rest any controversy about the last rites performed on Subhas Bose's body," the website said.



There has been controversy for decades as to whether the account of the plane crash is true, despite two Indian government investigations concluding that is how Bose met his end.



The proof contained in the Taiwanese police report sent to the British Foreign Office was, the file indicates, forwarded by the British High Commission in Delhi to the Indian government in July 1956.



Albert Franklin, British Consul General in Taiwan, wrote to the Taiwanese government requesting an investigation into the death of Bose on May 15, 1956.



In response, C K Yen, Chairman of the Taiwan Provincial Government, sent a detailed police report dated June 27, 1956.



This included an interview with Tan Ti-Ti, who said the cremation took place on August 22, 1945.



A Japanese army officer who accompanied the body told Ti-Ti: "The deceased was Bose, the Indian leader (on occasions he mentioned him as the Indian commander) who, proceeding to Tokyo on important business, was injured when his plane was involved in an accident."



The previous day  August 21, 1945  the same Japanese officer, according to Tan Ti-Ti, "submitted the death certificate of a certain Ichiro Okura."



Yen clarified to Franklin that during World War II in the case of military personnel (Bose was then Supreme Commander of the Indian National Army) without family members in Taiwan, "permission for cremation was granted on the strength of a certificate from a military hospital."



This appears to have occurred in the case of Bose.



The police findings based on a report prepared by Taiwan's Department of Health said: "There is a register of cremations at the Municipal Health Centre (formerly under the Welfare Section of the Taipei Municipal Government) and the officers of the Health Centre are of the opinion that the entry (regarding cremating Bose) was made in the name of Ichiro Okura."



Tan Ti-Ti confirmed that on the day of the cremation the same Japanese army officer "came to the crematorium in a car in the company of an Indian," believed to be Bose's ADC Colonel Habibur Rehman, who survived the crash.



Tan Ti-Ti asserted he and another person, called Lin Sui Mu, opened the coffin as the body had been "put into a coffin for conveyance to Tokyo but the coffin was too big for aeroplanes available at the time."



It was, therefore, cremated in Taipei.

The next day (August 23, 1945), the Indian (Col Rehman) and the same Japanese army officer came to collect the ashes, Tan Ti-Ti added.



His version of events matches with Col Rehman's statement recorded on August 24, 1945, which said "the body (of Bose) was cremated on 22-8-1945 at Taihoku (Japanese name for Taipei) under the arrangement of the (Japanese) Army authorities. The ashes were collected on 23-8-1945."



On January 23, this year, the Indian government is slated to declassify a set of hitherto secret documents relating to Bose.



"I would be surprised if the Government of India files contradict anything our website has claimed," said Ashis Ray, creator of bosefiles.info.



Bose's daughter, Professor Anita Pfaff, who lives in Germany, has gone on record to say she finds the story of the air crash to be credible.
Pakistan observed a day of mourning today after the bloodbath in Bacha Khan University in this northwestern town where militants killed 21 people, mostly students, before being eliminated by the army.





The national flag was flying on half-mast at all official buildings and all national ceremonies were cancelled. Special prayers were held at several places for the victims.



The provincial Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government has declared three-day mourning starting today.



Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that his government was determined to wipe out the menace of terrorism from Pakistan.



"The terrorists will see a ruthless response by the state. Cowards and their financiers will see our national resolve to eliminate terror from the country. The entire nation is united and one against terrorism," Sharif stressed.



The Prime Minister has directed all security agencies to hunt down the patrons and financiers of Charsada terror attack, a Prime Minister's Office statement said.



Heavily-armed militants yesterday stormed the Bacha Khan University named after iconic leader Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan alias Baacha Khan and opened fire on students and teachers.



There were over 3,000 students inside the university along with an additional 600 guests who had arrived to attend a poetic symposium to mark the death anniversary of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan who died on January 20, 1988.



Omar Mansoor, Peshawar school attack mastermind and a commander of the Hakimullah Mehsud faction of the Tehreek-e- Taliban Pakistani, claimed responsibility for the assault.

The death toll today rose to 21 as one more student Ayaz succumbed to his injuries at a hospital in Peshawar.



The attack that killed 19 students, a professor and a staffer was a grim reminder of an assault on an army-run school in Peshawar on December, 2014 that killed 150 people, mostly students.



Meanwhile, police today registered an FIR against four unidentified attackers who were killed by security forces. The case was registered at Serdheri police station under the Anti- Terrorism Act on behalf of the Counter-Terrorism Department.



At least 17 suspects, including five facilitators of the varsity attack, were arrested during search operations today in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and FATA, sources said.



The special teams conducted operations in Peshawar, Dara Adamkhel, Khyber Agency and other areas to arrest the terrorists involved in the university attack. The suspects were shifted to an undisclosed location for interrogation.



Separately, the district police today launched search operation in surrounding areas of the university and arrested more than 100 suspects.



Military spokesman Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa said in press conference after clearance operation yesterday that the attackers' handlers have been identified.

He said that no efforts will be spared to eliminate them.



"The attackers were in touch with a number from Afghanistan," Bajwa said. "The terrorists were continuously conversing on their mobile phones, two of which we have recovered and collected data from."



He said the SIMs used in the phones were of Afghan origin and added that a mobile phone recovered from one of the attackers was receiving calls even after he had been killed.



Pakistani government has decided to raise the University attack issue with Afghan government, sources said.



Security has been put on high alert in Charsadda city and surrounding areas after the attack.



Police said that check posts have been set up on all the roads of Charsadda and snap checking is underway.



Heavy contingents of police have been deployed at the university to avoid any untoward incident.



Officials also recovered four grenades, 16 magazines and 240 cartridges from the site of the attack.



Those killed in the attack included Syed Hamid Hussain, a professor at Chemistry department, who had challenged the attackers with his pistol shots.



The victims, mostly students, were being buried in their ancestral graveyards across the province amid touching scenes.



The canteen owner of Bacha Khan University said that all attackers were of short height and sported a light beard.



From their looks, it can be ascertained that the terrorists were even younger than students.



Two out of the four terrorists blew themselves up whereas two others were gunned down by security forces.



According to sources, all four terrorists belonged to Afghanistan and were part of the Tariq Geedar group.



This is the same Tariq Geedar group whose commander 'Omar Naaray' was issuing directives regarding the attack on Army Public School in Peshawar. This group has also been involved in shooting at a PIA plane in Peshawar.



Separately, security forces in Peshawar defused a bomb planted near Lahore Adda. One person was arrested in this connection and shifted to an undisclosed location for interrogation, police said.


With much at stake in West Asia, India must rethink its strategy and extend military support for peace in that region, even as it cannot have a single firm policy on Pakistan, former national security advisor Shiv Shankar Menon has said.





"Our approach and behaviour should change in defence of our interests in West Asia," Menon said in a lecture hosted by the Society for Policy Studies (SPS) at the India Habitat Centre Wednesday evening, listing the compelling reasons as its seven million citizens working there, the $35 billion inward remittances and large oil imports, among others.



"I've no doubt that sooner rather than later India will have to make real political and military contributions to stability and security in this region that's so critical to our economy and security," Menon said alluding to New Delhi's present policy of participating in a military resolution only under a UN flag.



Menon, a former foreign secretary, said there was a huge change in the West Asian (Middle East) situation today with four key players - Iran, Turkey, Egypt and Israel - having their own unique positions. If these were to get together, the problem could theoretically be resolved. At the same time, one must not look at the old Western order anymore, he added.



Yet, he also saw a positive outcome from this. "To my mind this world is as much of a challenge as an opportunity for a country like India that wants to change the reality that we have inherited. I only hope that we once again show the wisdom to seize the day," he said.



Menon said India faced a different situation from what it had got used to, benefiting from 20 years of average growth of over 6.5 percent.



"We can no longer assume that others will guarantee the safety of the sea lanes that carry our foreign trade and our energy supplies. Nor can we assume that a benign international order will keep the peace," he said.



"We will have to decide how far we wish to assume new responsibilities, and how far we are willing to compromise on strategic autonomy and work with others on these security issues," Menon said to a packed audience comprising diplomats, officials and members of the strategic community.



"At the same time, many more powers, facing the same uncertainty, are and will be willing to work with India in this effort, as we already see in maritime security and counter-terrorism," Menon said.



Menon, who began his career with the Indian Foreign Service in 1972, was the country's national security advisor between January 2010 and May 2014, and the foreign secretary between October 2006 and July 2009.



The 66-year-old, who played a key tole in forging the India-US nuclear deal, rubbished the notion that India's policy on Pakistan was not working and maintained that it was not possible for New Delhi to have a one-size-fits-all approach with the neighbour.



"We can't have one policy, dealing with many Pakistans," he said, referring to multiple actors there, each with a different notion and agenda -- civil society, the government, the army, Inter-Services Intelligence, religious groups and terror outfits.



"So you run multiple policies," he said, adding it was in India's interests to have good relations with Pakistan. They, in any case, have nothing to lose, unlike India. "They have no tourism to talk about and no investment to start with," he added.



Menon, who has also been India's envoy to four strategically-important countries, namely Pakistan, Sri Lanka, China and Israel, alluded it was also because of multiple actors in Pakistan that one faced peculiar situations.



Towards this, he took the example of how the surprise Lahore visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend Pakistan Premier Nawaz Sharif's grand-daughter's wedding was followed by an attack at Pathankot in Punjab. This, he said, was a pattern which had become commonplace.



"Despite this, the prospect is that the dialogue process will continue with several engagements foreseen in the coming months. It is still an open question whether the optics of India-Pakistan dialogue can be converted to substantive results," he said.



"India has consistently sought to find a modus vivendi or to normalise relations with Pakistan in our own interest."



Considered an expert on China and fluent in Mandarin, Menon also spoke at length on India's emerging relations with its northern neighbour with which it shares a 4,000-km-plus border.



"We need to find a new equilibrium with China," said the key aide of former prime minister Manmohan Singh, who was also his special representative to conduct border talks with China.



Menon said in recent years, India had managed to both compete and work with China, more so since there were some 11,000 Indians studying and working there, as also because of the Asian giant being India's largest trading partner for merchandise goods.



"We have little to gain and much to lose if we treat our relationship with China as a zero-sum game. Since both countries have major internal reform and structural adjustment to undertake, the present pattern of cooperation with competition should continue for the foreseeable future, but there are new factors which suggest that India and China need to find a new equilibrium." he said.



"As for the bilateral issues that divide us -- like the boundary, trans-border rivers and China's activities in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir -- we have found ways to manage differences in the last 30 years while growing the relationship," he added.
The political slugfest over the suicide by a dalit student in Hyderabad continued unabated today with Congress and other opposition parties calling it a "national shame" and unrelenting in their demand for sacking of Union ministers Smriti Irani and Bandaru Dattatreya.





The BJP on its part hit back at the opposition parties on their criticism of the Modi government over the incident, claiming they were using the "opportunity for cheap political advantage" while its ally LJP sought an "independent probe" by CBI or some other agency.



"We demand that Union Minister Smriti Irani should be sacked for attempting to hide facts along with Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya, against whom an FIR has been lodged," Congress chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala told reporters in Delhi.



Insisting that Irani "justified the unfairness" meted out to Rohith Vemula, who committed suicide, and four other suspended Dalit students, Surjewala said, "She is the custodian of all universities. She committed the unpardonable sin of lying to the nation. She spoke a number of lies to cover up a lie."



"...Irani is lying through her teeth in a bid to protect the ABVP leader. She is misleading the nation by giving false information," Surjewala said, seeking to dismiss the claims of Irani on the issue.



Irani had yesterday said that the ABVP leader, who was attacked in student clashes earlier, also belonged to the OBC community as was Dattatreya, who had written a letter to her about the attack.



Calling the suicide a "national Shame", Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal flew down to Hyderabad to give his backing to the agitating students of Hyderabad Central University(HCU) and accused the Centre of trying to indulge in "casteist politics".



Hitting out at Irani, the AAP chief while addressing the agitating students said her statement yesterday about Rohith Vemula's death as well as subsequent agitation by the university's students was a clear attempt to make it a caste issue for which she must apologise.



Kejriwal accused Irani of misleading the country on the issue, saying "attempts are being made to paint it as a caste issue. Irani must apologise for trying to indulge in casteist politics."



He further said "her statement was disgraceful. She spoke lies after lies. She was even trying to create confusion over his (Rohith) caste."



JD-U demanded immediate removal of Irani and Dattatreya and pushed for a CBI inquiry into the whole episode.



JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav also described the suicide as a "national shame" and accused the government of working against the interests of students from deprived sections of the society.



AAP leader Sanjay Singh accused Irani of "misleading" the nation over the incident and demanded the immediate "imprisonement" of Dattatreya, who has been booked in the case.



Rejecting Opposition allegations against the Centre and Dattatraya, who has been booked in the suicide case, senior BJP leader and Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu said the Central government as well as the two two ministers concerned have nothing to do with the alleged suicide.



"The Congress and the opposition parties were using the opportunity for cheap political advantage", he told reporters in Kanyakumari.



LJP Parliamentary Board Chairman Chirag Paswan sought a thorough probe into the issue by "an independent investigating agency like CBI or any other body."



"There is a need to find out what led to Rohith to take this extreme step. The probe should be carried out by some independent investigating agency -- be it CBI or some other. I am not saying that only CBI should probe it," he told reporters in Delhi.
Yielding to intense pressure, the Hyderabad Central University(HCU) today revoked the suspension of four dalit students against whom action was taken along with another research scholar Rohith Vemula Chakravarthi, who allegedly committed suicide in his hostel room on January 17.



On a day of dramatic developments, 13 SC/ST faculty members of the unversity, who backed the protesting students and had threatened to resign, announced that they were giving up their administrative posts.



The revocation decision was taken at a meeting of the Executive Council of the HCU, on a day the stir gained further political heat and the protesting students resolved to step up their campaign for justice by enlisting support from campuses across the country.



"The Council, after taking into account the extraordinary situation prevailing in the university and after discussing the issue in detail, resolved to terminate the punishment imposed on the students concerned with immediate effect," HCU said in a statement here.



The HCU had in September last year suspended the five students, including Rohith, for six months (entire semester) for allegedly assaulting ABVP leader Susheel Kumar in August.



But, the suspension was later revoked. However, in December, while allowing them to attend classes, the HCU had denied them access to the hostel.



The five research scholars, under the umbrella of a Joint Action Committee, had termed their "expulsion" (except classrooms and workshops related to subject of their study) from hostel as "undemocratic" and a "social boycott" and were forced to sleep in a make-shift tent on the campus.



After the alleged suicide of Rohith, the issue sparked strong reactions on the campus.

In the statment, HCU Vice-Chancellor Prof Appa Rao Podile, who is under attack over the issue, appealed to the university community to maintain calm and harmony under the extraordinary circumstances prevailing on the campus and repose faith in the internal mechanisms to resolve the issue.



He urged all in the university to contribute to resuming regular class work, research activities and administrative work without further delay.



Adding further political thrust to the agitation, which saw non-BJP party leaders making a beeline to the campus in the last few days, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal reached the campus today and called for removal of Union ministers Smriti Irani and Bandaru Dattatreya.



The research scholar's alleged suicide following his suspension snowballed into a major row with BJP's rivals wading into it and demanding the removal of Irani and and Labour Minister Dattatreya, accusing them of being responsible for the death.



The agitating students have been demanding resignation of Dattatreya, removal of Vice Chancellor, Rs five crore compensation to Rohith's family and employment to a member of his family, besides revocation of suspension of four students.



The members of Dalit (SC/ST) faculty of Hyderabad University in a statement said that it is unfortunate that the Union minister "misrepresented" the facts of the case by stating that the senior most Dalit professor actually headed the executive council sub-committee which took the decision to suspend the students, while it was headed by an "upper caste" Professor Vipin Srivastava.



"Such a baseless and misleading statement coming from Honourable Minister of HRD amounts to bringing down the morale of the Dalits holding administrative positions in this university as well as other universities...In response to the Honourable Minister's fabricated statements, we the Dalit (SC/ST) faculty and officers will lay down our administrative positions," the statement said.



The faculty body further said that it is unfortunate that since its inception, no Dalit representation has been given in the Executive Council of University of Hyderabad.



They said it was just a coincidence that the chief warden was a Dalit and he only implemented the orders of the higher authorities that proclaimed of suspension of five students, including Rohith.



"By deflecting this issue, the Honourable HRD Minister is absolving herself and the Honourable Minister Bandaru Dattatreya from being responsible for the death of Rohith Vemula," the teachers' body alleged.



P Vijay Kumar, one of the suspended students, said revocation was not enough. "It is a good thing but Rohith is not here to celeberate. It should have been done when he was alive. The Vice Chancellor must go. The demand of Rhith's family like compensation and job for a family member must be accepted forthwithy," he said.



The University Dean said the students should now call off their agitation as the suspension orders of the four students have been revoked and other demands were being looked into.



Mounting a blistering attack on the the Centre on the issue, Kejriwal demanded an apology from Irani and wanted Prime Minister Narendra Modi to drop her as well as Dattatreya from the ministry.



The AAP leader, who met the group of students sitting on an indefinite fast, charged Irani with playing "dirty politics" on the issue of the student's suicide which was a "national shame".



"Smriti Irani lied yesterday and tried to play dirty caste politics and tried to play with the emotions of the students. We demand she seek an apology from the entire country for that. We appeal to the Prime Minister to remove Smriti Irani and Dattatreya from his Cabinet," he said.



Seeking to gear up their protest, the students of the university said they would organise a "Chalo-HCU" programme on January 25 and urged their colleagues from other universities across the country to join the campaign.



Meanwhile, ABVP leader Nandanam Susheel Kumar, who is named as an accused in the case of abetting suicide of Rohith, demanded a "fair" inquiry into the incident and denied that he had lied about being manhandled by Rohith and other students of Ambedkar Students' Association (ASA) on August 3 last year.



"Reasons for Rohith's suicide should be thoroughly examined. When a person like Rohith could confront so many people like us (and) also there was hearing by the High Court in two days, what made him go into depression?" Kumar told reporters here.



Rohith, whose body was found hanging in a hostel room on January 17, was among the five research scholars who were suspended by university in August last year.



The suspension orders against D Prasanth, Vijay Kumar, Sheshaiah Chemuudugunta and Velpula Sunkanna have been revoked.


A 31-year-old woman techie was found murdered in her apartment here, after which a man was arrested from Gurgaon today.





Kusuma Rani Singla, a software engineer with a multinational company, was found dead by her flat mate in their apartment in Kadugodi on Tuesday night.



Singla, a divorcee hailing from Punjab, was transferred to the city six months ago from Noida.



In a swift action, one Sukhbir Singh was arrested from a place near Gurgaon with the help of local police in connection with the case, Additional Commissioner (Bengaluru-East) P Harishekaran said.



Singh and Singla were friends via social media. In a meeting with her, Singh is said to have demanded Rs 50,000 and a flight ticket from her which she denied, Harishekaran said.



Angered by this, he strangulated her to death using a laptop charger cord. A pen was also used in the crime, and an about two-inch deep wound is seen on her right eyebrow, he said.



"On January 19, Singh flew into Bengaluru from Delhi and went to Singla's house by 12:15pm. He was there till 3:30 pm," Harishekaran said.



An altercation erupted between the two that led to the murder of Singla, he said.

After the murder, Singh collected Singla's ATM cards and chequebooks and even withdrew Rs 11,000 using one of the debit cards before leaving to Delhi via Mumbai.



Singh hails from Haryana and has worked as a software engineer with multinational companies but is currently unemployed, he said, adding he would be brought to the city.

He said the motive of the murder was yet to be ascertained.
Cybercriminals are targetting India, US and other countries with fraudulent "tax deduction" emails to steal information, security software firm Symantec said.





"During the last 3 months, Symantec has observed malicious emails claiming to be from India's Income Tax Department. The report shows 43 per cent of these scam emails were delivered in India, followed by the US (20 per cent), and the UK (14 per cent)," Symantec Senior Security Response Manager Satnam Narang told PTI.



He added that there have been at least two types of emails in circulation -- one that claims that thousands of rupees have been deducted from the recipient's bank account as a tax payment and the other copies the template of an actual intimation sent by the IT-Department.



Narang said the activity could grow further towards the closing of the financial year as people file their income and other taxes.



"While each email differs in its template, the goal is the same: to infect computers with an information-stealing Trojan that logs keystrokes. It also collects system information like titles of open windows and the operating system version that is sent back to attacker command and control server," he said.



The mails stating that money has been deducted contain an attached file that claim to be a receipt for the payment.



The alleged receipts are ZIP files that contain information-stealing malware that Symantec detects as Infostealer.Donx, he said.



On the other hand, the authentic looking mail with the Personal Account Number (PAN) (used to identify taxpayers in India) contains an attached ZIP file that is not password- protected.



"Contrary to what the email claims, the ZIP file does not contain a PDF. Instead, it contains another information- stealing Trojan that Symantec detects as Trojan.Gen," Narang said.



He added that the attackers spoof the domain for email addresses belonging to the Income Tax Department of India in an effort to make the emails look more convincing.



"In India, the IT-Department does send intimation emails to taxpayers. While these emails include attachments, they are password-protected using the taxpayers' PAN and date of birth/date of incorporation. This is unique to each entity and adds credibility that the source of the email is the IT Department," he said.



Narang added that one should avoid opening suspicious looking mails and report the email to Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In).
The struggle to rebuild Nepals infrastructure since the devastating earthquake that struck in April last year has inspired some architects to try and help, resulting in ideas like the Temporary Shelter in Nepal and Just a Minute shelters. In a similar vein, New York Citys SHoP Architects recently made a commitment to build 50 schools for the quake-affected country.





SHoP joined forces with the non-profit Kids of Kathmandu and NGO Asia Friendship Network for the project, which will comprise a flexible building template that can be adapted to the particular site conditions and assembled with help from local volunteers.



In an effort to ensure that the schools are able to withstand earthquakes, they will be built using concrete slab foundations, steel truss roofs and earth brick construction. The schools will be outfitted with new kitchens, wireless Internet and donated computers and could

possibly serve as a safe haven, should another disaster strike.



The schools will sport solar panels to produce electricity and a water purification system will also be installed. Construction of the schools is set to begin in early 2016, with two schools, initially. The eventual plan is to provide schools in the hardest-hit and most remote areas in Nepal.


Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today attacked the TMC government over law and order in West Bengal, claiming that women, people and even policemen are not safe in the state and also questioned its version on the recent violence in Malda.





Singh also took a dig at the Mamata Banerjee government over its global business summit held earlier this month and said that holding such programmes will not be able to bring in investments in the state unless the government improves law and order and ensures good governance.



Despite TMC's slogan for ushering in change, "'Ma-mati-manush' (mother, earth and people) and even police are not secure in West Bengal. The TMC government has not been able to bring in any change in Bengal," Singh told a BJP rally here in poll-bound West Bengal.



Referring to the violence in Malda, he refuted Chief minister Mamata Banerjee's statement that it was a result of tussle between BSF officials and locals.



"The incident in Malda is not a small incident. I want to tell the TMC government that the Malda case should be solved. Whoever may be involved in the incident should be arrested. Only few arrests can't solve the case," he said.



The union home minister said "It is being said that the (Malda) violence was a result of tussle between BSF and locals. But it is not true. Are they (state government) trying to safeguard those forces which attacked the BSF official?



"Will those who attacked BSF roam free? This is the same BSF which had given befitting reply to Pakistani forces in the Indo-Pak border," Singh said.



Responding to Singh's attack, TMC national spokesperson Derek O'Brien said, "Mr Rajnath Singh, Malda is your creation. As the home minister of the country you should not be on a mission to stoke communal tension.



"The country knows this is a well known tactic BJP uses when elections are at hand. And all this coming from a central government which is running the nation using 'agencies' to pursue its own cynical agenda.," he added.



"You are using a political meeting to threaten the state. Which Home Minister with a conscience would do that?", he said.



Seeking people's support in the coming assembly election, which is barely a few months away, Singh said, "There will be assembly elections in West Bengal very soon. There will be change in Bengal too. I appeal to you that give us strength in the state assembly. We will do everything to change the situation in the state.



"The people from Bengal tell us that they want change. But what will they do ? Polling booths are looted. As the home minister of the country I want to assure you that you all will be able to exercise your franchise in a free and fair way," he said adding he will tell Election Commission that the required number of central forces for Bengal will be made available.
Major metal forming machine tools exhibition, Imtex Forming and Tooltech 2016, kicked off here on Thursday.





The six-day event is organised by Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers Association (IMTMA).

While Tooltech would focus on dies and moulds, forming tools, machine tool accessories, metrology and CAD/CAM, Imtex will showcase latest machine equipment, processes, tools, accessories, software and raw materials, as well as feed stocks required to manufacture formed parts in every engineering application.



Inaugurating the exhibition, IMTMA chairman (Exhibitions) Jamshyd N Godrej said, Machine tool is an important contributor to Indias economy, and therefore, investment in the machine tool industry has a direct bearing on the overall economy.



Godrej added, We expect 50,000 visitors during this event, which has attracted more than 70 trade delegations from various manufacturing industries and exhibitors from 23 countries with four country partners China, Germany, Taiwan and Japan.



IMTMA president P G Jadeja said, Several policy initiatives of the government have created a positive sentiment and has helped the machine tool industry to move ahead on its growth path, and India is set to become a global player.



On the occasion, seventh IMTMA  Premier Outstanding Entrepreneur Award in memory of Vinod Doshi has been conferred on Ace Manufacturing Systems Managing Director P Ramdas.



Karnataka Minister for Large and Medium Industries and Tourism R V Deshpande urged the captains of industry to utilise the land bank of 25,000 acres available in Karnataka.

He reiterated that Bengaluru is a home of over 400 MNCs engaged in R&D.




UKs own Twiss Drinks on Thursday marked its entry into India. Twiss Drinks India, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Twiss Drinks, has launched four quirky variants of the sparkling fruit juice, each a mix of two fruit flavours.





Twiss Drinks portfolio  Mango with a twist of Lime, Passion fruit with a twist of Orange, Lemon with a twist of mint and Apple with a twist of Black Currant are priced at Rs 40 for a 250 ml pack.



Twiss Drinks brings innovation to the segment by introducing sparkling fruit juice-based drinks, which were not really available in the market, said Nitin Menon, MD, Twiss Drinks India. The company plans to launch more flavours around the festival season. We are excited to bring more variants to the market, and plan some launches around Deepavali. We also plan to keep Twiss a talking brand with some limited edition variants, he said.



With a bottling plant in Pune, the company is set to market up to 12 million cans this year. Our focus in the youth. Apart from it being refreshing, we are also betting big on it being a great drink to dabble with in mixology, he said.
Digital payments platform FreeCharge on Thursday launched its new prepaid virtual card FreeCharge Go, in partnership with YES Bank and powered by MasterCard.





Speaking to Deccan Herald, FreeCharge Chief Operating Officer Govind Rajan said the companys endeavour is to make transactions ubiquitous, secure and rewarding for the customers. The FreeCharge Go enables universal payments of our app online and offline, and can be activated in five seconds. Since FreeCharge Go is linked with FreeCharge wallet, customers can activate it by logging on to their FreeCharge account, he said.



Customers can top it up by adding money to FreeCharge wallet and use it on-the-go for all their online transactions. The upper limit for charging is Rs 10,000 and make payments on Indian eCommerce websites. But the company is yet to facilitate payments on services reliant on international gateways. Rajan said that FreeCharge wallet is the fastest growing wallet in the country as it is focused on its user interface (UI). Over 99 per cent of our transactions are completed in less than 10 seconds. As a result, we have 72 per cent of repeat customers, he said.



FreeCharge CEO Kunal Shah said the prepaid virtual card is secured with 128-bit encryption and stored as per the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) compliance. FreeCharge users will be able to see a 16-digit MasterCard number with an associated Card Verification Value (CVV) in their account after activation, he said.



Shah said the card details are only accessible after entering security MPIN every time. As a security measure, every transaction using the card needs to be verified by an OTP which is sent to the registered mobile number, he said. As per recent statistics, FreeCharge has one million transactions per day and has over 15 million users on its wallet. It aspires to process Rs 20,000 crore transactions by 2017.



FreeCharge, acquired by Jasper Infotech-owned Snapdeal in March 2015, has been roping in merchants to its platform to grab a greater pie of Indias eCommerce space, which is estimated to breach $100 billion by 2020.


With a view of better revenues and occupancy levels, French hotels giant Louvre Hotels Group looks to expand its budget (business) property lines in India, with plans to open five hotels here, by the end of this year.





The year 2015 has been good for hotels, thanks to increased domestic travel. The hospitality space in India has been growing well, and we are motivated to expand here. By the end of 2016, we will have five more hotels opened around the country, Shashi Razdan, Director of Sales and Marketing (South Asia), Louvre Hotels Group, told Deccan Herald.



While only one of the planned hotels will be a Royal Tulip  a Louvre luxury five-star brand  coming up at summer tourism hub Kufri, in Himachal Pradesh, the remaining will be a mix of four-star Golden Tulip, and three-star Tulip Inn properties, which would come up across Gujarat, West Bengal and Punjab. At present, the company runs 22 hotels in India (3,000 keys), two of which are Royal Tulip properties.



Among its offerings, the Louvre Group  owned by Chinas Jinjiang International  is specifically keen to tap the business hotels space. Explaining that luxury hotels require greater operational costs, compared with smaller ones, Razdan said that occupancy is assured with the latter.



Compared with luxury properties, budget hotels are doing better, since the cost of running the latter is low. Also, luxury hotels offer a lot of sophisticated amenities, which many guests may not make use of, while budget hotels have more functional and required facilities. Besides, there is higher investment needed for luxury hotels, he said.



According to estimates, luxury hotels have clocked 60-65 per cent occupancy last year, while three- and four-star properties could muster around 70-72 per cent.




During a preholiday shopping trip to New York, Lisa Libretto received an enticing alert on her iPhone: an offer for a $25 discount on a Vince Camuto handbag that she had coveted on the retailers website.





If my phone is alerting me to the discount or some information about items I might like, that will totally pull me in, said Libretto, who lives in Ridgefield, Connecticut.



The alert arrived at an opportune time, pinging as she neared the entrance of the Vince Camuto store. And it cemented her decision: She would buy the purse after all.



But the timing was no coincidence. The app that she had downloaded from ShopAdvisor used beacon technology, a new addition to location-based marketing, to pinpoint her whereabouts before sending the discount.



I hope its a technology more companies will use, she said. Libretto, 44, an artist and stay-at-home mother with two young sons, has embraced online shopping. My time is so short that when I do get to shop, the alerts are fantastic, she said.



Because retailers are acutely aware that despite the popularity of online shopping nearly 92 per cent of retail sales are made at brick-and-mortar locations, a technology that will help drive shoppers into stores is certain to attract a lot of attention.



And with the ubiquity of smartphones, now owned by two-thirds of Americans, retailers and technology companies have spent the last few years trying, with modest success, to find ways to combine a shoppers desires with innovative mobile apps, to get legions of consumers into stores.



Now, ShopAdvisor, a 4-year-old company based in Concord, Massachusetts, has added a wrinkle to location-based mobile marketing that it hopes will be the breakthrough retailers are seeking. GPS-based mobile apps are not new and geo-fencing, the ability to create a virtual perimeter around a designated location such as a shopping mall, has given retailers the ability to send push alerts to prospective customers nearby.



But beacon technology can pinpoint a customers location so precisely that a retailer knows when that shopper is lingering in the shoe department or browsing in lingerie.



ShopAdvisor, which offers its own mobile shopping app and specialises in creating multichannel mobile shopping platforms for media companies, as well as retail brands, has incorporated beacon technology in a novel way.



With the aim of driving shoppers into stores, ShopAdvisor incorporates data analytics that filter a shoppers preferences and provide a way for retailers to send personalised alerts to consumers who have downloaded a brands app, offering discounts, highlighting sales and providing content such as product reviews that might instantly sway a buying decision.



Weve had at least three years of heavy-duty location-based marketing under retailers belts, said JiYoung Kim, senior vice president for Ansible, the mobile division of the Interpublic Group, the global marketing company. Everybody has the same tool, and targeting alone can only take you so far.



What makes the ShopAdvisor approach enticing, Kim said, is that it not only precisely locates a shopper in a store but provides personalised creative content from that retailer to that shopper on the spot. Offer that shopper a 20 per cent discount on some new black pumps she has been eyeing, along with a positive review from a popular fashion magazine, and a purchase is far more likely.



Shoppers who have downloaded apps from various retailers in the last three years have been flooded with repetitious push alerts that have become like robocalls and tend to be annoying. For proximity mobile marketing to be effective, it requires something more.



When you give people a marketing message about something that they actually want, in a location where they can act on it, that doesnt feel like an ad or an annoyance, said Scott Cooper, ShopAdvisors founder and president. It feels like a service to them. They tend to respond to it.



The companys revenues come from monthly fees paid by clients, like media companies and retailers, based on the scale, scope and frequency of the campaigns they run. It also draws revenue from retailers that subscribe to its proximity marketing service.



ShopAdvisor spent its first two years searching for a promising value proposition. It raised $11 million in venture financing but was still in search of what Cooper called the breakout business model. The advent of beacon technology this year solidified the mission. That last leg on the stool has really exploded the business.



Experimenting with buyers

For example, when Elle, the popular womens magazine, began planning for its 30th anniversary this year, the publication decided it had to do something noteworthy in addition to its celebratory September fashion and beauty issue. We felt it was incumbent upon us to do something innovative, said Kevin OMalley, Elles senior vice president and publisher.



Elle connected with ShopAdvisor and in August they started a pilot programme called Shop Now. As part of the Shop Now campaign, Elle formed partnerships with such advertisers as Guess, Levis and Vince Camuto, and ShopAdvisor placed beacons in more than 1,600 stores around the country.



ShopAdvisor created a mobile app using beacon and geo-fencing technology for Elle readers, who tend to be avid shoppers. The geofence detects that an Elle reader with the app is near, and the beacon then precisely tracks that shoppers movements when she enters the store. It also sets off push alerts for that customer, suggesting specific items such as jeans or shoes that the customer has previously expressed interest in, along with curated content from Elle.



After six weeks of the Shop Now campaign, more than 8 per cent of those who received the app visited the stores, an increase retailers consider highly significant. Since the Elle pilot campaign ended on October 1, 2015, 20 per cent of the same customers have, unprompted, returned to the stores of the participating retailers, according to ShopAdvisor.



Part of the success of the Elle campaign is ShopAdvisors ability to identify customers who have shown serious interest in products using the companys app. If you clicked on Vince Camuto black pumps and got near a Vince Camuto store, we can be superaggressive with you, Cooper said. You are absolutely someone who wants that message. If you have never shown any interest in that stuff at all, we leave you alone. We dont bother you.

Beacons are very new, and these are very small examples, Kim said. This is a crowded and very competitive space, and everybody wants a piece of what ShopAdvisor is doing. Because of privacy issues as well as not wanting to freak people out, nobody wants to be the first to do something dumb with a technology that powerful. The results so far are good but they are still in the very early stages.




Dharwad Bench of Karnataka High Court on Thursday dismissed a bunch of petitions seeking a stay on the Zilla Panchayat and Taluk Panchayat elections in Dharwad, Belagavi and Koppal districts.





The petitioners contended that the government has not followed the roster while fixing the reservations for ZP and TP constituencies. They argued that there are several discrepancies in the reservation fixed to the ZP and TP seats in the aforementioned districts.



Single member bench of Justice B Veerappa dismissed over 32 petitions.
A new bird species has been found in India and it has been named after India's noted ornithologist and conservationist Salim Ali.





The Himalayan Forest Thrush Zoothera salimalii was found by a group of researchers in the Himalayan forests in 2009. The researchers from India, along with those from China and Russia, studied the bird till 2015, before it was announced.



Shashank Dalvi, one of the researchers and alumnus of the Post Graduate Programme, Wildlife Biology and Conservation WCS - India Programme, told Deccan Herald, that he along with Dr Per Alstrom, found the bird for the first time in May-June, 2009, while studying birds at high elevations of Western Arunachal Pradesh. The bird is found from Darjeeling in West Bengal to China.



The first time we saw the bird, we thought it was the Plain-backed Thrush, but after research, we found that this is different. The team of researchers collectively studied the DNA and morphology of the bird. The team found that this bird had two different types of songs. It was harsh and unmusical when on higher terrain and highly musical when on lower terrain, he said.



Researchers therefore named this new species the Himalayan Forest Thrush Zoothera salimalii, which they found was different from the high-elevation Plain-backed Thrush, which was renamed as the Alpine Thrush. The Alpine Thrush retains the scientific name of Zoothera mollissima. The Himalayan Forest Thrush is locally common. It was overlooked till now because of its similarity in appearance to the Alpine Thrush.



Further analyses of plumage, structure, song, DNA and ecology from throughout the range of the Plain-backed Thrush revealed that a third species was present in central China. While this population was already known, it was treated as a subspecies of Plain-backed Thrush. The scientists have instead called it Sichuan Forest Thrush. The song of the Sichuan Forest Thrush was found to be even more musical than the song of the Himalayan Forest Thrush, Dalvi said.



DNA analyses suggested that these three species have been genetically separated for several million years. Genetic data from three old museum specimens indicated the presence of a fourth species from China that remains unnamed. Future field studies are required to confirm this, he added.



New bird species are rarely discovered nowadays. Since 2000, an average of five new species per year have been discovered globally, most of which are from South America. The Himalayan Forest Thrush is only the fourth new bird species discovered from India since 1947.




Months after the State government took back industrial land allotted to Joy Ice Cream Ltd in KR Puram, two acres and two guntas allotted to the Vyalikaval House Building Co-operative Society in the posh locality of RMV II Stage in northern Bengaluru may face the same fate.





The society had entered into a joint development agreement with a real estate firm, Vaishnavi Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, for construction of an apartment complex in violation of its own rules. Not only that, it illegally sold premium flats, including penthouses, to politicians and their associates.



A senior member of the society, S Ramachandra, has written to the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) asking it to take back the whole land. Citing the Joy Ice Cream case, he argued that the land was allotted to the society to develop and sell sites to its members only. He also said he had been paying site advance deposit since 1982, but was yet to get a site.



BDA Commissioner T Sham Bhatt confirmed having received the complaint. We have received the letter from a senior member. We are examining the matter and will take a decision shortly, he told Deccan Herald on Thursday.



The land in Survey No 54/2 (2.2 acres) was allotted to the society under the BDAs Development Scheme in accordance with the BDA Act 1976, with a specific condition in the sale deed that the land was to be used for the sale of sites to the poor and needy members of the society. But the society entered into the joint development agreement in violation of section 38 (b) of the BDA Act and rule 7 (2) of the BDA Bulk Allotment Rules, which categorically specify that sites be allotted only to members. Not only that, the society violated the model bye-laws of the House Building Co-operative Societies and its own bye-laws.



While the society agreed to keep 33 per cent of flats at its disposal, it gave away the rest to the firm, which was free to mortgage, lease or sell them to anyone.



The first agreement was with L&C Constructions Pvt Ltd in February 2003, while the bye-law for the joint development agreement was amended in December 2003. The second agreement, with Vaishnavi Infrastructure in 2007, added a clause that the private builder would sell the flats to outsiders once the society admits them as members. Today, the whole apartment complex, at RMV II Stage, is known as Vaishnavi Splendour with no mention of the societys name.



The society claims the government had approved construction of apartments by an order in September 2007. The copy of the order, which the complainant has obtained under the RTI Act, clearly states that this too was with a condition that flats shall be allotted only to members. However, here again the government hasnt taken an NoC from the BDA before approving construction of apartments. The erstwhile Bangalore Mahanagara Palike sanctioned the building plan without an NoC from the BDA, a senior BDA official said.


The State Bank of India has donated an ultrasound B-scan machine to Sankara Eye Hospital recently.





Rajni Mishra, Chief General Manager, Local Head Office, Bengaluru and Rotarian Nilesh, President Rotary Club of Bangalore, IT Corridor, inaugurated the ultrasound machine to screen children suffering from retinal conditions at Sankara Eye Hospital.



The equipment will be used in the operation theatre to treat infants and young children being evaluated for retinal diseases. This type of diagnostic tool is most helpful when there is doctors face difficulty examining the eye normally.
Kusuma Rani, the 31-year-old IBM staffer who was found strangled in her flat in Kadugodi, southeast Bengaluru, on Tuesday night, was murdered by her Facebook friend whom she got to know just three weeks ago, the police said. Financial dispute is suspected to be the primary motive.



The murder was discovered by the victims roommate Nidhi Sharma when she returned from office around 7 pm. Police found enough clues to go after the suspect, Sukhbir Singh, 28, a native of Ribar village in Haryana. He earlier worked at a reputed software firm in Bengaluru.



Security guards at Ranis apartment complex, Mahaveer Kings Place, told the police that a man aged about 30 had come asking for her on Tuesday noon. When they called her, she came downstairs and took him to her fourth-floor flat.



Rani, who hailed from Punjab, was divorced and was looking to remarry. Singh befriended her on Facebook on December 31, 2015. Then on January 9, 2016, the two exchanged their contact numbers. On January 17, Singh called up Rani, saying he was coming down to Bengaluru.



He flew from New Delhi to Bengaluru early on Tuesday morning, checked into a hotel in Majestic area and then left for Ranis place. Once in her flat, he asked her to lend him Rs 50,000, saying he was jobless. When she refused, he asked her for air fare so that he can go back. Rani told him she didnt have that much money.



The argument soon snowballed into a fight. Singh pinned her to the ground, sat on her chest and kept punching her in the face. He then strangled her with a laptop battery cord.

As Rani started to spit up blood, he pierced a pen into her eyebrow. Once she was dead, he stole her three debit and credit cards, a chequebook and mobile phone and sneaked out.

He called Ranis bank from her phone and introduced himself as her husband and asked for her debit card PIN. He gave the bank her chequebook and passbook details and got the PIN. He withdrew Rs 11,000 from an ATM on Marathahalli ring road on Tuesday.



The same day, he flew to Mumbai and thence to New Delhi where he withdrew Rs 34,000 from an ATM on Wednesday.


Five persons suffered injuries when a steamer burst in a hotel at JP Nagar on Thursday afternoon.





The injured are Shivananja (35), Veeresh (23), Rama (28), Harish (18) and Manikantha (18). Veeresh is being treated at the Praja Eye Hospital in Jayanagar for injuries in the eyes, while others who have suffered injuries on their back, legs, hands and chest, are being treated at the Fortis Hospital. All five are out of danger.



According to the police, five workers were busy preparing food inside the Adigas hotel kitchen at Panduranagarnagar in JP Nagar 7th phase. Just then the steamer blew up due to heavy pressure leaving all the five injured. The injured were rushed to hospitals.



DCP (South) B S Lokesh Kumar told Deccan Herald that the hotel owner did not inform the police about the blast. +There was a memo from the hospital to the jurisdictional JP Nagar police who later registered a case under IPC Section 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others).


India is set to start negotiations with Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal for a pact on cross-border movement of trains among the four nations  much on the lines of proposed Saarc Regional Railways Agreement, which could not be inked due to opposition by Pakistan.





The move for BBIN (Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal) railways agreement is in sync with New Delhis push for sub-regional connectivity in the wake of Islamabad playing spoilsport in South Asian nations pursuit for greater regional connectivity.



India on June 15, 2014 inked a sub-regional motor vehicle agreement with Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal to ease movement of passenger, personal and cargo vehicles among the four countries.



Officials in New Delhi said that a decision to start negotiation for the quadrilateral rail agreement had been taken during a meeting of the BBIN Joint Working Group on Transit and Connectivity in Dhaka on Thursday. The rail agreement would strengthen trade and economic linkages among the four nations and would thus supplement to the seamless road connectivity envisaged by the already-inked motor vehicle agreement, an official told Deccan Herald.



The Saarc leaders were close to ink three pacts during the 18th summit of the eight-nation bloc in Kathmandu in November 2014  a Framework Agreement for Energy (Electricity) Cooperation, a Regional Railways Agreement and a Motor Vehicle Agreement for Regulation of Passenger and Cargo Vehicular Traffic. But only the pact on energy cooperation could be signed, as Pakistans Prime Minister M Nawaz Sharif maintained that his government had not yet completed internal procedure for inking the agreements for cross-border movement of trains and motor vehicles.



New Delhi has since been focussing more on sub-regional cooperation, particularly on Indias connectivity with Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal. If signed by all the eight countries, the Saarc Motor Vehicle Agreement for Regulation of Passenger and Cargo Vehicular Traffic would have made it possible for vehicles registered in one country to move into another member country of the bloc without any hassle. Similarly, the Saarc Regional Railways Agreement would have made it possible for passenger and cargo trains from one country to move into another within South Asia.



The BBIN railways and motor vehicle agreement are also intended to facilitate safe, economical, efficient and environment-friendly rail and road transport in the sub-region, comprising the four nations, officials said in New Delhi.



As sub-regional cooperation among India, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal gains momentum; the message is loud and clear to Pakistan  either stop playing spoilsport or get isolated, as other nations in South Asia would anyway continue to pursue connectivity projects, another official aware of Indias connectivity projects with its neighbours said in New Delhi on Thursday.



India has limited rail connectivity with Bangladesh and Nepal. New Delhi, however, has been working on projects to expand it with both the neighbouring nations, apart from embarking on another project for establishing rail link between India and Bhutan.


As reports in Pakistans media indicated Indias role in the terror strike on a university there on Wednesday, New Delhi suspects that it could be a ploy by the military-security establishment of the neighbouring country to ease pressure on Islamabad to act against the plotters of the Pathankot attack.





Though Prime Minister Narendra Modis statement condemning the deadly terror strike on the Bacha Khan University at Charsadda in Pakistan was lauded by his counterpart M Nawaz Sharif, a section of media in the neighbouring country sought to indicate role New Delhi, particularly Indias diplomatic missions in Afghanistan, of orchestrating the attack.



India on Thursday dismissed the allegations appearing in Pakistans media. Vikas Swarup, official spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs, told journalists in New Delhi that the reports were completely baseless. He, however, noted that Pakistan had not yet taken up the issue with India officially.



The terrorists killed 21 people  mostly students  after sneaking into Bacha Khan University in Pakistan on Wednesday. The soldiers of Pakistan Army later neutralised all the terrorists.



Pakistans media on Thursday quoted the countrys military spokesman, Maj Gen Asim Bajwa, saying that two mobile phones had been recovered from the slain terrorists, who had carried out the attack on the varsity.
The Border Security Force (BSF) on Thursday morning gunned down a terror suspect in Punjab near Pathankot trying to infiltrate from across the Pakistan border.





At least two other suspects managed to flee back to the neighbouring country sensing trouble. The unsuccessful infiltration bid took place in the Bamyal sector in Punjab.



The six terrorists who stormed the Pathankot airbase in early January also crossed over from Pakistan and entered Punjab through this porous Bamyal sector.



Identity unclear



It is still unclear if the suspects who tried to infiltrate into Punjab were drug peddlers or terrorists. Punjab is already on high alert with intelligence inputs indicating the possibility of terrorist activity ahead of Republic Day.



BSF sources said patrolling in the area had been intensified ever since the Pathankot terror strike.



The BSF, which mans 553-km stretch on the Indo-Pakistan international border, had come under flak after the attack.



The chilling winter months on the Punjab border zone witnesses a thick veil of fog, especially during morning and evening hours. Patrolling becomes hard and detecting suspected movements from across the Pakistan border is even harder during these months.



Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has underlined the need for equipping the BSF and the state police with the latest weapons and gadgets to combat cross border terrorism more effectively. The government has sought additional deployment of BSF.



Badal said on Thursday that Punjab is prone to attack from across the borders and attacks in Dinanagar and Pathankot were a testimony. In such a scenario the need of hour si to provide ultra modern gadgets and weapons to the state force and BSF, manning the international border, to check terrorism, he said, adding that the Union government must treat Punjab at par with North Eastern states and allocate liberal funds to modernise the state police.


The government is actively considering appointing Bollywood stars Amitabh Bachchan and Priyanka Chopra as the brand ambassadors of Incredible India campaign to attract tourists to the country.





The impressive campaign does not have a brand ambassador for almost a month after the government did not renew its contract with a creative agency for the campaign featuring Aamir Khan. Many interpreted this as the governments reluctance to continue with Aamir who had waded into the intolerance debate.



A senior government official Amitabh Kant also criticised Aamir for damaging brand India while being the ambassador of the Incredible India campaign. Kant is the Secretary of Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP).



Officials said Bachchan and Priyanka are the front-runners for the campaign, which is based on the concept of Atithi Devo Bhava, a Sanskrit verse that means the guest is equivalent to god. Bachchan had been promoting Gujarat Tourism for past the few years.



Asked about the appointment of Bachchan and Priyanka for the role, Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma only said the Ministry has not issued any notification in this regard. The Tourism Ministry is also planning to directly select brand ambassadors instead of the present practice of hiring them through a private agency. We are thinking why not we directly approach a celebrity? Why should we approach an agency? A final decision will be taken soon, a senior official said.



The Ministry is planning to enter into a three-year contract with the celebrities. During this period, the celebrities will have to act for couple of campaigns. The Ministry expects that the celebrities would do the work free of cost as it was done earlier.
Legendary danseuse and cultural icon Mrinalini Sarabhai breathed her last on Thursday at a hospital in Ahmedabad following age-related complications, her family said. She was 97.





My mother Mrinalini Sarabhai has just left for her eternal dance, her daughter and noted dancer Mallika Sarabhai posted on social media on Thursday.



A Padma Bhushan awardee, Mrinalini was fondly known as Amma. She was admitted to the Intensive Critical Care Unit of a private hospital in Ahmedabad on Wednesday morning. She was brought back to her home on Thursday morning, where she breathed her last.



Her last rites will be conducted at the Pethapur village in Gandhinagar district. Pethapur is the block-making industry hub of Gujarat and Mrinalini often visited there due to her keen interest in handicrafts.



Condolences poured in from various quarters, including from Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel and Kerala Chief Minister Oomen Chandy.



Born on May 11, 1918, in Kerala, Mrinalini was a daughter of renowned barrister Dr Swaminathan. Her elder brother Govind Swaminathan was also a barrister. Her mother Ammu Swamimanathan was a freedom fighter and a member of Parliament. Mrinalinis sister Lakshmi Sehgal was commander-in-chief of Rani of Jhansi Regiment in the Azad Hind Fauj set up by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.



She was the founder director of the Darpana Academy of Performing Arts, an institute for imparting training in dance, drama, music and puppetry. She has trained more than 18,000 students in Bharatnatyam and Kathakali.


The extraordinary general meeting (EGM) of the Associated Journals Ltd, the publishers of the now defunct National Herald, Navjivan and Quami Awaz newspapers, here on Thursday decided to re-launch the three dailies.





They also granted approval to convert the company into a not-for-profit organization. This move is being seen as an attempt to wriggle out of the controversies and win support of the agitating former employees.



AJL chairman and managing director Motilal Vora said after the meeting that the resolutions for re-launching of the three dailies and converting the company into a not for profit organizations were adopted at Thursdays EGM.



The members considered and approved a number of resolutions to convert AJL into a not-for-profit company. These decisions of the members of the company are in pursuance to the revival plan of the company since 2010 which includes conversion of the company to not-for-profit, and relaunching the newspapers'', said a statement by AJL. Senior Congress leaders Sheila Dixit, Jitin Prasada and Oscar Fernandes were present at the meeting.



While the EGM was on, the former employees of the three newspapers staged a noisy demonstration outside the venue of the meeting.



Some other people, who claimed to be in the possession of the shares of the company, were also there and alleged that they were not allowed to attend the meeting.



The former employees, who had embarked upon a relay hunger strike, had threatened to obstruct the EGM also. They were, however, persuaded to call off their agitation by senior UP Congress leaders, who assured them that their demands would be considered.



A few others, who had arrived at the venue, alleged that they were shareholders of AJL but were denied entry into the meeting.



The former employees said that the AJL managements decision to consider re-launching of the newspapers was aimed at buying peace as well as to wriggle out of the legal battle.



The former employees of the Lucknow edition of the papers have been demanding payment by the same formula that was applied in payment to their counterpart in Delhi which was promised by the management at the time of final payment to them in January 1999.
Acceding to one of the demands made by the protesting students, the University of Hyderabad on Thursday revoked the suspension order issued against four Dalit research scholars.





Rohith Vemula, who committed suicide recently, was among the Dalit students who were suspended.



The nine-member executive council, which had barred the five students from entering hostels, administrative building and common places in groups and also from elections, has now decided to terminate the punishment considering the extraordinary situation prevailing in the university.



According to sources, the decision is based on the nearly 80-page preliminary report of the HRD Ministrys two-member fact-finding committee which visited the campus. The committee is likely to submit its final report on Friday.



While announcing the revocation of suspension, council chairperson and vice-chancellor P Appa Rao said the decision was subject to the verdict on a writ petition pending before the High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad.



Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad leader N Susheel Kumars mother had filed a writ petition before the high court seeking action against Ambedkar Students Association (ASA) leaders for attacking her son. Following their suspension, the five ASA leaders, including Rohith, moved the high court pleading for a stay on the university decision through another writ petition.



A case was also registered at the Gachibowli Police station against the five Dalit students following a complaint by Kumar under Sections 44 (Causing injury), 341 (Wrongful restraint), 506 (Criminal Intimidation), 323 (Voluntarily causing hurt) read with 147 (Rioting) of the IPC.



In a statement, Appa Rao requested the students to withdraw their indefinite hunger strike, which entered the second day on Thursday, and urged them to resume their academic exercises.



The ASA and the Joint Action Committee for Social Justice, the outfits spearheading the agitation, slammed the councils decision. The decision clearly shows that the university is fully authorised to revoke the ban but refused to do so blaming it on the high court, an ASA leader said.



They (university) said it was sub judice, but if this decision was taken a week ago, Rohith would have been alive, said Prashanth, one of the five scholars who were suspended.

The students said they would organise a Chalo-HCU programme on January 25 in which students from other universities across the country were expected to join in.



Faculty quit admin post



Members of the Dalit faculty of the university, who accused HRD Minister Smriti Irani of misrepresenting facts, have threatened to quit their administrative posts.



According to PTI, 13 faculty members belonging to SC/ST communities gave up their administrative posts which they were holding as additional charge. The minister misrepresented the facts of the case by stating that the seniormost Dalit professor actually headed the executive council sub-committee which took the decision to suspend the students, while it was headed by an upper-caste man, Prof Vipin Srivastava, the faculty said in a statement.



Prof P Prakash Babu, Dean, Student welfare, said the panel that decided the fate of the five students had no Dalit members.


Ahead of French President Francois Hollandes visit to Delhi to participate in the Republic Day function, the French Consulate in Bengaluru has received a threat letter, purportedly written by al-Qaeda, warning Hollande not to visit India.





Deputy Consul General of the Consulate filed a complaint with the High Grounds police on January 14, a day after the letter was received at their Vasanthnagar office.



The letter, posted from Chennai on January 11, stated: France president is coming to India on Republic Day. He has seen our blood and should not visit India.



A senior police officer told Deccan Herald on Thursday, The three-line letter was computer generated and written in incoherent English. The text was typed on a paper which had India map in the background. It also featured Osama-bin-Ladens photo and the name of the organisation which sent it as al-Qaeda, typed next to his photo. We are not taking any chances, the officer added.
By Lucy Nicholson, with additional reporting by Steve Gorman; Editing by Alistair Bell 20 January 2016 (Reuters)  Air quality regulators, meeting for the third time this month to address a huge natural gas leak that has forced thousands of Los Angeles residents from their homes, delayed action again on Wednesday on a proposal to curtail the escaping methane. The five-member hearing board of the South Coast Air Quality Management District scheduled a fourth meeting for Jan. 23 to take more testimony on a plan to siphon off and incinerate methane that has been spewing into the air since October. The stench of gas fumes has sickened scores of people and led to efforts to temporarily relocate of some 6,000 households from the Porter Ranch community of northern Los Angeles at the edge of the leaking Aliso Canyon underground gas storage field. But local and state agencies have raised safety concerns with the proposal to capture and burn off some of the methane, as have engineers for Southern California Gas Co., owner of the crippled facility. The proposed abatement order also calls for the utility to accelerate extraction of its remaining subterranean gas reserves so as to relieve pressure on the ruptured wellhead. In its first three hearings this month to review the plan, including Wednesday, the board opted to merely hear public comment, much of it from disgruntled residents demanding the facility be shut down altogether. The company has insisted the leak, while a major public nuisance, poses no immediate public safety threat because the gas dissipates outdoors. But health officials said long-term health effects remain unknown. [ more ]

Regulators delay action again on huge California methane leak

By Mireya Villarreal

20 January 2016 PORTER RANCH, California (CBS News)  County health officials said Wednesday they dont believe there will be any long-term effects from the methane gas leak in the Porter Ranch neighborhood of Los Angeles. The gas has been spewing from a well since October. The pool of people affected by the Porter Ranch gas leak is swelling. Officials have now doubled the impact zone, adding thousands who are eligible to relocate. Mark Morris is deciding whether to leave. This is impacting the planet, said Morris. This is bad whats going on up there. It needs to stop and it needs to be shut down. To stop the leak, the utility company, Southern California Gas, is drilling down 8,000 feet and using a relief well to intersect the leaking pipe and plug it up. Crews are being very careful, drilling just 20 feet a day. Still, SoCalGas announced they expect to have the leak plugged by the end of February. Congressman Ben Sherman said if the first relief well doesnt work, they will keep trying until the leak is plugged. You got to keep trying to seal this until either the field is empty or the leak is plugged, said Congressman Ben Sherman. If it just keeps leaking, it goes for a year. The Eng family of eight is living out of suitcases in a hotel. The kids were experiencing nose bleeds and stomach aches. It was because of them that we actually decided to make the decision to move out and relocate out of Porter Ranch, Leslie Eng explained.
By Steve Brown, Cadence

Increasingly, more of the focus on mobile has centered around cloud datacenters and the networking to get the data back and forth between these datacenters and the mobile device. Functions like voice recognition and mapping depend on the ability to split the functionality between the smartphone, for local processing like encryption and compression, and the back end, where a large number of servers can do the heavier lifting before returning the results.

There is also tremendous value derived from gathering and analyzing large data sets, such as information about consumer buying patterns and business trends. Big Data companies are leveraging solutions such as Hadoop to automatically partition the data and computation in order to distribute right-sized tasks to the compute farm, analyze the data partition, and recombine this data into aggregated results.

Supporting this data-centric focus is an equipment market comprised of several sub-segments:

Compute

Wired networks (Internet)

Wireless and access (cellular, WiFi, etc.)

Storage

How Will Zettabytes of Data Impact Compute Functions?

According to Cisco, global IP traffic will pass the zettabyte (1000 exabytes) threshold by the end of 2016, and will reach 2 zettabytes per year by 20191. A large portion of this traffic consists of video dataNetflix downloads alone reportedly account for 37% of peak US Internet traffic2. How will these volumes impact the compute functions in a datacenter? Datacenters are hosting a lot of cloud software products and services, facilitating porting of applications to the cloud. The bulk of the compute cycles is spent on data analysis. The median dataset has grown from 6GB to 30GB3. Meanwhile, the data scientist is now considered the sexiest job of the 21st century, according to Forbes4.

Datacenter Wired Networks

While the processor is driving computation throughput, the wires between the machines are increasingly becoming a new kind of bottleneck. Large data analysis software partitions the algorithms and data across the datacenter compute servers, distribute and manage the jobs, and recombine the data. Some algorithms utilize data or results from adjacent partitions. The speed of these types of inter-job communications can have a large impact on the overall throughput of the data analysis. This is an example of why it can be beneficial to employ high-speed interfaces such as PCIe 4.0, 10G-KR, and USB 3.1 for server-to-server communication within the datacenter.

Datacenter Wireless and Access

Wireless networking for cellular and WiFi, etc. actually depends on a mixture of radio interfaces (sometimes called the air interface) and wired infrastructure to connect to the Internet or backhaul of traffic. There are trends changing the architecture of the basestation to optimize the throughput.

Cloud-RAN (Radio Access Network) or C-RAN presents a particularly interesting potential technology. By moving part of the basestation processing, with all the DSP and other processing required, out to the antennae, packets are expedited onto the backhaul. The challenge is that high-performance wireless standards such as LTE have latency requirements, not just throughput requirements. Because of the differing distances to the various basestations, the economics of the architecture may prove to be prohibitive.

Datacenter Storage

In storage, the biggest trend is probably the transition from rotating media to SSD (solid state disks) based on Flash memory. There are challenges in scaling this from just being in your notebook to the kind of functionality needed for large datacenters processing video and large datasets, mainly because Flash memory bits can only be written a limited number of times.

PCIe Gen4 for Datacenters

For datacenter planners and enterprise software architects, PCIe Gen4 is transforming servers and virtualization possibilities. The interface increases the bandwidth and value of data transmission from server to server, switch to switch, and server to storage, enabling even larger dataset analysis and parallelizing other complex cloud services.

High-speed SerDes technology is used to implement these high-speed connections. SerDes technology is often applied in advanced-node geometries such as 14/16 nm. However, it is increasingly difficult to create robust SerDes designs while meeting short project timescales.

An alternative to in-house design is partnering with a leading IP provider. Cadence, for example, provides a 16Gbps PHY that supports multiple protocols (see Figure 1 below). Cadence is also the first to provide multi-link SerDes IP to support different protocols running on links in the same bundle or macro of SerDes. This means that each link can be configured to 1 of the 14 protocols supported by the PHY. There are two PLLs embedded per common block to simultaneously support different protocols.





Cadence 16Gbps multi-protocol PHY

In addition, this configuration is software enabled through the registers. While the SoC is running, the SerDes can be quickly halted, reconfigured, reset, and restarted. The PHY also offers long reach and high power efficiency for green datacenters.

Demo at DesignCon

Cadence will be demonstrating a PCIe Gen4 testchip operating at 16Gbps at the 2016 DesignCon Expo, held at the Santa Clara Convention Center this week. Read about Cadence at DesignCon here.

About the Author

Steve Brown is Director of Product Marketing, IP Group, at Cadence Design Systems. He has held senior marketing and engineering management positions at Cadence, Verisity, Synopsys, and Mentor Graphics. He specializes in creating product and marketing plans to enter markets and drive products to positions of market leadership. Steve earned BSEE and MSEE degrees from Oregon State University and certificates in leadership and marketing strategy at Stanford, Berkeley, Harvard, Kellogg, and Wharton.






Update: Synopsys Expands DesignWare IP Portfolio with Acquisition of Sidense Corporation (Oct. 17, 2017)

Ottawa, Canada  (January 21, 2016) - Sidense Corp., a leading developer of Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) One Time Programmable (OTP) IP cores, today announced that Ken Wagner has joined Sidense as the Companys Senior Vice President of Engineering. Ken will be reporting to Sidense President and CEO Xerxes Wania and will assume responsibility for all of Sidense's engineering activities.

"We are very pleased to have Ken join the Sidense team and help shape the next exciting chapter in Sidense's continued growth," said Sidense President and CEO Xerxes Wania. "Ken brings considerable depth in terms of semiconductor development, engineering management, and executive management expertise that spans a broad range of technologies, products, and markets."

Dr. Ken Wagner has over 25 years of experience in electronic systems as a hardware and embedded software engineer, researcher and senior manager in Silicon Valley, New York and Canada. Ken has held senior management positions for companies such as IBM, Stream Machine, Siemens, S3 and Synopsys, working in processor, storage, telecom, video and imaging domains.

Most recently, Ken was Vice-President of Engineering for the Communication Products Division at PMC-Sierra, leading R&D teams in Canada, the U.S., Israel and India. He also held the title of Distinguished Engineer and led PMC's low-power initiatives. From 2000 to 2006 Ken was Director of Design Services at PMC-Sierra. Ken is an expert in design, verification, and implementation methodologies, leading to over 60 tape-outs of PMC telecom and storage ASICs and standard products.

Previously, Ken worked as Design and DFT Director for several Silicon Valley fabless IC startups designing video, graphics and imaging devices. At Synopsys, he managed software CAD development. At IBM, he was a Senior Engineer in EDA, consulting worldwide for IBM product development. Early in his career he designed mainframes at Amdahl.

Ken holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University and B.Eng. from McGill University in Montreal. He is an Adjunct Professor at McGill University, is a Past Editor-In-Chief of IEEE Design & Test magazine, and is a Golden Core/Senior Member of the IEEE Computer Society & Circuits and Systems Society. He holds multiple patents from his employers including a First Plateau Patent award from IBM Corporation. Ken spent 1992 as an AAAS/IEEE Congressional Science Fellow in Washington, DC.

"Joining Sidense is an extremely exciting opportunity and I look forward to contributing to their excellent engineering team and their innovative memory IP portfolio," said Ken Wagner, Sidense Senior VP of Engineering. "As embedded memory and security assume an increasingly important role in our interconnected world, Sidense will continue its substantial growth as the industry leader in reliable, secure, and power-efficient memory IP for all key market segments."

About Sidense Corp.

Sidense Corp. provides very dense, highly reliable and secure non-volatile one-time programmable (OTP) Logic Non-Volatile Memory (LNVM) IP for use in standard-logic CMOS processes. The Company, with over 120 patents granted or pending, licenses OTP memory IP based on its innovative one-transistor 1T-Fuse bit cell, which does not require extra masks or process steps to manufacture. Sidense 1T-OTP macros provide a better field-programmable, reliable and cost-effective solution than flash, mask ROM, eFuse and other embedded and off-chip NVM technologies for many code storage, encryption key, analog trimming and device configuration uses.

Over 150 companies, including many of the top fabless semiconductor manufacturers and IDMs, have adopted Sidense 1T-OTP as their NVM solution for more than 500 designs. Customers are realizing outstanding savings in solution cost and power consumption along with better security and reliability for applications ranging from mobile and consumer devices to high-temperature, high-reliability automotive and industrial electronics. The IP is offered at and supported by all top-tier semiconductor foundries and selected IDMs. Sidense is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada with sales offices worldwide. For more information, please visit www.sidense.com.






17 Unknown Facts About 'The Heroine Of The Hijack' Neerja Bhanot!
Millicoms Tigo Paraguay has commissioned a new data centre from Flexenclosure to be built in Paraguay.

The deal marks Flexenclosures first foray into Latin America, and the data centre  scheduled to go live in April - will be the first professional colocation facility in the country. It will be located in Paraguays capital Asuncion.

Millicom has adopted a unique hybrid construction, including a traditional bricks and mortar office building combined with Flexenclosures prefabricated eCentre data centre modules, thereby reducing time to deliver the new facility and maintaining the quality and reliability of the new data centre. The eCentre modules have been completed at Flexenclosures factory in Vara, Sweden, and the modules are currently being transported to Paraguay.

Tigo Paraguay plans to expand into business services such as co-location and cloud services to support its business clients by delivering enhanced resiliency and reliability of the Tigo network as well as expanded customer services.

Recent natural disasters in Paraguay have highlighted the importance of having a world class data centre in the country which can guarantee a very high uptime (999.982%). This positions Tigo Paraguay strongly as the partner of choice for enterprises looking for reliable primary IT production sites or back up disaster recovery sites.

The new data centre will also become the central primary site of the Tigos network in Paraguay, providing a strong platform on which to support the highest quality network with minimal interruption for all customers.

Juan Emilio Roa, Paraguay Tigo Business Director said: We see significant opportunities to drive the development of the co-location and cloud services market in Paraguay and need a high quality data centre facility that we can easily and efficiently expand as our business grows. The production quality, guaranteed delivery time and product flexibility were all important factors in our decision and were confident that this data centre will serve the needs of our growing corporate clients.
Satellite CSP SpeedCast has signed an agreement with O3b Networks to deliver state-of-the-art O3b satellite connectivity in Papua New Guinea (PNG).

The service will enable high throughput, low latency broadband service for enterprise and consumer customers. SpeedCast operates the new O3b service in the city of Lae, which is the second O3b terminal deployed by the SpeedCast Group in PNG, and the sixth overall.

The operator will provide carrier-grade access between the core network and global internet backbone, by using the global networks of international POPs, regional gateways and local satellite access of both O3b Networks and SpeedCast. Local ISP MyNet will rollout a low latency, citywide WiFi distribution in Lae using the new service.

To ensure maximum efficiency and seamless operation, SpeedCast will support the project by integrating its value-adding services, including bandwidth acceleration, QoS, application filtering and network monitoring & support.

O3bs Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellites orbit at 8,062km above the Earth and have a latency of less than 150ms25% that of the geostationary (GEO) satellite systems connecting PNG. The switch to the lower latency, higher throughput O3b, rivalling long-haul fibre, will support new data-rich services and consumer applications for the communities in and around Lae.

Pierre-Jean Beylier, CEO of SpeedCast, said Extending the reach of this low latency international connectivity via the wireless network around Lae, we expect the business community will find a significant improvement over the satellite connectivity theyre accustomed to."
The unexpectedly high bids in Thailands recent round of spectrum auctions will partially fund a nationwide broadband network, the government has revealed.

After the last round of bidding for spectrum raised a record THB232.66 billion ($6.4 billion), the government has proposed an ambitious plan to connect all of the nations 70,000 villages with low-cost internet access with a speed of at least 30Mb/s. The project would also require some of the regulator NBTCs universal service obligation (USO) fund, which has already been used to deliver broadband access to 7,000 villages.

State-owned operators CAT Telecom and TOT are being called upon to deliver last-mile wireless access to bring these remote villages online. The project is being overseen by the NBTC along with the ICT Ministry; the total allotted budget is THB38 billion ($1.05 billion), of which the auction windfall will provide THB20 billion ($550 million), while the remaining THB18 billion will come from the USO.

ICT Minister Uttama Savanyana announced the project, and also set out the ambitious timeframe for deploying fixed and wireless broadband to all of the countrys villages  the initiative is intended to be complete in just one year. While 27,000 villages are already connected, the project aims to upgrade both the speed and quality of these existing connections.

Thailands average broadband speed currently sits at around 7.4Mb/s, according to 2015s State of the Internet report conducted by CDN provider Akamai. This placed it 45th globally and 8th of 15 Asia countries. For comparison, global leader South Koreas average speed was 23.6Mb/s.
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by Kathleen Gilbert BEIJING, September 7, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com)  Escaped Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng is leading international opponents of forced abortion in calling upon the worlds largest company to end compliance with the Chinas one-child policy. Family planning police have targeted employees (569)

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Church Militant, we need to band together to protect our religious liberties and win the culture war!
In a description of a video produced by Microsoft China to explain Continuum, it mentions a phone called Lumia Phone X, which may be the Surface Phone

Microsoft may have accidently revealed that it is working on a phone called the Lumia Phone X, which may be the Surface Phone. The rumour comes from the description of a video produced by Microsoft China to explain the Continuum feature. The description mentions the phones which support the feature, and named the Microsoft Lumia 950/XL, Acer Jade Primo, and Lumia Phone X.

The company later edited the description to remove the reference to the Lumia Phone X, which could mean that the phone is legitimate and the company is trying to cover it up. It is also possible that the device is not the Surface Phone, but rather a yet-to-be-numbered Lumia phone.

Last Month, Chris Capossela, the Chief Marketing Office at Microsoft, said in a interview that the company is working on a breakthrough phone, which could be the Surface Phone. He said that the company is working on a device which would be the spiritual equivalent of the Surface. However, he added that the device would take time to build.

However, rumours say that Microsoft may only release one Lumia branded phone this year. It has been suggested that Microsoft may launch the Lumia 650 on February 1 and that it could be the only phone to be launched by the company in 2016. However, HP may launch a high-end Windows Phone powered device by the end of the year. Leaked GFXBench screenshots suggest that the phone, called HP Falcon, will have a 5.8-inch display with a resolution of 1440 x 2560 pixels and will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 SoC. It has been tipped to come with a 20MP camera at the back with a 12MP front facing camera. Rumours suggest that the company may launch the device at the Mobile World Congress scheduled to be held in Barcelona in February 2016. If this is true, then the HP Falcon could be one the most powerful Windows-powered smartphones at present. It will also be one of the first phones to be powered by Qualcomms new flagship processor.
Customers can get a free upgrade to 4G-ready SIMs from Vodafone stores in Delhi-NCR, and will also get free 1GB 4G data when the service is launched in the circle.

Vodafone has announced that it is making 4G-ready SIMs available to its customers in Delhi-NCR. These are being made available before the commercial launch of the service in the Delhi-NCR circle. The company has also stated that a formal announcement regarding the launch will be made soon. Customers can go to any Vodafone Store in Delhi-NCR, and upgrade to a 4G-ready SIM card for free.

In addition, Vodafone announced that the customers who get these SIMs will get complementary 1GB of 4G data at the time of launch. To get free internet, customers will have to send GO4G to 199. To avail 4G services, customers will need to have a 4G-enabled handset as well as a 4G-ready SIM card.

Vodafone is also making arrangements for the home delivery of 4G-ready SIMs for its premium, high-value customers in Delhi-NCR. It said that a formal communication is being sent out to all these customers with details of the initiative. Vodafone claims that it has successfully tested its 4G services on its network, and has modernised its existing network by incorporating the latest advances in technology. Vodafone has already launched high speed 4G services in Kerala and Mysore in Karnataka, and plans to roll out 4G services in all major metros like Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru by March 2016.

Apoorva Mehrotra, Business Head-Delhi & NCR, Vodafone India stated, Before we step into the next generation of telecommunications, we want to make the transition to 4G to be smooth and seamless for our 10 million customers in Delhi & NCR. We want them to be 4G-ready so that they can start experiencing the benefits of high speed mobile internet services as soon as they are launched commercially. Hence, this facility to upgrade to 4G-ready SIMs in advance. We are excited and fully geared up to launch our 4G services on the superior 1800 MHz band in Delhi & NCR very soon.

Vodafone isn't the only telecom operator to offer 4G services in India. Airtel is already offering 4G services across India while Reliance Jio launched its services last month. Reliance Jio will also be launching 4G capable handsets under the 'LYF' brand.
Exane painted a doom-laden picture for traditional European clothing retailers in the next few years, as Amazon stands on the cusp of becoming a top-10 clothing retailer in the US with Europe next in its sights.

With a nod to George Lucas' interstellar series, Exane entitled its note "Clothing Wars - Amazon: The force awakens" and said the consumer journey is set for another revolution as clothes shopping gravitates further online, with search and social media platforms also looking to muscle in along with the e-commerce giants.

Examining the impact on the "disruptors that risk being disrupted" as Amazon's thrust into clothing sales accelerates the structural trend towards on-line, Exane argued that "being an aggregator is no longer enough", success demands something different like a niche or identity.

That is seen in Asos and Yoox Net-A-Porter (YNAP) but less so at Zalando, but implications not limited to the online clothing retailers, with "reasons for longer-term caution for both Marks & Spencer and Next".

Built as a fashion destination, Asos offers consumers content, advice and inspiration that the likes of Amazon cant match, Exane said, affixing an 'outperform' rating on the London-listed e-retailer.

"It offers product that others cant match, most notably its crucial own-brand. It is a far broader destination than just a transactional platform. ASOS benefitted when Zalando threw marketing spend into Germany and drove consumer awareness. We expect the same to happen with Amazon."

Germany's Zalando, on the other hand, is a transactional platform, targeting the mass-market consumer with a model inspired by US etailer Zappos.

"With a new competitive threat on the horizon, we fear market share progress could prove tougher and more expensive than experienced to date, weighing on the margin profile of the group."

The shares were given an 'underperform' rating.

Like Asos, Milan-listed YNAP also looks "relatively well shielded" from disruption, the broker added, but only given a 'neutral' recommendation.

"After many attempts Amazon does not seem to be pursuing its growth in off-season as aggressively, and the Net-A-Porter offer shares many of the same characteristics as ASOS. Nonetheless, premium valuation and near-term execution risk leave risk/reward looking balanced."

However, the implications were not limited to the online clothing retailers, an acceleration of online clothing spend was set to heighten the structural pressures on multi-channel retailers, particularly those with inflexible cost-bases and an absence of self-help drivers.

M&S was favoured in the short-term due to its self-help measures and cash returns, over the structural risks, greater online exposure and lower potential for self-help at Next.
Analysts at Credit Suisse reshuffled their deck of top outperformers and underperformers on Thursday.

In its report, the broker summarised analysts' most and least favoured stocks in each sector, which were usually limited to 20% of each ones coverage universe.

The Swiss broker added 18 new top picks (13 Outperforms, 5 Underperforms) and dropped another 24.

Travis Perkins, Whitbread, Imperial Tobacco and shares of safety, health and environmental technology group Halma were the London-listed stocks selected to join the ranks of the former.

The reasons for buying shares in the homebuilder were two-fold, cyclical and structural.

Firstly, the group had broad exposure to all the end markets, Credit Suisse said.

"We see it very much as a proxy for total UK construction activity where we expect decent midterm growth. We also cite TPK as our preferred way to play the Government's desire to materially increase UK housebuilding output."

In structural terms, it was midway through a material investment program launched in 2013 to reinforce its dominant market position and ability to take market share.

Whitbread joined Carnival as one of two top picks in Travel&Leisure.

It is a high conviction pick for 2016. At its heart, Whitbread is a roll-out story with a 2015-20E space CAGR of 7% for Premier Inn and 8% for Costa, analysts Tim Ramskill, Ed Birkin and Julia Pennington said.

Regarding Imperial Tobacco, analysts Charlie Mills, Sanjeet Aujla and Molly Eggleton said: Tobacco stocks look cheap relative to consumer staples, and none more so than Imperial Tobacco. The trading background on tobacco is improving most notably in the developed world and the EU in particular.

Lastly, management at Halma had a target of doubling the companys profit over a five-year period (or by 2019) driven by both organic growth and M&A, the broker explained.
European stocks recovered a tad of their recent losses on Thursday, bouncing back after the heavy losses inflicted during the previous session, after European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi sounded a dovish note and a top Chinese official said weakness in the Yuan was not in the country's best interests.

The benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 index was up 1.61%, Germanys DAX was 1.94% firmer and Frances CAC 40 was up by another 1.97%.

Following the previous session's carnage in markets, some pundits suggested that investors might have 'thrown in the towel' on Wednesday - in what many term a 'capitulation' - which might set the stage for at least a short-term bounce.

Nonetheless, and despite the positive tone, there were also many market analysts who remained sceptical.

Any rallies in equity markets this year have been very short-lived and seized upon by investors as an opportunity to exit long positions or short the market, said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda.

Given how gains today are dwarfed by Wednesdays declines, I see little reason to believe this is going to be anything other than a dead cat bounce. The market looks very bearish right now and confidence has been shattered by the repeated large sell-offs.

Meanwhile, SpreadCo analyst David Morrison said: At the time of writing, all the major indices are in positive territory. On the face of it this is quite encouraging, particularly as crude is still trading near its 2003 lows. But once again, what looks like the beginning of a recovery in equities could easily turn out to be nothing more than a dead-cat bounce.

At the press conference following the European Central Banks rate announcement, Mario Draghi said euro area rate-setters might revisit their policy settings when they next met, in early March.

"He went further than we expected and we now believe that the new package that we predicted for June could be presented in March, including another depo rate cut and an adjustment of QE, but it will likely depend on developments between now and March," economists at Barclays said in a research note sent to clients.

Speaking earlier in the day, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, Fang Xinghai, the vice-chairman of China's securities regulator, said there was no "basis" for China to desire a weaker currency.

Currency depreciation is not in the interest of China. Its not good for domestic consumption," he said.

In corporate news, education publisher Pearson surged to the top of the FTSE 100 despite warning over profits, as investors welcomed the companys new restructuring programme.

Elsewhere, Deutsche Bank fell sharply after saying it expects to post a 2015 net loss of around 6.7bn on the back of writedowns and litigation charges.

Meanwhile, oil prices bounced back too despite weekly US oil stockpile figures showing a 4.0m barrel build, possibly due to oversold conditions in the market.

As of 17:21GMT front month Brent crude futures jumped 5.81% to $29.60 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate up by another 5.4%.

Economic data released Stateside was mixed, with the latest weekly unemployment claims figures coming in ahead of economists' estimates but not by a wide margin. In parallel, the closely-followed Philly Fed index appeared to point to a stabilisation in the sector.
Automobile production in the UK has risen to a 10-year high in 2015, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

In a scheduled data release on Thursday, the industry body noted production growth of almost 4% for last year on an annualised basis, with 1.6m cars manufactured.

Around 80% of those were exported, with the SMMT reporting export growth of 11% to Europe. However, exports to Russia tumbled 69%, while deliveries to China also fell by nearly 40%.

SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said: "Despite export challenges in some key markets such as Russia and China, foreign demand for British-built cars has been strong, reaching record export levels in the past year.

"Europe is our biggest trading partner and the UK's membership of the European Union is vital for the automotive sector in order to secure future growth and jobs."
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What (can) happen when you put an unscrupulous Ecuadorian and an unscrupulous Gringo together doing business? A lot of things can happen. Heres the latest. BTW, some of you may have already dealt with these two buffoons and youll know right away, who we are talking about.

Cuenca Ecuador - Tomebamba River

We went to go see an unfurnished apartment that was listed online, as a fifth floor, brand new apartment with great views and a huge terrazza for $550. Now understand, we saw the photos of the apartment.



So we get out there and they proceed to show us an apartment but it was not the one they had listed online. We said to the two guys, this is not the apartment you have listed for $550 dollars. They just blankly stared at us. We said again, This is not the same apartment we saw in the photos.



The now frustrated 40ish year old Ecuadorian RE agent begins to put the blame on the 70ish year old something gringo agent, saying Did you get the photos mixed up, again?

The gringo apologized to his Ecuadorian partner for the mistake. The Ecuadorian scolded the older gringo over and over again (in front of us) for posting the wrong photos. It was like a scene from the three Stooges with Curly and Moe, which one was Curly and which one was Moe is not yet apparent.



We could see right through the good guy, bad guy charade they were playing right in front of usand they played this sham for as long as they thought they could get away with it. We were not interested in the ground floor apartment at all and we were getting ready to walk when



the Ecuadorian gave us a big smile and piped up with I know what you want, come on, Ill show it to you. So we all get into the elevator (now remember, this is considered a luxury apartment building and five people cant fit in the elevator comfortably) to the top floor penthouse unit. When we walked in we knew that this was the apartment we saw online. We right away said, This is the apartment we saw in the photos.



The Ecuadorian said, But this unit is not going to be $550. How come did we already know he was going to say that?

At this point the obvious was made quite apparent; we knew we were in the middle of a bait and switch. Frank and I talked quietly amongst ourselves about what we were going to do next. For now we decided to just play along.



Meanwhile about this time, after she had walked through the apartment, the expat woman renter came to us with love in her eyes because she told us, Im in love with this apartment. What is it with gringos and views? Now, had she not cared about the apartment we would have walked already. Sure, the views were incredible but there was nothing special about the apartment. And well, all views in Cuenca are incredible.



The two guys noticed the expat lady loving the apartment and they loved every minute of watching her go gaga over the huge terraza and the views. Again the Ecuadorian said, This apartment is not $550 dollars.



Ok, how much is it? Its $850 dollars.



In the meantime we are becoming more annoyed at being suckered in on this bait and switch. Frank of course was not going to allow these two dodgy guys (and thats nice way to put it for these guys) to get away with their unscrupulous dealings without letting them know he was on to them.



Frank looked right at the English speaking Ecuadorian and said, This looks really bad on you and doing business like this will give you a bad reputation in the city of Cuenca. The Ecuadorian nodded his head and seemed to agree and continued to blame the gringo agent. As long as the blame was not centered on him, all was okayoh, you should have been thereIt was comical.



The expat took us aside and let us know she would pay $750 rent for the apartment if everything was included. She was not coy about it or quiet either; we were sure she was overheard because it was just a few minutes later when the gringo piped up and said, They might go $750. How funny.



So, thats what we offered with everything included. The Ecuadorian said, Ok, let me call the owner and see what she says.

The Ecuadorian leaves the room to go make the call to the owner of the apartment.



After about five minutes, the Ecuadorian comes back and says, Yes, she said she will take $750 and that includes everything, utilities and aliquot and she will put a refrigerator in.



The expat lady we were helping says, Ok, what about my little four pound doggie?



Yes, she said your dog is okay too.



Ok, I want to give you a deposit to hold the apartment?



The Ecuadorian put his hands up and backed up slightly, shaking his head and said, Oh no, thats okay, tomorrow you can meet with the landlord and work out the deposit. and "don't worry, everything will be ok". Always worry when you hear, "don't worry".

We knew something was fishy. What kind of a rental agent is not going to take a deposit to hold an apartment? It just doesnt happen...very fishy



So the next day, at the scheduled time we show up at the apartment, ready and willing to pay a deposit and look over the contract. The landlord is there, the expat renter is there and were there.



So, first we find out that the owner is not really the owner after all, it is her brother and hes in the states. So, we are dealing with the sister. To make a long story short, the sister who is assisting her brother was hemming and hawing about the small four pound dog and making all kinds of excuses about why she still needs to talk with her brother about renting the apartment at $750 and if the dog would be ok.



In the meantime, we realized we were being strung along and that they were waiting for another gringo to show up (because theyve been getting calls left and right about this penthouse apartment) and pay the $850 they were asking, or possibly more, thinking if a gringo likes it enough they might spend $1000 a month for this 2/2 unfurnished penthouse apartment. Theyd just do the bait and switch game on them too.



The Ecuadorian didnt know that Frank understands Spanish and consequently Frank overheard him quietly tell the lady in Spanish, I have other gringos that want to see the apartment. And after she heard that she came back to us and said, Ill talk with my brother and get back with you.



That was three weeks ago. Apparently no gringos have offered to pay more than the $750 because the apartment is back online again with an asking price of $750! They obviously are not going to call us, since they know we are onto them and know they are shadier than Alaska during the wintertime.







We share this with you today to make people aware of whats happening in Cuenca Ecuador. The reality is the rental market in Cuenca is saturated with rental agents, however most of them are honest enough, and if they are not, we quickly let them know were on to them; but once in awhile we run across a couple of punks like this and of course, we simply stop doing business with them. What else can you do? So in a nutshell, the two stooges, Curly and Moe continue to do business unethically in Cuenca Ecuador, shamming unsuspecting new gringo arrivals. This is a clear-cut bait and switch to be aware of in Cuenca Ecuador. One guy kept saying, don't worry everything will be ok, and they both said dog ok all along. Then they said, talk to the owner, which then turns out to not be the owner, and turns out that dog is not ok. You will be spun around like this and your time wasted. Having someone on your side makes it much less stressful. Think about it.We share this with you today to make people aware of whats happening in Cuenca Ecuador. The reality is the rental market in Cuenca is saturated with rental agents, however most of them are honest enough, and if they are not, we quickly let them know were on to them; but once in awhile we run across a couple of punks like this and of course, we simply stop doing business with them. What else can you do?

In Ecuador you are not allowed to publish names and harm someones (already bad) reputation, even though they are harming peoples lives. We will never use these guys again and we feel bad for anyone who accidentally does.

Until we write again.



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Ohio statewide, congressional candidates disputed 2020 election

U.S. Senate candidate J.D. Vance is among a slate of Ohio officials who cast doubt on the 2020 election results amid false claims of systemic fraud.
Audi's labour boss criticises plan to make e-tron Quattro in Belgium

Audi's labour boss has criticised the company's plans to focus production of the brand's first mass-produced electric model outside its German home market.

Audi, the luxury division of Volkswagen (VW), had on 20 January said the e-tron Quattro sport-utility vehicle (SUV) would from 2018 be assembled at a plant in Brussels, Belgium, together with batteries that would also be used in other VW group electric models.

The plan forms part of a reshuffle at Audi under which production of the A1 sub-compact would be shifted from Brussels to the Spanish plant of VW's Seat unit and the Q3 compact SUV from Spain to an Audi factory in Hungary.

According to Audi, the move would make Brussels, one of its smallest factories employing about 2,500 workers, a "key factory for electric mobility within the Volkswagen group."

Peter Mosch, the carmaker's top labour representative who also sat on the supervisory boards of Audi and parent VW, criticised the decision.

"What's beyond doubt is that our German plants are the strongest pillars of our success," Mosch said. "Our expertise in development is based here (in Germany) and should stay here. The production of electric models must be driven forward here too."

The models that would be shuffled around include the Audi Q7 and A1, currently being built in the Belgian plant, both of which would be shifted to Spain.

The Audi Q3 is being currently built at the Spanish plant and production for that would shift to Hungary. According to Audi, this movement of models would preserve workforce integrity even as it made way for the new SUV EV, which itself would fit between the large Audi Q7 and the midsize Audi Q5 and according to commentators that model designation could be designated Audi Q6 e-tron.

The e-tron SUV debuted at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2015. The all-electric car is powered by three electric motors, which would have a range of over 311 miles per charge (500 kilometers).


Iran's foreign minister says Saudi Arabia is "panicking" over the potential for reduced tensions between Tehran and the West, that he is happy for the families of Americans previously imprisoned in Iran, and that the US is "addicted" to sanctions. "We do not have a fight to pick with Saudi Arabia," Javad Zarif told CNN in an interview. "We believe that Iran and Saudi Arabia can be two important players who can accommodate each other, who can complement each other, in the region. "Unfortunately, the Saudis have had the illusion that backed by their Western allies, they could push Iran out of the equation in the region." Zarif said that the alliance between Saudi Arabia and Western nations, and the tension between those nations and Iran, provided a "smokescreen" that allowed Saudi Arabia to "export this Wahhabi ideology of extremism." (Wahhabism is the branch of orthodox Sunni Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia.) Hopes for relations between Iran and the West are high after last weekend's implementation of a hard-won deal, agreed to last July, to swap relief of sanctions on Iran for guarantees about the peaceful nature of its nuclear programme. The foreign minister emphasized, as he did in an op-ed for The New York Times earlier this month, that 15 of the 19 hijackers of 11 September were Saudis, and blamed the "Wahhabi ideology" for much of the violent extremism now seen in the region and indeed in the West. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Tuesday that his country was deeply sceptical of the Iran nuclear deal. "We don't have confidence in Iran," he said. "We have confidence in the United States." Long-simmering tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia have been on the rise recently. Since last year, the two have been fighting a proxy war of sorts over Yemen, where Saudi Arabia has intervened. But the problems really flared just after the new year, when Saudi Arabia executed 47 people, including a prominent Shiite cleric, Nimr-al-Nimr. The Iranian government expressed indignation, and protesters in Tehran attacked the Saudi Arabian Embassy. Six Middle Eastern nations decried Iran's failure to protect the embassy, and Saudi Arabia cut off diplomatic relations. Days later, Iran accused Saudi Arabia of intentionally striking its embassy in Yemen. Zarif told CNN, "We don't expect, or we're not interested even, in pushing Saudi Arabia out of this region, because Saudi Arabia is an important player in this region. "We were always in the community of nations. Now their allies have recognized that Iran is a serious partner."










Lt. Col. (ret) James Burch (J. B.) Daughtry, age 107, of Dothan/Enterprise, passed away peacefully at Enterprise Hospital on January 18, 2016, following a short illness. He had resided and been cared for at the home of his niece, Carol and Bill Rice, for the past 3 years. JB was born December 28, 1908, in Wauchula, FL in Hardee County, to the late Wilburn and Gypsie Daughtry. He spent his early years in Geneva County where he worked for the US Post Office under his sister, the postmaster in Geneva, and served as a teacher at Leonia, Florida before joining the Alabama National Guard in Geneva, Alabama. As a member of the artillery, his troop loaded the horses and cannons on trains to transport to training sites. He later joined the army and then the Army Air Corps, which became the Air Force. On duty, he spent time in the Panama Canal Zone, in Newfoundland, and in Germany, to name a few of his posts. JB was an avid family historian and enjoyed telling family stories to his eager listeners. Some of the favorites included stories from his Grandfather who fought in the Civil War and who gifted first-hand stories through JB. He was predeceased by his parents, his wife, Bessie Miller Daughtry, seven brothers and five sisters. Survivors include his wife of 21 years, Tura Hicks Hamm Daughtry, step children Coleman Hamm, Jr. (Jill) of Hartford, Maryann Hidle (Dennis) of Slocomb, and Phil Hamm, II of Dothan. Nephews are Bill (Pat) Eubanks, Decatur; Bob Daughtry,Ohio; James (Ann) Daughtry, Atlanta; Jerry Jerome Miller (Caroline), Destin, Florida. Surviving nieces are Carol Rice (Bill), Enterprise; Janet Daughtry Nantz(Jack), Atlanta; Dianne Daughtry, Fairhope, AL; Margeroy Daughtry, So. Carolina; Pat (Clarance)Adams, Atlanta; Joyce Miller Sadler, Ft. Walton Beach, and Ann Miller, Destin, FL. He leaves numerous step grands, great grands and great nieces and nephews to cherish his memory. Special thanks to Tracy Brown, Lynne Dauble, and Janet Berry for their loving care. JB requested no funeral services, but a toast to his memory, instead. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to his cherished Pondtown Methodist Church in Hartford, Alabama. He will be missed by many. Robert Byrd of Sunset Memorial Park Funeral Home 334-983-6604 www.SunsetMemorialPark.com. Sign the guest book at www.dothaneagle.com
His best friend was Australian actor Errol Flynn and, when together, the pair did not lead a very G-rated life (Flynn wanted to call his autobiography In Like Me). However, space requires us to concentrate at least a little on McEvoy's motoring exploits, which included races in Maserati 1500s and possibly an early Jaguar SS.
Irish mother of three Bronagh Catibusic has just returned home from Croatia where she spent two weeks volunteering in a refugee camp in the eastern town of Slavonski Brod.

This camp is a transit centre for people fleeing conflict who are making the arduous trek along the so-called 'Balkan route'. An average of between 2,000 and 4,000 people passed through the camp each day on a journey that can take people weeks and sometimes months.

Bronagh was particularly struck by the high proportion of children, including very small babies, among the arrivals. She met many families with five or more children. There were also many pregnant women  during the course of her work in the camp last Saturday alone Bronagh met three. Some women are up to eight months pregnant. People tended to travel in extended family groups, elderly and disabled people were pushed in wheelchairs by their relatives.

Despite this Bronagh says their spirit and dignity, under such adverse conditions, was truly humbling. They were willing to undertake this harsh and risky journey into the unknown because their lives in Syria and Afghanistan had become completely impossible.

The excitement of the children about receiving a banana or a snack sends ripples of joy through the crowd, she said. A mums delight when a pair of scruffy runners fits her little son. Volunteers from Croatia and across Europe waving goodbye as the train leaves heading towards Germany or wherever their ultimate destination may lie. Thank you! voices shout from open windows.

Bronagh Catibusic lives near Dundalk with her Bosnina husband Mirza and her three daughters, Ayumi (15), Selma (13) and Leyla (8). Bronagh Catibusic has a PhD in Applied Linguistics and works as a researcher and lecturer in English language teaching and intercultural education. She met her husband Mirza, who came to Ireland as a medical evacuee from Bosnia, while she was involved with Bosnian refugees in the 1990s.
Technology and tradition are continually battling it out as each fight for their place on the industrial landscape. We have Uber vs taxis, Airbnb vs hotels and now even home chefs vs restaurants. Accomplished entrepreneur, Taryn Williams, has a very different outlook on the infiltration of technology into the status quo  so alternative that after growing her model agency, Wink Models, to an annual turnover of $4 million, she has been prepared to press the disrupt button on her own industry with the introduction of her digital marketplace, theright.fit.

Starting her modelling career at the age of 15, Taryn quickly found herself travelling the world and experiencing the many facets of the industry. From working client side as a photographic to event production, Taryn enjoyed the ultimate industry internship.

Taryn said with experience on both sides of the camera I saw an opportunity to create a positive change in an industry I loved. The biggest motivator to start my own business was improving conditions for models and creating a better workflow between talent and clients.

Subsequently, Wink Models was born.

Technology is no longer an enabler, it is a creator of opportunities

Recognising that its not an easy business in which to maintain a level head, Wink models was introduced in 2007 as the humble, down-to-earth alternative to other agencies. Taryn believes it has been the preservation of this ethos that has accelerated the business to its leading position over the past eight years.

Highly profitable and enjoying a prominent market position, most business owners might be inclined to espouse the old adage: if it aint broke, dont fix it. But not Taryn. Taryn says technology advances are infiltrating every industry. Technology is no longer an enabler, it is a creator of opportunities.

When I started Wink it was because I identified a gap in the market for change and a way of doing things better. Theright.fit is built on the same principle.

Theright.fit allows models who dont already have representation to create an online professional profile. From here they will have direct access to jobs with the ability to control where and when they work, as well as knowing how much they will be paid. On the other side of the fence, clients will have direct access to talent with the ability to set budgets and be guided by a talent rating system.

Two businesses that appear to be on opposing sides of the argument

By removing the middle man, Taryn certainly has her finger firmly on the disrupt button launching this new venture  but one burning question remains: in a climate where tech start-ups and traditional businesses continue to wrangle over their place in the market, how does a serial entrepreneur reconcile two businesses that appear to be on opposing sides of the argument? Taryns response is trend rebutting if not entirely practical:

Well definitely see a greater volume of work being managed in the digital space.

The industry is constantly growing and the reality is that there are plenty of models and talent out there who dont have representation.

There will always be clients who want a full service traditional agency, in the same way there are people who prefer hire cars or taxis over Uber, or hotels over Airbnb. The different platforms cater to the different ways people prefer to do business.

Agencies will continue to grow and thrive if they adapt to the changing market trends and needs.

There might be a lesson for the traditionalists and sceptics

Theright.fit may disrupt the status quo in an agency dominated industry; but reflected in her 5-year projection for Wink Models, Taryn certainly believes theres enough to go around. While its offices in Brisbane and Melbourne are expected to grow to the same size as Sydney, revenue forecasts are anticipating a 25 per cent increase, year-on-year.

Taryns aspirations for theright.fit, however extend far beyond its birth place. The 5-year plan will be to establish theright.fit as a global platform with talent in New York, LA, London and Paris as well as countries across Asia.

Well have transformed the industry and have a leading market share while building a great market community, she said.

If Taryns aspirations for both Wink Models and theright.fit become reality, there might be a lesson for the traditionalists and sceptics to pay heed to: their focus should shift away from criticising disruptive business models and recognise that technology  as it always has been  is indeed the creator of further opportunity. Will the taxi industry eventually find a way to coexist or even collaborate with Uber? Time will tell.


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TOWN OF LOCKPORT -- Three people were taken to Erie County Medical Center following a two-vehicle crash on Sunset Drive.According to the Niagara County Sheriff's Office, at approximately 10:31 a.m., a northbound 2015 GMC Pickup operated by Jessica Farley, 29, of Medina , crossed over into the south bound lane of travel, striking a southbound 2003 Pontiac, operated by Cheryl Harris, 58, of Newfane.Harris had to be extricated from the vehicle using the jaws of life. She suffered leg and possible internal injuries and was taken by ambulance to ECMC. Gilbert Harris, 60, a passenger in the Pontiac, was knocked unconscious and was also taken to ECMC for treatment of a head injury. Farley was taken by ambulance to ECMC for leg and arm injuries.Investigation is continuing by the Niagara County Sheriff's Office Accident Investigation Unit.
The EBRD supported the expansion of Mongolian ice-cream maker Teso with local currency lending and business advice.

Making ice-cream in Mongolia, where winters are very long and extremely cold, might not appear to be the most promising line of business for a successful firm.

In truth, Mongolians have been in love with ice-cream for a long time, some say for hundreds of years - since the Mongolian Empires horsemen rode through the freezing Gobi Desert carrying cream and later discovered it transformed into an ice-cold delicacy.

The recipe, it seems, spread to China and from there it reached Italy via that celebrated traveller and businessman, Marco Polo.

Centuries later, it took a family of seven siblings another journey and the same spirit of adventure to establish their own ice-cream company.

The EBRD and the donors of the Early Transition Countries Fund are supporting Teso, a Mongolian private sector champion who started with a small ice-cream production and today provides jobs to over 1000 people. More videos

When in the late 1990s Damjin Odon, his sisters and brothers left behind agricultural trading in their remote village of Western Mongolia for Ulaanbaatar, all they had was a second-hand ice-cream machine in a small rented room - and many challenges.

During that time, some of my siblings were students working as part-time salespeople, accountants and distributors, recalled Mr Odon, Board Chairman of conglomerate Teso, now one of the countrys top enterprises, active in many sectors beyond food manufacturing.

The company is directed by Mr Odons sister, Narankhuu, and promotes the role of female employees, which has resulted in a high percentage of women in senior management positions.

However, a solid business cannot rely on strong entrepreneurship and hard work alone. To keep up with the competition, grow and expand, it needs available finance, something EBRD studies show local business people in Mongolia need more of. The shortage is a real obstacle to their development.

To boost private sector champions in countries at the early stages of transition to market economies, the EBRD provides comparatively small- scale direct financing to medium and larger-sized local enterprises.

Such funding fills a financial gap and temporarily compensates for the constraints of the local banking sector due to risk, size or type of financing required.

Given Tesos sound reputation and the management skills of the Odon family, the EBRD backed their plan to improve their products quality and introduce new technologies.

With the support of the Early Transition Countries (ETC) Fund*, the EBRD helped the company improve its accounting through business advice and provided a US$ 5.5 million-equivalent loan in local currency.

This helped Teso to purchase new equipment and install a new production line for higher quality ice-cream.

This was the EBRDs first corporate loan in Mongolia denominated in local currency. It was possible thanks to the EBRDs local currency lending programme in the ETCs, which is underpinned by a donor-funded risk-sharing facility.

This EBRD long-term, soft loan in local currency supports our sustainable growth and provides us with an opportunity to invest in future business development, said Mr Odon.

Today we employ over a thousand people in various industries thanks to our staffs effort, commitment, but also thanks to the support of international and local business partners and investors.

A taste of happiness, reads Tesos ice-cream packaging. After years of dedication thats what Tesos success tastes like to both its employees and the Odon family.

*Donors to the ETC Fund are: Canada, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taipei China and the United Kingdom
On Tuesday, protesters at the #FlintWaterCrisis protest in front of Lansing City Hall left the protest and headed over to the Capitol Building where they spent over two hours chanting and singing and and demanding action to fix the poisoning of Flints drinking water. After the protest, they left behind a reminder they had been there: scrawled Arrest Snyder and Water is A Human Right graffiti.

Photos of the desecration can be viewed HERE and HERE.

A manhunt is now in progress to locate the perpetrators. John Truscott  a Republican public relations consultant and the former Director of Communications and Press Secretary for Gov. John Engler  is heading up the search for the villains who have defaced the sacred place so that they can be brought to justice. Truscott is Vice Chair of the Michigan State Capitol Commission. He told MLive that the damage, sadly, may be permanent, an eternal scar on the the states most important edifice, tweeting that the vile act caused significant damage.

Anybody has a right to come and say what they want, hold whatever signs they want, Truscott said. They dont have a right to do damage to the building.

Truscott took to Twitter to engage the wider community for answers:

Did anyone see which protesters were defacing the Capitol Building? Any photos or video would be appreciated.  johntruscott (@johntruscott) January 20, 2016

#MISOTS16 Protesters damage Capitol building. Assessment to be done tomorrow morning. MSP and media to be asked for video.  johntruscott (@johntruscott) January 20, 2016

What caused this irreparable devastation and destruction that has resulted in this desperate search?

Childrens chalk.

The editor of the Politics and Government page for The Detroit News, Richard Burr, asked the critical question on Twitter:

ALERT: Michigan Capitol Comm.'s @johntruscott reports damage 2 Capitol by protesters. Will state go after organizer @ProgressMich?  Richard Burr (@RichardBurr_DN) January 20, 2016

Since Progress Michigan was just one of a number of organizers that worked to organize the protest and since the protest that was organized didnt even include going to the State Capitol, its hard to see how they would have a case but its still very, very important to ask questions like this because, if you dont, people might think it was just come random person who wrote a few things in chalk that will be gone as soon as its washed off.

Hopefully, the criminals responsible for this heinous act will be brought to justice. This is far more important than to deal with the fact that the lives of Flints residents, including their children, may be permanently altered by the powerful neurotoxin in their drinking water.

Its easy to understand why the focus has shifted to the real crime of chalk graffiti on the Capitol Building. John Truscott is, like Bill Ballenger and others, a Flint Water Crisis Truther, someone who wants everyone to know that the poisoning of the drinking water in Flint is no big deal:

Why isn't @onetoughnerd talking about the actual test result? #FlintWaterCrisis the truth is not as bad as people think.  johntruscott (@johntruscott) January 17, 2016

Truscott astutely made the connection between the protesters in Lansing on Tuesday  who he calls professional paid protesters  and the protesters during the Right to Work protest rally at the Capitol Building in 2012, noting that they wore the same colored vests. Apparently, (a) only professional paid protesters are able to purchase fluorescent yellow safety vests and (b) these professional paid protesters should be ignored because they protest more than one of the outrageous actions of Michigan Republicans and Gov. Rick Snyder.

By the way, since I was there protesting, if anyone knows where I can pick up my paycheck, Id be very grateful. So far, all I got from that evening was a mild case of frostbite.

(To be clear, I do not advocate or endorse writing on the State Capitol Building with chalk. Thats just stupid. But permanent damage? Cmon. To quote Mr. Truscott, The truth is not as bad as people think.)
Everywhere anyone has written about the poisoning of Flints drinking water by the Snyder administration, there are inevitably a few Snyder defenders trying like Hell to pin this on the Flint City Council. As I have said before (repeatedly), this simply did not happen.

Former mayor Dayne Walling confirmed this in the interview I did with him when, discussing the City Council vote to join the the Karegnondi Water Authority (KWA), he said, There was no discussion of the river as an interim source.

Michigan Radios Lindsey Smith said it, too, in her recent piece of truly excellent journalism titled Reporters notebook: Some state officials still in denial or misinformed over Flint River decision:

Heres whats true about what the governors press folks are saying. Yes, Flint had an interest in joining the new Karegnondi Water Authority before Governor Rick Snyder was in office. Yes, Flint City Council voted on March 25, 2013 to join the Karegnondi Water Authority. This is why I wrote Once it was clear Flint could save millions of dollars a year with the new system, Flint got on board. But the governors press folks are either sorely misinformed or willfully blind to what happened after that vote. Months and months after dealing with us reporters picking apart this decision, they still dont get it. Im not breaking any news here. They should know this stuff by now. Nowhere in that vote or other votes did Flint City Council say, We support getting water from the Flint River.

And, today, the fine folks at Bridge Magazine spell it out in equally clear language:

The crisis timeline distributed to reporters and now available online states that in June 2013, City of Flint decides to use the Flint River as a water source, a phrasing similar to what the governor used in his State of the State speech, (Flint began to use water from the Flint River as an interim source) suggesting that the city, not the state, drove the interim decision to use the highly corrosive river water for city residents. Heres the problem with that: City officials did not make the decision to take water from the Flint River. There was never such a vote by the city council, which really didnt have the power to make such a decision anyway, because the city was then under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager. The councils vote in March 2013 was to switch water supply from Detroit to a new pipeline through the Karegnondi Water Authority  but the pipeline wasnt scheduled to be completed for at least three years. (And even that decision was given final approval not by the council, but by then-state Treasurer Andy Dillon, according to Snyder emails released Wednesday.)

So, NOW can we put this BS notion to rest that the blame for this rests with the Flint City Council? Please?

In other news, Congress is now calling for Gov. Snyder to testify before them:

A U.S. House committee is expected to hold a hearing Wednesday, Feb. 3, on the Flint water crisis and the governments response to high lead levels in drinking water there, U.S. Rep. Brenda Lawrences office said Thursday. And Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, who has apologized for the states handling of reports of high lead levels in Flints drinking water after it switched to the Flint River as its water source, is expected to be among those invited to testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

UPDATE: It turns out that Gov. Snyder has NOT been invited to appear before Congress. Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence wants him to appear but she has no power to make that happen since Democrats are in the minority in Congress.

Given how freaked out the Gov. appeared when he gave his State of the State address earlier this week, that particular testimony should be VERY interesting to watch. I suspect hell continue to throw others in his administration under the bus, people who are now gone like Treasurer Andy Dillon and DEQ chief Dan Wyant.

If the emails the governor released yesterday are any indication, and youll excuse me for being dubious, especially since he didnt release any from 2013 when many of the crucial decisions were being made, Gov. Snyder didnt know anything about the problem until late last fall because the man seemed to show almost no interest in the issue at all. This is despite raucous cries from Flint residents and whisteblowers that began nearly immediately after the switch to the Flint River happened in April of 2014. According to his emails, the man sent only seven emails about it. Thats about as disinterested as you can get.

Speaking of those emails, how is this for transparency?:

Thats literally the first page of the emails he released.

Heres the second. At least I THINK its the second. They redacted the page number, too:

Id show you the third one but its just a large white rectangle with a smaller black rectangle at the top of it. If you dont believe these are real  and I wouldnt blame you, it seems completely unreal to me, too  you can read them all for yourself HERE.

So far the only news that Ive seen out of the emails is that Snyders underlings spent enormous amounts of time and energy trying figuring out who else they could blame. We also get confirmation that the decision to switch to the Flint River was signed off on by then-State Treasurer Andy Dillon. This comes as no surprise since he was the boss of the Emergency Managers and had to approve all the big things they do.

The story has gone international now. I have gotten Google alerts from papers in Amsterdam and Australia and thats just today. Time magazine has it on the cover of next weeks issue. Click HERE to read the story behind that and to see what Flints poisoned water did the skin of a Flint baby. Its beyond heartbreaking and the Detroit Free Press photographer that captured them, Regina H. Boone, is sure to be up for multiple photojournalism awards for her work.

Michigan is clearly, to paraphrase the proverb, cursed to live in interesting times.
Alexander Star sets an example, especially for those with chronic conditions. Get covered before Jan. 31!

Youd never know by looking at him that Alexander Star has had type 1 diabetes since he was 15 years old. In fact, most people are surprised when the recording artist/songwriter pulls out his insulin pump  a small device that gives him insulin injections if his blood glucose levels get too high.

Its not like you can tell someone has diabetes by appearance. But Star says hes determined to break out of the box of what people think, if I can lead by example to encourage others to live well with the chronic condition.

So its not surprising that the 29-year-old has health insurance, despite the misconception that young people dont care about getting covered. And it wouldnt be possible without the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare, he says.

Star was on his fathers insurance until he turned 26, and then he had two choices: use a COBRA plan or lose his health insurance. But under COBRA, his premiums shot up from $120 a month to $512 a month, which he just could not afford.

But Star was in luck, because just a couple of months later the Obamacare marketplace opened up, and he was able to find an even better plan for just $150 a month, he says.

It was surprisingly easy for me. I went to Healthcare.gov, filled out everything, and the insurance company contacted me to help me choose the right plan. I said Lets do it and it was hassle-free.

Before he signed up for his new plan, Star used insulin syringes and a blood glucose meter to manually check his blood glucose levels. But when he started with his healthcare team at Cleveland Clinic Florida, they told him an insulin pump and continuous blood glucose meter was an option for him, at no extra cost. These tools make it much easier to manage type 1 diabetes, which can be challenging to control.

Without the ACA I wouldnt have a meter like this or a pump, Star says. I didnt even know these things existed until I switched doctors and went to Cleveland Clinic. I see an endocrinologist, a nurse practitioner and a pump specialist who knows it inside and out. My team is a lot stronger now.

Having his diabetes under the best possible control is important to Star, who is currently touring, performing concerts and delivering uplifting messages at schools. He was even invited to perform at the United Nations last August. Star is so determined to educate others that he included a scene highlighting his diabetes care in a music video.

Im using my career as a vehicle for positive change and am becoming the new face of high-profile type 1 diabetics taking control of their condition. I dont see my circumstance as negative. I see it as God kicking me in the butt. I can do something great if I take care of myself.

Star is an example not just for people with diabetes, but for every young person. After all, his diagnosis at age 15 came as a complete surprise  and you never know when you might need healthcare. Especially for young adults, the cost to be insured could easily be less than the cost of even basic care.

Open enrollment for 2016 coverage ends January 31  so enroll today at Healthcare.gov

If you want some extra help, our friends at Get Covered America have a nifty tool that can help you compare plans. The super-easy Get Covered Plan Explorer lets you weigh the variables of a number of plans side by side so you can choose the fit thats right for you.

You can also find local, in-person help for making your buying decisions, using the Get Covered Connector.

Bonus: Check out Stars video for his song Benefits of Love.

[Photos courtesy of Alexander Star.]
TheChapeau projects latest version arrived last month and is a good choice for enterprise users who want something a step above the traditional Fedora distro.

Fedora is an iconic Linux distro. It is a very popular choice in enterprise shops, but its less than ideal for home and SMB use without an IT staff to make it work. That is where Chapeau 23 comes to the rescue.

If you are a legacy Linux user, you no doubt already caught the significance of the distros namesake. The word chapeau is French for the word hat. Fedora is the community distro supported by Red Hat Linux. In essence, Fedora is the proving ground for what eventually will filter into the Red Hat Enterprise Linux OS.

Chapeau is a Fedora-based distribution for the 64-bit x86 architecture.

Features and software that Fedora  and thus by extension, Red Hat Linux  will not include are found in spades in Chapeau Linux.

One of the biggest deals that comes with using Chapeau Linux is its default software, especially when compared to stock Fedora. Chapeau has third-party software you wont find in the default Fedora repository thanks to packaging or licensing concerns.

The next biggest deal about Chapeau Linux is its ease of use compared to Red Hat Linux. Chapeau is out-of-the-box fantastic. In fact, install it to a USB drive with a persistence partition and take your custom-tailored Linux OS to any computer you touch.

If you are a Linux gamer, meet your third biggest deal in using Chapeau Linux: It comes preloaded with PlayOnLinux, Wine (to play Windows games and run Windows programs) and Steam (to play more Linux games). That USB drive in your pocket becomes a plug-in device for playing your favorite games anywhere.

The latest version, Chapeau 23 Armstrong, also comes with the GNOME 3.18 desktop, LibreOffice 5 office suite and the Mozilla Firefox Web browser with Adobe Flash enabled by default. New features include a Hardware Helper Tool that makes it more convenient to inspect hardware and manage Nvidia drivers.

Chapeau Linux uses the latest release of GNOME 3 for a smooth and simplified desktop environment.

Other goodies prepackaged in Chapeau Linux will put a smile on the faces of longtime Linux fans. Gone is the Korora repository, and unlike Fedora 23 Workstation, Wayland is disabled by default. GNOME 3.18 now has Google Drive integration. More good news for enterprise users is the default implementation of Python 3.

Under the Hood

Now here is the downside: Chapeau Linux might be too hardware hungry for your computer. It caters to heavy users of multimedia content and gamers. Meeting those users needs requires more demanding hardware than Linux distros that favor older and lower-end computers.

Chapeau Linux has only a 64-bit version. It needs a dedicated graphics card and favors the likes of Nvidia or AMD/ATI rather than integrated Intel graphics.

However, the upside outweighs the hardware challenge. Chapeau ships with built-in codecs for various multimedia file formats and has support for video DVDs and Blu-ray media.

Chapeau is an ideal home theater OS that does not require IT-level modifications. You also can install almost any Linux desktop and cloud applications without hunting down third-party software sources.

System Specs

Chapeaus base system requires a 64-bit Intel x86 or compatible processor with 2 GB system memory. Add to this list at least 10 GB unallocated drive space and suitable graphics hardware.

The GNOME desktop requires a minimum screen resolution of 800 x 600. A graphics processor that supports 3-D accelerated compositing is recommended, but GNOME will start in fallback mode if 3-D acceleration is not available.

The oldest supported graphics processors from the major vendors for 3-D accelerated compositing are Nvidia GeForce FX 5200, ATI Radeon 9500 and Intel GMA 9xx. Chapeau runs on newer versions of those three as well.

Installing It

Developer Vince Pooleys website gives full details oninstalling Chapeau to a USB device for a fully portable or pocket Linux distro. You might never need to put Chapeau on a hard drive, but if you decide to do so, just click on the installation icon from the live session to launch the Fedora Anaconda graphical installer.

Chapeau does try to mitigate an otherwise harsh hardware demand with the new Driver Helper software tool. If your system shows driver problems, video card or otherwise, the tool  found in the main menu  lets you do an instant automated driver change. Pharlap provides single-click installation of drivers to fix graphics card issues with proprietary interfaces. Its very handy to be able to switch to the appropriate driver on the fly.

I test numerous Linux distros each month in vetting topics for this column. Some of the more mature distros have similar driver-swapping tools. Pharlap works better than most with its one-click fix panel.

Loading Chapeau in live session displays two choices on the first screen to appear. One is the option to test the distro. The other is to run it in troubleshooting mode.

Mild-Mannered UI

Chapeau boots into the GNOME 3 desktop. I am not a fan of the GNOME 3 desktop, but the latest iteration in Chapeau smooths out most of the rough edges.

I dont like the vertical Applications bar along the left screen edge and the vertical workspace switcher panel that pops out from the right screen edge. I find the full screen menu display counterproductive to my workflow.

Those are personal preferences. To be fair, Chapeaus integration of the latest GNOME 3 environment offers users a simplified gateway to interacting with system tools and launching applications. GNOME 3 lacks user configuration options and has little to offer in eye candy and screen animations within the user interface. All of these features, however, contribute to the overall usability factor.

Chapeaus user interface focuses on full-screen menu displays with an Activities bar instead of the panel bar at the top or bottom of the screen.

Clicking on the Activities button in the top left of the panel opens the application bar. This contains the typical cadre of Linux system applications and tools. The Show Applications button on the application bar displays a tiled view of all installed programs. Click one of the open program thumbnail views to switch to that application. Clicking the button again returns to the applications display menu.

Bottom Line

Chapeau Linux is an impressive alternative to the enterprise-class Fedora distro. It comes with rich multimedia support and lots of third-party content for work and play on the Linux OS.

Its live session environment is much more useful than you typically find when running Linux from a DVD to test it. It is even faster and handier when installed to a USB drive. Chapeau on USB creates a unique, full-featured alternative to a hard drive installation.

Either way  DVD or USB  you get many system tools preinstalled. A sampling includes GNOME Disks, GParted, chntpw, TestDisk, Powertop, iotop, stress, screen and Clam Antivirus.

Want to Suggest a Review?

Is there a Linux software application or distro youd like to suggest for review? Something you love or would like to get to know?

Pleaseemail your ideas to me, and Ill consider them for a future Linux Picks and Pans column.

And use the Talkback feature below to add your comments!
(MINI)

MINI has released details regarding the new 2016 Clubman All4. With the All4 all-wheel drive system, the 2016 Clubman wagon delivers sportier driving and amplified performance. It also comes with premium features and a stylish design. The 2016 MINI Clubman All4 is expected to make its official debut at the 2016 New York Auto Show taking place this April.

The 2016 MINI Clubman All4 is perfect for everyday driving or long-distance driving. The all-wheel drive system allows the wagon to adapt to different weather and road conditions. With the All4, the wagon is also able to deliver agile handling and driving stability during acceleration.

The Clubman All4 is powered by MINI TwinPower Turbo Technology. The Cooper Clubman All4 will be powered by a 1.5-liter turbocharged three-cylinder gasoline engine that delivers 134 horsepower. It can go from 0 to 60 mph in 9.2 seconds. On the other hand, the Cooper S Clubman All 4 will be powered by a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder gasoline engine that produces 189 horsepower. It can reach 60 mph in 6.7 seconds.

The Clubman's engine is mated with a six-speed manual transmission but can be availed with an eight-speed Steptronic automatic transmission.

In terms of design, the Clubman All4 wagon comes with a distinct design and a dynamic silhouette. The front fascia features a hexagon radiator grille, circular headlamps with chrome trim, a curved bonnet. The wagon also comes with light alloy wheels.

Inside the cabin, the six-door five-passenger wagon offers spacious and high-end interiors. It has a sophisticated yet sporty flair. The cabin has a cockpit-focused design, a wide instrument panel and comfortable seats.

The 2016 Clubman All4 comes standard with dual-zone automatic climate control, the MINI Connected infotainment system with a 6.5-inch display and third-party app support, Bluetooth telephone and audio streaming and an electric parking brake.

Optional features include LED lighting, electronically adjustable front seats and a panorama glass roof. Available driver assistance systems include a head-up display, driving assistant, parking assistant, a rear view camera.

The 2016 Mini Clubman All4 will arrive at U.S. dealers this April 2016. The 2016 Mini Cooper Clubman All4 has a starting price of $26,750 and the 2016 Mini Cooper S Clubman All4 has a starting price of $30,300.
(Orthodox Arcbhishop Anastasios of Albania delivers a keynote address on Nov. 2 at a conference on religious persecutioon in Tirana on Nov. 2, 2015.)Photo:  Peter Kenny / Ecumenical News

TIRANA - Albanian Archbishop Anastasios knows about rebuilding churches from nothing.

He began his leadership as Orthodox Archbishop of Tirana, Durres and all Albania in 1992, shortly after the State that had banned all religion began ditching communism.

He told global church leaders that the deception and slander during the period of persecution in once isolated Albania was not its exclusivity but was particularly severe during the 20th century.

The Global Christian Forum assembled top church leaders in Albania including the Cardinal Kurt Koch, Pope Francis' representative on ecumenical relations, World Council of Churches head, Rev Olav Fykse Tveit, his counterpart from the World Evangelical Alliance, Rev. Efraim Tendero and Rev. David Wells representing the Pentecostal World Fellowship.

Some of the Christian representatives at the 1 to 5 November meeting had come incognito fearing repercussions in their repressive home areas.

"In the last century during the duration of the relentless atheistic persecution, which brought Albania into a deep spiritual darkness, the discrimination against Christians and martyrdom reached its high point," Anastasios said in a keynote address.

He recounts the story of a Fr. Jorgios an Orthodox priest in a village in the South of Albania who was a teacher and also an agriculturist.

"When the communist persecution broke out, he was forced to leave his priestly duties and to labor as a road construction worker."

One day he stopped for a break from the gruelling work in the hot sun, a friend of his, a faithful Christian from another village, approached and whispered to him Christ's words: 'In the world you have tribulation.'"

Fr. Jorgios raised his eyes calmly and continued the verse: "but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world," (John 16:33) recounted Anastasios.

He noted how at an another time, fanatical followers of the communist party engraved a big cross in the middle of the road and compelled Jorgios to step on it.

The priest devoutly kneeled, spread out his hands on the cross and embraced it.

"Subsequent actions such as exiles, hardships, long-term imprisonments, and executions of clerics, laity, and entire families followed," said the Albanian Orthodox leader.

ALL RELIGION BANNED

In 1965, the Albanian government lead by despot Enver Hoxha, had announced the closure of all religious institutions in the country, declaring Albania the world's first officially atheist state

Anastasios noted that such persecution did not happen only in Albania.

"The 20th century is full of moving stories of faithful people, who have paid for their dedication to Christ through terrific tortures and executions," said Anastasios.

"However, even in our century, wherever antichristian powers prevail, various persecutions continue against Christians."

But the most notable martyr was Jesus with his apostles following him and they had warned of what followers might have to endure.

"The constant point of reorientation and comfort of the faithful was the ceaseless contemplation of Jesus Christ," said Anastasias referring to his childhood threat by "King Herod's mania" and his hostility to the Pharisees and the Scribes.

"The Cross became the Christian symbol par excellence; together with the Resurrection, it forms the DNA of the Church."

Anastasios told the church leaders assembled," The Church was founded on the glorious martyrdom of Christ."

In the modern world Christians live in a complex world that is characterized by pluralism and interdependence.

"In the modern, globalized world we are indebted to increase our sensitivity, vigilance, solidarity. Christians are a majority in some places, a minority elsewhere," the Albanian archbishop who has played a leading role in the World Council leadership over many years said.

"They are often oppressed in various ways, as is happening in our time in the Middle East, in Africa, and in Asia," said Anastasia.

That is why Christians living in free countries carry a huge responsibility.

"We cannot remain indifferent to the sufferings of our brothers and sisters. We must use our vote to influence rulers.

"We are obliged to raise our voice by any means available, to protect, to actively support our persecuted brothers," noted Anastasios referring to the Apostle Paul who clearly defines our duty.

"If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honoured, all rejoice together." (1 Cor. 12:26) In carrying out its task, said Anastasios, the Church "must remain open to the pursuits of humanity, faithfully following the path outlined by Christ."
(Photo: REUTERS / Charles Platiau)People hold panels to create the eyes of late Charlie Hebdo editor Stephane Charbonnier, known as "Charb", as hundreds of thousands of French citizens take part in a solidarity march (Marche Republicaine) in the streets of Paris January 11, 2015. French citizens will be joined by dozens of foreign leaders, among them Arab and Muslim representatives, in a march on Sunday in an unprecedented tribute to this week's victims following the shootings by gunmen at the offices of the satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo, the killing of a police woman in Montrouge, and the hostage taking at a kosher supermarket at the Porte de Vincennes.

Churches from around the world have condemned as despicable attacks in Beirut and Paris carried out in the name of religion that have claimed more than 170 lives, spawning fear and horror.

The World Council of Churches strongly condemned the latest terror attacks in Paris and Beirut, joining the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation. The World Evangelical Alliance also denounced the actions.

Jihadists claiming to fight the war in the name of Islam for the group calling itself IS said they perpetrated the gun and suicide attacks on a concert hall, at restaurants and bars, and outside France's Stade de France national stadium.

The terror attacks left a total of 129 dead and more than 300 injured in Paris and in Beirut 43 people were slain and more than 200 wounded.

The day before the Paris slayings, suicide attacks carried out by motorcyclists in Beirut claimed the 43 lives in the deadliest bombing in Lebanon's capital since the end of its civil war in 1990.

IS also said the Beirut attack was its work.

World leaders condemned the Paris attack and President Francois Hollande called the coordinated assault on Nov. 13 an "act of war", only 10 months after attacks on Charlie Hebdo magazine rocked France.

Shortly after the Paris carnage the director of the Holy See press office, Father Federico Lombardi, said, "Here in the Vatican we are following the terrible news from Paris. We are shocked by this new manifestation of maddening, terrorist violence and hatred."

He said the Catholic Church condemned the attack "together with the Pope and all those who love peace" offering its prayers to "the victims and the wounded, and for all the French people."

"This is an attack on peace for all humanity, and it requires a decisive, supportive response on the part of all of us as we counter the spread the homicidal hatred in all of its forms."

Then in a statement on 14 November during a meeting near Geneva in Switzerland, the WCC executive committee called for justice mercy and peace.

"In the face of this brutality, the human family, all people of faith and of good will, must stand together to recommit to respecting and caring for one another, to protecting one another, and to preventing such violence."

"We cannot and do not accept that such a terrorist atrocity can ever be justified in the name of God or of any religion," said the WCC governing body which was holding a meeting.

"Violence in the name of religion is violence against religion. We condemn, reject and denounce it.

"Let us confront it by holding firm to and upholding the democratic, intercultural and human rights values that this terrorism seeks to attack."

The Geneva-based Lutheran World Federation also condemned in the "firmest terms the despicable attacks in Beirut and Paris" on Nov. 12 and 13, which caused massive loss of lives.

MUNIB YOUNAN

The LWF president Bishop Munib A. Younan and the general secretary Rev. Martin Junge conveyed their condolences "to all people suffering with the loss of the many lives that these attacks have caused."

"We pray for the victims of the attacks, as well as for those mourning and seeking consolation," Younan and Junge said in their statement.

They noted that the recent attacks should not discourage efforts by people of faith to work together to promote peace and justice, and reiterated an emphatic "No" to using religious motives to justify violence.

The World Evangelical Alliance said it was grieved by the multiple attacks in Paris and Beirut that reportedly took some 170 innocent lives and wounded many more.

Bishop Efraim Tendero, Secretary General of the WEA, said, "We condemn these coward acts of terrorism in the strongest terms and express our deepest condolences and solidarity with the people of France and Lebanon at this difficult time."

"We echo the words of our brothers and sisters in France who said: 'France is not alone! At this time, millions of Christians around the world are praying for our country.' Yes, we are praying for France and Lebanon, and we call on churches around the world to join us," said Tendero.

"Pray for hope, pray for healing, and pray for wisdom as the two nations seek the right way forward."

Western media were criticized for not devoting enough attention to the Beirut attack.

Indian blogger Karuna Ezara Parikh responded with a poem that went viral:

"It's not Paris we should pray for, it is the world," she wrote.

"It is a world in which Beirut, reeling from bombings ... is not covered in the press. A world in which a bomb goes off at a funeral in Baghdad, and not one person's status update says 'Baghdad' because not one white person died in that fire..."

European Union countries should submit to base reactions of rejecting refugees after the Paris attacks because the shooters were criminals, not asylum seekers, European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker said Nov. 15 speaking at Antalya in Turkey, Reuters news agency reports.

One of the Paris attackers was identified as having entered the EU through the Greek island of Leros on Oct. 3, with other refugees. On entering, he was identified and fingerprinted according to EU rules.

"The one responsible for the attacks in Paris... he is a criminal and not a refugee and not an asylum seeker," Juncker said
School principals will soon have more than 250 STEM programs to help students excel in this economically vital area.The new resource is part of the STEM Skills Partnerships program and follows growing interest from the business community and STEM professionals in sharing the task of building the future economy.Yesterdays release of the first national STEM Program Index (SPI 2016) was compiled by the Australian Industry Group (AIG) and announced by Australias chief scientist, Ian Chubb.SPI 2016 is an accessible guide to business, university, government and community-led initiatives putting students on the fast track to the future. It includes in-class, after school, holiday, residential and online activities, catering to a wide and growing range of students. Australian Primary Principals Association (APPA) president, Dennis Yarrington , explained how the SPI will make a difference to principals and teachers.The SPI will enable schools to be aware of the options for extending the learning beyond the school and engaging with community or further afield based organisations or competitions, he told The Educator.Many schools see opportunities for students to learn with others outside the classroom and connect to students in other schools.Yarrington added that the SPI will allow students to meet and interact with specialists or mentors in the field of study.This connection allows for the learning happening at school to relate to the real world. Students will also be exposed to other ideas and new challenges that will broaden their thinking and knowledge, he said.They will be able to operate in a local, national or international arena.In terms of the impact that SPI 2016 will have on K-12 education moving forward, Yarrington said SPI 2016 is just the start as it connects the broad spectrum of learning from K-12.The list also allows schools to see how learning in STEM should not be sector or year level divided. We also many schools with K-12 structures and the one list is more efficient, he said.We need to also make available a list of the many companies out there offering services and professional learning to schools to support the development of STEM, such as ScopeIT Education.In a statement, AIG chief executive, Innes Willox, said that in order to build a competitive economy, Australia needed workers with the kinds of skills developed in STEM-related disciplines.This will not be achieved unless STEM skills are provided in the pipeline to the workforce. This resource provides a wealth of information for schools and industry alike to become leaders in STEM skills activity, he said.Wilcox added that there were phenomenal resources outside the classroom waiting to be tapped in education, in terms of mentors, equipment, networks and ideas.
Portaal housing corporation and the European Investment Bank (EIB) today signed a financing agreement. This is the first time that the EIB has entered into an agreement with a housing corporation. It is making a EUR 200m facility available that will be used to make existing housing more energy-efficient and build new energy-neutral homes.

Portaal Board member Dirk Jan van der Zeep is pleased about the agreement with the EIB for a number of reasons: "First, this facility will provide us with the impetus to make our homes more energy-efficient. This is good for our tenants and good for the environment. Tenants will admittedly pay a bit more for their energy-efficient homes but on the other hand there will be a significant reduction in their energy bills. And that will benefit affordability. I am also glad to see that the traditional financiers of the sector are being joined by a newcomer that understands the importance of social housing and wants to play a part in this."

With this loan, Portaal will finance a substantial part of its investment programme, with the emphasis on improving the energy efficiency of existing housing and building new energy-neutral homes. This fits in well with the EU's urban renewal and sustainable communities objectives as well as with the EIB's objectives.

EIB Vice-President Pim van Ballekom commented: "Together with the recent loan to NWB Bank, of which around 70% is earmarked for this sector, this operation demonstrates the EIB's commitment to the social housing sector in the Netherlands. Affordable housing is important, especially nowadays, but it must meet certain criteria in terms of how environmentally-friendly it is. Portaal is committed to this and deserves our full support."

The investment programme consists in the first instance of more than 40 small-scale sustainability projects in the regions where Portaal operates and will therefore involve nearly 5 000 homes.
By Faith Hung and Ben Blanchard

TAIPEI/BEIJING (Reuters) - Taiwan expressed serious concern on Thursday over a Chinese state media broadcast of military live fire exercises and landing drills, just days after a landslide election win by an independence-leaning opposition party in Taiwan.

China considers Taiwan a wayward province, to be brought under its control by force if necessary. Defeated Nationalist forces fled to Taiwan in 1949 after the Chinese civil war.

Late on Wednesday, state television's military channel said the 31st Group Army, based in China's southeastern city of Xiamen situated opposite Taiwan, had carried out the drills in "recent days".

It did not give an exact location.

The channel broadcast images of amphibious armoured vehicles ploughing through the sea towards a landing site, helicopters firing missiles at shore locations and soldiers parachuting down from helicopters.

The report made no direct mention of the Taiwan election. China's Defence Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

"This is very bad news," said Steve Lin, first deputy minister of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council. "We have been really concerned about China's military moves and threats."

He added, "We'll raise our military deployment, and at the same time we'll deal with it via reasonable dialogue with the Chinese side. After all, it's both sides' responsibility to maintain peace across the Taiwan Strait."

Taiwan's Defence Ministry said it was "aware of the information", and declined further immediate comment.

Xiamen is located opposite Taiwan, and right off Xiamen's coast is Kimnen, an island controlled by Taiwan since 1949 and until the late 1970s a place regularly shelled by China.

Since Saturday's landslide win by Tsai Ing-wen and her Democratic Progressive Party in Taiwan's presidential and parliamentary elections, China has warned against any moves towards independence and that it will defend the country's sovereignty.

Tsai has said she will maintain peace with China, and Chinese state-run media have also noted her pledges to maintain the "status quo" with China.

The past eight years had been marked by calm between China and Taiwan, after the election of the China-friendly Ma Ying-jeou as president in 2008, and his subsequent re-election.

Ma signed a series of key economic deals with Beijing and held a landmark meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in November in neutral Singapore.

Taiwan is one of China's most sensitive political issues, and a core concern for the Communist Party, trumping even Beijing's claims in the South China Sea.

China's military, the world's largest, held live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait in September, though Taiwan's Defence Ministry described them at the time as routine.

Taiwan's military has warned that China has practised attacks on targets modelled on places in Taiwan. Taiwan also estimates China aims hundreds of missiles at the island.

(Additional reporting by J.R. Wu; Editing by Nick Macfie and Clarence Fernandez)
Washington, Jan 20 (EFE).- The White House accorded new powers to U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan to intensify their attacks on Islamic State jihadists there, U.S. officials told the daily Washington Post.

The new rules of engagement were approved last week by the administration of Barack Obama and allow commanders of the military mission in Afghanistan to launch airstrikes against those suspected of belonging to the IS in the same way that they already do against Al Qaeda.

In late 2014, the United States ended its combat mission in Afghanistan, transforming it into one of providing assistance and training - and undertaking counterterrorist actions - that is being broadened due to the resurgence of the Taliban and the appearance of IS jihadists in the Central Asian country.

To date, U.S. forces in Afghanistan could only conduct airstrikes in three situations: to protect international coalition forces, to aid Afghan troops or to kill Al Qaeda leaders.

The United States in the past had attacked IS fighters in Afghanistan, albeit under the precept that they were preparing attacks or had hostile intentions, not simply due to their affiliation with the group.

A spokesperson for the U.S. mission in Afghanistan said at a Tuesday press conference that the IS is emerging as a force within the country, but it does not yet have the ability to launch attacks or occupy territory as it has done in Syria, Iraq and Libya.
Bogota, Jan 21 (EFE).- The Colombian government on Thursday confirmed the release of 16 of the 30 FARC guerrillas pardoned last Nov. 22 as a unilateral gesture of trust in the peace dialogues with the rebel group.

Seven of the freed insurgents are women.

"This is the government's first unilateral gesture after evaluating compliance with the unilateral cease-file on the part of the FARC, the resulting decrease in violence and the advances in the (peace) process," said the office of the High Commissioner for Peace in a statement.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, began a unilateral cease-fire on July 20, 2015, after which the intensity of the five-decade-old armed conflict has declined to a historic minimum.

Thus, the High Commissioner's Office said that the pardons were not based on the prisoners' health but rather on "the nature of the crime whereby they found themselves in prison." They had all been convicted of rebellion.

As part of the pardon, the former guerrillas must not engage again in the crime of rebellion, must begin their process of reincorporation into civilian life and "transform themselves into promoters of the accords achieved" at the peace talks under way between the Colombian government and the rebels for more than three years in Havana.

The government authorized four of the former prisoners to travel to Cuba and to receive "information about the content of the accords ... in preparation for their pedagogical work and the (announcement) of the accords, in their capacity as builders and promoters of peace."

The rest of the pardoned individuals will be returned to their families with the support of the Colombian Agency for Reintegration.

Relacionados Las mejores berlinas que vienen en 2016
Fetterman 'recovering well' from life-threatening stroke, doctor says

John Fetterman on Wednesday released an updated medical report that says he is recovering well from his May stroke.
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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
Island's priorities remain the same says Chief



Allan Bell MHK

Government's priorities haven't changed, and won't change, before the General Election.

That's according to the Chief Minister who says politicians should still have the same focus they did from the outset.

They are to balance the budget, protect the vulnerable and grow the economy.

The current administration will dissolve later this year with a new cohort of politicians taking up posts in September.

Allan Bell says tweaks were made in July to focus on additional areas and he's hopeful real progress can be made despite the short time left:

Media

Allan Bell MHK
Re: Looking for doctor who might prescribe adderall Quote: There is also elpos.ch (in German, sorry), who might be able to refer you to a resource in your area.



I can see both sides of this, actually. I was diagnosed with ADD as an adult in the US, brought my test results to my primary care doc, and he prescribed ritalin for me under the condition that I consult a specialist here. I did see an ADD specialist in Bern, who prescribed Concerta for me (though I'm pretty sure my insurance paid for it - this was in 2009). I can't take Concerta, as it turns out.



Anyway, I respected the information he gave me as a specialist, but I had a difficult time interacting with him, just couldn't work with him as a patient. I went back and told my primary care doc and he was fine with it, and he continues to prescribe and I continue to take ritialin - although I'm about to see someone new and my meds may change.



Physicians and patients need to listen to each other. Sometimes patients know what works best for them, or at least can provide valuable input into their care, and physicians need to appreciate that. At the same time, there are different drugs and procedures .... sometimes for the better, and patients need to be open to that. So you may need to have an adderall subsitute. But it does sound like you might do better with a different doctor.



What made you decide to get tested in the end? Was your condition so bad it was interfering with daily life?



For some time now I've been suspecting I might have ADD. No hyperactivity though. I discussed it with my mother in the past, who has been working with lots of children who were diagnosed with ADD and ADHD and she told me she wouldn't be surprised if I have it. But for some reason we decided not to go the official route and have it diagnosed. In the end she asked me: "Do you really want to be on meds for the rest of your life?" And my answer was: "No."



For some reason I'm afraid that if they do diagnose me with it and once I get used to the medication, I won't be able to live a normal life without meds anymore. But on the other hand, getting diagnosed with ADD would explain a LOT. What you said about feeling stupid and lazy sounds so familiar to me.



Either way, if I do have it, I probably have a very mild case. But it seems to be getting worse, or it's just annoying me more over time. Right now I'm just trying to live with it. In my opinion, every disadvantage has it's advantages too. So my negatives are that I'm pretty disorganized, that no project is ever able to hold my attention for very long, that I'm not able to sit in one place for too long etc. But on the up-side of things I do get very enthusiastic about new things, in the beginning I can also muster an enormous amount of energy for it and if I do manage to get my focus on, I can get a lot of work done very fast. I already decided that sitting behind a desk all the time is probably not for me. Nor do I want to write too many reports or get buried in paperwork.



Not judging you at all for going the medication-route by the way, just wondered what made you decide to get yourself diagnosed in the end. I'm just a bit curious: do you have to take Ritalin every day? For the foreseeable future?What made you decide to get tested in the end? Was your condition so bad it was interfering with daily life?For some time now I've been suspecting I might have ADD. No hyperactivity though. I discussed it with my mother in the past, who has been working with lots of children who were diagnosed with ADD and ADHD and she told me she wouldn't be surprised if I have it. But for some reason we decided not to go the official route and have it diagnosed. In the end she asked me: "Do you really want to be on meds for the rest of your life?" And my answer was: "No."For some reason I'm afraid that if they do diagnose me with it and once I get used to the medication, I won't be able to live a normal life without meds anymore. But on the other hand, getting diagnosed with ADD would explain a LOT. What you said about feeling stupid and lazy sounds so familiar to me.Either way, if I do have it, I probably have a very mild case. But it seems to be getting worse, or it's just annoying me more over time. Right now I'm just trying to live with it. In my opinion, every disadvantage has it's advantages too. So my negatives are that I'm pretty disorganized, that no project is ever able to hold my attention for very long, that I'm not able to sit in one place for too long etc. But on the up-side of things I do get very enthusiastic about new things, in the beginning I can also muster an enormous amount of energy for it and if I do manage to get my focus on, I can get a lot of work done very fast. I already decided that sitting behind a desk all the time is probably not for me. Nor do I want to write too many reports or get buried in paperwork.Not judging you at all for going the medication-route by the way, just wondered what made you decide to get yourself diagnosed in the end.
Re: Another political assassination on British soil?



Quote:



House given all clear by hazard police RIA Novosti, a state-run news agency, cited a source close to Berezovsky, saying he had died of a heart attack, and had recently undergone treatment for health problems in Israel. Quote:



The author said his suspicion was aroused because of a spate of deaths involving Kremlin critics and whistleblowers in Britain. The conclusion was heart failure in Badri Patarkatsishvilis case and it seems it will be the same with Boris, said Mr Felshtinsky by telephone from Boston. Then there was the



Berezovsky friend suggests he may have been victim of Russian hit Yuri Felshtinsky, a historian and author who knew Mr Berezovsky since 1998 ... doubted suggestions the tycoon had committed suicide, and had no knowledge that his friend had been seriously ill....The author said his suspicion was aroused because of a spate of deaths involving Kremlin critics and whistleblowers in Britain. The conclusion was heart failure in Badri Patarkatsishvilis case and it seems it will be the same with Boris, said Mr Felshtinsky by telephone from Boston. Then there was the death recently of the businessman [Alexander] Perepilichny with probably the same cause." The police are not saying "no suspicious circumstances" and are calling the death "unexplained" . Yet the Russian official media already seem to know that it was not suicide:
Re: Geneva Airport fires Muslim workers Quote: Do you really think the employers and authorities on either side, will publish their selection methods for the sacking? Hence the need for more info from an enquiry - as at the moment we can only 'assume' from the little information given- with more unlikely to come from the above- as it is clear they are all clamming up and passing the buck. I agree, if information is not given, it is difficult to properly assess the situation, and assumptions are made.



The backlash in France after the Paris attacks is very real. It was hard enough before, for well integrated, well educated law-abiding young people of North-African descent (secondos, thirdos, etc) to gain employment- and now even much worse. Sacking one or two is one thing- sacking a whole group 'em masse' is unlikely to help 'relations', is it?



First, I see very well your motivations: I think you are very moved by an alleged discrimination. And that's very good.

But you are fooled by your emotions and you are unable to see clearly the actual problem and situation. Yet you are commenting based on assumptions and you are blinding yourself to the limited facts available to you.

For example, only 30 persons are concerned and they have many more employees fitting that description (muslim worker).





Second, you are talking about France and focusing on North African descents.

I can tell you are absolutely focused on them and ignorant of the reality.

Unfortunately, I can tell you that its way more wide-spread and not only focusing on "North African". In fact you can extend the problems through many stereotypes. It's hard enough for North African descents but people with bad names, people from poor neighborhoods, etc... Discrimination is wide spread in France, albeit socially accepted and hidden behind many taboos.

Worse, it depends on the "department" and local cultures also, were additional or different discrimination can occurs.



I will stop here because I don't have to prove anything, but, unlike you, I grew up there and I know the situation.



Additionally you are also omitting to talk about the attitude of these "descendants" who are often choosing to act as "victims" and play the racist card instead of being positive and succeed.



So please, it's wonderful to fight discrimination and all that. But in this case, you have not enough facts to comment correctly. Unfortunately you have already spread incorrect and harmful comments, so maybe it's time to pause and re-analyse the situation? Speaking from experience you are completely one sided, incorrect, incomplete, partial and wrong. Yet, it seems to be covered by a thin layer of "political correctness" and positive efforts.First, I see very well your motivations: I think you are very moved by andiscrimination. And that's very good.But you are fooled by your emotions and you are unable to see clearly the actual problem and situation. Yet you are commenting based on assumptions and you are blinding yourself to the limited facts available to you.For example, only 30 persons are concerned and they have many more employees fitting that description (muslim worker).Second, you are talking about France and focusing on North African descents.I can tell you are absolutely focused on them and ignorant of the reality.Unfortunately, I can tell you that its way more wide-spread and not only focusing on "North African". In fact you can extend the problems through many stereotypes. It's hard enough for North African descents but people with bad names, people from poor neighborhoods, etc... Discrimination is wide spread in France, albeit socially accepted and hidden behind many taboos.Worse, it depends on the "department" and local cultures also, were additional or different discrimination can occurs.I will stop here because I don't have to prove anything, but, unlike you, I grew up there and I know the situation.Additionally you are also omitting to talk about the attitude of these "descendants" who are often choosing to act as "victims" and play the racist card instead of being positive and succeed.So please, it's wonderful to fight discrimination and all that. But in this case, you have not enough facts to comment correctly. Unfortunately you have already spread incorrect and harmful comments, so maybe it's time to pause and re-analyse the situation?
Re: Geneva Airport fires Muslim workers Quote: Phos Errr, okay. I find that you are really a propagandist. Is that fair to say?



Quote: CorsebouTheReturn Remove your doughnut from your eyes,





Quote: CorsebouTheReturn Widespread anti-islamic prejudice?



Quote: CorsebouTheReturn What about the Mosque build over the twin towers?



Quote: CorsebouTheReturn What about the millions of muslim living in European countries with full access to jobs, benefits, etc...?





Quote: CorsebouTheReturn You are absolutely rubbish at analysing the situation and very much focused on your own ars*hole.





Quote: CorsebouTheReturn But please, go ahead, play the victim





Quote: Phos

But I think if that effort was put forth trying to convince violent jihadist that it isn't the right way of Islam in all honesty I'm not sure what you mean exactly.Done! Now what?Of course. Newspapers say so, Gallup says so, peer reviewed journals say so, I say so. It is fact.There was a mosque built over the Twin Towers? I assume you mean after they were blown up because it'd be tough before that. And now I think there's a new, single tower and a memorial where they once stood. What about this mosque? Where is it?So you're saying all residents of a country have the same rights as each other and the government doesn't withhold the right to work based on religion? I'm shocked and appalled!Now I'm upset.I'm not the victim. I'm not Muslim.Please in future, for me anyway, take it as a given that I'm against shooting people and blowing them up. I certainly think more effort should be put towards convincing people not to do these things and certainly if I suspected people who were at risk of committing atrocities were reading this thread, I'd put lots of effort into dissuading them.
Re: Geneva Airport fires Muslim workers Quote: How kind, thanks. Said what I had to say. Anyone who pretends that there is not huge prejudice against young people of North African origin in France and here too- even those who do not have a chip on their shoulder, work hard, toe the line, etc- are either kidding themselves, blind or very prejudiced themselves- and certainly keen on keeping digging indeed.





I live VERY close to France and have worked with schools and other institutions in France for over 50 years- so I am quite 'au fait' with the issues.



Your comment is very focused on North African origin problems in France.



1) You fail to mention the same type of issues many other citizen have in France

Why not talking about the numerous "french white/not from North Africa"... who are also having employment issue?



2) Their "attitude" is part of the equation. Some have succeeded very well. Some other did not.



3) Funnily enough, everyone had access to free education up to university, free grants for studying, free help with housing, free health (or very cheap), free "Mimimum income for insertion", etc... I haven't seen much of that in other countries...



Sorry but you did not "say what you had to say" you said cr@p and commented on bad allegations.



A bit like they used to do in the old times "burn the witch, burn the witch".



Oh and by the way you were/are an external observant with qualifications and working on a very protected domain. I doubt you grew up among these wonderful victims, nor that you worked in Airports, nor that you actually experienced France as a poor job seeker yourself, nor that you raised yourself from zero and climbed up the ladder in France coming from a poor background.



By the way not everything you said is wrong, but a lot of it is biased and often incomplete. Like I said, fight the discrimination but but it in its entirety instead of being singled focused like a horse. LOL...in the Jura! Sure, you live close to french sheep or cowsYour comment is very focused on North African origin problems in France.1) You fail to mention the same type of issues many other citizen have in FranceWhy not talking about the numerous "french white/not from North Africa"... who are also having employment issue?2) Their "attitude" is part of the equation. Some have succeeded very well. Some other did not.3) Funnily enough, everyone had access to free education up to university, free grants for studying, free help with housing, free health (or very cheap), free "Mimimum income for insertion", etc... I haven't seen much of that in other countries...Sorry but you did not "say what you had to say" you said cr@p and commented on bad allegations.A bit like they used to do in the old times "burn the witch, burn the witch".Oh and by the way you were/are an external observant with qualifications and working on a very protected domain. I doubt you grew up among these wonderful victims, nor that you worked in Airports, nor that you actually experienced France as a poor job seeker yourself, nor that you raised yourself from zero and climbed up the ladder in France coming from a poor background.By the way not everything you said is wrong, but a lot of it is biased and often incomplete. Like I said, fight the discrimination but but it in its entirety instead of being singled focused like a horse.
The Brown family from Sister Wives could be at the forefront of a major legal victory in Utah as their polygamy case heads to an appeals court.

Kody & Robyn Reveal Their New Daughter's Name Is Ariella Mae, What Do Fans Think?

According to Fox News, the family is planning on asking a federal appeals court to uphold a prior ruling that decriminalized polygamy in the state of Utah, where they previously lived before facing prosecution in the state. That incident led to the family fleeing to Nevada.

The appeal comes after the Utah Attorney General appealed the ruling, claiming it struck down key parts of the state law which banned the practice of polygamy. There aren't plans to charge Kody Brown or his wives--Meri, Janelle, Christine and Robyn--if the law is upheld, but attorneys argue that the law will help curb other crimes associated with the practice, like abuse and underage marriage.

Kody & Robyn Welcome Their New Daughter!

The Browns won an initial victory in 2013 when U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups found that a key part of the law, forbidding cohabitation, violated the family's rights to religious freedom and struck it down as a result. However, Bigamy, or holding multiple marriage licenses, is still illegal.

The family's struggles with the ruling have not been covered on their reality show, which has instead focused more on their issues as a family and the personal lives of the adults and their kids.
By Keith McCammon, Red Canary

First things first: This advice is for 95 percent of organizations in the world. If you are one of the 5 percent of organizations that adjusts your information security posture based on your adversaries tactics, techniques and procedures, parts of this article will not be fully relevant.

The diluted usage of the term advanced persistent threat (APT) across the media, marketing and industry conversations continues to amaze us. Too many organizations are now distracted by the hype surrounding APTs instead of focusing on foundational security principles. This is an attempt to recognize what the term APT has come to represent, and how the majority of organizations should approach defending against them.

Defining Advanced Persistent Threats

The definition of APT depends on who is defining it. The term APT was always intended to describe a who and not a what. Originally coined as a polite means of describing Chinese hackers, it is now used in those same circles to describe a determined, capable and deep-pocketed adversary. Note that evidence of an active, human adversary is a requirement; APT is not and has never been a malware classification.

For the rest of the market, the definition of APT has been broadening over the past few years to include a larger subset of attackers. As the tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) of the true APT have proliferated, there are now many groups around the world that resemble an APT. It is becoming increasingly difficult to tell whether an attack is perpetrated by a national actor, organized crime or an individual.

This is expected, given that describing and correlating TTPs will always be order of magnitude easier than proving attribution. We use the term nation state-grade attacker to delineate between the two.

First Step in Fighting APTs

Most organizations would do well to focus less on what are statistically lower likelihood attacks and start improving their security policies, procedures and configurations. If your organization cannot defend against low-grade attackers and commodity malware (which most cannot), trying to defend against advanced attackers is a misguided use of limited resources. This is equivalent to trying to master differential equations with large gaps in your understanding of algebra and foundational calculus.

The TTPs employed by the overwhelming majority of attackers are fairly simple compared to the elaborate tactics many people envision. Attackers simply do not need to be that clever to successfully reach their objectives because most organizations are not covering the basics.

This is actually a hallmark of highly effective offensive teams: The most expensive people and tools are used as a last resort. The result is that inexpensive phishing and watering hole attacks abound, despite the availability of reliable defenses. These methods are crude, and often times the tools used are in the public domain. But these methods work, and so they continue to appear.

Tightening up your policies and improving your configuration controls is not sexy. Improving security procedures is not cutting edge. And the newest bright, shiny security tools rarely focus on foundational security.

But if you want to take large strides forward in your defense against an increasing number of ever-advancing attackers, getting the basics right is essential. Here are three quick pulse points:

Do your users have local administrator rights?

Can users install unwanted software like browser toolbars?

Can applications execute out of a users temporary directory?

In the words of an old Jeff Foxworthy joke, If you answered yes to any of the above, you might have a basic security problem.

Fighting APTs: The Human Touch

A final recommendation: Stop relying so much on technology and not enough on human expertise. Your security posture requires both talented humans and the right technology to contend with advanced attacks. No product  yet  can replace the ingenuity and insight of a human.

Attackers are humans. You must fight humans with humans. Even when it is increasingly difficult to find security talent, you cannot reallocate those dollars toward technology and get the same results.

In closing, dont get too spun up on APTs until you have a system in place to mature your security policies, procedures and configurations. Ensure you are investing in your team first and the right technology next, because technology alone will fail against a human attacker. And if you cannot do this, partner with solutions that deliver both.

As director of Detection Operations for Red Canary, Keith McCammon runs Red Canarys Security Operations Center and leads a group of expert analysts that monitor a continuous stream of potential attacks detected in our customers environments. Keith is a known expert in offensive cyber computing and defensive IT security from his background as director of Commercial Security at Kyrus and executive director of Information Technology at ManTech. He has over 15 years of telecommunications and information technology experience, a dozen of which are security specific.
Researchers at the University of Jyvaskyla, Finland, and Colorado State University, USA, have for the first time ever determined the dynamical behaviour of the ligand layer of a water-soluble gold nanocluster in solution. The breakthrough opens a way towards controllable strategies for the functionalisation of ligated nanoparticles for applications. The work at the University of Jyvaskyla was supported by the Academy of Finland. The research was published in Nature Communications on 21 January 2016. (1)

Nanometre-scale gold particles are intensively investigated for applications as catalysts, sensors, drug delivery devices and biological contrast agents and as components in photonics and molecular electronics. The smallest particles have metal cores of only 1-2 nm with a few tens to a couple of hundred gold atoms. Their metal cores are covered by a stabilising organic ligand layer. The molecular formulas and solid-state atomic structure of many of these compounds, called "clusters", have been resolved during the past few years. Still, it is a considerable challenge to understand their atomic-scale structure and dynamical behaviour in the solution phase. This is crucial information that can help researchers understand how nanoclusters interact with the environment.

The researchers studied a previously identified molecularly precise nanocluster that has 102 gold atoms and 44 thiol ligands (Figure 1, right). The solid-state structure of this cluster was resolved from single-crystal X-ray diffraction experiments in 2007 (2). The ligand shell has a low symmetry and produces a large number of signals in conventional proton-NMR measurement (Figure 1, left). The researchers achieved a full assignment of all signals to specific thiol ligands by using a combination of correlated nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments, density functional theory computations and molecular dynamics simulations.

The Finnish researchers at Jyvaskyla have previously used this specific cluster material, for instance, for structural studies of enteroviruses. (3)

"Now that we know exactly which ligand produces which NMR signal, we can proceed with precise studies on how this nanocluster interacts with the chemical and biological environment in the water phase. This gives unprecedented potential to understand and control the inorganic-organic interfaces that are relevant to hybrid inorganic-biological materials," says Academy Professor Hannu Hakkinen from the Nanoscience Center at the University of Jyvaskyla. Hakkinen coordinated the work of the Finnish-US team.

###

The researchers involved in the work are Kirsi Salorinne, Sami Malola, Xi Chen and Hannu Hakkinen from the University of Jyvaskyla, and O. Andrea Wong, Christopher D. Rithner and Christopher J. Ackerson from Colorado State University. The computational work was done at the CSC - the Finnish IT Centre for Science.

More information:

Professor Hannu Hakkinen, University of Jyvaskyla, hannu.hakkinen@jyu.fi

Professor Chris Ackerson, Colorado State University, Chris.Ackerson@colostate.edu

Academy of Finland Communications

Leena Vahakyla, Communications Specialist

tel. +358 295 335 139

firstname.lastname(at)aka.fi

References:

K. Salorinne, S. Malola, O.A. Wong, C.D. Rithner, X. Chen, C.J. Ackerson and H. Hakkinen, "Conformation and dynamics of the ligand shell of a water-soluble Au102 nanoparticle", Nature Communications 7, 10401 (2016), published online 21 January 2016, doi: , http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2016/160121/ncomms10401/full/ncomms10401.html

P. Jadzinsky, G. Calero, C.J. Ackerson, D.A. Bushnell and R.D. Kornberg, "Structure of a thiol monolayer-protected gold nanoparticle at 1.1 A resolution", Science 318, 430 (2007).

V. Marjomaki, T. Lahtinen, M. Martikainen, J. Koivisto, S. Malola, K. Salorinne, M. Pettersson and H. Hakkinen, "Site-specific targeting of enterovirus capsid by functionalized monodisperse gold nanoclusters", PNAS 111, 1277 (2014)

Figure: The proton NMR spectrum originating from the ligand layer of the Au102 nanoparticle in water (left). The spectrum has been fully interpreted by assigning the observed signals (peaks) to all of the 22 symmetry-unique thiol ligands numbered in the solid state structure of the Au102 particle (right). From ref. 1.
Tempe, Ariz., (Jan. 21, 2016) - Mothers are deeply invested in the well being of their children, so when children go through trying times so do their moms, according to a new study by Arizona State University researchers Suniya Luthar and Lucia Cicolla.

Many assume that the most taxing years for mothers are during their children's infancies, but the new research shows that far more challenging is the middle school period. Aside from puberty, this is a time when the school environment becomes more impersonal, academic grades are much more public, "being popular" becomes fervently sought after and efforts to separate from parents start in earnest. All of this adds up to a tumultuous time for children, and therefore, for those who must nurture and guide them through this trying period.

For Carolyn D., a medical professional in Chandler, Ariz., her teenage son seemed increasingly dismissive of what she had to say, as in a striking conversation on how Advil worked.

"I'm a doctor. I know how Advil works, but he was telling me I didn't know," she recalls. "It is hard when they look at you like you have this innate stupidity. It used to be that I was all knowing."

Concerns about kids' risky behaviors escalate sharply at early adolescence.

"From the perspective of mothers, there's a great deal of truth to the saying, "Little kids - little problems; big kids - big problems," says ASU Foundation Professor Suniya Luthar. "Taking care of infants and toddlers is physically exhausting. But as the kids approach puberty, the challenges of parenting are far more complex, and the stakes of 'things going wrong' are far greater," added Luthar.

Luthar and Cicolla's paper, "What it feels like to be a mother: Variations by children's developmental stages," is published in the January issue of Developmental Psychology.

Luthar and Cicolla studied more than 2,200 mostly well-educated mothers with children ranging from infants to adults and examined multiple aspects of mothers' personal well-being, parenting and perceptions of their children.

When considering disturbances in mothers' own adjustment, the study showed "an inverted V shape in feelings of stress and depression, with mothers of middle school children (aged 12 to 14 years) consistently faring the most poorly and mothers of infants and adult children doing the best," Luthar said.

Why are the early teen years so tumultuous?

"Several factors come together in a perfect storm, Luthar said. "One, the kids are dealing with puberty and all that this implies - hormones, acne and changing bodies. Two, they are drawn toward experimenting with alcohol, drugs or sex."

"They are also coping with transition to a relatively impersonal school environment, with large buildings and different teachers for each class, as opposed to the relative safety of smaller elementary schools with the same teacher all year. Their academic performance is now evaluated in a much more public way than before, as are their extracurricular talents," she added. "Finally, as they strive to separate from their parents, the peer group takes on enormous significance; early adolescents are very invested in 'being popular,' desperately wanting to fit in and be admired by their peers. That is a lot to deal with simultaneously."

As the children struggle to negotiate all of these major challenges, so too must their mothers as their primary care givers.

For Carolyn D., sometimes the old soothing methods still work for her son, sometimes they don't, and she is both perplexed and worried about how best she can protect him.

"Sometimes a hug is helpful," she says. "But sometimes not at all. There are times when they don't even want to be seen with you in public. They want you to drop them off away from the drop off point."

"Moms are essentially the 'first responders' to the children's distress, and now they must figure out how best to offer comfort and reassurance, as the old ways - hugs, loving words and bedtime stories - no longer work," Luthar explained. "They also have to walk a very fine line in setting limits. On the one hand, moms want their children to be open in sharing what they do with their friends, and on the other hand, there is the real concern that such honest exchanges might seem like they are tacitly condoning risky behaviors, if disclosed.

"Decisions about what to allow, where to draw the line, how to effectively draw the line - all of these bring confusion and even fearfulness," Luthar said. "And then, of course, there is the hurt, from the eye-rolling, distancing, and even blatant scornfulness, from the same child who was unequivocally adoring just a few years earlier. That rejection hurts - it can hurt deeply."

In addition, Luthar and Cicolla cite other studies showing moms of early adolescents are likely experiencing their own developmental challenges as they begin to recognize declines in physical abilities, cognitive functioning and increased awareness of mortality. It also is a period when (according to other studies) martial satisfaction is the lowest and strife the highest.

All of this adds up to stressed out moms of middle school children.

Luthar suggests two interventions that can be done to minimize mothers' stress. One is information dissemination to be done not just when the child enters middle school but in earlier years so they know what is in store for them. The second is providing ongoing support for the mothers, once the children do start middle school and continuing through graduation of high school.

"It is not enough simply to educate the mothers about the teen years, they must be 'refueled' themselves as they shepherd their children through this often tumultuous time," Luthar said.

"We have learned that if mothers are to retain their equanimity as parents and as individuals, they need to receive nurturance and tending themselves," Luthar added. "This new study shows it is during the hectic middle and high school years - perhaps more than ever - that mothers must deliberately prioritize the regular receipt of 'authentic connections' in their everyday lives."

The juggling of every day activities has taken its toll on Carolyn D. and her son. In order to meet their schedules and let him still do competitive climbing, they agreed her son would take one online math class. But he didn't keep up with the work early on in the course and nearly failed.

"He was super panicked and super upset about it," she says. "I was really upset with myself because I thought that had I been a better mother I wouldn't have let him fall that far behind. If I had been more on top of things this wouldn't have happened. But when we sat down and discussed it, I said if you take the time and work really hard you are going to do ok. He did. He worked hard and got a B in the class. So what started out with me feeling like I failed, ended up being a very good lesson for him. But it all happened during very trying times."

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Building on a 30-year, three-generation study of depressed individuals, their children and offspring, a study published in the journal Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging provides a better understanding of the familial risk for depression and the role neuroplasticity might have in increasing the risk of developing depression.

The research by scientists at Children's Hospital Los Angeles and Columbia University shows a link between a particular allele for serotonin found at a higher frequency in those at risk of depression because of family history, and those who go on to develop major depressive disorder.

Prior work by Bradley S. Peterson, MD, director of the Institute for the Developing Mind (IDM) at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, and colleagues showed that individuals at familial risk for depression -- whether or not they have exhibited signs of depression in the past -- have a pattern of thinning in certain cortical regions of the brain. Additional brain loss occurs in other areas of the brain in those who do manifest depressive symptoms.

Several genes have been associated with depression, especially those genes that alter serotonin signaling. Serotonin is a chemical messenger in the brain that acts as a mood stabilizer. A genetic variation, or allele, found in the promoter region of the serotonin transporter was found to affect this brain loss.

The study found that among those at low risk for depression, the "S" (short) allele is associated with a thinner cortex than those with the "L" (long) allele. However, in the individuals at high risk for depression because of their family history, the correlation is actually reversed and more cortical thinning is found in those with the "L" allele.

In addition, those with the "S" allele were at higher risk of developing depression than those with the "L" allele when exposed to the same type and amount of stressors.

"These findings suggest that brain plasticity also plays a role in depression," said first author Ravi Bansal, PhD, researcher at the IDM at Children's Hospital Los Angeles and professor of pediatrics at Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. "It could be that those with the "L" allele or genetic variation can better adapt to their environment. Those with the "S" allele appear to have lower brain plasticity and perhaps have fewer compensatory factors in the brain that allow them to adapt to adverse conditions."

The study looked at brain MR images of 120 individuals, those at both high and low familial risk of depression, along with genotype data. Further scientific studies looking at cortical thickness, combined with genotyping, could also have the potential to predict who will develop depression and how individuals respond to anti-depressant medications, Bansal said.

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Additional contributors to the study include Myrna M. Weissman, Jay Gingrich, Xuejun Hao, Zagaa Odgerel, Virginia Warner, Priya J. Wickramaratne, Ardesheer Talati, Mark Ansorge, Alan S. Brown and Andre Sourander of Columbia University.

This work was partially supported by National Institute of Mental Health grant MH36197 (Myrna M. Weissman, P.I.) and Silvio O. Conte Center Grant, 1P50MH090966 (Jay Gingrich, P.I.).

About Children's Hospital Los Angeles

Children's Hospital Los Angeles has been named the best children's hospital in California and among the top 10 in the nation for clinical excellence with its selection to the prestigious U.S. News & World Report Honor Roll. Children's Hospital is home to The Saban Research Institute, one of the largest and most productive pediatric research facilities in the United States. Children's Hospital is also one of America's premier teaching hospitals through its affiliation since 1932 with the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. For more information, visit CHLA.org. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn, or visit our blog at http://researchlablog.org/.
To understand what goes on inside a beehive you can't just study the activity of a single bee. Likewise, to understand the photosynthetic light-harvesting that takes place inside the chloroplast of a leaf, you can't just study the activity of a single antenna protein. Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California (UC) Berkeley have created the first computational model that simulates the light-harvesting activity of the thousands of antenna proteins that would be interacting in the chloroplast of an actual leaf. The results from this model point the way to improving the yields of food and fuel crops, and developing artificial photosynthesis technologies for next generation solar energy systems.

The new model simulates light-harvesting across several hundred nanometers of a thylakoid membrane, which is the membrane within a chloroplast that harbors photosystem II (PSII), a complex of antennae made up of mostly of chlorophyll-containing proteins. The antennae in PSII gain "excitation" energy when they absorb sunlight and, through quantum mechanical effects, almost instantaneously transport this extra energy to reaction centers for conversion into chemical energy. Previous models of PSII simulated energy transport within a single antenna protein.

"Our model, which looked at some 10,000 proteins containing about 100,000 chlorophyll molecules, is the first to simulate a region of the PSII membrane large enough to represent behavior in a chloroplast while respecting and using both the quantum dynamics and the spatial structure of the membrane's components," says chemist Graham Fleming, who oversaw the development of this model. Fleming is a world authority on the quantum dynamics of photosynthesis. He holds appointments with Berkeley Lab, the University of California (UC) Berkeley, and the Kavli Energy NanoScience Institute at Berkeley.

"We use insights from structural biology, advanced spectroscopy and theory to reproduce observed phenomena spanning from one nanometer to hundreds of nanometers, and from ten femtoseconds to one nanosecond," Fleming says. "This enables us to explain the mechanisms underlying the high quantum efficiency of PSII light harvesting in ideal conditions for the first time."

Fleming is the corresponding author of a paper describing this research in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The paper is titled "Multiscale model of photosystem II light harvesting in the thylakoid membrane of plants." Co-authors are Kapil Amarnath, Doran Bennett and Anna Schneider.

The ability of green plants to thrive in sunlight stems in part from the flexibility that PSII displays in harvesting solar energy. At low levels of light, through quantum processes that have been modeled by Fleming and coworkers, a photon of sunlight can be utilized for creation of chemical energy with more than 90-percent probability. Thanks to a protective mechanism known as "energy-dependent quenching," PSII is able to ensure that a plant absorbs only the amount of solar energy it needs while excess energy that might damage the plant is safely dissipated.

Earlier work by Fleming and his research group revealed a molecular mechanism by which PSII is able to act as a sort of photosynthetic "dimmer switch" to regulate the amount of solar energy transported to the reaction center. However, this work was done for a single PSII antenna and did not reflect how these mechanisms might affect the transport of energy across assemblies of antennae, which in turn would affect the photochemical yield in the reaction centers of a functional thylakoid membrane.

"Our new model shows that excitation energy moves diffusively through the antennae with a diffusion length of 50 nanometers until it reaches a reaction center," Fleming says. "The diffusion length of this excitation energy determines PSII's high quantum efficiency in ideal conditions, and how that efficiency is altered by the membrane morphology and the closure of reaction centers. Ultimately, this means that the diffusion length of this excitation energy determines the photosynthetic efficiency of the host plant."

Given that the ability of PSII to regulate the amount of solar energy being converted to chemical energy is essential for optimal plant fitness in natural sunlight, understanding this ability and learning to manipulate it is a prerequisite for systematically engineering the light-harvesting apparatus in crops. It should also be highly useful for designing artificial materials with the same flexible properties.

"Our next step is to learn now to model a system of PSII's complexity over timescales ranging from femtoseconds to minutes, and lengthscales ranging from nanometers to micrometers," Fleming says.

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This research was supported by the DOE Office of Science. Computational work was carried out at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC), a DOE Office of Science User Facility hosted at Berkeley Lab.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory addresses the world's most urgent scientific challenges by advancing sustainable energy, protecting human health, creating new materials, and revealing the origin and fate of the universe. Founded in 1931, Berkeley Lab's scientific expertise has been recognized with 13 Nobel prizes. The University of California manages Berkeley Lab for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. For more, visit http://www.lbl.gov.

The DOE Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.
ATLANTA--A Georgia State University researcher, in collaboration with the Winship Cancer Institute, has received a four-year, $792,000 Research Scholar Grant from the American Cancer Society to fight cancers using a combination of therapies.

Charlie Garnett Benson, assistant professor in the Department of Biology at Georgia State and the principal investigator on the grant, is defining ways to maximize responses to novel immune-based therapeutic approaches in combination with radiation treatment of cancer.

This grant will fund the work in Benson's lab to determine how the activity of killer T-cells is increased to fight colorectal cancers after radiation treatment, and how best to apply radiation therapy to enhance cancer immunotherapy effectiveness.

"One of the major research thrusts in our lab is to examine the effects of ionizing radiation on gene expression in diverse cells to gain further insights into the mechanistic link between irradiation and increased attack by immune cells," Benson said. "This grant provides the funding for our work to better understand the basic immunology principles that could impact the design of immunologic strategies in combination with standard therapies for the treatment of cancer."

Data obtained from these studies can be translated into the clinic for the design of these combination treatments. For this, Benson will work closely with Mohammad Khan, associate professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University.

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For more information about Benson and her lab, visit http://biology.gsu.edu/profile/charlese-benson/.
Chronic kidney disease can develop in response to a variety of insults and is characterized by progressive renal fibrosis and atrophy of kidney tubule. Therapeutic options are limited and the disease is often not detected until later stages. A new study in the inaugural issue of JCI Insight identifies the Wnt pathway modulator Dickkopf-3 (DKK3) as a driver of kidney fibrosis. A team led by Bernd Arnold and Hermann-Josef Grone at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, Germany determined that DKK3 expression is elevated in tubular epithelia upon stress and associates with profibrotic T cell responses. In mouse models of CKD, genetic loss of Dkk3 or antibody blockade of DKK3 mitigated interstitial fibrosis and improved kidney function. DKK3 was secreted in the urine of mice following renal injury and associated with the extent of damage. Importantly, in patients with CKD of various etiologies, DKK3 levels in urine were elevated and correlated with the extent of fibrosis and tubular atrophy. The results of this study identify DKK3 as a driver of renal fibrosis and as a potential biomarker of disease severity.

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TITLE: Tubular Dickkopf-3 promotes the development of renal atrophy and fibrosis

AUTHOR CONTACT: Hermann-Josef Grone

German Cancer Research Center

Cellular and Molecular Pathology

Heidelberg, DEU

Email: h.-j.groene@dkfz.de

View this article at: http://insight.jci.org/articles/view/84916

JCI Insight is the newest publication from the American Society of Clinical Investigation, a nonprofit honor organization of physician-scientists. JCI Insight is dedicated to publishing a range of translational biomedical research with an emphasis on rigorous experimental methods and data reporting. All articles published in JCI Insight are freely available at the time of publication. For more information about JCI Insight go to http://www.insight.jci.org.
Fukuoka, Japan - Manufacture of longer, thinner, and uncontaminated carbon nanotubes, and successfully isolating them, have been ongoing challenges for researchers. A newly developed method has opened up new possibilities in carbon nanotube development.

As recently reported in an article published online at Scientific Reports, researchers at Kyushu University's Department of Applied Chemistry have developed a method for obtaining high-quality single-walled carbon nanotubes. The relatively mild process uses an outer stimulus to yield undamaged carbon nanotubes that are purer and longer, and even gives researchers the ability to sort nanotubes according to their structure and length.

Previous approaches for isolating or sorting nanotubes have required use of more aggressive techniques. These can contaminate the nanotubes and are difficult to completely remove. They also involve processes that could damage the nanotubes and impair their functionality.

"Our approach involves introducing supramolecular hydrogen-bonding polymers, followed by simply shaking the mixture and changing the polarity of the solvent, rather than applying potentially destructive sonication or chemical modification," says coauthor Naotoshi Nakashima. "In this way, we can obtain single-walled carbon nanotubes over two microns long that do a fine job maintaining structural integrity."

The new technique is particularly useful because of the mildness and selectivity of the newly designed hydrogen-bonding polymers used. The presence of fluorene moieties within them enables the specific recognition of and binding to single-walled carbon nanotubes, and specific sorting of tubes with a small diameter. This is particularly beneficial because small-diameter nanotubes are exceedingly useful for optoelectronic devices, such as thin-film transistors and sensors.

"The nanotubes we can obtain using this method can be expected to have superior characteristics to those isolated by previous procedures," says coauthor Fumiyuki Toshimitsu (Visiting Assistant Professor). "For example, by limiting contamination, their electrical and mechanical properties can be optimized. And by being able to sort nanotubes by length or chirality, we can more precisely customize those used for a particular application."

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Research Contact:

Naotoshi Nakashima

International Institute for Carbon-Neutral Energy Research (ICNER), Kyushu University

nakashima-tcm_at_mail.cstm.kyushu-u.ac.jp

About ICNER:

ICNER's mission is to contribute to the advancement of low carbon emission and cost effective energy systems and improvement of energy efficiency. The array of technologies that ICNER's research aims to enable includes Solid Oxide Fuel Cells, Polymer Membrane based fuel cells, biomimetic and other novel catalyst concepts, and production, storage, and utilization of hydrogen as a fuel. Our research also explores the underlying science of CO2 capture and storage or the conversion of CO2 to a useful product. Additionally, central to ICNER's mission is the establishment of an international academic environment that fosters innovation through collaboration and interdisciplinary research (fusion).
This news release is available in French.

Human genome editing for both research and therapy is progressing, raising ethical questions among scientists around the world.

On the one hand, technical advances could enable doctors to modify germline genes - those contained in sperm and eggs - to prevent offspring from developing devastating genetic diseases. At the same time, the potential for gene editing to alter human inheritance also alarms many scientists, prompting some to argue that germline editing should be prohibited indefinitely.

As countries around the world seek to craft policy frameworks governing the powerful new genetic editing tool, policy makers need to determine "thresholds of acceptability" for using the technology, according to three researchers from the Centre of Genomics and Policy at McGill University.

Rosario Isasi, Erika Kleiderman and Bartha Maria Knoppers suggest in a 'Perspectives' article in Science magazine that policy makers could be guided by the model that has served to develop policies governing pre-implantation genetic diagnosis after in vitro fertilization.

Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), used to identify genetic conditions in embryos and prevent certain diseases from being passed on to the child, "was first regarded as highly controversial and now is mainly governed within the general biomedical research context," the researchers write. Many countries allow genetic testing in pre-implantation embryos, subject to medically determined requirements such as the gravity of the genetic condition and a substantial risk of occurrence.

Robust approach

While the PGD model is still "relatively flawed and contentious," they argue that it represents "a robust approach to regulation" in the thresholds it is delineating for medical determinations and substantial risk of occurrence.

"Many questions still remain to be addressed," with regard to genome editing, the researchers add. For example: Are there potential defensible uses for genome editing so as to select, or de-select certain human traits? Are there any thresholds for non-medical interventions?

Still, they conclude, "Public acceptance may change as the benefits of genome editing emerge for disease prevention. Eventually, as we move from research to the clinic, the collective sum of individual decisions could constitute a de facto policy."

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Elderly patients suffering from Parkinson's disease could one day benefit from only having to take their medication once a day instead of three times daily.

Scientists from Nanyang Technology University (NTU) and SingHealth have developed a pill that contains the same cocktail of three standard drugs used to treat Parkinson's disease which can release the medication slowly over a 24-hour period, benefitting both patients and caregivers.

Developed by NTU's Assoc Prof Joachim Loo from the School of Materials Science and Engineering, the new technology, which uses a patented micro-encapsulation process, is now being tested in animal models at the laboratory of Assoc Prof Lim Kah Leong from the National Neuroscience Institute.

To encourage similar collaborations that will generate more patient care innovations, NTU and SingHealth announced a new five-year research tie-up today.

The first joint research grant call worth S$2 million, which will fund six joint research projects of up to S$300,000 each, was also announced.

The funds will enable NTU scientists and SingHealth clinicians to develop practical healthcare solutions, such as biomedical devices, novel drugs and new treatment methods to prevent, diagnose or treat diseases.

Prof Ivy Ng, Group CEO of SingHealth said, "The NTU-SingHealth partnership is highly complementary and will facilitate research from bench to bedside more seamlessly.

"Our clinicians can highlight areas in clinical care that could potentially be improved to the attention of engineers and scientists. Each brings their unique expertise to the research team and ultimately, we hope working together will produce tangible outcomes that benefit patients."

NTU President Prof Bertil Andersson said the partnership taps on the deep engineering and life sciences expertise at NTU, including new life sciences techniques used in emerging research areas like phenomics and genomics at the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine.

"NTU has a track record of working with hospitals to do research that will benefit patients, and today's partnership with SingHealth is an expansion of our previous successful collaboration.

"Already, some of our research breakthroughs are being tested with our partners in SingHealth, such as time-release nanodrugs that eliminate the need for daily eye drops for glaucoma patients and drug-eluting stents that can prevent blood clots while delivering medicine to the necessary parts of the body."

Taking healthcare solutions to the next level

The joint grant-call projects will focus on nationally-relevant diseases. It will cover several key clinical areas, which include ageing, diabetes, eye diseases, infectious diseases, skin and plastic surgery, and medical technology.

The plan is to initiate more collaborative research projects that will result in a new range of products, medications, systems and equipment, adding to those currently being developed by NTU and SingHealth.

One of the existing joint projects is to make corneal transplants safer and easier to perform through the development of a new surgical tool. The tool, which is in the prototype phase, is built by scientists from NTU's School of Materials Science and Engineering together with clinicians from the Singapore National Eye Centre.

The new surgical tool can produce vibrations in its blade, which allows for more accurate, smoother and safer removal of thin layers of cornea compared to current devices on the market. If successfully commercialised, it would mean that eye surgeons will perform corneal transplants more easily while patients can look forward to shorter recovery time.

Another ongoing joint project aims to help heart surgeons plan for cardiac surgeries with the use of a 3D virtual reality model of patients' hearts. The project group involving NTU's Institute of Media Innovation and the National Heart Centre Singapore is now looking to set up a laboratory where realistic virtual heart models can be used for cardiac surgical planning, as well as doctors' training.

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Media contact:

Lester Kok

Manager

Corporate Communications Office

Nanyang Technological University

Email: lesterkok@ntu.edu.sg

Lydia Ng

SingHealth Group Communications

Email: lydia.ng.w.r@singhealth.com.sg

About Nanyang Technological University

A research-intensive public university, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) has 33,500 undergraduate and postgraduate students in the colleges of Engineering, Business, Science, Humanities, Arts, & Social Sciences, and its Interdisciplinary Graduate School. It has a new medical school, the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, set up jointly with Imperial College London.

NTU is also home to world-class autonomous institutes - the National Institute of Education, S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Earth Observatory of Singapore, and Singapore Centre on Environmental Life Sciences Engineering - and various leading research centres such as the Nanyang Environment & Water Research Institute (NEWRI), Energy Research Institute @ NTU (ERI@N) and the Institute on Asian Consumer Insight (ACI).

Ranked 13th in the world, NTU has also been ranked the world's top young university for the last two years running.

The University's main campus has been named one of the Top 15 Most Beautiful in the World. NTU also has a campus in Novena, Singapore's medical district.

For more information, visit http://www.ntu.edu.sg

About Singapore Health Services (SingHealth)

The SingHealth Duke-NUS Academic Medical Centre draws on the collective strengths of SingHealth and Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School to drive the transformation of healthcare and provide affordable, accessible and quality healthcare to patients. It is the largest public healthcare group in Singapore delivering comprehensive, multi-disciplinary care, with 42 clinical specialties, a network of 2 Hospitals, 5 National Specialty Centres, 9 Polyclinics and a Community Hospital. Sengkang Health, a new healthcare system to deliver patient-centric care to the community in the north-east of Singapore is currently developing Sengkang General and Community Hospitals which are slated for completion in 2018.

For more information, please visit: http://www.singhealth.com.sg

Members of the SingHealth group:

Hospitals (Tertiary Specialty Care): Singapore General Hospital, KK Women's and Children's Hospital, Sengkang Health

National Specialty Centres (Tertiary Specialty Care): National Cancer Centre Singapore, National Dental Centre Singapore, National Heart Centre Singapore, National Neuroscience Institute, and Singapore National Eye Centre

SingHealth Polyclinics (Primary Care): Bedok, Bukit Merah, Geylang, Marine Parade, Outram, Pasir Ris, Queenstown, Sengkang, and Tampines

Community Hospital (Intermediate and Long-term Care): Bright Vision Hospital

Annex A

Factsheet

Nanomedicine for treatment of Parkinson's disease

NTU's Assoc Prof Joachim Loo from the School of Materials Science and Engineering and Assoc Prof Lim Kah Leong from the National Neuroscience Institute are developing a new nanomedicine for the treatment of Parkinson's disease.

Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that causes a person to lose control of motor movements, such as the ability to move his or her hands, arms, and legs.

Parkinson's disease is one of the most common neurodegenerative conditions in Singapore. It affects three out of every 1,000 persons aged 50 years and above. With an ageing population in Singapore, cases of neurodegenerative diseases are set to rise.

Currently, there is no cure or treatment which can slow down or stop Parkinson's disease, which affects an estimated 10 million people worldwide.

The nanomedicine is made by loading the same cocktail of three standard drugs, used to treat Parkinson's disease - levodopa (LD), carbidopa (CD) and entacapone (ENT) - into extremely small hollow oil-based capsules composed of poly-L-lactide (PLLA) and poly (caprolactone). LD and CD drugs are contained inside the capsule while the ENT is on the surface of the capsule.

These microcapsules can then be made into a pill which will slowly release the drugs in small amounts over 24 to 48 hours after being orally ingested by the patient.

Such a timed-released delivery system could provide similar, if not better, pharmaceutical benefits compared to the conventional treatment, which usually requires the patients to take a few pills several times a day.

With this new invention, a lower dosage of drugs could be used, leading to fewer side effects for the patient.
Targeted school closure policies may help mitigating the spread of pandemic influenza, while entailing lower social costs than more traditional policies, such as nationwide school closure. This emerges from a modeling study published in PLOS Computational Biology led by Laura Fumanelli.

In the work, the authors simulate influenza spread and evaluate the impact of four different school closure types: nationwide, countywide (all schools in a county), reactive school-by-school (entire school when student absenteeism exceeds a certain threshold) and reactive gradual closure (classes first, then grades, and finally the entire school).

The researchers find that gradual and countywide closures are the two most effective strategies in terms of number of averted cases and school weeks lost per student. These approaches entail lower social costs than nationwide closure since they involve a lower number of students and parents who must stay away from work to take care of them.

A lot of analyses have already explored the impact of closing schools to reduce influenza transmission, but most of these studies have focused on the very costly approach of nationwide closures. These were regarded as too burdensome by a number of countries during the 2009 pandemic.

Contingent on the economic and social costs that health authorities are willing to afford in relation to disease severity, targeted school closure policies may thus contribute to limit the impact of future influenza pandemics.

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All works published in PLOS Computational Biology are Open Access, which means that all content is immediately and freely available. Use this URL in your coverage to provide readers access to the paper upon publication: http://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004681

Contact: Laura Fumanelli

Address: Bruno Kessler Foundation

Center for Information Technology

via Sommarive 18

Trento Povo, 38123

ITALY

Email: lfumanelli@fbk.eu

Citation: Fumanelli L, Ajelli M, Merler S, Ferguson NM, Cauchemez S (2016) Model-Based Comprehensive Analysis of School Closure Policies for Mitigating Influenza Epidemics and Pandemics. PLoS Comput Biol 12(1): e1004681. doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004681

Funding: LF, MA, SM received funding from the European Commission Horizon2020 CIMPLEX project. NMF and SC received funding from NIGMS MIDAS. NMF also acknowledges funding from MRC, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and NIHR HPRU. SC also acknowledges funding from Labex IBEID, AXA Research Fund and EU FP7 PREDEMICS. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

About PLOS Computational Biology

PLOS Computational Biology features works of exceptional significance that further our understanding of living systems at all scales through the application of computational methods. All works published in PLOS Computational Biology are Open Access. All content is immediately available and subject only to the condition that the original authorship and source are properly attributed. Copyright is retained. For more information follow @PLOSCompBiol on Twitter or contact ploscompbiol@plos.org.

About PLOS

PLOS is a nonprofit publisher and advocacy organization founded to accelerate progress in science and medicine by leading a transformation in research communication. For more information, visit http://www.plos.org.

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The oral drug ivacaftor appears to be safe and could be beneficial to young children between the ages of 2 and 5 with a specific type of cystic fibrosis, according to new research published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine journal. The findings also suggest a potential window of opportunity in early life when organ damage could be mitigated.

Cystic fibrosis is an inherited disease caused by a defective gene that slowly destroys the lungs and digestive system. The defective gene disrupts the activity of a protein called cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) which regulates salt transport in the body's cells. This causes thick, sticky mucus to build up in organs, especially the lungs and digestive system, and leads to recurring infections and irreversible lung damage. Around 10000 people are living with cystic fibrosis in the UK and more than 70000 worldwide. Currently, there is no cure.

Ivacaftor targets the basic defect of cystic fibrosis, or CFTR, seen in about 4% of cystic fibrosis patients with at least one mutation in the CFTR gene. Earlier studies confirmed the drug to be a safe and effective treatment in children aged 6 and older, adolescents, and adults with these so called "gating" mutations, and the drug has been approved for use in these groups. But, until now, no studies have examined its effects in younger children.

This trial, involving 34 pre-school children with cystic fibrosis aged between 2 and 5 years with at least one copy of a mutation in the CFTR gene, showed that taking the oral drug at one of two doses (50mg for children with bodyweight <14 kg and 75mg for ?14 kg) twice daily for 6 months improved several markers of disease including sweat chloride levels, weight gain, and pancreatic function [1].

The 33 participants who completed the 6 month treatment experienced significant reductions in sweat chloride levels suggesting an improvement in the body's ability to restore the balance of salt in and out of cells--the process which when defective leads to cystic fibrosis--and improved weight gain that could provide a "buffer" against the decline in nutritional status and better lung function in later childhood. What is more, over a quarter of the children rose above the clinical cut off for pancreatic insufficiency at least once during treatment, suggesting, say the authors, "a window in early life where at least partial restoration of pancreatic function might be possible." [2] This is the first time that this has been shown with any drug in cystic fibrosis patients.

Ivacaftor was generally well tolerated with a safety profile similar to that seen in adults (table 2). The most commonly reported adverse events were cough (19 children; 56%) and vomiting (10; 29%). Five children (15%) had liver function tests (LFTs) eight times higher than the upper limit of normal, resulting in one child stopping treatment. All five patients had a history of elevated LFTs at screening and all were reversible. However, given the frequency of LFT elevations, the authors suggest that more frequent monitoring should be considered in younger children, particularly those with a history of elevated LFTs.

The authors caution that more data are needed before these long-term treatment effects and safety can be confirmed. According to study leader Professor Jane Davies from the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London, London, UK, who led the study from Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK, "This was a small trial, but we are thrilled to see these results. Ivacaftor is a potential new treatment to offer children aged 2 years and older with cystic fibrosis and a CFTR gating mutation. This novel therapy could substantially impact on these children's lives, potentially opening the way to even greater progress in years to come." [2]

Writing in a linked Comment, Sophie Yammine and Philipp Latzin from University Children's Hospital Bern, Bern, Switzerland, and Florian Singer from University Children's Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland say, "Davies and colleagues' study is groundbreaking for cystic fibrosis care in children aged 2-5 years. Targeted treatment of this basic defect has potential for both prevention of damage and functional improvement of affected organs. Ivacaftor is safe, and results of secondary outcome measures suggest efficacy in this age group that is similar to that in older patients. Many unknowns remain, however, such as the earliest age of possible application, data for natural fluctuation of new outcome variables, and other points that have been reviewed previously. In any case, the results published by Davies and colleagues are good news for young children with cystic fibrosis and their families, who often have an insufficient amount of advocacy."

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NOTES TO EDITORS:

This study was funded by Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated.

[1] In around 80-90% of patients with cystic fibrosis pancreatic function is irreversibly damaged from early life, which means that the pancreas no longer functions at a level needed to digest food. As a result, children with cystic fibrosis often have problems maintaining or gaining weight.

[2] Quote direct from author and cannot be found in text of Article.
The fossilised bones of a group of prehistoric hunter-gatherers who were massacred around 10,000 years ago have been unearthed 30km west of Lake Turkana, Kenya, at a place called Nataruk.

Researchers from Cambridge University's Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies found the partial remains of 27 individuals, including at least eight women and six children.

Twelve skeletons were in a relatively complete state, and ten of these showed clear signs of a violent death: including extreme blunt-force trauma to crania and cheekbones, broken hands, knees and ribs, arrow lesions to the neck, and stone projectile tips lodged in the skull and thorax of two men.

Several of the skeletons were found face down; most had severe cranial fractures. Among the in situ skeletons, at least five showed "sharp-force trauma", some suggestive of arrow wounds. Four were discovered in a position indicating their hands had probably been bound, including a woman in the last stages of pregnancy. Foetal bones were uncovered.

The bodies were not buried. Some had fallen into a lagoon that has long since dried; the bones preserved in sediment.

The findings suggest these hunter-gatherers, perhaps members of an extended family, were attacked and killed by a rival group of prehistoric foragers. Researchers believe it is the earliest scientifically-dated historical evidence of human conflict - an ancient precursor to what we call warfare.

The origins of warfare are controversial: whether the capacity for organised violence occurs deep in the evolutionary history of our species, or is a symptom of the idea of ownership that came with the settling of land and agriculture.

The Nataruk massacre is the earliest record of inter-group violence among prehistoric hunter-gatherers who remained largely nomadic.

"The deaths at Nataruk are testimony to the antiquity of inter-group violence and war," said Dr Marta Mirazon Lahr, from Cambridge's LCHES, who directs the IN-AFRICA Project and led the Nataruk study, published today in the journal Nature.

"These human remains record the intentional killing of a small band of foragers with no deliberate burial, and provide unique evidence that warfare was part of the repertoire of inter-group relations among some prehistoric hunter-gatherers," she said.

The site was first discovered in 2012. Following careful excavation, the researchers used radiocarbon and other dating techniques on the skeletons - as well as on samples of shell and sediment surrounding the remains - to place Nataruk in time. They estimate the event occurred between 9,500 to 10,500 years ago, around the start of the Holocene: the geological epoch that followed the last Ice Age.

Now scrubland, 10,000 years ago the area around Nataruk was a fertile lakeshore sustaining a substantial population of hunter-gatherers. The site would have been the edge of a lagoon near the shores of a much larger Lake Turkana, likely covered in marshland and bordered by forest and wooded corridors.

This lagoon-side location may have been an ideal place for prehistoric foragers to inhabit, with easy access to drinking water and fishing - and consequently, perhaps, a location coveted by others. The presence of pottery suggests the storage of foraged food occurred.

"The Nataruk massacre may have resulted from an attempt to seize resources - territory, women, children, food stored in pots - whose value was similar to those of later food-producing agricultural societies, among whom violent attacks on settlements became part of life," said Mirazon Lahr.

"This would extend the history of the same underlying socio-economic conditions that characterise other instances of early warfare: a more settled, materially richer way of life. However, Nataruk may simply be evidence of a standard antagonistic response to an encounter between two social groups at that time."

Antagonism between hunter-gatherer groups in recent history often resulted in men being killed, with women and children subsumed into the victorious group. At Nataruk, however, it seems few, if any, were spared.

Of the 27 individuals recorded, 21 were adults: eight males, eight females, and five unknown. Partial remains of six children were found co-mingled or in close proximity to the remains of four adult women and of two fragmentary adults of unknown sex.

No children were found near or with any of the men. All except one of the juvenile remains are children under the age of six; the exception is a young teenager, aged 12-15 years dentally, but whose bones are noticeably small for his or her age.

Ten skeletons show evidence of major lesions likely to have been immediately lethal. As well as five - possibly six - cases of trauma associated with arrow wounds, five cases of extreme blunt-force to the head can be seen, possibly caused by a wooden club. Other recorded traumas include fractured knees, hands and ribs.

Three artefacts were found within two of the bodies, likely the remains of arrow or spear tips. Two of these are made from obsidian: a black volcanic rock easily worked to razor-like sharpness. "Obsidian is rare in other late Stone Age sites of this area in West Turkana, which may suggest that the two groups confronted at Nataruk had different home ranges," said Mirazon Lahr.

One adult male skeleton had an obsidian 'bladelet' still embedded in his skull. It didn't perforate the bone, but another lesion suggests a second weapon did, crushing the entire right-front part of the head and face. "The man appears to have been hit in the head by at least two projectiles and in the knees by a blunt instrument, falling face down into the lagoon's shallow water," said Mirazon Lahr.

Another adult male took two blows to the head - one above the right eye, the other on the left side of the skull - both crushing his skull at the point of impact, causing it to crack in different directions.

The remains of a six-to-nine month-old foetus were recovered from within the abdominal cavity of one of the women, who was discovered in an unusual sitting position - her broken knees protruding from the earth were all Mirazon Lahr and colleagues could see when they found her. The position of the body suggests that her hands and feet may have been bound.

While we will never know why these people were so violently killed, Nataruk is one of the clearest cases of inter-group violence among prehistoric hunter-gatherers, says Mirazon Lahr, and evidence for the presence of small-scale warfare among foraging societies.

For study co-author Professor Robert Foley, also from Cambridge's LCHES, the findings at Nataruk are an echo of human violence as ancient, perhaps, as the altruism that has led us to be the most cooperative species on the planet.

"I've no doubt it is in our biology to be aggressive and lethal, just as it is to be deeply caring and loving. A lot of what we understand about human evolutionary biology suggests these are two sides of the same coin," Foley said.

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A pioneering three-year project to learn some of the secrets of Scotland's basking sharks by using satellite tag technology has shown an area off the west coast to be truly important for these giant fish.

Sharks tracked during the Basking Shark Satellite Tagging Project tended to spend most of their summer in the Sea of the Hebrides and returned to the same area the following year, according to the final project report published by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) today (Thursday).

Between 2012 and 2014, 61 basking sharks were tagged in the project, a partnership between SNH and the University of Exeter (UoE), and the first known to use a variety of satellite tagging technologies and to track the near real-time movements of basking sharks.

Tags were attached to the sharks near the islands of Hyskier, Coll and Tiree, where each summer large numbers of basking sharks can be seen feeding near the surface. The tagged sharks were particularly drawn to the waters around these islands which are an exciting place for wildlife watchers. Scientists at SNH and UoE believe the sharks return each year to feed in the area's plankton-rich seas. The sharks' behaviour suggests the waters could also be important to the sharks for other reasons and that they could benefit from a proposed marine protected area (MPA) off the west coast.

Dr Suzanne Henderson from SNH, who is managing the project said: "It's been really exciting to learn that the same individual basking sharks return in consecutive years to use Scottish waters. It's something we thought happened -- but we now have the first proof that this occurs. It really does emphasise that the Sea of the Hebrides is highly important for this migrating species."

Protecting highly mobile species, such as basking shark and whales, is difficult due to the large areas they cover. So identifying and managing areas where the animals gather to feed, or for important life-cycle events, such as courtship, can play an important role in their conservation.

As part of the Scottish MPA Programme, SNH has recommended that an area of the Sea of the Hebrides from Skye to Mull be designated an MPA to protect the basking sharks, and also minke whales. Scottish Ministers are currently considering the proposal.

Suzanne said: "As well as cruising around and feeding at the surface the sharks can be seen showing courtship-like behaviours, such as jumping clear of the water, known as breaching and swimming around nose-to-tail. These social behaviours suggest that the sharks return to the area not just to feed on the plankton bloom but for other reasons too, perhaps even to find a mate."

From autumn onwards the tagged sharks dispersed widely, leaving the shallow coastal waters for deep sea. Some were seen to head south as far as the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa, some headed west of Ireland and others remained relatively close to Scotland throughout the winter.

The Irish and Celtic Seas are also important for the basking sharks, the world's second largest fish after the whale shark. According to the report most of the sharks that headed south in the autumn used these seas as a migration corridor towards the Isle of Man and southwest England.

Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Food and the Environment, Richard Lochhead said: "The world's second largest shark, the basking shark, is an iconic species for marine conservation. Up until now we have not known as much as we would have liked about what they do in our seas and how best to ensure their continued presence alongside us, however this satellite tracking study confirms the Sea of the Hebrides is an essential destination in the migratory cycle of these gentle giants, where large numbers are seasonally sighted.

"This partnership between our scientific advisors at SNH and the University of Exeter has succeeded in uncovering more of the basking shark's secrets and furthering our knowledge of their behaviours, such as returning year on year to the same places at the same time. The results of this valuable work will help us along the path of getting the Marine Protected Area network right by ensuring the ecological processes and places basking shark depend upon are afforded the protection they need to endure."

Tags which provided information on the sharks' vertical movements suggest that the fish are able to adapt to various habitats and changes in their environment. A variety of behaviour was recorded, although sharks were found generally heading to deeper water at night in the summer months, returning to the surface during the day. Seven of the tagged sharks were found at depths greater than 1000m during winter months.

Dr Matthew Witt from UoE said: "We have learnt so much about Scotland's basking sharks through this work. It is the first project to use such a range of the latest tagging technologies and this has allowed us to reveal the horizontal and vertical movements of basking sharks with high levels of accuracy.

"We have gathered large amounts of data from the tags, which performed exceptionally well. But to collect much of this information we needed to retrieve the tags after they had detached from the sharks, so we are extremely grateful to the public whose remarkable beach-combing abilities saw more than a quarter of the tags returned to us.

"It's been a truly exciting project with many highlights and challenges along the way. It has improved our understanding of the life history of basking sharks and confirmed that the Sea of the Hebrides is a special place for these captivating fish. We hope our combined efforts yield a more secure future for basking sharks in coastal and offshore waters and that the impact of the project reaches far, influencing marine spatial planning policy, public engagement and the global conservation agenda."

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"Borders are more than just lines on a map; they are constructions and concepts that are constantly re-negotiated and maintained. Moreover, borders involve habits, attitudes and institutions that are used to create and maintain distinctions between 'us' and 'them'," says Researcher Jussi Laine of the University of Eastern Finland, summing up the ideas of the recently published book Borderscaping: Imaginations and Practices of Border Making.

The collapse of the Soviet Union, fluctuations in the global economy that cross borders, and international terrorism with its security-related challenges have over the past years expanded the dialogue in research addressing borders and created a need to take border studies beyond research that addresses state borders.

The book provides topical insight into borders, which - depending on the point of view - can have very different meanings for different people.

"The current situation in the Mediterranean, which serves as a dividing line, is a good example of this. Hundreds of people have drowned in the Mediterranean in an effort to come to Europe, yet at the same time its beaches are crowded with sun-bathing tourists. In some cases the beaches have been cleared of the bodies of drowned refugees only minutes before the arrival of tourists."

The book helps readers to better understand current phenomena and on-going change in society by presenting borders as complex and multidimensional concepts that are subject to dynamic temporal and spatial change.

"With this book and through the concept of borderscape, we seek to challenge concepts and practices that are considered self-evident. Borders are relative, dynamic and challenged spaces, and they are everywhere around us."

The book also addresses the issue of who has the right to define borders, and for what purpose.

Jussi Laine works as a Researcher at the University of Eastern Finland, and he is the Project Manager of the EUBORDERSCAPES project. Furthermore, Laine is the Executive Secretary and Treasurer of the Association for Borderlands Studies. At the University of Eastern Finland, multidisciplinary research addressing borders is one of the university's top-level international research areas.

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Chiara Brambilla, Jussi Laine, James W. Scott and Gianluca Bocchi: Borderscaping: Imaginations and Practices of Border Making, Ashgate 2015, http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9781472451460

For further information, please contact: Jussi Laine, jussi.laine@uef.fi, tel. +358 50 433 8252
University of Iowa researchers find a metabolic profile derived from routine newborn screenings can determine how many weeks a mother has carried her baby

Knowing if an infant was born on time or prematurely can make all the difference in deciding what medical care the baby needs.

In the United States, obstetricians can accurately predict how many weeks a mother has carried her baby, thanks to prenatal care and early ultrasounds.

That's not the case in developing countries where a scarcity of technology and adequate medical care leave little more than birth weight to determine a newborn's gestational age.

But now, researchers at the University of Iowa have found that a metabolic profile derived from routine newborn screenings is a reliable method of estimating an infant's gestational age. All it takes is a drop of blood.

"It's important to know whether a baby is small because it is simply small in size but born on time or is small because it was born early," says Kelli Ryckman, assistant professor of epidemiology in the UI College of Public Health and lead author of the study. "It helps determine how doctors should move forward with that baby and what kinds of health issues they should watch for."

The study, "Predicting gestational age using neonatal metabolic markers," was published recently in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Other UI researchers involved with the study are Stanton Berberich, program manager at the State Hygienic Laboratory, and John Dagle, associate professor at the Department of Pediatrics for UI Health Care.

Premature--also known as preterm--birth refers to when a baby is born before 37 weeks of pregnancy. Important growth and development occur throughout pregnancy--especially in the final months and weeks.

According to the World Health Organization, about 15 million babies are born preterm each year; that is more than 1 in 10 babies worldwide. Some 60 percent of them are born in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

Preterm birth is now the leading cause of death in children under five worldwide. Nearly 1 million children die each year from complications related to preterm birth. Many survivors face a lifetime of challenges, including learning disabilities and visual and hearing problems.

The study analyzed five years of data--about 300,000 records--from the Iowa neonatal newborn-screening program. The screening is a routine part of care for every baby born in the U.S. and tests for mostly rare conditions that, if caught early, can be treated to reduce the likely damaging health effects to the child.

The researchers hypothesized that metabolic markers measured during the newborn screening could build a first-ever metabolic gestational-dating algorithm that could be used at the time of birth when there is no early ultrasound.

Their theory worked--but they weren't alone in their findings.

Ryckman's manuscript was published by AJOG in tandem with papers from the University of California, San Francisco and the University of Ottawa whose similar gestational age studies independently reached the same conclusion as the one conducted by UI researchers.

The trio of studies was funded by the Gates Grand Challenges, an initiative of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. George Wehby, associate professor in the UI Department of Health Management and Policy at the College of Public Health, is the principal investigator for the UI Grand Challenges Explorations' phase one grant. Ryckman also received funding for this study from the National Institutes of Health.

"All of our groups are excited by these findings, which we feel will have particular relevance in low-resource settings where women enter prenatal care late or not at all," Ryckman says.

Ryckman is now joining researchers from the University of California, San Francisco; the University of California, San Diego; Harvard University; the University of Toronto; the University of Malawi; and Makerere University for a metabolic-testing trial on 800 newborns in Uganda and Malawi. The researchers will also apply a similar model to samples of the mothers' blood to see if they can determine which mothers may deliver early.

"We want to see if we can get at another aspect of this situation, which is targeting women who are at high risk of delivering early," Ryckman says.

The two-year study is being funded by $950,000 from the Gates Foundation and the University of California, San Francisco Preterm Birth Initiative.

Inequalities in survival rates for preterm babies around the world are stark, according to the World Health Organization. In low-income settings, half of babies born at or earlier than 32 weeks die because of a lack of feasible, cost-effective care, such as warmth, breastfeeding support, and basic care for infections and breathing difficulties. In high-income countries, almost all of these babies survive.

Ryckman says researchers hope their metabolic gestational-dating algorithm can be used in developing countries to actively examine the rates of preterm births and then target at-risk areas with interventions and prevention programs. Current measures, such as birth weight, are very poor surrogates for gestational age, and the researchers hope their metabolic gestational-dating algorithm can provide a more accurate estimate of preterm birth in the low-resource areas that need it most.

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Problems of anti-social behaviour, privacy, and free speech on social media are not caused by anonymity but instead result from the way technology changes our presence.

That's the startling conclusion of a new book by Dr Vincent Miller, a sociologist at the University of Kent and an expert on the information society and developing media.

In contending that the cause of issues such as online anti-social behaviour is the design/software of social media itself, Dr Miller suggests that social media architecture needs to be managed and planned in the same way as physical architecture.

In the book, entitled The Crisis of Presence in Contemporary Culture: Ethics, Privacy and Speech in Mediated Social Life, Dr Miller examines the relationship between the freedom provided by the contemporary online world and the control, surveillance and censorship that operate in this environment.

The book questions the origins and sincerity of moral panics about use - and abuse - in the contemporary online environment and offers an analysis of ethics, privacy and free speech in this setting.

Investigating the ethical challenges that confront our increasingly digital culture, Dr Miller suggests a number of revisions to our ethical, legal and technological regimes to meet these challenges.

These including changing what he describes as 'dehumanising' social media software, expanding the notion of our 'selves' or 'bodies' to include our digital traces, and the re-introduction of 'time' into social media through the creation of 'expiry dates' on social media communications.

Dr Miller is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Cultural Studies within the University's School of Social Research, Sociology and Social Policy. The Crisis of Presence in Contemporary Culture: Ethics, Privacy and Speech in Mediated Social Life, is published by Sage.

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For further information or interview requests, contact Martin Herrema at the University of Kent Press Office.

Tel: 01227 823581/01634 888879

Email: M.J.Herrema@kent.ac.uk

News releases can also be found at http://www.kent.ac.uk/news

University of Kent on Twitter: http://twitter.com/UniKent

Note to editors

Established in 1965, the University of Kent - the UK's European university - now has almost 20,000 students across campuses or study centres at Canterbury, Medway, Tonbridge, Brussels, Paris, Athens and Rome.

It has been ranked: third for overall student satisfaction in the 2014 National Student Survey; 16th in the Guardian University Guide 2016; 23rd in the Times and Sunday Times University Guide 2016; and 22nd in the Complete University Guide 2015.

In the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2015-16, Kent is in the top 10% of the world's leading universities for international outlook.

Kent is ranked 17th in the UK for research intensity (REF 2014). It has world-leading research in all subjects and 97% of its research is deemed by the REF to be of international quality.

Along with the universities of East Anglia and Essex, Kent is a member of the Eastern Arc Research Consortium (http://www.kent.ac.uk/about/partnerships/eastern-arc.html).

The University is worth 0.7 billion to the economy of the south east and supports more than 7,800 jobs in the region. Student off-campus spend contributes 293.3m and 2,532 full-time-equivalent jobs to those totals.

In 2014, Kent received its second Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education.
On a new episode of ID the Future, John West, Associate Director of the Center for Science & Culture, reviews the facts behind the recent decision by the United Methodist Church to ban Discovery Institute from sponsoring an information table at its upcoming General Conference.

Download the episode by clicking here:

Listen in and get the background on the story, find out whats stake, not just for Methodists, and learn more about what you can do to help.

Take action now: Contact United Methodist officials and urge them to overturn their ban on Discovery Institute.

Image: Wesleys Chapel, London, by Nick Sarebi [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons.
Take action now: Contact United Methodist officials and urge them to overturn their ban on Discovery Institute.

Writing at The Stream, our friend and Evolution News contributor Donald McLaughlin makes a great point about the United Methodist Church and its ban on intelligent design. A United Methodist himself, Donald writes:

Certainly the UMC is free to include or exclude whomever they wish from their conference. However, that doesnt mean the decision to bar Discovery Institute was right or that the UMC is being consistent in how it is approving who gets to sponsor and have information available in the exhibit hall. Two of the biggest sponsors of the conference are Home Depot and Staples, both of which have been public advocates for gay rights and same-sex marriage. Staples was one of 30 companies signing on to an amicus brief in support of same-sex marriage to the U.S. Supreme Court in the Obergefell v. Hodges decision. Regardless of where one stands on that issue, the official position of the UMC is that the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching. Furthermore, UMC clergy are barred from performing or blessing same-sex unions. Given all that, why do Home Depot and Staples get a pass when both companies have openly advocated for a position that is blatantly contrary to the UMCs beliefs and principles? Apparently if you can pay the several thousand dollars required to be a major sponsor, the UMC is happy to look the other way. Its sheer hypocrisy to hide behind flawed wording and an incorrect understanding expressed in the UMCs social principles as a reason for barring Discovery Institute while admitting two major corporations that are in clear violation of those same principles. Apparently the motto Open Minds, Open Hearts, Open Doors only applies to those who either have enough money, or, more likely, who advocate a position with which many within the UMC organizational leadership happen to agree.

Yes, someone should ask that UMC spokesman about the double standard and the apparent pay for play approach to deciding what ideas get a pass and which are absolutely forbidden.

The vetting for this General Conference is clearly selective and the standards opportunistically applied. I wouldnt be surprised if there are other examples you could cite besides the embrace of Home Depot and Staples, but the Open Minds, etc. crowd at the UMC refuse to divulge the list of exhibitors.

Image credit: Ildar Sagdejev (Own work) [GFDL or CC BY-SA 4.0-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0], via Wikimedia Commons.
Doctors are becoming less physicians and more service providers. Patients are now akin to customers. In Canada, this may soon require doctors to kill certain patients on demand.

This has many societal ramifications, brought up in a very good column in the LA Times about a controversy about a Catholic hospital refusing to sterilize a woman because it violates Catholic medical ethics. From Why a Catholic Hospital Shouldnt be Obliged to do a Tubal Ligation, by Fordham University bioethics professor Charles A. Camosy:

When healthcare providers are forced by law to violate the values that make them who they are  because of the request of customers demanding goods and services in the free market  it signals the end of medicine as a professional practice. It makes medicine just another exchange of goods and services, and puts patients in the role of customers, ordering whatever they want from physicians. In such a world, an orthopedic surgeon would be forced to cut off a patients perfectly healthy leg rather than insisting that his bodily integrity identity disorder be treated instead. Someone with only months to live could order a knee replacement. And nothing could stop those who are merely tired of life from demanding a prescription for a deadly dose of medication.

As I have been warning about for years, that is exactly where we are heading. The jurisdiction of healthcare is expanding from purely medical issues to what I call consumerist services, e.g., procedures using medical means for a not strictly medical purpose, such as to fulfill lifestyle desires or enhance happiness.

But I also oppose Futile Care Theory that allows doctors to refuse wanted life-sustaining treatment. Isnt that deprofessionalization, too?

No. Life-sustaining treatment  keeping a patient alive when that is what she wants  is purely medical. It is not elective, but necessary to sustain life. (Hit this link for more details on the circumstances in which I think doctors should  and should not  be allowed to say no.)

Camosy makes a strong appeal to allow Catholic hospitals to be Catholic:

If that [the above quote] sounds wrong to you, then you have to say there is no justification for refusing healthcare providers  including Catholic hospitals  the freedom as professionals to determine their own answers to these vexing questions. If instead we single out religious hospitals and deny them this freedom, it would reveal that a very serious kind of discrimination is present in our culture. And it is the kind of discrimination that not only reveals contempt for the 1st Amendment, but also for the right of all to define and express their identity.

Heres the thing. The secularists dont think it is wrong to force doctors to participate in life-taking or religiously proscribed procedures. They want to force their utilitarian values on all of healthcare  which is one purpose to which Obamacare is being put.

Image credit:  koszivu / Dollar Photo Club.

Cross-posted at Human Exceptionalism.
Hello again!

We are but on this Earth for a little while but the land beneath our feet will remain for generations to come. Protecting our soil and our land is a responsibility that every farmer takes seriously. For it is from this land that they will plant, nurture and harvest their crops that in turn will help feed the world as well as provide for their families.

Here at USDA we provide several programs and opportunities to protect our land so that it will be here for future generations.

Currently, the Farm Service Agency is holding a general sign up for the Conservation Reserve Program. This program is a federally-funded voluntary program that contracts with agricultural producers so that environmentally sensitive agricultural land is not farmed, but instead used for conservation benefits. CRP participants establish long-term, resource-conserving plant species, such as approved grasses or trees to control soil erosion, improve water quality and develop wildlife habitat.

In return, FSA provides participants with rental payments and cost-share assistance. Sign up for this program continues through February 26th. If you are interested, please contact your local FSA office.

Continuing with our land theme, we must now share the yearly reminders and notifications that relate to the land. Farming Operation Changes Producers who have bought or sold land, or added or dropped rented land from their operation must report those changes to the FSA office as soon as possible.

A copy of the deed or recorded land contract for purchased property is needed to maintain accurate records with FSA. A copy of your lease for newly rented land must also be provided. Failure to do so can lead to possible program ineligibility and penalties. Making record changes now will save time in the spring. Highly Erodible Land (HEL) and Wetland Conservation Compliance Landowners and operators are reminded that in order to receive payments from USDA, compliance with Highly Erodible Land (HEL) and Wetland Conservation (WC) provisions are required.

Farmers with HEL determined soils are reminded of tillage, crop residue and rotation requirements as specified per their conservation plan. Producers are to notify the USDA Farm Service Agency prior to conducting land clearing or drainage projects to ensure compliance. Failure to obtain advance approval for any of these situations can result in the loss of eligibility and all Federal payments. Crop Acreage Reporting Requirement Filing an accurate acreage report at your local FSA office can prevent the loss of benefits for a variety of programs.

Failed acreage is acreage that was timely planted with the intent to harvest, but because of disaster-related conditions, the crop failed before it could be brought to harvest. This acreage must be reported to your local FSA office prior to destruction.

Prevented planting must be reported no later than 15 days after the final planting date.

Annual acreage reports are required for most Farm Service Agency programs.

Annual crop report deadlines vary based on region, crop, permanent vs. annual crop type, NAP or non-NAP crop and fall or winter seeding.

Participants in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) must certify to contract compliance before any annual rental payments will be made.

Consult your local FSA office for deadlines in your area.

Fruits and vegetables exception

Planting fruits or vegetables on payment acres enrolled in the ARC and PLC Program is prohibited unless the commodity is destroyed without benefit before harvest. Producers may plant FAVs and/or wild rice on payment acres if the FAV and/or wild rice is planted in a double-cropping practice with covered commodities in any region designated in the seven code of federal regulations as having a history of double-cropping covered commodities or peanuts with FAVs and/or wild rice.

Failure to comply with FAV and wild rice provisions of this part will result in an acre-for-acre payment reduction.

Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Risk Management Agency (RMA) to Prevent Fraud, Waste, and Abuse

FSA supports the RMA in the prevention of fraud, waste and abuse of the Federal Crop Insurance Program. FSA has been, and will continue to, assist RMA and insurance providers by monitoring crop conditions throughout the growing season. FSA will continue to refer all suspected cases of fraud, waste and abuse directly to RMA.

Producers can report suspected cases to the county office staff, the RMA office, or the Office of the Inspector General.

Foreign Landowner Notification

The Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act (AFIDA) requires all foreign owners of U.S. agricultural land to report their holdings to the Secretary of Agriculture. The Farm Service Agency administers this program for USDA.

Foreign individuals who have purchased or sold agricultural land in the county are required to report the transaction to FSA with 90 days of the closing.

Failure to submit the AFIDA form could result in civil penalties of up to 25 percent of the fair market value of the property. County government offices, real estate agents, attorneys and others involved in real estate transactions are reminded to notify foreign investors of these reporting requirements.

As with any of our programs, if you have any questions or concerns, please contact your local Farm Service Agency for more information. All good things must come to an end and next week will mark the end of our yearly reminders.

I know you are as excited as I am. Something we must do but not very interesting to write about.

Thats all for now,

FSA Andy
Some look forward to the Oscars or the Golden Globes, maybe the next episode of a cop show or mystery thriller. Im not much of a television watcher, and have long said I could happily live without one.

But, that was before Dr. Pol. Everything changed when I, along with thousands of others, got to know this Dutch-born veterinarian who loves his work, and remains true to hands-on, old-style animal care.

Last night, after months away, I finally had a Saturday night date with Dr. Pol, and I could not wait to see him again. I was ready to go on some farm calls!

Driving his Jeep fast to cover lots of ground, many of his runs in this years opening chapter were to family dairy farms in central Michigan, the snow and ice making an already challenging job just tough enough to cause a lesser guy to mope and bellyache, but not the wise and witty Dr. Pol.

Praising dairy farmers

It was uplifting to hear family dairy farmers praised throughout the hour-long episode. A Holstein cow in a cold, dark stall was in labor far before she should have been, obviously struggling to abort.

Despite the bone-chilling cold, Dr. Pol did what he quite often does if he knows he needs to act fast: he strips down to bare torso, his long arms able to work more efficiently.

It was a tough case, but perseverance and the patience to push, then pull, slow and steady, brought the cow through it. On another farm, a young dairymans concern was obvious for his favorite cow, a red and white Holstein with a uterine prolapse after calving.

Dr. Pol, his son, Charles, and the farmer did their best to save the herds top producer. As the young man thanked the Pols, the prognosis looking good, it was obvious the respect runs both ways in this relationship out on the farms.

His background

This jolly, hard-working veterinarian grew up on his familys 40-acre dairy farm in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands as World War II charged on. The youngest of six children, each had daily chores. The family and their animals were all under one big roof, a common set-up in that area.

The Pol farm was remote, and people would sometimes ride bicycles from the city in hopes of getting fresh milk to drink. No one was ever turned away, Dr. Pol tells in his book Never Turn Your Back on an Angus Cow: My Life As A Country Vet  not even during the Hunger Winter of 1944 when Germans cut off food supplies to punish the citizenry.

Dr. Pols kindness toward people and the animals they care for shines through in every episode of The Incredible Dr. Pol, on the Nat Geo Wild channel, which has become a hit show, much to Dr. Pols surprise.

Humble beginnings

It all started on that small farm in The Netherlands, where family chores were occasionally interrupted by surprise Nazi inspections. Regardless of starting life under cruel oppression, this young boy learned to help others in the truest form: a young Jewish boy was sheltered in their home for a time, and a Jewish family took shelter in a shack in the familys woods.

Genuine compassion for others shines through the smiling eyes of this jovial fellow. Most farmers managed everything their animals required.

In a rare emergency, with no telephone to summon the veterinarian, one of the Pol children would hop on a bicycle and pedal fast across the 5 miles to the vets house. When that same vet once stopped at the Pol home and asked the tall, skinny kid with the long arms to come along to help birth some piglets, life changed forever.

Becoming a vet

That experience was enjoyably satisfying to the 12-year-old boy; It was that day he decided he wanted to become a vet. His first pet was a crippled chicken.

It was in his nature to look out for the struggling, those animals who needed a little something more. And it is that little fellow in a big mans body who still shows up in the treatment rooms in the clinic and out on farm calls, truly wanting to help, knowing farmers cant take too many losses, and every ally is significant.

It is enjoyable to feel as though I am getting to know a man much like the beloved veterinarian and neighbor of my youth, Doc Smith, who showed up on our dairy farm with a smile and a story to brighten the barn.

Dealing with a prolapse in our birthing pen while my dad was busy planting corn, I thought it was just about the worst thing that could happen on my watch. Doc assured me it happened more than I might imagine, and together we were going to set things right. And we did!

When I headed to the house after milking the cows that night, I felt like a real farmer for the first time in my 15 years. When I get to tag along with Dr. Pol or any of his associates, driving lickety-split to a farm call, I find myself cheering for much more than just that which meets the eye.

Hard work

I am cheering for good people working hard in all of rural America. I cheer for the love story of a Dutch boy and his American bride, Diane, as together they built this far-reaching practice, doing what they can to help their neighbors navigate life with animals of all types. I cant imagine the temperament it would take to allow cameras in to your life, your practice, the farms and barns and horse stalls, often in tense circumstances.

It cant be easy, but it sure is appreciated. Thanks, Dr. Pol and crew, for allowing us to be right there with you. And thank you for showcasing the wonderful rural culture still vibrant in much of America that is worthy of recognition and gratitude.
WILBERFORCE, Ohio  Central State University has secured $2 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service to support the development of a well-qualified and diverse pool of students interested in agriculture/engineering.

Scholarships

The funding spans four years and will provide academic scholarships and expanded experiences to eligible students majoring in science, technology, engineering, agriculture and mathematics.

The intent is to develop a highly qualified agriculture/engineering applicant pool to provide NRCS and USDA a future workforce of underrepresented talent through the integration of disciplines that apply engineering science and technology to agricultural production, conservation, and processing.

Healthy ecosystems

The integration of agriculture, water resources management and engineering sciences help with the sustainability of the U.S. economy and help in the development of new knowledge and technologies that support the varied dimensions of soil conservation, food production, plant and animal food sources and the continuance of a healthy ecosystem.

Three projects

The funding specifically supports three major projects:

1) scholarships for eligible undergraduate students engaged in agriculture/engineering science disciplines;

2) pre-college outreach pipeline programs to support the goal of producing students with integrated knowledge and experiences;

and

3) participation of students, faculty and staff at conferences and experiential learning events that support agricultural sustainability, natural resources conservation and agricultural production.

In addition to academic support, students will be able to engage in USDA/NRCS federal internships and contribute to the replenishment of the workforce in those agencies.

The funding will also support a more robust recruitment of middle and high school students to the Universitys Seed to Bloom summer program to provide innovative teaching and learning activities that lead to increased interest in STEAM disciplines.

Ag students

Additionally, a summer residential program specifically for high school pre-college students is being designed to encourage and engender interest in agricultural innovations.

Central States College of Science and Engineering comprises five departments: the Department of Agricultural Sciences, the Department of Manufacturing Engineering, the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, the Department of Natural Sciences and the Department of Water Resources Management.
SALEM, Ohio  Another round of congressional discontent over the U.S. EPAs Clean Water Rule, better known as the Waters of the United States  was met with a presidential veto Jan. 19.

A joint resolution of both the House and Senate would have provided congressional disapproval and caused the rule to have no force or effect. The resolution, S.J. Res. 22, was approved in the House by a vote of 253-166, and in the Senate by a vote of 53-44.

The Clean Water Rule is an effort by the EPA, and the Army Corps of Engineers, to clarify and define its jurisdiction over certain streams, wetlands and tributaries. But it became a point of contention for farmers and some lawmakers, who feared the rule would be expanded to include roadside ditches, grass waterways on farms, and streams that only flow occasionally.

Speaking out

Since this rule was initially proposed in 2014, I have heard from farmers, home builders, county and township officials, and state environmental officials that are opposed to this rule, said U.S. Rep. Bob Gibbs, R-Lakeville, in a released statement.

Gibbs said it would weaken federal-state partnerships, and risk the water quality progress that has already been made.

He also alleges that EPA broke the law in promoting it, referring to the EPAs effort to use social media to encourage the public to comment on the new rule. The Government Accountability Office called that practice convert propaganda.

Public involvement

President Obama, in his veto letter, said the rule is a product of extensive public involvement and years of work, calling it critical to our efforts to protect the nations waters and keep them clean.

Obama said the rule is representative of industry, community stakeholders, and is consistent with decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court.

As I have noted before, too many of our waters have been left vulnerable, Obama wrote. Pollution from upstream sources ends up in the rivers, lakes, reservoirs, and coastal waters near which most Americans live and on which they depend for their drinking water, recreation, and economic development. Clarifying the scope of the Clean Water Act helps to protect these resources and safeguard public health.

Jurisdictional reach

The EPA disputes claims that the new rule would expand jurisdiction to farmers ditches and mud puddles, and insists that normal farming activities would not be affected. The website, www.epa.gov/cleanwaterrule, lists separate fact boxes of what the rule does, and what it does not do, in an effort to make it more clear.

But farm groups, including the American Farm Bureau Federation, remain skeptical. The Farm Bureau launched an effort called Ditch the Rule, which states the organizations fears and concerns.

The EPAs rule became effective Aug. 28, but in October, the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay in the rule, following legal challenges by Ohio, Michigan and at least a dozen other states.
HARRISBURG, Pa.  Pennsylvania officials say that the state is failing in its efforts to stop pollutants from reaching the states waterways and the Chesapeake Bay so a new strategy is being implemented to stop the pollution.

The Pennsylvania department of agriculture, department of conservation and natural resources and department of environmental protection gathered Jan. 21 to discuss a new plan to meet the obligations being enforced by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

The new plan is in response to the court orders finalized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in December 2010 that impose a total maximum daily load, or TMDL, that require Pennsylvania to reduce annual discharges of nitrogen, phosphorous and sediment entering the bay watershed in order to meet water quality standards by 2025.

Between 1985 and 2013, Pennsylvania has reduced the yearly nitrogen loads by more than 11.5 million pounds, phosphorous by 1.46 million pounds, and sediment by nearly 434 million pounds.

Failure

Officials say the state has been working and has prevented million of pounds of pollutants from reaching the states waterways and the Chesapeake Bay but the federal EPA says its not enough. Last month, the EPA advised DEP that it was withholding $2.9 million in funding, and will consider taking additional actions that increase the federal agencys role in inspections, permitting and compliance, if progress isnt made.

They blamed the failures on a few things but the majority was a lack of resources and a lack of man power.

Cost issues

According to the Penn State University Environmental and Natural Resources Institute, it estimated the requirements to implement non-point source best management practices in Pennsylvanias watershed implementation plan would cost $378.3 million per year through 2025. That estimate was made in 2013.

In addition, another way Pennsylvania is falling short on the its goals is with data. Officials have found that the data to measure pollution reduction efforts for agriculture and urban storm water pollution is inadequate. The data collected has been based on the installation of best management practices where a portion of the cost was shared by the federal or state government. And practices implemented that did not include cost shares from the government was not included at all.

Officials agreed that there needs to be more inspection and verification of activities related to agriculture and urban stormwater sources so that there is documentation that the pollutant reductions are being done to meet the states targets.

The agriculture industry is responsible for contributing three-quarters of the total nutrient reductions expected of states by 2025. Thats a sizeable sum, and no small task, but we know there are countless farmers who are doing their part. Part of the problem is that Pennsylvania is not getting full credit for the work we are doing. This plan sets out to rectify that, plus give those farmers who need help or encouragement the incentives to assist them. We all have a role here and agriculture stands ready to be part of the solution, said Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding.

Manpower

Another example where the state is falling short is in inspection of farms in the Chesapeake Bay. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, the Chesapeake Bay watershed is home to more than 33,600 farms. The federal EPA recommends that the DEP inspect 10 percent of the farms annual. In 2014, the DEP conducted a total of 592 inspections which equates to a 1.8 percent inspection rate. It was pointed out that the DEP does not have has many inspectors as it did just a few years ago which means more money is needed to hire more inspectors.

New plan

The new plan brings a focus to the states efforts to help protect the Chesapeake Bay while emphasizing the need for balance and resilience.

The reboot means that Pennsylvania must change its approach for the Chesapeake Bay.

One area that the state departments agreed on is that the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection can not do it by themselves.

The department of Environmental Protection, department of agriculture and the department of conservation and natural resources will now be working together to coordinate plans, policies and resources.

The strategy relies on a mix of technical and financial assistance for farmers, technology, expanded data gathering, improved program coordination and capacity and  only when necessary  stronger enforcement and compliance measures.

The administrations comprehensive strategy centers around six parts including these:

 Put high-impact, low-cost Best Management Practices (BMPs) on the ground, and quantify undocumented BMPs in watersheds impaired by agriculture or stormwater.

This means the state will work on improving reporting, record keeping and data systems to provide better and more accessible documentation.

The plan will shift an additional 15 percent of available statewide water quality funding equalling $1.25 million dollars to work in the Chesapeake Bay.

 Address nutrient reduction by meeting EPAs goal of inspecting 10 percent of farms in the watershed, ensuring development and use of manure management and agricultural erosion and sediment control plans, and enforcement for non-compliance.

Identify legislative, programmatic or regulatory changes to provide the additional tools and resources necessary to meet federal pollution reduction goals by 2025.

 Obtain additional funding resources for water quality improvement.

 Establish a Chesapeake Bay Office to coordinate the development, implementation and funding of the commonwealths Chesapeake Bay efforts.

Forest buffers

One area the plan is going to emphasize is the riparian forest buffers. Forest buffers are one of the most effective methods of improving local water quality. So the DCNR will be working with landowners to create buffers and maintain them. The hope is that 95,000 additional riparian forest buffer acres will be created by 2025.

Of the many best management practices that improve the quality of waters and habitats in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, the single best may be the restoration of riparian forest buffers along stream banks to provide critical barriers between polluting landscapes and receiving waterways, DCNR Secretary Cindy Dunn said.

More than half of Pennsylvanias land area drains into the Chesapeake Bay, with the Susquehanna River being the largest tributary in the watershed.
A brand new Great British Food Unit has been established today to turbo-charge UK food exports and support industry growth plans, like their target of increasing manufactured food exports to 6 billion by 2020, Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss announced today.

From Weetabix to Rwanda, Cadbury chocolate fingers to the Bahamas and Yorkshire Tea to China, famous British brands are taking on the world. Todays launch of the new Great British Food Unit will back industry targets to further boost exports and support even more British companies such as Taylors of Harrogate, Nestle and Mr Kipling export overseas potentially generating an additional 5,000 jobs in food and drink manufacturing.

The long term ambition of the new unit is to match France and Germany, which both currently export more than double the UK in terms of the value of food and drink. For the first time ever it will bring together experts in exports and investment from Defra and across Government to help even more businesses sell their world class produce around the globe.

The UK already has an international reputation for excellence and as a place to invest in. The unit will support further Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into our food industry which stood at a record 60 billion in 2014  nearly a third of all FDI assets in UK manufacturing.

Marking the launch of the Unit, UK breakfast cereal giant Weetabix, a success story for foreign investment, has today pledged to source all of its wheat from local farmers, helping guarantee the quality of their wholegrain wheat, supporting our growing rural economy and protecting the environment.

In 2012, Bright Food - Chinas second largest food manufacturing company  bought 60% of Weetabix for 1.2 billion due to growing consumer markets in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Nanjing. The iconic cereal is now reaching breakfast tables in 80 countries worldwide, including Africa, Germany, Spain and North America, with the Bright Food deal set to open markets in East and Western Africa. These deals create and secure more jobs for UK workers.

Weetabixs success is exemplary of what hundreds of thousands of UK food and drink companies can achieve through the new Great British Food Unit. The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) estimate exports of manufactured goods alone will go up by a third to 6 billion by 2020.

During a visit to the Weetabix factory, Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss said:

We produce more new food products each year than France and Germany combined. My long term aspiration is for the UK to match both these countries in terms of the value of exports so our food and drink becomes a worldwide phenomenon.

From Weetabix to Yeo Valley yoghurt, I want to see more of the Great British breakfast enjoyed around the world. Through the creation of the new Great British Food Unit companies large and small will now find it easier to export overseas and receive foreign investment.

It is vital for our economic future that we make British food and farming all it can be  over the next five years we will do that by backing big business, supporting punchy start-ups and embracing our rich food heritage.

The launch of the new unit comes as the Government announced 2016 as the Year of Great British Food. It also follows last Novembers launch of the first food and drink pioneers who will promote the very best in British food across the country and overseas inspiring people everywhere to choose British.

Ian Wright CBE, Director General of the Food and Drink Federation, said: "UK food and drink is a major national asset and the envy of the world. Governments new Great British Food Unit, announced today, could be a real game changer for UK food and drink exports.

Helping this countrys 6,000+ producers, many of them small enterprises, to compete in the fiercely competitive global marketplace will help us meet our ambitious target to grow value added exports by a third to 6bn by 2020. In the UK, we have doubled total food and drink exports in a decade, and, with the right support, even more UK brands can take their fair share of the opportunities that abound abroad.

"We strongly share the Governments commitment to making the UK the investment destination of choice, and agree that a growing and sustainable food and drink industry is vital to our shared economic future. Through the industry and Government partnership promised by the unit - kicked off in this, the Year of Great British Food - we will work to give Britains makers, bakers and bottlers the support they need to thrive."

Companies seeking to be involved in the Great British Food Unit will be offered practical support to help them innovate and identify new markets for export. They will be championed by international UKTI teams and British Embassies who will work to promote British food and drink abroad.

The Great British Food Unit will also work to further promote our 64 unique British foods which achieved the prestigious European protected status, including Rutland Bitter, Cornish Pasties and Swaledale Cheese.

Over the next five years the Great British Food Unit will focus on:

 Helping more entrepreneurs start exporting for the first time.

 Supporting further FDI into the UK food industry.

 Securing and maintaining access for UK meat and dairy products to markets like China, Africa and South America.

 Helping treble the number of apprenticeships in the food and drink industry to bring new skills and ideas so the pace of innovation continues to accelerate.

 Increasing the number of Protected Food Names from 64 to 200 to celebrate the rich heritage and iconic traditions of British food, building on the importance consumers place on provenance.

A representative from Bright Food based in China said: We are honoured by todays visit by the Environment Secretary to the UK headquarters of Weetabix, a proud British brand that Bright Food and Baring Private Equity are backing to grow internationally. The quality of British produce is famous worldwide and here in China we are finding shoppers are eager to try out new tastes.
An American vet has told British producers of a cheaper and quicker way to deal with secondary cleansing and disinfection following avian influenza.

The huge clean-up costs following bird flu have become a major concern for the egg industry in the United Kingdom. Cleansing and disinfection following the recent outbreak in Lancashire cost 500,000. A representative of the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) told egg producers at a meeting in Yorkshire that APHA was looking at the possibility of a more proportionate solution. An American vet at the meeting, Ian Rubinoff, said US authorities had already approved one.

Ian, who is a technical services vet with Hy-Line, was in the United Kingdom for a company meeting and took the opportunity to attend a gathering of the Yorkshire Egg Producers Discussion Group near York.

He is normally based in Iowa and said that the closest outbreak during an AI epidemic in the US that wiped out 43 million hens and seven million turkeys across more than 20 different states was just 20 miles away from the Hy-Line complex. We were on high alert for about nine months. Ill never forget April 19, 2015 when first outbreak in Iowa was diagnosed, he said. Our last outbreak was on June 17. Our last secondary disinfection was on September 21. Our country of freedom was then approved on December 21."

There were 223 outbreaks. Of those 65 to 70 were layer complexes. The rest of them were single house or double house turkey complexes. The turkey houses are a lot easier to clean and disinfect to a more rapid degree. For the larger layer complexes, the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) approved heat disinfection as a secondary C and D approval. That involved keeping those houses at 38 to 50 degrees centigrade for seven days. Yes, that will melt your water lines, in case you are wondering. But that is a lot less expensive than going in there doing the full cleaning and disinfection.

Ian Rubinoff told egg producers that cleanup involved keeping those houses at 38 to 50 degrees centigrade for seven days

He said sensors were placed inside poultry houses, and if the temperature dropped below the designated level at any time the clock re-started. Following heat disinfection, the USDA took copious amounts of swabs inside the buildings to ensure there was no influenza left. Following successful sampling, re-stocking of the houses took place within three weeks, he said.

One thing that hampered re-stocking was the availability of poults or chicks for laying farms, he said. A lot of producers went in at three quarters capacity or half capacity just to get started again. Of course, they did have to take the 21-day samples similar to here afterwards to ensure the flocks were negative.

Here in the UK, the poultry industry has been seeking ways to cover the huge cost of secondary cleansing and disinfection, which has to be borne by the owner of the unit affected. Staveleys Eggs in Lancashire, which was hit by an outbreak of highly pathogenic influenza, has revealed that the total cost of the outbreak was more than a million pounds. The British Free Range Egg Producers Association (BFREPA) has agreed a deal with broker Scrutton Bland to help insure the clean-up costs. The egg industry is encouraging others to do the same after the poultry industry had failed to agree a deal to implement a levy after the levy proposal was rejected at the BEIC (British Egg Information Council) meeting on Wednesday in favour of Insurance.

Gonzalo Sanchez-Cabezudo, veterinary head of field delivery in the North of England for APHA said it would probably be necessary to review the way that secondary C and D was done in the UK

The egg industry is also talking to Government organisations to see whether it is possible to reduce the burden of secondary C and D without increasing risk. Gonzalo Sanchez-Cabezudo, veterinary head of field delivery in the North of England for APHA, told those attending the discussion group meeting near York that it would probably be necessary to review the way that secondary C and D was done in the UK.

One producer at the meeting suggested to him that, given the huge cost involved in secondary C and D, wouldnt it make more sense for producers to simply leave their units empty for a year, when they would eventually be considered disease free.

Gonzalo Sanchez-Cabezudo said, The cost to the business in Lancashire in terms of secondary C and D was around half a million pounds more or less. The C and D must be proportionate to the risk and we are looking now whether we could have a more proportionate way of doing the disinfection and we are working with industry about that. He said the way secondary C and D carried out in the Netherlands would be looked at.

Ian Rubinoff told those attending the meeting that one of the things to come out of the United States outbreaks was the need to deal with them far more quickly. He said the United States had been too slow to deal with the AI when it appeared and the egg industry was seeking to ensure that would not happen again.

Our new rules are, at least for anyone in the layer industry, are more or less approved among ourselves  and the USDA has said we can go ahead. Our goal is that from time of confirmation to the time that the entire complex is dead is no more than 24 hours. The risk of spreading for any longer than that is what happened in the United States, he said.

He said it took some complexes in the United States 21 days to fully depopulate trying to use manual labour. I know the farm sizes are a little bit different between here and the United States but the densities can certainly be the same in some of these areas. We did not respond fast enough at all. So that is one of the things we have resolved  if this ever happened again we need to be a lot faster and 24 hours needs to be our drop dead deadline because we are going to be putting a whole industry at risk if we dont do it that quickly.

The British Free Range Egg Producers Association introduced an insurance initiative where their members are insured up to a maximum of 50,000 from a total funded scheme of 1million as long as the members have paid their subscriptions on time and declared their correct bird numbers.

Nearly 100 people attended the discussion group meeting, which was held at Huby, near York. The meeting was chaired by Roger Lythe, co-ordinator of the Yorkshire Egg Producers Discussion Group. Speakers were introduced by Richard Byas of Sandhill Veterinary Services of Topcliffe, Thirsk.
Producers still losing 18-20 per pig, new estimates show
The use of corporate monitors by judicial and regulatory government agencies to verify an organizations compliance with settlement agreements and orders resolving corporate accountability continues to rise. The growing use of monitors has raised questions about the privacy of their reports and the publics access to their findings.

To support and protect important and sensitive data-collection efforts and the level of trust monitors require to perform their jobs, these reports to the government and courts should remain completely off-limits to the general public, including litigants to separate causes of action.

In July 2013, Eastern District of New York Judge John Gleeson approved a five-year Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) with HSBC Bank USA N.A. and HSBC Holdings plc, after the companies were found to be in violation of the Bank Secrecy Act for failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering (AML) program.

In so doing, Judge Gleeson held that a district court has the authority to approve or reject a DPA and to supervise its implementation. The HSBC DPA requires the bank to retain an independent compliance monitor to ensure that it fulfills the terms of the DPA and implements recommended remedial measures.

The monitor completed its first annual report and submitted it to the Department of Justice (DOJ), which the DOJ summarized in a quarterly report and gave to Judge Gleeson. The judge requested the full copy of the monitors 1,000-page report, which the bank and the DOJ requested be submitted under seal. The monitor and his team have nearly completed the second annual report and are on target to deliver it to the DOJ on January 20.

In November 2015, a private individual, Hubert Dean Moore, who used to have a mortgage with HSBC, sued to have the monitors first annual report unsealed by the court. He sent a letter to Judge Gleeson, arguing that he should be provided access to the monitors report to help support a complaint he had filed with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

This action prompted the DOJ to file its opposition to the court on December 11, arguing that the report was not a judicial document to which the public should have access.

The DOJ noted that the DPA contained language regarding the parties intent to keep the monitor reports non-public and described how the Department believes such a public disclosure would impede the monitors ability to fulfill his responsibilities.

HSBC said publishing the monitors report would undermine the purpose of the monitoring by compromising the monitors and governments ability to assess HSBCs progress in improving its anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance programs.

The bank said publication would negatively affect the ability of HSBCs financial regulators to fully discharge their supervisory responsibilities over HSBC, and would provide criminals seeking to engage in activities such as money laundering or terrorist financing a road map for exploiting current weakness in the anti-money laundering and sanctions programs at the institution.

The corporate monitors role is to ensure that the company not only meets the financial terms of its settlement agreement, but, more importantly, to make sure the company enhances its compliance and ethics program, policies, procedures and processes to prevent these issues from occurring again.

The corporate monitor begins executing his or her duties by developing a work plan that will include a timeline for reaching certain milestones.

Inherent in the corporate monitors work plan is the ability to learn about and get to know the company, its employees and its clients or customers. This allows the corporate monitor to understand the culture and risk tolerance of the company in a way that goes beyond examining documents.

For a compliance monitor to be effective, his or her candid discussions with those inside the company and others rests on a level of trust and privacy that would be compromised if their reports were made public. It is also a disincentive to those who would want to serve as a compliance monitor that their work product could be dissected by other litigants or any other member of the public, undercutting their independence.

Lets hope the monitors report stays sealed and that the terms of the agreement among the parties are honored.

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Julie DiMauro is a contributing editor of the FCPA Blog. She works in the Regulatory Intelligence group at Thomson Reuters in New York. Follow Julie on Twitter @Julie_DiMauro and email her at [email protected].
Last year UK Prime Minister David Cameron promised to rip aside the cloak of secrecy and set new standards for transparency of company ownership.

What came out of the Joint Communique issued by political leaders and representatives of the UK and Overseas Territories last month (following reportedly robust discussions) was an agreement to hold the information on the people who ultimately own and control companies  so-called beneficial owners  in their jurisdiction, either in centralized registries or similarly effective systems.

There will now be talks with UK law enforcement authorities on further developing a timely, safe and secure information exchange process.

As a lawyer whose firm specializes in the investigation of international fraud and money laundering, Im glad the various overseas territories did not agree to Prime Minister Camerons original request for public registers of company ownership. Why? Because it has taken years for the offshore jurisdictions concerned to gather the information available today; the last thing the world needs is the threat of an open-registers, as this will drive the unscrupulous further underground.

Im in favour of a central registry to create a more objective record of ownership and control of offshore companies. But not one that is open to the public without a court order for disclosure. As I conduct my investigations, it is becoming increasingly common to see more and more ghost Ultimate Beneficial Owners (UBOs), listed as UBOs of offshore companies, yet living in non-existent Moscow apartment blocks.

The UK government floated the prospect of open registers. Thankfully, cooler heads acknowledged that kleptomaniacs and fraudsters arent going to allow their names to appear in a public register of ownership of offshore companies.

There are many exaggerations made in the press about offshore companies being impenetrable fortresses. This is not the case: information is available if you have good cause to acquire it. Police inquiries by warrant and mutual legal assistance treaty requests from foreign law enforcement authorities are common and helpful gateways to the intended data being collected today.

Although I acknowledge that some high-profile companies have generated a wave of bad publicity (by allegedly abusing the facilities offshore companies can provide), campaign groups such as Global Witness and media outlets like The Guardian are well-intentioned advocates for transparency of offshore company ownership, but they know not what they do.

By providing the caveat that UBOs can be identified, but only by court order and if there is evidence of wrongdoing, it puts a legitimate hurdle in the way of Big Brother and prevents criminals from fleeing to locations where they are welcomed with open arms and promises of near-total secrecy.

I understand the perspective provided by Christian Aid and Global Witness, who have been upset by the UK governments supposed climbdown. But the changes that have been agreed will go some way to improved transparency. My reading of the situation is that these may be small steps in the right direction, but with a clear inference that there will be ongoing discussions to improve the cross-flow of information between the various jurisdictions.

Common sense has prevailed. Congratulations to all those involved for arriving at a much more sensible agreement.

____

Martin Kenney is Managing Partner of Martin Kenney & Co., Solicitors, a specialist investigative and asset recovery practice focused on multi-jurisdictional fraud cases www.martinkenney.com |@MKSolicitors.
In the prior post I looked at the significant progress Kazakhstan has made in improving its economic attractiveness and the recognition that it received from the U.S. government for its reform. But I also noted its low rank of 126 on Transparency Internationals Corruption Perceptions Index.

What does a low CPI rank mean in practice?

A recent U.S. State Department report describes some potential risks of doing business in Kazakhstan.

According to States Kazakhstan Investment Climate Statement 2015, corruption and bureaucracy remain challenges for foreign investors working in Kazakhstan.  Inconsistent implementation of  laws and regulations at all levels of government, combined with a tendency for courts to favor the government, create significant obstacles to investors.

The Investment Climate Statement is pretty damning and is not for the naively optimistic or the faint-hearted.

The document continues:

Foreign investors have complained about the irregular application of laws and regulations, and interpret such behavior as efforts to extract bribes. In the past, investors have reported harassment by the [countrys anti-corruption authorities] via unannounced audits, inspections, and other methods.  At times, authorities have used criminal charges in civil disputes as a pressure tactic against businesses.

Many foreign companies say they must vigilantly defend their investments from a steady stream of decrees and legislative changes, most of which do not exempt or grandfather in existing investments. In some instances, the government uses bureaucratic stalling tactics to induce companies to voluntarily give up contractual concessions in exchange for services (i.e. licenses, permits, VAT refunds) which they would ordinarily expect to receive. Foreign investors also complain about arbitrary tax inspections, as well as problems in finalizing contracts, delays and irregular practices in licenses, and land fees.

Kazakhstan makes policy-level efforts to improve the investment climate by introducing amendments to existing legislation and alleviating requirements for visas and work permits to expatriates  execution of these changes by local governments are uneven and foreign investors complain about the governments tendency to challenge contractual rights, to introduce preferences for domestic companies, and to create mechanisms for government intervention in foreign companies operations, particularly in procurement decisions.  Together with vague and contradictory legal provisions that are often arbitrarily enforced, these negative tendencies feed the perception that Kazakhstans investment environment is subpar.

Not all foreign investors will suffer from the problems described in the report. But the State Department clearly cautions that American firms seeking to invest in Kazakhstan should conduct thorough due diligence and retain legal counsel prior to any investment.

Perhaps that is why foreign investment in Kazakhstan (and other emerging markets generally) primarily tends to be made by large companies, who have sufficient financial resources they can invest (and where necessary overinvest) in lawyers, accountants, and other local country specialists to meet the barrage of the ever-changing regulations and defend the foreign investors rights against overzealous or corrupt local officials.

In the next post, Ill provide more perspective on the apparent conflicts between Kazakhstans attempts at reform and corruption still being a problem.

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Alex Nisengolts is a Chicago attorney focusing on cross-border M&A, electronic discovery, and investments and operations in Kazakhstan. He first traveled to Kazakhstan in 1994 as a legal advisor on a USAID-sponsored legal reform project and has been involved in Kazakh matters for the past two decades, for U.S. and Kazakh law firms and as a manager and senior manager for a Big Four international accounting firm. He can be reached here.
Leila Segal's debut collection of short stories, Breathe (6.99, Flipped Eye) is out now.

Leila Segal

1. Afro-Cuban Tales

Lydia Cabrera

This magical collection takes you to the roots of Cuban soul - part Spanish, part African: the culture of Afro-Cuba. Cabrera leads us into a sensual world where natural and supernatural interact - one where 'The fish drank from flowers and the birds built their nests on the crests of the waves.' I am in love with the poetry of these stories.

2. Ophelias

Aida Bahr

Eight compelling stories, each with a woman at its centre. Aida Bahr is one of Cuba's leading contemporary writers; she does not shy away from difficult issues - racism, domestic violence, and how clandestine flight from Cuba to the US twists family life. From Holguin, in the island's East, Bahr writes of another Cuba, far from the Havana that non-Cuban readers may be more familiar with.

3. Havana Blue

Leonardo Padura

A page-turner, with earthy, rhythmic prose that's like standing on a Havana street. Police detective Mario Conde has never got over Tamara, his crush from school, who is now married to Conde's old rival, the well-to-do business manager Rafael. Rafael has disappeared, and Conde must find him - whilst trying to resist the luscious Tamara's charms. Favourite line: 'her buttocks were as hard as hunger at 5am.'

4. Cecilia Valdes or El Angel Hill

Cirilo Villaverde

A romantic, and disturbing, love story that transports you back to 19th-century Cuba, when the island was a Spanish colony, and slavery still existed. Leonardo, son of a Spanish slave trader, loves beautiful mulatta Cecilia. They don't know it, but are children of the same father. After Cecilia becomes pregnant, Leonardo abandons her to marry an upper-class white woman - and Cecilia takes revenge. Essential for understanding the effects of slavery and colonialism on Cuban society.

5. Before Night Falls

Reinaldo Arenas

Cuban dissident Arenas wrote this memoir from New York as he was dying of Aids. He takes us from his early pro-revolutionary years, through to his imprisonment and ultimate defection. A window into early post-revolutionary Cuba, and a first-hand account of some of its finest writers, whom Arenas knew. Stark and moving, an insight into the mind of a man who wrote to survive.

6. Cuba - land of spirit

James Sparshatt

These photographs are suffused with passion, beauty and joy - all of which Cuba lavishes on its visitors in abundance. In Cuba I felt that I had reached the heart of life - this book takes me back there.

7. Did You Hear About the Fighting Cat?

Omar Perez

The rhythms of Cuban music and dance inform the work of Omar Perez, a poet living in Havana, and the son of Che Guevara. Perez is a Zen Buddhist monk, and his minutely observed poetry speaks of being in the timeless present. Exquisite words - read the parallel Spanish text to get the true beat.

8. The Old Man and the Sea

Ernest Hemmingway

An old Cuban fisherman, who has caught nothing for 84 days, battles a huge marlin as it drags him further and further out to sea. Weak and alone, the old man must find the strength and courage to survive. The sea - 'la mar' as Cubans call it affectionately - was one of the strongest influences on my writing whilst in Cuba. Hemingway lived in Havana, and its life-giving or life-denying sea flows through this gorgeous, touching tale.

9. Cuba: Talking about Revolution

Medea Benjamin

A wide-ranging interview with Juan Antonio Blanco, former analyst with the Cuban Communist Party and founder of a Havana NGO devoted to the study of ethics and politics. Blanco, who says he is a 'radical' rather than a 'reformist', discusses (among other things) stages of the revolution, the Special Period, dissent, the one-party system, relations with the US and the future of socialism. A fascinating insight into life and politics on the island.

10. Moon Cuba

Christopher P. Baker

I've used this guidebook in its various editions since my first visit to Cuba in 2000. Readable and well researched - you get the feeling he's been to every paladar and casa particular he recommends. It's as if a good friend is giving you tips. Baker has been travelling to the island for 30 years and written six books about it. Authoritative, detailed and easy to use.

About the author: Leila Segal was born in London, of Polish, Lithuanian and Romanian descent. When she was little, she started to write. In 2000 she visited Cuba - as soon as she arrived she knew that she wanted to stay. She lived first in Havana, then the rural far West. Breathe - Stories from Cuba is her debut collection, written during this time. Find out more at www.leilasegal.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Leila-Segal-174955382552749/

Twitter: @leilasegal
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are moving to London.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt

The couple and their six children, Maddox, 14, Pax, , 12, Zahara, 11, Shiloh, nine, and seven-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne, will reportedly relocate to the English capital in March while the 52-year-old actor works on the 'World War Z' sequel, but have yet to find their dream home in the city.

A source told Us Weekly magazine: "They want to buy, but have yet to find a place that suits their needs.

"Their wish list includes an underground drive-in entrance."

While Brad will be busy shooting his movie, his 40-year-old actress-and-director wife will use her stint in London to focus on her humanitarian work.

The source said: "She plans to focus on political projects dealing with the ongoing refugee crisis in Europe."

Though they are looking to buy a house, the couple may just rent for the short term, as they previously did in the UK.

In 2012, they splashed out a reported 17,000 a month renting the Whornes Place estate in London for 15 months while Angelina shot 'Maleficent' and Brad filmed 'The Counselor'.

As they did in their previous stint in London, the couple are expected to send their children to Le Lycee Francais school.
Quincy Jones will only present at the Academy Awards if he can speak about "the lack of diversity" in the nominations.

Quincy Jones

The 82-year-old musician - who was musical director and conductor of the Oscars in 1971 and 1995 and was also the first black person to receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award - has been asked to take a role in this year's ceremony and though he won't be joining the likes of Spike Lee and Jada Pinkett Smith in snubbing the event, he does have conditions he wants to be met by the Academy before he'll get involved.

He said: "Spike pulled out, Jada pulled out,

"I've been involved with Academy longer than I care to remember. I was the first black board member, the first black conductor -- I hate 'first black' because that means 'only.' I want the young African-American kids to know that the door is open.

"They called me to go present with Pharrell and Common. When I'm back [in LA], I'm going to ask to let me speak for five minutes on the lack of diversity. If not, I'm not going to [present]."

Quincy thinks the lack of nominations for minorities is "frightening" and he wants to help "solve and fix" the problem.

Speaking in Miami during a Q&A with producer Norman Lear, conducted by Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos, he said: "There's two ways to protest it," Jones said. "You can boycott it or you can solve it and fix it. It's frightening to see [nominees] 90% white and 80% white males. It's ridiculous. It's wrong."
Sundance Film Festival 2016 gets underway today and it is set to be put some great independent films from all around the world in the spotlight over the next ten days.

Swiss Army Man

There are also a whole host of British/Irish movies, directors, and actors who will have their work on show during the festival. We take a look at some of the British stars and projects that you need to watch out for.

- Asif Kapadia - Ali & Nino

Asif Kapadia has been enjoying huge success in the last couple of years with the release of documentaries Senna and Amy; the latter is in the Best Documentary Oscar mix and could well walk away with the major prize next month.

Director Kapadia is set to return to live action filmmaking with his latest movie Ali & Nino; his first live action movie since Far North back in 2007.

Ali & Nino is based on the book by Kurban Said and charts a love story of a Muslim Azerbaijani boy and Christian Georgian girl in Baku from 1918 to 1920. The book has been adapted for the big screen by Christopher Hampton.

Asif Kapadia is one of the most exciting British directors around and it is fantastic to see him move between the live action and documentary genre. The movie is set to receive its premiere at the festival and is a drama that I cannot wait to see.

- John Carney - Sing Street

Sing Street is one of the Irish movies that are set to shine at this year's Sundance Film Festival, as John Carney returns to the director's chair and writing duties. This is the first film for Carney since Begin Again but it was back in 2007 when he grabbed everyone's attention with Once.

Sing Street is another film that will receive its world premiere at the festival and it bring together a wonderfully talented cast as Jack Reynor, Aidan Gillen, and Maria Doyle Kennedy are all set to star.

Sing Street takes us back to 1980s Dublin where an economic recession forces Conor out of his comfortable private school and into survival mode at the inner-city public school where the kids are rough and the teachers are rougher. He finds a glimmer of hope in the mysterious and uber-cool Raphina, and with the aim of winning her heart, he invites her to star in his band's music videos.

She agrees, and now Conor must deliver what he's promised - calling himself 'Cosmo' and immersing himself in the vibrant rock music trends of the '80s, he forms a band with a few lads, and the group pours their hearts into writing lyrics and shooting videos.

Carney has a knack of delivering heartwarming and very charming movies and I cannot wait to see what he delivers with Sing Street. The movie will be hitting the big screen in the UK on 22nd April.

- Kevin Macdonald - Sky Ladder: The Art of Cai Guo-Qiang

Kevin Macdonald is another filmmaker who has moved between documentary and live action projects during his career, bringing us movies such as The Last King of Scotland, State of Play, and Touching the Void. His latest project sees him return to the documentary genre.

Sky Ladder: The Art of Cai Guo-Qiang will play as part of the World Documentary part of the festival and this is the first film for Macdonald since Black Sea in 2014 - it is great to see him back.

Sky Ladder: The Art of Cai Guo-Qiang charts the rise of contemporary artist Cai Guo-Qiang from her childhood to the huge name that she now is within the art world.

I have been a huge fan of Macdonald for many years and he has produced some fascinating documentary movies during that time... Sky Ladder: The Art of Cai Guo-Qiang looks set to follow that trend and it is great to see him in the mix at Sundance.

- Rebecca Daly - Mammal

Rebecca Daly is one of the female directors and Irish filmmakers to watch out for at Sundance as she returns to the director's chair with her latest film Mammal; she has also penned the film's screenplay.

This is the second feature for Daly and comes four years after she made her debut and grabbed everyone's attention with The Other Side of Sleep.

Mammal will screen in the World Dramatic category and will see Rachel Griffiths take on the central role of Margaret. She is joined on the cast list by Michael McElhatton and Barry Keoghan.

Margaret, a divorced woman living alone in Dublin, learns that her teenage son has been found dead. Enduring her unsettling grief privately, she escapes daily to the local swimming pool. One day at the pool she runs into Joe, a homeless youth she found injured late one night in the deserted laneway behind her work.

Margaret offers Joe a room in her house and an unorthodox relationship starts to develop between them. Margaret's ex-husband Matt begins to turn up randomly in Margaret's life. As Margaret and Joe's mutual reliance grows their tentative trust is threatened by the escalation of Matt's grieving rage and Joe's involvement with a gang of violent youths.

- Rebecca Hall - Christine

Rebecca Hall is one of the best British actors around and she is back in the central role of Christine Chubbuck in new biopic/drama Christine, which sees her team up with filmmaker Antonio Campos for the first time.

The movie charts the career of 1970s television reporter Christine Chubbuck, who committed suicide during a live TV broadcast after a struggle with depression.

Christine is the first film for Hall since we saw her in the terrific The Gift last year and it is always exciting to see her in a new film project as she is just a terrific actress.

Hall will leads an all-star cast as Michael C. Hall, Maria Dizzia, Kim Shaw, and Tracy Letts are all also on board the movie, which will screen as part of the U.S. Dramatic section of the festival.

Christine will kick off a busy year for the actress and this is one of her film projects that I am looking forward to the most.

- James Purefoy - Equity

Another British actor that is going to feature in a film in the U.S. Dramatic part of the festival, is James Purefoy as he is set to star in Equity.

Purefoy is set to take on a supporting role as Equity is the first female driven Wall Street movie, directed by Meera Menon and written by Amy Fox. This is the second feature film for Menon and is set to kick up a storm at the festival.

Purefoy will take on the role of Michael Connor and will star alongside Anna Gunn, Sarah Megan Thomas, Alysia Reiner, and Craig Bierko.

Equity follows a female investment banker fighting to rise to the top of the corporate ladder at a competitive Wall Street firm, leads a controversial tech IPO in the post financial crises world where regulations are tight but pressure to bring in 'big money' remains high.

Equity is set to be a great thriller full of deception and politics and I can't wait to see Purefoy and this great cast in action. Equity is one of two movies that Purefoy is set to star in at the beginning of 2016, as we are also going to see him in High-Rise.

- Daniel Radcliffe - Swiss Army Man

Ever since leaving the Harry Potter franchise behind, Daniel Radcliffe has been mixing and matching his roles and film genres... he is set to return with a very different role in Swiss Army Man.

Swiss Army Man sees Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert team up as they both make their feature film directorial debut - the duo have also penned the film's screenplay.

Radcliffe stars alongside Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Paul Dano in a film that follows a hopeless man in the wilderness who befriends a dead body. At this point, nothing much more is known about the film's plot.

It looks set to be a movie and a role that Radcliffe has never tackled before and it could well be one of the gems of the Sundance Film Festival this year when it screen as part of the U.S. Dramatic section.

The Sundance Film Festival runs 21st - 31st January.

by Helen Earnshaw for www.femalefirst.co.uk

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Britain's Prince Charles is set to visit the Western Balkans in March this year.

Britain's Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Charles

The 67-year-old royal will be accompanied by his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, on the trip where he is planning to visit Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia.

The Prince of Wales has visited the area many times before but it will be the Duchess' first official visit to the countries.

Meanwhile, Duchess Camilla previously couldn't help but gush about how proud she is to be married to Charles.

Interviewed on 'When Ant and Dec Met the Prince: 40 Years of the Prince's Trust' about how she felt following a visit to a Prince's Trust workshop, she said: "I left with a huge lump in my throat. I'm really proud to be married to somebody who aged 27 had the vision to put it together.

"It was an incredible idea then, and he was very young then to think of it, to think of these very disadvantaged young people who'd literally been through hell and back. And to find a way to give them a second chance in life.

"He just has that energy. If we are passionate about something, you can do it. He care so much bout these young people. He does have incredible energy ... He loves it, you can't do something unless you love it."
Buckingham Palace is set to virtually welcome thousands of school children through its doors.

Britain's Queen Elizabeth

The London abode belonging to Britain's Queen Elizabeth has become the first landmark in the United Kingdom to become part of a virtual reality project, Google Expeditions Pioneer programme, which aims to let schools take their pupils on previously impossible field trips.

Jemima Rellie, director of content and audiences at the Royal Collection Trust, told the Guardian newspaper: "The more we found out, the more excited we got ... Virtual reality is really something. It's a gamechanger. It is entirely different.

"It is the most physically immersive experience you can get without actually being at the palace. It's not going to replace a visit, but if you are unable to get to the palace, it is the best alternative out there."

The tour works by using a special app on a smartphone and a cardboard stereoscopic viewer.

Jessica Holland, who is a part of the programme, added: "Teachers really wanted a way to inspire and engage their students and bring the outside world into the classroom, so we have used that as our guiding principle to create Expeditions.

"If we look across Google we have Classroom, products for education, which has grown to over 10 million users in a year. We have Google Cardboard, which is this virtual reality platform, and all this amazing 360-degree imagery from Google Earth."
Billy Connolly was overcome with emotion as he picked up the Special Recognition gong at the National Television Awards on Wednesday night (20.01.16).

Billy Connolly

The 73-year-old comedian, who was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease last year, was welcomed to the stage at London's O2 Arena by Dustin Hoffman, as two of his daughters watched from the audience.

Dustin had flown in from America especially for the occasion, and said he would always admire the comedian, and his close friend.

He said: "i'm delighted to be here tonight to pay tribute to a man whose work I've always admired and whose company I always enjoy. This man has been entertaining the world for 50 years, and that's no accident. Audiences return again and again and new generations of admirers come to him because he has the gift of inviting everyone unconditionally into his world and he exposes the truth. He transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary. My friend is an artist in the truest sense of the world. It has been a great honour to count him as a friend."

A collection of clips of comedians, actors and musicians paying tribute to Billy was then played.

Peter Kay, who had earlier dedicated his own award to Billy, said in the VT: "There isn't a comedian in the world that hasn't been influenced by Billy Connolly. Billy you deserve this - you're a lucky gypsy!'

David Tennant added: "He has a timing and an insight and a joy about him. And those three things combine to create something very special.

"When you start laughing at one of billy's routines it can get near fatal - like you're never going to get out of the end of it.

"He has a way of channelling himself through the characters he plays which is much easier said than done - a lot of classically trained actors fail to do. There is a real humanity to them, there's a truth to them.

Sir Elton John took the time to honour Billy, saying: "His enduring quality is that he's never lost that spark and he's done other things than being a comedian. he's a great musician, he's done great documentaries.

"Billy you've been a really important part of my life and i can't thank you enough for just being Billy."

Judi Dench starred alongside Billy in 1997 movie Mrs Brown, which told the story of the romance between Queen Victoria and her manservant John Brown.

Judi said: "Whether it be a travel programme or acting a serious part in a film, he has a wonderful sensitivity. There was as we know a tremendous chemistry between Queen Victoria and John Brown - Billy made that very easy to film."

Taking to the stage to collect his award, Billy told the audience: "This is the best laxative i've ever had in my life!

"I'd like to thank Bill Tennant in Scotland who was the first man to put me on television and Michael Parkinson who was the first British man to put me on television.

"There's so many people i have to thank, to Dustin for putting me in his movie, thank you all very much from the bottom of my heart. I'd like to particularly thank British comedians, the standard of which is rising all the times, from Chic berry and Max Wall to Reeves and Mortimer. I love you all and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you very much indeed."

Billy also joked with Peter for not having given him the award he had won despite dedicating it to him, causing the comedian to climb up to the stage and present him with the gong.

Hilariously, Billy said afterwards: "Limelight grabber!"
Textiles Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar has highlighted the need to strengthen the apparel export industry. Given its employment and export intensity, the apparel industry plays a significant role in country 's economy, he said while inaugurating the 56th India International Garment Fair (IIGF) in New Delhi, according to a press release issued by Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC).Whenever I come to IIGF, I find more and more exporters are participating with large number of reputed overseas buyers. The Ministry of Textiles will continue providing support for organization of India International Garment Fair, as this industry provides large employment and earns precious foreign exchange for the country, Gangwar said.

Textiles Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar has highlighted the need to strengthen the apparel export industry. Given its employment and export intensity,#

The minister said several new initiatives have been undertaken by the central government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make development participative and inclusive, in line with the core governance philosophy of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikaas'. The Textiles Ministry has initiated several measures for promotion of the textiles industry in general and in assisting the youth, women and disadvantaged segments of the society in particular, Gangwar said.Ashok G Rajani, Chairman AEPC, pointed out that the garment export sector is currently worth about $17,000 million, having a world market share of barely 3.5 per cent. Our industry has a potential to grow much faster and achieve double the exports in relatively short time. There is a need for employment linked incentive scheme for this sector. AEPC would work under the leadership of our Textiles Minister and Secretary (Textiles) for carving out a policy in this direction, he added.Expressing the concerns of the garment export industry Rajani said, Exporters are concerned with zero duty access in EU market by Vietnam. Vietnam exports are likely to grow faster due to implementation of zero duty from 2017. (India faces import duty of 9.6 per cent). The Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement allows export opportunities in Vietnam to USA with a benefit of 17-30 per cent export duty relief. India-EU Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) are yet to be finalized, exporters are expecting faster conclusion of the talk so that they can compete with Bangladesh and Vietnam. (SH)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk - India
Small and medium enterprises in Myanmar's garment sector are set to get a 2.8 million euros boost from the European Union. The cash infusion will support the second phase of a development initiative that aims to make the Made in Myanmar industry more competitive by building environmental awareness, sustainability and social protections for the workers.The next phase of the EU-funded SMEs for environmental Accountability, Responsibility and Transparency (SMART) project will start next week, Project Director Simone Lehmann said at a press conference in Yangon.

Small and medium enterprises in Myanmar's garment sector are set to get a 2.8 million euros boost from the European Union. The cash infusion will#

She said the programme will provide technical support and capacity building through workshops engaging dozens of factory employers.We will not be focusing on labour disputes in the garment sector but we will only focus on developing the sector and providing professional support for MGMA (the Myanmar Garment Manufactures Association), she said.The next phase of the SMART project is slated for the next 48 months. The scheme hopes to boost productivity and create over 300,000 job opportunities for low-skilled workers.U Myint Soe, chairperson of the MGMA, said during the first phase of the SMART Myanmar project, from 2013 to 2015, the Myanmar garment sector had doubled its exports.The first SMART Myanmar project spent 2 million euros and worked with 10 different garment factories.SMART Myanmar actively promotes and supports the sustainable production of garments Made in Myanmar striving to increase the international competitiveness of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in this sector.Working closely with companies and business support organizations located in Myanmar, the SMART project aims to build capacity and increase skills and knowledge in local partner organizations, facilitating the development of marketing and export strategies for the garment sector. (SH)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk - India
Japanese luxury lingerie brand Wacoal will invest nearly Rs 20 crore in India to open 75 stores in the next five years.The lingerie brand made its much awaited debut in India by opening its first store in Mumbai recently. Wacoal presents its complete collection at High Street Phoenix premium retail destination and one of the best inner-city locations in Mumbai in a new design. Having cemented a leading position in South-East Asia's high-end lingerie market, Wacoal as a group last year decided to actively extend its brand overseas using India's formidable and international position.

Japanese luxury lingerie brand Wacoal will invest nearly Rs 20 crore in India to open 75 stores in the next five years.The lingerie brand made its#

Spread over 691 square feet of space, the store will operate in a lifestyle store format. While offering a fabulous fit, comfort and exemplary service synonymous with Wacoal Internationally, the collection available at the store has been exquisitely created using a blend of unique design and creativity, coupled with the innovation and quality. Dedicated to providing beautiful, well fitted high quality lingerie, the collection includes trendy everyday lingerie solutions along with indulgent, yet accessible up to the minute fashion pieces as well.Kyoto-based Wacoal, established in 1949, has a presence in over 66 countries and regions, including North America, Europe and Asia and will compete with companies such as LaSenza, Marks & Spencer and Triumph in India's intimate wear market worth Rs17,000 crore."India has always been on our radar and the luxury retail sector in India, especially in cities such as Mumbai has been growing tremendously over the past decade," Yuzo Ide, Director, Vice President and Corporate Officer, Wacoal Corp. said.Priced at between Rs 2,000 and Rs 4,000, the brand will be will also be sold on online platforms and other multi-brand outlets."With its knowledge, skill and creativity, Wacoal has launched numerous product innovations in markets across the world, which are now among the classics of every well-stocked woman's wardrobe, said Sandeep Goenka, Chief Executive Officer of Periwinkle Fashions that has partnered the brand for its Indian entry. (SH)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk - India
Chinese companies manufacturing textiles should consider setting up their production facilities outside China, feels a top executive of a well-known China based textile-apparel group.

As China's economy is intertwined with the global economy, the traditional manufacturing industry in the country should extend to the world market, Frances Chan, chairwoman of Sunshine Group told Fibre2Fashion.com.

Sunshine Group is planning to set up its own overseas plant to transfer low-end manufacturing, reduce production cost and avoid tariff and currency risk in export markets, she informed.

Chinese companies manufacturing textiles should consider setting up their production facilities outside China.#

Exploring the available options, Chan says that it is worthwhile to launch a project in Ethiopia, which involves the complete value chain from growing cotton to garment manufacturing. According to her, Ethiopia offers a lot of advantages to the textile industry like plenty of labour force, suitable land for cotton cultivation and enormous demand for textiles and garments. Besides, the textile industry background is weak in Ethiopia and other neighbouring countries.

Talking about the potential of Southeast Asian countries, she says that the key components which determine the translocation of an enterprise is the market potential capacity as well as preferential policy like government subsidy. But this will only help run fast temporarily, she quickly adds.

In view of the fading cost advantage in China, the traditional manufacturing industry in China should upgrade itself with intellectual function, modern design, high production and administration efficiency and strong service system through the integration of internet technology and logistic system to boost its prospective economic future, Chan adds. (MCJ)

Click here to read the complete interview.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk - India
At Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics, a new addition to hall 7.2 is the France Zone, which expands in size this year after a strong debut showing at the 2015 Spring Edition.Some of France's leading suppliers have already confirmed to take part, including Malhia Kent with its fabrics for luxury pret-a-porter and haute-couture, as well as high-end lace and embroidery producer Solstiss Sarl.

At Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics, a new addition to hall 7.2 is the France Zone, which expands in size this year after a strong debut showing#

Aris Arakelian, commercial manager at Malhia Kent said, We are attending to learn more about the Chinese and Asian markets, and to discover new customers we don't get the chance to meet elsewhere.The France Zone is located inside SalonEurope, which is the destination to find high-end apparel fabrics and accessories producers from Europe, a press release from the organiser Messe Frankfurt informed.Some of the leading brands returning to the fair this year include Miroglio Textile from Italy, Turkey's Soktas Tekstil and Liberty Art Fabrics from the UK.And a highlight for many buyers at the fair is the Milano Unica Pavilion from Italy, which this year features around 100 of Italy's best textile producers showcasing their latest collections, Messe Frankfurt added.This year's International Zone is housed in hall 7.2, while domestic exhibitors are in halls 6.1, 6.2, 7.1, 8.1 and 8.2.While domestic and international denim exhibitors are grouped together in Beyond Denim or hall 7.2, Chinese and overseas accessories suppliers are located in hall 8.1.According to Messe Farnkfurt, if SalonEurope is the home of premium, high-end offerings, then the Asian country and region pavilions are the place to find a range of innovative offerings.Organised by Japan Fashion Week Organization, the Japan Pavilion returns with over 20 exhibitors, while the Korea Pavilion with more than 70 participants, features man-made and functional fabrics.One of the largest zones at the fair is the Taiwan Pavilion organised by the Taiwan Textile Federation (TTF), which houses over 50 exhibitors of accessories, cotton , denim, embroidery, jacquard, knit, lace, polyester , etc.Rounding out the pavilions from Asia are the Pakistan Pavilion featuring cotton fabrics for casual wear and jeanswear and the Texprocil Pavilion from India.Over 3,000 exhibitors from around the world have already confirmed to partake in Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics, which runs from March1618 in Shanghai. (AR)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
SPEECH AT THE NAKURUKURUVAKATINI CENTRAL SCHOOL





Thank you. Vanaka Vakalevu.

Bula vinaka and a good morning to you all.Im delighted to be here today at the Nakurukuruvakatini Primary School in Naitasiri to bring new equipment and infrastructure to your deserving students. Ive said many times, visiting schools and seeing our nations children is my favourite thing to do as Prime Minister. So I had a great time last week during my Tour of the North, when I had the chance to visit four schools and provide much needed upgrades and new equipment. Now that Im here with you all today at the Nakurukuruvakatini Primary School, its safe to say that Ive really been enjoying my job lately.I say that because when I see the faces of our schoolchildren, hear their stories and their dreams for the future, it inspires me to do the best job that I possibly can for Fiji. As a father, and grandfather, every day I strive to create a better world for our children and grandchildren to inherit. A world that is greater than the one that was left to us, filled with possibility and promise for an even brighter future.Now that, I believe, is a noble aspiration -- but it is meaningless if we arent following up with real improvements that give our children better experiences in the classroom. Real improvements that make our children more competitive academically and more capable of meeting the rigorous demands of education and adulthood. Real improvements that expand the scope of our education system, so that no student is allowed to fall behind and miss out on opportunities down the road.Here at the Nakurukuruvakatini Primary School, you have established an institution that has done great work in bringing quality education to a more remote corner of our country. Since 2000, you have assisted disadvantaged families by giving the children of Korovou, Narokorokoyawa, Nasava, Matawailevu, Nasauvere and Tubarua a better shot at life.The real improvements being brought to you today will make your school more capable than ever before of servicing this region and helping your students live healthy and productive lives. You have been provided with 100 sets of double bunk beds, a new VTSAT System and cooking items. Together this represents a $63,781 investment by my Government, an investment we are confident will better the lives of your students and staff.These improvements will bring the comforts and provisions enjoyed by our schools in Suva to our equally deserving students here in Naitasiri. The days of boarding students not having beds to sleep on are over. This school can truly become a home away from home for students who now have proper beds to call their own. The challenging days of cooking food over open-fires are over as well. These new cooking items will make cooking cleaner, easier and most importantly, safer.It means a lot to students when they can learn and live in more modern, functional spaces. It has a direct impact on how valued they feel and how well they do in school. So let me assure all the students here today. You are valued, we are investing in you because we believe in you, we believe in what you can accomplish and I am confident that when it is your turn to take up the mantle of Fiji, you will keep us moving forward and, one day, create a better world for your own children as well.I would also like to take some time to tell you about the new VTSAT system that has been installed in your school as well, because communication and information are essential to a proper education. When we keep our teachers and students connected with the rest of Fiji, we make sure they are receiving the most up-to-date materials and have a constant line of communication with the Ministry for Education.Our education system is becoming more collaborative and participatory every day, but that can only continue if we make sure every school is connected to our national network. Only then can we hear all the voices of our students and teachers and provide them with what they need to succeed.Ladies and gentlemen,Just this week, I called for more money to be put into our education system to support our teachers, build new infrastructure and provide our students with modern equipment. Because in our new Fiji, every student should have equal opportunity to go as far as their merit can carry them.My Governments vision for a new Fiji is not only about giving our students new and better opportunities, it is also about re-claiming who we are as a people and uniting us under common purpose. That vision is worthy of a flag that truly displays our our rich history and who we are as a people.Our current flag has served us well, but it represents our past, not our future. Fiji belongs to the Fijian people, and so should our new flag. It needs to capture the beautiful imagery of our country and symbolise our unity and independence.My Government is in the process of giving the Fijian people a flag that truly showcases who we are as a country. We have recently extended the deadline for new flag design submissions to the 29th of February due to the overwhelming number of responses we have received. In March, we will put forward five designs and consult with all of you, the public, before declaring our new flag on Constitution Day, the 7th of September.This flag will represent every Fijian, so I encourage all of you to involve yourselves in this process. Submit your designs and make your voice heard on the new Fijian flag. This a national effort of enormous significance  as this new flag will wave over Fiji for countless generations to come. So I hope all of you will share your opinions and ideas during this important national conversation, so that Fiji can fly a flag that shows who we are  an independent nation-state, proud of our people, proud of what weve achieved, and confident in what we can still accomplish.Ladies and gentlemen,I hope you will use these new improvements to the Nakurukuruvakatini Primary School to their greatest potential. Your teachers and your students deserve no less. I believe in you, Fiji believes in you, so please do your best, work hard and I know you will accomplish great things.
Chinas securities regulator on Tuesday approved seven initial public offerings, the first under new listing rules introduced at the start of the year that are an important step towards a registration-based system.

Three companies  including Eastern Pioneer Driving School and Southern Publishing and Media Company  will list on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, according to a statement by the China Securities Regulatory Commission posted on its website.

Four other firms will go public in Shenzhen  either on the ChiNext board or on the Small and Medium Enterprise board.

Under the new IPO rules, retail and institutional investors can pay for the exact value of new shares after they secure them by lottery or by allotment. Previously, they were required to deploy much more capital for pre-ordering new shares that they might not get, which locked up huge amounts of capital ahead of each new listing.

Moreover, Chinese retail investors, who account for the majority of A-share trading, typically get allocated few new shares but typically seek to sell their holdings in order to participate in IPOs, a customary practice that can accentuate market volatility by drying up liquidity.

By scrapping pre-payment for subscribing to new shares, huge amounts of capital will no longer be frozen, and the launch of new listings will not impact the market liquidity, the CSRC said in the statement.

The securities watchdog announced the new mechanism in November last year, which it sees as a major step towards the long-awaited registration system. In the same month, it also lifted a four-month ban imposed on IPOs at the height of the countrys stock market rout.

Apart from dropping the upfront payments, the revised rules also give IPO candidates and their underwriters a bigger role in the process. The CSRC allows companies that sell less than 20 million new shares to directly determine the offering price.

Three companies of the seven, including Guangzhou Gaolang Energy Conservation Technology and Suzhou Institute of Architectural Design, will be eligible to set debut prices, according to the CSRC, although it hasnt clarified whether their IPO valuations can exceed its unspoken ceiling of 23 times earnings.

All seven companies will have gone public before the Chinese New Year holidays, which kick off on February 7, with the pace of one IPO being launched each day, in an effort to secure a safe operation of the new mechanism, according to the regulator.

Registration system

China has pledged to overhaul the countrys current approval-based IPO system, which has been in place for more than two decades and heavily relied on stringent review by the securities regulator  it controls both the timing and pricing of new listings.

In late December, the countrys top legislature approved a proposal to shift to US-style registration-based system, paving the way for the CSRC to implement the changes in two years.

Such a registration-based mechanism would allow the market to play the decisive role in resource allocation, as well as lowering the listing threshold and simplifying the listing process.

Last week, CSRC spokesman Deng Ge said it wouldnt come into place as early as on March 1, which was previously reported by domestic media.

The reform of the registration system will be a gradual process. It wont be achieved overnight. And it wont result in a massive expansion in the new share listings, Deng said at a briefing on January 13.

Analysts at Shengwan Hongyuan, a large Chinese brokerage, said they expected the new registration mechanism to be launched in the second quarter of the year at the earliest.

The proposal on reforming the IPO system was approved within two weeks after it had been submitted. The leadership knows the urgency to launch the registration system, they said in a note on December 28.
Although the Chinese leadership does not distinguish between its campaign against corruption and its campaign to restructure the economy, the clampdown on crime will continue to demand most of its attention, according to Sonny Lo, professor at the Hong Kong Institute of Education.

Lo, who is head of the institutes department of social sciences, specialises in the politics of organised crime in Greater China.

He said the leadership in Beijing would reject the notion that the Communist Party must first conclude its anti-corruption campaign in order to shore up the political power required to then tackle difficult economic reforms, such as restructuring state-owned enterprises.

Party leader Xi Jinping and his allies would regard these and other reform efforts as simultaneous. Lo noted that the salaries of SOE executives have been slashed in recent months, and Wang Qishan, the vice-premier who leads the graft-busting efforts, has said the cleanup involves all fronts.

However, Lo said continuous resistance to the anti-corruption campaign means it is likely to occupy most of Xis attention, at the expense of other initiatives.

The likelihood of Xi being able to declare some kind of victory against corruption in the middle of his term, and free himself to be more vigorous with regard to SOE reform or other financial reforms, is low, he said.

Lo made his remarks during an address at the Foreign Correspondents' Club in Hong Kong. Much of his talk covered different aspects of the politics of fighting crime in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.

In the case of mainland China, the capacity of the central government to fight organised crime is strong. The central government in Beijing sees organised crime as a national security threat, Lo said.

But Beijing struggles to get other levels of government to behave accordingly. Provincial, municipal, township and village governments often ignore Beijing. Organised crime can wield influence or has penetrated lower levels of government, particularly in coastal areas such as Guangdong and Fujian provinces.

Campaigns against corruption, as well as ongoing campaigns against prostitution, terrorism and drugs, are sometimes carried out by central or province-level police or paramilitary authorities as a way of clamping down on wayward politicians, police forces or, possibly, Xis political enemies.

'Independent local kingdoms'

Lo styled some of these rebellious politicians as analogous to independent local kingdoms, noting Xi is determined to stamp them out. In 2013, Xi assembled a National Security Council. Although the name evokes a similarly named body in the US, the Chinese version is more inwardly focused against threats against the Party, including corrupt vested interests.

But there are signs of continued resistance to the anti-corruption campaign. Lo cited media reports in the Hong Kong or Taiwan press that said the seven-man standing committee of the Politburo  of which Xi is the most senior member  debated introducing a Hong Kong-style, independent anti-corruption investigative commission.

Clean: Hong Kong

In the 1970s, Hong Kong made a clean break with a corrupt past when the British colonial government set up the Independent Commission Against Corruption. This was introduced along with an amnesty for officials who declared their corruption by a certain date. The ICAC and the amnesty are considered successful in giving Hong Kong clean administration.

However, Lo said, according to the media reports, Chinas standing committee has debated but rejected such a move.

Xis modernisation of the Peoples Liberation Army is also viewed as part of the anti-corruption campaign, and Lo said there was evidence that entrenched interests continue to resist reform.

The upshot is that, based on Lo's arguments, the anti-corruption campaign is unfinished business. Financiers and businesspeople hoping for Xi to declare victory against criminal elements and move on to economic reforms may be disappointed. SOE restructuring and other reform elements remain on the central governments agenda, but they cannot be isolated from the anti-corruption campaign.
Barclays has become the latest in a long line of banks to pull out of the unprofitable Asian cash equities business as fierce competition and high costs make it untenable for all but the largest players and a few boutiques.

The British bank said in an email to clients on Thursday that it is closing cash equity research, sales, and trading as well as convertible bond trading across Asia. It also plans to shutter all of its investment banking operations where it is sub scale across the region including Australia, Taiwan, South Korea and Malaysia.

About 230 people will lose their jobs in Asia as part of a global restructuring resulting in 1,000 redundancies, a person familiar with the matter said.

"We are sharpening our focus on the geographies and products where we have a clear competitive advantage, with a physical presence only in China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, and Singapore," Tom King, Barclays's global chief executive officer of investment banking, said in a memo to staff.

One banker who arrived at work in Hong Kong on Thursday morning only to be told hed been let go said the severance package was disappointing and the atmosphere grim. Barclays's equities division, which is run by Vikesh Kotecha and John Chang in Asia-Pacific, will pay out bonuses for those who remain in March.

Rival brokers are already looking to snag Barclays's cash equities clients as well as the few the British bank is trying to hang on to. "Barclays are retaining a skeleton crew in a few areas, they can't hope to retain clients if they can't offer them freebies such as equity research," said one senior trader at a European bank.

Much of the British bank's trading flow will likely gravitate towards the largest brokers in the region such as Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, and UBS. However, a small proportion might find its way to boutiques since fund managers like to maintain multiple relationships for security purposes and because of increased pressure from regulators for greater transparency on how fees are allocated.

Brokers including Barclays ramped up their operations across the region in 2010 when stock markets surged, only to make a dramatic U-turn when revenues failed to cover the high cost of retaining staff across Asias patchwork of jurisdictions.

Malaysia's CIMB laid off 32 employees from its cash equities and investment banking divisions in Hong Kong on Friday; Jefferies cut just under 20 people in cash equities in December; Standard Chartered closed its equities business last year. Other brokers to pull out of the region since the global financial crisis include Piper Jaffray and Samsung Securities in 2012.

Mid-size brokers have been decimated, said one head of Asian equities trading based in Hong Kong. There is no room for a me-too cash equities business; brokers are warring over every basis point of market share.

The British bank's exit from the market is unlikely to significantly reduce the overcapacity as its equities trading share in Asia was outside of the top six, according to the latest survey by consultants Greenwich Associates.

Only a handful of equity franchises are profitable in Asia as commissions are squeezed by the shift to etrading, according to various industry sources. Margins have also been squeezed by the recent downturn in Chinese stock markets.

Kotecha had reportedly predicted in April that cash equities in Asia would make money in 2016 after the cuts he had already made.

Agony ends

After months of uncertainty, cryptic signals from headquarters, and leaks on looming job cuts, staff at Barclays heard the news from King via webcasts on the companys intranet.

Asia co-head Eiji Nakai also spoke to staff via a webcast from Tokyo.

In the email to clients, Barclays said equity research, headed by Bhavtosh Vajpayee, will immediately cease to cover Asian listed stocks.

Some bankers have already left the bank.

Jake Scrivens, Barclayss managing director and head of the investment bank's Asia Pacific markets structuring team, moved to Exiger, a financial crime, risk and compliance firm. Didier von Daeniken, who had headed Barclayss private banking business for Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, left to join Standard Chartered in December.

Barclays is also selling its Asian wealth management division, according to a variety of well-placed industry sources.

Whats left?

Barclays said that it is returning to its roots, focusing on serving clients in its core European and US markets.

Pockets of traditional strength, which existed in Asia long before the British bank acquired Lehman Brothers's US business, will remain, such as equity derivatives and prime brokerage, which counts Nathan Fischer among its senior sales people.

Returning to its roots

A second senior trader at a rival broker said Barclays's equity derivatives and prime services operations could function as a standalone business, as it was well respected in the industry and thought to be profitable. US and European hedge funds with only a small proportion of their trades running through Barclays machines would likely keep using the service, a third rival trader agreed.

The email to clients said Barclays may continue to offer electronic cash execution only services, run by Greg Lee, in certain instances.

But one Barclays banker said the business unit had been gutted.

Long-only fund managers are unlikely to continue to send orders to Barclays for electronic cash services if they no longer receive high-touch service or research, said the first rival senior trader, keen to snag the business.

Barclayss jewel in the crown is its high frequency business in Japan, said industry rivals. The seed of doubt might have been sown amongst its high-frequency clients that Barclays may not sustain this business going forward, the trader said.

The job cuts will have a knock-on effect on the bank's investment banking arm. Its equity capital markets business in Asia will focus on helping Asian companies to raise capital in the US and Europe, given it no longer has any equity distribution capability within the region. ECM bankers will also continue to work on corporate equity structuring and private solutions.

"In banking, we will maintain a full-client offering in debt financing, risk management, and cross-border [mergers and acquisitions]. We will focus our equity capital markets offering on equity-linked financing, derivatives, and taking our local clients to the international capital markets, particularly the UK and the US," King said in the memo.

Its M&A bankers will focus on cross-border deals, much like its role in helping British retailer Tesco on the documentation of its sale of Homeplus to Korean private equity firm MBK.

Barclays had 18,200 full-time employees in the Asia Pacific region as of 2014, down from 18,500 in 2013 but up from 16,500 in 2012, according to its annual report. Its income from the region totaled 776 million in 2014, down from 1.28 billion in 2013.
The Obama administration is maneuvering through the final weeks of work on a fiduciary standard in an attempt to ensure its passage before a new administration takes office next year, experts say.

Compared with preliminary versions of the rule detailed by federal officials, "My expectation is that the key provisions of the rule will remain intact," says Barbara Roper, director of investor protection at the Consumer Federation of America. That's a sentiment shared by fiduciary advocate Sheryl Garrett, founder of the fee-only Garrett Planning Network, which President Obama has held up as a model practitioner of middle-class fiduciary financial planning.

Labor Department officials are currently at work on revising the bill after taking extensive comments from the industry and investor advocates over the summer. The next step is to send it for review to the White House Office of Management and Budget.

That could happen at month's end or in February, according to a report by Politico.

INCENTIVE TO RUSH

They have an incentive to rush, according to Roper, in order to preserve an expected Obama veto in case strong opposition in Congress results in a bill seeking to block the rule, Roper says

Once approved by the White House, it would be published in the Federal Register. From the date of publication, Roper says, Congress has 60 days to review it. During that period, lawmakers could approve a bill to kill the rule.

While the president would assuredly veto such legislation, the clock on the review process can sometimes run longer than 60 days for a variety of reasons, Roper says.

In the past, it has run into the next administration, which then resulted in action that differed from the preferences of the prior president.

NO 'BIG LOOPHOLES'

If it survives Congress, "Look for an implementation date of many of the rule's provisions some eight months later  around November 2016," NAPFA official and fiduciary advocate Ron Rhoades wrote in a recent blog post.

In the final version, neither Roper nor Rhoades expect changes to the most important provisions.

"I don't expect the DoL to open up big loopholes into the definition of investment advice," Roper says. "I don't expect the seller's exemption in the retail market, which would allow advisors to not act as fiduciaries after they disclose themselves to be salespeople. I don't expect them to water down the best interest standard. I don't expect them to give up the mandate to mitigate conflicts," she adds.

Read more:
Looking at his company's most recent earnings results, Raymond James CEO Paul Reilly had one word: disappointing.

Recent market volatility has buffeted earnings and continued volatility could affect the firm's results, Reilly said during the companys call with analysts on Thursday.

"We are certainly watching the financial markets which are extremely turbulent," Reilly said.

Yet the firms advisor ranks, including independent and employee channels, have climbed to a record high. Reilly cited that, as well as increasing net loans, for his confidence in future growth.

NOT ALONE

Raymond James is not the only firm to be buffeted by market headwinds. Earning results for rival firms showed similar dips.

On Tuesday, Morgan Stanley said wealth management profits fell to $480 million from $509 million for the prior quarter. Bank of America's wealth management unit, which includes Merrill Lynch, said net income fell 13% year-over-year to $614 million.

Read more: Morgan Stanley CEO Outlines Cost Cuts



Despite growing market turbulence, Reilly remained confident of the firm's long-term growth opportunities. He pointed to a record number of financial advisors, recruiting momentum, low attrition and increasing net loans. In addition, Raymond James also recently announced a deal to acquire Deutsche Bank's U.S. private client group, which consists of about 200 advisors serving high-net-worth and ultrahigh-net-worth.

"We run this business for the long term and we will continue to invest in recruiting and in our current advisors so that they can serve their clients," Reilly said.

But he added that adjustments may be necessary, telling analysts that "we will certainly look at discretionary spending."

Reilly also said that the firm has historically outperformed in down markets, expressing his confident in the team.

RISING HEADCOUNT

The firm reported that its advisor ranks, including independent and employee channels, grew to 6,687. That is up by 351 advisors from December 2014 and 91 from September 2015.

One analyst on the call asked if continued market volatility would affect the firm's otherwise robust recruiting. Reilly replied that there are multiple factors involved in an advisor making the decision to switch firms. But he added that there could be ripple effects from the markets.

"Historically, when markets are off, advisors typically don't want to go to a client whose account is down by 20% and say I'm moving. so it's potentially there, but we haven't experienced it yet," he said.

The addition of the Deutsche Bank advisors should also boost the firm's overall headcount this year. But ensuring that those advisors make the transition to Raymond James will not be easy.

Stifel, which signed a deal to acquire Barclays' U.S. brokerage unit, was only able to pull over about half of the advisors. Many passed on the opportunity to join Stifel, opting for rivals such as UBS and Morgan Stanley, which some believed were better suited to serve their ultrawealthy clients. Wells Fargo has recently encountered similar difficulties in attempting to entice over Credit Suisse's U.S.-based advisors.

Raymond James is pursuing a slightly different strategy. The Deutsche Bank advisors will operate in a separate unit, dubbed Alex. Brown, after the old brokerage firm that Deutsche Bank once acquired. Deutsche executive Haig Ariyan will also make the move to Raymond James and serve as president of the future Alex. Brown unit.

And in mid-December, about 170 Deutsche Bank advisors visited Raymond James' headquarters in St. Petersburg, Fla., meeting with executives such Reilly, Chairman Tom James, COO Dennis Zank, and Raymond James & Associates President Tash Elwyn.

Speaking during the analysts call, Reilly said that onboarding the new advisors will require a lot of hard work.

"We've only had two advisors in the whole group leave. Both were very small, under $300,000. We don't think it was anything to do with us," he said.

He added that Raymond James does not expect to retain 100% of the Deutsche Bank advisors.

Reilly acknowledged that onboarding so many advisors would add new expenses. But, he added that it is worth the additional costs, pointing to the benefits brought by the firm's acquisition of Morgan Keagan several years ago.

"Long term we will be measured by the integration," he said.

ASSET GROWTH

Overall, net revenue rose 2% year-over-year to $1.3 billion while total non-interest expense increased 6% to $1.1 billion. The rise in costs was attributable in part to a 22% jump in technology costs, which increased to $72 million for the quarter.

Client assets under administration grew 4% to reach $500 billion. The Private Client Group's assets in fee-based accounts increased 9% to reach $190 billion.

Earnings per share dropped to $0.74 from $0.89.

Read more:
LONDON, January 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Forty five per cent of cyber security professionals believe their board of directors have a major gap in their understanding of cyber risk, or simply don't understand the risk at all. This is despite over half (54%) of boards being ultimately accountable for the cyber strategy. This is according to the second annual Harvey Nash / PGI Cyber Security Survey, representing the views of almost 200 senior cyber security professionals.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150115/724638 )



The Survey also reveals that lack of cyber risk awareness affects the senior executive team: one third of cyber professionals (33%) believe their CEO has major knowledge gaps and almost half (49%) believe so for their CFO. CMOs, many of whom have increasing responsibility for customer data and driving customer facing digital strategies, were also rated poorly in the Survey, with 43% of cyber professionals believing they had major knowledge gaps, and one in ten (11%) believing they had no cyber risk awareness at all.

The top three factors holding back the cyber security strategy were: Budget (selected by 57%), Security aware culture (49%) and Understanding of the real threat (43%).

Brian Lord, Managing Director, PGI Cyber commented: "Cyber security is as much about people as it is about technology. Whilst there is no doubt many boards are asking more questions about cyber security than they did five years ago, it is clear that there is much more to do to make organisations fully aware and prepared for risk management in a digital world."

Stephanie Crates, Head of Information Security Practice - London, Harvey Nash, commented: "Whilst it's true to say cyber professionals enjoy greater demand for their skills now than they have ever had before, it is also true to say the nature of that demand has changed. Increasingly companies are looking for people who are able to influence, persuade and educate as much they can design, build and test. The image of a cyber professional as a 'techie geek' is, if it were ever true, a thing of the past."

Full press release here

For more information or a full copy of the survey please contact:


OTTAWA (dpa-AFX) - AmpliPhi Biosciences Corp. (APHB) has dosed the first patient in its phase I clinical trial of AB-SA01 for the treatment of Staphylococcus aureus infections in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis that fail to respond to standard antibiotic treatment.



Chronic rhinosinusitis is a serious, often debilitating infection and inflammation of the nose and sinuses lasting 12 weeks or more.



AmpliPhi expects to complete enrollment of the trial by the end of the first half of 2016.



APHB closed Wednesday's trading 28.45% higher at $2.98.



Shares of OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (OGXI) were down over 32% in extended trading on Wednesday, following failure of a phase II trial of the company's drug candidate Apatorsen in combination with chemotherapy drugs Carboplatin and Pemetrexed in patients with untreated metastatic non-small cell lung cancer.



The trial, dubbed Spruce, did not reach the statistical significance required to demonstrate a progression-free survival benefit. The study is ongoing and overall survival results are expected in the second half of 2016.



OGXI closed Wednesday's trading at $0.75, up 5.07%. In after hours, the stock was down 32.60% to $0.50.



Sarepta Therapeutics Inc.'s (SRPT) New Drug Application for Eteplirsen, an experimental drug for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy amenable to exon 51 skipping, is NOT going to be reviewed by an FDA panel on January 22, 2016 as the Advisory Committee meeting has been postponed due to an anticipated severe winter snowstorm forecasted to hit the Washington D.C. area.



The company said that a future meeting date will be announced in the Federal Register. In the event of a change in the FDA decision date of February 26, 2016, an update will be provided at that time, added the company.



SRPT closed Wednesday's trading at $13.26, down 1.34%. In after hours, the stock was down 1.96% to $13.05.



Stellar Biotechnologies Inc. (SBOT) (KLH.V) and France-based Neovacs S.A. are planning to form a joint venture for the manufacture of conjugated therapeutic vaccines using Stellar's proprietary Keyhole Limpet Hemocyanin.



The proposed Joint Venture aims to produce Neovacs' Kinoid product candidates, including IFNa-Kinoid, as well as potentially manufacture other KLH-based immunotherapies on behalf of third party customers.



As per the proposal, Neovacs will hold a 70% stake in the Joint Venture while Stellar will own the remaining 30% interest.



SBOT closed Wednesday's trading at $5.32, down 9.83%.



Shares of Zafgen (ZFGN) soared more than 78% on Wednesday, following positive efficacy results from a phase III trial evaluating its drug candidate Beloranib in patients with Prader-Willi syndrome.



In the trial, dubbed bestPWS ZAF-311, Beloranib demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in both body weight and hyperphagia-related behaviors during a six-month randomized treatment period.



Prader-Willi syndrome, or PWS, is the most common known genetic cause of life-threatening obesity. Many of those affected with PWS become morbidly obese and suffer significant mortality. Currently, there is no cure for this disease.



Beloranib becomes the first investigational drug to demonstrate a positive impact on the two hallmark challenges in PWS - body weight and *hyperphagia-related behaviors (*hyperphagia means abnormally large appetite for food).



The company plans to provide data from a phase IIb trial of Beloranib in severe obesity complicated by type 2 diabetes later this quarter.



ZFGN closed Wednesday's trading at $10.04, up 78.65%. In after hours, the stock was up 1.79% to $10.22.



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WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Media conglomerate Viacom Inc. (VIAB, VIA) disclosed in the filing that its Founder and Executive Chairman Sumner Redstone's annual compensation in fiscal 2015 declined 85% to $2 million, versus a total of $13 million in 2014. The company specified that Redstone's salary was unchanged in fiscal 2015. The company added that 92-year-old billionaire became ineligible to receive a bonus beginning in fiscal 2015 and has not been eligible to receive an annual equity award since fiscal 2012. Viacom also said President and Chief Executive Officer Philippe Dauman's bonus declined 30% to $14 million in fiscal 2015, versus $20 million in the prior year and his contractually provided salary and annual equity award were substantially unchanged. Dauman received a salary of $4 million in fiscal 2015, versus a salary of $3.9 million in fiscal 2014, and an annual equity award valued at $18.9 million in fiscal 2015, compared with an annual equity award valued at $19.9 million in fiscal 2014. 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.
TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - Taiwan's Foxconn has offered about 625 billion yen to take over Sharp Corp.(SHCAY.PK), the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Japanese electronics maker Sharp, which has been bailed out repeatedly by banks, is set to review a competing offer from Innovation Network Corp. of Japan, a government-backed investment fund. Foxconn and Sharp declined to comment. INCJ couldn't immediately be reached for comment. The Nikkei newspaper reported this week that the fund was weighing a bid that could top 300 billion yen. In December, Kyodo News reported that Foxconn, formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., proposed to buy the struggling Japanese electronics maker for about 300 billion yen or $2.5 billion. U.S. buyout firm KKR & Co (KKR) is apparently taking an interest in Sharp Corp, Nikkei business reported in December. Japan Display, whose top shareholder is the government-sponsored Innovation Network Corp. of Japan, is looking to acquire Sharp's liquid crystal display business, the Nikkei added. 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 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Research and Markets(http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/l3jkcc/global_disposable) has announced the addition of the"Global Disposable Medical Devices Sensors Market, By Country (United States, Canada, India, China, Japan, United Kingdom), Company Profiles, Share, Trends, Analysis, Opportunities, Segmentation And Forecast 2015 - 2021"report to their offering.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130307/600769)

Disposable medical devices sensors market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10.5% for the forecasted period of 2015-2021

It is segmented on the basis of applications which include diagnostic disposable sensors market, therapeutic disposable sensors and patient monitoring sensors market. The diagnostic and patient monitoring market have the highest market share. Rise of the medical imaging sensor market, wearable devices, high prevalence of diabetic and CVDs are the major factors driving the market growth for diagnostic and patient monitoring market.

Recent advances in surgical techniques like robotic surgery, endoscopic surgeries and other minimally invasive procedures have contributed in a big way to the applications of these devices. There is a demand for high image quality cameras since these procedures require a lot of accuracy and precision. Therapeutics applications will also have a good market growth. Conventional diagnostic imaging devices like X-Rays, CT Scanners, MRI machines etc. have a significant impact on the market growth.



The market is segmented on the basis of sensor types i.e. temperature sensors, pressure sensors, image sensors accelerometers and biosensors. Image sensors market is going to have a good growth rate with a CAGR of 22%. The disposable images sensors is driven by changes in technology. The market for CMOS (Complementary Metal-oxide Semiconductor) is growing rapidly and is fast replacing CCD (Charge-coupled Device) as the major technology in medical image sensing devices.



The market is also segmented on the basis of placement of sensors. The segments include Invasive disposable medical devices sensors market, Wearable disposable medical devices sensors market, Strip sensors disposable medical devices sensors market, Ingestible sensors disposable medical devices sensors market.

Major players include GE healthcare, Philips healthcare, Medtronic, Given Imaging and others.



Key Topics Covered:



1. Introduction



2. Market overview



3. Market determinants



4. Sector Analysis



5. Market Segmentation



6. Competitive Landscape



7. Geographical analysis



8. Company Profiles



- GE Healthcare

- Philips Healthcare

- Analog devices

- Given imaging ltd.

- Lifescan Inc.

- Stmicroelectronics Inc.

- On semiconductor

- Smiths Medical

- Honeywell

- Medtronic

- Covidien

- Omnivision

- Sensirion

- Given Imaging

- Olympus

- Philips Helathcare

- Sensirion Ag

- Jant Pharmacal

- Gentag Inc.

- Measurement Specialities inc

- Awaiba

- Toshiba

- Sharp

- Perkin Elmer

- Hamatatsu

- Neusoft

- Suni medical

- Canon

- Teledyne dalsa

- Pixel Plus



For more information visithttp://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/l3jkcc/global_disposable

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


CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - The Australian dollar retreated from early highs against the other major currencies in the late Asian session on Thursday. The Australian dollar fell to 0.6886 against the U.S. dollar, from an early 6-day high of 0.6958. Against the euro and the yen, the aussie dropped to 1.5830 and 80.36 from early 2-day highs of 1.5621 and 81.64, respectively. The aussie edged down to 0.9993 against the Canadian dollar, from an early high of 1.0061. If the aussie extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 0.67 against the greenback, 1.61 against the euro, 79.00 against the yen and 0.98 against the loonie. 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.
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 01/21/16 -- Caledonia Mining Corporation ("Caledonia" or the "Company") (TSX: CAL)(OTCQX: CALVF)(AIM: CMCL) announces that it is today posting to shareholders the Notice of Special Meeting of Shareholders, a Management Information Circular and Proxy Forms relating to the proposed re-domicile of Caledonia from Canada to Jersey, Chanel Islands. These documents are also available on Caledonia's website (www.caledoniamining.com) and on SEDAR (www.sedar.com).

On December 21, 2015 Caledonia announced that it would seek shareholder approval to re-domicile the Company from Canada to Jersey using a legal process called "Continuance". If the Continuance is approved by shareholders, Caledonia will, subject to approval by Canadian and Jersey regulatory authorities, become legally domiciled in Jersey and, once Caledonia establishes a physical presence in Jersey, is expected to be domiciled for tax purposes in Jersey, instead of Canada. The main reasons for the proposed Continuance, which are also set out in the Management Information Circular, include:

-- Caledonia has no commercial operations in Canada, hence there is no reason for it to be domiciled in Canada and subject to Canadian taxes and the compliance costs associated with being a Canadian tax entity; -- Jersey is more conveniently located in relation to Caledonia's operations in Southern Africa and the majority of its shareholder base which ranges from continental Europe to South Africa and North America; and -- Canadian withholding tax, which is currently applicable to dividends paid to Caledonia shareholders outside Canada, will be eliminated.

The proposed Continuance will have no effect on Caledonia's existing listings in Toronto and on AIM in London, or the trading facility on the OTCQX in the USA.

Other than the removal of Canadian withholding tax on dividends paid to non-Canadian shareholders, the proposed Continuance will have no effect on Caledonia's dividend policy. Following the announcement on December 16, 2015 that Caledonia will report in US dollars, Caledonia's quarterly dividend policy has been revised so that its quarterly dividends are now denominated in US dollars rather than Canadian dollars. On January 5, 2016 Caledonia announced its ninth quarterly dividend, which will be paid on January 29, 2016.

The key information relating to the Special Meeting of Shareholders is:

-- Record date for determining those shareholders who are entitled to receive notice of and to vote at the Special Meeting: January 18, 2016; -- Date for submission of proxy forms by registered shareholders: 5pm (Toronto time), February 16, 2016; and -- Special Meeting date and location: 10.00am (Toronto time) on February 18, 2016 at the offices of Borden Ladner Gervais, Scotia Plaza, 44th Floor, 40 King Street West, Toronto.

Contacts:

Caledonia Mining Corporation

Mark Learmonth

+27 11 447 2499

marklearmonth@caledoniamining.com



WH Ireland

Adrian Hadden/Nick Prowting

+44 20 7220 1751



Blytheweigh

Tim Blythe/Camilla Horsfall/Megan Ray

+44 20 7138 3204




DUBLIN, January 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Research and Markets(http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/k6qwrw/global_secure_web) has announced the addition of the"Global Secure Web Gateway Market, By Country (United States, Canada, India, China, Japan, United Kingdom), Company Profiles, Share, Trends, Analysis, Opportunities, Segmentation And Forecast 2015 - 2021" report to their offering.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130307/600769)



Some of the major players in the global secure web gateway market include Check Point Software Technologies, Sophos Ltd., Microsoft Corporation, Dell, Citrix, IBM Corporation, Trend Micro, Inc., Cisco Systems, Inc., Symantec Corporation, and Intel Corporation.

The global secure web gateway market is estimated to reach $6 billion by 2021 growing at the CAGR of 21% during 2015-2021

The growing internet penetration and the extensive use of internet have given rise to incidence of malware threats. Other major driver is the rising demand among businesses for enhancing productivity through secure data transfer across mobile devices. Moreover, adherence to various data security standards, restore the need to adopt various secure web gateway solutions. However, the market is witnessing various challenges such as lack of awareness for secure web gateway solutions and lack of adoption among enterprises.



Organizations are rapidly deploying cloud computing into their business models. Almost all the industrial sectors such as telecom & IT, BFSI, education, healthcare, government, and retail are integrating their data in cloud. This has created a significant threat for data security. Thus, they are rapidly deploying secure web gateway solutions for secure intelligence and enhanced network optimization. Currently IT and communications secure over 20% market share in 2014. However, Healthcare is expected to be the fastest growing segment during 2015-2021. Healthcare organizations are rapidly moving their data into cloud which has created a significant opportunity for the adoption of secure web gateways solution in the sector.



The report segmented secure web gateway market on the basis of software solutions, services, deployment type, applications and region. The country level analysis of each geographical region is the USP of our report. The analysis of the report is based on various parameters such as Growing incidences of cyber crime, Growing number of internet users, growing incidence of data breaches across geography and so on. The data is collected through primary and secondary research. The report provides detailed analysis of key market players and their strategies.



Key Topics Covered:



1. Executive summary



2. Market overview



3. Sector analysis



4. Market determinants



5. Global secure web gateway market by software solution, 2014-2021,($ billion)



6. Global secure web gateway market by services, 2014-2021,($ billion)



7. Global secure web gateway market, by deployment type, 2014-2021,($ billion)



8. Global secure web gateway market, by applications, 2014-2021,($ billion)



9. Geographical Analysis



10. Competitive Intelligence



- Symantec Corporation

- Intel Corporation (McAfee)

- IBM Corporation

- Cisco Systems, Inc.

- Check Point Software Technologies

- Microsoft Corporation

- Dell

- Citrix

- Trend Micro, Inc.

- Sophos Ltd.

- Websense

- Blue Coat Systems

- Barracuda Networks

- F5 Networks, Inc.

- Trustwave Holdings, Inc.

- Ancoris Ltd.

- Riverbed Technology

- Zscaler, Inc.

- Finjan Holdings, Inc.

- Clearswift



For more information visithttp://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/k6qwrw/global_secure_web

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


DUBLIN, January 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Research and Markets(http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/t9cx8z/global_aerostat) has announced the addition of the"Global Aerostat Systems Market, By Country (United States, Canada, India, China, Japan, United Kingdom), Company Profiles, Share, Trends, Analysis, Opportunities, Segmentation And Forecast 2015 - 2021" report to their offering.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130307/600769)



Global Aerostat systems market is estimated to grow up to $10.40 billion by 2021 at 17% CAGR during 2015-2021

An aerostat system uses lighter air such as helium to lift the balloon with a density nearly equivalent to air. A permanently deployed aerostat surveillance system can provide a low-cost long-endurance capability not possible with a fixed wing aircraft. The market is majorly driven by the increasing demand for surveillance in sectors such as military and homeland security applications. Also, aerostat systems are manufactured with advanced technology, thus offer higher performance over the surveillance aircraft. These alternatives such as unmanned aircrafts and drones are battery dependent, which may cause frequent failures for operations.

The report forecasts North America to be the largest market for aerostat systems. The region has huge investments in military and homeland security and the deployment of aerostat systems has increased significantly. Countries are migrating from unmanned surveillance aircrafts to aerostat systems for uninterrupted intelligence, reconnaissance, and surveillance solutions. APAC is expected to be the fastest growing CAGR during the forecasted period. Significant growth in investment in defence and collaborations with other countries for strengthening their military capabilities are expected to be the key driving force for the region.



The report segmented global aerostat systems market on the basis of size, balloon type, payload, applications, and region. The country level analysis of each geographical region is the USP of our report. The analysis of the report is based on various parameters such as usage of aerostat systems in security sector, usage of aerostat systems in climatic research, commercial usage of aerostat systems and so on. The data is collected through primary and secondary research. The report provides detailed analysis of key market players and their strategies.



Key Topics Covered:



1. Introduction



2. Market overview



3. Market determinants



4. Sector analysis



5 Market Segmentation



6. Geographic analysis



7. Company profiling



- Aerostar International, Inc

- ILC Dover LP

- Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd.

- Lindstrand Technologies, Ltd

- Lockheed Martin Corporation

- RosAeroSystems, International Ltd.

- RT Aerostat Systems, Inc.

- TCOM L.P.

- Worldwide Aeros Corporation

- Raytheon Company

- Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd.

- Raven industries

- Augur Rosaerosystems

- Near space systems lnc.

- Aeroscraft corporation

- TARS

- Sky Sentre

- Henan equipment co. ltd.

- World surveillance group

- Spy flight



For more information visithttp://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/t9cx8z/global_aerostat

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


BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - The New Zealand dollar retreated from early highs against most major currencies in the pre-European session on Thursday. The NZ dollar fell to 0.6423 against the U.S. dollar and 74.98 against the yen, from early 2-day highs of 0.6476 and 75.96, respectively. Against the euro, the kiwi edged down to 1.6966 from an early 2-day high of 1.6788. If the kiwi extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 0.62 against the greenback, 73.00 against the yen 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.
LONDON (dpa-AFX) - U.K. manufacturers produced more cars in 2015 than any year since 2005, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said Thursday. Car production grew 3.9 percent to 1.58 million units in 2015, overtaking pre-recession levels for the first time. A record number of cars, representing 77.3 percent of total production was exported in 2015. Exports totaled 1.23 million units, up 2.7 percent on 2014 levels. US overtook China as UK's largest export destination as demand from China declined 37.5 percent. Meanwhile, EU demand advanced 11.3 percent, with 57.5 percent of shipments destined for the continent. 'Continued growth in an intensely competitive global marketplace is far from guaranteed, however, and depends heavily on global economic conditions and political stability,' Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive, said. 'Europe is our biggest trading partner and the UK's membership of the European Union is vital for the automotive sector in order to secure future growth and jobs,' Hawes added. 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.
LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Brown (N.) Group PLC (BWNG.L) reported that its third-quarter Group revenue increased 4.1%, with LFL growth of 4.1%. Product revenue rose 4.3%; while Financial services revenue improved 3.7%. Angela Spindler, CEO, said: 'Our digital-first strategy has continued to make good progress and I am encouraged by the transformation underway in the business. We are on track to meet full year expectations, and we move into 2016 with real energy and confidence in our future.' For full year 2015/16: Product gross margin guidance range changed to -75bps to flat from prior guidance of -25bps to +50bps, driven by seasonal mix; Financial Services gross margin guidance range improved to -100bps to flat from prior guidance of -300bps to -200bps, due to continued improvement in the quality of the credit book. The Group said its all other guidance remains unchanged from that provided at the half year results. 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.
SPOKANE, WA--(Marketwired - January 21, 2016) - Ambient Water (OTCQB: AWGI), a leading provider of atmospheric water generation systems for extracting water from humidity in the air, today announced a successful attendance of BCTECH Summit 2016, which took place January 18-19 in Vancouver. Sponsored by Microsoft, the Government of British Columbia, and the BC Innovation Council, BCTECH Summit showcases the region's innovative technology industry and the companies leading it.

Ambient Water had its Model 2500 atmospheric water generator, built for in-home residential use, on display throughout the two-day event. Ideal for kitchen counters and offices, the Model 2500 can produce up to five gallons of water per day using standard electricity. The unit is U.S. EPA-approved, ensuring the water produced is clean and safe to drink.

"Personal water production systems like our Model 2500 are an ideal solution for those looking for a safe and sustainable water source inside their home or office. The machines run on simple power and can easily meet the water needs of a household or office each day purely by harvesting the humidity in the air," said Keith White, CEO, Ambient Water. "When you see the water crisis that's happening in Flint, Michigan right now, the importance of sustainable water technologies becomes even more important. These technologies can save lives by providing consumable water when and where it is needed most, simply by plugging it in to a wall. No one should be without clean water, no matter the circumstance."

Ambient Water also took part in a demonstration with partner BW GLOBAL Structures Inc., as the two companies showcased their closed-loop greenhouse structure to conference attendees. The structure, a 12x24 greenhouse, is currently in a six to 12 month testing phase where researchers are observing the equipment through multiple seasons to ensure the climate control and water production functions properly regardless of outside weather conditions.

"We are excited to have gotten the chance to show the closed-loop greenhouse structure here in Vancouver, as we are that much closer to achieving a commercial, 100% sealed greenhouse with complete environmental control," said White. "This is a significant advancement toward solving both water and food issues across the world, in third world regions or in disaster relief scenarios. We are excited about the positive feedback and interest we have received at BCTECH Summit and look forward to the further development of the technology with BW GLOBAL."

Ambient Water's patented atmospheric water generation technology literally makes water out of thin air, transforming humidity into an abundant source of clean water near the point of use. With multiple systems already commercially available or in development, the Company's technology produces clean and fresh water for a host of commercial industries, including oil and gas exploration and farming, while also providing fresh drinking water for homes, offices, and communities.

About Ambient Water Corp.

Ambient Water pioneered atmospheric water generation technology for extracting water from humidity in the air. Drawing from the renewable ocean of water vapor in the air that we breathe, the Company's patented technology cost-effectively transforms humidity into an abundant source of clean water near the point of use. The scalable and modular systems can be configured for a number of water-sensitive applications ranging from oil and gas exploration to vertical farming. The systems can also be configured to produce high quality drinking water for homes, offices, and communities. For a thirsty planet on the verge of a water crisis, Ambient Water makes clean water out of thin air. To learn more about Ambient Water, visit our website at http://www.AmbientWater.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

Matters discussed in this press release contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When used in this press release, the words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "may," "intend," "expect" and similar expressions identify such forward-looking statements. Actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those contemplated, expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained herein. These forward-looking statements are based largely on the expectations of the Company and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. These risks include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties associated with: the impact of economic, competitive and other factors affecting the Company and its operations, markets, products, and prospects for sales, failure to commercialize our technology, failure of technology to perform as expected, failure to earn profit or revenue, higher costs than expected, persistent operating losses, ownership dilution, inability to repay debt, failure of acquired businesses to perform as expected, the impact on the national and local economies resulting from terrorist actions, and U.S. actions subsequently and other factors detailed in reports filed by the Company.

Press Contact:

Matthew Bretzius

FischTank Marketing and PR

Email contact


FLEET, England, January 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Anite's field-to-lab solution uniquely supports operator test plan to cost-effectively verify device performance

Anite, a global leader in wireless equipment testing technology, has today announced that a major Chinese mobile operator has selected Anite's Virtual Drive Testing Toolset for verifying mobile device performance in high-speed train scenarios.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151109/285077LOGO )



Anite's recently launched Virtual Drive testing Toolset with simulated network support enables users to cost-effectively verify mobile device performance in a controlled laboratory environment. It is the only solution that supports the mobile operator's recently launched and mandated test plan, requiring suppliers to demonstrate device performance under challenging mobility conditions prior to market introduction. The mobile operator has developed the test plan in collaboration with Anite to improve end-users' quality of experience when travelling on high-speed trains within the country.

Virtual Drive Testing Toolset uses network signalling and RF propagation log data, captured in the field using drive test tools, to recreate a realistic mobile device performance testing environment in the laboratory. Users are able to make considerable cost savings in the development and deployment phases by reducing the amount of field testing, and instead adopt a repeatable lab-based testing methodology that uses realistic field conditions. The solution takes into consideration extreme signal propagation conditions including multipath, Doppler Effect, dynamic channel delay, interference, as well as multi-RAT and multi-cell handover.

Anite recently demonstrated its high-speed train scenario testing capability at the China Mobile Global Partner Conference 2015 in Guangzhou, China. It will also be showcased as part of the Virtual Drive Testing demonstration on Anite's stand (6I50 in Hall 6) at Mobile World Congress 2016 taking place in Barcelona next month.

Paul Beaver, Products Director at Anite's Device & Infrastructure Testing business commented: "We are delighted that a major Chinese mobile operator has selected Anite and our Virtual Drive Testing Toolset for verifying device performance in high-speed train scenarios. This highly innovative field-to-lab solution leverages Anite's network simulation and channel emulation expertise, providing an advanced environment for the effective benchmarking of mobile devices."

About Anite

Anite is a leading supplier of test and measurement solutions to the international wireless market. It provides testing, measurement, optimisation and analytics systems based on its specialist sector knowledge and its proprietary software and hardware products. Customers include major manufacturers of mobile devices, chipsets and network equipment, mobile network operators, regulatory authorities, and independent test houses.

Its 500+ staff work from offices in 15 countries across Europe, the Americas, Asia and the Middle East.

Anite is now part of Keysight Technologies.

For more information, please visit the company's website: www.anite.com

For further information, please contact:

Karolina Eklund, Anite

Tel: +44(0)1252-775245

Email: karolina.eklund@anite.com

MattHumphries, Babel PR

Tel: +44(0)207-434-5550

Email: anite@babelpr.com
MUNICH, January 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The Clean Tech company Orcan Energy AG obtained more important certificates needed to feed the power generated by the ePack into the grid against compensation. The ePack is a minigeneration unit by Orcan that can convert waste heat to electricity and uses ORC technology to do so (Organic Rankine Cycle). To date, the company had the German certificate for feeding into low voltage grids (according to the VDE-AR-N 4105 standard of the German Association for Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies). Now, it also has the certificate for German medium voltage grids (generators of up to below 1 megawatt). This allows Orcan Energy, as pioneer in the ORC market, to offer its customers even more support, as the new certificates also open up more grid connection possibilities.

At sites with biogas plants, the generated energy is often fed into medium voltage grids. If an ePack is retrofitted to convert waste heat into electricity at such sites, then the very strict requirements of the medium voltage directive apply to the unit as well. With the unit certificate that Orcan now holds, the company can provide all necessary documents to issue a customer-specific plant certificate. In Germany, a plant certificate is required as soon as the cumulative output of all the units installed at one site exceeds 1 megawatt.

Orcan Energy has also obtained the certificate of conformity with the feed-in guidelines in the UK (in short: G59/3). The first ePacks in England and Italy have been put into operation. In Germany, 26 of such ePacks have already been integrated into a generator.

Richard Aumann, co-founder and product architect, says: "Those who choose an ORC provider in the course of their retrofitting project need this certificate, because it is the only way they can be sure that the ORC system can be operated with the grid. It is a guarantee for compensation or the possibility of selling the generated power elsewhere. For Orcan Energy, these certificates are therefore a competitive advantage it can use to tap into new markets - which the company will increasingly focus on in Germany, the UK and Italy in 2016."

Just towards the end of last year, Orcan Energy announced the participation of the world's leading gas, technology and services provider in the industry and health sector Air Liquide - the second strategic investor after E.ON Energy.

Orcan Energy - The Efficiency Company: Orcan Energy AG is a provider of turnkey solutions for optimizing energy efficiency in industrial processes and engine systems. The clean-tech company, established in 2008, has its headquarters in Munich and currently employs a staff of around 65. With its ePack series, Orcan Energy offers cost-effective, reliable electricity generation modules. These innovative modules are based on Organic Rankine Cycle technology, producing CO2-free electricity from industrial waste heat.

Contact:

Orcan Energy AG

Dr. Hermann Iding

Head of Corporate Communications and Marketing

Rupert-Mayer-Str. 44

81379 Munich

Germany

T: +49-89-72-44-997-55

hermann.iding@orcan-energy.com

http://www.orcan-energy.com


Transaction Reinforces Company's Commitment to Growth in Composites Markets

Owens Corning (NYSE: OC) today announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire the glass non-wovens and fabrics businesses of Ahlstrom, a fiber-based materials company headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, for 73 million (U.S. $79.5 million). The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approvals, is anticipated to close in the first half of 2016.

"The planned acquisition of Ahlstrom's glass non-wovens and fabrics businesses is a winning combination for our customers, our markets, and our employees," said Arnaud Genis, group president of Owens Corning's Composite Solutions Business. "This is a highly complementary acquisition that will provide new revenue, technology, talent, and access to markets.

"The addition of these businesses demonstrates Owens Corning's commitment to capital efficient growth in its Composites business, while at the same time creating scale for investments in new technology and capacity to help our customers grow," Genis added.

Marco Levi, President and CEO of Ahlstrom, added, "We are happy to have found Owens Corning as the buyer as it's vertically integrated and has ample resources to develop the glass fiber business further. We also believe this is a good solution for the unit's employees transferring to the new owner."

The assets to be acquired by Owens Corning include operations in Karhula and Mikkeli, Finland, and Tver, Russia. Collectively, the facilities employ approximately 260 people and reported 2014 sales of 77 million (U.S. $85 million). The operations in Karhula and Tver produce glass non-wovens, primarily for flooring applications, and the facility in Mikkeli produces fabrics, primarily for the wind energy market.

The addition of the Ahlstrom assets will strengthen Owens Corning's position as a global leader in the non-wovens and wind energy, high-modulus glass, and specialty fabrics segments. In doing so, it will also provide a broader, multi-region supply base across Europe, North America, and Russia to serve customers efficiently. The transaction also reflects Owens Corning's ongoing commitment to growing its downstream composites businesses and is consistent with its investment in the construction of a new glass non-wovens facility in Gastonia, N.C., USA, which will begin production in early 2016.

About Owens Corning

Owens Corning (NYSE: OC) develops, manufactures and markets insulation, roofing and fiberglass composites. Global in scope and human in scale, the company's market-leading businesses use their deep expertise in materials, manufacturing and building science to develop products and systems that save energy and improve comfort in commercial and residential buildings. Through its glass reinforcements business, the company makes thousands of products lighter, stronger and more durable. Ultimately, Owens Corning people and products make the world a better place. Based in Toledo, Ohio, Owens Corning posted 2014 sales of $5.3 billion and employs about 15,000 people in 26 countries. It has been a Fortune 500 company for 61 consecutive years. For more information, please visit www.owenscorning.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160121005421/en/

Contacts:

Owens Corning

Media Inquiries:

Nathalie Neyroz-Leonard Europe, +33 6 67 79 86 05

nathalie.neyrozleonard@owenscorning.com

or

Todd M. Romain Americas, +1-419-248-7826

todd.romain@owenscorning.com

or

Investor Inquiries:

Thierry Denis, +1-419-248-5748

thierry.j.denis@owenscorning.com
Successful private placement of approximately 6.5 million by GLOBAL BIOENERGIES

Evry, 21 January 2016 - Global Bioenergies (Alternext Paris: ALGBE) (the "Company") today announces the successful completion of a private placement with qualified French and international investors. The Company placed 274,931 new shares at a par value of 0.05 per share, at a unit price of 23.70, including share premium, for a total of approximately 6.5 million amounting to 9.6% of the Company's share capital

For information, the stake of a shareholder with 1% of the Company's share capital prior to the issue will be brought to 0.91%.

The proceeds will be used to further the development of the Isobutene process and to launch commercial roll-out. Marc Delcourt, CEO at Global Bioenergies says: "The success of this transaction demonstrates investors' confidence in our corporate strategy. The proceeds of the placement increase the Company's unaudited cash to 16.5 million euros. They will enable the Company to fully transition into the commercial phase ".

The principle of the capital raising was authorized on 5 January 2016. The transaction was carried out pursuant to a Board decisions dated 20 January 2016 and 21 January 2016, in accordance with the authority granted to it by the eighth resolution of the Combined General Meeting of Shareholders on 3 June 2015. The subscription price represented a discount of 14.1% over the volume weighted average Company's share price in the last three trading sessions prior to the issue.

The capital increase is by means of the issue of common shares without preferential subscription rights to qualified investors, in accordance with Article L. 411-2 II of the French Monetary and Financial Code ( Code monetaire et financier ). The new shares will carry entitlement to dividend rights and will be admitted to trading on the Euronext Paris Alternext market under ISIN code FR0011052257 - ALGBE. On settlement and delivery of the shares, Company's share capital will comprise 3,145,128 shares.

The Private Placement is conducted by Gilbert Dupont (Paris) and Baader Bank AG (Munich) as joint lead managers and joint bookrunners. The issue does not require registration with the French financial markets authority (AMF) or publication of a prospectus.

Legal notice

Securities may not be offered or sold in the United States unless they have been registered pursuant to the 1993 U.S. Securities Act de 1933, as amended ("U.S. Securities Act"), or are exempt from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act. The Company's securities covered by this press release have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act, and the Company does not intend to issue a public offering of the securities which are the subject of this press release in the United States.

About GLOBAL BIOENERGIES

Global Bioenergies is one of the few companies worldwide, and the only one in Europe, that is developing a process to convert renewable resources into hydrocarbons through fermentation. The Company initially focused its efforts on the production of isobutene, one of the most important petrochemical building blocks that can be converted into fuels, plastics, organic glass and elastomers. Global Bioenergies continues to improve the performances of its process, operates its industrial pilot, has begun the construction of its demo plant in Germany, and is preparing the first full-scale plant through a joint venture with Cristal Union, named IBN-One. The company also replicated its achievement to propylene and butadiene, two members of the gaseous olefins family, key molecules at the heart of petrochemical industry. Global Bioenergies is listed on Alternext, Euronext Paris (FR0011052257 - ALGBE) and on the Alternext Oseo Innovation index.

Should you like to be kept informed, subscribe to our news feed on www.global-bioenergies.com (http://www.global-bioenergies.com)

Follow us on Twitter: @GlobalBioenergi (https://twitter.com/GlobalBioenergi)

Contact

GLOBAL BIOENERGIES

Francois-Henri Sahakian

Chief Financial Officer

Phone: +33 (0)1 64 98 20 50

Email: invest@global-bioenergies.com (mailto:invest@global-bioenergies.com)

Press release (http://hugin.info/166909/R/1980358/725465.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: GLOBAL BIOENERGIES via Globenewswire



HUG#1980358


WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Owens Corning (OC) said that it has signed an agreement to acquire the glass non-wovens and fabrics businesses of Ahlstrom, a fiber-based materials company headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, for 73 million euros or $79.5 million. The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approvals, is anticipated to close in the first half of 2016. The assets to be acquired by Owens Corning include operations in Karhula and Mikkeli, Finland, and Tver, Russia. Collectively, the facilities employ approximately 260 people and reported 2014 sales of 77 million euros or $85 million. The operations in Karhula and Tver produce glass non-wovens, primarily for flooring applications, and the facility in Mikkeli produces fabrics, primarily for the wind energy market. 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.
STREET, England, January 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Trigenic Flex is the latest design innovation from Clarks Originals: the culmination of over 190 years' expertise in the craft of shoemaking. With a tradition of introducing innovative footwear to the marketplace, the brand's unconventional, and sometimes radical, approach has resulted in the proliferation of globally recognised icons such as The Desert Boot and Wallabee.

To view the Multimedia News Release, please click:

http://www.multivu.com/players/uk/7732251-clarks-create-trigenic-flex-new-classic/

Continuing this 'free-thinking' design philosophy, Clarks fuses a shoemaker's craft and traditions with advanced technology and innovation to deliver the Trigenic Flex; an icon in the making. The Trigenic Flex is a beautifully crafted and truly original everyday shoe with a design that is deconstructed to create a minimal and fresh look.

The Trigenic Flex takes inspiration from an original 1883 Clarks Hygiene design; stylish shoes that were shaped to the natural contours of the foot, a great contrast to the seriously uncomfortable and deforming fashions of the time. Prad Indrakumar, Senior Designer, Clarks Originals, states:



"We started by looking at the Clarks 'Hygienic' collection of 1883. This was a collection that allowed space for the toes of your foot to move as you walked - revolutionary for its time. We looked at how we could bring this into a modern context."

Advanced knowledge of biomechanics, materials and contemporary construction methods have been brought together to create a design-led shoe that flexes in sync with the natural sequence of motion. An anatomical last shape has been slimmed down and combined with a three-part decoupled sole unit, to support each stage of impact, deconstructed uppers crafted from premium leather panels, cut, angled and interlocked for optimum comfort.



Super-modern styling, a classic moccasin construction, and a pioneering attitude, defines this modern take on the Clarks heritage. TrigenicFlex is a game-changing new style that brings cutting edge shoe engineering, traditional craftsmanship and modern design together to create a totally unique shoe with both substance and style.

Notes to Editors

C&J Clark Limited, owners of the Clarks brand, the privately held footwear business, was founded in Street, Somerset in the UK by the Clark family in 1825. Still based in Street, the Clarks Group designs, develops and sells a wide range of footwear and accessories for men, women and children. The Clarks brand is renowned worldwide for quality and style with comfort.

The Clarks Group has built on its success as the leading shoe company in the UK to become a 1.5 billion global business operating retail, wholesale, franchise and online channels in over 100 markets worldwide.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160108/320303 )





Video:

http://www.multivu.com/players/uk/7732251-clarks-create-trigenic-flex-new-classic/




CARDIFF, Wales, January 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

MIRA Technology Park, the UK's leading automotive Technology Park and UK Enterprise Zone, near Hinckley has today announced the latest international tenant to take up residency in bespoke full-service office suites on the site.

DriveRight, the leading independent supplier of international automotive, wheel and tyre data, founded 15 years ago, has established its UK R&D team and wheel and caliper consultancy within a secure and newly-finished building within the Technology Park.

DriveRight has been an integral part of the global automotive industry since 2001 and works alongside some of the leading manufacturers of wheels and tyres on an international level. The company recently announced plans to expand further, and the move to MIRA Technology Park (now part of the HORIBA MIRA group) is the first step in its expansion plan.

Richard Bailey, CEO at DriveRight, said: "We're very pleased to establish our R&D and wheel and caliper consultancy services at MIRA Technology Park. We have enjoyed successful business relationships with many of the leading manufacturers, not only within the wheel and tyre industry, but also major vehicle manufacturers - many of which also enjoy close links with HORIBA MIRA; something we consider very beneficial in our move to the Technology Park.

"We see MIRA Technology Park becoming the focal point for the automotive industry, and we hope the ability to collaborate with our neighbours also based on the Technology Park far more easily than before will open doors for all parties."

Terry Spall, Commercial Director at HORIBA MIRA, said: "DriveRight is a welcome addition to MIRA Technology Park, and we're delighted to see yet another international firm set up its R&D facility on the site. The team at DriveRight are already seeing the value in being based at the Technology Park, and are taking advantage of the extensive facilities and proximity to many OEM and Tier 1 R&D teams right on their doorstep; both key USPs for companies basing themselves at the Technology Park."

Since 2010, MIRA Technology Park has welcomed a number of globally-recognised businesses to the site, including Aston Martin, Bentley, GKN, Bosch, Continental and Goodyear, amongst others.

For further information, please visit http://www.wheelwizards.net or http://www.miratechnologypark.com .

About DriveRight

DriveRight is a globally recognised leading independent supplier of wheel and tyre specific data for the automotive industry and its aftermarket. DriveRight specialises in global tyre and wheel data solutions with data on more than 50,000 vehicles and fitment details such as original tyre and wheel sizes, offset, PCD and nut and bolt requirements. Operationally, DriveRight helps the automotive industry reduce training costs and potential rework and improves quality and management of inventory. DriveRight fitment data is regularly updated and is accessed globally over 8.5 million times every month supporting 8,000 customer websites, and it is used internationally by business partners such as eBay, Goodyear-Dunlop, Bridgestone, Momo, Oxigin, Nokian and OZ. DriveRight internationally supports projects promoting tyre safety. The company is also a member of the UK tyre safety organisation TyreSafe. DriveRight, founded in 2001, is headquartered in Cardiff, UK. CEO and founder is Richard Bailey. For more information visit: http://www.wheelwizards.net

About HORIBA MIRA

HORIBA MIRA Ltd is a world-leader in advanced engineering, research and product testing. Over 70 years it has grown into a truly international organisation with facilities located around the world. MIRA's work spans the Automotive, Aerospace, Rail and Defence industries and includes the development of ground-breaking low carbon and autonomous vehicle technologies. MIRA Technology Park was established in 2010 and has already attracted over 30 major global OEM's, Tier 1 and specialist automotive technology companies. In 2010 it was granted planning approval for its Masterplan which extends to a total of 1.75million sqft set within the 842 acre site. It has also been recognised by the UK government and was awarded Enterprise Zone status in 2011.



Company Name HORIBA MIRA Ltd. Address Watling Street, Nuneaton, Warwickshire, CV10 0TU, United Kingdom Founded 1st January 1946 Business domain Engineering Consultancy, Test Consultancy, Transport Technology Park Representative Dr George Gillespie OBE Web address http://www.horiba-mira.com
WURZBURG, Germany, January 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Phase III registration study of VAS203 to commence in H1 2016

vasopharm GmbH, a privately held biopharmaceutical company focusing on novel therapeutics for the treatment of cerebrovascular diseases, today announced it has successfully raised EUR 20 million of new capital. The financing was co-led by existing investors Entrepreneurs Fund, Heidelberg Capital Private Equity and new investor, UK based Fort Rock Capital. Existing investors Bayern Kapital and funds advised by Hanseatic Asset Management LBG also participated in the round. Dr Mario Alberto Accardi, Venture Partner at Fort Rock Capital will be joining the Board of the company as a Non-Executive Director.

The EUR 20 million will fully fund a pivotal, European Phase III study with vasopharm's lead product VAS 203 in moderate to severe Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). All preparatory groundwork for the clinical trial has been finalised over the last 12 months and "First patient in" is expected in H1 2016.

Christian Wandersee, Chief Executive Officer of vasopharm, commented: "We are delighted to have successfully raised EUR 20 million to conduct a Phase III study of VAS203, bringing a drug for a highly unmet need closer to market. TBI is a very challenging indication which has proven intractable to all previous pharmacological intervention. We have been extremely rigorous in analysis of our exceptional Phase II data and believe that, in VAS203, we have a drug which will provide physicians with a real opportunity to improve long-term outcomes in this devastating condition."

Dr Andrew Clark, Chairman of the Board of vasopharm added: "This fundraising is a strong financial and scientific endorsement of the pipeline and management team. We appreciate the commitment of our existing investors and the continued confidence they have shown in vasopharm. We would like to welcome Dr Mario Alberto Accardi to the Board and look forward to benefiting from his expertise as we advance our programs."

VAS203 Phase II results demonstrated statistically significant improvements to both short term (Therapy Intensity Level) and long term (extended Glasgow Outcome Scale, 6 months and 12 months) measures of treatment efficacy. Following interaction with the European Medicines Agency (EMA) vasopharm has designed a Phase III registration study in Europe which, if successful, would lead to regulatory submission of VAS203 for the treatment of moderate and severe TBI. VAS203 has been granted orphan drug status for the treatment of moderate to severe TBI by the EMA. Severe TBI alone is estimated to cost the European Union EUR 33 billion annually. [1]

P+P Pollath + Partners, Munich provided legal advice to the company; Jones Day, Munich to the investor Entrepreneurs Fund and funds advised by Hanseatic Asset Management LBG, Hogan Lovells, Frankfurt to new Investor Fort Rock Capital and Weitnauer Rechtsanwaelte, Munich to Bayern Kapital.

Notes to editors:

About Traumatic Brain Injury:

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) occurs when a sudden trauma causes damage to the brain. Every year, over 1,600,000 patients sustain a traumatic brain injury in the EU, and 70,000 of these die, with a further 100,000 being left disabled. Significantly, 75% of the victims are children and young adults, and TBI is the leading cause of disability in people under 40 years of age. Traumatic brain injury results in more lost working years than cancers, stroke and HIV/AIDS together. On a global scale, the number of life years lost due to traumatic brain injury is four times that of diabetes-related loss. Recent statistics show a steep increase in the incidence of TBIs, with an increase of 21% over the last five years - threefold greater than the rate of increase in population, at an annual cost of over Euros 100 billion. Despite this, TBI has been seriously underrepresented in medical R&D efforts compared to many other, less significant health problems. [2]

References:

Olesen, J. et al" "The economic cost of brain disorders in Europe .", Eur J. Neurol. 2012 Jan (19) 1: 155 - 62 http://www.tbicare.eu

About VAS203:

VAS203 is an analogue of the natural co-factor biopterin, which is involved in the generation of nitric oxide by the Nitric Oxide Synthase (NOS) family of enzymes. The mechanism of action of VAS203 is believed to confer selective down regulation of inducible NOS (iNOS) without significantly inhibiting the function of other NOS enzymes. It is believed that iNOS has a significant involvement in the cascade of damaging sequellae following a traumatic brain injury. Technical: VAS203 is (4-amino-(6R,S)-5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-L-biopterin dihydrochloride dehydrate) a structural analogue of (6R)-5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-L-biopterin, the natural endogenous cofactor of NOS and phenylalanine hydroxylase. Data for pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, metabolites and surrogate markers measured in the brain during VAS203 studies is a key differentiator to all other previous clinical trials in TBI which provides strong support for the potential of a positive outcome in this trial.

About vasopharm GmbH:

vasopharm is focused on the development of small molecule therapeutics which modulate the bioavailability of biological NO, by addressing the entire NO/cGMP signal cascade and its functional counterpart NOX. vasopharm's drug candidate VAS203 represents a completely new class of NOS modulators targeting cerebral vessels and cerebral tissue. For VAS203, vasopharm received orphan drug designation for the treatment of moderate and severe TBI in Europe.

For further information, please contact:



vasopharm GmbH

Christian Wandersee, CEO

Tel: +49-931-359099-0

Email: wandersee@vasopharm.com



Hume Brophy

Mary Clark, Eva Haas, Hollie Vile

Tel: +44-2034405654

Email: vasopharm@humebrophy.com


MADRID, January 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

- Sanitas Hospitales participates in Fitur 2016

The seal of excellence awarded by the Joint Commission International, the most stringent and renowned in the world, provides Sanitas Hospitales with a competitive advantage over other providers of medical services

Obtaining the quality standards accreditation awarded by the Joint Commission International, the most stringent and renowned in the world, for the Sanitas university hospitals La Zarzuela and Sanitas La Moraleja in Madrid (Spain) is a differentiating factor for patients from all over the world . The fact that this accreditation has been granted, combined with the excellent results achieved in terms of healthcare in both hospitals, is allowing the centres to attract interest from people from all over the planet who seek out top-quality healthcare to address their health issues.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160120/324031LOGO )



"Patients from all over the world are looking for information on the centres that can offer the most guarantees and have proven results in the field of healthcare; these people place significant value on the fact that the centres have been bestowed with renowned international seals such as that offered by the Joint Commission International or that of the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM), and are willing to travel in order to receive access to these outstanding services. Furthermore, Spain boasts a wonderful climate and tourist attractions to rival any nation," explains Jesus Bonilla, Managing Director of Sanitas Hospitales.

In this regard, the Sanitas La Zarzuela and Sanitas La Moraleja University Hospitals in Madrid and the Hospital Sanitas CIMA in Barcelona are perfectly positioned to deal with the needs of international patients. "A few years ago patients suffering from cancer travelled to the United States to receive oncological treatment. Nowadays, these patients choose to travel to Spain, to centres that have been granted stamps of excellence that they recognise and in which they can trust because they know that they will be given specialist healthcare with the same level of excellence. The same is taking place with respect to healthcare services. We have an extensive portfolio of medical services in the fields of Assisted Reproduction, Oncology or paediatric, cardiac, bariatric or robotic surgery, which is perfectly equipped to handle the expectations of this type of patient", says Bonilla.

Furthermore, Sanitas has set up a contact email address for international patients: internationalpatient@sanitas.es

Daniel Aparicio +34-91-585-90-52 daparicio@sanitas.es

Natividad Fradejas and Ana Sierra +34-91-702-73-00 sanitashospitales@porternovelli.es
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 01/21/16 -- Canada remains one of the few developed countries with a universal-access health care system that doesn't require patients to participate in paying for care through some form of user fees, finds a new study released today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.

"Most countries in the industrialized world with universal coverage for health care charge user fees for access to hospitals, general practitioners or specialists with exemptions for low income citizens and individuals with chronic long-term illnesses. Canada is an outlier," said Steven Globerman, Fraser Institute senior fellow and author of Select Cost Sharing in Universal Health Care Countries.

A prominent feature of Canada's health care system, as mandated by the Canada Health Act, is an absence of any charge for publicly-insured health care services.

The study finds that this isn't the norm elsewhere. Most universal health care countries in the developed world - including Australia, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland - utilize cost sharing (ie: co-insurance, co-payment or deductible) as a means to improve the decision-making of patients when accessing health care services.

For example, in Sweden in 2014, the cost of a consultation with a physician in primary care cost between $18 and $45 while the cost for consulting a specialist at a hospital was between $30 and $53. To ensure that vulnerable and high-risk groups are not adversely affected, out-of-pocket payments are capped at $165 per year and pregnant women, children and the elderly are either exempted from any user charges, or granted subsidies.

Another example is Switzerland where residents are required to purchase statutory health insurance from competing private insurers. There is a minimum annual deductible for adults of approximately $400 after which the insurance kicks in.

"Clearly, based on the examples of other industrialized countries, cost sharing mechanisms are compatible with universal health care," Globerman said.

A common argument against cost sharing is that it may discourage some individuals from accessing necessary medical services when needed.

But Globerman argues that the empirical evidence shows that cost sharing does not result in adverse long-term health outcomes and that those risks are likely mitigated by the exemptions and subsidies granted to certain demographic groups such as the elderly and low-income.

"The most optimal cost sharing policies - that is, policies that will result in the most efficient use of the health care system including reductions in wait times for patients - must be sensitive to the demographics, health status and income of a country's population," Globerman said.

"The fairly large number of universal health care countries that employ some sort of cost sharing system suggests that policymakers see the net benefits in such schemes."

Follow the Fraser Institute on Twitter / Become a fan on Facebook

The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy research and educational organization with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal and ties to a global network of think-tanks in 87 countries. Its mission is to improve the quality of life for Canadians, their families and future generations by studying, measuring and broadly communicating the effects of government policies, entrepreneurship and choice on their well-being. To protect the Institute's independence, it does not accept grants from governments or contracts for research. Visit www.fraserinstitute.org

Contacts:

Media Contact:

Steven Globerman

Senior Fellow, Fraser Institute

Kaiser Professor of International Business,

Western Washington University



For interviews with Mr. Globerman, please contact:

Aanand Radia

Media Relations Specialist, Fraser Institute

(416) 363-6575 ext. 238

aanand.radia@fraserinstitute.org

@FraserInstitute




MOSCOW (dpa-AFX) - The Russian Ruble continued its free-fall against the U.S. dollar in European deals on Thursday, as the recent steep decline in oil prices triggered worries about economic growth of the world's biggest energy exporter. Oil prices hit a new 12-year low of $27.6 per barrel on Wednesday, as Iran is set to ramp up production after years of sanctions. The Russian Ruble breached the key 85 mark, reaching an all-time low of 85.9493 against the greenback. This is down by almost 5.7 percent from Wednesday's closing value of 81.0134. The Russian Central Bank chief on Wednesday told that the ruble is close to its fundamental level, downplaying the necessity of intervention in forex markets. The currency has fallen to record low of 82.4552 a dollar on Wednesday. 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.
LA DEFENSE (dpa-AFX) - Total S.A. (TOT) Thursday said it has agreed with Zarubezhneft to adjust their participation in the Kharyaga Production Sharing Agreement and to transfer a 20 percent interest together with operatorship to Zarubezhneft. On completion of the transaction Total will retain a 20 percent interest in Kharyaga, while Zarubezhneft, the operator, will have 40 percent, Statoil 30 percent and Nenets Oil Co. 10 percent. The transaction is subject to the approval of the Russian authorities. Arnaud Breuillac, President Total Exploration & Production said, 'Russia remains a key country for the Group. Total has ambitious plans for the future through its established partnership with Novatek and the ongoing Yamal LNG project.' He said the transfer represents a new stage in the life of Kharyaga. 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.
LHV Bank, a subsidiary of AS LHV Group, will close the bank's Latvian branch as of 31 March this year. The activities of LHV Bank in Latvia have been small-scale. LHV Riga branch has five employees servicing around 500 retail customers that use investment services. LHV Bank will soon inform its Latvian customers about the closing of the office and ask them to transfer their assets to another bank in Latvia. LHV Bank has always followed the commercial interests of its customers and has been where they are. Estonian companies today require more services and support in the direction of Western-Europe and it is sensible to develop the services of the bank accordingly. The branch closure will not add significant one-off costs. LHV Group is the largest domestic financial group and capital provider in Estonia. LHV Group's key subsidiaries are AS LHV Pank and AS LHV Varahaldus. LHV employs over 250 people and more than 70,000 customers use LHV's banking services. LHV's pension funds have over 130,000 customers. Priit Rum Communication Manager Telephone: +372 502 0786 Email: priit.rum@lhv.ee

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.
NEW YORK CITY (dpa-AFX) - Beauty products maker Avon Products, Inc. (AVP) will host its 2016 Investor Day today, Thursday, January 21, 2016, at the company's global Research and Development center in Suffern, New York. In conjunction with the Investor Day, the company reaffirmed the fiscal 2015 outlook provided on its third-quarter 2015 earnings call. Avon said on December 17, 2015, that it intends to separate its North American business. As a result, North America will be reported as discontinued operations for all periods. Excluding the results of North America, the company expects full-year 2015 results to include total revenue of about $6 billion, constant dollar revenue growth of 2 percent and growth in active representatives of 1 percent. 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.
Brazilian banks' effort paves the way to financial inclusion for millions of consumers and efficient assessment of consumer credit risk

SAO PAULO and LONDON, Jan. 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- LexisNexis Risk Solutions, part of RELX Group, announced today it has been chosen by FEBRABAN, the Brazilian banking industry's main federation, and Brazil's top five banks to provide technical services for a new credit intelligence bureau that will modernise the current Brazilian credit risk information ecosystem.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160120/324390LOGO

This morning FEBRABAN and LexisNexis Risk Solutions signed a memorandum of understanding that covers an initial phase to detail the project and will guide exclusive negotiation of definitive documents for the establishment of the credit intelligence bureau. FEBRABAN, Bradesco, Banco do Brasil, CaixaEconomica Federal, Itau Unibanco and Santander selected LexisNexis Risk Solutions because of its technology, data and analytics prowess as well as its deep experience in the financial services industry.

With this new effort, in the long term, many more Brazilians may have the chance to participate in the financial system. Creating a risk information ecosystem on high-speed technology using robust sets of data has the potential to change lives, generate sustainable economic expansion in a world-class economy, all the while providing financial institutions with the tools to assess and manage risk more effectively.

"After a thorough RFP process, LexisNexis Risk Solutions became the choice to partner with us in this endeavour," said Murilo Portugal, FEBRABAN president. "Its high patterns of security and privacy, deep expertise in the risk information industry and technology development capabilities made LexisNexis Risk Solutions stand out from the competition. This credit intelligence bureau will have a positive impact in our credit markets by providing an infrastructure to improve access to credit in the medium term."

The unique expertise of LexisNexis Risk Solutions combined with its open-source data processing platform, HPCC Systems, were two of the factors that led the banks to select the company. The HPCC Systems platform will make it possible for the credit intelligence bureau to process and analyse complex, massive data sets in a matter of seconds. The ability to process quickly large volumes of transaction data through HPCC Systems will help the credit intelligence bureau to effectively manage financial payment experiences, resulting in a bureau with a sophisticated infrastructure. RELX Group, parent company of LexisNexis Risk Solutions, uses the platform across its four businesses.

LexisNexis Risk Solutions is known for architecting risk information ecosystems. For example, U.S.-based Small Business Financial Exchange (SBFE), a consortium of nearly 200 lenders, selected LexisNexis Risk Solutions more than two years ago to help to implement the next-generation design of its industry-managed and -governed small business payment data exchange. In a completely separate transaction, LexisNexis Risk Solutions also met SBFE's best-in-industry security and data governance standards to be approved to provide solutions built on SBFE data to SBFE members as an SBFE Certified Vendor.

"We are honoured to be selected by FEBRABAN and Brazil's leading banks as their partner to implement what we believe will be a progressive credit intelligence bureau that other economies and bank consortia will want to follow," said Rick Trainor, CEO, Business Services, LexisNexis Risk Solutions. "The FEBRABAN effort and our prior success with SBFE ensure financial institutions have the tools in place that allow them to expand their customer bases, price loan products appropriately, and manage risk with greater precision."

Thomas C. Brown, Senior Vice President, Financial Services, LexisNexis Risk Solutions added: "In today's marketplace, having an advanced technology platform to safely aggregate and leverage data from many financial institutions, like the platforms we're implementing for the members of FEBRABAN, makes the data available for credit underwriting stronger. We fully expect the FEBRABAN initiative to spur other countries and industry groups to follow the same path of leveraging advanced technology to spark economic growth and progress."

For more information about LexisNexis Risk Solutions: http://www.lexisnexis.com/risk/uk/financial-services/

For more information about LexisNexis products and services available in Brazil: http://www.lexisnexis.com/risk/intl/pt/

For more information about HPCC Systems: https://hpccsystems.com/

About LexisNexis Risk Solutions

LexisNexis Risk Solutions is a leader in providing essential information that helps customers across industries and government predict, assess and manage risk. Combining cutting-edge technology, unique data and advanced analytics, LexisNexis Risk Solutions provides products and services that address evolving client needs in the risk sector while upholding the highest standards of security and privacy. LexisNexis Risk Solutions is part of RELX Group, a world-leading provider of information solutions for professional customers across industries.

About RELX Group

RELX Group is a world-leading provider of information solutions for professional customers across industries. The group employs about 28,500 people of whom half are in North America. RELX PLC, the London Stock Exchange listed shareholding vehicle, holds 52.9% of the shares in RELX Group. RELX NV, the Amsterdam Stock Exchange listed shareholding vehicle, holds 47.1% of the shares in RELX Group. The shares are traded on the London, Amsterdam and New York Stock Exchanges using the following ticker symbols: London: REL; Amsterdam: REN; New York: RELX and RENX. The total market capitalization is approximately 23.1bn GBP / 30.0bn Euro / 32.8bn USD (as of Jan. 20, 2016).

About FEBRABAN

Federacao Brasileira de Bancos (Brazilian Banks Federation) is the main representative body of the Brazilian banking sector. Created in 1967, in Sao Paulo city, it is a non-profit association. Its goal is to strengthen the financial sector and its relationship with society and to contribute to social, economic and sustainable development in Brazil.

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lexisnexis-risk-solutions-selected-by-febraban-and-brazilian-banks-to-build-a-new-credit-intelligence-bureau-300207761.html
OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 01/21/16 -- When Members of Provincial Parliament travel to Ottawa on January 22 for pre-budget consultations, they will be met with community protests over austerity cuts and privatization. The Ontario Federation of Labour and the Ontario Common Front will be joining the Ontario Health Coalition in Ottawa to protest the deep cuts to Ontario hospitals and social programs.

"Here in Ottawa, we are seeing the effects of austerity in every community. Hospital cuts, hydro privatization, mounting student debt, precarious jobs and Canada's lowest social program funding are taking their toll in every neighbourhood," said Patty Coates, Secretary-Treasurer of the Ontario Federation of Labour. "Ontarians are calling on the Wynne Government to abandon her austerity agenda and lay out a plan for restoring public services, growing our economy, expanding Ontario's revenue base and lifting standards for everyone. The next Ontario budget shouldn't be constrained by government cuts, it should create an Ontario in which everyone prospers."

"Nine consecutive years of real-dollar cuts have plunged Ontario to the bottom of the country in hospital funding. Patients are being left on stretchers in hallways, surgeries are being cancelled and vital health services are being privatized, subject to user fees, or moved out of town," said Natalie Mehra, Executive Director of the Ontario Health Coalition. "It is beyond time that these devastating hospital cuts be stopped. The Ontario government must restore our public hospital funding to at least the average of all the other provinces in Canada."

Patients, workers, students, seniors and anti-poverty activists will rally outside the Ottawa consultations of the Ontario Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs.

WHAT: Community protest of Ottawa Pre-Budget Consultation

WHERE: Ottawa Marriott Hotel, 100 Kent St. N, Ottawa

WHEN: Noon on Fri. Jan. 22, 2016

SPEAKERS WILL INCLUDE:

-- Patty Coates, Secretary-Treasurer, Ontario Federation of Labour -- Al Dupuis, Co-Chair, Ottawa Health Coalition -- Sean McKenny, President, Ottawa & District Labour Council -- Mary Catherine McCarthy, patient experience -- Dave Lundy, OPSEU for Keep Hydro Public -- Nancy Parker, patient experience -- Patients will share experiences with hospital cuts and privatization

Similar protests will take place at every pre-budget consultation in Ontario.

For more information, visit: http://ofl.ca/index.php/rallyagainstausterity

The Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) represents 54 unions and one million workers in Ontario. For information, visit www.OFL.ca and follow @OFLabour on Facebook and Twitter.

Ontario Health Coalition represents more than 400 member organizations and a network of Local Health Coalitions and individual members. For information, visit http://www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca and follow @OntarioHealthC on Facebook and Twitter.

Contacts:

Joel Duff

OFL Communications Director

416-707-0349 (cell)

jduff@ofl.ca

ENG/FRENCH




Strategic analysis of Smart City market opportunity in India

MOUNTAIN VIEW, California, Jan. 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

WHEN: 10:00 a.m. EST, Thursday, January 28, 2016 LOCATION: Online, with free registration at http://frost.ly/s EXPERT PANELIST: Frost & Sullivan Team Leader, Archana Vidyasekar

Frost & Sullivan Associate Consultant, Ayush Kachru

Intel Director IoT & Smart Cities, Asia Pacific Japan, Kavitha Mohammad

HPE Future Cities & CTO - Technology Services, Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Country Leader, Lux Rao

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It is projected that urban India will contribute about 75 percent of the national GDP in the next 15 years. With the rapid rate of urbanization and depleting resources, it is essential for India to rethink its strategy and discover how it can best optimize the capabilities of its physical infrastructure. By leveraging global best practices in Smart City development and Information and Communication Technology (ICT), India is in a unique position to leap a few stages of growth to become a global superpower.

In 2015, the Government of India announced an ambitious plan to develop 100 Smart Cities, with a commitment of spending $7.3 billion over the next 5 years. The infrastructure overhaul would include plans in creating intelligent transport systems, smart grids, smart waste management, and smart water grids/solutions.

Join Frost & Sullivan as we take a look at the roadmap of Indian Smart Cities, along with the anticipated challenge of meeting CAPEX requirements and the dire need for devising innovative business models to make 'Smart Cities in India' a success story.

Attend this webinar to:

Learn about the mammoth Indian Government's $7.3 billion Smart City mission aimed at applying smart solutions to improve infrastructure and service delivery in Indian cities

Smart City mission aimed at applying smart solutions to improve infrastructure and service delivery in Indian cities Spot the key challenges with respect to regulation, funding and private public partnerships (PPP)

Understand how Internet of Things (IoT) is disrupting industries and causing convergence to create smart energy, smart transportation, smart infrastructure, Smart Cities and other smart technologies

Gain insight into commonly observed business models and their applicability to India

Analyze India's area-based development strategy and the socio-economic divide

area-based development strategy and the socio-economic divide Explore the various financial flexibility opportunities that are available for India

Deduce the potential impact of the 100 Smart Cities on the future of the Indian economy

As this presentation will help registrants understand the complexities associated with the implementation of Smart Cities in India, it is directed towards those within the private sector as well as solutions providers. Registrants should look to gain visibility on global and innovative best practices and how they can adapt these solutions locally to offer them to Indian cities.

Thought leader insights:

"Smart Cities could be viewed as India's blueprint to a new era. As a concept, it is about creating a connected life for its citizens and a hub for its businesses where collaboration and innovation will foster development," said Frost & Sullivan Visionary Innovation Team Lead Archana Vidyasekar. "This also offers the private sector a huge business opportunity, given the commitment from central government and the subsiding political paralysis that has plagued India for years. What remains is to figure out how to address the fundamental issues; it is underwhelming to learn that land acquisition for property development is still one of the key challenges in India as a result of poor record keeping."

However, land acquisition is not the only challenge India will face in its attempt to move in a smart direction.

"Other major challenges for India will include identifying the right business and funding models, and the sharing of services and resources between various stakeholders in the Smart City value chain," stated Frost & Sullivan Digital Transformation Consultant Ayush Kachru. "The realization of 100 Smart Cities in India will largely depend on how the Smart City plans successfully incorporate other key schemes like 'Swachh Bharat', 'Make in India', 'Digital India' and 'Housing for All' to come up with a smart and integrated infrastructural ecosystem. In addition to this, retrofitting will be the preferred strategy for most Tier One cities, followed by redevelopment in older parts of cities with a few greenfield projects geographically connected to major cities."

Register:

To attend the briefing, email Jaylon Brinkley, Corporate Communications - jaylon.brinkley@frost.com -- your full name, job title, company name, company telephone number, and company email address, website, city, state and country or click here: http://frost.ly/s

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants.

Our "Growth Partnership" supports clients by addressing these opportunities and incorporating two key elements driving visionary innovation: The Integrated Value Proposition and The Partnership Infrastructure.

The Integrated Value Proposition provides support to our clients throughout all phases of their journey to visionary innovation including: research, analysis, strategy, vision, innovation and implementation.

provides support to our clients throughout all phases of their journey to visionary innovation including: research, analysis, strategy, vision, innovation and implementation. The Partnership Infrastructure is entirely unique as it constructs the foundation upon which visionary innovation becomes possible. This includes our 360 degree research, comprehensive industry coverage, career best practices as well as our global footprint of more than 40 offices.

For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community. Is your organization prepared for the next profound wave of industry convergence, disruptive technologies, increasing competitive intensity, Mega Trends, breakthrough best practices, changing customer dynamics and emerging economies?

Contact Us: Start the discussion

Join Us: Join our community

Subscribe: Newsletter on "the next big thing"

Register: Gain access to visionary innovation

Contact:

Jaylon Brinkley

Corporate Communications - North America

+1.210.247.2481

jaylon.brinkley@frost.com
HENDERSON, NV -- (Marketwired) -- 01/21/16 --Rx Safes, Inc. (OTCQB: RXSF), a healthcare technology company and developer of autonomous fingerprint healthcare security products, today announced that the Company engaged The Ruth Group, a leading healthcare-focused strategic communications firm based in New York City, as its investor relations counsel.

"It was important for Rx Safes to partner with an investor relations firm that had a long and successful track record within the healthcare industry. We look forward to working with The Ruth Group to leverage their expertise and relationships in the industry as we take the next steps in introducing the company to the healthcare and investment community. We expect to secure a qualified investment banker in the very near future as we anticipate integrating our technology and products into frontline solutions to prevent unauthorized access to and diversion of controlled substances," commented Lorraine Yarde, CEO of Rx Safes, Inc.

The Ruth Group, led by Carol Ruth, provides investor and public relations counsel and services to a diverse group of innovative healthcare companies. Carol is a pioneer in the field and has built a reputation for providing clients with strategic communications advice and counsel across a breadth of issues. She has a strong track record working with a wide range of healthcare companies in all sub-sectors and stages of development. In 2010, Carol was recognized by IR Magazine as the recipient of the "Lifetime Achievement in Investor Relations" award. A full list of The Ruth Group's clients can be viewed at http://www.theruthgroup.com/content/clients/index.htm.

"Our team is very excited to be working with Rx Safes, who we believe have a unique focus on the development of products and medical devices that secure controlled substances at the end user level. Rx Safes represents a market niche that has already garnered attention from potential healthcare investors and partners" stated Carol Ruth, President of The Ruth Group.

About Rx Safes, Inc.

Rx Safes is a medical healthcare technology companies and an emerging leader in the personal and professional healthcare drug security market. Our products incorporate proprietary patented fingerprint technology to provide drug security and medical information solutions for use in homes and healthcare facilities. Prescription drug misuse, drug diversion, skyrocketing insurance and pharmaceutical treatment costs and increased regulatory pressures create a necessary opportunity for Rx Safes to expand our reach and offerings in this growing market, valued at over $50 billion annually. Annual spending on healthcare technology products exceeds $34.5 billion. In addition, the market is being driven by ongoing Government support for successful drug abuse prevention initiatives, with a financial commitment of $25.4 billion in 2015 alone. For more information, please visit www.rxdrugsafe.com.

Forward-Looking Statements for RXSF:

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements reflect management's current expectations, as of the date of this press release, and involve certain risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements include statements herein with respect to the successful execution of the Company's business strategy. The Company's actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. Such risks and uncertainties include, among other things, our ability to establish and maintain the proprietary nature of our technology through the patent process, as well as our ability to possibly license from others patents and patent applications necessary to develop products; the availability of financing; the Company's ability to implement its long range business plan for various applications of its technology; the Company's ability to enter into agreements with any necessary marketing and/or distribution partners; the impact of competition, the obtaining and maintenance of any necessary regulatory clearances applicable to applications of the Company's technology; and management of growth and other risks and uncertainties that may be detailed from time to time in the Company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/rxsafes

Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/RxDrugSAFE

Investor Relations Contact:

Tram Bui

Email Contact

#646-536-7035




WINNIPEG, MANITOBA -- (Marketwired) -- 01/21/16 -- Wildcat Exploration Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: WEL) ("Wildcat" or the "Company") announces that it has agreed with its partner, Doe Run Canadian Exploration ULC, to terminate the Wildcat Doe Run Canadian Exploration Alliance.

The Alliance was formed to explore properties in eastern Canada and, as a result of budgetary constraints, activity was significantly curtailed during 2015 with no significant further activity planned during 2016.

The Company also announces that Edward Yarrow has resigned as a director to focus on his other interests. Wildcat thanks Mr. Yarrow for his services to the Company and wishes him the best in his future endeavours.

About Wildcat

Wildcat Exploration Ltd. is a Winnipeg-based company exploring for gold and base metals in Canada.

For further information on Wildcat, please visit www.wildcat.ca

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy and accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Note

No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein. This news release may contain "forward-looking information", within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to Wildcat's exploration program and plans. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Wildcat to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. 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 information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Wildcat does not undertake to update any forward- looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

Contacts:

Wildcat Exploration Ltd.

John Knowles

President & CEO

(204) 294-2334




VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 01/21/16 -- Callinex Mines Inc. (the "Company" or "Callinex") (TSX VENTURE: CNX)(OTCQX: CLLXF) is pleased to provide its year-end letter to shareholders from President and CEO, Max Porterfield:

Dear Shareholders,

I would like to thank you as a shareholder of Callinex for your continued confidence in the Company and support of its management team. Let's take a moment to review 2015, a year in which Callinex was one of the top performing junior resource stocks on the TSX Venture Exchange.

Despite challenging commodity markets in 2015, we remain confident that our focus on high-grade polymetallic deposits within established mining jurisdictions is a strategy for success. We are optimistic about the outlook for copper and zinc as today's prices are below the average cash cost of production and as a result near-term supply deficits are projected. The Company's focus on Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide ("VMS") deposits in the Flin Flon Greenstone Belt also provides exposure to precious metals, where gold and silver have historically comprised 40% of a deposits metal value on average.

Over the past year we have achieved several objectives, most notably the Company raised over $4.5 million to fund exploration programs from new and existing shareholders that share our vision. These proceeds allowed Callinex to complete two successful drilling campaigns that each intersected high-grade VMS mineralization at our Pine Bay Project. Additionally, we bolstered our technical team with some of the world's top experts in VMS exploration including Alan Vowles and James Pickell. Mr. Vowles and Mr. Pickell were each previously awarded Prospector of the Year by the PDAC for major VMS discoveries in the belt.

In 2015 we earned a 100% interest in our Flin Flon Project and the Sourdough area of the Pine Bay Project through the completion of a pre-existing option agreement. Callinex now has 100% ownership of all projects within the Flin Flon Greenstone Belt and many claims are in good standing beyond 2020. We will continue to assess accretive acquisition opportunities to strengthen our project portfolio where we can add value with our world-class technical team and ability to access capital.

With the foundation built in 2015, we are eager to continue working towards achieving our objectives in 2016 and beyond. We recently commenced a two-phase 10,000m drilling campaign and will remain well capitalized upon its completion. I am excited to be drill testing high-quality targets that have the potential to represent significant VMS deposits.

Heading into the New Year, Callinex remains one of North America's leading mineral exploration companies due to its quality project portfolio located within established mining jurisdictions, world-renowned technical team and supportive shareholder base. The Company is positioned to continue to make you a proud shareholder in 2016 and we appreciate and encourage your ongoing support.

Sincerely,

Max Porterfield, President & CEO

About Callinex Mines Inc.

Callinex Mines Inc., a Canadian mineral exploration company, is focused on discovering the next copper-zinc rich VMS mine within Manitoba's prolific Flin Flon mining district. The Company's flagship project is the Pine Bay Project which host significant historic VMS deposits that are within close proximity to a processing facility. The Flin Flon district has yielded more than 145 million tonnes of production from 32 mines.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Some statements in this news release contain forward-looking information. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to future expenditures. These statements address future events and conditions and, as such, involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the statements. Such factors include, among others, the ability to complete the proposed drill program and the timing and amount of expenditures. Except as required under applicable securities laws, Callinex does not assume the obligation to update any forward-looking statement.

Contacts:

Callinex Mines Inc.

Max Porterfield

President and Chief Executive Officer

(604) 605-0885

info@callinex.ca




CARDSTON, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 01/21/16 -- American Creek Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: AMK) ("American Creek") is pleased to provide results from outcrop specimens of high grade material collected on its Electrum property from a known vein on the Rico Showing. The Rico Showing is roughly 50 metres south of the Shiny Cliff Showing.

Eleven specimens were collected along a quartz vein. The specimens from the structure average 11,512 gm/tonne silver and 54.6 gm/tonne gold.

The following table lists the results.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lab Ag Au ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Specimen GM/T GM/T ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- L625675 1293 3.9 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- L625676 21068 75.1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- L625677 18916 57.3 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- L625678 16466 93.2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- L625679 969 5.2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- L625680 44048 270.9 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- L625681 479 4.3 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- L625682 1050 4.6 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- L625683 717 8.4 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- L625684 10212 32.1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- L625685 11187 52.9 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The American Creek 2015 fall exploration program focused on the Shiny Cliff area, a northwest striking, approximately 10 metre wide highly silicified zone which hosts a minimum of three quartz veins. The zone and veins steeply dip southwest into the hillside. They have been traced on surface and tracked with horizontal drilling for 40 metres along trend. A modified diamond drill provided American Creek with the ability to drill targets of interest with precise short holes. American Creek is much encouraged with the success of the tight drill patterns, to reveal the geometry of the rich epithermal systems found on the property.

As reported previously, twenty-two specimens were collected along a central druzy quartz vein, approximately 35 cm wide, infilled with dark grey mineralization. The specimens from the structure averages 27,092 gm/tonne silver and 248 gm/tonne gold.

The mineralized zone with North Face of Shiny Cliff is amenable to examination and thorough sampling by deep slot trenching. The practicality of this approach is illustrated by a roughly cubic 40 ton boulder that has broken off the face of Shiny Cliff and has moved about 20 metres downslope. Specimens from it averaged 857 gm/tonne silver and 10.6 gm/tonne gold.

The Mine Hill Showing is roughly half way between the historic East Gold mine and Shiny Cliff Showing. It is roughly 65 metres southeast of the Shiny Cliff Showing. Thirteen specimens were collected along a weathered, silificied and bifurcated, sulphide rich vein system. The specimens from the structure average 522.93 gm/tonne silver and 6.55 gm/tonne gold.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lab Ag Au ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Specimen GM/T GM/T ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- L625552 221 2.2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- L625553 379 4.3 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- L625554 165 3.1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- L625555 297 1.5 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- L625556 60 1.2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- L625557 349 3.8 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- L625558 395 4.2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- L625560 1912 23 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- L625561 1786 24.8 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- L625562 772 5.8 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- L625563 104 6.7 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- L625564 102 3.2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- L625598 256 1.3 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Precious metal values for all specimens were determined from fire assay by Bureau Veritas Minerals Laboratories (BVML) services in Vancouver, Canada.

A 100 metres southeast of the Rico, the Horse Trail Showing contains gold bearing galena. Exploratory grab specimens had gold values as high as 4.5 g/tonne.

Complete listing of assay results with a plan map of drill traces from the Electrum 2015 fall program, are available on the corporate website at www.americancreek.com.

The Electrum project is 100 per cent owned by American Creek and is located in the accessible southern portion of the Golden Triangle, north of Stewart, B.C., a region known for its dynamic, large scale precious metal exploration and mining activities. The Electrum project (historical East gold mine) is located approximately 25 km south of Pretivm's Brucejack gold mine. The Electrum is 45 km by existing road from world-class concentrate shipping port facilities located in Stewart.

The Qualified Person for the Electrum exploration program is Alex Burton, P. Eng., P. Geo. for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101.

American Creek Resources Ltd. is a Canadian junior mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition, exploration and development of mineral deposits within the Province of British Columbia, Canada.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Contacts:

American Creek Resources Ltd.

Kelvin Burton

403 752-4040

info@americancreek.com




QUEBEC CITY, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 01/21/16 -- Junex Inc. (TSX VENTURE: JNX) ("Junex" or the "Company") is pleased to announce it has been selected in the 2016 TSX Venture 50, a ranking of strong performers which have shown results in key measures of market performance.

"We are proud to be recognized as a strong performer company of the TSX Venture Exchange. This selection reflects the efforts made by Junex over the years, especially the positive impact of the Galt oil project in 2015. We would also like to highlight and recognize the dedication and outstanding effort of all our employees and the support of all our shareholders. Current market conditions present a real challenge for all companies in the oil and gas sector however Junex remains well positioned to weather the current turbulence. We are pursuing a rigorous exploration plan following the discovery of the Galt No. 4 Horizontal well at the end of 2014 and, as of December 31 2015, we had working capital of approximately $ 13.5 million, or $ 0.17 per issued and outstanding share" commented Mr. Peter Dorrins, President and Chief Executive Officer of Junex.

The 2016 TSX Venture 50 ranking is comprised of 10 companies from each of the five industry sectors, and they were selected based on three equally weighted criteria: market capitalization growth, share price appreciation, trading volume and analyst coverage. On average, these companies have delivered a return of 77% in 2015. The shares of these companies also enjoy a liquid market, with a total of 3.0 billion shares trading over the course of 2015.

About Junex

Junex is a junior oil and gas exploration company that holds exploration rights on approximately 5.2 million acres of land in the Appalachian basin in the Province of Quebec, including the Galt Oil Property on the Gaspe Peninsula in eastern Quebec, landholdings on Anticosti Island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and landholdings in the St. Lawrence Lowlands between Montreal and Quebec City. In parallel to its exploration efforts in Quebec and expansion of its exploration activities elsewhere, the company operates a drilling services division.

Forward-Looking Statements and Disclaimer

Certain statements in this press release may be forward-looking. Forward-looking statements are based on the best estimates available to Junex at the time and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause Junex's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. A description of the risks affecting Junex's business and activities appears under the heading "Risks and Uncertainties" on pages 7 to 10 of Junex's 2014 annual management's discussion and analysis, which is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. No assurance can be given that any events anticipated by the forward-looking information in this press release will transpire or occur, or if any of them do so, what benefits that Junex will derive therefrom. In particular, no assurance can be given as to the future financial performance of Junex. Junex disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements in order to account for any new information or any other event. The reader is warned against undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Contacts:

Junex Inc.

Mr. Peter Dorrins

President & Chief Executive Officer

418-654-9661



Junex Inc.

Mr. Dave Pepin

Vice President - Corporate Affairs

418-654-9661




CARSON CITY, NV--(Marketwired - January 21, 2016) - Walker Lane Exploration, Inc. (OTC PINK: WKLN), a Nevada Corporation, announced management changes. At a special shareholders meeting held on January 15, 2016 a majority of shareholders of Walker Lane Exploration, Inc. removed Trevor Moss, Steven K. Jones, Ted Sharp, Iain Stewart and Phil Allen as Directors of the Corporation and elected Quentin Browne, Geo., Herb Duerr, Geo. and Larry Bigler, CPA. Mr. Thomas Mancuso, Geo. was re-elected to the Board of Directors.

There were 7,970,833 shares held by a majority of shareholders (57.5%, inclusive of all classes of stock) voting in favor of the changes to the Board of Directors.

At a special board meeting held in Reno on January 19, 2016, Phil Allen was removed as President, Chief Executive Officer and Vice President of Shareholder Relations by unanimous decision. Mr. Herb Duerr, Geo., was unanimously elected President and Chief Executive Officer.

In commenting on his appointment as President and CEO, Mr. Duerr said, "I look forward to serving the Corporation as it pursues its corporate objectives."

The Corporation filed Form 8-K which details the above actions by the shareholders and Board of Directors.

About Walker Lane Exploration, Inc.

The Corporation is a U.S.-based precious metals exploration company. Walker Lane Exploration, Inc. owns three properties in Nevada; Pyramid, which is located in Washoe County, Nevada, consisting of 10 lode claims leased from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). West Trinity, which is located in Churchill County, Nevada consisting of 24 lode claims leased from the BLM. And, Paradise, which is located in Nye County, Nevada, consisting of 9 lode claims leased from the BLM. The Corporation's focus is to identify mineral areas that are open to staking and claiming, or to lease properties management deems viable for exploration. Once a property has been secured, management conducts an assessment of the prospect for exploration, which can include sampling, trenching and drilling in order to develop the prospect for leasing, sale or joint venture with other mining companies. Further information can be found on Walker Lane's website at: www.walkerlaneexploration.com

"Safe-Harbor" Statement: Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act"), including all statements that are not statements of historical fact regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of the Company, its directors or its officers. The words "may," "would," "will," "expect," "estimate," "anticipate," "believe," "intend," and similar expressions and variations thereof are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's ability to control, and that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors.

Contact:



Company Inquiries:

Walker Lane Exploration, Inc.

info@walkerlaneexploration.com

775-461-3445



Investor Relations:

ir@walkerlaneexploration.com

775-434-4451
KANSAS CITY, MO--(Marketwired - January 21, 2016) - H&R Block (NYSE: HRB), the world's largest consumer tax preparation company and the company that invented the tax preparation category, is launching a new brand, Block Advisors. More than 280 Block Advisors offices nationwide are now open for their first tax season, partnering with individuals and small businesses to eliminate the annual stress tax season brings.

"This is a significant new brand direction for us," said Bill Cobb, H&R Block's president and chief executive officer. "We've done extensive research. Many of our clients have told us they want an ongoing relationship with their tax advisor, a dedicated tax expert to help them plan the tax aspect of their lives all year long. Block Advisors meets that need and more."

Block Advisors redefines tax prep experience

"We know consumers have different needs and that taxes are not a one-day-a-year event for many of our clients," said Kathy Collins, H&R Block's chief marketing officer. "Block Advisors delivers specialized, personalized tax planning and preparation. The tax advisors staffing Block Advisors offices are available year-round to answer questions and meet with clients when they need it."

Block Advisors' tax advisors average 15 years of tax preparation experience. Many of the tax advisors are Certified Public Accountants, Enrolled Agents or have received H&R Block's highest level of certification.

"Tax advisors with Block Advisors remove the uncertainty of taxes," Collins said. "Clients may encounter a major life change, or launch a new business and realize it's all new to them. That's the great thing about our tax advisors; they've seen it all before. We've got taxes covered, so clients can concentrate on what matters most to them."

Block Advisors serves its clients with the backing and security of The Tax Institute at H&R Block. For these clients, taxes are part of a larger financial plan, something to be considered year-round.

In addition to providing expanded individual and small business tax services, Block Advisors offices also feature new amenities and a modernized floor plan that includes private offices for advisors to meet with their clients.

Block Advisors also focuses on small business services www.blockadvisors.com.

http://newsroom.hrblock.com/.

For Further Informationmediadesk@hrblock.com
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Less than two weeks before the primary election season to elect a new US president kicks off from Iowa, real estate tycoon Donald Trump has consolidated his position over his nearest Republican rivals, a new poll says. According to the latest CNN/WMUR poll in New Hampshire, Trump, 69, has a popularity rating of 34 per cent as against 20 per cent of his nearest Republican presidential rival Ted Cruz, 45. On the other hand, the popularity lead of Democratic Party presidential hopeful Hilary Clinton, 68, appeared to have dwindled over her nearest rival Bernie Sanders, 74. The primary in New Hampshire is scheduled for February 9 and the Iowa caucus is on February 1. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, 62, and Florida Senator Marco Rubio, 44, are tied at third position with 10 per cent each for Republican nomination. The latest polls are good news for Bush as his popularity rating is in double digit in New Hampshire. According to the same poll, Sanders outperforms Clinton in head-to-head match-ups with top GOP presidential candidates in New Hampshire. Sanders leads Trump and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, 53, by 23 percentage points. In New Hampshire, Sanders (51.6 per cent) leads Clinton (39 per cent), while in Iowa the former Secretary of State (46.8 per cent) has a narrow lead over Sanders (42.8 per cent). 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.
DAVOS, Switzerland, January 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Red Sea region is the fastest growing emerging market in the world

Regional population will increase from 620 million to 1.3 billion by 2050

Geneva -based non-profit think tank will promote international cooperation and develop policy recommendations

The development of a trade facilitation framework for the Red Sea region is essential for the sustainable development of the largest emerging market in the world, according to Mr Fahd Al Rasheed, Managing Director and Group CEO of King Abdullah Economic City.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160121/324494 )



Speaking at a special event at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Mr Al Rasheed announced the formation of a non-profit policy think tank, the Red Sea Foundation, to raise awareness of the region's potential and advocate the necessary policy initiatives to drive development.

The Foundation, to be based in Geneva, will comprise a global advisory board of policy makers, business leaders and relevant subject matter experts. It will also include an operational staff that will research, formulate and promote policy recommendations.

"The Red Sea is a critical global shipping route that has played a pivotal role in global trade for millennia, but today little of the wealth that flows though the region actually benefits the countries that border it. That is about to change," said Mr Al Rasheed. "This is the fastest growing developing market in the world today and the least exploited. A coordinated initiative to facilitate trade will significantly improve the flow of goods within the Red Sea region and foster growth and prosperity where it is most needed."

According to the United Nations, the population of the twenty countries that use the Red Sea as their primary shipping corridor will increase by 110 percent from 620 million today to 1.3 billion in 2050. The burgeoning middle class in the region is expected to increase by 150 percent from 137 million to 343 million in the same period. Current projections indicate that this growth will drive a threefold increase in regional GDP from $1.8 trillion today to $6.1 trillion by 2050. Trade will increase by a factor of five from $881 billion to $4.7 trillion.

Approximately ten percent of global maritime trade passes through the Red Sea economic basin every year. The expansion to the Suez Canal, which will double its capacity, is expected to drive increased volumes.

Limited logistics infrastructure is just one factor limiting growth. For example, few of the region's ports can handle today's largest container vessels. Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah Port, which began operations in 2015, will be largest Red Sea port by 2017.

Other factors affecting growth include a wide disparity in levels of economic development and a regulatory environment that significantly increases the costs of cross border trade. World Bank data suggest that every dollar spent manufacturing a product generates $2.19 in trade costs, including logistics costs and tariffs.

Improvements to infrastructure and enhanced cooperation in cross border trade could increase efficiency, reduce costs and enhance the participation of smaller and medium sized companies in the global value chain. This would improve GDP growth by almost 30 percentage points over current projections to $6.6 trillion and trade by more than 180 percentage points to $6.3 trillion by 2050.

"The objective of the Red Sea Foundation is to actualize the enormous potential of this region by enhancing the logistics infrastructure, promoting trade among Red Sea region countries and encouraging foreign investment," said Mr Al Rasheed. "This is an initiative in which the public and private sectors and civic society all have important roles to play. The Red Sea Foundation exists to bring them together to build a new growth engine for the global economy."

The Red Sea Region comprises twenty countries that either lie on the Red Sea or use it as their primary shipping channel: Burundi, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, UAE, Uganda, and Yemen.

About King Abdullah Economic City

King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) is the largest privately-funded new city in the world. Situated on the west coast of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, KAEC covers an area of 181million square meters of land, approximately the size of Washington DC. The city is under development by Emaar, The Economic City, a publicly listed Saudi joint-stock company established in 2006.

With a population capacity of two million people by 2035, KAEC comprises King Abdullah Port, the Coastal Communities residential districts, the Haramain Railway district and the Industrial Valley.
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Friends now call Justin Smith 'Iceman,' because he was brought back to life by cutting edge Hypothermia Treatment Technique after presumed dead after lying frozen for hours in the snow. The 25-year-old Pennsylvania man was found unconscious and frozen after a night out for drinks with friends last winter. His father Don Smith found him on the side of Treskow Road the next morning after 12 hours of exposure to subzero temperatures. Paramedics who arrived on scene believed Justin Smith was dead with no pulse, no blood pressure, and turned blue. All hope seemed lost, but Dr. Gerald Coleman, an emergency department physician at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Hazleton, refused to give up. The doctors hooked him up to an ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) machine to warm up Justin's blood. ECMO is a treatment that uses a pump to circulate blood through a machine that warms and restores oxygen to it and then return it to the bloodstream. Eventually, his heart started beating again when he warmed up. But Justin, whose brain had been deprived of oxygen for many hours, remained in a coma for the next 15 days. Typically, brain cells begin to die after just a few minutes without oxygen. But Justin's case was a mystery to the medical science. When he finally woke up, the doctors were amazed that he did not seem to have suffered any brain damage. Justin returned to the Lehigh Valley Hospital on Monday to thank the medical and paramedical team who saved his life. 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.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 21, 2016) - Avanti Energy Inc. (TSXV: AVN) ("Avanti" or the "Company") is pleased to provide shareholders with a general corporate update.

Management and Board

The Company is pleased to announce that Mr. John McIntyre has accepted the position of Chairman of the Board of Director. John has served the Company well as President and CEO and will continue his involvement with the Company in the new role of Chairman. John commented, "The gas marketing agreement we announced on December 10, 2015, underscores for investors the viability of the Colle Santo project and I am pleased to report that the technical work necessary to file the production permit application is now nearing completion. This is a very exciting time for Avanti shareholders and all stakeholders in this process."

Mr. Karl Kottmeier has accepted the position of President and CEO. Karl has over 20 years' experience in corporate finance and administration and has raised over $125 million for resource companies over that period.

Karl commented, "I am pleased to accept the new role as president and CEO of Avanti. I have been closely involved with the Company since its inception and I am excited to work with management and the board to advance the Colle Santo gas project from the impending submission of the production permit application through to the successful receipt of the final permit from the Italian authorities. Colle Santo is a truly unique and highly significant project that I believe holds tremendous value for shareholders."

The Company is pleased to welcome a new board member, Mr. David Leishman. Dave brings a wealth of experience and contacts to the Avanti board, the results of a long and successful career in institutional sales and retail brokerage with a number of Canadian investment firms, most recently with Canaccord Capital in Vancouver.

Colle Santo Project, Italy

The Company and its working interest partners are now nearing completion of the process of producing and amalgamating the required reports to make the formal submission to the appropriate Italian authorities to ultimately obtain the final production permits for the Colle Santo Gas project.

While obtaining the final permit is not guaranteed and more work may be required, Avanti management, its partners and industry consultants are confident that a positive outcome in a timely manner will be achieved and with the permit granted, the substantial value of the Colle Santo project will be unlocked.

Financing

On January 18th the Company announced a non-brokered private placement to raise up to $500,000 for general working capital. The Company will issue up to 5,000,000 units at $0.10 CDN. Each Unit will consist of one common share and one half of one common share purchase warrant (a "Warrant"). Each such Warrant will entitle the holder to purchase one common share of the Company for a period of twelve months from the closing date at a price of $0.15 per common share.

For more information please contact Kirk Gamley at (604) 678 8941. Please visit our website at www.avantienergy.com.

"Karl Kottmeier"

President, CEO

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.
MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 01/21/16 -- Management of SIRIOS (TSX VENTURE: SOI) is pleased to announce that diamond drilling has resumed on Cheechoo gold property adjacent to Eleonore gold mine property of Goldcorp in Eeyou Istchee James Bay, Quebec. Planned drill holes will test, among other things, Jordi, K and I gold zones extensions, as well as other targets located outside of the main low-grade auriferous envelope. Please refer to press releases of December 1 and 14, 2015 as well as of last January 14 for more details on these targeted zones.

The CHEECHOO gold project is located in Eeyou Istchee James Bay, Quebec, 800 km north of Montreal and less than 10 km from the Eleonore gold mine of producer Goldcorp that has just begun production. This world-class deposit contained 4.03 million ounces of gold and 4.10 million ounces of inferred gold mineral resources (Source: Press release of Goldcorp, March 28 2014). In 2012, Sirios concluded an agreement with Golden Valley Ltd. regarding ownership of CHEECHOO allowing it, to upon completion of certain obligations and counterparts, increase its current interest to 100% (press release dated December 9, 2013). Sirios is the manager of the project.

Resignation of a Director

It is with regret that Sirios announces the resignation of M. Didier Mekki who, for personal reasons, needed to leave the Board of Directors. Mr. Dominique Doucet, on behalf of the Board, would like to thank Mr. Mekki for his constructive input to the Company.

Sirios will be present at the Cambridge House International conference in Vancouver on January 24 and 25, located at the Vancouver Convention Center West, 1055 Canada Place, Vancouver, BC, V6C 0C3, Canada. We invite you to visit us at booth 419.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release

Contacts:

Dominique Doucet, President

(514) 510-7961

(514) 510-7964 (FAX)

ddoucet@sirios.com



Christian Guilbaud, B.B.A.

(514) 813-7862

(514) 510-7964 (FAX)

cguilbaud@videotron.ca

www.sirios.com




TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - January 21, 2016) - First Global Data Limited ("First Global" or the "Corporation") (TSX VENTURE: FGD) would like to announce that it has agreed to convert two (2) loans, in aggregate amount of $992,383.56 into a convertible debenture (the "Debt Debenture"). The Debt Debenture will bear interest at a rate of 10% per annum, such interest to be paid on a yearly basis. The term of the Debt Debenture will be 36 months from the date of issuance and will be convertible, at the option of the holder, at a price of $0.05 per share at any time.

The issuance of the Debt Debenture is subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

In addition, the Corporation will like to announce that it has assigned an aggregate of $3,430,348.51 (the "Loans") of loans to an arm's length party. As a result of the assignment, the Corporation will no longer be responsible for the repayment of the Loans.

About First Global

First Global Data Limited (TSX VENTURE: FGD), is an international financial services technology company operating in the payments sector. First Global's services are designed primarily for the domestic and international unbanked and under banked markets. Our two main lines of business are mobile payments and international money transfers. First Global's leading edge technology core enables Mobile and Online: Payments, Money Transfers, Shopping and Peer to Peer services.

First Global enables our strategic partners and clients around the world with our leading edge financial services technology platform. We facilitate the movement of money domestically and internationally in full compliance with regulatory guidelines, maintain a strong focus on compliance and hold licenses to operate as a Money Service Business in 22 US States and elsewhere around the world, with a reach that extends to approximately 97 countries worldwide.

First Global's objective is to become a global leader in ubiquitous mobile money payment and money transfer services.

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 press release contains forward-looking statements based on assumptions, uncertainties and management's best estimates of future events. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated. Investors are cautioned that such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements are detailed from time to time in the Corporation's periodic reports filed with the Ontario Securities Commission and other regulatory authorities. The Corporation has no intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

For further information, please contact:

Andre Itwaru

Chairman

First Global

Telephone: 416.504.3813

Facsimile: 416.504.7092

Email: ir@firstglobaldata.com
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Online subprime lender Elevate Credit Inc. has reportedly postponed its initial public offering, citing difficult market conditions amid the stock market turmoil. The Fort Worth, Texas-based company's IPO was scheduled to price Thursday and set to become the first IPO of 2016. The postponement is the latest sign of trouble for the IPO market amid one of the worst starts ever to U.S. stocks in history. According to the company's regulatory filing, it is expected to offer 3.6 million shares in a range of $20 to $22 per share. The company's common stock was approved for listing on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol 'ELVT.' Elevate Credit provides unsecured personal loans to subprime borrowers. The company is privately held and is backed by Silicon Valley venture capital firms, including Sequoia Capital and Technology Crossover Ventures. Since the launch of its latest product offerings in 2013, the company has provided about $1.2 billion in credit to approximately 450,000 customers. For the first nine months of 2015, Elevate Credit reported 67 percent surge in revenues to $300.31 million. Net loss for the period narrowed to $20.16 million from $43.85 million last year. Shares of other public online lenders have fallen sharply amid the stock market turmoil. The shares of On Deck Capital Inc. (ONDK) and LendingClub Corp. (LC) are both down more than 25 percent this 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.
ABI Research Quantifies the Importance of Smartphones to the Enterprise Worker

OYSTER BAY, New York, Jan. 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Despite the dismay device OEMs feel as smartphone prices continue to fall, enterprise workers across the world, particularly those in emerging markets, are rejoicing as smartphone adoption continues to increase. This additionally signals an advantage for mobile operators, whose handset data plan revenues from the enterprise segment can expect to exceed $200 billion in 2020, according to ABI Research, the leader in technology market intelligence.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151014/276887LOGO

"The importance of smartphones to the enterprise worker cannot be underestimated," says Dan Shey, Managing Director and Vice President at ABI Research."Operator services need to focus on driving the most value from the smartphone to the enterprise user, such as assisting in choosing the right devices and applications, and offering services to manage device content and functionality. Looking ahead, operators also need to help businesses leverage the smartphone and their voice and data connectivity services as a key component in their IoT solutions."

Voice services are still an important revenue component for mobile operators. As such, these services must continue to provide consistent and quality network performance domestically while offering increasingly simplified, cost-effective access to voice and data services when travelling internationally.And security is also a critical element to enterprise smartphone usability. Operators can play a crucial role in supporting security application needs while also offering enterprise workers guidance toward smartphone usage and security best practices.

According to the report's data analysis, North America leads in total mobile enterprise revenues across voice, messaging, handset data plans, mobile broadband, business-to-employee applications and enterprise mobility management services. However, figures show that the Asia-Pacific region will overtake North America in 2017 to become the biggest market for enterprise mobility revenues.

"Enterprise is becoming more connected, across both people and machines," concludes Shey."Operator smartphone strategies need to evolve to support the myriad of applications and opportunities that will stem from the billions of connections in the Internet of Things. The partnerships that AT&T, Verizon, Tele2 and Vodafone created with major ICT suppliers are all a step in the right direction toward building integrated solutions that can leverage smartphone applications and services."

These findings are part of ABI Research's Workplace Automation and Enterprise Mobility Service (https://www.abiresearch.com/market-research/service/workplace-automation-enterprise/), which includes research reports, market data, insights and competitive assessments.

About ABI Research

For more than 25 years, ABI Research has stood at the forefront of technology market intelligence, partnering with innovative business leaders to implement informed, transformative technology decisions. The company employs a global team of senior analysts to provide comprehensive research and consulting services through deep quantitative forecasts, qualitative analyses and teardown services. An industry pioneer, ABI Research is proactive in its approach, frequently uncovering ground-breaking business cycles ahead of the curve and publishing research 18 to 36 months in advance of other organizations. In all, the company covers more than 60 services, spanning 11 technology sectors. For more information, visit www.abiresearch.com.

Contact Info:Christine Gallen Tel: +1.516.624.2542

pr@abiresearch.com
Technavio has announced the top four leading vendors in their recent global bicycle crank motor market 2016-2020report. This research report also lists four other prominent vendors that are expected to impact the market during the forecast period.

According to the latest report by Technavio, the demand and sales of crank motors is expected to rise considerably during the forecast period, as demand for pedelecs and e-bikes is increasing. Rapid urbanization has resulted in traffic congestion, which is leading to the high adoption of e-bikes as they provide a healthier and more environmentally friendlier mode of transportation.

Competitive vendor landscape

As of 2015, only a few key vendors operate in the global bicycle crank motor market. This market is powered by rapid innovation and investments for developing lighter and more efficient crank motors are necessary for the market to grow further during the forecast period.

"Crank motors are gaining popularity in the market and are preferred over hub motors. We expect this aspect to intensify competition and attract new entrants during the forecast period," says Siddharth J, Technvio's lead automotive electronics research analyst.

Technavio analysts estimate that the four major players contribute about 65%-70% to the global bicycle crank motor market based on their respective product portfolio and distribution network. The top position in the market is held by Bosch in terms of revenue and profitability, followed by Panasonic, Yamaha, and Continental.

The top four global multifunction printer market vendors

Bosch

Bosch, headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany, provides technology and services worldwide. The company provides a wide range of automotive and other consumer products and their R&D activities focus on optimizing the existing products and developing new technologies. For FY2014, the company spent about USD 6.59 billion toward R&D. In 2014, the company applied for 4,600 patents worldwide.

Bosch is one of the leading manufacturers of crank motors and their systems are used worldwide. Since the introduction of their first electric bike system to the market in 2010, the company has been constantly developing and improving their e-bike systems.

Panasonic

Panasonic was founded in 1918 and is headquartered at Kadoma, Japan. The company manufactures and distributes electronic and electric products in Japan as well as worldwide. The company provides various business solutions such as communication solutions, security systems, professional AV, terminal solutions, document and imaging solutions, IT solutions, and recording media. Panasonic has a strong presence in North America, Latin America, EMEA, China, and Oceania.

Yamaha Motor

Yamaha Motor was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Japan. The company develops, manufactures, and sells a wide range of products and solutions in North America, Japan, and Europe. As of December 2014, Yamaha had 52,662 employees and recorded a revenue of USD 14.45 billion for FY2014.

Yamaha predominantly built motorcycles for the Japanese market. Today, the company makes e-bike systems to jet skis with a wide product portfolio. Yamaha released their first e-bike system in 1993 and now manufactures over 300,000 electric bike systems.

Continental

Continental was established in 1871 and is headquartered in Hanover, Germany. The company is one of the world's largest automotive manufacturing companies that manufactures, develops, and sells passenger cars, light trucks, industrial tires, and related products. They also specialize in tachographs, brake systems, tires, automotive safety, powertrain components, chassis components, and other related parts for the automotive and transportation industries. They also manufacture soft rubber products, rubberized fabrics, and solid tires for carriages and bicycles.

The four other prominent vendors listed in Technavio's report are Kalkhoff, Bofeilli, Unique Product and Design, and Shimano.

Browse Related Reports:

Global E-bike Market 2015-2019

Global Li-ion Battery Market for E-bikes 2015-2019

Global Pedelec Market 2015-2019

Purchase these three reports for the price of one by becoming a Technavio subscriber. Subscribing to Technavio's reports allows you to download any three reports per month for the price of one. Contact enquiry@technavio.com with your requirements and a link to our subscription platform.

About Technavio

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies.

Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users.

If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at media@technavio.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160121005022/en/

Contacts:

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media Marketing Executive

US: +1 630 333 9501

UK: +44 208 123 1770

www.technavio.com
WINNIPEG, MANITOBA -- (Marketwired) -- 01/21/16 -- The Honourable Hunter Tootoo, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, will be in Winnipeg tomorrow to hold a series of meetings with Ministers of the Manitoba Government, Indigenous leaders and conservation groups.

Minister Tootoo will be joined by the Honourable Tom Nevakshonoff, Minister of Conservation and Water Stewardship, and the Honourable Eric Robinson, Minister of Aboriginal and Northern Affairs, for a media availability.

DATE: January 22, 2016 TIME: 9.30 a.m. - 9.45 a.m. (CST) Media to arrive at 9:15 a.m. LOCATION: Main Floor, Freshwater Institute 501 University Crescent, Winnipeg

Contacts:

Media Inquiries

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Central and Arctic Region Communications

204-983-3776

Kevin.hill@dfo-mpo.gc.ca




NEW YORK, January 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The North America foam blowing agents market is expected to grow with a CAGR of 3.4% during 2015 - 2020. The major factors driving the growth of the North America market include increasing demand for polymeric foams in the construction and automotive industries, and high demand for foam blowing agents in the manufacturing of polyurethane foam. Moreover, the high demand for low GWP and zero ODP blowing agents is anticipated to significantly increase the consumption of HFOs, inert gases and methyl formate blowing agents in the region.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150727/756778 )



Explore Report with Detailed TOC at:https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/north-america-foam-blowing-agents-market

Foam blowing agents are used to enhance certain properties and nature of polymers. These agents create holes and expand in polymer matrix, providing it cellular structure. The cellular structure provides strength to the foam, while using very less material. Hence, polymeric foams have several advantages, such as low density, low heat transfer, optimum flexibility and others, which makes them suitable for use in automotive and construction industries. Moreover, polymer foam products also provide comfort, durability, safety and support. In the automotive industry, polymer foams are used for manufacturing of several components, such as wiper cowls, side skirts, bumpers, and roll pans. As there are several blowing agents available to customize the properties of polymer foams, the demand for these foams has increased over the years for applications in the construction and automotive industries.

Request for Sample Pages:https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/north-america-foam-blowing-agents-market/report-sample

Polymer foams are characterized with great thermal insulation properties, and can be customized with different physical properties. In addition, polymer foams could be made rigid or flexible by altering their chemistry, structural properties, and their density or by changing raw materials. Therefore, the increasing polymer foams compliance for applications in the construction and automotive industry implies increased demand for foam blowing agents. Moreover, an increase in the demand for polymer foams in the construction and automotive industry has been observed, and it is further expected to increase during the forecast period.

The PU foam segment held the largest share among the various applications in the North America foam blowing agents market, and it is also expected to retain its dominance during the forecast period. The high demand of foam blowing agents, especially low GWP and zero ODP blowing agents is predicted in the manufacturing of PU foam in the coming years.

Explore Report on:Global America Foam Blowing Agents Market

During 2011-2014, the U.S. held the largest share in the North America foam blowing agents market, in terms of value and volume. The U.S. government implemented stringent regulations to control the production and consumption of blowing agents with presence of ODP and high GWP. Therefore, a high growth in consumption and production of the eco-friendly blowing agents, such as HCs, HFOs, and methyl formate, is predicted in the coming years in the U.S. market. The U.S. plans to phase out HCFCs in accordance with Montreal Protocol. As per the implementation of HCFC phase out through Clean Air Act Regulations, there would be no production and no importing of HCFC-142b and HCFC-22 from 2020.

The information and data in the publication "North America Foam Blowing Agents Market Size, Share, Development, Growth and Demand Forecast to 2020", represents the research and analysis of data from various primary and secondary sources. A top down and bottom-up approach has been used to calculate the market size in terms of value and volume. P&S Market Research analysts and consultants interacted with leading companies of the concerned domain to substantiate every value of data presented in this report. The company bases its primary research on discussions with prominent professionals and analysts in the industry, which is followed by informed and detailed, online and offline research.

Explore Related Research:https://www.psmarketresearch.com/industry-report/chemicals-materials-and-energy

Some of the key companies operating in the North America foam blowing agents market include Arkema S.A., Daikin Industries Ltd., Exxon Mobil Corporation, Honeywell International Inc., Sinochem Group, Linde AG, Zeon Corporation, Solvay S.A., and Harp International Ltd.

NORTH AMERICA FOAM BLOWING AGENTS MARKET SEGMENTATION

By Product Type

Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)

Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs)

Hydrocarbons (HCs)

Methyl Formate

Hydrofluoroolefin (HFO)

Inert Gases

Others

By Application

Polyurethane (PU) Foam

PU Spray

Rigid PUF Injected

Rigid PUF Discontinuous Panel

Rigid PUF Continuous Laminate/Boardstock

PUF Integral Skin

Rigid PUF Residential Appliances

Rigid PUF Block for Pipe Sections

Rigid PUF Continuous Block

Flexible PU Foam

Polyolefin Foam

Non-XLPE Foam

XLPE Foam

EPP Beads

PP Foam

EVA Foam

Polystyrene (PS) Foam

XPS

EPS

Phenolic Foam

Others

By Country

The U.S.

Canada

Rest of North America

Browse Upcoming Reports

Defoamers Market-https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/defoamers-market

Benzaldehyde Market-https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/benzaldehyde-market

Monoethylene Glycol Market-https://www.psmarketresearch.com/market-analysis/monoethylene-glycol-market

About P&S Market Research

P&S Market Research is a market research company, which offers market research and consulting services for various geographies around the globe. We provide market research reports, industry forecasting reports, business intelligence, and research based consulting services across different industry/business verticals.

As one of the top growing market research agency, we're keen upon providing market landscape and accurate forecasting. Our analysts and consultants are proficient with business intelligence and market analysis, through their interaction with leading companies of the concerned domain. We help our clients with B2B market research and assist them in identifying various windows of opportunity, and framing informed and customized business expansion strategies in different regions.

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Net metering is the biggest policy battleground for solar in the United States at present, and no state has dismantled its policy as swiftly and as thoroughly as Nevada. On December 22, the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada (PUCN) made sweeping changes to the policy, which advocates say ruin the economics of rooftop solar in the state. The most egregious aspect of PUCN's Christmas surprise was the retroactive nature of the charges, which applied to NV Energy customers who invested in PV systems under the previous net metering regulations as well ...

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.
TOLEDO, OH -- (Marketwired) -- 01/21/16 -- To meet the growing demand for pizza in the Las Vegas, Nevada, metropolitan area, Marco's Pizza franchise is seeking to partner with entrepreneurs who want a slice of the action.

Las Vegas residents and tourists alike are passionate for pizza. This year, the Las Vegas Review-Journal stated that the city's population growth leads all other cities in Nevada. With its 2014 status of 613,599 people, it had a 1.6 percent increase over 2013, and the Las Vegas Valley area population is around 2 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

And at least 13 percent of those people want pizza every day. A recent U.S. Department of Agriculture study of American eating habits determined that 13 percent of people in the U.S. were eating pizza on any given day. For the Vegas area, that means about 260,000 residents are looking for pizza -- and that's not even counting the tourists!

With Marco's Pizza, those thousands of people can find the best. Marco's Pizza is hand-made in the Italian tradition, using fresh, never-frozen cheeses, making the dough in stores daily and using only premium meats and vegetables. Founded in Toledo in 1978, Marco's is the only Top 20 pizza chain founded by a native Italian. The brand's business model and growth have been heralded by the likes of Forbes, Consumer Report, Entrepreneur, Franchise Times and Nation's Restaurant News, to name a few.

Marco's Pizza growth outpaces pizza industry

Marco's Pizza has the fastest-growing unit growth, according to Nation's Restaurant News, who named the beloved pizza franchise as part of its Second 100 List -- an analysis of businesses that are smaller but are focusing on growing around the nation. Marco's opened its 500th location in 2013, its 600th restaurant in 2014, and is on pace to open its 1,000th location in early 2017.

The publication states that while the pizza industry is mature and growth is limited, Marco's Pizza is the exception. Not only is Marco's growing faster than other pizza franchises, Marco's Pizza sales growth also is higher than any other pizza franchise. The publication reports that Marco's Pizza sales growth is tops for system-wide sales in the Second 100 pizza segment.

Marco's Pizza franchise seeks friendly, passionate entrepreneurs in Las Vegas

Marco's Pizza is seeking quality franchisees who are committed to making their franchises places where customers want to buy fresh, delectable pizza -- welcoming, friendly individuals who remember customers' names and are passionate about the Marco's product. The investment required to start a Marco's Pizza franchise is typically about $350,000. The pizza franchise is looking for people who have a net worth of $150,000 and a minimum liquidity of $100,000.

"Our franchisees come from a remarkably wide variety of backgrounds. But there's a common thread among our franchisees -- passion for the Marco's product. Almost half of them were Marco's consumers first. They fell in love with our product," said Cameron Cummins, Vice President of Franchise Development for Marco's Pizza.

Unlike Marco's competitors, who have oversaturated their markets, Marco's Pizza has plenty of regions with prime territories available for franchisees -- Las Vegas is one of them.

How does Marco's Pizza franchise support its owners?

Previous restaurant experience is not necessary to open a Marco's Pizza. The company's team of veteran pizza executives has experience growing brands and is always ready to help franchisees throughout their careers.

At a six-week training at Marco's University, franchisees learn how to make the perfect pizza in the company's state-of-the-art kitchen.

In addition to learning about the product and how it is made, the company helps franchisees learn to manage the business side of the franchise. Franchisees learn how to train staff, manage finances and study market analysis, as well as learn the insurance requirements, leasing issues and marketing savvy needed to be successful.

To learn more, visit www.marcosfranchising.com.

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Contact

Cameron Cummins

Vice President of Franchise Development

ccummins@marcos.com




DUBLIN, January 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Research and Markets(http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/qlkqbl/azerbaijan_tyre) has announced the addition of the"Azerbaijan Tyre Market Forecast and Opportunities, 2020"report to their offering.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130307/600769 )



According to Azerbaijan Tyre Market Forecast and Opportunities, 2020", tyre market in Azerbaijan is projected to grow at a CAGR of over 5% during 2015 - 2020, predominantly due to rising demand for tyres from the replacement segment and increasing purchasing power of consumers in the country.

Passenger car tyre segment is anticipated to continue dominating Azerbaijan tyre market through 2020, due to expanding passenger car fleet size and rising demand for sedans in the country. Increasing government focus on non-oil sectors is propelling growth in the construction and infrastructure sectors in the country, thereby driving demand for OTR and commercial vehicles, which is expected to translate into higher demand for OTR and commercial vehicle tyre market in the country during 2015 - 2020.



Azerbaijan's economy is hugely dependent on oil & gas. However, on account of fluctuating prices in the oil sector, government has been increasing its focus on non-oil sectors. Azerbaijan government is aiming at sustainable socio-economic development, with higher focus on development of roads, railways, transportation, communication and other infrastructure projects in the coming years. This is expected to significantly boost construction and logistics industries in the country, which is anticipated to expand the automobile fleet size in the country, and thereby drive replacement demand for tyres over the next five years. Due to absence of OEMs in the country, demand for tyres in Azerbaijan solely emanates from the replacement segment.



Azerbaijan Tyre Market Forecast and Opportunities, 2020 elaborates on the following aspects of tyre market in Azerbaijan:

Increasing Chinese Tyre Penetration

Declining Tyre Retreading Market

Fluctuating Tyre Import Scenario

Rising Automobile Sales

Key Topics Covered:



1. Research Methodology



2. Analyst View



3. Product Overview



4. Azerbaijan Tyre Market Outlook



5. Azerbaijan Passenger Car (PC) Tyre Market Outlook



6. Azerbaijan Medium & Heavy Commercial (M&HCV) Tyre Market Outlook



7. Azerbaijan Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) Tyre Market Outlook



8. Azerbaijan Off-the Road (OTR) Tyre Market Outlook

9. Azerbaijan Two-Wheeler (2W) Tyre Market Outlook



10. Import-Export Analysis



11. Market Dynamics



12. Market Trends & Developments



13. Policy & Regulatory Landscape



14. Azerbaijan Economic Profile



15. Competitive Landscape



16. Strategic Recommendations



Companies Mentioned



- Belshina Joint Stock Company

- Bridgestone Corporation

- Compagnie Generale des Etablissements Michelin SCA

- Continental AG

- Hankook Tyre

- Nizhnekamskshina Joint Stock Company

- Nokian Tyres PLC

- Shandong Transtone Tyre Co., Ltd.

- The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company

- Triangle Tyre Co., Ltd

- Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd



For more information visithttp://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/qlkqbl/azerbaijan_tyre



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




BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - The Swiss stock market ended Thursday's session in the green, as it attempts to recover from Wednesday's sharp sell-off. The SMI rose back above the 8,000 point level, after falling below it yesterday. The market received a boost from comments by ECB President Mario Draghi, who hinted that further stimulus measures could be coming in March.



However, the gains that were sparked by Draghi's speech began to fizzle in late trade. Investors were a bit skeptical of the stimulus promises, after they failed to live up to expectations the last time Draghi made a similar promise. Traders also remain concerned about the price of crude oil, which is attempting to stabilize after yesterday's sharp drop.



The Swiss Market Index increased 0.86 percent Thursday and finished at 8,035.06. The Swiss Leader Index climbed 0.76 percent and the Swiss Performance Index gained 0.78 percent.



Transocean was the top gainer of the session, with an increase of 10.6 percent. After crude oil prices hit a 12-year low yesterday, they showed signs of stabilization today.



Adecco climbed 3.0 percent after the company concluded a 2014 share buyback program. LafargeHolcim advanced 2.2 percent and SGS added 2.3 percent.



The positive performance of the index heavyweights provided support to the overall market. Nestle increased 1.4 percent and Roche gained 1.3 percent. Shares of Novartis also finished higher by 0.6 percent. A British court ruled that Nestle can not trademark the shape of its KitKat bar in a legal battle with Cadbury.



Credit Suisse decreased 1.2 percent Thursday, but UBS gained 0.7 percent. Julius Baer also climbed 1.0 percent.



Zurich Insurance dropped 1.0 percent. The stock sank nearly 11 percent yesterday after it issued a profit warning. Baloise also lost 0.9 percent. However, Swiss Re rose 0.4 percent and Swiss Life gained 1.5 percent.



Galenica was one of the weakest stocks of the session, with a decrease of 4.3 percent. The company's full year sales figures were well received. The pull back was attributed to profit taking.



Logitech surged 9.6 percent, after its third quarter results topped expectations.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 01/21/16 -- Colleges and polytechnics across Canada are receiving nearly $6 million in federal support through the Community and College Social Innovation Fund (CCSIF) to address a range of social issues, including poverty, community safety and local economic development.

Minister of Science Kirsty Duncan today announced funding for 27 research projects, alongside James Maloney, Member of Parliament for Etobicoke - Lakeshore.

Today's event featured the project of Humber College's Jeanine Webber. Her two-year impact study is receiving nearly $200,000 to examine the Toronto Police Service's Neighbourhood Officer Program-which assigned neighbourhood officers to 17 selected neighbourhoods to increase police presence and address community problems. Dr. Webber and her team will partner with the Toronto Police Service as part of the study, which promotes public confidence through the scientific evaluation of a police program, while also engaging a greater number of community residents in the evaluation process.

QUICK FACTS

-- The CCSIF will provide $15 million over three years in support of projects at colleges and polytechnics that foster social innovation in Canada. -- Under the new initiative, colleges and polytechnics can partner with community organizations and businesses to apply for funding of up to $200,000 to undertake collaborative projects that address community issues. -- The CCSIF aims to increase college capacity to engage in collaborative projects with local organizations and businesses, strengthening communities across Canada through research. -- Social innovation is about finding more effective ways of engaging Canadians, delivering community services and strengthening communities as a whole through research. It can take the form of a product, process or program that creates positive social outcomes for communities.

QUOTES

"Social innovation is about finding new ways to deliver community services and strengthen communities as a whole through research. Congratulations to Dr. Webber and her team at Humber College for their ongoing work with the Toronto community. Together they are bringing college and polytechnic researchers together with citizens to build stronger, safer and healthier communities."

-The Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science

"Humber College is a vital hub in the Etobicoke-Lakeshore community and I am thrilled to be part of the Government of Canada, which values science and the social and economic benefit it brings to Canadians. Research undertaken by Humber College's Jeanine Webber will help to develop new ways to improve community policing in Toronto, especially with non-English speaking citizens."

- James Maloney, Member of Parliament (Etobicoke - Lakeshore)

"We are very pleased to support this pilot program and through it, the development of multi-sectoral research at our colleges and polytechnics. These investments will advance meaningful, creative solutions to pressing social challenges that will bring real change to communities across Canada."

- Ted Hewitt, President, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada

"The Neighbourhood Policing research project is an example of how Humber students work collaboratively with partners such as the Toronto Police Service to gain both real-world experience and to seek ways in which to improve and give back to the community. This new funding will enable the initial pilot evaluation study to become a two-year Impact Study designed to measure the effect of the Neighbourhood Policing program within Toronto neighbourhoods. This program focuses on enhancing the public's confidence and trust in the police and improving public safety. We're grateful to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Government of Canada for their support."

- Chris Whitaker, President, Humber College

Related products

- A full list of award recipients is available here.

Additional Links

- Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council

- More on the Community and College Social Innovation Fund

- Backgrounder

Contacts:

Camille Martel

Communications

Office of the Minister of Science

343-291-2700

camille.martel@canada.ca



Christopher Walters

Director of Communications

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada

613-992-4283

christopher.walters@sshrc-crsh.gc.ca




Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - January 21, 2016) - Norvista Capital Corporation (TSXV: NVV) ("Norvista" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Darren Koningen, P.Eng. to the Board of Directors. Darren, who has over 20 years of international mining experience and was instrumental in bringing three gold projects into production is currently the President and Director of Minera Alamos Inc., one of Norvista's investee companies.

Concurrent with the appointment of Mr. Koningen, the Company announces the resignation of Rob Sobey who has been a director of Norvista since its inception. Stan Spavold, Chairman of Norvista, stated "Rob's objectives in accepting his role as a director was to assist Norvista in the formative stages of building its investment portfolio and to provide strategic guidance to senior management. Rob feels these objectives have been met and he looks forward to supporting Norvista as a significant investor".

About Norvista

Norvista is a resource based merchant bank that began operations and was listed for trading on the TSX Venture Exchange in June of 2014. The Company's strategy is to capitalize on the significant asset value contraction that has occurred over the last several years in the resource industry, with particular emphasis on base metal projects as well as gold projects on a selective basis. Norvista focuses its efforts on the pursuit of highly prospective exploration stage projects while balancing exploration risk through investment in small to mid-scale, pre-production, projects requiring partial or full completion of feasibility studies. The Company takes a proactive role with its investee companies and in the majority of cases assumes management or advisory roles and/or seats on the board of directors of these investee companies. Management is of the view that current market conditions allow the Company to significantly mitigate political and country risk by pursuing investments in some of the world's top ranked mining jurisdictions. Since inception Norvista has completed four strategic investments.

For further information contact:

Norvista Capital Corporation

390 Bay Street West, Suite 612

Toronto, Ontario M5H 2Y2

Tel: (416) 504-4171

Don Christie, President and CEO

dchristie@norvistacapital.com

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT: 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.
CLEARWATER, FL -- (Marketwired) -- 01/21/16 -- Endurance Exploration Group (OTCQB: EXPL) is pleased to announce that it has appointed Keith Holloway as Vice President of Shareholder Communications. As Director of Discount Coupons Corporation (OTC PINK: DCOU) and former executive with Lamar Advertising, Keith brings 20+ years of marketing, advertising and public company experience.

"Keith's role as Vice President of Shareholder communications becomes important in 2016 and beyond as we expect our operational results to begin to attract the attention of a larger group of public investors. We look forward to Keith's involvement in serving our company and shareholders," said Endurance CEO, Micah J. Eldred.

Holloway added, "I am excited to be part of the Endurance team and I look forward to what 2016 and beyond holds for our exploration sites, including the S.S. Connaught."

Endurance Exploration Group LLC was formed in 2009 to explore, from an operational and financial perspective, the feasibility and potential economic return of recovering historic and modern day shipwreck cargos. We began by developing a research methodology with three goals. The first goal was to establish a comprehensive understanding of the larger economic, technological and social trends that lead to the transport of physical wealth across oceans during different historical periods, along with creating a "High Interest" list of shipwrecks and their cargos lost across various historical periods. Conflict, accidents and acts of nature claimed a percentage of all voyages, and many of the shipwrecked vessels are believed to have carried a valuable cargo. Our second objective was to identify, from this prior population of potential shipwreck losses, those shipwrecks that could be legally salvaged and recovered, and the cargos sold, with a positive return on the capital investment required for their location and recovery. Our third goal was to move those projects which had the potential to generate positive investment returns into an operational phase with a high, risk-adjusted, chance of success; and, to develop a portfolio of projects in various stages of research, search, survey and recovery.

From these databases and other searches, we have developed an initial "High Interest" list of approximately 400 shipwrecks. In 2011, we began purchasing key equipment for operations. Our equipment purchases have included a 100-foot survey vessel, tethered side-scan sonar units, and light work-class and inspection Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV), "Shackleton 1" and "Squirt". Projects code-named "Sailfish" and "Black Marlin" have now reached operational or pre-operational status. For project "Sailfish" we have now surveyed over 700 square miles in the Western Atlantic Ocean in search of a sunken passenger liner carrying a substantial cargo of gold coinage. In addition to this manifest cargo, we also expect to find additional valuables among the personal stores of the ship's passengers. For project "Black Marlin" we have secured a three-year contract with a sovereign island nation in the Indian Ocean for the survey and recovery of a Colonial-era merchant vessel carrying silver. This contract also allows for other potentially valuable "targets of opportunity" within the territorial waters of this nation.

We believe this survey and recovery capability combined with our proprietary research will allow us to conduct approximately two deep-water surveys per yearly weather window, should we have sufficient capital to undertake such operational surveys.

More information about Endurance is available at the follow sites:

http://www.eexpl.com/

www.facebook.com/EnduranceExplorationGroup

About the S.S. Connaught

Built in Ireland and launched in 1860, the 380-foot iron-hulled side-wheel steamer S.S. Connaught was lauded as one of the largest and most luxurious ocean-going liners in service, a true Titanic of her time. Upon sinking on only her second voyage, the S.S. Connaught became best known for her tragic role in what has been called one of the most courageous and daring rescues in maritime history.

The elegant S.S. Connaught departed Galway, Ireland on September 25, 1860, bound for Boston by way of St. John's, Newfoundland. She departed for the final leg to Boston with 50 first-class passengers, 417 in steerage and a full crew of 125. In addition, she was quietly loaded with  10,000 in gold coins, possibly bound for a visiting member of the British royal family.

Her routine voyage became perilous when she sprang a leak in a sudden storm, forcing passengers and crew alike to join forces in an effort to save her. Though the leak was brought under control, the doomed ship soon faced a far more dangerous adversary -- a fire below her decks.

Smoke and flames drove passengers and crew alike to the top deck, building in strength so quickly that none of the gold cargo or valuable passenger belongings could be saved. Lifeboats were ordered lowered, but they were smashed by the violent waves. Disaster seemed all but certain -- until a tiny fruit transport sailed to intercept the burning ship. By this time the S.S. Connaught's hulls were so hot they boiled the waves as they crashed against her. Heroism abounded as a line was thrown across decks, transferring women and children first, then the male passengers and crew. There were soon so many people on the tiny fruit transport that they stood on every available patch of deck, some even clinging to the tall masts and rigging.

The Captain of the S.S. Connaught was bound by tradition to leave last. Soon after he departed, both rescuers and rescued watched as the S.S. Connaught disappeared beneath the waves, over one hundred miles from the nearest land. It was a long and trying night, but every soul was safely delivered to Boston's India Wharf the following day. Nearly 600 souls had been transferred from one of the largest ocean liners of the time to a tiny fruit transport without a single loss of life.

The contracts were unanimously approved by the Board of Directors of Endurance.

Cautionary Information Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This Form 8-K and the attached press release includes "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 addition to statements which explicitly describe such risks and uncertainties, readers are urged to consider statements labeled with the terms "believes," "belief," "expects," "intends," "anticipates," "will," or "plans" to be uncertain and forward looking. The forward-looking statements contained herein are also subject generally to other risks and uncertainties including but not limited to legal and operational risks of offshore, historic shipwreck recovery.

Forward-looking statements contained in this Form 8-K and in the attached press release are made under the Safe Harbor Provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the anticipated. The information contained in this release is as of August 24, 2015. Endurance Exploration Group, Inc. assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements contained in this Form 8-K and attached press release as the result of new information or future events or developments.

Endurance Exploration Group LLC

Keith Holloway

727.533.5555 ext 280

keith@eexpl.com




The global metal organic chemical vapor phase deposition (MOCVD) market in power electronicsis set to grow at a striking CAGR of over 40%, according to Technavio's latest report.

In this report, Technavio covers the market outlook and growth prospects of theglobal MOCVD market in power electronicsfor 2015-2019. To calculate the market size, Technavio's analysts consider revenue generated through the global sales of MOCVD equipment used for power electronics.

Technavio's research study segments the global MOCVD market in power electronics into the following regions:

Americas

APAC

Europe

APAC: Largest MOCVD market in power electronics

With a massive market share of about 91% in 2014, APAC became the largest market for MOCVD in power electronics and will continue to lead the market over the next five years. The high concentration of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and original design manufacturers (ODMs) in the region is driving market growth in APAC.

The growing demand for power electronic devices in renewable and utility applications in APAC is another factor expected to fuel the demand for power electronics. The availability of raw materials, low establishment and labor costs, and business-friendly government policies of various countries have encouraged many companies to launch their manufacturing units in this region. Technological advancements in MOCVD and power electronics, such as GaN power devices and GaN-on-Si platform are also adding to the market growth in this region.

"The rapid growth of the MOCVD market in the APAC is also because countries such as China, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea have many firms with a strong presence in the electronics manufacturing industry," says Asif Gani, Technavio's lead semiconductor equipment industry analyst.

Ask for a sample of this report: http://goo.gl/6SQ8Bo

Some of the top vendors in the global MOCVD market in power electronics highlighted in the report are:

Aixtron

Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corp

Veeco Instruments

Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corp is headquartered in Japan, while Aixtron is headquartered in Germany, and Veeco Instruments is headquartered in the US.

Americas

The global market share of the Americas is expected to fall gradually during the forecast period, due to rise in demand and procurement of MOCVD equipment used for power electronics in APAC. The Americas, especially the US and Canada, are mature markets for technology products as the consumers in this region are early adopters of any emerging technology. The shifting and development of existing and new manufacturing units and their expansion to APAC is affecting the market share of the Americas.

Europe

The MOCVD market in power electronics in Europe is expected to grow steadily in terms of revenue during the forecast period, with countries such as Germany, France, and UK playing pivotal roles in market growth. Aixtron SE, which is the second largest supplier of MOCVD equipment worldwide, is headquartered in Germany. Europe is the hub of the automotive industry and the demand for energy efficient power electronics is increasing significantly in the automotive industry.

"EMEA, like the Americas, will see a decrease in its global market share due to high demand and manufacturing of power electronics in APAC. However, the decrease is only from a global market share perspective and not in terms of revenue," says Asif.

Browse Related Reports:

Global GaN Semiconductor Devices Market 2015-2019

Global Semiconductor Foundry Market 2015-2019

Global Semiconductor Dielectric Etching Equipment Market 2016-2020

Purchase these three reports for the price of one by becoming a Technavio subscriber. Subscribing to Technavio's reports allows you to download any three reports per month for the price of one. Contact enquiry@technavio.com with your requirements and a link to our subscription platform.

About Technavio

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies.

Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users.

If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at media@technavio.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160121005038/en/

Contacts:

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

US: +1 630 333 9501

UK: +44 208 123 1770

Media Marketing Executive

www.technavio.com
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.
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - January 21, 2016) - Northern Sun Mining Corp. (TSXV: NSC) (the "Company" or "Northern Sun") is pleased to announce that the Company has signed a definitive agreement (the "Definitive Agreement"), subject to approval by shareholders and the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange") for the acquisition (the "Acquisition") by Regal Silver Investments Ltd. ("Regal Silver") of all of the common shares of the Company (the "Shares") not owned by the approximately 59.6% majority shareholder, Jilin Investment International Limited or its affiliates (collectively, "JIIL"). Pursuant to the Definitive Agreement, the Shares would be acquired for a cash consideration from all shareholders of the Company other than JIIL (the "Minority Shareholders") through a court-approved plan of arrangement under the Business Corporations Act (Ontario) at a price of $0.05 per Share which represents a 25% premium to the current market price.

Mr. James Xiang, the Interim President, Chief Executive Officer, and a director of the Company, commented; "Our board and management believe that the Acquisition provides an opportunity for the Company's shareholders to realize full liquidity competitive to the market price of the Shares. Considering the low liquidity of our stock, the generally challenging financial environment for junior mining companies, the extensive debt of the Company which is now at maturity, and the difficulties facing the Company in obtaining short and long-term financing for the Company to remain in operation, we believe that this transaction provides the best opportunity for shareholders."

In considering whether to sign the Definitive Agreement, the board of directors of the Company engaged an independent financial advisor, Ross Glanville & Associates Ltd. (the "Advisor") and the Advisor has provided a fairness opinion that based upon and subject to certain assumptions, limitations, restrictions and qualifications, the proposed Acquisition is fair to the Minority Shareholders from a financial point of view. The Company intends to call a special meeting of its shareholders (the "Meeting") to be held on March 14, 2016 at the offices of its corporate solicitors, Boughton Law, located at Suite 700 - 595 Burrard Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, to seek approval for the Acquisition from the shareholders and Minority Shareholders in particular. The record date for voting at the Meeting is expected to be February 8, 2016. The Acquisition must be approved by (i) at least 662/3% of the votes cast on a special resolution by shareholders present in person or represented by proxy at the meeting voting, and (ii) a simple majority of the votes cast by Minority Shareholders present in person or represented by proxy at the Meeting. Upon completion of the Acquisition, the Company would be delisted from the Exchange and would cease to be a reporting issuer. The proposed Acquisition and related transactions will be more fully described in a management information circular and related proxy materials that will be distributed to shareholders and filed on SEDAR in advance of the Meeting in accordance with applicable corporate and securities laws.

The Acquisition is subject to certain customary conditions, including among other conditions, approval by the Superior Court of Justice of Ontario (Commercial List), and applicable regulatory approvals, including the Exchange. The Definitive Agreement includes customary representations, warranties and covenants and deal protections provisions. Northern Sun has agreed not to solicit any alternative transactions and to pay a break fee equal to $100,000 in certain specified circumstances. In addition, Northern Sun has granted Regal Silver a right to match any competing offer. In accordance with the Definitive Agreement, the closing of the transaction must occur by no later than April 30, 2016.

As described in its news release dated December 7, 2015, the Company has suspended custom milling operations at the Company's Redstone Mill in Timmins, Ontario. Operations were suspended earlier last month with process concentrate inventories currently being prepared for final shipment. Likewise, although the Company has identified further exploration potential on its properties, market conditions remain very challenging to provide support for such exploration. In addition, as of September 30, 2015, the Company owed over $153,479,166 as secured debt owing to its controlling shareholder, JIIL, which has a maturity date of December 31, 2015. However, the Acquisition is subject to JIIL agreeing to extend the maturity date to December 31, 2016 and forgive any default or breach of such loans or other indebtedness owed by the Company that may have occurred up to and including the date of the Definitive Agreement.

Mr. James Xiang, the Interim President, Chief Executive Officer, and a director of the Company, is also the Chief Executive Officer of JIIL, Mr. Shu Zhang, a director of the Company, is also a director of JIIL, and Mr. Hoadong Li, a director of the Company, is Deputy Director of Jilin Jien Nickel Industry Co. Ltd., which is the parent company of JIIL. Consequently, each of Mr. Xiang, Mr. Zhang, and Mr. Li have an interest in the downstream transactions in connection with the proposed Acquisition and the extension of the loans, by virtue of their roles with JIIL and its affiliates. Each of Mr. Xiang, Mr. Zhang, and Mr. Li are in support of the proposed Acquisition and related transactions. Pursuant to the Definitive Agreement, certain directors, officers and shareholders of the Company (including JIIL) holding an aggregate of approximately 59.6% of the Shares have agreed to support the Acquisition and each has entered into a support agreement with Regal Silver to vote their Northern Sun securities in favour of the resolutions to be passed at the Meeting.

Under the present circumstances of the Company, the Company believes, as supported by the opinion of its independent Advisor, that the Acquisition would be fair to the Minority Shareholders and it recommends that the shareholders of the Company approve the proposed Acquisition.

Regal Silver is a private company existing under the laws of the Province of Ontario and is an arm's length third party not related to JIIL or the Company. JIIL is a private company existing under the laws of the Province of Ontario, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Jilin Jien Nickel Industry Co. Ltd. JIIL owns 59.6% of the issued and outstanding Shares in the capital of the Company and is owed over $153,479,166 as secured debt of the Company. Consequently, JIIL is a related party to the Company.

About Northern Sun Mining Corp.

Northern Sun owns the Redstone Mill which it has operated since 2007. The Mill was originally designed with milling capacity capable of processing 1500 tonnes per day ("tpd") of ore. The Redstone Mill currently completed a contract with Wallbridge utilizes slightly more than half of the mills capacity or about 800 tpd of ore. The Redstone Mill produced two products from the Wallbridge Copper-PGE ore; a copper concentrate which was sent to a third party copper smelter, and a precious metal concentrate which is processed by a third party precious metal refinery.

Northern Sun also owns two former producing nickel mines and a large, prospective, land package in the Shaw Dome area, a prospective nickel belt near Timmins, Ontario.

Heather Miree, P. Geo., is a Qualified Person as such term is defined under National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical information related to geology and exploration in this news release.

For further information:

Please visit our website at www.northernsunmining.ca; follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter @NorthernSunMine; or contact:

James Xiang

Interim President and Chief Executive Officer

Northern Sun Mining Corp. Tel: 647-494-3811

Email: james.xiang@gmail.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This communication does not constitute an offer to purchase or exchange or the solicitation of an offer to sell or exchange any securities of Northern Sun, nor shall there be any sale or exchange of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale or exchange would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the laws of such jurisdiction. The distribution of this communication may, in some countries, be restricted by law or regulation. Accordingly, persons who come into possession of this document should inform themselves of and observe these restrictions.

Forward-Looking Information

Except for statements of historical fact relating to the Company, certain information contained herein constitutes "forward-looking information" under Canadian securities legislation. Such forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the potential completion and timing of the Acquisition and the potential benefits to the parties thereto and the Shareholders. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved".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. Statements with respect to the potential completion and timing of the Acquisition and the potential benefits to the parties thereto and the Minority Shareholders are subject to the risk of not obtaining all required approvals, including from the court and the Local Exchange. 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.
Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/3f9pv2/eastern_europe) has announced the addition of the "Eastern Europe B2C E-Commerce Market 2015" report to their offering.

The fourth largest region worldwide in terms of B2C E-Commerce sales, Eastern Europe is home to several emerging online retail markets. However, despite the double-digit growth rates of these markets, Eastern Europe's share of global B2C E-Commerce is predicted to remain unchanged for the next four years, due to more rapid expansion of the Asia-Pacific region. B2C E-Commerce sales accounted for only a small one-digit share of the total retail sales in Eastern Europe in 2015, less than half of the shares in North America, Western Europe and Asia-Pacific. This is an indication of the potential for further online retail growth in Eastern Europe, supported by increasing Internet and online shopper penetration in its leading countries.

Russia was by far the largest B2C E-Commerce market in Eastern Europe in 2014. Though both in Russia and Ukraine unfavorable economic conditions and devaluation of currencies over the previous two years had a negative impact on the consumers' purchasing power, B2C E-Commerce sales in local currency continue to grow rapidly there, spurred by improving Internet penetration and increasing interest in making purchases over the Internet.

In other major markets of the region, including Turkey and Poland, online retail is also evolving. Important trends include the growth of mobile and cross-border E-Commerce. Smartphone penetration is growing across the region, with countries such as the Czech Republic having already surpassed a 50% smartphone penetration rate among the mobile phone users. Another interesting trend is the popularity of price comparison websites, especially in Greece, Romania and Hungary. Moreover, local B2C E-Commerce websites have to cope with the growing popularity of Chinese online marketplaces, such as Alibaba.com and JD.com. However, the positions of national leaders, such as Allegro in Poland, Alza in the Czech Republic, Hepsiburada in Turkey, Rozetka in Ukraine, and Ulmart in Russia remain strong.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Management Summary

2. Regional

3. Russia

4. Poland

5. Turkey

6. Greece

7. Czech Republic

8. Ukraine

9. Romania

10. Hungary

11. Belarus

Companies Mentioned

Alibaba.com

Aliexpress.com

Allegro

Allo

Altex.ro

Alza.cz

Arukereso.hu

Bonprix

Cel.ro

Ceneo

Citilink

Deal.by

E-Dostavka.by

E-Shop.gr

eBay

Elefant.ro

Emag.ro

Exist

Gittigidiyor

Hepsiburada.com

Jofogas.hu

Lamoda

Le Boutique

Levneelektro.cz

Mall.cz

Markafoni

Modnakasta

n11.com

OLX

Shop.by

Skroutz.gr

Wildberries.by

Xe.gr

Zalando

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/3f9pv2/eastern_europe

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160121006309/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


Technavio's latest food and beverage industry report covers the present scenario and growth prospects of the global ready meals market for the period 2016-2020

In this report, Technavio's food research experts announce their key market highlights for the global ready meals market. Their findings include:

Frozen ready meals held over 52% of the ready meal market share in 2015

The global frozen ready meals market was valued at just over USD 50 billion in 2015 and is expected to reach USD 63.6 billion in 2020. Frozen meals comprise a large portfolio, including frozen pizza, chicken meals, beef meals, and various types of frozen vegetarian meals, providing consumers a variety of options to choose from. They are convenient alternatives to cooking and are increasingly being preferred by the working population worldwide.

"A rise in the adult population between those aged 25 to 49 is also driving the market for frozen ready meals as this population segment increasingly feels the pressure of parenthood and a busy lifestyle, which pushes them towards convenience to achieve a work-life balance," said Technavio leadfood industry analyst Vijay Sirathi. Frozen meals are free from microbial attacks and therefore considered healthier compared to other ready meals."

Some of top brands for frozen ready meals are Ristorante, DiGiorno, Stouffer's, McCain, Healthy Choice, Weight Watchers, and Banquet.

Europe is the largest market for ready meals, accounting for over 40% of the global market in 2015

Europe dominated the global ready meals market in 2015 and was valued at nearly USD 39 billion. The European market is expected to surpass USD 48 billion by 2020, growing at a CAGR of 4.5%.

An increase in awareness about health and wellness among consumers in Europe is driving the ready meals market in this region. Vendors are introducing several healthy ready meals such as frozen vegetables, salads, and gluten-free meat to meet consumer requirements. Germany, the UK, France, Spain, and Russia are among the largest markets for ready meals in Europe.

Despite the region's current dominance, the European market is slow compared to the Americas and APAC. The 2013 Horsemeat scandal in European countries, such as the UK, breached the trust of many ready meals consumers. This scandal had a very negative impact on the sales of ready meals in the region. Rising economic uncertainties will also likely lead to slow market growth in Europe from 2018 onwards.

APAC is the fastest growing region for the global ready meals market with an expected CAGR of over 5% through 2020. In 2015, Japan was the leading ready meals consuming country in the region, followed by China and Taiwan. Vendors are localizing their ready meals in order to adopt to the taste and preferences of the consumers of this region.

Vendors are also launching new product lines that cater to consumers belonging to all echelons of society, including upper, middle and lower middle class. In 2014, China Xiamen Yinlu Food, launched a brand named Hou Zhou Dao ready meals targeted at the upper middle class consumers. The product is a nutritious ready meal made of several nutrients such as oats, black rice, red beans, and corns. The core products of Yinlu focus on the middle and lower middle class population.

There is a high demand for premium ready meals

With growing concerns over health and wellness among consumers, the demand for premium meals is increasing. Premium ready meals promise extravagance in product quality, packaging, taste, color, freshness, vitamin content, texture, taste, and shelf life.

Consumers are seeking products that contain natural and organic ingredients that are procured locally since they go through fewer processing cycles than other ready meals. This trend is expected to become an important factor in the future of ready meals innovation.

In November 2015, a company named Nom Noms Word Food introduced a new line of chilled meals packed with ingredients that are authentic and healthy. The company manufactures chilled ready meals using a unique balanced blend of spices, herbs, and flowers to give each meal a unique and authentic flavor.

Top vendors covered in this report:

2 Sisters Food Group

ConAgra

Fluery Michon

Kraft Heinz

Nestle

Unilever

Browse Related Reports:

Global Oatmeal Market 2016-2020

Halal Food Market in Europe 2016-2020

Global Pea Protein Market 2016-2020

Purchase these three reports for the price of one by becoming a Technavio subscriber. Subscribing to Technavio's reports allows you to download any three reports per month for the price of one. Contact enquiry@technavio.com with your requirements and a link to our subscription platform.

About Technavio

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies.

Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users.

If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at media@technavio.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160121005058/en/

Contacts:

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

US: +1 630 333 9501

UK: +44 208 123 1770

Media Marketing Executive

media@technavio.com

www.technavio.com


WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Senate Republicans fell short of the votes needed in an attempt to override President Barack Obama's veto of a bill disapproving of the Environmental Protection Agency's efforts to expand its regulatory authority over small waterways.



The Senate voted 52 to 40 in favor of a procedural motion to move forward with the override attempt, short of the 60 votes needed. An override would have required a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate.



The vote largely came down along party lines, as just three Democrats voted for the motion and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, was the only Republican to vote 'nay.'



Eight Senators, including presidential candidates Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Tex., Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., did not vote.



Last Wednesday, the House voted 253 to 166 to pass a resolution that would prevent the implementation of the EPA regulation known as the 'Waters of the U.S.' rule.



Obama subsequently vetoed the resolution on Tuesday, calling the rule critical to efforts to protect the nation's waters and keep them clean.



'We must protect the waters that are vital for the health of our communities and the success of our businesses, agriculture, and energy development,' Obama said in his veto message. 'As I have noted before, too many of our waters have been left vulnerable.'



He added, 'Because this resolution seeks to block the progress represented by this rule and deny businesses and communities the regulatory certainty and clarity needed to invest in projects that rely on clean water, I cannot support it.'



Supporters of the rule claim it would clarify which waters are protected by federal law and eliminate uncertainty about the reach of the Clean Water Act.



However, opponents describe the 'Waters of the U.S.' rule as a unilateral expansion of federal authority that will hurt job creation.



Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ken., claimed the rule would grant federal bureaucrats dominion over nearly every piece of land that touches a pothole, ditch, or puddle.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
Basilea Pharmaceutica AG / GSK informs Basilea that it has elected not to continue its U.S. alitretinoin program . Processed and transmitted by NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

Basel, Switzerland, January 21, 2016 - GSK (GlaxoSmithKline) informed Basilea today that it has elected to discontinue its U.S. alitretinoin program. Global rights to Toctino (alitretinoin) were transferred to Stiefel, a GSK company, in July 2012. Basilea has the option to re-acquire the U.S. alitretinoin rights. GSK continues to commercialize Toctino in its current markets.

About Basilea

Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. is a biopharmaceutical company developing products that address increasing resistance and non-response to current treatment options in the therapeutic areas of bacterial infections, fungal infections and cancer. The company uses the integrated research, development and commercial operations of its subsidiary Basilea Pharmaceutica International Ltd. to discover, develop and commercialize innovative pharmaceutical products to meet the medical needs of patients with serious and potentially life-threatening conditions. Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland and listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (SIX: BSLN). Additional information can be found at Basilea's website www.basilea.com (http://www.basilea.com).

Disclaimer

This communication expressly or implicitly contains certain forward-looking statements concerning Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. and its business. Such statements involve certain known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which could cause the actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements of Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. is providing this communication as of this date and does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

For further information, please contact:

Media Relations Investor Relations Peer Nils Schroder, PhD

Head Public Relations &

Corporate Communications

+41 61 606 1102

media_relations@basilea.com (mailto:media_relations@basilea.com) Barbara Zink, PhD, MBA

Head Corporate Development



+41 61 606 1233

investor_relations@basilea.com (mailto:investor_relations@basilea.com)

This press release can be downloaded from www.basilea.com (http://www.basilea.com).





Press release (PDF) (http://hugin.info/134390/R/1980584/725577.pdf)


TERRACE, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 01/21/16 -- The Skeena River salmon conservation community reacted strongly today to the news that Fisheries and Oceans Canada has accepted that there is little risk to salmon from a $11-billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) development proposed to be built on top of the most unique and critical marine salmon habitat on the B.C. coast.

Gerald Amos, community coordinator for SkeenaWild Conservation Trust said:

"As an Indigenous Canadian, I am troubled that our federal fisheries department has accepted the so-called science of a Malaysian oil company, Petronas, and is ignoring the traditional ecological knowledge of the Tsimpsian peoples, as well as the findings of Canada's leading experts on erosion and estuary science, who contend that the project is an enormous risk to Skeena wild salmon."

Amos added, "This action by a federal agency flies directly in the face of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's statement that 'no relationship is more important to me and to Canada than the one with Indigenous Peoples.' It also contravenes the mandate letter the Prime Minister sent to Fisheries and Oceans Canada."

That mandate letter instructs the department to "immediately review Canada's environmental assessment processes to regain public trust ... (and) ensure that decisions are based on science, facts, and evidence, and serve the public's interest."

Amos said, "This blithe acceptance of industry's science by the department is hardly a surprise, but it does show how far away we remain from having a major project review process that Canada's First Nations can trust. This serves no-one's interests but a foreign oil company's."

Shannon McPhail, executive director of the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition, said:

"This watershed is bound together by salmon and people. At best, local communities have been ignored by Petronas and the provincial government. This is an irresponsible project being proposed in the worst possible location and has brought conflict and uncertainty. We are incredibly disappointed that Fisheries and Oceans Canada still places the interests of foreign corporations above that of Canadian citizens."

Chief NaMoks, spokesperson for the Office of the Wet' Suwet'en, said:

"We know how important salmon are to all the people of the Skeena, we know the law, and we know how important Lelu Island and Flora Bank are to every race of salmon in the Skeena. We support our brother and sister Tsimsians, who have said that they will not allow a fracked gas factory to be built on top of Lelu and Flora Bank. I am so disappointed, but being disappointed with DFO(i) is something we are all used to. Canada's relationship with us is still broken, and we need to get on with fixing it. This is not a good start. "

Donnie Wesley, Simoyget Yahaan of the Gitwilgyoots, who is occupying Gitwilgyoots ancestral land on Lelu Island, said: "My family and I have fished this area for untold generations. This is our backyard. The idea that building a multi-billion-dollar industrial facility on top of Lelu Island and Flora Bank will have little risk to salmon is so absurd that it defies understanding. Once again we are ignored and patronized by DFO and the federal government. The Tsimpsian people spoke loudly, and I have been clear from the beginning - Petronas will not be allowed to build this factory on top of our salmon habitat. They are wasting their money and our time persisting with this bizarre project."

(i) Note: DFO refers to the old Department of Fisheries and Oceans, now re-named Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

The latest actions by the department will be among a number of critical issues that will be discussed at the forthcoming Salmon Nation Summit to be held in Prince Rupert this Friday and Saturday, January 22 & 23. For information on the summit, see:

http://friendsofwildsalmon.ca/campaigns/detail/liquefied_natural_gas_lng_development/salmon_nation_summit/

Contacts:

Gerald Amos

(250) 632-1521

geraldvamos@gmail.com



Yahaan (Donald) Wesley

(250) -600-3354

donnie_wesley@hotmail.com



Greg Horne

(250)-634-1021

greg@skeenawatershed.com




Toronto, January 21, 2016 (TSX: LUN; OMX: LUMI) Lundin Mining Corporation ("Lundin Mining" or the "Company"), announces production results for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2015. The Company also provides operating and capital guidance for 2016.2015 Highlights:-- Exceeded the high-end of annual production guidance for copper and nickel while meeting overall targets for zinc. -- Candelaria outperformed the most recent copper production guidance due primarily to higher than expected mill throughput in Q4. -- At Candelaria as previously announced, the successful exploration and mine plan optimization efforts resulted in total Mineral Reserves increasing by approximately 20% and resulted in the extension of the mine lives of all of the higher grade underground mines as well as the open pit. -- Zinkgruvan achieved new annual records relating to tonnes of ore mined and milled. Annual zinc production also constituted a new record for the operation. -- As at year end 2015, the Company had a net debt balance of $441 million, and did not have any amounts drawn on its $350 million revolving credit facility.A summary of the Company's production results compared to the latest guidance is shown below and further details are provided in the tables at the end of the release.(contained tonnes) Q4 2015 Full Year 2015 2015 Production Production Production Results Guidance1 Results -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copper Candelaria 31,875 144,832 138,000 - 141,000 (80%) Eagle 5,996 24,331 23,000 - 24,000 Neves-Corvo 11,078 55,831 54,000 - 56,000 Zinkgruvan 5 2,044 2,000 Aguablanca 466 6,221 6,100 ------------------------------------------------------------ Wholly-owne 49,420 233,259 223,100 - 229,100 d Tenke n/a n/a 50,600 (24%)2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total n/a n/a 273,700 - 279,700 attributab le Nickel Eagle 7,074 27,167 26,000 - 27,000 Aguablanca 514 7,213 7,100 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total 7,588 34,380 33,100 - 34,100 Zinc Neves-Corvo 14,196 61,921 59,000 - 62,000 Zinkgruvan 25,339 83,451 82,000 - 85,000 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total 39,535 145,372 141,000 - 147,000 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------1. Guidance as presented in the Company's Management Discussion and Analysis for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2015.2. Production results for Tenke have not yet been released by operator Freeport-McMoRan Inc. ("Freeport").Mr. Paul Conibear, President and CEO commented: "The Company finished 2015 on a strong note and achieved or exceeded annual production guidance at each operation. In light of the current commodity price environment our operating and capital investment activities will continue to focus on financial flexibility and maximizing cash flows in order to preserve the Company's strong balance sheet."2016 Production and Cost Guidance-- All production guidance estimates for 2016 have remained unchanged from the figures previously disclosed on December 2, 2015. -- The outlook below does not include guidance for the Aguablanca mine which remains under suspension pending further notice. -- Our 2016 cash cost guidance reflects the results of cost review and reduction plans undertaken at each operation in order to help offset the cash cost impact of lower expected by-product credit metal prices.2016 Production and Cost Guidance1 Tonnes C1 Cost2 ------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------ Copper Candelaria (80%) 118,000 - 123,000 $1.55/lb Eagle 20,000 - 23,000 Neves-Corvo 50,000 - 55,000 $1.65/lb Zinkgruvan 3,500 - 4,000 Tenke (@24%)3 ~50,000 n/a ------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------- Total attributable 241,500 - 255,000 Nickel Eagle 21,000 - 24,000 $2.25/lb ------------------------------------------------------- Total 21,000 - 24,000 Zinc Neves-Corvo 65,000 - 70,000 Zinkgruvan 80,000 - 85,000 $0.45/lb ------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------- Total 145,000 - 155,0001. Production guidance is based on certain estimates and assumptions, including but not limited to; mineral resources and reserves, geological formations, grade and continuity of deposits and metallurgical characteristics.2. Cash costs remain dependent upon exchange rates (forecast at /USD: 1.10, USD/SEK: 8.50, USD/CLP: 700) and metal prices (forecast at Cu: $2.05/lb, Ni: $4.15/lb, Zn: $0.70/lb, Pb: $0.70/lb, Au: $1,100/oz, Ag: $15.00/oz, Co: $13.00/lb).3. Tenke guidance has not yet been provided by operator, Freeport. Lundin Mining anticipates production from Tenke in 2016 to be comparable to expected 2015 production.2016 Capital Expenditure and Exploration GuidanceCapital expenditures for 2016 for mines operated by the Company are expected to be $220M, which includes:-- $35M in capitalized stripping at Candelaria. This has significantly decreased from prior estimates due to a deferral of 30Mt of waste being mined from Phase 10, resulting in expected cost savings of approximately $65M in 2016. -- At Candelaria spending on the Los Diques tailings facility is expected to amount to $70M in 2016. The total capex budget for the project is expected to total $325M between 2016 and 2018, in-line with prior estimates. -- At Eagle sustaining capital costs are expected to total $10M in 2016, which represents a decrease of 50% compared to 2015 guidance levels. -- At Neves-Corvo capital costs in 2016 are expected to total approximately $55M, in-line with guidance levels provided for 2015. -- At Zinkgruvan the guidance amount of $35M for 2016 includes the spending of $8M on an expansion project which is aimed at increasing the overall mill capacity by approximately 10% by the end of 2017. -- Exploration expenditures in 2016 are expected to total $40M, which represents a decrease of approximately $20M from 2015 guidance levels due to the deferral or cancelation of most greenfields exploration work. -- The 2016 exploration budget comprises spending approximately $18M on exploration at Eagle East and $17M at Candelaria. All exploration activities remain discretionary and can be further reduced if necessary.Capital & Other Costs ($ millions) 2016 ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- Candelaria (100% basis): Total Capitalized Stripping1 35 Los Diques Tailings Capex2 70 Other Sustaining Capex 15 ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- Total Candelaria 120 Total Eagle 10 Total Neves-Corvo 55 Total Zinkgruvan 35 ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- Total Capital Costs 2201. During the production phase, waste stripping costs which provide probable future economic benefits and improved access to the orebody are capitalized to mineral properties. The Company capitalizes waste costs when experienced strip ratios are above the average planned strip ratio for each open pit phase under development.2. The Los Diques project capex is based on project review estimates completed in 2015 which assumed an USD/CLP exchange rate of 625.About Lundin MiningLundin Mining Corporation is a diversified Canadian base metals mining company with operations in Chile, Portugal, Sweden, Spain and the US, producing copper, nickel and zinc. In addition, Lundin Mining holds a 24% equity stake in the world-class Tenke Fungurume copper/cobalt mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in the Freeport Cobalt Oy business, which includes a cobalt refinery in Kokkola, Finland.On Behalf of the Board,Paul ConibearPresident and CEOThe information in this release is subject to the disclosure requirements of Lundin Mining under the Swedish Securities Market Act and/or the Swedish Financial Instruments Trading Act. This information was publicly communicated on January 21, 2016 at 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time.For further information, please contact:John MiniotisSenior Manager, Corporate Development & Investor Relations+1-416-342-5565Sonia TercasSenior Associate, Investor Relations+1-416-342-5583Robert ErikssonInvestor Relations, Sweden+46 8 545 015 50Forward Looking StatementsCertain of the statements made and information contained herein is "forward-looking information" within the meaning of the Ontario Securities Act. This release includes, but is not limited to, forward looking statements with respect to the Company's estimated annual metal production, C1 cash costs, and capital expenditures. These estimates and other forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, risks and uncertainties relating to estimated operating and cash costs, foreign currency fluctuations; risks inherent in mining including environmental hazards, industrial accidents, unusual or unexpected geological formations, ground control problems and flooding; including risks associated with the estimation of mineral resources and reserves and the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations; the potential for and effects of labour disputes or other unanticipated difficulties with or shortages of labour or interruptions in production; actual ore mined varying from estimates of grade, tonnage, dilution and metallurgical and other characteristics; the inherent uncertainty of production and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses, commodity price fluctuations; inability to successfully integrate the Candelaria operations or realize its anticipated benefits; uncertain political and economic environments; changes in laws or policies, foreign taxation, delays or the inability to obtain necessary governmental permits; and other risks and uncertainties, including those described under Risk Factors Relating to the Company's Business in the Company's Annual Information Form and in each management discussion and analysis. Forward-looking information is in addition based on various assumptions including, without limitation, the expectations and beliefs of management, the assumed long term price of copper, nickel, zinc and other metals; that the Company can access financing, appropriate equipment and sufficient labour and that the political environment where the Company operates will continue to support the development and operation of mining projects. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking statements. Accordingly, readers are advised not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.2015 Operating StatisticsDetails of operating statistics by mine, by quarter and for the year are summarized below:Candelaria--------------------------------------------------------------------- 2015 (100% Basis) Total Q4 Q3 Q2 Q1 --------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------Ore mined (000s tonnes) 33,922 8,012 8,240 9,022 8,648 Ore milled (000s tonnes) 29,694 7,504 7,933 7,327 6,930 --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- Grade Copper (%) 0.64 0.53 0.61 0.68 0.78 --------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- Recovery Copper (%) 92.7 92.2 92.4 94.0 92.6 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Production (contained metal) Copper (tonnes) 181,040 39,844 45,195 46,651 49,350 Gold (000 oz) 102 23 25 27 28 Silver (000 oz) 1,874 394 433 464 583 ---------------------------------------------------------------------Eagle---------------------------------------------------------------- 2015 Total Q4 Q3 Q2 Q1 ---------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------Ore mined (000s tonnes) 740 190 191 175 184 Ore milled (000s tonnes) 746 183 193 184 186 ---------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------- Grade Nickel (%) 4.3 4.3 3.9 4.2 4.7 Copper (%) 3.4 3.4 3.5 3.1 3.6 ---------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------- Recovery Nickel (%) 84.2 83.8 85.0 84.4 83.5 Copper (%) 97.0 97.9 97.3 96.4 96.4 ---------------------------------------------------------------- Production (contained metal) Nickel (tonnes) 27,167 7,074 6,438 6,349 7,306 Copper (tonnes) 24,331 5,996 6,514 5,403 6,418 ----------------------------------------------------------------Neves-Corvo----------------------------------------------------------------------- 2015 Total Q4 Q3 Q2 Q1 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------------------Ore mined, copper (000 tonnes) 2,501 583 614 673 631 Ore mined, zinc (000 tonnes) 1,000 241 255 254 250 Ore milled, copper (000 tonnes) 2,542 584 619 699 640 Ore milled, zinc (000 tonnes) 1,014 240 257 258 259 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Grade Copper (%) 2.7 2.4 2.8 2.7 2.9 Zinc (%) 8.0 7.5 8.1 7.9 8.5 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Recovery Copper (%) 80.6 79.6 79.1 81.1 82.4 Zinc (%) 71.8 75.6 63.3 73.6 74.9 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Production (contained metal) Copper (tonnes) 55,831 11,078 13,917 15,348 15,488 Zinc (tonnes) 61,921 14,196 14,363 16,022 17,340 Lead (tonnes) 3,077 311 366 1,080 1,320 Silver (000 oz) 1,329 270 310 359 390 -----------------------------------------------------------------------Zinkgruvan----------------------------------------------------------------------- 2015 Total Q4 Q3 Q2 Q1 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------------------Ore mined, zinc (000 tonnes) 1,126 313 257 289 267 Ore mined, copper (000 tonnes) 137 nil 40 52 45 Ore milled, zinc (000 tonnes) 1,096 307 260 267 262 Ore milled, copper (000 tonnes) 139 nil 52 43 44 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Grade Zinc (%) 8.3 9.0 7.7 8.6 7.6 Lead (%) 3.8 4.2 4.0 3.4 3.4 Copper (%) 1.7 nil 1.1 2.4 1.5 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Recovery Zinc (%) 92.1 91.5 91.5 92.8 92.6 Lead (%) 82.9 83.0 83.7 82.4 82.6 Copper (%) 88.1 nil 80.1 91.9 89.0 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Production (contained metal) Zinc (tonnes) 83,451 25,339 18,458 21,237 18,417 Lead (tonnes) 34,120 10,733 8,609 7,379 7,399 Copper (tonnes) 2,044 5 475 974 590 Silver (000 oz) 2,542 729 627 622 564 -----------------------------------------------------------------------Aguablanca-------------------------------------------------------------- 2015 Total Q4 Q3 Q2 Q1 -------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------Ore mined (000s tonnes) 616 nil 51 187 378 Ore milled (000s tonnes) 1,292 100 376 392 424 -------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------- Grade Nickel (%) 0.68 0.65 0.58 0.70 0.77 Copper (%) 0.52 0.50 0.48 0.54 0.54 -------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------- Recovery Nickel (%) 81.1 77.0 78.4 82.0 83.7 Copper (%) 93.1 90.6 93.0 93.4 93.4 -------------------------------------------------------------- Production (contained metal) Nickel (tonnes) 7,213 514 1,708 2,245 2,746 Copper (tonnes) 6,221 466 1,658 1,975 2,122 --------------------------------------------------------------Attachment:https://cns.omxgroup.com/cds/DisclosureAttachmentServlet?messageAttachmentId=543765
CHICAGO, IL--(Marketwired - January 21, 2016) - Eric Lefkofsky, Chairman and Co-founder of Groupon and Managing Director of Lightbank, and his wife Liz have supported the production of a documentary exploring the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012.

Titled Newtown: A Documentary, filmmakers Kim A. Snyder and Maria Cuomo Cole recall the events of December 14, 2012, where 20 schoolchildren and six teachers were gunned down, with a community left shocked and fractured. The film is set to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this month. The contribution was funded through the Lefkofsky Family Foundation.

"The incident was the deadliest mass shooting at a high school or grade school in United States history, and this film will spark renewed dialogue about gun control," said Eric Lefkofsky. In 2015 there were a total of 372 mass shootings in the U.S., killing 475 and wounding 1,870.

About Lefkofsky Family Foundation

The Lefkofsky Family Foundation is a private charitable foundation that was established in 2006 by Liz and Eric Lefkofsky. The purpose of the Lefkofsky Family Foundation is to advance high-impact programs, initiatives and research that enhance the quality of human life in the communities we serve. To achieve this mission, the Foundation strives to: ensure access to quality education; improve fundamental human rights; propel innovative medical research; and expand cultural initiatives. For more information on the Lefkofsky Family Foundation, visit: http://lefkofskyfoundation.com

About Eric Lefkofsky

Eric Lefkofsky is Chairman and Co-founder of Groupon and Managing Director of Lightbank. He is also the Co-founder of InnerWorkings, Echo Global Logistics, Mediaocean, and Uptake. Eric Lefkofsky is a Trustee of Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, Steppenwolf Theater, The Museum of Science and Industry and World Business Chicago. He is also an adjunct professor at the University of Chicago. Eric Lefkofsky graduated from the University of Michigan and received his Juris Doctor at University of Michigan Law School. For more information on Eric Lefkofsky, visit: http://www.lefkofsky.com

Eric Lefkofsky -- CrunchBase: https://www.crunchbase.com/person/eric-lefkofsky

Eric Lefkofsky (@lefkofsky) -- Twitter: https://twitter.com/lefkofsky

Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/1/21/11G079742/Images/Eric_Lefkofsky_--_Liz_Lefkofsky_Support_Production-915445b6fc3ba5ff9ba21cc8b407d923.jpg

Contact Information:

Rachel Graham

rachel@lffoundation.com
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 21, 2016) - Lupaka Gold Corp (TSXV: LPK) (FSE: LQP) ("Lupaka Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has signed a non-binding Letter of Intent with Pandion Mine Finance, LLC ("Pandion") to fund the completion of development and subsequent production at its Invicta Gold Project ("Invicta").

This financing is subject to Pandion's completion of remaining due diligence within ninety days and the completion and execution of a Prepaid Forward Gold Purchase Agreement. The first tranche of US$3,600,000 will be used to complete mine development, safety and efficiency upgrades and for the upgrade and completion of access roads. The first tranche will allow the Company to begin operations at 150 tonnes per day ("tpd") utilizing local toll processing plants.

Subject to certain milestones being achieved, by the first anniversary, a second tranche of US$7,000,000 will be made available to allow Lupaka Gold to complete the expansion of its mine production to 350 tpd and the construction and commissioning of its own processing facility. Such a facility would be located much closer to Invicta than existing toll processors. This new Company owned facility is forecast to realize significant transport and processing cost-savings.

Gordon Ellis, President and CEO commented, "We are very pleased with this funding package in that it has very favourable characteristics including that it is non-dilutive to shareholders, has a fixed term and can be paid out at any time. We look forward to closing this financing transaction as soon as possible".

About Pandion Mine Finance, LLC

Pandion Mine Finance, LLC is a mining-focused investment firm backed by MKS PAMP Group and Ospraie Management, LLC that provides flexible financing solutions to developing mining companies.

About Red Cloud Mining Capital Inc.

In connection with the announced financing, Red Cloud Mining Capital Inc. ("Red Cloud") acted as Lupaka Gold's strategic advisor. Red Cloud is a 'new concept' capital markets strategy firm. Red Cloud uses its network and extensive experience in mining to help companies identify alternative sources of capital and quality actionable growth opportunities.

About Lupaka Gold

Lupaka Gold is a Peru-focused gold explorer and developer with geographic diversification and balance through its interests in asset-based resource projects spread across three regions of Peru.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Lupaka Gold Corp.

Investor Relations

+1 (604) 681-5900

or visit the Company's profile at www.sedar.com or its website at www.lupakagold.com

Cautionary Note Regarding the Invicta Production Decision

The decision to commence production at the Invicta Gold Project and the Company's plans for a mining operation as referenced herein (the "Production Decision and Plans") were based on economic models prepared by the Company in conjunction with management's knowledge of the property and the existing preliminary estimate of measured, indicated and inferred mineral resources on the property. The Production Decision and Plans were not based on a preliminary economic assessment, a pre-feasibility study or a feasibility study of mineral reserves demonstrating economic and technical viability. Accordingly, there is increased uncertainty and economic and technical risks of failure associated with the Production Decision and Plans, in particular the risk that mineral grades will be lower than expected, the risk that construction or ongoing mining operations are more difficult or more expensive than expected, the risk that the Company will not be able to transport or sell the mineralized rock it produces to local custom toll mills on the terms it expects, or at all; production and economic variables may vary considerably, due to the absence of a detailed economic and technical analysis according to and in accordance with NI 43-101.

Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward Looking Information

All statements, trend analysis and other information contained in this press release relative to anticipated future events or results constitute forward-looking statements. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein, including, without limitation, statements relating to the anticipated use of proceeds of the Pandion financing and the expected benefits from a Company owned processing facility, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions, estimates and opinions of management at the date the statements are made that the Company believes are reasonable, including: that the due diligence is completed and is satisfactory to Pandion, the Prepaid Forward Gold Purchase Agreement is consummated on the anticipated terms, that the supplies, equipment, personnel, permits, and local community approvals required to conduct the Company's planned pre-production and development activities will be available on reasonable terms; that the Company will achieve the milestones required to be achieved as a condition to the advance of the second tranche funding under the Pandion financing, that the contemplated Company owned processing facility will achieve the expected benefits, that results of exploration activities will be consistent with management's expectations and that the Company will not experience any material accident, labour dispute, or failure of equipment and with respect to the planned mining operations at Invicta; that pre-production mine development can be completed in the time and for the cost projected; that the Company will be able to obtain funding for planned production expenses; that mineralization on the Invicta project will be of the grades and in the locations expected; that the Company will be able to extract and transport mineralized rock efficiently and sell the mineralized rock at the prices and in the manner and quantities expected; that permits will be received on the terms and timeline expected and that other regulatory or permitting issues will not arise; that mining methods can be employed in the manner and at the costs expected and that such methods yield the results the Company expects them to. However, forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such risks, uncertainties and other factors include, among others: all of the risks described in this news release; failure of the Pandion financing to complete on the proposed terms or at all; inability to achieve the milestones referred to above, the risk that the contemplated Company owned processing facility will not be completed or will not achieve the expected benefits, the risk that actual results of exploration activities will be different than anticipated; that cost of labour, equipment or materials will increase more than expected; that the future price of gold will decline; that the Canadian dollar will strengthen against the U.S. dollar; that mineral resources are not as estimated; unexpected variations in mineral resources, grade or recovery rates; risks related to shipping mineralized rock; the risk that local mills cannot or will not buy or process mineralized rock from the planned production for the prices expected or at all; risk of accidents, labour disputes and other risks generally associated with mineral exploration; unanticipated delays in obtaining or failure to obtain community, governmental or regulatory approvals or financing; and all of the risks generally associated with the development of mining facilities and the operation of a producing mine, as well as the risks described in the Company's annual information form, which is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results to not be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information due to the inherent uncertainty thereof. Lupaka Gold does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements except as required by applicable securities laws. Investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as the term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy of this news release.
Adaptive Symbiotic Technologies (AST), a Portland, OR-based agriculture biotechnology company developing seed and plant treatments to protect crops from drought and other environmental stresses, closed a $3.4m Series A funding.

UPDATE: a previous version said the round amounted to $3.2m

The round, raised via AgFunder, the online investment platform for agriculture and food technology startups, was led by Twynam Agricultural Group, an Australian ag producer, with participation from a group of impact investors.

The company intends to use the funds for international expansion. It is currently conducting field tests in India, Australia, South America and Europe.

Led by Dr. Russell Rodriguez, Cofounder and CEO, AST is a socially conscious biotechnology company addressing the limitations to agricultural and natural ecosystems globally such as drought, salty soils, and temperature stresses. Its first product, a microbial seed coating treatment called BioEnsure, helps corn crops become more resistant to extreme heat, cold, and drought.

After focusing on R&D and field trials, the company recently signed an agreement with international seed distributor INCOTEC, a Dutch company with a global distribution network.

AST also has treatments for wheat, soybeans and vegetables, which have been tested and will be available soon for commercialization.

FinSMEs

21/01/2016
MyDealerOnline, Inc., a Langhorne, Pa.-based digital product that allows car dealers to broker wholesale auto auction inventory straight from their own websites, raised $1M in funding.

The backers were not named.

The company, which has raised $3.25m in total, intends to use the funds to increase its subscriber base, foster growth among new and existing partnerships, and expand its efforts internationally.

MyDealerOnline provides a digital product that allows car dealers to broker wholesale auto auction inventory straight from their websites. A B2B service developed as a tool for remarketing vehicles, the company provides dealers with an inventory selection without increasing their working capital requirements or overhead availability and working directly with them.

FinSMEs

21/01/2016
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From the New York Times



"Lorraine Dusky, a writer who relinquished a daughter as a young single mother in New York State in 1966, supports opening the records. She reported in her 2015 memoir that in the handful of states that offered women the opportunity to remove their names from original birth certificates, only a small fraction of women  fewer than 1 percent  chose to do so." -- Dont Keep Adopted People in the Dark by Gabrielle Glaser, June 19, 2018

From the New York Times "On FirstMotherForum.com, a blog that discusses issues among women who had given children up for adoption, Lorraine Dusky, one of the sites authors, praised the series (ABC's 10-episode Find My Family): 'Maybe this will be heard by people who think it is unloyal somehow for a person to search out his or her roots, parents, family, when it is a most natural desire of consciousness.' --Two Reality Shows Stir Publicity and Anger"--Dec. 6, 2009.

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Oregon court records available Instructions and forms for accessing adoption records are on the Oregon Judicial Department's website.

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Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong'o says she's "disappointed" by "the lack of inclusion" in this year's Oscar nominations.

In a statement posted late Tuesday night on Instagram, Nyong'o said she was joining in "calling for change in expanding the stories that are told and recognition of the people who tell them." Following a second straight year of all-white acting nominees, lifetime achievement honoree Spike Lee has said he won't attend the 28 February ceremony, and the Reverand Al Sharpton has called for a boycott of the awards.

Nyong'o said the Oscars should be "a diverse reflection of the best of what our art has to offer today."

The 32-year-old, Kenya-raised actress won best supporting actress for her performance in 12 Years a Slave in 2014.

Lupita is not the only one who has spoken up about the lack of diversity in the 2016 Academy Awards nominees' list.

On Tuesday when the Rev. Al Sharpton said he would lead a campaign encouraging people not to watch the telecast. On Monday, Spike Lee, this year's Oscar honoree for lifetime achievement, and Jada Pinkett Smith announced they will boycott the ceremony in protest.

Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs, who has led efforts to diversify the academy, responded late Monday evening with a forceful statement saying that those previous measures weren't enough.

Isaacs, the academy's first African American president, said that "it's time for big changes" and that she will review membership recruiting to bring about "much-need diversity" in the academy's ranks.

At a Los Angeles gala honoring Boone Isaacs on Monday night, actor David Oyelowo  who was famously snubbed last year for his performance as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma  expressed frustration with the academy.

"This institution doesn't reflect its president and it doesn't reflect this room," Oyelowo said. "I am an academy member and it doesn't reflect me and it doesn't reflect this nation."

Other stars began weighing in. George Clooney, in comments to Variety, said that after earlier progress by the industry, "you feel like we're moving in the wrong direction." He noted that movies like Creed, Straight Outta Compton, Beasts of No Nation and Concussion may have deserved more attention from the academy.

"But honestly, there should be more opportunity than that," Clooney said. "There should be 20 or 30 or 40 films of the quality that people would consider for the Oscars. By the way, we're talking about African Americans. For Hispanics, it's even worse. We need to get better at this. We used to be better at it."

"Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced." - James Baldwin #manystoriesmanyvoices A photo posted by Lupita Nyong'o (@lupitanyongo) on Jan 19, 2016 at 8:40pm PST

With inputs from AP
DAVOS, Switzerland "Keep it simple, visual and factual" - that is the advice of the most powerful man in advertising to Britain's campaign to stay in the European Union, saying it must focus on the benefits to trade, investment and jobs to win the debate.

A second-generation immigrant, Martin Sorrell, who has built the world's biggest advertising group WPP (WPP.L) over 30 years, is passionate about staying in the EU and does not rule out personally contributing to the 'in' campaign at a later date.

But if Britain were to vote to leave the 28-nation bloc in a referendum Prime Minister David Cameron hopes to hold this year, he would feel a conflict between his head and heart - with logic suggesting that he should move his headquarters from its now home, while patriotism may compel him to do otherwise.

"Keep it simple, make it as uncomplicated as possible, make it as visual as you can possibly can," he said in an interview at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos.

To make his point, he cited a poster campaign carried out in 1979 by advertising company Saatchi & Saatchi, where he worked at the time, on behalf of Britain's then opposition Conservative party under Margaret Thatcher.

The poster, showing a long line of people queuing for unemployment benefit under the slogan "Labour isn't working", is credited with helping the Conservatives win that year's parliamentary election.

Sorrell did not suggest what the catchphrase for the 'in' campaign might be, saying: "That's not my job." But he urged it to offer an alternative vision of immigration as a positive force to counter a growing feeling among some voters that Britain is already a "crowded isle".

"As a second-generation immigrant, and I am probably subjective about it, I think immigrants are a net benefit not a net disadvantage," said Sorrell, whose father's parents were from Ukraine and mother's were from Poland and Romania  the first arriving in England around the turn of the 20th century.

FUTURE ROLE

The referendum will not only shape Britain's role in world trade and affairs, but also the EU, which is struggling to maintain unity over migration and financial crises.

Although official campaigning on both sides of the debate will not begin until Cameron has finished negotiations with the bloc which he hopes will secure a better membership deal for Britain, the battle lines have already been drawn.

Much of big business in Britain has sided with Cameron, pressing arguments that the EU's single market helps spur trade, attract investment and create jobs while the uncertainty of a possible 'Brexit' does little for the economy.

Some smaller businesses and hedge funds are keener on leaving the bloc. Others say an exit would have little impact.

Roger Carr, chairman of BAE Systems, Europe's biggest defence contractor, supports remaining in a reformed European Union and says there is an understanding that business should support the government's position to negotiate a better deal.

"I am a supporter of making it better, more competitive and therefore seeking to improve it, but I still believe you can do that more effectively as a family member within rather than as a critic outside," he told Reuters.

Although an exit would not directly hurt BAE, which mostly deals with governments, he said the tone of relationships would change and it could hurt security. He is not working on contingency planning if Britain votes to leave.

But Dominic Barton, global managing director at McKinsey business management consultancy, said some other companies were spending "a lot of money" on planning for a British departure which could mean moving offices out of Britain.

"I know one global bank that is spending $75 million, because you've got to think about (your) real estate footprint, moving people, tax implications," he said.

"And even though you don't think it's going to happen, as a leader you've got to have a backup plan."

EMOTION OR LOGIC

For Sorrell, his team as yet have not started looking into a move, which, he suggests, would be a wrench.

He moved WPP, which owns agencies including JWT, Ogilvy & Mather and Grey, to Ireland in 2008 to cut its tax bill after the then Labour government proposed the potential "double taxation" of corporate profits. He returned in 2013, but said some board members were against it.

He said the company returned for "I hesitate to say it" patriotic reasons and some board members were against it, making it "difficult to say" whether the company would move again.

"And forgetting about the emotional side for a minute ... purely logically ... if we came out of Europe it would probably make sense to be in Europe. It could be Paris, Berlin, Madrid, Milan, Frankfurt," he said, adding there was no plan to do so.

Most business leaders are, like many opinion polls, split over which side of the debate has the upper hand. Some polls suggest that those favouring a departure from the EU have a small lead but with so many Britons undecided, any clear picture is difficult to gauge.

That's where a simple campaign comes in, says Sorrell, who argues that many of those as yet undecided over which way to vote simply do not have enough information.

"If I look at the polls ... (they are) saying the key battle ground is the undecideds," he said.

"And the key battleground with the undecideds apparently is that they say they haven't got the information. So it would be about laying out the case cogently ... It's very easy, you take the leading factors and you just lay them out - investment, trade and jobs."

(additional reporting by Martinne Geller; editing by Anna Willard)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
NEW YORK U.S. oil prices crashed below $27 dollars a barrel on Wednesday for the first time since 2003, caught in a broad slump across world financial markets with traders also worried that the crude supply glut could last longer.

Oil has fallen more than 25 percent so far this year, the steepest such slide since the financial crisis, piling more pain on oil drillers and producing nations alike. Yet they keep pumping more oil into an oversupplied market.

Sure enough, fresh data from the American Petroleum Institute on Wednesday showed U.S. crude stocks rose more than expected last week. Crude inventories rose by 4.6 million barrels in the week to Jan. 15 to 485.2 million, well above analysts' expectations for an increase of 2.8 million barrels, the industry group said.

Venezuela requested an emergency OPEC meeting to discuss steps to prop up prices, but other delegates dismissed the idea.

A Middle Eastern shipping firm became one of the first to resume direct business with Iran after international sanctions on Tehran were lifted at the weekend, a reminder of how quickly more oil may flow.

"The Iranians are clearly stepping it up to battle for market share in Europe," said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital LLC in New York. Not only is that a major market for Saudi Arabia and Russia, but U.S. oil is now flowing unfettered to Europe for the first time, "so it's a battle royale."

U.S. crude for February delivery, which expired at the end of the day, slid $1.91, or 6.7 percent to settle at $26.55. New front-month March futures fell nearly 4 percent on the day to close at $28.35 a barrel.

The March futures contract fell 14 cents to $28.21 a barrel in post-settlement trading after the API data.

Brent futures for March delivery fell 88 cents to settle at $27.88 a barrel, a 2.7 percent loss after pulling back from a new contract low of $27.10. That was down a further 8 cents in after-hours trading.

The latest step lower, the 11th decline in 13 days for Brent, set off a new round of panic buying on bearish options, sending the oil volatility index to its highest level since early 2009 when the financial crisis was starting to ebb.

Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst with SEB in Oslo, said a "very broad-based sell-off across assets and across the world" amplified pressure on oil prices.

World equities sank to their lowest level since 2013. The MSCI World Equity Index has dropped 11.1 percent in January, which if sustained would be the worst monthly loss since October 2008, the month after Lehman Brothers went bankrupt. [MKTS/GLOB]

At this point, analysts say, the oil market is being weighed down by falling equity prices and that is reinforcing the existing fears about global economic health.

On Tuesday, the International Energy Agency warned that the world could "drown in oversupply" of oil in 2016, with the lifting of sanctions against Iran allowing that country to add its exports to the global glut.

The sell-off triggered a further slide in shares of big U.S. shale drillers, as investors feared much of the sector would struggle to withstand a prolonged period with prices below $30. Continental Resources Inc fell as much as 18 percent before closing down 5.4 percent.

But oil prices may keep falling until traders see U.S. shale producers slowing production, said Schieldrop, referring to the desire of Saudi Arabia and other OPEC producers to protect market share from U.S. drillers.

Energy market watchers expect the global crude glut to persist through at least the end of this year, adding to stockpiles that in some places are testing tank limits.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) will report official inventory data on Thursday.

(Additional reporting by Libby George in London and Keith Wallis in Singapore; Editing by Frances Kerry and Lisa Shumaker)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Bengaluru: Bhagat Singh's grand nephew, Abhitej Singh Sandhu on Thursday said that youth will not allow the Chandigarh International Airport to operate until the central Government names the airport after the martyr.

"If the naming is not done soon, the youth of the country will not let the Chandigarh International Airport to operate till the time the Central Government names it after Shaeed-e-Azam Sardar Bhagat Singh," Sandhu said.

Both Punjab and Haryana governments had proposed and agreed to name the airport after Bhagat Singh, a national icon of the country's freedom struggle, he claimed and said the Haryana government should stand by its earlier decision to name the airport after Bhagat Singh.

Both legislative assemblies of Punjab and Haryana in 2009 and 2010 had passed resolutions to name the airport after the martyr, Sandhu said.

Both Punjab and Haryana governments have locked horns over the naming of Chandigarh International Airport after Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar stirred a hornet's nest by reportedly proposing the name of late RSS leader Mangal Sein instead of Bhagat Singh.

The Punjab government wants the airport to be named after Bhagat Singh while the Centre is yet to take a decision in naming the airport after the martyr.

The issue also has attained political overtones with the Indian National Lok Dal and, Punjab Pradesh Congress condemning the BJP Government in Haryana reported proposal to name the airport after Mangal Sein.

PTI
The protests over the alleged suicide of Dalit student Rohith Vemula intensified on Thursday as 10 professors from the University of Hyderabad resigned from their administrative posts, according to reports.

Reports also said that all the professors who resigned belong to SC/ST communities and have now joined the students in their protest against the Narendra Modi government and the university vice-chancellor.

The professors are also angry about the alleged misrepresentation of facts by Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani, according to Hindustan Times.

The protesting students in Hyderabad University have also made five demands, the first of which is the revocation of suspension of the university's remaining four students.

The groups also demanded immediate sacking of Vice-Chancellor P Appa Rao, Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya and action against BJP MLC Ramachandra Rao for their alleged roles in the case.

They also demanded a judicial probe into the matter.

"The family of the Rohith Vemula should be granted a compensation of Rs 5 crore, a home should be given to his family and his kin a job in government sector," said Kiran Kumar of the Joint Action Committee of students of Hyderabad University.

The resignations by 10 professors comes a day after Irani on Wednesday accused her political rivals of attempting to "instigate" students all over the country on this issue.

After keeping a low profile for the last two days, Irani addressed a press conference flanked by three ministers where she took on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, saying the party wants to "shoot" on the issue which is "expected but unfortunate".

The minister was at pains to project that an ABVP student, who was attacked due to student rivalry, belonged to the OBC community, as was Dattatreya, who had written a letter to her about the attack.

Claiming that a "malicious attempt" was being made to project the suicide as a Dalit versus non-Dalit caste battle over which "passions" are being ignited, the minister rejected allegations that her ministry's intervention through letters had led to the suicide of the student Rohith Vemula.

Facing a number of questions, Irani said she did not want to get into political mud-slinging or a blame game and was only bringing certain facts to set the record straight in the face of attempts to create caste divisions in the society.

"An effort is on to instigate students all over the country. My appeal is: Please do not instigate students and communities deliberately.

"There has been a malicious attempt to ignite passions and present this as a caste battle which it is not. It is not a Dalit versus non-Dalit confrontation as has been the efforts of some to project it that way," she said repeatedly.

Asked about the resignation demand made by Rahul during his visit to the university on Tuesday, Irani said, "They need to look at all these facts. Today I want to answer (to his statements) only through these two reports." She was referring to the standard protcol followed by government from the time of the UPA.

Irani sought to downplay the letter of Dattatreya, who had sought action on the issue of clash between two student bodies and the "anti-national activities" in the varsity, and her ministry's five communications to the university as a follow-up, which have been blamed for the suicide.

Seeking to turn the tables against Congress, she produced a letter of Congress MP V Hanumantha Rao, who had written a letter in November 2014 seeking her intervention over various issues including suicide by students of marginalised communities in four years due to "alleged caste discrimination".

"Why did the Congress not debate and fix the issue then? Why is it debating on the issue now?, she asked, adding "The Congress MP says it's not a new problem but one that persisted for four years. If they (Congress) had fixed the problem four years ago, perhaps Rohith would have been alive," the minister said.

Justifying the five communications in the present case, Irani said six letters were sent to the University by her ministry even on the complaint of Hanumantha Rao. She said whatever her ministry had done was done in accordance with the protocol of the Central Secretariat Manual of Office Procedure.

She also produced a certified copy of the suicide note of Rohith to say that it did not mention any university official, political organisation or any MP.

Asked whether she would go to Hyderabad, Irani said she would not make a visit as she would not like to give an impression of "interference".

Speaking in the same vein, Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman too said that it is not "a Dalit versus non-Dalit issue".

"In every sense and at every level, the university has made sure that because it involves a Dalit student, the sensitivity has to be appreciated and where the presence of a Dalit professor was required, a warden was required, they have been brought in... saying it is Dalit versus something is absolutely baseless," she told reporters in New Delhi.

She also said that the Human Resource Development Ministry has responded to all the letters related to problems in the Hyderabad Central University whether it was written by a member of the current government or by any MP from Congress.

"...every reference from a minister or from a Member of Parliament has been treated equally," she added.

With inputs from PTI
New Delhi: The Delhi Police's Economic Offences Wing has registered a case of forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy against four companies which had faced allegations of irregularities in connection with their donation to AAP during the Assembly elections last year.

A rebel group named AAP Volunteers Action Manch (AVAM) had last year alleged irregularities with respect to four particular companies which, they claimed, had donated around Rs 2.5 crore to the AAP before the elections, police sources said.

They had even approached the Election Commission and Delhi Police regarding the matter. Later, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs took up an independent inquiry into the matter and found some discrepancies in the records of the said companies, the sources added.

The FIR was registered recently on the basis of a complaint by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, they said.

AAP had dismissed the allegations levelled by AVAM as being baseless. The rebel group had also come in for criticism because it had failed to substantiate the claims.

PTI
Gujarat riots convict Suresh Chhara, who was out on parole, was arrested on Thursday for allegedly assaulting journalist Revati Laul.

Laul, a former NDTV journalist, has been living in Ahmedabad for over a year and working on a book on the 2002 Gujarat riots. She was allegedly beaten up by Chhara when she was interviewing him at his house in Naroda area of Ahmedabad.

"I visited him at his house and I politely asked him if he wanted to share information about himself, his past, family and he, without provocation, started slapping me. He kept on punching me and banged my head to the wall. I somehow managed to flee from the spot," NDTV quoted Laul as saying.

"In January 2015, I had come to India because I am writing a book on the accused in the 2002 Gujarat riots," Laul told reporters.

"Suresh Chhara had committed a lot of heinous crimes and had raped women. He had said later, 'Maine auraton ka is prakaar balaatkaar kiya ki unka achaar ban gaya (I raped the women in such a way that they were crushed to pieces)'. He was later arrested and convicted for his crimes," she said.

"I was talking to his family members. In July last year, his wife called me and told me that when he had come back home after getting parole, he had raped her," Laul further said.

On being asked whether she will meet a senior police officer over this issue, Laul had said, "I will meet them and ask them how a man like him got parole. Now, since there is evidence against him, he should be sent back to jail."
In India, an army of 15,000 soldiers are ready to fight the Islamic State. Hindu Swabhiman, an outfit from the outskirts of India's capital to the Uttarakhand border, have trained an army to wage war against the terror organisation. Called the 'Dharma Sena', the outfit is being projected as the symbol of Hindu resistance to the growth of the Islamic State. According to The Economic Times, three training camps have been set up in Meerut and five in Muzaffarnagar district and these are the only known ones. There are others but hidden from the spotlight.

The outfit has enrolled children as fighters. They are being taught how to use firearms and swords. The leaders of the outfit, headquartered at a temple at Dasna in Ghaziabad district, claim their ranks are swelling by the week. Zee News quoted an eight-year-old girl as saying, "I am learning to fight because our mothers and elder sisters are threatened. I have to protect them as well as myself."

A leader of the outfit, who is also associated with the women's wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the Durga Vahini, is quoted in The Times of India as saying, "Our motto is simple  catch them young Our students are from eight to 30. We dont give guns and swords to children straight away. For the first six months, we train them mentally  verses from the Gita. Hindus must not be afraid of death, because we are reborn. The children here are fearless."

However, inspector general of Meerut zone Alok Sharma has no idea of such operation being undertaken by the Hindu Swabhiman. "We do not have any report on such activity taking place. I will certainly look into the matter," he said.

At the heart of the group is Swami Narsinghanand Saraswati (born Deepak Tyagi), a Hindu ascetic on whose ideology this 'army' is being built. His hatred for the Islamic State is intense. The investigative team from The Times of India who visited these camps spoke to the Swami and quoted him as saying, "I think an extremist outfit, like the ISIS, should exist for the Hindus. The only answer to the ISIS is an HS  a Hindu State. We want to match their level of extremism and fight fire with fire. I don't have the means to build an organization of that scale but with the help of Hindus, who believe in my cause, I will achieve it soon. We have pistols and they have rocket launchers. We need better weapons so that our army can be trained. That is how the ISIS got so big. Local business leaders helped them. Hindus from all over the country will help us too."
Rohith Vemula's suicide has proved again that subaltern voice in India shall always be held hostage at the altar of political opportunism and media's confirmation bias.

As Ajay Singh points out in this Firstpost article, discrimination against Dalits isn't anything new. It is also ideology neutral. Regardless of the colour of the government at the Centre or states, Dalits have historically been at the receiving end of structured discrimination in the fields of education, healthcare, sanitation, nutrition, crime and we are not even scratching the surface.

All these did not happen in a day.

Let's leave alone the larger issue of social prejudices against the Dalits. Let's take a look at what has been happening inside the Hyderabad Central University campus. A report in The Times of India tells us that unable to cope with the rampant, institutionalised, caste-based discrimination, as many as eight students from the Hyderabad Central University have committed suicide in the last decade.

Another report in The Sunday Guardian as many as ten students have killed themselves in the last two years alone while another dozen have tried to commit suicide at the University of Hyderabad. According to the report, the students belonged Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Other Backward Classes (OBC), minorities or belonged to rural areas.

These are staggering numbers. The question is, why have these incidents failed to capture national consciousness in the past? Why are these skeletons tumbling out only now?

In 2008, PhD scholar Senthil Kumar committed suicide by consuming poison in his hostel room at the HCU campus just a year into his doctorate. Senthil was a 'paniyaandi', a pig-breeding community of a village in Salem district of Tamil Nadu. Senthil's poverty-stricken family was squarely dependent on his scholarship which was stopped when he failed a subject.

Even after a year into his studies, the University had denied him a supervisor.

These facts, initially denied by the HCU, came to light when Vinod Pavarala Committee  to investigate the circumstances behind Senthil's suicide  found caste-based discrimination as the main reason behind the tragic death.

The silence in the media over Senthil's suicide was deafening.

On Tuesday, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi visited the University and said, "The conditions for Rohith to commit suicide were created by the V-C and the minister in New Delhi."

It isn't known whether the Gandhi scion is aware that in 2008 there was a UPA government at the Centre and a Congress government in the state.

And as this News Minute report points out, the Paravala Committee had recommended steps to be taken in the HCU following Senthil's death, but the UPA government paid no heed to the suggestions.

We saw a replay of the same incident in 2013.

PhD scholar at HCU's Advanced Centre for Research in High Energy Materials (ACRHEM), Venkatesh consumed pesticide in his hostel room. The Dalit third-year chemistry scholar "was not provided a guide and a lab, even after three years when other students started their researches and published international papers," an independent panel probing his death and that of another student found out.

Once again, these deaths barely registered a whimper.

In a welcome departure, Rohith Vemula's death has generated a tsunami of protests across India with repercussions reaching abroad. The media is burning in righteous indignation and political parties have kept their differences aside to speak in one voice against this atrocity.



Has the subaltern in India finally found a voice? Have the marginalised social groups finally found agency? Are they increasingly now being accepted within India's hegemonic power structure?

If the mainstream English media has found a sudden interest in Rohith Vemula's suicide, it is less due to the fact that it is a culmination of Dalit discrimination and more because the suicide  from which BJP surely cannot absolve itself of moral responsibility  fits nicely into its perception of the Narendra Modi government as one that pursues majoritarian politics.

A perception which is belied by facts.

If application of outrage over atrocity against the marginalised depends on who is in power at the Centre, then the fourth estate is guilty of indulging in confirmation bias instead of driving large-scale social change.

Lack of fairness in coverage, under such a situation, will only serve to develop the fault-lines of our democracy instead of opening the closed windows of our narrow minds.

Political parties, on the other hand, have only been too happy to feast on the tragedy. Their eagerness to cash in on Rohith Vemula's tragic death is less ideological and more, obviously, political. The spectacular rise of BJP under Modi in 2014 was interpreted by most regional parties an indication of clear and present danger.

With the rapid fading away of the Congress, BJP has become the biggest political outfit in India, threatening the hegemony of personality-driven local parties. Many satraps such as Nitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav have since been forced to join hands despite decades of political differences just to keep the BJP away.

It is in this context that we must put the 'United Opposition Front' which also includes an almost-regionalised Congress. And this loose conglomerate which represents varied castes, ideologies and interests are united only in their opposition of BJP.

It is easy to see, therefore, why flights to Hyderabad are running full these days. At the end of the day, we have managed to draw all the wrong conclusions from Vemula's death.

His suicide won't stop atrocities against the subaltern, merely remain as a footnote in the circus that is Indian democracy.
by KA Antony

Twenty four years after the demolition of Babri Masjid, a former archaeologist has come out with the allegation that Left historians like Irfan Habib and Romila Thapar had thwarted an amicable settlement to the Babri Masjid issue. The allegation made by Dr KK Muhammed, former Regional Director(North) of Archaeological Survey of India, in his autobiography titled Njan Enna Bharatiyan (I an Indian) in Malayalam also claim that remains of a Hindu temple were found during the excavation made by a team of archaeologists headed by Professor BB Lal, then director general of the Archaeological Survey of India during 1976-77, in which he was also a member.

The autobiography released on Sunday has become a debating point among historians in Kerala. While renowned historian MGS Narayanan fully agree with Muhammed, Left centric historians like Dr KN Panikkar dubbed the arguments raised by the author as baseless and aimed at giving leverage to the BJP which is making all out efforts to open an account in Kerala assembly in the upcoming election.

Besides blaming the Left wing historians for failing to reach an amicable settlement in the Babri Masjid issue, the book also brings to focus the longstanding rift between historians supporting the Marxist view and others opposed to it.

Talking to Firstpost on his claims made in the book, Muhammed said the the action committee held several meetings under the leadership of Irfan Habib, the then chairman of the Indian Council of Historical Research. "The Babri issue would have been settled long ago if the Muslim intelligentsia had not fallen prey to the brain washing by the Leftist historians. A set of historians including Romila Thapar, Bipin Chandra and S Gopal argued that there was no mention of the dismantling of the temple before 19th century and Ayodhya is Bhudhist-Jain centre. They were supported by historians Irfan Habib,RS Sharma, DN Jha, Suraj Ben and Akthar Ali," he said.

"It was they who connived with the extremist Muslim groups to derail all attempts to find an amicable solution to the Masjid issue. Some of them even took part in several government-level meetings and supported the Babri Masjid Action Committee," he said.

Muhammed endorses in his book that a temple existed at the site of the Babri Masjid based on the unearthing of temple pillars during the excavation under Professor Lal in 1978. In the chapter "Whatever I learned and said are nothing but historical truth", Muhammed says that he got a chance to be part of an excavation team led by Lal in 1978. He was a student at the School of Archaeology in New Delhi at that time.

"We found not one but 14 pillars of a temple at the Babri Masjid site. All these pillars had domes carved on them. The domes resembled those found in temples belonging to 11th and 12th century. In the temple architecture domes are one of the nine symbols of prosperity. It was quite evident that the Masjid was erected on the debris of a temple. I went on writing to several English dailies in those days about the finding. Only one news paper published my view and that too in the letters to Editor column," says the book.

According to Muhammed that the Left historians even tried to mislead the Allahabad High Court on the issue. Even after the court had pronounced its verdict Irfan and his team were not ready to accept the truth. They simply questioned the logicality of the verdict. He said he knew Proffesor Irfan Habib from his Aligarh University days. "He always went to the extent of stifling the voices of those who disagreed with him. After all historians are mere historians, it is we the archaeologists who provide them the data," he said adding that even Qutub Minar and Taj Mahal were built on the debris of Hindu temples.

After his retirement from the ASI in 2012 , Muhammed is working as the director of Aga Khan Trust project in Hyderabad.

Asked if his book would not fan up communal hatred, Muhammed sounded negative. "I do not think so. Besides, communalism in Hindu religion is not fundamental in nature but a spontaneous reaction. Godhra was such an instance of such a reaction," he said.

Professor MGS Narayanan, former chairman of Indian Council of Historical Research(ICHR), said Muhammed is perhaps right about his claim on the existence of a Hindu temple at the disputed site. " Many mosques and monuments were erected on sites where temples existed earlier. I also agree with what Muhammed has said about Prof. Irfan. It was during his tenure as chairman of ICHR the democratic functioning of the institution was destroyed. It very difficult to work with him. I have my own bitter experiences. It was he and his team that had branded me an RSS man. It was he and his team that turned Jawaharlal Nehru University and the ICHR in to a den of Marxist historians," MGS said.

Dr KN Panikkar, who belongs to the Marxist school of historiography, said he was yet to see the book."But I very much doubt the intention and timing of the book. The book comes at a time when the Sangh Parivar is getting ready for another 'silanyas'. His (Muhammed's ) claims are new. He had made this claim even earlier. But his claims are not based on any scientific findings. As for his criticism against Irfan Habib and others, some people like him have been doing this for quite some time. I need not defend Habib. Everybody knows how great a scholar the man is," he said.

KP Sethunath, a student of history and journalist said, "I have not read the book fully. But whatever information available from the extracts that appeared in various news papers appears to me more of an allegation than a scholarly repudiation of the position adopted by a group of eminent historians of India. Muhammed's attempt to reduce a complex issue such as the Babri Masjid dispute into a mere conspiracy of few individuals appears quite silly and shallow. Babri Masjid assumed a sinister character in the background of the opportunist politics played by the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in the Shah Bano case. To circumvent the court verdict he tried to appease the Muslim fundamentalists by a constitutional amendment to nullify the court verdict. The VHP used the same to spread the theory of minority appeasement and the Sangh Parivar looking for a new opening for the BJP reduced to a 2-member party in the parliament in the 1984 elections. Everybody knows that the Gandhi government played into the hands of the Parivar by opening the gates of the closed mosque for poojas," he said.

Sethunath is of the opinion that Muhammed's charges against historians such as Romila Thapar, Bipin Chandra, RS Sharma and Irfan Habib will not stand the scrutiny of serious scholarship. "It is also a known fact that the places now referred as Ayodhya had vestiges of Jaina- Budha influences. Many of the mosques and monuments on the debris of makeshift places of worship used by the Indian community. Muhammed is an eminent archaeologist but his outlook is totally against the concept of history and archaeology pursued by Dr Thapar and Habib. Instead raising allegations he can better go for a healthy discourse on the issue," he said.
New Delhi: The NIA, which is probing the Pathankot terror attack case, on Thursday conducted searches at five places, including office and residences of Punjab Police SP Salwinder Singh and his friends.

Singh's residences in Amritsar and Gurdaspur were searched by the NIA officials, sources said.

The Gurdaspur office of the SP and residence of his jeweller friend Rajesh Verma, whose throat was slit allegedly by the terrorists after kidnapping them along with a cook, was searched by the NIA sleuths.

Residences of cook Madan Gopal and a woman friend of the SP and the jeweller were also searched by the NIA teams.

The development came after interrogation of Singh by the NIA for several days in Delhi.

Amritsar Police Commissioner Jatinder Singh Aulakh said that the NIA team had sought assistance of police which was provided to them.

NIA sleuths along with a police team reached the residence of Salwinder Singh at Chowk Jai Singh inside the walled city in Amritsar where the search operation was carried out.

A lie detector test on the Salwinder Singh was conducted yesterday by the NIA as part of the probe into the attack on Indian Air Force base in Pathankot.

He will also be subjected to behavioural tests.

Singh is now posted as Assistant Commandant of 75th Punjab Armed Police after being shunted out as Superintendent of Police (Headquarters) Gurdaspur.

Sources said Singh is expected to be produced before a team of scientists soon. The panel will include a 'behavioural analyst' and 'psychoanalysts' which will give a scientific assessment of his personality.

The NIA is questioning Singh to ascertain the sequence of events that took place after he was allegedly kidnapped on the intervening night of 31 December and 1 January by terrorists of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).

Singh came under the scanner after he had said that he and the cook were released after their abduction whereas one of their friends, who was travelling with them  Rajesh Verma  had been left bleeding midway by the terrorists.

Also, his statement that he was returning from a shrine which he often visited, was found to be allegedly incorrect after NIA questioned the caretaker of the dargah, Somraj, who told the probe agency that the police officer had come for the first time.

Terrorists had struck at the IAF base on the intervening night of 1 and 2 January in which seven security personnel were killed in the encounter that lasted for three days.

Four bodies of terrorists were recovered while two others are believed to have been burnt in the building where they were hold up during the encounter which lasted for 80 hours.

PTI
A clash broke out between the members of two student organisations at Akhila Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishads state head office in Seshadripuram in Central Bengaluru on Thursday during a protest against the suicide of the Dalit research student Rohith Vemula in Hyderabad.

Around 30-40 students belonging to Nationals Students Union of India (NSUI) arrived at the ABVP office in Seshadripuram and raised slogans.

The protestors had gathered in large numbers in front of the ABVP office and held up placards saying down down ABVP, Shame Shame ABVP, Dalits are not terrorists, and others and shouted slogans against the ABVP around 11.30 am on Thursday.

The Seshadripuram police said that a case of trespassing has been registered against the NSUI activists and also a counter case registered against the ABVP activists. Clothes of a few activists belonging to both organisations were torn in the incident. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central Division) Sandeep Patil said that eight persons have been arrested in connection with the clash and further probe is on.

Earlier on Thursday Hyderabad Central University (HCU) has revoked the suspension of the five research scholars, including Rohith Vemula who committed suicide on Sunday, with immediate effect, reports The Indian Express.

The decision was reportedly taken in an emergency meeting of the highest decision-making body of the university, the newspaper reports.

HCU vice chancellor Professor Appa Rao has has temporarily moved out of the university, is also expected to meet the protesting students today. Rao has reportedly been advised by the state police to stay away from the campus.

In November last year, the HCUs Executive Council had expelled five students, all Dalits, from the hostel and barred access to public places on campus. These students were allowed to attend lectures and pursue their research in the university. The students were punished for allegedly assaulting an ABVP student leader on campus.

Rohith Vemula committed suicide on campus on Sunday, hanging himself from the ceiling fan in Room 207.

University officials are worried about the political colour that Vemula's death has taken and are eager to distance themselves, at least now, from becoming pawns operated by Delhi powers.

The government went into damage control mode on Wednesday and held a joint press conference by HRD Minister Smriti Irani, Social Justice Empowerment Minister and MoS Commerce Nirmala Sitharaman.

Irani defended herself and the ministry saying they were going by the book by issuing a letter and four reminders to Hyderabad University seeking comments/facts on the issues raised by MoS for Labour and Employment Banadaru Dattatreya as the government is under obligation to respond to VIP references in 30 days.

Dattatreya had written to Irani in August last year, accusing the university of being a mute spectator after a group of Dalit students, including Vemula who committed suicide, clashed with ABVP leader Nandanam Susheel Kumar.

Irani said, "This was not a Dalit versus non-Dalit matter."

"It is unfortunate that the caste background of all the persons has to be mentioned in the case... An attempt is being made to provoke students across the country," Irani said.

Even as Irani was addressing the media, the Aam Aadmi Party questioned her, saying, "While Rohith, Sankanna, D Prashanth, Vijay Kumar & Sesu Chemudugunta were suspended, ABVP's Kumar was let off with a warning."

With Agencies
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa launched a stinging attack on the Karnataka government for moving the Supreme Court against her acquittal in the disproportionate assets case that comes up for hearing on 2 February, calling Karnataka's involvement in it an interference in the internal affairs of Tamil Nadu and a violation of the federal scheme of the Constitution.

Jayalalithaa unleashed a 6 page document well ahead of the scheduled 2 February hearing in the Supreme Court. The six pager lists out the highlights of her argument defending her acquittal in 2015. In this, Jayalalithaa questions the locus stand of the State of Karnataka to even file a special leave petition or an appeal in the apex court for an alleged offence which took place in the Tamil Nadu.

The Chief Minister invoked Article 162 of the Constitution, which prescribes that the executive power of the State Executive is co-extensive with that of the State Legislature.

Karnataka has no legislative power in respect of the affairs of the State of Tamil Nadu and consequently has no power to prosecute the alleged offender in the Supreme Court for offences committed in Tamil Nadu against the State of Tamil Nadu, Ms. Jayalalithaa contended.

The Chief Minister argued that Karnataka got a role as prosecutor in the case only after the Supreme Court transferred the corruption case to it on November 18, 2004. If not for this transfer order, Karnataka had no involvement in the corruption case. It was neither the de facto complainant nor the de jure aggrieved party. No crime under the Prevention of Corruption Act or the Indian Penal Code has been committed against Karnataka, reports The Hindu.

Karnataka govt files "list of errors" in DA case

The Karnataka government has filed point-by-point highlights of errorsby the Karnataka High Court in deciding the disproportionate assets case in favour of the AIADMK leader and three co-accused, reports The Hindu.

The State government's main point is the value of disproportionate assets held by Jayalalithaa. The State is saying that the acquittal can be set aside by just correcting the totalling mistake to show that the value of disproportionate assets of the accused comes to Rs. 16.32 crore, that is 76.7 per cent of the income, against the 8.12 per cent arrived at by the High Court, reports The Hindu.

The Supreme Court has set 2 February as the date for hearing appeals against the acquittal of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.

The Hindu reports that the Karnataka government has done the detailing of "errors" in a seven-page document and listed out 16 arguments against the May 2015 judgement of the Justice C.R. Kumaraswamy after which Jayalalithaa, her aide Sasikala Natarajan, V.N. Sudhakaran and J. Elavarasi walked free.

"Principally, the State government asks whether the bare fact that it was neither considered nor ignored as the sole prosecuting agency in the corruption case would not by itself vitiate the High Court judgment," says The Hindu report.

The State wants the Supreme Court to address what would be the effect of not repairing this omission throughout the appeal hearings in the High Court till they were disposed of.

The Karnataka State document, filed by advocate Joseph Aristotle and settled by senior advocate B.V. Acharya, "asks whether the appeals were not vitiated as the duly appointed Public Prosecutor was never given the opportunity of an oral hearing."

A Bench of Justices P.C. Ghose and Amitava Roy have scheduled the hearing on the appeals to start from February 2, 2016.

"We will start the hearing from February 2 and will hear the matter on February 3 and 4 as well," a bench comprising justices P C Ghose and Amitava Roy said.

The bench, meanwhile, asked the counsel for both the parties to file the "issues" highlighting main points to be considered within the next two weeks.

Earlier the apex court had agreed to conduct day-to-day hearing on the appeals filed against the Karnataka High Court verdict acquitting Jayalalithaa and three others in the case.

On July 27, the apex court had issued notices on Karnataka government's appeal seeking stay of the high court judgement, to Jayalalithaa, her close aide Sasikala and two of her relatives, V N Sudhakaran and Elavarasi, and asked them to file their replies within eight weeks.

The apex court had allowed an intervention application by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy in the matter and had asked him to file issues he wished to press before it.

The Karnataka HC had on May 11, 2015 ruled that AIADMK supremo's conviction by special court suffered from infirmity and was not sustainable in law, clearing decks for her return as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister.

Karnataka government, in its plea against the May 11 order, claimed that HC erred in computing disproportionate assets of the AIADMK leader.

The Karnataka government also asked whether the high court had "erred in law" by according benefit of doubt to Jayalalithaa in pursuance of a Supreme Court judgement holding that accused can be acquitted if his or her disproportionate assets were to the extent of ten per cent.

The state government had also claimed that the high court has erred in overruling preliminary objections raised by it and added that the accused had filed their appeals against conviction without impleading Karnataka as a party.

The special court had in 2014 held Jayalalithaa guilty of corruption and sentenced her to four years imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 100 crore.

With Agencies
Ashoknagar (WB): Virtually kicking off the BJP's campaign for the coming assembly poll in West Bengal, Union Home minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday attacked the Trinamool Congress government on the issue of law and order saying that women, and even policemen are not secure.

Holding business summits will not be able to bring in investments in the state unless the TMC government improves law and order and ensures good governance, he said.

"Despite TMC's slogan for ushering in change, 'Ma-mati-manush' (mother, earth and people) and even the police are not secure in West Bengal. The TMC government has not been able to bring in any change in Bengal," Singh told a rally at Ashoknagar in North 24 Parganas district.

Mentioning the violence in Malda, he refuted Chief minister Mamata Banerjee's statement that it was a result of tussle between BSF officials and locals.

"The incident in Malda is not a small incident. I want to tell the TMC government that the Malda case should be solved. Whoever may be involved in the incident should be arrested. Only a few arrests can't solve the case," he said.

"It is being said that the (Malda) violence was a result of tussle between BSF and locals. But it is not true. Are they trying to safeguard those forces which attacked the BSF official? Will those who attacked the BSF roam free? This is the same BSF which had given a befitting reply to Pakistani forces on the Indo-Pak border," Singh said.

"Did the government have no information about the rally and how many people will gather there? Was it not the government's responsibility to arrange for security there?"

If senior police officials had been present on the spot the situation could have been averted. "Let me assure you, whoever is behind the Malda incident will not be spared. They will be arrested and booked," Singh said.

The Home minister wondered how miscreants have the courage to attack police stations and beat up policemen in Bengal. "Is this the kind of government that the people of West Bengal wanted?"

PTI
Student union politics should be banned. Period.

Its making our institutions of higher education intellectually dumb places. It is making campuses not a playground of ideas, but a battlefield of ideologies. It is not helping students be thinking, intelligent persons; it is reducing them to mules of political parties. If Rohith Vemulas death does not make us sit up and take notice, nothing will.

Keep the legal and factual nuances of the case aside and the suicide on the campus of the Hyderabad University comes across as a result of the obnoxious political ecosystem on our campuses. This ecosystem places political parties, authorities and students in adversarial positions and ends up making the institutions an unhealthy place, intellectually and otherwise.

Rohith would probably be alive today if the wider politics had not kicked in what should have been a matter between students. The proctorial committee of the university had to overturn its own decision after the letter from Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya to the HRD ministry and expel some students, including Rohith. Those familiar with campus politics in the country would not be unaware how it works.

The question this article wants to raise is should we allow the ecosystem to flourish? Does students union politics help students in terms of career advancement or in any other way? Dig deeper and you realize campuses have stopped throwing up good leaders. The students unions offer nothing in terms of ideas to the bigger parties they are affiliated to, forget about contributing to wider politics. Their allegiance to parties has effectively blocked the students community from having a separate identity of its own. It does not speak in one voice on any issue anymore. Political parties have been using them for their own self-serving agenda and the students dont even notice it.

The worst part is they become slavish followers of ideologies which wont often stand up to logical challenges. The Left created its own sphere of influence in campuses through its students unions. The campus Leftists, fashionably so, pretended to be intellectuals of high order yet asked no serious existential questions to the parties they were part of. It helped the partys leaders that there was so much mediocrity around. Since there was no talent available, their positions remained unchallenged. That the Left is dying as a political entity can be attributed to its lack of intellectual robustness on campuses.



Though at the opposite end of the ideological spectrum, the Right wing students bodies behave no differently. While there is no clarity on what the Indian Right is, this bunch, high on indoctrination, would blindly follow the ideology of the parent organisation. Reason and intelligence are not preferred qualities here. If the parent organisation says mythology is history and science is what Indians did 3000 years ago, trust them to raise no questions. The same is the case with student bodies associated with other political parties.

Is this what we want students to be? How can you be a student and ask no questions? Where is the spirit of curiosity? If campus politics does not help students have critical understanding of the world around and come up with ideas of change theres no reason why it should be there. Its supposed to be part of their education; the purpose is defeated if students behave in a slavish manner, focusing only on increasing their sphere of power within institutions.

The problem with the current arrangement is political parties are not getting the substantive feedback they should be getting from the students they are associated with. If the Left is virtually dead now, the Right could be headed the same way years later. At the level of campuses, it becomes nasty. Political interference and the urge to control student bodies have made campuses violent places. The violence is not often visible to the lay outsider but it is very much the reality across the country.

Its time the country applied itself to getting politics out of educational institutions. Its of no practical use. Its making students look like idiots.
Who is the Lady Macbeth in Rohith Vemulas death, lamenting the smell of blood on her hands? Is it just one or many? We may not name one or any to be the Lady Macbeth in this episode. Each of them would know their share of guilt.

At last, the agitprop kicked off by Ambedkar Students Association (ASA) and Solidarity Joint Action Committee (JAC) for Social Justice against the suspension of five Dalit students of University of Hyderabad (UoH), aka Hyderabad Central University (HCU), bore fruit. But, at what cost? A scholastic researcher had to lay down his worthy life. Was it necessary?

In front of the ultimate sacrifice or an emotional decision of Rohith Chakravarthy Vemula, the solace offered by the decision of the Executive Council (EC) is too little and too late.

The EC may have terminated the decision taken against the students, but the surreptitious suggestions by certain interested parties have left the aggrieved sections out of the process of meting out justice.

A statement from the university reads as follows, "The Executive Council, after taking into account the extraordinary situation prevailing in the University, and after discussing the issue in detail, resolved to terminate the punishment imposed on the students concerned with immediate effect."

"Further Prof. P Appa Rao has appealed to the University community to maintain calmness and harmony under the extraordinary circumstances prevailing on the campus and repose faith in the internal mechanisms to resolve the issue and fervently urged all in the University to contribute to resuming regular class work, research activities and administrative work without further delay. He has also called upon all the teachers, students, officers and supporting staff to rise to the occasion," it said.

But the Dean of Students Welfare P Prakash Babu put out a circular in which it was added, "Further, it was resolved that this decision of the Executive Council is subject to the verdict in the cases filed vide W.P. No 28073 of 2015 and W.P. No 41516/2015 (in the Honble High Court), and the cases registered in the Gachibowli Police Station vide FIR No 296/2015 u/s 44, 314, 506, 323 read with 147 of the IPC."

This paragraph in the official circular issued by the DSW means that the action was terminated and also not terminated.

As everyone had acknowledged, the process of fighting a police case in the court is in itself a punishment. Given the decision of the university with a definite rider, the students were not insulated from the legal wrangles.

The timeline of the turn of events began from the day of Yakub Memons hanging on 30 July 2015 and the attack by ABVP activists on the screening of Muzaffarnagar Baaqi Hai on 1 August 2015 in New Delhi. Rohiths Facebook posts condemning the hanging and the subsequent protests by the ASA on the HCU campus (against ABVPs vandalism in Delhi) had triggered the controversy.

While his freedom of expression had come under question, ABVP leader N Susheel Kumar had posted on Facebook condemning and deriding the protests by the ASA.

Angered by this, ASA activists had confronted Susheel Kumar who initially withdrew the comments and tendered a written apology, in turn, had lodged a police complaint on 10 August against five Dalit students charging them with attacking him. The matter was escalated to proctorial board for an inquiry.

Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya had written to HRD minister Smriti Irani on 17 August describing the ASA students as "anti-national and extremist". Based on the report by Proctorial Board, five students, including Rohith, were suspended on 9 September.

Following protests from the suspended students, the in-charge vice-chancellor RP Sharma had relaxed the suspension conditions and had let them attend classes and use library facilities.

The University got a new vice-chancellor  Appa Rao Podile  on 21 September. The V-C, on the advise of the Executive Council, had enforced the suspension of students from entering the hostels and open areas on the campus. This was preceded by a direction from the high court in response to a petition filed by Susheel Kumars mother Vinaya. This was described as a "social boycott" by the ASA activists and Rohith wrote an abrasive letter to the V-C with a subject line: Solution for Dalit problems.

He had demonstrated his agitation to such an extent that he was tempted to give two suggestions: serving 10 mg of Sodium Azide to all the Dalit students at the time of admission and supplying a nice rope to the rooms of all Dalit students. He quipped that Donald Trump would be a Lilliput in front of the V-Cs commitment to suppress Dalits.

Rohiths concluding emotional appeal to the V-C  I request your highness to make preparations for the facility Euthanasia for students like me. And I wish you and the campus rest in peace forever,  wasnt taken kindly. Instead of nursing a grievance against ASA students and labelling them as anti-national, the university authorities and the government should have taken a serious look at the causes that triggered such reaction from the students on in-house and also social issues.

Instead, the authorities decided to demonstrate their authoritarianism and deal the delicate situation with an iron hand. How inexperienced they were and how callow their decisions were are not beyond anybodys imagination.

Exactly a month later, Rohith killed himself. Penning a fantastic, yet highly melancholic, letter, the would-have-been "sceince writer like Carl Sagan" took leave from this world, leaving all the saner minds shocked and grieving.

Rahul Gandhi, Sitaram Yechury, Arvind Kejriwal, YS Jaganmohan Reddy, Asaduddin Owaisi, Ramdas Athawale, and a host of other leaders made a beeline to the university and expressed solidarity with the suspended students.

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) isnt bothered overtly, for neither the V-C nor the deceased belong to Telangana: they belong to Guntur district in Andhra Pradesh. The Telugu Desam Party, being partner of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), maintained a strategic silence and coolly went and promised a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to Rohiths family and a job in social welfare department to one of the members of the bereaved family.

The reckless way of handling the entire episode claimed a life, and the reputation the Centre of Excellence  HCU  has built for itself over the years. Truth remains elusive, mortal remains of the Rohith too disappeared.

And yet, the Lady Macbeths in this story may not repent openly.
There seems to be a perfect disconnect between Union Minister for Human Resources Development Smriti Z Irani and the Dalit academics of the University of Hyderabad (HCU). Peeved by her observations, Dalit staffers went hammer-and-tong against the minister and they wanted to drive home the point that it was for sure an issue of persecution of Dalits. As a mark of protest, they all  12 in total  resigned from the administrative positions they held at the university.

Irani said on Wednesday: "An effort is on to instigate students all over the country. My appeal is: Please do not instigate students and communities deliberately."

"There has been a malicious attempt to ignite passions and present this as a caste battle which it is not. It is not a Dalit versus non-Dalit confrontation as has been the efforts of some to project it that way," she said repeatedly.

This naturally ignited the controversy and tempers rose high across the campus.

The Dalit staffers have taken a very strong objection to the ministers observation that it wasnt a Dalit versus non-Dalit confrontation. Dr Ravindra Kumar and S Sudhakar Babu, representatives of University of Hyderabad SC/ST Teachers and Officers Forum strongly condemned this statement.

They postulated their standpoints on the ministers observations and asserted that it was unfortunate that the Union minister misrepresented the facts of the case, and said that the senior-most Dalit professor actually headed the Executive Council (EC) sub-committee that took the decision to suspend the students.

They said that the committee was indeed headed by an upper-caste professor Vipin Srivastava, and there are no Dalit members of faculty in the sub-committee of the EC. The dean of students welfare Professor Prakash Babu was nationally coopted as an ex-officio member of the committee and that was incidental, the Dalit staffers pointed out. They went on to add that there was no Dalit on the EC ever since the HCU came into being.

They alleged that the minister distorted the facts suggesting that the wardens had suo motu powers to expel students. It was just a coincidence that the chief warden, who had simply implemented the orders of the higher authorities, happened to be a Dalit. Sudhakar Babu and Ravindra Kumar said that the baseless and misleading statements coming from the HRD Minister amounts to bringing down the morale of the Dalits holding administrative positions in the university as well as other universities.

They alleged that by deflecting the issue, the HRD minister was absolving herself and her colleague Bandaru Dattatreya of being responsible for the death of Rohith Vemula.

The Dalit teachers and officers body has expressed its solidarity with the protesting students, who began an indefinite hunger strike on the campus, demanding action against the ministers, the vice-chancellor and Rs 50 lakh ex-gratia to Rohiths family and a senior-level employment to one of the kin of the deceased.

They also expressed solidarity with the agitating students who are demanding the lifting of police cases filed against the Dalit students and the revocation of their suspension.
By Ashok K Singh

Did you notice Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff Raheel Sharifs first tango in Riyadh? Well, if you missed them, they were there dancing to the tunes of the Saudi rulers.

The Indian government will have welcomed it, and it would have cockled the hearts of peace-niks in India to see the two Sharifs gyrate in synchronous on Prime Minister Narendra Modis Lahore visit and the Pathankot attack following that meeting. But, that wasnt to be, even though a section of the India media went to town speculating on whether Pakistans civilian and the military establishments had turned a new leaf and were at last on the same page.

The fact of the matter is that Pakistans prime minister and his chief of army staff werent on the same page after Modi surprised them with his Lahore stopover. One may recall Raheel was conspicuous by his absence at the Nawaz-Modi Lahore meeting. Days later, they were not on the same page in the follow-up to India's demand for action against Jaish-e-Mohammed and its chief Masood Azhar.

There is another curious fact. And that also concerns Pakistans government-army relations.

Nawaz and Raheel's joint visits to Riyadh and Tehran  ostensibly on a peace mission to defuse Saudi-Iranian tensions  had a strategic purpose. But it also was a corollary to the misunderstandings that had arisen between the two Sharifs in their approach to India.

The army chief was keen on sending a message to the Nawaz government that it could not afford not to keep the army in the loop on decisions such as the one on meeting Modi and starting a process without taking the army on board. Raheel didnt want to take chances after he was kept out of the loop in Lahore. He tightened his grip on Nawaz after the Lahore meeting and the Pathankot attack.

The duo travelled together, on one plane, to Saudi Arabia and Iran on 18 and 19 January. National Security Advisor Naseer Khan Janjua was also with them. The Pakistan government initially claimed it wanted to play the role of a mediator between the West Asian powers  the Sunni Saudi Arabia and the Shiite Iran.

But what on earth was the army chief doing in the company of Nawaz if it was a peace mission  a political and diplomatic mission? It turned out after Nawazs discussion with the Saudi king and Raheels meeting with the Saudi defence minister that the purpose of Pakistans declared mediation journey had changed. Before the Sharifs touched down in Tehran after talks in Riyadh, Nawazs office had cleared the air.

Their visit was more about talks on how Pakistan could participate in the 34-nation coalition of Muslim countries  an initiative taken by the Saudis, to combat global terrorism  and less about defusing the Saudi Arabia-Iran feud over regional leadership. The agenda was to discuss military cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan and the role Islamabad could play in the theatre of West Asian wars.

Saudi Arabia has already set the framework.

Pakistan is required to play a military role in the Muslim coalitions counter-terrorism initiative. Whether Pakistans role will be confined to sharing intelligence, training and logistics or whether it will go beyond that is the big question. The Saudi initiative is aimed at curtailing Irans influence in the region. Its hard to understand how Nawaz and Raheel could play the role of mediator between Saudi Arabia and Iran, while they are part of an anti-Iranian coalition and while they are discussing the nitty-gritty of Pakistans role in the coalition with the Saudis?

The agenda of the visit  that is to define the role of Pakistan in a military coalition  explains the presence of the army chief on the delegation of the prime minister. Raheels presence also reinforces the fact that Nawaz is not free to take independent decisions on strategic issues whether relating to India or West Asia.

Nawaz overlooked this reality for a moment while welcoming Modi in Lahore, even though it wasnt a structured strategic meeting. The army chief is said to have remarked after the Lahore meeting that the civilian government was being given breathing space.

That Nawaz and Raheel were not on the same page on Modis Lahore visit and on the Pathankot attack became clear from the whole series of confusions and mixed signals that emanated from Islamabad in response to the Indian demand for action against JeM chief Masood Azhar. They had nuanced differences and perceptions, if not outright disagreement, over the events starting from Modis Lahore visit, the Pathankot attack and the Indian insistence on hinging the foreign secretary-level talks on the action to be taken against the terrorists involved in the attack.

Did Pakistan put Azhar under detention? Nobody, including the Pakistans ministers, knew for sure.

Is he under detention? There is no answer.

Was his office sealed? Well, according to some Pakistani newspaper accounts, Azhar has no office. He operates out of a seminary in Bahawalpur.

So, which office was sealed?

This confusion arose because Nawaz and his army chief were not on the same page. All through those days after the air base attack, the army kept Nawaz on tenterhooks. The prime minister was desperate to save the Lahore process and save face; Raaheel was keen to send a message to the civilian leadership that the army would call the shots.

And the army chief grabbed the initiative when the Saudi foreign minister and the defence minister visited Islamabad in quick succession to persuade Pakistan to join the Saudis in their feud against Iran.

Its the Sharif tango that India needs to watch closely in dealing with Pakistan.

The writer is a journalist and commentator
The terrorist attack at Bacha Khan University in Khyber Pakhtunkhas Charsadda town on Wednesday, in which 21 persons were gunned down and several others suffered injuries, has again revived the debate on terror groups of many denominations operating in Pakistan. While the current discourse is focused on the Geedar group of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which is supposed to have carried out the attack, theres a view in Pakistan that the government there is turning a blind eye to the real breeding ground of terrorism. So long as they remain active, nothing is going to change.

Earlier supported by the state, a few mosques and madrasas have become powerful centres on their own and the government has little control over them these days. Some of them have been taken over by militant groups who openly challenge the government and the military.

These mosques, according to Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy, noted nuclear physicist, essayist and national security analyst from Pakistan, have become so powerful that no Pakistani musters the courage to raise a voice against them. For instance, following the December 2014 Peshawar Army Public School attack, which left more than 140 dead, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had promised that his government would regulate such religious establishments to bring them under its control. It was widely criticised, described impossible and dismissed despite the fact that these power centres reject the Constitution of Pakistan and threaten the government and the Army.

Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa, an extremist all-girls seminary, are the best examples of such powerful religious bodies. Rebounding after a siege in July 2007 in which over 20 people died, the mosque, barely a mile from Pakistans seat of government, runs a parallel government. In 2007, it openly rejected Pakistans Constitution and demanded Sharia law. Around 100 religious leaders who were called from across the country held a meeting and pledged in the same year to shed lives for Islam and the implementation of Sharia. The clerics of the mosque even issued a threat to the government through an FM broadcast from the mosques own radio station. They said There will be suicide blasts in every nook and cranny of the country. We have weapons, grenades and we are experts in manufacturing bombs. We are not afraid of death.

They also threatened to abolish co-education from Quaid-i-Azam University, which according to them has become a brothel. They warned female students to wear hijabs, otherwise they would pour acid on their uncovered faces, said Hoodbhoy, who is the chairman and professor at the Department of Physics at Forman Christian College University in Lahore.

On 10 July, 2007 when 164 commandoes of the Pakistan Army Special Service Group stormed into the mosque, the heavily armed defenders put up a fierce resistance. Madrasa students were seen firing at the government troops. After the security forces got control over the mosque, its chief Abdul Aziz was held while he was trying to flee in a burqa (veil). Surprisingly, he along with his wife Umme Hassan  who headed Jamia Hafsa  were exonerated. Ignoring all evidence, the court ruled the prosecution could not prove heavy possession of weapons. Aziz still lives in Lal Masjid and has threatened to unleash a force of 8,000 students from nearby madrasas if he is again arrested.

Students of Jamia Hafsa, which is connected to the Lal Masjid, reportedly made and circulated a video in support of Islamic State (IS) and its chief Baghdadi besides asking the Pakistani militants to join hands with IS fighters. Aziz was detained and questioned about the video. Instead of disowning the video, he is learnt to have said, I dont know why these boys are reluctant to say that we support the organisation which wants to implement Islamic system.

How many other Abdul Aziz's does Pakistan have? Clerics who propagate Taliban and Daesh (Islamic State) views to their followers and who, like Aziz, are unmoved by the Peshawar massacre? No one knows even the number of mosques in Pakistan, where they are located and most importantly what their khutbas (sermons) contain. This must change if Pakistan is to make any progress towards containing religious violence, said Hoodbhoy who was in the national capital to speak at a programme titled India And Pakistan: What Next organised by the Centre for Policy Analysis (CPA).

He said the state must act decisively to restore its right to regulate religious activities. Otherwise, the people of Pakistan shall continue to suffer terribly, he added.

He said Pakistan must punish those who engineered the terror attacks in Mumbai on 26 November 2008. Pakistan has to get its priority right and know the enemies lie within. Jaish, Lashkar, Daesh and all other terrorist organisations must be banned because they are hurtful to Pakistans national interest and, of course, hurtful to India as well. The terrorists who carried out 26/11 Mumbai terror strikes had come from Karachi. Their call details show their handlers were sitting in Pakistan. Their chief was Hafiz Saeed and Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi. It is the responsibility of the Pakistani government to punish them. The very fact that Saeed is allowed to be on television is a disgrace. Lakhvi should not be protected at all by the state, said Hoodbhoy.

The reaction of Indian and Pakistan governments to the Pathankot attack, he said, was mature. Earlier, there was a state of denial where we used to say that all terrorists are coming here from India. It is India which is seeking to harm us but that notion has disappeared especially after the Peshawar Army Public School attack where those who killed the young people acknowledged themselves as being Muslims, he said.

Asked why the issue of Kashmir is always raised by Pakistan when effort are taken to hold talks, he said, Any discussion on terrorism without taking Kashmir into consideration is apparently not possible because terror outfits like Lashkar, Jaish and Hizbul Mujahideen are competing to recruit students to join the so called jihad in Kashmir. Pakistan should stop supporting them. It can respond diplomatically and politically.

Asked about his position on the struggle for separation in the valley, he added, An independent Kashmir is not viable. But let the people decide. The place has suffered a lot. Let it breathe first.
DHAKA Bangladeshi police will charge 14 men with membership of a banned group after Singapore deported them for suspected militant links last year, a senior police official said on Thursday.

The case comes amid rising concerns over the growth of Islamist militancy in the South Asian nation, which saw a string of deadly attacks on secular writers, minorities and foreigners last year.

The suspects were among a batch of 27 construction workers that Singapore accused of having links to Islamist groups including al-Qaeda and Islamic State.

Police said they had found no evidence of links to al-Qaeda and Islamic State, but that 14 of the men were members of a banned group blamed for attacks on five secular bloggers, including a publisher, last year.

"They are linked with banned Islamist militant group Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT)," police spokesman Maruf Hussain Sarder told Reuters on Thursday.

Of the other men, one remains in prison in Singapore and the other 12 have been released in Bangladesh after they were deported.

Sarder said the 12 remained under observation and had promised to cooperate with police.

"We will keep vigilant watch on them. All 12 gave us a written commitment that when ever we ask them a question they will respond," Sarder said.

Bangladesh has suffered a wave of Islamist militant violence in recent months, including a series of bomb attacks on the mosques of minority Muslim sects and Hindu temples.

Islamic State militants claimed the killings of a Japanese citizen, an Italian aid worker and a policeman.

The government has denied that Islamic State has a presence in the country of 160 million people and blamed the attacks on home-grown Islamist militants.

Last month six people were wounded in a bombing at a mosque inside a naval base in the port city of Chittagong, the first militant attack on a mosque used by the country's Sunni majority.

(Reporting by Serajul Quadir; Editing by Katharine Houreld)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Cairo, Egypt: Gunmen have killed five Egyptian policemen at a checkpoint in the Sinai Peninsula, the interior ministry said on Thursday, in the latest attack claimed by the Islamic State group.

The incident happened on Wednesday night in North Sinai province where security forces are battling a jihadist insurgency.

"Unidentified gunmen opened fire on security forces at El-Etlawi square in the centre of El-Arish," the ministry said in a statement, referring to the provincial capital.

A gun battle ensued in which the five policemen were killed and three conscripts were wounded, it said.

Security forces were searching for the attackers, the ministry said.

The region is a bastion of the IS-affiliated group Sinai Province, which claimed the attack in a statement posted on jihadist websites.

"Three soldiers of the Islamic State carried out a precise attack on a checkpoint of the infidel police at El-Etlawi square in El-Arish using light and medium weapons," the Sinai Province group said.

IS fighters regularly target policemen and soldiers in the area.

Wednesday's attack comes just days before the 25 January anniversary of the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

The insurgency in North Sinai swelled after the army ousted Mubarak's Islamist successor Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

Jihadists say their attacks are in retaliation for a brutal government crackdown targeting Morsi's supporters that has left hundreds dead and thousands imprisoned.

AFP
Charsadda: Pakistan observed a day of national mourning Thursday for the 21 people killed when heavily-armed gunmen stormed a university in the troubled northwest, exposing the failings in a national crackdown on extremism.

Armed police, some perched on the roofs of buildings, were still deployed Thursday morning at the Bacha Khan university campus in Charsadda, where students were targeted with grenades and automatic weapons, an AFP reporter said.

The attack, claimed by a faction of the Pakistani Taliban, bore a chilling resemblance to a December 2014 massacre at a school in nearby Peshawar that triggered a crackdown on militants that had been credited with a palpable improvement in security.

Hospital officials said one of the wounded students in Charsadda, a geology major, had died overnight. His funeral was to be held later Thursday.

Police said his death did not change the earlier toll of 21 as one of the dead had previously been counted twice.

Seven other survivors were in stable condition and being treated in local hospitals, officials said.

Defiant authorities kept schools in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province open Thursday.

"Militants want them shut down," provincial education minister Arif Khan told AFP. "We wanted to send the message that education will continue."

Only Bacha Khan university and its sister university Abdul Wali Khan in the town of Mardan were closed, he said.

'Ruthless' response

Flags will fly at half-mast on all government buildings inside and outside the country, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's office said, while a prayer ceremony will be held in the capital Islamabad.

Sharif has vowed a "ruthless" response to the massacre and ordered security forces to hunt those behind Wednesday's attack, which was claimed by a Pakistani Taliban faction but branded "un-Islamic" by the umbrella group's leadership, who also vowed to hunt down those responsible.

Security forces killed all four gunmen during the assault, and said they hoped to identify them "soon".

Among the victims was assistant chemistry professor Syed Hamid Husain who was lauded for challenging the gunmen and firing at them with his pistol while his terrified students raced for cover.

The majority of the dead were laid to rest late Wednesday according to Muslim tradition, including Husain who was buried in his home village of Swabi as those who knew him paid tribute.

"He would always help the students and he was the one who knew all their secrets because they would share all their problems with him," 22-year-old geology student Waqar Ali told AFP. "He was referred to by students as 'The Protector'."

'Heroes die young'

The majority of the student victims died at a hostel for young men where security forces cornered the attackers.

Pools of blood and overturned furniture could be seen inside the hostel, while in a back alley outside, an old wooden plaque on the wall proclaimed: "Heroes die young".

Meanwhile the bodies of militants, bloodied and with their clothes torn, were unceremoniously dumped on the floor of a truck before being taken away from the scene.

The assault resembled a December 2014 assault at a Peshawar school in which more than 150 people were killed, mostly children.

Their relatives held a candlelight vigil in Peshawar late Wednesday for those slain in the latest attack.

The strike on the army school united Pakistanis, already scarred by a decade of assaults, in shock and outrage and prompted the military to intensify an ongoing offensive against extremists in the tribal areas, and the government to launch a crackdown on extremism.

Security improved in 2015, which saw the fewest number of deaths from militant violence since the formation of the Pakistani Taliban in 2007 -- but critics have repeatedly warned the government is not taking long-term steps to tackle the underlying scourge of extremism.

"We understand their pain," Ajun Khan, who lost his only son Asfand in the attack on the Army Public School, told AFP of the survivors of Wednesday's assault.

"We are not safe, even parents do not feel safe," he said.

The Bacha Khan attack, which Amnesty International said could be branded a war crime, earned global condemnation including from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and neighbouring India.

AFP
NEW YORK The head of a New York-based foundation pleaded guilty on Wednesday to participating in a scheme to bribe a former U.N. General Assembly president to advance various business interests, becoming the second defendant to admit wrongdoing in the case.

Sheri Yan, who was Global Sustainability Foundation's chief executive, pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan to one count of bribery in connection with illicit payments made to John Ashe, the former General Assembly president.

Choking back tears, Yan admitted that beginning in 2012, she agreed with others to pay money to Ashe, who was also the U.N. ambassador from Antigua and Barbuda, to influence officials in Antigua and the United Nations to support business interests.

"While I was doing these things, I knew that they were wrong," Yan said through a Mandarin interpreter.

The plea by Yan, 60, a U.S. citizen, comes less than a week after the former finance director at the foundation, Heidi Hong Piao, pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with authorities in their continuing investigation.

Both women were arrested in October by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as prosecutors unveiled charges over a multi-year scheme to pay more than $1.3 million in bribes to Ashe.

Unlike Piao, though, Yan's plea came without any agreement to cooperate with authorities. Under a plea agreement, Yan, who also is known as Shiwei Yan, agreed not to appeal any sentence of 7-1/4 years in prison. Her sentencing is set for April 29.

Prosecutors allege that Ashe, the U.N. General Assembly president from 2013 to 2014, accepted $1.3 million of bribes from Chinese businessmen to support their interests within the United Nations and Antigua.

Those bribes included over $800,000 from three businessmen that were arranged through Yan and Piao, prosecutors said.

In court, Yan said she and others paid Ashe to persuade officials in Antigua to enter into contracts with foreign companies, and to use his U.N. position help her and others promote business ventures from which we intended to profit.

Prosecutors have also charged Ng Lap Seng, a billionaire developer from the Chinese territory of Macau who allegedly paid $500,000 in bribes to Ashe through intermediaries.

Those intermediaries included Francis Lorenzo, a now-suspended deputy U.N. ambassador from the Dominican Republic, and Jeff Yin, Ng's assistant, prosecutors said.

Ashe, Lorenzo, Ng and Yin have pleaded not guilty.

Ashe, 61, has only been charged with tax fraud, as prosecutors have said diplomatic immunity may preclude any bribery charges. But prosecutors have said they were examining the issue and likely would bring further charges.

A lawyer for Ashe did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in New York; Editing by Alistair Bell)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
BEIRUT Four months of Russian air strikes in Syria are taking their toll on rebel forces, strengthening the hand of a defiant President Bashar al-Assad as the United Nations struggles to get peace talks off the ground.

Insurgents in the west are being hit harder, while in eastern and central parts of the country, Islamic State is also under military pressure and is cutting fighters' pay as its oil-smuggling operations are hit by plunging prices.

Rebel groups are reporting intensified air strikes and ground assaults in areas of western Syria that are of greatest importance to Assad. The government last week made one of its most significant gains since the start of the Russian intervention, capturing the town of Salma in Latakia province.

While recent gains do not appear to mark a tipping point in the conflict, with rebels fighting back and regaining positions in some places, insurgents describe high levels of attrition on the front lines of western Syria.

Officials close to Damascus say sealing the northwestern border with Turkey is the priority. A Syrian military source said rebel supply lines from Turkey, which backs the insurgents, were under pressure from Russian and Syrian air strikes.

The course of battle underlines the uphill struggle facing U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura as he seeks to launch peace talks. Even with U.S. and Russian endorsement, a new peace process seems detached from the realities of a five-year-old war that may not yet be ready for peacemaking.

"Most opposition-held areas turned to defence because of the huge mobilisation by Russians troops and the use of a large number of planes with unlimited munitions," said Jamil al-Saleh, commander of a rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) group.

While playing down the importance of government gains, Saleh said military aid from the rebels' foreign backers - including Saudi Arabia and Turkey - was not enough to confront offensives that are also backed on the ground by Iran.

"These are among the difficulties facing the FSA on the ground especially since the aerial bombing is affecting some headquarters, equipment, cars and personnel and the aid given is little compared to the ferocious attack," he told Reuters.

Saudi Arabia's support for the opposition has yet to be translated into the kind of heavier weapons the rebels are seeking, notably anti-aircraft missiles.

The military source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said rebels were suffering from the destruction of their weapons depots, made possible by good intelligence. Their appeals for more support showed they had "lost a lot of field capacities", the source said.

MOMENTUM

Noah Bonsey, senior analyst with the International Crisis Group, said levels of attrition remained high on both sides.

"But it seems to be the rebel side that is more concerned about the trajectory at this moment, while the regime camp enjoys momentum," he said.

"The regime itself never showed much openness for compromise even in its most vulnerable moments, so we can expect its current sense of momentum to further reinforce maximalism as Damascus pushes for a decisive military upper hand."

Damascus and its allies are also doing better in their war with Islamic State, which is also being fought separately by a U.S.-led coalition from the sky and on the ground by Kurdish forces. The government has advanced to within a few kilometres (miles) of the IS-held town of al-Bab in Aleppo province.

Slumping oil prices have added to the pressures facing the jihadists whose flow of foreign recruits has been choked by tighter controls at the Turkish-Syrian frontier, once a major transit route.

Islamic State has also faced setbacks in Iraq, losing control of the city of Ramadi in recent weeks.

Of the 3,000 people killed by Russian air strikes in Syria since they began in September, nearly 900 were members of Islamic State, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a group that monitors the war.

But the group still controls swathes of eastern and central Syria where it is battling to safeguard its "caliphate" rather than reform Syria, which is the aim of the rebels in the west.

The Observatory says IS has recently cut the pay of its Syrian fighters. As in the past, IS has responded to the pressure by opening new fronts.

Its fighters reportedly killed scores of government loyalists in an attack on state-held areas of Deir al-Zor city this week, one of Assad's few remaining outposts in the east.

The groups fighting Assad in the west include FSA factions, Islamists with a Syrian nationalist agenda, and jihadists including the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front that have been declared terrorists by the United States.

The main non-jihadist groups are part of a newly formed opposition council backed by Saudi Arabia that is tasked with overseeing the hoped-for negotiations.

The rebels say they will not negotiate until the other side shows good will by halting the bombardment of civilian areas, lifting blockades of population centres, and freeing detainees.

The government meanwhile says it is ready to attend Jan. 25 talks in Geneva, though it wants to know which groups will be deemed terrorists as part of the process, another stumbling block given its view that all rebels fall into that category.

"BACK AND FORTH"

Rebels interviewed by Reuters acknowledged recent government advances, but insist its manpower problems and dependence on foreign militias including Iranians still give the insurgents an important advantage and the capacity to fight back.

The insurgency suffered a major blow on Dec. 25 when Zahran Alloush, one of the most prominent rebel leaders, was killed in an air strike near Damascus.

The spokesman for one of the rebel groups fighting in northwestern Syria, the First Coastal Division, said the government side had captured Salma using overwhelming force.

"Weapons do not concern it, and ammunition does not concern it, or the death of its troops, or anything else. The only thing that concerns it is that they progress using all weapons, all planes," spokesman Fadi Ahmad told Reuters.

A commander in the Ahrar al-Sham rebel group said the government and its allies were trying to advance towards the Turkish border. "They are trying to isolate the Syrians inside from the Turkish border. They are not as concerned about areas deeper in Syria, Hama and so on," he told Reuters.

The government and its allies have also turned their focus to the south for the first time since Russia began its air strikes on Sept. 30, launching an attack on the town of Sheikh Maskin near the border with Jordan in late December.

Rebels fighting under the umbrella of the Southern Front alliance - a major component of the newly formed opposition council - say the government attack that got underway in late December has been accompanied by Russian air strikes.

Abu Ghiath al-Shami, the spokesman for one of the Southern Front insurgent groups, said that despite the onslaught the fighting was still "back and forth". "I promise you in the coming period you will see something different that will surprise everyone in terms of military action," he said.

A Western diplomat said the government appeared intent on weakening the Southern Front before any negotiations.

"I am surprised by the number of strikes and the number of forces from the regime side, including Hezbollah, and the Russian aerial bombing on behalf of the regime and the fact the town has still not fallen," the diplomat said.

(Writing by Tom Perry; editing by Giles Elgood)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
DAVOS Iraqi Prime Minister Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Thursday that three Americans who disappeared in Iraq last week "just went missing," and he very much doubted any Iranian involvement.

Asked by a pool reporter at the start of a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Davos if he thought there was an Iranian link to their disappearance, Abadi said:

"I don't know about that. I doubt it very much. We don't know if they have been kidnapped ... They just went missing."

Iraqi intelligence and U.S. government sources said on Tuesday the three U.S. citizens were kidnapped and were being held by an Iranian-backed Shi'ite militia. They are the first Americans to be abducted in Iraq since the withdrawal of U.S. troops in 2011.

The U.S. sources said Washington had no reason to believe Tehran was involved in the kidnapping and did not believe the trio were being held in Iran, which borders Iraq.

Unknown gunmen seized the three on Friday from a private residence in the southeastern Dora district of Baghdad, Iraqi officials say.

Kerry said the United States was working closely with Iraq on the issue.

"They are really investigating this. He (Abadi) is looking at it. He was not able to shed light on the who, where or what and they are still trying to get all of that piece together."

Kerry said he had also raised the issue in a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minster Javad Zarif on Wednesday.

"I asked him for whatever help, if Iran knew any way to provide help, or if there was some way they could have impact in getting the right outcome," he said.

"He said he would take it under advisement and try to do what they can. He didnt have any immediate knowledge whatsoever about it."

Some analysts believe the kidnappings were meant to embarrass and weaken Abadi, who is trying to balance Iraq's relations with rival powers Iran and the United States.

Hostility between Tehran and Washington has eased with the lifting of crippling economic sanctions against Iran in return for compliance with a deal to curb its nuclear ambitions and a prisoner swap.

The three men are employed by a small company that is doing work for General Dynamics Corp GD.N, under a larger contract with the U.S. Army, according to a source familiar with the matter.

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Editing by Richard Balmforth)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
London: Russian President Vladimir Putin "probably approved" the killing of ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko in London, a British inquiry into his agonising death by radiation poisoning found Thursday.

Litvinenko, a prominent Kremlin critic, was poisoned with radioactive tea at an upmarket London hotel in 2006.

Two Russians, Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun, were identified by British police as prime suspects but attempts to extradite the pair have failed.

The finding is likely to pile pressure on Britain to take steps against Russia in response, and Home Secretary Theresa May is due to outline the government reaction to parliament shortly.

"The FSB operation to kill Litvinenko was probably approved by Mr (Nikolai) Patrushev and also by President Putin," the report said.

Patrushev is a former director of the FSB, the successor organisation to the Soviet-era KGB spy agency, and has been a key security minister since 2008.

"I am sure that Mr Lugovoi and Mr Kovtun placed the polonium-210 in the teapot at the Pine Bar on 1 November, 2006," judge Robert Owen, the inquiry's chairman, said in the 300-page report.

"I am sure that they did this with the intention of poisoning Mr Litvinenko."

Owen said even before the start of the hearings last year that he believed there was evidence of "a prima facie case as to the culpability of the Russian state".

Lugovoi, who is now a lawmaker in Russia, described the report's findings against him as "absurd".

"The results of the inquiry made public today once again confirm London's anti-Russian stance, tunnel thinking and the unwillingness of the British to establish the true cause of Litvinenko's death," he told news agency Interfax.

Russia has condemned the inquiry as "politicised". Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov shrugged it off on the eve of publication, saying: "This is not in the range of topics that are of interest to us."

Litvinenko's widow Marina, who led a long campaign for an inquiry, called after the verdict for Britain to impose sanctions against Russia and for a travel ban on Putin.

Her son Anatoly, who was 12 when his father died, told the BBC: "You want to find out who was behind the murder, who planned it, who commissioned it.

"That is why state responsibility is important to us."

'Acting for a state body'

Litvinenko was allegedly poisoned in the bar of the Millenium Hotel by a cup of tea laced with polonium-210 -- an extremely expensive radioactive isotope only available in closed nuclear facilities -- in a sequence of events which could have come from a Cold War thriller.

"The fact that Mr Litvinenko was poisoned with polonium-210 that had been manufactured in a nuclear reactor suggests that Mr Lugovoi and Mr Kovtun were acting for a state body rather than say a criminal organisation," the inquiry report said.

Litvinenko, an ex-KGB agent turned freelance investigator who worked for British spy agency MI5, publicly accused Putin of ordering his killing before he died in agony three weeks later on November 23, 2006.

His killing caused widespread public outrage in Britain after radioactive traces were found at various sites around London and it was dubbed by the media as the world's first act of "nuclear terrorism".

Britain announced the inquiry in July 2014, just days after the downing of a Malaysian passenger jet over eastern Ukraine -- a tragedy blamed on Russia's involvement in the conflict in the region -- in what was seen as a way of punishing Russia.

In 1998, Litvinenko and other FSB agents gave a press conference in Moscow accusing the agency of a plot to kill Boris Berezovsky, an oligarch who helped bring Putin to power but later turned against him.

He was tried for abuse of power and although acquitted in 1999 he fled Russia, apparently through Georgia and Turkey with a fake passport.

He was granted asylum in Britain and later became a British citizen, also converting to Islam after befriending exiled Chechen separatist leaders.

He was buried in a London cemetery with Muslim rites in a lead-lined coffin to prevent radiation leakage.

AFP
Seoul, South Korea: A South Korean court said on Thursday it had acquitted a man of sympathising with North Korea for following its Twitter account, arguing that simply reading Pyongyang's social media posts did not violate Seoul's security laws.

Seoul prosecutors earlier charged the 73-year-old journalist, identified only by his surname Lee, with "distributing" materials that praised the communist North by following Pyongyang's official Twitter account, @uriminzok.

Lee was, however, found guilty of supporting the North in his own blog postings and was sentenced to a one-year jail term, suspended for two years.

South Korea's National Security Laws, enacted in 1948 to protect the fledgling state from infiltration by the communist North, ban its citizens from praising or sympathising with Pyongyang.

Domestic critics and international rights groups argue that the law is open to abuse and stifles free speech, but officials insist it is justified by the continued threat from the nuclear-armed North.

The Seoul Western District Court ruled that, because Lee only followed North Korea on Twitter and did not re-tweet or mention any of the posts on his own account, he had not broken the law.

"It can't be said that he 'distributed' those posts as they were only shown on Lee's own account and were not shown to other people, such as Lee's followers," the court said in a statement.

North Korea joined the global social media networks in 2010 and has posted more than 17,500 tweets since then, mostly criticising its major foes -- South Korea and the US -- and praising its ruling Kim family.

Its Twitter account has over 18,500 followers.

AFP
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A five-year-old child and two women died from hypothermia on the Greek island of Lesbos on Wednesday after crossing the Aegean from Turkey in freezing weather, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said on Thursday.

They were among more than 800 refugees, many of them Syrian families, who reached Lesbos on Wednesday aboard nearly 20 boats, battered by wind and snow as temperatures plunged below zero Celsius, IFRC spokeswoman Caroline Haga said.

"These needless deaths are shameful  we must establish safer ways for people to escape conflict, persecution and poverty," Karen Bjornestad, head of the IFRC in Greece, said in a statement.

"Death should not be the result of a basic human desire to live in safety and find a future."

Thousands of refugees, mainly Syrians fleeing the war, have braved rough seas to make the short but precarious journey from Turkey to Greece's eastern islands, mainly in flimsy and overcrowded inflatable boats.

Despite choppy seas and wintry weather which add to the dangers of the journey, 10 to 15 boats a day are arriving on Lesbos at present, the IFRC said.

Haga said that on Wednesday the IFRC vehicles got stuck in snow on the way to the north part of the island where most migrants arrive.

The boat on which the child and two women who died were travelling had problems with the engine, so the journey across the Aegean Sea, which normally takes at least two hours, was longer than usual, she said.

"Normally all the boats that come are full of water because the sea is quite rough," Haga told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone from Athens.

"They sit there for a long time and they don't have proper clothes and they're completely wet when they arrive."

IFRC staff treated other hypothermia cases and managed to save another woman's life.

Haga said the nationality of the child and the women who died had not yet been determined.

The Turkish coastguard said earlier that 12 bodies were found on Turkey's west coast on Tuesday and 26 people were rescued after a boat carrying migrants bound for Greece capsized.

(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 news.trust.org)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Vodafone has started offering 4G-ready SIM cards in Delhi & NCR region through Vodafone stores, ahead of 4G roll out in the circle. It will be based on 1800MHz FDD-LTE band 3, which the company acquired last year. Back in October last year it promised to roll out 4G services in Delhi/NCR region by December, but it got delayed. It launched 4G services in Kerala last month and it was launched in Mysore (Mysuru), Karnataka earlier this month.

Customers upgrading to 4G-Ready SIMs will be rewarded with free 1GB 4G internet at the time of launch. All they need to do is send a short text message to GO4G to 199, said the company.

Vodafone already announced that it will increase the intensity of its 4G rollout covering important metros  Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Kolkata in the first phase, and also said that it has already started testing 4G services in these cities.

Today the company said that a formal announcement regarding the 4G launch in Delhi will go up in due course. It is expected to roll out 4G services in Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru by March 2016.
It is a fancier version of fast food restaurants, a sit down place with beautiful interior but with a register counter where you will order your food. What exactly is a fine casual restaurant and why is it becoming a thing today?

Decent food, quick service and great ambiance; these attributes might be the ideal eating place for most people who have no time for the luxury of fine dining, not enough money for the gourmet food but still want to enjoy their eating space.

According to Luke Runyon from the Marketplace.org, this type of restaurant "borrows ideas from both fast food and upscale sit-down restaurants, catering to customers who want food fast, that's inexpensive and customized".

The success of the new wave of restaurant fad is said to have grown more quickly than fast food or fine dining restaurants because of demographics and economics. According from recorded data of NPD Group (LINK), a New York-based firm that tracks costumer spending, the state of Colorado is arguably one of the cradles of the fast casual trend. Published as a press release in their website, the state's Fort Range is the Metro-Area with the Most Fast-Casual Restaurant per Resident. Industry pioneers such as Noodles & Company and Smashburger, with the latter being a newcomer that has been the buzz for a while.

According to their analysis, this may have something to do with the demographics of Colorado, especially the people in their 30's, most especially the professionals. Because of their time-demanding jobs and different schedules, they have little time to prepare and cook meals at home. Pulling up the drive-thru is not really an option, one respondent says, "I graduated from culinary school and I eat out more than I cook at home. It's kind of a shame."

"They're looking for a full-service quality product in a McDonald's style efficiency. And that's really where fast-casual comes from," said Mitchell Roth, the CEO of Southern Concepts, the restaurant group behind Carve.

After the recession, traditional restaurants struggled, and this did not exempt the fast food chains. Perhaps these were the times fast casual restaurants had the chance to grow. Three years after 2008, fast-casual visits rose 17 percent, while other sections of the restaurant industry lagged, according to NPD.

"I think with the number of young people moving to Denver, the active lifestyle in Denver, it promotes and encourages restaurateurs to operate a certain way," Roth said.

Katie Sutton, a consultant and chef with Colorado-based consulting group Food and Drink Resources suggests the role of generations X and Y for the sudden boom. "The millennials are the ones who are really pushing this," she said. "They are eating out 6 or 7 times a week, they want groovy, they want spicy, they want bold. That's what these fast-casuals aren't afraid of. They're putting flavor into their food," she added.
Occidental Petroleum (OXY 1.00%) boasts a long history of annual dividend increases, even during tough times.

However, times are so tough right now that it's possible that the company ends its streak of more than a decade of annual dividend increases. In fact, there's a case to be made that the company might need to reduce its dividend because the current oil price is well below the company's cash flow breakeven point. Here's a closer look at both the bull and the bear case for Occidental Petroleum's dividend in 2016.

The bear case

The case against Occidental Petroleum's raising its dividend, and potentially reducing it, is very simple. The current oil price of roughly $30 per barrel is 50% below the company's current cash flow breakeven point:

That means the company is using its balance sheet to fund a significant portion of its capex and dividend outlays, which is unsustainable over the long term.

It's far from the only company that's using its balance sheet to support its operations during the downturn. However, it's a practice that has credit rating agency Moody's concerned, which is why it put 29 U.S. oil companies on review for a potential credit rating downgrade, including Occidental Petroleum and ConocoPhillips (COP 2.73%). I bring ConocoPhillips up because it shares a lot of similarities with Occidental, including the fact that both share an "A2" credit rating and because these companies need oil in the $50 to $60 range to be cash flow breakeven. Given that neither wants to see its credit or balance sheet deteriorate, it's possible that both might have to bite the bullet and reduce dividend payouts to prevent a steep credit rating downgrade. ConocoPhillips has said protecting its dividend is its top priority, but if it did cut its payout, then Occidental Petroleum would have no reason not to follow suit.

The bull case

Still, Occidental Petroleum ended 2015 with $4.4 billion in cash on its balance sheet, which is more than a year's worth of capex spending at its current run rate. In addition, the company continues to close non-core asset sales and could divest additional assets, since it plans to minimize its involvement in the Middle East and North Africa. In fact, according to a Reuters report, the company has already sought permission to sell its 29.69% stake in the Zubair oil field in Iraq and is interested in selling additional non-core assets in the Middle East. These asset sales could enable the company to maintain its dividend without hurting its balance sheet. In fact, asset sales are the primary bridge ConocoPhillips is using to fund its own cash flow gap, with it currently working to close $2.3 billion in divestitures.

On top of asset sales, Occidental Petroleum was recently awarded $980 million to settle a lawsuit after Ecuador seized the company's Block 15 oil field in 2006. It has already received $200 million of that settlement, with the rest to be paid out over the next few months.

With the cash already on its balance sheet, plus the cash inflows yet to come from asset sales and the settlement, it certainly provides the company with a nice cash cushion to at least maintain its dividend. However, the company's own history suggests that it will grow its dividend even when times are tough, which is evidenced by the $0.03-per-share increase last year, as well as the $0.01-per-share boost during the financial crisis. Those increases, while minor compared with prior years, shows that the company values its dividend. In a lot of ways, it's following in the footsteps of ConocoPhillips, which boosted its dividend by $0.01 per share last year to send its shareholders a message that the dividend was its top priority. Given Occidental's history, it would seem that it, likewise, puts a priority on its dividend, suggesting that an increase of at least $0.01 per share is possible in 2016.

Investor takeaway

With a boatload of cash on its balance sheet and the more cash coming in the door, it's unlikely that Occidental Petroleum will reduce its dividend anytime soon. Instead, it's far more likely to increase it ever so slightly in 2016 just to show its support for the payout. But the company really needs to see the oil price rebound into the $50 to $60 range for the payout to be sustainable over the long term.
It's comical listening to my colleagues here in Davos wax and wane about the mood of this years World Economic Forum. Of course, we as journalists get paid to report on such things, as fatuous as they may be and given the dearth of real news that comes out of this event every year, mood stories are in abundance.

But lets set the record straight: there is no discernible mood herein fact I bet there never has been one in the forums 45 year history. The panels consisting largely of like-minded government bureaucrats, crony capitalist bankers and left-wing celebrities rarely deviated from their script of pre-packaged left wing propaganda.

In their world view, big government solutions i.e. spending, taxing and control of markets by bureaucrats across the globe actually work better in solving economic problems than the free market, when of course, the evidence shows just the opposite is true.

As Europe has been and China is now demonstrating, economic bureaucrats are failing, and failing miserably at reversing economic trends. Europes massive welfare state and adherence to multiculturalism (both widely celebrated here) has produced a new normal of high unemployment and massive debt not to mention a radicalized Islamic minority.

As you might imagine, people here have lots of faith in the Chinese bureaucrats in figuring out how to reverse the countrys economic slide (GDP has fallen to 6.p percent in just three years, budget deficits are rising and the Chinese stock market in wobbly).

Yet where is the evidence that this micro-managing is working? GDP continues to fall, deficits are going up not down and Chinas stock market remains shaky even as its economic bureaucrats seem to look for reasons to shut down trading amid the volatility.

I am reminded here time and again that the US and the rest of the world would love to have Chinas nearly 7% GDP. My response: Thats only if you believe the countrys economy is actually growing at that rate. Who, after all, is auditing all these government controlled companies that contribute to the countrys economic miracle? Well, its the Chinese government, which as has every incentive to create growth even when it doesnt really exist.

Of course you wont hear much of this discussed at the conference center where one of Chinas economic officials told credulous attendees that he and his colleagues, have the means (to fix the economy) particularly on the fiscal side that we can expand quite a lot."

The crowd, based on what I can tell, liked what they heard for the simple reason that he was preaching to the choir.

After all, if the Chinese fail how will their like-minded souls in the Eurozone, or in the Obama Administration like Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, expect to convince voters they will be successful in reversing lousy economic growth, declining wages and massive under employment through the same big government solutions?

With that it should come as no surprise that one of the headline acts here featured an actor with no economic background, Leonardo DiCaprio, being cheered by attendees as he attacked oil companies as greedy presumably because they make money without the governments help.

DiCaprio never mentioned that oil companies produce great working class jobs as well, and with oil prices falling thanks to market forces, not government intervention, the worlds poor and working class have been handed a nice, fat tax cut.

But why deviate from the script that has worked so well for nearly half a century?
Men who have low resistance to psychological stress at age 18 may face considerably higher risk for type 2 diabetes in adulthood compared to those better able to handle stress, according to new research.

"Other studies have found that stressful life experiences in mid-adulthood are linked with a higher risk of developing diabetes," said lead author Dr. Casey Crump of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York.

But none have looked at whether responses to stress at a young age predict risk of diabetes much later in life, Crump and his colleagues write in Diabetologia.

"Stress resilience refers to the ability to properly adapt to or cope with stress and adversity," Crump, who was at Stanford University in California when he worked on the study, told Reuters Health by email. "Low resistance to stress (or low stress resilience) means difficulty coping with or rebounding from adversity."

The study team analyzed data on more than 1 million 18-year-old men who were conscripted into military service in Sweden between 1969 and 1997, when service was compulsory.

The young men did not have diabetes at age 18 and all underwent standard psychological assessments of their stress resistance. In a 20 to 30 minute interview, a psychologist asked each man about adjustment problems and conflicts, successes, responsibilities taken on and initiatives shown or experienced in school, work, home or in leisure activities.

Crump's team matched the participants to their later medical records to see who received an outpatient or inpatient diagnosis of diabetes between 1987 and 2012. About 34,000 of the men were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

After accounting for body weight, family history of diabetes and individual and neighborhood socioeconomic factors, the researchers found that men with low stress resilience - that is, with a score between one and three on a nine-point scale - were 51 percent more likely to have a diabetes diagnosis than those with the highest scores, between seven and nine.

"Both the amount of stress and stress resilience may have important health effects," Crump said. "Common sources of stress include relationship, family, school, and workplace problems or worries."

People who experience a lot of stress or have trouble resisting it may react with unhealthy behaviors like poor eating habits, little physical activity and smoking or heavier alcohol use, he said.

"Other stress-related physiologic changes may also be involved, such as higher levels of (the stress hormone) cortisol which can contribute to insulin resistance and diabetes," he said.

"If you have low stress resilience, even some everyday experiences can be stressful," said Dr. Cecilia Bergh of Orebro University in Sweden, who was not part of the new study. "Very high levels of stress, such as being in a war zone, are damagingly stressful for almost everybody, even among those with high stress resilience," Bergh told Reuters Health by email.

The general public, and especially those who are overweight or have a family history of diabetes, should know that stress management is an important part of maintaining long-term health and preventing diabetes, Crump said.
A Mexican woman pregnant with quadruplets gave birth recently to four healthy babies: two boys and two girls.

Central European News (CEN) reported that doctors told Laura Patricia and Juan Ramirez their children likely would be born at 29 and 30 weeks gestation. But instead, the babies came at 35 weeks, about five weeks short of a full-term pregnancy. They are reportedly doing well and only slightly underweight.

CEN reported that Patricia and Ramirez knew the sex of three of their babies the two girls and one boy but the last remained a mystery because he was always hiding during ultrasounds.

For about two weeks, doctors plan to observe Patricia and her newborns at a hospital in Torreon, in the central-north state of Coahuila, and the babies must spend at least five days in incubators receiving their mothers milk.

Meantime, Patricia and Ramirez are seeking federal and state assistance for items like nappies, milk and clothes, CEN reported. The new parents also are asking for funds to help cover their little ones future education.

"We have heard about people donating milk once a month and things like that, Ramirez told CEN. We will take any help we are offered."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), quadruplets in the United States are rare. In 2013, the latest CDC data available, only 270 sets of quadruplets were born.


Few phrases prompt more confusion in the United States today than the seemingly simple words, separation of church and state. Everyone seems to intuitively sense what this means. But ask 10 Americans how separation of church and state should play out, and youre liable to get 10 different answers.

When it comes to the voting booth, many AmericansChristians as well as non-Christianswant to apply the separation of church and state in all the wrong ways. Specifically, they want to pretend that what happens in the church is irrelevant for the state. Or, to put it differently, they would like Christians to leave their religion at the door. Look at the candidates policies, they urge, not his/her faith.

We sympathize with some of this sentiment, of course. There is a certain naivete in flatly asking, Which one of these guys is Christian? Thats who Im voting for. Faith isnt everything.

But faith is something. A very important something, in fact. And every candidate has one.

You read that right. We are all believers. The question isnt, Does this person believe? but rather, What does this person believe? As author and clergyman Richard John Neuhaus often said, Politics is chiefly a function of culture, at the heart of culture is morality, and at the heart of morality is religion.

Every last candidate out there, from the outspoken Christian to the outspoken atheist (still a rare breed in American politics), has a religion, whether they use the term or not. Something sits at the center of their lives, commanding their loyalty, guiding their principles of right and wrong. That something acts as the god of that candidates life.

Discerning what that god actually is, however, can be a tricky business. There are at least three layers of faith that need to be unraveled.

The first is the stated faith of the candidate. The religious tradition of candidates (should) exercise a significant shaping influence on their political life. Christianity views life much differently than, for instance, Buddhism, and there will be consequences in the political realm.

The second layer is that of the functional god. The Bible teaches that every human being ascribes ultimate worth to some person or ideal. It may be sex, money, power, family, or the approval of others. Even if a candidate claims a Christian heritage, his life may betray that claim to reveal that what truly drives him is power.

The third layer to consider is that of political ideology, which can often act as a pet god of sorts. Liberalism idolizes the individual. Conservatism idolizes heritage. Nationalism idolizes the nation itself. Socialism idolizes equality. Good ideals, allbut dangerous gods.

In short, Christian voters must vote according to faith. But weve also got to be wise enough to consider all three layers of a candidates faith. If we did, our nation would never look the same.


At this years March for Life, and at the hundreds of similar events taking place across the country this month to mark the anniversary of Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, the Supreme Court cases that legalized abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy, there will be thousands upon thousands of young faces in the crowds. Many will be young women who are pro-life -- a fact that pro-abortion liberals cannot fathom. During a recent interview, DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz lamented that millennial women arent activists for abortion rights and are complacent because their entire lives have been lived after Roe v. Wade was decided.

Shes wrong.

Young women not only arent complacent about abortion but they are against it entirely.

Abortion advocates cannot wrap their minds around the fact that young women are the majority of participants in the pro-life movement. For example, the faces of young Millennial women were plastered in every newspaper following the Hobby Lobby Supreme Court decision in the summer of 2014 as they stood outside the Court cheering that the government couldnt force private companies to pay for abortifacients.

Voters under 30-years-old were once the most ardent abortion supporters. In 1991, 36 percent of 18-29-year-olds believed abortion should be legal in all circumstances yet in 2010, only 24 percent of the same age group believed abortion should remain legal in all circumstances, making this generation more pro-life than their parents. In addition, millennials are the age group that is most in favor of a ban on abortions after 20 weeks, at 52 percent.

This generation grew up seeing the ultrasound photos of babies in the womb and knew they were just that  babies, not blobs of tissue. Yet this is only the beginning because the tide is turning and these young women, these Millennials, are indeed the face of the pro-life movement.

Last year a crew from ABC News Nightline followed me around the March for Life and to an abortion facility and college campus in New Mexico. The producer remarked several times that she was shocked at how many young women were at the March.

In New Mexico, the Students for Life group from the University of New Mexico-Albuquerque was made up of mostly women, two of whom were pregnant at the time of filming.

The film crew went to the UNM campus to film controversy and instead saw resources for pregnant and parenting students passed out and calm, thoughtful conversations taking place. Despite having a bold display showing how legal abortion has killed women, the only controversy that day came when older women, staff at the college, came to yell at our young students.

And this past fall, a liberal reporter tagged along with Emily, our West Coast Regional Coordinator, in California on an ordinary day at work  meeting with students, driving from campus to campus, leading trainings on how to better convey the pro-life message. The reporter was shocked that Emily was not only ardently pro-life, but able to articulate her position eloquently and accurately.

These are the faces of the pro-life movement and perhaps what should scare the DNC Chair even more is that young, pro-lifers are more passionately pro-life than young pro-choicers are about being pro-choice, as insightfully noted by outgoing NARAL president Nancy Keenan in 2010. She called it the intensity gap.

Last year in Washington State, with only a days notice, dozens of young, pro-life students descended at the state capitol to testify at a hearing on a parental notification law.

Planned Parenthood panicked when they saw our students and sent out an email to local supporters, urging them to please show up  and some did, retirees mostly, which was a great contrast to our young men and women sitting in the room.

This generation is ready to make abortion unthinkable. They expose the shady business practices of Planned Parenthood on their campuses. They hold baby showers for students facing unplanned pregnancies. They come to the March for Life and other pro-life rallies around the country by the busloads.

Roe v. Wade didnt settle the issue of abortion, and Millennials are not complacent when it comes to abortion. In fact, it has been Millennials at the forefront of the fight to defund Planned Parenthood.

David Daleiden, who released the undercover videos of Planned Parenthood this past summer showing executives discussing the sale of baby body parts, is only 26-years-old.

Lila Rose, another Millennial, has led the charge in uncovering the unsavory business practices of Planned Parenthood.

Abby Johnson, former Planned Parenthood Director and also another Millennial, has exposed the practices of the abortion giant from the inside.

I launched Students for Lifes full-time operations in 2006 when I was just 21.

In 10 years, student pro-life groups have skyrocketed from 180 to over 930, more than 31,000 students have been trained, and weve taken the Planned Parenthood Project to more than 200 campuses.

Roe v. Wade will be overturned and Millennials, much to the disappointment of Debbie Wasserman Schultz and her friends, will be the ones leading the charge.


Every American should be glad that American hostages have been freed by the tyrannical Iranian regime and are being reunited with family, friends and co-workers.

Less satisfying is the return of Iran's $400 million trust fund, used to buy military equipment, which was frozen in 1979, along with its diplomatic relations with the U.S. (plus what President Obama ludicrously called "appropriate interest" of $1.3 billion), all returned to what the U.S. State Department branded the world's "preeminent sponsor of terrorism." Expecting Iran to use this windfall for purposes other than terrorism would be like expecting a kidnapper to donate the ransom money to a children's hospital.

While President Obama praised himself and his "diplomatic team" for concluding the Iranian nuclear deal, which he claims will ensure that Iran "is never allowed to build a nuclear weapon," Iranian President Hassan Rouhanis world view has not changed one iota. "In (implementing) the deal," Rouhani said, "all are happy except Zionists, warmongers, sowers of discord among Islamic nations and extremists in the U.S. The rest are happy."

This is a regime that allowed the beating of Christian missionary Saeed Abedini in an attempt to force him to renounce his faith and convert to Islam. We are repeatedly told by clueless Western political leaders that Islam is a "religion of peace" and that the Koran prohibits "coercion" in matters of faith (Surah 2:256). By your fruits you shall know them.

In a brazen display of chutzpah, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that when it comes to the nuke deal, it's the U.S. that needs monitoring because it simply cannot be trusted. Iran is not beyond claiming that the U.S. is in violation of the nuclear agreement or using such allegations as an excuse to resume its nuclear program. Skeptics are right to believe their program continues out of sight, despite President Obama's assurances that inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency will catch any violation. Iran has barred IAEA inspectors from sites the government wanted to be kept secret. Why would it not do so again once our check clears the bank?

Pleasurable outcomes do not always validate policy and our enemies in Iran, and among the various terrorist groups it supports, are bound to receive the message that if they can just grab Americans and hold them hostage long enough, America -- at least under this administration, which they perceive to be weak -- will give them what they want. The kidnapping of three American contractors in Iraq may be an indication that terrorist groups have received that message.

What a contrast to Iran's 1981 release of 52 American hostages, all held for 444 days. It came on the day of President Ronald Reagan's Inauguration, an obvious indictment of the Carter administration's weakness. Commentators at the time said they thought the Ayatollah Khomeini believed Reagan was a "cowboy" and might actually drop a nuclear bomb on Iran if the Americans were not freed. That and Reagan's subsequent hardline approach to the Soviet Union came to be known as "peace through strength." The American left's approach might be characterized as "war through weakness."

This time around, in addition to the money, Tehran receives clemency for seven Iranians indicted or imprisoned in the U.S. for sanctions violations. Clemency is certainly within a president's authority, though official U.S. policy over several administrations has been that the U.S. does not negotiate with terrorists ... only terrorist regimes, apparently.
This week, hundreds of thousands of Americans will participate in the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. as well as in other marches on the West Coast and in cities, town and villages everywhere in between. This flood of concerned citizens represents a deeply unsettled issue in our country: the lives of children in their first nine months are not protected by law.

Those who are marching are determined to change that, and to expand the protections of the law to these smallest and most vulnerable members of the human family.

These citizens who are deeply committed to ending abortion do not restrict their pro-life activism to marching. Indeed, these are the same people who run pregnancy centers that provide alternatives to abortion each day, carry out healing ministries for those who have had abortions, undertake numerous educational efforts to help people understand the legal, moral, and sociological dimensions of abortion and the damage it does, preach sermons about how abortion violates the Word of God, and much more.

And they work to elect pro-life candidates.

Although the March for Life itself is not a political event, a keen awareness and a strong motivation of the marchers themselves this year is the fact that we have before us in 2016 the most important election we have ever faced.

The March for Life is on January 22 precisely because the Supreme Court ruled on that day in 1973, through the twin decisions Roe vs. Wade and Doe vs. Bolton, that abortions can be performed throughout pregnancy. Marchers this year are keenly aware that the next President and Senate will have the opportunity to substantially shape the court in one direction or the other. And on the issue that these marchers care most about -- abortion -- the Republican and Democratic parties are diametrically opposed.

At this point in the presidential race, the people who will be marching on Friday in Washington have not coalesced behind a single candidate. On the abortion issue, they have a lot of great options from which to choose. But there are a few points that do represent a consensus among this crowd:

a) Legal abortion is not just bad policy; it redefines America and it redefines the relationship between government and human rights. Our right to life comes from God, not government. Therefore, not only should government not legalize abortion; it can't. To try to do so is beyond its authority. Roe vs. Wade is not just wrong; it's invalid.

b) The right to life is not the only issue to consider in evaluating a candidate, but it is the foundational issue. Without life, we don't have anything. And if a politician can't respect the life of a little baby, how can he or she respect your life or mine? Just the fact that someone is prolife does not necessarily qualify him or her for public office; but justifying abortion does in fact disqualify a candidate.

c) It is not enough for us to know what a candidate believes about abortion and the unborn child; we want to know what the candidate is willing to do to end abortion and protect the unborn child.

d) While politics isn't the ultimate answer to solving the abortion problem, it's an essential part of the answer. Changing minds and hearts is not enough; public policy has to change so that the weak can be protected from those who hearts and minds have not changed.

One of the roles that my organization has in the March for Life is that we organize the Youth Rally that takes place the day before, and during that youth rally, I will give a practical presentation about the elections of 2016. We will teach them how to foster voter registration, how to use voter guides, and how to get people to the polls, particularly by utilizing early voting. We will initiate an effort called Drivers for Life, recruiting volunteers to bring people to the polls who otherwise may not find it easy to get there.

Likewise, at the interdenominational service in Constitution Hall on the morning of the March for Life, I will preach about the elections, and demonstrate the kind of fruit elections can bear by honoring Governor Sam Brownback of Kansas for being the first governor to sign into law a measure protecting unborn children from dismemberment abortion.

I will also preach about the fact -- which I examine at length in my book Abolishing Abortion -- that the instructions pastors are sometimes given by their own church bodies to "avoid even appearing to oppose or discredit a political party" is not workable in the light of the Church's clear pro-life position and the Democratic party's clear support of abortion.

I dont mean that the Church should be a partisan political machine; I mean that the Church should be the Church, clearly articulating her position, no matter what partisan accusations that may generate.

And on this, you will find a consensus among the people who march this Friday. We will march for life, and our march on the streets will become a march into the voting booths to vote this November for public servants who know the difference between serving the public and killing the public.


Fifteen years after the September 11 terrorist attacks, the United States government still has little idea how many foreign travelers overstay their visas annually and remain in the U.S. This, despite the fact that two September 11 hijackers, Satam al-Suqami and Nawaf al-Hazmi, overstayed their visas before carrying out the deadly attacks that left nearly 3,000 Americans dead. Two other 9/11 hijackers had also previously overstayed their visas.

Foreign travelers overstaying their visas to remain in the U.S. illegally represents one of the gravest national security threats to the homeland. We know the risk posed by not enforcing our visa lawsits unacceptable that we are turning a blind eye to these violations.

Federal law requires that agencies of jurisdiction annually report to Congress an estimate of the number of individuals who have overstayed their visas. However, in flagrant violation of that Congressional mandate, neither the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) nor its predecessor has submitted a report since 1994.

After numerous Congressional requests and inquiries, DHS released a report this past week indicating that 500,000 foreign travelers overstayed their visas in 2015 to remain in the U.S. illegally.

However, that figure does not represent the full number of visa overstays in the U.S., since the data is only for those who came into the United States through certain modes of entry and does not include some visa types including student and fiance visas. Tashfeen Malik, who carried out the deadly terrorist attack with her husband in San Bernardino, had come to the U.S. on a K-1 or fiance visa.

And it gets worse.

Since 1996, Congress has required the agency of jurisdictionnow DHS to set up a biometric exit system to track visa overstays.

Yet here we are in 2016 and it has yet to be implemented. Exit checks are absolutely critical to monitor if those who come into the U.S. on visas actually do in fact leave the country when their visa is up. Estimates reveal that at least 40 percent of illegal immigrants come to the U.S. on temporary visas and simply overstay.

Annually, Congress has appropriated hundreds of millions of dollars to go towards the implementation of the biometric exit program, yet it still isnt operational.

Its absolutely ludicrous that these basic security measures have not been put in place to track the flow of visitors coming and going in and out of our country. Its not just irresponsible of DHSits inexcusable.

When we talk about the national security threat posed by visa overstays, we are not speaking in hypotheticals. We are facing the reality of recent history.

Two of the 9/11 hijackers exploited the security vulnerabilities in the United States visa program and were able to carry out their attacks. It is astounding that over a decade later DHS still has done little to fix the problem.
Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer told viewers Wednesday on Special Report with Bret Baier that Republican president frontrunner Donald Trump constantly contradicts himself -- with no fear of any potential consequences.

I think the last six months have shown that nothing Trump has ever said in the past, even in the present, can ever be used against him, because for some reason, hes immune to the laws of contradiction, he said.

Krauthammer went on to cite Trumps comments about Texas Sen. Ted Cruzs citizenship during a recent Republican debate.

He brought up, of course, the Canadian citizenship, he said, Im protecting you against what the Democrats are doing I promise I will never sue over this, Krauthammer said, adding, Then at a rally three days later, he said, I might just sue.

While Krauthammer said this was a trivial example, he seemed assured the bevy of contradictions would continue.
A day after doctors reported high levels of lead in Flint children, Gov. Rick Snyder's top aide told him the "real responsibility" for the city's water issues rested with local government officials, emails released Wednesday showed.



Then-chief of staff Dennis Muchmore also told the governor that residents were "caught in a swirl of misinformation" about lead contamination and that it was up to city and county leaders to confront the issue, according to the emails.



"Of course, some of the Flint people respond by looking for someone to blame instead of working to reduce anxiety," Muchmore wrote. "We can't tolerate increased lead levels in any event, but it's really the city's water system that needs to deal with it."



In a Sept. 25 email, Muchmore said he could not "figure out why the state is responsible" before noting that former state Treasurer Andy Dillon had signed off on the city's plans to build a water pipeline from Lake Huron, which required a temporary switch to the Flint River during construction.



So, he explained, "we're not able to avoid the subject."



Muchmore also said two state agencies and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency could not "find evidence of a major change" in lead levels.



By early October, the Snyder administration was forced to acknowledge the validity of the lead concerns and help Flint return to the Detroit water system.



The two-term Republican released more than 270 pages of emails a day after his annual State of the State speech in which he apologized again for the emergency and pledged to act. He called the release of the messages -- which are exempt from Michigan's public-records law -- "unprecedented" but necessary so people "know the truth."



He did not release the emails of his staff, drawing criticism from Democrats and open-government advocates. The rest of the administration is subject to the Freedom of Information Act.



According to Muchmore's emails to Snyder, officials at the Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Health and Human Services felt some people in Flint were trying to turn the lead issue into "a political football," claiming the agencies were underestimating the danger and trying to shift responsibility to the state.



Flint's water became contaminated with lead when it began drawing from the river in 2014 as a cost-cutting measure while under state financial management. The water was not properly treated to keep lead from pipes from leaching into the supply.



Snyder has said he was first briefed on the "potential scope and magnitude" of the crisis on Sept. 28. State epidemiologists validated local physicians' findings on Oct. 1, and the governor said he immediately ordered the distribution of filters along with water and blood testing.



In December, Snyder learned that the task force he appointed to investigate the crisis had concluded that the Department of Environmental Quality was primarily to blame.



The task force chairman, Ken Sikkema, said in a separate message that the finding was "critical and urgent" and could not be delayed until the group completed its report.



Snyder aide Jarrod Agen told the governor on Dec. 28 that the task force's "harsh" verdict suggested that personnel changes at the environmental department scheduled for after the holidays should not wait. Agency Director Dan Wyant's resignation -- and the firing of three other staffers -- should take effect the next day.



Also Wednesday, Snyder asked President Barack Obama to reconsider the denial of a federal disaster declaration to address the crisis, saying it poses an "imminent and long-term threat" to residents.



Obama declared an emergency -- qualifying the city for $5 million -- but concluded that the high lead levels are not a disaster based on the legal requirement that disaster money is intended for natural events such as fires or floods. Snyder had estimated a need for up to $95 million over a year.



In his appeal letter, Snyder called the decision a "narrow reading" and likened the crisis to a flood, "given that qualities within the water, over a long term, damaged the city's infrastructure in ways that were not immediately or easily detectable."



The community about 75 miles north of Detroit, has about 100,000 residents, with about 40 percent of them living below the poverty line. The population is nearly 60 percent black.



The lead-- which can lead to behavior problems and learning disabilities in children and kidney ailments in adults -- has left Flint residents unable to drink unfiltered tap water.



Flint Mayor Karen Weaver refused to call for Snyder's resignation while at the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Washington, D.C., saying investigations should go forward.



"I'm staying focused on what I need to get from him right now," Weaver said Wednesday.



The Michigan House on Wednesday approved Snyder's request for $28 million more in the short term to pay for more filters, bottled water, school nurses and testing and monitoring -- on top of $10.6 million allocated in the fall. The money would also replace plumbing fixtures in schools with lead problems and help Flint with unpaid water bills. The measure moves to the Senate for expected action next week.



Snyder plans to make a bigger request in his February budget proposal. He also announced the deployment of roughly 130 more National Guard members to the city.


The Democratic presidential candidates will get one more high-profile chance to appeal to voters exactly one week before the Iowa caucuses.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Maryland Gov. Martin OMalley and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders will appear before Hawkeye state voters in a two-hour town hall from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET on Jan. 25 at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.

The event is hosted by the Iowa Democratic Party and Drake University, and will be broadcast on CNN.

Drake University has strengthened its reputation this election cycle as the best venue in Iowa, and perhaps the nation, for political engagement and civil discussion, said Drake University President Marty Martin in a statement. Our position as capital of the Iowa caucuses has generated countless professional experiences for students and helped prepare them to be engaged global citizens."

Clinton, OMalley, and Sanders appeared at Drake University two weeks ago, when they participated in the Iowa Brown and Black Presidential Forum.

The town hall comes just over a week after the Democratic debate in Charleston, S.C., where Clinton aggressively challenged Sanders record in a bid to arrest his rise in the polls.
There was a moment in the Democratic debate, as Bernie Sanders explained that ObamaCare isnt enough and he wants to raise taxes on everyone to pay for government-run health care, I wondered if Hillary Clinton was thinking of that Jon Lovitz line from an old SNL skit:

I cant believe Im losing to this guy.

Sanders is out there as an unabashed socialist, railing against millionaires and billionaires, and many prognosticators thought he won the NBC debate in South Carolina. I found her steady as usual, speaking more to a general-election audience, putting Sanders on the defensive over gun control and displaying far greater depth on foreign policy. Sanders, on the other hand, always dials it up to a 10, Larry David style.

And yet its Bernie who brings the passion, whos gotten the partys base excited, and who is now crowing that the inevitable nominee is no longer quite so inevitable. And with polls showing Sanders with a big lead in New Hampshire60 to 33 percent in a CNN poll?--and a modest lead in Iowa, the press is taking a second look.

What took so long? I just loved this New York Times headline the other day: Clinton Campaign Underestimated Sanders Strengths, Allies Say.

You got that? Its not that every pundit on the planet has insisted for a year that Bernie had no chance, none, zero, nada, of stopping Hillarys coronation. Its her dumb campaign that didnt see this coming.

The journalistic consensusand Im not exempting myself hereis that a 74-year-old Vermont senator who wasnt even a member of the Democratic Party didnt have a prayer of knocking off a former first lady, senator and secretary of State who is, after all, a Clinton.

But now the email scandal, which was dormant for so long, could be coming back to haunt her. An inspector general has told congressional leaders in a letter that her home server contained information on some of the governments most secret programs. Clinton told NPR this was merely a leak designed to damage her.

And yesterday, after weeks of a media debate over whether Bill Clintons sex scandals are relevant to the campaign, the New York Times certified them as fair gamewhich matters because of its agenda-setting role. A piece saying that young women are troubled by her role in the 1990s scandals led off with Lena Dunham, the HBO star whos already conducted a gushing interview with the former first lady, telling an Upper East Side dinner party that she too is concerned about whatever role Hillary played in going after Bills accusers.

This, says the Times, captures the deeper debate unfolding among liberal-leaning women about how to reconcile Mrs. Clintons leadership on womens issues with her past involvement in her husbands efforts to fend off accusations of sexual misconduct

Even some Democrats who participated in the effort to discredit the women acknowledge privately that today, when Mrs. Clinton and other women have pleaded with the authorities on college campuses and in workplaces to take any allegation of sexual assault and sexual harassment seriously, such a campaign to attack the womens character would be unacceptable.

Other than that, its been a great week.

Im going to take a deep breath here and remind everyone that Clinton is still the overwhelming favorite in this race, even if the previously unthinkable happens and she loses the first two contests.

But did the press fall into the same trap as in 2008, convinced that Hillarys celebrity, money, gender and huge lead would make the race into a cakewalk? Once Joe Biden decided against running, Sanders declined to press on her damn emails and her polls stabilized, journalists concluded that she was a lock.

What they missedand this was on a par with misreading the Trump phenomenonis the deep anger and frustration among voters fed up with the political and media establishment.

Now, says the Times, the Clintons are particularly concerned that her rational message, in the words of an aide, is not a fit with a restless Democratic primary electorate.

The paper also reports that the Clinton camp is preparing for a long slog against Sanders: The campaign boasted last June, when Mrs. Clinton held her kickoff event on Roosevelt Island in New York, that it had at least one paid staff member in all 50 states. But the effort did not last, and the staff members were soon let go or reassigned.

Even Hillary supporters, such as Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen, says she talks too much about her one- and two- and three-points plans:

Frankly, I dont give a damn about her plans. I sort of already know what they are anyway. After being first lady, senator from New York, secretary of state and, going all the way back, the 1969 commencement speaker at Wellesley College, she cant possibly have any surprises up her sleeve. When it comes to policies and plans, she is a known commodity. The rest of her is encased in an emotional burka.

I wouldnt go that far, but Hillary is using a factual approach to make the case that Sanders is out of the mainstream. The plan that he released just before Sundays debate shows he would slap a 52 percent tax rate on people earning more than $10 million. And obviously hes been pulling Clinton to the left, since first she has to win the nomination.

Even nationally, a Monmouth poll has Sanders cutting Clintons lead to 52 to 37 percent.

The press clearly didnt expect a competitive race, but hey, this hasnt been a great year for campaign coverage.
A storm is churning.

And were not talking Donald Trumps argument that Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is ineligible to become president.

Veterans of the Washington political scene scoff when forecasters command the airwaves with foreboding warnings of epic snowfall, tornadic gales and interminable school delays.

Theyve heard these lines before. Theyre inured to foreboding warnings of major snowfalls in the nations capital. Youd think they were asking House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., to discuss the likelihood of a brokered convention.

They get it wrong all the time.

Remember when it was just rain?

I bet we just get a dusting.

Then, the ultimate parting shot.

And they SURE cant drive in it here.

Meteorological agnosticism prevails in Washington because its residents constantly parse the prolific spin and hype which dominates politics in the nations capital. Caveat emptor. So when they catch word that a snowstorm is on the way, theyre skeptical.

Remember the Jeb Bush juggernaut? Recall how this was a foregone conclusion for Hillary Clinton  in 2008?

Two feet of snow?



Prove it.

Case in point: It was March 5, 2012. An extratropical cyclone churned up the Mid-Atlantic, threatening to dump two feet of snow on Washington. The Senate left town. Then-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., trimmed the House schedule to get lawmakers to the airport early. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) shuttered the federal government.

Then it rained.

And rained.

The noreaster eventually blanketed regions in New England with three feet of snow. The storm finally spit an inch of snow on the most-southerly extremities of the District of Columbia. Reagan National Airport recorded 0.2 inches of snow.

Snore.

But its not always like that.

Theres video evidence. Perhaps on Netflix.

The old man sits on a park bench on the National Mall. Hes bundled up in a dark coat and fedora. He leafs through a folded newspaper. A thick layer of snow seals the ground, stretching from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial. A younger man in a suit and winter coat approaches him. The elder fellow is Denton Voyles of the Justice Department, played by actor Steven Hill of Law and Order fame. The younger man is Mitch McDeere, a hot-shot lawyer portrayed by Tom Cruise. The movie is "The Firm," directed by Sydney Pollack.

They hoped to shoot the scene on the National Mall in mid-March, 1993. Thats when Washington flirts with spring and the cherry blossoms explode with color.

Instead, they got The Storm of the Century in March 1993. It was an historic tempest which spanned from Canada to Central America. The blast pelted regions as far south as Florida with snow and hurricane-force winds.

The Knickerbocker Storm buried the capital in 22 inches of snow in 1922. Two days later, the roof of the Knickerbocker Theatre in Washington collapsed, killing 98 people. Rep. Andrew Jackson Barchfield, R-Pa., was among the dead.

In early January, 1996, Congress and President Bill Clinton finally halted a trio of partial government shutdowns which started in the fall of 1995. 110,000 government workers had been off the job for three weeks when they inked the deal. But a blizzard crippled Washington with two feet of snow. The impasse was solved, but federal workers couldnt get to work.

During the same storm, a leaky roof at the Library of Congresss Jefferson Building forced workers to take emergency measures to protect various books. The wind blew sheets of snow into the air ducts of the Librarys Madison Building, producing an interior drift four feet in height.

A hat trick of Snowmageddons all played roles in the Democrats efforts to approve health care reform during the winter of 2009/2010. A blizzard buried Washington in two feet of snow just before the Senate approached a post-witching hour procedural vote on Dec. 21, 2009. Democrats needed all of their members to vote aye to clear the parliamentary hurdle. But then-Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., hoped the weather might tilt the field in the GOPs favor.

The American people ought to pray is that somebody cant make the vote tonight, Coburn said on the floor.

Only the Senate met this week as the House has been on recess. But that wont stop some lawmakers from attending the annual March for Life on Friday. House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., are scheduled to speak at various events. Thousands of pro-life demonstrators always descend on Capitol Hill to mark the anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

Despite the storm prediction suspicions, theres substantial evidence that legendary blizzards periodically pummel the capital  even if people perceive it as an over-reaction.

Disbelieving is a slippery slope. As slippery as the Wednesday night commute home in Washington after just an inch of snow. The squall converted 20-minute drives into nightmarish, five-hour odysseys. Even President Obama wasnt immune to the paralysis. The weather snarled Obamas motorcade as he tried to return to the White House after landing at Joint Base Andrews. The journey usually consumes 25 minutes. The presidents jaunt consumed an astonishing hour and 12 minutes.

Capitol Attitude is a weekly column written by members of the Fox News Capitol Hill team. Their articles take you inside the halls of Congress, and cover the spectrum of policy issues being introduced, debated and voted on there.
Defense Department bases no longer will accept drivers licenses from five states as proof of ID -- a consequence of the implementation of a controversial post-9/11 law.

The decision, which affects residents of Minnesota, Illinois, Missouri, New Mexico and Washington, was announced Wednesday. Residents from those five states, going forward, will need another form of ID such as a passport to enter.

The move marks one of the first big changes after the government started to implement a 2005 security law known as the REAL ID Act. The legislation was meant to tighten standards for government-issued IDs  like drivers licenses  and banned federal agencies from accepting IDs that dont measure up.

Washington D.C. delayed full implementation for years, but the Department of Homeland Security is now pressuring states into compliance.

Currently, DHS is only enforcing the legislation for access to military bases, most federal facilities and nuclear power plants -- but will eventually extend the ID requirements for air travel as well. Only 23 states are in compliance with the law, but many others have been granted exemptions until later this year.

However, Illinois, Missouri, New Mexico and Washington were denied an extension beyond Jan. 10, making them officially non-compliant. Minnesotas exemption expired in 2015.

A DoD official said in a statement released Wednesday that DoD installations are now prohibited from accepting drivers licenses or state ID cards from non-compliant states.

However, the official noted that the requirement could be waived in certain situations.

DoD policy allows commanders to waive the DoD access control requirements for special situations, circumstances, or emergencies, the official said. Therefore, installations may authorize other alternatives to facilitate installation access, such as a graduation ceremony guest list, escorts, etc.

The legislation has faced opposition from both Democrats and Republicans due to privacy and cost concerns, and fears that it represents the first step toward a national ID system.

DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson announced earlier this month that airline passengers from states not compliant with the law will be unable to board a flight using a drivers license as of Jan. 22, 2018, and urged state lawmakers to ramp up their compliance efforts.

I urge state government leaders to take immediate action to comply with the REAL ID Act, to ensure the continued ability of their residents to fly unimpeded. It is time to move toward final compliance with this law, Johnson said.
The solar industry seemed to be looking at a bright future in 2016 as Congress renewed an endangered tax break for another five years. Yet, in a troubling sign for a business continuously infused with such government benefits, Americas largest solar contractor may be facing its worst year on record.

SolarCity, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, is now contending with mass layoffs, plummeting stock and mounting debt.

This is what happens when you have a government that artificially props up a sector with subsidies so it can generate more production than they otherwise would, said energy analyst Nick Loris, a research fellow with the conservative Heritage Foundation.

The companys decision to slash 550 jobs in Nevada was announced in a Jan. 6 press release. The company pointedly blamed the Nevada Public Utilities Commission after it cut the rate at which customers could resell energy back to the grid  warning this would punish existing customers and cause all solar companies to lay off thousands of additional Nevadans.

The reaction to the rate change, for critics, underscored how fragile the industry is.

Loris said companies like SolarCity simply depend on these policies. "When taken away, it adversely affects their bottom line and ability to compete with conventional sources, he said.

The companys stock was trading Thursday around the $34 range, a slight uptick after a near-continuous slide since Dec. 17, when it closed at $57.26. Its heyday was Feb. 27, 2014, when shareholders gleefully saw the ticker reach $86. Analysts are now split over recommendations on whether to sell or buy, amid a time of extreme volatility in the markets as a whole.

SolarCity has a business model that relies on investors and government tax breaks and grants. Since its 2006 inception, taxpayers have paid $1 billion in subsidies. The company has never made a profit.

Analysts arent exactly bullish. Headlines like SolarCity Inevitable Downward Spiral Has Begun, SolarCity Tanks on News of Possible Asset Sales and Perilous Reversal Watch: SolarCity are spread throughout Wall Street research sites.

But SolarCity maintains it plans to have positive cash flow by the end of the year, according to a shareholder letter dated Oct. 29, 2015.

SolarCity currently provides more solar energy systems to Americans than its next several dozen competitors combined. We fully expect that in the coming years we will deliver more solar electricity to customers than any other provider in the world, CEO Lyndon Rive wrote.

The company has expanded into Mexico and will start churning out panels in 2017 when a plant in Buffalo, N.Y., comes on line. It would be the largest solar production facility in the Western Hemisphere, with the goal of outpacing its Chinese rivals on efficiency and cost.

Sales have outpaced installations with thousands of new customers every week, at a 75 percent increase year after year, the company says.

But all this, according to the letter, coincided with a $10 million debt increase from 2014.

A Trailblazer?

Despite its troubles, SolarCity may be positioning itself as a champion of sorts for the industry by taking on Nevada officials over so-called net metering regulations  the sale of solar energy back to the grid.

This issue is what prompted the layoffs. SolarCity says it will aggressively fight the Dec. 23 ruling by the state Public Utilities Commission that increased service charges from $12.75 to $17.90 a month and decreased the reimbursement rate from 11 cents per kilowatt hour to 9 cents -- eventually reaching 2 cents in 2020. The commission claims the changes are necessary so solar customers pay their fair share to the grid.

But SolarCity released a letter Tuesday directed toward Gov. Brian Sandoval, saying average homeowners will now be paying an additional $11,000 in solar costs over the next 20 years.

What happened in Nevada was a massive bait and switch on solar employees and customers by Gov. Sandoval and his appointed commissioners, to lure customers into going solar and then dramatically increase the cost later, SolarCity spokesman Jonathan Bass counters, claiming a Nevada utility will benefit by buying the cheap solar energy and selling it at a mark-up.

Nevadans are furious about the decision and we will continue to fight it, he said.

This, not three years after SolarCity moved its California sales force to Nevada in 2013 with great fanfare after receiving a $1.2 million grant from the state.

But SolarCity is just the latest solar company to leave Nevada as costs made solar systems an unaffordable option to homeowners and businesses. And over the past few years, net metering has become a hot topic in other states such as Hawaii, Florida and Arizona, with Hawaii recently shutting down the program to new customers.

Like SolarCity, Sunnova also fled Nevada. The nations fourth-largest solar retailer is unlike its competitors because it hires mom and pop installation companies rather than utilize in-house workers.

Ironically, Sunnova, a private company, argued on Capitol Hill against maintaining the solar Investment Tax Credit that was supposed to expire at the end of 2016.

We think we can continue to thrive and be successful without it, said Jordan Fruge, Sunnovas chief marketing officer. We felt like industry was ready to make that step and make solar more affordable on its own.

Analyst Nick Loris also challenged the subsidies.

When you subsidize something as much as solar gets, it doesnt seem like its sustainable in the long run, he said. It creates a temporary handout to a few companies, pulling resources from other places in the economy.
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Buzz Cut:

 GOP cannibalism really cooking now

 Trump stands by Palin on domestic abuse claim

 Take Five: Iran deal heats up Senate races

 The Judges Ruling: A radical departure

 Who knew Thor drove a Passat?

GOP CANNIBALISM REALLY COOKING NOW

Like shipwrecked sailors in a lifeboat, the traditional Republican candidates and their respective super PACs, are down to the point where they are clubbing each other with oars over the last thimbleful of water. And you know what comes after that

As a fresh New Hampshire poll shows, Republicans hoping for a breakout performance by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., have reason to worry. The new survey from WMUR and CNN doesnt tell us anything different about New Hampshires longtime favorite, Donald Trump.

Trump ticked up two points, but his position is substantially unchanged since December. And, as is the case nationally, Sen. Ted Cruz has moved into second place.

Among the shipwrecked crew beneath them, though, there are some noteworthy changes. Rubio has been dragged down into a tie for third, and within hailing distance of three other candidates who are all dead-enders outside of the state.

Rubio is rightly seen by most analysts as the GOPs best chance for a win in a general election against Hillary Clinton. And he still boasts a good path to the nomination.

In one sense, Rubios chances have never looked better. As the feud between frontrunners Trump and Cruz intensifies, Rubio can start to see daylight. Trumps misstep with Sarah Palins endorsement is further evidence that even if he manages to dispatch Cruz, the GOP frontrunner will suffer substantial damage in this fight.

Nationally, things look good for Rubio. While he broadly trails Trump, and somewhat more narrowly lags Cruz, the Real Clear Politics average shows him doubling up his closest plausible competitor.

But the other plausible candidates arent thinking nationally. They are thinking about ruining Rubio in New Hampshire.

In order for Rubio to get in contention for the nomination, he needs to build momentum as the third man in a three man race with Trump and Cruz. Rubio does not need to win in any of the first four primaries, but he must not finish behind former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush or New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich is becoming something of a different matter. His polling in New Hampshire is bouncing around like a toddler downing Mountain Dew, but theres clearly something to his move in the Granite State. Kasich is the favorite Republican of many Democrats and independents, both of whom are welcome to participate in the states GOP primary.

Fox News Firsts hunch is that Kasich will end up like other New Hampshire crossover candidates, like former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, and underperform. But we only have to wait 19 days to find out. Either way, its hard to see how Kasich the least popular Republican in the field with his party nationally could convert a second- or third-place finish into anything beyond the Granite State.

But if Bush or Christie gets ahead of Rubio in New Hampshire by any notable margin, it might be the end of the line for the senators chances to unify the half of the party not backing Trump or Cruz.

If either establishmentarian succeeds in jackrocking Rubio in New Hampshire it also probably means the end of chances for a nominee other than Trump or Cruz, and, by extension, a favorable general election matchup.

Rubio is certainly giving as good as he is getting, but negative campaigning hurts everyone involved and Rubio does not have much room for error. Given what Bushs super PAC is doing in its very expensive death throes, he could certainly succeed in scuttling his former proteges presidential bid.

Bush beating Rubio in New Hampshire would set up another Rubio dud in South Carolina and maybe even Bush as the third man, which is exactly what Trump and Cruz are hoping. Christie might fare better than Bush, but he would be a long, long shot, especially given his recent struggles.

Its hardly all gloom for Rubio, though. If he can slip his way to third places finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire, he will be able to start to shake off bitter clingers Bush and Christie and start lengthening his strides.

But in a year in which the Republican Party has managed to do almost everything wrong, its certainly plausible that it could find a way to kill off the last survivor of the establishment shipwreck.

WITH YOUR SECOND CUP OF COFFEE

National Geographic: A bizarre frog that breeds inside trees and lays eggs for its tadpoles to eat has been rediscovered in northeastern India after 150 years. Last recorded in the wild in 1870, Jerdons tree frog was feared extinct until scientists found it during a three-year search that began in 2007. The 20-inch (50-centimeter) long species was first discovered in the Darjeeling region by British zoologist Thomas Jerdon, who inspired its name Polypedates jerdonii. But according to a new study, the long-lost amphibian actually represents a completely new genusearning it the new moniker Frankixalus jerdonii. Scientists observed the frog hiding in hollow bamboo stems and tree holes, where it carries out its remarkable breeding antics. Females attach their eggs to the insides of tree hollows, which hold pools of water. When the tadpoles hatch, they fall in the water, where the females feed them unfertilized eggs until they turn into froglets. Most tadpoles of other frog species eat plant material.

Got a TIP from the RIGHT or the LEFT? Email FoxNewsFirst@FOXNEWS.COM

POLL CHECK

Real Clear Politics Averages

Republican Nomination  Trump 34.8 percent; Cruz 18.8 percent; Rubio 11.6 percent; Carson 8.8 percent

General Election: Clinton vs. Trump  Clinton +2.5 points

Generic Congressional Vote: Republicans +0.5

TRUMP STANDS BY PALIN ON DOMESTIC ABUSE CLAIM

The Hill: Republican primary front-runner Donald Trump says he encouraged Sarah Palin to talk about her sons domestic violence charge to foster a dialogue about the trauma faced by veterans returning home. I thought it was good for many other sons and daughters coming back from the Middle East where they have traumatic problems, and I suggested it, Trump said Wednesday night on CNN. At a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Wednesday shortly after she endorsed Trump, Palin linked the domestic violence arrest of her son, Track Palin, 26, to President Obamas treatment of veterans.

Palin PAC cashing in on coverage - Politico: Sarah Palins political action committee is trying to raise money off of her Donald Trump endorsement. The former Alaska governor and 2008 vice-presidential candidate backed the Republican front-runner at a campaign event in Ames, Iowa, on Tuesday after a full day of speculation and stumped for the billionaire businessman in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Wednesday. Yesterday was a historic day, reads an email from SarahPAC. After touring the country for her book tour and hearing from thousands of people, Governor Palin went all in for Donald Trump.

TAKE FIVE: IRAN DEAL HEATS UP SENATE RACES

The battle for control of the Senate, which hinges on Democrats picking up five seats in November, is heating up over President Obamas Iran nuclear deal. WSJ reports: Senate Democrats agonized this summer over whether to support a deal opposed by many Jewish voters and top Israeli officials, who worried the release of as much as $100 billion in Iranian oil money frozen in overseas accounts could be used to fund terrorism against Israel. They did so reluctantly and have pressed the administration to hold Irans feet to the fire Backers of the nuclear deal must not only contend with defending the accord itself, but any subsequent U.S. actions taken to protect it

Your tally - Fox News First reader votes rank the five Republican held senate seats at greatest risk of turning blue as: 1) Illinois; 2) Wisconsin; 3) Pennsylvania; 4) Ohio; 5) Florida.

Race Notes

Florida - FAU poll: David Jolly, Alan Grayson ahead early in U.S. Senate race in Florida, with many undecided  Miami Herald

Ohio - Ted Strickland upbeat about slow fundraising numbers  Cleveland Plain Dealer

Wisconsin - Iran deal exposes gulf in Ron Johnson, Russ Feingold views  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Dont forget to vote! - Share your picks of the key GOP-held seats in the battle for control of the Senate. Email them  just your top five, please  to FOXNEWSFIRST@FOXNEWS.COM or tweet @ChrisStirewalt.

Jolly calls for end to lawmaker buckraking - Florida Senate candidate Rep. David Jolly, R-Fla., has a position many in Congress would love: no more hustling for campaign contributions. Jolly lays out his plan in an op-ed for Fox News Opinion.

THE JUDGES RULING: A RADICAL DEPARTURE

Ahead of the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision striking down state bans on elective abortions, Senior Judicial Analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano looks closely at the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision: The freedom to kill innocents violates all norms of civilized society. It violates the natural law. It wasnt even condoned in the state of nature, before governments existed. It violates the 13th and 14th Amendments. Yet, the Supreme Court and numerous Congresses have refused to interfere with it. It is a grave and profound evil. It is legalized murder. Read it here.

WHO KNEW THOR DROVE A PASSAT?

BBC: A man clad only in boxer shorts stopped a thief from stealing his car in southern Norway - by clinging on to the roof in a hair-raising ride at [1 degree]. Police say the owner was left "pretty bloody" after the car crashed into a safety barrier on a bridge. A suspect has been taken into police custody. The owner, 25, woke up in Kristiansand in the early hours of Wednesday when he heard his car engine firing up. He raced out, grabbed a car door-handle and refused to let go. The thief tried to shake him off by driving into the snow, but the owner clambered on to the roof of his VW Passat and clung on to the bars as the car sped off.  The thief drove the car at up to 90km/h (56 mph), he said, but the owner managed to smash the back window with his knee and grappled with the thief before the car hit the safety barrier.

AND NOW, A WORD FROM CHARLES

[Donald Trump] is immune to the laws of contradiction. To take a trivial example, in the last debate he said, I promise Ted [Cruz]  he brought up of course the Canadian citizenship  he said, Im protecting you against what the Democrats will do, I promise  he used the word promise  I will never sue over this. And then what, three days later at a rally, he said, I might just sue.  Charles Krauthammer on Special Report with Bret Baier.



Chris Stirewalt is digital politics editor for Fox News. Want FOX News First in your inbox every day? Sign up here.
Just days ahead of an expected blizzard on the East Coast, New Jersey has officially repealed a nonsensical rule banning the shoveling of snow without a license.

Gov. Chris Christie on Tuesday signed a bill making it legal for New Jersey residents to offer snow shoveling services without first registering with their town. Last year, two entrepreneurial teens going door-to-door and offering to shovel snow for a small fee were stopped by local police in Bound Brook.

The cops told the two boys, Matt Molinari and Eric Schnepf, they were not allowed to solicit businesses without a permit.

In Bound Brook, that license costs $450 and is only good for a period of 180 days.

After the story made national headlines, state lawmakers began working on a solution.

Republican State Sen. Mike Doherty, who sponsored the so-called right-to-shovel bill, said it was incredible that some towns wanted teens to pay expensive licensing fees just to clear snow off driveways.

The bill removes only licensing requirements for snow shoveling services, and only applies to solicitations made within 24 hours before a predicted snow storm. Towns with laws prohibiting door-to-door solicitation will be able to enforce those laws in all other circumstances.

The bill was one of 93 signed by Christie this week, according to the governors office. He also vetoed 65 bills.

Click for more from Watchdog.org.
Sarah Palin is taking heat from veterans for seeming to point the finger at President Obama over mental issues her son may be dealing with following his Iraq war service.

Her son Track was arrested earlier this week on domestic violence charges, and Palin publicly addressed the case Wednesday during a post-endorsement appearance on the campaign trail for Donald Trump. She appeared to link his alleged behavior to post-traumatic stress disorder  and used it to criticize Obamas veteran policies.

But Paul Rieckhoff, the head of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), criticized the former Alaska governors comments Wednesday night.

He tweeted: We need more programs and less politics to battle PTSD.

Speaking with NBC News, he also said, "It's not President Obama's fault that Sarah Palin's son has PTSD.

He called PTSD a very serious problem and reportedly urged Palin not to politicize it.

"I hope this doesn't become a portable chew toy in a political campaign," he said, according to NBC News.

The comments touched off a Twitter exchange with other military servicemembers concerned about Palins remarks. One, who identified as a retired Army veteran, said her comments could cause perceptual problems & future treatment issues for those diagnosed with PTSD.

Palin addressed the elephant in the room  her sons arrest  at her first stop on the campaign trail for Trump after endorsing him Tuesday.

My son, like so many others, they come back a bit different, she said in Tulsa, Okla. They come back hardened. They come back wondering if there is that respect for what it is that their fellow soldiers and airmen and every other member of the military have sacrificially given to this country and that starts at the top.

Palin said military members look at Obama and question whether he knows the sacrifices they make to secure America and to secure freedoms.

So when my own son is going through what he is going through coming back, I can certainly relate with other families who kinda feel these ramifications of some PTSD, she said.

Track, a 26-year-old Iraq veteran, was arraigned Tuesday on charges of domestic violence assault, interfering with a report of domestic violence crime and possession of a firearm while intoxicated.

According to the police affidavit posted by KTVA-TV, officers were called to the residence Monday night following two 911 calls  the first from Tracks girlfriend and the second from him.

The woman claimed Track had punched her in the face and that a firearm was involved, according to police records.

The charges against Track were filed the same day Palin appeared at an Ames, Iowa, rally to endorse Trump, the current GOP frontrunner.
Two more detainees were released from the Guantanamo Bay prison camp on Thursday, according to officials, though a third man slated to leave is insisting on staying behind.

According to reports, Mohammed Ali Abdullah Bwazir of Yemen, who is 35 or 36, and has been at the prison since 2002, was frightened to transfer to a country where he does not know anyone, his lawyer told reporters. Officials did not clarify to which country the prisoner -- tied in the past to both Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan -- would have been going.

But Thursdays successful transfer of two other detainees -- Yemeni Abdul Aziz Abdullah Ali al Suadi, 41, and Egyptian-born Bosnian Tariq Mahmoud Ahmed al Sawah, 58 -- brings the number of remaining prisoners at the camp down to 91, the lowest since the first detainees began to arrive at the installation in 2002.

According to the Defense Department, al Sawah was transferred to the Bosnian government. Tied to Al Qaeda with a history in explosives development -- particularly IEDs -- he was nonetheless recommended for release in 2007. According to prison officials in 2008, he was "morbidly obese," and despite being considered at the time a medium-level threat, he retained high intelligence value for U.S. officials.

Meanwhile, al Suadi has been described as an explosives trainer for Al Qaeda who in 2008 was still considered a potential high risk to the U.S., but also with high intelligence value. He was recommended for release by prison officials less than two years later. He has been at Gitmo since 2002, and is being transferred to the government of Montenegro.

The Obama administration announced in December that it was releasing a wave of 17 detainees cleared for transfer. None of them have been prosecuted or convicted by the military tribunal there.

Last week, 10 Yemeni detainees were released and transferred to Oman.

But not everyone wants to go. Bwazir's lawyer, John Chandler, told reporters his client is depressed. He was taken to the camp in 2002 and has been connected to Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Prison officials said previously that without proper supervision he might re-engage in extremist activities. Nonetheless, charges against him were withdrawn, and he was first recommended for transfer out of the prison in 2007.

He just didnt want to go, Chandler told The New York Times Thursday, comparing him to a character in the film Shawshank Redemption, who could not face a life outside prison walls. However, being sent to a country where there would be family could make a difference.

He just feels like hell be OK if he has a family to support him.
About 60 drawings and hieroglyphic inscriptions, dating back around 5,000 years, have been discovered at a site called Wadi Ameyra in Egypts Sinai Desert. Carved in stone, they were created by mining expeditions sent out by early Egyptian pharaohs, archaeologists say.

They reveal new information on the early pharaohs. For instance, one inscription the researchers found tells of a queen named Neith-Hotep who ruled Egypt 5,000 years ago as regent to a young pharaoh named Djer.

Archaeologists estimate that the earliest carvings at Wadi Ameyra date back around 5,200 years, while the most recent date to the reign of a pharaoh named Nebre, who ruled about 4,800 years ago. [See Photos of the Egyptian Drawings and Hieroglyphics]

The "inscriptions are probably a way to proclaim that the Egyptian state owned the area," team leader Pierre Tallet, a professor at Universite Paris-Sorbonne, told Live Science.

He explained that south of Wadi Ameyra, the ancient expeditions would have mined turquoise and copper. Sometime after Nebre's rule, the route of the expeditions changed, bypassing Wadi Ameyra, he said.

Early female ruler

The inscriptions carved by a mining expedition show that queen Neith-Hotep stepped up as ruler about 5,000 years ago, millennia before Hatshepsut or Cleopatra VII ruled the country.

While Egyptologists knew that Neith-Hotep existed, they believed she was married to a pharaoh named Narmer. "The inscriptions demonstrate that she [Neith-Hotep] was not the wife of Narmer, but a regent queen at the beginning of the reign of Djer," Tallet said.

'The White Walls'

An inscription found at Wadi Ameyra shows that Memphis, an ancient capital of Egypt that was also called "the White Walls," is older than originally believed.

Ancient Greek and Roman writers claimed that Memphis was constructed by a mythical king named Menes, whom Egyptologists often consider to be a real-life pharaoh named Narmer, Tallet explained.

The new inscription shows that Memphis actually existed before Narmer was even born.

"We have in Wadi Ameyra an inscription giving for the first time the name of this city, the White Walls,and it is associated to the name of Iry-Hor, a king who ruled Egypt two generations before Narmer," Tallet said. The inscription shows that the ancient capital was around during the time of Iry-Hor and could have been built before even he was pharaoh.

Archaic boats

Among the drawings discovered at Wadi Ameyra are several that show boats. On three of these boats, the archaeologists found a "royal serekh," a pharaonic symbol that looks a bit like the facade of a palace. The serekh looks "as if it were a cabin" on the boats, Tallet said.

In later times, boats were buried beside Egypt's pyramids, including the Giza pyramids. The design of the boats depicted at Wadi Ameyra "are really archaic, much older" than those found beside the pyramids, Tallet said.

The Wadi Ameyra site was first discovered in 2012, and the finds were reported recently in the book "La Zone Miniere Pharaonique du Sud-Sinai II" (Institut Francais d'Archeologie Orientale, 2015).

Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
It was another bad year for rhinos in Africa.

Despite a slight drop in poaching numbers in South Africa, the total numbers of rhinos killed reach a new record of 1,305 across the continent, according to conservation group TRAFFIC. Most of those slaughtered were in South Africa, which saw its numbers drop slightly from 1,215 in 2014 to 1,175 last year.

As alluded to earlier, the onslaught against our rhino has continued unabated, South Africas Minister of Environmental Affairs, Edna Molewa said in a statement, noting that the numbers of arrest had gone up from 258 in 2014 to 317 last year.

Related: South African court rules in favor of local rhino horn trade



This has necessitated that we step up our efforts, which are among others, the improvement of our strategies, she said. This approach has delivered a number of satisfying results over the past year, particularly with regards to the number of arrests made.

Environmental groups warned the slight drop in rhino deaths in South Africa was nothing to celebrate.

While a slight decrease in rhino poaching in South Africa was apparent in 2015, and perhaps the authorities are having some impact on the ground, these numbers are hardly cause for celebration or complacency, Sabri Zain, TRAFFICs director of policy, said in a statement. The figures remain unacceptably high and continent-wide the scale of the rhino poaching crisis is spreading.

Related: South Africa: North Korean diplomat arrested for illegal trade in rhino horn, expelled

The rampant poaching of rhinos in southern Africa is a striking illustration of the magnitude and enormity of the global wildlife crime crisis, Ginette Hemley, senior vice president of wildlife conservation for the World Wildlife Fund, said in a statement.

"As governments like South Africa continue to ramp up efforts to stop wildlife poaching, these numbers remind us of the urgency to swiftly address this crisis across all fronts, she said. Although South Africa remains the epicenter for the rhino poaching epidemic, criminal networks appear to be expanding their reach across the region, and the problem is ultimately rooted in demand for rhino horn in Asia, most notably in Vietnam.

Other hot spots for poaching were Zimbabwe which saw the number of rhinos killed go from 12 in 2014 to about 50 last year and in Namibia which saw the numbers killed more than triple from 24 in 2014 to 80 last year. Of the four major rhino range States, only Kenya is expected to report a significant fall in rhino poaching in 2015.

Related: Britain's Prince Harry says legalizing rhino horn trade will put species in deeper peril

For Africa as a whole, this is the worst year in decades for rhino poaching, Tom Milliken, TRAFFICs rhino expert, said. The poaching epicentre has spread to neighboring Namibia and Zimbabwe, but is nowhere near being extinguished in South Africa: despite some commendable efforts being made, were still a very long way from seeing the light at the end of this very dark tunnel.

Rhinos are mostly being killed for their horns, which can fetch prices as high $30,000 a pound - about the street price of cocaine - in countries like Vietnam, where it is perceived as a status symbol. The demand is also driven by a belief that the crushed horns have medicinal properties and can cure everything from hangovers to cancer.

There about 25,000 rhinos left in Africa - 20,000 white and 5,000 black, according to the WWF. Ninety-five percent of all Africas rhinos are in South Africa, Namibia, and Zimbabwe, with South Africa being home to the large majority.

The slight decline in rhino poaching in South Africa has been attributed to several measured implemented by authorities, including intensive protection zones in Kruger National Park  which saw the most poaching but also the most arrests.

Rhino were also relocated out of high poaching risk areas. During 2015, 124 rhinos were moved out of the Kruger. And rangers were equipped with the latest technology, including digital, two-way radio communication systems in KwaZulu-Natals Ezemvelo rhino reserves.

Related: Endangered white rhino dies at San Diego Zoo

Meanwhile, the top wildlife body, the 181-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) this month directed Mozambique to implement its National Ivory and Rhino Action Plan, called on South Africa and Mozambique to finalize their joint action plan on rhino poaching and requested South Africa and Viet Nam to enhance their collaboration on criminal investigations.

Vietnam, as a key destination for rhino horn, was instructed to implement their improved penal reforms effectively and to take action to reduce the demand for rhino horn in domestic markets.

The world is watching especially those destination countries whose demand drives the tradeViet Nam and China. There is an urgent need to implement the full provisions of the measures agreed by CITES Parties and to close those cross-border markets in Viet Nam that service Chinese consumers, Milliken said. Failure to do so means the future outlook for Africas rhinos remains very bleak.
Traces of the same rare, highly radioactive material that killed a former KGB agent were found Friday in the sushi restaurant and hotel he had visited, and in his home, setting off a frantic investigation to see if anyone else may have been contaminated by the "tiny nuclear bomb."

The rare radioactive element Polonium-210 was detected in Alexander Litvinenko's urine after he died Thursday in a London hospital. The Itsu sushi restaurant in London's Piccadilly and parts of the Millennium Hotel in Grosvenor Square were closed as investigators scoured for evidence in a death that rocked the government leaders in London and Moscow.

Litvinenko, in a statement written before his death and read Friday, claimed Russian President Vladimir Putin of being behind his murder, a charge Putin denied.

Britain's Health Protection Agency, meanwhile, said the finding of polonium-210 in the dead former spy's body was "an unprecedented event" and Britain's government convened a crisis committee in response.

In Moscow, pro-Kremlin lawmakers pointed the finger at exiled Russian dissidents, claiming the death was part of a plot to discredit the Kremlin.

Russian exile Leonid Nevzelin said in Israel that Litvinenko's death could be linked to investigations into charges laid against ex-shareholders and former owners of the Yukos oil company.

Chemical experts, meanwhile, told the Times of London that a fatal dose of polonium-210 could only be produced artificially, by a particle accelerator or nuclear reactor.

"This is not some random killing. This is not a tool chosen by a group of amateurs. These people had some serious resources behind them," Dr Andrea Sella, a chemistry professor at University College London, said.

"Only a very, very small amount of polonium would need to be ingested to be fatal, but that depends on how pure the polonium is," said Dr. Mike Keir, a radiation protection adviser at the Royal Victoria Infirmary.

Keir said polonium poisoning was extremely difficult to detect because the type of particles it emits  alpha particles  do not penetrate outer layers of the body. It would also not set off airport radiation detectors, experts said.

Scientists claimed small amounts of polonium-210  but not enough to kill someone  were used legitimately in Britain for industrial purposes and easily available.

To be used to kill, however, "much larger amounts are required and this would have to be manmade ... from a particle accelerator or a nuclear reactor," said Medical Research Council expert Dudley Goodhead.

Investigators theorized Friday night how the radioactive substance could have been ingested by Litvinenko, with Health Protection Agency officials offering a theory that it could have been sprayed on him and inhaled.

Litvinenko, meanwhile, literally spoke from the grave as a friend, Alex Goldfarb, read a statement the former Moscow agent wrote just before his death, in which he accuses Putin of poisoning him.

"You have shown yourself to have no respect for life, liberty or any civilized value. You have shown yourself to be unworthy of your office, to be unworthy of the trust of civilized men and women," Goldfarb read.

 Click here to read Litvinkenko's full statement.

Litvinenko, a fierce critic of the Russian government, had suffered heart failure and was heavily sedated as medical stuff struggled to determine what had made the 43-year-old critically ill.

"You may succeed in silencing one man but the howl of protest from around the world will reverberate, Mr. Putin, in your ears for the rest of your life," Litvinenko said in his statement.

Goldfarb said Litvinenko had dictated the statement before he lost consciousness on Tuesday, and signed it in the presence of his wife Marina.

Putin brushed off accusations Friday that he was responsible, saying that the Litvinenko's death was a tragedy but that he didn't see proof that it was a "violent death."

"It's extremely regrettable that such a tragic event as death is being used for political provocations," he said. "I think our British colleagues realize the measure of their responsibility for security of citizens living on their territory, including Russian citizens, no matter what their political views are. I hope that they won't help fanning political scandals which have no grounds."

Litvinenko's father, Walter, who had flown to London from Russia to be with his dying son, accused Putin of waging a polished public relations campaign, telling reporters that his son was killed on the orders of the Russian government "by a little, tiny nuclear bomb, so small that you couldn't see it". He went on to warn that the "people who killed him build big nuclear bombs and missiles and ... should not be trusted," the Guardian newspaper reported.

British health officials, meanwhile, scoured the neighborhood where Litvinenko is believed to have ingested the radioactive poison.

Health Protection Agency chief executive, Pat Troop, said that the high level found in the dead spy's urine indicated "he would either have to eaten it, inhaled it or taken it in through a wound."

"We know he had a major dose," she said.

"I've been in radiation sciences for 30-odd years and I'm not aware of any such incident," said Roger Cox, director of the agency's center for radiation, chemicals and environmental hazards.

Britain's home secretary John Reid, the country's top law-and-order official, said Litvinenkco's death was linked to a radioactive substance in his body.

He said experts had been called in to search for "residual radioactive material" at a number of locations as police investigate the cause of Litvinenko's death, and it was "linked to the presence of a radioactive substance in his body."

"As part of this investigation, the police have called in expert assistance to search for any residual radioactive material at a number of locations," Reid said.

Earlier, London's Metropolitan police said in a statement that the case "is being investigated as an unexplained death."

Click here to visit FOXNews.com's Europe center.

The former spy said he believed he had been poisoned on Nov. 1, while investigating the slaying of another Kremlin detractor  investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya. His hair fell out, his throat became swollen and his immune and nervous systems were severely damaged, he said.

Just hours before he lost consciousness, Litvinenko said in an interview with The Times of London newspaper that he had been silenced.

"I want to survive, just to show them," he said in the interview was published in Friday's edition of the paper, copies of which were available late Thursday. They "got me, but they won't get everybody."

Doctors at London's University College Hospital said tests had virtually ruled out poisoning by thallium and radiation  toxins once considered possible culprits behind the poisoning.

"The medical team at the hospital did everything possible to save his life," hospital spokesman Jim Down said, confirming the Russian's death Thursday night.

"Every avenue was explored to establish the cause of his condition, and the matter is now an ongoing investigation being dealt with by detectives," he said.

Dr. Geoff Bellingan, the hospital's director of critical care, said extensive tests had failed to uncover what had caused Litvinenko to fall ill.

Earlier in the day, hospital officials said Litvinenko was deteriorating rapidly and family members and friends rushed to his bedside.

Goldfarb joined Litvinenko's wife Marina, his son Anatoli and father at the hospital.

"He went into a cardiac failure overnight and the hospital put him on artificial heart support," Goldfarb said. "He's on the ventilator, he's getting artificial resuscitation."

Anti-terrorist police were investigating the poisoning, which friends and dissidents allege was carried out at the behest of the Russian government. Litvinenko sought asylum in Britain in 2000, and has been a relentless critic of the Kremlin and the Russian security services ever since.

Litvinenko worked both for the KGB and for a successor, the Federal Security Service. In 1998, he publicly accused his superiors of ordering him to kill Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky  now exiled in Britain  and a year later spent nine months in jail on charges of abuse of office, for which he was later acquitted, and which prompted his move to London.

On the day he first felt ill, Litvinenko said he had two meetings. In the morning, he met with an unidentified Russian and with Andrei Lugovoy, a former KGB colleague and bodyguard to one-time Russian Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar at a London hotel. Later, he dined with Italian security expert Mario Scaramella to discuss the October murder of Politkovskaya.

Scaramella told reporters in Rome on Tuesday that he had traveled to meet Litvinenko to discuss an e-mail he received from a source naming the killers of Politkovskaya, who was gunned down Oct. 7 at her Moscow apartment building, and outlining that he and Litvinenko were on a hit list.

Goldfarb said that he had a photocopy of the four-page e-mail and confirmed that it did read like the hit list described by Scaramella.

"What's in there confirms what Scaramella said. It lists several targets for assassination, among them are Politkovskaya, Litvinenko, Scaramella, Berezovsky and others," he said. But he refused to say who compiled the document, saying that it could jeopardize the police investigation into the poisoning.

Litvinenko refused to implicate any of the people he met on the day he said he believed he was poisoned.

Sky News, The Times of London and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Click here to visit FOXNews.com's Europe center.
Permission slips for class trips might become a thing of the past if Google has its way. The company has announced that it's expanding its free Expeditions program -- the virtual reality version of the old-school class trip -- to places that include the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and Buckingham Palace.



Initially conceived as a separate kit that would be sent to classrooms, this new take on the software will provide a dedicated Android app for schools that will allow students and educators to take trips across the globe, without ever leaving the classroom.

Since its launch last year, Google's Expeditions Pioneer Program reports that 500,000 students in the United States, Sweden and Canada have used the system. To gain entry into the free program, an interested school must apply via the Expeditions website.



MORE: Most Insanely Awesome Virtual Reality Reactions

Once a school is approved to enter the program, Google sends over the kit, which is comprised of the (beta) software and VR headsets (such as Google Cardboard or Mattel's View-Master VR). The teacher can then guide up to 50 students. The schools also receive routers in case there's no reliable Internet connection.

After everyone is connected, the trip leader can conduct tours of Machu Picchu in Peru, Antarctica or even the surface of the Mars -- places a regular school bus would be unable travel. Google has added two more Expeditions to its roster. The first will take students on an 360-degree tour of Buckingham Palace. The second trip will take students under the sea to explore Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

Many think of gaming when they hear "virtual reality," but efforts like Expeditions will help turn the medium into a powerful educational tool, especially for underfunded school districts.
Technology from Arx Pax, the firm behind the Hendo Hoverboard, will be used to develop prototype engines for Elon Musks ambitious Hyperloop high-speed transport plan.

Related: Marty McFlys hoverboard is finally real, and its on Kickstarter right now

Los Gatos, Calif.-based Arx Pax has been chosen to showcase its Hover Engines during the Hyperloop Competition Design Weekend at Texas A&M University, the company announced Thursday. Over 100 engineering teams from around the world will be taking part in the competition on Jan. 29 and 30 to develop pods or vehicles, for SpaceXs mile-long Hyperloop test track in Hawthorne, Calif. Track testing will take place later this year.

Unveiled amid much fanfare by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk in 2013, Hyperloop aims to transport people (and cars) across California at speeds of up to 800mph.

Related: California company wants to hover buildings, protecting against earthquakes

The Hover Engines use Arx Paxs Magnetic Field Architecture (MFA) technology to provide magnetic levitation. Arx Pax CEO Greg Henderson told FoxNews.com that the engines offer one integrated system for braking, guidance, propulsion and levitation. Not only is there lift, you can redirect some of the force to use for braking, thrust, or for movement in any direction, he said. People have been trying to do this for many years.

The initial MFA proof of concept was the hoverboard developed by Arx Paxs Hendo Hover subsidiary that launched in October 2014. MFA continues to generate plenty of buzz - Arx Pax has been even been touting the technology as a way to protect people and structures in natural disasters such as earthquakes.

Related: NASA taps hoverboard company Arx Pax to build space tractor beam

Last year, the firm even entered into a Space Act Agreement with NASA focused on MFA which will be used to build micro-satellite capture devices that can manipulate and couple satellites from a distance.

Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers
A teenager who used an "affluenza" defense in a fatal drunken-driving wreck will return to Texas from Mexico within weeks, and his case will likely be transferred from the juvenile to the adult system, his attorneys said in a statement Wednesday.

Ethan Couch has been challenging his deportation, but paperwork was filed to "terminate the ongoing immigration proceedings," attorneys Scott Brown and Reagan Wynn said in the statement.

A Mexican federal judicial official told The Associated Press that Couch's attorney in Mexico filed a document on Sunday seeking to lift the injunction that has kept the 18-year-old in that country. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak on the matter publicly.

Authorities allege Couch and his mom crossed into Mexico in December, as Texas prosecutors investigated whether Couch violated his probation after an online video surfaced that appeared to show him at a party where people were drinking.

Couch was given 10 years' probation for the 2013 drunken-driving wreck that killed four, and the terms of the probation prohibit him from drinking. The case was handled in juvenile court.

Couch is expected to attend a hearing Feb. 19 on whether to transfer his case to the adult system, which his attorneys anticipate will occur when he turns 19 in April.

"It's not a foregone conclusion that this will happen, but we certainly hope it does," said Tarrant County district attorney spokeswoman Samantha Jordan.

He would then finish out his 10-year probation under the supervision of an adult court. If he were to violate his probation, he could face up to 10 years in prison per death.
On Friday, thousands of people will march to the U.S. Supreme Court to defend the right to life for the unborn and stand up for those who do not have a voice.

Check out the shocking facts in this video.

Every year on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade  the sweeping and highly controversial Supreme Court ruling in 1973 that allowed legal abortions in this country  pro-life advocates stream into Washington, D.C., to protest the decision and stand up for their beliefs.

But even many of those who march for life and who participate in the events in the nation's capital don't know the real numbers when it comes to actual abortions performed in this country.

For 43 years, abortion has been legal. Does the public understand the true toll?

How many American lives have been snuffed out before they ever got a chance to live as God intended them?

The number of abortions since 1973 is estimated to be a staggering 57 million  or roughly equivalent to 18 percent of the current United States population.

That's right: 57 million. It's not a typo.

The horrific terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, killed nearly 3,000 Americans, injured thousands more, and is one of the deadliest days in American history. Yet abortion kills an average of 4,000 American babiesevery single day.

The March for Life each year calls much-needed attention to the right to life. The events, talks, meetings and discussions held each year are deeply felt and highly impactful. But on an average day, in an average week, as most Americans go about their daily lives and usual business, horrendous killings are occurring right under their noses.

Abortion stops a beating heart. It's stopped 57 million so far.

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A man convicted of the 1992 rape and beating death of a woman is scheduled to receive a lethal injection Thursday in what would be Alabama's first execution in more than two years.

Christopher Eugene Brooks, 43, is set to die at 6 p.m. CST at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, authorities said.

He was convicted of the 1992 capital murder of 23-year-old Jo Deann Campbell, a woman he first met when they worked as camp counselors in upstate New York. A judge sentenced him to die after a jury recommended a death sentence by an 11-1 vote.

Campbell was seen speaking to Brooks at a restaurant where she worked on Dec. 30, 1992, and she later told a friend that someone was spending the night in her living room, according to witnesses. The next day, Homewood police found Campbell's partially clothed body under the bed of her Homewood apartment. Prosecutors said she had been bludgeoned to death with an 8-pound dumbbell and sexually assaulted.

Brooks' bloody fingerprint was on a doorknob in Campbell's bedroom and a latent palm print on her ankle, according to court records. The documents say Brooks also was found later with Campbell's car keys and had cashed her paycheck and used her gas station credit card.

While DNA testing was at its infancy at the time, prosecution witness said semen found on the victim's body was consistent with Brooks' DNA.

At trial, defense lawyers argued that another man who was at the apartment that night might have committed the murder.

Alabama's last execution was in 2013. Execution drug shortages and litigation prevented the state from carrying out death sentences in the time since.

Authorities said it would be the first execution since Alabama announced in 2014 that it was changing two of the three drugs in its procedure, including a switch to the sedative, midazolam, to render the inmate unconscious.

Lawyers for the state have argued Alabama's new drug combination is "virtually identical" to the one Florida has used multiple times without incident. But attorneys for Brooks argued that midazolam was used in problematic executions including one in which an Oklahoma inmate took 43 minutes to die.

The U.S. Supreme Court -- in a split decision last June -- allowed Oklahoma to proceed with the use of midazolam. Six Alabama inmates argue in an ongoing lawsuit that it is an ineffective anesthetic and that they will feel the effects of the subsequent injections of rocuronium bromide and potassium chloride stop their lungs and hearts.

On Wednesday, an attorney for Brooks asked the U.S Supreme Court to halt the planned execution, arguing further court review of the state's execution protocol is needed before it is used for the first time.

"Brooks should not be the subject of Alabama's experiment to see if it can carry out an execution using this protocol while the very validity of the protocol is at issue in ongoing federal court proceedings," Assistant Federal Defender John Palombi wrote in the filing to the Supreme Court.

Brooks' attorney also asked the Supreme Court to review the case after justices last week ruled Florida's system for sentencing people to death is unconstitutional because it gives too much power to judges to decide capital sentences.

Lawyers with the Alabama attorney general's office argued in court filings that Brooks was simply trying to delay his execution. A jury convicted him in 1993 of capital murder for murder committed during the course of a robbery, burglary, and rape.

"Brooks raped and murdered Jo Deann Campbell on December 31, 1992 and her family has been waiting for justice for more than twenty-three years," lawyers for the state wrote.

The last inmate put to death in Alabama was Andrew Reid Lackey, who died by lethal injection on July 25, 2013, for killing Charles Newman during a robbery in 2005. At the time, he was the first inmate put to death in the state since October 2011.
Two of the Americans freed from Iran as part of a prisoner swap were preparing Thursday to set foot on American soil for the first time in years.

Retired U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati, 32, is scheduled to arrive Thursday afternoon at Bishop International Airport in Flint, Mich.

Meanwhile, Boise-based pastor Saeed Abedini, 35, is flying to North Carolina, where he's set to meet his parents in the afternoon at the Billy Graham Training Center in Asheville. His wife, Nagmeh, says she and his children will see him Monday.

"None of us in America can begin to understand or appreciate what Saeed has endured after being imprisoned in Iran because of his Christian faith," Franklin Graham, president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association said. "We want to provide him a quiet place to rest and visit with family."

Abedini, Hekmati and Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian were receiving treatment at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany since their release over the weekend. Rezaian's brother, Ali, tells Fox News Jason may remain at the hospital for a few more days.

Landstuhl says in addition to medical checks, "a critical part of this process is the decompression period." The three Americans arrived in Germany late Sunday via Switzerland.

A fourth American, Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari, opted to remain in Iran, officials said. A fifth American was released separately.

Hekmati recounted Tuesday how disbelief turned to joy when he realized he was being freed. Asked about his 4 1/2 -years in Iranian prison, Hekmati said "it wasn't good," but that his Marine training helped sustain him.

Convicted by an Iranian court of spying and sentenced to death in 2012, Hekmati was later retried and given a 10-year sentence on a lesser charge.

Abedini was imprisoned in 2012 for setting up home churches. Rezaian was arrested in 2014 on charges including espionage, his attorney said.

Fox News' Greg Palkot and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Gen. William Billy Mitchell was an Army officer at the beginning of the 1900s who campaigned for a separate Air Force that would revolutionize warfare. While most of his predictions about American airpower ultimately came true, Mitchell was dismissed as a radical in his day and convicted of insubordination.

Mitchell joined the Army in 1898 during the Spanish-American War, seven years before airplanes were a thing and 11 years before the military bought its first one.

Mitchell rose through the ranks quickly and was named deputy commander of Army Aviation shortly after his promotion to major. He requested permission to become an Army pilot, but as a 38-year-old major he was declared too senior in age and rank to become a pilot.

So he paid for his own lessons out of pocket. By 1917 he was an accomplished aviator and was promoted to brigadier general. He took command of all U.S. Army aerial combat planes in France and led 1,481 planes into combat against the Germans at the Battle of St. Mihiel.

After the war Mitchell continued pushing for a separate Air Force and claimed that a flight of bombers could destroy any battleship in existence, a claim he proposed testing by bombing actual battleships captured in World War I.

Mitchell eventually got his wish, and a series of demonstrations were scheduled for Jun.-Jul. 1921 where Mitchells forces would bomb three captures German ships and three surplus U.S. ships.

The crown jewel of the test targets from the German battleship Ostfriesland, scheduled for bombing Jul. 20-21. The tests were a resounding success. In full view of Navy brass and the American press, every ship was torn apart by aerial bombardment.

The Ostfriesland was hit with armor piercing, 2,000-pound bombs specially designed for use against naval ships. Unfortunately, the Navy claimed that Mitchell overstepped the parameters of the test and Congress just ignored the results.

The friction between Mitchell and the Navy and Congress grew, until two major accidents by the Navy. In one, three planes flying from the West Coast to Hawaii were lost and in another the USS Shenandoah Airship was destroyed with the loss of 14 sailors.

Mitchell took to the press to blast the Navy and Army brass who he believed had failed their subordinates.

These incidents are the direct result of the incompetency, criminal negligence and almost treasonable administration of the national defense by the Navy and War Departments, Mitchell said. The bodies of my former companions in the air moulder under the soil in America, and Asia, Europe and Africa, many, yes a great many, sent there directly by official stupidity.

Mitchell was quickly brought up on Article 96 of the Articles of War which prohibits all disorders and neglects to the prejudice of good order and discipline.

His trial was a national sensation, attended by societal elite and crowds of veterans. Mitchells lawyer tried to argue that Mitchells freedom of speech trumped his duties as an officer, but the defense easily ripped through the argument by pointing out allowing complete freedom of speech in the military could create anarchy.

Mitchell was sentenced to five years suspension without pay or duty, during which time he could not accept civilian employment. When the decision reached President Calvin Coolidge, Coolidge amended them to allow the general half pay and a subsistence allowance.

Mitchell opted to resign his commission instead. He launched a speaking tour that traveled around the country and promoted air power.

He died in 1936 and so was not able to see his prophecies come true in World War II. The Air Force Association tried to get his conviction overturned in 1955, but the secretary of the Air Force left it in place because Mitchell did commit the crimes. President Harry S. Truman authorized a special posthumous award for Mitchell in 1946, recognizing Mitchells work to create modern military aviation.

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Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Washington, D.C. declared states of emergency Thursday ahead of the winter storm set to dump up to 2 feet of snow on the nation's capital and affecting states from the mid-Atlantic to New England.

D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser also apologized on behalf of the district for what she described as a weak response to car crashes and gridlock after less than an inch of snow fell Wednesday. "We should have been out earlier with more resources," she added.

The strongest winds and potentially life-threatening conditions are expected Friday night through Saturday night.

The state of emergency frees up access to federal aid if needed. The mayor also declared a snow emergency set to take effect after Friday's morning rush hour. Public schools will close, and the mayor urged "non-essential" government employees to leave work by noon Friday.

Due to the expected weather, Washington D.C.'s Metrorail will stop running for the weekend at 11 p.m. on Friday, while bus service will stop at 5 p.m. Friday and remain closed through Sunday for the sake of employee and rider safety.

The National Weather Service said in a statement 12 to 16 inches of snow could come down between Friday night and Sunday morning around the Interstate 95 corridor. As much as a foot of snow is possible for Philadelphia's northern suburbs.

Data curated by FindTheData

The director of the National Weather Service said all the ingredients have come together to create blizzards with brutally high winds, dangerous inland flooding, white-out conditions and even the possibility of thunder snow, when lightning strikes through a snowstorm.

The snowfall, expected to continue from late Friday into Sunday, could easily cause more than $1 billion in damage and paralyze the Eastern third of the nation, weather service director Louis Uccellini sad.

"It does have the potential to be an extremely dangerous storm that can affect more than 50 million people," Uccellini said at the service's Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe said people should "take the threat of this storm seriously." He warned of travel disruptions and power outages. McAuliffe said crews are treating roads before the weekend storm hits, but state transportation officials urged drivers to stay off roads until the storm passes.

In North Carolina, two people died in weather-related crashes. A 60-year-old woman was driving her car in Stokes County near her home Wednesday when she hit an "extremely icy" patch while driving down a hill, sending her car down an embankment and into a creek, Sgt. Joshua Church said.

In neighboring Forsyth County, Trooper B.M. Bush wrote that a 55-year-old driver slid on an icy roadway, crossed into oncoming traffic and hit a pickup truck head-on.

Quentin Norman, a manager at a gas station and convenience store in Capitol Heights, Maryland, just outside Washington, said his commute home Wednesday took an hour instead of the usual 15 minutes. The traffic and storm "kind of took us by surprise," he said.

"Everybody was talking about the weekend," he said, and assumed that Wednesday's weather would just breeze through.

By morning rush hour, treated roads were mostly clear. But some elevated roads, ramps and side streets were icy with drivers inching along.

In Maryland, crews got stuck in lengthy backups Wednesday night, slowing their progress, state Department of Transportation spokesman Charlie Gischlar said. Major delays continued through the night on the Capital Beltway in Prince George's County, but crews were making progress Thursday morning, he said.

In northern Virginia, minor accidents built to gridlock and ramp closures continued through the night, Virginia Department of Transportation spokeswoman Jennifer McCord said. She described, "a long night for a lot of people trying to get home."

With more winter weather approaching, people throughout the region readied themselves for blocked roads, power outages and canceled flights.

Mitchell Gaines of the National Weather Service in Mount Holly, New Jersey, said people should be prepared for strong winds, heavy, wet snow and power outages.

The National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center warns of heavy, "perhaps crippling" snow across the northern mid-Atlantic region, including Baltimore, Washington and Philadelphia, probably beginning Friday.

In the areas where blizzard conditions are possible, the weather service warns that travel will be limited or impossible.

------

AIR TRAVEL

All major airlines have issued waivers for travel over the weekend, allowing passengers to rebook onto earlier or later flights to avoid the storms. The airports included vary by airline but include some cities in Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia all the way up the coast to New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

------

THE FIRST FLAKES

Snow in much of Kentucky and Tennessee led school districts and some universities to cancel classes Wednesday and contributed to at least one traffic death, and officials warned motorists to be cautious of slick roads.

------

GUARD READY IN WEST VIRGINIA

West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin mobilized the West Virginia National Guard to assist in the upcoming storm. The National Weather Service says some areas of the state could get up to 2 feet of snow.

------

GEARING UP IN PENNSYLVANIA

Mike Dunn, deputy communications director for Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney, said city trucks would start treating some streets Wednesday night.

"At this point, it is all about being prepared," he said.

PennDOT mechanics were busy making sure trucks were cleaned and in good repair so all equipment is ready to go whenever the snow starts falling, spokesman Gene Blaum said.

"We've used virtually no salt," so far this season, he said. "But winter isn't over."

------

MIXED IMPACT IN NEW ENGLAND

The storm's impact on southern New England remained uncertain Wednesday, but officials were preparing for the worst.

The National Weather Service said there's a potential for 6 inches of snow or more in the region. High winds and coastal flooding are possible.

The storm is expected to miss northern New England. Meteorologist Tom Hawley of the National Weather Service in Gray, Maine, says its path could shift but right now "all indications are that it will not amount to much" in the region.

------

ANTI-ABORTION MARCH STILL ON

Organizers of the March for Life say their annual anti-abortion rally in Washington will be held Friday, as scheduled.

The rally on the anniversary of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision is one of the largest events on the National Mall. Thousands of abortion opponents gather to listen to speeches before marching to the Supreme Court.

------

STOCKING UP

While the snow fell, some people made their way to the grocery store to stock up on needed items.

In Louisville, Kentucky, Adrian Gardner packed gallons of milk, laundry detergent and bags of groceries into his SUV. None of it was for him.

"It's for my momma," he said. "I don't want her to have to come out in this."

Cary Prince of McLean, Virginia, picked up rock salt at the hardware store, but struck out on snow blower fuel, which was sold out. Still, she was stocked up on the key provision, so all was well.

"I've got my wine," she said.

At a supermarket in Baltimore, Sharon Brewington stocked her cart with ready-to-eat snacks, bread, milk and cold cuts. In 2010, she and her daughter were stuck at home with nothing but noodles and water.

"I'm not going to make that mistake again," Brewington said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A man wanted in connection with alleged threats to police officers in Philadelphia and New York City that invoked the ISIS terror group turned himself in Wednesday.

The 36-year-old man has not been identified and no charges have been filed. However, all 36,000 NYPD officers have been ordered to be on alert for potential attacks.

The first alleged threat, which warned that someone was planning to shoot a police officer, was called in to Philadelphia police Tuesday night. Authorities there informed their counterparts in New York that they had traced the call to Manhattan.

Later Tuesday, the NYPD received a similar call, warning that someone planned to shoot officers in New York and Philadelphia. That caller said the man also made a reference to ISIS, though the context was not clear.

NYPD officers were alerted to be on the lookout for the man mentioned in the phone calls, who was on parole and had an open warrant for his arrest.

A police official told the Wall Street Journal that the man surrendered at a Bronx parole office for questioning Wednesday afternoon.

Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross said Wednesday the tip had not been verified, adding that both police departments and the FBI were investigating the matter further.

The alleged threats were made two weeks after Philadelphia Police Officer Jesse Hartnett was ambushed and wounded by a man using a stolen gun. The suspect, Edward Archer, said he was acting in the name of Islam when he fired more than a dozen shots at Hartnett, who was sitting in an unmarked car.
Oregon's governor expressed frustration with federal authorities' handling of the continuing occupation of a national wildlife refuge in southeastern Oregon by an armed group and said it's time to end it.



"The residents of Harney County have been overlooked and underserved by federal officials' response thus far. I have conveyed these very grave concerns directly to our leaders at the highest levels of our government: the U.S. Department of Justice and the White House," Gov. Kate Brown said at Wednesday news conference.



Exasperated by a tense situation that has caused fear among local residents since it began Jan. 2, Brown said federal officials "must move quickly to end the occupation and hold all of the wrongdoers accountable."



She said the occupation has cost Oregon taxpayers nearly half a million dollars. Brown spokeswoman Melissa Navas said in an email that number is coming from labor costs for an additional law enforcement presence in the area, including overtime, travel reimbursement, lodging and meals for officers.



"We'll be asking federal officials to reimburse the state for these costs," Brown said.



Federal authorities did not return calls seeking comment.



Brown had scheduled the news conference to discuss her agenda for the upcoming legislative session, but made it a point to deliver strong words about the occupation by Ammon Bundy and his armed group of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.



Federal, state and local law enforcement officers have been sent to the remote area but so far have avoided doing anything that might provoke a confrontation. One occupier was arrested for unauthorized use of a vehicle after driving a vehicle owned by the refuge into Burns, and a Montana man who was stopped by Oregon State Police last week for a lighting violation was arrested on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm.



While many people in the region sympathize with Bundy's complaints about federal management of public lands, they have expressed fear as the occupation continues and there's been a growing call for the occupiers to go home.



Harney County Judge Steve Grasty has been at the forefront of efforts among locals to show Bundy and his followers they are not welcome. Grasty said Bundy -- who is not from Oregon -- should get the point that he and his followers need to go back to their home states and leave Harney County alone.



"It seems like he's out of touch with reality," Grasty told the AP from Burns



Grasty would like law enforcement to turn up the heat on Bundy and his fellow occupiers -- perhaps isolate them by closing off roads leading to the refuge.



"I hope they lock it down. People shouldn't be coming and going. Maybe it's time," he said.



Bundy initially took over the refuge to protest prison terms for two local ranchers convicted of setting fires on federal lands. After the ranchers voluntarily reported to prison, Bundy has justified the occupation by saying he wants federal lands in Harney County turned over to local residents, among other demands. He has also said he is obeying a divine command.



The group's spokesman -- LaVoy Finicum -- told Oregon Public Broadcasting on Wednesday they have "no plans to leave."



"We are very strong, very firm, this facility will not go back to the federal government, ever," Finicum told OPB.


A volunteer firefighter who was dispatched to help recover a rock climber's body Monday received a shock when he discovered the deceased female was his ex-wife.

Scott Hicks told the Santa Fe New Mexican that he heard another climber give the victim's address to paramedics.

"Of course I recognized it, Hicks told the paper. So I looked at the [report] and saw her name, and thats when I realized it was my ex-wife."

The woman was identified as Susan Sarossy, who Hicks was married to for 19 years before they divorced in 1999. The couple have a 25-year-old daughter together.

The New Mexican reported that Sarossy was part of a group of rock climbers who had gone to Diablo Canyon, about 20 miles northwest of Santa Fe. Fellow climber Steven Reneau told investigators that Sarossy was the last of the group to descend the canyon. Reneau told Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office deputies that Sarossy may not have "[anchored] herself herself down correctly prior to pushing off the wall", according to an official report

Hicks told the paper that Sarossy began climing while they were still married in an effort to overcome her fear of heights.

"She always told me, I dont know what Im doing rock climbing because Im afraid of heights,'" he said. "'but I think this is way for me to face that fear.'"

Click for more from the Santa Fe New Mexican.
Two Americans freed in a prisoner swap with Iran arrived back on U.S. soil Thursday.

Saeed Abedini, a Christian pastor, was met by his parents and well-wishers in North Carolina, where he will spend time at the Billy Graham Training Center in Asheville. Abedini's wife, Nagmeh, has said that she and the couple's children will see him Monday.

"None of us in America can begin to understand or appreciate what Saeed has endured after being imprisoned in Iran because of his Christian faith," Franklin Graham, president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association said. "We want to provide him a quiet place to rest and visit with family."

Abedini was imprisoned in 2012 on charges of setting up home churches in the Islamic theocracy.

Earlier Thursday, former Marine Amir Hekmati, landed in his home state of Michigan, where he was greeted by a crowd of waiting reporters and well-wishers, including members of the American Legion.

After emerging from the plane, the retired U.S. Marine told the crowd it was great to be back in Flint and hes standing with his head held high. He also expressed appreciation for the "many people" who "traveled this road with me."

"Despite all the difficulties, thank god, thank for everyones support," he said.

Convicted by an Iranian court of spying and sentenced to death in 2012, Hekmati was later retried and given a 10-year sentence on a lesser charge. When asked about his 4 1/2 years in Iranian prison, Hekmati said "it wasn't good," but that his Marine training helped sustain him.

Abedini and Hekmati had been receiving treatment at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany since late Sunday after arriving there from Iran via Switzerland.

A third American, Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, remains at the hospital. The fourth American who was part of the exchange, Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari, opted to remain in Iran, officials said.

A fifth American, Matthew Trevithick, was released separately and arrived in his home state of Massachusetts earlier this week.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Russia appears to be making preparations to establish a new airbase in Syria, this time along the border with NATO-member Turkey, a senior U.S. official tells Fox News.

The move is bound to anger the Turkish government months after the downing of a Russian jet by the Turks.

A handful of Russian military personnel, including engineers, has been seen in the vicinity of a largely abandoned airfield in Qamishli, a city in northeast Syria along the border with Turkey. The area is largely controlled by Syrian Kurds, with pockets of regime-controlled territory including the airport.

Russia and Syrias Kurds have a common enemy in Turkey and make natural allies.

This is another example of the Russians [messing] with the Turks.  Senior U.S. official on Russia's airbase plans

Defense officials think Russia could establish another airbase and build-up similar to what occurred in September at an airport along Syrias Mediterranean coast in Latakia, an Assad regime-controlled stronghold.

This could be Latakia all over again, said the official, speaking about the buildup of Russian forces last fall.

Days before Russian transport planes and ships arrived in September carrying thousands of Russian troops and supplies, a small group of Russian advisors and engineers visited Latakia on an apparent site survey similar to what is being seen on the Turkish border.

Eventually over 30 Russian warplanes and dozens of attack helicopters arrived in Latakia and began combat operations against Syrian rebels, some backed by the U.S., in late September.

Qamishli, the town where the new Russian military presence has been observed, is home to Syrian Kurds and Assyrians, a Christian people, but the airport is controlled by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

This is another example of the Russians [messing] with the Turks, said the official who is carefully watching the developments.

The concern is that the potential expansion of the Russian military into northeast Syria on Turkeys border will spark new tensions in the region after a Russian Sukhoi Su-24 was downed by a Turkish F-16 in late November.

So far, there are no indications that Russia has moved any military aircraft, including jet fighters to the airport in Qamishli.

But U.S. officials worry its only a matter of time.
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A pro-European Union candidate easily won the runoff vote for mayor of Moldova's capital and biggest city Monday, in an election seen as a test of whether the former Soviet republic moves closer to the EU or to neighboring Russia.

With all the votes counted in Chisinau, incumbent Dorin Chirtoaca had 53.54 percent of the vote from Sunday's ballot with pro-Russian challenger Zinaida Greceanai, a former prime minister, trailing at 46.46 percent.

Moldova, which declared independence in 1991 after the Soviet Union broke up, is located between Romania and Ukraine. Last year, it signed an association agreement with the 28-nation EU, angering Russia, which then banned some of its fruits and vegetables. That hurt the largely agricultural nation, one of Europe's poorest.

Chirtoaca's victory is a boost for Moldova's pro-European parties, who hold a slim margin in Parliament and struggle to remain united.

"I feel like a newborn," said the 38-year-old Chirtoaca. "Being elected for a third time ... means trust, joy and gratitude."

Parties have said they will begin negotiations for a new government after the runoffs. Former prime minister Chiril Gaburici resigned on June 12 amid a probe into the authenticity of his high school diploma and university degree.

Fireworks exploded in the capital just before midnight when it looked like Chirtoaca would win another four-year mandate. He has been mayor of this city of 1 million since 2007.

However, leader of the Socialists' Party, Igor Dodon, claimed the ballot was flawed by irregularities. He said the pro-Europeans were "celebrating too soon. We don't recognize the result of the elections. There were too many irregularities," he said early Monday

Runoffs were being held in 458 towns in this country of 4 million. Some 348 seats were already decided in the first round.

Turnout across the country was 47.5 percent, slightly lower than in the first round on June 14 but it was higher in the capital, 48.8 percent.

Renato Usatii, a pro-Russian businessman, won outright on June 14 in Moldova's second-largest city, Balti, and pro-Russian businessman Ilan Shor won in the eastern town of Orhei.

Moldovan officials, meanwhile, have been investigating the disappearance of $1.5 billion from state-owned and private banks before the parliamentary election last November, and Shor is being investigated in that probe.

___

Alison Mutler in Bucharest, Romania, contributed to this report.
Moldova's central bank governor has resigned, following weeks of street protests over $1.5 billion that disappeared from three Moldovan banks.

Dorin Dragutanu, governor of the National Bank of Moldova stepped down Monday and accused politicians of interfering in the bank's internal affairs.

Dragutanu claimed politicians had tried to discredit the central bank.

Tens of thousands of protesters began a protest in a pedestrian square in Chisinau on Sept. 6, and erected tents, calling for a probe into the money which disappeared before a parliamentary election last November. About 200 continue to protest.

The three banks were put under the administration of the central bank and will be liquidated by October. Losses were covered by state reserves.
A bomb exploded Thursday during a raid on a home near the ancient pyramids of Giza, Egyot, killing a civilian and three policemen, officials announced.

Two of the 13 people wounded are in a critical condition, deputy governor Alaa Harass said, adding that militants were preparing explosives inside the home.

The blast comes days before the Jan. 25 anniversary of the 2011 uprising, which officials fear may be marked by protests and unrest. Egypt has been hit by a wave of militant attacks that intensified after the military overthrew Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in 2013.

The attacks, mostly claimed by a local Islamic State affiliate, have dealt a serious blow to Egypt's vital tourism sector.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A Buddhist monk dubbed the Pocklington Piercer was so upset after accidentally stepping on an insect that he slashed the tires of 162 cars in a British town, a court heard Wednesday.

Julian Glew, 45, told authorities that during the September incidents in Pocklington, he was living in the woods and taking out his frustration on society without hurting people, The Yorkshire Post reports.

It was an insect which appears to have upset him; he was not in a good way and on three evenings he has gone out and randomly slashed tires, said his lawyer, Joanna Markham.

Glew pleaded guilty to the damage at an earlier hearing and will be jailed for 11 weeks, according to the newspaper.

Glews explanation of the slashings was described as drivel by Detective Sgt John Burrell of Humberside Police.

I dont think adherents of Buddhism would share the view that it was OK to inconvenience hundreds of people on account of an accident, Burrell added.

Click for more from The Yorkshire Post.


A divine intervention? Or just a coincidence?

A church in Colombia released a video apparently showing a man armed with a knife falling to the floor moments before he was about to stab a priest.

Video footage from the Pentecostal IPUC Bosa church in Colombias capital, Bogota, shows the man leaping from his seat and heading toward Pedro Pablo Martin before hitting the ground, the Mirror reports.

"There is power in the name of Jesus, Martin says repeatedly, as members of the parish stand up and applaud. Some churchgoers raced up to the man  who appeared to be having convulsions -- to disarm him and repeat the priests phrase.

Church officials said the man approached the priest earlier and whispered in his ear that he was there to kill him, before being told to sit down and listen to the service, according to the Mirror.

We have a powerful God and his name is Jesus Christ. There is power in the name of Jesus, a church spokesman said.

But some viewers of the video, posted on YouTube with the caption Hooded man attacks a priest but he is overcome by the power of the Holy Ones name", suspect the video may have been a staged publicity stunt.

Its 100 percent authentic. What happened was a display of the power of God protecting us from Evil, Martin told a local radio station, according to the Mirror.

Martin claimed police were called but let the man go after church officials decided that they did not want to press charges.

Im confident he wont try this again, he said. I thought about making a formal complaint but Ive decided to leave his fate in the hands of God.

Click for more from the Mirror.
The head of a Hindu deity's statue from the 7th century has been returned by France to Cambodia.

The head was reattached to its body at a ceremony Thursday at the National Museum, more than 130 years after it was spirited away by French researchers from a temple in southern Takeo province. It had been displayed at France's Guimet Museum until now.

The sculpture is of Harihara, a deity that combines aspects of Vishnu and Shiva, the two most important gods in the Hindu pantheon who represent the creation of the universe and its destruction.

Deputy Prime Minister Sok An said that "according to our Khmer culture, the reunion is symbolic of prosperity."

He appealed to other countries that hold Cambodian artifacts to return them.
While the U.S. is pressing Israel to make peace with Palestinian leaders, it is missing the much bigger story of the Jewish State improving relations with several Muslim nations in the Middle East, according to a top Israeli official.

Outlining the fast-developing relationship between Israel and other Sunni states in the region, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Turkey, the official went beyond earlier comments by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and expressed Israels dismay at U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.

We have the chance now to make a coalition with Saudi Arabia, North African states, the Gulf States, and Turkey, Ayoob Kara, Israels deputy minister for regional cooperation, told FoxNews.com. We need the U.S. with us, but  they first want the Palestinians to become partners with Israel. We could be waiting another 50 years. Why do we have to wait?

I think we now have the chance to open a new relationship with what is referred to as the Saudi [Sunni] coalition.  Ayoob Kara, Israeli deputy minister for regional cooperation

The force driving Israel and Sunni Muslim nations together is Iran, the Shia Muslim power that constantly reiterates its official goal of wiping Israel off the map. Israel has long been wary of Iran, and the recently implemented nuclear inspection deal that dropped international sanctions and freed up more than $100 billion in assets for Tehran has given its Sunni adversaries cause for concern.

Kara, Israels most senior Druze politician and a member of the Likud-led coalition government, spoke even as Netanyahu was meeting world leaders, including U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. Kara blasted the nuclear deal championed by the Obama administration as well as the White Houses focus on settling the Palestinian issue ahead of arguably more pressing regional concerns.

Harmony between Israel and regional Muslim powers could encourage the Palestinians to stop the violence [and] stop the terror, he said, as well as aligning key players against ISIS and other terror groups.

U.S. support for the Iran deal is viewed by many states in the region as likely to usher in further destabilization as Tehran, flush with cash, continues its sponsorship of regional terrorist organizations. Even while nuclear negotiations were ongoing, Iran stepped up its expansionist forays into Iraq, Yemen, and Syria. In response, it appears that countries that once had little or no dialogue with Israel  official or unofficial  are now, according to Kara, rushing to engage with the Jewish state.

Over the last month I have received many messages from Arab states that they need a closer connection to Israel, Kara said. In the past this was not the case.

I think we now have the chance to open a new relationship with what is referred to as the Saudi [Sunni] coalition, he added. We have a chance to change the region, and we have economic, security, and other [mutual interests].Their enemy is our enemy, and I think much can be done on this issue.

Earlier Thursday, Netanyahu hailed what he called Saudi Arabias change of heart over Israel.

"Saudi Arabia recognizes that Israel is an ally rather than an enemy because of the two principle threats that threaten them, Iran and Daesh [ISIS]," Netanyahu stated in a television interview. Obviously Israel and the Sunni Arab states are not on opposite sides. There is a great shift taking place.

Regional observers have noted that a potential deal or understanding with Saudi Arabia could offer the possibility of Israel using Saudi Arabian airspace as a direct line to attack Iran - should it ever be deemed necessary. This would be a major boost to Israeli military options and give serious pause to Tehran should the hardline regime renege on its pledge not to pursue nuclear weapons.

Although there has been no official comment from Saudi leader King Salman on the Israel issue, there have been encouraging signs from some in the Saudi hierarchy.

Wherever the Iranians are present, they create militias, Brig. Gen Ahmed al Aseer, a Saudi military spokesman said in September. In Lebanon, they have created Hezbollah, which is blocking the political process and has conducted wars against Israelis, destroying Lebanon as a result. And in Yemen, they have created the Houthis.

In a poll of members of the Saudi Arabian public conducted jointly in June last year by Israels Interdisciplinary Center and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, only 18 percent said Israel was the countrys main adversary. Some 53 percent fingered Iran.

Turkey, with whom Israel has endured turbulent relations over recent years, has been more forthcoming in its desire to reinstate what was once a powerful regional alliance with Israel.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the first time in many years declared last week that Turkey needs Israel as a friend in the region, Turkish newspaper the Daily Sabah reported earlier this month. Second, Erdogan strengthened his country's alliance with Saudi Arabia by establishing a strategic partnership council between the two countries.

That analysis of the potential for a new order in the region was echoed by Kara.

I really believe we have a chance to make peace around us with all those in the region who oppose Iran, he said.
Top NATO brass are meeting behind closed doors to discuss what changes the alliance should make in its strategy and force posture to face a more assertive Russia and other evolving security challenges.

Gen. Petr Pavel, chairman of NATO's Military Committee, said Thursday's meeting in Brussels is intended to generate advice to member governments in the run-up to the NATO summit in July in Warsaw.

"The most important task for us, the military leaders and advisers to our heads of state and government, is to steer a clear course through these rough seas," Pavel said in brief public remarks before the meeting went into closed session.

Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford was attending for the first time as chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The latest issue of Islamic State's online magazine targets the terror group's fellow Muslims even more than the West.

Dabiq, as the English-language publication is called, devotes a majority of the 56 pages in the latest issue to justifying the killing of Shia Muslims. In numerous articles, the magazine goes to great lengths to give a theological basis for killing members of the minority Muslim sect that controls Iran and Iraq and has been at odds with Sunni Muslims for over a millennia.

The magazine spends so much time justifying the killing of innocent Shiites that it suggests that ISIL is frustrated that too few Sunnis favor sectarian massacres, Ryan Mauro, a national security analyst for the Clarion Project, said. ISIS is making the argument because it sees a problem it needs to address.

ISIS' literary arm charges that Shia Muslims, or Shiites, qualify as apostates to the Sunni majority and therefore deserve to be killed. The radical terror group's target audience seems to be fellow Sunnis who consider Shiites to be Muslims, or at the very least, not deserving of being murdered.

The spark has been lit here in Iraq, and its heat will continue to intensify  by Allahs permission  until it burns the Crusader armies in Dabiq.  Quote from Abu Musab az-Zarqawi in the latest issue of Dabiq.

ISIL's focus on justifying killing Shiites is because it is being pressed by Shiite forces in Iraq and Syria, Mauro said. ISIL is hoping to enlist Sunnis by framing its jihad as part of a prophetic battle where the Shiites and Jews eventually unite behind the Antichrist.

Fanning the flames of the Sunni-Shia split, which dates to shortly after the death of Mohammad, benefits ISIS by helping it recruit Sunnis, Mauro said. And the terror group's leadership appears to believe a final battle has been prophecized.

Worldwide, Sunnis make up about 85 percent of the worlds 1.6 billion Muslims. Sunnis, who believe the true lineage of Mohammad lies with those who most closely followed his teachings, control powerful Muslim nations including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey and Pakistan. In addition, most Muslims in Africa are Sunnis.

Shia Muslims are a relatively small minority of Muslims, concentrated in Iran and Iraq. They believe bloodlines, not devotion, dictate the prophets line of successors. Throughout history, Shia Muslims have rejected the authority of Muslim leaders elected by the people, instead following a line of clerics they consider to have been appointed by Mohammad or Allah.

The divide goes back to the period following Mohammads death in 632, when his close confidante Abu Bakr became the first Caliph of the Islamic nation. Shias believed the rightful heir was Mohammads cousin and son-in-law, Ali bin Abu Talib.

Both sects have spawned more than their share of terrorists, though the terror organizations operate differently. Al Qaeda, ISIS, Al-Shebab and Boko Haram are Sunni organizations, while Iranian-sponsored terrorist groups, including Hezbollah, are Shia.

The 13th issue of Dabiq, a copy of which was provided to FoxNews.com by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), is titled "The Rafidah: From Ibn Saba' To the Dajjal." Rafidah is derogatory term for Shia Muslims that translates to rejecters.

In the foreword of the issue, the terror group praises the Dec. 2 terror attack in San Bernadino, Calif., calling it a demonstration of Muslims willingness to make sacrifice for the sake of fulfilling their duty to Allah. The foreword then uses the attacks carried out by married couple Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik as a call to arms for targeting "crusaders" on their own soil.

The spark has been lit here in Iraq, and its heat will continue to intensify  by Allahs permission  until it burns the Crusader armies in Dabiq, reads a quote from Abu Musab az-Zarqawi, an Iraq-based Al Qaeda leader killed in 2006.

The issue also touches upon other matters, including an article on the recently killed executioner for ISIS, Jihadi John, an article praising the widows of ISIS fighters and a piece blasting Saudi Arabia.

But what is most clear throughout the issue is a concerted effort to wipe out the Shia population of the Middle East. At first glance, it may seem odd that ISIS is focusing its efforts against fellow Muslims and not the West, but Mauro says that it is part of a very elaborate campaign on the Islamic States part.

It is still important for ISIL to attack the U.S. and Europe for branding purposes," Mauro said. "It helps them make their case that they are looked favorably upon by Allah and that they are growing stronger, regardless of whatever territorial losses they suffer on the ground.
Crossing Vladimir Putin carries a high price.



Whether they are poisoned, gunned down on the streets of Moscow or blown to bits in their homes, people who have crossed or merely criticized the Russian president have turned up dead around the world.

A British judge's finding that Putin likely gave the green light to the 2006 fatal poisoning in London of KGB agent-turned-dissident Alexander Litvinenko confirmed long-held suspicions in that case and lent credence to claims of Kremlin involvement in others like it.

"Today's report on the Litvinenko assassination just confirmed in a credible manner what we have known for a long time: that Putin is a cold blooded killer," Bill Browder, author of Red Notice, A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice, told FoxNews.com. "If the British government Doesn't toughen up its current weak response, it basically gives Putin the green light to kill all of his enemies in London with impunity."

Browder, a Russia-based investor in the 1990s, recounts in his book details of the consequences he and his lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, suffered at the hands of the Putin regime. Magnitsky was murdered in prison in 2009, after being arrested for exposing a $230 million tax fraud scheme involving law enforcement and government officials.

Critics within Russia and the international community say too many of Putins enemies have been killed for the 63-year-old, who has run the country through the posts of either prime minister or president since 1999, to claim his hands are clean.

Among the more notable cases:

Sergei Yushenkov was gunned down in front of his home in April 2003. Yushenkov was part of a commission that investigated claims the KGB orchestrated bombings to ignite support for Putins war against Chechnya. A second member of the commission was fatally poisoned, a third nearly lost his life after being severely beaten, and the attorney for the commission was imprisoned for espionage.

Forbes editor Paul Klebnikov was shot to death in Moscow in July 2004, after he reportedly uncovered a money-laundering scheme that reached the highest levels of the Kremlin. Two suspects were charged, but later acquitted. He was one of more than 300 journalists in Russia who have disappeared or been murdered since 1993, according to a June 2009 report from the International Federation of Journalists.

In June 2004, human rights advocate and professor Nikolai Girenko was assassinated in his home.

Andrei Kozlov, a top official at Russias Central Bank who dedicated his career to eliminating money laundering, was killed in September 2006.

Anna Politkovskaya, who wrote books and articles accusing Putin of human rights violations in Chechnya, was executed in an elevator in her Moscow apartment building on Oct. 7, 2006.

Human rights attorney Stanislav Markelov was shot in the head in January 2009, as he left a press conference where he announced plans to sue the Russian government. Journalism student Anastasia Barburova was killed as she tried to intervene.

Human rights journalist Natalia Estemirova, was killed in July 2009, after being kidnapped from her home in Chechnya.

Last year, Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov was gunned down as he strolled near the Kremlin, and just weeks before a documentary on Putin he helped produce was due out.

Like Litvinenko, former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko was poisoned more than a decade ago in yet another case that raised suspicions of Putin's hand.

The world saw the effects of dioxin poisoning on the face of Yuschenko in 2004, when he was running for the office he held until 2010. The poisoning followed an assassination attempt, and although no one was ever charged, suspicion focused on the Kremlin which, in a twist that foreshadowed by a decade the current tension between Moscow and Kiev, may have feared Yuschenko would take Ukraine toward better relations with western Europe.

Litvinenko, who authored the Kremlin expose Blowing up Russia, and was living under asylum in Great Britain, was given a fatal dose of polonium in November 2006. The main suspect is reportedly former KGB agent and Putin crony Andrey Lugovoy, who has since been elected to Russias Duman, putting him out of reach of extradition laws.

Litvinenko, who lingered for three weeks in a British hospital, was loyal to the end to Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, a onetime billionaire who was in exile in Great Britain and leading a campaign against Putin when he, too, turned up dead. Russian officials say he hanged himself, but an independent autopsy found Berezovsky was attacked and hanged.
The deadly poisoning of a former Russian spy in London a decade ago was "probably approved" by Vladimir Putin, according to a judicial report released Thursday, a conclusion that confirmed long-held suspicions that the high-profile case bore all the hallmarks of a Kremlin hit.

The Kremlin fired back, saying the report could "still further poison the atmosphere of our bilateral relations."

Alexander Litvinenko, who had turned on his former KGB colleague Putin, died three weeks after drinking tea laced with polonium-210 at a London hotel in November 2006. The cause of death was acute radiation syndrome, and his rapid decline touched off a frantic effort to find out if anyone else in the British capital was exposed to the deadly toxin.

There is a "strong possibility" that Russia's FSB security service, the successor agency to the notorious KGB, directed the killing, Judge Robert Owen wrote in his 326-page report. And the rubout would not have occurred without the likely approval of not only then-FSB head Nikolai Patrushev, but also Putin himself, the report stated.

The report named Russian politicians Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun as the suspects who carried out the poisoning. Both returned to Russia.

Putin even rewarded Lugovoi last year with a medal for "services to the motherland," recognizing "courage and bravery displayed in the performance of his professional duty under conditions fraught with risk for his life." An attorney for Litvinenko's widow called it "the clearest possible message" Putin sided with Lugovoi.

Moscow has long denied a role in the murder of Litvinenko, who "had repeatedly targeted President Putin" with "highly personal" public criticism and charges of corruption, the report noted. Litvinenko had fled to Great Britain in 2000 and was granted asylum after breaking with Putin and his inner circle.

From his hospital bed, Litvinenko, who was 44, pointed a dying finger at Putin, but the new report marks the first time the Russian president has been officially linked to the killing.

"There can be no doubt that Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned by Mr. Lugovoi and Mr. Kovtun."  Judge Robert Owen's report

Litvinenko's widow, Marina, said outside the High Court Thursday that she was "very pleased that the words my husband spoke on his deathbed when he accused Mr. Putin have been proved by an English court."

She called for British Prime Minister David Cameron to take urgent steps against Russian agents operating inside Britain in light of the report.

"I'm calling immediately for expulsion from the UK of all Russian intelligence operatives ... based at the London embassy," she said. "I'm also calling for the imposition of targeted economic sanctions and travel bans against named individuals including Mr. (former FSB chief Nikolai) Patrushev and Mr. Putin."

She said Britain's Home Office had written to her Wednesday night promising action. Home Secretary Theresa May, who is in charge of justice issues, said the British government would freeze the assets of Lugovoi and Kovtun.

Lugovoi is a member of the Russian parliament, which means he is immune from prosecution. In an interview with the Interfax news agency, he called the charges against him "absurd."

"As we expected, there was no sensation," he said. "The results of the investigation that were announced today once again confirm London's anti-Russian position and the blinkered view and unwillingness of the British to establish the true cause of Litvinenko's death."

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zhakarova said Thursday that the government does not consider Owen's conclusions to be objective or impartial.

"We regret that a purely criminal case has been politicized and has darkened the general atmosphere of bilateral relations," Zhakarova said in a statement. She said Britain's decision to hold a public inquiry on the case was politically motivated and that the process was not transparent for the Russian side or the public.

The British government appointed Owen to head a public inquiry into the slaying, which soured relations between London and Moscow. He heard from dozens of witnesses during months of public hearings last year, and also saw secret British intelligence evidence.

Announcing his findings at London's Royal Courts of Justice, Owen said that "there can be no doubt that Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned by Mr. Lugovoi and Mr. Kovtun" in the Pine Bar of London's luxury Millennium Hotel on Nov. 1, 2006. He also charged that the pair had failed in an attempt to poison Litvinenko weeks earlier.

Just last year, Kremlin involvement was suspected in the murder of an outspoken Putin critic in Russia and the near-fatal poisoning of another.



Boris Nemtsov was gunned down last February as he strolled near the Kremlin with a woman, and a close friend of his, Vladimir Kara-Murza Jr., a Washington resident who was in a hotel in Moscow when he suddenly lost consciousness May 26, was hospitalized with what his wife called "symptoms of poisoning."

Kara-Murza, who recovered, is a coordinator for Open Russia, a nongovernmental organization and had on the previous day released a documentary film accusing close Putin crony and Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov of human rights abuses including torture and murder.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The U.S. is urging the leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan to support a "credible" peace process with the Afghan Taliban.

Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry made the case to the Afghan president and prime minister Thursday on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

The White House says Biden and Kerry reaffirmed U.S. support for improved ties between Afghanistan and Pakistan, offered condolences for recent terrorist attacks and encouraged them to remain committed to a "credible peace process."

The meeting came less than a week after diplomats from Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States met in Kabul and called on the Taliban to resume peace talks with the Afghan government.
The Vatican has offered a place to stay to a homeless woman who gave birth on a piece of cardboard near St. Peter's Square early Wednesday. She's thinking about it.

Italian police said a patrol stopped to help the woman after she gave birth in a square just beyond Vatican territory at about 2 a.m. Wednesday, when temperatures were hovering around freezing.

"When I got close I saw that the baby was already born and was still attached by the umbilical cord to the mother," one of the responding officers, Maria Capone, told The Associated Press. "With my colleagues we tried to warm them up. We covered them with our uniform jackets."

They called an ambulance which took mother and child to a nearby hospital.

Later in the day, Pope Francis' top charity official, Monsignor Konrad Krajewski, visited and offered the woman a place to stay for a year at a Vatican-owned residence for mothers and babies in need.

The woman hadn't decided whether to accept the offer, the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi.

The baby's mother and father, both Romanian, were known to the Vatican as they sometimes showered at facilities Krajewski's office had built off St. Peter's Square for the homeless.


The Goddard Schools Dynamic Learning Through Play Curriculum Comes To Weston, MA

Premier Preschool Opens Its Doors To The City Community

January 21, 2016 // Franchising.com // WESTON, Mass. - Goddard Systems, Inc. (GSI), the franchisor of The Goddard School preschool system, announces its newest school in Weston, MA is enrolling. Located at 2 North Avenue, Weston, MA 02493, the new school is owned and operated by franchisees, Sally Andrea and Firas Akrawi.

Sally and Firas are siblings who have been active in The Goddard School community with their mother who co-owns The Goddard School located in Wayland, MA. Sallys familiarity with the brand extends to her children, who have all attended the school. The siblings extensive experience in handling the business aspect of The Goddard School combined with Sallys background in the financial industry and Firas previous experience in the marketing industry make them qualified to bring the unique play-based curriculum to children and families in the Weston community.

The Goddard School preschool system prides itself on its unique dual-management system, a distinguisher in the early childhood education industry. Franchise owners are onsite at each location and work alongside an educational director, whose main focus is to communicate and work with teachers, as well as to implement The Goddard School curriculum. This dual-management system ensures a hands-on, community-focused approach when it comes to early childhood education. With each school opening, The Goddard School also has a local economic impact, creating an average of 20 to 25 jobs within the community.

The Goddard Schools play-based approach, called Fun, Learning Experience (or F.L.EX.), is grounded in research on how children learn best: children experience the deepest, most genuine learning when they are having fun. At The Goddard School, the focus is on building each childs emotional, academic, social, creative and physical skills to provide a well-rounded experience and ensure each one becomes confident, joyful and fully prepared in school and in life. The Goddard Schools proprietary F.L.EX. curriculum has earned AdvancED and Middle States Corporate Accreditation by demonstrating excellence in early childhood education.

With nearly 30 years of experience in early childhood education, The Goddard Schools unique dual-management system creates lasting community bonds as owners are on-site at the schools to provide support to the communities they serve, said Joe Schumacher, Chief Executive Officer of Goddard Systems, Inc. One area that truly sets us apart from other childcare systems is our philosophy based on learning through play, designed to teach and reinforce 21st century skills, including social behaviors such as communication, critical thinking, creativity and collaboration. This philosophy fosters a lifelong love of learning and creates meaningful connections at an early age.

Jobs relating to STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) are currently the fastest growing segment of the U.S. economy, and a focus on developing 21st century skills such as creativity and innovation as well as the abilities to collaborate, communicate and think critically, is expected to increase over time. By introducing 21st century skill concepts early on, children develop a strong foundation and a passion for STEAM at the very beginning of their education.

My family believes in the value of quality education and The Goddard Schools play-based curriculum offered the best environment and well-rounded program perfect for young children, said franchisee, Sally Andrea. Having enrolled all of my sons in The Goddard School located in Wayland, I saw the benefits my kids were reaping and wanted to spread this unique learning experience to even more families in Massachusetts.

Long recognized as the industry leader, The Goddard School preschool system has been consistently listed in Entrepreneur magazines Franchise 500 ranking as the number one childcare franchise for 15 consecutive years (January 2016).

The Goddard School located in Weston, MA is located at 2 North Avenue, Weston, MA 02493. To reach this location, please call (781) 296-8790 or email WestonMA@goddardschools.com. For general information and franchising opportunities, please visit www.goddardschoolfranchise.com

About The Goddard School Franchise

The Goddard School Franchise, franchisor of The Goddard School preschools, was named the No. 1 Childcare Franchise in the United States by Entrepreneur magazine for the fifteenth consecutive year (January 2016) and one of the Top 200 Franchise Systems (in worldwide sales) by Franchise Times for the ninth consecutive year (October 2015). Headquartered in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, The Goddard School Franchise currently licenses more than 440 franchised Schools with more than 50,000 students in 35 states. The Goddard School's AdvancED- and Middle States-accredited F.L.EX. Learning Program (Fun Learning Experience), a comprehensive play-based curriculum developed with early childhood education experts, provides the best childhood preparation for social and academic success. With a proven system in place and a strong network of dedicated franchisees, The Goddard School Franchise is the acknowledged leader in franchised childcare and a premier educational childcare provider. For more information, visit www.goddardschoolfranchise.com.

SOURCE The Goddard School Franchise

Contacts:

Amanda Bialek

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213-988-8344

Deanna Ashikyan

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213-988-8344

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Unishippers Global Logistics among Franchisee Satisfaction Award Winners for 7th Year in a Row

Market Research Firm Franchise Business Review Ranks Third Party Logistics Franchise in the Top 50 out of 200 Franchise Opportunities in the Business Services Category

January 21, 2016 // Franchising.com // SALT LAKE CITY  Unishippers Global Logistics, LLC, was once again recognized by Franchise Business Review as a top franchise opportunity for entrepreneurs considering business ownership. For the seventh consecutive year, satisfied franchisees place Unishippers in the Top 50 franchises in the 250-Plus Unit Class category and No. 8 in the Business Services category.

The Top Franchise awards are annually given to franchisors with the highest overall franchisee satisfaction according to a survey of hundreds of franchise brands in a variety of business sectors. Franchisees are asked their level of fulfillment with their franchises training and support programs, franchisor/franchisee relations, financial opportunity, and overall operations among other factors. The Business Services category features a broad range of business models, but the majority focus on B2B clientele.

We take pride in being able to provide industry leading products, tools and resources that our franchisees need to keep them at the forefront of the industry year after year, said Kevin Lathrop, President of Unishippers. As we approach our 30th anniversary, this award is a true testament to the consistent quality and financial performance of our franchise program and it directly translates into happy customers.

Unishippers started off 2016 on a high note as the company once again closed out the previous year with overall sales revenue growth and the addition of 20 new franchise owners. In early January, the company celebrated an impressive climb up the ranking of the prestigious Entrepreneur Magazine Franchise 500, and landed in the Top 200.

At the core of Unishippers growth are the nearly 300 franchise locations and affiliate outlets located nationwide. Supported by a thriving industry, the companys franchise offering continues to be an attractive investment for entrepreneurs looking to create a more balanced lifestyle while earning residual income. In addition, the companys decision to reinvent the franchise model by removing the geographic boundaries from existing territories and adding a National franchise option in 2012, helped open the franchise opportunity to even more prospective investors.

Unishippers was created with the simple idea that by partnering with major shipping suppliers and reselling their services, negotiated discounts and an increased level of customer service would be passed on to small and medium-sized businesses. With a carefully selected carrier network of more than 30 local, regional and national freight carriers and a groundbreaking relationship with UPSO, Unishippers has earned a stellar reputation among its more than 50,000 customers for being able to provide the rates and customer service generally reserved for Fortune 500 companies. To better assist their customers, Unishippers franchisees have access to the leading edge of online applications and software programs.

To view the complete list of rankings, including company profiles, visit www.fbr50.com. To learn more about Unishippers services and franchise opportunities, 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:

Angelic Venegas

Fishman Public Relations

847-945-1300, ext. 230

avenegas@fishmanpr.com

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Wayback Burgers Announces Master Franchise Partner To Lead International Expansion Into Canada

Americas Hometown Burger Joint Partners with Wance and Malik Corporation to Open 10 Stores in Alberta

January 21, 2016 // Franchising.com // CHESHIRE, CT  Wayback Burgers, the rapidly growing fast-casual brand famous for its fresh, never-frozen burgers and hand-dipped milkshakes, today announced it has inked a Master Franchise partnership with Alberta, Canada-based Wance and Malik Corporation, bringing Americas hometown burger joint to Canada.

As part of the partnership, Wance and Malik Corp. will open a minimum of ten Wayback Burgers restaurants in Alberta, with the first location slated to open during summer 2016. Beginning as a single burger restaurant in 1991 in Newark, DE, Wayback Burgers has experienced rapid growth due to strong and growing demand for the brand domestically and around the world. Wayback Burgers currently has more than 135 locations slated to be open by the end of 2016 with another 350 stores in development worldwide.

We are pleased to announce that Wayback Burgers is heading to Canada, said John Carter, founder and CEO of Wayback Burgers. Wayback Burgers has solidified itself as a formidable player in the better burger category in the United States and abroad, with steady debt-free growth, locations in 26 states, new locations opening at a rate of two to three restaurants per month and our strong 33 country international development schedule. We look forward to bringing Wayback Burgers piece of Americana to Canada through our partnership with Wance and Malik Corporation and their exceptional team.

We are thrilled to announce this exciting new partnership with Wayback Burgers  making us the first to bring its delicious burgers and hand-dipped milkshakes to Canada, said Malik Tanveer-Ur-Rahman, Wance and Malik Corporation. We wanted to find a partner with solid growth potential and great food, and apply our backgrounds in restaurants and technology, and we found exactly what we were searching for when we met with the Wayback Burgers team. We look forward to introducing Wayback Burgers to Alberta.

Wayback Burgers is about serving delicious, fresh burgers and hand-dipped milkshakes amidst an atmosphere that hearkens back to a simpler place and time  a time when customer service meant something, and everyone felt the warmth of the community. Wayback Burgers offers burgers made from 100 percent fresh, never frozen ground beef, cooked to order, available as a single, classic double, triple and triple triple (nine) patty, and rich, thick milkshakes made the old-fashioned way by hand, using only fresh milk and hand-dipped ice cream.

Going way beyond the burger, Wayback Burgers also offers crispy and grilled chicken sandwiches, veggie burgers, turkey burgers, fresh salads and delicious sides including fries, onion rings, home-style chili and house-made chips.

For more information about Wayback Burgers, visit www.WaybackBurgers.com, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

About Wayback Burgers

Founded in 1991 in Newark, DE, Wayback Burgers is a Connecticut-based fast-casual franchise with a reputation for fresh burgers, thick hand-dipped milkshakes, and currently operates in 26 states with over 100 locations nationally and internationally in Argentina and Saudi Arabia. Wayback Burgers, through its executed master franchise agreements, plans to open in 33 countries in the Middle East, Northern Africa, Argentina, Pakistan and Brunei, along with pending agreements for Mumbai, India.

SOURCE Wayback Burgers

Media Contact:

Amanda Quinn

Account Executive

BML Public Relations

aquinn@bmlpr.com

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C: 732/803.2447

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The National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center warns of heavy, "perhaps crippling" snow across the northern mid-Atlantic region, including Baltimore, Washington and Philadelphia, probably beginning Friday.

District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser said Wednesday that the city was preparing for blizzard conditions and up to 2 feet of snow. The city has requested Humvees from the National Guard to reach isolated people and places if necessary.

"If this is a blizzard and we have sustained winds and people lose power, that would be my biggest concern," Bowser said at a news conference. "We can move the snow. We will move the snow."

In the areas where blizzard conditions are possible, the weather service warns that travel will be limited if not impossible. The strongest winds and potentially life threatening conditions are expected Friday night through Saturday night.

On Wednesday, the weather service issued blizzard and winter storm watches for parts of Maryland, Washington, Virginia and West Virginia. The watches start as early as Thursday and stretch into Saturday.

The storm will bring ice and freezing rain to Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky starting Thursday, prediction center Meteorologist Rich Otto said. But it's not yet clear where the storm will hit the hardest, he said Wednesday.

"There's a lot of details that are yet to be seen," Otto said. "Subtle changes can make a big difference. We've seen that in storms in the past."

THE FIRST FLAKES

Snow in much of Kentucky and Tennessee led school districts and some universities to cancel classes Wednesday and contributed to at least one traffic death, and officials warned motorists to be cautious of slick roads.

The Knox County, Tennessee, Sheriff's Department says a car slid off the roadway due to speed and slick conditions, killing the driver and injuring a passenger.

Forecasters said another cold front will hit Thursday night and Friday and could dump more snow over the region before traveling eastward.

TOO SOON TO TELL

Forecasters said Wednesday it's too early to know exactly how much snow a potential storm will bring to eastern Pennsylvania, but that wasn't stopping preparations around the region.

Mitchell Gaines, of the National Weather Service in Mount Holly, New Jersey, said snow totals will be more apparent by Wednesday night. However, he cautioned that when it hits, people should be prepared for strong winds, heavy, wet snow and power outages.

SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND PREPARES FOR WORST

There's still some uncertainty about what effect a weekend storm will have on southern New England, but officials are preparing for the worst.

The National Weather Service said Wednesday that there is a potential for 6 inches of snow or more in the region. High winds and coastal flooding are possible.

But meteorologist Matthew Belk said it depends on the storm's track.

"You want to be prepared for the possibility for a significant weather storm, but there's a possibility it might not amount to much," Belk said.

MAINE, NEW HAMPSHIRE, VERMONT

The storm is expected to miss northern New England. Meteorologist Tom Hawley of the National Weather Service in Gray, Maine, says the storm's path could shift, but right now "all indications are that it will not amount to much" in the region. If the storm says to the south, southern Maine and New Hampshire could see up to 1 to 2 inches of snow at the most. Little to no snow is in the forecast for Vermont.

ANTI-ABORTION MARCH STILL ON

Organizers of the March for Life say their annual anti-abortion rally in Washington will be held Friday, as scheduled.

The rally on the anniversary of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision is one of the largest events on the National Mall. Thousands of abortion opponents gather to listen to speeches before marching to the Supreme Court.

Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund, said many participants have already started traveling to Washington.

"I'm pretty certain there will be a strong contingent there that feels passionately about this issue and will march," Mancini said.

NOT EVEN SAFE FOR A SNOWBALL FIGHT?

Even the organizers of a snowball fight are nervous about the storm that's expected to hit the nation's capital.

The Washington D.C. Snowball Fight Association is taking a wait-and-see approach to its gathering in Dupont Circle, tentatively scheduled for Saturday.

"If it is still blizzard conditions, that's not the optimal conditions. We might have to move it. Maybe to Sunday, maybe later on Saturday," snowball fight organizer Ami Greener said. "Once it stops snowing, anything is good. Two feet of snow is fine."

STOCKING UP ON SUPPLIES

Simon Martinez, 48, felt fortunate to find a new snow shovel at a True Value hardware store in northwest Washington. He tried a nearby Home Depot first, without success.

"It's crazy there," he said, adding that they were also out of salt.

In Baltimore, Director of Emergency Management Bob Maloney urged residents to make sure they have enough water to last for three days, along with a working flashlight and a battery-operated radio.

For Mitchell Cohen, owner of Cohen & Co. Hardware in Center City Philadelphia, the snowy forecast is good news.

He said he's been getting calls from people asking to hold shovels for pickup on Friday and Saturday. He was getting shovels and snow melt delivered Wednesday.

"For us, it's good," Cohen said. "We live right around corner so it's no problem getting here, no matter how bad it gets. We'll be open all weekend."
Unfortunate, but inevitable, that House Bill 516 now before the state legislature could lead to parents censoring reading assignments. [Bill requires notice on sexually explicit schoolwork, Jan. 15].

What then, of a book where a couple goes completely naked, their son murders his brother, a man offers his child as a human sacrifice and his nephew proposes gang rape of his daughters before getting drunk and committing incest, and an adulterer abuses his power to slay a husband so he can marry the widow?

A book (aka the Bible) in which the hero breaks half the Ten Commandments by:

Authorizing tribute to a pagan god (I);

Healing on the Sabbath (III)

Causing parental anxiety by remaining behind in the big city (IV);

Pardoning adultery; (VI)

Forgiving a thief (VII)?

Not to mention knocking over the furniture in a house of worship. In a Christian nation, what students read requires careful monitoring!

T. Derrick Artzer

Fredericksburg
Solarizing Low-Income Neighborhoods - A Startup with a Celebrity Helping the People and the Planet

Samantha DeBianchi announces the launch of Propy - a real estate app for international investors. It provides each home listing with information for foreign buyers and with a unique innovative Sustainability Score. The initiative of Propy is to solarize low-income neighborhoods.

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Propy, an innovator in app-based real estate sales, is pleased to announce in conjunction with Martin Luther King Day celebrations that it is initiating a program to install solar panels in low-income neighborhoods. Martin Luther King, Jr. changed the world and strived for humanity and the advancement of human rights. His example has inspired Propy's vision to help families cutting their energy costs using solar power. Spearheading this effort is Samantha DeBianchi, a famous real estate broker from the reality show Million Dollar Listing on Bravo TV. She is also an ambassador and advisor for the real estate mobile app Propy in the US. The solarize program details are still being developed, but the team led by co-founders Natalia Karayaneva, Eva Otanke and several policy makers, hopes to launch the details about the initiative by Earth Day 2016 with a pilot project in a neighborhood in the US.

"Propy has all the potential to be an unicorn in real estate sales" comments the CFO of the company Maria Angelova, former CFO of BNP Pariba in Bulgaria. The distinctive feature of the company is its environmental strategy. 1% of the company's revenue will be used to improve the energy efficiency in low-income areas. This was announced by the CSO Eva Otanke, the co-founder of Propy enrolling Ms in Sustainable Urban Development in the University of Oxford. All the houses and apartments listed will be evaluated from 1 to 10 on a scale of ecological compatibility. Propy is the only real estate app which will allow each home listing to have information about air pollution, public transportation, school access, walkability, noise, crime rate, building quality, and heating cost levels; all within a unique innovative

Sustainability Score. This will encourage people to pay more attention to additional values of their homes.

Propy is founded by Oxford grads from Europe and winners of a Bulgarian Hackaton. For the first time, the new app will feature a marketplace created for international homebuyers which will enable them to browse properties from all over the world - from New York and San Francisco to Dubai and Malaysia. It also engages brokers to show their activities and buyers to write reviews about viewings. Propy provides all information both in Mandarin and English and allows users to see which brokers checked-in the properties available for sale.

One of the founders of Propy, Natalia Karayaneva, is a real estate developer that has built a number of award-winning condos for foreign investors in Europe. As a top expert in the area of real estate and sustainability, she has dreamed of creating such a platform. Along with a recent study of Sustainable Urban Development in the University of Oxford, she developed the sustainability assessment approach for real estate, which was supported by developers and green building certifications providers.

Yes, Propy's team has a dream: a single app to connect home buyers and sellers in global cities and make an impact for sustainable housing. The mission is to increase the transparency on the real estate market and help the market players to pay higher attention to sustainability. Join the team's ideas on facebook page.

About Us

Propy inc. is a software service company developing the marketplace for cross-border transactions in real estate. It is incorporated in Delaware and has offices in Menlo Park, California and Sofia, Bulgaria.

Contact

Natalia Karayaneva,

CEO Propy Inc.

Menlo Park, CA

ceo@propy.com

propy.com

For more information about us, please visit http://propy.com

Contact Info:

Name: Natalia Karayaneva

Email: ceo@propy.com

Organization: Propy Inc.



Source: http://marketersmedia.com/solarizing-low-income-neighborhoods-a-startup-with-a-celebrity-helping-the-people-and-the-planet/101683

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Southwestern Management and Realty Team Awarded Best Property Management in Las Vegas 2015 Award

SMART, Southwestern Management and Realty Team, has been selected for the 2015 Best Businesses of Las Vegas Award and has been awarded the Best Property Management Las Vegas Award.

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SMART, Southwestern Management and Realty Team, has been selected for the 2015 Best Businesses of Las Vegas Award and has been awarded the Best Property Management Las Vegas Award.

Each year, the Best Businesses of Las Vegas Award Program identifies companies that it has identified as having achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and the community. These exceptional companies help make the Las Vegas area a great place to live, work, and play.

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SMART, Southwestern Management and Realty Team, has been providing their top-notch professional residential property management services throughout the Las Vegas area since 2008. Over the years SMART has established itself as one of the premier Las Vegas property management companies thanks to their highly qualified professional management team. SMART is currently responsible for managing more than 300 properties in the Las Vegas valley and they are continuing to grow.

One of the main factors that lead to SMART being selected for the 2015 Best Business of Las Vegas Award is the excellent customer service that they provide to both property owners and tenants. What separates SMART from other residential property management companies is its openness and honesty. Clients who work with SMART value the fact that there are no hidden fees and that the SMART team keeps lines of com-munication wide open on a daily basis. This fosters feelings of trust that is appreciated by property owners and tenants alike.

SMART maintains an "A+" rating from the Better Business Bureau, the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors.

The team at SMART is honored it has been selected for the 2015 Best Businesses of Las Vegas Award. They will continue to provide unparalleled customer service in hopes to qualify for the award again in 2016.

About Company

The Best Businesses of Las Vegas Award Program is an annual awards program hon-oring the achievements and accomplishments of local businesses through the Las Vegas area. Recognition is given to those companies that have shown the ability to use their best practices and implemented programs to generate competitive advantages and long term value.

Contact Info:

Name: Southwestern Management and Realty Team

Email: Info@managevegas.com

Phone: (702) 919-7980

Organization: Southwestern Management and Realty Team

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Miracle Bust Launch Closely Examined By Darlene Mattson

Miracle Bust is a brand new product, which offers an alternative to conventional breast enlargement procedures. Its growing popularity caught the attention of nutritionist Darlene Mattson, who decided to shed more light on it.

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"The self-confidence of women is significantly influenced by the appearance," says Darlene Mattson. "Many women who were not gifted by the ample bosom suffer from lowered confidence. This problem has its solutions, but not everyone can afford them. Expensive augmentations and surgeries are not for everyone. That was the main idea, which inspired the creation of Miracle Bust."

Darlene Mattson warns potential users of the product about misleading marketing tactics on the Internet. "There is a growing number of Miracle Bust review websites, which not only provide people with misleading information and Miracle Bust reviews. They also sell copies of the product for almost twice its regular cost. Users who are genuinely interested in this product should consider purchasing it from the official website only, which can be found here - Official Website."

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For more information, visit the official website here - Official Website

"The point of the Miracle Bust is to deliver significant results without the necessity of invasive, dangerous and most of all expensive augmentations," says Darlene Mattson. "Majority of women cannot afford these augmentations, and every woman deserves a chance to improve her self-confidence. Official website and multiple Miracle Bust reviews state, that women can see the increase of up to two cup sizes in a matter of several weeks, and that is a significantly positive change."

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"Miracle Bust offers an interesting alternative to every woman suffering from low confidence due to the breast size," says Darlene Mattson. "Ample bosom does not have to be a result of expensive and invasive augmentations. Miracle Bust now offers a trial version, so women who are interested can try it with minimal expenses."

Visit the official website for more information here - Official Website

For more information about us, please visit http://justbestpromo.com/Miracle-Bust-Official

Contact Info:

Name: Darlene Mattson

Organization: MIRB



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MarketReportsOnline: Indonesia Rubber Industry Analysis

MarketReportsOnline.com adds "Assessment of Indonesia's Rubber Industry Analysis 2015" report to its research store.

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The Assessment of Indonesia's Rubber Industry Analysis 2015 is an industry research of 40 pages published in January 2016 on the rubber industry to the chemicals intelligence collection of its research store. Complete report available at http://www.marketreportsonline.com/442401.html.

The global market is currently in its fourth year of surplus of natural rubber. The excess supply situation has caused stocks to pile high and prices are falling steadily. It is expected that global surplus by the year 2020 will be approximately 1 million tons of natural rubber and 3 million tons of synthetic rubber.World demand for natural rubber, which is primarily used to manufacture tires, is cooling down due to the economic downturn in China.

Asia accounts for 93% of the world natural rubber production with Thailand being the largest producer followed by Indonesia and Vietnam. Other large rubber producers in the region include India, China and Malaysia.

China is the world's largest consumer of natural rubber followed by India and the United States. Increasing consumption of tyres and industrial rubber products is expected to boost the global demand for natural rubbers. Indonesia is the second largest rubber producer globally behind Thailand. While the industry is faced with challenges such as low production and poor infrastructure, growing rubber demand from developing economies is expected to boost the market in 2015.

Inquire for a discount on this Indonesia Rubber Market report at http://www.marketreportsonline.com/contacts/discount.php?name=442401.

Indonesia is the second largest natural rubber producer globally. The industry is currently experiencing oversupply with demand having slowed down particularly from China which is the largest buyer of rubber in the world. Sumatra is the key natural rubber producing area in Indonesia accounting for two-thirds of the rubber latex harvested followed by Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Java. 85% of the rubber producers are smallholders and they contribute 81% to the national output. Actively supporting the sector, the International Rubber Consortium, which is a body representing rubber producers Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, has recently recommended the commodity not be sold at the current low prices.

Key Reasons to Buy This Rubber Market Report:

The report 'Assessment of Indonesia's Rubber Industry Analysis 2015'highlights key dynamics ofIndonesia's rubber sector. The potential of the sector has been investigated along with key challenges.The current market scenario and future prospects of the sector has also been studied. The report contains profiles of key players including Bridgestone Corp, Michelin, Goodyear, Continental A.G. and Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd.The report contains latest verbatim of industry experts.

Purchase a copy of this Indonesia rubber market research report at USD 1000 (Single User License) http://www.marketreportsonline.com/contacts/purchase.php?name=442401.

Table of Contents

1. Global Rubber Industry

1.1 Overview

1.2 Market Statistics & Performance

1.3 Drivers

1.4 Challenges

1.5 Outlook

2. Indonesia Rubber Industry

2.1 Overview

2.2 Market Statistics

2.2.1 Production

2.2.2 Consumption

2.2.3 Export

2.3 Indonesia Rubber Gloves Industry

2.4 Drivers

2.5 Challenges

2.6 Outlook

3. Competitive Landscape

3.1 Bridgestone Corp

3.2 Michelin

3.3 Goodyear

3.4 Continental A.G.

3.5 Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd.

4. List of Charts and Graphs

4.1 World Rubber Production (2004-2014, '000 tonnes)

4.2 World Rubber Consumption (2004-2014, '000 tonnes)

4.3 Country Wise Largest Natural Rubber Consumers (2013, '000 tonnes)

4.4 Country Wise Largest Natural Rubber Consumers (2013, '000 tonnes)

4.5 World's Largest Exporters of Natural Rubber 2014

4.6 Indonesia Natural Rubber Production (2009-2014, 000 tonnes)

4.7 Indonesia Rubber Export (2010-2015E, million tonnes)

5. Research Methodology

For more information about us, please visit http://www.marketreportsonline.com/442401.html

Contact Info:

Name: Ritesh Tiwari

Organization: Market Reports Online

Phone: + 1 888 391 5441

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Release ID: 101723

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Drug & Alcohol Rehab Denver Suggests Addiction Treatment, in Light of Chris Christie Scrutiny

( January 21, 2016 ) Denver, Co -- Chris Christie is praised by communities for the work he is doing to raise awareness about addiction and combat substance use disorders for those on the other side of the law. Yet recently he has been the ire of scrutiny for not finding solutions for those who have not be slammed by the law. Drug and Alcohol Rehab Denver asserts Christie is not the only politician in charge of creating effective policies for drug and alcohol addiction, and says "It takes more than one person to spearhead our attack on addiction."

Drug and Alcohol Rehab Denver offers both detoxification and rehabilitation for those suffering from substance use disorders. An associate from the treatment center comments, "Treatment centers must pool together resources to come up with affirmative plans and policies which can help wrangle those with substance use disorders who have not fallen prey to the law. Bolstering educational prevention tactics has been effective in the past, as is providing state funded therapy for those seeking help. Nationally sanctioning safe needle exchange programs with fully equipped therapy wards would help to direct those suffering into treatment programs."

Drug and Alcohol Rehab Denver specializes in heroin rehab in Denver and provides clients with individualized drug rehab in Denver. Clients are assessed based off their previous treatment history, family history, and length of the untreated substance use disorder. The facility provides inpatient medical detox, residential rehabilitation, outpatient treatment, and continuing addiction therapy.

Drug and Alcohol Rehab Denver accepts most major insurances and offers 24 hour medical and psychiatric treatment. Clients meet with doctors daily, and attend multiple group therapy sessions inclusive of, gender groups, relapse prevention, everyday living, and skills for interviewing, dressing, and hygiene.

For more information on Drug and Alcohol Rehab Denver visit http://drugandalcoholrehabdenver.com/ or call (720) 726-1681.

About Drug and Alcohol Rehab:

Drug and Alcohol Rehab Denver provides inpatient medical detox, residential rehabilitation in Denver, Intensive Outpatient in Denver and drug counseling in Denver.

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Thermalabs New Launch Records Incredible Marketplace Performance

Thermalabs latest launch, the exfoliating glove set, appears to be performing incredibly well in the marketplace.

--

Thermalabs exfoliating glove set, the company's latest release, appears to be doing extremely well in Amazon.com, as well as on the company's official website. Exfoliating glove set is a combination of 3 mitts: a natural bamboo fiber and loofah mitt, a jute mitt and a natural sisal mitt. The product pursues the all-natural path to give thorough exfoliation results. It also comes with a free gift- the Thermalabs finger exfoliator. More so, customers who purchase this product via the company's Amazon presence also get a free in-depth guide that lays bare the art of exfoliation. For customers who are looking for a natural, useful exfoliating guide, Thermalabs glove set might just be the way to go.

According to the company's marketing co-coordinator, Mr. Alex Howard, Thermalabs managed to sell over 5, 400 units of the exfoliating glove set within the product's first week in the market. This is considered a major achievement especially for a product that's newly launched. Nonetheless, it's no surprise for a company that has gotten used to recording one success after the other. Thermalabs first ever product, a self-tan lotion known as the 'Natural Self Tanner', managed to sell over 1000 units in 24 hours. This was following a comprehensive and brilliant marketing strategy by the company, which involves spending thousands of dollars in pre-launch advertising. The product's success, however, helped set the stage for the future success of the company's consecutive launches. Thermalabs has introduced at least a dozen cosmetics products into the market, most of which are best sellers in their respective category. For instance, Glow2Go tan wipes, and the Ultimitt tan applicator mitt have helped the company generates millions of dollars in revenues. Thermalabs managed to attain its first 50, 000 in well under the first year, another record achievement by the American startup.

The company, which is headquartered in New York, designed the exfoliating glove set in order to meet a growing need. More and more cosmetics consumers are looking for healthier, greener and natural products. Thermalabs exfoliating glove set uses all-natural environmentally friendly ingredients to make a premium products. There are many benefits to regular exfoliation. For instance, it helps improve the text of the skin, brightens the complexion, improves the tone, prevents breakouts, kills bacteria, gets rid of dead cells and detoxifies the skin. Through Thermalabs 3-pack exfoliation aid, users are able to leverage all these benefits.

The product's promotional pricing might be another factor that has helped make it an early success. Thermalabs exfoliating premium bath mitt is selling at only $14.49. This way, customers get to save $35.5 from the list price of $49.99. The company is also offering a Full 1 Year guarantee on this product, which is a first-ever in the industry. This amplifies the confidence that Thermalabs has in their launch and thus helps trigger positive perceptions from consumers. As the year moves forward, it'll be interesting to see whether the exfoliating gloves set will join the ranks of the company's all-time bestsellers, including Glow2Go and Ultimitt.

For more information about us, please visit http://www.thermalabs.com

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Organization: Thermalabs



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Santander UK is to revive its branch-based investment advice, a mere three years after abandoning the sector following a somewhat turbulent experience.

A year ago, the bank tentatively began to re-immerse itself back into the investment advice market by offering the service at some branches on a pilot basis, amassing a team of around 200 advisers in the process.

The bank is now preparing to deploy up to 225 financial advisers by March to give restricted advice on its own investment products for clients with investable assets of more than 50,000.

For advisers, this represents a fresh entry of competitors into the pool of advisers, all vying to secure business from a similar client base.

This does not worry me, said Martin Bamford, managing director of Surrey-based Informed Choice.

Santander is not a direct threat to us, we tend to do business with higher net-worth clients. The lower net-worth clients need advisers, for sure, but I am not sure that they will be getting advice.

What Santander is doing is building a salesforce. What we do is so much more than just product selling.

We care for our customers and provide advice that we genuinely think is best suited to our clients needs.

Santander will charge advice fees of 2.5 per cent of the amount invested with a minimum investment of 500 and a maximum of 150,000 on its own investment range.

Santander is also planning on launching a platform at the beginning of this quarter, in partnership with platform technology provider FNZ, and has not ruled out introducing a robo-advice service in the future.

The re-launch of Santanders adviser arms comes at a time of abating regulatory hostility toward banks, according to Peter Bennett, managing director of Assessment Design and Development and a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers.

This is exemplified by the cancellation of the FCA review into banking culture, and the surprising resignation of Martin Wheatley who built up a fierce reputation for his tough stance on banks during his tenure at the city watchdog, according to Mr Bennett.

Standards

He said: I applaud the work of the FCA for driving up standards in the industry but having done the Retail Distribution Review, the government is now at a stage where it needs to rethink how it is to encourage the millions of people out there who need advice on investments back into the market.

Although FCA figures show a 5 per cent increase in the number of independent and restricted financial advisers in the UK to 22,557 in November 2015, up from 21,496 in October 2014, many feel that there is still a dearth in adviser numbers  particularly compared to pre-RDR levels.

Mr Bennett said: If you go back 20 years, there were thousands of financial advisers, but now there is a distinct lack of supply. Having more players in the market will naturally drive down costs and make it more accessible for consumers.
Jeremy Gibson has been appointed as chief executive of Sanlam Investments & Pensions, having operated as chief financial officer for Sanlam UK since 2012.

A statement from the group clarified he will continue as a director of Sanlam UK.

Meanwhile, Steven Haines and Alfio Tagliabue are to join the board of Sanlam UK as group chief operating officer and group chief financial officer respectively, having both previously worked with Sanlam UKs group chief executive Jonathan Polin at Ashcourt Rowan.

Mr Polin officially took up the role on 1 January after leaving his role as Ashcourt Rowans group chief executive at the end of October, with Sanlam Private Wealths incumbent chief executive Craig Massey returning to South Africa as branch operations director and head of stockbroking.

Mr Polin explained over the coming months his aim is to create one overarching Sanlam business in the UK, while keeping the integrity of its specialist capabilities.

He said: We have the foundations in place to build a business that will take a leading role in the UK Wealth Management arena for many years to come.

The appointments follow the news earlier this week that Sanlam UKs chief executive Lukas van der Walt is moving on as part of its ongoing integration and management restructure.

He is set to leave Sanlam UK on 29 February, after which he will serve as a strategic consultant to the group, advising on its development, mergers and acquisitions.

In December, Sanlam announced changes to the management structure of its UK businesses from the start of this year.

The UK group will now be made up of:

 National financial adviser Sanlam Wealth Planning;

 Discretionary fund manager Sanlam Private Wealth;

 Life and pensions business Sanlam Investments & Pensions;

 Boutique asset management firm Sanlam Four; and

 Institutional and retail stockbroking provider Sanlam Securities.

peter.walker@ft.com
AJ Bell plans to offer a no-nonsense range of passive funds to advisers after buying two companies.

The Manchester-based company has bought investment product design company Indexx Markets Ltd and its subsidiary Allium Capital Ltd, which operates a range of funds.

It has also bought Mansard Capital LLP, which provides investment management services to, among others, Alliums range of funds.

In a statement AJ Bell said: The acquisition adds investment management services to our business, which gives us discretionary permissions as well as the ability to launch our own funds and build new investment solutions for financial advisers.

Through this vertical integration we will be able to increase the value we deliver to financial advisers.

Although early days our initial intention is to offer a no-nonsense, low cost range of passive funds to the adviser market along with a model portfolio service based around passive funds.

AJ Bell is one of the UKs largest providers of online investment platforms and stockbroker services.

It has more than 120,500 customers and assets under administration of more than 26.1bn.

Andy Bell, chief executive of AJ Bell, said: Financial advisers are telling us that they are increasingly using passive investments within their client portfolios and we are looking to build solutions that cater for that demand.

This acquisition gives us the resources and permissions we need to be able to build new, low cost passive solutions for financial advisers which will add value to what we offer them.

In August, it was reported that AJ Bell had held talks with Legal & General about buying Cofunds, with the company reported to be in an exclusivity period at the beginning of September.

Neither AJ Bell nor L&G commented on the speculation at the time.

A spokesman for AJ Bell did not comment on whether its acquisition of Indexx Markets and Mansard Capital meant it is no longer interested in Cofunds.
Cofunds bosses are remaining tight lipped about what Legal & Generals sale of its self-invested personal pension business last week mean for the platform.

Suffolk Life was acquired by L&G in 2008 and since then has grown to administer approximately 26,500 Sipps, including more than 3,600 commercial properties, with assets under administration of 8.7bn.

The deal is subject to an underwritten placing by Curtis Banks Group and regulatory approval, both of which are expected in the first half of 2016.

Part of L&Gs statement on the deal noted it is disposing non-core businesses and focusing on core activities where it believes significant scale and attractive returns on capital can be achieved.

Group chief finance officer Mark Gregory said while Suffolk Life was a great business, it is not core to our focused strategy.

Last year this strategy saw L&G sell off its offshore bond operation to Canada Lifes parent company Great-West Lifeco in February, along with Irish and Egyptian divisions. Earlier this month, it also completed talks with Apicil to sell its French business.

Rumours abounded last summer that L&G was looking to sell Cofunds, and both FNZ and AJ Bell were said to be in the frame to buy, although ultimately no deal was done.

Following the sale of Suffolk Life, a spokesman for L&G said the group does not comment on market rumour or speculation about the future of Cofunds.

They pointed to a third quarter statement last year which mentioned as part of a strategic review of our digital savings business we will focus on improving operational efficiency in Cofunds.

A spokeswoman for Cofunds also declined to comment on speculation about what the future holds for the platform.

Mike Barrett, consultancy director at financial services consultancy Lang Cat, said the thousands of advisers who use Cofunds will be looking at the sale of Suffolk Life with interest. As the largest platform in the UK, Cofunds have already achieved this, however it is fair to say the proposition needs investing in.

We are hearing of a few new developments in the pipeline, and Cofunds have already confirmed that the Cofunds Pension Account will continue to be provided by Suffolk Life, all of which will no doubt reassure advisers.

Heather Hopkins, research director at Platforum, said the Suffolk Life sale was sure to have implications for the future of Cofunds. We hope that L&G will continue to invest in the Cofunds business. We were pleased to see the announcement that Marc Balustrade was joining Cofunds as chief operating officer last week, indicating continued investment in the business.

Platforums data at the end of September showed Cofunds had grown its assets under administration by 5.88 per cent year on year. However, of the top three platforms by assets - Cofunds, FundsNetwork and Old Mutual Wealth - its growth was the lowest from the third quarter of 2014 to the same period in 2015.
Weetabix has pledged to source all its wheat from British farmers for its products to mark the launch of the governments new Great British Food Unit.

The Northamptonshire-based cereal company has been sourcing some of its wheat from overseas in recent years, blaming poor harvests.

For example, the failure of specialist crops for white bread in 2012 forced Weetabix to look elsewhere to source a small percentage of its wheat.

To mark the launch of the Defra food unit, Weetabix repeated its 2010 pledge to source 100% of its wheat from local farmers to help guarantee the quality of its wholegrain wheat, supporting our growing rural economy and protecting the environment.

In 2012, Bright Food  Chinas second largest food manufacturing company  bought 60% of Weetabix for 1.2bn due to growing consumer markets in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Nanjing.

See also: British dairy businesses on trade mission to China

The iconic cereal is now reaching breakfast tables in 80 countries worldwide, including Africa, Germany, Spain and North America, with the Bright Food deal set to open markets in east and west Africa.

Defra said Weetabixs success was exemplary of what hundreds of thousands of UK food and drink companies could achieve.

During a ministerial trip to the Weetabix factory in Kettering, Defra secretary Liz Truss said: From Weetabix to Yeo Valley yoghurt, I want to see more of the Great British breakfast enjoyed around the world.

Through the creation of the new Great British Food Unit companies large and small will now find it easier to export overseas and receive foreign investment.

It is vital for our economic future that we make British food and farming all it can be  over the next five years we will do that by backing big business, supporting punchy start-ups and embracing our rich food heritage.

The Great British Food Unit has been launched with the aim of matching France and Germany for food exports.

Ms Truss said the unit has been established to help the UK increase the value of food exports to 6bn by 2020.

The unit will bring together experts in exports and investment from Defra and across government to help even more businesses sell their world-class produce around the globe.

NFU president Meurig Raymond said UK farmers were under pressure from low commodity prices and he hoped the unit would create more opportunities to get more British products into new global markets.

What I want to see now is more export markets being made available to British farmers to sell to countries such as China, Japan, the US and Saudi Arabia, he added.

Mr Raymond said he was also pleased that the unit would focus on apprenticeships and entrepreneurialism, which would help to take farm businesses forward and improve performance in workforces.

The Food and Drink Federation estimates exports of manufactured goods alone will go up by a third to 6bn by 2020.
Northern Irish firm Slurry Kat has launched a range of low-spec budget slurry tankers.

The company claims demand is growing for a more affordable option as an increasing number of small farmers are looking to apply slurry themselves.

See also: How to sort out grassland compaction

There are various models included in the range, which extends from 1,600-2,750gal on a single axle, and 2,500-3,500gal on tandem axles.

The Pantera tankers are built with shot-blasted steel and all come with Slurry Kats internal anti-surge baffle system and full internal welding.

The budget versions also use the same high-tensile steel, Jurop vacuum pumps, axles, wheels and valves as the premium range and can be ordered with various spreading options including dribble bars and trailing shoe injectors.

Prices kick off at 7,995 for the smallest Panterra 1,600gal model.
Farm leaders in Scotland are calling for a statutory code of practice for land agents, as part of an initial list of proposed amendments to the Land Reform Bill.

NFU Scotland has raised a number of concerns with the current shape of the bill, following a lengthy consultation period with its members.

The union has proposed the code of practice for land agents dealing with agricultural tenancies work and has said that some of the new land commissioners that will sit on the policy-making Scottish Land Commission must also have practical land-management experience. It has also expressed extreme concern over giving communities greater rights to purchase land under the new community right-to-buy provisions.

See also: Scottish tenancies could be passed to non-family members

The union contends that in approving an application to buy, Scottish ministers must be satisfied that land subject to an application does not form an essential part of a viable agricultural unit, or be in productive agricultural use. In addition, where an application to purchase is not successful, it must not be possible to make a repeated application within a five-year period.

NFU Scotland chief executive Scott Walker said: While there are some positive elements to the bill, farmers feel particularly vulnerable, given the lack of detail provided, and view it as essential that Scotlands ability to produce food is not unintentionally undermined.

It is important for Scottish farming that this bill, once made law, is fit for purpose. All too often we have seen legislation rushed through and not delivering what was hoped for.
Story Highlights More than six in 10 dissatisfied with size, influence

55% of Americans dissatisfied with government regulation

Slightly more want regulation decreased rather than increased

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A majority of U.S. adults, 63%, say they are dissatisfied with the size and influence of major corporations, while 35% are satisfied. This is largely consistent with what Gallup has found over the past decade, but Americans were more divided between 2001 and 2003.

In 2001, the first year Gallup asked Americans this question, a combined 48% said they were either very or somewhat satisfied with the size and influence of major corporations, and the same percentage were very or somewhat dissatisfied. Since 2003, a majority of Americans have been dissatisfied. Dissatisfaction peaked at 67% in 2011, in the first update after the financial crisis. The percentage satisfied, on the other hand, peaked at 50% in 2002.

Gallup then asks Americans who say they are dissatisfied with the size and influence of corporations if they want corporations to have more influence, less influence or about the same level of influence. The vast majority of those dissatisfied with the influence of major corporations want them to have less power than they do. Overall, 49% of U.S. adults are dissatisfied and want corporations to have less influence, 4% are dissatisfied and want them to have more influence and 10% say they are dissatisfied but don't express a preference for change.

The questions about corporate influence are part of a larger set of questions Gallup asks Americans each January in its annual Mood of the Nation survey. These questions range from satisfaction with the way gays and lesbians are treated in the U.S. to satisfaction with security from terrorism. There is a full list of these items, ranked by Americans' satisfaction with them from most to least, at the end of this article. Satisfaction with the size and influence of corporations ranks in the bottom half of the list but is not at the absolute bottom.

Most Americans Dissatisfied With Government Regulation of Businesses and Industries

For the first time, in 2016 Gallup asked Americans about their satisfaction with government regulation of businesses and industries. About one in three U.S. adults, 32%, say they are satisfied with such government regulation, while 55% are dissatisfied.

Americans who say they are dissatisfied were asked a follow-up question: "Would you like to see government regulation of businesses and industries increased, decreased or remain about the same?" These Americans' responses are divided. Twenty percent of U.S. adults are dissatisfied with the regulation and believe it should be increased, while 25% are dissatisfied and say the regulation should be decreased. One in 10 Americans are dissatisfied with the regulation, but feel it should remain about the same.

Democrats (40%) are more likely than Republicans (26%) and independents (32%) to be satisfied with government regulation of businesses and industries. More Democrats are dissatisfied and want regulation increased (27%) than are dissatisfied and want regulation decreased (9%).

Republicans are almost exactly the opposite. Nearly half of Republicans, 45%, say they are dissatisfied and want regulation decreased, and 9% are dissatisfied and want regulation increased. Independents are evenly split -- with 22% saying they are dissatisfied and want regulation increased, and 22% saying they are dissatisfied and want regulation decreased.

Bottom Line

Americans have long been suspicious of the power of big corporations, but they have not been supportive of increasing regulation of businesses, particularly during the Obama administration. That may partly reflect new regulations that President Barack Obama has proposed or enacted, most notably regarding energy, including the coal industry. Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have also advocated for new regulations, especially on Wall Street. This may not be supported by the quarter of Americans who want regulation decreased, or the third who are satisfied with current level of regulation.

But those preferences may be influenced as much by who is in the White House and what policies he or she is pursuing. During the George W. Bush administration, Americans were much less likely to say they thought government regulated business too much. And most of the current GOP presidential candidates advocate reduced regulation of businesses and corporations. As a result, Americans' satisfaction with business regulation and their preferences for more or less of it could shift, depending on the party of the president who is elected next November.

Historical data are available in Gallup Analytics.

Survey Methods

Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted Jan. 6-10, 2016, with a random sample of 1,012 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on the total sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error is 4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. All reported margins of sampling error include computed design effects for weighting.

Each sample of national adults includes a minimum quota of 60% cellphone respondents and 40% landline respondents, with additional minimum quotas by time zone within region. Landline and cellular telephone numbers are selected using random-digit-dial methods.

View survey methodology, complete question responses and trends.

Learn more about how Gallup Poll Social Series works.
Story Highlights Significantly improved from year-six average of 42.6%

His post-State of the Union ratings have been better

Low approval from Republicans has held his average down

PRINCETON, N.J. -- Throughout his seventh full year in office, beginning Jan. 20, 2015, and ending on Tuesday, President Barack Obama averaged a 46.2% job approval rating. That marks a significant improvement from his 42.6% average during his sixth year in office, the lowest of his presidency to date. His first year (57.2%) remains his best and is the only year in which his approval consistently exceeded 50%.

Better economic news, particularly the low gas prices in the earlier part of the year, aided Obama's seventh-year ratings. Americans' economic confidence in 2015 was higher than in any other year of Obama's presidency. And though the year brought an increased focus on terrorism with the Paris and San Bernardino, California, attacks late in the year, there was arguably less tension on the international stage for the U.S. than during the prior year.

Obama's recent ratings, particularly those Gallup has measured since his Jan. 12 State of the Union address, have been higher than the 46% he averaged throughout his entire seventh year. This includes a 51% approval rating in Jan. 15-17 Gallup Daily tracking. His most recent daily approval rating, based on Jan. 17-19 interviewing, is 48%. Those higher ratings helped push the average approval for his most recent quarter in office -- his 28th, spanning Oct. 20 to Jan. 19 -- up to 46.6%.

Obama's Seventh Year Matches Historical Average

Obama's seventh-year average approval rating essentially matches the 46.5% average approval rating in year seven for the other five presidents who served that long. Of course, some presidents were significantly above the average in their seventh year in office, including Dwight Eisenhower (63.9%) and Bill Clinton (60.5%), and some were considerably below it, namely, Harry Truman (26.5%) and George W. Bush (33.3%).

Now entering his final year in office, the focus of political attention will surely be on the race to succeed Obama rather than on Obama himself. Historically, there has been no clear pattern in how two-term presidents' approval ratings have changed in their final year in office. Two presidents -- Truman and Ronald Reagan -- saw significant improvements, although Truman's eighth-year average of 29% still rates as one of the worst yearly averages in Gallup's polling history. Two others -- Eisenhower and Bush -- saw declines, although Eisenhower still had a strong 61% approval rating his final year, while Bush's was low at 30%. Clinton's job approval was generally stable his final year in office.

Obama on Pace for One of Lowest Average Approval Ratings

Obama has averaged 47.3% job approval during his presidency to date. Without substantial improvement during his final year in office, his full-term approval average will rank near the bottom of the list for post-World War II presidents, along with Truman (45.4%), Jimmy Carter (45.5%) and Gerald Ford (47.2%).

One factor working against Obama was governing when the U.S. economy struggled to emerge from the Great Recession. There have also been few "rally" events during his presidency, apart from the 2011 killing of Osama bin Laden. These are usually international events that lead to an increase in support for the president. A third factor handicapping Obama is being president in an era of intense partisanship. While presidents' approval ratings have always been higher from supporters of their own party than from supporters of the opposition, the gap between these ratings has risen to new extremes under Obama.

Since Obama has been in office, he has averaged 13% job approval among Republicans. Recent presidents' approval ratings have been significantly better among supporters of the opposing party, including for George W. Bush (average 23% approval from Democrats), Clinton (average 27% approval from Republicans), George H.W. Bush (average 44% approval from Democrats), and Reagan (average 31% approval from Democrats). All of those presidents, including Obama, averaged between 82% and 84% approval from supporters of their own party while president.

To further illustrate the degree that partisanship now affects the way Americans evaluate presidents, the party gaps in approval ratings of Obama are more than twice as large as they were for Carter and Ford, even though these three presidents had similar overall approval ratings.

Carter's average 45.5% job approval rating included average approval ratings of 30% among Republicans but a relatively weak 57% approval from his fellow Democrats. Ford's average 47.2% approval included a 37% average among Democrats and 68% among Republicans. The 27-point gap in party ratings for Carter and the 31-point gap for Ford compare with the 71-point party gap for Obama.

Implications

Obama's seventh year in office was better than his sixth year, at least based on his average job approval ratings. His approval ratings have consistently been below the historical average of 53% based on Gallup polling since 1945. The major exception is Obama's first year in office when he enjoyed a relatively strong "honeymoon" phase.

A weak economy, intense partisanship, the lack of major rally events and public reaction to Obama's actions and policies as president have kept his job approval ratings below average. It seems likely that Obama's full-term average approval rating will rank among the lowest of post-World War II presidents. However, he can still end his term on a strong note, and, as was the case for Reagan and other presidents, his popularity at the time he leaves office may matter more in how Americans view his presidency in retrospect than his overall average approval rating while in office.

These data are available in Gallup Analytics.

Survey Methods

Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted Jan. 20, 2015-Jan. 19, 2016, on the Gallup U.S. Daily survey, with a random sample of 177,964 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on the total sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error is 1 percentage point at the 95% confidence level. All reported margins of sampling error include computed design effects for weighting.

Each sample of national adults includes a minimum quota of 60% cellphone respondents and 40% landline respondents, with additional minimum quotas by time zone within region. Landline and cellular telephone numbers are selected using random-digit-dial methods.

Learn more about how Gallup Daily tracking works.
The contracts for firefighters and lifeguards each covers a three-year period and provides annual wage increases.
MONROE  The Monroe School Board is considering placing a multi-million dollar construction bond on the ballot this November.

The Monroe School Board held a special meeting Wednesday to discuss various options to add classrooms at Monroe Grade School and do remodels at Monroe High School, including seismic upgrades on the 1928 building.

Russ Pickett, Monroe's superintendent, said the conversations about the bond began in the spring of 2015, when officials realized increasing enrollment and the need for more classrooms to accommodate the introduction of all-day kindergarten would make the grade school very cramped. The board hopes to add a minimum of four classrooms there.

The board worked with Richard Higgins, of BLRB Architects, to discuss how the new classrooms should be configured. Using large printouts of aerial photos of the grade school, the board members and Higgins used laminated squares representing the new classrooms to experiment with configurations. The board expressed interest in creating a layout that would make people coming into the school have to go through the office so that the school is more secure.

The board asked Higgins to come back with some floor plan drawings of a concept they'd discussed for the four classrooms to be added to the back of the school, a concept that included an expansion to the office. The design leaves room for another four classrooms officials would like to build if affordable, which would replace the grade school's existing portable buildings.

Pickett said the district qualifies for up to $4 million in matching grants from the state of Oregon if it passes a bond issue.

"That would give us $8 million if we went with the (maximum amount matched), but I think there is need for considerably more," said Pickett.

Pickett added that the grade school is in consideration for a $1.5 million seismic upgrade grant from the state.

The board members said they wanted an analysis of how much a bond that amount would cost taxpayers per thousands dollars of assessed value, and if it were more than they think the community could support, they might ask for less.

Pickett told the board his next step is to work with a company that helps school districts create bond issues to get estimates of what varying levels of bond funding would cost taxpayers, which he said would be presented at the February board meeting.
The Linn-Benton Community College board has approved a land purchase agreement that will allow the college to move forward with its plan to expand its Benton Center in Corvallis.

The board voted unanimously Wednesday in Albany to implement a plan to buy 2.5 acres of land and a 12,000-square building at 931 N.W. Reiman St. The property, currently used by the First Student school transportation company, would be used for both parking and additional classroom space by the college.

The $3 million sale agreement is subject to the college finding alternative space for the bus firm and meeting land-use regulations of the city of Corvallis.

We appreciate the guidance and feedback from the community as weve looked for our best options to serve the needs of Corvallis, LBCC President Greg Hamann said.

Hamann noted the assistance of Corvallis Mayor Biff Traber, City Manager Mark Shepard and the nine councilors. (They) have been as supportive as they could be as weve explored our options and heard from the community at-large," Hamann said.

The Benton Center expansion is being paid for by a $34 million bond measure passed by the voters in November 2014. The bond money also will pay for new facilities and other infrastructure improvements at college facilities in Albany and Lebanon.

The college twice suggested the use of city-owned Washington Park for the expansion, but community opposition led the college to withdraw its interest in the park on both occasions.

LBCC officials said that the addition of the Reiman property will allow for a doubling of parking capacity and that the existing building could be used for classroom space.

Well engage the community as we explore the possibilities, said Dave Henderson, vice president of finance and operations. This property opens up new possibilities, and it ensures we can be a better neighbor and serve Corvallis and Benton County better than we have before.
PHILOMATH  The Philomath Fire & Rescue board of directors plans to make an offer by the end of this week to one of three remaining fire chief candidates, president Ruth Jacobs announced late last week following a final round of interviews.

Three finalists emerged from an assessment panel process hosted last Friday by the boards hired consultant, Emergency Services Consulting International. Matthew Benedict of Pendleton, Thomas Miller of Wimberley, Texas, and Mark Sachara of Flagstaff, Arizona, remained in contention for the job.

We have identified a leading candidate for the position and we expect to make a contingent offer by Friday the 22nd, thats our plan, Jacobs said.

Benedict currently serves as an assistant chief with the Pendleton Fire Department and chief of the Helix Volunteer Fire Department. Miller most recently worked as the chief of an emergency services district in Texas. Sachara retired from the Flagstaff (Arizona) Fire Department and is the current chief at the nearby Ponderosa Fire District.

The successful candidate will succeed current fire chief Tom Phelps, who announced his intentions to retire this past fall. In late December, Phelps agreed to an hourly based contract as he wraps up his time with the department. Phelps has served as fire chief since August 2007.

Phelps vowed to stay aboard with the Fire Department until after a new chief arrives on the job.

Emergency Services Consulting identified the assessment process and the board convened the panels in a joint effort, with Jacobs saying, It provided invaluable information.

In fact, the board president said she was pleased with the local response.

I would like to acknowledge the wonderful support and participation by the community in the process of evaluating candidates, Jacobs said. That was really amazing, the assessment panel that came together to help us out was very professional and we had good representation at the meet-and-greet. Its obvious that the community cares about who their next fire chief will be.

Each candidate introduced himself during the Jan. 14 event with details about his work history, educational background, family and hopes for the future.

Six candidates participated in Thursdays meet-and-greet. The three not advancing to the final round were Robert Harvey of Colorado, Gary Woodson of Pendleton and David Wolton of the Goshen-Pleasant Hill area.

The input that the public provided during the meet-and-greet was a factor considered in identifying the leading candidate, Jacobs said.

The board had previously announced a seventh candidate, Jonas Macskassy of Titusville, Florida, but he withdrew his name from consideration after accepting another job.

Emergency Service Consulting's early recruitment efforts brought in 15 applications and out of those, 11 were invited to take part in phone interviews. The position drew interest from as far away as the East Coast.

Jacobs said to check Philomath Fire & Rescues website for any additional information that could be coming.

Following Saturdays meeting, the board initiated the process to do background checks on the finalists.
Dec. 14, 1922  Jan. 8, 2016

Born Dec. 14, 1922, in Baltimore, Maryland, John Jack Maxwell went to be with the Lord on Jan. 8, 2016. He was proud of his Scottish heritage.

He met Lorraine Marjorie Richard at a U.S.O. dance in California when serving in the Navy. It was love at first sight. They married soon after and raised four children.

They are survived by three daughters and their husbands, 11 grandchildren and their spouses, and 18 great-grandchildren.

They were preceded in death by their son, John, and grandson Sterling Hunter.

His younger brother, Donald Bruce Maxwell, resides in Baltimore.

As a machinist mate second class, he served the country he loved in World War II in the Pacific Rim. He firmly believed in and supported the Wounded Warrior Project.

His family was paramount to him and he loved to have them gather together on holidays. He taught the children that a job worth doing was a job done right. Over his lifetime he experienced varied types of jobs from salesman, interior design, managing different companies, owning his own meter reading business, and lastly, working for Scoville Motors ferrying cars from one dealership to another.

Earlier in his life he enjoyed political discussions and was a staunch conservative. He always felt he was born in the wrong era since he strongly disliked the technical age. He was very forthright and told it like it is. One knew where they stood as far as he was concerned.

The family wishes to convey thanks to the Peace Harbor Medical Group and Spruce Point Assisted Living for the wonderful care and love and respect he received.

Burnss Riverside Chapel Florence Funeral Home is handling arrangements.
Funny thing about John Brenans comments (Gazette-Times letter to the editor, Jan. 20) on the Congressional Research Service report of 2012; I did Google it and found it with ease. John is right that it was withdrawn." Although withdrawn here means withdrawn from the internal congressional website. The Congressional Research Service could not withdraw the report from public circulation.

With that said, there is a more up-to-date analysis of income inequality in the United States from a non-U.S. politically biased researcher, Holger Apel (Erasmus University, Rotterdam), who wrote a 2015 paper, Income inequality in the U.S. from 1950 to 2010  the Neglect of the Political." The case study reveals empirical evidence of two trends which are politically induced and reinforce income inequality. First, stagnating real wages for the majority of the population, despite increasing productivity due to anti-labor policies which undermine collective bargaining. Second, increasing accumulation of wealth at the top of the income distribution through decreasing taxes for high incomes and corporations. Please Google the paper since the devil is in the details.
Animal activists : Animal activists protest use of animal skins and feathers

Bonn. Animal activists gathered use grim measures to create awareness of animals as victims of the fashion industry.

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If you were passing through Remigiusplatz in the Bonn inner city yesterday, you might have had a little scare. Animal activists from the organization Peta were dressed in skins to create awareness of how animals suffer as victims of the fashion industry. Many firms in the industry still work with animal skins and animal feathers.
Der 58-jahrige Gefangene fluchtete am Mittwochnachmittag wahrend eines Ausgangs aus einem Brauhaus. Foto: Polizei Koln

Cologne A convicted rapist escaped a Cologne Brauhaus (Beer hall) Wednesday. A massive police search is underway.

Such visits outside of prison are allowed by law; the prisoner must be accompanied by two guards. In previous excursions he made in Aachen and Wurselen, there were no incidents. He was jailed in the JVA Aachen, and authorities there say he requested to take a trip to Cologne because that is where he comes from.

It is reported that one of the guards accompanied him to the restroom. While the convict was in the stall, the guard decided to use the urinal himself. When he turned his back on the stall to use the urinal, the escapee took off through the Brauhaus Fruh, near the Cologne Cathedral. The guards were unable to find him. It is not known if he had any accomplices.
Former Domhof school in Mehlem : Residents complain about vandalism

Mehlem Residents who live in the Mehlem neighborhood of the former Domhof school complain about continuing vandalism and disturbances.

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Ever since vandals broke into the old Domhof school in Mehlem in August of 2015, there have been complaints about noise disturbances and continued vandalism. One resident complained of youth loudly racing their mopeds on the school property and playground.

When she visited the neighboring playground with her daughter, she saw young people spitting out pistachio shells and drinking a bottle of vodka. Another resident asked them to leave but they did not.

Patrols check out the area regularly and police speaker Frank Piontek says This is a topic for us again and again. Vacation periods and weekends are especially problematic. On Saturday night, police were called twice to Friedrich-Bleeck-Strae for noise disturbances and vandalism. At 1:00 a.m., they took identification from persons there and sent them away.

According to Piontek, there are two groups of youth who hang out in the area, and police are investigating if they are responsible for other break ins at the building. Police continue to patrol the area regularly but the situation remains difficult.
Bonn Stanford University Professor and former chief economist of Microsoft to lecture at University of Bonn.

Stanford University Professor Susan Athey will speak about The Internet and the News Media on Friday, January 22 at 5:15 p.m. It is hosted by the Bonn Graduate School of Economics and the Universitatsgesellschaft and will take place at Juridicum, Adenauerallee 24-42 in lecture hall C.

Professor Athey is a professor at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University and was chief economist for Microsoft Corporation. The lecture will be in English and is part of a series sponsored by the Jurgen Manchot Foundation. It is free and open to the public.
kejguv at 21-01-2016 10:23 AM (6 years ago) (m)

Beautiful 25 year old Doyin Sarah Fagbenro who recently completed her First and Second degrees in Law in the UK and relocated to Nigeria after spending most of her life there, died in a fatal accident along Lekki-Epe expressway in Lagos which was caused by a reckless Danfo driver. Her cousin, Ken Davidson, took to his Facebook page to pay her a heartfelt tribute. It's such a sad read. Read after the cut. May her soul rest in peace, Amen. Tribute To A Shining Starlet. Oh death! Where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Another Casualty of a broken and failed State. Your story is particularly Gut Wrenching as it is equally heartbreaking. You spent near enough all but two of your 25 years on earth in the Country of your Birth, the United Kingdom where your Parents and entire family reside. You were born, bred and educated in the United Kingdom. But two years ago, immediately after you graduated, you elected to visit Nigeria where your Grandparents reside - both of whom are in their Mid Eighties.

Beautiful 25 year old Doyin Sarah Fagbenro who recently completed her First and Second degrees in Law in the UK and relocated to Nigeria after spending most of her life there, died in a fatal accident along Lekki-Epe expressway in Lagos which was caused by a reckless Danfo driver. Her cousin, Ken Davidson, took to his Facebook page to pay her a heartfelt tribute. It's such a sad read. Read after the cut. May her soul rest in peace, Amen. Tribute To A Shining Starlet. Oh death! Where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Another Casualty of a broken and failed State. Your story is particularly Gut Wrenching as it is equally heartbreaking. You spent near enough all but two of your 25 years on earth in the Country of your Birth, the United Kingdom where your Parents and entire family reside. You were born, bred and educated in the United Kingdom. But two years ago, immediately after you graduated, you elected to visit Nigeria where your Grandparents reside - both of whom are in their Mid Eighties.

You signed up for the National Youth Service having freshly graduated with a sterling First Degree in Law and a Post Grad immediately afterwards. You were headhunted by an Energy Firm before you completed your NYSC and a presto you gallantly announced to your Nervous Parents - Dad a Diplomat with the United Nations based in Italy and Mum a Pharmacist based in the United Kingdom, your country of Birth - that you were going to permanently relocate and make Nigeria your permanent abode. Your Grandparents were ecstatic, you being their most favourite Grand Daughter.



You were a straight A student right from when you passed your GCSEs through to when you excelled in your A'levels...so much so that Prestigious Queen Mary's London University snapped you to study Law. You missed a First by whisker's. Nevertheless you made your mark all the way through. Then it all came crashing down.

What was supposed to be a routine journey to Church on a relatively sombre, otherwise uneventful Sunday morning on the Lekki/Ajah Expressway around the Lekki Phase 1 approach turned into a living and eternal nightmare for those of us left struggling to pick up the pieces. Our lives changed forever, never to be the same again.

A victim of the reckless and probably high on drinks/drugs 'Danfo' Driver. The most galling of the entire episode was the fact that the driver of that Danfo survived unscathed, RAN away from the scene leaving a trail of Death and Destruction in his wake. Four people died at the scene. Your New Toyota Corolla was a crumpled wreck. But the Fighter that you were, despite massive injuries, you fought and fought and fought.

Your Dad, via his status at the United Nations, got you into Lagoon Hospital where you were for a few days. When it became clear that the extent of your injuries was too severe for the local facilities here in Nigeria, An Air Ambulance was scrambled from the United Kingdom to get you much needed Specialist Care in the United Kingdom. Your tireless mum who flew in from the United Kingdom, barely 48 hours after the accident, accompanied you in the Air Ambulance. Still we Prayed and Prayed and Hoped for the Best.

Sadly We lost you a day after you arrived in the United Kingdom. The Surgeons tried desperately. You fought desperately to hang on. But in the end, it was not to be. The pain is palpably raw as it is numbling. We asked again and again, Why you? Why You? If only you had stayed on in the country of your Birth, If only...so many questions but very few answers. Your Parents, Your Grandparents, Oh! Your Grandma, with whom you celebrated her 80th Birthday over here in Nigeria a few years ago has refused to eat since she was informed of your passing nearly a week ago...All she repeatedly does is wail, wail to space "God Take Me instead, Give My Granddaughter back to Nigeria. Nigeria Needs Her, Her Parents Need her. God Take me. God Take Me.".

These are indeed extremely perilous times. And so it was that having just spent barely a few weeks in Nigeria after a prolonged Winter holiday and Christmas in the United Kingdom with family and friends, I now find myself in the rather unenviable position of scrambling for the next flight out back to the United Kingdom just so that I can attend your Funeral this weekend. Someone retorted to me "Oh, you know, 'our tradition' forbids older relatives attending and being present at funerals where the deceased is much younger than us..." I snapped back, which tradition? And what has tradition ever done for us? What did Tradition ever give to HER?

I am here like a Zombie, mechanically and circuitously packing a few items for my flight out in the morning. The Family has decided that yours would be a Celebratory Sending Forth, so RED rather than the traditional Grey, Black would be the colour to be worn on the Day. DSF as you were very fondly called, you touched so many lives in the quarter century, (twenty five years only!) you ran your race on earth.



You were considerate to the end so much so that you waited until you got back home - nearer your parents and many siblings - before you finally bade the World Farewell. Doyin Sarah Fagbenro, My Learned Friend in the Profession, My lil Sister, My Cousin, Sleep Well till we meet again. O Death! Where is Thy Sting! You signed up for the National Youth Service having freshly graduated with a sterling First Degree in Law and a Post Grad immediately afterwards. You were headhunted by an Energy Firm before you completed your NYSC and a presto you gallantly announced to your Nervous Parents - Dad a Diplomat with the United Nations based in Italy and Mum a Pharmacist based in the United Kingdom, your country of Birth - that you were going to permanently relocate and make Nigeria your permanent abode. Your Grandparents were ecstatic, you being their most favourite Grand Daughter.You were a straight A student right from when you passed your GCSEs through to when you excelled in your A'levels...so much so that Prestigious Queen Mary's London University snapped you to study Law. You missed a First by whisker's. Nevertheless you made your mark all the way through. Then it all came crashing down.What was supposed to be a routine journey to Church on a relatively sombre, otherwise uneventful Sunday morning on the Lekki/Ajah Expressway around the Lekki Phase 1 approach turned into a living and eternal nightmare for those of us left struggling to pick up the pieces. Our lives changed forever, never to be the same again.A victim of the reckless and probably high on drinks/drugs 'Danfo' Driver. The most galling of the entire episode was the fact that the driver of that Danfo survived unscathed, RAN away from the scene leaving a trail of Death and Destruction in his wake. Four people died at the scene. Your New Toyota Corolla was a crumpled wreck. But the Fighter that you were, despite massive injuries, you fought and fought and fought.Your Dad, via his status at the United Nations, got you into Lagoon Hospital where you were for a few days. When it became clear that the extent of your injuries was too severe for the local facilities here in Nigeria, An Air Ambulance was scrambled from the United Kingdom to get you much needed Specialist Care in the United Kingdom. Your tireless mum who flew in from the United Kingdom, barely 48 hours after the accident, accompanied you in the Air Ambulance. Still we Prayed and Prayed and Hoped for the Best.Sadly We lost you a day after you arrived in the United Kingdom. The Surgeons tried desperately. You fought desperately to hang on. But in the end, it was not to be. The pain is palpably raw as it is numbling. We asked again and again, Why you? Why You? If only you had stayed on in the country of your Birth, If only...so many questions but very few answers. Your Parents, Your Grandparents, Oh! Your Grandma, with whom you celebrated her 80th Birthday over here in Nigeria a few years ago has refused to eat since she was informed of your passing nearly a week ago...All she repeatedly does is wail, wail to space "God Take Me instead, Give My Granddaughter back to Nigeria. Nigeria Needs Her, Her Parents Need her. God Take me. God Take Me.".These are indeed extremely perilous times. And so it was that having just spent barely a few weeks in Nigeria after a prolonged Winter holiday and Christmas in the United Kingdom with family and friends, I now find myself in the rather unenviable position of scrambling for the next flight out back to the United Kingdom just so that I can attend your Funeral this weekend. Someone retorted to me "Oh, you know, 'our tradition' forbids older relatives attending and being present at funerals where the deceased is much younger than us..." I snapped back, which tradition? And what has tradition ever done for us? What did Tradition ever give to HER?I am here like a Zombie, mechanically and circuitously packing a few items for my flight out in the morning. The Family has decided that yours would be a Celebratory Sending Forth, so RED rather than the traditional Grey, Black would be the colour to be worn on the Day. DSF as you were very fondly called, you touched so many lives in the quarter century, (twenty five years only!) you ran your race on earth.You were considerate to the end so much so that you waited until you got back home - nearer your parents and many siblings - before you finally bade the World Farewell. Doyin Sarah Fagbenro, My Learned Friend in the Profession, My lil Sister, My Cousin, Sleep Well till we meet again. O Death! Where is Thy Sting!

Post Reply Writing is my passion and facts-proofing is my hobby, I have been writing at Gistmania for close to a decade now and It is one of the most exciting things I do. Outside writing, I love enjoying time with my loved ones - if you have any tip for me, please do get in touch Posted: at 21-01-2016 10:23 AM (6 years ago) | Gistmaniac
kejguv at 21-01-2016 05:04 PM (6 years ago) (m)

Mobile Telecommunications company, MTN, has been fined over $160 million in Cameroon for failing to pay taxes on games and gambling services.

Mobile Telecommunications company, MTN, has been fined over $160 million in Cameroon for failing to pay taxes on games and gambling services. A rigorous probe into the Cameroonian telecommunications sector led to fines totalling about $283 million, and found other companies, such as Viettel in violation of regulations.

In the report written by the anti corruption commission, known as CONAC, MTN was also accused of not paying taxes on its money transfer system, known as Mobile Money.

This is another blow for MTN, which is already contesting a $3.9 billion fine in Nigeria for failing to disconnect users with unregistered SIM cards amongst other alleged impropriety.

Unregistered SIM cards can be used for criminal activities, and this is a major concern for Nigeria as the threat of militant Islamist group Boko Haram, although largely defeated continues to loom.

Nigerias President Muhammad Buhari speaking at an interactive forum with members of the Nigerian Community in Abu Dhabi, said that the war against terrorism can only be won with collective effort and a commitment by all stakeholders to work in unison to halt the scourge.

Remarking that the registration of all mobile phone users without exception will help the security agencies to pre-empt terrorist attacks, the President said that telecommunication companies operating in Nigeria must adhere to the rules and guidelines of the Nigerian Communications Commission in this regard. A rigorous probe into the Cameroonian telecommunications sector led to fines totalling about $283 million, and found other companies, such as Viettel in violation of regulations.In the report written by the anti corruption commission, known as CONAC, MTN was also accused of not paying taxes on its money transfer system, known as Mobile Money.This is another blow for MTN, which is already contesting a $3.9 billion fine in Nigeria for failing to disconnect users with unregistered SIM cards amongst other alleged impropriety.Unregistered SIM cards can be used for criminal activities, and this is a major concern for Nigeria as the threat of militant Islamist group Boko Haram, although largely defeated continues to loom.Nigerias President Muhammad Buhari speaking at an interactive forum with members of the Nigerian Community in Abu Dhabi, said that the war against terrorism can only be won with collective effort and a commitment by all stakeholders to work in unison to halt the scourge.Remarking that the registration of all mobile phone users without exception will help the security agencies to pre-empt terrorist attacks, the President said that telecommunication companies operating in Nigeria must adhere to the rules and guidelines of the Nigerian Communications Commission in this regard.

Post Reply Writing is my passion and facts-proofing is my hobby, I have been writing at Gistmania for close to a decade now and It is one of the most exciting things I do. Outside writing, I love enjoying time with my loved ones - if you have any tip for me, please do get in touch Posted: at 21-01-2016 05:04 PM (6 years ago) | Gistmaniac
Kenyan Woman Beaten To Pulp By Her Husband For Not Answering His Phone Calls

nametalkam at 21-01-2016 05:17 PM (6 years ago) (m)

A woman in Kawangware, Nairobi was left without a tooth and broken arm after her ex-husband beat her up. Lydia Nyanchama, a private school teacher said Stephen Omondi, a mechanic based in Westlands, on Sunday, January 17, beat her for not answering his phone calls.





In an interview, she narrated the cause of her action :



I had gone for an outing in Dagorettion Saturday when he called but I did not not answer because he chased me from his house in 2014 without a clear reason, Nyanchama said.



A woman who teaches at Light of God school, a school close to her house, said she found Omondi waiting outside her house when she returned the following morning, that after beating her, he threatened to return and kill her.

Nyanchama said she went to Mercy mission hospital in Kawangware for treatment and reported the assault at Muthangari police station. She was given a P3 form but has asked police to quicken investigations and arrest the man as she fears for her life.

Omondi accepted the accusation saying he beat Nyanchama because he supports their child yet found her in a pub with another man.



Source: @TheStarKenya



In an interview, she narrated the cause of her action :I had gone for an outing in Dagorettion Saturday when he called but I did not not answer because he chased me from his house in 2014 without a clear reason, Nyanchama said.A woman who teaches at Light of God school, a school close to her house, said she found Omondi waiting outside her house when she returned the following morning, that after beating her, he threatened to return and kill her.Nyanchama said she went to Mercy mission hospital in Kawangware for treatment and reported the assault at Muthangari police station. She was given a P3 form but has asked police to quicken investigations and arrest the man as she fears for her life.Omondi accepted the accusation saying he beat Nyanchama because he supports their child yet found her in a pub with another man.Source: @TheStarKenya

Post Reply I specialize in investigative reportage across several subject matter and sectors but mainly focus on metro events and investigation. Do leave your thoughts and opinion on my reports to let me know what you think about them. Thank you Posted: at 21-01-2016 05:17 PM (6 years ago) | Addicted Hero

gogoman at 21-01-2016 05:35 PM (6 years ago)

(m) Kenyan man always beat their wife/girlfriend to pulp or what ever u call it Posted: at 21-01-2016 05:35 PM (6 years ago) | Addicted Hero Kenyan man always beat their wife/girlfriend to pulp or what ever u call it Reply

kp45 at 21-01-2016 05:41 PM (6 years ago)

(m) Oga you dey wicked o Posted: at 21-01-2016 05:41 PM (6 years ago) | Hero Oga you dey wicked o Reply

emma4love3 at 21-01-2016 07:51 PM (6 years ago)

(m) hehehehehe....... see her face ooooh.

this one nah black abd blue beat....oooo Posted: at 21-01-2016 07:51 PM (6 years ago) | Hero hehehehehe....... see her face ooooh.this one nah black abd blue beat....oooo Reply

SOGaiya at 21-01-2016 07:53 PM (6 years ago)

(m) Wat a man of no conscience Posted: at 21-01-2016 07:53 PM (6 years ago) | Gistmaniac Wat a man of no conscience Reply

nwaafoigbo at 21-01-2016 07:53 PM (6 years ago)

(m) how i wish Posted: at 21-01-2016 07:53 PM (6 years ago) | Upcoming how i wish Reply

Oworen25 at 21-01-2016 08:20 PM (6 years ago)

(m) This native East African man are too rough when it comes to relationship they don't know how to Handel their women Posted: at 21-01-2016 08:20 PM (6 years ago) | Hero This native East African man are too rough when it comes to relationship they don't know how to Handel their women Reply

PaskyWosky at 21-01-2016 09:57 PM (6 years ago)

(m) omo see aggression o, Posted: at 21-01-2016 09:57 PM (6 years ago) | Upcoming omo see aggression o, Reply

Ennyolalekan at 21-01-2016 10:12 PM (6 years ago)

(m) only In Kenya Posted: at 21-01-2016 10:12 PM (6 years ago) | Gistmaniac only In Kenya Reply

DAMILARE100 at 21-01-2016 10:39 PM (6 years ago)

(m) Why you self no pick you hubby calls? It's really annoying sometimes but no matter what the man shouldn't have done that Posted: at 21-01-2016 10:39 PM (6 years ago) | Gistmaniac Why you self no pick you hubby calls? It's really annoying sometimes but no matter what the man shouldn't have done that Reply

crocatum at 21-01-2016 11:45 PM (6 years ago)

(m) Reminds me of a case here in nigeria, where the husbands beating nearly made the woman to lose her eye sight, even if you want to beat y oiur wife, yiu do not hit the head, eyes or stomach and you do not punch or box her like in the rig. Posted: at 21-01-2016 11:45 PM (6 years ago) | Gistmaniac Reminds me of a case here in nigeria, where the husbands beating nearly made the woman to lose her eye sight, even if you want to beat y oiur wife, yiu do not hit the head, eyes or stomach and you do not punch or box her like in the rig. Reply

crocatum at 21-01-2016 11:51 PM (6 years ago)

(m) By the way, i forget to mention how the nigerian womans eye balls nearly dropped out, but thanks to our doctors, who pretend to care, they were able to stitch the eyeballs into te socket. Posted: at 21-01-2016 11:51 PM (6 years ago) | Gistmaniac By the way, i forget to mention how the nigerian womans eye balls nearly dropped out, but thanks to our doctors, who pretend to care, they were able to stitch the eyeballs into te socket. Reply

akinmanchy at 22-01-2016 06:59 AM (6 years ago)

(m) I hope that monkey spend quality time in prison Life na jeje so just try to take am softly Posted: at 22-01-2016 06:59 AM (6 years ago) | Hero I hope that monkey spend quality time in prison Reply

bebmigared at 22-01-2016 08:25 AM (6 years ago)

(m) This guy is a disgrace to manhood Posted: at 22-01-2016 08:25 AM (6 years ago) | Upcoming This guy is a disgrace to manhood Reply

Trueyarn at 22-01-2016 09:37 AM (6 years ago)

(m) Beast in human skin,I don't know why some men choose to behave like animals. why on earth will u raise ur hand on a lady? Posted: at 22-01-2016 09:37 AM (6 years ago) | Hero Beast in human skin,I don't know why some men choose to behave like animals. why on earth will u raise ur hand on a lady? Reply

AmazingMarie at 22-01-2016 10:05 AM (6 years ago)

(f) violent man Posted: at 22-01-2016 10:05 AM (6 years ago) | Hero violent man Reply

AmazingMarie at 22-01-2016 10:05 AM (6 years ago)

(f) violent man Posted: at 22-01-2016 10:05 AM (6 years ago) | Hero violent man Reply

princedafe at 22-01-2016 01:31 PM (6 years ago)

(m) Another senseless post Posted: at 22-01-2016 01:31 PM (6 years ago) | Gistmaniac Another senseless post Reply

Novic at 23-01-2016 08:11 PM (6 years ago)

(m) Reminds me of a case here in

nigeria, where the husbands

beating nearly made the woman to

lose her eye sight, even if you

want to beat y oiur wife, yiu do not

hit the head, eyes or stomach and you do not punch or box her like in

the rig. Posted: at 23-01-2016 08:11 PM (6 years ago) | Hero Reminds me of a case here innigeria, where the husbandsbeating nearly made the woman tolose her eye sight, even if youwant to beat y oiur wife, yiu do nothit the head, eyes or stomach and you do not punch or box her like inthe rig. Reply
bohlah at 21-01-2016 08:06 PM (6 years ago) (m)

Ken Davidson is shattered and that is because his 25-year-old cousin, Doyin Sarah Fagbenro, who just finished two law degrees in the UK has been killed in Lagos by a danfo driver. See the moving tribute he wrote for her:

DSF: Tribute To A Shining Starlet. Oh death! Where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Another Casualty of a broken and failed State. Your story is particularly Gut Wrenching as it is equally heartbreaking.

Ken Davidson is shattered and that is because his 25-year-old cousin, Doyin Sarah Fagbenro, who just finished two law degrees in the UK has been killed in Lagos by a danfo driver. See the moving tribute he wrote for her:DSF: Tribute To A Shining Starlet. Oh death! Where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Another Casualty of a broken and failed State. Your story is particularly Gut Wrenching as it is equally heartbreaking.

You spent near enough all but two of your 25 years on earth in the Country of your Birth, the United Kingdom where your Parents and entire family reside. You were born, bred and educated in the United Kingdom. But two years ago, immediately after you graduated, you elected to visit Nigeria where your Grandparents reside  both of whom are in their Mid Eighties.



You signed up for the National Youth Service having freshly graduated with a sterling First Degree in Law and a Post Grad immediately afterwards. You were headhunted by an Energy Firm before you completed your NYSC and a presto you gallantly announced to your Nervous Parents  Dad a Diplomat with the United Nations based in Italy and Mum a Pharmacist based in the United Kingdom, your country of Birth  that you were going to permanently relocate and make Nigeria your permanent abode. Your Grandparents were ecstatic, you being their most favourite Grand Daughter.



You were a straight A student right from when you passed your GCSEs through to when you excelled in your Alevelsso much so that Prestigious Queen Marys London University snapped you to study Law. You missed a First by whiskers. Nevertheless you made your mark all the way through. Then it all came crashing down.



What was supposed to be a routine journey to Church on a relatively sombre, otherwise uneventful Sunday morning on the Lekki/Ajah Expressway around the Lekki Phase 1 approach turned into a living and eternal nightmare for those of us left struggling to pick up the pieces. Our lives changed forever, never to be the same again.



A victim of the reckless and probably high on drinks/drugs Danfo Driver. The most galling of the entire episode was the fact that the driver of that Danfo survived unscathed, RAN away from the scene leaving a trail of Death and Destruction in his wake. Four people died at the scene. Your New Toyota Corolla was a crumpled wreck. But the Fighter that you were, despite massive injuries, you fought and fought and fought.



Your Dad, via his status at the United Nations, got you into Lagoon Hospital where you were for a few days. When it became clear that the extent of your injuries was too severe for the local facilities here in Nigeria, An Air Ambulance was scrambled from the United Kingdom to get you much needed Specialist Care in the United Kingdom. Your tireless mum who flew in from the United Kingdom, barely 48 hours after the accident, accompanied you in the Air Ambulance. Still we Prayed and Prayed and Hoped for the Best.



Sadly We lost you a day after you arrived in the United Kingdom. The Surgeons tried desperately. You fought desperately to hang on. But in the end, it was not to be. The pain is palpably raw as it is numbling. We asked again and again, Why you? Why You? If only you had stayed on in the country of your Birth, If onlyso many questions but very few answers. Your Parents, Your Grandparents, Oh! Your Grandma, with whom you celebrated her 80th Birthday over here in Nigeria a few years ago has refused to eat since she was informed of your passing nearly a week agoAll she repeatedly does is wail, wail to space God Take Me instead, Give My Granddaughter back to Nigeria. Nigeria Needs Her, Her Parents Need her. God Take me. God Take Me..



These are indeed extremely perilous times. And so it was that having just spent barely a few weeks in Nigeria after a prolonged Winter holiday and Christmas in the United Kingdom with family and friends, I now find myself in the rather unenviable position of scrambling for the next flight out back to the United Kingdom just so that I can attend your Funeral this weekend. Someone retorted to me Oh, you know, our tradition forbids older relatives attending and being present at funerals where the deceased is much younger than us I snapped back, which tradition? And what has tradition ever done for us? What did Tradition ever give to HER?



I am here like a Zombie, mechanically and circuitously packing a few items for my flight out in the morning. The Family has decided that yours would be a Celebratory Sending Forth, so RED rather than the traditional Grey, Black would be the colour to be worn on the Day. DSF as you were very fondly called, you touched so many lives in the quarter century, (twenty five years only!) you ran your race on earth.



You were considerate to the end so much so that you waited until you got back home  nearer your parents and many siblings  before you finally bade the World Farewell. Doyin Sarah Fagbenro, My Learned Friend in the Profession, My lil Sister, My Cousin, Sleep Well till we meet again. O Death! Where is Thy Sting!



(Doyin Sarah Fagbenro, 1990  2016)





For more scintillating and juicy stories, follow the official Naijapals accounts On Twitter - https://twitter.com/Naijapals and Facebook - www.facebook.com/naijapals You spent near enough all but two of your 25 years on earth in the Country of your Birth, the United Kingdom where your Parents and entire family reside. You were born, bred and educated in the United Kingdom. But two years ago, immediately after you graduated, you elected to visit Nigeria where your Grandparents reside  both of whom are in their Mid Eighties.You signed up for the National Youth Service having freshly graduated with a sterling First Degree in Law and a Post Grad immediately afterwards. You were headhunted by an Energy Firm before you completed your NYSC and a presto you gallantly announced to your Nervous Parents  Dad a Diplomat with the United Nations based in Italy and Mum a Pharmacist based in the United Kingdom, your country of Birth  that you were going to permanently relocate and make Nigeria your permanent abode. Your Grandparents were ecstatic, you being their most favourite Grand Daughter.You were a straight A student right from when you passed your GCSEs through to when you excelled in your Alevelsso much so that Prestigious Queen Marys London University snapped you to study Law. You missed a First by whiskers. Nevertheless you made your mark all the way through. Then it all came crashing down.What was supposed to be a routine journey to Church on a relatively sombre, otherwise uneventful Sunday morning on the Lekki/Ajah Expressway around the Lekki Phase 1 approach turned into a living and eternal nightmare for those of us left struggling to pick up the pieces. Our lives changed forever, never to be the same again.A victim of the reckless and probably high on drinks/drugs Danfo Driver. The most galling of the entire episode was the fact that the driver of that Danfo survived unscathed, RAN away from the scene leaving a trail of Death and Destruction in his wake. Four people died at the scene. Your New Toyota Corolla was a crumpled wreck. But the Fighter that you were, despite massive injuries, you fought and fought and fought.Your Dad, via his status at the United Nations, got you into Lagoon Hospital where you were for a few days. When it became clear that the extent of your injuries was too severe for the local facilities here in Nigeria, An Air Ambulance was scrambled from the United Kingdom to get you much needed Specialist Care in the United Kingdom. Your tireless mum who flew in from the United Kingdom, barely 48 hours after the accident, accompanied you in the Air Ambulance. Still we Prayed and Prayed and Hoped for the Best.Sadly We lost you a day after you arrived in the United Kingdom. The Surgeons tried desperately. You fought desperately to hang on. But in the end, it was not to be. The pain is palpably raw as it is numbling. We asked again and again, Why you? Why You? If only you had stayed on in the country of your Birth, If onlyso many questions but very few answers. Your Parents, Your Grandparents, Oh! Your Grandma, with whom you celebrated her 80th Birthday over here in Nigeria a few years ago has refused to eat since she was informed of your passing nearly a week agoAll she repeatedly does is wail, wail to space God Take Me instead, Give My Granddaughter back to Nigeria. Nigeria Needs Her, Her Parents Need her. God Take me. God Take Me..These are indeed extremely perilous times. And so it was that having just spent barely a few weeks in Nigeria after a prolonged Winter holiday and Christmas in the United Kingdom with family and friends, I now find myself in the rather unenviable position of scrambling for the next flight out back to the United Kingdom just so that I can attend your Funeral this weekend. Someone retorted to me Oh, you know, our tradition forbids older relatives attending and being present at funerals where the deceased is much younger than us I snapped back, which tradition? And what has tradition ever done for us? What did Tradition ever give to HER?I am here like a Zombie, mechanically and circuitously packing a few items for my flight out in the morning. The Family has decided that yours would be a Celebratory Sending Forth, so RED rather than the traditional Grey, Black would be the colour to be worn on the Day. DSF as you were very fondly called, you touched so many lives in the quarter century, (twenty five years only!) you ran your race on earth.You were considerate to the end so much so that you waited until you got back home  nearer your parents and many siblings  before you finally bade the World Farewell. Doyin Sarah Fagbenro, My Learned Friend in the Profession, My lil Sister, My Cousin, Sleep Well till we meet again. O Death! Where is Thy Sting!(Doyin Sarah Fagbenro, 1990  2016)

Post Reply I have been reporting on latest news from Nigeria for almost 10 years now. I report on every possible news area I come across, but always ensure my reports are compiled with dignity and fact to uphold my personal values and duty as a journalist Posted: at 21-01-2016 08:06 PM (6 years ago) | Addicted Hero
Apple seeks DIPP nod to open single brand stores, e-commerce News oi -GizBot Bureau

Apple, the maker of iPad and iPhone, has sought permission from the government to open single brand retail stores and also enter the e-commerce business in the country. In this context, Apple India Pvt Ltd has sent an application to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP).

The DIPP is expected to seek some more information about the proposal, sources said. "The company has sought permission for single brand retailing and sell its product online also," they said adding Apple has not mentioned the amount of investment and number of stores it wants to open.

SEE ALSO: Apple Watch 2 Launch Delayed: Is It Worth Waiting?

However, an e-mail query sent to Apple remained unanswered. The development comes after the government relaxed the foreign direct investment (FDI) policy for single brand retailing.

The government may also relax sourcing norms for entities undertaking single brand retailing of products having 'state-of-the-art' and 'cutting edge' technology and where local sourcing is not possible. Single brand retailers are also allowed to take e-commerce route for such trading.

At present, 100 per cent FDI is permitted in the sector. But beyond 49 per cent, permission of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) is required.

SEE ALSO: Motorola Confirms Moto X Force Launch In India: Top 10 Features Of The Smartphone

The company sells its products through Apple-owned retail stores in countries including China, Germany, the US, the UK and France. It has no wholly-owned store in India and sells its products through distributors such as Redington and Ingram Micro.

Source PTI

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Apple wins US ban on older model Samsung smartphones News oi -GizBot Bureau

Apple today had a new victory in a long-running patent lawsuit -- a court-ordered ban on older-model Samsung smartphones.

An injunction issued by US District Court Judge Lucy Koh in the heart of Silicon Valley was to take effect next month and targeted Samsung smartphones that were essentially no longer hawked in this country.

SEE ALSO: 10 Best Online Deals on Samsung Galaxy Note5

"We would like to reassure our millions of loyal customers that all of our flagship smartphones, which are used and loved by American consumers, will remain for sale and available for customer service support in the US," Samsung said in a statement posted online.

"We are very disappointed that Apple has been granted an injunction on select Samsung legacy mobile phones." Koh's ruling on Monday stemmed from a trial at which Samsung was found to have infringed on patented Apple technology for automatically correcting typed words and for sliding a finger across a scree to unlock a device.

Samsung devices targeted at the trial included an array of Galaxy, Stratosphere, Nexus and Admire models from prior generations. The judge concluded that a permanent injunction was warranted because Apple would suffer "irreparable harm" if Samsung continued using the patent features at issue in the trial, and that money damages would not be sufficient compensation.

Koh also barred Samsung from sale or development in the US of software that would implement the features deemed to have been infringed on during the patent litigation.

"While this will not impact American consumers, it is another example of Apple abusing the judicial system to create bad legal precedent which can harm consumer choice for generations to come," Samsung said.

SEE ALSO: LeEco Launches Le 1s with Helio X10 CPU, Fingerprint Sensor For Rs 10,999

Apple and Samsung have established themselves as "fierce competitors" in the smartphone market and this lawsuit, filed by the California-based iPhone maker in early 2012, is "but one action in a worldwide constellation of litigation" between the companies, Koh said in her ruling.

Source PTI

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Motorola will soon rollout Marshmallow update for Moto G 2nd Gen News oi -Sudhiir

Motorola rolled out the Android 6.0 Marshmallow update for the Moto X Style in India in November last year. The Moto X Play got the update earlier this month soon after which an Android 6.0 Marshmallow update for the Moto G 3rd Gen followed.

SEE ALSO: Titan launches Juxt smartwatch in partnership with HP

Motorola has now launched Android 6.0 update release notes for the Moto G 2nd Gen on Motorola India support site. We can soon expect to see a roll out for Motorola 2nd Gen handsets soon.

The Motorola Mot G 2nd Gen got the Android 5.0 Lollipop update back in January last year in India. There were other patches for the phone last year to fix a some security patches in September last year. However, the Motorola gave its Moto G 2nd Gen a miss to the Android 5.1 Lollipop update.Now, the Smartphone will directly get the Android 6.0 update.

The Motorola Moto G (2nd Gen) has a 5-inch HD screen, front-facing speakers, 8MP rear camera. It has a 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400 processor and 1GB RAM. It also has an expandable memory compared to its predecessor, the Moto G (Gen 1) which has only has inbuilt storage. It is backed by a 2,070mAh battery and regular connectivity options.

SEE ALSO: Lenovo Sells 60,000 units of K4 Note in first flash sale

Marshmallow update for the Moto G 2nd Gen will roll out in phases.

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Xiaomi Mi 5 Design leaked in new Images show home button News oi -Sudhiir

The much anticipated Xiaomi Mi 5 smartphone has been spotted in leaked image has been posted on Weibo. The leaked images show a sleek design phone with the front panel curving towards the sides of the handset. This is similar to what is seen in the Galaxy S6 Edge and the Galaxy S6 Edge+ smartphones, where the display does not seem to be curved.

SEE ALSO: Motorola will soon rollout Marshmallow update for Moto G 2nd Gen

News Fantasia has posted an image of the Mi 5 on Weibo. The image shows the Mi 5 sporting a home button. There is a home button on the Mi 5 along with what looks like an infrared emitter on the top with a headphone slot. The smartphone design tipped in the leaked image falls in line with the previously leaked render images of the handset.

Recently, Xiaomi's co-founder confirmed that the Xiaomi Mi 5 will launch after the Spring Festival of China which starts in February 8 and lasts for 15 days.He also said that the Mi 5 will go on sale a week after it is launched after the Spring festival.

SEE ALSO: Titan launches Juxt smartwatch in partnership with HP

The Mi5 will feature a 5.2-inch display with either a FHD or a QHD display. The Xiaomi is rumored to sport a 16MP rear camera and a 13MP camera on the front for selfies. The handset will come in two variants - a 32GB storage variant with 3GB of RAM and a 64GB storage variant that has a 4GB RAM. The handset is said to run an Android 6.0 Marshmallow based MIUI 7. The Mi5 is likely to be backed by a powerful 3600mAh battery with Quick Charge 3.0 tech.It is also tipped to have a fingerprint scanner and a metal body.

Xiaomi Mi5 is a highly anticipated device from the company and it will be a flagship smartphone. The company had shipped over 70 million phones in 2015, way below expectations.

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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.
UK Judge to Release Findings on Death of Ex-KGB Agent

by Smita Nordwall January 20, 2016

The mystery of the poisoning death of ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko may be solved Thursday, when a British judge releases the findings of his inquiry.

Litvinenko died nearly 10 years ago after he was allegedly poisoned by a cup of tea laced with polonium-210 - a rare radioactive isotope. From his death bed, he accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of ordering his assassination.

The former Russian intelligence officer had become an outspoken critic of Putin before fleeing Russia and eventually settling in London.

Moscow has always denied any involvement in his death and has dismissed the inquiry as politically motivated.

British judge Robert Owen will release the long-awaited findings, and he is likely to point a finger of blame at the Russian state.

British police have accused Dmitry Kovtun and Andrei Lugovoi, the two Russian former KGB agents Litvinenko met for tea, of carrying out the killing. They confirmed meeting with Litvinenko in London on several occasions, including at the time of the suspected poisoning, but deny any involvement in his death. Russia has refused to extradite them.

If the report links the crime to Putin, it could worsen Britain's relations with Russia, which are already strained..

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Dunford to Emphasize Enduring Afghanistan Effort in NATO Meeting

By Lisa Ferdinando DoD News, Defense Media Activity

BRUSSELS, January 20, 2016  The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said today that he will tell his NATO counterparts there is opportunity in Afghanistan, but it will take time and continued focus.

Marine Corps Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr. is here to attend the NATO Military Committee/Chiefs of Staff meeting tomorrow.

'No. 1, I'm going to tell them that there's still work to be done and the Afghans need our support,' Dunford said.

In an interview with reporters traveling with him, the chairman said discussions at the conference also will cover broader strategic issues associated with the alliance.

Those issues, he said, include Russia, NATO's southern flank, mass migration in Europe, and the fight against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

Endurance, Continued Focus

The fighting season of 2015 in Afghanistan was difficult, but the Afghan forces persevered, Dunford said, despite having the support of far fewer international troops compared to previous years.

'What's important is that we take a look at the lessons that we learned from 2015 and we apply those in 2016,' he said. International efforts need to enhance capability gaps of the Afghans forces, including in aviation, he added.

'My perspective is that we ought to view our efforts in Afghanistan as an enduring effort,' said Dunford, who was the commander of the International Security Assistance Force and of U.S. forces in Afghanistan from February 2013 to August 2014.

Many things still can be done to enable the Afghans to be successful and help them develop the capabilities, the general said. 'It's not only important for Afghanistan, but it's important for our broader counter-terrorism efforts in the region,' he told reporters.

NATO's July summit in Poland will be very important, Dunford said, because funding the Afghan security forces through 2020 will be addressed.

'There's opportunity, but it's going to require endurance," he said. "It's going to require continued focus.'

'Decisive Action' Needed in Libya

A topic of discussion at NATO, Dunford said, will be the counter-ISIL fight -- not only core ISIL in Syria and Iraq, but also its expansion into Libya.

'We see the growth of ISIL in Libya," he said, "and our assessment is that decisive action must be taken.' Though it is premature to talk about a framework for a military campaign, he added, 'I do believe that unchecked, ISIL will continue to expand.'

The chairman said he will pose the question on what the best approach to take would be. That strategy, he said, might involve NATO or it might involve some other organizational construct.

Now that a legitimate government in Libya has been identified, Dunford said, the political track and the military campaign to deal with ISIL in Libya have to be integrated.

'We need to take decisive action against ISIL to prevent their expansion and roll them back, and we're looking at the best way to do that in the context of the political process,' he said.

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Carter Meets With Le Drian, Other Anti-ISIL Partners in Paris

By Cheryl Pellerin DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, January 20, 2016  Defense Secretary Ash Carter is in Paris to meet with his French counterpart and to attend a defense ministerial, which will be the first face-to-face meeting of representatives from all seven countries providing major contributions to the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.

The secretary met with French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and tomorrow will attend the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

While in Davos, Carter said he would speak with important leaders on topics that include the counter-ISIL campaign.

"This morning it was my solemn honor to place a wreath at the Place de La Republique in memory of the victims of the November attacks," Carter said in remarks prepared for a press conference in Paris today with Le Drian.

"I know I speak for every man and woman in the U.S. armed forces when I say that we will always stand by the people of France, our oldest ally," the secretary added.

Crushing ISIL

Carter said that he and Le Drian were on the phone hours after the Nov. 13 attacks on Paris, coordinating a crushing response against ISIL in Raqqa, enhancing intelligence sharing and discussing the coalition's next steps.

"Long before that day," the secretary said, "Minister Le Drian and I met at the Pentagon to discuss ways to accelerate our campaign against ISIL. His incisive observations and strong resolve played a critical role in refining our military campaign plan against ISIL."

The campaign's objectives, Carter said, are to destroy ISIL's headquarters in Iraq and Syria, combat ISIL elements worldwide and protect the U.S. homeland from attacks by the terrorist group.

To do this, the coalition is enabling local, motivated forces wherever ISIL has spread as the only viable way of defeating ISIL and sustaining its defeat, he added.

"We're doing this by providing a plan, clear leadership and the power of a global coalition wielding a suite of capabilities [that include] airstrikes, special forces, cyber tools, intelligence, equipment, mobility and logistics, and training, advice and assistance, Carter said.

Strong Contributions

This plan accelerates the U.S. effort to defeat ISIL, and today Carter said he discussed the plan with coalition partners who are already making strong contributions to the fight.

The defense ministerial -- held this morning and co-hosted by France and the United States -- offered a chance to align coalition partner views on capabilities needed to prosecute the military and nonmilitary campaigns, the secretary said.

Defense ministers from Australia, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States attended the meeting.

"We agreed that we all must do more, and I believe today's discussion has given every minister the opportunity to discuss with their governments what else they can bring to the table and how they can better align their efforts with our common goals and strategy," he added.

Joint Statement

In a joint statement released after the meeting, the ministers reaffirmed their governments' commitment to work together with the entire counter-ISIL coalition to accelerate and intensify the campaign against ISIL to deliver a lasting defeat.

"We expressed our broad support for the campaign plan objectives and the need to continue gathering momentum in our campaign as it moves into its next phase targeting [ISIL's] vulnerabilities," the ministers wrote.

They also discussed military campaign requirements to expand efforts against ISIL and committed to work together with other military and non-military contributors to fill these requirements, and they agreed to review regularly the coalition's campaign plan and the progress in its implementation, according to the statement.

Carter said he would take the results of the ministerial directly to President Barack Obama when he returns home.

Brussels Ministerial

In three weeks, the first meeting of defense ministers from all 26 counter-ISIL military coalition nations plus Iraq will convene in Brussels to discuss other opportunities to hasten ISIL's lasting defeat, he added.

"Every nation must come prepared to discuss further contributions to the fight," Carter said, "and I will not hesitate to engage and challenge current and prospective members of the coalition as we go forward."

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U.S. Department of Defense

Press Operations

News Transcript

Presenter: Colonel Steve Warren, Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman January 20, 2016

Department of Defense Press Briefing by Col. Warren via teleconference from Baghdad, Iraq

CAPTAIN JEFF DAVIS: All right, there he is. Steve, you can see -- hear us, at the very least?

COLONEL STEVE WARREN: I can hear you loud and clear. How do you hear me?

CAPT. DAVIS: All right. Again, apologies, everybody, for all the schedule changes and technical problems this morning.

Steve, if you're ready, we are ready for you. Over to you.

COL. WARREN: I'm ready. Thank you very much, Jeff. I appreciate it.

Sorry. Press Corps, it's great to be back with you, after taking a week off yesterday to brief your colleagues at the United States State Department.

That was a fun briefing, but it's good to be back home. You can see, we've got a new setup here. We're late because Sergeant First Class Gascott and his trusty side-kick Sergeant Sale spent the last hour rebuilding this studio from the ground up.

So, good work, men. Thank you.

So, I'm glad we're back together. It has been too long.

All right, so I want to give you a briefing on two things today. I'm going to give you a by-the-numbers update that we haven't done in a while, and then I'm going to go through a quick operational update, and then we'll finish up with questions, here.

So, here we go. By the numbers. As of 15 December, the total cost of the operation here in Iraq and Syria thus far has been $5.53 billion. That works out to $11 million per day. So far in the air campaign, we have flown 65,492 sorties, and we have conducted 9,782 airstrikes.

That breaks down to 6,516 in Iraq, and 3,266 strikes in Syria.

Since the beginning of May, coalition strikes have killed approximately 95 senior and mid-level ISIL leaders. We have provided basic combat training for 16,715 personnel, and we have put thousands more through various specialized training programs.

And so, talking about training, I brought a training video with me. So, DVIDS, please roll the training video. And then you'll have to tell me when it's over.

(VIDEO PRESENTATION)

COL. WARREN: So, that's an example of some of the training that we're doing here. And now, I'd like to move to the operational update.

So, Jeff or Tom, please bring up the operational map. On your map in Ramadi, which is star, one, CTS forces, along with the 8th Division continued the deliberate clearance of that city. The Anbar police are providing security at the government center and in other key locations.

The ISF have encountered thousands of IEDs across the entire city. We estimate coalition strikes have killed several thousand enemy fighters, and the Iraqi Security Forces have helped rescue more than 3,600 civilians who have been trapped by ISIL.

Moving on to Western Anbar province, around star number five, over the past few days, there have been several gun fights following last week's route of ISIL near Barwanah.

Additionally, coalition forces struck several targets there, including tunnels and two factories. One for VBIEDs and one for IEDs.

Moving on to Syria and the Mara line, which is off the map to the west, on the left-hand side of the screen there. Star number seven, vetted Syrian opposition forces retook several villages as a result of recent offensive operations.

That's star, eight right next to it, the Tishrin Dam, Syrian Democratic Forces continue to hold the dam, despite repeated ISIL attacks.

In Mosul -- which is circle number one, so now we're back over to the right-hand side of the map -- since last Wednesday, the coalition has conducted 47 airstrikes. On Monday, we conducted a deliberate strike against another ISIL cash collection point. This was the second strike in Mosul in as many weeks against ISIL financial targets. We've previously struck eight other cash storage and distribution areas across Iraq and Syria.

We've got a nice video of that one too, which I'd like to show you. So DVIDS, please roll the second video.

(VIDEO PRESENTATION)

COL. WARREN: Finally, before we move on to your questions, I'd briefing address the three American citizens who recently went missing here in Baghdad. The Department of State is in the lead on this. They are working with the Iraqi government. And that's all the information I have on that topic.

So having closed out the number one thing you want to ask about, I will not take your questions. And my understanding is that Bob and Lita are both out. Sagar ?, are you there? Or if not, Jeff? Linda Who's next?

CAPT. DAVIS: Watkins from -- (inaudible) -- Press.

Q: Hi, colonel. Amnesty had a report today that detailed the systematic destruction by Kurdish forces of thousands of Arab homes in northern Iraq and the forced displacement of thousands of residents. Did -- did the -- my question is did the coalition know that the Kurds were doing this? If not, why not? And are you taking any steps to prevent this happening in the future? Is this going to affect U.S. cooperation with your Kurdish partners in the region?

COL. WARREN: Yeah, sure. Well, you know, the report has just come out. We're still reviewing it in detail, so I'm not going to comment on any of the particular findings, but I can tell you that we take these issues very, very seriously. This is a serious matter.

You know, as government forces liberate territory throughout -- whether it's in Iraq or -- or in Syria, there's got to be security for all of the civilian population there. That's what we're here for, in order to prevent these types of actions and -- and to prevent those with power from taking advantage of those without, whether it's for crime, for revenge, for vendettas, whatever the case may be.

These types of actions, if left unchecked, ultimately hurt the fight against Daesh. They increase the humanitarian crisis and they undermine the reconciliation efforts.

You know, we certainly believe that all parties in these types of conflicts should adhere to the laws of armed conflict, the law of land warfare. And should violations take place, then we expect the appropriate people to be held accountable.

This is something that, of course, we're always in contact with the Iraqi government. We're in contact with the Kurdish regional authorities, and our position is very clear on that.

Q: I know you don't want to get into any specifics. It sounds like you're sort of broadly aware of -- well, you're aware of the report. I just wondered, have you -- have you received any -- are you -- are you aware of any, like, particular allegations? And if you could just come back to -- if this turns out to be substantiated, would it affect your partnership with the Kurds?

COL. WARREN: Well, you know, again, we, you know, we have a very small footprint here, right? So we don't have people necessarily in all of these locations. You know, I'm not going to get into how allegations will affect relationships. That's really a question more for Washington. You know, our focus here is to -- is to conduct this fight against ISIL. So that's -- that's really where we live.

You know, that's -- you know, relationships are a diplomatic matter. That's kind of where you have to speak to the State Department. Our focus here is the military component of this operation, is to -- is to find, fix and finish our enemy and that's what we're doing.

(CROSSTALK)

Q: Colonel Warren, local reporting in Syria is saying that two U.S. hovercrafts have provided ammunition and weapons to Kurdish fighters in the region of Hasakah. Could you confirm that?

COL. WARREN: I don't know of any hovercraft that we have operating. So I can't confirm that. What I'll tell you is that, as you know, we have conducted a resupply of the Syrian-Arab Coalition. We refer to them as the SAC. We have resupplied that outfit with aerial resupply several months ago. And then I think we were clear that we would continue conducting resupply to the SAC.

So, I don't know about any hovercraft, though.

Q: Well, are you aware of any -- if -- also the same reporting are saying that U.S. special forces are using a military base in the area of Frumilan, south of Hasakah. Are you aware of that?

COL. WARREN: We -- the secretary of defense, and I believe even the president, have mentioned that we will send a small contingent of special operations forces into Syria to lash-up with some of the Syrian Democratic Forces and other partners or potential partners in the region.

That operation is ongoing. But because of the special nature of these forces, it's very important that we not discuss specifically where they're located. And as discussions of where these forces are located bubble up through the press, it puts those forces at increased risk. So I would urge everyone to take an appetite suppressant and not feel like they have to print the rumors that they've heard about the locations of American Special Forces. That puts lives at risk.

Next question.

Q: (inaudible) -- from Reuters here.

Could you give an update on Ramadi? I mean, how much is I guess left to clear? And a timeline of when you might -- think that might happen?

COL. WARREN: Right. Good question. Thank you.

So, the Ramadi clearance process is -- it's slow and it's painstaking. They've literally found thousands of booby-traps, IEDs, buried explosives; houses rigged to explode with a single trip-wire. So it -- it's a very complicated clearance process that goes on -- or that's going on.

They've cleared a majority of the downtown city center and are now pushing east and north into the Sufia district, which is really a suburb of Ramadi. We refer to it as the 'shark's fin.' If you look on a map of that area, you can see where the Euphrates River cuts north and then quickly south, and it makes the shape of a shark's fin.

So, this -- both CTS and members of the Eighth Iraqi Army Division are moving into the shark's fin area, but I've got to tell you, the slowing -- the going is extraordinarily slow for two reasons. One, because of all the booby-traps and minefields; and two, because they're encountering a large number of civilians that have either hidden from -- from ISIL as they went through and are now showing themselves; or who are -- who ISIL is trying to hold and these civilians are escaping.

So we don't have a timeline, frankly. It will take as long as it takes. The enemy, as we say in the Army, does get a vote. So, that's ongoing. It's important to note that as the CTS or the Iraqi Army clear a neighborhood, they turn that neighborhood, that individual neighborhood over to either the police or to the Sunni tribal fighters, who have been trained.

That's happened in the (inaudible) neighborhood out kind of on the south and west side of the Tharthar Canal. That's happened up around the glass factory already. That's happened to a few neighborhoods inside the city center.

The police are actually holding the government building, the main government building which, you know, to much fanfare earlier in the month was -- was liberated by the CTS. That center, that building complex has now been turned over to police and it's the police who are receiving the civilians that are discovered on the battlefield, policing giving them immediate aid, food, water and then transporting them to a -- to a safer area.

So, don't have a timeline for you, but the process is ongoing.

CAPT. DAVIS: And next to Tara Copp.

Q: Hi, Colonel Warren.

A couple of questions on the cash strike in Mosul. Do you have information on the type of aircraft or munitions dropped? And Fox I believe reported, citing CENTCOM, that about $45 million in cash was hit that day. I was wondering if you could verify that account and just how you were able to assess what -- how much money has been hit?

And then last one would be, what kind of currency was found there? And if you can confirm that this -- I guess, hitting the cash is having a negative effect on ISIL's ability to pay its fighters.

COL. WARREN: Right. Good questions. Thank you very much, Tara.

So, we hit them with the GBU 31s and 39s. What you saw in that video was the second half, the smaller ones, the 250-pounders, the small-diameter ones. You saw three of them go in there in rapid succession.

And you could see two things I thought in that video that to me were striking. One was how the building itself caved in on itself, leaving the -- the other buildings nearby relatively unscathed. And then the extraordinary precision. You know, three GBUs, you know, into the same spot in that roof near simultaneously.

The amount of money, we don't have an exact count, we know it's in the tens of millions of dollars. Whether or not it was in dollars or dinars or a combination of both we're not entirely certain, but we do know that we have impacted their ability to pay their fighters in the immediate term.

So this -- you know, these cash strikes combined with our other strikes against their industrial base we believe are having an accumulative effect. I read recently in the Post that there's reporting that ISIL has had to cut the salaries of their fighters by half. I can't confirm that, but that's what I read in the newspaper.

So we're going to continue to keep the pressure on all of these different lines, these military lines, right, on their -- on their leadership to cause confusion and hate and discontent within the ranks, on their finances to cause them to not be able to continue financing their various operations, whether they're local or more external.

And then on their industrial base, which causes them to not be able to have truck bombs, not be able to have explosives, not be able to generate oil which they then turn into cash to finance their illicit activities, and then of course, certainly we'll continue to strike their fielded forces as well.

Q: Two follow-ups real quick. The type of airframe that dropped the bombs, and then if you can give us any of sense of how you can estimate the amount of money that is hit in one of these airstrikes.

COL. WARREN: I don't know the type of aircraft; I just didn't bring that with me. You know, as you know, we're using bombers and fighters and various types. It was -- it was piloted, I know that. But whether it was a B-1 or an F-18, I don't know.

How do we know? Really, some of it's through -- most of it -- all of it is through kind of our sensitive intelligence system, so I won't give you the details, but we're confident in our assessment.

CAPT. DAVIS: Next, Tom Bowman.

Q: Steve, Tom Bowman with NPR. Secretary Carter said it's likely you'll see more American trainers heading over to Iraq. He's also asking NATO countries to kick in trainers as well. Can you give us a ballpark of how many trainers total will be needed, what will they be doing and do you expect to have them go to existing bases or to new bases or facilities over there?

COL. WARREN: Right. So the reason we need new trainers or additional trainers is because that's really the next step in generating the amount of combat power needed to liberate Mosul. We know we will need more brigades to be trained, we'll need more troops trained in more specialties, right?

So there's two types of training, right? Basic combat skills training and then after that, you know, you've got your commando school, your sniper school, medical training, leadership training, you know, communications, all these different types of specialty training also need to take place in order to create a force that's got, you know, the capabilities needed for this major operation to seize Mosul.

So I don't have an exact number yet, we're working on that. You know, it's kind of a -- it's kind of a give-and-take, right? We see what's in the art of the possible and then we work that into what's required and we come up with a number. So we don't -- we don't have a solid number yet as we continue to work the analysis of the force generation process.

Where located primarily. You know, the two primary training bases at (inaudible) and Taji have plenty of capability, right? Lots of space, lots of ability to do training, and that's really been the two Iraqi army primary training locations. So they would go to existing locations. Also at Al-Asad too, I think. So, yeah.

Q: Just a follow-up. Could you give us a ballpark here? Are we talking hundreds?

COL. WARREN: Yeah, it -- it's difficult to say. Certainly hundreds, but I think that would probably be at the top end. Not thousands, hundreds. But I don't want to commit to that number because really, you've got to work with the government of Iraq and figure out what their throughput capabilities are going to be, et cetera. So it's just -- it's just too soon for a number, Tom.

CAPT. DAVIS: Barbara?

Q: Colonel Warren, just to follow up on that to make sure I understood you, what you are saying is you expect these additional trainers to actually be U.S. troops?

COL. WARREN: No. The secretary of defense is now meeting with ministers of defense of 26 nations, right this very moment in Paris, as a matter of fact, to talk to them about increasing the number of troops that they contribute to the training effort.

So certainly, there will be a U.S. component to it. Additionally, you know, we want to see other partner nations, other members of this coalition contribute as well. The secretary of defense said there are no free rides here. We expect everyone to step up and to contribute as best that they can.

Q: If I could follow up, if you're -- regardless of nationalities, if you're talking hundreds of additional troops, doesn't this then spark an additional requirement for additional troops for support for them? It's not just hundreds of trainers, it would be even more troops than that to support them.

COL. WARREN: Right. I mean, there's always a balance and there's strange tipping points. You know, so as -- a base of support can provide support to a certain number of troops, and then as that troop number grows, that base of support can stay flat for a while, but then at some point, it too needs to expand.

So again, back to my earlier point, it's just too soon to kind of get into the numbers game. What we have to do now is figure out what's in the art of the possible, we have to continue our analysis on the force generation process and then make some decisions on, you know, how much additional trainers, supporters, advisers, assisters, et cetera can be brought in. We just have to come up with a number that makes sense. We're just simply not there yet.

Q: Ask a real quick money strike follow-up question. Are you yet seeing any evidence of ISIS reacting to these strikes on their financial depots by moving their cash around, trying to disperse those financial assets and stockpiles?

COL. WARREN: Certainly we see -- always see reactions from the enemy. You know, this is part of combat, part of warfare. So as we strike the Daesh cash, as we call it here in Iraq, we are going to see them react to our strikes, whether it's storing their cash in smaller amounts in multiple locations or whether it's moving it more often.

We don't want to tip them off to what we see, so I'd prefer to keep that private. But certainly, reaction, action, reaction and counter-action is -- is part of warfare.

CAPT. DAVIS: Courtney.

Q: Hi, Steve. I wanted to ask about something -- (inaudible) -- but just one follow-up on Mosul.

Have you seen any estimates of how many additional Iraqi Security Forces will have to be trained before the operation begins in Mosul? Presumably, this is before the clearing phase of Mosul, right? As opposed to the isolation phase begins that you need these additional trips?

COL. WARREN: Right, so -- right. We think we're going to need, you know, in the neighborhood of eight trained brigades, but that's adjustable.

So, we know, we have got three trained now. There's some others in the pipeline; we're looking for two Peshmerga brigades to coalesce so that they can get trained. So, several more brigades is the short answer to your question.

Q: I know that you said that State Department has the lead on the three American citizens, but just form the U.S. military side, are there -- is there like a quick reaction for or anything that has been stood up, in case the State Department, or the Iraqis or anyone gets word on where these people are, and they need to be rescued and -- is that -- I'm assuming that falls under some rules of engagement that the U.S. military can do that, right?

That you would be able to have the -- you would have the ability, the right to go in and rescue these American citizens? Does that fall under any kind of rules of engagement?

COL. WARREN: Yeah, Courtney, I'm going to have to register no comment on that. I simply am not going to discuss it.

Q: This is the first time you have ever said, 'no comment,' to a question I've asked.

CAPT. DAVIS: Next, David Martin.

Q: So, Steve, on these strikes against the cash centers. As I recall, the first big one in Mosul required you to accept the risk of a fairly high number of civilian casualties, like 50.

Does this most recent strike require you to accept a higher number of civilian casualties than usual? And if the total now is nine distribution centers hit -- which I think is the math -- is there any estimate on civilian casualties from hitting those cash centers?

COL. WARREN: Yeah. So, every time we receive credible allocations, obviously it goes through the investigation process.

I will tell you, yes, we were prepared to accept civilian casualties, in conjunction with the -- with this cash strike.

It's tragic, and it's not something that we want to do. One of the burdens of command is to weigh the military value of a target, versus the potential for civilian loss of life, and the potential for collateral damage.

So, these are tough decisions the commanders have to make. So, yes, we were prepared to accept some civilian casualties in association with this strike. We -- if there are investigations ongoing, we need to let those continue.

I will tell you, our initial estimate is that, any civilian casualties were extraordinarily low, single digit. So, we're -- we always mourn the loss of civilian life, but we believe that the accuracy and the -- the measures that we take to ensure the lowest number of civilian casualties possible are appropriate. And -- yeah, that's it.

Q: Is that single digit estimate, is that just for this latest strike that we saw, or is that for all of the strikes?

COL. WARREN: That's for all of them.

CAPT. DAVIS: (inaudible)

Q: Hey, Colonel Warren. Can you comment on an Associated Press report that said a 1,400-year-old Christian monastery was destroyed by ISIS in Mosul?

COL. WARREN: I have not seen that report, Lucas. I'm sorry. But what I would tell you is, you know, this enemy has proven time and again its ruthlessness, its barbarity, its willingness to destroy everything from human life to civilian supporting infrastructure, to, you know, cultural artifacts, with absolute disregard for history, for humanity, or for anything that approaches decency.

So, I mean, this really is a battle of savagery against decency. And so while I have not seen that particular report, you know, it would -- it would -- it would meet the pattern that this enemy has established.

CAPT. DAVIS: (inaudible)

COL. WARREN: Yeah, Steve, Andrew Tillman, Military Times.

First, as we talk about expanding the number of trainers for potentially a battle of Mosul, what is the status of the conversations with the Iraqi government in terms of they -- I don't think they have logged a request for that yet, have they? And can you tell us what conversations with General MacFarland and the government have been like?

And also if I could ask you to characterize a little bit of what that operation will -- will look like. I assume it would be moving north from Baiji. Has the Iraqi forces -- are they operating at all much north of Baiji? Or is that a pretty hard line at this point between ISIS and Iraqi forces?

COL. WARREN: Right. So, it is kind of the limit advance right now, just north of Baiji is the (inaudible) mountains, and that's kind of as far north as -- as Iraqi security forces have moved thus far. So it will require a push northern -- an additional push through the Tigris River valley.

The prime minister has asked for additional enablers and so we're working now with him to figure out exactly what that looks like. So, you know, our discussions are daily with the senior leadership of the government of Iraq; not necessarily every day with the prime minister, but you know, through the general staff, through the Ministry of Defense staff. Both the embassy and the military headquarters here are in continuous contact with our partners in Iraq.

So, you know, again, to go back, you know, we don't yet -- we haven't quite shaped exactly what additional enablers, what additional trainers are going to look like. As far as the scheme of maneuver into Mosul, that too is a planning process that's underway. This is going to be an Iraqi plan. Obviously, we'll advise them on that plan, but it is going to be their plan. It's going to -- they're going to fight it in the Iraqi way.

So we're working with them to kind of begin to integrate our air capabilities with their expected ground capabilities. But there isn't yet a final plan for the seizure of Mosul. This is going to be a process, an incremental process. We still need to, like I said, secure and push further north through the Tigris River valley north of Baiji. We -- we still need to create some space up the Euphrates River valley into Haditha, and would like to close that gap between Ramadi and Haditha if it's possible and practical.

Because what we are doing here are two things, right? It's not only the ability to apply combat power to an objective. We also need to be able to have supply lines that are supportable and that are defendable. So, it is all of these different factors. You know, we've got to plan for space. We've got to plan for time. We've got to plan for distance. So that's all ongoing now.

CAPT. DAVIS: (inaudible) -- follow up -- (inaudible).

Q: Okay. Colonel Warren -- (inaudible) -- from -- (inaudible) -- Media News.

I'm wondering if you can tell us what the members of the 101st Airborne Division, as well as the Second Brigade Combat are going to be doing in Iraq when they deploy in February and late summer?

COL. WARREN: Sure. We look forward to General Volesky and the Screaming Eagles out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky, arriving here. They are going to replace the members of the 82nd Airborne Division who have been here for almost one year, or nine months, I guess. So, the 82nd Airborne Division, which has provided the advise and assist and -- well really, they've been the CFLCC, right? -- the Combined Forces Land Component command. They've been the CFLCC headquarters, the two-star headquarters underneath the Joint Task Force.

So, the 101st Division will replace the 82nd Airborne Division. It's a routine rotation of troops.

The Second Brigade, the 101st, is going to be the advise and assist, really, to meet the advise and assist effort here inside of Iraq.

Q: Hi, Colonel Warren, just a couple of follow-ups on Mosul, the cash strike again. Can you confirm that there have been nine total strikes against cash distribution facilities? And then maybe as a take-away, if you could give us kind of a ball park estimate of how much cash you estimate has been destroyed in those airstrikes?

COL. WARREN: Yes. Give me a second. Yeah, so a total of nine, eight plus the one two days ago. That's nine. We don't have an exact figure -- we don't have an exact dollar figure for how much cash has been destroyed. We believe it's in the tens of millions, which is a significant amount of money, particularly for an outfit that has to operate with only cash as this organization has to do.

So, nine total and tens of millions.

Q: The tens of millions is total for all nine airstrikes? Because I think we had said earlier is that maybe the one airstrike two days ago had been tens of millions as well.

COL. WARREN: That's right. So, several tens.

CAPT. DAVIS: Andrew?

Q: (inaudible). Hey, it's Andrew again.

You said that the Iraqis have asked for some enablers. Has the conversation and the request been so specific as for them to ask for combat advisers at the brigade level, and attack helicopters? Or is it more vague than that?

COL. WARREN: It's more vague. than that we're not quite prepared to announce anything yet. We will as we get a little bit closer. We're just not there yet. So, you know, one thing we know that they're looking for, that they really -- some notable gaps that they have include ISR capabilities and logistics capabilities as an example.

But as far as numbers, and -- and real down to the nut and bolt specifics, we're just not prepared to -- to announce anything yet.

Q: (off mic) timeline to -- it was nine strikes on the cash in how long?

COL. WARREN: I have to go back and look at my opening statement. Hold on.

I don't have that. I don't know. I think it's been -- I don't know. I don't know when we first started hitting cash. I seem to recall, like, coming up -- kind of in the late summer, but I don't have a date for you. Sorry.

We -- I can look -- I'll -- we'll look that up, though, and try to get something -- something back to you. I'll push it back through -- through J.B. or Roger.

Q: I guess increase it -- or is this going to be sort of standard -- you know, momentum?

COL. WARREN: Yeah. This is -- this is standard. I mean -- you know, this is -- striking these cash collection points hurts this enemy, right? Again, they operate on cash, right? There is no credit in -- in ISIL.

So a combination of taking away their ability to earn money by striking oil and taking away the money that they have on hand by striking the Daesh cash really puts the squeeze on them. It hits them directly in the pocketbook.

And -- and again, you know, we've started to see some evidence of -- of that having an impact. You know, we've seen reports just in the newspaper that says that they've had to pay their fighters -- reduce their fighters' salary by half.

You know, we -- so we believe that continuing this pressure on both the oil, on -- on their actual money itself, is -- is going to, over time, really begin to eat away at their ability to continue their operations.

CAPT. DAVIS: And, Lucas, you had a follow-up?

Q: Just a quick one, colonel. How many ISIS fighters, do you estimate, are in Mosul? And will Iranian-backed militias be participating in the ground offensive in Mosul? Thank you.

COL. WARREN: Yeah. So there -- the estimates vary widely on the size of the enemy in Mosul -- everything from kind of a low-end of about 5,000 to a high end of -- as high as 10,000. So it's difficult to tell. A lot of the folks in Mosul are conscripts, right? They're forced to fight. So that number can fluctuate even under pressure, very rapidly.

The -- the Shia militias -- so -- you know, the U.S. government does not have a -- yet a -- a formal position on whether or not the Shia militias should fight in Mosul. This is a decision for the Iraqi government. Iraqi government decides how it will array forces on this battlefield.

We would prefer to see the Iraqi army in the lead. We believe -- it's our belief that the Iraqi army should be the centerpiece of the Iraqi security apparatus. But these are decisions for -- for the government of Iraq to make, in the end.

CAPT. DAVIS: And Barbara?

Q: Colonel Warren, the prime minister's request -- did that cover -- did that request specifically cover both enablers and trainers? In other words, the ISR you were talking about, plus trainers? And you mentioned the need for eight brigades for Mosul. Can you ballpark for us how many troops that would be?

COL. WARREN: Yeah, so 3,000 per brigade, ball park. So, it doesn't -- so, the discussions with the prime minister, not quite as maybe formal as you imagine. These are discussions. So in these discussions, what will emerge from those discussions is we have an interest in additional enablers, for example, ISR.

So it hasn't quite matured to the point where, you know, there's a formal written request or anything like that. You know, we're -- we're in a discussion phase at this point.

And again, these discussions happen on multiple modes. You know, there's the prime minister, the minister of defense, or the acting chief of defense. They kind of all build on each other until eventually we come up with the next step.

So we're not there yet at that next step, but the discussions continue.

Q: And these discussions then also include a potential for hundreds of U.S. and coalition trainers that you spoke about initially?

COL. WARREN: Correct. Every -- you know, every enabler comes with some personnel, of course. So, yes.

CAPT. DAVIS: Another quick follow-up from Tara.

Q: All right -- (inaudible). The cash strikes are both Iraq and Syria? Just to double-check, I believe there was one -- at least one in Syria in May of last year.

COL. WARREN: We have struck cash at collection points in both Iraq and Syria.

CAPT. DAVIS: Courtney?

Q: Just one more quick one on Mosul. Just for perspective, you said you need eight brigades in Mosul. How many were used in Ramadi? Two or three?

COL. WARREN: Yeah, I really -- so, again, so eight brigades for the -- for the assault into downtown Mosul. There will be more in supporting roles. Same with Ramadi. There were nearly 10,000 total troops, but really it was a battalion of CTS that crossed the Tharthar Canal and penetrated into downtown Ramadi.

So the battlefield -- (inaudible) -- gets complicated. But essentially a force -- it's the ball park at, you know, I mean, Mosul is probably four times the size of Ramadi. So, if that helps. There were really two kind of brigades active, you know, fully, really at the kind of leading edge of the fight inside of Ramadi, and we expect we'd need, you know, substantially more in Mosul.

CAPT. DAVIS: Okay. Last call.

Steve, we thank you very much for your time and your flexibility today. We hope we didn't cut into your chow time there and that you're still able to get it. And we look forward to seeing you back here next week.

COL. WARREN: Thank you. Thank you all. I particularly thank Courtney Kube for giving me the opportunity to issue my first no comment on camera.

Thanks, you guys. We'll see you next week.

http://www.defense.gov/News/News-Transcripts/Transcript-View/Article/643764/

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US Military Wants New Billion-Dollar Icebreaker Against Russia in Arctic

Sputnik News

17:58 20.01.2016(updated 18:05 20.01.2016)

US officials and commanders in the Coast Guard and Naval forces have pushed for an expansion of the US military presence in the Arctic.

The US Coast Guard and two US Senators have called for the construction of a new billion-dollar icebreaker ship to counter Russia in the Arctic, CNN reported on Monday.

The US operates two icebreakers in the Arctic, but its military claims that Russia's increased presence in the area is cause for more equipment. US commanders claim that Russia seeks to establish its presence in the area through its military.

In fact, Russia's border-related claims in the area are handled through the UN committee on maritime borders.

'Russia is watching what China does in the East China Sea with the 'nine-dash line' and is working to define what the continental shelf looks like, to establish a claim and declare its sovereignty,' commander of US Naval Forces Europe Admiral Mark Ferguson told CNN.

The nine-dash line is a term for China's claim in the South China Sea, although the US Naval Commander apparently confused it with the East China Sea, where China, Japan and South Korea are involved in an unrelated territorial dispute.

The statements, however, go directly against those made by Vice Commandant of the US Coast Guard Vice Adm. Charles Michel's statement at an Arctic cooperation round table on January 15. Michel noted that the US Coast Guard and Russia have continued cooperation despite recent political disagreements.

'Relations between the US Coast Guard and Russian partners are a model of international cooperation. Together we are much more efficient than by ourselves,' Michel was quoted by RIA Novosti as saying in comments translated into Russian.

Russia has been paying more attention to the Arctic in its national security strategy, as Russia has considerable economic interests and a largely unsecured border in the area. The Deputy Secretary of Russia's Security Council confirmed on Monday that Russia's national defense strategy includes the Arctic.

 Sputnik

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Israel must immediately halt planned relocation of Palestinian Bedouin, say UN officials

20 January 2016  Senior United Nations officials for the occupied Palestinian territory have called for an immediate end to Israeli plans to transfer Bedouin living in the Jerusalem area for a settlement expansion, long recognized as a violation of international law and an obstacle to realizing a two-state solution to the Middle East crisis.

"I am once again deeply alarmed to witness Israel's relentless push towards removing Bedouin Palestine refugees from their homes, destroying their livelihoods and their distinct culture," said Felipe Sanchez, Director of Operations in the West Bank for UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

"The children in these communities should not be experiencing the trauma of displacement that preceding generations already experienced," he added.

Mr. Sanchez and the Coordinator for Humanitarian and UN Development Activities for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Robert Piper, issued their call after a visit with diplomats from 17 countries yesterday to the Palestinian Bedouin community of Abu Nuwar, site of recent demolitions and aid confiscations by the Israeli authorities.

Twenty-six Palestine refugees, among them 18 children, including four with disabilities, were displaced on 6 January following the destruction of their homes, and other basic structures. On 10 and 14 January, Israeli authorities confiscated eight donor-funded residential tents that had been provided to the families as post-demolition humanitarian response.

"We came to Abu Nuwar to hear first-hand what residents have been through," Mr. Piper said. "We left with a strengthened resolve to continue our support to them."

Abu Nuwar is located in the so-called E1 area, planned by Israel for the expansion of Ma'ale Adummim settlement, and is among 46 communities in the central West Bank, most of them Palestine refugee communities, slated for transfer to three designated sites away from their current location.

A forced relocation of Bedouin communities to urbanized townships would threaten their culture and livelihoods, the two officials said. Bedouin families that were already "relocated" in the 1990s lost their income sources while their communities' social fabric was severely damaged.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has already stated that the implementation of Israel's proposed "relocation" would amount to forcible transfers and forced evictions, contravening its obligations as an occupying power under humanitarian law and human rights law.

"The destruction of property in this manner and the denial of donor-funded assistance to vulnerable Palestinian communities is unacceptable," Mr. Piper said.

"Under international law, Israel is responsible for meeting the needs of Palestinians living under its occupation and for facilitating humanitarian assistance, not for obstructing aid and pressuring residents to leave so that Israeli settlements can expand. The international community must ensure that plans to transfer these communities are revoked, if the two-state solution is to be protected," he said.

The two-state solution forms the main plank of efforts by the diplomatic Quartet, comprising the UN, European Union, Russia and the United States, to solve the Middle East crisis, with two states  Israel and Palestine  living side by side in peace and security.

Diplomats in yesterday's visit came from Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden as well as Switzerland and the United States.

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US: Airstrike Destroys Islamic State Cash Supply

by Ken Bredemeier January 20, 2016

The U.S.-led coalition says its airstrikes hit an Islamic State 'cash collection point' this week near IS's northern Iraqi stronghold of Mosul, destroying 'tens of millions of dollars' the jihadists were using to pay their fighters.

The coalition spokesman, U.S. Army Colonel Steve Warren, said Wednesday that Monday's attack was the second strike in Mosul against an Islamic State financial target in as many weeks.

While Warren said the coalition does not know whether the cash was in dollars or dinars, 'we do know we have impacted their ability to pay their fighters in the immediate term.

'As we strike the Daesh cash, as we call it here in Iraq, we are going to see them react to our strikes,' Warren said, 'whether it's storing their cash in smaller amounts, in multiple locations, or whether it's moving it more often. We don't want to tip them off to what we see.'

Daesh is another Arab name for Islamic State.

Iraq said last year that Islamic State fighters looted nearly a half billion dollars from banks in Mosul and other cities as they overran the region in mid-2014, capturing vast territory in northern Iraq and northern Syria and declaring a religious caliphate in the region.

Warren said Monday's raid resulted in 'some' civilian casualties, in the 'single digits.'

Iraqi security forces are planning an attempt to retake Mosul, but Warren said they will need 'hundreds' more Western military trainers to advise them before beginning an assault.

'That's really the next step in generating the amount of combat power needed to liberate Mosul,' Warren told Pentagon reporters in a video call from Iraq.

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter met Wednesday in Paris with his counterparts from France, Germany, Britain, Australia, Italy and the Netherlands to plot a strategy in their fight against the militants.

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Venezuela's Supreme Court Approves Maduro's Economic Emergency Decree

Sputnik News

07:32 21.01.2016

Venezuela's Supreme Court has declared the decree of economic emergency, issued by President Nicolas Maduro last Friday, constitutional.

MEXICO CITY (Sputnik)  On January 15, Maduro signed a decree on a state of economic emergency in Venezuela, which will last for sixty days, in order to increase the fundamental indicators of production, product distribution, commercialization and price controls in the country amid a grave economic crisis.

Venezuela's Supreme Court said in a Wednesday statement that the decree addresses the key issues of economic security and is in line with the country's constitution.

Oil prices in the South American country have hit the lowest marks in 12 years over the past week dropping to $24 a barrel. Up to 96 percent of Venezuela's budget depends on oil revenues.

Maduro accepted partial blame for the economic situation in the country in an address to the National Economic Council on Tuesday, stressing that Venezuela needs to replace all sources of income from oil with other sources.

 Sputnik

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Pentagon Official Defends $150Mln Afghanistan Villas to Get Business Going

Sputnik News

03:18 21.01.2016

The millions of US taxpayer dollars spent building ornate villas in Afghanistan under the Department of Defense's Afghanistan business task force was a way to get investment started, US Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Brian McKeon told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  According to whistleblower reports in December 2015, the villas remained mostly empty after they were built, except for a small number of visitors and the US security personnel who reportedly stayed in them.

'I think there was an understandable imperative and desire on the part of the commanding generals [in Afghanistan] to get something going, recognizing it was high cost,' McKeon said on Wednesday.

McKeon faced questioning from Senator Claire McCaskill asking about villas built at a cost of approximately $150 million in Afghanistan under the Task Force for Business and Stability Operations in Afghanistan (TFBSO).

'This is a terrible waste of taxpayer money,' McCaskill stated after describing the luxury accommodations including queen sized beds, 27 inch flat screen televisions, and a separate investor villa with upgraded furnishings.

McKeon agreed that the villas did sound 'quite exorbitant,' but added that he is 'not a businessman.' When pressed on the poor record keeping at the Defense Department, McKeon explained that accounting for contracts and money spent is 'far from [its] core competence.'

The TFBSO was a unique Defense Department program in effect from 2010 through 2014, whose director reported to the Secretary of Defense on efforts to improve stability and economic opportunity in war-torn Afghanistan.

According to independent investigation by the Special Inspector General of Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), the Defense Department largely failed to keep records of contracts and purchases.

Over the course of its four year existence, the Task Force was authorized to spend $822 million. A full audit has not yet been conducted on the TFBSO, but members of the Senate Armed Services Committee said on Wednesday they would follow up on the matter.

 Sputnik

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$300 Million Failure: US Failed to Build Major Power Plant In Afghanistan

Sputnik News

00:34 21.01.2016(updated 04:24 21.01.2016)

As a Senate subcommittee met on Wednesday to look into waste from the Pentagon's USAID task force, some are calling for them to review why the Kajaki Dam, a $300 million project, is sitting in Afghanistan unfinished for the last eight years.

Since 2008, the Kajaki Dam, an expensive plan to provide electricity to southern Afghanistan, has become a "monument for all that has gone wrong," Megan McCloskey wrote for ProPublica.

The project began three years after the invasion, in 2004. USAID went in and restored two turbines that were neglected and nearly inoperable, which lead to the dam beginning to produce some power. The success of the operation, however, depending on the installation of a third turbine  one that was scheduled to be completed a decade ago.

Much of this failure is being blamed on the fact that the dam sits in Taliban country, making the efforts extremely dangerous, and that when the project began, the outlook for America's involvement in the region looked more promising than it turned out to be.

In 2012, USAID finally admitted they were discussing ending the project, but instead gave a national Afghan utility $75 million and control of getting the turbine completed. USAID remained on the project in an advisory position.

Unfortunately, due to missing a time period in 2011 when US Marines had cleared the insurgent heavy area leading to the dam, they have been unable to deliver the 700 tons of concrete needed to finish the project.

A new goal date of fall of 2016 has been set for the project, but turmoil in the area surrounding it does not bode well for meeting the deadline.

"I would say that Kajaki Dam is a sign of the American people's resilience and persistence of support of the Afghan population," Larry Sampler, a senior USAID official who has worked on Afghanistan since 2002 told ProPublica.

An Army general who also spoke to the outlet explained that the inability to complete the project has had a "more demoralizing effect than corruption. What the Afghans don't understand is how a country can land people on the moon but can't get the power running."

 Sputnik

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Russia Postpones Manned Moon Mission for 5 Years  Space Agency

Sputnik News

09:31 20.01.2016(updated 09:37 20.01.2016)

Russian space agency Roscosmos has postponed the first manned lunar mission from 2030 to 2035, according to the 2016-2025 space program unveiled Wednesday.

VOSTOCHNY COSMODROME (Sputnik)  Russia initially planned to launch a manned aircraft to the moon atop an Angara heavy rocket carrier from its Vostochny space port in 2025. The earlier version of the state space program  worth some 2 trillion rubles ($25 billion)  specified that the creation of a heavy carrier rocket would allow for a manned lunar landing by 2030.

But the new edition, which had it budget trimmed down to 1.4 trillion rubles, plans to start setting aside funds to put a man on the moon after 2035.

Reports transpired in Russian media last month claiming that Roscosmos had dropped its lunar program in light of the huge expenses. But Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said later the rumors were greatly exaggerated.

 Sputnik

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US Moves on Sanctions Against N. Korea Amid Skepticism

by Eunjung Cho January 20, 2016

When North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test, the communist country made clear that it wants Washington to change course on Pyongyang.

"Since the appearance of the word 'hostility' in the world there has been no precedent of such deep-rooted, harsh and persistent policy as the hostile policy the U.S. has pursued toward the DPRK," the state-run Korean Central News Agency said.

The aggressive rhetoric and the latest nuclear overture appear to have succeeded in getting attention from Washington.

Dennis Halpin, a visiting scholar at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, said that since the test, North Korea has emerged as an issue in the U.S. presidential campaign.

"Kim Jong Un's blast has awakened the sleeping giant as far as North Korean issues," said Halpin, a former adviser on Asian issues to the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee.

The North Korean move came as the focus of the election was shifting from domestic issues to foreign policy issues following recent terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California, according to Halpin.

"Kim Jong Un, because of this test, has added North Korea to the equation," he said.

Tightening sanctions

Despite the heightened attention, Washington is not likely to change its approach to Pyongyang. Instead, it is seeking to tighten sanctions against Pyongyang.

While the Obama administration is leading diplomatic efforts to seek support for strong measures in the U.N. Security Council, Congress is pushing ahead on bills that would make U.S. sanctions against North Korea tougher. Last week, the House passed legislation that would authorize the seizing of any assets connected with North Korea's proliferation, illicit activities or human rights violations. The Senate is also expected to consider a bill to expand sanctions on North Korea.

However, whether the fresh sanctions will produce intended results remains unclear.

"The problem is that the U.S. has so little economic engagement with North Korea of any kind that it's hard to identify what we can do that would have a real impact," said Frank Jannuzi, president of the Mansfield Foundation, which promotes U.S.-Asia relations.

Jannuzi, who served as an adviser to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that financial sanctions against Pyongyang might be "one remaining point of leverage" that Washington could pursue, but that securing support from Beijing remained a difficult task.

Keith Luse, executive director of National Committee on North Korea, a nongovernmental organization dedicated to fostering understanding and trust between the United States and North Korea, said the newly passed House bill was "understandable in the context of American frustration with North Korean actions," adding it could undermine humanitarian work in North Korea.

Unintended consequences

"The overall bill contains a number of provisions which makes it increasingly problematic for U.S. NGOs to operate inside North Korea," said Luse, who worked as an aide to former U.S. Senator Richard Lugar.

On Wednesday, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on China to play a "special role" in tightening sanctions against North Korea.

"We believe China has a special role given the special relationship it has with North Korea," the senior diplomat told reporters in Seoul after meeting with South Korean officials. Blinken left for Beijing late Wednesday for talks with Chinese officials about North Korea's nuclear test.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will also travel to Beijing next week to hold further talks with his Chinese counterparts.

North Korea has conducted four nuclear tests since 2006. U.N. sanctions ban Pyongyang from conducting nuclear tests or launching ballistic missiles.

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Clearing Ramadi Progresses Despite Obstacles, Inherent Resolve Official Says

By Terri Moon Cronk DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, January 20, 2016  As Iraqi military forces clear the key city of Ramadi after retaking it from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant control, thousands of terrorist explosives left behind have complicated the process, a spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve told Pentagon reporters today.

Delivering an operational update by live satellite feed from Baghdad, Army Col. Steve Warren said that while clearing the city is progressing, it's "slow and it's painstaking."

"They've literally found thousands of booby-traps, [improvised explosive devices], buried explosives [and] houses rigged to explode with a single trip-wire," the colonel said.

Another issue is that Iraqi forces are finding a "large number of civilians" who likely have hidden from ISIL or are escaping from enemy control, he said.

Pushing East and North

"[Iraqi forces] have cleared a majority of the downtown city center and are now pushing east and north into the Sufia district, which is a suburb of Ramadi," Warren said, adding that as areas are cleared, the Iraqi security forces turns them over to local Iraqi police.

In western Anbar province, several gunfights in the past few days followed last week's rout of ISIL near Barwanah, where coalition forces struck several targets including tunnels and two factories: one for vehicle bombs and the other for IEDs, Warren added.

Additionally, coalition forces have conducted 47 airstrikes in Mosul since Jan. 13, including one on an ISIL cash-collection point, Warren said. "This was the second strike in Mosul in as many weeks against ISIL financial targets," he added. "We've previously struck eight other cash storage and distribution areas across Iraq and Syria."

Vetted Syrian opposition forces retook several villages as a result of recent offensive operations in Syria along the Mara line, the colonel said, and despite repeated ISIL attacks, Syrian democratic forces continue to hold the Tishrin Dam.

Costs of the Anti-ISIL Campaign

In both Iraq and Syria, the total cost of operations to defeat ISIL has reached $5.5 billion and is running at $11 million per day, Warren said. It's estimated coalition airstrikes have killed several thousand enemy fighters, and Iraqi forces have helped to rescue more than 3,600 civilians who were trapped by ISIL, he added.

"So far in the air campaign, we have flown 65,492 sorties, and we have conducted 9,782 airstrikes," breaking out into 6,516 in Iraq and 3,266 strikes in Syria, the colonel said.

Coalition strikes have killed about 95 senior and mid-level ISIL leaders since the beginning of May, he said, adding that the U.S.-led coalition has provided basic combat training for 16,715 personnel and put thousands more through various specialized training programs.

"This enemy has proven time and again its ruthlessness, its barbarity, its willingness to destroy everything from human life to civilian supporting infrastructure to  cultural artifacts with absolute disregard for history, humanity, or anything that approaches decency," Warren said. "[This] really is a battle of savagery against decency."

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Iraq - F-16 Weapons, Munitions, Equipment, and Logistics Support

Media/Public Contact: pm-cpa@state.gov

Transmittal No: 15-52

WASHINGTON, Jan. 20, 2016 -- The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to Iraq for F-16 weapons, munitions, equipment, and logistics support. The estimated cost is $1.950 billion. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible sale on January 15, 2016.

The Government of Iraq requested a possible sale of additional weapons, munitions, equipment, and logistics support for its F-16 aircraft.

Major Defense Equipment (MDE) includes:

- Twenty (20) each Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS)

- Twenty-four (24) each AIM-9M Sidewinder missile

- One hundred and fifty (150) each AGM-65D/G/H/K Maverick missile

- Fourteen thousand one hundred and twenty (14,120) each 500-lb General Purpose (GP) bomb body/warhead for use either as unguided or guided bombs. Depending on asset availability during case execution, total quantity of 14,120 each 500-lb warheads will comprise a mix of MK-82 500-lb warheads and/or BLU-111 500-lb warheads from stock and/or new contract procurement.

- Two thousand four hundred (2,400) each 2,000-lb GP bomb body/warheads for use either as unguided or guided bombs. Depending on asset availability during case execution, total quantity of 2,400 each 2,000-lb warheads will comprise a mix of MK-84 2,000-lb warheads and/or BLU-117 2,000-lb warheads from stock and/or new contract procurement.

- Eight thousand (8,000) each Laser Guided Bomb (LGB) Paveway II tail kits. Will be combined with 500-lb warheads in the above entry for MK-82 and/or BLU-111 to build GBU-12 guided bombs.

- Two hundred and fifty (250) each LGB Paveway II tail kits. Will be combined with 2,000-lb warheads in the above entry for MK-82 and/or BLU-117 to build GBU-10 guided bombs.

- One hundred and fifty (150) each LGB Paveway III tail kits. Will be combined with 2,000-lb warheads in the above entry for MK-82 and/or BLU-117 to build GBU-24 guided bombs.

- Eight thousand, five hundred (8,500) each FMU-152 fuzes. Will be used in conjunction with the LGB tail kits and warheads in the above entries to build GBU All Up Rounds (AUR's). Includes provisioning for spare FMU-152 fuze units (MDE).

- Four (4) each WGU-43CD2/B Guidance Control Units

- One (1) each M61 Vulcan Rotary 20mm cannon

- Six (6) each MK-82 inert bomb

- Four (4) each MK-84 inert bomb

Also included are items of significant military equipment (SME), spare and repair parts, publications, technical documents, weapons components, support equipment, personnel training, training equipment, Aviation Training, Contract Engineering Services, U.S. Government and contractor logistics, engineering, and technical support services, as well as other related elements of logistics and program support. Additional services provided are Aviation Contract Logistics Services including maintenance, supply, component repair/return, tools and manpower. This notification also includes Base Operations Support Services including construction, outfitting, supply, security, weapons, ammunition, vehicles, utilities, power generation, food, water, morale/recreation services, aircraft support and total manpower. The total estimated value of MDE is $ .550 billion. The total overall estimated value is $1.950 billion.

This proposed sale contributes to the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the security of a strategic partner. This proposed sale directly supports Iraq and serves the interests of the people of Iraq and the United States.

Iraq previously purchased thirty-six (36) F-16 aircraft. Iraq requires these additional weapons, munitions, and technical services to maintain the operational capabilities of its aircraft. This proposed sale enables Iraq to fully maintain and employ its aircraft and sustain pilot training to effectively protect Iraq from current and future threats.

The proposed sale of these additional weapons, munitions, equipment, and support does not alter the basic military balance in the region.

The principal vendors are:

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company - Fort Worth, Texas

Lockheed Martin Simulation, Training and Support - Fort Worth, Texas

Raytheon Company - Lexington, Massachusetts

The Marvin Group - Inglewood, California

United Technologies Aerospace Systems - Chelmsford, Massachusetts

Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training - Fort Worth, Texas

Royal Jordanian Air Academy - Amman, Jordan

Pratt and Whitney - East Hartford, Connecticut

Michael Baker International - Alexandria, VA

There are no known offset agreements proposed in connection with this potential sale.

Implementation of this proposed sale requires approximately four hundred (400) U.S. Government and contractor personnel to reside in Iraq through calendar year 2020 as part of this sale to establish maintenance support, on-the-job maintenance training, and maintenance advice.

There is no adverse impact on U.S. defense readiness as a result of this proposed sale.

This notice of a potential sale is required by law and does not mean the sale has been concluded.

All questions regarding this proposed Foreign Military Sale should be directed to the State Department's Bureau of Political Military Affairs, Office of Congressional and Public Affairs, pm-cpa@state.gov.

-30-



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Peshmerga Refutes Reports on Alleged Destruction of Arab Homes in Iraq

Sputnik News

18:28 20.01.2016(updated 19:07 20.01.2016)

The Iraqi Kurdistan region's Ministry of Peshmerga Affairs refuted on Wednesday a recent report by a prominent rights watchdog that blamed Kurdish forces for the alleged destruction of and arson attacks on thousands of homes belonging to the Arab population in northern Iraq.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Earlier in the day, Amnesty International said Kurdish militias had destroyed thousands of homes belonging to Arabs in northern Iraq in retaliation for their alleged support of the Islamic State (IS) militant group. The 46-page report documents widespread burning of homes and property in villages and towns in the Nineveh, Kirkuk and Diyala governorates, which Peshmerga forces captured from Daesh militants.

'Those who worked on the report compiled it from a unilateral point of view and did not ask the Peshmerga about the contents of the report, whether or not the information was true,' Secretary-General of the Kurdistan Regional Government and spokesman for the region's armed forces Jabbar Yawar told Sputnik.

The report has been distributed by news agencies and has not been shown to the ministry beforehand, Yawar noted.

'The report includes testimony from some IS militants or those who sympathize with the group from an intellectual or political point of view, since Pemsherga forces managed to liberate large areas from IS fighters. Moreover, they want to blame the Peshmerga forces in such a way,' he stressed.

Most of the destruction of the houses in these areas occurred as a result of fighting, during which the Peshmerga troops and IS jihadists used different types of weapons, as well as following airstrikes launched by the US-led international coalition against IS militants positions, who often used civilian houses as their headquarters, Yawar concluded.

The Kurdish Peshmerga is largely considered to be the most effective ground force fighting against IS, having retaken significant swathes of territory in northern Iraq, once controlled by IS terrorists.

 Sputnik

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Kurdish Forces Bulldoze Thousands of Arab Homes in Northern Iraq

Sputnik News

08:43 20.01.2016(updated 08:54 20.01.2016)

According to a report by a prominent rights watchdog, Kurdish militias have destroyed thousands of homes belonging to Arabs in northern Iraq for their alleged support of the Daesh militant group.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Kurdish militias have destroyed thousands of homes belonging to Arabs in northern Iraq for their alleged support of the Daesh militant group, a report by a prominent rights watchdog said Wednesday.

'Peshmerga forces of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Kurdish militias in northern Iraq have bulldozed, blown up and burned down thousands of homes in Arab villages,' Amnesty International said in the report.

The 46-page report documents widespread burning of homes and property in villages and towns in Nineveh, Kirkuk and Diyala governorates which Peshmerga forces captured from Daesh militants.

Accusations of widespread destruction in Arab communities were substantiated by a field investigation in 13 villages, satellite images and reports from over a hundred witnesses.

Many Arabs displaced by fighting in northern Iraq have been prevented from returning to their homes by Kurdish militias, while others were expelled after Peshmerga forces had taken control of the areas, the report said.

'They are examples of a wider pattern across the disputed areas of northern Iraq, where parties which had long vied for exclusive control of these areas are now intent on consolidating territorial gains,' the report said.

Amnesty International has called on KRG, as well as states from the US-led coalition providing support to Kurds, to take steps to ensure those responsible for the abuses are held accountable for what the watchdog said constituted a war crime.

 Sputnik

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Daesh Barbarians Destroy 1,400-Year-Old Christian Monastery in Iraq

Sputnik News

06:51 21.01.2016(updated 08:28 21.01.2016)

The Christian site was completely razed near Daesh-occupied Mosul in northern Iraq.

The historic St. Elijah monastery, situated on a hill near Mosul and dating from the 6th century, was razed by Daesh in late 2014, following the occupation of the area by the terrorist organization, Associated Press reported on Wednesday.

"I can't describe my sadness," Father Paul Thabit Habib commented. "Our Christian history in Mosul is being barbarically leveled. We see it as an attempt to expel us from Iraq, eliminating and finishing our existence in this land."

Satellite images released by AP show that the ancient monastery has been completely demolished.

Over 100 historic sites are thought to have been destroyed by Daesh extremists. Christians in Iraq and Syria have been systematically persecuted, their properties expropriated and lives put under constant threat as a result of the violent extremist group. Some Christians have been executed for their faith.

In Syria, militants from Daesh blew up the Church of the Virgin Mary in northeast of the country on Easter Sunday 2015.

Daesh is notorious for destructive rampages against both Christian and Muslim holy sites, destroying churches and mosques across occupied areas, along with ancient and historically-significant heritage sites. Not even graveyards have been safe from extermination. In February 2015, Daesh militants in the Syrian city of Tel Hermosa, in the Hasakah province, destroyed one of country's oldest churches. In March 2015, Daesh terrorists destroyed a 15th century Catholic monastery in the Iraqi city of Mosul; earlier, extremists in Mosul burned a church constructed in the 3rd Century.

The UK-based charity Aid to the Church in Need issued a worrying report to the British House of Lords last fall, warning that Christianity in Iraq and Syria would be gravely threatened, if not entirely extinguished, by 2020, if Daesh is not stopped.

 Sputnik

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Taliban Claims Responsibility for Attack on Pakistan's University

Sputnik News

10:34 20.01.2016(updated 11:38 20.01.2016)

The Pakistani wing of the Taliban Islamic movement, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, claimed responsibility for Wednesday attack on the country's Bacha Khan University in the northern town of Charsadda, local media reported.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The Pakistani wing of the Taliban Islamic movement, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, claimed responsibility for Wednesday attack on the country's Bacha Khan University in the northern town of Charsadda, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, local media reported.

A group of six gunmen entered the university buildings early on Wednesday, Daily Pakistan newspaper said, citing Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Shaukat Yousafzai. Four militants were killed, according to Yousafzai. University premises are reported to have been cleared, all students are believed to be evacuated.

At least 25 people, including four security guards and a policeman, were killed in the attack, while at least 50 were reportedly injured, some of them in critical condition.

Some 3,000 students and 600 guests of a poetic competition were in the building at the moment of attack.

Abdul Wali Khan University located in northern Mardan city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province was closed for an indefinite period after the attack over security concerns, the university's administration said.

 Sputnik

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Syrian Planes Hit 1,662 Terrorist Targets in 481 Airstrikes

Sputnik News

21:38 20.01.2016(updated 00:43 21.01.2016)

Since the end of December, the Syrian Air Force has destroyed 1,662 terrorist targets, including command centers and factories used to produce ammunition.

'The Syrian Air Force destroyed 1,662 objects belonging to terrorist organizations in the areas of Damascus, Homs, Hama, Idlib, Aleppo, and Deir ez-Zor,' reads a statement from the Syrian army command.

'From the 27th of the previous month [December] to the present day, 481 sorties have been carried out.'

In Idlib, the air force eliminated the terrorist's command headquarters, as well as four command posts and an underground ammunition factory.

Three warehouses were destroyed in Aleppo, as well as a command post and dozens of SUV's outfitted with machine guns.

The Syrian Air Force has been working in conjunction with Russian operations, as well as in coordination with ground support from the Syrian Army. Over 15 villages have been liberated in Hama province.

A spokesman with the Syrian Army also confirms that large groups of terrorists are fleeing toward the Turkish and Jordanian borders.

 Sputnik

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Russian Jets Conduct 16 Sorties in Syria Over Past 24 Hours

Sputnik News

16:13 20.01.2016(updated 19:15 20.01.2016)

Russian aviation has conducted 16 sorties in Syria over past 24 hours hitting 57 terrorist targets in two provinces, the Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday.

'Over the past 24 hours the jets of the Russian Air and Space Forces have carried out 16 combat missions hitting 57 terrorist targets,' the Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov told reporters.

'Due to poor weather conditions and in an attempt to avoid casualties among civilians, Russian aircraft only performed combat missions in the provinces of Latakia and Deir ez-Zor,' Konashekov added.

Over the past 24 hours, Russian Air Forces have also destroyed a field camp held by Daesh terrorists in Deir ez-Zor. The terrorists' multiple rocket launchers, artillery and fuel storage were also destroyed by Russian jets, Konashenkov noted.

'Russian Su-34 bomber jet hit the terrorists' field artillery in the town of Meshiya, in Deir ez-Zor province. Surveillance confirmed the destruction of three artillery systems,' the Russian Defense Ministry's spokesman told journalists.

Also, according to Konashenkov, Russian aircraft bombed enemy rocket artillery positions and a fuel depot in the vicinity of the village of Bgelia in Deir ez-Zor province. 'Surveillance confirmed the destruction of two rocket artillery systems as well as detonation of the fuel stored at the facility,' he said.

'A Daesh field training camp in the vicinity of the village of Mreya in Deir ez Zor province was bombed. A militants' command post and barracks located on the premises were obliterated by direct hits,' Konashenkov said.

The Russian group's warplanes hit the terrorists as they fled Latakia being attacked by the Syrian Army, Konashekov said.

'Over the past 24 hours, Russian jets carried out 4 strikes on the terrorists near Jabal al-Akrad (Latakia province), who left their positions while being attacked by the Syrian Armed Forces and patriotic opposition units,' the spokesman said.

He also said that a Su-34 aircraft bombed a workshop in the vicinity of Hatla, which the militants were using to manufacture carbombs. Target data was actually provided by the Syrian opposition.

The terrorists' workshop was completely wiped out by the airstrike, Konashenkov added.

Moreover, Russia continues to provide humanitarian aid to Syria. On January 15, Russian aircraft delivered nearly 50 tons of humanitarian aid to Deir ez-Zor, the spokesman said.

'Russian Armed Forces continue conducting a humanitarian operation aimed at delivering supplies to the civilians trapped in the regions of Syria controlled by the militants. On January 15 a cargo plane of the Syrian Air Force using Rusian P-7 platforms airdropped a total of 50 tons worth of food supplies and basic necessities to the city of Deir ez-Zor,' the general said.

He also added that another humanitarian cargo is currently being prepared for delivery to the city of Deir ez-Zor which is currently being cut off by terrorists.

As Konashenkov said earlier, on January 18 'over 40 tons worth of humanitarian aid were dispatched to the residents of the city of Deir ez Zor and other regions.'

 Sputnik

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Russian Air Force Leads Aerial Bombardment of Terrorists in Eastern Syria

Sputnik News

14:34 20.01.2016(updated 14:42 20.01.2016)

Expectations were that the US-led coalition would make significant gains against terrorists in eastern Syria, but it has transpired that the Russian Air Force is up to the task of supporting Syrian troops battling Daesh there, German Economic News (DWN) reported.

Aerial support from the Russian Air Force for Syrian Arab Army troops defending eastern Syria from Daesh terrorist attacks is proving an effective tactic in an area where the US-led coalition was expected to lead efforts to eliminate the terrorist group, German Economic News (DWN) reported on Wednesday.

'It was expected that the US-led alliance will lead the fight against IS (Daesh) in the East,' DWN wrote.

'In order to capture the command center of the 137th Artillery Brigade, IS (Daesh) is increasingly relying on suicide bombings. At the weekend, IS (Daesh) began its biggest offensive on Deir-ez-Zor since December 2014.'

'Russia also comes to help Syria fight ISIS (Daesh) in the East,' reported DWN.

On Tuesday Al-Masdar News reported that Daesh had launched its fifth assault on the headquarters of the Syrian Arab Army's 137th Artillery Brigade close to Deir-ez-Zor military airport.

'This attempted advance by the terrorist group was immediately met by fierce resistance from the Syrian Arab Army soldiers protecting this strategic base near the Deir Ezzor Military Airport,' reported Al-Masdar News.

'Yesterday, ISIS declared control over the Missile Battalion Base at the southern perimeter of the Deir Ezzor Military Airport; however, this morning, several reports from the soldiers at the airbase revealed that the terrorist group was unable to maintain their ground as a result of the powerful Russian and Syrian airstrikes around the villages of Jafra and Al-Muri'iyah.'

'Clashes are still ongoing between the Syrian Arab Army's 104th Airborne Brigade and ISIS near the Radio Broadcast Tower in the Al-Baghayliyah District.'

On Tuesday Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov announced that the Russian air force had carried out 157 sorties across Syria over the previous four days, bombing 579 terrorist objects in Aleppo, Deir-ez-Zor, Homs, Hama, Raqqa and Latakia.

'Near al-Baghiliyah (Deir ez-Zor province), where the ISIS militants performed a massive execution of about 300 civilians in order to frighten citizens a day ago, a Russian Su-34 bomber made a strike on terrorists' strong points. Direct hits caused elimination of 3 heavy vehicles with ZU-23 systems, 2 off-roaders with heavy weapons and more than 60 terrorists,' the Defense Ministry reported.

The airstrikes were in support of Syrian Arab Army ground troops, who were carrying out offensives on Sunday that liberated the settlement from Daesh after the massacre.

'The army headed to this region to save the population. There were clashes with ISIL (Daesh) militants, they suffered significant casualties, the rest managed to flee to the neighboring areas controlled by ISIL (Daesh),' Mohammad Qaddur Ajnyyja, governor of Deir-ez-Zor, told Sputnik.

 Sputnik

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Street Warfare: Syrian Army Obliterates Jihadists in City of Aleppo

Sputnik News

08:51 20.01.2016(updated 09:03 20.01.2016)

The Syrian army has reportedly launched a fresh assault on militant groups in a spate of neighborhoods of the northern city of Aleppo, killing scores of terrorists.

Dozens of militants were killed and many more wounded after the Syrian Army and the country's National Defense Forces (NDF) launched a new offensive in at least five neighborhoods of the northern city of Aleppo, according to the Iranian news agency FARS.

'The militant groups' strongholds in the neighborhoods of al-Lairamoun, Bustan al-Basha, the Old City, al-Jaberiyeh and al-Sheikh Saeed came under attacks of the Syrian Army, which not only left tens of the militants killed or wounded but destroyed their military hardware,' FARS quoted the army sources as saying.

The sources added that 'scores of the militants were also killed or wounded in the army's offensive near the village of al-Mansoura in the western countryside of Aleppo city.'

In the past few weeks, Syrian forces have intensified their attacks on the militants' strongholds in different districts of the city of Aleppo, where the army was successful in pinning terrorists down behind their defensive lines.

In a separate development on Tuesday, the Syrian troops and the NDF targeted militants' strongholds across Aleppo province, including those located near the northeastern town of Tadif. The fighting reportedly left several terrorists dead and some more wounded.

Syrian army personnel fire a machine gun in Latakia province, about 12 miles from the border with Turkey, Syria (File)

 AP Photo/ Alexander Kots

Senior General: Syrian Army Begins Operation to Cut Off Daesh Supply Routes

The new offensives came a day after the army and the NDF managed to drive Daesh militants out of more areas in the eastern Syrian province of Deir Ezzor, regaining control of several strategic heights there, sources said.

Adding to the army's anti-Daesh effort is Russia's ongoing air campaign in Syria, which was launched on September 30, when more than fifty Russian warplanes, including Su-24M, Su-25 and Su-34 jets, commenced precision airstrikes on Daesh and al-Nusra Front targets at the behest of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

 Sputnik

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Turkish President Rules Out Return to Peace Process With Kurds

by Dorian Jones January 20, 2016

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ruled out any return to peace efforts with the PKK Kurdish rebel group, telling village representatives that the organization will be liquidated.

Erdogan said neither the separatist terror organization nor the party under its control nor other Kurd structures will ever be accepted as counterpart. The time for negotiating is over, he said.

Under Erdogan's leadership, a process existed with the PKK that resulted in a two-year cease-fire, which collapsed in July amid mutual recrimination.

Erdogan indicated the current military crackdown across the predominantly Kurdish southeast could extend across Turkey's borders, saying the PKK will be liquidated from the region.

The Kurdish rebel group has bases in neighboring Iraq, and Ankara has accused a Syrian Kurdish militia of links to the PKK.

Erdogan also said the current crackdown would extend to legal Kurdish representatives, adding that parliamentary deputies and mayors would be held to account. The pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party is already facing a number of criminal investigations.

Erdogan, however, did suggest new reforms could be introduced for Turkey's largest minority.

When Turkish security forces have entirely liquidated terrorists in the region, he said, a discussion will be held to find a radical solution to the issue.

Observers say past leaders in the more than three-decade-old conflict have attempted to impose solutions by force on the country's restive minority, all of which have failed. The PKK, which launched its insurgency in 1984, is designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

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Erdogan 'Abhors' Intelligentsia as 'Heartless and Despicable People'

Sputnik News

05:27 21.01.2016(updated 08:15 21.01.2016)

Turkey's president lambasted members of the academic community, including teachers and professors, who called for an end to the violence in the Kurdish southeast.

After repressing and imprisoning academics who sought an end to the ongoing violence in the southeastern region of Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan launched a vocal broadside against them in a speech to hundreds of regional mukhtars at his palace residence on Wednesday.

Erdogan accused academics of offering vocal political support for the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) over a period of many years. Castigating the academics verbally as 'intelligentsia,' the leader accused them of being immoral because they publicly labeled his so-called security operation against Kurds as a 'massacre.'

"For years, they had been making propaganda for the separatist terrorist organization in an indirect way. This time, with this statement they signed, they did it openly," Erdogan said.

The politically embattled president stated that politicians and intellectuals expressing opposition to his government for its brutal actions against the Kurds were 'heartless and despicable people.'

"Let me say this clearly: I abhor this mentality that gives academic or political fatwa (decree) to the terrorist organization to attack public officials while merely saying 'they should not do it' in response to the killing of civilians," Erdogan exclaimed.

Last week, Turkish authorities detained 18 academics after over 1,400 scholars from 89 universities signed a petition urging the government to "stop the massacre and deportation" of Kurds in the southeast of the country. The arrested teachers were accused of 'terrorist propaganda,' in a move which human rights groups and intellectuals around the world quickly condemned.

The academic community responded with a new, more forceful petition, Sputnik Turkey has reported.

 Sputnik

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Ukrainian Forces Shell Donetsk Region Settlements in Violation of Ceasefire

Sputnik News

07:21 21.01.2016

Ukrainian forces have shelled several settlements in the southeastern Donetsk region, despite the ceasefire agreed upon in Minsk, the Donetsk News Agency reports.

DONETSK (Sputnik)  There is no immediate information on damages or casualties, according to the source.

'At about 23:00 [20:00 GMT] Ukrainian servicemen started shelling the Trudovskiye settlement and the Alexandrovka settlement,' a source in the security services of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) told the Donetsk News Agency on Wednesday.

Kiev launched a special military operation in Ukraine's southeastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions in April 2014, after local residents refused to recognize the new Ukrainian authorities, which came to power as a result of a coup.

The self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics (DPR and LPR), established in Ukraine's southeast after the May 2014 independence referendums, have been calling for more autonomy from Kiev.

In February 2015, a peace agreement was signed between the two sides in the Belarusian capital, Minsk. The agreement has several provisions, including a full ceasefire, a weapons withdrawal from the line of contact in eastern Ukraine, and an all-for-all prisoner exchange.

Despite the Minsk peace deal, sporadic shelling continues in Ukraine's southeast.

 Sputnik

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English Latvian

Production of floating power plants, scrubbers (flue gas collection filters) and wastewater collection systems, alongside building and repairing new vessels, will enable the Riga Shipyard to reach new horizons. This vision for 2016 is conjured up by Mr Genadijs Slozkins, Head of the Shipbuilding Department of the Riga Shipyard, a joint-stock company. He points out that preparatory work has been carried out at an earlier stage, enabling the production and installation of new products hitherto not available from the Riga Shipyard. Namely, the Riga Shipyard has launched the so-called conversion programme which provided for the utilisation of production capacities not used for shipbuilding and ship repairs in the production of other products. The conversion programme already enables the Riga Shipyard not only to carry out modernisation of vessels and installation of new engines but also to carry out other works, such as extension of ships, development of technical designs for and production and installation of flue gas filters and ship wastewater collection systems, G. Slozkins explains. He reminds that an EU Directive has been adopted aiming to reduce ship-source pollution from wastewaters and flue gasses, therefore all ships will eventually have to be fitted with a wastewater collection system and flue gas filters. Any vessels undergoing repairs at the shipyard will have to be fitted with both scrubbers and ship wastewater collection systems. However, all these units must first be designed and produced before they can be installed; after that, installation is just a question of technique, G. Slozkins explains the process.

Production of floating power plants is planned to be started this year, too. A floating power plant producing electricity from sea swell has been built by the Riga Shipyard according to an order by Finnish company Vello previously. The power plant has been in operation for a few years now and experience has been acquired, resulting in conclusions as to the improvements to be made to the technical design of the plant, says G. Slozkins. He stresses that this is not a one-off project. Overall, 10 such power plants are to be built offshore near the coast of England within the space of five years. This project is financed from the EU Structural Funds 2015  2020 Programme, G. Slozkins explains.

The company focuses on the production of ready-made ships complete with equipment. Last year we got several new orders to build ships and hulls, these will be completed this year, G. Slozkins says. He reminds that three fish farming vessels are to be delivered to customers from Norway in 2016. The Riga Shipyard will implement a number of shipbuilding projects awarded thanks to cooperation with Nordic companies. Namely, six hulls will first be built in Riga, then completed in the Nordic countries, G. Slozkins says. He points out that this cooperation is mutually beneficial since it serves as a source of orders and good income for the Riga Shipyard, while enabling Nordic companies to develop faster.

Cooperation with Nexans, a company from Norway, will continue in 2016. An agreement has been signed for the supply of several coils of metal cable, G. Slozkins says. He points out that the Riga Shipyard has submitted a bid for the supply of large-size steel structures in a procurement tender for a Tallinn supermarket; the results will be known in the spring of 2016. Similarly, the Riga Shipyard is looking forward to the results of a procurement tender for steel structures for the construction of a tunnel to an island off the coast of Germany in which the Riga Shipyard too has submitted a tender bid.

All production capacities for ship repairs are already fully booked up for the first months this year, G. Slozkins says. He says that two Tallink ships are likely to undergo repairs in Riga as well. He points out that a number of cargo ships are also planned to be repaired at the Riga Shipyard. A new project for the construction of two ferries which will be running between England and one of its islands is also planned to be started, G. Slozkins adds. He confirms that development of the technical specifications of these ferries is under way and construction of the ferries may be started upon completion of the specifications. Overall, all of these developments will continue to contribute to the substantial improvement of the company's financial performance in 2016, he concludes.
Drilling to focus on aggressive R600W expansion and key exploration targets identified during the 2015 summer program

KELOWNA, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Jan. 21, 2016) - Fission Uranium Corp. (TSX:FCU)(OTCQX:FCUUF)(FRANKFURT:2FU) ("Fission" or "the Company") is pleased to announce the commencement of a $7.2M winter exploration program consisting of 11,800m in 35 holes of drilling and a 214 line-km airborne HeliSAM MMC (Magnetometric Conductivity) survey at its PLS property in Canada's Athabasca Basin. The drill program will include 10,000m in 29 holes of core (DDH) drilling and 1,800m in 6 holes of Reverse Circulation (RC) drilling. Drill program highlights are as follows:

Eighteen holes will focus on further growth of the high-grade, shallow mineralized zones including the R600W, R780E and R1620E. It should be noted that neither the R600W nor R1620E are yet included in the Triple R deposit resource estimate.

Eleven holes will test high-priority exploration targets, including closer follow up associated with the PLG-1B conductor, located 470m north of the R600W zone, where holes PL15-419 and PLS15-425 intersected anomalous radioactivity in the down-hole gamma survey (PLS15-419 with a maximum of 7,965 cps at 153.5m and PLS15-425 with a maximum of 4,168 cps at 100.8m).

Six RC exploration holes will test for basement bedrock uranium mineralization along the PLG-3B EM Conductor approximately 200m to 500m west along strike of the R600W zone.

Pre-collaring of the DDH core holes by the RC drill rigs has already begun and core drilling is expected to commence in the last week of January.

An advanced, tight-spaced airborne HeliSAM MMC survey is designed to obtain high-resolution geophysical detail of the bedrock within a particularly prospective area of the Patterson Lake Conductive Corridor including the Triple R's deposit and the 2.33km mineralized trend, with particular emphasis on hydrothermal clay alteration and structural controls to mineralization. The survey has the potential to identify specific areas with the greatest prospectivity of finding additional mineralization.

Ross McElroy, President, COO, and Chief Geologist for Fission, commented,

"We have entered a new and exciting phase at PLS, with three clear areas of focus. We will of course continue building on the resource size and associated economics of the Triple R deposit, which were established by the recently-completed Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA). We will also be targeting further growth of the high-grade R600W zone with a view to adding it to an updated Triple R resource estimate later this year as well as further evaluating the eastern R1620E zone. In addition, we will drill test a number of highly prospective and promising exploration targets, including five on the PLG-1B conductor as a follow up to the strong, anomalous alteration and radioactivity we encountered in two holes during the summer 2015 program. Altogether an exciting time for the company, particularly with the CGN Mining deal expected to close on or before January 28, 2016."

Key Technical Information

11,800m of drilling utilizing up to 3 diamond drill core rigs and 2 RC drill rigs.

Resource Growth Drilling: approximately 55% of the drill meter budget will be allocated towards resource growth and will be targeted as follows: R600W - seven holes R780E - six holes R1620E - five holes

Exploration Drilling: approximately 45% of the drill meter budget will be allocated towards exploration targeting, testing favorable high priority areas associated with bedrock alteration, structural features and radon anomalies along electromagnetic (EM) conductors as interpreted from geophysics surveys.

Prospective targets include:

PLG-1B EM Conductor - five holes Follow up of results from anomalous holes PLS15-419, 422 and 425 Holes will test down-dip and along strike of the anomalous radioactivity identified in hole PLS15-419 (peak of 7965 cps) and PLS15-425 (peak of 4168 cps)



PLG-3B West EM Conductor - two DDH core holes and six RC holes 1 DDH hole located 80m east of R600W between R600W and R00E zones where many strong radon anomalies have been identified 1 DDH hole located 135m west of R600W zone 3 RC holes drilled along a fence pattern across the conductor located 200m to the west of the R600W zone 3 RC holes drilled along a fence pattern across the conductor located 500m to the west of the R600W zone



PLG-3A EM Conductor - one hole 1 hole targeting the PLG-3A conductor approximately 1 km east of the high-grade uranium boulder field, where promising geophysical signatures including a resistivity low associated with flexures in the conductor are present.



Area B - one hole Area B represents an area of anomalous radon anomalies to the North-East of main Patterson Lake Corridor. The drill hole will follow up on the large brittle graphitic fault encountered in PLS15-323 over an 87m (down-hole) wide interval. Previous holes in this area failed to intersect this fault structure



Area C - one hole Area C represents an area of anomalous lake bottom spectrometer uranium readings. One hole will target the most prospective portion of this anomalous area.



Forrest Lake Conductive Corridor - one hole This target represents a gravity low coincident with a break in the PLV-41D EM conductor and thus may be a suitable location for focusing uranium mineralized fluids. One hole will evaluate this target.



Airborne geophysics - HeliSAM MMC (Magnetometric Conductivity) Survey 214 line-km helicopter supported airborne survey at 50m line-spacing with readings every 10m Survey will cover an area of 4.4 km x 2.4 km over a highly prospective section of the Patterson Lake Conductive Corridor, which includes the 2.33km trend of mineralization (including the Triple R deposit and R600W and R1620E zones) associated with the PLG-3B EM conductor and also the highly prospective PLG-1B EM conductor where 3 holes PLS15-419, PLS15-422 and PLS15-425 encountered anomalous radioacitivity and highly prospective clay alteration. The survey will be evaluated as an alternative to more expensive ground DC Resistivity surveys for the detailed resolution of low-resistivity. This survey has the potential to detect structures and alteration features that may be associated with uranium mineralized systems. The potential exists to detect new mineralization with this system, because of the tight lines-spacing, and because the ground is energized in a much different manner than a conventional 200 m line-spaced pole-dipole resistivity method



Environmental Baseline and Community Engagement Working with Canada North Environmental Services (CanNorth) Fission will continue with its baseline environmental monitoring and advance its Community Engagement efforts with local stakeholders



The diamond drill coring contract has been awarded to Bryson Drilling, of Archeville, SK. RC Drilling, has been awarded to Northspan Explorations Ltd. of Kelowna, BC. The winter drill program follows six prior programs that have seen unprecedented success in the uranium sector and delivered a world class, large, shallow depth, high-grade uranium resource now known as the Triple R deposit.

PLS Mineralized Trend & Triple R Deposit Summary

Uranium mineralization at PLS has been traced by core drilling approximately 2.33km of east-west strike length in four separate mineralized "zones". From west to east, these zones are: R600W, R00E, R780E and R1620E.

The discovery hole of what is now referred to as the Triple R uranium deposit was announced on November 05, 2012 with drill hole PLS12-022, from what is considered part of the R00E zone. Through successful exploration programs completed to date, it has evolved into a large, near surface, basement hosted, structurally controlled high-grade uranium deposit.

The Triple R deposit consists of the R00E zone on the western side and the much larger R780E zone further on strike to the east. Within the deposit, the R00E and R780E zones have an overall strike length of approximately 1.2km with the R00E measuring approximately 125m in strike length and the R780E zones measuring approximately 900m in strike length. A 225m gap separates the R00E zone to the west and the R780E zones to the east, though sporadic narrow, weakly mineralized intervals from drill holes within this gap suggest the potential for further significant mineralization in this area. The R780E zones are located beneath Patterson Lake which is approximately six metres deep in the area of the deposit. The entire Triple R deposit is covered by approximately 50 m of overburden.

Mineralization remains open along strike both to the western and eastern extents. Mineralization is both located within and associated with a metasedimentary lithologic corridor, associated with the PL-3B basement Electro-Magnetic (EM) Conductor. Recent very positive drill results returning wide and strongly mineralized intersections approximately 555m west of the Triple R deposit, have significantly upgraded the R600W zone to a very prospective area for further growth of the PLS resource.

An updated map can be found on the Company's website at http://fissionuranium.com/project/pls/.

Samples from the drill core will be split in half sections on site. Where possible, samples will be standardized at 0.5m down-hole intervals. One-half of the split sample will be sent to SRC Geoanalytical Laboratories (an SCC ISO/IEC 17025: 2005 Accredited Facility) in Saskatoon, SK for analysis which includes U3O8 (wt %) and fire assay for gold, while the other half will remain on site for reference. Analysis will include a 63 element ICP-OES, and boron.

Patterson Lake South Property

The 31,039 hectare PLS project is 100% owned and operated by Fission Uranium Corp. PLS is accessible by road with primary access from all-weather Highway 955, which runs north to the former Cluff Lake mine and passes through the nearby UEX-Areva Shea Creek discoveries located 50km to the north, currently under active exploration and development.

The technical information in this news release has been prepared in accordance with the Canadian regulatory requirements set out in National Instrument 43-101 and reviewed on behalf of the company by Ross McElroy, P.Geol., President and COO for Fission Uranium Corp., a qualified person.

About Fission Uranium Corp.

Fission Uranium Corp. is a Canadian-based resource company specializing in the strategic exploration and development of the Patterson Lake South uranium property - host to the world-class Triple R uranium deposit - and is headquartered in Kelowna, British Columbia. Common Shares are listed on the TSX Exchange under the symbol "FCU" and trade on the OTCQX marketplace in the U.S. under the symbol "FCUUF." Fission announced on July 6, 2015 that it had entered into an agreement whereby shareholders of Fission will receive, subject to the terms and conditions of the agreement, 1.26 common shares of Denison Mines Corp. and $0.0001 per common shares of Fission Uranium Corp. (the 'Transaction'). The Transaction is subject to conditions including approval by the Fission and Denison shareholders.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Ross McElroy, President and COO

Cautionary Statement:

Certain information contained in this press release constitutes "forward-looking information", within the meaning of Canadian legislation. Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur", "be achieved" or "has the potential to". Forward-looking statements contained in this press release may include statements regarding the future operating or financial performance of Fission and Fission Uranium which involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties which may not prove to be accurate. Actual results and outcomes may differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in these forward-looking statements. Such statements are qualified in their entirety by the inherent risks and uncertainties surrounding future expectations. Among those factors which could cause actual results to differ materially are the following: market conditions and other risk factors listed from time to time in our reports filed with Canadian securities regulators on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The forward-looking statements included in this press release are made as of the date of this press release and the Company and Fission Uranium disclaim 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 expressly required by applicable securities legislation.
TORONTO, Jan. 21, 2016 /CNW/ - Vena Resources Inc. (the "Company" or "Vena") (TSX: VEM, Peru: VEM, Germany: V1RA, USA: VNARF) announces that the Company has appointed Jose Roberto de Romana Letts as Chairman and Martin Walter as Chief Executive Officer. The Company has accepted the resignations of interim CEO Nicholas Appleyard, who has resigned to pursue a full time position with TriStar Gold Inc., and Juan Vegarra, the Company's founder whose resignation relates to a further management transition post the Company's amalgamation with Forrester Resources Corporation in September 2014.

Roberto de Romana Letts has strong ties in the Peruvian mining sector. Mr. de Romana is also a director of a number of successful Peruvian companies involved in a variety of industries.

Martin Walter, Vena's Chief Executive Officer stated, "On behalf of the Board I would like to take this opportunity to thank Nick Appleyard for joining Vena at a time of transition and for stepping up and taking on the position of interim CEO. We wish him the best with Tristar Gold. I also want to thank Juan Vegarra, Vena's founder, who brought together great properties, a great local team and steered Vena through numerous challenges over the years. As Vena fully transitions to a new management team, we wish Juan the best in his future endeavours."

In other news, the Company announces that it has filed on SEDAR a supplement to its 2015 Management Information Circular (the "Supplement") dated May 12, 2015. The Supplement includes the gender diversity disclosure required by items 10 to 15 of National Instrument 58-101F1  Corporate Governance Disclosure.

The TSX does not accept the responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE Vena Resources Inc.
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Jan. 21, 2016) -

NOT FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES OR FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER OF THE SECURITIES DESCRIBED HEREIN.

MCW Energy Group Ltd. ("MCW") (TSX VENTURE:MCW)(OTCQX:MCWEF), a Canadian holding company involved in the development of environmentally-friendly oil sands technologies and the production of oil from Utah's vast oil sands deposits, announces the following:

Bill G. Calsbeck's resignation from the board of directors of MCW. Mr. Calsbeck, a director of TS Energy Ltd., the license holder of MCW's extraction technology in Canada, is directing his efforts on developing and promoting the license in Canada. The board would like to thank Mr. Calsbeck for his numerous contributions to MCW over the last few years as MCW has completed the construction of its oil sands extraction plant in Utah and commenced production.

In addition, MCW advises that the news release dated November 24, 2015 should have said that, pursuant to the shares for debt agreement, MCW will issue 112,378 common shares in satisfaction of US$35,000 of indebtedness currently owed to a senior officer of MCW for accrued and unpaid fees. The agreement remains subject to final approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

On November 9, 2015, MCW announced it had entered into four shares for debt agreements, pursuant to which MCW will issue an aggregate of 5,674,719 common shares in satisfaction of US$2,626,945.76 of indebtedness currently owed by its subsidiaries to three lenders (5,175,478 common shares in satisfaction of US$2,395,836.17 of indebtedness to one arm's length lender and 499,241 common shares in satisfaction of US$231,109.59 of indebtedness to two lenders controlled by Aleksandr Blyumkin, an officer and director of MCW).

The shares for debt agreements, dated October 26, 2015, have not been successfully completed and have been amended pursuant to which MCW will issue an aggregate of 29,028,456 common shares in satisfaction of US$2,686,162.05 of indebtedness (US$2,626,945.76 plus additional accrued and unpaid interest to January 20, 2016) (26,473,642 common shares in satisfaction of US$2,449,751.10 of indebtedness to one arm's length lender (including 12,968,000 common shares which have been assigned to a creditor of the arm's length lender) and 2,554,814 common shares in satisfaction of US$236,410.96 of indebtedness to two lenders controlled by Mr. Blyumkin). The shares will be issued upon acceptance by the TSX Venture Exchange. The common shares issued in satisfaction of the indebtedness will be subject to a four month hold period from the date of issuance.

The transactions with Mr. Blyumkin are "related party transactions" as defined under Multilateral Instrument 61-101 ("MI 61-101"). Each of the proposed shares for debt transactions with Mr. Blyumkin are exempt from the formal valuation approval requirements of MI 61-101 as none of the securities of MCW are listed on a prescribed stock exchange. The proposed shares for debt transactions are exempt from the minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 as at the time the transactions were agreed to, neither the fair market value of the transactions, nor the fair market value of the consideration for, the transactions, insofar as it involves interested parties, exceeded 25% of MCW's market capitalization.

About MCW Energy Group Limited

MCW Energy Group Ltd. is focused on value creation via the development and implementation of (i) proprietary, environmentallyfriendly oil sands extraction technologies and remedial tailings ponds project solutions, (ii) expanding production capacities of its now operational oil sands project in Asphalt Ridge, Utah, and (iii) the formulation of worldwide joint ventures and the licensing of oil sand opportunities with private and governmental resource entities within countries possessing extensive oil sands/shale deposits. MCW's management team is comprised of individuals who have extensive knowledge in both conventional and unconventional oil and gas projects and production, both in upstream and downstream industry sectors.

The information in this news release includes certain information and statements about management's view of future events, expectations, plans and prospects that constitute forward looking statements. These statements are based upon assumptions that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Because of these risks and uncertainties and as a result of a variety of factors, the actual results, expectations, achievements or performance may differ materially from those anticipated and indicated by these forward looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this news release, include, but are not limited to, the approval of the shares for debt transaction by the TSX Venture Exchange, the commercial viability of the technology and the extraction plant, economic performance and future plans and objectives of MCW, and the commercial production of oil from MCW's oil sands extraction plant in Asphalt Ridge, Utah. Any number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements as well as future results. Although MCW believes that the expectations reflected in forward looking statements are reasonable, they can give no assurances that the expectations of any forward looking statements will prove to be correct. Except as required by law, MCW disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward looking statements to reflect actual results, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions, changes in factors affecting such forward looking statements or otherwise.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

The securities referred to in this news release have not been, nor will they be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons absent U.S. registration or an applicable exemption from the U.S. registration requirements. This news release does not constitute an offer for sale of securities for sale, nor a solicitation for offers to buy any securities. Any public offering of securities in the United States must be made by means of a prospectus containing detailed information about the company and management, as well as financial statements.
Henrietta's Chicken Shop and Bar, Flinders Lane. Photo: Supplied

Former Albert Street Food & Wine restaurant managers Ruth Giffney and Stuart Brookshaw have turned the first sod on a permanent home off Flinders Lane for their long-time-coming chicken shop, Henrietta's.

After a trial run with a pop-up in Queenscliff last summer the pair know exactly what they're after  smoking coals, super-salads and rotisserie chickens, "Our take on a classic Aussie charcoal chicken shop," says Brookshaw.

Expecting to open mid-February, they're turning the space into an all-day restaurant and bar with around 90 seats  takeaway is encouraged with the option to pre-order. It's already licensed; expect locally sourced craft beers.

Charcoal chicken at Henrietta's. Photo: Supplied

"You'll walk in and there'll be a front counter with all produce on display, Ottolenghi style, and anywhere you sit you'll be able to see the rotisserie," says Brookshaw, who's planning booth and bar-style seating with the assistance of Upfront Concepts.

Specialising in rare, heritage breed chooks (they're currently working with Milawa), brined for 24 hours before slow cooking over hot coals, it'll just be a case of deciding how much to order  a quarter, half or a whole.

Sit up at the bar, pick a couple of sides from a rotation of 20 hot and cold salads and knock back a gin and tonic slushie while you wait for your bird. Experiments are under way for a "surprise savoury soft serve"  you'll have to stay tuned.

Once it's up and running the pair plan to offer an all-day service from 11am-11pm Monday to Saturday, working towards a tentative opening date of February 17. If all goes to plan there are pop-ups headed for Dubai and Montreal  taking Australian charcoal chicken to the world.

Henrietta's Chicken Shop & Bar, Shop 7 Fulham Place (off Flinders Lane), henriettas.com
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By Steven Zeitchik Los Angeles Times (Tns)

There were more than 40 mass shootings in the United States last year, prompting many politicians to hold forth and a large number of Americans to simply shake their heads. What needed to happen, they asked, for these tragedies to stop?

Now a new group is entering the debate: independent filmmakers.

When the Sundance Film Festival begins Thursday, it will do so with a rare accumulation of movies about the subject of gun safety. All of them hope to raise questions, if not provide solutions, in a place that has long been a ground zero for cultural movements.

"Every conversation has to start somewhere, and sometimes that somewhere is Park City," Utah, said AJ Schnack, a documentary-film veteran who, with the input of Oscar winner Laura Poitras, has directed "Speaking Is Difficult," a short about gun violence that will premiere at the festival. "Clearly everyone's been talking about the issue, but the hope is that by talking about it artistically we can have a different kind of conversation."

Schnack's movie, a powerfully arranged collection of both everyday footage and 911 calls, is one of several films across both documentary and narrative categories to tackle mass shootings, defined by federal statute as the murder by gunfire of at least three people.

Others include Kim Snyder's community portrait "Newtown," the Katie Couric-produced policy piece "Under the Gun" and even a scripted film, Tim Sutton's "The Dark Night." An impressionistic tale set during the prelude to a movie-theater shooting, "Night" is loosely based on the tragedy at a multiplex in Aurora, Colo., in 2012 during a screening of "The Dark Knight Rises" that claimed the lives of 12 people.

Historically, Sundance, the nation's most prestigious film festival, has displayed a flair for setting a cultural agenda. A decade ago, Davis Guggenheim's "An Inconvenient Truth" helped kickstart a climate-change movement, and Gabriela Cowperthwaite's "Blackfish" in 2013 was the beginning of a long campaign to influence a policy shift at Sea World.

But rarely do multiple movies on a single issue come along at the same time, and from so many different angles.

While "Under the Gun," directed by past Couric collaborator Stephanie Soechtig, examines many of the policy aspects more directly, Snyder's piece, about the December 2012 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School, is concerned primarily with the aftermath of gun violence in one community.

Legislative questions are not addressed, and even the killer's name is not mentioned. Instead, viewers are given wrenching access to a place that more than three years later continues to grapple with an attack that claimed the lives of 26 victims, many of them small children.

"I have this need to know what he experienced," Mark Barden, who lost a son in the attack, says in heartbreaking tones. Imagine, he continues "try(ing) to interpret what your 7-year-old experienced as he's being murdered in his first-grade classroom."

Or David Wheeler, another parent who lost a child at Sandy Hook, says of what he and his wife Francine have endured since their son Ben was killed. "We're all terrified of forgetting what he looked like or sounded like."

Snyder, a New York-based filmmaker, traveled to Newtown just weeks after the attack and slowly won the trust of an understandably guarded community. She said she hoped to show both the tragic effects of violence and the resilience that can emerge in its wake.

"This film is not an either/or policy piece," she said of her movie, which is one of the most emotionally devastating movies this Sundance veteran has seen in some time. "I was trying to create a portrait of a collective trauma, and do it in a way that becomes universal. I think it speaks more to the issue of how a society deals with grief."

An even more observational style characterizes the work of Sutton, a veteran narrative filmmaker who here offers an homage to Gus van Sant's 2003 Cannes prize winner "Elephant" in exploring the topic.

Taking a restrained, meditative approach, he follows a series of largely young people in a suburban town on the day a movie-theater attack will soon take place. Sutton subverts expectations of who the shooter is while also reveling in the kind of banalities that heighten the effect of the impending brutality. "This (movie) is going to be amazing," said one young moviegoer later in the film as she sat down in the theater, just after she compliments her friend on her eyeliner.

Though he describes himself as politically to the left and in favor of more gun restrictions, Sutton's film contains no overt ideology, and he said he had little desire to offer a policy rebuke. He hoped instead to offer exposure to the people who are affected by gun violence and, especially via long takes of a character cleaning and maintaining his gun, the weapons themselves.

"I wanted to show guns and the space they occupy in suburban America," Sutton, who grew up with modest exposure to guns in upstate New York, said. "They're always around, and yet for a lot of people the only time they see them is in a Michael Bay movie. I wanted to get the audience really close to them, but not in a sensational or glitzy way."

He added, "I didn't want to explain or judge (gun usage); i just wanted to observe. It's just a portrait of America right now."

But while almost everyone behind these pieces says they want to stay away from policy prescriptions on gun ownership, they are all motivated by a growing political dissatisfaction. The last five months of 2015 alone, they noted, saw brutal tragedies in locations as varied as Roseburg, Ore., Houston and San Bernadino.

"I think it's the zeitgeist," said Maria Cuomo Cole, who produced "Newtown." "It's burgeoning and burgeoning, and we are horrified and move on, then are horrified and move on again. As Americans we're not very good at paying attention long-term; we're mobilized and then fall back into our patterns."

These films, she says, can create a more enduring reminder of the issue's potency. (They also, it should be said, aim to offer an indie-film corrective of sorts to mainstream Hollywood, which on movie screens continues to glamorize gun violence.?)

Gun safety has occasionally flickered across the Sundance radar. In 2014, for instance, William H. Macy's narrative piece "Rudderless," about a campus shooting, closed the festival. But these new movies seethe in a different way, complementing and compounding one another. Taken together, they yield a composite portrait of a creative class angered by inaction.

Schnack's movie, which will debut in the coming months as part of a new season of the Field of Vision documentary series, stacks 911 calls from mass shootings  people in hushed scared tones speaking from hiding spots during the attacks to officious operators with a depressing repetiveness The idea that each time seems new and urgent to those victims is contrasted with the viewer's growing sense of how familiar these calls have become.

Only when the film culminates in a speech from shooting victim and former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D.-Ariz.) is there some emotional release, and hope for a policy solution.

But whether these works of cinema can sway opinion is an open question. Even the most optimistic filmmakers say they know there are limits to how much they can move the needle on an issue on which many voters have long made up their minds. (That point was underscored recently when Taya Kyle, widow of "American Sniper" protagonist Chris Kyle, wrote a strongly worded op-ed for CNN arguing against gun safety laws.) The entrenched opinions on the issue, the filmmakers acknowledge, are infinitely more complex than the politics of responsibility articulated by movies like "Blackfish."

Sundance filmmakers must also contend with the idea that they are simply speaking to the converted, particularly in a left-leaning industry like the independent-film business. As influential as the festival is among tastemakers and media elite, only a few movies each year, at most, break out in the larger culture and carry the possibility of reshaping a debate.

Festival organizers say they had no agenda in programming these movies. They simply slotted in the films because they saw a wave of powerful stories.

"I thought I knew a lot about Newtown before I saw this movie," said festival director John Cooper.

"And then I saw it and it changed my perception. You can be callous in looking at news stories in a way you don't when you're watching a film," he added. "That's why I think these movies can really help change the way you think."

Either way, the festival and independent film world at large is unlikely to see the number of such movies slow down. Like Middle East war documentaries and other sprawling areas, the 2016 crop of gun movies may be less a moment than the beginning of a wave.

"As long as the problem doesn't go away," said Sutton, "neither will the films."
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By Michael Phillips Chicago Tribune (Tns)

Earlier this week, dealing with the controversy over the 20-out-of-20 whiteness ratio in this year's Oscar-nominated performers, Academy for Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Cheryl Boone Isaacs issued a statement of regret and, within that, a statement of intention.

"While we celebrate their extraordinary achievements," wrote Boone Isaacs, the first African-American president in the academy's history, "I am both heartbroken and frustrated about the lack of inclusion. This is a difficult but important conversation, and it's time for big changes. The Academy is taking dramatic steps to alter the makeup of our membership. In the coming days and weeks we will conduct a review of our membership recruitment in order to bring about much-needed diversity in our 2016 class and beyond."

She added, "the mandate is inclusion in all of its facets: gender, race, ethnicity and sexual orientation."

We have been here before with the Oscars. Last year, in fact. The Academy Awards handed out a year ago also confined itself to a list of actresses and actors, in lead and supporting ranks, reflecting a monolithically white talent roster. It's not a matter of implementing some kind of unofficial quota. It's a matter of recognizing what's there, in front of the academy's face. It's talent going unrecognized, from Idris Elba in "Beasts of No Nation" on down.

Many of us have our particular examples of head-smacking Oscar nomination exclusions in front of and behind the camera. Last year it was certifiably ignorant for Ava DuVernay, director of "Selma," not to receive an Oscar nomination. This year it was certifiably ignorant for Ryan Coogler, director of "Creed," not to receive an Oscar nomination. It was certifiably ignorant for Michael B. Jordan, giving a sturdy, old-fashioned star performance, not to receive a best actor nod for "Creed." And while I have problems with "Straight Outta Compton," it sends an amusingly clueless message to nominate only white folks from "Compton" (for screenplay) and from "Creed" (Sylvester Stallone, a prime candidate for the best supporting actor prize).

Spike Lee declared Monday that he would boycott the Oscars this year. So did Jada Pinkett Smith, whose husband, Will Smith, stars in "Concussion" and didn't get the nomination some think he deserved.

Decades from now, maybe it'll be easier to discuss the Oscars without breaking everything down by ethnicity and gender. We'll only need to change the entire makeup of the academy membership, not to mention the power structure of the film industry, for that to happen.

Last week "Straight Outta Compton" and "Ride Along 2" producer Will Packer wrote this on Facebook: "The academy's voting record is only part of the issue. These films/performances and the scripts that drive them often go into development YEARS before they are released and thus in Oscar contention. We need more content produced by, written by, directed by and featuring filmmakers and actors of color being given the greenlight.  We need them to start moving forward this year so in 2019 there are quality projects in contention."

Packer added: "It's a complete embarrassment to say that the heights of cinematic achievement have only been reached by white people. I repeat  it's embarrassing."

Packer was right: It bears repeating.

In 2012 the Los Angeles Times published a story revealing what many already knew in their bones, and from the pattern of nominees over the years. Based on a sample of nearly 90 percent of the 6,000-plus academy members, the Times concluded that more than 90 percent of voters were white and more than 70 percent were male. Even so, what gives? Even a mass of solidly entrenched older white males should be able to recognize talent on the order of Coogler.

Earlier this month, accepting the LA Film Critics Association's New Generation Award, the "Creed" director noted that it wouldn't hurt what's left of the critical community to diversify its own ranks. He said he appreciated the critical response to his work and that "in this world of Rotten Tomatoes and clickbait," strong, independent critical voices are more valuable than ever. But he challenged those in attendance to "find the diversity  find the next Justin Chang," referring to Variety's chief film critic.

Academy President Boone Isaacs was right to express her frustration with the nominations this year. Now comes the hard work. Now it's up to her to make sure the academy membership  one year, five years, a decade from now  goes beyond the pale. But it starts with the studios.

They need to go there first.
FILE - In this Oct. 11, 2014 file photo an Iranian worker assembles a Peugeot 206 at the state-run Iran-Khodro automobile manufacturing plant near Tehran, Iran. Auto manufacturing is one field where interest could be strong. Before sanctions, Iran was a major market for Frances Peugeot. Iran with lots of infrastructure and vehicles is way overdue for an upgrade after years of sanctions. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, file)

SHARE FILE - In this June 2003 file photo a Boeing 747 of Iran's national airline is parked at Mehrabad International airport in Tehran, Iran. U.S. plane maker Boeing Co. still faces hurdles. "There are many steps that need to be taken should we decide to sell airplanes to Iran's airlines. For now, we continue to assess the situation," said Boeing spokesman Marc Sklar. In 2014, Boeing received a U.S. Treasury license to export to Iran spare parts needed to keep Iran's older Boeing planes safe. (AP Photo/Hasan Sarbakhshian, file) FILE - In this July 14, 2012 file photo two potential Iranian customers look at fabric bolts in Tehran's old main bazaar, Iran, as two merchants sit at left. Although Iran is a big market, it has big problems. It ranked 119th out of 189 economies in the World Banks ease of doing business index, which measures obstacles posed by bureaucracy, slow public services and taxation. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, file) In this photo taken Dec. 10, 2015 the headquarters of Deutsche Bank is pictured in Frankfurt, Germany. Deutsche Bank, Germanys biggest, withdrew from Iran in 2007 and says that until further notice it isnt doing any business connected to Iran. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

By DAVID McHUGH and DAVID KOENIG, AP Business Writers

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP)  With many barriers to dealing with Iran suddenly lifted as part of a deal to curb its nuclear activities, some European companies are ready to seize business opportunities in a tempting market of 78.5 million people.

At first glance, the allure is obvious  the second-largest economy in the Middle East-North Africa region after Saudi Arabia; the second most populous country after Egypt; and with lots of infrastructure and vehicles way overdue for an upgrade after years of sanctions.

Once inspectors confirmed that Iran was taking steps to curb its nuclear program, the United States and European Union on Saturday dropped many of the economic sanctions that have been keeping foreign companies from doing business there.

But those that take the plunge face serious risks from the remaining sanctions relating to other issues, from geopolitical uncertainty and from red tape and corruption.

Here's a look at who might be interested  and the hazards they will face if they venture in.

WHO'S HOT TO GO IN

Auto manufacturing is one field where interest could be strong. Before sanctions, Iran was a major market for France's Peugeot. One of the first out of the blocks after the announcement was Daimler AG's truck division, which on Monday announced joint ventures with Iranian partners that will enable it to restart its business there  a presence that went back to 1953 before being interrupted by sanctions from 2010 to 2016. Daimler foresees joint production of trucks and engines and a marketing company; it plans to reopen its representative office in the first three months of this year.

Division head Wolfgang Bernhard said in a statement he saw "huge demand" for commercial vehicles in Iran, where the company's Mercedes-Benz brand is well-known.

The president of the Federation of German Industries, Ulrich Grillo, said that "Iran's need for making up lost ground in modernizing its industrial infrastructure is extraordinarily large," adding exports could double in five years from 2.4 billion euros ($2.6 billion) a year currently.

From their side, Iranian officials are touting the investment possibilities. In Davos at the World Economic Forum on Wednesday, presidential chief of staff Mohammad Agha Nahavandian told The Associated Press that Iran was in "very advanced" talks with Airbus about the purchase of an unspecified number of planes. He declined to comment ahead of a visit by President Hassan Rouhani to Paris later this month.

WHO'S NOT

Deutsche Bank, Germany's biggest, withdrew from Iran in 2007 and says that until further notice it isn't doing any business connected to Iran.

The company didn't go into the reasons, but it's hard to overlook the $258 million in penalties it agreed in November to pay to U.S. banking regulators for dealings with Iran and other countries in violation of earlier rounds of sanctions. More trouble with U.S. regulators is the last thing the bank wants.

There are further risks for financial companies. The lifting of the sanctions imposed over Iran's nuclear program means it is now possible to do financial transactions in and out of Iran and to offer bank accounts. But other sanctions remain in place over Iran's human rights record and what the U.S. authorities say is its support for terrorism. Many of those sanctions bar financial dealings with dozens of specific individuals; any bank would have to be certain it was not dealing with one of them or a company controlled by one of them.

And the nuclear deal has a "snap-back" provision meaning sanctions could be quickly re-imposed if Iran is found not to be complying  more uncertainty.

Thomas Schlueter, spokesman for the Association of German Banks, said members were "examining what is possible and what is not possible."

WHY NOT

Although Iran is a big market, it has big problems. It ranked 119th out of 189 economies in the World Bank's ease-of-doing-business index, which measures obstacles posed by bureaucracy, slow public services and taxation. It finished 136th of 175 countries in the corruption perceptions index compiled by Transparency International.

Moreover, Iran is deeply involved in the violence convulsing the Middle East through its local supporters in Iraq and Syria, and tensions have risen sharply recently with regional rival Saudi Arabia. Disruption from conflict and politics is always a possibility.

Industrial companies must be wary of yet more sanctions that bar the import of dual-use goods that could be used to make nuclear weapons.

Germany's VDMA industrial machinery association warns that firms themselves will need to understand the complex rules, and not rely on government help. More than 100 participants have shown up for the association's information sessions on the end of the sanctions regime, it said.

ACROSS THE POND

American firms have to be much more cautious still. Deal or no deal, U.S. sanctions not related to the nuclear program will still be in place and those bar most American companies from doing business with Iran.

The deal drops so-called secondary sanctions, which were aimed at non-U.S. entities. But primary sanctions barring involvement by U.S. individuals and companies in Iran predating the nuclear controversy largely remain intact, according to guidance from U.S. officials issued Saturday. That means U.S. companies are still broadly barred from doing business with Iran, with a few exceptions such as selling passenger aircraft and parts and importing rugs, pistachio nuts and caviar.

There is little doubt that some companies, from aviation to oil, are interested, if rules allow. But they could believe that the situation is still too foggy  that the next administration might re-impose sanctions. Even after implementation of the nuclear deal, the Obama administration announced new sanctions over Iran's ballistic missile program.

U.S. interests can sell food, medicine, farm products and some other goods to Iran, "but aside from these areas, the U.S. embargo is still fully intact," Richard Nephew, a former sanctions-policy official at the State Department and now at Columbia University, said in an email.

Plane makers such as Airbus and rival Boeing Co. still face hurdles, including the need for export licenses. "There are many steps that need to be taken should we decide to sell airplanes to Iran's airlines. For now, we continue to assess the situation," said Boeing spokesman Marc Sklar.

In 2014, Boeing received a U.S. Treasury license to export to Iran spare parts needed to keep Iran's older Boeing planes safe. Iran's airlines have among the oldest fleets in the world at 23 to 27 years on average, according to the Centre for Aviation, an airline data and analysis firm based in Australia.

U.S. oil companies still face additional restrictions that make it unlikely they'll be working in Iran in the short term to help it exploit its oil and gas reserves. A spokesman for Exxon Mobil Corp., the biggest U.S. oil company, declined to comment. Chevron Corp. and ConocoPhillips did not immediately respond to inquiries.

___

Koenig contributed from Dallas. Associated Press Writer Greg Keller contributed from Paris.
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By Jennifer Rios

GUNNISON, Colo.  The prosecutors case against Frederick Mueller may be dismissed this morning by Judge Steven Patrick if he sides with the defense that the state failed to present its case.

In a motion presented Monday afternoon, after the state rested, defense attorney Roger Sagal argued there was no evidence that put Mueller at the log where his wife was found, none that linked the scratches on his face to his wifes gloves, and no evidence that he deliberated before carrying out the act.

They focused on suspicion on whether his story is accurate, Sagal said, but thats not evidence of first-degree murder.

He called Jeanne Barnes testimony, that Mueller once talked about divorce, as the weakest evidence of motive Ive ever heard and that it could in no way erase the good, positive, loving deeds and acts that took place over 27 years of marriage between Mueller and his wife.

Sagal then turned to the scene  saying the state hasnt proved when or where Leslie Mueller died along Cottonwood Creek or connected evidence of an altercation between husband and wife.

They tried to find any evidence connecting Mr. Mueller to that log, and they didnt find any, Sagal said.

Prosecuting attorney Matt Durkin pointed to buoyancy principles, flotation principles and common sense. He repeatedly pointed out that there was no natural way for Leslie Muellers head to be lodged under the log, and only one person could have put it there.

All of the intent, all of the deliberation is wrapped up in where Dr. Mueller was found, where she was recovered by Justin Sparks, Durkin said, pointing especially to the two previous days of testimony.

He pointed to testimony that Muellers story changed when he went home to Texas, that he had discussed divorce, and shared thoughts that he wouldnt let some woman dictate when he would be allowed to see his kids.

Frederick Mueller is accused of killing Leslie Mueller near their vacation home in Lake City, Colo., about 55 miles south of Gunnison. The two had three children  two daughters who have been in the courtroom during the trial, and a son who was on the prosecutions list of possible witnesses.

Deemed an accident at the time, her death was subsequently investigated by local law enforcement authorities who did not believe the account of events given by Frederick Mueller.

He said his wife had fallen off a cliff-side trail to her death. Her body was found in a creek, her head submerged beneath a log.

Mueller was arrested in San Angelo last February and has remained in Gunnison County Jail since his extradition. He is expected to remain in custody throughout the trial, which started Jan. 7.

On Tuesday morning, Cmdr. Eric Berg, of the San Miguel County Sheriffs Office, was called to the stand by District Attorney Dan Hotsenpiller.

Berg testified that he was contacted May 7, 2008, by Colorado Bureau of Investigation Agent Jack Haynes. Exhibit 201, a large aerial photo that showed the area from the fall site to the recovery site, was set up before jurors as Berg described its characteristics. He returned to the site April 29, 2009, to meet with the hydrographer called to assist in the case.

He testified about the tests performed in 2009  both with the mannequin and with the live body  and how the mannequin was dressed similarly to Leslie the day she died. He said a few changes in her wardrobe likely would not affect her buoyancy significantly.

Testing on the video took place over Aug. 4 and 5, 2009, and tests were not shown in chronological order, but organized geographically with tests beginning in the V area near the granite rock where Leslie allegedly fell.

Caroline Mitchell, associate professor of sociology at Western State University and volunteer for the states float test, testified later in the day.

She was shown face down in various positions starting on the rock. She was moved about a foot after one-minute increments until the stream begins to flush her over the stream. Berg was there to catch her each time so she didnt go over the fall.

I couldnt let that happen, he said about her falling.

Mitchell was wearing a wet suit under jeans, a sweater and jacket  similar to what Leslie was wearing the day she died. Tests were done with various buoyancy levels going down to about 6 pounds negative buoyancy.

Also shown was an extension of the test by putting a mannequin in the water and placing it in various places in the stream until it was at a spot where the water carried it down the waterfall. An underwater video camera was used to record what happened with the mannequin at the bottom of each pool.

The mannequin didnt really move through the water course without external influence, Berg said.

Berg testified that Mitchell never floated to the area underneath the log where Leslie was found.

He testified there was no way a body could have floated into the position described by Justin Sparks.

Its too shallow to get there, he said.

Her legs were together, and the current would have spread her legs out, he said, and as it continued to flow, the water would have rotated the body with her feet to the left until her body lay parallel against the log.

Natural forces did not deposit Leslie in that position as reported and illustrated to me, Berg said.

He said it would have been possible for her to go over the first fall if certain conditions were in place, including how far the body was in the water, how much was exposed to the current and if he was given an accurate description of where the body was.

Sagal cross-examined Berg, who began by testifying that tributaries that flow into rivers are unique with their own topography and hydrography, including Cottonwood Creek.

They talked about how Agent Haynes called him four days after Leslies death to check his qualifications and tell him what Mueller told authorities.

You didnt interview Mr. Mueller, did you? Sagal asked.

No, Berg said.

He said hes read Muellers statements but had not listened to the taped interviews  including the secretly taken recording.

I told him the way a body goes down a water course was not consistent (with Muellers story), Berg said.

What you were thinking was, That didnt happen? Sagal said.

Yes, Berg said.

Berg said at that time he had not been at the top of the creek nor did he know about the water flow. In that conversation he told Haynes the stream flow had to be the same for his opinion to be accurate and meaningful. He said that stream velocity, depth and dimensions would be important.

Another way to say that is if the flows werent the same, your opinion would be inaccurate and meaningless, Sagal said.

It would be less accurate and not without meaning, Berg said. There is a whole scale between accurate and inaccurate.

And the opposite of meaningful is meaningless, right? Sagal said.

Same answer  theres a wide range in there, Berg said.

Berg said he didnt know if velocity had been measured between May 3 and May 7, 2008, but that he did not see any velocity or flow measurements.

He said his first visit Sept. 9, 2008, reinforced his initial opinion the story was not consistent.

Berg testified in cross-examination and direct examination that he didnt care about the flow on Sept. 9.

Even though you said in first conversation with Haynes that flow was important to get accurate? Sagal asked.

Thats correct, Berg said.

Berg testified that in pool two there was a ledge where he was worried someone may get caught and pinned against the rock. Sagal asked if someone were pinned and another was where Mueller was that they wouldnt be able to see the person in the water.

I believe thats correct; you wouldnt be able to see, Berg said. Not because of distance, but vegetation.

He said he didnt know what the flow of water was the morning of July 25, 2009, or Aug. 4 and 5, 2009. The initial test scheduled for July was canceled because of a thunderstorm.

Berg said they tried to test each scenario five times. Some were done more, depending on the test.

Sagal asked if Berg determined water flow in which that mannequin would have floated  he had not.

Berg said the tests did not begin at the top of the falls, but with demonstrations in pool three to get Mitchell accustomed to the water.

Putting her in falls would be too exciting, Berg said.

Berg testified that his testing did not account for any kinetic energy that would have been initiated from the fall. He didnt throw the mannequin off the fall.

Berg said he did not know Leslies buoyancy, and that factors such as air in lungs and air pockets in clothing can affect buoyancy. He said when Mitchell floated to the log she was positively buoyant.

Sagal showed a video of the body floating past the log, alongside a photo of the log before it was cut, and asked if someone could have struck the log had it been there.

The body could not have gotten to where it was reported, in that position, Berg said, adding there is more water being displaced and going to the left.

And you couldnt test this because the log was cut right? Sagal said.

That specifically  not without creating (that same obstruction),Berg said.

Berg testified that he did not know when Leslie lost consciousness or where along the creek she succumbed to drowning. Testing did not include whether someone was conscious.
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By Steve Nash Brownwood Bulletin

COLEMAN  If not for the presence of a couple of small markers, Michele Reiters shallow grave under a bridge in rural Coleman County would be undetectable. There is no activity in the isolated, peaceful countryside where the bridge on FM 1026 crosses Home Creek  Reiters burial site.

The activity has been at the Coleman County Courthouse, 9 miles north of the Reiters grave, where Lanny Bush stood trial this past week for capital murder in his ex-girlfriends September 2012 death. A 42nd District Court jury deliberated for about two hours Friday before returning the verdict, and District Judge John Weeks sentenced Bush, 54, to life in prison without parole  a mandatory sentence in a non-death-penalty case.

The case was tried in Coleman County because Reiters body was found there on Sept. 24, 2012, two weeks after her roommate reported her missing. The prosecution team consisted of 42nd District Attorney Heath Hemphill, 35th District Attorney Micheal Murray and Sam Moss, first assistant district attorney in Murrays office.

Reiter was 38 when she died and was a mother of two. She worked at the Home Depot store in Brownwood.

Bush was accused by a Coleman County Grand Jury indictment of kidnapping, or attempting to kidnap Reiter and causing her death by means unknown to the grand jury. The Tarrant County Medical Examiners Office could not determine what caused Reiters death.

Defense attorney Perry Sims of Early sought to convince jurors, through his cross-examination of states witnesses and in his closing arguments, that investigators had made up their minds Bush was guilty and ignored evidence that could indicate other suspects. Sims said there was no evidence of a struggle where Reiters car was found near the Camp Bowie ball fields off FM 45, and there was no kidnapping. She was there willingly, Sims told jurors.

Sims argued investigators had not been diligent in gathering evidence and interviewing other potential suspects, had been interested only in convicting Bush, not in finding out what happened.

Murray countered in his closing argument that investigators had gathered overwhelming evidence and the defendant was crafty, but circumstantial evidence is strong. This is more than circumstantial evidence. This is circumstantial evidence on steroids.

Murray summarized evidence and the testimony of states witnesses who described a troubled five-year relationship between Bush and Reiter. When Reiter left Bush in August 2012, Murray told jurors, Lanny Bush did not want to let her go. Reiter moved in with her friend Denise Worrell, and Bush made Reiters life a living hell, Murray said.

A search of Bushs computer revealed Bush had been researching topics including knock-out drops and drugs, anatomy and missing person protocol. Bush also began communicating with Reiter via Facebook under the persona of Rocky Switzer, claiming to be someone whod known her in high school.

At 4:36 a.m. Sept. 10, Murray told jurors, citing Sprint phone records, Bush began burning up Reiters phone. Bush called her 16 times that day and sent numerous text messages. Bush later told Texas Rangers he wanted to meet with her to return a computer, a jacket and a camera. Reiters friends told her not to meet with Bush alone.

Bush first told the Rangers it never worked out to meet with Reiter, but then said he meet with her twice that day.

Bush went to a Brownwood business around 3 p.m. that day and bought .32 caliber ammunition, and asked his nephew about the location of a pistol. That gun has not been found.

Reiter was preparing to go out on a date that night with the man she believed to be Rocky Switzer. But first, Reiter drove to the area of the ball fields and had a two-minute phone conversation, from 6:17 to 6:19 p.m., with Bush, Murray told jurors. Phone records showed the phones were briefly together in the area where Reiters car was found, then began traveling toward the area where Reiters body was later found.

Murray asked jurors what couldve made Reiter leave that area so soon and asked if it could have had anything to do with a .32 caliber pistol being put in her ear.

Sprint records showed the two phones were together in the area where Reiters body was found, and only Bushs phone left the area, Murray told jurors.

Bush told the Rangers a web of lies in which he became ensnared, Murray told jurors.
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By Ngan Ho of the San Angelo Standard-Times

The spouse of a Tom Green County Justice of the Peace has been named in a lawsuit alleging fiduciary fraud.

The lawsuit, filed Jan. 12 in the 340th District Court, accuses Margaret Markovitz Howard, 61, of embezzling $98,553.58 from the private funds of J. Willis Johnson III, a resident of Tom Green County.

Howard, who is the wife of Precinct 4 Justice of the Peace Eddie Howard, worked for Johnson as a personal assistant between May 2013 and July 2015, according to court documents. She was responsible for handling Johnson's financial affairs, including maintaining his bank, checking and credit card accounts and paying bills as well as managing Johnson's personal affairs, among other tasks, the documents stated.

Johnson's age is not specified in the petition, but it reads in part: "Because of age and health reasons, Johnson entrusted Howard with his estate believing that Howard would at all times act in the best interest of Johnson and his estate."

In early summer 2015, Johnson was approached by a waitress at a local San Angelo restaurant, The Grill, according to court documents.

The waitress told Johnson she had been sent over by the general manager, who wanted to thank Johnson for paying for a funeral, according to court documents.

This news "came as a surprise to Johnson, because he did not know that he had paid for a funeral recently," the documents stated.

The general manager, according to the petition for the lawsuit, later approached Johnson and apologized, saying, "I didn't know I wasn't supposed to say anything. I'm sorry."

Johnson discovered irregularities after reviewing his finances and fired Howard on July 15, according to court documents. He hired a forensic accountant beginning in August to conduct an investigation into his financial affairs and the services provided by Howard, according to court documents.

The forensic accountant's audits revealed several substantial financial misappropriation involving Howard, the documents allege.

Howard is accused of establishing a personal line of credit with Wells Fargo Bank funded by Johnson's personal checking account. She also acquired a platinum-level credit card with Wells Fargo Bank funded by Johnson's private account and used it for cash advances made directly to herself, according to court documents. Multiple disbursements from Johnson's account on a Citibank MasterCard credit card also were discovered, the documents stated. The disbursements included payments to Dry Clean Super Center, PetSmart, Petco and other stores that Johnson does not do business with, the documents stated. Howard is also accused of acquiring a debit card and using it to withdraw tens of thousands of dollars from Johnson's personal checking account, according to the documents.

Howard is accused of misappropriating about $100,000 but less than $200,000 from Johnson's private funds without his consent or knowledge, according to court documents.

The lawsuit alleges that Howard breached her fiduciary duties as an employee of Johnson, given his advanced age and declining health conditions, the court documents stated.

Both Howard and Johnson are residents of Tom Green County, according to court documents.

A woman who answered the phone at Howard's home telephone number declined to comment. Attempts to contact Johnson's attorney in San Antonio were unsuccessful.
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Prosecution will not seek death penalty

By Monique Ching

San Angelo resident Matthew Sammuel Salazar  accused of shooting and killing his wife, Heather Shane Felts Salazar, 30, and shooting and injuring Bradley Floyd, 30, in late August  has been indicted by a Tom Green County grand jury.

Matthew Salazar, 30, is held in lieu of $1 million bail on charges of capital murder by terror threat/other felony and attempt to commit capital murder by terror threat/other felony, according to indictments filed with the 51st District Court on Sept. 30.

On the day Heather Felts Salazar was killed, deputies with the Tom Green County Sheriffs Office speaking at the location of her death  Floyds residence in the 8200 block of Poplar Lane in Grape Creek  said circumstances of the shooting were unclear. Sheriff David Jones said Floyd was a friend of Matthew and Heather Salazars.

The county dispatch received the call about the shooting at 12:19 p.m. Aug. 30, and EMS transported Floyd to Shannon Medical Center by ambulance for injuries that were not life-threatening.

Both victims were shot once with a handgun, Jones told the Standard-Times in early September, and the Salazars and Floyd were the only ones there at the time of the shooting.

Pam Haynes, mother of Heather Felts Salazar, could not be reached for comment by telephone Thursday.

Attempt to commit capital murder is a first-degree felony, punishable by five to 99 years imprisonment, with fines up to $10,000. Capital murder is a capital felony, punishable by death or life imprisonment. However, the state filed a waiver of intention to seek the death penalty Sept. 30.

George McCrea, 119th district attorney, who filed the waiver, declined to say why his office decided not to seek the death penalty.

Were glad these cases are coming to some sort of conclusion, Jones said.

Bryan Clayton, first assistant district attorney, will prosecute and declined to comment on the facts of the case.

Matthew Salazar continues to be distraught and very, very troubled, said John Young, Salazars defense attorney.

He was unable to discuss particulars of the case or meetings with his client, but Young said he felt McCrea made a good decision in filing for the waiver, even though he did not know what factors affected McCreas decision.

The death penalty should be reserved for the worst of the worst, not brought on by emotional impact, Young said. A death penalty could cost a county upwards of half a million. (The waiver) makes sense.

Young, an attorney based in San Angelo, Abilene and Sweetwater, is one of three lawyers in the Seventh Administrative Judicial Region qualified to accept appointments in death penalty cases.

Floyd was a close friend of the Salazar family, Young said, and accompanied them on a recent trip to Disney World in Orlando, Fla.

The situation strikes very deep in the emotional core, Young said. We will continue our investigation in the circumstances of Matthews mental and emotional state at the time.
Contributed photo Mike Morath is Texas new education commissioner.

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TEA chief: Dont jerk educators around

By Kiah Collier

Mike Morath, a 38-year-old North Texas businessman-turned-public education devotee and school choice advocate, is Texas' new education commissioner. Gov. Greg Abbott last month named the sophomore Dallas school district trustee to head the massive Texas Education Agency, lauding him as a "proven education reformer" and "change agent."

Known for his controversial  and ultimately unsuccessful  effort to free the Dallas school district of most state controls, Morath's appointment was a tip of the hat to the school reform movement, a diverse group of home-schoolers, business-backed accountability groups, charter school advocates, and voucher proponents.

Meanwhile, teacher and school groups  offended by Morath's effort to turn the Dallas school district into a home-rule district  have mostly decried his appointment to a position overseeing the state's more than 1,200 school districts and charter schools.

But in a wide-ranging interview with the Texas Tribune this month, Morath spoke passionately about empowering  and learning from  teachers and principals. One of the first big things on his to-do list, he said, is soaking up "the knowledge and wisdom of the practitioners of the field." He also said he wants to focus limited state resources on struggling schools while leaving high performers alone.

Morath said he has no plans to implement any of the reform policies he pushed in Dallas statewide, contending that the state is too diverse for any one-size-fits-all approach  aside from its accountability system. He said he will spend much of his first year on the job developing rules for legislation passed last year that made big changes to the state's accountability system  greatly reducing the weight standardized test scores are given in measuring public school performance  and also requires school campuses be publicly labeled with A-through-F letter grades based on academic performance.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Texas Tribune: What is on your to-do list? And what's your general, 30,000-foot-view vision for the job?

Mike Morath: There's much that I have to learn about the agency, in particular  so much that I have to learn from superintendents. But generally, I think the three priorities that I want to spend most of my attention on are this accountability system  the framework for outcomes discussions for our schools and for our students is pretty critical, so I want to spend a lot of time around that.

I want to make sure that the agency is as effective a resource as possible in the area of supporting educators  you know, we live and die with the efforts of our teachers. They are the lifeblood of our school systems, and so: Are there ways for us to better support educators around the state  and how?

And then, last, just the agency itself  blocking and tackling of the efficiency of the agency, the culture of the agency in terms of being of service to school systems around the state, having a mindset that focuses on improving performance rather than compliance.

TT: When you talk about better supporting teachers, what do you mean?

MM: Certainly the professional development and resources that we offer and make available for them, providing the best-in-class instructional materials for them. One thing that I think is important is simply stability. Teachers get yanked around a lot because we change this standard and we change this instructional practice or we change this or that and so is there a way that we at the agency can say, "Let's try to go in one direction for five years so our teachers are not toyed with in that fashion."

TT: Before Gov. Abbott appointed you to head the Texas Education Agency, he had appointed you to head a special legislative commission that will recommend new ways to assess students and hold schools accountable. What were you planning to bring to the table in terms of school accountability? And what approach will you take in developing this new, A-through-F accountability system?

MM: This is the big conversation. If we want to improve outcomes (for students), we need to have some sort of shared framework  a common vocabulary, if you will  to discuss outcomes. Otherwise, we don't know whether we're improving outcomes.

In order for us to get there, there are three pretty critical ingredients. It's got to be clear  people have to understand what it is. It has to be fair to account for the diversity of the state of Texas. And it has to be sort of precise or nuanced enough to differentiate between "good, better, best" kind of performance. Specifics I'm not prepared to talk about today, but that's the general framework through which we need to look at that discussion.

TT: As far as student assessment goes, what can you say about the state's current testing regime, the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR? Do you agree with your predecessor's decision to increase passing standards despite stagnant performance on that exam?

MM: I absolutely support the direction that the agency has been going.

I think I need to have a lot more conversations with educators around the state. We want these assessments to be helpful for teachers, for principals, for school district officials, for school board members, for parents. If they're not helpful, then what can we do to make them more helpful? And perhaps they are helpful, they're just not helpful for everybody right now, so there's a lot of nuance that has to be learned.

TT: In announcing your appointment, Gov. Abbott described you as a "change agent" and "proven education reformer," referring to your work as a trustee on the Dallas school board. Are there any policies you pushed in Dallas that you think should be implemented statewide?

MM: The diversity of the state of Texas is such that I don't think it's wise to think of anything being deployed statewide, with the exception of a broadly understood outcomes framework. The way that you achieve those outcomes is going to have to be adapted to the conditions of local communities all over the state, so I'm certainly very proud of certain things that we've done in Dallas, and I think that those are replicable, but not necessarily everywhere.

TT: There were a lot of mentions  even by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick  at a recent policy forum about your age and how young you look. Your detractors note you have only served one full term on a school board. What do you say to people who think you're too young, too inexperienced to do this job?

MM: Clean living and a pure heart keeps me looking young. [Laughs.]

I think I'm going to have to prove it in my job performance, so let me let my work speak for itself. And if they're right, then hopefully they'll find somebody better than me, and if they're not right, then our kids will benefit. I have a variety of things that I could say as to why that's not necessarily true, but what I say isn't important, it's the actions that I take to try to help kids in this state.

TT: Did serving on the Dallas school board prepare you sufficiently for this job?

MM: [Pauses.] Yes. [Laughs.]

TT: What things did you learn in that role that will help you in this one?

MM: I learned massive volumes of things in that role. (Dallas ISD is the) second largest school system (in the state)  about 225 campuses that range from a few low-poverty to a large number of high-poverty campuses, different academic focuses, different grade configurations, all kinds of logistical issues, all kinds of community communications issues.

TT: The state's K-12 student population has become increasingly poor and diverse in recent decades. How should the state address this trend?

MM: The future of the state is delivering great results for brown and black kids, period. So we need to focus on delivering great results for brown and black kids while ensuring great results for everybody.

TT: What's the biggest problem with the state's education system?

MM: There's not an answer to that question. Again, I think you have to have a comprehensive framework. Anybody that tells you that there is a silver bullet  that you do this and our schools will get better, you do this and our kids will get better  I don't think they know what they're talking about. You have to have a comprehensive, thoughtful, long-term approach. You have to move with a burning sense of patience on behalf of our kids.

TT: You've talked about the need for the state to focus resources on low-performing schools. Can you elaborate on that?

MM: The state is not all-powerful and has limited resources  the state agency, in particular  and so we need to try to get out of the way of all of our school systems that are getting results and focus our effort on the schools and the systems that are truly struggling.

TT: I have to ask about the mountain climbing. (In announcing Morath's appointment, Gov. Abbott specifically mentioned Morath's experience leading climbs as a reason he would be good for the job.)

MM: I love climbing. So much of what I do is too complicated to see results in a very clear period of time, but with mountain climbing, it's simply you and God's creation, and it's extremely painful and very rewarding. It's a religious experience.

Former Standard-Times reporter Kiah Collier covers the environment and public education for the Texas Tribune online newspaper.
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By Joe DiMiceli

Economics is often called the "dismal science"  because it is so boring. I am not an economist (this may be a plus), nevertheless we must make an effort to absorb some basics because politics and economics are so closely intertwined. What follows is an attempt to sort out the economic terminology politicians use (and misuse) so that you may make an informed judgment when you cast your vote on Nov. 8, 2016.

First, during our lifetimes there have been only two major economic systems: communism and capitalism. We can eliminate Communism as a failed economic model  even the Cubans are giving up on it and that leaves only the Hermit Kingdom, North Korea. (I cringe whenever I hear someone refer to "Communist" China. China is a dictatorship moving as quickly as it can into a market (capitalist) economy and you can't be capitalist and communist at the same time.)

For the most part, we in the United States are capitalists regardless of political party. Where we differ is over issues of taxation and regulation within this capitalist framework. This article will concentrate on regulation.

Nomenclature: On one side we have "free market," "laissez faire economics" and "small government." These are the Republican Party terms and they mean little or no regulation and the privatization (i.e., elimination) of social programs. On the other side the Democrats espouse Keynesian economics, or the use of government instruments to moderate economic imbalances and provide full employment without respect to budget or deficit concerns.

Monopolies and oligopolies (control of a market by a few companies): In 1776, a Scottish philosopher named Adam Smith published a seminal work on economics titled "The Wealth of Nations." In this book Smith opposed all government regulation as anathema to a healthy economy. He posited that if the markets were left to run free, competition would naturally occur and "an invisible hand" (full employment) would provide for everyone.

We now know, with 240 years of hindsight, that the opposite is true. Without government regulation (the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 and others) monopolies naturally form and that the "invisible hand" is a myth; only the government can provide a meaningful social safety net. Despite this, the Republican Party still clings to the belief that combinations (read: monopolies) are best in the interest of "efficiency." But imagine walking into a supermarket and not having the consumer advantage of choice; what would happen to prices?

Entitlements: This refers largely to Social Security and Medicare. For 52 years my employers and I (and you) have paid into these two programs every payday without exception. These are not "entitlements." These are investments.

Pro-business: This can mean tax cuts for corporations or reducing business regulations generally. The question to ask here is: If you are pro-business are you anti-consumer?

Job-killing: This is a favorite phrase of former Speaker of the House John Boehner and current Speaker Paul Ryan when referring to any program or initiative by the Obama administration. The reality is unemployment has gone from 10 percent to 5 percent during Obama's tenure and job creation is near an all-time high.

Supply-side economics: This is the term used to replace the much discredited "trickle-down theory"; if you give money to the rich, it will trickle down to the poor. Ronald Reagan, under the direction of his budget guru, David Stockman, embraced the new term and it was quickly ridiculed by his primary opponent, George H.W. Bush, as "voodoo economics."

Regulation: The real challenge for this article is making sense of government regulation. If you are an Ayn Rand "Objectivist," then you want to do away with all regulation. Unfortunately, one of our former banking regulators, Alan Greenspan, is an Ayn Rand acolyte. He believed (and the past tense is appropriate as he admitted before Congress that his laissez-faire philosophy was fundamentally flawed) that markets were rational, that information was perfect and that regulation was unnecessary.

Most egregiously, he dismissed chairwoman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Brooksley Born's warnings that there was a multitrillion-dollar unregulated derivatives market that needed to be reined in. Greenspan claimed that these derivatives were contracts (true) with both parties sophisticated investors (false) and didn't need any regulation. The result was the financial crisis of 2008, and the Great Recession with which we are still struggling.

The above is not a call for more regulation, at least not in a general sense. We went through a massive deregulation cycle during the Reagan administration that was largely successful. After college I worked for two regulators, the Federal Aviation Administration providing safe air travel for the American public, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. providing a safe banking system for the American public. I hope no presidential candidate suggests dissolving these two highly successful agencies, although with Donald Trump and Rand Paul (Rand as in Ayn Rand) you never can tell.

What we do need is a bipartisan (do I dare use this word?) effort to streamline existing regulations as to their necessity, currency (some laws/regulations were passed in an emotional moment), and cost effectiveness. At one time the government even regulated the size of sandwiches in air travel.

You would think that with all of the information and facts and experience and 250 years of hindsight that we have, we could agree on the best (for the American people) course of action. But we still disagree, sometimes for economic reasons (as we are in Texas, think of the oil and gas industry) and sometimes irrationally, for the simple reason that politics (for a lot of people) is religion and is based on faith and not facts.

Joe DiMiceli is a retired college professor living in San Angelo. Contact him at socrateslite@gmail.com.
Lake View Chiefs feeling sense of urgency to get in playoff chase

The Lake View High School football team hopes to get its first District 2-4A win of the season on the road against Big Spring on Friday night.
Gail Gitcho, Herschel Walkers campaign strategist, regarding the campaigns decision to distribute 1,000 imitation police badges at an upcoming fundraiser after his opponent Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock accused Walker of pretending to be an officer after pulling out a fake police badge at a debate last week. Walker will use the moment to reinforce his support of law enforcement. (NPR  Oct. 19, 2022)
State Budget Analysts Data

State 2002-2015 Change 2002 Total 2008 Total 2015 Total Alabama -12.5% 8 8 7 Alaska 12.5% 8 8 9 Arizona 13.3% 15 13 17 Arkansas -45.0% 20 19 11 California -3.3% 120 114 116 Colorado -29.0% 16 14.5 11 Connecticut -34.3% 35 30 23 Delaware 0.0% 11 9 11 Florida -13.7% 51 51 44 Georgia -31.8% 22 21 15 Hawaii -34.8% 23 19 15 Idaho 0.0% 7 7 7 Illinois -51.4% 35 22 17 Indiana -36.8% 19 19 12 Iowa 0.0% 11 11 11 Kansas -43.8% 16 14 9 Kentucky -20.0% 15 15 12 Louisiana -7.1% 28 31 26 Maine 14.3% 7 8 8 Maryland -22.6% 31 29 24 Massachusetts -21.4% 14 11 11 Michigan -14.8% 27 33 23 Minnesota -40.0% 20 15 12 Mississippi 20.0% 5 5 6 Missouri -8.3% 12 15 11 Montana 20.0% 10 10 12 Nebraska 0.0% 8 9 8 Nevada 36.4% 11 13 15 New Hampshire 0.0% 6 6 6 New Jersey -44.2% 43 31 24 New Mexico -16.7% 18 15 15 New York -21.9% 260 245 203 North Carolina 0.0% 18 27 18 North Dakota 0.0% 4 4 4 Ohio 16.7% 18 19 21 Oklahoma -20.0% 10 7 8 Oregon 0.0% 13 14 13 Pennsylvania 55.6% 18 29 28 Rhode Island -33.3% 18 14 12 South Carolina -28.6% 14 10 10 South Dakota 20.0% 5 6 6 Tennessee -29.4% 17 17 12 Texas 75.0% 16 24 28 Utah -9.1% 11 12 10 Vermont 0.0% 6 5 6 Virginia -6.3% 32 29 30 Washington -3.2% 31 36 30 West Virginia 33.3% 3 3 4 Wisconsin -26.9% 26 17 19 Wyoming -37.5% 8 7 5 U.S. TOTAL -15.4% 1200 1151 1015

Budgeting for state governments hasn't gotten any easier over time. In fact, with greater transparency demands and growing partisanship, its difficulty may be escalating. Despite that, there's been a significant decline in the number of state budget staff across the country.According to data from the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO), 33 states have fewer employees -- 15 percent fewer, on average -- handling the budget than they did in 2002. In 20 of those states, budget staff is down at least 20 percent. Cuts have been the worst in Illinois (51 percent), Arkansas (45 percent), and Kansas and New Jersey (44 percent)."They have fewer people. They're swamped," said Scott Pattison, former director of NASBO and now executive director of the National Governors Association.Adding to the pressure of the downsized workforce is the fact that their responsibilities are often expanding.In Oregon, for example, George Naughton started as budget director in 2006, but he's also chief financial officer and more recently took on the role of acting chief operating officer."People recognize the value of the budget shop," he says, "and we get tapped for other things. The types of demands are increasing."To keep up, Naughton's offices have turned to technology to reduce the manual tasks that staffers perform themselves. "We're recruiting staff members who are more mobile, more tech-savvy," said Naughton. "Millennials are great for what budget staff do. They can multitask incredibly quickly."But technology can't solve the capacity gap in many states, and as a result, some government projects get less scrutiny and others never come to fruition.Ted Zaleski, director of the department of management and budget in Carroll County, Md., admitted that, "We don't look as closely at proposed projects as we used to. There are more instances when a budget request is checked for math and grammar and put forth when a decade ago it would have been scrutinized and evaluated more. There is always a list of projects that would be good to take on that probably would benefit the county over the long-term but aren't essential to getting the next budget done. The increased workload on the analysts does make it harder to get to those projects."But why are states cutting their budget staff if their importance is rising?Administrative staff in general -- the brains of public-sector organizations -- sustained more than their share of cuts following the two recessions of the early 21st Century. In some states, the reduction may be because of superficial factors like changes in titles or a reorganization of the finance department. In others, such as Tennessee, tough fiscal times are the culprit.In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Tennessee passed performance budgeting legislation and built up its budget staff to handle the changes, according to budget director David Thurman. Then hard times hit, the staff was cut, and the performance budgeting efforts petered out. "Analysts who had four or five assignments now have six or eight," says Thurman.Possibly because of the extra workload, some employees decide to leave on their own.Turnover has increased in many budget offices, according to Marc Nicole, the deputy secretary of Maryland's Department of Budget and Management. This means that budget officers tend to have less experience than in the past. Of his 22 professional staffers, Nicole says 17 have five years or less of experience. In 1998, when he first joined the budget staff, only about five of them had less thanyears of experience.Of course, budget officials have always had high-stress jobs, especially in the months of October through January when budgets are prepared for the legislature. And during tight times, the budget office is responsible for making cuts -- often painful ones -- in other departments. How then, argues Nicole, could they leave themselves immune to the travails of diminished staff?"Any good budget director would say, 'If you are expecting everyone else to do more with less, you should lead by example.'"
Detroit Public Schools is seeking a temporary injunction against teachers after a sickout closed 88 schools in Detroit today -- the largest in a string of teacher protests.The district is seeking relief in the Michigan Court of Claims, naming 28 defendants, including two dozen teachers. Among the defendants: Steve Conn, the ousted leader of the Detroit Federation of Teachers; interim union president Ivy Bailey, and several groups including the DFT, DPS Teachers Fight Back and Detroit Strikes to Win.The suit seeks to stop the sick-outs.The court action came on the day most DPS schools were closed because of the sick-out, one of many in recent weeks. Teachers are protesting a number of things, including what they describe as deplorable conditions in schools, cuts in benefits and large class sizes.The lawsuit alleges that the cumulative effect of multiple sick-outs is the loss of at least seven instructional days.The lawsuit said other damages include:* Students deprived of their right to attend school.* Students' academic progress adversely impacted.* Students deprived of their school breakfasts and lunches.* Parents forced to miss work.* Non-striking DPS employees forced to miss work.* Waste of taxpayer money.DPS officials had little to say about the court filing."DPS has requested the court's intervention in addressing the ongoing teacher sick outs that are plaguing the district," spokeswoman Michelle Zdrodowski said in a statement. "There will be no further comment until we receive direction from the court."Ann Mitchell, the administrator for the DFT, said during a rally this afternoon that the union is ready "to fight for our teachers because they're fighting for the kids of Detroit.""It's amazing that DPS wants to fight this way. We're going to stand for the teachers. We're going to represent them. There are big issues going on that they're trying to call attention to. No one is dealing with those issues."Asked whether the sick-outs would continue, Mitchell said she doesn't know. "The union didn't organize this. These are teachers organizing themselves to make a statement. But whatever they do we're going to stand with them."Several of the teachers named in the complaint have been quoted in media reports on the sick-outs. The suit singles out Conn, saying he left his teaching assignment in early January without permission to hold a press conference outside Western International High School in support of the sick-outs. The suit says Conn has been quoted as saying that the teacher sick-outs were a "huge victory" and that the sick-outs have taken the "movement" a "huge leap forward" and that a "full-blown strike is needed."The suit also claims that Conn has encouraged others to strike.It also singles out Bailey, saying she has expressed the possibility of a district-wide strike.Erika Jones, a teacher at Cass Tech High School, is among the teachers identified in the suit. She's puzzled why, because she said she didn't call in sick either of the two days the school has closed because of sick-outs."I don't understand how I can be named," said Jones.Jones was interviewed by a radio station, describing a number of problems in the district. The court filing says she has engaged in or is engaged in inducing others to strike. Jones said that isn't true. She said the restraining order is an attempt to silence teachers from raising concerns about the district."I know this is a scare tactic," Jones said.In a statement, Bailey said: "It is regrettable that the Detroit Public Schools seeks to punish those who speak out about the deplorable conditions in our schools. It would be so much more productive to actually do something to fix Detroit schools rather than file restraining orders against those who expose the miserable conditions."Earlier today, Bailey said today's sick-outs were a cry for help."Educators, parents and the community are fed up with Lansing's inaction on the abysmal conditions that permeate Detroit public schools. No one has confidence in Gov. Rick Snyder or Emergency Manager Darnell Earley, who have the power to do something to fix the schools."Today's action by teachers, though discouraged by the Detroit Federation of Teachers, was a cry for help. People are yearning for someone to pay attention, and with President Obama coming to the Detroit auto show, they didn't want to miss an opportunity to let him know how deep the frustration is over what's happened to the schools for 47,000 kids."
'Angels living here on Earth'

'What the vote might look like'

Gov. Nikki Haley asked S.C lawmakers to put more attention on fixing K-12 schools, rather than spending more money on the state's colleges, during her State of the State address Wednesday.Haley advocated borrowing $200 million to repair K-12 schools, a year after opposing borrowing for a number of other projects, including, she said, "hundreds of millions of dollars to fill a wish list for our already bloated higher education system.""No one can look at the tuition hikes parents and students have seen over the last decade and tell me that higher education doesn't have enough money," the Republican governor told the GOP-controlled Legislature."And no one can drive the campuses of Clemson, South Carolina and so many others, see the brand-new facilities and massive new construction projects, and tell me that they represent our greatest need."That is not true of elementary, middle and high schools in Denmark. Or Clarendon. Or Abbeville," said Haley, who has spent the past year looking at colleges for her daughter, a high-school senior. "But if we don't focus on K-12, and focus on it now, higher education won't even be a possibility for far too many South Carolina children."Haley also called for letting the governor appoint the state superintendent of education.To end high turnover among teachers in rural and poor school districts, she proposed to pay for the state college tuition of teachers who agree to spend eight years in rural or poor districts."Children deserve to know that teachers believe in them enough to stay," Haley said. "We have to slow this revolving door."Haley also used the 41-minute speech to share her plans to fix the state's roads, curb domestic violence and make lawmakers more accountable. She also spoke about how the state handled tragedies last year.The shootings at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston dominated the governor's address. A self-avowed white supremacist was charged with killing nine parishioners, including state Sen. Clementa Pinckney, a Jasper Democrat who was the church's pastor.She asked legislators to follow Pinckney's example as a lawmaker."I knew him to be a man who never seemed to speak against anyone or anything but, instead, to advocate for the people and the ideas that he believed in," she said with Pinckney's family in the gallery. "We should all spend a little more time getting to know the people behind the policies."Haley read the names of the nine victims killed at the church and acknowledged the three survivors, two of whom attended the address. "For reasons only God knows, we lost nine amazing souls that night," Haley said. "So too, for reasons only He knows, God decided He wasn't ready to take three more, that He still had work for them to do."Haley became emotional after delivering those lines. Her voice started to shake, and she took a sip of water."These two women, and the precious little one who was with them that night, are proof that we have angels living here on Earth," Haley said ,fighting back tears in the House chamber.Haley's speech did not address her successful call to remove the Confederate flag from the State House grounds after the Charleston shooting. The issue divided the Legislature, especially the House, which debated more than 12 hours before voting to banish the Civil War banner.Haley also thanked the family of Walter Scott, an unarmed African-American motorist who was killed by a white North Charleston police officer last year, for helping the state focus on "justice and progress," avoiding civil unrest."They started the calming of our community," she said with Scott's family in the House gallery. "Their words and actions allowed South Carolina the chance to right this wrong, the best we could, without the influence of outsiders."The governor also praised the work of state leaders in handling October's historic flood."This team knew they couldn't sleep until we made sure we had done everything in our power to keep people safe, provide aid to those in need, and strengthen our citizens with the information and the resources to move forward," Haley said.But she did not mention requests by farmers who asked her to seek federal aid after they lost more than $300 million in crops. Haley has said she did not want to play favorites among business owners hurt in the storms.On road repair, the top issue with many lawmakers, Haley insisted she would veto a bill that does not roll back state income taxes or reform the agency that sets road priorities. She did not mention that her proposed budget includes the start of a 10-cent-a-gallon state gas tax hike to help pay for road repairs and a far larger income-tax cut.On domestic violence, Haley offered recommendations she unveiled two weeks ago, included adding prosecutors so police officers no longer have to prosecute some cases."Domestic violence is an issue that has plagued us for far too long," she said. "Tonight, I say it will plague us to that extent no more."Haley clearly was aggravated at the failure again of lawmakers last year to pass stricter ethics laws.The House passed ethics bills, but the proposals sat in the Senate. Most senators have balked at allowing anyone but other senators to investigate allegations against them.The governor went off script during her address, asking senators who back income disclosure and independent investigations to stand. Some House members rose to applaud the few senators who stood."This is what the vote might look like," Haley said.
Gov. Rick Snyder's staffers worried in September that the issue of lead in Flint's drinking water was being politicized and that the state's responsibility for the crisis was being exaggerated."I can't figure out why the state is responsible except that (then-treasurer Andy) Dillon did make the ultimate decision so we're not able to avoid the subject," Snyder's chief of staff Dennis Muchmore wrote to Snyder in a Sept. 25, 2015, e-mail.He followed it up the next morning, writing: "The real responsibility rests with the county, city and KWA," referring to the Karegnondi Water Authority. "But since the issue here is the health of citizens and their children, we're taking a proactive approach."Muchmore's e-mail came after a Hurley Medical Center pediatrician reported finding elevated blood lead levels in Flint children.Muchmore's e-mails were included in 274 pages of Snyder's e-mails released today in the wake of the water crisis that has led protesters to call for the governor to resign. House Minority Leader Tim Greimel, D-Auburn Hills, said he was very disappointed with redactions in the e-mails and the fact Snyder only released what he said were his own e-mails, instead of all Flint-related e-mails to and from officials in the executive office.The first e-mail in the file released by Snyder is from Michael Gadola, then Snyder's legal counsel, and includes 2 1/2 pages of blacked-out text. Most of the other redactions are of e-mail addresses."It's very disappointing to see the governor play these types of games," Greimel said.Muchmore, who retired Tuesday as Snyder's chief of staff, told the Free Press that when he wrote that Dillon made the ultimate decision, he meant that the Flint emergency manager reported to Dillon and Dillon "signed off on it."Muchmore said he was referencing Flint's decision to join the Karegnondi Water Authority, a new pipeline now under construction to Lake Huron. That decision was supported by the locals and the Flint City Council, which endorsed it with a 7-1 vote.After the vote, Detroit notified Flint that it was terminating water service to Flint in 12 months, which prompted a scramble for an alternative source. A year later, Flint began drawing and treating water from the Flint River for distribution to the city. The river water immediately drew complaints of discoloration, odor and rust.Dillon said in an e-mail to the Free Press he was initially reluctant to sign off on Flint moving to the KWA because he didn't think the change would save the cash-strapped city money. He said he changed his mind after he was told in a briefing with the Department of Environmental Quality that the new pipeline would be a cost-saver, and after determining that the Detroit water system was not prepared to give Flint a better deal."However, this was a different decision than the decision to use the Flint River," Dillon said. "I don't recall that decision coming to me."Muchmore said Wednesday that the Flint River had always been the backup water source and while there was some disagreement about the issue, no one really talked about the significance of using the river water until after it happened and complaints started pouring in."Everybody thought professionals will treat this water and they will make it good," Muchmore said today. "Andy ultimately signed off on the KWA because he felt it was acceptable financially, No.1 , and the DEQ had signed off on the technical part of it, and more importantly, the local people wanted to do it."The e-mails were released after Snyder made a pledge in his State of the State address Tuesday. Normally, the e-mails would not be disclosed publicly, but Snyder agreed to release them after pressure from the Detroit Free Press and others to make his communications public in the wake of the public health emergency.In the e-mails, Muchmore wrote that U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Flint Township, was "engaged in his normal press hound routine" after the congressman issued a press release noting he'd asked the EPA to help the state deal with the crisis. Muchmore added that then-mayor Dayne Walling "went out on a CYA effort due to the election."They also show doubts about returning Flint to the Detroit system and even questioning if the reports of higher lead levels are accurate."They can't reconnect to DWSD even if they wanted to as they sold the connector line," Muchmore wrote Sept. 26. "And, especially with the new rate increases in Detroit, their citizens would be less able to pay than they already are. Now we have the anti everything group turning to the lead content which is a concern for everyone, but DEQ and DHHS and EPA can't find evidence of a major change per Geralyn's memo below."Muchmore was referring to a memo from Geralyn Lasher at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services that said blood lead level data examined by Hurley Medical Center Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha didn't match the state's data."Hurley used two partial years of data, MDHHS looked at five comprehensive years and saw no increase outside the normal seasonal increases," Lasher wrote. "The Hurley review was also a much smaller sample than MDHHS data as ours includes all hospital systems in Flint as well as outside laboratories. We have also provided the attached data chart that outlines if the elevated blood lead levels were being driven by a change in water, we would have seen the elevated levels remain high after the change in water source."Three days later, Snyder received a daily briefing from staffers laying out the concerns in Flint. The first bullet point in the briefing noted that the most common cause of lead poisoning is from lead paint."Blood lead level testing results for the 12-month period just after the City of Flint changed its water source (May 2014- April 2015) showed no significant change in the pattern of blood lead levels in Flint, compared to the previous three years," Snyder was informed in the briefing. "This data suggests the recent change in water source by the City of Flint has not contributed to an increase in lead exposure throughout the community."The briefing went on to estimate that it would cost "$60 million or more" to replace the more than 15,000 lead pipes that connect water mains to homes.Very little of the text in the body of the e-mails was written by Snyder himself. The bulk of the messages are staffers writing to Snyder.On Sept. 2, Snyder received an e-mail from Harvey Hollins, his director of the office of urban affairs, informing him that 1,500 donated water filters were distributed in Flint within four hours and at least 200 more people wanted them. The name of the donor who provided the filters is redacted from the e-mails though Hollins acknowledged that they "do not want any publicity or credit for their donation the donation."Snyder responded three days later: "Factually accurate update, but how did it go over with the residents?""It went over extremely well with the residents," Hollins replied. "There is a demand for more."A week after Muchmore's e-mail saying Flint couldn't reconnect to Detroit's system, the city was exploring a way to do just that.Snyder did weigh in on the financial aspects of reconnection."We should help get all the facts on the consequences of changing back vs. staying and then determine what financing mechanisms we have available," Snyder wrote in an Oct. 2 message to Muchmore, adding the administration needed "a clear side-by-side comparison of the health benefits and costs of (the Great Lakes Water Authority) vs. a more optimized Flint system. Also, we need to look at what financing mechanisms are available to Flint to pay for any higher cost actions. Please get people working on these two issues ASAP."On Oct. 6, Snyder wrote: "We need a better update system re: Flint water," noting that he learned from the media that the Department of Health and Human Services announced the distribution of water filters."This should have come internally with more detail. I had press questions last night," Snyder wrote. "Overall, we should have a daily report on Flint until our recommendations are fully implemented."Snyder then cited information he wanted including water test results, blood test results, the number of filters distributed and the analysis of proceeding with water from the Great Lakes Water Authority, the Flint River or the new authority.The e-mails show that on Dec. 28, when given advance notice of the letter from the task force that Snyder appointed to look into the issue, which was highly critical of the DEQ, incoming chief of staff Jarrod Agen told Snyder that planned staff changes at the DEQ should be made "sooner rather than later," and that Snyder should accept Director Dan Wyant's resignation, which had apparently already been submitted but not accepted.Agen also references moving ahead with the dismissal of three DEQ officials, which he said had been planned for Jan. 4. No such dismissals have been announced. DEQ Communications Director Brad Wurfel resigned the same day Wyant did. Earlier, the head of the drinking water section had been re-assigned, but not dismissed.Snyder had to sign off on the release of the e-mails. The governor's office and Legislature are exempt from Michigan's Freedom of Information Act, which requires public disclosure of records related to government. Michigan is one of only two states that apply a blanket exemption to electronic communication from the governor's office and Legislature.Greimel said the situation demonstrates why Michigan's FOIA should immediately be extended to cover both the governor's office and the Legislature.Snyder has said he would not compel members of his administration to publicly release their e-mails.
Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, spent his eighth and final State of the State address Wednesday highlighting his accomplishments while in office and calling for increased education and mental health spending.When he took office in 2009, the economy was in shambles: Unemployment was high, business creation was low and the auto industry was "on life support," Nixon said Wednesday.But that has changed, he said, and his $27.3 billion operating budget proposal for the 2017 budget year that begins July 1 will continue to move the state forward.Nixon's proposal would increase the Foundation Formula, which funds K-12 public schools, by $85 million. Though that would leave it $425 million short of being fully funded, Brent Ghan with the Missouri School Boards' Association said the organization was "pleased" with Nixon's proposed increase "given the budget constraints facing the state."Nixon's budget also would dump an additional $55.6 million into public higher education institutions based on performance funding. This increase would allow those institutions to freeze tuition -- the fourth time since Nixon took office.One of Nixon's goals when he became governor "was to make college better and more affordable, because education is the key to our future," he said. "Today, Missouri is No. 1 in the country for keeping a lid on tuition increases, and under my budget we'll stay No. 1 this year."His proposal also includes $13.9 million more to keep the waiting list for in-home Medicaid services for developmentally disabled people at zero."When I took office, Missourians with developmental disabilities had to wait years for in-home Medicaid services," Nixon said. "Under my budget, it will stay at zero."The budget also would include $54.1 million for a 2 percent pay raise for state employees starting July 1, but would decrease the state workforce by 48 jobs. That workforce reduction would bring the total number of positions cut while Nixon was governor to more than 5,000, which he said was "about the size of my hometown of De Soto, or all of Putnam County."House Speaker Todd Richardson, R-Poplar Bluff, said he was pleased the governor was following the lead of the House, which had suggested worker raises last year."I'm happy to see he heeded that call," Richardson said.But Nixon's ability to accomplish these goals is questionable at best given that lawmakers have to approve the budget before any of his ideas can go into effect. Lawmakers have until May 6 to agree on a budget.Republicans have a tight grip on the Legislature, wielding solid veto-proof majorities -- they control 117 seats in the House and 24 in the Senate.Dave Robertson, political science department chairman at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, said the composition of the Legislature would make it very difficult for Nixon to accomplish anything, especially because of the approaching elections.Lawmakers "will be inclined not to provide him with policy successes he can claim," Robertson said.Nixon also hasn't cultivated many friendships in his eight years as governor, with legislators lambasting him for failing to communicate with them.Rep. Paul Curtman, R-Union, noted that problem Wednesday on Twitter: "Tonight marks the annual event where (Nixon) allows the (Legislature) to see him before disappearing for another year."Nixon based his budget proposal for next year on projections that state general revenue will grow 4.1 percent, or $9.3 billion, in the coming budget year. His office anticipates that revenue will grow 2.8 percent, or $8.9 billion, in the current year. Legislative budget leaders have not released their projections.State Budget Director Dan Haug said Wednesday that Nixon and legislative budget leaders basically agreed on the revenue growth rates but that "there is still some discussion over what the process would be if those numbers needed to be revised at some point."General revenue comes mainly from state income and sales taxes and is the main pot of money that legislators control. The rest of the budget comes from federal and earmarked funds.In his speech Wednesday, Nixon urged lawmakers to pass comprehensive ethics reform, saying the state "has got to clean up its act."Missouri is the only state with no campaign contribution limits, no lobbyist gift limits and no laws governing when a lawmaker can become a lobbyist.After a year of scandal that led to the resignations of two lawmakers because of inappropriate dealings with interns, Republicans leaders have been moving at break-neck speed to pass an ethics reform package. The House already has approved several ethics bills and sent them to the Senate.Missourians "know that if a lobbyist showers you with gifts, or takes you to the country club for cocktails and the surf-and-turf, he's going to lean on you before dessert," Nixon said. "They know it's wrong for legislators to launder campaign contributions by paying each other for political advice."Campaign contribution limits, however, are unlikely to be part of the discussion.Senate Majority Leader Mike Kehoe, R-Jefferson City, said the Senate and the House had taken steps to address the Capitol culture by acting on legislation to rein in lawmakers and lobbyists."We are moving things forward," Kehoe said.Nixon's speech also highlighted a need to fix Missouri's transportation budget woes. Because of funding shortfalls, the state Department of Transportation has outlined ways it would need to pare back on construction and maintenance.Nixon and numerous lawmakers have suggested increasing the state's 17-cents-per-gallon gas tax, in place since 1996. Richardson, however, is not optimistic such a measure will make it through the Legislature and has said the House will try to find other revenue streams in the budget."I've been clear about my position: If you use the roads, you should help pay for them," Nixon said. "What I don't support is taking money that should go to schools, law enforcement and mental health, and using it to patch potholes."Senate Minority Leader Joe Keaveny, D-St. Louis, said many of his constituents wouldn't mind paying more for gas if it meant better roads and bridges -- especially with current low gas prices."If they have good roads and good bridges, they're willing to pay for that," he said. "I think we need to send that message throughout the state."Nixon also called for Medicaid expansion, saying that "inaction has real consequences.""It's time to stop playing politics with people's lives," Nixon said. "Do the right thing and give them access to health care."Under the Affordable Care Act, Congress offered states federal money to add working-age adults who make up to 138 percent of the poverty level, which is about $16,200 for a single person, to Medicaid rolls.Nixon's administration estimates that 300,000 Missourians could gain coverage under the expansion. The federal government would pick up the full tab for the new participants through 2016, when the federal share gradually would begin dropping to 90 percent. Some form of expansion has been adopted in about 30 states.But Republican leaders have said for years that expansion is a nonstarter in Missouri.Nixon is still withholding $46.1 million of general revenue he slashed in October from the current year's budget. The cuts were necessary, he said, because the state did not receive $50 million in tobacco settlement funds lawmakers had banked on in the budget.Richardson has said lawmakers could exercise a new constitutional power by overriding Nixon's withholds with a two-thirds majority in each chamber.The budget proposal assumes the state will lose some general revenue because of a tax cut passed by lawmakers in 2014, which Haug said would probably begin going into effect Jan. 1.
In the realm of civic innovation, opportunity is aimed to strike in five Latin American and Caribbean cities this year after a $9 million announcement on Jan. 20 from billionaire and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.The media and investment mogul directed his non-profit Bloomberg Philanthropies to launch its Mayors Challenge grant program  that seeks to improve cities against a backdrop of civic invention and data-based strategies  in the two regions. The jump into Latin America continues a campaign to globalize the challenge, which originated in the U.S. and moved into Europe in 2015.In this next iteration, a committee of regional thought leaders from Latin America and the Caribbean are charged to select four city applicants to receive grants of $1 million each with one grand prize city receiving $5 million for an innovation initiative. It was said that special weight will be given to ideas that solve major social or economic issues, improve services for citizens and businesses, and harness citizen engagement.Apart from its international push, the contest accelerates Bloomberg Philanthropies ongoing mission to catalyze sustainable initiatives for citizens at the municipal level. These advancements have included What Works Cities , a program launched in April 2015 to assist citizens in 100 mid-sized American cities through data, and Bloombergs Innovation Team project that embedded tech and data expertise in cities to answer problems and create replicable solutions."Cities around the world are pursuing bold policy innovations, and those in Latin America and the Caribbean are helping to lead the way, Bloomberg said in a press release . Expanding the Mayors Challenge to Latin America and the Caribbean provides new opportunities for progress on a wide range of issues that impact the lives of citizens.James Anderson, Bloombergs head of government innovation programs, said the deadline for cities to express interest is March 15, and that the Center for Public Impact, an international advocacy group, will act as Bloombergs official implementation partner. In an interview withAnderson elaborated on expectations and what the challenge might mean for the municipalities.Great question. As you know, our broader agenda at the foundation is focused on promoting public-sector innovation in cities around the globe. With the Mayor's Challenge serving as one of our flagship programs, we're very much building from success. To date, the competition has effectively spurred cities in the United States and Europe to produce a number of field-advancing new ideas. It's engaged hundreds of cities and thousands of city officials in a structured innovation process, and we're seeing a ton of interest as winning cities bring their ideas to life  from other cities and from the news media around the globe. It's a program that we continue to be very excited about, and of course, it's incredibly exciting to bring it to Latin America and the Caribbean, a region that is hugely innovative with cities that are really stepping into the global conversation around urban innovation.Theres a couple ways to answer that. First and foremost, the ideas that have surfaced through the Mayor's Challenge very much represent ideas that advance the fields of practice within their respective domains. For examples you can look at the well-being index from Santa Monica , Calif., that became the first city in the country to measure the well being of its citizens and begin to adjust policy and funding decisions based on those well being indicators. Or Providence , R.I., which harnessed a technological device  or word pedometer  to count and track the number of words young people are hearing for early childhood education. Then there are the ideas from Europe from last year. Barcelona took a highly innovative approach to creating a network of volunteers  professional caregivers, friends and family  for at-risk seniors. I think this example stands as one of the most interesting and provocative programs to combat loneliness and isolation that we've seen anywhere. This is all a very long way to say that the Mayor's Challenge has continued, in each iteration, to surface ideas that are cutting edge and that advance thinking in their respective fields.I would say the competition gets mayors to engage citizens and other partners outside of government in new and interesting ways. We've seen mayors use the competition as a way to go out into the community, to talk about the problems they want to solve, to crowdsource ideas with citizens and collaborate with other unusual partners to develop very different lines of attack on urban problems they've faced for a long time. We're very excited about the new way of working that the Mayor's Challenge promotes, and the way that the cities and the mayors have used this challenge as a way to connect more authentically and differently with their citizens.There are certainly themes that have emerged in the different regions during the different competitions. We saw a lot of focus on customer service in the United States. In Europe we saw many ideas focused on social inclusion and aging. We'll see what we see in Latin America and the Caribbean. Certainly we know the cities in the region are very focused on mobility, on poverty eradication and reduction, on education, on transparency and government legitimacy, on citizen engagement, on safety and security. You know, this is a competition that asks mayors to identify their biggest problems and develop interesting new solutions. We'll see what the mayors bring forward. I'm sure we'll be surprised.We will have a 13-member selection committee comprised overwhelmingly of innovation and public policy experts from the Latin America and Caribbean region. Those selection committee members will be assessing these applications based on four criteria. The first is newness and boldness, the second is potential for impact, the third is a likelihood for implementation, and the fourth is the potential for transferability  or in other words, is this an idea that addresses a problem that many cities have, and do we believe that many cities could implement the idea? All four of those categories are key for a winning city's application to hit it out of the ballpark.Yes, absolutely. We have brought on board for this year's competition the Center for Public Impact, which is a global non-profit focused on promoting public-sector innovation and efficacy. They have a regional presence in Latin America and, as our official implementation partner, will be providing a wide range of support to cities as they go through the process. March 15 is the deadline for cities to RSVP and let us know that they want to participate in the competition. One thing this year thats different than years past is we'll be conducting the challenge in Portuguese and Spanish. All of the correspondence, all of the communication around the campaign, will be happening in those two languages, which is obviously a big difference than the U.S. and the European competition. There are also 900 cities that are eligible to compete, and more details can be found at our site at Mayorschallenge.bloomberg.org
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Cost complaints

Proposal dropped

(TNS) -- Even as California has marched out unprecedented water restrictions during the drought, the spigots at thousands of farms and ranches have gone largely unmonitored  a vestige of the states Gold Rush-era water policy.On Tuesday, state water officials did away with this historical oversight. Acknowledging they cant manage what they cant measure, regulators in Sacramento passed rules to require holders of longtime water rights to track and report what they draw from rivers and creeks.Unlike residential water customers in virtually every city in the state, 12,000 longtime water-rights holders  mostly farmers, ranchers and utilities  are governed by laws written when water was plentiful and still in many cases dont have to report their usage regularly. That has made it difficult for the state to tell just how much water is being consumed and to stretch supplies efficiently during dry times.In a water system as large as Californias, the more information you have and the more timely you have it allows you to manage that system better, said Tim Moran, spokesman for the State Water Resources Control Board.However, state officials found that no change in century-old water practices comes easily.We do understand and appreciate the need to have more timely and accurate data, especially during times of drought, Danny Merkley, director of water resources for the California Farm Bureau Federation, told water board members Tuesday. However, we still believe you may have overestimated the feasibility of compliance here. Its going to be very difficult for the thousands and thousands of (water) diverters.Merkley said measuring consumption would be a burden for many small farmers and ranchers. Metering technology isnt cheap, he said, and running electricity for new equipment to remote locations will be a challenge.One engineer told the board that his client on the North Coast had spent $15,000 buying and installing gauges.Paul Marchini, 70, whose family has been farming wine grapes, alfalfa and wheat on Union Island in the delta since the 1940s, said he doesnt see the point of purchasing new gadgets when he has been able to track his water usage with older equipment and estimates.Marchini doesnt yet know what the proposed regulation will require of him, but as a senior water-rights holder, he said, he doesnt want to be weighed down. California landowners living along waterways have been able to pump freely since statehood in 1850, but Marchini having that ability doesnt mean hes rich.I dont have an extra $10,000 to spend on something, he said. I have riparian rights. I should be able to get as much water as I need, to do what I need to do.The new state rules, most of which will begin to be phased in at the end of the year, require those who draw at least 10 acre-feet of water from a river or creek annually  the equivalent of what about 15 households use in a year  to install a meter. The type of meter and the measurement protocols vary with how much water a user draws.The regulation eliminates a loophole that now allows water-rights holders to cite economic hardship and forgo metering, something 70 percent have historically done, according to state estimates.The rules also require rights holders to report their usage more frequently  in many cases each year instead of every three years.However, state officials dropped a proposal to compel the biggest users to post their water draws in real time on a public website.The new regulation comes as the state water board, facing a possible fifth year of drought, considers new conservation mandates for cities and towns as well as potential cutbacks for the water-rights holders drawing from rivers and creeks.While urban residents have faced mandatory reductions of up to 36 percent, holders of about 10,000 water rights  mostly in agricultural areas  had their supplies cut off last year because of the drought.State regulators have not yet said whether water-rights holders will face cutbacks this year. But they say better accounting will allow them to tailor reductions more precisely and perhaps to limit them.The reporting requirements are the result of legislation that Gov. Jerry Brown signed last year, to the applause of many fighting for more sustainable water policy.These regulations will help improve water planning and enhance decision-making, said Rickey Russell, policy analyst with California Coastkeeper Alliance.
Learning curve

Electronic records

(TNS) -- Business is about to boom for transportation project inspectors in Texas, so officials are testing new tools in hopes of reducing the time spent filling out reports.Texas Department of Transportation officials are considering outfitting inspectors with tablet computers to connect construction sites with the mounds of data required to manage, maintain and build highways. The devices wirelessly send that data back for review by managers across the state.The results of a recent test, part of a lengthy process that officials hope to use to snag a federal grant, indicated the tablet-based approach to information saved time - and by doing so, saved the state money.With billions of dollars in new road construction set to begin in the next three years - buoyed by voter-approved increases in highway spending in 2014 and 2015 - Texas will have to accelerate not only the work, but also the paperwork that comes with juggling multiple multimillion-dollar road expansions in 27 TxDOT districts.Inspectors on three projects in the Houston area were some of the first in Texas to use a tablet-based program to submit daily reports and status updates."Across the country, the state of the practice hasn't changed," said Si Katara, co-founder of Pavia Systems, makers of the new tablet software for inspectors. "You're going to the jobsite and jotting notes down there and maybe snapping photos with a digital camera. ... Then you're going back to the office or the truck to file a report."In late 2014, inspectors on projects to widen I-45 south of the Sam Houston Tollway, U.S. 59 in Fort Bend County near Spur 10 and U.S. 290 between Eldridge and Telge were given tablets with the software loaded.The pilot program followed others in Washington state and Minnesota. Inspectors are trained and skilled but also leery of changes to their routine, officials said."(Road construction) is known for being a late adopter of technology," Katara said. "What we did was assess a person's technology comfort, and what we found is there were some willing to learn the new technology."On average, Katara said, it took less than three days for inspectors to feel comfortable with the tablet and software, HeadLight."We had a full spectrum of different personality types," Katara said, recalling one inspector who was skeptical the tablet could help him. "Seeing him go from one of the most resistant to most supportive ... was extremely rewarding."Across the three states and 31 construction projects, use of the tablets gave each inspector more than 100 minutes of additional time per day for inspecting materials and facilities, while increasing the amount of data they supplied by 275 percent per day.The tablet software provides information more efficiently. Every photo snapped at a jobsite to confirm a pillar was built properly comes automatically with a specific location and time tied to it. By combining the notes taken by inspectors with the time- and location-stamped photos taken with the tablet, mounds of paper become bits of data available online anywhere.More time for inspectors and more information translates to better results and smoother operations, officials said. In the case of TxDOT employees inspecting and certifying jobsites, that documentation is essential when contracts are closed. Much like building a new house or leaving a rental apartment, road projects require that final walk-through to verify everything is in place."Materials are arriving on a jobsite daily," said Roxana Garcia with TxDOT's construction division in Austin. "They have to meet specifications."When they do not, Garcia said, the materials cannot be used on the project and TxDOT excludes them from payments."TxDOT will need documentation of why we did not accept those materials," she said. "Each one of those decisions cost money."Statewide, TxDOT has about 1,100 inspectors. Already stretched, those inspectors will have even more jobsites and lanes of road to handle. For fiscal 2016, which started Sept. 1, TxDOT has $1.1 billion in rainy day funds to boost its spending, with $2.5 billion more coming in fiscal 2017. That will increase construction - and, officials hope, decrease congestion - but also will generate more projects to keep on track.Lawmakers are prioritizing those projects now, with a key Texas House committee scheduled to discuss the matter Wednesday in Austin.Texas is not alone in looking for ways to cut costs and improve efficiency. Software companies are looking at so-called e-construction improvements as a way to sell states on changing policies. Utah and other western states have been testing programs for more than a decade.The next step in Texas is more study. TxDOT has applied for competitive grant money available through the Federal Highway Administration to give tablets to inspectors statewide. Garcia said districts are interested, but the specifics of the grant are still being worked out.Michigan, meanwhile, has focused on "paperless projects" where online tracking and communication replaced paperwork. In a three-year test, the state saved $12 million annually, removing 6 million pieces of paper yearly from future record-keeping.
Uber model

Lower fares

The Uber side

Uber is simple, for both drivers and riders.

Uber increases access to small business. Roughly 30 percent of Uber trips in Hoboken, N.J., where the ride-booking service operates under its normal model, start or end at a small business.

Uber improves existing transit networks. The service makes it easier to live and conduct business in neighborhoods poorly served by buses, subways and taxis. And it complements, rather than competes with, public transit, in a sense completing the last mile of a commuters trip. In Connecticut, for example, 29 percent of Uber trips start or end at metro train stations.

All Uber drivers must undergo extensive background screening, including a Social Security trace, a criminal-background check and pulling the persons Motor Vehicle Registration file. Those searches include databases for sex offenders and suspected terrorists.

Uber provides more safety and convenience before, during and after the ride.

Ubers commercial insurance policy, providing up to $1 million in liability, applies for the duration of the shared ride.

And more than 4,000 New York State residents currently drive with Uber in nearby Connecticut and New Jersey.

The case against Uber

(TNS) -- A taxi ride from the Buffalo Niagara International Airport to City Hall downtown typically costs at least $39.If Uber or another ride-booking service were operating in Buffalo, the same ride could cost less than $20.Thats why Uber has become a national, even international, rage. Uber drivers are picking up passengers in every large American city, but not Buffalo  now the largest city in the nation without Uber.Why not Buffalo?The answer can be found 288 miles to the east, in Albany. Ride-sharing services, which use mobile apps to connect passengers and drivers, are not permitted in New York State, except in New York City, under a special arrangement.Uber claims that it would create close to 500 jobs in the Buffalo area, and more than 13,000 across the state, in its first year alone.Thats why Uber has received plenty of upstate support, including from Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown. Still, the battle will be waged in the State Legislature this session.I think theres a very strong possibility that Uber will be accepted statewide, state Sen. Timothy M. Kennedy said. I think theres a growing desire to have Uber in New York State. I think its gaining traction and momentum.But getting through the Legislature may be difficult. Taxicab and limo companies, cabbies and many disabled people are lined up against the service.These opponents say it would threaten the taxicab industry, costing at least 1,330 jobs in the Buffalo area alone, especially among support personnel such as dispatchers and mechanics. Opponents also say it would limit transportation options for the disabled. And they claim Uber would rely unfairly on independent-contractor drivers not subject to workers compensation, unemployment benefits and payroll withholdings.Were not afraid of competition, said Kevin Barwell of Buffalo, president of the Limousine, Bus, Taxi Operators of Upstate New York. If they want to come in and compete, fine, if theyre on the same playing field.Supporters counter that Uber, which operates in 45 states, would provide flexible, part-time driving jobs for people needing extra income; increase access to small businesses; make communities safer by reducing drunken driving; serve underserved areas; and reduce discrimination against passengers living in tough neighborhoods.And it would be faster and cheaper.Uber is a technology platform that connects drivers and riders, said Josh Mohrer, general manager of Uber NYC. Reliability is sort of our Number One priority. We want it to be as reliable as running water.Where Uber already operates, in most big cities in North America, taxi drivers and their Uber counterparts naturally have different views of the ride-booking service.Most people say its convenient, safe, [cheaper] and cashless, said Sal, an Uber driver in Hamilton, Ont., who wouldnt give his last name.But Bill Cranston , a Hamilton cab driver for 43 years, had a different view.These people, as far as Im concerned, are just parasites, he said of Uber drivers. Theyre actually stealing business.In cities where Uber operates, people wanting a ride usually can get one in a few minutes by using their phone app to relay their current location, provide their destination, pay their fare and provide immediate feedback afterwards. Uber officials say they offer a cheaper, more reliable option than taxis for passengers.Using a smart phone app, two Buffalo News staff members ordered an Uber ride from inside a Hamilton mall late Wednesday morning and were told that the vehicle would reach them in eight minutes.Seven minutes later, Sal called to say he was parked outside.In the Uber model, drivers work as independent contractors, driving their own vehicles on a part-time basis.Those drivers typically keep 75 to 80 percent of the fares, Mohrer said. After a $1.25 Rider Fee is subtracted from the fare, the driver keeps 80 percent of what is left, according to Ubers general price structure. So in simple terms, a $21.25 Uber fare would leave the driver collecting $16. Out of that amount, the driver pays for gas, other vehicle expenses and taxes on the earnings.But that model puts taxi cabs at a disadvantage, said Barwell, who also owns several local transportation services. Taxi cabs are regulated in New York State, which requires taxi or livery operators to have special insurance, registration and for-hire licenses.They want you to be able to operate your own vehicle, without for-hire insurance, without for-hire registration, without a for-hire license, and they want to be able to operate freely in the city without following the municipalities rules and laws, Barwell said of ride-booking services like Uber and Lyft.Bill Yuhnke, president of Liberty Yellow Cab in Buffalo, has been battling the ride-booking industry for several years.These companies dont have to follow the same guidelines, failing to provide adequate insurance or extensive background checks for their drivers, he claims. That, in Yuhnkes mind, creates more risk for drivers and riders and allows Uber to operate more cheaply and offer lower fares.They say theyre cheaper, Yuhnke said. Absolutely, theyre cheaper. Their expenses are much cheaper.Its not clear how much cheaper Uber would be in Buffalo, compared to taxis. While waiting for state approval, Uber has yet to set its rates for the Buffalo area.It will be affordable, Mohrer said. We dont set fares in a city until we launch.But it is safe to say that Ubers fare for the Buffalo airport-to--City Hall ride would be cheaper than the typical $39 to $42 taxi fare.An online search for New Jerseys current Uber rate shows the $1.25 Rider Fee, plus $1.10 per mile and 18 cents per minute.If that same rate applied in Buffalo for the airport-City Hall trip, which is about 10 miles and 20 minutes during non-rush hour, that adds up to $15.85.Uber fares, though, are tricky.A comparison by the business website Business Insider for 21 American cities where Uber operates shows that taxi fares in those cities ranged from 1.7 times as high as Uber to just below Uber rates. However, Uber drivers arent tipped, and if a 20 percent tip were added to the taxi ride, that would bring the taxi charge close to twice the Uber rate in several cities.Critics, though, are quick to point out Ubers surge pricing.That policy allows Uber to charge higher prices during peak demand, thus encouraging more drivers to become available.Several media have reported that at unusually peak times, such as after midnight on New Years in New York City, the surge prices can be up to nine times the usual amount.Uber says it makes that known in advance to the rider.We take notifying you of the current pricing seriously, Uber states on its website. To that end, youll see a notification screen in your app whenever there is surge pricing. Youll have to accept those higher rates before we connect you to a driver.Uber officials come armed with plenty of bullet points supporting Ubers Impact on Buffalo.Among them:Using an Uber telephone app, riders can tap their phones to order their rides and pay. Drivers also have the same information at their fingerprints, reducing communication problems, misunderstandings or need for third-party connections.Riders dont have to stand in a busy street to hail a cab or wait outside; they know when their ride is coming. Riders and drivers dont have to carry cash. These rides arent anonymous transactions; a loved one can track the vehicles location, especially helpful for a parent worried about a child rider.The entire time our app is on, the insurance is in effect, Mohrer said.Already people in New York are clamoring for Uber, Mohrer said.Ubers critics, like Yuhnke and Barwell, take special exception to the ride-booking services points about insurance and background checks.Yuhnke objected to Ubers insurance claims, about its $1 million liability insurance.Unfortunately, its going to take a death or serious injury to see if this magical insurance policy of theirs will pay off, Yuhnke said. I believe that policy has no weight to it in the state of New York.And Yuhnke scoffs at Ubers claims of extensive background checks on drivers.I believe their background checks are a farce, he said.As evidence, Yuhnke pointed to a website, www.whosdrivingyou.org , an initiative of the taxi and limo industries, which details more than 100 incidents, including lawsuits and criminal allegations, involving Uber and Lyft in the last three years.Ubers process for (checking out) drivers is dangerously negligent, the website states. Neither Uber nor Lyft uses fingerprints or law enforcement to background-check their drivers. And Uber doesnt even bother to meet with drivers in person before allowing them to ferry passengers.The result is a series of incidents involving ride-sharing passengers being harmed and criminal offenders behind the wheel.The website then lists dozens of cases, some involving lawsuits, that allege the following: deaths from Uber and Lyft accidents; assaults, sexual attacks and harassment by drivers; felons behind the wheel; and driving under the influence.Ubers opponents wonder why the ride-booking service cant operate upstate the same way it does in New York City, as a commercial livery service operating under the same licensing and insurance regulations as taxis do.Critics also are concerned that not everyone will have access to Uber, including the disabled lacking physical access and poor people who may not have credit cards, debit cards or smartphones.The opponents also point out the lobbying power of Uber, with its deep pockets and lobbying presentations to lawmakers and reporters.Uber is firing off atomic bombs, and I have a pea shooter, Yuhnke said.Yuhnke knows what he will do if and when Uber is approved in Buffalo and the rest of upstate.I would immediately request 100 percent deregulation of ground transportation in the city of Buffalo, he said. It would then turn into the Wild, Wild West.
(TNS) -- Gov. Rick Snyder's staffers worried in September that the issue of lead in Flint's drinking water was being politicized and that the state's responsibility for the crisis was being exaggerated."I can't figure out why the state is responsible except that (then-treasurer Andy) Dillon did make the ultimate decision so we're not able to avoid the subject," Snyder's chief of staff Dennis Muchmore wrote to Snyder in a Sept. 25, 2015, email.He followed it up the next morning, writing: "The real responsibility rests with the county, city and KWA," referring to the Karegnondi Water Authority. "But since the issue here is the health of citizens and their children, we're taking a proactive approach."Muchmore's email came after a Hurley Medical Center pediatrician reported finding elevated blood lead levels in Flint children.Muchmore's emails were included in 274 pages of Snyder's emails released today in the wake of the water crisis that has led protesters to call for the governor to resign. House Minority Leader Tim Greimel, D-Auburn Hills, said he was very disappointed with redactions in the emails and the fact Snyder only released what he said were his own emails, instead of all Flint-related emails to and from officials in the executive office.The first email in the file released by Snyder is from Michael Gadola, then Snyder's legal counsel, and includes 2 1/2 pages of blacked-out text. Most of the other redactions are of email addresses."It's very disappointing to see the governor play these types of games," Greimel said.Muchmore, who retired Tuesday as Snyder's chief of staff, told thethat when he wrote that Dillon made the ultimate decision, he meant that the Flint emergency manager reported to Dillon and Dillon "signed off on it."Muchmore said he was referencing Flint's decision to join the Karegnondi Water Authority, a new pipeline now under construction to Lake Huron. That decision was supported by the locals and the Flint City Council, which endorsed it with a 7-1 vote.After the vote, Detroit notified Flint that it was terminating water service to Flint in 12 months, which prompted a scramble for an alternative source. A year later, Flint began drawing and treating water from the Flint River for distribution to the city. The river water immediately drew complaints of discoloration, odor and rust.Dillon said in an email to thehe was initially reluctant to sign off on Flint moving to the KWA because he didn't think the change would save the cash-strapped city money. He said he changed his mind after he was told in a briefing with the Department of Environmental Quality that the new pipeline would be a cost-saver, and after determining that the Detroit water system was not prepared to give Flint a better deal."However, this was a different decision than the decision to use the Flint River," Dillon said. "I don't recall that decision coming to me."Muchmore said Wednesday that the Flint River had always been the backup water source and while there was some disagreement about the issue, no one really talked about the significance of using the river water until after it happened and complaints started pouring in."Everybody thought professionals will treat this water and they will make it good," Muchmore said today. "Andy ultimately signed off on the KWA because he felt it was acceptable financially, No.1 , and the DEQ had signed off on the technical part of it, and more importantly, the local people wanted to do it."The emails were released after Snyder made a pledge in his State of the State address Tuesday. Normally, the emails would not be disclosed publicly, but Snyder agreed to release them after pressure from theand others to make his communications public in the wake of the public health emergency.In the emails, Muchmore wrote that U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Flint Township, was "engaged in his normal press hound routine" after the congressman issued a press release noting he'd asked the EPA to help the state deal with the crisis. Muchmore added that then-mayor Dayne Walling "went out on a CYA effort due to the election."They also show doubts about returning Flint to the Detroit system and even questioning if the reports of higher lead levels are accurate."They can't reconnect to DWSD even if they wanted to as they sold the connector line," Muchmore wrote Sept. 26. "And, especially with the new rate increases in Detroit, their citizens would be less able to pay than they already are. Now we have the anti everything group turning to the lead content which is a concern for everyone, but DEQ and DHHS and EPA can't find evidence of a major change per Geralyn's memo below."Muchmore was referring to a memo from Geralyn Lasher at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services that said blood lead level data examined by Hurley Medical Center Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha didn't match the state's data."Hurley used two partial years of data, MDHHS looked at five comprehensive years and saw no increase outside the normal seasonal increases," Lasher wrote. "The Hurley review was also a much smaller sample than MDHHS data as ours includes all hospital systems in Flint as well as outside laboratories. We have also provided the attached data chart that outlines if the elevated blood lead levels were being driven by a change in water, we would have seen the elevated levels remain high after the change in water source."Three days later, Snyder received a daily briefing from staffers laying out the concerns in Flint. The first bullet point in the briefing noted that the most common cause of lead poisoning is from lead paint."Blood lead level testing results for the 12-month period just after the City of Flint changed its water source (May 2014- April 2015) showed no significant change in the pattern of blood lead levels in Flint, compared to the previous three years," Snyder was informed in the briefing. "This data suggests the recent change in water source by the City of Flint has not contributed to an increase in lead exposure throughout the community."The briefing went on to estimate that it would cost "$60 million or more" to replace the more than 15,000 lead pipes that connect water mains to homes.Very little of the text in the body of the emails was written by Snyder himself. The bulk of the messages are staffers writing to Snyder.On Sept. 2, Snyder received an email from Harvey Hollins, his director of the office of urban affairs, informing him that 1,500 donated water filters were distributed in Flint within four hours and at least 200 more people wanted them. The name of the donor who provided the filters is redacted from the emails though Hollins acknowledged that they "do not want any publicity or credit for the donation."Snyder responded three days later: "Factually accurate update, but how did it go over with the residents?""It went over extremely well with the residents," Hollins replied. "There is a demand for more."A week after Muchmore's email saying Flint couldn't reconnect to Detroit's system, the city was exploring a way to do just that.Snyder did weigh in on the financial aspects of reconnection."We should help get all the facts on the consequences of changing back vs. staying and then determine what financing mechanisms we have available," Snyder wrote in an Oct. 2 message to Muchmore, adding the administration needed "a clear side-by-side comparison of the health benefits and costs of (the Great Lakes Water Authority) vs. a more optimized Flint system. Also, we need to look at what financing mechanisms are available to Flint to pay for any higher cost actions. Please get people working on these two issues ASAP."On Oct. 6, Snyder wrote: "We need a better update system re: Flint water," noting that he learned from the media that the Department of Health and Human Services announced the distribution of water filters."This should have come internally with more detail. I had press questions last night," Snyder wrote. "Overall, we should have a daily report on Flint until our recommendations are fully implemented."Snyder then cited information he wanted including water test results, blood test results, the number of filters distributed and the analysis of proceeding with water from the Great Lakes Water Authority, the Flint River or the new authority.The emails show that on Dec. 28, when given advance notice of the letter from the task force that Snyder appointed to look into the issue, which was highly critical of the DEQ, incoming chief of staff Jarrod Agen told Snyder that planned staff changes at the DEQ should be made "sooner rather than later," and that Snyder should accept Director Dan Wyant's resignation, which had apparently already been submitted but not accepted.Agen also references moving ahead with the dismissal of three DEQ officials, which he said had been planned for Jan. 4. No such dismissals have been announced. DEQ Communications Director Brad Wurfel resigned the same day Wyant did. Earlier, the head of the drinking water section had been re-assigned, but not dismissed.Snyder had to sign off on the release of the emails. The governor's office and Legislature are exempt from Michigan's Freedom of Information Act, which requires public disclosure of records related to government. Michigan is one of only two states that apply a blanket exemption to electronic communication from the governor's office and Legislature.Greimel said the situation demonstrates why Michigan's FOIA should immediately be extended to cover both the governor's office and the Legislature.Snyder has said he would not compel members of his administration to publicly release their emails.
Red Bull is facing the possibility of a EUR 30,000 fine after Max Verstappen's spectacular blast up and down the famous Kitzbuhel ski slopes last week.

A crowd of 3,500 gathered in the Austrian Alps as Verstappen, F1's teenage sensation, slipped and slid in a F1 car fitted with snow chains, some 1600 metres above sea level.

Verstappen and Red Bull were helping to promote this year's Austrian grand prix, but local authorities reportedly did not see the bright side of the F1 snow stunt.

Tiroler Tageszeitung newspaper reports that administrative proceedings have been filed against Red Bull, as official approval for the event was not granted.

Kitzbuhel director Michael Berger confirmed the news, saying approval must be given for the driving of any vehicle outside normal traffic or fenced areas, due to the potential for causing damage to nature.

(GMM)
The media has been summoned to Paris for February 3, as Renault presses the throttle on its plans for 2016.

In a teaser video released on Wednesday, the carmaker declared: "Can't you hear us coming back?"

Indeed, Renault's plans appear to be on schedule, as the Enstone based outfit formerly known as Lotus declared on Twitter: "Chassis homologation: done."

It means the 2016 car, tipped to be yellow and black to mark Renault's return to full works team status, has passed the FIA's mandatory crash test requirements.

The next milestone will be in Paris when the full team including the management and drivers are unveiled.

Williams, third overall in 2014 and 2015, admits it is looking over its shoulder at rivals like Red Bull, Force India and also Renault.

"The works Renault team are going to start investing," senior engineer Rob Smedley is quoted by Sky. "So I think there are lots of people behind us who can make great strides."

(GMM)
City BJP Ex-MLA Prem Singh Rathore Resigns!

The BJP received a major jolt in Hyderabad ahead of GHMC elections. BJP former Maharajgunj MLA Prem Singh Rathore on Thursday resigned from the party in protest against the party allotting tickets to defectors from other parties while ignoring genuine BJP leaders and activists.

Rathore alleged that BJP leaders sold GHMC party tickets. He said those who defected from Congress and other parties recently into BJP were allotted GHMC tickets.

Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya tried to convince Rathore to withdraw his resignation. But Rathore refused to oblige and quit the party.

He told Dattatreya that some BJP leaders were damaging the party for their selfish interests and unable to bear this he left the party.

Rathore earlier also worked as Hyderabad city BJP president.
How To Avoid Unruly Scenes In Assembly?

The recent ugly incidents in Andhra Pradesh State Assembly involving verbal abuse between the Telugu Desam Party legislators and YSR Congress party members, finally culminating in suspension of YSRCP MLA R K Roja for one year, has projected the august Assembly in a bad light.

All these incidents are avoidable, if the members maintain dignity and decorum in the House. This is the simple remedy. However, the so-called intellectuals, who attended a meeting convened by Speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao the other day to discuss the situation in the Assembly, came out with a strange suggestion: ban live telecast of the Assembly proceedings.

They felt that the MLAs are crossing their limits and resorting to ugly scenes only to project themselves as heroes in the eyes of the public because of the live telecast of the proceedings.

The media, too, is projecting the Assembly in a bad light by repeatedly telecasting the ugly scenes, they felt.

This is ridiculous. The telecast of the proceedings was introduced only to make the people know how their elected representatives are bringing their issues to the notice of the government. This way, they can judge the performance of the MLAs.

Instead of asking the MLAs to behave properly and act in a dignified manner, the intellectuals are blaming it on the media!
The Ralph Isbrandt Award annually recognizes the author(s) delivering the most outstanding paper at an SAE Society or section meeting on the subject of automotive safety engineering. The 2016 Ralph Isbrandt award recognizes the advancement to SAE literature of the recipients SAE World Congress Technical Paper on Hydrogen Fueling, Validation and Sensitivity Studies for SAE J2601, the Light Duty Vehicle Hydrogen Fueling Standard (SAE 2014-01-1990). ( Earlier post .)

At the Awards Ceremony at the SAE 2016 Government/Industry Meeting, SAE International honored the recipients of the Ralph H. Isbrandt Automotive Safety Engineering Award, including the lead author, Jesse Schneider, (BMW); along with co-authors Jihyun Shim (Hyundai); Graham Meadows (IMPCO); Steven R. Mathison (Honda); Michael J. Veenstra (Ford); Rainer Immel (Opel); Morten Wistoft-Ibsen (H2 Logic); Manfred Greisel (Wenger Engineering); Spencer Quong (SQI); Timothy McGuire (MB RDNA); and Peter Potzel (Daimler).

To support international standardization of hydrogen fueling of Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle, multiple automakers released their onboard and laboratory data into one report. This industry-led effort combined testing conducted in three continents in both laboratory settings as well as public hydrogen fueling stations with sensitivity studies. These extreme case simulations evaluated the limits of hydrogen fueling in relation to vehicle and station designs in order to give confidence to the implementation of the SAE J2601 standard.

Hydrogen is now emerging as an alternative fuel and they are starting to build infrastructure in places such as California, Europe and Japan. This new commercial hydrogen fueling has the ability to have same-as-todays 5-minute fueling and at the same time enables a driving range similar to conventional vehicles at 300 miles (500 km). This technical paper (SAE 2014-01-1990)recognized todaydocuments more than a decade worth of testing and simulation to confirm the hydrogen fueling protocols targets and limits set forth by the SAE J2601 protocol. Validating safety for commercial hydrogen fueling protocol is a high priority as well as confirming its performanceand that is what we did. Jesse Schneider

Obtaining extended driving ranges in FCEVs with hydrogen fueling is accomplished by compressing hydrogen to 70MPa (or H70). The speed of hydrogen fueling is directly related to the amount of cooling that the dispenser allows, to offset the heat of compression. Therefore, a H70-T40 fueling dispenser enables this fast-fueling by providing hydrogen fuel at -40 C to the fuel cell vehicle.

The figures below show an example of fueling testing in the laboratory (at Powertech in Canada) and in the field at a Shell Station with H2Logic Technology in Denmark. The data confirms that the fueling protocol does not exceed the temperature, pressure or density limits under extreme and ambient conditions. At the same time, it shows a high degree of State of Charge (SOC), for instance between 95-100% with communications fueling.

Laboratory fueling testing with automaker tanks and dispenser fueling equipment under extreme temperature fueling conditions. Click to enlarge.

Field testing at the H2Logic station at Shell fueling site. Click to enlarge.

Summary of field test results for fueling time and resulting SOC. Click to enlarge.

SAE J2601 is referenced in the upcoming international Standard ISO TS 19880-1 as well as the North American CSA 4.3 Standard. This data (documented and evaluated in the SAE report 2014-01-1990) has also been posted on the www.h2protocols.com website for free download in the public domain.
Mavens mission is to give customers access to highly personalized, on-demand mobility services. The global Maven team includes more than 40 dedicated employees from the connected car technology industry as well as ride- and car-sharing professionals from Google, Zipcar and Sidecar. Earlier this month, GM announced a $500-million investment in Lyft to help the company continue the rapid growth of its successful ridesharing service. ( Earlier post .)

General Motors announced a new car-sharing service it calls Maven , which combines and expands the companys multiple programs under a single brand.

GM is at the forefront of redefining the future of personal mobility. With the launch of our car-sharing service through Maven, the strategic alliance with ride-sharing company Lyft, and building on our decades of leadership in vehicle connectivity through OnStar, we are uniquely positioned to provide the high level of personalized mobility services our customers expect today and in the future. GM President Dan Ammann

Starting this week, Maven is expanding its offerings in multiple cities and communities across the US. Services are customized to regional customer needs and include city, residential, peer-to-peer and campus programs.

City. Maven is offering its car-sharing program to more than 100,000 people in Ann Arbor, Mich., initially focusing on serving faculty and students at the University of Michigan. GM vehicles will be available initially at 21 parking spots across the city.

Additional city-based programs will launch in major US metropolitan areas later this year.

Maven customers will experience seamless smartphone and keyless integration with the vehicle. Maven customers use its app to search for and reserve a vehicle by location or car type and unlock the vehicle with their smartphone. The app also enables remote functions such as starting, heating or cooling and more. Customers can bring their digital lives into the vehicle through Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, OnStar, SiriusXM radio and 4GLTE wireless. Each vehicle will provide an ownership-like experience with the convenience of car-sharing.

Maven pricing is simple and transparent and includes insurance and fuel.

As Maven grows, the team will use innovative ways of connecting personally with customers. Ann Arbor Maven users will have direct access to Maven leadership and core team members via the messaging application WhatsApp to share their experiences, ideas and thoughts with the team as they help shape the Maven service.

Residential. In the first quarter of 2016, Maven will launch car-sharing services for Chicago residents in partnership with Magellan Development Group. Maven is also expanding its existing residential program in New York City (previously called Lets Drive NYC) with Stonehenge Partners giving users on-demand access to vehicles and preferred parking options. Both programs combined will offer service to more than 5,000 residents.

Peer-to-Peer. Existing global initiatives include peer-to-peer car-sharing through the CarUnity market place in Germany. Nearly 10,000 users have signed up in Frankfurt and Berlin since mid-2015.

Campus. Various programs are running on GM campuses in the US, Germany and China to refine and test future Maven commercial offerings.
Honda expects limited volumes in the early stages of production. Deliveries will begin through certified fuel cell vehicle dealers in Los Angeles and Orange counties as well as the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento. The company will start by leasing vehicles and expects to move to retail sales with increased volumes and market coverage coincident with increasing vehicle supplies and the growing hydrogen refueling station network.

At Washington, D.C. Auto Show, Honda said that it will begin retail leasing of the new 5-passenger, hydrogen-powered Clarity Fuel Cell sedan ( earlier post ) to customers in select California markets before the end of 2016. Honda expects to price the Clarity Fuel Cell at around $60,000 with a targeted monthly lease under $500.

The Clarity Fuel Cell will anchor an expanding portfolio of advanced environmental Honda vehicles, including a reengineered 2017 Accord Hybrid, going on-sale this spring, and a new Honda Plug-In Hybrid vehicle based on the same platform as the Clarity Fuel Cell, slated for launch by 2018.

The new Clarity Fuel Cell and Accord Hybrid arriving this year, along with the new plug-in hybrid coming by 2018, are critical steps toward a new generation of Honda advanced environmental vehicles and a true volume pillar for Honda and our product portfolio in the US. John Mendel, executive vice president, Automobile Division, American Honda Motor

Honda engineers created a fuel cell stack that is 33% more compact than its predecessor with a 60% increase in power density compared to the outgoing Honda FCX Clarity. The more compact fuel cell and integrated powertrain, comparable in size to a V-6 engine, now fits entirely under the hood of the car, allowing for a more spacious cabin with seating for five passengers.

The new Honda Clarity Fuel Cell will feature a driving range estimated to exceed 300 miles (483 km), with an anticipated refueling time of approximately three to five minutes.

As the next progression in Hondas dynamic FCV styling, the Honda Clarity Fuel Cell features a low, wide aerodynamic body with clean character lines. Features include the Honda Sensing suite of safety and driver assistive technologies, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, LED exterior lighting and 18-inch aluminum alloy wheels. The Clarity Fuel Cell will be available in black, white and signature red exterior paint schemes.

Next-generation plug-in hybrid . In addition, the platform underpinning the Clarity Fuel Cell will serve as the base for a next-generation Honda plug-in hybrid launching in the US by 2018. This will be a new, 50-state volume vehicle in the Honda lineup-up. Featuring a second iteration of the i-MMD plug-in system that offers significant improvements in battery capacity and power, the next-generation Honda plug-in hybrid will more than triple the 13-mile (21 km) all-electric range of the previous Accord Plug-In Hybrid Sedan. This much greater all electric range will enable a zero emissions commute for the vast majority of American drivers with EV operation at highway speeds.

Hydrogen refueling station network. In the effort to speed the advancement of a refueling station network outside of California, in May 2013 American Honda joined the public-private partnership H2USA, which brings together automakers, government agencies, hydrogen suppliers, and the hydrogen and fuel cell industries to coordinate research and identify cost-effective solutions to deploy stations that can deliver affordable, clean hydrogen fuel in the United States.

Additionally, in an effort to support the wider introduction of fuel cell vehicles, Honda in 2014 committed $13.8 million in financial support to FirstElement Fuel to accelerate the building of additional hydrogen refueling stations throughout the state of California.

In June 2013, Honda entered into a long-term collaborative agreement with General Motors to co-develop the next-generation of fuel cell systems and hydrogen storage technologies, aiming for the 2020 timeframe. The collaboration expects to succeed by sharing technological expertise, economies of scale and other benefits.
A Green River man will serve prison time for abusing an infant while the child was under his and his wifes foster care.

Shane D. Nickell, 31, appeared in the Third District Court of Judge Richard Lavery at a sentencing hearing to felony aggravated child abuse charges and child abuse charges.

Nickell was charged with five counts of aggravated child abuse and five counts of child abuse. In exchange for Nickells guilty plea to two counts of aggravated child abuse, the other charges were dismissed.

Nickell was given two 5-to-15 year prison sentences, which will run concurrently, and will be served at the Wyoming Department of Corrections. Credit will be given for 112 days served.

According to court documents, on May 20, 2015, a Green River Police officer responded to Castle Rock Medical Center to check on a possible child abuse. Upon arrival, the officer spoke with Dr. Jerryl Simmons, who has been practicing medicine for about 30 years. Dr. Simmons told the officer, the call was about a 7-month-old infant who have excessive bruising on numerous areas of his body and scratches. The infant, identified as LG, was brought in by foster parent, Margie Nickell.

An officer spoke with Margie, who said they have two foster children, LG, and JS, a 4 four-year-old. She said she put LG to bed on May 19 and did not notice any bruises, but later that night when the infant awoke, she noticed bruising on his back. She told the officer the bruises continued to get worse as the day went on. She didnt know who the bruises got there, but mentioned that she had to explain to Shane how to loosen his grip on the children and that he had a slight anger issue. Margie said LG would often act up when left alone with Shane, so she tried to avoid doing that.

Margie said she did recall that on May 18, 2015, she was tending to LG early in the morning and was upset because he wouldnt sleep, she told the officer she asked Shane to watch LG so she could have a break. She said she heard Shane yelling at LG, but nothing else.

The officer looked at the bruising and an ambulance was called. LG was transported to the Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County. While at the hospital, Dr. Phillip Craven examined LG, who was inconsolable until given pain medication.

Dr. Craven said LG had a complete fracture to the left arm, a buckle or incomplete fracture of the lower bone that leads to the pinky in the left arm, a buckle fracture in the tibia of the right leg, close to the ankle, a buckle fracture of the lower proximal tibia, below the knee and a buckle fracture in the center of the lower left leg, in the shin area.

LG was being treated by Dr. K. Campbell, child abuse pediatrician for Primary Childrens Hospital who said she was treating LG for what she believed was severe physical child abuse.

She noted the same injuries that MHSC and found two more, a lower left rib fracture and an additional acute buckle fracture in the lower left leg in LGs fibula bone.

Shane was interviewed by an officer and he told the officer that he would often get frustrated because he did not know how to get LG to stop crying.

He said most of the foster care children he was used to watching were older.
Jo Ann Tate, 74, passed away Jan. 16, 2016, at the Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County following a brief illness. She was a lifelong resident of Rock Springs.

Tate was born on November of 1941 in Rock Springs, the daughter of the late Joe and Mary Ardissone Radosevich.

She attended schools in Rock Springs and was a 1960 graduate of Rock Springs High School. She also attended and graduated Colorado State University with a bachelor of science degree.

She married Charles H. Tate at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church in Rock Springs June 26, 1966.

Tate was employed as a receptionist for many years for Dr. Joseph Erramouspe and later Dr. Greg Erramouspe.

She was a member of Holy Spirit Catholic Community, Council of Catholic Women and Design Committee for the URA..

Tate's interests were traveling to the cabin in PInedale, and spending time with her grandsons.

Survivors include her husband Charles H. Tate; two sons David M. Tate and Blaine J. Tate and wife Andrea, all of Rock Springs; one sister, Barbara Erramouspe of Rock Springs; three grandsons Luke, Benjamin and Tristan Tate; several nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents; son Paul Tate; brother Edward Radosevich; her mother-in-law Charlotte Tate; brothers-in-laws Joseph J. Erramouspe and Terry Tate.

A mass of Christian burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Friday at Out Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church, 116 Broadway, Rock Springs. A vigil service with rosary will be recited at 6 p.m. Thursday at the church. Interment will be in the Rock Springs Municipal Cemetery. Friends may call at the church on Friday, one hour prior to the services and on Thursday one hour prior to the rosary.

The family of Jo Ann Tate respectfully suggests that donations in her memory be made to Holy Spirit Catholic School, 116 Broadway, Rock Springs, or the charity of your choice.

Condolences may be left at http://www.vasefuneralhomes.com.
What started out as a two-person company, grew into a 66-person, multi-location business.

After 39 years at Trona Valley Federal Credit Union, CEO Marsha Tynsky has decided to retire.

"You don't get that opportunity anymore," Tynsky said. "To work that long. I am very privileged to have been here this long. I always say I have the best job in Sweetwater County."

Prior to moving to Sweetwater County, Tynsky worked at a bank in Omaha, Neb.

In 1976, Tynsky started as the CEO at Stauffer Big Island Federal Credit Union, which opened in 1962. Tynsky said the Stauffer Big Island FCU was located a...
GREENSBORO  In the dim light of the small studio theater, Gabrielle Sinclair watches intently as actors brings her play to life.

The local playwright wrote Ghost Notes in 2012, while studying for her masters degree in play writing at the Actors Studio Drama School in New York.

Now, thanks to the City Arts Drama Centers North Carolina New Play Project and the Greensboro Fringe Festival, she finally will see it performed.

Like the plays plot, she finds the experience surreal.

Its almost like hearing my old self talking, Sinclair says as director Randy Morris guides actors through their lines in rehearsal.

Tonight, the surrealistic family drama will open the 14th annual Greensboro Fringe Festival.

Over three weekends through Feb. 8, the festival will offer 10 shows featuring 30 new, edgy works of theater and dance.

The fringe festival is always about risk taking, said Todd Fisher, the festivals longtime volunteer director. They are very high-energy pieces, very provocative. Im sure they will be incredibly entertaining.

All but one will be performed downtown in the Stephen D. Hyers Studio Theatre in the Greensboro Cultural Center, named for the centers managing director who died in 2014. Scuppernong Books will host an evening of readings of brand-new plays by area playwrights.

Fisher now fills Hyers job as Drama Center director, while running the Fringe Festival. He, Morris and John Gamble of John Gamble Dance Theatre chose the festival works.

Most performers come from across North Carolina, primarily from the Greensboro area. Others will bring works from as far as South Carolina, Kentucky and Vermont.

Like drama? Ghost Notes and The Sparrow are among plays that fit the bill.

Comedy? Theres A Short History of Women in America (78% Shorter Than the Same History for Men). Also, the three-man troupe The Sloan will bring its sketch comedy from Salisbury.

Dance? The festival features 18 works spread over four shows.

The good thing about a dance concert is that you get to see a lot of different ideas and expressions and styles, all in one hour, Fisher said.

Among the dance programs, UNC-Greensboro graduate Christal Brown and Vermont-based dance company, Inspirit, will present a multimedia dance work titled The Opulence of Integrity, depicting the life and legacy of boxer Muhammad Ali.

The Drama Center will produce Ghost Notes, offering a daily performance today through Sunday.

After this weekend, each day of Fringe will bring two to four shows.

You can see the whole gamut of live theater performance all in one day in one setting, and throw money in the hat each time to support those artists, Fisher said. I cant think of anywhere else in North Carolina that you can do that.

The festival lets playwrights and choreographers, actors and dance troupes without access to regular venues make and show their work with less financial risk.

We want to be that proving ground, an opportunity to build an audience for their work specifically and new work in general, Fisher said.

The festival is geared toward adult audiences, and about 800 attended last year. Organizers are considering adding a fringe festival for youths, for a younger audience, Fisher said.

Playwrights and choreographers appreciate the opportunity that Fringe offers.

Scott Icenhower of Greensboro wrote A Short History of Women in America (78% Shorter Than the Same History for Men), a parody about gender parity. His wife, Katie Jo, will direct.

I think that will be a breakout hit for Fringe, Fisher said. I hope they submit it to other festivals or put it up for a longer run. It definitely deserves it.

The Icenhowers have been part of the local theater scene for years. Although Scott has won play writing contests and had his plays published in amateur markets, self-producing is still difficult, he said. Thats why I appreciate Todd and the Fringe Festival.

A new local theater company, Red Queen Productions, will premiere its first show, The Sparrow.

This year for the first time, the winner of the 2016 North Carolina New Play Project will open the festival  an effort to build the projects audience.

The Drama Centers Playwright Forums Evening of Short Plays  which usually concludes the festival  has moved to the first weekend in March, Fisher said.

Fisher and Morris chose Ghost Notes as New Play Project winner from among 26 submissions. As winner, Sinclair received the $500 Mark Gilbert Award, thanks to a bequest from the late Playwrights Forum member.

Sinclair took the plays name from a ghost note, also called a muted or silenced note, that has no discernible pitch.

In a strange Southern hospital, a family gathers, like pieces of a broken body, in their patriarchs room on his final night, trying to hold themselves together in more ways than one.

Sinclair, 33, a Durham native, has written for theater and comedy for 10 years.

Her plays has been developed with theaters in Chicago, New York City and Tennessee, most recently through an Ingram New Works fellowship at Nashville Repertory Theatre.

She discovered theater in Chicago, when she moved there after studying print journalism at the University of South Carolina.

I always wanted to be a writer but was kind of afraid of theater, she said. Its so personal and present and dangerous and vulnerable.

She learned long-form improvisation. She studied sketch writing at The Second City, the worlds leading comedy theater and school of improvisation.

She performed improv in Chicago, then in Los Angeles. She and boyfriend Ben Compton married and moved to New York.

There, she studied play writing, movement, voice and acting for her masters degree.

Compton considered UNCG for his doctoral studies in English literature. So Sinclair decided to check out Greensboro.

In 2014, she brought her play, Patience & Hannah, to the Greensboro Fringe Festival. I got a really good vibe from just being in Greensboro, she said.

Now she, Compton and their 7-month-old son live here.

Ghost Notes represents her first full-length production. During Fringe, she also will read her play, Dinner for Who, on Jan. 28 at Scuppernong Books.

Sinclair is grateful to the actors, director and crew who have brought Ghost Notes to life. She wants to develop it further and see it produced again.

I feel super lucky and blessed to be a part of this, Sinclair said. Its a real gift for a playwright.
STATESVILLE  North Carolina investigators found a possible explosive device in the home where sheriff's deputies shot and killed a man during a confrontation in Statesville, a sheriff said Wednesday.

State Bureau of Investigation agents found the device Tuesday night as they went into the home where deputies had tried to serve an eviction notice, Iredell County Sheriff Darren Campbell said in a news release.

"It was a small item that could potentially ... I'm sure it could have damaged something," Campbell told reporters during a news briefing following the statement's release. "Not a big item, but something that they were concerned about enough to contact their bomb disposal unit and have their experts look at it. "

A bomb disposal unit handled the device without incident.

Samuel Edward Grady, 55, confronted two deputies with a large knife, the sheriff said. A third deputy arrived, and officers reported that shots were fired. Campbell said previously that the man lunged at the officers.

There was no indication Grady had a prior criminal record, according to a search of a courts database and a Department of Corrections online search.

Grady's home is on a quiet street of mostly ranch-style homes. While most of the homes on the block were kept up, Grady's home appeared to have fallen into disrepair. There were coverings on the windows on the front of the home, and a cat sat in the larger window next to the front door. A tree near the front of the house had a scorched trunk.

The door to the carport was missing a window pane, and there was a blood stain on the carport floor where the confrontation between Grady and the officers took place.

Campbell says it appears his officers followed proper policies and procedures, and they have been placed on administrative leave with pay during an internal investigation. Spokesman Randy Cass said it was the first shooting involving a department deputy since 2007, which also ended with a suspect being killed.

Deputy John Fletcher has 14 years of law enforcement experience. Deputy Reggie Allen has 16 years of service. Deputy Roger Vargas has about three years of experience. Campbell said none of the deputies had ever been involved in a shooting.

"Any time you're put in this situation, you're going to be upset," Campbell said. "No deputy gets up in the morning and wants this to happen."

Peggy Aldridge, 67, was Grady's next-door neighbor for 15 years and was walking her dog when she said she heard a deputy yell, "Put the knife down!" Then she said she heard three shots and saw Grady fall to the carport floor.

"Sammy was quiet, stayed mostly to himself," Aldridge said. "If you'd see him in the yard, he spoke."

Aldridge said other neighbors had tried to help Grady with his yard or his house, but he rejected their efforts.

The State Bureau of Investigation is looking into any criminal activity at the home, the sheriff said.

___

This story has been corrected to reflect that the sheriff released the information on Wednesday, not Thursday, and that agents found the device Tuesday night, not Wednesday.
DANBURY  Local drug manufacturer MannKind said it found a licensing partner for its metered dose inhaler on Thursday, a day after a New York City law firm disclosed a class action lawsuit against the company.

Matt Pfeffer, the companys CEO, said in a statement it reached an the agreement with Seattle-based Receptor Life Sciences - a newly formed firm - for the development, manufacture and commercialization of multiple inhaled therapeutic products.

The agreement, which includes up to $102 million in milestone payments but no up-front cash, comes after Sanofi pulled out of its marketing contract for Afrezza, the inhalable form of insulin that is MannKinds only FDA-approved drug.

We are pleased that Receptor Life Sciences has selected our formulation and delivery technology to advance its portfolio of innovative inhaled products," Pfeffer said. This collaboration demonstrates the fundamental value of our platform technology while the risk-sharing structure of the transaction allows us to diversify our product opportunities without losing focus on our lead program."

Despite high hopes for Afrezza, sales have been lackluster since the products launch in February and are not expected to surpass $10 million for 2015. While some of the blame for the slow sales has fallen on Sanofi and what some analysts said were weak efforts to seek insurance reimbursements for the drug, a group of lawyers are questioning whether the companys board was up front with investors about Afrezzas problems.

Levi & Korsinsky, a Manhattan-based law firm that specializes in securities litigation, announced late Wednesday a class action lawsuit against MannKind alleging that board members made misleading statement or failed to disclose that mandated pulmonary testing or spirometry was still a significant issue impeding sales of Afrezza, according to a statement from the firm. The attorneys did not immediately respond to a request to elaborate on the claims.

Concerns were raised last year by some investors that the FDAs mandate lung-function testing prior to taking Afrezza would hamper the drugs acceptance by the medical community, arguing that many diabetes doctors dont have access to the spirometry equipment needed to perform the tests. However, company officials downplayed the issue in calls with investors stating that it wasnt a serious problem.

Harwood Feffer, another Manhattan law firm, also disclosed Wednesday that it had initiated its own investigation into claims that the board may have breached its fiduciary duties to shareholders and grossly mismanaged the company. Benjamin I. Sachs-Michaels, an attorney with the firm, declined to provide additional specifics on the claims when reached by The News-Times Thursday.

Besides Afrezza, MannKind executives also have high hopes for its Technosphere technology - the proprietary particle that delivers insulin to the lungs. Pfeffer said during a J.P. Morgan Health Care conference in California last week that several partnerships were under discussions related to the particle.

Other possible applications for the delivery system, Pfeffer said, include Treprostinil, which is prescribed for pulmonary arterial hypertension, Palonosetron for chemotherapy-induced nausea and Epinephrine, which can treat Anaphylaxis, a life-threatening allergic reaction.

Shares of MannKind (Nasdaq: MNKD) fell 6 percent to 74 cents on Thursday. The stock, which was trading as high as $7.58 last February, lost more than 50 percent of its value earlier this month after the Sanofi announcement.

dperrefort@newstimes.com
If your employees are silent -- when you dont hear any ideas or complaints -- beware. Your best and brightest could be getting ready to walk out the door. As a small business owner or entrepreneur, one of the best ways to retain talented employees is to foster a culture of voice -- where employees arent afraid to speak up.

A culture of voice exists when employees know they can share ideas, concerns and opinions. With a culture of voice, every employee believes they are valued and their voice has merit. They know they can contribute ideas -- even half-baked ones, propose solutions and share recommendations without fear of retribution of retaliation. When voice matters, employees sense of significance increases, resulting in emotional commitment.

Related: 10 Simple Secrets You Need to Know to Increase Employee Engagement

And commitment matters. The cost of turnover, especially for small businesses and entrepreneurs, is significant. In 2014, the U.S. quit rate rose by 10.4 percent, contributing more to the increase in total separations than involuntary layoffs and discharges, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Replacing and hiring new staff is estimated to be 60 percent of an employees annual salary, according to a SHRM report. So how do you create and sustain a culture of voice to retain the best and brightest at your company?

1. Trust your associates.

Although the financial situation of your company is critical, its also essential to focus on your employees. If they feel responsible for results, valued and believe their work has meaning -- its likely theyll stay.

Ask yourself, Did I hire stupid people? Inevitably, most leaders protest, Of course not! Those smart people working for you have some good answers sometimes. Instead of asking, Do you agree? -- where often you get blank stares or head nods -- show your employees you value their opinions and ideas by asking each one to offer their own solution to the problem.

In addition, dont be afraid to strengthen work relationships; they are your social capital, which is often ignored and misunderstood. By holding events that bring employees together, employees will socialize, exchange work-related information and become embedded in your company -- making it harder for them to leave. As colleagues talk freely in social settings, they transfer knowledge through the company, which can result in rapid problem-solving, more efficient processes and even innovative solutions.

Related: Happy or Not, U.S. Employees Are Restless. Use These 3 Tactics to Keep Them.

2. Shut up and listen.

One tip for creating a culture of voice is to shut up and listen. While this seems simple, your mind processes 450 words of information per minute. However, the average person can only speak at a rate of about 250 words per minute. Your mind is working approximately twice as fast as anyones physical ability to speak.

Naturally, your mind wanders, making listening hard to do. So, shut up and REALLY listen. Turn off the internal radio in your mind, so you can hear what your employees say. Dont interrupt, make hurry-up noises or gestures or get distracted by electronic gadgets. Also, pay close attention to employees body language. Research shows that tone and body language accounts for 93 percent of the message, while spoken words account for only seven percent of the message being communicated.

When your employees know for certain that youre interested and actively listening to them, the message is, you matter. This message is an affirmation of your employees sense of significance and self-worth to the company. If employees feel their concerns are being heard, its more likely theyll stay.

3. Transfer information quickly and broadly.

By maintaining a culture of voice where employees can speak freely, information throughout the company should transfer at a rapid pace. This will not only increase productivity but will also create transparency and knowledge flow throughout the company. Employees are dissecting every word you speak and every move you make, so its best to acknowledge and legitimize the current state and concerns of your employees. If employees feel they are in the loop about business deals and decisions, they will feel more secure, have less anxiety and feel more comfortable staying.

As a leader, you should be communicating often at the three levels -- enterprise, group, individual -- even if you have nothing to report. Keeping in touch with a stressed employee population and letting them know theres nothing new to share is actually valuable information and can go a long way toward easing tension.

Remember to be visible. Its not just about what you say but what you do. Its comforting to employees to see their leader out and about in the company. That way, theres no assumption that youre hiding from employees concerns or concealing bad news.

Related: 3 Reasons Why Your Best Employees Leave for New Opportunities

Related:

3 Ways Small Businesses Can Retain Talent

4 Ways to Teach Personal Accountability to Your Employees

Taking a UX Approach for Retaining Your Best Talent



Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
Hundreds of thousands of internship opportunities exist for U.S. college students. Our company, BRIC, has offered internships at our Shanghai and New York City offices the last four years, and interns have said the experience enhanced their lives immensely.

Related: You're Never Too Old for an Internship

By doing an internship, you are setting yourself up for the future by distinguishing yourself from your peers in the eyes of employers. Its a great experience and could be a means to snagging that first job. I cannot recommend strongly enough that every college student do at least one internship while at school.

There is, however, one thing more I would recommend: If youre looking for something to do during the summer that will challenge you, get you out of your comfort zone, let you see the world and change your life, do an internship abroad. Here are four reasons why an internship abroad should be a priority.

1. Experience

Sure, you can get experience here in the United States; an internship stateside is definitely an option. However, the average internship at home doesn't even begin to compare to living in a foreign city, learning new things and enjoying cultural differences while gaining invaluable career experience.

One experience that I will never forget was at a BEAN networking event in Shanghai. I never would have had a volunteer experience like it had I not gone to China: We were moving orphans with cleft palates from a home in Pudong to a new larger home. One of the sad realities of Chinas One Child Policy has been that most children born with deformities are abandoned.

That's why a wonderful couple from Texas, who started the orphanage, chose to do something about it. I got involved (trying to impress a girl, to be honest), and was rewarded . . . not by the girl, but by the experience. Those children truly needed help, and being a part of the group helping them was honestly one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.

Whether you choose to work for a non-profit, a government organization or a private business, getting that experience in a foreign country will allow you the opportunity to engage with and interact with people from all different walks of life. You learn patience, you learn to communicate in different ways and you learn to appreciate all the new opportunities that arise when you take such a chance.

Related: 6 Ways Employers Can Make Unpaid Internships Worthwhile

2. People

The people who surround you, both here in the states and abroad, shape your life in one way or another. When you expose yourself to new cultures and new people, you tend to learn more about yourself than you do about them. You will encounter good people and people who arent so great, but its how you handle those situations and learn from them that really shows you who you are.

Once you find yourself among good people, keep surrounding yourself with them. Learn from them, become their friends, build and maintain friendships with them. They will become a big part of your "home away from home" and continue to impact your life long after youve parted ways.

As for the bad people, learn from them, as well. Learn how not to act. Learn to treat people with respect and to not let the bad influences in your life bring you down.

Having the opportunity to learn and work with such a diverse group of people while doing an internship abroad is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Immerse yourself in their culture, become a part of their families, and learn how to live and work wherever you choose to go. Whether its China, Brazil, Paris or Dubai: Make the most of learning from your co-workers.

3. Travel

Make it your goal to travel while youre doing your internship. Whether its a quick weekend trip to Paris or a long holiday to Thailand -- you will most likely never have the opportunity to travel as much when you come back to the states. Working abroad and living in a different area gives you the opportunity to explore other countries and other cultures relatively cheaply and easily.

If youre lucky enough to be in a program that recognizes the importance of travel, you may even get some Fridays off or half-days, to encourage you to travel. If thats the case -- do it! Every other weekend, go to a different destination and take in as much as you can. There are so many different places for you to stay, whether you take advantage of an AirBnB or a more traditional youth hostel, you can stay for a few bucks and meet some incredible new people.

My advice for the weeks that you do stay in the city: Become a local. Go where the locals go, eat where they eat and learn what it means to be a part of their culture.

4. Money

Money: In the international business world, there is a lot of it. If youre talented and brave enough to take the leap, you can definitely grab some of that cash. If you wind up living and working in a foreign country, and speaking the language, expect between 5 percent and 20 percent higher pay than your peers native to that country.

In addition, an internship is the easiest way into the expat economy. Good internships abroad offer young professionals events, social activities and charitable and volunteer opportunities which not only let you give back, but also introduce you to other like-minded expats. Youre introducing yourself to an entirely new network of individuals who can help shape your future career.

So, if one of your concerns about moving abroad and working there is a lack of the financial means to do so, dont let that hold you back. Take that leap and know that it can pay off in the long run. You will not only have unique global job experience that looks extremely appealing on a resume, but a whole new network of people who can help you propel your career in the direction you want it to go.

Set yourself apart.

The experiences gained abroad are virtually unmatched by anything in the states. The people, the food, the culture are all so vastly different from what we are used to. If youre smart and driven and want to set yourself apart from your compatriots, take the next step.

Research companies that offer internships, scout out different locations that you would like to live in and go for it. My advice: Stop wasting time trying to break through the clutter of your classmates, and go on an adventure to gain experience in a different country. It will transform your future.

You can contact us here for free advice on how to get started.

Related: 5 Keys to Building a World-Class Internship Program

Related:

4 Lifelong Benefits You Get From an Internship Abroad

What the Founders of Job Platform WayUp Learned About Venture Funding

Should You Hire a Software Development Intern at Your Startup?



Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
Fred W.A. Peters, an entrepreneur whose marina and boatbuilding operation turned out sturdy watercraft that introduced generations of sailors to a love of the sea, died Wednesday at his home in Cos Cob at the age of 81. The cause of death was not determined, but the death was attributed to natural causes.

For many years, Peters owned and operated Mianus Marina, now the site of a rowing club, and was the president of Albin Marine USA. An accomplished sailor and world traveler, Peters was a well-known fixture on the Greenwich waterfront.

He was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on June 8, 1934, to Martin J. and Gerarda Adriaanz Peters. Raised and educated in the Netherlands, Peters joined the military, trained as a communication specialist and served with the Dutch marines in the East Indies and New Guinea. He also served in the Dutch merchant marine and sailed around the world, later taking a position with the Holland America Line as a radio officer on voyages between New York and Rotterdam.

Peters immigrated to the U.S. in 1958. He married Monica Johansson in the early 1960s.

After working for Palmer Engines in Cos Cob, Peters began running a business from Cos Cob in 1965, selling Swedish-made boats from Albin Marine. As president of Albin USA, he built boats in Taiwan, later building a factory in Portsmouth, R.I.

Coming from Holland, and sailing in the North Sea, he built very rugged and seaworthy boats, fuel-efficient, too, recalled his daughter, Miranda Hussar, of New Canaan.

Along with some other manufacturers in the field, Albin built the so-called Down-easter power boats that gave many families their first exposure to sea journeys. Later models were built with family-friendly additions at a relatively affordable price.

Peters retired from business in 2008 and pursued his love of travel and boating, recently returning from a trip to Amsterdam.

He was a man full of life, jokes and good feeling toward everybody, his daughter said.

Beside his daughter, he is survived by two sisters, Beatrix McKane of Long Island, N.Y., and Tineke Parker of Miami; and two grandchildren. His former wife lives in Greenwich.

Family and friends are making donations to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, P.O. Box 96929, Washington, DC 20090.

A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. Monday at St. Catherines of Sienna in Riverside, and a reception will follow there.
On a rare visit to Greenwich, state Rep. Themis Klarides, minority leader of the state House of Representatives, came out swinging Wednesday before the Retired Mens Association.

Her target? The policies of Gov. Dannel Malloy and the Democratic majority in the General Assembly. State spending and tax policies are driving businesses out of Connecticut, the Republican leader said, holding up General Electrics decision last week to leave Fairfield for Massachusetts as an example.

Whether its GE or the coffee shop down the corner, anybody who owns a business in this state will tell you the same thing, Connecticut cannot get out of our way. They do everything they can to make it difficult for us, Klarides said.

GE, which has disputed state tax policy, announced its departure for Boston earlier this month. CEO Jeff Immelt stressed Bostons support for high-tech industry in explaining the decision to move.

Klarides criticized Malloy for pushing through the the highest tax increase in the state of Connecticuts history to fix a $3 billion deficit he inherited when he took office in 2011. Malloy did not hold true to claims of shared sacrifice when it came to state employee labor union contracts and reductions in spending and borrowing, she said, and then he and his fellow Democrats raised taxes again when a new $2 billion-plus deficit emerged in his second term in office.

We might as well take signs and put them up at the New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island borders that say Businesses Get Out because those are the policies that we are making, Klarides said.

Her criticisms also focused on cuts Malloy made to close the deficit, including to hospitals and social services programs.

We can all agree on many things and disagree on many things, but I think we can all agree that one of the most important jobs we have as an elected official is to help the most vulnerable in the population, Klarides said.

She said she supports the idea of Malloys $100 billion 30-year transportation plan but there is not enough money to fund it at the level he wants. Instead she said priorities like infrastructure and bridge repair have to be funded first in a scaled down allocation.

Klarides claimed her criticisms of the governor and his policies are shared by many Democrats but she said they lack the courage to speak out. Klarides said she and her colleagues did just that when they opposed former Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rells plans for a tax increase in 2007.

Klarides said the upcoming election in November is one of the most important elections weve had in many, many years and urged residents to change the states direction by voting. While she did not expressly tell people to vote Republican, the message was certainly implied.

The Senate president and the speaker of the House are just as bad as the governor in regards to these fiscal policies in the state, she said. They brought [Republican legislators] into the room to debate and negotiate, not because they really thought we should be in there but because they wanted our fingerprints on the murder weapon. I know that seems very extreme but its the truth. I look at this as a crime perpetrated on the state of Connecticut.

kborsuk@scni.com
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When state Sen. L. Scott Frantz began his speech at the Greenwich Rotary Club luncheon Wednesday, he made it clear he wasnt sugar-coating his message.

Im from the Connecticut state government and Im here to wreck your day, the Greenwich Republican said with a smile. Rotarians chuckled in response.

You might not walk out of here on cloud nine, but you will walk out with a better understanding of our states fiscal crisis, Frantz said to the crowd of about 30 at the Hyatt Regency Greenwich.

Frantz used the history of Detroit, which filed for bankruptcy in July 2013, as an example of what could happen to Connecticut if the political machine of Hartford continues on its track.

The Office of Fiscal Analysis and the Office of Policy and Management predict that Connecticut will run a deficit of $500 million in the next two fiscal years. Frantz cited the deficit as an example of state fiscal irresponsibility.

He said Connecticut legislators must find ways to get revenue besides borrowing  or raising taxes, because that can cause companies like General Electric, plus wealthy families and individuals, to move out of state.

We cant afford to lose people like this, he said.

Frantz said preventing the General Electric move should have started about 15 years ago, when Connecticut started increasing taxes on them in unfair ways.

Frantz also worried about Connecticuts unfunded liabilities. Though Connecticut is one of the richest states in the nation, it currently has a large pension hole. Last year, the Wall Street Journal reported that the state has half the amount of money it needs to cover its workers future retirement benefits.

Weve got a pretty big ticking time bomb on our hands, said Frantz.

He also criticized Gov. Dannel Malloys proposed 30-year, $100 billion transportation plan, saying Connecticut simply cant afford it at the moment.

When asked about what the Rotarians, and everyday people, could do to help, Frantz said people should vote well, and spread the word to their peers.

Rotary Club member Sally Parris, who invited Frantz to speak, said his speech sounded an alarm for her.

The sky is falling and we as citizens of Connecticut need to put a stop to this and support those at the state level who want to reverse the situation, she said. We are losing the wealth of this community.

But bad news now, could be good news for the future  at least when it comes to Rotary luncheons.

When I come back to talk here again, Ill have better news for you, said Frantz. Because it cant get worse than this.

SFoster-Frau@scni.com; @SilviaElenaFF
The Greenwich Riding and Trails Association held its annual dinner in celebration of open space, a love of horses and friendship.

Reports were given by Easy Kelsey Merrow and Rusty Parker on the trials, and Paul Steed gave us a report as to whether we are still solvent. We are.

Speakers were, as Andy Chapin of the GRTA put it, a dream team of the world of conservation: Ginny Gwynn of the Greenwich Land Trust, Michelle Frankel of Audubon and Joanne Messina of Greenwich Tree Conservancy. I might add that the GRTA is also part of the world of conservation, as since 1914 the GRTA has been taking care to keep the trails open and helping the other conservation groups as we may. Our president, Anita Keefe, was not there as she has gone to Australia on a trip.

While I enjoy myself at our many functions, such as the horse shows, balls and the aforesaid annual dinner, I cannot help but think about those who formed the organization in 1914. They were Karl Ely, James Perkins, Charlies Lanier, Emerson Rost Newell, Raynal Boling, Roger S. Baldwin and Henry J. Fisher, whose granddaughter Alice Fisher is on the board and an active member, and also an excellent rider. She also has a wonderful looking horse.

Back then, the Association built a stable at the Field Club and hired Frederick Wahl to run a small riding operation assisted by 14-year-old Teddy Wahl, who as we know became a well-known riding master at Round Hill Stables and created the Professional Horsemans Association.

In 1921, the first Greenwich Horse Show was held at Yale Farms, subsequently relocated to the Moore property, Heron property and currently at the Milliken property, thanks to our good friends, Phoebe and the late Gerrish Milliken.

In 1953, the Greenwich Riding and Trails Association was chartered as a non-profit organization by Thor Ramsing, Helen Castles, Mrs. James Tinkle Warfield, Fred Jeffrey and Frank R. Bud and Betty Parker, now Betty Davies, and still an active member of the Association. Betty is also the mother of our chairman of trails, Frank Parker, and grandmother of James Nathaniel Parker, also a member of our board, making three generations on the board. We also have Adalbert von Gontard Jr. and his daughter, Vicky von Gontard Skouras, who served for many years as chairman of the board.

The new group started off with the immensely popular Day in the Country chaired by Tinkle Warfield in 1953. It is an informal horse show with a prize for the best tailgate picnic. This is a most competitive event that brings forth some wonderful attractions with delicious food. It was first held at the Moore property on Round Hill Road, then relocated to the Alvin Untermeyer on Taconic Road, which was also the home of the United States Equestrian Team, until they moved to New Jersey. Then the show moved to the Heron property and has been at the Milliken property since. It is indeed a colorful event and a great deal of fun for all riders. Then in 1966, the first Hunt Ball was held at the Round Hill Club chaired by your scribe.

In 1990, the organization needed money, and Adie von Gontard rode to the rescue with a benefit polo match on Conyers Farm.

There have been many interesting events hosted by the organization, such as the first Dogwood Ride held at the Altschul Field, then Sabine Farm, and now at the Hughes Wonham field. Lindsey Thune produces a Barn Tour every other year, not to be missed.

We also celebrated our 100th anniversary in 2014 at the Hunt Ball. It is amazing that 350 miles of trails are still to be ridden on in these days of building all over the place.
SUNDAY

WEEKEND LUNCH BUNCH: Noon to 2 p.m. Low-cost meals for seniors 55 and older. Greenwich Hospital cafeteria, new building, ground floor, Greenwich Hospital, 5 Perryridge Road. For information, 203-863-3690.

BUSH-HOLLEY HOUSE TOURS AND MUSEUM GALLERY: Noon to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays. Docent-led tours at 1, 2 and 3 p.m. $10 adults, $8 senior citizens and students, free to members; group tours available. 39 Strickland Road, Cos Cob. For information, 203-869-6899 or hstg.org.

WEEKLY OPEN AA DISCUSSION MEETINGS: 3:30 p.m. every Sunday. Open speaker. Open to anyone who has a desire to stop drinking or help a family member to stop drinking. St. Pauls Episcopal Church, 200 Riverside Ave.

FIRST SUNDAYS AT ROUND HILL: 4 p.m. Monthly interactive spiritual celebration for all ages. Children are invited to participate. Round Hill Community Church, 395 Round Hill Road. For information, 203-869-1091.

LIFERING ADDICTION SUPPORT: 4 to 5 p.m. every Sunday. Greenwich Hospital, 5 Perryridge Road. New members welcome. For information, call Mona at 917-539-9927.

WEEKLY OPEN AA SPEAKER MEETINGS: 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. every Sunday. Open speaker. Open to anyone who has a desire to stop drinking or help a family member to stop drinking. Christ Church, 254 E. Putnam Ave.

MONDAY

GREENWICH HOSPITAL-LIONS LOW VISION CENTER: Open Monday-Friday by appointment with physician referral. With the aid of therapy, patients work to maximize their vision and improve the quality of life. For information/appointment, 203-863-3984.

ENCORE AT THE YWCA: 12:30 p.m. Group discussion, floor and swimming exercises for women who are have undergone breast cancer surgery and are three weeks or more postoperative, with physicians permission. Free. YWCA of Greenwich, 259 E. Putnam Ave. For more information, 203-869-6501, Ext. 131.

THE NURSE IS IN: 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Free health education and blood pressure screening. Nurse on site to answer health questions. Greenwich Library, Health Information Center. For information, 203-863-4444.

BARIATRIC SUPPORT GROUP: 6:15 to 7:15 p.m. first and third Monday every month. Free, but preregistration required. Join to gain knowledge and support. Greenwich Hospital, Cos Cob Conference Room. For registration/information, 203-863-3646.

GREYSHEET ANONYMOUS: 7:15 to 8:15 p.m. Free 12-step program for compulsive overeaters, every Monday. Christ Church, Vestry Room, first floor, main hall, 254 E. Putnam Ave.

DEN FOR GRIEVING KIDS: 6:30 to 8 p.m. first, third and fifth Mondays. Nondenominational peer support group. Children ages 3 to 17 and parents or caregivers are grouped according to age or type of loss. Initial appointment required. Free. Family Centers of Greenwich, 40 Arch St. For more information, 203-655-4693.

OVEREATERS ANONYMOUS: 7:30 to 8:45 p.m. First United Methodist Church, East Putnam Avenue and Church Street, first floor. Parking available behind church. For information, 203-661-9343.

AL-ANON: 8 p.m. every Monday except holidays. Hope and help for families and friends of alcoholics. All welcome. Christ Church Library, 254 E. Putnam Ave. For information, 800-344-2666.

TUESDAY

THE NURSE IS IN: 10 a.m. to noon. Free health education and blood pressure screening. Nurse on site to answer your health questions. Greenwich Hospital, Cafeteria Atrium. For information, 203-863-4444.

MOVING ARTS COLLABORATIVE: 10 a.m. to noon every Tuesday. Multigenerational movers who experiment, improvise and generate dances together. Greenwich Arts Council. For information, 203-637-7723.

MUSIC AND MEDITATION: 12:30 to 1 p.m. every Tuesday. Free, but preregistration required. Join to gain knowledge and support. Cancer counselor will facilitate sessions. Greenwich Hospital. For registration/information, 203-863-3704.

THE NURSE IS IN: 12:15 to 1:15 p.m. first Tuesday of each month. Free health education and blood pressure screening. Nurse on site to answer your health questions. Byram Shubert Library, 21 Mead Ave. For information, 203-863-4444.

THE NURSE IS IN: 12:15 to 1:15 p.m. second Tuesday of each month. Free health education and blood pressure screening. Nurse on site to answer your health questions. Perrot Library, 90 Sound Beach Ave. For information, 203-863-4444.

CLUTTERERS ANONYMOUS: 1 to 2 p.m. every Tuesday. Christ Church, Family Room, 254 E. Putnam Ave. For information, 203-637-7509.

PARKINSONS SUPPORT GROUP: 1:30 to 3 p.m. first, second and third Tuesdays. Support, exercise and social activities for people with Parkinsons disease. Free. Eastern Greenwich Civic Center, 90 Harding Road. For more information, 203-863-4444.

VENUS WALK-IN CLINIC: 2 to 5 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday. Free, confidential testing and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases; pregnancy testing, counseling and referrals for services; HIV/AIDS risk reduction education, counseling and testing. No appointment necessary. Open year-round. Town Hall, third floor, 101 Field Point Road. For information, 203-622-6460.

HATHA YOGA: 6:15 to 7:30 p.m. every Tuesday. Mats provided; bring a blanket or sheet. The Yoga Center, 125 Greenwich Ave. For information, 203-661-0092.

ACACIA LODGE #85, AF&AM: 6:30 p.m. refreshments, 8 p.m. meeting every second and fourth Tuesday of each month. Non-Mason visitors wishing to learn about Freemasonry may have dinner at 6:30 p.m. Masonic members of other lodges are encouraged to have dinner and to attend Stated Communication afterward. 289 Delavan Ave. For information, acacialodge@optimum.net.

WEDNESDAY

RETIRED MENS ASSOCIATION: 10 a.m. general meeting for members and prospects. 10:45 a.m. the general public is invited to hear a speaker. First Presbyterian Church, 18 Lafayette Place. For information, John de Csepel, 203-637-2393.

COS COB LIBRARY BROWN BAG BOOK CLUB: Noon on the third Wednesday every month through May, fourth Monday in September. Facilitator, Susan K. Boyar. Cos Cob Library, 5 Sinawoy Road. For information, 203-622-6883 or rcampb9356@aol.com.

GREENWICH ROTARY CLUB MEETING: Noon every Wednesday. Lunch followed by speaker. Hyatt Regency, 1800 E. Putnam Ave. For information, call Sally Parris at 203-637-4581, Ext. 111.

BUSH-HOLLEY HOUSE TOURS AND MUSEUM GALLERY: Noon to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays. Docent-led tours at 1, 2 and 3 p.m. $10 adults, $8 senior citizens and students, free to members; group tours available. 39 Strickland Road, Cos Cob. For information, 203-869-6899 or hstg.org.

FRIENDLY BRIDGE GROUP: 1 p.m. friendly bridge group at the YMCA, 50 E. Putnam Ave. Please call the office to join the group. No drop-ins. $2.50 person. Contact Belinda Benincasa, 203-422-2342. At Home in Greenwich, 139 E. Putnam Ave.

STROKE EDUCATION SUPPORT GROUP: 4 to 5 p.m., second Wednesday every month. Facilitated by a health care professional, this monthly meeting will offer valuable information on related topics, including prevention, nutrition, safety and medication management, as well as providing health counseling and emotional support. Greenwich Hospital, Pemberwick Conference Room, third floor. For information, 203-863-4444.

LIFERING ADDICTION SUPPORT: 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. every Wednesday. Greenwich Hospital, 5 Perryridge Road. New members welcome. For information, call Mona at 917-539-9927.

SUPPORT GROUP FOR SEPARATING AND DIVORCING INDIVIDUALS: 5:30 to 6:45 p.m. every Wednesday. Whether or not you wanted the divorce, the transition from living with your spouse to living without him/her, can be a very difficult period. We will discuss issues such as mourning the loss of your relationship, rebuilding self-esteem, navigating family complications and reassessing your financial situation. Facilitated by Lisa-Loraine Smith, LCSW. Jewish Family Services of Greenwich, 1 Holly Hill Lane. For information, 203-622-1881 or jfsgreenwich.org.

To submit an item to Almanac, email gtcitydesk@scni.com with Almanac in the subject line, or call 203-625-4410.
Perhaps it was fate that an industrial gases company would become the canary in the coalmine  but when Praxair abandoned its plans last year for a new Danbury headquarters in favor of the newly available GE Capital building on the citys east side, it may have been a sign of things to come.

With Fairfield developer Kleban Properties setting its sights on General Electrics headquarters campus as the conglomerate plans its move to Boston, the future of GE Capitals other Fairfield County properties is an open question in commercial real estate circles. Uncertainty prevails despite a GE spokesmans statement Wednesday that GE has no expectation to move the Norwalk office of GE Capital Aviation Services or GE Energy Financial Services in Stamford to be closer to the units they support in Cincinnati and Atlanta.

As much as the headquarters announcement cemented GEs skepticism on Connecticut, the questions about GE Capital stem from the parent companys decision last year to sell its treasury unit offices at 201 High Ridge Road in Stamford and take out a three-year lease on the building, a short span in commercial real estate given a typical 18-month time frame necessary to complete a lease.

Our employees (in treasury) have been told they will stay in Fairfield County, not necessarily in that building - hence the short lease, GE spokeswoman Sue Bishop wrote in an emailed response to a Hearst query.

After CEO Jeff Immelt indicated last week that GE had been considering its headquarters location and functions as far back as 2012, the company is now moving fast, promising an advanced guard of headquarters personnel in Boston by this summer. GE has indicated 200 corporate jobs will move to Boston, without specifying the fate of 600 additional jobs in Fairfield or the thinking behind exponentially condensing its headquarters headcount.

According to spokesman Seth Martin, GE plans to keep its corporate training center in Crotonville, N.Y., despite the distance it is putting between that facility and its future headquarters.

If GEs headquarters has remained the center of the conglomerates universe since 1974 when the company moved into the 600,000 square-foot facility under then-CEO Reginald Jones, its other local offices have made just as much of an impact, with the company currently occupying 1.7 million square feet of space for some 5,700 people.

But that workforce was built up over a decade as GE Capital had its ups and downs under Immelt before hitting the auction block last year. The financial services unit in 2007 moved more than 350 commercial and real estate finance spacialists from its Stamford headquarters to The Towers complex in Norwalk at 901 Main Avenue just off the Merritt Parkway.

Xerox followed suit into The Towers, and GE Capital took over that companys former Stamford headquarters at 800 Long Ridge Road, which serves today as the main office of GE Energy Financial Services. GE Asset Management (GEAM), which had 1600 Summer Street in downtown Stamford, is in limbo as GE looks for a buyer of that unit.

With Blackstone Group, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo among several companies that have bought pieces of GE Capital, none have yet to comment publicly on plans for the offices they are inheriting in Norwalk, with GE itself retaining GE Capital Aviation Services that relocated late last year from Stamford to 201 Merritt 7 in Norwalk. GE late last year renewed its lease in The Towers complex, with the option of being able to sublease the space to the new owners of GE Capital units or other companies if those offices are moved elsewhere.

If The Towers and Merritt 7 complexes have drawn no small number of prominent tenants out of Stamford, to include Diageo, FactSet Research, the Financial Accounting Standards Board, Frontier Communications, GE Capital and Xerox, there is precedent for companies leaving that locus for points west or north. As GE Capital mushroomed in Norwalk, it displaced the drug market research giant IMS Health, which decamped north to Danbury, while Peppers & Rogers Group established offices in Stamford.

Fairfields economic development chief Mark Barnhart told Hearst on Wednesday that Kleban is the lone prospective buyer that he is aware of for GEs 70-acre campus.

Michael Gordon, executive managing director in the Stamford office of Colliers International, is among the local brokers who see GEs Fairfield headquarters as a candidate for repurposing, whether residential, retail or medical. Gordon said there has been no definitive word in real estate circles on the future of GE Capital facilities in Norwalk and Stamford, save for expectations that jobs will quietly be moved or otherwise evaporate as companies consolidate parts of GE Capital they have acquired in the past year.

Its part of a larger trend away from the larger corporate campuses, Gordon said. The expectations are for a gradual shrink.

Alex.Soule@scni.com; 203-964-2236; www.twitter.com/casoulman
Bowled over. Photo: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg via Getty Images

To say Chipotle is struggling since its food sickened hundreds in nine states, tanked the companys shares, and got it subpoenaed is probably an understatement, but lets not forget the disaster is inflicting some collateral damage as well. The Bangor Daily News in Maine, where Chipotles paper-bowl supplier is based, reports the burrito chains serving vessels have been piling up as of late, leaving the paper mill no choice but to respond with some sadly drastic measures  layoffs of more than 5 percent of the plants 470 employees.

Workers at the plant, which belongs to food serviceproduct manufacturer Huhtamaki, had a hunch it was a bad sign when Chipotles inventory started backing up, but the company says that because were talking about Chipotle, not some mom and pop shop on the corner, it thinks the chain will bounce back eventually, and theyll be able to re-hire those 25 to 30 workers. The layoffs apparently followed an otherwise great 2015, in which the factory actually added 100 employees.

A union rep echoes the belief that this is just a temporary mess, saying he expects it wont last longer than perhaps four to six weeks  eight weeks at the most. But this assumes people are eager to dig back into burritos made by a company that, as of this week, has now also been accused of trying to cover up the first norovirus outbreak.

[Bangor Daily News]
Nestles legal case just broke apart.

Since 2013, Nestles attorneys have been told no three separate times in their bid to trademark the Kit Kats shape, but today Englands High Court finally got its chance to weigh in and (presumably) huff, Give me a break. This fourth rejection marks the biggest victory yet for Cadbury, the big rival that Nestles been in a legal tit-for-tat with since 2008, after it opposed Cadburys trademark for a shade of purple.

A win here wouldve given Nestle a monopoly of sorts on break-apart chocolate bars, which (in addition to a crucial moral victory) is another reason why Cadbury was so keen to fight. Todays ruling isnt final, so Nestle says to expect a new appeal in short order. The Swiss food giant has claimed that something like 90 percent of British people recognize the Kit Kat bars shape, but the judge ruled this didnt satisfy Britains legal requirement for distinctiveness.

Competitors are now free to make their own four-finger chocolate bars without fear of a cease-and-desist arriving on Nestle letterhead. If a rival bar is up Cadburys sleeve, the candy-maker might consider calling it Kit for Kat, just to ensure the legal battle keeps going.

[The Guardian]
London bar Redemption is too cool for booze. Photo: Patricia Niven, Courtesy of Redemption Bar

Wellness trends have spiraled out of control, and the cleansing camp is now staging a direct attack on bars: The mocktail movement has metastasized into a plague of no-booze happy hours that is currently threatening New York and Los Angeles. Here in New York, juice crawls are taking over; a wellness-oriented social network was so popular it had to shut down, Mu Ramenstyle; and now the New York Times says a handful of new businesses in both cities, as well as Austin and across the pond in London, are organizing boozeless happy hours. This is not your great-grandmothers temperance movement.

The Shine, one organization that has recently stretched its coconut-oil-lathered tentacles from the West Coast into New York, bills its evenings of meditation, live music, movies, and vegan food as enlightertainment. At these events, tickets sell out, floral essence water is served, organizers get psyched to serve tea and about water theyve meticulously sourced from Australia (take note, water sommeliers), and people apparently realize for the first time that they actually, astoundingly, have more clarity when sober than when totally hammered.

The Shine and the Uplift Project, a fellow traveler, dont have dedicated spaces yet, but East Village meditation studio MNDFL is hosting partly silent dinner parties with water pairings. The no-booze influence may be growing, too, as the London no-booze bar Redemption is threatening to invade New York with its army of coco-tinis, lettuce sprays, and detox teas  one of the few things that sound worse than a Murray Hill bar packed with frat bros clamoring for $3 Bud heavies during a regular old happy hour.

[NYT]


Sandwiches on demand. Photo: Uber

Uber is finally ready to launch UberEATS, its food-delivery app, as a full-scale service in the U.S., The Wall Street Journal reports. The app-based ordering platform will debut by March in ten large cities  New York, Chicago, L.A., San Francisco, Austin, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C.  expanding a service the company has been tinkering with to serve as a competitor to GrubHub and DoorDash. The expanded service will work similarly to the Toronto version, which runs from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and lets customers order from over 100 local restaurants. Once placed, orders cycle through Uber HQ, which notifies the closest UberEATS driver, though in cities like New York, theres a very important question about how the driver will ever park his vehicle.

Probably to that point, Uber says drivers dont have to do UberEATS deliveries unless they opt in, and the company will tack on a delivery fee of about $5, part of which the driver gets to pocket. Theres also going to be an option that works like UberPOOL, where people can choose to have their food bundled with other orders in the area and only pay $1. Ubers lightning-fast ten-minute lunchtime service that few people use, meanwhile, will continue, but its name will change to Instant Delivery to highlight its primary selling point.

[WSJ]
Looks like Microsoft is working on a new Lumia handset. Dubbed Lumia Phone X, the device was mistakenly revealed by the Chinese unit of the Redmond, Washington-based company when they uploaded a video explaining how Continuum works.

While the video in question doesn't contain any reference to the yet-to-be announced device, its the description accompanying the video where the Lumia Phone X was mentioned as one of the four devices that currently support Continuum - the other three being Lumia 950/XL and Acer Jade Primo.

The description - which has since been edited - read (translated):

Homemade Welcome Mobile phone Continuum, this function can convert your phone large screen projector and utilities. Use dock or adapter to connect to a TV or monitor, and then use your application on a larger screen and view your content. You can also make your mouse and keyboard computer phone has the same powerful features, such as production of Office documents, send e-mail, and even type text messages. Upon completion, the file will be saved on your phone, you can continue working. Of course, you can watch videos, view photos, surf the Web and so on. Note: This feature requires a compatible mobile device is intended for use, for example Lumia 950/XL, Lumia Phone X and Acer Jade Primo.

And here's the video in question:

There's been no information (not even rumors) about the Lumia Phone X so far. A recent report suggested that the Lumia 650 will be the first and last Lumia phone for 2016. So perhaps, Microsoft is targeting a 2017 launch for the device. And who knows, this could also be the long-rumored Surface Phone, which is said to release this fall.

Via
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Back in November of last year, Chinese smartphone maker vivo outed its latest handsets, the X6 and X6Plus. And now it seems like it's already working on a successor to the latter.

That's because the vivo X6SPlus has just been certified for sale in China by TENAA, the country's FCC equivalent. However, unlike in the case of Apple devices sporting "S" in their names, the vivo X6SPlus isn't so different from the non-S model on the inside.

Basically there are only two differences between them, at least as revealed by the Chinese regulatory authority. First off, the new phone has a 1.8 GHz octa-core CPU, whereas the X6Plus boasts 100 MHz less. It's not clear what chipset the new model employs though. And finally, the X6SPlus has a 16 MP rear camera, up from the 13 MP unit in its predecessor.

Everything else seems to have stayed the same when it comes to internals. So the vivo X6SPlus also has a 5.7-inch 1080p AMOLED touchscreen, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, and an 8 MP selfie snapper. It runs Android 5.1 Lollipop.

As for the outer shell, the X6SPlus looks like it's got an identical design to the non-S iteration. That said, the dimensions have changed ever so slightly. The new handset measures 158.16 x 79.94 x 7.7 mm, and it weighs 190g. That makes it shorter and narrower than the X6Plus, but thicker and heavier. Based on this, we assume there might be a beefier battery inside than the 3,000 mAh cell in last year's model, but TENAA data doesn't list that so nothing's certain just yet.

Speaking of which, there's no telling when the X6SPlus will be launched, or if it will ever make its way out of China.

Source (in Chinese) | Via




Haiti - Elections : The Government does not exclude the possibility to postpone the election





To 4 days of the second round of elections scheduled Sunday, January 24, the government multiplies meetings in search of a solution to get the country out of the election crisis in which it is plunged.



Yesterday, Wednesday, Prime Minister Evans Paul evoked the possibility of a postponement of the elections of Sunday "As Prime Minister I have the political responsibility to seek a solution close to the reason. The reason means political stability, the political legitimacy of the results that emerged from the elections [...]"



A crisis solution was discussed at the National Palace in the night from 19 to 20 January between President Martelly, the Prime Minister, the concerned ministers, members of civil society, the Economic Forum, and the Catholic Churchand the Protestant Church "the holding or not of 24 January must be the result of a political dialogue," affirmed Prime Minister Paul who confirmed to Reuters that negotiations were under way to break the impasse in which the country found itself, adding that Haiti could postpone the second round of the presidential election if the opposition is committed [among others] to participate at a later date specifying that the date of January 24 would remain in force, if no agreement is reached before that date.



Evans Paul, recalls that the positions of citizens and political organizations that he collects are divided between those who favor holding the elections on January 24 and those who are against...



Wednesday in the Senate, after a session of nearly six hours, senators adopted (15 votes for, 0 against and 5 abstentions [Youri Latortue (AAA), Carl Murat Cantave et Onondieu Louis (KID), Jacques Sauveur Jean et Richard Lenine Herve Fourcan (PHTK)]) the "Resolution on the crisis threatening the political stability and social peace in Haiti," whose Article 1 urged the CEP to suspend any continuation of the electoral process Article 2 The Senate decides to set up a senatorial commission of inquiry into allegations of serious irregularities; Article 3 The Senate requires the Office to forward this legislative act to the President of the Republic for publication in the official gazette.



In addition the same day, the parliamentarians gathered at the National Palace with President Martelly, meeting whose details have not been made public.



SL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Elections : Michaelle Jean calls for restraint and dialogue





Michaelle Jean, the Secretary General of the Francophonie is following with great attention the evolution of the political situation in Haiti and particularly the ongoing electoral process.



"I call on all Haitian political actors to promote dialogue during this crucial phase of the electoral process. A solution must be found in the best interests of the Haitian people," declared Ms. Jean which expresses her concern at the acts of violence that marked the electoral process.



"I urge all actors involved in the electoral process to act responsibly and make every effort to meet the legitimate expectations of the Haitian people who aspire to peace, to the necessary stability, to the democracy and the Rule of Law. The future, the succession and development of the country depend of that."



The Secretary General of the Francophonie reaffirmed the solidarity of the Francophone community with the Haitian people and reiterated the availability of the Francophonie to contribute, alongside international partners, to the search of a solution to the electoral crisis now raging in Haiti.



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - News : Electoral Zapping...





Invisible letter of Jude Celestin ?

Me Mosler Georges, Executive Director of the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) declared As I speak to you, (Wednesday, January 21, 2016, 1h05 p.m.) the Council did not yet told me he had received a letter from Jude Celestin or from the political party LAPEH saying it will not participate in elections."



He also announced that preparations continue for the election of January 24 "sensitive and non-sensitive materials were transported through the 10 departments of the country, training sessions for the benefit of temporary staff is ongoing, stating that "the PNH ensure the security of electoral materials."



Wind of panic in the area of the Faculty of Ethnology

Wednesday, students from the State University of Haiti, erected barricades of burning tires and threw stones in the Champ de Mars area, zone Faculty of Ethnology, denouncing the realization of the presidential election and of partial legislative on Sunday 24 January, creating a panic in the area. The police intervened and used tear gas to disperse the belligerent and violent protesters.



Evans Paul condemns the electoral violence...

Wednesday on the sidelines of the launch of the National Carnival 2016 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-16380-haiti-culture-official-launch-of-the-national-carnival-2016.html , Prime Minister Evans Paul, has strongly condemned the violence recorded during the recent demonstrations in the capital this week https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-16364-haiti-flash-demonstration-violence-vandalism-and-panic-scenes-in-the-capital.html during which individuals have attacked vehiclesprivate companies, and conducted physical aggression on people encountered on their way, as well as the theft of mobile phones, jewelry and money.



The Prime Minister called for respect for life and physical integrity of police officers, responsible for the safety of lives and property, often victims of cases of unacceptable violence and also urged the population to remain calm, in solidarity and to the patriotism of Living Together.



New series of demonstrations of G8

The G8 mobilization table is launching a new series of protest on 22, 23 and 24 January 2016 in the metropolitan area to say no to the second round of the presidential "To counteract this electoral coup, we will take once the streets to demand respect for the popular vote and the departure of President Michel Martelly to the constitutional deadline," declared Byron Odige of the mobilization table.



HL/ HaitiLibre


















Published on 2016/01/21 | Source

On the second episode of MBC's Wednesday & Thursday drama, "One More Happy Ending", Go Dong-mi (Yoo In-na) gulped when she was watching a kiss scene of a movie.

Advertisement

Go Dong-mi went to a group blind date with accountants to find a good candidate to marry. After the disappointing result, Go Dong-mi got angry and left a bad review online. She then met her friends and complained it had been 3,000 days since she kissed a man.

She later was watching a movie alone at home. She paused the movie at the kiss scene, she just stopped breathing and swallowed air through her dry mouth a couple of times and then called her friend Baek Da-jeong (Yoo Da-in). She "I want to kiss someone seriously".

Watch on Viki
The following information is provided

by local law enforcement agencies.

All suspects are innocent until proven

guilty in a court of law.

Compiled by Jessica Isaacs

The following were provided by the Watauga County Sheriffs Office.

Jan. 11

INCIDENT: Simple possession of a schedule VI controlled substance and possession of marijuana paraphernalia were reported at the Moses Cone Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Jan. 12

INCIDENT: An unattended death was reported at 350 Willowdale Church Road in Vilas.

INCIDENT: Domestic was reported at 887 Slabtown Road in Zionville.

INCIDENT: Simple physical assault and communicating threats were reported at 358 Bluebird Lane in Boone.

INCIDENT: Drug violations were reported at the Watauga County Jail.

ARREST: A male suspect, 32, of 659 Burkett Road in Boone, was charged with OFA/FTA. He was held under a $10,000 secured bond and is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 1.

ARREST: A male suspect, 30, of 293 Claude Isaacs Road in Elk Park, was charged with felony larceny and misdemeanor larceny. He was held under a $10,000 secured bond and is scheduled to appear on Feb. 19.

Jan. 13

INCIDENT: Breaking and entering and larceny from buildings was reported at 128 Kerley Drive in Boone.

INCIDENT: Stalking and harassment were reported at Caldwell Community College in Boone.

ARREST: A male suspect, 54, of 352 Isenhour Road in Zionville, was charged with felony indecent liberties with a child and statutory rape. He is scheduled to appear in court on March 14.

ARREST: A male suspect, 43, of 215 Huffman Road in Vilas, was charged with school attendance violation.

ARREST: A female suspect, 43, of 215 Huffman Road in Vilas, was charged with school attendance violation.

Jan. 14

INCIDENT: Fraud  credit card/ATM was reported at 1381 Highland Hall Road Apt. 01 in Boone.

INCIDENT: Calls for service were reported at 344 Henry Winbarger Road in Boone.

INCIDENT: Larceny was reported at Sweet Autumn Lot #2 in Boone.

Jan. 15

INCIDENT: Shoplifting and drug violations were reported at Dollar General in Deep Gap.

ARREST: A male suspect, 20, of 1975 Sorrento Drive in Boone, was charged with cyber stalking and is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 19.

ARREST: A male suspect, 37, of 710 Wynbrook Square Lane in Winston-Salem, was charged with felony conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine, conspiracy to possess precursor chemicals and possess/distribute precursor chemicals. He was held with no bond and is scheduled to appear in court on March 1.

ARREST: A female suspect, 40, of U.S. Highway 421 S in Mountain City, was charged with felony conspire to sell meth, PWIMSD meth and misdemeanor drug violations. She was held under a $30,000 secured bond and is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 15.

ARREST: A female suspect, 27, of 162 Liberty Grove Church Road in Fleetwood, was charged with simple possession of a schedule II controlled substance, simple possession of a schedule IV controlled substance and larceny. She was held under a $1,000 secured bond and is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 15.

Jan. 16

INCIDENT: Drug violations were reported at 520 Fallview Lane Apt. 2 in Boone.

INCIDENT: Larceny was reported at 1454 River Road in Todd.

INCIDENT: Civil dispute and communicating threats were reported at 2027 Presnell School Road in Banner Elk.

INCIDENT: Identity theft was reported at 167 Chase Cole Lane in Zionville.

Jan. 17

INCIDENT: Simple possession of marijuana, marijuana paraphernalia and possession of an open container of alcohol were reported at 321 S near Daniel Boone Citgo in Blowing Rock.

ARREST: A male suspect, 22, of 103 Lebanon Place in Dunn, was charged with DWI  alcohol and/or drugs and is scheduled to appear in court on March 1.

ARREST: A male suspect, 22, of 271 North Woods Road in Boone, was charged with felony OFA-probation violation. He was held under a $40,000 secured bond and is scheduled to appear in court on March 14.

ARREST: A male suspect, 47, of 573 Homestead Drive in Deep Gap, was charged with i/run fail stop prop damage and unsafe movement and is scheduled to appear in court on March 23.

Jan. 18

INCIDENT: Communicating threats was reported at 722 Slabtown Road in Zionville.
Dear Editor,

Corporations and governments only do two things relatively well: lying and stealing. One enables the other since consumers dont search for truth, but reassurance that their beliefs are true. Many blindly accept the official tale ignoring conflicting actions and statements by political and financial leaders. Our free press decides whats true.

Trump is popular because he rejects the medias authority, breaks their commandments, and mocks their disapproval: The United States of Selective Amnesia. The mainstream media doesnt report objective truth, but churns on about endless rainbows, unicorns, like, America is the greatest and Putin is evil.

Newsface Brian Williams was caught lying. NBC defended him pointing to his favorable coverage of the military, saying: He has been the strongest supporter of the military of any of the news players. He never comes back with negative stories, he wouldnt question if were spending too much. Our official journalists arent embarrassed by such compliments. Had he been caught telling truths, he would have been ruined for life.

What truthful analysis or reporting do you see on important subjects? The primary function of our free press is to present elaborate theater to distract consumers from the real world around them. Talking heads serve mindless banter about Kardashians, Twitters and gender engineering. Americans, ignorant about how the world really works and the powers in control, have imaginary geopolitical conversations.

The Ministry of Propaganda has a new Commissar: Andrew Lack recently became CEO of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees our government-supported international news media such as Voice of America and other similar programs. In a New York Times interview, Mr. Lack allowed the following to escape: We are facing a number of challenges from entities like Russia Today which is out there pushing a point of view, the Islamic State in the Middle East and groups like Boko Haram. This former president of NBC News equates RT with two dreadful groups. Media executives wonder why their audience choose other media, like, for example, RT, as if our free press doesnt have a point of view.

Consumers are given distractions to focus on. The illusions for focus can be a person, an idea, an institution, a group, to misinform you, to hide reality, and to confuse. Once consumers accept the target as important they enable their own manipulation from repetition, race-based division, lies, subliminal suggestion, political/governmental authoritative stage shows: all designed as distraction so that you dont ask: whats our government doing?

Cuba is one example of our doublespeak: The trade embargo can be fully lifted only through legislation, unless Cuba forms a democracy, in which case the president can lift it. So the problem according to our free press: Cuba isnt a democracy which explains why the Empire supports Saudi Arabia, Honduras, Guatemala, Egypt and other notable democracies. Some call Cubas actions dictatorship, but others call it self-defense. What does Cuba do, or not, that makes it a dictatorship?

Is the standard, our free press? If Cubans could own any free press how long before secret, unlimited CIA money, financing all kinds of nefarious deeds, would control almost all the media as is the case here in the Empire?

Perhaps Cuba needs free elections. They have regular elections at all levels. They dont have direct election of the president, but neither do Britain and many other countries. Money isnt important in their elections: candidates run as individuals. Perhaps the problem with Cuban elections is that they dont have the powerful buying their elections like in America.

A thinking American might find it difficult to imagine what a free, democratic election, without great concentrations of corporate money, would look like. Would a third party be able to get on all 50 state ballots, participate in national TV debates, and be able to match the two parties in advertising? Hed probably win which is why it doesnt happen.

Nightmarish conditions have certainly been documented in Cuba. Whistleblowers have described sexual abuse and torture by medical personnel, brutal beatings, fear, and retribution; torturous shackling, positional torture, kangaroo courts, and more, in Guantanamo Bay, by Americans, on people kidnapped and held indefinitely without charges.

Is Cuba a problem because it arrests dissidents? Thousands of protesters have been arrested in America in every period in American history. During the Occupy Movement more than 7,000 people were arrested, beaten and mistreated by police.

Consumers are mostly unaware of the fictions which keep them ignorant and pacified. Our free press should pursue politicians, the judicial system, banks, and such, challenging their twisted words and actions when they act against our countries health, founding principles, and personal liberty.

The two sides regularly tell the same lies about burning issues and the news acts like its something new, succeeding because consumers accept this ignorance. How many times have you heard: If that was true I would have seen it on the news? Propaganda becomes any news coming from your opponent.

Russia is the aggressor because, defending its own interests, its acted against the interests of the Empire. Saudi Arabias unprovoked war in Yemen isnt aggression because its the Empires friend. The medias obedience to the Empires hypocrisy couldnt be clearer. Russia is an aggressor while Saudi Arabia is a defender. The Empire merely supported democratic forces in Ukraine. Assad must go, but our tyrants must stay. Legitimacy/illegitimacy is given by the Empire based on its interests, without objective facts.

The Empires storyline is shaped by those who look to further their own agendas. Theyre the Ministry of Truth. Thought-criminals who question official stories are dangerous subversives. Truth-tellers and whistleblowers are called domestic extremists, terrorists, and are watched. Those who question the official stories have consistently been on the right side of history, from Vietnam to Syria, and Yemen. In 2003 we discovered freedom fries when France opposed our Iraq invasion. Now France is praised after the Paris attacks which were one result of that Iraqi invasion.

Society needs whistleblowers. Theyre often the only thing that stands between unchecked official greed and the otherwise clueless masses.

The media doesnt discuss their power and performance. Its ironic since our free press define themselves as watchdogs over the powerful. The Daily Show became a hit for this reason. People wanted to see large media corporations exposed for their hypocrisy on things like the Iraq Wars, climate change, white-collar crime, racism and their total refusal to admit their close relationships to corporate and political power.

The Soviet Unions activities have been fully documented. The Empires crimes in the same period, and since, arent acknowledged. Americas crimes have been systematic, constant, vicious, but few consumers accept them. America, masquerading as a force for universal good, is a brilliantly successful act enabled by our free press. While it was happening, it wasnt.

A terror drill in Boston went live and closed an entire metropolitan area while our police state searched for two accused patsies, killing one and slitting the others throat so he couldnt talk. The police were praised for killing and capturing those declared guilty, without trial, by our free press in this foul example of false flag vigilante justice.

Expect no truth from government or major media. Consumers are undereducated, unaware, and accept any outrageous story. Refugees are fleeing the brutal Assad as ISIS cuts off heads and commits the most horrible atrocities. Why didnt those refugees flee before ISIS? Assads to blame because he doesnt give up and turn Syria over to the Empires ISIS henchmen.

Millions of people are deserting mainstream news. They see no reason to support a process that panders to lunatics. Michael Deaver, a top aide to Ronald Reagan, said about the press: The media Ive had a lot to do with is lazy. We fed them and they ate it every day.

Americas 20 wealthiest people own more wealth than the rest of us combined. How much political power might those twenty, and their friends, actually have, compared to the other half; democracy?

Craig Dudley

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By Bailey Faulkner

Need your fix of boot-stomping folk music? The Asheville-based, acoustic roots trio Redleg Husky will perform at Lost Province Brewing Co. on Friday, Feb. 5.

Redleg Husky

Since 2012, the band has played festivals, theaters and barrooms throughout the Southeast and beyond. The trio has also opened for nationally recognized acts The Tillers and Kim Lenz and the Jaguars.

Now, Redleg Husky is touring in anticipation of its second full-length album, My Old Heart, which is now available for preorder.

The band formed in 2012 after Tim McWilliams (banjo, guitar, vocals) and Misa Giroux (mandolin, guitar, vocals) met at a grad school potluck gathering while attending ASU. Learning of each others interests in music, the two played their favorite songs until 3 a.m. that morning. Since that moment, the founding songwriters and vocalists of Redleg Husky have been inseparable.

Recently, the band became a trio, adding full-time bassist Son. Keeping the name he adopted while living in a hippie commune, Son met McWilliams and Giroux in Denver, Colorado when his indie-rock band Haints in the Holler shared the stage with the duo.

Pursuing his dream of playing music full-time, the newest member now lives with McWilliams and Giroux in Asheville.

Redleg Husky released its first recording, a self-titled EP, in 2013. The next year, the band, at this point still a duo, travelled to Knoxville, Tennessees Wild Chorus Studios to record its first full-length album, Carolina.

In October, the band, now with Son, trekked to Dirt Floor Recording Studio in Haddam, Connecticut for a seven-day stint to record its upcoming album, My Old Heart.

According to McWilliams, by the end of 2015, the band had performed 172 times.

We hope at least one person seeing us perform has been able to forget about their cares and join us in genuinely enjoying themselves in that moment, the bands website says.

We made a conscious decision that having fun at shows is the most important thing, Giroux said.

Fans seem to thrive off the trios level of energy at live shows.

As long as were having a good time, it seems like the audience does as well, Giroux added.

The trio has booked 19 gigs for January, focusing mostly on the Carolinas for the first month of the new year. In February, the band will embark upon its first tour of Florida, playing seven shows throughout the state.

While the band will surely enjoy its first shows in Florida, Boone holds a special place in the trios heart, especially for McWilliams and Giroux.

We still have friends there, and it always feels like a great homecoming when we go back, Giroux said.

Lost Province Brewing Co.

The band will perform at Lost Province Brewing Co. on Friday, Feb. 5. The show will begin at 7:30 p.m. and will last until 10:30 p.m.

To access My Old Heart before it is available from Tower Records, fans can preorder through the Indiegogo campaign. Merchandise and other recordings are also available for purchase on the site.

Fans can also find more information and music from Redleg Husky on the bands website or Facebook page.

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All articles are produced independently. When you click our links for purchasing products, we earn an affiliate commission. Learn more about how we earn revenue by reading our advertise disclaimer.

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Children continue to grow and develop well into their teenage years, so the effects of substances and medications that are considered predictable in adults may not be in children. When it comes to things like CBD products, there is some concern about safety.

Marijuana intoxication in children can be very dangerous, but not all CBD products contain THC. Cannabidiol has been widely tested in adults[1] for conditions ranging from chronic pain to epilepsy, and some studies even show promise for CBD use in children. Its always important to follow your pediatricians recommendations, but cannabis use could help children with certain conditions.

In this article, well explore the subject of CBD oil and gummies for kids. Youll learn the basics about CBD oil and gummies for children including the potential health benefits as well as the side effects. Youll also see our top 10 picks for the safest cannabis products for children.

CBD For Kids (With ADHD) Cannabidiol or CBD is extracted from the hemp plant, Cannabis sativa, which is also the species that Marijuana comes from as well as two other varieties of the same plant, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis. Though cannabinoids like CBD are abundant in both, cannabidiol doesnt have the psychoactive properties associated with marijuana. These effects are linked to another cannabinoid called tetrahydrocannabinol or THC[2]. Medical research[3] regarding therapeutic applications for CBD is ongoing, but numerous studies support its use for concerns ranging from seizures to chronic pain and inflammation. In fact, some of the strongest support for the medical use of CBD is for the treatment of seizure disorders like Lennox-Gastaut and Dravet syndrome in children and adults. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or ADHD is by symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity or impulsivity which present before the age of 12. Research reveals[4] the role of abnormal dopamine transmission and dopamine deficiency in this condition which suggests the involvement of the endocannabinoid system in some way. Though CBD has been shown to improve hyperactivity in autistic children, it hasnt been studied as extensively for ADHD. Anecdotal support exists for the use of CBD oil as an ADHD treatment in kids, but there isnt enough scientific evidence to support this particular application. Research on CBD use in children is still somewhat limited, but several studies have shown promising results. Read on to learn more about CBD oil for kids and to see our top 5 picks.

The Line Up At A Glance

Top 8 Best CBD Oil for Kids 2022

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Fairly expensive compared to others If youre looking for quality hemp products, Spruce CBD offers two standard tinctures as well as a limited-edition Pumpkin Spice flavor. Their CBD oil comes in concentrations of 750mg or 2,400mg of full-spectrum cannabidiol with low THC levels less than 0.3%. This company uses 100% natural ingredients and its products are proudly made in the USA by a family-run business. All products are tested by a third-party lab for purity and potency, guaranteed to be free from pesticides. Their recipes are vegan and gluten-free, free from artificial flavors, preservatives, and sweeteners. Make a one-time purchase or save 15% with a subscription order.

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Somewhat pricey compared to others Gummies from RoyalCBD make it fun for kids to take their supplements. RoyalCBD offers two types of gummies and two different concentrations. Choose from dots or sour drops, and 10mg or 25mg concentrations. Each bottle contains a mixture of three flavors: strawberry, orange, and grape. All RoyalCBD gummies are made with natural ingredients in formulas that are gluten-free and lab-tested. Simply choose the product with the flavor and your preferred amount of CBD. When you buy from RoyalCBD, you have peace of mind knowing your products are made in the USA and are 100% legal. Sign up for a subscription to receive 15% off your order.

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Laboratory tested and THC-free Caution recommended with full vs broad-spectrum Medterra offers a wide range of CBD products including both full-spectrum CBD oil and broad-spectrum CBD. If youre concerned about THC content, we recommend choosing one of their broad-spectrum CBD oil products which are free from THC. Medterra pack have 30 gummies. In terms of their CBD oils, Medterra uses hemp grown and extracted in the USA. They are certified by the U.S. Hemp Authority and all products are tested by independent labs for purity and safety. Their CBD oils are free from pesticides and backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee. Medterra CBD oils come in 30ml bottles with easy-to-use droppers.

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Caution recommended with full vs broad-spectrum If youre looking for CBD gummies and oil for kids, its important to find the highest quality CBD you can. Joy Organics offers USDA Certified Organic CBD oils in three concentrations: 450mg, 900mg, or 1,350mg. Their formulas are made with just three high-quality ingredients and they are lab-tested for purity and potency. Enjoy free shipping and a money-back guarantee. When shopping for Joy Organics CBD products, make sure to pay attention to what youre buying. Kids can be picky, so its important to choose CBD gummies that come in tasty, kid-friendly flavors. Joy Organics offers two gummies flavors: Strawberry Lemonade and Green Apple. Both formulas contain 30 gummies with 10mg of cannabidiol per gummy. Joy Organics also offers both full-spectrum CBD oil and pure CBD oil free from THC. Their THC-free oils come in several flavors which may make them more appealing to kids. Choose from Summer Lemon, Tranquil Mint, Orange Bliss, or an unflavored option.

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Using CBD Oil & Gummies for Children

No parent wants to see their child suffer. Kids with anxiety, ADHD symptoms, and other mental health issues may struggle at school and at home. Depending on the severity of their symptoms, it could impact the childs daily life as well. For pharmaceutical drugs, these problems exist, but there is always a risk for side effects. If youre exploring alternative options for symptom management, you may be wondering about CBD.

Will CBD Make My Child High?

One of the most important things parents need to know is that pure cannabidiol will not make their child high the way marijuana would. Marijuana contains cannabidiol, but its concentrations of THC are much higher.

Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is a cannabinoid compound like CBD that occurs naturally in the cannabis plant and it is known for producing psychoactive effects. The cannabidiol oil used to make CBD gummies is typically derived from hemp (Cannabis sativa) while marijuana is derived from Cannabis indica and sativa. CBD oil made with full-spectrum hemp (a whole-plant extract) may contain trace amounts of THC, but it can legally only contain up to 0.3% by dry weight.

If you want to be absolutely certain your child isnt accidentally ingesting THC, choose broad-spectrum CBD gummies. Broad-spectrum cannabidiol oil doesnt contain any THC.

Is CBD Safe For Children?

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently reviewed the evidence regarding the safety and effectiveness of CBD. In their report, the WHO concluded[9] that CBD is generally well tolerated with a good safety profile. That being said, medications and supplements may affect children differently than adults. Clinical evidence of using CBD in children is still fairly limited, so parents should follow their pediatricians advice and exercise caution when using CBD.

Is It Legal to Give CBD to Children?

Because it comes from the same plant as marijuana, CBD was long considered a Schedule 1 substance which has made it difficult to study. The DEA eased some of those restrictions in 2015 and the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018[10] (the 2018 Farm Bill) made it legal to sell CBD products as long as they contain less than 0.3% THC by dry weight.

Though CBD is legal in many states, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) still has the right to regulate products that contain cannabis or cannabis-derived compounds. To date, the FDA has only approved one cannabis-derived drug product, Epidiolex. This drug contains a purified form of CBD and is used for the treatment of Lennox-Gastaut syndrome[11] or Dravet syndrome as well as tuberous sclerosis in children 2 years and older. In other words, the FDA has concluded that this drug is both safe and effective for its intended use.

Certain states may have some restrictions for purchasing CBD, but hemp-derived CBD products are legal on the federal level as long as they contain under 0.3% THC. Marijuana is illegal on the federal level, and it is not legal to give THC to children. Because some CBD products contain trace amounts of THC, the legality of these products for children is something of a gray area. At this point, it is up to the parent to make a responsible decision regarding CBD use.

CBD Oil & Gummies Benefits for Kids

Before considering CBD for your child, you should understand what it is and how it works. Cannabidiol or CBD is a cannabinoid compound derived from the Cannabis plant. Cannabis sativa (hemp) contains high concentrations of CBD while Cannabis indica (marijuana) has higher concentrations of THC. Both contain over 400 different chemical compounds[12], over 60 of which are various types of cannabinoid.

The effects of cannabis are still being studied, but cannabinoids like CBD and THC have been shown to induce physiological changes by acting on the endocannabinoid system in the body. This is a complex cell-signalling system that plays a role in regulating key body functions and maintaining homeostasis. Some studies show the benefits of CBD may be heightened when combined with other phytocompounds[13] like terpenes  this is called the entourage effect.

When it comes to scientific research, CBD has been studied for common ailments like chronic pain, inflammation, anxiety, and insomnia in adults. Scientific support for CBD as an effective treatment for these and other conditions is ongoing. When it comes to CBD oil for children, research is even more limited.

Heres what you need to know about some of the most well-studied uses of CBD for children:

Autism

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) encompasses a broad range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, nonverbal communication, repetitive behaviors, and speech. The CDC estimates autism affects 1 in 54 children[14] in the United States. Scientific understanding of autism is still limited, but many studies are ongoing. In fact, several studies have been conducted regarding the use of medical cannabis and CBD oil for children with autism.

A data analysis[15] conducted using data collected from ASD patients treated with medical cannabis between 2015 and 2017 revealed significant improvement in autism symptoms in over 30% of patients and moderate improvement in over 50%. Unfortunately, over 25% of patients experienced side effects of medical marijuana use, the most common being restlessness.

Regarding CBD oil in particular, one study[16] found that cannabidiol reduced autism symptoms such as self-injury and rage attacks by 68.4%. Hyperactivity improved in 68% and sleep problems improved in over 71% of patients. Over 47% of patients also experienced anxiety relief. Adverse effects were mild across the board.

Seizures

Perhaps the most widely studied use of cannabidiol in children is for epilepsy, particularly rare seizure disorders like Dravet syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. Epidiolex is the first FDA-approved[17] cannabis-based drug, its effectiveness supported by three randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled drug trials[18]. In another study[19], adding CBD to current treatments significantly reduced seizures associated with Dravet syndrome.

Another study[20] tested the efficacy of CBD-enriched cannabis extract for patients with refractory epilepsy aged 1 to 20. Over 50% of patients experienced a reduction in the frequency of seizures and younger age at onset paired with higher CBD dose were associated with a better response to treatment.

Pain

According to a 2018 study[21] of cannabidiol use, over 60% of CBD users take it as a treatment for pain. Numerous studies have shown the pain-relieving benefits of CBD oil as well as inflammation reduction. These benefits are attributed to the effects of cannabidiol on the endocannabinoid system, though the exact mechanisms through which these benefits are achieved is still unclear.

Research regarding the use of CBD for pain relief is primarily limited to animal studies and studies involving adult subjects. Though research involving children is much less common, the potential benefits of CBD for pain in children may be extrapolated from these results.

Anxiety

It is a little more difficult to study the use of CBD for mental health issues than for physical conditions. That being said, several animal and human studies[22] have shown the promise of CBD oil for anxiety. CBD research in children, however, is somewhat limited. One study[23] supports the effectiveness of CBD oil for pediatric anxiety and insomnia related to post-traumatic stress disorder. More research is needed to determine the effects of CBD oil for anxiety in children.

How to Use CBD Oil & Gummies for Kids

When it comes to using CBD, especially for children, its best to follow your pediatricians recommendations. There is no standard dosage for CBD, and children may require lower doses due to their smaller size. Recommended dosage varies from one product to another based on the concentration of CBD in the product, as well as the condition youre treating.

In some cases, it may take time and a little trial and error to find the best CBD dosage for your child. Start with the lowest recommended dose to make sure your child tolerates it well, then increase the dosage if needed to obtain the desired effect.

How to Find the Best CBD for Your Kids

Because CBD has become a popular alternative to conventional treatment options, its pretty easy to find. The best place to shop may be online because you can compare different products and youre not limited to the state in which you live (though be sure to check for shipping restrictions to certain states based on local regulations).

When shopping for CBD for a child, its especially important to find a product that is made from high-quality hemp and tested for purity and safety. Find out where the hemp is grown and where the product is manufactured. Its also a good idea to check to see if the hemp is grown organically and that its free from pesticides and other toxins. Make sure the CBD product is tested by an independent lab (third-party) and look for a certificate of analysis (COA) with a certification from a reputable organization like the U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP).

If youre new to CBD, you might want to consider starting with CBD gummies rather than CBD oil. These are convenient and easy to dose because they have a specific amount of CBD per gummy. Whatever product you choose, be sure to follow the dosing instructions on the label.

Tips for Giving CBD to Children

Cannabis users have a wide range of products to choose from. If youre not familiar with CBD yourself, you may find it difficult to get used to dosing and administering CBD oil to your child. As an alternative, you might consider CBD gummies as an introduction. CBD gummies are simply chewable supplements that contain CBD. The flavor of CBD oil can be off-putting to some, so your child may even prefer CBD gummies.

If you choose to use liquid CBD tinctures, its best to administer it directly by mouth. Follow the dosing instructions on the CBD product and drop the liquid under your childs tongue[24]. Its best to hold the liquid in the mouth for a few seconds before swallowing so it can be absorbed into the bloodstream more effectively.

The benefits of CBD oil are the subject of an ongoing study, but CBD oil hasnt been extensively researched for its use in children. Though it shows promise for certain conditions, its still important to follow your pediatricians advice and to use caution when choosing and administering a CBD product to a child.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is CBD safe for children? Under the 2018 Farm Bill, CBD products are legal to sell and purchase as long as they contain under 0.3% THC. Because THC is not legal for children, however, theres a gray area surrounding the legality of tetrahydrocannabinol-containing CBD oils for kids. Is it legal to give my child CBD? Yes, as long as its used responsibly and the CBD oil is of high quality How much CBD should I give my child? There is no standard dosage for CBD in adults or in children, so youll need to talk to your pediatrician and follow the instructions on the label. Dosage may vary depending on the products concentration and the condition youre trying to treat.
It is time for Finland to serve as the Global Intellectual Capital Exchange of Education.

It is time for Finland not only to export its education ideas, but to also embrace an even larger vision that can help Finland achieve its true destiny among nations.

Finlands greatest achievement  its education system  can be its greatest gift to the world, and a key to its global future.

Why Finland Should Become the Global Intellectual Capital Exchange of Education.

My wife was born in Tokyo, and my eight-year-old was born in New York City.

Inspired by the writings of Finnish educator Pasi Sahlberg, I came to Finland as a Fulbright Scholar to study its world-renowned school system, to give my son an experience in a Finnish school, and to lecture on education and media at the University of Eastern Finland in Joensuu.

During five months as a Finnish public school father, and as a classroom observer inside the universitys teacher training school and other schools, I have been completely amazed by how good Finnish comprehensive schools are.

Unlike in many other nations, children in Finland are given a rich, wide curriculum, a highly professionalized teacher force with freedom and autonomy, constant outdoor play breaks, and classroom environments that are warm, safe, respectful, supportive and collaborative.

Children in Finland are tested every day, not by faceless electronic screens, but through constant individualized observations and check-ins with real-life teachers who help them learn and grow at their own pace, without fear, toxic stress, cram schools or overwork, all of which may be of little use to authentic learning and instead destructive to childhood.

While much of the rest of the world is flooding schools with counter-productive stress, privatization and low-quality standardized testing, Finland leads the world with its evidence-based, child-centered approach.

I have come to realize that Finlands historic achievements in delivering educational excellence and equity to its children are the result of a national love of childhood, a profound respect for teachers as trusted professionals, and a deep understanding of how children learn best.

Finlands education system is hardly perfect. Its schools and society are entering a period of huge budget and social pressures. Finnish students slipped in one recent round of global benchmark tests. Many students reportedly feel bored or disengaged from school.

But times of struggle also open doors of great opportunity, and Finlands educational foundation can help it become an even stronger, more confident nation on the world stage. As French philosopher Albert Camus wrote, In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, theres something stronger  something better, pushing right back. My Finnish friends call it sisu. And Finland's schools are its bedrock strength, and an inspiration to the world.

Some of Finlands educational strengths are culture-specific and probably cannot be directly exported. But many others may in fact be global education best practices that can inspire educators, students and parents around the world.

Finland has the credibility and the authority among the worlds educators not just to share its own insights, but to collect and share educational insights, innovations, research and best practices from all over the world  from the United States, Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas, and from every school system.

The initiative would support existing programs by the OECD, the UN and other organizations, would analyze global educational best practices in a real-world context, and examine the interplay between education and other social policies.

Finland should seize this opportunity for global leadership.

New York and London are home to stock exchanges that made them the financial capitals of the world. Chicagos mercantile exchange helped it become a global mega-city. Belgiums diamond exchanges helped that nation become a financial powerhouse.

Finland should become the Global Intellectual Capital Exchange of Education, the headquarters hub and center of new global thinking, ventures, research and partnerships on improving childhood education and public schools around the world.

The project would collect, support, celebrate and share child-centered, evidence-based childhood education insights from all corners of the Earth, in partnership with the worlds best educational experts. International intellectual capital and education knowledge would be spread by Finland across borders and cultures to stimulate reform, innovation and best practices in schools and teacher training programs around the developed and developing worlds.

The project can support existing programs to export Finnish education, and showcase Finland's greatest educational achievements for its new basic school curriculum rollout in 2016, and for the nations 100th Birthday in 2017 and beyond.

The result will better schools for Finland, and for the world.

As Robert F. Kennedy told an audience of Tokyo university students in 1962, The age of greatness is before us, and we, joined as brothers, can meet our responsibilities and obligations and make this world a better place for ourselves and for our children.

Finlands own Age of Greatness may be just around the corner.

It is time for Finland to inspire the world.

When it does, the children of Finland, and all the worlds children, will inherit a much brighter future.

William Doyle is a 2015-2016 Fulbright Scholar and New York Times bestselling author and TV producer from New York City. This past semester he joined the faculty of the University of Eastern Finland and lectured on The Schools of Tomorrow, and his child attended a Finnish public school. As a corporate executive, he managed over $200,000,000 in marketing and programming budgets for media giant HBO.
The Government of Prime Minister Juha Sipila (Centre), however, has adjusted its stance on the negotiations, according to Lyly.

Lauri Lyly, the President of the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK), believes the gridlocked negotiations over a social contract could re-commence as soon as next week but declines to speculate on whether a change has taken place in the negotiating dynamics.

I reckon the Government has noticed, after circulating its coercive laws for comments, that the feedback has been rather critical. That's certainly one aspect of it. Another aspect is that [the Government] wants to find a solution through negotiations, Lyly states to Uusi Suomi.

The Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK) declared on Tuesday that it is no longer opposed to the notion of re-commencing the negotiations. EK has been consistently supportive of the efforts to identify an alternative to the legislative package of the Government, Jyri Hakamies, the director general at EK, says in a press release.

We have to actively seek solutions to improve the competitiveness of Finnish labour, to spur investments and thereby to reverse the employment situation, he adds.

The labour market confederations may also have more leeway. The Government appears to have backed down on its strict objectives for the negotiations that rubbed labour market organisations the wrong way for some time.

Now that you mention it the Government hasn't imposed any specific objectives this way or the other, confirms Lyly. We have a genuine opportunity to negotiate. [] [The Government] was previously much more actively involved in the negotiations.

The settlement proposal tabled by SAK, which would have waived wage hikes for 2017 and allowed the export sector to determine future wage hikes, came off the table at the end of last year, according to Lyly.

Olli Rehn (Centre), the Minister of Economic Affairs, estimated recently that the proposal would be a good starting point for the negotiations.

We'll have to re-evaluate what is on and off the table, Lyly says.

Has the settlement proposal really been taken off the table?

That will depend on the next round of negotiations. It's currently not on the table, replies Lyly, who at the age of 62 may be heading into his final spring as the president of SAK.

He stresses that the purpose of the trade union movement is to iron out agreements rather than to stage strikes. I want the trade union movement to be its most effective with a pen []. It's important to me that we try to find a settlement through negotiations, he says.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Photo: Antti Aimo-Koivisto / Lehtikuva

Source: Uusi Suomi
I'm talking about the Indian man who reportedly froze to death close to the border, he began.

President Sauli Niinisto called attention to what is seemingly an isolated incident that may reflect the refugee situation on the border between Finland and Russia while meeting with members of the media on Tuesday.

Niinisto said he was particularly confused by the fact that news reports emanating from Russia indicated that the unfortunate incident took place some 70 kilometres from the border. What's confusing about it is that the reports suggested the man had not been granted a permission to proceed. They're certainly not referring to a Finnish permission  70 kilometres deep into Russia, he said.

What's the permit system in question is naturally a bit puzzling.

On the other hand, the reports also suggested the man did not receive help because he hadn't hired an escort for himself. These details are from Russian newspapers. If they are true, they raise the question if there is a system of permits and hired escorts. If they are indeed true, they raise some serious thoughts, said Niinisto.

News outlets have also speculated on the possibility that the flow of migrants across the border is systematic and that Russia has a geopolitical incentive to orchestrate the migration of refugees and other foreigners from its soil to Europe. Niinisto refrained from commenting on such reports on Tuesday.

The President acknowledged that from the viewpoint of Finland the main emphasis of the phenomenon has shifted to the eastern border with Russia. The people who have crossed the border to seek asylum in Finland already represent 30 different nationalities.

We're clearly no longer talking only about migration caused by the unrest in Iraq and Syria, Niinisto concluded.

Finnish authorities and policy-makers are according to him monitoring the situation on the border closely.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Photo: Petteri Paalasmaa / Uusi Suomi

Source: Uusi Suomi
The regulation essentially stipulates that the applications of asylum seekers must be examined by the member state where they first arrive.

Timo Soini (PS), the Minister for Foreign Affairs, has commented on a report published by the Financial Times that the European Commission is intent on overhauling the so-called Dublin Regulation.

Finland has supported and complied with the regulation, and required compliance with it. That is the stance of Finland. Several EU countries have unfortunately not complied with it. The principles of a legal state call for compliance with laws, Soini writes on his blog.

He also points out that as of yet no further information about the plans has been made available, such as how the regulation will be revised.

The Government does not take action on the basis of speculation and has not discussed the matter. What is more important is to establish functioning controls on the external borders of the EU, Soini states.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of the Interior confirmed to YLE later on Wednesday that the European Commission will unveil its proposal concerning the Dublin Regulation in March.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Photo: Vesa Moilanen / Lehtikuva

Source: Uusi Suomi
A convicted murderer has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for burning down a family home just days after he was released from a life sentence.

Detective Inspector Colm O'Malley told Monika Leech BL, prosecuting, that Stephen Rock (51) was seen "in the vicinity" of the home on the night of July 12, 2014.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard "an item" which looked like a "shoe box" was seen by a witness burning in the window of the house on the night of the fire.

Counsel told the court that Leanne Nolan managed to rescue her mother, Maureen Nolan, and her younger brother from the house. One of the family pets did not survive the blaze.

"The jury heard evidence that as a result of the blaze the house was destroyed and the family had to move to temporary accommodation," said Ms Leech.

The court heard Maureen Nolan had been "assaulted" by Rock when he came to the house earlier that day and herself and her daughter Leanne asked him to leave.

Sorry

"When Mr Rock was asked to leave he said they would be sorry when he came back," counsel said.

Rock denied starting the fire when interviewed by gardai.

The court heard the economic loss to the family was 40,000, which did not include the "property loss to the house" which included beds, curtains and family pictures.

Rock was previously convicted for murder and jailed for life in 1989. The court heard he was serving his time in Shelton Abbey Prison in Arklow when he escaped in 1999.

"He had served 10 years in prison before he absconded and he subsequently returned to this jurisdiction following an arrest warrant," said Det Insp O'Malley.

The court heard Rock continued to serve his sentence from 2005 to 2014 before he was admitted to full temporary release on July 08 2014.

Judge Patrick McCartan said that what Rock did: "was very serious and very dangerous particularly for a man with his record and who had been on temporary release and given full release from his sentence only four days before".

Damaging

Rock was found guilty of damaging a house at Colepark Drive in Ballyfermot, Dublin and intending to endanger the life of another. He had pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The judge commended Leanne Nolan for attempting to put out the fire and rescuing her brother and mother before he sentenced Rock - of Priorswood House in Coolock, Dublin - to 10 years in prison.
The investigation continues into the gruesome murder of Kenneth OBrien as gardai search his home at Lealand Road (Staff photographer)

The investigation continues into the gruesome murder of Kenneth OBrien as gardai search his home at Lealand Road

Gardai are investigating if a man whose dismembered remains were found in a suitcase in the Grand Canal may have been murdered by a person who was well-known to him, it emerged last night.

Officers are still working on the theory that the brutal murder of Kenneth O'Brien may be linked to a personal grudge, rather than gangland activity.

The 33-year-old, originally from Ballyfermot in west Dublin, was last seen alive when he left his Clondalkin home on Friday morning.

Forensic gardai spent all day yesterday at the property at Lealand Road and they removed a number of items from the house.

Statement

Other officers spent the day taking statements from people who knew the tragic father-of-one.

Sources said yesterday that officers were desperately trying to build a "full picture" of Mr O'Brien's personality and relationships in an attempt to discover how he met such a grim fate.

"This involves taking statements off everyone who knew him and attempting to make contact with anyone who had been speaking with him in recent weeks.

"Everyone who knew Mr O'Brien will have to be looked at closely, that is the nature of this," they said.

"Gardai are not following a definite line of enquiry at this stage, but it is being investigated whether he may have been killed by someone who was well-known to him over a personal grudge."

Mr O'Brien was not known to officers for involvement in serious offences and his only convictions were for relatively minor driving offences a number of years ago.

Sources said that gardai were "unaware" of underworld reports that suggested he may have been targeted by a notorious Clondalkin-based gang over an historical debt.

Garda Commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan yesterday described the murder of Kenneth O'Brien as "gruesome".

Speaking in Dublin, the Garda chief offered the sympathies of the force to the O'Brien family.

"It's obviously a very gruesome murder," she said.

Ms O'Sullivan appealed for anybody who may have information, "no matter how small they might think", to come forward.

Perpetrator

"We're very anxious to hear from anybody who might have any information they can offer in helping us to identify the perpetrator of this awful crime," she said.

Officers were still not located Mr O'Brien's head, arms and legs last night and the cause of his death or its location have not yet been established.

The mutilated remains of the dad-of-one, who had only moved back to Dublin from Australia in December were taken from the canal at Ardclough, Co Kildare, on Saturday.

Yesterday two areas near where the body was discovered were sealed off by gardai who were searching for more body parts.

Mr O'Brien was identified at 3.30pm on Tuesday after a DNA sample taken from the torso matched a sample provided by a member of his family.

The mechanic and JCB driver was the father of a little boy. He vanished on Friday after telling his family he was heading down the country to do some work.

They reported him missing on Saturday evening, but by then his torso had been discovered by two walkers who saw a suitcase in the canal.

The murder investigation is being carried out by officers at Leixlip Garda Station, who continue to appeal for information.

It is expected that it will be a lengthy investigation which will involve the detailed analysis of mobile phone traffic in an attempt to establish who the victim had been communicating with.
Gardai have seized a shipping container full of fake perfume which had been destined for the Irish market after arriving here from China.

The seizure was made by officers from the Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau in a top-secret operation in Dundalk, Co Louth, last week when a ship arrived at the port.

Sources said detectives have been investigating the counterfeit smuggling operations of a veteran dissident republican from Louth and his business partner from Newry, Co Down.

The fake perfume was packaged as legitimate high-end brands, but when tested it proved to be "generic Chinese toilet water in specialist packs".

Gardai seized the fake perfume last Wednesday, but have not yet made any arrests.

"The fake perfume would have been worth scores of thousands of euro to the cross- border gang who were involved in the enterprise.

"These individuals are veteran dissident republicans who have been involved in smuggling for years," a source said.

Gardai have been involved in a number of operations targeting counterfeit goods in recent months.

Only days before Christmas, officers seized 30,000 worth of counterfeit clothing and 25,000 in cash during planned raids in the capital targeting a Dublin man who is believed to be heavily involved in the illegal trade.

The Crumlin man was not arr- ested, but sources said he may well face future prosecution.

Impounded

Earlier last month, the Herald revealed that customs officers impounded a huge consignment of hair straighteners at Dublin Port in an operation targeting a north inner city gang.

In November, it emerged that two containers holding 59,000 bottles of counterfeit perfumes and aftershaves were intercepted at Dublin Port in a 2m seizure.

Gardai previously ran an investigation called Operation Camac which was set up in 2011 to target those involved in the production, distribution and sale of counterfeit merchandise.

Separately, gardai and customs officers have identified at least four separate crime groupings who are making millions of euro each year by importing illegal cigarettes which are yielding them profits of more than 900pc .
A 200 per cent increase in the number of incidents involving Irish Rail trains and property being damaged by graffiti has been blamed on "a bunch of middle-class kids with nothing better to do".

There were 845 cases of Irish Rail property being damaged in the Dublin region in 2015, compared with 615 throughout the previous year.

The figures represent a 38pc increase over the past 12 months and include incidents of graffiti, vandalism, damage to property and trespassing.

During a meeting of Dublin City Council's Joint Policing Committee, Labour councillor Dermot Lacey suggested that the graffiti attacks could be the result of "a bunch of middle-class kids with nothing better to do".

Prosecuting

It was also pointed out at the meeting by several politicians and Irish Rail representatives that a number of those responsible for damaging Irish Rail assets attended a college for art and design in the capital.

The number of graffiti incidents alone increased by more than 200pc from 57 in 2014 to 172 last year, while vandalism cases rose by 130pc to 79 in 2015 from 35 the year before.

Connolly Station assistant manager Gavin Collins said more than 350,000 was spent on cleaning trains alone across the country last year. He added that the company was intent on prosecuting those who damage Irish Rail assets.

In one incident, a young Spanish male was deported after being charged and convicted of causing damage to a train.

Mr Collins told the committee that the crime of graffiti was the "bane of my life" and dismissed the "romantic" notion held by people who think they are like famed UK artist Banksy.

"It's a criminal matter," he said.

Mr Collins told how in one incident a group of youths att-acked two Dart stations and caused 6,000 worth of damage, while in another, two young men caused 5,500 worth of damage after setting a ticket machine alight.

He also said that the judiciary does not weigh in heavily enough on the matter, but added that the young age of those responsible makes it difficult.

Dublin Town chief executive Richard Guiney said his organisation was removing 15,000 square feet of graffiti from their property every year.

Fianna Fail councillor Paul McAuliffe said the council had removed more than 35,000 square feet of graffiti around the city.

Garda Assistant Commissioner Jack Nolan told the committee that graffiti falls under the category of criminal damage, and added that the problem could be tackled by introducing it into the Garda Schools Education Initiative.
A new gender quota law for political parties is "a reasonable course of action to address the historic under-representation of women in Irish politics", the High Court has been told.

Parties are now required to field 30pc male and female candidates in the next two general elections if they are to continue to receive State funding.

Dr Fiona Buckley, a University College of Cork lecturer specialising in gender politics, said the law would address under-representation for women.

She was giving evidence for the State in a continuing challenge against the State by Fianna Fail activist Brian Mohan in which he disputes the constitutionality of provisions of the Electoral (Political Funding) Act 2012.

His challenge came after FF directed its sole general election candidate in the Dublin Central constituency, where he wished to go forward for selection, must be a woman.

That direction came after it emerged in summer 2015 that just 10 of 47 candidates then selected by FF were women. Mary Fitzpatrick was selected to run in Dublin central last October.

The court heard yesterday that Ireland ranks joint 86th - with North Korea and south Korea - of 140 countries worldwide in relation to political representation of women.

Dr Buckley said statistics on female political representation here between 1977-2011 suggest the electorate is not biased against women and women's under-representation in the Dail is rather linked to the candidate selection process.

Irish political parties seem more inclined to select women as candidates for "second-order" elections, such as local elections, rather than first-order elections, she added.

Since the foundation of the State, just 15 women have held Cabinet positions and those were generally in the socio-cultural area, she said.

Participation

Dr Buckley said some countries have operated such quotas for several decades and women there have historically had greater access to, and participation in, many areas of public life.

Earlier, under cross-examination by Maurice Collins SC, for the State, Mr Mohan accepted he was "fundamentally at odds" with the policy of his own, and every other party in the Oireachtas, on the quota legislation.

He considered Fianna Fail "is being held over a barrel" because it would lose half of its annual Exchequer funding of 1.2m unless it meets the gender quota targets. It would be "impossible to function" without that funding.

The case continues.
The family of former Taoiseach Brian Cowen has come out in defence of Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin in the ongoing row with Mary Hanafin.

The party was left shell-shocked after Mr Cowen's wife Mary launched an extraordinary attack on Ms Hanafin, who consistently called for Fianna Fail to consider coalition with Fine Gael.

In a series of Facebook posts, Ms Cowen warned Mr Martin to "watch his back", seemingly pointing to a threat to his leadership.

Ms Cowen, who still remains active in the party, was referring to remarks made by Ms Hanafin in an article in the Herald and the Irish Independent on Tuesday.

The Dun Laoghaire councillor told this newspaper that she was approached by grassroots members at the Fianna Fail Ard Fheis on Saturday who urged her to "influence" party policy.

But in a series of posts on a private Fianna Fail discussion forum, Ms Cowen took major issue with Ms Hanafin's claims.

"Have just read the Irish Independent and I see an article about Mary Hanifin (sic) stating that Fianna Fail members have called on her to influence party policy."

The Facebook post continues, claiming that Ms Hanafin is "not elected yet and she is running the party".

It adds: "Michael (sic) Martin better watch his back as there wouldn't be to (sic) much loyalty there!"

Ms Cowen further criticised Ms Hanafin in comments attached to the post.

"She seems to be getting plenty of air and press time," she said.

In response to a comment from a member that Ms Hanafin was "never a team player", Ms Cowen replied: "That's for sure".

The Facebook page in question has almost 1,400 members - many of whom are party activists, councillors, senators and TDs. The posts by Ms Cowen were later deleted after she learned that the remarks had been picked up by the media.

Stunned

Efforts to contact Ms Cowen directly have been unsuccessful.

However, the authenticity of her Facebook posts have been verified.

Ms Hanafin declined to comment when contacted last night.

Party figures yesterday were left stunned by the row, pointing out that Ms Cowen is not known to adopt an outspoken view within the party.

But there was also surprise expressed in relation to the decision by the Cowen family to row in behind Mr Martin.

The same sources said they believe the attack on Ms Hanafin stems from her decision to vote against Mr Cowen during a vote of confidence in his leadership in 2011.

It's understood that Ms Cowen and Ms Hanafin have not spoken since the event.

Ms Hanafin, who is contesting the Dun Laoghaire constituency alongside her council colleague Cormac Devlin, has infuriated many front-bench TDs in recent months following her comments about the party.

However, several deputies privately agree wholeheartedly with her claims that the party should not rule out Fine Gael as a potential coalition partner.
FIonan Lynch was born in 1889 in Kilmakerin, near Cahirsiveen in Co Kerry.

He trained as a teacher and taught in St Michan's School in Dublin from 1912 to 1916.

He was also an Irish scholar and was a member of the Keating Branch of the Gaelic League.

Fionan performed in plays in Irish during 1914 and 1915 and also translated a play from French to Irish for this purpose.

He joined the Irish Volunteers on their formation in November 1913 and trained - and led training - in north Dublin.

Captain

He was subsequently recruited into the IRB by his friend Sean MacDermott.

On Easter Monday 1916 Fionan's 1st battalion of the Irish Volunteers, in which he served as captain of F Company, assembled at Blackhall Place before marching to the nearby Four Courts.

The area was generally quiet until Wednesday but after that the Four Courts was continuously under fire, day and night.

Fionan and his men were active in the areas of Church Street, North King Street and at locations adjacent to the Four Courts.

In a later statement to the Bureau of Military History he wrote: "There was little fighting in our area until the Wednesday, but from that on until the surrender on Saturday evening the fighting was intense.

"I do not wish to boast about valour of my men - I shall merely say that it was a great honour for any man to be their captain."

In a note made in 1965 Fionan stated: "From [Wednesday] on the fighting was very fierce indeed, casualties very heavy among the British when they turned into Cuckoo Lane from North King Street.

Savagery

"Probably explains the savagery of the British in shooting quite innocuous people in North King Street houses. This was unknown to us at the time."

When the surrender order came to the battalion they felt they could continue the fight but Cmdt Ned Daly insisted that the order be obeyed.

After the surrender Fionan was detained in Kilmainham Gaol and sentenced to death.

This was commuted to 10 years penal servitude. He was first sent to Portland prison in Dorset, England and later to Frongoch internment camp in Wales, where he was held until December 1916.

On his release in 1917 he continued his revolutionary activities. He was jailed and undertook a hunger strike in Mountjoy Prison in 1918 to secure political status.

During the War of Independence he preached drilling and arming.

Fionan served on the secretariat of the Irish delegation that travelled to London in 1921 to negotiate the Anglo-Irish Treaty.

He supported the Treaty and later entered politics, serving as both a TD and minister in the 1920s.

He was also appointed a Circuit Court judge. Fionan Lynch died in 1966.

Details submitted by Fionan's son, Dermot Lynch
RICHMOND  Governor Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency at 8 a.m. today. This action authorizes state agencies to assist local governments in responding to a major winter storm that is expected to impact the Commonwealth through Sunday.

According to a release, by declaring a state of emergency, the governor authorizes state agencies to identify and position resources for quick response wherever they are needed in Virginia.

Governor McAuliffe urges Virginians to prepare for this major winter storm, which could dump up to two feet of snow in central and northern regions. Wind gusts of up to 50 mph, sleet and freezing rain could result in downed trees, power outages and blocked roads.

McAuliffe stated in a release,

Keeping Virginians safe in the event of severe weather is our top concern  that is why Virginia began preparing for severe winter weather yesterday by ordering more than 500 vehicles out to pretreat roads in Northern Virginia, said Governor McAuliffe. All Virginians should take the threat of this storm seriously and take necessary precautions now to ensure they are prepared for travel disruptions and possible power outages during a cold weather period.

Transportation Secretary Aubrey Layne said,

VDOT is prepared with crews, equipment and materials to treat roads in advance of the storm and will work throughout the storm to plow roads."

Driving conditions during the storm are expected to be hazardous and motorists are urged to stay off the roads until the storm passes.

What Citizens Should Do:

Stay off the roads during the storm unless travel is absolutely necessary. If travel is necessary, drive with caution and allow extra space around other vehicles.

Use extreme caution around slow-moving equipment being used to treat roads, such as snow plows.

Make sure your vehicle is ready for winter and is in safe driving condition. Keep an emergency kit in your car. Include items such as jumper cables, blankets, first aid kit, water, non-perishable food, cat litter or sand, shovel, flash light and batteries, ice scraper and cell phone charger.

Check on elderly or homebound neighbors, family, and friends to ensure they are ready for this storm and any possible inconveniences or interruptions that may result.

Bring pets inside from the cold.

Be prepared to take care of yourself and your family for at least 72 hours, in case roads are blocked and/or there are power outages.

Have a battery-powered or hand-cranked radio and extra batteries for emergency information. Listen to local weather forecasts and instructions from local officials.

If you need help, information or resources during the storm, call 211. Those with hearing impairments can call 711 for the Virginia Relay Center and then call 1-800-230-6977. Out of state or videophone users may also dial 1-800-230-6977 for assistance.

The press releases also informs that one can download two apps made available by the state for such occurrences. The free Ready Virginia app at: http://www.vaemergency.gov/readyvirginia/additional-resources/mobileapp.

The free VDOT 511 app for updates on road conditions at: http://www.virginiadot.org/travel/511.asp.

For more information regarding the Commonwealth's response efforts, visit www.vaemergency.gov
Game on! IU to resume series with Kentucky starting in 2025-26.

Kentucky coach John Calipari confirmed at SEC media day the two schools have agreed in principle to restart their annual regular-season series.
A crisis of theory can be a serious setback for any party, not just the Marxists. But for the Marxists, it is nothing new. They owe their political existence to a certain history and a certain book and, when thrown against the welter of events, facts have often not fitted into their theory.

The Indian Marxists have tried to tailor Marxism to the Indian conditions and were fortunate in that Marxism is essentially European Marxism. After having been in power in several states and after having exercised disproportionate power at the Centre during the terms of several central governments, they are now in a crisis that they have never been faced with before. And their crisis is both of theory and practice.

Former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjees call for an alliance with the Congress to defeat the Trinamool Congress in the state this year is testimony to this.

Bhattacharjee has done many things at the same time. The most serious is that his statement has called into question the Marxist theoretical construct that the Congress is a party of big capitalists and landlords and hence, for the CPI(M), the party Bhattacharjee belongs to, it could not be a fellow-traveller.

Maybe in the Left perception, the Congress still has the same class character but that does not matter to them anymore. Next, Bhattacharjees call does not make it clear why he is seeking the support of the Congress to dislodge the Trinamool from power.

In what ways is the class character of the Congress different from that of the Trinamool? This is important because in Marxist formulation, political alliances are essentially social alliances.

If the Left is not able to explain it in class terms, it is easily for the cynic to say that for the Left, power alone matters and is not just a means to achieving the greater goal of an egalitarian or a classless society. Also, the Left cannot say that this alliance with the Congress is an expedient measure aimed at countering the more destructive ideology of communalism. The charge of being communal does not stick on the Trinamool.

Coming down from the theoretical plane, what Bhattacharjee has asked for is difficult from the point of view of simple political execution. If the Left were to ally with the Congress in West Bengal, what would happen in Kerala or Tripura?

In both the states, the two formations are in direct opposition. In states where the Left parties are bit players, they have entered into alliances with some parties in one state and opposed the very same ones in others. But a direct alliance with the Congress is something the Left has never done at the level of the states. And if at all they want such an alliance to come through now, they would be hard put to explain why there was no such coming together in the days when it was necessary to counter communalist forces.

Bhattacharjees statement can be dissected further. Changing allies from election to election is something the Indian polity has learnt to live with. It is no longer seen as a contradiction in terms.

On the one hand, this means that power is no longer the exclusive preserve of any party. To this extent, this is democratic. But on the other hand this could also mean a tacit understanding among the countrys political elites that for the sake of power, they can have a meeting ground, no matter which party they belong to. This is indicative of a clear hiatus between the leaderships of parties and their rank and file and goes against the basic tenet of democracy that not only do leaders arise out of the masses, they remain rooted to the ground. This is a principle of social democracy, which, in Marxist theory, is a stage in the evolution of history. In saying what he did, Bhattacharjee somewhat belittled his democratic stature, what to speak of being a Marxist!

Chances are that such an alliance will not come through. But where does this leave the CPI(M) and the Left movement, whatever little of it is left? Its unlikely it will have a rural agenda in the way it had. It is also unlikely that the party would be able to bring into focus the sharp divisions and class conflicts of rural India. Has the CPI(M) abandoned that core constituency? Bhattacharjees statement is a straw in the wind.

The views expressed by the author are personal.

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For the first time since its creation in 1948, Israel is sitting pretty. For all practical purposes it has been let off the hook by once-hostile Arab governments who are now busy fending off internal turmoil or feuding with their fellow Muslim neighbours. The Palestinian issue is well and truly forgotten and several Arab nations are quietly cosying up to their arch-Zionist enemy.

The latest development that must have warmed hearts in Tel Aviv was the break in relations between two of West Asias most powerful countries  Saudi Arabia and Iran. Of the three staunch anti-Israeli leaders two are gone  Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi. The third, Bashar al-Assad, is fighting a losing battle.

Iran, which proved to be a tough nut, took a while to be cracked. After a decade of arm-twisting it on the nuclear issue, a United States-led caucus finally managed to break Tehrans resolve, signing a deal which effectively prevents Iran from making any progress on this front. Washingtons closest ally, Israel, would have wanted the US administration to continue sanctions, lay siege to Irans economy and do an Iraq on it. But the US, chastened by its experiences in Iraq, chose the simpler alternative of striking an agreement with Iran, which still effectively dilutes a possible threat to Israel.

Yes, the Shia-Sunni divide in the Muslim world is deep and seemingly irreconcilable. At the heart of the simmering long-term hostility between the Arab states led by Saudi Arabia, and Iran is this theological disagreement that since the 1979 Ayotollah Khomeini-engineered Iranian revolution has dominated political discourse in this region. Under the Shah, Iran had friendly relations with Israel. But the new Iranian government made it clear that Israel was its arch-enemy and it would go all out to free the occupied Palestinian territories.

In the last 35 years, however, the narrative has changed completely. In 1980 no one could have imagined that a time would come when West Asia would end up so bitterly fractured and that the Palestinian issue would be relegated to the dustbin. It is simplistic to blame it entirely on the Shia-Sunni divide as global politics itself has changed dramatically since that time, the key markers being the Soviet demise, the 9/11 attack, the US war on terror, the invasion of Iraq and the Arab street uprisings.

The 80s were still the time of the Cold War and the region was aligned either with the US or the Soviet Union. But, the US proved to be a better strategist, presiding over the Soviet disintegration. Having egged its protege Saddam on to go to war with Iran following the Khomeini revolution, Washington commenced a process of emasculating the Arab world.

But this does not absolve the Arab nations. Instead of seeing through the machinations of Washington the big powers in the region have turned against one another. And the spawning of al-Qaeda and ISIS worsens the regions instability.

Caught in the crossfire are millions of innocents fleeing to distant, mostly hostile, Europe. And the Palestinians are now at the mercy of Israel. The conclusion is inescapable: The wheels of time have ended up favouring the US and its client state Israel, thanks to the political naivete of the Arabs and the Persians.

KS Dakshina Murthy is a journalist. The views expressed are personal.
Compared to the west, where acceptance of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community is gradually gaining hold, the Indian LGBT community has an arduous journey ahead. For every Pride March or film festival that celebrates their freedom of expression, we have instances of discrimination, rejection from society or laws that criminalise their identity.

Back in 1998, the Nandita Das-starrer Fire was one of the first mainstream Indian films to highlight homosexual relations and portray lesbian relationships in a sensitive manner. But the nationwide unrest that followed the release highlighted the prejudice towards the community. Subsequently, the actor also participated in events like Hijra Habba in Bengaluru (an event that celebrates the transgender community) and has often spoken on the subject.

This weekend, the actor-director will be part of a panel discussion, Pride and Prejudice, which explores the contribution of straight allies (heterosexual men and women) in the movement for equal rights. For any society to grow, we have to take up each others causes and speak up for each other. It shouldnt be that only women fight for women and those with disability fight for the disabled. For me, this is an issue of discrimination and oppression and I feel compelled to speak, she says.

Looking back, Das admits that Fire had a tangible impact. It provided a trigger, a reason to talk about these issues in the public domain. Fire helped me look at the issue with greater depth and sensitivity. It was a landmark film, one that Im glad happened.

Nandita Das-starrer Fire was one of the first mainstream Indian films to highlight homosexual relations and portray lesbian relationships in a sensitive manner.

Since then, there have been some films that have revolved around the community, but LGBT themes still dont find widespread representation in Indian cinema. The way an LGBT person is represented in a film, has to be more thoughtful, more true to reality, as opposed to stereotyping, or worse not having their presence at all, laments Das, who was at the helm of protests over the Supreme Courts ruling on Section 377 in 2013.

What is heartening, though, admits Das, is that young filmmakers, from mainstream and regional cinema alike, are exploring varied topics and telling stories that are honest and true. It can, perhaps, be pegged to growing dialogue on social media. Das credits it for democratising peoples voices. One cant help but wonder how a film like Fire might have fared in todays times of hashtags and tweets.

Das is also heartened by the public discussions and debates that are gaining momentum and helping boost the cause for equal rights. The ultimate aim is to ensure everybody has the space and right to be who they are, Das says. She signs off on a hopeful note wishing for a country where people are progressive and mature enough to give people space and right to love each other.

Dont miss

What: Pride and Prejudice  Building Alliances for a Better Tomorrow will be held on January 23, 3.30pm onward

Where: Auditorium (first floor), Godrej ONE, Vikhroli (E)

Visit: indiaculturelab.org/events

RSVP: indiaculturelab@godrejinds.com
Bas, were done, says Pablo Bartholomew, marching off the gallery floor and retreating into the office behind it. One of Indias most famous photographers is camera-shy. Our photographer, somewhat stunned and complaining that hes just got test shots, is now being placated by the Communications lady with the promise of a more media-savvy artist (an actor-turned-artist) next month.

But it would have been surprising if Barthlomew had played along and done a proper photo-shoot. For, at 60, the Delhi-based photographer is still every bit the eccentric artist that people whove known him will tell you about. Im told to expect a good guy with a gruff exterior by one of the subjects of his current show. What I find is a man whos a little distracted, tending to run off in tangents with a conversation; and whose restless fingers urge you to get on with your questions when his words dont. But, in snatches, as he talks about his art, hes deeply passionate, and capable of surprising candour.

The idea is to show people who marked me, not necessarily people whove been good to me There are a couple of bastards in there as well, he says of his current exhibition.

(Photo: Pablo Bartholomew )

The show is remarkably different from his previous retrospectives. Hes not looking back at the hippie 70s; or the wide-angle frames of erstwhile Bombay, Delhi or Calcutta; or the marginalised Haka Chinese settlers of the latter. With 60/60, he digs out 60 intimate portraits of friends and colleagues, all major personalities  but a lot of them shot during their college days, before they found fame. The result is a bare-chested Anupam Kher in his hostel room, a Nafisa Ali eating with her hands at a friends house, and a photo of Shashi Tharoor and Mira Nair from their college days, performing Antony and Cleopatra.

The period ranges from the early 70s to the mid 80s. A lot of the early ones are the result of a young Bartholomew  thrown out of school and with no inclination to go back  finding himself in the amateur theatre circles of Delhi. He shot photos for friends, just hung around on sets, even dabbled with acting, though I wasnt very good at it, he says. The photos are of a small circle of people, those you become friendly with over five, or 15, years. Of course, there are those you went to school with and thought they were duds, but they turn out to be the acclaimed ones.

While his friends found acclaim as actors, directors and politicians, Bartholomews vocation led him to life as a professional photographer. He would go on to shoot stills behind the scenes of Satyajit Rays Shatranj ke Khilari (1977) and Richard Attenboroughs Oscar-winning Gandhi (1982). He would also work as a news photographer, producing moving images from the Bhopal Gas Tragedy to the Babri Masjid demolition. His photo of a baby, face half buried in debris, would, in fact, be his most acclaimed (it became the World Press Photo of the Year in 1980, and is still the lasting image of the tragedy).

(Photo: Pablo Bartholomew )

However, like any good artist, he has a healthy measure of cynicism for commercial work. Growing up, I had a sense of light, composition, drama, and I knew where I wanted to go with it. I felt a lot of that sense eroded when I became a media hack. About film sets, too, he says that he found the actual film shoots quite boring, and he would escape in between shoots to find subjects that actually excited him.

A lot of that work surfaced much later. For instance, his Calcutta Diaries  shot during breaks between Rays film in 1976  would only be exhibited in 2012.

I like looking back, he says. Even what Im shooting now will take a few years to surface. I think my work needs to cook, so what comes out is more precise Its like a sense of knowing what survived. This is also the deviant artists need to react differently to the current times, which is all about getting your work out there instantly.

(Photo: Pablo Bartholomew )

Over the years, his slow cooking has led to several retrospectives. While most of us look back at our young artistic efforts  at writing, painting or shooting photos  and cringe, Bartholomew continues to produce gems. You only see the good ones, he says, Theres a lot of s**t in there too. Sometimes, on a roll, you have five great images. Sometimes you have one, sometimes none.

The present show, however, he says, might be his last retrospective: Beyond a point, how much can you pull out?

What hes managed to pull out, though, constitutes a body of work that ranges four decades, spans three cities, and, now, captures the journeys of some of Indias most prominent creative figures.

In effect, it also offers a window into the guarded artists own psyche  beyond that gruff exterior.

(Photo: Pablo Bartholomew)

The artist, through the years

1955: Pablo Bartholomew is born in Delhi, to leading art critic and photographer Richard Bartholomew and theatre artist Rati Batra.

1970: Drops out of school at age 15.

1975: Wins the Press Institute of India Award for a photo essay on the life of a morphine addict.

1976: Works as a still photographer on the sets of Satyajit Rays Shatranj ke Khilari (1977).

-Receives the World Press Photo award for the series on morphine addicts.

1979: First exhibition has works of marginalised sections of society  rag pickers, sex workers, beggars  at Art Heritage Gallery, Delhi.

1980: The same exhibition shows at Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai.

1981: Works as a still photographer on the sets of Richard Attenboroughs Gandhi (1982).

1984: 2000: Represented by French-American photo agency, Gamma Liaison. He covers conflicts in south-east Asia. His work appears in leading publications, including New York Times, National Geographic, The Guardian and The Observer.

1984: Awarded World Press Photo of the Year for his image from the Bhopal Gas Tragedy, of a half-buried child.

1987: Awarded a fellowship from the Asian Cultural Council, New York, to shoot Indian immigrants in USA.

1995: Fellowship from the Institute of Comparative Studies in Human Culture, Norway, to shoot Naga tribes.

2007: Outside in: A Tale of Three Cities, a retrospective look at photos from his teenage days, shot across Bombay, Delhi and Calcutta, shown at Recontres dArles (a summer photo festival), at Arles, France. The show then travels to Delhi, Mumbai, New York, Berlin and Dhaka.

2011: Shows Chronicles of a Past Life  70s and 80s in Bombay, at Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai.

2012: The exhibition, The Calcutta Diaries, shows his photos of the city  with a particular focus on the Haka Chinese community in Tangra  shot in between his work on Rays movie sets in 1976. Exhibited at Art Heritage Gallery, Delhi.

-Publishes a selection of his fathers art writing. This would be published as a book called The Art Critic, co-edited by Pablo, in 2014.

(Photo: Pablo Bartholomew)

Now showing

What: 60/60, is on from January 23 till February 20, from 11am to 6pm on all days (except Sundays and public holidays), at Sakshi Gallery. Bartholomew will do a walk-through of the works on January 23 (Saturday), at 4.45pm.

Where: 6/19, Grants Building, 2nd Floor, Arthur Bunder Road, Colaba.

Call: 6610 3424

Visit: sakshigallery.com

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Dressed in a casual navy blue jacket and distressed jeans, celebrity chef Ranveer Brar flashes his camera-ready smile (the one perfected for television) as soon as he sees us. It is something he is used to doing, almost like reflex. He was last seen as one of the judges on MasterChef India. But this stardom didnt come easy.

We meet 37-year-old Brar in Lower Parels Kamala Mills compound, the location of his newest project  TAG Kitchen and Cellar. Bare walls at this split-level space will soon adorn artworks by young artists and the menu will feature world food in small plates paired with single malts and fine wine. Think dishes like nachni upma arancini or French onion soup with a cheese and onion chutney bao (instead of the traditional bread) and tea-smoked tofu with a ponzu emulsion. Yes, it will be a vegetarian restaurant that comes with a library and an art space, which will turn into a bar by night. There is a lot of scope for vegetarian food in Mumbai, but the representation has been very Indian, says Brar. All the ingredients will be locally sourced and the wines on the menu will be organic. We want to break the myth that only non-vegetarian food pairs well with alcohol, he adds. TAG, which stands for The Amateur Gallery, is slated to open in March.

However, it is an India-inspired patisserie called English Vinglish thats next on his list. Set to open by the end of this month in Juhu, this will be the first of three

outlets to open this year. On the menu are desserts like shondesh souffle, boondi eclairs, and kalakand or dhodha (popular north Indian sweet) tarts. Indian mithais are becoming very occasional, event-based things and the younger generation is not interested in them anymore, he says. In his attempt to keep Indian sweets relevant, Brar plans to package traditional desserts in contemporary moulds.

A still from MasterChef India.

The struggling years

As a 24-year-old executive chef (one of the youngest head chefs in a commercial kitchen) at the Radisson Blue in Noida, he was responsible for five restaurants. He then moved to Tajs Goa property and opened three restaurants. I was the Midas touch guy. All the restaurants that I opened were successful, and are up and running even today, says Brar. And like any young, ambitious 20-something, when Brar got the opportunity to work in the US, he moved to Boston to open a restaurant called Banq.

The real learning began during my stint in the US. The restaurant did well for a year-and-a-half till the recession hit us and we didnt know how to cope with it, says Brar. Though Banq had won several awards including the best new restaurant in the world by Wallpaper magazine, it couldnt survive the economic downturn. As chefs, a lot of the times we lose sight of the fact that we are in the food business and that it needs to make money to survive, says Brar talking about this incident in hindsight.

India Inc

Armed with this learning, Brar is all set to enter 2016 with a host of new projects. His first book, called Cook With Me, will come out in May. The book will be a collection of recipes along with a short autobiography to establish my cooking philosophy, he says.

At 24 Brar was one of the youngest head chefs in a commercial kitchen, at the Radisson Blue, Noida.

Apart from TAG Kitchen and Cellar and English Vinglish, Brar is involved in two other restaurants in Boston  Indian DaVinci and Soul of India. Ive also collaborated with Viacom 18 to help them commoditise channels like VH1 and MTV, says Brar. Flyp@MTV, a newly opened space in Delhi, is the result of this collaboration. Soon to open in Mumbai (August) and Bangalore (October), the menu at these MTV-themed cafes will feature Delhi street food in a global avatar.

So, what is it about Indian food that is suddenly attractive to young chefs? Today, the youth has time to think about culture and food habits because they dont need to worry about the basics like making money or feeding a family like their fathers and grandfathers did, he says. According to Brar, curiosity is driven by culture. When I see a 20-year-old interested in Kathiawadi cuisine, I know that this trend is here to stay. Finally, we can stop complaining about the fact that Indian food is not being archived, he adds.

Brars mumbai

Favourite thing to eat in the city: Misal at Aaswad, Dadar

Favourite cafe: Stadium Restaurant, Churchgate

Favourite bar: Monkey Bar, Bandra

Favourite Irani: Koolar & Co, Matunga

Favourite restaurant: Vinay Health Home, Charni Road

Aaswads Missal Pav . (Photo: Arundhati Chatterjee )

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Googles clinically precise maps may have successfully replaced the good old atlas and hard copies of road maps during trips, but Sri Lankan artist Pala Pothupitiye still finds artistic inspiration in them. He has been using topographic sheets  actual maps as well as recreated ones  since his debut exhibition in 2003, to map the psychological and cultural framework of people living in the country.

Ahead of his maiden solo show in India, Sri Sri Lanka: Mapping Post-Colonial Ceylon, he admits to having an obsession with survey sheets: In 2009, I worked on actual government-printed maps. This was right after the end of the 30-year Civil War in Sri Lanka. There was rampant bloodshed during those years. I decided to use the actual geopolitical maps to narrate how the identity of the land developed along with the boundaries, and how these boundaries led to conflicts and wars.

The political artist, who has incorporated ideas of geography with the core of an individual, delves into his personal experiences for his creations. His childhood was replete with geographical conflicts and the idea to explore the environment via maps stemmed from this thought. I have experienced land conflicts in my childhood and youth. I have lost land to powerful people in my area, and saw how people were fighting for land. It was an era when we lived in constant fear that at any time, a bomb could blast in a bus stop due to terror attacks. We directly felt the repercussions of the war. Many of my schoolmates died during this period; some died during the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) uprising in 1965, and the ones who joined the military died in the Civil War, he says.

Sri Sri Lanka, like most of his earlier works, is an extension of cartography  the practice of making maps. Interestingly, his recreation of the maps uses several media, including sculpture, painting and drawing, and features motifs like mythical creatures, animals, and so on.

The political artist, who has incorporated ideas of geography with the core of an individual, delves into his personal experiences for his creations.

Explaining the imagery, Pothupitiye says, Generally, the visuals talk about the economic, religious or colonial invasions or encounters. There are many fragmented claws and teeth giving a sense of ferocity. Some of it also represents a generalised perspective. For instance, there are imprints of Northern Hindu Tamil Tigers and the Southern Sinhala Buddhist Lions, who were fighting in the 30-year war in Sri Lanka. The tensions remain, and I depict the same.

In the past, the 2010 Sovereign Asian Art Prize-winner has exhibited his map-works across Hong Kong, Pakistan, Germany and the UK. I am not eager to have shows around the world. I dont seek validity from showing in Europe and other counties. Winning the Sovereign Asian Art Prize for the Jaffna Map was a real turning point. It was unexpected, and brought a lot of attention to my ideas. I have used nearly all the prize money to build the Mullegama Art Center, the artist says, adding that he now intends to focus on working at the centre where he supports younger artists and provides visual art education to children for free.

He also recently started working with his fathers mask collection. Some were very old, maybe 200 years. We are studying them and will teach the techniques to the younger generation. We will look into how the techniques can be used in a contemporary context. You have to think of tradition as something living and evolving, rather than a refrigerated past, he says.

Sri Sri Lanka, like most of his earlier works, is an extension of cartography  the practice of making maps.

Mumbai Gallery Weekend

Started in 2012, the Mumbai Gallery Weekend aims to promote conversations between galleries, artists and collectors in the city. This year, the event will be held over three days starting today (January 22). Galleries such as Chatterjee & Lal, Chemould Prescott Road, Gallery Maskara, Project 88 and Sakshi Gallery will host several exhibitions. Works by artists such as Jitish Kallat, Prajakta Potnis and Tanya Goel, among others, will be on view. You can participate in walkthroughs on January 23, where the artists themselves will lead groups through the exhibitions.

Must attend

What: Sri Sri Lanka: Mapping Post-Colonial Ceylon is part of the Mumbai Gallery Weekend and on view till February 20, from 11am to 7pm

Where: Tarq, Apollo Bunder

Call: 6615 0424
A top Maoist rebel who was active in three states for nearly two decades and named in more than 200 cases, will be questioned by the Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh police, officials said on Wednesday.

Guha was arrested by MP police in May last year

Diliip Uikey alias Guha, who was arrested by the Madhya Pradesh police in May last year, will be questioned by the Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh police in connection with cases registered against him in the two states, police said.

Guha was active in three states for nearly two decades

Guha, who hails from Matte village of Balaghat district, was active in the three states for nearly two decades, before he was arrested from the jungles in Songudda of Balaghat by the Madhya Pradesh police.

He carried a total of Rs 35 lakh cash reward on his head and was wanted in the three states for over 200 cases, including 19 murders in Balaghat.

According to police, Guha was a member of the Malajkhand dalam (a local unit of Maoists) in the mid-1990s and later became the deputy commander of a special guerilla squad before becoming the divisional commander of Gadchiroli-Balaghat-Gondia committee of Communist party of India (Maoist) in 2008.

Police took him into custody following a tip-off about his movement in the jungles of Songudda. While other Maoist rebels managed to escape, Guha was nabbed by police.

Guha was involved in orchestrating attacks, loot of weapons, murders and landmine blasts: ASP

Neeraj Soni, Balaghat additional superintendent of police, said Guha was wanted in connection with 130 cases in Madhya Pradesh alone, including 19 murders. Since his arrest, interrogations have revealed important information about the structure, and workings of the rebels and various unsolved cases. We also managed to cipher the codes they were using to contact each other, he said.

The Gondia police in Maharashtra had moved an application in the local court seeking his remand so that they could question him in connection with cases which have been lodged against him in the state, he said.

The Maharashtra police was granted his remand few days back till January 29. Guha was taken from here on January 16. But given the large number of cases against him, his remand is likely to be extended.

Guha was involved in orchestrating attacks, loot of weapons and landmine blasts, besides 30 to 50 murders cases in the three states, he said.

Shashi Kumar Meena, Gondia superintendent of police, told Hindustan Times over phone that after they moved an application for Guhas remand, he was brought to Gondia from Balaghat a few days back.

On the number of cases lodged against Guha, he said the exact number would be clear once they question him.

Asked whether they would seek extension of Guhas remand, he said it would depend on information police gets from him on various cases. If we feel more time is required, then we would demand extension of his remand, he said.

The Chhattisgarh police too said they will seek Guhas remand and question him. YP Singh, additional superintendent of police, Rajnandgaon in Chhattisgarh, speaking to HT over phone, said after the Gondia police questions Guha, they would seek his remand so that he can be brought to Chhattisgarh and questioned.

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Bollywood actors Amitabh Bachchan and Priyanka Chopra will replace Aamir Khan as the new ambassadors of the Incredible India campaign, sources said Thursday. The decision came almost a fortnight after Khan was stripped of his role, allegedly over his remarks on intolerance. An official announcement to this regard will reportedly be made after January 26.

Instead of using an agency to appoint brand ambassadors as was the practice in the past, sources say the new faces of the campaign will be signed up directly by the tourism ministry.

Aamir Khan was dropped as the face of Incredible India campaign earlier this month.

Personalities from multifaceted fields were in the reckoning to front the campaign. However, Chopra  fresh from the success of her American TV series Quantico  and Bollywoods original superstar, Bachchan, have been finally chosen, said a Time of India report. Big B is also the brand ambassador of Gujarat Tourism.

Read: Aamir Khan no longer the face of Incredible India campaign

Khan fronted the governments campaign to promote the country as a tourist destination for 10 years before he was replaced in January. 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. Ministry has not hired Aamir, tourism minister Mahesh Sharma said at the time.

Read: Aamir Khan row shows the BJP has not learnt from Gujarat

The minister also rejected speculation that the actor was dropped after he said he and his wife had considered moving out of India because a sense of insecurity and fear had seeped deep within society. The actor was speaking to media at the Ramnath Goenka awards last year about the polarising debate over rising intolerance in the country. Khan faced a tremendous backlash for his comments.

Khan had said at the time, Whether I am brand ambassador or not, India will remain Incredible, and thats the way it should be, he said after the change was made.

Amitabh Kant, a senior bureaucrat and a key driver of the campaign, added to the conundrum when he tweeted on Tuesday, Being a brand ambassador imposes responsibilities. You cant run down what youre promoting. Thats damaging the brand. Kant is also a key force behind the Modi governments Make In India campaign and the recently-launched Start-up India scheme.
Talking to his biographer Poonam Saxena for An Unsuitable Boy, was cathartic, filmmaker Karan Johar told a packed audience at the Jaipur Literature Festival. It was like she had become my unofficial therapist, he said in response to a question from moderator Shobhaa De.

People assume that being the son of Yash Johar I led a cushy, nepotistic life but people have different kinds of struggles. There is so much conjecture about your orientation, your sexuality. As a person, I internalized a lot of my fears, and sometimes it takes a book to know who you really are. For me, it was an extremely liberating experience, said Johar who spoke at length about being an effeminate and overweight child.

Read: 11 lessons Karan Johar films taught us about life

Still, it wasnt an unhappy time. If you have a Punjabi father and a Sindhi mother, you should not believe them. Even when I weighed 150 kilos, my mother said I was the best looking child in the world and my father told me that once I lost a little puppy fat, I stood a chance as hero in Hindi films!

Talking to his biographer Poonam Saxena for An Unsuitable Boy, was cathartic, filmmaker Karan Johar told a packed audience at the Jaipur Literature Festival. It was like she had become my unofficial therapist, he said in response to a question from moderator Shobhaa De. (Twitter)

Johar also spoke about the Hindi film industrys cut-throat ways. Failure is not a welcome guest in Bollywood. When my father had five flop films, like in a Hindi film, we had to sell our jewellery and house. Friends of my father suddenly stopped inviting him to their launch parties and there were times when I saw him break down and shed a tear. It was heart-breaking, he said.

Read: Shobhaa De jumps to Sunny Leones defence at JFl 2016

Johars passion for movies helped him overcome his childhood fears. The success of his first film Kuch Kuch Hota Hai was one of the most joyous, emotional parts of the book, said Saxena. But Johar almost didnt get to attend its premiere in 1998. The year Kuch Kuch Hota Hai came out, there was a long shadow of underworld on the industry and that very night I flew out of Bombay to London for three weeks. So, when I called up Aditya Chopra from a pay booth in London and he told me my film was a blockbuster, I had tears in my eyes.

Johar says he has put his differences with filmmakers Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Ram Gopal Verma behind him. I dont have children, I dont have any extramarital relationships, so I am looking for new directors to fight with, he said.

For more JLF 2016 stories click here.
The Mediterranean is an absurdly small sea; the length and greatness of its history make us dream it larger than it is, archaeologist Cyprian Broodbank said quoting Lawrence Durrell as he held forth during the session Deep Blue: Towards a First Maritime History of Our Planet from Neanderthals to Phoenicians, Polynesians and Our Future.

Broodbank was in conversation with Irving Finkel, archeologist, author of the bestselling, The Ark Before Noah, and curator of cuneiform inscriptions from ancient Mesopotamia at Londons British Museum. With a panel as learned, the session turned out to be almost educational.

Opening with a global perspective, starting with the present, and the prospect of an ice-melt re-drawn future, Broodbank plunged into deep time to explore the rich archaeological picture that can be drawn of the practices and inventions that made humans take to the seas long before the Classical world. He added that archaeology reveals a largely untold history of the origins and expansion of our maritime planet, beginning in the nurturing, small inner seas around Eurasia and expanding across the Pacific and Indian Oceans, long before any written testimony.

Read: Need to learn how vacuum in Iraq created ISIS, says Christina Lamb at JLF 2016

The Mediterranean combines unusual conditions, which explains its precocious development: it is the worlds largest inland sea, and adjacent to the riverine cores of two of the earliest civilizations in Mesopotamia and Egypt. It is fashionable for Baltic historians to say that the Baltic region is the Mediterranean of the north. Unfortunately, the compliment is never reversed, quipped Broodbank.

Read: Writing sheds light on all darkness, says Margaret Atwood at JLF 2016

Cyprian Broodbank in conversation with Irving Finkel. (HT Photo)

Thanks to the unrivalled depth and breadth of exploration, Mediterranean archaeology is one of the worlds richest sources for the reconstruction of ancient societies. This is remarkable considering the Mediterranean covers less than 1 per cent of the worlds sea space. Still, though world-class interpretations exist of its Classical and subsequent history, there has been very little holistic exploration of how its societies, culture and economies first came into being. Broodbank, author of The Making of the Middle Sea, pointed out that this is so despite the fact that almost all the fundamental developments originated well before 500 BC.

All in all, a session that gave the audience a glimpse of a vast ocean of knowledge that they had only just realised existed.

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Winner of the Prix Bayeux, Europes most prestigious award for war correspondents, Christina Lamb, who is currently Foreign Affairs Correspondent for the Sunday Times, started out in Peshawar with dispatches on the Afghan mujahideen fighting the Russians. Here, Lamb speaks to HT about her new book, Farewell Kabul, From Afghanistan to a More Dangerous World, and her experiences as a war correspondent.

What is Farewell Kabul about?

The book draws on my 28 years of reporting experience from Afghanistan and Pakistan. I am unusual in the sense that I started covering the region when the Afghan mujahideen were fighting the Russians. Since then, I have reported from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Washington and London. I have interacted with all the key decision makers in these countries including heads of states and generals, as well as soldiers on the ground.

I am passionate about Afghanistan. The main question that I seek to answer in the book is whether the war that started post 9/11 (the western involvement) was worth the money and the lives lost. The book tells how success was turned into a defeat in the longest war fought by the US in its history and by Britain since the Hundred Years War. The fiasco has left Afghanistan one of the poorest places on earth, the Taliban undefeated, and nuclear-armed Pakistan perhaps the most dangerous place on earth.

Read: 12 authors to look out for at Jaipur fest at JLF 2016

Did you always want to become a war correspondent?

I never set out to be war correspondent. I wanted to be a novelist. I wanted to travel. I was in Financial Times and was sent to interview Benazir Bhutto and later got an invite to be at her wedding. I became interested in Pakistan and wanted to report from there but editors in London thought there was not much interest in the country and so packed me off to Afghanistan. I was 21.

There is a lot on Pakistan in the book. How do you see their role after 2001?

Initially, the focus was not on Pakistan. This was a mistake since the safe havens were there. At the beginning Pakistan did cooperate, but after the US President Bushs Youre either with us, or against us statement, they started seeing the US as an adversary. The problem is that Americans see everything in black and white and Pakistanis see shades of grey. But on the other hand, I completely understand Pakistans stand. After the Russians exited Afghanistan, everybody just moved out and abandoned Pakistan. There were sanctions on them. That has been imprinted on Pakistans institutional memory. The US has to understand that.

Christina Lambs book, Farewell Kabul, draws on her 28 years of reporting experience from Afghanistan and Pakistan. (Christinalamb/Twitter)

How has Afghanistan changed since 2001?

Unfortunately, the situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated. When the western troops left, I thought it would go either way but then, last year, the death toll was the highest since 2001. The Afghan army knows how to fight but is not motivated enough. Unlike the western forces, they dont have the enablers: air support, medical support and ground-level intelligence to take on the opponents. Even their supply chain is not fixed. What I really feel angry about is the status of women. I have met women who had been made role models by the West and were then shot, raped or forced to flee the country.

Read: Salman Rushdie to Ashis Nandy... when JLF hit a wrong note

You know both Hamid Karzai and Ashraf Ghani

Yes, I do. Karzai I thought was a wrong choice because he had never run anything. But I must admit that anyone would have found it difficult to run the country. He did not have an army but yes, he did manage to keep the country together. Personally he was not corrupt but his government was. Ghani is sharing power with Abdullah Abdullah and the latter has no interest in Ghani succeeding for obvious reasons. They have good personal equation but many in their staff cannot work with each other. The other problem is that Ghanis US-style of administration may not work in Afghanistan.

With ISIS on the rampage, is the focus of the world shifting from Afghanistan?

I am afraid it is. But the war is not over in Afghanistan. It is not yesterdays war. If we move away from Afghanistan, it would be so unfair on the people of the country and all those who sacrificed their lives there. The media has an important job to remind the government that it is an unfinished agenda. We must learn a lesson from Iraq -- how the vacuum created ISIS.

Where did the West go wrong in Afghanistan?

While Afghanistan needed elections and gender parity and other such things, they also needed food, security. But we often dont listen to local people. The lesson here is that while military intervention may be necessary, the West must ask the local people what they want and think about the long-term future of the people and the country. Additionally, as the book reveals, the West fought the war with its hands tied, committed too little too late, failed to understand the local dynamics, and turned a blind eye as the Taliban enemy was helped by ally Pakistan.

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The session on The Pakistan Paradox attempted to go beyond the stereotypical picture of Pakistan as a country of mindless radicals controlled by a gun-toting military. An interesting question by the former foreign secretary Shyam Saran debated the existence of a deeper affinity spanning across the subcontinent. Is there a message we are missing? he asked.

There is so much that is completely forgotten about Pakistan because of the terror question, said Pakistani journalist Reema Abbasi, author of Historic Temples of Pakistan. In Pakistan, you have a public narrative that is completely different from the state narrative. The international community has given a louder voice to the state narrative as compared to the public narrative, she said.

Read: Pakistans nuclear program threatens the world, not just India

Citing the reaction to incidents like the Peshwar school massacre and Wednesdays attack on the Bacha Khan University in the Khyber Pakhtunwa region, Abbasi said there has been some change in Pakistan, and that civil society and the media is now so empowered that nothing now goes unnoticed.

So what is the Pakistan Paradox? Writer Christophe Jaffrelot, who has written a book with the same title, explained that different contradictions make up these paradoxes of the idea of Pakistan: the existing contradiction of the centralised military and the state, that of Islamic versus the Islamist perceptions, and the support for the democratic state versus the autocratic one.

Christophe Jaffrelot and Reema Abbasi during the session The Pakistan Paradox at Jaipur Literature Festival 2016 in Jaipur. (Sanjeev Verma/ HT Photo)

Jaffrelot too believes things have changed, especially after the Peshawar incident. The NAP or National Action Plan (launched to deal with terrorism) has targeted new groups. But whenever a group goes out of hand, another one is promoted as the good Islamist, he said. Clearly, the paradox exists.

But what does this mean for India? Saran had a provocative question: If tomorrow India is no longer perceived as a threat, will it lead to the disintegration of Pakistan. Is that so fundamental for the survival of Pakistan?

Read: 12 authors to look out for at Jaipur fest

Jaffrelot explained that this might have been the case during the 1971 war but no longer holds true. Historian Venkat Dhulipala, author of Creating a New Medina, believes Pakistan does not define itself simply in opposition to India. Pakistan sees itself as the new Medina, as the new global leader of the Muslim or the Islamic world, which will pick the baton dropped by the Ottomans after the World War I, he said.

Jaffrelot and Abbasi disagreed. We are not trying to be a new Medina in any way, Abbasi said. The idea was thrust upon us by people like Zia ul Haq.

L to R: Shyam Saran, Venkat Dhulipala, Christophe Jaffrelot and Reema Abbasi during the session The Pakistan Paradox at the lit fest. (Twitter)

So how should India deal with Pakistan? To begin with one has to be realistic and be aware of the history that brought the two nations into existence, says Dhulipala.

Saran opposed the idea of a grand reconciliation between the two nations that some leaders have been advocating citing the different narratives that each adheres to on the Partition, the Kashmir issue, and the three wars. The Indian view is very different from Pakistan and it will take a long time to bring the two narratives in alignment, he said.

For more JLF 2016 stories click here.

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At a time when the nation is in a boil over the suicide of a dalit student at Hyderabad University, entrepreneurs from the community say the business environment in the country has more or less moved beyond caste.

Caste is becoming a smaller and smaller issue in business. The business community is getting mature, said Milind Kamble, chairman and founder, Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry, whose tagline is Be job givers, not job seekers, and which calls for fighting caste with capital.

The industry has, in fact, taken several initiatives to support dalit entrepreneurs, mostly first generation businessmen.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has an initiative for affirmative action signed by 927 companies since 2007, which calls for non-discrimination in recruitment and preference for dalit entrepreneurs while looking for business partners and procurement. However, a CII report states that between 2007 and June 2015, only 307 companies have given compliance reports on this.

There is awareness and encouragement from the top level of the management. But the issue is that this is not percolating to the people who take decisions for procurement, said Kamble.

Funds are another issue that noveau businessmen face.

Money is a problem for us. We dont have the kind of traditional networks that people in upper caste have, through which they can easily raise money, said NK Chandan, who has been running a successful small enterprise.

The Tata Group has been procuring products such as helmets and electric meter covers from his company, Chandan & Chandan Industries, and helping him in research and development for new products as well. He says he gives a preference for dalits in hiring, as he believes the benefits of his experience should spread.

Piquantly, the situation in public sector undertakings (PSUs), which are ruled by government directives, are tardy on the front of encouraging dalit enterprise.

On April 25, 2012, the government had come up with the Public Procurement Policy for MSEs, which requires all central ministries, departments, and central PSUs to ensure that at least 20% of their sourcing would be from micro and small enterprises (MSEs), and specifically, 4% of all procurement should be from companies promoted by scheduled castes (SCs) and scheduled tribes (STs).

While the total procurement never crossed 0.5% on an average in 2012-13 and 2013-14 as per the surveys, a similar trend is seen in the PSUs data for 2014-15 seen by HT. Out of the 50 PSUs that replied to an RTI query, only 10 companies even maintained separate data for this.

However, starting April 2015, the government made it mandatory that PSUs source 4% of their procurement from dalit-run enterprises . But unless there is a penalty for not achieving the target, they wont do it, said Chandan.

Kamble hopes that the new government schemes such as Startup India, Standup India, the MUDRA Bank, and Venture Capital Fund for SC entrepreneurs would help the community garner more funds to run their businesses.

According to the 2006-07 All-India MSME Census, 13.59% of the total enterprises in the country are owned by SC/ST entrepreneurs, and they generate 7.745 million jobs. The SCs and STs constitute about 25% of Indias population.
NEW DELHI: Public sector banks, which have witnessed a surge in the level of non-performing assets (NPA)  loans that do not yield any results  and eroding bottom lines, may be exempt from paying a minimum dividend to the government for a limited time period, sources said.

At a time when the government is looking to inject a huge sum of money as part of its recapitalisation exercise, the area of dividend will be relooked especially as the state-owned banks are expected to increase lending, an official source who did not wish to be identified told HT.

At present, the NPA level of the state-owned banks is over 6% of the total advances.

As per the finance ministry, a sum of about `1,80,000 crore over and above the average profits they make will be required by the state-owned banks in the next three years. Of this, the government has decided to infuse `70,000 crore by 2018.

The finance ministry and the Prime Ministers Office are closely watching the performances of banks about NPAs and over recovery. Stringent measures need to be taken to reduce the NPA level in the banks, there has been reckless lending by the banks in the past, and the government now wants them to take more prudent decisions on lending, a senior finance ministry official said.

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Housing.com, the embattled online real estate platform, says it has received fresh funding of Rs 100 crore ($15 million) from its largest investor SoftBank Group Corp.

This is the second round of funding Housing.com has received from Japan-based Softbank, after the first round of $100 million in November 2014. Though they did not discuss additional ownership Softbank will receive after the fresh round of investment, it is believed that the first round of investment had given the investor a third control over Housing.com.

Housing.com has so far raised around $170 million (around Rs 1,600 crore) in six rounds since June 2013. Other investors include Nexus Ventures, Falcon Edge, Helion Ventures, Nirvana Ventures, Qualcomm, DST founder Yuri Milner, Viacom 18 co-founder Haresh Chawla, Snapdeal founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal.

We are now well-capitalized to aggressively execute on our focused strategy and growth plans and believe 2016 will be a great year for the company, Jason Kothari, chief executive officer of Housing.com, said.

Housing.com had reported a substantial loss for the year ending March 2015. According to financial statements filed with the Registrar of Companies, it reported a net loss Rs 279 crore, a near six-fold jump from the Rs 49 crore loss reported a year before. Total revenue for 2014-15 was Rs 12.66 crore against Rs 1.91 crore reported for the year before.

After the dismal performance, the company board had fired Rahul Yadav in June 2015 over a public spat with its venture capital investors and hired Kothari as the new CEO in November. In August 2015, media reports suggested that housing.com was laying off around 600 of its 2,600 employees. The company has since also realigned its business strategy that will focus only on buying and selling homes and a sharper focus on revenue generation.

The company has established a focused strategy on buying and selling homes, the largest and most lucrative segment of the real estate market. With 85 million visits in 2015 and 1.7 (million) verified listings to date, the highest in the market, Housing.com is building scalable revenue streams around its world-class product, market leading demand and supply, and is also going deeper in the value chain towards facilitating and fulfilling transactions, it said in a statement.
On a cold Thursday afternoon, arguments and counter arguments on Net Neutrality and Facebooks Free Basic could well heat up the Lakshmipat Singhania Auditorium in the Capital. It is here that the telecom regulators open house is scheduled to discuss differential prices for data services, with telecom operators, the regulator and consumers in full attendance.

If the arguments, till now on paper, are any indication, the debate on net neutrality and free basic are sure to inflame passions.

Allegations and counter allegations by telecom regulator, operators and consumers in telecom sector are not new. But there have been a few issues that have witnessed rush of high adrenaline among the stakeholders that included one of the first major debate after TRAI was set up in 1997.

It was related to allowing Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) to offer mobile services, supported by government, consumers and opposed by operators in 1999. Then it was the limited mobile service or poor mans mobile in 2002 debate, supported by customers with operators divided on the issue.

Latest before net neutrality, it was call drop and penal action, supported by consumers and government, opposed by operators.

The irony of all these issue isnone of them were resolved by the TRAI. It was either adjudicated by the courts, pending before courts, or solved by the government through legislative measures.

Will the issue of net neutrality and free basic to be debated on Thursday also look to take the same route?

Globally countries are looking at these issues (net neutrality and free basics) from consumer benefit and are moving logically towards the path of legislation. In India too, the solution lies in examining it the same way minus emotions, says Romal Shetty Head Telecommunications, KPMG.

But has TRAI been given enough opportunity to resolve the issue or has it handled it badly?

The opinions are divided. They should take more time, than rush through such an important issue, says a chief of regulatory affairs with a top telecom operator.

TRAI has done what it was allowed in the TRAI Act, it is difficult to please all, but the regulator is dealing with an issue that many others across the world are also struggling, says Sanchit Vir Gogia, Chief Analyst and CEO of Greyhound Research.
Hemant Khatri lives in Sanganer, a casbah on the outskirts of Jaipur in Rajasthan. For years the Khatri family has been living on selling tapestry art to exporters. But, the influx of internet and smartphones is changing the familys life, and more so by a foreign e-commerce giant, Amazon.

The e-commerce behemoth has something called the global selling program (GSP), which has nothing to do with its India business. GSP allows people like Khatri to put up their products on Amazons global websites, thereby creating mini-exporters.

Khatri does not sell on Amazon India. There is no demand of tapestry in India, but it has huge demand internationally, he says. Over the past seven months his business has grown 15 times.

There are 6,000 such sellers who use GSP for selling products like wooden handicraft, bed sheets, towels, sporting goods and Ayurveda and herbal products. These products are very popular in the US but are available at very high price points otherwise, says Eric Broussard, vice president of international seller services at Amazon.

Another seller, Sachin Gupta, who lives in Bengaluru sells chessboards made of wood, marble and brass. More than half of his business comes from sales in the US. The demand in the international market is so huge that I do not get time to fulfil the demand in India, says Gupta.

Started in India nine months ago, Amazons GSP gives Indian merchants access to markets in nine countries across the US, Europe and Japan. In December, more than 1,00,000 products were shipped from India to our fulfilment centres (or warehouses) in the US, says Broussard.

Sellers can either send the products to the buyer directly, or may use the fulfilment-by-Amazon (FBA) service. In FBA, by paying a fee, the seller can ship the product to the warehouses and leave the packaging, delivery and customer service to Amazon. The products are delivered to the buyer within two days. In case of returns, Amazon takes care of that too, and also the refunds.

However, India is not the first country to implement GSP. In China, a country where Amazon could never establish its domestic dominance, GSP was started more than two years ago. Both India and China are sourcing countries, so there is a lot of demand for products that are made in these countries, says Broussard. In the past one year, revenue for Chinese sellers grew by 150%. But, India and China have different kinds of sellers. China is more popular with electronics. Home decor is stronger for India.

The margins in exports are also higher. Gupta makes 35% more on margins, and sometimes even 100% more on a chessboard. Khatri on the other hand doesnt have any Indian buyers, but compared to offline exporters, he still makes 5-7% more margins on Amazon. He is planning to double the number of items to 700 in the coming months.

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News channels always face a dharam sankat when Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi speak at the same time. In the last few years the tendency has been to relentlessly focus the cameras on Mr Modi while the Congress leaders speech is routinely muted or becomes a deferred telecast in what might be seen as an accurate reflection of the two leaders contrasting political fortunes.

Last Saturday, the Prime Minister and the Congress vice-president both spoke, only this time their event managers were careful enough to ensure that their speeches didnt clash. Whereas Mr Gandhi addressed students from a management institute in Mumbai, the Prime Ministers canvas was much bigger: He was launching his Start up India initiative from Vigyan Bhavan. The target constituencies though were broadly similar: Young urban India, or an India under-25, the post-1991 generation, born after the dismantling of the licence-permit raj, one whose political choices are influenced by a desire for economic emancipation above all else.

In the 2014 elections, this demographic group voted overwhelmingly for Mr Modi. The National Election Studies, 2014, conducted by CSDS shows that in the 18-22 age group, 36% voted for the BJP against just a 17% vote for the Congress. In the 23-25 age group, 33% voted for the BJP versus 20% for the Congress. The gap narrowed amongst senior citizens: 27% in the 56+ age group voted for the BJP versus 20% for the Congress. Effectively, young India chose the older prime ministerial candidate over his much younger rival.

The difference is no surprise. The qualities that Mr Modi is seen to embody  high energy, sharp, tech-savvy communication, positive outlook  resonate well with a generation that is looking for role models that mirror their upwardly mobile aspirations. By contrast, Rahul Gandhis dynastical origins, his limited public speaking skills and socialistic worldview dont capture the imagination of a youthful India that is pushing for a meritocratic, less entitled society.

Which is why when Mr Modi speaks of a Start Up India, his audience is able to relate easily to his dream of an India where social origins are no barrier to economic success. The Prime Minister can actually self-parody his journey from a start up as a chaiwallah to 7, Race Course Road and earn instant applause. As a child of privilege, Rahul Gandhi finds it more difficult to convince an audience in a Dharavi slum, for example, that he can genuinely identify with their ambitions.

And yet, Mr Modi as a modern-day feel-good guru runs the risk now of creating vaulting expectations and then not being able to match them. In the 2014 election campaign, for example, Mr Modi promised achhe din, including creating 50 million jobs for young Indians.

Truth is, we are nowhere close to providing jobs for the one million young Indians who are entering the job market every month. The mismatch between promise and reality is where the Modi magic threatens to run aground. Start up India means little to the young Indian who is looking for a foothold in the crazily competitive job market door: Entrepreneurial energies cannot be unleashed for those who dont even have equal access to basic opportunities. And pretty slogans and one-liners cannot compensate for long-term, institutional deficiencies. How do you, for example, Start up India when you havent even provided a vast majority with a decent education?

Mr Gandhi offers no alternative either to this large mass of people: Pouring scorn on Start up India by linking it to an RSS vision of an intolerant India is a political weapon, it isnt an agenda for action. The creeping negativism in Congress politics is not the ideal recipe for an opposition party still struggling to come to terms with the scale of its 2014 defeat. Travelling to districts in the throes of agrarian distress is a good idea, but it offers no resolution to the crisis unless it is followed up by an action plan for agriculture reform.

In a sense, both Mr Modi and Mr Gandhi need to break out of their image traps to genuinely address the needs of young India. The Prime Minister still faces the charge of being a very effective event manager, blessed with astute branding and marketing skills, but unwilling to take the big risks that would actually break the status quo: Why, for example, isnt government being downsized as a necessary step to cutting red tape that would actually start up India? And where is the focus on building a scaled-up, quality education infrastructure that would create a skilled work force? A skill development ministry per se isnt the answer: Governments, after all, can only play a limited role in creating a start-up eco-system.

Mr Gandhi needs to also grow beyond the image of being seen as the perpetually angry, young man, attacking the government at every turn but not offering an alternative manifesto of change. Political maturity demands that you engage with the government, within and outside Parliament, not become a disruptionist force that is a roadblock to any policy initiative or legislative measure.

Mr Modi and Mr Gandhi may be reaching out to young India in their distinctive ways, but if one needs to change his style, the other needs to change his substance. We need to see a prime minister go beyond the razzmatazz of high-profile events and the lure of catchy slogans; we need to see a Congress vice-president who actually wrestles with issues and doesnt just flit in and out of politics. Young India is waiting anxiously for change but its patience may be running out.

Post-script: While the Prime Ministers spin doctors suggest that Start up India took off only in May 2014 after the NDA victory and Rahul Gandhis supporters seek to deny any credit to Mr Modi, the truth may well lie somewhere in between. While Mr Modis can do messaging resonates powerfully, the young India storys origins began with the unleashing of the animal spirits of the economy by a certain Dr Manmohan Singh. In this age of buzzwords, should these success stories then be branded as Manmohans babies?!

Rajdeep Sardesai is an author and a senior journalist. The views expressed are personal.

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As many as 71 high-rise buildings in the vicinity of Rajpath will be shut down either partially or completely on or before January 25 in view of Republic Day celebrations where French President Rajpath will be the chief guest.

A senior police officer said they will partially or completely shut down 71 high-rise buildings in the vicinity of Rajpath on or before January 25. The same number of buildings were shut down partially or completely before 2015s Republic Day celebrations too, in which US President Barack Obama was the chief guest. But in 2014, we had to shut around 45 of them, said the officer.

The decision to increase the number of buildings to be sanitised was taken in view of security reasons and because threat perception is high this year, especially after the terror strike in Paris, the officer said. It is not that Rajpath is visible from the floors or rooftops of all the 71 buildings but they are considered potential spots for launching projectiles, the officer said.

Police will take over these buildings and sanitise every nook and corner manually, following which snipers will be positioned on the rooftops.

We are taking over these buildings at least a day before because we need daylight to check them. It is a tedious process because checking each building may take anywhere between four to six hours. Every room, even washrooms are checked for objects raising suspicion. Once checked the rooms are sealed, the officer added.

Police in the national capital and neighbouring states will also keep a vigilant eye on drones, which have been perceived as a major threat to security, especially in view of the Republic Day celebrations.

The subject of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), commonly referred to as drones, was taken up as a priority in the latest Inter-State Coordination Meeting, held last week.

Delhi Police Chief (BS Bassi) has asked his force and police departments of the neighbouring states to keep a vigilant eye on drones, as they have been perceived as a major threat to security, especially in view of Republic Day, a senior police official said.

The matter attained priority after a UAV was spotted near IGI Airport around three months ago but its source or handler could not be tracked by the police, following which Delhi Police announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh last month for any information about it.

The Inter-State Coordination Meeting, chaired by Bassi, was attended by the top brass of police departments in Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand, the official added.
On January 17, I lost my friend, colleague and leader Rohith Vemula. He ended his life by hanging from a fan using the Ambedkar Students Association (ASA) banner almost a month after he along with his four other friends--the tallest leaders of the organisation and the University of Hyderabad--were expelled from the hostel, subjected to social boycott and humiliation for a silly scuffle with a fascist, anti-intellectual outfit in the campus.

We are left emotionless as we continue to fight for justice for our beloved brother. We havent even got time to mourn his departure. Rohith was the epitome of Ambedkarite politics, he was the soul and heart of the ASA. He always wanted to tell stories and to listen to others stories. I remember the night before he took his own life--he took some of us out and arranged a bonfire. We sat together, and he shared stories from his hometown Guntur. He talked about science, stars, his childhood memories and so many other things.

Rohith was a real fighter--always concerned about the plight of our community, of the marginalised sections. He was always in action. In our gatherings and meetings, he talked about the importance of educating our younger generations, about the importance of fighting the oppressive caste system and other forms of discrimination. He showed us the need to have a plan of action for everything. He was in a way setting the agenda of subaltern politics in Hyderabad for the last two years. He had close ties with the Ambedkarite movements in the area. He didnt believe in activism within academic constraints. He always vocally expressed that our very existence is political and defined by our resistance.

Lal Salaam to Jai Bhim: Why Rohith Vemula left Indian Marxists

Rohith and our other four friends set up a small tent, a velivada or a Dalit ghetto, in the centre of the university on January 4 after the ruthless administration locked their rooms. In the extreme cold of winter, the velivada became the centre of all kinds of revolutions. They slept there in the mighty presence of Babasaheb, Savitribai, Jyotira Phule, Periyar and several other legends. We--the ASA and the Joint Action Committee for Social Justice--guarded them, but not always. This velivada will go down in history books as the thing that triggered a sense of belonging among all deprived sections in our country.

The picture of Rohith coming out of the hostel to the velivada with a pillow in one hand and the portrait of Babasaheb Ambedkar in the other will continue to shake the Brahminical structure of India for centuries. The velivada didnt attract opportunistic crowds, but obviously flourished with the compassion and brotherhood of different people. Today, after the death of Rohith, the entire nation is filled with a sense of grief and outrage. He has emerged as the symbol against injustice and oppression.

Rohith Vemula, death of a philosopher to purify higher education

Most of the days, and especially during his time in the velivada, I often had long conversations with Rohith. He was very optimistic about the future of Ambedkarite politics in the campus. He prepared the year plan for the ASA, and talked of unity and maximum utilization of resources and cultural capital available within our movement. He urged the committee members to step up and build the organisation around young people. He was pretty sure that the ASA would emerge as the most popular student movement in the entire world, as an inclusive platform, by overcoming all complexities and dynamics.

The upcoming Ambedkar Jayanti celebrations were his biggest priority. He had been planning the event for a while, and used to discuss with us about the various ideas he had. Aside from the personal loss his death is, the impact it might have within the organisational cannot be foretold. We certainly hope that Rohith will guide us down the right path, into the horizon where he wanted the ASA to go.

During our conversations he always tried to invoke an interest in natural sciences. His very body language and gestures were always oozing with his convictions and politics. He had a very philosophical approach towards life, love and pain. He tried to look everything with a fresh perspective. People who knew him closely will understand the depth and significance of his suicide note. He often spoke of the embedded intricacies in our bodies, which are reduced to certain identities.

On September 3, he had written another brilliant piece of poetry:

One day:

One day you will understand why I was aggressive.

On that day, you will understand

why I have not just served social interests.

One day you will get to know why I apologized.

On that day, you will understand

there are traps beyond the fences.

Rohith must be smiling among the stars seeing his departure shaking the entire power structure of the nation

One day you will find me in the history.

in the bad light, in the yellow pages.

And you will wish I was wise.

But at the night of that day,

you will remember me, feel me

and you will breathe out a smile.

And on that day, I will resurrect.

. He was quite clear and had complete wisdom and vision in whatever he was doing. Time will prove the historical significance of Rohiths sacrifice. He lived, and died, for a cause greater than himself.

(Ayoob Rahman is convenor of the Ambedkar Students Association, University of Hyderabad.)

(The views expressed are personal.)
The Supreme Court on Thursday directed prestigious Sanskriti School in the Capital to admit children of all central government employees with transferable jobs for the upcoming academic year and not just civil services.

Sanskriti School reserves as much as 60% of its seats for the wards of Group A bureaucrats. The temporary order opens the gates of the school to the children of Group B officers as well.

A bench, headed by justice AR Dave, also said that the school shall also give preference to the children of all Indian Foreign Service officers, defence services officers and central government officers posted in Delhi.

As an interim measure, the SC also put on hold the Delhi high court verdict that quashed the schools reservation policy. It asked both Sanskriti and the Centre to submit a scheme on how they intended to continue with the reservation policy without a legal backing.

The Delhi high court had quashed the reservation policy last year, stating that it catered to the elite group. The court also held that the school received government grants from the state exchequer.

The apex court gave them six weeks time to submit the report and fixed April 6 to finally determine whether the school is managed by the state or a private society.

The bench clarified that its order would not interfere with the Delhi governments notification striking down the management quota. Delhi governments counsel Siddharth Dave argued that the 60% reservation amounted to having a management quota.

A forum of private schools has already challenged the notification before the Delhi high court, which is likely to give a final order on January 28.

Senior counsel Kapil Sibal, assisting the court in the case, asserted the school and government must come out with a policy in support of its reservation for the elite class of bureaucrats.

Read more: 60% quota for Group A officers kids in Sanskriti School quashed

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For those who are passionate about Indian languages and wish to contribute to the Google Translate Community, Google is hosting a Love Your Language forum from January 21 to 25 at the Jaipur Literature Festival. The aim is to represent Indian languages in a better way on the Internet.

Google Translate at present is available for nine out of Indias 22 official languages, with the exception of Bengali, Telugu and Tamil. With more input from the community, Google Translate can boost the translation of these languages, making content on the Internet more accessible.

By putting Googles tools in the hands of our Indian users, we believe we can help build a web that works for millions around the world. The Jaipur Literature Festival brings together people who are passionate about Indian languages and culture, so we cant think of a better place to invite people to contribute to the Translate Community and experience Indian heritage online, said Sapna Chadha, country marketing manager, Google India.

Read more: Maharashtra govt bars employees from using Google Translate

Google Translate Community can be used on phones, laptops and computers. Also, there is an option to either translate phrases directly, or validate existing translations. With the Google Indic Keyboard, it is easier to input Hindi and ten other Indian languages, including Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu, with Android phone or tablet.

If youre attending the Jaipur Literature Festival, you can also learn more about the Translate Community and the Google Indic Keyboard at a demo zone located at the Google Mughal Tent. Those who cant make it to the event can still help improve Indian languages online.

On this occasion, monuments, artworks, crafts and narratives from across India will be on virtual display at a dedicated space near Durbar Hall. Festival visitors can view highlights of Indian culture and heritage on the Google Cultural Institute and visit the worlds wonders in an immersive experience using Google Cardboard.
Students of first and second years at the Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology (MANIT) in Bhopal have accused senior students of regularly beating them up after consuming alcohol. They have also filed a ragging complaint at the National Anti-Ragging Helpline (NARH) in this regard,

On the morning of January 8, a group of 3rd year students knocked at the hostel rooms of first and second year students in a drunken state. Then they beat up the students who opened their doors, said a student requesting anonymity.

The mass ragging took place on the hostel premises but the administration did not take any action. And this is not the first time something like this has happened; beating up juniors is a common occurrence in the campus, said another student from second year.

Senior students have reportedly threatened the juniors with dire consequences after they filed the complaint at NARH. However, MANIT director, Appu Kuttan said that he was not aware of such complaint being lodged.

In another incident from a few days ago, first year students had lodged complaint with NARH that their seniors had forced them to watch obscene videos and imitate them. Acting on this, Kuttan had asked the senior students to fill a bond of Rs 1 lakh and had suspended them from the hostel.

The recent allegations of violence are now pending before a proctor board.
It is 1pm when we dial in for a telephonic interview with Delhi-based designer Suket Dhir. He is currently the fashion industrys man of the moment, having won the top honours at the Menswear International Woolmark Prize 2015-16, Florence, Italy earlier this month. The win brings with it AU$100,000 (Rs 46,61,800 approx) for the development of Dhirs label, industry mentor support, as well as retail space at stores like Saks Fifth Avenue (New York) and 10 Corso Como (Milan), among others.

Dhirs exploration of the trans-seasonal quality of Merino wool won over the judging panel, that included industry bigwigs like Haider Ackermann (designer), Imran Amed (founder and editor-in-chief, The Business of Fashion) and Suzy Menkes (noted fashion critic), among others. For me, Suket is a person with a dream to tell. The rest [the business] will follow, Ackermann was quoted saying.

Not surprisingly then, the designer was in an introspective mood during our conversation. I am currently in Rome, recharging my system and reflecting on the way forward for both my brand and my life, he says.

Excerpts from an interview:

Q) Tell us about your award-winning collection.

Since this is a summer collection, we developed extremely supple and breathable wool using handlooms  created with weavers in Telangana and West Bengal. Layering was a mainstay of this collection  palazzo pants, flowy jackets and the long kurta shirt were key silhouettes. I developed my own ombre ikat patterns for the collection, which was a move from the traditional take on this print.

Q) What were the core values of the collection you presented?

I think this collection is the representation of a man irrespective of his age. Stereotypically, men generally maintain a strict and serious exterior but are at their goofy best when they are in their comfort zone or with their peers. My collection, too, though seemingly straightforward on the outside, was extremely playful on the inside. Ensembles with emotion, honesty and a surprise element are at the heart of my brand.

Q) Is there a particular memory from the awards that really stands out?

The entire collection was simple yet packaged with several surprise elements. For instance, the jackets featured block-print lining with fine hand finishing and I had requested the models to present these to the judges when I was giving my closing talk, in order to allow them a closer look at this detailing. The collective gasp the judges let out when they saw this lining was incredible.

Models sport designs from Suket Dhirs award-winning collection

Q) Was working with Indian weavers a conscious decision to empower them?

I believe in action and not activism to empower weavers. Which is why I promoted the Make in India initiative through several interactions in Florence. Sustainability and empowerment is a collateral effect of my association with the weavers, not its driving purpose. Weaving is considered a poor mans job in India, whereas internationally, it is associated with luxury. A redirection of the weavers efforts is the need of the hour. Encouraging international players to create in India will bring about real upliftment.

Q) Is there anyone in particular you would want to see your creations on?

I would love to see Shekhar Kapur and Ranveer Singh wearing this collection. It would be great to see Narendra Modi, Anil Kapoor and AD Singh sporting my designs as well.

Tracing the International Woolmark Prize

The International Woolmark Prize is an initiative by The Woolmark Company (a subsidiary of Australian Wool Innovation)  the global authority on wool. Its prime focus is to display the beauty and versatility of Merino wool through fashion design.

The International Wool Secretariat first launched this initiative in 1953, and its early winners include legends like Karl Lagerfeld and Yves Saint Laurent. The International Woolmark Prize was relaunched in 2012 and menswear was added as an independent category in 2015. current roster of winners:

* 2012/13: Belgian designer Christian Wijnants for his hand-knitted and hand-dyed wool collection.

* 2014: Indian designer Rahul Mishra for his unique collection of evening wear using handwoven wool.

* 2014/15: American brand M.Patmos for its utilitarian streetwear take on Merino wool.

* 2015: New York brand PUBLIC SCHOOL became the first winner of the menswear category with a collection that mixed traditional and contemporary styles.

* 2015/16: Indian designer Suket Dhir for a menswear collection that made wool relevant for the summer.
Its wartime. The setting: The Middle East. Like every war, its going to have casualties and prisoners. Nations work around the clock to bring back their citizens. In the middle of all the chaos, one man is tasked with evacuating his compatriots from the war zone. Sounds familiar? If youre picturing a bearded Ben Affleck in Iran you could be forgiven. Instead, were talking about a similarly stubbled Akshay Kumar in his new movie Airlift.

The film, directed by Raja Krishna Menon is based on the biggest civil evacuation ever staged. In 1990 Saddam Hussain invaded Kuwait, stranding more than 1,70,000 Indians. After an agreement with the Iraqi government, the stranded Indians were transported back to Mumbai by 488 flights in coordination with Indian Airlines. No, there was no Akshay Kumar running around saving the day and dancing with Nimrat Kaur. But lets not let that get in the way of a good movie.

Read: Will Akshay Kumars Airlift be Indias answer to Argo?

This got us thinking. There are some obvious comparisons that can be drawn between this, lets face it, semi-fictional account of a real life incident and the many Hollywood flicks weve seen over the years with a similar premise. So lets get started then. Weve found some.

Read: Move over Mastizaade: Herere 11 Hollywood sex comedies that hit hard

Argo (2012)

Ben Affleck in a still from Argo. (Warner Bros.)

Duh. Ben Afflecks (he directed it too) Oscar-winning thriller is the most obvious pick. From Middle Eastern setting to the choice of getaway vehicle, Airlift always seemed like a desi Argo from the minute we first saw its trailer.

Black Hawk Down (2001)

An IED explodes in a still from Black Hawk Down.

Set during the Battle of Mogadishu, Ridley Scotts gritty modern warfare movie resembled a Call of Duty videogame more than a film. But when a ragtag group of soldiers are stranded in the hostile and violent Mog the chain of events set off are nothing short of thrilling. The resulting rescue mission (with the aid of Pakistani forces) is a gloriously fist-pumping sequence.

Saving Private Ryan/The Martian (1998/2015)

Bring him home. Please, for the love of God.

Weve pooled the two lets save Matt Damon movies together because its much more convenient this way. Both movies feature a Matt Damon in need of swift rescuing. Only The Martian pretty much sticks with him the whole movie and Saving Private Ryan Well, lets just say it didnt end as well for Damon that time. Also, ones set during the Second World War and the others set on Mars. The Martian is the one set on Mars.

A Hijacking/Captain Phillips (2012/2013)

The Somali pirates are the captain now.

This pooling movies together thing has really started something. Both of these are really great films but chances are youve probably only heard of the Tom Hanks Oscar-winner. A Hijacking is a similar account of Somali pirates taking seamen hostage. Only its Danish. And theres no Barkhad Abdi declaring himself the captain. But do yourself a favour and check this out. If you liked Captain Phillips youll love this.

The Taking of Pelham 123/Bus 174/Speed (2009/2002/1994)

John Travolta plays the villain in The Taking of Pelham 123 and Keanu Reeves plays a cop in Speed.

So this is the hostage rescue on a bus/train section. Pelham (were talking about the remake here) features a dependably stellar performance by Denzel Washington as an ordinary man who must negotiate with a frankly deranged John Travolta. Speed, as you probably already know, is a classic 90s action movie that launched the careers of both Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves as they play two people who are trapped on a bus thats rigged to explode if it slows down below 50 mph. The best one of the lot, no doubt, is the Brazilian documentary Bus 174 about a lone gunman who in an act of desperation and retaliation holds an entire bus hostage. Its a documentary. And it plays out like the best thriller youve ever seen.

A still from the Brazilian film Bus 174.

One Day in September (1999)

The most iconic image of the Munich siege.

This film is based on the kidnapping of 11 Israeli athletes during the 1972 Munich Olympics by a Palestinian terrorist group called Black September. The film documents the events surrounding the hostage crisis and the many attempts made to rescue them. It won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature. It is essential viewing. It also inspired Steven Spielbergs 2005 film Munich, that dealt with Israels retaliation to this event.

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The author tweets @NaaharRohan
Ten professors of the University of Hyderabad have resigned from their administrative posts as the crisis triggered by a Dalit scholars suicide deepened on Thursday despite the BJP-led central governments attempts to blunt opposition attack against two ministers.

The professors, all belonging to SC/ST communities, quit in a show of solidarity with students demanding justice for 26-year-old Rohith Vemula, who committed suicide after he was suspended from the university along with four other students.

The professors also protested alleged misrepresentation of facts by Union minister for human resource development Smriti Irani who had mounted a spirited counter-attack on the opposition demanding her sacking along with Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya. She had termed the protests as a malicious attempt to project the issue as a caste battle.

In response to the honourable ministers (Smriti Irani) fabricated statements, we the Dalit (SC/ST) faculty and officers lay down our administrative positions, said a press statement by universitys SC/ST Teachers and Officers Forum.

The Irani-led HRD ministry has been at the centre of a controversy after it emerged that it had written five letters to the university following Dattatreyas complaint that the campus had turned into a den of casteist, extremist and anti-national politics.

#RohithVemula suicide case: Ten professors of University of Hyderabad resign from administrative posts  ANI (@ANI_news) January 21, 2016

The professors also rubbished Iranis claim that a Dalit professor was among the members of the universitys body that suspended the students including Vemula.

It is very wrong to say that the sub-committee (of the executive council) which expelled the students was headed by a Dalit. It was headed by professor (Vipin) Srivastav who is not a Dalit, a professor who did not wish to be identified told HT. The six member sub-committee had suspended the five students, including Rohith.

We express our solidarity with students who are protesting against the death of Rohith Vemula and demand the immediate revocation of suspension and removal of police cases filed against our students, the forum said. Administrative posts are non-teaching jobs assigned to professors like heading placement committees.Facing strong protests and demands for her resignation from opposition parties over Rohith death, Irani has said this was being done to ignite passions for political gains, while labour minister Dattatreya tried to distance himself from the controversy, saying he did not push the university to suspend the student.

Politics and caste: Who said what on Rohith Vemulas suicide

This is not a Dalit versus non-Dalit issue as being projected by some to ignite passion and there is a deliberate attempt to provoke students across the country, Irani said in Delhi on Wednesday while rejecting allegations that her ministry had put pressure on the university to suspend Vemula.

Read more: AP government will offer jobs to Rohith Vemulas brother, mother

Vemula ended his life on Sunday at the institution following his suspension after an alleged clash with a leader of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), which is affiliated to the RSS. BJP leaders are concerned that the nationwide outrage over the suicide may seriously dent its strategy for a slew of crucial state elections this year.

Opposition parties have joined ranks over the issue and attacked the BJP and NDAs alleged anti-Dalit policies.

Several political leaders including Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, CPI(M)s Sitaram Yechury, Trinamool Congress leader Derek OBrien and YSR Congress party chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy have already visited the campus.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and BSP leader Mayawati are also expected to visit the university on Thursday and meet the protesting students , who have been boycotting classes since the incident.

Protests have erupted on college campuses in other parts of the country with clamorous demands for Irani, Dattatreya and the vice-chancellor to be removed from their posts.
Authorities tightened security across major cities on Thursday following a flurry of intelligence reports warning that militants could target everything from busy malls to millions of pilgrims visiting the Ardh Kumbh.

Extra paramilitary forces were deployed in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, where the French consulate received a letter warning against its presidents presence at Indias Republic Day celebrations.

Police are investigating the source of the letter which said Francoise Hollande should cancel his trip to India beginning Sunday. Bangalores additional commissioner of police, Chengal Reddy, told reporters that the letter--written in poor English and mentioning al Qaeda--has still not been ruled out as a hoax.

Home minister Rajnath Singh and Delhi police officials said they have reviewed security arrangements for the parade, including positioning army sharpshooters on rooftops near the parade route and clearing buildings and roads.

Read: Blore: French consulate gets threat letter against Hollandes visit

Separately, police arrested four men in Uttarakhand on Wednesday on suspicion of planning an attack in Delhi. Security officials said the four had been under surveillance for several months after their online activities drew suspicion, including contacts with people in territory in Iraq and Syria controlled by the Islamic State group.

Police said the men had also been planning strikes in Haridwar, where thousands of devotees are now gathered for the Ardh Kumbh festival.

Read: Suspected IS men plotted to wreak havoc on Ardh Kumbh

In Panaji, Goa Police have stepped up security in the state and were investigating a postcard received by the State Secretariat and warning to harm Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.

In Mumbai, the police are yet to trace six mysterious paragliders who were seen near the citys coast on January 13. Authorities said they have taken the incident seriously because of a 2010 intelligence report that the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba had procured 50 paragliders from Europe and was conducting a training in Pakistan to launch an aerial attack.

Read: One week on, Mumbai Police has no clue about suspicious paragliders

Authorities in Madhya Pradesh are on alert after a suspected terrorist named Syed Ahmed escaped from police custody by jumping off a running train on Wednesday night at Hoshangabad, about 70 km south east of Bhopal.

Security agencies have been warning of attacks by Islamist groups such as the Islamic State and al-Qaeda since the militant strike on an Indian Air Force base in Pathankot earlier this month.
It was not about the two-minute noodle. It was Bihars version of the La Tomatina festival.

Unlike in Spain, where tomatoes are thrown, the face and hand of participants here were smeared in yogurt, giving a comical look, as over 350 queued up for the Dahi khao inaam pao contest, organised by the Patna Dairy Project (PDP) on the occasion of Makar Sankranti.

Expected to consume as much fresh curd as they could--all in three minutes flat--the participants devoured eight quintals among them. The winners--Jehanabads Pranaya Shankar (3.934kg) and Delhis Sunita Kumari (2.350kg)--accounted for over 6kg curd between them to hog the limelight on Monday.

Burping after a brimful of yogurt, Pranaya Shankar, 55, who has been a personal assistant to a former cooperatives minister, said, I had curd even before coming to participate in the contest, and still have appetite for more.

The pleasure on Shankars face was evident as he defeated previous years winner Baijnath Yadav (3.550 kg) of Darbhanga, to be crowned the Dahi Kesari. People from the Mithilanchal region are known to be curd-lovers. I am happy that I have broken the Mithila hegemony in this contest, he said.

Shankar also set a new record, beating Yadavs previous best of having consumed 3.907 kg in 2015.

A resident of Delhi, homemaker Sunita Kumari, emerged victorious in the distaff category to be crowned Dahi Samragyi (empress).

I had come to spend some time with my mother in Patna when I decided to participate in the contest. I enjoy curd over milk, she told HT. Kumari had come third the last time she participated in 2014.

Cool as a cucumber after gulping down almost eight packs of 400gms curd, Kumari outperformed last years winner Tara Devi of the railways who consumed 2.180kg curd. Jyotsna Devi (2.10kg) came third while Kiran Devi (1.880kg) had to settle for the consolation prize.

Among the 355 participants were S. Uday from Hyderabad, Siddhant Kumar from Uttar Pradeshs Saharanpur and Jeri Jaan from Bhopal.

The PDP, which sells its products under the Sudha brand name, has been holding the event for the last six years on the occasion of Makar Sankranti.

Managing director Sudhir Kumar Singh said, I was inspired by Phanishwar Nath Renus novel, which talked about legends like Gonu Jha who would devour curd and rasgulla. I always wanted to host something with a rural connect in the state capital. The dahi khao inaam pao contest fits the bill.

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A website releasing little-known details and documents backing the theory that Subhas Chandra Bose died in a plane crash in 1945 on Thursday uploaded evidence from a Taiwanese official who apparently issued the permit for Netajis cremation.

The website -- run by Boses grandnephew Ashis Ray -- contended that the testimony of Tan Ti-Ti, who was in-charge of issuing cremation permits in Taipei and personally attended to Netajis body at the crematorium, put to rest any controversy about the freedom fighters last rites.

The details have been in the public domain for decades, but were confined to archives, inquiry reports and interviews. The documents being released by London-based Ray seek to substantiate reports that Bose did not survive the crash on August 18, 1945.

Tan Ti-Ti testimony, contained in the British Foreign Offices file number FC1852/6 of 1956, show that he personally attended to Boses body, a release from the website said.

Japanese army officers probably did not submit a death certificate in Boses name to maintain secrecy about his demise; it was issued in the name of Ichiro Okura.

Ko Keng Yuan, who became director of the Health Centre in Taipei after the cremation, stated he believed the matter of Boses death and the cremation permit being issued under an assumed name were important secrets of the Japanese military.

The proof contained in a Taiwanese police report sent to the British Foreign Office was, the file indicates, forwarded by the UK High Commission in Delhi to the Indian government in July 1956.

Tan Ti-Ti confirmed that on the day of the cremation -- August 22, 1945 -- a Japanese army officer came to the crematorium in a car in the company of an Indian.

He went on to say the Indian (it was said he was Boses follower, some said he was an aide-de-camp; he was dressed in the white garment of Japanese soldiers under medical care, wore slippers, parts of his face were bandaged; he was tall and swarthy, wept bitterly and seemed extremely sorrowful.

The website said this was Boses ADC, Habibur Rehman Khan, who survived the crash, since the description fits him perfectly.

Tan Ti-Ti asserted he and another person called Lin Sui Mu opened the coffin. He added that Boses body had been put into a coffin for conveyance to Tokyo but the coffin was too big for aeroplanes available at the time. It was, therefore, cremated in Taipei.

On August 23, 1945, the Indian (Khan) and the same Japanese army officer came to collect the ashes, Tan Ti-Ti further maintained, which matches Khans testimony.

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Four young men  Akhlaq-ur-Rehman, Mohammed Azeem, Mohammed Osama and Mohammad Mehraj  were arrested from Uttarakhand for their alleged links to the Islamic State (IS).

When HT spoke to their families on Thursday, they appeared convinced of their innocence but were willing to put the country first if the allegations were proven true.

They have declared my son a terrorist. He cannot do this. He has no links with any anti-national group, said Akhlaqs mother Gulshan Begum.

Speaking at their home in Chandanpur-Bhagwanpur village, around 12km from Roorkee, Gulshan, her husband Mohammed Naseem and their five children denied the charges levelled against Akhlaq, who was arrested on Tuesday.

Police say Akhlaq was in touch with three others held in Delhi and was allegedly planning terror strikes during the Kumbh fair in Haridwar.

Denying the charges, Naseem said if, however, Akhlaq is proven guilty, the family would disown him. Agar iljaam sabit hota hai to mai samajhunga ki uske pet mein koi galat niwala chala gaya (If the charges proven, I will think we didnt raise him right)., he said.

A similar conviction was displayed by Azeems father Abdul Sattar, 52, an Uttarakhand Transport Corporation employee, who said his country came before the love for his son. Azeem, was arrested by the Delhi police for his alleged ties with the IS.

My father fought for the country in the 1965 Indo-China war. It is difficult to believe that Azeem has any links with any terrorist groups. If he is proven guilty, I will accept whatever punishment he is given.

Mehrajs brother Sarfaraz Ali, a contractor, too rubbished allegations of him being a terrorist.

How can anyone say he was in possession of incriminating documents or explosive materials when he surrendered before the police when on Tuesday night? he said.

He added:I am sure Mehraj cannot have any links with any anti-national groups, but if the allegations by the Delhi police are proven right and he is found guilty of working against the nation, we will disown him.

Akhlaq, Azeem, Mehraj and Mohammed Osama were arrested on Tuesday and taken to Delhi on charges of planning terror strikes during the Kumbh fair and on Haridwar-bound trains.
A sense of unease is palpable within the BJP following the suicide by Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula at the University of Hyderabad and the related controversy which, it fears, could be detrimental to its outreach programme for the Scheduled Castes.

Also coming ahead of assembly election in four states, BJP leaders suspect a link between these polls and an effort to trigger the intolerance debate again. Incidentally, noted poet Ashok Vajpeyi had announced on Tuesday his decision to return the D. Litt. awarded to him by the university.

Scheduled Castes are crucial in poll-bound West Bengal (23.5%) and Tamil Nadu (20%) which will face election along with Assam and Kerala, where this section accounts for less than 10% of the total population.

This intolerance debate is created every time there is an election. When Delhi went to polls, we were falsely blamed for the attack on churches. During Bihar, an award wapsi campaign started over the Dadri incident that had no relation with us. Everything turns normal once elections are over, BJP secretary Shrikant Sharma said.

However, some leaders within the BJP sounded the warning bells.

Former Union minister and party leader Sanjay Paswan tweeted on Tuesday that the stakeholders of power politics must take serious note of rohit vemula episode or be ready to face wrath, revenge, revolt, reactions (sic). Some other BJP leaders shared similar views but did not wanted to be identified for this story.

Party seniors are worried about the impact the controversy may have on the BJPs Dalit-wooing exercise, something that holds a lot of significance in states such as Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Uttarakhand that go to polls next year.

The BJP competes with the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Congress in these states and its rivals too depend largely on the Dalit votes for coming to power.

Scheduled Castes account for 31.9% of Punjabs total population, followed by 20.7% in Uttar Pradesh and 18.8% in Uttarakhand.

Human resource development minister Smriti Irani on Wednesday tried to dismiss notions that the University of Hyderabad incident was a Dalit versus non-Dalit issue, but a BJP leader admitted that such controversies provide oxygen to opposition parties such as the Congress and the BSP, which got disseminated in these states.

We need to counter their propaganda of making this issue spill outside the boundaries of the University of Hyderabad. Smriti Irani tried to do that by countering the opposition propaganda through facts, the BJP leader said.

Rohith Vemula had ended his life on January 17 after the University of Hyderabad  allegedly prodded by Union ministers Smriti Irani and Bandaru Dattatreya  initiated disciplinary action against him and a few colleagues for their involvement in student politics.

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The NDA governments plan to push through crucial labour reforms legislations in the budget session of Parliament is likely to hit a roadblock with daggers drawn between the ruling alliance and opposition parties over the suicide of a Dalit scholar.

With the ambitious land reforms and GST bills also struck in Parliament due to continued stonewalling by the Congress-led opposition, the fresh crisis could seriously dent the NDA governments efforts to cut red tape and introduce more industry-friendly rules for ease of doing business.

Union labour minister Bandaru Dattatreya is at the centre of the storm with opposition parties demanding his sacking for his alleged interference in the University of Hyderabad affairs, which they say drove Rohith Vemalu to suicide.

Some of the proposed legislations the BJP is hopeful of passing in the budget session include the small factories bill, code on industrial relations and child labour (prohibition and regulation) amendment bill, 2012.

While the small factories bill proposes to keep units employing less than 40 workers out of the purview of 14 labour laws, including the Employees Provident Fund Act, the Employees State Insurance Act and the Industrial Dispute Act, the code on industrial relations will make it easier for companies to sack up to 300 employees without the governments permission.

The child labour bill, on the other hand, proposes that children below fourteen years may only be allowed to work in enterprises owned by their own families.

These initiatives are, however, unlikely to see light of the day in the budget session in the face of opposition fire.

Congress leaders have already said that the party will not let up the pressure until Dattatreya is sacked over the suicide by the 26-year-old research scholar.

With the government mounting a fierce defence of Dattatreya, it was unlikely that the axe will fall on Dattatreya on this issue.

And this stalemate could prove fatal for the governments ambitious Make in India programme, the foundations of which is expected to be built on the successful passage of the labour reforms bills.

The small factories bill aims to free the small scale manufacturing sector from the cumbersome provisions of different labour laws, seen as major step towards easing the way of doing business.

It will also obviate the need for small units to keep cumbersome records and submit to the regulators by allowing for online registration.

Similarly, the code on industrial relations, which seeks to combine three laws into a single code, will enable companies to fire its staff without any official sanction if their staff strength is up to 300 and will also make it slightly tougher to form workers unions.
Speaking in a public meeting in West Bengal for the first time after the January 3 Kaliachak incident, Union home minister Rajnath Singh lashed out at the Mamata Banerjee government saying even police officers were not safe in the state.

Singh also remarked that the Centre will deploy as many central paramilitary personnel as required for fair polls in the state.

The situation in West Bengal is so bad that even police is not safe. Criminals are attacking police stations and setting them on fire. We have to prevent infiltration of terror elements in Bengal, Singh said in a public rally in North 24 Parganas on Thursday.

Maa, mati and manush, none is safe in the state, Singh said in an obvious jibe at the Trinamool Congress slogan.

On the question of ensuring fair polls, Singh also remarked that he will personally speak to the Election Commission of India officials.

Incidentally, in poll-bound Bengal there is a chorus from the Opposition that free and fair polls are not possible in the state unless there is a complete cover by the central forces and the state police should be kept out of the picture.

The law and order situation in West Bengal is cause of concern.... If the law and order situation does not improve, investment wont come. Investors want rule of law. If there is poor governance, none will come, the home minister said.
Police detained a convict in the 2002 Gujarat riots case on Thursday for allegedly punching and slapping a journalist during an interview.

The incident occurred in Ahmedabad the previous day, when journalist Revati Laul went to meet Naroda Patiya massacre convict Suresh Chhara at his residence for an interview. Fifteen minutes into the interview at his residence in Naroda Patiya, Suresh lurched forward and started punching and slapping me without any provocation. He banged my head against a wall, alleged Laul.

I managed to escape with the help of his son and neighbours, Laul said, adding that she has developed a blood clot in one of her eyes and suffered bruises on her ankle. Formerly a journalist with NDTV, Laul is writing a book on convicts in the 2002 riots case. She has been residing in Ahmedabad for over a year.

Laul said she was treated at a government hospital, after which she lodged a complaint of assault against Chhara at the local police station. The convict was later detained for questioning.

The journalist has reportedly been meeting Chhara, his wife and son for a year, and this visit was part of an interview she had been conducting for her book.

Chhara has been out on parole for six months. Last year, his wife had accused him of marital rape and unnatural sex. As many as 32 people were convicted in the Naroda Patiya case, which concerns the lynching of 97 people. Chhara was convicted of rape and murder.
The alleged Islamic State module busted with the arrest of four students in Uttarakhand on Tuesday appears to be a smokescreen set up by Pakistans ISI to send Indian intelligence agencies on a wild goose chase, police sources said on Thursday.

Investigators found the four men  Akhlaq-ur-Rehman, Mohammad Azim Ushan, Mohammad Osama alias Adil and Mohammad Mehraj  had more information on a module based in Pakistan than any in Syria or Iraq. Their alleged IS handler Shafi Armar was found to have been an Indian Mujahideen man all his life who recently shifted loyalties to the Iraqi and Syrian outfit.

Intelligence officials are trying to determine if various alleged IS modules being discovered in India have origins in Syria and Iraq or are being floated by the ISI in the name of the West Asian group to mislead Indian agencies.

Meanwhile, Delhi Police special cell officials are looking for two suspected militants, belonging to the IM earlier but now associated with the IS, who allegedly radicalised the four students.

Read: Bengaluru to Delhi, security tightened after terror threats

The two suspects were local handlers of the arrested students, police confirmed. One belongs to south India, most probably Bhatkal in Karnataka. A special cell officer said a police team had already been sent to Bhatkal to apprehend the man who could be part of the IMs south India module that could not be fully neutralised in operations after a series of terror strikes between 2005 and 2009.

Read: Uttarakhand: Authorities arrest suspected militant, detain 3 accomplices

It is suspected the handler was acting on the instructions of former IM operatives who fled to Pakistan after the 2008 Batla House encounter and later crossed over to Syria after creating their own tanzeem (branch), Ansar-ut-Tawhid-fi-Bilad-al-Hind. The key figures in that group included Sultan Armar, his brother Shafi Armar, Bada Sajid, Mirza Shadab Beig, Shahnawaz Ahmad and Afif Hassan Siddibapa. Some of them, including the Armar brothers, belonged to Bhatkal.

The other local handler is said be from Muzaffarnagar in UP though senior special cell officers refused to comment on identities and exact locations, saying that could hamper the probe.

Police teams are combing locations in Uttarakhand, Delhi and Muzaffarnagar and some places in UP to arrest militants suspected to be planning blasts at shopping malls and vital installations in the NCR, the Har ki Pauri ghat in Haridwar and trains plying between Haridwar and Roorkee.

Read: Suspected IS men plotted to wreak havoc on Ardh Kumbh

Akhlaqs interrogation revealed that on his south Indian handlers instructions, he visited Delhi in October 2015 and met the second handler in the walled city area. Terror strikes were allegedly planned during the meeting and the handler asked Akhlaq to meet an aide in Muzaffarnagar.

Akhlaq and Mehraj met the Muzaffarnagar contact who gave them Rs 50,000 to execute attacks. They were told to collect flammable material from matchsticks to be used in preparing bombs.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday charged Union minister Smriti Irani of dishing out lie after lie in the Dalit scholars suicide case and described as shameful her defence of the NDA government in the incident.

Kejriwal met protesting students at the University of Hyderabad Kejriwal campus which has turned into the nerve-centre of protests against alleged anti-Dalit policies of the NDA government following the suicide by research scholar Rohith Vemula.

Smriti Irani ji spoke one lie after another, she tried to create controversy over Rohith's caste-Arvind Kejriwal pic.twitter.com/ykb7dMRA43  ANI (@ANI_news) January 21, 2016

The death of Rohith is a shame on the nationon the society, Kejriwal said while addressing the students. He also met Rohiths mother, who has been protesting on campus demanding justice for her 26-year-old son.

Launching a stinging criticism of Irani for her comments that there were malicious attempts to turn the incident into a Dalit versus non-Dalit confrontation, the Aam Aadmi Party leader said that instead of trying to create controversy, she should have been trying to ensure justice for Rohith.

Kejriwal is the latest in a long list of Opposition leaders to visit the campus to show solidarity with students seeking justice for Rohith, who allegedly took his own life after he was suspended along with four others.

Kejriwal had earlier termed the death as murder and sought an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is yet to speak on the issue.

The Congress also stepped up the ante on Thursday, accused Union minister Smriti Irani of lying in the case as it picked holes in the Centres defence in the incident.
Not many people know that my friend Rohith Vemula was once a diehard supporter of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Before he joined the Ambedkar Students Association (ASA) at the University of Hyderabad, he was a firebrand leader of the Students Federation of India (SFI), affiliated to the CPI(M).

His disillusionment with the communists happened when he discovered that the boys and girls who had given up faith in god could not bring themselves up to abandon their faith in the caste system. He quit the SFI after he was discriminated for his caste by the so-called comrades who he hoped would deliver him and his people from this wretched social order.

The treatment meted out to Rohith is public knowledge and even Dheeraj Paleri, the leader of SFIs Hyderabad university wing, admits that he was ill-treated by a few cadre because of which he had to leave the organisation.

After his unsavoury stint with the communists, Rohith would often lash out at the Left on public forums and on Facebook for its apathy towards identity-based movements in general and the anti-caste struggle in particular. He became acutely aware of not just the Brahminical tendencies of individual CPI(M) activists but also the theoretical flaws of the Left as a whole in understanding the Indian social order.

Dalit suicide row: 10 professors quit, say Iranis statement fabricated

By the time he decided to cut his life short, Rohith had emerged as a formidable critic of Indian Marxists and had a sophisticated understanding of the Left movements contradictions. Impressive, given that he did not come from a social sciences background.

When Sitaram Yechury visited the university, for a lecture and demanded reservation in the private sector for lower-caste people, Rohith responded with a viral Facebook post in which he asked why the CPI(M) hasnt had a single Dalit politburo member in 51 years.

He wrote: I hope comrades would have at least a session dedicated to understand what Marx meant when he borrowed the sentence From each according to their ability, to each according to their need. It is a deliberate, immodest blunder from the Left side for remaining blind to the need of Dalit leaders in Indian society.

Rohith Vemula, death of a philosopher to purify higher education

Clearly, Rohith had a problem with Indian Marxists, not Karl Marx.

Universities are platforms for struggles and debates between conflicting ideologies. And the ASA was always a leading participant in this churning. Its courageous fight against the Hindutva, Brahminical arrogance of the Hindu Right (ABVP) is by now well-known. What often went unnoticed, however, was how the ASA, under the leadership of intellectuals like Rohith, consistently exposed the indifference of the Indian Left toward addressing caste issues.

In our conversations, Rohith would often talk about how Leftists were ever willing to attack Hindutva fanatics but never challenged the Vedic caste system which forms the bedrock of Hindutva ideology.

Police use water canon to disperse students protesting in Delhi against the death of Rohith Vemula . (Vipin Kumar / HT Photo)

One of the problems, according to Dalit Marxists like Rohith, is that an overwhelming majority of the Indian Lefts leadership comprises the upper caste that has grown up in privileged social conditions. They have no idea or experience of caste oppression. This upper-caste domination of the Left has certainly undermined the Indian Left politics as a whole.

Even the extremist Left, the CPI(Maoist) that consists of a large number of loyal Dalit cadre in the lower ranks, has never allowed a Dalit to hold the leadership of the party. It constitutes a dominant upper-caste central committee which is living under a myth of socialism by completely disregarding the innumerable atrocities faced by Dalits.

All this explains why there is only a thin artificial distinction between the communists and BJP; while the former exhibit liberal Brahminism, the latter display orthodox Brahminism. Both are more or less the same seen from a Dalit perspective.

Indias on fire: Letter to Rohith Vemula from his transgender friend

The other striking similarity between the Indian Left and right-wing politics is their tendency to dismiss Dalit struggles for emancipation as identity politics and non-revolutionary.

No Dalit revolutionary is unaware of the historic injustice done to Dalits by the Indian Left when they opposed Ambedkars call for separate electorates for the depressed Classes. In the days leading to the Poona Pact of 1932, where Ambedkar was unfairly pressured to surrender the demand for separate electorates, the upper castes of the Left, Right and so-called Centre came together and spoke in one voice against Ambedkar. No other event in modern Indian history has so thoroughly exposed the artificial divisions between communists and communalists.

Communist leaders like EMS Namboodiripad had even gone to the extent of criticising Ambedkar and attacking him personally by accusing him of dividing the nation on the lines of caste. For all their intellect and fat books in their home libraries, the simple thing that Leftists like Namboodripad failed to understand was that by pushing for separate electorates for the marginalised, Ambedkar was trying to protect them from an already divided society and not divide society further. Their logic sounded very much like that of BJP leader Bandaru Dattatreya who feels that those, like Rohith, who fought against the caste system were casteist.

Fact is Indian communist parties are more inclined towards Gandhian understanding of caste which says that the caste system is a superior economic organisation which facilitates organised production through a systematic division of labour. But Ambedkar says the caste system is not just the division of labour but also the division of labourers which gives rise to the unequal and casteist relations of production.

Rohith Vemulas suicide: Is Modi losing touch with the youth?

Caste is very much a part of what the eminent Marxist thinker Louis Althusser calls the apparatus of ideology and which is based in material existence. Indian society has caste tied to its actions in every form of exploitation it commits. Indian Marxists failed to analyse that between the bourgeois and working classes there is another section lying in the lower strata, that is the scavenging caste which doesnt belong to these two categories. It is high time for the Indian Leftists to understand the caste distinctions in Indian society to perceive the idea of working class.

The Russian revolution was predominatly a working class revolution since it occurred in an industrialised society. The Chinese revolution was largely a peasant uprising since it occurred in an agrarian society. So, it can be coherently formulated that the annihilation of caste is the only radical approach to realise a revolution in a classical Marxist understanding of the hierarchically-divided Brahminical Indian society.

The activists who succumb to the state violence by fighting the injustices in various movements are usually called martyrs. But this martyr, my friend Rohith Vemula, is different. His sacrifice has not just reinvigorated Dalit-Bahujan struggles throughout the nation but also forced the countrys intellectual elite to confront the elephant in the room: Caste.

Importantly, the fact that a brilliant scholar was forced to take his own life because of caste discrimination also demonstrates the failure of upper caste dominant Indian Left. As a result, a new political thought is taking shape that combines the theories of Marx and Ambedkar. It is a combination that is bound to accelerate the annihilation of caste.

(Jashwanth Jessie is an independent writer and Dalit student activist pursuing his MA in history from IGNOU. A friend of Rohith Vemula, he is closely associated with the Ambedkar Students Association at the university.)

(The views expressed are personal.)
Mumbai Police is yet to find anything about the six paragliders who were spotted by a pilot about 1.5 to 2 nautical miles away from the citys coast on January 13.

Sources in Mumbai Police said multiple agencies have probed the alert but have not found anything significant in their inquiry. The local police conducted combing operations in the area and the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) also launched an extensive inquiry but could not find anything relevant.

Paragliding is not allowed within the city limits. There are no proper take-off points or the kind of wind you need. The ATS and the local police have been in touch regarding this incident to understand the technicality of paragliding, Astrid Rao, co-owner of Nirvana Adventures which organises paragliding activities in Kamshet in Pune district, said.

While there is no specific intelligence, every alert is being taken seriously with Republic Day round the corner.

Captain RS Nandal of the Pawan Hans told officers at the Santacruz police station that he had spotted the six men flying white and blue paragliders about 1000 to 1600 feet above ground level near the JW Mariott Hotel in Juhu while flying his helicopter at 9.10am. ( Read more here)

After the captain reported the incident, senior police inspector Shantanu Pawar wrote a letter alerting all the agencies including the ATS, crime branch, special branch and the Mumbai Polices control room.

Authorities have taken the incident seriously after a 2010 intelligence report that the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) had procured 50 paragliders from Europe and was conducting a training in Pakistan to launch an aerial attack. The intelligence bureau had asked state police agencies across the country to remain vigilant.

This was corroborated after the arrest and interrogation of Syed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal, an alleged mastermind of the 26/11 terror attacks. In 2012, Jundal had informed investigators that he had seen about 150 paragliders in a room, which the LeT called the Jumbo Room, in Karachi and that the terrorist outfit had plans to attack using both the aerial and sea routes.

Soon after the pilots alert about the six paragliders, another message threatening an attack on Mumbai suburban trains has kept the city police on its toes. However, Mumbai Police has dismissed the threat as a rumour.

Rumour Alert - Please do not believe in rumours about a threat to the local trains, it said on its Twitter account.
Associated Journals Ltd (AJL), the publishers of the beleaguered National Herald group of newspapers, will hold an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on Thursday in Lucknow to seek shareholders nod for changing the structure of the company from a commercial to a non-profit entity.

AJL had published advertisements in newspapers on December 19 last year announcing the meeting, a day before the Congress top brass was to appear before a trial court in Delhi in the National Herald case.

The published noticed had said: The Board of the company has been considering for more than four years that the company should not be commercially motivated with a view to distribute any benefits or dividends to its members. It should, instead, operate and undertake its activities for the larger public goods.

According to the notice that appeared in Lucknow-based newspapers, the meeting will seek the approval of 762 shareholders for turning AJL into a not-for-profit, Section-8 company under the Companies Act, 2013.

A Section-8 company is a venture established for promoting commerce, art, science, sports, education, research, social welfare, religion, charity, protection of environment or any such other object and profits from such a companys activities, as well as any other income earned by it, can be used only for promoting the objectives of the company.

The notice was issued by AJL managing director and senior Congress leader and treasurer Motilal Vora, who was one of the seven people to be summoned by a Delhi court in response to the summons in the National Herald case. Vohra is expected to chair the meeting.

The shareholders will also be asked to change the name of the company from AJL to a new name.

It is expected that after this move Young Indian Limited (YIL), the private company in which Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi hold majority stake, will be merged with AJL.

This move is being considered as an attempt to rectify illegalities found by the trial court and Delhi high court that led to the summoning of Sonia and Rahul.

The AJL and its office bearers have been in the eye of a political and legal storm ever since it came out in the open that Vora along with other directors in the company had transferred its entire equity to the new company YIL in December 2010. Other office-bearers include party leaders like Vora, Oscar Fernandes or Gandhi family loyalists like Sam Pitroda and Suman Dubey.

(With agency inputs)
Subhas Chandra Boses daughter is annoyed that, instead of accepting evidence, many continue to be obsessed with asinine theories that Netaji survived the plane crash in Taipei in 1945 and lived in the mountains as Gumnami Baba.

Anita Bose Pfaff, 73, was about a month old when Bose saw her for the last time in Vienna. Based on available evidence, she is convinced he died in the crash on August 18, 1945, and has proposed a DNA test on his remains kept at Renkoji Temple in Japan to put the row to rest.

Speaking to Hindustan Times shortly before the Narendra Modi government begins releasing declassified files related to Bose from Saturday  his 119th birth anniversary  Pfaff said she supported the move but doubted it would end the fruitless controversy over the crash.

A former academic and economist, she spoke on a range of issues, including the relationship between her mother, Emily Schenkl, and her iconic father, who, she remarked, must have been a disaster as a husband.

Netajis death in the plane crash, she said, is the most likely thing to have happened though she would be open to other possibilities supported by evidence. She added that she had not seen any evidence which is more convincing.

Asked if it was time to put to rest the controversy regarding Netajis death in the crash, Pfaff replied: I wish so, it is rather fruitless with all these rather asinine theories being advanced, including that he is still alive, God knows where, or that he lived in the mountains as Gumnami Baba, which is an insult to him...

She said it was doubtful anyone as dedicated to India as her father would go and live in the mountains and not get in touch with his family.

Pfaff further said she doubted the secret files to be released by the Indian government would contain anything about the plane crash not having happened.

Read: I would like to sleep a while: Netajis last words on Aug 18, 1945

She suggested the Indian and Japanese governments should work together to facilitate a DNA test on Boses ashes at Renkoji Temple in Tokyo. A joint approach alone could convince the temples priest to hand over the material for a test, she added.

Pfaff said she was earlier hesitant about seeking such a test because I felt the Japanese would feel very insulted, but the move could help address the whole rather undignified discussion which has been going on over decades.

...I think rational people would at least accept the outcome of that, whichever way it were to go, she said.

An archival image of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

Pfaff said if the DNA test shows the ashes are of Bose and if the Japanese are amenable, it would be better for the remains to be taken to India.

She said there would have been a number of consequences if her father had returned to India after World War II. He would have involved himself in the politics of the time and there would have been a prominent alternative to (Jawaharlal) Nehru, she said.

Though Bose and Nehru agreed on some issues such as industrialisation, Netaji would have a different view towards Pakistan, she said.

If he could not prevent Partition  both he and (Mahatma) Gandhi wanted to prevent it  I think he probably would have tried and succeeded in having better relations with Pakistan, Pfaff said.

Read the full interview with Anita Bose Pfaff here

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Amid intense political fight between their parties, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has received very touching new year greetings from West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee which he reciprocated and got a thanks message from the Didi.

Received very touching New Year greetings from @MamataOfficial ji & that too in Gujarati! I thank Mamata Didi & wish her a great 2016, Modi tweeted.

Soon after, Mamata tweeted, Glad you liked the New Year greetings I sent you in Gujarati. Thanks too @narendramodi ji for the greetings you sent me in Bengali.

Received very touching New Year greetings from @MamataOfficial ji & that too in Gujarati! I thank Mamata Didi & wish her a great 2016.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 20, 2016

Glad you liked the New Year greetings I sent you in Gujarati. Thanks too @narendramodi ji for the greetings you sent me in Bengali  Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) January 20, 2016

The bonhomie between Modi and Mamata came amidst an open fight between her party Trinamool Congress and BJP over the recent violence in Malda.

Trinamool Congress, whose government recently prevented a BJP delegation from visiting the violence-hit area, has alleged that the saffron party was trying to communalise the Malda incident.

BJP, on the other hand, has alleged that Mamata Banerjee was playing the dirtiest vote bank politics in Malda as she was trying to communalise issues by using extremist forces.

Mamata has also accused the Modi government of non-cooperation and alleged that it had curtailed funds for various projects in the state.

Had there been full cooperation of the Centre, huge employment opportunities could have been generated in the state, Mamata said recently.

In spite of this (non-cooperation), we have created employment opportunities for a few lakh of people, she had claimed.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has started searching at six places that belong to former Pathankot SP Salwinder Singh and his friends.

The raid comes a day after the senior Punjab Police officer was subjected to a lie detector test for the past two days

According to sources, four locations in Gurdaspur and two in Amritsar are being searched by NIA teams on Thursday.

These locations are believed to be associated with Salwinder Singh and his two companions who were there in his car on the night of December 31. Six terrorists, who later attacked the Pathankot air base had stopped their car and took its control to travel that night.

Salwinders cook Madan Gopal and his friend Rajesh Verma are the two other people whose houses have been raided on Thursday.

Both Gopal and Verma were with the police officer when the latter was abducted by the Pathankot attackers on the night of December 31.

Singh is now posted as assistant commandant of the 75th Punjab Armed Police after being shunted out as superintendent of police (headquarters), Gurdaspur.

He had handed over charge as Gurdaspur SP (headquarters) on December 31.

On the same night, he visited the Dargah Punj Peer but while coming back he was allegedly abducted by the Pathankot attackers who also snatched his vehicle.
As a journalist, he used to spend entire weeks in the jungles to get a sound bite or two from leaders of Left Wing Extremist groups. Years later, he still ventures into the woods, albeit for a different reason  nabbing the very people he once interviewed.

Meet 29-year-old Parvin Tiwari, a home guard jawan with the Gumla police who has played an active role in the arrest of at least 153 Leftist rebels. Ever since he joined the police in 2009, Tiwari has been a part of fearless raids in Maoist hotbeds to arrest at least a dozen sub-zonal and zonal commanders  the most recent among them being zonal commander Prasad alias Ashok Lakra, who carried a Rs 10 lakh reward on his head.

Left extremists are active in no less than 16 of Jharkhands 24 districts.

The job, however, doesnt come without risks  Tiwari has survived at least five attempts on his life by rebels in the last six years. His relatives, however, have not been as lucky. On July 10 last year, Maoists killed his uncle, Shailesh Tiwari, and threatened to eliminate other members of his family unless he stopped pursuing them.

However, Tiwari remains deterred by the threats, promising to serve the state police as long as he is alive. His only complaint is that his position as a home guard  considered an ad-hoc arrangement  does not allow for bravery awards or promotions. The least the authorities can do, he says, is regularise his services as a constable.

I am aware of the risks to my family and my life, but there is no looking back in this mission. I have already dedicated this life to the service of the nation, says Tiwari.

Incidentally, he was wandering around the state secretariat with a file containing letters of recommendation and praise from Gumla superintendent of police Bhimsen Tuti when HT caught up with him. The jawan was there as part of yet another attempt to goad the government into regularising his services.

One of the letters, written on January 6, describes Tiwari as a home guard who has shown exemplary commitment towards his work. Due to his efficient handling of cases, the Gumla police achieved several objectives successfully in their operations against the Maoists, Tuti said in the letter.

In another letter, the Gumla superintendent of police described how Tiwari had exhibited insurmountable courage by crawling into a Maoist platoons hideout at Hesang village amid heavy gunfire to nab Lakra.

When the issue was brought to the notice of director general of police DK Pandey, he said, We know all about Tiwaris case. I dont think there will be any hitch in inducting him into the police force as a regular constable. I have directed the ADG headquarters to expedite the work on Tiwaris file.

Meanwhile, the home guard jawan hopes that the Maoists are wrong in alleging that the government hands over awards and promotions on the basis of influence, not merit. Nevertheless, he does not harbour any regret. I am thankful to all the police superintendents who had faith in me, and gave me this role and responsibility. I always try to give them more than what they expect from me, says Tiwari.

Repeated calls to principal home secretary NN Pandey went unanswered.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will visit the University of Hyderabad on Thursday to meet the students and family members of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula who committed suicide.

Kejriwal, who was scheduled to visit Bengaluru for undergoing naturopathy treatment for his chronic cough on January 22 for ten days, has deferred his visit and will now go there on January 27.

Read more: Dalit student suicide: BJP says Dattatreya, Irani not at fault

AAP leaders Ashish Khetan and Ashish Talwar reached Hyderabad on Thursday to meet protesting students there.

Kejriwal had on Wednesday demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi sack HRD minister Smriti Irani, Labour minister Bandaru Dattatreya and apologise to the nation over the suicide by the Dalit student, questioning their interference in the internal affairs of the institution.

Rohith, a PhD scholar, who committed suicide on Sunday night, was among the five research scholars who were suspended by the university in August last year over an alleged assault case. They were also kept out of the hostel.

Read more: Dalit students suicide: Cornered, Dattatreya plots next move

The issue took a political turn with allegations that the extreme step taken by Rohith was a result of discrimination against Dalit students at the behest of Dattatreya, following his letter to Irani, seeking action against their anti-national acts.

Meanwhile, BSP chief Mayawati has demanded legal action against Union ministers Smriti Irani and Bandaru Dattatreya over the alleged suicide of a Dalit research scholar in Hyderabad Central University. She also demanded the same action against the HCU vice-chancellor Appa Rao.

The attitude of the ministers against Dalit student Rohith Vemula was grossly condemnable and undemocratic. The party demands strict legal action against two central ministers and the VC, who forced Rohith to commit suicide, Mayawati said in a statement.

BSP supremo said that after independence such an atmosphere has been created in the country, where BJP ministers were making mockery of constitutional dignity. The party has also sent a fact finding committee led by Rajya Sabha MP and advocate Vir Singh to Hyderabad.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), however, alleged that an opportunist Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi is trying to score some political brownie points out of a very tragic incident in the University of Hyderabad.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said the Congress and other political parties have become politically bankrupt, adding that their move to play politics over the Dalit scholars suicide was a testimony to the fact.

The way certain politicians, including Rahul Gandhi, has tried to buy some political brownie point out of it only points to the political bankruptcy that Congress and these political parties have run into, Patra said.

Resonating similar sentiments, another BJP leader Siddharth Nath Singh said the leaders of various political parties are visiting the Hyderabad University not for humanity or Dalit cause, but for their own political interests.
Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Wednesday took a potshot at Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, saying he was like a head master who does not do his homework.

Gandhi knew very little of day-to-day happenings and was in a bad habit of speaking without proper preparation, the minister of state for minority affairs and parliamentary affairs told the media at Rampur.

Naqvi also billed Gandhi as the most intolerant politician and said it would be better if the Congress leader stopped being a roadblock in development initiatives of the Narendra Modi government.

Naqvi, however, admitted that the poor show in the Delhi and the Bihar assembly elections were both a jolt and a lesson for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The party has learnt its lessons and is bracing up for the electoral battle in Uttar Pradesh early next year, he said.

Naqvi informed the media persons that the four-laning of the Nainital-Rampur-Kathgodam highway has been approved by the government and a sum of Rs.716 crore allocated for the project.

Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari would lay the foundation stone on February 10.
Four days after Dalit PhD scholar Rohith Vemula ended his life, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) student leader with whom Vemula had a tiff which escalated into the latter being suspended from the University of Hyderabad (UoH), said it was Vemulas activist friends who are responsible for the suicide.

Never thought Rohith could take his life. His death is painful. How come his friends never realised he was in depression? I wish they never came to attack me in the first place. No student wants another students life to be destroyed, said Susheel Kumar in an interview to TV9 on Tuesday.

The events leading up to Vemulas suicide started in August last year when students belonging to the Ambedkar Students Association (ASA), including the deceased Dalit scholar, protested the hanging of Yakub Memon, the chartered accountant convicted in the 1993 Mumbai bombings.

The ASA activists held a protest meet hailing Yakub Memon on the campus in August. Is it not anti-national to proclaim that thousands of Yakubs would emerge for every Yakub killed, said Kumar who had at that time posted on Facebook against the protest, calling the students goons.

Kumar alleged that students from the ASA attacked him over the comment in the presence of university security personnel and forced him to apologise. However, Vemula and the others denied resorting to violence.

Expressing grief over Vemulas death, Kumar added, In fact, it is them (ASA members) who pushed him forward in all these activities including the attack on me. (It) Looks like his activist friends actually pushed him into depression.

Kumar had forwarded his complaint to Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya who in turn wrote a letter to the ministry of human resource development. Following a complaint and probe, five Dalit scholars were suspended from UoH and expelled from the hostel. The university suspension was later revoked.

With students accusing that Dattareyas intervention led to Vemulas death, Kumar said he approached the minister because neither the university nor police helped him.

There is a limit to anyones patience. Neither the university, nor the police came to my rescue. That is why I had to approach minister Dattatreya. We then decided to approach the courts so that these students could be made to realise their misdeeds, Kumar said.

Pointing out that this incident was not a one-off, Kumar put the onus of Vemulas suicide on ASA once again saying the disagreement with the student body was not about caste or student politics, and that ASA had a history of violence at UoH.

This is not the first time they have attacked a student. They have a history of attacking or harassing students  Dalits too  who do not agree or oppose their views. ASA members even abused my mother when she came to the campus to meet the authorities after the August incident, Kumar said.

Vemulas death has put the spotlight back on student politics with a slew of politicians reaching the UoH campus to show their solidarity. On Thursday, 10 SC/ST professors also resigned from their administrative posts at the university in protest of fabricated responses by HRD minister Smriti Irani to the raging controversy.
Assams Kamrup (metropolitan) district administration has ordered a probe into the alleged punishment of 13 students by a missionary school in Guwahati for speaking their mother tongue Assamese during school hours.

The students of Little Flower School, run by the Catholics, were reportedly barred from having their lunch and made to stand for 90 minutes for breaking the institutions rule of speaking only in English in school on Wednesday.

We have ordered a probe into the alleged punishment and assistant commissioner Pratima Rangpipi has been asked to submit the probe report within seven days, the districts deputy commissioner M Angamuthu told HT.

Assams principal city Guwahati is the districts administrative headquarters.

Angamuthu said that the district administration has also instructed all commercial, semi-commercial and private institutions across the city to use Assamese as the primary language on their hoardings and signboards.

We will remove any signboard or hoarding violating this order after January 31, he said.

Members of the All Assam Students Union and Assam Sahitya Sabha, which has been seeking the imposition of Assamese language, staged a demonstration outside the school seeking action against the school authorities.

Student leader Raifuddin Ahmed said their organisation has no issues with school management ensuring discipline, but punishing students for speaking in their mother tongue would not be tolerated.

The state government is at fault here - for failing to tame private institutions that are out to destroy the Assamese language, Ahmed said.

The spokesperson of a Catholic body said the school, like all other English-medium institutes, wants its students to speak in English. Parents want their wards to be good in English, and conversation helps polish the vocabulary and instil confidence in them. This is not done to undermine Assamese or any other language, he said.

A spokesperson representing the Archdiocese of Guwahati denied any anti-Assamese agenda and pointed out that missionaries had helped develop modern Assamese language by printing the first grammar, dictionary and periodical.

Almost all missionary schools in the 1800s and 1900s began in local languages including Assamese. Many of our schools established during the past few decades are in Assamese and local languages, the spokesperson said.

Assam has four official languages - Assamese across the Brahmaputra Valley, Bengali in the Barak Valley (southern Assam), English in the two hill districts of Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao and Bodo across Bodoland Territorial Council.

The Assam Sahitya Sabha has for years been trying to define Assamese people, and the exercise to update National Register of Citizen saw some indigenous communities such as Koch-Rajbongshi appeal against listing their mother tongue as Assamese.

On Wednesday, former Bihar governor Devananda Konwar, who severed his 61-year association with Congress to join perfume baron Badruddin Ajmals All India Democratic Front, said that his mother tongue was not Assamese.

Konwar is an Ahom, a community that migrated from Thailand more than eight centuries ago. The Ahoms used to speak Tai, a near-extinct language that is being revived.

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Vigilance has been heightened at the ongoing Ardh Kumbh mela and security increased around vital installations in the district after four youths with suspected terror links who were allegedly planning to launch an attack at the mela were nabbed, police said.

Security around sensitive and crowded spots, including Har Ki Pairi has been tightened, Inspector General of Police G S Martolia, in charge of the security for the mela, said.

Four youths with suspected terror links who were allegedly conspiring to strike in the mela area were held by a joint team of Delhi Police Special Cell and Uttarakhand police on Wednesday night from Manglour town in Haridwar district.

IG Martolia said all vehicles coming to Haridwar besides hotels and lodges in the district are being checked to keep a tab on dubious people.

Visitors to temples are on CCTV surveillance and senior police officials are patrolling the mela areas 24x7,he said.

A special vigil is being kept around vital installations and at points bordering the neighbouring states like Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh with patrolling and frisking being intensified, he said.

Bomb disposal squads and intelligence personnel are maintaining a constant vigil in the mela area and all intelligence inputs received are being analysed, he said.

Senior police officials, including IG Martolia, later visited Laksar railway station near Roorkeeand all the check posts and police stations between Laksar and Haridwar to take stock of security arrangements there, a release from DIG Ardh Kumbhs office said.
Opposition parties and activists hit out on Thursday at Union minister Smriti Irani for allegedly distorting facts in the case of a Dalit scholars suicide even as the University of Hyderabad revoked a suspension on four of his fellow students amid swirling nationwide outrage.

While Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal demanded the human resource development ministers resignation and criticised her for playing caste politics over the death of 26-year-old Rohith Vemula, about a dozen professors at the university quit their administrative posts, accusing Irani of making fabricated statements.

Vemula was among five students suspended by the institute following allegations of assault on a leader of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), an RSS-affiliated students body.

Smriti Irani lied yesterday and tried to play dirty caste politics and tried to play with the emotions of the students, Kejriwal told protesters at the university, referring to Iranis remarks on Wednesday that there was a malicious attempt to project the issue as a caste battle. We demand she seek an apology from the entire country for that. We appeal to the Prime Minister to remove Smriti Irani and Dattatreya from his Cabinet.

Read more: Irani dishing out lies after lies about Rohiths death: Kejriwal

The issue has snowballed into a massive political controversy with critics alleging that the HRD ministry pushed for the Dalit students to be punished by sending five reminders to the universitys vice-chancellor after labour minister Bandaru Dattatreya complained to Iranis department.

The BJP, which has been hit by a rash of controversies since taking power at the Centre with several of its leaders being accused of stoking communal tensions, is trying to play down the issue which could hurt its chances in this years state polls and may dominate the Parliaments budget session.

The SC/ST professors who quit said in a statement that they decided to step down following Iranis fabricated statements and also rubbished her claim that a Dalit professor was among the members of the universitys body that suspended the students including Vemula.

It is very wrong to say that the sub-committee (of the executive council) which expelled the students was headed by a Dalit. It was headed by professor (Vipin) Srivastav who is not a Dalit, a professor who did not wish to be identified told HT.

Administrative posts are non-teaching jobs assigned to professors like the recruitment committee of student admission panel.

Amid spiralling protests, the university lifted the suspension of four Dalit students who were accused along with Vemula of assaulting an ABVP activist.

Read more: 3 lies to hide 1: Congress rebuts Iranis defence on Dalit suicide row

The council after taking into account the extraordinary situation prevailing in the university, and after discussing the issue in detail, resolved to terminate the punishment imposed on the students concerned with immediate effect, a statement by the institution said.

Following the decision, vice-chancellor Podile Appa Rao asked the Ambedkar Students Association, which is spearheading a campaign seeking his resignation, to resume classes and maintain harmony.

The revocation gave a fresh handle to the Congress to attack Irani and Dattatreya with the party demanding a probe by a sitting high court judge and an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the HRD ministers misconduct.

Regrettably, had this decision been taken prior to January 17, Rohith Vemula would have been alive today, the partys chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said. She (Irani) is lying through her teeth in a bid to protect the ABVP leader. It also establishes the completely illegal and unconstitutional pressure used by HRD ministry earlier leading to suspension of five Dalit scholars and consequent suicide of Rohith Vemula.

The Congress has demanded the sacking of both Irani as well as Dattatreya who wrote to the HRD ministry last year alleging that the campus had turned into a den of casteist, extremist and anti-national politics.

ABVP leader Nandanam Susheel Kumar, allegedly the victim of the assault, demanded a fair inquiry and rejected claims that he had lied about being attacked by Vemula and other members of the ASA.

Police have booked Kumar and another ABVP member apart from Dattatreya and the university vice-chancellor for abetting Vemulas suicide.
A suspected intruder was shot dead early Thursday morning by BSF along the Indo-Pak border in Pathankot where the force is on high alert following the January 2 terror attack on air force base.

There were three infiltrators who were trying to cross the border of which two succeeded in escaping.

BSF shot dead a suspect who was crossing Indo-Pak border near #Pathankot, more details awaited.  ANI (@ANI_news) January 21, 2016

Officials said the Border Security Force team deployed along the International Border (IB) saw suspicious movement of at least three infiltrators near the Bamiyal area early morning. In order to thwart a bid to breach the border, the troops fired.

One intruder has been killed while two others fled back from the IB. The area where the incident took place is called Taash and is in Gurdaspur sector near Bamiyal in Pathankot, they said.

Incidentally, Bamiyal is the same area from where it is widely suspected that the terrorists from Pakistan who perpetrated the IAF base attack in Pathankot had sneaked into the country. Initial reports said the incident occurred last night but officers on ground believe that it has occurred around 6 AM.

The BSF has launched a search in the area to retrieve the body but heavy fog and low visibility is hampering the operation, the officials said. The latest action was by a trooper of the 132nd BSF battalion.

Gurdaspur Deputy Inspector General (DIG) N K Mishra and Commandant of the 132nd battalion deployed in the area S S Dabas were recently transferred by the BSF and a Court of Inquiry ordered to look for any lapses that could have led to the Pathankot attack in which seven security personnel were killed.

(With agency inputs)
A suspected terrorist named Syed Ahmed, escaped from police custody by jumping off a running train around 12 am on Wednesday night at Hoshangabad, about 70 kilometers south east of Bhopal.

According to Hoshangabad police officials, the terrorist was being taken to Lucknow by Vellore police officials who arrested him in Tamil Nadu.

The absconding terrorist along with seven Vellore police officials was travelling in Rapti Sagar Express. The train after leaving the Itarsi station was at Pawarkheda on the outskirts of Hoshangabad station. It was slowly catching up speed when suddenly the terrorist escaped from the custody of policemen and jumped off the train.

The Vellore policemen immediately informed the government railway police(GRP), who then informed the local police and anti-terrorist squad(ATS).

The police after sounding an alert, have immediately cordoned off the area from where he escaped and are conducting a search operation to nab him. We have also alerted the Itarsi police and the nearby districts to ensure that he does not run away. Police are searching the nearby villages and have put check-points at various places of the area to nab him as soon as possible, said Ashutosh Pratap Singh, superintendent of police, Hoshangabad.
A birdsong has led a team of scientists to Indias first new bird species in a decade and the fourth since 1947. The bird, which has been named the Himalayan Forest Thrush, has been described from northeastern India and adjacent parts of China by a team of scientists from India, Sweden, China, the US and Russia.

Per Alstrom from the department of animal ecology in Sweden-based Uppsala University and Shashank Dalvi from the Wildlife Biology and Conservation WCS-India Programme at the Bengaluru-based National Centre of Biological Sciences, discovered the species when they were studying birds at different elevations in the mountains of western Arunachal Pradesh.

It was there that they first noticed that two birds found at different elevations that were seemingly of the same species, called the Plain-backed Thrush, had two different song types.

The one below the tree line had a beautiful song and that intrigued us. There were also physical differences such as a longer bill, shorter wings and shorter legs, but we noticed them much later. The first clue was the song, said Dalvi. What was thought to be Plain-backed Thrush in the coniferous and mixed forest had a melodious song, but the ones found in the same area but on rocky habitats above the tree-line had a much harsher, scratchier, unmusical song.

The initial observation was followed by recordings of the bird from different places along with DNA samples.

Studies of specimens from 15 museums in seven countries revealed consistent differences in plumage and structure between birds from these two populations. It was found that the species breeding in the forests of the eastern Himalayas had no scientific name, and so it was named Zoothera salimalii after the late Dr Salim Ali, a prominent ornithologist who made significant contributions to ornithology in India.

Ironically, the Himalayan Forest Thrush is a very common bird in these areas. It was hidden in plain sight. It was so similar to the Plain-backed Thrush that unless you hear the song, it is hard to make out the difference, said Dalvi.

The study describing the new species appeared in Avian Research, an open-access peer reviewed journal on Wednesday.
The University of Hyderabad on Thursday lifted the suspension on four Dalit students, four days after the suicide by one of their fellow scholars sparked outrage across the nation and led to a political slugfest between the government and the opposition.

Rohith Vemula, 26, who hanged himself on Sunday, was among five students suspended following allegations of assault on a leader of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), an RSS-affiliated students body.

The council after taking into account the extraordinary situation prevailing in the university, and after discussing the issue in detail, resolved to terminate the punishment imposed on the students concerned with immediate effect, a statement by the university said.

Following the decision, vice-chancellor Podile Appa Rao asked the Ambedkar Students Association -- spearheading an agitation seeking his resignation -- to resume classes and maintain calm and harmony under the extraordinary circumstances prevailing on the campus.

However, there was no immediate reaction from students on indefinite hunger strike over the incident, which has come as a major embarrassment for the BJP-led NDA government ahead of crucial assembly elections in some states later this year.

Hours before the university decision, Union minister Smriti Irani faced a barrage of criticism for allegedly distorting facts in the case with the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) accusing her of lying to absolve the BJP-led government in the incident.

Ten professors of the University of Hyderabad -- who have quit their administrative posts over the suicide -- also charged the Union human resource development minister of misrepresenting facts in the incident.

AAP leader and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal met protesting students at the campus and charged Irani of dishing out lie after lie in the incident, an allegation also made by the Congress earlier in the day.

The death of Rohith is a shame on the nationon the society, Kejriwal said while addressing the students. He also met Rohiths mother, who has been protesting on campus demanding justice for her 26-year-old son.

Launching a stinging criticism of Irani for her comments that there were malicious attempts to turn the incident into a Dalit versus non-Dalit confrontation, the AAP leader said that instead of trying to create controversy, she should have been trying to ensure justice for Rohith.

He accused the BJP government at the Centre of trying to muffle the voices of those who disagreed with its views, be it Hindus, Muslims or anyone.

The Congress also stepped up the ante on Thursday, accusing Irani of lying in the case as it picked holes in the Centres defence in the incident.

Kal Smriti Irani ji ne ek jhooth dabaane ke liye teen teen jhooth bole (Yesterday, Smriti Irani said three lies to hide one), Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said in Delhi, a day after the HRD minister defended her ministry, accused of allegedly putting pressure on the university to suspend the five students.

The Congress has demanded the sacking of both Irani and Dattatreya, who had wrote to the ministry alleging that the campus had turned into a den of casteist, extremist and anti-national politics.

The 10 SC/ST professors said in a statement that they decided to quit following Iranis fabricated statements and also rubbished her claim that a Dalit professor was among the members of the universitys body that suspended the students including Rohith.

It is very wrong to say that the sub-committee (of the executive council) which expelled the students was headed by a Dalit. It was headed by professor (Vipin) Srivastav who is not a Dalit, a professor who did not wish to be identified told HT.

Administrative posts are non-teaching jobs assigned to professors like the recruitment committee of student admission panel.

ABVP leader Nandanam Susheel Kumar on Thursday demanded a fair inquiry and rejected claims that he had lied about being assaulted by Rohith and other members of the ASA.

Police have booked Kumar and another ABVP member besides Union minister Dattatreya and the university vice-chancellor for abetting Rohiths suicide.
At a time when Hyderabad is on the boil over the suicide of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula, Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University (BBAU) on Friday will be keenly observed by political pundits. Around 50% of the students at the Lucknow varsity belong to the Dalit community.

To prevent potential protests during the Prime Ministers visit, only university staffers and 519 students who are to be given degrees and medals will be allowed to enter the venue. This step was taken in cognizance of certain students who have taken to the social media to voice their resentment over the Vemula episode.

Vemula, a second-year PhD student, had ended his life on January 17 after the University of Hyderabad initiated disciplinary action against him and a few colleagues for their involvement in student politics. The action was allegedly taken at the behest of Union ministers Smriti Irani and Bandaru Dattatreya.

Shreyat Boudha, a Dalit student who claims that he was arbitrarily expelled by the university, has asked Modi in a tweet to revoke the action taken against him. Many of his college-mates have similar complaints.

Speaking to HT, Shreyat drew a parallel between his story and that of Vemula in Hyderabad. We were expelled because we opposed the universitys move to name the library after Sardar Vallabhai Patel. We wanted it to be named after Dr Ambedkar. The university was looking for an opportunity to expel those who raise their voice against it, and it got one when an upper caste student passed a casteist remark against us. We objected, and were expelled, he claimed.

However, the university administration rubbished the allegations. BBAU spokesperson Kamal Jaiswal said, The university has not expelled anyone. Three of them were arrested for beating up an upper caste student after consuming liquor on the campus. We have only banned their entry into the campus until the internal inquiry has been completed. An internal committee is investigating the matter, and the final verdict is yet to come out.

During his visit to the state capital on Friday, Modi will also visit the Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Mahasabha in a move thats being seen as a poll strategy to woo Dalits ahead of the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. He will become the first Indian Prime Minister to visit the memorial, where the iconic social reformers ashes have been preserved.

This is part of a clear design to woo Dalit voters two of the three events are related to Dr Ambedkar. Of the 3,500 students who study at Ambedkar University, 50% are from the Dalit community. The writing is on the wall. This exercise will not only set the tone for the assembly polls but also go down well with the RSS, helping it carry forward the states poll agenda, said Sudhir Panwar, professor at Lucknow University.

At the memorial, community members will discuss atrocities committed against Dalits, including the Hyderabad scholars suicide, with Modi. Several issues related to atrocities against Dalits across the country, which have come to the fore lately, will be taken up with the Prime Minister, Dr Lalji Prasad Nirmal, president of the Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Mahasabha, told HT.

Vemulas suicide will also be taken up during the discussion, he said. Dalit students are being victimised in all educational institutions across the country, not just the University of Hyderabad, Dr Nirmal added.

According to the association president, lack of Dalit representation in the management committees of universities was the main cause for their victimisation.

This is the first time a Prime Minister would be visiting Lucknow in the last 13 years. Atal Behari Vajpayee was the last premier to come by, way back in 2003.
An 11th century monument has emerged as a religious flashpoint in Madhya Pradeshs Dhar district days ahead of next months Basant Panchami with Hindus and Muslims vying to offer prayers at the disputed site that Friday.

Under an old arrangement mediated by district authorities, Hindus are allowed to pray at the Bhojshala complex from sunrise to sunset every Basant Panchami, while Muslims offer prayer at the site on Fridays.

But with the occasions overlapping on February 12, both sides are reluctant to give up their access to the site and the local administration is apprehensive of fresh trouble around what many call the states mini Ayodhya.

Sources say hard-line Hindu groups want to organise prayers throughout the day without allowing Muslims to offer their Friday namaaz.

The website of the Archaeological Survey of Indias (ASI) Bhopal Circle refers to the monument as the Bhojshala and Kamal Maulas Mosque.

It is believed that it was originally a temple of goddess Sarasvati built by Parawara King Bhoja in circa 11th Century AD, the site says. The mosque is built using structural members of the temple. The monument also retains some slabs inscribed with Sanskrit and Prakrit literary works. Noted as a great patron of art and literature, Bhoja is said to have established a school, now known as Bhojashala.

Simmering religious tensions over the shrine have been stoked by a slew of communal incidents over the past few months in Dhar and neighbouring districts. (HT Photo)

A senior police officer, who did not wish to be named, termed these deliberate attempts to polarise the two communities on the eve of Basant Panchami.

The matter escalated after authorities slapped sedition charges on some prominent Muslims in the area including Dhar Shahar Qazi Waqar Sadiq, Mujeeb Qureshi, who is the president of the state Congress minority wing, as well as his son, Kamran Qureshi, for allegedly shouting anti-national slogans during a procession on December 7.

While they are yet to be arrested, six others have been jailed over the issue for three months. The Qazi, who has influence over nearly 210,000 Muslims in the district, and others have denied the charges and alleged that the action was taken at the behest of local Hindu outfits.

Sources say, during similar crises at the Bhojshala in 2003, 2006 and 2013, he played a crucial role in maintaining peace.

If we are not allowed to offer namaaz on Friday, the Muslims would be hurt and it would also be a failure of the central government as it is an ASI-protected monument, said Sadiq.

Right-wing orgainsations are using the occasion to unite the Hindu community in the name of swabhimaan and samman, or self-respect and honour.

The Hindu samaj will not tolerate any backstabbing by the administration this time as was done with us in 2013, said Vijay Singh Rathore, patron of theBhojshala Utsav Samiti, the organisation overseeing the Basant Panchami festivities.

Three years ago, the administration had strategically stopped the pooja in the afternoon to allow the Muslims to offer namaaz when police also had to resort to lathicharge.

Under an old arrangement mediated by district authorities, Hindus are allowed to pray at the Bhojshala complex from sunrise to sunset every Basant Panchami, while Muslims offer prayer at the site on Fridays. (HT File Photo)

Two Hindu groups have decided to hold a religious meeting on January 24 when controversial spiritual leader Sadhvi Ritambhara is expected to address locals.

Sources told Hindustan Times said that BJP MP Yogi Adityanath, known for his incendiary statements, has also been invited to come to the Bhojshala and address the people. He was coming to Dhar on January 29 but the programme was postponed, said Rathore.
Maharashtra has become the first state to provide special child care leave to women employees who opt for surrogacy.

The state government on Wednesday issued a government resolution (GR) to implement this on the lines of regular maternity leave. Women government employees, including those employed in state-run educational institutes, universities can avail 180 days leave in such cases, after their childs birth.

Experts said that very few Indian couples opt for surrogacy  the rate being around 2%, but this can be useful for women who opt for surrogacy. Dr Duru Shah of Gynaecworld, a fertility clinic in Mumbai, said, We can induce biological mothers to breastfeed the baby for which such leave can be beneficial.

At an average 10 to 15 surrogate-related treatments are done annually at an infertility facility in Mumbai. A four-month maternity leave should be enough. Owing to absence of any legislation, surrogacy is still being practice in accordance with guidelines from the government and in such scenario government discussing maternity leave is little early, said, Dr Anjali Malpani, who runs an infertility clinic in Colaba.
The members of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community will now literally shift gears to earn their livelihood. In a first-of-its-kind initiative by Wings Travel and Humsafar Trust, a city-based NGO, five members of the LGBT community will be trained to drive radio cabs.

It is so unfortunate that the LGBT community in India is either ridiculed or worshipped. They gave never been accepted in mainstream work environment of the society, said Pallav Patankar, director programs, Humsafar Trust.

A project launched by Wings Travels and community organisation Humsafar Trust will train up to 300 members of the LGBT community to drive cabs in the city. (Arijit Sen/HT photo)

Patankar added, In Thailand, people from the LGBT communities work in all sectors without being looked down upon. In India, there is a huge resistance from the corporates to involve this community.

While only five members of the LGBT are currently a part of this initiative, more members from the community will be employed in the coming days.

We have openings for nearly 1,500 LGBT members in Mumbai under the programme. We are aiming to turn it into a pan-India scheme, said Arun Kharat, founder and director, Wings Travels.

(Arijit Sen/HT photo)

The members of the LGBT community will be able to earn nearly Rs 15,000 per month under the initiative.

Suraj Thakur, 25, is one of the five members of the LGBT community who is going to be trained as a part of this scheme He currently works at the Humsafar Trust.

Wings Travels can place about 1,500 LGBT drivers in its taxi fleet nationwide, said Arun Kharat, the companys founder and director. (Arijit Sen/HT photo)

People in our society just assume that members of my community earn their bread and butter by either working as sex workers or begging in trains. I too have a right to live my life with dignity. I am very happy and excited to have this opportunity of driving a cab to earn a living, added Thakur.
An Uber cabbie molested an HT journalist on Wednesday evening. She had booked the cab to go to a friends place in Noida Sector 15 from Gautam Nagar in Delhi.

The driver has been arrested.

I booked the cab at about 7.15 pm on Wednesday. I was following the google map to reach my destination. When the cab reached near Sector 15, I requested the cab driver to ask someone about the address, the HT employee said.

However, the driver of the cab did not listen to her and kept driving. He also refused to take a U-turn towards Sector 15 and continued driving, claiming that there is no space to negotiate a turn, she said.

As he refused to ask the address, I told him to stop near some auto-rickshaws. But he did not stop. When I shouted at him, he stretched his left hand to touch me. Since the cab was running slow, I jumped out of the car. I asked him to take money and give me a complaint number, she said.

The driver did not provide any complaint number and said he cannot leave her without completing the journey, she said.

Sensing his advances, I called the police and some of my friends. The police van took about half an hour to reach the spot. First, the officials tried to hush up the case. But when I revealed my identity, they immediately lodged an FIR, she said.

Assistant superintendent of police (circle officer 1), Vijay Dhull, said, The accused was identified as Ravinder. Following a complaint from the victim, a case was registered under Section 354 (assault or criminal force on woman with an intent to outrage her modesty) of IPC. The accused was arrested and sent to jail. There was no delay in the process. If the victim complaints about any delay, I will order an enquiry.

The reporter said when she called the customer care of Uber, the executive tried to convince her not to file any police case.

Safety, especially for (of) women, is a priority for Uber. We take all reports of such incidents incredibly (very) seriously. We immediately suspended the driver after the incident was reported. We are in touch with the rider and will fully support the authorities in their investigation, said an Uber spokesperson.

Read | Delhi Uber rape case: Convicted cabbie gets life in prison
The UT education department has finally woken up and decided to appoint school heads before March 31 in seven senior secondary government schools, which are a few among those running without the principals.

Confirming the development on Wednesday, director school education (DSE) Rubinderjit Singh Brar said, The DPSE (department of planning statistics and evaluation) has already prepared a tentative list on the basis of seniority. We have already sent out a proposal the education department to fill up the vacant posts in the senior secondary schools without principals.

In the meantime, the DSE also said officiating principals will be put to work so that no further damage is caused to the staff and students of these schools. It is a genuine concern that has been raised time and again. Hence, we are working towards rectifying the same, added Brar.

Sources said the proposal is yet to get the approval of senior officials of the education department. The vacant posts will be filled up on the basis of lecturers and headmasters due for promotion.

Deputy director (school education) Chanchal Singh said the matter is being viewed seriously by the department. He said the schools at which the department officials are currently looking to fill up the vacant post of school heads included Government Model Senior Secondary School-45, GMSSS-35, GMSSS-15, GMSSS19, GMSSS-Manimajra, GMSSSSarangpur, Government Model Senior Secondary School-38 (West).

Meanwhile, president of the Government Schools Principals Association, Chandigarh, Harbir Anand said, It is high time that the department should work in this direction as it has led to a lot of mismanagement in the schools functioning without principals. This in turn impacts results of the students. A timely roster should be prepared in this regard to avoid delay in future.

Joint secretary, joint action committee (JAC) of teachers, Chandigarh, Ranbir Singh Rana said the matter has already been taken up at the level of the UT adviser and must not be delayed any further. Some of the schools have been without heads for over two years now. he added.

It was long due and shall serve the very basic purpose for which these posts are created. Officials must form some advance mechanism so that these posts are not left vacant for more than 15 days on account of transfer or retirement, said Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan president Arvind Rana.

A teacher of a government school, Sector 35, requesting anonymity, said, A school running without a principal is like a country running without a prime minister. Students, teachers and administrative staff tend to take it easy.

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The Punjab and Haryana high court on Thursday dismissed liquor baron Shiv Lal Dodas anticipatory bail plea in the Abohar murder case.

The bench of justice MMS Bedi pronounced the judgment on Dodas plea on Thursday evening, stating that the investigating agency had stated in its contention that Doda could be required for further probe into the matter. The detailed order is awaited.

Doda had been booked for criminal conspiracy for the December 11, 2015, incident in which Bhim Sain, a Dalit man, was murdered at the Akali leaders farmhouse in Abohar. His both hands and legs were chopped off at Dodas farmhouse and another person, Gurjant Singh, who accompanied Tank also suffered injuries in the incident. He had approached high court seeking anticipatory bail on January 15. The victim families had also moved high court challenging anticipatory bail to Doda. The families had alleged before the court that Dodahad a motive behind the killing. Senior advocate Anupam Gupta, who had appeared for the families of deceased Bhim Tank and injured Gurjant Singh, had submitted that through the killing, Doda wanted to send out a message to his former and current employees that any defiance would not be tolerated.

In his petition, Doda had questioned the credibility of complainant Ranjit Singh, brother of Gurjant Singh, besides, questioning as to why he had taken Bhim Tank to a private hospital in Amritsar and not to the medical college in Faridkot, after the incident. It was also argued that on the day of incident he was not in Abohar and was in Delhi and he had not role in the brutal killing.
Calling for a pioneering revolution in the food processing sector in the state, Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal on Thursday sought the support of Union food processing ministry for formulating a comprehensive action plan to achieve the goal.

Interacting with a high-level team of Union food processing ministry in Chandigarh, Badal noted that the ministry, along with the state government, should formulate an ambitious plan within a month so that a big push could be given to the food processing sector in the state.

He said that the hard working and resilient farmers of the state had led to the countrys Green Revolution (foodgrain production), White Revolution (milk production) and Blue Revolution (fish production) and now it was time their indomitable spirit of entrepreneurship was channelised in the food processing sector.

Badal said the Punjabi farmers had made the state a leader in foodgrains production but it had reached a point of saturation.

In such a scenario, processing of foodgrains, meat, fish, milk, fruits, vegetables and other products could do wonders in supplementing the income of farmers, he said.

I firmly believe that food processing is the panacea of all ills faced by the farmers, he said.

The CM urged the representatives of the ministry to open demonstration-cum-training centres across the state to encourage farmers to take up food processing.

He said that these centres that will exhibit the techniques, ways and finished products, would act as a catalyst in making food processing a mass movement in the state.

Meanwhile, Badal also gave his nod for a tie-up between Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University and National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management (NIFTEM) for the introduction of courses in food processing.

To further boost the food processing sector in the state, he asked NIFTEM to explore the feasibility of setting up dedicated training centres for milk, fruits and vegetables, honey, fish and meat processing by becoming a technical knowledge partner of the state.

During the meeting, it was decided that 200 programmes would be held across the state from February to November at a cost of Rs 18 crore to impart highly skilled training to farmers.
Life of children in Fauji Mohalla, a slum in the middle of city, is vastly different to what it is supposed to be. Around 70 shanties house at least 90 families, with each family on an average having 2-3 children. A shocking statistic - around 10 children - attend school from this area. The rest are either working as rag pickers or are seen playing.

Even as the much touted legislation Right to Education (RTE) Act, mandating free and compulsory education for all till 14 years of age, is armed to give them the most vital tool, putting them in school remains a distant dream here.

A big section of children never go to schools. When parents go to work, children remain in the huts and spend their time playing. Although they may have the ability to learn and grasp, they are wasting lives in here, said Shammi Devi, resident of fauji mohalla.

Lack of resources and no help from the government compounds the problem.

When school bus crosses before our slum, both my children express desire to go to school. I am too willing to put my children into school, but I cannot afford their study expenses. Government school is far away from here and they will have to cross railway line Fauji, a cobbler, said.

Nanak Ram, one of the lucky one from the area said, said, All my three children are getting education. But hardly ten children go to school from this slum area.

Gurjot Singh, district education officer (primary), said, In a survey held in December last year we found 2,431 children in different places who are not going to school. We will try to put these children into government schools for study from April.

The survey covers many aspects including migrated labor, dropout and children with lack of interest in study. But around 180 slums have been indentified in Ludhiana city and the number of such children may increase.

Satish Thaman, member of the district grievance redressal committee, said, There are huge poor population surrounding the city and thousands children are not going to schools. The education department shall open small schools in every slum and also provide medical facilities to these children.

The district education officer should organise meetings in such areas and raise awareness among parents about the importance of education. I will raise the issue of these childrens study in the meeting of the committee on January 28, he added.
So near, yet so far. Thats how the tryst of former Faridkot MP and Congress Working Committee member Jagmeet Brar has been with getting the top job in Punjab Congress. Suspended from the party in 2014 for saying that party president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi should connect to grassroots after the partys worst show in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, he has now targeted his party and state chief Capt Amarinder Singh after the Maghi mela. In an interview to Sukhdeep Kaur, Brar says he has spoken in the best interest of the party.

Q: Your tweet on the AAP rally during the Maghi mela has been retweeted by Arvind Kejriwal and other AAP leaders. Many Punjab Congress leaders are accusing you of embarrassing your party and Amarinder.

Brar: Who am I to criticise Amarinder? Never before in the history of the Maghi mela has Muktsar seen such a huge gathering for any Punjab or national leader. I had sent my security guard to get medicines from near the AAP rally venue at 3.30 pm, and he returned at 8 pm. People were not just inside the pandal but on roads, top of buses and houses. I tweeted what I saw, what Muktsar saw. It was a record-breaking turnout. It was a wake-up call for the Congress.

You also questioned Akali leaders and Amarinder for targeting Kejriwal.

Kejriwal came to Punjab and met families of the Pathankot martyrs. He had earlier met families of victims of police firing during sacrilege incidents. We should be sensitive enough to welcome him. Even Amarinder condemned the ink attack on him. When Punjab is facing such grave issues, its sad that all our leaders could talk about was Kejriwal. The election has to be fought on issues, not mudslinging.

You seem to be particularly piqued after the Congress rally at the Maghi mela. Though unlike at the Bathinda rally, you were invited to speak.

I was not perturbed at not being invited to speak at the Bathinda rally but by the body language of some people there. It was not like a party rally as just a few people ran the show. The Maghi rally was like a tamasha. Even MLAs did not get the space to sit. Some MLAs have met Amarinder to express their anger. People who have come from the Akali Dal got space but not Congressmen. We need workers, not leaders, to win polls.

You have also questioned Amarinders coterie.

Amarinder is undoubtedly the tallest leader in Punjab Congress and I respect him. He is lively and can breathe life into the Congress, but it cannot be done with bedhangi chaal. He has to have a bigger heart. Earlier, nobody could meet him without the consent of Jeet Mohinder Sidhu and Arvind Khanna. Both ditched the party. Though he goes everywhere and meets people with warmth, who he meets and through whom is still controlled by a few. Congress workers had this feeling even during the 2012 polls. The coterie gives him wrong advice. The same people who surrounded him in 2002 surround him now, but I will take no names.

Your detractors claim that you are eyeing the AAP as you have been left out in the cold in the Congress.

I have been one of the Congress stalwarts in the state, though as luck would have it, I could not become the state Congress president or chief minister. Neither any AAP leader has approached me, nor did I approach any AAP leader. I am not into small business like this. Whatever I have said is in the best interest of the party. Other parties have formed booth-level committees. We are not prepared for the polls like them. But I will not say any further. Even noted poet Surjit Pattar said, Aena wi sach na bol ki kalla reh javen, do char bande chhad de moda dain layi (Dont speak so much truth that you are left alone with no one to carry you to the grave).

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The Punjab Police have appointed inspector general of police (IGP), intelligence, Varinder Kumar as the supervisory officer to oversee probe into the high-profile kidney racket unearthed in July last year.

The development, seen as an effort to speed up the investigation and take the case to its logical conclusion, comes days after the high court granted anticipatory bail to prime accused Dr Rajesh Aggarwal. The bail to Aggarwal was considered a setback for the special investigation team (SIT), which had opposed it.

IGP Kumar has already summoned members of the SIT, composed of deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Sandeep Kumar Sharma, additional DCP (headquarters) Alka Meena, ADCP-I J Elanchezhian, ADCP-II Amrik Singh Powar, assistant commissioner of police (ACP) (Model Town) and the station house officer (SHO) of police station-7.

The SIT members have been asked to come up with the entire case record, but a meeting scheduled for Wednesday was postponed in view of the deputy chief ministers visit. The next of date of the meeting has yet to be decided. Sources said the SIT will be preparing a questionnaire for Dr Aggarwal as he had reportedly sought more time on January 18.

They said the doctor is set to be quizzed about the registration certificate, documents of the authorization committee for relatives and other records sent to the directorate of medical education and research (DRME) about the transplants carried out at the National Kidney Hospital, which he owns, since 2011.

The sources added that Dr Aggarwal will also be grilled about the doctors who performed the transplants. On January 15, the SIT had announced to summon three doctors, including a doctor couple, after their names cropped up during the questioning of Dr Aggarwals wife, Deepa Aggarwal.d

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The protesting farmers on Thursday decided not to march towards Badal village in Muktsar, the native village of chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, after the administration fixed their meeting with the chief minister, but decided to continue with their protest at the nearby Rai Ke Kalan village.

The farmers continued to stay put at the gurdwara at Rai Ke Kalan village, 4 km from Badal, as the police prevented them from coming out of its premises. Confusion prevailed throughout the day as farmers claimed to have dropped the idea of holding the three-day protest at Badal village from Friday after the district administration fixed their meeting with the chief minister on January 27. The farmers claimed that the administration had allowed them to hold the protest at Rai Ke Kalan village instead.

We have agreed to the administrations plea for not going to Badal village on the terms that it would allow our workers across the state to reach Rai Ke Kalan village for the protest, said Sukhdev Singh Kokri, state general secretary of Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ugarahan). Kokri claimed that the government had agreed to immediately free leaders of farm and labour unions, who were arrested in view of the protest.

On the other hand, the administration, confirming the meeting with the chief minister, claimed that they had not allowed the protesters to continue the protest at the village gurdwara. Bathinda SSP Swapan Sharma said though they had relaxed the security on the plea of the farmers, the police and administration had not yet decided on their plea to continue the protest at Rai Ke Kalan village. We will not allow outsiders to enter the village. Nothing has been discussed with farmers regarding continuation of the protest, the SSP said, adding that the farmers had decided not to go to Badal village after the administration fixed their meeting with the chief minister.

The Bathinda deputy commissioner also claimed that the administration had not considered the farmers demand of continuing their protest. After meeting farmers representatives, many things were yet to be sorted out, he said.

Badal village turns virtual fortress

Even after farmers agreed not to march towards Badal village, it has turned into a virtual fortress. The police cordoned off all main and link roads leading to the village. Special check posts have been set up in nearby villages to restrict the movement of farmers. The vehicles coming from Bathinda side were allowed to enter the village only after a proper checking.

Bathinda range DIG Ranbir Singh Khatra oversaw the security arrangements. We will not allow farmers to reach Badal village at any cost. Heavy security arrangements have been made to maintain law and order, Khatra said.

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After 10 years of research, the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) department of vegetable science has developed a new variety of pea crop  Matar Ageta-7 or MA-7.

Department expert RK Dhall said this early-maturing variety had the potential to give much higher yield than the varieties released earlier. The performance of MA-7 is better than that of the popular AP-3 pea of Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture and Technology, Kanpur. MA-7 gives maiden picking within 60 days of sowing, if sown in the last week of September; which allows farmers to vacate the fields in time for planting wheat. It matures four to five days earlier than AP-3 and gives 5 to 10% more yield, said Dhall.

High yield means that farmers who will grow this variety will have a chance to make more money out of each acre. The yield from each acre is about 33 quintal, the expert added. Department head Ajmer Singh Dhatt said considering the advantages of this new variety, the developers expect it to become popular quickly. This season, AP-7 was the most widely grown pea but from the next, MA-7 will be everyones choice, he stated.

Universitys additional director of research Jagtar Singh Dhiman explained that like pulses, the roots of pea crop have rhizomes that fix nitrogen in the soil to enhance its fertility. Nitrogen is vital for the soil, for ensuring its good health. All farmers should grow soil-enriching crops, said Dhiman.

District agriculture officer Sukhpal Singh Sekhon said the department deserved appreciation for developing the new variety but farmers should buy seeds only from the PAU or the district agriculture offices for authenticity. The seed price of MA-7 is Rs 150 per kilogram.

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Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, daughter of former Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi, has been frequenting Chharabra village to inspect ongoing works at her under construction cottage. Priyanka Gandhi again arrived in Shimla on Thursday.

Priyanka, accompanied by an architect from Delhi, drove to Hotel Wildflower Hall from Chandigarh after flying in from Delhi in the afternoon. She will spend a day in Shimla to inspect her cottage at Chharabra village which is near-completion. The cottage is located 14 kilometer from the main town. The news of her visit had been kept under wraps owing to security reasons.

This is Priyankas fourth visit since last year. In 2015, she had visited the cottage along with her mother Sonia Gandhi. The under-construction cottage is located close to the Presidents summer holiday retreat.

The site, spread over 3.5 bighas (a bigha is about 0.4 hectare), is situated at a height of more than 8,000 feet amid verdant pine and cedar trees. Priyanka bought the nearly one acre (4.25 bighas) plot in 2007 for Rs 47 lakh. Its present market value is estimated at Rs 1.5 crore per bigha. The-then Himachal government had relaxed norms under Section 118 of the Land Reforms and Tenancy Act to facilitate the sale of land. Under the current land regulations, only permanent residents of the state can buy land in Himachal.
For the fourth consecutive year, there will be no Punjab tableau at the Republic Day parade.

The states hopes were dashed after the defence ministrys selection committee rejected the governments tableau on the Khalsa Heritage Complex, Anandpur Sahib.

Punjab had proposed models on three themesMai Bhago Armed Forces Preparatory Institute, solar energy, and religious and historic memorials - of which the Khalsa Heritage Complex was initially picked in the first phase of selection, said Punjab director, public relations, Rahul Tiwari.

The states tableau on Maharaja Ranjit Singh had figured in the R-Day parade in 2012.

In recent years, the state has been proposing tableaux on themes such as Baba Farid, Teej festival and the Kila Raipur games, but none has made the cut.

The defence ministrys move to reduce the parades duration to 98 minutes is being seen as a reason for many states not making it to the prestigious parade. It is learnt that the number of states exhibiting tableaux this time has been limited to 10.

There is no criterion of rotation as the selection is done on merit, a senior official in New Delhi told HT on the phone. The list of tableau themes was sought by the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) from the defence ministry for its own review, he added.
Three Madhesi protesters, including a woman, were killed in police firing and eight more injured as fresh clashes erupted over Nepals new constitution in Morang district on Thursday.

The clashes, which followed a lull of almost two months, occurred at Rangeli Bazaar and Dahaniya Chowk in the eastern district when Madhesi protesters clashed with police.

The protesters, under the banner of the United Democratic Madhesi Front, were trying to disrupt a programme by the youth wing of the ruling Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist.

District officials confirmed the deaths of Draupadi Devi Chaudhary, Shibu Majhi and Mahadev Rishi. The condition of some of the injured was described by officials as critical.

We have confirmed reports of three deaths and eight injured in the clashes. The situation in the area, located 25 km from the district headquarters, is under control now, chief district official Toyam Raya told Hindustan Times.

Local reports said police used tear gas and fired blanks in an attempt to disperse the protesters. They resorted to firing when that failed.

It seems instead of resolving the issue through ongoing talks, the government is trying to disrupt the process by unleashing violent measures against protesters, said Upendra Yadav of the Federal Socialist Forum-Nepal, one of the four constituents of the UDMF.

This is the first time Madhesi protesters have died in clashes with police since last November, when two persons were killed in Saptari district.

Madhesis, the residents of the Terai region bordering India, have been protesting against Nepals new constitution since August. Violent clashes with police have claimed nearly 55 lives so far.

The protesters have been demanding changes in the statute related to proportional representation, delimitation of constituencies and fresh demarcation of federal boundaries.

They have blocked Nepals main trade point with India at Birganj since September, resulting in a severe shortage of essential goods and fuel. Several rounds of talks between the government and the UDMF have failed to resolve the deadlock.

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The Afghan Taliban on Thursday issued a warning to the countrys media not to oppose jihad and Islam, a day after a suicide attack in the heart of Kabul killed seven employees of a leading media group.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for Wednesdays suicide attack on a bus of Kaboora Production, a sister organisation of Tolo TV, that also injured 26 people.

We want to reassure all impartial media outlets. They must not unintentionally compare themselves with Tolo and should withhold from making unwarranted assertions..., the Taliban said in the warning posted on its website.

The statement claimed the Tolo group was targeted because its workers were anti-Jihad and anti-Islam elements trained by foreign intelligence toiling for the Americans.

The Taliban had earlier warned Tolo and Kabul-based 1TV channel in October. At that time too, the militants had accused the channels of spreading propaganda against jihad and mujahideen.

The Taliban had warned last year that reporters of the two channels would be deemed enemy personnel and their offices considered military objectives which will be directly eliminated.

After a suicide bomber detonated his explosives near the bus carrying more than 30 staff from Kaboora Production in Kabul on Wednesday evening, Tolo TV condemned the incident as one of a series of terrorist attacks that kill innocent Afghans.

President Ashraf Ghani and CEO Abdullah Abdullah too condemned the attack. Abdullah said freedom of speech is a major achievement of Afghanistan in the past 14 years and such attacks would not stop people from speaking out.
A local leader of al Qaedas Syrian affiliate was assassinated by unknown gunmen on Wednesday, the latest in a string of killings of mostly hardline Islamist rebels, a monitor said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Iyad al-Adl, emir for the town of Ariha in northwestern Syrias Idlib province, was shot dead along with a second member of Al-Nusra Front.

The Britain-based monitor said unidentified gunmen opened fire on the car in which the men were driving in a western neighbourhood of Ariha.

The assassination is the latest in a series of targeted killings of senior Islamist rebels, including from the al Qaeda affiliate Nusra and its ally Ahrar al-Sham.

Analysts say the killings could be the work of the regime or the Islamic State group, which considers all factions that have not pledged allegiance to it to be its rivals.

At least 20 rebel commanders have been killed in the assassinations since early December in several parts of Syria, including central Homs province, southern Daraa and elsewhere in Idlib.

Idlib province is held by the powerful Army of Conquest coalition of rebels including Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham.

Rebel groups have regularly accused IS of having sleeper cells in their territory, but the jihadists have not openly claimed the assassinations.

More than 260,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests.
A bomb blast killed six people, including three Egyptian policemen, as a team of officers on Thursday raided an apartment in Cairo suspected to be a militant hideout, police said.

The explosion in the capitals al Haram district, near the pyramids, came ahead of next weeks anniversary of the 2011 revolution that ousted long time autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

Six people have been killed in the blast, including three policemen. The others include a civilian and two unidentified men, a police officer told AFP.

Fifteen other people were wounded.

Security officials said the impact of the explosion damaged part of the residential building housing the apartment.

The neighbourhood of al Haram has witnessed several attacks and gunfights since the overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

It is known to house many sympathisers of Morsi and used to be a regular venue for clashes between his supporters and security forces in the aftermath of his ouster by then army chief and now President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

The district also houses several hotels used by tourists visiting Cairo because of its proximity to the pyramids.

Militants have regularly attacked policemen and soldiers since the army toppled Morsi.

The Cairo bombing comes after gunmen killed five policemen late on Wednesday when they attacked a checkpoint in the North Sinai town of El Arish.

The Islamic State jihadist groups Egyptian affiliate, the Sinai Province, claimed that attack.

The Sinai Province is spearheading an insurgency against security forces in the region, and has carried out deadly attacks in North Sinai as well as in other cities, including Cairo.

Jihadists say their attacks are in retaliation for a brutal government crackdown targeting Morsis supporters that has left hundreds dead and thousands imprisoned.

Morsi was Egypts first freely-elected president and succeeded Mubarak, who was driven from power after an 18-day popular uprising.

On Monday, Egypt marks the fifth anniversary of the anti-Mubarak revolt, and Sisi has warned against any form of demonstration on that day.

Morsis Islamist Muslim Brotherhood movement, now blacklisted as a terrorist organisation, has called for protests throughout January.

But its ability to mobilise supporters has diminished amid the blistering government crackdown that has seen several of its top leaders jailed and some sentenced to death and lengthy prison terms.

The interior ministry too has warned against any chaos on Monday, and has boosted security across Egypt, including around the capitals iconic Tahrir Square -- epicentre of the anti-Mubarak revolt.
Gunmen on Wednesday attacked the Bacha Khan University in Pakistan as it prepared to host a poetry recital in the afternoon to commemorate the death anniversary of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, a popular ethnic Pashtun independence activist after whom the university is named.

Vice-Chancellor Fazal Rahim told reporters that the university teaches over 3,000 students and was hosting an additional 600 visitors for the poetry recital.

Umar Mansoor, a senior Pakistani Taliban commander involved in the December 2014 attack on the army school in Peshawar, claimed responsibility for the Charsadda assault and said it involved four of his men. He told Reuters by telephone the university was targeted because it was a government institution that supported the army.

However, later in the day, official Taliban spokesman Muhammad Khorasani issued a written statement disassociating the militants from the attack, calling it un-Islamic.

Youth who are studying in non-military institutions, we consider them as builders of the future nation and we consider their safety and protection our duty, the statement said.

The reason for the conflicting claims was not immediately clear. While the Taliban leadership is fractured, Mansoor is believed to remain loyal to central leader Mullah Fazlullah.

The Pakistani Taliban are fighting to topple the government and install a strict interpretation of Islamic law. They are loosely allied with the Afghan Taliban who ruled most of Afghanistan until they were overthrown by U.S.-backed military action in 2001.

By afternoon on Wednesday, the Pakistani military said all four gunmen had been killed. The operation is over and the university has been cleared, Pakistan army spokesman General Asim Bajwa said.

A security official close to the operation said he had seen the four gunmens bodies riddled with bullets. He said none of the gunmen was wearing a suicide vest, but they carried guns and grenades.

Rumours of attack

Television footage showed military vehicles packed with soldiers driving into the campus as helicopters buzzed overhead and ambulances lined up outside the main gate while anxious parents consoled each other.

Shabir Khan, a lecturer in the English department, said he was about to leave his university housing for the department when firing began.

Most of the students and staff were in classes when the firing began, he said.

Several schools had closed early at the weekend around Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, after rumours circulated of a possible attack. The area has been on edge since the December 2014 massacre by six gunmen in Peshawar.

Pakistan PMs statement

Pakistan, which has suffered from years of jihadist militant violence, has killed and arrested hundreds of suspected militants under a major crackdown launched afterwards. The Peshawar school attack was seen as having hardened Pakistans resolve to fight militants along its lawless border withAfghanistan.

We are determined and resolved in our commitment to wipe out the menace of terrorism from our homeland, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said in a statement after Wednesdays attack.
Once again, Islamic militants stormed an educational institute in northeastern Pakistan in a deadly attack that lasted for hours. And once again, the blood of students and teachers stained classrooms and hallways, raising questions about whether security forces are able to protect the countrys educational institutions from extremists.

At least 20 people were killed and 23 were wounded on Wednesday in the assault at Bacha Khan University in Charsadda before the four gunmen were slain and the military declared an end to the siege. Two teachers were among the dead, including a chemistry professor who was praised as a hero for shooting back at the attackers and allowing some students to escape.

The university attack was grimly reminiscent of the December 2014 massacre at an army public school in nearby Peshawar that killed 150, mostly children.

A breakaway faction of the Taliban took responsibility for the university attack, although a spokesman for the larger Taliban organisation, led by Mullah Fazlullah, denied having anything to do with it and called it un-Islamic.

Read: Taliban attack university in Peshawar, kill students and teachers

The violence shows how vulnerable schools remain in Pakistan, where extremists have sought to prevent Western-style education, especially for girls.

Malala Yousafzai was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize after the teenager was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman in 2012 outside her school in the Swat Valley because of her vocal support for gender equality and education for girls. She said she was heartbroken by the latest attack.

Charsadda : An ambulance transports the body of a victim while Pakistani troops gather at the main gate of Bacha Khan University in Charsadda town. (AP Photo)

Several schools were closed last weekend after intelligence suggested militants were planning an attack, according to Muhammed Amir Rana, director of the private Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies. A provincial government spokesman said they were closed as part of a security drill.

After the Peshawar attack, the government promised to set up a joint Intelligence Directorate, but that has not happened yet.

The military is one of Pakistans most powerful institutions, as is the intelligence agency, known as the ISI. It is especially difficult for civilian governments to penetrate that authority and establish intelligence sharing with government-operated security forces such as the police.

Read: No forgiveness as Pakistan hangs school massacre convicts

The government is trying to develop a response but is facing capacity issues, Rana said, particularly in the area of intelligence-sharing among the powerful intelligence agencies and the police.

The army has been pounding militant hideouts in the tribal areas on the border with Afghanistan since June 2014, disrupting operations for the Pakistani Taliban militants. Because of that campaign, analysts say the extremists have turned to attacking soft targets such as schools.

We are determined and resolved in our commitment to wipe out the menace of terrorism from our homeland, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said in a statement after the attack.

A breakaway Taliban faction led by Khalifa Umar Mansoor said it had carried out the attack.

This photograph taken from a mobile phone shows Pakistani security personnel taking position outside the Bacha Khan university following an attack by gunmen in Charsadda. A breakaway faction of the Pakistan Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack. (AFP Photo)

But a statement emailed to news organizations by Muhammad Khorasani, the spokesman for the Tehrik-e-Taliban, the largest Taliban group, said: We disown, condemn the attack and term it as un-Islamic.

After the 2014 Peshawar school massacre, Taliban militants were united in taking responsibility for the violence.

Rana, whose institute tracks militant movement, said the divisions in the Taliban over who carried out Wednesdays attack probably has more to do with a fear of retribution than a reflection of a deeply divided Taliban.

The backlash that followed the Peshawar attack was so severe that it probably left the Taliban reluctant to take credit, he added, noting that Afghan security forces joined in operations against Pakistani Taliban hideouts afterwards.

Read: 132 children killed as Taliban gunmen storm Peshawar school

The four militants invaded the campus of Bacha Khan University shortly after classes began for the day in Charsadda, about 35 kilometers (21 miles) outside Peshawar, said Deputy Commissioner Tahir Zafar. Both men and women attend the school, which has about 3,000 students, said its vice chancellor, Fazle ur-Rahim Marwat.

The university is named for one of Pakistans greatest secular leaders, Abdul Ghaffar Khan, known as Bacha Khan, who often espoused communist philosophy. The attack coincided with the 28th anniversary of Bacha Khans death on Jan. 20, 1988.

A teacher (L) walks with a pair of crutches following her rescue after a group of militants stormed the Bacha Khan University. (REUTERS Photo)

As police and soldiers rushed to the scene, the attackers traded gunfire with the troops, and several explosions were heard. The attackers were later contained inside two university blocks where the troops killed them, the army said.

Among the 18 students and two teachers who were slain was Syed Hamid Hussain, a chemistry professor who witnesses said opened fire on the gunmen. Hussain fired as he moved backward, herding his class out behind him before being killed in the gunbattle, said student Bilal Khan.

The attackers carried mobile phones with Afghan numbers and were in touch with their handlers in Afghanistan, said Pakistan military spokesman Lt. Gen Asim Bajwa. Pakistan maintains that its militants often find refuge in Afghanistan.

Read: Chemistry teacher fights Taliban in Pakistan university attack

He told a news conference in Peshawar that the militants hate education because it is a symbol of progress.

In a statement on the Malala Funds social media site, Yousafzai said: This brutality must be stopped.

I am heartbroken by the attack on students and staff at the Bacha Khan University in Charsadda and strongly condemn this brutal assault, she said. My prayers are with the families of all the victims and all those who suffer as a result of extremist violence.

She also called for Pakistani authorities to ensure that all schools and universities are safe. I urge all people with peace in their hearts to renew their resolve to stand up to terrorism and ignorance, and work together to protect life and learning.

UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, who also condemned the attack, reaffirmed that violence against students, teachers and schools can never be justified, and that the right to education for all must be firmly protected, said UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq.

Ban called for those behind the attack be brought to justice, adding that there must be proportionate and necessary measures to be taken to ensure that schools in areas of insecurity and conflict are adequately protected, Haq said.

Abdul Ghani, whose son fled the carnage by running into a nearby sugar cane field, decried that Pakistani students are at risk of being killed.

Marwat, the vice chancellor, said security forces alone could not keep students safe, saying it required a move away from an extreme interpretation of Islam.

Since the start of the new year, Pakistan has been battered by five militant attacks, most of them targeting security forces. Such attacks decreased last year, with the military saying it made great strides in crushing the violence.
India-born former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta -- freed early after receiving credit for good behaviour -- will stay confined to his apartment until March with an ankle bracelet that will monitor his movements.

Convicted in 2012 on insider trading charges, the IIT and Harvard-educated 67-year-old former McKinsey began serving a two-year prison term in June, 2014.

He was freed from Federal Medical Centre Devens, a federal correctional facility in Ayer, Massachusetts, on January 5 to serve out the rest of the sentence at home after receiving credit for good behaviour, the New York Times reported.

Even though Gupta is no longer at Devens, he will remain a federal inmate until March 13, confined to his apartment and required to wear an ankle bracelet that monitors his movements, the paper said.

Joel Sickler, the founder of the Justice Advocacy Group, a company that advises inmates on prison stays, said that an inmate in good standing is eligible for home confinement for 10% of a sentence, up to six months.

Many white-collar inmates like Gupta argue for an early release so they can go back to work and pay off the mounting financial obligations they face in the form of fines and restitution, the paper said.

Gupta had last year applied to corrections officers for an early discharge from Devens.

Under the rules governing home confinement, Gupta can go to work, visit a doctors office or attend religious services, Sickler said. With permission, you can go shopping or get a haircut, he said.

In June 2012, a Manhattan jury found Gupta guilty of tipping Raj Rajaratnam, a one-time business associate and founder of a New York hedge fund known as the Galleon Group, to corporate secrets that he had gleaned in his position as a director of companies like Goldman Sachs and Procter & Gamble.

Since returning to his Manhattan apartment, Gupta has been fielding calls from former associates who say he is in good spirits and looks back on his spell in prison philosophically, the NYT said.

Guptas March 13 release date falls on a Sunday, so they will release him on Friday, the paper quoted Sickler as saying. He will turn his bracelet in that Friday afternoon.

At the age of 45, Gupta became the first Indian CEO of the consulting giant McKinsey. He co-founded the prestigious Indian School of Business with fellow McKinsey executive Anil Kumar, who had pleaded guilty to insider trading and testified as a government witness against Gupta in his trial.

Gupta had filed several appeals, including to the US Supreme Court, to overturn his conviction and prison term but the courts rejected his arguments and affirmed his sentence.
The royal corridors of Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth IIs home, which is usually the preserve of paying visitors or guests, can now be seen through a new virtual reality tour.

The queens primary residence can be accessed via a new video uploaded on the British Monarchy YouTube Channel as part of a larger Google Expeditions Pioneer programme. The palace will be the first UK landmark to feature in a related virtual field trip intended for schoolchildren around the world.

For schoolchildren, Buckingham Palace is one of the most iconic, magical buildings in the world. Were terrifically excited that, thanks to the virtual reality potential of Google Expedition, children, their teachers and families can visit the palace wherever they live, said Jemima Rellie, director of content and audiences at the Royal Collection Trust which has collaborated with Google for the project.

Virtual reality is really something. Its a game-changer. It is entirely different. It is the most physically immersive experience you can get without actually being at the palace. Its not going to replace a visit, but if you are unable to get to the palace, it is the best alternative out there, she said.

Using a special app and a cardboard stereoscopic viewer and smartphone, pupils from selected countries will be guided through the palaces grand entrance, up the grand staircase, through the throne room, picture gallery, green drawing room, ballroom and white drawing room.

The Buckingham Palace tour is one of 150 such tours on the free app available to 500,000 pupils who have signed up so far in schools across the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Denmark and Sweden.

Other countries are to be included as the project expands this year. The photos for the tour were taken last week with a 16-camera rig placed in a circle.
Hours after the assault on Bacha Khan University, Asad Munir, a former ISI official-turned-columnist, surprised many by tweeting that Pakistanis would do well to look for the attackers among themselves instead of blaming India.

Munir, a retired brigadier with long experience of serving with the Inter-Services Intelligence agency in Pakistans volatile northwest, blamed the terrorism afflicting his country squarely on Islamabads policy of using jihadis for issues such as the war in Afghanistan and the move to liberate Kashmir.

RAW is not likely to fund an attack on #BachaKhanUniversity on his death anniversary.These murderers are Pakistanis, don't blame others.  Asad Munir (@asadmunir38) January 20, 2016

The state trained Jihadis to liberate Kashmir,leaders had limited vision,couldn't achieve that aim but 1000s Pakistanis killed since then.  Asad Munir (@asadmunir38) January 20, 2016

In an unusually blunt article in The Nation daily, Islamabad-based journalist Umer Ali stated the time had come to ask the Pakistan Army some hard questions why the anti-terror National Action Plan framed after the 2014 Peshawar school massacre had failed to prevent the university attack.

In many ways, Munirs tweets and Alis article  though limited to the English language media and social networks that are probably inaccessible to the Urdu-speaking majority  reflect the churning that began after the Taliban brutally killed more than 130 children in an army-run school in Peshawar in 2014.

For far too long, it has been the trend in India and Pakistan to blame the other country for any unsavoury development, be it a terrorist attack or even floods (blamed by some in the Pakistani Urdu media on excess river waters being released by India).

But such narratives have worn thin, with more people across the Western border now asking tough questions of Pakistans civil and military leadership about the steps being taken to counter or eliminate the jihadi groups which enjoyed a free rein since northwest Pakistan became the staging ground for the holy war to liberate Afghanistan from Soviet occupation.

Munir even want so far as to tweet that Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan leaders such as Mullah Fazlullah, now believed to be ensconced in Afghanistan, would be happy that RAW is being blamed by some morons for an incident that TTP planned and executed.

Not that there arent others in Pakistan  such as status quoist reporters and TV anchors such as Ansar Abbasi and Moeed Pirzada  who were happy to trot out cliched and well-worn arguments of an Indian hand in the attack on the university named after the messenger of peace, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan or the Frontier Gandhi.

Hope Bacha Khan University attack is not Ajit Doval's "defensive offence" against Pakistan!!!!!  Ansar Abbasi (@AnsarAAbbasi) January 20, 2016

Def.Minister Parrikar's comments & what's happening now leave little doubt about Indian thinking & strategies ? https://t.co/df6QL4QADD  Moeed Pirzada (@MoeedNj) January 20, 2016

That the tide may slowly be turning  at least as far as public opinion among the Pakistani elite and liberals is concerned  is perhaps evident from this: Munirs tweets got far more retweets than the two tweets quoted here from Abbasi and Pirzada.

(The views expressed by the writer are personal. He tweets as @rezhasan)

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Two men were detained for questioning in the troubled Brussels neighbourhood of Molenbeek during police raids over the past two days linked to the deadly Paris attacks, prosecutors said Thursday.

The investigating magistrate later ordered the release of one of them and ordered the other to reappear in court on Friday, the Belgian news agency reported.

Both were arrested due to their possible ties with different suspects in this case, the federal prosecutors office said, referring to the November 13 attacks when men armed with automatic weapons and suicide bombs killed 130 people and wounded many more across Paris.

Those detained were identified as Belgian national Zakaria J., who was born in 1986, and Moroccan national Mustafa E, who was born in 1981.

Belga said the former was ordered to reappear before a magistrate on Friday while the latter was released.

Neither weapons nor explosives were found in the raids Wednesday and Thursday in Molenbeek, the impoverished immigrant neighbourhood where a number of jihadists have stayed over the last two decades.

French President Francois Hollande has said that the Paris attacks were planned in Syria but prepared and organised in Belgium. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Last week the authorities announced that Belgian police have identified three safe houses used by key suspects including presumed ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Molenbeek resident who was killed in a French police raid days after the Paris attacks.

The premises include a flat in Charleroi, a town south of the capital Brussels where a major airport is located, a house in the rural village of Auvelais near the French border, and a flat in Brussels.

The Belgian authorities have formally charged 10 people in the case, including a number from Molenbeek.

Four suspects remain at large, including Salah Abdeslam who allegedly drove suicide bombers to the French national stadium outside Paris, as well as Mohamed Abrini, suspected of having helped scout out the attack sites. Both are from Molenbeek.
If the Obama administration wanted to push Pakistans case for joining the Nuclear Suppliers Group, it would not require congressional approval, according to a new US study.

The study sheds new light on talk of the US considering a nuclear deal with Pakistan similar to the one it has with India, long sought by Islamabad to ensure regional parity.

According to US law, the United States could apparently advocate for Pakistans NSG membership without congressional approval, said a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report dated January 14.

CRS produces research papers as mandated or on its own to inform and educate US lawmakers and their aides on important issues that may come up for Congress consideration.

A nuclear deal  a 123 Agreement  would have to be ratified by Congress, where Pakistan has few friends if any. The stalled sale of F-16 jets, as first reported by HT, being a case in point.

The CRS report titled Pakistans Nuclear Weapons draws on publicly available documents and news reports to estimate Pakistan has between 110 and 130 nuclear warheads.

The report said, citing news reports, that the US is considering supporting Islamabads NSG membership in exchange for Pakistani actions to reduce perceived dangers associated with the countrys nuclear weapons program.

The nuclear programme, it said quoting a Pakistani official, is one dimensional: stopping Indian aggression before it happens. It is not for starting a war. It is for deterrence.

But congressional sources said the reports most significant observation was that the administration neednt go to Congress if it was merely pursuing NSG membership for Pakistan.

A string of US media reports indicated last October, around Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs US visit, that a nuclear deal was being discussed by the two countries.

Those reports said Washington was considering pushing Islamabads desire for membership of the NSG, which includes 48 states that can trade nuclear materials.

But those members also have to be signatories of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which Pakistan is not, like India and Israel, which have also been shut out of the group.

Indias membership, pushed by the US in the aftermath and as a result of the India-US Civil Nuclear Agreement signed in 2008, is in the pipeline.

The US administration has clarified on and off the record that it is not considering a 123 Agreement  or a nuclear cooperation deal  with Pakistan.

A 123 Agreement was never on the cards, a congressional source said, adding, What the administration may have been considering was a preliminary step  NSG membership.

And it was on the table in exchange for, as reported in October, Pakistan capping its nuclear arsenal, disclosing and acknowledging in the process the exact numbers.

Islamabad too dismissed any talk of a nuclear deal later.
Being a member of ISIS pays. But does it pay well? Not anymore. Leaked documents from inside the Islamic State's territory revealed that due to wartime pressure, the terrorist group is slashing its members' salaries by 50 percent, forcing them to wage war and establish their caliphate on lower wages.

"Because of the exceptional circumstances that the Islamic State is passing through, a decision was taken to cut the salaries of the mujahedeen in half," the memo read in part, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"No one will be exempt from this decision no matter his position, but the distribution of food assistance will continue twice a month as usual," the statement continued.

Data from the Congressional Research Service indicates that ISIS soldiers used to earn between $400 and $1,200 a month, while U.N. researchers found that the engineers and technicians can make upwards of $1,500 in the same period, according to CNN.

The militant group had been moderately successful in the past, making most of its money by enforcing a variety of taxes on the populations in Iraq and Syria that it has conquered, while the rest is made through oil, bank looting and kidnapping. Two-thousand fourteen was particularly profitable, with ISIS raking in $2 billion.

"The Islamic State is certainly the best financially endowed terrorist organization in history. That is particularly due to its ability to govern ungoverned spaces," said Andreas Krieg, a military scholar at King's College London in Qatar.

The group gave no explicit reason for the cutbacks, merely citing the Koran, where it says the concept of "jihad through wealth" is more important than the "jihad of soul," according to The Jerusalem Post.

However, the announcement of the financial crisis, which came in December, coincided with a series of U.S. airstrikes taking aim at ISIS's oil business, destroying oil trucks, storage tanks, mobile refineries and other oil field equipment. It's almost guaranteed that ISIS is in even worse shape in January after the U.S. destroyed a cash stockpile in Mosul.

To make up for the loss, ISIS's governor in Mosul issued a fatwa, permitting its soldiers to earn cash by taxing locals.

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Goldman Sachs Inc. has signed a deal with Ainda Consultores, a Mexican consultancy firm, to make pertinent joint investments in the Latin American country's energy infrastructure, according to NASDAQ News.

The source of the information, who opted to remain anonymous, further stated that the partnership of the two firms, which was finalized in December, would be made on a strictly deal-by-deal basis, with Goldman's merchant banking division agreeing to put up at last 50 percent of the equity in future projects.

For its part, Ainda would reportedly invest up to $1.15 billion in projects with the American firm. The projects would be quite prominent and wide-reaching, with the two firms' investments to span the country's oil and gas, power, transportation and water infrastructure sectors, reports All Media NY News.

After the country's overhaul of energy laws back in 2013, Mexico has been on the move to encourage private investors in its oil, gas, and electricity industries. Just last year alone, the Mexican government held three auctions of oil and gas fields for private investors.

Goldman Sachs has been one of America's financial institutions that seemingly stay afloat regardless of the ongoing global economic crisis. On Wednesday's trading, and with bank stocks going down across the board, Goldman was one of the banks which registered the smallest drop in shares, only falling 2 percent, according to The Wall Street Journal.

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Julio Pino, an associate history professor at Kent State University in Ohio, is currently under investigation by the FBI for possible ties to the Islamic State group.

An unnamed FBI special agent told the school's newspaper, KentWired, that the bureau's joint terrorism task force has been investigating Pino's alleged involvement with the Islamic State group for the past year-and-a-half and whether he tried to recruit his own students. The agent said that the FBI interviewed a few school faculty members and over 20 of Pino's students on Tuesday.

The report was confirmed by Kent State spokesman Eric Mansfield. "Kent State is fully cooperating with the FBI. As this is an ongoing investigation, we will have no further comment," Mansfield said, adding that the "FBI has assured Kent State that there is no threat to campus."

He would not comment on whether Pino would be allowed to continue teaching two classes this semester: History of Cuba and Central America and a senior seminar in history.

Pino denied supporting the Islamic State group. "I've not broken the law," Pino told KentWired. "I don't advocate that anyone else break the law, so I'll stand by that statement that I fulfill my duties as an American citizen by speaking out on issues that some people find controversial, of course, but no, I have not violated any laws that I'm aware of or that anyone has informed me of. ... And I ask others to respect my freedom of speech as I respect theirs."

Kent State's president Beverly Warren denounced Pino's views on Twitter Tuesday, saying "Prof. Pino doesn't speak on behalf of Kent State. We find his comments reprehensible & counter to our core values."

Prof. Pino doesn't speak on behalf of @KentState. We find his comments reprehensible & counter to our core values. https://t.co/TRWLTo6FBn  Beverly Warren (@PresBWarren) January 20, 2016

It's not surprising that the FBI would be investigating Pino since he has a history of controversial remarks about Israel and terrorism, and a review of his Facebook page by The Daily Beast shows that he posted messages referencing the Islamic State group and 9/11.

Pino wrote a column in 2002 calling a teenage Palestinian suicide bomber a martyr, and in 2011, he shouted "Death to Israel!" during a campus lecture by an Israeli diplomat. During the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict, Pino suggested that academics who support Israel - "the spiritual heir to Nazism" - and ignore the plight of Palestinians should be killed, notes The Daily Caller.

While those comments aren't necessarily grounds for prosecution, the pro-terrorism comments on his Facebook might be, according to The Daily Beast. One picture posted by Pino in 2014 appears to show two masked Islamic State group fighters holding guns in the back of a truck. "Keep it a secret: that's me on the left!" Pino wrote in the image's comment section. Another photo shows Pino standing in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. "I told Ziad Jarrah to head for the Capitol, but did he listen? No!" Pino commented. Jarrah was one of the men suspected of hijacking United Airlines Flight 93 on Sept. 11, 2001, which was thought to be headed for the Capitol but crashed into Shanksville, Pa.

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While Donald Trump picked up a big endorsement from grassroots conservative favorite Sarah Palin on Tuesday, it's Sen. Ted Cruz who is receiving the support of leaders with direct ties to the 1960 signing of the Sharon Statement by 90 members of Young Americans for Freedom (YAF), an event that represented the founding of modern conservatism.

Richard Viguerie  the 82-year-old pioneer of direct-mail fundraising who served as executive director of the YAF in 1962 and worked on Barry Goldwater's 1964 presidential campaign  tells Breitbart in a new interview that, "Ted Cruz is the best conservative candidate since Ronald Reagan."

"He's what we've been waiting for ever since Reagan. He checks all our boxes. He's everything we've wanted in a candidate," he said, noting that Cruz is "our best debater, our most articulate fighter."

Viguerie said that Cruz is the only candidate who can unite all six main voting blocs that comprise the Republican Party.

"He unites the party in a way that no other candidate can," he said. On the other hand, Trump is seen as ignorant of the bible and disrespectful towards women, which alienates Christian voters, and his authoritarian policies alienate libertarians, he said, according to the Financial Times.

Just as valuable is Cruz's ability to appeal to Reagan Democrats. "Cruz appeals to Reagan Democrats. His position on the issues of importance to Reagan Democrats is basically the same as Trump, it's just that Trump articulates it differently," Viguerie said. "Cruz is there in terms of having the same positions on issues of importance to Reagan Democrats. He has a lot of the appeal Reagan had to Democrats on economic, national security, and cultural issues."

Last week, 76-year-old Morton Blackwell  founder of the Leadership Institute, YAF member in the 1960s and longtime member of the Republican National Committee  endorsed Cruz, saying he "has consistently demonstrated his deep commitment to conservative principles."

Brent Bozell III, who was only five years old when YAF members signed the Sharon Statement at the Connecticut home of his uncle William F. Buckley Jr., also endorsed Cruz in an interview with Breitbart.

"Yes, I support Ted Cruz," said Bozell, son of Brent Bozell Jr., the ghost writer of Goldwater's 1960 book "Conscience of a Conservative."

"It's clear cut that you are either with the establishment or you are with Ted Cruz. That is the new reality. It is the Republican Party that has disdain for conservatives," he said.

"Ted Cruz has made virtually all of them [in the Republican establishment] feel uncomfortable. The sin he commits is honoring his promise," Bozell says. "What they, the GOP establishment, want is unanimity in dishonesty. That's why I urged Ted Cruz to run for president. I've urged him since about five minutes after he was elected to the Senate [in 2012]."

He added, "The more this plays itself out, the more it is being established that Cruz is the real conservative and Donald Trump is a charlatan."

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Donald Trump maintains a commanding 19-point lead over his closest GOP presidential rival in a new national poll from Monmouth University released Wednesday.

Trump is out front with 36 percent support nationally, down from 41 percent in the same survey last month but still more than a 2-to-1 advantage over Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who took 17 percent, a three-point increase from December.

The rest of the pack has stayed relatively stable in position, with Florida Sen. Marco Rubio coming in at 11 percent, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson at eight percent and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush with five percent.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Ohio Gov. John Kasich tied at three percent each. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky came in with two percent, while former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania were at one percent each.

"These results suggest that the GOP race is fairly static on a national level," said Monmouth polling director Patrick Murray. "We'll have to wait and see if the Iowa and New Hampshire results shake things up."

Sixty-five percent of Republican voters said that they believe Cruz, who was born in Canada, is a natural born citizen and therefore eligible to run for president, while 12 percent said that he is not a natural born citizen and 24 percent were not sure.

Most voters, 37 percent, said that Trump is best-equipped to go up against Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton in the general election, while 24 percent said the same of Cruz and 31 percent said that Cruz and Trump would have an equal chance against Clinton.

In a new CNN/WMUR poll released Wednesday out of New Hampshire, Trump leads by 20 points over second-place Cruz, 34 percent to 14 percent.

It's a similar story in a North Carolina poll released by Public Policy Polling on Wednesday, which puts Trump with 38 percent support, up five points from last month, and Cruz at 16 percent.

In Florida, a poll released Wednesday from Florida Atlantic University Poll has Trump leading by a 32-point margin, with 48 percent, compared to Cruz's 16 percent.

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Haiti's runoff presidential and legislative elections scheduled for Jan 24 have been preceded by a series of public protests throughout the country early this week. Calling for new elections and the immediate removal of outgoing President Michel Martelly, around 2,000 demonstrators in the nation's capital of Port-au-Prince set vehicles on fire and set up burning roadblocks, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday. In northern Haiti, several electoral offices were also attacked with fire.

The contentious electoral process has been delayed since the first round of votes in October, due to widespread allegations of fraud, Reuters explains. Jude Celestin, the opposition candidate, has refused to campaign since the initial October round of elections, saying that the results were a "ridiculous farce," fraught with fraud and other irregularities, according to the BBC.

The initial round was won by Jovenel Moise, who has the support of Martelly. Martelly is himself constitutionally barred from running for another term. In December, the runoff election was postponed after Martelly called for an independent commission to investigate the electoral process. Among multiple other irregularities, the commission's report, published on Jan. 3, revealed that 43 percent of score sheets in the first round of voting had been altered, and 60 percent of voters had been permitted a proxy vote, notes the Latin America News Dispatch.

The report calls for greater electoral transparency, but its efficacy is questionable, according to the Miami Herald. The United Nations, the United States and the Organization of American States have all called for Haiti's elections to be held in January, explains the Associated Press, in order for a new president to be sworn in before the country's constitutional deadline of Feb. 7.

Amid the widely criticized electoral procedures, Haiti remains the poorest country in the Americas. The nation has relied primarily on foreign aid and international donations since the devastating earthquake in 2010.

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The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently announced their plans to create a chip that will translate human brain activity into binary code, effectively giving soldiers the ability to communicate with computers directly via their brain, according to Gizmodo. In order to develop this device, DARPA is launching their new Neural Engineering System Design (NESD) program in order to make the advancements necessary for its creation.

"Today's best brain-computer interface systems are like two supercomputers trying to talk to each other using an old 300-baud modem," Phillip Alvelda, the NESD program manager, said in a press release. "Imagine what will become possible when we upgrade our tools to really open the channel between the human brain and modern electronics."

Although it might sound crazy, this is not the first time that the United States military has dabbled in such technology; In 2013, researchers developed the first implantable brain-to-computer interface and since then, DARPA has invested ample time and money into various projects that involve implanted brain chips, according to STASHED.

In September, Fusion reported that DARPA was in the testing stages with implantable brain chips designed to repair soldiers' brain damage.

"Of the 2.5 million Americans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, 300,000 of them came home with traumatic brain injury," journalist Annie Jacobsen said in an interview with NPR. "DARPA initiated a series of programs to help cognitive functioning, to repair some of this damage. And those programs center around putting brain chips inside the tissue of the brain."

Although many of DARPA's programs seem to focus on the health of soldiers, there is no doubt that many of these technologies will also be used to increase battlefield performance and effectiveness, according to Tech.Mic.

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Sarah Palin's son was charged for allegedly battering his girlfriend in their home in Wasilla, Alaska - an act that the former Alaska governor attributed to her son's PTSD.

The police report of Track Palin's drunken assault on his girlfriend is simply terrifying https://t.co/TjKOuXfDLq pic.twitter.com/HKACqQnWNK  Salon.com (@Salon) January 20, 2016

Twenty-six-year-old Track Palin, an Iraq veteran, was charged with domestic violence from the Third Judicial District of Alaska which includes fourth-degree assault, interfering with a report of a domestic violence crime and possession of a weapon while intoxicated, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Police reports say that he punched his girlfriend in the face during an argument.

HIlarious! To offset the news that her son Track Palin was charged w/ assault yesterday, Sarah Palin endorses Trump? pic.twitter.com/IwpA3lxUPo  GruveOn (@GruveOn) January 19, 2016

However, Sarah Palin still appeared during Donald Trump's campaign in Oklahoma where she explained her side of the story.

"I guess it's kind of the elephant in the room because my own family going through what we're going through today with my son, a combat vet ... like so many others, they come back a bit different, they come back hardened," Palin said, according to USA Today.

She proceeded to say that what happened was a case of failed veteran care during President Obama's administration.

"They have to question if they're respected anymore. It starts from the top," Palin said, USA Today reported.

"The question, though, that comes from our own president where they have to look at him and wonder, 'Do you know what we go through? Do you know what we're trying to do to secure America?'," she added.

The police in Wasilla said the unidentified girl involved in the alleged violence was not charged or detained.

"An investigation revealed Track Palin had committed a domestic assault on a female, interfered with her ability to report a crime of domestic violence, and possessed a firearm while intoxicated," the police said, according to the New York Daily News.

"Palin was held without bail until arraignment," they added.

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Leading companies in the pharmaceutical industry have joined together in an unprecedented move to find a cure for superbugs - infections that are resistant to treatment - and are calling on governments to work along with them, according to a news release.

A total of 85 leading pharmaceutical, biotechnology, generics and diagnostics companies signed the "Declaration by the Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology and Diagnostics Industries on Combating Antimicrobial Resistance" at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The joint declaration launched Thursday emphasizes the need for collaboration among industry and governments to create new antibiotics that can fight against anti-microbial resistance.

"The increase in bacterial resistance to antibiotics has been dramatic, and combating this growth is a top priority for global policy and public health," the document says.

Although there have been efforts to create new antibiotics, with billions of dollars of funds invested in the research by public and private entities in the last two decades, no new drugs have been approved. In fact, no new class of antibiotics that can fight infections of Gram-negative bacteria has been approved in more than 40 years, the declaration explained.

The "Review on Antimicrobial Resistance," an analysis commissioned by the U.K. government, warns that if no intervention is made, superbugs can kill 10 million people every year by 2050. The analysis also said that anti-microbial resistance, if not addressed, can cut global economic output by $100 trillion by that same year.

The Review outlined the costs and investments needed for the challenge, which the joint declaration acknowledges.

"We call on governments to commit to allocating the funds needed to create a sustainable and predictable market for these technologies while also implementing the measures needed to safeguard the effectiveness of antibiotics," the declaration reads.

Dr. Margaret Chan, director general of the World Health Organization, agreed that a collaboration is needed to address the problem of anti-microbial resistance.

"WHO and its Member States have called for the development of new antimicrobial medicines and affordable access to them, in line with the global action plan on antimicrobial resistance. This Declaration affirms that the challenges of AMR can be addressed only through collaboration and global collective action," Chan said in the press release.

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CVS Pharmacy has settled a case with the office of the Attorney General of Pennsylvania, which was investigating the keeping and sale of expired products, including infant formula and over-the-counter treatments and drugs. The settlement is valued at $450,000.

The AG's found during compliance visits that it conduced on pharmacies of the company in Pennsylvania that the stores seemed to routinely keep expired medical products and goods on its shelves. Expired products were found in five of six stores that were visited. What also caught the eye of the investigators was that some CVS employees appeared to skip a software check that had been incorporated to prevent the sale transaction of an expired good from being completed, The Bucks County Courier Times reported.

This finding meant that the terms of an agreement that the AG's office had reached with CVS in 2010 regarding the removal of expired products were infringed. That agreement had also called on CVS to implement processes to ensure that expired products were removed from their shelves and inventories.

The settlement imposes a new condition on CVS pharmacies in Pennsylvania. Should any customer find an expired product on its shelves, CVS will give that person a $3.50 coupon, with which they may purchase anything they wish. The settlement also requires the company to train all of its employees on the importance of removing expired goods. CVS is also to make changes to its internal processes to prevent such infringements from recurring in the future, according to The Intelligencer.

CVS appears to have had trouble with keeping expired products on its shelves in the past, too. It has previously settled similar claims with the Attorney Generals of New York, Maryland and Connecticut.

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A Thai national who went to Taiwan to work has been confirmed to have been infected with the Zika virus, the Taiwan Ministry of Health and Welfare told Focus Taiwan Tuesday.

The 24-year-old man arrived at the Taoyuan International Airport on Jan. 10, where temperature scanners detected that he had a fever. Upon investigation, he tested positive for the virus. He has been detained at a local hospital for further observation, according to The Bangkok Post.

Apparently, the man already suffered from a fever and a headache before coming to Taiwan. He had been staying in northern Thailand for the past three months, and this was his first time going to Taiwan for work.

The man arrived in Taiwan with two others, but they both tested negative for the Zika virus.

Steve Kuo, director general of the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control, confirmed the report and said that this was the country's first case of the virus infection.

However, it was not the first case in Thailand. Amnuay Gajeena, director general of Thailand's Department of Disease Control, said that the virus was first detected in the country in 2012. Since then, there have been five reported cases annually.

The CDC issued a travel alert Friday for 14 countries in South America and the Caribbean and also a "watch" advisory for some Asian countries, including Thailand, the Philippines and Malaysia. The list is constantly being updated by the agency.

The number of microcephaly cases linked with the Zika virus continues to rise in Brazil. There are now 3,893 recorded microcephaly cases, up from 3,530 in just the last 10 days. Infant deaths associated with the virus increased to 49, Reuters reported.

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Israel confirmed Thursday that it plans to seize a large plot of fertile Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank near Jericho, a move expected to draw even more international rebuke.

Israel's Defense Ministry told Reuters that the decision to take the 380 acres of land in the Jordan Valley has already been made and "the lands are in the final stages of being declared state lands." It will be the largest appropriation of land in the West Bank since 2014.

The land, near the northern tip of the Dead Sea, is in an area controlled by the Israeli military and already used by settlers to farm dates. Palestinians intended to use it to form an independent state, according to Newsweek.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called the settlement activities a "violations of international law" which "run counter to the public pronouncements of the government os Israel supporting a two-state solution to the conflict."

The secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Saeb Erekat, told Newsweek that Palestine plans to submit a resolution to the U.N. Security Council "very soon," noting that the whole world is asking Israel to stop settlements and confiscation of land.

"The Americans are asking [Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu] to stop settlements and the confiscation of land. The Europeans are doing the same. The Russians, the U.N., the Chinese, the whole world and he is defying everyone. So when is this government going to be held accountable?" Erekat said.

"Israel is stealing land specially in the Jordan Valley under the pretext it wants to annex it," Hanan Ashrawi, a senior member of the Palestine Liberation Organization, told Reuters. "This should be a reason for a real and effective intervention by the international community to end such a flagrant and grave aggression which kills all chances of peace."

U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said that the administration believes Israel's plans are "fundamentally incompatible with a two-state solution and call into question, frankly, the Israeli government's commitment to a two-state solution."

Palestinians attempted to pass a similar U.N. Security Council resolution about Israeli settlements in 2011, and all but one member - the U.S. - voted in favor, but without unanimous support, the resolution failed. Since then, the U.S. has blocked at least three more efforts to pass Security Council resolutions about Palestine, despite the wording of the resolutions being in line with the Obama administration's position on the issue, according to Haaretz.

Now that it is President Obama's last year in office, Israeli officials fear that the U.S. may not veto the expected resolution, while many Palestinians believe that America will once again derail it.

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Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump says that he encouraged Sarah Palin to mention her son's recent domestic violence arrest at his rally Wednesday in Tulsa, Okla. The former Alaska governor went on to blame President Obama for her eldest son's post-traumatic stress disorder, an ailment she suggested caused him to allegedly attack his girlfriend Monday night.

Trump, speaking to CNN's Don Lemon in an interview just hours after the rally, said he suggested the comments and thought they would be appropriate, reported CBS News.

"I thought it would be appropriate," Trump said. "There was tremendous press, and I think it's something that's very important to discuss - not even for her son, but for so many other sons and daughters that are coming back from the Middle East, where they have, you know, traumatic problems."

When asked if it was fair for the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee to link Obama to her son's PTSD, Trump responded, "Oh, I think so. Look, you know, everything starts at the top. He's the president. And I think you can certainly do that."

Trump pointed to the "bad and horrible care our veterans get" at the Veterans Administration. "Take a look at the Phoenix Veterans Administration in Phoenix, Arizona. It's a disgrace," he said. "It's a cesspool. It's dishonest and corrupt in every way and incompetent. You have to say ultimately it's the president's charge."

Paul Rieckhoff, head of the non-partisan Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, criticized Palin's comments on Wednesday, according to NBC News.

"It's not President Obama's fault that Sarah Palin's son has PTSD," Rieckhoff said, asking her to "resist the urge to politicize" PTSD.

"PTSD is a very serious problem, a complicated mental health injury, and I would be extremely reluctant to blame any one person in particular," he added. "It's important to recognize that Track may need help like many veterans. This is a great opportunity for Sarah Palin to sound the alarm about PTSD. Now that she has endorsed Mr. Trump, I would encourage her to talk with him about it. Mr. Trump's campaign is pretty light on specifics about what he would do for veterans."

Track Palin, 26, was arrested Monday in Wasilla, Alaska, after allegedly hitting his girlfriend in the face, kicking her in the knee and threatening suicide. He was charged with fourth-degree assault, interfering with the report of domestic violence and possession of a firearm while intoxicated, which are all class A misdemeanors, according to the New York Daily News.

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Denmark is facing its own refugee crisis after authorities warned health officials that cases of diphtheria, tuberculosis and malaria carried by refugees fleeing the Middle East have been registered in the country and fear that a possible outbreak is on the horizon.

"There is no doubt that infectious diseases are coming in with the refugees that we aren't used to. There have been discussions on whether all refugees who come to Denmark should be screened," said Kurt Fuursted, spokesperson for the Danish State Serum Institute, according to RT.

The discussions in question refer to recommendations made by the World Health Organization, which suggests that European countries vaccinate incoming migrants as soon as possible.

"The unprecedented influx of refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants to countries of the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region poses a public health challenge that must be addressed in a timely, effective manner," the recommendation reads. "Refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants should be vaccinated without unnecessary delay according to the immunization schedule of the country in which they intend to stay for more than a week."

Denmark has failed to follow these guidelines, and now officials are particularly worried about the potential return of diphtheria, a serious nose and throat infection that hasn't been diagnosed in the country in almost 20 years.

"The infection can be very dangerous if one isn't vaccinated against it. The dangerous type is very rare and we last saw it in Denmark in 1998," Fuursted said.

Denmark has been relatively lax compared to other countries when it comes to immigration control, likely due to the fact that it has received far less refugees when compared to other European countries. In 2015, Denmark received about 18,000 refugees, while neighboring Sweden received more than 160,000.

However, this attitude has been changing over the past few weeks. Danish MPs are poised to vote on amendments to the Aliens Act, which would determine the fate of a controversial legislation that allows authorities to seize migrants' cash and individual items if they exceed $1,450 in value, reported Al Jazeera. In addition, authorities have started to employ spot checks on travelers crossing the border from Germany.

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At this year's CES, we stopped by a number of virtual reality companies at their booth to try out their latest VR products. Here we provide a quick overview of some of the noteworthy ones:

Oculus VR  Crescent Bay

The most impressive of all was Oculus's Crescent Bay demonstration. Oculus have almost completely solved the motion sickness problem, and the display resolution appeared much better than the Gear VR, better than anything we've tried so far. The demonstration was one of the most immersive experiences to date.

Samsung  Gear VR

Samsung showcased their latest release, Gear VR powered by Oculus, at this year's Samsung pavilion. People were lining up for up to an hour to view the demo.

The Gear VR is like a smartphone accessory, you will need to have a Samsung Note 4 in order to access the VR content. Once you slot your note 4 into the goggle, the micro USB connector will automatically force the phone to open up the Oculus store front, and from there is where users can access content. Currently, Gear VR is only supported by US version Note 4 only and will not work properly if you are using an international Note 4.

OSVR

This OSVR ecosystem is fully open-source, so regardless of whether you're interested in working with hardware developmental kit designs, or software plugins for everything from motion control, to game engines, and even stereoscopic video output, you'd have complete access to everything. Game developers, peripheral manufacturers, and virtual reality experts can collaborate together to contribute to this ecosystem.

Companies such as Unity, Unreal, Intel, Bosch, Razer, Sixense, and Leapmotion are all supporters of the OSVR platform. The OSVR developer kit is available for purchase on the Razerstore for $299.99.

Goggle Tech  Go4d

This company's mobile phone VR headset, Go4d VR, was one that really caught us by surprise. The overall design, head-tracking latency, and resolution are fantastic. We like this headset because there's no strap that goes over the top of the head, so it doesn't mess up your hair as much after wearing. The headset is also affordably priced at $99 USD, and unlike the Gear VR that can only work with the Note 4, the Go4d VR goggle can work on all smartphones.

The company also launched the C1-glasses, a $20 USD snap-on VR glasses. The glasses are designed to view 3D images and videos right from your smartphone.

Beenoculous

This Brazilian based company just released their mobile phone VR headset during CES this week, you can get on their website for $35 USD per pair. The headset is designed to work with all smartphone by using the various phone adaptors provided with the headset. Although the price is cheap, this headset can certain do VR just like any other headset on the market.

Avegant  Glyph

After trying out their demonstration kit, we believe Avegant's technology has the finest resolution comparing to other HMD devices on the market.

Instead of traditional screen technology, the Glyph is reflecting light off the micro mirror array to form image directly in your eyes, mimicking natural vision that reflects light off objects that goes into your eyes, producing crystal clear image that can't be done with traditional screen technology.

The Glyph is a complete multimedia device compatible with anything on the current market. You can hook it up to a smartphone, xbox, Pc, DVDsetc. You also don't need to wear your glasses. The model we tried at CES didn't incorporate head tracking but we were told that the consumer model would have head tracking function integrated.

This headset can serve as a private monitor. Avegant wanted content that works on a traditional screen to be compatible with the Glyph. This mean you can work on your PowerPoint presentation, write a love letter to your girlfriend on an airplane without worrying other people peaking at your screen.

Release date of the Glyph will be fall 2015.

ODG  R6 Glasses

San Francisco based, Osterhout Group (ODG), has been a military contractor for many years prior to entering the consumer market. ODG revealed their consumer augmented reality glasses and the R-6 Smart Glasses.

I must say that the screen resolution, user-interface, and overall experience were the best out of all the AR glasses we've tried. But the R-6 is not cheap, the industrial-grade augmented reality glasses is priced at $4,946 USD running on Android platform. The consumer version is scheduled to release later this year and will be available for about $1,000 USD.

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In year-over-year results, the U.S. hotel industrys occupancy increased 0.8% to 53.0%. Average daily rate for the month was up 2.4% to US$115.81, and revenue per available room increased 3.2% to US$61.41.

The U.S. hotel industry reported positive results in the three key performance metrics during December 2015, according to data from STR, Inc.

In year-over-year results, the U.S. hotel industrys occupancy increased 0.8% to 53.0%. Average daily rate for the month was up 2.4% to US$115.81, and revenue per available room increased 3.2% to US$61.41.

Occupancy for the month was 53.0%, the highest December occupancy we have ever recorded, said Jan Freitag, STRs senior VP for lodging insights. And yes, that is pretty low, but between 2000 and 2010, the average was 47%, so somehow more travelers were enticed to come out this year. Over the last three years, December occupancies were over 50%, which had never happened before in succession. So despite the fact that we have so many more December roomnights available (+4.4 million rooms since 2012) there was a slight increase in demand (+8.8 million rooms since 2012) that increased occupancy.

Freitag also noted that the 3.2% increase in RevPAR was the second lowest for any month in 2015. Additionally, the 2.4% rise in ADR was the lowest of the year and lowest since December 2010.

However, RevPAR in the U.S. has increased year over year for 70 consecutive months and all of the key performance indicators finished 2015 as all-time highs.

Six Top 25 Markets reported double-digit RevPAR growth when compared with December 2014: Norfolk/Virginia Beach, Virginia (+13.6% to US$33.40); Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida (+13.2% to US$68.59); St. Louis, Missouri-Illinois (+12.9% to US$45.55); Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-New Jersey (+11.8% to US$64.44); Oahu Island, Hawaii (+10.9% to US$214.53); and Los Angeles/Long Beach, California (+10.4% to US$103.16).

Overall, 20 of the Top 25 Markets saw an increase in RevPAR for the month. San Francisco/San Mateo, California (-10.1% to US$134.23), was the only market experience a double-digit decline in the metric.

Tampa/St. Petersburg posted the largest rise in ADR, up 8.2% to US$105.54.

San Francisco/San Mateo reported the largest decrease in ADR, down 8.2% to US$179.11.

St. Louis (+10.5% to 51.9%) was the only market to see a double-digit increase in occupancy, while Houston, Texas (-5.7% to 56.5%), experienced the steepest decline in the metric.

RevPAR in the Top 25 Markets (+2.5%) was actually worse, if you believe that, than in the rest of the U.S. (+3.9%), Freitag said. Just like last month, lack of group demand in the larger markets and a larger share of higher performing Independent hotels outside of the large markets probably affected results.

View monthly U.S. hotel performance review

About STR

STR, Inc. provides clients including hotel operators, developers, financiers, analysts and suppliers to the hotel industryaccess to hotel research with regular and custom reports covering the United States, Canada, Mexico and Caribbean. STR provides a single source of global hotel data covering daily and monthly performance data, forecasts, annual profitability, pipeline and census information. STR founded the STR family of companies and is proudly associated with STR Global, STR Analytics and Hotel News Now. STR also founded the Hotel Data Conference. For more information, please visit www.str.com.
Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH) announced it has signed an agreement with franchise partner City Sunstone Properties to develop a new Cambria hotel & suites in Morristown, New Jersey. The 120-room Cambria property will be located one-half block away from Morristown Green at 19 Market Street and is expected to open in July 2017.

"The Cambria hotels & suites brand had a strong year in 2015, with numerous openings, ground breakings and new property signings to key markets across the country, and we're thrilled to continue that momentum by bringing the brand to business and leisure travelers visiting Morristown," said Michael Murphy, senior vice president, Upscale Brands, Choice Hotels International.

City Sunstone Properties (CSP) is a commercial real estate investment and development firm based in New Jersey and Las Vegas. CSP is one of the largest owners of community based shopping centers and office buildings in Las Vegas, with significant holdings in both Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada; Arizona; and New Jersey. The Morristown Cambria development is consistent with CSP's "value add" strategy of developing high use projects on extremely attractive development sites in regions with growth and strong demographics.

"There are numerous corporations based around Morristown, and we are confident their clients and partners will be pleased once they experience the Cambria brand," said Rod Atamian, managing partner, City Sunstone Properties. "The development of the Morristown Cambria is consistent with our efforts to own the most attractive commercial properties in a given region."

The Morristown area is home to a wide array of companies spanning multiple industries, including Honeywell, Nabisco and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. Leisure travelers also frequent the area to enjoy the many well-known theaters, festivals and high-end retail stores.

Designed as a business travel and leisure brand, all Cambria hotels & suites are new-construction and feature a larger lobby to give guests a more social atmosphere; oversized rooms with flexible spaces; and the latest technology that allows guests to stay connected while they travel.

Like all Cambria hotels & suites, the Morristown property will feature other fine amenities such as a contemporary bistro, Social Circle, serving a menu comprised of local specialties created by Chef Michael DeMaria; liquor, wine, beer and freshly prepared grab-and-go gourmet salads and sandwiches; and a barista bar. This property will also boast 2,500 square feet of meeting space, a spa, a large indoor swimming pool and a fitness center.
One of the finest bands in the country are breaking new ground.

Dublin-based band Delorentos have announced their first trip to Mexico.

Kieran, Ross, Kier, and Ro have been invited to perform at the Mexican festival P'al Norte on April 16. The popular music event is being headlined by none other than rap's latest cash casualty, 50 Cent.

The Irish four-piece are extremely popular in Spain. Having built up an increasing fanbase with the Spanish public, the word clearly spread across the Atlantic about Delorentos, as they caught the eye - or ear - of a prominent Mexican music blogger, who was equally enthralled with them.

Joining Delorentos on the bill are the Co. Down rockers Two Door Cinema Club. After tweeting about an upcoming gig at Christmas, this is the first confirmation of a live performance from the band.

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Watch an exclusive acoustic performance from Delorentos below.
Our 2016 kicks off with a bumper issue, and a special flip-cover to mark the past and future of music. While we pay tribute to the late, great David Bowie, we also profile the newest Irish act primed to reach the stratosphere. Ahead of the release of their debut album, Walking On Cars star on the new Hot Press

The beginning of the year brings bittersweet emotions. On one hand, Irish music is building towards one of the most promising and exciting years on record. On the other, the world lost a musical icon. The special flip-cover of our first issue of 2016 marks both, with emerging superstars Walking On Cars leading the charge ahead of whats to be a monumental year, as we also pay our respects to the inimitable David Bowie.

The remote town of Dingle is not a traditional stomping ground for musical superstars, but the inexorable rise of Kerry quintet Walking On Cars could put the scenic spot on the rocknroll map. Talking to Colm ORegan, they discuss their humble beginnings, a rapid rise to the top, and their plans for international success upon the release of debut album Everything This Way.

Our anticipation for the year doesnt stop there, as the multi-talented Tara Lee chats with Olaf Tyaransen. With a publishing deal signed, the Wicklow-born 21 year old reveals her ambitions to replicate her success on screen in the music industry.

While the future looks bright, this month saw one of the darkest days in music as the legendary David Bowie passed away. The inimitable icon is remembered with a stunning flip cover, and an extensive feature, where his Irish musical lieutenant Gerry Leonard opens up, and we recall the memories of the Starman that some of the industrys biggest names hold dearest. We also take a look at the unforgettable Irish gigs we were luck enough to witness.

Elsewhere, the gorgeous George Clooney spills the beans on Our Brand Is Crisis, Spanish newcomers Hinds fill us in on their unorthodox background, and homegrown superstars-in-waiting Otherkin reveal why medicines loss might be music's gain.

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In Frontlines, Stuart Clark hits the streets to discover the drug problem sitting on the Dails doorstep, while our film expert Roe McDermott casts an eye over the names that will be making headlines in the world of movies in the coming 12 months.

With the latest reviews, news and previews playing their usual role - as well as a very special focus on education for those planning to hit the books in 2016 - were merely scraping the tip of the iceberg; the bumper issue of Hot Press hits shelves tomorrow!

To buy the first issue of the year online, starring Walking on Cars and David Bowie on a flip-cover, click here.
Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, Inc. ( OTC:KBLB KBLB message board ) is perhaps the only company that expects to be covered in cobwebs- literally, as it produces genetically modified spider silk. Yet the difficult and lengthy product development has left the stock with underwhelming performance, and on Tuesday the ticker slid down 25% to 9 cents.

On the plus side, KBLB has been diligent in its laboratory efforts, reportedly producing viable strong fibers from silk worms capable of producing spider silk. Yet so far the fiber has not been tested and used in a final textile product, and a few more stages of development are to be expected before KBLB comes out to market. The latest 10-K form shows KBLB will fund its development plans with:

$58,782 cash

$1.2 million current liabilities

$8.4 million accumulated net loss

The company is currently capped at 54 million dollars, with more than 600 million shares outstanding. It is unknown how many shares are authorized and if KBLB plans new financing in 2013. Still, the company has given hint of its expenses, around $35,000 per month in polymer research, and yet another research program at the Uniwersity of Wyoming for $13,700 per month.

But even more curious is the plan to buy a cash cow company, as this way KBLB may receive funding, but also become a vehicle for another business to gain exposure to the OTC markets. Such reverse buyouts are not unusual in penny stock circles, and while KBLB may be showing genuine interest, this is something of a red flag, given that a stock acquisition may mean dilution of the shareholder base.

For the last time, KBLB was promoted on March 8th, and has lost some of the luster since. The pumper was a specially created newsletter, compensated with $160,000, a significant sum for five emails. After the mention, KBLB continued to rise on a series of press releases, but started to reverse the trend a few days ago.

In 2011, KBLB was taken up by Global Equity Report, a company specializing in day trades that could yield high returns in a short time. Its last pick was American Liberty Petroleum, Corp. (OTC:OREO), a ticker that slid to a single cent on a series of speculative days of buying, followed by selling to lock profits. KBLB holds the risk of promising too much without delivering, which could lead to loss of investor interest. Keep this in mind and be certain you only invest sums that you are comfortable losing.
Bucks win district semi, head to finals tonight Roscommon will play tonight (Thursday) for a district soccer title after beating Oscoda Tuesday, 5-1. The Bucks will play Tawas...
Im having a hard time figuring out which America is real. Is it the one where Americans are protesting the killing, by police officers, of unarmed black boys and men? Or is it the one where TV hosts are outraged that law enforcement is underappreciated and besieged by criminals and political correctness? Are you the America that signed the Paris climate treaty? Or the one that holds up a snowball in Congress to denounce climate change as a hoax? Should I believe the presidents State of the Union claims that the economy is recovering at a healthy rate, or is he presiding over the slowest recovery ever, on account of his misguided policies? News in the U.S. appears in split screen: Two entirely separate realities.

This all feels depressingly familiar, having moved to Canada from Venezuela. We Venezuelans are world champions at disagreement, polarization, and navigating competing narratives, and have been, since at least 1998, when Hugo Chavez was first elected president. An entire generation doesnt know another way of living. Our polarization has not only polluted the public sphere, it has also invaded the private one, soiling relations among friends, parents, wives, husbands, and children.

My beloved, fractious Venezuela, in other words, offers a cautionary tale to the United States. You dont want to keep going down this path.

Venezuelan society has become divided on almost everything, in two parallel worlds, between the Chavistas and the Opposition. Each one has its own media. Currently the Chavistas dominate public-funded media while the Opposition has a few newspapers and tries to reach people through YouTube and Periscope. Each of these worlds has its own separate fashions, favorite restaurants and stores; its own literary contests and book fairs; its favorite musicians. They even have separate flags: Chavistas use the one with eight stars, which Chavezs government established as official in 2006, while the Opposition prefers the previous one, with seven stars. Each of those worlds has its own versions of the past, the present, and the future.

The Opposition narrative goes like this: Venezuela was a peaceful, egalitarian, oil-rich modern democracy until the day the ignorant poor masses elected Chavez, a thuggish army man whod previously sought to take power by force. The lower classes, they say, are motivated by revenge and greed, and easily swayed by promises of handouts and wealth redistribution. When Nicolas Maduro (who succeeded Chavez upon his death but lacks his charisma) is hauled off to jail in The Hagues International Court, the lost paradise will be rebuilt and all the emigres will return. When things go wrong, the Opposition blames Cuba.

For Chavistas, history is a long continuum between the massacres of the Spanish conquest, colonial slavery, and the economic and political inequities of Venezuelas dictatorial and corrupt democratic governments alike in the 20th century. They cast Chavez in the same light as Simon Bolivar (who died in 1830)  as a liberator from oppression. When things go wrong, Chavistas blame the United States.

Of course, neither of these sagas is true. History is not an epic war between poor saints and satanic oligarchs, as Chavistas believe, but Venezuela was never a model democracy where the poor had no reasons to complain. Many culprits contributed to the present disastrous state of affairs. We summoned our own tragedy  not the Americans or the Cubans.

Venezuelas polarization has been exacerbated by a tradition of valuing relationships over objective truth. Colombian novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez summarized this when he said he found the key to magical realism, his celebrated style of storytelling: He remembered that his grandma would tell an unbelievable story with the confidence one can show when talking about a completely normal event.

Chavez didnt invent this personalization and polarization, but he took it to new heights. Early on in his presidency hed commandeer TV airwaves for hours, mixing childhood memories, popular songs, and insults to his enemies. As time went on, he began inventing fanciful stories  new interpretations of history or reality, conspiracies, and assassination plots  and repeating them. Meanwhile, he accused the opposition press of being propagandists in the tradition of Nazi Germanys notorious Joseph Goebbels, who said that if you repeated a lie often enough people would believe it. The vicious circle of polarization tightened and freedom of speech was severely compromised. Perhaps the strangest moment occurred early on the morning of July 16, 2010, when Chavez tried to prove that Colombia, his nemesis for much of his presidency, had assassinated Bolivar (who died of tuberculosis). Chavez went so far as to exhume Bolivars bones on TV, and held them in his gloved hands.

The Opposition responded with conspiracy theories of its own. When the president had surgery in early 2011, the Opposition spread the rumor that he was very ill. But when Chavez announced he had cancer, the Opposition rumor mill said he was lying to regain popularity. The fact that these paranoid fantasies contradicted each other did not deter anyone. And so when Chavez lost his hair during chemotherapy, the Opposition insisted that it was all makeup. A few months later, Chavez said he was cured of cancer and able to run for re-election in the 2012 presidential campaign. Here it was the Chavistas turn to suspend disbelief, contending he was a living miracle. Meanwhile, the Opposition, which months before insisted he was faking his illness, now said that he was about to die.

What Venezuela has now, instead of anything resembling authentic public opinion or independent media, is a chorus of desperate people trying to create an echo. With no reliable sources of information about Chavezs deteriorating health, people turned to social media, where some followed a Brazilian astrologist, or a Florida doctor with no connection to the medical team in Havana, or a moonlighting journalist. Social networks are perfect ecosystems for collective hysteria. As people choose to trust in tribal gossip instead of objective reporting and facts, values like moderation, reason, and nuance are seen as uncool or lame. Worse, trying to say something reasonable is taken as a sign of weakness and even treason. Its no longer possible to have a decent conversation.

As a result, Venezuela is paralyzed. The economy is a wreck on account of so much mismanagement and plummeting oil prices. Inflation has risen to 270 percent. In 2014, the homicide rate was second highest in the world. But our institutions cant even attempt to resolve these problems because they are no longer on speaking terms with each other. For instance, the armed forces refuse to work with police corps that are managed by Opposition governors. Recently, the Opposition pulled off a surprising win in legislative elections (the surprise was that the win was recognized) and took control of the legislature, pitting the National Assembly against President Maduro in a perpetual stalemate.

After so many years of fighting, Chavistas and Opposition alike are condemned to the same bleak future.

Polarization is the zeitgeist of our time, everywhere, it seems. I can see this in the news from the United States, where your two realities are moving farther apart. The gulf that divides is widened by technology: We follow people on Twitter who already think like us and Googles algorithms steer us to websites that confirm our ideas; its getting harder to find any middle ground. And the rewards arent there anymorecompromise seems so passe.

But democracies need middle ground. So before you pass on that Facebook post with its snarky us-versus-them logic, or let a demagogue speak for you, or repeat a fact you know couldnt possibly be true, try to remember Venezuelas cautionary tale. You dont want your democracy to end up looking like ours.

Rafael Osio Cabrices is a journalist with 20 years of experience writing about Venezuela, Cuba, and Latin America. He is the author of four books including Apuntes bajo el aguacero, a collection of essays about life under Chavezs 21st century socialism. He wrote this essay for Zocalo Public Square.



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Beyond the locked doors and boarded windows of three dilapidated buildings cobbled together in Houston's East End is a maze of hidden passageways and stairwells leading to dank chambers where women and teenage girls were forced to work as sex slaves.

It was here, behind the facade of the Las Palmas II cantina, that federal officials claim one of Houston's most notorious brothels operated with near impunity for as many as 20 years until it was closed by federal agents.

On Wednesday, the madam and boss of the brothel, 70-year-old Hortencia "Tencha" Medeles, was sentenced to life in federal prison for her role as the head of what authorities said was a major international sex trafficking ring.

"I don't know what they did with the girls. I don't know anything about that," Medeles, who has long gray hair, told U.S. District Judge David Hittner moments before learning her fate. She didn't deny operating a brothel but denied abusing the women and girls in her house and said she wasn't involved in trafficking them into the U.S.

Law enforcement authorities consider Houston a major hub for sex trafficking due to its size, proximity to the border and huge immigrant population. They concede there are most certainly other brothels like the one Medeles operated until her arrest in 2013.

More for you Step into the darkness of Houston's most notorious brothel

"Clearly we know there are more," said federal prosecutor Ruben Perez. "What we can prove is our mission."

Officials said there is no way to tell how many women and girls worked at the brothel in the years it was in business, but ledgers and lists of names found in the building indicate it was a major operation. Most of them came from Mexico and Central America.

'Terrible moments'

Before Medeles was sentenced Wednesday, five of her victims briefly told the judge and the packed courtroom how they had been forever changed by their experience at the brothel. All of them spoke through tears. They spoke of nightmares, struggles to get on with their lives, and how they want Medeles sent away.

"That woman made me give her all the money from men who raped me every way possible," one woman said as she cried. She told of a man who liked to manhandle the women and one who nearly killed her one night.

"There are terrible moments that I won't forget," she said.

The notorious complex on Telephone Road was seized two years ago by the federal government in what it described as a major blow to sex trafficking in the city; the property is now for sale as commercial real estate. During the brothel's heyday, it drew tens of thousands of customers a year.

At least 42 people have been prosecuted for their roles in the ring and related cases, including three of Medeles' adult children whom she brought in to the business and who testified against her in bids for leniency.

The bar and brothel was in business since the 1990s, and had been raided from time to time by Houston police. But it took years to rise in prominence above other brothels and draw the attention of federal law enforcement.

It was a busy place. During one 19-month period ending in August 2013, sex rooms upstairs were rented out 64,296 times, according to ledgers that were seized and testimony during Medeles' trial last year.

Part of the secret to the brothel's success is that it was housed in three side-by-side, interconnected buildings. The buildings shared doors and passages that were hard to detect and changed from time to time over the years.

The women were forced to work in a warren of 17 tiny rooms - most illuminated only by a naked lightbulb dangling from the ceiling - that are little more than closets, some still containing a filthy mattress. Condom wrappers litter the floors; wads of gum are stuck to walls.

A green door leads to the so-called "VIP room" where the newest and youngest girls were kept, waiting to be chosen by select clients. In it stands a dusty, full-length mirror adorned with the fading stickers of a Mexican teen musical group.

A warning system used blue lights to announce police raids, and secret escape routes allowed the women and their customers to flee unnoticed. A video made by Houston police during one raid shows that by the time officers got to the brothel area of the complex, there was no one left, except a lone man who said he worked at the Port of Houston.

$500 per hour for minors

The operation was built on the backs of women who were smuggled here from Mexico and Central America, then beaten, raped and threatened. If they didn't perform or tried to escape, they and their families back home would be killed, they were told.

"This woman had operated with impunity for many years under the radar," said Perez, standing in darkness in the main building, which now has no electricity. "Federal authorities got involved and started investigating."

They launched their probe of Medeles' operation after receiving tips. Some men who frequented the brothel and had gained the trust of the women learned they were being held against their will; others noticed some of the workers were underage, or had hefty bruises on their bodies, and shared their suspicions.

To get from the cantina to the brothel section of the complex, customers went through a hidden door and climbed a flight of stairs to a second floor. They were charged $25 up front - a $15 room fee, a $5 condom fee, and $5 cover charge. They were handed numbered raffle-like tickets that read, "Admit One."

That money went directly to Medeles, who in that 19-month period took in more than $1.6 million. Pimps who brought the women to Medeles kept the cash paid for sex. The price ranged from $65 for 15 minutes to $500 per hour for minors.

Medeles was meticulous about tracking what money was being earned and by whom and when. Two legal pads found in a drawer in the building list hundreds of names of women and the amounts they earned during the summer of 2005.

Daniela, Elisa, Vanesa, Brenda, Nena, Sandra, Adriana - the names go on and on in smeared blue ink. There are also notations regarding the purchase of condoms: 36 boxes of "blues" were used on one night, as were seven boxes of flavored prophylactics.

The women and teenagers were recruited by men who met them in small towns in Mexico and Central America, where they were romanced and promised better lives if they would come to the U.S. Once here they learned their "fiances" were pimps. There would be no marriages.

'We were fresh meat'

"What occurred here was absolutely modern-day slavery," said Special Agent Shauna Dunlap, spokeswoman for the FBI's Houston Division. "These women and young girls were forced to commit unspeakable acts in deplorable conditions inside this cantina, and others."

She noted that the lone fugitive in the case, Alfonso Diaz-Juarez, remains on the run with a $50,000 bounty on his head.

"The longer Diaz-Juarez eludes justice, the greater the chance more women may be victimized," Dunlap said.

During Medeles' trial, a woman who was a teen when she was kept at the brothel testified that Medeles charged her for food, rent, makeup, a bed and even underwear. She worked day after day, yet her debt ballooned.

She was kept locked up with the other underage girls in the VIP room and allowed out only when chosen by a customer.

"She would take us and say we were fresh meat," the woman testified. "She would let them choose us like we were animals."

As police finally closed in on the brothel, a message to them was scrawled in red paint on the tile floor and on a wall.

"You got my girls, but you didn't get me," it reads.
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A Day On, Not a Day Off: Celebrating MLK Day Through Service

Posted by Ryan Scott on Wednesday, 01-20-2016 11:43 pm

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Amidst the increased attention on the subject of racial justice this past year, Martin Luther King Jr. Day is an opportunity to reflect on our progress with civil rights in this country - and consider how far we have yet to go. As the King Center notes, We commemorate Dr. Kings inspiring words, because his voice and his vision filled a great void in our nation, and answered our collective longing to become a country that truly lived by its noblest principles. Yet, Dr. King knew that it wasnt enough just to talk the talk, that he had to walk the walk for his words to be credible. Theres a way for all of us to walk the walk - through service. As Martin Luther King Jr. observed, Lifes most persistent and urgent question is: what are you doing for others? The Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, organized by the Corporation for Community and National Service, is a way of answering this question and fulfilling the mission of th...

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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Blue Ocean Contact Centers Adds New Talent to Growing Business Development TeamBlue Ocean Contact Centers, an international outsourced contact center servicing North America, is expanding their widespread business development team with several key additio

Posted by Press Releases on Thursday, 01-21-2016 4:27 am

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HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA (PRWEB) JANUARY 18, 2016Blue Ocean, an international outsourced contact center that has long serviced North America, is in the midst of expanding their widespread business development team with several key additions. Elizabeth Sedlacek will join as Director, Sales and Stephanie Small will join as an Account Manager. Both have extensive experience in the full spectrum of contact center outsourcing and will extend Blue Oceans influence into new strategic locations.Elizabeth Sedlacek possesses over 16 years of contact center outsourcing experience, nine of which were spent as Senior Director of Business Development & Client Care for a mid-sized, Canadian owned call center and BPO. Her leadership, deep knowledge of contact center operations and sales, and proven track record have helped her to establish individual accounts that earn millions annually.Stephanie Small possesses over 6 years of experience in the outsourced contact center world. Her understandin...

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EzPaycheck 2016 Software From Halfpricesoft.com Accommodates CA Payroll Tax Rate Changes CA Business owners are accommodated with new payroll tax rates in the latest ezPaycheck 2016 software. Get the details and download by visiting http://www.halfprices

Posted by Press Releases on Thursday, 01-21-2016 4:43 am

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SACRAMENTO, CA (PRWEB) JANUARY 18, 2016The state of CA Employment Development Department has increased low income exemptions for year 2016. Developer's at Halfpricesoft.com have reviewed the changes and updated the new ezPaycheck payroll software to reflect these changes. Small to midsize business owners never have to worry about processing payroll deductions correctly when utilizing ezPaychecks latest version.ezPaycheck 2016 payroll software has been updated and released with Californias latest low income exemption tax changes, said Dr. Ge, the founder of halfpricesoft.com.For a limited time, new business owners can own the combo version of ezPaycheck payroll software at a cost of only $109 for both the 2015 and 2016 versions.ezPaycheck is compatible with Windows XP, 2003, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10 with .Net Framework v2.0 or later.EzPaycheck software is designed to automate paycheck processes to reduce the time spent on running payroll. The software&r...

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Lucas Group Recognizes 17 Associates For Long-Standing Service Premier executive recruiting firm celebrates Associate anniversary milestones

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(PRWEB) JANUARY 19, 2016At its recent Annual Sales Meeting in Dallas, national executive recruiting firm Lucas Group recognized anniversary milestones for 17 accomplished Associates. Ranging from 10 to 30 years with the company, the honored group is comprised of highly successful and impactful professionals. Serving a variety of markets and functional specialties, these recruitment experts have made considerable contributionswithin Lucas Group and across the industry.Lucas Group is focused on developing and retaining outstanding recruiters who provide exceptional service for our clients and candidates, said Andi Jennings, President and CEO of Lucas Group. Over the past 40 years, we have built experienced, accomplished recruiting teams, and these 17 people greatly contributed to that success. Their anniversary milestones are testaments to our positive company culture as well as our commitment to ongoing professional development and career growth opp...

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Pairin Chosen as One of Business Insiders Coolest New Businesses in 2015

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Denver, CO  <January 14, 2016> Pairin joins 50 innovative businesses throughout the United States in the 2015 Business Insider Coolest New Businesses in America list. Throughout each year Business Insider highlights several small or independent start-ups based on many variables including technology advancements, financial gains, and in this case, the coolness factor. Alongside Pairin, the other selections on this list range from new restaurant concepts, tech start-ups, emerging mobile applications and fitness boutiques. While the selection is varied, Pairin is excitingly the only education or hiring focused business to appear on the list. Pairin identifies strengths and skills to help determine ideal job candidates and leaders for businesses; it can also be used by teachers to help strengthen their students skills and track their progress, Business Insider states. Based in the cloud, it operates unlike other...

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Students from Marist College Assists Evas Village in Supporting Those in Need in the Community through Their Fund-A-Meal Program Evas Village, Paterson, NJ anti-poverty non-profit welcomes the volunteers from the School of Management from Marist Colleg

Posted by Press Releases on Thursday, 01-21-2016 5:43 am

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PATERSON, NJ (PRWEB) JANUARY 19, 2016Evas Village, New Jerseys most comprehensive anti-poverty organization, will welcome a volunteer team from the School of Management at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY on January 21st to serve the noon meal in its kitchen program.Founded in 1929, Marist's 210-acre campus overlooks the Hudson River in the heart of the historic Hudson Valley, midway between New York City and Albany, the state capital. Marist College follows in the tradition of great institutions like Harvard University and the College of William and Mary that were founded as seminaries and developed into independent academies of higher learning. Consistent with the Marist College Mission, the sense of community and the sense of service to others are important. As a New Jersey resident, I am looking forward to learning more about my community through my volunteer work at Evas Village, stated Michael Bertelle, Junior at Marist College.The F...

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VitalSmarts Earns Silver Status in the Brandon Hall Group Excellence Awards in Technology

Posted by Mark Derowitsch on Wednesday, 01-20-2016 3:26 pm

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Company also Named One of the Best Places to Work by Two Utah-Based Organizations Provo, Utah  Jan. 20, 2016  VitalSmarts, a TwentyEighty company, won a Brandon Hall Group Silver award for excellence in learning management technology for external training, the company announced Wednesday. VitalSmarts was recognized for achieving inspiring results with the VitalSmarts Instructional Platform. The VitalSmarts Instructional Platform (VIP) is intuitively designed to ensure delivery of key learning concepts from the companys industry-leading courses Crucial Conversations, Crucial Accountability, Influencer, and Change Anything. Training is built on a custom platform that allows any trainerregardless of their training experienceto seamlessly and professionally teach the course and deliver results that impact the organizations that use it. Our courses teach skills for successfully navigating common and crucial interpersonal and behavioral chal...

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About Webcast

Parental leave and perks can make a huge impact on your employees happiness, but it can be difficult to figure out the balance between generosity and cost to your business. The government doesnt offer much guidance on what parental leave policies to offer your employees. In fact, the United States doesnt require that companies offer paid parental leave to its employees at all (with very few local exceptions). At the same time, in todays hyper-competitive recruiting environment, were seeing a radical shift in HR. The worlds top companies, like Google, Spotify, and Amazon, are competing to recruit and retain top talent with generous parental leave policies and perks. Some of these policies include four to six months of unpaid leave; Netflix offers unlimited time off for parents within the first year of the childs life.



For most of us, offering unlimited time off isnt an option. So, how do you design a parental leave policy that benefits your employees, attracts new talent to join your organization, is fair and inclusive to all, yet practical for running a business?



Jessica Pfisterer recently built the Parental Leave and Perks program from the ground up at Greenhouse. In this webinar, Jessica shares an exclusive look into how she built a parental leave policy that serves as a selling point for recruiting and a tool for employee engagement, while answering the critical question, How does a business figure out how long it can manage with people out on leave? She will also touch on how the Greenhouse People Team uses the same methodology to roll out other HR programs.



What Youll Learn:



- How Jessica chose the right policy for Greenhouse based on size, growth, and market data, and how you can use this method to do the same at your company.

- An overview of industry best practices and some innovative ideas for perks for parents that go beyond PTO.

- How this approach can be used to inform planning for all perks, not just parental leave.

By registering for this webcast you will receive email communications and notifications from the sponsor(s).
Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-01-21 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/> CONTENTS [01] PM Tsipras at WEF: Europe's problems need 'more Europe' [02] BP Group chief Bob Dudley talks to ANA-MPA about 'very important' TAP pipeline project [01] PM Tsipras at WEF: Europe's problems need 'more Europe' Solving Europe's problems required "more Europe," Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Thursday, while participating in a World Economic Forum (WEF) panel in Davos, Switzerland. "We are doing what we can in order to progress quickly and smoothly with the implementation of the agreement," Tsipras said, and expressed hope that the disagreements and different views that occasionally arose between the three institutions representing the country's creditors would not be the cause of further delays. "This is not the time for various 'exits', whether these concern 'Grexit' or 'Brexit', or for divisions, or walls, or differentiations," the Greek premier continued. "It is a time for more Europe: Common rules, deepening democracy, strengthening solidarity, an increased European budget in order to restrict inequalities, banking union with a European system for guaranteeing deposits," he added. According to Tsipras, it was time for Europe to return to its founding principles, which were those of democracy, solidarity and social cohesion. Addressing issues raised by German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, who said the International Monetary Fund's presence in the Greek programme was essential and compared asking German lawmakers to sanction its removal to "going into a room full of dynamite with a lit candle", Tsipras made the following comment: "I too am no supporter of the view that one should attempt to light a candle in a room full of dynamite. Neither, however, do I have the view that on this account one must constantly be in the dark. The best solution is to remove the dynamite from the room and then light the candle." Tsipras pointed out that not everyone in Europe had the same opinion about the IMF's role and significance in European affairs. "This is not because we looked down on the IMF but because some of us believed that Europe can handle all these things perfectly well on its own," he said. In spite of this, he added, things had moved on, the various opinions had been voiced and in the last negotiations on Greece, some countries asked for the fund's participation in the programme. Greece had agreed, so that there would be an agreement, and was now doing its utmost to ensure that this agreement was implemented quickly and smoothly, he said. In a comment regarding competitiveness, Tsipras also highlighted the issue of productivity. "In addition to wanting to become more competitive, which means we must outdo our neighbour in competitiveness, we must also talk about the the issue of productivity. To become more productive, in other words more efficient, means that we improve and through our improvement we can benefit our neighbour," he said. He pointed out that labour cost was not the only issue affecting productivity and competitiveness and that there were a series of criteria that had to be addressed in order to make an economy more productive and competitive. The prime minister said that he was very glad that there was now a common agreement between the productive classes in Greece. "The government agreed with the employer associations to share the burden with society and they agreed to a very small increase in contributions so that we do not have the 13th successive cut in current pensions and go to a viable pension system," he said. [02] BP Group chief Bob Dudley talks to ANA-MPA about 'very important' TAP pipeline project BP Group Chief Executive and BP Director Bob Dudley on Thursday highlighted the significance of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project in statements to the ANA-MPA from Davos, following a meeting with Minister of State Nikos Pappas, describing it as the largest infrastructure pipe project in the world that BP was currently aware of. "I am here in Davos, I am meeting with Minister Pappas and we are discussing the progress on the TAP a Trans Adriatic Pipeline. We're very appreciative of the government, it has helped put in place the installation agreement," he said. "We'll be laying pipe for this very, very important southern corridor project, this year, and the project will be on stream in a couple of years but we've signed agreements with Greek companies on the construction and purchase of the pipes. I'm very pleased with the help and the mutual recognition of the importance of the project in Greece and actually for all of Europe and the very, very significant investment. This pipeline is the largest infrastructure pipe project in the world that we know, the production of gas by Azerbaijan through Georgia into Turkey and then into Greece and then across Albania into Italy. I think I would like to add that this is a great example of the business-minded support of the Greek government for inward investment into Greece and BP is very happy to be a part of this project, and I am very comfortable with the alignment on this important European project." Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-01-21 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/> CONTENTS [01] Institutions want big cuts in pensions, Labour ministry sources say [02] Nature wins over nurture for brown bears trading zoo life for Arcturos shelter [03] Defence Min. Kammenos holds talks with Jordanian officials in Amman [01] Institutions want big cuts in pensions, Labour ministry sources say Greece's lenders demand big cuts in main pensions, sources from the Labor ministry said on Thursday, following a teleconference between ministry officials and the technical teams of the institutions on social security reforms. Apart from the cuts, the representatives of the institutions expressed openly their disagreement with the replacement rates included in the government's proposals, which they consider excessively high. They also asked ministry officials to provide clarifications for some elements of the draft bill, as well as data on the national pension. [02] Nature wins over nurture for brown bears trading zoo life for Arcturos shelter ANA-MPA -- Despite spending a lifetime in captivity in Thessaloniki's zoo, the brown bears Sasha and Alexandra have managed to adapt beautifully to a life closer to their natural wild state, at the Arcturos Shelter for brown bears in Nymphaio, Florina, and successfully entered winter hibernation, staff at the shelter reported on Thursday. Arcturos staff said that the instincts of the two sisters, who in 23 years had never been given a chance to follow their biological clock, appeared to be in perfect working order. Staff said they were amazed when the two bears began collecting leaves to line their dens, in the time-honoured ursine fashion in the wild, and were among the first of the Arcturos bears to retire for their winter sleep. "We were stunned by their behaviour since they have spent their entire lives in captivity. It is unbelievable how they knew to gather leaves to make their nest or even to eat beech nuts, which they have never eaten before and are trees that do not even bear fruit every year!" said Arcturos' Panos Stefanou. He said the other nine bears that the shelter had now also gone into hibernation. The two bears arrived in Greece in November 1993, transferred from the zoo in Belgrade. They were found when they were just three months old, wandering alone without their mother, who had been killed in a minefield. [03] Defence Min. Kammenos holds talks with Jordanian officials in Amman Greece's National Defence Minister Panos Kammenos on Thursday held talks with officials in Amman on defence risks faced by Greece and Jordan and current developments in the region, during a two-day official visit to Jordan. Kammenos was received by Prince Faisal bin Al Hussein of Jordan and Jordanian Prime Minister and Defence Minister Dr. Abdullah Ensour. The two sides agreed that the risks facing both countries could not be dealt with individually but required multilateral regional action. They also noted that the EU and international community must support Jordan, which was a factor for stability and containment of threats and discussed enhancing cooperation in the defence industry. Kammenos also met the Jordanian House of Representatives Speaker Atef Tarawneh, a graduate of the NTUA in Athens, and discussed ways to strengthen Parliamentary diplomacy and relations between the Greek and Jordanian Parliaments. During the meeting, Kammenos extended an invitation from Greek Parliament President Nikos Voutsis to Tarawneh to visit Greece. The Greek defence minister also paid a visit to the Special Forces Training Centre in Jordan. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-01-21 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/> CONTENTS [01] Tsipras, Lagarde agree first program review should not be delayed [02] European Parliament approved to monitor implementation of Greek aid program [03] No pensions cuts were demanded by the institutions, Labour ministry source says [01] Tsipras, Lagarde agree first program review should not be delayed Neither Greece, nor the International Monetary Fund (IMF) want to delay the completion of the country's first program review, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and the Fund's head Christine Lagarde agreed during a meeting in Davos on Thursday. According to the prime minister's office, Tsipras and Lagarde agreed that the government and the IMF should have direct communication so that each side has a clear understanding of each other's position. The prime minister also briefed Lagarde on the audits conducted by Greek authorities for possible tax evaders who have bank counts abroad, noting it is the first time that there is political will to investigate those cases and not cover them up. Finally, he said the government is hoping to collect a significant part of this money by introducing a legislation of "self-reporting". Following the meeting, the IMF issued a press release saying that it stands ready to continue to support Greece in achieving robust economic growth and sustainable public finances through a credible and comprehensive medium-term economic programme, but only if it was granted "significant" debt relief by its European partners. Earlier, Tsipras said during a panel discussion that solving Europe's problems required "more Europe". "We are doing what we can in order to progress quickly and smoothly with the implementation of the agreement," he said, and expressed hope that the disagreements and different views that occasionally arose between the three institutions representing the country's creditors would not be the cause of further delays. "This is not the time for various 'exits', whether these concern 'Grexit' or 'Brexit', or for divisions, or walls, or differentiations," the Greek premier continued. "It is a time for more Europe: Common rules, deepening democracy, strengthening solidarity, an increased European budget in order to restrict inequalities, banking union with a European system for guaranteeing deposits," he added. According to Tsipras, it was time for Europe to return to its founding principles, which were those of democracy, solidarity and social cohesion. Addressing issues raised by German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, who said the International Monetary Fund's presence in the Greek programme was essential and compared asking German lawmakers to sanction its removal to "going into a room full of dynamite with a lit candle", Tsipras made the following comment: "I too am no supporter of the view that one should attempt to light a candle in a room full of dynamite. Neither, however, do I have the view that on this account one must constantly be in the dark. The best solution is to remove the dynamite from the room and then light the candle." [02] European Parliament approved to monitor implementation of Greek aid program PARIS (ANA-MPA/ O. Tsipira) - The European Parliament was added on Thursday in the group of institutions that will monitor the implementation of Greece's economic program, following a decision by the leaders of the parliament's political parties. The issue was discussed after an initiative by Guy Verhofstadt, leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe who wrote to European Parliament President Martin Schulz last July, to find a way to give the European Parliament an oversight role. According to the decision, the Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee will be tasked with the democratic oversight role. It will be assisted by a Financial Assistance Working Group (FAWG) comprising 30 MEPs, which will follow up on the implementation of the financial assistance programmes in more detail. The working group will hold regular meetings with the four involved institutions (Commission, ECB, IMF, ESM) and the Greek Government. The focus of the working group will be the parliamentary scrutiny of the decision making process. "I am delighted we have today reached agreement on a role for the European Parliament in scrutinising the implementation of the financial assistance programme for Greece. This will strengthen the monitoring of Greek reforms. It also represents a welcome injection of democratic oversight into what is often viewed as an opaque process,'' Verhofstadt commented. "The European Parliament and elected MEPs can now play the role they deserve in helping to deliver positive change for Greece," he added. [03] No pensions cuts were demanded by the institutions, Labour ministry source says A Labour Ministry source clarified on Thursday that the representatives of the institutions didn't ask for major pension cuts during a teleconference with ministry officials earlier in the day. Speaking to ANA-MPA, the source said talks on the social security reforms were exploratory and at no point did the representatives of institutions ask to slash pensions. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
oomberg) -- A senior global banking leader said he was shocked to discover that eight years after the financial crisis, junior staff members are still struggling to take to heart the message from the top about the firms culture.A survey of junior bankers at the firm last year showed they had no idea what the banks message about integrity and strategy is, the senior banker, who asked not to be identified, told a gathering of reporters and banking executives at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.Efforts by senior staff to cultivate an ethical culture at the firm over the past two years arent trickling down, the banker said. While managers are on cue, senior executives can only do about 10 percent of the work in adjusting objectives and targets, he added.Public opprobrium and billions in fines for misconduct since the financial crisis have prompted leaders of banks including Barclays Plc and Deutsche Bank AG to publicly vow to overhaul their corporate ethos. Davos regular Mark Carney, head of Britains central bank, said in October that bank executives who arent comfortable with personal responsibility that new U.K. regulations force on them probably shouldnt be in their jobs.Last year, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. dismissed about 20 analysts in offices including London and New York after discovering they had breached rules on internal training tests, while JPMorgan Chase & Co. fired 10 employees for similar offenses, people familiar with the incidents said at the time.Davos, the Alpine resort home to the annual gathering of the worlds political and corporate elite, has sometimes been the scene of banker-bashing. Carney told bankers in 2014 they should moderate their compensation with conduct was replacing capital as the key concern for regulators, people said at the time. Wall Street has also been a topic of the U.S. presidential race, with candidates from Bernie Sanders to Donald Trump criticizing the industry.The senior banker said on Wednesday that he backs the Bank of Englands proposal that bankers potentially lose their bonuses even after they switch firms, if they are responsible for losses at their previous employer. The banker described the practice as the worst loophole in compensation rules.
hiring intentions reach a six-year high, New Zealand employers are left battling for talent  but what if there was a way to reach your ideal employee, even if they havent applied?LUSHs retail support manager Elisia Gray recruits for head office roles and retail managers across New Zealand and Australia  she says shes got a trick up her sleeve to attract not only passive job seekers but one who might not have even thought about moving.Weve got these cute talent cards that we carry around with us and if weve gotten great service in a store, well offer one to the employee, she reveals.Theyve got a lovely copy on it that says; Thanks for your beautiful service today, you might be happy where you are  and thats great  but if youre ever thinking of a new opportunity heres the email to contact us.One of the most important parts of successful recruitment is being certain the person has the skills they say they have and can do what theyve promised to do, stresses Gray, so when you receive that service unprompted, its evidence of those skills.The approach also identifies potentially great employees who might not necessarily be great at interviews.The person youre interviewing isnt a professional interviewee, explains Gray. Someone might not be the best person in an interview but they may have the best ability for that role.
ecent study into the diversity of UK workplaces has revealed a surprising front runner  intelligence agency MI5, made internationally famous by its fictional role in the James Bond series.Activist organization Stonewall examined hundreds of employers across the nation to evaluate their progress and achievements in terms of LGBT equality  companies has to excel in 10 separate areas of employment practice in order to make the top 100.With chauvinist spy James Bond as an accidental representative, the British Secret Service may seem like an unlikely winner but the agency proved itself to be far fairer than most would think.Diversity is vital for MI5, not just because its right that we represent the communities we serve, but because we rely on the skills of the most talented people whoever they are, and wherever they may be, said MI5 head Andrew Parker.The closest runners up included Lloyds Banking Group in second place and the National Assembly of Wales in third place but all three beat out approximately 400 other organizations that submitted themselves for consideration.[People] can only give the best they can give when they feel supported, valued, and treated with respect by their colleagues, added Parker.
Welcome to Canada, eh.

A family of Syrians refugees who fled the civil war in their country took their first toboggan rides this month, and the fun was caught on camera.

A YouTube video uploaded Tuesday shows nothing but joy as the group flies down Armour Hill in Peterborough, Ont.

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Ontario Provincial Police Const. David McNab, who shot the video, is co-sponsoring the family of four with his wife Kristy Hiltz, according to The National Post.

"The kids are amazingly grateful and excited about everything," the police officer told the newspaper.

"Every experience is just laughter, smiles and giggles."

Great Things Canadians Have Done So Far For Syrian Refugees See Gallery
Could it be that the falling loonie is finally having a positive effect on Canada?

With the Canadian dollar down more than 30 per cent against the U.S. dollar in the past few years, Canadian labour is a lot cheaper on the global marketplace than it used to be. That should make Canada a more attractive place for foreign companies looking to set up shop.

Now comes word, from the Ottawa Business Journal, that Apple  the worlds largest company by market value  is setting up a research facility in Canada.

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According to sources cited by the business weekly, Apple has leased 22,000 square feet of office space in Kanata, a west-end suburb of Ottawa known as a tech hub.

411 Legget Dr. in Kanata, Ontario, will reportedly house a new Apple facility. The buildings main tenant is mobile tech company DragonWave. (Photo: KRP Properties)

But it may not be Canada's suddenly-cheaper labour force Apple is after (though it certainly can't hurt). Tech blogs have lit up with speculation that the facility could be used in the development of Apples driverless car, dubbed the iCar.

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Thats because Apples purported new office is down the road from the offices of BlackBerry-owned QNX Systems, a company that develops mobile software for cars, and recently started developing software for driverless cars.

Companies often buy offices near their competition to try and attract engineers, writes the 9to5Mac blog. Employees are more likely to move if they do not have to relocate. It is possible Apple is interested in QNX automotive talent, especially as it relates to self-driving cars.

The rumours are entirely unconfirmed; HuffPost Canada has reached out to Apple for comment, and we'll update this story as warranted. But if it's not about QNX, then maybe we can thank the falling loonie for this development.

Read more: Apple Canada Prices Hiked As Dollar Slumps

Reports and rumours about an Apple car project have been flying around for a year. Reports indicate the iCar or "Apple car" will be electric, but its unclear how autonomous it will be.

Some analysts have played down the reports of an Apple car altogether, insisting that the company is actually interested in something a little less ambitious: Integrating its mobile operating system, iOS, into car dashboards. (I.e., use your iPhone hands-free while driving.)

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MONTREAL  The rejection by Montreal-area municipal leaders of TransCanada Corp.'s proposed Energy East pipeline prompted a sharp political rebuke from some parts of Western Canada on Thursday.

The Montreal Metropolitan Community, which represents 82 municipalities and 3.9 million residents, said it opposes the project and will defend that position at Quebec environmental impact and National Energy Board hearings.

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Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre, the current president of the organization, said the decision was unanimous and that the environmental risks of a spill far outweigh any economic benefits for the region.

Prairie provinces fire back

That position sparked anger in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Deron Bilous, Alberta's minister of economic development and trade, said his province is now doing its share to combat climate change while facing tremendous challenges with the collapse of oil prices.

"We all look to the same resource revenues to create jobs and fund the social programs we all depend on,'' Bilous said. "The mayor of Montreal's statement today is therefore both ungenerous and short-sighted. Everyone loses if we destroy our resource economy.''

Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall called it sad that leaders from Quebec would be so "parochial'' about a project that would benefit all of Canada.

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I trust Montreal area mayors will politely return their share of $10B in equalization supported by west #EnergyEasthttps://t.co/DUtlu4VjPx  Brad Wall (@PremierBradWall) January 21, 2016

Wall said Quebec will receive about $10 billion in equalization payments this year.

''For the better part of the past decade the western Canadian energy sector and western Canadian taxpayers have supported a great portion of these transfer payments as well as the Canadian economy,'' he said in a statement.

"Is it too much to expect that these Quebec municipal leaders would respond to this reality with generous support for a pipeline that supports the very sector that has supported them?''

The foreign oil shipped to QC = no economic benefit to Quebecers. CDN oil production = billions in transfer payments that benefit Quebecers.  Jason Kenney (@jkenney) January 21, 2016

Coderre said the project is worth about $2 million a year in economic benefits to the Montreal area, while the cleanup of a major oil spill could cost between $1 billion and $10 billion.

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Environmental consultations were held across the Montreal territory last September and October and Coderre said the majority of the 140 groups that submitted briefs were opposed to the project.

TransCanada maintains that pipelines are safer and more environmentally friendly than rail for transporting oil.

A TransCanada spokesman was hopeful the company could keep channels open with elected Montreal-area officials.

"We will continue to listen to other elected leaders in Quebec and stakeholders across the province as we take their concerns and input seriously,'' Jonathan Abecassis said in a statement.

Mr Coderre demands billions in taxpayer-funded infrastructure,but opposes multi-billion $ job-creating private sector infrastructure project  Jason Kenney (@jkenney) January 21, 2016

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The proposed pipeline would take Alberta crude as far east as an Irving Oil refinery in Saint John, N.B., and would be capable of carrying up to 1.1 million barrels a day from the West to the East.

The project would include existing TransCanada (TSX:TRP) pipeline as far east as Montreal, plus new pipeline to be constructed through Quebec.

Wildrose Leader Brian Jean said the Alberta NDP government's strategy around pipelines is failing and that it's time Premier Rachel Notley started standing up for the province against ''unfair attacks.''

"While Mr. Coderre dumps a billion litres of raw sewage directly into his waterways and benefits from billions in equalization payments, his opposition to the Energy East pipeline is nothing short of hypocritical,'' Jean said.

You cant dump raw sewage, accept foreign tankers, benefit from equalization and then reject our pipelines https://t.co/J94PksWtJt#ableg  Brian Jean (@BrianJeanWRP) January 21, 2016

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"Montreal buys millions of barrels of foreign oil from dictatorships, but it is rejecting oil from their friends in Confederation. It's disgraceful! This is a project that will benefit all of Canada and will improve our GDP by $55 billion. It's time that Rachel Notley realizes this and starts fighting for Alberta.''

In December, TransCanada filed an amended application with the National Energy Board that included some 700 changes to deal specifically with environmental concerns. One month earlier, the company announced it wouldn't build an oil export terminal in Quebec.

The company estimates the cost of the pipeline will now come in $15.7 billion, up from the original $12 billion price tag. That amount doesn't count the existing pipeline assets that will be converted for use in Energy East.

Greenpeace applauded Coderre's announcement, saying it should send a signal to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to reject the project.

"Trudeau already said that pipelines projects must be accepted by the local communities before they get approved,'' said spokesman Patrick Bonin.

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A day after Ontario police ticketed an elderly man too old and weak to clear snow off his windshield, Halifax authorities busted a driver with a more creative excuse.

On Wednesday, Halifax police posted a photo of a car half-covered under several inches of snow, its driver hiding her face behind the wheel.

Police described the winter spectacle as a moving snowbank.

Hard to find words for this one, said police in the photos description, adding, The driver was on the way to the car wash to melt the snow.

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The 37-year-old driver was given a $180 ticket for failing to clear snow off her car. (Photo: Halifax Regional Police/Facebook)

The 37-year-old driver was handed a $180 ticket. Police took a photo of her car and shared it with the public as a means of deterring others from leaning on the same lazy logic after a heavy snowfall.

On Tuesday, police caught an 80-year-old man in Brussels, Ont. driving a car covered with a thick layer of snow  with exception to a hole cleared on the drivers side of the windshield.

Ontario Provincial Police spokesperson James Stanley told HuffPost Canada the driver had explained to the officer who stopped him that he was too old and weak to brush off the entire windshield.

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What followed was a stern lesson about road safety  and a good deed.

The officer ticketed him, educated him and helped him remove the snow from his windows, Stanley said.

With files from The Canadian Press
Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi took some issue with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's comments at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland Wednesday.

"My predecessor wanted you to know Canada for its resources," Trudeau said during a keynote address in Davos. "I want you to know Canadians for our resourcefulness."

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Nenshi said he wouldn't have used the same language as Trudeau, saying he prefers to describe Canada as "resource plus," Global News reported.

"We are still a resource-based economy. Our biggest export is still energy. And I do not see a path where that does not continue to be the case, so clearly we need to do what we can on market access," Nenshi told CBC News.

PM: Davos is nice, but you have to come to Whistler. Dude, I'm right here in the front row. #meantBanff#ofcourse#WEF16  Naheed Nenshi (@nenshi) January 20, 2016

The most important issue facing resource-rich Alberta right now is how to get the province's products to tidewater, the mayor added.

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Some experts, including former Liberal cabinet minister Brian Tobin, say its important Canada isn't seen as running away from from the resource sector, as commodities are cyclical, Metro News reported.

(Trudeau) has put another question mark around the governments attitude towards resources. It adds an extra level of nervousness to a situation thats already boiling with nervousness," Mount Royal University political analyst David Taras told the Calgary Herald.

However, Nenshi's comments may not be technically correct.

According to Statistics Canada data released in September, energy is the country's second-largest export. The shift, which placed auto exports on top, could be interpreted as another indicator of how oil's collapse is altering Canada's economy.

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The interim leader of the Conservative Party, who as health minister consistently railed against any notion of legalizing marijuana, has had something of a change of heart.

No, Rona Ambrose does not suddenly support legalizing pot. But on Wednesday, in another apparent shift from her predecessor Stephen Harper, the official Opposition leader suggested on a Vancouver radio show that the sooner the new Liberal government takes action, the better off kids will be.

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Ambrose, currently on a cross-country tour focused on the economy, was pressed by CKNW AM 980's Simi Sara on the past government's record of pot prohibition and whether the stance hampered her party's election results.

Interim Tory Leader Rona Ambrose speaks in the House of Commons. (Photo: The Canadian Press)

Ambrose said as health minister under Harper, she was concerned about the "infiltration" of unregulated marijuana dispensaries. There was evidence, she said, that such stores were selling pot to children.

She remains worried about dispensaries now that the "cat's out of the bag."

"There's hundreds of them popping up," she said.

When Sara noted much of that happened under Ambrose's watch, the top Tory said that while her party always expected police to "do their jobs," the City of Vancouver opted to regulate dispensaries on a municipal level  a decision she blasted publicly last June.

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While repeating her concern that legalizing pot normalizes the drug, Ambrose conceded that a large faction of Canadians  "that are mostly adults, to be frank"  want access to marijuana for recreational purposes. Those voters supported Justin Trudeau's Liberals in the last campaign and were a "strong force" in places such as Vancouver.

Now, Ambrose wants to see what Trudeau's government plans to do to control the substance.

"The sooner they can move on that, the better to protect kids."

"Whatever (the regulations) look like, Prime Minister Trudeau has said he's going to keep pot out of the hands of children. So, good," she said. "That's what we need to do.

"I hope that the faster they move on this the better because the proliferation of pot dispensaries is quite large. It's moved now, not just in Vancouver but across the country and they're unregulated. So, the sooner they can move on that, the better to protect kids."

Trudeau has long maintained that legalizing and regulating the drug will do more to keep it away from children  a position that was repeatedly blasted by Tories in attack ads.

Listen to Ambrose's full interview below:

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Ambrose said she was 'skeptical' Liberals could protect kids

In an interview with The Huffington Post Canada last month, Ambrose expressed doubt that legalizing pot could help keep the drug away from young people.

"That's not what we've seen in other countries," she said. "As the Liberals move forward, our big push with them will be to make sure that if they're going to legalize that they implement the regulation in a way that protects children. And I'm very skeptical that they are going to be able to do that."



Ambrose's remarks this week also conflict with what she said in the House of Commons months ago.

In June, then-Vancouver Tory MP Wai Young  who was defeated last fall by Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan  rose during question period to lament that there were "even more marijuana stores in Vancouver" than ever before. Young asked for an update on health risks of smoking pot.

In her response, Ambrose pointed to comments from a past president of the Canadian Medical Association that marijuana poses lasting health effects for youth. She suggested only the Tories were looking out for kids.

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"While the Liberal leader and the New Democrats support making marijuana use an everyday, normal activity and having it available in storefronts like Starbucks, our government will continue to protect young people from marijuana," she said.

Harper on campaign trail: Pot 'infinitely worse' than tobacco

While pot was not as big of an issue in the last campaign that some predicted, Harper sparked headlines in October when he said marijuana was "infinitely worse" than tobacco.

A radio interview just days before the vote ultimately turned testy when the former Tory leader was repeatedly asked to provide proof to back up that claim. Harper pointed to "science."

Tories also released controversial ads targeting Chinese and Punjabi-speaking voters that alleged Trudeau's Liberals wanted to sell pot sold to children.

Liberals stated in their speech from the throne last month the new government would, as promised, "legalize, regulate and restrict access to marijuana."

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Former Toronto police chief Bill Blair, now an MP for Scarborough and parliamentary secretary for the minister of justice, has been tapped to handle the contentious file.

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When the December holidays officially came to a close, markets and big box stores packed their shelves with cards, chocolates and stuffed teddy bears. February may seem decades away, especially since it sits on the other side of frigid January, but Valentine's Day always comes quickly and without much warning.

Wow your loved one with a special getaway this February 14th. These five U.S. cities are loaded with swoon-worthy restaurants, romantic backdrops and plenty of places to cozy up and escape the cold together.

1. San Francisco, California

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Photo credit: Nicolas Raymond

Photo ops in front of the Golden Gate Bridge, chilly mornings on Ocean Beach and some of the best restaurants in the world are just a few of the features that make San Francisco a Valentine's Day hotspot. The city's unique location just over an hour's drive from Napa Valley makes it an ideal home base for couples day trips. Don't forget to choose a waterfront restaurant with views of the iconic big red bridge for the ultimate meal on the big day.

2. Charleston, South Carolina

Photo credit: Barry Peters

It's impossible to visit historic Charleston, S.C., without feeling a bit romantic. The architecture dating back to our country's earliest years, ancient oak trees lining the streets, quaint southern shops, horse-drawn carriages and a selection of restaurants praised for their world-renowned chefs make Charleston an easy place to settle for Valentine's Day.

The city's riverfront walkways and proximity to the ocean also mean you can enjoy the beauty of the lowcountry waters on your visit. Don't forget to opt for one of the city's many historic inns over the more conventional chain hotels for an extra dose of southern charm and romance.

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3. Portland, Oregon

Portland is a place for couples who want to spend a lot of time out and about. The city bustles with Valentine's Day events, ranging from brunches and dinners at trendy restaurants to free brewery tours, Valentine's Day theater, tantra workshops and tours of the city's sinful past. Whether you're looking to embrace Valentine's Day with a special someone or are seeking some anti-Valentine's Day fun, Portland is a place where you can do it all.

4. Honolulu, Hawaii

Photo credit: Edmund Garman

There are few ideas more romantic than escaping to a tropical paradise with someone you love. Hawaii is America's very own tropical paradise, and Honolulu offers everything from nighttime swims in bathtub-warm waters to some of the world's best sunsets and four-star dining at the famous La Mer restaurant. Visitors can create their own romantic experiences with beach picnics, mountain hikes, local Hawaiian spa treatments or days spent exploring Oahu's iconic shores.

5. New York City, New York

New York is at its most romantic in the winter months. Visitors can hit the skating rink at Rockefeller Center, cocktail at swanky NYC hotels, take carriage rides through Central Park, attend Broadway shows and dine everywhere from famous delis to restaurants owned by Gordon Ramsay and other multi-Michelin-starred chefs. New York City's close proximity to Canada also means that you can feel like you've travelled to a faraway place without the long, expensive flights.

There's no doubt it will be difficult to choose the perfect place to spend Valentine's Day with the one you love, but wherever you find yourself across the U.S., you're guaranteed to find a city that encourages romance nearby.

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ASSOCIATED PRESS Opponents of a proposed natural gas pipeline protest on Boston Common across from the Statehouse in Boston, Wednesday, July 30, 2014. Energy company Kinder Morgan has proposed the $3.75 billion extension of its northeast pipeline through Massachusetts and says will provide clean-burning natural gas to the northeast. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

A conference room is filled with dozens of empty chairs lined up row on row inside a beige hotel and casino complex. Guests and gamblers walk past the room, unaware of the rows of chairs laid out for a major public hearing.

They don't see that each day those chairs are cruelly denied their raison d'etre when a security guard places a lock on the doors to the conference room, ostensibly to stop any nefarious member of the public from wandering in.

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From time to time, a passerby asks the security guard: "What's going on in that room?"

"Public hearings," the guard responds.

"Oh, so can I go in?" asks the passerby.

"No sir, no you can't," the guard answers, polite but curt.

"I'm a member of the public. Can I enter this public hearing?" the passerby's questioning continues, voice rising with indignation.

"Unfortunately not. No public are allowed in these hearings," the guard politely responds.

A version of this fiction, farcical enough to be a Monty Python sketch, has been playing out for the past week in Burnaby, B.C. while the National Energy Board review of the Kinder Morgan TransMountain pipeline enters its final stage. While it's so ridiculous that you can't help but laugh at it, it's also unjust, anti-democratic and something that Canada's new prime minister promised would never happen again.

Last June, now-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled his party's environmental platform standing with his back to the Burrard Inlet in Vancouver's Kitsilano neighborhood. With a withering critique that Stephen Harper's government had "chosen to be a cheerleader instead of a referee" when it came to pipelines, he promised a complete overhaul of the National Energy Board assessment process.

The platform gave a detailed commitment to "modernize the National Energy Board, ensuring that its composition reflects regional views and has sufficient expertise in fields like environmental science, community development and Indigenous traditional knowledge."

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It further extolled that a Liberal government would "ensure that environmental assessments include an analysis of upstream impacts and greenhouse gas emissions resulting from projects" and that they would "will undertake, in full partnership and consultation with First Nations, Inuit and the Metis Nation, a full review of laws, policies and operational practices."

It didn't end there.

During the election campaign the prime minister, when questioned on the Kinder Morgan review process at an event in B.C., explained that "no, they're not going to approve [Kinder Morgan] in January. Because we're going to change the government. And that process needs to be redone."

A few weeks later, after the government had been elected, Burnaby member of Parliament Terry Beech confirmed it. "Kinder Morgan will have to go through a new, revised process," he told a reporter.

"It's clear that prime minister Trudeau has broken a major promise and taken up the torch of continuing Stephen Harper's pipeline reviews."

Despite all this, that process is not being redone. Nor have any changes been implemented to meet the promises made in the election platform, including consideration around climate change, community concerns or Indigenous rights. In fact, when questioned on these promises, Minister of Natural Resources Jim Carr confirmed that the Kinder Morgan hearings would be moving forwards without a new process and with no transitional rules to meet the promises made on the campaign trail.

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So, why are the Liberals breaking such a crucial campaign promise on climate and Indigenous rights?

The answer may be in a leaked email that forced Trudeau's campaign co-chair, Daniel Gagnier, to resign a week ahead of the October 19 election.

Gagnier, who had worked as a contractor with TransCanada pipelines, was caught sending emails to the company advising them on how best lobby the next government of Canada, including suggestions on where to focus early energy to most benefit their pipeline plans.

The email explained that it was "extremely important that in terms of the revision of NEB rules and standards [TransCanada] and the industry find an early entry point so that the process does not impede timing on projected in-service-dates."

It is just an email, but it raises an important question. When Trudeau promised to overhaul these processes during the election, he was appealing to the people. He knew that the NEB had become a toxic process, amongst the most illegitimate regulators on the planet.

Thus, he promised to change the rules to include climate change, communities and Indigenous Peoples. Now, only months later, he's changed his tune. Instead of keeping his promise to the people, he's taking a stand that seems much more appealing to big polluters.

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It's clear that prime minister Trudeau has broken a major promise and taken up the torch of continuing Stephen Harper's pipeline reviews. With this email, we have to wonder if he's taking up more than just that when it comes to the former prime minister's approach to climate change and the fossil fuel industry. If that's the road he's headed down, and the illegitimate NEB reviews of Kinder Morgan and Energy East are just the tip of the iceberg, we're in big trouble.

Canada needs to make some big leaps to change our actions from laggard to leader on climate, and to do that we need a government who can take bold climate action, not just make ambitious statements.

The good news is that prime minister Trudeau and this government still have time to keep their promise, but only if they stop these reviews now and make sure any projects moving through a review can only do so with a vigorous, science-based climate test, by listening to community voices and by truly respecting the rights of Indigenous Peoples.

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Randy Plett via Getty Images An East African baby receiving a Polio vaccine.

By Craig and Marc Kielburger

Row after row of mothers wait patiently, babies fussing in their laps. A nurse in this small clinic in rural Arusha, Tanzania, calls them forward, one by one, and gives the squirming infants a shot that will protect them from killer diseases, like measles and polio.

Over the past 15 years, Tanzania has made a concerted effort to immunize its children -- and has achieved a remarkable vaccination rate of almost 90 per cent. That's not good enough for the government and health organizations, though. They want to get as close to 100 per cent as possible.

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But figuring out which children have been missed is a huge challenge in a country where many families still live nomadic lives in remote areas.

Enter Seattle health organization PATH and Canada's own Mohawk College, in Hamilton, Ont. They're helping out, not with more vaccines or nurses, but a database.

The Better Immunization Data, or BID initiative, shows strong health systems in developing countries aren't built on hospitals and medical staff alone. Knowledge is vital, too.

BID is an ambitious project to boost vaccination rates with an easy-to-use national electronic immunization registry. The initiative was launched in 2013 with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Pilots of the system were first rolled out in Tanzania and Zambia last year. Mohawk College, which has been working on health information systems in Canada and abroad for eight years, provides the technological expertise.

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"In Tanzania, we're able to accurately track needles in children's arms," says Justin Fyfe, Mohawk's senior software architect on the BID project, who explained the registry to us. "That's something even Canada struggles with. We're still carrying yellow vaccination cards."

When there's an immunization clinic in Tanzania today, nurses are equipped with digital tablets as well as needles. A nurse enters each vaccination into an app, which connects into the country's national vaccination registry. In areas where lack of power renders tablets impractical, health workers use a specially-designed paper form that is later scanned into the system.

"Anyone can change the code, so other developing -- and developed -- countries will be able to adapt the system for their own use at low cost."

Once their children are vaccinated, parents get a card with a barcode. Any health centre connected to the registry can scan the card and get a child's full immunization record.

The registry is an epic time, labour and money saver.

Before BID, it could take a team of Tanzanian nurses an entire day to prepare for an immunization clinic, says Dykki Settle, a senior technical adviser with PATH. They would have to wade through a mountain of paperwork, identifying which children still need which vaccinations. If a family had arrived from another part of the country, the nurses would have no information to work with.

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Tracking how many children are being immunized -- and in which areas -- will also help Tanzania more efficiently manage vaccine supply and distribution, Settle told us. Officials will know where the real need is, and can then ensure health centres don't run out of critical vaccines.

Perhaps the most ingenious aspect of the project is that Mohawk College is making the software expandable and open source.

Tanzanian health workers will be able to use the database to support other projects, such as malaria or HIV treatment. Because it is open source, anyone can change the code that makes up the software, so other developing -- and developed -- countries will be able to adapt the system for their own use, creating their own health databases at low cost.

Overall, the system is designed to eventually become a one-stop health information source, with every Tanzanian citizen having their own electronic health record.

For many donors who support international development, building a database isn't as sexy as building a hospital, but the impact is just as powerful. Just ask nurses, who spend less time doing paperwork and more time helping people. And the moms who sleep at night, knowing their children are safe from disease.

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Brothers Craig and Marc Kielburger founded a platform for social change that includes the international charity, Free The Children, the social enterprise, Me to We, and the youth empowerment movement, We Day. Visit we.org for more information.

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We all have career dilemmas: to stay or go, to work with a corporation or a startup, to go freelance or full-time. The questions go on.

Toronto agency director Erin Bury, knows this feeling well--she has contemplated and answered all three of those questions and she's just over 30.

At 23, Bury was working with a North American public relations firm for a year, when she was asked to join a startup, then known as RedWire. While at RedWire, she quickly became an influential voice for startups in Toronto, and since 2008 has diversified her roles to include tech editor, and freelance writer to director, tech commentator, and columnist.

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Bury is now managing director of 88 Creative, a communications agency in Toronto, and a speaker with the National Speakers Bureau. She recently shared her career influences and how to be true to yourself when stress and doubts get high:

Tell me about running a business.

Running a business is the best mix of stress, panic, and multitasking. Unlike other roles where you might be focused on one singular function like marketing or finance, running a business means you have to have your hands in every pie: you're managing a team of people, managing projects and in our case clients, making sure the new business pipeline is full and closing sales, marketing the company and growing your public profile, managing the finances so everyone gets paid and profits are healthy, and trying to maintain a great company culture.

The best small business owners and entrepreneurs don't take all of that stress on alone: they delegate to great people with complementary skill sets, and have a core senior team to help share the stress of meeting everyone's expectations (clients, employees, and stakeholders).

I love the challenge of building a business, and much prefer it to being part of a larger organization where you have less autonomy, and there's less creative thinking.

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Photo credit: Kavi Guppta

What were some of your early influences?

My earliest (and biggest) influence was my mom, Shelley, who spent over 20 years in marketing at Nortel. She was (and is) extremely smart, business-savvy, and she's lovely but tough when it comes to fighting for her place in the business world. She taught me the importance of working hard; the value of working with a creative, invigorating team; and she opened my eyes to how rewarding a career in marketing could be. Another big influence in my life is Sarah Prevette, my former boss and a powerful female entrepreneur. She introduced me to the world of technology startups, and I haven't looked back since.

How do you keep your ego in check?

There's not a lot of ego in tech startups -- thankfully everyone is really kind, modest, and not obsessed with image or appearance. I would say that my ego takes a hit when people criticize my company or the work we've done, but I try to remember something venture capitalist Dave McClure said in a presentation: you can't iterate around indifference. It's better that someone hates your work than they don't react at all, since at least they're voicing an opinion and you have an opportunity to address it. We found this with our Agency or Porn campaign last summer -- people either loved it or they didn't, and I really didn't take offence at the people who didn't. If you don't get at least one negative reaction you're probably not pushing the creative boundaries.

What leadership lessons have you learned?

I'm still learning how to improve as a leader, but the first lesson I learned was from Chandler and Phoebe on Friends: you can't be friends with the boss (or Boss Man Bing, as Chandler was known around the office). You should get along with your team, you should enjoy spending time with them, but they're not your buddies. Having high expectations and giving firm, constructive criticism is as important as being fun. And I wouldn't say this is a lesson, but a value: treat your team with kindness, and care about their lives and their well-being. Treating your team members like a number is a surefire way to see your retention rate slide.

What else do you want people to know?

I think a lot of people have imposter syndrome -- they don't feel they deserve to be starting a company, running a business, growing a startup, or in a senior position at a company. I want people to know that everyone has self-doubt, and everyone questions their abilities.

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My approach has always been to learn as much as I can, remember that no one else has any more right to be doing what I am, and surround myself with a team of people who complement my skill set.

Follow Erin on Twitter and check out her regular small business column for Financial Post.

I'm fascinated by creative women -- their passions, challenges, and contributions to society. If you know a creative woman to feature, please tweet @kmarano.

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Marcy White

I was a very private person before I became a staunch advocate for my son Jacob. I would rather have had gum surgery than talk about my feelings.

Things are very different now.

Parenting, in general, is hard. Parenting medically fragile children and teenagers is fraught with unimaginable stresses, heart-crushing decisions and endless battles to ensure our kids are receiving the best care and access to the fullest lives possible. Our children's needs don't fit neatly in a box, and a cookie-cutter approach to caring for our kids creates additional problems for all involved.

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As medical technology advances, kids with complex needs are living longer than in previous generations. Hospitals are discharging children with complicated care into the community in ever-increasing numbers.

Unsustainable pressures are placed on moms like me to act as doctors, nurses, speech/physio/occupational therapists and problem-solvers for our children's medical needs around the clock without a break. This goes on for years, often decades, until our children pass away or are placed in full-time group homes.

It's no secret that I have publicly stood up to the Toronto District School Board on more than one occasion to make sure that Jacob's educational needs are met.

I'm thrilled to report that it has been recognized that in addition to benefiting from the academic inclusion, Jacob has taught teachers, students and administrators some wonderful lessons about perseverance and tolerance. He has won over many skeptics and proven that he is more than simply a body in a wheelchair -- a degrading position nobody should ever be in.

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It is also widespread knowledge that Jake's medical needs have increased exponentially over the past year and a half. I've shared many details about the struggle I've faced with the home care system that is supposed to help me manage his medical needs at home.

Despite sufficient government funding (and not many people can say that!), home care nurses and the inherent dysfunction in the system are failing miserably, making our lives even more arduous and depleting than they need be.

A few days ago, I was surprised when a friend commented that she is used to seeing me "vent" on social media. I didn't think I regularly used online groups to unleash my frustrations (aside from the groups that are intended for such purpose, and thankfully there are a few).

"To the doctors, nurses and social workers who hear our struggles and witness our breakdowns, please don't just listen and commiserate. Step up and gather the courage to instigate change."

Sharing the obstacles I encounter as an advocate for my son with severe medical issues is done with the hope that people will begin to experience a bit about what I, and many others in similar situations, deal with on a regular basis. My objective is that if people know and empathize with our tribulations, change will be more likely to occur.

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So I share.

Broadcasting these battles has never been for the express purpose of "venting." I share the demands of our lives in such a public way in order to assemble the strongest, safest and most comprehensive team of caregivers and opportunities for my son. The educational and home care systems in Ontario have not kept pace with the medical advances.

I am speaking up to draw attention to the deficits in my community. I am exposing some (not all!) of my challenges with the hopes that it will make a difference. I am sharing my experiences because most people are unaware of the flaws in the system. And if people don't know how the parents, caregivers and families are suffering, then changes will not happen fast enough for our generation.

I'm disseminating details about my conflicts for the slew of other exhausted, beaten-down parents who don't have the time, energy or ability to do it for their children. Just because I'm the loud mouth, pain-in-the-butt parent, don't assume that I'm the only one. There are so many of us.

To those in a position to effect change, whether you are in a government, medical or another field, please don't continue to stand by and watch us sink under the enormous pressure in which we find ourselves.

To the doctors, nurses and social workers who hear our struggles and witness our breakdowns, please don't just listen and commiserate. It might not be in your written job description and I know you are worried about alienating some of your colleagues and being viewed as trouble-makers in the eyes of your superiors, but you are the ones who see and know our desperation. Stop watching and wishing you could make things better for us. Step up and gather the courage to instigate change.

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Please do your part to get the help we desperately need for our beloved children. They deserve it.

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THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

This week Canada's Minister of Health, Dr. Jane Philpott, will meet with her provincial and territorial counterparts in Vancouver. This is no ordinary get-together. In his letter to the minister, Prime Minister Trudeau tasked Philpott with "engaging provinces and territories in the development of a new, multi-year Health Accord with long-term funding agreement." This is a distinct change in tone; the previous federal government had refused to meet with provinces to negotiate a new agreement after the accord ran out in 2014.

The top-down approach by the Harper government was greeted with two distinct reactions. There were those that saw the cancellation of the Health Accord as a step backward that would further reduce the federal portion of funding for health care, offloading costs to the provinces. Others criticized the past accord, billed as "a fix for a generation," because it didn't buy the intended change. While progress was made on wait times for certain services, other innovations in home care, primary care, prevention and health promotion, and the development of a national pharmaceutical strategy were not achieved in any meaningful way, with most of the increased funding getting absorbed into regular health budgets.

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Both of these perspectives hold merit.

There is a strong case to be made for a return to the original 50/50 funding arrangement, which is one of the key reasons the provinces signed on to Medicare in the first place and has steadily been eroded in the decades since. There is also a fair criticism that increased funding should have been used more deliberately to attempt to achieve the intended change. An increase in private and public health spending in Canada from $124 billion in 2003 to $207 billion in 2012 bought little in the way of meaningful change in system performance or health outcomes for Canadians.

Canada is the only nation with a universal health-care system that doesn't include drug coverage; one in five Canadians reports being unable to afford to take necessary medications as prescribed.

So as the health ministers meet in Vancouver, how can they bend the curve toward a less costly and more effective health-care system? How can they ensure the funds invested this time around will buy real improvements in health?

Some of the directions for this can be found in the prime minister's mandate letter to the Minister of Health, which included an exhortation to "support the delivery of more and better home care services." Investment in quality home care has been shown to improve patient experience while easing pressure on acute and long-term facilities.

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The letter also encouraged Minister Philpott to "encourage the adoption of new digital health technology." If done right, electronic medical and health records can greatly expand our ability to effectively treat individuals and the population.

A third major element described in the mandate letter was a call to "improve access to necessary prescription medications" by "joining with provincial and territorial governments to buy drugs in bulk," and "exploring the need for a national formulary." This falls short of a national pharmacare program, but does not close the door to the possibility.

Canada is the only nation with a universal health-care system that doesn't include drug coverage; one in five Canadians reports being unable to afford to take necessary medications as prescribed. A national pharmacare program would eliminate that problem while saving Canadians approximately $6 billion per year in excess costs. Half measures in this area will not achieve the desired savings or accessibility.

The directives from Trudeau to Philpott are helpful, but there are two key ingredients missing. The first is that the flow of health-care funds needs to be connected to clearly articulated goals. Indiscriminately increasing fund transfers with no accountability for how they will be used is a recipe for continually increasing costs without improving the quality and accessibility of care.

The second is that all levels of government need to move toward a Health in All Policies approach that understands all areas of government - policies affecting income, education, housing, food security, for example - impact health outcomes. Health care is the greatest cost driver in provincial governments, but it isn't the area in which spending has the greatest impact on health - and it's not where those costs can best be controlled.

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The decisions emerging from this upcoming summit could change the landscape of health-care policy in Canada. We can only hope that Dr. Philpott will be practicing "medicine on a larger scale," looking first and foremost to improve the health and well-being of Canadians.

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More than 1,800 children have been referred to a de-radicalisation programme over the last four years, with some youngsters having watched beheading videos with relatives, official figures have revealed.

Some 415 children aged 10 and under and 1,424 children aged 11 to 15 in England and Wales were referred to the Channel scheme, figures obtained by the National Police Chiefs' Council show.

The 1,839 children were earmarked for the programme - set up in the wake of the London bombings to stop youngsters falling into extremism - between January 2012 and December 2015 after fears were raised that they were at risk of radicalisation, according to the BBC.

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More than 1,800 children have been referred to a de-radicalisation programme over the last four years

Sally Bates, of the National Association of Head Teachers', said some young children had watched beheading videos with relatives.

She told the BBC: "That does raise a number of concerns and that's where I can understand that referrals are then made from teachers."

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Since last July teachers have been legally obliged to report any suspected extremist behaviour to police as part of the Government's Prevent anti-radicalisation strategy.

It emerged on Wednesday that a 10-year-old Muslim boy had been quizzed by police after mistakenly writing that he lived in a "terrorist house" rather than a "terraced house".

The youngster made the error during an English lesson at a Lancashire school, and the following day police arrived at his home to interview him and examine the family laptop.

Lancashires Police and Crime Commissioner later condemned the reporting of the incident which it claimed had been sensationalised, and was "damaging to community relations and confidence at the very least".

In a statement police said: The facts are that a young person disclosed a worrying issue in his school work  not just that he lived in a terrorist house  and this was reported through the appropriate channels and subsequently a visit was undertaken by a neighbourhood police officer and a social worker.

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This was not responded to as a terror incident and the reporter was fully aware of this before she wrote her story.

In the event there was no further action needed, but if the school and police had not acted then they would have been failing in their duty to respond to concerns."

A London mother later told of a similar incident after her 14-year-old son was questioned by counter-terrorism officials when he mentioned the word "eco-terrorists" in school.

Ifhat Shaheen told the BBC that he was taken aside at Central Foundation School in the capital and asked if he was affiliated to the Islamic State group.
Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg has recruited an unusual weapon in the online war against ISIS - "likes."

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, she called for users to launch a like attack on Facebook pages belonging to militant groups.

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Citing examples of how the strategy has worked in the past, she referred to German Facebook users who overwhelmed a neo-Nazi party page last year with positive messages.

Earlier this week, the social media giant launched their Online Civil Courage Initiative aiming to remove comments promoting racism and xenophobia.

"The best thing to speak against recruitment by Isis are the voices of people who were recruited by Isis, understand what the true experience is, have escaped and have come back to tell the truth..." Sandberg said.

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"Counter-speech to the speech that is perpetuating hate we think by far is the best answer.

While "likes" often signify solidarity or approval with public figures and organisations, Sandberg said the best way to combat ever-growing number of pages promoting extremists was "not to scream and protest."

On 27 January 2014, Laut Gegen Nazis (Loud Against Nazis), "staged an intriguing protest against the Nazi Party of Germany", the National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD).

They made thousands of Germans from different cultural backgrounds take over the NPD page with love.

In a video, they said their main aim was to create a "like storm instead of a shit storm" on International Holocaust Memorial Day.

Sandberg's message comes amidst pressure on Silicon Valley to do more to combat Isis' (also known as Isil, and Daesh) online presence.

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Twitter came under fire last week as a widow who lost her husband during an attack carried out by Isis, launched a lawsuit against Twitter.

She believes the micro-blogging site gave the militants an "unfettered" ability to maintain their official accounts.

In an email to the Huffington Post anti-Isis hackers, GhostSec, said Twitter was too slow in dealing with the so-called Islamic State.

The email, signed by @_Ransacker, stated: "...while it may be difficult to hold Twitter legally responsible for the death of the woman's husband, I do think that Twitter and most other social media platforms have been too slow in dealing with ISIS and other terror groups. "

Protest against tech companies' handling of hate speech has also bubbled up from the political arena.

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At a campaign rally in South Carolina, Donald Trump called on Bill Gates and others who "really understand what's happening" to address the threat of terrorism.
Owen Humphreys/ David Davies/ PA Wire

The contractor charged by G4S with housing asylum seekers in North East England, has admitted it knew four years ago about issues housing clients in properties painted with red front doors, which left refugees identifiable and open to attack.

'Jomast' - the firm owned by developer Stuart Monk - won millions of pounds in taxpayer-funded contracts to provide accommodation to thousands of asylum seekers from Syria and parts of eastern Europe, but dismissed complaints about the single-colour doors back in 2012 - a decision today it says was "ill-advised".

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They and G4S bosses originally denied asylum seekers had ever protested the scheme dubbed 'Apartheid on the streets of Britain', but after being confronted with email evidence passed to The Huffington Post UK, admitted to having long known about an issue.

A spokesperson for Jomast conceded to HuffPost UK: While we have not received any direct complaints from asylum seekers, we acknowledge that the issue of front door colours was first raised with us in 2012."

Asylum seekers in houses with red doors lived in fear of attack

"We reviewed the issue at the time and it was not considered significant enough among asylum seekers to warrant repainting the doors of their homes.

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"While there was never any policy to discriminate against asylum seekers, with the information now available to us we can see that our earlier decision was ill-judged and we have committed to repaint the doors within a matter of weeks.

The U-turn comes after a promise by G4S and Jomast to repaint asylum seekers doors different colours, after many complained they were targeted with abuse and attacks - their refugee status denoted by living in a red front-doored house.

Several residents resettled in Middlesbrough having fled their home countries to escape persecution told The Times they faced graffiti being daubed on their doors and rubbish thrown at their houses because the properties were easily located.

Rahumullah Ahmedi, 36, and Ajmal Kadari, 37, both from Afghanistan, outside their front doors

They also recollected incidents of having had dog excrement smeared across the entrance to their homes and eggs and stones being thrown at windows. A 'National Front' logo was carved into the door of one house.

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In response to the furore, which one ex-local MP was quoted as comparing to the branding of Jews in Nazi Germany with yellow stars, G4S and Jomast reversed the policy, announcing they would repaint the red doors different colours to deter attackers targeting asylum seekers.

"In light of the concerns raised Jomast has agreed to address the issue by repainting front doors in the area so that there is no predominant colour," a G4S spokesperson had said in a statement.

"We have received no complaints or requests on this issue from asylum seekers we house," they said at the time.

G4S said no asylum seekers had ever complained

But emails exchanged between a local community group that represented asylum seekers and a senior G4S executive, show the security firm acknowledged an issue with the red doors back in August 2012.

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A follow-up email after a meeting between the two camps, written by G4S social cohesion manager Duncan Wells, gave a list of the issues raised and a confirmation Wells had "highlighted concerns to the relevant G4S staff members responsible".

Among the list, Wells acknowledges the "red door" issue.

"I have also asked the audit and assurance team to look into the issue of the red doors re: Jomast properties," he wrote.

The e-mail that shows G4S acknowledged the "red door issue"

A former community worker, who wished to remain anonymous, told HuffPost UK he was part of the meeting with G4S, and its subcontracter company. The worker confirmed the problem had been raised with the promise of a follow-up, in a bid to stem asylum seekers' concerns about the red doors.

"All you're talking about is a coat of paint", they told HuffPost UK.

"It's ridiculous - it's taken four years to get them to change the colour of the doors and it's not like there's much sympathy for asylum seekers here."

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A former colleague of the charity worker, Suzanne Fletcher, who worked as a councillor in the area for over 30 years, was also part of meetings with G4S.

"We were working with groups of asylum seekers and they were so worried it marked them out... They were very worried about attacks," she lamented.

"We sat in meetings with G4S  constructive, helpful meetings, was the idea  and we met with them on a number of issues, and in September 2012 we asked G4S if they would do something about the red doors.

"They replied that they had no intention of doing anything about it. They wouldn't be asking Jomast to be changing the red doors on their houses."

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Fletcher recalled a spate of attacks against asylum seekers living in the red-doored house in Summer 2012, but even after several of them attended a meeting with G4S, and were given assurances by the security company that the problem would be looked at, no change was implemented.

The former Stockton councillor even submitted evidence to Parliament in April 2013, telling the Public Account Committee in a written statement: "Despite instructions in the Compass document about reducing the possibility of conflict in the neighbourhood, the landlord has painted the doors of each of their properties housing asylum seekers red.

"This clearly says 'This is where asylum seekers live' - it should be part of the contract that such clearly outwardly visible signs should not be allowed by housing providers.

It was only after the furore ignited on Monday, sparked by The Times' front page, that steps were taken by both companies to better safeguard the refugees they were housing.

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Defending the move, a spokesman for G4S told The Huffington Post UK: "After this issue was raised by local campaigners, we reviewed the many thousands of requests we receive from asylum seekers in our care, and found none made in relation to the colour of the front door.

"We took a decision to keep this under review, and should it be raised by the local authority or police we would take action."

But Fletcher maintains that many asylum seekers were too scared to come forward and raise their concerns directly with G4S.
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One of Jeremy Corbyns most senior aides quit his post amid fears over the partys failure to reach out to a broader section of voters, HuffPost UK has learned.

Neale Coleman, Labours Executive Director of Policy and Rebuttal, stepped down - after just three months in post - following concerns that he was unhappy at the lack of progress on reaching out to a wider range of public and party opinion.

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Mr Coleman, who will now take a break but is in talks about a future advisory role on key projects, handed in his notice to General Secretary Iain McNicol on Tuesday. However, his departure has been described as "non-acrimonious" and he was working on policy even today.

But Mr Colemans departure sparked alarm among several Shadow Cabinet ministers, MPs and staffers, mainly because of his highly-valued experience on policy.

A former key aide to Ken Livingstone when he was Mayor of London, Mr Coleman was kept on by Boris Johnson to head up City Halls handling of the London 2012 Olympics.

Although the trigger for his departure was seen as a lack of consultation over a key speech by Mr Corbyn last weekend, HuffPost has been told that Mr Coleman had broader concerns over resourcing levels and professionalism, the narrowness of the partys approach and his own work-family balance.

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The Labour leaders speech to the Fabian conference last Saturday included a radical plan to bar companies from paying dividends if they failed to pay the living wage, and was briefed to journalists ahead of his appearance. Mr Coleman was not informed of key changes to late drafts of the speech.

It is understood that there was no row between Mr Coleman and strategy and communications chief Seumas Milne over the speechs handling. The pair get on well and have never had an argument.

Nor was there a fall-out with Mr Corbyns political adviser, Andrew Fisher, who although he has the strong backing of Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, occupies a more junior role in the leadership than many media reports have assumed.

Neale Coleman, Jeremy Corbyn's director of policy and rebuttal

However, there have been differences between Mr Coleman and some in the leadership over the clarity and simplicity of the Corbyn message to both the party and voters.

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A key issue has been the failure to reach out, both to different parts of Labour to keep the party united, as well as to non-Labour voters.

There are fears at high levels of the party that Mr Colemans resignation could be followed by others unless Mr Corbyn acts swiftly to signal his desire to pull the party together and to target key swing voters and Tory voters, and not just those who back the SNP, Lib Dems or Greens.

Mr Coleman has worked closely for years with Simon Fletcher, Mr Corbyns chief of staff and a former aide to Ed Miliband, who was responsible for recruiting many of the experienced members of the leaders team. If Mr Fletcher were to quit, "panic would really kick in", one source said.

Some in the party believe that Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell has been too factional in recent weeks, despite repeated promises to build a broad church under the Corbyn leadership.

While Corbyn allies are wary that not all parts of the party can be accommodated, there is a wider desire to draw a line under recent divisions over Syria and the reshuffle and unite the party ahead of the May elections for councils, London, Scotland and Wales.

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Jeremy Corbyn delivers his Fabian conference speech

Mr Coleman, who has a young family, has not fallen out with Mr Corbyn himself and is expected to focus on specific projects such as constitutional reform and possibly housing in coming months, areas where his expertise will be valuable.

The Labour party refused to comment in detail on the departure but issued a statement: Neale Coleman has decided to step down as executive director of policy and rebuttal for the Labour party because of the pressures and demands of the job on his family life. He is currently in discussions about continuing to work with Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour leaders team in an advisory and support role.

Mr Coleman endorsed the statement and offered his support for the party leader.

With the 24/7 news cycle, the demands and pressures of this particular job are very great and greater than I had foreseen. I have reluctantly decided that with my young family it is best to stand down now so someone else can have a proper run at it.

I continue to be a strong supporter of Jeremy Corbyns leadership and want to contribute to his and the Labour partys success in the future. I am now discussing the details of how I can make a continuing contribution in providing support and advice to him, his team and the Labour party.

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One senior party source told The Huffington Post UK: "This is a disaster for Jeremy Corbyn. Neale was the one who tried to make things work. But it's a powerful message to the mainstream of the party: Jeremy doesn't want to make things work.

"In losing Neale he has chosen a path of conflict with long-standing members of the party and an extreme left-wing approach. And that will ultimately lead to Jeremy's defeat. There's no excuses now: the mainstream need to wake up, smell the coffee and act."
Tuesday night the entire world watched in horrified bemusement as Sarah Palin backed Donald Trump's presidential bid in a speech that can only be described as batsh*t mental.

Less than 24 hours later our very own UK version of the former Republican VP candidate performed a similarly unfathomable feat by appearing to endorse a world-wide travel ban on Muslims.

In an interview with LBC, Katie Hopkins backed Trump's hugely controversial plan to put Muslim immigration on hold in the wake of the San Bernardino shooting last December.

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Katie Hopkins Backs Donald Trump's Proposed Ban On Muslims WATCH: Nick Ferrari left bemused as Katie Hopkins backs Donald Trump's proposed ban on Muslims Posted by LBC on Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Hopkins said: "All we can do here in the UK - and we should hang our heads in shame - is spend three hours in the House of Commons debating if we should ban Trump.

"I think it's us that need to look at ourselves and question 'where is the UK going?' and not 'where is Trump going?'"

Ferrari described the proposal as "farcical" before adding: "That was a pretty unworked idea."

Hopkins replied: "Well it was a temporary ban in the light of 16 people being gunned down and I think in a vacuum of anybody doing anything and Obama finally wiggling out two days later to say 'Ooh, Muslims a re quite good at sports', I think they needed someone to stand there and be bold and that's what Donald did."

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A grimacing Ferrari then asked out right if Hopkins agreed with the Muslim ban policy.

Hopkins replied: "I don't think it would hurt for everybody to have a temporary ban while we work out what the hell is going on giving that we have people blowing themselves up in suicide jackets."

The comment prompts the clearly-exasperated host to laugh and put his head in his hands.

He said: "It's unworkable. I'm as right-wing as the next Thatcherite but it couldn't possibly work."

In fairness, Hopkins came across far more eloquently than Palin, who generally sounded something like this..

And this...
King's College London is investigating an incident on its campus which saw an Israeli society meeting, attended by Israel's former secret service chief, "attacked" by Palestine activists.

Ami Ayalon was a guest speaker at the Tuesday night meeting, which was arranged by the KCL and LSE Israeli societies. But the event soon turned sour after it was reportedly gatecrashed by pro-Palestine demonstrators.

According to those present, chairs were thrown, windows smashed, while student Esther Endfield said she was assaulted, blaming the attack on student group KCL Action Palestine.

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Shocking scenes at KCL last night, police called as protesters disrupt Israel society event https://t.co/cn40Zv0jkRpic.twitter.com/Vwnal1hfk7  Student Rights (@Student_Rights) January 20, 2016

"Protests by KCL action Palestine at this event was inevitable but it was never inevitable that it would turn violent," she said.

Endfield reported chairs being thrown across a room, and police being called to quell the violence.

In a video Endfield posted to her Facebook page, protesters can be heard chanting: "Brick by brick, wall by wall, the Israeli apartheid has to fall. Free Palestine!"

This is the video was when one of the protesters inside the building attacked me (which was taken on my phone, before it... Posted by Esther Endfield on Wednesday, 20 January 2016

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"Two police cars and two police vans along with 15 plus officers came to protect the people inside the room," she said. "I was crying hysterically for over half an hour because I was so terrified.

"When did I become so unsafe in one of the global universities in the world that we can no longer hold an event without being scared for our safety.

Endfield added: "I have just reported being assaulted to the police, which is also being investigated under a hate crime."

Another video, taken by student Russell Langer, shows protesters banging on the windows of the university.

I really hope that the violent and intimidating nature of the protest last night will not stop future events like this from happening on campus. Here is some of my footage from last night Posted by Russell Langer on Wednesday, 20 January 2016

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KCL Action Palestine posted a statement on its website to "clarify" the evening's events, and denied any involvement in the violence.

"[We] would like to categorically condemn any aggression that took place at the Israel Society Ami Ayalon event," the group said.

"KCLAP had planned to challenge Ami Ayalon and inform the audience of his complicity in the torture of Palestinians as former head of the Shin Bet and the problems surrounding his current views  as is within our rights and detailed on our blog. Our intention was to attend the event and shed light on Ayalons crimes through dialogue.

"That the event escalated into a disruption was beyond our control and not incited by any member of our committee. KCLAP is not connected and does not control the actions of external attendees. As stated we do not condone any aggressive reaction on our campuses. Some of our members protested after they were left out and people were arbitrarily selected to go into the event, and we refute any involvement with what took place beyond this."

The university released a statement confirming an investigation is underway.

"Universities create environments in which debate from all sides on issues of political, scientific, moral, ethical and religious significance is possible, and Kings is no exception.

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The safety of our students, staff and the general public is paramount to us and we are committed to acting as a responsible organisation.

Professor Ed Byrne, President & Principal, has appointed Ian Creagh, Head of Administration and College Secretary, to conduct an urgent investigation of the events around last nights talk to establish what happened and what action might need to be taken as a consequence.

Professor Byrne will also be writing to students to remind them that violent protest is totally unacceptable and that we expect them to be tolerant and respectful of others views and opinions.

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said: "Officers from Westminster are investigating an allegation of assault and criminal damage at a protest.

"Officers attended and found that a small number of those protesting had gained access to the building where they continued their protest. The demonstration concluded at approximately 6.45pm.

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"A 20-year-old woman reported she had been struck on the hand by a protestor. No injuries were caused. It was also reported that damage had been caused to a door. No arrests were made."

The Union of Jewish Students added: "There can be no justification for the events last night at KCL. The KCLSU Israel society were hosting an event about peace and were greeted by violence and intimidation.
The Writings On The Wall singer was left speechless when his pal was the subject of a racist incident, and took to Twitter to explain that he never ever ever ever thought it would happen in London.

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Many fans accused him of whitesplaining, with some branding him patronising and privileged.

Sam Smith

However, Sam has now hit back with a statement on Instagram, insisting that he was simply pointing out how racism shouldnt exist in todays society.

For the record, I was merely sharing an experience I had in the hope it would draw attention to how ridiculous it is to be racist in 2016, he wrote.

This is not about me in any way. Its about a deep rooted issue we have in our society that should now be extinct.

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I dont profess to know or remotely understand what it means to be on the receiving end of racist abuse, but having been bullied my whole life for being gay, what I do know is that it is wrong and completely unacceptable.

Please Read. A photo posted by Sam Smith (@samsmithworld) on Jan 20, 2016 at 1:38pm PST





In his string of original tweets about the incident, Sam said he was disappointed in the polices reaction to the incident.

"The police were so unhelpful in the situation and its deeply shocked me," he said.

I feel like I have to say something. I'm just so upset. So UPSET, he added.

Sam was recently nominated for his first Academy Award, for his track Writings On The Wall, taken from the soundtrack to the last James Bond film, Spectre.

Hes also been nominated for Best British Video at the Brit Awards, alongside fellow nominees Little Mix, One Direction and Adele.

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The government has announced it supports plans to bring London's entire suburban rail network under public control in an effort to improve services and end misery for millions of commuters.

Transport for London (TfL), the not-for-profit public body responsible for transport in the capital, will take responsibility for metropolitan services as rail franchises end over the next decade to simplify journeys and provide greater consistency.

The move brought unexpected joy to those who suffer regular delays on lines affected.

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This is a good start in finally acknowledging the current system has to change! @SW_Trainshttps://t.co/6vcXW5dqLY  SouthWestTrainsWatch (@swtrains_watch) January 21, 2016

Celebrating the news that TfL will eventually be taking over Southeastern and Southern trains. Posted by Cllr Paul Bell on Thursday, January 21, 2016

However, some have been quick to point out the move paints a confusing picture in terms of the government's national policy, as London lines come under overall public control - although operated under its brand by private companies.

Suburban routes to be under TfL control; infrastructure not-for-profit. Acknowledgment privatisation hasn't delivered promised benefits?  SouthWestTrainsWatch (@swtrains_watch) January 21, 2016

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Public control of the railways is a reckless socialist experiment, say the Tories. Unless you live in London. https://t.co/TOvMfnWiyc  Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) January 21, 2016

I see the railways are being nationalised. But only in London.  Richard Gadsden (@po8crg) January 21, 2016

Boris Johnson & Conservative govt now pro-public owned railways (as long as they're running into #London!) https://t.co/p5ism0gfr7  Jonathan Broadbery (@JonBroadbery) January 21, 2016

Public ownership of railways: good for London, bad for the rest of the country. When will Tory hypocrisy end? https://t.co/uv8PApvihF  Jonathan Abourbih (@jonzo1) January 21, 2016

Nonetheless, the move has gained the support of Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin.

He said: "We are committed to making journeys better across London and the South East, and this new partnership represents a huge opportunity to transform travel by putting passengers where they should be - at the heart of the rail network."

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The first franchise to come under TfL control will be South West in 2017, followed by Southeastern in 2018, and certain Southern and Thameslink services from 2021.

Suburban trains running from London Bridge, Victoria, Charing Cross, Cannon Street and Moorgate would all be operated under the TfL banner under the scheme.

South West services will be the first to come under TfL control

The TfL map will be entirely re-drawn to reflect the changes - with existing metropolitan lines coloured orange to reflect London Overground branding.

Though perhaps not quite like this:

TfL has just released this image of what the Tube Map will look like once it has taken over all of the franchises. pic.twitter.com/qE94NoOknN  James O'Malley (@Psythor) January 21, 2016

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TfL boss Mike Brown told MayorWatch the lines would need to be re-named to aid journey planning, with a possible public consultation to decide what to call them held in the near future.
The five things you need to know on Thursday January 21, 2016

1) RIGGING IT

As politicians and business leaders gathered in Davos yesterday, the FTSE 100 plunged by more than 200 points. It was a reminder that this years party conference with snow could be more uncomfortable than usual.

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Eurosceptics certainly want David Cameron to feel uncomfortable, but today he will urge business to make their voices heard in the EU referendum. It looks like Goldman Sachs has already heard him, and the FT follows up on a SkyNews report that the bank has donated a six figure sum to the In campaign. Still, Arron Banks told Reuters: If Goldman Sachs had offered Leave.EU six figures we would have told them where to stuff it. Really?

Meanwhile, theres another of what Alastair Campbell used to call processology issues. Eurosceptic Cabinet ministers and MPs are worried that Downing Street will try to rig the start of the EU referendum by allowing a gap between the EU summit deal and the Cabinet meeting that will officially lift collective responsibility. No.10 sources this morning have stressed that Cabinet will take place soon after the summit. We could even get a Saturday or Sunday meeting.

Nick Watt in the Guardian has another worrying update for the Outers, however. Iain Duncan Smith is poised to snub both the Vote Leave and leave.eu campaigns to go his own way in arguing for Brexit. Could that have anything at all to do with Vote Leaves director Dom Cummings once slating IDS?

2) REFUSING TO NEALE

As most of the Lobby were last night enjoying our delayed Xmas Quiz, some hot news was breaking in Labour circles - and it wasnt that the partys quiz team had just come joint 11th with its arch enemy The Daily Politics (No.10 came 2nd, miles ahead of the Treasury; the Times came 1st, HuffPost an honourable 4th).

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The news was that Neale Coleman, Jeremy Corbyns director of policy and rebuttal, had quit the top team. Why does this matter? Well, Coleman is one of the few highly experienced operators in the inner circle, having run the Olympics for Boris and worked closely for Ken Livingstone for years in City Hall before that. A key ally of Ken and of chief of staff Simon Fletcher, Coleman had clashed with comms chief Seumas Milne over Corbyns speech last Saturday.

The Times broke the news first at midnight, with one insider saying Seumas thinks hes head of strategy, head of communications, head of policy and chief of staff all in one. But there are also claims that John McDonnell is moving to oust Simon Fletcher too. And theres talk that Milne wants to recruit Carmel Nolan, Corbyns former media aide during the leadership campaign, but someone Fletcher allegedly thinks is useless.

The real split here is between the old Livingstone-ites, possibly fuelled by the way Milne and his allies were upset at Kens going off piste on the defence review, and the Milne-McDonnell axis, which some claim favours Andrew Fisher over Coleman on policy. Given the gap in experience between the two, thats difficult to believe, however.

What hasnt helped matters overnight is what looks like a Milne briefing to the Guardian pointing out that Coleman is 60 and has young kids and may just want a new role with more family friendly hours. Steve Hawkes of the Sun has some nice intel with his Tweet that Fletcher spent a long time at party HQ yesterday "sorting Neale Coleman pay off on his own".

As for the reaction, some senior figures in the party have told me of their unease. One source said: "This is a disaster for Jeremy Corbyn. Neale was the one who tried to make things work. But it's a powerful message to the mainstream of the party: Jeremy doesn't want to make things work. In losing Neale he has chosen a path of conflict with long-standing members of the party and an extreme left-wing approach. And that will ultimately lead to Jeremy's defeat. There's no excuses now: the mainstream need to wake up, smell the coffee and act.

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Another party source tells me: If someone as talented, well respected, with a record of achievement in delivering something like the Olympics games and naturally of the left of the Labour Party, 'wasn't suited' to be the head of policy for Jeremy Corbyn then you have to ask frankly whether such a person exists.

The smoke has yet to clear but it's not certain quite whether Coleman has been persuaded to stay yet. Corbyn is said to want him to remain on board in some capacity.

3) LEVEL CROISSANT

Dave Watts croissant muncher jibe at the Corbynistas may be more than a joke. Rajeev Syal in the Guardian has a leak of internal Labour data showing that a high number of Labour members who have joined the party since the general election are high status city dwellers.

Groups which are over-represented as Labour party members tend to be long-term homeowners from urban areas (particularly inner city area) who have high levels of disposable income. Those who are under-represented tend to be either young singles/families who rent properties on a short-term basis and require financial assistance or those who live in rural communities.

And heres the kicker: High-status city dwellers living in central locations and pursuing careers with high rewards are highly over-represented..As a group they make up 4% of the general population in contrast to 11.2% of party membership.

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As for the new members, theres more unease within Momentum. Late last night, Lambeth Momentum (one of its biggest branches) passed a motion by 40-4 to condemn a policy of barring non-Labour party members from officer positions or posts on its National Committee. The motion condemned second class membership for those outside the Labour party.

Newsnight last night had the ex SDP David Owen and Shirley Williams suggesting there could be another new party that splits off from Corbyns party. Yet Roy Hattersleys remarks were more interesting. He said Labour's situation is "now is worse than the 1980s. In a quote that will surely feature in PMQs, Hattersley added: the leader is less susceptible to reason than Michael Foot was. And he made the shrewd point that the unions are much more leftwing now than then.

BECAUSE YOUVE READ THIS FAR

Watch this touching video of premature twins holding hands.

4) ELECTION REDUX

Yesterdays Electoral Commission figures on campaign spending in the 2015 general election underlined just how canny the Tories were. A cool 2.4m and a knighthood to Lynton Crosby seems like money very well spent. Similarly, all those Facebook ads and direct mail targeted resources efficiently.

In one subplot, the Tories also won the fierce battle of the Obama aides, with Jim Messina netting 369k for his advice, while David Axelrods firm trousered 223k for its services (even though he was barely here). Labour members may also wonder at the eye-popping 564k spent on another American, Stan Greenbergs polling company.

Yet perhaps the shrewdest spend by the Tories was one of their cheapest. The devastating attack ad featuring Ed Miliband in Alex Salmonds pocket cost a mere 950. Proof, once more, that the Conservatives really are the party of value for money?

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Party funding continues to vex the body politic however, as proved by yesterdays Government defeat in the Lords on the creation of a new committee to look at other ways to cap donations. Nick Boles wasnt happy and Tory sources say the new committee wont affect the timetable of the Trade Union bill one jot.

5) THE OTHER SAVILE INQUIRY

Full marks to Exaro for landing a leaked draft copy of the independent inquiry into Jimmy Saviles sex abuse at the BBC. Dame Janet Smith's draft report says the BBC had a "deferential culture", "untouchable stars" and "above the law" managers.

Dame Janet does not believe the BBC can be directly criticised for not uncovering his "sexual deviancy, but makes clear that given widespread concerns more questions should have been asked about the appropriateness of him being left alone with children.

Perhaps most worrying is the afterword of the lengthy leaked report, where the retired judge states: "Finally, I wish to consider whether it is possible that a predatory child abuser could be lurking undiscovered in the BBC even today. The answer is that I think it is possible.

The inquiry says: "That document is out of date and significant changes have been made to its contents and conclusions. Lets see whether the BBC responds.

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A Donald Trump fan exploded on a student wearing a makeshift Martin Luther King Jr. T-shirt on Monday, insisting all Muslims follow Satan. The exchange took place outside a Trump rally in New Hampshire, with Kiernan Majerus-Collins, who attends Bates College in Maine, locking horns with a passionate supporter of the business tycoon.

The student, who was kicked out of a Trump rally earlier this month, pointed out that not all Muslims are bad people and that many moderate Muslims live in peace.

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"A moderate Muslim is someone who stands by the side when somebody else chops somebody else's head off and doesn't do anything," the balding Trump fan shouted back.

"Let me tell you about my friends whose heads got cut off, their genitals got cut off, by Muslims who killed them! he continued. "You dont know a f*cking thing! Pull your head out of your ass! If youre a Muslim, you follow Satan! Wake up.

Trump Supporters' Views on Islam This is a video showing my interaction with some of Donald J. Trump's supporters in Concord, NH yesterday. Posted by Kiernan Majerus-Collins on Monday, 18 January 2016

When the student attempted to inject some reason into the conversation, pointing out that Muslims are the biggest victims of extremism, a woman jumped in shouting that she'd just got back from Europe where Muslims were "stalking me and going after me.

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An attempt to boost Afghanistan's cashmere industry by shipping goats from Italy to the war-torn state was among the "ill conceived" reconstruction projects launched by the US, which resulted in the loss of $800million (563m).

The Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, a Pentagon agency, has been accused of wasting millions on development projects over a five-year period in Afghanistan.

Poor planning and waste tainted the scheme, with $6m being lost on the cashmere wool programme alone.

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Cashmere goats

Oversight of the animals' transportation was so poor the small herd of rare blond Italian goats might have been eaten for all anyone knew, Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction John Sopko said.

We dont know, Sopko said. This was so poorly managed.

The Pentagon has disputed several of his findings.

Appearing before the US Senate on Wednesday, Sopko said he had "not been able to find credible evidence showing [the task force's] activities in Afghanistan produced the intended economic growth or stabilisation outcomes that justified its creation".

"On the contrary, [its] legacy in Afghanistan is marred by unfinished, poorly planned, and ill-conceived projects."

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The task force was charged with boosting Afghanistan's economy, using about $800m in US taxpayer funds.

One of the senators on the committee lambasted the task force for spending $43m on a natural-gas filling station, calling the programme "dumb on its face", as the cost of converting cars to natural gas exceeds the average income of Afghans.

"This is a terrible waste of taxpayer money when we have so many other uses for it," she said, USA Today reports.
President Vladimir Putin "probably" approved the assassination of Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006, a public inquiry has found.

Litvinenko, a former KGB agent who left Russia and claimed asylum in the UK in 2000, died in November 2006 aged 43 after drinking tea laced with radioactive polonium in a hotel.

Police concluded the fatal dose was probably consumed during a meeting with Dmitri Kovtun and Andrei Lugovoi, who were identified as prime suspects. Attempts to extradite the pair, who both deny involvement, have failed.

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Alexander Litvinenko on his deathbed (above) and before he was poisoned (below)

Chairman Sir Robert Owen's report was published in Parliament on Thursday, just under a year after the probe's public opening.

His widow Marina Litvinenko said she "very pleased the words my husband spoke on his deathbed when he accused Mr Putin have been proven".

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She added: "I'm also calling for the imposing of targeted economic sanctions and travel bans against named individuals ... including Mr Putin.

"I received a letter last night from the home secretary promising action."

Marina Litvinenko speaks to the media outside the Royal Courts Of Justice

The conclusion the Russian state was likely involved in the killing means all eyes are now focused on how the UK government will respond.

Theresa May said the Litvinenko murder was a "blatant and unacceptable breach of the most fundamental tenants of international law and civilized behavior".

However she told MPs the "deeply disturbing" involvement of the Russian state "does not come as a surprise".

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She told the Commons: "This was a blatant and unacceptable breach of the most fundamental tenets of international law and civilised behaviour. But we have to accept that this doesn't come as a surprise."

The Treasury has agreed to impose asset freezes against the two prime suspects in the Litvinenko murder.

"Senior representations" were being made to the authorities in Moscow, while the Russian ambassador was being summoned to the Foreign Office.

Lib Dem leader Tim Farron said: "A UK citizen was killed on the streets of London with polonium. It was an attack on the heart of Britain, our values and our society.

I call for EU travel bans, asset freezes and coordinated action to deal with those who committed this evil assassination. I have called for a new Magnitsky Law to make sure that these people are held to account for what they did.

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"These assassins trampled over British sovereignty and we cannot let this go unanswered."

One of the prime suspects, Andrei Lugovoi

The conclusion comes at a difficult time for Anglo-Russian relations, as Russia is playing a pivotal role in Syria.

Speaking on Radio Four's Today Programme before the report was published, former UK ambassador to Russia Tony Brenton said: "We have quite important other fish to fry with the Russians. They are very important in carrying the Iran de-nuclearisation through, they are absolutely crucial in sorting out the mess in Syria."

The first reaction from Russia was an unnamed source telling state news agency RIA: Moscow will not accept the verdict of the British court in the Litvinenko case, London has violated the principle of presumption of innocence.
"In your country, you do no execute people, we respect it. In our country the death penalty is part of our laws and you have to respect this as it is the law" the Saudi foreign minister told Channel 4 News. The interview followed the announcement that the Saudi authorities had begun the year by executing 47 people, including political prisoners and Nimr al-Nimr, a Shia cleric whose death fuelled the subsequent breakdown of Saudi and Iranian relations.

At the same time as trying to justify mass murder at home, the Saudi military has intensified the bombardment of Yemen. Over 5000 people have been killed in a bloody conflict that has destroyed vital infrastructure and left many without access to clean water or electricity. The destruction on the ground has exacerbated the ongoing civil war and created a power vacuum that has allowed the expansion of Al-Qaeda and ISIS.

There is no doubt that the assault has been deadly and immoral, and now an increasing number of organisations are also questioning the legality of Saudi attacks and governments like the UK that are facilitating them.

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In July 2015 the European Parliament passed a motion to "Condemn the air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition and the naval blockade it has imposed on Yemen." The motion continued "air strikes by the Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen have killed civilians, in violation of international humanitarian law, which requires all possible steps to be taken to prevent or minimise civilian casualties."

One month later, Stephen O'Brien of the UN Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, reported to the UN Security Council, that the "scale of human suffering [in Yemen] is almost incomprehensible." Condemning "attacks on residential areas and civilian infrastructure"; he asserted: "these attacks are in clear contravention of international humanitarian law."

These condemnations have been supported by a growing number of NGOs. Human Rights Watch , Oxfam and Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) have all accused Saudi Arabia of breaking international humanitarian law. Commenting on the destruction of one of the first of three hospital facilities it has lost, Hassan Boucenine, Country Director of MSF said "the fact of the matter is it's a war crime. There's no reason to target a hospital. We provided [the Coalition] with all of our GPS coordinates."

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Last month Philippe Sands QC of Matrix Chambers provided a legal opinion for Amnesty International and Saferworld that accused the UK of breaking the Arms Trade Treaty as well as EU and UK arms export policy by continuing to license arms to Saudi for use in Yemen.

The problem is less to do with legislation and more to do with a lack of political will. On paper the UK's licensing criteria is very clear. It says that licences should be revoked when there is a "clear risk" that equipment "might" be used in violation of international humanitarian law. This risk must be assessed at the time the licensing decision is made and monitored throughout the lifespan of a licence. By any reasonable interpretation this should necessitate the revoking of all current licences and prohibit all future arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

Campaign Against Arms Trade and our lawyers at Leigh Day are threatening the UK government with legal action. We have called on the department of Business, Innovation & Skills to suspend all licences for arms exports to Saudi that can be used in Yemen and to hold a full review as to whether the export of military equipment is compatible with EU arms control legislation. If it doesn't, then we will be taking legal action.

When countries like the UK sell weapons it doesn't just facilitate the attacks they are used in, it also sends a message of support to the governments that carry them out. Countries like Saudi Arabia aren't just buying UK arms, they are also buying political support and very often silence about the human rights abuses they preside over. Changing this will take more than the cancellation of a few licences. It will need a complete overhaul of government foreign policy and an end to the hypocrisy at the heart of it.
Image courtesy of rjones0856

Co-written with Matthew de la Hey

African presidents keep disappearing. Mysterious trips abroad are commonplace, fuelling rumour and speculation about their causes. Whether of secret international meetings to lavish taxpayer funded holidays, the stories are everything from conspiratorial to ridiculous. The reality usually turns out to be much less glamorous. Presidents are flying across the world to seek medical treatment.

Zimbabwe's aged leader Robert Mugabe's destination of choice seems to be Singapore; Ethiopia's late President Hailemariam Desalegn died, after a curious disappearance, in a Belgian hospital; Zambia's Edgar Lungu is said to have flown to China to seek throat cancer treatment. In countries with limited healthcare infrastructure, which includes much of sub-Saharan Africa, elites jetting off to receive 'world-class' medical treatment is the norm. The vast majority of the populations left behind won't have that option.

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Patients suffering from non-communicable diseases, and cancer especially, are in a particularly dire position. Domestic treatment options are scarce, with vital skills sorely lacking. Tanzania, for instance, does not have a single trained surgical oncologist. In 2013, The Lancet found that radiotherapy was available in just 23 of 53 African countries, mostly concentrated in the wealthier northern and southern regions. Some variants of the disease that could be avoided through vaccination, like cervical cancer, claim hundreds of thousands of lives. The problem is further complicated, as Kenya's First Lady Margaret Kenyatta remarked in 2014, by the fact that "seventy per cent of cancers in sub-Saharan Africa are discovered at a time when the disease is at an advanced stage, when it's too late for a cure".

Those diagnosed with cancer in Africa therefore face a harrowing choice: between extensive, costly treatments in foreign private healthcare establishments (beyond the reach of most), and an often slow, hopeless death. Unsurprisingly, it's not just Presidents that take the former path - many still spend huge sums trying to access treatment abroad: in Kenya for example, where cancer is the third highest cause of mortality, James Macharia, the Health Secretary, is reported to have stated that over 10,000 patients spend KSh 11.28billion (c.US$ 110m) annually on treatments overseas.

The global toll of cancer is set to rise and by 2020 it is widely suggested that there will be 16 million new cases annually. Afrox, a leading cancer charity, says that 70% of these will be in developing countries, an ominous statistic for an ill-prepared continent. However, the increasing urgency of the problem isn't lost on African leaders. Uhuru Kenyatta announced in July last year that Kenya would set up four "specialized cancer treatment centres" which, "in the spirit of African brotherhood... will be open to the people of the region and the continent". Rwanda is building a new 100-bed paediatric cancer centre, set to open in 2017. Uganda's President Museveni has pledged to build a specialist cancer hospital in Mbale, a city to the East of the country. As encouraging as these initiatives are, more can be done.

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In a context of limited resources and huge, sparsely populated areas, a sensible approach would be the development of regional hubs, strategically located to serve the maximum number of potential patients. A good example of such an initiative is the proposed Rutakwabyera International Cancer centre in Tanzania. It would be built in Bukoba, on the Western bank of Lake Victoria, close to Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and the DRC. If developed, its situation will allow it to become a nexus of cancer care in the Great Lakes region, catering not only for Tanzania but also to other patients in East Africa.

Pooling facilities in this way will offer governments more resources and companies bigger markets, too. As The Economist's Intelligence Unit suggested in its 2012 Healthcare in Africa Report, "better collaboration between both the public and private sectors will be crucial to improving healthcare provision in Africa". Regional hubs could provide a focus for this collaboration. Foreign aid also has a part to play, with a need for both investment and medical expertise. But whilst the potential rewards for those who pioneer new solutions on the continent are great, nations must be careful to ensure that provision is made for those least able to access quality care, and be certain that capacity across public and private sectors is efficiently utilised. It's not enough to have new hospitals and equipment; there must be people to perform the operations and run the hospitals, and attracting skilled oncologists and experienced administrators will require serious work, and serious money. The biggest mistake, at this stage, would be to underestimate the scale of the challenge ahead.

Waging an effective battle against cancer in Africa is not going to be easy, or cheap. If success is to be found the state and private sector must work together in a coordinated, cross-border attempt to alter the cancer treatment landscape. With increased provision for care, the statistics will improve. But statistics hide the grim reality of the problem; undignified and indiscriminate, cancer is biting hard in Africa. There is no time to waste.

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'The Big Short' - fascinating, witty, sobering, a terrific tale of greed and corruption on Wall Street - 'The Assassin' requires patience but the reward is a feast for the senses - Eric Barbier's 'The Last Diamond' is a stylish, pacey diamond heist bedded in seduction, double cross and murder.

Director: Adam McKay. Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt. Drama. English. USA 2015 130 mins. (15) ****

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J.C. Chandor's exciting and intriguing thriller, 'Margin Call' covered 36 hours in 2008 when a Manhatten bank realised that the bubble was about to burst and Martin Scorsese's 'The Wolf of Wall Street' tracked the ups and downs of 'F... the clients,... move the clients pocket into your pocket,' scumbag stockbroker Jordan Belfort.

Adam McKay's witty, entertaining and sobering 'The Big Short,' follows four individuals who saw the oncoming bubble burst in sub-prime mortgages as a sure shot way to loads of cash and a place in the sun. Adapted from Michael Levis's best seller 'The Big Short. Inside the Doomsday Machine,' it's a tale of the 2008 crash that saw Wall Street gasp in disbelief at it's blindfolded, self-imposed suicide bid and the inevitable government bail out.

Hedge fund manager Michael Burry (Christian Bale) likes a heavy rock music background and the feel of the ground on his shoeless feet and he's onto the sub-prime mortgage bubble burst, hedge funder Mark Baum (Steve Carell) spits venom at Wall Street's corruption, perma tanned banker Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling) loves himself and narrates the film and former banker Ben Rickert (Brad Pitt) has cast off the suit and tie and gone awol. The weird bunch merge with one thing in common - an eye for a market cash kill. Add on two small time investors Charles Geller (John Magaro) and Jamie Shipley (Finn Wittrock), looking for a way into a big cash hit and with a roaming camera the horror story unfolds.

It's a banker's laugh over lunch when Michael Burry approaches them and wants to 'short' - bet against the housing market. The banks love it. He's crazy. They'll make a killing with the huge insurance premiums. The housing market's watertight. Sideline a trip to sunny Florida and deserted streets and a chat with two slime ball mortgage brokers happy to boast about their sales and the confirmation's there. The bubble's going to burst.

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Adam McKay offers a witty insight into financial jargon with Margot Robbie in a bubble bath chatting about sub-prime mortgages and chef Anthony Bourdain deciphers risky mortgages bundled together and pushed forward as an investment package -collateralised debt obligations.

Fascinating, witty and entertaining with a terrific storyline and well acted. A sobering horror story. Corruption and greed rule. Pick up today's financial news. Has anything changed?

Released 22nd January

Director: Hou Hsiao-Hsien. Shu Qi, Chang Chen, Zhou Yun. Drama. Mandarin with English subtitles.Taiwan, China, Hong Kong 2015 104 mins. Winner Best Director 2015 Cannes International Film Festival. (12A ****)

Richly poetic with a visual splendour and painterly quality that dazzles, 'The Assassin', adapted from a 7th Century Chinese legend is a triumphant return after a seven year absence for the Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-Hsien and his first foray into the Wuxia genre of period martial arts drama.

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10-year-old Nie Yinniang (Qi Shu) was abducted by Jiaxin, (Sheu Fang-yi) a mysterious nun tasked with moulding her into an assassin to target corrupt local governors. Having failed in a task,where compassion kicked in, Nie's given a last chance to redeem herself when she's sent to the remote Weibo region to kill Ji'an (Chang Chen) her cousin and one time love. Reacquainted with her father Nie Feng (Ni Dahong) and the land of her birth and privy to the whirl and intrigue of court life, Nie Yinniang must choose between the man she loves and the righteous path of the the assassin.

'The Assassin' isn't a martial arts blood soaked extravaganza and undoubtedly it's slow and difficult. With patience the reward is a brilliantly choreographed, mesmerisingly hypnotic mix of stunning and extravagant painterly compositions that vibrate in a swirl of colour, images, atmosphere and sound. Opening in black and white Academy ratio, a man on horseback, the swiftness of assassination, a brief glimpse in time and then Nie Yinniang's return to her homeland moving into glorious colour and 1.85:1 ratio and the spectacle and intrigue of court life in the Tang dynasty in 9th century China. There are brief explosions of violence often seen at a distance but this is a film that offers mystery, atmosphere and colour, rather than blood.

Haunting, poetic, mesmeric and rich. A feast for the senses that earned Hou Hsiao-Hsien Best Director at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.

Released 22nd January

Director: Eric Barbier. Yvan Attal, Berenice Bejo, Jean-Francois Stevenin. Thriller, Drama. French with English subtitles. France, Luxembourg, Belgium 2014 108 mins. (15) ***

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Monmartre, Pigalle, the lingering smell of a Gauloise or Gittane, trench coats, Jean Servais and Jean Gabin, the essence of the 50s French gangster movies. Some may suggest that a gold bullion heist that went wrong in Jacques Becker's 1954 'Honour Among Thieves' with Jean Gabin kicked off the heist movie but it was Jules Dassin's classic 1955 'Rififi' and it's innovative 28 minute safe cracking sequence that established the heist movie, remade as 'Ocean's Eleven' and echoed in 'The Killing' and 'Reservoir Dogs.'

Eric Barbier's stylishly shot, pacey and entertaining 'The Last Diamond' offers a diamond heist bedded in seduction, double cross and murder with an amusing final twist.

Simon's (Yvan Attal) on parole and with his partner Albert (Jean-Francois Stevenin) gets side tracked from the straight-and-narrow by the 'Florentin,' the legendary 137 carat yellow diamond up for auction in Antwerp with a 40 million Euro tag. It may be a risky heist but it's too good to miss. How to get in? Seduce Julia (Berenia Bejo) whose mother's mysterious death still haunts her and who's taken personal charge of the auction.

Placed in the crime-romance mode, it's a bit too clean and needs a whiff of Gauloise menace and the real smell of double-cross to take it out of it's comfortable territory. There's no honour among thieves but the heist's here to stay.

Released 22nd January
'Happy New Year!'. 'HNY2016!'. 'Kull a'aam wa enta bi-khayr'. It's that time of year when people give each other a boost and wish them well for the year ahead. Syrians remain incredibly generous in wishing me, 'love, peace and happiness' for 2016. I return the favour, usually with an invocation that Syria see peace, or at least a better year than last year. How hard can that be?

Well, hope for peace was in short supply in early 2015. Early 2016 looked better. The UN Security Council called for UN-convened peace negotiations in Geneva to start this month, endorsing the commitment of an 'International Syria Support Group' of States to help Syrians bring peace to their country through a peaceful transition, crucially with a timetable of up to 18 months. The UK is part of that Support Group. We are doing what we can to help Syrians make peace.

Peace has better chances if there's some hope. UN Security Council pledges offer some. Confidence Building Measures, or CBMs, offer yet more.

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Confidence Building Measures are used to signal a desire to change the status quo. They can show a shared commitment by parties to a conflict to uphold international law and demonstrate a desire to solve a conflict politically. They build a modicum of trust between the parties. They show ordinary people that negotiators are doing something about the war while thrashing out the issues far away (in Europe, this time).

Confidence Building Measures should not be confused with obligations under International Humanitarian Law. The former are optional. The latter are compulsory.

In Syria, however, CBMs and humanitarian obligations are often conflated, for the simple reason that Syrians want civilian deaths, injuries and human rights abuses and violations to stop. They want to stop Syria's ever deeper slide into humanitarian catastrophe. They want the parties to the conflict to take the first steps towards that. And the UN Security Council, in its resolution 2254, agrees.

There are a number of things which could and should happen: an end to the targeting of civilians and aerial bombardment of areas populated by civilians; the lifting of sieges and provision of humanitarian access; the release of detainees; investigations into the fate of those who have disappeared; a stop to forcing people from their homes, either elsewhere in the country or abroad.

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I pick two, below. This doesn't imply my prioritisation of these among others. But both are currently the subject of intense media coverage.

Firstly, humanitarian access. Harrowing images from Madaya village, north-west of Damascus, testify to the need for full and unimpeded access across Syria for medical personnel, equipment, transport and supplies. The situation, as it stands, is unacceptable. Between January and November last year, the UN could only reach 7 percent of 4.5 million people in hard to reach areas. Impeding access causes suffering and death, which can constitute a violation of international humanitarian law.

Sieges continue to pose a major threat to civilian life. There are 400,000 people in need in besieged areas; last year the UN could only reach 1.5 percent of them. The lifting of sieges could restore Syrians' access to their most basic human rights and save lives. Three relief convoys have finally got in to Madaya, after 84 days of a brutal siege imposed by the Asad regime and Hezbollah. These convoys should be only the beginning of full, unimpeded and sustained access to this village and all other besieged areas in Syria.

Secondly, detentions and disappearance. Human Rights Watch estimate that over 85,000 people are being held by the Asad regime in conditions that amount to enforced disappearance. Armed groups operating in Syria, including terrorist organisations such as Daesh and Al-Nusra Front, also arbitrarily detain civilians. Releasing prisoners and revealing the fate of the disappeared are both steps all actors, particularly the regime who holds tens of thousands of detainees, should take as confidence building measures towards a negotiated peace.

Taking measures to end the violence and restore dignity will help bring the parties to the Syrian conflict closer to a nationwide ceasefire. They may also help avoid negotiations breaking down due to the mistaken belief that there should be 'a ceasefire or nothing at all'.

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We will know very soon whether negotiations will start under UN auspices. We want them to. And Confidence Building Measures can only help to make the prospect of negotiations a firm reality.

The UK will continue to play its part, supporting agreement on CBMs and backing all peace efforts with both humanitarian and non-humanitarian aid. Prime Minister Cameron has pledged at least 1billion for Syria's stabilization reconstruction to turn a peace on paper into a peace in reality. The UK will co-host with Germany, Norway, Kuwait and the United Nations a Conference on 4 February in London which aims to reset the international community's response to the whole crisis. This will include raising significant funds for the immediate needs of those affected in Syria and the region. We will also agree measures and funding to create new educational and economic opportunities for refugees in the region, and support to the communities and countries that are hosting them.
Being in a band is an indulgent career in many ways. I'm sure I don't need to explain how or why. But we still live in the real world with its very real problems. In Everything Everything, we've always been relatively politicised, albeit in a more covert way on our first two albums. As we get a bit older, our music is increasingly a more barefaced reflection of that. We're slowly lifting the lid and getting braver.

Our last album, Get to Heaven, was a conundrum, really; some of our darkest lyrical content, balanced with some of our most colourful and bright and keening pop music. It was about the world we found ourselves in 2014. It couldn't be about anything else. We'd finished a solid year and a half of living in the touring bubble, and suddenly found ourselves at home all the time, in the real world, nudging up against the big 3-0, the age where you finally fully remove your adolescent head from your rear end and look at the world around you a bit more. I did. Jonathan definitely did. Jonathan writes all the words. He was watching a lot of rolling news, and getting increasingly affected by it. He wanted to reflect and exorcise the horror and confusion he felt as an observer. It felt like a particularly horrible year. In fact it continues to be a remarkably bad time for humanity, doesn't it? Maybe not, maybe it's just as bad as it ever was, but we're now at an age and in a position where it registers and resounds all the more.

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Get to Heaven is in many ways our most straightforward and accessible album. But danger lurks very close to the surface. You don't have to unpick it as thoroughly as maybe our first two records demanded. There are demagogues, maniacs and charlatans, extremism, violence, abuses and distortions of power and influence. It's not all doom and gloom though - there is a lot of satire and silliness, fun(!) even, although it is harder to root out. One useful function of what we, or any artist can do, is to hold up the mirror occasionally, present a reflection on society, if that doesn't sound enormously pompous..! I think Get to Heaven was that, for us.

One event that really hit home was the murder of Alan Henning by the so-called Islamic State. He was a local man - we're based in Manchester, and Jonathan and I first met in Salford, where Alan came from. No murders are somehow less excusable than others, but something about his life really touched people. It was the same with aid worker David Haines. They had no agenda but compassion, they went to Syria on a purely humanitarian mission. Afterwards, I could feel the resentment, anger, and the basic desire for violent revenge rising up, which is exactly what these fascists want - to make us hate each other and become intolerant. It woke me up a little bit, to recognise how violence can fuel more violence. Shortly afterwards I had a run-in at a supermarket checkout with an educated middle-class man who I overheard calling a Muslim family 'fucking P*kis'.

Being in a band means there isn't always much we can do to help causes through our work. So if we're asked, we try to take the opportunities. What's going on in Syria at the moment is so obviously pertinent, so present. The politics are enormously complicated and we don't profess to know half enough about it. But at its core is the biggest humanitarian crisis of our lifetime, and human beings who simply want to survive, who want their children to be safe.

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So, we and some other great musicians are doing a little gig this Friday 22nd to help raise money for Syria (we're DJing). It's being put on by Unicef Next Generation London, which is a group of young Londoners who put on events to raise awareness and money for the cause. It's a heavy subject, but we want everyone there to have a good time. And we will probably play more than one David Bowie song, too.
On 15 December last year, Tim Peake became the first British astronaut to board the International Space Station and over the past month I've been following his progress with a mix of envy and admiration. It brought to mind the many emails we get from How It Works readers asking about the possibility of taking "holidays" in space. You might be surprised to learn that the age of space tourism has actually been underway for many decades and taking affordable trips to the stars, or at least low-earth orbit, might be closer than you'd think...

It all started back in the 1960's, following the popularity and success of Nasa's manned Apollo missions. It seemed that space tourism would soon become a reality and Pan American Airways were quick to jump on the idea, opening a waiting list for a planned service to the Moon. Up until the company eventually disbanded in 1991, more than 93,000 wannabe astronauts had signed up for the scheme. A new kind of space race was envisaged; private companies would compete to become the first to provide normal people with the chance to experience the wonders of space travel. It's incredible to think that in the years that followed Neil Armstrong's giant leap for mankind, only seven space tourists have made the trip to low-Earth orbit, none of which have even come close to retracing his famous footsteps on the lunar surface.

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These individuals stayed on the International Space Station (ISS), and paid a considerable premium for the experience. The most recent, Canadian Guy Laliberte, coughed up an estimated 22million ($35million) for an 11-day trip in 2009. Although excursions to the ISS are hugely appealing, it is not designed to accommodate a tourist's needs. In spite of the ticket price, there are no luxuries; the ISS' sole purpose is to carry out vital research and support the astronauts on board.

All the space tourists used a version of the Russian Soyuz spacecraft to get to and from the ISS, but after the ISS' permanent crew was doubled to six members, this was no longer an option. This has galvanised a number of companies to explore alternative means of transporting paying passengers for short periods of time, such as space planes. The most talked-about space plane around is Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo, which is lifted into the sky by a larger mothership, WhiteKnightTwo, before detaching and using its rocket engine to take a total of six passengers into space.

Once out of Earth's atmosphere, those on board will experience around five minutes of weightlessness, while gazing in wonder at the Earth's curvature and the surrounding stars. The tragic death of pilot Michael Alsbury during a test flight in 2014 has not deterred Virgin Galactic from reaching their goal, although it has meant that the first commercial flights have been further delayed. Whether or not this will form the foundation of space tourism is yet to be seen, but they do not offer a prolonged off-world stay. They also lack docking capabilities, which means they can't be used to whisk people away to any form of space hotel that may exist one day.

Aerospace company Boeing has taken a different tact. They have created a spacecraft that is likely to perform the first commercial flights, as part of a 2.7billion ($4.2billion) contract with Nasa. The Crew Space Transportation-100, or CST-100 for short, has been tasked with this honour. Boeing and Nasa hope that this spacecraft's first manned flight will take place in 2017, and once this has been completed, along with service flights to the ISS, the door will be open for commercial spaceflight.

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The CST-100 is slightly larger than the Apollo Command Module and is being developed in cooperation with Bigelow Aerospace, as the capsule offers a means of reaching their planned space station in the future. As it is reusable, Boeing's spacecraft will be fitted with a combined recovery system featuring both parachutes and airbags, allowing it to land on the ground rather than in water when it returns to Earth. Reusability is key to its success, as the more times it can be used, the cheaper each flight will become for both the company and prospective customers.

If the future of space tourism doesn't involve staying on the ISS, there needs to be a new form of space station, which is where Bigelow Aerospace comes in. Their founder Robert Bigelow made his fortune building hotels, but he has been interested in space technology since childhood. Taking inspiration from Nasa's 'TransHab' concept, Bigelow Aerospace plans to build its own inflatable space modules. It will use these to build private space stations, which it will operate and sell access to the public.

In 2006 and 2007, Bigelow launched Genesis 1 and 2 respectively, which were its first test craft to enter orbit. Since these launches the company has been relatively quiet, relying on ground testing while waiting for space tourism to grow as an industry. However, the BEAM (Bigelow Expandable Activity Module) is scheduled to launch later this year aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule, and it will be connected to the ISS for two years to demonstrate its technology. Once this has been proven a success, the B330 will be launched. This has over 20 times the volume of the BEAM with 330 cubic metres (11,654 cubic feet) of internal space, and a proposed 20-year lifetime. Although its walls are inflatable, they will provide inhabitants with more protection from heat and radiation than the rigid ISS modules. Bigelow hopes that these modules will mark the beginning of vacations that truly are out of this world.

However, despite having many of the necessary components in place, we are still a number of years away from space tourism becoming a truly viable vacation option. It's more likely that trips to low-Earth orbit will become well-established first, before any form of 'hotel' opens for business. There is still so much that needs to be investigated before space travel can become feasible for the average person. Further research into the effects of remaining in space for long periods of time is vital, and it's hoped that NASA's ongoing Twins Study will provide some answers. What is certain is that there will be plenty of adventurers packing their bags for a trip to infinity and beyond when the time comes.
Sometimes it's the small victories that count.

On Wednesday the Electoral Reform Society released polling by BMG showing that 77% of the public think big donors have too much influence over our parties. And on the same day, Peers heeded the public by voting to set up a cross-party committee on party funding reform.

The move comes amidst growing concern that the Trade Union Bill is completely one-sided in its approach to the issue. As it stands, the Bill could cut 6m per year from Labour's income by making union members 'opt in' to unions' political funds (instead of the current 'opt out' situation).

This isn't happening in isolation. So-called 'Short money' - public funding given to opposition parties to compensate for the fact that the government has hundreds of SpAds, researchers and press officers at its disposal - is being slashed by 20%, set to take a further 1m per year off Labour's funding.

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While the shift to an 'opt in' system for union members is welcome, party funding reform can't be done by the government to the opposition - it needs to be a cross-party endeavour. We've seen scandal after scandal, and frankly the public are sick of all parties' dodgy funding fiascos.

In the 1940s, someone said: 'It has become a well-established custom that matters affecting the interests of rival parties should not be settled by the imposition of the will of one side over the other'. That someone was Winston Churchill. What was established from then became known as the 'Churchill convention'. Without broadening the Trade Union Bill, there's a risk that will completely unravel to the detriment of democracy.

Figures released by the Electoral Commission this week showed that parties spent 39m during the last General Election - up from around 35m in 2010. This is an arms race - and it's one that nobody can win.

So what happened in the Lords? Peers voted by a substantial margin (327 votes to 234) in favour of Baroness Smith of Basildon's motion to create a select committee on the party funding elements of the Trade Union Bill - essentially moving away from a one-sided 'reform' to one that all parties will have to engage in.

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It's a good move in that it could be the first step towards a lasting settlement on party funding. How our parties are financed needs reforming across the board - not through tit-for-tat partisan attacks: after all, 57% believe that a publicly-funded political system would be fairer than the one we currently have (up from 41% in 2014) so there is widespread backing for change.

As well as setting up this new cross-party committee, Peers advocated 'urgent new legislation to balance those provisions [in the Trade Union Bill] with the other recommendations made in the [Committee on Standards in Public Life's 2011] Report', with the new committee set to report by 29 February.

So this House of Lords vote was a step in the right direction - and we hope parties engage constructively to sort out the mess that is Britain's party funding system.
Prime Minister's Questions this week showed that David Cameron has not considered the consequences of his decision to scrap maintenance grants. Maintenance grants support some 500,000 of the poorest students. Converting these to loans will mean hundreds of thousands will graduate with debt of up to 53,000. These very facts was put directly to the Prime Minister at PMQs in the House of Commons and the complacency of his answer says it all.

This government has done everything it can to hide from scrutiny over its decision. It just doesn't want to face up to the reality that scrapping grants will see the poorest students graduate with the highest levels of debt. But it is also trying to bury this debate to cover its tracks. David Cameron was rightly challenged on the fact that these changes were never part of the Conservative Party manifesto in the election last year. Quite to the contrary, even the Conservatives admitted that targeted support for the poorest students, through grants, was crucial when the Coalition government voted to treble tuition fees. It is no wonder the government has tried to hide from a debate on this very issue. It even tried to use an obscure committee in Parliament - called a 'Delegated Legislation Committee' - to avoid a debate.

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After strong public pressure from my union, and students' unions across the country, the debate the Tories never wanted us to have was finally held in Parliament. Thanks to the help and support of opposition MPs from Labour, the Scottish National Party, the Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru, SDLP, the Green Party and the DUP, we got to challenge the government on its decision. Whilst we came just 11 votes away from stopping these incredibly damaging plans, the government can no longer say it wasn't warned about the real impact scrapping grants will have. Our work now continues and the Lords will have an opportunity to hold the government to account. We have fought hard to be heard on this issue and it is extremely concerning how far the government has gone to avoid scrutiny on a decision that has little public support.

The government is insisting scrapping grants will improve access to education. Our own research shows this isn't true - with the vast majority of future students and their families saying this will make them think twice about studying. When you add this fact to the government's desire to avoid scrutiny, it's hardly surprising to see that ministers have resorted to nothing more than petty insults by calling my union the 'National Union of Shroud Wavers'. It is particularly crass of ministers to make jokes when scrapping support for 500,000 of the poorest students and it is demeaning to the work of students' unions across the country who have had to fight to put this issue on the agenda.
BBC

If you were in search of a new, disease-fighting antibiotic, where might you start? In a swamp? A remote island? Well, how about combing beards? Michael Mosley investigates.

On Trust Me I'm a Doctor we do experiments which sometimes throw up genuinely new science. In a previous series, for example, we discovered you can cut the calories in pasta by cooking, cooling and then reheating it.

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That was a very pleasing result. But our most recent discovery, finding bacteria which appear to be producing a novel form of antibiotic, feels altogether more significant. What was particularly delightful was that they were found growing in someone's beard.

Beards, as you may have noticed, are back. The chin-strap, the goatee, the neck beard and the Van Dyke, they all have their fans. But with beards sprouting everywhere , like new grass in the spring sunshine, there has inevitably been a backlash.

Critics claim that beards are not only an irritating affectation but can potentially harbour unpleasant bugs.

So, what's the evidence that beards pose any sort of health risk? Pogonophobes, people who fear beards, had those fears confirmed by a recent study in New Mexico where they found traces of enteric bacteria, the sort usually found in faeces, in randomly sampled beards.

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As one newspaper put it: '"Some beards contain more poo than a toilet."

But is this typical? A recent and rather more scientific study, carried in an American hospital, came to very different conclusions.

Trust Me I'm A Doctor is on BBC Two at 20:00 on Wednesday 20 January - or watch later on BBC iPlayer

In this study, published in the Journal of Hospital Infection, they swabbed the faces of 408 hospital staff with and without facial hair.

They had good reasons for doing so. We know that hospital-acquired infections are a major cause of disease and death in hospitals, with many patients acquiring an infection they didn't have when they went in. Hands, white coats, ties and equipment have all been blamed, but what about beards?

Well, the researchers were surprised to find that it was the clean-shaven staff, and not the beardies, who were more likely to be carrying something unpleasant on their faces.

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The beardless group were more than three times as likely to be harbouring a species known as methicillin-resistant staph aureus on their freshly shaven cheeks. MRSA is a particularly common and troublesome source of hospital-acquired infections because it is resistant to so many of our current antibiotics.

So what's going on? The researchers suggested that shaving might cause micro-abrasions in the skin "which may support bacterial colonisation and proliferation".

Perhaps. But there was another more plausible explanation staring them in the face. That beards fight infection.

Unlikely? Well, driven by curiosity we recently swabbed the beards of a random assortment of men and sent them off to Dr Adam Roberts, a microbiologist based at University College London, to see what, if anything, he could grow.

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Adam managed to grow over 100 different bacteria from our beards, including one that is more commonly found in the small intestine. But, as he quickly explains, that doesn't mean it came from faeces. Such findings are normal and nothing to worry about.

A brief history of beards

Alexander the Great reportedly banned his soldiers from growing beards, for fear that enemies would hold on to them in battle as they killed them

Hadrian (76-138AD) was apparently the first Roman emperor to grow a beard

At 17ft 6in long, Hans Langseth's beard may have been the longest ever - after his death it was donated to the Smithsonian in Washington DC

Beards were compulsory in Afghanistan under the Taliban - they were banned by Albania's communist leader Enver Hoxha (1908-1985), and more recently for a while in Turkmenistan

Far more interesting, in a few of the petri dishes he noticed that something was clearly killing the other bacteria. The most obvious suspect was a fellow microbe.

We see microbes as our enemy, but they clearly don't see us that way. Down at their level bacteria and fungi spend their time competing with each other. They fight for food, resources and space. By doing so, over millennia, they have evolved some of the most sophisticated weapons known to microbe-kind - antibiotics.

Penicillin was originally extracted from Penicillium notatum, a species of fungus. The microbe-killing properties of this fungus were discovered by Alexander Fleming when he noticed that a fungus spore, which had accidently blown into his lab from researchers further down the corridor, had killed some bacteria he was growing on a petri dish.

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The fungus Penicillium notatum - is there something similar in beards?

So could our mysterious microbes be doing something similar? Killing fellow bacteria by producing some sort of toxin?

"Yes," says Adam extremely cautiously. "Possibly."

Adam indentified the silent assassins as part of a species called Staphylococcus epidermidis. When he tested them against a particularly drug-resistant form of Eschercichia coli (E. coli), the sort that cause urinary tract infections, they killed with abandon.

Purifying and properly testing a novel antibiotic is so expensive and has such a high failure rate that it is extremely unlikely doctors will be prescribing Beardicillin any time soon, but Adam is deadly serious about looking for replacements for our current stock of antibiotics.

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Famous beardies ZZ Top

As he pointed out, antibiotic-resistant infections kill at least 700,000 people a year, projected to rise to 10 million by 2050. There have been no new antibiotics released in the past 30 years.

As well as our beardy findings, Adam's team have recently isolated, from microbes sent in by the general public, anti-adhesion molecules which stop bacteria binding to other surfaces. They think there may be potential for adding this to toothpaste and mouthwash, as it could stop acid-producing bacteria from binding to enamel.

Surprising, isn't it, what you can find in a beard?

This blog post first appeared in the BBC News Magazine here.

See more on the BBC News Magazine here.

Watch Trust Me I'm A Doctor again here.
The last two weeks have seen a series of experts testify in front of the Joint Select Committee on the merits of the Government's new Investigatory Powers Bill (IP Bill). If that legislation sounds unfamiliar, it's because the media usually refer to it by the unflattering moniker the 'Snooper's Charter'. This nickname is well deserved because a number of the provisions contained in the Bill undermine online data protection and put many businesses in a difficult position.

The Bill is ostensibly designed to improve state security by making it easier for the security services to monitor and analyse online communication. For the first time, it enshrines the state's ability to collect, in bulk, large volumes of personal communications data. It requires tech companies to store personal information, such as website visits, for a year and make them accessible to the Government. Crucially, there is now an obligation on companies to assist security services in bypassing encryption. Put another way, it makes most encryption of personal information entirely meaningless - although, the Government disputes this. There are also proposed changes to judicial oversight and new powers to bug computers and phones.

Unsurprisingly, tech companies are not happy. However, tellingly, many security experts are also unconvinced. A former senior official at the National Security Agency, William Binney, told the Select Committee that the IP Bill was 'totalitarian' and that the "bulk acquisition is a major impediment to success by analysts and law enforcement."

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The Information Commissioner's Office also weighed in, stating: "Notices requiring the removal of electronic protection should not be permitted to lead to the removal or weakening of encryption. This technique is vital to help ensure the security of personal data generally."

There is obviously a very clear case for improving the reach of security services online. So called Islamic State and other terrorist and criminal entities are purported to use online services to communicate and coordinate. However, completely eroding the meagre data protection afforded to UK citizens online is a very worrying proposition. So too is increasing the burden on businesses to work with security services to monitor, collect and decrypt their customers' personal data.

Legislating the tech sector is generally very difficult. Technology moves so quickly that legislation with specific provisions soon becomes obsolete, whereas, legislation that seeks to anticipate tech developments ends up being draconian. The IP Bill falls into the latter category. It is akin to using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. By undermining every citizen's right to privacy, while simultaneously reducing judicial oversight, it opens the door to countless unintended consequences and opportunities for state overreach. Binney rightly pointed out that bulk collection of data is inefficient and ineffective.

Placing a legal obligation on companies to snoop on their own customers is a recipe for disaster. Not only will it undermine trust, it also gives unscrupulous tech companies ample opportunity to exploit the data they collect for their own purposes under the guise of legal authority.

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Watching the Joint Committee question its witnesses, I was struck by how little many of the MPs seemed to understand the implications of some of the provisions within the IP Bill. I believe this goes to the heart of the matter. However good the Government's intention, I believe the IP Bill was put together with little understanding of how many online services work or just how much you can learn about an individual from their personal data.

A better approach would be for the Government and security services to work closely with tech companies to build a legislative framework that affords more protection to the man or woman on the street while reducing the power of criminal or terrorist entities to hide their actions or intentions online. Sweeping powers are not the answer.

The UK already has some of the most limited data protection in Europe. With the collapse of Safe Harbour there is a clear divergence between the US and European approach. The US is making moves to further reduce online privacy while countries such as Germany seek to enhance personal protection. In the UK, we have a choice as to which approach we take. I worry that if we follow the US, we will not feel any safer but will instead fear that the state, and the companies we rely on, have destroyed our privacy.
Trident is in the news again, and will continue to generate heat in the run up to a parliamentary debate promised later this year on the programme and patrolling posture. But the outcome is clear, pre-determined in the minds of the political elite and to some extent in contractual and diplomatic commitments. For now. Could the equation change in the next parliament? The momentum behind the project appears unstoppable, but beware unexpected shocks before coming to a firm conclusion.

The parliamentary arithmetic clearly supports Trident when it comes to a vote later this year. Whatever the merits of patrolling Trident submarines into the indefinite future, attention will be given to the political impacts on the individuals involved. Cameron will look to exploit divisions in Labour, landing accusations that Corbyn's Labour Party is irresponsible, soft on defence and hostile to our essential alliances, a danger to all we hold dear. He will refer to naivety, and seek to mortally damage any trust the electorate may have in the ability of the Labour Party to govern responsibly. Anyone questioning the renewal of Trident will risk being seen as siding with the hard left and therefore suspect.

Many in opposition will see this as a chance to establish their anti-war credentials, and show the government to be run by closed-minded dinosaurs, trapped in jingoistic Cold War thinking. They will accuse those in support of Trident as failing to understand the change in mood of the country, post Iraq. And the Scottish Nationalists will exploit resentment that nuclear weapons based just 30 miles from Glasgow are imposed from London. But it will not be about winning this debate. That is a hopeless cause.

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But what if an incoming government were to reassess in 2020? This government announced in November that there will no longer be a final Main Gate investment decision committing contracts for whole submarines (previously timed for March this year). They will instead be contracted over time in a modular approach, bit by bit. This could make it easier than it would otherwise have been for a future government to walk away, but not without big costs.

We are today at around 3.9bn spent or contractually committed to the project. This figure could double within the life of this parliament as contracts are let on the actual construction of critical parts of the submarines. Parts of the fourth submarine have already been ordered. More has been spent and committed on relevant infrastructure investment at Aldermaston, Faslane and Derby. It would take a courageous leader of a party already identified as unilateralist to cancel the project and 'waste' well over 8bn of investment (a quarter of total spend budgeted today). Such is the passion associated with this issue on both sides, a Party not already united and prepared to expend political capital on this decision could be deeply wounded by such a move. Shades of the 1980s.

Trident is heavily dependent upon the Americans, and the assumption is widely held in London that the Americans will not respect a Britain without it. The UK may have developed its first nuclear weapon systems independently after Ernie Bevan turned the Cabinet debate in 1946 saying, "I don't want any other foreign secretary of this country to be talked to or at by a secretary of state in the United States as I have just had in my discussions". But future governments tied themselves to the Americans in signing the Mutual Defence Agreement that has facilitated nuclear cooperation ever since 1958. That cooperation has deepened even more with this latest project.

Soon after the 2007 debate MoD contracted with the United States to design and produce the guts of the submarine - the Common Missile Compartment - in collaboration. The UK requirement is for eight missiles whilst the CMC contains a dozen tubes, so the Royal Navy will have to find a use for the spare four, or fill them with concrete for ballast (a serious option). The PWR3 reactor that will power the submarines is a superior American design than the current British PWR2 reactor. Pulling out of the programme in 2020 could put at risk good faith and may be interpreted by some as anti-American, severing deep and unique ties in strategic cooperation.

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So the programme appears safe and we can expect, bar some completely unpredictable disaster, to see Successor submarines on patrol in the 2030s - those of us still alive by then. But the world moves on and there may yet be curve balls.

Driven by developments in our everyday world, the decisive military systems of the near future look very different from those of the recent past. The trends favour those that are small, mobile, networked and integrated, open source, often employing remote or autonomous control, and increasingly cheap and disposable. Crucially, military systems will have to continuously keep pace with the ever-changing technologies designed to neutralise them. Those with long lead times, even of just a few years, will involve technologies out of date before the systems come into service, making them deeply vulnerable.

As the drone revolution dramatically changes the character of aerial and ground warfare, it is beginning to affect the seas too. Employing ever more effective sensors, underwater communication technologies, efficient batteries in tandem with micro power generation, extraordinary leaps in electronics and computing capabilities, the future looks extremely worrying for those tasked with ensuring submarines remain stealthy. The speed in the development of technology relevant to sub-hunting is astonishing, and hint at far more transparent oceans well before the Successor submarines are deployed in the early 2030s, as now planned.
As Christine Lagarde, mother, head of the IMF and star of the global stage arrives at Davos this week, Hannah Haciku mother, entrepreneur and village authority will be working hard to feed and clothe her three children in Kenya. Two women, two very different lives. Christine may face a glass ceiling, the one Hannah faces is more like a steel one.

Don't get me wrong, Hannah is a successful business woman who has battled prejudice and poverty to win the respect of her husband and her village. My point is that while we have made great strides in gender parity (admittedly with a long way to go) and it is high on the agenda at Davos - the impact has been felt mostly by a prosperous elite in the developed world.

The recent study of BRAC's work by the LSE provides hard evidence for what many of us who work in the field know about the nature of poverty for women: "the poorest are neither unwilling nor unfit to engage in the same jobs as more prosperous women in their communities, but face barriers which prevent them from doing so".

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Of course success is built on hard work, ability, ambition as well as opportunity and Christine Lagarde an extreme example. But without the education, family support and healthcare available in the developed world, how many women would have been able to go out to work or started businesses in order to earn money and take care of their families?

WEF's 2015 Gender Gap report places Ms Lagarde's home country, France, at 15 overall for women's equality and top in the world for their educational attainment and health chances, Kenya is ranked 48th overall and 113th for education and 85th for health prospects for women. The enabling environment for women in Kenya like many poorer countries is far worse.

The Kenyan economy is growing, gender equality is a matter of public debate and we have laws which protect a woman's right to own property and receive an education. But away from the court rooms, the parliament buildings, glass fronted offices of Nairobi and further still from Davos, Kenya is still a very traditional society where even an educated woman is still ultimately at the mercy of a culture where her role is to take care of the family while the man earns the money.

To take an extreme example: one in four women in Kenya today has suffered genital mutilation (FGM) even though the Kenyan government made it a crime punishable by prison in 2001. Why? Because, in some of Kenya's poorer communities, parents believe the only option open to girls to have a livelihood is through marriage and FGM remains a cultural prerequisite for marriage in these communities.

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This same attitude is present in every walk of village life, even when a Kenyan woman manages to secure a casual job in the informal sector, such as a farm help, her earnings are 50% lower than a man's. As lower national income tends to drive greater inequality for women, the reverse is also true. Greater gender parity will drive economic growth. According to Mckinsey closing the gender gap could boost the GDP of Sub-Saharan Africa by 27%.

The answer is to give women economic power, not to run large corporations but to simply find a job, earn an income and give them an equal voice within the family and community. Only then can we breakdown the cultural norms which still pervade village life. However, in Kenya only 60% on average have access to a paid occupation and so to earn an income women must create their own jobs by setting up and running their own small businesses.

The World Bank estimates that more than three billion people are working, and nearly half work in farming, small household enterprises, or in casual or seasonal day labour. This is not something which we should ignore or see as a problem.

It is true these micro-entrepreneurs often make a poorly paid and vulnerable living. But they also offer an opportunity. With business training and access to finance these micro-enterprises can turn a profit and help support a family. We at Hand in Hand have trained 1.6 million people (predominantly women) who have gone on to create 1.6 million businesses which support 2.4 million jobs.

What do these numbers mean to women living in poverty? I will let Hannah explain, "We now eat regularly and I will be able to send my 13-year old daughter to secondary school. My husband loves that I earn money". Hannah's daughter will grow up in an environment which will enable her to achieve so much more thanks to the income from one small business.

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Hannah Haciku | Tailor | Kenya. Photograph: Georgina Goodwin
I arrive at the QVC Beauty Bash with my cynical London reporter hat on. I'm here to cover makeup artist Laura Geller's first appearance at the mammoth event, where the shopping channel's biggest buyers are invited to schmooze the people behind the brands they love to purchase. I walk around the stalls, watching mothers and daughters get massages and makeovers, as well as the odd slightly lost-looking husband here and there.

Geller is huge in the US, QVC's biggest seller and a veritable star with a collection that is perpetually sold out - but she's not well known on these shores. In my capacity both as a model and journalist, I've met people many like Geller who have built mini-empires based largely on their personal appeal, and I can tell you: these folks don't always live up to their reputation. Most have a tendency to treat their assistants like whipping boys behind the scenes, managing to turn on the charm a millisecond before meeting the public/appearing on air. That or they turn into a hollow-eyed pastiche of the character that made them famous. This means that I'm braced for the worst when I meet Geller moments before she makes her grand appearance at her stall in the QVC Beauty Bash...

...And I couldn't have got it more wrong. Within 5 minutes in her company I want her to be my Mum (sorry Mum). Within ten minutes I've switched roles, letting Laura interview me, regaling her with the epic tale of how I met my boyfriend on the Bakerloo Line thanks to the blusher I'd just purchased (it's true!). It's a tale that the company will apparently name a product after.

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This is the Laura Geller effect, and it explains why I watch hundreds of women, with an average age of around 40, queue up just to spend a minute basking in the glow of her company (and that's not just from her 'French Vanilla' highlighter).

Laura meets a fan

I witness these women crying the moment they get to Laura - is that common? "Oh yes. I get a lot of women saying I changed their life with make up. In fact just today, there was this lady - very tall, sort of thick set, maybe you saw her. Beautiful. She came up to me and told me that I'd saved her life. That I'd boosted her confidence with my make up to the point that she felt she could get up off of that sofa where she had been trapped for years and back out to engage with the world."

I can believe it because, frankly, I'm under the Geller spell myself, and I can sense that her effusive warmth isn't an act. Her 'bedside manner' reminds me of countless make up artists who, over the years, have somehow had me spilling my darkest secrets to them, not to mention bolstering my confidence on shoots when everyone else was treating me with disdain.

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My new best mate

Geller worked her way up from a lowly make up artist on Broadway, making up iconic faces such as Ginger Rogers and Audrey Hepburn. "I did Paul Newman's make up and I was horrified. I just knew I had made it too ridiculously pale and I didn't know what to do with myself. He pointed to his face and said 'you think this is right?' and I just quietly shook my head, eyes wide open. He just shrugged and smirked - so cool! I also have Gene Kelly's pancake blush. I stole it...I couldn't not!" It's her experience here that led Laura to introduce the world to 'Spackle', her primer (22), which she describes as 'polyfilla' for the face but is a bit more refined than that - their new soothing product contains chamomile and avocado to treat the skin whilst providing a good base for make up.

I'm clearly a fan of the lady, so it's a relief that the actual make up stands up to its reputation as a perennial top-seller: her Gelato Swirl Illuminator (21) is worthy of note here: it's finely milled, velvet to touch and, like many of her products, has been baked in Italy from a cream formula so it's matt but not dehydrating.

The illuminator is applied while I probably overshare with Geller

The brand is beloved by women with mature skin because the sparkle helps lift complexions and won't settle into lines, but many products span generations such as the bright coloured, hydrating baked lipsticks (16). My hero product? I've trialled a zillion concealers for dark circles, from the priciest to the high street, and all of them either made my skin greyish white, wrinkly or both. The 'Baked Radiance Cream Concealer' in medium (20) finally gave me what I've wanted: realistic coverage (i.e. I look better but not like a doll) that didn't enhance fine lines. It didn't budge all day and is great for any blemishes, too.

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It's official: 2015 was the warmest year since records began in 1850. With both 2014 and 2015 now having broken records and 2016 expected to do the same, it is clear global warming is a reality, with experts warning the climate is now in 'unchartered territory'.

According to the Met Office, the average global temperature in 2015 was 0.75C higher than the long-term average between 1961 and 1990. The previous record set was in 2014 with an average global temperature of 0.57C.

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Looking at these figures, it is clear to see why we ought to be taking action to stem the rise in global temperatures. Indeed, the vital deal agreed in Paris at the Climate Conference demonstrated how world leaders are finally waking up to the dangers climate change poses.

Yet despite the overwhelming evidence confirming the presence of global warming, significant political figures, predominately in the United States, continue to deny that climate change even exists. Donald Trump, the frontrunner and bookies favourite to win the GOP presidential nomination, with his increased publicity is now one of the most prominent climate deniers in American politics.

In 2014, he claimed on Twitter that "all weather events are used by the GLOBAL WARMING HOAXSTERS to justify higher taxes to save our planet! They don't believe it $$$$!"

Somehow this isn't even his most outrgeous claim. In 2012, he said that "the concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive", and in 2013 he said "it's snowing & freezing in NYC. What the hell ever happened to global warming?".

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However, if you think Donald Trump is the only Republican presidential candidate to deny the existence of global warming you would be wrong. Last year, Ted Cruz, who has recently been rising in the polls, compared climate change activists to "the equivalent of the flat-Earthers". Even candidates who accept the climate is changing, such as Marco Rubio, claim the government can do nothing to combat the rise in global temperatures. It is clear that although the candidates views differ on climate change somewhat, they predominately share a consensus that it is not an issue we should be concerned about.

Considering the aforementioned broken global temperature records, this is a remarkable and extremely disturbing stance to hold. For the Republican presidential nomination to enter the battle with their Democratic opponent doubting the existence of climate change is an incredible inditement of the party. Although it wouldn't be the first.

The positive news is that not only are Trump and the other Republican candidates out of step with science, they are also isolated in terms of public opinion. A poll carried out last year found that 70% of Americans now believe that global warming is real and the evidence to support it is strong. Moreover, only 26% of self-identified Republicans now doubt the existence of climate change, compared to 41% the previous year.
David Cameron wrote an article in the Times that I found absurd, inaccurate and Islamophobic. In his article Cameron suggested that concerns of forced gender 'segregation', abusive marriages and the social isolation of women have been expressed to him by Muslim women and therefore, he has a duty to speak out and act! He then announced funding to teach Muslim women English as part of his strategy to tackle 'extremism'.

Let me get few things straight here:

As a Muslim woman whilst I agree to some extent with some of these concerns, I do not agree with such Islamophobic comments and sentiments, which are used as a mere attempts to justify the new proposed anti-extremism laws, that not only demonise Muslims but also undermine our British civil liberties. What Cameron is failing to recognise is that these women's problems are in fact universal and not limited or restricted to one religious or racial group. Yet Mr Cameron somehow is singling out Muslim women as if they are responsible for all of these social ills. This kind of rhetoric reminds me of the British colonial era when white men promised to 'free' Muslim women from their own evil! Excuse me Mr Cameron, Muslim women are championing these issues and quite frankly they do not need you to tell them what to do and what not to do.

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Just imagine the same kind or rhetoric being used against any other minority, for example black people, Jews or Eastern Europeans. "Polish women need to learn English otherwise they will be deported", "Jewish men must allow women to read and touch the Torah" and "Black women are responsible for the crime rise in their streets". How stereotypical, divisive, irresponsible and patronising is such rhetoric, yet when it comes to Muslims this rhetoric is completely fine and socially accepted.

I led a listening campaign with Citizen UK in Cardiff, where we listened to around 10,000 people, of which 1000 were Muslim and I organised many focus groups with women to investigate the top issues that concern the community and women specifically. We found that the top problems for Muslim women were Islamophobia and discrimination in the work place, which resulted in social isolation and unemployment. It was not Muslim men forcing women to be socially isolated as Cameron is suggesting. Muslim women are the first victims of Islamophobia because of the obvious religious symbol of the Hijab (head-scarf) or the Niqab (the face veil) and because of this some have restricted their movement and are frightened to go out in public places. Other Muslim women are struggling to find jobs that match their qualifications and skills due to the triple discrimination they face: against their faith, gender and colour. They, therefore have to work twice as hard to break the glass ceiling and progress in their careers. Mr Cameron also must appreciate that women in general, including Muslim women have the right to be house wives and look after their families if they want to. This might lead to them becoming economically inactive but, they are not lazy and jobless women because guess what Mr Cameron, being a mother is one of the hardest jobs and if Muslim mothers have broken English it is not because they are refusing to adopt your British 'values' and to integrate but, it is because they have families to look after.

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This leads me to the next point about the English classes for Muslim women. Whilst I welcome any initiative to further education and development, it should be noted that the funding that Mr Cameron announced is in fact a reduction. Six months ago 45 million worth of funding was cut for 47 colleges for ESOL courses by the department of business. However, the main problem with this announcement is not only the reduced funding but Mr Cameron's attempt to link lack of English skills to 'radicalisation', suggesting that Muslim women with broken English are somehow prone to 'extremism' and 'radicalisation'!

Now, let me get this straight. Does this mean if any of my Muslim parents or acquaintances has broken English, he or she will be joining ISIS?! Subsequently, does that mean I have to report my parents to the discriminatory PREVENT law?! Sadly, this does not make any sense. Did Mr Cameron not know that the majority of the 600 Britons who joined the brutal group ISIS, or as I prefer to call them Da'esh (they very name they hate), are actually British born and fluent in English and were politically rather than religiously motivated to join Da'esh? In addition, according to the 2011 Census only 6% of the British Muslim population struggles with English, 43% of full-time Muslim students are female and 24% of the Muslim population have a degree level or above.

I am very sorry Mr Cameron but we Muslim women are busy pursuing our Masters and PhDs and we do not desire your constant stigmatisation.

I just wonder how many Muslim women Mr Cameron has met and whether he would be willing to humble himself and get down from his ivory tower to have a mature fruitful dialogue with us rather than exclusively talking to those whom he agrees with. Unfortunately, Mr Cameron your rhetoric and comments regarding Muslim women are demonising and alienating the very segment of society you want to empower and engage with. You can have a swift glance over the comments below your Facebook post to sense the danger and the negative implications of your comments on the cohesion of our British society.
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Hinduism is a religion of intricate and highly symbolic rituals. Visually, these rituals include a dynamic play of light/fire, colors, textures, hand gestures, and body postures and movements - representing an artistic and aesthetic pursuit of a very high order.

Recently, during our trip to Varanasi (or Benaras or Kashi), we witnessed the spectacular Hindu ritual called the 'Ganga Aarti' held at the banks of the River Ganges.

The city of Varanasi, as many of you may know, nestles on the banks of River Ganges in the North Indian State of Uttar Pradesh. Varanasi is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and to give you a sense of its antiquity - it was already an ancient city during the time of the Buddha, born more than 500 years before Christ. Archaeological evidence suggests that a settlement existed as early as the 12th century BCE.

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Since ancient times, Varanasi has remained the most important center of Hindu spirituality and culture and has been an important seat of Hindu intellectuals. River Ganges is considered of divine origin and hence held as deeply sacred by Hindus. While being the spiritual and cultural capital of Hindus

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We saw the 'Ganga Aarti' at two places. The one held daily at the crack of dawn on the Assi Ghat (Ghat, meaning stepped embankments) and the other held daily in the evening, at the Dasashwamedh Ghat,

In short, the word Aarti (also spelt as Aarati) comes from the Sanskrit word "Aratrika" - meaning a ritual that dispels darkness. This ritual worship traces its origins back to the Vedic time (circa 2000 BCE) and holds deep symbolic value for Hindus. The various ingredients of an Aarti ritual includes water, flowers, lamps, incense, bells and various other ritual objects.

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For a practicing Hindu, this ritual can potentially express a wide range of emotions including love, devotion, obeisance, gratitude or thanksgiving to a particular God or a group of Gods/Deities, and/or it can be a part of a prayer for seeking positive energy, strength and peace of mind. Very importantly, through this ritual process, the worshipper is also expected to surrender and transcend the ego.

One of the most beautiful aspects of the Aarti is that after the ritual is first dedicated to chosen Goddess / God (in four cardinal directions, indicating omnipresence of God or the transcendental entity), it is then dedicated to all observers who are also, in effect, participants in the ritual. The latter dedication stems from a fundamental Hindu belief that divinity lies within each and every human being that everyone has a part of God, within.

Given that the ritual celebrates both material and spiritual aspects of Hindu life, it is essentially celebratory, joyous and life affirming in nature.

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The Aarti at Assi ghat began at 4.30 in the morning and was a part of a daily morning program called "Subah-e-Banaras", which included a musical program, followed by a yoga session.

The ceremonial lamps were set ablaze while it was still dark and coupled with the burning incense, it created a sublime mood, as night quickly gave way to the stillness of dawn. There was a gentle river breeze and as the sun rose from across the river, a soft pre-dawn light spread all over. We could sense world around us slowly come alive. The morning Aarti was an awakening of the body, mind and spirit; it left us with a sense of hope, of eager anticipation.

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Later in the day we took a boat from Assi Ghat to attend the evening Aarti at Dasashwamedh Ghat. A group of young priests who perform this daily ritual turned out in resplendent ceremonial dress. The ritual began at 7 pm and lasted for 45 minutes.

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Blowing of conch shells, singing of devotional hymns and chants, and the pulsating sound of ceremonial bells, gongs and drums reverberated in the air, to the circular sway of large multi-tiered blazing oil lamps and a big brass camphor lamp, with a dramatic snake hood. The Lamps were so large that they had to be often held with both hands and the flames flared several feet high.

The redolent air, heady from the burning incense, other ceremonial lustrations ('dhoop') and flowers combined with the sights and sounds to create a magical, enchanted atmosphere.

We were mesmerized by the alchemy of color, by the lamps blazing against the darkness, the sounds and fragrances, and a sense of harmony and proportion in movement. It was a unique aesthetic experience which dispelled the sense of uncertainty and anxiety that generally comes with approaching darkness. It left us feeling a sense of peace, joy and reassurance.

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Hindu rituals involve a conscious pursuit of beauty and is essentially a creative process, translated into the practice of art. In Varanasi, watching the Ganga Aarti, we realized that if Hinduism had engendered a profusion of art through rituals, art had found a potent and dynamic space for expression through this religion.

(You will find Shumon Sengupta's posts and albums from his travels around the world 'Tales from the Trails of a World Citizen')

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(You will find Shumon Sengupta's posts and albums from his travels around the world at 'Tales from the Trails of a World Citizen')

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In the promotional blurb for a lecture on 'Why 'no religion' is the new religion' that took place this week at the British Academy, it was claimed that "fewer than one in ten report being influenced by secularism".

Just as The Fawcett Society recently described Britain a nation of 'hidden feminists', could it be that we're also a nation of 'hidden secularists'?

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It seems ludicrous to suggest that the vast majority of British people - regardless of their religious beliefs - have anything other than a secular, or at least 'secularish', outlook. We may not yet be a secular state, but poll after poll has shown that the British public - including religious believers - support secularist principles.

As the writer Myriam Francois-Cerrah rightly points out, "Britain is already deeply secular country. The exception is the Church of England and the privileges it continues to enjoy".

Let's look at the polling. A whopping 81% of us agree with the statement: "Religious practice is a private matter and should be separated from the political and economic life of my country". More of us oppose than support the idea of the UK having an official state religion. 58% of the adult population oppose faith schools. British citizens (including churchgoers) overwhelmingly reject the Church's position on abortion, assisted dying and same-sex marriage.

This all indicates strong support for secularist principles.

The British public is largely characterised by its indifference to religion. We're not a nation of religious zealots, nor are we particularly anti-religious - although there is significant hostility to religion when it tries to impose itself where it's not wanted. Nevertheless, recent data from the Pew Research Centre confirmed that people from the UK feel far less strongly about religion than most other people around the world.

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Despite this indifference, religion is of course inescapable. Religion is ever-present in our news broadcasts. The spectre of terror we now live under is largely motivated by it. Our school system is to some extent organised around it. Our national ceremonies are dominated by it. Our national broadcaster is excessively deferential to it. Our Prime Minister even insists Britain is a "Christian country".

Growing irreligiosity and the emergence of other faiths in the UK demands that we urgently rethink the role of religion in public life. Do we accommodate Islam and all the other minority religions and give them equal footing with Anglicanism - or do we start building a wall of separation between religion and state? I propose the latter.

Given the transformative social change which is taking place in Britain, secularism, with its commitment to everyone's religious liberty, stands to benefit us all, so why is it not more enthusiastically embraced?

Part of the reason perhaps is that secularism is widely misunderstood - often wilfully.

Many defenders of religious power and privilege dismiss secularism by falsely equating it with atheism. The aim here is to present secularism as something that seeks to undermine religion, thus deterring religious believers from subscribing to perfectly reasonable secularist arguments.

Atheist secularists, it should be noted, have themselves been guilty of muddying these waters. Indeed, it was Charles Bradlaugh, who founded the National Secular Society 150 years ago, who famously clashed with George Holyoake over whether secularism necessitated atheism.

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Back in the mid-19th century Bradlaugh's fight for the rights of atheists was a noble and necessary one. But the unwillingness of many of today's God-rejecting secularists to separate their personal beliefs from their expression of support for secularist principles can at times give secularism the air of 'politicised atheism'. This can be off-putting for potential allies.

But there's absolutely no reason why the secular movement shouldn't include a spectrum of religious beliefs. Indeed, secularism might be stronger for it.

Another tactic for traducing secularism is to equate it with a form of extremism. As Jacques Berlinerblau has pointed out, "commentators on the right and the left routinely equate it with Stalinism, Nazism and Socialism, among other dreaded isms." The weapon of using a pejorative term to attack secularism is also regularly deployed. Faith Warriors from the Pope, to Government ministers to respected academics such Professor Craig Calhoun, the Director of LSE, have all described secularism as 'intolerant, 'extreme', 'aggressive' or 'militant'.

Despite the claims of religionists determined to promulgate a victim narrative, the truth is that no sensible advocates of secularism in the UK are proposing anything remotely 'intolerant' or 'aggressive'. The National Secular Society's Secular Charter is certainly a radical challenge to the status quo, but it's hardly a form of 'extremism'.

Vague support for the established church endures because Britain is home to many 'cultural Christians'. Even Richard Dawkins describes himself as a 'secular Christian'. At a time when many people are understandably concerned about the growing presence and influence of Islam in the UK, there is also sense that Christianity is seen as a bulwark again creeping Islamisation.

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But surely a better response would be stand up for a principled and very British form secularism - a muscular yet inclusive form of secularism - a codification of 'live and let live - but within limits'.

As much as I admire Laicite, the French model of secularism isn't likely to be the perfect fit for Britain.

The 'soft secularism' which manifests itself as multi-faithism is also a path best resisted. In a country as religiously indifferent and diverse as ours it's a nonsensical and dangerously divisive to organise public policy around religious identities.

The American concept of separation is perhaps closer to the mark. But we need to carve out our own British model of secularism - one which seeks minimal interference with the free exercise of religion yet protects secular spaces and ensures religious freedom is always balanced against an individual's right to live their lives free from religion. A model that treats an individual's religion as a personal and private matter rather than the basis for public policy. One that upholds the principle of one law for all.

Secularists are often unfairly accused of wanting to "eradicate religion from public life". It's certainly true that we want to see religion's public role greatly diminished - an end to publicly funded faith schools is an example of this. But we should support an open society where people are free to express their beliefs, but at the same time be clear that there are limits to religious toleration. Pluralism may sound noble, but its practical effect is likely to have a corrosive effect on our cherished liberal values, restrict the freedom of women and children, particularly in minority communities, and impede future social cohesion.

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Champagne Life is the first ever exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery showcasing works solely from female artists. The gallery is getting a lot of coverage for this (though the Tate Modern has been doing an impressive job for a while now in showcasing female artists). So, why now?

Wanting to be play catch-up? Possibly. Tokenism? Maybe. Certainly we'd be well within our rights to be pretty cynical about why Charles Saatchi might want to be seen platforming women all of a sudden. But don't let this sway you from visiting as within Champagne Life is some terrific work from female artists who still do not have the visibility of their male counterparts.

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The show opens with the eye-catching and accessible canvases from Julia Wachtel. Her subversion of tabloid images of red carpet actresses - with their identikit slim physiques and column dresses - and photos of the pop royalty that is Kim and Kanye is the perfect pop culture commentary to open with. They have easy appeal. Their subject matter, well, it's current, it's relevant and it draws you in.

A smart curatorial approach.

And it's followed with a colourful gallery dedicated to the vivid paintings of Sigrid Holmwood. Her neon washes are bright and loud, keeping the energy of the show going. However, her subject matter is more the romanticised view of Swedish traditional life than Hollywood. Here it's mother and child in basic huts, church boats floating down rivers.... It's an idealised view of the past and the works may not be the strongest in the exhibition, but the blend of the old with the new is an approach used by others on show.

Mequitta Ahuja's exploration of heritage to interrogate the contemporary is an exhibition highlight. Blending inspiration from ancient mythological works and legends, Mequitta's towering paintings bring women to the fore.

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With her fearless warriors and bold blue goddesses, Mequitta draws from her African American and Asian Indian roots to depict a female identity that is both modern yet rooted deeply in our past. It's exhilarating stuff. You feel a surge of empowerment just staring at these works.

As well as pictorial works, there's plenty of space set aside in Champagne Life for sculptural works too.

The magical realism from Soheila Sokhanvari will delight - her taxidermied pony perched precariously on a jesmonite blob an eye-catching piece - and the scale and detail of Alice Anderson's copper thread work, Bound and 181 Kilometres, will impress.

But there's also reflection and psychological examination.

Virgil's Ittah's wax sculptures of two bodies suspended between life and death are smartly exhibited alongside Jelena Bulajic's hyper-realistic paintings of very old women. Together these works make for a sobering reflection on mortality, emphasised with this room being an austere and sobering wash of white compared to the colours in the other galleries.

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And Maha Malluh's Food for Thought installation of hundreds of cooking pots traditionally used throughout the Arab world is a sad reminder that a woman's work is never done.

That's not to say that everything in this exhibition works flawlessly - Marie Angeletti's representation of the information overload of our internet culture as a series of scrambled images is a smart idea but the finished pieces are confusing and don't quite make the desired impact.

Similarly, Suzanne McClelland's examination of domestic terrorists in the US screams an immediately relevant subject matter, but here too, the finished works are quite inaccessible and opaque, seemingly little more than graffitied monochrome canvases.

But nevertheless, every single artist on show here brings something to the table that is challenging and thought-provoking. Some of it may not be finely honed but it is a great diverse collection from a wide range of female artists, all of whom have something to say. And what they're saying deserves to be heard.

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Saatchi Gallery, London to March 9, 2016

Admission Free

Image Credits:

1. Soheila Sokhanvari, Moje Sabz, 2011, in front of Maha Malluh Untitled (Food for Thought), 2015. Photograph by Victoria Sadler.

2. Julia Wachtel, Champagne Life, 2014. Photograph by Victoria Sadler.

3. Detail from Mequitta Ahuja, Autocartography III, 2012. Photograph by Victoria Sadler.
Australia Zoo

A man has suffered scratches to his arm and head after being attacked by a Sumatran Tiger at the Irwin's Australia Zoo on the Sunshine Coast.

Senior keeper Che Woolcott was taken by ambulance and treated at Nambour Hospital on Thursday morning following the attack, but has since been discharged with stitches to his left arm and head.

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An Australia Zoo spokesperson described the incident as a "playful swipe" from Ranu, the 12-year-old tiger, during a routine morning walk, which wasn't in view of Australia Zoo customers.

Head curator Kelsey Engle told media -- in a press conference on Thursday afternoon -- the tiger became interested in his surroundings and as the guys approached and changed direction he threw out a paw and one of our keepers ended up with a couple of scratches."

It wasnt an attack or a mauling.

Terri Irwin first confirmed the incident on Thursday at midday tweeting the tiger became "hot and bothered".

Hot day @AustraliaZoo. One of our tigers got hot & bothered and scratched a keeper. Keeper is ok, tiger is ok. pic.twitter.com/Ycuuidr0hm  Terri Irwin (@TerriIrwin) January 21, 2016

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Engle said Woolcott is expected to return to work in the coming days and Ranu is being treated with an ice block.
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With federal parliament taking a long break over the Christmas and New Year period, it's a time for our politicians to take some well-earned time off, resting their minds, their bodies and -- for the men, at least -- their razors.

As preparations ramp up for parliament to resume in the first week of February, prominent parliamentarians are starting to make the media rounds, and a worrying/awesome trend has emerged -- the holiday beard, that untamed and unkempt fuzz of facial hair that men let grow free when they don't have any official engagements to stay clean-shaven for.

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Chris Bowen + beard. What a time to be alive #abc730pic.twitter.com/QawYqJtTd9  Lindsey Green (@LindsJGreen) January 19, 2016

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But the grand-daddy of politician holiday beards is the one currently attached to the face of Senator Mitch Fifield, the Minister for the Arts and Communications. On Thursday, he had an interview with 2GB radio's Ray Hadley, with the entire chat on one topic.

You don't get any points for guessing that topic was "his amazing holiday beard".

That's not a holiday beard. THIS is a holiday beard. @SenatorFifieldpic.twitter.com/yasSeuFwyb  Alice Workman (@workmanalice) January 20, 2016

Fifield's office released the transcript of the interview on Thursday afternoon, and it's almost a work of art. Anything we did to it would only be like slashing the face of the Mona Lisa, so here is that interview -- about holiday beards -- in its entirety. We particularly liked the part where he sledges Labor's men-folk for not being able to sprout decent beards: "I dont know what it is about the Labor guys, but they just cant grow them."

We've highlighted our favourite sections in bold. Enjoy!

The Ray Hadley Show on 2GB

21 January 2016, 11:30am

HADLEY: I was doing a story about 45 minutes ago about beards. I return every holiday from the summer break with either a full beard or a goatee which lasts until usually Australia Day when I work and then the next day Ill get rid of it. Now I was questioning your beard. Now I dont mean to be offensive. But you look like one of Queen Victorias sons or grandsons. You look like something left over from 1910 with that growth of yours and Im a bit envious, because mine is a bit more like Wyatt Roys. Not really visible if you know what I mean?

FIFIELD: Yeah, I do. Im glad it worked because I was really going for the Cossack look...

HADLEY: Why dont you wear a fur hat next time youre on Sky then youd have the look complete?

FIFIELD: The thing with the beard that I have at the moment is it doesnt matter which way Im up, you cant really tell.

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HADLEY: Well someone suggested to me it looks like you got your head on upside-down.

FIFIELD: Well thats right it does. But I think it was important to show what a real beard looks like. I mean Sam Dastyari, that was not a beard. Chris Bowen, nice try. Ed Husic, hes barely getting started.

HADLEY: Well one of the things I noted from him, because hes younger than me. I think hes had a little bit of laser. You know how the young blokes get the fine line around the bottom of the chin. A bit of laser treatment so its really clean cut.

FIFIELD: Its too clean. If you are going to have a beard, its got to be a real beard. I dont know what it is about the Labor guys, but they just cant grow them. I mean weve got some good ones on our side. Like my colleague Rowan Ramsey in South Australia. Nigel Scullion, the Indigenous Affairs Minister. Hes got a good one. But what I wouldnt mind seeing actually, is our economics team having a crack at one. Scomo, Mathias...

HADLEY: Morrison with a beard?

FIFIELD: Yeah.

HADLEY: I dont know that the Government can afford to have the Treasurer with a beard to be perfectly honest. Its bad enough youve got the Minister for Communications looking a Russian Cossack or Prince Edward V or something.

FIFIELD: Ive got an excuse though Ray. I am the Arts Minister as well.

HADLEY: Of course! Barry Jones, thats who you look like!

FIFIELD: Thats right, but I think the ultimate beard really was Dick Adams from Tasmania when he was in the Parliament.

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HADLEY: How long is yours going to last? Whens it going?

FIFIELD: Look. Its still a subject of great debate and discussion. Ive asked for feedback on Facebook. Should I keep it, or should it go? My partner loves beards so she has more votes than most. So look itll be a case of watch this space Ray.

HADLEY: May I suggest to you that a whipper snipper may be required when you decide to get rid of it? I dont think theres been a razor blade invented that will get through that forest.

FIFIELD: I think Ill need to deploy some industrial tools should that day come.

HADLEY: Do it in stages. Itll be like the BER. Stage 1, stage 2, stage 3 although it doesnt cost as much.

FIFIELD: Thats right Ill tell my office to block out a couple of days.

HADLEY: Anyway youre not going to muck around. If youre going to grow a beard you need to grow one like Mitch Fifield. And its an absolute corker. But as I say, you probably wouldnt be old enough to remember a bloke that appeared on Channel 7, on a childrens show called Captain Fortune.

FIFIELD: No.

HADLEY: Now Id like your staff to Google Captain Fortune, theres a photo existing of him. If you could get a hat on like a sea fairing type hat. Youre like a dead ringer for Captain Fortune. So either youre looking like a child or grandchild of Queen Victoria, you think you look like a Russian Cossack, and now Captain Fortune enters the debate.

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FIFIELD: Well the ultimate benchmark, of course, is Grizzly Adams.

HADLEY: Now you are showing your age. Grizzlies were a few years ago. Alright then, so did I get a concession there that its going sometime in January? Or is it going to stay?

FIFIELD: Its still an open verdict Ray. Im taking submissions. So stay tuned.

HADLEY: Well Im coming down to Canberra I think on February 3 to a forum that you may well be at for the radio industry.

FIFIELD: Yeah, Ill be there.

HADLEY: Okay, well Ill look forward to it disappearing sometime between now and February 3 and Ill be clean shaven as well okay?

FIFIELD: Well make sure well be clean and nice.

HADLEY: Okay, thanks Senator.

FIFIELD: Thanks Ray.

HADLEY: All the best. The man with the best beard in Federal Parliament, Senator Mitch Fifield. The Minister for Communications and as he pointed out, the Arts as well. Hes looking rather arty.
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Gone are the days of walking across the room to read a text message. Smart watches can be thanked for saving you those few extra steps while also er, tracking your incompetence when it comes to meeting that 10,000 steps a day.

But its smart bands that youre about to see a lot more of -- a hybrid wearable that falls somewhere between a smartwatch and a fitness tracker. Basically, it will notify you of texts, emails and calendar alerts while also doing the fitness stuff.

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Microsoft is the latest company to release such a wearable -- with their Band 2 hitting stores on Thursday. It offers an LCD touch screen and compatibility across iOS, Android and Windows devices via the Microsoft Health app.

This is the tech giants second fitness band product, with the first only having been made available to those in the U.S. and UK.

It has external play controls for music as well as the ability to track heart rate, distance, speed and sleep but perhaps the most impressive inclusion is its UV monitor AKA your fail-safe guide to knowing when to slip, slop, slap. The band will analyse a sample of the UV level and display a reading (Extreme, Very High, High, Medium, Low, or None) from there, you can set it to alert you when to apply more sunscreen.

Those that like getting up and going for a run without having to cart your phone with you will enjoy its inbuilt GPS.

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A member of the House wants to do away with call time, though that might mean more time spent at awful constituent spaghetti dinners. Bernie Sanders appeared in People Magazine, though sadly not in a Who Wore It Better? feature with Demi Lovato. And the market plummeted today. Our thoughts and prayers are with all the photo editors out there trying to find the right "trader with head in hands art. Stay strong, brothers and sisters. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Wednesday, January 20th, 2016:

SENATE DEMS TRY TO FORCE VOTE ON TRUMP'S MUSLIM BAN - Elise Foley: "A Republican bill aimed at making it harder for Syrian and Iraqi refugees to resettle in the U.S. was blocked in the Senate on Wednesday -- and with it, a bit of trolling from Democrats who said they'd support moving forward in exchange for guaranteed votes on amendments. Specifically, Senate Democratic leaders wanted to make Republicans go on the record about whether they agree with GOP candidate Donald Trump that the U.S. should keep out Muslim immigrants and visitors. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said earlier in the day that his caucus would agree to move forward with a controversial refugee bill in exchange for Republican leaders' promise that they will get votes on four amendments -- including one meant to denounce Trump's proposal. That isn't going to happen, at least for now, because Democrats elected to block the bill instead. But they're are still using Trump to hammer Republicans over the bill, since he supports keeping Syrian and Iraqi refugees out of the U.S." [HuffPost]

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LET'S TALK ABOUT TORTURE - Ali Watkins: "A congressionally-mandated effort to overhaul the U.S.s interrogation policies has laid bare old rivalries between the military and Washingtons intelligence agencies -- and has left the White Houses so-called elite interrogation group out in the cold. These tensions have emerged as the Obama Administration begins reassessing the section of the Army Field Manual that lists the approved interrogation techniques that government agents can legally use when questioning suspects. The recently passed National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the Pentagons annual priorities setting bill, requires that the Administration revise and update the manual, which critics say allows for use of controversial interrogation tactics such as solitary confinement and sleep deprivation. Nearly absent from the process, though, is the Obama Administrations little-known interagency interrogation force -- the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group, colloquially known as the HIG. Launched in 2009, the HIG has spent the last six years and millions of federal dollars compiling research into the best interrogation methods. But despite that work, the group, several sources told BuzzFeed, has been largely strong-armed out of the interrogation policy discussions -- first by Republican lawmakers, and now, sources say, by the military." [BuzzFeed]

DELANEY DOWNER - Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) said he would ask state lawmakers for an additional $28 million to deal with the ongoing water crisis in Flint as activists called for his resignation outside the Capitol building in Lansing Tuesday night. Snyder addressed Flint residents directly during his State of the State speech, delivered to the legislature. He apologized for the catastrophe that exposed them to dangerous levels of lead in the water that public officials had previously insisted was safe to drink. Your families face a crisis, a crisis you did not create and could not have prevented, Snyder said. I am sorry, and I will fix it." [HuffPost]

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

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LOOKING AT SANDERS' GAY RIGHTS RECORD - Jennifer Bendery: "Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has a case of sour grapes over the decision by the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest LGBT rights group, to endorse his opponent, Hillary Clinton. He says he doesn't need their stinking support, and he's got a strong record on gay rights anyway. He does. But his spokesman Michael Briggs made the case Tuesday that Sanders has been way ahead of Clinton...Sanders was "a pioneer on this early version of gay marriage and has by far the most exemplary record on gay rights of any candidate ever in American history," Briggs said in an interview with The Washington Blade. That's not quite right. Sanders did support civil unions as far back as 15 years ago, but it was for the same reason he opposed the federal Defense of Marriage Act in 1996: his strong belief in state's rights. He wasn't advocating for legal marriage for same-sex couples. He actually avoided the subject. As one Vermont columnist put it in 2000, getting a straight answer from Sanders on gay marriage 'was like pulling teeth... from a rhinoceros.' In 2006, Sanders said he supported civil unions but not same-sex marriage, again deferring to states." [HuffPost]

BUT IS IT GOOD FOR THE CRUZ? CAPITAL PUNISHMENT EDITION - Takeaway: Ted Cruz almost certainly has committed every episode of "Law and Order: SVU" to memory. Jason Horowitz: "Mr. Cruz, the most ardent death penalty advocate of Chief Justice William H. Rehnquists clerks in the 1996 term, became known at the court for his signature writing style. Nearly two decades later, his colleagues recall how Mr. Cruz, who frequently spoke of how his mentors father had been killed by a carjacker, often dwelled on the lurid details of murders that other clerks tended to summarize in order to quickly move to the legal merits of the case...Other clerks, however, had a less admiring view of his interest. In interviews with nearly two dozen of Mr. Cruzs former colleagues on the court, many of the clerks working in the chambers of liberal justices, but also several from conservative chambers, depicted Mr. Cruz as 'obsessed' with capital punishment. Some thought his recounting of the crimes  'dime store novel' was how one described his style  seemed more appropriate for a prosecutor persuading a jury than for a law clerk addressing the countrys nine foremost judges." [NYT]

She's baaaaaaack: "Sarah Palin addressed the 'elephant in the room' at a Tulsa, Oklahoma, rally for Donald Trump on Wednesday, linking her son Track's recent arrest on domestic-violence charges to President Barack Obama's neglect of veterans...Palin's son Track, who served in Iraq, was arrested Monday night at their Wasilla, Alaska, residence on domestic-violence charges after a fight with his girlfriend, who said he had threatened to kill himself with an AR-15 rifle." [Politico]

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Bernie Sanders got the People Magazine treatment -- bug-eyed socialists: they're just like us! "Yet in his heart and home the Vermont senator remains the same down-to-earth 'Bernster' -- as his son, Levi, lovingly refers to him  he's always been. And that much was plain to see when PEOPLE stopped by to visit Sanders and his family at his modest colonial home in Burlington, Vermont, last month." OK! [People]

Make Sarah Palin's Trump endorsement speech even more insane with these Palin Mad Libs.

ADIEU, CALL TIME? - But what will our deputy finance directors do now? "Rep. David Jolly (R-Fla.) has stopped personally asking donors to contribute to his 2016 Senate campaign. He wants to focus his time on more important tasks (although his campaign team will still be hitting people up). The congressman, currently serving his first full term, is also preparing legislation to give his fellow lawmakers a similar break. He plans to introduce the bill next week. Members of Congress have long bemoaned how much time they spend raising money for election campaigns. The parties have urged their congressional members to dedicate about half their working hours to fundraising activities. Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), who is not running for re-election this year, confessed in a recent New York Times op-ed that he'd spent 4,200 hours making fundraising calls since the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision opened the floodgates for corporate campaign cash. Like Israel, many other retiring lawmakers have declared themselves sick and tired of the nonstop money race." [HuffPost]

REVOLVING DOOR READY TO GO WOOOOOOSH (ALSO, HENRY WAXMAN REALLY LIKES HIMSELF) - Yeesh, a little modesty when selling your soul, why dontcha. Megan Wilson: "Lobbying bans for members of the House who lost election or retired in 2014 have officially expired. Roughly one-third of the former lawmakers in that group have gone on to work for companies, universities, trade associations or firms that lobby the federal government. Former Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), Buck McKeon (R-Calif.), Lee Terry (R-Neb.), Jim Moran (D-Va.) and Dave Camp (R-Mich.) are among the lawmakers who have passed the cooling-off period for lobbying...Former lawmakers are not restricted in any way from advocating before the executive branch, something Waxman has done since joining his sons firm last year. 'I dont think theres anyone more effective than I am when it comes to talking to the administration or members of Congress,' Waxman said." [The Hill]

BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Here are some unhappy dogs.

Working at Gawker must be an interesting experience: "Gawker is planning to sell a minority stake to Columbus Nova Technology Partners, The New York Times' Ravi Somaiya reported Wednesday. Gawker founder Nick Denton told the Times that the goal of selling a minority stake of the company is to fund two things: Gawker's growth into categories like ecommerce and video, and its ongoing lawsuit with wrestler Hulk Hogan." [Business Insider]

COMFORT FOOD

- Rejoice, introverted millenials: The Internet Archive now has playable MS-DOS games.

- We may have a new celestial neighbor.

- Building a better Egg McMuffin.

TWITTERAMA

@KSoltisAnderson: Pending snowstorm threat level upgraded to "Trader Joe's Is Totally Out Of Hummus"



@timothypmurphy: Big takeaway from the Supreme Court moose-hunting hoverboard case is that Sotomayor pronounces hoverboard with a hard "o" as in "overboard."

@PaulBlu: I see that the financial markets are hard at work converting my 401k into a 404 Not Found Error.
School shootings have become an all-too-common occurrence in the United States. As a result, many social activists look to root causes and what can be done to prevent them. To that end, some people have evaluated the connection between school shootings and social media.

Online users often take to social media to express sympathy in the aftermath of a school shooting. Others use social media as an opportunity to call for change. Some researchers use social media to prevent future school shootings. In some cases, the school shooters themselves advertise that they're going to kill people on social media before doing they go on a shooting spree.

Social Media As a Response Tool

It's often the case that people get their breaking news from social media, predominantly Twitter. That's especially true when there's a tragedy, such as a school shooting.

Following the Newtown, Connecticut massacre in 2012, people went on social media not only to report about the latest developments, but also to express shock and outrage.

"Who does this? They were children! #NotRight #Connecticut," tweeted Adam Tomlinson.

The governor, Dan Malloy, took to Twitter to announce that flags in the state would be flown at half-staff.

In the aftermath of a school shooting, social media is often a "venting" space where people express their frustrations. It's also often a time of political finger-pointing and back-and-forth sniping about whose ideas are best to prevent future shootings.

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During a School Shooting

In February, 2012, a young killer went on a rampage in an Ohio high school, fatally shooting three classmates. During the whole episode, some students took to social media to let other people know what was going on and that they were okay.

Thanks to the Mobile Age, students can now take their social media platforms with them almost everywhere they go, including school. As a result, they can provide live updates about what's going on during a lockdown situation. They can also offer relief to worried parents by letting them know that they haven't been victimized.

Before a School Shooting

On some occasions, the shooters themselves send signals that they're unstable or even murderous.

In the case of the Ohio school shooting, the shooter had reportedly posted "Die to you all" on Facebook shortly before murdering three students. It's safe to say that a status update of that nature is, at a bare minimum, a desperate cry for help.

However, there didn't seem to be any other warnings. The shooter seemed to be liked by his classmates and didn't suffer from any apparent stigmas, as some kids do.

"I was really shocked when I found out that it was him," said fellow student Evan Erasmus. "He was, I mean, he was quiet, but he was one of the nicest kids there. You could talk to him really easily. I mean, he was funny. It was really shocking that it was him."

Prior to the school shooting at a community college in Oregon last year, a series of messages reportedly appeared on 4chan that foreshadowed the event.

"Some of you guys are alright," said one of the messages. "Don't go to school tomorrow if you are in the northwest."

Jared Loughner, who shot and almost killed U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords, left ominous messages on YouTube and MySpace.

In the wake of the tragedies that have occurred over the last couple of decades, there's broad agreement that threats posted on social media should be taken seriously.

This past November, Arizona State University put students on high alert following a threat posted on social media. An anonymous poster took to 4chan and promised to attack people at the school with a rifle.

Preventing School Shootings

Social media can also offer insights into the minds of killers and help prevent school shootings.

Dave Cullen is author of the book Columbine, about the 1999 school shooting that took place at Columbine High School in Colorado. He says that psychopaths "love giving us clues" ahead of time.

As we've seen, one of the ways that psychopaths do that is with social media.

Mary Ellen O'Toole is a retired FBI profiler. She uses the word "leakage" to describe how some murderers will drop hints about their plans to carry out an attack.

in the case of the Newtown shooter, Adam Lanza, his online communications indicated that he was suffering from depression. Almost all social media platforms don't do anything when it comes to posts like this and users tend to ignore these messages since it won't get many "like"s. Recently on Facebook I saw a suicide note that only received attention after the guy ended his life. New social platforms like Paralign have tried to tackle this problem by providing anonymous support from a network of caring users and empowering users to anonymously express deep thoughts without the fear of judgment.

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Public clamor for a veto and against Florida Governor Rick Scott's signing, today, of a new "water policy" bill lands in the governor's bubble like a muted, padded sound. Scott doesn't see and he doesn't hear, except through the filter of political ambition.

Rick Scott wants to be Florida's next US Senator, after Marco Rubio either becomes the next president of the United States or a highly paid lobbyist and Fox News commentator. Adam Putnam, the current Secretary of Agriculture, wants to be the next Florida governor. Facing massive political uncertainty from court-mandated redistricting, fought at every step by the GOP to protect its iron-clad control of the state legislature, special interests -- especially Big Agriculture -- are pushing like mad for maximum leverage over the state's one indispensable resource: water.

They are motivated by the same set of drivers that helped propel Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder to the governor's office in Michigan in 2010: strip environmental rules and regulations that are enforceable and replace them with lawyerly garbage.

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Back in 2010, a report published by the University of Michigan assessed the new governor awaiting inauguration:



"Rick Snyder streamlining regulations for Michigan won't be detrimental to the health and safety of the public or to the environment. Pro-business groups insist they also want to keep protections in place, but they say the way it is now Michigan's regulatory red tape is hurting the state's ability to compete. Russ Harding is with the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. He recently put out a study entitled "Environmental Regulation in Michigan: A Blueprint for Reform." "There's hardly a week goes by that I don't get calls from businesses that have given up on Michigan."

If those words sound familiar in Florida, it is because they are exactly the same. The identical words permeate the state legislature, under the influence of major business groups like Associated Industries of Florida and the Florida Farm Bureau and emboldened by right-wing think tanks and foundations funded through the Koch Brothers oligarchy.

And so one of the toxic strands of Florida's new water policy bill is abandoning enforceable regulations against polluters. For decades, environmentalists have struggled to hold the Florida Department of Environmental Protection accountable to tough, numeric standards on pollutants. With a swipe of the pen, Gov. Scott will erase that history. The bill has another toxic strand: allowing big water users to shift water around the state at will. This is a Jeb Bush idea, but Bush held his impulses in check because he was strongly opposed by not just environmentalists, but by municipal and county governments. Those entities may turn a blind eye to environmental protection with one exception: when the security of water supply is put into some others greedy little hands.

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To put this in more understandable terms: what replaces environmental regulations once they are eviscerated is the ethic of smash-and-grab robbery. Americans learned this lesson decades ago: when water quality is not nailed down, it disappears.

That is what happened in Flint, Michigan. A governor who didn't believe in the rule of environmental law, from a political party that has relentlessly attacked federal authority for enforcement against water polluters, ends up with an entire city of parents and families -- mostly poor people of color -- bathing in bottled water.

Disgusting. The smash-and-grab tactics of special interests with respect to water policy now point Florida in the same direction.

Voters in the 1970's thought that protecting the environment was so important they approved the bipartisan consensus in Congress that created the most important laws protecting the nation's air and water and the US EPA. Ever since, organized opposition from polluters and exploiters has aimed to undermine those laws, and especially regulations related to enforcement by EPA.

Isn't it curious: law enforcement accepts statistical evidence that zero tolerance of petty crimes suppresses violent crime rates but when it comes to protecting the environment, "aw shucks" prevails.

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In Michigan, Gov. Rick Snyder is all over television news, "man-ing up" to responsibility for what happened in Flint, Michigan through lead contamination of the city's drinking water supplies. But he and his media team are far from copping to the truth: that a political philosophy opposing strong environmental regulations caused this crisis.
As a writer, professional editor, and former intern for one of the top literary agencies in New York City, I've seen my fair share of query letters. A number of minor issues tend to pop up fairly consistently, but there's one mistake I see writers making again and again.

And this mistake could easily cost you a literary agent.

The biggest mistake that writers make is sending out a query letter that's way too long.

Before I delve deeper into the issue, I'd like to define what a query letter is and what exactly it should accomplish. A query is a snapshot of your project that should entice an agent into reading your manuscript. It's also an opportunity to show the agent who you are and assure him or her that you'll be professional and pleasant to work with.

That's it. That's all a query really needs to do. Yet I've seen so many writers include every detail of their plots, craft a meandering and overly comprehensive bio, and generally say way too much about themselves and their projects.

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A fiction query should be between 250-300 words. You can usually get away with stretching this to 350 for nonfiction or memoir so you have room to include some information about market and audience.

Yet I continually see queries spanning anywhere from 400-600 words. When a query is this long, most agents won't read past your first few paragraphs, or they'll simply skip your letter altogether.

To agents, a long query appears amateurish and doesn't reflect the kind of professional and developed writing skills they're looking for in a client. Plus, agents receive hundreds, if not thousands of queries every week. They simply don't have time to read a long letter.

Here's a brief rundown of what your query should include:

A sentence of introduction, including your hook, genre, and word count.

A paragraph (or two at most) with a tight and engaging synopsis of your plot.

A few sentences for your bio with only the most pertinent and impressive information.

A line of personalization explaining why you're querying this particular agent.

If possible, it's also good to include some comparative titles and address who you think your book will appeal to.

Is it easy to accomplish all of this in such a short space? Absolutely not. Writing a query letter is a craft and a process. It can take hours, if not days, to compose a great query, and it shouldn't be done without outside feedback. But considering how long you spent writing your book, putting significant time and effort into the query letter is undoubtedly a worthwhile investment.

If you spend enough time drilling down to the heart of your story and what makes you unique as a writer, it is possible to distill your project into a coherent and compact letter that an agent will enjoy reading. If you achieve this delicate balancing of elements, there's a good chance that the agent will move on to your pages and eagerly request your manuscript.
In recent days, a new term has suddenly appeared in the media to describe a supposedly Arab cultural practice: "taharrush gamea." The term, which is misspelled (the second word should read gama'ei), just means "group harassment" in Arabic, but right-wing commentators are trying their hardest to convince you that it actually means "sexual assault by a bunch of Arab men" or "gang-rape game" and that it's a normal thing in the Arab World.

They're wrong, of course, on all fronts. But the invention of the term and the sudden currency it has gained in the mainstream Western media tells a darker tale of how xenophobic right-wing groups in Europe have cynically used reports of sexual violence against women to further a deeply racist, anti-refugee agenda.

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The story begins on New Year's Eve, when groups of men standing outside the central train station in the German city of Cologne began harassing and mugging women, groping and sexually assaulting many in the process. Crowds of men, many of whom were reportedly drunk or on drugs, shot off fireworks at each other and some also gathered around and robbed and groped women. The entire time, hundreds of police stood by while doing little to stop the crowds, until eventually they just cleared the square entirely.

In the days that followed, reports emerged that similar scenes had unfolded on a much smaller scale in Hamburg and a few other towns. Victims of the attacks reported that the men taking part were primarily of "Arab or North African" appearance. In total, so far 766 people filed crime reports with police about incidents that are said to have occurred in connection to that night, of which around 381 - less than half - described sexual assault. The majority of reported crimes involved only theft.

For days, Cologne police failed to publicize what had happened, but soon after New Year the scope of the incidents surfaced. The justice minister called the attacks, which involved the participation of dozens of men and in some cases appear to have been coordinated, a "new dimension of organized criminality." The police said that the groups were probably linked to criminal gangs that hang out around the country's train stations, and mentioned that the incidents were similar to "antanzer," a German word for "waltzing," which refers to a common form of mugging whereby the attacker quickly moves around you in order to distract and then rob you.

But in the aftermath of the violence, commentators speculated that the local police had failed to publicize the incidents for fear that it could provoke a xenophobic backlash against the more than 1 million refugees who have been offered safety in Germany in recent months, amid an unprecedented refugee crisis flowing from the Middle East into Europe.

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And just as expected, as news filtered out, right-wing commentators and activists went into attack mode, blaming the government for allowing refugees into the country. Right-wing gangs began attacking men who happened to be of Arab or North African appearance, and thousands massed for anti-refugee rallies across the country. One protester in Leipzig even said that the attacks were "in principle bad for the women, but good for us, because the people are being woken up."

Right-wing protesters gather to protest the New Year's Eve attacks in Cologne, Germany on Jan. 9, 2016. (Getty/Sascha Schuermann)

The racist violence was accompanied by a rapid shift in language; while at first the incidents were seen as episodes of criminality involving sexual harassment, assault, and theft, within days a new phrase emerged: "taharrush gamea." In their report on the violence, Cologne police took an Arabic phrase that translates directly to "group harassment," garbled its pronunciation, and then described it as a "modus operandi" in the Arab world.

Unsurprisingly, the use of an Arabic phrase to describe what was now being thought of as a supposedly Arabic cultural phenomenon spurred commentators across the political spectrum to begin speculating how Arabs had brought it there.

To those who have followed the issue of sexual harassment in the Arab world, the sudden appearance of "taharrush gamea" in German or English is bizarre. As I mentioned above, the term has perfectly suitable equivalents in other languages, to describe an issue that unfortunately occurs all over the world: sexual harassment. Germans have only to look at Oktoberfest (where the sexual violence is so bad they've had to set up "sanctuaries" for women) or other mass drunken gatherings to remember that, unfortunately, misogynistic men from many different cultural backgrounds engage in sexual harassment.

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In Egypt, where the phenomenon supposedly originates, mass sexual harassment is just as shocking to average people as it is anywhere else. The first recorded instance of mass sexual harassment was by police and pro-government thugs at a protest in 2005, and since then it has re-appeared a handful of times, notably in Tahrir Square after the January 25 Revolution.

That is not to say that sexual harassment or sexism in general are not major problems in Egypt or in other parts of the Arab World. They definitely are, and feminist groups there have for years been confronting the troubling violence women face in many aspects of their lives.

But "taharrush gamea" is by no means a common practice in Egypt nor anywhere else in the Arab World. It is not surprising that right-wing commentators in the West quickly adopted the explanation that mass sexual harassment was part of Arabic culture; what is worrying is that respectable outlets like the Wall Street Journal have started parroting the same language.

A poster reading "Against Sexism, Against Racism" as protesters march through Cologne, Germany on Jan. 5, 2016 (Reuters/Wolfgang Rattay)

One egregious example is a recent article in which prominent German academic Josef Joffe not only mistakenly equates "Arab or North African" with "Muslim," he also argues that,

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Young Christian males also don't always obey Miss Manners when traveling in packs. But their culture doesn't have a word for taharrush gamea, as practiced in some Arab lands: a group-grope where young men encircle women to jeer, molest and rob them.

Of course their culture has a word for "taharrush gamea": the word is "group harassment. But rendering the term in Arabic makes it scarier and more exotic, suggesting it is part of a timeless, unchanging Arab culture. And by ascribing the phenomenon to that culture, the author is implying that white men don't sexually harass women in groups or engage in gang-rape - a conclusion which is patently untrue.

Sexism is not an imported product. Until 1997, under German law men could legally rape their wives, and even today less than 10% of rape trials end in convictions. Sexual assault statistics themselves are notoriously unreliable, as the vast majority of victims do not report their attackers. But a 2013 global survey estimated that one in three women around the world will face sexual violence in their lives. For the "Eastern Mediterranean," that figure was just above 36%, while for "high-income countries" like Germany it was nearly 33%.

In the United States, for comparison, government surveys report around 50% of women have suffered some form of sexual victimization and around 20% have experienced rape. One-fifth of women who attend college report being sexually assaulted during those four years of their lives alone.

The fact that so many commentators are focusing on a supposedly cultural dimension to the Cologne violence highlights the growing fear that the moral outrage is guided more by racism against refugees than concern for women. Authorities have suggested that asylum-seekers who commit sex crimes will be deported; but what of German citizens who commit such crimes? Why should a refugee who robbed a woman at a train station be deported, and the German man who sexually assaulted and murdered a 4-year-old refugee boy stay? How does deportation address the root of the problem?

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Vigil for Mohamed Januzi, 4-year-old Bosnian migrant child abducted, sexually assaulted, and murdered in Berlin in Oct. 2015. (AFP)

We should definitely be concerned about women's safety, there is no question about it. We must demand that German police deal with individuals accused of sexual assault - all of them, of whatever background - in a way that prioritizes women's voices and right to the public sphere.

But it's possible to demand women's safety and not get sucked into racist explanations that blame "Arab culture" instead of asking larger questions about why men feel entitled to women's bodies in public and why the police failed to take seriously women's concerns that night. Why didn't the police stop the crowds that night? Why do police see large groups of drunk men harassing women as normal or non-exceptional? What norms exist in the local police force in Cologne that even when women were being assaulted in front of them, it did not occur to the police to stop them?

But this is not just about the police. It's about the way society treats sexual violence, and when it decides to care. We need to discuss the roots of sexual violence and the reasons men feel that they have control over women's bodies, and address the structures of patriarchy and rape culture that have made sexual harassment on the streets, at school, at the office, and at home so common for so many millions of women. This mean interrogating both what attitudes in the families of asylum-seekers make violence against women acceptable as well as what attitudes in the families of white Germans make violence against women acceptable.
Republican presidential contender Ted Cruz has worked the Iowa caucuses in the traditional way -- spoken to small church congregations, browsed local convenience stores and talked to folks at coffee shops and restaurants.

Recent polls show his commitment to the state has paid off. The most recent Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register survey reported Cruz having the support of 25 percent of those likely to attend the Republican caucuses on Feb. 1. That's three percentage points higher than Donald Trump, his biggest adversary.

Iowa voters seem to like him. But their governor doesn't.

On Tuesday at the Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit, Gov. Terry Branstad said he thinks it would be a mistake for Iowans to support Cruz and that he could be "very damaging" to the state, due to the candidate's staunch position against the Renewable Fuel Standard.



As the longest serving governor in U.S. history, Branstad's denunciation of Cruz marks the second time he has ever endorsed prior to the caucuses during his six terms as Iowa governor.

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Iowa Republican Gov. Terry Branstad speaks during the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association Summit in 2014. Photo credit: Charlie Neibergall/AP

"This is quite unusual," said Dennis Goldford, a Drake University political science professor."(Branstad) tends to stay apart from the divide of presidential politics and will usually support any Republican who wins the nomination. For him to argue against someone, that's quite remarkable."

The question then, lies in whether his comments about Cruz are remarkable enough to sway Iowa caucus voters.

On Tuesday, Branstad told CNN he predicted that Iowans will ultimately realize Cruz isn't in their best interest as they learn about his anti-renewable fuel standard.

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But Cruz campaign spokesman Brian Phillips said Iowa voters already know what Cruz's positions are on the issues, including the ethanol mandate, and that conservatives around the state appreciate his consistent principles.

"His overall message is that he's a consistent conservative, and people are really responding to that. He is doing very well in the polls and his position on ethanol is well known," Phillips said. "People appreciate the fact that he's consistent in his principles and will do what he said he's going to do."

Goldford said that Cruz likely views the governor as "someone no different from the Washington cartel," more commonly known as the republican establishment.

"For Cruz, politics is more like religion. There are true believers and there are heretics," he said. "Whereas for Branstad, politics is about deal making and compromise. I would be surprised if the Cruz people thought that the Branstad rejection is a game changer."

Endorsements no longer strongly sweep people in a systemic or widespread way, according to Goldford. However, he added that something like Branstad speaking out against Cruz can affect voters on the margins, and in a close election those votes can make a difference.

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Photo credit: Politico
(From left to right) Michael Keaton, Walter Robinson, Michael Rezendes, Sacha Pfeiffer, Ben Bradlee Jr., and Thomas McCarthy poses for a portrait during press day for "Spotlight" at The Four Seasons on Wednesday, November 4, 2015, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Casey Curry/Invision/AP)

I finally had the chance to see Spotlight, which received a Best Picture nomination from the Oscars this year. I'd been dying to see the movie since as a long-time former reporter for The Boston Globe, I knew many of the characters in the movie, which focuses on the Spotlight team's expose of Catholic priests who molested children and the Boston archdiocese's coverup.

I also was anxious to see the movie since I was The Boston Globe reporter who first broke the story about a molesting priest in Massachusetts. Let me say right up front that Spotlight is a riveting movie that gets a lot right. I particularly loved Mark Ruffalo's depiction of Michael Rezendes, one of the Spotlight's reporters. And I think Liev Schrieber's depiction of Marty Baron, the Globe's top editor at the time, is spot-on.

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However, there are a few things the film doesn't get quite right. The biggest disappointment is the way it glossed over the reporting that had been done by Globe writers about the priest scandal well before the Spotlight team sprang into action in 2001.

In a recent Facebook post, my son noted that I wrote the first Globe article about Father Porter, a Fall River priest accused of molesting upwards of 100 altar boys and girls, in 1992, almost 10 years before the Spotlight series ran. We (I and other reporters) followed that first story up with many other articles.about Father Porter and how he had been sent to a treatment center for errant priests and moved from parish to parish despite complaints about his misconduct.

The movie does briefly show one clip about the Father Porter story, and it also makes mention of how the attorney representing the victims of Father Porter, Eric MacLeish, gave the Globe a long list of other priests who had been accused of similar misconduct. In the movie, the character who plays Walter Robinson, the Spotlight editor, acknowledges that the story about all those priests was buried in the Metro section.

Even so, the movie gives the path-breaking work that Eric MacLeish did short shrift and doesn't really explore why the Globe buried the story of the 20 priests and didn't follow up for almost a decade. It's very simple: At the time, the editor of the Globe, who happened to be Catholic, feared being accused of Catholic-bashing and so he sent out an edict that there was to be no more Father Porter stories -- i.e., no more stories about molesting priests.

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I still vividly remember the editor yelling at our then magazine editor because she had the temerity to run a long magazine piece about Father Porter (which had been in the works for months) after his edict came down.

As the film makes clear, it wasn't until Marty Baron, a Jewish outsider, came in as editor of the Globe and encouraged the Spotlight team to look at the priest scandal, that the paper really dug into the issue and did its prize-winning work.

One more nitpick if I may. The film makes it sound as though Mark Ruffalo's character suddenly discovered the research done by Richard Sipe, a former priest and sociologist in Baltimore. Based on confidential surveys he had done of priests, Sipe estimated that up to 6 percent of American priests had molested children, and that only half of U.S. priests were celibate.

The film made a big deal out of this discovery, which I find rather funny, because all the Spotlight team had to do was go to their own morgue, where they would have found a page one story from 1990 about Sipe's presentation of these findings at the American Psychological Association in Boston. I know this because I covered his talk and wrote that 1990 story. I remember well that the battle that raged in the Globe's newsroom about whether the piece should be buried in Metro or splashed on page one. To the credit of the Globe's page one editor at the time, it made the front page.
The timely implementation of the Iran deal and Tehran's full compliance with its various provisions to date should not be viewed as just an accomplished goal, but as a continuing process that could take several years to determine its viability and the extent to which it impacts Iran's foreign and domestic policy. I believe the deal will encourage Tehran to continue its customary underhanded activities to advance its strategic interests. Conversely, it will intensify the restiveness of many of the Western-oriented Iranian youth, who are resentful of the regime's heavy-handed social and political policies.

Given Iran's domestic political volatility and regional ambition, Tehran should not be expected to choose a single strategy to advance its national interests. Instead, it will pursue a mixture of policies consistent with its self-perception and drive to become the region's hegemon.

Iran perceives itself as the most significant regional power by virtue of its rich culture and long history extending over four millennia in one of the most geostrategic locations in the world. Iran has a huge pool of natural resources and a multi-faceted economy with an industrious population of nearly 80 million people (larger than the combined Sunni population in the Gulf), and a landmass bigger than the entire Arabian Peninsula.

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Notwithstanding the Iran deal, Tehran remains determined to acquire nuclear weapons and views the deal only as a temporary strategic pause. Iran's resolve to possess a nuclear arsenal is driven by its sense of insecurity and vulnerability because it is surrounded by unstable states including Afghanistan and Pakistan. In addition, a nuclear Iran would allow it to assert itself regionally, neutralize Israel's nuclear capacity, prevent forcible regime change by outside powers, and domestically present itself as a significant global power to be reckoned with.

As such, Tehran feels it has not only the inherent right to be the region's hegemon, but also the right to protect itself not only militarily, but by any other methods including cheating on the nuclear deal, subversion, and supporting terrorism.

This explains why the lifting of sanctions and the billions of dollars now at its disposal will not change Iran's behavior neither domestically nor in relation to other countries. In fact, it might even further embolden Tehran to intensify its direct and indirect involvement in the countries in which it has a unique strategic interest:

Syria: Iran will join the conference on January 25 to find a political solution to Syria's civil war as long as it can maintain its influence in Syria with or without President Assad. For Iran, Syria provides a contiguous crescent extending from the Mediterranean to the Gulf, making Syria indispensable to Tehran's regional ambition which is at odds with Saudi Arabia, who wants to deprive Iran from maintaining a foothold in Sunni-dominated Syria.

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Iraq: Since the start of the Iraq war, Saudi Arabia and Iran have been engaged in a proxy war between the Iraqi Sunni minority and the Shiite majority, in which the stakes for both countries are extremely high because they see it as a fight for the soul of Islam. Although ISIS poses a threat to both Iran and Saudi Arabia, and they have a common interest in defeating it, they do not view ISIS as an existential threat having any effect on the intrinsic Sunni-Shiite conflict, which is one of the main sources for continuing regional instability.

Yemen: The civil war in Yemen provided Iran a momentous opportunity to interject itself into the Arabian Peninsula by supporting the Houthis (a religious group affiliated with the Zaydi sect of Shiite Islam), who are fighting against the Saudi-backed Sunni government of Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi. With tens of billions of dollars in its pocket, Iran will likely increase its financial support for the Houthis in an attempt to bleed the Saudis.

Lebanon: For Iran, Hezbollah in Lebanon is an indispensable Shiite force which Tehran supports financially and militarily, even more so at this juncture as the group is fighting on Assad's side in Syria. Iran also views Hezbollah as the conduit to threaten Israel from the north. Once the civil war in Syria ends and ISIS is defeated, Hezbollah may well move to implement its long-term plans to establish (with the support of Iran) an Islamic state in Lebanon, which is bound to further destabilize the entire region.

As long as the mullahs in Tehran view their revolution as still in the making, and with more money at their disposal, they will undoubtedly continue to export terrorism and increase their support of Islamic extremists such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad to further advance their revolutionary agenda beyond their country's borders.

The Obama administration, which championed the Iran deal, speculates that once the sanctions are lifted, Iran might become a prominent and constructive player on the global stage. This in my view is far-fetched; even though Iran aspires to become such a power, its revolutionary and religious zeal will trump even its lofty aspirations. For this reason, the US, along with its allies, must stand fast in dealing with Iran by:

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Taking whatever action necessary, including military, if Iran is caught cheating on the nuclear deal; enforcing UNSC resolutions that forbid Iran from research and development of ballistic missiles; imposing tough new sanctions (as President Obama has just done, albeit more forcefully and immediately); tracking Iran's subversive activities and making it clear that there will be serious consequences should it continue to support extremist groups and terrorists; requiring Iran, through quiet diplomacy, to end its public acrimony against Israel; and pressuring Iran to help mitigate the Sunni-Shiite conflict, knowing full well that this is not a conflict that either side can win.

Regardless of how Iran pursues its foreign policy objectives, the greatest danger the regime faces is from within. Whereas the government will spend a considerable amount of money to improve the economic conditions of ordinary Iranians, that in and of itself will not stifle the public's cry for freedom of speech and press, respect for human rights, and an end to draconian laws.

Indeed, the lifting of the sanctions will encourage the public, especially the young, to voice their discontent as they will no longer feel the need to rally behind their government, which was battling the West over the sanctions. This is the Achilles' heel of the regime. The 2009 Green Revolution will not be an aberration; a new uprising may now become inevitable. I believe the question will be only when.
To my fellow entrepreneurs for your strong conviction into the unknown, I honor you.

Everyone's gone to happy hour, my friend.

Dried peanut butter on your face, no one's around.

You mumble, wondering, what the f*ck you're doing in life

Hey buddy, wake up! Get the f*ck out of town.

You're way past projected launch date-

On the verge of a nervous breakdown.

Developers in Russia m.i.a. you say?

It's ok. Really. You need to get out of town!

The boyfriend called an intervention

Stop throwing cell phones. For god's sake simmer down.

You've forgotten your purpose-worst of all.

Jesus Christ, why can't you see, you need to get the hell out of town

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Take a Beechcraft from Venice to Croatia.

Follow my lead, I won't let you down

In thirty minutes time you'll be in Mali Losinj

Step away from the Nespresso. Now. Get the f*ck out of town!

Luscious mountains and yummy food await you

Massage at the Hotel Bellevue, where peace of mind can be found

Wifi everywhere in this island of vitality

Stop the excuses, your being an ass. You need to get out of town.

Do what I did and snorkel on the Adriatic

So go, or soon you'll don a surgical gown

See dolphins jumping, make some olive oil, my friend

The opportunity costs are in favor of you leaving town



Oh entrepreneur, you've given up so much

It's true, sometimes you need to buckle down

But eighteen hour days for over a year?

C'mon, away from the laptop. Now. Get the f*ck out of town

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People in all countries have become very tolerant, especially US. Listening to Donald Trump's speech left me befuddled and angry. Have Americans become so tolerant that they could sit through the speech and not even question about it? I definitely wouldn't be surprised if this guy is elected the President due to the lack of better candidates.



On February 10, 2015, Craig Stephen Hicks, in the Chapel Hill shooting killed a Muslim Syrian-American family, Deah Shady Barakat's family, who were his neighbors, on a very petty parking issue.



On October 1st, the Umpqua University shooting was a very sad state of affairs. One student, Christopher Harper-Mercer killing his co-students is disastrous. It leaves one scared to even let kids go to school or college.



On December 2, 2015, in San Bernardino, California, a mass shooting was opened by an Islamic couple, Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik. They opened fire in a holiday party, and 14 people were killed and 22 were seriously injured. It is ghoulish and to think that they had been planning to do this for a year or more is atrocious.



But, the point is that, in 2015, there have been 207 mass killings, and only 1 was by Muslims. The origin of the other 206 shooters was not found to be related to any Islamic group, in fact, nobody cared to know about the origin of those shooters at all. Neither the public raised questions nor did the Government. But, all these shootings lead to a lousy debate of gun-control which has not been resolved yet.



Donald trump should have talked about all these mass killings and the inability to control them. He should have talked about how guns should be banned in the country; at least no layman should be allowed to keep a gun licensed or otherwise. Instead, he was tolerant towards all these and all that struck a cord and made him say was that 'Muslims shouldn't be allowed into the country'. What about the religion and origin of the other 206 shooters? Do they go scot-free?



My daughter came up to me the other night and said that we should go and settle in Vancouver, BC if Donald Trump comes to power. I couldn't but agree less with my teenager when she said that if he hates immigrants like us, then we should go to a country who would welcome immigrants. She sure was pointing at Syrians welcomed into Canada by Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau.
Are you pregnant or thinking of getting pregnant? You might want to change your mind about your "baby moon" destination.

It's all over the news, but just a month ago no one in North America had really heard of it. Yet if you live in South America, chances are you know someone affected by it.

This past week the CDC issued an official travel warning for 17 Latin American countries, including Puerto Rico. This is the first time the CDC has issued a warning for pregnant women to avoid a specific region!

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As stated by Dr. Lyle R. Peterson of the CDC,

"We believe this is a fairly serious problem. This virus is spreading throughout the Americas. We didn't feel we could wait."

Why the ban? In less than a year, the number of babies born with microcephaly has skyrocketed in Latin America.

To give you an idea of how rare microcephaly is,

In the past year 3,500 cases of microcephaly in newborns. Until last year, the country normally had about 150 cases each year. According to the Washington Post, at least 46 babies have died who were born with microcephaly that may have been related to Zika.

Mosquito-born illnesses like the Zika virus are transmitted when an adult female mosquito picks up the virus by biting an infected person, and then, once the virus has spread to their salivary glands, they infect another human by biting them.

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Only one person in five infected with Zika ever shows symptoms, which include fever, rash, muscle aches and conjunctivitis ("pink eye").

But in pregnancy, especially in the first trimester when major brain development occurs, the consequences of infection can be disastrous.

Microcephaly is a rare birth defect where babies are born with abnormally small heads and brains, often dying in the womb or shortly after birth. Those who survive face major neurologic deficits. In the past we've seen microcephaly with other viruses like Cytomegalovirus and Rubella, which pregnant women are screened for immunity to in our country. It is also a rare genetic defect as well as a result of fetal alcohol syndrome.

A woman infected by a mosquito bite in the first few weeks of pregnancy may not even know she is pregnant yet. That's what makes this so tricky - for most people the virus is self-limited; for pregnant women it can be disastrous.

If you are pregnant or planning to be - check out this list - and STAY TUNED - the CDC will be constantly reviewing and updating the list of countries as needed. As of writing this, countries included in the warning are Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname, Venezuela, as well as the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

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How far it spreads, officials said, will depend on which mosquitos prove adept at transmitting it and how aggressive mosquito control efforts are. The concern is that our Southern states such as Florida can become affected through mosquito travel to the mainland.

The first case in the US was in Hawaii, but it was likely acquired while the patient was living in Brazil. About a dozen US cases have popped up as far north as Illinois, but all affected people have a history of recent travel to Latin American countries.

This is a great example of health agencies NOT being unduly influenced by economics. Lest you forgot, Brazil is set to host the Summer Olympics this year in Rio, and a travel warning like this doesn't make many higher-ups happy.

I say kudos to the Center for Disease Control for evaluating the situation in a timely manner and taking action to protect the public. The CDC is already working out a system for collecting information about confirmed Zika virus cases.

There is no vaccine for Zika, but the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is already working on it. Good thing the disease is closely related to yellow fever, another mosquito-borne illness that we already have a vaccine to!

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Brazil, which was the most affected initially, should be lauded for its early action in research. It hasn't even been a year since the first case was detected; the virus has already been found in brain tissue and amniotic fluid from babies who died in the womb or were born with microcephaly through testing.

Affected countries have campaigns going on to decrease standing water, which attracts mosquitoes, as well as educating residents on how to avoid bites in the first place.

Remember, you may not know you have contracted it whether you're pregnant or not. In most individuals the virus is rather safe, causing a viral syndrome less serious than the flu. If you're pregnant, the repercussions could be far more reaching.
By Jacqueline Terrebonne for Architectural Digest.



(Photo: Courtesy of The National WWII Museum)

More than almost any other American city, New Orleans is a place that clings to its roots. So it's not surprising that many of the restaurants, clubs, and landmarks described in Walker Percy's 1961 novel The Moviegoer still exist. But in the decade since Katrina, and especially in the past few years, the city has witnessed an influx of new restaurants, shops, and more. As Mardi Gras season begins, here's a look at the must-visit destinations that are making the Big Easy more vibrant, more fun, and more chic than ever.

US Freedom Pavilion: The Boeing Center The tallest building on the World War II Museum campus, the the US Freedom Pavilion has interactive exhibits that allow visitors to experience what America was like as it geared up for war. The impressive 30,000-square-foot space, designed by Voorsanger Architects with Mathes Brierre Architects, anchors the museum and features artifacts key to the Allied victory, including a restored Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress. 945 Magazine Street; nationalww2museum.org.



(Photo: Courtesy Krewe du Optic)

Krewe du Optic

The French Quarter flagship of hot eyewear brand Krewe du Optic, whose shades can often be spotted on Gigi Hadid, is more than just a neighborhood shop. Stirling Barrett, the brand's founder and a native New Orleanian, set out to create an experience where shoppers could try on frames and enjoy coffee at the same time. The space combines old and new--showing off the 19th-century charm of the building while keeping the lines simple and chic. The 900-foot shop was designed by Benjamin Bullins. 809 Royal Street; kreweduoptic.com.

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(Photo: Frank Aymami)

The Stacks

French transplant Emilie Lamy saw a void in New Orleans--a city filled with interesting bookshops but still missing one that specialized in art and design. The Stacks is Lamy's independent bookstore based in the Contemporary Arts Center. There, she's curated a selection of 1,000 international publications on architecture, art, design, photography, and more. 900 Camp Street; thestacks-books.org.



(Photo: Courtesy of the Peoples Health New Orleans Jazz Market)

PHNOJM

In February 2015, the Peoples Health New Orleans Jazz Market debuted as a new performing arts venue designed by Kronberg Wall of Atlanta. The cultural center offers music education programs and houses an archive of New Orleans jazz music. PHNOJM also hosts tributes to jazz legends as well as performances by talents such as Irvin Mayfield and NOJO. 1436 Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard; phnojm.org.



(Photo: Courtesy of Shaya)

Shaya

New Orleans is known for its Creole and Cajun classics, but Alon Shaya launched his own delicious revolution in 2015 by opening an uptown restaurant celebrating modern Israeli cuisine. Critically acclaimed and a new local favorite, Shaya has people clamoring for more house-made pita, tabbouleh, and lamb. 4213 Magazine Street; shayarestaurant.com.



(Photo: Rush Jagoe)

Kenton's

Whiskey has always been a tipple of choice in the Big Easy, but New York restaurateurs Sean Josephs and his wife, Mani Dawes, recently brought the spirit to a whole new level with the opening of Kenton's. The uptown hot spot designed by Bradley Horn and Maria Berman of Manhattan's Berman Horn Studio--brings a New York polish to New Orleans cuisine, along with an extensive menu of over 150 domestic ryes, bourbons, and whiskeys. 5757 Magazine Street; kentonsrestaurant.com.

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(courtesy of The Orpheum Theater)

The Orpheum Theater

The 1,500-seat auditorium, which had been closed since Hurricane Katrina, reopened in April after a $13 million renovation. The 1918 building designed by architect Gustave Albert Lansburgh was restored by hand to reflect its original color palette and dazzling plasterwork. The Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra now calls the space home. 129 Roosevelt Way; orpheumnola.com.



(Photo: Courtesy of St. Roch Market)

St. Roch Market

After staying empty for a decade after flooding, St. Roch Market, founded in 1875, reopened in April with 13 specialty food shops. Visitors can sample a wide array of local delicacies old and new, such as raw oysters, gumbo, and Korean fried chicken, while stocking up on gourmet groceries. 2381 St. Claude Avenue; strochmarket.com.
I was born in 1984 at St Michael's Nursing Home in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Then a small, but bustling metropolis, Colombo had already experienced its first taste of societal division. In 1983, race riots largely targeting the Tamil minority population engulfed this once picture perfect paradise in flames -- flames which would continue to torch the land that was my home for the next 26 years. Sri Lanka's civil war ended 100,000 lives and destroyed much more than that. It destroyed our hope, our faith in justice and above all, it destroyed the belief that we were all equal.

When the war finally ended in one of the most brutal and violent manners possible, there was in some cruel way, a sense of relief. A sensation that rapidly spreads through your body: a shiver of hope that the long-held fear may finally be a thing of the past. But 2009 did not see the end of prejudice and the rise of liberty. The next five years saw the most rapid decline of civil liberties, democracy and the rule of law in Sri Lanka's history. The island that was Asia's oldest democracy and which produced the world's first female Prime Minister was sinking fast.

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On January 8 2015, when democracy was all but extinguished, Sri Lankans made a historic decision. They chose freedom over fear, equality over indignity and fairness over injustice. President Maithripala Sirisena's election was a landmark event. Millions were inspired by a message of a just peace and the promise of a country based on equality. It seemed like change was finally at hand.

But as we pass the first anniversary of that fateful election, President Maithripala and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe's promise of not leaving anyone behind in their new, fairer Sri Lanka leaves much to be desired. Although free speech has flourished and fear has dissipated, some remain invisible, shrouded in fear, in a society that continues, in 2016, to criminalize them purely on the basis of who they love.

Sri Lanka remains a darling of the international community despite continuing to criminalize same-sex relations between consenting adults. Articles 365 and 365A of the island's penal code -- both legacies of the British Empire -- ban "gross indecency" and "carnal intercourse against the order of nature". Although the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender ("LGBT") community are rarely prosecuted under these vague laws, their mere existence has enabled generations of systematic abuse, harassment and discrimination against the island's LGBT community. As an out gay teenager in Sri Lanka, I witnessed the fear that everyone like me lived in: the fear of a system that was never going to be on your side because your mere existence is treated with contempt. In 2016, we have the opportunity to change this.

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From January 19 to 22, a delegation from the EU will be visiting Sri Lanka to re-start negotiations on Sri Lanka's accession to GSP+. The GSP+ scheme is a component of the EU Generalized Scheme of Preferences for developing countries. It offers additional trade incentives to developing countries to implement international conventions on human and labour rights, sustainable development and good governance. One of the key covenants which eligible countries must abide by is the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ("ICCPR"). The Human Rights Committee, which was set up to overlook the implementation of the ICCPR, held in the case of Toonen v Australia that states could not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. Tasmania's penal code, which criminalized same sex relations (and is near identical to Sri Lanka's), breached the ICCPR.

However despite it being very clear that decriminalization of homosexuality is a requirement of the full implementation of the ICCPR and thus accession to GSP+, it is not on the EU's agenda for its visit to Sri Lanka. The EU claims at home to be a champion of human rights and to protect minorities, but apparently this principle does not apply further afield.
A GOP Strategist's Memo To Bernie Sanders After Last Night's Democrat Debate

Hillary is nervous...

TO: Bernie Sanders, Socialist

FROM: Arnold Steinberg, Republican Strategist

RE: Last Night's Debate

It's highly unlikely you will win the Democratic nomination. But I hope you do. In a general election, you will be this generation's George McGovern.

I still remember when voters, including disaffected Democrats and a majority of independents, saw McGovern as the loony-tunes who would give their hard-earned money to able-bodied Americans who chose not to work. You are an aging white ideologue who will properly be perceived not as a savior of America's middle class, but as a radical who will destroy it. Even for a nation that under President Obama has moved so far to the left, you will be seen as offering no hope and no change.

It's not a good sign when Saturday Night Live already parodies a leftist like you. Larry David will make you into a lunatic. And in general election debates when you're challenged to defend your utopia, you'll stumble, because you're a clueless Marxist.

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Hardened feminists will see you as an older white guy (all of six years older than Hillary) who stopped the course of human history. It is, they feel, destiny for a woman to become president, and you would have stolen the nomination and thus deprived Hillary of what is rightfully hers. In disgust, some female voters will stay home in November. And don't expect Hillary to campaign for you. She will not be your running mate unless her 23-and-me DNA suggests that your health is worse than hers.

On the subject of health, you're under pressure to release your health records. I hope you do this week. We can see if you have fewer bathroom breaks than Hillary. I think questions will be raised about her health.

Now, onto health policy. A few days ago, I watched your spokesman explain how workers, through higher payroll taxes, will "pay" for "free health care." Once younger voters realize they will pay for all your "free stuff," many will not vote for grandpa. And if Donald Trump found Jeb Bush to be "low energy," wait until the millennials see you campaigning among your peers at an old-age home. They'll wonder why you don't just stay there.

Trump has it right. You made a fool of yourself when you let Black Lives Matter steal your microphone. Get some testosterone to bring you up to Hillary's level. Nearly a half century ago, the president of San Francisco State College stood up to some Black Power protestors. The image of this short guy pulling the wires from the loudspeakers on the protesters' van went, as they now would say, "viral" and he ended up being elected to the U.S. Senate. On second thought, you are so far gone the FDA would never approve the mega-dosage of testosterone for you to be credible in our predatory world.

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But if you are not the nominee, you might bloody Hillary. Be even more aggressive than you were last night. You are gaining in some national polls, and victories in Iowa and New Hampshire could give you momentum. Moreover, if Hillary encounters headwinds, you might poll better in general election polls than she does, an illusion suggesting your viability in November. The resulting synergy would further boost your primary election polling.

Chelsea Clinton has imprudently attacked you as an opponent of Medicare. "I don't want to live in a country that has an unequal health system," Chelsea said. "So I don't want to empower Republican governors to take away Medicaid, take away health insurance for low income and middle income working Americans and I think very much that's what Sen. Sanders' plan would do."

What a stupid maneuver, because (a) it lowered Chelsea into attack mode; (b) it is implausible and thus (c) it gives you the moral high ground. Hillary refused to repudiate Chelsea, so Hillary will lose credibility. You should continue to talk like an elder statesman. Indeed, in response to Chelsea's attack, you released a photo of you and Hillary. She inscribed the 1993 photo, "To Bernie Sanders with thanks for your commitment to real health care access for all Americans." Perhaps you'll use the photo as a prop. You look somewhat older, but Hillary has really aged.

"I have never run a negative radio or television ad in my life," you said the other day while campaigning in New Hampshire. "It is my very strong hope that I never will." That's not exactly a Sherman-like statement about negative campaigning. And, fortunately for you, Hillary now is running scared, so she will, as The Donald would say, "throw the first punch." You have the money for ads -- they could help you.

So far, you've been very clever. Your "two visions" ad takes on Wall Street and implies she backs the rich crooks, but you never mention her name. Of course, Clinton pursues the same technique. Her ad doesn't mention you by name but the script is: -"It's time for pick a side. Either we stand with the gun lobby, or we join the president and stand up to them. I'm with him."

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Hillary is nervous, and that's good for you because she gets aggressive. The Bill Cosby melodrama in the age of Law and Order SVU can reprise not only Bill Clinton's infidelity, but rather the allegations of his sexual assaults, and Hillary's role in trying to silence the alleged victims. You can now say that infidelity is not the issue, but a cover-up of sexual assault would be another matter.

The just released 13 Hours film may resurrect Benghazi. You can hopefully say you have seen the movie, and cover yourself by criticizing Republicans for partisanship. But not coming to the rescue of Americans under siege would be another matter.

And there is the specter of an expanded government investigation of Hillary. You can still say there are more important issues than her "personal email." But a violation of the law, or improper influence peddling through gifts to the Clinton Foundation, would be another matter.

Bernie, after last night, there are only two debates left. You now believe you can win. You need to gracefully confront Hillary, so that she become shrill and negative.

The views expressed in this opinion article are solely those of their author and are not necessarily either shared or endorsed by WesternJournalism.com.

http://www.westernjournalism.com/arnold-steinberg/
"Well, maybe it's like Casy says. A fella ain't got a soul of his own -- just a little piece of a big soul. The one big soul that belongs to everybody...Then it don't matter. I'll be all around in the dark. I'll be everywhere -- wherever you can look. Wherever there's a fight so hungry people can eat, I'll be there."

--Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath

Greenway Court Theatre's co-artistic director, Pierson Blaetz, and producing director, Jason Bruffy, are eagerly watching a rehearsal of their upcoming world premiere, SWARM CELL.

The cozy theater, housed in an historic building and nestled next to Fairfax High School's campus in Hollywood, saw 10 world premieres in 2015. Now Blaetz and Bruffy are enthused by SWARM CELL, which has previews January 28-29, and opens January 30 for a five-week run. The early word is that this entertaining production, which tells a tale of "a brave new world of womanhood and identity," is one of the first must-see events in the Los Angeles 2016 theatrical calendar.

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SWARM CELL, with previews Jan. 28-29, opens Jan. 30 at Greenway Court Theatre

Blaetz says their new production is inspired by John Steinbeck's classic American novel, The Grapes of Wrath, which takes place during the Great Depression and features the mythical Tom Joad character who unforgettably gives his "I'll be there" monolog at the end of the piece, promising to work for the oppressed.

SWARM CELL, which features a diverse all-female cast, takes place 25 years into our own future during a modern day Depression. It powerfully tells the tale of two homeless women, one deaf and the other pregnant and undocumented, who are desperately in need of food and shelter but ultimately forge an unlikely alliance. This poignant drama mirrors the economic dislocation that many of us feel today with the increasing gap between the haves and the have-nots.

Suggesting that theater still offers a powerful means to provoke discussion, Blaetz cites stats about our very real modern-day economic dislocation, including: a new Social Security Administration report that 51 percent of all workers in the U.S. make less than $30,000 a year; and, headlines that proclaim "End of the American Dream." Additionally, economic analysts say the U.S. has fallen way back, "We're behind many countries in Europe in terms of the ability of every kid in America to get ahead. It's a real problem."

Blaetz, along with Whitney Weston, co-founded The Greenway Arts Alliance, which oversees the Theater and the Melrose Trading Post while uniting the local arts, business and education communities. He explains how SWARM CELL, which features six actresses with diverse Latin American backgrounds plus two African-American women, cuts to the bone of several socio-political issues:

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It's tied into everything that's around this huge economic gap between the rich and the poor. Also related, is that Black lives do matter. All of these movements are looking for answers, and for me one answer can be found in that Tom Joad monolog -- look to one another and don't see this just as an individual struggle, but as a group struggle, for diverse people, including illegal immigrants, who feel like they don't have power or the ability to be successful in our country.



The SWARM CELL cast in rehearsal

Bruffy oversaw the alchemic casting of the all-female group including Martixell Carrero, Raquel McPeek, Bianca Lemaire, Diana Elizabeth Jordan, Caro Zeller, Cheryl Ann Gottselig, Sheresade Poblet, and Tania Camargo. He adds:

The socio-economic gap continues to grow within our country, the disparity between people from the top to the bottom, something we haven't seen since perhaps the 1930s Depression. So it's an interesting conversation to bring up now, what does the collective do?

And, continuing on with this "collective" struggle concept, playwright Gabriel Rivas Gomez re-read The Grapes of Wrath several times for inspiration for his SWARM CELL, explaining:

One of the many quotes that stuck with me was: 'The two men squatting in a ditch, the little fire, the side-meat stewing in a single pot, the silent, stone-eyed women; behind, the children listening with their souls to words their minds do not understand. The night draws down. The baby has a cold. Here, take this blanket. It's wool. It was my mother's blanket--take it for the baby. This is the thing to bomb. This is the beginning--from 'I' to 'we.' For me, through each step of this process, that transformation -- where 'I becomes we' -- has been central to my understanding of Steinbeck's novel. And how that inspired my play where where Tomasina -- played by Maritxell Carrero and in a nod to Tom Joad -- moves from a woman who's concerned only with her own survival to a selfless leader who understands the importance of community.



SWARM CELL director Robert Castro puts his cast through their paces

Director Robert Castro continues the thought:

That transformative spirit is at the heart of our play. All too often we think of Community in terms of being with others like ourselves: the same class, same race, same ethnicity, same social standing. SWARM CELL challenges us to dream and envision new and necessary visions for the 21st century.

Through its various programs, Greenway Arts Alliance has raised over $8 million that's gone directly to the needs of students at the local Fairfax High School. And SWARM CELL's producers also leaned on these same students, many of whom are children of immigrants, to tell their own personal struggles and stories. Blaetz adds, "We asked them questions, and got their contributions, about their own immigrant experience. Playwright Gabriel was strongly influenced by their stories, and it generated ideas for his play."

As Blaetz, Bruffy, Gomez and Castro gear up for the world premiere of SWARM CELL, we should all continue to ask questions about how we can band together, and help each other find a future with productive work and dignity -- and, re-ignite that somewhat tarnished American dream.
Expatiation: noun. to move or wander about intellectually, imaginatively, etc.,without restraint.

"Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul..."

-"Invictus" by William Ernest Henley

It's 7:40p.m. on January 20th, 2016 and I just finished downing a large shrimp lo mein from the Chinese place up the street. I should really be indulging in a salad or something healthier but I think I'll sit and happily bid farewell to American Chinese food while I can. In five days I will be on my way to Granada, Spain. Getting to this point in my life, a point where I'm conquering both the fears I was hyperaware of, and those I didn't even know existed, has not been an easy process. But it's definitely been worth it.

I think this part of my life, my 20th year, has been a lot about moving on and moving forward and also embracing more parts of myself.

Normally, at this point in my winter break, the end of it, I'm dying to go back to school, to absolve myself of Home and instead indulge in whatever college has to offer me once again. This time, though, I'm finding myself in a sense of peace. I don't desire to be here or there, and I don't feel stuck in an in-between either. Instead, I feel ready for whatever challenges I may have to overcome before me and whatever challenges I may have to overcome within myself. This time around being home has largely been a state of cleansing and redirecting myself to healthy spaces.

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Oftentimes, we talk about moving onto healthier things, i.e. my salad vs. my lo mein, but we never actually make these transitions. It's not easy to move on from a part of life or even a part of yourself that you've held close and coveted, but the decision is worthwhile. The new, unhinged space is worth it. Sometimes the answers to our problems are right in front of us.

I found myself constricted by my own fears and unbeknownst to me, standing in my own way. My decision to study abroad in Spain was one I made even before I'd gone to college and I am glad to see it coming to fruition. I've always wanted to participate, learn, and appreciate the culture and language more than I had ever before. I felt that being in the actual presence of it would be the only way to do it true justice. I'm glad that despite all of my fears of wandering an entirely new place, I've been able to persist and push myself beyond my own limits. I've been able to overcome challenges I never thought I could. This gives me confidence in the things I'll do in the future.

I often look at pictures of myself when I was younger, innocent, ignorant yet willing to learn, and think, "You have no idea what you'll go through and grow through. You think you're strong now but you don't know just how strong you are." I feel that way now. I feel young and strong and ready to grow. I feel ready to learn and explore and succeed in unforeseen ways.

I often wonder: Where did this sense of peace and freedom come from? Why was I so frightened before?

The lesson I've learned is to never again stand in my own way.

To my readers, you all can expect the posts about my study abroad experience to be a culmination of my thoughts, fears, struggles, successes and the many failures embellished within them throughout this new experience in my life. And you can expect unrelenting persistency throughout it all.

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(A sea of clouds in Huangshan, Anhui Province, East China; Image Courtesy from Xinhua/Yu Yong)

Introduction: Part IIclick here to see Part I: An Un-perturbed Mind-Heart)

Text A: Mencius: Gong Sunchou A (  ) 2 Mencius answered, "Gao Zi said, 'What is not attained in words ought not to be sought in the mind-heart, and what is not attained in the mind-heart ought not to be sought in the matter-energy (qi, ).' 3 It is all right to say that what is not attained in the mind-heart ought not to be sought in the matter-energy, but it is not all right to say that what is not attained in words ought not to be sought in the mind-heart. 23 

Annotation

In this passage, Mencius summarizes the argument of his rival, Gao Zi, and explains where he thinks Gao Zi is wrong. Gao Zi argued that what we cannot understand in words, we should not look for in our mind-heart. In other words, Gao Zi advised us to conform the inner experience of our mind-heart to what we have been told in words. In this sense, he also refuses to seek any mystical, indescribable experiences. He further argued that if we cannot find something in our mind-heart, we should also not seek it in our matter-energy (qi, ), which means our body in this context. Mencius slightly agrees with Gao Zi upon this latter point, but refuses to endorse the first. Through this passage and other related texts in the following, we can learn one concept which is of utmost importance for the Confucian meditation, Qi, and then understand Mencius's view about the relationship between words , mind-heart and body .

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Qi () is one of the most difficult Chinese concepts to translate to English. The character for Qi was originally a pictogram, , representing how vapors and clouds rise in the air. Over time, the character for rice () was added, resulting in the transformed , which is its current form in traditional Chinese. Why rice? It represents an intimate relationship between food and Qi. In traditional Chinese physiology, eating food is conceived of as digesting its Qi, which then supplements the Qi which constitutes the human body.

Qi also permeates the human mind. For example, if one is smart, he or she will be said to have "clever Qi" (); if one is angry, he or she will be described as "giving off Qi" (). From a Neo-Confucian viewpoint, human mind-heart is considered to be made of Qi which is more refined, translucent, and sensitive than the Qi that makes up the human body. In this way, the distinction between mind-heart and body is only quantitative, rather than qualitative, since they are both made of the same thing. Even cultural products are thought of as being pervaded by Qi. For example, a good article is often characterized as being full of "literary Qi" ().

So Qi is the basic "stuff" which pervades the entirety of the universe. It is both material and spiritual. In this sense, Qi is very similar to the ancient Greek idea "pneuma", the Hindu idea "prana", the Hebrew idea "ruah", and the Christian idea "spirit" in its doctrinal use of "Holy Spirit." An ambiguous boundary between materiality and spirituality is characteristic of all these ideas. Nevertheless, Qi is not "supernatural" because it does not refer to another utterly different domain from "nature". In the Confucian cosmology, all possible cosmic events take place in the one and only all-encompassing ontological domain, called Heaven.

More importantly, there are patterns and principles governing how Qi changes and becomes. These patterns and principles can be known, felt, and experienced by human beings. In this sense, any functioning of Qi is perfectly natural. One example of these pattern-principles (li, ) governing the mechanism of Qi is that as mediated by Qi, the human mind-heart and the human body are intimately interrelated and they interact with each other. Once the human body is in a good physical condition, it will have a good effect on the human mind-heart. At the very least, a healthy body can facilitate our knowledge and feelings of the objective, moral, and aesthetic traits of realties. By the same token, once we have a correct understanding of all these traits and, as a result behave morally towards them, those behaviors will have a beneficial influence on our body and our body will become healthier. (This last sentence may seem mysterious to modern scientific-minded readers, but you will more understand and endorse it as we go along).

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In short, Qi is both material and spiritual--and it is natural. The clustering of so many descriptors makes the translation of Qi into English very difficult. Literally, it could be translated as "breath," "vapor," "steam," or "air". A more philosophical translation could be "ether," "vital force," "life-power," "material-force," "matter-energy," "spiritual-matter-energy," or even "psycho-physical stuff" (Daniel Gardner). As with most Confucian concepts, there is virtually no way to find a single English word to cover all the important connotations of the original Chinese character. However, to efficiently transmit knowledge across cultures, I think it is still worthwhile to find such a single word. My own approach is to find one English word or phrase which is vague enough to convey the most important philosophical implications of the corresponding Confucian idea.

I chose the translation "matter-energy" for several reasons. First, the concept of "energy" in English is very vague--it could be used both materially and spiritually. Also, because it is referenced frequently in scientific contexts, it has the connotation of something natural (as opposed to supernatural). Secondly, "matter-energy" is a key concept in Einstein's theory of general relativity. Einstein's equation of matter and energy reveals a profound relationship between the two--specifically, matter-energy is presented as the "stuff" which pervades the entirety of the universe. In the scientific worldview, however, concepts such as "matter-energy" are mainly used as a mathematical tool to quantitatively measure and describe natural phenomena. Most scientists probably do not care about the ontological reference of these concepts, nor would they necessarily think about how the moral and aesthetic dimensions of realities described by these concepts are experienced by human beings.



By translating Qi into "matter-energy," I hope to remind my readers that in Confucian cosmology, Qi is the "stuff" that pervades the entirety of the universe. Qi may, in fact, be one of the most appropriate concepts in all of world religions to refer to the ontological foundation of Einstein's concept of "matter-energy."

Although I believe "matter-energy" is an appropriate translation, it cannot convey all of the important implications of the Confucian idea of Qi. No translation is perfect, however, and I encourage readers not to give the translation itself too much attention. Understanding the role of Qi correctly and thoroughly in the system of Confucian philosophy is more important than how the concept is translated into English.

One last caveat I need to say about the term Qi is that I put a simplified version of the Chinese character , rather than its traditional version , in the Mencian phrase "" (Oceanic Matter-Energy). I deliberately did this because as I explained above, the etymology of  is more original than its transformed . More importantly, the pictogram of , the rising vapors and clouds in the air, connotes the cosmological dimension of Qi, and in the context of Confucian meditation, the highlight of this dimension is much needed.

(This "annotation" part will be continued in Introduction: Part III )
My recent Shepard's Citation search indicated in excess of 73,000 citations in subsequent judicial decisions, articles, and other legal materials to the 1966 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Miranda v. Arizona. This comment provides a brief and incomplete educational overview of some legal aspects of police interrogations. Always consult an experienced attorney in all criminal law situations.

Many commentators distinguish a police interview and a police interrogation. An interview gathers information without accusation while an interrogation is focused on a criminal suspect and is accusatory. Thankfully, we are beyond the Roman method of interrogation by flogging described in the Biblical account in Acts 22. The Apostle Paul asserted his Roman citizenship rights to avoid this.



The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads:

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

The Fifth Amendment famously contains double jeopardy, self-incrimination, and due process clauses. Note that it does not specifically mention interrogations or warning individuals of their rights.

Miranda v. Arizona was decided (5:4) by the U.S. Supreme Court on June 13, 1966. Chief Justice Warren wrote for the majority that:

Our holding will be spelled out with some specificity in the pages which follow, but, briefly stated, it is this: the prosecution may not use statements, whether exculpatory or inculpatory, stemming from custodial interrogation of the defendant unless it demonstrates the use of procedural safeguards effective to secure the privilege against self-incrimination. By custodial interrogation, we mean questioning initiated by law enforcement officers after a person has been taken into custody or otherwise deprived of his freedom of action in any significant way. As for the procedural safeguards to be employed, unless other fully effective means are devised to inform accused persons of their right of silence and to assure a continuous opportunity to exercise it, the following measures are required. Prior to any questioning, the person must be warned that he has a right to remain silent, that any statement he does make may be used as evidence against him, and that he has a right to the presence of an attorney, either retained or appointed. The defendant may waive effectuation of these rights, provided the waiver is made voluntarily, knowingly and intelligently. If, however, he indicates in any manner and at any stage of the process that he wishes to consult with an attorney before speaking, there can be no questioning. Likewise, if the individual is alone and indicates in any manner that he does not wish to be interrogated, the police may not question him. The mere fact that he may have answered some questions or volunteered some statements on his own does not deprive him of the right to refrain from answering any further inquiries until he has consulted with an attorney and thereafter consents to be questioned.

The Miranda decision discussed the psychology of interrogation in some detail. Interestingly, the decision did not precisely word the "Miranda Warning" that is commonly utilized.

Justice Harlan, writing for himself and Justices Stewart, and White, in dissent wrote:

While the fine points of this scheme are far less clear than the Court admits, the tenor is quite apparent. The new rules are not designed to guard against police brutality or other unmistakably banned forms of coercion. Those who use third-degree tactics and deny them in court are equally able and destined to lie as skillfully about warnings and waivers. Rather, the thrust of the new rules is to negate all pressures, to reinforce the nervous or ignorant suspect, and ultimately to discourage any confession at all. The aim, in short, is toward 'voluntariness' in a utopian sense, or, to view it from a different angle, voluntariness with a vengeance.

Justice White in a separate dissent wrote:

The proposition that the privilege against self-incrimination forbids in-custody interrogation without the warnings specified in the majority opinion and without a clear waiver of counsel has no significant support in the history of the privilege or in the language of the Fifth Amendment.

Justice Clark in a mixture of concurrence and dissent wrote:

Rather than employing the arbitrary Fifth Amendment rule which the Court lays down, I would follow the more pliable dictates of the Due Process Clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments which we are accustomed to administering.

The Miranda decision has been controversial since it was rendered. Decades of judicial decisions have discussed the concept of "custodial interrogation," what is "testimonial" (for example, not fingerprinting, photographs, physical characteristics, or demeanor), and carved-out a variety of exceptions to its application. A number of well-documented situations indicate that it is possible for a skilled interrogator to extract a false confession, even from an educated and intelligent suspect.

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Conventional defense attorney advice is for the suspect to ask the police if she or he is under arrest. If the police answer "no," then leave without providing the police any more than a statutorily mandated identification, name, and address. If the police answer "yes," then the individual in custody should affirmatively state that he or she is exercising the right to remain silent and is requesting an attorney. Then don't talk and sit quietly. In a 2013 plurality U.S. Supreme Court decision, Salinas v. State, the Court wrote that one cannot invoke the right to remain silent by simply remaining silent.



Additionally, conventional defense attorney advice is not to take a polygraph. A polygraph is not a true "lie detector." It measures physiological reactions (basically stress responses) but does not indicate why these reactions are occurring. Polygraphs are not admissible in evidence in criminal trials.



The following are some reasons for the conventional defense attorney advice:

1. Confirmation bias is a psychological tendency to interpret information in a way that reinforces a preexisting belief. For example, if a suspect believed to be guilty tells the same unchanging story over and over, it must be a rehearsed lie. If the details vary, the suspect is lying and cannot keep her or his story straight. Suspect emotional flatness indicates disengagement and guilt. Suspect hysteria indicates over-acting and guilt. All of us may unconsciously engage in confirmation bias.

2.Statements may "open the door" to impeachment (contradicting testimony or the introduction of extraneous offenses) at trial. If the defense presents the defendant's version of events, through tapes or live testimony, and there are contradictory interrogation statements, these may be presented to the jury. A jury may conclude that the contradiction indicates lying and convict the defendant. However, it is possible that the contradiction only indicates stress, confusion, or lack of rest.

3.The police are allowed to use at least some deceptive tactics during an interrogation. For example, the U.S. Supreme Court in a 1969 decision, Frazier v. Cupp, allowed a confession to stand although the police falsely told the suspect that a co-defendant had confessed. Precisely what tactics are lawful or unlawful is beyond the scope of this brief comment.

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4.A suspect should not attempt to plea bargain with the police as this is the prerogative of the prosecutor. Furthermore, prosecutorial plea bargains are typically not legally binding on a judge. Police promises of leniency or expressions of understanding are interrogation tactics. Certainly, a suspect should not think that she or he will be allowed to go home if only he or she tells the police what they want to hear.

5.Interrogation may be a method of obtaining additional evidence that the police lack probable cause, at the time, to obtain through a search warrant. For example, a DNA sample or fingerprints might be taken from a discarded soda can or bottle of water that the police gave a suspect. Demeanor evidence or mumbled statements may be recorded when the police leave the suspect alone in the interrogation room. A muttered "Boy, I'm in trouble now" is ambiguous but may be presented to a jury as an expression of guilt. Carefree behavior may be presented as remorselessness and lack of concern.
In her speech endorsing Republican primary candidate Donald Trump, Sarah Palin linked "Holy Rollers" and "rock 'n rollers." Leaving the politics of the endorsement and analysis of the speech itself to the political pundits, Palin's linking of a particular brand of religion with rock 'n roll was more than a clever turn of phrase. Palin brought together two elements of American history that were once at cross purposes. For some religious groups in the U.S., rock still poses dangers for the religious. Whether Palin coupled the two knowing she swam against the current of her own religious tradition is probably beside the point: she aims to appear part of particular religious milieu, but feels no apparent obligation to be well-informed about it.

"Holy Rollers" refers to a particular form of Christianity, the Pentecostal tradition, which came out of the Holiness movement over a century ago. The name "Holy Roller" was coined as an insult -- opponents of the movement derided members as religious enthusiasts, who allegedly rolled around on the floor as part of their overly-emotional and therefore suspect worship services. Neither Pentecostal nor evangelical Christians generally self-describe as "Holy Rollers." A century ago when the name was coined, they were attacked even by their fellow Christians for their perceived extremism. Following in a Baptist tradition, they took the somewhat unusual path of baptism through full immersion. Pentecostalists spoke in tongues among other unconventional religious practices. Like a number of other Christian churches, Pentecostals abstained from alcohol, smoking and dancing. Sarah Palin has attended a succession of churches broadly within this tradition, so presumably she intended the "Holy Roller" moniker to be self-referential.

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The coupling attracts attention for its alliterative quality, its repetition. She may have been influenced by the recent news reports of the deaths of various aging rock stars -- David Bowie, Glenn Frey, Dale Griffin -- wanting to capitalize on the widespread mourning of these artists. To the extent that they appeared in a list intended to be all-encompassing, Holy Rollers and rock 'n rollers served as a final coupling, suggesting a range of possibilities for the identity politics of Palin's auditors. With the comment read this way, Palin suggests that everyone can support Trump, whether members of some of the more conservative churches or fans of rock music. People who once backed the "ban the Beatles" campaign can join hands with the descendants of the Beatles' admirers who hated to see their albums burned in bonfires at those pro-Christian and anti-Beatles rallies of 1966. This animosity, far from dead, returned to public view when evangelical Pat Robinson recently reasserted the idea that some rock music was satanic and sinful. (He did not, apparently, go on to describe Bowie as descended to hell to perform for Satan, as was further reported. See this correction.)
Gay Marriage and Anglican Anxieties: The Backstory

In a secret vote of dubious legality, major regional bishops ("Primates") of the Anglican Communion have lobbed a bomb in the American culture wars over gay marriage: the Episcopal Church USA has been censured for blessing marriages between men or between women. For the next three years, supposedly, Episcopalians will not be appointed to internal committees in the Communion, nor allowed to vote on policy. They are not to represent Anglicanism in conversations with other religions, although in fact the Primates have no authority over interfaith organizations. This demand for doctrinal uniformity is dramatically at odds with the longer Anglican tradition, which has always emphasized a willingness to pray and live together despite theological disputes.

The Episcopal Church USA has steadfastly held its ground. Given that resolve, it's far from clear what practical difference this decree will make, or where any of this may lead in three years' time.

One thing is remarkably clear, however: in this situation as in so many others, gay people are serving as poster children -- if not scapegoats -- for other anxieties. In this case it's the status of biblical scholarship and cultural criticism. It's the tension between fundamentalist churches and theologically rigorous churches within the global Anglican Communion. Episcopalian bishops might not speak so bluntly, at least not in public; but I'm not an Episcopalian. From the outside, the issues here are obvious.

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The first and most obvious controversy is the dispute between biblical scholars and biblical literalists. If Paul says homosexuality is an abomination, or the book of Leviticus does, is the matter settled once and for all? Or is it theologically legitimate to set these texts in context before we decide what they mean?

For instance, does authorial intention have a role to play in textual interpretation? Paul could not have intended to denounce long-term, morally serious, sexually faithful relationships between men or between women, because such marriages were unknown in his culture. What contemporary behavior is he alluding to when he includes homosexuality in a catalogue of anti-social sins? There's nothing inherently anti-social in a relationship of authentic love and committed fidelity between two people. What is Paul trying to say that still has relevance?

The same controversy between literalists and scholars shows up regarding the prohibitions in Leviticus. These prohibitions reflect an Iron-Age theological biology according to which biodiversity is a metaphor for sinful tendencies throughout creation. Leviticus condemns all sorts of variations that today we accept as morally unproblematic -- animals with paws rather than hooves, sea creatures with shells rather than fins and so forth. Can biblical scholars and moral theologians take that elaborate symbolism into account? Can the church listen to what contemporary biology attests about the normality of biodiversity, including variant sexual orientations?

In short, can rigorous theology suggest that some biblical injunctions are no longer morally relevant? That's the deeper issue at stake in the censure of Episcopalians. Biblical literalists and inerrantists cannot imagine ever setting aside any bible verse -- or so they claim. In fact, all literalists are quite selectively literal. In particular, the Religious Right routinely ignores major biblical demands for socioeconomic justice, inclusivity, responsibility to the common good, nonviolence and care for those unable to earn a living for themselves.

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Careful scholarly attention to cultural context also illuminates the evolution of Christian doctrine. For instance, early Christianity came quickly to be dominated by non-Jewish ex-pagans. They brought their own philosophical and cultural assumptions with them. Central among these assumptions was an extraordinarily negative attitude toward sexuality. According to Plato, sensual pleasure of any kind pulled the immortal soul downward, away from pure otherworldly pursuits. Zeno insisted that the wise will have sex only for procreation. The Neoplatonists regarded embodiment as a flaming disaster from start to finish.

Such attitudes generated what has been called the "heroic asceticism" of desert monastics in early Christianity: extraordinary fasting, sexual renunciation and so forth. This hostility to the body persists today in the Roman Catholic opposition to birth control. But if sex is morally tolerable only for narrowly utilitarian purposes -- only for getting pregnant -- then safe sex, sex after menopause and gay sex are all equally forbidden. That would have made perfect sense to Plato, Zeno or Plotinus. Jesus would have been baffled. As a good Jew, he saw embodiment as sacred not catastrophic.

Here's the scholarly question at stake. If we recognize that early Christian hostility to the body reflected Greco-Roman cultural influence -- not the teachings of Jesus -- then we are admitting that church teachings are culturally situated. The history of dogma ("opinion") and doctrine ("teaching") reflects how the gospels were understood at particular cultural moments. Period. None of it is necessarily binding on the present. Like Christians of the past, we are to engage the tradition with the best critical tools and broadest moral sensitivity available to us, trusting that God is with us and within us, calling us always to courage and to compassion, calling us to be bread for a starving world.

This is perhaps the greatest issue at stake in the religious legitimacy of gay marriage: Episcopalians, like other mainline Christians, have in effect admitted that they were wrong in refusing to bless the marriages between men or between women. And so they changed. But if the church can make such a mistake, might it also be wrong on other issues? Can Christians consider that possibility?

Some can. Some can't. For some people, religion must be rigid, absolutist and judgmental in order to count as "religion." That need for self-righteous absolutes is perhaps the deepest anxiety of all.

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It seems to me that any institution is doomed if by definition it cannot admit a mistake or adapt to new information as it emerges. After decades of discernment -- study, critical scholarship, difficult conversation and prayer -- the Episcopal Church USA has come to recognize and bless the holiness of marriages between men or between women. It is unfortunate that the Anglican Communion is attempting to block their leadership by refusing to listen and by barring them from participation in global interfaith conversations. But the truth can't be stopped by barring truth-tellers at the door.
The ongoing civil war in Syria and the ensuing flood of migrants into Europe and other countries have been at the top of the media's "talk about it" list the last few months.

With the global society finally starting to get a grasp on the full scale of the refugee crisis, and organizations like the United Nations and The American Near East Refugee Aid, ANERA, working tirelessly to soothe the flood of displacement and provide, there seems to be a blossoming hope for the millions who are suffering in the wake of this global disaster.

However, when we take a close look at some of these helpful hands, we don't always find the best examples of humanitarian relief. The United Nations and Relief Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, UNRWA, announced an $81 million dollar deficit leading to cuts in much needed areas such as housing and medical treatments for Palestinian refugees. The results of this deficit have already been traumatically impactful. A 23-year-old Palestinian refugee in Lebanon named Omar Khudeir, who suffers from a hereditary blood disorder, self-immolated outside of a health clinic in protest of UNRWA healthcare cuts which made him unable to afford hospitalization costs at the Burj al-Shemali camp in Tyre, Southern Lebanon. Protests in Lebanon escalated the day after Khudeir set himself on fire; people gathered outside the office of the UNRWA's director and surrounding clinics and schools to protest the unfair aid cuts.

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Many others like Khudeir are now suffering from lack of medical attention and housing because of what the UNRWA explains as "lack of funding from international donors."

This is a sad and tragic wake up call, not only for UNRWA, but for donors on an international scale. The current budget fall is related to several things, including aid "trends" and alleged misuse of donations by the organization itself.

Most of today's marketing in terms of donating to the refugee crisis focuses on Syria. The idea behind the "what bleeds leads" is dangerous because those that have been affected for years tend to fall to the wayside, forgotten. The refugee crisis is not new. But the way the world hears about it is changing every day since the upsurge of social media and the "everyday journalist."

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On July 26, 2015 the UNRWA published an article about the dire need of financial donations. "I am alarmed that our current funding crisis may force us to consider a delay in the start of the school year," said UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl.

When the article was published the UNRWA had enough capital to finish out 2015 financially strong. However, the outlook for 2016 was grim, with good cause. "The funding is insufficient to guarantee the stable provision of its education services from September onwards," the article stated. So it's not only medical and housing that is in severe danger, educational services are being scaled back to quell the deficit.

When choosing a crisis to assist, donors need to look at more than what's being broadcast on the news and blasted on social media that day. Donors need to remember those who have been affected by the disaster for decades and have suffered for years without hope.

One also needs to look within the organization itself. UNRWA has been flagged in the past for their lax screening processes, and most recently for their lack of any anti-fraud system, which is imperative for employees to whistle blow and report suspicious activity. That means that anyone soliciting donations or those employed in the financial department could feasibly skim money wherever and however they deem fit.

In this letter dated 30 June 2014 signed by Sir Amyas C. E. Morse Comptroller and Auditor General of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, addressed to the President of the General Assembly, it is stated that: "UNRWA does not have an anti-fraud policy document that guides management in addressing risks of fraud at all levels of UNRWA operations. An organization-wide anti-fraud policy is vital if UNRWA staff are to understand the actions to be followed when investigating fraud and other corrupt practices. An anti-fraud policy should clearly outline the principles and procedures that employees should follow in reporting suspected fraud or corruption, and set out the channels employees should use to report any concerns."

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There is no excuse for such a large organization, especially with such a well-recognized name as the UNRWA to be operating without a proper anti-fraud system in place. This huge oversight calls into question whether staff members are acting with the interest of the people suffering, or the interest in their own pockets.

"I see UNRWA staff living a lavish life. They are traveling, attending conferences, and then you hear about a deficit," said Mohammad Shawish, a Palestinian living in Jerusalem. "Shouldn't expenditure of available funds be addressed?"

The 2013 audit of the UNRWA states "The Board has identified a number of issues that will need to be considered by management if the effectiveness of UNRWA operations is to be improved."

In the report, the auditors found that payments to suppliers for refugee needs had to be deferred to meet staff salary needs. That's $5.26 million that was deferred from suppliers to meet the salary obligations of $52.34 million in December 2013.

Shouldn't the needs of those being displaced, injured and even killed come before the needs of staffers? Working for an organization like the UNRWA, these workers should know that their salary is at risk of being cut to support those in dire need. Or at least that's how it should work from a humanitarian standpoint.

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Residents of Bourj El Barajneh Palestinian refugee camp have raised many questions about the organizations practices and their lack of truly listening to them. One resident, Cyrine, wonders "why does the UNRWA hire foreign workers and pay for their accommodation, travel, etc. when we, qualified Palestinians, can work for the organization and then they will be providing a salary, saving a family, and reducing wages?"

Although the UNRWA employs 30,000 people, most of them being Palestinian refugees, that number also includes foreign workers.

Palestinians in Lebanon cannot work in many professions in Lebanon mainly because of their refugee status. A 2012 report by the International Labour Organization states that 50 percent of Palestinian Refugees earn 500,000 LBP ($330.47) or less per month.

"You go to a job interview, and the moment you say you are Palestinian, the employer apologizes," says Ahmed from Bourj El Barajneh camp. The refugees are barred from practicing such professions as medicine and law and are not allowed to benefit from the Social Security System.

Now, with the UNRWA's deficit combined with the exclusion of Social Security, many ill refugees or pregnant women will be without the care and help they need.

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Noura, a Palestinian in Beirut, raised questions about the expenditures of UNRWA employees. "The UNRWA flew many people last year for conferences," she said. "Then we see people getting denied from services for lack of funding. Shouldn't be there better planning for how donors money is being spent? We have had enough."

It's organizations like the UNRWA that are supposed to be saving the world. Instead, when you really look into the gut of the operation it seems like they are part of the problem. What can we do to fix this?

There needs to be several measures taken in order to address this problem. First, international donors need to be reminded that Palestinian refugees have been displaced since 1948 with no civil rights in their Arab host countries. While we are assisting millions of Syrians, there are Palestinian refugees that have been displaced for 67 years now. They also need a chance in life and a country to call their home.

There also needs to be better financial structure to UNRWA itself. Hire more local Palestinians instead of foreign workers, focus expenditure on what's really pressing and important rather than putting money in flights, conferences, etc.
#FITN First In Nation Republican Leadership Summit, Nashua, New HampshireCrowne Plaza NashuaAddress: 2 Somerset Pkwy, Nashua, NH 03063Every four years, the political world descends upon New Hampshire to take part in the aFirst-in-the-Nationa Presidential Primary. On April 17th and 18th that excitement will again percolate in the Granite State for the #FITN Republican Leadership Conference.Donald John Trump Sr. (born June 14, 1946) is an American business magnate, investor, television personality and author. He is the chairman and president of The Trump Organization and the founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts. Trump's extravagant lifestyle, outspoken manner, and role on the NBC reality show The Apprentice have made him a well-known celebrity who was No. 17 on the 2011 Forbes Celebrity 100 list.Trump is the son of Fred Trump, a wealthy New York City real-estate developer. He worked for his father's firm, Elizabeth Trump & Son, while attending the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and in 1968 officially joined the company. He was given control of the company in 1971 and renamed it The Trump Organization.In 2010, Trump expressed an interest in becoming a candidate for President of the United States in the 2012 election, though in May 2011, he announced he would not run. Trump was a featured speaker at the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). In 2013, Trump spent over $1 million to research a possible run for President of the United States in 2016.

Yesterday, Sarah Palin endorsed Donald Trump for president. "Of course she did," was the most common reaction to this news -- heard from both left and right. It is not only the most natural progression, but in fact it completes a circle of sorts. Because Palin really was the original Trump, in the world of Republican politics. Which is why I blame John McCain more than anyone else for the fact that Donald Trump is the clear frontrunner of the Republican pack right now. McCain's pick of Palin as running mate truly set the stage for where the GOP finds itself now.

John McCain was the original Republican "maverick." He got this reputation by occasionally disagreeing with the party's leadership, or breaking from Republican orthodoxy and working across the aisle with Democrats on bills he felt were worth a bipartisan effort. How quaint this all seems now, when today's mavericks of the GOP seem to only want to tear the entire party down and rebuild it in their own image. But that's indeed how McCain portrayed himself, at least in his first presidential run.

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Of course, he lost that run to George W. Bush. Still itching to sit in the big chair in the Oval Office, McCain then reluctantly embraced Bush's agenda -- even the parts he didn't personally like. McCain got a lot less mavericky between 2000 and 2008, but the media still loved the maverick image and helped McCain continue to promote it in his 2008 run.

From reports of campaign insiders, McCain's big showdown with the party bigwigs happened right before the Republican National Convention. McCain had a truly maverick idea when it came to selecting his running mate. He'd pick a conservative Democrat, and really shake the race up! A bi-partisan ticket -- that would indeed have been something new on the American political stage. Alas, the establishment Republicans recoiled in horror at the idea (even considering how uber-hawkish Joe Lieberman was), and forced McCain to reconsider.

McCain then took a look at his "short list" for the veep slot on the ticket, and decided to make another maverick move -- he'd pick an obscure but photogenic governor whom few had even heard of. Thus, Sarah Palin was elevated to national political prominence.

This move was designed to stick a thumb in the eye of the Republican Party's bigwigs by ignoring all the "safe" choices McCain could have made from within the party's ranks. Palin would also be only the second woman ever to run for vice president, and the first Republican to do so. All around, it was seen as a gutsy -- if risky -- move by McCain.

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Then she started campaigning. It became immediately obvious that Sarah Palin was just not ready for primetime, but the choice had already been made and so she had to be supported by all good Republicans. The party flocked to Palin's defense against that nasty "lamestream media" (as she so colorfully put it), and declared her to be even more qualified than Barack Obama (this was before she quit her governorship, halfway through her first term). They doubled down on Palin, because the Republican establishment really had no other choice. By doing so, they elevated the idea that someone like Sarah Palin was qualified to be president. Which is precisely why I blame McCain for Donald Trump's rise.

If John McCain had made a different choice for his running mate, we might never have seen Michele Bachmann run for president (or rise in the polls, if she had). We might not have had 17 people (some with zero elected experience) run for the Republican nomination this time around. Tina Fey would not be anywhere near the comedy star she is today. We all might never have learned to use the term "word salad." The abstinence lobby would have had to get along without a spokeswoman who inexplicably keeps having babies out of wedlock. "What if" is always a fun game to play, isn't it?

Snark aside, though, the political landscape would likely be a different one. By elevating Sarah Palin to a candidate for vice president, John McCain lowered the bar for entry into presidential contests for his party. Anyone could plausibly run, if Sarah could conceivably be leader of the nation. No experience was necessary, and no quip was too outrageous to utter on stage. Fringe candidates, instead of being ignored by almost everyone, suddenly were given the party's official seal of approval.

Donald Trump is a slightly more coherent version of Palin. They both talk in similar "word salad" style. Palin has problems even constructing a meaningful sentence when speaking about politics, but Trump manages to do so much more competently (although he still has problems fitting those sentences into rational paragraphs). At least with Trump, people understand the basic gist of what he's saying, rather than the head-scratching Palin routinely engenders (read her endorsement speech in full, if you want a walk down Memory Lane to her word salad days of yore).

Psychologically speaking, Palin was pure id. Trump is exactly the same thing -- he says whatever's on the top of his mind, consequences be damned. Palin's endorsement of Trump was not only unsurprising and entirely appropriate, it was also the completion of a path John McCain started his party down. If Sarah Palin could be contemplated as president, then why not Trump? The Republican Party at large, by defending Palin so fiercely during the 2008 campaign, appears to have permanently lowered the bar for who can be seen as an acceptable presidential candidate to Republicans.

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Many Republican Party bigwigs and conservative pundits are now cowering in disbelief, because they've been predicting for over half a year now that Trump would eventually burn out and leave the race. This has obviously not happened, and (as of now) shows absolutely no signs of happening in the near future. They really have only themselves to blame, and Sarah Palin's re-entry onto the Republican stage only proves it. If she was an acceptable candidate, then so is Trump. You really can't have it both ways. So for those establishment Republicans grasping for someone (anyone!) to blame for the state of their party today, I offer up John McCain as scapegoat. Because if McCain hadn't picked Palin, we likely would not be where we are now. With Palin's endorsement of Trump, this circle is now complete.

Chris Weigant blogs at:
At one seminar the writers discussed where they mustered their inspiration to write about vampires. How they mined from the depths of their popular cultural childhoods of cartoons, comic books and soda pop tops. Certain writers meet a market called Young Adult, YA. Implicit is the suggestion is that vampires are for kids.

Vampires are for real.

Remember Eleonora, the vampire princess from those Balkan mountaintops, the one who drank the milk of lady-wolves to guarantee a male heir. Despite the longed for son, Eleonora lived a life of pain. She had no friends, only money and servants and indiscernible ailments. Her social interactions were with doctors and she used the occasions to dress her best.

She traveled to Vienna to die amongst even more expensive doctors. Forensics were performed as a matter of purging the devil. In those days a princess's corpse would never be subjected to the intrusion of an autopsy but such was the dread of her powers.

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Outside the seminar, downtown Key West, a werewolf said to me, "I like the taste of skin." This is my friend Darko, a slim Serbian with black hair. He speaks sheepishly, "is that so strange? Am I strange? When she said I can't bite her." He stopped talking and raised his index finger which he allowed to droop. Darko looked at me and said, "my, you know", and he raised his eyebrows and looked sad, "does that make me strange?"

Smelling of sugar, a couple of teens trundle by, scooping mouthfuls of Key Lime pie off paper plates, and he says to her, "we are just like Grandma and Grandpa." And surely they do look like Grandma and Grandpa who are walking behind them with the t-shirts to prove it. Four Midwesterners looking like a fleet of Smart cars and gullibly spooning up pie.
If he reveals the details of his awful vacation-rental experience, Terry Fedigan is afraid of what might happen. The rental property's owner could sue -- and win.

Last summer, he rented a home in New York's Catskill Mountains with his brother. "We were not satisfied, and I wrote a negative, but factual, review on TripAdvisor," he says.

But after the post went live, the owner called Fedigan's brother, who had signed the contract, and demanded that he delete the review immediately.

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"Initially, I dismissed it as absurd," says Fedigan, a legal consultant who lives in London. But then he checked the contract. Sure enough, his brother had agreed that he and his guests would refrain from publishing "any disapproval of the property, disparagement, defamation, libel and/or slander of [property and owner], as well as the property including but not limited to its affiliates and its employees."

Fedigan's brother signed away his right to free speech, which appears to be an increasingly common occurrence in the travel industry. Non-disparagement clauses in contracts are multiplying, according to Whitney Gibson, a partner at the Washington law firm Vorys, which specializes in Internet brand and reputation issues. "There have certainly been an increasing number of these clauses in the last couple years, as businesses have grown concerned about their online reviews," he says.

But a proposed law would tip the scales in the consumer's favor. The Consumer Review Freedom Act, being considered by Congress, would void any contract that prohibits, restricts or imposes a penalty on customers who write a review. The law has many supporters and a few detractors, but if you're planning a trip, you can take a few steps to avoid a gag clause, which is most common in vacation-rental contracts.

It's too late for the Fedigans and many others like them. They reluctantly deleted the review of the substandard vacation rental, which is normally the outcome.

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"I consider this an egregious example of free-speech stifling as well as old-school bullying," Fedigan says. "If you look at public reviews on his property, they are all positive. Clearly, his bullying tactics are effective at dissuading the publishing of negative reviews."

But companies such as TripAdvisor, which hosted the now-deleted review, are fighting for people like Fedigan.

"We do not believe that unscrupulous business owners seeking to eliminate transparency in the marketplace should be able to muzzle dissatisfied consumers' opinions and reviews," Adam Medros, TripAdvisor's head of global product, said at a congressional hearing last month. "It is completely against the spirit of our site for any business owner to attempt to bully or intimidate reviewers who have had a negative experience."

There's another side to this issue, and it also makes a compelling case. "This debate has been cast as being about the freedom of speech," says James Goodnow, a lawyer with an expertise in technology cases. "It is not -- at least not in the constitutional sense. The First Amendment freedom of speech protections only apply to government limitations on speech."

The issue, he adds, is about the freedom of contract. Specifically, about when and for what reasons the government may limit a contract between two private parties: a reviews site and a user.

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Non-disparagement clauses came to my attention in 2012, when readers Tom and Terri Dorow contacted me about their vacation rental in Scottsdale, Ariz. In that case, they had also signed an agreement that forbade them from leaving a review without the owner's permission. The penalty for an unsanctioned write-up? A $500 fine. After being contacted about their posting, they deleted their review, too.

Supporters of non-disparagement clauses say they need them to protect their business. Rather than denying someone's right to free speech, rental owners told me, the contracts simply spell out a resolution process for any problems, directing guests to work directly with the owner instead of taking a problem to the court of public opinion.

That court, it seems, is what the travel industry fears the most. Just one negative review could push a vacation-rental owner into foreclosure, owners have told me.

Last year, California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed a bill that bans the state's businesses from forcing consumers into contracts in which they waive their right to comment on the service they receive. There have been no reports of vacation rentals going under because of a review posted since the law went into effect.

The conventional wisdom in the travel industry is that any contract language limiting reviews will hurt businesses and consumers in the long run.

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"Any sort of gag clause in a contract is a bad idea," says Brian Sparker, head of content marketing at ReviewTrackers, a reputation-management company. "Any business that wants to create an environment conducive to growth and brand development should steer away from engaging in this type of behavior."

Sparker says he believes legislation would encourage travel businesses to do the right thing. Honest online reviews are one of the best ways for businesses to improve the customer experience. "With real customer feedback, businesses can track issues the customer may be having," he says.

Experts advise reading your contract carefully. Vacation-rental contracts are not standardized, making it easy to slip a gag clause into the fine print. If you see any language that limits your ability to leave a review, ask to have it removed. If the owner won't, find another rental.

Even without the proposed law, non-disparagement clauses are rarely upheld in court. "In most cases where such anti-free-speech agreements have come to light, the businesses involved have been met with public criticism and a quick backhand from the courts," says Josh King, general counsel for Avvo, an online legal-service marketplace.

No matter what happens with the Consumer Review Freedom Act, one thing seems clear: The days of silencing customers with a "gotcha" contract are numbered.
Caucasian couple taking picture outdoors

My husband and I recently returned from a two week trip to London, which included a three day/two night adventure to Paris. We are experienced international travelers. We have been traveling to Europe at least once each year since 2000. Before I retired, I often traveled to Europe for work-related projects twice yearly. So we consider ourselves seasoned travelers able to navigate airports, customs, baggage carousels and ground transportation.

We had a reality check this time, and it involved an exchange with a London Hotel Concierge. We decided to treat ourselves to a stay at a higher end (for us) London Hotel. And because we were staying two weeks, we packed with the intention of doing some laundry mid-trip.

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When it came time to do the laundry, we sorted what we determined necessary to be washed, then reviewed the hotel laundry charges. Seven dollars to wash one pair of underwear! Holy smoke... we could find a laundromat and do our own washing for the price of one pair of boxers.

We proceeded to the Concierge desk, and asked for directions to the nearest laundromat. He pulled up an online map on his computer... then looked at us, and said: "It's a 12 minute walk. Is that ok?"

We looked at each other, then replied to the Concierge, "yes we can manage the walk. Where is it?" We got the directions, then set off to do our laundry.

During our walk to the laundromat, we tried to interpret the Concierge's comment. We are both in our late sixties, and surely we don't look so feeble that we are unable to walk for 12 minutes. In fact, retirees in our age group are encouraged to walk an hour daily. We were reminded of Scottish poet Robert Burns' quotation: O would some power the gift to give us to see ourselves as others see us.

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We considered a second interpretation of the Concierge's remarks: as a representative of the hotel, he was obligated to encourage us to use their laundry services. As part of the disappearing middle class, seven dollars to launder one pair of undies was definitely outside our comfort zone.

But the experience did bring us to the topic of examining the new, complex realities we encounter when we travel internationally as retirees. These circumstances are complicated by recent world events lending to increased anxiety for travelers.

Here are some take-aways from our most recent experience which we are glad to share:

1)When purchasing tickets, make sure there is plenty of time for connections (domestic to international and vice versa). This is common sense but it bears repeating. Going on our trip, we had a slight delay due to weather on the first leg of our journey, and we had to scramble to the gate to make our international connection. Fortunately, we had used Internet resources to familiarize ourselves with the airport where we would make our connection; we made it to our international flight with just a few minutes to spare.

On the return, make sure you understand what is involved to transfer from international to domestic flights. When I returned from a conference in Berlin last summer, I was told incorrectly in Berlin my bags were checked straight through to Reno, Nevada. When we landed in Seattle for the connection, I learned I had to claim my baggage... clear customs... recheck my baggage... and go through a security checkpoint again at the domestic terminal. Expecting this situation will help your purchase tickets offering you plenty of time to re-enter the US.

Use Internet resources generously for preparation and even consider staying over in a city between the legs of your journey. At this stage of life, you have earned the luxury.

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2)As we age, finding bathrooms is a top priority no matter where we are. We are encouraged on long flights to drink lots of water to stay hydrated, but our physiology gives a whole new meaning to the term "quick step." Just be remember the challenges adjusting to changes in food and water are a normal part of the aging process.

3)Adjusting to jet lag becomes more complicated as we age. When I was working and traveled internationally, I built in very little time to adjust to jet lag on either end of my journeys. Easing back in to the time zone at the completion of a trip is an absolute necessity for retirees. And hey, what is retirement for? By slowing down and experiencing every element of the process (including the jet lag), anticipation of the next trip will include reasonable expectations for the entire experience.

4)Be realistic in what you anticipate you can or will do each day. During our getaway to Paris, we arrived in the City of Lights on the Eurostar around noon then checked in to our hotel. We enjoyed a leisurely lunch (with wine of course), then hopped on the RER underground headed to the Louvre. None of the underground escalators were working (tough if you have knee issues), but we arrived at the Louvre around 2:30 p.m. -- about the time our lunch wine kicked in to slow us down. We stood outside the magnificent I. M. Pei Pyramid and made the very smart decision to return in the morning when we were fresh and rested. A smart decision.
CORRECTS DATE OF DEATH TO SUNDAY, JAN. 10, 2016 - FILE - In this Sept. 14, 1995, file photo, David Bowie performs during a concert in Hartford, Conn. Bowie, the innovative and iconic singer whose illustrious career lasted five decades, died Sunday, Jan. 10, 2016, after battling cancer for 18 months. He was 69. (AP Photo/Bob Child, File)

Something happened on the day he died,

Spirit rose a meter then stepped aside.

--"Blackstar"

I listened to Blackstar twice on January 9, the day after it came out and a day before David Bowie died (it is still entirely surreal to type the words "Bowie died"). I listened to it a third time on January 11.

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Between several songs on the album, there are little rustles of paper and breaths, high and close to the mic. During that third listen, those little noises became personal in a way that they weren't before. Yes, this was an album of songs that took on and remade the legacy of his 1990s records like Earthling, 1.Outside, Black Tie White Noise, and The Buddha of Suburbia, but it was also the sound of an artist burdened with the knowledge of his own end.

Those tiny movements of air now seem like Bowie letting us know that he was still back there, that he was still pulling the strings.



Fans have taken it up as a mantra, one that helps them understand why they have been personally affected by the death of someone they never met and grants them some solace: David Bowie hasn't died. David Robert Jones is dead. David Bowie will live a lot longer.

In 1999, at the age of 15, I bought my first new Bowie album, 'hours...' On its cover, a faux-hologrammatic image of 1999 Bowie--shoulder-length brown hair and wrinkle-free skin--cradles in his arms a prior incarnation of himself with spiky hair and a goatee. One Bowie dies so that another Bowie can live.

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'hours...' is not a great album--it's just okay. But in 1999, Bowie debuted a newer, softer look, and, for the first time in nearly a decade, returned to "Life on Mars?" and "Starman." The famous baritone and the witty, affable persona that I saw on TV drew me in.

After reading a review of his reissued back catalog in Q magazine, I started working my way through the '70s albums, starting with Hunky Dory, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, Diamond Dogs, Low and Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps). What was in those records was a new musical and creative language, one of allusion and silliness, the language of the 20th century. Within a year, that century would be over, and I would have amassed almost all of golden age Bowie--the 13 studio albums released between 1969 and 1980.



Thirty years earlier, in 1969, David Jones released a new album under a new stage name: David Bowie. His adopted last name was a signifier of his fascination with a particular vision of America--not the geopolitical United States, but the literary, dreamlike vision of the New World, a wild west of freedom and individual determination.

In 2016, at the age of 69, David Bowie released his last album, Blackstar (or ).

The final single from that album, both poignantly and dark-humorously titled "Lazarus," now seems pointedly literal. On first listen, I understood the lyrics to be impressionistic, since that is Bowie's way, but in light of his death, it is only barely abstracted from the truth. In the music video released on January 7, one Bowie writhes on a bed, singing:



Look up here, I'm in heaven.

I've got scars that can't be seen.

I've got drama, can't be stolen,

Everybody knows me now

Another Bowie emerges from a wardrobe, dressed in a costume that deliberately recalls a 1976 photo shoot. He scribbles madly like a character in a silent movie, before retreating to the armoire and closing the door.

It's not so figurative at all when you consider that David Jones the man knew how sick he was. One last time, he comes out of the closet before going back in (the infamous "I'm gay; no, wait! I'm not" moment); one last time, he reveals a new character in an old costume; one last time, he shuts both away together in a wardrobe--the place where costumes go when you take them off, the place where characters go when they die.

Don't let me know when you're opening the door,

Close me in the dark, let me disappear.

Soon there'll be nothing left of me,

Nothing left to release.

--"Bring Me the Disco King" (Reality, 2003)

"Lazarus" ends with a cycle of lines: "This way or no way,/You know I'll be free./Just like that bluebird,/Now ain't that just like me."

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Bowie once said that the octave leap at the beginning of the chorus in "Starman" was stolen from Judy Garland's "someWHERE over the rainbow." When I heard "Lazarus," the image of the bluebird stood out: oddly romantic, somewhat music-hall, a callback to his days singing Jacques Brel covers. But maybe Bowie was thinking once again of Garland and the places that bluebirds are said to fly.

Leaving with as much performativity and drama as he arrived, David Bowie plays us all out with the suggestion of a comeback--Lazarus makes the ultimate comeback, after all--while acknowledging that, for David Jones, this is, as they say, it.



It's lazy but inevitable that the press will dwell on Bowie's "chameleonic" career and the cliche that he (ch-ch-)changed musically and sartorially across the years. But the truth is that his work is thematically consistent. Isolation and alienation, observing the world around you (or the world within you), forecasting what the world ahead of you will be, for better (Heathen's "A Better Future") or worse (Diamond Dogs' "Future Legend"), and pretending to be who you want to be until that is who you are (but also aren't).

I eventually completed my record collection. Stragglers were 1995's 1.Outside and 1997's Earthling--both favorites now--as well as the Tin Machine albums (curious, brilliant, and a little terrible), and the disowned Tonight (3 in a bargain bin) and Never Let Me Down.

Slowly, Bowie's music and style, the way in which he wrote and created art, became something essential to me. It was and still is difficult to pin down exactly why. Were my interests in creating songs and stories, and my fascination with the connections between "high" and "low" culture, innate? Or were they spurred on--or even instigated--by Bowie?

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There are some things I do know. If I hadn't become a Bowie fan:

I would probably not have learned how to play the guitar as quickly as I did. I would probably not have suggested that we name a dog "Ziggy." I would probably have come much later if at all to: Christopher Isherwood, Orwell, the Velvet Underground, Warhol, Pixies, my passing but ever-present interests in style, design and clothes, Aleister Crowley, Jean Genet, A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Newley, T.Rex or Scott Walker, Iggy and the Stooges, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Baal and The Threepenny Opera, "Alabama Song," Hanif Kureishi, the Ubermensch, Stranger in a Strange Land or William S. Burroughs. I would probably not have such a love of the "meta" and self-referentiality in literature, art, movies, and music. I would certainly not have used a Bowie reference as my first ever email password. I would certainly not have written a song in response to "Changes" called "Everything Stays the Same" or a short story called "Standing By The Wall." I would absolutely, certainly, not have created Warhol-style screen prints featuring repeated images of Bowie in secondary school art class. I would absolutely, certainly, definitely not have reconnected with a school friend after university, formed a short-lived David Bowie tribute band named Hot Tramp, then performed only Bowie songs at several open mic nights using guitars, harmonicas, and a children's glockenspiel.

And I know I wouldn't be quite the same person I am now intellectually or creatively.

In a way, Bowie helped me--helped us all--become. Creating is always becoming. You could reinvent yourself and become someone new; you could wear a skin-tight leotard or a shirt and waistcoat; you could be gay, queer, straight, it didn't matter; you could be glam, soul, ambient, pop, or industrial, and you were always becoming you. And he told you how: Emulate, steal, remodel, and synthesize.



"I Can't Give Everything Away," Blackstar's closing track, was a pretty, chant-like ballad on January 9, somewhat like the 1993 single "Miracle Goodnight" but with the harmonica burble from 1977's "A New Career in a New Town." On the eleventh, though, it had turned into a song that made me cry.

The song opens: "I know something's very wrong,/The pulse returns the prodigal son./The blackout hearts, the flowered news/With skull designs upon my shoes." The song ends with a trick of latter-day Bowie: a simple lyrical conceit where splitting a phrase multiplies its meanings as a whole and in parts.

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I can't give everything,

I can't give everything,

I can't give everything

Away

"Away:" the last recorded word from Bowie. However, he had been considering his mortality for quite a few albums. In 2002, in an interview with Der Spiegel, he asked: "Why, now, when I [finally] understand myself and others, should I die? What a shit game. Is there no one with whom you could revise the rules?"

And if you wanted to find meaning, you need only look for the obvious and ironic ("Never Get Old") or the more gnomic ramblings of 2002's Heathen. That record starts with the song "Sunday"--the day of the week on which Bowie died--telling us "nothing has changed/everything has changed." The album closes with the title track and the lines: "I can see it now/I can feel it die."

Performances of that song, "Heathen (The Rays)," still give me goose bumps. During a live show in Berlin in 2002, Bowie lifts his eyes upward and says "God bless us, please," before launching into a performance that is just the right side of histrionic. By the end of the song, the crowd unifies around a three-note snare drum hit--a heartbeat tattoo--and Bowie slowly proceeds offstage, one hand on the shoulder of his bass player, Gail Ann Dorsey, before disappearing from view.

There could be no better final performance than that, surely. Or, maybe every performance is the final one.

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In the past week, I've been thinking a lot about firsts and lasts.

In 2003, I took a bus with two friends from Birmingham to Manchester to see David Bowie play live for the first and last time. Bowie himself didn't know it was also to be his last ever tour. I always thought, somewhere inside, that I'd see him play live again.

The first time I heard the song "Aladdin Sane" and Mike Garson's avant-garde piano solo kicked in, I thought, with a smile, "what the fuck?" As the solo bloomed, his hands chopped and jumped across the keyboard, sprinkling little scales and discordant voicings everywhere. Then, I thought it was gleeful, funny, and kind of perfect. I'll still think that the last time I ever listen to that song.

But for now, there will be no more first times, unless we are lucky enough to get a posthumous release of a few more songs or, even less likely, one last music video.

Bowie is gone. With his death, something personal and essential is, if not entirely gone, then vastly diminished. He didn't just teach me to play the guitar; through his music, his interviews, and his last 18 months alive, he taught us to be brave creatively but to laugh at yourself too; to ignore the linear and the literal because the impressionistic and figurative are truer; and to remember that the end might be the end, but it also isn't.
By the calculus that organized labor uses to assess the performances of friend and foe alike, President Obama, labor's nominal "friend" and supporter, appears to have come up short. About $400 million short. That's the amount that labor unions were reported to have donated to Obama's 2008 election campaign.

In response to this munificent show of loyalty and generosity, President Obama not only expressed his undying gratitude, he pledged to do everything in his power to see that the EFCA (Employee Free Choice Act) became law.

Polls show that even though upwards of 60-percent of working people across the board say they would like to join a union, barely 11-percent are organized. That discrepancy defies reason. Obviously, something is holding them back.

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The EFCA would give working people the right to join or form a labor union simply by signing a card ("card check") saying they wish to do so, thus avoiding the bureaucratic morass and management game-playing involved in an NLRB certification election. With the EFCA in place, if the majority of employees said they wanted to be union members, the company could not legally deny them that right.

In March, 2009, the EFCA was introduced to Congress by Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and House member George Miller (D-CA). Al Franken, Senator from Minnesota, chose this EFCA bill as the first piece of legislation he would co-sponsor, a proud moment for him.

Yet if one were looking for morbid symbolism, they need look no further than Franken's co-sponsorship. So phony and hypocritical was administration's support of the bill, it took a professional comedian to sponsor it.

Although there were only 41 Republican senators at the time (July of 2009), it was the Democrats themselves who eventually sunk the bill. Nelson of Nebraska, Specter of Pennsylvania, McCaskill of Missouri, Lincoln of Arkansas, Carper of Delaware, and Feinstein of California--all senators and all Democrats--were the ones who orchestrated the bill's defeat.

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If Obama had made it clear that this EFCA bill was not only an important piece of legislation, it was a White House "must have," a genuine priority item, this mutiny would never have occurred, not with a newly elected and still wildly popular president, and not with the leader of the Democratic Party calling on the leadership to demonstrate solidarity.

Many stories circulated as to what torpedoed the bill. Some reported that Obama, who was philosophically in favor the bill, became gun-shy. He didn't anticipate the torrent of opposition he encountered both from the business community and timid members of his own party, and was unwilling to embark on a protracted battle this early in his term of office.

Others reported that it was his arrogant and profane chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, who queered the deal. Emanuel insisted the president back away from it, having convinced him that, bad news or not, labor had no choice but to stay loyal to the Democrats. In classic Emanuel fashion, he was quoted as saying, "If labor's upset with it, f**k 'em. Let 'em vote Republican and see how they like it."

But we now hear rumors that this "lame duck" president, who came into office amid so much noble rhetoric and high expectations, may be looking to gild his lily by issuing a number of ambitious Executive Orders.

In the countdown to the end of his second term of office this president may actually want to do something meaningful. But instead of having to kowtow to pompous Republicans and hold the hands of gutless Democrats, his weapon of choice will be the Executive Order. Instead of going to the mat, all he has to do is "order" things to get done. What could be simpler?

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In the name of old-fashioned "prairie democracy," what if President Obama were to issue an EO instructing the NLRB to recognize as union members any majority of workers who voted to join a union? What's the very worst thing that could happen? What are they going to do to him? Impeach him?

Even though they date back to George Washington, the legal boundaries of Executive Orders remain murky at best. Most likely Obama's decision would wind up in federal court, which would be fine because even if his EO were eventually struck down, it would take months for that to happen, and in the meantime, the labor movement would have been energized as thousands of workplaces had their consciousness raised.
Although few people are unwilling to admit it, the history of Hollywood is a history of the film industry experimenting, venturing forth, taking risks, overcoming prejudice and attempting to break down social barriers. It ain't all about money, and it ain't all about staying within a comfort zone. There is some genuine "art" going on here, along with a strong sense of social responsibility.

Of course, people will continue to find fault. They will continue to grouse about Hollywood not doing enough, or doing it too late, or doing it wrong, or doing it in too sanitized or "commercial" a fashion, but when it comes to treating taboos such as homosexuality and interracial romance, mainstream Hollywood (and not just the "indies") has done a fairly decent job.

And yet there is one taboo that remains firmly in place. Consider the following movie sequence.

The scene is a well known lover's lane, the place where teenagers park their cars in order to "make out" or even engage in impromptu sex. Of course, the local police know what's going on. After all, they were once young themselves. Still, they regularly patrol the area just to make sure nothing gets out of hand or, as the police are wont to do, just to exert their authority.

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A black-and-white slowly drives through the area, occasionally shining its spotlight on an unsuspecting couple, startling and embarrassing them. All part of the job, folks. The police officer comes upon a car whose windows are fogged. On an impulse, he decides to take a peek inside to make sure nothing gets out of hand and, as police are wont to do, to scare the piss out of them.

He approaches the driver's side and flashes his light on the occupants. Inside are an elderly couple -- a man and woman easily in their eighties. The woman's shirt is open and her bra has been removed. Her breasts are frightfully shriveled and sagging.

Of course, the glare of the flashlight has startled and confused the couple. The woman hastily tries to cover herself and the elderly gentleman, flustered and disoriented and believing he's being robbed by an African American, attempts to hand over his wallet. A sad commentary on our times.
A federal whistleblower lawsuit against troubled ITT Tech, unsealed last week, reads like a greatest hits of abuses by America's predatory for-profit colleges. The suit alleges that ITT has repeatedly defrauded taxpayers by taking billions of dollars in federal student aid while systematically deceiving students and violating federal regulations.

The complaint, first described today by MarketWatch, was filed last April in federal court in Tallahassee, Florida, by Rodney Lipscomb, who served as the dean of academic affairs at ITT's Tallahassee campus from 2011 until early 2015. The case was unsealed on January 15 after the U.S. Justice Department declined to join the case on Lipscomb's side.

Lipscomb claims, among other things: that ITT directs recruiters to use coercive tactics to pressure students into enrolling; that ITT admits students who will not be able to succeed at the school; that ITT unlawfully pays what are, in effect, sales commissions to recruiters; and that ITT lies to students about the financial obligations they will assume, about the transferability of ITT credits to other schools, and about the jobs students can expect to get after graduating.

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The awful practices and incidents that Lipscomb alleges echo findings and allegations from prior government and media investigations of the for-profit college industry in the past five years. But what is charged remains shocking, not only for the outrageousness of the abuses described, but also because all of the conduct is alleged to have occurred not in some distant past, such as the previous decade, when for-profit colleges, freed of meaningful oversight, brazenly engaged in a torrent of waste, fraud, and abuses with taxpayer dollars and students' lives. Instead the conduct allegedly occurred from 2011 to 2015, after the industry had become controversial and the subject of intense scrutiny and policy battles in Washington, after President Obama and other leaders had warned for-profit colleges that, going forward, they would be held accountable for misconduct.

Lipscomb's allegations suggest that ITT Tech officials didn't much care; they may have seen evasion of the rules as still the best way to keep bringing in tens of millions in taxpayer dollars every month.

The lawsuit's allegations

These are just some of the abuses that Lipscomb claims occurred:

-- According to Lipscomb, ITT Tallahassee admitted every high school graduate who applied, regardless of concerns about whether the student could succeed in the program. Example: A student applied to the ITT computer networking program, which requires students to read codes and identify plugs and wires by color in order to repair computers. The student was blind. Lipscomb raised concerns about whether the ITT program would actually help this student, but ITT's recruiting director told him "it was not ITT's problem" to dissuade the student. Lipscomb says he contacted a Florida disability agency and was told that federal law did not require ITT to admit the student, because he could not perform this computer repair work even with a reasonable employer accommodation. But a supervisor reprimanded Lipscomb for making that inquiry, and the student was enrolled. He dropped out after four weeks with an entire academic quarter's worth of loan debt, no degree, and of course no job. (Now-defunct Corinthian Colleges faced similar criticism after Republic Report exposed in 2014 that its Everest College had admitted a student with apparent intellectual disabilities to its criminal justice program.)

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-- ITT recruiters in Florida were instructed by management to tell prospective students that if they enrolled in ITT's criminal justice program, they could get jobs doing forensic science work like they saw on "CSI Miami." In fact, the ITT program did not train students to do such work, and Lipscomb claims that upon discovering what recruiters were saying, he and Kysha Fedd, the campus chair of the criminal justice program, went to classrooms to inform current students, many of whom "became upset ... and dropped out," but still had to pay back their loans. Fedd resigned, saying "she could 'no longer work for the devil' and that she was extremely disappointed that the students were leaving ITT with almost $50,000 in debt and no job prospects except to work as a security guard in the mall." (These kinds of allegations of a deceptive criminal justice program harming low-income students have been made with respect to other for-profit colleges, such as the awful Westwood College.)

--ITT Tallahassee subsequently shut down its criminal justice program. So the director of recruiting told his staff that prospective students interested in criminal justice "should be steered to the business management program and told that they will be able to open their own private investigation business, even though that is not what the Business Management program is designed to train students to do." (Such inappropriate steering has been charged by, among others, students at EDMC's Art Institutes and former employees of the notorious EdSoup call center.)

--ITT managers instruct the school's financial aid counselors to tell students to report less income than they actually have, or more dependents than they have, in order to increase federal financial aid. This allegation mirrors charges leveled in 2011 by a former Texas ITT financial aid staffer, Rashidah Smallwood.

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-- ITT managers also instruct financial aid counselors to tell students that "nobody pays back the loans anyways" -- the same shocking advice exposed in a 2010 Government Accountability Office undercover investigation of 15 for-profit colleges.

-- ITT's Southeast regional manager Deborah Brent (no, not Wernham Hogg regional manager David Brent) and other officials instructed ITT recruiters "to 'probe' potential students about 'what causes pain in their lives' and then to 'dig in' to that pain." This allegation echoes media and government reports dating back to 2011 that ITT, Kaplan, and other for-profit school recruiting documents directed recruiters to imagine a "pain funnel" and to "poke the pain" of low self-esteem prospects.

-- ITT Tallahassee held weekly "show meetings" where managers required recruiters to discuss their efforts to sign up students. When one recruiter expressed concern about enrolling a single mother who lived two hours from campus, the campus recruitment director instructed this subordinate "that it was not his role to judge what would be best for the student" and to instead say "two hours isn't really insurmountable." After Lipscomb complained about the tenor of these meetings, his superiors barred him from attending them.

-- ITT would induce prospective students, many of them low-income, to enroll by offering them "free laptops." In fact, the laptops were far from free, because they replaced the textbooks whose $800 cost had been built into student tuition, and a colleague of Lipscomb discovered that ITT was paying just $190 for the laptops. Moreover, only after ITT had distributed the laptops did it inform campuses that a student had to earn 36 credits before actually owning the laptop. One Tallahassee student who withdrew because of a medical emergency had his laptop confiscated, and when he re-enrolled the very next quarter, ITT charged him $350 for a replacement.

-- In 2013, ITT announced it would start awarding a new "Opportunity Scholarship" to help students cover their costs at the school. Around the same time, Lipscomb and his colleagues applied for and received grants from a Florida non-profit group to help students pay their ITT tuition. They later discovered that ITT was eliminating Opportunity Scholarships for students who got the private grants, basically defeating the purpose of those grants but putting more money into ITT's coffers.

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-- ITT pressured students to stay enrolled by telling staff to "keep the student's financial aid ramifications in front of their face" and threatening to refer student loans to collections agencies if they dropped out, while explaining that if they stayed in school, the loans would be deferred.

-- After Lipscomb filed repeated complaints about these practices and others, ITT's national Director of Human Resources & Counsel, John Walls, traveled from the company's Indiana headquarters to meet with Lipscomb and regional manager Brent. According to the complaint, "Walls told Lipscomb that no deceptive practices were being used at ITT, none of Lipscomb's complaints had been substantiated, and to stop sending e-mail complaints. Walls also told Lipscomb that Lipscomb was 'not an attorney' and therefor[e] was not qualified to claim that any laws or policies had been violated." A few months later, Lipscomb informed the campus director that he was planning to file a complaint with the Florida attorney general. A week after that, in January 2015, the campus director fired Lipscomb.

ITT's record

To be clear, Lipscomb's allegations are yet unproven, and ITT has denied them. Lipscomb's lawyer told Marketwatch that they had not decided whether to continue the suit in the wake of the Justice Department's decision not to join. But ITT, which has been getting as much as $1.1 billion per year from federal aid, about two-thirds of its revenue, was already in plenty of legal hot water.

Last May 12, the Securities and Exchange Commission sued ITT, its CEO Kevin Modany, and ITT's former CFO, charging that the company "made various false and misleading statements and omissions to defraud ITT's investors by concealing the extraordinary failure" of its student loan programs.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau also has sued ITT, charging in a 2014 complaint that "ITT subjected consumers to undue influence or coerced them into taking out ITT Private Loans through a variety of unfair acts and practices designed to interfere with the consumers' ability to make informed, uncoerced choices."

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The attorney general of New Mexico has sued ITT for alleged "unfair, deceptive, and unconscionable acts and practices ... in connection with the advertising, marketing, and selling of educational services" to prospective students. At least thirteen more state attorneys general -- from Arkansas, Arizona, Connecticut, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Washington -- are probing ITT.

ITT denies it has done anything wrong and is contesting the pending charges.

But the company is also in precarious financial condition. ITT stock trades today at about $2.75 a share, down from $92.30 in July 2011. In October the U.S. Department of Education put delays and new restrictions on the delivery of student aid to ITT, after the Department concluded that ITT had failed to properly account for federal aid money since at least 2009 and failed to comply with prior Department orders to strengthen financial controls. The Department had already, in 2014, placed ITT on a probationary "heightened cash monitoring" status and required the company to post an $80 million letter of credit.

Yet ITT still has some 130 campuses, with more than 55,000 students, in 38 states. Last year ITT received $664 million in taxpayer money from student grants and loans.

The Justice Department, and the U.S. Department of Education, haven't explained why they did not join Lipscomb's lawsuit. (Normally a whistleblower's chances of winning go way higher when the government joins.) I hope it's because these agencies are finally ready to take their own measures, with real sanctions, against ITT.

Given the lax financial practices, the serious charges of deception, and the trail of students with ruined lives, citizens must keep asking the U.S. Department of Education why it keeps sending our money, and our students, to ITT and other predatory schools.

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One sunny afternoon in 1963, two very young soldiers were standing on the observation deck of the Empire State Building, 86 floors up, looking out over the greatest city in the world.

Paris may be lovelier, Los Angeles more packed with movie stars, and San Francisco has our Golden Gate; but New York City is where everything comes together, the city of nations, meeting place of Earth.

And at the pulsing heart of it, the most visited destination in the world -- Times Square. At one end of the famous square, on 7th Avenue, across from the Hard Rock Cafe, is a giant electronic billboard -- the famous Reuters building sign, 22 stories tall, 7,000 square feet of breaking news, like the pulse of the planet.

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Remember that billboard.

But first, back to the Empire State Building. Behind us was a security guard, leaning back in his chair, beside a door leading down into darkness.

Yes, that was the indoor fire escape, he said, and no, we could not walk down it.

But we were young and foolish, and those were innocent times. We turned left, walked all the way around the observation deck, full circle back to the guard, still leaning in his chair -- but now distracted, by a woman in a short red dress.

We ducked past the guard and ran down the metal stairs, into the echoing dark.

It is not as exciting as you might think, running down 86 flights of stairs.

The air was close and still. The walls were caked with dust.

At last we got to the ground floor-- and the exit door was stuck! My buddy, already none too thrilled by the seemingly endless flights of stairs, turned and started to go back up.

But I kept shoving the door with various parts of my body, and suddenly there was a creak as swollen wood yielded an inch.

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When the door creaked out into the light, I looked at my friend and he back at me, and we both began to laugh.

Like chimney sweeps, we were covered with dust, only sweat marks making streaks of clean across our faces...

Fast forward half a century.

It's 2016, I am 70 years old, and just published a book on stem cell research: STEM CELL BATTLES: Proposition 71 and Beyond: How Ordinary People Can Fight Back Against the Crushing Burden of Chronic Disease with a posthumous foreword by Christopher Reeve.

I could hardly have picked a worse time to do it, with bookstores scarce as dinosaurs.

Fortunately, my publisher (World Scientific) is tough, dedicated and creative; you have to be, to survive in a non-book environment like today.

And the Empire State?

New York, like California, is a major supporter of stem cell research. They are doing amazing work, like the privately funded New York Stem Cell Foundation, inspired and led by Susan Solomon.

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NYSCF supported two of the three most important breakthroughs in stem cell research in the past several years, including the creation of the first patient-specific stem cell lines for ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) and the successful reprogramming of pancreatic cells. Experiments to create genetic models of types 1 and 2 diabetes, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease with human embryonic stem cells are underway in the NYSCF Laboratory.

The state-funded program, NYSTEM, is also terrific and deserves support. As an expert panel put it:

NYSTEM has had a tremendously positive effect on biomedical research in the state of New York, allowing researchers to make discoveries that have influenced the field of stem cell biology internationally. If NYSTEM funding ceases or declines in the next several years it will have a very negative effect on stem cell research in New York and... internationally. NYSTEM funding should be renewed when the current appropriation expires.

For me as the father of a paralyzed young man, Roman Reed, I am eternally grateful to Paul Richter, the policeman who was shot in the line of duty, but then went on to inspire a paralysis research program -- and Dr. Sally Temple, co-founder of the Neural Stem Cell Institute; and Brooke Ellison, a paralyzed woman who inspired Christopher Reeve's last movie, The Brooke Ellison Story -- and groundbreaking scientist Loren Studer, fighting for a cure of Alzheimers' and ALS. Too many to even try to name them all!

New York... a Republican Presidential candidate recently made a sneering comment about "New York values," implying there was something wrong with them. What was he mocking?

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free... send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me; I lift my lamp beside the golden door." --

Emma Lazarus

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The Statue of Liberty? The United Nations? The courage and caring of people working together when the Twin Towers fell?

I'll match those values against any on Earth.

And remember that billboard, on the Reuters Building?

For 13 seconds, on January 18th, 2016, I had the privilege of being a small part of New York City. Because on that Times Square sign, seven stories high, were the words:

"STEM CELL BATTLES: a book by Don C. Reed: how California fights chronic disease."

And below it was the cover of the book: the picture of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California, shaking hands with my son Roman in his wheelchair, backed up by Bob Klein, inspiration of the California stem cell program, and me just looking happy -- easy to do, on the day when California loaned the stem cell program $150 million to get started.

That picture ran for 13 seconds on the Reuters Building sign (repeated several times throughout the day).
Can I be the only one with this love/hate thing for Bill Maher? Millions of us must tune into Real Time on Friday nights -- martini or doobie in hand -- for the pleasure of watching Bill eviscerate all those Right Wing boobs (most congressmen from the Bible Belt, and EVERY Fox News reporter). I cheer him on as he trashes GMOs or jokes about prices for organic veggies at WHOLE PAYCHECK. Wincing begins with his adolescent enthusiasm for Cannabis, but it's when Bill inevitably morphs into the Village Atheist that cringing takes over.

Maher's particular animus is directed at Christianity (in both its Evangelical and Catholic varieties) -- e.g. the idiocy of believing in stories about talking snakes and virgin births, trusting televangelist shysters or pedophiliac priests, and, since 9/11, lambasting the evils of Islam, whose 1.6 billion adherents he treats with all the subtlety of a Donald Trump or Sacha Baron Cohen. Relishing his role as one of the Four Horsemen of the New Atheism (riding with Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and the late, lamented Chris Hitchens), Maher wrote and starred in Religulous (2008), a mocumentary on the bizarre sideshows of contemporary religion: Jews for Jesus, Mormon apostates, Cannabis ministries, and alhamdulillahi: a Muslim gay bar (in Amsterdam, of course). Maher even manages to "preach" from some of L. Ron Hubbard's Scientological fantasies at Speakers Corner in Hyde Park, London.

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Grant him this: Maher's take on religion has a distinguished pedigree. The sages of the enlightenment: Rousseau, Voltaire, Hume, Paine, all agreed that organized religion was a con designed by crooks to bamboozle rubes. As the Father of the Encyclopedia Denis Diderot declared, "Man will never be free till the last king is strangled by the guts of the last priest." Nor were these sentiments peculiar to godless Europe. They were widely shared by the American "Founding Fathers" of inaccurately pious legend. Consider the lament of John Adams, "This would be the best of all possible worlds if there were no religion in it." Or Ben Franklin's practical observation, "Lighthouses are more helpful than churches." But certainly the most famous (and oddly compassionate) critique was made by (gasp) that hoary atheist Karl Marx: "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature... the opium of the people... The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo."

Opium? Surely Marx named the wrong drug. Speed or ecstasy would have been a more accurate choice. For all the acuity of his social analyses, Marx misunderstood the ecstatic power of religion. It has not withered away with the advance of Science and Social Democracy. This cannot be because its doctrines and rituals have grown more rational. Scientologists still track alien Thetans. The Virgin Mary still leaves her imprint on burritos in East L.A. Plaster statues of Ganesh the Hindu Elephant God still lap up saucers of milk. Nor are there fewer charlatans who now hold religious office or are revered as seers and prophets. Consider L. Ron Hubbard and his Dianetics, Oral Roberts and his 900-foot Jesus, or Abu Bakr al-Baghdad, the self-declared Caliph of Raquaa, and spiritual leader of ISIS.

Religions then do not persist because of their silly myths or weird rituals. Nor do they necessarily promote moral behavior, or even the worship of "God" (talk to the Dalai Lama about that one). What then brings Jihadis to Raquaa or Evangelicals to a Ted Cruz rally? It was Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) the father of modern Sociology, who best explained these perplexing tropisms by redefining their subject: "Religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things which unite all those who adhere to them into a single moral community."

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Such sacred things may include god or gods, but also space ships, waterfalls, moving planets, stars and stripes, sickles and hammers, Kemal Ataturk, Chairman Mao, bald eagles, movie stars, ad infinitum. And "moral communities" framed themselves around these sacred things because they embody their collectivity; promise their immortality (individuals will die, but future generations perdure), and inspire their deliriums. Regarding the last, if you seek explanations for recent acts of "holy terror" at Parisian restaurants, Istanbul tourist sites, or Planned Parenthood clinics, you might ponder Durkheim's diagnosis, "it may be said that religion is not without a certain delirium [but] it must be added that this delirium is well founded. The images out of which it is made are not pure illusions, the mental agitation they cause bear witness to their reality."
More and more Americans--including leaders from both political parties--agree that our criminal justice system is broken. Even former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says we can no longer afford "business as usual." There's no debate: mass incarceration is neither cost-effective for taxpayers nor safe for our communities.

But the private corrections industry, made up of companies that make more profit when more people are in the system, could make real change harder.

A new look at the industry shows that private companies profit from nearly every function of America's criminal justice system. The industry's scope is startling: companies perform functions like prison operation and immigrant detention, but even GPS ankle monitoring and residential reentry.

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While the usual suspects--Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and GEO Group--operate prisons, numerous companies with similar track records provide services like health care, food provision, and prisoner transport. Companies like Corizon, Aramark, JPay, and GTL have histories of providing low-quality services, harming not only prisoners, but communities and taxpayers as well.

We already know that the industry routinely cuts corners to make more profit, resulting in prison violence, lawsuits, accidental releases, and high staff turnover. But now it's clear how much of the system is influenced by private companies, which are driven by profit to keep or even expand existing services.

The look is part of a new campaign to replace private profits with publicly funded and managed programs aimed at the change we all want to see. Programs Not Profits calls for reinvesting the hundreds of millions of dollars that go to private corrections profits each year into job training, mental health care, and substance abuse treatment.

We need a system that addresses the root causes of crime rather than one that locks away the symptoms and hopes they never get loose.

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The Center for Migration Studies (CMS) has released its latest report on the U.S. undocumented population, authored by Robert Warren, the former Director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service's Statistics Division. The report derives its estimates of the undocumented from 2014 statistics on the foreign-born from the US Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS). It does not draw policy conclusions, but provides findings on the undocumented by country of origin and U.S. state. On a national level, it reports that:

The undocumented population declined by more than one million between 2008 and 2014, falling below 11 million in 2014 for the first time since 2004.

The number of undocumented US residents began to decline prior to the onset of the Great Recession and continued to fall during the economic recovery.

The decline has been largely driven by a decrease in the Mexican-born undocumented, from 6.6 to six million between 2010 and 2014.

The overall foreign born population has grown while the undocumented population has declined, which indicates that the number and percentage of legally present foreign born persons, including naturalized citizens, has increased.

Proponents of legal immigrants (on both sides of the debate) should welcome this latter development.

An earlier CMS report, based on 2013 ACS statistics, found that the growth in the undocumented population began to slow in the mid-2000s and that by 2008 roughly as many people were leaving this population as joining it. In each year between 2008 and 2014, more US residents left the undocumented population than joined it, which explains the overall decline in this population.

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The earlier report also found that 60 percent of the undocumented had resided in the United States for 10 years or more, including 1.9 million for at least 20 years. The average length of residence of the undocumented will continue to increase into the foreseeable future. The 2013 study also found that more than one-half of the four million persons eligible for the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) program and the 1.5 million eligible for the expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program entered the United States prior to the year 2000.

What to make of these numbers from a policy perspective? The CMS report suggests that the United States seems to have turned a corner on the undocumented population and, for a variety of reasons, should not witness the kind of large-scale unauthorized migration flows that it experienced in the 1990s and early 2000s. Indeed, the multi-year trend has been an overall decline in this population. As CMS's 2013 report shows, a far higher percentage of visa over-stayers now join the ranks of the undocumented each year (58 percent in 2012) than persons who cross US borders without authorization.
Greece may be in financial turmoil but tourists have showed their continued preference to the country overlooking the negative attention that has been attracted. Tunisia suffered the worst terrorist attack in recent history; Egypt hoped for modest growth this year but the Sinai plane crash reversed that. Turkey experiences a slowdown this year for the first time in the last three decades whilst tourist arrivals in Spain hit a new record high in the first eight months of 2015.



Key intra-European markets such as UK, Germany, France and Italy continue to boost tourism demand within the region. This season we witnessed a noticeable growth from the UK market since the British gained from the strength of the pound against the euro for travel to Eurozone destinations.



Greece

The Greek tourism sector has achieved double digit growth numbers in the last 3 years and survived the 2016 summer season with its tourism industry relatively unscathed. Even with being on the brink of exiting the Eurozone and despite the negative headlines concerning the closing of banks, Greece emerged as popular a destination as ever. Capital controls, the refugee influx and general political instability didn't prevent tourists from visiting Greece which aims to break another record for arrivals. There was no change in booking behavior because people knew that the crisis was in the financial system but that in all the holiday resorts everything was working as usual. Greece is secure and people preferred security especially following the terror attacks elsewhere.



Egypt

Hit by political and economic upheaval since the 2011-2012, Egypt's tourism sector had been set to grow this year with Egypt pinning its tourism strategy on the Red Sea resorts as tourists started to return after more than four years of turmoil had been driving them away. Until the recent plane crash Egypt had managed to attract more visitors despite the uncertainty. After the Metrojet flight to St Petersburg from Sharm el-Sheikh was attacked in October, all flights to Sharm were cancelled for a week. EasyJet has cancelled all flights to and from Sharm el Sheikh until 29 February 2016. Monarch Airlines has also extended its cancellation of all flights to and from the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh and services will not resume before 24 January 2016 at the earliest. Sharm el-Sheikh's hotels have seen occupancy rates drop since the crash, 80% of reservations have been cancelled and all this came at the commencement of the region's winter holiday season.



Spain

Without a doubt the 2015 season winner is Spain, which beat last year's record of 65 million visitors. In October alone, 6.5 million tourists visited Spain, a 10% growth vs. October 2014. The Spanish tourist industry is looking forward to seeing the final end of year figures, which are widely expected to be record-breaking as many holidaymakers preferred Spain over the rest of the summer Med holiday destinations, but Spain also expects to see an increase in arrivals over the Christmas period as visitors reallocate from Egypt and Turkey. Spain is the Med's sub region top destination and ranks high in the World ranking along with France, the United States, and China as it continues to be one of the top ranking destinations in the world for arrivals and receipts.



Turkey

The Turkish tourism industry has already suffered from a difficult 2015 marked by political instability and regional violence and will be further affected by the Russian jet crisis. For many years, millions of Russian tourists have been the primary source of tourism revenue for Turkey. In 2014 alone, 4.48 million Russian tourists visited Turkey, a figure almost doubled from 2009 when it was 2.7 million. Turkey's southeastern provinces, which enjoyed glory days are now facing a big decline in the number of visitors, with less tours heading to the region over security concerns. Turkey's most popular resort Antalya and surrounding area recorded a 4% drop in occupancy in October 2015 to 57.7% vs. 60.1% in October 2014. Following the rising tensions between Turkey and Russia, more drops are expected. On the other hand, prior to the jet crisis, a decrease in numbers following numerous consecutive years of strong growth was not overly worrying. Turkish Tourism had hit an all-time peak, and it is reasonable at some point to record a small slowdown. Turkey ranks 6th in the World ranking of Tourist arrivals and 12th in receipts.



Tunisia

Thousands of planned trips to Tunisia were cancelled by Europeans horrified at the scenes of the terror attack in Sousse, just three months after the attack at the Bardo National Museum in the capital city of Tunis. The attacks had a major impact on holiday plans to Tunisia. For the rest of the summer 2016 season all big European Tour Operators who send the bulk of western visitors to Tunisia were offering alternative destinations, namely Greece, Turkey, Croatia and Spain.



Med countries encountering problems will need to re-establish their strong position in the global holiday travel market. Tourism industries can recover more quickly than one might expect.
In 1598, a defining Spanish expedition, led by conquistador Juan de Onate, departed Zacatecas, Mexico. The Spaniards and their indigenous servants, following trails previously blazed by Native Americans, made their way north to what is now Santa Fe, New Mexico, founded in 1610. To solidify its occupation, the Spanish monarchy awarded mercedes (land grants) to early settlers committed to community building. Abiquiu, Tierra Amarilla, Truchas, and many others are among the earliest land grant-based European settlements in what is now the United States.

Upon gaining its independence from Spain in 1821, Mexico recognized the validity of the mercedes. Note that nearly 1,200 miles separate Mexico City and Santa Fe. My sense is that the young republic thought it impractical to disturb things in far-flung communities, by then over two hundred years old. Things went rather swimmingly until the Mexican-American War, when, in 1846, a Manifest Destiny-driven United States waged war with Mexico, producing one of the largest land grabs in world historythe states of Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah and parts of Colorado and Wyoming.

The signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 brought an official end to the conflict, a document that ostensibly respected the legality of the Spanish land grants. However, through an institutionalized, race-based pattern of legal maneuvering, theft and violent confrontation, possession of too many of the mercedes was yanked away from the early settlers by the new conquerors at a startling scale and dizzying rate.

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Fast-forward to the creation of La Alianza Federal de Mercedes (Federal Alliance of Land Grants), led by Reies Lopez Tijerina, a charismatic ex-preacher and land grant activist. In October 1966, protesting the tolerated pattern of land dispossession and economic and social marginalization, Tijerina and his band occupied the Echo Amphitheater, a U.S. National Parks site located just west of Abiquiu. (Readers are probably more familiar with Abiquiu as the community just down the road from Georgia O'Keefe's storied Ghost Ranch.) By seizing this federal property, (sound familiar?) the group hoped to draw attention to the claims of the former land grant community of nearby San Joaquin. Things did not go well with New Mexico's governor and, upping the ante, the activists took over the Tierra Amarilla Courthouse, located north of Abiquiu, on June 5, 1967. Shooting erupted and hostage-taking ensued, followed by the prompt ouster of the activists and a massive manhunt. Tijerina and many of his followers were actively prosecuted.

Fast-forward again to the recent occupation of southeast Oregon's Malheur National Wildlife Refuge by armed anti-federalists. This white militia's seizure of federal land, now in its third week, was prompted by the imprisonment of two convicted local arsonists whose crimes were perpetrated on nearby federal lands. According to an Arizona-based militiaman holding up at the refuge, "It needs to be very clear that these buildings will never, ever return to the federal government." (Washington Post, January 17) I am not sure that rough and ready Teddy Roosevelt, who established the Malheur Refuge in 1908, would approve, nor would his government standby in response to this violation of federal law. The militia has indicated that it will use force to maintain possession, which is not sitting too well with the law-abiding folks of nearby Burns, Oregon. (I wonder if some there are thinking the situation could escalate into something resembling WGN America's The Outsiders television series.) I join millions in hoping for a peaceful solution.

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Let us be clear. In the case of New Mexico and Oregon, we are talking about Native lands. I find it unfortunate, though not surprising, that original claims of tribal sovereignty have been largely ignored in the reporting of the takeover, a most regrettable outcome of all of this.

Imagine, if you will, if a group of armed Latinos or Native Americans had occupied Malheur professing to violently resist eviction? I suspect that Harney County, state, and federal officials would have mobilized swiftly. I invite readers to imagine the scene and outcome.
A strong ethical case exists against putting wild-born captive killer whales on display in glorified swimming pools when these creatures naturally roam vast oceanic expanses.

But what about pet fish imprisoned in a tank on a mantelpiece in our homes? Are they claustrophobic victims as well and hence a weight on our conscience?

Scientists are becoming ever more convinced that even the smallest fish are sentient species capable of cognitive abilities that include communication and sensitivity to pain.

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One can certainly argue that we would be doing no favors to captive-bred ornamental fish by releasing them into the wild where they would stand little chance of survival. The odds are they would be better off in a home aquarium, provided the tank was reasonably spacious, uncrowded, filled with vegetated hiding places, and well-maintained. (Unfortunately, all too many pet fish are condemned to tiny, sterile bowls where their life span is mercifully cut short.)

But what if the pet fish in your living room were wild-caught? Although small fish do not travel the great distances of marine mammals, their freedom of movement in natural surroundings obviously exceeds their mobility in a fish tank. With this freedom usually comes superior reproduction, and more energetic responses to stimuli. Without it, the impact on wild fish is a question mark, for no tank ever completely duplicates a natural setting.

Still, there are documented negative factors. Consider that as much as 80 percent of the wild-caught tropical fish die in between capture and transit to actual sale, and that commercial demand is dangerously depleting some species. Might that not be reason to follow animal rights activists' advocacy that if you want wild-caught ornamental fish in your house, purchase a video?

Many owners of wild-caught ornamental fish have standard defenses for their acquisition. They argue that life in a fish tank is not so bad compared to the wild. After all, the threat of predation is removed, pollution is non-existent with conscientious maintenance, and there is a reliable supply of nutritious food. Pet owners contend that it is hard to tell if the fish are happy in such an enclosure, but at least outwardly, they appear to be content. Moreover, studies are cited that indicate pet ornamental fish can have a therapeutic effect on the human psyche. In some instances, the presence of the fish has been reported to soothe anxiety, lower blood pressure, and even calm hyper-active youngsters.

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Of course, an obvious retort is handy for an environmental activist concerned about the pet trade's adverse impact on tropical fish populations in the wild.
Despite an almost total lack of news coverage, genocide in Darfur is entering its fourteenth year. It is certainly the longest genocide in more than century, and shows no signs of having "decisively cooled," as a New York Times reporter suggested four years ago. On the contrary, since that time the genocide has dramatically accelerated, with massive, ethnically-targeted violence and displacement defining most of this western region of Sudan. Some areas, North Darfur in particular, are seeing levels of violence as great as those of the early days of the genocide (2003 - 2005)--a time when American civil society enthusiastically took on the cause of Darfur. So great was the campaign to "save Darfur" that even politicians felt an obligation to respond. During his campaign for president, Barack Obama called Darfur a "stain on our souls," vowing that as president, "I don't intend to abandon people or turn a blind eye to slaughter."

But the Obama administration has turned a "blind eye" to Darfur, indeed has gone so far as to "de-couple" Darfur from the major bilateral issue between Washington and Khartoum: counter-terrorism intelligence from the brutal National Islamic Front/National Congress regime responsible for the Darfur genocide in return for a lifting of U.S. sanctions.

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What does this unwillingness to look directly at the horrors in Darfur entail? A great deal, but nothing more shocking than the epidemic of sexual violence that has defined the genocide from the very beginning. A mass of evidence indicates that Khartoum's regular troops and Arab militia allies have raped many tens of thousands of non Arab/African ("black") women; and according to UN assessments, about a third of these women are girls under the age of eighteen--some as young as five and six years old. The ethnic animus in these rapes is patent. A number of human rights groups have provided compelling studies demonstrating this fundamental fact about rape as a weapon of war. Amnesty International noted telling examples early in the genocide, many from Darfuris who had fled to eastern Chad:

"[President] Omar al-Bashir told us that we should kill all the Nubas [derogatory racist term for African populations]. There is no place here for the Negroes any more." (Words of a Janjawid [Arab militia] fighter...interviewed by Amnesty International, Chad, May 2004)

M., a 50-year-old woman from Fur Baranga: "The village was attacked during the night in October 2003, when the Arabs came by cars and on horses. They said 'every black woman must be killed, even the children.'"

M., a Masalit [major African tribal group in Darfur] chief of the village of Disa, reported that during attacks in June 2003 by the Janjawid and in July and August by the [regular] military, 63 persons were killed, including his daughter. In June the Janjawid reportedly accused the villagers of being 'traitors to Omer Hassan Al-Bashir. "You are complicit with the opponents, you are Blacks, no Black can stay here, and no Black can stay in Sudan." Arab women were accompanying the attackers singing songs in praise of the government and encouraging the attackers. The women said: "The blood of the Blacks runs like water, we take their goods and we chase them from our area and our cattle will be in their land."

Those most likely to be ethnically targeted for rape are girls and women attempting to cultivate farmlands from which they have been violently displaced, typically into nearby crowded, underserved, and increasingly threatened camps. They are also attacked when they seek water or firewood for cooking. For girls, these unspeakably cruel assaults are events both physically and mentally traumatic in the extreme: many die of their physical injuries; some commit suicide; all are permanently stigmatized in the conservative Muslim ethos of Darfur. Medical care is inadequate, and fistulas and other major physical traumas go untreated. The response of local authorities is to ignore what is occurring, no matter how compelling the evidence.

One of the most recent and telling studies of rape in Darfur (2012) revealed that 49 percent of girls and women seen by a treatment center in Nyala, South Darfur had been raped. Even the most conservative extrapolation to the population as a whole yields a figure likely in the hundreds of thousands. And yet the international community is essentially silent. Reporting on Darfur, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon sometimes omits any mention of sexual violence in Darfur. And the Obama administration, despite the strong words of candidate Obama, says nothing of consequence.

As the father of two girls, now women, I am overwhelmed by this incomprehensible silence about the most heinous of crimes. The failure of the international community to pressure Khartoum to halt this weapon of genocidal counter-insurgency is despicable. If we look at present realities in Darfur honestly, we must feel nothing but shame.

[An extended analysis of the rape of women and girls in Darfur, with framing narrative, data spreadsheet, and a mapping of sexual assaults onto three regional maps of Darfur may be found at | http://wp.me/p45rOG-1QG ]
The list of human rights organizations and UN agencies that recommend decriminalization is growing. So strong is the pressure for less punitive drug policies, that it has become impossible for states to ignore. Real change has started happening as well. Cannabis has been legalized in five American states, and Canada is set to become the first G7 nation to regulate the drug. Countless others are decriminalizing personal use and possession. We have come to the realization that punitive policies infringe upon basic rights and prevent people from seeking help.

Some countries that are otherwise modern and humane, however, are ardently insisting on keeping harsh and punitive laws on the books, while trying to whitewash their resistance by serving up newspeak at the U.N. One of those countries, is Norway.

On the 8th of December, in a meeting in the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, the Norwegian delegation said "access to treatment should be voluntary" and civil society participation "should be strengthened." And on the 10th of December, the Norwegian delegation claimed that "all treatment in Norway is voluntary."

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The Norwegian claims are, at best, a stretch of the truth.

The so-called "alternatives to prison" in Norway consist of drug courts or urine control contracts. Through drug court programs addicts facing prison are offered different forms of aid to get their lives back on track if they choose the program over prison. The programs include regular urine controls. Repeatedly failing controls can lead back to prison, and only one third of those who choose the programs complete them successfully.

For people between 15 and 18 caught with cannabis, urine control contracts are now the recommended sanction. They were marketed as "voluntary drug contracts," but have since been dubbed the more palatable "youth contracts," after health workers in Bergen complained that young people were being coerced to sign.

Those who choose this "alternative to punishment" are sometimes offered therapy sessions, but also have to pee in front of a stranger every week for up to a year. Should those who enter into agreements fail a test, they will be reported by health personnel, prosecuted and receive a fine and a criminal record. Health workers have complained of being uncomfortable with reporting their clients.

Police do not distinguish between problematic users and non-problematic users, and young people are also being pressured into turning themselves in and entering into agreements by concerned parents and friends. Arguably the regime is more punitive and intrusive than fines. No one knows whether those who enter into contracts actually discontinue use when the agreement expires, and many have said the urine controls pressured them into using dangerous synthetic drugs that are not as easily detected.

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The police are prone to overstepping their mandate and infringe upon basic rights. In their eagerness to combat drugs, they have conducted illegal searches of schools using sniffer dogs, and entered into conflict with the School Student Union of Norway as a result. They have shamed students who possessed drugs in front of peers, and there are reports of parents who are warned they will be reported to Child Protective Services should they let their teenager choose a fine over a drug contract.

How any of this can be consistent with government claims that treatment is and should be voluntary, is a mystery. When people first hear of "alternatives to punishment" what comes to mind is replacing punishment with something more humane. Not forced treatment and intrusive controls where the government reserves the right to revert back to a punitive sanction. It is worth mentioning that UN recommendations include banning forced treatment.

The basic premise, relieving fear from prosecution thus making people feel safe to seek help for their drug problems sought by organizations such as the WHO arguably isn't fulfilled by current "alternatives to punishment" in Norway. It might sound nice, but it isn't.

Regarding civil society participation, the Norwegian government regularly includes the temperance movement (Actis) as their NGO partner at the UN. Actis claims to represent the whole substance use field in Norway, a claim which is patently untrue. The organization does not allow membership to reform minded NGOs. Actis also receives millions in government support, and people in their leadership are friends with the Health Minister on Facebook.

Reform minded organizations such as The association for humane drug policy, the Norwegian NORML and Emmasofia are not included. The existence of a plethora of organizations that claim to represent drug users, but in fact do not consist of actual users, is a situation eerily similar to that which homosexual liberation organizations faced in the 1960s and 1970s. So similar, in fact, that the Swedish reform minded NGO Brukarforeningen uses the slogan "NOTHING ABOUT US WITHOUT US."

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Perhaps the most telling proof of how dirty behind-the-scenes schemes currently are, is the fact that Dept. of Health officials have found a clever technicality to support a claim that Actis is more representative than reform minded NGOs. The only umbrella organization that allows organizations that support the status quo as well as reform minded organizations, which might have provided fairer representation, The Academic Council on Alcohol and Drugs, risks being blocked from participation because it also has public institutions among its' members.

The whole point of civil society participation must be letting grassroots voices of those affected negatively by current drug policies participate. That the Norwegian government is arguing for civil society participation while only including those who agree with them and not the active drug user organizations is arguably not very democratic. Having a liberal democracy includes offering rights -- and a voice -- to large minorities, even if their actions are unpopular with the majority.
Through university courses, conferences, and reports facilitated by academic staff, the utility industry and its trade association, the Edison Electric Institute, have boosted lobbying efforts targeting state government officials and decision makers.

According to a report released today by Energy and Policy Institute, university-based institutes and faculty provide an avenue for utility special interests to educate regulators and advocate for favorable policies and regulatory regimes under the guise of an academic veil. Institutes and staff funded by industry and based at Louisiana State University, New Mexico State University, Harvard University, and the University of Wisconsin produced reports, opinion pieces, and educational events that ultimately support the utility industry's positions in regulatory and political discussions on the future of the electric industry.



With clean energy sources becoming more competitive each day, fossil fuel interests continue to spread misinformation in an effort to slow the deployment of sustainable energy solutions, and are now using universities to echo their anti-clean energy message. Universities need to prevent faculty and programs from being influenced by special interests, especially while they are receiving funding from corporations and trade associations. Otherwise, they run the risk of losing credibility and appearing like pay-to-play advocacy groups instead of independent academic institutions.

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Case Studies of Utility Influence at Universities



Our report discovered utility industry influence at four universities where either faculty have routinely advocated against clean energy or institutes regularly host seminars and conferences to educate regulatory staff and utility regulators. Unfortunately, what we found shows that university centers and staff are being used to support the advocacy goals of utility special interests and their trade association.

The Louisiana State University (LSU) AgCenter released a solar report in early 2015 entitled, "Solar Power for Your Home: A Consumer's Guide." Through freedom of information requests, Energy and Policy Institute revealed that the utility trade association, EEI, not only funded the report, but provided editorial recommendations. Multiple drafts were sent between LSU and EEI in the months leading up to publication.

LSU professor David Dismukes is also featured in our report for his role in producing an economic study attacking distributed solar energy. Dismukes runs Acadian Consulting, whose clients include Duke Energy, NRG Energy, CLECO Corporation, Sempra Energy, and many other utility and fossil fuel interests. Dismukes' report did not accurately analyze the cost of distributed solar energy systems for other ratepayers (which is what he was hired to do by the Louisiana Public Service Commission). Instead, he produced a report that focused on the cost of the state's 50% tax credit for installing new solar panels.

Similarly, the Harvard Electricity Policy Group (HEPG), run by former Ohio Public Utilities Commissioner Ashley Brown, received funding from American Electric Power, Duke Energy, FirstEnergy, Southern Company, and many other utility companies. Brown has routinely criticized the value of solar in public testimony, academic journals, and opinion pieces. In many cases, both Brown and the publications failed to disclose that his organization receives funding from utility interests, and that Brown produces expert testimony as a consultant for utility companies in public hearings.

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The Center for Public Utilities (CPU) at New Mexico State University provides training programs for utility commissioners and other professionals involved in the electricity industry. However, CPU relies on EEI to help craft its training program. EEI and over a dozen utility companies, including Arizona Public Service Company, MidAmerican Energy (part of Berkshire Hathaway) and Pepco, are sponsors of the center.

Finally, the Wisconsin Public Utilities Institute (WPUI), housed at the University of Wisconsin, is at least partially funded by its "Sustaining Members", which include Alliant Energy, Madison Gas & Electric, WeEnergies, Wisconsin Public Service, and Xcel Energy. WPUI routinely hosts EEI-branded courses designed to educate staff of state utility commissions. These EEI courses feature utility industry staff and consultants as the instructors and teach an EEI-recommended curriculum.

Academic Integrity or Pay-to-Play Centers of Influence



Universities run the risk of losing their academic integrity and risk credibility when they act like pay-to-play advocacy groups instead of independent academic institutions. The utility industry has long exerted its influence across the country, but academic institutions should avoid producing programs or research that is skewed towards the opinions of funders.

In one instance, Peter Taglia, a board member of the Wisconsin Public Utilities Institute, expressed concern that course presentations reflected too much of the utility industry's viewpoint. Taglia raised specific concerns about the lack of balance in programs run by WPUI and the institute's continued involvement with the utility trade association, EEI. Those concerns were ignored and, after attempting to reform the institute's practices, he was not re-nominated for a board position.
I am really disappointed in you, Marco Rubio, because I think there was a time when you did not lie in order to win, she said.
Two years ago, I stood with the CEO of Asia's largest agribusiness, Wilmar International, to launch the company's groundbreaking "No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation" policy. This was a big deal: Wilmar controls approximately 45 percent of global palm oil trade, is the biggest importer of soybeans from Latin America and is one of the largest sugar companies in the world. All of those crops are heavily associated with destruction of the world's tropical rainforests. We knew there would be challenges, but we hoped that Wilmar's move would spark a revolution that would break the link between expansion of agriculture and deforestation, a link that has existed for millennia.

Two years on, we've seen the beginnings of what could be that revolution: The commitments made in the Wilmar policy have become the new benchmark for responsible commodity agriculture, and have been adopted by major companies representing the overwhelming majority of global palm oil trade. Both Wilmar's joint venture partner Archer Daniels Midland (an agriculture giant in its own right) and competitor Bunge adopted similar commitments for soy in Latin America.

And global consumer companies like Kellogg, Mars, Dunkin' Donuts and dozens of others all adopted policies that, once implemented in full, aim to ensure that their products will be free of links to deforestation.

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As discussed in a progress report it released today in Davos, Wilmar even brought a measure of real transparency to an industry that was long notorious for opacity by disclosing the identities and mill locations of more than 800 of its suppliers, driving major competitors to do the same. Private sector actors who had previously been Mother Nature's leading antagonists were suddenly leading the global charge for conservation.

Nonetheless, despite these enormous strides, the challenges have also dramatically exceeded expectations. Indeed, despite private sector action, 2015 was a terrible year for Southeast Asia's forests. Deliberately set forest fires in Indonesia engulfed more than two million hectares. While the palm oil industry alone wasn't responsible for the fires, rogue palm oil companies lit fires that contributed significantly to the destruction. On several days, Indonesia's forest fires were releasing more pollution into the air than China or the United States' entire economies.

It's clear that companies, including Wilmar, need to do more -- a lot more. Independent NGOs continue to find major suppliers like Bumitama and Kencana Agri clearing forests and abusing community rights. These breaches show that too many suppliers either require more education or more rigorous sanction, or both. Wilmar deserves a lot of credit for setting the industry pace by working with The Forest Trust to quickly and aggressively to grievances raised by civil society, including by in some instances cutting off suppliers that have refused to comply with their policy. But rather than just reacting to grievances filed, companies like Wilmar, Cargill, IOI and GAR need to be more proactive in providing information on what's going on out there.

Indeed, although several companies have followed Wilmar's lead in identifying their suppliers and mill locations, no company is providing information on supplier performance on reducing deforestation, the metric that ultimately matters. Nor are companies always making clear to the public or suppliers what the consequences of non-compliance are. This transparency gap should be an area of major focus for the industry in 2016, and Wilmar can once again lead the way.

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The other lesson from the fires is equally clear: private sector action is necessary but not sufficient to provide a long-term future for forests, wildlife and people. Governments must do much more to enforce laws against deforestation. While the Indonesian government has recently taken some positive steps to avoid a repeat of this summer's crisis, during the crisis itself several senior officials attacked companies like Wilmar that were leading the charge for conservation. Indonesia needs to actually demonstrate dramatic reductions in deforestation before it has a realistic hope of regaining the confidence of global customers who have a growing array of options when it comes to sustainable sourcing. In turn, companies should more energetically join with civil society to support government efforts to hold anyone who destroys forests and peatlands legally accountable.

The potential of this kind of joint action is proven. In Brazil, the major soy companies (and later the large cattle companies too) banded together to create a moratorium on deforestation in the Amazon. Growers and whole districts were held responsible for any breaches, giving everyone from farmers to corporate executives a powerful incentive to protect the forest. The result: within three years, Brazil had virtually eliminated deforestation for soy in the Amazon, a huge global success. Meanwhile, Brazil has doubled cattle and soy production, showing that it is possible to break the link between deforestation and growth on a grand scale. That kind of progress is possible in the palm oil industry as well, but it will require companies to lead the way.

Finally, companies should start the process of undoing at least some of the damage that has been done. The palm oil industry has a moral responsibility to restore an area of forest equivalent to that which it has cleared. Reforestation efforts have in the past run into governance and other challenges, but countries like the Philippines have shown it is possible to conduct large-scale, ecologically sensitive restoration projects in Southeast Asia. Following their example would be an opportunity for Wilmar and other companies - as well as regional governments - to show the world that they are truly embarking on a long-term sustainable future.
It started as a joke, or for those obsessed with conspiracies, a new obsession.

The conspiracy? Donald Trump is running for president of the United States only to concede to Hillary Clinton. Former Florida Gov. Jeb accuses Trump and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in his new ad of having a secret master plan:

If @realDonaldTrump is the nominee, @HillaryClinton will be elected president. We cant let that happen.https://t.co/1DcpJYoV8V  Jeb Bush (@JebBush) January 20, 2016

Could It Be True?



Bill and Hillary Clinton at the reception of Donald Trump and Melania Knauss in Palm Beach, Fla., on January 22, 2005

(Getty Images)

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The two families were once close--the Clintons, who attended Trump's wedding reception, back in 2005 for his marriage to Melania Knuass, have a past of being friendly with the Trumps.

But recently accusations against Trump have been circulating as conservatives feel he has walked both sides of several issues before. Bush's ad accuses Trump and Clinton of conspiring to take down the GOP.

Dreams of Commander in Chief

April 12, 2015, Clinton announces she will again, be running for president.

Then just two months later on June 16, Trump announces his big news, "So ladies and gentlemen, I am officially running for president of the United States."

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Beef with the GOP

In 1999 Donald Trump renounces the Republican Party saying, "I really believe that Republicans are just too crazy right." He said when "he declared he would register with the Independence party, the New York version of the Reform Party," according to a New York Times article written in 1999.

GOP Fears Mole

Trump had previously supported Clinton's presidential candidacy and supported her during her time as a New York senator. Trump interviewed with Fox and Friends on July 15, 2015 where he admitted to past contributions to Clinton's campaign, "I'm a businessman, I contribute to everybody ... That's part of the problem with the system," Trump said nearly six months ago. He defended his contribution and downplayed it after suspicions from the GOP of a liberal mole.

In this same interview Trump attacks the then Texas Gov. and presidential candidate Rick Perry on his failure to maintain the border but appears nonchalant about friend Hillary, ""Nice person, has no energy, will never bring our country back," Trump said on Fox and Friends.

Changing Positions on Big GOP Issues

Abortion

On October 24, 1999, Trump interviewed on Meet the Press and said, "I'm very pro-choice. I hate the concept of abortion... But you still... I just believe in choice. It may be a little bit of a New York background... I am pro choice in every respect."

Ontheissues.org reported that in 2011 Trump changed his stance on abortion, the once 'pro-choice' individual switches to 'pro-life'. Then 10 months later says it should be defunded.

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In August of 2015 he says Planned Parenthood is important, but it should be defunded after the allegations were made that the government-funded organization was using aborted fetuses for research.

Gun Control

2000 In Trump's book "The America We Deserve" "I generally oppose gun control, but I support the ban on assault weapons and I also support a slightly longer waiting period to purchase a gun," he said. "With today's Internet technology we should be able to tell within seventy-two hours if a potential gun owner has a record."

Trump's views on gun control are listed clearly on his campaign site "The Second Amendment to our Constitution is clear. The right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed upon. Period."

Trump has become so pro-guns that he has even blamed the Paris terror attacks on too strict of gun control "Had there been some guys with a gun, there would have been a shootout and probably the primary people that would have got whacked would have been the killers," Trump said on CNBC's "Squawk Box."

Health Care

In 2000, Trump said it was important for Americans to have universal health care, with the then 42 million who were uninsured at the time. Trump said as a country, "we take care of our own" but now the presidential hopeful is changing his tone in hopes to eradicate Obamacare and possibly utilize a 'health savings account', which has been discussed by Republican candidate Ben Carson.

Presidential Dreams Coming True

The Republican presidential candidate has almost thrown himself onto the ballot, going back to 1988. While in 1988, the real estate tycoon traveled to New Hampshire, he did not start a presidential run. Then in 2000, he realigned himself with another party, making him ideologically ineligible to run for the Republican nomination. In early September 3 2015, the New York native, signed the Republican National Committee's Loyalty Pledge, to ensure he would not run as an independent. Since then, Trump has remained vocal about his political ideas and openly stated his ideas on gun control, abortion and other highly discussed issues. Now, Trump is in high gear, leading in the majority of Iowa polls, and all of the national polls.

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Is it Real?

Tell us what you think, is Bush making a desperate swipe at Trump? Or is the conspiracy real? Comment below. For the both of us, we will have to wait until the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, July 21, 2016.
I don't think that politicians in our secular country should be quoting the Bible to make their case for legislation. That's why I half agree with Virginia Rep. Dave Brat, the GOP lawmaker who famously upset former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in a 2014 Republican primary. Here's the half with which I disagree. Brat said that it's fine for Republicans to quote the Bible, but not for Democrats to do so. He continued, "Our side, the conservative side, needs to re-educate its people that we own the entire [biblical] tradition." What especially drew Brat's ire was President Obama's reasons for allowing Syrian refugees to enter our country, which included a biblical reference from James 1:27 about looking after widows and orphans.

If politicians can't provide good evidence-based reasons to support an issue, they shouldn't rely on an ancient pre-scientific book written by bigoted, misogynistic, homophobic, intolerant, superstitious men. I understand why politicians often pander to people who prefer black and white theocratic decisions. After all, political pandering is bi-partisan. Brat, however, goes too far. Although I find his comments mildly amusing, if I were a Christian I'd be incensed by the way Brat is giving Christians a bad name (or worse name, depending on your point of view).

Some Republicans say we need to take our country back, but they usually don't specify where or from whom. Perhaps they want to take our country back from a black president, or from Democrats. But they are not saying we need to take our government back, so perhaps they want to take our country back to the bad old days before we adopted civil rights legislation, equal rights for women and other minorities, and social programs that helped people in need.

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On the other hand, many Christians want everyone to read the Bible--often standing on my street handing out Bible tracts to everyone, regardless of race, color, creed, or political affiliation. But Rep. Brat's mantra seems primarily to be, "Take our Bible back (from Democrats)." And I understand why, because Democrats might quote passages that Brat doesn't want to hear. With all the Bible's contradictions and ambiguities, Republicans and Democrats alike can easily find phrases to make their case. If you want war, quote Matthew 10: 34: "I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." If you want peace, quote Matthew 5:39, about turning the other cheek.

You can also find quotes to show that Jesus was a secular progressive, maybe even a communist. Examples include Mark 10:25: It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Matthew19:21: To be perfect, sell your possessions and give them to the poor. Acts 2:44: All the believers were together and had everything in common.

Apparently, a lot of Republicans either don't read the Bible or don't think it applies to them. Which brings me to Donald Trump, currently a favorite among evangelical Christians. Recently at Liberty University, Trump quoted from "Second Corinthians" (II Corinthians), which he referred to as "Two Corinthians." Trump rarely concedes first place to anything or anybody else. But during his speech he said that the Bible was even better than his best-selling book, The Art of the Deal. Or, as Trump might say, "My book is the two (second) best book in the world."
By Joe Sutton for IndieReader

If your dream for your indie book includes having it bought and read by tens of thousands of devoted fans--ultimately leading to the attention of, and sale to, a traditional publisher--you wouldn't be the first. And guess what? One of the best kept secrets in the publishing industry is how often this scenario plays out.

You have to be in it to win it, and today, being able to get your words from your computer onto an e-reader takes less time and costs less money than it ever did before. And once a book takes a firm grip on public attention, there's no denying that indie authors can prove to publishers that their work is worth the risk.

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In addition to Ms. Gaynor, following find a list of six more authors whose readers' response was so overwhelming that they caught--and kept--big publishers' attention.

Children's author Carl-Johan Forssen Ehrlin caught the blogosphere by storm last year after Penguin Random House released new editions internationally of his popular book The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep. Ehrlin, who is Swedish, originally self-published the book back in 2011; last August, the publishing rights were bought by Random House for seven figures.

The unassuming bedtime read's popularity stems from how well it encourages relaxation before bedtime for children and parents alike. The book's typography helps parents to emphasize certain phrases and rhythms, with the book's narration serving as a sort of guided meditation, instructing listeners to relax each part of their body from their feet up as they drift off to dreamland.

Prior to the international re-release, Ehrlin shopped his book at various seminars and classes, which prompted some popularity via word-of-mouth. After lighting a fire in the Swedish market, Ehrlin eventually self-published a U.K. edition on Amazon, where it climbed the Amazon bestseller list. The rest is history!

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Ehrlin is an example of someone with a fresh voice whose book grew in popularity thanks to its use for parents and children. But he's not the only one: earlier this year 19 year-old Aija Mayrock caught Scholastic's attention with her book The Survival Guide to Bullying. Mayrock, being a teen who had experienced bullying throughout her time in school, was able to offer a young, relatable voice close to her audience. The book is as much fun as it is useful: in addition to tips to deal with bullying, Mayrock included confidence-boosting poems and quizzes into the book as well. It was rereleased by Scholastic in July.

Another popular topic of conversation lately is The Martian, Ridley Scott's latest out-of-this-world feature. The movie's received a lot of praise, though not everyone may be aware of the film's humble beginnings as an indie novel by Andy Weir. Weir self-published the book in 2011--first on his blog, then on Amazon--receiving a book deal by Crown Publishing Group only three years later.

In its original edition, The Martian made Amazon's Top 200 overall list; since the re-release from Crown Publishing, Weir's book became a New York Times bestseller. Weir is thankful to Amazon for securing him such an ardently supportive reader base: "Amazon has an amazing reach," Weir told the San Jose Mercury News</em> of his experience publishing The Martian as an ebook. "A lot more people bought it than read it on my site for free."

What made the book so popular? Weir constructed something unique in the sci-fi genre: an outer space tale that's more science than fantasy. All of the technology featured in the book is real and exists today (although those innovations might not presently be operating at the same scale as in the novel.) There's no apocalyptic dystopia here--just fascinating science featured in a story of survival.

Weir isn't the only one to be blessed by Hollywood recently. Just as bestselling indie author A.G. Riddle's book Departure was acquired by 20th Century Fox, HarperCollins snagged the book rights. Selling for an astounding seven figure sum, the popular book follows survivors of a plane crash who soon discover a strange connection between themselves and the past, present and future.

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Also this year, New York Times bestselling indie author Jasinda Wilder nabbed her first traditional publishing deal for a whole new trilogy with Berkley Books, the first book of which released last November.

Wilder has been an advocate for self-publishing for years, and despite the Berkley deal she doesn't plan on turning her back to the scene. "Make no mistake, I am still a strong advocate for--and hope to continue to be a strong example of--self-publishing," she told USA Today. "I think there was a lot that needed change [in the publishing industry]," she said, "and the indie revolution has sparked those changes, has become a catalyst for change within the industry."

Wilder also mentioned the opportunity to work with a new editor, Cindy Hwang, as a highlight for the deal. Often, we might think of traditional publishers simply providing advances or marketing for a novel, and it's easy to forget the efforts that go into producing a book such as editing, formatting and more--which publishers can help with. For the most prolific indie authors with hungry readers eagerly awaiting the next release, it can make a lot of sense to outsource some of that stress to a publisher while focusing on the next book. Of course, not all authors have this luxury--though it's easy to see why Wilder would take the opportunity to go the traditional route while still advocating the indie path.

When it comes to taking a balanced approach between indie and traditional publishing, bestseller Jennifer L. Armentrout (aka J. Lynn) serves as a great example.

Armentrout published 13 books with Spencer Hill Press and Entangled Publishing before opting to go indie with Wait for You, which became a fast sensation: the book rose to the tops of many bestseller lists, hitting the #1 spot in the New York Times and USA Today lists. The overwhelming response caught the attention of HarperCollins in 2013, who struck a six-figure deal with Armentrout. The publisher reprinted Wait for You under the Avon imprint, buying up two future titles in the series as well.

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To date, Armentrout has five titles with the publisher including Wait for You, the most recent of which was released last September.

Of course, most great stories have a twist, and the one here would be that even a six figure deal with a traditional publisher can pale to the money that can be made by a successful self-published author. So if the opportunity comes up, make sure to read the small print before signing.

Like what you've read? Check out IndieReader daily for more content like this. Like to be included in this type of post? Check out IndieReader's Author Services for more info.
In this July 14, 2013 photo, Pastor Carl Lentz, foreground, leads a Hillsong NYC Church service at Irving Plaza in New York. With his half-shaved head, jeans and tattoos, Lentz doesn't look like the typical religious leader. But with its concert-like atmosphere and appeal to a younger demographic, his congregation, Hillsong NYC, is one of the fastest growing evangelical churches in the city. (AP Photo/Tina Fineberg)

I get up early on Sunday morning and drive to the manufacturing district, which is totally desolate. I'm self-conscious because I'm visiting a hipster church. Naked, too, because I've got no tats. Not even a Bible verse across my ribs from my grad school days. And, at 59, I'm totally grey. My beard. Even my chest hair. (My ear hair isn't, but it's growing long because I'm old.) My eyebrows, too, they're going grey. Legit not on fleek, so I'm embarrassed to begin with. I park my 2004 Honda Odyssey a ways away, obvs, and walk toward the front door of a warehouse building at the end of a deserted street. Totally trendy sign on the side of the building. They open the door for me and smile and say, "Hi! Welcome!" and hand me a piece of paper.

So far, so good. #awesome

Inside is hip, too. To the left, there's a white wall with little rectangular tiles the size of small bricks at the back of a coffee bar. Java! Yaaaaas! Now I'm right at home because I'm from Seattle. So I ask for decaf, but they literally don't even have it. That's right. I'm grey--and can't drink regular. But they're not old. They can drink regular. #typical. I drink pouch-poured hot chocolate. So I feel a little less welcome, but it's my fault (or my body's fault) I can't turn up like I used to.

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I look around. There's a little alcove to the right where you walk into the worship space. It has repurposed wood walls. In the middle is a wood cross made up of small, square, rusty nails. Literally so freaking cool.

Now the backstory. (I didn't grow up with this word, so it must be trendy, right?) I taught a class this week on the Holy Spirit. I wanted us to be somewhere Pentecostal or charismatic--somewhere growing--on Sunday. There's just 7 of us altogether in the squad. Two white guys in our 50s. Two guys in their 20s, a young white guy, and an Indian guy (his parents are from India). A 40-something red-head, and 2 African-American women, 1 in her 50s, 1 in her 60s.

Why do you need to know that? Because the people at the church we visited were mostly white. I'm talking 96% white. And mostly young.

So the 7 of us come early because the website, which is totally hip, says Sunday worship begins at 10. It doesn't. It begins at 10:20. Because starting on the hour or half hour would be way too mainstream.

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So what to do? We stand in a small half moon in the little alcove which most of the regulars have to pass through to get to the 10:20 service. In and out they go, out and in, passing our little multicultural half-moon without a word. In and out. Out and in. Not a word. Not one.

30 minutes of silence.

1800 seconds tick by without a hello.

I know a lot of people are angry at the suit-and-tie, Sunday-best church. And a lot of churches, with speakers sporting tattoo sleeves, are giving them a home where they don't have to get bored or angry or petulant. The main speaker--the pastor, I guess--talked about dry church.

The church I'm attending is not dry, of course. They're wet. They don't have the crinkly skin or decrepit traditions of old people and obsolete churches.

You're angry at dry church.

You're bored by dry church.

You're sick of dry church.

I get it.

But are you much different from dry church? Or any better, really? When 7 people--people who look a lot different from most of you--stand and half-moon you in the alcove, why don't you stop to say hello?

You don't shake our hands.

You don't smile.

You don't tell us your name.

And admit it. You know we're not one of yours. A 66-year-old African American woman? No way. An Indian? I didn't see one. Except for my student. And there are 7 of us standing at the entrance to the worship room, which has more repurposed wood and a skylight and stark concrete warehouse walls and a drummer in a glass box.

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I'm angry.

I'm bored by hipster inhospitality.

I'm irked by Bohemian indifference.

I'm annoyed by trendy aloofness.

No, that's not right.

I'm sad. Disappointed that a church which, on its website, claims that thousands have been touched by its members, couldn't greet strangers in their midst. Their website even makes a lot of going in to worship and out to serve.
Back in summer of 2005, I launched Dynasty Podcasts as Chicago's first ever and longest-running music podcast. Over the last ten years, I've been fortunate enough to conduct interviews with some genuinely remarkable artists and industry figures from the Chicago music community. What follows are ten episodes of Dynasty Podcasts from the last ten years that stand out to me for one reason or another. From Metro owner Joe Shanahan to Flosstradamus to The Lawrence Arms and more. Enjoy!

Joe Shanahan (Metro Chicago)

In 2012, Chicago's iconic Metro concert hall celebrated its 30th anniversary. To mark the occasion, Dynasty Podcasts visited venue founder and owner Joe Shanahan at a visual retrospective for the venue held in a Chicago Loop event space. Joined by graphic designer Ryne Estwing, Shanahan reflect on the venue's past three decades, recalling relationships with legacy artists like R.E.M. and The Smashing Pumpkins. For an enhanced version of this interview, check out the short film edition, featuring posters, passes, and other memorabilia from Metro's historic archives.

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Gabe McDonough

Chicago music licensing operation Music Dealers has been a longtime supporter of Dynasty Podcasts, and in fall of 2013, the music company partnered with the podcast for a live industry discussion with then-VP, Music Director at Leo Burnett, Gabe McDonough. Over the course of 45 minutes, McDonough spoke at length about the intersection of music and advertising, as well as shedding light on how artists can pursue music licensing opportunities and the potential for monetization.

Billy Corgan (The Smashing Pumpkins)

Since the end of 2011, The Smashing Pumpkins have been reissuing their classic albums in chronological order. In the summer of 2014, the reissue of 1998's experimental effort Adore and the then-forthcoming full length Monuments to an Elegy were both on the horizon. At a coffee shop in the northern suburbs of Chicago, Corgan opened up about simultaneously living in the past, present, and future of the Smashing Pumpkins all at once. The Pumpkins frontman also shed light on his decision to open up his songbook from all eras of his work for upcoming live events.

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Joe Trohman (Fall Out Boy)

When pop punk juggernaut Fall Out Boy took a hiatus in 2009, there were more questions than answers, with little concrete info to be found. Which made the inclusion of FOB guitarist Joe Trohman in a Morrissey tribute set in December of that year alongside Chicago music icons like Bob Nanna and Mike Kinsella all the more surprising. Recorded in the upstairs green room of Subterranean, Trohman opens up about stepping out of his comfort zone after the initial and nonstop advent of Fall Out Boy, as well as speaking candidly about the band's break.

Flosstradamus

While Chicago boys made good Flosstradamus are now regularly spreading the HDYBYZ and HDYGRLZ gospel all over the world, in November of 2011, the duo were in Chicago for an EP release show at Lincoln Hall. In an interview recorded backstage at the Lincoln Park venue, Floss' Josh Young and Curt Cameruci open up about their Midwestern work ethic and reflect on the group's culture during their earliest days.

Tim McIlrath (Rise Against)

For Record Store Day 2010, Rise Against frontman Tim McIlrath made a visit to Reckless Records in the Loop, where he found time for a quick chat with Dynasty Podcasts. There, McIlrath recalled the suburban Chicago record stores where he discovered pre-grunge punk acts like Minor Threat and Fugazi--purchases that would play no small part in influencing the sound and direction of Rise Against.

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Kill Hannah

Chicago's infamous glam-rock institution Kill Hannah recently closed out their career with a string of farewell shows both at home and abroad in December of last year. But back in December of 2012, the group's Mat Devine, Dan Wiese, Greg Corner, Elias Mallin, and Jonny Radtke gathered at JBTV to answer audience questions as part of that year's New Heart for Christmas holiday event. The discussion is noteworthy if for no other reason than the fact that it's a rare occurrence to get a full lineup of Kill Hannah in the same room and all on mics at the same time, given how many of the group's (now former) members live out of state these days.



Celine Neon

Chicago electro pop act Celine Neon has been making noise across the city lately, from theatrical live shows to their recently released Kitty EP. In the upstairs green room of Subterranean in March of 2015, the duo of Emily Nejad and Maggie Kubley brought their trademark snark and effortless interplay to Dynasty Podcasts for an interview around the release of their self-titled debut EP. What followed was a discussion ranging from more serious subjects like the building of their brand, to the reveling in the celebration of all things BILF.

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The Lawrence Arms

The Lawrence Arms have always been one of Chicago's strongest and most underrated punk rock offerings, responsible for classic efforts like 2003's The Greatest Story Ever Told. Yet 2014's Metropole came almost a decade after the group's prior full length: 2006's Oh! Calcutta!. In an interview backstage at Metro in summer of 2014, vocalists Chris McCaughan and Brendan Kelly weighed in on the break between records, sharing how the band's hiatus helped their creative process.
It's only natural that the battle for a man's soul feels dangerous, especially when that man betrayed Jesus. There has been a crackling element of menace throughout the rehearsals for Estelle Parsons' production of Stephen Adly Guirgis' The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, to the point that the Oscar winner/theatre icon tells me, "We stopped [one exercise] when it was clear that it was going to result in violence."

Such things aren't uncommon at the Actors Studio, where Judas is the third play in Parsons' "Theater and Social Justice" series, which examines works that address such large cultural themes as race, poverty, and religion. But unlike the program's previous minimalist productions -- Leland Gantt's solo show Rhapsody in Black and the three-character Mud by Maria Irene Fornes -- Judas is a grand spectacle, featuring a cast of twenty-seven and a nearly three-hour running time. Thanks to the actors' intense vivacity (which includes that air of conflict) and Parsons' electrifying direction, the show absolutely flies. Danger can be a good thing.

Guirgis' provocative play centers on the trial of a now-comatose Judas Iscariot (Gabriel Furman). In Purgatory, fiery defense attorney Fabiana Aziza Cunningham (Suzanne DiDonna) faces off against sycophantic prosecutor Yusef El-Fayoumy (Dan Grimaldi) to appeal her client's eternal damnation. While colorful witnesses like Mother Teresa (Bob Adrian), Sigmund Freud (Timothy Doyle), and Satan (Javier Molina) take the stand, Biblical figures pop up in standalone scenes to share their memories of Jesus. Ultimately the biggest questions are left for the audience's consideration: What is faith? What is friendship? What do you believe?

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Estelle loves how Guirgis' writing allows every character, even those who appear only briefly, to create impactful moments onstage. "In the original they were all doubling [the parts]," she notes. "But I thought, 'This is such a wonderful opportunity to do a great big play that nobody else can do, because if there's one thing we have at the Studio it's all these actors!'"

Judas is also one of the most diverse projects to emerge from the Studio in recent years, featuring not only a multicultural cast but adding some Spanish dialogue as well for Saint Peter (Jose Ignacio Gomez) and Matthias of Galilee (Victor Almanzar).

The Studio hasn't been a diverse place historically, but these are really impressive actors. I said to them all, "Okay, we're the sexiest, most attractive things you've got." And it's worked. I hope their [energy] will encourage the audience to be interactive.

Indeed, Parsons' version is so enthralling it's almost immersive. While the original Off-Broadway staging of Judas in 2005 -- directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman and starring Eric Bogosian and Sam Rockwell among others -- had critics divided over its unwieldiness and baffled by odd uses of space, Estelle focused on making every choice significant.

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I wasn't sure how to do it initially. We'd been working on little scenes for a year or more, and usually when I'm going to direct something I have a visual sense of it right away. But on this one I said to [set designer] Peter Larkin, "I know what it should be but I can't figure out how." And he said, "It's just like a burlesque show."

What this incarnation of Judas does so well is to combine burlesque aspects with genuine emotion. Lights come up on an empty performance area and gentle music is heard that sounds like rain. (All music and sound effects in the play are courtesy of Estelle's longtime collaborator, Yukio Tsuji, who improvised his melodies according to the spirit of each rehearsal.) Suddenly Judas' mother (JoAnna Rhinehart) enters, explaining the wretched conditions of her son's death in an impassioned monologue. Rhinehart's brilliant delivery, plus real tears, alerts the crowd that they're about to watch something very special. And once she disappears, the antics ensue. Angel Gloria (Richarda Abrams) welcomes everyone to Hope, "located in downtown Purgatory... [where] litigation is the order of the day." Immediately the entire cast caravan in and construct the set, advising people in the front row to "watch their knees" as they slap together the attorneys' tables. Within moments they've transformed the black box theatre into a courtroom, and the audience is the gallery, strapped in for wild proceedings.

Parsons has her troupe make the most of Guirgis' ridiculous situations -- El-Fayoumy ogling Judas' mother, Saints Peter and Matthew (Lash Dooley) griping about their dislike for each other, Mother Teresa invoking an Irish nun (Myla Pitt) who repeats the same lines over and over -- with such righteous anger that every action is riveting. Each character moves in a distinctive way, and tensions are highest when actors prove their mastery of listening and responding. (I remember being truly haunted at one rehearsal when Gabe Fazio, testifying as Simon the Zealot, became so consumed by his character that he snapped at DiDonna, "I don't have to be here! Now repeat your question.")

The three leads keep the "power" juggling between them as each commands an exaggerated presence. DiDonna plays up Cunningham's sexpot gypsy aspects, clad in tight black boots and bangles, while Grimaldi sputters through El-Fayoumy's speeches with long-winded hilarious pageantry and Tom Brangle indulges in some entertaining ham as the blustery, buffoonish judge. Their one-liners hit fast (Cunningham: "I live in Purgatory." Judge: "Well, you shoulda kept your legs closed."), but their performances stay with you.

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Because Judas is such a circus, it's fascinating to see who else nabs the most attention. Delissa Reynolds stands out as Heaven's self-appointed "nag" Saint Monica, whose motormouthed speeches bring the essence of God directly to the homies. Almanzar delights as the boyish Matthias of Galilee, so sweetly obsessed with spinning tops that you just want to hug him. Fazio's Simon the Zealot is threatening and intriguing at the same time. There's Burnadair Lipscomb-Hunt as a more mature Mary Magdalene, belting out each line to the rafters like solos in a church choir. Count Stovall is an imposing presence as Caiaphas the Elder, with a voice that seems to have merged the dulcet tones of James Earl Jones and Kelsey Grammer. I can't help but be thrust into reveries of Rhapsody in Black when Leland Gantt struts his stuff as Pontius Pilate, embracing his thug persona for all it's worth. And Lawrence Sharp, as the unassuming Saint Thomas, delivers his monologue in Act Two with such determined sincerity that it's no surprise to hear the whole room applaud when he finishes.

Of course, Guirgis' play wouldn't be complete without some discussion of pure good and pure evil. It's easy to steal the show when you're embodying Satan, but Molina affects a quiet charisma. During his scenes in Act One, he's calculating, seductive by suggestion rather than bravado. (As one audience member commented, "It's the guys who don't say much that you have to watch out for the most.") This makes it all the more dramatic when he explodes in Act Two; suddenly those puppy-dog eyes have been filled with seething fire and nobody's safe.

Michael Billingsley as Jesus provides an interesting foil to Molina's Satan because in several respects they aren't that different. Both characters spend their time thinking and observing, and neither appears onstage for long until the very end (though Jesus hovers in the theatre's balcony during most of the play). When Jesus does come into focus, he moves with a dancer's grace, contorting his body so incredibly it's like he's visiting from Godspell. But unlike Satan, whose calm demeanor hides his rage, Billingsley's Jesus has an even temper suffused with openness. Their showdown near the play's close is a beautiful example of Parsons' trademark attention to physicality.

As Judas winds down at the Studio, Parsons hopes to transfer the production Off-Broadway. She's also looking forward to Community Trust, a collection of one-acts to be directed by Daniel Talbott and Kirsten Kelly, which will conclude the Theatre and Social Justice series in May. (Her next Studio project will be a series on Theatre and the Environment.)

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"I'm always thinking about how to make theatre exciting to people," Estelle asserts. "Moving them, educating them, entertaining them into a bigger picture. When a play begins to levitate, the effects on the audience are so profound that you need to deal with them."

And when Estelle Parsons produces work like this, you just have to say amen. Saints, sinners, or heavenly nags, we're all theatrical thrillseekers at heart.

--
Have you ever applied for food stamps? In California, where I live, you can apply online. My friend Kathy, who has helped members of her family and dozens of people in her community of Vietnamese immigrants apply for government benefits over the years, is grateful for the online application. It has saved her countless hours waiting in line at county welfare offices. And she got to be something of an expert at it, which is important, because the application itself is over 50 web pages long, with hundreds of questions, some of them confusing or even scary. "Have you or any member of your family been found guilty of trading SNAP benefits for guns, ammunition, or explosives after September 22, 1996?" Most people who start the application without help don't finish it.

Now there's another way to apply for CalFresh (California's food assistance program). This online application form, developed by a team at Code for America, has a handful of questions and takes just a few minutes. It also works on a smartphone or tablet, so Kathy can use it when she's out in her community. In a world where you can summon a car with a tap of your phone, shouldn't government technology be as good as what we use at home? Shouldn't it show basic respect for the people who use it?

Not everyone agrees that government should provide food assistance for families who need it. But we can all agree that it makes no sense for families (and the workers in government who serve them) to spend untold hours navigating bureaucracy. Nor does it make sense to spend hundreds of billions of dollars nationally on technology to administer these programs, when the cost of comparable technology has fallen so dramatically in the past decade.

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This week at Davos, much will be said about how fast the world is changing. When government is discussed, there will be a consensus that it needs to change faster in order to keep up. Perhaps there will even be mentions of the United States Federal government's progress towards a user-centered, iterative, and data-driven approach through the work of the United States Digital Service in the White House, which I'm proud to say I helped start. But too few leaders will talk about the quality of digital services that serve everyday people. They should.

The secret to government that keeps up isn't necessarily fancy data science, though that can help. It's making modern digital services that work simply, clearly, and quickly. Or as Tom Loosemore, former Deputy Director of the UK's Government Digital Service (GDS) has said, it's "government services that are so good they were previously unimaginable and run at fraction of today's cost." What we'd have as a nation if we achieved that vision isn't just a better relationship between citizens and their government, we'd also be able to tell if policies were working as intended "within days or weeks, not decades," to further borrow from Loosemore. Today, government officials are used to receiving binders of data every two to five years. But the same way that Lyft and Uber use the real-time customer data to help supply meet demand, government officials could have real time or near-real time data about the services they administer. That's government that moves at the speed of the 21st century.

I've heard too many times that this vision is too tall an order, and that the skills we need to make modern digital services aren't to be found in government. That simply isn't true. Tell that to all the folks in local government I've worked with who are transforming their institutions. Tell that to my friend Kathy. She was a teen when she started helping her friends and family with food stamps, and she went on to a successful career at Google. But recently, she was offered the chance to use her skills in government as part of the USDS, and now she is helping make healthcare and other services work better not just for her community, but for all Americans. She's part of a movement that believes that government, in the US and abroad, can work for the people if it's made of and by the people. Making government work better is a big job, which is why it needs everyone.

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This post is part of a "Thriving in a World of Change" series produced by The Huffington Post and Ashoka. The series is part of The Huffington Post's coverage of The World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting, and explores how, in an age of unprecedented change and connectivity, we must transition quickly to an everyone-a-contributor world with empathetic ethics at its core. Read all the posts in the series here.
The racial dogwhistle has been an important political technique in recent decades-- a carefully coded message, designed to tap into racial prejudices without the unwitting target realizing that this is what is happening. Tali Mendelberg has argued that such techniques gain their force from twinned but countervailing forces: there is a Norm of Racial Egalitarianism, which brands outright expression of racism unacceptable. But there is also, in most white people, a high level of what is called 'racial resentment', simmering unacknowledged and unarticulated. A dogwhistle utterance exploits this: by talking about 'the culture of the inner city' or 'welfare' a politician may avoid mentioning race, while still causing voters to bring their racial resentment to bear on their voting decisions.

Donald Trump is no dogwhistler: he proudly tosses around racial terms, paired with the most hideous stereotypes. And he rises, and rises, and rises in the polls. Does this mean that the Norm of Racial Egalitarianism is no longer in place? I'm not so sure. Some of Trump's supporters clearly reject this norm, openly advocating white supremacy. But there is no reason to believe that this group of voters ever accepted it--the norm was widely accepted, but not universal. So what of the other supporters? It seems to me that two important things are happening: First, Trump is employing another technique in place of a dogwhistle, one which still allows supporters to believe that he (and so they) are not racist. And second, he's revealing just what a shallow and limited norm Racial Egalitarianism is.

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The technique Trump has been employing is one I'll call the "racial figleaf". It involves uttering what would otherwise be clearly a racist claim, and then following up with something that just barely covers it. On some level, we all know what's there--something you're not supposed to show in public--but the figleaf lets us avoid acknowledging it.

Trump's much-reported comment about Mexicans as rapists was not in fact a claim that all Mexicans are rapists, though it was widely reported as such (and he may well have known it would be). It included caveats about some Mexicans being good people, and the suggestion that the Mexicans who don't come here are good people. This figleaf matters, because it gives his audience a way to nod along with Trump without seeing themselves as racist.

Trump has been equally clever in his expression of anti-black racism. Trump tweets

false crime statistics taken from a white supremacist and expresses endorsement of his supporters assaulting a black protestor. But his criticism of Justice Scalia's recent comments about affirmative action works as a figleaf: it allows his supporters, once more, the chance to see him (and themselves) as not racist. Trump's figleaf gives people the carefully constructed chance to endorse vile sentiments and applaud acts of prejudicial violence without ever seeing themselves as racist.

But the racial figleaf does not explain all of what we see. To fully understand it, we need to understand that the Norm of Racial Egalitarianism was always very limited. Racial resentment is measured by level of agreement with claims like "Irish, Italian, Jewish and many other minorities overcame prejudice and worked their way up. Blacks should do the same without any special favors." Recall that the targets of dogwhistles (and figleaves) are people who show a fairly high level of agreement with such claims while still adhering to the Norm of Racial Egalitarianism. This

alone shows us just how flimsy that Norm must be: one can say remarkably racist things, while still believing oneself to be non-racist. The main thing that seems to be ruled out by the norm is the old-fashioned racism that sees one racial group is biologically inferior to another. Cultural inferiority claims are far more acceptable.

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And, crucially, the norm is silent on religion.Trump makes even stronger, more blatant claims about Muslims. He calls for Muslims to be banned from the country, and placed in internment camps. And his poll numbers rise. These utterances have been called racist. And there's something to that--'racist' is sometimes used as a synonym for 'bigoted' and there's no doubt that these are bigoted. But the fact that their subject matter is religion and not race is crucial. Many Americans who consider it very important not to be racist are nonetheless quite comfortable with prejudice on the basis of religious belief, and not just against Islam. After all, 22% of Americans say they wouldn't vote for a Mormon and 40% would not vote for an atheist. Open bigotry is considered remarkably acceptable, as long as it is on the basis of belief. And yet--just in case--Trump offers a figleaf: "Look, I have many, many Muslim friends, living in this building. Muslims, they're phenomenal people, but like everything else, you have people where there are problems."
To understand the harmful consequences of the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision has had on our political system, look no further than TV screens in Ohio.

Election Day is 10 months away, but outside influencers have already spent millions of anonymous dollars to run negative and nasty campaign commercials.

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Ohio isn't alone. Across the country, in the presidential primary, the number of television ads paid for by outside groups has skyrocketed by 12,000 percent since 2007. That's not a typo: 12,000 percent.

The Citizens United earthquake sparked a tidal wave of unlimited and undisclosed corporate cash that has infected our politics and diseased our democracy. It's created a rigged system in Washington, D.C. -- one that gives corporations and their armies of lobbyists an unfair leg up over middle class families.

It shouldn't be like that. This Citizens United disaster has to end.

That's where we come in. Our name -- End Citizens United -- and our mission are one in the same. We're out to create a level playing field in our political system because we don't believe lobbyists and the wealthiest corporations should call the shots. We, the people, should.

This year, and beyond, we'll throw our support to candidates who are willing to stand up to corporate fat cats by ending Citizens United and passing real campaign finance reform.

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In Ohio, we're proud to support former Gov. Ted Strickland for the U.S. Senate. Strickland showed that he gets it when he told an Athens crowd that, with unlimited anonymous dollars influencing politicians, "We are in danger of having our country bought and sold."

Between Strickland and incumbent Sen. Rob Portman, only Strickland has called for an end to Citizens United. In fact, Portman has stood squarely in the way of ending the big money that is corrupting Washington. He's become a part of the problem, and to reward him, the same corporations and wealthy billionaires he's been helping are lining up to run negative political ads against those who dare to challenge him.

We don't have to fall for it. We have the power to change things.
The 2016 McDonough Leadership Conference of the McDonough Center at Marietta College has received its lead sponsorship - The McDonough Corporation. Bank of America has signed on as another lead corporate sponsor. This conference will include a panel with J. Luce Foundation Leadership Fellows.



McDonough Center, home of the McDonough Leadership Program

at Marietta College. Photo: Marietta College.

According to Dr. Gamaliel "Gama" Perruci, the Dean of the McDonough Center:

In the spirit of intellectual exploration, scholarship, self-reflection and personal leadership development, we invite all to join us for the next McDonough Leadership Conference. All undergraduate/graduate students and faculty/staff members from any higher education institution are invited to present at this conference.

Located on the Marietta College campus in Marietta, Ohio, The McDonough Center for Leadership and Business was established in 1986 through a generous $5.5 million gift from in honor of the successful industrialist, Bernard P. McDonough (1903-1985). Through his many businesses, Bernard established a strong record of leadership and civic engagement.

Founded in 1835, Marietta College is a private, liberal arts college located in southeastern Ohio where I went to high school. Consistently ranked among the top Midwestern schools by U.S. News & World Report, The Princeton Review and others, Marietta College's small and diverse student body enjoy opportunities rarely found at other liberal arts schools.

The J. Luce Fellowship Program is a calendar-year program in which approved Fellows support the Foundation's mission of supporting young global leadership by applying their own specific training and skills, either in person or virtually, to address the challenges of the Foundation.



Marietta College is a private, liberal arts college located in southeastern Ohio.

Photo: Marietta College.

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Foundation Fellows may elect a Foundation special project, including Orphans International Worldwide (OIWW) and The Stewardship Report (SR), or may choose to assist the Foundation itself in the real-world fields of Branding & Marketing Director, Communications, Development, Finance, Program Development, and/or Public Relations.

All six are part of the McDonough Leadership Program at Marietta College. I met them all formally last month in Ohio and another group of bright and eager students anywhere in the world would be hard to come by. Last spring, our foundation established a partnership with the McDonough Center, and we will also support the Leadership Conference.

Last March, I was honored to be co-recipient of the College's "Mister Mac" - the McDonough Award for Excellence in Leadership. During my campus visit, the McDonough faculty and staff and I discussed concrete steps to develop our partnership.



I received the College's "Mister Mac" - the McDonough Award

for Excellence in Leadership last spring from Dr. Gama Perruci,

Dean of the McDonough Center. Photo: Marietta College.

Dr. William Bauer, McCoy Professor of Education at Marietta College is also vice president of our foundation. I went to high school with Bill who received his Ph.D. in Rehabilitation Counseling from Ohio State and went on to work with my child psychologist mother in the local special needs high school before joining the College.

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Partnership priorities between our foundation and Marietta College for 2015-2016 include the Fellowship Program as well as editorial support for the Foundation's Stewardship Report on Connecting Goodness, collaboration during the McDonough Leadership Conference next spring, a Social Entrepreneurship Internship next summer, creation of the New York Times Luce-McDonough Leadership Summer Reading List, and Board membership training.

I began to speak with the College's Leadership Dean, Gama, last summer and was impressed with how erudite and global his thinking was. When I met him and his family last spring, I was able to add genuine warmth to the list. With a Ph.D. in Political Science, Gama holds a Master's degrees in International Journalism and a B.A. in Economics and Journalism.

Gama is a pioneer in the academics of Leadership and serves as a session facilitator for the Rockefeller Global Leadership Program as well as the Management and Leadership Development Program at Dartmouth College's Rockefeller Center for Public Policy. He is the co-author of Understanding Leadership: An Arts and Humanities Perspective.



Dr. Gama Perruci, Marietta College McDonough Leadership Dean.

Photo: Marietta College.

Aside from his teaching, research and administrative duties, Gama also serves as a consultant for The New York Times, focusing on the newspaper's educational programming for leadership students. In that role, he writes a weekly column, Connecting Theory to Practice. He has assisted other institutions, from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, to Zayed University in Dubai.

Gama is also past Chair of the International Leadership Association and has been a frequent guest analyst for the BBC World Service as well as Radio France. He served as a member of the National Selection Committee convened by Harvard Kennedy School's Center for Public Leadership in collaboration with U.S. News & World Report and The Washington Post. Because of his tremendous strength of character, goodwill and common sense, I asked Gama to serve as a Global Adviser to our foundation, which he agreed to do.

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The Foundation and Orphans International, through our various funds, have raised $1.52 million over the last fifteen years, including having received generous proceeds from four estates. Our children have graduated from OIWW homes and gone on to university.

Young global Luce Leaders have gone on to Harvard, Yale, and NYU. The Foundation has funded numerous organizations in the U.S. and abroad, often year after year. The Foundation's Stewardship Report, which began publishing in 2010, has highlighted over 1,750 organizations and individuals uplifting humanity. Our foundation funds - helping Sri Lankan children, people living with mental illness, disadvantaged and refugee children in Greece to name but a few -- continue to flourish, our new Fellows from Marietta College will be a wonderful addition to this trajectory.
After receiving a poem I would reflect on the tone and quality of the writing and would suggest an artist who's work naturally had a dialogue with the poet. There was a lot of back and forth: getting many of the poets to agree to the project was much more challenging than I had anticipated. Because of my long relationships with artists it was an easier call and most gave an enthusiastic 'yes'. One of the artists told me after the fact they were dreading the project but when they received their poem they felt inspired and excited to contribute.

With some of the poets, I started out by working with their agents or managers, trying to explain the high integrity of the exhibition. For example, with poet Billy Collins, I initially worked with his agent, and although Billy very generously agreed, he was less than enthusiastic. After sending a few ideas about artists he got inspired and offered a different poem. Even though a few poets initially were skeptical and had questions -- for example 'Is my poem going to be collaged into the art?' -- in the end they all had good experiences and I think were happy with the exhibition and book.
Free speech is not for the faint of heart.

Nor is it for those who are easily offended, readily intimidated or who need everything wrapped in a neat and tidy bow. Free speech is often messy, foul-mouthed, obscene, intolerant, undignified, insensitive, cantankerous, bawdy and volatile.

Unfortunately, our appreciation for a robust freedom of speech has worn thin over the years.

Many Americans have become fearfully polite, careful to avoid offense, and largely unwilling to be labeled intolerant, hateful, closed-minded or any of the other toxic labels that carry a badge of shame today. We've come to prize civility over freedom. Most of all, too many Americans, held hostage by their screen devices and the talking heads on television, have lost the ability to think critically.

Societies that cherish free speech relish open debates and controversy and, in turn, produce a robust citizenry who will stand against authoritarian government. Indeed, oppressive regimes of the past have understood the value of closed-mouthed, closed-minded citizens and the power inherent in controlling speech and, thus, controlling how a people view their society and government.

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We in the United States have a government with a ravenous appetite for power and a seeming desire to turn the two-way dialogue that is our constitutional republic into a one-way dictatorship. Emboldened by phrases such as "hate crimes," "bullying," "extremism" and "microaggressions," the government is whittling away at free speech, confining it to carefully constructed "free peech zones," criminalizing it when it skates too close to challenging the status quo, shaming it when it butts up against politically correct ideals, and muzzling it when it appears dangerous.

Free speech is no longer free.

Nor is free speech still considered an inalienable right or an essential liberty, even by those government entities entrusted with protecting it.

Consider some of the kinds of speech being targeted for censorship or outright elimination.

Offensive, politically incorrect and "unsafe" speech: Disguised as tolerance, civility and love, political correctness has resulted in the chilling of free speech and the demonizing of viewpoints that run counter to the cultural elite. Consequently, college campuses have become hotbeds of student-led censorship, trigger warnings, microaggressions, and "red light" speech policies targeting anything that might cause someone to feel uncomfortable, unsafe or offended.

Bullying, intimidating speech: Warning that "school bullies become tomorrow's hate crimes defendants," the Justice Department has led the way in urging schools to curtail bullying, going so far as to classify "teasing" as a form of "bullying," and "rude" or "hurtful" "text messages" as "cyberbullying."

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Hateful speech: Hate speech--speech that attacks a person or group on the basis of attributes such as gender, ethnic origin, religion, race, disability, or sexual orientation--is the primary candidate for online censorship. Corporate internet giants Google, Twitter and Facebook are in the process of determining what kinds of speech will be permitted online and what will be deleted.



Dangerous, anti-government speech: As part of its newly unveiled war on "extremism," the Obama administration is partnering with the tech industry to establish a task force to counter online "propaganda" by terrorists hoping to recruit support or plan attacks. In this way, anyone who criticizes the government online is considered an extremist and will have their content reported to government agencies for further investigation or deleted.

The upshot of all of this editing, parsing, banning and silencing is the emergence of a new language, what George Orwell referred to as Newspeak, which places the power to control language in the hands of the totalitarian state. Under such a system, language becomes a weapon to change the way people think by changing the words they use. The end result is control.

In totalitarian regimes--a.k.a. police states--where conformity and compliance are enforced at the end of a loaded gun, the government dictates what words can and cannot be used. In countries where the police state hides behind a benevolent mask and disguises itself as tolerance, the citizens censor themselves, policing their words and thoughts to conform to the dictates of the mass mind lest they find themselves ostracized or placed under surveillance.

Even when the motives behind this rigidly calibrated reorientation of societal language appear well-intentioned--discouraging racism, condemning violence, denouncing discrimination and hatred--inevitably, the end result is the same: intolerance, indoctrination and infantilism.

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Thus, while on paper, we are technically still free to speak, in reality, we are only as free to speak as a government official or corporate censor may allow.

However, as I point out in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, if we no longer have the right to tell a Census Worker to get off our property, if we no longer have the right to tell a police officer to get a search warrant before they dare to walk through our door, if we no longer have the right to stand in front of the Supreme Court wearing a protest sign or approach an elected representative to share our views, if we no longer have the right to voice our opinions in public--no matter how misogynistic, hateful, prejudiced, intolerant, misguided or politically incorrect they might be--then we do not have free speech.

What we have instead is regulated, controlled speech, and that's a whole other ballgame.

Just as surveillance has been shown to "stifle and smother dissent, keeping a populace cowed by fear," government censorship gives rise to self-censorship, breeds compliance, makes independent thought all but impossible, and ultimately foments a seething discontent that has no outlet but violence.

The First Amendment is a steam valve. It allows people to speak their minds, air their grievances and contribute to a larger dialogue that hopefully results in a more just world. When there is no steam valve--when there is no one to hear what the people have to say--frustration builds, anger grows and people become more volatile and desperate to force a conversation.

The problem as I see it is that we've lost faith in the average citizen to do the right thing. We've allowed ourselves to be persuaded that we need someone else to think and speak for us. The result is a society in which we've stopped debating among ourselves, stopped thinking for ourselves, and stopped believing that we can fix our own problems and resolve our own differences.

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In short, we have reduced ourselves to a largely silent, passive populace, content to watch and not do. In this way, we have become our worst enemy. As U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once warned, a silent, inert citizenry is the greatest menace to freedom.

Freedom requires courage.

As Brandeis noted, "Those who won our independence by revolution were not cowards. They did not fear political change. They did not exalt order at the cost of liberty." Rather, they were "courageous, self-reliant men, with confidence in the power of free and fearless reasoning applied through the processes of popular government."

In other words, the founders did not fear the power of speech. Rather, they embraced it, knowing all too well that a nation without a hearty tolerance for free speech, no matter how provocative, insensitive or dangerous, will be easy prey for a police state where only government speech is allowed.
Today is the anniversary of one of the more notorious Supreme Court cases of our time: Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. For many, the Citizens United ruling seems like the beginning of the end for America -- the singular bad decision that allowed wealthy special interests to infiltrate and destroy representative government.

The truth is much more complicated. Overturning Citizens United is an important and worthy cause, but it is not the panacea so many presidential candidates, pundits, and activists claim. If Citizens United were thrown out tomorrow, it would remain perfectly legal for special interests to fund the political careers of the politicians who regulate them, send public servants on lavish vacations disguised as fundraising junkets, and generally do whatever it takes to keep their lobbyists writing our laws. Just like it was before the Supreme Court's 2010 decision.

A single-minded focus on overturning Citizens United actually hurts our nation's chances at meaningful anti-corruption reform. For the first time in decades, millions of Americans are demanding a government that serves us, not special interests. Even if we succeed at reversing Citizens United, we will only have eliminated a few of the myriad avenues used by special interests to buy government influence. Politicians will keep rubber-stamping bad laws, and regular people will suffer the consequences.

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To truly fix our corrupt political system, we must think bigger.

One of the more egregious examples of political corruption comes in the form of America's astronomically high drug prices. This is no accident; it is a deliberate feature of legislation passed by our own Congress. Federal law prohibits Medicare from negotiating lower prices with drug companies. As a result, Medicare patients pay nearly 60 percent more for drugs than do patients receiving care by the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is not bound by the same anti-negotiation restrictions.

The sequence of events that led to this policy is sickeningly familiar to anyone who follows the way special interest money warps our political system. In the year leading up to Congress' vote on what eventually became a 1,000-plus page bill, the pharmaceutical industry filled legislators' bank accounts with campaign contributions. Lobbyists seeking to influence the bill outnumbered members of Congress two to one.

"The pharmaceutical lobbyists wrote the bill," explained Representative Walter Jones, a Republican from North Carolina, who received the legislative tome less than 24 hours before its scheduled vote.

In order to avoid public scrutiny, the legislation was hustled through at 3 a.m. It ultimately passed, in large part due to the instrumental leadership of then-Congressman Billy Tauzin. Ostensibly as a reward for his hard work ushering the bill through Congress, Tauzin was later named president and CEO of PhRMA, the leading pharmaceutical industry trade group.

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And just like that, special interests were able to buy public policy that hamstrings the competitive market and hurts regular Americans.

This happened in 2003, a full seven years before Citizens United, and equally perverse manipulations of the policymaking process continue to this day on nearly every issue -- from banking to telecommunications; energy to agriculture.

Citizens United is not the sole, or even the primary, source of political corruption in America. Rather, it is just one piece of an enormously complex problem. If we have any hope of fixing it, we must embrace that complexity, not fall prey to oversimplification.

It can hardly be said that Citizens United was good for democracy. So long as the Supreme Court's decision stands, so-called "independent groups" funded by corporations, unions, and a small handful of incredibly wealthy individuals can now invest unlimited sums of money in politics.

In the post-Citizens United era, secretive groups like Patriot Majority on the left and Americans for Prosperity on the right regularly flood the airwaves with manipulative political ads. A few hundred rich families dominate election spending. The American public witnesses an ugly spectacle, as contenders for the most powerful office in the land embark on desperate pilgrimages to seek the favor of a single billionaire.

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Yet the money only goes so far. In 2012, nearly all of casino magnate Sheldon Adelson's preferred candidates lost on election day, despite Adelson's injection of more than $100 million into races across the country. In 2016, significant financial support from outside groups has yet to pay off for GOP presidential hopefuls like Rick Perry, Scott Walker, and Jeb Bush. Super PACs have failed to successfully thwart the meteoric ascendance of Donald Trump, and they are certainly not doing much to help Hillary Clinton fend off an insurgent Bernie Sanders.

To be sure, even when big money loses, it has an impact, shaping who can mount a legitimate campaign and which policies they champion once elected. But the outside spending groups ushered in by Citizens United are only so effective at rigging our political system for financial gain.

The most successful special interests control the legislative process entirely: writing our laws, bribing our legislators with cushy lobbying jobs, and directly funding their reelection campaigns. These corrupt strategies all existed long before Citizens United -- and they can be outlawed without waiting for a constitutional amendment. Even if Citizens United and subsequent rulings stay in place, we can make huge strides toward fixing American democracy.For starters, we could make it illegal for legislators to take lavish vacations paid for by special interests. Ban lobbyists from coordinating fundraisers for and making donations to the politicians they lobby. Slam shut the revolving door between Congress and "K Street," the lobbyist equivalent of Wall Street, by preventing legislators and their staff from taking lucrative jobs as lobbyists immediately after leaving government. Mandate full transparency of every dollar spent to influence our political system. Change the way elections are funded by creating small donor systems so candidates can run for office without selling out to special interests.

Not one of these reforms is prevented by Citizens United. Yet together, they could keep the Billy Tauzins of the world from selling our government to the highest bidder.

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It goes without saying that these crucial reforms will not be passed by a Congress with a clear stake in preserving the status quo. Instead, we must heed a lesson from some of the most successful reform movements of our time: take the fight local, and build momentum for national change in the process. This strategy is already off to an enormously promising start: a nascent anti-corruption movement has recently scored major legislative victories at the ballot in Tallahassee, Seattle, and Maine, with bigger victories on the horizon.

Americans are fed up with politics as usual. A recent Gallup poll found that 75 percent of Americans see widespread corruption in our government. For the first time in decades, a veritable groundswell of people is fighting to save our republic. Political reformers have not only the opportunity but the obligation to direct this newfound energy to its most productive use.

Yet many influential public leaders continue to portray the repeal of Citizens United as the one and only answer to political corruption. Their clarion call, while certainly well-intentioned, runs the risk of stymying comprehensive reform. This is especially true in the short-term.

Constitutional amendments are notoriously difficult to pass; the most recent amendment was only ratified after 202 years of painstaking effort. We cannot afford to wait that long for reform, especially when it would only tackle a small piece of the corruption problem.

This is not to say that reformers should give Citizens United a free pass. Make no mistake: it was a bad ruling. Its underlying assumptions have been proven wrong time and again. It will hopefully be overturned by a future Supreme Court and relegated to the dustbin of history.

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The World Food Programme and writer Joshua Dysart have teamed up to create a graphic novel highlighting the work of the organization's humanitarian aid workers and those they strive to help.

The comic, titled "Living Level 3," for the most severe classification of humanitarian crisis, tells the story of a fictional humanitarian aid worker, Leila, on an aid mission after the self-described Islamic State brutally seized territory there in 2014.

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Spike Lee has built an astonishing career as a multigenerational filmmaker, crafting some of the most iconic cult classics of the past four decades. From era-defining films like Do The Right Thing and School Daze, to Malcolm X and Bamboozled, the Brooklyn-bred director has consistently told compelling stories that personify the pulse of contemporary culture.

Respected for his fearlessness and unapologetic opinion, Spike has transcended his profession as a director, asserting himself as a creative activist committed to teaching, provoking thought and igniting dialogue needed to elevate social consciousness. By commonly exploring the deep complexities of race, power, identity and sexuality through a very unique perspective - Spike Lee poses no opposition to playing the antagonist if, in turn, it challenges the status quo. As such, his most recent film has managed to accomplish all of the above.

The theatrical release of Chi-Raq has sparked heated debate and intense criticism since debuting in theaters December 4th. Starring a carefully selected cast that includes Samuel L. Jackson, Nick Cannon, Teyonah Pharris and Angela Bassett, the movie presents a modern adaptation of the historic stage play Lysistarata, created in 400 B.C. by Greek dramatist and comedic playwright Aritstophanes. In the play, amidst a vicious war, Lysistrata, an alluring Athenian woman contrives the unorthodox idea to organize a collective of women from opposing sides to stage a sex strike in efforts to cease conflict and spark a revolution. By depriving these warrior men of sex, compassion, and companionship, Lysistrata believed even the most barbaric of men would be stripped of their deepest power source - love. More tangibly, they would be without the unrelenting and unconditional love of a woman.

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Lee's bold and unconventional approach to attacking topics of gun violence, masculinity, sexual power and the politics of oppression pierced through the surface and placed many on edge. Setting Chicago's South Side as the backdrop, Chi-Raq uses an artful blend of verse, performance art, and satire to create a contemporary metaphor that serves to contextualize the systematic and socioeconomic plague paralyzing inner cities across America. The film's fictional depiction of Chicago gives audiences an unrestricted glimpse into the trauma of an isolated area haunted by poverty, unemployment, gang violence and senseless killing.

Following the framework of previous works like Bamboozled, Lee's use of rhetoric functions as more disruptive and brash than harmless and hysterical. As a result, the presumed parody of the film shows up as artistic negligence or insensitivity toward a frequently targeted city, ultimately landing Lee at the center of excessive scrutiny. Yet, buried beneath the mountain of rocks thrown at the movie exists a dark cave of inconvenient truths; truths which address deeper issues of awareness and accountability that have seemingly evaded critical conversations about issues crippling the black community.

While art is inherently subjective, the intention of Chiraq was not to precisely depict the existing trauma infecting Chicago's inner city. Instead, as with all expressions of art, the purpose of Chi-Raq was to challenge public perception, expose untapped information and spark progressive conversations needed to inspire action.

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I spoke with Spike Lee about the intention driving his film, combatting violence in the black community, the conversation around gun control, and how he address skeptics who challenge his mission.

What were some of the issues facing Chicago that you wanted to bring to the surface that aren't being directly addressed or explored on the level that you believe they should be?

Murder. It's about murder, and the rate at which we're killing ourselves. We can't stand for this self-inflicted genocide. In fact, John Cusack, who delivers a memorable performance, says it in the eulogy - " "We can't stand for this self-inflicted genocide anymore." We repeated that two or three times. Some people have an issue when I'm talking about Black Lives Matter. Black lives do matter. I was out there on my bike marching with everybody in New York City. I was at Mike Brown's funeral. I took my son there. So, for people who say I'm taking shots or being critical of the Black Lives Matter movement, know that I stand with the movement. But, I also must be true. I'm very aware of the systematic challenges we face as a people, and the realities of racism and oppression in this country. At the same time, I also have to be honest. We can't talk about the police killing us and not speak about us killing us. One can't negate the other.

In your eyes, what makes that reality so hard for people within the black community to accept or begin to spark an honest dialogue around?

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First of all, white people know what divides us, because they're the ones who put these systems in place. Socially, politically, and so forth. You can trace that back to the house Negroes and the field Negroes - what do you think that was about? So, white people knew that way before I started making movies. But, I understand it. I understand the anger you feel when you're beat down by the system and you know it's set up for us not to succeed. I know the frustration. We know the public school system is a direct pipeline to prisons, more specifically, privatized prisons. So, I understand it's hard for us to be honest, because we're beat down. As black people, we're broken, and I understand. But, even despite that, the truth is the truth. The guns that are killing black lives in this country are not just in white hands. It's not just policeman who are killing our people in the United States of America. I don't think it's blasphemous to say that.

How Important is it to have Teyonah Pharris as the heartbeat of this film when so much attention is publicly placed on the young men who are at war in these inner cities?

The play that this film is based upon is called Lysistrata, written by the great playwright Aristophrones in 400 B.C. I simply wanted to stay true to the play, which is about a strong woman. If you were to flip that, it would be defeating the purpose, and the main character would have been killed too. We always knew, and took pride in knowing that the heroine in this movie was going to be a woman; a strong, black woman. The main premise of the play is the lead character, Lysistrata, organizing women to have a sex strike. It's about how their bodies are being used as a tool or a strategy to stop the killing. That play has been done a million times on stages, and I felt like, in this highly sexualized world we live in today, this would be something that would effectively deliver the message and attract people's attention.

With the play being written over two centuries ago, when today's generation thinks of Lysistrata, they will think of Teyonah Pharris - how significant is portraying that image of a black woman as a leader of such a revolution in today's times?

Imagery is very important. Imagery has been really important in the dehumanization of our people. That's why I made the film Bamboozled 15 years ago. It's critical that we tell new stories and present more diverse images of ourselves as a people, and a community. We need to see ourselves in many different ways, not just one way. We wanted to paint the picture that our women have so much power and influence -- with our men, with authority figures, and simply embody everything needed to change society.

One underlying message within the film is individual accountability, beyond overcoming the systematic and socioeconomic obstacles that stand in the way of progression in our communities - do you feel that is the essential takeaway?

I've been saying it since School Daze. What are the last two words of School Daze, delivered by Laurence Fishburne? Wake up. What are the first two words of Do The Right Thing, delivered by Samuel L. Jackson? Wake up! What are the last two words of Chiraq, delivered by Samuel L. Jackson? Wake Up! I've been saying those two words in my films for years, but people still aren't awake.

The films you've created throughout your career have reached so many people and been presented on such a massive platform - what does that then say about how we can enlighten the current and future generations?

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It means that we have to keep saying it. We have to stand for truth and keep speaking up. We have to keep telling these stories, and keep telling the truth. But, it looks like we're losing it. It looks like we're losing hope for waking up when young brothers think it's acceptable to murder 9-year-olds like Tyshawn Lee in Chicago. That's just crazy. I don't care what his father did, or any supposed gang affiliation he had, no child should be executed. That's just not acceptable. We have to be honest and say this is just not ok. We have failed our young black men if they that is ok. We have failed our young black men if they feel completely comfortable with dying without living past 18-years-old. Young brothers feel like nobody loves them, and nobody cares about them, they don't see the options and they don't value their lives. If they don't value their own lives, then you know they don't value somebody else's life.

You've stated the emphasis on addressing the staggering number of murders in Chicago and the need for individual accountability - what other key issues in particular are you hoping to spark honest discussion around?

We really need to talk about guns in this country. Let's really address this deadly issue that we're dealing with. We can't keep running from it. We have not really had a serious discussion about guns, in my opinion, because it hasn't led to any legislation. It hasn't impacted the areas that matter most. It hasn't led to having stricter background checks. You can buy guns in this country with the title of a car. We're also still supporting politicians that are being funded by the NRA and gun manufacturers. So, I hope we start seeing real dialogue and movement around this issue. This isn't meant to be a pun, or a double entendre, but it's seriously killing us. Whether people are comfortable and shocked by it, my intention is to take it there and have the conversation.
Lisa Rosel, one of the artists to be featured said, "Juri has an amazing eye and penchant for art writing that also informs his own practice, collection, and forum." Rosel was given a Nikkormat 35mm camera in 1979, which she still uses to this day. The image she will be showing, Sunset & Horn, was shot digitally with a hand held Canon. Rosel added, "These images form an alternate world categorized by obscured, compressed or truncated principal elements, which in turn create their own private ambiance. I'm happy to have the platform to show selections from this unusual body of work." Photo courtesy of Lisa Rosel, Sunset & Horn, 2015, edition:1 of 3, archival digital print, Paper: Hahnemuhle fine art pearl, 11"x 14" Koll continued, "Each of the artists in this show create their work within the constraints of putting a camera up to your eye. You are in the moment. That gets translated to the image. You are given a frame in which to propose your perspective. Everything has to flow from what's in front of you. That's a challenge that I think needs to be continually embraced." Koll has known Lawrie Margrave for over thirty years and said he knew her work would be a good fit for "Abstract Never Is." In turn, Margrave said she was looking forward to once again working with Koll. "My abstract images are visual manifestations of what comes through my mind. They come from both reality and chance and work back and forth between both." Photo courtesy of Lawrie Margrave, My Office as Escher, 2012,Digital Photograph on Archival Paper, 18 X 24 inches

Koll will be including the work of his mentor Edmund Teske. Citing his earliest influences as Teske, Man Ray, and Atget, Koll said, "Edmund was a wonderfully passionate, exuberant, theatrical man, who pulled no punches on his opinions. He found beauty in everyone, everyday items, even discarded ones. It was an eye-opener to meet him and watch him perform." Koll was originally introduced to Teske by his first mentor - his high school photography teacher, Anthony Lovette. At just fifteen, Koll visited Edmund's studio with a high school buddy, Nils Vidstrand, who is a photographer and artist, and co-manages Edmund's estate to this day. Koll added, "He saw beauty everywhere, and sought to show it in an incredibly unique way. He invented techniques which only a few of us know how to do and are probably impossible to achieve nowadays, given that certain photographic papers have been discontinued."





Photo courtesy of Edmund Teske, Chicago, 1938, Silver Print, 13x20 inches





"I remember in the late 70's we were walking to Freestyle Photo in Hollywood," recalled Koll, "a super long walk from his studio on Harvard, and we were crossing the street in the middle of the day. It was hot and sunny and the light was harsh. He looked down half way across the street and saw a crushed strawberry basket - the old green ones made out of plastic. He picked it up, and held it up to the light, smiling. The light was changing. People were honking. He was oblivious. He just smiled, tucked it into his coat, and we finally continued on." Later in the day upon their return, Koll watched as he proceeded to photograph the strawberry basket. It would soon be included in several new composite images.



In 1979, Koll had the chance to show alongside Teske at Cameravision. "Alan Peak got me the gig," said Koll. "We both had solo shows next to each other...I was so proud."



Another artist whose work will be included in "Abstract Never Is," is Osceola Refetoff. An established landscape photographer, Refetoff has been pursuing his love of photography for over twenty years. "Dreamlike images appeal to me because they can evoke complex and deeply personal reactions," explained Refetoff. "For me, truly abstract photographs are absent any discernible figurative elements. That is of course a matter of opinion - exactly the question this exhibition is here to explore."





Photo courtesy of Osceola Refetoff, Woman in Doorway (Aja) - Union Station - Pinhole Exposure - Los Angeles CA - 2010, Archival Pigment Print - Signed Edition of 20 (1/20), 25x35" (framed)





Koll has known Stephen Cohen, the founder of photo l.a. since 1976. "I met Stephen Cohen at Edmund Teske's studio during one of the infamous Photo Grabs," said Koll. The notorious events were held the first Sunday in May and December throughout the seventies. Wrapping photographs in tissue, photo aficionados would throw ten to fifteen dollars into a bowl...and with a roulette style selection, the photos were chosen. As each photograph would be revealed, Teske would tell the story of inspiration and creation of each and every prized photo. "It was an incredible time," continued Koll. "Stephen has always been a champion of photography, and understood decades ago how important it was to showcase photography as an art form equal to all others."
On a recent trip to Florida where I spoke at a conference for superintendents, Nacho reasserted himself as a topic for this blog. Amid stress, pressure, and uncertainty in the world of education and beyond, sometimes it takes the "fur people" in our lives to make sense of everything. Hear these stories, and learn from them what you or your students need to learn...the lessons are forceful. Sadly, there are no pictures. Nacho says what happens in Florida stays in Florida, at least photographic evidence of it!

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At the airport, a stern TSA agent was tasked with patting down Nacho, since he beeped as always because of the metal harness. Nacho wagged and sniffed and even ventured a kiss or two as he was being searched. The kisses shattered the stony grimace of the agent who then started "talking dog" to Nacho as he told my yellow boy about the two canines he loved at home. The pat-down went on for a few extra moments of warm and slobbery bonding.

Lesson #1: Never assume that what a person presents as his outer self is who he is inside: we owe it to each other to expect there is much more beyond that exterior guise.

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To my knowledge, Nacho walked on a wooden boardwalk for the first time on this trip. Though the surface was foreign and the sounds were clunky, he plodded along without a hitch, his training overshadowing the newness of the wooden slats.

Lesson #2: When we learn well, we can take the confidence from that learning into new environments to find success.

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Similarly, Nacho viewed the rolling waves of the Gulf Coast for the first time. He stood on the beach with cocked ears, a wrinkled forehead, and immense curiosity about the crashing sea. After inspecting the waves with appreciation, he accepted them as "normal" and went on with his work.

Lesson #3: We must notice and honor the beautiful things in life, stepping forward with eyes wide open but with an expectancy that such beauty is abundant enough to be present regularly, if we look for it.

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To protect Nacho's feet from rocks and shells, I put on his doggy boots for an evening walk on the beach. He was not a happy lab! However, when he realized that staying put in protest would mean missing an exploration of what the shoreline offered, Nacho moved those booted feet and even walked a step or two faster than normal.

Lesson #4: If given a choice between stagnation and exploration, most of us will ultimately choose the latter, in spite of discomfort and initial resistance.

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As we walked parallel to the ocean on a virtually empty beach that evening, Nacho turned sharply to the right, which was where the waves were. Curious about this directional alteration, I decided to let him reveal his motives, which he soon did as my hand touched a stack of lounge chairs that would soon be pulled up toward a hotel for the night. Nacho is trained to locate chairs, and he did so without my command...finding the only chairs on an otherwise deserted beach.

Lesson #5: Amid the vastness of unknown landscapes in life, the discovery of something familiar can provide a moment of pleasure, stability, and orientation for what is ahead.

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During my lengthy speech, Nacho was professional and focused, moving once to lie closer to me and handling the charged atmosphere with professionalism. One superintendent remarked that if he had not known I was blind before, nothing about the presentation would have highlighted my disability: the content of my message shouted louder than did my eye disease. Nacho flopped onto his side while that superintendent shared those thoughts.

Lesson #6: There are times and places where the most powerful contribution we can make to a situation is to be as far in the background as it is possible to be.

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On the ledge of the courtyard outside our hotel room, three geckos sunned themselves while Nacho reasserted his cocked ears, wrinkled forehead, and immense curiosity. Geckos are distinctly not abundant in Indiana! Their unusual appearance and scampering movement were certainly the most puzzling Florida entity for Nacho.

Lesson #7: There is always something new to learn! ... Or ... Geckos are weird!
I'm not telling you who to vote for. I'm not telling you who I'm voting for. Heck, I'm not even telling you which party I'm registered with (secret sidenote: I'm a hardcore Democrat).

But the Human Rights Campaign is not holding back with their affiliations. They just weighed in and threw their unanimous support behind Hillary Clinton. And that was disingenuous and unnecessary. And when the Human Rights Campaign does disingenuous and unnecessary, holy hell, they go all out.

Stroll on over to their website and Secretary Clinton's face is right there on the homepage. Click on it and you will see a paean to Hillary's views on LGBTQ rights, an ode to her LGBTQ accomplishments and a tribute to her relationship with the LGBTQ community

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What you will not see is a mention of Bernie Sanders. You will not see a mention of his exemplary (and steady, non-flip-floppy) record on LGBTQ rights. You will not see one mention of his many efforts in Congress. You will not even see a mention that sounds like, "Also, there is another guy running and he seems pretty o.k. with the gay community too."

This just doesn't make any sense. Why endorse Hillary now? And why do it in such a one-sided fashion?

So let's call out the obvious: HRC's endorsement of Hillary Clinton is an endorsement of the candidate they think is most likely to win. That's Politics 101, right? Given the two candidates, this endorsement can't possibly be wholly about LGBTQ rights, but instead is an off-shoot of politically savvy HRC throwing their support behind the stronger establishment candidate. If you endorse the candidate most likely to win, then you get in good with the candidate who is (wait for it) most likely to win.

So why not say that? Why make it sound like Hillary is the only candidate with a pro-LGBTQ (possibly not as steady, maybe kinda flip-floppy) past? Sure, it's impolitic to say, "This is why we are supporting this candidate and not this one," but it is disingenuous to create a Hillary Clinton PAC page on HRC's website as if she is the only pro-gay candidate running.

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The most significant piece of HRC's endorsement was the fear-based admonishment: "Think of all the progress we've made under President Obama's leadership and what could be rolled back." Given this umbrella, HRC's endorsement should have contained the line, "We don't think Bernie Sanders has the support to win." That would have been more genuine than what they gave us.
I love Israel. I loved Israel before I ever visited -- blame it on years of Jewish summer camp, day school, and Hebrew school -- but after spending a collective seven months there in the past two years, my infatuation has only amplified.

However, this isn't a simple relationship. (Does one even exist?) I sometimes characterize my relationship with Israel like that of a parent with a child. There is nothing Israel could do to make me stop loving her. I may not always agree with all of her choices, but I will always love her.

I believe that Judaism is so strongly connected to Israel that when someone says something slanderous about Israel (which happens on an almost daily basis in our world,) I take it as a personal attack because my primary identity is Jewish. I know this is wrong and I shouldn't feel this way, but I am so emotionally connected to Israel that I just can't help it.

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I love that the food is kosher and the boys are Jewish and all the signs are in Hebrew and that I feel safer there than I do anywhere else. Israel is my home. I can't say that with as much conviction about any other place in the world.

You're probably wondering why I don't move there right now. After all, I'm going to graduate college in a few months and have the opportunity to choose where I live and what job I have. Why don't I make Aliyah? So many people I know have done it. My Hebrew isn't perfect by any means, but with more practice I could get better.

Everyone I meet who has moved there from the states says the same thing. It's fun there. And they're right. Israelis have a different perspective on life than we do as Americans. They have to go to the army. They face death on a daily basis. This makes them celebrate life and take chances, which is something I strive so badly to do. After all, we only have one life. It sounds silly, but when I think about it this way, I truly want to make the most of it.

As much as I'd like to believe that I am mature, sure of myself, and knowledgeable, I know deep down that I am not really any of those things. And I know this because the real reason I don't want to make Aliyah is because I'm scared.

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I'm scared to not know the language and to have to live under the fear of random terrorist attacks and rockets.

I'm scared that I will never be accepted because I am not really Israeli.

I'm scared that I will limit my career path. I might want to go to rabbinical school at some point and I certainly wouldn't be able to live in Israel and make a living as a female rabbi.

I'm scared that living in Israel might take away its uniqueness. I take solace in knowing that if I need Israel, it is there for me to visit. I don't want to take this for granted.

I'm scared that if I have children and raise them in Israel, they will have to live with similar fears.

Even aside from my uncertainties, I know I have so much to accomplish in the states. There are friendships to revive, people I love, and the frustrating state of American Judaism to revitalize. To quote Samantha Jones from Sex and the City, "I love you [Israel]...but I love me more." And I am grateful to be lucky enough to not have to live in fear. My heart will be with Israel, but my body won't be.
A beloved, elderly relative caught me on the phone the other day for a five-minute chat about my new baby. In my exhaustion, I asked her how her son was. Her dead son. Even worse, I got my names confused. I first asked about her long-deceased husband, then corrected myself to inquire about the well-being of her dead son. I love this woman. I am not a monster. I am just exhausted, and my current view has eaten all of my brainpower. Needless to say, my view is really limited.

When given the chance, I scroll through social media and see lots of posts captioned, "my view for today." Friends, colleagues, family -- they are seeing some incredible things out there. Some are tropical. Some are mountainous. Most are breathtaking.

Here's mine:

It's my view tomorrow and the day after that. It's my view for the foreseeable future, and trust me -- I can't see much these days.

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Sometimes my view includes background information -- toddler feet in rapid motion, dodging around the periphery. Sometimes it's obscured by hands -- jealous ones; sticky ones; overtired, energized ones belonging to two curious siblings. Three kids under age 4. These are my views.

Friends and colleagues ask me, When am I "back"? I, too, ruminate on this burning question. When will my mind/body/spirit be returning to work and the world? To projects and meetings. To dinners with earrings. To being responsible and timely in my replies. I'm not sure. Because today, this is my view. And for better or worse, this view can be all-consuming.

I've heard this view plays tricks on you. It's gone next year. It's gone next month. It's gone tomorrow. This view goes so fast, in no time I'll be removing training wheels, hosting a sleepover, and researching colleges. Before I blink, one of them will be haggling for more screen time, and another will be late for curfew. The same kids who learned to walk like, yesterday. Then all of a sudden, I'll be tearing through my purse for a clean tissue because everything in my hands is snotted and soaked, and I grossly underestimated my visceral reaction to the high school principal welcoming us to graduation on a sticky afternoon.

Wasn't it just last year that my oldest started preschool, where three hours of his day remained largely mysterious? Now he's a pro. I can't turn around without discovering his new pants are already short. It's ankles all the time around here.

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And what of his little brother, who -- I swear -- was just posed the very same way?

Now a middle child, he speaks to me in sentences that sound eerily mature from a 2-year-old's mouth -- when his uncalibrated voice said "Mama" for the first time what seems like a month ago.

And you, Lady, at my breast for long drags of time, have already outgrown everything in your drawer. I'm not ready for you to pull the next punch. I've barely processed your birth.

It's deceiving, this business of time contortion. Never try to reconcile it. I want to fast-forward; then I want to rewind. I don't know what the hell I want. Terrible twos, threenagers, f*ck-you fours -- regardless of the stage, my train stalls in the most difficult stations, then swerves back onto the express track. When one of my brood gets sick, the night drags like molasses -- my chest tight as a drum between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. as I pause for the next yelp on the monitor. I pray for vomit-less cribs, low fevers and the relief of daybreak. I feel as though it will never come. Yet the years get swallowed up whole. The math doesn't compute.

Every so often, I scroll past a breathless cityscape that leaves me nostalgic about the Manhattan views I devoured during my salad days. Then I look down at you sprawled across my lap. You look defenseless. You look home. And I'll probably never again have the chance to examine you for such long drags of time. I sprinkle you with kisses and you graciously accept them. From what I hear, the time will come when you'll brush me off and run out to your friends who are honking in the driveway. That will hurt. A lot.

I'll come out of my bubble. I'll rejoin the masses. I'll try to never, EVER ask about dead relatives. I'll catch up on that new hit show or learn of the next tragic shooting in an acceptable amount of time so that I, too, may blast the gun laws. I'll be back. And I'll be better. But for today, this is my view. So as I would with the view of the pedicured toenails and daiquiri against the Hawaiian sunset, I'm going to enjoy it.

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Leyna Juliet Weber is a Mother/Writer/Actress in that particular order. She is the Co-Founder of WorkingBug.com and lives in Los Angeles with her husband and three small kiddos in a home that consistently looks vandalized. www.SeeMomWrite.com

Also on HuffPost:
There is an epidemic of outrage going around. Politicians on both the right and left rale against rivals in their own party, as well as the opposition. People on each side of every issue, from guns to police protocols to health care to education, rant and rave. Social media feeds on Facebook and Twitter feel like toxic waste dumps where people spew hatred and anger that, not only doesn't move the conversation forward, but foments more hatred and anger.

Being outraged about injustice and expressing it freely is the essence of being an American. But respect is also an important value. It is so easy when sitting alone in front of the screen to write what you feel -- unvarnished and untempered. No one is directly in front of you reacting to your words and expressing joy or horror. It's also easy to forget that once you hit the send button, ugly words can go far and never disappear.

The Internet gives us awesome power to share thoughts with people around our city and across the country and the globe. But it's a power that needs to be used carefully, because with the click of a button reputations can be destroyed, jobs lost, and friendships torn apart.

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There is a difference between an honest engagement in constructive dialogue -- which may even become heated -- and the tossing of verbal bombs. If you're fuming at injustice or wrong-doing, angry at an acquaintance, outraged by political behavior, or frustrated by big bureaucracy, here are six secrets for sharing your thoughts in a constructive way.

1. Think about what is really bothering you and focus on that. Say, for instance, that you are upset by poor customer service. Talking about your experience, your frustration and disappointment in how you are treated is one thing. Calling the company names and using every expletive in the book is not only just plain wrong, but counterproductive and unlikely to win a quick fix. Don't let anger distract you. You might feel good for a few minutes but it will not correct the situation.

2. Apply the "Get-Up-and-Walk-Around Rule." Before hitting send, get up, leave your screen, and walk around for at least 10 minutes. When you come back, see if what you wrote is really what you want to say and how you want to say it.

3. Tap into a lifeline. Before sending your post, ask a trusted colleague, friend, or family member to read it. If they're in the same space with you, you can also see their reaction as they view it.

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4. Put the "Jumbotron Rule" into play. Would you want to see your words and your picture show up on the mega-screen at your favorite sporting event or concert? If not, hit delete.

5. Accept the consequences. If you still decide to throw your verbal Molotov cocktail, be prepared for the consequences -- like loss of friends, job, or reputation. And if it comes down to it, don't play the blame game. Be accountable for your words.

6. Don't count on an apology as a big fix. If you do end up hurting someone -- whether it's their feelings or reputation or something more dire -- don't expect that just saying you're sorry will make it all better. Apologies are important, but they don't erase pain. And if you have done serious damage, tossing out a "sorry" can be like using a fire extinguisher to contain a four-alarm inferno. Much more than issuing an apology, you'll need to engage in a frank conversation or more. And you must show by your actions that you really do regret what you said.
By Nancy Chuda founder and Editor-In-Chief of LuxEcoLiving and co-founder of Healthy Child Healthy World

New York January 12, 2016

We first reported in 2010 on the fuel cell technology created by Bloom Energy Founder and CEO, inventor and NASA rocket scientist, K. R. Sridhar, who invented a new fuel cell that pumps oxygen into the Bloom Box along with fuel (oil, natural gas, biofuel, solar, carbon-neutral landfill fuel, etc.) that combine to produce electricity.

A huge environmental savings in terms of impact but at what costs?

Electric power combined with other sources still poses risks in lieu of a more dangerous possibility. Last year, The New York Times reported terrorists or a hostile foreign state could take down the American power grid either by a cyber-attack or by an electromagnetic pulse attack. Could these attacks focused on a larger source like the grid also target smaller but more influential financial centers like Morgan Stanley's global base of operations?

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Based on Ted Koppel's book,"Lights Out: A Cyber-attack, a Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath," one of America's most experienced and best-known journalists, attempted to show readers why the danger is real.

Power plants and factories are increasingly at risk by employing industrial control systems that are vulnerable to hacks. The Department of Homeland and Security's Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT) issued this particular warning after increase in cyber-attacks occurred the past year.

Industrial control systems are computers that control processes in the industry that includes food manufacturing facilities, steel mills and energy plants. Being connected to the Internet makes them more exposed to cyber-attacks and this is one of the most dangerous things that can happen to energy plants.

, who runs the Department of Homeland Security's Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team.

The U.S. electric grid is 99.97% reliable, yet that 0.03% of unreliability is both troublesome and costly. In fact, the U.S. Department of Energy(DOE) reports that grid power outages and power quality issues cost American businesses on average over $100 billion each year. The threat of a cyber attack against critical infrastructure has emerged as yet another challenge to grid security in recent years, potentially impacting the information technology (IT) systems and networks used within the electric utility and delivery infrastructure, such as power lines, electricity control systems, and customer meters. A July 2012 Government Accountability (GAO)report examined the growth of these threats to the electric power industry and states that this is one of the nation's high risk vulnerabilities.

Morgan Stanley announced that Bloom Energy will install a fuel cell system at the Firm's global headquarters in New York City's Times Square neighborhood

Fuel cell systems, whether grid tied or grid independent provide premium power without voltage sags, surges, and frequency variations that can impact computer systems. In addition to power, byproduct heat from a fuel cell can be used at the end user facility for space heating, water heating, and chilling. When supplementing grid power, fuel cells reduce peak demand and lower energy bills. In some areas, fuel cell power is even cheaper than grid electricity. Power purchase agreements, offered by many of the major fuel cell companies, can lock in the cost of fuel cell power for a specified period, generating cost savings over the term of the contract. On top of everything, fuel cells produce little to no polluting emissions making fuel cells the cleanest energy generation technology available today.

Morgan Stanley's second project with Bloom Energy demonstrates how clean energy can be deployed in urban areas like Times Square

The fuel cell project at 1585 Broadway is expected to be fully operational in late 2016 and will provide approximately 750 kW of 24x7 high quality power to the Morgan Stanley building, equal to approximately 6 million kWh of clean electricity each year.

Bloom Energy's solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technology converts fuel into electricity through a high efficiency non-combustion process that generates clean and reliable on-site power, reducing emissions of greenhouse gasses compared to traditionally generated and transmitted electricity.

"Morgan Stanley is committed to investing in technologies that minimize our impact on the environment," said Chief Operating Officer Jim Rosenthal. "Following on the success of our fuel cell installation in Purchase, NY, this project further exemplifies how we can improve the sustainability and resiliency of our facilities, while controlling costs and being responsible to our business, our shareholders and our planet."

"The recent Paris Climate Accord calls on government and business leaders to reimagine the way we power the world, and this project in the heart of Manhattan demonstrates how clean distributed energy can be deployed onsite, even in urban areas," said KR Sridhar, principal co-founder and CEO of Bloom Energy. "We applaud Morgan Stanley for their continued commitment to clean energy as well as Governor Cuomo's administration and NYSERDA for their work to drive adoption of clean distributed generation."

"Partnerships between the State and private sector have made New York a global leader in reducing greenhouse gases and advancing clean energy solutions, and will continue to play a vital role in transforming our energy system," said John B. Rhodes, President and CEO of NYSERDA said. "This project is an example of how new and innovative technologies will help us achieve Governor Cuomo's vision of an energy system that is cleaner, more resilient and more affordable for all New Yorkers."
It's true. There are tourist trips to the refugee camps, where privileged foreigners encroach on the grounds to obtain their official right to brag.

"Oh, yes we went to Zaatari camp and saw the refugees," says the privileged foreign audience, to uplift their own credibility. They snap a picture with the "pretty-blue-eyed" child to showcase to those around them their understanding of the pain and struggle of those forced out of their homes.

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Every time the tourists in the refugee camp are confronted, they claim, "we are here to understand the situation." As if a few hours touring the camp, taking pictures with a few of the children, and leaving is how one will come to understand the situation.

Photo credit: Manar Bilal

When tourists snap pictures, photography turns into a tool that dehumanizes people into products. Cameras fill the Syrian refugee camps at the borders, as people enter and exit, taking with them a souvenir.

Videos, short films, documentaries are all tools used by these individuals to profit off of the existence of Syrian refugees. They enter the refugee camps with entitlement, asking people to pose for their self-profiting creations, without even understanding the situation of the individual. All claiming that they "are raising awareness," when they know nothing about the situation themselves.

Enter the camps when you have a purpose and are able to provide something.

Pictures and videos are used to romanticize the situation for the tourists' own hype and well-being. A photograph of a girl watering a plant is taken, the caption reading "the child remains resilient," without mention that a rocket had killed her family, that she has no school to attend, that she is hungry, and she was forced out of her home.

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Photo credit: Manar Bilal

This is because they do not know the people they photograph, they only take the photograph, film the video, to upgrade their own portfolio.

Enter the camps when you have a purpose and are able to provide something. As a Syrian photographer and videographer, I lived in the camps, its dwellers are my family. I documented the memories of our broken homeland and deteriorating reality.

Don't capitalize off of the suffering of others, utilizing them for your own benefit.

Don't be a tourist in refugee camps, a place of broken dreams is not a place for your tourism.
Like thousands of others transfixed by the Netflix Documentary Making a Murderer, I was alternately struck by feelings of rage, shock, sadness, and dismay as I streamed through the ten episodes. But watching the series as a lawyer who has spent most of her career fighting for the constitutional and legal rights of children, I was particularly incensed. The injustices exposed in Making a Murderer are not limited to Manitowoc, Wisconsin, but mirror systemic failures in jurisdictions across the country. And as one of the lawyers who litigated the Pennsylvania "Kids for Cash" scandal, the scent of official corruption was all too familiar.

So while Steven Avery's twisted and disheartening journey through the justice system is the primary focus of the series, it is Brendan Dassey's story that haunts me. Brendan is the intellectually challenged 16-year-old nephew of Avery who was convicted of the murder and sexual assault of Teresa Halbach, based largely on coerced statements plied from him by law enforcement and statements derived from his own lawyer's perplexing but dogged attempts to elicit a confession from him. Brendan is now serving a life sentence with no chance for parole before 2048.

The interrogations of Brendan by law enforcement and his own legal team were excruciating to observe. The scenes vividly illustrate the reality of false confessions and how easily children and youth can be manipulated without legal protections. Brendan appears truly without guile throughout, a young man intellectually compromised in his ability to understand what is happening, yet fervently attempting to tell his truth. Whether it is his own lawyer's private investigator literally putting words and images in his head, or the creepy closeness with which the police investigators lean into him as they press him to "confess" his conduct to his mother before they do, the "questioning" left me staring at the screen in disbelief.

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At Brendan's trial, the prosecutor, in his closing argument, tells the jury "innocent people don't confess." He cleverly plays to an opinion shared by many: Why in the world would an innocent person confess to a crime he didn't commit, especially murder? But false confessions have become a staple of our criminal justice system; the prosecutor's statement itself is false and indeed legally objectionable. Today, saying innocent people don't confess is like saying apples don't grow on trees - a patent lie exposed by our own human experience.

And children are no exception. In fact, they are more likely to confess falsely than adults. They're more vulnerable to the promise or suggestion of a positive outcome if they just tell the interrogator what "really" happened. This can have devastating consequences. As Dr. Laurence Steinberg noted in the recent Huffington Post article What 'Making A Murderer' Can Teach Us About Teens And False Confessions, "A confession is one of the most damning things in a trial, and one of the things that juries are likely to believe." But Brendan Dassey wasn't thinking about the longer term consequences of saying he participated in the murder with his uncle - he just wanted to know if he could get back to his school project if he told his questioners what they wanted to hear.

Of course, Brendan's susceptibility to falsely confessing is compounded by his cognitive impairments. He repeatedly - and heartbreakingly - refers to himself as "stupid." He doesn't understand what the word "inconsistent" means. Under these circumstances, he can't sort out why his interrogators would feed him false information or say things that are simply designed to manipulate him into agreeing with them. He genuinely believes that the more he acknowledges involvement in Teresa Halbach's murder, the better off he will be. And given his age and intellectual challenges, he is that much more likely to trust these "authority figures" and give them the answers they seek, as many children do.

This well-known and controversial style of interrogation, called the Reid technique, was recently discussed in another Huffington Post article by Matt Ferner. This technique has led to numerous situations where an innocent person ended up confessing to a crime they never committed. "In a nutshell, the primal fatal flaw of the Reid technique, on display in the interrogation of Brendan Dassey, is that it is a guilt-presumptive process inflicted on suspects who have already been judged deceptive and guilty," stated Saul Kassin, a psychology professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in the Huffington Post article 7 Terrifying Things 'Making A Murderer' Illustrates About American Justice.

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The law has been slow to ensure that children are not abused by our justice system. Much damage was done to Brendan's case before his first lawyer was finally removed from his case. Across the country, children are routinely exposed to shocking interrogation practices. Brendan was questioned without the assistance of either a lawyer or his deeply concerned mother. In California, a 10-year-old boy was considered mature and knowledgeable enough to understand and waive his Miranda rights, ultimately confessing to the killing of his abusive stepfather. His confession was upheld by the California appellate court; the United States Supreme has been asked to review the case.

2016 marks the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court's ruling in Miranda, and it also marks the fifth anniversary of the Court's ruling in J.D.B. v North Carolina, a case in which the Court required law enforcement to take a child's age into account in determining when to administer the Miranda warnings. But the Court has yet to address whether children should ever be subjected to questioning by the police without the assistance of counsel, despite their acknowledgement 50 years ago that police interrogations are inherently coercive. How many more children will be convicted and sentenced based upon a false confession before proper protections are put in place?
Helpful Hints: Breastfeeding and Mentoring

Fact:

Desired qualities of a Mentor:

Acts as a role model and advocate, also is available and responsive

Believes in the capabilities of the mentee, also willing to share expertise and insight

Motivates, supports and enhances the mentee's development

Is current in their knowledge of the field, has leadership experience plus vision

Knows how to access professional networks and seeks to enhance political awareness

Tip: Ask your health care provider if they offer breastfeeding support groups and if you can be referred to a peer counselor during your pregnancy.

Benefit: Accepting the role of informal mentor presents an opportunity for experts to contribute to the continued growth of their profession.

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Risk:

, including disadvantaged, middle-income, and low-income populations. Peer support is considered vital to breaking down barriers to breastfeeding in a woman's social network, especially among groups with low breastfeeding rates. Studies conducted in WIC & Nutrition clinics across the country prove that women who do not receive peer support:

Breastfeed less Are less likely to initiate breastfeeding Were less likely to be breastfeeding at 1 and 3 months postpartum

Myth: Physicians know a lot about breastfeeding. Very few physicians trained in North America or Western Europe learned anything at all about breastfeeding in medical school. Even fewer learned about the practical aspects of helping mothers start breastfeeding and helping them maintain breastfeeding. After medical school, most of the information physicians get regarding infant feeding comes from formula company representatives or advertisements.
During the Tamir Rice protest in downtown Cleveland, on December 29, 2015, police officer Brian Dorin, after using his cop car to "win" a game-of-chicken versus street protesters, rolled down his window and yelled at a 25-year-old black student-activist, "Do you want to be the next one."



All photographs: Michael Nigro

The incident is recounted in my Huffington photo essay published on January 8, 2016.

Alana Belle, the student-activist to whom the phrase was directed, has now filed a complaint against Officer Dorin through the Office of Professional Standards (OPS), a civilian run police review board.

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The Cleveland Police Department (CPD) has also begun their own separate investigation and has assigned their Internal Affairs division to evaluate the incident.

That's good news. And a rational response. A member of the public is filing a complaint against a public servant and is told that her request will be honored.

In a recent phone conversation with Belle, however, she says that since she began the process of filing a formal complaint, the police have, at least six times, followed her when she leaves her home, work, or from her evening writer's workshop.

She also said that during subsequent Tamir Rice protests, legal observers from the National Lawyer's Guild and other activists revealed to her that the police are singling her out as one of "the leaders" and, during the protests, closely monitor her.

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As I had witnessed the incident on December 29, I know that the truth is on Belle's side. It's a powerful place from which to argue, except when you're speaking truth to power. And the police are a powerful force.



The Rev. Bruce Lambert Butcher of St. Paul A.M.E. Church

What little has come to light with the on-going investigation suggests a degree of spin from the CPD, setting up a rote police narrative whose outcome is a fait accompi.

The responses from Steve Loomis, president of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association (CPPA) in a January 15 Cleveland.com follow up piece, is typical, if not predictable. Criminalize dissent, launch ad hominem attacks and threaten legal action against Belle.

Alana Belle is a citizen who has asked for a public servant's behavior to be investigated. That's it. That's all.

When asked over the phone if she was looking for remuneration, Belle said, "No. Absolutely not."

Yet because of the nature of her complaint, rather than pursue the investigation objectively, it seems that the CPD would rather obfuscate, and employ the tactic of trying to make Belle look like an angry black woman, who deserves it.

Due diligence and unbiased investigation can reveal the truth. This is one of the reasons why Cleveland's Mayor Frank Jackson pushed for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate the Police Department in March 2013.

In fact, in May of 2015, the City entered into a court enforceable agreement with the DOJ to address and investigate the CPD's pattern and practice of excessive force.

A Monitoring Team is currently overseeing the Cleveland Police Department's compliance with the U.S. Department of Justice consent decree.

Matthew Barge, one of the 15 Monitoring Team members, said in a phone conversation that they are aware of the Belle/Dorin incident from members of the public.

"The Monitoring Team is not in the position to actually run the investigation in the department," Barge said, "We're there to make sure that the investigation is fair and accurate."



Barge went on to say that Charles See, the Director of Community Engagement for the Monitoring Team, was there the night of the incident, but did not observe it.

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"He was dispatched to the protests to observe and get a sense with his own eyes what was going on," Barge said.



Charles See (far right) Director of Community Engagement observing the protest on December 29, 2015

But the police want video. I get it. It's smart. It protects all sides. But they want it from Belle, who has yet to obtain any video or audio from protesters who were there that evening.

Cleveland.com's request for Officer Dorin's body camera footage from the city was denied. The Cleveland records department rejected their request citing the Confidential Law Enforcement Investigatory Record exemption, or CLEIR, an Ohio statute under the Public Records Act.

The records custodian wrote in an email to Cleveland.com, "That the video is part of an ongoing investigation and not releasable at this time based on [CLEIR] the confidential law enforcement investigatory record exception [sic].'"

Law enforcement and City Officials use CLEIR time and again to keep public records from, well, the public.

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More on CLEIR shortly.

The author of the Cleveland.com piece, Ryllie Danylko, erroneously quoted my Huffington Post article by stating "Nigro saw Officer Dorin turn on his body camera during the first encounter with Belle."



I never wrote that. I never saw that. I wouldn't even know the physical action it would take to turn an officer's body camera on.



What I did write, however, in my first-person account, was this:

"Officer Dorin then decided to aim his body camera (as seen in the photo below) and record us. Good. I'd love to see if he even turned it on."



Officer Dorin pointing his body camera

Which brings us to the verbiage of the city's records department that was sent in an email to Cleveland.com: "the video is not releasable at this time."

These words all but confirm that Officer Dorin did, in fact, have the body camera on. Zooming in on the photograph reveals the tally light on the body camera is illuminated.



A red tally light is illuminated on the body camera, typically this indicates 'recording'

So, back to CLEIR and the city's records department refusing to release the body camera footage.

According to attorney Jack Greiner at the Graydon Head Law Firm in Cincinnati, who is one of the leading advocates for public transparency in the state, and has argued numerous cases involving CLEIR exemptions, it appears that CLEIR does not apply in this particular investigation.

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On a phone call, Greiner said, "Based on your description of the incident, the assumption is that Officer Dorin was on site during the protest to observe and manage the action."

Greiner went on to say:

"If there was no criminal investigation at the time of the incident, CLEIR does not apply. The body camera footage precedes the actual investigation. In fact, you don't even need to be concerned with any of the CLEIR exemptions, if there was no investigation at the time. It's the equivalent to a 911 call."

When asked for the official reason why Officer Dorin was on site during the December 29th protest, Dan Willams, Media Relations Director for the City of Cleveland wrote in an email, "This is an on-going investigation so when it is complete we will be able to share more details."

If Dorin was at the protest to protect and serve, to monitor, and was not there as part of an active investigation, then the body/dash camera footage should be made public.



Moments after saying, "You want to be the next one" to Alana Belle, Officer Brian Dorin repositioned his vehicle.



If history is any barometer, however, more than likely the public will never see it. The reason is not exclusive to Cleveland. Commandeering and impeding the release of police video is a nationwide struggle.

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Just look at Chicago. It took a year to get the Chicago police to release the video of the October 2014 murder of Laquan McDonald. The video exposed the official police narrative as a lie.

And then last week, again in Chicago, a Federal Judge forced the release of yet another video, this time from 2013, of the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Cedric Chatman. The police narrative was fiction.



Activist Sarah Wellington of the activist/art collective We Will Not Be Silent, at an Eric Garner memorial, NYC 2015

Police not releasing video happens with such frequency that it's par for the putt-putt course; law enforcement's propensity to protect their own, rather than the public they have sworn to protect is disheartening at best, an institutionalized public danger at worst.

There are dozens of instances of body camera footage countering official police narratives (and, to be fair, there are dozens of instances exonerating police, too). But why the double standard of who gets access? They are public records.

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Just this past week, it was reported that The New York Police Department is asking for a $36,000 "copy fee" to anyone requesting the release of an officer's body camera footage. Who, besides terrorist organizations, extorts money and holds other people's lives in their hands for what is ostensibly a ransom fee?



Loomis, the CPPA president, said in a statement to Cleveland.com, "Just because [Belle] said it doesn't mean it's true. Protesters say a lot of things."

Even if you don't frame the above statement with the understanding that police are given an expansive breadth to lie to get information and/or entrap people, one must logically recognize that the opposite to Loomis' statement holds as much weight. Just because you deny it, doesn't mean it didn't happen.

Have we somehow lost the capacity to understand that an event can indeed occur even if it's not on video? There are eye-(and ear)-witnesses to corroborate Belle's story. I am one of them.

I have covered dozens and dozens of protests, from individual acts of civil disobedience to marches of over 400,000, and I simply cannot get my head around Loomis' claim in Cleveland.com where he states, "Literally every inch and every second of those protests are videotaped by someone."

This, literally, is not true. Not even the small scale actions can lay claim to having every inch and every second video taped.



But words have meaning. Literally. As do the words I write here. As do the words from the Cleveland public records keeper. As do the words Officer Brian Dorin said to Alana Belle.

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So let's take Officer Loomis' claim, his words, as truth, that every inch and every second of that protest is video taped. He said it. He now has to own it. Just as Alana Belle is owning her statement.

Therefore, there should be over four hours of footage of me walking through downtown, taking over 700 pictures, interviewing and meeting people, standing in front Officer Dorin's car as he bumper-bullies forward, screaming my lungs out at him after he asked Alana if she wanted to be the next one, of me leaning right up against his window demanding his name and subsequently giving him my protected-by-free-speech finger when he wouldn't divulge it.



There should also be over 6 hours of footage of Alana Belle, every second and every moment that she was protesting that day.

But it doesn't exist. And guess what else doesn't exits? Seemingly a vote from the grand jury.

Just prior to publication,

reported that the Grand Jury in the Tamir Rice case never actually voted on the charges, which included aggravated murder, against the Cleveland police officers Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback.

would later clarify the procedural nuances of the grand jury, and quoted the Rice's family legal team: "The prosecutor saw to it that the grand jury never took an up-or-down vote on specific criminal charges..." The Rice family followed up in a press release/petition that stated, "It's time for the Department of Justice to investigate Tamir's killing and the investigation and grand jury process that followed."

We need to remember why this conversation is even happening. A 12-year-old boy named Tamir Rice is dead. And he shouldn't be. And no one is accountable. That's what this is about.
Former US president Bill Clinton (R) and Human Rights Campaign (HRC) president Chad Griffin acknowledge the crowd as Clinton arrives to address the 18th annual Human Rights Campaign National Dinner in Washington on October 25, 2014. HRC is the largest US civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. AFP PHOTO/Nicholas KAMM (Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)

This week the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the largest LGBT group, endorsed Hillary Clinton for president. It was a bit of a shocker not because HRC endorsed a Democrat -- the group has only endorsed Democratic presidential candidates, as the GOP has always been hostile toward LGBT rights -- but that it occurred before even one vote has been cast in the Democratic primaries and while two hugely gay-supportive candidates are so close in the polls in the first contests.

In 2008, HRC endorsed Barack Obama, but not until June, when it was clear he would be the nominee. (For 2012, the group endorsed the president, who had no major challenger, in May of 2011). In 2004, HRC also endorsed the Democratic nominee, John Kerry, in June, after all the votes in the primaries were in. And it's very first endorsement of a presidential candidate, Bill Clinton, came in June of 1992.

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Only in 2000 did HRC endorse far earlier in an election in which a Democrat was not up for re-election, backing Vice President Al Gore in February. But that was after the only other major candidate in the race, former New Jersey Democratic senator Bill Bradley, who stirred the pot for that time when he said he backed adding LGBT protections to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, had lost the Iowa caucuses (held in January then) in a crushing defeat, and lost the New Hampshire primary on February 1. Looking terrible in the polls of states ahead, it was all but assured Bradley would lose the nomination.

Bradley certainly had an impact on the race and on LGBT rights in the fall prior: Though Gore didn't agree with Bradley on amending the Civil Rights Act (and many in the Democratic establishment came to Gore's defense on that, including openly gay congressman Barney Frank), Gore broke with his president, Bill Clinton, in December of 1999, a month before the Iowa contest, stating that he opposed and would work to eliminate the "don't ask, don't tell" law that Clinton had signed. That came about within days of of an interview I conducted with Frank, in which he called on Gore to make the shift amid Bradley's courting of the gay vote, a competition that was well-noted:

Candidates Bradley and Gore have been competing intensely over recent months for the gay vote. Both have made appeals before gay audiences, visited with gay organizations, and sought financial and volunteer support from gays nationwide. While Bradley supports more sweeping gay rights proposals than does Gore, the vice president has embraced the community while in office, and recently appointed a lesbian rights activist as manager of his presidential campaign.

It was certainly an example of why it's important for a minority group to hold out on an endorsement and let the candidates compete and get better and better on the issues. Had Bradley not come out for amending the Civil Rights Act in September, Gore may not have come out against DADT in December. (And it made sense to back Gore right away when it was clear he would be the nominee.) Similarly, in 2008, as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama fought it out in state after state until the very end, they made many promises to LGBT voters, hoping to secure their votes and financial contributions. After Obama became president, activists pressured him and held him to the promises that he made in the thick of that battle.

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But here we are less than two weeks from Iowa, and Senator Bernie Sanders is surging in the polls in both Iowa and New Hampshire, looking like he will take one or both. He has many LGBT donors and supporters, many of whom are HRC contributors who are, judging from Twitter, bewildered and angry. As I wrote last fall, Sanders has a stellar gay rights record, having been one of only a small handful of federal legislators to vote against the Defense of Marriage Act (when he was in the House), and he's been out front in this campaign. Last spring Sanders called for amending the Civil Rights Act to include LGBT protections -- 14 years after Bill Bradley did, but several months before Hillary Clinton did -- and he backed open transgender military service before Clinton too. Sanders wasn't always supportive of marriage equality, even when he voted against DOMA -- though he likes to cloud that fact and his own past now -- but he certainly was publicly for marriage equality several years before Clinton.

As I've also written, Hillary Clinton has responded to criticism by some LGBT donors and activists who were frustrated by what they saw as slowness on her part to publicly speak to the issues, and in recent months she released a robust, far-reaching and more detailed plan to foster LGBT equality. That's a great thing. And it's not unfair to suggest that Sanders' presence and his record had some effect.

So why didn't the largest LGBT group keep it going? Why didn't they keep both candidates competing for the LGBT vote and promising more on a range of issues, from fighting to implement the teaching of queer history in schools to taking on issues uniquely affecting LGBT seniors and LGBT people of color? Why not push Sanders more, hoping to get him to speak out more, dangling that endorsement in front of him -- he could, after all, become the Democratic nominee -- and why not do the same with Clinton?

The only answer to that question has to do with access to the White House, and perhaps what the Clinton campaign may have said to HRC, and to Planned Parenthood, the Brady Campaign on Gun Violence and other groups that have endorsed early, about the kind of access they might get -- and what they might not get if they didn't endorse now. (Let's also not forget that Chad Griffin, HRC's president, worked in Bill Clinton's administration, and raised much money as a bundler for Obama's and Clinton's campaigns.) And it is a campaign that needs those endorsements now, calling in its chips, as Bernie Sanders and his insurgency has taken the Clintonites by surprise. What seems like an early burst of enthusiasm from a group that hasn't ever endorsed any seriously contested presidential candidate before any votes took place may actually be an indication of the fear and loathing inside the Clinton campaign.
HOOKSETT, NH - JANUARY 10: Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks after receiving an endorsement from Planned Parenthood Action Fund at Southern New Hampshire University January 10, 2016 in Hooksett, New Hampshire. This marks the first time the organization has ever given an endorsement in a primary race. (Photo by Darren McCollester/Getty Images)

This week, many of the various factions of the anti-abortion movement will gather in Washington for the March For Life, an annual event that marks the anniversary of the Supreme Courts decision in Roe v. Wade.

The wide array of events surrounding the march reflect many of the strands of the anti-choice movement. This morning, far-flung members of the rescue movement -- those who protest outside of clinics and sometimes harass providers and patients -- joined local activists who have been protesting at a new Planned Parenthood building, much to the dismay of the elementary school next door. On Wednesday, a group of demonstrators elsewhere in Washington mistakenly protested outside of a closed Planned Parenthood building. Over the next few days, young activists will have two rallies and a conference dedicated just to them. Lawyers and law students will meet about legal strategies for turning back abortion rights. For the first time, there will be a conference focused on evangelicals.

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But many of these events will be connected by the presence of one familiar face: David Daleiden, the young activist whose sting operation against Planned Parenthood has shaken up the anti-abortion movement. Daleiden isnt scheduled for a main-stage slot at the march, but hell be making appearances at the Planned Parenthood protest, the evangelical summit, the lawyers event and a Family Research council event, along with a related Students for Life event on the West Coast on Sunday.

Daleidens influence will likely be felt even at events where he isnt present: The keynote speech at the march itself will be delivered by Carly Fiorina, the Republican presidential candidate who has routinely recited a false story of what she claims to have seen in one of Daleidens films.

The central role of Daleiden in this weeks events reflects the extent to which his project, which stemmed from one of the most radical strands of the anti-choice movement, has brought radical protest groups back to prominence and shifted the strategy and priorities of the more mainstream parts of the movement.

Last summer, Daleiden started releasing a series of videos, taken undercover in conversations with Planned Parenthood employees, which he claimed showed the womens health organization illegally profiting off fetal tissue donated for research. Those claims didnt hold up, but they opened up a new line of attack for the anti-choice movement -- along with a new wave of violence -- that culminated in the recent votes in Congress to defund Planned Parenthood, something that anti-choice leaders say they will now be able to do once and for all if a Planned Parenthood foe is elected president. Planned Parenthood is now suing Daleiden and his accomplices.

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This renewed focus on Planned Parenthood has helped to elevate the rescue movement, which Daleidens project grew out of. Two of Daleidens closest advisors, Operation Rescues Troy Newman and Life Dynamics Mark Crutcher, helped to pioneer the strategy of cutting down access to abortion by making life miserable for abortion providers and patients. Crutcher has specialized in doing this through sting operations, including one that Daleidens was modeled after, and now hopes to train and unleash a whole army of David Daleidens on abortion providers.

Planned Parenthood has long been a target of these groups. After Daleiden started releasing his videos, anti-choice groups began directing their activists to protests in front of Planned Parenthood clinics led by some of the old guard of the rescue movement. This created what Newman described as the largest coordinated protest of abortion clinics since the prime of the rescue movement in the 1980s and 1990s.

Daleidens videos have also prompted a shift in how major anti-choice groups are talking about their work. Americans United for Life, the influential anti-abortion legal group, has been a leader in the strategy of pushing abortion restrictions in the name of womens health, offering legislators anti-choice model bills through what it calls its Womens Protection Program. But since Daleiden started releasing his videos, AUL has sensed an opportunity and started shifting its rhetoric toward legal rights for fetuses, launching what it calls an Infants Protection Project that quietly aims to build on personhood protections for fetuses.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, the head of the anti-choice campaign powerhouse Susan B. Anthony List, told ProPublica that in Daleidens videos, her group saw our opening -- and we jumped all in.

That has certainly also been the case with Fiorina and her fellow Republican presidential candidates, nearly all of whom say they want to remove federal funding from Planned Parenthoods services to low-income women (none of which goes towards abortions), and several of whom have vowed to attempt to ban all abortion, some through a radical personhood strategy.

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NATO Ministerial meeting on December 2, 2015, at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.

After five decades of its existence and as an alliance that consists of 28 independent countries -- including three permanent UN Security Council members -- the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is one of the largest and the strongest collective defense alliance of its kind. The adversaries of the Allies have contested their formation, development, and existence. NATO was known as an alliance against the Soviet Union only. So, why has the Alliance expanded and strengthened even three decades after the collapse of the USSR? Does such an alliance still need to exist?

Founded in 1959, NATO is a political and military alliance. The three principal reasons for the creation of the Alliance were deterring former Soviet Union's expansionism, forbidding the revival of nationalist militarism in Europe, and encouraging European political integration. Since its creation, the Alliance has played diverse roles, including defensive, political and a tool for the stabilization of Eastern Europe, Africa, Central and South Asia through partnerships, crisis response and peacekeeping operations.



World War II ended with the death of around 36.5 million Europeans and it left Europe devastated with social, economic, security, and political crises. The Former Soviet Union has expanded its influence through aggression and suppression in the region. In May 1985, the USSR formed the Warsaw Pact (The Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation, and Mutual Assistance), a collective defense treaty among the Soviet Union and seven Soviet satellite states in Eastern and Central Europe. The USSR assumed that the Union and the Pact would defeat NATO, but on the contrary, the Pact dissolved in 1991. The former USSR was defeated in the Cold War and NATO has succeeded in its first objective.



In the 1990s at the request of the United Nations, NATO became involved in the Bosnian conflict. The first peacekeeping experience of the Allies in the region, but it was firmly criticized and opposed by Serbia and NATO's adversaries. Finally, NATO's cooperation in the Balkan Peninsula de-escalated the conflicts. The region experienced years of conflicts, but the presence of a NATO-led forces have minimized the clashes and casualties. Today most of these nations live in harmony. The Allies consider forbidding the revival of nationalist militarism in the Balkan Peninsula as a historic achievement.



Through encouraging European political integration policy, the Alliance has contributed to the transition of some former Soviet Union and the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) states to democratic nations. Among 28 NATO member countries, only Canada and the US are outside of the continent, and 22 of its member countries are EU members.

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A joint airborne operations exercise between U.S. and Estonian paratroopers in Nurmsi, Estonia, photo by U.S. Army Sgt. Juana M. Nesbitt.

Beyond its borders, NATO has carried out disaster-relief operations and missions to protect populations against natural, technological or humanitarian disasters. It responded to the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan; it has engaged since 2001 in the war on terror and countering insurgency in Afghanistan. And since 2008, the Alliance has been supporting countering piracy around the Horn of Africa and in the Indian Ocean to ensure that the sea lines of communication are secure and open.



After the collapse of the USSR and during the late 1990s, NATO's future, its purpose, and survival have been debated among the Allies. Even after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US followed by Istanbul, Madrid, and London bombings some opinion makers in Europe has not considered these attacks as a threat to the sovereignty and freedom of their states, but a tool for possible insecurity. However, Russian's military aggression in Georgia in 2008 has alerted the Alliance and defense analyst.



Latest Changes of the international borders and annexation of Crimea by Russia through the use of force and unprecedented air operations of Russian air force near Turkey's borders with Syria has increased the threat level for NATO members. Furthermore, the recent Russian military buildup and its decision for placing new air-defense radar systems and deployment of missiles in Kaliningrad, as a strategy of anti-access/area denial could be a serious matter of concerns for The Alliance and in particular to Poland and Lithuania, which border Kaliningrad.



A Patriot missile battery sits on an overlook at a Turkish army base in Gaziantep, Turkey, Feb. 4, 2013.

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Anida Yoeu Ali, The Buddhist Bug, Into the Night (production still), 2015, 2-channel HD video projection, 7:00 minutes. Collection: Queensland Art Gallery.

Asia Pacific Triennial 8: At the Intersection of the Local and Global

The eighth Asia Pacific Triennial (APT8), now underway at the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane, Australia, offers a view into the diverse contemporary art practices of the Australian, Asian and Pacific regions, from the far reaches of Oceania to former Soviet bloc countries such as the Kyrgyz Republic and Georgia. Widely considered as a bellwether for art from the region, APT is not concerned with contextualizing the artworks in relation to Western art traditions, but rather presents them in the context of different and varied art traditions deriving from multiple, interdependent sources. As such, APT is free to explore the vastly varied Asia Pacific area, without being beholden to, and burdened by, an overarching thematic construct or theory (in the way from which last year's Venice Biennale may have been considered to suffer). That said, the exhibition is not just a grab bag of art collected from different corners of Asia, nor a checklist of the top artists operating in the region, but rather an appropriately complex window into diverse practices, subjects and conditions. The exhibition succeeds to a great extent by seamlessly incorporating works from diverse origins -- whether political, performance-based, traditional or vernacular -- in a focused, nonhierarchical way that emphasizes their historical and contemporary relevance.

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Melati Suryodarmo, I'm a Ghost in My Own House, 2012, 12 hour performance, mixed media installation and single-channel video. Courtesy of the artist.

If there is a thematic construct for the exhibition, it resides in movement and the body, with a particular focus on performance. This focus, however, is freed from Western constraints and its definition expanded by considering the varied forms of performance arts from the many different traditions that inform contemporary artists' practices. "Performance, and particularly its re-contextualised historic representation, offers one way of exposing the problematic ideals upon which Western understandings of Pacific cultural practices and people have been based," writes curator Ruth McDougall in the exhibition catalogue. The performances range from solo actions to collaborative, community-based performance: these include the 12-hour durational performance of Indonesian artist Melati Suryodarmo, I'm a Ghost in My Own House (2012), which finds the artist crushing and grinding hundreds of pounds of lumps of charcoal to a fine powder; along with a presentation of various dancers and musicians from Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Vanuatu and other islands within an immersive installation co-curated with Ni-Vanuatu songwriter, musician and author Marcel Meltherorong.

Khvay Samnang, Rubber Man, 2014, Inkjet print on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag paper, 80 x 120cm. Collection: Queensland Art Gallery.

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In some contexts, performance takes on a particularly political shade as a vehicle for social critique. Due to its ephemeral nature and minimal infrastructural and material requirements, in Cambodia, where state surveillance is a concern, performance art has taken hold as a primary form of artistic actions. Cambodian artists use performance to activate public spaces or to perform critical actions in discreet areas for the camera: Khvay Samnang protests the destructive foreign-owned rubber plantations by pouring fresh rubber sap over his body standing among a grove of lacerated rubber trees in northeast Cambodia in Rubber Man (2014); while Anida Yoeu Ali's public Buddhist Bug performances, inspired by the artist's Khmer Muslim roots among a predominantly Buddhist country, indirectly confront the country's history of genocide and war as "an act of social engagement [that] contributes to collective healing," as the artist states.

Nge Lay, The sick classroom, 2012-13, mixed media installation. Collection: Queensland Art Gallery / Photo: QAGOMA.

Curators Maud Page and Aaron Seeto contend that as a result of globalism, neoliberalism, mass migration, labor economics and other contemporary global conditions, there has been a shift in the "body as a marker of human, individual identity, to one that stands in for a homogenized mass," a state that provides "the political undercurrent" of the Triennial. Many of the works here investigate matters of the social body -- issues of postcolonialism, migration, indigeneity, shifting national boundaries, religious persecution, environmental disasters and inequality -- through various media. Nge Lay's The sick classroom (2013) is an impeccably detailed life-size reconstruction of a poor rural classroom in Myanmar, an ambitious installation and call for equal education. Taloi Havini and Stuart Miller's photographic project Blood Generation (2009-11) documents the ravaging effects of civil war and open pit mining on the environment and people of Bougainville Island in Papua New Guinea. And Mongolian painter Uuriintuya Dagvasambuu's Path to Wealth (2013) depicts an undifferentiated mass of black bodies at the base of the picture, struggling over each other's heads in a single thin column to reach a resplendent lotus flower bearing various material goods -- a poignant portrait of income inequality and the false promise of wealth.

Uuriintuya Dagvasambuu, Path to wealth, 2013, Synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 149 x 99cm. Collection: Queensland Art Gallery.

One installation that uniquely embodies the problems of postcolonialism, particularly as it relates to the museum context, New Zealand artist Rosanna Raymond's project SaVAge K'lub (2010-ongoing) incorporates the historical within the creation of a relational space for gatherings and performances. In the space, which the artist describes as "an active space," the historic collides with the present: taonga (cultural treasures), such as a kahu kiwi (feathered cloak) and a waka (outrigger canoe), gathered from museum and private collections are arranged in antique cabinets within a vividly painted living/social/art-making space, allowing these treasures "to rise off the pages of potted histories and to live once more," as McDougall puts it. The name of Raymond's project derives from a late 19th century gentleman's club, reclaimed and subverted -- rather than an exclusive or historicizing space, it is a collaborative environment building new cultural structures and dynamics.

Rosanna Raymond, SaVAge K'lub, 2010-ongoing, mixed media installation with ongoing activations. Brisbane SaVAge K'lub Developed for APT8 / Photo: QAGOMA.

While many of the works in the Triennial incorporate the everyday or investigate indigenous forms -- whether in performances or subject matter -- these matters are particularly celebrated in a special multi-artist project for APT8, entitled Kalpa Vriksha, that explores contemporary indigenous and vernacular art of India. The inclusion of different forms and traditions of art has been a part of the dialogue sparked by the Triennial since its inception in 1993. In this way, the curators acknowledge the existence and influence of art worlds that exist contemporaneously with "contemporary art," bringing to bear a more complete view of what constitutes the vast spectrum of art and visual culture. As curators Page and Seeto put it, in the APT "aesthetic discourses are modulated by the back-and-forth between the very local and the global." The dialogues that result in that fertile area between the international contemporary art world and local artists working in vernacular forms serve to expand our understanding of art in all its varied forms and traditions.

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Rajesh Chaitya Vangad, Jungle Animals, 2008, synthetic polymer paint, mud and cow dung on canvas, 86.4 x 139.7cm. Courtesy QAGOMA.

--Natalie Hegert
"I just got here and it's a total madhouse," my friend, a senior writer for a major US newspaper, has called to warn me. "This is nothing like the other GOP rallies - the Secret Service is here. This guy attracts big crowds."

"This guy" is Donald J. Trump, the front runner for the Republican nomination for President of the United States. Less than a year ago, the 69-year-old real estate mogul was regarded as little more than a cultural joke, notorious for his reality show catchphrase "You're fired!", his petty internet feuds, and his boorish demands that President Obama prove his US citizenship by publicly displaying his birth certificate. (Obama finally did it just to shut him up.)

But while Trump may still qualify as boorish, he's no longer anyone's joke. Some recent polls list Trump with as much as 41% of the Republican vote, and that number may be climbing. Just recently, a friend told me although he "wishes Obama could have a third term," that if Trump wins the nomination he will vote for him.

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"In principle he's right with a lot of the things he says, he just says them the wrong way," my friend explained. "Plus, I wanna have a job."

I was stunned. What had I missed? Had Trump's campaign somehow evolved from bizarre talk of building a wall to keep out the Mexicans to a meaningful message that everyday people could relate to? Had he proven himself a legitimate candidate while I was too busy mocking him to notice?

I find a parking spot a few blocks from the rally and walk back in the freezing rain. I'm trying to find the press entrance when I see a middle-aged white couple bundled up and shivering by the side of the road.

"Are you here for Trump?" I ask them.

"We're protestors," the woman tells me. Her name is Susan Ahl, and she's a registered Democrat. The man is her husband, Derek, an Independent.

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I ask why they're not carrying any signs or yelling protest chants.

"We're protesting with our presence," Ahl says. She adds that Trump rallies can "turn violent" and protestors are often physically attacked.

"[Trump] says he's going to create jobs, but what kind of jobs?" Susan asks incredulously. "How is he going to create them? By getting rid of the illegal immigrants? He'll be creating minimum wage jobs."

"Creating jobs at the expense of humanity," David adds. "At the expense of freedom."

Not surprisingly, Trump supporters inside the rally hold a very different view. Linda Panikowski, a 45-year-old Occupational Therapist, wears a "Make America Great Again!" hat and is eager to explain why she's "100% for Trump."

""He's about protecting our country," Panikowski says. "He's cares about our safety and the Second Amendment. He's unifying, where Obama was divisive."

I ask her if Trump's well-publicized insults toward women and minorities might also be labeled "divisive."

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"The media chops off his sentences to make him sound bad," Panikowski explains. "I encourage everyone to go to a rally rather than believe the media.

"If you're an American," she tells me, "he's for you."



Local attorney Richard D'Agastino says Trump "reminds me of General Patton."

"I supported Donald long before anyone knew who he was," he says proudly. "He's going to restore pride in our nation."

I ask him about Trump's propensity for insulting his opponents rather than focusing on the issues.

"They analyze what he says and twist his statements," D'Agastino says, dismissing the notion that Trump might ever say something inappropriate.

As for Trump's lack of political experience, "he'll hire the right people," D'Agastino says.

"Besides," he adds, "some of the most experienced candidates have made the worst Presidents. Just look at George Bush Senior!"

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When Trump takes the stage, his first order of business is to brag about the number of people who braved the elements to attend his rally. He turns to Senator Scott Brown, who is hosting the event, and asks Brown to confirm that "this is the biggest crowd you've ever had."

'Absolutely Donald!" says Brown. The audience cheers.

Trump then boasts about the number of times he's been on the cover of Time magazine, and praises the Wall Street Journal's "incredible" story on him. Throughout his speech, Trump makes constant references to his large crowds, his rising poll numbers, and the hopeless incompetence of his opponents.

After taking several minutes to deride "dopey guy" Glen Beck who "looks like hell" and "cries on television all the time," Trump moves on to describe the "serious wall" he plans to build at the Mexican border. The Mexican government will pay for it, Trump says, because "they're making so much money off of the US."

"We're also gonna stop that whole thing with the visas where people fly in." Trump says ambiguously, only to refer moments later to "visa programs where we can bring people in if you can't get people for jobs, because we don't want to stop our economy. So we have as part of our visa programs where you can put people to work."

Confusing bureaucratic minutiae of work visas aside, the bottom line is crystal clear.

"I will be the greatest jobs President that God has ever created!" Trump tells the Biggest Crowd, who applauds wildly. This is the hyperbole they've come to hear.

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"People sometimes ask me if there's anything Donald Trump could say that would make me not vote for him, and there is one thing," D'Agastino offers, grinning impishly. "He could say 'I'm not running.'"

I believe him. A striking feature of Trump's supporters is they are almost universally sure of Trump, and by extension, of themselves. (Or is it the other way around?) They tend to view political issues in more concrete, less worldly terms than non-Trump supporters do. Their response to conflict is simple: Kick The Other Guy's Ass. That Trump recognizes and exploits this is clear in his choice to have Rocky III's "Eye of the Tiger" play as he enters the stage, and his promise that "If people mess with us they're gonna be gone. We're gonna wipe them off the face of the earth."

Meanwhile, democrats and liberals seem far less certain of their candidates' abilities to make America great again, no matter how well-intentioned those candidates' agendas might be.

"I don't know that either Clinton or Sanders will get very far dealing with Congress," Susan Ahl says. "I think it will be a similar deadlock to what we've experienced with Obama.

"I'm cynical about anyone getting anything done."

It may be that one of Trump's biggest strengths is what he does not say. Trump's refusal to provide specifics on how his extraordinary proposals will work leaves his opponents with little they can directly attack, while his supporters can fill in the blanks any way they wish. Trump's aversion to tactfulness, his flamboyant dogmatism, and his failure to acknowledge how the government actually works have become his biggest selling points. He's the rogue prince galloping in to save white, working class Christians from the brown-skinned foreigners who want their jobs and their literal heads. His supporters want to believe Trump can run the nation as he does his luxury hotels: by simply "hiring the right people." They want to believe in a fairy tale. There are few yearnings more distinctly American than that.

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"He's charismatic, he's entertaining, and he knows how stir up the masses," Susan Ahl concedes. "I've asked myself, 'would I rally too, if there was a candidate like him that was preaching my values?'"
The Inuit Circumpolar Council - Alaska (ICC-AK) recently released a report that strongly tied the protection of traditional aspects of culture to the protection of the natural environment. In its latest study on food security, the report indicates that environmental conservation and protection may successfully be done through the adherence to indigenous knowledge. This may very well be an interesting conclusion because it offers yet another suggestion to address our mounting ecological crises; especially one problem Arctic peoples are beginning to understand all too well: climate change.

Indigenous knowledge systems are ways of interacting with the local environment that is uniquely fitted to a specific culture or community. These knowledge systems emphasize local understandings that maintain and protect ways of living. Understanding and engaging in these local knowledge may be an important aspect of sustainability, which is a way of behaving indefinitely. To do this, community members develop ways of thinking and existing that protect the natural environment because it also means protecting oneself. For the Inuit, and other members of Native communities across the world, ecological systems include humans intricately. This stands in contrast to the Euro-centric placement of humans in the environment since the Industrial Revolution.

With regards to this particular study, the report highlights the importance of food security. This is something a very important issue, for all communities and for a variety of reasons, but it should be noted that the most extreme climates also are among the most sensitive. This certainly is the case in the Arctic where the effects of climate change are more rapidly changing the natural environment than anywhere else in the world. And, while Indigenous peoples are among the most resilient in the world, a quickly changing environment creates challenges to cultural - or human - protection and survival. One way Inuit communities appear to be dealing with assaults on their culture are increasing cultural education programs that centralize local knowledge.

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This is a positive movement for Inuit communities because larger state and federal policies in the United States do little or nothing to protect Indigenous peoples or their livelihoods. This may even serve as an example to our state and federal governments as yet another way to cope with a changing climate. Mitigating human-induced climate change necessitates a diverse portfolio of options addressing many areas of impact. If we place a greater emphasis on local decision-making, then we may be better able to give attention to the areas that lack sufficiency. It also would be helpful to have implemented a more supportive framework from our state and federal governments. When it comes to environmental policy, everyone is affected.
Will American Successes Lead to More Iraqi Military Failures?

Theres good news coming out of Iraq... again. The efforts of a 65-nation coalition and punishing U.S. airstrikes have helped local ground forces roll back gains by the Islamic State (IS).

Government forces and Shiite militias, for example, recaptured the city of Tikrit, while Kurdish troops ousted IS fighters from the town of Sinjar and other parts of northern Iraq. Last month, Iraqi troops finally pushed Islamic State militants out of most of the city of Ramadi, which the group had held since routing Iraqi forces there last spring.

In the wake of all this, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter touted the kind of progress that the Iraqi forces are exhibiting in Ramadi, building on that success to continue the campaign with the important goal of retaking Mosul as soon as possible. Even more recently, he said those forces were proving themselves not only motivated but capable. I encountered the same upbeat tone when I asked Colonel Steve Warren, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, about the Iraqi security forces. The last year has been a process of constructing, rebuilding, and refitting the Iraqi army, he explained. While it takes time for training and equipping efforts to take effect, the increasing tactical confidence and competence of the ISF [Iraqi security forces] and their recent battlefield successes indicate that we are on track.

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Progress. Successes. On track. Increasing tactical confidence and competence. It all sounded very familiar to me.

By September 2012, after almost a decade at the task, the U.S. had allocated and spent nearly $25 billion on training, equipping, and sustaining the Iraqi security forces, according to a report by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. Along the way, a parade of generals, government officials, and Pentagon spokesmen had offered up an almost unending stream of good news about the new Iraqi Army. Near constant reports came in of remarkable, big, even enormous progress for a force that was said to be exuding increasing confidence, and whose performance was always improving. In the end, the U.S. claimed to have trained roughly 950,000 members of the steady, solid, Iraqi security forces.

And yet just two and a half years after the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, that same force collapsed in spectacular fashion in the face of assaults by Islamic State militants who, by CIA estimates, numbered no more than 31,000 in all. In June 2014, for example, 30,000 U.S.-trained Iraqi troops abandoned their equipment and in some cases even their uniforms, fleeing as few as 800 Islamic State fighters, allowing IS to capture Mosul, the second largest city in the country.

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Blaming the Victim

When U.S. forces departed Iraq in 2011, it was after helping the Iraqi government create an entirely new Iraqi Security Force following the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, Major Curtis Kellogg, a spokesman with U.S. Central Command, explained to me last year. It almost sounded as if the old regime had toppled of its own accord, a new government had arisen, and the U.S. had generously helped build a military for it. In reality, of course, a war of choice -- based on trumped up claims of nonexistent weapons of mass destruction -- led to a U.S. occupation and the conscious decision to dissolve Iraqi autocrat Saddam Husseins military and create a new army in the American mold. [T]he Iraqi security forces were a fully functioning element of the Iraq Government, Kellogg continued, explaining how such an Iraqi military collapse could occur in 2014. However, the military standards established and left in place were allowed to atrophy following the departure of U.S. troops.

More recently, Colonel Steve Warren brought up another problem with Iraqs forces in an email to me. The Iraqi army that we left in 2011 was an army that had been trained for counterinsurgency. That means route clearance, checkpoint operations, and IED [improvised explosive device] reduction, for example. The Iraqi army that collapsed in 2014 was... not trained and... not ready for a conventional fight -- the conventional assault that ISIL brought to Mosul and beyond.

Both Kellogg and Warren stopped short of saying what seems obvious to many. Kalev Sepp, the adviser to two top American generals in Iraq and a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for special operations and counterterrorism, shows no such hesitation. We had 12 years to train the Iraqi Army... We failed. Its obvious. So when this lightly-armed insurgent group, the so-called Islamic State, invaded the country, the Iraqi army collapsed in front of it.

Its taken billions of dollars and a year and a half of air strikes, commando raids, advice, and training to begin to reverse the Islamic States gains. According to Warren, the U.S. and its partners have once again trained more than 17,500 ISF troops, with another 2,900 currently in the pipeline. And once again were hearing about their successes. Secretary of Defense Carter, for example, called the fight for Ramadi a significant step forward in the campaign to defeat this barbaric group, while Secretary of State John Kerry claimed the Islamic State had suffered a major defeat there.

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Still, the tiny terror group seems to have no difficulty recruiting new troops, is ramping up attacks in the district of Haditha, carrying out complex attacks in Baghdad and the town of Muqdadiya, and continues to hold about 57,000 square miles of Syrian and Iraqi territory, including Mosul. With questions already being raised by Pentagon insiders about just how integral the Iraqi security forces were to the retaking of Ramadi and doubts about their ability to clear cities like Mosul, its worth taking a look back at all those upbeat reports of progress during the previous U.S. effort to build an Iraqi Army from scratch.

Nothing Succeeds Like Success

After the U.S. toppled Saddam Hussein's government in April 2003 as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Bush administration began remaking the battered nation from the ground up. One of the first acts of L. Paul Bremer III, the top American civilian official in the occupied country, was to dissolve Iraqs military. His plan: to replace Saddam Husseins 350,000-man army with a lightly armed border protection force that would peak at around 40,000 soldiers, supplemented by police and civil defense forces. In an instant, hundreds of thousands of well-trained soldiers were unemployed, providing a ready source of fighters for a future insurgency.

"In less than six months we have gone from zero Iraqis providing security to their country to close to a hundred thousand Iraqis... Indeed, the progress has been so swift that... it will not be long before [the Iraqi security forces] will... outnumber the U.S. forces, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld suggested in a cheery assessment in October 2003.

Major General Paul Eaton, tasked with rebuilding the Iraqi Army, similarly articulated his upbeat vision for the force. Schooled by Americans in fundamental soldier and leadership skills and outfitted with all the accoutrements of modern Western troops, including body armor and night-vision equipment, the new military would be committed to defend[ing] Iraq and its new-found freedom, he announced at a Baghdad briefing in January 2004. Soon, Iraqis would even take over the task of instruction. I would like to emphasize that this will be an Iraqi Army, trained by Iraqis," he said. "As Iraq is reborn, he added, we believe that her armed forces can lead the way in unifying" the country.

Paul Eaton and his team did an extraordinary amount for the Iraqi Security Force mission, his successor Lieutenant General David Petraeus would say a couple of years later. They established a solid foundation on which we were able to build as the effort was expanded very substantially and resourced at a much higher level."

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Retired Special Forces officer Kalev Sepp, who traveled to Iraq as an adviser five times, had a different assessment. General Eaton was direct in letting me know that he wanted to be remembered as the father of the new Iraqi Army, he told me. I thought his approach was conceptually wrong, Sepp recalled, noting that Eaton understood his mission was to create an army to defend Iraq from foreign invasion, but he completely overlooked the internal insurgency. (A request to interview Eaton, sent to the American Security Project, a Washington D.C.-based think tank with which the retired general is affiliated, went unanswered.)

General Eaton would later blame the Bush administration for initial setbacks in the performance of the Iraqi Army, thanks to poor prewar planning and insufficient resources for the job. "We set out to man, train, and equip an army for a country of 25 million -- with six men," General Eaton told the New York Times in 2006. He did, however, accept personal responsibility for the most visible of its early failures, the mutiny of a freshly minted Iraqi battalion en route to its first battle in April 2004.

In the years that followed, Americas Iraq exploded into violence as Sunni and Shiite militants battled each other, the U.S. occupiers, and the U.S.-backed Baghdad government. On the fly, U.S. officials came up with new plans to build a large, conventional, heavily armed force to secure Iraq in the face of sectarian strife, multiple raging insurgencies, and ultimately civil war. The Iraqi military and police forces expanded rapidly from 2004 to 2006, adapting to the counterinsurgency mission, according to a report by the U.S. Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. As chaos spread and death tolls rose, estimates of the necessary numbers of Iraqi troops, proposals concerning the right types of weapons systems for them, and training stratagems for building the army were amended, adjusted, and revised, again and again. There was, however, one constant: praise.

In September 2005, as violence was surging and more than 1,400 civilians were being killed in attacks across the country, General George W. Casey Jr., commander of Multinational Force-Iraq, reported that the security forces were "progressing and continuing to take a more prominent role in defending their country." He repeatedly emphasized that training efforts were on track -- a sentiment seconded by Defense Secretary Rumsfeld. Every single day, the Iraqi security forces are getting bigger and better and better trained and better equipped and more experienced, he said.

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I think we did a very effective job of training the Iraqi military recruits that were brought to us, Casey told me last year, reflecting on U.S. efforts during his two and a half years in command. The trouble, he said, was with the Iraqis. The political situation in Iraq through 2007 and even to this day is such that the leadership of the Iraqi government and the military never could instill the loyalty of the troops in the government.

At the time, however, American generals emphasized progress over problems. After Petraeus finished his own stint heading the training effort, he was effusive in his praise. The bottom line up front that I'd like to leave with you today is that there has been enormous progress with the Iraqi security forces over the course of the past 16 months in the face of a brutal insurgency, he boasted in October 2005, adding that considerable work still lay ahead. Iraqi security force readiness has continued to grow with each passing week. You can take a percentage off every metric that's out there, whatever you want -- training, equipping, infrastructure reconstruction, units in the fight, schools, academies reestablished -- you name it -- and what has been accomplished... would still be remarkable. (Messages seeking an interview sent to Petraeus at Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co., the investment firm where he serves as chairman of the KKR Global Institute, were not answered.)

In November 2005, President Bush voiced the same sentiments. As the Iraqi security forces stand up, their confidence is growing, he told midshipmen at the Naval Academy. And they're taking on tougher and more important missions on their own. By the following February, General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was similarly lauding that military, claiming the progress that they've made over this last year has been enormous.

The next month, Lieutenant General Martin Dempsey, who succeeded Petraeus as commander of the Multinational Security Transition Command-Iraq (MNSTC-I) and later served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs, chimed in with glowing praise: What we're seeing now is progress on a three-year investment in Iraq's security forces. It's been a big investment, and it's yielding big progress.

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I asked retired Army Colonel Andrew Bacevich, a professor of history and international relations emeritus at Boston Universitys Pardee School of Global Studies, how so many American officials could have seen so much progress from a force that would later collapse so rapidly and spectacularly. I think theres a psychological need to see progress and, of course, its helpful to parrot the party line. I do think that, psychologically, you need to be able to persuade yourself that your hard-earned efforts -- this time spent away from home in lousy conditions -- actually produced something positive.

Kalev Sepp, who traveled all over Iraq talking to the commanders of more than 30 U.S. units while conducting a seminal counterinsurgency study known simply as the COIN Survey, told me that when he asked about the progress of the Iraqi units they were working with, U.S. officers invariably linked it to their own tour of duty. Almost every commander said exactly the same thing. If the commander had six months left in his tour, the Iraqis would be combat-capable in six months. If the commander had four months left, then the Iraqis would be ready in four months. Was a commander going to say I wont accomplish my mission. Im not going to be done on time'? All the other units were saying their Iraqis were going to be fully trained. Who was going to be the one commander who said I dont think my Iraqi unit is really ready?

Official praise continued as insurgencies raged across the country and monthly civilian death tolls regularly exceeded 2,000, even topping 3,000 in 2006 and 2007. The Iraqi security force continues to develop and grow, assisted by embedded transition teams, Lieutenant General Ray Odierno, commander of the Multinational Corps-Iraq, announced to the press in May 2007. Yes, there are still problems within the Iraqi security forces -- some sectarian, some manning, and some to do with equipping. But progress is being made, and it's steady. A 2008 Pentagon review also indicated remarkable progress with 102 out of 169 Iraqi battalions being declared capable of planning, executing, and sustaining counterinsurgency operations with or without Iraqi or coalition support, up from just 24 battalions in 2005.

Years later, Odierno, still in charge of the command, then known as United States Forces-Iraq, continued to tout improvement. Clearly there's still some violence, and we still need to make more progress in Iraq," he told reporters in July 2010. "But Iraqi security forces have taken responsibility for security throughout Iraq, and they continue to grow and improve every day.

The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, Stuart Bowen, was also upbeat, noting in 2010 that the $21.3 billion already spent to build up the then-660,000-man security force had begun to pay off significantly. Don Cooke, head of the State Department's Iraq assistance office, agreed. We have built an Iraqi security force which is capable of maintaining internal security in Iraq... And four or five or six years ago, there were people who were saying it was going to take decades."

In October 2011, as U.S. forces were preparing to end eight years of occupation, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta offered up his own mission-accomplished assessment. You know, the one thing... we have seen is that Iraq has developed a very good capability to be able to defend itself. We've taken out now about a hundred thousand [U.S.] troops [from Iraq], and yet the level of violence has remained relatively low. And I think that's a reflection of the fact that the Iraqis have developed a very important capability here to be able to respond to security threats within their own country, he said of the by then 930,000-man security forces.

Winners and Losers

As the U.S. was training recruits at bases all over Iraq -- including Camp Bucca, where Iraqi cadets attended a U.S.-run course for prison guards -- another force was also taking shape. For years, U.S.-run prison camps were decried by many as little more than recruiting and training sites for would-be insurgents, with innocents -- angered by arbitrary and harsh detentions -- housed alongside hardcore militants. But Camp Bucca proved to be even more dangerous than that. It became the incubator not just for an insurgency, but for a proto-state, the would-be caliphate that now lords over significant portions of Iraq and neighboring Syria.

Nine top commanders of the Islamic State did prison time at Americas Camp Bucca, including Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the groups leader who spent nearly five years there. Before their detention, Mr. al-Baghdadi and others were violent radicals, intent on attacking America, Andrew Thompson, an Iraq War veteran, and academic Jeremi Suri wrote in a 2014 New York Times piece. Their time in prison deepened their extremism and gave them opportunities to broaden their following... The prisons became virtual terrorist universities: The hardened radicals were the professors, the other detainees were the students, and the prison authorities played the role of absent custodian.

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So how could U.S. officials have so successfully (if inadvertently) fostered the leadership of what would become a truly effective fighting force that would one day best the larger, far more intensively trained, better-armed military they had built to the tune of tens of billions of dollars? The people we imprisoned didnt leave with skills when they finally got out of prison, but they did leave with will, says Andrew Bacevich. What we were doing was breeding resentment, anger, determination, disgust, which provided the makings of an army that turns out to be more effective than the Iraqi Army.

General George Casey, who went on to serve as Army Chief of Staff before retiring in 2011, sees the failure of Iraqs Shiite government to reach out to minority Sunnis as the main driver of the collapse of significant portions of the countrys army in 2014. You hear all kinds of reasons why the Sunni forces [of the Iraqi military] ran out of Mosul, but it wasnt a surprise to any of us who had been over there. If your country doesnt support what youre doing, theres no reason to fight for them, Casey explained in a phone interview last year. People probably give short shrift to what we in the military call the will to fight. When it comes right down to it, thats what its all about. And we cant instill the will to fight in the heart of a soldier from another country. We just cant do it.

We can talk about how appalling Daesh is, adds Kalev Sepp, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State, but their fighters believe in what theyre doing and that adds a particular steel to ones backbone. Bacevich, who has recently finished writing a military history, Americas War for the Greater Middle East, echoed this sentiment, noting the stark difference between U.S.-trained Iraqi forces and their brutal opponents. Whatever else we may think of ISIS, their forces appear to be keen to fight and willing to die in order to promote their cause. The same cannot be said of the Iraqi Army.

And yet, in the wake of the implosion of Iraqs security forces, the United States -- as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, its campaign against IS -- began a new advisory and training effort to assist and re-rebuild Iraqs army. In June 2014, President Obama announced that up to 300 advisors would be sent to Iraq. The size of the U.S. presence has increased steadily ever since to roughly 3,500.

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As per policy we do not disclose specific numbers of troops and their roles, Colonel Warren, the U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, explained to me. He did, however, note that there are approximately 5,500 Coalition personnel from 17 partner nations including the United States conducting advise and assist missions and training at Building Partner Capacity sites.

Despite the poor results of the prior training effort, even some of its critics are hopeful that the current mission may succeed. American advisors could have a positive effect, Sepp, now a senior lecturer in defense analysis at the Naval Postgraduate School, told me. He explained that a pinpoint mission of training Iraqis to take back a particular city or defend a specific area stands a real chance of success. Casey, his former boss, agreed but insisted that such success would not come easily or quickly. This is going to take a long time. This is not a short-term thing. People want to see ISIS defeated -- whatever that means -- quickly. But its not going to be quickly because the problems are political more than military and thats going to take the Iraqis some time to come to grips with.

Doomed to Repeat It?

History suggests that time is no panacea when Washington attempts to prop up, advise, or build armies. In the early 1950s, the U.S. provided extensive support to the French military in Indochina -- eventually footing nearly 80% of the cost of its war there -- only to see that force defeated by a less advanced, less well-equipped Vietnamese army. Not long after, the U.S. began an expensive process that continued into the mid-1970s of building, advising, equipping, and bankrolling the South Vietnamese military. In those years, it ballooned into a million-man army, only to disintegrate two years after the U.S. ended its own long, unsuccessful combat effort in that country.

The assumption that we know how to create armies in other parts of the world is a pretty dubious proposition, Andrew Bacevich, a veteran of that war, told me. Yes, Vietnam was a vivid demonstration of a failed project to build an effective army, but you dont even have to cite Vietnam. Iraq obviously is another case. And more generally, the Pentagon exaggerates its ability to create effective fighting forces in parts of the developing world.

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Indeed, recent U.S. training efforts around the globe have been marked by a string of scandals, setbacks, and failures. Last year, for example, the Obama administration scrapped a $500 million program to train anti-Islamic State Syrian rebels. It was supposed to yield 15,000 fighters over three years but instead produced only a few dozen. Then theres the 13-year, $65 billion effort in Afghanistan that has yielded a force whose rolls are filled with nonexistent ghost troops, wracked by desertions, and hobbled by increasing casualties. It has been unable to defeat a small, unpopular, Taliban insurgency now growing in strength and reach. The short-term loss by U.S.-backed Afghan forces of the city of Kunduz late last year and recent Taliban gains in Helmand province have cast a bright light on this slow-motion fiasco.

These efforts have hardly been anomalies. A U.S.-trained Congolese commando battalion was, for example, implicated by the United Nations in mass rapes and other atrocities. One effort to train Libyan militiamen ended up stillborn; another saw militants repeatedly raid a U.S. training camp and loot it of high-tech equipment, including hundreds of weapons; and still another saw advisers run out of the country by a militia soon after touching down. Then there were the U.S.-trained officers who overthrew their governments in coups in Mali in 2012 and Burkina Faso in 2014. In fact, a December 2015 report by the Congressional Research Service noted:

Recent events, particularly the battle between the Afghan government and the Taliban over K[u]nduz, the inability of [Department of Defense]-led efforts to produce more than a handful of anti-Assad, anti-Islamic State (IS) forces in Syria, and the collapse of U.S.-trained forces in Iraq in the face of the Islamic State, have called into question -- including in the Congress -- whether these [building partner capacity] programs can ever achieve their desired effects.

Despite all of this, the Pentagon remains committed to creating another Iraqi Army in the American mold with, as Colonel Warren recently explained to me, modern American equipment, modern conventional training, and of course, supported by air power. The U.S. has, he notes, already spent $2.3 billion arming and equipping this new force.

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Andrew Bacevich once again sees crucial flaws in the American plan. Our trainers, I suspect, are probably pretty good at imparting technical skills... Im sure that they can teach them marksmanship, how to conduct a patrol, how to maintain their weapons, but I cant imagine that we have much of a facility for imparting fighting spirit, sense of national unity, and thats where Iraqi forces have been deficient. Its this will versus skill thing. We can convey skills. I dont think we can convey will.

For his part, Secretary of Defense Carter seems singularly focused on the skills side of the equation. ISILs lasting defeat still requires local forces to fight and prevail on the ground. We can and will continue to develop and enable such local forces, he told the House Armed Services Committee in June 2015. Thats why [the Department of Defense] seeks to bolster Iraqs security forces to be capable of winning back, and then defending and holding the ISIL-controlled portions of the Iraqi state. Last month, Carter assured the Senate Armed Services Committee that he was still urging the Iraqi government to do more to recruit, train, arm, and mobilize Sunni popular mobilization fighters in their communities.

This presumes, however, that there is a truly functioning Iraqi state in the first place. Andrew Bacevich isnt so sure. It may be time to admit that there is no Iraq. We presume to be creating a national army that is willing to fight for the nation of Iraq, but I dont think its self-evident that Iraq exists, except in the most nominal sense. If thats true, then further efforts -- a second decades worth of efforts to build an Iraqi army -- simply are not likely to pan out.
Yesterday, ISIS destroyed St. Elijah's, a 1400-year-old Christian monastery just outside of Mosul -- part of their mission to obliterate history and anything that doesn't fit into their warped version of Islam. Back in 2011, I actually visited St. Elijah's monastery -- and one that was even older, the 1700-year-old Mar Behnam Monastery and Convent -- a Syriac Catholic compound also containing a chapel and two shrines and was filled with priceless artworks.



There had been a shrine on the hill outside of Beth Khdeda (near Mosul) since the 4th century, built by the pagan Assyrian king Senchareb as a penance for killing his son Behnam and daughter Sarah after they converted to Christianity... until March 2015, when ISIS leveled the place to the ground.



Inside the chapel and shrines were examples of art and architecture rarely seen anywhere else in the world -- carvings that seamlessly blended Muslim and Christian designs and one of the few Middle Eastern examples of Uigher inscriptions, left by Mongol traders and pilgrims as they made their way from China to Europe on trade routes. The walls and artwork were living history - and contained pieces from almost every century since it was built.
International Monetary Find (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde speaks during an event hosted by the Council of the Americas in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2015. Lagarde said global growth will likely be weaker this year as the world economy confronts a host of problems, including a refugee crisis in Europe, an economic slowdown in China and a pending rise in U.S. interest rates. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Christine Lagarde has said she is open to serving another five-year term as Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund. She should not get it.

The case in her favor, exemplified by Ian Bremmer yesterday, itself points to the decisive counter-arguments.

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So, indeed, upon arrival, she inherited an institution in crisis. But not because the world was in crisis--that was and is still typically seen as having rescued the IMF from irrelevance--but because of the gross failures of her three predecessors, all of whom had been appointed on the same basis as she was.

And, indeed, she has far better personal qualities than them--an engaging tone with outsiders, an insistent one with IMF staff, the right balance. But the prominence of this matter in the case for her reappointment serves only to highlight their personal inadequacies and her professional disqualification for the job. She leads a group of querulous over-heated economists but completely lacks the technical wherewithal to adjudicate sense from nonsense as they debate each other. They know and love this.

And, indeed, she has made "tough calls". But that is only to say what happens at the IMF. The point is that her record on those is, to put it kindly, not unqualified. She approved the second Greek program which, reflecting its many other design failures, saw the largest arrears to the IMF ever, with the staff position on debt reversing from "sustainable" to "unsustainable but we won't say how badly unsustainable or much about what to do about it". Against (strong anecdotal evidence suggests) staff advice, she approved the across-the-board write down of Cypriot bank deposits in 2013, all-but reigniting the Euro crisis before being scuttled. Her strong backing for monetary austerity for the Euro and against its fiscal manifestation in the UK in 2011 and 2013 respectively both had to be unceremoniously withdrawn within a year. And she approved consecutive loans to Ukraine, the second only because the first collapsed, with the second having to be as thoroughly rejigged as the first because the macro frameworks for both proved hopelessly optimistic. Even now, her second program there hangs by a thread. These are not "things that happened" while she was in charge; they are serial poor calls on core concerns.

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When the case for her reappointment pivots to emphasis on new-found IMF creativity and compassion on her watch, it is clear that we are close to the bottom of the barrel. The IMF program work on refugees and ebola, good as it was, is standard fare for members facing exogenous crises, not her initiative. And while work on women, inequality, and technology is all to the good, the IMF was founded, and is generously funded and empowered, to prevent another Great Depression. That her contribution--good or bad--on that core mandate does not even get mentioned, even in the wake of Lehman's, the Euro Crisis, and China, and nor does risk that extramural IMF activity might distract from those core tasks, says much about nature of the case in her favor.

Finally, whatever the merits of the recent US Congress-approved IMF governance reforms and her role in their adoption, they do not increase IMF "firepower", they merely change the particular form of its funding. And the decision to include the RMB in the SDR basket manages both to be substantially irrelevant and--with China-cum-global stresses mounting daily--already something of an embarrassment.

In any other context, this state of play would motivate review of the procedure for the appointment of the Managing Director, rather than the bald assertion that, without any further ado, the incumbent is somehow self-evidently "the best candidate for the job".

Yet that review will not happen by itself; the dominant shareholders like things as they are. That is for the worse. The IMF rightly advises others that commercial banks should not lend to their own shareholders because such "connected lending" skews loan reviews and so causes bank and possibly systemic collapse. But this elementary common sense is not applied to the IMF itself. Its dominant shareholders, the Euro Europeans, are its biggest borrowers. And, like any borrower, they want sway over what their creditor does. Is it any wonder that they want to keep a Euro politician in charge, even if that is at the expense of the integrity of IMF activity in Europe and thereby at the expense of the entire world.

And Christine Lagarde herself cannot escape culpability for this. In accepting the job and making herself available for reappointment, she implicitly accepts this compromised appointment procedure with all the attendant global consequences. If she really wants, as Mr. Bremmer suggests, to fit the IMF for the 21st Century, she should stand down and so force an immediate review of the selection process for IMF Managing Director. With the Euro Area still top IMF debtor and major global fault-line, there is no case for this matter to be postponed for a further half-decade, and then perhaps corrected and perhaps not.

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The IMF needs less Lagarde.

References.

The IMF needs more Lagarde. Ian Bremmer. https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/imf-lagarde-strong-leadership-by-ian-bremmer-2016-01

Global Early-Warning and the IMF. Peter Doyle. https://ptdy2014.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/global-early-warning-and-the-imf3.pdf
Don't Miss Peter Navarro's BookTV talk on Crouching Tiger on Jan 24: CSPAN2 at 12:00 a.m. EST. (Why god invented TIVO)

REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF REAL CLEAR DEFENSE

During the 1995-1996 Taiwan Strait Crisis, President Bill Clinton dispatched aircraft carriers in defense of Taiwan's right to elect a pro-independence presidential candidate, Lee Teng-Hui. Now that Taiwan has once again elected a new president with pro-independence leanings - Tsai Ing-wen - this question must be asked: Will America once again defend Taiwan if Beijing threatens anew its "renegade province"?

This is very real question as Beijing has already begun to rattle sabers, swords, and missiles and threaten economic reprisals. From the White House's and Pentagon's perspectives, the problem is not just a fear of escalation should American carriers once again be ordered to the Taiwan Strait. China has also now developed a whole new suite of "anti-access, area denial" weapons explicitly designed to kill the American fleet - and do so in quite splendid asymmetric warfare fashion.

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The most famous of these asymmetric weapons is China's game-changing DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missile - Beijing openly calls it a "carrier killer." If the hype over this missile is to be believed, it can be launched from over a thousand miles away, descend seamlessly from space, and hit an American carrier zigzagging at 30 knots.

There is also a bigger version of the DF-21D known as the DF-26 -dubbed the "Guam killer" for its longer range. In addition, there is China's much-hyped hypersonic glide vehicle. It can achieve speeds of Mach 10 and higher and is highly maneuverable. These two attributes make it very difficult to track and neutralize the hypersonic vehicle with America's Aegis battle management system.

As poster children of asymmetric warfare, there are also China's new Type 022 Houbei-class attack craft. Packing an out-sized punch, these Australia-designed catamarans can deliver swarms of cruise missiles in salvo attacks and thereby complement any coordinated anti-ship ballistic missile and hypersonic glide vehicle attacks.

Any Ship Can Be A Minesweeper - Once

There are two other classes of weapons that were conspicuously missing from the Taiwan Strait in 1996 but which now directly threaten American carriers. The first is China's large and diverse arsenal of sea mines. Perhaps the most notable is the rocket-rising mine; it can detect the unique acoustic or magnetic signature of a US carrier and deliver a warhead traveling at up to 70 knots from the ocean bottom.

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The second set of weapons not hitherto present in a Taiwan Strait crisis is China's growing fleet of conventional diesel electric submarines - soon to be the largest in the world. These ultimate passive-aggressive weapons are extremely quiet - and therefore exceedingly lethal.

Today, many of China's Yuan-class subs are equipped with state-of-the-art German air-independent propulsion systems. Tomorrow, Lada-class subs that may be bought from the Russians feature even more advanced sound suppression technologies.



America Turns the Tables?

This is not to say that the US can no longer defend Taiwan. Already, there is increasing talk in Pentagon halls that the next Taiwan Strait crisis may best be fought with weapons like the Virginia class attack sub - rather than the flat tops that have served the navy well for more than 70 years but which are increasingly obsolete. Here, with the US holding a clear advantage in sub warfare, America's sub fleet may be highly effective at eliminating a whole range of Chinese threat vectors from the Taiwan Strait.

In a strategy of "Offshore Control," America's subs could also be deployed along the numerous chokepoints of the First Island Chain. This a natural "containment boundary" stretches from China's home islands through the mid-point of Taiwan down to the Philippines and Indonesia. The strategic goal of Offshore Control would be to turn the anti-access, area denial tables on China by keeping both its military and commercial ships out of the Pacific. In this way, the US could apply economic pressure on China to cease its aggression.

Such speculations about a war over Taiwan are, of course, uncomfortable to air publicly. China is, after all, America's largest trading partner and holds several trillion dollars of US debt; and as with an economically inter-dependent Kaiser Germany and Great Britain on the eve of World War I, there is much talk about how war with China is impossible.

That said, Taiwan's latest election juxtaposed against Beijing's increasing aggressiveness in the region and its demonstrable lack of respect for democracy in Hong Kong have rightly reawakened concerns over yet a new Beijing-Taipei clash - with the US caught in the middle. Because this is so, there is now much to discuss about an island that has been all but forgotten over the last decade as cross-strait relations have dramatically improved and economic ties between Mainland China and Taiwan have tightened.

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That those "good old days" may now be gone is a reality that should not be ignored. Not by presidents or Pentagon analysts. And certainly not by the 2016 presidential candidates, one of who will certainly find this cross-strait hot potato in his or her lap.


Midwife with a patient in Tanzania. (Photo Credit: Rob Beechey, courtesy of We Care Solar)

In 2015, some 303,000 women died from childbirth or pregnancy-related complications. Yet that figure, disturbing as it is, is dwarfed by the number of young mothers who suffer injury, infection and disease after giving birth. According to the World Health Organization, these casualties measure in the dozens for every one mother who dies; and for the million infants who are left motherless every year, many do not survive past the age of two.

These figures may seem shocking in the U.S. where, despite a recent increase in maternal mortality (largely driven by obesity, doctors say), there were 17.8 deaths per 100,000 live births. Compare that to the Central African Republic, where the maternal mortality ratio (MMR) is 880 per 100,000 deaths; or Chad, 980; or Nigeria, where the MMR can reach 3,200 deaths.

Worldwide, most maternal deaths (62 percent) occur in sub-Saharan Africa, and 14 percent occur in Nigeria alone. It was in 2008 that Dr. Laura Stachel witnessed this tragedy firsthand.

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Hospitals Are Operating in the Dark

A board-certified obstetrician with fourteen years of clinical experience, Stachel visited Nigeria in 2008 as part of a research initiative to lower the country's MMR. Working with the clinicians for 10-14 hour days, it didn't take her long to identify the primary obstacle.

"These same places with high rates of maternal mortality are also places that have energy poverty," she told Planet Experts at the Earth to Paris summit this past December. "They don't have reliable electricity and those that are attached to the grid often don't have electricity twenty-four hours a day. Due to 'load shedding,' electricity is just allocated for certain hours every day to help facilities along with everyone else in the community."

Load shedding, also known as feeder rotation or rolling blackouts, is necessary in a developing nation like Nigeria. The electrical infrastructure simply cannot support a fully-powered grid. Many areas lack any access to the grid whatsoever. Though familiar with the concept of load shedding, Stachel says she hadn't realized it applied to hospitals as well.

Dr. Stachel experienced a blackout on her very first day of duty. "I remember thinking...I am literally and figuratively powerless here," she said. "I cannot do life-saving maneuvers if I can't even see patients. To be in an operating room when the lights go out, that was the scariest thing in the world to me, realizing that a body is open and there is no light to see what there is to do next. If I hadn't had my flashlight, I don't know how they would have finished the surgery."

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A maternity ward lit by a single kerosene lamp. (Photo courtesy of Dr. Stachel and WCS)

The lack of power affects every aspect of hospital function, not limited to obstetrics and gynecology. Without energy, refrigerators can't store blood for transfusions. Operating theaters must close down. Midwives can't read the labels on medication or start intravenous therapy. There's also difficulty retaining qualified staff, because health workers don't want to work in unsafe conditions. Some healthcare facilities have burned down after accidents involving kerosene lamps or candles.

"If you can't provide a safe, reliable form of electricity, then health workers don't want to stay in these facilities," said Stachel. "I've been to health facilities that have burned down because the kerosene lantern or the candle that was being used for light caught fire in the health facility, and I've met with midwives who are too frightened to go to work at night because they're scared to go into a pitch-dark place."

The intermittent nature of the light means that the threat of rape or molestation is ever-present for female clinicians.

Building a Solar Suitcase

Backup generators that run on gas or diesel fuel seem to be the natural answer to intermittent electricity, but fossil fuel generators, said Stachel, are fraught with problems. First, many hospitals don't have them, many more can't afford them. In addition to being bad for the environment, they're also noisy, often break down and constantly require fuel. Some healthcare centers are so remote that it's difficult to bring in any supplies, let alone a regular quota of gas. And that gas is costly, which limits the number of hours that generators can be used.

But there is another form of energy, one that is clean, renewable and inexpensive: Solar power. It's a form of energy that Dr. Stachel is very familiar with. Her husband, Dr. Hal Aronson, is the co-creator of Solar Schoolhouse, a solar education program for California students, and has taught about renewable energy in Northern California for over 13 years.

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From Nigeria, Stachel wrote to her husband asking if he could design a simple solar system for the hospital she was working at. She wanted to provide power to the labor room, operating room and laboratory. It would have to be small, something she could pack in a bag to bring back as a demonstration. Aronson would go on to create the prototype for the "Solar Suitcase," the tool that would become the cornerstone of the We Care Solar (WCS) mission.



Diagram of the Solar Suitcase. (Image courtesy of WCS)

The system Stachel brought to Nigeria was only meant to be a demonstration kit, but enthusiastic workers told her they could use it immediately. Stachel agreed to let the hospital use it while she raised funds for a larger system, but that decision precipitated a movement that has been gaining strength ever since.

"The moment we put that system in, other clinicians from outside the area said, 'Why are you only helping the big hospital? We are also in the dark.' And at first I said, 'Look, I'm not an organization. This is just one project my husband and I are doing,' but then we thought, maybe if we could package things in a small suitcase that would be a way to get them to more health centers."

From that point, Stachel would pack solar equipment with her every time she returned to Nigeria, distributing the pieces to one clinic after another. Her work caught the attention of the New York Times and before long she was flooded with requests from clinics around the world. "That's when we realized this was an international issue," said Stachel, "and that's when we started to really apply for major funding."

The organization received initial grants from the Blum Center for Developing Economies at UC Berkeley and the MacArthur Foundation. More recently, the United Nations has taken notice, and in September it honored WCS with the Department of Economic and Social Affairs' "Powering the Future We Want" award.

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Environmental Justice and Social Justice Are Linked

Today, the basic We Care Solar Suitcase is a complete system that includes two 20-watt solar panels, a 14 amp-hour lithium ferrous phosphate battery, a 15A charge controller, two headlamps, a phone charger, a AA/AAA battery charger and a fetal doppler (a handheld ultrasound device for detecting the fetal heartbeat). The LEDs provide medical quality lighting, there are no moving parts and the fuel (sunlight) is free and clean.

Because of their small size and utility, Solar Suitcases are also in demand where natural disasters have destroyed electric grids and infrastructure. Units have been shipped to Nepal following the devastating earthquake in 2015 and to the Philippines following Typhoon Haiyan.



Malawi with a Solar Suitcase. (Photo Credit: Dr. Laura Stachel)

"We're trying now to light up entire regions," said Stachel. "We would like to do country-wide initiatives, so women no longer have to bring a candle with them when they're going into a health center."

According to Stachel, there are an estimated 200,000-300,000 health centers around the globe that must operate without reliable electricity. Thus far, WCS has brought light to 1,500 and counting.

Yet despite those large numbers, Stachel's mission remains focused on eliminating the personal tragedies that inspired this solar revolution. WCS is dedicated to the survival of mothers and their children.

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"If you're saving a mother's life," said Stachel, "you're actually saving an entire family." In developing countries, she explained, when a mother dies in childbirth, the infant is less likely to survive. Her older children are less likely to go to school and more likely to be malnourished. Her husband is less likely to be as productive. "By saving the life of that mother you're uplifting that family and uplifting the community," said Stachel.

It is a benefit to both the planet and its people, she said. "I guess one of the big messages here is, environmental justice and social justice are really linked. Something that's good for the environment is actually also really good for trying to empower health workers and saving the lives of mothers and children."
These Questions originally appeared on Quora - the knowledge sharing network where compelling questions are answered by people with unique insights.

Answers by Gloria Steinem, writer, lecturer, political activist, and feminist organizer, on Quora.

A: Social media have been a huge advance in women's access to information, ability to contact each other, to call for organizing on the ground, and to do so in safety. There is profound sexism and much punishment and threats on the web, too, when women state their opinions, and some threatens become real and physical because they involve stalking. This is partly because we can't experience empathy with each other unless we are present with all five senses. That is both the danger and the limitation of the web. Pressing send is not activism. And we have to remember that the web is the medium, not the message.

...

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A: I agree that the treatment of the female half of the world should be a larger part of our foreign policy than oil. All Saudi Arabia seems to be good at is the former, not the latter. There is a very important book called Sex and World Peace by Valerie Hudson and others, that shows that the biggest indicator of a country's internal violence or willingness to use military violence against another country, is violence against females. It's what we see first and it normalizes other violence. If this had been a basic tenant of our foreign policy, we wouldn't have supported the forces in Afghanistan that gave birth to the Taliban. One of the important effects of Hillary Clinton has been her inclusion of this importance of violence against women, and as president she could make our foreign policy more effective by including this basic understanding.

...

A: No. Capitalism isn't compatible with anybody who doesn't have capital. Economics are not the only reason for race and sex inequality, it also has to do with a false belief in a hierarchy of human value. Socialism has often been patriarchal, too, we need to first things first and understand that human beings are linked, not ranked. The paradigm of society is not the pyramid but the circle.
As a rabbi, it should come as no surprise that religion is my work. I think about such concepts as God, faith, spirituality, community and religious education on a daily basis. What may be surprising is that I also think about technology every day. I see a strong connection between the two categories of religion and technology. In fact, the rapid growth of technological innovation in our ever expanding digital lives is revolutionizing the way we humans engage with matters of faith, both inside and outside of the traditional religious institutions.

About five years ago, former Newsweek religion editor Lisa Miller warned that advances in technology could demolish the Christian Church. She cited the introduction of Bible apps for tablets and smartphones that amounted to a "new crisis for organized religion" in which "believers can bypass constraining religious structures - otherwise known as 'church' - in favor of a more individual connection with God." That warning, unsurprising to me, has proved false. Technology has not hindered the Church or any other organized religion. Religion has not been demolished by tech advances, but it has been augmented by the many innovations including the Internet and mobile apps.

In a response to Lisa Miller's admonition, Jonathan Merritt of the Religion News Services, writes, "Prophetic predictions of the demise of the Christian Church have almost become a tradition among religion writers. As with the others, Miller's has amounted to naught. Instead of having a completely negative effect on the Christian religion, technology has become an empowerment tool for both pastors and parishioners. Online versions of the Bible are one factor people point to when citing reasons for increased engagement with the Good Book. But on the other side of the pulpit, technology is now empowering pastors to minister more effectively."

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I have found the same to be true in the Jewish faith. In the past few years, technology has entered Judaism and Jewish education with positive results. I now routinely meet with bar mitzvah and bat mitzvah teens using FaceTime, a funeral I officiated was broadcast using Skype to relatives unable to attend in person, I've toured ancient Jerusalem using virtual reality, and have watched my students quickly research commentaries on the Talmud using their iPad during class.

At the beginning of 2016, we are beginning to see that the wildly unbelievable technology prophesies of the last century are materializing. Virtual reality and augmented reality will allow us to experience what previous generations only dreamed about. We'll be able to completely erase the borders that once divided us. With high definition, seamless, real-time video communication we will be able to form new communities both within our faith group and with other faith groups. This will allow us to grow our own communities while also linking silos with others to learn about their religion. In this way, technology will be deployed in ways that contribute to inclusive growth. As technology becomes better and faster, it will become less expensive as well. This will ensure that technology won't be only for the wealthy or under-educated.

The tech innovation that we are witnessing today and that our children will come to take for granted is being driven by the speed, breadth and complete systems innovation of change. Breakthroughs in science and technology will help solve problems from the unequal treatment of women to climate change to national safety to public health. Technology will continue to drive purpose forward instead of detracting from it.

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As technology increasingly becomes second nature in our daily lives, we will seek out new and innovative ways to interact with each other through religion and spirituality. We will find that out religious learning and spirituality seeking will be easier and quicker, more authentic and more intensified. In the Digital Age, we will engage with our faith tradition in virtual ways that will feel just as real as they ever have before. Our relationships to our bricks and mortar religious institutions and to our clergy will only be enhanced by technology.

The gatekeepers of traditional religious expressions will continue to feel threatened by new tech like virtual reality, wireless devices and social networks. Today's adults will have to adapt to the new technology pathways to religious life, while today's children will not know from anything different. Religious leaders will have to adapt as their role will continue to change because content is more within reach of their parishioners and congregants.

As we modern co-religionists continue to plug in and engage with technology in order to come closer to God and more involved within our faith communities, we must do so with caution. No, technology will not demolish institutionalized religion -- it won't even hurt or hinder it. However, we must be mindful that technology left unchecked could have negative effects for our society in general and for our spiritual experiences in particular. On the whole, I'm very excited to see how modern tech innovation brings humans closer -- to each other and to God. The future is bright and I'm excited for what is still on the horizon.

For the second conversation in our Purpose@Work series -- a discussion designed to explore how we can infuse a deep sense of purpose into our work -- we're going to focus on the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the theme of this year's World Economic Forum in Davos.
Last weekend, I saw MLK quotes making the rounds on social media. Many of my Facebook friends freely shared graphics featuring some of King's powerful, determined expressions and overlapped with favorite quotes about peace.

I was deeply disturbed by this for two reasons. First, Dr. King did speak of harmony and peace, but he also spoke about injustice, about inequality, about how evil racism was. Second, these same friends post nothing, I mean nothing, about racial injustice the rest of the year.

I get that race is an uncomfortable topic. I get that sometimes it's easier not to say (or share) anything because often we don't know how our words will be received by others. I get that videos of kittens pouncing on a bed or your kids belting out a tune at the spring concert are easier to share than the story of twelve-year-old Tamir Rice being murdered in a park by police. I get that as a white person, speaking of peace is more comforting than acknowledging the slaying of people of color, the waving of the Confederate flag, the blatant disregard for people of color when it comes to Oscar nominations.

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I'm a white woman. My children, all of whom are black, were adopted at birth. We live thirty minutes from Ferguson where Michael Brown was killed, and we live two hours from Columbia, Missouri where the Mizzou president stepped down after being called out for ignoring the racial tensions occurring on campus. Though our family is overwhelmingly loved and accepted in our community, I'm well-aware that my children will face injustices that my white privilege umbrella will not always be able to shield them from. Even now at their young ages (seven, five, and three), they have had to deal with prejudice that I haven't and never will.



Take for example the time my toddler son was called a "cute little thug" by an acquaintance. Or the time my girls were riding bikes in our driveway and a young man in a pickup drove past our home and hurtled the n-word twice.

There are micoaggressions, like white people who try to touch my girls' cornrows out of curiosity. Strangers sometimes assume that my kids' birth parents were young, on drugs, and promiscuous or that my children were adopted from foster care. (Note: there are far more white children in foster care than black children.) The ballet studio one of my daughters used to attend required the three year olds (yes, at three) to wear their hair in a slicked-back bun, a hairstyle not conducive to natural black hair, and wear "skin tone" tights (which, of course, was a creamy-white color). One person joked that of course my daughter likes to dance, after all, it's "in her" as a black person.

These examples, both deeply disturbing to mildly annoying, are reminders that the peace quotes some of my white friends like to promote is a half-hearted attempt to make themselves feel better about being white in a racially tense America. It's a means of sugar-coating a not-so-sweet reality. It's a way of looking at racial tensions through rose-colored, or should I say white-colored, glasses.

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What I want my white friends to know is that the only way to experience true peace is to have authentic, honest, open-hearted and open-minded relationships with people of color. It requires you to listen and learn, not trying to brush the hardships under the proverbial rug. It requires getting to know someone and talking with them, not at them or past them. It requires stepping down off the pedestal that society puts under those with less melanin in their skin and acknowledging that white privilege is real and race isn't a card. Colorblindness doesn't exist, and race should be celebrated, not ignored.

Conversations about race will be uncomfortable. Listening to all of Dr. King's messages, in full and understanding the context, requires courage and pride-swallowing. Experiencing empathy for families who lose their black boys and men is necessary. In a society that promotes opinion-slinging, to really get it, to really understand, you have to shut up and accept the full experience, not just the parts you want to hear.

Listening and learning from people of color will require you to be brave, humble, and mindful. You will not always say and do the right thing, but doing something is better than passivity and ignorance and apathy. Dr. King said it best: "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
For several years, there has been a campaign being waged in the United States to discourage bullying. Far too many young people were going to school only to face bullies with little to no recourse, no protection, from school officials. The increased attention to the problem revealed that it wasn't just in schools that the bullying took place; indeed, there was workplace bullying and it was just as painful and just as bad.

A definition of bullying said that "bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance." That definition spilled over to the workplace as well. "Unwanted, aggressive behavior" has always been seen in elementary, middle and high schools, in colleges, and in the workplace. But until recently, nobody did much about it. Daniel Briggs was a high school student who didn't fit in and was bullied mercilessly until he finally took his own life. His mother was heartbroken and pleaded that someone do something so that no other child was treated like her son. Another young man. Kennedy Leroy who had Asperger's Syndrome was bullied and ended up taking his life as well. Tyler Clementi, a student at Rutgers, was likewise faced with bullies who threatened to expose him as being gay. He could not take it, and took his own life.

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America, it seemed, "got it." Bullying was a bad thing, a dangerous thing. For a while, there were ads flooding television, urging young people not to bully and giving those who were being bullied a support system they had not known before.

And yet now, a GOP presidential candidate is bullying his opponents, or anyone he feels is not being "fair" to him, and the media is silent. Donald Trump has been merciless in his bullying; he has put down women, a disabled reporter, a wartime hero, a protester he didn't want at his rally, illegal immigrants, fellow GOP candidates. In a way that seems to clearly have intimidated many of them. His attacks have been brutal and crude and he has done it with the approval of adoring supporters. There is nothing he says that can make them call him on his offensive behavior, and that, in and of itself, is troubling.

It is troubling because it says that this country does not disapprove of bullying. This country likes the appearance of "strength," and if that image includes what looks, sounds and feels like bullying, the "silent majority" doesn't care one iota. It seems that by extension those people see nothing wrong with bullying at all. In a "survival of the fittest" world, only the strong survive, and the underlying sentiment seems to be that if one cannot take the heat, one should just get off the pot, or, in the case of Trump and the GOP presidential contest, get out of the race.

What accounts for this lack of the courage to call Donald Trump out, to hold him accountable for his despicable words and lack of respect for so many people? He is touted as being "anti-establishment," with an unwillingness to be "politically correct." Since when is treating people in a humane way politically incorrect? Trump says he only attacks when someone attacks him, and the notion of "defending oneself" is an American value, for sure, but absolutely nobody in this GOP race has attacked as Trump has, being rude, crude, and, frankly, childish in the way he has struck back. He comes off as racist and sexist and ignorant of the Bible, but if someone mentions those shortcomings, he goes on a Twitter tirade and it is amazing how his bullying of others goes unchallenged.

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Tavis Smiley called the media out last week for not challenging Trump on some of the things he says and does. He called Trump a "religious and racial arsonist" and said that the media had been remiss in letting Trump get away with his outrageous and crude statements.

In so doing, the media has not been too much unlike school teachers and administrators who have known bullying was going on in their respective institutions, yet said and did nothing to nothing.

What this entire scenario begs, though, is an examination of American values when it comes to bullying. Is bullying really an admired trait? Is it equated with being "strong," and "masculine?" (though women bully as well.) Is America an advocate for bullying, though it dare not admit it? And how can any teacher or administrator, on any school level, admonish kids for being bullies when they see an American public figure bullying others with abandon, with nobody reining him in and with scores of people cheering him on?

Now that Trump has added Sarah Palin to his ticket, I suppose the bullying will get even more severe, and it seems highly unlikely that the media, or evangelicals, or Conservatives in general, will say anything at all. That cannot bode well for our country, and it cannot bode well for young people at school and work who deal with bullies every single day.

___________________

If you -- or someone you know -- need help, please call 1-800-273-8255 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. If you are outside of the U.S., please visit the International Association for Suicide Prevention for a database of international resources.
Over the past two years Ive collected the stories of families affected by gun violence. Traveling from city to city in the U.S. and having the gut wrenching task of asking people to relive their most heartbreaking moments, I began to see through the smoke and mirrors the NRA has so masterfully created. They had sold an idea to the American people that you need a gun; laws cant protect you but guns can. However, the same "failed laws" the NRA claimed couldn't protect human life, were worth spending millions to protect guns. It made no sense until we discovered who pays the NRA. Thats when I began to connect the dots.

In 2014, 13-year-old Eddie Holmes was shot in the chest, unintentionally, by another child playing with a shotgun that the boys found loaded and stashed haphazardly behind a parents bed.

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Given that the group took in less than it did the year before -- a mere $310.5 million in revenues -- this was what passes as a bad year for the National Rifle Association.

Still, it was enough to stifle common-sense gun violence prevention and the will of the vast majority of Americans. In Wisconsin, they battled for, and in 2015, won, a repeal of the states 48-hour waiting period for purchase of a handgun. Had such a law been in place in Oregon, law student Kerry Lewieckis family believes he might have been alive today. Nationally, despite bipartisan consensus and a nation mourning the devastating shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school, the NRA had the year before shut down efforts in Congress to require background checks for all gun sales. Without universal background checks, any law with the goal of protecting victims of domestic violence, like Kate Ranta, would be useless.

Some of the millions that made it possible for the NRA to create the facade that they are for the very Americans they were aiding in killing were spent on things like publications, such as NRA Family, which this month features a cartoon entitled Little Red Riding Hood Has a Gun. This promises to be the first in a series of classic fairy tales retold to comfort children with the concept of armed and dangerous Hansels, Gretels and the like riding off into the sunset. The price tag for these publications, in truth propaganda, was more than $26 million.

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Also included in the gun lobbys massive expenditures in 2014 is $56.6 million dumped into advertising and promotion to scare politicians into believing that votes for common-sense laws that would, for example, require firearms be locked away, or even just out of reach of children, are career killers.

In case those politicians didnt get the message clearly enough, that same year the NRA spent (or at least admitted to spending) approximately $1.1 million on lobbying, $5.7 million on political expenditure and another $23 million on unspecified legislative programs. The actual amount the NRA spends to influence legislation is almost impossible to pin down. Between 2008-2014, the NRA failed to disclose over $58 million in political spending to the IRS.
"And finally, how can we make our politics reflect what's best in us, and not what's worst?"

The president asked the right question in his State of the Union address last week. What if he'd actually answered it -- or at least addressed it honestly?

Oh, torn heart, torn citizenship.

I find myself disconnecting from national politics in a profound way, even as the 2016 presidential race continues to transcend the media-controlled same old, same old charade of races past. The Republican presidential free-for-all is a suicidally End Times-esque spectacle the likes of which I've never seen. And on the other side of the divide, the Dems, thanks to Bernie Sanders, are daring to wade ankle-deep into progressive values. But it's not enough. It's not enough.

I simply can no longer tolerate our political inability to face the obsolescence of war and refuse to keep coddling the military-industrial profiteers and true believers.

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"Priority number one," Obama said in his address, "is protecting the American people and going after terrorist networks. . . .

"We just need to call them what they are -- killers and fanatics who have to be rooted out, hunted down, and destroyed. And that's exactly what we're doing. . . . With nearly 10,000 air strikes, we're taking out their leadership, their oil, their training camps, their weapons. We're training, arming, and supporting forces who are steadily reclaiming territory in Iraq and Syria."

The transition is so smooth: from moral condemnation of what "they" do to a moral justification of what we do, no matter that what we do -- my God, 10,000 air strikes, and that's just in the last year and a half -- can only be called collateral slaughter. And it doesn't even accomplish its stated ends. The "war on terror" we've been waging for most of the 21st century is an unmitigated disaster, destabilizing vast regions of the world, killing and displacing millions of people, expanding terrorist organizations, but our political leaders have to keep extolling the war's glory and moral rectitude.

Something is terribly amiss here. Everything we value in our day-to-day lives -- every behavioral proscription that makes society possible, beginning with "thou shalt not kill" -- transforms into its opposite on the way to becoming national policy. Maybe the problem is nationalism itself. The nation-state, as currently conceived, manifests humanity's shadow: our hunger to dominate, to control, to act aggressively without consequence. What would be called pompous stupidity at the level of social reality becomes "greatness" at the altar of nationalism.

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For instance: "Washington's war on terror strategy has already sent at least $1.6 trillion down the drain, left thousands of American troops and hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Muslims dead," Peter Van Buren writes at TomDispatch. "Along the way we lost precious freedoms to the ever-expanding national security state."

How is it that such (relatively conservative) War on Terror data doesn't come up in presidential debates or State of the Union addresses? How is it that, in the land of the free, in the world's greatest democracy, so little military-industrial behavior is officially challenged? Almost no one even expects it to be challenged, even though, as Van Buren notes:

"The sum of all this activity, 14-plus years of it, has been ever more failed states and ungoverned spaces."

Isn't there something better we could be doing with this enormous corralling of potential called the United States of America? What we call leadership is mostly just public relations -- for the military-industrial matrix, as I think of it: this secret collusion of profit and desire that is committed to nothing so much as endless war, which is mostly endless (and endlessly profitable) carnage and failure dressed up as glory.

Are we past the point where presidential candidates are allowed to stand up to war? Is the American public so frightened by the non-threat of terrorism that it would not tolerate a candidate who refuses to acquiesce to its alleged demand for multi-trillion-dollar, existential "protection"?

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I don't think so.

As the Republican Party careens (let us hope) toward permanent marginalization, perhaps the American -- and global -- political process will yield to a higher form of human organization.

David Korten, writing almost a decade ago in Yes! Magazine, put it this way: "We face a defining choice between two contrasting models for organizing human affairs." One of them, humanity's political template for the last 5,000 or so years, he called "Empire." The other, he called "Earth Community."

"Empire," he wrote, "organizes by domination at all levels, from relations among nations to relations among family members. Empire brings fortune to the few, condemns the majority to misery and servitude, suppresses the creative potential of all, and appropriates much of the wealth of human societies to maintain the institutions of domination.

"Earth Community, by contrast, organizes by partnership, unleashes the human potential for creative co-operation, and shares resources and surpluses for the good of all. Supporting evidence for the possibilities of Earth Community comes from the findings of quantum physics, evolutionary biology, developmental psychology, anthropology, archaeology, and religious mysticism. It was the human way before Empire; we must make a choice to relearn how to live by its principles."

Is it too much to ask the American political process to participate in something larger than itself -- something the size, perhaps, of human or planetary evolution? Perhaps this question is the starting point of the future.

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Panic now grips the Clinton campaign. Polls show Bernie Sanders surging to a dramatic lead in New Hampshire and closing in Iowa. The Washington Post reports that Hillary's national numbers are dropping faster now than they did in 2008. The Clinton campaign has started throwing everything and the kitchen sink at Sanders, with the gutter award captured, thus far, by Senator Claire McCaskill who smeared him with the "hammer and sickle," transparently attributing the red-baiting to future Republican attacks of her own imagination.

But the question isn't what's wrong with Bernie -- he's soaring beyond all expectations. The question is what's wrong with Hillary? She has universal name recognition, unparalleled experience, the support of the big money and the political gatekeepers, the Hollywood glitz, the best political operatives, the pollsters, the ad makers, the establishment policy mavens, and political press coverage. Having learned from 2008, she's got the best ground operation in the history of Iowa caucuses that still may rescue her there. But she's sinking rapidly against a 73-year-old political maverick who is still just introducing himself to the American people.

Already the inevitable Clinton circular firing squad has begun firing its salvos: We should have gone negative on Bernie earlier. We should have used Bill more... or less. We shouldn't have bet the house on the first four primaries. Woulda, shoulda, coulda.

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Inevitably, any Clinton campaign carries a lot of baggage that simply has to be overcome. The assaults on her won't really be unleashed until the general election (although Donald Trump and Republican legislators have already started). What is plaguing the Clinton campaign are less the sins of the past than the strategic choices of the present -- particularly her decision to be the candidate of big money.

Hillary's Unilateral Disarmament

From its start, the Clinton campaign has boasted about its unparalleled fundraising capacity. HRC geared up a bevy of SuperPacs and C4s to take big donations and dark money. She launched a relentless operation to get wealthy donors to max out both for the primary and the general. Her ability to raise money helped scare away other potential contenders. Her continued commitment to this path is symbolized by the $33,400 a plate dinner Warren Buffet is hosting for her in Washington, D.C. on the eve of the Iowa caucuses. People who can afford $33,400 for one seat at the table aren't exactly the working people Hillary claims to champion.

Sanders, of course, made a different decision. He has condemned SuperPacs, big money and secret contributions. He has funded his campaign with record numbers of small donations raised largely over the social media. He doesn't have anything like a traditional campaign fundraising operation. That independence gives both force and integrity to his core message that it is time to take back our democracy from the "billionaire class," the entrenched interests, and the Wall Street banksters.

Clinton argues that she favors fundamental campaign finance reform, but she can't "unilaterally disarm." Deep pocket Republicans are amassing huge war chests to assault her. She has to be armed with big money to defend herself.

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But in doing so, Clinton "unilaterally disarmed" her own credibility. The Clinton family foundation and the family fortune have been built with large contributions and lavish "speaking fees," significantly from the biggest financial interests in the country. Wall Street made Hillary herself a millionaire, as she pocketed over $3 million in speaking fees from Wall Street finance houses in 2013. She made nearly as much ($2.8 million) speaking to health care industry interests. And now her campaign is raising big bucks from the same folks.

The result is corrosive. When Clinton insists that her Wall Street reforms are far tougher than those of Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley, it rings false. She attacks Sanders for supporting Medicare for All which naturally is the bete noire of the private health insurance and drug companies.

When Sanders invoked the $600,000 Clinton received from Goldman Sachs alone in speaking fees (a bank that just agreed to pay $5 billion essentially for mortgage fraud) in the last debate, her only defense was to suggest that a similar criticism would apply to Barack Obama who also raised money from Wall Street. Democrats like President Obama, but the defense is pretty lame given that fact that he will leave office with the big banks bigger and more concentrated than they were when their excesses blew up the economy, and with no major banker going to jail for what the FBI describes as an "epidemic of fraud."

Moreover, Sanders has demonstrated that it is possible to generate enough true popular excitement to raise enough money from small donations to be financially competitive at a presidential level. He didn't "unilaterally disarm;" he armed himself in a manner consistent with his program. And every attack by the Clinton camp only rouses his committed and growing army of small donors to ante up again.

In the general election, this might not matter as much. Every Republican -- except Donald Trump, the self-funding billionaire -- is enmeshed in the same pursuit of big money. But in the primary, as Clinton protests angrily that she is a true progressive reformer, her words lack conviction not because of Sanders' mild criticisms but because she has unilaterally disarmed her own credibility.

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Credibility and Electability

In his brilliant new book, America Ascendent, Stanley Greenberg, the opinion analyst who helped Bill Clinton win in 1992, maintains that credibility on political reform is a big deal, not a side note.

Greenberg has tracked the emerging majority that Obama helped forge of the young, single women, and people of color whom he projects will constitute a majority of the electorate in 2016. These voters are looking for change. They fare among the worst in the modern economy and are the most supportive of the activist government and progressive reforms championed by Bernie Sanders and, yes, by Hillary Clinton. (Note their rankings on the CAF Candidate Scorecard)

But, Greenberg argues, these voters are the most skeptical of whether government will serve them in the end. They understand that the rich and powerful have rigged the rules, that when money talks, politicians listen. Corruption isn't a bug, it's a feature of our big money politics.

Greenberg's polling for Women's Voices, Women's Vote and other groups suggest that before they give a reform agenda a hearing, these voters must see a candidate who is credibly committed to political reform -- to curbing big money in politics, to cleaning out the stables in Washington, to making government serve the many and not just the wealthy and wired few. As Greenberg concludes, "When voters hear the [political] reform narrative first, they are dramatically more open to the middle-class economic narrative that calls for government activism in response to America's problems."

This helps explain the remarkable excitement that Sanders has generated among the young. He passionately champions popular big reforms -- tuition free college, a $15 minimum wage, Medicare for all, a bold climate change agenda, breaking up the big banks and more. And his integrity and credibility are affirmed by his commitment to funding his campaign with the support of millions of citizens, not the big money of special interests.

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As Greg Sargent of the Washington Post notes, Hillary's credibility gulf also undermines her argument about "electability." Democrats have a natural majority among the electorate, but only if they turn out. Even the Clinton campaign has been worried about whether HRC can generate the excitement among the rising American electorate to get them to the polls. Now, they worry about whether Sanders will generate so much excitement that he will flood the Iowa caucuses and primaries with a wave of new voters.
Victoria Jackson shuddered uncontrollably when the doctor told her and husband Bill in 2008 that their 14-year-old daughter, Ali, had an extremely rare autoimmune ailment called neuromyelitis optica spectrum disease, or NMO for short. This was a serious illness with no approved medications, effective treatment or cure. The doctor explained that Ali's eyes would be affected and she would go blind, and that her brain stem and spinal column would be attacked, eventually leaving her crippled.

As heartbreaking and demoralizing as the initial prognosis was, it got worse: Ali's illness was terminal and she only had about four years to six years to live.

For people like Ali, the malfunctioning immune system proceeds to seek out and destroy crucial myelin cells, the protective covering around many nerve fibers in the eyes and spinal cord. Symptoms include rapid onset of eye pain or loss of vision, partial paralysis, shooting pain or tingling in the neck, back or abdomen, and prolonged vomiting. Ali Guthy has had 16 NMO attacks over the years, with each assault further damaging new areas of myelin.

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Like most of the 80 types of autoimmune diseases, NMO typically fluctuates between periods of remission, with little or no symptoms, and flare-ups, where the symptoms worsen. Infants as young as 23 months and adults in their 90s have been affected. With no curative therapy, treatment for NMO has focused on symptomatic relief.

Immunosuppressants are the first line of therapy for NMO and these drugs help reduce the occurrence of attacks. But other drugs, including the cancer medication Rituxan, are often used off label to prevent relapses. "Ali swallows two bags of pills a day," said Victoria, "but the dire prognosis we had originally been given has not come to pass. Her immunosuppressants and other drugs have kept her alive and happy over the years and she recently graduated from college, where she was president of the student body. "

Ali, like her two brothers, was a pretty healthy kid, so her NMO diagnosis came out of left field. It all started when she had lost her ability to see color and had trouble with her vision. Victoria thought she had a bad eye infection. After learning of the diagnosis, Victoria immediately went to the Internet. "We found about four sentences written, and the word fatal was in each of them." Even more distressing: It seemed that Dr. Brian Weinshenker, a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic, was the only person in the world actively researching the disease. As Victoria soon found out, that's because a medical condition like NMO is considered a "rare" disease.

"By definition," said Steven Groft, the former director of the Office of Rare Diseases Research for the National Institutes of Health, "that's a disease that affects fewer than 200,000 people. There are approximately 7,000 different diseases that fall into this category and less than 10 percent have an effective treatment." It is difficult to find the research funding for rare diseases as these obscure diseases have such few candidates for a potential therapy which makes focusing on them difficult for a pharmaceutical or biotechnology company that have investors to consider.

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Undeterred and infused with a life-and-death urgency, Victoria and Bill began their difficult journey to the front lines to save their daughter from a rare disease that threatened to take her life before her high school graduation. Jackson, the creator of the successful Victoria Jackson Cosmetics line, and her husband, who co-founded infomercial marketing giant Guthy-Renker LLC, have now spent millions of dollars of their own money since launching and funding the Guthy-Jackson Charitable Foundation in 2008.

Surprised and then angered to find the relative nonexistence of basic research, these business people-turned-philanthropists had the goal of fostering and catalyzing global research efforts to discover and develop a therapy that will help Ali and the hundreds of thousands of others globally who are affected by NMO.

"After Ali's diagnosis, my focus went from mascara to medicine," Victoria said. "I had to educate myself about medicine and autoimmune disease, start a national conversation about NMO where there was none and then help find a cure for a disease that had been totally ignored by researchers. Bill was the funder and I became the finder whose job it was to track down the top scientists around the world and then convince them to work on NMO."

Both Victoria and Bill are successful self-made entrepreneurs who applied principles that they had used in creating their respective companies to then help build their new medical philanthropy. Since its launch, their Guthy-Jackson Charitable Foundation has personally backed dozens of NMO research projects at top medical institutions around the globe, created and hosts an annual three-day NMO-dedicated conference in Los Angeles that gathers all leading NMO researchers into one room and pays to fly in patients with NMO to attend the conference. Next month the foundation is sponsoring the first-ever NMO conference in Africa and supports international NMO Patient Days, bringing patients and stakeholders together for a day of education and sharing.

Because of increased focus on the disease, there may be up to 250,000 or more NMO patients worldwide. Still, drug companies have less business incentive in finding a treatment for this rare illness. But, as Henri Termeer found out years earlier, treating rare disease can be profitable. Termeer, the president and CEO of Genzyme Corporation, spearheaded his company's efforts to come up with a drug for Gaucher disease, a rare debilitating genetic ailment that affects the bones and liver. After ten years of researching and testing, Ceredase was developed, and has now earned billions of dollars for the company after its approval by the Food and Drug Administration in 1991.

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Last year, the FDA approved a record 17 medications for rare diseases. More than 450 other medications are now in development, thanks to philanthropists like Bill Victoria and patient-advocacy groups that are getting better at raising research dollars and using social media to recruit patients for rare disease clinical drug trials.

"Thanks to Bill's and Victoria's time, expertise and passion, 175 researchers in 30 countries are supported in their NMO work," said Michael Yeaman, Ph.D., Professor of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. "Many companies are now in pursuit of NMO treatment, including Opexa Therapeutics, Alexion, Chugai and Medimmune, and clinical trials are underway. The idea that we may re-educate the immune system to overcome its loss of tolerance is one of the most exciting directions that we are heading right now with NMO therapy. And if it works for NMO, it may work for other autoimmune diseases as well."

Beyond traditional approaches, the foundation has made it a point to push the envelope in understanding the disease and finding a cure. It has engaged leading-edge companies and collaborators from Verily (Google Life Sciences), to the Immune Tolerance Network and NIH, to other special interest capabilities in its mission to solve NMO.

"Our work with the Foundation has been heavy lifting, but I am blessed that Bill and I have the money to pursue a cure. Going from making lip gloss to then spending time with the smartest medical people in the world, and now preparing to go to the Vatican next April to speak at the Conference on the Progress of Regenerative Medicine, has been quite an experience."

"At the end of the day, the power of love drives all of our efforts," admits Victoria. "We want to cure our daughter."

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As we watch the Republican primary unfold, it's easy to forget for most of the candidates, there are two campaigns. There's only one official campaign, of course, but with one notable exception, every single one of the Republican candidates has a multi-million dollar super PAC supporting them, and in some cases those super PACs have taken over responsibilities that used to be held by the campaigns themselves.

The pundits on TV all talk about how super PACs and other groups will affect who wins; whether Bush's outside group will keep him in the race; whether the billionaires bankrolling Wisconsin governor Scott Walker's super PAC wasted their money on his mismanaged presidential campaign.

But all these questions miss the point. It's fun to think about the influence of money in politics by simply looking at who wins elections or loses them, but winning one individual election or another isn't the goal of the corporate interests exploiting Citizens United.

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As we mark the sixth anniversary of the lawless Citizens United decision, we always have to remember the real corrupting power of the decision: the long-term, year-to-year influence big money has over the policies that affect middle-class and working families.

How this influence plays out is even more insidious than it seems, because candidates for office now rely on the support of super PACs to run viable campaigns. So potential candidates for president, or senators up for reelection, know they need to court the support of the billionaires who fund super PACs. To do that, they take positions - or votes - that align with the kinds of economic policies that benefit CEOs, not middle-class and working families.

One of the huge donors to Marco Rubio's super PAC is Larry Ellison, the third-richest person in the world, worth about $43 billion. One of the billionaires behind the group backing Jeb is the former

chairman of AIG. One of Ted Cruz's billionaires is a hedge fund mogul. These political benefactors may not be expecting to call the shots if their preferred candidate is elected. But to gain their support in the first place, you can be sure that not one of the candidates will support making sure the wealthiest pay their fair share.

And to be clear, this is not an exclusively Republican problem. For too long, Democrats haven't done enough to fight back against the type of system that drags the entire policy debate towards corporate-friendly policies. You can bet that the billionaires and corporations funding outside groups don't favor raising the minimum wage.

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That's why, a month into my campaign for Senate in Wisconsin, I offered the Badger Pledge, a bipartisan agreement modeled off the successful "People's Pledge" from Elizabeth Warren and Scott Brown's Senate race in 2012. A pledge like this - where both sides agree to donate to charity 50% of the cost of an ad - like an attack ad on TV - paid for by an outside group. The benefits of a pledge like this are significant: ads are less negative, issues are focused more on what voters care about, and the huge outside groups don't get to drown out the voices of everyday people. My likely opponent, the incumbent Republican senator, has not accepted the pledge, and it's hard not to conclude that it's because he actually likes the system we have now - where giant corporations can spend unlimited amounts of money to influence our system of government.
This week at Davos, businesses will launch a unique rescue effort to help children trapped in the biggest humanitarian crisis since 1945.



Today there are about 30 million refugee and displaced children who have been forced from their homes as a result of conflicts currently raging around the world.



Six million of these are Syrian boys and girls who have been forced to move from their local communities. Two million of them are now child refugees holed up in tents, shacks and hovels in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon. They are the innocent and most vulnerable victims of the Syrian civil war.



At Davos a new public private partnership will be announced to provide teachers, books, internet facilities, classrooms and preschool amenities for refugee children

to support this year's response plan for the education of Syrian refugees.



The 2016 target is an ambitious one -- to deliver, through combined public and private endeavors, one million school places.



What has unlocked the capacity to deliver hundreds of thousands of extra school places is the introduction of the 'double-shift' school system.



This unique experiment is currently operating in Lebanon. 207,000 local Lebanese children are educated in the morning and early afternoon in the same classrooms that Syrian refugee children then use in a second late afternoon and early evening shift.



Because the double-shift system avoids the huge capital costs of building hundreds of new schools, the plan is cost-effective, with the average cost of school places just $500 dollars per child per year.



Currently 260 Lebanese schools are offering double-shift education and now there are ambitious plans to double the number of places by expanding the programme.



Building off the work in Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan are also using double-shift schools as the centrepiece of this year's educational efforts for refugees alongside several other strategies to expand educational opportunity.



Working with UNICEF, Turkey has set out a bold plan to double school places for refugees from just over 200,000 to 450,000 this year.



In Jordan, where just over 100,000 are in school, the plan is to double refugee places to 200,000.



There are good reasons why we must act urgently if Syria's refugee children are not to become a lost generation. The average time that a refugee is out of country is well over a decade. If we do nothing, then thousands of refugee children may reach adulthood without ever setting foot in a classroom.



As more and more girls and boys arrive on the streets of Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, disturbing new statistics show that rates of child marriage among refugee girls have doubled in some camps in Jordan and child labour among out-of-school boys and girls is rapidly worsening.



Yet humanitarian aid for education falls through the net. Funding is trapped between humanitarian budgets, which focus primarily on food, shelter and healthcare, and ordinary aid budgets which cannot respond quickly enough to emergencies.



So a plan has been drawn up to create a humanitarian fund for education in emergencies -- with business, philanthropists and foundations as partners in this public-private effort.



In the past few months, in response to the humanitarian crisis, the Global Business Coalition for Education will announce at Davos how it will help refugees secure books, teachers and internet support for their education.



And if we can show that business and public sectors can help Syrian refugees, the plan is then to secure help for the 24 million out-of-school children spread across conflict zones in Africa and Asia as well as the Middle East.



In June this year in Istanbul at the World Humanitarian Summit business will offer to be a partner in a new humanitarian platform to assist refugees secure their right to education.



Without education young people will be forced into child marriage, child labour and child slavery. Without education young people are prey to extremist influences that will ruin their lives and damage the world around them.



But with education we give young people the most valuable resources of all -- hope for the future.
(Photo: Tom & Dee Ann McCarthy/Corbis)

By Carrie Arnold

Cultural attitudes in this country toward recreational and medical marijuana use are swiftly changing: Earlier this month, for instance, New York City's first medical marijuana dispensary opened its doors. The latest research suggests that half of all Americans will use marijuana at least once, and just over one-third of high-school seniors have used the drug in the past year. And yet those PSAs of the '90s are hard to forget, and many -- scientists included -- are still unsure about the long-term cognitive effects of marijuana, especially in teens.

Related: What It's Like to Be a Stoner Who's Allergic to MarijuanaNow, by following two groups of twins from late childhood through late adolescence and early adulthood, an international team of scientists showed that teens who had used pot did indeed have lower scores on cognitive tests -- but, crucially, those differences were likely caused by other genetic and social factors within the family rather than marijuana itself.

Twin studies help researchers to understand the various genetic and environmental factors that contribute to a specific outcome, such as marijuana use, since monozygotic (identical) twins share 100 percent of their DNA, whereas dizygotic (fraternal) twins share 50 percent, just like normal siblings. However, the environmental conditions for these twins are considered to be broadly similar. By determining the effect of one twin's marijuana use on the likelihood that the other will also light up, scientists can begin to parse out how much biological and social factors contribute.

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That's what a group of researchers from the U.S. and Sweden did, using two different groups of twins, the Risk Factors for Antisocial Behavior study from Southern California and the Minnesota Twin Family Study, that together resulted in 3,066 participants. The scientists asked about marijuana use at several different time points, and assessed several different types of intelligence and cognition. As had been reported in several previous studies, the new study published this week in PNAS found that marijuana-using teens had lower scores on cognitive and intelligence tests, and also showed declines on crystallized intelligence, or the ability to use previously acquired knowledge and skills.
FLINT, MI - JANUARY 21: Army National Guard Specialist David Brown loads bottled water into waiting cars at a fire station on January 21, 2016 in Flint, Michigan. Residents can go daily to fire stations in the city to pick up more water. (Photo by Sarah Rice/Getty Images)

After seeing news reports over the past several weeks concerning the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, I was shocked and dismayed at a meeting yesterday of the Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW) to consider S. 659, the so-called "Bipartisan Sportsmen Act," which included an unrelated amendment that weakens our nation's drinking water protections.

We have all seen disturbing reports of children being poisoned by lead in Flint's drinking water supplies. And what message do you think Republicans have taken from these upsetting news stories? At a time when Congress should be doing more to protect the American people from contaminated or polluted water, the Republican majority on the EPW Committee did the exact opposite. They chose to vote for legislation to undermine the federal government's ability to protect drinking water supplies.

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Specifically, the legislation as approved by the Republican majority takes away the right of the Environmental Protection Agency to issue permits when pesticides are sprayed over a body of water.

This provision is much more than just a poke in the eye to people, but is a defiant act toward American families who expect their country to protect them from poisons like pesticides that can harm the nervous system, impact the development of children and even cause cancer.

In 2009, a Federal appeals court made clear that the Clean Water Act, which was passed by large bipartisan majorities in Congress, requires people to get a permit to spray pesticides. They strongly rejected arguments that Congress did not intend the Clean Water Act to apply to pesticides in these cases.

Our landmark environmental laws were designed to protect the health and safety of all Americans. The Clean Water Act protections are designed to safeguard drinking water for American families and businesses. If we are serious about ensuring that the water supplies our children and families rely on for drinking water are free from pollution, we must uphold Clean Water Act safeguards.

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Nothing is more important than protecting the lives of the American people, and when Republicans weaken the Clean Water Act, they are putting our families and children at risk. Defending our waterways from pollution used to be a bipartisan issue - but no longer. Just today, Senate Republicans attempted to override President Obama's veto of Republican legislation to block new safeguards for our water sources. Despite their failure, Senate Republicans are already talking about introducing legislation to block these clean water standards again next week on the Senate floor.

Congress should be acting to protect the American people from public health crises like what is happening in Flint, but Republicans apparently haven't gotten the message. A New York Times opinion piece pointed out that Republicans have largely ignored the crisis in Flint: "The truth is that Flint, where 40 percent of residents live below the poverty level, was never on the Republican agenda. Even now, when thousands of children subsist in a city that is toxic, this remains true." (New York Times, "Republicans Ignore a Poisoned City" by Matt Latimer, January 21, 2016)
US Secretary of State John Kerry (L) speaks with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) verified that Iran has met all conditions under the nuclear deal during the E3/EU+3 and Iran talks in Vienna on January 16, 2016.The historic nuclear accord between Iran and major powers entered into force as the UN confirmed that Tehran has shrunk its atomic programme and as painful sanctions were lifted on the Islamic republic. / AFP / POOL / KEVIN LAMARQUE (Photo credit should read KEVIN LAMARQUE/AFP/Getty Images)

The implementation of the Iran nuclear deal was a landmark achievement. Iran has at last received long-awaited sanctions relief after fulfilling its obligations under the agreement, verified last week by a report released by the International Atomic Energy Agency. It remains unclear, however, if the way has now been cleared for greater economic development and an enhancement of Iran's foreign relations, which have been goals of the centrist administration of President Hassan Rouhani.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Rouhani both scored major domestic victories with the implementation of the nuclear deal. Iran is set to rejoin the global economy. Its much-ailed economy will be boosted as Iranian banks reconnect with the SWIFT international financial transactions system, unfrozen foreign exchange assets get put to use, foreign trade, finance and investment increase and oil exports shoot up. Politically, too, Rouhani can take credit for improving Iran's relations with the outside world, with Britain having already reopened its embassy in Tehran and Canada poised to do so soon. Rouhani himself is heading to France and Italy next week.

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The nuclear crisis cost Iran immensely.

However, the nuclear crisis cost Iran immensely. Even Ayatollah Khamenei, in a recent letter thanking President Rouhani and Iran's nuclear negotiators for getting sanctions removed, emphasized that a "heavy price was paid." Indeed, getting to a deal cost Iran both treasure and blood. Numerous Iranian scientists were brutally assassinated on the streets of Tehran and sabotage in the form of cyberwarfare and mysterious explosions beleaguered Iran's nuclear facilities on an unprecedented scale.

On the economic front, the deteriorating conditions in Iran due partly to sanctions had spurred since 2009 a sharp rise in the number of Iranians leaving the country. "Every year, about 150,000 highly talented people emigrate from Iran, equaling an annual loss of $150 billion to the economy," Iran's Minister of Science, Research and Technology Reza Faraji Dana proclaimed. According to the World Bank, since 2009, the "brain drain" has cost Iran $50 billion annually, or a total of $300 billion in the last six years. All in all, six U.N. resolutions were passed during the Ahmadinejad era that together imposed one of the most stringent sanctions regimes in history on Iran. According to an informed source's estimate published in Iranian media, the direct cost of nuclear-related sanctions during Ahmadinejad's presidency was $150 million a day, equal to $54 billion annually.

The successful implementation of the nuclear agreement not only helps cure Iran of this economic malaise but has also led to the U.S. and Iran breaking new ground in their level of cooperation. The swap of prisoners on the eve of implementation day marked the first serious and successful negotiations between both the security and diplomatic establishments of each country. The speedy release of 10 U.S. sailors last week who had drifted into Iranian waters was also, according to Secretary of State John Kerry, due to the "critical role [of] diplomacy." In other words, it would not have been possible without the channels of direct communication created by the nuclear negotiations.

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U.S. journalist Jason Rezaian, recently released from Iranian prison, poses for media in Germany. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

Furthermore, the past few days have also seen Iran and the United States settle a decades-old legal battle over money owed to Iran for pre-revolution military purchases. Iran will get back $400 million it had allocated in a trust fund for such purchases plus $1.3 billion for the interest accrued on the fund; closing the chapter on a long-running dispute between the two countries.

The news of this past week is a testament to the potential for U.S.-Iran relations to continue to develop in a positive direction. Unfortunately, there are still many obstacles in the path towards a better relationship, and the risk of hostilities increasing remains as real as ever. Right after the nuclear deal was implemented, the U.S. imposed new sanctions on Iranian companies and individuals over a recent ballistic missile test. Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, announced that his state will continue to prohibit investment in Iran despite the U.S. lifting of some sanctions and explained that Texas law states that Texas' sanctions only expire if the U.S. revokes all of its sanctions against Iran.

The 2016 U.S. presidential race has seen every Republican presidential candidate and even the Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton promise to be "tougher" on Iran than President Obama (with the Republicans promising to rescind the nuclear deal). Moreover, the U.S. Congress is also relentlessly pursuing additional sanctions against Iran in an attempt to scuttle the nuclear agreement.

The wall of mistrust between Washington and Tehran remains thick.

That's why Ayatollah Khamenei recently called such endeavors by American politicians a source of concern and suspicion: "The other side is a deceiver, do not trust its smile and mask ... [Iranian] officials should make sure that the Americans do fulfill their commitments in the JCPOA implementation; otherwise, they surely should retaliate."

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Despite the recent achievements on Iran-U.S. relations, which have been unprecedented since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the wall of mistrust between Washington and Tehran remains thick and the future of U.S.-Iran engagement is still very much up in the air, making it of critical importance for the pragmatists on each side to ensure they stick to fully implementing the nuclear deal.

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.

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The missing part

"So," I ask casually at a school meeting, "Will the kids be getting recess back next year?"

"Please God, NO!" says one of the principals at my son's junior high, "We're very happy with no recess in 7th and 8th grades. The incidence of H.I.B. is LOW. Kids aren't getting into trouble. I'm not getting calls about kids being mean, about texting and even sexting. Also, we just started giving recess back to those grades on Fridays and that's when I get the most complaints. I am happy to report that we have informative, exciting and hands-on seminars that keep them busy and engaged. They are so busy, in fact, they don't need recess. Studies show...."

My mind wanders at this point because I know that she has dug up the studies that show cutting out recess keeps kids out of trouble, but I also know that my son's friends have called the seminars "B.S." and that new studies seemingly crop up daily on the advantages of recess: a sharper mind during class, better academic performance and physical fitness (One might argue that there is Gym, but freer play actually encourages more running around and gym may not be enough). Common sense (along with the research) tells me that kids need to take breaks just as adults do. They also need time to socialize. My 7th grader's biggest issue with today's "Recess Recession" (Numerous schools nationwide have reduced recess) is that he has no time to see his friends who are in other classes.

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So, what is H.I.B., you might ask, and is it contracted through sexting? I'll credit my sister with that wisecrack, but the truth of the matter is that H.I.B. is the worst acronym to hit the modern school system. It sounds like it should be a disease. Parents look around uncomfortably to get affirmation on this thought. However, it is actually the abbreviation for Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying. "H.I.B.," I've heard school administrators say, "the biggest problem schools are committed to eradicating." It is also cited as the reasoning behind recess cuts.

I spoke with two seasoned teachers who extolled the virtues of no recess but in the same breath, agreed that in theory they were against it, that kids do need breaks to "come up for air." On the other hand, one professional told me that she feels the kids are so busy all day and since the schedule is jam-packed, "there just is no time!" There's so much to get done, is her mantra. Having attended a dual curriculum school that taught both religious and secular subjects as well as two languages, I wonder why there is "no time" for recess. We managed it quite well in our own busy days. We not only had 2 daily recesses most days, but were bilingual and proficient in theological studies as well as the (uncommon) core curriculum.

I discovered recently that today's dual curriculum religious private schools are also being hit by the recess recession. One friend with an eight year old found out that her son was only getting few minute breaks throughout the day and no recess at all on Thursdays. When she spoke with the principal, tuition was cited as reasoning, the claim being that parents had expressed they were spending money for their kids to learn rather than to run around and play. A year before, in that same school, my friend had sat down to a meeting about her son's educational needs. The importance of breaks throughout the day was discussed at this meeting and agreed upon by the administration. Now here she was facing a principal who seemed to have forgotten and was surprised by her concerns. The principal added: "Recess is not a good time for us because it is when all the accidents happen" and that it was "difficult to get the kids back into learning mode" after the break.

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What began as a "pilot" in my own child's junior high, appears to have wings as far as the top administrators have acknowledged. I ask my son about the seminars that have replaced recess and his assessment (realize, this is subjective) is that an hour spent on robotics is no substitute for running around. He also informed me, and I verified, that for the next six weeks his Gym class will be Health class - so more learning, less moving, no recess except Friday. Furthermore, now that it's cold, Fridays are spent by most kids reading a book or talking indoors rather than getting exercise.

I faced some real bullies as a kid (I am old, so these were the prehistoric days when "anti-bullying" essentially didn't exist - again, my well-honed opinion) and torment of my own during recess time. However, I also got a chance to play jump rope with my friends...oh, and who could forget R.C.K. in first grade? I ran, caught and kissed with the best of them. So maybe I did once sit under a tree in the schoolyard and landed in dog poop. I can agree that was "trouble" for the teachers who had to help clean me up before I got shipped home, but I also had many recesses to roam the field outside my school and partake in treasure hunts, games of hide and seek, and kickball. There were days I thought recess would kill me, but remembering my peer Noah's face on the "dog day" is among the incidents that made me stronger. In fact, he talks about the unfortunate event today. I wish I could erase it from his memory, but I digress... Personally, I have so many other positive memories about recess to cherish, like trading Swatches, Smurfs and stickers, running laps or running to find my little sister and tell her the daily gossip.

I hear the Catch 22: Recess is the time when kids get into the most trouble, but it is also the time for children to socialize, make friends and learn how to actually get along so they can avoid trouble.

A friend without school-age kids was surprised by my recess tirade: "Whether 15 minutes to an hour, it gave us (students) an opportunity to release our energy and then re-energize. It enabled us to concentrate better in our next classes. This was also the time for socialization, helping to create those beginning bonds of friendship which is important for any kid."

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It seems it is not only the far right that seizes the opportunity of every calamity that befalls us and every terrorist attack to unleash their exclusionary and hateful rhetoric towards Islam and Muslims. Self-proclaimed enlightened liberals do too.

When it comes to Islam and Muslims in general, and Muslim women in particular, ideological and political differences seem to vanish. Apart from the pompous jargon of reason and enlightenment, one would be hard put to find much that distinguishes the discourse of the new atheists like Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, or the late Christopher Hitchens from that of Marine Le Pen of the Front National, and other far right figures.

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Nothing seems to irritate these more than Muslim women's headscarves, baggy trousers and long skirts. We are the dense incarnation of the Muslim world, with all its complexities and contradictions, and of Islam with its different forms and expressions. In their eyes, we are the embodiment of the Muslim other shrouded in mystique and strangeness, disdain and pity, the emblem of subordination, backwardness, ignorance, of herd mentality and the absence of free will and autonomy. To them, the simple piece of cloth on my head symbolises all that is wrong with Islam and the Muslim world. We Muslim women are thus guilty of every lunacy committed in the name of our faith, of crimes we did not perpetrate and sins we did not commit.

It was hardly surprising to see Richard Dawkins, the zealous missionary of new atheism, seize on the tragedy of the Paris attacks to call on Muslim women to remove their veils in solidarity with the victims. Turning into a mufti, the evangelical missionary of new atheism declared the wearing of the veil "not compulsory in Islam" and challenged Muslim women to remove it, asking: "How about taking it off now as gesture of Islamic solidarity with Paris?"

Through wilful confusion and intentional generalization, contradicting every principle of the scientific method he purports to champion, Dawkins established imaginary links between wholly divergent subjects, between terrorist attacks in Paris and Muslim women's dress choices. So, according to this sick reasoning, I, along with millions of Muslim women around the world, simply because of our dress choices, find ourselves in the position of defendants accused of crimes we never committed and required to strive to prove our innocence.

This arrogant discourse rests on two pillars: 1. a stigmatizing exclusionist tendency, which recycles rightwing rhetoric with its racism and disdain for the other; and 2. a form of patronizing missionary paternalism. It isn't enough for the militant new atheists to diagnose Muslim women's conditions, they purport to have the solution to their ordeals and key out of the prison where they seem to languish. For they are no more than minors, devoid of free will, whose bodies and minds the new warriors of enlightenment bear the noble burden of liberating from the chains and shackles that bind them.

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This narrative of dominance is reminiscent of colonial attitudes towards aboriginal societies, whose conditions they begin by analysing "scientifically" and "objectively," then dismiss them as backward, submissive and stagnant, in preparation for the intrusion into their affairs, with the sole objective of freeing, rationalising and saving them from the dark cage of veiling, superstition and delusion -- the favorite words of Dawkins and fellow militant atheists.

The new atheists are in reality heirs to the worst tendencies within modern western discourse, with the essentialism that shaped classical Orientalism's negative, derogatory and arrogant perception of others, dismissed as inferior; and its positivism permeated with self-certainty, dogmatism and missionary zeal.

And although postcolonial studies and critical theories have cast doubt over these grand notions and cut them down to size, Dawkins, the evolutionist, has ironically remained stuck in the nineteenth century, stubbornly resisting evolution. When we dig beneath his rhetoric of reason, rationality, science and objectivity and combat against religion and illusions, what we find is little more than an inflated arrogant euro-centric ego.

It may come as a surprise to Dawkins, Harris and other militant atheists, but the truth is that there is no valour in atheism per se, just as there is no special honor in theism in itself. They are both personal beliefs to do with individual choices and are no ground for sanctimonious self-congratulatory propaganda, as the new prophets of atheism seem to think. Just as there are fanatical forms of religion, there are arrogant, intolerant and interventionist forms of atheism. Theirs is a case in point.

Neither, indeed, is there any heroism in stigmatising women and lecturing them on which parts of their bodies to bare and which to cover. I am a Muslim woman who freely chooses to wear the hijab. Whether I elect to cover my hair, dye it blue or purple or shave it off altogether is none of the concerns of Dawkins, his fellow missionaries of enlightenment, or anybody else. The hair is mine and I'll bloody well do what I like with it!

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Photo by Shantanu Starick for Project Bly

The world's major craft markets, heady mixes of hawkers and shoppers and objects galore, can feel almost alive: energetic, pulsating, the heart of their city. There's perhaps no better way to get to know a place than by logging time in its markets, swapping stories with the vendors, and running your hands over items filled with heritage and history.

And few people know markets as intimately as India-born, San Francisco-based Rena Thiagarajan. Three years ago, the former corporate lawyer founded Project Bly, an immersive online shop that lets you explore and buy from the streets of cities around the world.

"The idea for Bly came from my passion for travel as well as my love for vintage and handcrafted products," says Thiagarajan, whose mother, coincidentally, is the director of a craft museum. "I usually bypass museums and monuments to explore cities on foot. I love everything from roadside food stalls to street artists, but I especially love city markets."

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Below she shares her six favorite craft markets, from Bolivia to Uzbekistan, along with the incredible finds you can unearth in each.

From the team at Spot, the best places in your city and around the world, according to the friends and experts you trust.

Photo by Szymon Kochanski for Project Bly

La Paz, Bolivia

Why here: "Like most of La Paz's streets, Calle Sagarnaga is a steep, scenic climb. You can start at the Iglesia de San Francisco and shop vendor after vendor along the street before heading north to the Mercado de las Brujas, the Witches Market, where they sell potions, dried frogs, even llama fetuses."

What to buy: "Vintage mantas and frazadas, which are colorful traditional textiles, along with vintage silver."

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MORE FROM SPOT: 5 Insane Overwater Bungalows You Can Actually Afford

Photo by Nyani Quarmyne for Project Bly

Kumasi, Ghana

Why here: "Dating back to the 1500s, sprawling Kejetia market is one of the oldest covered markets in West Africa. And while it can be intimidating for even the most seasoned traveler, it's so worth exploring. There are sections for everything from dried fish to baskets, but my favorite holds narrow aisles of textiles. The market is open seven days a week, and so huge that to find the textiles, you'll just have to wander, asking directions along the way."

What to buy: "There's an amazing variety of wax-printed batik and kente cloth. There's also an entire aisle of tailors that will sew your pretty patterns into stylish outfits."

Photo by Shriti Banerjee for Project Bly

Mumbai, India

Why here: "There's no place like Chor Bazaar in South Mumbai. Dubbed the 'Thieves Market' it allegedly used to be the place to go for second-hand products of dubious origin. Now it's a vintage market with hundreds of vendors. The main street of Chor Bazaar is Mutton Street, and while the market is open every day, it's much quieter on Fridays since many vendors are Muslim and don't work on Fridays."

What to buy: "Favorite finds include vintage Bollywood posters and all kinds of vintage brass."

Photo by Shantanu Starick for Project Bly

Marrakech, Morocco

Why here: "The souks of Marrakech are roughly divided by what they sell, so even though it's one big labyrinth of streets, it's organized by product. My first stop is always the Souk de Tapis for rugs. It opens onto a smaller covered square where early-morning carpet auctions take place. Take your time here as there's a lot to choose from. My advice is to spend some time with the vendor--there are at least 30--have a cup of tea, develop a relationship, learn about the rugs and their origins and history, and then purchase."

What to buy: "The best rugs from several Atlas Mountain tribes including the Azilal, Beni Ourain, Tifelt, and Zimouri."

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Photo by Marcela Taboada for Project Bly

Tlacolula, Mexico

Why here: "It's hard to pick just one market in Oaxaca, a city and state known for its craft, but one of my favorites is the Tlacolula Sunday market. Tlacolula de Matamoros is a town located about 18 miles from the city of Oaxaca, and the once-a-week Sunday market draws vendors and craftspeople from surrounding villages including Teotitlan del Valle, famous for its handmade rugs. The market winds its way around the Capilla del Senor de Tlacolula, a 16th-century Dominican church."

What to buy: "You'll find a wonderful mix of handwoven rugs, blankets, place settings, and everyday items from foodstuffs like vegetables and chicharrons to baskets."

Photo by Theodore Kaye for Project Bly

Bukhara, Uzbekistan

Why here: "I love cities that have long histories of trade. Bukhara was a stop on the legendary Silk Road, where traveling caravans would bring their tea, indigo, spices, and silk from China on their way to Europe and North Africa. Today, vendors still set up shop within the city's 'trading domes,' which were built in the 16th century to cover the main cross roads and used to house money exchanges for the caravans passing through. Vendors are there selling everyday."

What to buy: "Vintage textiles and carpets, jewelry, and miniature paintings like these by 24-year-old Ulmasa who started painting when he was 10."

Discover more at Spot.com and follow our adventures:



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Casey Sherman is an author, screenwriter, and journalist, whose work includes the books, A Rose for Mary, Black Irish, Black Dragon, Bad Blood, The Finest Hours, Animal, The Way Back Esquire, and Boston Strong. His book, The Finest Hours, which he wrote with Michael Tougias will be released this month as a major motion pictures staring Chris Pine, Casey Affleck, and Eric Bana. Sherman is a Massachusetts native who has made a career in archaeology, kind of. In fact, when it comes to digging up and exposing new light on deeply buried stories of truth, justice, and super heroes, he's the best. What does it take to find those stories? How does one man uncover the stories that have unknowingly escaped history? Here's what I learned when I had the rare opportunity to recover a great story of my own....here is Casey Sherman, exposed.

The Finest Hours - For Sherman, some of the finest hours of his life have involved closely listening to the amazing real life stories lived out by others, and then using his talent to recount their stories to the world. This is how his book, now translated into a Disney feature film, The Finest Hours, came to life. The Finest Hours is the true story of a dramatic Coast Guard operation to rescue two ships off the coast of Cape Cod during a 1952 nor'easter. The two ships were broken in half by the severe storm that beat the boats and the crew members to submission. The Coast Guard sent out a tiny motorized 36 foot long life boat manned by four men, into the storm to conduct a rescue mission. Casey explained that the story almost never came to light because when he first contacted Bernie Webber, the only member of that Coast Guard rescue team still alive, Bernie said he didn't want to talk about it, because there was no story to tell. Casey didn't push the issue, but enjoyed talking to Bernie, so he kept calling him, and agreed that they didn't have to talk about the 1952 Coast Guard rescue and instead they could talk about life, sports, and the weather.

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Webber explained to Casey that he was born to a religious family; his dad was a Baptist minister. Growing up, there was an expectation that Bernie would follow in his dad's footsteps and become a religious orator. However, Bernie said that as much as he didn't want to disappoint his father, he knew he couldn't get up in front of a room of people and be a preacher. Six months went by where Casey and Bernie Webber had all kinds of conversations, and then one day the story of the of the 1952 Coast Guard mission poured out of him. Bernie explained to Casey what it was like being out in the storm in a tiny 36 foot boat, with 20 foot waves knocking the crew members off their feet. He recalled the waves being so bad that the compass was ripped out of the boat, and the tiny windows shattered, embedding shards of glass into his face. He remembered rescuing the crew from one of the broken ships and having to make a decision to abort the mission having saved half the men or finishing the mission, risking death to all. Bernie explained to Casey that it was during these harrowing moments when he realized that he could never do what his dad did for a living, but he was born to do this, to rescue every single one of the men he had come out to rescue, against all odds.

Bernie Webber's finest hours were during that rescue mission. Casey Sherman's finest hours are perhaps spent listening intently for the deeply moving stories of others and then sharing them with the world. Casey says that every life has good hours, bad ones, and then the finest hours. He says that our finest hours come about because something causes us to persevere in situations where most would give up, just as his book and movie, The Finest Hours, came about.

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The Accidental Writer - Casey considers himself lucky that he has spent his career doing what he loves, recounting the amazing stories of others. He admits that when he was growing up he never thought he'd be an author. In fact, it all came about accidentally. Since he can remember, he's always been an avid reader, consuming all kind of genres. He went to school for journalism, but says the one thing they don't teach you, even when pursuing a journalism career, is how to write. He says that the only way to learn how to write well, is to read voraciously. He explained that his love for reading also taught him the art of story-telling, and there was no story quite as interesting as the one he was born into.

Nineteen-year-old Mary Sullivan was the last, and youngest, victim in the sensational Boston Strangler case that frightened the city of Boston, if not the entire nation. Fourteen months after Mary's brutal killing on January 4, 1964, handyman Albert DeSalvo, in jail on an unrelated sexual assault charge, confessed to the murders of thirteen women; admitting he was the Boston Strangler. Mary Sullivan was Casey Sherman's aunt, the older sister of his mother. Sherman was still in college, contemplating his life career, when he started digging into the story that had clouded his family his entire life; the story of Mary Sullivan, and whether Albert DeSalvo was really the Boston Strangler. Sherman spent more than a decade digging, investigating, and pulling apart the case, finding answers for the victims, righting history, and eventually writing his first book, A Rose for Mary: The Hunt for the Real Boston Strangler. Casey says that when it comes to living your passion, observe your life closely, and figure out what you fell into accidentally, and what you would do even if you weren't paid for it. For Sherman his passion is telling stories; real life, heart-wrenching, inspiring, moving, stories, that Sherman breathes new life into through his writing.

Hustle - Casey Sherman has achieved monumental success in his career as a writer and story-teller as evidenced by his track record of best-selling books, the Disney adaptation of The Finest Hours, and his latest book, Boston Strong, now being produced into a movie starring Mark Wahlberg. So I wondered, does financial success automatically follow talent? Casey says that success is the sum of talent plus hustle. He says that if you want to turn your passion into a career, you must become your own greatest champion of your work and you must be willing to cold call, network, hustle, and constantly get in front of people to sell your mission. Sherman says that in today's world, success is a minimum standard. You have to be great at what you do if you want to get noticed. But being great won't automatically guarantee a paycheck. No, Sherman says that you must be your own best salesman, out pitching your work to people who can get your work into the hands of an even bigger audience.

Sherman's book, The Finest Hours, was published in 2009. Of all his books, he felt absolutely confident that this one was the one best suited for the big screen. He knew that it would one day be turned into a movie, and all along, he had a vision that it would become a Disney Movie. He didn't know how it would come about, but he knew he had to be ready. So, for years, Sherman would carry two copies of The Finest Hours wherever he went. One day, he was called to a meeting by an agent who was interested in hearing a pitch on how he could turn his book, The Animal, a book about notorious mob hitman Joe "The Animal" Barboza, into a movie. As he talked to the agent, he felt he was losing her interest. The meeting ended and the agent left. Casey sat for a moment and wished he had told her about The Finest Hours, because that was the movie she was looking for. Without a second to spare, Casey ran after the agent and caught her, and he began pitching The Finest Hours. He gave her a copy of the book. Months later the woman called him from an Oscar party she was attending with some Disney executives. Casey answered the phone and the agent said, "I admit, I haven't read The Finest Hours yet, but quickly tell me the story, I have people who may be interested." Not long after that, a deal was signed with Disney. Talent got him the appointment with the agent, hustle closed the deal with Disney.
The other day I was reading emails on my phone while waiting for an elevator that would take me to the first floor to exit the building. I pushed the button and waited alone in a three-story office building comprised of various professions: doctors offices, law practices, a podiatrist and a zit popper.

Now, I'm not afraid to make eye contact or say hello to anyone exiting the elevator before boarding. I'm from the Midwest and we are known as a friendly people. So as soon as the doors opened, I checked the cabin to see if all was clear. There was a woman with kind eyes getting off on my floor, but before I could exchange pleasantries, I saw something flash out of the elevator to my right.

I assumed it was a small dog off his leash, and in that split second, I was fine with it. But when I noticed that the woman on the elevator was not sight impaired, I wondered why she had brought her dog to the doctor's office. There is not a veterinarian in the building. So instead of reciprocating her warm greeting, I spun around to check out the dog, as I leapt into the elevator. I'm sure my lackluster twirl and sashay was shocking to her, and since I ignored her salutation, she must have thought I was rude or odd. But in one fell swoop, I learned I wasn't the odd woman out.

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Little "Toto" wasn't a Toto at all. Nor was there a leash on her pet.

Probably because most cats won't sit still and you can squash their windpipe with a collar. Yes, this gal was either going to a therapist, to get calluses buffed off her feet or to a reading of a will accompanied by her feline friend.

I'm not judging here, but things don't just fly like that. OK, maybe I was judging, but it made me think why elevators are such odd modes of transportation.

Why is it when most people get in the general proximity of elevators, they behave like middle-schoolers? A veritable wallflower syndrome is bestowed upon the riders without fail. People don't have to get in the elevator for them to start acting uncomfortable, and a mandated quietness and degree of professionalism is required, as if you are presenting a $30 million contract to the board. Oftentimes, I feel too casual and under-prepared.

There's also an unspoken etiquette for how people are to board an elevator. If there's more than one person waiting, the one who got to the loading area first has the right-of-way. Unless of course, you're standing with a chivalrous person who holds the door, and insists the ladies-in-waiting traipse across his jacket over the threshold, and don't you dare push that button! That would be rude, with a trilled "r."

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Why is it when the public gets in an elevator everyone turns and watches the closing door, with hands clasped or arms pressed firmly to their sides? It's because we magically turn 13 again. Heaven forbid your elbow should brush into someone. It would be so embarrassing if your arm touched a cute boy!

I'm fairly sure there isn't a manual explaining societal elevator policies. But if there were, a required directive prior to entering, during the ride, and evacuation plan would be indexed. But where would such a thick document be posted?

Perhaps if there was a television screen on the elevator wall, actors dressed like old-time lift operators could explain proper etiquette.

Hello. Floor please? Now that I have your attention, let's go over the mandated regulations...

It could be similar to some airlines where the flight attendants are no longer presenting safety instructions. Some airlines have videos that are shown as the plane taxis to the runway. Since the world is hypnotized by electronics, the best way to grab people's attention is by giving them a free movie. Add a little humor to this instructional video and you would have a captive audience.

This would fix the wallflower problem, too. Imagine how you would only have to focus on the screen and could ignore the people around you without that tense feeling.

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... Let's go over the mandated regulations. First, please keep your hands and other body parts to yourself at all times. Remember this is a no-smoking ride, and cats are strictly prohibited.
Dianna Hutts Aston is best known for her acclaimed, award-winning, nonfiction nature books, illustrated by Sylvia Long and published by Chronicle Books. But Dianna's latest work is a disarming, narrative account of her mid-life adventures across America to rediscover the country that called her home from Mexico. Dianna describes SOS: Messages of Love, Hope and Peace, as a goodwill project:

SOS was born in the autumn of 2013 along a journey of thousands of miles, from the heart of Mexico to the heart of Texas, and eventually, beyond. It is initially a story of becoming reacquainted with the people of my homeland. But interestingly, and somewhat surprisingly, it's also a portrait of the country I recall as a child--so much of which actually remains unchanged. The hopes of a convenience store clerk selling candy bars in Oklahoma, the despair of a Vet holding a cardboard sign in Texas, and the prayers of homemakers, filmmakers, children, artists, bartenders, innkeepers, peace officers, pharmacists, fishermen, soldiers, writers, photographers, beef jerky makers, musicians, chefs, homeless people, rich people, poor people, healthy people, dying people--the hundreds of people I met along an unexpected journey. This project affirmed that we remain a country knitted together by a shared dream of peace, health and kinship. We must remember this.



Gary's Jerky Truck, Courtesy Ann Wendle Aston

For this interview, I sat down with Dianna to discuss SOS, which is available to agents and publishers on Inkubate.com. We're at The Gaff, a pirate bar--the local Cheers bar in Port Aransas, Texas where everybody knows your name. Port Aransas is the one and only town occupying Dianna's beloved Mustang Island, Corpus Christi's barrier island, located along the northern Gulf Coast. Dianna's computer is propped on the long bar, carved with the initials of people who have visited over the years. The view from our swiveling barstools includes a kaleidoscope of bottles and neon signs, taps, bartenders and local tellers of tall-tales. It's here where she sits with sandy bare feet and straw hat, drinking red wine, listening to the jukebox and writing.

Stacy: What is about The Gaff that makes this the perfect place to write?

Dianna: I think that most writers work in quiet environments. I can't do that anymore. The quiet is distracting. Somehow, the commotion at The Gaff makes me focus on my work, whether I'm writing for children, booking author visits or researching my next book. It's also where I see my dearest friends like Donald Hatch, who took many of the photographs for SOS. He's an amazing visual talent. Here's a picture of him photographing me with one of the families who became part what I call the SOS Project.



Donald Hatch Photographs Dianna and Friends at The Gaff on Mustang Island, TX

Stacy: After living in Mexico, you returned to the states and made Port Aransas your home. Why here?

Dianna: When my children were young, we would spend a week here each summer. Some of the happiest days of my life were with my kids, beachcombing, building sandcastles and fishing from the pier. When the vacation was over, I always felt sad to go back home to landlocked Central Texas. Living in suburbia drained my soul, so when I moved back to the States from Mexico in the fall of 2013 and wasn't sure where to go, I had a lightbulb moment: How about living on the island of your heart? So I went back to Mexico, gave away most of my stuff, packed up and headed to my new home, where I can hear the waves and watch the breeze ruffling palm fronds from my deck. It was on the journey to Texas that the SOS Project was born. I feel like I didn't think it up. It just came to me in an epiphany.

Stacy: Explain a bit about your SOS Project and how it became the inspiration for SOS the book.

Dianna: During the drive home to the U.S., I didn't have a map or Smartphone along the thousands of miles I traveled, so I asked a lot of people for directions. I stopped at drive-thru banks, isolated houses, VFWs, convenience stores, cafes and said, "Where am I?" and just as often, "Donde estoy?" I met a hundred or more people, and for whatever reason, they opened up to me as if I were a therapist. Without asking for anything but directions, they told me about their feelings of despair, hopelessness, powerlessness and anger. And why, I don't know. SOS came to me suddenly. Save Our Souls. How about collecting people's hopes, wishes, prayers and dreams instead? I bought a little notebook and just started asking whomever I met if they'd like to write a message for a bottle that we would cast into the sea.

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A Few of the Hundreds of Messages Dianna Collected

Stacy: What came next?

Dianna: After collecting a hundred messages or more, my friends and I painted wine jugs with peace signs, butterflies, flowers, ducks and rainbows--any happy, hopeful symbol--with nail polish and model car paint. On January 11, 2014, we chartered a boat called Los Ninos and, led by a pod of dolphins, we sailed three hours into the Gulf. On the boat, we managed to stuff all the messages into one jug, along with LED lights. A marine scientist had told us to add rice to absorb moisture and to seal it with electrical tape. We wrapped rainbow duct tape over the electrical tape. Finally, the moment arrived. We laughed and shed tears as we popped open a bottle of champagne and threw the first Save Our Souls bottle into the ocean.



Dianna and Balloon Pilot Jim Johnson Cast First SOS Bottle into Gulf of Mexico

That first SOS bottle was discovered just seven days later on a small, deserted beach located along the Texas-Mexico border. Johnny, a man from Oklahoma, found it in seaweed on the beach. He didn't open it and so didn't know to contact me. But there was one business card in the bottle, just one, and it was the card of our Los Ninos captain, facing outward. That's how Johnny found me--by emailing the captain, who then called me. He told me he hadn't taken out any of the messages. When I asked why, he said, "I don't know. I just felt it was much bigger than me." Johnny, who was going through a difficult time in his life, also told me that he was in South Padre that January 18, because he'd just climbed in his Jeep and headed south. He'd thought he would go to Big Bend, but instead he ended up on the shore of South Texas with a bottle in his hands. Since then, we have become friends. He still has the message-filled bottle. One day, we'll decide what to do with it. Add his own message and cast it out again? Who knows.



The First SOS Bottle Discovered Near South Padre Island

The joy of meeting people and collecting dreams with the first bottle was so fun, so meaningful, that my friends and I were inspired to paint more SOS jugs--at The Gaff, of course--and to continue collecting messages. The weirdness and uniqueness of what we then began to call "The Bottle Project" brought together islanders and tourists. News anchor Priscilla Torres of KRIS TV, the NBC affiliate in Corpus Christi, came to the island to interview us. That report attracted more SOS supporters. It was at that time, I think, that I began to organize The Bottle Project as a book.

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Dianna and Leland Sledge Painting SOS Bottles at The Gaff, Courtesy Donald Hatch

In the end, we'd painted nine bottles, all stuffed with messages intended to inspire whomever discovered them. Bottle #2 was cast into the Gulf by a deep-sea fishing tournament team called The Mechanical Men. I said thank you and told them the bottle was a good luck charm. It was. 120 miles offshore where they'd cast the bottle, they caught the champion marlin, kissed it and released it.

Stacy: So, when did The Bottle Project become a national affair?

Dianna: In July 2014, my sister-in-law, Ann aka Dixie, and I drove to Georgia, for a conference, where I was teaching adults how to write non-fiction for children. We collected a hundred more SOS messages along the journey of mostly back roads--we wanted to meet Americans in small towns and find out what their hopes and dreams were. My favorite family in a teeny, tiny backwoods town gave us a bag of blackberries they'd just picked--gave it to us with purple-stained hands. I think of them often. Their delight in giving two strangers a gift.



The Writing of Messages in Small Towns Across America, Courtesy Ann Wendle Aston

Part Two of this interview with Dianna will be live next week. In the meantime, you can learn more about The Bottle Project by visiting the Facebook page dedicated to her journey: SOS Messages in a Bottle



To learn more about Dianna's career as a bestselling author, visit her website: diannahaston.com



To learn more about award-winning photographer Donald Hatch, visit his website:

donaldhatch.com


Linda Lavin in Our Mother's Brief Affair. Photo: Joan Marcus

A character steps out of character, just before the first act curtain of Our Mother's Brief Affair--the new Richard Greenberg comedy from the Manhattan Theatre Club--and says "for those of you who are thinking, oy vey, again with the Rosenbergs!, our apologies."

Apologies are in order, yes. Here we have another geriatric comedy--of the genre popularly known as "the Linda Lavin play"--pleasantly steaming along, courtesy of heavy lifting by Linda Lavin herself. Suddenly, a big mystery emerges; without said big mystery, there'd be little upon which to build the second act. To wit: the fellow playing the man with whom the mother of the title is having the affair, says "I'm David Greenglass."

From a portion of some audiences, I suppose, this might get a random gasp; thirty years ago, it might have been especially effective. Today, not so much; Linda Lavin's response--or, rather, the response of the main character in the new Linda Lavin play--is to ask whether he's David Greenglass from P.S. 12, "the nosepicker."

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But no; the audience doesn't know who Greenglass is (was), and Linda Lavin doesn't know who Greenglass is (was), and so playwright Greenberg interrupts his first act climax by having his other characters give us a little history lesson--not as part of the action, but as narration. All about the executed spy Ethel Rosenberg (think Meryl Streep, we're told), and her kid brother Greenglass, who blithely sent her to the electric chair in order to save his own skin. "Oy vey," says Linda Lavin's son, "again with the Rosenbergs."



Linda Lavin and John Procaccino in Our Mother's Brief Affair. Photo: Joan Marcus

Not much of a hook upon which to hang a play, I'm afraid. We saw recently, with the Signature Theatre revival of Arthur Miller's Incident at Vichy, that hazily-remembered history can be brought to vibrant dramatic life. But that's not what happens here. If Greenberg had written this play with a fictional equivalent of Greenglass, the results might not have been finer; the insertion of all this non-compelling Rosenberg talk, though, seems to detract.

Linda Lavin is her usual self, which is to say she is up there crustily firing off quips as if they were Roman candles. The actress has reached the point where she can make just about anything sound funny, even when she doesn't have the power to make the lines sound convincing. By now, we can reliably depend on her; go see Linda Lavin in a Linda Lavin role, and you can be certain that she will entertain you. My observation, though, is that the actress is at her best when they put her in a non-Linda Lavin role, as in Neil Simon's Broadway Bound or Jon Robin Baitz's Other Desert Cities. But Lavin doesn't write the plays, she can only accept acting jobs that are offered to her.

(Let it be added that Greenberg's play was originally produced in 2009 at the South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, with Jenny O'Hara in the central role. Which doesn't mean that Our Mother's Brief Affair is not a "Linda Lavin play"; it only means that she didn't play the role in Costa Mesa.) Lavin is supported by Greg Keller as the son, Kate Arrington as the daughter, and John Procaccino as the charming-but-damaged Greenglass, all under the direction of Manhattan Theatre Club Artistic Director Lynne Meadow. Everybody gets by, more or less.

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One of my favorite books is The Great Work of Your Life by Stephen Cope. Cope opens with a bold quote from the Book of Thomas: If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.

The quote resonates deeply for me is because I know this to be true from my own experiences.

In my sophomore year at university, I encountered Buddhism for the first time and felt a pull in that direction. Despite the hunch, I did not pursue it because there was no clear career path in my mind.

Being in a business school, I had convinced myself that the way to success and an extraordinary life was through a career in financial services. By 22, I had an MBA and was on my third corporate job with a strong resume, complete with extracurricular activities and leadership roles. I did all the things I was supposed to do.



While on the outside it was a success story, on the inside I was lost and felt a disconnect with life.

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It took years of dull pain, and eventually suffering, stemming from resistance, to realize that happiness need not be fleeting. I now believe that it's our natural state -- that state we're in when we bring forth our gifts. After all, the only thing we have control over is what we give, right?

It's when we choose to deny the calling or demand certainty that we suffer. The reason we do that is because of fear. As Robert Brault has said in quoting the Hindu scripture The Bhagavad Gita, "We are kept from our goal, not by obstacles, but by a clear path to a lesser goal."

By letting the path unfold one step at a time and giving without being attached to how it has to look, we experience joy in the moment. The point of fulfillment is not to be extraordinary but to be yourself. This is how my friend Deb has approached life.

In her 20s, Deb decided to put off her studies to raise a family. She said it was an easy choice because she just knew that's what she had to do. Once her kids were off to college, she felt it was time to complete her undergraduate studies.

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She then had an urge to apply to graduate school in New York City in order to pursue a career in higher education. She was accepted and soon learned of an opening in the career services office. It was exactly what she wanted to do. She ended up getting the job and now loves serving students.

Deb's life is not at all a walk in the park, having had to deal with the loss of a child. However, no matter what comes her way, she seems to trust life, live in the present, and rely on her inner guidance.

While there are people, like Deb, who are able to follow their intuition easily, there are others, like me, for whom fear gets in the way. Here are four questions which have helped me to be more open to life and bring forth what is within me:

1. Who am I when no one is watching?

Are you a different person when others are watching versus when no one's watching? If you are, it helps to investigate why you don't feel safe to be yourself. It's only when you acknowledge your fears that you can objectively question their validity and address them.

Michelangelo said, "Every block of stone has a statue inside it, and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it." Bringing forth your gifts does not require adding on anything extra. It's already within you. All it requires is removing what's in the way.

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2. What would I do if failure was not an option?

From my experiences, I've realized that the times I've been most afraid of failure were the times when I wasn't doing what felt right. When you do things for validation and approval, failure can be devastating. Focusing on how you appear to others rather than on how you can best serve creates a breeding ground for fear. Why? Because, you're essentially basing your worth on the reactions of others, something you have zero control over.

When I'm following my heart, my joy comes from giving, not getting. No matter the outcome, I cannot fail. As one of my teachers recently said to me, "If you take an excellent bottle of wine to a party, it's likely that there will be people at the party who don't drink nor appreciate wine. However, you will not feel bad about that because you know you've given the best that you could."

3. What's the risk in not taking a risk?

In evaluating where to go next, we tend to give greater weight to what we need to give up and less weight to what our current reality is costing us. We're wired to avoid pain. In doing so, we also miss out on fulfillment.

The greatest risk in not taking a risk is living a life that's not true to who you are. By only focusing what you have to lose and not considering what you have to give, you're committing to a life of false safety instead of one of self-expression. This leads to a feeling of disconnection with yourself.



4. What's my vision for my life?

It's important to know the direction you're going in order for you to get there. A vision provides you with the clarity you need to determine if you're moving towards where you want to go. Otherwise, circumstances will dictate your life, and you will get caught up in other people's agendas.

In working on your vision, connect with the highest version of yourself. What top three qualities define you at your best? What impact do you want to have? What action can you take now to move towards that?

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Using questions like the four above, I now see life through a new lens and have learned to trust my hunches more. It's been four years since I transitioned out of my career in financial services with no clear path before me except for a deep knowing that I wanted to help others uncover and bring forth their gifts. Though it hasn't always been easy, it's becomes simple once I let go of the need for certainty and take the next step I know is right for me.

What I've learned from my journey is that happiness does not come from the quest to be extraordinary, a subjective outcome I have no control over. It comes from being myself and giving what I have to offer.

What a relief it is to know that I'm in charge of my happiness.
woman backpacker enjoy the view at mountain peak cliff

The aromas of cooking meat, fresh cut fruits, deep-fried sweets and the cacophony of music and voices surrounded me as my 18-year-old daughter, Alexandra, pulled me along by the hand as we made our way through the Sunday Market in Chiang Mai, Thailand, recently. Our clothes stuck to us in the 100% humidity as we moved with the crowd craning our necks to catch a bargain on the endless vendor tables lining the streets.



I was in Thailand meeting Alexandra for a week because for the first time since she was born she would not be home for the holidays. When the Acceptance package arrived last spring from the college Alexandra wanted to attend, tucked within the folder was a packet outlining the benefits of freshman deferring for a year after high school and before taking on the rigors of four years of college. Although not an option Alexandra -- and most definitely not myself -- had ever considered before, my daughter embraced the idea of a gap year wholeheartedly as soon as she read the information.

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I was not as enamored with the thought of veering off The Plan, which from the time she was in middle school was for Alexandra to work hard during her high school years to get herself into a good college and move on straight from there, no stopping along the way. When the idea of deferring for a year first was raised, I attributed my hesitation initially to the fear that perhaps Alexandra may not want to return to an academic setting after a year of freedom. Even the security of knowing she had a spot reserved for her in the following year's college class was not quite enough to convince me it was a good life choice. When I finally was honest with myself, however, it was quickly evident my lack of enthusiasm was because my daughter during that year wanted to backpack around the world. Alone. Her, female, 18, and at a time when the word "terrorism" was prevalent in just about every news headline. I had images of bombs going off in some market she would be in just like the one we were walking hand-in-hand through in Chiang Mai.

As Alexandra was growing up one of my goals as her parent was that she would have a respect for people of the world and all belief systems that extended beyond the small insulated East Coast town we lived in. Spending school vacations volunteering or housesitting in some remote corner of the world far away from home was a way to try to achieve that, and so I should not have been too surprised that when given the opportunity, taking a gap year to travel would be a natural choice for my daughter.

To go straight to college where she presumably would be cocooned within its ivy-covered walls was a direction I felt very strongly Alexandra had to head in, but ultimately it was her choice to make, her life. She is now five months and 12 countries into her year of traveling abroad and she could not possibly be happier.

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For me, watching the ever-increasing fear and violence on the news, though, I readily admit I have sleepless nights worrying about her safety. Alexandra is neither naive or unaware of the events that are going on in the world. She had passed through Paris before the horrific bombings in November, and she was exiting Turkey when there was an incident occurring there, and she is now in Indonesia with this weeks' terrorist bombings in Jakarta, all terrifying and hard to ignore.

I was only in Thailand with my daughter for one short nugget of time, but walking through that Sunday Market in Chiang Mai with her, in a country absolutely teeming with life and energy, I saw Alexandra is exactly where she is supposed to be. She is out meeting the good and kind and generous people of all ages that fill this world we live in from all faiths and backgrounds.



As an 18-year-old young American woman traveling solo, Alexandra is empowered by the decisions she is making every day for herself, and I listen in awe as she writes of the places she goes and the things she does. She finds herself by far the youngest of backpackers she encounters and befriends, and most definitely one of the few American female teenage travelers, but yet that, too, has become a source of strength for her. She has learned to embrace it all and is thriving on breaking outside her own comfort zone, learning who she is and who she wants to become.
The UK's Home Office seems unwilling to explain why passport holders from Caribbean countries with reportedly loose passport policies are permitted visa-free access to the UK.

For example, when former Nigerian oil minister Diezani Alison-Madueke was recently arrested in London on corruption-related charges, she was found to be in possession of a diplomatic passport from the Commonwealth of Dominica, a small independent country in the Caribbean. A quick search on Google reveals numerous similar examples involving several other countries in the region.

Concerns about security, illegal immigration and money laundering have led Canada to revoke visa-free access for a number of the countries involved. However, the UK continues to allow visa-free access to passport holders from many of these jurisdictions. I asked the Home Office why - and hit a wall of silence.

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Below the five questions I sought an answer to:

In 2010, the UK threatened to impose visa restrictions on Dominica. After a review period had elapsed, no visa restrictions were imposed. What changes did Dominica undertake during 2010 that led UK authorities to conclude that continued visa-free entry did not pose any security or other risks to the UK? Does any entity (governmental or otherwise) involved in processing and/or managing applications for Dominican citizenship and/or passports share information on the identity of people who have applied for and/or been granted Dominican citizenship and/or passports with any UK agency? What action, if any, is the UK government currently taking to screen and/or entrants into the UK who are travelling on passports from Caribbean states that run economic citizenship programmes? How many people travelling on passports from Caribbean states that were originally acquired through economic citizenship programmes were refused entry to the UK during 2015, and for what reasons? (please provide a breakdown by country issuing the passport) Is Ms Diezani Alison-Madueke still in possession of a valid Dominican diplomatic passport?

I first asked the Foreign Office, which informed me that:

"These questions are for the Home Office as they are referring to Visa's [sic] and citizenship... The Government response to this would need to come from the Home Office, regardless of where information was sent or received. It would be up to them to offer a UK government response, as they lead on this issue. We will not be able to offer a press response to this."

I then contacted the Home Office, where the Senior Press Officer (Immigration Desk) replied that:

"I suggest you contact the Foreign and Commonwealth Office with the below."

After I pointed out that it was the FCO that had sent me his way, the press officer promised a reply.

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Nine days and four reminders later, the Home Office still has not explained whether or how it screens Caribbean passport holders entering the UK.

So now I've filed a Freedom of Information request with the Foreign Office.

The request is public and once the FCO provides a response, hopefully by early February, their response will be public too.Keep tuned to this blog to keep track of the story...
Iraq and Afghanistan are separated by more than 1,000 miles and, although they both exist in what is now known as the Greater Middle East, they had little in common -- at least until March 2003, when the Bush administration followed up its 2001 invasion of Afghanistan by invading Iraq. Since then, they've had quite a bit in common, including vast infusions of U.S. funds and the massive levels of corruption that accompany them, as well as the way refugees from both countries have been joining the same flow of the desperate and dispossessed heading for Europe. These days, with the spread of an Islamic State franchise to Afghanistan, even their insurgents are becoming part of the same "brand." And there's one other thing they've had in common in these years: ghosts.

In both countries, the U.S. military has built, on paper, vast local security forces from scratch to the tune of at least $65 billion in Afghanistan and at least $25 billion in Iraq. Their armies and police forces have, however, both turned out to be remarkably spectral in nature. They are filled with "ghost soldiers" and "ghost policemen" who are being paid salaries but don't exist. In some cases, they are quite literally already dead and wandering in the world of spirits. Their U.S.-funded salaries are, in turn, being pocketed by commanders and other senior military officials in an operation that couldn't be more profitable or "successful" -- at least until their ranks, sometimes thinned to nonexistence, are attacked by flesh-and-blood enemy forces. In Iraq, in 2014, after significant parts of that country's American-built army had abandoned its weaponry and fled its posts in the country's northern cities in the face of modest numbers of Islamic State fighters, the prime minister announced that there were at least 50,000 "ghost" troops in his military. (That figure was widely believed to be an underestimate.)

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I have just entered my seventh and final semester at Brandeis University. Brandeis is a university with a large population of Jewish students, and therefore there are many options available each Shabbat (Sabbath) on any given week. There are various dinners, tefillah (prayer) options, and different communities one can choose to associate with. And though I have not experienced all of them, I am sure they all are beautiful at one point or another. Personally, I am never quite sure what I am looking for. Each week seems to require a new moment for me to think about what I want to get out of Shabbat. There is little internal consistency, perhaps due to general external uniformity, which frustrates me because it seems that by now, I should know what I want my Shabbat experience at Brandeis to be. Last week however I had no introspective squabblings about how I wanted to spend Shabbat.

Chabad at Brandeis, led by Rabbi Peretz and Chanie Chein, welcomed the spirited band Zusha into their home for the second year in a row, and the musically-talented, soul-inspired, hipped-out band drove up in their Zushvan, beating the sunset. The highly anticipated return of Zusha to Chabad at Brandeis came just days after the release of their new album Kavana, which currently sits at number two on Billboard's World Music chart, only adding to the excitement of the already hyped crowd of Zusha enthusiasts. On the RSVP form for the event, students indicated their familiarity with neegoonim, the wordless melodies that Zusha create, and reported what they wished to take away from the Zusha experience. While some people reported that they wished to take away new melodies from the weekend, others simply wished to experience Shabbat in a new and a different way, and others sought to be soulfully energized, hoping to come away from the special Zusha Shabbat with fresh energy for the upcoming semester. Being the first semester back from break, and the first Shabbat of my last semester here at Brandeis, I too wished for inspiration, and for a fulfilling, lasting energy. And Zusha did not disappoint.

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Zusha, who on their website describe themselves as being a "World Soul band", led by vocalist Shlomo Gaisin, guitarist Zachariah Goldschmiedt and percussionist Elisha Mlotek, rolled into Waltham, Massachusetts fresh off a sold-out show at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City. Despite the travel weariness that accompanies being a band on tour, Zusha met the crowds that showed up at the Chabad House with the utmost joy and energy. Kabbalat Shabbat, the Friday evening service that welcomes in the Sabbath, was scheduled to start at 5:00 and students began arriving and taking their seats.

The service, though structured in the orthodox style with separate seating for men and women, and men leading the service, attracted crowds of people from all different backgrounds. The space buzzed with excitement and anticipation, though most people including the event organizers did not know exactly what to expect. At around 5:40, about forty minutes past the scheduled start time, Shlomo, Elisha and Zechariah began singing, jumping, tapping and praying, leading the one hundred plus crowd in soulful, joyous and spirited prayer.

The evening service for Shabbat typically lasts anywhere from forty five minutes to an hour, but the pure energy in the space blasted away any sort of awareness or attention to time, and the singing, dancing and davening, or praying, that took place in the Chabad house seemed to just go and go and go.

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At some point in the night, the davening space evolved into the dining space, and Zusha took a breather during dinner, and Elisha even disappeared for a stretch of time (a quick snooze perhaps?) I had the honor and privilege of sitting and eating with Zusha at the Chein family table, and as the night progressed and dinner winded down, around twenty-five students drew up chairs around the table to listen to Gaisin speak, and to ask them questions. How did they meet? What drove them to become Zusha? Where do they get their inspiration to create such uplifting, soulful music? What is their goal? Do they have disagreements? These were some of the questions posed to the group, but it seems silly to just share all the answers here on blog post. If you have an interest in spirituality, soulfulness, singing and above all harmony, I urge you to check out Zusha yourself.
Even though the Clinton team has sought to convey that it has built a national operation, the campaign has invested much of its resources in the Feb. 1 caucuses in Iowa, hoping that a victory there could marginalize Mr. Sanders and set Mrs. Clinton on the path to the nomination. As much as 90 percent of the campaign's resources are now split between Iowa and the Brooklyn headquarters, according to an estimate provided by a person with direct knowledge of the spending. The campaign denied that figure.

The focus on Iowa, which still haunts Mrs. Clinton after the stinging upset by Barack Obama there in 2008, has been so intense that even organizers in New Hampshire, which holds its primary on Feb. 9, have complained to the campaign's leadership that they feel neglected.
It's easy to get caught up in the latest and greatest marketing techniques as more and more come our way, but it's always important to take a step back and make sure that you have a good foundation in place and none of your previous tactics are slipping.

In local marketing, businesses put a lot of effort at the start and then let it fall by the wayside as the year moves on.

2016 is the perfect time to refresh some of these "must-have" local techniques. Check out these Local Marketing Tactics for Boosting the Growth of Your Small Business:

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Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Local SEO means you're optimizing your website for the local web search so that your business shows up in a location-specific query. For example, "Laundromats near me" or "best coffee in New York City" would both be considered local searches.

As Google prioritizes local listings and puts them at the top of the search engine results page (SERP), it's an excellent way to gain visibility.

When it comes to local search, there is less competition because you're only dealing with your competitors in the area. So, it's easy to get the results you want and bring in the targeted audience.

Google's research on understanding consumer's local search behavior reveals a great information for small business owners.

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50 percent of mobile users and 34 percent of tablet or computer users visit a store within a day of their local search. It means local SEO has a great impact in increasing business sales.

Keep one important thing about local SEO in mind:

You don't have to be a company with one or two physical locations to get the benefit. Even if you're a national company, or you work only online, local SEO can still make an enormous difference in your business.

How do you get started with local SEO?

It's a big topic, but it mainly has to do with making sure you have local accounts on all of the major search engines (Bing, Yahoo!, and Google) and use of right local keywords for the target audience and area. You can learn more here to understand the importance of local SEO for small businesses.

Facebook Advertising

Social networks aren't always the first thing companies think while building local marketing strategies, but Facebook advertising is an exception.

It's an inexpensive way to advertise your business to the target audience. Like Google, Facebook also knows buying and click patterns of all their one billion plus users. They are experts in putting the ads in front of a relevant local audience.

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Ask for Reviews and Get Listed on Review Websites

Reviews are becoming the "must-have" in 2016 for all companies, particularly, who focus on local search marketing. According to a BrightLocal study, 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.

Get your products listed on all of the major reviews sites -- notably Yelp, TripAdvisor, OpenTable, Consumer Reports, Amazon and more -- and then make sure that you're managing those websites.

In other words, keep your information up to date and completed, and always be ready to tackle the negative reviews in a healthy way.

Although you aren't allowed to offer any gift for an excellent review, build more confidence by working hard on your product's improvement. It will lead to better reviews in future. As Google and consumers like to see companies with strong reviews, get ready for more sales.

By putting a "Review Us" link on your homepage, talking with your loyal customers, and urging your social community to get involved, you can help increase your numbers over and over again.



Work with Complementary Companies in Your Area

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It's tough to work with your competition when it comes to local marketing, but you can build your online empire with complementary companies. This sort of partnership can help you spread the word to the same audience.

For example, a content marketing agency in the area may want to team up with a web design company, a dog treat company may want to team up with a dog groomer, or even a lawyer may find it beneficial to partner with a personal finance accountant.

Recommendations go a long way. So, this is an excellent way to put yourself in that position and earn trust.

Attend, Speak, and Host Local Events

In other words, get involved in the community as much as possible. If you can sponsor a little league team in the area, it leads to a great exposure.

Join your local Chamber of Commerce and event committees to get involved and get your business out there. Contact with the journalist in your area. Advertise in the local papers, and even host your event to get people excited about a product launch or simply bring the community together.

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If you're the type of company that can create memorabilia for your business, hosting your local events or setting up a booth at other events is the perfect place to make this happen and, hopefully, see some free exposure in the future.

Are you applying some other local marketing ideas?
Hindustan Times via Getty Images BHOPAL, INDIA - JANUARY 20: Congress workers burning an effigy of union HRD Minister Smriti Irani while protesting over the death of Rohith Vemula, a doctorate student at the Hyderabad Central University who was found hanging in the campus hostel room, on January 20, 2016 in Bhopal, India. 26-year-old Vemula committed suicide on Sunday night. He was among the five research scholars who were suspended by the Hyderabad Central University in August last year over an alleged assault case. They were also kept out of the hostel. The five were allegedly suspended after BJP leader Bandaru Dattatreya wrote a letter to HRD Minister Smriti Irani, describing the university as a 'den of casteist, extremist and anti-national politics'. (Photo by Arijit Sen/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

NEW DELHI -- In the aftermath of Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani announcing that a Dalit professor was on the council which suspended Rohith Vemula, professors from the Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribe community at Hyderabad Central University have rubbished her remarks.

On Thursday, ANI reported that ten professors have resigned from their administrative positions.

In response to the honourable ministers fabricated statements, we the Dalit faculty and officers will lay down our administrative positions, one professor told The Indian Express.

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Vemula, 26, was founding hanging from his friend's room in the Hyderabad University campus on Sunday.

Students, who are demanding the resignation of Vice Chancellor Appa Rao Podile, believe that it was ostracization by the university and interference by Bharatiya Janata Party lawmaker Bandaru Dattatreya, which led to the tragic death of the young scholar.

Widespread protests have given way to an exploitative blame game, with politicians and their representatives making a beeline to meet protestors, condole with the student's mother, and conduct their own investigation into the tragedy.

In a press conference on Wednesday, Irani said that Vemula's death was not a "Dalit versus Non-Dalit" confrontation.

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But the University of Hyderabad SC/ST Teachers and Officers Forum has rubbished Iranis claim that a Dalit professor was on the Executive Council which suspended five Dalit students including Vemula, The Indian Express reported.

We express our solidarity with students who are protesting against the death of Rohith Vemula and demand the immediate revocation of suspension and removal of police cases filed against our students, the Forum said in a statement.

It was headed by an upper caste professor and there are no Dalit faculty in this sub committee. Incidentally, the dean of student welfare who happens to be a Dalit was notionally co-opted an an ex-officio member of the committee. It is unfortunate that since its inception, no Dalit representation has been given in this council, the Forum stated.

Such a baseless and misleading statement coming from the honourable minister of HRD amounts to bringing down the morale of Dalits holding administrative positions in this and other universities. By deflecting this issue, the honourable HRD minister is absolving herself and the honourable minister Bandaru Dattatreya from being responsible for the death of Rohith Vemula." - SC/ST Teachers and Officers Forum

Vemula and four other Dalit students were suspended for allegedly beating up Susheel Kumar, an activist from BJP's student wing Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad, during the agitation over the execution of 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon in August.

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Last year, Dattatrey wrote to Irani about the anti-national acts" of the Dalit students, urging her to take action against them. Irani is under fire because the HRD Ministry sent five letters to Hyderabad Central University, asking the educational institution to examine the concerns raised by the BJP leader.

The HRD Ministry's response is seen as furthering the alleged persecution of the students by the Hyderabad University and Dattatreya.

But Irani said that members of the Executive Council were nominated by the previous government, and the High Court of Andhra Pradesh had refused to stay the punishment for the students.

Holding up a "certified copy of Vemula's suicide note" at her press conference on Wednesday, Irani said that his note did not blame any university official, political party or lawmaker. On the contrary, she said, the only organisation mentioned in the letter was his own group, Ambedkar Students Association.

Speaking to journalists on Thursday, Kumar, the ABVP activist, said that he was "beaten" by the Dalit students, last year, and the "reasons behind the suicide should be examined."

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ASSOCIATED PRESS An Indian man takes a shower at a railway station to cool himself down in Allahabad, India, Wednesday, June 10, 2015. Normal life was thrown out of gear in Indiaas northern state of Uttar Pradesh due to heat wave as temperature in parts of the state breached 47 degrees Celsius (117 degrees Fahrenheit) mark. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

The Morning Wrap is HuffPost India's selection of interesting news and opinion from the day's newspapers. Subscribe here to receive it in your inbox each weekday morning.

Essential HuffPost

Armed militants stormed a university in the volatile northwestern Pakistan, killing at least 20 people and wounding dozens. A senior Pakistani Taliban commander claimed responsibility for the assault in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The attack comes a little over a year after the massacre of 134 students at a school in the area.

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A Dalit family in Tamil Nadu was stopped from using a public road that leads to a burial ground, forcing it to put the bodies of its loved ones on ice for several days.

Tobacco and real estate baron Mohammed Nisham was found guilty of murdering a security guard he accused of being too slow to open the gates at his housing society in January last year. Nisham slammed his Hummer into the guard, 50-year-old K. Chandrabose, and hit him with an iron rod.

St. Elijah's Monastery of Mosul, the oldest Christian monastery in Iraq, was reduced to a field of rubble by the Islamic State militants. Now, St. Elijahs has joined a growing list of more than 100 demolished religious and historic sites, including mosques, tombs, shrines and churches in Syria and Iraq.

In an apparent response to the Islamic State, a Hindu outfit is reportedly training thousands of people  some of them children as young as eight years old  to fight with guns, swords, and rocket launchers. In two years, the Hindu Swabhiman has prepared 15,000 such fighters as part of their dharma sena.

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Main News

The SC and ST teachers of the Hyderabad University unanimously resolved to resign from all administrative posts in solidarity with those protesting the suspension of five students, one of whom, Rohith Vemula, committed suicide last Sunday. Meanwhile, Smriti Irani said an attempt was being made to project Rohith Vemulas death as a Dalit vs non-Dalit issue for political reasons.

The Special Cell of Delhi police arrested four college students from Uttarakhand's Haridwar district for their alleged plans to carry out attacks during the Ardh Kumbh mela.

Amit Shah will start a full term as BJP president on January 24 after completing the remaining period of Rajnath Singhs term who resigned as party president in 2014 to join the Modi government as Union Home Minister.

The Anti-Corruption Bureau conducted simultaneous raids at an Andhra Pradesh excise official's properties and found disproportionate assets worth Rs 1.50 crore. The ACB is in the process of arresting Adiseshu and producing him in a special court in Vijayawada.

India launched its fifth navigation satellite IRNSS-1E on-board the workhorse PSLV-C31 in Sriharikota, taking another step towards getting on a par with the USs Global Positioning System (GPS).

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Off The Front Page

The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration and NASA have announced that 2015 was by far the hottest year in 136 years of record keeping. Scientists blame a combination of El Nino and increasing man-made global warming.

Wings Rainbow, Indias first LGBT radio cab service, was launched in Mumbai. This programme aims to offer a real opportunity to the community for dignified livelihood and makes corporate India more embracing of gender non-conformists. The programme will train members from the community in driving and soft skills. It is expected to be rolled out in a year.

India has every chance of becoming an export powerhouse and its best choice would be to emulate China's model, said Arvind Panagariya, the Prime Ministers top economic adviser.

A new diabetes drug has lowered the cost of treatment by 80%. With the launch of the teneligliptin molecule, the popular gliptin category has brought down the cost for a day's treatment from Rs 45 to an average daily price of Rs 9. Over 15 companies are now offering it.

The material in your smartphone may have been mined by children. A new report, a joint venture between Amnesty International and African Resources Watch, links the cobalt found in batteries of popular tech gadgets to child labor in Central Africa.

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Opinion

If we could compare the concept of public-private partnership (PPP) to the theory of gravity, then the recent Chennai floods could well be the falling of the apple moment, says Vasanth Srinivasan in The Hindu. A funds- and infrastructure-starved country like India should take a shine to PPPs.

No other political leaders in India have created the kind of impact in recent times that Narendra Modi and Arvind Kejriwal have. But Modi has a thing or two to learn from the younger leader about how he can be more of a peoples Prime Minister, says Lalit Mohanin The Times of India.

There are three lessons India can learn from the US on controlling air pollution, says Mathew John in Scroll. A stronger mandate for systematic measurement and impact studies of pollution, an ambient emphasis in regulatory design, and a stronger centralised regulator are useful directions to train our attention as we search for the solutions of the future both in Delhi and elsewhere.

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A zonal officer was busted for watching a porn clip on his phone during the Bhopal Council Meeting on 20th January.

The meeting that was being chaired by Alok Sharma, Mayor of Bhopal had been called to discuss possibilities of converting Bhopal into a smart city. However, Anil Sharma the officer in charge of zone 10, had other priorities to attend to, which included watching a porn clip on his mobile.

After the incident was filmed, and reported, the Mayor promised that swift action would be taken.

According to an Indian Express report, the officer was suspended, following which there was a departmental inquiry and a ban on carrying mobiles during meetings.

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I am not a technical person. I was updating myself by checking various groups on my WhatsApp account when a porn video accidentally opened and I could not close it. I hardly watched it for one and a half minutes, not for two, three hours, said Sharma in an interview.

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PATNA -- A mob today chopped off a hand of a 35-year-old person caught looting Rs 2.5 lakh in cash from a bank.

Four armed miscreants had looted the money from the Mahuabagh branch of Bank Of Baroda under Rupaspur Police Station, a statement by the office of the Director General of Police said.

Locals caught one of the miscreants, identified as Jitendra Pandit, red handed and cut off his left hand, it said.

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Police later seized Rs one lakh from his possession and sent him to Patna Medical College and Hospital.

Raids were on to net the three others, the statement said.

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Hindustan Times via Getty Images NEW DELHI, INDIA - JANUARY 16: Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing the gathering at the launch of Start-Up India at Vigyan Bhavan on January 16, 2016 in New Delhi, India. Indian Prime Minister launched a number of initiatives on Saturday to support the countryas start-ups, including a 100 billion rupee ($1.5 billion) fund and a string of tax breaks for both the companies and their investors. (Photo by Mohd Zakir/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

Chhapan inch ki chhaati. The 56-inch chest. This has been the idiom of political machismo that Narendra Modi has long used, mostly in campaigns before he became PM, but also on occasion afterwards. The idea that you need a big 56-inch chest to instil fear in the enemy and get things done holds appeal for his voters.

Mr Modi probably never had a 56-inch chest. That is the realm of an American politician--Arnold Schwarzenegger.

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But now we know his actual chest measurement--it's 50 inches.

According to a report on The Times Of India, the measurements given for an achkan to be worn by the Prime Minister, say that his chest size now stands at 50 inches.

"Then Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University (BBAU) officials here were told to design an achkan for PM Narendra Modi to wear at Friday's convocation, authorities said they were given a 50-inch chest size to be conveyed to the tailor," the report states.

The 56-inch chest had become synonymous with Modi when in 2014, he had said this to Mulayam Singh Yadav: "Netaji has said Modi does not have what it takes to make another Gujarat out of UP. Do you know what making another Gujarat requires? ... It requires a chhappan inch ki chhati (56-inch chest)."

His detractors, however, didn't take to the flaunting of his vital statistics too kindly. Sonia Gandhi, during an election rally in Bihar, had taunted, "Ab jab sharhad par log mar rehen hain, kahan gaya 56-inch ka seena? (Where's his 56-inch chest, when people are dying at the LoC)."

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She was not the only one in the Gandhi family who wasn't flattered by Modi's chest size. Rahul Gandhi had said in July, "Land Acquisition Bill will not be passed in the Parliament. We will not let BJP acquire even an inch of land. Modi ji's 56 inch chest will become 5.6 inch. You'll wait and watch."

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When Prime Minister Narendra Modi won the elections with a sweeping majority in 2014, the whole Internet almost went on a mission to showcase Modi's humble background. How he sold tea when he was young, how he had to face hardships and how he apparently swept floors for a living.

A black-and-white photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi holding a broom and cleaning floor had gone viral. In fact, BJP supporters used this particular picture in the run up to the Lok Sabha polls as a part of their election campaign.

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Pm narendra modi sweeping floor in 1988 during RSS rally pic.twitter.com/nL4pKHmLfy  thapar_punjabi (@katumbkam) October 13, 2015

I am told this is a rare photo of #Modi from his "sweeping" days. Doesn't get more awaami than this! pic.twitter.com/PstZupB01T  Isfundiar Kasuri (@idkasuri) March 19, 2015

Many questioned its authenticity, but no one knew where it came from and whether it was real Modi.

Well, it has finally been proved that it was a fake image.

An RTI filed by an Ahmedabad-based activist, has revealed that the image was a photoshopped one. And, the person in the picture was not the 'humble' Prime Minister.

The RTI reply said, It is stated while the information sought does not form part of records, it may be noted that the said photograph is morphed and the person in the photo is not Mr Narendra Modi.

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And apparently, this is the real image.

Well, that man doesn't look anything like our Prime Minister.

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Hindustan Times via Getty Images NEW DELHI, INDIA - JANUARY 18: Police use water cannons on the activists of various student organisations including KYS, SFI, AISA, SDPI and BAPSA during a protest outside HRD Ministry Office at Shashtri Bhawan demanding the resignation of the Hyderabad University vice-chancellor over the suicide of a Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula on January 18, 2016 in New Delhi, India. 26-year-old Vemula, a second-year research scholar of science, technology and society studies department at Hyderabad University, was found hanging in his friendas hostel room on Sunday night. He, along with four Dalit research scholars, was expelled from the University of Hyderabad 12 days ago over alleged fight with another student group. (Photo by Vipin Kumar/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

NEW DELHI -- After four days of protests, an outpouring of grief, and a political slugfest over the suicide of Rohith Vemula, Hyderabad Central University has revoked the suspension of four Dalit students.

Vemula was found hanging in his friend's room in the campus of Hyderabad University on Sunday.

The 26-year-old was suspended along with four more Dalit students for allegedly beating up Susheel Kumar, an activist from the Bharatiya Janata Party's student wing Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad, during the agitation over the execution of 1993 Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon, last year.

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The decision to revoke the suspension was made by the Hyderabad University's Executive Council, the same body which suspended the students in November.

While the five students were allegedly ostracised by Hyderabad University, which is headed by Vice Chancellor Appa Rao Podile, Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya, a BJP lawmaker, wrote to the Human Resource Development Ministry about the "casteist and anti-national" acts of the students.

The HRD Ministry sent five letters to Hyderabad Central University, asking the educational institution to examine concerns raised by Dattatreya. The HRD Ministry's response is seen as furthering the alleged persecution of the students.

On Thursday, at least ten professors from the SC/ST community resigned from their administrative posts after HRD Minister Smriti Irani told reporters that a Dalit professor had been on the Executive Council which decided to suspend the students.

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Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Irani also said that the warden, who was keeping the five students out of the hostel, is a Dalit. "This is not a Dalit versus non-Dalit confrontation," she said.

Since Vemula's death, students have been demanding the resignation of the Vice Chancellor and a revocation of the suspensions.

Political Slugfest

Over the past week, the young scholar's tragic death has degenerated into a political slugfest, with politicians making a beeline for the volatile and grief-stricken campus to regurgitate accusations against their rivals.

Following in the footsteps of Congress Party Vice President Rahul Gandhi, who visited Hyderabad on Jan. 19, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today interacted with the student protestors and met with Vemula's mother.

Calling for the Vice Chancellor's resignation, Kejriwal also demanded that Irani apologise for playing "dirty caste politics." "Smriti Irani spoke one lie after another," he said, referring to Irani's press conference on Wednesday in which she tried to deflect blame from her ministry and the BJP.

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Trying to shift the blame on the Congress Party, Irani told reporters that the HRD Ministry had also received letter from the Congress Party lawmaker V. Hanumantha Rao in 2014, raising concerns about several suicides of students from marginalised communities on the campus of Hyderabad University over the past four years.

Pointing out that the Congress Party was in charge when Rao sent his letter, Irani said, "If they had fixed this four years ago, possibly Vemula, would be alive today."

Meanwhile, the All India Trinamool Congress and Janata Dal (United) has sent delegations to express their solidarity with the students protestors at Hyderabad University.

Jumping into the fray, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati said that "government terrorism" had led to Vemula's death. This behaviour that if you are against policies of the BJP government, then you are our enemy and you would be tortured through government terrorism is condemnable and non-democratic," she said.

On Tuesday, Congress Party's Rahul Gandhi said that the conditions for Vemula's suicide was created by the educational institution, its Vice Chancellor and Dattatreya.

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Suggesting that freedom of speech was being curbed in educational institutions across the country, Gandhi said, "I have come here for Rohith, but he is not alone. Every student, every university has this problem."

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Mail Today via Getty Images JAIPUR, INDIA - JANUARY 20: Anjum Zamarud Habib with Editor of The Hindu Siddharth Varadarajan at Jaipur Literature Festival 2012 in Jaipur on Friday. (Photo by Ramesh Sharma/India Today Group/Getty Images)

Senior journalist Siddharth Varadarajan had to be escorted out by police on Wednesday from the Allahabad University campus, after he was held hostage by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the student wing of the right wing Bharatiya Janata Party, whose members alleged that the former editor of The Hindu was of a "communal mindset". Varadarajan is currently editor of The Wire.

Varadarajan had arrived at the AU for a seminar on Democracy, media and freedom of expression organised by the Allahabad University Students Union (AUSU) chief Richa Singh, reported the Indian Express. The ABVP leaders had been on a hunger strike ever since Varadarajan had accepted the invite.

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The ABVP had allegedly planned to ink the face of Varadarajan and throw eggs at him and Singh but ditched their plans at the last minute, said ABVP leader Vikrant Singh.

A physical attack would have given them more publicity. We gheroed the V-Cs office, Singh told the Express.

The university administration eventually caved to ABVP and cancelled permission for holding the seminar in the varsitys Senate Hall fearing a confrontation between student groups. Singh decided to hold the seminar at the union building. But even that plan did not materialize.

ABVP members locked the building this morning and did not let us enter. While we moved to another place outside the campus, they organised a religious discourse in the union building, Singh told Express.

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So in the face of ABVP's threats, the Allahabad Univ admin & city admin have forced the cancellation of my talk on freedom of speech!  Siddharth (@svaradarajan) January 20, 2016

I will, however, be going to the Allahabad University campus today to register my protest at this blatant intimidation  Siddharth (@svaradarajan) January 20, 2016

Just delivered my lecture on freedom of expression at a hall outside Allahabad Univ campus. Now going into campus. pic.twitter.com/qXHkDfHyho  Siddharth (@svaradarajan) January 20, 2016

Earlier, Vikrant Singh told the Express: "There are two reasons behind our protest. First, the union president did not consult us before planning the event. Secondly, Siddharth Varadarajan is a controversial man, who used to write pro-naxal and anti-national articles. Richa has invited a person who has a communal mindset while she herself had earlier opposed campus visit of BJP MP Yogi Adityanath last year, calling him communal.

In an interview to Rediff, Richa claimed that the ABVP is "openly doing goondagardi in universities across India."

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"At present I am sitting outside the vice-chancellor's office with Mr Varadarajan and the ABVP guys have surrounded the office and are behaving badly," she said.

Do you feel there is any connection between what happened to Rohith Vemula at Hyderabad and this incident at Allahabad University?

Richa claimed that the two incidents -- Dalit student Rohith Vemula's suicide and Varadarajan's gherao -- are connected. "The university administration in Hyderabad intervened because of politics and Rohith committed suicide. In the same way, central universities across India are facing the same pressures," she said.

Rohith, a Dalit student affiliated to the Ambedkar Student's Association, committed suicide after he, alongwith four other Dalit students, was expelled from the Hyderabad Central University following a clash with an ABVP student leader. A union minister had written to the university to take action against Rohith and the HRD Ministry followed it up with five letters, which is now seen as one of the factors that may have pushed Rohith to the brink.

Varadarajan eventually spoke at the Swaraj Bhawan, outside the varsity campus, reported Times of India. But soon after, when he, along with Richa, arrived at the VC office to meet him, they were gheraoed by a large number of ABVP members who started shouting slogans. Varadarajan was unable to leave the office for around half an hour, the report said.

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Hindustan Times via Getty Images NEW DELHI, INDIA - JUNE 5: Bollywood actor Sunny Leone during an exclusive interview to promote Indian television reality show MTV Splitsvilla during Stars in the city series run by HTCity, on June 5, 2014 in New Delhi, India.. (Photo by Waseem Gashroo/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

A couple of days back, Sunny Leone walked into an interview to be conducted by man she was told was one of most senior and respected journalists of the country. A leading English language channel, a well-known journalist and her own experience of having tackled the Indian media for four long years in the industry. What could have possibly gone wrong? Turns out, everything.

The interview, which was later aired on CNN IBN, left the country in utter shock. The journalist conducting the interview, Bhupendra Chaubey, interrogated Leone like one would grill a convicted criminal, not a film star. From badgering her over her past as a porn star and looking shocked that she didn't regret it at all to asking her if he would 'become morally corrupt by talking to her', the interviewer pulled all stops in cornering the actor. However, Leone faced his questions with grace, poise and confidence.

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This was not what she had anticipated when she had set out to promote her latest film, a fun, adult comedy called Mastizaade. Here are excerpts from her conversation with HuffPost India where she spoke about her films, her favourite stars, Bollywood and bearing the brunt of moralising.

Given how disturbing it was to even watch the CNN IBN interview, we are sure you must have been very uncomfortable during it. Did you convey the same to the interviewer at any point of time?

I am not the kind of person who would walk away from an interview. But having said that, I felt what was happening was not right at all. And I felt completely alone... and no one was helping me out. I felt upset because I never imagined this is what I may have to face.

But I will never back away. I will never let anyone get to me. I will never let anyone - man or woman - take me down. It was that spirit in me that made me continue with the interview. Also, if I walked away, I would prove every doubt he raised about me, everything he suggested about me and my past right. I was never going to let him do that.

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After the backlash, did anyone from the channel or Chaubey himself get in touch with you with an explanation or an apology?

No. But after the English version of the interview, he wanted to the same interview once over again in Hindi. So then I excused myself and said I will not be comfortable doing it. So he asked me a couple of general questions and we were done. I was feeling so hurt already. Like, this was not right at all. I thought he was a senior journalist and why would he do this? It was very difficult for me and I was upset and scared.

What did it feel like when you realised pretty much everyone backed you and then Aamir Khan reached out to you?

I realised, while watching the interview people felt exactly the way I felt while taking part in it. And it was such a sweet gesture on behalf of Aamir Khan to reach out to me. His support means a lot. Like I said in the interview, we work together, we don't work together, I will still be a fan...

You have been around in Bollywood for four years now and the industry is infamous for being rough on outsiders. How encouraging was the industry for you?

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In the beginning it was difficult. When I first came here, nobody would even talk to me. But I don't blame them for it. There are so many people coming here everyday for a break in the movies. Also, I think they can gauge people and figure who is here to stay and not. I don't blame them for that either, they have to do it to choose who will be good... Slowly, things changed and people started taking note of me.

This a problem faced by many actors in Bollywood, do you fear getting typecast too?

It's not really in my hands. Also, it is the media which tends to typecast people. It's your voice putting this out...

What are your favourite films of the ones released recently? Is there any film, someone else has done, you would have loved to do?

I have a bunch of favourites. But the thought that I could have done one of these films have never crossed my mind. The reason they are my favourite films is equally because of the actors playing the characters. For example, if you ask me, no one else could have played Mary Kom like Priyanka Chopra did. I loved Tanu Weds Manu, but could I have played Kangana's character, I think not. Same for Deepika in Bajirao Mastani...

What made you choose Mastizaade?

When I read the script, I felt it was a fun film. You know, the kind I would watch in the US. There's comedy, there's music, we don't have to be serious all the time. Also it has been directed my Milaap Zaveri who is one of the best we have. I would say it's an amazing film for adults. Take a night off, hire a babysitter, leave the kids at home, we adults deserve a break and Mastizaade is the perfect film for it.

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SAJJAD QAYYUM via Getty Images Syed Salahuddin, head of Kashmiri militant group Hizb-ul-Mujahedin, gestures during a press conference in Muzaffarabad on March 24, 2013. Salahuddin, accused Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf of betrayal for signing a ceasefire deal with India in the divided Himalayan region during his rule. AFP PHOTO/Sajjad QAYYUM (Photo credit should read SAJJAD QAYYUM/AFP/Getty Images)

MUZAFFARABAD -- The Pakistan-based chief of a militant alliance fighting for an end to Indian rule in divided Kashmir openly condemned on Wednesday a crackdown by the Pakistan government against another group India blames for an attack on an air base.

Syed Salahuddin, the chairman of the United Jihad Council (UJC), an alliance of pro-Pakistan militant groups based in the Pakistani-administered part of the divided Kashmir region, had claimed responsibility for the assault in Pathankot on 2 January.

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The claim of responsibility was met with a sceptical response among India's security establishment, which blames another group called Jaish-e-Mohammed.

Last week, Pakistan arrested the head of Jaish-e-Mohammed as well as several other leaders of the group and shut down offices and seminaries linked to the outfit.

"We are at a loss to understand whether they (the Pakistan government) are concerned about the interests of the country that feeds them or that of its enemy?" Salahuddin told a news conference, referring to the government's crackdown.

"Pakistan is not only an advocate but also a party to the longstanding Kashmir dispute and therefore the Pakistani people, government and media should play the role of a patron rather than of an adversary."

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Salahuddin's public comments could cause further tensions between the two nuclear armed rivals, with New Delhi accusing Islamabad of tolerating groups openly hostile to India.

He spoke at the Press Club in Muzzafarabad, capital of Pakistani-administered part of Kashmir. Police outside the club made no move to arrest him.

Following the 2 January attack on the Indian air base, the United Jihad Council had warned that their attacks "can engulf all of India" if the issue of Kashmir's divided rule is not resolved.

Since the attack in Pathankot, Pakistan has said it is clamping down on Jaish-e-Mohammed, which India has long accused Pakistani authorities of tolerating, while it investigates Indian assertions that the attack was the work of the militants based in Pakistan.

India has demanded that Pakistan take action against the group and last week announced that the two countries would reschedule talks between their foreign ministers while the investigation into the air base attack was carried out.

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Jaish-e-Mohammed militants are blamed for a 2001 attack on India's parliament that nearly led to a war between the nuclear-armed rivals.

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Royal Challengers Bangalore/Flickr

The Canberra ODI saw the second part of the now famous Virat Kohli-James Faulkner good humoured banter bordering a sledge with the Indian superstar trying to upset the Australian all-rounder during another of his superlative innings.

During the Melbourne match, when Faulkner tried to instigate Kohli, the Indian batsman's classic retort was "I have smashed you enough in my life. Go and bowl."

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In Canberra, Kohli started from where he left at MCG belting the left-armer for 29 runs off 16 deliveries that included four boundaries.

But according to Australian newspaper 'Perth Now', when Faulkner missed a chance to run Kohli out, the Indian vice-captain did not miss an opportunity to ask the Aussie as to why was he "fast asleep".

Two days back, Kohli while interacting with fans on Indian team's Facebook page said:"The opposition has every right to use that as long as it doesn't cross the line. And you have every right to reply as long as it doesn't cross the line again.

"I think there have been a lot of smart comments over the years and mine turned out to be a perfectly timed one. I didn't intend to do that, I just said what came to mind, which was actually not far off from the truth. That banter is enjoyable on the field but at the same time you need to focus on your game. That was a fun moment, I guess."

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horrigans/Flickr Day 44: Maddy Moo putting on a 'show' which generally involved her jumping up and down a lot whilst I was forced to watch. For a long... lo-o-o-o-ong time...13th February 2011(also day 352/365 of the 365 project I started in February 2011)

"Twenty eight days. Just imagine, 28 days old."

Ringing with part disbelief, part repulsion, this line will surface several times during a conversation with Prerna Kumari. The 39-year-old lawyer at the Supreme Court filed a PIL in December 2015 urging the apex court to consider a revision of the existing laws against rape and include chemical castration as a punishment for people who sexually assault children.

On January 11 this year, the Supreme Court agreed that people who have been convicted for sexually abusing children should face stricter punishment than those who assault adults and asked the Parliament to consider a law which addresses the issue. The court didn't directly suggest that castration be included in a new law, but recognised the petitioner's argument that men who rape children should meet with a much harsher fate than they usually do.

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Kumari filed the PIL on 18 December, on behalf of the Supreme Court Women Lawyer's Association, a group comprising at least 200 women lawyers practicing in the apex court.

Why castration?

"On 6 December, I read this report in a newspaper. A 28-day-girl had been raped by a 25-year-old man," says Kumari, pausing briefly to catch her breath. "How can you do this? What kind of a human are you then?" she continues.

Kumari, the general secretary of the SCWLA, admits that the idea of introducing chemical castration as a penalty for rape had been on her mind for a while now. In fact, in 2009, along with a friend from Australia, Kumari had prepared a presentation on how chemical castration may act as a deterrent for potential rapists. "I wanted to show it to ministries and ask them to consider the same. This has been on my mind for at least ten years now," she says.

Kumari and her friend managed to bag a few meetings at union ministries, but nothing came out of them.

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The lawyer remembers following the powerful wave of protests that washed over the country following the gangrape and consequent death of a 23-year-old woman in Delhi in 2012. As demands of 'hang the rapists' echoed through the corridors of the legislature, India was forced to amend the existing laws and introduce death penalty. "But that's in the rarest of rare cases," she points out.

The Supreme Court Of India.

The SCWLA harks back to Sophocles to stress the importance of instilling fear among criminals. "Long back, an eminent thinker and author, Sophocles, had to say : Law can never be enforced unless fear supports them", their PIL states.

Kumari, who has been practicing in the Supreme Court, for over 15 years, says it makes a great deal of sense to tap into Indian men's great pride and simultaneous insecurity about their 'mardaangi' - manhood or virility in English. "The fear of losing the ability to have sex is a very daunting one for men. We should have a law that puts that fear to use to keep away sexual abusers," explains Kumari.

The fear of losing the ability to have sex is a very daunting one for men. We should have a law that puts that fear to use to keep away sexual abusers

The ignorance, that prevents people from being able to differentiate between chemical castration and permanent castration, Kumari hopes will work as a deterrent too. Chemical castration is a process which temporarily affects a man's sex drive as long as he is made to take pills or given injections that make him incapable of having intercourse. Once the medication stops, the man's sex drive is restored. However, the very mention of castration evokes images of even bobbitisation and the permanent loss sexual prowess.

"Darr rehne do (let the fear thrive)," she adds, saying anything that acts as a deterrent is good enough.

Can castration be a deterrent?

The idea of a deterrent that caters to a society with complicated and disparate relationships with education, morality and economic autonomy, has been debated with great enthusiasm and great futility for a while now. There is no empirical evidence that the threat of losing one's manhood will have an effect on the psychology of potential criminals. Yet, Kumari says, it's worth giving a shot.

"Once people start fearing this word, it may start yielding results," says Kumari. A lawyer, who has professionally dealt with divorce and other civil cases, says that the present law is not enough to scare people. If nothing else, the provision for castration should be tried as a trial, she feels. And she cites an unusual example to drive home her point.

"So many people had cribbed about and had reservations about the odd-even rule, right? But see, now that the government implemented it, it turned out to be successful. Like that, we should maybe try this out as a trial and see how it works," she offers.

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Prerna Kumari

Kumari is a firm believer in the power of a law as a deterrent. She cites a recent incident where she invoked a hardly-followed law to straighten out a bunch of street thugs. On her way back to her Karol Bagh home from the Supreme Court, Kumari noticed a bunch of naked children begging on the streets. As her car stopped at the signal, she noticed, in a distance a group of adults sitting full clothed. The children occasionally interacted with them before knocking on car windows. "I immediately went to the Pahargunj police station, from where I was sent to the Mandir Marg police station. I gave them the exact location and complained that the adults were making the children beg without clothes, and the Beggar's Act prohibits begging itself."

On her way back home the next day, Kumari says, she saw the same bunch of children at the spot, but fully clothed this time.

The police, government and society will have to come together to implement these laws, says the lawyer.

Opposition to castration

In most developed and developing countries, the focus on reformative justice leaves death penalty and other forms of penalty that involves physically reprimanding a convict in the backburner. Such methods are evoked in the rarest of the rare cases.

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Bhakti Pasrija Sethi, vice president of SCWLA, says that initially she wasn't absolutely sure about Kumar's demand for chemical castration as a penalty. "I believe more in reformative laws and therefore was initially uncomfortable with the idea."

Protests against rape in Delhi.

However, she came around once it was explained to her that chemical castration doesn't do any permanent damage to the convict. "Also, almost everyone in the executive committee agreed to Kumari filing the PIL. I think chemical castration can be included for rare cases, or repeat offenders. However, the state also has to actively put forth a mechanism whereby people have access to education, moral training and basic amenities. The state is responsible for its people," adds Pasrija.

The executive committee of the SCWLA, which passed a resolution to go forward with the PIL, comprised '10-15 people', all of whom agreed with the need to include something like chemical castration in India's rape laws.

Kumari says, it shocks her that people seek mercy for men who rape defenceless children. "I remember reading about a case when a boy, who was raped, couldn't even explain what has happened to him. Usne bola, bhaiiya ne mujhe bahut mara (he beat me up)," she says.

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"Barbaric kya hai? (What's barbaric). What these men do is barbaric

"Barbaric kya hai? (What's barbaric). What these men do is barbaric," says the mother of a 6-year-old boy. Kumari admits that Indian society at large don't educate their children enough to protect themselves from sexual harassment. "People are ashamed of talking about it. But they have to. When I considered teaching my son about good touch bad touch, even I hesitated. But then I read about a girl being abused in playschool and decided it was high time I taught my child ways to protect himself from sexual abuse," she adds.

Accordingly, the PIL, a copy of which is with HuffPost India, reads, "The big question before us in a country like us which is known for its kindness is, can such a punishment be awarded. The answer is certainly because the developed nations/States like South Korea, Russia, Poland and nine American States including California and Florida have already enforced castration as punishment for sex offences against children.

"Adopting the same would not take us back to ancient era but India would be respected more for this stringent law alongside these countries for respecting and upholding the rights of the small angels of our country. It is true that there is a special act Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), 2012. But the crimes against the children are rising despite the stringent law. Between the year 2012 and 2014,the number of these crimes have been increased from 38,172 to 89,423 i.e. more than the double and this is alarming."

The SCWLA may now consider sending a representative to the Parliament so that the issue is taken up. "The Supreme Court gave a great order. We plan to send a representative to the Parliament so that they consider taking the issue up," says Sethi.

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Hundreds of Russians plug away at keyboards, spreading pro-Kremlin propaganda on social media sites and masterminding online hoaxes every day. They work in what have come to be known as troll farms, named after the derogatory nickname used for people who spread hate on the internet.

Adrian Chen, who visited a troll farm called the Internet Research Agency while reporting for The New York Times , believes that the Russians might be the most organised trolls.

However, they are not unique  social media is being used to distort political debate around the world.

In Russia, Mr Chen says, internet users may not be convinced by the comments left by trolls on internet sites. But trolling works by sowing seeds of distrust in online conversations. It pours cold water on social medias promise to bring people together for frank discussion.

This more insidious effect is to make the internet an unreliable source of information and to undermine the democratic nature of the internet. That is to the governments advantage, he says.

Troll farms in Mexico and India work in a similar way, Mr Chen adds, and the same principle applied in GamerGate, an organised online harassment campaign against women in the video game industry, which erupted in 2014. You can easily flood the internet with this garbage to try to drown out your opponents, he says.

China also runs its own propaganda armies and monitors what people post online to see how public opinion is changing. Meanwhile Isis supporters have become expert in creating anonymous accounts that are used to spread propaganda and recruit potential terrorists. As soon as companies such as Facebook and Twitter shut these down, new ones appear.

Silicon Valley and Washington in uneasy truce after Snowden Western intelligence agencies worry that encryption will make the internet go dark

When social media sites first emerged, they appeared to give everybody the ability to broadcast their views, suggesting that a wider range of voices would be heard than in the mainstream media.

However, a system that allows people to comment anonymously, and which makes it easy to retweet and share messages, is vulnerable to manipulation, particularly by organised groups with money and personnel  especially as the mainstream media seem willing to amplify their message.

Politicians have built large followings on social networks, thrilled to be able to reach voters directly. US President Barack Obama has more than 68m followers on Twitter, while the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has more than 17m.

But political debates that engage citizens are still rare, argues Professor Christian Fuchs, the director of the University of Westminsters communication and media research institute. He points to Mr Obamas use of his political account to promote a competition for a cruise to Alaska last month.

Such populism 2.0 reduces the political public sphere to submit-and-win contests, political spectacles and personality politics dominated by leadership figures, he says. What is today largely missing are politically innovative users of social media that engage citizens in political conversations with each other, in which they have the chance to discuss and explore the complexity of the key political challenges the world faces today.

Nick Anstead, assistant professor at the media department of the London School of Economics, says it is also a myth that social media is a way to reach large audiences for free.

When people were first considering the internet and new media, there was certainly a sense that it was going to change the power dynamics, it would lead to a redistribution of power, he says. But it is now clear that to thrive on social media, politicians have to have access not only to a large group of supporters and but also to money, he says.

Brave new era in technology needs new ethics Advances in technology pose difficult moral questions for humanity

In the 2008 US presidential election race, Obamas campaign was seen as mastering the use of grass roots supporters to spread messages online  but it also spent 10 per cent of its paid media budget on buying digital advertising.

Andrew Heyward, of the MIT Media Lab, says politicians social media strategies now resemble those of brands, with Republican Donald Trump by far the most successful presidential candidate.

Mr Trump has made so many waves on social media they have flooded into traditional media and given him so much coverage that he is only just buying his first traditional, mainstream media advertisements.

Mr Heyward is using a new analytics tool to track the horse race of ideas in the US presidential election campaign.

Discussion of many topics on social media  from national security to immigration  reflects what is being said in the mainstream media, and vice versa, the study has shown.

Because of this, Mr Heyward is more optimistic that social networks can actually become the virtual town hall meeting that Twitter, at least, has aspired to be.

It is a brave new world, he says. But actually, ironically, even though it takes advantage of a modern and sophisticated technology, it is a throwback to what the Founding Fathers had in mind  a lively conversation.

Source: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/0db52286-a25b-11e5-8d70-42b68cfae6e4.html
Bermuda-based insurance carrier Aspen Insurance Holdings announced this week the acquisition of AgriLogic Insurance Services, a specialty insurance business in Kansas.Founded as a consulting firm, AgriLogic has grown into an integrated agricultural consultancy with estimated gross written premiums of $185 million in 2015. The company is highly respected for its product and policy design, which it provides across the US and internationally.By taking over the specialist US crop business, Aspen hopes to further diversify its portfolio and gain greater technical expertise in the agricultural insurance sector.AgriLogic has an excellent reputation, which reflects the intellectual capital, technical and risk management expertise within the company, supported by robust infrastructure, said Aspen Group Chief Executive Chris OKane. Like Aspen, it is also a best in class underwriting company. We know the company and its management well, having provided reinsurance support to the business over a number of years.OKane further commented that the development of a US agriculture insurance platform is an excellent diversification for the company, offering attractive returns and capital requirements.AgriLogics President and Chief Executive Joe Davis will continue I his role, reporting to Brian Boornazian, Chairman of Aspen Re. AgriLogic will form part of Aspens existing reinsurance operations, led by Michael Dicker, Group Head of Agriculture.Davis commented that the transition will not interrupt AgriLogics commitment to its crop insurance agents or clients.We look forward to developing the business further and leveraging the expertise and experience of Aspen, Davis said. This is the start of an exciting future for AgriLogic as part of a large global company.
The Traffic Commission on Wednesday rejected a request to allow winter parking on sidewalks. PreviousNext

North Adams Traffic Commission Rejects Request to Modify Parking Ban

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  The Traffic Commission on Wednesday dismissed a request from a resident to change the winter parking ban, saying it would open up a "Pandora's box" of problems.



Aleksandr Lisser of Veazie Street had requested the City Council revise parking regulations banning night parking on the street from Nov. 1 to April 31 because his home did not have off-street parking. The matter was referred to the Traffic Commission for its Jan. 20 meeting. Lisser did not attend the meeting.



Commission Chairwoman MaryAnn King said she had received an email about the issue from Lisser last fall stating he had been "harassed" by police who had ticketed his car. King said the city would allow him to purchase an overnight parking permit for the St. Anthony Municipal Parking Lot but he did not wish to pay for parking.



Lisser had asked that residents be allowed to park partially on the sidewalk on the narrow street without being ticketed.



"Under current regulations they made it IMPOSSIBLE to have cars for residents without off-street parking at their properties," Lisser wrote in a letter to the City Council. "The City Council and Mayor of North Adams have been negligent to resolve this problem, even as many residents have been complaining about it multiple time [sic] over many years."



While the commissioners had some sympathy, they noted that Lisser had purchased a house knowing that parking was an issue. The prior owner had operated a livery for more than 40 years, said King, and had always managed to find spaces for his half-dozen vehicles.



"This situation presents itself all over the place and it has for a million years," said Commissioner David Sacco. "I feel his pain but he bought a house without off-street parking and he should have looked into it a little more. ...



"It would be no different than buying a house in the West End and complaining there are planes flying over his head."
New Zealand Team Preview T20 World Cup 2022: 'Nice Guys' New Zealand May Once Again Surprise With Final Finish

'India Doesn't Take a Single Penny From Asian Cricket Council': Former Opener Claims Pakistan Will Definitely Take Part in ODI WC

T20 World Cup: No Ashwin, Pant in Harbhajan Singh's India XI For Crucial Pakistan Clash

'Bumrah's Absence is a Big Loss For India But Facing Shami And Bhuvneshwar Will be a Challenge For Pakistan'
We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector

We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector

We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector

We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector
Entertainment / Music

by Stephen Jakes

A Music promoter Nyasha William Gwazemba, the Chief Executive Officer of Bulawayo Music Awards has fought back against the attack made by the Bulawayo based Musician and dancer Sandra Ndebele who described him as a little promoter accusing his company of being a fraud star entity.Ndebele was quoted in the online media as saying Gwazemba was a little promoter and runs a fraud promotion company much to Gwazemba's surprise and anger."I saw a story Sandra Ndebele calling me a little promoter and accusing us of of being a fraud company," Gwazemba said. "I might be small little promoter as Sandra Ndebele says I am and we stated that the message was leaked from our system and we apologized but she decided to attack us after we apologized. We are not even affected an inch by what Sandra is saying and the funny part is we did not ask any money from anyone. Plus we won't work with her and her music is long expired in the music industry."He apologized to all artists that were mentioned in a hoax message. He said the messages were not from his company but still they apologised to the artists for the inconveniences caused by those messages.Messages sent to various artists including Sandra by Gwazemba reads, "Please kindly note that the messages you have been receiving about Bulawayo Music Awards are not true. The awards are scheduled for this year but nothing has been announced and all these artists will not be partaking in the awards any inconvenience caused is sincerely apologized. To the artists caught up in this we sincerely apologise."Sandra had accused him because of the said awards promotion.
News / Africa

by Staff Reporter

Police in Joburg South Africa are searching for the mother of a child, presumed to be about two years old, who was tied up in a plastic bag and then left on the side of a road in the Kensington suburb.A security guard noticed the occupants of a car leave the bag near Jeppe High School for Boys on Tuesday, Lieutenant-Colonel Lungelo Dlamini said yesterday.He noticed movement in the bag and went to look. He freed the girl and took her to the Jeppe Police Station.She was taken to hospital and cases of child abandonment and attempted murder were opened. Police are searching for the parents.The child was taken to a place of safety.
Ready to be a man? Learn it from the pro, in this case, from grandpa in the ultimate comedy buddy trip Dirty Grandpa starring Robert De Niro and Zac Efron.

Jason Kelly [Zac Efron] is one week away from marrying his bosss uber-controlling daughter, putting him on the fast track for a partnership at the law firm. However, when the straight-laced Jason is tricked into driving his foul-mouthed grandfather, Dick [Robert De Niro], to Daytona for spring break, his pending nuptials are suddenly in jeopardy. Between riotous frat parties, bar fights and an epic night of karaoke, Dick is on a quest to live his life to the fullest and bring Jason along for the ride. Ultimately, on the wildest journey of their lives, dirty grandpa and his uptight grandson discover they can learn from one another and form the bond they never had. This outlandish comedy also stars Aubrey Plaza, Zoey Deutch, Julianne Hough, Adam Pally, and Dermot Mulroney.

As Dick and Jason embark on their seemingly innocent overnight trip to Florida, Jason begins to notice that Grandpa isnt quite himself. Expecting to accompany a grieving widower for a brief trip of reflection and inter-generational male bonding, Jason discovers a foul-mouthed, scotch-drinking horndog with only one objective: sex, and lots of it. Dick had been a faithful, loving and doting husband to his wife for over forty years, but after losing her, he can only live life forward  Dicks ready to get busy. This is his moment to live it up and throw it down, but he needs a wingman.

During the writing process, screenwriter Phillips had only one actor in mind for the role of Dick Kelly: the incomparable Robert De Niro, whom Phillips never in a million years imagined would be willing to take on the provocative role. Its crazy because when I wrote the script I was living in New York and always only had Robert De Niro in mind, who has that perfect blend of comedic timing and imperiousness that the character needed. He also had to be slightly terrifying and really smart, and De Niro certainly embodies all of those qualities, explains Phillips.

Witnessing his outrageous screenplay come to life was a thrill for John M. Phillips, an experience he will not soon forget. Hopefully audiences will appreciate seeing Robert De Niro and Zac Efron in roles youve never seen them play before. The fact that Robert De Niro has said these ridiculously crass things Ive written has been a great accomplishment for me, one in which I will lord over my friends and enemies for the rest of my life, jokes Phillips.

Boundless wild ride awaits when Dirty Grandpa hits theatres this February 3 from Pioneer Films.

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Press Release: IMF Executive Board Initiates Selection Process for Next Managing Director

Press Release No. 16/19

January 20, 2016

The Dean of the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Mr. Aleksei Mozhin, made the following statement today:

I am very pleased to announce that the Executive Board has adopted an open, merit-based, and transparent process for the selection of the Managing Director, similar to the one used in the previous round.

Individuals may be nominated by a Fund Governor or Executive Director. Like we did in 2011, we aim to reach a decision by consensus.

The appointment of current Managing Director Christine Lagarde expires on July 5, 2016. The Board intends to complete the selection process by early March, Mr. Mozhin said.

The Board approved the decision as outlined below:

1. The successful candidate for the position of Managing Director will have a distinguished record in economic policymaking at senior levels. He or she will have an outstanding professional background, will have demonstrated the managerial and diplomatic skills needed to lead a global institution, and will be a national of any of the Funds members. As chief of the Funds staff and as Chairman of the Executive Board, (s)he will be capable of providing strategic vision for the work of a high quality, diverse, and dedicated staff; and will be firmly committed to advancing the goals of the Fund by building consensus on key policy and institutional issues, including through close collaboration with the Executive Board, under whose direction (s)he will fulfill his or her responsibilities. (S)he will have a proven understanding of the Fund and the policy challenges facing the Funds diverse global membership. (S)he will have a firm commitment to, and an appreciation of, multilateral cooperation and will have a demonstrated capacity to be objective and impartial. (S)he will also be an effective communicator.

2. An individual may be nominated for the position of Managing Director by a Fund Governor or an Executive Director during a nomination period which shall commence on January 21, 2016 at 12:01 a.m., Washington, D.C. time and will close on February 10, 2016 at 11:59 p.m., Washington, D.C. time. All nominations shall be communicated to the Funds Secretary, who shall obtain confirmation from each nominee of his or her willingness to be considered as a candidate. The Funds Secretary shall hold the names of the nominees in confidence until the end of the nomination period.

3. At the end of the nomination period, the Secretary shall disclose to the Executive Board the names of those nominees who have confirmed their desire to be candidates. If the number of candidates exceeds three, the Executive Board will keep the names of these nominees in confidence until it has drawn up a shortlist of three candidates, taking into account the above candidate profile without geographical preferences. The shortlisting process will be implemented through indications of which candidates receive the most support among Directors, taking into account the Funds weighted voting system, with the objective of completing the shortlisting process within seven days following the disclosure to the Board of the candidates. Although the Executive Board may adopt a shortlist by a majority of the votes cast, the objective of the Executive Board is to adopt a shortlist by consensus. The shortlist shall be published by the Fund.

4. The Executive Board will meet with the shortlisted candidates (or all of the candidates if there were fewer than four) in Washington, D.C. Thereafter, the Executive Board will meet to discuss the strengths of the candidates and make a selection. Although the Executive Board may select a Managing Director by a majority of the votes cast, the objective of the Executive Board is to select the Managing Director by consensus with the objective of completing the selection process by March 3, 2016.

Background information:

Factsheet on the Managing Director Selection Process

Q&A on the Managing Director Selection Process
Bacha Khan University Attack in Pakistan

Washington, DC - The United States strongly condemns todays attack on Bacha Khan University in Charsadda.

We offer our deepest condolences to the victims and their families during this time of grief. It is particularly appalling that these terrorists continue to attack educational institutions, targeting Pakistans future generations. The United States stands with the government and people of Pakistan and their efforts to create a secure, stable, and prosperous country, and we will stand side-by-side with Pakistan in its fight against terrorism.
Continuing his ambitious 24-year project of an annual reading of one volume of Freuds complete works, UCDs Prof Brendan Kelly explores The Psychopathology of Everyday Life, in his sixth instalment of the IMT series.

For reasons too complex to explain, I have undertaken to read all 24 volumes of the Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, at the rate of one volume per year, over the course of 24 years.

Last year, the fifth instalment in the Freud Project was devoted to the second part of The Interpretation of Dreams (1900) and On Dreams (1901) (Irish Medical Times, 20 February 2015).

Those two works together made up Volume Five of the Standard Edition, translated from the German under the general editorship of James Strachey, in collaboration with Anna Freud, and assisted by Alix Strachey and Alan Tyson (Vintage: Hogarth Press and Institute of Psycho-Analysis).

Year Six

This year, Year Six of the Freud Project, brings us to Volume Six, the Psychopathology of Everyday Life (1901).

The author, Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), was, of course, the father of psycho-analysis and one of the foremost thinkers of the 20th Century. This sixth volume in the Standard Edition presents another of Freuds most iconic works, subtitled Forgetting, Slips of the Tongue, Bungled Actions, Superstitions and Errors. Like virtually all of Freuds work, this is a fascinating read: complex, erudite, involving and occasionally hilarious.

Not to be forgotten: forgetting Freud commences his dissection of the Psychopathology of Everyday Life with a careful examination of the phenomenon of forgetting, including the forgetting of proper names, forgetting of foreign words and forgetting of names and sets of words (p. v). Much of this discussion centres on the meanings and sounds of specific words in German, and translating these decidedly subtle points into English for this edition of Freuds work was inevitably a complex matter.

Indeed, as noted in the Editors introduction, a large proportion of the material to be dealt with depends on a play upon words which is totally untranslatable (p. xi).

Notwithstanding the virtual impossibility of the task at hand, various ingenious examples of forgetting are explored, culminating in Freuds conclusion that by the side of simple cases where proper names are forgotten there is a type of forgetting which is motivated by repression (p. 7). More specifically: The mechanism of names being forgotten (or, to be more accurate, the mechanism of names escaping the memory, of being temporarily forgotten) consists in the interference with the intended reproduction of the name by an alien train of thought that is not at the time conscious. Between the name interfered with and the interfering complex either a connection exists from the outset, or else such a connection has established itself, often in ways that appear artificial, via superficial (external) associations (pp. 39-40).

Nothing, then, not even forgetting, is without meaning, as the unconscious links forgotten material with unconscious material of an undesirable or intolerable nature. This is motivated forgetting (p. 147) and Freud concludes that his theory explains why the temporary forgetting of names is the most frequently to be observed of all our parapraxes (p. 40), which are errors in speech, memory or action that are attributed to the unconscious, and which, according to Freud, are especially associated with names.

Freud goes on to examine analogous examples of slips of the tongue and concludes that it is the influence of thoughts that lie outside the intended speech which determines the occurrence of the slip and provides an adequate explanation of the mistake (p. 80).

To support this point, and similar arguments about slips of the pen and other matters, Freud, like a voracious magpie, gathers up myriad examples of slips and errors from all kinds of sources including his own life, clinical encounters, literature and material submitted by readers.

His appetite for real-life examples is insatiable, and he weaves these together with thoughtful care, generating ingenious, compelling theories about the meanings of everyday errors.

Freud defends his plurality of sources stoutly, writing that my whole purpose is to collect everyday material and turn it to scientific use. I fail to see why the wisdom which is the precipitate of mens common experience of life should be refused inclusion among the acquisitions of science. The essential character of scientific work derives not from the special nature of its objects of study but from its stricter method of establishing the facts and its search for far-reaching correlations (p. 159).

Freud is right: theres treasure everywhere, and he certainly knew how to assemble it into a coherent, intelligent and surprisingly witty whole in this and various other iconic works.

Bungled actions, errors, and superstitions

To complete his examination of the Psychopathology of Everyday Life, Freud looks at myriad further examples of bungled actions, errors and superstitions, combining anecdotes with psycho-analytic explorations of meaning. All of these are provided in Freuds inimitable and lively literary style; he can, for example, be quite dramatic, as he outlines the dawning of a particular insight, exclaiming on one occasion: Why, of course! It now occurred to me (p. 166). Freud also had a gift for phrase-making, referring, for example, to a period in my house during which an unusually large amount of glass and china crockery was broken as a little psychical epidemic (p. 173). Remember: there are no accidents.

As a result of these insights (sometimes ephemeral, always profound), combined with Freuds general intellectual brio, the Psychopathology of Everyday Life has, rightly, become one of the classics of the psycho-analytic literature, exerting an influence that stretches far beyond the strict realms of psycho-analysis and psychology.

The prominence that its ideas and concepts have attained is, however, fully matched by the prominence now accorded to many of Freuds other ideas, including, most notably, his theories about hysteria and human sexuality.

More detailed consideration of these topics is, however, reserved for Volume Seven of the Standard Edition of Freuds work, titled A Case of Hysteria, Three Essays on Sexuality and Other Works (1901-1905). This equally remarkable, involving volume will be considered next year, Deo volente, in Year Seven of the Freud Project.

Brendan Kelly is Professor of Psychiatry at Trinity College Dublin and author of Dignity, Mental Health and Human Rights (2015).
Critics felt the area of continued crisis for the Government  Health  barely got a mention at all in An Taoiseach Enda Kennys launch of the Programme for Government and Restatement of Priorities, writes Lloyd Mudiwa. Not quite so.

While political opponents feel health was overlooked in An Taoiseach Enda Kennys speech at the launch of the Programme for Government and Restatement of priorities for good reason, a perusal of the full progress report has some pleasantly surprising results.

Chronic crowding in hospital emergency departments and long waiting lists, and the commitment to replace a two-tier health system with a universal healthcare model are just some of the alleged failures that have been cited by the Opposition.

While, the trolley crisis seems to have been ignored in the report, universal healthcare is somewhat addressed.

A White Paper on Universal Health Insurance (UHI) was published in 2014 with a report on the potential costs of the White Paper model published in November 2015, the progress report points out in a section addressing some of the major individual health reform commitments made by Fine Gael and Labour coalition in its Programme for Government.

The Economic and Social Research Institute reports underpinning the initial costing exercise for UHI, published in November, concluded that more research was needed in this area before definitive conclusions could be drawn about the best type of model to implement universal healthcare in Ireland.

Nonetheless, some first steps towards the introduction of universal healthcare have been taken through the rolling out of the free GP care for infants, according to the progress report.

Health reform

Since the publication in 2012 of Future Health, which sets out a roadmap of major healthcare reforms, significant progress has been made  according to the Coalition  on the implementation of significant measures towards transforming the Irish health system.

Seven new hospital groups have been established as a first step to independent hospital trusts, activity-based funding (ABF) has been rolled out in 38 public hospitals, and an ABF Implementation plan 2015-2017 was published last year.

Huge advances have also occurred in general practice, the Government believes, with the introduction of free GP care, wider access for GPs to the GMS lists, work beginning on a new GP GMS contract, and the restructuring of the health service with the Board of the HSE abolished and replaced by a Directorate, which was described as being more accountable to the Minister for Health.

The Vote of the HSE has also been disestablished and funding of health services is now provided through the Vote of the Office of the Minister for Health.

GP care

GP care without fees for children under six years of age was introduced in July 2015 and by the late December more than 219,000 children and 93 per cent of GMS GPs had signed up to the scheme.

Free GP care at point of access for all persons aged 70 years and older commenced one month later (August 2015), and by late December more than 50,500 older people had registered for the service.

These initial steps towards universal healthcare mean, for the first time, some 800,000 of the eldest and youngest in our society are now able to access GP care without being charged, the Governments review notes.

Furthermore, Budget 2016 announced the plan to extend universal GP care to all children aged 11 years and under, subject to the negotiation of a comprehensive new GP contract for the provision of services with the IMO.

In relation to the contract negotiations, a Memorandum of Understanding has already been signed with the medical representative body to develop a modernised contractual framework focused strongly on strengthening GP services and the role of primary care.

Progress on the 2015 pilot initiatives to expand capacity to manage patients in primary care include: providing GPs direct access to ultrasound at eight primary care sites in the South and West, which is expected to deliver 13,000 ultrasounds in the initial 12-month period, and the provision of additional minor surgery services with 24 GP surgeons in 20 practices across 11 counties performing a wide range of surgical procedures.

In a bid to prioritise the publics access to primary care, a suite of actions have been implemented to improve the operation of the medical card system, and since mid-2014 the number of discretionary medical cards has increased by 87 per cent  from approximately 52,000 in mid-2014 to nearly 98,000 at the beginning of December, more than at any other time before.

The HSE Clinical Advisory Group is working on developing guidance on the operation of a more compassionate and trusted medical card scheme and based on a recommendation by the Group, since June last all children under 18 years with a diagnosis of cancer are being awarded a medical card.

In total, more than 2.1 million people, or 46 per cent of the population, are covered by a medical or GP visit card, states the progress report.

And the regulation underpinning the new European Fund for Strategic Investments (ESFI) was agreed in June.

The Department of Healths Public Private Partnership (PPP) project involving 14 primary care centres across Ireland was one of the first projects to be supported by the EFSI.

Improving health services

A National Carers Strategy was published in 2012 setting the strategic direction for future policies, services and supports for carers.

Also a new 34-bed cystic fibrosis unit in St Vincents University Hospital (SVUH), Dublin opened in August 2012; while other specialist units have opened in Beaumont, Cork University Hospital and University Hospital Limerick.

A catch-up programme for Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination of all girls in secondary school was implemented, and the National Breast Screening Programme, BreastCheck, was extended to women up to age 69 years with screening commencing in 2015.

The Pharmacy Needle Exchange Programme target of recruiting 130 pharmacies was exceeded with 133 recruited in total, while the law was changed allowing life-saving rescue medicines, such as adrenaline and glucagon, to be administered by trained members of the public in emergency situations.

Other legislative reforms, undertaken since March 2011, that reportedly have improved the health services were the enactment of the Protection of Life during Pregnancy Act 2013, with related implementation guidelines published in 2014, and the passing of the Protection of Childrens Health (Tobacco Smoke in Mechanically Propelled Vehicles) Bill providing for a ban on smoking in cars and plain packaging.



Hospital groups

Funded on a money follows the patient basis, the hospital groups have been established in line with the Governments programme for reform of the health service, initially on a non-statutory administrative basis, pending the establishment of Hospital Trusts with the focus now turning to the development of Hospital Group Strategic Plans, the report notes.

During the summer of 2015, the ABF Implementation Plan 2015-2017 was published, which provides a roadmap and comprehensive list of 34 actions to ensure this new method of funding becomes fully embedded in the acute hospital system over the coming years.

ABF budgets for inpatient and day-care services are being introduced for the 38 largest public hospitals.

The progress report reveals that the development of ABF budgeting for other areas like outpatients will continue in 2016.

Mental Health

Some 160m of additional funding has been provided for mental health services since 2011, when the coalition Government came into power.

Approximately 1,150 additional posts have been filled or offered, with further recruitment progressing to strengthen community mental health teams and to enhance specialist community mental health services.

The general adult, and child and adolescent teams have also been reconfigured for an integrated recovery-focused model of care.

Progress has been made on reducing waiting lists for child and adolescent mental health services and new standard operating procedures at local level, reads the report, which also recalled that the review of the Mental Health Act 2001 completed in March 2015 led to the drafting of new legislation.

Some three months later, a new Suicide Prevention Strategy, Connecting for Life 2015-2020, which set a target to reduce suicide and self-harm by 10 per cent over the five-year period, was launched.

And a substantial increase in budget for the National Office for Suicide Prevention from 3.7 million in 2010 to the current level of 11.55 million, with an extra 2.75 million provided this year for additional suicide prevention resource officers, has also been underscored.

Yet another success in health for the Government, according to the progress report, is that it secured planning permission and construction work is currently under way to replace the Central Mental Hospital with a new forensic facility in Portrane.

Other highlights

Among several other highlights flagged in the progress report was the submission of the planning application for the new national childrens hospital at the St Jamess Hospital campus and the satellite centres at Tallaght and Blanchardstown in August 2015.

In relation to maternity services, a National Women and Infants Health programme is being established to lead the management of maternity services and a National Maternity Strategy is close to finalisation.

Also being finalised is the planning application for the redevelopment of the National Maternity Hospital on the SVUH campus.

Also highlighted is the single national ambulance control and command system and a permanent Emergency Aeromedical Service, along with Healthy Ireland, the national health and well-being initiative, launched in 2013, which is focused on keeping people healthier for longer through targeted preventative strategies, including grappling with obesity, alcohol cessation, tobacco cessation and promotion of physical activity.

The Public Health (Alcohol) Bill, 2015 has also been published setting out measures to address alcohol misuse.

Another piece of legislation, the Health Identifiers Act, 2014 provides for a national system of unique identifiers to streamline information for patients and health service providers.

In respect of promoting exercise, this weeks publication of the first National Physical Activity Plan is envisaged in the progress report. While another first was the publication of the first National Sexual Health Strategy in October 2015, which is aimed at tackling the rising incidence of sexually transmitted infections, with a focus on improved sexual health education and services.

The progress report also highlights the major package of patient safety reforms announced in November 2015, including the creation of a National Patient Safety Office and a patient advocacy service.

The previously highlighted deal agreed with the pharmaceutical industry in 2012 reduced the cost of the States bill on existing medicines by 400m over three years, while the Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Act 2013 provides for cheaper generic drugs and reference pricing, were once again raised.

A permanent risk-equalisation scheme to support community rating in the private health insurance market keeping it affordable for older and less healthy people in society was now in place, along with measures introduced to help stabilise the sector, including special lower premiums for young adults and the introduction of Lifetime Community Rating.

The Government has decreed that Vhi Healthcare is to be kept in public ownership, with the process of authorising the insurance firm completed by the Central Bank in 2015.

Technically delivered

However, while the Government has technically delivered on a lot during its five-year term of office, judging by this listing of achievements, a good few of these successes  for instance the first National Physical Activity Plan, which was only launched last week  have not yet become operational.

Perhaps most disappointing of all has been the failure to achieve significant movement on UHI, with access to care still not equal access for all, and more particularly the ED crowding crisis and the stubbornly high trolley numbers that are still released daily.
Beaumont Hospital is extending the Day Hospital at St Josephs, Raheny, from a two-day to a five-day service as part of its 2015-2016 winter capacity planning.

The Day Hospital provides a multi-disciplinary team for frail older people, thus providing an alternative care pathway for these patients, helping them to avoid a visit to Beaumonts Emergency Department (ED).

Rehabilitation and transitional care services are also provided at St Josephs, which facilitates earlier discharge from Beaumont and assists in avoiding re-admissions.

Six of the beds at Beaumont that had been closed for refurbishment or infection control purposes during 2015 have re-opened and a further 21 beds were due to re-open in December.

Beaumont is one of the sites that has been the subject of particular focus for the Special Delivery Unit (SDU). Delayed discharge numbers at the hospital reduced from 95 on 25 November 2014 to 70 on 24 November 2015  thus freeing up 25 beds every day for acutely ill patients.

Any future investment at Beaumont must be considered within the context of the establishment of hospital groups, Minister for Health Dr Leo Varadkar said in response to Dail questioning by Independent Deputy Tommy Broughan. Each hospital group will be required to develop a strategic plan to describe how it will provide more efficient and effective patient services and reorganise its services to provide optimal care.

gary.culliton@imt.ie
Early supported discharge teams are currently operating from just four hospitals nationwide, despite strong evidence of their effectiveness in reducing average length of stay (ALOS) in hospitals.

ALOS for stroke now stands at 22.4 days, according to a new audit, which although a week less than in 2008 is still around a week longer than in the UK.

There is a large deficit in the availability of rehabilitation services to stroke patients, with few receiving the level of therapy recommended in national and international guidelines, a new audit has found. And whilst half of stroke survivors suffer anxiety, depression, or severe psychological distress, access to services was limited to just two hospitals nationally, the audit has shown.

Around 7,000 people are hospitalised due to stroke each year and the death toll  at just below 2,000  makes stroke Irelands third biggest killer disease after cancer and heart disease.

The death rate from stroke in Ireland has been cut by more than a quarter and the rate of direct discharge to nursing homes has almost halved in the past seven years, a national audit of acute stroke services carried out by the Irish Heart Foundation (IHF) and HSE has shown.

Speaking at the launch last week (January 12), National Stroke Programme co-lead Prof Joe Harbison called for greater investment in the new clot retrieval therapy, thrombectomy, which Irish doctors have helped to pioneer and which trials show could reduce death and severe permanent disability from stroke by 50 per cent.

The study showed that in-hospital mortality has been reduced from 19 to 14 per cent, while 8 per cent of patients are now being discharged to nursing homes, compared to 15 per cent in 2008 when the previous national audit was conducted.

The improvement in outcomes has been driven by the HSEs National Stroke Programme, which has led to a reorganisation of acute stroke services, increasing the number of hospitals with stroke units from one to 21 and raising the rate of potentially lifesaving thrombolysis treatment tenfold to 11 per cent  one of the highest national rates in the world  in the wake of the IHFs FAST campaign.

Despite the Programmes success in developing services, many stroke deaths remain preventable, while a high proportion of stroke survivors continue to suffer undue disability in terms of both severity and length of time due to inadequate rehabilitation services. For example, despite their crucial importance in improving outcomes, only 29 per cent of patients are admitted directly to a stroke unit and almost half do not receive treatment in a unit at any point during their hospital stay.

Nearly a quarter of hospitals providing acute stroke care did not meet minimum requirements and three of these had none of the required infrastructure in place for a stroke unit, the audit revealed.

In addition, there are staffing deficits of 50 per cent for physiotherapists, 61 per cent for occupational therapists and 31 per cent for speech and language therapists, while only 44 per cent of hospitals had any access to medical social workers and only 19 per cent had access to a neuropsychologist.

The audit shows encouraging improvement in many areas of stroke care that has been achieved in the midst of the worst economic crisis in the history of the State, a rapidly contracting health service and just a small amount of dedicated financial resource, said Prof Harbison, who led the audit along with Dr Paul McElwaine and project manager Joan McCormack of the IHF. But the progress made cannot take away from persistent substantial deficits in services.

He pointed out that the study showed that only about half of patients were admitted to a stroke unit at any time during their hospital stay. Treatment in a stroke unit is the most basic standard in the care of stroke patients and substantially improves the chances of independent recovery after a stroke, stressed Prof Harbison.

gary.culliton@imt.ie
News / Africa

by Stephen Jakes

One of the criminals who broke into a resident's home in Limpopo and was caught red handed preferred to shot himself while his colleagues ran away.Daily Sun reported that when the owner of the house ran out to get help from the community and his two accomplices fled, the thug apparently took out his gun and killed himself!The incident in Thohoyandou unit E, Limpopo, has left residents sighing with relief because there will be one thug less to terrorise them.The owner of the house, who did not want to be named as she was afraid of thugs, said she found the suspect holding a rifle in her house and she ran off to get help.Community leader Thifhelimbilu Liphadzi said he heard residents shouting at six in the morning on Monday and went out to see what was going on."I found three people running. I followed them and phoned the cops, who came to the rescue. One of the men managed to escape, another was attacked by angry residents and then arrested and a third unknown person shot and killed himself," he said."Thugs have no place to hide, because as community members we help each other catch them."Thohoyandou police spokesman Major Mashudu Malelo confirmed the incident and said an inquest docket was opened."The suspect is still unknown at the moment but we were able to recover the firearm he used when he shot and killed himself."We are still waiting for the home owner to open a docket so we can charge the other suspect with theft."The third suspect is still on the run," Malelo said.
'Big Brother is Watching': Anand Mahindra Shares Video Highlighting The Dark Truth of Technology
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Canadian fashion photographer Raphael Mazzucco has swapped his camera for canvas and will be exhibiting his strikingly colourful artworks in London this February.

Mazzucco has snapped numerous celebrities and created iconic images for huge global brands throughout a 20-year photography career, including Calvin Klein, Victorias Secret, Playboy, Vogue and Ralph Lauren.

He arrived on the fine art scene to critical acclaim six years ago and counts Damien Hirst among his biggest supporters.

Mazzuccos mixed media pieces are heavily inspired by the natural female form and landscape. He begins his projects with a fashion shot, before building up a layered narrative using paint, hand-lettered text and collage to create a cutting-edge, energetic feel.

Raphael Mazzucco: From camera to canvas Show all 9 1 /9 Raphael Mazzucco: From camera to canvas Raphael Mazzucco: From camera to canvas "Reflections" by Raphael Mazzucco, mixed media, 'Biophilia' collection 2015 Raphael Mazzucco: From camera to canvas "Portrait" by Raphael Mazzucco, giclee on paper, 'Raphael Mazzucco' 2016 Raphael Mazzucco: From camera to canvas "Mexico I" by Raphael Mazzucco, giclee on paper, 'Raphael Mazzucco' 2016 Raphael Mazzucco: From camera to canvas "Just Like A Woman" by Raphael Mazzucco, mixed media, 'Biophilia' collection 2015 Raphael Mazzucco: From camera to canvas "Iceland" by Raphael Mazzucco, mixed media, 'Biophilia' collection 2015 Raphael Mazzucco: From camera to canvas "Chantal" by Raphael Mazzucco, giclee on paper, 'Raphael Mazzucco' 2016 Raphael Mazzucco: From camera to canvas "Blue Amazon" by Raphael Mazzucco, mixed media, 'Montauk' collection 2014 Raphael Mazzucco: From camera to canvas "Beleza" by Raphael Mazzucco, mixed media, 'Montauk' collection 2014 Raphael Mazzucco: From camera to canvas "Vietnam Pastel II" by Raphael Mazzucco, giclee on paper, 'Raphael Mazzucco' 2016

Some artworks are violent, using dripping red paint and aggressive slashes, while others take a more meditative, organic approach.

Mazzucco has showcased his art all over the world, from Milan to Melbourne, Hong Kong to New York City.

The London exhibition is running for free at Castle Fine Art gallery on South Molton Street, Mayfair from 5-21 February. There will also be a Birmingham exhibition at Castle Fine Art in The Mailbox from 6-21 February.
Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse Loughrey Get our The Life Cinematic email for free Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

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Liverpool's The Small Cinema is helping locals celebrate Groundhog Day the right way, by slowly driving themselves crazy whilst watching the 1993 Bill Murray comedy 12 times in a row over the course of 24 hours.

Starting at 6am on Tuesday 2 February, Groundhog Day, the cinema will screen back-to-back showings of the film. Part endurance test, part celebration of Harold Ramis' classic feelgood film; they'll be offering potential filmgoers four different ways to experience the mayhem.

The constitutionally weak can plump for a single viewing, or perhaps a double if they're at least showing some commitment to the cause. The Twilight Hog ticket allows viewers to spend as much of their daytime or nighttime with the film, while the Whole Hog is the true test: 24 hours, with sandwiches and tea as the fuel to success.

Recommended Read more Groundhog Day musical to premiere at Old Vic from Matilda theatre

Christopher Brown, who works at 56-seater establishment, told the BBC the idea was "a mixture of silliness and genuine endurance challenge." An experience he then compared to, "trying to eat crackers without a glass of water [or] having a doughnut without licking your lips. At the very least, it'll give the audience a new-found appreciation for Bill Murray's character's plight."

The marathon is also hoping to raise sponsorship money for the future screening of free films.
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Kurt Russell has defended The Hateful Eight against misogyny claims, arguing that his character John Ruths violent treatment of Jennifer Jason Leighs Daisy Domergue is crucial to the story.

The US actor plays a bounty hunter in Quentin Tarantinos latest Western who is tasked with bringing fugitive Daisy to hang for her murderous crimes. Forced to take shelter from a blizzard in Minnies Haberdashery, they are met by a group of strangers Ruth is convinced are there to kill him and save Daisy.

Described by Tarantino as a brutal bastard, Ruth hits Daisy with the butt of his gun, throws hot stew at her and repeatedly punches her in the face, giving her black eyes and turning the audience against him exactly as the director intended.

Recommended Read more The Hateful Eight might be heading to the West End as a play

Russell who, perhaps unlike some cinema-goers, fully understands Tarantinos vision, finds the suggestion of misogyny ridiculous.

When people say that, they reveal themselves. You step outside that box, Im going to beat the s**t out of you. I dont care if youre a five-year-old kid, Ive got a license here that says I can kill you, he told news.com.au.

Forget misogyny, I can murder you. You have no rights, nothing. If you dont treat that woman [the same], who in this case is every bit deserving of it, what are you, a sexist? You dont think women are equal to men?

 The Hateful Eight 70mm Featurette

Producer Harvey Weinstein has accused those crying misogyny of fishing for stupidity while Leigh told Variety that Tarantino writes the best parts for women out therebrave, bold, insane, fabulous women and that she didnt think [The Hateful Eight] was misogynistic for a second.

Quentin Tarantino's best cameos Show all 7 1 /7 Quentin Tarantino's best cameos Quentin Tarantino's best cameos Jimmie Dimmick in Pulp Fiction (1994) Here he plays Jimmie Dimmick, who gets caught up in Vincent and Jules body disposing and panics over how on earth hes going to get rid of the bloody evidence before his wife gets home. Quentin Tarantino's best cameos Mr Brown in Reservoir Dogs (1992) Tarantino opens Reservoir Dogs as Mr Brown, talking about Madonna hit Like a Virgin, before later being shot in the head, crashing his car and dying. Brief, but dramatic. Quentin Tarantino's best cameos Miner in Django Unchained (2013) Tarantino's Django cameo is much maligned. His Aussie miner appeared somewhat randomly in his first Western movie, before blowing himself up with his own dynamite. Quentin Tarantino's best cameos Warren in Death Proof (2007) Warrens owns the Texas Chili Parlour bar in this thriller about the murders of four women at the hands of a crazed stuntman. His own jukebox can be seen in the scene. Quentin Tarantino's best cameos Pick-up guy in Desperado (1995) Not one of his own films, but Tarantino did a favour for director Robert Rodriguez and agreed to a cameo. He wrote the three-minute long wee joke that he tells before being being killed. Quentin Tarantino's best cameos Elvis impersonator in The Golden Girls (1988) Not technically a cameo, but too funny not to include. Before his career kicked off, Tarantino played an Elvis impersonator on a 1988 episode of Golden Girls. Quentin Tarantino's best cameos Dead Nazi in Inglourious Basterds (2009) In this one he is a dead Nazi being scalped. Lovely.

Tarantino, naturally, has the final word: Violence is hanging over every one of those characters like a cloak of night. So Im not going to go, Okay, thats the case for seven of the characters but because one is a woman, I have to treat her differently. Im not going to do that.
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Downton Abbey, The Great British Bake Off and Strictly Come Dancing are among the winners at the National Television Awards 2016.

Downton Abbey's Hugh Bonneville thanked Julian Fellowes, the show's creator, for "giving us wonderful lines to say".

EastEnders won a double award, the prize for best serial drama and best serial drama performance, which was awarded to Danny Dyer, who plays Mick Carter.

Aidan Turner's shirtless scything scene in Poldark was awarded TV Moment of the Year.

"I guess the pecs kinda speak for themselves," he said as he collected the award.

Gogglebox defied expectations, picking up the award for Best Factual Entertainment, which was predicted to go to Top Gear.

The full list of winners for the National Television Awards 2016:
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Making a Murderer was a pretty frustrating show to watch for a number of reasons: it showed how the American justice system is seemingly perverse, it presented Steven Avery as being innocent, and it proved how little we can do about either.

But, after showing us the majority of the evidence presented in court (you can read everything left out here), the filmmakers delved very little into one of the biggest questions every viewer was left asking - if Steven Avery didnt kill Teresa Halbach, who did?

Well, there are multiple theories doing rounds on the internet, one of the more obscure being Edward Wayne Edwards: a notorious serial killer who was once on the FBIs ten most wanted fugitive list.

For John Cameron - an FBI cold case worker who has been featured on America's Most Wanted and Dateline NBC - hes certainly the killer, the agent believing Edwards framed Avery for the murder, having set numerous people up for crimes in the past.

What it turns out Edwards would do is he would create horrific murders that were in the press constantly that created terror, and he would set people up, he told Coast to Coast AM in May 2014.

It was always about the setup. Starting a very young age, when he was 12-years-old, he was able to set up a guy for a murder he had done. And the rest of his life he would get off on not only killing people but then setting up someone close to the victim and then watching the system execute them.

Just before Edwards came to Great Falls, Montana, in 1956, he set up a guy in Berkeley, California, exactly like he set up Steve Avery. The interview starts at the 3.30 mark.

He then goes on to talk about the California case, describing how Edwards hid a persons body for three months before planting their belongings around the murderers house. Eventually, Edwards placed the body in a cabin, and the person being set up was convicted for the crime and executed by the authorities.

Thats just one case Cameron describes. According to his report, Edwards would often go to towns across America with an assumed identity - normally a preacher or a cop - before finally killing someone.

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 Making A Murderer- Where are they now?

He would proceed to send false letters to the press, hinting that the innocent person was guilty, leading to the media printing numerous articles accusing someone and the system eventually punishing them.

Edwards was only convicted of five crimes in his lifetime: in 2010 he was finally charged with the murder of Billy Lavaco and Judy Straub in Ohio which dated back to 1977.

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.

A second double murder took place in 1980 in Wisconsin - where Avery was sentenced - dubbed the Sweetheart Murders. Only 29 years later, when new DNA evidence was presented, was he actually convicted of the crime, his own child reportedly tipping off the police.

Then, in 1996, he murdered Danny Boy Edwards in Ohio. He wasnt convicted of this crime until 2011, when he was given the death sentence. However, he died a month later from natural causes.

 Making A Murderer- Where are they now?

So, how has Cameron linked Edwards and Avery? Well, first of all, Edwards murdered multiple times on Halloween night. Coincidently, Teresa Halbach went missing on Halloween.

Secondly, Edwards was known to visit the trials of his victims while they are taking place. Apparently, Edwards can be seen in the background of Making a Murderer in episode six.

Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, Cameron claims that Edwards was living just an hour away from Avery at the time of the murder.

Now, hold up. Lets not all get ahead of ourselves here. This is one man accusing Edwards of hundreds upon hundreds of murders. Check out his website, it's filled with accusations against Edwards, blaring out the headline EDWARDS IS THE KILLER OF TERESA HALBACH AND SET-UP OF STEVEN AVERY AND BRENDAN DASSEY.

Of course, he is an ex-FBI worker, which gives him some credibility, but when youre throwing around huge accusations you can never be sure whats true or not.

Cameron has spoken numerous times about the case, which you can explore for yourself by checking out his book on Edwards and these podcasts. Go forth, armchair detectives!

In other Making a Murderer news, a book based on the case is to be published by Penguin Random House for the first time in the UK.
News / National

by Tendai Rupapa

A Form Four pupil at Churchill Boys High in Harare hired a taxi before stealing the vehicle after the driver disembarked to look for change at Fife Avenue Shopping Centre.Sherpherd Kapita (19) was arrested two weeks later after the owner of the vehicle, a Honda Fit, saw him driving it in the city centre.Kapita pleaded guilty to theft of a motor vehicle when he appeared before Ms Bianca Makwande.When asked by the magistrate why he committed the offence, Kapita said he had been sent by his mother to Zambia and used all the money on beer and women, hence he was afraid to go back home."Your Worship, I was afraid to go back home so I thought of stealing a vehicle so that I would use it as a taxi and raise the $300 which I had used," he said.Kapita pleaded for the court's leniency, arguing that he was still in school and Ms Makwande rolled over the matter to today for sentencing.Ms Makwande ordered the State to confirm with Churchill High School if indeed Kapita was a pupil there.The prosecutor, Ms Dorah Moyo, said that on January 3, Priviledge Musekiwa was parking his vehicle in the city centre which he was using as a taxi when he was approached by Kapita.Kapita hired Musekiwa on the pretext that he wanted to see his girlfriend in the Avenues area.On arrival at the said block of flats, Kapita disembarked and told Musekiwa to wait for him while he went upstairs.He came back after some few minutes and told Musekiwa that his girlfriend was still busy and ordered Musekiwa to proceed to Fife Avenue Shopping Centre, saying he wanted to buy food so that he could get some change.Upon arrival at the shops, Kapita gave Musekiwa $10 and told him to go and buy him a drink and get his fare which was $3.Musekiwa left Kapita in the vehicle and went into OK Supermarket.When he returned, his vehicle was nowhere to be seen and was advised by other motorists that Kapita had driven off.On January 18 at around 8am, Musekiwa was aboard a commuter omnibus when he saw Kapita driving his vehicle.He jumped from the moving kombi through the window and ran towards his vehicle and managed to snatch the ignition keys after a struggle with Kapita. He then made a police report.
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The owls are not what they seem. UK fans of David Lynch's cult show will have to look to Sky Atlantic to get their fix of the new series, currently set to air in 2017.



The broadcaster struck a pan-European deal with US channel Showtime, estimated to be worth more than 500M; the largest multi-territory agreement ever secured by Sky.

"This is one of the most important content deals Sky has ever agreed, cementing Skys position as the market leader in Europe for world-class drama," stated Sky managing director of content Gary Davey.

"The agreement means our customers can enjoy an incredible slate of upcoming new dramas like Billions, Twin Peaks and also explore hundreds of hours of amazing series such as Dexter, Californication, The Affair and House of Lies on demand from the back catalogue of one of the worlds most exciting pay TV networks."

That means Sky Atlantic will indeed be the destination to see both Twin Peaks, and the highly-anticipated Wall Street drama Billions, starring Damian Lews and Paul Giamatti. Other shows included in the deal include Ray Donovan, Nurse Jackie, Brotherhood, The Borgias, and the original Twin Peaks.

Sky had previously licensed select Showtime shows from CBS; there was always a strong possibility Twin Peaks would eventually land on Sky Atlantic, even without the deal, but this new development has secured its place long before its airing.



Twin Peaks will now come to Sky Atlantic in 2017.
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Bill does not forward chain emails. He does not take duck-faced selfies or click into schemes from Nigerian princes. He certainly doesnt play Candy Crush, Instagram his lattes or post vague, passive-aggressive Facebook statuses.

What Bill does do is instruct an audience of millions on some of the blunt details of social media etiquette: how to share and connect without alienating half your friends. Since 7 January, his stick-figured visage has attracted an audience of more than 1 million on an English-language Facebook fanpage, as well as fellow audiences in Spanish, Italian, Malaysian and Arabic. Whatever the language, the message is the same: This is Bill. Bill does [blank]. Be like him.

Recommended Read more How to hide the Be Like Bill posts that are taking over Facebook

Its hard to put a finger on what exactly makes a good meme, said Debabrata Nath, one of two men behind Bills most popular English-language Facebook page. [But] we feel it has to be something that doesnt take itself too seriously, is simple to understand and at the same time can make people relate.

By that standard, Bill may just be the best Internet meme of all time: After all, there are few things quite so relatable, so fundamentally human, as policing other peoples faults, especially online.

This is Bill, reads one meme, shared by 68,000 people. Bill knows that if he doesnt click like, or say amen, people wont die, orphaned children wont get cancer and his luck wont be good or bad.

This is Bill, reads another. Bill doesnt reshare his memories from 7 years ago.

Bills sudden elevation from aging message board repost to global phenomenon is largely the work of one man, Eugeniu Croitoru, a 23-year-old Moldovan expat who has long specialised in geek and gaming memes and lives in Milan. Bill had been popping in and out of forums for months, and his Italian avatar  Sii Come Bill  was blowing up in Italy. So Croitoru, the proprietor of the popular gaming site Videogamemes, slapped Bill with a joke about Star Wars spoilers and floated it by the Videogamemes community. The reaction was so immediate that Croitoru started a separate page for Bill and enlisted his friend Nath to help run the page, the two of them soon churning out a stream of criticisms on everything from vague-posting to gym selfies.

There are few among us, of course, who havent at some point been annoyed by posts just like these: According to a 2013 poll by the search engine Bing, 40 percent of surveyed adults were sick of boring Facebook statuses, and 25 percent said their friends posted too many selfies.

But attempts to police such behaviors can easily go too far, as the case of Bill makes very clear. In the weeks since he achieved worldwide virality, Bill has also attracted a large contingent of haters who fault his smarmy tone and his lack of self-awareness. (Posting memes about other peoples posting habits seems like a poor way to make a point.) On top of that, while groups such as Croitoru and Naths were initially Bills gatekeepers, the memes template is simple enough that anyone can, and is, editing it. As a result, the Internet hordes have turned the meme to more political purposes: arguments on why all Muslims should get special security screenings at airports, PC culture be damned, and rants against man-hating feminists.

The best sporting memes of 2015 Show all 21 1 /21 The best sporting memes of 2015 The best sporting memes of 2015 Charlton Lowly Charlton joke that Bournemouths Championship title isn't secure, with a huge goal difference swing on the final day of the season seeing Eddie Howe's side usurped to the title... The best sporting memes of 2015 Jamie Vardy Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy breaks Ruud van Nistelrooy's record of scoring in successive games... The best sporting memes of 2015 Jonathan Walters Stoke striker Jonathan Walkers pokes fun at Raheem Sterling's wage demands after it emerged that the young forward had rejected an offer of 100,000-a-week from Liverpool The best sporting memes of 2015 David De Gea David De Gea was nailed on to leave Manchester United, but then everything went wrong at the last minute, apparently because Real Madrid couldn't open a document they had been sent... The best sporting memes of 2015 Paul Anderson Ipswich player Paul Anderson offered to pay to repair a fan's ceiling after he punches it in celebration... The best sporting memes of 2015 Harry Kane The Tottenham striker made a six year olds day when he replied to this letter: 'Brilliantly worded letter. I'll ask Roy Hodgson but I think I'll have to be at Wembley! Enjoy your kickabout!' The best sporting memes of 2015 More from Harry Kane The Tottenham striker capped his brilliant 2014/15 season by making his England debut in March and scoring after 81 seconds... The best sporting memes of 2015 Alan Shearer The Newcastle legend joined Twitter and proved he had a sense of humour... The best sporting memes of 2015 Justin Bieber The singer loves that a Southend player puts his surge in form down to new album... The best sporting memes of 2015 Steven Gerrard The former Liverpool captain gets sent off moments after being brought on as a half-time substitute... The best sporting memes of 2015 Chelsea stadium This wasn't the only thing the plans for Chelsea's new stadium was likened to... The best sporting memes of 2015 Wayne Rooney The Manchester United captain said he planned to team up with Stone Cold Steve Austin for a fight with Bad News Barrett and Preston's Kevin Davies at WrestleMania... The best sporting memes of 2015 Brendan Rodgers sacking Jamie Carragher and Thierry Henry react to the news that Rodgers has been sacked by Liverpool... The best sporting memes of 2015 Wayne Rooney (again) That knock out celebration by the Manchester United striker was brilliant, and was quite rightly given the meme treatment... The best sporting memes of 2015 Transfer deadline day This is where those dodgy stories were coming from... The best sporting memes of 2015 Saido Mane The Southampton striker scored a hat-trick for Southampton in just 2 minutes 56 seconds... The best sporting memes of 2015 Jerome Boateng The Bayern Munich defender was dumped by Lionel Messi in the Champions League - the internet went wild... The best sporting memes of 2015 Radamel Falcao Amid Radamel Falcao's problems at Manchester United... The best sporting memes of 2015 Diego Costa The Chelsea striker's stamping didn't go unnoticed... The best sporting memes of 2015 Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport troll Arsenal fans on #DeadlineDay in their bid for a striker... The best sporting memes of 2015 Petr Cech Some Chelsea fans didn't take Petr Cech's move to Arsenal all that well...

Not coincidentally, that is how Bill began, six years before he came to Croitorus attention: as a geek-forum shorthand for mocking the outraged and politically correct, frequently social progressives.

The earliest version of the Bill meme  that we could find, anyway!  was posted to Joyreactor in March 2010. (Joyreactor)

Theres a gulf between young Bill and contemporary Bill, of course; among other things, he has widened the scope of his derision. Where Bill once shut down feminists and fatties, hes now devoted to passive-aggressively shaming anyone who fails to adhere to his particular rules of etiquette.

On one hand, thats a practice as old as time: Shame has always been the way societies enforce their particular social norms. And yet, Bill  a character incubated in geek forums, and propagated by a series of teenage and 20-something men  seems like the wrong guy to dictate who should do what online, and in what way, and how often.

The claim that the Bill figure is not political is dissemblance, sums up Janet Sayers, a professor at New Zealands Massey University who has researched political discourse on the Internet. It is a replication, perhaps even a hyper-replication, of social life  which is itself strict in its rules, brutal in its judgments and biased in the way both are applied.

Nath, the co-creator of the Be Like Bill Facebook page, really doesnt want people to read too far into all this. Yes, he acknowledges, some Bill fans have taken the meme to dictatorial extremes that he and Croitoru dont agree with. Yes, he says, even Bills tamest admonishments have outraged some readers who dont want a stick figure policing them.

But in the free memeconomy, Nath insists, only the best memes rise to the top  and sure enough, offshoots of the meme that subvert Bill seem to be getting more shares and posts on Facebook now. One popular version shows a bloody stick figure Photoshopped onto a movie poster: This is Uma Thurman, it reads. She killed Bill. Be like Uma.

Alas, Be Like Uma has yet to inspire any fan pages, brand messages or Urdu-language derivatives. It appears that advocating for open expression and exchange on Facebook is slightly less viral than shaming it. And in that regard, at least, Bill may prove sadly significant.

He is a bit of Internet ephemera, and will probably be over soon, Sayers said. But I am a great believer that these bits of ephemera are very interesting and a sort of bellwether of social attitudes.

Copyright: Washington Post
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Adopting a duck-face pout, snapping a selfie and sending it to join the millions of others on Instagram might seem like harmless fun.

But a new study has suggested that it may have a negative impact on your relationships.

Researchers at the Florida State University conducted the study to investigate whether publishing selfies on the social media website held any consequences.

To make their findings, they asked 420 Instagram users aged between 18 and 62 years of age to fill out an online questionnaire about how many selfies they took and their relationships.

The results showed that how satisfied a participant felt with their body was associated with the amount of selfies they posted on Instagram.

This in turn was linked with negative outcomes in relationships.

Researchers hope that their findings will contribute to the understand of how Instagram can affect our lives.

The study follows a separate investigation into whether selfies are linked with psychopathy.

In pictures: Interview Magazine's 'Selfie' issue Show all 8 1 /8 In pictures: Interview Magazine's 'Selfie' issue In pictures: Interview Magazine's 'Selfie' issue Interview Magazine's 'Selfie' issue Zayn Malik on the cover of Interview Magazine's September issue In pictures: Interview Magazine's 'Selfie' issue Interview Magazine's 'Selfie' issue Miley Cyrus on the cover of Interview Magazine's September issue In pictures: Interview Magazine's 'Selfie' issue Interview Magazine's 'Selfie' issue Selena Gomez on the cover of Interview Magazine's September issue In pictures: Interview Magazine's 'Selfie' issue Interview Magazine's 'Selfie' issue Jennifer Lopez on the cover of Interview Magazine's September issue In pictures: Interview Magazine's 'Selfie' issue Interview Magazine's 'Selfie' issue Victoria Beckham on the cover of Interview Magazine's September issue In pictures: Interview Magazine's 'Selfie' issue Interview Magazine's 'Selfie' issue Madonna on the cover of Interview Magazine's September issue In pictures: Interview Magazine's 'Selfie' issue Interview Magazine's 'Selfie' issue Kim Kardashian on the cover of Interview Magazine's September issue In pictures: Interview Magazine's 'Selfie' issue Interview Magazine's 'Selfie' issue Mert Alas on the cover of Interview Magazine's September issue

A team at Ohio State University concluded in early 2015 that men who post photos of themselves online scored higher on tests measuring narcissism and psychopathy.

However, those who edited those photos had stronger narcissistic tendencies, according to researchers.

Nevertless Jesse Fox, lead author of the study and assistant professor of communication at The Ohio State University, stressed that the results do not mean that men who post a lot of selfies are automatically narcissists or psychopaths.

Instead, the men scored within the average range of normal behaviour, but had high than average levels of these anti-social traits.
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The UK will spend 43bn a year less on health than its European counterparts by 2020, according to new research.

The Kings Fund, which carried out an analysis for The Guardian newspaper, pointed out that the UK spent 8.5 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on healthcare in 2013, putting it 13th out of the 15 original members of the European Union.

Labour said Britain was becoming the sick person of Europe, while the Liberal Democrats warned the NHS would crash if it did not get more funding.

Professor John Appleby, the funds chief economist, wrote: Whatever the flaws of international comparisons, its clear that the UK is currently a relatively low spender on healthcare, with a prospect of sinking further down the international league tables.

He said the UKs GDP was predicted to grow by about 15 per cent between 2014-15 and 2020-2021, but NHS spending would increase by just 5.2 per cent over the same period under current plans.

Spending the same on health as the 15 original EU members would take a huge rise in the NHS budget.

If we were to close this gap solely by increasing NHS spending, and assuming that health spending in other UK countries was in line with the 2015 spending review plans for England, by 2020-21 it would take an increase of 30 per cent  43bn  in real terms to match the EU-14s level of spend in 2013, taking total NHS spending to 185bn, Professor Appleby said.

Heidi Alexander, the shadow Health Secretary, refused to tell The Guardian if Labour would increase health spending to the EU average of 10.1 per cent of GDP.

However she said: No amount of spin from ministers can disguise the fact that this decade is set to be marked by the longest and deepest squeeze on NHS finances in a generation.

Our country is increasingly looking like the sick person of Europe, with spending on health falling far behind other neighbouring countries.

This squeeze on health spending is bad for the NHS and it is bad for patients. It is clear that our health service is going to need much more money than this government is prepared to spend.

Norman Lamb, who was a Liberal Democrat health minister until last years election, said: These new figures show why we cant just keep sleepwalking into a disaster. The NHS and care systems will crash if we carry on as we are because the current amount is not enough and everyone in the NHS knows it.

The Department of Health said it was providing the level of funding that the NHS had requested.

Rather than there being a political decision about levels of spending on healthcare, for the first time ever, the NHS said collectively in the Five Year Forward View what it needed for the future to transform services for patients, a spokesman said.

Were meeting our side of the bargain, with 10bn more from a strong economy, raising the NHS budget to the highest level in its history and increasing spending every year. We will also ensure the NHS gives good value for taxpayers.
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Governments and industry must join forces to combat superbugs responsible for the deaths of around 25,000 people in the EU alone every year.

More than 80 firms and pharmaceutical giants will issue a joint declaration at the World Economic Forum in Davos on the need to tackle antibiotic resistance. The increasing global threat occurs when bacteria adapt and find new ways to survive the effects of antibiotics.

If action is not taken the situation could get far worse with figures suggesting drug-resistant infections could kill an extra 10 million people across the world every year by 2050.

The new Declaration on Combating Antimicrobial Resistance - drafted and signed by 83 companies and eight industry associations from 16 countries - sees commercial drug and diagnostic developers agreeing on ways to develop new medicines and vaccines, as well as preserving the effects of existing drugs.

More rapid tests for illness to improve how antibiotics are prescribed, and cutting incentives that reward medics for prescribing antibiotics in large volumes, are two of the recommendations.

Health news in pictures Show all 40 1 /40 Health news in pictures Health news in pictures Coronavirus outbreak The coronavirus Covid-19 has hit the UK leading to the deaths of two people so far and prompting warnings from the Department of Health AFP via Getty Health news in pictures Thousands of emergency patients told to take taxi to hospital Thousands of 999 patients in England are being told to get a taxi to hospital, figures have showed. The number of patients outside London who were refused an ambulance rose by 83 per cent in the past year as demand for services grows Getty Health news in pictures Vape related deaths spike A vaping-related lung disease has claimed the lives of 11 people in the US in recent weeks. The US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has more than 100 officials investigating the cause of the mystery illness, and has warned citizens against smoking e-cigarette products until more is known, particularly if modified or bought off the street Getty Health news in pictures Baldness cure looks to be a step closer Researchers in the US claim to have overcome one of the major hurdles to cultivating human follicles from stem cells. The new system allows cells to grow in a structured tuft and emerge from the skin Sanford Burnham Preybs Health news in pictures Two hours a week spent in nature can improve health A study in the journal Scientific Reports suggests that a dose of nature of just two hours a week is associated with better health and psychological wellbeing Shutterstock Health news in pictures Air pollution linked to fertility issues in women Exposure to air from traffic-clogged streets could leave women with fewer years to have children, a study has found. Italian researchers found women living in the most polluted areas were three times more likely to show signs they were running low on eggs than those who lived in cleaner surroundings, potentially triggering an earlier menopause Getty/iStock Health news in pictures Junk food ads could be banned before watershed Junk food adverts on TV and online could be banned before 9pm as part of Government plans to fight the "epidemic" of childhood obesity. Plans for the new watershed have been put out for public consultation in a bid to combat the growing crisis, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said PA Health news in pictures Breeding with neanderthals helped humans fight diseases On migrating from Africa around 70,000 years ago, humans bumped into the neanderthals of Eurasia. While humans were weak to the diseases of the new lands, breeding with the resident neanderthals made for a better equipped immune system PA Health news in pictures Cancer breath test to be trialled in Britain The breath biopsy device is designed to detect cancer hallmarks in molecules exhaled by patients Getty Health news in pictures Average 10 year old has consumed the recommended amount of sugar for an adult By their 10th birthdy, children have on average already eaten more sugar than the recommended amount for an 18 year old. The average 10 year old consumes the equivalent to 13 sugar cubes a day, 8 more than is recommended PA Health news in pictures Child health experts advise switching off screens an hour before bed While there is not enough evidence of harm to recommend UK-wide limits on screen use, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health have advised that children should avoid screens for an hour before bed time to avoid disrupting their sleep Getty Health news in pictures Daily aspirin is unnecessary for older people in good health, study finds A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has found that many elderly people are taking daily aspirin to little or no avail Getty Health news in pictures Vaping could lead to cancer, US study finds A study by the University of Minnesota's Masonic Cancer Centre has found that the carcinogenic chemicals formaldehyde, acrolein, and methylglyoxal are present in the saliva of E-cigarette users Reuters Health news in pictures More children are obese and diabetic There has been a 41% increase in children with type 2 diabetes since 2014, the National Paediatric Diabetes Audit has found. 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

The declaration, which will be updated biennially, calls on governments to look at the financing arrangements for the research and development of new drugs, as well as antibiotic pricing to reflect the benefits they bring. It also says there is a need to reduce the link between the profitability of an antibiotic and the volume sold.

More training should be given for professionals in prescribing antibiotics, and support for initiatives aimed at ensuring affordable access to antibiotics in all parts of the world.

Lord Jim ONeill, chairman of the review on antimicrobial resistance, which will report to David Cameron, said: This declaration from industry is a major step forward in establishing a properly global response to the challenges of drug resistance.

The pharmaceutical industry, as well as society at large, cannot afford to ignore the threat of antibiotic resistance, so I commend those companies who have signed the declaration for recognising the long-term importance of revitalising research and development in antibiotics, and for their leadership in overcoming the difficult issues of collective action at play here.

Englands chief medical officer, Dame Sally Davies, said: A secure supply of new antibiotics for the future is clearly of vital importance, and I look forward to seeing an advancement of discussions between companies and governments on how we build new and sustainable market models that properly incentivise the discovery and development of new antibiotics, whilst ensuring affordable access to these crucial drugs for all those who need them in all parts of the world.

What is antibiotic resistance?

Antibiotic resistance is the resistance of a microbe to an antimicrobial medication that used to be effective in treating or preventing an infection caused by that microbe.

Resistance is a natural biological phenomenon but is increased and accelerated by various factors such as misuse of medicines, poor infection control practices and global trade and travel  which is a particular concern for antibiotics.

Many of the medical advances in recent years, for example organ transplantation and cancer chemotherapy, need antibiotics to prevent and treat the bacterial infections that can be caused by the treatment. Without effective antibiotics, even minor surgery and routine operations could become high risk procedures if serious infections cant be treated.
Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the

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While many put finding love down to chance, who we are attracted to may have far less romantic origins and instead be down to our genes.

Researchers have discovered the genes that determine how tall we are may also influence the people we are attracted to, with most people being attracted to partners of a similar height to themselves.

Scientists at the University of Edinburghs Roslin Institute and MRC Human Genetics Unit analysed genetic information from more than 13,000 heterosexual couples.

The study found 89 per cent of the genetic variation determining a persons height also influences their height preference in their significant other.

By analysing these genes, researchers say they can predict the height of the individuals partner with 13 per cent accuracy.

The study, published in the journal, Gene Biology, used data from participants in the UK Biobank, a major genetic study into the role of nature and nurture in health and disease.

Dr Albert Tenesa, who led the study, told Science Daily: The similarity in height between partners is driven by the observed physical appearance of the partner, specifically their height, rather than influenced by the social or genetic structure of the population we live in."

Love and sex news: in pictures Show all 31 1 /31 Love and sex news: in pictures Love and sex news: in pictures What makes a perfect penis? Scientists have now answered one of these great unknowns. According to a new study, general cosmetic appearance is the most important penile aspect when it comes to what women value down there. This is swiftly followed by the appearance of pubic hair, penile skin, and girth. Length comes in at number six, with the look of the scrotum trailing closely behind. The least important facet of the phallus, say the scientists, is the position and shape of meatus, the vertical slit at the opening of the urethra. Getty Love and sex news: in pictures Half of divorcees had doubts on their wedding day Over half of divorcees considered abandoning their husband or wife-to-be at the altar on their wedding day, a new study has revealed. On top of likely worrying about wedding favours and making sure guests behave on their big day, 49 per cent of divorcees admitted they were unsure before the ceremony that their marriage would last. Some 15 per cent of divorcees polled said they were so wracked with doubt that they felt physically sick in the run up to their wedding. Joe Raedle/Getty Images Love and sex news: in pictures Students who marry after studying the same subject Picking a university subject is already difficult enough for young people. But heres an extra piece of data to weigh on your decision: you may be picking a life partner as well. Dan Kopf of the blog, Priceonomics, analysed US Census data and found that the percentage of Americans who marry someone within their own major is actually fairly high. About half of Americans are married, according to the 2012 American Community Survey (part of the Census). And about 28 per cent of married couples over the age of 22 both graduated from college. (The survey didnt recognise same-sex marriages for the 2012 data, but it will for 2013 onwards, says Kopf). Sean Gallup/Getty Images Love and sex news: in pictures How much sex we have (and how much we'd like) As a nation, we dont have as much sex as we would like, a survey has (somewhat unsurprisingly) confirmed. In a poll of 1523 people by YouGov, 64 per cent of Britons said they would wish to have sex at least a few times a month. The same sample said that only 38 per cent had sex at least a few times a month. In addition, 10 per cent said they wished to have sex every day, a goal which only 1 per cent admitted reaching. Rex Love and sex news: in pictures The new female condom Picture an internal condom. The chances are youre thinking of something which resembles a carrier bag. However, this could all be about to change with the new VA w.o.w. Condom Feminine. Not only is it a wireless, Bluetooth enabled, vibrating interactive device, which comes available in the shape of a heart, but the manufacturers think youll love it more than not using a condom at all. Love and sex news: in pictures One in five Brits admit to having had an affair One in five British adults admits they have had an affair, according to a new poll. 20 per cent of male respondents and 19 per cent of female respondents admitted to having had an affair in a new poll of 1660 respondents by YouGov. Orlando /Three Lions/Getty Images Love and sex news: in pictures The UK's favourite sex position Casting aside the myth that Brits are a prudish bunch, a new survey has revealed that doggy style is the nations favourite sex position. As many as a quarter of UK adults surveyed said doggy style was their favourite way to indulge with a partner. Missionary, which is sometimes scoffed at the most boring position, was favoured by a fifth of the 1,000 people surveyed by high street sex shop Ann Summers, seeing it come in as third under "woman on top". Caiaimage/REX Love and sex news: in pictures Who's most likely to cheat? Men and women who are economically dependent on their spouses are more likely to cheat, a new study has revealed. Researchers have found that men who are solely financially dependent are more like to cheat than women, at 15 per cent and 5 per cent respectively. Men who are rely on their wives may cheat because they are undergoing a masculinity threat by not being the primary breadwinner as is culturally expected, said study author Christin L. Munsch, a UConn assistant professor of sociology. Eye Candy/REX Love and sex news: in pictures Jailed for loud sex noises A woman who breached a court order barring her from causing nuisance by making "loud sex noises" was sent to jail. Gemma Wale, of Small Heath, Birmingham, was given a two-week prison sentence after a civil court judge concluded that she had breached the order by "screaming and shouting whilst having sex" at a "level of noise" which annoyed a neighbour. Rex Features Love and sex news: in pictures Photo of wedding guest proposing to girlfriend in front of bride and groom goes viral When the staggering amount time, money, and effort that goes into to planning a wedding is considered, it seems pretty obvious that all guests have is to do is turn up with some gifts, and not upstage the couple. But this fact seems to have escaped one man, whose grinning face has gone viral after he decided to propose to his girlfriend in front of the bride and grooms top table. The photo, which has been viewed over 1.4 million times on Reddit, shows a boyfriend perched on one knee in front of his crying girlfriend. Joe Raedle/Getty Images Love and sex news: in pictures Sexual fantasies The results of a sex survey are busting the myth that Britons are sexually repressed, by revealing how the majority of women have lived out their sexual fantasies. As many as 81 per cent of women and 77 per cent of men have shared and acted out fantasies with a partner  with having sex in public topping the list of turn-ons. The study also laid bare the influence of TV and film on our desires, with three-quarters of couples saying they had inspired them. Meanwhile, a further three quarters of women and over half of men have played out a fantasy theyd found in a book. LEO RAMIREZ/AFP/Getty Images Love and sex news: in pictures The world's sexiest nationalities Irish men are the worlds sexiest, according to a survey of thousands of jet-setting women. In a poll of 66,000 of single American women who use MissTravel.com, as many as 8,000 said that Irish men are the sexiest. Around half of the females who took said they were turned on by Irish men said their accent influenced their choice, according to the Irish Times. ANDREW COWIE/AFP/Getty Images Love and sex news: in pictures More sex = happiness? Couples were asked to double the amount of sex they had each week over a three month period by researchers at the Carnegie Mellon University, who compared them to couples who had their normal amount of sex. Their findings, published in the Journal of Economic Behavior, went against advice given by the average self-help book  having more sex doesnt automatically make a person happier. Instead, couples who were instructed to have more sex reported a decrease in happiness levels. Mood Board/Rex Love and sex news: in pictures Most sexually satisfied countries It is often considered the most amorous nation on the planet, but France doesn't even feature in a new list of the most sexually satisfied countries. According to a Durex global survey of 26,000 people, aged 16 and older, across 26 countries, only 44 per cent of people are fully satisfied with their sex lives. In the wake of these results, AlterNet has compiled a list of the 12 most sexually satisfied countries, with Switzerland, Spain and Italy topping the list. INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP/Getty Images Love and sex news: in pictures Sex o'clock They say women are from Venus and men are from Mars  but a new sex survey suggests that members of the opposite sex seem to operate in different time zones too. While women like to get steamy between 11:21pm on average, men are more likely to be turned on at the rather inconvenient time of 7:54am. These times fall into the broader timeslots of 11pm and 2am for women, and 6am and 9am for men. PIERRE ANDRIEU/AFP/Getty Images Love and sex news: in pictures More sex = more money People who have more sex are likely to earn more, new research claims. The research, partly conducted from the responses of 7,500 people, found employees who have sex two or three times a week earn 4.5 per cent more than colleagues who do not. Rex Love and sex news: in pictures The effects of watching porn Contrary to suggestion that porn desensitises viewers to sex, a study has found that it doesn't "negatively impact sexual functioning" and in fact boosts couples' sexual attraction to one another. In research published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, scientists at the University of California tested the effects of visual sexual stimuli on men in relationships, finding that it "is unlikely to negatively impact sexual functioning, given that responses actually were stronger in those who viewed more VSS." Rex Love and sex news: in pictures 'I have herpes' A woman diagnosed with herpes at the age of 20 has written an emotional essay about living with the common condition to fight the stigma surrounding it. Ella Dawson, now 22, said she had never had unprotected sex and thought she wasn't the sort of person STDs happened to when the symptoms first appeared during her time at university in the US. She wrote that the diagnosis initially felt like a punishment for her values and relationships and worried her that telling boyfriends would ruin her love life. Ella Dawson Love and sex news: in pictures More sleep, better sex A new study could have a simple answer to enhancing your sex life  just get a good nights sleep (if you are a woman at least). A study conducted by a team at the University of Michigan Sleep and Circadian Research Laboratory found women who get an extra hour of sleep at night reported higher levels of sexual desire and were more likely to have sex with their partners. Getty Images Love and sex news: in pictures Swipe right A woman has detailed her experiences of a week of always swiping right on Tinder. By opening the floodgates, as Ms Caster describes it, she receives scores of messages from different men  and not all are terrible. Love and sex news: in pictures The most adulterous town in the UK Ever wondered what the neighbours are up to? Well if you live in Beeston, Nottinghamshire, then the answer is probably... having an affair. The bustling East Midlands town has been granted the dubious honour of being the UK's top spot for infidelity  with a total of 941 affairs reportedly taking place right now. According to The Official Infidelity Index 2015, which was released this week, 2.54 per cent of the towns population are currently seeing someone they shouldn't. REX FEATURES Love and sex news: in pictures Average penis size revealed Scientists have measured more than 15,000 mens penises in an effort to find out what size is normal. Researchers at Kings College London and a London NHS trust said they hoped the review would help address the concern that some men have about their penis size and aid people suffering from anxiety and distress. They revealed that the average flaccid penis is 3.6ins (9.16cm) long, or 5.2ins (13.24cm) when stretched, and 3.7ins (9.31cm) in circumference. Erect penises are 5.1ins (13.12cm) long on average and 4.5ins (11.66cm) in girth. Rex Love and sex news: in pictures One true love Men fall in love more times in their life than women, according to a new survey. 2,000 adults were asked about relationships, and discovered that more than half of men say they've loved more than one person their lifetime. For women, it's markedly fewer, with only 45 per cent saying they've had multiple loves. Love and sex news: in pictures Dating site for 'beautiful people only' A self-proclaimed elite dating website has removed around 3,000 members because they were "letting themselves go". BeautifulPeople.com describes itself as the largest internet dating community exclusively for the beautiful and puts peoples photographs to a members vote to decide if they are allowed in. But administrators have now shown that the rigorous 48-hour selection period is not a permanent pass by taking thousands of profiles down, mainly because of weight gain and graceless ageing. Love and sex news: in pictures Sex is a 'miracle cure' Regular exercise  including sex, walking and dancing  are miracle cures staring us in the face and could dramatically cut our risk of cancer, dementia, heart disease and diabetes, leading doctors have said. In a new review of existing evidence which reveals the full extent of benefits that can be accrued from exercise, the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges said the improvement in health and savings to the NHS could be incalculable. Susannah Ireland Love and sex news: in pictures Pornhub searches by age of user Pornhubs prolific Insights blog fires out many reports of sociological interest, none more so than its latest on age, which lays bare different age groups' sexual proclivities. Looking at the most popular searches among 18-24s, there are several familial terms including 'step mom', 'milf', 'mom' and 'step sister', a trend that seems to die out somewhat in users' 30s. By 65, 'massage' becomes the top term, while 'granny' perhaps unsurprisingly also hits the top ten. PlaceIt/Just Another IKEA Catalog Love and sex news: in pictures Mature sex Research into the sexual lives of more than 7,000 men and women between the ages of 50 and 90 in England reveals that half of men and almost a third of women aged 70 and over were still sexually active, with around a third of these sexually active older people having sexual intercourse twice a month or more. Around two-thirds of men and over half of women thought good sexual relations were essential to the maintenance of a long-term relationship or being sexually active was physically and psychologically beneficial to older people. Getty Creative Love and sex news: in pictures The secret to an eighty year marriage Figures from the Office of National Statistics show that 42 per cent of marriages in England and Wales end in divorce, and the average British marriage which ends in divorce lasts 11 years and six months. Helen and Maurice Kaye, now aged 101 and 102, have been married for 80 years, and say the secret is: I think its important to have patience and tolerance. You're two entirely different people who suddenly live together, which can't be easy. But if you love each other, you get over the difficulties. Love and sex news: in pictures Valentine's Day porn Pornhub saw a (slight) drop in traffic on Valentine's Day as people focused on pleasuring their partners rather than themselves. Everywhere, it is, except for London. Overall UK traffic dipped 3 per cent across the UK, with Plymouth and Oxford seeing the biggest drops of 11 per cent and 10 per cent respectively. In fact every major city spent less time watching porn bar London, the Pornhub audience for which grew by 2 per cent. Getty Love and sex news: in pictures 1 in 10 men paying for sex A tenth of British men have admitted to paying for sex, according to a new study. Professionals aged 25 to 34 who binge drink and take drugs were found to be the most likely to have used the services of prostitutes, based on findings from a study of 6,108 men. Around 11 per cent of subjects, in the study published in the Sexually Transmitted Infections journal, have ever paid for sex in their lifetime and four per cent admitted to doing so in the last five years. Getty Images Love and sex news: in pictures Questions that determine if you're in love The existence of love and its nature is something that has troubled philosophers for centuries, but a pair of scientists believe they have a set of questions that yield "clear empirical evidence" of it, or at least whether your relationship will end in divorce. They are: 'How happy are you in your marriage relative to how happy you would be if you weren't in the marriage?' and 'How do you think your spouse answered that question?' Columbia

How we choose out partners has important biological implications for human populations," added Dr Tenesa.

This study brings us closer to understanding the complex nature of sexual attraction and the mechanisms that drive human variation.

Last year researchers found more evidence to suggest attraction was based on more than looks.

Scientists at an American university claimed humour is a key factor in sexual selection, with women appearing to be more attracted to men who make them laugh.
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The acting chief executive of the City watchdog admitted she was angry with the Chancellor earlier this month when he accidentally blurted out in a radio interview that she had ruled herself out of taking the position on a permanent basis.

George Osborne told BBC Radio 4s Today programme that Tracey McDermott, boss of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), had removed herself from the list of candidates. It [the announcement] rather threw the days plans. I wasnt exactly delighted about it, but these things happen, Ms McDermott told MPs on the Treasury Select Comittee. I was not listening to the interview, but I heard about it pretty quickly afterwards.

John Griffith-Jones, the FCAs chairman, said that he was in his dentists chair when he heard the 8am interview: Ive never got out of it so quickly.

The FCA is searching for a successor to its former boss, Martin Wheatley, after Mr Osborne decided not to review his contract last July.

Ms McDermott said she formally withdraw from the application on 9 December after informing Mr Griffith-Jones a week earlier.

Mr Osborne told the BBC: [The FCA] needs new leadership to take it into its more mature phase. We are looking for the best candidate. To be fair, theres a very effective interim leader in Tracey McDermott, but she doesnt want the job full-time.

Mr Osborne, who will have the final say on the appointment, is reported to have sounded out Greg Medcraft, chairman of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, about taking on the job.
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Private schools have long taken a strict approach to uniform. With a tie knotted not quite right or a skirt pulled too high, a pupil could expect to be hauled into the heads office.

But now the 170-year-old Brighton College, regularly named among the top 10 schools in England for academic results, has ditched the usual hidebound insistence on tradition to allow boys to wear skirts and girls to wear trousers if they wish.

The move is in recognition of gender dysphoria, when an individual feels there is a mismatch between their biological sex and their gender identity.

Richard Cairns, headmaster of the boarding and day-pupil school, said they had decided there would continue to be two different kinds of uniform, but pupils could choose which one they wanted to wear.

This change follows requests from a small number of families. It ties in with my strong personal belief that youngsters should be respected for who they are, he said.

If some boys and girls are happier identifying with a different gender from that in which they were born, then my job is to make sure that we accommodate that. My only interest as headmaster is their welfare and happiness.

LGBT+ rights around the globe Show all 9 1 /9 LGBT+ rights around the globe LGBT+ rights around the globe Russia Russias antipathy towards homosexuality has been well established following the efforts of human rights campaigners. However, while it is legal to be homosexual, LGBT couples are offered no protections from discrimination. They are also actively discriminated against by a 2013 law criminalising LGBT propaganda allowing the arrest of numerous Russian LGBT activists. AFP/Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Brunei Brunei recently introduced a law to make sodomy punishable by stoning to death. It was already illegal and punishable by up to 10 years in prison AFP/Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Mauritania Men who are found having sex with other men face stoning, while lesbians can be imprisoned, under Sharia law. However, the state has reportedly not executed anyone for this crime since 1987 Alamy LGBT+ rights around the globe Sudan Both male and female same-sex sexual activity is illegal under Sudanese law. Men can be executed on their third offence, women on their fourth Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Saudi Arabia Homosexuality and gender realignment is illegal and punishable by death, imprisonment, whipping and chemical castration Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Yemen The official position within the country is that there are no gays. LGBT inviduals, if discovered by the government, are likely to face intense pressure. Punishments range from flogging to the death penalty Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Nigeria Both male and female same-sex sexual activity is illegal and in some northern states punishable with death by stoning. This is not a policy enacted across the entire country, although there is a prevalent anti-LGBT agenda pushed by the government. In 2007 a Pew survey established that 97% of the population felt that homosexuality should not be accepted. It is punishable by 14 years in prison Reuters LGBT+ rights around the globe Somalia Homosexuality was established as a crime in 1888 and under new Somali Penal Code established in 1973 homosexual sex can be punishable by three years in prison. A person can be put to death for being a homosexual Reuters LGBT+ rights around the globe Iraq Although same-sex relationships have been decriminalised, much of the population still suffer from intense discrimination. Additionally, in some of the country over-run by the extremist organisation Isis, LGBT individuals can face death by stoning Getty

Brighton College, where fees can exceed 12,000 a year, has been described as Britains most forward-thinking school.

The decision came after a girl at the school  which has a Gender Society for its pupils  raised it with the headmaster together with her parents.

She will be the first pupil to wear what was once known as the boys uniform. Parents of a number of prospective pupils have also contacted the school about the issue. The rule change affects pupils aged 11 and over.

Sixth-form pupil Amy Arnell said that no one was surprised when the change was announced. There is just no reason not to do it if it makes people feel more comfortable about themselves, she said.

Fred Dimbleby, another sixth-former, said he was proud to attend a school where there is no concept of the norm, of conformity and of the expected way to be.

Everyone has supported this move and I think that there is a real sense of unity, from the headmaster to the youngest third former, about this idea, he said. I also know that students who are gender fluid or for any reason decide to change the uniform that they wear, will be accepted, supported and encouraged by the whole school.

I think it would be great if all schools took up this idea. Secondary school is such a formative period for people so its important to encourage people to be who they want to be.

Mr Cairns admitted the colleges new uniform policy was unusual. The colleges approach is different from most other schools, which have tended to give transgender children personal leeway with uniform, he said.

Brighton College has instead decided to abolish the notion of boys and girls schools altogether. Traditional uniform will be worn but the type of uniform will be a matter for the individual boy or girl, always assuming parental support.
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The former president of the FIA, Max Mosley, is bankrolling an alternative press regulator, it has been revealed.

Impress, set up over a year ago, said on Wednesday it will accept donations of 3.8 million to cover the first four years of expenditure, which will come almost exclusively from The Alexander Mosley Charitable Trust.

Mr Mosley has campaigned for press reform since 2008 when he received 60,000 in damages from the News of the World, after the tabloid falsely accused him of taking part in a "Nazi orgy".

The regulator also revealed it has applied for official recognition under the Royal Charter and has 13 publishers signed up as members. Currently, none of these are national titles.

In a lecture given at the London School of Economics on Wednesday, Walter Merricks, Impress' chair, admitted it was an unusual self-regulator due to its funding.

Most regulators are either funded publicly, (like the Food Standard Agency), or from fees from the bodies it regulates, (like the gambling Commission).

Impress said, despite establishing itself using funding from donors, it would not be beholden to anyone.

The regulator said it would work in tandem with the Independent Press Regulation Trust, a charity which would act as buffer between any donor from which it receives funds, operating at arms length from the body.

The funding agreement Impress have in place with the Trust guarantees the regulator funding of 950,000 a year for at least four years.

JK Rowling is also mentioned by Mr Merricks as a donor contributing to the regulator. Ms Rowling has also called for stricter press regulation and is a member of Hacked Off  a campaign group for UK press reform.

Mr Merricks said: Some like JK Rowling and Max Mosley, have the reason and the resources to support decent standards of journalism and we are grateful to them for helping to get Impress of the ground."

Impress is yet to gain official recognition and The Press Recognition Panel will assess whether Impress meets the Leveson criteria set out in the Royal Charter, which recommended voluntary, independent self-regulation

Impress offers an alternative to the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), set up over a year ago, which regulates most national and regional newspapers and magazines. IPSO is funded by its members.

Executive director of the Society of Editors, Bob Satchwell, said it was an interesting philanthropic gesture for Mr Mosley to fund an organisation which will not regulate any of the newspapers that were at the heart of criticism in recent years, the Press Gazette reports.
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Barack Obama, a man whose speeches are watched by millions, has reportedly decided not to speak at his daughter Malias high school graduation because hes going to cry.

The US President was overheard telling diners at a lunch in Detroit that he turned down a request to speak at the ceremony because he will be too overcome with emotion, according to ABC News.

Malias school asked if I wanted to speak at commencement and I said no. Im going to be wearing dark glasses and Im going to cry.

2015 in pictures from the White House Show all 25 1 /25 2015 in pictures from the White House 2015 in pictures from the White House Dec. 4, 2015 The President acquiesced to a selfie with 11-year-old Jacob Haynes and four-year-old James Haynes after taking a family photograph with departing White House staffer Heather Foster. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) 2015 in pictures from the White House Dec. 22, 2015 When some of my friends heard that the President had hiked the grueling Koko Head Crater Trail, they sent me messages on whether I had made it to the top. The trail is 1,048 wooden steps, which climb more than 1,200 feet up the craters ridge. Some call it the Stairmaster from Hell. Ill admit that I was huffing and puffing up the trail, but to my friends, this photograph is proof that I indeed made it to the top with my boss. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) 2015 in pictures from the White House Nov. 25, 2015 The President and his daughters Sasha and Malia participate in the annual National Thanksgiving Turkey pardon ceremony in the Rose Garden with National Turkey Federation Chairman Jihad Douglas. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) 2015 in pictures from the White House Nov. 24, 2015 With the U.S. Marine Band playing the score from the movie, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, the President feigns riding a bicycle in the sky as happened in the 1982 movie directed by Steven Spielberg, who had just been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) 2015 in pictures from the White House Nov. 21, 2015 The President talks with a young refugee at a Dignity for Children Foundation classroom in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She was working on a painting. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) 2015 in pictures from the White House Oct. 30, 2015 The President and First Lady react to a child in a pope costume and mini popemobile as they welcomed children during a Halloween event on the South Lawn of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) 2015 in pictures from the White House Oct. 23, 2015 Afternoon autumn light bathes the President as he works at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) 2015 in pictures from the White House Sept. 25, 2015 Two days after the visit of Pope Francis, the President and First Lady hosted President Xi Jinping of China and Madame Peng Liyuan for another State Visit. Before the formal State Dinner, the President showed President Xi and Madame Peng the Gettysburg Address in the Lincoln Bedroom. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) 2015 in pictures from the White House Sept. 23, 2015 Though there were many poignant moments of the President and Pope Francis to choose from, but this frame, as they walked along the Colonnade, was one of my favorites because of the light and the way the President was interacting with His Holiness. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) 2015 in pictures from the White House Sept. 18, 2015 This has to be the suit of the year. Matthew Lesko met the President before having a family photo taken with his son, Max Lesko, who was departing the White House after working in the Counsel Office. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) 2015 in pictures from the White House July 17, 2015 While visiting the Whitney Museum in New York City, the President hugged his daughter Malia as they looked at the art work. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) 2015 in pictures from the White House July 17, 2015 The President greets nine-month-old Josephine Gronniger, whose father, Tim Gronniger, brought his family by the Oval Office for a family photo. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) 2015 in pictures from the White House June 9, 2015 After a group photograph with Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and Space Shuttle Columbia alumni, the President helped some of the participants move a sofa back in place in the Oval Office. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) 2015 in pictures from the White House June 8, 2015 We were at the G7 Summit in Krun, Germany. Chancellor Angela Merkel asked the leaders and outreach guests to make their way to a bench for a group photograph. The President happened to sit down first, followed closely by the Chancellor. I only had time to make a couple of frames before the background was cluttered with other people. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) 2015 in pictures from the White House June 4, 2015 At the Presidents insistence, Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes brought his daughter Ella by for a visit. As she was crawling around the Oval Office, the President got down on his hands and knees to look her in the eye. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) 2015 in pictures from the White House May 18, 2015 Show us the Jeremy dance, the President said to departing Social Secretary Jeremy Bernard, during a farewell ceremony for Jeremy in the State Dining Room of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) 2015 in pictures from the White House May 14, 2015 The President had hosted a summit meeting at Camp David with the Gulf Cooperation Council. At the conclusion of the summit, each of the leaders was introduced before a final group photo in front of Laurel Cabin. Rather than shoot a tight shot of each leader, I used a wide angle lens to show more of the atmosphere of Camp David. Here, the President greets Sayyid Fahd bin Mahmoud al Said, Deputy Prime Minister for the Council of Ministers Affairs of the Sultanate of Oman. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) 2015 in pictures from the White House May 12, 2015 The First Lady demonstrates her boxing skills during a #GimmeFive video taping. (Official White House Photo by Amanda Lucidon) 2015 in pictures from the White House April 17, 2015 Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes needed some assistance with his wardrobe so the President joined Brian Mosteller, Director of Oval Office Operations, and Personal Aide Ferial Govashiri in helping to spruce him up. (Official White House Photo by Amanda Lucidon) 2015 in pictures from the White House April 11, 2015 The culmination of years of talks resulted in this handshake between the President and Cuban President Raul Castro during the Summit of the Americas in Panama City, Panama. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) 2015 in pictures from the White House March 31, 2015 Throughout the first half of the year, the President met often with our team during the P5+1 negotiations with Iran. Several times he conducted secure video conferences from the Situation Room while the negotiators were on the ground in Switzerland. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) 2015 in pictures from the White House March 27, 2015 The First Lady snuggled against the President during a video taping for the 2015 World Expo in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Amanda Lucidon) 2015 in pictures from the White House March 7, 2015 I was moving around trying to capture different scenes away from the stage during the event to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday and the Selma to Montgomery civil rights marches. When I glanced back towards the stage, I noticed the President and First Lady holding hands as they listened to the remarks of Rep. John Lewis. I managed to squeeze off a couple of frames before they began to applaud, and the moment was gone. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) 2015 in pictures from the White House Feb. 27, 2015 Its definitely true that former NBA player Shaquille ONeal is a big guy. But Ill admit that I used a wide angle lens and this angle to accentuate his size when he stopped by the Oval Office for a quick visit. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) 2015 in pictures from the White House Feb. 23, 2015 The Presidents daughter Malia stopped by the Oval Office one afternoon to see her dad and, while they were talking, she wiped something from his face. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Only part of the conversation could be heard as it was apparently captured on audio.

Malia, his oldest daughter, is expected to graduate in a few months when she will finish high school. It has not been revealed what the 17-year-old will do when she finishes but she was apparently spotted working as an intern on the set of the Lena Dunham and Judd Apatow-produced television series Girls last summer.

The President, who is in his last year in office, was recently moved to tears as he watched Aretha Franklin give a powerful performance of "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" at the annual Kennedy Centre Honours ceremony in Washington DC.
News / National

by Stephen Jakes

A staunch supporter of the MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai has said he is the only leader people must rally behind with the hope of achieving positive development.Murambwi Shumba said Tsvangirai is the only man to rally behind because his is the only hope for the suffering Zimbabweans."Joice Mujuru put her dirty hands on the Economic, Social and Political Challenges which we experiencing today because she failed to discharge during her time in Government for the past 34 years. They (Mugabe and Mujuru) are in the same boat of failures," he said.
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Sheryl Sandberg has expressed her support for the thousands of women in Iran risking arrest to protest against enforced hijab and other repressive laws.

Facebook's chief operating officer met with the Iranian journalist and campaigner Masih Alinejad at Facebooks Womens Leadership Day event on 14 January, where Ms Alinejad spoke to 3,000 women attending the event about her My Stealthy Freedom campaign.

What began as a page to share pictures has evolved into a movement pushing for womens rights that continues to gain traction. Ms Alinejad's Facebook has amassed almost one million followers since it was launched less than two years ago. On it, women share images and the stories behind their moments of stealthy freedom where they dare to uncover their heads in Iran. Ms Alinjead told The Independent she first met Sandberg in 2014 after she became aware of the Stealthy Freedom campaign.

In pictures: Iranian women remove their hijabs Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Iranian women remove their hijabs In pictures: Iranian women remove their hijabs Stealthy Freedoms of Iranian Women Women in Iran have been posting pictures of themselves on social media without wearing their hijab, where it has been illegal for a female to leave the house without wearing a headscarf. In pictures: Iranian women remove their hijabs Stealthy Freedoms of Iranian Women This photo was accompanied by: 'After a few years of being away from my nation, I stepped on its vast plains again; not stealthily though. Hoping for the day when all my nations women can taste freedom with their whole bodies and souls' In pictures: Iranian women remove their hijabs Stealthy Freedoms of Iranian Women Photos are being posted to the Stealthy Freedoms of Iranian Women Facebook page, which has amassed over 140,000 likes since it was created just a week ago. In pictures: Iranian women remove their hijabs Stealthy Freedoms of Iranian Women "I dream of the day when your eyelids are my cover (rather than veil)." In pictures: Iranian women remove their hijabs Stealthy Freedoms of Iranian Women This woman posted: 'My moments of freedom have always been full of fear. 'This photo was taken in autumn ( in Sorkhehesar Park). My mind was busy with freedom; but my body all trembled with fear.' In pictures: Iranian women remove their hijabs Stealthy Freedoms of Iranian Women Iran's president Hassan Rouhani has expressed more progressive views than his predecessors since his election. On the subject of the strict Islamic dress code that includes the hijab, he said he was against a crackdown on women wearing looser clothing in the sweltering summers. In pictures: Iranian women remove their hijabs Stealthy Freedoms of Iranian Women These women said their greatest 'girlish dream' is feeling the wind blow through their hair In pictures: Iranian women remove their hijabs Stealthy Freedoms of Iranian Women "I took this one single photo in the yard of Golestan Palace quietly,stealthily, with difficulty, and away from the eyes of the guards." In pictures: Iranian women remove their hijabs Stealthy Freedoms of Iranian Women "I'm a woman from a country with the least respect for human rights. I was born in a country where religion , tradition, and Islamic Regime has destroyed the beauty. I can see the freedom I will have gained soon. And Ill enjoy the feeling of belonging to myself. Ill enjoy my rights as a citizen. Ill enjoy human rights. Ill enjoy having freedom of choice ." In pictures: Iranian women remove their hijabs Stealthy Freedoms of Iranian Women The site is dedicated to Iranian women inside the country "who want to share their 'stealthily' taken photos without the veil."

The conference was scary - Ive never had the chance to talk to 3,000 people. Facebooks employees were invited because Sandberg wants to inspire them and I was one of the women she chose to speak.

"I first met her in 2014 in her office, and she said in that meeting that I was one of her personal heroes. I was shocked - she is my role model, shes a leader and shes shown that women can be at the top of a company like that.

We met after she said in an interview that My Stealthy Freedom is one of her favourite Facebook pages because it shows a different side in Iran. She said she gets motivation and inspiration to work as a COO from the page.

Two or three minutes before she was due to go on stage, I asked her if she wanted to talk directly to the women of my My Stealthy Freedom, and she said of course."

Masih Alinejad

After meeting with Ms Alinejad, Sandberg recorded a video message in solidarity with women in Iran fighting for civil rights.

Addressing women in Iran, Sandberg said: I want all of the amazing women on the My Stealthy Freedom Page to know how much we all support you, how much women around the world are cheering for you, how much we all want to live in a world where every single woman has civil rights, civil liberties, opportunities to live as she wants to live, and the sisterhood that we all of us have together around the world.

Women have shared photos and videos of themselves on Ms Alinejads page walking through busy places in Tehran and driving without wearing their hijab - both of which are illegal under Iranian law, which is strictly enforced by morality police.

My Stealthy Freedom even reached the attention of President Hassan Rouhani, who was forced to address the campaign when French journalists presented him with a picture of a woman unveiled from the Facebook page during a televised broadcast.
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The rapper Killer Mike has come to the defence of his favoured presidential candidate, who was criticised by a leading black author over his opposition to paying reparations for slavery.

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who has been endorsed by the Atlanta rapper and political activist, was criticised this week by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Mr Coates claimed that Mr Sanders purported radicalism did not extend to racial equality.

Asked last week at a forum in Iowa whether he would support reparations for slavery, Mr Sanders said he did not. Its likelihood of getting through Congress is nil. Second of all, I think it would be very divisive, he said.

One of the book's reviewed was 'Between the World and Me' by Ta-Nehisi Coates (Andre Chung/The Washington Post)

Writing in The Atlantic, Mr Coates, a National Book Award winner and the author of a celebrated 2014 essay, The Case for Reparations, said that Mr Sanders argument was nonsensical.

He said the same could be said for many of the positions he supports, including his recently released health care plan.

Killer Mike has endorsed Bernie Sanders for president (AP)

If this is the candidate of the radical left - then expect white supremacy in America to endure well beyond our lifetimes and lifetimes of our children, wrote Mr Coates.

Reparations is not one possible tool against white supremacy. It is the indispensable tool against white supremacy.

On Wednesday, Killer Mike joined the debate on Twitter, arguing that it was firstly shameful that Black Americans had to make the case for reparations. He also said that Mr Sanders was the only candidate with proposals that would help African Americans.

I love the writings of @tanehisicoates. I am very curious why every one thinks his critique of Sanders of some kind of death nail, he said.

He added: Candidate that I think wud be most sensitive to the very accomplishable goal and the other things that can/will help Black people is Sanders.

The criticism of Mr Sanders comes as he is working hard to try and secure the support of more black voters. Polls suggest that among the Democratic voters, 80 per cent of non-whites support Hillary Clinton, with Mr Sanders picking up just 20 per cent.

Mr Sanders has been agressiely targeting South Carolina, which holds is primary after Iowa and New Hampshire and where black voters make up the majority in its primary.

He has been invested heavily in ground organisers there, met and then adopted ideas of Black Lives Matter activists and made a number of campaign stops at historically black colleges.

Meanwhile, despite their disagreement, Mr Coates and Killer Mike did not fall out.

Indeed, both tweeted warm messages to each other, with Mr Coates saying: "For the record, Killer Mike is as sharp with the insights and the rhymes Ain't goota agree on everything. Shouldn't agree on everything."
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Any good parent wants their kids to stay out of trouble, do well in school, and go on to do awesome things as adults.

Recommended Read more The three thing you need to make marriage work

And while there isn't a set recipe for raising successful children, psychology research has pointed to a handful of factors that predict success.

Unsurprisingly, much of it comes down to the parents.

Here's what parents of successful kids have in common:

1. They teach their kids social skills.

Those with limited social skills have a higher chance of getting arrested, binge drinking, and applying for public housing (Getty)

Researchers from Pennsylvania State University and Duke University tracked more than 700 children from across the US between kindergarten and age 25 and found a significant correlation between their social skills as kindergartners and their success as adults two decades later.

The 20-year study showed that socially competent children who could cooperate with their peers without prompting, be helpful to others, understand their feelings, and resolve problems on their own, were far more likely to earn a college degree and have a full-time job by age 25 than those with limited social skills.

Science news in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Science news in pictures Science news in pictures Pluto has 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen Pluto has a 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen that is doing strange things to its surface, Nasa has found. The mysterious core seems to be the cause of features on its surface that have fascinated scientists since they were spotted by Nasa's New Horizons mission. "Before New Horizons, everyone thought Pluto was going to be a netball - completely flat, almost no diversity," said Tanguy Bertrand, an astrophysicist and planetary scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center and the lead author on the new study. "But it's completely different. It has a lot of different landscapes and we are trying to understand what's going on there." Getty Science news in pictures Over 400 species discovered this year by Natural History Museum The ancient invertabrate worm-like species rhenopyrgus viviani (pictured) is one of over 400 species previously unknown to science that were discovered by experts at the Natural History Museum this year PA Science news in pictures Jackdaws can identify 'dangerous' humans Jackdaws can identify dangerous humans from listening to each others warning calls, scientists say. The highly social birds will also remember that person if they come near their nests again, according to researchers from the University of Exeter. In the study, a person unknown to the wild jackdaws approached their nest. At the same time scientists played a recording of a warning call (threatening) or contact calls (non-threatening). The next time jackdaws saw this same person, the birds that had previously heard the warning call were defensive and returned to their nests more than twice as quickly on average. Getty Science news in pictures Turtle embryos influence sex by shaking The sex of the turtle is determined by the temperatures at which they are incubated. Warm temperatures favour females. But by wiggling around the egg, embryos can find the Goldilocks Zone which means they are able to shield themselves against extreme thermal conditions and produce a balanced sex ratio, according to the new study published in Current Biology journal Ye et al/Current Biology Science news in pictures Elephant poaching rates drop in Africa African elephant poaching rates have dropped by 60 per cent in six years, an international study has found. It is thought the decline could be associated with the ivory trade ban introduced in China in 2017. Reuters Science news in pictures Ancient four-legged whale discovered in Peru Scientists have identified a four-legged creature with webbed feet to be an ancestor of the whale. Fossils unearthed in Peru have led scientists to conclude that the enormous creatures that traverse the planets oceans today are descended from small hoofed ancestors that lived in south Asia 50 million years ago A. Gennari Science news in pictures Animal with transient anus discovered A scientist has stumbled upon a creature with a transient anus that appears only when it is needed, before vanishing completely. Dr Sidney Tamm of the Marine Biological Laboratory could not initially find any trace of an anus on the species. However, as the animal gets full, a pore opens up to dispose of waste Steven G Johnson Science news in pictures Giant bee spotted Feared extinct, the Wallace's Giant bee has been spotted for the first time in nearly 40 years. An international team of conservationists spotted the bee, that is four times the size of a typical honeybee, on an expedition to a group of Indonesian Islands Clay Bolt Science news in pictures New mammal species found inside crocodile Fossilised bones digested by crocodiles have revealed the existence of three new mammal species that roamed the Cayman Islands 300 years ago. The bones belonged to two large rodent species and a small shrew-like animal New Mexico Museum of Natural History Science news in pictures Fabric that changes according to temperature created Scientists at the University of Maryland have created a fabric that adapts to heat, expanding to allow more heat to escape the body when warm and compacting to retain more heat when cold Faye Levine, University of Maryland Science news in pictures Baby mice tears could be used in pest control A study from the University of Tokyo has found that the tears of baby mice cause female mice to be less interested in the sexual advances of males Getty Science news in pictures Final warning to limit "climate catastrophe" The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has issued a report which projects the impact of a rise in global temperatures of 1.5 degrees Celsius and warns against a higher increase Getty Science news in pictures Nobel prize for evolution chemists The nobel prize for chemistry has been awarded to three chemists working with evolution. Frances Smith is being awarded the prize for her work on directing the evolution of enzymes, while Gregory Winter and George Smith take the prize for their work on phage display of peptides and antibodies Getty/AFP Science news in pictures Nobel prize for laser physicists The nobel prize for physics has been awarded to three physicists working with lasers. Arthur Ashkin (L) was awarded for his "optical tweezers" which use lasers to grab particles, atoms, viruses and other living cells. Donna Strickland and Gerard Mourou were jointly awarded the prize for developing chirped-pulse amplification of lasers Reuters/AP Science news in pictures Discovery of a new species of dinosaur The Ledumahadi Mafube roamed around 200 million years ago in what is now South Africa. Recently discovered by a team of international scientists, it was the largest land animal of its time, weighing 12 tons and standing at 13 feet. In Sesotho, the South African language of the region in which the dinosaur was discovered, its name means "a giant thunderclap at dawn" Viktor Radermacher / SWNS Science news in pictures Birth of a planet Scientists have witnessed the birth of a planet for the first time ever. This spectacular image from the SPHERE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope is the first clear image of a planet caught in the very act of formation around the dwarf star PDS 70. The planet stands clearly out, visible as a bright point to the right of the center of the image, which is blacked out by the coronagraph mask used to block the blinding light of the central star. ESO/A. Muller et al Science news in pictures New human organ discovered that was previously missed by scientists Layers long thought to be dense, connective tissue are actually a series of fluid-filled compartments researchers have termed the interstitium. 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Those with limited social skills also had a higher chance of getting arrested, binge drinking, and applying for public housing.

This study shows that helping children develop social and emotional skills is one of the most important things we can do to prepare them for a healthy future, said Kristin Schubert, program director at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which funded the research, in a release.

From an early age, these skills can determine whether a child goes to college or prison, and whether they end up employed or addicted.

2. They have high expectations.

In the case of kids, they live up to their parents' expectations. (Design Pics Inc/REX Shutterstock)

Using data from a national survey of 6,600 children born in 2001, University of California at Los Angeles professor Neal Halfon and his colleagues discovered that the expectations parents hold for their kids have a huge effect on attainment.

Parents who saw college in their child's future seemed to manage their child toward that goal irrespective of their income and other assets, he said in a statement.

The finding came out in standardized tests: 57% of the kids who did the worst were expected to attend college by their parents, while 96% of the kids who did the best were expected to go to college.

This falls in line with another psych finding: the Pygmalion effect, which states that what one person expects of another can come to serve as a self-fulfilling prophecy.

In the case of kids, they live up to their parents' expectations.

3. The mothers work.

The sons of working mothers also tended to pitch in more on household chores and childcare, the study found (REX Features)

The study found daughters of working mothers went to school longer, were more likely to have a job in a supervisory role, and earned more money  23% more compared to their peers who were raised by stay-at-home mothers.

The sons of working mothers also tended to pitch in more on household chores and childcare, the study found  they spent seven-and-a-half more hours a week on childcare and 25 more minutes on housework.

Role modeling is a way of signaling what's appropriate in terms of how you behave, what you do, the activities you engage in, and what you believe, the study's lead author, Harvard Business School professor Kathleen L. McGinn, told Business Insider.

There are very few things, that we know of, that have such a clear effect on gender inequality as being raised by a working mother, she told Working Knowledge.

4. They have a higher socioeconomic status.

As Drive author Dan Pink has noted, the higher the income for the parents, the higher the SAT scores for the kids.

Tragically, one-fifth of American children grow up in poverty, a situation that severely limits their potential.

It's getting more extreme. According to Stanford University researcher Sean Reardon, the achievement gap between high- and low-income families is roughly 30% to 40% larger among children born in 2001 than among those born 25 years earlier.

As Drive author Dan Pink has noted, the higher the income for the parents, the higher the SAT scores for the kids.

Absent comprehensive and expensive interventions, socioeconomic status is what drives much of educational attainment and performance, he wrote.

5. They've attained higher educational levels.

The study found that children born to teen mothers (18 years old or younger) were less likely to finish high school or go to college than their counterparts. (Getty)

A 2014 study lead by University of Michigan psychologist Sandra Tang found that mothers who finished high school or college were more likely to raise kids that did the same.

Pulling from a group of over 14,000 children who entered kindergarten in 1998 to 2007, the study found that children born to teen mothers (18 years old or younger) were less likely to finish high school or go to college than their counterparts.

Aspiration is at least partially responsible. In a 2009 longitudinal study of 856 people in semirural New York, Bowling Green State University psychologist Eric Dubow found that parents' educational level when the child was 8 years old significantly predicted educational and occupational success for the child 40 years later.

6. They teach their kids math early on.

Mastery of early math skills predicts not only future math achievement, it also predicts future reading achievement. (Getty)

A 2007 meta-analysis of 35,000 preschoolers across the US, Canada, and England found that developing math skills early can turn into a huge advantage.

The paramount importance of early math skills  of beginning school with a knowledge of numbers, number order, and other rudimentary math concepts  is one of the puzzles coming out of the study, coauthor and Northwestern University researcher Greg Duncan said in a press release. Mastery of early math skills predicts not only future math achievement, it also predicts future reading achievement.

7. They develop a relationship with their kids.

Parents who are sensitive caregivers respond to their child's signals promptly and appropriately and provide a secure base for children to explore the world. (Rex Features)

A 2014 study of 243 people born into poverty found that children who received sensitive caregiving in their first three years not only did better in academic tests in childhood, but had healthier relationships and greater academic attainment in their 30s.

As reported on PsyBlog, parents who are sensitive caregivers respond to their child's signals promptly and appropriately and provide a secure base for children to explore the world.

This suggests that investments in early parent-child relationships may result in long-term returns that accumulate across individuals' lives, coauthor and University of Minnesota psychologist Lee Raby said in an interview.

8. They're less stressed.

The intensive mothering or helicopter parenting approach can backfire. (kupicoo/iStock)

According to new research cited by Brigid Schulte at The Washington Post, the number of hours that mothers spend with kids between ages 3 and 11 does little to predict the child's behavior, well-being, or achievement.

What's more, the intensive mothering or helicopter parenting approach can backfire.

Mothers' stress, especially when mothers are stressed because of the juggling with work and trying to find time with kids, that may actually be affecting their kids poorly, study coauthor and Bowling Green State University sociologist Kei Nomaguchi told The Post.

Emotional contagion  or the psychological phenomenon where people catch feelings from one another like they would a cold  helps explain why. Research shows that if your friend is happy, that brightness will infect you; if she's sad, that gloominess will transfer as well. So if a parent is exhausted or frustrated, that emotional state could transfer to the kids.

9. They value effort over avoiding failure.

At the core is a distinction in the way you assume your will affects your ability, and it has a powerful effect on kids. (Monkey Business Images/REX Shutterstock)

Over decades, Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck has discovered that children (and adults) think about success in one of two ways. Over at the always-fantastic Brain Pickings, Maria Popova says they go a little something like this:

A fixed mindset assumes that our character, intelligence, and creative ability are static givens that we can't change in any meaningful way, and success is the affirmation of that inherent intelligence, an assessment of how those givens measure up against an equally fixed standard; striving for success and avoiding failure at all costs become a way of maintaining the sense of being smart or skilled.

A growth mindset, on the other hand, thrives on challenge and sees failure not as evidence of un-intelligence but as a heartening springboard for growth and for stretching our existing abilities.

At the core is a distinction in the way you assume your will affects your ability, and it has a powerful effect on kids. If kids are told that they aced a test because of their innate intelligence, that creates a fixed mindset. If they succeeded because of effort, that teaches a growth mindset.

Read more:

 IT GETS WORSE: 'We do not expect a major iPhone 7 bounce-back'

 Citymapper has raised 32 million for its urban navigation app

 The euro is getting crushed

Read the original article on Business Insider UK.  2015. Follow Business Insider UK on Twitter.
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Feelings of empathy between individuals are shown in humans, apes and elephants and now scientists have found that a small rodent called the praire vole is also capable of showing emotional sympathy towards less fortunate members of their group.

Empathy is considered to be one of the higher emotions because it suggests a certain level of cognitive awareness about another individuals pain or discomfort, so researchers were surprised to find that it existed in a small-brained mammal.

A study on praire voles, which are monogamous and mate for life, found that they will console one another by grooming when one individual is observed suffering from painful distress  a behaviour previously thought to be unique to a small number of highly intelligent species such as chimpanzees.

The findings could further the understanding of the fundamental role played by empathy in certain psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia or developmental disorders such as autism, where empathy is lacking, the scientists said.

Many complex human traits have their roots in fundamental brain processes that are shared among many other species. We now have the opportunity to explore in detail the neural mechanisms underlying empathic responses in a laboratory rodent with clear implications for humans, said Larry Young of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.

The study investigated the behaviour of prairie voles when individuals were exposed to small electric shocks. A second prairie vole who witnessed its cage mate suffer would later groom its partner longer than usual, apparently to reduce the other voles anxiety, the scientists found.

The study, published in the journal Science, found that blocking the part of the brain that responds to the hormone oxytocin  sometimes known as the love hormone because of its role in pregnancy and birth  also blocked this empathic behaviour.

Studies on humans have shown that the same region of the brain, called the anterior cingulate cortex, is also activated when one person sees another individual in pain. The researchers believe the brain mechanism in prairie voles may have the same evolutionary origins as the empathy system in humans.

Scientists have been reluctant to attribute empathy in animals, often assuming selfish motives. These explanations have never worked well for consolation behaviour, however, which is why this study is so important, said Frans de Waal, a co-author of the research and expert on empathy in primates.

Some researchers have suggested that the emotion of empathy has evolved from the more universal maternal instinct to care for ones offspring. This could explain the role of oxytocin, which is involved in the bonding between mother and offspring in many animals.

The findings show that oxytocin works in the same brain region in both humans and prairie voles during consoling behaviour in both males and females. Like humans, both sexes in prairie voles help to rear their young together.

The scientists said: Observing consolation behaviour in a laboratory rodent under reproducible conditions would allow for empirical research on causal biological mechanisms relevant to human mental health.

The study was funded by the US National Institute of Mental Health and the US National Institutes [correct] of Health.
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The Mosquito-borne Zika virus is sweeping through South America  and could infect hundreds of thousands of people, governments have warned.

The virus can lead to common symptoms like headaches and joint pains. But if it hits pregnant women it can lead to huge problems for their children, leading to birth defects like microcephaly or abnormally small heads.

The disease has already infected thousands of people across Colombia and Brazil, governments there have said. And if it follows the spread of other similar viruses those numbers could reach into the hundreds of thousands.

In Brazil, the disease is thought to have led to as many as 4,000 babies being born with microcephaly since October. That number was only 150 throughout 2014, and experts put the huge rise down to the spread of the virus.

The Colombian government has warned women that they should delay becoming pregnant for six to eight months, until the disease is under control. No newborns in Colombia are yet reported to have suffered from microcephaly, though of the 13,500 people already infected some 560 are pregnant women.

"We are the second country [in Latin America] after Brazil in the number of reported cases," Health Minister Alejandro Gaviria said.

He advised women in the country not to get pregnant for the rest of the outbreak - which he said could last until July.

Battling the zika virus - in pictures Show all 19 1 /19 Battling the zika virus - in pictures Battling the zika virus - in pictures A worker of the Salvadorean Ministry of Health fumigates a house in Soyapango, 6 kilometers from San Salvador, El Salvador. Salvadorean authorities have began a three days campaign of fumigation to reduce the presence of the mosquito that transmit the Zika virus. EPA/Oscar Rivera Battling the zika virus - in pictures A Health Ministry employee fumigates a home against the Aedes aegypti mosquito to prevent the spread of the Zika virus in Soyapango, six km east of San Salvador. Health authorities have issued a national alert against the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, because of the link between the Zika virus and microcephaly and Guillain-BarrE Syndrome in foetuses. AFP PHOTO/Marvin RECINOSMarvin RECINOS/AFP/Getty Images Battling the zika virus - in pictures A pediatric infectologist examines a two-months-old baby, who has microcephaly, on 26 January 2016 in Recife, Brazil. Getty Images Battling the zika virus - in pictures A woman walks through the fumes as Health Ministry employee fumigate against the Aedes aegypti mosquito to prevent the spread of the Zika virus in Soyapango. Marvin RECINOS/AFP/Getty Images Battling the zika virus - in pictures A health ministry employee sprays to eliminate breeding sites of the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, which transmits diseases such as the dengue, chicunguna and Zica viruses, in a Tegucigalpa cemetery on January 21, 2016. The medical school at the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH) recommended that women in the country avoid getting pregnant for the time being due to the presence of the Zika virus. If a pregnant woman is infected by the virus, the baby could be born with microcephaly. AFP PHOTO/Orlando SIERRA Battling the zika virus - in pictures A man walks away from his home with his son as health workers fumigates the Altos del Cerro neighbourhood as part of preventive measures against the Zika virus and other mosquito-borne diseases in Soyapango, El Salvador REUTERS/Jose Cabezas Battling the zika virus - in pictures A three-months-old, who has microcephaly, in Recife, Brazil. Getty Images Battling the zika virus - in pictures A pregnant woman waits to be attended at the Maternal and Children's Hospital in Tegucigalpa. The medical school at the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH) recommended that women in the country avoid getting pregnant for the time being due to the presence of the Zika virus. If a pregnant woman is infected by the virus, the baby could be born with microcephaly. ORLANDO SIERRA/AFP/Getty Images Battling the zika virus - in pictures Army soldiers apply insect repellent as they prepare for a clean up operation against the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is a vector for transmitting the Zika virus in Sao Paulo, Brazil. AP Photo/Andre Penner Battling the zika virus - in pictures Workers disinfect the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro to fight the spread of the Zika virus Battling the zika virus - in pictures Dr. Vanessa Van Der Linden, the neuro-pediatrician who first recognized the microcephaly crisis in Brazil, measures the head of a 2-month-old baby with microcephaly in Recife Battling the zika virus - in pictures Mother Mylene Helena Ferreira cares for her son David Henrique Ferreira, 5 months, who has microcephaly, on January 25, 2016 in Recife, Brazil. In the last four months, authorities have recorded close to 4,000 cases in Brazil in which the mosquito-borne Zika virus may have led to microcephaly in infants Getty Images Battling the zika virus - in pictures U.S. women who are pregnant from traveling to many South American countries Battling the zika virus - in pictures In the last four months, authorities have recorded close to 4,000 cases in Brazil in which the mosquito-borne Zika virus may have led to microcephaly in infants. Getty Images Battling the zika virus - in pictures Dr. Vanessa Van Der Linden, the neuro-pediatrician who first recognized the microcephaly crisis in Brazil, examines a two-month-old baby with microcephaly on January 27, 2016 in Recife, Brazil Battling the zika virus - in pictures Washington Post Battling the zika virus - in pictures Battling the zika virus - in pictures Battling the zika virus - in pictures

The US Center for Disease Control has also warned women not to travel to 14 countries, including Colombia and other countries in South America, for fear that they may be struck by the virus. Brazil is experiencing the largest outbreak of the disease.

With the recent outbreaks in the Americas, the number of Zika virus disease cases among travelers visiting or returning to the United States likely will increase," the travel alert reads. "These imported cases may result in local spread of the virus in some areas of the continental United States, meaning these imported cases may result in human-to-mosquito-to-human spread of the virus.

The effects of Zika are usually mild. And only one in five of those people that are infected with it actually experience symptoms.

But experts say that the disease could also lead to microcephaly. That leads to a smaller than average head size when the brain grows at a slower rate, and can lead to problems like intellectual disability, developmental delays and can even be fatal.

The Brazilian government is working to diagnose and fight the disease faster. The country is funding new vaccines and testing kits.

At the moment, the only way to stop the spread of the disease is to clear the stagnant water that mosquitoes breed in, and to work to stop people getting bitten by the insects.
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An inquiry is to release its report into the death of former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko, who was poisoned with Polonium-210 while drinking tea at a London hotel.

The report will be made public at 10am, and comes almost 10 years after what was effectively a small nuclear attack on the streets of the UK in 2006.

It has already been with the Home Office for 48 hours, and government sources have briefed various newspapers that the Kremlin will be blamed to some extent.

The Russian president Vladimir Putin is also expected to be named in the report, though it is unclear precisely in what capacity.

The conclusion that agents of the Russian state were responsible for the dissidents death comes at a time when the UK is working with Moscow to deal with Isis in Syria and amid tensions over Russian troops in Ukraine.

On Wednesday, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said that the UK was going to send more military personnel to Nato countries in eastern Europe because of the potential threat posed by Russian aggression.
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The report of the public inquiry into the murder of the former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in London is published today, as his son says his father's killers are being protected by the Kremlin.

Anatoly Litvinenko, who was 12 when his father died after drinking a cup of tea laced with polonium 2-10 at a London hotel, told Sky News: "It was an extremely complex murder, using an extremely complex murder weapon.

"The killers were protected by the Russian state. It was always going to be a slow and difficult case."

Here is a timeline of events leading up to the former Russian spy's death and its aftermath.

1998 - Alexander Litvinenko claims at a Moscow press hearing that the FSB - the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation - instructed him to kill high-profile billionaire Boris Berezovsky.

1999 - Mr Litvinenko is arrested and spends nine months in jail on charges of abuse of office. He is later freed by a court.

2000 - Mr Litvinenko flees Russia and seeks political asylum in Britain - it is granted the following year.

Alexander Litvinenko, pictured in 2004 (MARTIN HAYHOW/AFP/Getty Images)

2002 - Mr Litvinenko co-writes a book, in which he accuses his former FSB superiors of carrying out a number of apartment block bombings in 1999.

2006 - Journalist Anna Politkovskaya is shot dead in her Moscow apartment on October 7. Mr Litvinenko begins to investigate her murder.

A man holds a portrait of slain Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya during a rally marking the 8th anniversary of her death in Moscow, last year (Getty)

November 1 2006 - Mr Litvinenko meets Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun at the Millennium hotel in London's Mayfair. MrLitvinenko is admitted to a hospital in north London several hours later, after complaining of feeling sick.

November 17 2006 - His condition deteriorates and he is transferred to University College Hospital in central London.

November 21 2006 - The Kremlin dismisses as sheer nonsense claims that the Russian government was involved in the poisoning.

Alexander Litvinenkolies in intensive care (Getty Images)

November 23 - Mr Litvinenko dies in intensive care.

November 24 - Mr Litvinenko's family releases a statement, accusing Russian president Vladimir Putin of involvement in his death.

Mr Litvinenko's widow Marina and their son Anatoly

May 2007 - The Crown Prosecution Service announces its decision to prosecute Lugovoi for murder.

July 2007 - Moscow refuses an extradition request for Lugovoi.

July 2014 - The Home Secretary announces that Sir Robert Owen is to chair a public inquiry into Mr Litvinenko's death.

January 2015 -The inquiry opens.

July 2015 - The hearings come to an end.

January 2016 - Mr Litvinenko's son Anatoly accuses the Kremlin of protecting his father's killers.

January 21 2016 - Sir Robert's report is published.


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The Kremlin will be blamed for murdering Alexander Litvinenko in London, and Vladimir Putin will even be named in a public inquirys report into the former Russian spy's poisoning with a radioactive substance, according to reports.

The conclusion that agents of the Russian state were responsible for the dissidents death comes at a time when the UK is working with Moscow to deal with Isis in Syria and amid tensions over Russian troops in Ukraine.

On Wednesday, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said that the UK was going to send more military personnel to Nato countries in eastern Europe because of the potential threat posed by Russian aggression.

A Government source told The Daily Telegraph that the public inquirys report would show the Russian government - but perhaps not President Vladimir Putin himself - wanted Mr Litvinenko dead.

There will be a clear line of command. It will be very clear that the orders came from the Kremlin, that it was ordered by the government, the source said.

Tensions between Russia and the Western world Show all 8 1 /8 Tensions between Russia and the Western world Tensions between Russia and the Western world Russia Vladimir Putin leaves G20 early after criticism from world leaders over Ukraine. David Cameron warned Vladimir Putin, face to face, that Russias whole post-Cold War relationship with the West is at a fork in the road over Ukraine Getty Tensions between Russia and the Western world Russia A mysterious Russian object is being tracked by space agencies, giving new life to fears about the increase of space weapons. The satellite, dubbed Object 2014-28E, has grabbed the interest of official and amateur satellite-watchers because it is taking a confusing path and its purpose has not been identified Getty Images Tensions between Russia and the Western world Russia Russian warplanes are risking the security of civilian passengers as they play a dangerous game designed to test Western air defences, according to Natos secretary general FRA Tensions between Russia and the Western world Russia Russia has warned Ukraine that a resumption of hostilities against pro-Russian separatists in the east would be catastrophic for Ukraine Reuters Tensions between Russia and the Western world Russia A Swedish minesweeper searches for suspected "foreign underwater activity" near Stockholm. A Russian sub in Swedish waters has slipped away into the sea...leaving recriminations in its wake Reuters Tensions between Russia and the Western world Russia Sberbank, Russia's largest lender, is taking the European Union to court in an attempt to loosen Western sanctions imposed over the Ukraine crisis GETTY IMAGES Tensions between Russia and the Western world Russia Russian government agencies have been accused of editing a Wikipedia article to suggest the Ukrainian military was responsible for shooting down the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, a Twitter account monitoring state IP addresses has claimed AFP Tensions between Russia and the Western world Russia Australias prime minister Tony Abbott has promised he will shirtfront Vladimir Putin over the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which killed 38 Australian citizens AP

Another insider warned: The findings will place the UK in a difficult position given our relations with Russia in current international events.

The Times reports that Mr Putin will be named in the report, but ithe extent of his alleged involvement in the killing will remain unclear.

It is expected the British Government will now make fresh calls for the two main suspects, Andrey Lugovoy and Dmitry Kovtun, to be extradited to the UK.

Mr Litvinenko, 43, drank a cup of green tea containing Polonium-210, which is highly radioactive, at the Millennium Hotel, London, in November 2006. He died three weeks later. He was a prominent critic of Mr Putin and he had been working with MI6.

Sir Robert Owen, a retired judge, chaired the public inquiry last year and his report is due to be published on Thursday.

Party leader Tim Farron said: If the Russian state is found to be behind this, we cannot just put out a few strong words drafted by a diplomat in the Foreign Office, we must act.

"The brutal murder of Litvinenko in 2006 exposed the cruel reality of a Russian state which continues to the cold-war pursuits of espionage and extra-judicial killing.

By poisoning one of their own on British soil, the Russian government completely disregarded the rule of law both within the UK and internationally.

Mr Fallon and Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond met their counterparts from Poland at Edinburgh Castle on Wednesday for discussions around defence and EU reform.

This year we are confronting dangers that are growing in scope, in complexity and diversity, from the Islamist evil that is causing chaos and death in Syria and Iraq to the Russian aggression that we have seen in the Crimea and in Ukraine destabilising our eastern border, Mr Fallon said.
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Alexander Litvinenkos accusation that Vladimir Putin was a paedophile may have been one of the motives for the Russian government to order his assassination, a report into the former Russian spy's death has found.

Sir Robert Owens inquiry looked at the former FSB agents highly personal attacks on the Russian President, which culminated with an article on the Chechenpress website in July 2006, four months before he was poisoned.

Mr Litvinenkos article, which was published as evidence in the report, started by recounting a meeting between Mr Putin and a boy aged four or five in a square near the Kremlin.

 Litvinenko widow's statement

Putin kneeled, lifted the boys T-shirt and kissed his stomach, Mr Litvinenko wrote.

Nobody can understand why the Russian president did such a strange thing as kissing the stomach of an unfamiliar small boy.

The former FSB agent claimed there were blank spots in Mr Putins career that could be explained by his superiors alleged knowledge that he was a paedophile.

Mr Litvinenko claimed the Russian President had himself found videotapes in the FSB Internal Security directorate, which showed him making sex with some underage boys that he then hid.

Alexander Litvinenko pictured at the Intensive Care Unit of University College Hospital on November 20, 2006 in London (Natasja Weitsz/Getty Images)

Commenting on the extraordinary and unfounded allegations, Sir Robert wrote: It hardly needs saying that the allegations made by Mr Litvinenko against President Putin in this article were of the most serious nature. Could they have had any connection with his death?

The judges 300-page report concludes that Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun poisoned the 43-year-old with radioactive polonium 210 at a Mayfair hotel in 2006.

It found that there is a strong probability that the Russian secret service directed the killing, and that operation was probably approved by Mr Putin.

Sir Robert said there were several reasons why the Russian state may have wanted to kill Mr Litvinenko by late 2006.

The Litvinenko files: Was he really murdered? Show all 8 1 /8 The Litvinenko files: Was he really murdered? The Litvinenko files: Was he really murdered? 26381.bin The Litvinenko files: Was he really murdered? 26382.bin The Litvinenko files: Was he really murdered? 26384.bin The Litvinenko files: Was he really murdered? 26385.bin The Litvinenko files: Was he really murdered? 26386.bin The Litvinenko files: Was he really murdered? 26387.bin The Litvinenko files: Was he really murdered? 26388.bin The Litvinenko files: Was he really murdered? 26389.bin

There was undoubtedly a personal dimension to the antagonism between Mr Litvinenko on the one hand and President Putin on the other, he added.

Officials in Moscow have always denied involvement in Mr Litvinenkos death, with officials previously claiming he was involved in an illicit trade in polonium and poisoned himself.

The Russian Foreign Ministry dismissed Sir Roberts report as politically motivated today and warned that it would overshadow relations with the UK.

We need time to study in detail the contents of this document, and then give a detailed assessment, a spokesperson said.

We would like to note that Russia's position on this issue remains unchanged and is well knownthere was no reason to expect the final report of a politically engaged and highly opaque process to be objective and impartial.
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Alexander Litvinenko is best known as the man he had become by the time he sipped a fateful cup of tea in a London hotel nearly a decade ago: a former spy, proud British citizen and relentless critic of the Kremlin.

But the details of his earlier life in Russia gave little indication of the events that would define his final years after arriving in the UK.

Born in the city of Voronezh in 1962, he grew up with his grandparents in Nalchik, close to the Caucasus mountains.

Known to family and friends as Sasha, he married his first wife Natalia at the age of 20 while he was at military school. The couple, who later divorced, had two children.

Mr Litvinenko became an officer in the Russian army and, in around 1987, he was recruited into security service the KGB, later known as the FSB.

His career path to this point appears to have been smooth but by the end of the following decade he had grown disenchanted.

Mr Litvinenko was said to have been "deeply affected" by serving in the first Chechen war in 1995 and the inquiry into his death heard he came to sympathise with the Chechen cause, converting to Islam in the days before his death.

In November 1998, he made the seismic decision to publicly expose an alleged plot to assassinate the tycoon Boris Berezovsky and denounce corruption within the FSB.

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Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. 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Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. 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Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. 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He was dismissed and faced a series of criminal proceedings, spending several months in prison in 1999.

Acquitted once before a second trial collapsed, it was while awaiting trial on the third set of charges that Mr Litvinenko fled Russia with his second wife Marina and their son Anatoly.

The inquiry heard the story of their departure "would not disgrace the pages of a thriller", with Mr Litvinenko travelling to Georgia on a forged passport, then on to Turkey where he met his family.

They arrived at Heathrow on November 1 2000 - six years to the day before Mr Litvinenko drank the tea that poisoned him at a London hotel.

They spent their first weeks in hotels, eventually moving into a townhouse in Muswell Hill, north London.

The family were granted asylum and later became British citizens, a source of great pride to Mr Litvinenko. "He was always going on about the integrity of this nation," Anatoly said.

But it was in his adopted country that Mr Litvinenko would be killed.

He devoted much of his time to political campaigning, speaking at public meetings, giving interviews and writing articles as he emerged as a vocal opponent to President Vladimir Putin's regime.

He co-authored a book alleging Russian agents had been responsible for apartment bombings in 1999 that left hundreds dead and in the weeks before his death began investigating the murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

He also had links to the intelligence community in Britain, becoming involved with MI6 in 2003. His handler "Martin" arranged regular payments for consultancy work about Russian organised crime.

Following his poisoning with Polonium-210, Dmitri Kovtun and Andrei Lugovoi, who he met at a hotel three weeks before his death, would emerge as the prime suspects. They deny involvement.

In hospital, Mr Litvinenko accused Mr Putin of ordering his assassination - a claim the Kremlin has always denied.

Mr Litvinenko's final words were deeply personal. His widow wept as she recalled how he told her: "I love you so much."

PA
News / National

by Ivan Zhakata

A man assaulted and threatened to kill his ex-wife for denying him custody of their minor child, the Harare Civil court has heard. Winnie Malitasi alleged that her husband Selani Zando beat her demanding custody of their minor child without a court order.Malitasi, who was seeking a protection order against Zando, told magistrate Mrs Marehwanazvo Gofa that he once had her arrested on allegations that she had stolen his money.She told the court that Zando threatened to kill her and the child if she continued to refuse giving him the minor."He is my former husband and he is threatening to kill me and our minor child," Malitasi said."He is constantly calling me on my phone demanding custody of our minor child saying if I do not hand over the child he will kill both of us. He used to assault me severely over the custody of the child."He once got me arrested by the police after he accused me of stealing his money but I was found innocent" He also verbally abuses me using obscene words and now I am living in fear of his next move," she said.Zando did not oppose Malitasi's application.He denied the allegations.Mrs Gofa ordered Zando to stop abusing his former wife.
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After he was granted asylum in Britain in 2003, Alexander Litvinenko took his young son to the Tower of London to see the Crown Jewels. On his deathbed three years later, the dissident recounted how he had told him: Sonny, you must defend this country in the future until the last drop of your blood.

The gratitude felt by Litvinenko, who formally became a British citizen a month before his murder, and his family to Britain for giving them sanctuary was sincere. But for his widow and son the long path to justice pitted them against not only the Kremlin but also at times their adoptive state.

As she stood on the steps of the Royal Courts of Justice, minutes after publication of the public inquiry report which lay official blame for her husbands death firmly at the Moscows door, Marina Litvinenko spoke of her satisfaction that an English court had found that Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, were - to a greater or lesser extent - instrumental in the assassination.

It was a finding that came only after a tortuous and at times lonely battle to ensure that the authorities provided the fullest possible account of Alexander Litvinenkos death.

In 2013, an inquest into the killing was delayed after the coroner decided that a public inquiry, which would be able to hear evidence from the intelligence services (albeit in private), was the most suitable instrument for deciding how and why the 44-year-old former intelligence officer was murdered.

When months later Home Secretary Theresa May ruled out such an inquiry, Mrs Litvinenko, a former dance teacher with a degree in economics, was forced to risk all by launching a High Court case to reverse that challenge.

There was no guarantee of success but the courts found in Marinas favour, forcing the Government to order the investigation which on 21 January went some way to achieving the goal set by her and her son, Anatoly, of establishing the facts surrounding the polonium poisoning in November 2006.

As Sir Robert Owen, the inquiry chairman, put it in his report: It was [Mrs Litvinenkos] action in bringing a judicial review against the Home Secretary (at considerable financial risk to herself) that resulted in this Inquiry being established Above all, she has demonstrated a quiet determination to establish the true facts of her husbands death that is greatly to be commended.

Ironically, it was due to his role as an investigator for the Russian FSB internal security service that Mr Litvinenko met his wife. The pair met after two of her friends, whose complaint of extortion was being investigated by Mr Litvinenko, invited him to her birthday party in June 1993. They married in the following October following the birth of Anatoly.

On 21 January, Mrs Litvinenko made it clear that her quest to, in some way, hold to account those responsible for her husbands death continues. She demanded the expulsion of all Russian intelligence agents from Britain along with economic sanctions and travel bans against named individuals, including Mr Putin.

Asked to confirm that she had not given up on the two suspected killers, Dmitry Kovtun and Andrei Lugovoi, being brought to justice, she said: They are walking the streets of Moscow today but I believe there will be a final day when these two people will be punished.

In the meantime, the mother and son will continue their lives in their adoptive country, on the one hand grateful for its actions, on the other seek to prod it into a more robust stance against an adversary unafraid of deploying radioactive poison in London.

When asked how the nine years since his fathers death had felt, Anatoly said: Its been pretty difficult. I cant compare with anyone elses life - you only have one life. My life is what it is. For some looking from the outside, it might look difficult.

However, Mr Litvinenkos younger brother, Maxim, a chef living in Italy who once blamed Russia for the murder, told the Daily Mirror: My father and I are sure that the Russian authorities are not involved. Its all a set-up to put pressure on the Russian government.

Why else would the court be called to hold this inquiry only after 10 years? The West appears to be collaborating with Russia in Syria, but its not real. There are still sanctions.

Asked why Mrs Litvinenko blamed the Kremlin, he said: She lives in London: to survive, she has to play the game and take this point of view.


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The Government has been accused of appeasing Russia after it admitted nothing can be done to sanction Vladimir Putin, despite him being accused of personally ordering the killing of a British citizen on the streets of London.

In the latest shocking developments of a real-life spy murder mystery spanning more than nine years, a public inquiry into the death of Alexander Litvinenko found his death was probably sanctioned by the Russian president himself.

Inquiry chair Sir Robert Owen said one of the motives for the killing appeared to be personal animosity between Mr Putin and Mr Litvinenko, especially after the latter accused the president of being a paedophile in an article written four months before he was poisoned in a London hotel.

Sir Roberts report said it was certain that two FSB agents carried out the killing. One, Andrei Lugovoi, went on to become a prominent politician and TV presenter, and described the inquirys findings as absurd.

The inquiry found Vladimir Putin 'probably' sanctioned Mr Litvinenko's murder personally (AP)

Both he and Dmitri Kovtun have had their UK assets seized and warrants issued for their arrest through Interpol.

But these measures were more or less the extent of the practical response taken by the British Government today, despite the far-reaching implications of Sir Roberts findings.

In a powerful speech in the Commons, Labours Andy Burnham described the report as one of the most shocking and disturbing ever presented to this Parliament.

It confirms the Russian state at its highest level sanctioned the killing of a British citizen on the streets of our capital city and in so doing exposed thousands of Londoners to unacceptable levels of risk, he said.

The opposition called on the Government to introduce new diplomatic, economic, political and cultural sanctions on the Russian state.

He said failure to do so now would send a terrible message to the world that Britain is prepared to tolerate outrageous acts of state violence on its soil and appease those who sanctioned them.

Theresa May, the Home Secretary, was presented todays report 48 hours early in order to formulate the Governments response, and she highlighted measures that had already been taken in 2007 in response to the killing of Mr Litvinenko, some of which are still in place today.

Asked by Conservative backbencher David Davis what action would be taken specifically against Mr Putin and the then-FSB director Nikolai Patrushev, she said the latter already faced sanctions in his current role.

But in relation to the relationship with a head of state, this is a different matter, she said. Beyond David Cameron raising the matter at his next meeting with Mr Putin, there appeared nothing more to be done.

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Sir Roberts report represented a personal victory for Mr Litvinenkos widow, Marina Litvinenko, without whose human rights challenge it would never have reached the level of a public inquiry.

The retired High Court judge implied that without the secret evidence not permissible in a standard inquest, his report would not have been able to lay blame at Mr Putins door.

Russia itself has rejected the report outright, with a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman describing it as politically motivated.

And speaking outside the Foreign Office after he was summoned by government, the Russian ambassador to Britain Alexander Yakovenko called the inquiry absolutely unacceptable.

This gross provocation of the British authorities cannot help hurting our bilateral relations, he said. The length of time that it took to close this case makes us believe it to be a whitewash of the British special services incompetence.
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A British woman has spoken about the six years she spent as a teenage sex slave in Greece and Italy.

Now 25, Megan Stevens  not her real name  says she was forced into sex work by her boyfriend aged only 14.

On one occasion, she said she was forced to have sex with 110 customers in just 22 hours and became so sick afterwards that her pimp closed the brothel.

"I thought that was decent of him which shows just how distorted my sense of normality had become," she said.

She said her troubles began while on holiday in Greece with her mother, when she met an Albanian man called Jak in a seaside bar.

While her mother, who was struggling with alcoholism, began a relationship with the bar owner, 14-year-old Megan quickly moved in with Jak.

He persuaded her to join him in Athens and get jobs in cafes. On arrival, she was forced into sex work, according to the Guardian.

Before long she was handed over to other pimps and worked in brothels and on streets across Greece and Italy.

Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Show all 19 1 /19 Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Afghanistan Recommendation: I urge the Government of Afghanistan to adopt legislative reforms to ensure that sexual violence offences are not conflated with adultery or morality crimes and to establish infrastructure for the delivery of protection, health and le gal services to survivors. I call on the Ministry of the Interior to accelerate efforts to integrate women into the Afghan National Police, thereby enhancing its outreach and its capacity to address sexual and gender-based violence Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Central African Republic Recommendation: I urge the authorities of the Central African Republic to ensure that efforts to restore security and the rule of law take into account the prevention of sexual violence and that monitoring of the ceasefire and peace agreement explicitly reflects this consideration, in line with the joint communique of the Government and the United Nations on the prevention of and response to conflict-related sexual violence signed in December 2012. I further encourage the authorities to make the rapid response unit to combat sexual violence operational and to establish a special criminal court Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Colombia Recommendation: I commend the Government of Colombia for the progress made to date and its collaboration with the United Nations, including through the visit of my Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict in March 2015. I encourage the authorities to implement Law 1719 and continue to prosecute cases of sexual violence committed during the conflict to ensure that survivors receive justice and receive reparations. Conflict-related sexual violence should continue to be addressed in the Havana peace talks, as well as in the resulting accords and transitional justice mechanisms. Particular attention should be paid to groups that face additional barriers to justice such as ethnic minorities, women in rural areas, children, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex individuals and women abused within the ranks of armed groups. I encourage the Government to scale up its protection measures and share its good practices with other conflict-affected countries Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Congo Recommendation: I urge the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to ensure full implementation of the armed forces action plan against sexual violence, to systematically bring perpetrators to justice and to deliver reparations to victims, including payment of outstanding compensation awards. I call on donors and the United Nations system to support the Government in its efforts and to pay increased attention to neglected areas, including unregulated mining regions Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Iraq Recommendation: I commend the Government of Iraq for its national action plan for the implementation of Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) and urge its swift implementation, including by training its security forces to ensur e respect for womens rights. Programmes to support the social reintegration of women and girls released from captivity by ISIL are urgently needed, as is community-based medical and psychological care. The capacity of the United Nations system should be enhanced through the deployment of Womens Protection Advisers or equivalent specialists Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Libya Recommendation: I urge the national authorities in Libya to implement Decree No. 119 and Resolution 904 of 2014 to ensure redress for all victims, including those affected by the current conflict, through the establishment of multisectoral services and the adoption of legislation to categorically prohibit sexual violence Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Mali Recommendation: I urge the Government of Mali, with support from United Nations Action against Sexual Violence in Conflict, to develop a comprehensive national strategy to combat sexual and gender-based violence and to ensure the safety of humanitarian workers so that services can reach remote areas. I further call on all parties to ensure that conflict-related sexual violence is addressed in the inter-Malian dialogue and that perpetrators of sexual violence do not benefit from amnesty or early release Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Myanmar Recommendation: I urge the Government of Myanmar to continue with its reform agenda and, in the process, take practical and timely actions to protect and support survivors of conflict-related sexual violence and to ensure that security personnel accused of such crimes are prosecuted. Sexual violence should be an element in all ceasefire and peace negotiations, excluded from the scope of amnesty provisions and addressed in transitional justice processes. It is critical that women be able to participate consistently in and influence these processes Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Somalia Recommendation: I reiterate my call to the Federal Government of Somalia to implement the commitments made under the joint communique of 7 May 2013 and its national action plan to combat sexual violence in conflict, including specific plans for the army and the police. I encourage the adoption of a sexual offences bill as a matter of priority Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life South Sudan Recommendation: I urge the parties to the conflict in South Sudan to adopt action plans to implement the commitments made under their respective communiques. I call upon the Government of South Sudan to address the negative impact of customary law on womens rights and to reflect international human rights standards in national law. I also encourage the African Union to make public and act upon the report of its Commission of Inquiry on South Sudan Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Sudan (Darfur) Recommendation: I call upon the Government of the Sudan to grant the United Nations and its humanitarian partners unfettered access for monitoring and the provision of assistance to people in need in Darfur. Given that there has been grave concern over sexual violence in Darfur for more than a decade, I encourage the Government to engage with my Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict to develop a framework of cooperation to address the issue comprehensively Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Syria Recommendation: I acknowledge the Governments invitation to my Special Representative to visit the Syrian Arab Republic and call upon the authorities, in the context of such a visit, to agree on specific measures to prevent sexual violence, including by members of the security forces. I condemn the use of sexual violence by ISIL and all other parties listed in the annex to the present report and call on them to cease such violations immediately and allow unfettered access for the delivery of humanitarian assistance Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Yemen Recommendation: I urge the authorities in Yemen to undertake legislative reform as a basis for addressing impunity for sexual violence, ensuring the provision of services for survivors and aligning the minimum legal age of marriage with international standards. I further call on the authorities to engage with local community and faithbased leaders to address sexual and gender-based violence and discriminatory social norms Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Bosnia and Herzegovina Recommendation: I urge the relevant authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina to harmonize legislation and policies so that the rights of survivors of conflict-related sexual violence to reparations are consistently recognized and to allocate a specific budget for this purpose. I further call upon the authorities to protect and support survivors participating in judicial proceedings through, inter alia, referrals to free legal aid, psychosocial and health services, as well as economic empowerment programmes Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Ivory Coast Recommendation: I urge the Government of Cote dIvoire to ensure the effective implementation of its national strategy to combat gender-based violence and the action plan for FRCI, and call on the international community to support these efforts. It is critical to accelerate disarmament, demobilization and reintegration and strengthen law enforcement to ensure that ex-combatants who have been reintegrated into the transport sector do not pose a risk to women and girls who are reliant on those services. The Government and the international community must provide monitoring and awareness-raising to mitigate the possibility of a recurrence of sexual violence in the context of the presidential elections to be held in October 2015 Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Liberia Recommendation: I call on the Government of Liberia to continue its critical efforts to combat sexual and gender-based violence including through the United Nations-Government of Liberia Joint Programme, and in the context of recovery from the Ebola virus epidemic Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Nepal Recommendation: I encourage the Government to ensure that survivors of conflict-related sexual violence are recognized under the law as conflict victims, which will enable them to access services, judicial remedies and reparations. I further call on all parties involved in the transitional justice process to ensure that the rights and needs o f survivors of sexual violence are addressed in institutional reforms and that these crimes are excluded from amnesties and statutes of limitations Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Sri Lanka Recommendation: I call upon the newly elected Government of Sri Lanka to investigate allegations of sexual violence, including against national armed and security forces, and to provide multisectoral services for survivors, including reparations and economic empowerment programmes for women at risk, including war widows and female heads of household Countries where sexual violence has become a way of life Nigeria Recommendation: I encourage the Government to implement its national action plan on the implementation of Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) to ensure that womens protection concerns are mainstreamed throughout its security operations. I also call upon the authorities to guarantee security in and around internally displaced persons camps and to extend medical and psychosocial services to high-risk areas

Speaking about one of the brothels she worked in, she said: "They [the men] were queuing up outside. There were 10 to 15 rooms in the same place and it's just... literally, you don't stop...

"If I did 40 to 50 people, that would be nothing."

Throughout this period, she contracted syphilis six times while her captors forced her to write postcards to her mother detailing how happy she was.

In her memoir, Bought & Sold, she wrote about her former controllers.

These traffickers are really, really clever.I want people to understand its not as easy as getting up and leaving," she writes.

"I should have got up and gone, but I didnt because of the mental power they had over me. It is really powerful.

"Its actually like theyve taken over what identity you have and turned you into their property, a thing to be controlled. Robotic is the right word."

Now living back in the UK, she said she was hoping to set up a charity to help other victims of sex-trafficking.
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President Vladimir Putin probably approved the murder of the spy Alexander Litvinenko, an inquiry found today in a decision likely to spark a furious diplomatic reaction from Russia.

The explosive finding comes nearly a decade after the 43-year-old was killed after radioactive polonium-210 was slipped into his tea at a London hotel.

Inquiry chairman Sir Robert Owens 300-page report said that two Russians Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun were probably acting under the direction of Moscow's FSB intelligence service when they poisoned Mr Litvinenko with radioactive polonium 210 at the Millennium Hotel in Mayfair.

Alexander Litvinenko was a former agent in the Russian FSB (Getty) (Getty Images)

Singling out then-FSB chief Nikolai Patrushev alongside Mr Putin, Sir Robert wrote: Taking full account of all the evidence and analysis available to me I find that the FSB operation to kill Litvinenko was probably approved by Mr Patrushev and also by President Putin.

Police concluded that Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB agent who left Russia and claimed asylum in the UK in 2000, died in November 2006 after consuming the fatal dose during a meeting with Kovtun and Lugovoi, who were identified as prime suspects. However, attempts to extradite the pair, who both deny involvement, have failed.

In his findings, Sir Robert said there was also undoubtedly a personal dimension to the antagonism between Mr Putin and Litvinenko. Tensions dated back to their only face-to-face meeting in 1998, when Mr Putin was head of the FSB and Litvinenko wanted him to bring in reforms.

The dissident made repeated highly personal attacks on the President after seeking asylum in the UK in 2000, including an allegation of paedophilia in July 2006.

Marina Litvinenko, the widow of Alexander Litvinenko addresss the media outside the High Court (Getty Images)

"I am satisfied that in general terms, members of the Putin administration, including the president himself and the FSB, had motives for taking action against Litvinenko, including killing him, in late 2006," Sir Robert wrote.

Although evidence was "circumstantial", other cases suggested that "in the years prior to Litvinenko's death the Russian state may have been involved in the assassination of Mr Putin's critics".

Mr Litvinenko's widow Marina said outside the High Court she was "very pleased that the words my husband spoke on his deathbed when he accused Mr Putin have been proved by an English court."

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Mr Lugovoi is now an MP in the Duma in Moscow; three weeks into the public inquiry last year, President Putin awarded him a medal for services to the motherland.

The lethal attack was described by his wifes lawyers as an act of state-sponsored terrorism that put thousands of lives at risk. MPs described it as a military and nuclear attack on the streets of London. Officials in Moscow claim that Mr Litvinenko was involved in an illicit trade in polonium and poisoned himself.

Marina Litvinenko statement

Tony Brenton, who was British ambassador to Russia at the time of the killing, said that tearing up diplomatic relations with Russia was not in Britain's interests.

"We have quite important other fish to fry with the Russians. They are very important in carrying the Iran de-nuclearisation through, they are absolutely crucial in sorting out the mess in Syria."

On his deathbed, Mr Litvinenko accused Mr Putin of ordering his assassination. Here is what he said:

I would like to thank many people. My doctors, nurses and hospital staff who are doing all they can for me, the British police who are pursuing my case with vigour and professionalism and are watching over me and my family.

I would like to thank the British government for taking me under their care. I am honoured to be a British citizen.

I would like to thank the British public for their messages of support and for the interest they have shown in my plight.

I thank my wife Marina, who has stood by me. My love for her and our son knows no bounds.

But as I lie here I can distinctly hear the beating of wings of the angel of death.

The last photo taken of Alexander Litvinenko alive

I may be able to give him the slip but I have to say my legs do not run as fast as I would like.

I think, therefore, that this may be the time to say one or two things to the person responsible for my present condition.

You may succeed in silencing me but that silence comes at a price. You have shown yourself to be as barbaric and ruthless as your most hostile critics have claimed.

You have shown yourself to have no respect for life, liberty or any civilised value.

You have shown yourself to be unworthy of your office, to be unworthy of the trust of civilised men and women.

You may succeed in silencing one man but the howl of protest from around the world will reverberate, Mr Putin, in your ears for the rest of your life.

May God forgive you for what you have done, not only to me but to beloved Russia and its people.
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An inspirational teenager dying of cancer told her family that she understood that not everybody is meant to live a long time and that the secret to life is to be happy.

Jess Fairclough, 18, from West Derby, Liverpool, died in November  less than a year after being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, reports the Liverpool Echo.

Once aware of how unwell she was, Jess decided to make the most of her situation, adopting as positive an outlook as possible and inspiring others with her things that are most important right now list.

On her list, Jess noted that she wanted to focus on being with family and friends, filling in my journal and recording thru film and photography and read and listen and talk and write and draw and make music.

She highlighted her determination to outweigh the bad with the good by underlying this aim in her list.

These make up being happy and that I believe that is the secret to life: to be happy and to make stuff and to be as good to each other as possible, Jess list concluded.

The teenagers positive approach has now inspired family friend Liz Taylor to set up a fundraising page to raise money for cancer charity CLIC Sargent by encouraging people to participate in Crossfit challenges.

On her JustGiving page for Jess, Ms Taylor says: A beloved only child, friend to many of all ages and adored grandchild and niece, we all knew that Jessica had been a special child and was becoming a special young woman.

But none of us, not even her gorgeous family, realised just how special until tributes and eulogies came flooding in from people whose lives she changed, helped and touched.

When Jess was told she had days to live she said not everybody is meant to live a long time. And thats okay.

When asked what she wanted for a treat she asked simply for 125 to give to a homeless person because thats what theyd need to have a good week.

Come and join us and meet the Fairclough Challenge in her name. She wouldve for you.

Visit Ms Taylors fundraising page for Jess by clicking here.
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Iran is under growing pressure to agree the immediate release of three British citizens from prison on humanitarian grounds, amid fears that at least two of them may die behind bars.

Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, told David Cameron this week that he would look carefully at the three British cases, which include a woman who was jailed for making anti-government comments on Facebook and a 76-year-old businessman imprisoned for committing espionage. The identity of the third Briton is unknown.

Recommended Read more Lifting Iran sanctions is positive but wealth could empower hardliners

Iran freed four dual US-Iranian nationals at the weekend as international sanctions on the country were lifted. Campaigners are now calling on the Foreign Office to ensure the three British citizens  who are also dual nationals  are released before their health declines further. Their families and supporters are desperately worried that they may die in jail if the UK Government does not step up its efforts.

Amnesty International said the UK should be following the USs lead by ensuring the release of the British prisoners. With UK ministers hailing the nuclear deal, you have to ask  where is the pay-off for the British detainees still behind bars in Iran? said its individuals at risk campaigner Kathy Voss.

One of the cases involves Roya Nobakht, 49, who has been imprisoned in Iran since 2013 for posting derogatory comments about the countrys government on Facebook. Campaigners working for her release claim she has been subjected to physical and psychological torture in jail and recently collapsed in her cell after being denied access to medication for depression.

Roya Nobakht was sentenced to 20 years behind bars for comments she made on Facebook

The second case involves Kamal Foroughi, a grandfather who has been in jail since 2011 and is serving an eight-year sentence for espionage offences. His family, who believe his only crime was regularly travelling to the UK and having British friends, say he did not receive a fair trial. He was given his first medical examination in November, 1,658 days after he was first detained.

His son Kamran, 40, who lives in the UK, said he was extremely pleased that the American prisoners had been released but admitted it had been difficult for him and his family to see the news. My daughters watched the news with me and assumed Grandpa Kamal was also coming home, he said. All I could do was dry my tears and give them a hug.

He added that he was worried that his increasingly frail father might die a lonely old man in prison and called on the UK to increase its efforts to secure his release. The US and Iranian governments must have worked very hard in recent months to allow their citizens to be released and reunited with loved ones back home. Until my dad is back home with us, I will always want the UK Government to work harder and do more.

Kamal Foroughi's family claim his trial was unfair

Senior MPs of all parties said they hoped the improving relations between London and Tehran could speed the release of Britons in Iranian jails.

Hilary Benn, the shadow Foreign Secretary, said: The cases of Kamal Foroughi and Roya Nobakht are deeply troubling, and the Government should be doing all it can to get them released.

With the reopening of the UKs embassy in Tehran, it is even more important our consular staff are able to assist and protect British citizens there, including those with dual Iranian-British nationality.

It is time for the Foreign Secretary to insist the Iranian government respects the rights of our citizens to receive consular assistance.

'Deeply troubling': Hilary Benn, the shadow Foreign Secretary (Getty Images) (Getty)

Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat leader, said: Britain must use the thaw in relations with Tehran and the reopening of the embassies last year to press the Iranian government.

The Foreign Office should renew its efforts to secure the release of these Britons from an Iranian prison after five Americans walked free from the countrys jails. America has secured their citizens release and so should we.

The three families must be sick with worry.

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The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. 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In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. 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The Conservative MP Richard Bacon, the chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on Iran, said: I hope improving relations between Iran and the UK will allow discussions to take place on a number of areas, including people currently in prison in Iran. It would be very welcome if progress could be made.

Shiva Mahbobi, of the Campaign to Free Political Prisoners in Iran, told The Independent Ms Nobakht was literally dying behind bars. She is in the worst possible situation. She had depression and she was using medication  now they are not giving it to her regularly.

She added that the UK Government had spurned a perfect opportunity to secure Ms Nobakhts release when it reopened the British embassy in Tehran last year as relations between the two countries thawed. Four Iranian-Americans have now been released, so that shows that it is possible to put pressure on them. Now that the Foreign Office has more communication with Iran, they need to do something extra. Why cant they do the same thing for Roya?

Jimmy Wales, the creator of Wikipedia, is also campaigning for Ms Nobakhts release through his personal foundation, which promotes freedom of expression. Writing critical comments on Facebook is not a crime and no one should be imprisoned for it, he said.

The internet must remain a safe platform to allow self-expression of ideas and opinions anywhere around the world. Roya has done nothing to deserve having her freedom taken away from her. I firmly call on Iran to correct this terrible injustice and release Roya immediately.

Both Ms Nobakht and Mr Foroughi are being held at the notorious Evin prison near Tehran, which has a special wing for political prisoners. The identity of the third British citizen has not been released  probably because their family is concerned that negative publicity around their case may hinder their chances of release.

Recommended Read more Jason Rezaian makes first public appearance since being freed by Iran

The Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, who was also held at Evin before his release alongside three other Iranian-Americans at the weekend, appeared briefly outside the military hospital in Germany where he has been recovering from his 18-month incarceration. In a statement, he said he was feeling fine.

A Downing Street spokesperson said Mr Cameron had discussed the British cases with Mr Rouhani in a telephone call on 19 January. The Prime Minister raised concerns over three dual UK-Iran nationals held in Iranian prisons, pressing for swift progress in their cases. Acknowledging this was a humanitarian issue, President Rouhani undertook to look carefully at the cases, they added.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: We remain deeply concerned about ongoing consular cases in Iran, and will continue to raise our concerns at the highest level.

The spokesman added: We are very concerned for Mr Foroughis health and have raised this with the Iranian authorities on repeated occasions, urging them to provide regular medical assistance and access to a lawyer. We have been in regular contact with his family since we were first made aware of his situation in May 2013 and Middle East minister Tobias Ellwood has met his son to discuss the case directly. However Iran does not recognise dual nationality and as such is not granting us consular access.

The Foreign Secretary has personally raised this case with President Rouhani in Tehran and also with [the] Foreign Minister Javad Zarif. We will continue to raise it with the Iranian government at every opportunity.

Enemies of the state? Detained Britons

Roya Nobakht

The 49-year-old from Stockport was in Iran visiting family in October 2013 when she was arrested in the city of Shiraz. She was charged with gathering and participation with intent to commit crime against national security due to comments on Facebook. Sentenced to 20 years in jail, later reduced to seven years.

Kamal Foroughi

The 76-year-old businessman was working in Tehran as a consultant for the Malaysian oil and gas company Petronas when he was arrested in May 2011. Eventually sentenced to eight years in jail after a trial which his family says was unfair, the nature of the espionage charges levelled against him remains unclear.

Unidentified detainee

The identity of the third British-Iranian citizen currently behind bars in Iran has not been released by their family or the Government. Relatives often believe that keeping quiet about their case is best and fear repercussions from the authorities if they speak out, especially if they still live in Iran.
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Londons entire suburban railway network will be handed to Transport for London to be run by the capitals Mayor, it has been announced.

TfL currently runs the Tube network and London Overground services, but the capitals extensive above-ground rail network has long been under the control of a patchwork of competing private franchises.

Under the new plan, all suburban lines in the capital will be integrated into TfLs Overground network as their current franchises expire, the citys Evening Standard reports.

Recommended Read more Plans to extend the London Overground from Gospel Oak to Barking

The change will see the Southeastern franchise taken over as early as 2018, with Thameslink, Great Northern, and Southern put under public control in 2021.

The newspaper says the timing of the incorporation of the South West Trains is currently under negotiation but that it could be handed to the Mayor as early as 2019.

The reorganisation will see TfL control services as far afield as Sevenoaks, Epsom, Chessington, and Hertford.

Passengers are expected to benefit from more frequent trains, improved staffing at stations, newer trains, TfL zone fares, and environmental improvements to stations.

When the Mayor took over the London Overground in 2007 similar improvements led to a six-fold increase in passenger ridership and sky-high passenger satisfaction ratings.

TfL could be slower to improve the new services than in the past because its budget is under extreme pressure, however.

The Government has announced its intentions to phase out the organisations funding grant and have it rely entirely on the income its raises from fares and property.

London's existing rail and tube services together on a map (TfL)

Passenger groups, TfL, and politicians of all parties in London have long campaigns for the lines to be brought under control of the capital.

The move has long been blocked by local councils just outside London, however. Kent County Council in particular previously said it was worried that long-distance commuters could lose out if stopping services were prioritised over fast regional trains.

The local authority recently dropped its opposition to the plan, however, on the basis of assurances that Kent commuters wouldnt lose out.

The reorganisation could also herald a redesign of Londons iconic Tube map, which has struggled to legibly accommodate even the new London Overground lines it has already acquired.

Conservative candidate for London Mayor Zac Goldsmith said he strongly welcome[d] the news, while Labour candidate Sadiq Khan said the change was a small step in the right direction but called for the process to be sped up.

Mayor of London Boris John told the Evening Standard: Our railways have been the workhorse of the London and South East economy since Victorian times.

They're key to the day to day lives of millions of people and vital to our future prosperity, and that's exactly why this new partnership is such a seminal moment.

By working closely together and taking on these new services, we're going to emulate the success of the London Overground and give the entire capital and surrounding areas the services they truly deserve.
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David Cameron has told an audience at Davos that he would walk away from a Brussels summit in February if an agreement can not be reached on the UKs EU referendum.

I want to put that to people in a referendum and campaign to keep people in the European Union. If theres a good deal, well take it. But if theres not a good deal, Im not going to hurry, I can hold my referendum any time until 2017, Cameron said.

The prime minister will meet with the European Council in February to discuss his proposals for Europe, including a four-year freeze on in-work benefits for EU migrants that has been met with resistance in Brussels.

In his Davos speech, Cameron said that he supported the idea of free movement, but that where it had gone wrong was in the interaction of the UKs welfare system with free movement.

Net migration is running at 330,000 a year, as many as 3.3m people added to our population in the decade. Its a concern about numbers and pressure. I dont think the British people are unreasonable in having this concern because the pressure on communities is too great, he said.

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.

Cameron said he would campaign to keep the UK in the European Union, but that he would resist further political integration.

Britain has never been fond of the idea that we are part of the same sovereignty. We are a proud independent country, he said.

Ministers are allowed to campaign on either side of the referendum once the negotiations are complete.
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A multi-million pound deal to support Aberdeen should be signed as a matter of urgency to prevent the citys status as an important hub for the UKs oil and gas industry being damaged, Nicola Sturgeon has told David Cameron.

The Scottish Government is willing to split the cost of a city deal with the UK Treasury to help Aberdeen get through the downturn in the oil industry, Ms Sturgeon said in a letter to the Prime Minister.

Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire councils submitted a bid for a UK City Deal worth 2.9 billion to both Governments last year, but the First Minister said the scale of recent job losses in the region meant that an agreement should be reached as soon as possible.

It is vital that government sends a strong and unequivocal signal that it is fully supportive of the regions position as a global oil and gas hub. The city deal provides a good opportunity to signal our respective governments support for the region, she wrote. I am prepared for the Scottish Government to fund the deal on a 50:50 basis and to work with you, as a matter of urgency, to bring this to fruition.

Ms Sturgeon was forced to act after a global slump in the value of oil prompted major producers such as BP and Shell to announce severe job losses and salary cuts for existing employees. The First Minister said she would visit Aberdeen on 1 February for a series of meetings with senior executives at BP, as well as holding discussions with Aberdeen Chamber of Commerce.

Responding to Ms Sturgeons letter, the Scotland Secretary David Mundell said the full details of a deal would be announced shortly, describing it as an excellent example of the UK and Scottish governments working together for the benefit of Scotland.

He added: We are committed to doing all we can to support the oil and gas sector and the wider north east economy. I am delighted that the Scottish government has committed to join us in contributing funding, adding to that already pledged by the UK Government.

City deals are a UK Government initiative in which investment is targeted to boost local economic growth. A similar deal worth 1.1bn for Glasgow and the Clyde Valley region was signed in 2014, with the aim of supporting infrastructure projects, helping small businesses and driving growth in the life sciences sector.
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Over 12,000 blind and partially sighted people have been deprived of social care in recent years, a new report has found.

The Royal National Institute for Blind People and Age UK found that between 2008/9 and 2012/13 there was a 36.5 per cent fall in older people with visual impairments receiving care.

The fall came despite a quickly aging population and a potentially growing pool of people needing social care.

Recommended Read more George Osborne under pressure to increase social care funding

The report says that while all areas of social care services have faced cut-backs overall, older people with difficulty seeing have faced disproportionate reductions.

Charities say the social care cuts could have knock-on effects on people with difficulty seeing.

The older people affected are more likely to have other health complications, live in poor quality housing, and have difficult accessing health services.

Without the help of carers these conditions could be made worse and cause further damage to the health of people missing out on carers.

Social care is delivered by councils, who have had their budgets slashed and their ability to raise revenues restricted by central government since 2010.

David Cameron came to blows with his own local Oxfordshire council last year after he accused the local authority of not making adequate efficiency savings.

In letters lead to the Oxfordshire Mail local newspaper Mr Cameron was accused of not understanding the state of local government finances when he claimed the cuts could be made through back-office savings.

A spokesperson for the Prime Minister at the time said: There is still significant scope for sensible savings across local government to be made by back office consolidation, disposing of surplus property and joining up our local public services; we will be discussing with Oxfordshire how this can be taken forward to help protect frontline services.

Fazilet Hadi, Director of Engagement at RNIB, said: Being left alone to cope with sight loss in later life is wholly unacceptable. No matter how tight government budgets are, this is essential support which must be provided.

Social care support can be vital to blind and partially sighted people in later life, enabling them to live with dignity and choice. However, older people with sight loss are increasingly missing out on social care and vision rehabilitation services.

Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director at Age UK says: That so many blind or partially sighted older people who need social care arent getting is profoundly shocking.

Losing our sight is something many of us fear the most, and the idea of struggling alone without social care assistance in such circumstances seems appalling in a civilised society.
News / National

by Staff reporter

Government has moved a step further in its plans to establish a National Ports Authority (NPA) that would regulate all entries into the country, improve infrastructure and clear bottlenecks at the points of entry, a Cabinet minister has said.In an interview with the Daily News, minister of Transport and Communication Joram Gumbo said the authority will regulate all operations at the country's borders."So there is a new bill which is coming, the Border Post Authority, which will be regulating everything and it must be passed by Parliament as an Act, presently is with the Attorney-General's office."There will always be Zimra (Zimbabwe Revenue Authority), Zinara (Zimbabwe National Roads Administration), ministry of Health, ministry of Agriculture operating at the borders and those are already operational, but this board will come to regulate their operations."A ports authority is a government or quasi-government public authority formed by a legislative body to operate ports and other transportation infrastructure.Gumbo said the authority, together with the mooted revamping of seven of the country's 15 border posts operated by Zimra, would ultimately improve efficiency at the country's points of entry."On a daily basis, about 5 000 people and a minimum of 400 cars cross the border (Beitbridge Border Post) and we need to make sure there is a smooth flow of everything," said Gumbo.During the official opening of Parliament last year, President Robert Mugabe said the Authority would lead to free tourist movement as well as attract investors and facilitate for the easier movement of goods in and out of the country.However, Zimra commissioner-general Gershem Pasi, is on record saying the country could not afford to create a Border Post Authority as it does not have the resources to build the infrastructure.The Zimra chief told a news conference last year that Zimra was struggling to meet revenue collecting targets and there was no money to spare for the ports project."So far, the authority has collected $468,53 million against a target of $542 million while there have been talks by government of creating a Ports Authority but it is not necessary at the moment because we will be creating additional expenditure," Pasi said then.He also noted that it was not the very idea of a ports authority that translated into financial burden, but the structures relevant to the running of the authority.
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In a sign that Britain remains very much committed to improving ties with a nation criticised for its treatment of rights activists, citizens of the United Arab Emirates seeking visas to the UK can now do so in the lap of luxury.

While many human rights campaigners are banned from leaving the UAE, others wanting to organise travel to Britain can make use of a streamlined, albeit expensive, new service.

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In a bid to make the visa process quick and painless, the Home Office introduced two new bespoke platinum services for UAE citizens.

One, which enables individuals, families and groups of employees to complete a visa application from their home or office, is an on-demand mobile biometric service. It costs a minimum of 860 per visa, but group discounts are available. It entails a small team travelling to the applicants chosen location to complete the biometric enrolment process (capturing finger scans and a photograph). It is a service wealthy Emiratis will no doubt appreciate.

The Home Office said the immigration services on offer were designed specifically for customers who want to sit back and relax while their visa application is taken care of.

However, Shazia Arshad of the London-based International Campaign for Freedom in the UAE (ICFUAE) described the new service as another display of the increasingly close relationship between the UK and the UAE, adding that the [UK] Government has been all too willing to ignore the human rights violations there.

For those who do choose to come to the visa office, there is a second less expensive option. Using a chauffeur service offering pick-up and drop-off from anywhere in Dubai, they can make their way to the application centre and avail themselves of the platinum lounge at Dubais luxurious Wafi Mall, with its Egyptian-themed environment.

The lounge offers private booths, Wi-Fi connectivity and one-to-one assistance filling in the application. Drinks and snacks are provided.

The visa, once issued, will be delivered to the applicants door in three to five days, along with a free oyster card to top up and use on Londons public transport system. If the visa is needed more urgently there is a super-priority visa service.

All that is available for 450. The super service will, however, cost more.

Unveiling the new options, a global first according to the Home Office, Paul Fox, the consul general at the British embassy in Dubai, said: I am delighted to introduce two world-leading services today that will offer the next level of luxury to our highly valued customers in the UAE.

However, Emirati human rights activists were less enthusiastic. As Ms Arshad of ICFUAE put it: The irony of this new visa system is that while the British Government is easing freedom of movement for Emiratis, the UAE authorities are denying this right to their own citizens.

Among those citizens are human rights defender Ahmed Mansoor, who is banned from travelling. In other cases exiles have been separated from family members who have been stopped from leaving the UAE.
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No matter how young, weak or vulnerable their victims, the killers wanted no survivors. By the time they had finished their work, at least 27 people including six children and a heavily-pregnant woman, lay clubbed or stabbed to death.

This was no spontaneous massacre. At least four of the dead, including the mother-to-be, were positioned as if their hands or feet had been bound while their heads, knees and limbs were smashed. There were to be no burials - the bodies of some were thrown into an adjoining lagoon while others were seemingly left to die where they fell.

It may sound like an act of medieval barbarity or even an atrocity from the current killing fields of Syria.

But this act of indiscriminate slaughter dates back some 10,000 years and as such may represent the earliest evidence of humans at war.

Researchers at Cambridge University have unveiled the findings of a three-year project to examine whether inter-group violence was the cause of the smashed remains of a group of hunter-gatherers found at a remote site close to Lake Turkana in north west Kenya.

The UK-based scientists believe that the nature and severity of the wounds offer tantalising proof that nomadic prehistoric humans waged war on each other several millennia before their successors discovered large-scale, planned violence as a means of grabbing territory or settling disputes.

The discovery was made at a site near Lake Turkana, pictured (Getty) (Getty Images)

The remains at Nataruk, some 19 miles to the west of Lake Turkana, have been dated to between 9,500-10,500 years ago when the now desert location would have been a fertile lakeshore supporting a substantial population of hunter-gatherers.

Of the remains of 27 individuals found by the researchers, including eight women and six children, ten had clear signs of having suffered a violent death, including skulls crushed by blows from a blunt weapon - probably a club - and broken knees, hands and ribs.

In up to six cases, the dead suffered wounds from sharp objects such as arrows and the remains of stone projectiles found lodged in skulls and chests in three cases.

The findings, reported in the journal Nature, suggest the victims may have been members of an extended family who were set upon by a rival group. The use of arrowheads made from obsidian, a rare stone in the Nataruk region, suggests the killer were possibly from outside the area.

Fossil discoveries Show all 7 1 /7 Fossil discoveries Fossil discoveries Archaeopteryx 1861: A hugely important fossil, this 147-million-year-old rock slab contains the remains of the earliest known bird. With its combination of bird and dinosaur characteristics, it is a famous snapshot of evolution in action. It's early discovery has since been queried as more complete examples were found (as above). Fossil discoveries Ida - The Link 1983: Ida - a tiny 47-million-year-old fossil - was discovered at the Messel Pit southeast of Frankfurt am Main in Germany. But it was only in May 2009 that she was introduced to the world, at the head of a whirlwind publicity campaign as the supposed "missing link" in human evolution. Getty Images Fossil discoveries Homo heidelbergensis 1994: A skull of a Homo heidelbergensis, dated at 400,000 years ago and considered to be amongst the most complete fossil skulls ever found. REUTERS/Paul Hanna Fossil discoveries Australopithecus sediba 2010: A partial cranium which belonged to human ancestor Australopithecus sediba, which was unearthed from a pit in South Africa AFP/ GETTY IMAGES Fossil discoveries Darwinopterus 2010: The discovery of the fossil of the Darwinopterus filled a 155 million-year evolutionary gap PA Fossil discoveries Fossil fight 2013: 'Astounding' fossil find from Montana revealing two dinosaurs locked in mortal combat Fossil discoveries Ichthyosaur graveyard 2014: One of the 46 fossils found at the site in southern Chile Wolfgang Stinnesbeck

Project leader Dr Marta Mirazon Lahr, from the universitys Leverhulme Centre for the Study of Human Evolution, said: The deaths at Nataruk are testimony to the antiquity of inter-group violence and war. These human remains record the intentional killing of a small band of foragers with no deliberate burial, and provide unique evidence that warfare was part of the repertoire of inter-group relations among some prehistoric hunter-gatherers.

While aggression is deeply rooted in the human psyche, the roots of organised conflict remain unclear with most experts believing warfare developed when nomadic groups finally settled with the emergence of agriculture some 6,000 years ago.

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The Cambridge researchers argue that the Nataruk massacre may have been a raid for resources such as women, children or stored food because pottery found at the site may suggest a family group that had begun to settle.

Such a finding would extend by up to 4,000 years the known time frame for war-like conflict. Alternatively, the killings may simply have been an example of what happened when two groups of prehistoric humans crossed paths.

Professor Robert Foley, also from the Leverhulme Centre and a co-author of the study, said: Ive no doubt it is in our biology to be aggressive and lethal, just as it is to be deeply caring and loving. A lot of what we understand about human evolutionary biology suggests these are two sides of the same coin.
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In classrooms and community halls, hundreds of men, women and children stared at the face of a child soldier turned alleged war criminal.

For many, the memories of the Lords Resistance Armys reign of terror in Uganda were still raw. Appearing for the first time at The Hague, the proceedings beamed across Uganda, was Dominic Ongwen, the rebel leader who is accused of using rape to coerce children into becoming soldiers.

The 40-year-old faces 70 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court. It heard how he slaughtered civilians while he commanded the Sinai Brigade of the Lords Resistance Army (LRA). The bloodshed even included cases of cannibalism, prosecutors said.

It is claimed Mr Ongwen was abducted by the LRA when he was just 10, eventually rising through the ranks of the movement under the rule of the warlord Joseph Kony. At the hearing to determine whether Mr Ongwen should face a war crimes trial, the prosecutor Ben Gumpert said Mr Ongwen had led attacks on four camps where refugees had sought shelter from the LRA in 2003 and 2004.

Witnesses tell of how he instructed his escorts to administer dreadful beatings and ... even, on at least one occasion to kill, cook and eat civilians who had been abducted in attacks, Mr Gumpert said. He said the LRA deliberately targeted civilians in its conflict with Ugandan government forces, murdering indiscriminately, abducting children to turn them into killers steeped in blood, forcing girls and women into marriages with fighters.

Mr Ongwen, first indicted in 2005 and sent to the court a year ago after surrendering to US forces in the Central African Republic, is the only member of Konys murderous army in the courts custody. Kony remains free despite years of efforts in Northern Uganda and neighbouring countries to track down and capture him.

Betty Amongi, a Ugandan politician who met Mr Ongwen during failed peace talks in 2005, told the Associated Press that she hoped his prosecution would serve as a deterrent. This is going to be a landmark case, she said. If the trial is successful, it will be a good deterrent for the rest of those who think that you can wage war, you can torture people and get away with it.

Originating in Uganda in the 1980s as a tribal uprising the government, the LRAs rebellion is one of Africas longest and most brutal. The group razed villages, raped women and amputated limbs. It is especially notorious for recruiting boys to fight and taking girls as sex slaves.

Mr Gumpert said Mr Ongwen bears significant criminal responsibility for the attacks, during which civilians were killed and tortured, and women and children were abducted. Nursing mothers whose babies slowed up the progress or who simply cried too loudly saw them killed or thrown into the bush and left behind, Mr Gumpert said.

He added that Mr Ongwen played a crucial role in transforming abducted children into soldiers, whom Kony saw as most easily moulded into the ruthless killers he needed. They were forced to perform acts of torture and murder designed to convince [them] they were so steeped in blood that there could be no acceptance for them back in civilian society, Mr Gumpert said.

During the hearing, Mr Ongwen was implacable. When asked by presiding judge Cuno Tarfusser if he wanted the charges read out in court, Mr Ongwen bowed to the three-judge panel and said: You may speak five words and only two are true, It is all going to be a waste of time. Mr Ongwens lawyers will argue next week for the charges to be dropped.
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Scores of women were among the crowd saying goodbye to an artist and human rights campaigner whose death has sent shockwaves rippling across Africa.

French-Moroccan photographer Leila Alaoui was among the 28 people from 18 different nationalities who were killed in the al-Qaeda attack on the Cappuccino Cafe in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso's capital.

That so many women were among the estimated 1,000 people who attended her funeral in Marrakech, in defiance of local norms, is testament to Ms Alaouis rare ability to break down barriers between opposing worlds.

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Born in France, brought up in Morocco and trained in photography in New York, Ms Alaouis friends and family say she was fascinated by the idea of passing through the borders put up by people between countries, races, religions and genders.

The 33-year-old was working for Amnesty International on a major project exploring womens rights in Africa when she was killed by jihadists from the al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) group.

Shot twice in the leg and chest, Ms Alaoui had recovered to a stable condition after surgery and was able to speak to her parents before, as a medical evacuation was being prepared, she suffered a fatal heart attack.

Getting my portrait taken by a Syrian boy in a tented refugee settlement in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon. A photo posted by Leila Alaoui (@leilaalaoui) on Jun 7, 2015 at 1:45pm PDT

Never had that many people posing in front of my camera! #india A photo posted by Leila Alaoui (@leilaalaoui) on Nov 3, 2014 at 1:52am PST

#rencontresarles #arles #photography A photo posted by Leila Alaoui (@leilaalaoui) on Jul 9, 2015 at 5:29am PDT

Her death, announced in a statement from Amnesty on Monday morning, saw the death toll from that attack rise to 30, as well as scores wounded.

Ms Alaoui had been parked outside the Cappuccino Cafe with Amnesty employee and driver Mahamadi Ouedraogo, a father of four who was also killed.

After attacking the cafe, a popular destination among foreigners in the city, the gunmen took hostages in a nearby luxury hotel. The siege was broken on Saturday morning with the assistance of French anti-terror experts, and all four gunmen were shot dead.

"The Moroccans" by Leila Alaoui Posted by Leila Alaoui on Sunday, 8 November 2015

As she died in a hospital in Burkina Faso, 3,000 miles away in Paris an exhibition of her last completed work The Moroccans was coming to the end of its showing at the prestigious Maison Europeenne de la Photographie.

The exhibition featured life-size portraits of people from different communities across Morocco, and Ms Alaoui said the project was designed to counter the tired exoticisation of North Africa and the Arab world.

Speaking to The Independent after attending Ms Alaouis funeral on Wednesday, her cousin Yalda Alaoui said the artist was fast becoming an icon in her home country.

Crowds attend Leila Alaoui's funeral in the Imam Souhaili Cemetery in Marrakech, 20 January 2016 (supplied) (Supplied)

She was representing Arab women in the art world, a visionary when it came to topics like immigration and womens rights, Yalda says.

Demonstrations happened in her name today in Morocco and over 2100 articles were written about her. The French parliament observed a minute of silence for her today too.

However all this will not bring me back my closest cousin, who was like a sister to me. We were very similar, both physically and mentally.

Yalda Alaoui (left) said her cousin Leila (right) was 'like a sister to me'

Yalda (left) now works in finance London, but says she and her artist cousin were 'very similar physically and mentally' (Yalda Alaoui)

Amnesty told The Independent Ms Alaoui was commissioned for a series of exemplary photos of women working towards the empowerment women and girls in Burkina Faso, which was to be exhibited for International Womens Day on 8 March.

The charity sent this newspaper two photographs taken by Ms Alaoui in her last days, which are included below.

The organisation was drawn to the artist because of the way she brought out the inner strength of marginalised communities in previous works.

Slam artist Malika Ouattara, known as 'Malika La Slammeuse', photographed by Leila Alaoui in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso on 13 January (Supplied)

Martine Kabore, who works at a shelter for young girls who have experienced forced marriage, early pregnancy and sexual violence, photographed by Leila Alaoui in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on 13 January (Supplied)

The message of the My Body My Rights campaign she was working on was to be one that showed the individuals not as victims but as inspiring women and girls, within a broader campaign of empowerment and positive change.

Amnesty Internationals director in Burkina Faso, Yves Traore, said: Leila was an extraordinary young woman. We wanted to work with her because of her talent, and her passion for helping women, girls and marginalised people tell their own stories and claim their rights.

As a strong woman herself, she wanted to show women as authors of their own destiny, not as victims. We are all devastated by her loss.

That impression of Ms Alaoui as a strong woman is one repeated by her cousin Yalda.

Photoshoot #India A photo posted by Leila Alaoui (@leilaalaoui) on Nov 4, 2014 at 1:11am PST

She was extremely strong and after the attack never doubted she would survive, despite her being badly wounded by a Kalashnikov, she says.

In her hospital bed she kept asking about her driver  no one told her he had actually died  and wasn't so concerned about herself. She kept telling her parents she would be fine.

While based in Morocco, Ms Alaoui also worked on projects designed to help refugees trying to or thinking about making the dangerous Mediterranean crossing to Europe.

And prior to the major European refugee crisis of the past two years, Ms Alaoui worked with the UNHCR and the Danish Refugee Council to raise awareness of the plight of asylum-seekers in Lebanon.

In 2013, she said she had already been working on documenting issues of migration, refugees and cultural diversity for six years.

Of her subjects, she explained at the time: "I don't want to show them vulnerable and miserable. When someone looks at you, you just see a person that is just human and real, strong, beautiful. I don't want to have a condescending approach.

The exhibition "The Moroccans" is on view at the @mep_paris until January 17. #TheMoroccans #LeilaAlaoui #photomondearabe #Mep #Photography #Paris A photo posted by Leila Alaoui (@leilaalaoui) on Jan 3, 2016 at 5:56am PST

In the statement declaring its responsibility for the Ouagadougou attacks, AQIM described it as a drop in the sea of global jihad and said it comes within a series of operations to cleanse the land of Islam and Muslims from the dens of global espionage, according to a translation published by SITE Intelligence Group.

It was the group's first attack in Burkina Faso, and Amnesty said Ouagadougou was not deemed a high risk destination for its employees. In Ms Alaoui, the group has killed a woman who spent most of her adult life reaching out to and raising awareness of the plight of marginalised Muslims.

Yalda described Wednesday as a hard but beautiful day. There was so much love and so many people came to the cemetery, she says.

She is the proof jihadists kill anyone, Muslim or not. They do not and cannot represent Islam.
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A man who has been on death row for over 20 years is set to become the second prisoner in Alabama to receive the death penalty since 2013.

43-year-old Christoper Eugene Brooks is scheduled to be given a lethal injection on Thursday, despite his lawyers arguing to postpone the penalty after similar lethal drugs administered in Oklahoma failed to kill the prisoner quickly, as reported by Associated Press.

Mr Brooks was convicted of sexually assaulting and murdering a woman in 1992. He first met 23-year-old Jo Deann when they were both camp counselors in upstate New York.

Police found traces of his semen on Ms Deans lifeless body under her bed in her apartment. Police also found Mr Brooks had Ms Deans car keys and had cashed her paycheck.

At the trial, Mr Brooks' lawyers argued that another man present that night in Ms Deans apartment could have committed the murder.

A jury recommended a death sentence, voting 11 to 1, and the judge delivered the final sentence. Mr Brooks is set to die at 6pm CST at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama, according to authorities.

The death penalty on Thursday would be the first state execution since 2013 due to a shortage of drugs and ongoing litigation.

It will also be the first execution to use a new cocktail of drugs, including midazolam, which renders the inmate unconscious.

Mr Brooks' lawyers have argued that midazolam used in Oklahoma meant it took 43 minutes for one prisoner to die.

Six Alabama inmates are arguing that midazolam will not prevent them from feeling the following injections of rocuronium bromide and potassium chloride, which stop their lungs and hearts.

Brooks should not be the subject of Alabama's experiment to see if it can carry out an execution using this protocol while the very validity of the protocol is at issue in ongoing federal court proceedings, Assistant Federal Defender John Palombi wrote in the filing to the Supreme Court on Wednesday, as reported by Associated Press.

Mr Brooks' lawyer has also asked the Supreme Court to review the case following Floridas decision to crack down on the amount of authority that judges have in deciding whether or not to sentence someone to death.

The last inmate to be executed in Alabama, and the first since 2011, was Andrew Reid Lackey. He was given the lethal injection on 25 July, 2013, for killing Charles Newman during a robbery in 2005.
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Fire officials in California say they carried out a rescue operation after a Los Angeles Zoo employee fell into the gorilla enclosure.

Fox News said the 61-year-old worker was conscius and had not been attacked by an animals. It was later reported the worker had suffered a broken leg.

It was reported that the zoos animals had been secured by staff.

More follows
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When Barack Obama stepped onto the national political stage almost a decade ago, rumors swirled that he was secretly a Muslim. These rumors have frequently been debunked  the US president is a practicing Christian  but they persist nonetheless: In a poll conducted in 2014, 54 percent of Republicans were found to believe that Obama was a Muslim deep down.

The endurance of these conspiracy theories can probably be attributed to Obama's position as the first African American president of the United States  his two terms as president have been wrapped up in issues of race and identity. But it's also worth noting how these theories have mutated as they traveled abroad, adapting in unexpected ways to fit regional arguments.

One of the most persistent and widespread of these conspiracy theories gets more specific than its American variant: Obama isn't just a Muslim, this theory goes.... he's a Shiite Muslim.

This week, as the Obama administration announced that it was lifting sanctions on Iran as a result of a US-led nuclear deal with Tehran reached in July, Dhahi Khalfan Tamim, the head of general security for the emirate of Dubai, suggested that Obama's Shiite roots had helped him get elected in a bid to bring the United States and Iran closer.

Mission accomplished, he added.

In follow-up tweets, Tamim suggested that Israel was actually behind the election of Obama and that the US president would probably visit a number of Shiite religious sites in Iran soon.

It's worth noting that Tamim isn't an obscure figure. He is a former police chief of Dubai. His Twitter account has more than 1.2 million followers, and his tweets about Obama were retweeted hundreds of times. And neither is this the first time that this rumor has found voice.

Last year, a video featuring former Iraqi member of parliament Taha al-Lahibi appeared online and showed Lahibi reasoning that Obama's Shiite background had led him to work with Iran. Around the same time, Syrian writer Muhydin Lazikani told the London-based al-Hiwar television channel that Obama was the son of a Shiite Kenyan father. The rumor goes back as far as the 2008 election, when state-run Iranian papers published articles that suggested Obama was a Shiite Muslim. There were even celebrations in Iraq's Shiite strongholds when he won the election in November 2008.

In pictures: Obama's advisers Show all 3 1 /3 In pictures: Obama's advisers In pictures: Obama's advisers 39213.bin In pictures: Obama's advisers 39215.bin Getty In pictures: Obama's advisers 39218.bin Getty

Many people felt, Now we have a brother in the White House, one Sadr City local told Time magazine shortly after.

The evidence in favor of Obama being a Shiite or having much Shiite influence on his upbringing is thin to nonexistent. His middle name is Hussein  also the name of Shiite Islam's holiest martyr and a common name among Shiite Muslims  but plenty of Sunnis and non-Muslims have that name, too. Obama's estranged father, whom he has described as a Muslim who later became an atheist, came from Kenya, a country where Sunnis far outnumber Shiites. Obama did spend a few years in Muslim-majority Indonesia after his mother remarried and his stepfather was a Muslim, though by most accounts he adhered to the Sunni stream of Islam  as almost all Indonesians do. While in Indonesia, Obama attended a Catholic school and later a Muslim-majority state school that has been described as a secular institution by reporters from the Associated Press.

 Obama: anti-Muslim rhetoric is just wrong

But this distinct lack of evidence doesn't matter to Tamim and other proponents of the Obama is a Shiite conspiracy theory. It also doesn't seem to matter that the theory is contradicted by other, just-as-unlikely theories. For example, many in Iraq believe that America, under the orders of Obama, is supporting the Sunni extremist Islamic State group. It is not in doubt, Mustafa Saadi, a commander in an Iraqi Shiite militia, told The Washington Post's Liz Sly recently.

And, yes, some Shiites argue that Obama is secretly a Sunni and works against Shiites.

Conspiracy theories about the United States seem to find fertile ground in the Middle East  last year, fake screenshots spread around Arabic-language social media claiming to show an excerpt of Hillary Clinton's autobiography in which she talks about working with the Muslim Brotherhood to help engineer the Islamic State. It goes without saying that this screenshot is a fake and that the passage does not exist. Given the West's history of meddling in the Middle East, perhaps it's understandable that many in the region still suspect that something nefarious lies underneath America's actions in the region.

It's still worrying that someone as well known and as important as Tamim would publicly link the Iran deal to Obama's supposed Shiite heritage. But the response to Tamim's tweet has been reassuring in a way, with many in the Middle East ridiculing the Emirati for promoting an obvious conspiracy theory.

Copyright: Washington Post
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El Salvador has urged women to avoid getting pregnant until 2018 to avoid their children developing birth defects from the mosquito-borne Zika virus which has rampaged through the Americas.

The Zika virus is transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is also known to carry the dengue, yellow fever and Chikungunya viruses. Health experts are unsure why the virus, which was first detected in Africa in 1947 but unknown in the Americas until last year, is spreading so rapidly in Brazil and neighboring countries.

Reuters said that although research is still underway, significant evidence in Brazil has suggested a link between Zika infections and rising cases of microcephaly, a neurological disorder in which infants are born with smaller craniums and brains.

(Reuters)

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On Thursday, El Salvadors Deputy Health Minister, Eduardo Espinoza, said 5,397 cases of the Zika virus had been detected in the country in 2015 and the first few days of this year.

Wed like to suggest to all the women of fertile age that they take steps to plan their pregnancies, and avoid getting pregnant between this year and next, he said.

Official figures show 96 pregnant women are suspected of having contracted the virus, but so far none have had babies born with microcephaly.

In Colombia, which has the second-highest Zika infection rate after Brazil, the government is also advising women to delay becoming pregnant, but only for six to eight months.

Meanwhile, in Brazil it was reported that the number of babies born with suspected microcephaly or abnormally small heads since October has now reached nearly 4,000. In the worst affected area, about one per cent of newborns have suspected microcephaly.
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The four men armed with assault rifles and grenades were concealed by a winter fog that had enveloped Bacha Khan University. Unseen and unheard, they prepared to begin a six-hour massacre, scaling the walls that surround the campus.

On Wednesday morning, a little more than a year after the Taliban killed more than 130 students at a school in Peshawar, 30 miles away, in Charsadda, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in north-west Pakistan, another attack was launched as students slept. With the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs assault against the Pakistani Taliban raging in tribal regions, the gunmen struck at a perceived soft target.

Recommended Read more A warning for Turkey as Islamists turn on their old allies in Pakistan

Opening fire on students, teachers and university workers, the four men, it was claimed, took their time. They met little resistance. Students were heard pleading for their lives before being shot in the head. At least 20 were killed but the death toll is expected to increase significantly.

Among the dead was the chemistry lecturer, Professor Syed Hamid Hussain. He had been determined to save the lives of his students and colleagues. Zahoor Ahmed, a geology student said Mr Hussain had warned him not to leave the building after the first shots were fired. He was holding a pistol in his hand, he was quoted by AFP news agency as saying. Then I saw a bullet hit him. I saw two militants were firing. I ran inside and then managed to flee by jumping over the back wall.

In Charsadda, Shiraz Ali, a security guard at Bacha Khan, reflected on how he survived the massacre. The 35-year-old told The Independent: I was shocked to hear voices loudly shouting terrorists. And then there was a first burst of gunfire which I survived somehow. I fired in response in the same direction. I saw three people and fired at them and followed them. But they disappeared in the fog. I saw a security guard with a bullet in the arm asking for help. He was injured. A few yards ahead again I heard firing. I took position on the ground and moved ahead to find a body lying in blood with a pistol in his hand. I was shocked to discover the professor who gave his life in fight against terrorists.

 Pakistan University attack

The university had been due to host a poetry recital to commemorate the anniversary of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, a Pashtun independence activist after whom the institution is named. The Vice Chancellor Fazal Rahim told reporters that the university teaches over 3,000 students and was hosting an additional 600 visitors for the poetry recital.

The army said it had cleared the campus of attackers and killed the gunmen, six hours after the assault began. A security official said the death toll could rise to as high as 40 with many critically wounded in hospital. Authorities vowed there would be a retaliation against those who planned the assault.

Yet there remained conflicting reports about which group had been behind the attack. Umar Mansoor, a senior Pakistani Taliban commander involved in the December 2014 attack in Peshawar, claimed responsibility for the Charsadda assault and said it involved four of his men. He told Reuters by telephone the university was targeted because it was a government institution that supported the army.

In pictures: Pakistan university attack Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Pakistan university attack In pictures: Pakistan university attack Pakistani rescuers shift an injured man to a hospital following an attack by gunmen in the Bacha Khan university in Charsadda, about 50 kilometres from Peshawar. At least 21 people died in an armed assault on a university in Pakistan, where witnesses reported two large explosions as security forces moved in under dense fog to halt the bloodshed In pictures: Pakistan university attack Rescue workers shout to clear the way for an ambulance transporting injured victims from Bacha Khan University in Charsadda AP In pictures: Pakistan university attack A Pakistani army armoured vehicle (R) enters the Bacha Khan university following an attack by gunmen in Charsadda Getty Images In pictures: Pakistan university attack Pakistani rescuers shift an injured man at a hospital following an attack by gunmen at Bacha Khan university in Charsadda Getty Images In pictures: Pakistan university attack Pakistani troops arrive at Bacha Khan University in Charsadda AP In pictures: Pakistan university attack Pakistani rescuers shift an injured victim outside the Bacha Khan university following an attack by gunmen in Charsadda Getty Images In pictures: Pakistan university attack Pakistani police and onlookers gather in front of a hospital following an attack by gunmen at Bacha Khan university in Charsadda Getty Images In pictures: Pakistan university attack An ambulance carrying injured victims enters a hospital following an attack by gunmen at Bacha Khan university in Charsadda Getty Images In pictures: Pakistan university attack Pakistani rescuers shift an injured man into a hospital following an attack by gunmen at Bacha Khan university in Charsadda Getty Images In pictures: Pakistan university attack Pakistani rescuers carry coffins at a hospital following an attack by gunment at Bacha Khan university in Charsadda Getty Images

With a chest-length beard, and holding an finger aloft, he was filmed claiming credit for the Peshawar massacre last year. If our women and children die as martyrs, your children will not escape, he said. We will fight against you in such a style that you attack us and we will take revenge on innocents. However, later in the day, an official Taliban spokesman issued a written statement disassociating the militants from the attack, calling it unIslamic.

The violence illustrated that terrorists retain the ability to launch attacks, despite a country-wide anti-terrorism crackdown and a military campaign against their strongholds along the lawless border with Afghanistan. They came from behind and there was a big commotion, said one student from his hospital bed in Charsaddas District Hospital. We were told by teachers to leave immediately. Some people hid in bathrooms.

Chemistry department head, Syed Hamid Hussain, who died trying to save students

Ahmed Zed, a 23-year-old business administration student, was about to leave his room when he heard the shooting. I suddenly retreated back to my room, he told The Independent. I locked myself in my room and in the cupboard. I was numb with fear. I heard the students pleading for life for hours. Yasir Zafar, a sociology lecturer, added: It was at 8.30am when I heard heavy firing. When I got out of the office I found our security guard engaging the terrorist. I was told by the security guard to leave the university immediately. On my way back I saw my final-year student dead. The shooting became intense and when I looked back I saw the guard shot dead. Im lucky to have escaped.

Shabir Khan, a lecturer in the English department, said he was about to leave his university housing for the department when shooting began. Most of the students and staff were in classes when the firing began, he said. Several schools had closed early at the weekend around Peshawar after rumours circulated of a possible attack.

Student of Bacha Khan university react after the attack (Getty) (Getty Images)

The Peshawar school attack was seen as having hardened Pakistans resolve to fight militants along its lawless border with Afghanistan. The government lifted a six-year moratorium on the death penalty soon afterwards. It is now painfully clear that putting to death more than 300 people  in the name of fighting terrorism has done nothing to prevent such tragedies, said Champa Patel, South Asia Director of Amnesty International. In its response to this latest tragedy, the Pakistani authorities must do everything in their power to protect civilians, while respecting human rights and humanitarian law. They should avoid regressive measures such as their resumption of executions following the 2014 Peshawar school attack.

But Mr Sharif said: We are determined in our commitment to wipe out the menace of terrorism from our homeland.
News / National

by Staff reporter

Rape-accused Munyaradzi Kereke can no longer afford legal fees after the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) allegedly garnished his accounts, the Constitutional Court heard yesterday.The Bikita West Zanu-PF MP blamed the dire state of his finances on Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) boss Happyton Bonyongwe and his wife Willia, who chairs Zimra."The director-general (Bonyongwe) is crippling my report to the police," Kereke said."I said that (retired Reserve Bank Governor Gideon) Gono and Bonyongwe wanted to sell Fidelity Printers to a Chinese businessman for $12 million. The Chinese businessman is now in jail."All my financial sources have been garnished by Zimra to a point where I am unable to pay the upfront fees for the senior counsel."He said that Zimra's actions had crippled and disabled him from seeking justice in the ongoing rape trial, in which he is accused of sexually molesting two minors.Kereke said he had reported a criminal case against Bonyongwe and his wife.He claimed he had urged the police to investigate Bonyongwe and Gono over claims that they wanted to sell Fidelity Printers for $12 million to a jailed Chinese businessman.Kereke said because of that, Zimra was now meddling in his private prosecution in a bid to incapacitate him. He said his salary was also being garnished from the Salary Services Bureau."The activity by Zimra cannot be a just one," he said.Kereke said this soon after his lawyer James Makiya renounced agency in a Constitutional Court application where he is challenging the constitutionality of private prosecution.Kereke applied to have the application postponed indefinitely, after stating that at the moment he was unable to raise legal fees.The Constitutional Court allowed his application but slapped him with costs.The Constitutional Court proceedings were necessitated by Prosecutor-General Johannes Tomana's refusal to prosecute Kereke on rape and indecent assault charges, claiming that he had no case to answer, resulting in the abused girls' grandfather Francis Maramwidze successfully applying for the legislator's private prosecution.The court order allowing his private prosecution prompted Kereke to challenge the validity of Section 16 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act.The Section compels the Prosecutor-General's office to issue a private prosecution certificate when the State declines to act.The parliamentarian's private prosecution has since opened at the Harare Magistrates' Courts.He will be back in court on February 3.
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Police in Tajikistan shaved the beards of nearly 13,000 men and convinced 1,770 women to stop wearing the hijab in the last year in a bid to tackle foreign influences, it has been reported.

At a press conference yesterday, the Muslim-majority central Asian countrys law enforcement services revealed that the facial hair of 12,818 men had been brought to order for being overly long and unkempt, according to the Radio Liberty news site.

Bahrom Sharifzoda, the head of the countrys Khatlon regions police force, also announced that officials had closed 162 shops selling traditional Muslim clothing, including the womens headscarf, and that 1,773 females had been persuaded to ditch the garment.

The measures are part of the secular leaderships efforts to battle apparent radicalism and unwelcome traditions from neighbouring Afghanistan, according to Aljazeera.

The news site reports that, in recent months, the countrys parliament has voted to ban Arabic-sounding foreign names and marriages between first cousins, while its Supreme Court has banned the countrys sole Islamic political party, the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan.

President Emomali Rahmon, who has been in power since 1992, has worked to promote secularism in the country and has been seen to discourage beliefs and practices that could cause the country instability.

In December, Rahmon and his family were granted lifetime immunity from prosecution, with the parliament officially giving him the title of leader of the nation and the founder of peace and national unity of Tajikistan.

The republic of Tajikistan became independent from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Last May, the countrys national security suffered a setback when Colonel Gulmurod Khalimov, commander of the special-purpose police unit of the Interior Ministry, reportedly joined the Islamic State group.
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A convicted rapist has escaped from preventative custody during a visit to a brewery in Cologne.

Peter Breidenbach, 58, was able to escape guards from his prison in Aachen on Wednesday afternoon, a police statement said. He is now on the run.

Breidenbach was able to escape when he was escorted to the toilet by one of the two prison guards who accompanied him on the trip, a spokesman for the North Rhine-Westphalia justice ministry told the Kolner Stadt-Anzeiger newspaper.

Instead of guarding the prisoner, the guard decided to relieve himself, despite not being able to see the toilet cabinets nor the door from the urinals.

It is unclear whether Breidenbach planned the escape in advance or simply exploited the opportunity.

"This should not have been allowed to happen," the spokesman told the paper, saying either the man who accompanied the prisoner or the second officer should have kept an eye on him.

"He is believed to be extremely dangerous," the spokesman said. "Anyone who sees him should inform the police".

Breidenbach was convicted of rape in conjunction with serious robbery and sexual coercion, and sentenced to nine years in jail in 1991, The Local reports.

He has been in preventative custody since the end of his full jail sentence.

The brewery trip, which was tacked on to a shopping trip in his hometown, was his ninth excursion without handcuffs.
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French President Francois Hollande has said a coalition involved in a bombing campaign against Isis will "accelerate" air strikes.

"The pace of the interventions will be accelerated and France will play its role in this," Mr Hollande said in a New Year's address to French and foreign ambassadors on Thursday, AFP reports.

Mr Hollande said any political negotiation to end the Syrian crisis needed to provide clarity on the future leadership of the country.

He added Paris was ready to train Libyan security forces once a government was fully in place and warned the power vacuum in Lebanon needed to be resolved urgently.

The announcement comes after defence chiefs in France pledged to intensify their fight against Isis in an effort to take advantage of recent battlefield gains against the terror group.

Ministers from the United States, Britain and four other countries also agreed to escalate their campaign against Isis, during talks in Paris on Wednesday.

At a news conference with French Defence Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, US Defence Secretary, Ash Carter, said there was broad agreement on a co-ordinated plan to battle Isis over the next year and re-take key cities under the militants' control.

British jets prepare for air strikes in Syria Show all 10 1 /10 British jets prepare for air strikes in Syria British jets prepare for air strikes in Syria A Tornado jet takes off from RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland, as RAF Tornado jets carried out the first British bombing runs over Syria British jets prepare for air strikes in Syria Pilots and ground crew prepare combat aircraft Panavia Tornados at RAF Marham at RAF Marham, UK Getty British jets prepare for air strikes in Syria A Eurofighter Typhoon jet takes off from RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland, as RAF Tornado jets carried out the first British bombing runs over Syria British jets prepare for air strikes in Syria A RAF Tornado arrives at RAF Akrotiri to begin operations in Akrotiri British jets prepare for air strikes in Syria A Tornado jet ahead of taking off from RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland, as RAF Tornado jets carried out the first British bombing runs over Syria, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed. The air strikes were carried out within hours of a vote by MPs in the Commons to back extending operations against Isis from neighbouring Iraq British jets prepare for air strikes in Syria Personnel work on a British Tornado after it returned from a mission at RAF Akrotiri in southern Cyprus British jets prepare for air strikes in Syria Two RAF Tornado GR4's, both with remaining weapons ordnance, approach RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, as they return to the base after carrying out some of the first British bombing runs over Syria British jets prepare for air strikes in Syria A RAF Tornado takes off from RAF Akrotiri, on the Mediterranean island nation of Cyprus British jets prepare for air strikes in Syria A Tornado jet leaving RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland British jets prepare for air strikes in Syria AKA RAF Tornado arrives at RAF Akrotiri to begin operations in Akrotiri, Cyprus. The RAF has sent two further Tornado aircraft and six Typhoons to bolster aircraft now flying sorties to both Iraq and Syria

"Raqqa and Mosul must be won back," Mr Le Drian said, adding it can only succeed if the coalition supports the local forces on the ground in Iraq and Syria.
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The family of the woman prosecutors wrongly accused of being a suicide bomber have filed a murder complaint after claiming she was a victim of terrorism.

Hasna Ait Boulahcen, the cousin of the Paris attacks ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud, died during a police raid on a flat in Saint-Denis in November.

 Woman overheard during Saint-Denis shootout

Officials initially said a female suicide bomber had blown herself up but two days later, police announced that a man had detonated the explosives vest.

Boulahcen, 26, is believed to have found and paid for the hideout where Abaaoud was allegedly planning further terror attacks on Charles de Gaulle airport and the Paris financial district.

Her intended role in that plot is unclear but her mother, sister and brother have now filed a legal complaint against persons unknown with a judge in Paris for "terrorism, murder and any other charges an investigation may uncover".

Fabien Ndoumou, a lawyer representing the family, told iTele Boulahcen was being controlled by Abaaoud through threats to her family and friends.

In pictures: Saint-Denis raid Show all 33 1 /33 In pictures: Saint-Denis raid In pictures: Saint-Denis raid A man is arrested by police officers at the site where a raid happened in the city center of Saint-Denis, near Paris In pictures: Saint-Denis raid Hooded police officers detain a man in Saint-Denis, near Paris In pictures: Saint-Denis raid Hooded police officers detain a man in Saint-Denis, near Paris In pictures: Saint-Denis raid Police officers detain a man on the ground inside a shopping mall in Saint-Denis In pictures: Saint-Denis raid Police officers arrest a man in Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris In pictures: Saint-Denis raid French police officers storm a church after a raid in Paris suburb Saint-Denis In pictures: Saint-Denis raid Police officers at work at the site where a raid happened in the city center of Saint-Denis In pictures: Saint-Denis raid Some people are being transferred to a local hospital near the site of this morning police raid in Saint-Denis In pictures: Saint-Denis raid Residents are evacuated in Saint-Denis In pictures: Saint-Denis raid Inhabitants are evacuated from a security perimeter set in the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis city center In pictures: Saint-Denis raid Families are evacuated by police members at the site were a police raid happened in the city center of Saint-Denis In pictures: Saint-Denis raid Rescue teams take care of an injured police officer at the site where a police raid happened in the city center of Saint-Denis In pictures: Saint-Denis raid Members of special French RAID forces with a police dog and French riot police (CRS) secure the area during an operation in Saint-Denis In pictures: Saint-Denis raid Police forces operate in Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris In pictures: Saint-Denis raid French riot police (CRS), soldiers, firefighters and health workers stand at the scene in Saint-Denis In pictures: Saint-Denis raid French riot police (CRS) secure the area as shots are exchanged in Saint-Denis Reuters In pictures: Saint-Denis raid Rescue teams and police gather at the site where raid happened in the city center of Saint-Denis In pictures: Saint-Denis raid Soldiers operate in Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris AP In pictures: Saint-Denis raid Police officers take up positions in Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris AP In pictures: Saint-Denis raid Police and Ambulance vans are parked in Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris AP In pictures: Saint-Denis raid A resident is being searched by police officers in Paris suburb Saint-Denis AP In pictures: Saint-Denis raid Members of French police special forces in the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis city center, as French Police special forces raid an appartment, hunting those behind the attacks that claimed 129 lives in the French capital In pictures: Saint-Denis raid Anti-terrorist police raid apartment in Saint Denis, Paris. Reports suggest the target of the police siege in Saint-Denis is Abdelhamid Abaaoud, thought to be the mastermind behind the Paris attacks. Three suspected terrorists have barricaded themselves in an apartment gunfire has been exchanged between the men and dozens of armed police Rex In pictures: Saint-Denis raid French special police forces secure the area as shots are exchanged in Saint-Denis Reuters In pictures: Saint-Denis raid French police evacuate residents in Saint-Denis Reuters In pictures: Saint-Denis raid Police officers take up positions in Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris AP In pictures: Saint-Denis raid Police forces prepare in Saint-Denis, a northern suburb of Paris AP In pictures: Saint-Denis raid French spolice stop and search a local resident as shots are exchanged in Saint-Denis In pictures: Saint-Denis raid French police members participate in an raid in the city center of Saint-Denis EPA In pictures: Saint-Denis raid French special police forces secure the area as shots are exchanged in Saint-Denis Reuters In pictures: Saint-Denis raid Firemen wait for the develop of the operation in the city center of Saint-Denis EPA In pictures: Saint-Denis raid French police secure the area as shots are exchanged in Saint-Denis Reuters In pictures: Saint-Denis raid French special police forces secure the area as shots are exchanged in Saint-Denis Reuters

Hasna was not an accomplice, she was not a terrorist and she was not a suicide bomber, he said. She is a victim of terrorism.

In footage of the pre-dawn raid taken by local residents, Boulahcen could be heard screaming at armed police: Hes not my boyfriend, hes not my boyfriendcan I leave? I want to leave.

Her family are also calling for authorities to release Boulahcens body, which is still being held by forensic investigators, police reported.

Friends believe Boulahcen became radicalised within the past year, having started wearing a veil after the Charlie Hebdo massacre and writing extremist posts on Facebook.

Isis identified nine Paris attackers using their war names in a tribute carried by its propaganda magazine Dabiq in January

In one, she expressed sympathy for Hayat Boumedienne, the wife of Isis gunman Amedy Coulibaly, and in another she declared her intention to join the so-called Islamic State in Syria.

Police now say that Boulahcen was killed when Chakib Akrouh detonated a suicide vest in the flat.

The 25-year-old Belgian-Moroccan man fought with Isis in Syria and was included in a tribute to the Paris attackers in the terrorist groups propaganda magazine, which used his war name Abu Mujahid al-Baljiki.

Akrouh is thought to have been the third man involved in the bar and restaurant shootings in the French capital on 13 November, when 130 people were killed.
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In the cold snow-covered city, preoccupied by the crash of the Russian rouble, Muscovites were unmoved. Probably. The series of bombshells contained within the 134,503 words of The Litvinenko Inquiry were given short shrift. More attention was paid to the plummeting price of oil and the countrys currency. The claimed state killing of a dissenter failed to illicit much outrage. There were no protests and few willing to criticise the Kremlin.

The organs of the Russian state seized on a single word used 34 times within Sir Robert Owens report  vozmozhno (probably). The contempt was ill disguised. The allegation that President Vladimir Putin personally authorised the murder in London described as a farce and politically motivated.

Soon after the reports publication, the unflappable spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, appeared in a video posted on Russias state news website, Sputnik, where she criticised its lack of transparency.

We regret that a purely criminal case has been politicised and has darkened the general atmosphere of our bilateral relations, Ms Zakharova said. Taking this into account, there were little grounds to expect that the final report of a process that was politically motivated and highly opaque, and prepared with a pre-determined correct result in mind, would suddenly turn out to be objective and balanced. Later, Mr Putins ever-loyal mouthpiece, Dmitry Peskov, said that the investigation was the product of the elegant sense of British humour, and accused the inquiry, which heard some evidence in closed hearings, of resting on undisclosed information from unnamed intelligence services and the ample use of the words possibly and probably.

Mr Peskovs was a line followed doggedly by Russian state media. The popular state news channel NTV aired a news segment entitled Probably and Possibly, taking aim at some of the evidence gathered in the investigation. And here we have the word possibly, which we meet several times in the document, the presenter said. It turns out that, nine years after the inquiry into the cause of the murder began, they say the word possibly with considerable uncertainty.

Nevertheless, scepticism over Russias official response has reverberated among Russias liberal elite, who fear that the allegations will be ignored by Mr Putins administration. Speaking to The Independent, special correspondent for Russias Novaya Gazeta newspaper, Pavel Kanygin, called the accusations very serious and expressed concern that the Russian government will dismiss the report completely. Of course, we cant say 100 per cent that the results are absolutely correct, but I think a lot of serious work was done by the British courts and at the very least Russia has to pay attention to it.

Im worried that a proper investigation on the Russian side into [those involved] in the case wont be carried out, Mr Kanygin said.

Alexandra Cherkasova, a researcher at a risk analysis firm in Moscow, agreed with the findings and said the public should be prepared to face a Russian media intent on discrediting the investigation. Im just happy that after 10 years, there are finally some tangible conclusions. For me, these results just confirm all the suspicions Ive had since 2006, she said. But as I see it, unless Putin and [Andrei] Lugovoi and the rest of them come out and confess to what theyve done, I dont know where we can practically go from here.

Mr Lugovoi, who became a politician in a right-wing political party after leaving the Russian secret service, has dismissed the allegations leveled against him as absurd. He told Russian news agency Interfax that it is evidence of Londons anti-Russian position and a lack of desire among the British to find the real reason for the death of Litvinenko.

Toxic past: A poisonous legacy

The Litvinenko Inquiry heard that Russia had a history of poisoning opponents.

Ukraines former President, Viktor Yuschenko, was suspected to have been a target of Russian security forces, according to a report for the inquiry by Robert Service, a former professor of Russian history at Oxford University.

Mr Yuschenkos poisoning occurred in 2004 during his presidential election campaign in which he was running as the anti-Moscow candidate. Tests later suggested he was poisoned by a substance that could only have been created in a laboratory.

Yuri Shchekochikhun  deputy editor of Novaya Gazeta  died in 2003 after showing similar symptoms of dioxin poisoning to that of Mr Yuschenko. The journalist Anna Politkovskaya, from the same campaigning newspaper, nearly died the following year from poisoning, two years before she was shot dead in Moscow.

They had both written about abuses in the Russian armed forces and against the wars in Chechnya. Professor Service said Politkovskayas poisoner was not discovered, but speculation centred on the role of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov  a Putin placeman  who was angered by the exposure of human rights abuses in his republic.

In the same year, 2004, an Islamist guerrilla leader was killed by a poisoned letter and a Russian political fixer, Roman Tsepov, also died from suspected radioactive poisoning, according to the report.

Paul Peachey
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There are fears the diplomatic fall-out from claims Vladimir Putin probably approved the alleged assassination of Alexander Litvinenko could derail international co-operation in the fight against Isis.

Russias support for the Syrian regime and reported targeting of moderate rebels and civilian areas has provoked international condemnation but with terror attacks on the rise, so are moves towards closer collaboration.

Francois Hollande announced that he wanted to see France strengthen co-ordination with Russia today, while American and Russian pilots have been communicating to ensure their air strikes do not conflict.

 Russian ambassador accuses UK of 'provocation'

And last month, David Cameron and Mr Putin agreed to "work together" to defeat Isis in a phone call following Britain's extension of its operations into Syria.

But now an inquiry commissioned by the UK Government has accused Mr Putin of probably approving the murder of a former spy on British soil, thawing relations could rapidly cool.

John Lough, an associate fellow at Chatham Houses Russia and Eurasia programme, told The Independent there was so little existing co-operation between London and Moscow that the Litvinenko inquiry is unlikely to make much difference.

The really important relationship for Russia here is not with the UK, its with the US, he said.

I dont think the Americans are going to suspend Russian dialogue because of what happened to a defector who was murdered in London 10 years ago.

Russian Air Forces carry out an air strike in the ISIS controlled Al-Raqqah Governorate.

But he said that Sir Roberts naming of Mr Putin and former FSB head Nikolai Patrushev was significant.

Effectively those two gentlemen are being classified as suspected murderers and that has to have some sort of impact on Russias relations with other countries, not just the UK, Mr Lough added.

If youre Hollande or Merkel and youre meeting Putin, youve got to ask yourself who youre shaking hands with.

I think the overall effect will be to deepen Russias current isolation.

Britain summoned the Russian ambassador on Thursday and imposed an asset freeze on the two main Russian suspects.

Announcing the measures today, the Home Secretary accused the Kremlin of a blatant and unacceptable breach of the most fundamental tenets of international law and civilised behaviour.

Vladimir Putin was accused of 'probably' authorising the murder of Alexander Litvinenko (ALEXEY NIKOLSKY/AFP/Getty Images)

The Home Secretary told the House of Commons Mr Litvinenkos death was long suspected to be a state-sponsored act and that the British Government would carefully consider the implications of Sir Robert Owens report.

Russias continued failure to ensure that the perpetrators of this terrible crime can be brought to justice is unacceptable, she added. The threat posed by hostile states(will be countered) whether from assassinations, cyber attacks or more traditional espionage.

Moscow has always strongly denied involvement in Mr Litvinenkos death and dismissed the results of the inquiry.

A spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry accused it of being politically motivated and said it has marred the general atmosphere of bilateral relations.

The British Foreign Office also warned the situation would further complicate bilateral relations and undermine trust.

But Mr Litvinenkos widow was among the critics saying the strong words were not backed by action, with Labours Andy Burnham accusing the Government of appeasing the culprits.

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Even before the results of the report was announced on Thursday, analysts had predicted a softer approach by the UK as diplomats seek to avoid another rift on top of Syria and continuing allegations about Russian involvement in Ukraine.

The Guardian reported that British diplomats had been urging David Cameron not to launch a substantial new round of economic sanctions against Russia at a time when Mr Putins intervention is vital for any hope of success in the upcoming Syria talks.

Mr Lough said Ukraine, where Crimea remains annexed and rebels control swathes of the east, is a symbol of the continuing divide between Britain and Russia.

The irreconcilable differences are irreconcilable, he said. Diplomats try to work around them but the divisions run so deep its difficult to find any common ground.

Syria is one of those places in theory, but in practice we seem to be fighting on opposite sides.
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Putin is the big Satan, Assad is the little Satan, Israel is now a friend, they help us, declared Ala, lying on his hospital bed, one leg blown away, the other pinned and swathed in bandages. He had been manning an anti-aircraft gun when Russian warplanes struck, a missile killing three fellow fighters near him.

The 22-year-old Syrian rebel, a former history student at Damascus University, had been knocked unconscious by the blast. He woke up five days later at the Ziv Medical Centre, in Safed, across the Israeli border. This one was cut off by a nurse who came to my home, said Ala, patting the stump.

We dont have many doctors in Deraa. I would have lost my other leg if I had not been brought here. We were taught to think everything was bad about Israel, but they have been good to me and many other revolutionaries.

It was not possible to gauge the sincerity of Alas change of views about the Jewish state since he was injured some six weeks ago. Some Syrian fighters had threatened, we will return and slaughter you, as they were being sent back to Syria after treatment. Nursing staff have, at times, been harassed and insulted.

But Israel cannot detach itself from the civil war taking place across its northern frontier. The most visible manifestations of this are the more than 2,000 injured Syrians being treated in its northern hospitals. There are families, babies and the elderly, but the majority of the patients are men of fighting age, and their numbers are growing.

The Independent had come across a few of them on a visit to Ziv Centre last year. They were extremely cautious about what they said.

This week, however, Ala was ready to proclaim his fighting credentials with the rebel group Mujahedin Horan, which is loosely affiliated to the Western-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA). He insisted that he was against the extremists among the rebels. Daesh [Isis] is bad. Jabhat al-Nusra is bad, he cried. But al-Nusra fighters had also been treated at the hospital in the past, and there have even have been fights in the wards between factions. Israeli soldiers keep guard.

The strife across the Israeli border is vicious and confusing, the outcome uncertain. It is a four-cornered struggle between the al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra, the Isis-linked Liwa Shuhada al-Yarmouk, the moderate FSA affiliates like Mujahedin Horan, and regime forces, which are backed by the Lebanese Shia militia, Hezbollah, and units of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

A wounded Syrian being treated in Zefat, Israel (Michal Fattal)

The most fierce of the recent clashes have been between Jabhat al-Nusra and Shuhada, with a Shuhada commander, Mousab Ali Qarfan, killed last year. In the shifting sands of Syrian rebel alliances, Shuhada was considered at the time to be a moderate group; it may have even received Western aid. Jabhat al-Nusra, however, claimed that Qarfan was a secret Isis agent with the mission of spreading the caliphate to the Golan Heights.

Israels leadership has warned about the looming threat, but seems uncertain about who is the most potent enemy, Sunni Isis or Shia Hezbollah. Speaking at a security conference in Tel Aviv, President Reuven Rivlin declared that the enemy is no longer just at the gate, but inside it, and it is Isis.

The Islamic State is already here, that is no longer a secret, he said. I am not speaking about territories bordering Israel, but within the State itself. Research studies, arrests, testimonies, overt and covert analysis all clearly indicate that there is increasing support for the Islamic State among Israeli Arabs, while some are actually joining Isis, he added.

The head of the Israeli military, Lieutenant General Gadi Eizenkot, said that the Russian military intervention in Syria had reversed the advance of Isis, forcing it towards the border with Israel and Jordan. The success against Isis raises the probability that we will see them turn their guns against us and against the Jordanians. In their strategy, there is logic in connecting Israel with Jordan, he said.

But the General is very clear that Hezbollah remains the number one enemy of the IDF [Israeli Defence Forces], using, he wanted to stress, 240 Shia villages in southern Lebanon to launch assaults with missiles.

They are the capability Hezbollah has built for the day they receive the order to attack. They are seeking to make the projectiles more accurate and these have grown in the past decade from 10,000 to 100,000 rockets and missiles, he said.

The perceived menace of Hezbollah was highlighted with the arrest this week of Juad Nasrallah, the son of the head of the movement, Hassan Nasrallah, for allegedly organising a suicide attack cell in Tulkaram in the West Bank.

Hezbollah sent $5,000 from abroad to advance the terrorist plot, according to the domestic security service, Shin Bet.

But Naftali Bennett, the leader of the nationalist Jewish Home Party, and Education Minister in Benjamin Netanyahus coalition government, wonders why Israelis should accept that Hezbollah was the enemy when they have been told day and night that Iran was the real enemy and Hezbollah and Hamas, in Gaza, were just their tools. Why was it that in every conflict with Hamas and Hezbollah, Israeli blood was shed while the head of the octopus, Iran, was left untouched, he asked.

The violence across the border in the north, meanwhile, continues, with missiles coming into Israel at times. These missiles have come from the regime side, with their Iranian and Hezbollah contingents, not from the rebels, said Sarit Zehavi, an intelligence corps major in the reserve force. Some may have been by mistake, but others were deliberate.

Israel, she insisted, was against both Sunni and Shia extremists. Western intervention in Iraq and Syria showed, she maintained, that the West thinks Sunni terrorists are worse than Shia terrorists.

We dont make that distinction, she added.

But the Syrian regime accuses the Israelis of helping the rebels. Rami al-Hassan, a Syrian army commander, claimed: The first instance of co-operation between the Israeli army and al-Nusra has taken place in Quneitra where al-Nusra took the border crossing, and Israel provided them with cover under pretext of shooting back, hindering the Syrian air force and bringing down one of our planes.

President Bashar al-Assad declared in an interview: How can you say al-Qaeda doesnt have an air force? They have the Israeli air force.

There is acknowledgment in Israel that the longer the fighting continues, the closer it gets to the frontier, the more the chance of Israeli forces getting drawn into the war.

At the hospital, Ala, the fighter, and Ahmed, who described himself as a civil volunteer, said they would even accept President Assad staying on for a while in power if that led to a ceasefire.

People are just tired of deaths, they just want it to end, said Ahmed. But there is no chance of peace, anyway it will be very difficult for people to live together in the future, we know the Alawites, Shias, Druze and Christians sided with the regime.

Ala agreed: This war will not end for a long time. So I have to start practising how to use the anti-aircraft gun with just one leg, he said with a rueful smile.
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Kings College London (KCL) has announced it is undertaking an urgent investigation after the building had to be evacuated on Tuesday night when a pro-Israel talk turned violent, reportedly at the hands of a pro-Palestinian group.

Esther Enfield, of the KCL Israel Society, had organised an event which played host to Ami Ayalon, former head of the Israeli secret service Shin Bet and commander-in-chief of the navy.

Enfield issued a lengthy statement in the aftermath of the incident, which began: Never did I ever think that I would have to write a post like this but, in life, sometimes you do things that you never expect.

Describing how KCL is meant to be one of the global universities in the world, she claimed to have been assaulted when demonstrators from the KCL Action Palestine (KCLAP) group stormed the event - attended by more than 200 people - and began throwing chairs, smashing windows, and setting off the fire alarm more than 15 times.

She added how four police vehicles and more than 15 officers attend the scene to protect the people inside the room, and continued: It was never inevitable that it would turn violent...not to the point where my event had to be stopped and the building evacuated because college security and the police were so scared they would light a real fire, and that we wouldnt know because of the false alarms.

In response to the accusations, KCLAP said it categorically condemned any aggression that took place at the Israel Societys Ami Ayalon event.

The group said: KCLAP had planned to challenge Ami Ayalon and inform the audience of his complicity in the torture of Palestinians as former head of the Shin Bet and the problems surrounding his current views - as is within our rights and detailed on our blog.

Our intention was to attend the event and shed light on Ayalons crimes and views through deliberation.

KCLAP did, however, acknowledge the event escalated into a disruption which was beyond our control and not incited by any member of our committee. The group said: KCLAP is not connected and does not control the actions of external attendees.

Some of our members protested after they were left out and people were arbitrarily selected to go into the event, we refute any involvement with what took place beyond this.

Speaking with MailOnline, Universities Minister Jo Johnson described how Britain and Israel share many important academic links and insisted that speakers must be able to address meetings peacefully.

He told the site: Our universities should be safe spaces for students to expand their minds, and there can be no justification for violent intimidation that curtails free speech.

His comments have come just days after the Free Speech University Rankings (FSUR) 2016 revealed how there is an epidemic among Britains universities - particularly among students unions - when it comes to the stifling of free speech. KCL was named as being among one of the most censored in Britain.

A Met Police spokesman confirmed officers attended the scene after reports that demonstrators had gained access into the building, but added how no arrests had been made, reported MailOnline.

KCL announced on Wednesday that Professor Ed Byrne, president and principal, has appointed Ian Creagh, head of administration and college secretary, to conduct an urgent investigation into the events surrounding the talk.

The university added how it wants to establish what happened and what action might need to be taken as a consequence, and concluded: Professor Byrne will also be writing to students to remind them violent protest is totally unacceptable and we expect them to be tolerant and respectful of others views and opinions.
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A unique centre for palliative care is bringing together doctors and academics to create a deeper body of research to transform care for seriously ill children across the country.

Specialists at the Louis Dundas Centre for Childrens Palliative Care (LDC), based at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), are attempting to revolutionise the care of children with life-limiting and life-threatening illness.

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In a wide-ranging interview with The Independent, Myra Bluebond-Langner, True Colours Chair in Palliative Care for Children and Young People and lead professor at the centre, said the LDC was dedicated to breaking down the misconception that paediatric palliative care was only focused on end-of-life care in children.

Palliative care is not about end-of-life care, she said. Its about living with the illness.

That is why the professor and her team work to try to control symptoms and help children and their families to make decisions that yield the longest life with the best quality of life, whether it be a few weeks or many years.

Research and practice at the LDC follows three main guidelines, says Professor Bluebond-Langner. These are to listen to the child, to take their concerns and wishes into account and to make sure the difficult decisions are not the childs alone to make.

Researchers have historically shied away from publicly discussing the harrowing subject of palliative care for young children, but the LDC, which is funded by grants and charitable donations, together with The True Colours Trust, is dedicated to kick-starting a revolution in research and sharing this with hospices and hospitals across the country and beyond.

Professor Bluebond-Langner and the LDC team regularly visit paediatric hospices across the country and speak at events worldwide. In the past year, LDC staff have spoken at 44 meetings, lectures and conferences as far afield as Rome and Mumbai.They have also published 12 journal articles and taken part in more than 30 national and international events.

The centre offers foundation courses in palliative care, and hosts doctors and academics from all over the world. It has also run intensive sessions at hospitals across London for healthcare professionals, breaking down the traditional model of doctors attending expensive and time-consuming events.

Professor Bluebond-Langner  author of the influential work The Private Worlds of Dying Children  is leading a study on decision-making for children with high-risk tumours. The study is designed to capture the entire days of a familys life in treatment, in clinic, hospital and at home.

This involves the professor and her research team analysing 50,000 pages of verbatim transcripts of parent and clinician conversations. She said that while the work was desperately sad the real burden she felt was of the importance of giving a voice to parents, children, doctors and nurses, and transforming the way to meet their needs.

The LDC, which will be a main beneficiary of The Independents Give to GOSH appeal, was established in 2009 after businesswoman Ruth Kennedy and her husband, Bruce Dundas, had to watch their four-year-old son Louis die in unbearable pain after he was diagnosed with a brain tumour. Professor Bluebond-Langner said support from the couple had created a critical mass to augment the clinical team at GOSH but also to develop her academic unit.

She said: Our goal is to make a tangible difference in the lives of children with life-limiting and life-threatening illnesses through an integrated programme of research, practice, education and policy.

Ultimately, the professor and her team want to be able to conduct large, multi-site studies across the UK into children with life-limiting conditions. She said: We are very much at the beginning of the journey, but thats starting to happen. We are off to a good start.

Professor Bluebond-Langner and the team at the LDC have also welcomed the attention The Independents Give to GOSH appeal has brought to the nascent world of paediatric palliative care, a field that is often neglected.

As important as this campaign is to raise money for the children and their families at GOSH, to me the other major contribution of the Give to GOSH appeal is that this is the first public mass education on paediatric palliative care in the world, she said. This would raise public awareness, she explained, so that those who have never had to live through the death of a child better understand what children and families go through and how palliative care is about treating the whole child, which means not only their physical but also their social, emotional and spiritual needs.

To Give to GOSH go to: http://ind.pn/1Mydxqt

To find out more about our appeal and why we're supporting GOSH go to: http://ind.pn/1MycZkr
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On 9 January, Dr Ahmed Abdullah, chair of the board of the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, narrowly escaped an attempt by security agents to abduct him at a coffee shop in Giza. Three agents in plainclothes arrived in an unmarked car, raided the cafe and questioned staff about him. When they were told that he was not present, they conducted a complete search of the premises. They failed to produce an arrest or search warrant from the public prosecution, meaning there was no legal basis for the search.

This incident took place following a spate of arrests of peaceful, liberal political activists in the past few weeks. Some now face trumped-up charges such as belonging to the 25 January movement - a movement that no-one has ever heard of before. Others are charged with organising and participating in protests in defiance of Egypts draconian protest law. Many continue to languish in jail in inhuman conditions.

Since 27 December, I myself have been forced to leave home and go into hiding because of a rumour on social media that security forces were on their way to my home. And I am certainly not alone in living with the fear of arbitrary arrest.

Several human rights organisations in Egypt have had their offices raided or faced investigations, often for working without authorisation or for accepting foreign funding.

The degree to which the Egyptian security agencies disregard the rule of law is truly chilling. And the Egyptian judiciary seem unable or unwilling to stop grave violations such as enforced disappearances, torture and death in custody.

Never before in my 10-year career has working on human rights in Egypt been so dangerous. Today in Egypt, human rights activists, lawyers, political activists and independent journalists all have to live with their phone calls being tapped, endless smear campaigns and hate speech from state-affiliated media, as well as continuous harassment and intimidation from the authorities.

Can Egypt's revolution stay the distance? Show all 2 1 /2 Can Egypt's revolution stay the distance? Can Egypt's revolution stay the distance? 551103.bin AP Can Egypt's revolution stay the distance? 551048.bin AP

For some, this relentless persecution can even lead to arbitrary arrest, prolonged detention, harsh sentences after unfair trials, and sometimes even torture, enforced disappearance at the hands of the state or death in custody as a result of medical negligence. This is pretty much the same list of human rights violations suffered by the people whose rights such human rights defenders are meant to be protecting through their work.

In the mindset of those now holding power in Egypt, civil society and the media are merely tools to be used and abused. In such a climate of fear, those who continue to defend human rights are truly brave-hearted.

My own organisation, the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, is at the forefront of the call for an end to enforced disappearances in Egypt, where scores of people have now vanished at the hands of the government. Our recent report on the issue concluded that the National Security Agency, under the auspices of the Ministry of Interior, and the Military Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces, are involved in abduction and incommunicado detention of detainees in a number of locations including the infamous Azouli military jail.

Our campaign has mobilised activists on social media and supported the families of the disappeared, providing them with documentation and legal aid. This attention has ultimately forced the mainstream media to speak out on the issue and, as a result, the state's National Council for Human Rights has been was obliged to report more than 100 cases of disappearances to the Ministry of Interior.

 Tourists under attack in Egypt

After initial denials, in an embarrassing U-turn the ministry was forced to acknowledge that the names submitted by the NCHR were indeed of individuals detained by the authorities.

This campaign is perhaps one of the main reasons why our organisation and its staff now face routine intimidation and come under regular attack in the media.

But, as a human rights defender in todays increasingly hostile Egypt, I feel a duty to stick to my human rights compass - especially in the face of such ruthless intimidation.

Mohamed Lotfy is Executive Director of the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms and a former Egypt researcher for Amnesty International
Opinion / Columnist

Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a community activist, communications specialist, journalist, and writer. He writes in his personal capacity. He welcomes and appreciates any feedback. Please call/WhatsApp: +263782283975, or email: tendaiandtinta.mbofana@gmail.com

When I heard a radio news report to the effect that the civil servants' bonus issue could not be dealt with immediately, because Cabinet could not meet since the president was on leave, my stomach feel out.How can a government come a standstill just because the President is not present?Surely, does it mean that this country is run by one man?If so, then this country is in bigger trouble than I ever imagined.There is a Shona adage, 'kamba haivhari nekufa kwemujoni', which loosely means that an establishment's operations should not halt just because the superintendent is not present.However, what we see in Zimbabwe is worrisomely so much the opposite.I will not bother to delve into the politics of it all, as to the possible reasons why Cabinet would not meet without the President in attendance, but I am more concerned about the clear violation of the Constitution and the subsequent effects of a dysfunctional government.Section 105(2), clearly states that, ' Cabinet meetings are presided over by the President or, in his or her absence, by a Vice-President or, in their absence, by a Minister referred to in section 100(1)(c)'.Are we to believe that this country at the moment has no Vice President, and does not have a single Minister that could be nominated by Cabinet, in terms of section 100(1)(c)(ii), to chair a Cabinet meeting, especially when there are such important issues to discuss?This is not just a matter of civil servants' bonuses, there are so many other critical matters that need to be addressed, as the country is clearly burning, whilst the powers-that-be are watching with folded arms.With the way in which the situation in Zimbabwe is in a free-fall, what issues would our government consider serious enough to call for a Cabinet meeting in accordance with the various provisions of the constitution?If the fact that multitudes of Zimbabweans are starving is not a serious enough an issue, then this government has no business being in office - if ever they even go to their offices at all!In other countries, leaders even cancel their holidays or even important state visits, just so that they can attend to a disco fire that would have claimed people's lives.Actually, a Prime Minister resigned due his government's inability to prevent deaths due to a disco fire at a nightclub - a gesture alien to our own leaders.In Zimbabwe, our government would not care less, even if there are workers who are being retrenched daily, most if them without receiving any terminal benefits.They would never lose sleep just because there are families out there who have not had anything to eat for days, and are on the brink of starvation, due to the drought and others because they have not been paid their salaries for months - if not years.The government would never consider the ever rising number of the unemployed due to perennial company closures, lack of jobs, and retrenchments, as an emergency.Does Cabinet know how many pupils managed to return to school this year and how many dropped out, and why?As it is the beginning of a new year, has the Cabinet taken stock of how many companies have resumed operations after the Christmas break, and how many permanently closed shop?Is that why most Cabinet ministers can not even answer impromptu questions pertaining to the state of affairs in Zimbabwe, because they have no idea what is happening?As such, is it wise for Zimbabweans to continue entrusting the welfare of the country, and indeed our own welfare, in the hands of such uncompassionate, unprofessional and unconcerned people?Does Cabinet not see it fit to meet at the earliest to ensure that whatever plans where made for 2016 get off to a perfect start, so that they are not taken by surprise when they later realise that things are not going the way they had planned - a stitch in time saves nine?The Constitution had been very well-written in making provisions in the event of the President being absent, but whatever politics is at play, there is no excuse whatsoever to lay comatose whilst the country continues to spiral into an abyss.Would they have had a different attitude had the situation personally affected the top echelons of our country?I do not believe they would have been so indifferent had, for instance, fresh targeted sanctions been imposed on members of the Zimbabwean ruling elite - being banned from visiting Western capitals, and their overseas assets being re-frozen.I am sure an emergency Cabinet meeting would have been convened in a matter of hours.In all this, the most troubling issue is the fact that a minister can say that Cabinet can not meet as the President is on holiday.Such flagrant violation of the Constitution is unacceptable in a country that describes itself as a democratic republic.If the government gets away with violating the Constitution willy-nilly, without being held to account, then we are headed for disaster.As the Constitution is the supreme law of Zimbabwe, its violation leaves both the country and its people vulnerable to further abuse and oppression with unfettered disregard for the law.Zimbabweans rely on the Constitution for the defence of their rights, and the upliftment of their welfare.So when the very people who are supposed to ensure the Constitution's protection violate it, that becomes a very serious concern to all law-abiding citizens.When taking the oath of office, the President and his Cabinet swore to 'uphold, defend, obey and respect' the Constitution as the supreme law of the nation.Therefore, it is expected of the Cabinet not only to ensure that the Constitution and all the other laws are faithfully observed, but also that they take seriously the well-being of all the people of Zimbabwe, and even consider all those children who could not attend school this year as an issue requiring urgent attention at the highest level.
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No sooner had we got used to the idea of there being only eight planets in our solar system, after Pluto was demoted to dwarf status, astronomers have gone and found a new hidden planet thats at least 10 times more massive than Earth. Astonishing.

How did we (and Galileo) miss it before? The answer is that Planet Nine, nicknamed Fatty by astronomers, is, on average, 20 times farther from the Sun than Neptune. And Neptune orbits at a distance of 2.8 billion miles. Thats a lot of space not to spot it in. And we still havent seen it directly, just detected its presence, through the gravitational force it exerts on other objects.

Five planets have been observable with the human eye since ancient times. Of the others: were standing on one, Uranus was discovered in 1781, Neptune in 1846 and Pluto (recently relegated) in 1930. So we have the first evidence of a new world in 170 years.

Mike Brown, the astronomer at Caltech who found Planet Nine with his colleague Konstantin Batygin, recalls that 10 years ago: People would say, Are there any other planets out there? And I would say, Nope, thats it. There are just eight planets, and well never have any more. He says of the eureka moment: My jaw sort of hit the floor.

While the history of astronomy is one of floored expectations and false hopes, mankinds understanding of the solar system has grown rapidly in the past 25 years. Yet the mystery about Planet Nine will endure. Professor Brown told The New Yorker: We havent seen it. But we have felt it.
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It is becoming clear now that the Conservative government has a very real, very smartly dressed problem with Muslims. When 6-year-olds in Waltham Forest were tested for leniency towards radical thoughts, their minds were the problem. When Theresa May wanted a ban on extremist speakers organised by university Islamic Society speakers, it was a problem in the way Muslims were using their freedom of speech. And when Muslim women were told this week that them learning English could prevent their children joining Isis, conversation between Muslims was the problem.

Most discussions on extremism in politics these days should be titled What to do with the Muslims.

On BBC Radio 4s Today programme, Cameron stated that Muslim women would be more susceptible to radical ideas if they were unable to speak English. He swiftly contradicted himself by confirming that there was no causal link between language skills and radicalisation, but still remained confident that being an active part of British society would steer Muslim women  and their families - away from extremism.

But it wasnt a language barrier that lured three London girls to Syria early last year. And it wasnt a language barrier that compelled Michael Adebolajo to stab Lee Rigby in 2013. These extremist activities were carried out by British people, native English speakers. If learning English steers women from extremist values, then how did the Kardashian-watching British-born girls of Hackney Academy become radicalised?

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I speak English. Im British-born. Im also Muslim and an active member of society. I grew up with a deeply religious Indian mother who moved here in the 80s, who supported my sibling and I as a single mother, but who only just started taking the steps to learn English. Although she was fairly removed from society, her concerns were centred on providing a good life for her children.

David Cameron said that theres no opportunity for people if you don't speak the language at PMQs this week. In some ways, I agree. Speaking better English could have given my mother leverage in becoming more successful. But I suspect her lack of language skills werent so much to blame for her lacking career progress as much as her thick Indian accent. She would still lack opportunity, even if she had known fluent English, because of her dress sense, her hijab, her accent and her brown skin.

So, David Cameron: I'm British-born, and speak English. But, like my mother, I face this sort of discrimination too.

As a first generation immigrant Im aware that I have more progressive values because of British society. Im a progressive at the same time as a person who wears a hijab and prays regularly. Ive been given a prayer area at every workplace and study area I've been to because of the British values of tolerance and accommodation of other faiths. So you can imagine my confusion when I went to university and my lifestyle seemed to fit the Prevent anti-radicalisation agenda.

It seemed, for the first time, that being British and having freedom of expression was in total contradiction to the safety of my country.

Perhaps there is a fair and certain way to curb extremism. No one denies that home-grown radicalisation is a major concern that threatens Muslims and non-Muslims alike, but throwing statements around that lack any kind of credibility sets a dangerous precedent.

What David Cameron should really consider is how much he can curb the freedom of Muslims and allow their demonisation before they are completely driven out of the mainstream. Pointing to Muslim women as part of the radicalisation problem only contributes to that.

Im certain that children who have had their mothers deported to another country will be more likely to become radicalised in anger at the British state, than the mothers who couldnt learn English fast enough to prove they werent going to become or beget extremists. If you really want the solution, Mr Cameron, you need to make sure youve correctly identified the problem.
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At a time when conflict and insecurity has forced more people than at any point since the Second World War to flee their homes, the Governments proposed Immigration Bill threatens to plunge thousands of people seeking safety here in the UK into destitution.

Under the current system, asylum seekers in the UK receive 36 a week, known as Section 95 support, while their application for refugee status is assessed. Families with children who have their case turned down, but who cannot leave the UK - be it because they are from a country recognised by the Home Office as too dangerous to return to, or because they have grounds to put in a new claim  can remain on this statutory support. The Immigration Bill would end this. Those refused asylum would also lose the right to appeal a decision to refuse or discontinue statutory support  despite a majority of these appeals being successful.

Some may believe that reducing asylum support is necessary in order to reduce the incentive for refused asylum seekers to stay in the UK. Our experience, however, tells us that no one is in this situation by choice. Previous attempts to encourage people to leave the UK by withdrawing support have simply led to people disappearing, and shown that most of those who can return home already do.

Research carried out by the Red Cross in South Yorkshire indicates that amongst asylum seekers with no recourse to public funds, two thirds are hungry on a regular basis; while a quarter go hungry every day. Over 60 per cent have no fixed accommodation. Just last week, I met an incredibly brave woman from Democratic Republic of the Congo, who fled the war there only to live in destitution in the UK for seven years, and at one point tried to kill herself.

Destitution is already at unacceptable levels  the British Red Cross supported over 9,000 refugees and asylum seekers who were destitute in 2015, an increase of 15 per cent compared to 2014. From a closer look at our data, in some instances over a quarter of these people have refugee status. The Bill, if left unaltered, could leave thousands more in this situation.

Asylum support is a means of providing a lifeline and some basic dignity to those with no way home. Cutting it, as the Immigration Bill proposes to do, will have a huge humanitarian cost.

Alex Fraser is the Head of Refugee Support for the British Red Cross
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A British citizen was murdered on the streets of London by radioactive poisoning from a teapot in a hit probably approved by a foreign head of state. This astonishing allegation is the new basis of the relationship between Britain and Russia. It needs a clear, strong and effective response and may, in the short term, put Moscow in the diplomatic deep freeze.

Alexander Litvinenkos past, in which he worked with a variety of foreign intelligence agencies, cannot impinge on the fact that, as a British citizen living in this country, his murder has to be taken with the utmost seriousness. Nor does the instinctive Russian response to the revelation  branding the report a joke do much to reassure any of us about the chances of a grown-up discussion of the subject, let alone the acceptance of responsibility for an innocent mans death.

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International relations should, of course, carry a heavy dose of pragmatism. But they lose all meaning if particular states refuse to play by the rules, or if countries fail to bring their own (preferably civilised) values to bear on the international stage. David Cameron accused Russia of state-sponsored murder, and promised further asset freezes. The Prime Minister appeared apprehensive of going too far  citing the need to find some solution to the Syria crisis, in which Russia has assumed a key role.

This is hardly an acceptable reason to go easy on punishing a murder: Litvinenkos death cannot be treated in isolation, but cannot be forgiven, either. Cameron is right, however, that new economic sanctions would only further distance a diplomatic path to peace.

A man has been murdered; his grieving widow has been on a long and almost unimaginably grim journey in search of justice. This is the personal tragedy of the case, and it is awful. The wider picture is of an already strained bilateral relationship that is now broken, and will take years to rebuild.

We have seen the worst of Russia in this saga. Now we must both hope for the best, and hope that the best is good enough. On yesterdays evidence, we may be hoping for some time.
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Everythings pretty in pink, the colour of choice for gender segregation. Perhaps a more accurate phrase would be: Its pretty expensive in pink. Earlier this week, it was revealed that women are charged, on average, 37 per cent more than men for the equivalent products. In other words, theres nothing fundamentally different about the pink razor blade as compared to the blue one  but you can bet youll pay more for it.

The research in question, carried out by The Times, analysed hundreds of items, revealing blatant sexism in the way that goods are marketed at women across the UK  and now its out in the open, the government needs to put a stop to it.

Findings include Tesco charging twice as much for ten pink disposable razors than for the same amount in blue. At Argos, pink scooters marketed at girls cost 5 more than the identical blue scooters aimed at boys (kudos for ingraining the sexism from an early age). Similarly, in the clothing department, womens Levi 501 Jeans are on average 46 per cent more expensive than mens (80 compared to 42), despite having the same leg and waist length.

In fact, researchers could only find one example in which male products cost more: boys underwear. I would happily pay extra for masculinising Y-fronts, even if they did chafe my delicate thighs, in the knowledge that all my other gender-conforming products would be much cheaper.

Aside from how silly it is to divide men and women using two colours, does it really cost more to make a product in pink than blue? Surely this is outright, straight-down-the-line discrimination. Under the Equality Act 2010, women are meant to be protected against discrimination when using businesses and other organisations that provide goods and services.

Indeed, Maria Miller, the chairwoman of the Commons women and equalities committee, told The Times: "It is unacceptable that women face higher costs for the same products just because they are targeted at women. Retailers have got to explain why they do this. At a time when we should be moving towards a more de-gendered society, retailers are out of step with public opinion.

Sadly, sexist marketing is not exclusive to the UK. Last month, the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs analysed 800 almost identical male and female products. It concluded that, on average, female items cost 7 per cent more their male counterparts. And in 2014, the French finance ministry ordered an investigation into why women were paying more for the same products as men. Pascale Boistard, the secretary of state for women's rights, tweeted: Is pink a luxury colour?

The findings are yet another discriminatory drain on womens finances seemingly because of our gender. Now, if we decide to buy a five-pack of Bic Cristal for Her ballpoint pens we get thinner barrels for our slender little fingers, you see  we will have to do it in the knowledge that we are paying 1 more than men do for an almost identical product.

Thats before we fork out some extra change for a box of tampons, complete with a 5 per cent tax, to pay for our biological periods. Factor in the 19.1 per cent gender pay gap for workers in full or part-time employment and its all looking a bit too ridiculous to be true.

Sexist marketing is unacceptable  the government needs to order an investigation into the findings. Of course, the ideal consumer world would be a utopia in which gendered products are abolished entirely. But, until then, I would settle for buying my Playmobil fairy queen ship from Amazon at the same price as the pirate ship.
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I dont remember what it was like to be eight months old, but I imagine there was some learning to crawl, a bit of clapping, some bawling. I dont recall feeling that influential, either, though I expect I held some sway over my parents. Not that much  I was the second-born.

Thats normal. Unless you happen to be Princess Charlotte of Cambridge, who can now add being The Most Important Person to her busy schedule of wearing woolly bonnets, wriggling and being read Thats Not My Duck for the 250th time.

The baby princess topped Tatlers list of The People Who Really Matter this week. To give you an idea of the kind of list it is, following hot on her booties are: 2) her mum; 3) her dad; 4) her brother (aged two); and coming in at No 5, her great-grandma. That was Tatlers original list, which is now changing by the minute as the public vote their favourites up and down the rankings.

Still, in a week where Sarah Palin made that speech and MPs debated poppers, the Tatler list nevertheless tops the bonkers chart by some margin. Putting a baby at No 1 is only the start  though she is a female baby, so some progress there. Three of the top 10 are sisters whose chief talents are inheriting and being jolly good on a shoot. Jilly Cooper steams in at No 10.

Well never reveal the specifics of how people are ranked, Tatler says, though the list reads like the aftermath of a massive port-and-snuff bender. That would explain how failed popstrel Pixie Lott comes in at No 81 while Angela Merkel is at No 143, or why theres no Jeremy Corbyn and yet the unseated Ed Balls gets an honourable mention at No 471. Or how Lady Kitty Spencer (Keen on the occasional cheese toastie) ranks at No 6, some 59 places ahead of David Cameron. Tinie Tempah is the highest-placed black, Asian or minority ethnic personality, at No 34 (His real name is Patrick and he maintains his impressive complexion with tea-tree oil) in a list which makes the Oscars look like the Mobos.

Its not meant to be taken seriously. Tatler is terrifically good at tongue-in-cheek nonsense, but its hard not to marvel at the reasons cited for being a person who matters. Magician to the rich; Loves her Scottish peer boyfriend, Lord Lovat, and fancy dress  recent party costumes include a human loofah and a piece of salmon nigiri; She always sees in the New Year in Goa.

Of course, this list doesnt really matter, and nor do any of the most influential rundowns that appear at this time of year. Yet theres something about Tatlers directory that is more truthful than all the rest. Its a glossy paean to the fact that money never goes out of fashion. In todays Britain, where social mobility has come to a standstill, if youre born to someone who really matters, chances are youll really matter yourself.

Baring her art

Deborah De Robertis has had a busy week. The performance artist went to the Musee dOrsay in Paris, found Manets painting of a nude prostitute, Olympia, took off all of her clothes and lay down in front of it. When she refused to get dressed, the room was evacuated and she was arrested. It was not De Robertiss first visit to the gallery. In 2014, she targeted Gustave Courbets The Origin of the World, a close-up rendering of a womans genitals. On that occasion, she sat down in front of it, opened her legs and exposed her own genitals. I am Olympia, De Robertis wrote in an open letter to the museums director. This exhibition cannot end without the model being given the opportunity to speak. My act is not about me stripping naked, its about reversing the point of view of the naked model.

She did this  as Olympia surely would have done, had she access to the technology  with a GoPro camera strapped to her forehead. Her point was about women in art being treated as sex objects, with reference to the museums current show of prostitution in painting. The unintended side effect was to make me really want to see the exhibition in question.

Dont dress this up as banter

Edinburgh University has banned its students from blacking up. It has also banned them from dressing up as Mexicans, gangsters, Nazis, camp men, Pocahontas and Caitlyn Jenner. The student union introduced the new rules for fancy dress following a series of incidents where undergraduates had blacked up for banter.

What a lot of questions this raises  most crucially, why do so many presumably intelligent students think pretending to be black is such a laugh? But, also, how did the student union come up with its list of sanctioned costumes? Blackface is a no-no  but could wearing a stripy top and a beret be construed as Francophobic? Makes you think. Predictably, there is now a petition  883 signatures and counting  howling about reinstating free speech at the university, as if the liberty to boot-polish ones face for a lashtastic night out at Edinburghs student institution Mansion is on a par with the right to no-platform Germaine Greer.

When did students become such idiots? Trick question. Theyve always been idiots, but Im very glad that when I was one at university, I never once felt the impulse to black up, never once had anyone issue a directive telling me not to, and never once had to sign an online petition about it, either. I just worked it out for myself. Like a grown-up.
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Alexander Litvinenko died in London on 23 November, 2006. A healthy 43-year-old, he suffered a particularly gruesome death, poisoned - as it turned out when it was too late to save him - by the radioactive substance, polonium-210. Yesterday, nine years and two months later, a retired high court judge, Sir Robert Owen, found that he was murdered by two Russian assassins in an operation probably approved by the head of Russias security service and also by President Putin.

These bald headlines sent an immediate new chill through UK relations with Russia. While ostensibly forthright and harsh, however, Sir Roberts ultimate verdict was also nuanced.

He was sure he said, that Litvinenko had been deliberately poisoned and that the two Russians, Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun, had intended to kill him. There was a strong probability that they were acting under the direction of Russias security services, the FSB, And it was an operation, he said in his final sentence, that was probably approved by the head of the FSB, Nikolai Patrushev, and by President Putin. Note the varying degrees of probability.

Those small gradations allow the UK government more leeway in their response (what they actually do, rather than the bluster of first reactions) and they blur Putins alleged involvement more than Kremlin may have feared, however indignant Russian spokespeople appeared to be yesterday. So bad are UK-Russian relations overall - and such is the UK interest in improving them, because of Russias mediating role with Iran and Syria - that I would hazard that there is a strong probability, to borrow Sir Roberts technique, that bilateral relations will not actually become much worse.

Which is not to say that the report of the Litvinenko inquiry presents no risk. But risk is rather of a different kind: that those (especially in the UK) who stop at the headlines Putin guilty, or even read the published version of the report, will accept that a proper investigation has taken place and that British justice has been done, at least in so far as it can be done without the two accused being brought to trial.

Having sat through many of the inquirys public sessions, I beg to differ. The UK is exceptionally good at process, and the process sometimes obscures gaps in the substance. So it is with the Litvinenko inquiry.

This is not to disparage Sir Robert Owens chairmanship. He did his best to honour his opening promise to conduct a full, fair and fearless investigation, and he delivered his report on time and under budget, which offers a lesson to many. Yet there was much about the process that was unsatisfactory.

First, it was billed a public inquiry, yet crucial evidence was heard only by the judge and a small group of other people, including counsel for the Home Office. This is because it dealt with the UK security services and was deemed potentially to affect national security. Some of that evidence was significant enough to warrant the only recommendation Sir Robert chose to make - a recommendation which also remains under wraps, for the same reason, and will do pretty much in perpetuity. To call such an inquiry public is flattery of the first order.

In public, the inquiry heard fleeting references to Litvinenkos UK security minder, known as Martin, who possibly questioned him on his deathbed. It was stated, though not expressly confirmed, that Litvinenko was paid by MI6. It was possible to divine that he was issued with passports in other names, besides the one he acquired when he became a UK citizen shortly before he died, and that he travelled on MI6 business. How would UK security be harmed if more of this were made public? As with WikiLeaks, Edward Snowdens revelations, rendition and the like, our security services (too?) often receive the benefit of official doubt.

The UKs international relations were given as another reason for secrecy: the potential damage from certain disclosures to relations with Russia. An intriguing leak suggested the best evidence of the two Russians guilt came from US (NSA) intercepts. If true, should this be too sensitive for the public to know? And might it rather be the US relationship that might be jeopardised?

There was also a glaring gap in the terms of reference. With the spotlight so narrowly on Litvinenko and his death, there was no room for any real consideration, or even curiosity - at least none that reached the public domain - about how the polonium arrived in the UK. Yet this represented a grave breach of security that threatened the health of Londoners and many travellers. The public health issue was, apparently, the most urgent question the then Government discussed after Litvinenkos death. Yet this was not part of the inquiry.

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Even without the secrecy and the substance gaps, the inquiry would still have been unsatisfactory because of how it came to be constituted. The UK makes an enormous fuss about the rule of law, at least when we want other states to observe it. Yet the best part of eight years passed between what was described by Marina Litvinenkos counsel as an act of nuclear terrorism on British soil and any consideration of this atrocity in public in a court of law. An inquest is a judicial requirement in unusual or unexplained deaths such as this, although it can on occasion be pre-empted by a criminal trial. Yet all prospect of a trial faded, without any inquest coming into view. It was only constituted after Litvinenkos widow appealed (at her own and charitable expense) against a decision by the Home Secretary. The inquest was then re-designated a public inquiry at Sir Roberts request, so that secret evidence could be, if not publicly heard, at least admitted.

It is this unconscionable delay and the speculation that swirled around it that give succour to those Russian officials and others who claim that the whole process has been politically motivated. Marina Litvinenko insisted, practically from the day her husband died, that her faith in British justice would be vindicated, and she welcomed the inquiry findings yesterday. After nine long years, her faith in British justice may have emerged intact; I am less sure about mine.
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In the Soviet Union, a strange cult called biocosmism held that technology would eventually produce everything promised by the old religions: reincarnation, immortality, an end to all suffering. The same faith seems to be shared by the worlds elite who are meeting in Davos, Switzerland this week at the World Economic Forum.

Davos is an away day for global capitalism, where the worlds 1 per cent mouth concerns about poverty and climate change, while planning how to maintain an increasingly shaky status quo. This year, the forum focuses on the fourth industrial revolution  the role that digital technology will play in recreating our world.

Because Davos Man has a problem. The very system that allows him to accumulate such vast wealth is fuelling resentment and impoverishment. As Oxfam told us, 62 people have more wealth than the bottom half of the worlds population. Even in the heart of the system, in the USA and Europe, large sections of the population have no faith at all in the institutions that govern society.

The solution, for Davos Man, is technology. Technology allows us to grow more food, to slow down climate change, to provide all of our energy needs, to end all of our suffering. And best of all, for Davos Man, it does this without challenging the status quo from which they derive so much. No wonder it is the topic of the week.

Bill Gates is the epitome of Davos Man; an entrepreneurial genius who also cares passionately about the planet and the many poor people on it. The worlds richest man cant give his money away fast enough, quite literally, because his wealth grows by multiple billions of dollars every year, a symptom of an economic system skewed to the interests of the very richest.

As the week passes, we will hear many commentators opine if only all billionaires were like Bill Gates. Who wants to question his statement this time last year that, if we just keep going there will be almost no poor countries by 2035. In their desire to believe, commentators barely question the legitimacy of the enormous power that corporate leaders like Gates hold over the world, or the vision of a world in which technology can solve our problems.

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Is it legitimate that the worlds richest man has so much power over, for example, global agricultural policy. Because as UBS admitted this week, while yet-to-be-invested technologies can theoretically provide abundance for all, the power of the 1 per cent actually means that, all things being equal, those technologies will simply reinforce that power.

We can see this in Gates own charitable projects. Gates charitable foundation is the 12th biggest contributor to aid in the world, spending more than Canada, Belgium Denmark or Italy. At the centre of Gates vision for development, big business will innovate new technologies to eradicate want.

Take agriculture. Gates foundation is the biggest funder of research into genetic modification in the world. Gates pushes intensive farming methods involving plenty of chemicals and privatisation of seed distribution. Time and again, these solutions have proved disastrous for small farmers, allowing big players to effectively control the whole food system. They also ramp up global carbon emissions and fuel global warming.

But they are exactly what big business wants. In fact, Gates aid sometimes look as if it is designed to help agribusiness develop new markets  like a project with agro-giant Cargill which helped it develop soya value chains in Africa.

Its not a conspiracy, its simply how Davos Man believes the world works. Big business invents useful stuff and drives growth. Lets help them and everyone will be better off. The real solutions  challenging the power of corporations, and creating more democratic solutions  are swept under the carpet.

The cult of technology is useful for the worlds most powerful people. But if the rest of us are really interested in creating a better world, we need to look beyond the words of Davos Man and challenge his power.
The Digital Marketing Institute (DMI) has announced the creation of 34 new jobs across the areas of sales, operating, and marketing.

The firm, which was originally set up in 2013 by Irish entrepreneurs Ian Dodson and Anthony Quigley, has more than doubled its workforce since its inception and is now looking to add even more.

The DMI reported an 86pc increase in revenue across its core business last year and a trebling of its profits in the three-year period.

Speaking about the new roles, co-founder Ian Dodson, said the company is reacting to a global gap in the market for digital certrification.

We are expanding at such a fast pace because the global skills shortage in digital is acute, and we have produced an industry validated standard that is replicable across international markets.

The DMI produces the most widely taught digital marketing certification in the world, with over 12,500 students and 70 partner institutions teaching its programmes, from diploma to masters level.

"Having developed our business model successfully over the past number of years, we are in a phase of rapid expansion, continued Ian Dodson. We have a great team and now need to add more of the right people in sales, operations and marketing. We are recruiting actively at this very moment for roles in all of these areas.
Opinion / Columnist

Background

Significance of the land mark ruling

Challenges Ahead and the Way Forward

1. Cultural and traditional practices



2. Lack of knowledge of the current constitutional provisions.

3. Lack of resources to raise awareness on such landmark ruling.

4. Complicit is likely to militate against such a landmark ruling in our society.



5. Need for education for the girl child

6. There is need to address the issue of sexual consent for girls

Conclusion

Johanne Mhlanga is a social worker and he writes in his capacity. He can be contacted on johannemhlanga82@gmail.com / 0776 308 483

On Wednesday 20 January 2016, the Constitutional Court of Zimbabwe once again made a landmark ruling, this time not on labour issues but on outlawing marriages of under 18 whether boys or girls. This is a step in the right direction. This is commendable. Prominent lawyer and human rights defender Tendai Biti successfully challenged Section 22 of the Marriage Act of the old constitution that recognises 16 years as the legal age of consent. His argument was that the section violates Section 78 of the new supreme law. Biti was representing two girls, Loveness Mudzuru and Ruvimbo Tsopodzwa both of whom were married before the age of 18.The Constitutional Court ruling comes at the backdrop of the First African Girl's Summit on Ending Child Marriage in Africa which was hosted by Zambia from 26 to 27 November 2015. The summit had the following outcomes:- Enhanced continental awareness on the consequences of child marriage;- Accelerate need to end child marriage in AfricaAt the summit the Zambian President Edgar Lungu said, " I want to make sure my government has developed a strategy to end child marriage which will be launched soon, it's aimed at ending the vice, I'm not interested in curbing the vice but in eliminating it".I like the level of commitment coupled with action oriented approach. This is the way to go if Africa is to develop in all facets be it economic, human, political and even social development. This is actually the missing link in most countries in the world. Many leaders are committed but they lack the zeal and will to operationalise the commitment. Commitment alone will never yield results. There is need for action oriented approach supported with resources. The extent of the problem in Africa is alarming and boggles the mind. Really something has to be done. We have a tall task to liberate our daughters from the child marriage scourge. It is a cancer that must be fought using all types of weapons. Child marriages is a threat to development. Any threat to development is also a threat to national and human security. We have all the reasons to celebrate the landmark ruling and to do more to consolidate the gains achieved so far.Therefore, the ruling is significant in many areas. While the immediate benefits are the liberation of the girl child and women emancipation, it also comes with great benefits to the whole country, continent and world at large. Child marriage affects the whole spectrum of issues and the girl child development leaving the girl child discriminated and stigmatised with little or no hope of the future. The following are the reasons why child marriages must be outlawed:1. Child marriage is a blatant human rights violation that robs girls of their rights to health, to live in security, and to choose if, when and whom to marry. It is a harmful practice, which severely affects the rights of a child and further deprives the child from attaining other aspirations like education. It violates rights of the girl child and children in general as enshrined in the United Nations Conventions on the Right of the Child (UNCRC) as well as the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC) and the Constitution of Zimbabwe. It is callous in fact. There is no justification for it.2. Child marriage denies the girl child their right to education which promotes academic, intellectual and cognitive development. Failure to be educated also affect the girl child's ability to contribute to their personal development, family and society at large. It must be noted that there is a correlation between a mother's education to her child rearing and wellbeing.3. Child marriage has serious ramifications for the health of the girl child. According to World Health Organisation pregnancy and child birth complications is the number one cause of death among girls aged between fifteen and nineteen in developing countries. It is also argued that children are more susceptible than mature women to sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV. This is as a result of biological factors such as hormonal imbalances and the thickness of vaginal tissue, and social factors such as low self confidence or self esteem that make it difficult for girls to negotiate safe sex. Girls also have lower access to sexual and reproductive health information and services than older women.4. Child marriages can lead to intergenerational cycle of poverty. More often than not, many girls in child marriages lack skills, knowledge, and social competences to financially support their families. This exposes the family to serious vulnerability hence poverty becomes the order of the day. This is detrimental to the state for we also want the girl child to play its role in national development.While it is greatly commendable that such a landmark ruling has been made, I must hasten to point out that we still have a mountain to climb. Such challenges are ingrained in our institutions that make up our society. From a legal point of view the battle has been won but from a social point of view, we still have challenges ahead. We still need to be vigilant. The following are some of the challenges that we are likely to face:Child marriage is deeply rooted in gender inequality (gender based violence and gender discrimination), poverty, tradition and culture. The practice is most common in rural areas, where prospects for girls can be limited. In many cases, parents arrange these marriages and young girls have no choice. Consequently, some societies believe that early marriage will protect young girls from sexual attacks and violence and see it as a way to insure that, their daughters will not become pregnant out of wedlock and bring dishonour to the family. In effect, the paradox is that parents and society are often wrong. Therefore, there is need to fight this anachronistic views and assumptions if we are to celebrate the demise of child marriages within our midst.More often than not, our people suffer because of lack of knowledge. While we have this landmark ruling, I wonder if people in Dotito, Tamandayi, Mugondi, Shekwa- Chipinge, Malipati, Binga etc are aware of such developments. I am still worried that even the new constitution, (Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 20) ACT 2013) is still unknown in many corners of our country. What plans are there to deal with families that are still forcing their girl children to get married at a tender age? What monitoring mechanisms do we have in place to deal with and ensure that those that breach the law are brought to justice to face the full wrath of the law?Given the level of poverty bedevilling our society, there is lack of resources to conscientise our people on the provisions of the constitution. Again, there is need to prioritise this worthwhile cause to ensure that we nip the shoot in the bud wherever such scourge is still existent. To me, this is where we need serious collaboration between government and the development partners, non-governmental organisations and civil society so that we leave no stone unturned in our quest to ensure that our children and their future is protected and guaranteed. This must be our priority.Most of the girls that are getting married have consent of their parents. Given that, there is likely possibility of parents still conniving with paedophiles to arrange secret marriages for the girl child against her aspirations. We have religious cults that are still doing that. The arm of the law must reach out to such and bring them to book.While we celebrate this landmark ruling, we must also be quick to say that there is need to educate the girl child that there is life before marriage. Some girls are not being forced to enter into early marriages but they have become so loose to an extent that they even force themselves upon men. I remember when I was reading the landmark ruling that one of my colleagues said, ''You think you have liberated the girl child yet you have actually suppressed her wishes?'' I wondered and had to ask why? He narrated how the girl child tries to entice men in our communities. So if we want to celebrate for sure, there is need to reach out to every corner of the country preaching the gospel of delayed marriages for the empowerment of the girl child for the betterment of our country and continent.We have had debate on sexual consent in 2015. It is still unclear whether the court has banned early marriages while sexual consent for girls remain at the age of 16 years. Personally I feel that there is need to realign our laws so that they speak to each other. The age of sexual consent must be clarified because paedophiles will manipulate our girl child and live scot free. There is need for swift attendance to this issue so that we can fight the child marriage and exploitation scourge in totality.The fight against child marriages is far from over. There are serious gaps to be plugged if our victory is to live forever. There is need for a multisectoral approach to this issue to ensure that all the loopholes are plugged. Let us empower the girl child, families and the whole nation on the need to protect the girl child. The girl child is our future and is a sacred specie. Well done Biti and company for the fight. You fought a good fight. You have played your part. Wonderful.
Pictured at the launch of the Hostelworld Group IPO in the Irish Stock Exchange were Mari Hurley, cfo, Hostelworld, Feargal Mooney, ceo, Hostelworld, Deirdre Somers, ceo, Irish Stock Exchange and John ODonnell, cto of Hostelworld. Photo: Colm Mahady/Fennells

Bookings in Irish hostel-booking company, Hostelworld, grew by 21pc in the second half of last year while they grew by a 17pc on a full year basis.

In a pre-close trading update released to the Irish Stock Exchange this morning the company said that it was pleased by its cost-per-click and cost-per-booking.

The Irish firm also reported a significant increase in its mobile business, saying that 40pc of its bookings were made by mobile.

The increased focus on Hostelworld as the primary brand and the ongoing integration of the Hostelbookers technology platform has resulted in a continued reduction in Hostelbookers bookings in the period.

In the first month of this year to company launched a new Hostelbookers website, which included a rebranding and improved pricing functionality.

Chief executive officer of Hostelworld, Feargal Mooney said: "We are pleased with the financial performance of the Group in 2015. Following the re-branding of the Hostelworld and Hostelbookers websites, the integration of the Group's technology platforms, the continuing advancement of our mobile offering and November 2015's successful IPO, we look forward to the current year and beyond with confidence."

Hostelworld floated on the stock exchange in October of last year, with a value of 245m.

The company's final financial results will be published on April 5.
Steve Carell and Ryan Gosling in a scene from Hollywood movie The Big Short which examines the recent financial crash in the United States

'The Big Short' is a huge Hollywood hit movie which gives some insight into what went on inside the financial crash in the United States. Starring Brad Pitt, Steve Carell and Ryan Gosling, the film has been nominated for five Oscars and opens in cinemas in Ireland tomorrow night.

It is reigniting the debate in the US about the causes of the crash, the mechanisms used to clean it up and whether enough has been done to ensure it doesn't happen again.

It has been praised for explaining complex financial derivatives based on sub-prime mortgages in a very accessible way. However, some commentators are questioning whether it over-simplifies its message that Wall Street always wins and nothing serious has been done to safeguard against it happening again.

Just last week Goldman Sachs became probably the last of the major financial players to make a multi-billion dollar settlement with authorities and other litigants over its mis-selling of mortgage-backed bonds.

Goldman Sachs agreed to a $5bn settlement which included a $2.4bn penalty, $875m in cash payments to various agencies and $1.8bn in relief for distressed borrowers.

A Senate sub-committee investigation had found that Goldman Sachs sold mortgage bonds to customers while it was short selling or "shorting" that market, without telling the customers.

Internal emails showed that by December 2006 Goldman was sitting on a $6bn bet on American home loans. That month, senior executives met and decided to sell down that exposure because it was too risky. The executives learned that the mortgage bonds were built on home loans that had often been awarded with no documentation and many had little or no equity.

Emails showed they drafted a seven-point plan which involved "aggressively distributing things" because "there will be very good opportunities, as the markets go into what is likely to be even greater distress."

They parcelled up mortgage-backed assets into new bonds and sold them off to customers while at the same time betting against the market by shorting traded mortgage-backed assets. By February 2007, Goldman had gone from a $6bn bet on mortgages to a $10bn bet against them.

The emails showed that internally many of these assets were viewed as "crap" or described as "cats and dogs" that could be sold to unsuspecting clients.

The Department of Justice were the ones who had to decide whether any of this was actually illegal at the time. Reprehensible and unethical - yes, but illegal, it appears not. Criminal charges were not brought and instead it all became a civil legal battlefield.

Some have linked the timing of the Goldman Sachs payout to the success of the movie on the basis that it has informed ordinary Americans of what happened and enraged many of them.

It is very difficult to say exactly why the settlement came at this point in time. Goldman Sachs' share price in October 2007 hit a high of $235.

By November 2008 it was down to $53.31. It is now trading at around $213, valuing the company at $68.8bn.

The Goldman Sachs settlement deal comes after a raft of enormous payouts made by other banks since the crash. Bank of America made a $17bn settlement. JP Morgan Chase reached a $13bn deal. Morgan Stanley paid out $2.6bn and Citigroup reached a $7.6bn settlement.

The film raises questions about the extent to which stupidity fuelled by greed did the damage, as opposed to fraud and illegality. The simple narrative is that Wall Street won and not much has changed.

However, the reality is a little more complicated. For example, Bank of America reached the biggest settlement and is today a bank with a market value of $156bn. But its settlement was largely based on bonds sold by Countrywide and Merrill Lynch. These were two businesses Bank of America bought or effectively bailed out, in 2009, following pressure from the US government.

Bank of America issued just 4pc of the mortgage-backed bonds that went into default. Bank of America has forked out around $64bn in settlements, penalties and fines since 2010.

Around $150bn has been paid in settlements and fines in the US banking system since the crash, along with SEC charges against 198 entities and individuals. A total of 89 chief executives and other senior executives have been charged. However, there has been very little jail time involved.

On the issue of stupidity versus fraud, some studies have shown that many of those who made millions from dumping junk mortgage bonds on to their clients, had in fact invested heavily in property themselves.

Another part of the simple narrative, touched on in the film, is that Wall Street firms did all of this because they knew they could get away with it and the taxpayers would bail them out. US taxpayers did bail them out, but could Wall Street bankers really have believed that safety net would be there?

When insurance giant AIG insured billions in these bonds based on junk mortgages, did they simply go ahead on the basis that if it all falls apart the US government will bail us out? I don't think so.

The US taxpayer did bail out AIG but if they had not been so stupid in the first place, they would not have underwritten what they did.

'The Big Short' is about rejuvenating the debate about ensuring none of this happens again. Surely that is a very positive thing. It weakens the story to conclude that it has all been fixed and this won't happen again.

It is easier to suggest the government "wimped out", watered down the new rules and it could all happen again.

In a recent interview the film's director Adam McKay suggested the "too-big-to fail" problem is "actually worse in some ways".

That is partially true but not fully borne out. The introduction of the Dodd-Frank legislation did not formally break up the giant banks. As long as that is the case, they can be too big and carry conflicts between one arm of the organisation and the other in which customers come off worst.

The Dodd-Frank legislation does however impose very strict controls on those aspects of Wall Street activity.

The collateralised debt obligation (CDO) which did a lot of the damage is gone. They no longer exist. However, similar financial devices are still around, including private label CMBSs (commercial mortgage-backed securities) and CLOs (CDOs with regular bank loans instead of mortgages).

These are now under much greater scrutiny and cannot be issued to hedge or transfer all the risk. The US mortgage market is also a lot more careful and more closely scrutinised.

Credit ratings agencies are taking a much deeper look inside financial instruments and have raised their game, following investigations and settlements after the last crash.

Our own financial crash in Ireland was different. It didn't involve complex derivatives but more straightforward, old-fashioned collective blindness in over-lending to property.

It wasn't CDOs that sank us. It was under-scrutinised loans for shopping centres in the middle of nowhere.

As America tries to close the book on its last financial crash, we are still grappling with the fallout of our own. Billions in national debt, criminal cases, extradition hearings, state ownership of banks and various other investigations are all still with us. It won't be fully over for many more years to come.

The ingredients for the next financial crisis all still exist - greed, stupidity, group think and pressure to achieve the most efficient markets possible.

The next crisis will simply be something a little different than the last and that is how we won't necessarily see it coming.
NEVER a man to miss a good promo opp, Taoiseach Enda Kenny nabbed Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg to tell Davos and the world that Ireland is open for business -ahead of the election.

Thanking Mr Kenny and Ireland for the recovery, Ms Sandberg, a billionaire and Facebook chief operations officer, said the company's European headquarters in Dublin is hiring talent from around the country and around the world.

"We're very happy to have our headquarters in Dublin," she added.

Thank you for what you've done with the economy, she added.

Mr Kenny thanked the company for what it does, employment-wise and said the Government is there to help.

"Always good to catch up with Sheryl Sandberg, a great believer in Ireland and our recovery.," he said on his Facebook page.

Recently filed accounts showed that numbers employed at the firm increased from 425 to 478. The pay bill, including salaries, share-based payment and pension payments, totalled 57.6m - or an average of 120,000 each.

The average salary is inflated as it includes pay to executive directors and 9.79m in share-based payments while the pay-pot also included 39.98m in salaries and other benefits of 7.7m.
A Ralph Lauren dress on the catwalk in New York. The company had global revenues of $7.1bn last year. Photo: Reuters

A Ralph Lauren firm that operates a factory outlet store in Kildare Village recorded revenues of over 180,000 per week last year.

New figures lodged by the Irish arm of the US luxury brand show that revenues rose from 9.3m to 9.5m in the 12 months to the end of March 28 last. Pre-tax profits for Ralph Lauren Ireland Ltd during the year fell from 144,151 to 129,384.

The firm began trading in August 2007 as a factory outlet store in Kildare, selling clothing and accessories. The accounts disclose that the firm paid a dividend of 500,000 in March 2015.

It also stated that during last year, the company operated as the Irish commissionaire of Ralph Lauren Europe Sarl, a Swiss-registered company and the commission rates earned were 24pc during the whole financial year. The report states that "all the sales were in Ireland".

The directors say that they are satisfied with the level of profitability achieved during 2015 and expect the company to consolidate its position in the outlet business during 2016.

The report says that the directors "are satisfied with the level of sales achieved considering the bad economic climate in Ireland during the financial year. The operating expenses have remained at a similar level to last year".

The profit last year takes account of operating lease of 1m and non-cash depreciation costs of 29,573.

Numbers employed increased from 50 to 51 though staff costs decreased marginally from 743,163 to 741,352.

The firm's shareholder funds at the end of last March totalled 578,164 - that includes accumulated profits of 378,164. Globally in fiscal 2015, Ralph Lauren recorded revenues of $7.1bn and net income for the year was $702m. The business has a current market capitalisation of $8.52bn.
Trinity College Dublin Professor of Finance Brian Lucey will be one of dozens of individuals set to be honoured tonight at the inaugural Failte Ireland Conference Ambassador Recognition Awards.

The recipients, from a variety of professional and academic backgrounds, will be honoured for bidding and hosting an international conference or event in Dublin.

Hosted by Irish comedian Dara O Briain, the event will acknowledge that the ambassadors, nominated by the Irish conference and meetings industry, have delivered a collective total of almost 73,000 international delegates to Dublin between 2011 and 2014, injecting over 101m into the economy.

Prof Lucey, inset, will be honoured for the 2014 INFINITY Conference on international finance in Dublin, which Failte Ireland said brought in 600 international delegates with an approximate value of 840,000. Other figures being honoured include Bob Coggins of the One Young World Conference, Kitty Gallagher for the 2014 International Association of Floral Artists World Show and Karen O Sullivan for the 2014 Congress of the International Skating Union Conference.
From left: TV presenter Diana Bunici, Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Sr Stanislaus Kennedy and Paul Stanley at the launch of the new partnership between Ulster Bank and Young Social Innovators at The CHQ building in Dublin yesterday. Photo: Colin ORiordan

Taoiseach Enda Kenny announced 300 new jobs in Nenagh with US multinational First Data ahead of his arrival in Davos last night.

The new R&D centre in Nenagh will be the company's first Irish location outside of Dublin.

Hiring will start later this year ahead of the facility's opening in 2017.

However, it has emerged that the company had initially considered increasing its investment in Dublin, where the company is already based, but opted for Tipperary following a meeting with Environment Minister Alan Kelly last year.

Following discussions with Mr Kelly, the company decided to locate its new research centre in the minister's constituency.

It is understood Mr Kelly personally flew to New York on three occasions to meet company executives.

The decision to openly lobby the company to set-up in Tipperary will further add to claims that the Labour Party deputy leader prioritises his own constituency above his ministerial role.

Meanwhile, the Taoiseach announced the 300 new jobs as he visited Davos in the Swiss Alps.

The Irish delegation to this year's World Economic Forum conference will push the ability to attract such high value foreign direct investment as its central message to investors.

It's a contrast to the generally downbeat mood at this year's event. Fears over China's slowing economy and the deepening global sell-off on the markets have cast a pall over the meeting.

The Syrian refugee crisis is also a major theme. German Chancellor Angela Merkel cancelled her planned visit to Davos because of issues at home.
High-end watchmakers have signalled a shift in strategy with an expanded range of more affordable products to counter the most severe downturn the industry has faced since the 2008-09 financial crisis, executives at a watch fair in Geneva said.

The industry is having to adapt to a market with fewer Russian, Middle Eastern and Chinese buyers than a year ago, executives said, feeling the combined effects of record low oil prices and signs of economic weakness in China.

Cartier, Richemont's leading brand and main source of profit, is presenting a higher than usual number of models at more accessible prices at this week's Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH), the industry's first event of the year.

Among them is Cartier's new Drive model, a steel-cased men's watch priced at a little more than 5,000 ($5,430).

Previously, Cartier would only offer new models in gold and leather, with prices starting at more than 10,000 euros, before offering them in more affordable versions.

Sister brand Piaget, the timepieces of which generally start no lower than 10,000, re-launched a women's line starting at just over 7,000. Richemont stablemate Montblanc, meanwhile, has invested in a wide range of lower-priced models.

"There is a different price awareness among customers now ... and less price elasticity than there used to be," Piaget Chief Executive Philippe Leopold-Metzger told Reuters at the fair.

"Times are difficult. The market has changed and, in terms of pricing, it has become much more competitive."

Russian and Middle Eastern customers' purchasing power has been dented by the slide in oil prices. In China, the luxury sector's biggest growth engine, demand has slowed down partly because of a drop in the pace of economic growth and a government crackdown on gift-giving and ostentatious spending by civil servants.

TOURISM TROUBLES

Meanwhile, Hong Kong and the United States, two of the world's biggest luxury markets, have been hit by a sharp drop in Chinese tourist spending.

There has been a gradual erosion in the industry's global growth since a peak reached at the end of 2012.

Swiss watch exports dropped 3.3pc in the 11 months to last November after two years of modest growth of close to 2pc.

The downturn has been less painful than in 2008 and 2009, when the Swiss watch industry lost more than 5,000 jobs, said Jean-Daniel Pasche, president of the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry, though he acknowledged the danger that market conditions could worsen.

"Looking at this year, much will depend on how the geopolitical situation evolves," Pasche said.

The luxury goods sector is very much tied to tourist flows, but the deadly attacks in Paris last November have deterred many from travelling to Europe, the traditional home market for high-end watches and jewellery.

In recent months, several watch makers have cut jobs, such as Kering's recently acquired Ulysse Nardin and privately-owned Parimigiani and Christophe Claret.

Piaget closed a boutique in Shanghai last month while Parmigiani said it would cut its number of sales points globally to about 250 from around 300 by the end of the year, including outlets in Russia and Turkey.

Van Cleef & Arpels, one of the fastest-growing jewellery and watch brands within the Richemont group, said it had also felt a slowdown in Hong Kong, Macao and the United States.

"We have been impacted like everybody else as the feeling of confidence has been shaken," Van Cleef & Arpels Chief Executive Nicolas Bos told Reuters.

Van Cleef & Arpels is examining new growth opportunities in countries such as Thailand, where it just opened a shop, as well as in Australia and Canada.
Ireland's personal tax burden continues to act as a barrier to enticing top tier international executives to these shores, the head of the world's largest aircraft leasing company warns.

Aengus Kelly, the chief executive of AerCap, said the marginal tax rate is "massively unattractive" and hinders the placement of decision-makers in Ireland across all industries.

Despite that, he said the firm will complete the move of its corporate headquarters to Ireland next month from Amsterdam, cementing the country's position as the leading global base for the international aircraft-leasing business.

Read more: Aengus Kelly interview in full

Mr Kelly will be among the AerCap executives who'll relocate from the Netherlands, as will all senior management who are in Amsterdam. The move will be completed on February 1. AerCap, which already has offices in Ireland, will then have a total of about 200 staff here, most of them in Dublin. Mr Kelly cautioned that Ireland needs to work hard to maintain its position at the top of the leasing sector, and to lure senior executives for industries across the spectrum. "All jobs are great, but what's so important is to get decision-makers in," he said. "Decision-makers are their own economic engines. If the decision-maker is here then local firms will be brought in and used. Similarly, local Irish people will learn from those decision-makers through osmosis and become senior people themselves.

"You have to be honest - this isn't California. So, you need to make it attractive and if you don't they're not coming.

"Unfortunately, the real challenge is the high rate of marginal tax. It's just massively unattractive. If you're earning a big salary and you're in the US, are you going to give up 18pc more of it to come and live in Ireland? No, you're not."
"You can have a fantastic wonder drug but if it tastes horrible, the chances are less people will use it."

Margaret Shine is now aiming to tap into the American market

Margaret Shine is founder and chief executive of the SRL consulting group, which provides sensory research services to the companies in the pharmaceutical and food sector and other industries. The mother of three is from north Cork and now lives in Rochestown, Co Cork.

"After completing studies in food chemistry I spent the earlier part of my career working for multinationals. I worked in research and development (R&D) for food and beverage companies.

It was there I spotted the need for a contract sensory science provider. Sensory science is the study of how we perceive things, like the taste of milk.

Investing in sensory science at the product development stage helps manufacturers to ensure their product will be acceptable to consumers.

In 2002 I set up my own business, the origins of what SRL is today. We worked mainly the food sector, primarily for dairy companies.

The group grew organically, through referrals.

As we expanded I realised there was an equally strong need for sensory services in the pharmaceutical industry. I launched a second company, SRL Pharma.

When bringing a medicine to market - a process that costs several million euro - scientists face many challenges, not least the requirement to make products that patients can actually consume.

You can have a fantastic wonder drug but if it tastes horrible, the chances are less people will use it.

Children and the elderly are often the most sensitive to the 'bad taste' of active medicinal ingredients.

Formulations for these demographics are far more likely to be in liquid form, as tablet or capsules can be more difficult for these patients to swallow.

It is also becoming increasingly popular to deliver drugs in orally disintegrating dosage forms, due to ease of ingestion and absorption. In these cases a good taste is even more vital to ensure patient compliance.

Compliance rates in children are generally regarded as low and this is often attributed to formulations that are bitter and unpalatable.

I have three children, two boys and a girl, so I know first-hand how significant the taste of medicine is for kids.

This, along with new paediatric regulations, has challenged the pharma industry to develop acceptable "age-appropriate" formulations.

In 2013 we became the first company globally in our industry to get ISO 9000 certification.

We also bought out another business, Independent Sensory Services, a spin-off of University College Cork established by Dr Liz Sheehan who is now director of sensory and consumer research at SRL.

This partnership has strengthened SRL's research position in both Irish and international markets and enabled us to drive efficiencies in cost and human resources.

We are also partnered with UCC's School of Pharmacy and the Clinical Research Facility Cork at Mercy University Hospital in Cork.

Today we have clients in the top ten globally in the food, beverage, packaging, consumer goods and pharmaceutical sector.

The services we offer can be broadly categorised into product development, quality control and consumer research and are carried out using either trained panels - comprised of people who have been screened for their sensory acuity - or consumer panels, where groups have no prior training in sensory science.

The business employs 23 people. My next ambition is to set up a US office for the pharmaceutical operation; we have lots of clients in North America."
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Over half of Irish companies have suffered at least one data breach in the last 12 months, new industry figures show.

A total of 55pc of Irish organisations say that they have seen company data stolen, hacked or otherwise compromised over the last year, largely due to "negligent employees".

And two in five Irish companies now rate external hacking as one of their top three IT threats, according to the national survey conducted by the Irish Computer Society.

A third of Irish firms say they have seen sensitive data slip out once in the last 12 months, while a further 22pc say it has happened multiple times in the same time period.

The ICS figures are likely to understate the flood of data breaches affecting Ireland, with a quarter of those responding to the survey admitting that they did not know whether they have let sensitive data slide or not.

While "negligent employees" remains the biggest data protection worry among Irish firms, "external attackers" have risen to become the second most feared security risk.

However, the actual instance of admitted "external attacks" has fallen from 18pc in 2015 to 7pc this year, according to the data. By contrast, almost three-quarters of data lost was caused by "staff members", most of which involved volumes of under 100 records.

Last year saw several notable data breaches among private and public companies. More than 300 civil servants fell victim to unencrypted personal details, including some payment details, being sent outside the system.

The survey, which was conducted for the Irish Computer Society by Fresh Perspectives, questioned companies of all sizes with the greatest single tranche representing organisations with over 200 employees. It found that 41pc of those who are made responsible for data protection issues within companies have had "insufficient" or "no" training.

It also found that over a quarter of Irish companies have taken no measures to protect against external data breach threats or are "not sure" whether they have done so.

Three quarters of Irish companies transfer data internationally with 41pc transacting outside the EU, the survey found. Such firms are likely to keep a close watch on current developments between the EU and US on the question of replacing the defunct 'Safe Harbour' data transfer agreement.

Meanwhile, 73pc of Irish organisations claim that they have taken some precautionary action against the spectre of data breaches, while 8pc say they have not.

However, only 34pc of companies here have fully implemented their own data protection policies across all of their units, with 56pc saying that measures have been partially implemented and 9pc saying that they have not been implemented.

And there is confusion among Irish companies about internal liability should a data breach occur. 41pc of Irish company executives say that they would face official sanctions in the case of a data breach, while 58pc say that there would be no sanction or that they were unaware of such sanctions.

Just 65pc of Irish executives say that their firm has an actual data breach policy.

Meanwhile, over a third of Irish companies are "not confident" that staff know what procedures to follow in the event of a data protection encounter".

Nevertheless, 79pc of companies have a named person in charge of data protection, with half of these residing in the IT department and just a fifth in the legal department.

The data from the Irish Computer Society comes amid a flurry of recent research suggesting that Irish companies are still blase when it comes to protecting against data breaches. A recent survey from A&L Goodbody found that a majority of Irish businesses are not adhering to legal requirements around IT security and that the legal lapses are leaving Irish companies open to legal action as well as potential fines.

The survey of 200 Irish companies found that two-thirds do not have written IT security policies in place while three in five firms don't train staff on what to do. Such lapses contravene current Irish data protection law and could lead to harsher penalties under new laws to be introduced soon.

"We expect to see issues around this revisted in Irish courts soon," said John Whelan, head of A&L Goodbody's international technology practice. "The courts here have sometimes limited damages here to pecuniary ones as opposed to data-related ones, but there is a noticeable difference between UK and Irish courts in interpreting the same basic EU laws on the issue. I think you'll see the situation here evolve."

The research found that 63pc of Irish firms don't know what the legal situation is and half of Irish companies use off-site third parties to host their data without knowing what their IT security policies are. It also found that one in four company boards had not been briefed on their business' legal obligations and the mechanisms that were in place, if any, to deal with a cyber attack.
The company said around 900 UK jobs were at risk of redundancy over the next two years as it launched a group-wide overhaul. Photo: Nick Ansell/PA Wire

Around 900 UK jobs are under threat at telecoms giant Virgin Media after it announced plans for a group-wide overhaul.

The group, which is owned by US giant Liberty Global, warned the redundancies were likely over the next two years as part of a structural shake-up.

Tom Mockridge, chief executive of Virgin Media, said: "The proposed reorganisation will give us an even sharper focus on the customer, network expansion and business growth."

Virgin Media said customer services will be reviewed as part of its overhaul, but said it could not give a breakdown of job losses by department or location as staff consultations are ongoing.

The broadband and mobile group has offices throughout the UK, with a head office in Hook, Hampshire, where it employs around 1,200.

It also has major sites at Hammersmith in London and in Birmingham.

Some impacted staff will be transferred to other roles as the group looks to expand in other areas.

Mr Mockridge insisted the group is still "expanding, investing and growing".

It aims to increase its workforce of directly employed and outsourced staff from 23,000 last year to 25,000 in 2016, and 26,000 in 2017.

But some of the new roles will be outsourced to firms in the UK, across Europe and worldwide.

A Virgin Media spokesman said the overhaul is about "making sure we've got the right people in the right areas".

He added: "It's not a cost-cutting exercise, it's about tightening up the ship."
AerCap Holdings boss Aengus Kelly, at this weeks Airline Economics Dublin 2016 event, brushes off fears that lessors might be feeling the pinch. Photo: Aidan Crawley/Bloomberg

Aengus Kelly laughs as he briefly reminisces about driving up and down the old N7 road between Dublin and Limerick in his Nissan Micra when he was getting his first taste of the aviation industry.

Fresh from UCD and working with KPMG, he'd been despatched to Guinness Peat Aviation (GPA) in Shannon to work on its audit there. He ended up doing eight-hour shifts photocopying aircraft leases. And then the kerosene seeped into his veins. GPA later poached him from the accountancy firm.

As head of the world's largest aircraft leasing company, AerCap, Kelly (42) has risen to the top of the heap in his sector. He's also been running it in what might well be remembered as a golden age for the leasing industry.

"I remember as a kid growing up watching 'The Late Late Show' and Tony Ryan came on," says Kelly, who's part of a large network of international executives that has been attending two high profile aviation conferences in Dublin this week.

Tony Ryan had established aircraft leasing firm GPA (and Ryanair) and the business had been hugely successful but would fall victim to the fallout of the first Gulf War.

"Now, this was Ireland in the '80s. This was so exotic and so exciting. To me, the concept of buying and selling aircraft all over the world was off the charts back then," says Kelly at a suite in the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin. Both Kelly's father and his grandfather were accountants (there was a family firm), so the writing appeared to be on the wall.

"When you start in KPMG, you see all types of things - mushroom factories, Pretty Polly tights (made at one stage in Killarney) - and then you go down to those fellas in Shannon and you're part of something big and intrinsically interesting," he adds.

He says a lot of his fellow graduates were going to London and that's where he was also heading.

"I was talking to some of the investment banks about going to London. But I told one of them that I was taking a job. They asked was it in another bank and I said no, it was with a company in Shannon in the west of Ireland. It took the boys in London a while to figure out why I'd go there."

With GPA having failed to carry off a stock market flotation in 1992, GE came to its rescue in 1993 by buying its aircraft. That formed the basis for GECAS, with both it and AerCap now dominating the global aircraft leasing sector.

And "those fellas" in Shannon at GPA included a who's who of today's Irish contingent in the international leasing business - Kelly, as well as players such as Peter Barrett, who's chief executive of SMBC Aviation, and Domhnal Slattery, who has just sold the Avolon business he co-founded to China's Bohai Leasing. Ireland, meanwhile, has become the centre for the world's aircraft leasing business.

"Ironically, I think the implosion (of GPA) did a lot more for Ireland than the actual business," Kelly explains. "What happened was that all these people had a very niche skill set but were very talented. They went out and set up all these companies and that's why we're here today. It's why Dublin and Ireland is what it is today for the leasing sector."

With about 1,700 aircraft on its books and total assets of $43bn (39bn), AerCap buys, sells or signs a lease agreement for just over one aircraft every single day. Its planes are deployed in over 100 countries and used by airlines everywhere and Kelly has been running it since 2011.

AerCap has a market capitalisation of $6.8bn (6.2bn), but its shares have plunged about 20pc since the end of December as concerns about China's growth weigh on sentiment.

Some shareholders have taken that as an opportunity to increase holdings. Last week, Waha Capital, the Abu Dhabi investment company increased its stake in AerCap from 13.6pc to 14.6pc. In 2014 (its full-year 2015 results aren't out until next month), AerCap generated turnover of $3.6bn and net income of $808m. At the end of 2014, between restricted and ordinary stock, Kelly owned 1.7pc of AerCap, a stake currently worth $115m (105m).

In its most recent reported quarter, to the end of last September, AerCap delivered revenue of $1.3bn and net income of $294m.

In 2014, AerCap also completed its $7.6bn acquisition of AIG-owned International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) - a game-changer that not only gave AerCap a significantly bigger market share, but also prized production slots for Boeing's Dreamliner and the Airbus A350.

And Kelly brushes off speculation that leasing companies might already be feeling the pinch as those growth concerns about China filter through to airlines' outlooks and their confidence to enlarge fleets.

Sharply lower oil prices also colour the perceived prognosis for leasing companies, because there's one argument that cheaper fuel can enable airlines to postpone replacing older, less efficient aircraft, of which leasing companies have thousands ordered.

"Airlines are now able to fly routes that were unprofitable at $100 a barrel, but are extremely profitable at sub-$50, so that results in an uptick in the demand for aircraft," says Kelly.

"What we have observed is that all the gas guzzlers that we thought would be scrapped for beer cans are still flying but there's a limit to how far they'll go. There's a hard stop point for airlines and that's driven by maintenance costs. To overhaul the two engines and the airframe on a 767 will cost about $20m. So airlines won't put $20m into it and neither will we. They'll go for the new aircraft type."

"What's happened to oil over the past 12 months is irrelevant," he insists, pointing out that airlines can't hedge oil way out into the future because it would be just way too expensive. "The only way they can protect against it in the long run is having fuel efficient assets. Unequivocally, lower fuel prices are a very good thing for our business."

Kelly also says that AerCap will be looking to Iran for business as the country emerges from sanctions.

"Once the sanctions are formally lifted and we've got a licences, yes we will. Iran will be a big source of demand as we go forward. It's a big country and has the oldest fleet in the world."

This week, IAG boss Willie Walsh said that British Airways is eyeing a return to Tehran.

But will the slowdown in China really be impact neutral for AerCap and other lessors?

"You have to disaggregate the Chinese markets between the financial markets and domestic demand," he insists.

"Last year, air traffic grew by 12pc in China, so that's a lot of growth. We've seen that the air traffic demand has outstripped GDP growth and why is that? There are so many people who have never got on an airplane, and once you do it's quite sticky. Rather than get the bus for 20 hours, you're going to save up to buy a plane ticket."

And with China trying to muscle in on the aircraft leasing business, does Kelly think the dominance of AerCap and GECAS can ever be challenged? The main barrier to entry is the huge financial resources required.

"To challenge us or GECAS - what's that, six or seven Avolons - it's very tough," Kelly reckons. "Maybe someone will get there, but I don't know. You have these two giants, but actually the business does very well for a lot of people.

"The margins are very robust and very stable. The airlines (by and large) are non-investment grade so they're always going to need someone to give them the airplanes.

"And underpinning the whole thing is growth. You know that more people are going to travel next year than last year."

And Kelly is among those who's done very nicely out of it. Although, he won't say what kind of car gets him from A to B on terra firma these days.

"It's not a Nissan Micra."
Willie Walsh, chief executive officer of International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG), gestures as he delivers a keynote speech at the Airline Economics Dublin 2016 event this week. Photo: Aidan Crawley/Bloomberg

IAG boss Willie Walsh and Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary have called for European airport passenger charges to be slashed.

IAG and Ryanair are part of the newly-formed Airlines for Europe association that was formally launched in Amsterdam yesterday. The other members include Lufthansa, Air France-KLM and EasyJet.

Mr Walsh also called for the EU to be transformed and said that the European Commission's concern about the continuing rise of Gulf carriers is a "complete nonsense".

The European Commission's recently launched aviation strategy cited tackling the rise of Gulf carriers such as Etihad, Emirates and Qatar Airways as a priority. Qatar Airways owns a 10pc stake in IAG, which in turn owns Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia and Vueling.

But Mr Walsh insisted that the Gulf carriers aren't a problem and that the EU should be concentrating on other issues.

"The Commission doesn't need to worry about the Gulf carriers," he told the Irish Independent. "What the Commission needs to worry about are issues it controls. It controls things like Single European Sky - we have a very inefficient air traffic environment in Europe.

"It's estimated that we burn about 12pc more fuel than we need to because of the air traffic control (ATC) infrastructure in Europe. That's where Europe needs to focus on."

He added: "Forget about the Middle East carriers. We'll compete with them and we do compete with them. This idea that Europe needs to worry about them is a complete nonsense."

Mr Walsh insisted that the EC needs to be transformed.

"I'm pro-EU, but my experience with the Commission is that they love talking about issues that they can't control," he said. "And when it comes to talking about issues they do control, they're very uncomfortable because it's not an effective organisation."

Mr Walsh said the members of the new airline group don't have a common position on the Middle Eastern carriers.

"We're not going to try to get to a common position. We're going to stand in front of the Commission and say, 'you can sort out ATC, so sort it out'."

The new airline organisation said that in the last 10 years, charges rose 90pc at the 10 largest European airports, while airline fares dropped 20pc over the same period.

It urged the EU to act on legislation to effectively regulate monopoly airports.

In Spain, the new group said airport charges rose 255pc in the past decade, while they climbed 141pc in Italy and 120pc in the UK.

The UK charges the highest passengers charges, at 44, while in Switzerland they're 38 and 35 in Germany. Additionally, airlines collect government taxes, which aren't included in those passenger charges.

In 2014,Ireland's Commission for Aviation Regulation set passenger charge limits for the period 2015-2019.

The commission had initially planned to cut the maximum passenger charge that could be levied by the DAA at Dublin Airport by 22pc, or 4.8pc a year.

But on foot of a Ministerial directive, the annual cut to the maximum possible charge was reduced to 4.2pc.
Anthony Delany who plays dishy Dr Shane Cawley in Fair City said his character is intoxicated by the conniving Heather.

Heather has been drugging her daughter Ellie for weeks now just so she can get his attention and earlier this week they finally kissed.

However, despite the fact that Shane is going out with Ama, he goes back for more.

Shane came to Carrigstown from an exciting, dynamic job with Medecins Sans Frontieres looking to settle down, Anthony said.

He found a steady job as a GP and subsequently Ama, who he really cares for.

But once Heather came into his life, he got a glimpse of that excitement again and its proving very difficult for him to resist, he added.

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Anthony said the well-meaning doctor doesnt realise his life might fall apart because of Heather.

Its clear that she is playing Shane to her own advantage, but he cant see it. He wants to be around Heather, hes intoxicated by her, if she calls he comes running.

In tonights episode, Shane is feeling guilty about his kiss with Heather and assures Ama that he still loves her.

Later on, Heather shows up at the surgery and kisses Shane.

Ama interrupts but doesnt see them kiss. She catches the tail end of their conversation but Shane fobs her off saying they were discussing Ellies medication.

Meanwhile, Bob learns that Heather is texting Shanes personal number and warns Shane off getting involved with her.
James Nesbitt admits he once harboured dreams of becoming the first Irish James Bond, but he accepts his new role in drama series Lucky Man is the closest he will get to playing the iconic role of the world's most famous secret agent.

Nesbitt will return to the small screen las flawed cop DI Harry Clayton, a character that is blessed with a power to control luck and destiny of those around him in a big-budget production from Sky.

The ten-part drama has been inspired by the work of the iconic American comic book writer Stan Lee and Nesbitt told the Independent.ie that his role has enabled him to live out some of his acting fantasies.

Five years ago someone might have said I had a chance of being cast as the next James Bond, but lets be honest, that dream is over, says Nesbitt with a smile.

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This latest role is the closest I will get to being James Bond and that is one of the reasons why I loved it so much. I have been driving speed boats down the Thames at high speed at 3am in the morning, we have done dramatic scenes at the Shard building in London and the Tate modern.

London provides an incredible backdrop for this show and it is as much a part of what makes this work as the brilliant script and the great group of actors we have put together for the project.

This is a city that looks amazing on camera and hopefully we are presenting it in an exciting and interesting way.

Nesbitts latest role appears to tick another box in Nesbitts impressive list of acting credits, with the multi award-winning Irishman admitting the theme of luck is very relevant to his own career.

Any actor who is getting regular work can say they are blessed with some luck, stated Nesbitt. I very much believe you make your own luck by hard work and being in the right place.

Other times, luck does come up and surprise you. If you bump into someone you havent seen in 20 years in a place that you shouldnt see them, that is luck and fate playing a role in your life.

What we have in Lucky Man in the notion that what is lucky for one person can be unlucky for another. Dropping a pebble in a pool and watching the ripple effects on how it affects so many people. It is a multi-faceted story and the character I play has so many sides to him as well.

Nesbitt is convinced he has picked the right role to make his return to work following his successful appearance in hit BBC drama The Missing, as he accepts he is fortunate to pick and choose his roles from a wide selection of offers.

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I had taken a long time off and was looking for the right thing to do when I took my next job, he added. I have always worked and the moment I saw this script I knew it was right for me.

After finishing The Missing, I was keen to make sure my next project was a good one and all the pieces of this jigsaw fitted into place.

I had never worked for Sky before and they are clearly becoming the exciting new home for drama and hopefully the finished product is something the audience will enjoy.

In this role, I was asked to play a Northern Irish flawed character. I have to say it was not a stretch to play this role for me!

DI Harry Clayton should be a good character, but sometimes he cannot be what he wants to be. I guess we can all associate with someone like that.

Lucky Man starts on Sky1 HD this Friday at 9pm.
One of Steven Avery's defence lawyers has praised the work of amateur sleuths in investigating the death of Teresa Halbach.

Avery, the subject of hit Netflix true-crime series Making a Murderer, is currently serving time having been convicted of the murder of photographer Halbach.

The series has exposed alleged failings in the criminal justice system and many viewers believe that Avery, who had previously been wrongly convicted of another crime, is innocence of the murder.

Jerry Buring, who along with Dean Strang worked on Avery's defence, feels that the public have something to offer in terms of unearthing evidence.

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"We were only two minds," he told Rolling Stone.

"What I'm discovering is that a million minds are better than two. Some of these people online have found things with a screen shot of a picture that we missed."

Buring is referring to a photograph of Halbach, taken before she died. It shows her standing beside her car, which was found on Avery's property, and in her hands she's holding a bunch of keys.

During the investigation the police found a key for Halbach's car in Avery's home, a key which was not found until several searches had been conducted on the property and which was found to have Avery's DNA on it. It was a single key and none of the other keys were ever recovered.

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"I've looked at that picture a thousand times," Buting told Rolling Stone.

"Those other keys were never recovered. Instead we found this single key. Now we did challenge that, how unusual it was for her to be walking around with one key, but I don't think I caught the fact that there was a photograph showing that what she really carried around was a bunch of keys, and none of those keys were ever found."

Many are calling for a retrial for Avery, and his nephew Brendan Dassey, who was also convicted of the murder.

"These kinds of new facts that a million minds have collectively come up with might be addressed and presented to a new jury," said Buring.

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However, Making a Murderer writers and directors Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos believe it is not up to the public to investigate the crime.

Speaking about the surfacing of a document outlining other possibly suspects in the crime recently Laura said it was "unfortunate".

"I think it's just driving what Moira and I consider to be a distraction now in terms of a response," said Laura.

"It's still driving a quest for answers and the truth about who might have killed Teresa Halback and really that was the job of law enforcement. They were the ones trying to investigate this case and they had an opportunity to investigate it fairly and thoroughly and in our opinion that did not happen.

"So it has fallen on amateur sleuths and average citizens to of course care about these things but they're really not in a position I would think to do the job the investigators should have done back in 2005."
Murder victim Kenneth O'Brien, whose torso was found in the Grand Canal, may have met his killer by arrangement.

Gardai are now trying to establish his final movements after he left his home at Lealand Road in Clondalkin, west Dublin last Friday. He told his partner that he was going on a job outside Dublin.

Mr O'Brien (33) did not have any transport as his partner was using the family car and officers are carrying out inquiries in the area to determine if he left Clondalkin by public transport or was collected by somebody.

Officers told the Irish Independent they were examining whether he had made an appointment to meet his killer.

Investigators believe he was killed because of a personal grudge and want to find out if he had been involved in a previous incident or had received any threat that he took seriously.

Detectives are tracking down his friends and acquaintances to build up a picture of Mr O'Brien's movements and contacts since he came home from Australia last month.

They are also checking his phone and email records and hope to trace those who had been in touch with him over the past month.

Gardai have carried out an initial interview with his partner, who had remained in the couple's Clondalkin home with her two children while Mr O'Brien was in Australia.

The focus of the investigation has now moved from north Kildare, where the torso was discovered, to west Dublin.

Forensic officers searched the victim's home for clues yesterday and took away a number of items for examination.

Senior investigators stressed last night, however, that they were keeping an open mind on the motive for his murder.

Fingerprint checks are continuing on the heavy plastic that was used to wrap the torso before it was placed in the suitcase and then dumped in the canal.

Gardai are also hoping for more help from the public in locating where the murder was carried out. They have asked people with outhouses or premises to recall if they had seen anybody acting suspiciously there on either Friday or early Saturday morning.

Although the torso was not recovered from the canal until 3.30pm on Saturday, other walkers had spotted the suitcase as early as 9am but thought it was discarded litter.

Mr O'Brien was reported missing by his family at Clondalkin Garda Station on Saturday evening after he had failed to make any phone contact.

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald yesterday described the murder as a most shocking and distressing case.

Garda Commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan said the murder was gruesome and offered the sympathies of the force to the O'Brien family.

She appealed for anybody, who might have information on the case, "no matter how small they might think", to come forward.
ANGLO Irish Bank had difficulty completing "back to back transactions" with Irish Life & Permanent so to allow the pretence the bank had 7.2 billion more in customer deposits than it had because it had run out of money to make its normal daily payments, a jury has heard.

Anglo's former Director of Treasury, Matt Cullen, was giving evidence on the second day of the trial of former Anglo executives John Bowe (52), from Glasnevin, Dublin, and William McAteer (65), of Greenrath, Tipperary town, Co Tipperary; and former Irish Life and Permanent executives Denis Casey (56), of Raheny, and Peter Fitzpatrick (63), of Malahide, both Dublin.

They have denied conspiring to mislead existing and potential investors, lenders and depositors by engaging in transactions between Anglo Irish Bank, Irish Life and Permanent (IL&P) and Irish Life Assurance to make Anglo appear 7.2bn better off than it was.

Mr Cullen said the executive directors of the bank were aware of the purpose of the transactions and he assumed the board was also aware.

The court heard the scheme involved money being transferred by Anglo to IL&P. It would then be put back on deposit with Anglo by Irish Life Assurance so it would appear in Anglo's accounts as a corporate deposit.

In his evidence this morning, Mr Cullen told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that Anglo discovered after close of business on September 29, 2008 it would not have enough funding to make its payment schedule the following day.

He said the bank managed to secure emergency funding of "1.2 bn or 1.3bn or 1.4bn" from the Central Bank so it could make its payments on September 30.

He said the Central Bank was not informed of Anglo's plans to complete "6 or 7 billion" in transactions with IL&P.

Mr Cullen said the bank guarantee scheme was introduced that night and on September 30, 2008 "billions, three or four billion was coming in" to Anglo.

On September 25, 2008, Mr Cullen said it was planned that Stg 900 million would be transferred from Anglo Isle of Man to IL&P and then back to Anglo, through Irish Life Assurance.

Mr Cullen said this money was to be on deposit in Anglo for only a few days, but it "had to be over the year end".

He said he spoke to Ciaran McArdle, who had been directed to complete the transaction, and he told him he'd "done so much and couldn't do any more".

He said he informed Mr Bowe about how much had been done and it was decided they'd try again the next day.

Mr Cullen said he couldn't recall if the Stg 900 million transaction was completed on September 26 or September 27.

He said the transactions continued on September 29, 2008 and it was to be done "in 1 bn lots". He said market conditions were extremely tough and for the first time ever Anglo blocked the system, as it didn't have enough money.

Mr Cullen said funds came into the market later on September 29 and Anglo was able to make its payments, but was unable to do the "tranches of 1 bn".

He said that shortly after close of business on September 29 Anglo realised it would not have enough to make its payment schedule for the following day.

Mr Cullen said it secured emergency funding from the Central Bank, and then the bank guarantee was introduced that night.

He said this was "extremely positive right across the Irish market", and while he was unsure of the exact deposit figure he said "billions, three or four billion was coming in" to Anglo.

He said he spoke to Mr Bowe and asked him if the IL&P transactions were still being done, and he was told they were still doing it, and about "6 7 billion" was "still the target".

He said he did not have any direct knowledge that the Anglo board was told about the transactions.

The jury has now been sent home until Monday.
One of the fastest men on four wheels in Irish rallying history was told by a judge today to get a move on.

Champion rally driver and businessman Austin MacHale was told by Circuit Court President Mr Justice Raymond Groarke that if he did not speedily follow up on an application regarding the granting of a drinks license it would not be renewed.

Barrister Dorothy Collins, counsel for MacHale said he was the owner of a residential and commercial development at Slade Castle, Saggart, Co Dublin, and eight years ago had been granted a Declaratory Order which would have assured him of a drinks license for a pub and restaurant.

Ms Collins, who appeared with Donal T. McAuliffe solicitors, told the Circuit Licensing Court that Mr MacHale had received planning permission from Dublin County Council in 2008 but, due to the economic crash, had not continued with the development.

He had been granted a Declaratory Order in January 2008 and had it extended in two yearly intervals until this month.

MacHale, in an affidavit opened by Ms Collins to the court, said all of the domestic and retail units in the development had been built but a number, including a public house and restaurant had not yet been let or sold.

Ms Collins said Mr MacHale was currently negotiating an agreement with Dermot ONeill for the granting of a 10-year lease for the pub and restaurant at Slade Castle and he hoped to have negotiations concluded soon.

Mr MacHale said the pub and restaurant had been completed by him to shell and core specification and awaited fit-out. The pub had cost him in the region of 3.5m to date and he estimated the fitting out would cost another 750,000.

He said that due to economic circumstances he was reluctant to incur further substantial cost of fitting out until there was an improvement in the economy and, in particular, the public house trade. He applied for a further extension of the Declaratory Order until 2018.

Ms Collins said Mr MacHale hoped to progress the matter in court in March. He intended to run the pub and restaurant himself as he was experienced and owned other premises.

When Ms Collins confirmed to Judge Groarke that the applicant was the racing driver the judge said: He better speed things up. I will not be extending this again."
A Dublin man found guilty of impeding an investigation in to the murder of his neighbour was previously convicted of killing a man and his pregnant girlfriend by setting a fire in their flat, the Central Criminal Court heard today.

Anthony Locke (38) of Ramilies Road in Ballyfermot, had pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Christopher Jackson (53) at his apartment on Prussia Street, between September 6 and 7, 2012.

The jury of six women and six men took six hours and 47 minutes to come to a majority verdict of 10 to two that Locke was not guilty of murder but guilty of impeding the apprehension of a person who he knew or believed to be guilty of murder.

His brother Bernard Locke had pleaded guilty to the murder of Mr Jackson and was sentenced to life imprisonment in February 2014.

In 1998 Anthony Locke was jailed for ten years for starting a fire in a flat which caused the deaths of a man and his pregnant girlfriend.

He pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Gerard Kavanagh (30) and his girlfriend Mary Core (29) at Decies Road, Ballyfermot on February 18, 1995.

Today Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy told defence counsel Mr Padraig Dwyer SC that this case appeared "in principle to be an appropriate case for a partial suspension of a custodial sentence.

The judge told Mr Dwyer that his "concern" would be that the condition of Anthony Locke "be monitored" and "how that would be done."

Mr Dwyer suggested that the court put back the sentencing date to await a "probation report" which can take between four and six weeks.

"As a matter of principle it is a case where a judge ought to consider this course of action," said Mr Justice McCarthy.

The judge also asked Mr Dwyer to ensure his client was "not lulled into a false sense of security" and a date of April 18 was set by the court.

Today prosecution counsel Mr Conor Devally SC called Detective Garda Michael Donlon of the Bridewell Garda station to take the stand.

The court heard that "no person wished to record anything in relation" to the deceased Mr Christopher Jackson.

Det Gda Donlon agreed with Mr Devally that Anthony Locke had twenty previous convictions dating back to 1995 and these included criminal damage and larceny.

The court heard a "very serious event" happened in 1995 when a fire was started by Mr Locke in a flat which caused the deaths of two people.

"This resulted in a trial and sentence was imposed on Mr Locke in March 1998. There was two convictions for arson and two for manslaughter arising from the accused setting fire to a premises where two people died," said Mr Devally.

The court heard Mr Locke has already served the ten year prison sentence with the last three suspended.

Det Gda Donlon agreed with counsel that on Anthony Locke's release the next recorded conviction was in 2006 "under the Drugs Act."

Det Gda Donlan agreed with Mr Dwyer that the "primary physical activity" Anthony Locke engaged in was to place the body of Mr Jackson in the "wardrobe, clean up the flat and get rid of any materials that were covered in blood."

The court heard Mr Locke did not "exercise his right to be silent" in his interviews with the gardai and "provided an account" of what happened.

"He suggested to you that a mobile phone could be found at a certain location?" asked Mr Dwyer.

"Yes but that was never located," replied Det Gda Donlon.

Mr Dwyer asked the court to bear in mind the circumstances under which the offence was committed.

"Bernard Locke murdered an individual and requested Anthony Locke to clean up the premises and put the body away in a wardrobe at a time when Anthony Locke was morally weakened by the effects of alcohol over him," said counsel,

Mr Dwyer said the court would have heard evidence that Bernard Locke was "bullying, domineering and aggressive" towards his brother so there was an "air of intimidation in and around the premises at the time of the offence."

The court heard that Anthony Locke has since "disassociated" himself from his brother.

"He comes before the court obviously as a troubled man, his upbringing was quite dysfunctional and both parents had difficulty with alcohol which created a fraught atmosphere in the home," said Mr Dwyer.

Counsel also told the court that a psychological report showed that Anthony Locke had self harmed and he was "negatively affected by an incident" as a child when he was assaulted by an older person.

The court heard Anthony Locke suffered a "serious bereavement" when his long term partner died in 2009.

"They had arranged to marry two week after the actual date of death which led to an escalation of drink and drug abuse," said Mr Dwyer.

Counsel said his client "did suffer remorse" in relation to starting the fire in 1995.

Counsel asked the court to bear in mind his clients "prospect of rehabilitation" as well as having a "willingness to engage with group therapy."
A man has been jailed for eleven years with the final three years suspended after "savagely" beating a "quiet and gentle" man, leaving him in a permanently disabled state and later attempting to burgle the home of an elderly bachelor.

Patrick Phelan, 24, of Galvone Road, Kennedy Park, Limerick, pleaded guilty to recklessly causing serious causing harm to Thomas Ryan at Kennedy Park on July 10, 2013, contrary to Section Four of the Non Fatal Offences Against the Person Act.

While on bail for the "vicious" assault on Thomas Ryan, Phelan broke into a 64-year old bachelor's home and threatened him and demanding cash.

The court heard the occupant of the house lived alone and had breathing difficulties and that Phelan pushed him onto his bed and knelt on his chest demanding money.

Phelan fled after the man managed to push a panic alarm.

Phelan was sentenced to eight years for the attack on Mr Ryan and received a consecutive three-year sentence for the attempted burglary.

The court suspended the consecutive three-year sentence for a period of three years, from the date of Phelan's release.

Judge Tom O'Donnell described the attack on Thomas Ryan, 61, as "a savage and vicious unprovoked assault on an innocent man, which led to catastrophic injuries".

Phelan admitted kicking Mr Ryan about the head several times after he met him walking home in the early hours of July 10th, 2013.

Mr Ryan had been arrested for his own safety earlier in the evening after been found in an intoxicated state.

He had been released from custody and was walking home when he was set upon by Phelan.

After the attack Mr Ryan's life completely changed, Limerick Circuit Court heard.

Judge O'Donnell extended his sympathies to the Ryan family.

He said the attack on the victim left him "incontinent and unable to feed himself".

Mr Ryan died 18 months later in a nursing home from pneumonia and other health complications.

His mother died of a stroke, which the Ryan family believed was due to massive stress of seeing her son's slow demise following the attack.

Judge O'Donnell said the attack on Mr Ryan left a "severe impact" on the entire family.

A medical report on Mr Ryan's injuries stated he suffered two skull fractures, two brain hemorrhages as a result of blunt force trauma to his head.

Judge O'Donnell said that following the attack Mr Ryan was left him unable to communicate properly and "disorientated to time, place, and persons".

"Every vastitude of independence was taken from him. He was not able to fend for himself (afterwards) and he suffered a slow demise," the judge said.

The court heard that after the attack while he was living in a nursing home the only question he would ask was "When am I going home?".

Speaking outside the court, a sister of the victim Breda O'Callaghan said the family were "happy" with the sentence but would have preferred if Phelan was given the entire 11 years.

"We'll never get Thomas back, it'll never bring him back, no matter how many years (Phelan) got.

"Eight years...we were kind of expecting that. We knew he wouldn't get the full sentence, (life in jail)."

"We just hope he learns his lesson and doesn't attack another elderly man."

"Thomas was very quiet, a very very quiet man. He loved his music."

"He lived on his own, he was a bit of a loner. He was in London for 25 years as a chef...he loved to cook. He came back then to be with my mother and father in their last few years here."

"He never bothered anyone. He was never aggressive, he was a very small thin man."

"He went about his business. He liked a few drinks now and again, but all he would do is sing...he loved to sing."

"It was horrendous when we got the news that morning that they had found Thomas in Kennedy Park."

"I went out to the hospital with my daughter to Intensive Care, we couldn't let my mother out there she wouldn't have been able."

"I didn't recognise him. His face was so swollen. He had fractures to his eyes... there was blood coming out of his ears. "

"He was in a coma at the time. So they didn't hold out much hope. We used to visit him everyday and play his music because he loved Jimmy Hendrix."

"We hoped he would come around and he would get better but the doctors told us he had severe brain damage."

"He was in the hospital for two months, and we would go out to him twice a day. He had a carer with him all the time because he would try to get out of the bed even though he couldn't walk."

"We had to find a nursing home for him because we were told he wouldn't get any better."

"We got him into the Good Council Nursing Home and we checked on him everyday to make sure he was being looked after properly."

"At that stage his speech was gone and she used to be trying to tell us things...he would shout but we couldn't understand what he was saying."

"All we could do is sit with us for a while but all he ever wanted to do was go home. We had a little chart and he would point to the family home and say 'home, home home.'"

"It broke my mother's heart. She aged overnight."

"My mother was a very lively woman and she loved dressing up and going for walks. But after this happened to Thomas she would sit by the fire."

"It used to break her heart, and she couldn't understand how somebody could do that to an innocent person."

"She was just devastated, she gave up on life. She lasted six months after. Rita was 82."

"We are relived that Tom's suffering is over. He suffered terribly for those 18 months, and my mother as well."

"I just hope they are in a better place."

"Tom was a healthy man, even though he was very small and thin. He wasn't on any medication or anything like that...He would go walking for miles and miles."

"I do feel anger. The is seriously something wrong with (Phelan). How can somebody do that to a defenceless man."

"He knew (Tom) was an elderly man and a small very thin man that would not be able to defend himself."

"My own son, who has children, said it to me, that if his own son did something like that he would disown him, and so would I."

"I would not be able to tolerate my own son doing something like that to a vulnerable person, it's just not right."

"I hope he changes his ways and looks at what it can do to families. It devastates lives, his actions."

"I just hope that when he does come out he is a better person."
'The banks don't see money the way that we see money," explained lead prosecutor Paul O'Higgins.

The Senior Counsel made what might seem like a statement of the obvious as he opened the trial of four former bankers accused of conspiring in an artificial and "manifestly dishonest" scheme.

It is a scheme the State says was designed to make the former Anglo Irish Bank appear more valuable than it actually was - to the tune of some 7.2bn - by its year end on September 30, 2008.

The four, including the bank's former group head of finance, Willie McAteer, and the former CEO of Irish Life and Permanent (IL&P), Denis Casey, deny being involved in a scheme described by Mr O'Higgins as "one large candyfloss whose only conceivable purpose was to puff up Anglo's deposits to mislead those looking at its year-end figures and induce people dealing with Anglo not to change their behaviour".

Mr O'Higgins told the jury of 15 that he supposed Anglo Irish Bank was something that "everyone in Ireland has heard of". The name 'Anglo' resonated with two rows of earnest, transition-year schoolgirls, some of whom nodded their heads furiously in agreement. All of them would have been aged seven or eight on the night of the bank guarantee in 2008.

Matt Cullen, a former senior manager in Anglo's treasury department, recalled how it was just a "very busy bank growing at a substantial pace" when he joined it in 2003. By March 24, 2008, days after the "St Patrick's Day Massacre" on Anglo's shares, he said strong pressure came to bear within Anglo to "show a strong corporate number" when it produced its half-year results at the end of March.

That pressure led to a call or series of unrecorded calls on mobile phones between Mr Cullen and David Gantly - then treasurer of IL&P - in which IL&P was asked by Mr Cullen to assist Anglo on the corporate side.

The "back to back" idea came from a "brainstorming session" within Anglo, said Mr Cullen, who added that he was not involved its day-to-day execution.

The idea was that Anglo would place 750m as an interbank loan with IL&P, which then returned the sum to Anglo in the form of a corporate deposit from Irish Life Assurance (ILA), a non-banking subsidiary owned and managed by IL&P.

The jury heard that as funding initiatives fell away, IL&P also took part in "a back-to-back" transaction with Anglo at its half-year end in June 2008.

By September, said Mr Cullen, Anglo was seeking 6bn or 7bn from IL&P, which Mr Cullen says IL&P agreed to - if Anglo did the same for IL&P at its year end that December.

The trial continues.
Former Anglo Irish Bank chief executive David Drumm authorised 7.2bn in allegedly misleading transactions, the trial of four senior bankers was told.

The executives, including former Irish Life and Permanent (IL&P) chief Denis Casey and Anglo's former group finance director, Willie McAteer, are accused of conspiring to mislead investors by using interbank loans to make Anglo appear 7.2bn more valuable.

In his opening speech to the jury at the Circuit Criminal Court, Paul O'Higgins SC, prosecuting, said that the four men engaged in a scheme on a vast scale which had no commercial substance.

He said that on the night that the bank guarantee was being put in place, the artificial transfer of 1bn was taking place repeatedly in order to make the bank's customer deposits look healthier to anyone examining them.

Mr McAteer (65) of Greenrath, Tipperary town; Mr Casey (56), from Raheny, Dublin; IL&P's then group finance director Peter Fitzpatrick (63) of Malahide, Dublin; and John Bowe (52), from Glasnevin in Dublin, who had been Anglo's head of capital markets, have all pleaded not guilty to four charges.

The charges allege that they conspired together and with others to mislead investors through financial transactions designed to make the bank appear 7.2bn more valuable that it was between March 1 and September 30, 2008.

Yesterday, as the trial got under way, the jury heard that a former Director of Treasury with Anglo Irish Bank claimed he was instructed to ask Irish Life and Permanent if they would "do 6bn to 7bn with it" ahead of its 2008 end-of-year report.

Matt Cullen said Mr Drumm asked him to talk to IL&P to see if it would "do transactions worth 6bn to 7bn" in September at Anglo's year end.

Mr Cullen said IL&P agreed to do it, if Anglo would do the same for IL&P in December, which was IL&P's year end.

He said he spoke to Mr Drumm and Mr McAteer, who said that would be no problem.

Mr Cullen, the former Director of Treasury in Anglo, told the jury that by October 2007 it was getting harder to get deposits into the bank, due to what was happening internationally.

He said there were "difficult liquidity conditions in the market".

Anglo was anxious to show a "strong corporate number" in its half-year results in March 2008 after the so-called 'St Patrick's Day Massacre', when the bank's share price fell significantly.

It was believed that if the market saw a strong customer number, the bank would be regarded "as more secure".

Mr Cullen said he was told to brainstorm with colleagues and speak with other Irish banks to see what assistance they could give.

He contacted David Gantly, head of treasury in IL&P, and IL&P agreed to a "back-to-back" transaction.

Anglo transferred 750m to IL&P, which then deposited the money back in Anglo, via Irish Life Assurance (ILA), and "from the market perspective we got a 750m corporate deposit from ILA".

Mr Cullen said he understood this transaction was discussed at executive level.

He received approval for it from his boss at the time, Anglo's former chief financial officer Matt Moran, and Mr Drumm had said it "was not an issue".

He also detailed a 3bn "repo" deal with IL&P in June 2008 when IL&P was coming to its half-year end and needed cash coming in.

He said that Anglo temporarily bought IL&P's mortgage portfolio for 3bn as IL&P wanted to reduce its reliance on the ECB for its own half-year results.

The court heard Mr McAteer, Mr Moran and Mr Drumm all "said yes" and agreed to the repo transaction.

The trial continues.
Former banker David Drumm has indicated he will lodge a second appeal against a US court's decision not to free him on bail pending the outcome of his extradition proceedings.

Lawyers for the former Anglo Irish Bank chief executive filed a notice of appeal last night.

The filing was made "under seal", which means its contents or any grounds for appeal contained in it cannot be publicly disclosed.

Mr Drumm (49) has failed in two previous efforts to be released. The Dubliner has been in custody since his arrest at his 1.75m home near Boston on October 10, 2015.

Most of his time in custody has been spent at a maximum security facility in Plymouth, south of Boston.

His lawyers have previously claimed the conditions he is being held in are "intolerable and inhumane" and have impacted on his ability to confer with his legal team.

It has also been claimed he has been subjected to "safety risks".

Last week Boston District Court Judge Richard Stearns affirmed an earlier court decision to deny Mr Drumm bail ahead of an extradition hearing on March 1.

He is facing 33 charges, including ones for fraud and false accounting, if returned to Ireland.

Prison

However, Judge Stearns did request that Mr Drumm's conditions in prison be re-examined by a magistrate judge.

Texas law professor Douglas McNabb, an expert on extradition matters, told the Irish Independent, any further bail appeal by Mr Drumm would have to be taken to the US Court of Appeals.

"And if he loses there, then he will file a writ of certiorari asking the US Supreme Court to consider the case," he said.

"This would mean lower courts would have to forward their documentation to the Supreme Court for consideration," he said.

"He has an absolute right to appeal to the Court of Appeals," said Mr McNabb.

"Going to the US Supreme Court is another matter. The writ of certiorari is a request of the US Supreme Court to consider the matter.

"Sometimes they do, but most of the writs are denied and the appeal not considered," he explained.

"For all practical purposes, if he loses before the Court of Appeals, the ball game is over concerning bail."
A woman has been charged with murdering a pensioner who was tied up in his own home and stabbed in the chest.

Retired plumber Eddie Girvan, 67, was discovered by chance on Monday night when two police officers making routine enquiries called at his house in Greenisland, Co Antrim.

The 29-year-old woman, who was arrested in Belfast shortly after the body was found, was charged with his murder on Thursday evening.

She is due to appear in court in Belfast on Friday.

Mr Girvan, a separated father of two, was an antiques enthusiast and had many valuable items in his semi-detached home on Station Road.

However police have said nothing of note was stolen from the property.

One of the victim's two cars - a silver Hyundai Sonata - was removed and was later recovered by police around 10 miles away on Verner Street in Belfast city centre.

Police said the vehicle was seen leaving Greenisland just before 7.30am on Monday being "driven dangerously". It is understood to have later been involved in a minor crash in Belfast city centre.
One of the enduring ideas about the 1916 Rising is that it was a 'poets' revolt'. This may be partly to do with the fact the most famous statement about the event is, itself, a poem. Yeats's 'Easter 1916' gave us the unforgettable refrain 'A terrible beauty is born', but it also portrayed leaders like Pearse and MacDonagh as cultured men of letters as well as revolutionaries. There is no doubt that poetry and theatre played a huge role in the events that led to the Easter Rising but it is unlikely that any of the volunteers who saw action on Easter week signed up for combat solely because they read patriotic poems or attended nationalist plays.

It is true that many of the leading figures were deeply interested in culture: Patrick Pearse was a writer and an important figure in the Gaelic League; Thomas MacDonagh lectured in English literature at UCD and wrote poetry; and Maire Nic Shiubhlaigh was a central figure in the shaping of the Irish theatre movement. They came of age in a city where experimental art was being created, new theatres were being opened, and a new enthusiasm for the Irish language was finding expression. The pubs and tearooms bristled with energy as people debated the themes and controversies of the latest literary magazines.

The production of the revolutionary play, Cathleen Ni Houlihan, by WB Yeats and Lady Gregory is often cited as a moment when ideas of romantic nationalism radicalised a generation of rebels who would end up in the GPO in 1916. There is no mistaking the political message behind this drama. The old woman, Cathleen (an allegorical figure who represents Mother Ireland), has lost her four green fields and appeals to a young man to help her get them back. The hero, Michael, is moved by this story and leaves his bride-to-be to help the old woman. As he leaves, Cathleen is transformed into a beautiful young woman 'with the walk of a queen'.

This influential play of the early Irish theatre movement was produced in St Teresa's Hall in Clarendon Street on 2 April 1902. It marked the beginning of a ground-breaking collaboration between a talented band of part-time actors under the direction of Frank and Willie Fay, and the playwrights of the Irish Literary Theatre. Starring Maud Gonne in the title role, it was a huge popular success and was revived many times in the years leading up to 1916. In fact the play was performed at the Abbey just weeks before the Rising.

Set near Killala, Co Mayo, it recalls the United Irishmen rebellion of 1798 and blends ideas of Fenian revolution with Celtic other-worldliness. The play draws heavily on the Gaelic aisling tradition in which Ireland is personified as a woman. As is often pointed out, this is a rather disabling notion of female possibility. The only option open to the female character in this instance is to inspire male heroic action. There is something paradoxical, however, in the fact that the actress who played the lead role, Maud Gonne, was anything but a passive woman at this time. She was a leading advocate for women's rights, a defender of the poor and an important figure in artistic circles.

It is instructive, however to look at what else was happening at the time Cathleen Ni Houlihan was written. It is obvious that Yeats and Lady Gregory wrote it as a way of counteracting the appeal of the British monarchy in Ireland. The visits of kings and queens were often greeted with enthusiasm by a large proportion of the Irish people. Many welcomed the celebratory occasion and relished the opportunity to catch a glimpse of the king or queen. Yeats, however, was vocal in his objection to royal visits. He pointed out that in Ireland public displays of loyalty were often followed by protracted periods of revolutionary action against the Crown. Royal visits, it seems, could unmask the rigid hierarchies underpinning the ruling system.

It was largely to neutralise the mystique of the British monarch with an Irish equivalent, that he and Lady Gregory exhumed the old Gaelic sovereignty goddess, Cathleen Ni Houlihan. This figure embodied the nation in the form of a woman (as Queen Victoria did in Britain) who could inspire the loyalty of the people, and the bravery of young men. When the ageing Victoria came to Dublin in 1900 her mission to recruit young Irishmen to fight in the Boer War was widely commented upon. Cathleen Ni Houlihan was performed on the Dublin stage shortly afterwards to remind Irishmen of their duty to reclaim the sovereign nation. Yeats had this play in mind when he later wrote the lines 'Did that play of mine send out / Certain men the English shot?' It was much parodied by post-independence writers such as Sean O'Casey and Denis Johnston who regarded it as the apotheosis of a dangerous, unthinking nationalism.

The themes of stoic idealism and mystical sacrifice can also be found in the poetry of Patrick Pearse. His poem, 'Fornocht Do Chonac Thu' ('Naked I Saw Thee'), reiterates the idea of self-denial found in Cathleen Ni Houlihan and, eerily, anticipates Pearse's own death. Once again, the turning away from earthly delights is seen as a necessary precursor to heroic action. Joseph Mary Plunkett's most famous poem, 'I See His Blood Upon the Rose' is more overtly Christian in tone. It embraces the mystical idea of the incarnation of Jesus in the beauty of the natural world. In contrast to Pearse, the note of self-denial is not so pronounced. If anything, the poem endorses the idea of Christian fulfilment in this life as well as the next.

Plunkett's friend and fellow signatory of the Proclamation, Thomas MacDonagh, was more secular in his thought. His play, Metempsychosis, a comedy performed by the Theatre of Ireland in 1912 is very revealing in this regard. Significantly, in the light of MacDonagh's subsequent execution in 1916, the play stands as a firm critique of martyrdom to an abstract principle. In fact it pointedly satirises the wilful, conscious ending of a life for the sake of some intangible ideal or sense of a higher plan. Furthermore, it exposes to ridicule those who proffer such ideas to others but are unwilling to follow such deathly doctrines themselves.

The mystical strain in poetry and drama is a discernable tone in the literary soundscape of the period. However, it is hardly the dominant note. Critics of the Rising often zeroed in on this element after the fact to claim that the rebellion was spearheaded by a group of crazed religious fanatics with a militarist death wish. It also suited the agenda of an ascendant conservative elite who were eager to claim the Rising in the name of the Catholic faith.

In reality most of the leading figures were deeply committed civic activists rather than tortured romantic souls. Many, too, were important leaders in the re-emergence of enlightenment values of civic participation and citizenship that revolutionised Irish life in the decades prior to 1916. During this period people gathered in their thousands in meeting rooms and parish halls all over Ireland to create a new civic culture outside the scope of institutional religion, the colonial state and conventional politics.

The 1916 generation led a whole range of clubs, leagues, and societies, dedicated to nationalism, fenianism, women's suffrage, socialism, republicanism, anti-conscriptionism, Irish language revivalism and trade unionism. Significantly, many of the leading figures also contributed to influential publications like the Irish Review, founded in 1911 by Mary Colum and others. This robust and energetic journal combined an interest in literary and cultural matters with social theory and critique. It was a melting pot of ideas on republicanism, female suffrage and the rights of children - many of which would find their way into the 1916 Proclamation.

What is most striking, however, is the speed with which cultural and intellectual energies and activities across the networks of activism transformed into military organisation in response to the Home Rule crisis of 1912 and in the context of a militarist zeitgeist sweeping Europe at the outbreak of the First World War. People who had previously gathered to discuss literary matters and political issues were now running guns and taking part in military manoeuvres. Others were volunteering to fight in the trenches.

There is no question that an interest in literature and theatre brought many like-minded people of radical intent together in the years preceding the Rising. It is doubtful, however, that abstract devotion to Cathleen Ni Houlihan was a major factor in the unfolding events.

The actions of Easter 1916 were initiated by men and women who regarded themselves as equal citizens but who, paradoxically, lacked elected authority. These actions were justified in their minds by the fact that in Ireland no elected national authority was permitted to exist, or could come into being, without the use of force.

Dr PJ Mathews is a Senior Lecturer in the UCD School of English, Drama and Film. He is the co-editor (with Declan Kiberd) of Handbook of the Irish Revival, recently published by Abbey Theatre Press.
WB Yeats may be the literary figure who towers over the Rising, still asking as late as 1938 "Did that play of mine send out / Certain men the English shot?" But the great poet was hardly alone when it came to artists and writers caught up in, or inspired by, the events. The rebel ranks were full of men and women whose minds were on higher matters than mere military manoeuvres.

Educationalist and poet Patrick Pearse was just 17 when he founded the New Ireland Literary Society. Influential novelist Erskine Childers landed the Howth Mausers later used in Dublin and the journalist, poet and pioneering human rights activist Roger Casement was captured after landing from a German submarine in Kerry, just three days before the rebellion.

Casement's extraordinary life would later inspire the Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa to write The Dream of the Celt (2010) - his first novel after winning the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Amongst the seven signatories of the Proclamation, four (Pearse, McDonagh, Plunkett and Connolly) had published poetry. James Connolly even wrote a patriotic play, titled Under Which Flag. The actor who became the first man to both kill and be killed on the first day of the Rising, Citizen's Army officer Sean Connolly, had played the lead role in the play at Liberty Hall just one week before he fell to a sniper's bullet at Dublin Castle. There is a story that the tricolour he was trying to raise when he was shot was the same flag that had been used in the play.

Stagehand Peadar Kearney actually jumped ship from an Abbey Theatre tour to England to take part in the Rising and fought at Jacob's biscuit factory, making his escape as the rebel contingent there was taken into custody.

Some who took part later put down the gun only to take up the pen. These included Ernie O'Malley, the young Dublin medical student who impulsively joined the fighting and later wrote the classic On Another Man's Wound. The Oxford professor of Irish history, Roy Foster, has said of O'Malley's memoir of rebellious youth; "Tom Barry's Guerrilla Days in Ireland and Dan Breen's My Fight for Irish Freedom have their charms, but there was no Herzen or Trotsky capable of distilling the Irish revolutionary mentality and experience into a classic memoir: except for Ernie O'Malley".

If romantic nationalism, inspired by the art, music and literature of the Celtic Revival, played a significant part in "sending out" the men and women of 1916, the events of 100 years ago have continued to echo in high and popular culture, sometimes in the strangest of ways.

From giants of Irish literature to South American Nobel laureates and hack Hollywood scriptwriters, 1916 has inspired art that ranges from the brilliant and baffling to just banal. There are the greats, the likes of Yeats and O'Casey who were there at the time. O'Casey's Dublin Trilogy starts (in the order of events, at least) with The Plough and the Stars, set around 1916 and ends with Juno and The Paycock and the Civil War.

Many Irish and foreign writers have used the events of 100 years ago as a backdrop to their stories, often sweeping epics. Roddy Doyle's A Star Called Henry (1999) follows the early life of Henry Smart, from childhood in the slums of Dublin to his involvement in the Rising and later on, the Tan War.

Sebastian Barry's A Long Long Way evokes both the horror of the greater war in Europe as well as the confusion and conflicted loyalties of events in Ireland, while Iris Murdoch's The Red and the Green focuses on an Anglo-Irish family on the sombre, rain-soaked streets of Dublin. Others who found inspiration in the Rising include Liam O'Flaherty (Insurrection) and Jamie O'Neill (At Swim, Two Boys).

In the visual arts, perhaps the most popular and re-produced painting to follow in the aftermath of the fighting was Walter Paget's dramatic The Birth of The Irish Republic. The English artist had actually been pencilled in to illustrate the first Sherlock Holmes mysteries, to be published by The Strand magazine. But due to a secretarial mix-up, that job instead went to his brother Sidney who went on to create the classic illustrations for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories. In yet another connection to the Rising, Conan Doyle led the campaign to have the death sentence on his friend Roger Casement commuted.

Paget's vivid depiction of the GPO at the height of the fighting - with flames everywhere and James Connolly on a stretcher as Pearse and Clarke direct the defences - became a very popular print in 1918.

The Irish artist Robert Ballagh returned to Paget's epic image in 2012, reinterpreting it for a limited edition print that was sold to fund the refurbishment of a graveyard plot for volunteers who died in the Rising.

The Anglo-Irish artist Kathleen Fox was actually in Dublin that Easter and, like many, went in to the city-centre to see what all the fuss was about. She recognised a woman being arrested outside the Royal College of Surgeons and made a quick sketch of the scene. Fox later worked the sketch, of Countess Markievicz, into a painting titled The Arrest which is now in the Niland Collection in Sligo. It is virtually unique, being an eye-witness image of the events. Fox was so moved by the scene, she included herself in the painting as an onlooker.

In more recent, popular culture, the US TV series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles devoted an entire episode to our youthful hero landing in Dublin on the eve of the Rising. He meets up with Sean Lemass and hangs out with a struggling young playwright called O'Casey. The dialogue is pretty hilarious, featuring gems along the lines of; "Hey Shaun! Why don't you call it after that flag? The Ploughy, starry one over there!"
After briefly studying medicine, John MacBride worked as a draper's assistant in Castlerea, Co Roscommon before moving to Dublin where he worked as a clerk.

He became involved in the GAA and as a teenager was sworn into the IRB, an oath-bound secret society dedicated to overthrowing British rule in Ireland, by his brother Anthony. In his mid-twenties he was re-sworn into the organisation in London by Dr Mark Ryan.

MacBride left Ireland in 1896 to travel to South Africa and persuaded Arthur Griffith to join him there. As well as working in goldmines, the two men and others organised a 1798 centenary commemoration in Johannesburg that rivalled the event held in Dublin. When the Second Boer War broke out in 1899, MacBride established an 'Irish Brigade' to fight with the Boers against the British. While nominating John Blake, a former US cavalry officer, as commander, MacBride became second-in-command with the rank of Major.

He became a citizen of the ill-fated Transvaal Republic and, after the brigade commander deserted, MacBride took over from June 1900 until its disbandment that September. He then travelled to Paris where he associated with a group of Irish nationalist expatriates led by Maud Gonne. Following a suggestion made by Arthur Griffith, he embarked on an American lecture tour that also involved Maud Gonne. Despite advice from family and friends, MacBride married Gonne in Paris in 1903. Although a son, Sean, was born in 1904, their marriage was not a success and a French court finally granted a separation in 1906.

MacBride returned to Ireland where he was greeted with a mixture of admiration for his war effort and disdain due to the break-up of his marriage. Advanced nationalists treated him warily due to his alcoholism. Indeed, WB Yeats would later describe him as "a drunken, vainglorious lout" in his poem 'Easter 1916'.

MacBride spoke at a number of nationalist gatherings. In a speech at Bodenstown in 1905, MacBride argued that had the money wasted on parliamentary reform been spent on guns, then they would now be "in a position to add another Republic to the Republics of the world".

On Easter Monday while waiting to lunch with his brother, Anthony, two days prior to his elder sibling's wedding where he was to act as best man, MacBride saw a group of Irish Volunteers at St Stephen's Green. Dressed in a blue suit and spats, and carrying a Malacca cane, he immediately offered his services to Thomas MacDonagh who appointed him his second-in-command.

Unsurprisingly, given his previous military experience, MacBride is said to have shown more initiative and decisiveness than MacDonagh that week. When a shotgun blast went through a ceiling where he was helping others to seize the Jacob's factory, MacBride calmly attended to his unexpectedly powdered moustache and "casually warned the boys to be more careful". He also confessed his sins to a Capuchin priest during the occupation of the factory building. Later while a prisoner at Richmond Barracks, he emptied his pockets and asked another Capuchin to donate the money to the poor and that his rosary be given to his mother.

When the surrender order came through on Sunday April 30, MacBride encouraged the men to escape that they might live to fight another day but to never again allow themselves to be trapped in a building. He himself made no effort to escape.

Following the court-martial at which he was sentenced to death, General Blackader confided to WE Wylie, chief prosecution counsel, that while he had despised MacBride for his activities during the Boer War, "damn it! I'll never think of him now without taking my hat off to a brave man".

The condemned prisoner unsuccessfully requested not to be blindfolded or have his hands bound prior to being shot by firing squad at 3.47am on May 5, 1916.

Frank Bouchier-Hayes is a librarian at UCD and has written for History Ireland and many other national publications.
'In my Dublin days', the English composer Arnold Bax wrote in 1952, 'there was no talk of music whatever'. By then, less than a year before his death in Cork (where he lies in St Finbarre's cemetery), Bax had long become an eminence of British music. Knighted in 1937, he later became Master of the King's Music. But Bax's love-affair with Ireland abided to the grave.

This was a passion originally inspired by Yeats: having read 'The Wanderings of Oisin', Bax visited Ireland in 1902, and felt an immediate affinity and sense of belonging which lasted throughout his life. It was Yeats - the great enemy of music, whose poetry confirmed an ascendancy of word over tone in Ireland that prevails even today - who nevertheless flooded the young composer's imagination with images which were formative in the development of his musical voice. On the western seaboard of Ireland, the Celt in Bax stood 'fully revealed'. In the shadow of Yeats's poetry, the temple of his own art was raised.

Bax lived in Dublin from 1911 until the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, but he had already become a regular visitor to Ireland before then, and his early cycle of orchestral tone poems ('Into the Twilight', 'The Faery Hills' and 'Roscatha'), written between 1908 and 1910, affirms the burgeoning influence of Irish themes in his work. Even earlier, it was 'Cathaleen Ni Houlihan' (1905), an orchestral poem inspired by Yeats's play of (nearly) the same name Cathleen ni Houlihan (1902), which attested the decisive impact of Ireland in the development of Bax's musical expressivity.

Bax's volume of memoirs, Farewell, My Youth (1943) closes with an affectionate recollection of his 'Dublin days' and his friendship with a host of Irish writers and friends (notably Padraic and Mary Colum, Darrell Figgis, Ernest Boyd and George Russell [AE]) whom he regularly entertained at his home in Bushy Park Road, Rathgar.

Two features in particular dominate these idyllic Irish recollections: one is the cosmopolitan vigour and charm of those soirees which Bax and his wife either organised or attended in the Dublin suburbs (which he contrasts with romantic summer visits to Donegal and Connemara); the other is a complete dearth of music.

Later in life, Bax would acknowledge how impoverished musical culture in Dublin seemed to him in those years (notwithstanding exceptions such as the 'tiny pit orchestra' conducted by John F Larchet - Professor of Music at UCD from 1921 until 1958 - at the Abbey Theatre). From 1909 until 1912, Bax wrote poetry, short stories and plays under the pseudonym 'Dermot O'Byrne' (mentioned as a figure of promise in the first edition of Boyd's influential Ireland's Literary Renaissance [1913]), so that he materially reinvented himself as a writer in order to pass muster in Dublin's artistic circles. This was simply because Dublin offered little or no outlet for his primary impulses as a composer. 'No talk of music whatever' does not, in these circumstances, seem to have been an exaggeration.

Farewell, My Youth contains one especially striking episode: somewhere between autumn 1912 and the early summer of 1913, Molly Colum persuaded Patrick Pearse to visit Bax in his Rathgar home. Molly emphasised to Bax what a rare and unlikely occurrence this would be ('he's a very difficult fish to land', she told him), but come he did. 'His expression was gentle and even almost womanish', Bax recalled, 'but his eyes were lit with the unwavering flame of the fanatic'. Pearse and Bax talked that evening of Connemara, and the composer's intimate knowledge of the West clearly impressed his guest. 'My goodness, Mr Pearse', Molly Colum said, 'would you ever have supposed that this fella was an Englishman?'. 'Well,' replied Pearse quietly, with the ghost of an ironic smile, 'I'm half-English myself!'

Bax concludes his short account of that evening with a memorable recollection: 'As he was leaving that night he [Pearse] said to Molly, 'I think your friend Arnold Bax may be one of us. I should like to see more of him'. Bax never did see that 'death-aspiring dreamer' again, but he records that on Easter Tuesday 1916, when he read first reports of the Rising by the shores of Lake Windemere, he said to himself, 'I know that Pearse is in this!'

Bax, as it were, said goodbye to Ireland and his youth at one and the same time. But he never forgot his imaginative debt to this country, even if Ireland all but forgot him. Not long after Pearse's execution, Bax wrote a work for orchestra entitled In Memoriam, on the autograph score of which he wrote (in Irish), 'In memory of Padraig Pearse'.

The work lay unperformed for almost a century until Vernon Handley recovered the score and recorded it with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in 1998. (It will receive its first ever Irish performance with the RTE National Symphony Orchestra in February of this year).

Bax used part of this composition in his film music for David Lean's Oliver Twist (1948) - sure evidence that the original work meant much to him, to say nothing of the man who inspired it. A century after In Memoriam was written, it may at last be time to make good on Pearse's perceptive aside to Mary Colum all those years ago. If In Memoriam isn't Irish music, it is hard to know what is.

Harry White is Professor of Music at University College Dublin and a Fellow of the Royal Irish Academy of Music. He has written extensively on the cultural history of music in Ireland and is General Editor (with Barra Boydell) of 'The Encyclopaedia of Music in Ireland (2013)'.
"I know this is a lousy job, but you're doing your duty - I do not hold this against you."

These are the words of the poet-patriot Thomas MacDonagh standing before the nervous firing squad tasked with his execution. During that tense moment, the 12 young Sherwood Foresters may well have reminded him of his own students at St Enda's or UCD. In a final display of characteristic generosity, the revolutionary leader offered them his cigarettes. These last moments lay testament not only to the strength of character recalled by those who knew him, but also to his great ability to connect with people as a friend, leader, teacher, poet or playwright. But how had this gentle, personable scholar ended up handcuffed and blindfolded in the stonebreakers' yard at Kilmainham Gaol?

Born in Cloughjordan, Co Tipperary, MacDonagh was educated at Rockwell College where he briefly entertained the idea of becoming a missionary priest before deciding upon a career in education. A teaching position at St Kieran's College brought him to Kilkenny where he joined the Gaelic League and his passion for the Irish language and culture was kindled.

While teaching English, French, and History at the college, he published two volumes of poetry and became increasingly active in the League's social and cultural activities. It was during this time that MacDonagh became fluent in the Irish language and grew dissatisfied with the absence of the subject on the St Kieran's curriculum. This prompted him to take up a position at St Colman's College, Fermoy, where he taught for five years before joining Patrick Pearse at his experimental Irish-language school in Dublin, St Enda's.

MacDonagh held the position of assistant headmaster at Pearse's school during which time he studied for a BA in French, English, and Irish at University College Dublin. Following the completion of an MA in English Literature he began lecturing at the university. In 1912 he married Muriel Gifford with whom he had two children. He continued to write poetry, plays and literary criticism during this time and, with his friends Mary and Padraic Colum, Joseph Mary Plunkett, James Stephens, and David Houston, he edited the Irish Review - a magazine of literature, art and science. A supporter of rights for women and workers, he was a member of the Irish Women's Franchise League, the Industrial Peace Committee, and a founding member of the teachers' union, ASTI.

Primarily engaged in nationalist endeavours of a cultural kind, the events of the Dublin Lockout contributed to the intensification of MacDonagh's political nationalism and in December 1913 he joined the Irish Volunteers. Elected to company captain in July of the following year, his talkative and charming personality was put to use as he travelled the country with the aim of recruiting volunteers. At the same time the editorial of the Irish Review indicated a transition from ideals into action as the magazine published more outwardly political pieces such as the "Manifesto of the Irish Volunteers".

In July 1914, alongside Bulmer Hobson and Darrell Figgis, MacDonagh played an important role in the Howth gun-running during which rifles and ammunition were smuggled in from Germany. Making their way back from Howth, the Volunteers were apprehended at Fairview by the British Army and the Dublin Metropolitan Police. Though a brief scuffle broke out, the leaders managed to prevent the standoff from escalating. While Figgis and the ever-talkative MacDonagh engaged the assistant commissioner of the DMP - William Vesey Harrell - in a prolonged argument, Hobson dispersed the volunteers.

March 1915 saw MacDonagh sworn into the Irish Republican Brotherhood and appointed Commandant of the 2nd Battalion, Dublin Brigade. However, it wasn't until April 1916 that he became the seventh member of the Military Council, which had been established the previous year and included Pearse, Plunkett, Eamonn Ceannt, Sean MacDiarmada, Thomas Clarke and James Connolly. MacDonagh was Director of Equipment but was not informed about the plans for the rising until just before Easter week.

In the week leading up to the Rising, MacDonagh played an important role as intermediary between the Council and his colleague at UCD, Eoin MacNeill, who was opposed to the Volunteers engaging in offensive force. Once MacNeill was made aware of the plans for a rising, MacDonagh was tasked with persuading him to pledge his support. Believing that a British attack was imminent and that a German ship would soon deliver arms in Kerry, MacNeill briefly backed the insurrection. However, the interception of the ship by the British Navy prompted him to issue a countermanding order on the eve of Easter Sunday. That same day the leaders convened and planned a Monday rising instead. In an effort to divert attention from the revised plan, MacDonagh visited MacNeill at home to deliver Pearse's confirmation of the countermand. That would be the last time MacNeill would see his friend.

At noon on Easter Monday the 2nd Battalion of the Dublin Brigade convened at St Stephen's Green Park where they were joined by members of Cumann na mBan and Na Fianna Eireann. The last minute arrival of Major John MacBride meant that Michael O'Hanrahan was replaced as second-in-command owing to MacBride's superior military experience.

MacDonagh found that he had 150 men at his disposal, fewer than half of what he could have expected had the Rising taken place the previous day as planned. This meant that he would have to forgo plans to take Trinity College and concentrate efforts on seizing Jacob's Factory and establishing outposts in the area. The strategic importance of the factory lay in its proximity to Dublin Castle and to Richmond and Portobello Barracks. The position allowed the volunteers to hinder British access to the city from the South.

Relative to the fighting that took place at the GPO and the Four Courts, however, they saw little action. Heavily fortified, with snipers positioned in the towers relentlessly harassing the British forces, and surrounded by a warren of small streets, Jacob's Factory was a difficult target for an all-out attack. The disruption brought angry civilian mobs to the gates of the garrison prompting MacDonagh to order rebels to fire blanks to disperse the crowd. As a leader he was reported to have been indecisive and confusing in his orders and therefore MacBride assumed a leading role. Nevertheless, his sense of humour and good nature helped to reassure the volunteers as they waited in anticipation of British attack. During the week the brigade ambushed 30 British soldiers, a plain-clothes DMP officer reporting on activities at the factory was shot, and six others captured. At Davy's pub an opportunity to attack a troop of British soldiers was lost, precipitating the fall of the outpost.

Initially, MacDonagh opposed Pearse's order to surrender until he confirmed the legitimacy of the order with Ceannt. On April 30 he accepted surrender and ordered his brigade to stand down. The first of the leaders to be tried and executed, the British officer-in-command remarked: "They all died nobly, but MacDonagh died like a prince".

Catherine Wilsdon is a Research Associate at UCD Humanities Institute and co-director of the Irish Revival Network. She recently completed a PhD on JM Synge at UCD School of English, Drama & Film
The poetry of 1916 engages in fundamental ways with the ideals of independence and with the feelings and experiences that helped to shape the modern nation. Perceived as a poets revolution, the Easter Rising is often linked to the Irish Revival that flourished at the turn of the century, suggesting a close relationship between artistic expression and political activism.

The Revivalist movement, which was well under way by the 1890s, sought to forge a distinctive Irish literature through the use of native materials and writing styles. These aims, expressed in journals such as the Irish Review, had a performance counterpart on the stage of the Abbey Theatre. However, though the artistic achievements of this time, both in performance and print, signalled an intense engagement with ideas of national identity, the political and cultural wings of the nationalist movement remained distinct.

So the poems of 1916 are drawn from a wide range of sources  some are written by the rebel leaders themselves and some by major Irish poets; others are widely circulated texts that catch the popular feeling of the years following the Rising.

Patrick Pearse joined the Gaelic League in 1896 and was, for a time, the editor of its newspaper An Claidheamh Soluis. Convinced of the significance of the Irish language, and keen both to modernise it and to expand its use, he wrote poetry in both Irish and English. Ideas of suffering and sacrifice lay at the heart of the work, which was strongly influenced by Christian imagery and idealism. Fornocht Do Chonac Thu (Naked I Saw Thee) is perhaps the best known of his Irish language poems; its single-minded perspective underpins much of Pearses verse in English too, reinforcing the visionary character of many poems of the Rising. In The Mother, Pearse chooses a female voice to bring the combined pride and suffering of the bereaved to life. Grief is assuaged here by an awareness of the heroism of the mens actions. Yet in spite of Pearses reputation as a fervent nationalist, his writings as a whole reveal the range of his political thought, and his capacity for reflection and change.

Christian iconography was an important feature of much of the work by rebel poets. Joseph Mary Plunkett shared Pearses commitment to this symbolism but his work is the more mystical of the two. His poems grapple with the challenges of human imperfection: I See His Blood Upon the Rose reads the presence of the divine in nature as a way of transcending this limitation.

Though they learned much from the Irish emphasis of Revivalist writing, these poets were also influenced by the English tradition, both in form and tone. Thomas MacDonagh, who taught with Pearse at St Endas, and later lectured at University College Dublin, was a literary scholar and both his poetry and criticism reflect his familiarity with cultural histories beyond Ireland. The title of his first volume of poetry, Songs of Myself, testifies to the importance of self-reflection and personal relationships in his work, however. It is through direct experience that MacDonagh understands his aspirations as an Irishman.

Arguably, the most famous representation of the Easter Rising was not by a rebel poet but by WB Yeats. Easter, 1916 remains one of the 20th centurys iconic poems but its popular reception in the decades that followed the Rising somewhat obscures the complexity of the feelings it expresses. The changing perspective on the rebels here, from casual dismissal to formal memorialisation, suggests both the poets ambivalence towards the events and his growing sense of their significance. In another poem, Sixteen Dead Men, Yeats reflects on how the execution of the rebel leaders has altered the sympathies of the Irish people.

Already an established poet by the time of the Rising, Yeatss involvement in the Irish Revival, and his close relationship with Maud Gonne, brought him into the revolutionaries orbit, though he never espoused the use of violence for political ends. Yeats was once a friend of rebel leader Constance Markievicz and of her sister  the poet, Eva Gore-Booth.

Both women gave up lives of privilege for political and social activism and, though ideologically at odds with one another, they retained a strong emotional bond as Gore-Booths poem Comrades indicates. As a pacifist, Gore-Booth opposed all forms of violence, and was sensitive to the involvement of Irish soldiers in the First World War, as well as in revolution at home.

The tension between these positions can be traced in the poetry of the time: Tom Kettle and Francis Ledwidge both enlisted in the British Army but Ledwidges most famous poem would be an elegy for his executed friend Thomas MacDonagh. Poems about the revolutionaries, whether they were reflective lyrics or popular ballads, became an important part of the memorialisation of 1916. The Foggy Dew, by Canon Charles ONeill, uses the Irish song tradition to appeal to popular consciousness, while Liam MacGabhanns Connolly  one of a number of poems on the labour leader  emphasises the recognition of this figure within his own lifetime.

Irish poets continue to engage imaginatively with the Easter Rising, often in ways that offer new or challenging perspectives on previous views. Vona Groarkes Imperial Measure offers a perspective on the role of women in the GPO, which subtly addresses the neglect of female participants in the received narratives of the period.

Other poets such as Paul Durcan and Paula Meehan use witty and provocative observations to challenge the act of commemoration itself. The enduring importance of the 1916 Rising as an inspiration for poetry reveals its power to address our shared understanding of the past, as well as our individual responses to this moment in history.

Dr Lucy Collins is a lecturer in English at University College Dublin (UCD).

Vote for your favourite poem inspired by the 1916 Rising

Some magnificent poetry has emerged from the Easter Rising, from participants, onlookers and others writing over the century since 1916.

Dr Lucy Collins of University College Dublin has written about ten key poems, read her commentary in the links below and vote for your favourite poem in our poll:

Read: The Mother, by Patrick Pearse

Read: I See His Blood Upon the Rose, by Joseph Plunkett

Read: The Foggy Dew, by Canon Charles ONeill

Read: The Wayfarer, by Patrick Pearse

Read: Easter 1916, by WB Yeats

Read: Connolly, by Liam Mac Gabhann

Read: Wishes for my Son, by Thomas MacDonagh

Read: Comrades, by Eva Gore-Booth

Read: Sixteen Dead Men, by WB Yeats

Read: Imperial Measure, by Vona Groarke
Labour will cut third-level fees to 2,500 in September 2017 if it is returned to Government, Education Minister Jan O'Sullivan promised last night.

This would mean a 500-a-year reduction in the 3,000 contribution students are paying this year. That figure is frozen for September 2016.

Ms O'Sullivan's predecessor, Ruairi Quinn, faced the ire of students following a broken election promise not to increase third-level fees.

Mr Quinn signed a pledge on the matter before the last general election - then fees were repeatedly hiked while Labour was in government.

Ms O'Sullivan said the proposed reduction would be introduced, pending consideration of an expert group's report setting out options around higher-level funding in the longer term.

She also held out a carrot to third-level bosses, promising that in 2017 Labour in Government would provide 25m to improve staff-student ratios, which are much higher than international norms.

The minister said the "significant increase" in the fees "was one of the many difficult choices that were made in recent years" but she now wanted "to begin a reasonable conversation about where we go next".

Meanwhile Ms O'Sullivan is facing a backlash from Labour Party colleagues - just weeks away from the General Election - over her plans to remove a rule giving privilege to Catholic teachings in national schools.

At last night's Parliamentary Labour Party meeting, a number of TDs expressed concerns over how abolishing the so-called 'rule 68' will be perceived in the lead-up to the election.

The Irish Independent understands that TDs, mostly from rural constituencies, voiced objections to Ms O'Sullivan's plan to abolish a rule which states that religious teaching is "by far the most important" part of the school curriculum.

The minister will move to abolish the rule, which dates back to the 1920s, next week.

"It's a bit stupid doing away with the rule when we know it's going to be divisive during the election," a Labour source said.

However, a source close to the minister said there was a "modicum" of concern about how the move would be perceived, rather than opposition to abolishing the rule.

"It won't change the day-to-day running of schools" they said.
The confrontation between the two long-time rivals came during a heated Dail exchange

Tanaiste Joan Burton has accused Sinn Feins Mary Lou McDonald of using a tsunami of hatred and invective against her.

The confrontation between the two long-time rivals came during heated Dail exchanges about the plight of 250 children afflicted with Scoliosis and awaiting treatment for up to 15 months in intense pain.

Ms McDonald said this scandalous situation typified the chaos and failure of Labour in government and the cancelling of routine procedures at Cork University Hospital due to pressure of work was another.

Tanaiste, would you accept a 15-month wait for your child? Ms McDonald asked the Labour leader.

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Joan Burton hit back by accusing Sinn Fein of trying to disrupt a well-laid plan to assist the children with Scoliosis, which is a severe curvature of the spine.

She said plans were afoot to open a new operating theatre at Crumlin Childrens Hospital, which had treated 100 children in 2015  a 51pc increase on the previous, while another 33 children received treatment elsewhere including a British hospital.

Ms McDonald then accused Ms Burton of using a single-transferrable anti-Sinn Fein rant. She accused the Labour leader of trying to claim special treatment for children with Scoliosis would put the economic recovery at risk.

Theres something obscene about an assertion like that, the Sinn Fein deputy leader said.

Ms Burton then hit back again. Have you finished your tsunami of hatred and invective against me? she asked Ms McDonald.

The Labour leader said Crumlin Childrens Hospital was a world class facility and its lead role in treating Scoliosis would be expanded with extra staff and resources.

Ms Burton also accused Sinn Fein pursued draconian policies in Northern Ireland. She cited their Education Minister advising young people there to avoid teaching because there would be no teachers jobs in future.

Ms McDonald said the children and their families cared nothing about Ms Burtons views on Sinn Fein or any other party. Its a typical diversion by you, she said.

Donegal Independent TD, Thomas Pringle, said that his native county had got a very bad service from the Coalition over the past five years. He said 60pc of the countys population qualified for a medical card indicating high levels of unemployment, poverty and deprevation.

Fianna Fails Timmy Dooley sought assurances from the Tanaiste would ensure flood-hit families without insurance would get compensation.
Garda divers at the scene in the Grand Canal where the body of Kenneth OBrien was found. Collins Dublin, Gareth Chaney

Members of the Gardai at the scene in the Grand Canal where the body of Kenneth OBrien was found. Collins Dublin, Gareth Chaney

The scene in Ardclough following the discovery of human remains which where found in a suitcase at the Grand Canal in Co Kildare. The discovery was made by people out walking. Collins Dublin, Gareth Chaney

Gardai investigating the death of Kenneth O'Brien at a house at Lealand Road in Clondalkin. Pic Steve Humphreys

Gardai widen search in investigation of body in suitcase murder victim Kenneth O'Brien Picture Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin.

Gardai have widened their search close to where the Kenneth OBrien's torso was found on Saturday but a murder location has still not been found.

A number of sheds and farmyards in Ardclough close to where the remains of the 33-year-old Dubliner were found are also being examined today.

A complex spiderweb of relationships involving the father and his personal life is being examined.

Threatening text messages and the phone records of the murder victim are at the centre of the garda investigation into his death.

Officers are working on the theory that the brutal murder may have been carried out by a man known to him whom he possibly met by arrangement, rather than gangland activity.

Gardai believe that the victims body was dismembered with either a chainsaw or a saw but a cause of his death has not yet been established.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Gardai widen search in investigation of body in suitcase murder victim Kenneth O'Brien Picture Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin Gardai widen search in investigation of body in suitcase murder victim Kenneth O'Brien Picture Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin. Gardai widen search in investigation of body in suitcase murder victim Kenneth O'Brien Picture Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin. Gardai widen search in investigation of body in suitcase murder victim Kenneth O'Brien Picture Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin. Gardai widen search in investigation of body in suitcase murder victim Kenneth O'Brien Picture Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin. Gardai widen search in investigation of body in suitcase murder victim Kenneth O'Brien Picture Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin. / Facebook

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Mr OBrien, originally from Ballyfermot in west Dublin, was last seen alive when he left his Clondalkin home on Friday morning.

Forensic gardai spent all day yesterday at the property at Lealand Road and they removed a number of items from the house.

STATEMENT

Other officers spent the day taking statements from people who knew the tragic father-of-one.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Gardai widen search in investigation of body in suitcase murder victim Kenneth O'Brien Picture Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin. Gardai widen search in investigation of body in suitcase murder victim Kenneth O'Brien Picture Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin. Gardai widen search in investigation of body in suitcase murder victim Kenneth O'Brien Picture Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin. Gardai widen search in investigation of body in suitcase murder victim Kenneth O'Brien Picture Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin. Gardai widen search in investigation of body in suitcase murder victim Kenneth O'Brien Picture Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin. Gardai widen search in investigation of body in suitcase murder victim Kenneth O'Brien Picture Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin. Gardai widen search in investigation of body in suitcase murder victim Kenneth O'Brien Picture Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin. / Facebook

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Sources said that officers were desperately trying to build a full picture of Mr OBriens personality and relationships in an attempt to discover how he met such a grim fate.

This involves taking statements off everyone who knew him and attempting to make contact with anyone who had been speaking with him in recent weeks.

Everyone who knew Mr OBrien will have to be looked at closely, that is the nature of this, they said.

Gardai are not following a definite line of enquiry at this stage, but it is being investigated whether he may have been killed by someone because of events in his personal life, the source added.

Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close The scene in Ardclough following the discovery of human remains which where found in a suitcase at the Grand Canal in Co Kildare. The discovery was made by people out walking. Collins Dublin, Gareth Chaney Members of the Gardai at the scene in the Grand Canal where the body of Kenneth OBrien was found. Collins Dublin, Gareth Chaney Garda divers at the scene in the Grand Canal where the body of Kenneth OBrien was found. Collins Dublin, Gareth Chaney / Facebook

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Whatsapp The scene in Ardclough following the discovery of human remains which where found in a suitcase at the Grand Canal in Co Kildare. The discovery was made by people out walking. Collins Dublin, Gareth Chaney

The exact nature of the recent threats made to Mr O Brien were not disclosed but it is understood that he did not know his life was under threat.

However the property he lived at had CCTV cameras on it but it is not known when they were paced there.

OFFENCES

Mr OBrien was not known to officers for involvement in serious offences and his only convictions were for relatively minor driving offences a number of years ago.

Sources said that gardai were unaware of underworld reports that suggested he may have been targeted by a notorious Clondalkin-based gang over an historical debt.

The mutilated remains of the dad-of-one, who had only moved back to Dublin from Australia in December were taken from the canal at Ardclough, Co Kildare, on Saturday.

It is understood that he only decided at Christmas to permanently move back to Ireland.

Mr OBrien was identified at 3.30pm on Tuesday after a DNA sample taken from the torso matched a sample provided by a member of his family.

The mechanic and JCB driver was the father of a little boy. He vanished on Friday after telling his family he was heading down the country to do some work.

They reported him missing on Saturday evening, but by then his torso had been discovered by two walkers who saw a suitcase in the canal.

The murder investigation is being carried out by officers at Leixlip Garda Station, who continue to appeal for information.

It is expected that it will be a lengthy investigation which will involve the detailed analysis of mobile phone traffic in an attempt to establish who the victim had been communicating with.
In the first nine months of 2015, the drop in births reached almost 11pc

The troubled maternity unit in Portlaoise has experienced a sharp fall in births as many expectant mothers choose to go to another hospital to have their baby.

In the first nine months of 2015, the drop in births reached almost 11pc, the Irish Independent has learned.

Although births are dropping nationally, from a high of 75,554 in 2009, the revelations about baby deaths and the damning report by the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) into Portlaoise Hospital have also contributed to a crisis of trust. A spokeswoman for the hospital said: "The fall in Ireland's birth rate is a primary factor, as reflected across other maternity hospitals."

However, she added: "As anticipated, the issues identified with maternity services at Portlaoise have also influenced where mothers choose to have their baby.

"The significant improvements we are making to maternity services are starting to take effect.

"Implementation of our overall reform programme in full is designed to restore confidence in the quality and safety of maternity services available at the hospital," she added.

The hospital has appointed more staff and now has a link-up with the Coombe maternity hospital in Dublin.

The Department of Health said that while numbers of births increased substantially from 2005 to 2009, since 2010 there has been a gradual decrease. "This is due in part to a reduction in fertility rates but, more significantly, to the fact that the numbers of women in the child-bearing age groups have started to decline in recent years," said a spokesperson.

"This is a demographic feature which is likely to result in a steady reduction in numbers of births over the coming decade even if, as expected, Ireland continues to experience fertility rates which are higher than most other EU countries."

The validated figures for births in 2015 have yet to be confirmed but they are expected to be around 66,705.

A draft strategy, mapping out maternity services between 2016 and 2026, does not suggest the closure of any of the smaller maternity units around the country.

Isolation

However, it says that they should not be allowed to operate in isolation on a "standalone" basis. This is expected to see more link-ups with larger maternity units which are part of the different hospital groups.

While initial steps have been made in this area, the extent to which there will be a sharing of services and expertise is so far unclear.

The strategy document points out that the smaller units cannot sustain the breadth and depth of clinical service that the populations they serve require, without formal links to larger units.

Among the units which will be looked at is South Tipperary Hospital's maternity section, which in the first nine months had just 833 births.
The mother of baby Joshua Keyes Cornally, who died in Portlaoise Hospital six years ago, said yesterday she hopes lessons have now been learned on how to better care for maternity patients.

Shauna Keyes was responding to yesterday's publication of the HSE review into the death of baby Joshua in October 2009, highlighting serious errors in foetal heart monitoring, delays in delivery and an absence of foetal blood sampling.

He was one of five babies to die in similar circumstances at the hospital's maternity unit over a number of years.

Ms Keyes said yesterday: "They have a cloud hanging over them at the moment but I hope that they'd learned lessons from what happened to all of our children and they're not going to allow it to happen again.

Mistakes

"Obviously mistakes will happen, they're humans at the end of the day, but it's how they approached it afterwards.

"Anybody I've spoken to who has lost a child in Portlaoise has said that it wasn't the death of their child that hurt them as badly as the lack of answers, the lack of facts, and the time delays in getting those answers and facts."

She has since given birth to a healthy baby daughter in Portlaoise.

A spokeswoman for the hospital said the findings of the report and its 23 recommendations have been implemented.

They include hiring more staff, mandatory training for CTG monitoring and new guidelines on the drug oxytocin as well as foetal blood sampling.

"The HSE deeply regrets the distress and anguish caused to these families for its failure to respond in a timely and sympathetic way."

An external review of how the HSE responded to various alerts and reports of problems in Portlaoise over the years has yet to be completed, leaving parents concerned that nobody will be held accountable for the manner in which they were responded to over the years.

The review revealed how, after Joshua's death, hospital staff suggested Ms Keyes would be transferred back to the labour ward that night. After she spoke of her distress at the prospect of hearing other babies cry, Ms Keyes, who was just 18-years-old at the time, was moved to a room on the ground floor.

The mothers of both parents were informed of the baby's death first. When Joshua's body was brought to her room she felt the coffin was too small and box-like.

The family did not get time to spend with Joshua and she was not allowed to hold, change, wash and dress him as she would have liked.

Although a review of the case was carried out in 2010, Ms Keyes and her partner were never interviewed and were unaware it was being carried out.

They continued to press for an inquest and this was eventually held in September 2013. There had been delays in getting the information needed for the inquest. Ms Keyes and her partner eventually went public, seeking answers.
Almost 100 of the promised 301 extra hospital beds are still not open as flu and other winter illnesses led to another rise in patients waiting on trolleys for hours yesterday.

The HSE confirmed that just 202 of these new beds are now available for patients.

This is despite its own figures showing 461 people were waiting on trolleys yesterday morning, with 203 waiting for a bed for more than nine hours.

A number of hospitals had to issue public notices asking patients to go to their GP or out-of-hours co-op where possible.

The rise in overcrowding comes despite the insistence by hospitals that the measures agreed with nurses to ease congestion - in return for deferring their strike - are being implemented on the ground.

This is leading to thousands of planned operations for patients on public waiting lists being cancelled.

Prof Michael O'Keeffe, an opthalmologist at the Mater Hospital, said around 70 patients have had their surgeries cancelled over two days.

"This is unacceptable and is not solving the problem of overcrowding," he warned.

Cork University Hospital had the highest number on trolleys yesterday, according to figures from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO).

The union's nurses said overall there were 536 people on trolleys yesterday compared to 522 yesterday on Tuesday.

Tallaght Hospital emergency consultant, Dr James Gray, said he has emailed the chief executive, Health Minister Leo Varadkar, health watchdog Hiqa and the HSE about his concerns about overcrowding.

"We have four patients who need a bed in an ambulatory unit of the emergency department. One is there for over 20 hours.

"It only has one entry or exit door and should be only for transient cases only.

"Patients' dignity is being violated and they are subjected to repeated deprivation of sleep through constant light and noise. There is elder abuse with the most vulnerable elderly patients on trolleys for hours on end, and is particularly upsetting."

He said patients are often in corridors and other non-designated patient areas where there is no dignity, privacy, or confidentiality.

They are also an infection-control risk.

"They are subjected to sensory torture by having to experience constant light and noise, sometimes for days on end."

A patient survey of services in Tallaght Hospital involving 426 interviews showed that 94pc of inpatients said their care was good, very good or excellent.

However, they wanted a number of improvements, including more clinics to reduce outpatient waiting times.

They also wanted a review of total care services to increase the number of people available to talk to patients about their concerns and fears.
Patricia Barnes (28) from Finglas in Dublin has been at the Mater Hospital's Emergency Department (ED) twice this week.

In fact, she said she has attended the ED around 10 times in the last six months, as she has been suffering with extremely painful rheumatoid arthritis.

Patricia said she attended the ED on Monday and was back again yesterday.

"It's absolutely packed," she said, as she nipped outside the ED for a breath of fresh air.

"I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis when I was 17, which is very painful," she said.

"My fingers are swollen and all my joints swell out," said Patricia, who said she has been in agony.

She explained everyday tasks, such as washing her hair, are hard because of her condition.

"I can't do those things when the pain gets too bad. My mam and dad help me a lot. I get very stiff and very sore," she said.

"I'm in agony," she explained.

"I was supposed to be starting a treatment on Christmas Day, but because I had an infection, I couldn't start it," she said.

Speaking about having to wait to be seen in an ED, she said: "It's long and it's boring, and you kind of want to just be in and out, don't you?

"You just want to get looked after, and either get a bed or get sent home," she commented.

Having attended the ED on quite a few occasions, Patricia said she has observed people getting distressed as a result of overcrowding.

However, she stressed that the care provided by the staff at the Mater Hospital is fantastic.

"The staff are excellent. They are run off their feet and you can see it," she said.

Patricia was able to leave the hospital yesterday after getting some expert advice.

A member of the hospital's rheumatology team came to see her in the ED and advised her she could now begin the treatment she had been due to start. She was then able to go home.

It was business as usual yesterday at the Mater, with its busy waiting room. The hospital had issued a statement saying it was experiencing very high numbers and protracted waiting times in its ED.

Outside the unit, another woman came outside briefly for a break.

"I was seen straight away in the ED. I had a letter from my GP," she explained.

Meanwhile, a statement from the hospital said: "The Mater Hospital and its staff endeavours at all times to treat all patients that are admitted to its Emergency Department with the highest possible standard of care and compassion.

"The Mater Hospital does not comment on individual patient cases, but does assess and validate all issues brought to its attention."
The embattled garda watchdog more than quadrupled its spending on legal advice in 2014, the year of the controversy over unfounded allegations its office had been bugged by gardai.

Financial records reveal legal spending by the Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) skyrocketed by over 530,000 compared with the previous year.

The spending jumped from 142,112 in 2013 to 675,205 in 2014.

The records, which were laid before the Oireachtas this week, also reveal the former chairman of the commission, Simon O'Brien, was on a package worth 177,512-a-year when he quit the high-profile role.

The commission received 8.3m in taxpayer funding in 2014, yet recorded a deficit of 382,693.

This, it said, was "almost exclusively" due to unanticipated external legal costs related to the "bugging" affair and garda whistleblowing allegations.

The additional costs were signed off by the Department of Justice.

A breakdown of the legal costs, or who was paid, was not disclosed in the financial statements. However, the GSOC annual report said external legal services used by the commission included the seeking of advice in relation to the inquiry by retired High Court judge Mr Justice John Cooke.

His inquiry found there was no evidence to support suspicions the organisation's headquarters in Dublin had been bugged.

Leak

Further legal costs were also incurred in connection with an internal inquiry by Mark Connaughton SC into the alleged leaking of information about the bugging suspicions to a Sunday newspaper reporter.

Mr Connaughton was unable to determine the source of the alleged leak.

However, he concluded that the journalist at the centre of the probe did not have possession of a confidential internal report on the watchdog's suspicions it was being bugged.

Additional legal fees also had to be paid in connection with the inquiry by Sean Guerin SC into how garda whistleblowing allegations were handled.

Mr Guerin's report was critical of GSOC. It said GSOC was similar to both the gardai and the Department of Justice in that it did not heed the voice of a whistleblower.

It also said Mr Guerin did not receive documentation from the commission and was not told why until it was too late in the process.

GSOC told Mr Guerin, via its solicitors, it was unwilling to release the documentation without certain safeguards being put in place.

The financial statements show Mr O'Brien, whose controversial reign ended early when he moved to the UK's pensions ombudsman in February last year, had a package worth 177,512 in 2014. The former London Met officer's package was made up of basic pay of 161,910 and a pension contribution of 15,602.

His fellow commissioner, former Employment Equality Agency chief executive Carmel Foley had a package of 148,793, made up of basic pay of 136,025 and a pension contribution of 12,768.

GSOC's third commissioner, former RTE journalist Kieran FitzGerald, was on a package worth 140,008, made up of basic pay of 128,092 and a pension contribution of 11,916.
State transport companies Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann have been shortlisted to retain publicly funded routes being put out to tender.

The companies, which currently operate the services in Dublin, Waterford and Kildare, are among a number of firms shortlisted by the National Transport Authority (NTA) to win the contracts which will be announced in April.

The move comes after the NTA decided to tender 10pc of all so-called subvented routes to the market in an attempt to secure competition in the market and better value for money, with savings between 5pc and 10pc expected.

The NTA plans to tender eight orbital and 15 local routes in Dublin, but it is not clear if they will be awarded as one contract.

Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann confirmed they had been shortlisted to operate routes.
The probe is to be carried out by former attorney general Mr Justice John Murray. Photo: Arthur Carron/Collins

Garda Commissioner Noirin OSullivan listens during a speech by Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald at the publication of the Second National Strategy on Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence 2016-2021 in Dublin yesterday. Photo: Caroline Quinn

Taoiseach Enda Kenny says he has confidence in the Garda Service Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) following revelations that investigators at State authority snooped on the phone records of journalists and others.

"I have full and absolute confidence in GSOC, and in the chairing of GSOC by Justice Ring," Enda Kenny said in Davos, Switzerland this morning.

Neither the Taoiseach or Department of Justice has any details about individuals who's phone records have been accessed, he said.

Former Supreme Court Justice Murray's review into existing legislation that allowed the Garda Ombudsman service to snoop on journalists and others, will examine the need for considerations including privacy and protection of journalistic sources, and will report in three months he said.

With the economic mood darkening here among delegates attending the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual conference, the Taoiseach said Ireland had a long term economic plan that will help insulate the country, to some extent, form global trends.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland Enda Kenny said he would like to see the Transatlantic a trade Talks between the US and European finalised

Garda Commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan has flatly defended the practice of snooping on phone records, saying it is "justified" in thousands of cases every year.

The garda chief broke her silence on the controversy yesterday in an interview with the Irish Independent in which she said "exceptional consideration" was given to every application for communications data.

"Everything that we do is proportionate, it's balanced, it's justified and it's relevant to the investigation that is under way," she said.

Asked if she had an issue with releasing figures on the number of times gardai sought data from telecoms companies for personal data, she replied: "In terms of general high-level numbers, absolutely not."

However, a request to the Garda Press Office for details was still met with a negative response, leaving it to the Department of Justice to finally release the figures last night.

In 2014, gardai sought telephone-related data 5,513 times, while internet data was provided to gardai in 2,753 cases.

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald insisted: "There is no widespread snooping on private individuals, private citizens' phones or their records."

A review by former attorney general John Murray into the legislation that allows An Garda Siochana, the Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission (GSOC), Revenue and the Defence Forces to access journalists' phone and email records has until April to report.

The controversy arose after it emerged that GSOC had been spying on the records of at least three journalists.

New figures today reveal that as far back as 2013 it was accessing the phone records of 295 individuals.

There has been an outcry from civil liberties groups that the probe to be carried out by Mr Justice John Murray will only refer to journalists and not to private citizens. However, justice sources have indicated that a wider review could follow at a later stage.

"There is a need for a speedy response in relation to journalists. To broaden it now would delay that hugely," said a source.

It is widely expected in justice circles that Mr Justice Murray will recommend that a judge be appointed to oversee data requests, as happens in the United Kingdom.

Ms O'Sullivan declined to comment directly on the review, but said: "What I am focused on is making sure we have the lawful and proper tools in place to investigate crime, terrorism and to keep people safe.

"We give exceptional consideration to every single application that we receive."

Under existing laws, gardai can retrieve phone data from private firms with the approval of a chief superintendent.

"We are also very mindful of the journalistic privilege and the fundamental principle of the freedom of the press," the commissioner said.

"Caller-related data is a very effective investigative tool that is used by law-enforcement agencies the world over.

"Indeed, in this jurisdiction, it has proved very effective in investigating some very serious crime, including a particular investigation in relation to the murder of one of your own colleagues, Veronica Guerin," she told the Irish Independent.

She insisted that the number of requests for data was not disproportionate. "If you take it in a criminal and terrorism context, there is no criminal or terrorist that I know that simply uses one phone," she said.

Since taking over as commissioner in late 2014, Ms O'Sulivan has ordered a series of probes into alleged leaks by members of the force to the media.

Asked if she has taken a heavy-handed approach, she replied: "There is a principle absolutely recognising the freedom of the press and journalistic privilege. But there is also the principle of An Garda Siochana occupying a very privileged place in society.

"We do come into possession of very private, sensitive data in relation to individual citizens. Some of those citizens are indeed people who are going about their lawful business."
Police investigating the murder of Greenisland pensioner Eddie Girvan are probing a potential link between his death and the sex industry.

It is understood that Mr Girvan often met women, some of whom were sex workers, on dating apps and online dating sites.

It is not known if Mr Girvan was aware of their connection with the sex industry.

However, his involvement with them is currently a line of inquiry for detectives investigating his murder.

Over the past six months, Mr Girvan had signed up to at least two interactive dating apps, which are increasingly being used by those people within the sex industry.

Officers are attempting to establish if there is a link between Mr Girvan's lifestyle and his brutal murder.

The 67-year-old's body was found in his Station Road home on Monday night. His hands were tied and he had a stab wound to his chest.

The PSNI told the Belfast Telegraph last night: "Detectives are making inquiries into Mr Girvan's friends, associates and lifestyle to build up a picture of his activities in the days leading up to his murder."

Three people - a 29-year-old woman and two men aged 23 and 24 - remained in police custody last night on suspicion of murder.

Officers were yesterday granted an extra 36 hours by a court to question the woman and the 23-year-old man.

According to a police source, detectives are probing a number of theories as to what may have happened to Mr Girvan.

"There is nothing really making sense at the minute," the source added. "We are working to find a convincing theory."

The PSNI indicated on Monday that Mr Girvan's body was discovered by chance as police officers were investigating an unrelated incident.

When officers arrived at his house at around 9.30pm, they found the victim dead in a chair.

A post-mortem examination set to be carried out will establish the time of death.

Mr Girvan is understood to have had a number of CCTV cameras around his property, including on the porch and in an upstairs bedroom.

Detectives will be reviewing any footage that may have been recorded in recent weeks and days for clues.

Officers are also keen to trace the movements of Mr Girvan's silver Hyundai car, which was seen driving dangerously towards Belfast and was later found on Tuesday morning in the Verner Street area of the city.

Mr Girvan, a retired plumber, is believed to have lived in Greenisland for around 40 years and was a collector of antiques.

He was separated with two daughters. The senior investigating officer in the case, Detective Chief Inspector John McVea, said it was a "horrific and shocking" crime and added that Mr Girvan had suffered a "painful and violent death".

He indicated Mr Girvan was seen in a nearby off-licence at about 2.30pm on Sunday. However, his whereabouts and movements, or who he was with, are unknown beyond this point.

Mr McVea appealed for anyone who saw Mr Girvan in the last few days to contact police.

East Antrim Alliance Party MLA Stewart Dickson said that he had known Mr Girvan most of his life, having gone to primary school and to Boy's Brigade with him. "(He) was always a very helpful, friendly person, someone who would have gone the extra mile to help people, doing odd jobs and was always willing when somebody needed something done in their home, a repair job or something like that," said Mr Dickson.
Ireland won't be counting on EU funding to help clean up after recent flooding, Environment Minister Alan Kelly has said.

He also called on the European Commission to relax the conditions for drawing down EU disaster aid, as December's storms are not costly enough to qualify.

There is no official estimate of the damages yet - that is still "weeks away" - but reports coming in from local authorities and businesses put the bill at around 100m.

That means Ireland will not qualify for help from the EU's solidarity fund for natural disasters, which requires damages to be in excess of 0.6pc of GNI - or 983m in Ireland's case.

However, the fund has a regional disasters clause where thresholds are lower, which Mr Kelly said he was "looking into".

"We will be exploring every avenue in relation to, is there isolated funds that we can access," Mr Kelly said after a meeting with his EU counterpart in Brussels yesterday.

"We've a team working on making applications but I will have to say that it's not something that we're relying on."

Flexibility

He added: "I do believe that there is a necessity for greater flexibility in relation to how you can apply for those funds."

The last time Ireland benefited from EU solidarity aid was following the November 2009 floods, which wreaked 244m worth of damages, according to Insurance Ireland.

Mr Kelly was meeting with EU environment commissioner Karmenu Vella to discuss flood management in Ireland.

They agreed to set up a joint working group to share weather forecast data and implement plans to alleviate future flooding.

They also discussed how EU environmental laws affect flood planning, following allegations by some TDs that EU rules on natural habitats prevented dredging and the building of other flood defences.

"The directives in place have great flexibility but also have helped, and if they weren't in place we could have seen greater issues," Mr Kelly said following the meeting.

"I would challenge that discourse that emanates from some quarters in Ireland that these directives are the reason why we don't perform certain works. That simply is not the case."
Forget dancing with wolves. At Norway's Polar Park, guests can spend the night in a cabin inside a wolf enclosure.

The experience, which debuted in December, includes an evening listening to wolf tales in front of the fireplace, whilst curious wolves themselves pass by.

The following morning, guests step outside for a 'wolf kiss'.

Polar Park is the northernmost wildlife park in the world, located in Bardu, between Narvik and Troms in Northern Norway.

Its Wolflodge consists of six bedrooms sleeping 12, and the chance to interact with wolves is offered in an enclosure of "socialised" animals.

After clear instructions by the guide on where to put hands; how to walk; and general behavior, visitors are greeted with a lick on the face.



Video: YouTube/Gard Ole Waerum

Wolves, which live mainly in southeastern Norway, are listed as critically endangered on the Norwegian Red List of species 2010.

The largest member of the dog family is a social species, living in pairs or flocks, hunting both small game and larger animals such as moose and red deer, and growing to an average weight of around 30kg (females) and 50kg (males).

Bears, muskox, lynx and moose share the epic wilderness at Polar Park, and visitors can also take part in guided nature photography tours.

WolfLodge packages start from around 450/585pp, depending on numbers booking. The cost includes accommodation, dinner, guides and snacks.

Guests can fly from Dublin Airport to Troms via Oslo or London with SAS (flysas.ie) and Norwegian (norwegian.com).

See polarpark.no/wolflodge for more info.
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Dan O'Brien Opinion While we catastrophise about Covid, we ignore risk of running out of cash

We Irish view the world in an increasingly strange and unhealthy way. We catastrophise about Covid in a way other European countries do not. We focus on how bad the effects of the virus could get, on how many more restrictions might be imposed by Government and how helpless we are in the face of the virus.
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Ian O'Doherty Opinion For once, the UN is right  were standing on the edge of a deadly nuclear precipice

For those of us of a certain age, the last few months have felt as if we have somehow time-warped back to the 1980s. Stranger Things, which is set in that decade, has been the biggest show on TV. Kate Bush  thanks, incidentally, to Stranger Things  is now regularly played on the radio and she has reached number one in 2022 with the re-release of her 1985 hit, Running Up That Hill.
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What will it take to unite Ireland? Opinions are divided

There are those for whom Northern Ireland is a geographical fragment of the UK holding true to empire on its western flanks, and those for whom partition is a century-old wrong that must be overturned. Somewhere in the middle are the persuadables  people willing to accept either unity or union, so long as the justification is logical. One way or another, the unity conversation is in the air.
Can it really be that the schedules of our political elite are already so crowded with election commitments that there is no time to settle the snooping crisis?

Given the proliferation of phones involved, the response from the Government has not been commensurate with the scale of the controversy.

Instead of decisive action and clarity on the issue, we see contradictory and oblique responses.

Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald has insisted there has been no widespread accessing of civilians' phones. Why therefore has she called for a review?

Garda Commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan has clouded the issue even more. First, there was a mystifying refusal to address the issue, then she agreed to speak to this newspaper. But are we much the wiser? According to the Commissioner: "We are very mindful of journalistic privilege. We are very mindful of the fundamental principle of the freedom of the press. As I say, exceptional consideration and rigorous safeguards are put in place to ensure that under no circumstances are there any breaches of those principles."

The Commissioner's stated concern for the freedom of the press is not consistent with an indifference to the accessing of journalists' phone records. Such action is inimical to freedom of speech and contrary to the possibility of holding authority to account; both of which are surely harmful to the public interest. Again, one must ask: if the Commissioner has such confidence in the status quo, why the need for a review?

Clearly there is disquiet, as well there might be.

The lack of oversight on the ability of the State to snoop on private phones is now a cause of grave public concern.

The notion that a single judge can monitor the thousands of cases reviewed each year is also disquieting.

The Government response to this escalating crisis has been lackadaisical, inconsistent and inadequate. The NUJ and the Council for Civil Liberties have expressed their alarm. Despite this, instead of amending legislation, the Government has inexplicably opted for a review.

The new powers given to GSOC were ill-advised and need to be urgently reversed, not reviewed.
Migrants sit on a bench after their arrival from Turkey at the shores of the Greek island of Chios (AP)

Twelve migrants have drowned after a boat taking them to the Greek islands capsized in rough weather off Turkey.

A Turkish coast guard statement said 26 others were rescued off the Turkish Aegean resort of Foca, near the country's third-largest city Izmir, on Thursday.

One of the survivors, 31-year-old Iraqi national Yusuf Ali, told the state-run Anadolu Agency that he lost his wife and child in the incident.

Mr Ali was quoted as saying: "The boat started to take in water. We just couldn't stop it. My daughter and my wife drowned in the water."

Anadolu said security forces had detained two alleged human smugglers.

About 40 migrants have died so far this year off Turkey's coast while trying to cross into Greece, the coast guard said.
So Sarah Palin has endorsed her fellow reality television star Donald Trump for president.

It may not be a sign of the apocalypse, but the announcement is certain to keep the media and pundits busy for at least 24 hours.

At the very least, that helps Trump stay ahead in his Red Queen's race - that is, his attempt to maintain his domination of political news, which makes it harder for any other candidate to move up the polls.

It's even possible that a handful of Iowa Tea Party voters who have been wavering between Trump and Ted Cruz could be swayed by the Sage of Wasilla. And who knows? In a very close election, just a few voters could make all the difference: Trump and Cruz are in a dead heat in Iowa, according to HuffPollster's current estimate.

On the other hand, there's no suggestion from polling that Palin's endorsement is the gold standard. And although endorsements may be quite important in aggregate, the support of any single figure usually makes little difference. Endorsements bring resources, whether it's publicity or money or volunteer hours. Palin will help with publicity for one day, but probably not much more than that.

It's even possible, as political scientist Brendan Nyhan suggests, that Palin could push undecided party actors farther away from Trump. After all, if the nomination really does come down to Trump against Cruz, it's going to be a tough choice for many party elites, especially those who have worked with Cruz and can't stand him. Knowing that going with the Texas senator will at least have the benefit of annoying Palin might help get them over that hump.

In any case, having Trump out on the hustings praising Palin will remind many party actors of the weakness of his attachment to the party and of how little they can trust him either as their nominee or as president.

Mostly, however, this is just a reminder of John McCain's irresponsibility in selecting Palin as his running mate without bothering to find out who she was. She now is repaying the 2012 Republican nominee by endorsing the man who attacked his unimpeachable heroism to climb to the top of the polls.

Whatever happens next, Republicans should never forgive him for that.

Some feel Trump, whose positions on issues like gun control and abortion rights have shifted over the years, isn't conservative enough.

In a statement yesterday, he praised Palin as "a friend, and a high-quality person whom I have great respect for."

But Ms Palin, who was expected to campaign alongside her new political ally yesterday, did not show up at an Iowa rally. A campaign spokeswoman did not immediately respond to questions about why she was not in attendance.

Mr Trump was also endorsed by the daughter of John Wayne when he appeared in Winterset, Iowa, the late actor's birthplace. Aissa Wayne said her father would have backed Mr Trump, saying the businessman was "strong like John Wayne".

Republican consultant Kevin Madden said Palin's support could help shield Trump from charges that his past positions make him too liberal to be the party's nominee.

But some rally-goers at Trump's event said they weren't sure whether Palin's support would help Trump win over voters. Several referenced what they saw as her poor performance as a vice presidential candidate.

"I don't think she's really credible anymore," said Bruce Dodge (66), a retiree.
Sarah Palin said a whole lot in the few minutes she had on stage, as if her mouth had been taped shut for the last eight years, which, of course, it hadn't been. But she started by suggesting her appearance would make "media heads spin". It was a rare understatement. It made all of Iowa spin, if not America.

By bringing Ms Palin to his rally inside a giant cattle show shed at the University of Iowa's agricultural school in Ames and accepting her endorsement, Donald Trump was banking on just that, another grab for the headlines 10 days out from caucus night, when Iowans will be the first in the nation to voice their preferences for who should be the presidential nominees for both main parties.

Her return to the spotlight is one more kick in the gut to the Republican establishment, which hardly has fond memories of Ms Palin's record as John McCain's hapless running mate in 2008. It has only just come to terms with the fact that not one of the "traditional" runners in the field now stands a ghost of winning in Iowa, where the competition has come down to Mr Trump versus Senator Ted Cruz of Texas.

Those stragglers, most notably Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, Chris Christie, governor of New Jersey, and the former Florida governor Jeb Bush, surely looked on in dismay. For them, and the Ohio governor John Kasich, coming second or third in the February 9 primaries in New Hampshire, where Mr Trump leads handsomely, must now become their more realistic and urgent priority.

But perhaps Mr Trump's Palin coup was most damaging to Mr Cruz, who in recent polls has edged just slightly ahead of Mr Trump here in Iowa. The senator, who ironically enjoyed what turned out to be a critical endorsement from Ms Palin when he ran for the US Senate in 2012, has achieved it by appealing to Tea Party voters and evangelical Christians.

As the Palin-Trump show reached its crescendo here, one man shouted: "You guys are a joke." The tycoon repeatedly called her "very special" and she hailed him as a future "commander-in-chief who will kick Isis's ass", amongst other compliments. "He is from the private sector, not a politician," she said. "Can I get a hallelujah?"

Mr Bush may concur with the heckler. He has electronic billboards all across the state with one of his more famous utterances from the trail: "Donald Trump is unhinged."

He can seem that way. In a single sentence, he went from asserting that if the victims in Paris had had guns "on their ankles" and the "bullets had gone in the other direction" the tragedy in the city would have been averted, to musing about another endorsement he won on Tuesday, from the daughter of John Wayne, Aissa Wayne.

That came even as it emerged Ms Palin's oldest child, Track Palin (26), had been arrested in a domestic violence case in which his girlfriend was afraid he would shoot himself with an AR-15 assault rifle. For all that, there is strategy in the zaniness surrounding Mr Trump.

Possibly there was no smarter move for Mr Trump than claiming Ms Palin as his own, because, whatever the elite may say of her, she remains beloved of the Tea Party.

On Monday, he courted evangelicals by appearing at Liberty University, the most Christian of all Christian campuses, in Virginia. Thus in 48 hours he had poached on both of the Cruz strongholds.

Moreover, he pulled the Palin move on a day when Mr Cruz had suffered an earlier wound, born of his refusal to do what all of his rivals have done, show support for a long-running federal initiative requiring all petrol sold in the United States to have at least a 10pc ethanol content.

Disdain

Consistent with his conservative disdain for all things mandated by Washington, Mr Cruz wants it phased out, calling it a subsidy in disguise for Iowa growers of corn, from which ethanol is produced.

It was that stance that triggered a sharp denunciation of Mr Cruz from the Iowa governor Terry Branstad, himself a Republican, during a summit on renewable energy sources earlier here on Tuesday. Asked by reporters if he would therefore like to see Mr Cruz lose on caucus day, the Governor flatly said "Yes". For his part, Senator Cruz attempted to play down losing Ms Palin to his main foe. "I love @SarahPalin. Without her support, I wouldn't be in the Senate. Regardless of what she does in 2016, I will always be a big fan," he tweeted. ( Independent News Service)
Officials at a Connecticut high school called police after a teenaged student referenced the Islamic State group during a morning recitation of the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance, an attorney for the school district and local media said on Thursday.

The police department in Ansonia, Connecticut in turn handed the matter over to the federal Department of Homeland Security, the Connecticut Post reported, citing local police officials and records of a school board meeting in Ansonia where the incident occurred in October.

The 15-year-old boy, who was not identified due to his age, was not charged but was removed from classes at the school after substituting "ISIS," an acronym commonly used for Islamic State, for the words "the United States of America" during the pledge.

An attorney for the Ansonia Board of Education, Floyd Dugas, said school officials had called police "out of an abundance of caution."

"We do not believe at this point that this young man poses any kind of risk," Dugas said, adding that federal and state law prevented the school from saying more on the matter.

Ansonia police said in a statement provided to the newspaper, "We are no longer investigating this matter. The allegation is that the male was allegedly making pro ISIS statements during the Pledge of Allegiance."

Ansonia police officials did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment.

The United States has been on an elevated state of alert for Islamic State-related attacks after a married couple in December shot dead 14 people in San Bernardino, in an attack inspired by the militant group.

Earlier this month, a man claiming allegiance to Islamic State militants shot and seriously wounded a Philadelphia police officer, according to local police.
Eglwyswrw was five days short of beating the British record for the most consecutive days of rainfall

Residents of a Welsh village finally dry after 85 days of rain have been warned not to put their umbrellas away just yet - as more rain is on the way.

Residents of Eglwyswrw, near Cardigan, were overjoyed after getting a break in the wet weather that has blighted them since October 26.

The village was five days short of beating the British record for the most consecutive days of rainfall - set in Scotland in 1923.

A Met Office spokeswoman said: "The local weather station at Whitechurch has not recorded any rainfall over the past 24 hours.

"However, rain is expected to come that way today as well as tonight."

Local farmer John Davies, 52, described the rain as being of biblical proportions.

He said: "Everyone in the village was starting to get fed up with it - even the livestock.

"Once we got some media attention about us breaking the record, it was a nice lift and we thought 'well, if it keeps raining we will be record breakers'.

"It was great to finally get a dry day yesterday - but I don't suspect it will last long."

However, there is at least a silver lining for Eglwyswrw - the village stands 423ft above sea level so never floods.

Mr Davies added: "There have been some parts in the UK who have had it a lot worse than us."
The prairie vole is capable of consoling behaviour that previously has only been known in humans and a few higher animals, such as chimpanzees (Emory University/PA)

A small fluffy rodent from North America displays genuine empathy if it sees a friend or relative in distress, say scientists.

The prairie vole is capable of consoling behaviour that previously has only been known in humans and a few higher animals, such as chimpanzees.

Its caring nature is based on the "cuddle" hormone oxytocin, which promotes maternal nurturing and social bonding, researchers discovered.

The findings are said to have implications for understanding and treating conditions that disrupt our ability to respond to the emotions of others, such as autism and schizophrenia.

Dr Frans de Waal, a member of the team from Yerkes National Primate Research Centre at Emory University in the US, said: "Scientists have been reluctant to attribute empathy to animals, often assuming selfish motives.

"These explanations have never worked well for consolation behaviour, however, which is why this study is so important."

In 1979 Dr de Waal showed that chimpanzees provide contact comfort to victims of aggression.

The new study is the first to demonstrate altruistic consolation outside of large-brained species.

In the experiment, prairie voles who were relatives and "friends" were temporarily separated while one was exposed to mild electric shocks.

When they were reunited, the non-stressed voles comforted their upset companion with a lot of licking. The same behaviour was not seen when no electric shock was applied to any of the separated voles.

Consoling behaviour was not seen when the stressed vole was a stranger. Tests showed that it was driven by oxytocin, said the researchers writing in the journal Science. When oxytocin signalling was blocked, the animals no longer consoled others in distress.

Co-author Dr Larry Young, also from Yerkes, said: "Many complex human traits have their roots in fundamental brain processes that are shared among many other species.

"We now have the opportunity to explore in detail the neural mechanisms underlying empathetic responses in a laboratory rodent with clear implications for humans."
CANOGA PARK, Calif.Longtime entrepreneur and HIV/AIDS activist Eric Paul Leue will take over as Executive Director of the Free Speech Coalition, the adult industry trade organization, effective February 1, 2016. Leue had most recently worked as the Director of Sexual Health and Advocacy at San Francisco-based Kink.com.

Its an incredible honor to be able to lead the charge of the Free Speech Coalition, at a time when the adult industry is fighting for its very survival, said Leue. When it comes to free speech, performer safety, and sexual health, we cannot let the moralistic and anti-scientific arguments dictate policy. I will fight to keep our industry safe and legal.

The adult industry in California currently faces two existential threats: new Cal/OSHA regulations which would require eye protection, dental dams and condoms when shooting adult film, and a ballot measure which would allow private citizens to file lawsuits against producers and performers who dont appear to comply with the regulations.

Leue has extensive experience in both nonprofit and for-profit arenas. Leue started his first successful business while still in his teens, and has managed budgets and fundraising for multinational corporations, nonprofit organizations and his own successful business, EPL Brand Services.

A former Mr. LA Leather, Leue has served on the LA County PEP and PrEP Workgroup since 2013, and on the Los Angeles Commission on HIV since 2014. In the past year, he was named one of the Top HIV Advocates of 2015 by HIV Plus magazine, one of The Advocates 40 Under 40, and recognized by the Mayor of Los Angeles for his Untiring Advocacy and Exemplary Service.

Leue came to the attention of the adult industry directly in 2014, after circulating a petition calling for the removal of long-time industry opponent Michael Weinstein, of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. He has since become a regular figure at Cal/OSHA hearings, legislative events, rallies and producer meetings.

Eric has been a major contributor to our success over the past two years, said Board Chair Jeffrey Douglas. He has been a fierce advocate for our industry, and we look forward to a successful 2016 and beyond.
A woman who owns one of the UK's largest collections of Pez sweets dispensers has said she is so passionate about the toys that she even had a customised pair on top of her wedding cake.

Kelle Blyth, 29, of Norfolk, has around 3,000 dispensers of different characters and sizes, including some original pieces from the 1950s.

Her first one was a Miss Piggy-themed piece given to her when she was 14 and, 15 years later, she now boasts her "Pez army".

Mrs Blyth said: "My parents used to buy them for me as rewards, but as I got older they went into a box in the attic.

"Later I saw an article about a musician and saw he had a Pez dispenser collection behind him. So I got them all out and started building the collection and then it just became like an army.

"I even had the Pez Pals bride and groom on my wedding cake, customised to have hair matching mine."

Mrs Blyth's collection includes limited edition dispensers, books, clothes and other Pez memorabilia all stored in her garage, which she has converted into a "Pez room".

She will be showcasing her "army" this week alongside 10 other "obsessive collectors" at a pop-up exhibition in London hosted by furniture and home giant Ikea.

Among them is television's Dawn O'Porter, whose passion for collecting vintage clothing from around the world is inherited from her parents, who worked in fashion in central London during the 1960s.

Collectors of Spice Girls memorabilia, Star Wars toys, taxidermy, cameras and dolls house furniture will also be displaying at the exhibition, running from January 21-23 at The Proud Archivist in north London.

A spokeswoman for Ikea said : "More than 70% of British adults call themselves collectors and spend on average 287 a year on their passion - but almost half hide their collections away."

She added that part of what makes us human "magpies" is the temptation to impress, with collectors books being rated as 10 times more attractive than other kinds.

"The kudos of displaying our collections is strong with 15% of Brits displaying their collections to seem more alluring to the opposite sex and 20% admitting they find a bookshelf attractive," she said.
A deadly tiger snaked caught in a mouse trap is the latest bizarre animal tale to come out of Australia.

A deadly tiger snaked caught in a mouse trap is the latest bizarre animal tale to come out of Australia.

Anthony Parker, from the small town of Cascade in Western Australia, returned home from work to find the snake wriggling in a trap.

I came home from work at about 5pm, had a coffee and had a look at a few things on the internet and as I was sitting there I just heard the mouse-trap do snap, he told Western Australia Today.

I turned around, had a quick look and literally jumped off my stool because there was a snake about three metres away from me in the mouse trap.

It was just trying to escape by trying to bite the trap off I think; I think it may have thought the trap was alive by trying to get it off.

Mr Parker added that he and his family went away for a weekend and believes the mice inside his house attracted the snake inside.

The Australian Museum explains that tigers snakes have a fearsome reputation, adding that only a few people will ever encounter one.

Unfortunately this species is much maligned because of its aggressive nature and toxic venom; however the tiger snake should be recognised as a great survivor, superbly adapted to some of the most inhospitable environments in Australia, it says.

Mr Parker explained he put the reptile out of its misery as it was highly distressed. He explained that he kills snakes he sees around the house as he has a little boy.

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
Alexander Litvinenko is seen lying in his hospital bed in this photograph taken November 20, 2006. Reuters/Handout

President Vladimir Putin probably approved a 2006 Russian intelligence operation to murder ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko with radioactive polonium-210 in London, a British inquiry concluded, prompting a row with Moscow.

Russia, which had declined to cooperate in the inquiry, described Britain's handling of the case as opaque and biased.

Litvinenko, 43, an outspoken critic of Putin who fled Russia for Britain exactly six years to the day before he was poisoned, died after drinking green tea laced with the rare radioactive isotope at London's Millennium Hotel.

An inquiry led by senior British judge Robert Owen found that former KGB bodyguard Andrei Lugovoy and another Russian, Dmitry Kovtun, carried out the killing as part of an operation probably directed by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), the main heir to the Soviet-era KGB.

"The FSB operation to kill Mr Litvinenko was probably approved by Mr Patrushev, then head of the FSB, and also by President Putin," Owen said.

"I have concluded that there is a strong probability that when Mr Lugovoy poisoned Mr Litvinenko, he did so under the direction of the FSB. I have further concluded that Mr Kovtun was also acting under FSB direction," he said.

The death of Litvinenko marked a post-Cold War low point in Anglo-Russian relations, and ties have never recovered, marred further by Russia's annexation of Crimea and its support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The British government said it would summon Russia's ambassador.

"The conclusion that the Russian state was probably involved in the murder of Mr Litvinenko is deeply disturbing," interior minister Theresa May told parliament.

"This was a blatant and unacceptable breach of the most fundamental tenets of international law and of civilised behaviour."

The image of Litvinenko lying on his bed at London's University College Hospital, cadaverous and having lost his hair, was emblazoned across British and other Western newspapers and later shown to the inquiry. He took over three weeks to die.

The Kremlin has always denied any involvement but the claim that Putin directly ordered a killing of an opponent with a radioactive isotope in a major Western capital provoked immediate censure from Moscow.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said what it called Britain's politicised, biased and opaque handling of the Litvinenko case had clouded relations.

POLONIUM TEA

From his deathbed, Litvinenko told detectives he believed Putin had directly ordered his killing. The Kremlin dismissed that accusation at the time as absurd.

The judge said he was sure Lugovoy and Kovtun had placed the polonium 210 in a teapot at the Millennium Hotel's Pine Bar on Nov. 1, 2006. Traces of the highly radioactive substance were found at several sites across the city including offices, hotels, planes and Arsenal soccer club's Emirates Stadium.

Russia declined to participate in the six-month British inquiry, as did Lugovoy and Kovtun, the two Russian men who met with Litvinenko in London.

Both Lugovoy and Kovtun have previously denied involvement and Russia has refused to extradite them. Lugovoy was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying the accusation was absurd.

Owen cited several reasons why the Russian state would have wanted Litvinenko dead.

The ex-spy was regarded as having betrayed the FSB by accusing it of 1999 apartment block bombings that killed more than 200 and which Moscow, launching an offensive to restore control over the southern region of Chechnya, blamed on Chechens. The FSB also had information Litvinenko had started working for British intelligence.

KREMLIN CHIEF

He was also close to leading dissidents and opponents of Putin and his administration who he had accused of collusion with organised crime.

"There was undoubtedly a personal dimension to the antagonism between Mr Litvinenko on the one hand and President Putin on the other," Owen's report said.

Some of the inquiry was held in secret and evidence from the British government and spy agencies has not been publicly disclosed. Owen said this information had helped form his conclusions which were contained in his 326-page report.

Litvinenko's widow, Marina, whose persistence led to the inquiry being held, called for Russian spies to be kicked out of Britain and for sanctions against Russia.

"I'm calling immediately for exclusion from the UK of all Russian intelligence operatives whether from the FSB, who murdered Sasha, or from other Russian agencies based in the London embassy," she said outside London's Royal Courts of Justice.

"I'm also calling for the imposition of targeted economic sanctions and travel bans against named individuals, including Mr Patrushev and Mr Putin," she said, adding that the British government had promised action.
Up to four million migrants could reach Europe by the end of next year, the International Monetary Fund has forecast.

The IMF has forecast 1.3 million migrants a year between 2015 and 2017. This is a bigger forecast than those issued previously by the EU.

The forecast came as the fund warned that Europe's capacity to absorb migrants was now in question.

In the short term, the IMF said there would be a "modest" increase in GDP due to the extra state activity to support the migrants and the boost to the labour supply.

But in the long run, it warned, there was a question over whether the influx would boost Europe's economy, depending on how quickly the newcomers integrated.

Refugees

"International experience with economic immigrants suggests that migrants have lower employment rates and wages than natives, though these differences diminish over time.

"Slow integration reflects factors such as lack of language skills and transferable job qualifications, as well as barriers to job search," it said.

Donald Tusk, the European Council president, warned that the EU has just weeks to secure its borders or see the Schengen zone collapse.

"We have no more than two months to get things under control," said Mr Tusk.

"The March European Council (summit) will be the last moment to see if our strategy works. If it doesn't, we will face grave consequences, such as the collapse of Schengen."

Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission president, last week said asylum seekers should be allowed to work while their claims are processed for the good of social cohesion.

At present, states can enforce a nine-month ban on work.

It also emerged yesterday that the German government wants the number of migrants coming to the country to fall "significantly" after almost 1.1 million arrived last year.

A spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel said the flow of refugees had already slowed this year, but a further reduction was needed.

Steffen Seibert said the experience of wars in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s showed that many refugees would also return to their home countries once conflicts have ended.

Austria has put a cap on the number of refugees it wants to accept - 37,500 this year and a total of 127,500 through 2019.

Officials said the government would be examining legal options on how it can react if those numbers are exceeded.

Faymann calls the decision an "emergency solution," but says Austria "cannot accept everyone applying for asylum."
ISIL has confirmed the death of the British terrorist who became known as Jihadi John.

Mohammed Emwazi had been reported killed in an air strike last November, with US forces saying they were 'reasonably certain' he was dead.

Isil has now released what appears to be an obituary to the fighter, who it calls Abu Muharib al-Muhajir, in the latest edition of its magazine 'Dabiq'.

A smiling picture of the militant, who appears unmasked looking towards the ground, accompanies the text, which is written in tribute form to a man they describe as an "honourable brother".

Emwazi shocked the world when he appeared in a video in August 2014 in which he condemned the West and appeared to behead US journalist James Foley. He emerged again in a number of other videos released by Isil, including those in which American reporter Steven Sotloff and British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning were murdered.

Early last year, the militant was identified as Kuwait-born Emwazi - a computer programming graduate who grew up in London.

Following the US military's report that Emwazi had been targeted, British Prime Minister David Cameron hailed his apparent death as a "strike at the heart" of the group, adding the move was "an act of self-defence" and "the right thing to do".

He was not thought to be a major tactical figure within the ranks of Isil, but was regarded as a potent propaganda tool for them.
Undated handout photo issued by West Midlands Police of a deleted image showing what the prosecution say is Tareena Shakil posing in a balaclava branded with the Islamic State logo, recovered from a phone allegedly used by the 26-year-old

Screengrab taken from video issued by West Midlands Police of Tareena Shakil's police interview on 19/02/15 which was shown to the jury at Birmingham Crown Court

Undated handout photo issued by West Midlands Police showing deleted image recovered from a phone allegedly used by Tareena Shakil, which prosecutors claim shows the woman posing with an AK47 assault rifle

A mother accused of taking her son to Syria to join a feared terror group has told a court how she quit England to live under the rule of sharia law in the Islamic State.

Tareena Shakil, who is on trial for terror charges, said at one point: "This is my struggle, my jihad, to leave England behind and go and live in the Islamic State."

She was explaining to a jury today why she used the word "jihad" in a message home to loved ones sent while in a safe house in the Syrian countryside with other women in October 2014.

Shakil explained: "It has nothing to do with terrorism or jihad or being a jihadi bride or taking up arms."

Expand Close Undated handout photo issued by West Midlands Police of a deleted image showing what the prosecution say is Tareena Shakil posing in a balaclava branded with the Islamic State logo, recovered from a phone allegedly used by the 26-year-old / Facebook

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Whatsapp Undated handout photo issued by West Midlands Police of a deleted image showing what the prosecution say is Tareena Shakil posing in a balaclava branded with the Islamic State logo, recovered from a phone allegedly used by the 26-year-old

The bright 26-year-old flew to Turkey that month telling friends she was going on a beach holiday with her toddler, but ended up living in the IS capital of Raqqa.

It is alleged that while there, she dressed the boy in IS-branded clothing and posed him with firearms.

After flying from her resort to Gaziantep on the Turkish border, she claimed a contact she met online arranged for her to be driven by cab to an apartment block full of other women of different nationalities.

Early next morning, there was a knock on the door and she and a few others were told "Get your things, you're going."

Her group crossed the border in a vehicle driven across fields, before swapping vans and being driven to a farmhouse near Jarabalus in Syria, where there were women from France, Qatar, Trinidad, and the Philippines.

She stayed there for four days before being taken to Raqqa, where she was housed with others in a walled "mansion" described to her as the former governor's house.

However, she claimed that a few days after arriving she wanted to leave, telling jurors: "I wanted to come back to England".

Shakil, who was giving her account for the first time, told jurors: "I know I'm not a terrorist because, like, I know I'm not."

Earlier, she claimed conversations with a man named Fabio Pocas, whose online profile showed an armed man posing with the black flag of IS, helped to convince her to leave the UK for fear of going straight to hell.

However, she claimed to have been ignorant of the nature of IS, also known as Isis, and only discovered more about the group when she voluntarily returned home in February 2015.

Shakil denies joining the banned terror group and encouraging acts of terror through Twitter posts.

She told a jury: "He (Pocas) said you can't live in a country not ruled by sharia, it's haram (forbidden)."

Shakil, of Beechfield Road in Birmingham but formerly of Burton upon Trent Staffordshire, said she blocked Pocas online because she thought he was coming on to her.

Married Shakil said she had been retweeting images of the black flag of IS but had no idea of their direct association with the terror group.

In relation to a series of other images and Islamic passages which the Crown claims show she was supporting terrorism, Shakil said she only retweeted things if she liked the look or sound of them.

Asked by Tim Moloney QC, her barrister, if they were meant to encourage acts of terror she replied: "No, not at all."

The former University of Wolverhampton student, who dropped out because of family problems in 2010, said her travelling to Syria was "not about fighting or killing anybody" but to live under sharia law.

Shakil, who used to work with victims with acquired brain injuries, said other Britons had "taken up arms" and returned from fighting with the Kurds in Syria and never been before a criminal court.

Opening the case against Shakil last week, Sean Larkin QC for the prosecution said Shakil was "radicalised" in 2014, and started posting messages and pictures in support of IS.

He said: "She travelled to Raqqa to set up her new life as part of Isis."

The trial continues.
A vigil for victims of the Bacha Khan University attack near Peshawar (AP)

Pakistan is observing a day of mourning after Islamic militants stormed a university, gunning down students and teachers and spreading terror before the four gunmen were killed by the military.

The death toll from the assault at Bacha Khan University in the town of Charsadda, near Peshawar, rose to 21 after another student died in hospital, according to police official Tariq Khan.

Flags on official buildings and parliament are flying at half-mast and police have stepped up security at schools and educational centres across the country.

A breakaway Taliban faction took responsibility for the university attack on Wednesday, which raised grim echoes of the 2014 school massacre that left 150 dead, 144 of them children.

Two teachers were among the dead, including a chemistry professor who was praised as a hero for shooting back at the attackers and allowing some students to escape.

"My son was grown up, but still he was an innocent kid for me," said Gula Bibi, the mother of the second killed teacher, Iftikhar Ahmad, who was the university librarian.

"My heart is breaking apart, I don't know what to do," she said.

The attack, which also wounded 22 students, again raised questions about whether security forces can protect the country's educational institutions from extremists.

The university in Charsadda is named after one of Pakistan's greatest secular leaders who often espoused communist philosophy, Abdul Ghaffar Khan, also known as Bacha Khan. The attack coincided with the 28th anniversary of his death on January 20 1988.

Most of the victims were buried quickly, according to Muslim tradition, with funerals overnight and early on Thursday, said police.

Mohammad Khurasani, a spokesman for the main Taliban group in Pakistan, disowned the outfit behind the university attack, terming it "un-Islamic" and insisted the Pakistani Taliban was not behind it.

Bacha Khan University remains closed and its vice chancellor Fazal-ur-Rahim Marwat said classes would resume Monday.

"We need time to clean the campus, make more security arrangement and boost the morale of the students and teachers," he said.

Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif said his country is increasingly determined to fight extremism after the university attack by Islamic militants.

Mr Sharif said the country's resolve to fight against these elements is "getting stronger every day".

He said the attack was the result of "blowback" after Pakistani authorities' efforts to dismantle extremists' infrastructure and hide-outs.

Even as his country mourned the students killed at Bacha Khan university, Mr Sharif insisted that the extremists' ability to strike back "has been considerably destroyed". The terrorists are "on the run", he insisted.
MONTREAL  Trans-erotica studio TransSensual returns to school with its new series, My TS Teacher, now available on DVD.

Teacher River Stark is the center of much drama with Wolf Hudson and Danica Dane fighting for her attention, proving that everyone is hot for teacher. New TS teen starlet Aspen Brooks makes her performing debut alongside Jaxton Wheeler.

Included with the DVD release of My TS Teacher is a bonus scene for fans, starring TS Performer of the Year Jessy Dubai paired with JD Phoenix.

This was my first time working with River and she's just amazing, says director Nica Noelle. I thought she brought just the right tone of repressed lust and longing to the role. She's got such a powerful aura and she's so smart; she really understood her character and knew how to make her come to life.

Noelle continues, This was also my first time working with Aspen Brooks, who I actually named! She's a brand new performer, and I absolutely adore her. She reminds me of an old movie star from the 40s or 50s. She has such a fresh-faced quality and such innocence. You can expect to see a lot more of her at TransSensual.

It's always a pleasure to work with Wolf Hudson. He's been such a trailblazer, and it's very gratifying to finally be able to work with him in all the different genres of adult film. It was always our dream that we could artistically explore multiple genres together, and now we're doing it and it's great.

Sweet, shy Sarah (Danica Dane) is stuck in a troubled relationship with insensitive Dimitri (Wolf Hudson) and finds solace in her friendship with intellectual, understanding Professor Rivers (River Stark). But Dimitri suspects the brilliant professor's interest in Sarah is more than academic, so he confronts the sexy redhead and tries to seduce her. Will a man come between the older and younger women, or is their lesbian love destined to prevail? Starring River Stark, Aspen Brooks, Jaxton Wheeler, Wolf Hudson, and Danica Dane., the new title was written and directed by Nica Noelle.

For the latest news and BTS previews follow TransSensual on Twitter @TranSensual.
BMW announces $1.7 billion investment to build all-electric vehicles

The $1.7 billion investment includes $700 million to build a high-voltage battery assembly plant with 300 new jobs in Woodruff.
, announced it is aggressively expanding its footprint in South Asia, anchored by the Indian market. Since January 2015, the company has opened nine hotels and signed deals for 16 new hotels. The company recently surpassed its 50th hotel in the region, with 54 hotels operating and another 34 hotels under development.Our growth continues to be fueled by strong domestic demand for quality and branded accommodations in Tier 1 & Tier 2 markets. India is already Starwoods fourth largest market in terms of number of hotels and will soon be its third after the U.S. and China. The momentum of 2015 will continue in 2016 with another eight to 10 hotel openings in the region, said Dilip Puri, Managing Director India & Regional Vice President South Asia for Starwood Hotels & Resorts.Since January 2015, nine hotels were added to Starwoods South Asia portfolio. New openings in India included Four Points by Sheraton Agra, Le Meridien Gurgaon Delhi NCR, Le Meridien Mahabaleshwar Resort & Spa, Sheraton Hyderabad Hotel, Le Meridien Nagpur, Four Points by Sheraton Vadodara, and The St. Regis Mumbai. The latter, which debuted this past September, marked the very first St. Regis hotel in South Asia. In Bangladesh, Starwood unveiled the Le Meridien brand in the capital with Le Meridien Dhaka. In Bhutan, the company opened its second Le Meridien property in Paro  Le Meridien Paro, Riverfront.Starwoods strong growth momentum in the region continues with the signing of 16 new hotels including: The St. Regis Vommuli Resort, Maldives, Sheraton Dhaka Banani Hotel and Le Meridien Resort & Spa, Bhaluka, both in Bangladesh. In India, Starwood signed five Sheraton hotels in Ahmedabad, Chennai, Ambala, Srinagar and Bodh Gaya (Bihar). Other signings include Le Meridien Nagpur, The Westin Pushkar Resort & Spa as well as Four Points by Sheraton hotels in Vijayawada, Thavanakadavu (on Vembanad Lake, Kerala), Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Srinagar and Sonmarg.Indias luxury market continues to soar driven by rising disposable incomes and an appetite for luxury goods, including hospitality. Starwood Hotels & Resorts is well positioned to leverage this trend as one of the largest luxury hotel players in India with 11 hotels under The Luxury Collection flag through its partnership with ITC hotels and the recent introduction of the St. Regis in Mumbai. Starwoods luxury growth continues with the upcoming openings of both The St. Regis Vommuli Resort, Maldives and the W Goa Retreat & Spa this year.Starwood has had tremendous success converting independent and branded hotels into its portfolio. The strategy has significantly mitigated the development risk typically associated with the slow pace of development and regulatory issues in India, and hotel owners have benefitted from Starwoods distribution capability, the power of its SPG loyalty program and the strength of its brands. Le Meridien Gurgaon Delhi NCR, Le Meridien Nagpur, Sheraton Hyderabad Hotel and The St. Regis Mumbai reflect prime examples of the success of Starwoods conversion strategy.Starwood is seeing great momentum in the expansion of its upscale Four Points by Sheraton brand in Tier 2 markets with signings in cities such as Thavanakkadavu in Kerala, Tiruchirapalli, Vijayawada, Aurangabad, and Bhopal. There are currently 10 hotels operating under the Four Points brand in India and the portfolio is expected to grow by 50 percent over the next three years.Globally, Four Points is experiencing incredible growth, having recently crossed its 200th operating hotel milestone, said Sudeep Jain, Vice President, Acquisitions & Development, South Asia, Starwood Hotels & Resorts. India and South Asia will continue to play a key role in driving this growth for the brand in new markets.Another upscale brand, Aloft, is also experiencing impressive growth in both major and secondary urban centres. Currently there are six properties in Bengaluru, Chennai, Coimbatore, Chandigarh and Ahmedabad with two more at Delhi Aerocity and Goa expected to open in the next 12 to 18 months.The opening of the stunning new Le Meridien Mahabaleshwar Resort & Spa in June 2015 accelerated the growth of Starwoods resort portfolio in the region. The company is developing resorts in Bekal, Khandala, Pushkar, Rishikesh and Ambala, across its different brands and, at the highest end, it will add W Goa Retreat & Spa and The St Regis Vommuli Resort, Maldives to its resort portfolio this year.Our compelling portfolio of lifestyle brands provides our partners with the choice to identify the right brand for the right location, and this is especially true for resort destinations, added Jain. The increase in domestic leisure travel and growing trend to take shorter vacations to destinations that are easily accessible from gateway cities continues to generate demand for our resort properties.
Private sector lender ICICI Bank today said it has entered South Africa by opening a full service branch at Sandton in Johannesburg. (ET)Citigroup Inc. is no longer Indias top investment banker. A local firm that ended a partnership with Morgan Stanley more than eight years ago became No. 1 in 2015, marking the decline of foreign advisers whove led the market for more than a decade. (MINT)Paytm, the digital wallet and ecommerce company, is talking to ICICI Group  ICICI Bank, ICICI Prudential and ICICI Lombard  for its banking and insurance ventures, and is also negotiating with Citibank, IndusInd and a few other small-finance banks for banking partnerships. (ET) Axis Bank Ltd says that it has made the adjustments in asset classification required following a review by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). In an interview, Shikha Sharma, managing director and chief executive officer, said that the bank has taken the full hit of the adjustments in the December ended quarter. (MINT)Payment services provider Electronic Payments and Services has raised an initial $25 million in from UK-headquartered Apis Growth Fund, to fund the expansion of its ATM network and acquisition plans. (ET)India Post has opened exclusive counters at the business post centres in Gurgaon and Faridabad for eBay India sellers, the company said in a statement. (ET)
Idea Cellular: Idea Cellular will announce its Q3 results. The top telcos Net Revenue is likely to touch Rs. 9,097 crore as per IIFL estimates recording a 13.5% growth Y-o-Y and a 4.7% rise Q-o-Q.Axis Bank: The bank recorded a rise of 15% in its net profit at Rs.2,175 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2015 as compared to Rs.1,889.7 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2014.Reliance Infrastructure: Reliance Infrastructure reported its Q3 net profit at Rs. 462.7 crore.The total income for the quarter stands at Rs. 3,932.5 crore as compared to Rs. 4,371.4 Cr (YoY).UltraTech Cement: The company recorded a rise of 36.5% in its net profit at Rs. 546 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2015 as compared to Rs. 400 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2014.TVS Motor: TVS Motor is confident of gaining market share in the motorcycles segment with the launch of two new models targeting commuters and the youth, reports a financial newspaper. The company on Wednesday unveiled a new TVS Victor in the commuter segment and a TVS Apache RTR 200.NCC,Gayatri Projects: NCC Ltd, along with Gayatri Projects Ltd and its unit Gayatri Infra Ventures Ltd, has signed an agreement to sell 100% of their shareholding in Western UP Tollway Ltd to Cube Highways and Infrastructure Pte Ltd for Rs.575 crore.Vedanta: Vedanta Resources has cut the value of its bond repurchase programme to US$227.4 million from the US$500-million figure it had announced last week, reports a business daily.Titan Company: Titan Company, which on Wednesday forayed into the smartwatch segment, plans to launch a payment facility similar to Apple Pay, reports a business daily.Chambal Fertilizers: The company will announce its Q3 results. According to IIFL, the fertilizer majors net revenue is expected to rise 16.8% to Rs. 3,298 crore yoy; Q3 net revenue is expected to surge 19.8% qoq.Exide Ind: The company will announce its Q3 results. IIFL estimates that the companys PAT is likely to surge 44.80% to Rs. 140.70 crore yoy; however, Q3 PAT is expected to decline 9.8% qoq.GSFC: The company will announce its Q3 results. IIFL expects net revenue to soar 9% to Rs. 1,426 crore yoy; however, Q3 net revenue is expected to plunge 19.1% qoq.Rcom: Reliance Communications (RCom) paid an aggregate amount of Rs. 5383.84 crore as liberalization fee to Department of Telecommunications (DoT).DHFL: The company reported a 16.3% increase in net profit at Rs. 186 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2015 as compared to Rs. 160 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2014.JSW Energy: The net profit for the quarter was at Rs. 321 crore. The total income for the quarter stands at Rs. 2649 crore.Hindustan Zinc:The company will announce its Q3 results. IIFL expects net revenue to fall 10.8% to Rs. 3,435 crore yoy; Q3 net revenue is expected to plunge 14.8% qoq.Gati Ltd: The company has posted a net profit of Rs. 7.7 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2015 as compared to Rs. 11.4 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2014.KPIT Technologies: KPIT Technologies reported a 13% increase in consolidated net profit at Rs.73.5 crore for the third quarter that ended on December 31, 2015.Triveni Engineering:Triveni Engineering & Industries reported net profit at Rs.14.1 crore for the third quarter that ended on December 31, 2015.Edelweiss Financial Services : The company has posted a net profit after at Rs. 106 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2015 as compared to Rs. 82.9 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2014.Tata Elxsi: Tata Elxsi reported a 39.5% increase in standalone net profit at Rs. 39.9 crore for the third quarter that ended on December 31, 2015.South Indian Bank: The bank recorded a rise of 16% in its net profit at Rs. 102 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2015 as compared to Rs. 87.9 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2014.
McGraw Hill Financial Global Institute announced the international launch of Aging and Urbanization: Principles for Creating Sustainable, Growth-Oriented and Age-Friendly Cities, a solutions-oriented report created in partnership with the Global Coalition on Aging. The report examines the intersection between two defining demographic trends of the 21st century  rapid urbanization and aging populations  and outlines a set of principles to advance the creation of self-sustaining cities that support residents of all ages.

We know enough about aging to know that it waits for no government to act, said Paul Sheard, Chief Global Economist and Head of Global Economics and Research, McGraw Hill Financial. These demographic megatrends will continue to change the world as we know it, and addressing them now will not only improve quality of life where more people live  but will improve economic development and global competitiveness.

The report also includes the findings of a new survey, commissioned by McGraw Hill Financial Global Institute, to determine global attitudes on these changing demographics and how cities are addressing them. Among a number of other findings, respondents around the world believe their governments are largely underinvesting in the infrastructure  both social and physical  that cities need to successfully adapt to their future population demographics.

Other key survey findings include:

 Despite an overwhelming concern that their government pensions would not adequately support them as they age, respondents were not confident in their ability to save enough money to supplement their pensions;

 Over ninety percent of respondents in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, China, and Brazil believe that governments should invest more resources to ensure the health, security and well-being of their aging populations;

 Survey respondents in Japan, Germany, China and Brazil all identify the development of infrastructure and transportation as their top concern;

 Respondents in Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom identify promotion and accessibility for people to age in place as their top priority;

 There is a strong concern that governments do not allocate sufficient resources to public pension and health programs despite a global population that is aging rapidly;

By 2030, more than 1 billion people worldwide will be aged 65 or over; and by 2050, nearly two-thirds of the worlds population will live in urban areas, an increase from just over half today. Across Latin America, age-related expenditures are growing faster than GDP. In the United States, health care costs currently absorb 18 percent of GDP, and are expected to climb further. Without concerted global action, according to Aging and Urbanization, cities around the globe will need to deal with a dearth of initiatives and infrastructure that address broader economic, health and transportation concerns.

In 2015, the World Economic Forum established its Age-Friendly Business Principles to demonstrate how this demographic shift can drive economic growth. Building on foundational work from WEF, the World Health Organization and others, Aging and Urbanization identifies four principles to guide how cities can channel their infrastructure investments to ensure the economic vibrancy of their urban communities:

 Build out of infrastructure and transportation that will address the needs of citizens of all generations;

 Housing to enable aging in place that promotes independence, choice and freedom;

 Access to community health programs with innovative technology and excellent medical interventions; and

 Opportunities for continuing work, education, arts and recreation across that life cycle.

In the short and medium term, the report identifies three immediate actions that the public and private sector can take in order to build age-friendly cities with the capability to accommodate future generations:

 Develop an economic case for aging in place

 Provide opportunities for innovation

 Create incentives for intergenerational policies and investment

To demonstrate the positive impact of age-friendly cities, Aging and Urbanization highlights several standard-setting initiatives from cities around the world. From Seouls adoption of age-friendly transportation network reforms to New York Citys online database connecting older adults with free educational opportunities at local schools, the report emphasizes replicable examples of innovation.
The new textiles policy is likely to be launched within two months, according to Minister of State for Textiles Santosh Gangwar.The new textiles policy aims to create 35 million new jobs and boost exports to more than US$300 billion annually over the next decade.The Union Textile Ministry has also started the process of settlement of dues related to old cases under the Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS), reports a business daily.It plans to notify the guidelines of the Amended Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme (A-TUFS), recently cleared by the Union Cabinet, in a week, adds the paper.The draft textile policy is ready and discussions are on. We hope to place it before the Union Cabinet in a months time, Gangwar told reporters in New Delhi.The textile industry would greatly benefit from the amended TUFS, under which apparel, garment and technical textiles will get 15 per cent subsidy on capital investment, subject to a ceiling of INR 30 crore over a period of five years, he added.The applications for disbursement of funds under the amended scheme will start soon after the guidelines of A-TUFS are notified, Textile Secretary Rashmi Verma said.
At 1:06 PM, the S&P BSE Sensex is trading at 23,903 down 148 points, while NSE Nifty is trading at 7,265 down 44 points.The BSE Mid-cap Index is trading down 0.27% at 10,005, whereas BSE Small-cap Index is trading up 0.16% at 10,327.Some buying activity is seen in banking, capital goods, finance, basic materials and IT sectors, while FMCG, auto, telecom and pharma sectors are showing weakness on BSE.Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Tata Steel, BHEL, SBI, Hero MotoCorp, NTPC and GAIL are among the gainers, whereas Coal India, Tata Motors, HUL, ITC, ONGC, M&M and Sun Pharma are losing sheen on BSE.The India VIX (Volatility) index is up 2.92% to 21.5775. A total of four stocks registered a fresh 52-week high in trades today, while 61 stocks touched a new 52-week low on the NSE. Out of 1,781 stocks traded on the NSE,674 have declined and 814 advanced so far.Indian Rupee opened at 67.86/$,up 11 paise in early trade on Thursday as against the previous close of 67.95/$. On Wednesday, Indian rupee tumbled against the greenback, with values moving well above 68 levels. Sharp selloff in domestic equities and concerns over persistent foreign capital outflows took a toll on Indian rupee.Glenmark Pharmaceuticals stock marginally down at Rs.786 on BSE. The pharma company received ANDA approval for Norethindrone Acetate and Ethinyl Estradiol Tablets USP, 1 mg/0.02 mg.According to IMS Health sales data for the 12 month period ending November 2015, the Loestrin 21 1/20 Tablets market 1 achieved annual sales of approximately $56.8 million.Glenmark's current portfolio consists of 106 products authorized for distribution in the U.S. marketplace and 62 ANDA's pending approval with the U.S. FDA. In addition to these internal filings, Glenmark continues to identify and explore external development partnerships to supplement and accelerate the growth of its existing pipeline and portfolio.GATI slipped 2% to Rs.117 on BSE. The company has posted a net profit of Rs. 7.7 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2015 as compared to Rs. 11.4 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2014. Total Income has decreased from Rs. 428 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2014 to Rs. 420.5 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2015.Indiabulls Housing Finance jumped 3% to Rs.710 on BSE. The company reported net profit increase by 26% to Rs 602.42 crore in the quarter ended December 2015 as against Rs 478.08 crore during the previous quarter ended December 2014. The company's sales rises 21.5% to Rs. 1,966.30 crore in the quarter ended December 2015 as against Rs. 1,618.12 crore during the previous quarter ended December 2014.Natco Pharma has signed a nonexclusive, royalty free licensing agreement with the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) and Bristol-Myers Squibb to manufacture and sell generic versions of Bristol-Myers Squibbs chronic hepatitis C medicine  Daclatasvir Dihydrochloride (Daclatasvir).Shares of GVK Power & Infrastructure were trading higher 1% at Rs.7.27 on BSE today. Around 4.9 crore shares were traded in a multiple block at Rs.7.50 on the BSE.MMTC soared 2.2% to Rs.39.75 on BSE. The company has now informed BSE that pursuant to approval of the Board/Government, MMTC has divested its 10% equity stake in its JV Company i.e. Indian Commodity Exchange Ltd. amounting to Rs. 10 crores face value at a sum of Rs. 20 crores to the two bidders who participated in the Global Tender Process floated by the Company earlier. The necessary transfer of shares to the bidders took place on January 19, 2016. The Company has a stake of 16% in ICEX as on date.
Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Communications (RCom) will post its financial results for the quarter ended December 2015 on January 22. RCom is expected to post a rebound in revenues in Q3 FY16 after a pronounced seasonality headwind in Q2. Here are 7 things to look out for:IIFL estimates the company to post a net revenue of Rs. 5,510 crore, 1.4% growth Y-o-Y and 3.5% Q-o-Q.The net profit is expected to be at 33.2%, a dip of 0.2 bps Y-o-Y while a rise of 0.3 bps Q-o-Q.The company would register a net profit of Rs. 164.6 crore, falling more than18 % Q-o-Q while gaining 5.5 % on the Y-o-Y basis.Reliance Communication has put a halt to the Free Basics service of Facebook after Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) asked the telco to do so. RCom is the only telecom partner of Facebook in India advocating Free Basics.RCom sold nearly 150 residential flats situated at Sea Woods complex in Navi Mumbai for over Rs. 330 crore commencing monetisation of surplus real estate owned by the company.RCom has already received more than 50% of the sale proceeds, and the balance amount will be realised during the current financial year, upon completion of documentation, etc. presently underway.In what is considered one of the biggest deals in the telecom sector, RCom signed a deal estimated worth Rs. 30,000 crore in relation to the proposed acquisition of RComs nationwide tower assets and related infrastructure by Tillman and TPG. RCOM's tower business is estimated to be worth Rs. 22,000 crore and the related infrastructure including optic fibre assets, is estimated at about Rs 7,000-8,000 crore.RCom have been pouring in money from different deals and sell offs trying to reduce the burden of debt estimated to be nearly Rs. 40,000 crore.Chennai floods disrupted the services of telecom companies operators for almost a week. RCom had offered the flood-affected residents of Chennai with 50 MB of data free, coupled with its loan facility up to Rs 10. However, the goodwill could not prevent the damage done by failure of services.The company signed definitive documents for demerger of Sistemas Indian wireless business, carried on by Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd (SSTL) under the MTS brand, into RCOM. RCOM will acquire around 9 million customers and Rs. 1,500 crore of annual revenues by virtue of the transaction.
Moody's Investors Service says that the development of domestic securitization markets will help India and China achieve their common goal of building inclusive financial systems that will ultimately bring affordable credit to the underprivileged segments of their societies and which are usually excluded from the conventional banking system."In both countries, in this context, non-bank finance companies (NBFCs) are key providers of credit to individuals and small businesses that would otherwise have limited access to bank loans or would incur high interest costs for such loans," says Georgina Lee, a Moody's Assistant Vice President."While there are various funding avenues open to NBFCs in India and China, securitization has proven to be reliable and competitively priced, and is therefore an important source of the funds the NBFCs use for lending," adds Lee.Moody's conclusions were contained in a just released report on securitization in Indian and China, "Securitization - India and China: Securitization Funds NBFCs' Lending to Promote Spread of Financial Inclusion"Moody's notes that the specialty of NBFCs is their ability to offer more tailored and flexible loan products to the underserved, weaker segments of society.For example, their turnaround times from loan application to disbursement are faster than those of the banks, while their knowledge of local industries and submarkets and their ability to understand the credit profiles of their borrowers -- despite a lack of information -- help them underwrite credit to borrowers otherwise ineligible for bank loans.In such an environment, in both India and China, securitization enables, as indicated, financially weak or small businesses that have little or no track record to access cost-competitive funding.As repayment of securitization notes rely on the asset pool instead of repayment capability of the originator, securitization could offer lowly-rated originators an opportunity to issue transactions at a higher rating (and lower costs) than unsecured borrowings.The Moody's report further notes examples of how securitization has helped such originators and borrowers.In India, the Reserve Bank of India in September 2015 granted approval to 10 entities including eight micro-finance institutions (MFIs) to operate as small finance banks. With the aim of promoting financial inclusion to under-served segment, these small finance banks will accept deposits and extend credit to marginal farmers and small business units. Their mandate overlaps with the target market of MFIs.In this case, Moody's says securitization will continue to be instrumental for these small Indian finance banks, as it will take time for them to develop a retail deposit franchise. At the same time, NBFCs and MFIs will continue to fund through securitization as the sector grows.And, in China, innovative securitization transactions have enabled smaller scale small loan companies to capture competitive capital market financing opportunities, irrespective of the size of their balance sheet or the volume of their business.However, there are key differences in the dynamics of how the markets in both countries are evolving.In India, there are regulatory requirements in the form of the priority sector lending targets that the Reserve Bank of India has imposed on banks, thereby continuing support for the uptake of securitization transactions issued by NBFCs.However, in China, such a regulatory mandate on the investor-side of securitization is absent .Without such important support from institutional investors, the applicability of securitization in achieving the goal of financial inclusion has not been as widely used in China as in India.
In the framework of the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Premier of Quebec, Philippe Couillard, accompanied by the Minister of the

Economy, Innovation and Exports, Jacques Daoust, announced the signing of an agreement-in-Principle between the Government of Quebec and TS Global Minerals Holdings, a Tata Steel group company.

This undertaking should lead to a decision, before 31 March 2016, with respect to a government participation in the direct shipping ore project (DSO Project) in Schefferville area, in the North Shore region. Parties also agreed to cooperate in creating favorable conditions in the transit activities of iron ore from Arnaud Junction to the multi-user dock of the Port of Sept-Iles.

To date, Tata Steel Group has demonstrated its social responsibility by ensuring the participation of local communities in the execution of its project, and in particular, the participation of Aboriginal communities. It is in fact one of the key principles of the Plan Nord and one of the motivating factors for us to undertake discussions with a view tobecoming a key partner in the development of the Companys deposits, said the Premier Philippe Couillard.

Tata Steel through its subsidiary Tata Steel Minerals Canada is completing a direct shipping ore project in Schefferville, in which the company has invested more than C$1bn. The company plans to develop its DSO deposits in Quebec with the Government

of Quebec.

Further to creating considerable economic benefits for Quebec, the DSO Project is contributing to the revival of the Town of Schefferville, with among others, significant investments in the community infrastructure. The mining company is also a partner in the construction of the multi-user dock of the Port of Sept-Iles and a strong ally in maintaining industrial activities in the North Shore Region, emphasized Minister Jacques Daoust.
Fourteen U.S. states began 2016 with higher minimum wages, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Indiana was not one of them.

Thats why a group of concerned citizens met at the Indiana Statehouse for a rally aimed at putting the states minimum wage on lawmakers agenda for the current legislative session.

One bill currently pending, authored by Democratic Sen. Karen Tallian, of Portage, Indiana, aims to raise the states minimum wage from the current rate of $7.25 per hour to $11.25 per hour.

Tallians suggested pay bump falls short of the $15-per-hour goal of the rally organizer Indiana Moral Mondays Coalition. The national movement, which officially kicked off in Indiana in September 2014, has been active in the minimum wage fight previously, helping to organize strikes of local fast food workers.

We believe people who work should have an opportunity to adequately support themselves and their families  it is unconscionable and immoral for unemployment benefits and a living wage to be denied to local citizens, Barbara Bolling Williams, president of the Indiana chapter of the NAACP, told the Recorder in 2014.

In addition to Tallians minimum wage proposal, several measures that could impact Indiana workers have been proposed this legislative session. Following are some of those proposals:

Senate Bill 85

Author: Sen. Jean Breaux

Summary: Fair pay in employment. Provides that: (1) it is an unlawful employment practice to pay wages that discriminate based on sex, race, or national origin for the same or equivalent jobs; and (2) the civil rights commission has jurisdiction for investigation and resolution of complaints of these employment actions.

Status: Referred to committee on Pensions and Labor

Senate Bill 210

Author: Sen. Karen Tallian

Summary: Family leave insurance program. Requires the department of insurance to establish, not later than Jan. 1, 2017, a family leave insurance program for the purpose of providing benefits to employees who elect to participate in the program.

Status: Referred to committee on Pensions and Labor

Senate Bill 212

Author: Sen. Karen Tallian

Summary: Employee work schedules. Requires an employer that owns or operates at least one retail sales establishment in Indiana and employs 15 or more employees to provide each newly hired employee with a good faith estimate in writing of: (1) the minimum number of scheduled shifts that the employee may expect per month; and (2) the hours and days that the shifts generally will be scheduled.

Status: Referred to committee on Pensions and Labor

Senate Bill 267

Author: Sen. Greg Taylor

Summary: Employers and expungement. Specifies that the prohibition against questioning a person applying for: (1) employment; (2) a license; or (3) another right or privilege; concerning an expunged arrest or conviction also applies during an interview.

Status: Referred to committee on Corrections and Criminal Law

Senate Bill 319

Author: Sen. Frank Mrvan

Summary: Local government common construction wage. Allows the legislative body of a political subdivision to adopt an ordinance requiring the political subdivision to establish a common construction wage for public work projects awarded by the political subdivision.

Status: Referred to committee on Rules and Legislative Procedure

Senate Bill 346

Author: Sen. Karen Tallian

Summary: Prevailing wage. Requires that, whenever the actual costs for the construction of a public improvement are at least $150,000, a contractor or subcontractor shall pay the workers employed in the performance of work for the construction of the public improvement a rate of wages that is not less than the prevailing wage determined by the commissioner of the department of labor.

Status: Referred to committee on Rules and Legislative Procedure

Senate Bill 369

Author: Sen. Frank Mrvan

Summary: Minimum wage for certain Indiana employees. After: (1) June 30, 2016, increases the minimum wage paid to certain employees in Indiana from $7.25 to $12.00; and (2) June 30, 2017, increases the minimum wage paid to certain employees in Indiana from $12.00 to $15.00; an hour. After June 30, 2018, and each successive June 30, increases the hourly minimum wage in the same percentage as any increase in the Consumer Price Index for the preceding calendar year.

Status: Referred to committee on Pensions and Labor

House Bill 1072

Author: Rep. Karlee Macer

Summary: Overtime compensation for certain employees. Provides that certain employees must be paid compensation for employment in certain circumstances at a rate not less than 1.5 times the regular rate at which the employee is employed and, under certain circumstances, not less than two times the regular rate at which the employee is employed.

Status: Referred to committee on Employment, Labor and Pensions

House Bill 1139

Author: Rep. Gregory Porter

Summary: Paid sick and safe leave. Provides that certain employers shall provide paid sick and safe leave to employees, accrued at the rate of one hour of paid sick and safe leave for every 30 hours of employment.

Status: Referred to committee on Employment, Labor and Pensions

House Bill 1265

Authors: Rep. John Bartlett, Rep. Charles Moseley

Summary: Indiana minimum wage. Provides that employers that are subject to the minimum wage provisions of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act are subject to the Indiana minimum wage. (Current law provides that employers that are subject to the minimum wage provisions of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act are not subject to the Indiana minimum wage.) Provides that the Indiana minimum wage is inapplicable to employees who provide companionship services to the aged and infirm.

Status: Referred to committee on Employment, Labor and Pensions

House Bill 1328

Author: Rep. Linda Lawson

Summary: Paid sick leave for certain employees. Provides that certain employers shall provide paid sick leave to employees of one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours of employment, up to a maximum of 40 hours of paid sick leave a year.

Status: Referred to committee on Employment, Labor and Pensions

House Bill 1368

Author: Rep. David Niezgodski

Summary: Repeal of IOSHA. Repeals, on January 1, 2017, the Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Act (IOSHA), except for provisions concerning the INSafe program. Provides that the powers and duties of the department of labor under IOSHA (except for those concerning the INSafe program) are assumed by the United States Department of Labor.

Status: Referred to committee on Government and Regulatory Reform

For more information on these and other proposed bills or to contact your legislator, visit iga.in.gov.
Imagine waking up one morning to see your vehicle lit on fire with a religious or racist slur plastered across its side. While flames are wild and spreading fast, you realize, youve become a victim of a hate crime, a prejudiced and often violent crime.

If youre located within one of the 45 states (or the District of Columbia) with a hate crime law, which imposes tougher penalties on criminals who target their victims based on the victims race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or disability, a layer of protection is activated.

However, if youre located in the State of Indiana, one of five states that does not have a hate crime law, a penalty enhancement can not take place for the criminal. A coalition of several legislators, community leaders and organizations are looking to change that in the 2016 session of the Indiana General Assembly, but this isnt the first time a hate crime law has been proposed.

The bills introduced in the past would have simply created a stand alone crime, in other words an entirely distinct new crime, said Terry Curry, Marion County prosecutor and member of the coalition. Our thought is two fold, number one, the underlying acts are criminal conduct and secondly we thought that was cumbersome to create a new crime in and of itself. Our thought was to approach the sanctions or penalties that are opposed for the crime.

The coalition is also comprised of The Indianapolis Urban League, including its young professionals group, The Exchange; The Jewish Community Relations Council, Muslim Alliance of Indiana and the Concerned Clergy. Rep. Greg Porter, D-Ind., and Sen. Greg Taylor, D-Indianapolis, have been advocating for hate crime legislation for years.

This is very important, stated Earline Rogers, D-Gary, who authored a bill on the issue. Ive been aware for years of the efforts of Bill Crawford and Greg Porter. We were able to put together some language that allowed us to get a hearing on it.

Two companion bills have been made: Senate Bill No. 202, spearheaded by Susan Glick, a Republican, and second authored by Rogers allows for a sentencing enhancement for offenders who commit a crime against an individual due to certain characteristics of the victim. House Bill 1268 has been introduced by Reps. Randy Truitt, R-Ind., Cindy Kirchhofer, R-Ind., Porter and Shelia Klinker, D-Lafayette. If passed, both will become effective July 1, 2016.

According to the Anti-Defamation League, Whenever a bias-motivated crime is committed, the victims entire community is left feeling victimized, vulnerable, fearful, isolated, and unprotected by the law. Such crimes can also lead to reprisals and a dangerous spiral of escalating inter-group tension and violence. Thus, the impact of the crime is far greater than the already terrible impact on the individual.

Curry said it is his impression there has never been any meaningful consideration of bills introduced in the past.

I have no doubt whatsoever the thought process continues to be wrapped up in the debate of LGBT issues. Without regard to weighing in on those issues, I dont know how anyone could say, were not going to penalize individuals who commit a crime by the fact that the victim is gay, African-American or Catholic or whatever. The law is really nothing more than the recognition of what we feel is appropriate behavior. As Ive thought about this more, what does it say that there are 45 states in the federal government that have weighed in on this issue and given it consideration, he added.

Rogers said while there isnt one person or organization to blame for why a law hasnt been passed in the Hoosier state, she does believe conservatism has played a role.

The changing demographics of the state and major cities like Indianapolis is another reason the coalition believes now is the time to get legislation passed.

For each of us as individuals and the organizations we represent, this is important. We are one of five states without laws and policies around this, not only as a city, as a state, we are facing some image challenges now, said Tony Mason, president of the Indianapolis Urban League. If you go back to RFRA (Religious Freedom Restoration Act), at the Urban League we are from the historical perspective a civil rights agency, but one of our tenants really centers around racial justice. We host the Race & Cultural Relations Leadership Network meetings and the Race & Diversity Institute and so its a big deal for us to serve the entire community and not just African-Americans like everyone assumes.

The coalition hopes an education piece occurs as a result of their efforts as well. The Exchange is encouraging individuals to sign a petition calling for legislators to pass the bill this session.

More education is needed, particularly to help in instances when you hear people in opposition. They attempt to diminish the need but if more people understood the nuances around it, it would be as they say a no brainer, mentioned Mason. There are no guarantees we will succeed this go round but we have enough people, organizations and agencies that feel its the right thing to do and the right time to speak up.

Rogers said the bill will be heard next week and continues to be at the top of the agenda for the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus.
Within the past month, numerous school districts and high schools nationwide have received threats of violence that have forced school administrators to take action. The nations second-largest school system, Los Angeles Unified School District, closed all 900 schools due to a threat less than two weeks after two Islamic radicals opened fire at a workplace party in San Bernardino, California, killing 14. A New York school district received a similar threat.

Closer to home, Plainfield High School received a school threat via the Internet, which prompted the school to shut down. Earlier this week, police made an arrest in relation to social media threats (pictured at right) directed toward Perry Meridian High School.

With so much concern centered on the safety of students and staff, what are key education leaders doing to keep their students safe?

The Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper spoke with representatives of the Indiana Department of Education (DOE), Metropolitan School District of Lawrence Township (MSDLT) and Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) to learn what precautions are being taken to keep students safe.

How two school districts compare

How do school threats, such as those that have happened in Plainfield and California, impact your school district?

Scott Martin, IPS deputy superintendent of operations: Were certainly aware and track them daily both locally and nationally. We have been gathering learnings from each situation to plan for our own response, should it be needed.

Roger Smith, executive director of operations at MSDLT: We are constantly talking about the news, especially when it comes to school safety. We have camera systems in all schools, so we are constantly monitoring those and they are viewed district-wide each day. Its constant communication with our buildings.

With an increase in threats, is the school district taking any new safety precautions?

Martin: We are monitoring the local and national situation in preparation for implementing new precautions and procedures. The district consistently reviews best practices and technology advances to ensure we are well prepared.

Smith: Were closer to all Marion County officials to seek input when we do have a threat within our buildings. We access every threat that comes into our buildings, see what action needs be taken. We want additional authority to help us determine how legitimate those threats are. We rely heavily on Lawrence Police Department and Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department as our district covers both of those territories. Homeland Security is also involved.

Will any additional drills or training be done for students and staff?

Martin: The State of Indiana has required drills for staff and students; additional district-wide drills are not being planned at this time. Some schools have taken advantage of securing additional training at their own site.

Smith: The drills will continue to happen monthly, and were not going to increase those, but we are going to continue to have monthly administrator meetings where we cover items like these every month. Were making them aware that if they feel they need additional attention in the building, they have help. We have six resource officers at the high school, two at the middle school, one at central office and roaming officers on the east and west side accessible to everyone.

Is investment in high-tech security equipment something your district will look into?

Martin: We have made investments in camera and access systems for security. We review and assess our systems on a consistent basis and evaluate new technology as it becomes available.

Smith: Yes, I think all buildings are talking about that. We were able to obtain a dog that finds drugs, which is grant funded. Were supposed to get another dog that is trained in ammunition and explosives. We have a memorandum of understanding with the police department that for the 180 days we are in school we use the dog, but if the police need the dog in the community, they have the right to do so.

How can parents and guardians help make their childs visit to school safer?

Martin: Parents can have conversations with students to make them aware of pitfalls in social media and be aware of their surroundings. Most school safety situations have signs prior to the event, whether its a student becoming aware that another student at a school has made them personally aware they are considering an event or noticing a potential event on social media. The best solution is for them to feel safe to report to a trusted staff member that they know of a possible event.

Steven Garner, IPS police chief: Maintain control and awareness of social media sites your children visit and report abuses or threatening behaviors. Talk to your children about safe and unsafe behaviors.

Smith: Encourage their child to talk to an adult if they know anything about someone wanting to harm themselves or someone else. Prevention of is better than a reaction to an event.

How the DOE plays a role in safety

What exactly is the Safety Academy Program?

David Woodward, director of Safety Academy Program: Each school is required to have a school safety specialist, and we provide that certification to them after a five-day program is completed. We cover all of the basics of having a school safety plan, what should be in that plan, how to test it and the legalities of that plan. We also hit on bullying, hazing and those types of things. Once theyve been certified, we have them come back two additional days every year. The threat is always changing and the lessons learned are always new.

You mentioned administrators who complete the program are certified. What type of training do the other faculty and staff members at the schools receive?

The bulk of our program is to train the trainer. Our intention is that the school safety leader goes back to the school and is the resource and trains others in their school corporation. The law is each school corporation has one, but what were really seeing is almost every school has one. Indiana has about 300 school corporations, but we have almost 2,500 school safety specialists.

How is this law enforced?

We track all of their participation and attendance. We go at random to school corporations where we look at their (safety) drills, plans and we talk to them about legal requirements and best practices. This (school) year weve already gone out to about 40 school corporations to see how theyre doing.

If a corporation does not have a specialist, what are the consequences? Do they lose funding or accreditation?

Accreditation loss is a possibility, but currently there are no Indiana schools that do not have a school safety specialist. We rarely run into that and when we do, they get someone enrolled right away.

How can parents get involved in keeping their child and other students safe?

School safety is a reflection of what happens in our community. Parents biggest role is what they can do at home and in their community to prepare their kids. They should also be active with the school and the administration. If they are concerned about access control in their corporation, we want them to let our school administration know. That communication is so important.

Several school corporations are leaning on technology for security. Do you see this happening more frequently in the future?

Yes, little by little. There has been a Homeland Security (secure schools safety) grant for the past few years that has given schools a chance to up their game when it comes to using technology. Its been a huge benefit to schools.
Just one day to go for the Airlift's release and we just can't contain our excitement.

The reason why most of us can't wait for the film is because it's based on a true incident and it boasts of a stellar cast. When actors like Akshay Kumar and Nimrat Kaur come together, it definitely has to be something appealing and exciting.

Based on Ranjeet Katyal's life and world's biggest evacuation mission, we definitely have high hopes from the film. Will it make it big at the box-office? Will Akshay Kumar again prove his superiority as a performer? Time will tell but the film definitely deserves a chance. Before you book your ticket, here are 7 important things that Akshay himself revealed about Airlift.

These reasons could just make you go for it! Have a look.

1. " Is film ka nazariya yeh hai ki hum dikahana chahte hai - dikhana kya, yeh hakikat mein hai - India is the greatest country in the world."

Twitter

"This is a real story of what happened to 1,70,000 Indians who were in Kuwait when Saddam Hussein had attacked the country in 1990. They didn't know where to go, what to do and had only one hope: calling out to their nation for help. And aapko yeh jaanke khushi hogi ki hamare jo Air India ke pilots hai unhone uss time risk uthaya and 488 flights (Kuwait ke) andar lekar gaye aur sabko bachake le aaye. This is why I chose to do this film."

2. "I was shocked ki aisa bhi kuch hua tha, that's why I chose to do this film and then we decided that I should produce the film too."

Wow! It indeed makes him the 'Real khiladi' Kumar! :)

3. "Amrita knows of him as a shrewd businessman who will do anything to make sure that he gets what he wants."

Twitter

"And here, he is making a large move as a civilian to rescue 1,70,000 people eventually. He is putting his life and his family's life on the line. She doesn't understand him initially, but later on she managed to support him when he was falling apart."

4. "And I would like to make a film where Indians save the Americans."

Twitter

"America mein 100 films banti hai and they all show America is a great country and a saviour of every attack. Kuch bhi ho, even an alien attack, toh bhi America will save the whole world. Then why can't India? We should also make films like America does and let people know the greatness of our country.", added Akshay.

5. "This did happen to me. I choked once. I think this will happen to anyone, who cares for the people and the country because the film is about someone who cared for his country and sacrificed a lot. I think when people watch it, they will also feel it."

Twitter

Well put, Akshay!

6. "It's not a war film and it's not about destruction. It is just the story of how people were rescued from that war zone. The real life hero went unnoticed."

"Not many people know about him. I hope that he gets recognition with this film," added Akshay.

7. "Agar aap dekhein toh, back in 1990, sirf ek hi article tha jisne yeh cover kiya tha. India ne itna chup chap ye kaam kar diya."

(It is not a matter of joke. The government did it so silently. I have met those people (who were rescued and brought back to the country))

"They cry when they recall the whole incident. I was deeply inspired by the story."
- T. S. Eliot

Thoughts After Lambeth

"The World is trying the experiment of attempting to form a civilized but non-Christian mentality. The experiment will fail; but we must be very patient in awaiting its collapse; meanwhile redeeming the time: so that the Faith may be preserved alive through the dark ages before us; to renew and rebuild civilization, and save the World from suicide."
While Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio wants the world to say a goodbye to fossil fuels, his views have run him into serious trouble. DiCaprio was being honored for his philanthropic work at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Leo, who is also a devoted environmentalist went on to praise the recent progress that has been made in the fight against climate change. However, he expressed how there is a still a long way to go.

Expressing his desire of how badly the world needs to get rid of fossil fuels, Leo said: We were in Calgary and the locals were saying, This has never happened in our province, ever. We would come and there would be eight feet of snow, and then all of a sudden a warm gust of wind would come.

Watch Leo's speech here:

Leonardo DiCaprio attacks energy markets corporate greed Actor Leonardo DiCaprio has launched a ferocious attack on the greed of the worlds energy industry at the World Economic Forum in Davos.In the speech DiCaprio demands more action on the problem of climate change, saying:"Those entities with a financial interest in preserving this destructive system have denied, and even covered up the evidence of our changing climate.""Enough is enough. You know better. The world knows better. History will place the blame for this devastation squarely at their feet.What do you think? Is climate change a man-made problem being covered up and diminished by people in the energy industry? Posted by The People's Voice on Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Dailycaller.com

We simply cannot afford to allow the corporate greed of the coal, oil and gas industries to determine the future of humanity. Those entities with a financial interest in preserving this destructive system have denied, and even covered-up the evidence of our changing climate, he said. Enough is enough. You know better. The world knows better. History will place the blame for this devastation squarely at their feet.

He continued: Our planet cannot be saved unless we leave fossil fuels in the ground where they belong. Twenty years ago, we described this problem as an addiction. Today, we possess the means to end this reliance.

After his speech, he went on to announce new partnerships with different environmental groups that focus on conservation and sustainability around the world. However, the damage was already done by then. "He doesn't know what he's talking about all of the time," Calgary's Dr. Rebecca Sullivan told CBC News.

He is now receiving a lot of flak over it. Leo has attacked the greed of the energy industry in a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. People are mocking Leonardo DiCaprio and assuming that maybe he mistook a winter Chinook for climate change. Many who are familiar with southern Alberta Chinooks took to social media to correct the actor's mistake.

Basically all of Western Canada is laughing at Leo DiCaprio for experiencing a chinook and mistaking it for climate change.  Blaise Boehmer (@boehmerB) December 9, 2015

Leo experienced his first Chinook and thought it was climate change. He probably would pass out in shock if he ever visited Pikanii  Kelsey Solway (@KelseySolway) December 9, 2015

Hey @LeoDiCaprio omg there r tiny balls of ice fallin from the sky in #Calgary #yyc - oh wait it's just hail. My bad. @nenshi @WBrettWilson  Renu (@RaeSahota) December 9, 2015
Auto Expo, the biennial automotive extravaganza, is back this year, and it will be bigger and better than before. Car majors will be out in force to display their wares giving buyers a look at what to expect this year.

1. BMW 7 series, Rs 75 lakh onwards

BMW

This one's for the fat cats who have the money to splurge. This is the same car that PM Modi uses for his 'commute'. The flagship BMW will come in both diesel and petrol forms, with a delectable 4.4 litre V8 petrol also on offer.

2. BMW X1, Rs 30 lakh onwards

BMW

The new X1 is more SUV than the confused hatchback-estate-crossover mish-mash the older one was. Has the potential to become the best selling Beemer in the country given the pricing.

3. Chevrolet Beat, Rs 4 lakh onwards

Chevrolet

The cutesy Beat gives way to a bigger, more spacious city car. The new car promises better space and big car comfort and dynamics along with the usual Chevrolet competitive pricing.

4. Chevrolet Camaro

Chevrolet

Chevrolet will bring in the bumblebee to show the crowds the kinds of cars it makes. Yup, the Camaro plays the much loved Transformers character. No launch in India yet, but a lot of excitement is in store.

5. Chevrolet Corvette

Chevrolet

The second muscle car from Chevrolet will be the Corvette. A big block V8 powers this road going missile that is among the fastest cars built by the American manufacturer.

6. Chevrolet Spin, Rs 6 lakh onwards

Chevrolet

A good looking people mover that will rival the Maruti Ertiga, this one's for big families and those looking for extra luggage space.

7. Datsun Go Cross, Rs 5 lakh onwards

Datsun

Like all Datsun cars this one will be priced like it doesn't cost the makers anything to make. It promises proper SUV stance, ground clearance and rugged good looks.

8. Ford Mustang, Rs 50 lakhs onwards

Ford

Ford will bring in the pony car with the big hulking V8 engine. Its typical American muscle car looks will stand out on Indian roads. And given its performance potential, it looks like a bargain buy compared to other sports/supercars.

9. Honda Accord, Rs 25 lakh onwards

Honda

They call it a family car in the US, but the same car will be a luxury sedan in India. Honda is famous for its petrol engines and we hope the 3.5 litre V6 makes it to India.

10. Honda BR-V, Rs 9 lakh onwards

Evo India

India loves SUVs. The fact isn't lost on Honda, which will bring the newly developed BR-V compact SUV this year. Its USP is the seven seats which its rivals Duster and Terrano don't have.

11. Hyundai Tucson, Rs 15 lakh onwards

Hyundai

The Korean manufacturer makes some of the best looking cars on sale today. While people have been going ga-ga over the Creta, Hyundai is now looking to fill the gap between it and the bigger Santa Fe with the Tucson.

12. Jaguar XE, Rs 38 lakh onwards

Jaguar

The baby Jag will rival the likes of BMW 3 series and Mercedes C-class. Not very radical to look at, but the XE is the only car in its class which has the chassis made of aluminium. It ensures low weight, sportier handling and lower fuel consumption.

13. Mercedes GLC, Rs 45 lakh onwards

Mercedes

Mercedes will expand its SUV offerings with the GLC. A nice fit between the GLA and the GLE, the GLC is just the right size for the city.

14. Mercedes S-class Cabriolet, Rs 1 crore onwards

Mercedes

Indian weather may not be conducive to open top motoring but that is not stopping Mercedes from bringing in the S-class convertible. It will probably be the most expensive convertible to go on sale in India for the lucky few who can actually afford it.

15. Nissan GT-R, Rs 1.5 crore onwards

Nissan

They don't call it the Godzilla for nothing. It was given the nickname thanks to its penchant for literally eating up rivals on the race track. It has a trick launch control system that makes it accelerate faster than cars that cost twice as much. BTW India's F1 ace Narain Karthikeyan has one!

16. Nissan Patrol, Rs 1 crore onwards

karage.tv

The Indian Army's Jonga, was actually the Nissan Patrol! Now Nissan will bring the latest iteration to India which will have a big 5.6 litre petrol V8 under the hood. Oh and don't worry about scraping the undersides - it's quite the mountain goat, despite the bulk.

17. Nissan X-Trail, Rs 30 lakh onwards

Nissan

The last generation X-Trail may not have found many takers, but this new one is expected to change that. Bigger and better than before, Nissan has also equipped it with a hybrid system for better fuel economy. It comes with four wheel drive for when you want to go off road.

18. Renault Duster, Rs 8 lakh onwards

Dacia

It might be wearing the Dacia badge in the picture, but the updated Renault Duster will be unveiled at the Expo. Nothing major, just some minor tweaks here and there. More interestingly it will have an AMT automatic gearbox to tackle the menacing traffic.

19. Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza, Rs 7 lakh onwards

Maruti Suzuki

The ace up Maruti's sleeve is the Vitara Brezza. The compact SUV that will rival the likes of Ford EcoSport and Mahindra TUV 3OO, it has been developed in house by Maruti. It will come in both petrol and diesel variants.

20. Suzuki Ignis, Rs 6 lakh onwards

Suzuki

The Ignis is a compact cross over that will go on sale at the end of the year and will have the same engines as the Baleno. For those who don't want a proper SUV in the Brezza, the Ignis will come as a breath of fresh air.

21. Tata Hexa, Rs 10 lakh onwards

Indiancarbikes

One of the best cars Tata ever made was the Aria. Now Tata has taken that car and given it an SUV appeal with a butch looking front bumper and a more squared off bonnet and more equipment. Hopefully it will find more takers now.

22. Toyota Fortuner, Rs 28 lakh onwards

Toyota

The Fortuner is a buyer favourite, but this new one looks a bit too blingy for our liking. But you never know, buyers may just flock to it like the last one.

23. Toyota Innova, Rs 15 lakh onwards

Toyota

If you've travelled on India's highway network, chances are you have been driven around in the Innova. And now the new one is going to be launched, building on where the old one leaves. Seating for seven, comfortable ride and tons of space for luggage. What more could you ask for?

24. Volkswagen Passat GTE, Rs 30 lakh onwards

Volkswagen

The Passat GTE is a plug-in hybrid that can travel up to 50 kms on electric power alone! On a full tank of fuel it can go past 1000 kms! Volkswagen will introduce the new Passat this year, and the GTE is a showcase of that model.

25. Volkswagen Tiguan, Rs 13 lakh onwards

Volkswagen

We hope Volkswagen will launch the SUV this time! The latest iteration of the Tiguan has been launched abroad and 50 kg lighter than before. Given Indian's love for SUVs this one too shall be lapped up.
His 60 months of jail term is 144 days shorter now  a remission he owes to his good conduct  Sanjay Dutt, serving time in Yerwada prison for illegal arms possession in the 1993 blasts case, will be out by February 25.

Earlier Dutt would get out on paroles and furloughs on the slightest excuse

Even while in jail, though, he wasn't always there, having been out on parole for a total of four months, and on furlough for 42 days.

"Dutt would get out on paroles and furloughs on the slightest excuse. But since he got back from his last time-out, he is relaxed, as he knows he will get out soon. His release was slated for February 28, but since that's a Sunday, he will be released earlier," said a senior jail officer. But the time convict Dutt did do, however, is characterised by odd jobs and an odder assortment of extracurricular activities.

Neighbour with 185 inmates

The jail complex, which has been home to the actor since May 16, 2013, houses nearly 3,900 inmates. One of the prison's 185 high-security cells is occupied by Dutt. The 10x10 foot cell has a squat toilet inside, which he avoids using during daytime, but at night, he has to use it. That's when the air purifiers come handy. The adjacent cell is occupied by his friend of 40 years, Yusuf Nalwala, convicted in the same case.

Fitness and religion

dawn

His day starts by 6, and after tea, he flexes his muscles  doing pushups off empty tin cans, and bulking up using canisters converted into weights. The staff said Dutt has turned religious. "He reads the Bhagvad Gita, and has pictures of deities such as Ganesh and Hanuman. He also has some small idols of them, though the jail manual doesn't allow it," said the senior officer. Other than religious, Dutt also cuts a courteous image. "Because he knows his existence here depends completely on us (jail staff)," a constable said. "When the staffers tell him to recite filmy dialogues, he obliges."

He also borrows heavily from the prison library. While hard manual labour is not part of his penalty, he has to make 60 paper bags from old newspapers and such. But he barely does a few before pushing off for lunch. Between noon and 3pm, he jockeys for the Yerwada Central Prison (YCP) radio station; he is committed enough to the show to even write the script for it. "He gives his 100 per cent for the programme. The station was set up by him and two others, and he's got a good remark for this," said his lawyer Hitesh Jain. By 6 in the evening, Dutt, like all his fellow prisoners, is locked in his cell till daybreak. "He understands he has to spend time in jail. But the nights are especially harder," Jain said.

Perks of being Sanjay Dutt

At the start of 2013, when Congress ruled the state, Dutt's family bargained for a better deal for him. Sister Priya Dutt was an MP at the time. An application seeking his pardon was made to the Governor, but the then additional chief secretary (home) kept the file under wraps. Only after the governor changed was the file forwarded to Raj Bhavan. Nonetheless, for a Bollywood star, there are entitlements. Prison sources said Dutt is plied with bottled water and hot tea, and though dinner's served by 5.30 pm, he eats later in his cell, ordering from the restaurants he favours, mostly in the name of other inmates. But he shares his food generously, a convict said. While a prisoner can expend no more than Rs 2,500 a month, there are workarounds.

"There's a welloiled system in Yerwada and each inmate (seeking a favour) has to tip the staff generously," a retired officer revealed. Among the constables, whom the prisoners call Baba, Dutt has his favourites: they get things done for him, like get him his choice of cigarettes. In fact, in 2013, Minister Vinod Tawde, an MLC at the time, had informed the state legislature that Dutt was regularly served alcohol. On Thursdays, the prisoners receive counselling, but Dutt does not need it. In fact, he is the one offering sage advice to the radio show callers. The jail authorities feel once Dutt leaves, the YCP radio will suffer. Nalwala, however, is more worried that his days in jail would seem longer once his friend leaves.

Mid-Day

Dutt was sentenced to 60 months of imprisonment.

Every prisoner is granted seven days of remission a month, depending on their conduct, among other factors. As such, Dutt racked up 14 months of leave.

He had already spent 18 months in the Arthur Road jail as an undertrial, and thus had to spend 42 more in Yerwada.

With all his leave, the time he has served works out to a total of 28 months.
35-year-old man dressed in a red jacket and blue jeans joined the list of "unknown" dead taken to the government mortuaries every day due to lack of an identity. The mark of piercing cold on his body showed that he had died in the open. But this also raised the question as to why he was left to die near a dustbin close to the Yamuna Bazaar-Pushta area on the busy Ring Road.

A representational of a homeless person in Delhi. Source: AFP

The social workers who found his body around 1 am on Wednesday remember him as an enthusiastic man who went all out to help them on January 17 to remove the body of another homeless found on the streets.

7 Dead in 2 Days

Data by NGO Centre for Holistic Development (CHD) puts the number of deaths of homeless between Tuesday and Wednesday at seven. But the authorities are still figuring out whether they died of cold to release a definite figure on death toll this winter.

One of these a man in his 70s died in a night shelter near Yamuna Bazaar. He may have been ailing, but the cold clearly played a role in expediting his end. Whether it was illness or a drug overdose, cold is known to expedite death in low immunity and untreated cases. Also, the bigger question is why the night shelter staff did not rush the septuagenarian to a hospital if he was unwell.

Even The Young Are Dying Of Chill

The age group of those who were reported dead over the last two days ranges from 25 to 70 years. CHD also cites Delhi Police data on unidentified bodies which shows 39 bodies were found between January 14 and 20. While there is no detailed analysis available of these cases to show if they were homeless, it's clear these people died classified as "unidentified" and of "unknown" reasons.

While the government website shows live updates of 246 night shelters with space for over 18,000 and a daily occupancy that is yet to exceed this capacity, there is a mismatch with ground realities. While more shelters are required in high pressure zones like Yamuna Pushta-Kashmiri Gate area, there is surely need for a more aggressive rescue mechanism to move homeless to shelters even when they refuse.

A ground check reveals that the homeless need more assistance and better planning to prevent casualties in the cold. On Wednesday evening, TOI made Yamuna Pushta a test case. This is a hub of migrant workers who labour hard all day in odd jobs and return here for a night's sleep. It is dotted with shelters, yet the peak winter is showing that space is falling short and shelter staff is finding it hard to earmark space for all.

The queues to get a quiet corner with a handful of blankets starts as early as 6am. The porta cabins and tents are equally in demand as the matter is more about space than choice of space. By 9pm most shelters are a picture of overcrowding with men heaped in blankets sleeping in rows and hardly any space to walk around. Some claimed that they are turned away if the shelters are packed and they are forced to return to the streets.

Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board has received a total of 366 complaints on its mobile app for homeless in distress. Of these, 254 were rescued and 43 not found. However, 95 homeless refused to shift, which is where the government needs to focus. The 20 rescue teams have shifted 5,785 homeless to shelters since January 1.
A Patna mob today chopped off a hand of a 35-year-old man who was caught looting Rs 2.5 lakh in cash from a Bank Of Baroda branch.

Four armed miscreants had previously looted the money from the Mahuabagh branch of Bank Of Baroda under Rupaspur Police Station, a statement by the office of the Director General of Police said.

Locals caught one of them, Jitendra Pandit, red handed and cut off his left hand, it said. Police later seized Rs one lakh from his possession. He was then sent to Patna Medical College and Hospital.

Raids were on to nab the three others, the statement said.
While yesterdays Bacha Khan University attack was yet another Taliban massacre on innocent student since the Peshawar school attack last year, the bravery of the institutes chemistry faculty, Syed Hamid Hussain stands out. Despite having had the freedom to escape, he chose protect his students by opening fire on well trained militants, forever immortalising him as the kind of hero Pakistan deserves  an ordinary man willing to stand for justice.

The Peshawar attack, the deadliest in Pakistani history, saw teachers' associations objected to arming educational staff; Hussain quietly chose to arm himself in what is becoming accepted as Pakistans biggest complacency.

Terror attack on Bacha Khan University in Peshawar, Pakistan have killed 21 including Prof. Syed Hamid Hussain. RIP pic.twitter.com/myvSo95ddu  Asif Khan (@Afghan_Security) January 20, 2016

Lecturer Syed Hamid Hussain, an assistant professor of chemistry at the Bacha Khan University in Charsadda, ordered his students to stay inside as Taliban gunmen stormed the school near the city of Peshawar on Wednesday. The attack has confirmed 20 deaths, and several injuries after

Students told of how he opened fire on gunmen as they rampaged across campus, giving the young people time to flee before he was cut down in a hail of bullets.

We saw three terrorists shouting, 'Allah is great!' and rushing towards the stairs of our department, one man told reporters.

One student jumped out of the classroom through the window. We never saw him get up. He described seeing Hussain holding a pistol and firing at the attackers.

Then we saw him fall down and as the terrorists entered the (registrar) office we ran away.

Geology student Zahoor Ahmed said Hussain had warned him not to leave the building after the first shots were fired.

He was holding a pistol in his hand, he said. Then I saw a bullet hit him. I saw two militants were firing. I ran inside and then managed to flee by jumping over the back wall. They fired directly at the professor, sociology student Muhammad Daud told AFP, describing Hussain as a real gentleman and a respectable teacher.

Martyr of #education: Prof Hamid who was killed by terrorists in #BachaKhanUniversity#Pakistan, tweeted journalist and academic Raza Ahmad Rumi.

Another message on the site read: Very #sad news Prof. Dr Syed Hamid from Chemistry dept embraced shahadat (martyrdom) in an attack in #BachaKhanUniversity#Charsadda. President Mamnoon Hussain confirmed the lecturer had died, and expressed his grief and condolences to the man's family.

Security officials said an operation to halt the bloodshed at the school ended several hours after it began, with police saying at least 21 people had been killed. The military said it had killed four extremists. It was not clear if they were included in the death toll. The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack. Teachers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were given permission to carry firearms in the classroom after Taliban militants massacred more than 150 people, the majority of them children, at a school in Peshawar in 2014.

Professor Syed Hamid Husain who died protecting his students should be given Pakistan's highest civilian award pic.twitter.com/XSQS6QwbLR  omar r quraishi (@omar_quraishi) January 20, 2016

The attack on an army-run school in the city, some 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Charsadda, had seen heavily armed militants go from room to room slaughtering students and staff.
Tajikistan police is reported to have shaved nearly 13,000 men's beards and closed more than 160 shops selling traditional Muslim clothing to check "foreign" influences.

Representational image of a muslim man with beard. fekrat.org

A report by Al Jazeera on Thursday said police in the central Asian Muslim-majority country also convinced more than 1,700 women to stop wearing headscarves in measures seen as the secular leadership's efforts to prevent influences from neighbouring Afghanistan. Last week, Tajikistan's parliament banned Arab-sounding names, and marriages between first cousins, otherwise allowed in Islam.

Reuters

Last year, Tajikistan's Supreme Court banned the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan - its only registered Islamic political party - following months of violence which the government blamed on radical Islam. President Emomali Rakhmon, who has been ruling since 1994, is likely to ratify the new laws which seek to promote secularism and discourage foreign influences. Rahmon's current term ends in 2020.

Reuters

Rakhmon, 63, who was a state farm boss in the Soviet era, has gradually consolidated his power during 23 years of rule over the predominantly Muslim nation of eight million that went through a 1992-97 civil war in which tens of thousands died.

Tajikistan's parliament is also considering a proposal to allow Rakhmon to run for an unlimited number of terms, cementing his grip on power as others have done in the Central Asian region.

The main opposition force, the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan, failed to win any seats in parliament in the election last March and has since been outlawed by Rakhmon's government, with its leaders accused of plotting a coup.
The Rs. 60,000+ smartphone that you recently bought might be costing someone his/her childhood. For years, human rights mouthpieces have been campaigning against children working for major brands in China and other developing countries of Asia. While some claim of progress being made, a new report by a human rights group takes us all back to square one.

Human right organisation Amnesty International has accused several tech and auto giants of being oblivious to child labour in Africa. In a scathing report released on Tuesday, the organisation has found tech honchos like Apple, Samsung, Sony and Volkswagen allowing the use of cobalt, mined by children of Africa, in their products.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is the world's top cobalt producer, accounting for more than half the supply of the metallic element in the world. The government of DRC says that 20% of the cobalt that ends up getting exported from the country is extracted from the mines of Katanga.

Cobalt is a component found mostly in minerals and used in the lithium-ion rechargeable batteries that power most of the electronic devices we use, like phones, laptops, and electric cars.

internationalaffairscanada.files.wordpress.com

The Cobalt mined in the region of Katanga is then sold to Congo Dongfang Mining International (CDM), a company that is owned by a Chinese mineral company Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Company Ltd (Huayou Cobalt). Huayou Cobalt, according to the report, is one of the world's leading manufacturers of cobalt products. The components are then sold to make batteries in China and South Korea, who then supply it to technological giants across the world.

Amnesty

Amnesty's report, jointly researched with a DRC-based NGO African Resource Watch or Afrewatch, says the report is based on interviews conducted with the miners working at four sites in DRC. They spoke to 17 children between the age of 9 and 17. One of them even stated that he started mining at the tender age of 7, a time when children just begin going to school. Most of the children interviewed would be instructed to collect ore and sort through rocks, which they would then wash in the streams and the lakes around the mines.

Their shifts are nothing short of gruelling, with some even working for 12 hours in extreme temperatures for not more than 1,000-2,000 (Rs 73 - Rs 146) Congolese Francs per day. Some even work through the weekends and public holidays, without any sort of protective gear like gloves or masks, despite being well aware of the dangers of being exposed to cobalt dust. In 2014, UNICEF found that nearly 40,000 children were working in the mines of southern DRC, many of them being involved in the mining of cobalt.

worldvisionmagazine.org

14-year-old Paul is one such teenager who spends hours working underground in the mines. His shifts would often end up lasting 24 hours in the deadly tunnels. "I arrived in the morning and would leave the following morning," he said.

With an extended exposure to cobalt, children like Paul are at a high risk of contracting respiratory sensitisation, asthma, shortness of breath, dermatitis and a serious condition known as hard metal lung disease.

Amnesty also claimed that children who were interviewed would complain of falling ill frequently. Dany, the 15-year-old miner said, "There is lots of dust, it is very easy to catch colds, and we hurt all over."

911metallurgist.com

If a serious hazard to health wasn't enough, these children are malnourished with many being subjected to "physical abuse, sexual exploitation and violence." The corrupt security guards would regularly beat them, and extort a cut from whatever little they earn. Mathy recalls the time when she was 12, "They asked for money, but we didn't have any... They grabbed my friend and pushed her into a tank containing diesel oil."

amazonaws.com

Responding to the scathing report by Amnesty, Apple said that underage labour was "never tolerated in our supply chain and we are proud to have led the industry in pioneering new safeguards." The company said that it was "actively looking for any violations."

Even Microsoft said that it absolutely did not ""tolerate the use of child, involuntary or forced labor", however, it could not say anything with surety about the child labour in DRC.

Samsung has said that "up until now, there has been no case of child labor violations reported or detected from Samsung's SDI's plants or suppliers." But again, they wouldn't be able to comment on the cobalt supplies in the Katanga region of DRC.

You can find the complete study done by Amnesty here.

Cover image by Omaranabulsi.
Follow us on aamir khan just said he would love to work with sunny leone

New Delhi: Actress Sunny Leone who is four years old in Bollywood got the support of almost the entire film fraternity on Tuesday. The way once adult movie star faced the TV interview what many are terming as a sexist' interview. After prominent names lauded Sunny yesterday, superstar Aamir Khan today has come out in her support by saying that he would be happy to work with her.

During Sunny's interview for an eminent news channel, the well known journalist asked her if she would like to work with Aamir. To this, Sunny said, Yes, who wouldn't. Then, the anchor grilled her asking if Aamir Khan would agree to work with her, citing her past connection with porn industry.

Sunny, in a husky tone, said, He might not. But that doesn't affect me at all. I will still be his fan and will still watch all his films.

The journalist was slammed for digging Sunny's past and coming back to the same question, time and again in other words. While the Mastizaade' actress stood for herself quite well, impressing everyone, Aamir Khan is the newest one to join the list.

In a tweet, Aamir appreciated the way Sunny conducted herself in the interview. He also added in his next tweet, that he has absolutely no problems working with her.

Here is what Mr. Perfectionist tweeted:

Sunny, who obviously was elated to get such a response from the PK' star replied with this tweet.

Well, Sunny congratulations. Your manger can expect a call from Aamir soon enough.

Latest Bollywood News
Follow us on what did ranbir kapoor katrina kaif never breakup

New Delhi: It's been a couple of days that the B-town was rocked with the news of split between the most adorable couple of the industry.

Yes, we are talking about Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif.

By now, everyone is pretty sure the couple has finally broken up and this is what everyone is talking about and speculating the actual' reason of the split.

Infact, the respective ex-flames of both Ranbir and Katrina too faced the blame game for their break up.

But according to the recent reports, Ranbir and Katrina didn't break up. Infact they just had an argument and have patched up a couple of days later.

Surprised?

Well, if the gossip mills are to be believed the couple has been spotted together and they were pretty much normal, happy and warm.

According to the media reports, a source revealed, The couple had fought during the shoot of Bombay Velvet' also when Ranbir was shooting in Sri Lanka and Katrina was shooting for Bang Bang'. But Katrina had gone to meet Ranbir to Sri Lanka and the couple had sorted their differences. Ranbir and Katrina shot for Jagga Jasoos' for three days at a studio and were absolutely fine with each other. They are mature individuals in a relationship and will fight and love like any other couple. This time it was blown out of proportion and people said that they broke-up. The truth is that it has happened before also.

The source also stated that the couple is completely chilled out together and were apparently hitting each other with chalk. Infact, as per the gossipmongers the couple has reportedly patched up after speaking to each other and sorting out their differences.

On the other hand, there are reports that contradict the buzz saying that the now ex-couple Ranbir-Katrina are rather avoiding to face each other and are behaving completely professionally for their work commitments.

Well, we still wonder if Ranbir and Katrina have actually parted ways or it's just a misconception followed by some argument between them. Currently, they are shooting for their forthcoming movie Jagga Jasoos' which is helmed by Anurag Basu and is expected to hit the theatres in June this year.

Latest Bollywood News
News, travel, events, photos and stories from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Cades Cove, Cherokee, Townsend and surrounding communities of the Great Smokies, as well as the Appalachian Mountain region.
Follow us on deepika padukone launches tissot s new watch

New Delhi: Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone on Wednesday launched a new watch of Swiss watch brand Tissot named Chemin des Tourelles here at its Connaught Place boutique.

"I have shared a very special association with Tissot. I have been with it for almost seven or eight years now. It's one of those brands that I started endorsing right from the beginning of my career when I was just a model. I think that says a lot about the faith that they have had in me as an artist and as a person and now it's like family," Deepika, who is also the brand ambassador of Tissot, told IANS.

With its name taken from a street in Le Locle, Switzerland, Tissot Chemin des Tourelles compliments the brand's years old expertise with its contemporary design. The range of the watch is between Rs.42,400-Rs.65,000.

Talking about her preference, Deepika, who donned an all red ensemble at the event, said she usually likes to prefer the classic collection of watches.

"I like the ones that have gold detailings or a black and gold mixture. Most of the times I end up wearing the classic collection," she said.

Deepika who has been a trendsetter in showbiz says all credit for her looks goes to her team.

Asked whether her looks are specially designed for bringing out new trends, the "Bajirao Mastani" actress said: "I have heard about this a lot. But I want to give all credit to my make-up artist and hair stylist and also to directors because what am I doing? I'm just giving it to them (fans). But they (team) are really the minds behind them. I remember when I did 'Om Shanti Om', every bride wanted that look and when we did 'Love Aaj Kal', every girl wanted those kurtis. Now after 'Ram-Leela', everyone looks for those earrings.

"So it's not a conscious effort to set a trend but I think when sometimes you are true to the film and your character and everything falls into place, then these things happen. When 'Piku' was released, the 'bindi' and 'kajal' became a trend."

The actress said during her childhood she also followed actress Kajol's "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai" look when she was in school.

"I remember when I was in school and 'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai' had released, at that time I had a drawer full of hairbands in my house as it had become a trend at that time. So trends keep on changing," she said.

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Follow us on ad watchdog to look at celebrity endorsements of pan masala ads

NEW DELHI: Advertising industry watchdog ASCI will investigate campaigns by pan masala brands featuring celebrities for violation of its code in the wake of Delhi government asking stars such as Ajay Devgan and Shah Rukh Khan, among others, not to promote such items.

"Complaints against such advertisements have been received by ASCI and are being looked into. ASCI will approach the concerned advertisers to take necessary corrective action post decision by our Consumer Complaints Council," Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) secretary general Shweta Purandare said in a statement.

She said while products like pan masala and supari are not banned for sale or from advertising by law, "the ASCI code does not permit the use of celebrities in advertisements of products which by law require health warning on its pack or cannot be purchased or used by minors".

On January 18, the Delhi Government had written to several Bollywood personalities including Ajay Devgan, Shah Rukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Govinda, Arbaaz Khan and Sunny Leone, asking them not to endorse pan masala products as they contain areca nuts, a potential cancer causing agent.

ASCI said it would investigate into the pan masala ads and ensure that there is no violations of its code of self-regulation. As per rules and regulation laid by food and safety regulator FSSAI mandates that statutory warnings as 'Chewing of Pan Masala is injurious to health' and 'Chewing of Supari is injurious to health' are mandatory to be printed on the pack as well as for the ads, it added.

Chapter III is to safeguard against the indiscriminate use of advertising in situations or promotion of products which are regarded as hazardous or harmful to society, individuals, particularly minors.

Moreover, its clause 2 also specifies that advertisements of products which, by law, either require a health warning in their ads or cannot be purchased by minors "should not feature personalities from the field of sports, music and cinema".

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Follow us on 10 professors resign in hyderabad protesting smriti irani s remark

Hyderabad: In further deepening of the ongoing crisis triggered by the suicide of a Dalit scholar , Ten professors of the University of Hyderabad belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes minority have resigned from their administrative posts.

The professors quit over alleged misrepresentation of facts by Union minister for human resource development Smriti Irani who has termed the protests as a malicious attempt to project the issue as a caste battle and to show their support for protesting students demanding justice for Dalit PhD scholar Rohith Vemula, who allegedly committed suicide after he was suspended from the university along with four other students.

We want all students reinstated, jobs and compensation for Rohith Vemula's family and a better mechanism in the university to deal with such student issues, SC/ST Teachers and Officers Forum Convenor S Sudhakar Babu told Indian Express.

"The minister is misleading the nation. We will not work under the administration as there has been no representation from the Dalits in the executive council since the university's inception," Prakash Babu, Dean of Students Welfare and member of SC/ST Teachers and Officers Forum, told TOI.

According to a report in the Times of India, Irani said on Wednesday that at various stages -- from Proctoral Committee to Executive Council (EC) to sub-committee of EC -- senior Dalit professors of the university were involved in the decision to expel the five students.

Several effigies of the union HRD minister were also burnt on campus.

Reports also suggest that more teachers might follow suit.

Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani said there was a "malicious attempt to project it as a caste battle". Another central minister, Bandaru Dattatreya, insisted he did not influence the university to suspend Rohith Vemula - who killed himself - and four other students.

"There has been a malicious attempt to project the issue as a caste battle. The truth is that, it is not," Irani told the media in New Delhi, in her first reaction to the raging row.

She said the case was being "misrepresented".

"It's not a Dalit versus non-Dalit confrontation," she said, adding there had been media debates suggesting that Vemula mentioned the names of people and organisations who forced him to commit suicide.

She flashed a letter, saying it was the only document police got while investigating the case. She also read out a few lines from the letter, suggesting what was being widely projected was not the truth.

The other suspended students, who continued their protest on the campus, condemned Irani and accused her of trying to twist the facts.

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Follow us on delhi court acquits man of rape charges terms it youthful eagerness

New Delhi: In a one-of-a-kind incident, Haryana's Vikul Bakshi was today acquitted of charges of raping a woman on false grounds of marriage by a Delhi court on grounds that it was a consensual relation' in youthful eagerness' and nothing else'.

"It appears that the two, being in the prime of their youth, were having sexual relations with each other in youthful eagerness and nothing else," Virender Bhatt, Additional Sessions Judge, said, adding that the prosecution had failed to prove charges against the accused.

The court further observed that there was no evidence to suggest that the girl's consent to a physical relationship was solely on the promise of marriage.

"There is no evidence on record to suggest that the prosecutrix had given her consent to physical relations with the accused solely on the latter's promise to marry her or that he was having knowledge that she consented to physical relations with him only on promise to marry her," the court said.

On the basis of the victim's contradictory and inconsistent statements, the judge said that she voluntarily gave her consent to establish physical relations with Vikul.

The woman had lodged a case under sections 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC alleging that the accused forcefully took her advantage on false pretext of marriage.

The court, however, rejected the girl's contention on grounds that she was equally eager to have a sexual relation. The exchanged messages between the two on social networking site clearly indicates that the prosecutor herself was eager to have sexual relation with the accused and she was not doing so on any promise of marriage with him.

"Hence these messages demonstrate that the prosecutor was a consenting partner to physical relations with the accused and she herself had been eager to enjoy sex with him and the plan to have sexual encounter on December 11, 2014, had been made well in advance and it was not spontaneous," it said.

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Follow us on rohith suicide univ blinks recalls suspension of four dalit scholars

Hyderabad: Two days after Rohith Vemula, a research scholar at the University of Hyderabad, committed suicide in his hostel room, the Executive Council of the University of Hyderabad has decided to revoke the punishment of the four suspended students with immediate effect.

In a note released on Thursday, the Executive Council said: "The council after taking into account the extraordinary situation prevailing in the university, and after discussing the issue in detail, has resolved to terminate the punishment imposed on the students concerned with immediate effect".

Five students, including Rohith, were suspended from the university in December last year. Their suspension was a result of a complaint filed by ABVP student leader Susheel Kumar who had accused these scholars and Ambedkar Students' Association (ASA) members of assaulting him.

The university's latest move follows intense protests against university officials and the central government since the news of Rohith's suicide got out. Politicians cutting across party lines have made a beeline to the university to pledge their support to the protesting students and attack the central government of high-handedness.

The four students  Sontha Prasanth, Pepapudi Vijay Kumar, Sheshaiah Chemudugunta and Velpula Sunkanna  were barred from entering the hostel, library, mess and other common areas within the university premises post the December order.

The announcement of the suspension being revoked was today welcomed by the agitating students with cheer. However, they vowed to continue their agitation against the central government till it met their demands which included the ouster of university's vice-chancellor Appa Rao Podile.

Yesterday, Union Minister for Human Resource Development Smriti Irani had said that there was a malicious attempt by certain quarters to portray the entire incident as a caste conflict between Dalits and the others.

Addressing the media yesterday, Irani said that at various stages  from Proctoral Committee to Executive Council (EC) to sub-committee of EC  senior Dalit professors of the university were involved in the decision to expel the five students.

Irani's comments drew fire from university members with ten professors of the University belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes minority resigning from their administrative posts over alleged misrepresentation of facts by the Union minister.

The teachers contested Irani's claims saying there had been no representation from the Dalits in the executive council since the university's inception.

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Follow us on india ranks 22nd among world s best countries us news world report poll

New Delhi: India figures at 22nd place in the list of world's best countries, compiled on the basis of a survey done for US News & World Report. Germany is at the top, followed by Canada, UK, US, Sweden, Australia and Japan, in that order.

France occupies 8th place, Netherlands 9th, and Denmark 10th. New Zealand, Austria and Italy are at 11th, 12th and 13th places. Singapore is the only Asian country to feature on top at the 15th place, followed by Spain and China at 16th and 17th.

South Korea, Brazil and Thailand are at 19th, 20th and 21st place.

According to US News & World Report, a set of 65 country attributes were identified. Attributes by nation were presented in the survey of more than 16,000 people from across the globe. Each country was scored on each of the 65 country attributes based on a collection of individual survey responses.

Attributes were grouped into nine sub-rankings that rolled into the Best Countries ranking: Adventure, Citizenship, Cultural Influence, Entrepreneurship, Heritage, Movers, Open for Business, Power and Quality of Life.

A total of 16,248 individuals from 36 countries in four regions - the Americas, Asia, Europe and the Middle East and Africa - were surveyed. Of them, 8,092 were informed elites and 4,513 were business decision-makers.

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Follow us on 1 000 farmer suicides in maharashtra in 2015 hc suggests csr help

Mumbai: As many as 1,000 farmers committed suicide in Maharashtra in 2015, the state government today told the Bombay High Court.

The court, which has taken up the issue of farmer suicides suo motu (on its own) as a PIL, suggested that the government may rope in corporates to deal with the crisis.

"In this way, suicides could be prevented as business houses would readily come forward to help farmers under the corporate social responsibility," the bench of Justices Naresh Patil and Girish Kulkarni said.

Business houses should be urged either to adopt villages or provide equipment including tractors to the farmers free, it said.

Government officers from a few districts, who were present in the court (last time they had been asked to be present), stated that the government had introduced some schemes, which prompted the court to ask whether the number of suicide had gone up or come down after these measures were introduced.

The officers conceded that the number had increased.

The judges then asked the government to find out the reasons for this. "It is necessary to know the causes to tackle the problem," the bench said.

The court took up the issue in response to media reports that over 600 farmers committed suicide in Maharashtra in 2015. But the government pleader Abhinandan Vagyani today stated that the number was in fact 1,000.

The court also suggested that the government may promote collective farming as a solution. It would especially help the farmers with small land-holding who are unable to recover the cost of cultivation, said the bench.

Asking the government to come out with welfare schemes for farmers, the judges said the schemes should not remain only on paper but strictly implemented.

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Follow us on pathankot attack routine not aimed at stalling indo pak talks

New Delhi: In what he calls a continuation of their activity to target Indian military installations,Hizb-ul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin has taken responsibility for the Pathankot attack.

He also slammed Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Kashmir policy.

The comments are part of Salahuddin's interview on Urdu news portal Wajood.

While smoothing its relations with India, it (Pakistan) is accountable for considering the emotions and aspirations of the oppressed Kashmiris. You cannot be an advocate of the murdered and a friend of the murderer simultaneously. he said.

On being asked whether the Pathankot attack was to aimed to stall to stall Indo-Pak talks, the Hizbul commander retorted,"This perception is cent per cent wrong. Armed Mujahideen are engaged with the eight lakh Indian forces for the last 26 years and each day, Mujahideen are targeting Indian military installations. Pathankot is a continuation of that activity".

Salahuddin resonated similar views speaking at the Press Club in Muzzafarabad, capital of Pakistani-administered part of Kashmir. Police outside the club made no move to arrest him.

"We are at a loss to understand whether they (the Pakistan government) are concerned about the interests of the country that feeds them or that of its enemy?" Salahuddin told a news conference, referring to the government's crackdown," he said.

While smoothing its relations with India, it (Pakistan) is accountable for considering the emotions and aspirations of the oppressed Kashmiris. You cannot be an advocate of the murdered and a friend of the murderer simultaneously. salauddin was quoted as saying.

"Pakistan is not only an advocate but also a party to the longstanding Kashmir dispute and therefore the Pakistani people, government and media should play the role of a patron rather than of an adversary."

Latest India News
Follow us on rajinikanth vinod rai dhirubhai ambani among padma awardees

New Delhi: The list of the prestigious Padma awardees had been announced. These awards are given in three categories, viz., Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri.

The award seeks to recognize distinguished and exceptional service in all fields such as art, literature and education, sports, medicine, social work, Science and engineering, public affairs, civil service, trade and industry etc.

Padma Awards are one of the highest civilian awards of the country which are given by the President of India.

A total of 118 people has been honoured with Padma awards in 2016. India TV is the first organistaion to break the news.

Padma Vibhushan

1) Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: He is a humanitarian leader, a spiritual teacher, and an ambassador of peace. Her spreads his vision of a stress-free, violence-free society through The Art of Living.

2) Rajinikanth: The Tamil movie star did not restrict himself to regional cinema. He debuted in the year 1975 with a Tamil movie and since then he has done movie in Bollywood, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Hollywood and Bengali films as well. Apart from being a superstar whose movies run houseful, Rajinikanth philanthropic deeds prove why he is a real hero as well. Recently, on his 65th birthday on 12th December he called off celebrations to mourn the loss Chennai faced due to floods. He is likely to be honoured with the Padma Vibhushan.

3) Girija Devi: An Indian classical singer of Banaras Gharana who helped in elevating the profile of Thumri. She was awarded the Padma Shri in 1972 and the Padma Bhushan in 1989. She is likely to be bestowed with the Padma VIbhushan award.

4) Ramoji Rao: C.V. Ramoji Rao, the publisher of Eenadu, single-handedly changed the way journalism was practised in the Telugu media. He made journalism a vehicle of the masses, with need-based content, racy language and attractive layout.

5) Late Dhirubhai Ambani: The founder of India's richest and most iconic Relaince Industries was honoured with he second highest civilian honour posthumously.

6) Yamini Krishnamurthy : She is an eminent Indian dancer of Bharatnatyam and Kuchipudi styles of dancing.

Other awardess include former J&K governor Shri Jagmohan, social scientist Vishwanathan Shanta, Indian American economist Shri Avinash Dixit (Foreigner),former DRDO chief Dr. Vasudev Kalkunte Atre

PADMA BHUSHAN

Vinod Rai: Retired IAS officer and former Comptroller and Auditor General of India, Vinod Rai is credited with being the face of the anti-corruption movement in India for his scathing reports on allocation of coal blocs and 2G licenses.

Saina Nehwal: She is an Indian badminton player and the first Indian woman to have become the world's No. 1 badminton player.

R C Bhargava: R C Bhargava is the former CEO and current Chairman of Maruti Suzuki Ltd, one of India's largest automobile manufacturers.

Anupam Kher: The veteran actor has worked in over 450 films in a career spanning over 30 years. He is also known for his vocal support to the rights of Kashmiri pandits. He has featured in many Hollywood movies. Apart from acting in plays and movies, Anupam is a strong voice of India. He is an active participant in political debates and quite recently took it upon him to narrate the plight of Kashmiri Pandits in almost every eminent news channel of the country.

Udit Narayan Jha: Udit Narayan a known name in Indian film music has lent his voice to over 15000 songs in more than 30 different languages.

Sania Mirza. A famous name in India Tennis, who is currently ranked No. 1 in women's doubles rankings.From 2003 until her retirement from singles in 2013, she was ranked by the Women's Tennis Association as India's No. 1 player, both in singles and doubles

Barjinder Singh Hamdard: He is the managing editor of the Punjabi newspaper Daily Ajit. He has also been a member of India's upper house, Rajya Sabha.

Ram Vanji Sutar: A sculptor by profession and has created more than fifty monumental sculptures in the last forty years of his career. The government bestowed upon him the Padmashri Award in 1999.

Shri Tejomayananda: Swami Tejomayananda is the current Head of Chinmaya Mission Worldwide. He has been associated with the Chinmaya mission since 1993.

Other awardees are Yarlagadda Lakshmi, Heisnam Kanhailal,NS Ramanuja Tatacharya,D. Nageshwar Reddy,Indu jain,Shri Hafiz Contractor,Venkat Rama Rao Alla

Padma Shree

26/11 public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam: A lawyer by profession, Nikam is an Indian Public Prosecutor and has been involved in several high profile cases including the 1993 Bombay bombings, the Gulshan Kumar murder, the Pramod Mahajan murder and the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Actor Ajay Devgn: Ajay Devgn nestles many talents in himself. He is a loved actor, critcally acclaimed director and a producer of many hit movies. Having starred in over 80 movies, Ajay is one of the most established actors of Bollywood. He has won two National awards, one of Zakhm (1998) and second for The Legend of Bhagat Singh (2002).

Priyanka Chopra: Bollwyood's desi girl Priyanka Chopra won lauds from every corner of the globe with her debut American TV series Quantico'. With this thriller, Priyanka became the first Bollywood actress to play the protagonist in an American show. She bagged the People's choice award for best debutant. Closer home, she garnered tons of applause for her portrayal of Kashibai in Bajirao Mastani'.

( Details awaited)





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Follow us on bombing close to russian embassy in kabul kills more than 12

Kabul, Afghanistan: An explosion was heard near Russian embassy in the capital, Kabul, killing more than 12 civilians and wounded over 20 others, said Afghan officials.

Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said that four people were killed when a car bomb was detonated in the west of Kabul on Wednesday, at around 5pm local time.

Ismal Kawasi, spokesman for the public health ministry, says the wounded are receiving treatment in hospital.

Thick smoke was seen rising from the scene of the blast, and several nearby vehicles were damaged.

No group has claimed responsibility for the bombing.

(With inputs from AP)

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My late, great colleague Gordon Tullock famously pointed out the many possibilities to do well while doing good. (See chapter 6 in this collection edited by my colleague Dan Klein.) However, as I note in my most recent column in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, too many of my fellow economists, while perhaps superficially intent on doing good, are not so intent that they are willing to risk any of their own money on such efforts. They wish to do good only by spending mostly other peoples money and by stripping away mostly other peoples freedom and options. This consistent and chronic refusal of policy advocates to put their own money where their mouths are is as sure a sign as is humanly possible that these do-gooders are too reckless to take seriously.

Heres a large slice from my column (link added):

In December, New York Universitys Institute for Policy Integrity released the results of a survey of 365 economists who are experts on the economics of climate change. To qualify as such an expert, an economist had to publish an article related to climate change in a highly ranked, peer-reviewed economics or environmental economics journal since 1994.

Heres the key finding: Economic experts believe that climate change will begin to have a net negative impact on the global economy very soon  the median estimate was by 2025, with 41 percent saying that climate change is already negatively affecting the economy.

Fifty percent of these experts are so convinced that significant economic damage looms on the horizon that they advocate immediate and drastic action. Another 43 percent believe that some action should be taken now. So, nearly all economic experts on climate change surveyed advocate at least some government action to combat the menace.

Among the sectors these experts fear will lose because of climate change are agriculture, fishing, utilities, forestry, tourism and health services.

To recommend government action, of course, is to recommend that government spend mostly other peoples money, or that it restrict mostly other peoples options, in pursuit of the proposed solution to a problem (be that problem true or trumped up). Yet, the ability of experts to stake mostly other peoples property and lives on a proposed solution encourages those experts to be careless when recommending policies. After all, none of these experts is personally bearing the brunt of the costs of the recommendations.

So to probe the seriousness of these economic experts stated beliefs about the impending consequences of climate change, its fair to ask if they personally put their own money where their mouths are. How many of these economists are, for example:

 Buying land in the upper Midwest and inland Canada (the price of which will rise significantly if global temperatures make much of the South, as well as coastal areas, quite unpleasant places to live)?

 Investing in pharmaceutical companies that own patents that extend beyond 2025 on medicines to treat illnesses that are especially prevalent in the tropics and subtropics?

 Shorting shares of companies that specialize in attracting tourists to subtropical and tropical destinations, especially those on or near seacoasts?
Follow us on eyewitness account when the bacha khan university came under attack

Peshawar: Ayat Ibrahim was entering the South Block of the Bacha Khan University on Wednesday morning when she heard the first of the gunshots and huge blasts.

Initially, the student, in her late 20s, had no idea that the university, named after the iconic Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, was under terrorist attack.

It took only a few seconds for Ibrahim to realise the horrific truth.

"I saw people screaming and running here and there, and people sprawled on the ground," the traumatized student told IANS in a telephonic interview from Peshawar.

Authorities would later blame the carnage that left 20 people, including students, dead on the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which is at war with the Pakistani state. The TTP too claimed responsibility.

"I couldn't understand what was going on... And I could not see my friend who I had come to see," she said.

The attackers, four in all, opened indiscriminate fire at anyone and everyone they came across. They also hurled grenades, killing or wounding those trying to escape the bloodbath.

There were some 3,000 students and staff in the university at the time of the attack besides about 600 guests.

They had gathered in the campus for a poetry recital to commemorate the anniversary of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, popularly known as Bacha Khan.

Ibrahim was stunned but did what many other students did at the spur of the moment - she ran towards the university buses parked in the vicinity.

As the buses began to fill up, the drivers drove away the vehicles out of the campus at top speed, saving numerous lives.

Ibrahim told IANS that she had no idea how many people had been killed. But she guessed it would be a large number.

Soldiers rushed to the university and engaged the terrorists, triggering gun battles that lasted over five hours.

They managed to kill all four attackers. But by then, the university -- set up in July 2012 -- was badly battered with 20 students, academics and other employees dead and dozens wounded.

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Follow us on india nepal bangladesh and bhutan agree to discuss rail project

Dhaka: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal have agreed to begin discussions on the possibility of having a rail network connecting the four SAARC countries to improve connectivity and regional trade.

The discussions were held during the two-day third Joint Working Group (JWG) meetings on Sub-Regional Cooperation on Water Resources Management and Power/Hydropower and on Connectivity and Transit that ended here yesterday.

The four countries - Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN) - also agreed to give special attention to the construction of land ports and land customs stations, crucial for sub-regional trade and transit, the Daily Star reported.

It was also decided to constitute an expert group for exchanging best practices in water resources management and on specifics of the identified projects, power trade, inter grid connectivity, flood forecasting and other areas of possible cooperation.

The JWG on Water Resources Management carried forward the discussions held earlier on the scope for power trade and inter-grid connectivity cooperation in future power projects and water resources management between the four South Asian countries.

Specific hydropower projects under BBIN framework that could be concretised on equitable basis were discussed, said the Bangladesh foreign ministry said in a statement.

The JWG on Connectivity and Transit reviewed progress under the BBIN and made recommendations relevant to this process.

The next meeting of the JWG will be held in the second half of this year in India.

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Follow us on india s mi 35 helicopters ready for 1st battle in afghanistan

Kabul: Afghanistan today said three of the four multirole Mi-35 helicopters that India donated to it last month have been assembled and are now fully operational to combat terrorism in the war-torn country.

According to the Defense Ministry, the helicopters will be used in the ongoing Helmand battle for the first time.

"We have always been helped by India. The helicopters donated by India to Afghanistan have been assembled and will help us fight terrorists," Tolo news agency quoted Ghulam Sakhi Ahmadzai, deputy chief of procurement of the Defense Ministry, as saying.

Thanking India for its cooperation, air force commander Abdul Wahab Wardak said help from regional and global countries was crucial for bringing peace and stability to the country.

"The [Indian) helicopters are very suitable for the climate and the location of the country and they can give further morale to the security forces in their operations against terrorists," he said.

"As we are helped by India and the US we need the same cooperation from other countries because the Taliban, Daesh and al-Qaeda are not only the enemy for Afghanistan but [the enemy of] any country in the world," Wardek said.

Meanwhile, India's Defense Attache in Kabul Sujit Narain said that he was happy that the helicopters are operational for the Afghan Air Force.

"We consider Afghanistan as our close friend and we will further help this country," Narain said.

The Three helicopters were handed over to Afghanistan during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Kabul in December last year, the fourth helicopter is expected to be delivered soon.

Latest World News
Follow us on at least 21 dead in terror attack at bacha khan university

Peshawar: In yet another horrible attack on students, Taliban militants today stormed Bacha Khan University in Pakistan which resulted in the death of at least 25 people majority of whom were students of the university.

The exact number of causalities, however, are yet to be announced officially.

At least 25 people were killed and about 50 others injured today after heavily-armed Taliban militants stormed a prestigious university and opened indiscriminate fire on students and teachers in Pakistan's restive northwest Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

The gunmen entered the Bacha Khan University in Charsadda district of the province, some 50 kms southwest of Peshawar, and opened fire on students and teachers in classrooms and hostels, media reports said.

Blasts and heavy gunfire were heard from inside the University campus.

Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf Party leader and provincial lawmaker Shaukat Yousafzai said that 25 people, including a professor, were killed and around 50 others injured in the terrorist attack on the University this morning.

The injured were shifted to hospital. An emergency has been declared in all hospitals in the town. All schools have been closed in the area.

Yousafzai said between four to 10 attackers were involved in attack. "Such cowardice attack could not shake the resolve of the Government in the fight against terrorism," he said.

Soon after the attack, a large contingent of security forces rushed to the site and started evacuating students.

Pakistan Army troops also rushed to the University from Peshawar and started operation.

Army spokesman Lt Gen Asim Salim Bajwa tweeted that four terrorists were killed during operation launched by security forces to clear the University.

"Snipers killed 2 more terrorists on roof top, total Terrorist killed so far 4. All buildings & roof top taken over by Army...," he tweeted. "Clearance of university block by block continues by Army troops."

Earlier, two terrorists who were firing from inside the university block were shot and killed by the army. The terrorists were contained in two blocks within the university and troops, commandos are participating in the operation.

Surveillance operation has been completed.

Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed the responsibility for the attack, the Express Tribune reported.

Citing intelligence sources, media reports said the terrorists are between 18 and 25 years old.

University Chancellor Dr Fazal Rahim said there are over 3,000 students present inside the university along with an additional 600 guests who are present for a poetic symposium to mark the death anniversary of Khudai Khidmatgar Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan alias Baacha Khan who died on January 20, 1988.

Rahim said four guards of university and one policeman were killed in attack.

Geo TV reported that Professor Hamid Hussain of chemistry department was also among dead.

"A teacher of the varsity after evacuation said Chairman Chemistry Department Hamid has been martyred by the firing of the militants," it said, adding the terrorists barged into Hamid's room and fired at his head, killing him instantly.

(With PTI inputs)

Video:

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Follow us on aap government proposes independent tv channel for delhi assembly

New Delhi: Taking cue from the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha TV channels, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi is in process to start an independent TV channel to telecast the proceedings of Vidhan Sabha.

The government has issued a notification seeking hiring of consultant to launch the channel. The project is expected to cost Rs 100 crore.

"The Delhi Assembly proposes to set up an independent television channel. For this purpose applications are invited for the position of Consultant (Television Project) on purely contractual basis from professionals fulfilling the eligibility conditions for the position for an initial period of three months extendable to a maximum period of six months subject to exigencies," the notification, published on the website of Delhi Assembly, reads.

To start a new TV channel, Information and Broadcasting Ministry permission is mandatory under the Cable Television Network (Regulation) Amendment Act, 2011. However, reports say, I&B has not granted permission to the AAP government.

Last year, Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel had written a letter to I&B Minister Arun Jaitley seeking permission to launch Vidhan Sabha's own TV channel.

"The channel would be wholly owned and operated by the Legislative Assembly on the lines of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha TV," he had written.

A senior AAP leader said that main idea of a TV channel is to ensure people know what their elected representatives are doing in the House.

Earlier, I&B ministry had turned down a similar request from the West Bengal government and Punjab government, which wanted to set up their independent TV channel.
Follow us on arvind kejriwal appears before mumbai court in 2014 rally case

Mumbai: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today appeared in a court here in connection with a case for allegedly holding a rally without required permission during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls

On December 9 last year, the Kurla court had granted Kejriwal permanent exemption from appearance in the case. However, Magistrate Richa Khedekar had directed the AAP leader to appear today for furnishing a bail bond.

The magistrate today allowed the Delhi CM to leave after his aide Satish Jain stood as his surety.

The rally in Mankhurd was held to campaign for AAP candidates Meera Sanyal and Medha Patkar, which the Mumbai Police has claimed was "unscheduled" and held without priorrequisite permissions from traffic police following which a complaint was filed against Kejriwal and others in March 2014.

Kejriwal had approached the Bombay High Court seeking quashing of the FIR and exemption from appearing before the Kurla metropolitan magistrate.

But the HC asked him to appear befofore the magistrate and seek permanent exemption from appearance from that court.

The court said that Rs 450 crore for setting up CCTVs was less than the cost of building a mall and observed that human life appears to be cheap.

It suggested to Delhi Police to "not be in tandem" with the Centre on this issue and to instead "function independently".

The bench said Delhi Police has to be "more aggressive" in its approach to this problem and added, "If you go along with the Centre nothing will happen."

"This is an important issue, but we think it is being taken too lightly," the court said.

Senior advocate Chetan Sharma and Special Public Prosecutor Shailendra Babbar, appearing for Delhi Police, assured the court that they would independently look into the issue.

The Centre had recently filed an affidavit indicating that it has sanctioned 4,227 posts in Delhi Police for the purpose of separating criminal investigation from maintaining law and order.

The Centre had said these posts would be operationalised in two phases, half in 2016-17 and rest in 2017-18 after a review of the scheme.

The court had made it clear that these additional personnel, once recruited, would be used for crime investigation only.

It had earlier also expressed annoyance at the Centre's delay in sanctioning additional police for the city.

The court was hearing a PIL initiated by it after the December 16, 2012 gangrape incident in which it has been giving directions on the issues of appointing more police personnel, setting up additional forensic labs and a victim compensation fund.
Follow us on congress demand on gst rate in statute preposterous jaitley

Davos: There seems to be no let up in the war between the ruling government and the Congress party over the Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill.

In the latest salvo over the Congress' objections to the proposed tax, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today described as preposterous the party's demand for putting a cap on tax rate in the Constitution Bill and tariffs are not mentioned in the statute anywhere in the world.

"Three new propositions are now raised (by Congress) including a preposterous one that tariff must be mentioned in Constitution of India. Now if they can tell me that anywhere else in the world this happens that tariffs are mentioned in Constitution.

"So every time there is a drought, flood and you need to increase the tax rate, you have to first go to all states in India to change the tax rate. This is something which is just not possible," he said.

Jaitley said no tariff can ever be perpetual. "When the volumes go up it will come down, in crisis it may go up. And therefore the concept of cap didn't strike either of your two finance ministers when your government was in power.

"Now if you are wiser just because you are in opposition, the situation has changed. What you have proposed on the file (during P Chidambaram's tenure) I am quite willing to accept that," he said during a panel discussion.



Jaitely, however, added that GST is certainly going to come.

"GST is certainly going to come. I have already conveyed to Congress leaders that I am willing to go to the states for the one per cent thing. I have privately conveyed that and I have no hesitation in admitting that publicly," he said.

On dispute resolution also, Congress should check what P Chidambaram had proposed (as the then Finance Minister). If the Congress party has turned wiser now, then......" Jaitley said leaving the audience in a peel of laughter.

(With inputs from PTI)
Follow us on court slams cbi over raid at kejriwal s office aap wants apology from modi

New Delhi: A trial court in the capital on Wednesday came down heavily upon CBI stating it cannot be clothed with divine powers, and directed the agency to return the original documents seized by it during a raid conducted at the office of Rajendra Kumar, Principal Secretary.

Special Judge Ajay Kumar Jain said the CBI cannot retain the documents in the garb of the argument that investigation is in progress without whisperingin what manner they are related to the present case.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday demanded an explanation from the PMO for the raid at Delhi Secretariat on the ground that it reports to the Prime Minister, on a day a city court directed CBI to return to the AAP government documents seized in the raid.

Lashing out at CBI, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia even demanded an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging that the "politically-motivated" action was carried out at his behest to defame the Chief Minister's Office. Sources said the Delhi government is contemplating to move court seeking "strict action" against the CBI officers who were part of the raid at the Delhi Secretariat on December 15.

Claiming that the court order is vindication of Delhi government's stand on the raid, Sisodia demanded that there should be action against CBI officers who were part of the raid.

"The Prime Minister should apologise to the country for the politically-motivated raid. Action should also be taken against the officers who misled the PM and raided Kejriwal's office and took wrong files from there. The raid was to defame the office of Chief Minister."

Earlier, CBI came under a scathing attack from the city court which directed it to return documents sought by the Delhi government seized during recent raids on the office of Kejriwal's principal secretary Rajendra Kumar, saying the agency "cannot be clothed with divine powers" to flout its own rules.

"From the day one, we have been repeatedly saying that the CBI's raid was politically motivated. With the court order today, it has been proved now. The court has also observed that this raid was at the CM's office. In court, CBI failed to prove the connection between allegations relating to an issue from 2007 to 2013 to the files of 2015-16 based on which they carried out the raid," Sisodia said.

He claimed the files CBI had seized included those belonging to IT, Food & Supply and Transport Departments besides the In and Out registers of CMO and some files relating to transfer and postings.
Follow us on delhi court dismisses criminal complaint against kejriwal

New Delhi: A court in Delhi has dismissed a criminal complaint against Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal which was filed in Febuary 2015, when he led his Aam Aadmi Party to a sweeping win in the Delhi assembly elections. The complaint alleged that Kejriwal had asked voters to take bribes from other parties but vote for his AAP in elections.

Metropolitan Magistrate Babru Bhan dismissed the plea seeking prosecution of Kejriwal, saying that no offence was made out against him.

"The accused (Kejriwal) has not offered any gratification to the voters (to vote) in favour of his party. He has merely stated that allurements are generally offered by some parties, if offered this time; do not refuse the same but vote in favour of his party.

"He himself has not offered any gratification in lieu of casting votes in favour of his party," magistrate Bhan said in his Monday order.

The complaint was filed by Ikrant Sharma, who alleged that Kejriwal by making such a statement violated the model code of conduct and instigated the public to accept bribes from politicians.

However, as per the order by Magistrate Babru Bhan, the complaint had presented the entire matter in a twisted manner which is certainly not true.
Follow us on kejriwal meets agitating students attacks irani for caste politics

Hyderabad: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today visited Hyderabad and met students protesting at Hyderabad Central University in the backdrop of the suicide of Rohith Vemula.

Terming the suicide of a Dalit research scholar at the premier institute a "national shame", Kejriwal tore into the Centre for trying to indulge in "casteist politics".

Coming out all guns blazing against HRD Minister Smriti Irani, AAP leader while addressing the agitating students here said her statement yesterday about Rohith Vemula's death as well as subsequent agitation by university's students was a clear attempt to make it a caste issue for which she must apologise.

"Rohith was a very bright student. He was Dalit but he did not come from reserved quota, he came on merit. When such bright students have to commit suicide, I think it is a shame on the entire nation and society," he said.

Demanding immediate sacking of the university's Vice Chancellor, Kejriwal said Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya's letter to HRD Msinister Smriti Irani seeking action against Ambedkar Students Association was an example of coming to judgement before enquiring about the issue.

"It is shameful that a responsible minister without inquiring into the facts has already concluded that Ambedkar Students Association is casteist. He mentioned three words about the students -- anti-national, casteist and extremist," said Kejriwal.

He said the students were considered innocent till Dattatreya intervened.

Kejriwal said anyone who discusses Ambedkar's thoughts can never be casteist and anti-national, saying there can be "nothing more national than that".

Kejriwal accused Irani of misleading the country on theissue saying "attempts are being made to paint it as a caste issue. Irani must apologise for trying to indulge in casteist politics."

He further said "her statement was disgraceful. She spoke lies after lies. She was even trying to create confusion over his (Rohith) caste."

Irani had yesterday alleged that a malicious attempt was being made to project it as a "dalit versus non-dalit issue to ignite passions" for political gains and strongly refuted allegations of interference or putting pressure on university authority to take action against the dalit students.

Expressing solidarity with the students, Kejriwal said the whole country was with them and that whatever is needed will be done to ensure justice to them.

The Delhi Chief Minister said he offered to sit on a dharna to press for VC's sacking but the students have asked him not to do so as now the fight is to ensure justice to Vemula.

(With PTI inputs)
Follow us on madrassas should be barred from teaching in urdu arabic shiv sena

Mumbai: Asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take a cue from UK government's warning that migrants on spousal visas who fail to speak English may face deportation, Shiv Sena today said madrassas in India should be barred from using Urdu and Arabic as medium of instruction and they should be replaced with English and Hindi.

The ruling ally also took a swipe at PM and his ministerial colleagues, saying while they might succeed in getting investments into the country by touring other nations, from where would the courage come to fight enemies within the country.

The party also said that the government should show courage and bring in the Uniform Civil Code and start the construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya.

"The British government is not wrong in thinking that Islamic State militants use uneducated Muslim women to propagate their ideas. Prime Minister Narendra Modi should take cues from the British government...," the Sena said in an editorial in its mouthpiece 'Saamana'.

"India will benefit if the government can show courage like British Prime Minister David Cameron and bar madrassas from teaching in Urdu and Arabic and instead impart education in English and Hindi languages," it opined.

Notably, the UK government had recently warned that migrants on spousal visas who fail to speak English may face deportation, as it announced a new 20 million pound fund to improve the language skills among migrant Muslim women.

"Not only our PM, but other ministers and politicians keep visiting foreign nations and talk of bringing industries, trade, talent, culture to India. We will eventually succeed in it, but from where we will get the courage to fight the enemies within the country," the Sena asked.

Cameron yesterday unveiled plans for tougher new English language requirements to prevent segregation of members of the Muslim community.

New rules will mean that from October this year migrants coming to the UK on a five-year spousal visa with poor or no English skills will have to take a test after two and a half years to show they are making efforts to improve their English.
Follow us on nitish kumar keeps election promise approves 35 job reservation for women

Patna: Fulfilling a key election promise, the Nitish Kumar government on Tuesday gave the green signal to 35 per cent reservation for women in state government jobs.

"Decision was taken of reservation for women in all government jobs including reserved and unreserved category. There will now be provision for 35 per cent reservation to women in all kinds of government jobs," an official in the CM's office said.

The decision marked Nitish's first big step in this direction in nearly 10 years after unveiling 50 per cent reservation for women in panchayat and local body polls in 2006.

During campaigning for the Bihar assembly polls last year, Nitish, who was chief ministerial candidate of the Grand Alliance of JD(U), RJD and and Congress, had promised 35 per cent reservation for women in all government jobs if he formed a government again.

Soon after being sworn-in as CM in November last year, Nitish had reiterated his stand to provide 35 per cent reservation for women. He had also recalled that the state government was already providing 35 per cent reservation for women in recruitment as police constables and sub-inspectors and 50 per cent reservation as primary school teachers and in the Panchayati Raj system.

According to socio-political analysts here, a large number of women cutting across caste and religion had voted for Nitish in the last assembly polls.

In fact women voters outnumbered male voters in the five-phase Bihar assembly polls. They have emerged as a prominent vote bank - more powerful than the youth and caste factor in the state.

Experts said this was a result of several schemes initiated by Nitish for women's empowerment including 50 per cent posts in Panchayati Raj elections and primary school teachers' recruitment for women and 35 percent of all police jobs for women.

The government's scheme to promote education among girls by providing them free cycles has increased school enrolment in rural areas.

The Cabinet yesterday also gave the go-ahead to rules paving way for the Right to Public Grievances Redressal Bill, which is likely to be implemented in May, a target set by the Chief Minister.
Follow us on order fresh polls if you can t be cm omar abdullah s open letter to mehbooba mufti

New Delhi: Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has asked PDP president Mehbooba Mufti to recommend dissolution of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly for conduct of fresh elections in the state if she is "unable or unwilling" to assume the responsibility as Chief Minister.

In an open letter to Mehbooba Mufti, the National Conference leader said "to dilly-dally is the biggest disservice you can do" to people of the state as they should not be denied an elected government.

"If you are unable or unwilling to assume the responsibilities that are being placed on your shoulders, then you must do your duty to the people, recommend to His Excellency The Governor to dissolve the Assembly, and let the people make a fresh decision in an election," he said.

Omar said Mehbooba's reluctance to step up and take charge meant that in less than a year, the state had to be placed under central rule again.

"No state should be denied an elected government, but I took some consolation from the belief, alas mistaken, that central rule would be a short-lived affair and you would take over after the four days of mourning," he said.

The working president of National Conference said the people of the state had a number of expectations.

"The flood victims expected to see a bigger flood relief package; industry expected to see the return of power projects; contractors expected to see more money for development; and unemployed youngsters expected to see more jobs. Civil society was heartened to read that you were negotiating to ensure that divisive issues like the attack on our flag and threat to our special constitutional status would end," he said.

Omar said the PDP president cannot blame the people for expecting to see all this happen. "Of course you can't, because this was part of the information being fed to us from people around you".

He said Mehbooba's silence resulted in others from her party rushing in to fill the void.

"People close to you, or pretending to be close to you, started to spin your reluctance as a negotiating tactic. It was made known that the alliance was teetering on the brink of an abyss. The Agenda for Alliance, the final policy document bequeathed to you by Mufti Sahib, had been ignored by your allies and you were angry. We were told that you would not takeover unless you had firm assurances from no lesser person than the Prime Minister. That unless parts of it were implemented immediately, you would walk away from the alliance with the BJP," he added.

Commenting on the PDP core group meeting on Sunday, Omar said the people of the state were expecting some announcements but it appears it "will be business as usual when the business of governing resumes".

Omar asked Mehbooba what she was waiting for when her party's alliance with the BJP stands and no fresh negotiations are taking place.

"So why is the state under central rule? What are you waiting for, Mehbooba?"

He said she should "either rise to the occasion or else step back. The people of the state cannot be expected to wait for you to make up your mind."
Follow us on dalit scholar suicide politicians throng hyderabad kejriwal to visit today

Hyderabad: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will visit Hyderabad today to meet the family of the Dalit research scholar who committed suicide, an official told IANS.

AAP leaders Ashish Khetan and Ashish Talwar reached Hydrabad on Thursday to meet protesting students there.

Kejriwal had on Wednesday demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi sack HRD Minister Smriti Irani, Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya and apologise to the nation over the suicide by the Dalit student, questioning their interference in the internal affairs of the institution.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi visited the university on Tuesday, he accused that Union Ministers and the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hyderabad were not being fair, thus forcing Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula to commit suicide.

Meanwhile, BSP chief Mayawati has demanded legal action against Union Ministers Smriti Irani and Bandaru Dattatreya over the alleged suicide of a Dalit research scholar in Hyderabad Central University. She also demanded the same action against the HCU Vice-Chancellor Appa Rao.

Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani said there was a "malicious attempt to project it as a caste battle". Another central minister, Bandaru Dattatreya, insisted he did not influence the university to suspend Rohith Vemula - who killed himself - and four other students.

"There has been a malicious attempt to project the issue as a caste battle. The truth is that, it is not," Irani told the media in New Delhi, in her first reaction to the raging row.

The Joint Action Committee (JAC) for social justice, an umbrella of student groups, continue its protest at the university that remained shut. The protesters have vowed not to allow classes till Vice Chancellor Appa Rao resigns and justice is done to Rohith's family.

A two-member committee sent by the human resource development ministry continued its probe for a second consecutive day.

Minister of State for Labour Dattareya, who represents Secunderabad in the Lok Sabha, clarified that he did not put pressure on the university to suspend any student.

He said he merely forwarded two representations he got from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) to the human resource development ministry.

Dattatreya extended his heartfelt condolences to Rohith's family.

Rohith Vemula ended his life on Sunday in the University of Hyderabad after his suspension following an alleged clash with a leader of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, which is affiliated to the RSS.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi visited the university on Tuesday
Follow us on malda violence rajnath tears into mamata govt says nobody safe in wb

Kolkata: Home Minister Rajnath Singh today launched a scathing attack on the Trinamool Congress (TMC)-led West Bengal government in the state over the recent incident of mob violence in Malda, flaying the government for failing to take appropriate action against the culprits.

Addressing a public rally in Ashok Nagar in Barasat, the Union minister said that it was the duty of the chief minister Mamata Banerjee to find out who was responsible for the Malda violence.

Angry crowds had burnt down the Kaliachak police station and set several vehicles on fire. "The Trinamool Congress government and West Bengal chief minister should make it clear who is responsible for the incident," Rajnath Singh said.

"I assure the people that whoever is responsible for the Malda violence will be exposed. The West Bengal government cannot deny responsibility for Malda incident," he added.

The Home minister said that the Malda violence was a clear indication of the deteriorating law and order in the state and also cast aspersions on the intent of the government to bring the guilty to book. Malda violence was not a small incident. Who plotted it? Was the administration not aware of a procession so huge? Were senior police officials not deputed for the procession? he said.

They (the mob) had the courage to burn down a police station and even attempt to kidnap a BSF official. Is there an attempt to save those who attacked a BSF official? the Home minister added.

In a dig at West Bengal chief minister for the declining law and order situation, Rajnath said, "Aaj West Bengal mein koi surakshit nahi, na maa, na maati na manush. Yahan tak ki police wale bhi surakshit nahi (No one is safe in Bengal, not even the state police)," Rajnath Singh said.

During his address, Rajnath also touched upon rising Bangladeshi infiltration into the state and smuggling. "It is the BSF which has given the most befitting response to infiltrators from neighbouring countries. We are doing our best to secure the Bangladesh border entirely. The entire India-Bangladesh border will be fenced," he said.

Speaking on the declassification of Netaji files, Rajnath said, "Let me assure you that we are waiting for the mystery to unravel. PM Modi has promised to declassify all the files on January 23," he said.
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Carlo Neri exposed as an undercover police officer Carlo Neri, who was active in socialist and anti-racist circles in the 2000s has been exposed as being an undercover officer. A detailed investigation by the Undercover Research Group turned up the necessary document that confirmed the suspicions of his former comrades and partners. Full details at http://undercoverresearch.net/2016/01/18/how-we-proved-carlo-neri-was-an-undercover-police-officer/ with profile





Another #spycop exposed: Carlo Neri confirmed as an undercover



Today we can reveal that Carlo Neri, who was active in the Socialist Party between 2001 and 2005, was in reality an undercover police officer in London, mostly likely deployed by the Special Demonstration Squad.



We have been working on this case since last summer, after people who knew him came to us with their suspicions. Following a long and sometimes winding investigation we were able to identify his real name, and to locate documentation that had his occupation down as police officer at the time he was undercover.



The story goes live today on Newsnight[1] and in The Guardian[2]. The Undercover Research Group presents an in-depth profile detailing Neri, his tour of duty, his relationships and the activities he was involved in.[3]



This expose could not have been done without the efforts of Carlos former friends and partners. We salute their efforts in bringing this grim truth to the public scrutiny it deserves. Carlo systematically used people and betrayed trust; he deliberately sought out relationships as part of his cover. We hope in exposing him that some resolution can be found.



This blog post has  for the first time  a detailed account of our investigation. Yet again, the people affected by undercovers in their lives had to go through the painful process of uncovering the truth. Something that could have been avoided if the Pitchford Inquiry would release the list of cover names of undercovers from the Special Demonstration Squad.



Go to the Carlo Neri profile

How we proved Carlo Neri was an undercover police officer



Donal ODriscoll / Undercover Research Group



Last summer we started to hear rumours that some people suspected a former friend, one Carlo Neri, might have been an undercover officer. It is not uncommon to hear this. More often than not, the fears are baseless, rooted in something else. Yet, we knew these people by reputation as sensible folk. Mutual friends said we should be talking to each other, so I got an email asking for a meeting. It was the start of a roller-coaster ride that cumulated in todays joint expose in The Guardian and Newsnight.



Over the last few years our profiling of known undercovers had given us a check list of what to look for (now written up as our Fifteen Questions article). So when I went to that basement room to meet two of Carlo Neris former comrades, I had a good idea of what to look for.



Now, normally in this kind of investigations, it is I who has to ask the questions, but they came well prepared. Theyd already started testing the waters to see if their fears around invisible Carlo were justified. Like all undercovers before him, he had mysteriously disappeared from the scene after several years devoted to activism. This was the next step for them, they wanted to know if it was worth proceeding.



Carlo NeriI listened to their account, read the assembled emails and mentally ticked off each item on the check-list. There was no doubt in my mind that they had a strong case, as uncomfortable as it was. The question was whether we could turn it into something concrete, to confirm the dark fear that a fellow activist, former friend, house mate and in several cases a lover, was not who he had claimed to be.



Over the next couple of months I spoke to a number of people who knew him, mining their memories for the smallest of details. We know from experience that new avenues of investigation can come from such minute points. Slowly I assembled the account of his life among his friends. I walked the places he had walked, checking out the various addresses he had lived at to get a feel for him.



I spoke to Andrea (not her real name) about her relationship with him and more material came out. She had been to Mark Thomas show Cuckoo on his experiences of targeted by someone he had considered a close friend, and she walked out of it with one thought  Carlo was not who he had said he was.



Others who had known him reacted in different ways, with different emotions. That is to be expected, but a common theme was wanting to know that he was not an undercover, that their fears were unfounded. Some would have been happy to see him walk through the door and explain everything away. And there was room for doubt.



By September / October I was sure we were still on the right track though. My colleague Eveline agreed. But still, we needed proof.



One way of getting there was trying to ascertain that he was a real person who had just moved on from the activist period in his life and did not feel like keeping in touch with his old buddies. An important crack in that scenario was the ongoing relationship with Beth, which had started before he had vanished from activist circles, and which was continuing as we heard from various sources. On the surface it seemed to indicate that Carlo Neri was a genuine identity, though when we tried to confirm Neri indeed was his name there were signs that something was not right. We could not find any records for the two of them after they had moved away. Since other undercovers have used fellow cops to create the impression of they were in a relationship, we could not rule out that this was happening here as well. It meant we would continue our investigation.



Further research let us to one officer who might have been the undercover we were looking for: a policeman called Carlo with an Italian surname. After a few weeks of nervous waiting, this lead came back negative. Someone we knew had previously been in contact with that particular copper, knew what he looked like and could say it definitively was not the same person. We slumped, more doubt seeped in.



Then came the breakthrough  though it was not immediately clear it was such. A small detail had been overlooked. Registered to the same address as Beth was one Carlo with a different surname; it was not even clear if they overlapped living there at the same time, but with all other avenues closed, it was worth a look.



The surname was an unusual one so we were able to track down his family, and it started to emerge that this Carlo had family members with the same first names that Neri had used when talking about his family. There were some differences, but it soon became apparent that he had simply taken middle names instead, giving us confidence we were on the right track. We found that his sister ran a delicatessen in North London and other aspects fell into place as well. Added up, the stories matched, surprisingly so.



I spoke to Andrea, and sent her websites of members of the family. She rang back  she recognised the people who appeared on those websites from photos that Carlo Neri had out on a shelve in her house when he lived with her. The hunch had paid off and it seemed that we had found our man.



Next to get concreted proof; the details now assembled allowed us to identify the paperwork that needed to be tracked down to provide the final pieces of the jigsaw. I remember getting the phone-call when they arrived, sitting on a bus in a state of shock. Confirmation, as definitive as we were ever going to get at this stage  there in black on white was his name and his occupation listed as police officer.



Carlo Neri



It is a complex set of emotions. The thrill of the chase tempered by knowing that for some it would be pain as the suspicions became a reality and the full implications of that settled in. For others, it was a relief to know definitively. Even though I had never met Carlo (though I had known other undercovers such as Lynn Watson and Mark Kennedy), I could see the impact on people. It is not something we would have wished on anyone, though for many it was as important to know the truth about their missing colleague and friend. If we could have proven he was who he had said he was, that had been an activist, genuine in his beliefs, whose life had simply had moved on, that would have been an outcome easier to accept, a better outcome for those who had known him, but that was not to be the case.



This way, though, people will be able to get the answers they need and perhaps, ultimately, some justice.



There is a lot more to the Carlo story which we have not revealed. Carlo intruded into peoples lives and it is not our desire to expose more than is necessary. We feel deep sympathy not just with those taken in by his lies, but also with his real family. They are also victims in this. We know that the police preferred undercovers who had families, yet so many of them had intimate relationships with other women, co-habiting with those they targeted. Carlo is by far not the only undercover for whom this is the case.



The real responsibility is with those who sent Carlo in and allowed him to actively go looking for relationships. That he was openly lying about being single and asking for people to help him find a partner demonstrates mind-boggling cynicism, not just from him but also of his superiors suggesting, sanctioning and implementing such a bare-faced tactic. Having spent a lot of time speaking to the affected, it is impossible to feel anything but anger.



We hope that this exposure will help them find some resolution, though there are many questions still to be answered. Who decided to deploy him, and who authorised it? Who turned a blind eye to his relationships, or as is increasingly likely as the pattern of other undercovers indicates, encouraged him on such a path?



Exposing Carlo has been the first salvo in a battle for answers to these questions, one we are sure the Metropolitan Police will fight in order to protect their men (it is nearly always men) including those who make the decisions.



Yet again, it has been those affected by undercovers in their lives who have had to go through the painful process of uncovering the truth. I hope Ive given a small flavour of the emotional ride it has been for those involved. Something that could have been avoided if the Metropolitan Police released the list of cover names of undercovers from the Special Demonstration Squad.



We are aware that many people have concerns and suspicions regarding former comrades. If you want to talk them over with us, feel free to get in touch by email (PGP available on request).[4]



Please dont spread rumours about individuals without doing proper background checks.



Notes:

[1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35345802



[2] http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jan/18/police-spy-carlo-neri-woman-sues-psychological-torture



[3] http://powerbase.info/index.php/Carlo_Neri_%28alias%29



[4] http://undercoverresearch.net/contact/ Statement from the Undercover Research GroupAnother #spycop exposed: Carlo Neri confirmed as an undercoverToday we can reveal that Carlo Neri, who was active in the Socialist Party between 2001 and 2005, was in reality an undercover police officer in London, mostly likely deployed by the Special Demonstration Squad.We have been working on this case since last summer, after people who knew him came to us with their suspicions. Following a long and sometimes winding investigation we were able to identify his real name, and to locate documentation that had his occupation down as police officer at the time he was undercover.The story goes live today on Newsnight[1] and in The Guardian[2]. The Undercover Research Group presents an in-depth profile detailing Neri, his tour of duty, his relationships and the activities he was involved in.[3]This expose could not have been done without the efforts of Carlos former friends and partners. We salute their efforts in bringing this grim truth to the public scrutiny it deserves. Carlo systematically used people and betrayed trust; he deliberately sought out relationships as part of his cover. We hope in exposing him that some resolution can be found.This blog post has  for the first time  a detailed account of our investigation. Yet again, the people affected by undercovers in their lives had to go through the painful process of uncovering the truth. Something that could have been avoided if the Pitchford Inquiry would release the list of cover names of undercovers from the Special Demonstration Squad.Go to the Carlo Neri profileHow we proved Carlo Neri was an undercover police officerDonal ODriscoll / Undercover Research GroupLast summer we started to hear rumours that some people suspected a former friend, one Carlo Neri, might have been an undercover officer. It is not uncommon to hear this. More often than not, the fears are baseless, rooted in something else. Yet, we knew these people by reputation as sensible folk. Mutual friends said we should be talking to each other, so I got an email asking for a meeting. It was the start of a roller-coaster ride that cumulated in todays joint expose in The Guardian and Newsnight.Over the last few years our profiling of known undercovers had given us a check list of what to look for (now written up as our Fifteen Questions article). So when I went to that basement room to meet two of Carlo Neris former comrades, I had a good idea of what to look for.Now, normally in this kind of investigations, it is I who has to ask the questions, but they came well prepared. Theyd already started testing the waters to see if their fears around invisible Carlo were justified. Like all undercovers before him, he had mysteriously disappeared from the scene after several years devoted to activism. This was the next step for them, they wanted to know if it was worth proceeding.Carlo NeriI listened to their account, read the assembled emails and mentally ticked off each item on the check-list. There was no doubt in my mind that they had a strong case, as uncomfortable as it was. The question was whether we could turn it into something concrete, to confirm the dark fear that a fellow activist, former friend, house mate and in several cases a lover, was not who he had claimed to be.Over the next couple of months I spoke to a number of people who knew him, mining their memories for the smallest of details. We know from experience that new avenues of investigation can come from such minute points. Slowly I assembled the account of his life among his friends. I walked the places he had walked, checking out the various addresses he had lived at to get a feel for him.I spoke to Andrea (not her real name) about her relationship with him and more material came out. She had been to Mark Thomas show Cuckoo on his experiences of targeted by someone he had considered a close friend, and she walked out of it with one thought  Carlo was not who he had said he was.Others who had known him reacted in different ways, with different emotions. That is to be expected, but a common theme was wanting to know that he was not an undercover, that their fears were unfounded. Some would have been happy to see him walk through the door and explain everything away. And there was room for doubt.By September / October I was sure we were still on the right track though. My colleague Eveline agreed. But still, we needed proof.One way of getting there was trying to ascertain that he was a real person who had just moved on from the activist period in his life and did not feel like keeping in touch with his old buddies. An important crack in that scenario was the ongoing relationship with Beth, which had started before he had vanished from activist circles, and which was continuing as we heard from various sources. On the surface it seemed to indicate that Carlo Neri was a genuine identity, though when we tried to confirm Neri indeed was his name there were signs that something was not right. We could not find any records for the two of them after they had moved away. Since other undercovers have used fellow cops to create the impression of they were in a relationship, we could not rule out that this was happening here as well. It meant we would continue our investigation.Further research let us to one officer who might have been the undercover we were looking for: a policeman called Carlo with an Italian surname. After a few weeks of nervous waiting, this lead came back negative. Someone we knew had previously been in contact with that particular copper, knew what he looked like and could say it definitively was not the same person. We slumped, more doubt seeped in.Then came the breakthrough  though it was not immediately clear it was such. A small detail had been overlooked. Registered to the same address as Beth was one Carlo with a different surname; it was not even clear if they overlapped living there at the same time, but with all other avenues closed, it was worth a look.The surname was an unusual one so we were able to track down his family, and it started to emerge that this Carlo had family members with the same first names that Neri had used when talking about his family. There were some differences, but it soon became apparent that he had simply taken middle names instead, giving us confidence we were on the right track. We found that his sister ran a delicatessen in North London and other aspects fell into place as well. Added up, the stories matched, surprisingly so.I spoke to Andrea, and sent her websites of members of the family. She rang back  she recognised the people who appeared on those websites from photos that Carlo Neri had out on a shelve in her house when he lived with her. The hunch had paid off and it seemed that we had found our man.Next to get concreted proof; the details now assembled allowed us to identify the paperwork that needed to be tracked down to provide the final pieces of the jigsaw. I remember getting the phone-call when they arrived, sitting on a bus in a state of shock. Confirmation, as definitive as we were ever going to get at this stage  there in black on white was his name and his occupation listed as police officer.Carlo NeriIt is a complex set of emotions. The thrill of the chase tempered by knowing that for some it would be pain as the suspicions became a reality and the full implications of that settled in. For others, it was a relief to know definitively. Even though I had never met Carlo (though I had known other undercovers such as Lynn Watson and Mark Kennedy), I could see the impact on people. It is not something we would have wished on anyone, though for many it was as important to know the truth about their missing colleague and friend. If we could have proven he was who he had said he was, that had been an activist, genuine in his beliefs, whose life had simply had moved on, that would have been an outcome easier to accept, a better outcome for those who had known him, but that was not to be the case.This way, though, people will be able to get the answers they need and perhaps, ultimately, some justice.There is a lot more to the Carlo story which we have not revealed. Carlo intruded into peoples lives and it is not our desire to expose more than is necessary. We feel deep sympathy not just with those taken in by his lies, but also with his real family. They are also victims in this. We know that the police preferred undercovers who had families, yet so many of them had intimate relationships with other women, co-habiting with those they targeted. Carlo is by far not the only undercover for whom this is the case.The real responsibility is with those who sent Carlo in and allowed him to actively go looking for relationships. That he was openly lying about being single and asking for people to help him find a partner demonstrates mind-boggling cynicism, not just from him but also of his superiors suggesting, sanctioning and implementing such a bare-faced tactic. Having spent a lot of time speaking to the affected, it is impossible to feel anything but anger.We hope that this exposure will help them find some resolution, though there are many questions still to be answered. Who decided to deploy him, and who authorised it? Who turned a blind eye to his relationships, or as is increasingly likely as the pattern of other undercovers indicates, encouraged him on such a path?Exposing Carlo has been the first salvo in a battle for answers to these questions, one we are sure the Metropolitan Police will fight in order to protect their men (it is nearly always men) including those who make the decisions.Yet again, it has been those affected by undercovers in their lives who have had to go through the painful process of uncovering the truth. I hope Ive given a small flavour of the emotional ride it has been for those involved. Something that could have been avoided if the Metropolitan Police released the list of cover names of undercovers from the Special Demonstration Squad.We are aware that many people have concerns and suspicions regarding former comrades. If you want to talk them over with us, feel free to get in touch by email (PGP available on request).[4]Please dont spread rumours about individuals without doing proper background checks.Notes:[1][2][3][4] URG

Homepage: http://undercoverresearch.net
Putin 'Probably Approved' Litvinenko Killing: UK Inquiry ========== By Natalia Kolesnikova



January 21, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " AFP " - Russian President Vladimir Putin "probably approved" the killing of ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko in London, a British inquiry into his agonising death by radiation poisoning found Thursday. Litvinenko, a prominent Kremlin critic, died three weeks after drinking tea laced with radioactive polonium at an upmarket London hotel in 2006. Two Russians, Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun, were identified by British police as prime suspects but attempts to extradite the pair have failed. The findings of the 300-page report pile pressure on Britain to act against Russia in response. Home Secretary Theresa May is due to outline the government reaction in a statement to parliament later on Thursday. "The FSB operation to kill Litvinenko was probably approved by Mr (Nikolai) Patrushev and also by President Putin," the report said. Patrushev is a former director of the FSB, the successor organisation to the Soviet-era KGB spy agency, and has been a key security minister since 2008. "I am sure that Mr Lugovoi and Mr Kovtun placed the polonium-210 in the teapot at the Pine Bar on November 1, 2006," judge Robert Owen, the inquiry's chairman, said in the report. Russia dismissed the findings, calling the inquiry "politically motivated". "We had no reason to expect that the final findings of the politically motivated and extremely non-transparent process... would suddenly become objective and unbiased," foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement. Lugovoi, now a lawmaker in Russia, described it as "absurd".

He accused London of "tunnel thinking" and an unwillingness to establish the true cause of Litvinenko's death in comments to news agency Interfax. But Litvinenko's widow Marina, who spent years pushing for a public inquiry to be held, urged Britain to impose sanctions against Russia and a travel ban on Putin. "I'm very pleased that the words my husband spoke on his deathbed when he accused Mr Putin of his murder have been proved true in an English court," she told reporters. - 'Acting for a state body' - Litvinenko, 43, was poisoned in a bar at London's Millennium Hotel by a cup of tea poisoned with polonium-210 -- an extremely expensive radioactive isotope only available in closed nuclear facilities. "The fact that Mr Litvinenko was poisoned with polonium-210 that had been manufactured in a nuclear reactor suggests that Mr Lugovoi and Mr Kovtun were acting for a state body rather than say a criminal organisation," the inquiry report said. Inquiry chairman Robert Owen said that there was "no evidence" to suggest that either Lugovoi or Kovtun had any personal reason to kill Litvinenko and they were likely to be acting under FSB direction. Litvinenko, an ex-KGB agent turned freelance investigator who also worked for British intelligence, accused Putin of ordering his killing in a statement before he died in agony three weeks later on November 23, 2006. Owen said there was "undoubtedly a personal dimension to the antagonism" between Putin and Litvinenko, citing "repeated highly personal attacks" which the former spy made on the Russian president. Litvinenko's killing caused public outrage in Britain after radioactive traces were found at various sites around London. It was dubbed by the media as the world's first act of "nuclear terrorism". Britain's government announced the inquiry in July 2014, just days after the downing of a Malaysian passenger jet over eastern Ukraine -- a tragedy blamed on Russia's involvement in the conflict in the region -- in what was seen as a way of punishing Russia. Litvinenko had fled Russia in 2000 and was granted asylum in Britain, later becoming a British citizen and converting to Islam after befriending exiled Chechen separatist leaders. The report said there was "strong evidence" that he was seen within the FSB as "someone who had betrayed that organisation". He was buried in a London cemetery with Muslim rites in a lead-lined coffin to prevent radiation leakage. =====
China Wades Into The Iran-Saudi Swamp

By Pepe Escobar



January 21, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " RT " - Iran is back with a bang. And what a bang. The simplistic Western narrative rules that after the end of UN, US and EU sanctions  in fact a few still remain in place  Iran is rejoining global markets.

That may be the case  from Tehran clinching a deal to buy 114 planes from Airbus to Iranian oil soon hitting Western markets. But the key question is actually how, at what pace, and with what partners Tehran plans to rejoin global markets.

All the commotion, at the moment, predictably revolves around oil. Irans Deputy Oil Minister for Commerce and International Affairs, Amir Hossein Zamaninia, said the new oil export target is an extra 500,000 barrels a day within a few months. Tehran may indeed boost production by 600,000 barrels a day in six months, and add up to 800,000 barrels a day in output before the end of 2016.

Not even the sharper oil analysts really know what this will mean in terms of an all-out, open market-share battle between Iran and Saudi Arabia. What even some sections of Western corporate media are not buying anymore are Saudi diversionist tactics about their cheap oil strategy  which has been essentially designed to hurt Iran, and Russia.

The fact is Iran is already selling more oil as we speak. Over 1,000 lines of credit have been opened for banks, according to President Hassan Rouhani. Energy-hungry Europeans are predictably going nuts. Even with non-denial denials, the fact is Shell executives, for instance, are already in Tehran, talking about Irans energy potential and solidifying their positioning as Irans prime partner in energy. Meanwhile, Irans oil tankers are already sailing under Lloyds insurance.

Into this frenzy steps in none other than the aspiring New Master of the Universe; Chinese President Xi Jinping, currently on a ultra high-profile Middle East tour of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and, of course, Iran.

This is Beijings cool, calculated way of laterally selling One Belt, One Road  or the New Silk Roads project  by carefully increasing strategic cooperation in the energy sphere.

Take the strategic cooperation agreement signed this Tuesday in Riyadh between Aramco and Chinas Sinopec. It may be worth no more than $1.5 billion, but there will be others in its wake; after all Saudi Arabia, on and off, remains the biggest supplier of crude oil to China.

Yet the really crucial strategic partnership here is Beijing-Tehran.

China has been Irans biggest trade partner since 2010, as well as the top buyer of Iranian crude and non-petroleum products (ore, agriculture) even under UN, US and EU sanctions.

Beijing was active in solidifying the Iranian nuclear deal clinched last July  backing the Russians at the table.

And in a graphic demonstration for the entire world to see, Xi is the first head of state to visit Iran since nuclear-related sanctions were lifted this past weekend.

All this leads to a long-term question: is Iran the new China, in terms of a capitalist development bonanza, and will Iran follow a Chinese-style, centrally controlled, development project from now on?

Whats certain is that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei stressed over and over again that the renewal of negotiations with the US touched only the nuclear issue. And he repeatedly warned about the cultural, political and security consequences of an economic opening that could eventually weaken the Islamic Republic.

So forget about Iran as a US partner. That wont happen. In the West, the privileged partner will be the EU, especially concerning investment in energy and in the sprawling, young, educated, virtually virgin Iranian market. And then, theres Eurasia integration.

Relations with Russia will remain solid  from the need to secure Irans northern frontier to a counterbalance to the American encirclement (which remains in place). Tehran and Moscow still need to solve the status of the Caspian Sea. But both share serious strategic interests in the Caucasus-Caspian-Central Asia arc  from fighting Salafi-jihadism (whose ideological matrix is, who else, Saudi Arabia) to the most crucial categorical imperative; the drive by the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) for a Central Asian security mechanism limiting all Washingtons options.

This means that much sooner rather than later, perhaps in a few months, Iran will become a full-fledged member of the SCO.

It certainly does not hurt that in militarily Iran finally received Russias S-300 missiles, and their political-military coordination is in full effect; see for instance those Russian cruise missiles launched from the Caspian last October against ISIS/ISIL/Daesh traversing Iranian airspace.

In both Syria and Iraq, the Russia-China strategic partnership - as well as Iran - shares the same basic objectives; support for the governments in both Damascus and Baghdad; containment of NATO; and the overall fight against Salafi-jihadism. The same applies to Afghanistan; Iran  and the SCO  will do what it takes to prevent Afghanistan from being a perennial jihadist platform.

And in the Pipelineistan domain, Irans relations with Pakistan tend to stabilize; after all Islamabad badly needs the Iran-Pakistan (IP) pipeline, which will eventually become IPI (reaching India, with which Iran has excellent relations).

And that brings us back once again to the ultimate confrontation; the vicious proxy war between Tehran and the (collapsing) House of Saud on multiple theaters, from Syraq, Bahrain and Yemen to the oil market.

Everything is irreconcilable here. Wahhabism (spawning Salafi-jihadism) against Shiism. A tribal, dynastic, corrupt monarchy against a republic born out of a popular revolution. The weaponized American umbrella over the Persian Gulf against activist anti-imperialism.

Xi Jinpings Middle East trip cannot possibly work as a messianic cure. The strategic relationship that matters is Beijing-Tehran  from the energy sphere to Eurasia integration via One Belt, One Road. But Beijing also needs Saudi oil.
Staggering Violence in Iraq: The Legacy of US War and Occupation By Bill Van Auken January 21, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " WSWS " - Describing current levels of killing and mayhem in Iraq as staggering and obscene, two United Nations agencies released a report Tuesday that recorded at least 55,047 civilian casualties between January 1, 2014 and October 31, 2015. The total included at least 18,802 civilians killed and another 36,245 wounded. The report added that over roughly the same period, a total of 3,206,736 civilians, including over 1 million school-age children, have been driven from their homes by the violence. The UNs High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein said the report failed to reflect the full human toll inflicted by the conflict in Iraq. The numbers reported killed or wounded, particularly in areas under ISIS control, undoubtedly fell well short of the real level of carnage. Moreover, many more had died from lack of access to basic food, water or medical care, he said. The high commissioner added that the report starkly illustrates what Iraqi refugees are attempting to escape when they flee to Europe and other regions. This is the horror they face in their homelands. The period dealt with in the report begins with the month the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) seized the cities of Ramadi and Fallujah in the predominantly Sunni Anbar Province, subsequently overrunning fully one-third of Iraqs territory. It stops short of the upsurge in violence over the past few months, including US-backed military campaigns to retake Ramadi as well as Banji and Sinjar, which undoubtedly saw a further spike in casualties. The report deals at length with atrocities carried out by ISIS as well as attacks on civilians by Iraqi government security forces, along with Shia and Kurdish militias. It is decidedly muted, however, about Washingtons responsibility, not only for civilian casualties from thousands of airstrikes, but more fundamentally in terms of the historic destruction wrought by the illegal US invasion of 2003 and the more than eight years of military occupation that followed. As the report was issued, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter told reporters in Paris that the Pentagon is preparing to substantially escalate the US military presence in Iraq. I expect the number of trainers to increase, and also the variety of the training theyre giving, he said. A US military spokesman in Baghdad on Wednesday said the number of new trainers would be not thousands, hundreds. They would be in addition to the 3,670 US troops the Pentagon says are now deployed in Iraq. Much of the UN report deals with the grisly violence unleashed by ISIS against the Iraqi population, targeting in particular both current and former employees of the Iraqi government and security forces, as well as Shia Muslims and members of religious minorities, together with Sunni Muslims perceived as too moderate. The report recounts a series of ISIS atrocities, including mass killings in gruesome public spectacles, including by shooting, beheading, bulldozing, burning alive and throwing people off the top of buildings. It documents sexual violence and enslavement of women and children by ISIS, including 3,500 from the Yazidi community, which was early on invoked by the Obama administration as a pretext for US intervention, but has since been largely forgotten by the US government and media. It also cites unlawful killings and abductions perpetrated by pro-Government forces as well as their persecution of civilians forced by the fighting to flee their homes, particularly form predominantly Sunni areas. It reports that some have experienced arbitrary arrest in raids by security forces and others have been forcibly expelled. In addition to Iraqi security forces, the report points to the abuse of civilians by both Shia militias and the Peshmerga, the forces of the Kurdistan Regional Government. A report released Wednesday by Amnesty International further documents the systematic destruction of Sunni Arab homes by the Kurdish forces in northern Iraq, saying that their actions may constitute war crimes. Backed by US airstrikes, the Kurdish forces have taken over areas in Nineveh, Kirkuk and Diyala provinces that were previously ethnically mixed. In an apparent attempt to incorporate these areas into Iraqi Kurdistan, the Kurdish forces have launched what amounts to a campaign of ethnic cleansing. The UN report includes accounts of large numbers of civilian casualties inflicted by airstrikes, while failing to attribute them to any party in the conflict and stating that its investigators have been unable to confirm the totals. The US military is responsible for the majority of airstrikes carried out in Iraq. While acknowledging, as of a week ago, dropping some 29,000 bombs and missiles on the country and claiming to have killed more than 6,400 ISIS fighters over the past three months alone, the Pentagon has, incredibly, acknowledged only 15 civilians killed. The UN report tells a different story. Among last years airstrikes listed in the report, some of the bloodiest include: May 22-23 ... airstrikes hit al-Najjar, al-Rifai and Sahaa areas in western Mosul in Ninewa, allegedly killing 30 civilians and wounding 62 others, including women and children. June 3 ... an explosion due to an airstrike in Kirkuks Hawija district allegedly killed several ISIL fighters and civilians... A member of the Kirkuk Provincial Council was quoted by multiple local sources as stating that around 150 individuals, including women and children, were allegedly killed and wounded in the blast. June 8 ... local sources reported that an airstrike in Mosul, Ninewa, caused 33 civilian casualties. The report alleged that several residential neighbourhoods in al-Zuhour district were hit, killing 20 civilians, including seven children and nine women, and wounding 13 others, mostly women. June 11 ... an airstrike reportedly hit an ISIL target near a market in Hawija, Kirkuk. According to a source, 10 civilians were killed and wounded in the incident. Other reports mentioned more than 60 civilians killed and over 80 wounded. July 1 17 civilians, including four children and six women, were reportedly killed in an airstrike conducted in the al-Rifaie area of western Mosul, Ninewa. Eleven other civilians were reportedly wounded. July 31 ... up to 40 civilians may have been killed and over 30 wounded when three houses allegedly sheltering IDPs was hit by an airstrike in Rutba, west of Ramadi, Anbar. Official sources confirmed the incident and the number of casualties, which included 18 women and 11 children (under 14 years old). August 13 ... a maternity and childrens hospital in Nassaf village, south Fallujah, was hit by airstrikes reportedly carried out by ISF warplanes pursuing ISIL fighters. Sources confirmed the airstrikes destroyed the hospital and killed at least 22 individuals (including six women and eight children) and wounded 52 (including eight women and 17children). September 3 ... an airstrike hit a bridge in Jazeera al-Khaldiya, around 20 kilometres east of Ramadi, Anbar, killing 46 civilians and wounding 20... On the same day, another airstrike reportedly hit a residential area in eastern Ramadi, killing 28 civilians. These murderous airstrikes are only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the responsibility of US imperialism for the slaughter outlined in the UN report. The current situation is the direct product of over 25 years of US war against Iraq and of Washingtons interventions elsewhere in the region. From the first Gulf War of 1991 through the 2003 invasion and subsequent military occupation of Iraq, US imperialism carried out the systematic destruction of what had been one of the most advanced healthcare and social infrastructures in the Arab world. The second war claimed the lives of over 1 million Iraqis, turning another 5 million into refugees, while the divide-and-rule strategy pursued by the Pentagon stoked a sectarian civil war by deliberately manipulating tensions between Iraqs Shia and Sunni populations. ISIS itself is the direct product of US interventions in the region, emerging first under the US occupation and then growing in strength thanks to the wars for regime-change launched first in Libya and then in Syria, in which it and similar Salafist jihadi militias received weapons and funding from the CIA and Washingtons closest regional allies, including Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. While the UN report asserts the necessity of holding accountable those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Iraq, it fails to indict the principal criminals, who comprise the leading figures in the last two US administrations, from Bush and Obama on down. 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Why the US anti-terror Coalition is Failing



By Finian Cunningham January 21, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - " American Herald Tribune " - There was an underwhelming sense when Pentagon boss Ashton Carter met this week in Paris with other members of the US-led military coalition supposedly fighting the ISIL terror group. The US-led coalition was set up at the end of 2014 and in theory comprises 60 nations. The main military operation of the alliance is an aerial bombing campaign against terrorist units of IS (also known as ISIL, ISIS or Daesh). At the Paris meeting this week, Secretary of Defense Carter was joined by counterparts from just six countries: France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Australia. Where were the other 54 nations of the coalition? Carter and French defense minister Jean-Yves Le Drian patted themselves on the back about momentumin their campaign against the terrorist network. However, platitudes aside, there was a noticeable crestfallen atmosphere at the meeting of the shrunken US-led coalition. One telling point was Carter exhorting Arab countries to contribute more. As a headline in the Financial Times put it: US urges Arab nations to boost ISIS fight. Carter didnt mention specific names but it was clear he was referring to Saudi Arabia and the other oil-rich Persian Gulf Arab states, including Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. When the US initiated the anti-IS coalition in 2014, fighter jets from the Sunni Arab states participated in the aerial campaign. They quickly fell away from the operation and instead directed their military forces to Yemen, where the Saudi-led Arab coalition has been bombing that country non-stop since March 2015 to thwart an uprising by Houthi revolutionaries. But there is an even deeper, more disturbing reason for the lack of Arab support for the US-led coalition in Iraq and Syria. That is because Saudi Arabia and the other Sunni monarchies are implicated in funding and arming the very terrorists that Washingtons coalition is supposedly combating. Several senior US officials have at various times admitted this. Democrat presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton labelled Saudi Arabia as the main sponsor of Sunni extremist groupsin diplomatic cables when she was Secretary of State back in 2009, as disclosed by Wikileaks. Vice President Joe Biden, while addressing a Harvard University forum in late 2014, also spilled the beans on the Persian Gulf states and Turkey being behind the rise of terror groups in the Middle East. So there is substantial reason why the US-led anti-terror coalition in Iraq and Syria has not delivered decisive results. It is the same reason why Carter was joined by only six other countries in Paris this week and why there was a glaring absence of Saudi Arabia and other Arab members. These despotic regimes whom Washington claims as alliesare part of the terrorist problem. Not that the US or its Western allies are blameless. Far from it. It was Washington after all that master-minded the regime-change operations in Iraq and Syria, which spawned the terror groups. In fact, we can go further and point to evidence, such as the testimony of Lt General Michael Flynn of the Defense Intelligence Agency, which shows that the US enlisted the terror brigades as proxies to do its dirty work in Syria for regime change. The US and its Western allies conceal this collusion by claiming that they are supporting moderate rebelsnot extremists. But the so-called moderates have ended up joining the terrorists and sharing their US-supplied weapons. The distinction between these groups is thus meaningless, leaving the baleful conclusion that Washington, London and Paris are simply colluding with terrorism. US Republican presidential contenders and media pundits berate the Obama administration for not doing enough militarily to defeat IS. Or as Donald Trumps backer Sarah Palin would say to kick ass. The unsettling truth is that the US cannot do more to defeat terrorism in the Middle East because Washington and its allies are the source of terrorism in the region. Through their meddling and machinations, Washington and its cohorts have created a veritable Frankenstein monster. The coalitionthat is actually inflicting serious damage to IS and its various terror franchises is that of Russia working in strategic cooperation with the Syrian Arab Army of President Bashar al-Assad. Since Russia began its aerial bombing campaign nearly four months ago, we have seen a near collapse of the terror networks oil and weapons smuggling rackets and hundreds of their bases destroyed. Yet Ashton Carter this week accused Russia of impeding the fight against terrorism in Syria because of its support for the Assad government. Talk about double think! If we strip away the false rhetoric and mainstream media misinformation, Washingtons anti-terrorcoalition can be seen as not merely incompetently leading from behind. The US, its Western allies and regional client regimes are in the front ranks of the terror problem. Finian Cunningham (born 1963) has written extensively on international affairs, with articles published in several languages. For over 20 years, he worked as an editor and writer in major news media organisations, including The Mirror, Irish Times and Independent.
By Rory J. Thompson, Web Editor

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WFO, or workforce optimization, is an idea thats been around for a while, but has only recently begun to gain more traction in the call center field. The idea behind it is, if you can optimize what your workers do and how they do it, your bottom line will see the difference. Yet what many fail to see is that the staff you hire can have a bigger influence than the people you already have in place.





Thats the position of Jennifer Waite, Product Marketing Manager at cloud call center leader inContact. In a recent blog post, Waite took a deeper dive into WFO, and came up with some insights worth sharing.

The hiring process is often overlooked as a key step in implementing an effective WFO strategy, she maintains. An agents relationship often begins many weeks prior to handling the first customer interaction and academic research has found that the candidates perception of the hiring process has a direct impact on his or her overall satisfaction with the company and his or her performance potential.

As such, Waite concludes that the hiring process  and the new hires perception of it  is just as important to a successful WFO strategy as the selection of the right technology. She looks at three distinct parts of the process and why theyre important:

Attraction: A companys website careers page will capture active job seekers  those who know what they are looking for and where to look  as will the leading career sites such as Monster, CareerBuilder, Yahoo! Jobs, and the like, Waite says. But passive job seekers need to be attracted as well. Social media can play a big role in helping draw them, she adds.

Selection: A critical part of the selection process is to screen candidates for their ability to do handle the rigors of contact center work. This is normally done through a recruiter-led telephone screen in which a recruiter asks the agent candidate a series of questions that are designed not only to validate the candidates skills, but also to gain some perspective on his or her communication style, energy and personality which are critical success factors in customer-contact positions, Waite says. Basically, its designed to assure that the candidate will fit in with the team already in place.

Retention: This is where the worlds of recruiting and WFO effectively come together, Waite believes. New agents need to go through a comprehensive training program to prepare them for the rigors of contact center work. But if done properly, new employees will soon become veterans, and their example will be something the next generation behind them will want to emulate.

Edited by Kyle Piscioniere
Home Sign up for our FREE Daily Email Newsletter Your Choice: Thirteen-Billion-Dollar Aircraft Carrier vs. Cure for Cancer



What if we had a real democracy?



By Joe Clifford



January 21, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - The Pentagon is about ready to pay the bill for one, new, still unfinished aircraft carrier, which so far has cost 13 billion dollars, but is mired with cost overruns and dysfunctional systems, so the daily cost continues to increase. At the same time the US government has set aside a mere 4 billion for cancer research. One uncompleted 13-billion-dollar aircraft carrier vs. 4 billion for finding a cure for cancer. Do you want the aircraft carrier or the cure for cancer? This spending issue raises many questions: What does a warped spending priority say about our country? How many Americans have been killed by terrorists vs. how many Americans have died from cancer? What kind of a country puts war and aircraft carriers before a cure for cancer? What has your Congressional delegation said about this? What do readers say about this? One aircraft carrier vs. a cure for cancer; what would you choose?



All the presidential contenders cheer the power of the US military, while constantly calling for even more military spending. Many are phobic about Muslims, and Islamophobia is the cry of leading politicians, but no one mentions that we, the US, has dropped over 23,000 bombs on Muslim nations this year, and have invaded or bombed 14 Muslim nations, yet it is we who fear them, and insist they want to harm us. Fear always breeds loss of reasoning and obscures facts. We have killed over one million Muslims in Iraq. Last month Physicians for Social Responsibility released a study, indicating the death toll of Muslims in our war on terror may well be between 1.3 and 2 million deaths, and some studies indicate Muslim deaths by the US since 9/11 may be as high as 4 million. Yet in defiance of facts, some still fear monger and argue, they are trying to kill us. This historical bloodletting by the US has only exacerbated the situation. According to former General Stanley McChrystal, for every civilian you kill, you create 10 new fighters, yet we plod along doing the same thing over and over again, insuring a vicious cycle of endless war. We have a large segment of our population that has never experienced peace, and has been raised witnessing constant wars. War has become acceptable to many Americans.



When a nation turns itself into a military state and has a military empire of 900 bases around the world, and spends 610 billion on the military every year, something has to give. What gives? In your state it is bridges, roads, infrastructure, schools, aid to the needy, and health care, all of which have been cut due to the lack of available money, as all money goes to our top priority, the military. It has not occurred to citizens, that feeding a growing military monster is at the expense of failing infrastructure, failing schools, failing health care, failing everyone, except for the Lockheed Martins of the world, who sold $45 billion worth of weapons last year. Cancer would be wiped out if the National Cancer Institute were given just a fraction of the military budget, but that is not our national priority. War and the greatest military the world has ever seen, is our priority. Curing the sick and saving lives is not.



Because of a failed medical care system, the largest cause of bankruptcy in the US is medical bills, while all other civilized nations have national health care which is far less expensive than ours. Many citizens have consumed the Kool-Aid and naively think we have great health care, but all studies by the World Health Organization indicate we not only have the most expensive health care in the civilized world, but among the poorest in quality. We pay the most and get the worst, but the good news is we have the strongest military in the world, and our military spending almost surpasses what the entire world put together spends on military budgets.



What do readers think about such a misplaced priority? More importantly what do the leaders of your state think of the spending priority. Have state leaders complained of having no money for crumbling infrastructure because of excessive military spending? Your Congressional delegation presided over this mess and is responsible for funding this misplaced priority, but have you ever heard them explain why the military is more important than school, curing cancer, a good health care system? Have they ever tried to explain or justify their votes on warped spending priorities, where all is sacrificed for the sake of the military budget? Of course not; they never address anything of substance. Fluff is their game, but we allow them to smother us with fluff, while depriving us of infrastructure, health care, schools. Real leaders would be fighting to save us from the devastation of cancer. President Obama in his recent State of the Union address boasted of our great military power, and got the biggest round of applause of the night. Echoes of Sparta, the once great Greek military state, who valued war above all.



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Does a Hegemon ever Meaningfully Apologize? By Kim Petersen US threatens further naval incursions despite furious reaction from China  Guardian Many tributaries, very tricky to navigate, flow from this main current of public avowals and disavowals; not least, must an apology lead to reparation, if it is to be to be at all meaningful? That is, without a subsequent act of reparation or restitution, can it be fully constituted as an apology? Or is the performance of a speech act something that itself makes change?  Marina Warner January 21, 2016 " Information Clearing House " - What underlies a proffered apology has obvious relevance. Particularly important is whether the apology was sincere or whether it had ulterior motive. And what does it indicate to the citizens of a country when its government refuses or elides meaningful apology for its wrongdoing? What is the ideology that underlies the determination not to apologize; that is, what are the foundations or motives for not apologizing? Right-wingers will portray apologizing as a sign of weakness. The recent incursion of US navy personnel into Iranian coastal water has seen the American corporate media focus inordinately on the fact that purportedly no apology has been issued to Iran. CNN cited John Kirby, a spokesman for Secretary of State John Kerry: There is no truth in reporting that Secretary Kerry apologized to the Iranians. CNN also cited a nameless CENTCOM official seeking to disavow the videoed apology of a US navy sailor: Clearly this staged video exhibits a sailor making an apology in an unknown context as an effort to defuse a tense situation and protect his crew. Clearly the anonymous officials comment targets the trespassee rather than the trespassers. CBS News featured the US vice president in its headline: Biden: Iran didnt want or get apology for boats incident. The right-wing Daily Wire, however, contends Biden is lying about not apologizing. BBC News , cited general Ali Fadavi, the commander of Irans Revolutionary Guards naval forces, saying the US did apologize to Iran for its naval incursion. Whether the United States did or did not apologize for its incursion into Iranian waters is revelatory. What is historical fact is the longstanding refusal of US officials to apologize in a sincere and meaningful manner for wrongdoing on its part. This is especially applicable to Republican politicians. This is emblemized by the words of former president George H.W. Bush who audaciously quipped, Ill never apologize for the United States. Ever. I dont care what the facts are. Mitt Romney, Republican presidential candidate drew inspiration from Bush the Elders obstinacy which he used for his book unabashedly entitled: No Apology: The Case for American Greatness . Romney sought a wedge between himself and Barack Obama who has on occasion offered a form of apology. Last year, president Obama made a rare apology for a US war crime: the bombing of the Doctors Without Borders Hospital in Afghanistan. However, despite paying compensation to the families of those killed and injured, what does the failure to prosecute the guilty parties in this war crime signify? When war criminals escape censure and punishment, can cash and such an apology be considered authentic and meaningful atonement? The spotty and cavalier US record as far as saying sorry for its slew of major crimes extends deep into its past. Disdainfully, it is still unwilling to apologize for the genocidal mushroom clouds it caused over Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the tail-end of World War II. The US still has not apologized for its abduction and enslavement of Africans. Most Americans apparently agree with this non-apology. A breakthrough of sorts occurred during the administration of president Bill Clinton when both houses of the United States Congress adopted the Apology Resolution (U.S. Public Law 103-150 [107 Stat. 1510]) acknowledg[ing] that the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii occurred with the active participation of agents and citizens of the United States and further acknowledges that the Native Hawaiian people never directly relinquished to the United States their claims to their inherent sovereignty as a people over their national lands, either through the Kingdom of Hawaii or through a plebiscite or referendum. But what does it mean to say, in effect, sorry we took your land, and then leave unstated: but we will continue to keep what we stole from you? Is that a genuine apology? Bill Clinton apologized for the slave trade in Africa. He apologized on behalf of the international community for the genocide in Rwanda: The international community, together with nations in Africa, must bear its share of responsibility for this tragedy, as well. We did not act quickly enough after the killing began. We should not have allowed the refugee camps to become safe haven for the killers. We did not immediately call these crimes by their rightful name: genocide. As a president of a country that fancies itself as the leader of the free world and the worlds only indispensable nation, it is not surprising that the US would presume to speak for other nations. Of course, in doing so the US dilutes its responsibility for the genocide in Rwanda. 1 On 19 December 2009, president Barack Obama signed into law a joint resolution, an apology to Indigenous peoples: Declares that the United States acting through Congress: (1) recognizes the special legal and political relationship the Indian tribes have with it, the solemn covenant with the land we share, and that there have been years of official depredations, ill-conceived policies, and the breaking of covenants by the Federal Government regarding Indian tribes; (2) commends and honors the Native Peoples for the thousands of years that they have stewarded and protected this land; (3) apologizes on behalf of the people of the United States to all Native Peoples for the many instances of violence, maltreatment, and neglect inflicted on them by U.S. citizens; (4) expresses its regret for the ramifications of former offenses and its commitment to build on the positive relationships of the past and present to move toward a brighter future where all the people of this land live reconciled as brothers and sisters, and harmoniously steward and protect this land together; (5) urges the President to acknowledge the wrongs of the United States against Indian tribes in U.S. history in order to bring healing to this land by providing a proper foundation for reconciliation between such entities; and (6) commends the State governments that have begun reconciliation efforts with recognized Indian tribes located in their boundaries and encourages all State governments similarly to do the same. Among the Indigenous reaction was an article entitled: A Tree Fell in the Forest: The U.S. Apologized to Native Americans and No One Heard a Sound. It lamented, The US apology, as un-public as the delivery has been thus far, also misses the opportunity to list the transgressions. Another article at Indian Country asked, Is an apology thats not said out loud really an apology? What if the person expressing the apology doesnt draw attention to it? It causes thoughtful people to ask: Whats the purpose of an apology if it swept under a rug? Whats the purpose of an apology if no concrete actions or compensation are being enacted? However sincere or not Obamas apologies may have been, they have been fodder for criticism from more extreme right-wingers. One right-wing UK newspaper called Obamas supine approach  a humiliating spectacle for the US. The newspaper further argued that the  new strategy is weakening his country and making the United States more vulnerable to attack. [italics added] Note that the apology is considered a new strategy. The Thatcherite writer opines further, The brutal truth is that the United States is increasingly viewed as a soft touch by its enemies, increasingly jeered rather than feared. Obama, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, has during his terms in the White House, had America involved in the violence in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Syria, Palestine, Venezuela, Yemen, Ukraine, etc. What does this portend for his use of apology? In his novel Disgust, author J.M. Coetzees protagonists ponder the quintessence of an apology: Isaacs accepts Luries apology but states, We are all sorry when we are found out. The question is what lesson have we learned? The question is, what are we going to do now that we are sorry? Kim Petersen is a former co-editor of Dissident Voice. He can be reached at: kimohp@inbox.com . ENDNOTE In fact, the US sides with the genocidaires in Rwanda. Read the factual compilation by Edward S. Herman and David Peterson, Enduring Lies: The Rwandan Genocide in the Propaganda System, 20 Years Later (2014). Moreover, the US it remains on the sidelines of a far greater genocide in Congo, as does much of the world. Again, see Herman and Peterson, Enduring Lies: The Rwandan Genocide in the Propaganda System, 20 Years Later .
A 32-year-old man, who only gave his name as Mustapha, has been arrested by the Plateau State Police Command for allegedly raping his three-year-old daughter, Iqma (pseudonym).

It was gathered that the incident happened on January 12 in the Katako area of the state while the victims mother was cooking in a makeshift kitchen within their compound.

According to the Punch, the woman had gone into the room to pick some ingredients for the dish she was preparing when she caught her husband in the act.

An angry mob was said to have descended on the suspect after his wife alerted neighbours.

It was learnt that policemen from Laranto division intervened and rescued him from the mob.

A neighbour, who spoke with the newspapers correspondent on the telephone on condition of anonymity, said she informed a non-governmental organisation, Voice for the Girl Foundation, who took custody of the girl.

I was very shocked when I heard about the incident. The mother was cooking outside that evening. She went in to take something in the house and she met her husband having sex with their daughter. She raised the alarm, and everybody that rushed into their premises was surprised too. I called a social worker, who took the girl to a hospital. The man was beaten by some angry youths in the community before the police came to rescue him

The Director of the foundation, Mildred Bako, said Iqma was taken to a hospital, where a medical test conducted on her revealed that her hymen was ruptured. She said the man could not give any genuine reason when he was asked what prompted him to commit the act.

She said, It was a friend that notified me about the incident. I went there and took the girl. The man was unable to give any genuine explanation. He just said it was the work of the devil. We took the girl to a private hospital and the doctors report confirmed that her hymen is broken. For now, the mother is not happy about the whole thing and she has said she is no more interested in the marriage for now. We want justice in the case. We do not want the matter to be swept under the carpet.

DSP Abuh Emmanuel, the Plateau State Police Public Relations Officer, confirmed Mustaphas arrest. He said the suspect had confessed to the crime, adding that he would be charged to court at the end of the investigation.

He said, We received a report that the suspect defiled a three-year-old girl and the suspect was arrested immediately. The suspect has confessed to the crime and investigation has commenced. The victim was taken to the hospital for treatment. As soon as the investigation is concluded, he will be charged to court.

Source: Dailypost
Deliberations on the 2016 budget proposal on Wednesday expectedly pitched senators in the All Progressives Congress, who are in the majority, against their Peoples Democratic Party counterparts, as they expressed divergent views.

While the PDP senators sought for the withdrawal of the N6.08trillion budget, those of the APC maintained that the budget was in order.

Indications that the deliberation was going to be a stormy session began when Senate Leader, Senator Ali Ndume sought for permission to lead the debate on the budget at the plenary session.

The senator, while leading the debate, said the budget, christened budget of change, would promote economic growth, job creation, poverty reduction and service delivery to all Nigerians.

Ndumes submission, however, charged the atmosphere in the Senate as some lawmakers mumbled in disagreement, with some of them shouting order.

But Senator Babajide Omoworare (APC/Osun East), raised a point of order, observing that the debate should be limited to the financial and economic situation in the country and the governments financial policy.

There was no need to even wait for any estimate because we are taking the general principles, said Omoworare.

In his submission, Senator Olusola Adeyeye (APC/Osun Central), said the budget cannot be deliberated upon when it was clearly stated that it was the second day.

But the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, urged distinguished senators to allow the Senate leader lead debate on the budget, even as he approved the point of order raised by Sen. Omoworare.

Noting that debate on the budget could be extended to enable the lawmakers to be ready for their contributions, Saraki said, The debate is done on the general principles of the bill. We have always had a way of how we do our things here in the general interest. The leader proposed, he will lead the debate and we had allocated three days from Tuesday. If any senator is not prepared to contribute, we will adjust days so everybody is allowed to contribute. Let the leader lead the debate and if you need more days, we can create more days.

But in his submission, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (PDP/Abia South) pointed out that the 2016 budget is a change in the wrong direction, adding that because it was based on zero budgeting, Nigeria would go about borrowing.

It is a Budget of Change, I agree; but it is a change in the wrong direction, Senator Abaribe said.

He continued: I say it is a change in the wrong direction because it says that it is based on zero budgeting, requiring all expenses to be fully justified. Mr. President, a budget that increases spending up to 30 percent based solely on borrowing. In what way is it justified? That is the question we want to ask the people, who brought this budget as change.

Speaking next was Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, who noted that the nations Budget has always seen an increase over the years, from between 10 and 20 percent.

Appealing to the Presidency to be realistic, Ekweremadu warned that the 2016 Budget would not be implementable if it is not reduced by 20 to 30 per cent.
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) will consult with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) over the possible review of the banks monetary policy on foreign exchange which has been affecting customs revenue generation

The Customs Service Public Relations Officer, Mr Wale Adeniyi, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja.

What customs is doing is to start engagement from the government agency to government agency; so we are going to be talking to CBN first to see what can be done in terms of review of policy.

We all understand the objective of the policy but we dont want a policy that will achieve one objective on one side and create some disruption and problem on the other.

The objective of our consultation with CBN will be to see how we can fine-tune the policy to take care of the negative impact it is creating for our (customs) revenue without necessarily negating the objective of the policy itself.So we will start with that and we hope we will get some positive outcome, mutually beneficial solution to the issue.

It is only if we dont get beneficial solution that we hope to take the matter to higher authorities, Adeniyi said.

The Comptroller-General of Customs, retired Col. Hameed Ali, had said that the shortfall of N240 billion in customs revenue target was due to CBN monetary policy which banned 41 items on the Forex.

If you remember CBN policy on 41 items; when we did our analysis, the policy has denied us money to the tune of N240 billion.

So if we add that to what we have generated, it would have surpassed what we have.

So that is the downside of why we were not able to meet the target in 2015; but hopefully with all the tools we put in place and I hope that government will once again look at those policies and see how they can be fine-tuned, Ali said.
Its time up for 43-year-old man, Opeyemi Adesina, who allegedly paraded himself as a consultant gynaecologist with the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, as he has confessed to being a quack.

Adesina, who was paraded on Tuesday by the Nigeria Police in Lagos also confessed that he paid N100,000 to buy no fewer than seven forged certificates which he used to deceive people about his fake identity as a medical doctor with one of Nigerias prime teaching hospitals.

The certificates, as disclosed by the police on Tuesday include a fake MBBS certificate of the University of Ibadan, and a fake membership certificate of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), the umbrella body for registered medical doctors in Nigeria.

Confessing to the allegation, Aesinasaid he paid N100,000 to one Kolawole in Ibadan, Oyo State, to get the certificates, which he said he had used for only three years.

I bought the certificates from Kolawole in Ibadan. That was three years ago. I bought them from him for N100,000. He printed the seven certificates.

I do not know where he stays. We did not meet in any specific location. We usually met at fast food joints or any agreed place. For instance, it was at Agodi Gate area that I gave him the money and got the certificates. I decided to use another name on the certificates, he said.

Giving reasons for his actions, Adesina said: I forged them because I dropped out of the university. I was actually studying Medicine. However, I dropped out in the 500 level due to financial reasons.

He is married with a child from a woman he said thought he was a truly certified medical doctor.

I married my wife about five years ago. She thought I was a certified doctor. She actually came to me for treatment in the Ketu area and that was how we met. We have a child, he said.

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, who confirmed this said the suspect would be charged to court as soon as investigation was over.

She said, Upon a written petition from the management of LUTH, Idi-Araba, the suspect was arrested for falsely practising as a medical doctor and consultant gynaecologist. He confessed to have been in the practice for three years, and seven certificates were recovered from him. He will be charged to court soon.

Reports reveal that Adesina, who is originally from Ekiti State, was arrested on Tuesday by the Alakara Police Division on Alowolodu Street in the Alapere, Ketu area of Lagos State, after the management of LUTH alerted the police upon receipt of a petition by his landlord that he claimed he works at the hospital.

He, however, denied converting his apartment to a hospital.
The hearing of a hunger-striking Palestinian journalist whose weight has fallen below 30kg must be moved forward in order to save his life, the defendants lawyers said. The Israeli Supreme Court said on Tuesday that it would consider an appeal to release 33-year-old Mohammad al-Qeq, a Palestinian journalist engaged in a 58-day hunger strike, on February 25  a date many have said is too far away.

Hes in a very bad situation. He fell into his third coma in recent days, and his weight has dropped to 30kg, Ashraf Abu Sneina, al-Qeqs attorney, told Al Jazeera on Wednesday. This week, he only drank water twice.

Al-Qeq began his hunger strike on November 24 in protest of Israels administrative detention. Administrative detention is a practice in which Israel jails Palestinians for renewable six-month intervals on secret evidence without charge or trial.

Abu Sneina fears his client will starve to death before the ISC hears his case. For him, theres no time, and were doing our best to make sure he doesnt die in prison, the lawyer continued. Al-Qeq is a correspondent for the Saudi-owned channel al-Majd, a network that broadcasts across the Arab world.

Aljazeera.
The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, James Ocholi (SAN), yesterday revealed that the Nigerian government has no data of unemployed and unemployed persons in the country.

The Minister said the government plans to bring all skill acquisition centres in several ministries under one roof for maximum utilization.

Speaking at the national secretariat of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Ocholi said the government plans to employ many untrained graduates and train them to teach in secondary schools

He explained that the Teacher Conversation Programme is aimed at mopping up unemployed graduates, who have degrees in relevant areas and can teach Secondary School Students.

Decrying the lack of statistical data of unemployed Nigerians, the Minister said: Before we got to where we are, there was no data anywhere. There is no data of the unemployed. In fact there is no data of the employed. It is a bad situation.

The situation, he said is being corrected as the ministry has commenced the process of gathering data of both the unemployed and the employed Nigerians.

His words: As l talk with you, there are experts working on the software on how to capture the details of the unemployed and the employed.

And for those who are employed, there are many who are in the wrong places. There are many who are in working and they are not enjoying the job and want to have jobs better than what they are doing.

There is a firm that we have sourced for, working with the National Directorate of Employment, (NDE) right now. The NDE has done a pilot scheme in Bwari and they have an office in Lobito crescent right now working in preparation for a mega scale.

What it takes to get that data ready is part of our work. Our work does not begin when the data comes out because the data itself does not employ people.

So we have decided to identify how many skill acquisition centres we have in this nation and the capacities of each one. There are more than 76 of them. We have also discovered that the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs has a lot of skill centres in the Niger Delta region which were built but do not have capable hands with resources, with skills to be able to train. The Ministry of Agriculture has several as well as the Ministry of Finance.

So we have decided to do a memo to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) for Mr. President to galvanize all such centres and bring them into one fold. Then we can do a planning on how many people each centre can take for the next three months.

We will look at what is the nature of the skill that can be acquired within that period of time, what do we do to sustain those people that will acquire the skill and when you acquire those skills, what stipends can be paid to them to keep them in the training so that while being trained you earn something. That will bridge the gap between now and when they open their shop and begin to employ labour.
The scientist who claims to be about to carry out the first human head transplant says that he has successfully done the procedure on a monkey. Maverick neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero has tested the procedure in experiments on monkeys and human cadavers, he told New Scientist. Dr Canavero says that the success shows that his plan to transplant a humans head onto a donor body is in place. He says that the procedure will be ready before the end of 2017 and could eventually become a way of treating complete paralysis.

I would say we have plenty of data to go on, Canavero told New Scientist. Its important that people stop thinking this is impossible. This is absolutely possible and were working towards it. The team behind the work has published videos and images showing a monkey with a transplanted head, as well as mice that are able to move their legs after having their spinal cords severed and then stuck back together.

Fusing the spinal cord of a person is going to be key to successfully transplanting a human head onto a donor body. The scientists claim that they have been able to do so by cleanly cutting the cord and using polyethylene glycol (PEG), which can be used to preserve cell membranes and helps the connection recover. The monkey head transplant was carried out at Harbin Medical University in China, according to Dr Canavero. The monkey survived the procedure without any neurological injury of whatever kind, the surgeon said, but that it was killed 20 hours after the procedure for ethical reasons.

It isnt the first time that a successful transplant has been carried out on a monkey. Head transplant pioneer Robert J White successfully carried out the procedure in 1970, on a monkey that initially responded well but died after nine days when the body rejected the head. The newly-revealed success is likely to be an attempt to help generate funds for the ultimate aim of giving a head transplant to Valery Spriridonov, the Russian patient who has been chosen to be the first to undergo the procedure. Dr Canavero has said that he will need a huge amount of money to fund the team of surgeons and scientists involved, and that he intends to ask Mark Zuckerberg to help fund it.

UK Independent.
Edo State governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomole has lent his voice in support of the decision of the Nigeria Prisons Service to handcuff the spokesman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, saying there was nothing absolutely wrong with it.

Metuh is standing trial for receiving N400 million from former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, which the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, traced to part of the $2.1 billion fund meant for arms purchase but was diverted by the former NSA.

Speaking during a meeting with the new Executive Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Edo State Council, led by Sir Roland Osakwe in Benin City, yesterday, Oshiomhole said those who are accused of committing petty crimes are handcuffed and paraded by the police even before they go to trial and get no sympathy from the public and wondered why Metuh and others, who diverted huge public funds, should get lesser treatment.

He said, I want to appeal to the Media to join President Buhari in fighting the anti-corruption war because if we dont, and we allow these people to harass the President to silence, all of us are in trouble.

I saw some headlines querying why should Metuh be in handcuffs? If people who steal he-goats, dried grass cutters are in handcuffs; I have been to the police station several times and I see young men who rob not more than N500,000 in handcuffs, they are paraded and made them to seat on the floor. Why should certain set of criminals be treated as if they are not suspected criminals and serious crimes at that?

When you all reported lavishly how under the former President, the former Defense Chief set up a Military Tribunal to try soldiers who ran away from battle field and they were condemned to death. It was only Femi Falana who was consistent in fighting their case. Those are Nigerians who were to be killed for running away because they couldnt confront a Boko Haram that was well armed while they were asked to go and fight with their bare hands and we were told that weapons, ammunitions and everything had been provided.

When Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima, said, Look, our Armed Forces are fighting with bare hands, he was told to shut up. Now it is clear from current revelations that the money that would have been used to arm these young men who joined the army with pride and who on a good day have the courage to fight not only at home but abroad, but because they didnt have arms, they ran away.

They were sentenced to death. Thanks to Buhari, some have been commuted now to various terms of imprisonment which I applaud and I think even that one should further be reviewed, they should summit their uniform but remain free people.

Now, those who shared that money, this is not the usual security money, this is special appropriation to fight Boko Haram, $2.1 billion, people just shared it, everybody was using their son, co-opting young children into this while other peoples children were sentenced to death. And anybody who partakes in that and they put him in handcuffs, they say, why should he be in handcuff because he is an elite and the media will report it without also showing us pictures of some Nigerians whose fathers are not known, but are not less Nigerian than any of us, who are always not only in handcuffs but are put on the floor in various police stations and paraded even before they are charged to court and we all look at them and turn to the next pictures, it doesnt attract a commentary.

Why should some criminals just be celebrated even when we all can feel the amount of damage, the consequences of their rascality on our collective wellbeing? I think the media should support the President. This is not President Buharis fight, and you know he had reminded us that if we dont kill corruption, it will kill us. Now corruption is fighting back.
Punch

Some members of the Senate who contributed to the debate on the 2016 budget in the red chamber on Wednesday expressed doubt over the ability of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to implement the fiscal document based on the current economic realities.

Vanguard

GOVERNOR Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State has challenged the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed to make public names of the 15 former governors and 55 Nigerians that he claimed stole N1.34 trillion between 2006 and 2013.

The Sun

Health Minister, Prof. Isaac Adewole, has given reasons the Federal Government cannot deploy same method it used to fight and won the battle against Ebola virus in the battle against Lassa fever. The minister said while Ebola was imported into the country through only one person, Lassa fever is endemic in the country; hence the approach to the two diseases cannot be the same.

Guardian

Doctors under the umbrella of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) have made recommendations to the Federal Government on how to stop the Lassa fever epidemic spreading across the country.

Daily Trust

Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State has denied a social media report that he called for the hanging of the IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu. Okorocha, who spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, Sam Onwemeodo, denied knowing Nnamdi Kanu.

Leadership

The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Mr. James Ocholi, SAN yesterday said that there is no reliable statistics on unemployed youths in the country.

Tribune

Oyegun, on Wednesday, disclosed that the party does not have an anointed candidate for the 2016 Edo governorship election.

The APC national chairman dropped the hint during a meeting with APC governoship aspirants for the Edo State governoship seat at the partys headquarters in Abuja.

The Nation

Security agencies may declare former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chair Adamu Muazu, former Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Comptroller-General Abdullahi Dikko Inde and four others wanted.

National Mirror

Bill Gates and Aliko Dangote are in Kaduna to sign the Memorandum of Understanding, MoU on routine immunization with the governors of six states. The governors of Borno, Bauchi, Yobe, Sokoto and Kano are also in Kaduna, along with the Sultan of Sokoto and the Emir of Kano
Nigeria has shut down two of its refineries which only became productive recently, due to crude supply challenges caused by the vandalisation of some pipeline in the countrys oil-rich Niger Delta.

The plants were shut on Sunday after the Bonny-Okrika crude supply line to the Port Harcourt Refinery and the Escravos-Warri crude supply line to the Kaduna Refinery were attacked by suspected militants.

Group general manager of the corporation on public affairs, Ohi Alegbe, disclosed in a statement that the Port Harcourt Refinery was recording a daily PMS yield of over 4.1 million litres while Kaduna Refinery was producing about 1.3 million litres daily, an impressive turnaround considering both plants produced nothing in October 2015.

The Kaduna refinerys dry spell started in September of the same year. Nigerias Warri refinery also produced nothing in September and October of 2015. However, the three refineries have resumed production and have attained a combined daily production of over 6.76 million litres of petrol, projected to increase to over 10 million litres per day by the end of January. But with the shutdown of two of the plants, Nigeria will only get 1.4 million litres of petrol per day, pumped at the Warri Refining and Petrochemicals Company (WRPC).

The closure may lead to scarcity of fuel as the countrys estimated daily petrol consumption is 40 million litres, and the fall of the naira has made importation, often used to shore up the deficit, costlier.

However, the NNPC says it has put strategies in place to guarantee availability of petroleum products throughout the country.

In response to the unexpected setback, we have activated comprehensive remedial measures to sustain the prevailing stability in the supply and distribution of petroleum products across the country, the NNPC noted without explaining the measures.
Governor of Imo State, Owelle Rochas Okorocha has described reports in a section of the media that he called for the hanging of the executive director of Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, as unfounded and malicious.

Okorocha in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, said the report published in the social media, was a mere attempt to malign his reputation ahead of the 2019 general elections.

The statement reads: The attention of the Imo State Government has once again been drawn to another fictitious allegation in the social media claiming that the state Governor had called for the hanging of Mr. Nnamdi Kanu leader of the Indigenous people of Biafra (IPOB).

Governor Okorocha does not know Nnamdi Kanu. He reads about him on the pages of newspapers like every other Igbo man or Nigerian. Whether he lives or dies, does not have any value to add to Governor Okorochas life including his politics. So one begins to wonder why Governor Okorocha should call for his hanging.

If he dies, will Okorocha become Director of Radio Biafra or IPOB leader? You ask again, whether one million Nnamdi Kanu could constitute any threat to Okorocha in anyway. The answer is obviously no. Then what is Okorochas interest in Kanus death or life that he would call for his hanging.

The elements behind this latest moonlight tale also claimed that the Imo Governor had made the call on January 15, 2016 in a meeting with what they called Igbo Elders Forum.

They did not mention the venue of the said meeting or those at the meeting. Incidentally, the same January 15, 2016 (Friday) was the day the Governor travelled out of the country for a brief vacation.
The House of Representatives Committee on National Security and Intelligence, Wednesday, promised to be fair to all parties involved in the military/shiite clash which occurred in Zaria, Kaduna State last month.

The Chairman of the Committee, Rep. Aminu Jaji said this in an interview with journalists shortly after he led the Committee members to various scenes of the clash in Zaria.

We are here to ascertain what actually happened on Dec. 12, 2015 between the military and members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria also known as Shiite, he said.

We have visited the scenes; we have spoken to the public and we are satisfied with what the people told us; we will make sure we do everything within the ambit of the law to avoid a recurrence.

The lawmaker appealed to the public to be law-abiding and sustain the prevailing peace in the country.
Senator representing Abia South at the National Assembly Eyinnaya Abaribe, Wednesday, criticized the 2016 budget submitted to the lawmakers by President Muhammaduu Buhari, asking that he withdraw it and go back to the drawing board as it could not be implemented as it was.

According to him, predication of oil benchmark at 38 dollars per barrel when the crude oil price had fallen below 30 dollars per barrel made the budget unrealistic.

Mr President, my colleagues, this budget is indeed unique. After the budget presentation, the finance minister has never come to explain the details of the budget as it is normally done.

It is a budget of change I agree, but it is a change in the wrong direction. I say it is a change in the wrong direction because it says that it is based on zero budgeting requiring all expenses to be fully justified.

Mr President, a budget that increases spending up to 30 percent based solely on borrowing, in what way are we justified? That is the question we want to ask the people who brought this budget.

We know what is going on in the global economy: this budget is predicated on an oil benchmark of 38 dollars per barrel and I can now say that with oil being 28 dollars today, this budget is dead on arrival.

The job of the opposition is to help the government to get its priorities right, so I want to please urge this government to withdraw this budget and go back to the drawing board, he said.

The senator also faulted the adjustments made in the budget as well as allocation for spending in the Aso Rock Villa, saying that it was too exorbitant.

Mr President, a budget that moves domestic spending within Aso Villa from N580 million to N1.7 billion cannot be a budget of change.

We were told that in the revised budget there was an adjustment due to error, we agree but what has happened is that up to N7 billion were moved from buying vehicles and spread to offices.

It also increased the spending that is due to renovations within the Villa.

They are going to renovate the Villa with N3.9 billion: what else do you want to renovate there that Nigerians will see in the Year 2016? he asked.

However, in his contribution, Sen. Ahmed Lawan (APC Yobe North) blamed the previous administration for the lack of funds due to the embezzlement witnessed in previous governments.

The proposal before us is the first budget where the executive has deemed it necessary to give ordinary Nigerians genuine hope.

N500 billion allocated for school feeding and social SAFTEY NET is commendable.

It is time to say oil should not continue to play dominant role as we have suffered economically and politically: it is time to diversify this economy.

The direction of the executive is the way to go. `That is, we should make every effort to have the real sector-agric mining and manufacturing.

The budget deserves the support of everyone, including my colleagues on the other side. When we were in the opposition we supported the PDP, they should support us, he said.
A US government watchdog has accused a Pentagon agency of wasting millions on ill-conceived reconstruction projects in Afghanistan. The Task Force for Business and Stability Operations spent some $800m (563m) on development projects over a five-year period. But poor planning and waste marred the scheme, Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction John Sopko said.

The Pentagon has disputed several of his findings. Among those highlighted by Mr Sopko, who appeared before senators from a special committee on military management, was a project to help the local cashmere industry. The $6m ($4.2m) initiative saw a small herd of rare blond Italian goats imported  but Mr Sopko said oversight was so ineffective he could not be sure that the goats were not eaten.

A contractor said the scheme had created up to 350 jobs. Mr Sopko had not been able to find credible evidence showing [the task forces] activities in Afghanistan produced the intended economic growth or stabilization outcomes that justified its creation. On the contrary, [its] legacy in Afghanistan is marred by unfinished, poorly planned, and ill-conceived projects.

One of the politicians on the committee, Democrat Claire McCaskill called the reported $43m expenditure on a natural gas filling station dumb on its face. It was intended to show how Afghanistans natural gas reserves could be used as an alternative to expensive petroleum imports. But Ms McCaskill noted the average annual income in Afghanistan is less than the cost of converting a car to natural gas. The Pentagon disputed the cost of the station, saying the actual amount was under $10m.

BBC.
The Nigeria Prisons Service yesterday explained that the decision to handcuff the National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Olisa Metuh while appearing for his trial at the Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday, was at the discretion of the prison officer, who supervised his court appearance.

The spokesperson for the service, Francis Enobore, who was responding to reactions that trailed Metuhs appearance in court wearing handcuffs, said the officer in charge of the escort that took the PDP chieftain to court was at liberty to determine if the inmate should be handcuffed based on security situation, the environment and intelligence report made available to him.

It would be recalled that Metuh, who is standing trial on seven count criminal charges brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Metuh, was on Friday remanded in Kuje Prison by Justice Okon Abang.

On the resumed hearing for his bail application, the PDP chieftain was transported by prison officials to court in handcuffs, a development that led the PDP and a cross-section of Nigerians to allege that the move was a ploy by the All Progressives Congress government to muzzle the major opposition party in the country.

Responding to allegations that the NPS was doing the bidding of the Presidency, Enobore stressed that Metuh was not maltreated in any way, explaining that handcuffing an inmate was a standard procedure, which the prison warden could employ based on the situation at hand.

He said, Handcuffing an inmate is at the discretion of the officer in-charge, depending on the security situation, the environment and intelligence report available to the officer. Sometimes they look at the atmosphere and take the necessary decision.

If you suspect that the atmosphere, security-wise, may not be conducive to the inmates in your custody, you can use handcuffs; to avoid a situation where you have to start telling stories, you use your discretion to study the environment and take appropriate measures to ensure the safety of the inmates in your custody.

Remember that we not only try to secure the inmate from escaping, we equally provide protection for the inmate. The officer in-charge must ensure that the life of the inmate is not jeopardised. It is the officer in-charge of the escort that studies the security environment and takes the decision to use handcuffs.
A mild drama played out at an MTN registration outlet in Abuja when a certain Muslim woman refused to remove her hijab to complete her SIM registration process.

DAILY POST reports that following the fine imposed on MTN by the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, for having about 5 million unregistered SIMs in its network, it started another round of SIM cards registration in the country to meet up with the January deadline.

At the Garki II, Lagos street MTN outlet, a Yoruba-speaking Muslim woman covered with hijab, refused security search at the entrance to the registration centre.

DAILY POST gathered that the Muslim woman said she will not unveil herself before she will gain access into an office in her own country.

A police officer, who was acting on instructions to check every customer before they gained access into the office, told DAILY POST that, This woman is a suspect.

How can you come to a public place dressed like this and you expect to gain access into an office that is not yours?

No one knows what she has under her veil.

She may be carrying a bomb, who knows?

This is the reason why we insisted on searching her and she claimed she is a Ministers wife, the officer told DAILY POST.

Meanwhile, the purported Ministers wife gained access into the office through the intervention of one of the MTN staff who identified herself simply as Zainab.

Zainab, the front desk Manager, said the unidentified woman asked to be privately attended to as she cannot unveil herself in public.

According to her, The woman asked me to register her in a private room because she cannot remove her veil. I told her it is not in any way possible and after pleading, I asked her, what if I want to take your photo during the registration?

Zainab said the supposed Ministers wife also declined and asked for the registration to be done without her snap shot. She said the woman later asked that she sought permission from her husband before she can unveil her face for the registration process to be completed.

The woman, having caused a stir in the outlet with eyebrows raised, disorganized queues with her insistence and left mouths wagging. She told DAILY POST that she will make sure she deals with this so-called police officer.

The Hajiya, (as she was referred to), who didnt want her name mentioned, said, Can you imagine the embarrassment, an ordinary police woman stopping me from entering an office in my own country?

I will show you, she added.

Speaking further, she said, I want to do this registration thing and they say I must open my veil, which I cannot do because it is against my belief.

I managed to gain access into the office after several embarrassments from these police guard. When I got in, the MTN officials said I needed to open up my face for a snap shot to complete my registration process which I had not even started.

I just came out to take permission from my husband, whether or not I should unveil myself, before this police woman said if I go out, I wont be allowed to go back into the office unless I am thoroughly searched, she said.

When asked if she was actually a wife of one of the Nigerian Ministers, she said, Im sure you must have heard people say that here. People, who know me, have said it, so I cannot talk about that right now, the professed ministers wife quipped.

Source: Daily Post
Every organizations network is unique. So are its security needs.

Every network runs a unique mix of functions, applications, and supported services. That means a security learning and prediction model that works on someone elses network wont necessarily work on yours.

Unfortunately, many security technology vendors take just such a one size fits all approach with trained systems that attempt to detect anomalies using a single learning method with training data. These systems pull data from the entire customer base for both false positives and true positives. Then, once the system has been trained, the updated standard profile is sent to all customers in an update, and the same learning model is applied to all customers and their networks. In other words, whats missed on one customer will be missed on all.

Thats not to say there isnt value in macro threat intelligence. But its only one piece of a complex puzzle, and it ignores the fact that each network is unique.

Machine learning

Masergys Unified Enterprise Security (UES) uses multistage machine learning analysis to find, then learn, predictable patterns on a network. Every network has its own learning model, based on the types of methods that work best for it. Instead of applying a one-size-fits-all approach, the Masergy system detects events differently on different networks.

At the heart of the analysis process is a data prediction gradient that uses multiple learning models, including associated rules learning, sparse dictionary learning, Bayesian fields, and artificial neural networks. This system can learn data streams from any of six subsystems, each serving a distinct purpose:

Frequencies: When data is transmitted, the data from a network card, log, or vulnerability scanner is defined as an event. The frequency and magnitude of these events are measured over set periods of time, then mapped.

When data is transmitted, the data from a network card, log, or vulnerability scanner is defined as an event. The frequency and magnitude of these events are measured over set periods of time, then mapped. Pairings: This subsystem identifies which systems are communicating with each other, the protocols theyre using, and the size of the bidirectional communications. Then, like frequencies, these are mapped directly to a date and time.

This subsystem identifies which systems are communicating with each other, the protocols theyre using, and the size of the bidirectional communications. Then, like frequencies, these are mapped directly to a date and time. Protocols: By determining which protocols are used in a network stream, this subsystem identifies the type of applications, operating systems, and infrastructure devices on a network.

By determining which protocols are used in a network stream, this subsystem identifies the type of applications, operating systems, and infrastructure devices on a network. Resources: This subsystem builds an asset list of devices on a network and the communications methods they use. Over time, this list is adjusted so that the system can learn the parameters and baselines. This, in turn, lets the system make predictions based on combinations of protocols and services in use.

This subsystem builds an asset list of devices on a network and the communications methods they use. Over time, this list is adjusted so that the system can learn the parameters and baselines. This, in turn, lets the system make predictions based on combinations of protocols and services in use. Statistics : Metadata on groups of systems from smallest (single system) to largest (whole network) is gathered, then fed to other subsystems.

: Metadata on groups of systems from smallest (single system) to largest (whole network) is gathered, then fed to other subsystems. Threshold: Using curve-fitting algorithms to learn data trends, this system generates major and minor brackets. Then it tracks both high peaks and low troughs to determine when a value has exceeded its bracket.

Masergys data prediction gradient can use data from all six subsystems. Then it processes the data using multiple learning models, comparing the learned data with the original raw data and using regression analysis to grade each data stream against its own learning models. In this way, the system determines the predictability of any data model.

Also, data models with high predictability are tracked and used for anomaly detection. Those with low predictability are monitored using the data prediction gradient, in case they later become predictable.

The final analysis is done by clustering data. The Masergy system arranges the data into individual fields; this creates dimensions that are disassociated with the original structures.

Next, these dimensions are individually analyzed with cluster analysis, using different clusters of dimensions to create hyperplanes. Projections of these hyperplanes can be analyzed to find patterns that do not exist in the ambient data, and these often show emerging patterns that point to deeply hidden anomalies. This technique is used to form a temporal grid that serves as a prediction model. This lets the system find anomalies in the hyperplanes that can then be mapped back to the original data in the ambient space.

Masergys system adapts to the network being monitored. Instead of applying a one-size-fits-all approach, Masergy UES detects events differently on different networks.

Correlation analysis

As the dictionary tells us, a correlation happens when two or more things go together in ways not expected from chance alone. Most security solutions use correlation as part of their monitoring. In whats typically the last step before sending an alert, these solutions use rules-based systems to correlate data sets.

Masergys platform takes correlation one step further. Masergy UES continuously identifies, analyzes, and correlates typical network traffic, alerts, and packet behaviors over long periods of time. It then deploys unique methods to detect and thwart reconnaissance activity prior to an attack. UES also dramatically reduces the number of both false positives and false alarms.

Masergy UES does all this by building behavioral profiles that far exceed the traditional frequency, threshold, and NetFlow-based detection methods used by other security products. To achieve this tight correlation between dissimilar data sources, UES tightly integrates five important data sets directly into its engine:

Vulnerabilities: Masergys platform includes an integrated vulnerability scanner that maintains a fresh profile of all vulnerabilities on the network. This helps the system better understand the attack surface of the network, not only guaranteeing that the correct signatures are loaded in an intrusion-detection system, but also allowing the behavioral engine to adjust its threat profiles based on known vulnerabilities and server locations. For instance, a server receiving live network traffic from the Internet would get much higher scrutiny than an internal server with little traffic.

Masergys platform includes an integrated vulnerability scanner that maintains a fresh profile of all vulnerabilities on the network. This helps the system better understand the attack surface of the network, not only guaranteeing that the correct signatures are loaded in an intrusion-detection system, but also allowing the behavioral engine to adjust its threat profiles based on known vulnerabilities and server locations. For instance, a server receiving live network traffic from the Internet would get much higher scrutiny than an internal server with little traffic. Intrusion detection: An integrated, knowledge-based intrusion detection system is essential to finding attack vectors of known exploits. By itself, such a system cannot find unknown or zero-day exploits. But fully integrated into Masergy UES, the intrusion detection system also serves as a data source that feeds the behavioral analytics engine. For example, this intrusion detection system could report on which types of exploits a hacker is trying. It could even directly correlate with vulnerability information to predict which attack types are most likely to be effective.

An integrated, knowledge-based intrusion detection system is essential to finding attack vectors of known exploits. By itself, such a system cannot find unknown or zero-day exploits. But fully integrated into Masergy UES, the intrusion detection system also serves as a data source that feeds the behavioral analytics engine. For example, this intrusion detection system could report on which types of exploits a hacker is trying. It could even directly correlate with vulnerability information to predict which attack types are most likely to be effective. Log capture and analysis: Masergy UES captures and analyzes logs from any log-producing device, application, proxy, or service; it can also provide information about applications that have no network presence. First, the system examines all log information using its rules-based engine. Then it organizes the logs into a unified format and sends them through a learning model. This can detect brute-force password attempts at local workstations as well.

Masergy UES captures and analyzes logs from any log-producing device, application, proxy, or service; it can also provide information about applications that have no network presence. First, the system examines all log information using its rules-based engine. Then it organizes the logs into a unified format and sends them through a learning model. This can detect brute-force password attempts at local workstations as well. Threat intelligence: Masergy UES is fully managed and continuously monitored by Masergys staff of certified security experts. In essence, the company becomes an extension of an organizations team, reinforcing the intelligence that UES learns by correlating all attack vectors. This threat intelligence also provides feeds of information that the analysis engine uses to correlate and prioritize data, such as Internet hosts used as attack sources and services exploited.

Masergy UES is fully managed and continuously monitored by Masergys staff of certified security experts. In essence, the company becomes an extension of an organizations team, reinforcing the intelligence that UES learns by correlating all attack vectors. This threat intelligence also provides feeds of information that the analysis engine uses to correlate and prioritize data, such as Internet hosts used as attack sources and services exploited. Vendor disclosures: Masergy keeps up with the industry. Whenever hardware and software vendors reveal new security issues with their products, Masergy UES analysis engine correlates that information. In this way, UES determines which systems have new exploits that could work against them.

If and when new information is required, Masergy UES can immediately launch an appropriate service. Correlation rules can be made quite strict, too. The data is written directly into the unified data set, allowing the same learning models to be used for feature detection.

While all of these data sources could be gathered externally, its far more powerful to control, analyze, and manage them from a single platform. That way, all data -- not only the mappable fields -- can be correlated, since theyre part of a universal data set. The result is dramatically improved prediction, detection, and protection against threats.

Historical data

After a burglary at your home or office, youd probably want to strengthen your security appropriately. Thieves came in a window? Equip the windows with alarms. Bad guys pried open the front door? Add more robust locks.

But what if you couldnt detect how the burglars got in? Thats essentially the problem with many of todays network security systems. They use standard learning models, meaning the model is trained not with actual historic data, but instead with collective sample data thats later distributed to all systems. From the vendors point of view, its an approach thats relatively easy. But for the user, security decisions can become difficult. With only collective samples, network and security managers are stuck working with sparse data from equally sparse sources.

Raw data matters. Reducing the richness of the raw data also reduces the effectiveness of threat detection. Starting with too little data results in both numerous false positives and false negatives. Also, data profiles or culled data are forms of data reduction, meaning theyre useless for other learning models including entirely new models.

Thats why Masergy UES maintains packet headers for at least 14 days. This helps the system maintain a large enough set of historical data to be used for effective security. And for the best possible network protection, UES employs every field in the packet headers, not a select few.

Masergy UES captures and retains copious amounts of data, allowing it to spot important correlations among seemingly unlikely data sets. The very improbability of correlation among these data sets is precisely what makes them a rich resource for anomaly detection. And the easiest way to build a large historical data set is to maintain the raw data used in past analysis runs.

Masergy UES also includes a data prediction gradient that matches data with learning models to produce stable, predictable patterns. For Masergys analysis engine, unlike with some other systems, more data is better than less.

With more conventional approaches, anomaly detection is often challenged by a small data set that never allows predictability. Conversely, a large data set can overwhelm the system and fail to produce results fast enough, or it can present so much variation, the system fails to detect it. In addition, noisy data sources, bad clusters, or transient data can automatically fall to the bottom of the gradient, meaning the model will not use them for detection.

One key to creating a data gradient is regression testing. If the prediction of a model suddenly fails when it has rarely done so before, this either means the outcome is a true anomaly or that the model is no longer valid for the data. To make this determination, Masergy once again uses historical data, this time to perform regression analysis against the current model. Because anomaly detection suffers from sparse data, UES maintains an abundance of historic data for the local learning models.

In essence, Masergy UES remembers how the bad guys got in and what normal looks like. Then it uses these memories -- and this data -- to keep networks safe.

Time-based analysis

A communication network is, among other things, a temporal environment. In this context, it can be said layers of timed events comprise the network. Often, these timed events are mutually synchronized. That is, certain events must occur within a specific sequence to allow further communications.

Even complete communications occur in sequences of time. For example, a website cannot be connected unless the websites name is first resolved to an address. This, in turn, activates connections to different locations in order to gather up all the components required to be displayed on the page. Even the users website visit is part of a larger temporal pattern, one that is made up of typing, clicking, and scrolling. All of these actions occur over a span of time and can be observed for time-based analysis.

Lets say you determine through time-based observation that your staff does nearly all of its Web browsing during normal, Monday-through-Friday work hours. On weekends and late evenings, you find, Web browsing is almost nonexistent. In this example, these are time-based observations, and they can help with all sorts of network planning, processing, and protection.

Thats why Masergy UES platform uses long-term storage and behavioral profiles to analyze data over long periods of time. Masergy understands the importance of time to security. In our approach, every given piece of data that operates on a temporal system is analyzed using appropriately temporal techniques.
GBPAUD Consolidating Just Below Key 1.80 Level Tradable Patterns - Wed Oct 19, 10:25PM CDT The GBPAUD is consolidating around what is arguably downchannel resistance (on the weekly chart), taking a breather after breaking Monday above the psychologically key 1.80 whole figure level. Although...

Hog Futures Close Higher Barchart - Wed Oct 19, 4:48PM CDT At the close lean hog futures were $0.85 to $1.20 higher at the close. The CME Lean Hog from 10/17 was $93.19, down by 16 cents. The National Average Base Hog price for Wednesday afternoon was $3.67 stronger... HEZ22 : 87.375s (+1.04%) HEJ23 : 92.750s (+1.09%) KMZ22 : 96.875s (+0.36%)

Limit Drop in Dec Cotton Barchart - Wed Oct 19, 4:48PM CDT Cotton futures hit their limit a couple of times to the downside on Wednesday, with December ultimately closing there. The other front months ended the day with 302 to 347 point losses. Dec is now printing... CTZ22 : 79.49 (+1.53%) CTH23 : 78.75 (+1.00%) CTK23 : 77.49 (+0.08%)

Cattle Strengthens on Wednesday Barchart - Wed Oct 19, 4:48PM CDT Front month live cattle futures ended the day with gains of $0.72 to $1.57. The December contract went home $1.02 under the contract high and just 5 cents under the day sessions high. Feeders faded... LEV22 : 149.350s (+0.59%) LEZ22 : 151.350s (+1.05%) LEG23 : 154.250s (+0.97%) GFV22 : 175.225s (+0.23%) GFX22 : 178.075s (+0.14%)

Soybeans Close in Black on Wednesday Barchart - Wed Oct 19, 4:48PM CDT The Wednesday soybean market saw afternoon strength push beans fractionally to 2 3/4 cents in the black. Through the session November contracts saw a 21 1/2 cent trading range from +6 1/2 cents to -15c.... ZSX22 : 1378-0 (+0.40%) ZSPAUS.CM : 13.2637 (+0.06%) ZSF23 : 1387-2 (+0.33%) ZSH23 : 1395-2 (+0.25%)

Red Close for Wednesday Wheat Barchart - Wed Oct 19, 4:48PM CDT Front month wheat futures traded lower through the midweek session, but ended off their lows. Chicago futures went home on 8 to 8 1/2 cent losses. Kansas City wheat futures closed 2 3/4 to 3 1/4 cents... ZWZ22 : 842-4 (+0.15%) ZWH23 : 861-0 (+0.17%) ZWPAES.CM : 7.7583 (-1.05%) KEZ22 : 943-6 (+0.21%) KEPAWS.CM : 8.9921 (-0.41%) MWZ22 : 955-2 (+0.18%)

Red Close in Midweek Corn Market Barchart - Wed Oct 19, 4:48PM CDT Corn worked off the highs in the afternoon round of trading, but futures were still down by 1 1/4 to 2 3/4 cents at the bell. December printed a 10 1/2 cent range on the day, from plus 3 1/2 to minus 11... ZCZ22 : 678-4 (unch) ZCPAUS.CM : 6.6571 (-0.10%) ZCH23 : 685-0 (unch) ZCK23 : 685-4 (unch)
At Inside Philanthropy, we've been keeping an eye on Netflix CEO and Founder Reed Hastings and his wife Patricia Ann Quillin, and for good reason. For starters, the 55-year-old Hastings is worth $1.44 billion as of this writing. That pot may well grow larger as the video streaming giant Netflix continues to soar. In addition, he and Quillin are Giving Pledge signatories, meaning that most of the couple's wealth will go toward philanthropy. So far, the two have engaged in philanthropy without a formal charitable vehicle, focusing their donations and involvement on education reform over many years.

Reed Hastings has shown a strong appetite for the kind of muscular ed philanthropy that's become widespread over the past decade, a style that mixes traditional giving with political donations and personal activism. Promoting charter schools is a prime focus of his efforts, and Hastings has long made the argument that more choice and competition is a key to improving schools. "One way to permanently impact the system would be to have 10 to 20 percent of California schoolchildren enrolled in charter schools," he said in 2000. "That would be critical mass, and enough of a force to induce a competitive dynamic in the system."

Hastings was the president of the California State Board of Education for several years last decade, where he led successful statewide political campaigns for more charter public schools. Hastings currently sits on the board of the California Charter Schools Association. Notable past philanthropic gifts include $3 million to personalized learning giant Kahn Academy. The Hastings couple has also funded charters, recently giving $2 million to charter school operator Rocketship Education. They've also provided start-up funding for Aspire charter network and Hastings is a director of the KIPP Foundation.

Related: Reed Hastings of Netflix Is Yet Another Funder Excited About Blended Learning for K-12

While Hastings and Quillin have been passionate about education for a while, we've wondered when their giving would really ramp up. Now, we have an answer. Hastings recently took to Facebook to announce a new $100 million education fund called the Hastings Fund through the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.

Hastings will serve as sole trustee of the fund and Neerav Kingsland will serve as CEO of the fund. Kingsland is a charter proponent who previously served as CEO of New Schools for New Orleans. He's also a senior fellow at the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, a funder which has given some $150 million to education groups in the past four years. We've written often about LAJF's ed reform funding, which includes big investments in New Orleans as well as a number of charters and charter advocacy organizations. It's no surprise that someone like Kingsland would be tapped by Hastings.

How aggressively the Hastings Fund scales up and moves into battle mode on K-12 reform remains to be seen. Interestingly, the fund's first big foray isn't even in this area; it's focused on college scholarships.

The fund has launched with two initial grantees, the Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley and the United Negro College Fund. The fund will disperse a total of $1.5 million with the aim of providing students of color "exceptional post-secondary educational experiences."

That said, we'd expect that coming months and years will bring investments in charters, blended learning, and other areas in which Hastings has long been interested. Maybe he'll broaden out to other areas, too. Hastings made waves in 2014 when he called for ending elected school boards, a proposal that didn't go over very well with the president of the California School Board Association, who fired back that "Public oversight of local government is the foundation of American democracy. Nowhere is this more evident than in our public schools, where voters entrust boards of education with the education of our youth."

Still, if Hastings decided to put money into pushing this idea, it could open a new frontier in the ed reform push. You could certainly imagine ed reform funders like Hastings seeking new ideas given that scaling charters has proven a long and tough slog, and these schools aren't yet having the catalytic competitive effects that advocates had hoped.

Last year, the Walton Family Foundation put out a new strategic plan that acknowledged the limits of competition. The foundation said its theory of change has evolved: Choice is necessary, but schools of choice cannot stimulate systematic transformation and large-scale improvements on their own.

Tech funders pride themselves on their ability to fail, learn and changeand we wonder how many will put big money into charters and choice going forward, given the less-than-transformative results of this strategy to date.

It's been notable that as Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan have scaled up their ed giving, they've built an increasingly diversified grantmaking portfolio and have not put all their eggs in the charter/choice basket. Other Silicon Valley donors, like Laurene Powell Jobs, are also looking at other strategieswith a big focus on changing how students learn to introduce more personalized approaches and spur greater creativity.

Will Hastings, one of the most die-hard advocates of charters in California, also start to think more broadly about his approach to education? Well, to some degree he already has, with that big gift to the Kahn Academy a while back. And now comes his major move into post-secondary education. So stay tuned.

Related:
Precision medicinetailoring drug therapies to individuals based on their individual geneticsis emerging as a valuable method in cancer treatment. Drug A may work great for one cancer patient, but not so well for the next person, who responds well to drug B, or maybe drug C. In the past, doctors had to use trial and error to find the best drug, which is not in the patient's best interest.

By deciphering the genetic code in cancer cells, genomic sequencing allows physicians to select treatments that address the underlying genetic changes that occurred during the development of cancer, and so are most likely to produce a therapeutic response.

Unfortunately, the individual genomic sequencing used in precision medicine is expensive, and not always available to people without sufficient money or insurance.

But for some New York City children with cancer, and their families, at least that one aspect of their ordeal will no longer be a concern, thanks to the Sohn Conference Foundation.

The foundation recently announced the Sohn Precision Medicine Program at Columbia University Medical Center. Sohn is funding the center with a $1.5 million grant over approximately three years. The program will provide access to genomic sequencing for any high-risk pediatric patients in NYC who need it.

The Sohn precision medicine initiative is actually an extension of a program at the Morgan Stanley Childrens Hospital of New York-Presbyterian/Columbia, which, since 2014, has provided genomic sequencing for all of its pediatric cancer patients. Now, kids with cancer at any NYC hospital will be covered for the sequencing.

Like a lot of philanthropic outfits focused on medical research, the Sohn Conference Foundation, established more than 20 years ago to support pediatric cancer research, was created out of one family's tragedy: the loss of Ira Sohn, a Wall Street trader, to cancer at age 29. But the foundation wasn't endowed with a Gibraltar-sized pile of money from an ultra-wealthy donor. It has actually been a successful experiment in entrepreneurial philanthropya business that fuels its own philanthropy.

The Sohn foundation generates its income from a series of high-profile financial industry conferences. The $5,000 tickets are parlayed into the grants that the Sohn Conference Foundation gives to support medical researchers and programs. As Evan Sohn, vice president and cofounder of the foundation, told Inside Philanthropy, when you buy a conference ticket, you're helping a kid fight cancer. (But don't feel guilty if you don't go.)

The Sohn Conference originated in New York, but the organization has since expanded into Hong Kong, London, San Francisco, Tel Aviv and Toronto. And while much of Sohn's grantmaking focuses on New York Citywhich still has the most profitable conferenceit also makes grants to medical researchers and centers based in the newer conference cities.

At its inception, the Sohn foundation focused on pediatric cancers to compensate for insufficient funding from the NIH and other sources, explained Sohn. "Less than 4 percent of the NIH budget was in pediatric cancer," he said. "No one was really focused on pediatric cancer the way we are."

To date, the Sohn Conference Foundation has raised more than $65 million to fight childhood cancer and other childhood diseases. We've written before about several of the outfit's programs, including its alliance with the Pershing Square Foundation to provide substantial fellowships to support early-career cancer researchers in New York City.

"We're focused on the individual, and investing in people," said Sohn of the organization's strategy. "We're focused on providing what that individual needs be successful."
@LincolnElectric @MotoramaShow  TORONTO, ON // JANUARY 21, 2016  Whether youre a shade-tree mechanic, a weekend warrior, a serious automotive hobbyist, or a member of the most sophisticated NASCAR, IndyCar or NHRA fabrication teams one tool you absolutely depend on is your welder. And since you rely on having a quality machine at your disposal, invariably your welder will have the Lincoln Electric brand on it.

The Motorama Custom Car & Motorsports Expo takes place March 11, 12 & 13, 2016, in Toronto, at The International Centre across from Pearson Airport. Geared to every form of automotive and racing enthusiast, its the perfect platform from which Lincoln Electric can showcase its extensive product line and the latest technology.

The Motorama show brings together two significant groups; the custom car and the motorsports communities, said Bruce Clark, Director of Marketing and Export Sales for Lincoln Electric Canada. Because of this, Motorama really works well for us. The people who walk through the doors are our target demographic. With our broad range of welders and safety equipment, we can match anyones needs with the proper tool, whether its a finicky car guy looking for a new TIG welder, or a race car frame builder in need of a high power MIG or stick machine.

What has Clark truly excited about the upcoming 2016 Motorama show is that Lincoln Electric will use the opportunity to debut two new welders: the Square Wave TIG 200 (top right) and the Power MIG 210 (above right). In their 1200 square foot display area, Lincoln technicians will demonstrate both of these new machines, along with a small plasma cutter; the Tomahawk 375.

Taking the hands-on aspect even further, Lincoln Electric and the Lead Kings Car Club will work together on a very interesting and unique display at Motorama. The clubs members will use Lincoln cutters, welders, safety wear and products to chop and lower a car in a live, practical demonstration. The weekend-long effort will take place in the Lead Kings simulated garage.

Guided by the philosophy, Proper Tool to do a Proper Job, Lincoln Electric continues its steady pace of industry-leading new product introductions, welding solutions and accessories to the market, all in an effort to help the companys end-user customers to become more productive and successful. Be sure to check out the Lincoln Electric display at Motorama.

ABOUT LINCOLN ELECTRIC: Founded in 1895 and based in Cleveland, Ohio, Lincoln Electric moved into the Canadian marketplace in 1914 with its headquarters in Leaside (Toronto), ON. From Sales Offices in Mississauga and Calgary, Lincoln Electric services a diverse list of industries, ranging from automotive and transportations, to ship building, pipeline and offshore construction, to thermal, nuclear and wind power contracting. Lincoln Electric caters to the motorsports industry by offering welding equipment to members of the NASCAR, IndyCar, NHRA, Drifting, Off-Road, Monster Truck, sprint car and Stadium Super Truck fraternity. The only company to manufacture arc-welding equipment in Canada, Lincoln Electric is also a world-renowned educator, having successfully trained over 100,000 graduates from its welding school. An inventory of their full product lines, available services, plus other company details can be found on their website, www.lincolnelectric.com, or by telephone (Toronto) at (416) 421-2600.

ABOUT THE MOTORAMA CUSTOM CAR & MOTORSPORTS EXPO: The second annual Motorama Custom Car & Motorsports Expo takes place March 11, 12 & 13, 2016 at The International Centre, adjacent to Torontos Pearson International Airport. With a footprint of almost 300,000 square feet, the show will be Canadas biggest late-winter celebration of automobiles and motorsports. Announced celebrity guests include Steve Darnell (Vegas Rat Rods / Welderup), Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top) and Jimmy Shine (So-Cal Speed Shop / Jimmy Shine Work Shop). For information about the show, including tickets, sponsorship and exhibitor opportunities, and more, call (416) 962-7223, email info@MotoramaShow.com or visit www.MotoramaShow.com.
It was hard to tell whether hope or fear was the predominant sentiment about the future of artificial intelligence, according to a panel discussing the state of the field at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Wednesday.

A.I. systems are rapidly becoming more capable, the panel   which included Ya-Qin Zhang, president of Chinese search engine company Baidu Inc., and Matthew Grob, the chief technology officer at Qualcomm Inc.  agreed: theyre able to learn from analyzing large data sets and they can increasingly discern human emotions by monitoring facial expressions and natural language.

A.I. researchers Andrew Moore, the dean of the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, and Stuart Russell, a professor of computer science at the University of California, Berkeley, were also on the panel and concurred that as a result, A.I. is likely to vastly improve human lives in the coming decade.

But the researchers and executives voiced concern about possible downsides ranging from economic displacement to computers that escape the ability of humans to control them with potentially dire consequences.

Whats next for artificial intelligence?

Using A.I. to improve search engine results has the potential to transform search from a $1 trillion industry today to a $10 trillion industry, Russell said. Zhang said Baidu is already beginning to apply artificial intelligence to insurance and loan underwriting, where he sees real possibilities for such systems to better assess risk. In insurance and consumer loans, A.I. and machine learning can help you identify all the patterns to help you reduce risk, Zhang said.

Zhang also said he worries that as machines get smarter, people are in some ways actually becoming less smart than they once were. Already we dont have to remember as much, because we rely on search engines and information stored on our mobile devices. Soon we might forget how to drive thanks to autonomous driving systems. This is fine, Zhang said, so long it makes us more efficient by freeing up our brains for more meaningful tasks. But he worried we might squander this new mindspace. He also fretted about what would happen if one day some of these systems failed. Would people be able to function?

At the same time, a growing number of professions are likely to be increasingly squeezed by A.I., including many white-collar jobs once thought immune to automation, such as law and even medicine, Moore said. He predicted there would be far fewer lawyers and doctors in the future, while there might be more jobs for teachers of young children or nurses, who could use artificial intelligence to aid their work while not being displaced by software.

Russell said that machines with general intelligence capability might not be that far off and that the world ought to devote serious thought to how to govern such machines  an idea Elon Musk and theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking have supported in the past, being co-signatories alongside Russell on an open letter entitled Research Priorities for Robust and Beneficial Artificial Intelligence.

He said one could not predict the speed at which A.I. will develop. You cant use Moores Law to predict how quickly this will happen, he said, adding that it might take just a few breakthroughs to create general intelligence  and that breakthroughs were by their very nature unpredictable. The possible risks from building systems more intelligent than us are not immediate but the need to think about how to keep such systems under control and make sure the decisions they make are beneficial to us, that needs to start happening now, Russell said.

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.

Topics InsurTech Data Driven
Aviva Plc, the U.K.s second-biggest insurer by market value, agreed to buy a home and auto insurer from Royal Bank of Canada for C$582 million ($402 million) to expand in North America.

The purchase will increase Avivas policy sales in Canada by about C$800 million, up from almost C$4 billion in 2014, the buyer said Thursday in a statement. The companies also agreed to a 15-year deal in which other Aviva products will be made available to customers of the Toronto-based bank. About 575 employees of Royal Bank will become part of the London-based insurer.

Aviva Chief Executive Officer Mark Wilson, who joined in 2013 to turn around the insurer, has been reshaping the company through deals, including the purchase in 2015 of Friends Life Group Ltd. for more than $8 billion, which was the biggest acquisition the U.K. insurance industry had seen in 15 years. Hes also sold units from Spain to Russia.

This new partnership extends Avivas presence in general insurance, brings additional diversification benefits to the group and presents excellent opportunities for revenue and earnings growth in the attractive Canadian market, Wilson said in a separate statement.

Aviva climbed 3.1 percent at 1:40 p.m. in London.

The sale allows RBC Insurance to focus on lines such as life and health coverage and will probably be completed in the third quarter, according to the banks statement. The seller expects to record a net gain on the transaction of about C$200 million.

Royal Bank CEO David McKay said in March that he was reviewing property & casualty operations, citing difficulties caused by Canadian rules that ban banks from selling coverage in branches.

Its a very volatile business, he said at the time. Were under scale in property and casualty in the Canadian marketplace.

With assistance from Doug Alexander, Lily Katz and Sarah Jones.

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.

Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Canada
Minnesotas bike lobby is hoping to get state legislators to lower speed limits on city streets around the state, arguing it would make cyclists and pedestrians safer.

A speed limit of 25 mph is being sought by the states bike lobby, the Star Tribune reported. The League of American Bicyclists cited the current urban limit of 30 mph as an area needing improvement when Minneapolis recently tried to get its status as a bike-friendly community upgraded from gold to platinum, which is held only by five U.S. cities.

Supporters of the lower speed limit also argue that it would encourage more people to exercise.

The legislative push is being planned by the Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota. The four states surrounding Minnesota allow speed limits of 25 mph in urban areas.

It doesnt make sense to me that all the states around us have 25 miles per hour and Minnesota doesnt, said Dorian Grilley, the organizations executive director.

Rep. Frank Hornstein, DFL-Minneapolis, supports a lower speed limit, but warns the proposal could languish, with sentiment from legislators outside the Twin Cities having been to push for higher speed limits, especially on farm-to-market roads.

There are exceptions for a 25 mph speed limit despite the current 30 mph urban limit, including on city streets less than a half-mile long. Tests of a 25 mph limit on a Minneapolis bike route near the University of Minnesota in 2012 and 2013 showed negligible changes in traffic speeds, according to city measurements.

It basically tells me that a sign doesnt change behavior, said Jon Wertjes, the citys director of traffic and parking services.

The League of American Bicyclists said in a feedback report said Minneapolis has a lower share of streets with a 25 mph limit compared with other applicants for the same category of bike-friendly awards. The organization urged the lower speed limit around schools, in residential areas and downtown.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Minnesota
American International Group Inc. knows what its like to be circled by hawks.

American International Group Inc. knows what its like to be circled by hawks.

Under pressure in 2009 to repay the insurers bailout, company executives were in a race to sell assets. Then Robert Benmosche applied the brakes when he took over as chief executive officer, demanding better prices on everything from an aircraft unit to derivative contracts. He eventually handed the U.S. government a $22.7 billion profit.

His successor, Peter Hancock, has been charting a similar path as he seeks to avoid being perceived as a forced seller while simplifying the insurer. He scheduled a Jan. 26 presentation to outline his approach after rebuffing investor Carl Icahns demand to break AIG into three companies. Any appeal by Hancock for patience could frustrate the billionaire activist, who said in October that the time to act is now and then wrote Tuesday that the CEOs credibility will suffer unless he announces a drastic strategy shift.

After AIG dealt with the U.S. government as a majority shareholder in the financial crisis, the tension with Icahn and billionaire investor John Paulson is something that pales in comparison, Robert Haines, an analyst at CreditSights, said in an interview. Its not live-or-die like it was back then, but they have to be cognizant of what shareholders want. He has to say something, or the stocks going to get hit really bad.

Share Buybacks

Hancock, 57, can point to the exit of an investment in AerCap Holdings NV and the sale of shares in companies like Springleaf Holdings Inc. and Chinas PICC Property & Casualty Co. Those deals helped fund more than $9.5 billion of share buybacks last year, and AIG has beaten the Standard & Poors 500 Index since he took over in September 2014.

The CEO has also sold some small units, including operations in Central America and Taiwan. But those deals were dwarfed by rival MetLife Inc.s announcement last week that it will sell, spin off or have an initial public offering for a U.S. retail business with $240 billion in assets. A spinoff of AIGs life and retirement consumer business would have operating earnings of about $2.2 billion, Bloomberg Intelligence said in a note Wednesday. That would be bigger than MetLifes plan, according to the report.

MetLife, which has been designated by a U.S. panel as a systemically important financial institution, said the move could limit capital requirements on products like variable annuities. Hancock has said the benefits of shedding SIFI status arent such a big deal, and that splitting could erode the value of tax assets and jeopardize AIGs credit rating. Moodys Investors Service said last week that MetLife is being reviewed for a downgrade.

Hard Lessons

Im not a believer that theres a wholesale dismantling of AIG coming, Charles Sebaski, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets, said in an interview. I dont expect asset sales like what weve seen before, when AIG shrunk by half from the financial crisis through 2013.

AIG learned hard lessons back then that raising cash isnt always as simple as investors would like. One would-be buyer for the International Lease Finance Corp. plane unit was unable to deliver the funds after agreeing to a deal. Other deals for units in Asia stalled or collapsed.

Benmosche insisted on demanding what he saw as the right price, even if it meant slowing down divestitures at a time when the government was eager to shrink New York-based AIG. He said in 2009 that patience in exiting derivative positions would protect the insurer.

Goldmans Bonus Pool

My biggest concern is youre selling too fast and youre being taken by Wall Street, he told staff. I dont want to feed Goldman Sachss bonus pool anymore, he said. I want to feed ours. In order to do that, youve got to stop giving this stuff away. Youve got to ask for decent prices or well wait.

Benmosche halted the auction of a U.S. investment advisory unit his first month on the job and refused to lower the takeover price when shareholders of Prudential Plc declined to support that companys bid of about $35 billion for AIA Group Ltd., a Hong Kong-based insurer. Benmosche eventually raised a similar sum by exiting AIA through four public offerings. He died last year.

Hancock, who was hired by Benmosche in 2010, spoke in his first months as CEO about not being hurried into deals, even for non-core assets like the AerCap stake that AIG acquired when that aircraft-leasing company agreed to buy ILFC.

It would seem like a hot potato, Hancock said in February of the AerCap stake, when the Netherlands-based company was trading for about $43 a share. I would not describe it that way.

AIG raised more than $3 billion by selling most of its AerCap shares in June at $49 apiece. The aircraft-lessors shares have since plunged to less than $33.

More Noise

Still, Paulson would like AIG to trim down more dramatically, according to people with knowledge of the hedge- fund managers thinking in November. That could involve selling life insurers and a mortgage guarantee operation to focus on property/casualty coverage, an approach that Icahn endorsed in Tuesdays letter. And Icahn has said he may seek the addition of a director who could replace Hancock as CEO if asked to do so by the board.

Hancock told staff in a letter last week that management has a prudent, insightful plan to address shareholder concerns and that employees will continue to hear more noise in the next few days. Jon Diat, a spokesman for AIG, declined to comment on the activists plan to break up the company. Icahn didnt return a message.

Many investors could be pleased at the presentation by a two- to three-year timetable to exit SIFI status, a strategy to fix P&C operations and a plan to sell 20 percent or more of the businesses, Josh Stirling, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. said by phone.

Some investors just arent going to be satisfied, CreditSights Haines said. I just dont think an actual split is in the cards right now. That could be several years down the road.

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.

Topics USA Property Casualty
The West Virginia Alcohol Beverage Control Administration has received a record 78 entries from high school students for a contest discussing the dangers of drinking and driving and underage alcohol consumption.

Sixteen high schools submitted essays or videos for the contest. Winners will be announced in late January. Prizes include $5,000 for first place, $2,500 for second place and $1,000 for third place. Prize money must be used for school-sanctioned events or equipment.

The agency says in a news release that students from the winning school will help develop a 60-second public service announcement which will air statewide during this years prom and graduation seasons.

The NO School Spirits contest is funded with grants from State Farm, the National Alcohol Beverage Control Association and the Governors Highway Safety Program.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Personal Auto Virginia
As policies that limit when employers may ask applicants about their criminal histories gain popularity nationwide, advocates are pushing similar measures in Alabama, which has one of the highest incarceration rates in the country.

Nineteen states and the District of Columbia have implemented ban the box laws, which also are in place in 51 cities and counties in states that havent adopted the guidelines, according to the National Employment Law Project, or NELP, an advocacy group.

The growth in the policies popularity comes as NELP, other groups and federal prosecutors are forcing counties across the country to reform their local criminal justice systems to make them fairer. President Barack Obamas administration has joined such efforts, advocating alternatives to incarceration for non-violent offenders and support for programs aimed at helping convicts re-enter society.

Skeptics, however, say that while the ban the box policy is rooted in good intentions, it presents legitimate challenges for businesses involving safety, liability, lost time and money.

For a business owner, time is money and it can be very challenging, said Elizabeth Milito, senior executive counsel for the National Federation of Independent Business. The small business advocacy group fought statewide ban the box proposals in the Louisiana legislature in 2014.

Alabama jailed 820 per 100,000 adults in 2014, the third-highest incarceration rate in the country behind Louisiana and Oklahoma, according to a September report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics. New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, also have adopted ban the box polices, according to the National Employment Law Project report.

City leaders in Mobile, Alabama, approved a ban the box policy for public jobs in late 2014 and asked the countys personnel board to implement it in the 21 jurisdictions it covers. The board unanimously voted against it in January 2015. Mobile County Personnel Board Director Donald Dees said mayors and other elected officials from around the county showed up to voice their opposition. Law enforcement officials also expressed concerns about the proposal.

In 2014, Alabama lawmakers passed legislation allowing people with expunged records to legally withhold listing criminal charges on job applications. Senate Minority Leader Quinton Ross, D-Montgomery, says he plans to refile broader ban the box legislation that he first proposed in 2015, but which got lost amid a larger discussion on prison reform.

Birmingham Mayor William Bell said hes also looking to implement the policy for city jobs via executive order within 30 days.

For Alabamians with criminal records, finding a stable job can hinge on an employers willingness to take a chance on an applicant with a checkered past. Ex-offenders and advocates say even with the right qualifications and experience, its rare to move past the application to an interview.

People see a felony and its almost like youve got a horn sticking out of your head, said Jay Pace, 35, who served about 20 months in prison on drug charges and is looking for work.

Rather than sitting a person down, talking to them, hearing them out, investigating, seeing the details, they just see that check and its over with. They dont want to go any further, he said.

The ban the box or fair chance policies usually require employers to remove questions about criminal charges from applications. After determining whether the applicant is qualified for the job, they can inquire about past convictions and consider such factors as how long ago the offenses occurred and whether they could have an effect on the job. A policy that was recently amended in Philadelphia requires employers to ask about a candidates criminal history after making a conditional job offer. The city initially approved the policy in 2011.

Many policies cover applicants seeking public-sector work, although at least seven states have passed laws that apply to private employers as well, according to a report NELP released last month. The federal government has encouraged the Office of Personnel Management and federal contractors to use the guidelines when possible.

Several national chains including Target, Wal-Mart and Home Depot already use the policies in their application process, said Stephen Stetson, policy analyst for the Alabama ARISE Citizens Policy Project, a nonprofit group that pushes for better state policies to help low-income Alabamians.

In Alabama, There is a wide coalition of folks that are interested in this issue and one of the exciting things is that we know that the climate is right for criminal justice reform based on the Prison Reform Task Force and its various subcommittees, Stetson said. The Prison Reform Task Force, composed of state lawmakers, agency directors and others, was formed in 2014 to investigate ways to ease overcrowding in the states prison system.

Milito says the policy may need some refining. If employers are forced to investigate a candidates background after the hiring process is almost complete, it could put them at risk for losing alternate candidates, she said.

Its not about not giving somebody a second chance; its about being able to have that conversation with someone sooner, she said.

But supporters say delaying questions on an applicants criminal history could improve opportunities for ex-offenders and reduce recidivism because they could potentially land a job during an interview and wouldnt automatically be rejected  or assume theyd be.

Were looked at as a plague and we need to be looked at as an opportunity, said Paul Dube, 29, who has pending drug charges and is participating in re-entry programs with the help of a nonprofit in Alabama.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Legislation Louisiana Fraud Talent Alabama
Floridas Citizens Property Insurance Corporation announced Jan. 20 that it has reduced its policy count to under 500,000.

The company said in a statement that its policy count on Jan. 19 was 484,788, the lowest level recorded since Citizens was created in 2002. Total exposure has shrunk to $143.53 billion. The Florida Legislature created Citizens, a not-for-profit alternative insurer, to provide insurance to property owners who cannot find coverage in the private insurance market.

Citizens said it is benefiting from a reinvigorated private insurance market, affordable reinsurance and favorable weather and has been able to return to its role as the states insurer of last resort.

This marks an important milestone and the culmination of efforts from all Citizens stakeholders, said Chris Gardner, chairman of the Citizens Board of Governors. Much of the credit needs to go to the private property insurance market, which under the watchful eye of the Office of Insurance Regulation has grown strong over the past several years. State leaders also need to take a bow.

Following 10-years with no major hurricane, Floridas private property insurance market has returned to health, aided by the availability of affordable reinsurance. In October, all 67 Florida domestic property insurers passed a stress test administered by the Office of Insurance Regulation that simulated various hurricane scenarios including a repeat of the 2004 hurricane season.

Citizens policy count over the years has fluctuated in response to changing market conditions. Following periods of increased hurricane activity or other market disruptions, Citizens policy count has risen. The last peak occurred in 2012 as Citizens approached 1.5 million policies and more than $500 billion in exposure.

By law, Citizens is required to levy assessments on Florida policyholders if it exhausts its ability to pay claims. In 2011, Florida policyholders faced a potential assessment of $11.6 billion in the event of a 1-100 year storm. Citizens eliminated the risk of such an assessment in 2015.

Barry Gilway, Citizens president, CEO and executive director said the results exceed expectations.

These results were accomplished by dedicated Citizens staff who worked closely with 23 companies on the depopulation program and 14 companies on the Clearinghouse program over the past few years, said Gilway.

Source: Citizens Property Insurance Corp.

Related:

Topics Trends Florida Hurricane Property Market
Utah-man Navid Monjazeb faces 22 counts of insurance fraud, reckless endangerment, and other crimes spanning five years and at least 23 known accidents  with the same three vehicles.

Charges resulting from a months-long investigation conducted by Utahs Insurance Fraud Division were filed against Monjazeb on Wednesday through the Utah Attorney Generals Office. Monjazeb was arrested and booked into the Salt Lake County Jail that morning.

Monjazeb was charged with pattern of unlawful activity, a second-degree felony; 12 counts of insurance fraud, all third-degree felonies; 2 counts of forgery, both third-degree felonies; and 7 counts of reckless endangerment, all class-A misdemeanors.

Between Jan. 5, 2010 and Dec. 22, 2015, Monjazeb, while driving the same three vehicles, was involved in at least 23 auto accidents, according to investigators. Many of the accidents occurred at the same location with similar circumstances, and all in the Salt Lake County area. In nearly all cases, Monjazeb intentionally collided with or placed his vehicle in a position where the accident was a complete certainty, investigators say.

Monjazeb allegedly would aggressively assert that the other driver was at fault and would intimidate them to the point that they would sign prepared statements that they were at fault in the accident. Monjazeb would push the victims for a cash settlement without calling police, and when police were called, they placed the victim at fault based on the assertions of Monjazeb, according to investigators.

Monjazebs vehicles all had pre-existing damages which he blamed on the accident  the victim vehicles usually had very minimal damage with repairs being paid for out of pocket  so Monjazebs vehicles had thousands of dollars in damages paid for by the victims insurance company, investigators say.

Monjazeb allegedly collected the insurance money while electing to not have the damage repaired or claiming to have repaired the vehicle himself, and he exaggerated his damages and provided forged repair documents to increase his payouts from insurance, according to investigators.

Insurance companies paid for the same damages from accident to accident. Monjazeb was reportedly paid a total of more than $55,000 from insurance carriers alone. It is unknown how many additional accidents may have occurred wherein police and insurance carriers were not contacted and victims paid Monjazeb in cash.

Assisting with the investigation were agents with the National Insurance Crime Bureau.

Topics Auto Fraud
(Bloomberg) -- It was hard to tell whether hope or fear was the predominant sentiment about the future of artificial intelligence, according to a panel discussing the state of the field at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Wednesday.

A.I. systems are rapidly becoming more capable, the panel - - which included Ya-Qin Zhang, president of Chinese search engine company Baidu Inc., and Matthew Grob, the chief technology officer at Qualcomm Inc. -- agreed: theyre able to learn from analyzing large data sets and they can increasingly discern human emotions by monitoring facial expressions and natural language.

A.I. researchers Andrew Moore, the dean of the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, and Stuart Russell, a professor of computer science at the University of California, Berkeley, were also on the panel and concurred that as a result, A.I. is likely to vastly improve human lives in the coming decade.

But the researchers and executives voiced concern about possible downsides ranging from economic displacement to computers that escape the ability of humans to control them with potentially dire consequences.

Whats next for artificial intelligence

Using A.I. to improve search engine results has the potential to transform search from a $1 trillion industry today to a $10 trillion industry, Russell said. Zhang said Baidu is already beginning to apply artificial intelligence to insurance and loan underwriting, where he sees real possibilities for such systems to better assess risk. "In insurance and consumer loans, A.I. and machine learning can help you identify all the patterns to help you reduce risk," Zhang said.

Zhang also said he worries that as machines get smarter, people are in some ways actually becoming less smart than they once were. Already we dont have to remember as much, because we rely on search engines and information stored on our mobile devices. Soon we might forget how to drive thanks to autonomous driving systems. This is fine, Zhang said, so long it makes us more efficient by freeing up our brains for more meaningful tasks. But he worried we might squander this new mindspace. He also fretted about what would happen if one day some of these systems failed. Would people be able to function?

At the same time, a growing number of professions are likely to be increasingly squeezed by A.I., including many white-collar jobs once thought immune to automation, such as law and even medicine, Moore said. He predicted there would be far fewer lawyers and doctors in the future, while there might be more jobs for teachers of young children or nurses, who could use artificial intelligence to aid their work while not being displaced by software.

Russell said that machines with general intelligence capability might not be that far off and that the world ought to devote serious thought to how to govern such machines -- an idea Elon Musk and theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking have supported in the past, being co-signatories alongside Russell on an open letter entitled Research Priorities For Robust and Beneficial Artificial Intelligence.

He said one could not predict the speed at which A.I. will develop. "You cant use Moores Law to predict how quickly this will happen," he said, adding that it might take just a few breakthroughs to create general intelligence -- and that breakthroughs were by their very nature unpredictable. "The possible risks from building systems more intelligent than us are not immediate but the need to think about how to keep such systems under control and make sure the decisions they make are beneficial to us, that needs to start happening now," Russell said.
Foreign stocks are an attractive option for investors who want to diversify their portfolios, with brokers ready to assist in making these foreign investments. Index funds that are global in scope and follow a passive investment approach provide a cost-effective means of investing overseas.

Still, it's worth noting these international index funds carry their own special risks, ranging from currency-related to political. They can pose liquidity and due diligence problems for retail investors.



Key Takeaways Investors can diversify their portfolios with foreign stocks by investing in international index funds.

International index funds can be more volatile than domestic funds and expose investors to currency risk.

Europe, the Pacific region, and emerging markets are the focus of the Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund.

The Fidelity International Index Fund invests heavily in Europe and Japan.

The Schwab International Index Fund focuses on financial, industrial, health care, and consumer discretionary stocks.



What Is an Index Fund?

An index fund is a mutual fund or exchange-traded-fund (ETF) that invests in the securities tracked by an index. It follows a buy and hold strategy with the goal of matching the measured performance of the particular index it tracks, such as the Standard & Poor's 500 Index (S&P 500). An international index fund attempts to track the measured performance of an international market index.

Here are four of the best international index funds. We've listed some of the most important information for each, including the total assets under management (AUM), net asset value (NAV), and the net expense ratio for each. Except where noted, information provided is as of March 31, 2022.



1. Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund Admiral Shares (VTIAX)

AUM: $386.7 billion

$386.7 billion NAV: $31.37 as of Feb. 19, 2022

$31.37 as of Feb. 19, 2022 Net Expense Ratio: 0.11%

The Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund seeks to track the returns measured by the FTSE Global All Cap ex U.S. Index. Like other international equity funds, it can be more volatile than a domestic index fund. It comes with a minimum investment requirement of $3,000.

Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, China, and France top the list of market allocations of this fund with 14.9%, 10.2%, 8%, 7.9%, and 6.1%, respectively.

Europe makes up 39.50% of the fund's total regional allocation. The Pacific region follows with 26.80%. Emerging markets have been given a 25.20% allocation.

The 10-year return for the fund is 5.80%. The benchmark index measured performance at 5.97% during that same 10-year period.

2. Vanguard Developed Markets Index Fund Admiral Shares (VTMGX)

AUM: $161.7 billion

$161.7 billion NAV: $15.09 as of Feb. 19, 2022

$15.09 as of Feb. 19, 2022 Net Expense Ratio: 0.07%

Vanguard merged two foreign equity funds in 2014 to form the Vanguard Developed Markets Index Fund. This fund tracks the performance of the benchmark Spliced Developed ex U.S. Index, which measures the investment return of stocks issued by companies located in Canada and the major markets of Europe and the Pacific region.

It has an exceptionally low turnover ratio of 3.1% (as of December 2021), making it highly tax-efficient for investors. The fund mainly invests in large- and mid-cap stocks of developed markets. Over 19% of its assets are based in Japan while over 13.2% are in the United Kingdom, and 10.7% are in Canada.

VTMGX returned 6.67% to investors in 10 years compared to its benchmark, which returned 6.79% during that period.

The fund charges no load fees and requires its investors to contribute at least $3,000.



3. Fidelity International Index Fund (FSPSX)

AUM: $39.2 billion

$39.2 billion NAV: $44.87 as of Feb. 19, 2022

$44.87 as of Feb. 19, 2022 Net Expense Ratio: 0.035%

The Fidelity International Index Fund tracks the performance of the MSCI Europe, Australasia, Far East Index (EAFE). The MSCI EAFE is a broad index that represents the performance of foreign developed-market stocks. This fund offers a diversified international portfolio at a very low cost. Because the fund avoids emerging market equities, its returns are subject to lower volatility.

The fund uses sampling techniques to attain investment results similar to those of the underlying index. European stocks have the largest allocation at 65.1%, while Japanese equities account for about 21.86% of the fund's assets.

The fund provides large exposure to financial and industrial stocks, which have 17.39% and 15.11% allocations, respectively. The fund's portfolio is widely diversified. Its top 10 holdings account for only about 14.11% of its assets.

FSPSX had a 10-year return of 6.31% compared to the benchmark, which returned 6.46% during the same period. No minimum investment is required.



4. Schwab International Index Fund (SWISX)

AUM: $8.5 billion

$8.5 billion NAV: $21.54 as of Feb. 19, 2022

$21.54 as of Feb. 19, 2022 Net Expense Ratio: 0.06%

The Schwab International Index Fund seeks to track the measured return of the MSCI EAFE Index. Like other international stock funds, this fund exposes investors to foreign currency fluctuations.

European and Japanese companies head the lineup of this fund's portfolio. In addition, approximately 17% of the fund is invested in the financial services sector, followed by 15.4% in industrials, 13% in health care, and 11.5% in consumer discretionary companies.

In ten years, the fund returned 6.17% to investors while the benchmark measured a performance of 6.27% for that period.

The fund has one of the lowest net expense ratios among its peers and an exceptionally low turnover ratio of 4.08%, making it highly tax efficient. The fund has no load and no minimum investment requirement.

You can purchase shares in any of these funds by opening up an account with a mutual fund company that offers them.

Are International Index Funds a Good Investment? Whether international index funds are a good investment option depends on your investment goals, strategies, and capital pool. One thing to keep in mind, though, is that diversifying your exposure to international stocks can mitigate your risk and they do have the potential to provide you with a good return on your investment. Just remember that any chance for higher rewards comes with higher risk.

What Is an International Index Fund? An international index fund is a mutual fund that has a global scope as its focus. Just like other mutual funds, international index funds try to track the performance of a similar benchmark index. Many of them are low-cost funds that come with their own risks, such as currency fluctuations, political issues, and liquidity concerns.
Oil and natural gas companies are a crucial part of Russia's economy. The energy sector is a staple of the investing world, and it comprised, on average, 43% of government revenue between 2011 and 2020. The country has some of the largest multinational oil and gas companies in the world because it also has some of the largest known reserves.

Below are six of the largest Russian oil and gas companies that together with one unlisted company, Tatneft, accounted for 81% of Russia's oil production in 2020. This list is limited to companies that trade in the United States or Canada, either on an exchange or over the counter (OTC). All data is sourced from YCharts as of Feb. 27, 2022.

Key Takeaways Russia's economy relies heavily on its oil and gas industry, with the energy sector accounting for over 40% of government revenue.

It is no surprise, then, that some of Russia's largest corporations are involved in oil and gas.

Here, we look at Russia's top 6 oil and gas producers.

Revenue (TTM): $117.4 billion

Net Income (TTM): $25.7 billion

Market Cap: $62.7 billion

1-Year Trailing Total Return: -6.35%

30-Day Average Daily Volume: 1.29 million



With trailing 12-month revenue of $117 billion, Gazprom is both Russia's and the world's largest natural gas company. It is a majority government-owned company focused on geological exploration within Russia, as well as production, transmission, storage, processing, and marketing of natural gas and other hydrocarbons.

Gazprom is a major supplier of natural gas to Europe, which received 89% of Russia's natural gas exports in 2020.

Revenue (TTM): $111.1 billion

Net Income (TTM): $12 billion

Market Cap: $45.9 billion

1-Year Trailing Total Return: -27.39%

30-Day Average Daily Volume: 12,125

Rosneft, also a majority state-owned enterprise, is the overall leader of Russia's petroleum industry and is one of the worlds largest publicly-traded oil and gas companies. The company explores, extracts, and produces petroleum products and petrochemicals, but is also involved in natural gas exploration and production. Rosneft is included in the Russian governments List of Strategic Enterprises and Organizations.

Some stocks listed here have very low trading volume, which can increase trading costs or make it difficult to exit a position.

Revenue (TTM): $106.4 billion

Net Income (TTM): $7.7 billion

Market Cap: $32.4 billion

1-Year Trailing Total Return: -29.8%

30-Day Average Daily Volume: 232,961

PJSC Lukoil is a Russian company that was originally government-controlled but is now Russia's largest company not controlled by the state and its second-largest oil producer. Its main operations encompass the exploration and production of petroleum products and natural gas.

While it specializes in (and was founded for) exploration and production in western Siberiawhere the majority of the company's oil and gas reserves are locatedLukoil is a major player in the energy industry worldwide.

Revenue (TTM): $40.6 billion

Net Income (TTM): $6.8 billion

Market Cap: $23.9 billion

1-Year Trailing Total Return: 15.5%

30-Day Average Daily Volume: 15,813

Though a subsidiary of Gazprom, which owns nearly 96% of common shares, Gazprom Neft remains a publicly-traded company. The company, formerly known as Sibneft, is Russia's third-largest oil producer.

Revenue (TTM): $19.1 billion

Net Income (TTM): $6.1 billion

Market Cap: $12.3 billion

1-Year Trailing Total Return: -22.5%

30-Day Average Daily Volume: 173,600

Surgutneftegas is a Russian oil and gas company formed by merging several former government-owned companies. Its main interests are the exploration and production of oil and natural gas, manufacturing and marketing of petroleum products, as well as gas processing and oil refining. It employs over 100,000 people and had sales of $24.7 billion as of 2020, which made it Russia's sixth-largest company.

Revenue (TTM): $15.7 billion

Net Income (TTM): $5.9 billion

Market Cap: $38.8 billion

1-Year Trailing Total Return: -25.2%

30-Day Average Daily Volume: 611

Novatek is Russia's largest independent natural gas producer and is the second-largest natural gas producer in Russia behind Gazprom. The company engages in the exploration, production, and processing of natural gas and liquid hydrocarbons.

Novatek has the third-largest proven natural gas reserves of any company in the world, with roughly 2.26 billion cubic meters as of year-end 2021.
Although it may sound like the term "hedging" refers to something that is done by your gardening-obsessed neighbor, when it comes to investing hedging is a useful practice that every investor should be aware of. In the stock market, hedging is a way to get portfolio protectionand protection is often just as important as portfolio appreciation.

Hedging is often discussed more broadly than it is explained. However, it is not an esoteric term. Even if you are a beginning investor, it can be beneficial to learn what hedging is and how it works.

Key Takeaways Hedging is a risk management strategy employed to offset losses in investments by taking an opposite position in a related asset.

The reduction in risk provided by hedging also typically results in a reduction in potential profits.

Hedging requires one to pay money for the protection it provides, known as the premium.

Hedging strategies typically involve derivatives, such as options and futures contracts.

1:30 A Beginner's Guide To Hedging

What Is Hedging?

The best way to understand hedging is to think of it as a form of insurance. When people decide to hedge, they are insuring themselves against a negative event's impact on their finances. This doesn't prevent all negative events from happening. However, if a negative event does happen and you're properly hedged, the impact of the event is reduced.

In practice, hedging occurs almost everywhere. For example, if you buy homeowner's insurance, you are hedging yourself against fires, break-ins, or other unforeseen disasters.

Portfolio managers, individual investors, and corporations use hedging techniques to reduce their exposure to various risks. In financial markets, however, hedging is not as simple as paying an insurance company a fee every year for coverage.

Hedging against investment risk means strategically using financial instruments or market strategies to offset the risk of any adverse price movements. Put another way, investors hedge one investment by making a trade in another.

Technically, to hedge requires you to make offsetting trades in securities with negative correlations. Of course, you still have to pay for this type of insurance in one form or another.

For instance, if you are long shares of XYZ corporation, you can buy a put option to protect your investment from large downside moves. However, to purchase an option you have to pay its premium.

A reduction in risk, therefore, always means a reduction in potential profits. So, hedging, for the most part, is a technique that is meant to reduce a potential loss (and not maximize a potential gain). If the investment you are hedging against makes money, you have also usually reduced your potential profit. However, if the investment loses money, and your hedge was successful, you will have reduced your loss.

Understanding Hedging

Hedging techniques generally involve the use of financial instruments known as derivatives. Two of the most common derivatives are options and futures. With derivatives, you can develop trading strategies where a loss in one investment is offset by a gain in a derivative.

Suppose you own shares of Cory's Tequila Corporation (ticker: CTC). Although you believe in the company for the long run, you are worried about some short-term losses in the tequila industry. To protect yourself from a fall in CTC, you can buy a put option on the company, which gives you the right to sell CTC at a specific price (also called the strike price). This strategy is known as a married put. If your stock price tumbles below the strike price, these losses will be offset by gains in the put option.

Another classic hedging example involves a company that depends on a certain commodity. Suppose that Cory's Tequila Corporation is worried about the volatility in the price of agave (the plant used to make tequila). The company would be in deep trouble if the price of agave were to skyrocket because this would severely impact their profits.

To protect against the uncertainty of agave prices, CTC can enter into a futures contract (or its less-regulated cousin, the forward contract). A futures contract is a type of hedging instrument that allows the company to buy the agave at a specific price at a set date in the future. Now, CTC can budget without worrying about the fluctuating price of agave.

If the agave skyrockets above the price specified by the futures contract, this hedging strategy will have paid off because CTC will save money by paying the lower price. However, if the price goes down, CTC is still obligated to pay the price in the contract. And, therefore, they would have been better off not hedging against this risk.

Because there are so many different types of options and futures contracts, an investor can hedge against nearly anything, including stocks, commodities, interest rates, or currencies.

Disadvantages of Hedging

Every hedging strategy has a cost associated with it. So, before you decide to use hedging, you should ask yourself if the potential benefits justify the expense. Remember, the goal of hedging isn't to make money; it's to protect from losses. The cost of the hedge, whether it is the cost of an optionor lost profits from being on the wrong side of a futures contractcan't be avoided.

While it's tempting to compare hedging to insurance, insurance is far more precise. With insurance, you are completely compensated for your loss (usually minus a deductible). Hedging a portfolio isn't a perfect science. Things can easily go wrong. Although risk managers are always aiming for the perfect hedge, it is very difficult to achieve in practice.

What Hedging Means for You

The majority of investors will never trade a derivative contract. In fact, most buy-and-hold investors ignore short-term fluctuations altogether. For these investors, there is little point in engaging in hedging because they let their investments grow with the overall market. So why learn about hedging?

Even if you never hedge for your own portfolio, you should understand how it works. Many big companies and investment funds will hedge in some form. For example, oil companies might hedge against the price of oil. An international mutual fund might hedge against fluctuations in foreign exchange rates. Having a basic understanding of hedging can help you comprehend and analyze these investments.

Example of a Forward Hedge

A classic example of hedging involves a wheat farmer and the wheat futures market. The farmer plants his seeds in the spring and sells his harvest in the fall. In the intervening months, the farmer is subject to the price risk that wheat will be lower in the fall than it is now. While the farmer wants to make as much money as possible from his harvest, he does not want to speculate on the price of wheat. So, when he plants his wheat, he can also sell a six-month futures contract at the current price of $40 a bushel. This is known as a forward hedge.

Suppose that six months pass and the farmer is ready to harvest and sell his wheat at the prevailing market price. The market price has indeed dropped to just $32 per bushel. He sells his wheat for that price. At the same time, he buys back his short futures contract for $32, which generates a net $8 profit. He therefore sells his wheat at $32 + $8 hedging profit = $40. He has essentially locked in the $40 price when he planted his crop.

Assume now that the price of wheat has instead risen to $44 per bushel. The farmer sells his wheat at that market price, and also repurchases his short futures for a $4 loss. His net proceeds are thus $44 - $4 = $40. The farmer has limited his losses, but also his gains.

How Can a Protective Put Hedge Downside Losses? A protective put involves buying a downside put option (i.e., one with a lower strike price than the current market price of the underlying asset). The put gives you the right (but not the obligation) to sell the underlying stock at the strike price before it expires. So, if you own XYZ stock from $100 and want to hedge against a 10% loss, you can buy the 90-strike put. This way, if the stock were to drop all the way to, say $50, you would still be able to sell your XYZ shares at $90.

How Is Delta Used in Hedging Options Trades? Delta is a risk measure used in options trading that tells you how much the option's price (called its premium) will change given a $1 move in the underlying security. So, if you buy a call option with a 30 delta, its price will change by $0.30 if the underlying moves by $1.00. If you want to hedge this directional risk you could sell 30 shares (each equity options contract is worth 100 shares) to become delta neutral. Because of this, delta can also be thought of as the hedge ratio of an option.

What Is a Commercial Hedger? A commercial hedger is a company or producer of some product that uses derivatives markets to hedge their market exposure to either the items they produce or the inputs needed for those items. For instance, Kellogg's uses corn to make its breakfast cereals. It may therefore buy corn futures to hedge against the price of corn rising. Similarly, a corn farmer may sell corn futures instead to hedge against the market price falling before harvest.

What Is De-Hedging? To de-hedge is to close out of an existing hedge position. This can be done if the hedge is no longer needed, if the cost of the hedge is too high, or if one seeks to take on the additional risk of an unhedged position.

The Bottom Line

Risk is an essential, yet a precarious element of investing. Regardless of what kind of investor one aims to be, having a basic knowledge of hedging strategies will lead to better awareness of how investors and companies work to protect themselves.

Whether or not you decide to start practicing the intricate uses of derivatives, learning about how hedging works will help advance your understanding of the market, which will always help you be a better investor.

Correction - April 6, 2022: In a previous version of this article the example of options hedging referred incorrectly to 300 shares sold rather than 30.
Cryptocurrency markets were mostly quiet even as leaders meeting at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, spoke out about the need to regulate cryptocurrencies.

The price of a single bitcoin mostly hovered in the range between $11,000 and $12,000 in the last 24 hours. At 13:57 UTC, the price of a single bitcoin was $11,233.86, down 1.51% from 24 hours ago. Bitcoin had reached a high of $11,695.92 earlier this morning.

Ripples problems continued to multiply after Bloomberg published a report claiming that banks were not interested in its coin, XRP. As of this writing, XRP was down by 4.5% from a day ago and is trading at $1.33. It has declined by 41.1% from the start of this year.

Stellar, which shares its underlying technology with Ripple, has moved in the opposite direction. With an increase of 10.5% from its price 24 hours ago, it was the biggest gainer among the top 10 most traded cryptocurrencies. The valuation for cryptocurrency markets was $554.4 billion at 14:06 UTC.

Davos Musings and Regulation In China

Cryptocurrencies were a hot topic of conversation among prominent bankers and politicians gathered at the World Economic Forum in Davos. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin reiterated his earlier stance, saying he was mainly interested in preventing bitcoin from being used for illicit purposes.

IMF Chief Christine Lagarde shared Mnuchin's concerns. The fact that the anonymity, the lack of transparency and the way in which it conceals and protects money-laundering and financing of terrorism and all sorts of dark trades, is just not acceptable, Lagarde said. Similarly, U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May said she would look closely at bitcoin and cryptocurrencies because of the way they are used, particularly by criminals.

Bankers came out on the side of blockchain technology, which they said had wide applications in the financial services industry. For example, BlackRock chair Larry Fink said that blockchain technology was real and its going to transform how we do our businesses, and we should not turn our backs on it.

Meanwhile, Yang Dong, director of the Center for Financial Technology in China, provided a hint of the form that regulations might take in China, a country that was the worlds largest trading venue for cryptocurrencies until last year. He said ICOs may be regulated as securities or programs for equity crowdfunding. According to him, an equity crowdfunding pilot program may be launched by the China Security Regulatory Commission in the future. (See also: Bitcoin Government Regulations Around The World.)

Increased regulation of cryptocurrencies is expected to bring more institutional traders to their fold, thereby reducing price volatility and attracting common investors. It will also weed out bad players from the ecosystem. However, it could also spell an end to innovation within the nascent industry.

The Case Of Tether

Tether is an altcoin that trades at parity with the U.S. dollar. According to its founders, the virtual currency is backed by a supply of physical currency (in this case, physical dollars).

Each time Tether makes a new issuance of its coins, an equivalent amount of dollars is deposited in a bank account somewhere. The premise here is to bring stability in an otherwise volatile cryptocurrency market by establishing equivalency with a fiat currency. It also served as a bridge currency for investors looking to convert their bitcoins into U.S. dollars without incurring significant overhead.

In recent times, Tether has increasingly come under a cloud due to a hack last year (during which it claimed a loss of 31 million coins) and its murky affiliate relationship with Bitfinex, arguably the worlds biggest exchange by trading volume. (See also: Tether Hack: Cryptocurrency Worth 31 Million Stolen.)

A recent report further lays into Tether, claiming that its (non-existent) supply of dollars has propped up bitcoins price at Bitfinex, whose capitalization increased as a result of the issue. The reports author, who chose to remain anonymous for fear of a backlash, analyzed Bitfinex data from March 29, 2017 to January 4, 2018, and found instances where a new issue of coins by Tether to the Bitfinex wallet resulted in a price spike for bitcoin. Our interpretation of the data suggests that Tether could account for nearly half of bitcoins price rise, the author writes.

For their part, Tether and Bitfinex released a snapshot of accounts on September 15, 2017. But it hedged that release by claiming that it did not constitute an audit or attestation engagement, which would include a significantly expanded scope of procedures and take substantially more time to complete.

In a recent post, Zhao Dong, a Bitfinex shareholder, claims that Tethers bank account held $1.8 billion while Bitfinexs held $1.1 billion. In the meanwhile, a New York-based accounting firm has taken Bitfinex off its list of auditing clients.

Tethers problems have left the market open for another stablecoin. The founder of TrueUSD claims that investors can be in and out of a trade within seconds. The cryptocurrency has partner banks to secure its collateralized assets and uses standardized procedures, such as KYC, to verify its holder's identity.

Investing in cryptocurrencies and other Initial Coin Offerings ("ICOs") is highly risky and speculative, and this article is not a recommendation by Investopedia or the writer to invest in cryptocurrencies or other ICOs. Since each individual's situation is unique, a qualified professional should always be consulted before making any financial decisions. Investopedia makes no representations or warranties as to the accuracy or timeliness of the information contained herein. As of the date this article was written, the author owns small amounts of bitcoin.
A restricted stock unit (RSU) is a form of stock-based compensation used to reward employees. Restricted stock units will vest at some point in the future and, unlike stock options, will have some value upon vesting unless the underlying company stock becomes worthless.

RSUs can be an important part of your clients' compensation packages. They can help your clients build significant wealth. As a financial advisor, you can assist a client in getting the most out of this portion of their compensation.

Key Takeaways Restricted stock units are a type of stock-based compensation awarded to employees.

RSUs initially have no financial value, but are a promise to the employee that they will receive stock at a specified time in the future.

RSUs are structured to vest when a certain period of time has passed or when certain milestones have been reached.

Once the RSUs vest, employees receive underlying shares of company stock.

RSUs will have financial worth unless the underlying stock has no value.

How Restricted Stock Units Work

As a financial advisor, it's important to understand RSUs so that you can properly advise your clients should they receive them.

Restricted stock units represent shares of a company's stock. An employer sometimes grants them to employees as a form of compensation. RSUs are restricted by a vesting schedule that controls when units become actual shares that are placed in an employee's account. A vesting schedule is based on length of employment or on performance milestones.

RSUs and, ultimately, the shares received may also be restricted by a company in other ways. For instance, there may be specific limits on transfers or sales.

RSUs have no actual financial value to the employee when issued. However, once they vest, employees can receive shares of stock or, less commonly, an equivalent value in cash.

Until the RSUs vest, they remain an unfunded promise to compensate the recipient at some point in the future. Holders of RSUs have no voting rights nor do they receive any dividends paid. Some companies may elect to pay dividend equivalents. For example, they may let dividends accrue and allocate those funds to cover some of the taxes due at vesting.

Usually, vesting halts if the employee is terminated. In the event of employee death, disability, or retirement, vesting may continue. This is controlled by the actual plan and grant agreement.



Managing RSUs

Should a client retain the shares or sell some or all of them? Like most such questions, the answer will depend on each clients unique situation.

Once RSUs vest, an employee receives shares of company stock. Your client should take into account all other shares of company stock they hold in taxable and retirement accounts. If the employers stock is a steady performer, a client may be tempted to hold the stockafter all, there was no cost to obtain the shares.

A decision to hold the shares upon vesting means holding company stock valued at a particular price. If the shares have already appreciated greatly, a client may feel that there's still upward price action to come. Or, they may decide that selling some or all shares is more worthwhile for them financially.

RSUs and Diversification

Many financial advisors caution against holding more than 10% of a portfolio in company stock.

Any concentrated stock holding is risky, but when its an employee's company stock, they could run a two-fold risk if the company falls on hard times. For instance, losing one's job in a downturn and holding stock that's lost a great deal of value could mean a stiff financial hit.

It may be wise to think of RSUs as a cash bonus. Employees could then decide whether to hold company stock or sell it and invest the proceeds elsewhere for the purpose of diversification.

Death or Disability

Many company plans differ on what happens to RSUs in the case of death or disability. Don't assume that the same treatment of other benefits and compensation applies to RSUs. Consider recommending that a client find out specifically how this works from their company's benefits department.

Once RSUs vest and the shares are distributed, an employee will owe federal and, if applicable, state taxes on their value.

RSUs and Vesting

Restricted share units typically are accompanied by a vesting schedule. This could be a graded schedule or cliff schedule. The schedule establishes an amount of time that must pass before shares are distributed and can be sold. Additionally, specific financial milestones may need to be met before employees may sell their shares.



Graded Vesting

An employee receives 10,000 RSUs. The vesting schedule extends for four years. Each year on the anniversary date of the grant, a quarter of the total RSU amount vests, in this case, 2,500 shares. Typically, once each amount vests, the employee is allowed to sell the shares.



Depending on the company plan, a graded vesting schedule's distribution intervals can vary. So, with the example above, on the first anniversary date, the employee could receive 2,500 shares. However, subsequent vesting of the remaining 7,500 shares might occur more quickly. For example, 625 shares might be vested monthly during the following year.



Cliff Vesting

The alternative to graded vesting is cliff vesting. Cliff vesting involves vesting the total amount of a grant once an employee has worked for a company for a specific period of time, say, two years.

Alternatively, cliff vesting might involve performance milestones for an employee or company (such as reaching a certain stock market price).





RSUs and Taxes

Employees are taxed when RSUs vest and shares are distributed. The value of the shares is determined by the market price on the day of vesting/distribution. Since this is compensation income, the company will withhold the taxes from the employee's wages.

The withholding will include federal income tax, state and local taxes, if applicable, and taxes for Social Security and Medicare.

Employees who keep their shares and subsequently receive dividend payments must pay ordinary income tax on the dividend amounts.

If employees sell shares that have appreciated in value, they'll owe capital gains tax on the difference between the sale price and the value of the shares upon vesting. The actual tax rate will be determined by whether there are long-term capital gains or short-term capital gains.

Some companies may have arrangements to handle taxes owed by employees at vesting. The typical approach is to have the employee surrender enough of the distributed stock back to the company to cover the taxes. The company then uses its cash to pay the payroll tax.

If a client is poised to become vested in a significant amount of shares in a given year, you can help them focus on minimizing the tax impact. For instance, it might be wise to lump deductions from prior or future years into the year of vesting.

RSUs vs. Stock Options

Stock options represent a right to buy (or sell) shares of stock at a particular price (the exercise price) by some future date. One stock option contract represents 100 shares of stock. A new company may grant stock options to employees to motivate them to stay and help build the organization.

In fact, stock options presented as compensation by a company that's already public usually have a vesting schedule. Just like for RSUs, this stops people from leaving after only a short time with shares of company stock that may be valuable.

Unlike RSUs, stock options don't involve a transfer of ownership. Employees who receive stock options must buy the underlying shares themselves at the exercise price. Often, they profit by then selling their shares at the higher market price.


Youve contributed to your 403(b) plan faithfully for a number of years. Youre about to retire. Now what? How (or if) you should withdraw that money depends on a number of factors and options available to you.

Key Takeaways You don't have to make withdrawals from a 403(b) when you retire, but at age 72, you must start to take annual required minimum distributions.

If you retire before age 55, you may have to pay a penalty on top of income taxes on your withdrawals; if you retire at 55 or older, you will have to pay taxes on any lump sum withdrawals in the year in which you withdraw the funds.

Upon retirement, you can annuitize all or part of your 403(b), which will provide you with a guaranteed income stream for life and can provide a designated beneficiary with funds after your death.

You can also roll over all or part of your 403(b) into a 401(k) (if you change jobs), or a traditional or Roth IRA, among other accounts, in order to benefit from more varied investment options or better money management during retirement.

Types of 403(b) Plans

Your 403(b) plan is either a tax-sheltered deferred annuity from an insurance company, a custodial account at a brokerage invested in mutual funds, or an account that allows you to invest in either of these options.

Your contributions were likely made on a pretax basis (like those to a 401(k) plan). Some 403(b) plans offer the option to make what is called a designated Roth contribution with after-tax dollars.

The Basic Rules

First of all, you are not required to take all or, in fact, any funds out of your 403(b) account when you retire. If you leave funds in your 403(b) account, they will continue to accumulate until you withdraw them, annuitize them, or roll them over later.

Retiring Before 55

However, if you do plan to make withdrawalsand you retire before age 55you will have to pay regular income taxes, plus a 10% penalty on the amount, unless you agree to substantially equal periodic payments for at least five years or until you reach the age of 59 (whichever is later). The size of those payments will be based on your expected lifespan. This applies to the conventional 403(b) plan; with the Roth version, you don't pay income tax, since the contributions were made with net (post-tax) income; but the penalty probably will still apply.

Retiring at 55 or Older

If you are 55 or older when you retire, you can choose to withdraw some or all of your funds in a lump sum. Paradoxically, however, any amount you withdraw does not qualify as a lump-sum distribution under the 10-year tax option, according to the IRS. This means you cannot spread your tax liability over a decade but must pay all the income taxes due on the amount the year you withdraw the funds. Bear in mind that if the withdrawal is sizable, it could move you into a higher tax bracket.

When You Turn 72

When you turn 72, you have to start withdrawing funds from your account. (Note: The SECURE Act of 2019 pushed back the age at which retirement plan participants need to take required minimum distributions (RMDs), from 70 to 72. But if you turned 70 by the end of 2019, then that old threshold still applies.) You must continue to take these RMDs each year. Based on your age and the age of your spouse (if you're married), they gradually increase with the passing years.

Most plan administrators provide for the automatic calculation and distribution of RMDs annually, but basically, they're determined by dividing the prior year-end value of the retirement account by a distribution period from one of the IRS's life expectancy tables. If you fail to take the correct distribution one year, you will be subject to a 50% nondeductible excise tax.

What to Do: The Annuity Option

No matter what type of 403(b) plan you have, you may wish to annuitize some or all of it when you retire. By arranging to receive periodic, fixed payouts, you provide yourself with a guaranteed income stream for life (or some period), no matter how the stock market or the economy performs. Most experts warn against annuitizing the entire balance in your retirement planespecially if you already receive a defined benefit pension. If you have a pension, it means part of your retirement income is already in annuity form, so to speak; you might want to retain flexibility with your other assets.

Your annuity doesn't have to stop when you die; you can bequeath it to someone else. Depending on elections you make or options you choose (or do not choose), the beneficiary may be subject to a gift tax upon your death. If, however, its a joint and survivor annuity, where only you and your spouse have the right to receive payments, the annuity will likely qualify for the unlimited marital deduction, according to the IRS, which would make the funds tax-free.

Most experts discourage annuitizing all of the funds in a 403(b) account to allow an investor to realize higher overall investment returns.

What to Do: The Rollover Option

You may wish to roll over part (or all) of your 403(b) plan into another sort of tax-advantaged account: a 401(k) (at another employer), a traditional IRA, a Roth IRA, a corporate 403(a) annuity-based plan, or a government-sponsored 457 plan. Why do a rollover? To take advantage of more ready access to your funds, different and more varied investment options, or better money management during your retirement years.

There are rules regarding what you may or may not rollover. In general, you must roll over distribution amounts received within 60 calendar days in order for the amount to be treated as nontaxable. You may not roll over RMDs or any of those substantially equal periodic payments if you retired before age 55. You can roll 403(b) funds into a Roth IRA only if the account has the same restrictions that a rollover from a traditional IRA has. For more on rollover options, see IRS Publication 571.

If you are a retired public safety officer (police officer, fire firefighter, chaplain, rescue/ambulance crew member), you have an extra perk. You can withdraw up to $3,000 from your 403(b) plan and use it to pay for accident, health, or long-term care insurance. If it goes directly to pay the premiums, that withdrawal will not be included in your taxable income. IRS Publication 575 offers more details.

The Bottom Line

In terms of treating the hard-earned contents of your 403(b) plan, the majority of 403(b) plan owners may find a combination of some sort of annuity and investment portfolio is best. This provides a steady income stream as well as the ability to achieve some capital appreciation.

To begin any sort of withdrawal or transfer process, you simply contact your plan sponsor and indicate how much you wish to withdraw. There will be paperwork. Often, the sponsor will withhold automatically a portion of that amount for taxes (typically 20%), so be sure to account for that when making your request or indicate you do not want the taxes withheld.
It's no secret that Americans are drastically underprepared when it comes to retirement. According to the National Institute on Retirement Security, 45% of households in the U.S. have zero retirement assets. The median retirement account balance for all working-age households is just $3,000.

Those numbers aren't exactly inspiring, but they don't necessarily paint the whole picture. While some workers are struggling to fund their 401(k) or IRA, others are getting prepped to leave their 9-to-5 gig behind well before their 65th birthday rolls around.

Charting a course for early retirement isn't easy, but with the right planning, it's possible to say sayonara to the workforce ahead of schedule. Below are the steps you need to take to make it happen.

Key Takeaways If you want to retire early, it's important to have a savings goal and a target date.

If you have access to a 401(k), first max out that account if you can, or at least contribute enough to max out any company matching.

If eligible, after you have funded your 401(k) open a Roth or a traditional IRA and make a plan to max that out too.

If you are under age 50, you can put $6,000 a year into an IRA in 2021 and 2022.

Know Your Target

Retirement is really a numbers game and before embarking on a plan to retire early, it's important to have an end goal in mind. That starts with knowing how much money you'll need to cover your expenses once you're no longer working. Planning to live on 70% to 80% of your pre-retirement income once you retire is a good baseline to start with. If you're making $100,000 a year, for example, you'd need to generate $70,000 to $80,000 in retirement income between social security, pension income (if any), and investment income for each year you're retired.

Safe Withdrawal Rate

So how do you figure out how much you need to save? The best way to look at it is in terms of your safe withdrawal rate. This is the pace at which you can take money out of your retirement accounts each year without depleting your assets too quickly.

Historically, 4% has been the recommended rate for taking retirement withdrawals. You can compare this rate to the amount of income you expect to need in retirement to figure out how big your total portfolio needs to be.

For example, let's assume your goal is $70,000 a year in retirement income. The 4% rule dictates saving the equivalent of 25 times one year's income. In that scenario, you'd need $1.75 million to cover your costs in retirement, assuming that was your only source of income

If you're planning to retire early, you'll likely be looking at a longer horizon for spending down your assets. Using a rate of 3% instead can give you a more accurate number to work with. If that's the case, you'd need to save 33 times your target income amount, which would bump up the size of your projected nest egg to $2.3 million.

Retiring early means you may likely have a longer time frame for spending down your assets. Financial preparation is the key to having enough to live on after you retire.

Map out a Time Frame

Once you have a grip on the total you need to save, the next step is breaking it down into digestible bites. Knowing that you need to save $1 million or more to retire early can be daunting, but it's less intimidating to think of it in terms of what you need to save on a yearly or monthly basis. Calculating this number can also tell you if your goal is realistic.

If you're 35 and you want to retire by age 50 with $1.75 million in the bank, for example, you have 15 years to funnel away enough money to do it. If you're making $100,000 a year, you'd need to be saving at least 50% of your income annually to reach your goal, assuming, roughly, a 5% average annual rate of return on your investments. If you're not able to save as much as you need to based on your current salary, you need to either cut your spending, increase your income, or both, to make your timeline work.

Save Strategically

Just knowing how much you need to be saving isn't enough; you also need to know where to put it. The first stop for your retirement savings is your employer's retirement plan if you have one. If you have access to a 401(k), for example, you'd want to max that account out first then move on to a traditional or Roth IRA. A solo 401(k) or SEP IRA are two options for self-employed savers. If you are under age 50, you can put $6,000 a year into an IRA account in 2021 and 2022.

If you have a high deductible health insurance plan with a Health Savings Account (HSA), you should also be contributing the full amount to your HSA. While these accounts are designed to be used for medical expenses, they can be a valuable savings tool for younger workers who are planning an early exit. Once you turn 65, you can take money out of an HSA for any purpose without incurring a penalty, although you will have to pay regular income tax on any distributions. That makes it a great backup when you've maxed out your other tax-advantaged accounts.

The Bottom Line

Retiring early isn't something you can do without a clear roadmap for where you want to go. The number one rule is to save, save, and save some more, but there's more to it than that. Being realistic about how much time you have to save, how much you can realistically afford to saveand what your expenses will be once you retirecan help to guide you towards your final destination.
How can people get rid of their student loan debtand, more specifically, when is loan forgiveness an option? We don't need another statistic to tell us how deep in student loan debt U.S. college graduates are. Total debt and average debt figures don't mean much, except to say that if the sums you owe keep you up at night, you're in good company. What matters is finding a solution.

Key Takeaways Forgiveness is the best kind of student loan debt relief, but it's hard to come by.

Income-driven repayment plans and Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) can erase people's remaining debt after many years of payments.

Only federal student loans can be forgiven.

Forgiveness can leave recipients with a big tax bill.

Forgiveness and forbearance sound similar but are not the same.

0:58 How do I Save and Invest with Debt? Nashville

Student Loan Forgiveness: Which Loans Are Eligible?

Only direct loans made by the federal government are eligible for forgiveness. Stafford loans, which were replaced by direct loans in 2010, are also still eligible. If you have other kinds of federal loans, you might be able to consolidate them into one direct consolidation loan, which may give you access to additional income-driven repayment plan options. Non-federal loans (those handled by private lenders and loan companies) do not qualify for forgiveness.

In 2020, borrowers with federal student loans who attended for-profit colleges and sought loan forgiveness because their school defrauded them or broke specific laws were dealt a setback when then-President Trump vetoed a bipartisan resolution that would have overturned new regulations that make it much more difficult to access loan forgiveness. The new, more onerous regulations went into effect on July 1, 2020.

As of Aug. 23, 2022, under the Biden administration, the United States Department of Education has approved $32 billion in student loan debt relief for over 1.6 million borrowers, a significant number of whom were victims of for-profit college fraud.

The Biden administration announced measures to help student loan borrowers because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes debt cancellation of up to $20,000 for recipients of Pell Grants with loans through the Department of Education and as much as $10,000 for non-Pell Grant recipients. This is in addition to student loan forbearance that expires on Dec. 31, 2022.



As of Oct. 17, 2022, the application for Biden's student loan forgiveness is now available. You don't have to log in with a FSA ID to complete the application; only your full name, date of birth, Social Security number (SSN), phone number, and e-mail address are needed. The application also doesn't require you to prove your eligibility, you merely have to mark a box "...[certifying] under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America that all of the information provided on this form is true and correct." This application will be available through Dec. 31, 2023.

Income-Driven Repayment Plan Forgiveness

For federal student loans, the standard repayment period is 10 years. If a 10-year repayment period makes your monthly payments unaffordable, you can enter an income-driven repayment (IDR) program.

Income-driven programs stretch out payments for a term of 20 or 25 years. After that term, assuming you've made all of your qualifying payments, whatever balance is left on the loan is forgiven. Payments are based on your household income and family size, and they will typically be capped at 10%, 15%, or 20% of your discretionary income, depending on the plan.

Below are the four types of IDR plans offered by the U.S. Department of Education, in addition to the repayment periods and monthly payments of each:

Revised Pay As You Earn Repayment (REPAYE) Plan: The repayment period for this plan is either 20 years (if all loans under the plan were received for undergraduate study) or 25 years (if any loans under the plan were received for graduate or professional study). Monthly payments are typically 10% of your discretionary income income.



The repayment period for this plan is either 20 years (if all loans under the plan were received for undergraduate study) or 25 years (if any loans under the plan were received for graduate or professional study). Monthly payments are typically 10% of your discretionary income income. Pay As You Earn Repayment (PAYE) Plan: The repayment period for this plan is 20 years. Monthly payments are typically 10% of your discretionary income income, but they cannot exceed the 10-year Standard Repayment Plan amount.



The repayment period for this plan is 20 years. Monthly payments are typically 10% of your discretionary income income, but they cannot exceed the 10-year Standard Repayment Plan amount. Income-Based Repayment (IBR) Plan: If you didn't already have an outstanding balance when you received a direct loan or Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) on or after July 1, 2014, then the repayment period for this plan is 20 years, and monthly payments are typically 10% of your discretionary income. Conversely, if you did have an outstanding balance when you received a direct loan or an FFEL on or after July 1, 2014, then the repayment period for this plan is 25 years, and monthly payments are typically 15% of your discretionary income. In both cases, monthly payments cannot exceed the 10-year Standard Repayment Plan amount.



If you didn't already have an outstanding balance when you received a direct loan or Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) on or after July 1, 2014, then the repayment period for this plan is 20 years, and monthly payments are typically 10% of your discretionary income. Conversely, if you did have an outstanding balance when you received a direct loan or an FFEL on or after July 1, 2014, then the repayment period for this plan is 25 years, and monthly payments are typically 15% of your discretionary income. In both cases, monthly payments cannot exceed the 10-year Standard Repayment Plan amount. Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR) Plan: The repayment period for this plan is 25 years. Monthly payments are either 20% of your discretionary income or the equivalent amount for a repayment plan with a fixed 12-year payment (adjusted according to your income), whichever is smaller.

An IDR plan can be a good option for people in low-paying fields who have large amounts of student loan debt. If you're considering an IDR, it's important to keep in mind that eligibility varies between plans, with some types of federal loans being ineligible for repayment under all but one plan. Additionally, you will have to annually "recertify" your income and family size, even if neither have changed from one year to another.

How to Apply

Applying for an IDR requires you to submit an Income-Driven Repayment Plan Request, which can be completed online or via a paper form, the latter of which you must request from your loan servicer. You can either choose a specific IDR plan by name or ask that your loan servicer place you on the income-driven plan that you qualify for with the lowest monthly payment amount.

If any of the loans you wish to include in an IDR plan have different loan servicers, you will have to submit a separate request to each of them.

In order determine your eligibility for certain plans and to calculate your monthly payment, you will have to provide either your adjusted gross income (AGI) or an alternative documentation of income. If you've filed a federal income tax return in the prior two years, and if your current income is largely the same as what was reported on your most recent return, then you will use your AGI. If you are unable to meet either of these criteria, then an alternative documentation of income will be required.

In the former case, if applying online, you can use the included IRS Data Retrieval Tool to pull your AGI information from your federal income tax return. Alternatively, if applying with a paper form, you will need to include a printed copy of your most recently filed federal income tax return or Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tax return transcript.

In the latter case, if you are currently receiving taxable income, you are limited to the paper Income-Driven Repayment Plan Request and must include the alternative documentation of your income (i.e., a pay stub). However, if you currently have no income (or if you only receive untaxed income), then you can indicate that on either application and won't be required to supply any further documentation.



Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program

Student loan forgiveness for teachers is neither generous nor easy to qualify for. Teachers can have up to $17,500 of their federal direct and Stafford student loans (but not PLUS or Perkins loans) forgiven by teaching for five complete and consecutive academic years (at least one of which must have been after the 199798 academic year) at a qualifying low-income school or educational service agency.

Even if you were unable to complete a full academic year of teaching, it may still be counted toward the required five academic years if you completed at least half of the academic year; your employer considers your contract requirements for the academic year fulfilled for the purposes of salary increases, tenure, and retirement; and you were unable to complete the academic year because you either returned to postsecondary education in an area of study directly related to the five academic years of qualifying teaching service, had a condition covered under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993, or were called to over 30 days active duty as a member of a reserve component of the U.S. armed forces.



You must be classified as a highly qualified teacher in order to be eligible for the program. This means you have at least a bachelor's degree, full state certification, and not had certification or licensure requirements waived on an emergency, temporary, or provisional basis, with additional qualifications varying based on whether or not you are new to the profession. Only full-time science and math teachers at the secondary level, as well as special education teachers at the elementary or secondary level, are eligible for $17,500 in forgiveness. Forgiveness is capped at $5,000 for other full-time elementary or secondary education teachers.

If you have had an outstanding balance on a direct loan or an FFEL on or after Oct. 1, 1998, then you will be ineligible for the program. Additionally, only loans made before the end of your five academic years of qualifying teaching service will be eligible for Teacher Loan Forgiveness.

You can potentially qualify for both the Teacher Loan Forgiveness and Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) programs, but you can't use the same years of teaching service to meet the eligibility requirements for both programs. So you'd need 15 years of teaching service to qualify for both programs, in addition to meeting all the specific requirements to earn each type of forgiveness.

How to Apply

Once you have finished your five complete and consecutive years of qualifying teaching, applying for the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program only requires submitting a completed Teacher Loan Forgiveness Application to your loan servicer.

If any of the loans you wish to have forgiven under the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program have different loan servicers, you will have to submit a separate form to each of them.

However, the application's certification section will have to be filled out by the chief administrative officer of the school or educational service agency where you undertook your qualifying teaching service, meaning you will need to send them the form before you can submit it.

Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)

If you work a full-time job for a U.S. federal, state, local, or tribal governmentor a not-for-profit organizationyou could already be on your way to student loan forgiveness. You'll need to make 120 payments, which don't have to be consecutive, under a qualifying repayment plan in order to be eligible.

This option isn't for the recent graduate, as it takes at least 10 years to earn. Additionally, you'll need to either have a federal direct loan or consolidate your federal loans into a direct loan.

Unfortunately, this program has been rife with controversy. The government created the PSLF program in 2007, and when the first borrowers became eligible for forgiveness in 2017, almost all of their applications were denied, often over technicalities. In some cases, borrowers found that their loan servicers had misled them about their eligibility for the program.

Temporary Expanded Public Service Loan Forgiveness (TEPSLF) might help you if your Public Service Loan Forgiveness application was previously denied. TEPSLF may grant qualifying borrowers the forgiveness they were denied under PSLF, but only if they apply before the Oct. 31, 2022 deadline.

On Oct. 6, 2021, the Education Department announced temporary changes to the PSLF program (due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic) that will allow borrowers to receive credit for past payments regardless of payment plan or loan programand regardless of whether payments were made on-time or in the full amount. Borrowers have to submit a PSLF form by Oct. 31, 2022, to receive these benefits.

Many of the previous requirements for PSLF are waived as part of the change, with two key requirements remaining:

Full-time employee or qualifying employee when the prior payments were made. All loans must be federal direct student loans (or consolidated into a direct loan program by Oct. 31, 2022).

The waiver will also allow active-duty service members to count deferments and forbearances toward PSLF. The final major change as part of this update is that the government will now review denied PSLF applications for any errors and allow borrowers the ability to have their PSLF determination reconsidered.

How to Apply

First, if you have FFEL Program loans and/or Perkins Loans, be sure to consolidate these into a direct consolidation loan by Oct. 31, 2022. You cant receive credit for time in repayment if you consolidated and submitted your PSLF form after that date.

Actually applying for PSLF boils down to a four-step process, each of which require utilizing the online PSLF Help Tool:

Search with the PSLF Help Tool to determine if you work for a qualifying employer.

Have your employment for each year certified by the official who is authorized to do so by your employer.

Apply for forgiveness once youve met all the programs requirements. Sign your PSLF form and then submit it to the PSLF servicer.

For the final step, send the completed form, alongside your employers certification, to MOHELA, the U.S. Department of Educations federal loan servicer for the PSLF Program. If MOHELA is already your loan servicer, you may upload your PSLF form directly to their website. Alternatively, you can fax your PSLF form to 866-222-7060 or mail it to the following address:



U.S. Department of Education

MOHELA

633 Spirit Drive

Chesterfield, MO 63005-1243



Student Loan Forgiveness Is Not the Same as Forbearance

Forgiveness eliminates your debt; forbearance postpones your payments. If you're having trouble making student loan payments, you can ask your lender for forbearance. Your lender may not give you a forbearance if you don't meet eligibility requirements, such as being unemployed or having major medical expenses.

Interest on your loan will still accrue, and you can pay that interest during the forbearance period if you want. If you don't pay it, the accrued interest will be added to your principal balance once your forbearance period is up. Your new monthly payment will be slightly higher as a result, and you'll pay more interest in the long run.

The only relationship between forbearance and forgiveness is that when you're in forbearance, since you're not making payments, you're not making progress toward the payment requirements of a forgiveness program you might be participating in.

CARES Act Automatic Federal Student Loan Forbearance

If you have a student loan owned by the U.S. Department of Education, the government has granted you automatic forbearance on this loan under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. On Aug. 24, 2022, the Biden administration extended the forbearance period, allowing loans to stay in forbearance through Dec. 31, 2022.

Between March 13, 2020, and Dec. 31, 2022, no interest will accrue, and you don't need to make any payments. No late fees will apply if you stop paying during this period. You'll know you have this benefit if you see a 0% interest rate when you log in to your student loan account. On March 30, 2021, the Department of Education extended this benefit to defaulted privately held loans under the FFEL Program.

Under normal circumstances, you can't make progress toward loan forgiveness during forbearance. But under the CARES Act, you can. You'll receive credit toward income-driven repayment forgiveness or PSLF for the payments you normally would have made during this period.

There may be tax obligations tied to any loan forgiveness.

Potential Pitfalls of Forgiveness

The IRS likes to tax things, and forgiven debt is no exception. Except, public service loan forgiveness is not considered taxable income. But any balance wiped out through an income-driven repayment plan can be counted as income and taxed. It's important to prepare for this eventual tax bill. Consider setting aside money in a dedicated savings account.

Note that the American Rescue Plan, passed by Congress and signed by President Biden in March 2021, includes a provision that student loan forgiveness issued between Jan. 1, 2021, and Dec. 31, 2025, will not be taxable to the recipient.

The Bottom Line

The burden of student loans can be pretty overwhelming, and student loan forgiveness isn't easy to earn, no matter which route you pursue. It takes years and, ultimately, may not pay off. It puts you at the mercy of powerful student loan servicers. It subjects you to the ever-shifting political winds that seek to change forgiveness programs.

All student loan forgiveness programs come with certain conditions, requirements, and limitations. You must follow the rules to a T to qualify. If you're already in deep, forgiveness may be the most appealing way out, especially if you've made life and career choices with a reasonable expectation of getting your remaining student debt erased after years of payments. Forgiveness is not the only solution to out-of-control student loan debt, however. In dire circumstances, getting student loans discharged in bankruptcy may be an option.

Student loan forgiveness might be a welcomed possibilityoffering some relief to student borrowers toward the end of their repayment periodbut its future is uncertain. Students should be wary of incurring debt beyond their means based on the assumption that a good chunk of it will be forgiven.
The Canadian Defense Minister Harjet Sajan arrived in Erbil in the north of Iraq on Sunday evening, to meet the officials and the leaders of Kurdistan Region, coming from Baghdad.



The Minister of Finance within the Kurdistan Regional Government, Karim Sinjari, along with other Kurd officials received Minister Sajan at Erbil Airport.

The Canadian Defense Minister is scheduled to meet with the President of Kurdistan Region Masoud Barzani as well as other military leaders in the Region.

It is worth to mention that the Canadian Minister Sajan has arrived at the Iraqi Capital, Baghdad on Sunday morning.

| Soruce: All Iraq News |
In a recent interview with Bravo , Cynthia Bailey talks about this week's episode of. Cynthia Bailey dishes on rekindling her friendship with NeNe Leakes. Check it out below!Cynthia Bailey: I have a wonderful relationship with my mother and I am very close to my daughter Noelle. I can't imagine not having my mother in my life. As a mother myself, no one is more important than my child. The unfortunate situation between Kenya and her mother truly breaks my heart. There is no love like a mother's love. To live your whole life without love and communication from your own mother is almost impossible to overcome and accept. I honestly don't know if I would be able to do it myself and endure as bravely as Kenya. How can anyone expect you to forget about your mother and move on without exhausting any and every possibility for greater peace and closure? I commend her for trying one last time for reconciliation. I have great admiration and respect for Kenya not having allowed this unthinkable misfortune to define, hinder, or permanently damage her and her lifes purpose. Kenya is one of the strongest women I know and she has my unconditional love and support. I pray her visit to Detroit gave her the confirmation she needs to move forward in peace.CB: Yes! NeNe has unblocked me on Twitter and we are both following each other again. From the way things are going, I have no reason to believe that I will be blocked or unfollowed again anytime in the near future.CB: Kenya is my girl and we are great friends. I don't think NeNe was upset about this. I feel she was playfully giving me a hard time about my relationship with Kenya as friends do with one another. NeNe and I have not been friends for a couple of years, and I feel we are both reclaiming our place in each others lives. These are two different women and two different relationships. I respect them accordingly. They are both dear to my heart and mean the world to me. My goal is to be the greatest friend I can be to both of them. Keep the three of us in prayer.What do you think about Cynthias blog?airs Sunday nights at 8/7c only on Bravo. For International TV ListingsSource/Photo Credit: Bravo
Miracle baby Zoe Ireland, born at just 25 weeks in the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin, will be repatriated to the United States following an incredible act of charity from one kind donor.

The donor, who wishes to remain anonymous, offered to give Zoe and her family $30,000 (27,500) to pay for her special flight back to Tennessee after months spent in a special care unit in Ireland.

Astounded by the kindness the family have received during their extended detour to Dublin, Zoes mother, Jenny Drake, commended the generosity shown them by the Irish people.

For such a small country you have such a big heart, she said.

Everyone we have met has opened their arms or house to us. You guys a have a lot to be proud of.

The magic moment Jenny was told about the donation happened on Ray DArcys 2fm radio show and she is evidently shocked, yet delighted, she will finally be able to bring her little girl home.

READ MORE: American family stranded in Dublin after daughter born on plane at 25 weeks.

Zoe Ireland was born last October just minutes after landing in Ireland when Jennys water broke an hour into a transatlantic flight from Paris to North Carolina.

As she was only 25 weeks pregnant, Drake initially believed she was suffering from Braxton Hicks when her contractions began and she attempted to convince herself that she was not in labor. She eventually brought her contractions to the attention of an air hostess who sought medical attention while the American Airlines flight was diverted to Dublin.

Zoe was born just four minutes after Jenny and her husband, Gavin Drake, arrived at the hospital and weighed just 1 pound 13 ounces at birth.

She was immediately brought to intensive care and has remained in the hospital since, gaining her strength and increasing in weight day by day.

Baby Zoe now weighs 6.6 lbs and is ready to make the journey home for the first time, despite still being younger than her due date in February.

Unfortunately, however, Zoe would not be able to make this 9.5 hour trip on a normal flight or without medical attention. If the couple were to wait until her immune system could handle a normal flight, they would be forced to remain in Ireland at least a further six months. That would mean abandoning the business they have built together at home for half a year longer at least, while still facing further medical fees if they remain in Ireland.

The family was already forced to stay in Ireland over the Christmas vacation where they were joined by their three-year-old son Aiden, who is currently staying with family in the US while his parents keep an eye on his new baby sister.

READ MORE: US family of baby born minutes after arriving in Ireland remains in Dublin for Christmas.

In order to raise the $67,000 (61,500) needed for the medical flight that would allow them to bring their daughter back home, the Drake Family set up a GoFundMe page, appealing for the final $32,690 (30,000) required on Ray DArcys RTE 2fm show earlier this week.

In an amazing act of kindness, one listener reached out to the radio presenter offering to make up the remaining $32,690 for the flight.

Hes 100 percent above board, and he 100 percent wants to fund the repatriation of Zoe Ireland to her home country of America, DArcy said.

Great news for Jenny and Gavin Drake and baby Zoe Ireland at the @RotundaHospital pic.twitter.com/aFqG0LLhin  The Rotunda Hospital (@RotundaHospital) January 19, 2016

D'Arcy read out the generous donors statement which said, Unfortunately I dont have a corporate jet, but I want to say as a family we want to donate in their quest to get home.

Luckily, I have a successful business, but I like my daughters to take an interest in giving something back.

I would, however, like to remain completely anonymous and do not want any publicity for doing this.

Needless to say, the family was over the moon at the further kindness shown to them on Irish soil. The couple have already benefited from the good work of the charity Hughs House, which has provided the American couple with a free home in Dublin while they attend to all of Zoes medical needs.

Speaking to the Irish Sun, Jenny Drake said, We are so grateful. Its amazing. Now were in panic mode because were trying to figure out how were going to do all of this. Now Ive got to get busy.

The family is hoping the little Zoe will make it back the US to celebrate her big brothers birthday in a few weeks time.

Were hoping to make it, so I think we will, Jenny continued.

Of course, although she will never remember her first trip to the Emerald Isle, Zoe and her family will always have a reminder of their first great big adventure together across the Atlantic.

Although the couple had previously decided on naming their daughter Elizabeth, they felt she was too eager to visit Ireland not to include some part of the country in her name, and so, they oped for Zoe Ireland instead.

"Yes we had to change it. We originally had planned Elizabeth. That no longer seems fitting. She had to now be Ireland," said Jenny.
Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin is under growing pressure to agree to a coalition with main rivals Fine Gael.

Its a proposed combination that for decades would have been dismissed as impossible since the parties were founded, Fianna Fail in 1926 and Fine Gael in 1933.

But a general election is just weeks away and opinion polls repeatedly showed Fianna Fail have no hope of returning to power on its own.

Now theres a campaign for Martin to agree to a coalition deal for the first time in the history of the state with Fine Gael.

Martin spent last weekend at Fianna Fails national convention insisting that his party will not enter coalition with Sinn Fein or Fine Gael. That left his partys supporters in the dark as to how he hopes to form part of the next government.

Former Fianna Fail deputy leader Mary ORourke said she had long held the view that they should cooperate with Fine Gael, which was also the party her father first supported. She said she had set out her views in a major speech more than three years ago.

She told the Irish Independent, The era of the big parties taking all is long gone. We need to keep options open.

ORourke praised Martins performance at the convention but urged him to take a more pragmatic view of potential coalitions. There was even agreement for her view in Fine Gael ranks.

Read more: Most likely next Irish government is Fine Gael and Fianna Fail

Former party strategist Frank Flannery said his preference remained the return of the current coalition, which includes Labour, or a variant of it, probably supported by like-minded independent TDs.

But if it cannot be done, then Fine Gael and Fianna Fail should be a fall-back in interests of national security, Flannery said.

Fianna Fail were hammered in the 2011 election, losing power and returning with only 21 seats out of 166 to the Dail.

Martin has faced a tough battle regaining some public support for Fianna Fail which the electorate has blamed for the recession.

At the convention in Dublin, Martin blasted Taoiseach Enda Kenny and his government as being arrogant and out of touch.

Martin recalled the controversy last October when he accused Kenny of misleading people when he told a Madrid conference that at one stage in 2011 he was ready to call in the Army to protect the banks. He also recalled that during the water controversy Kenny claimed to have told a man with two pints that what they cost would have paid his water bill.

Martin said Kenny was s fond of telling stories about men with pints and the army at ATMs.

But the biggest fairy tale of all is his claim to have delivered recovery. This government didnt deliver recovery. It delayed it and made it more unfair. And it refused to tackle any problem until it became a crisis, Martin said.

Kenny has said his mind is made up on a date for the general election, but he hasnt yet announced it publicly. Commentators are predicting February 26.
This year's news agenda in Ireland will be dominated by two happenings: the fast approaching general election and the centenary commemoration of the 1916 Rising. This column will be looking at the election over the next few weeks and the 1916 events will be keeping us busy regularly throughout the year.

But at this stage, as we head into 2016, it's worth taking an initial look at the commemoration of the 1916 Rising because so many people here these days are conflicted about it.

In school we all learned the old song A Nation Once Again. Well you could say we're now a nation once again conflicted.

This is not surprising. Along with being taught patriotic songs in school (especially if you went to the Christian Brothers back in the day) we also had hammered into us the glorious heroics of the 1916 Rising and the martyrdom of its leaders.

I can still hear the Christian Brother who taught me history roaring: England's Difficulty was Ireland's Opportunity! Our job was to roar the mantra back at him.

He strode up and down the classroom explaining that because the British were busy with the First World War in Europe it was the perfect time for a rebellion in Ireland. The picture of Pearse he painted was of a saintly, almost mythical figure who knew that a "blood sacrifice" was necessary "to awaken the Irish people."

As kids, we were fascinated and appalled in equal measure. What a hero! Pearse had led the Rising knowing the rebels could not win and he would either die or be executed.

He was deliberately laying down his life for Ireland. He had the vision to see that this would ignite a fire the British would not be able to extinguish. Slumbering Ireland would rise up and fight for its freedom.

Back then our school history ended with the War of Independence. There was no mention of the Civil War that followed.

Nor was there any questioning of whether Pearse had been right or whether the Rising had been justified. Even to us kids back in the 1960s, it all seemed a bit too pat, too simplistic.

As adults, most of us came to realize that the 1916 Rising -- and the context in which it happened -- was far more complicated than the simple heroic version beloved of the fiercely Nationalist Christian Brothers back in the day.

Which is why a lot of people here are now conflicted about commemorating the Rising. Of course we can admire Pearse and his comrades in arms.

There is no doubting their courage. And thanks to the monumental stupidity of the British in executing them, what they did eventually led to our freedom.

But nagging questions remain about the Rising and whether, given the hundreds of lives that were lost and the destruction of the center of Dublin, it was either justifiable or necessary.

The small number of rebels involved in the Rising declared in the Proclamation that they were acting in the name of the "dead generations" of the Irish people, but they had no democratic mandate from the Irish people who were alive at the time. In fact the vast majority of the Irish people in Easter Week 1916, particularly the people in Dublin who were directly affected, thought the rebels were ridiculous and opposed them.

None of the rebels had ever been elected to anything. But not only did the rebels not have any mandate, they were even disobeying the order of the chief of staff of the Irish Volunteers, Eoin MacNeill, who had directed that the action was not to go ahead. MacNeill believed it was premature and that there would be a better time to strike, particularly if Home Rule was not delivered. Given these two facts, it's hard to argue that the Rising had any legitimacy.

It is equally hard to argue that the Rising was necessary, given what was going on in relation to Home Rule at the time. Those who know the history will be aware that this is a very complicated subject, replete with what ifs and hypothetical scenarios.

What we know for a fact is that Home Rule for Ireland had been legally established by the British Parliament in 1914. Despite the delay in its implementation due to the war and the huge difficulty posed by Unionist opposition, it is reasonable to believe that it would have come eventually, without the counties in the North where the Unionists held sway.

Yes, senior British politicians were prevaricating, officers in the British Army were against it and the Unionists were a major problem. But having been passed into law by the British Parliament, there was no going back on Home Rule.

If the Rising had not happened, the return of so many former Irish Volunteers who had fought in the war on the promise that it would be granted would have seen to that. There were over 170,000 Volunteers in 1914, almost all of whom after the split followed John Redmond who had brilliantly extracted the Home Rule deal from Westminster.

Only around 10,000 Volunteers opposed Redmond and the 1916 rebels were only a fraction of that small number, a few hundred at most. So the "men of 1916" were a rump of a rump.

As this column has said before, there is no reason to believe that the British Parliament or the British people would have opposed Home Rule for Ireland at some point over the following 20 or 30 years. The imperial age was coming to an end.

The wheel of history was turning and everyone sensed it. Both Australia and Canada were given their legislative independence in 1931 (just 15 years after the 1916 rebellion). Why should Ireland have been any different?

The absurdity of our history is that after the "blood sacrifice" of the 1916 leaders, the subsequent War of Independence and the Civil War, what we ended up with was roughly the sort of arrangement that Home Rule would have given us anyway.

We got a parliamentary democracy as a self-governing dominion within the British Commonwealth (like Australia and Canada). The king was head of state, represented here by a governor general (up to 1936!), and the British held on to some deep water ports. In time all that changed, but it would also have changed under a Home Rule arrangement.

It is at least arguable, and probably likely, that we would have got our independence within 20 or 30 years of 1916 without any bloodshed whatsoever. We would have got our freedom without creating the legacy of bloody violence that was subsequently used by the Provos to justify their murderous campaign during the recent Troubles.

And that, of course, is another reason so many people here are conflicted about commemorating the 1916 Rising. If you accept that the Rising was legitimate and necessary, it makes it far more difficult to condemn the murder and mayhem carried out more recently by the Provos who had no mandate either.

We can commemorate 1916 and the courage of those involved but, as the government appears determined to reflect, it needs to be done in a way that is mindful of the wider context at the time. Our painful past is far more nuanced than school history lessons back in the day admitted.

Making mythical heroes of the men of 1916 was understandable at one stage. But at this stage we should be grown up enough to handle the wider truth.

The trouble is, it leaves a lot of people very conflicted as we enter the year of commemoration.
On August 13, 1649, Oliver Cromwell set sail for Ireland to launch his notoriously brutal conquest of Ireland, persecuting Catholics and taking most of their land, but is he unfairly remembered?

Generations of scholars deliberately maligned Oliver Cromwell. For centuries, propagandistic church officials denounced him erroneously.

Only one man knows the real truth.

Read more Cromwell set sail for Ireland on this day in 1649 - Map shows land he stole

Step forward Drogheda, Co. Louth native Tom Reilly author of "Cromwell Was Framed, Ireland 1649."

Reilly grew up in the shadow of the walls Cromwells New Model Army once famously attacked, and he has come to a novel conclusion about the despised English leader that is certain to provoke his neighbors  we owe Cromwell an apology.

I feel he was much maligned and I think we should apologize to him posthumously and to his family for accusing him of war crimes, Reilly tells the Irish Voice, IrishCentral's sister publication.

We blamed him for killing the ordinary men, women, and children of Ireland. But only two individuals from 1649 and for the next 11 years make that allegation, and those two are unreliable. It didnt happen.

By making this explosive claim Reilly is letting Cromwell off the hook for the massacre in Drogheda in a way that no historian ever has before.

My book is a challenge. Im an amateur, this is what Ive found, Reilly says.

If any historian can prove what theyre teaching Irish children today in the history books is wrong then go and prove it. I believe that Cromwell is innocent of war crimes. Hes not guilty.

Most historians agree that at the siege of Drogheda in September 1649, Cromwells troops killed nearly 3,500 people after the towns capture  comprising around 2,700 Royalist soldiers and all the men in the town reportedly carrying arms, including some civilians, prisoners, and Catholic priests.

Cromwell himself, ardently believing he was doing Gods work, wrote of the carnage afterward that: I am persuaded that this is a righteous judgment of God upon these barbarous wretches

In his first letter back to the Council of State Cromwell also wrote: I believe we put to the sword the whole number of the defendants. I do not think 30 of the whole number escaped with their lives.

There you have it from the horses mouth. Not 30 people in the entire town escaped the bloodshed.

Read more Oliver Cromwell was a "metrosexual" obsessed with his appearance

Case closed, right? Wrong, says Reilly.

Those who promote the view of Cromwell as a war criminal perpetuate the idea that he simply lost his moral compass in Ireland and returned to his old self on his return to England. This is an inaccurate portrayal.

Reilly admits hes an unlikely champion of the Puritan parliamentarian. For a start, he failed history at school.

Thats a significant point. I was never interested in history when I was in school. But I became curious to know why Cromwell killed all my ancestors. That was what I was I was taught, he says.

To research his explosive claims Reilly went to the local municipal records and also checked out the Drogheda corporation records. There he realized that there were hundreds of names of people who were very much alive before the siege and after it.

So if the entire population wasnt killed how true was any of it, he asked himself.

I read voraciously. Mostly English biographies in the first instance, 19th and 20toh century work. I began to realize the English had a completely different attitude to him. He was actually voted for in the top 10 Britons in history.

Well, they would say that though, wouldnt they? From their perspective, standing in their shoes, Cromwell had dispatched a tyrannical king. He was the first Republican and an advocate for democracy.

There was a huge contradiction between the Cromwell that they wrote about, not just in his military and political achievements, but also the man  with the Irish telling. Thats what made me look into it.

Thomas Woods, an eyewitness of the Drogheda siege, should not be believed, says Reilly.

His account could have been interfered with by a lot of people. We can go back to Cromwells own account from 1649, but we cant do that with Woods because its written so long after the fact, Reilly says.

A lot of people sit on the fence about him. I absolutely believe that on the date in question most of the population were not even in the town.

Where would they have gone? It would be no small undertaking even today for the population of Drogheda to up sticks.

"I think they vamoosed, says Reilly. I think they moved to the local monastery.

The entire population retreated to a monastery?

Yes, most of them. Outside the walls. The policy was when a town was being besieged, they would fill the town with soldiers, ensure there were victuals for a certain amount of time, and get all the superfluous people out so they didnt take up the food.

Theres further evidence, Reilly says. The Duke of Ormond, Cromwells adversary, is documented as saying he had ordered the population out of the town. The dean of St. Peters Church also documented that his children and wife were sent out of the town.

There isnt more documentary evidence from the people of the town because unfortunately not enough of them wrote.

My feeling is that most of the people of the town were gone, says Reilly. But he cant prove it.

No, not from this distance and very few people can. But if they were in the town or they werent in the town its immaterial.

Read more Ancestral link discovered between Donald Trump and Oliver Cromwell

If they were in the town theyd have been more likely to be put to the sword, wouldnt they?

No. Absolutely not. Cromwells orders were very, very clear. He told every man in his army not to do any violence to anyone unless they actually bore arms.

But isnt that the kind of thing canny military leaders say before they pound a place into the ground? Trust us. Imperial powers often lose their moral compass in the heat of warfare.

Look at Abu Ghraib. Look at Bloody Sunday. Does Reilly believe that happened to Cromwell, who thought he was on a mission from God?

No. You really have to look at the evidence. The evidence is really insubstantial. There were lots of English commanders who came to Ireland and lost the run of themselves. Cromwell was not one of them. Hes been labeled the greatest ogre in Irish history. Its not true.

How do the locals in Drogheda respond to his findings?

They dont like it. Theres a local historical society, and when they heard about my latest book I felt like a pariah. But they dont let the facts get in the way of a good story.

Reilly says it astonishes him how people with political inclinations can make it color their view of history.

I could take Sinn Fein councilors back in a time machine and show them what happened in the siege of Drogheda and theyre still not going to believe it. Thats whats wrong with the country.

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Does Reilly have his own pieties?

No, Im an atheist, Im apolitical, Im sailing through life and hopefully Im going to make some kind of impact on it.

Reilly has written that in Ireland Cromwell unequivocally blames the Catholic clergy for the 1,641 massacres of innocent Protestant settlers and outlines his revulsion of such behavior in no uncertain terms in the above-mentioned declaration.

The phrase innocent Protestant settlers catches the eye, because in fact, they were colonists who had purloined the land from the native Irish. How innocent could those settlers be really?

Thats true, I get that. The problem with this date is that we cannot judge the political, religious and economic world of the 17th century. It may as well have happened on another planet, Reilly says.

Cromwell categorically blames the Catholic Church for the 1641 Rising. You can see why he had the high moral ground.

Had Cromwell the high moral ground?

You think about the Inquisition. Think about the Cathars in France. Looks at the nepotism. Look at the indulgences they sold, all of the terrible things the Catholic Church did throughout Europe, Reilly argues.

All Cromwell has on his side is God. Hes coming into a time when the Catholic Church is a cesspit of depravity and he believes that they rose up and murdered Protestant settlers who bought their land within the law.

Whats his response to the Great Hunger? Will that be exposed in his next book?

No. Im not a maverick or a contrarian in any shape or form. I believe I have found something that historians have missed.

Meanwhile, Reilly has no doubt about the history we have been taught.

Its propaganda we were taught by de Valeras Ireland. Its an accelerant that damaged Anglo Irish relations over the years, its bloody inflammatory. This stops now.

What do you reckon: an apology for Cromwell or no apology? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section, below.

* Originally published in July 2014. Updated in August 2022.
Elizabeth Lily Kempson fled to the US after fighting in the 1916 Easter Rising. She died on January 21, 1996, at 99 years of age in Washington state.

Elizabeth Ann Lily Kempson McAlerney, believed to have been the longest surviving rebel in the US of the 1916 Rising, died on January 21, 1996, in Washington state in the US.

Read more WATCH: 1916 Easter Rising footage featured in British Pathe online archives

As a 19-year-old factory worker and member of James Connolly's Citizen Army, Dublin native Kempson fought bravely during the 1916 Easter Rising.

One of the rebels sent to take over St. Stephens Green, she was handed a revolver and told: youve got to use this, but be careful who you hit. When one of her compatriots attempted to desert the group, she pointed the revolver at him and told him no one was leaving. I want to go home," McAlerney recalled the man saying, in an article for the American Journal.

"You can't," she replied. "We're all away from home now."

As Easter Week went on, she served as a courier for the rebels at the General Post Office, delivering messages and dodging the bullets as she went, and also peeled potatoes to help feed those trapped inside.

After the Rising, Lily, who had been previously arrested for participating in labor protests, was on a list of Rising participants marked for prison or exile.

Taking matters into her own hands, she fled for the US using her sister-in-laws passport and some money her mother had saved in hopes of keeping her daughter away from danger.

Once in the US, Lily made her way west to Seattle, where she met and married a fellow Irishman, Matt McAlerney. They had seven children, 34 grandchildren, and 116 great-grandchildren by the time Lily passed away in 1996. Matt predeceased her by 15 years.

For her role in the 1916 Rising, Lily received medals and a monthly pension from the Irish government for many years. Proud of her history, she was also a frequent lecturer at schools and university lecture halls.

Theyre working all the time, our sister publication Irish America magazine quoted her as saying. Youve got to sit down and talk it over. Youve got to get all the children to go to school together. Education is the key.

In recent years, her grandson, Michael McCullough, has carried on her tradition, giving a talk about his grandmother at the Womans Century Club in Seattle. Similarly, Kempson's great-grandson Casey McNerthney has chronicled the 1916 rebel's life online.

H/T: Irish America and The Washington Post.

* Originally published in 2016.

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On April 26, 1865, Edward P. Doherty, one of the unheralded heroes of Irish American history, tracked down and killed Abraham Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth.

Most people will know the name John Wilkes Booth, the man who assassinated America's 16th President Abraham Lincoln, on April 14, 1865, but how many know the name of the Irish man who cornered the villain?

Read more Lincoln and the Irish, the untold story revealed

Edward P. Doherty is one of the unheralded heroes of Irish American history, the man who tracked down Lincolns assassin John Wilkes Booth. He was fiercely and proudly Irish, enlisting in the Irish Brigade during the Civil War. He was born September 26, 1838, in Wickham, Canada East, to immigrant parents from County Sligo.

He came to New York in 1860 and was living there when the American Civil War broke out. He enlisted in a 90-day militia unit and was assigned as a Private to Company A of the 71st New York Volunteers on April 20, 1861. He was assigned to Colonel Ambrose Burnside's 2nd Brigade in Brigadier General David Hunter's 2nd Division, he was captured by the Confederates during the First Battle of Bull Run, the first major land battle of the American Civil War which took place on July 21, 1861, near Manassas, VA. While a prisoner, he made a daring escape. Ultimately, the 71st Regiment, along with Doherty, mustered out on Aug 9, 1861.

Doherty went on to become a Captain in the Corcoran Legion, formed by fellow prisoner from the First Battle of Bull Run, Irish-American General Michael Corcoran, who was a close confidant of Abraham Lincoln. Doherty served for two years before being appointed First Lieutenant in the 16th New York Cavalry on Sep 12, 1863. The regiment was assigned to the defense of Washington, D.C. for the duration of the war, where Doherty distinguished himself as an officer.

Dohertys path crossed with John Wilkes Booth, the man who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln after the war was over. According to Eyewitness to History.com on the night of April 14, 1865, Booth shot the president and then fled the screaming pandemonium he had just created by flinging himself over the wall of the Presidential Box at Ford's Theater. Behind him lay an unconscious and dying President Lincoln, a .50 caliber bullet lodged in his brain.

As he plummeted through the air, Booth caught his foot on the bunting decorating the front of the presidential box, lost his balance and crashed onto the stage floor below. Ignoring the pain from his broken left leg, Booth, ever the actor, hobbled to his feet and ran to the back of the stage, stopped and delivered his last line on stage, "Sic Semper Tyrannis." (Thus always with tyrants.) Booth then disappeared into the night.

Booth fled south on horseback and, after meeting with one of his co-conspirators, David Herold, collected a stash of supplies from the Maryland inn run by a woman named Mary Surratt. With his leg in need of medical attention, Booth and Herold went to the house of a Dr. Samuel Mudd to have his leg set. After Mudd ordered them off his property, they were briefly helped by a variety of Confederate soldiers and sympathizers as they made their way towards the Potomac to cross into Virginia. Once across, they sought refuge in a barn on the farm of Richard Garrett.

Read more Abraham Lincoln donated to Ireland during the Great Famine

It was there almost two weeks after Lincoln was shot that Union soldiers of the 16th New York Cavalry found Booth and Herold.

The following is Lt. Edward P. Dohertys account of what happened, which Eyewitness History adapted from an article Doherty wrote for Century Magazine in 1890, titled Pursuit and Death of John Wilkes Booth.

The Account of the Officer in Charge

On April 24, 1865, Lieutenant Edward Doherty sits on a bench across from the White House conversing with another officer. The arrival of a messenger interrupts the conversation. The messenger carries orders directing Doherty to lead a squad of cavalry to Virginia to search for Booth and Herold. Scouring the countryside around the Rappahannock River, Doherty is told the two fugitives were last seen at a farm owned by Richard Garrett. Doherty leads his squad to the farm arriving in the early morning hours of April 26.

"I dismounted, and knocked loudly at the front door. Old Mr. Garrett came out. I seized him, and asked him where the men were who had gone to the woods when the cavalry passed the previous afternoon. While I was speaking with him some of the men had entered the house to search it. Soon one of the soldiers sang out, 'O Lieutenant! I have a man here I found in the corn-crib.' It was young Garrett, and I demanded the whereabouts of the fugitives. He replied, 'In the barn.' Leaving a few men around the house, we proceeded in the direction of the barn, which we surrounded. I kicked on the door of the barn several times without receiving a reply. Meantime another son of the Garrett's had been captured. The barn was secured with a padlock, and young Garrett carried the key. I unlocked the door, and again summoned the inmates of the building to surrender.

"After some delay Booth said, 'For whom do you take me?'

"I replied, 'It doesn't make any difference. Come out.'

"He said, 'I am a cripple and alone.'

"I said, 'I know who is with you, and you had better surrender.'

"He replied, 'I may be taken by my friends, but not by my foes.'

"I said, 'If you don't come out, I'll burn the building.' I directed a corporal to pile up some hay in a crack in the wall of the barn and set the building on fire.

"As the corporal was picking up the hay and brush Booth said, 'If you come back here I will put a bullet through you.'

"I then motioned to the corporal to desist, and decided to wait for daylight and then to enter the barn by both doors and over power the assassins.

"Booth then said in a drawling voice. 'Oh Captain! There is a man here who wants to surrender awful bad.'

"I replied, 'You had better follow his example and come out.'

"His answer was, 'No, I have not made up my mind; but draw your men up fifty paces off and give me a chance for my life.'

"I told him I had not come to fight; that I had fifty men, and could take him.

"Then he said, 'Well, my brave boys, prepare me a stretcher, and place another stain on our glorious banner.'

"At this moment Herold reached the door. I asked him to hand out his arms; he replied that he had none. I told him I knew exactly what weapons he had. Booth replied, 'I own all the arms, and may have to use them on you, gentlemen.' I then said to Herold, 'Let me see your hands.' He put them through the partly opened door and I seized him by the wrists. I handed him over to a non-commissioned officer. Just at this moment I heard a shot, and thought Booth had shot himself. Throwing open the door, I saw that the straw and hay behind Booth were on fire. He was half-turning towards it.

"He had a crutch, and he held a carbine in his hand. I rushed into the burning barn, followed by my men, and as he was falling caught him under the arms and pulled him out of the barn. The burning building becoming too hot, I had him carried to the veranda of Garrett's house.

"Booth received his death-shot in this manner. While I was taking Herold out of the barn one of the detectives went to the rear, and pulling out some protruding straw set fire to it. I had placed Sergeant Boston Corbett at a large crack in the side of the barn, and he, seeing by the igniting hay that Booth was leveling his carbine at either Harold or myself, fired, to disable him in the arm; but Booth making a sudden move, the aim erred, and the bullet struck Booth in the back of the head, about an inch below the spot where his shot had entered the head of Mr. Lincoln. Booth asked me by signs to raise his hands. I lifted them up and he gasped, 'Useless, useless!' We gave him brandy and water, but he could not swallow it. I sent to Port Royal for a physician, who could do nothing when he came, and at seven o'clock Booth breathed his last. He had on his person a diary, a large bowie knife, two pistols, a compass and a draft on Canada for 60 pounds."

Booth's body was carried up the Potomac and buried beneath the floor of a penitentiary in Washington, DC. David Herold was tried with three other conspirators. All were found guilty, including Mary Surratt, owner of the tavern where Booth stopped, were hanged on July 7, 1865.

After the war, Doherty set up a business in New Orleans before returning to New York, where he worked as Inspector of Street Pavings until his death in 1897 at the age of 59. In his later years, he was twice Grand Marshal of the Memorial Day parade and resided in Manhattan at 533 West 144th Street. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

*Originally published in 2016, updated in April 2022.

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The ISPCC is calling on all election candidates to make and keep five specific promises to young people if elected.

Ireland's child protection charity will set out the five promises at the launch of their election campaign this morning.
Two men have been arrested in Belgium over possible links to suspects in the November terror attacks in Paris in which 130 people were killed, authorities said.

The federal prosecutor's office said a Belgian national identified as Zakaria J and a Moroccan national named Mustafa E were being held over links to different suspects in the attacks.
US crude oil dropped more than 4% at one stage, falling to as low as $27.32 a barrel. It regained ground to trade down 92 cents at $27.54 later.

The contract settled down 96 cents, or 3.26 percent, in the previous session.

You need the low price to slow down shale much faster, said Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst with SEB in Oslo. He added that a very broad-based sell-off across assets and across the world amplified pressure on oil prices.

Brent futures meanwhile fell by 80 cents to $27.96 a barrel, but dropped as low as $27.70 earlier in the day, not far from Mondays 12-year trough of $27.67.

They settled up 21 cents, or 0.7%, in the previous session.

A Venezuelan request for an emergency Opec meeting to discuss steps to prop up prices did little to stem declines.

World equities sank to their lowest level since 2013, and the indexs fall so far in January is already 9.9%, the biggest drop since 2009.

While the IMFs chief economist warned that financial markets seemed to be over reacting to falling oil prices and the risk of a downturn in China, demand concerns compounded an already bearish energy market.

The International Energy Agency  IEA warned the world could drown in oversupply of oil in 2016, with Irans exports adding to the excess.

Its a continuous story that pushes prices lower and lower, said Hans van Cleef, senior energy economist with ABN AMRO. We should see an effect on production, he said.

Russias largest private oil producer said yesterday it expects the countrys output to drop for the first time in many years in 2016.

Today, the oil industry is near a survival line ... Unfortunately we are cutting drilling, Lukoils chief executive Vagit Alekperov said.

A report said Canadas oil-sands producers were now losing money on every barrel, while US shale producers were burning cash at current prices.

* Reuters
New figures lodged by the Irish arm of the US luxury brand show it increased its revenues by 2% to 9.5m in the 12 months to the end of last March. Pre-tax profits for Ralph Lauren Ireland Ltd declined by 11% from 144,151 to 129,384.

The firm commenced trading in August 2007 as a factory outlet store in Kildare selling clothing and accessories. The accounts disclose the firm paid a dividend of 500,000 in March of last year.
Paige Holland, 23, who gardai say is also known as Abbie Goodier or Paige Goodier, left her home at Westview, Cloonfad in Co Roscommon, on January 15 with her daughter Nevaeh Goodier/Tighe.

Nevaeh was only born two days earlier on January 13.

Gardai believe Paige and Nevaeh are travelling with Paiges boyfriend Aaron Tighe, 22.

According to gardai, he is also known as Aaron Chadwick or Ian Smith.

A Garda spokesman said both Paige and Aaron have strong English accents.

Paige Holland is described as 5ft 6in, of medium build with blonde, shoulder-length hair.

Gardai said it is not known what Paige was wearing when she was last seen.

Aaron Chadwick is described as 5ft 6in, of medium build, with short brown/fair hair.

Gardai said they do not know what form of transport the three are using and say they may be travelling on public transport.

Gardai are requesting Paige to make contact with Castlerea Garda Station as soon as possible, a spokesman said.

Gardai are concerned for the welfare of Paige and her daughter and anyone with information is asked to contact Castlerea Garda Station on 094 9621630, the Garda confidential line, 1800 666111 or any Garda Station.
Shockwaves reverberated through County Hall in 2014 when councillors were told that parts of the County Development Plan would have to be put on hold in north Cork in particular, because of the presence of the freshwater pearl mussel.

EU directives state that rivers have to be cleaned up to protect the mussel. The purity of water is defined by the tiny, endangered creature. If rivers are contaminated by sewerage its breeding is affected.

In the case of the River Blackwater  where there is a significant freshwater pearl mussel population  this is being put down to the lack of or inefficiency of sewerage treatment plants allied to the uncontrolled run-off of slurry into the river, which runs through a significant area of farming production.

Members of the County Councils northern division said they were shocked that a resolution still had not been found, despite promises from council officials that it was a top priority issue.

Councillor Kevin OKeeffe (FF) said he was extremely concerned that officials still had not come up with some kind of plan to address the very serious issue.

Assistant county manager, James Fogarty, maintained council officials were doing everything possible to find a solution and were involved in discussions with relevant government departments and with the EU.

He said he simply couldnt wave a magic wand and get it sorted out because of the complexity of the issue and the EU stance.

Theres no easy solution to this. We hope to get some sort of answer.

He said senior council planners were in direct discussions with EU officials and have provided the government with a document which it has also presented to Brussels.

Councillor Frank OFlynn (FF) also expressed concern about the delay in the promised report from council officials.

When is that coming? This [lack of a solution] is holding up development along the river and especially around Fermoy. Anyway as a result of the recent flooding they [freshwater pearl mussels] are probably all washed away, said Mr OFlynn, making no secret he was not overly worried about their existence.

Mr OKeeffe reiterated that he was still very concerned about the situation. He maintained that even those who wanted to build individual houses were facing extra expense on sewerage projects/treatment tanks as a result of the issue.

He asked Mr Fogarty if he realised how serious the situation was. The senior council official said he was well versed with the reality and while there were some planning constraints, permission had since been given to some projects, including small schools, and unfortunately there was no quick fix of the problem.
Announcing the pilot project, Garda Commissioner Noirin OSullivan said the cameras could be useful where a victim initially doesnt complain, but decides to do so at a later stage.

Speaking at the launch of the Second National Strategy on Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence 2016-2021, Ms OSullivan also revealed that dedicated detective teams were being set up in each of the 28 garda divisions to examine domestic violence cases.

The strategy, launched by Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald, received a guarded welcome from some of the groups attending.

Ms OSullivan said the strategy complimented their own domestic abuse policy, which was due to be published at the end of this month. She said domestic violence was very insidious and that her members see it first hand every day.

Were on the frontline of this misery, Ms OSullivan said, adding the new policy would be a practical guide from initial call to conclusion of investigation. It would aim to reduce the burden on victims, provide them with the necessary supports and keep them fully informed of investigations.

It involves a new risk assessment system, which will identify risks to the victim, his or her family, and also to the responding gardai.

Last October, Garda Tony Golden was shot dead by Adrian Crevan Mackin in Omeath, Co Louth, as he tried to help Siobhan Phillips leave her abusive partner.

tonyGoldenGardaOmeathShooting_large.jpg[.timgcap]

The garda chief said she was launching a pilot project in which all patrol cars will have a crime prevention kit, including digital cameras.

If a victim doesnt, at first, want to or isnt confident enough to make a complaint, there will be evidence to put to the perpetrator if the victim makes a complaint at a future date, she said.

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald said the evil of domestic and sexual violence was very deep rooted. She said some of the statistics, such as rising barring orders, were disturbing.

She said a key part of the strategys action plan  a national awareness campaign  will receive annual funding of close to 1 million.

The strategy sets out actions for gardai and Tusla, Government departments, and State institutions.

The National Womens Council (NWCI)welcomed the strategy, including proposals for monitoring mechanisms and the Garda domestic violence policy.

NWCI director Orla OConnor called on all political parties to commit to tackling violence against women in their election campaigns.

Cliona Saidlear of Rape Crisis Network Ireland said the second strategy was an exciting phase and said organisations were looking for leadership to go with it.

Vera OLeary of Kerry Rape Crisis Centre expressed concern as to why money was going into a national awareness campaign and not primary prevention and questioned where the research for the campaign was coming from.

The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre welcomed the strategy but said it was very disappointed there was no provision for longitudinal research. CEO Ellen OMalley-Dunlop said the demand on rape crisis centres and sexual assault treatment units had grown substantially.
Information from the Department of Social Protection shows 30,614 Disability Allowance claims were decided last year, of which 14,800 were initially refused.

There were also a large percentage of cases which, after appeal, were granted. Last year, 5,220 appeals were decided by the Social Welfare Appeals Office and 3,384 were allowed.

The department said that of the almost 15,000 refusals: A number of applications recorded as disallowed subsequently may have been awarded following a review or following a successful appeal. Where both the disallowance and subsequent award occurred in 2015, these cases are recorded in both the disallowed and awarded column.

The department also said that 66 disability allowance payments were terminated last year after the recipient underwent a medical review.

The chief executive of the Disability Federation of Ireland John Dolan said the high rate of initial refusal for the allowance suggested playing hardball  the sense that people have to sing for their supper.

It is pointing in the direction that there is something wrong, that the initial decision is not properly calibrated, he said.

Mr Dolan said the bigger issue for the federation was the disability allowance, even when it was granted, did not take into account the extraordinary but everyday costs of having a disability.

With the general election looming, the federation has launched its Disable Inequality campaign at www.disableinequality.ie, and has urged people with a disability and their families to make inequality an election issue.

Mr Dolan said that a key aspect of the federation campaign would be how the growing number of people with a disability going through primary and post-primary education is not matched by movement on to third level and particularly the drop in employment levels among people with a disability, regardless of their standard of education.

He said that there was now a range of supports at primary and secondary level but that often that level of support can fall off a cliff when it comes to translating that education into jobs.

He also argued that investing in education only for it to fail to result in careers was no value for money overall and that there were huge gaps in the level of support needed by adults with a disability.
Judge Patrick Durcan, at Ennis District Court, said sentencing will take place on February 24.

Solicitor Bill ODonnell said the planned date was suitable, having discussed the matter with Garda Inspector Tom Kennedy.

Ms ORiordan with an address at Friarstown, Grange, Kilmallock had pleaded guilty to assaulting Garda Shane Dawson and two members of Airport Police at Shannon, Ronan OReilly and Eamon Power.

She also pleaded guilty to resisting/wilfully obstructing Garda Dawson in the execution of his duty contrary to Section 19 of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994.

In evidence last month, the court heard an out-of-control Ms ORiordan shouted: Im an icon, Im the queen of Limerick during an air rage incident at Shannon where she head-butted and spat in the face of one garda.

During the November 10 incident last year, the 44-year-old also spat in the face of, and kicked out at, an airport police officer, Insp Tom Kennedy had stated.

Ms ORiordan had become unruly on a Shannon-bound Aer Lingus flight from New York during which she stood on the foot of a flight attendant, Carmel Coyne.

Insp Kennedy said: Ms ORiordan was quite irrational, quite aggressive and quite difficult.

In a plea of mitigation, solicitor Mr ODonnell said they were the actions of a very, very ill person.

He said: Clearly from the evidence, she was somewhat out of control.

Ms ORiordan was going through a very, very difficult time.

A medical report found Ms ORiordan looked exhausted, had poor insight into her altered mental state and the incident on the plane took place while she was quite unwell and this was caused by bi-polar disorder.
They also seized a quantity of ecstasy tablets and arrested three more people during a separate search of an address on the southside of the city.

The arrests and drug seizures came as doctors continue to treat an 18-year-old boy who remained in a critical condition at Cork University Hospital (CUH) last night after the incident on Tuesday.

He was among six people who were rushed to CUH after becoming unwell at a rented house on St Patricks Terrace, on Green Street.

Gardai and public health experts believe those attending the party ingested the highly potent synthetic psychedelic drug 2C-B, prompting the HSE to issue a public warning about possibly contaminated party pills.

Superintendent Tom Myers said officers spoke to the five people who were discharged from hospital and launched a series of raids on Tuesday afternoon.

They arrested a 29-year-old man at an address in what gardai said was the College Road area. They seized a quantity of what they believe is 2C-B. The substance is being tested at the state laboratory in Dublin.

The man, who was detained overnight at the Bridewell Garda Station, was questioned on suspicion of supplying the drug believed to have been ingested by those at the house party.

He was released without charge yesterday and a file is being prepared for the DPP.

In a separate search of another address in the same part of the city, gardai arrested three people after seizing a quantity of MDMA, widely known as ecstasy, with an estimated street value of 2,000.

The Union of Students in Ireland has urged young people to stay away from 2C-B.

We need to recognise that drug use happens and young people experiment, USU president Kevin Donoghue said. We need to ensure that young people are being educated on the risks in a way that is relative to them.

That is how we keep them safe  by arming them with information. The just say no campaign simply doesnt work.

We are urging students to stay away from the 2C-B drug because it can have serious side effects, both psychologically and physically, such as paranoia, hallucinations, kidney problems and gastrointestinal effects.
Mr Justice Max Barrett was told the issue of legal costs in the case taken by Anthony Doran against Bus Eireann had also been agreed between the parties.

Last week, the judge found that in the totality of the bus drivers actions, an assault, which also consists of a reasonable apprehension of battery, had occurred.

The aggressive way the bus driver approached Mr Dorans car and tone of his remarks prompted him to believe he was about to be hit and to instinctively recoil, the judge said.

Mr Doran, Charlestown Place, St Margarets Road, Dublin, had appealed a Circuit Court decision dismissing his action against the bus company for assault, battery and false imprisonment.

After overturning that decision in relation to assault only, Mr Justice Barrrett indicated he had in mind an award of 5,000 in damages for Mr Doran. The matter was put back to yesterday for an order to be made. When the case returned, the judge was told the 5,000 sum had been agreed between the parties as had the costs of the case.

The incident occurred in Dublins city centre on February 28, 2014, when Mr Dorans car broke down and he had to pull into a bus stop. A number of buses arrived and Mr Doran waved them on but one acted differently and the incident occurred, the judge said.

It was claimed Mr Doran had made a rude gesture to the bus driver before the confrontation.

It was a sad irony, the judge said, that Mr Doran, an Irishman, who is black, was racially abused by a white man who has come to this country from abroad and thus might himself be exposed  unacceptably if it were to occur  to some form of intolerance.
He had long discussions with Karemu Vella, the Environment Commissioner, in Brussels and explained that although the OPW will miss the March deadline to have flood management plans finished, they will be ready later this year.

The minister rejected claims that EU environment laws were to blame for the lack of action over the past years to prevent and mitigate flooding.

Minister Kelly said they agreed to set up a working group between his team and experts in the Commission to deal with future issues.

They identified short-term and long-term proposals on how to mitigate against flooding in the future, and will share data and forecasting, including data from the Copernicus space agency to predict flooding in advance.

On funds available to help countries repair damage done by natural disasters, Mr Kelly said it was clear that Ireland will not meet the conditions necessary to qualify for significant funding, as the damage would need to amount to 0.6% of GDP which is 760 million.

He was not sure the country would qualify for a lesser sum of aid under an application for a specific region of the country as victims of an extraordinary regional disaster.

Under this the sums available would be around 1.3% or 130,000 per 10 million worth of damage.

We will not qualify for the larger sum and it is too early to say yet if we will qualify for other funds, but we have a team working on it  but it is not something on which we are relying.

Responding to a suggestion from Sinn Fein MEP Matt Carthy that the damage so far was estimated at 100 million, the Minister said that assessments were coming in from local authorities but there was still a lot of water on the ground and it was difficult to get an accurate figure for roads damage, which would be the highest cost. But they would have an estimate in time to make an application to the Commission perhaps focusing on river basins as the grounds for the aid.

He agreed with a comment made by junior minister Simon Harris that since the storms were having a similar effect on both Britain and Ireland that the Commission should be willing to take a joint application of funds.

Minister Kelly said that his department will consider it, but he did not believe they could rely on such an approach just now. I do believe that there is a necessity to look at how you apply, especially in relation to geographical borders, he said referring to the border with Northern Ireland.

He said it was also clear from the meeting that EU directives, including on habitats, did not militate against coping with flooding. It is evident they have and will help Ireland to alleviate flooding into the future, he added.

The Commission further explained there was flexibility where countries suffering significantly as in the case of the floods were entitled to take immediate action without having to refer to Brussels.

Farmers and others were particularly vocal blaming the EU Habitats directive for failure to act and in particular the governments interpretation of the rules. I am not willing to engage in a blame game, we are talking about human suffering and real effects on business, the Directives helped Ireland and the Commission has explained that we have flexibility in emergency situations to act.

Without the EU legislation he believed the damage could have been greater. I would challenge a discourse that emanates from some quarters in Ireland that these Directives are the reason we dont take certain action, he said.
Last night speaking from the hospital, Denis Farrelly from Cork told how the cancellation of his daughter Joannes surgery was the fourth time since July her procedure had been called off. He said it was a very serious operation and to only be told by her doctor at 7pm it was being cancelled yet again had been very distressing for his daughter not least as she had had to be admitted four time since July for emergency blood transfusions.

The HSE said CUH had been exceptionally busy in recent weeks, in particular from January 11-19 when 1,735 patients presented to the emergency department for review and treatment of which 892 patients required inpatient admission.
An analysis of inspection reports by civil engineers shows that 382 out of 1,455 bridges in the county were found to be in a sub-standard condition.

Cork County Council confirmed yesterday that 30 out of 32 bridges categorised as being in danger of total failure had been repaired or replaced since publication of the reports. The other two structure are located on disused roads.

A council spokesperson said the cost of repairs to the 30 bridges had been almost 1.3m.

A total of 79 bridges were reported to be suffering critical damage which required repairs at once while another 271 bridges were considered in better condition but still experiencing significant damage with the recommendation that they be repaired within the next financial year.

Similar reports on 50 bridges within the area controlled by Cork City Council show nine crossings had also recorded significant damage.

The reports present a snapshot of the condition of bridges in Cork city and county.

While repairs may have been carried out on some bridges with a high-risk rating since publication of the reports, the condition of others will have deteriorated.

Road closures, repair work, load restrictions and further assessments were carried out on the most high-risk bridges once inspection reports were filed, according to council officials.

A spokesman for Cork County Council said there was no question of traffic being allowed to cross any bridge that was deemed to be unsafe.

A bridge will be closed if there is any danger to the public, he said.

All bridges are subject to a standardised inspection scheme known as Eirspan which rates their overall condition as well as 14 component parts on a scale of 0 to 5.

A 0 rating signified no damage to the bridge, while a 5 rating indicates it is in danger of total collapse and poses a risk to traffic.

With 32 bridges, Cork had the highest number of category 5 bridges of any county, followed by Roscommon (13), Leitrim (8) and Limerick (7).

Nationwide more than 1,600 bridges on both national and non-national roads from over 9,500 bridges subject to an inspection had a ranking of 3  which signals significant damage or higher.

A total of 78 bridges had the highest risk classification with more than 300 others suffering critical damage.

Kerry had the second highest level of sub-standard bridges after Cork with 125 bridges suffering at least significant damage followed by Clare (89) and Tipperary (84).

Cork County Council has estimated that it would cost more than 10.8m to carry out repairs to the 382 bridges identified as experiencing some structural faults.

However, just 7.7m was provided by the government for the maintenance of 175 bridges on non-national roads across the entire country last year.
She said people need to be aware of the dangers so that others dont have to go through what her family is enduring.

Her 18-year-old brother was still in a critical condition in Cork University Hospital last night after collapsing at a house party on the south side of Cork City in the early hours of Tuesday.

In a Facebook post to Gerard Banks, who was first on the scene, the young woman said: Thank you Gerard for saving my brothers life! Without you he would have been pronounced dead at the scene.

Hes still very critical  all we can do is hope. But thank you. You are a hero. Me and my family just cant thank you enough.

She declined to comment further.

Doctors, public health experts, and gardai believe that people attending the party in a house at St Patricks Terrace on Green St, near Pouladuff Rd, ingested 2C-B  a highly potent and potentially deadly psychoactive drug.

Described as mix between LSD and ecstasy, it is similar to products previously sold in headshops. Its believed to be a relatively new arrival on the streets of Cork.

The 18-year-old was among six people aged between 18 and 37 who were rushed to CUH after emergency services were alerted round 4am.

Mr Banks, who was passing the rented house with a friend at the time, yesterday described the horrific scenes which confronted him.

He told Neil Prendeville on Corks RedFM that they heard crazed shouting and looked into the house and saw blood on the walls, carpet, and even curtains.

We shouted in to see is everyone OK. A man arrived at the window clearly on drugs and in a state of shock, he said.

We asked is everyone OK. He replied: Yes, everything is fine.

So we said there is blood everywhere, someone must be hurt, can we check to make sure no one is hurt.

He said yes and opened the door. When we went in it was like a scene from CSI  blood all over the walls, floors, couches, and a man and a woman naked covered in blood shouting and screaming, badly hurt and clearly in a state.

The man was smashing the house up, blood was everywhere. The house was destroyed.

There was a man on the floor with major breathing problems and the man who let us in was sitting on the chair in shock.

Me and my friend took control of the room. My friend started helping the man on the floor.

It was surreal...a naked man and woman dancing on the chairs as a man was having cardiac arrest on the floor.

I was the man who left the guards and paramedics into the house.

Whatever drugs those people were on was scary, he added.
According to a survey of almost 6,300 drivers by insurer 123.ie, 78% of VW drivers here said they had not been put off the German car brand, while almost 54% of non-Volkswagen drivers also said that the scandal would not put them off buying a VW car in the future.

Volkswagen has faced a difficult few months, with the brand back in the news again after the US government stated its intention to sue the car giant for the misdemeanour.The survey found that, overall, car buyers in Ireland are loyal, with nearly two thirds (62%) stating that they will stick with their current brand when changing car.

Apart from Volkswagen, Mercedes and Skoda (both 74%) together with Toyota (73%) have been revealed as the top brands for owners to stay with, if changing their car.

Around 50% of Opel and Renault owners said they were likely to stick with those brands, while just 28% of Fiat owners said they would stick with the Italian car manufacturer.

Brand loyalty increases with experience and age. Some 72% of people over 65 stated that they would buy the same brand versus 60% of those under 25.

More than seven-in-10 who owned cars less than five years old said they would stay with that brand. This compares to just 50% of those with cars 15 years or older.

Around half (49%) of those who spent 2,000 or more on car repairs in the last year are likely to be brand loyal but of those who spent less than 100, 71% are likely to be brand loyal.

Head of marketing at 123.ie, Padraig ONeill, said he was surprised, but not shocked by the consumer reaction to the Volkswagen scandal.

According to the Society of Irish Motor Industry, there were more new VWs registered in Ireland in 2015 than any other passenger vehicle at 15,369 or 12.3% of the market, he said. And whilst Toyota outperformed VW in Ireland in December 2015, it still captured the number two slot for new car registrations in the final month of the year.

So whilst the companys share price and reputation have certainly taken a battering, this hasnt translated into a decline in sales in Ireland and VW owners appear to be very brand loyal.

Earlier this week it was revealed that Renault has recalled some 15,000 diesel cars after admitting its emissions filtering system does not work in all temperatures.
Ms Cowen, in a closed private discussion group for Fianna Fail members, launched the attack on Ms Hanafin this week, saying she is trying to dictate party policy, though she is not a member of the Dail. The Irish Examiner has confirmed Ms Cowen posted the criticism of Ms Hanafin in the online group.

Ms Cowen, or Mary Molloy Cowen, as she is named on Facebook, strongly criticised the current Blackrock councillor, claiming that party leader Micheal Martin should watch his back.

Ms Cowen also made a number of references to Ms Hanafins regular appearances on radio and in the media in recent days.

Ms Hanafin told a newspaper she had been approached by members, who said they wanted her to influence party policy.

However, in the private Facebook group, The Official Fianna Fail registered members discussion page, Ms Cowen launched her attack on Ms Hanafin. It was posted to the group of 1,000 members yesterday evening, but has since been removed.

The Facebook post claimed Ms Hanafin is not elected yet and she is running the party.

It adds: Michael [sic] Martin better watch his back as there wouldnt be to [sic] much loyalty there!!!!!!

The comments drew responses from other members of the group.

In response to a comment from a member that Ms Hanafin is never a team player, Ms Cowen replies: Thats for sure.

Neither Ms Hanafin, nor Ms Cowen, responded to queries from the Irish Examiner.

There have been longstanding animosities between the Hanafin and Cowen camps. Ms Hanafin was demoted by Mr Cowen when he became taoiseach in May 2008 and she in turn became a vocal critic of Cowens style of leadership.

Ms Hanafin made very pointed criticisms of Mr Cowens decision making as leader in an RTE documentary, which angered many close to the former leader.
And frankly if thats the only way to be a good wife to my farmer, Id rather stay ringless.

My partner and I live together outside Killeagh in East Cork. He works on the farm. I run my own business. Were happy but it seems according to farming blogger Lorna Sixsmiths second published book How to be a Perfect Farm Wife, this arrangement probably wont work if we get married.

It wont work as it would mean I wasnt a perfect farm wife.

I do not know of a single women today who married a farmer, quit her job and instantly became a full-time farmer herself.

To be honest, there were times when I was reading the book that I was wondering if I wasnt reading some kind of time travel manual posing as a self-help book. I know the book is tongue in cheek but it seems to hark back to some time in the 1950s with little regard for the advancement of women for the past 60 odd years. Nell McCafferty and Mary Robinson be damned!

It seemed like the only role of the farmers wife is to tend to every need of her other half.

Yes, relationships must be nurtured but come on?

There are chapters in the book where they look at how to catch a bird or a bat? Am I expected to do this?

There are also chapters on how to help at a funeral. Are non-farmer wives counselled on this too before getting married? Is there a special, secret role that a farmers wife must act out?

Lorna Sixsmith has won much acclaim for her humourous farming blog but as a working, voting, 50%- mortgage-paying, equal rights, un-baking, un-knitting, un-milking un-married partner of a farmer in 2015, her latest book left me shocked.

She says if you havent got the ring on your finger yet, read very carefully but by the end, I was exasperated. Can you be a farmers wife and believe in a 50:50 relationship I asked my somewhat bemused farmer.

I think its a wholly inaccurate assumption to expect women nowadays to be 100% devoted to the farmer and his farm.

Sure, some women often give up work for a while or for good if they have kids but I mean, surely were not expecting them to breastfeed with one hand and milk cows with the other! Are we?

Farmers wives just dont have the same role they had in our parents era. And frankly, I wouldnt want it.

Im a cuddly cub of the Celtic Tiger and Id be the first to admit that Id be too soft for that gig. Those amazing women worked night and day, children, cooking, laundry, cleaning, looking after small animals, the accounts and endless boiling of spuds.

Sixsmith fixates on the mother-in- law and her relationship with the young wife. In fact, she dedicates a larger portion of the book to getting on with the mother-in-law than on how to avoid a divorce.

I have no time for such competitiveness. My farmers mum has worked hard all her life and I have neither the interest nor the desire in insulting either of us by starting a trivial war on who has a better rhubarb crumble (shed win anyway!!)

There are good parts to the book such as Sixsmiths advice to make sure your daughters grow up thinking that they have an equal right to farm or inherit the farm. And its hysterical in parts (whether intentionally or otherwise I wasnt always sure) but it actually urges farmers wives to be telepathic. It warns that you must strive to know instinctively that he means you to feed the sheep today when he points and grunts.

She also says if you have a touch of wanderlust youll find it hard to achieve long distance travel but moving the furniture frequently can satisfy the urge for change.

My main problem with the farmers wife role as outlined is that: everyone is thinking about the farmer.

Shes thinking about him and hes thinking about him so thats 100% of the marriage dedicated to his happiness and you dont have to be Carol Vorderman to figure out how much room that leaves for either of them caring about her.

But dont panic, theres a chapter how to conceal your mood.

Aisling ODonovan. Picture: Denis Minihane

Dont get me wrong, I love my farmer and Im behind him 100% but not a chance in the eternal burning fires of hell would I arrive home to find him reading the male equivalent How to be a perfect farm husband and why should he?

I accept that I sound like the angry feminist at the dinner party who fails to appreciate the light heartedness of something, but to hell with it, I feel it so Ill say it. Ive never called myself a feminist, I just believe in fair play.

A guide to being perfect in any relationship should not exist. I am not, nor are you or anybody else, perfect. Kate Midleton isnt perfect.

However, people make mistakes and I could be in for a big land. You could possibly meet me in ten years from now drowning in children, translating grunts from my husband and telling you that we would have loved a trip to France this summer but things were too busy on the farm so we decided to put the bath in the sitting room instead!
A photo roused the world to action last year. When people saw the drowned body of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi washed up on a Turkish beach, they realised they had to do something to help the thousands of refugees arriving in Europe.

The only question was what. Some found the answer in City of Sanctuary, a movement which consists of local communities working to make their cities and towns welcoming places for everyone, particularly for refugees and asylum seekers.

Aylan Kurdi

This movement began in Sheffield in 2005 and has spread to over 70 cities and towns. Dublin became a City of Sanctuary in 2014 and Waterford followed suit last September.

The movement was founded by Inderjit Bhogal, a Methodist minister who came to the UK as a refugee child. He wanted to create a culture of welcome that wasnt just about organisations but communities, says Tiffy Allen, the Dublin-based coordinator of City of Sanctuary. He was living in Sheffield at the time so he set it up there and in the 10 years since, its taken hold of peoples hearts and minds.

Each City of Sanctuary is different. Its the local community that shapes it in its own way, says Tiffy. But no matter what projects they choose, they are always about reaching out and giving refugees and asylum seekers the sense that we welcome them and understand their situation.

These projects usually focus on arts, schools, faiths, sports, or health. A theatre project in Derry, for example, saw three refugees and three locals whose lives had been impacted by the Troubles telling stories of their personal search for a safe haven.

Weve also organised meetings between midwives and refugee women who are pregnant or have recently had babies, says Tiffy. Midwives need to know about specific issues facing these mothers and these mothers need to know what services and supports are available to them.

Then there are more unusual projects such as bike workshops. Broken bikes are donated and local people and refugees take part in a workshop where they learn how to mend them, says Tiffy. At the end, the refugees get a bike but they also gain new skills and friends.

The city of Waterford, which has become a Place of Sanctuary

Tiffy is very excited about whats happening in Waterford. They made a huge statement with their high-profile launch , she says. Since then, they have made the initiative county-wide so that Waterford is now a Place of Sanctuary, not just a city.

Orla ONeill-Hayes is a member of the committee. She thinks its a movement whose time has come.

When you think that 26% of people in Waterford City and County are minority groups  including refugees, migrants, LGBT, Roma, people with disabilities and Travellers  you realise weve needed something like this for a long time, she says. You can see it in the response weve got from people. Its as if theyve been waiting for this to come along.

Events such as the attacks in Cologne dont seem to have dinted enthusiasm either. You hear the occasional complaint, says Orla. But for the majority, what they hear in the news makes them more committed and more curious. They want to find out the truth about these refugees.

The first project being organised in Waterford will help them do just that. Its a training programme that will give refugees and asylum seekers a voice to tell their own stories in their own words, rather than me  a girl from Waterford  speaking for them, says Orla. The course will involve public speaking and also teach them how the media and political systems work in Ireland.

One man who is eager to use that voice is former refugee Akeem Ahmed. He arrived in Ireland seeking asylum in 2007. I was a human rights activist in Nigeria but it reached a point where it wasnt safe for me to live there anymore, he says.

His asylum application process took five years, a period Akeem thinks was far too long. Living like that  where you get housed, clothed and fed but are not allowed to work, study or move on with your life for years on end  is not good for anyone, he says.

Although angry at the system, Akeem is grateful to the Irish. Theres one thing that cannot be taken away from the Irish and thats that they are welcoming people, he says. Its in their very nature.

Brian Killoran, CEO of the Immigrant Council of Ireland

He hopes the Waterford Place of Sanctuary movement will give him a say in changing Ireland for the better. Now that Im a naturalised Irish citizen, I see this country as my country, he says. Together with the Waterford Place of Sanctuary, I want to play my part in moving Ireland forward, especially when it comes to how it treats and integrates refugees and asylum seekers.

Brian Killoran, CEO of the Immigrant Council of Ireland, thinks community movements are vital for integration. The best result for refugees, local communities, and Ireland as a whole is if everyone from a migrant background is given the opportunity to take part in Irish life. This includes everything from education, training, and work to sports, business, and politics. 

The goal for the Immigrant Council and for City of Sanctuary movement is to reach out even further. The biggest barrier to people welcoming others into their community is misinformation and lack of understanding, says Tiffy Allen. Thats what were doing with City of Sanctuary throughout Ireland and the UK. Were trying to raise awareness on all sides.
Robin Power applied for the change of use from office to cafe on the ground and first floors of St Patricks Buildings, at the junction of St Patricks Street and Grand Parade.

The location has previously been in use by financial services, and is situated near what will be two entrances to the John Cleary major redevelopment of the Capitol Cinema site in a major city centre mixed retail and office scheme.

St Patricks Buildings was vacant at the time the plans were lodged with Cork City Council in September last.

The application cited expressions of interest in operating the premises as a cafe and for retailing beverages. The plan is to develop a serving area at the small 22 square metre ground floor, with first-floor seating where excellent street views might be enjoyed by customers. Although no tenants are in place, a chain outlet is considered a likely operator if permission is granted.

The council asked for further information on issues around waste management, signage and other aspects which were responded to on behalf of Mr Power before Christmas, and a decision is now due by the weekend.

* A new Vision Express store on St Patricks Street is one of two planned new opticians chains awaiting the outcome of Cork city centre planning applications this week.

Plans lodged with Cork City Council in November by Paul Litchfield sought to re-fit an existing retail unit, previously a fashion store, and for new signage to 38 St Patricks Street, between Marlboro Street and Cook Street. The decision on that planning application was due yesterday.

Next week is the due date for a decision on plans submitted also in November by Specsavers Optical Superstores Ltd for a unit at nearby Opera Lane. The chain which already has a presence on Cook Street sought permission for a new shop front signage to Unit 2 of the street between St Patricks Street and Emmet Place.

* Permission has been turned down for almost 60 new homes previously approved by a Dublin planning authority.

South Dublin County council gave the go-ahead last summer on plans submitted in early 2015 by Crekav Landbank Investments Ltd for a site at Lock Road and Newcastle Road in Finnstown. The area is near Lucan, and also near the new suburb of Adamstown, and the company initially sought permission for 74 terraced, detached, and semi-detached homes. The council gave its approval for 58 of those houses, prompting third party appeals, as well as an appeal by the company on the partial approval and in relation to conditions.

In its decision to refuse permission for the development, An Bord Pleanala cited the lack of an appropriate mix of house types and sizes, lack of permeability for pedestrians and cyclists, and poor layout and design.

* Cork County Council has cleared the way for an extension to a GE Healthcare facility in Carrigtwohill.

The plant at the IDA business park outside the small east Cork town was the subject of an application last November, in which permission was sought for a two-floor, 1,300 square metre innovation extension. The plans also included the demolition of a canteen and a utilities store, as well as access road changes.

* An early February decision is expected on the proposed development of retail warehousing at the nearby Fota Retail and Business Park.

In response to a request from planners for further information, details were submitted to Cork County Council just over a fortnight ago. They relate to an application last August for a single-storey building with eight retail warehouse units, one with linked outside sales/display area.

Fota Business Park also sought permission for 15 enterprise/trade/business units with offices overhead, and proposed linking the facility to a new commuter rail station, for which previous planning approval was extended almost a year ago.
It is one member of the 2-C family of synthetic (manmade) phenethylamines, many of which are reported to induce hallucinations in addition to other effects on the body.

The drug is closely related to mescaline, a natural drug produced by several cacti, including the Peyote cactus.

The chemical name of 2C-B is 4-bromo-2,5-dimethoxyphenethylamine, hence the use of the more straightforward abbreviation 2C-B.

So-called designer drugs are often referred to in the media and online with obscure abbreviations, as with the case of 2C-B.

These acronyms are usually based on the chemical structures and other chemical features of the drug. For example, the B of 2C-B refers to the chemical element bromine, which is part of 2C-Bs molecular architecture. Replacing this atom with alternative chemical elements results in the production of many other members of the 2-C drug series, with similar pharmacological effects to 2C-B itself.

2C-B, as with many designer drugs of abuse, are often synthesised and imported from Eastern Europe and Asia in a bulk powder or liquid form.

Once within Europe, they are typically mixed with other inert ingredients, packaged into smaller quantities and units, labelled, and then made available to individuals.

Drugs of abuse such as 2C-B have typically little, evidence-based, reliable data available in the public arena with regards to their pharmacological and potentially toxic effects on the human body.

The packaging of the products (if there is any in the first place) typically contains limited, if any, information, on the name and quantity of the drug present, dose, onset of action, duration of action in the body, possible side effects, effects if taken with alcohol or other drugs (prescription or otherwise).

The quality of the drug and other ingredients within the drug packaging is also an unknown variable, and may be contaminated with impurities from the manufacturing process, bacteria and viruses, other drugs of abuse, and substances which have not been identified on the products packaging but may have the potential to cause additional harm and injury to the user.

It often occurs that there is no drug or a different, unexpected drug present in the product to that listed on the packaging, resulting in unanticipated and possibly harmful effects to the drug user.

The approach to bringing a designer drug of abuse to the illicit public market is in stark contrast to the process a pharmaceutical company must abide by when manufacturing and making available a therapeutic drug to patients and healthcare professionals.

The pharmaceutical industry is one of the most highly regulated environments in the world, with patient safety and drug quality and efficacy always at the top of its priority.

Pharmaceutical companies typically spend hundreds of millions of euro before ever being allowed to bring a therapeutic drug to the market, after having spent many years researching its potential side effects, efficacy, quality control and safety, and subsequent independent scrutiny of all of the evidence by a regulatory authority, such as the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) in Ireland.

File image

The use of acronyms and the myriad of other, more colloquial street names for designer drugs can be confusing, and can result in their misidentification. There has been some misreporting in media with regards of the name of the suspected drug substance involved on Tuesdays incident, with some suggesting the implicated substance to be 2C-B whereas others describing it as 2-CP.

However, the HSE subsequently confirmed in a statement during the late afternoon that the drug under suspicion was 2C-B.

Interestingly, 2-CP, which is not implicated in the Cork case, is also a member of the 2-C phenethylamine-type drug of abuse series, and thus has reported hallucinogenic-type activities similar to that of 2C-B.

Such confusion further highlights the difficulty of providing rapid and accurate information to the public, healthcare professionals and An Garda Siochana with regards to specific drugs of abuse.

Although most would not have heard of 2C-B before, the drug was first manufactured and documented in the literature in 1975, with initial reports of its abuse during in the 1980s.

The drug was originally first controlled in Ireland under the 1988 Misuse of Drugs Regulations, which were subsequently replaced by the 2015 Misuse of Drugs (Amendment) Act. At an International level, 2C-B is listed since 2001 as a Schedule II substance of 1971 United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances. Schedule II also includes drugs such as amphetamine and methamphetamine.

The rapid expansion of the number of different designer drugs of abuse, particularly since the 1980s has proven to be a major challenge for many countries around the world, including Ireland, with regards to putting mechanisms to place them under legal control in within a timely manner.

While 2C-B is not specifically named as a controlled substance within the 2015 Irish Misuse of Drugs Act, the chemical features of the drug are instead described in a generic fashion within the legislation.

This general description, which also encompasses the chemical features of many other molecules related to 2C-B, results in the control of potentially hundreds of chemically related molecules without ever having to name the molecules specifically in the act.

This approach of generic control helps, to an extent, to future proof our controlled drugs of abuse legislation, so long as the latest drug of abuse to be encountered on the Irish market has chemical features included by the generic legislation already in place.

Those who manufacture and introduce new drugs of abuse to the public are often well aware of these legal controls, resulting in them designing new drugs of abuse with chemical features not controlled by the laws of the country.
POLAND has now emerged as the latest European battleground in a contest between two models of democracy  liberal and illiberal.

The overwhelming election victory in October of Jaroslaw Kaczynskis far-right Law and Justice party (PiS) has led to something more akin to regime change than to a routine turnover of democratically elected governments.

Jaroslaw Kaczy

Prime minister Beata Szydlos new administration has purged the civil service (including public radio and television), packed the Constitutional Court with sympathisers, and weakened the courts capacity to strike down legislation.

In response, the European Commission has launched an official inquiry into potential violations of the EUs rule-of-law standards. Moreover, Standard & Poors has, for the first time, downgraded Polands foreign currency rating  from A- to BBB+  and warned of perhaps more cuts to come as it accuses the government of weakening the independence and effectiveness of key institutions.

Growing doubts about the commitment of Polands new rulers to democracy has deepened the slump in Polands stock market and contributed to a depreciation of the Polish zloty.

Poland is the largest European Union country to embrace illiberalism; but it is not the first. Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbans government has been at odds with the EU for several years over his open politicisation of Hungarian institutions, while Robert Ficos government in neighbouring Slovakia has pursued a similar brand of raw majoritarianism.

What accounts for this contempt for democratic norms in some of Europes newest democracies? Throughout the 1990s, the promise of EU membership framed a process of root-and-branch political and economic reform in Central and Eastern Europes previously closed societies.

And, following these countries accession to the EU in 2004, the gap between them and the old EU members seemed to be closing. Indeed, during the eight years of centre-right rule that preceded the PiSs victory, Poland emerged as a model European student, recording the strongest economic growth in the OECD.

Yet the EUs post-communist members were bound to experience a crisis of liberal democracy sooner or later, owing to a fundamental legacy from their communist past: The absence of the concept of a loyal opposition  legitimate adversaries to be debated, rather than traitorous enemies to be eliminated.

Unlike in the West, where, broadly, a left-right socioeconomic cleavage shapes politics, the main split in the post-communist democracies is between proponents of an open versus a closed society.

In a political order defined by the traditional left-right divide, people on both sides, however vociferously they may disagree, rarely question their opponents political legitimacy.

Thanks to liberal constitutional frameworks  including judicial independence, the separation of powers, and freedom of speech  replacing, say, a left-leaning government with a right-leaning one is unlikely to transform the country or its political system.

But in a political system defined by the open-closed divide, the two sides disagree about which is which: It is always the other who seeks a closed society. The same dynamic that helped Vladimir Me?ciar, Slovakias nationalist former prime minister, win elections in the 1990s helped former Czech president Vaclav Klaus, an economic arch-liberal, secure victories in the 2000s.

In practice, however, the open-closed cleavage enables those who actually do espouse illiberalism  including Orban (who has explicitly called for an illiberal state based on the Chinese and Russian models) and Kaczynski (who, tellingly, rules from behind the scenes)  to dismantle the constitutional framework that permits a peaceful rotation of power.

A single election can thus transform the entire political system, as appears to be the case in Hungary and now Poland.

The question is what drives voters to support the closed camp. In countries with a weak or long-interrupted tradition of liberal constitutionalism, an explosion of nationalism usually follows the establishment of democracy.

The politics of identity prevails, and, unlike that of social welfare, it is not amenable to compromise. The result is a kind of permanent Kulturkampf, in which rigidly binary thinking gives rise to trumped-up claims and conspiracy theories.

Of course, post-communist countries are not alone in their vulnerability to illiberalism. Other factors  such as globalisation, economic uncertainty, an influx of refugees, and security risks like terrorist attacks  can cause voters to turn against liberal democracy.

All of these factors  not to mention confrontation over Ukraine with Russia, which is financing many of Europes far-right parties  are at play today in Europe. Even before the refugee crisis worsened sharply last year, avatars of the closed society  Frances National Front and the United Kingdom Independence Party  won elections to the European Parliament in two of the Wests ostensibly best-developed democracies.

The question now is how to stop this destructive trend from engulfing Europe? The answer is straightforward: Co-operation and integration.

When countries fear a loss of sovereignty, whether because of globalisation or an influx of refugees, their first instinct often is to turn inward, even if it means renouncing liberal principles and institutions. But no liberal democracy can survive for long without liberals. And no illiberal democracy can succeed to the extent that it closes itself off to cooperation.

The primary purpose of European integration at its inception was to safeguard the continent from war. Today, its main purpose is to protect democratic politics in the face of economic globalization.

A more integrated EU can play a central role in resolving existing crises, safeguarding against future ones, and reinforcing liberal norms. In fact, despite rising nationalism, a move toward increased integration appears to be in the cards. If Poland opposes that tendency, it will find itself on the outside, overwhelmed by economic forces it cannot control and Russias corrosive influence.

A new iron curtain in Europe, this time between liberal and illiberal democracies  is a grim prospect. Although Poland is not a regional leader, it does wield influence, owing to its large and healthy economy and its strategic role as a buffer between Russia and Western Europe.

This is particularly important with respect to Ukraine, whose independence is viewed by Polish leaders as a precondition of Polands own.

But, given the developments in Hungary and elsewhere, European leaders must now draw a line in the sand in defense of Europes open society. Today, the EU is testing Poland, and Poland is testing the EU. Poland  and Europe  can win only if the EU does.

Slawomir Sierakowski, founder of the Krytyka Polityczna movement, is director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Warsaw. Copyright: Project Syndicate: 2016.
Asia Deadly Clashes Erupt Between Police, Protesters in Kashmir

Violent clashes between police and protesters erupted Wednesday in Indian-controlled Kashmir, leaving a man dead and two others wounded, officials say.

SRINAGAR, India  Violent clashes between police and protesters erupted Wednesday in Indian-controlled Kashmir, leaving a man dead and two others wounded, officials said.

The protesters were angry that Indian government forces killed a suspected rebel in a gun battle Wednesday after they had surrounded the village of Naina on a tip that anti-India militants were hiding there, said police officer Nitish Kumar.

Chanting pro-independence slogans, scores of youths hurled rocks at government forces during protests in Naina and in neighboring Batpora village.

Police tried to quell the protests by firing gunshots and tear gas into the air, but protesters torched an armored police vehicle, Kumar said. Government forces then fired on the protesters, killing one man and wounding two others, according to witnesses.

Inspector-General Syed Javaid Mujtaba Gillani confirmed that a civilian had been killed and said the two men injured were hospitalized and in stable condition.

He said the gun battle had destroyed a home in Naina, and authorities were searching the debris for the body of a second militant believed to have been killed.

Anti-India sentiment runs deep in Kashmir where rebels have been fighting since 1989 for the regions independence or merger with Pakistan, which controls another portion of the disputed Himalayan territory in the west.

More than 68,000 people have been killed in the conflict. The rebel groups have largely been suppressed by Indian troops in recent years, and resistance is now principally expressed through street protests.
Asia US Piles Pressure on China to Help with N. Korea Sanctions

A senior US diplomat is stepping up pressure on China to play a leading role in punishing North Korea for its recent nuclear test.

SEOUL  A senior US diplomat stepped up pressure on China on Wednesday to play a leading role in punishing North Korea for its recent nuclear test that raised worries about advancements in its bomb program.

US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in South Korea on a diplomatic push for tougher sanctions and punishment that can force change in the North. Key to those efforts is whether China, the Norths last major ally and a veto-wielding UN Security Council member, will join in such moves.

We believe that China has a special role to play given the special relationship that it has with North Korea, Blinken told reporters after meeting with South Korean officials.

He said Beijing has more influence and more leverage over Pyongyang than any other country because most of its trade goes from, to or through China. We are looking to China to show leadership on the issue, Blinken said.

He flies to Beijing later Wednesday for talks on North Korea.

During a meeting with South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, Blinken said Seoul and Washington are working closely in New York with the United Nations Security Council.

Yun said it is time for the international community to stand united to make North Korea face the consequences for its bomb test. This is North Korea versus international community, he said.

China is expected to join in some UN sanctions, but wont likely go as far as to take steps that might lead to the collapse of the Norths authoritarian government. China fears the onslaught of a wave of refugees and violence surging across the border, analysts say.

North Korea says it conducted a hydrogen bomb test on Jan. 6. Many governments and experts remain highly skeptical about the Norths claim, but whatever device North Korea detonated will likely push the country a step closer toward its goal of manufacturing a miniaturized warhead to place on a missile that can threaten the US mainland.

After the bomb test, the rival Koreas resumed psychological warfare with Seoul blasting anti-Pyongyang broadcasts from border loudspeakers, while Pyongyang does the same and also floats propaganda leaflets over the border by balloon, according to South Korean officials.
Asia Vietnams Communist Party Meets to Pick Nations Leaders

Vietnams ruling Communist Party has convened an eight-day congress to name the countrys new set of leaders.

HANOI  Vietnams ruling Communist Party Thursday opened an eight-day congress to name the countrys new set of leaders, who will determine the pace of critical economic reforms, and relations with key trading allies, China and the United States.

Held every five years, the Communist Party of Vietnams 12th Congress has brought together 1,510 delegates representing Vietnams 63 provinces, ministries and other party organizations.

It ends Jan. 28 when the names of the general secretary, the prime minister, the president, the chairman of the National Assembly and other top functionaries will be announced. The general secretary is the de facto No. 1 leader of the country, although Vietnam professes a collective leadership through a Politburo that handles day to day affairs, and a larger Central Committee that meets twice a year to decide policy.

Delegates stood up and clapped when the 16 Politburo members walked into the conference hall at the National Convention Center near the city center. The stage was set against the backdrop of a bust of the countrys revolutionary leader, Ho Chi Minh, portraits of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin, and the national flag and the hammer-and-sickle red flag for the party.

Delegates also sang the national anthem and the LInternationale, the official song of communism.

Vietnam is one of the last remaining communist nations in the world, with a party membership of 4.5 million, but like its ideological ally China, the government believes in a quasi-free market economy alongside a strictly controlled society that places several restrictions on its 93 million people.

The congress is not expected to hold any major surprises. Despite the veil of secrecy that the party pulls around its inner workings, it appeared Wednesday that an internal power struggle had ended before the congress, and the tussle was won by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, 71, who is expected to keep his job, albeit for half the five-year term in an apparent compromise with his rival, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

Also, a Dung protege is likely to be given the post of the National Assembly chairman, while the prime minister and the presidents posts will go to a neutral candidate and a Trong supporter.

This configuration would be a demonstrable loss for Dung but it should not be confused with an outright win by Trong, said Christian Lewis, a Vietnam expert at the New York-based Eurasia Group think-tank. It is instead a composition that reflects a desire for a balance and more consensus-driven decision-making at the very top, he wrote in a commentary.

Trong won after it was agreed at a preparatory meeting Wednesday to continue with a controversial 2014 rule barring all but officially nominated candidates from consideration, with no new nominations allowed from the congress floor. Trong was endorsed as the general secretary candidate earlier this month.

This effectively sidelined Dung, 66, who had been vying for the general secretarys post. He is now expected to retire. Although credited with leading economic reforms, he was also accused of promoting cronyism and building a factional power base within the party through patronage politics.

His apparent ouster represents a clear vote by the top leaders in favor of balance over strong personalities in the make-up of the Politburo, Lewis wrote.

The development raises questions about the direction of economic reforms he had been backing. The reforms have brought a flood of foreign investment, created a fledgling stock market and helped triple per capita GDP to US$2,100 over the past 10 years, but his rivals accuse him of economic mismanagement and failing to control massive public debt and non-performing loans of state-owned banks.

But, Lewis said, the new set of leaders will support the current economic reforms and trade policy. Notably they remain committed to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) with the United States and other key trade deals including the free trade agreement with the European Union.

Vietnam wants to diversify its economic partners to avoid becoming excessively dependent on China, its largest trading partner, Lewis said.

Vietnam has an ambivalent relationship with China. Besides the trade ties, China remains a security challenge. Beijing has been expanding its territorial assertions in the South China Sea, but Vietnam has pushed back against those claims. Dung has been seen as standing up to Beijing, not afraid to criticize it, while Trong was seen as being soft on China.

Still, the new leaders will be particularly positive for US-Vietnam relations, said Lewis, pointing out that Trongs visit to the United States in July 2015 was well received.

Over the next week, the congress will review and set national and party policies, and select a Central Committee. On one of the last days of the congress, the new Central Committee will meet to select a Politburo from among its ranks and pick one of them as party general secretary.

The countrys three other top leadersprime minister, president and National Assembly chairmanare nominated, but their actual selection is done by the National Assembly, which itself is elected about six months after the Congress.

All this is done behind closed doors. No media are allowed to cover the proceedings.
Burma A Scorching 2015 Ratchets Up Climate Concerns

The past year saw record-breaking temperatures across land and ocean surfaces, a trend that has meteorologists urging governments to prioritize environmental issues.

RANGOON  The year 2015 was the warmest since 1880, according to a joint statement released on Wednesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

The press release said that the average temperature across land and ocean surfaces was 1.62 degrees Fahrenheit (0.90 degrees Celsius) above the 20th century average and that this is the highest recorded temperature in the 136 years that the metric has been taken.

Burmese meteorologist Tun Lwin said that the effects of this weather pattern are likely to be more severe in the years ahead.

He warned that due to last years powerful El Nino season, severe heat and drought may also strike Burma, with the first six months of 2016 potentially being the most extreme of the 12- to 18-month cycle. He added that climate irregularities in Burma may have stemmed from an uptick in the use of coal in the country and from deforestation.

Tun Lwin, as well as other forecasters, are urging governments to implement environmental protection measures and to make disaster preparedness a priority.

It is a key data point that should make policy makers stand up and take noticenow is the time to act on climate, NASA official Charles Bolden said in the statement.
Burma Amnesty Calls for Immediate Release of Former Monk Gambira

Rights group Amnesty International called Wednesday for the release of Saffron Revolution leader U Gambira who has been charged with immigration offenses.

Rights group Amnesty International on Wednesday called for the immediate and unconditional release of former Buddhist monk U Gambira who was arrested in Mandalay on Tuesday evening on immigration charges.

Gambira appeared at Maha Aung Myay Township Court on Wednesday and was charged with entering the country illegally under Section 13(1) of the 1947 Burma Immigration (Emergency Provisions) Act, according to the rights group.

Amnesty labeled the charges against Gambira, who was a leading figure of the 2007 Saffron Revolution, contrived, arbitrary and politically motivated and called on authorities to ensure he is provided with the medicine he requires to manage a medical condition pending his release.

Gambira, also known as Nyi Nyi Lwin, is one of Burmas most prominent political prisoners. He was arrested for his role in the Saffron Revolution and forcibly disrobed while in detention.

While traveling back and forth between Thailand and Burma since his release in 2012, he has been re-arrested at least four times on various charges largely viewed as spurious.

Gambira had been monitored by Special Branch officers since his arrival in Burma on Friday, Amnesty said, citing a source close to the former monk.

He is now being detained in Mandalays Oh Bo prison with a next court hearing scheduled for Feb. 3.

On Wednesday, Gambiras Australia wife, Marie Siochana, expressed concern over his existing health condition.

He is mentally ill and needs to take medicine regularly, she said. He needs to look after his health, and I wonder why they still want to arrest him.
Burma Architects Decry New Shwe Bank Building in Rangoon Heritage Core

The architect of a building criticized as detracting from Rangoons surrounding colonial-era architecture says the structures design is far from what he had originally envisioned.

RANGOON  The architect of a newly completed building that critics say detracts from downtown Rangoons surrounding colonial-era architecture says the current design of the structure is far from what he had envisioned in the original blueprint.

Located at the corner of Merchant and Pansodan streets, the more than six-story Shwe Rural and Urban Development Bank building was redeveloped by Shwe Than Lwin company, a conglomerate founded by business tycoon Kyaw Win, who also owns SkyNet broadcasting service, among multiple other business interests.

The metallic brown facade of the new bank building has been deemed an eyesore by the Yangon Heritage Trust (YHT), which is seeking to have its exterior altered. The architectural conservation group argues that the design is a poor fit for the area, considered Rangoons heritage core and one of the last nearly unbroken streetscapes of colonial-era architecture in Asia.

Aung Myint, the architect hired for the building design, insisted that the current incarnation of the building was 50 percent contrary to the blueprint he handed over to developers.

The appearance of the building is quite different from what I had envisioned, he told The Irrawaddy last week.

He explained that he had revised his design nearly 10 times, including a scaling back from 20 stories to eight. The last time he worked on what he thought would be the final version was eight years ago, he said, with that blueprint including elements of traditional and classical design with the surrounding heritage architecture in mind.

I suggested that they use the design, given the proximity of the heritage buildings around it. But they didnt follow it, Aung Myint said.

The 66-year-old architect, who was trained as an urban planner, said the developer did not contact him during the construction period apart from in the early 2000s, when the project was just getting underway.

I wasnt aware that they used [metallic brown] claddings for the facade. They should have told me but they didnt. It seems that they made changes with their in-house engineers, he added.

The buildings jarring facade has also attracted the ire of other architects.

Sun Oo, the chairman of the Association of Myanmar Architects, told The Irrawaddy that he seriously condemned the design of the building.

It seems like a UFO in the middle of a village road, he said. It really causes visual pollution in a heritage core area. I request a fix.

Aung Myint said he supported YHTs call for changes to the exterior of the building.

I really want to fix it, if they agreed to do so, he said.

Shwe Than Lwin was not available for comment this week.
Burma Burma to Host World Buddhist Peace Summit Amid Interfaith Woes at Home

Conflict between Buddhists and Muslims in Burma could be up for discussion at the World Buddhist Peace Conference in Sagaing Township beginning this Friday.

RANGOON  Conflict and tensions between Buddhists and Muslims in Burma could be up for discussion at the World Buddhist Peace Conference in Sagaing Township, where the Sitagu International Buddhist Academy is hosting the three-day event beginning this Friday.

Ashin Kumara, who is organizing the conference, said domestic strains between the two faiths in recent years might be addressed at a gathering expected to draw hundreds of religious and spiritual leaders.

Mainly we will discuss how to maintain peace, how to build peace, and how to solve problems or how to handle a problem when there is one, he told The Irrawaddy on Thursday. We will even do case studies from other countries where there have been religious problems, and then learn from them how they brokered peace in their communities.

Relations between Burmas majority Buddhists and minority Muslims have deteriorated in recent years, with 2012 violence between members of the two faiths in Arakan State killing more than 100 people and displacing an estimated 140,000 additionally. Most of those affected by the communal conflict in western Burma were members of the persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority.

While nothing on that scale has occurred in the years since, sporadic violence at disparate locations across the country has served to highlight extant underlying tensions between the two religions.

At the conference we may discuss religious conflict in our country, but its not for certain because there will be many people who will talk at the conference. This conference will focus on discussions of the whole issue of problems globally, he said.

Asked whether he had a prescription for Burmas interreligious woes, Ashin Kumara responded: Whenever we have a problem, we use anger to solve it, and then we are not able to solve it. If the leadership from both sides could sit and negotiate, there would be no more problem.

He added that other religious leaders in Burma, including Muslims, have been invited to attend the conference.

About 700 religious scholars from different faiths and other observers are expected to attend the gathering, the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar reported on Thursday, with 200 experts from 52 countries invited, in addition to 500 local scholars.

U Wirathu, an influential firebrand monk accused of stoking anti-Muslim sentiment in recent years, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that he had not received an invite to the conference.

The Sitagu International Buddhist Academy was established in 1994 to teach and train missionary monks.
Burma Chin CSOs Call for More Coordinated Relief in Flood-Ravaged State

Civil society meets with the Chin State government to work out a more community-driven, coordinated response to last years disastrous flooding.

RANGOON  Civil society groups met with the Chin State government on Wednesday in the state capital Hakha to discuss ongoing relief and rehabilitation efforts in areas affected by severe flooding last year.

Fifteen representatives of Chin CSOs, who are members of a new coalition called the Chin Committee for Emergency Response and Rehabilitation (CCERR), joined representatives of the state government to hash out a more coordinated response to the residual impacts of the disaster.

The most recent data from the CCERR indicates that the flooding and corollary damages affected a total of 54,537 people in the state, which is considered the poorest administrative region in the country. A total of 5,116 homes were destroyed or damaged, leaving 19,921 people displaced, according to the groups December data.

This weeks meeting was intended to strengthen a coordinated response between civil society groups and township-level relief committees administered by the state government. Civil society actors have criticized the official response to the disaster as insensitive to the needs of affected communities and insufficient in preventative measures.

Union and State-led relief efforts have largely excluded the voices and concerns of local communities, thousands of whom face a harsh and vulnerable future as they struggle to rebuild livelihoods, land and homes that were lost during the disaster, said a spokesperson for the Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO), a founding member of the CCERR.

The concerns of those communities range from food shortages to shoddy road repair works, which some locals fear could result in future landslides.

This year the rainy season could be very difficult, said Salai Isaac Khen, director of CCERR member Gender Development Institute (GDI). There is no rice for this year, as there was no rice cultivation from the mountains. How will we solve this?

He cautioned that a new road being built from Kalay to Hakha is very wide and vulnerable to landslides, which could endanger villagers and delay deliveries of much-needed food assistance, as the remote states road network is limited.

After visiting a displacement camp in Hakha Township where some 1,000 villagers are temporarily being sheltered, CCERR representatives said that clean water supply was also a concern, and was likely to become more pressing as the summer nears.

The CCERR made a number of recommendations to the state government, including a comprehensive rice storage scheme and the installation of GSM communication networks in remote areas prone to disaster.

The group said that government-allocated funding for relief efforts was too low in the state. According to Salai Isaac Khen, Chin State was afforded only four percent of the Union cyclone response budget, despite being one of the hardest hit parts of the country. Federal relief spending should also be more transparent, he said.

Chin Chin, a CCERR member from Falam Township, said Wednesdays meeting concluded positively, with civil society and government stakeholders agreeing to cooperate with more transparency.

Regarding the particular situation in Falam, where she also ran an unsuccessful campaign for an Upper House parliamentary seat last year, Chin Chin said the townships more than 2,000 displaced villagers were eager to return home. The land on which many of the displaced are sheltering is cracked and dangerous, she said, leaving villagers concerned about landslides when the monsoon season sets in.

Rains related to Cyclone Komen struck much of central Burma in late July, causing some of the worst flooding to hit Burma in decades. The disaster claimed more than 100 lives and affected an estimated 1 million people.

Chin State was particularly hard-hit, as the heavy rains made the mountainous terrain highly vulnerable to landslides in the weeks after the storm. Damage to the states few roads and bridges led to acute food shortages in many villages, and the destruction of farmland left many without a source of livelihood.
Burma NLD Nominates Speakers, Including Minority MPs

The National League for Democracy reveals four nominees for speakers of the new Parliament, including three representatives of ethnic minorities.

RANGOON  The National League for Democracy (NLD) has revealed four nominees for speakers of the new Parliament that will convene on Feb 1, including three representatives of ethnic minorities.

NLD spokesperson Nyan Win told AFP on Wednesday that the party has nominated Win Myint and ethnic Karen Win Khaing Than, both NLD members, for the Lower and Upper House, respectively.

An ethnic Arakanese lawmaker from the Arakan National Party (ANP) and an ethnic Kachin member of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) have been nominated as deputy speakers, according to AFP.

NLD chairwoman Aung San Suu Kyi has vowed to appoint ethnic minorities and members of other political parties among its cabinet to promote national reconciliation.

We will include ethnic representatives who are not NLD members, and others who can benefit the country, Suu Kyi told Radio Free Asia shortly after her party was elected.
Burma State-Owned Mining Firm Threatens Lawsuit Over Unpaid Debt

A state-owned mining enterprise warns that it may sue 25 gold mining firms for overdue payments, after the private companies violated profit-sharing agreements.

RANGOON  A state-owned mining enterprise has warned that it may sue more than two dozen gold mining firms for overdue payments, after the private companies violated profit-sharing agreements.

In an announcement published in state-run newspaper The Mirror on Thursday, the No.2 Mining Enterprise, which operates under the Ministry of Mines, said the firms had one week to pay up or face a lawsuit.

According to our procedures, they [gold mining companies] must pay off their debt within one week. If they cant, we will file in court, an official from the state-owned firm was quoted as saying.

The announcement said that all governmental departments will be subject to an audit before a new administration takes office in early April.

Phone Myint, director of the No. 2 Mining Enterprise, said the venture is owed more than 90 pounds of gold from 25 small firms granted mining permits. Their contracts stipulated that a certain percentage of their product be handed over to the government.

More than 200 private operators initially faced repayment challenges, he said, but many were able to negotiate payment plans that allowed them to handle the debt.

The 25 firms with outstanding debt have worked in partnership with the enterprise since 2007-2008.
Burma Tipped Off by Netizens, Rangoon Police Arrest Six Alleged Miscreants

Rangoon police arrest six alleged criminals after photoslabeling the men drug barons and gamblerscirculate on Facebook purporting to catch them in the act.

RANGOON  Police have arrested six people in Rangoons Hlaing Tharyar Township, according to a Yangon Police Force statement on Thursday, after netizens shared photos of them on Facebook this week allegedly taking part in illegal activities, with the social media post labeling the men drug barons and gamblers.

The Facebook post features a number of photos showing the men allegedly selling drugs and opening gambling dens in Hlaing Tharyar Township, which is notorious as the jurisdiction in the commercial capital with the highest crime rate.

Acting on instructions from the Yangon Police Force chief, police on Wednesday arrested six menWin Naing, Leik, Aung Soe and Shwe Oo Zi, who live in Hlaing Tharyar Township, and Win Naing and Sein Htay residing in Shwepyithar Township.

The Yangon Police Force said it had arrested the men overs concerns that they posed a threat to public security and community peace, and tranquility and rule of law.

Following the arrests, however, law enforcement authorities came in for scrutiny, with some social media users pointing out that the men were called to the attention of police only through the work of netizens, and not through their own efforts to ensure law and order.

Do you guys arrest them only when reported on Facebook? one user commented on the Yangon Police Facebook page.

Police are interrogating the suspects at the concerned township police stations.

Among those arrested, Leik also goes by Khin Sein, Aung Soe is also known as Aung Soe Lay and Shwe Oo Zi identifies also as Ye Nyunt.
Burma Tourist Arrivals for 2015 Reached 4.68 Million, Ministry Says

Burma welcomed 4.68 million tourists in 2015, according to figures from the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, a 52 percent increase on the previous year.

RANGOON  Burma welcomed 4.68 million tourists in 2015, according to figures from the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, another sizeable annual uptick representing a 52 percent increase on the previous year.

Tourist arrivals have surged since a quasi-civilian government took power under President Thein Sein, with the number of arrivals climbing from 800,000 in 2011 to 3.08 million in 2014, according to official statistics.

The ministry had previously stated a goal of between 4.5 to 5 million tourists in 2015.

However, industry observers have routinely questioned the governments figures, which tally arrivals of all foreign passport holders at land and air entry points. The majority of travellers to Burma cross overland from Thailand through checkpoints in Tachileik, Shan State and Karen States Myawaddy, many on business.

According to an article in the state-run New Light of Myanmar on Monday, more than 800,000 tourists entered by air or ship in 2015.

For arrivals by air, Thai travellers accounted for over 200,000 tourist arrivals, followed by Chinese and Japanese nationals, according to Myo Win Nyunt, a director in the regulation department within the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism.

We think our tourism sector is successful, he told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday. We have nearly reached the expected figure of 5 million. More hotels are now opening and our government also encourages the tourism sector.

Thadoe Thuzar Aung, general secretary of the Union of Myanmar Travel Association (UMTA) and the managing director of Authentic Myanmar Travel & Tours, said she hoped the incoming government and industry stakeholders could cooperate for the benefit of the sector.

The tourism industry is a business that can feed all people in the country, she told The Irrawaddy.

But its changing every day and we need to act on it. We need active stakeholders who can actually advise government and make checks and balances work effectively.

According to the tourism ministry, there are currently just under 1,300 hotels around the country.

The ministry claimed that the sector generated US$1.78 billion in revenue in 2014. No data on revenue from the sector for last year has yet been released.

Under new immigration regulations, 12 types of single-entry visa and three types of multiple-entry visa have been made available, as of Jan. 11.
Innovative Advice for Execs Looking to Change Their Industry

In order to attract more women into the STEM professions, its essential to broaden the STEM conversation to focus more on entrepreneurship and innovation, and to lift the discussion beyond such negative dimensions as glass ceilings and pay disparity.

Thats the advice of Nicole McMackin, president of Irvine Technology, an IT staffing and technology services provider in Irvine, Calif. In an interview earlier this week, McMackin, an outspoken advocate for women in technology who sits on the CEO board of her alma mater, the University of California at Irvine, said she has spoken with several of the deans there about the need to broaden the STEM conversation:

If you look at where the STEM fall-off is, its happening right as girls are moving into high-school age. In my personal opinion, based on a lot of research and studying, and being an entrepreneur myself in the technology industry, STEM is a part of the conversation, but what is still lacking in that conversation is entrepreneurship and innovationsolving real problems. This is where the jobs are going to be, but no one is having that real conversation, even at the university level, which Ive pitched to UC Irvine over and over and over again.

You have these young adults in a learning environment, but when they graduate, the majority of universities dont track where they go. They need to do a better job of that for a variety of reasons, including endowments. Universities are one of the only entities that dont track how their product is doing. Weve had many conversations around this, and universities feel their job is to educate, not to ensure that their graduates are placed in a particular position.

To a certain degree, I agree with that. But I also think that we as individuals and business owners in the community, coupled with the university, do have the responsibility to make sure that not only are people educated coming out of the university system, but that they understand what types of jobs are available; and that theyre spoken to as young children growing up about being an entrepreneur, about making a difference, and about solving real-world problems.

STEM is not talking about that. STEM is talking about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, but what were lacking is, what are you going to do with that? What can you do thats exciting? Thats where we get the gender fall-off. The conversations that were having are not geared toward entrepreneurship around women and young girls.

I noted that theres been a lot written about the gender confidence gap, and I asked McMackin if she agrees that such a gap exists, and if so, what she would attribute it to. Her response:

I would agree with that. I get interviewed quite a bit, and the question that people often ask first is what I attribute my success to in breaking through the glass ceiling. I always respond, because I 100 percent believe this, that I never saw a glass ceiling, so I never gave myself an excuse not to rise to the top. The more women hear about their inability to move forward in the business world, or about gaps in pay, the more likely you are to give yourself an excuse. Thats where the lack of confidence comes from. You have to be willing to follow your dream, at any cost. You have to be a risk taker. If youre averse to risk, and putting yourself out on the line, its very difficult to move up in those roles.

Turning my exchange with McMackin to the challenges tech companies face in recruiting and retaining female employees, I mentioned that in a recent interview about women in IT I asked Monica Eaton-Cardone, founder and CIO of Global Risk Technologies and another outspoken advocate for women in IT, what letter grade shed give her own company in terms of gender diversity. I noted that Eaton-Cardone responded that her company is average, so shed give it a Cthe problem being simply that there are so few female applicants. I asked McMackin for her thoughts on that, particularly in her capacity as president of an IT staffing company. She said she certainly understood where Eaton-Cardone was coming from, because her own company has the same problem:

We do not see female applicants coming through in numbers equal to men. Its especially interesting in technology, because its not just American males that women are competing against. Many foreigners are coming into the United States with very specific IT skillsmany of them are coming from the Philippines and India, and its very male-dominated.

Really only in the last few years has STEM become something thats been talked about and pushed, and you dont see many women applying for jobs. What you see even less of is women in CEO, CIO, director roles. Some companies in southern California do a very good job of that, but for many of them, the applicants just arent available.

If you look at boards of directors throughout the United States, were gradually getting more women. But the challenge there is a lot of the same women are serving on a variety of boards. Its not that companies arent trying; its not that my company isnt doing everything possibleobviously, Im the president of the company, and Im a huge advocate for women. We just cant recruit them because theyre not available.

I referred to an article in the Orange County Register in April about high housing costs in Orange County, in which a female employee at Irvine Technology spoke about moving to Texas and being able to keep her job and work remotely. So I asked McMackin if theres any connection between the remote work option and recruiting and retaining female employees in particular. She said there absolutely is:

Women play dual roles in our society. My husband and I have equal professional positions and roles in our companies, but when the children are sick, I go to school to pick them up. When the children have to go to the dentist, I take them. As a mother, I want to fill that dual role. So allowing top producers to work remotely and have a flexible schedule enables your company to retain the best employees.

Employees become extremely loyal, and the employee satisfaction level remains extremely high in our company. So in my opinion, its a win-win. I know that Marissa Mayer up at Yahoo cut remote working for technologists, and think that hurt her and YahooI think they lost quite a bit of their work force because of it, and I think diversity probably suffered in that.  There are many people who work exceedingly well remotely, and Im not willing to lose an A+ employee because she needs to work a flexible work week, or she needs to work remotely. Im open to working around thatespecially when youre looking to create a culture of diversity.

Finally, I asked McMackin what her single most important piece of advice is for a young woman considering a career in IT. She said her advice is to think bigger than IT:

Dont think coding, developing, business architecture. Think project management. Think how youre going to deliver solutions. Five years ago, we never heard of Uber or Lyft. Look at technology, and see the larger picture. Be a dreamer, and have enough guts to realize your dream.

A contributing writer on IT management and career topics with IT Business Edge since 2009, Don Tennant began his technology journalism career in 1990 in Hong Kong, where he served as editor of the Hong Kong edition of Computerworld. After returning to the U.S. in 2000, he became Editor in Chief of the U.S. edition of Computerworld, and later assumed the editorial directorship of Computerworld and InfoWorld. Don was presented with the 2007 Timothy White Award for Editorial Integrity by American Business Media, and he is a recipient of the Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for editorial excellence in news coverage. Follow him on Twitter @dontennant.
The second leading internet service provider in the United States has relaunched its latest BOGO (Buy One Get One) smartphone promo. AT&T business customers may buy two smartphones at 50 percent discounted price. The internet carrier offers an array of popular smartphones including Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Active as well as iPhone.

According to its website news release, the promo can be availed only by its new or existing business clients. To grab this limited time deal, a business customer must first be aware of such reminders and follow some procedures.

Once the AT&T business customers have already chosen a preferred smartphone, they must purchase the gadgets under their popular installment plan, AT&T Next. The first device should either be a new line or an existing plan that has been upgraded. Thus, the second unit must be registered under a new line.

On the other hand, non-business clients may also enjoy other perks. AT&T will give free Gear S2 smartwatch or Galaxy Tab 4 with LTE for every purchase of Samsung Galaxy Smartphone with AT&T Next. Both options require a two-year AT&T Next plan.

However, despite these big discounts and special promos, some analysts take this marketing strategy as an effort to get rid of their Samsung device inventory. The company is expected to launch a service upgrade at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February.

In an article published in ComputerWorld, Patrick Moorhead, an analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, said, AT&T and Samsung are motivated to get rid of all the old inventory before new models arrive. He also doubted that companies would engage into such big campaign without having loads of stocks on their inventory. Yet, a representative from AT&T explained that the company decided to bring back these promos due to popular demand.

Last December, AT&T has also offered a similar deal for its customers but sources said that AT&T was not able to discharge enough units on its inventory.
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Library bond unanimously approved Voters waited in line for 45 minutes Tuesday to participate in an eight-minute meeting that resulted in the unanimous approval of a $600,000 bond to help renovate the North Road...

Ferryboat business told to halt operations The ferryboat company operating from the municipally owned docks at East Ferry is illegally using that space, according to correspondence mailed to business owner Bill Munger. Town Administrator Jamie Hainsworth...

A DOGGONE NEW BUSINESS A former business that used to clean peoples clothes is reopening as a groomer to tidy up the fur of those peoples four-legged companions. The defunct laundromat at the McQuades...
Eco-business / Social Venture

Keywords: Eco-business / Social Venture Policy / Systems



OPEN 2030 PROJECT website.

The production and consumption cycle, which has existed for many years, is closely connected with our lives. Nowadays, however, this cycle has lost its balance because of overproduction and overconsumption, which has generated various problems. In response, new movements have arisen to reconsider sustainable production and consumption in terms of society, businesses, and our everyday lives.

With a focus on the 2030 United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a new project called the Open 2030 Project was launched in Japan on September 28, 2015, to act for the future of society, companies, and ordinary people. This project aims to provide insight into future society and encourage corporate transformation and innovation.

The project is planned and operated by an executive committee consisting of 13 members with Norichika Kanie-- professor of the Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University--as its head, as well as by an executive office consisting of two companies and two organizations. Members of the executive committee include Japan for Sustainability (JFS) General Manager, Riichiro Oda, and key persons working on corporate social responsibility (CSR) for Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Insuarance Inc. and Ajinomoto Co., both of which are JFS corporate members.

As 2015--the deadline for the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)-- approached, the international community worked to accelerate efforts to achieve the goals while having discussions to establish post-2015 international development goals. Then, on September 25, 2015, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted at the UN summit, and 17 SDGs were formulated as post-2015 goals.

SDGs are goals related to wide-ranging global issues, such as poverty, hunger and food, water and sanitation, education, gender, consumption and production, climate change, and biodiversity. Focusing on Goal 12 of the SDGs, which is to "Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns," the Open 2030 Project will implement initiatives to make our future society better.

Primarily, the Open 2030 Project provides participating companies with two programs, Business Development Consultation and the Co-Established Business Laboratory. These programs will be pursued in collaboration with stakeholders having diverse values, and include research organizations, ministries and agencies, local governments, companies, nongovernmental/nonprofit organizations (NGOs/NPOs), and social entrepreneurs.

In the Business Development Consultation program, participating companies will first receive inputs by attending sessions with stakeholders specializing in each field of the SDGs and participating in learning journeys (tours to observe cutting-edge initiatives). After that, the companies will be consulted about formulating their own strategies and expanding sustainable business operations. In this way, this program will offer companies hints on how to incorporate SDGs into their business activities.

In the Co-Established Business Laboratory program, plans for business development that incorporate participating companies' business operations and social issues will be mapped out through open innovation. The program will also help companies achieve the proposed business models, while trying to match entrepreneurs, NGOs/NPOs, corporate innovation resources, and investment funds with one another.

The Open 2030 Project will start in earnest in 2016, and will aim to pursue corporate standards while supporting "21st century companies" that balance business activities and social values. The project is also designed to raise public awareness and disseminate information to society about corporate efforts.
James Knight was a well-paid software writer for Google. However, he decided to quit and do freelancing work instead. That meant no more catered lunches; no more gold-plated benefits; and no more million-dollar views.

The 27-year-old coder made the right choice, and as of present, he makes more twice what he was already earning in Google. Plus, he gets more freedom. "I'd rather control my own destiny and take on the risk and forgo the benefits of nap pods and food," Knight says.

Freelance coders can get up to $1000/hour gigs, given they have the right set of skills big companies are looking for. The trend now is that companies would go for freelance coders to get the job done. In return, coders can get the job done as fast as they can and work on another gig. Depending on your pace, you can handle as many projects as you can with no bosses to stop you.

"There's definitely a level of stress that comes with being independent that's absent at Google, but I like that. I have motivation issues if I don't think my paycheck is on the line," Knight says.

In March this year, Knight and his wife plan to travel to Spain and then to Europe. At the same time, he still gets to work and earn. He is doing code-writing gig for a dating app and a self-portrait app.

The need for coders started to flourish the around same time the iPhone was launched in 2007 and set off an explosion of mobile apps. The demand for guys like Knight continues to grow and is expected to reach 17 percent growth between 2014 and 2024.

If the rate continues to be at this stage, then it will not be a surprise if more coders who are stuck with companies as of present decide to hand in their resignation letters and follow the footsteps of Knight.

Who wouldn't want up to $1000/hour plus total control of your time?
Walt Disney Co. has announced the opening date for their new Shanghai Disney Resort.

Disney said that they will be opening the new attraction to the public on June 16. This will be the company's largest foreign investment amounting to $5.5 billion resort.

This resort, located on mainland China, features the company's tallest castle with two hotels and a pirates-themed land. It is situated in an area with 963 acres; the size equal to three Hong Kong Disneyland.

In an interview with Bloomberg Television last month, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger said the slowdown in the host's Chinese economy does not necessarily mean bad for the company and the project. "We're pretty bullish on China," he stated. "We basically believe that the Chinese customer is nevertheless spending. And the Chinese consumer represents, as far as we're concerned, a good marketplace for our organization."

China has been facing a "new normal" with their slow but steady economy.

The building of the Shanghai Disney resort began in 2011. Disney owns 43 % of the resort, while the rest is held by a consortium of Chinese state-owned firms. Its opening was orogianlly set to April 2014; however, further expansions, amounting to $800 million for more attractions, has pushed the opening to a later date.

"The structures that we build in a theme park are particularly complicated," he stated. "They're not just buildings but they're shows and they're rides. And there are not that several examples of the Chinese construction industry constructing points that are as a complex as what we're constructing."

Although the resort will be operating by the middle of the year, the company is not expecting that it would contribute to Disney's earnings for the year, according to Macquarie Capital analyst Tim Nollen. However, by 2018, it is forecasted that the resort could already generate up to $165 million in earnings just before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.
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TAMPA, Fla.  Theres a scary disconnect between the somber warnings you hear privately from military leaders about the war against the Islamic State and the glib debating points coming from Republican and Democratic politicians.

The politicians fulminate about defeating the terrorists, but they dont talk much about the costs or sacrifices that will be required. The generals and admirals, who have been at war for 15 years, know that success cant be bought cheaply. Defeating this enemy will require a much larger and longer commitment by the United States than any leading politician seems willing to acknowledge.

My visit here last week to the headquarters of Central Command, which oversees all U.S. military activities in the Middle East, came as part of a conference organized by the Center for Naval Analyses, which provides research to the Navy and other services. The ground rules prevent me from identifying speakers by name, but I can offer a summary of what I heard. Its not reassuring.

Military leaders know that they are fighting a ruthless adversary that has adjusted and adapted its tactics as the U.S. and its partners have joined the fight over the past 18 months. The jihadists have lost about 25 percent of the territory they held in mid-2014, but they have devised innovative methods to compensate for their weakness.

Some examples illustrate the agility of Islamic State commanders: They have used tunnels and other concealment tactics to hide their movements; they have developed super-sized car bombs, packing explosives in bulldozers and other heavy equipment and sending them in waves against targets; they have deployed small drones for reconnaissance and may be preparing armed drones; they have used chemical weapons, such as chlorine and mustard gas, on the battlefield and may expand use of such unconventional weapons.

U.S. commanders have learned how difficult it will be to create a Sunni force that can help clear and hold territory in Iraq and Syria thats now controlled by the Islamic State. Sunni tribal leaders mistrust the U.S. and doubt American staying power. American efforts to avoid casualties and resist boots on the ground reinforce the sense that the U.S. is pursuing a strategy of containment, not victory.

One painful learning experience has been the Pentagons $500 million train and equip program to build a Syrian opposition force that can help assault the Islamic State and hold territory afterwards. That effort was collapsed last year because many expected recruits didnt show up and the few who did were mauled on the battlefield. Among the lessons learned are the difficulty of finding and training mature fighters; the shifting and unsteady combat environment in Syria; and the difficulty of working with regional partners, such as Turkey, that have their own agendas.

The deeper lesson is that training a reliable military force that adheres to Western norms and standards is the work of a generation, not a few months. The U.S. desire for quick results is an exercise in frustration and disappointment. The sobering reality of this conflict that politicians  and the American public  seem least willing to face up to is that it will require a decades-long commitment.

Paradoxically, Americas determination to protect its troops can be self-defeating. Allies and adversaries see U.S. forces living in secure compounds, eating fancy chow and minimizing their exposure to potential terrorist assaults. The U.S. may say its fighting alongside its allies, but on the ground, it often looks different. Actually living and fighting alongside our partners in Iraq and Syria will be much more dangerous, but it may be the only way to build a solid alliance that can someday eradicate the extremists.

Contrast these stern admonitions from the commanders who have lived the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts with the upbeat talk from political leaders. President Obama pledged that priority number one is protecting the American people and going after terrorist networks and then said a few moments later that these networks do not threaten our national existence. That sends a mixed message  one that Hillary Clinton has echoed in her campaign.

Republican rants about the Islamic State are even worse, in that they promise total victory without suggesting the level of commitment and sacrifice involved. The GOP responses sound tough, from Donald Trumps bomb the hell out of them to Sen. Marco Rubios assurance in last weeks debate that the most powerful military in the world is going to destroy them.

The next president is going to inherit an expanding war against a global terrorist adversary. The debate about how best to fight this enemy hasnt even begun.
By of the

An apartment development proposed for Milwaukee's Bronzeville neighborhood that has been delayed could move forward under a revised plan.

Maures Development Group LLC wants to convert the former Garfield Avenue Elementary School, 2215 N. 4th St., into space for cultural and arts activities, along with roughly 35 apartments.

But Maures has faced challenges raising money to remodel the three-story historic building, Development Commissioner Rocky Marcoux said.

So, Maures plans to seek federal affordable housing tax credits to help finance a new apartment building that would be developed just north of the former school. The Milwaukee based firm is working on the project with St. Paul-based developer CommonBond Communities Inc.

That four-story building would have around 40 apartments under a preliminary plan, Marcoux said, and would adjoin the former school.

Marcoux spoke at Thursday's meeting of the Redevelopment Authority board.

It voted to grant Maures an exclusive right to negotiate buying city-owned vacant lots, at 2235 N. 4th St. and 2226-2234 N. 5th St., and a city-owned vacant restaurant building, 411 W. North Ave. Maures would use those properties in connection with the possible new apartment development.

City officials hope that Maures, operated by Melissa Goins, obtains affordable housing tax credits to help finance the new building while also eventually getting financing for remodeling the former school.

The housing credits require developers to set aside apartments at below-market rents for people earning no more than 60% of the Milwaukee area's median income. The tax credits are provided through an annual competition, with the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority typically announcing its decisions in April.

The school renovation also could seek affordable housing tax credits, as well as state and federal historic preservation tax credits. The school was built in 1887 and closed in 2006.

But Maures and city officials are struggling to find additional funding sources for that portion of the project, Marcoux said.

Maures initially planned to include a new home at the school for America's Black Holocaust Museum, which closed in 2008 because of financial trouble. But the museum currently isn't part of the project, Marcoux said.

The apartment development would be known as The Griot, a reference to traditional West African storytellers.

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Dish Network Corp. and a trade group representing some of the largest U.S. broadband companies asked regulators Thursday to put limits on Charter Communications Inc.'s proposed purchase of Time Warner Cable Inc., saying the merger would hurt competition.

The proposed $55.1 billion deal would "reduce the ability of new players" to flourish in the broadband market, said Kevin Rupy, vice president of law and policy at USTelecom, an association with members including AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc.

U.S. regulators should make requirements of Charter before clearing the merger in order to keep the company from making Internet video more expensive for consumers or limit what's available online, according to members of a new coalition critical of the merger who held a conference call Thursday.

The combination of Charter and Time Warner Cable would create the second-largest U.S. cable provider with 23.9 million customers in 41 states.

The enlarged Charter would have enough leverage to harm Dish's Sling TV offering of programming over the Internet, said Jeff Blum, senior vice president at the satellite television company that's branching into new services.

"There's a lot of ways the new Charter can damage the over-the-top market," Blum said.

Charter agreed in May to acquire Time Warner Cable and also to purchase Bright House Networks LLC for $10.4 billion. New York state regulators have approved the merger, and California regulators are considering it. In Washington, the Federal Communications Commission and Justice Department are reviewing the deal.

Critics of the merger formed what they call they the "Stop Mega Cable Coalition," which staged Thursday's call.

"Their arguments against the pending transactions are baseless," Tamara Smith, a Charter spokeswoman, said in a statement. Charter's practices are friendly to online video because, for example, it places no limits on data consumption, Smith said. She also cited support from Netflix Inc., the largest online video provider, which told regulators Charter had pledged fast connections.

Charter has told regulators it wouldn't block or degrade Web traffic or favor its own online content ahead of others' content, maintaining a commitment to the concept known as net neutrality. The company also wouldn't impose caps on customers' Internet usage or charge higher monthly rates if they consume more bandwidth.

Those commitments were made for three years, and that isn't long enough, said Gene Kimmelman, president of Washington-based Public Knowledge, a policy group that promotes an open Internet, and a former antitrust regulator with the U.S. Department of Justice.

Charter and Comcast Corp., the largest U.S. cable operator, would be "two dominant firms" and they could coordinate to harm online video competitors, Kimmelman said.

Dish asked the FCC in October to require that Charter sell broadband capacity to wholesalers that could offer separate retail Internet service to consumers, forbid Charter from pressuring online providers to withhold their programs from Charter's competitors, and offer standalone broadband service for no more than $29.95 per month. It said those stipulations should last for seven years, with a possibility of renewal.
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UnitedHealthcare apparently took steps to ensure that it did not sell too many health plans on the federal marketplace during the current open enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act.

The steps included requiring paper applications and not giving brokers price quotes online.

"They could not have made it any more difficult," said Chris McArdle, a broker with the Rauser Agency in Milwaukee. "They could not have made it any more clear that they did not want to be writing this business."

UnitedHealth Group Inc., the parent of UnitedHealthcare, made headlines in November when it said it may not sell health plans on the federal marketplaces in the future because of losses on the business.

The potential move applied only to health plans sold to individuals and their families.

UnitedHealthcare, which began selling health plans for 2015 on the marketplaces in Wisconsin, had committed to selling plans for 2016 and could not pull out of the market.

However, the health insurer reduced the commissions it paid brokers for plans sold on the federal marketplace to 2% from 6% and later said it would no longer pay commissions on the plans.

It also required brokers to call the company to obtain price quotes that previously had been available online.

"They would get back to me in the next couple of weeks  maybe," McArdle said.

Brokers also had to fax paper applications to the company, resulting in some problems from lost applications.

"It's fairly apparent they don't want to write any business," said Todd Catlin of Transition Health Benefits.

In a statement, UnitedHealthcare said, "Our actions are consistent with our long-stated approach to continually evaluate the dynamics of exchanges as they evolve and adjust to changes in the market accordingly."

Consumers in the Milwaukee area could buy health plans from an array of companies on the federal marketplace set up through the Affordable Care Act and had other options for health insurance.

People also have the option of buying plans sold off the marketplace.

But the brokers said that UnitedHealthcare's plans appealed to some customers.

"It added complications that nobody needed during a compressed enrollment period," McArdle said.

The regulations imposed by the Affordable Care Act remade the market for health insurance sold directly to individuals and their families, and the market remains in flux.

For example, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Wisconsin did not offer plans in Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha counties this year. Common Ground Healthcare Cooperative stopped selling a popular plan. And Network Health, in which Froedtert Health has a 50% stake, began selling plans in the Milwaukee area.

As a result, customers often must move to new plans each year.

All this had to be done between Nov. 1 and Dec. 15 for people to have coverage on Jan. 1.

"The time frame is too limited," Catlin said.

McArdle also said the open-enrollment period is too tight, particularly given that the rates are not public and set until Nov. 1.

The brokers also reported problems with some UnitedHealthcare customers' getting their insurance cards.

"We have people who bought plans in December who still have not received ID cards," McArdle said. "It's very frustrating."

For a company that normally does so many things right, he said, the effort to limit the sale of individual policies has been poorly handled.

"It left a lot of individuals in a lurch," McArdle said.
Mary Louise Schumacher Art City An online journal about visual art, the urban landscape and design. Mary Louise Schumacher, the Journal Sentinel's art and architecture critic, leads the discussion and a community of writers contribute to the dialogue. SHARE

By

Three years ago, Susan Longhenry was standing on the Riverwalknear the Water Buffalo restaurant in the Third Wardwhen it struck her. It was time to move home to Milwaukee. It may have been the grief from her father's recent death, she says, but felt like an epiphany. Milwaukee had become an interesting art town.

Over the next few years, she watched for opportunities to bring her museum expertise and family back to Milwaukee, a city she left when she was 10 when her father was transferred out of state.

Then Longhenry found her match. She became the first woman director and chief curator at the Haggerty Museum of Art at Marquette University, starting last fall. Appropriately, a group of exhibitions about women in art opens at the museum Friday.

Before that, Longhenry had served as director of the Harwood Museum of Art in Taos, New Mexico for six years, with her focus on building community relationships and engagement. She had led education departments in museums for the last two decades, too, including at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

This year, she is launching an artist residency in the Merrill Park neighborhood of Milwaukee. Artist Kirsten Leenaars will set up a rented storefront near Marquette. The resulting project, "Under Construction," will be a film scripted through collaborative research.

Racine Art Museum marketing manager, artist, photographer and Art City contributor Jessica Z Schafer invited Longhenry to answer a few questions for this edition of "Art City Asks."

Jessica Schafer: What was your first real art experience?

Susan Longhenry:Although I spent my childhood in Milwaukee and Indianapolis  which both have excellent art museums  I did not darken the door of an art museum until I was a freshman at Indiana University. I was reading Madame Blavatsky at the time, and learned that the artist Piet Mondrian shared her interest in Theosophy. The Indiana University Art Museum had a Mondrian on view, so I went there to check it out. The experience blew me away, and now that I work in an academic museum I get to facilitate that same experience for university students.

JS: What images keep you company in your workspace?

SL: Three original prints  Kiki Smith's "My Blue Lake," Judy Pfaff's "The Planet on the Table" and a print by Taos Society of Artists Member Oscar E. Berninghaus. The Kiki Smith and Judy Pfaff prints were gifts to the Haggerty's collection from Mary and Michael J. Tatalovich, extraordinary Milwaukee collectors. The Berninghaus print was a farewell gift from the Governing Board of The Harwood Museum of Art, which I directed before coming to the Haggerty Museum of Art.

JS: What do you wish you knew?

SL:I wish I knew everything there is to know about every work of art in the Haggerty's collection.

Right now, it's also about learning a community. It takes time. It takes time to develop relationships and meet people. It's hard to start over. And, I'm just in the process of just getting to know Milwaukee through my new professional lens. There's a lot of intake, intake, intake. After a while, you start to see the connections. Of course, there's something to be said for having fresh eyes.

JS: What are you reading?

SL: I rarely read one book at a time. Right now I'm re-reading Lois Silverman's "The Social Work of Museums," which is so relevant to Marquette University's Jesuit mission. The National Book Award finalists were recently announced, and I took that list as marching orders. So I've just started reading Angela Flournoy's "The Turner House." I also picked up Katherine Applegate's "Crenshaw" for my ten-year old son Declan, hoping that he'd find the giant imaginary cat compelling. He does.

JS: What do you like the look of?

SL: A group of people sitting on the floor of a museum gallery  looking at, absorbed by, talking about, and maybe even drawing from a work of art in an exhibition. I also like the look of a huge full moon hovering over the horizon in a cloudless sky.

JS: What is art for?

SL: To wake you up intellectually, emotionally and spiritually. To connect your eye to your brain, and to use that power to explore your world. To codify, communicate, critique, and share the human experience. To make you think and feel at the same time.

JS: What should change?

SL:When I lived in Boston, a professor from Harvard's Graduate School of Education said to me, "You know, most schools are not good places for learning." I envision a day when all schools are effective learning environments  student-centered, aligned with the physical, emotional, social and intellectual developmental needs of children, and committed to the whole child. These schools would also value and respect teachers, and pay them what they're worth.

Another thing that should change is the IRS regulation limiting deductions for artists donating their own work to a museum to the cost of materials used to create the piece  rather than fair market value. It's a blatant insult to the artist, and it's almost certainly keeping great work out of museums.

JS: Tell me about a failed project you once did and what you learned from it?

SL:One thing that comes to mind was when we did some dramatic readings in the galleries at the Harwood when with an exhibition of work by Egon Schiele. I found some primary writings and hired an actor to do some interpretations of them in the galleries, acting them out. And, it was wonderful and I was so excited. And then, I was reading the comment book and somebody was complaining about it, one of the visitors said it was bothering them. And, I realized, different kinds of visitors need different things, just because I'm into something doesn't mean that someone else is going to be. I was totally crushed. But, I could see if you were somebody that wanted it quiet, then the readings would be annoying. More importantly, it helped me realize that people have different needs in museums and they all need to be respected. I shouldn't just get excited about what I like to do. It was a good lesson.

JS: Who's your guilty pleasure artistwhy do you feel you shouldn't like them and why do you anyway?

SL:While a graduate student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago I fell in love with a painting by Hans Hofmann in the collection entitled "Golden Wall." To this day, I hunt his paintings down wherever I can and feel like I'm greedily consuming them when I find them. Abstract Expressionism is considered passe at this point, but I don't care  Hofmann's "push-pull" variety of it gets me every time.

"Art City Asks" is a Q&A with intriguing people who are part of or connected to Milwaukee's art scene in some way. They are conducted via e-mail, in-person interview, video chat or whatever other format we may dream up. Some of the questions we use are inspired by the Frieze Questionnaire. If you would like to recommend someone for us to interview in an upcoming "Art City Asks," please email Mary Louise at mschumacher@journalsentinel.com leave a comment below.
A portrait by Lois Bielefeld is part of the A Person Is a Noun show, which spans two galleries, the Portrait Society Gallery and the Dean Jensen Gallery. This work will be on view at the Portrait Society. Credit: Courtesy the Portrait Society Gallery

Mary Louise Schumacher Art City An online journal about visual art, the urban landscape and design. Mary Louise Schumacher, the Journal Sentinel's art and architecture critic, leads the discussion and a community of writers contribute to the dialogue. SHARE A new panoramic landscape photograph by Tom Bamberger, one of the highest-resolution photographs to ever be exhibited in Milwaukee, is on view at the Green Gallery. The work is created from hundreds of composite photographs. Courtesy the Green Gallery A work containing anti-craft objects by Richard Knight, who is having his first solo show in the area in five years, will be on display in the lower gallery of the Dean Jensen Gallery. Ryan Woolgar Larry Sultans My Mother Posing For Me, from the series Pictures From Home, is on display at the Milwaukee Art Museum. Courtesy the Estate of Larry Sultan

What happens to art seekers in the upper hemisphere when the top of the planet tilts away from the sun and weather is described not only in actual temperatures but in "feels like" temperatures?

Well, many inexplicable things too numerous to mention here, save one. On one weekend in January, we venture out to Gallery Night & Day, the quarterly art crawl that takes place Friday evening and Saturday.

The winter version of the citywide event tends to reveal a core of true believers as fewer of the casual, wine-and-cheese-seeking set brave the frosty snap. If you are among the dedicated art aspirants, here are a few exhibits I believe will be worth the pilgrimage.

'Reading Women'

Haggerty Museum of Art, Marquette University

13th and Clybourn streets

There is something so intimate about a book. In general, they are created and consumed in solitude, fashioning a one-to-one relationship between writer and reader when the pages are laid open. For her series "Reading Women," artist Carrie Schneider invites us inside this otherwise cloistered space.

Schneider photographed and filmed 100 women reading the works of other women. The resulting portraits, a four-hour video installation and an artist book featuring the pages of books as they're being read, celebrate and raise questions about the intellectual independence and power of women.

An accompanying show of works from the 16th through the 20th century, "Page Turners," provides context for Schneider's work. It traces the shifts in depictions of women and knowledge through the centuries in art.

"'Page Turners' demonstrates the persistence of the woman reader as a contemplative, private subject for art even as the figure of the lettered woman became the subject of remarkable public debate and controversy," notes the Haggerty in the description of the show.

Friday until 9 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

'The Mysteries of Flight Revealed'

Tory Folliard Gallery

233 N. Milwaukee St.

Giant rooms, open doors, banquet tables filled with elaborate desserts, napping girls, Francis Bacon-like cubes, hovering humans and birds of varying scales  these are some of the elements that occupy the curious and curiously inviting spaces within Elizabeth Shreve's wonderful paintings.

"The Mysteries of Flight Revealed" is Shreve's second solo show at the gallery inspired, in part, by the Wright brothers and the human desire for flight. The cheerful, confectionery colors belie a psychological undertow, a response to Shreve's surroundings in rural Wisconsin and her background in psychology.

Also on view is "Wallflowers," a group exhibition focused on the flower in contemporary art by area artists.

Friday until 9 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

'A Person Is a Noun'

Portrait Society Gallery

270 E. Buffalo St., fifth floor

Dean Jensen Gallery

759 N. Water St.

For the first time, two of Milwaukee's more esteemed galleries are collaborating on a show spanning both venues and exploring the photographic portrait.

At the Portrait Society are vintage, hand-printed images by Tom Bamberger, a well-known artist and former photography curator at the Milwaukee Art Museum. Bamberger, who has not shown work locally in some time, used an unusual process to create surfaces and details that would "appear to be solid, like marble." They are hyper-photographic, he says. The works each contain a portrait, a still life and a landscape.

Works from Lois Bielefeld's new series "Neighborhood" will also be on view at the Portrait Society. Bielefeld is creating portraits of people within their neighborhoods in end-of-day light, after walking explorations of neighborhood passageways near the subjects' homes.

At the Dean Jensen Gallery, a group of photographers from across the United States, as well as Australia, represents a collection of approaches to the contemporary portrait photograph.

Separately, Richard Knight, the former gallery director at the Tory Folliard Gallery, will have a solo show in the lower gallery at the Dean Jensen Gallery, his first local show in five years. The show features new paintings and what Knight calls "anti-craft" objects.

Both galleries: Friday until 9 p.m., Saturday 11 to 5 p.m.

'Civil Twilight: Tom Bamberger'

Green Gallery

1500 N. Farwell Ave.

In addition to a series of 13 prints on view at the Portrait Society (see above), a new panoramic landscape photograph, one of the highest-resolution photographs to ever be exhibited in Milwaukee, is on view at the Green Gallery. Using a system that includes a robotic camera mount and special software, Bamberger created the single work from hundreds of composite photographs. The massive landscape artwork, shot over the better part of an hour, captures a transition of light and occupies a long gallery wall.

Friday only until 6 p.m., Saturday 2 to 6 p.m.

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said five portraits would be on view at the Portrait Society Gallery.

'Larry Sultan: Here and Home'

Milwaukee Art Museum

700 N. Art Museum Drive

This is the last weekend to see the notable retrospective of this California photographer's work. Larry Sultan grew up in the San Fernando Valley in the postwar years, not far from that epicenter of cinematic imagination, Los Angeles. It is those cultural, psychological and physical landscapes of his suburban upbringing that informed his worldview. As I noted in my review: "In the end, Sultan had a singular point of view but no real answers, and this is the great beauty of his work. He left us with questions about American life."

Friday until 8 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

'An Awareness of Light'

Museum of Wisconsin Art on the Lake

1800 N. Prospect Ave.

J.P. Atterberry's photographs defy the label of "black and white," the organizers of this show of landscape photographs say. The platinum palladium process creates a range from the "deepest, richest blacks to the lightest, smokiest grays."

Friday until 9 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

'Repetition  Reticulation'

Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design

273 E. Erie St.

Six contemporary artists from around the world whose work is distinguished by patterning and repetition will be on view as part of this show, curated by Jason S. Yi, Cassandra Smith and Mark Lawson.

Friday until 9 p.m., Saturday noon to 5 p.m.

'My Candle Burns at Both Ends'

Hot Pop

201 N. Water St.

And, finally, let us return to my opening question: How do artists apprehend and make use of winter in a place like this? Several artists answer with work about wintertime for this show, what the show's organizers describe as "holding light in darkness" or "persevering," among other things.

The artists include Ella Dwyer, Cortney Heimerl, Lesley Numbers, Janelle Gramling, Kristina Rolander and Jenny Jo Kristan.

Fragile and ravishing, the sounds of local band Hello Death are, unto themselves, worth the trip. Marigold House Tarot also will be on hand for readings to start a fresh year.

Friday reception until 10 p.m. Exhibit and shop open Saturday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Ice Cube (from left), Olivia Munn and Kevin Hart star in Ride Along 2. Credit: Quantrell D. Colbert

By of the

Here's a guide to what's on the big screen in the Milwaukee area. It doesn't include listings for movies opening next Friday but holding Thursday night screenings, including "Fifty Shades of Black" and "The Finest Hours."

As always, all theater information is subject to change. Check with individual theaters for updates.



Airlift

Not rated (some violence). 124 minutes. Playing:Mayfair Mall.

After Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait strands tens of thousands of Indian nationals in the country without cash or passports, a longtime Indian expat and businessman leads an effort to get his countrymen to safety. Drama, based on a true story, with Akshay Kumar. In Hindi and English, with English subtitles.

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip

PG (some mild rude humor and language). 86 minutes. Playing: Majestic, Mayfair Mall, Menomonee Falls, Ridge.

In the fourth live-action/computer-animated movie inspired by the novelty-song-turned-cartoon characters, Alvin, Simon and Theodore are convinced that Dave (Jason Lee) is going off to marry his girlfriend (Kimberly Williams-Paisley)  and dump them. So they hit the road, with the girlfriend's pain-in-the-butt son (Josh Green), in hopes they can block the wedding. With Jason Lee, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Josh Green, Bella Thorne, Tony Hale; voices by Justin Long, Jesse McCartney, Matthew Gray Gubler, Kaley Cuoco, Anna Faris, Christina Applegate.

Anomalisa

R (sex, nudity, language). 90 minutes. Playing: Oriental.

Feeling thwarted by the mundane nature of his life, an author meets and falls in love with an unassuming woman whose forthrightness gives him hope. Charlie Kaufman  he of "Being John Malkovich" and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," among other mind-bending gems  sets out to tell an extraordinarily ordinary human tale using stop-motion animation. With voices by Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tom Noonan, David Thewlis. Oscar nominee for best animated feature.

Art & Architecture in Cinema: Florence and the Uffizi Gallery

Not rated. 100 minutes. Playing: Ridge (Wed. only).

Big-screen tour through Florence's Uffizi Gallery, home to masterpieces by Michelangelo, Brunelleschi, da Vinci and Botticelli, among others.

Best of RiffTrax: The Room

Not rated (language, nudity, sexual situations, some violence). 110 minutes. Playing:Majestic (Thu. only), Menomonee Falls (Thu. only), North Shore (Thu. only), Ridge (Thu. only), South Shore (Thu. only).

The heckling-mocking movie series shows an encore of its assault on "The Room," Tommy Wiseau's so-bad-it's-mesmerizing 2003 movie that does for relationship dramas what "Rocky Horror Picture Show" did for musicals.

The Big Short

R (pervasive language, some sexuality/nudity). 130 minutes. Playing: Fox-Bay, Hillside, Majestic, Mayfair Mall, Menomonee Falls, North Shore, Ridge, Saukville, South Shore.

An eccentric money manager teams up with a young Wall Street banker, an activist-minded hedge fund operator and a former banker to bet against the 2005 housing boom  and the global economy. Michael Lewis' bestselling nonfiction book about the economic collapse and the handful of money men who spotted the trouble before anyone else is the basis for this comedy directed by Adam McKay, with Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, Steve Carell and Brad Pitt. Five Oscar nominations, including best picture, director (McKay) and supporting actor (Bale).

Bolshoi Ballet: The Taming of the Shrew

Not rated. 125 minutes. Playing: Majestic (Sun. only), South Shore (Sun. only).

Ballet production of Shakespeare's comedy, choreographed by Jean-Christophe Maillot.

The Boy

PG-13 (violence and mature themes). 98 minutes. Playing: Hillside, Majestic, Mayfair Mall, Menomonee Falls, North Shore, Ridge, Saukville, Showtime, South Shore, Southgate.

A young American woman takes a job as a nanny in an English village, and finds out her charge is actually a life-size doll that's the spitting image the 8-year-old son thought lost in a fire 20 years earlier. Thriller with Lauren Cohan ("The Walking Dead").

Bridge of Spies

PG-13 (some violence, brief language). 141 minutes. Playing: Hillside, Mayfair Mall, Oak Creek Budget, Saukville.

In the early 1960s, an insurance lawyer, who previously had been recruited to defend a Soviet spy, is called on to negotiate a swap of said spy for a U.S. pilot of a spy plane shot down over Russia and "with a head full of classified information." Tom Hanks plays the insurance lawyer enlisted to help thwart World War III in Steven Spielberg's based-on-a-true-story thriller, co-written by the Coen brothers. With Mark Rylance, who went to the University School of Milwaukee, as Soviet spy Rudolf Abel. Six Oscar nominations, including best picture, supporting actor (Rylance).

Brooklyn

PG-13 (brief sexuality, brief language). 112 minutes. Playing: Downer, Hillside, Mayfair Mall, North Shore, Ridge.

Saoirse Ronan as a young Irish woman in the 1950s who comes to America and falls in love, only to be called back to Ireland and question where her true home lies. Written by Nick Hornby, based on Colm Toibin's novel. Three Oscar nominations, including best picture, actress (Ronan).

Burnt

R (pervasive language). 100 minutes. Playing: Oak Creek Budget.

Bradley Cooper as a burned-out rock-star chef in Paris who has to get his act together if he's going to earn that third Michelin star. With Sienna Miller, Daniel Bruhl, Omar Sy.

Carol

R (brief sexuality and nudity, brief language). 118 minutes. Playing: Downer.

Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara play women from very different backgrounds who unexpectedly fall in love in 1950s New York in this Oscar-buzzy melodrama directed by Todd Haynes ("Far From Heaven," HBO's "Mildred Pierce"). Based on the 1952 romance novel "The Price of Salt" by Patricia Highsmith. With Sarah Paulson, Kyle Chandler. Six Oscar nominations, including best actress (Blanchett), supporting actress (Mara).

Daddy's Home

PG-13 (language, crude and suggestive content). 96 minutes. Playing: Hillside, Majestic, Mayfair Mall, Menomonee Falls, North Shore, Ridge, Saukville, Showtime, South Shore.

Stepdad Will Ferrell and birth dad Mark Wahlberg try to outdo each other in winning their kids' affection in this slapsticky comedy. With Linda Cardellini, Thomas Haden Church.

The Danish Girl

R (nudity, some sexuality). 120 minutes. Playing: Mayfair Mall, Saukville, Showtime, South Shore.

Eddie Redmayne ("The Theory of Everything") plays an artist in 1920s Denmark who becomes a transgender pioneer, with help from a supportive wife played by Alicia Vikander ("Ex Machina"). Directed by Tom Hooper ("The King's Speech"). Four Oscar nominations, including best actor (Redmayne), supporting actress (Vikander).

Dirty Grandpa

R (pervasive crude sexual content, nudity, language, drug use). 102 minutes. Playing: Hillside, IPic/Bayshore, Majestic, Mayfair Mall, Menomonee Falls, North Shore, Ridge, Saukville, Showtime, South Shore, Southgate.

A lewd, crude oldster tricks his straight-laced grandson into taking a raunchy road trip to Daytona in the hopes of liberating them both. Crude comedy with Zac Efron, Robert De Niro, Aubrey Plaza, Julianne Hough, Dermot Mulroney.

The 5th Wave

PG-13 (violence, language, teen partying). 114 minutes. Playing: Hillside, IPic/Bayshore, Majestic, Mayfair Mall, Menomonee Falls, North Shore, Ridge, Saukville, Showtime, South Shore, Southgate.

When aliens  some of them in human form  begin a plan to take over Earth, a high schooler out to rescue her brother becomes part of an armed force training to take them on. Action drama, based on a bestselling young-adult novel, with Chloe Grace Moretz, Ron Livingston, Liev Schreiber, Maggie Siff, Maika Monroe.

The Forest

PG-13 (disturbing themes and images). 93 minutes. Playing: Majestic, Mayfair Mall, Menomonee Falls, Ridge, Saukville, South Shore, Southgate.

After her twin sister disappears in Aokigahara  the forest at the foot of Japan's Mount Fuji, known by some as the Suicide Forest because it's reportedly the most popular place in the country to commit suicide  an American woman (Natalie Dormer) goes looking for her. What she finds in the forest, however, is a creepy place that has more than a few secrets to reveal.

The Good Dinosaur

PG (thematic elements). 92 minutes. Playing: Ridge.

In an alternative world where that asteroid missed Earth, a young dinosaur befriends a lost little boy. Animated Disney movie with voices by Raymond Ochoa, Jack Bright, Jeffrey Wright, Frances McDormand.

Goosebumps

PG (scary creature images, some rude humor). 103 minutes. Playing: Oak Creek Budget.

A teenager's family moves to a small town, but when he tries to connect with the beautiful girl next door, he meets her father  who turns out to be "Goosebumps" author R.L. Stine, keeping the monsters he's created locked up in his books. That is, until the boy accidentally lets them loose. Mild horror-comedy with Jack Black as Stine.

Hairspray

PG (language, some suggestive content, brief smoking). 115 minutes. Playing: Majestic (Sun., Mon., Wed. only), Ridge (Sun., Mon., Wed. only), South Shore (Mon., Wed. only).

A plucky, plus-size girl growing up in Baltimore dreams of becoming a star on a local TV dance show, and winds up leading a revolution of sorts. 2007 movie based on the hit Broadway musical based on John Waters' comic classic. With John Travolta, Nikki Blonsky, Christopher Walken, Michelle Pfeiffer, Queen Latifah, Zac Efron.

The Hateful Eight

R (violence, language, a scene of violent sexual content, some nudity). 168 minutes. Playing: Majestic, Mayfair Mall, Menomonee Falls, Ridge, South Shore.

In Quentin Tarantino's latest revenge-ish Western, a bounty hunter known as "The Hangman" (Kurt Russell) is ferrying a prisoner (Jennifer Jason Leigh) when the pair find themselves holed up in a mountain shack with six other unsavory types, played by Samuel L. Jackson, Walton Goggins, Tim Roth, Demian Bichir, Michael Madsen and Bruce Dern. Filmed in 70-millimeter. Three Oscar nominations, including best supporting actress (Leigh).

Hotel Transylvania 2

PG (some scary images, rude humor). 89 minutes. Playing: Oak Creek Budget.

Sequel to the 2012 animated hit, with Drac a proud but confused grandfather of a half-human baby who's hoping his young grandson will be able to follow in his wing-steps. With voices by Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Kevin James, Steve Buscemi, David Spade, Keegan-Michael Key, many others.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay  Part 2

PG-13 (violence, some thematic material). 136 minutes. Playing: Ridge.

It all comes down to this: Katniss Everdeen and friends take the rebellion to the Capitol in the final chapter in the blockbuster action series, based on the second half of the third book in Suzanne Collins' trilogy. Jennifer Lawrence is back as Katniss, with Donald Sutherland as her nemesis, President Snow; and Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Willow Shields, Sam Claflin, Mahershala Ali, Jeffrey Wright.

In the Heart of the Sea

PG-13 (brief violence, thematic material). 122 minutes. Playing: Oak Creek Budget.

In 1820, the whaling ship Essex battles a mammoth whale with what seems to be a desire for revenge, forcing the crew had to battle the elements, their inner demons and each other to survive. Based on the true-life tale of the whaling ship whose experience inspired Herman Melville's "Moby-Dick." Directed by Ron Howard, with Chris Hemsworth, Benjamin Walker, Ben Whishaw, Cillian Murphy.

Joy

PG-13 (brief language). 123 minutes. Playing: Majestic, Menomonee Falls, North Shore, Ridge.

Jennifer Lawrence plays a woman whose life has been thwarted by others again and again sets out to do something for herself and her family  and, despite them, pulls it off. Drama based on the story of Joy Mangano, the real-life Long Island mother of three who invented the self-wringing Miracle Mop, directed by David O. Russell, with Robert De Niro and Virginia Madsen as Joy's dysfunctional parents, Edgar Ramirez as her underachieving ex-husband and Bradley Cooper as an ambitious TV shopping channel executive. Oscar nominee for best actress (Lawrence).

The Martian

PG-13 (some language, brief nudity). 142 minutes. Playing: Oak Creek Budget.

A crew is forced to abort its mission to Mars, leaving behind an astronaut believed dead in a massive storm. Only, he's not dead, and as he fights for survival  and to let the world know he's alive  his crewmates and NASA have to grapple with the realities of rescue. Space drama directed by Ridley Scott ("Alien," "Prometheus"), with Matt Damon as the spaceman left behind; Jessica Chastain, Jeff Daniels, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Kate Mara, Michael Pena and Kristen Wiig co-star. Seven Oscar nominations, including best picture, actor (Damon).

Monkey Up

PG (some rude humor). 83 minutes. Playing: Mayfair Mall.

A talking Capuchin monkey is tired of being a star of TV commercials, and escapes to be an award-winning actor.

Norm of the North

PG (mild rude humor). 90 minutes. Playing: Hillside, Majestic, Mayfair Mall, Menomonee Falls, North Shore, Ridge, Saukville, Showtime, South Shore, Southgate.

Worried that tourists, hotels and condos will destroy his world, an affable but clumsy polar bear goes to New York City to talk the developer out of his scheme. Animated family comedy with voices by Rob Schneider, Ken Jeong, Maya Kay, Bill Nighy, Heather Graham.

The Pastor Event

Not rated. 130 minutes. Playing: South Shore (Mon. only).

An ex-con turned pastor rebuilds a church in the heart of a gang's turf, and decides to take a stand. Faith-based drama; screening includes a panel discussion and a musical performance.

The Peanuts Movie

G. 89 minutes. Playing: Oak Creek Budget.

Charlie Brown, Snoopy and friends are back, fighting familiar fights, including Charlie's sports-related futilities and Snoopy's duel with the Red Baron. Computer-animated family movie from a script co-written by the son and grandson of the original's creator, Charles Schulz.

The Revenant

R (violence, some gore, a sexual assault, language, brief nudity). 156 minutes. Playing: Avalon, Fox-Bay, Hillside, IPic/Bayshore, Majestic, Mayfair Mall, Menomonee Falls, North Shore, Ridge, Saukville, Showtime, South Shore, Southgate, Times.

An explorer and hunter in the American wilderness of the 19th century, left for dead by his companions after being attacked by a bear, sets out for revenge. Atmosphere-rich historical drama  based on a novel inspired by a real-life story  by Oscar-winning director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu ("Birdman"), with Leonardo DiCaprio as the vengeance-fueled woodsman and Tom Hardy as his former pal turned target. Twelve Oscar nominations, including best picture, director (Inarritu), actor (DiCaprio), supporting actor (Hardy). (Showing in IMAX format at Mayfair Mall.)

Ride Along 2

PG-13 (violence, sexual content, language, some drug material). 101 minutes. Playing: Hillside, IPic/Bayshore, Majestic, Mayfair Mall, Menomonee Falls, North Shore, Ridge, Saukville, Showtime, South Shore, Southgate.

Kevin Hart and Ice Cube are back  brothers-in-law-to-be, now  and back on the case when they're sent to Miami to track down a drug kingpin. Sequel to the 2014 action comedy, directed by Tim Story, co-stars Olivia Munn, Ken Jeong, Benjamin Bratt, Tika Sumpter, Sherri Shepherd.

Room

R (language). 118 minutes. Playing: Majestic, Mayfair Mall, North Shore, Oriental, Ridge, South Shore.

A woman and her young son make a universe for themselves in a tiny space, but liberation offers challenges of its own. Based on the bestselling novel of the same name (author Emma Donoghue adapted her book for the screen), with Brie Larson as the big-hearted, protective mother and Jacob Tremblay as her son. (Four Oscar nominations, including best picture, director (Lenny Abrahamson), actress (Larson).

Secret in Their Eyes

PG-13 (thematic material, violent content, language). 111 minutes. Playing: Oak Creek Budget.

Thirteen years after a police investigator's daughter is murdered, the cop's partner finds a lead that could lead them to the killer  if the still-grieving mother doesn't take the law into her own hands. Thriller with Julia Roberts, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Nicole Kidman, based on an 2009 Oscar-winning Argentinean movie of the same title.

Sisters

R (pervasive crude content and language, drug use). 118 minutes. Playing: Hillside, Majestic, Mayfair Mall, Menomonee Falls, Ridge, South Shore.

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler play a pair of fortysomething sisters who find out their parents are selling their childhood home and decide to give their past a send-off with one last, wild house party. Directed by Jason Moore ("Pitch Perfect"), with Maya Rudolph, Rachel Dratch, Bobby Moynihan.

Spectre

PG-13 (violence, some disturbing images, sensuality, language). 148 minutes. Playing: Oak Creek Budget.

After receiving a blast from his past, James Bond sets off on his own to break a mysterious crime organization that could be the source of all of his troubles. No. 24 in the franchise, and No. 4 with Daniel Craig as 007, with another Oscar winner, Christoph Waltz, as his nemesis. With Lea Seydoux, Monica Belluci, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw. Oscar nominee for best original song, for "Writing's on the Wall."

Spotlight

R (some language). 128 minutes. Playing: Downer, Hillside, Mayfair Mall, Menomonee Falls, Ridge, Rivoli/Cedarburg, Saukville, Showtime, South Shore.

A unit of investigative journalists at The Boston Globe digs into a story of a priest facing multiple accusations of sexual abuse and discover a much bigger conspiracy within the Catholic Church and Boston's power elite. Drama based on the true story, co-written and directed by Tom McCarthy. With Michael Keaton, Kenosha native Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, John Slattery, Liev Schreiber, Stanley Tucci. Six Oscar nominations, including best picture, director (McCarthy), supporting actor (Ruffalo), supporting actress (McAdams).

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

PG-13 (fantasy/action violence). 136 minutes. Playing: Avalon, Fox-Bay, Hillside, IPic/Bayshore, Majestic, Mayfair Mall, Menomonee Falls, North Shore, Oriental, Ridge, Rosebud, Saukville, Showtime, South Shore, Southgate.

Thirty years after the events of the first "Star Wars" trilogy, the rebellion is in trouble, a dark organization called the First Order is on the rise, and old warriors are in the fight. J.J. Abrams picks up the gauntlet from George Lucas in the seventh movie in the franchise, with some new faces (when you can see them)  including Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver and Lupita Nyong'o  and some old friends, including Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill and even R2-D2. Nominated for five technical Oscars. (Showing in 3-D at Mayfair Mall.)

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi

R (pervasive combat violence, gore, language). 144 minutes. Playing: Hillside, IPic/Bayshore, Majestic, Mayfair Mall, Menomonee Falls, North Shore, Ridge, Saukville, Showtime, South Shore, Southgate.

When the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, is attacked, a unit of former military men turned private security contractors for the CIA has to decide whether their mission includes rescuing the diplomats. Action movie based on a bestselling account of the attacks, directed by Michael Bay. With James Badge Dale, John Krasinski, Max Martini, Pablo Schreiber, Toby Stephens, David Costabile.

Trumbo

R(language). 124 minutes. Playing:Hillside, Saukville, Showtime.

Bryan Cranston plays Dalton Trumbo, the successful screenwriter who, after getting blacklisted as one of the "Hollywood Ten," leads a secretive effort to write movies  and get paid for it  by any means necessary. With Diane Lane, Helen Mirren, Louis C.K. Oscar nominee for best actor (Cranston).

The Walk

PG(thematic elements, some nudity, language, brief drug references, historical smoking). 124 minutes. Playing:Oak Creek Budget.

In 1974, while the twin towers of the World Trade Center were still under construction, aerialist Philippe Petit set out, in defiance of law and reason, to walk a high-wire between the two towers. Dramatic re-enactment of the amazing true story  told first in the Oscar-winning documentary, "Man on Wire"  by director Robert Zemeckis, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Petit.

THEATER GUIDE

Avalon(Neighborhood Theater Group): 2473 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., (414) 539-6678

Downer(Landmark): 2589 N. Downer Ave., (414) 962-3120

Fox Bay(Cinema Grill): 334 E. Silver Spring Drive, Whitefish Bay, (414) 906-9999

Hillside(Marcus): 2950 Hillside Drive, Delafield, (262) 646-7300

IPic/Bayshore: 5800 N. Bayshore Drive, Glendale, (414) 963-8779

Majestic(Marcus): 770 N. Springdale Road, Brookfield, (262) 798-4099

Mayfair Mall(AMC): 2500 N. Mayfair Road, Wauwatosa, (888) 262-4386

Menomonee Falls(Marcus): W180-N9393 Premier Lane, Menomonee Falls, (262) 502-9070

North Shore(Marcus): 11700 N. Port Washington Road, Mequon, (262) 241-6180

Oak Creek Budget(Marcus): 6912 S. 27th St., Oak Creek, (414) 761-7469

Oriental(Landmark): 2230 N. Farwell Ave., 276-5140

Ridge(Marcus): 5200 S. Moorland Road, New Berlin (262) 797-0889

Rivoli/Cedarburg: W62-N567 Washington Ave., Cedarburg, (262) 377-1010

Rosebud(Neighborhood Theater Group): 6823 W. North Ave., Wauwatosa, (414) 763-7975

Saukville(Marcus): 350 S. Riverside Drive, Saukville, (262) 268-9455

Showtime(Marcus): 8910 S. 102nd St., Franklin, (414) 425-2600

South Shore(Marcus): 7261 S. 13th St., Oak Creek, (414) 768-5960

Southgate(Marcus): 3330 S. 30th St., (414) 672-5111

Times(Neighborhood Theater Group): 5906 W. Vliet St., (414) 763-1763
Christian Bale plays a money-manager savant who spots the impending collapse of the housing bubble in The Big Short. Bale was nominated for an Oscar for best supporting actor, one of the five nominations the movie received. Credit: Associated Press

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Here are where (and whether) you can see the movies nominated for this year's Academy Awards.

"Amy"(1  documentary feature): Available on DVD, streaming on iTunes.

"Anomalisa"(1  animated feature): Showing at Oriental.

"The Big Short"(5  picture, supporting actor for Christian Bale, director for Adam McKay, film editing, adapted screenplay): Showing at Fox-Bay, Hillside, Majestic, Mayfair Mall, Menomonee Falls, North Shore, Ridge, Saukville, South Shore.

"Boy and the World"(1  animated feature): No word on Milwaukee or video release date.

"Bridge of Spies"(6  picture, supporting actor for Mark Rylance, original score, original screenplay, production design, sound mixing): Showing at Hillside, Mayfair Mall, Oak Creek Budget, Saukville; due out on DVD Feb. 2.

"Brooklyn"(3  picture, actress for Saoirse Ronan, adapted screenplay): Showing at Downer, Hillside, Mayfair Mall, North Shore, Ridge.

"Carol"(6  actress for Cate Blanchette, supporting actress for Rooney Mara, adapted screenplay, cinematography, costume design, original score): Showing at Downer.

"Cartel Land"(1  documentary feature): Streaming on Netflix, iTunes.

"Cinderella"(1  costume design): Available on DVD, streaming on iTunes, Amazon.

"Creed"(1  supporting actor for Sylvester Stallone): No longer in theaters.

"The Danish Girl"(4  actor for Eddie Redmayne, supporting actress for Alicia Vikander, costume design, production design): Showing at Mayfair Mall, Saukville, Showtime, South Shore.

"Embrace of the Serpent"(1  foreign-language film): No word on return to theaters (played at 2015 Milwaukee Film Festival).

"Ex Machina"(2  original screenplay, visual effects): Available on DVD, streaming on Amazon, iTunes.

"Fifty Shades of Grey"(1  original song for "Earned It"): Available on DVD, streaming on iTunes.

"45 Years"(1  actress for Charlotte Rampling): Due to open in Milwaukee Jan. 29.

"The Hateful Eight"(3  supporting actress for Jennifer Jason Leigh, cinematography, original score): Showing at Majestic, Mayfair Mall, Menomonee Falls, Ridge, South Shore.

"The Hunting Ground"(1  original song for "Til It Happens to You"): Available on DVD, streaming on iTunes, Amazon.

"Inside Out"(2  animated feature, original screenplay): Available on DVD, streaming on Amazon, iTunes.

"Joy"(1  actress for Jennifer Lawrence): Showing at Majestic, Menomonee Falls, North Shore, Ridge.

"The Look of Silence"(1  documentary feature): Available on DVD, streaming on iTunes.

"Mad Max: Fury Road"(10  picture, director for George Miller, cinematography, costume design, film editing, makeup and hairstyling, production design, sound editing, sound mixing, visual effects): Available on DVD, streaming on iTunes.

"The Martian"(7  picture, actor for Matt Damon, adapted screenplay, production design, sound editing, sound mixing, visual effects): Showing at Oak Creek Budget; available on DVD, streaming on iTunes, Amazon.

"Mustang"(1  foreign-language film): No word on Milwaukee release date; due out on DVD April 12.

"The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared"(1  makeup and hairstyling): Available on DVD, streaming on iTunes, Amazon.

"Racing Extinction"(1  original song for "Manta Ray"): Due out on DVD Feb. 23.

"The Revenant"(12  picture, director for Alejandro G. Inarritu, actor for Leonardo DiCaprio, supporting actor for Tom Hardy, cinematography, costume design, film editing, makeup and hairstyling, production design, sound editing, sound mixing, visual effects): Showing at Avalon, Fox-Bay, Hillside, IPic/Bayshore, Majestic, Mayfair Mall, Menomonee Falls, North Shore, Ridge, Saukville, Showtime, South Shore, Southgate, Times.

"Room"(4  picture, director for Lenny Abrahamson, actress for Brie Larson, adapted screenplay): Showing at Majestic, Mayfair Mall, North Shore, Oriental, Ridge, South Shore.

"Shaun the Sheep Movie"(1  animated feature): Available on DVD; streaming on Amazon.

"Sicario"(3  cinematography, original score, sound editing): Available on DVD, streaming on Amazon.

"Son of Saul"(1  foreign-language film): Reportedly due in Milwaukee Feb. 5.

"Spectre"(1  original song for "Writing's on the Wall"): Showing at Oak Creek Budget; streaming on Amazon, due out on DVD Feb. 9.

"Spotlight"(6  picture, director for Tom McCarthy, supporting actor for Mark Ruffalo, supporting actress for Rachel McAdams, original screenplay, film editing): Showing at Downer, Hillside, Mayfair Mall, Menomonee Falls, Ridge, Rivoli/Cedarburg, Saukville, Showtime, South Shore; due out on DVD Feb. 23.

"Star Wars: The Force Awakens"(5  film editing, original score, sound editing, sound mixing, visual effects): Showing at Avalon, Fox-Bay, Hillside, IPic/Bayshore, Majestic, Mayfair Mall, Menomonee Falls, North Shore, Oriental, Ridge, Rosebud, Saukville, Showtime, South Shore, Southgate.

"Steve Jobs"(2  actor for Michael Fassbender, supporting actress for Kate Winslet): Due out on DVD Feb. 16.

"Straight Outta Compton"(1  original screenplay): Available on DVD, streaming on Amazon, iTunes.

"Theeb"(1  foreign-language film): Available for streaming on Amazon Feb. 19; due out on DVD May 17.

"Trumbo"(1  actor for Bryan Cranston): Showing at Hillside, Saukville, Showtime.

"A War"(1  foreign-language film): No word on Milwaukee release date.

"What Happened, Miss Simone?"(1  documentary feature): Streaming on Netflix.

"When Marnie Was There"(1  animated feature): Available on DVD.

"Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom"(1 documentary feature): Streaming on Netflix.

"Youth"(1  original song for "Simple Song#3"): No longer in theaters; due out on DVD March 1.
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A 34-year-old man is accused of killing his girlfriend at a Wauwatosa apartment complex before fleeing from police, stabbing an officer with a knife and getting shot by two other officers, prosecutors say.

Jerry R. Hubbard faces charges of first-degree reckless homicide in the death of Lauren Johnson and first-degree reckless endangering of safety in the struggle with Wauwatosa police.

Johnson, 32, was found under an apartment balcony the night of Jan. 11, after another resident of Normandy Apartments, on N. 124th St. near W. North Ave., called 911 to report hearing a woman screaming.

The Milwaukee County medical examiner determined Johnson was suffocated and died before the fall off the balcony, the criminal complaint says.

Johnson met Hubbard online, a family member told authorities. After they visited each other, Hubbard moved from Ohio to live with Johnson, according to the criminal complaint.

The domestic violence incident ended with two officers shooting Hubbard, who was stabbing another officer with an 8-inch kitchen knife, according to police and court documents.

Hubbard was taken to Froedtert Hospital. The officer, a patrol supervisor, was treated for injuries on his hands and was released last week.

The investigation led officers back to the original apartment where the incident began. Officers did not find anyone inside, but Johnson was located in the snow underneath a balcony and paramedics were unable to revive her, according to police.

The tenant who first called police said she heard a woman screaming upstairs, the sounds of a physical struggle and then silence  prompting her to call 911, the complaint says.

The tenant heard police arrive and then saw someone fall from the balcony above her apartment, according to the complaint.

Johnson's death was investigated by Wauwatosa police. The Milwaukee Police Department investigated the shooting, and the Wauwatosa officers who were involved were placed on administrative leave, which is standard procedure after such incidents.
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said extending the period that lenders have to take action on zombie properties to 12 months would hurt the citys efforts to recover from the foreclosure crisis. Credit: Courtesy of Department of Neighborhood Services

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What the Wisconsin Supreme Court gives, the Legislature can take away.

Last February, the court in a unanimous decision upheld a 2012 law that strengthened Milwaukee's hand in dealing with so-called zombie homes  abandoned, foreclosed properties that drive down property values and increase blight and urban ills throughout the city.

The reaction by a group of Republican lawmakers: propose a bill that would strip the city of its ability to force a financial institution to quickly take responsibility and sell a zombie home.

Under current law, lenders must sell an abandoned foreclosed property after a five-week "redemption" period, during which the homeowner has an opportunity to pay the mortgage. The proposal, Assembly Bill 720, would give the lender one year to decide what to do with the property. At the end of that period, the lender could sell the property or opt to release the mortgage lien, an action that would keep the title in the name of the original owner even though that person may be long gone.

For commercial properties, lenders under the bill could opt to do nothing, leaving the property in limbo, said Gregg Hagopian, an assistant city attorney.

"It's giving them (lenders) permission to create zombies," said April Hartman, the Legal Action of Wisconsin lawyer who won the Supreme Court case that resulted in the justices declaring a lender that begins a foreclosure must complete the action. "It's just a nightmare for the neighborhoods."

Adds Hagopian: "What we don't want is people to file mortgage foreclosure cases and not finish them. This makes it a lot easier for lenders to not finish the cases."

State Rep. Terry Katsma (R-Oostburg), the lead sponsor of the bill, said his proposal aims to address the lingering foreclosure crisis by speeding up the foreclosure process for many properties.

"Really, the goal of this bill is to move properties through the foreclosure process more quickly," he said.

The freshman legislator and former bank president said he had met with Milwaukee officials and knows they are opposed to the bill. Regardless, Katsma said: "We think this is good for the City of Milwaukee."

But Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said extending the period that lenders have to take action on zombie properties to 12 months would hurt the city's efforts to recover from the foreclosure crisis.

"The last thing we want is for the process to drag out any longer," Barrett said.

City officials are comfortable with other provisions of the bill that would speed up the overall foreclosure process for most properties, and Barrett added that he's optimistic upcoming discussions with Katsma will improve the overall proposal.

"We want to work with him so he can understand how proactive the city is in working to stabilize our neighborhoods," he said.

The bill's supporters say they're hopeful the mayor will see it their way.

"I think it will benefit the City of Milwaukee and I hope Mayor Barrett takes a closer look at it," said state Rep. Scott Allen (R-Waukesha), a co-sponsor.

City officials have been dealing with zombie, or walkaway, properties since at least 2009. The term is used to describe properties where an homeowner abandons a property after a lender begins a foreclosure action and the lender never takes title to the property.

Homeowners often erroneously assume that they lose title to a property as soon as the foreclosure lawsuit is filed in court. The home sits vacant  becoming an attractive target for vandals, thieves and squatters.

"There's nobody home and there's nobody taking care of it," Hagopian said. "The more days you leave an abandoned property ... the more likely it is going to deteriorate."

By the time the foreclosure suit is nearing an end of the legal process, the property often needs tens of thousands of dollars in repairs, so lenders often walk away and decide not to take title. The original long-gone homeowner remains the owner of record and is responsible for property taxes, fines and upkeep of the property.

There are 354 zombie homes in Milwaukee, according to the city Department of Neighborhood Services.

The state Supreme Court in February ruled that when a lender files for foreclosure, it must complete the action. The court decision upheld a 2012 state law that allowed a court to declare a property abandoned  a ruling that speeds up the foreclosure process.

At any given time, the city has about 20 pending actions asking courts to declare foreclosed properties abandoned, said Heather Hough, the assistant city attorney who files the actions.

City officials fear the GOP bill will only add to the city's housing woes.

Property owners in foreclosure may after 12 months find themselves still owing the lender the amount of the loan  though the property would no longer be collateral for the note  and would remain responsible for taxes and property upkeep.

Lenders could "just satisfy the mortgage and completely walk away" from the property, said Legal Action's Hartman. "That just compounds the problem that the city is already facing."
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (left) endorses Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during a rally at Iowa State University on Tuesday. Credit: Associated Press

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The fixed smile on Donald Trump's face as Sarah Palin unleashed her free-association, who-knows-what-she'll-say-next harangue endorsing him on Tuesday sent its own message. "How long do I have to stand here?" it seemed to say. But of all the developments in the astonishing Republican presidential contest, this moment told us what we need to know about the state of a once-great political party.

Consider the forces that brought Palin to the national stage in the first place. In 2008, John McCain, running behind Barack Obama in the polls, wanted to shake up the contest by picking a moderate as his running mate. His first choice was Sen. Joe Lieberman, and he also liked former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge.

But McCain won the nomination against the will of the Republican right as more conservative candidates had fractured their side's vote. "He is not the choice of conservatives, as opposed to the choice of the Republican establishment  and that distinction is key," said Rush Limbaugh, using language that is now oh-so-familiar. The establishment, Limbaugh charged, had "long sought to rid the party of conservative influence."

A moderate VP choice would have been too much for Limbaugh's legions. So McCain, facing a full-scale revolt on the floor of the Republican convention, gave up on Lieberman and Ridge, turning instead to Palin. A new hero for the Limbaugh-Fox News disciples was born.

Where Palin was concerned, Limbaugh overestimated the establishment's dedication to principle and underestimated its opportunism.

After Obama won, the main goal of Republican leaders of all stripes was to take back Congress as a prelude to defeating the president in 2012. The angry grass-roots right  it has been there for decades but cleverly rebranded itself as the tea party in 2009  would be central in driving the midterm voters the GOP would need to the polls. Since no one was better at rousing them than Palin, old-line Republican leaders embraced and legitimized her even if they snickered privately about who she was and how she said things.

Today's Republican crisis was thus engineered by the party leadership's step-by-step capitulation to a politics of unreason, a policy of silence toward the most extreme and wild charges against Obama, and a lifting up of resentment and anger over policy and ideas as the party's lodestars.

Many Republicans are now alarmed that their choice may come down to Trump, the candidate of a reality-show populism that tries to look like the real thing, and Sen. Ted Cruz, an ideologue whom they fear would lead their cause to a devastating defeat. There is an honorable pushback against this outcome from champions of a genuinely more moderate and tolerant brand of conservatism  the columnists Michael Gerson and David Brooks among them.

But this is a battle that needed to be joined long ago (which, I should say, is a central theme of my new book, "Why the Right Went Wrong"). A showdown was required before the steady, large-scale defection of moderate voters from the party. Now that opponents of Trump and Cruz need the moderates, they are no longer there  except, perhaps, in states where independents might cross into the party's primaries to save it from itself.

And instead of battling the impulses now engulfing the party, GOP honchos exploited them. They fanned nativist feeling by claiming that illegal immigrants were flooding across our borders, even when net immigration from Mexico had fallen below zero.

They promised radical reductions in the size of government, knowing no Republican president, including Ronald Reagan, could pull this off. They pledged to "take the country back," leaving vague the identity of the people (other than Obama) from whom it was to be reclaimed. Their audiences filled in the blank. They denounced Obamacare as socialist, something, as Sen. Bernie Sanders is pointing out, it decidedly is not. Indeed, it\'s rooted in proposals Republicans once made themselves.

Politicians whose rhetoric brought the right's loyalists to a boiling point now complain that they don't much like the result. But it's a little late for that. Why shouldn't the party's ultraconservatives and its economically distressed working-class supporters feel betrayed? At least with Trump, Cruz and Palin, they have reason to think they know what they're getting. "We are mad and we've been had," Palin declared on Tuesday. "They need to get used to it."

So watch for the establishment's next capitulation. There are reports that some in its ranks are already cozying up to Trump. Given the record, there's little reason to doubt this.

E.J. Dionne Jr. is a columnist for The Washington Post. Email ejdionne@washpost.com. Twitter: @EJDionne
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Madison A massive computer project is beating the state's expectations but has still left hundreds of state employees underpaid or led to them being told incorrectly that their health insurance had lapsed, state officials said.

So far, the state has issued 443 supplemental paychecks to workers who didn't get 10% or more of the salary they earned, said Stacey Rolston, who is heading the human resources chunk of the state's huge IT project known as STAR.

Perhaps several hundred more either didn't get their required overtime hours, extra pay for night or weekend hours or certain expense payments. Others got overtime for which they don't qualify, Rolston said.

In those cases, the state is working to add or subtract the incorrect amounts from the workers' next paychecks to bring them to the right totals.

Meanwhile, the state also is trying to work out a variety of problems that have made it appear that at least 150 state employees didn't have health insurance when they actually did. No state worker has had their coverage dropped, Rolston stressed in an interview Thursday.

With the project being a decade in the making and affecting 34,000 workers and their paychecks, the problems could have been much worse, said John Hogan, assistant deputy secretary for administration.

"What we see every week is, 'Wow, everybody got paid.' Because a lot of companies and governments don't get that right the first time" in a big IT switch-over, Hogan said. "These are not catastrophic failures by any means....These are not problems that are going to be problems for months."

Gov. Scott Walker's administration had said on Jan. 8 that a variety of payroll problems highlighted by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel would be fixed by Thursday, which marked the second round of paychecks going out to tens of thousands of workers.

The problems have diminished but many remain, Hogan said Thursday.

The reasons for the payroll and benefits glitches are as varied as the state's payroll process itself. Some of the issues are due to problems with the overall system while others are due to user errors by state workers, supervisors and private health care providers, Rolston said.

Because of changes in some employees' ID numbers, some health care providers have had trouble finding the workers in their systems and have concluded that the employees weren't covered, administration officials said. In fact, workers haven't lost their coverage and their providers may be able to find them by searching for the employee's name rather than an ID number, Rolston said.

For the past two weeks, the Journal Sentinel has been asking about the continuing problems with employees' pay and other benefits. On Thursday, administration officials provided more information about the STAR system's challenges in response.

The payroll issue has arisen as part of a broader initiative known as STAR that seeks to replace scores of state computer systems, including some that are decades old. Most state officials agree that the ambitious update is desperately needed and could yield eventual savings for taxpayers if handled correctly

Administration officials said the state's outside consultants on the project say that Wisconsin has fared better than many other states that have undertaken similar projects.

"In 16 years of experience with 11 (similar) implementations, this was by far the most successful go-live. I strongly believe it was due to strong leadership at all levels," Rob Nolan of Gartner Consulting said in a statement released by the Walker administration.
Brooks says judge can't 'tell him what to do' on Day 13 of Christmas Parade trial
Some environmental groups have raised concerns over a weekend coyote hunting contest near Crandon, saying that in their zeal to kill coyotes the hunters may inadvertently kill protected gray wolves. Here, a coyote peers through the high grass in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Brecksville, Ohio. Credit: Associated Press

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Plans for a one-day coyote hunting contest near Crandon in northeastern Wisconsin are coming under fire from some environmental groups who are raising concerns that federally protected wolves might be killed in the process.

The hunt will offer prize money for the largest, smallest and most coyotes killed. It's one of a number of such competitions that hunters and the Department of Natural Resources say have been taking place for years.

Saturday's event, run out of a tavern in Argonne on the edge of the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, caught the attention of representatives of the Friends of the Wisconsin Wolf, Sierra Club, Humane Society of the United States and the Center for Biological Diversity and other groups who criticized the contest element of the hunts.

"Killing for prize or trophy is not an adequate reason for hunting," said Melissa Smith, executive director of Friends of the Wisconsin Wolf. "It's unjustified and unsportsmanlike."

The groups also said they were worried that gray wolves could be shot or mauled by dogs that are often used in such hunts.

"I am worried that this just increases the risk of someone violating the endangered species law," Smith said.

Saturday's event has categories for hunters who use hounds and those who use calls to attract coyotes.

It is illegal to kill wolves in Wisconsin, although there were wolf hunting seasons in 2012, 2013 and 2014 that were used as a means to control the state's growing wolf population.

A federal judge in December 2014 struck down a decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove gray wolves from the endangered species list in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan  a ruling that also ended legalized hunts.

In November 2015, 26 scientists, including Dave Mech of the University of Minnesota and former DNR biologist Adrian Wydeven, now with the Timber Wolf Alliance, wrote the U.S. Interior Department and argued that wolf populations in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin had recovered and should be removed from the protected list.

Defenders of coyote hunting and coyote hunting contests emphasized the practice is legal  hunters can shoot the animals throughout the year and there is no bag limit. Some advocates say killing coyotes also is beneficial for the deer population and reduces livestock depredation.

Coyote hunting supporters said opponents might be raising the issue now, but the hunts have been part of Wisconsin rural life for years.

"This is something that these guys would be normally doing anyway," said Patrick Quaintance, a coyote hunter and president of the Wisconsin Association of Sporting Dogs.

Quaintance, a retired conservation warden with the DNR, said the threat to wolves is overblown.

"No wolves are going to be shot. Nobody wants that," said Quaintance, who said a coyote killing contest is also being held this weekend near Washburn in Bayfield County.

The DNR says that it can be difficult at a distance to tell the difference between a wolf and a coyote. Wolves are larger and bulkier than coyotes. Wolves weigh 50 to 100 pounds. Coyotes weigh 25 to 45 pounds.

Predator killing contests have come under criticism elsewhere, including several western states. In December 2014, the California Fish and Game Commission banned killing contests for predator animals, such as coyotes, fox and bobcat.

California officials acted on a petition from Project Coyote, a Larkspur, Calif.-based organization that has worked with other groups to try to stop the practice in Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, Oregon and New Mexico.

Camilla H. Fox, executive director of Project Coyote, predicted that other states will eventually follow California.

"This is very different from killing deer to put meat on the table," Fox said. "This is gratuitous killing."

In its petition in California, Project Coyote used written testimony by more than two dozen academics and conservationists, including Adrian Treves, an associate professor of environmental studies and founder of the carnivore coexistence lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Treves also serves on the science advisory board of Project Coyote.

In their testimony, the scientists and conservationists said that "indiscriminate killing is ineffective" in controlling livestock losses because "only some, often few, individual predators participate in depredation." They also said such contests are not a reliable method of regulating deer populations.

"There is not a lot of scientific justification for it," Treves said. Deer populations, for example, are much more influenced by food supply and climate conditions in the winter, he said.

Quaintance, who killed six coyotes last year, said groups opposing coyote contests are rife with supporters who oppose hunting on ethical grounds and are ignorant of the culture of hunting and the bond between hunter and hunting dog.

"No hunter I know of wants to watch an animal die inhumanely," he said. "We try to dispatch them as quickly as possible."

When he hunts coyotes with hound dogs, his goal is not to kill coyotes but to run his dogs and listen to their barking and baying in the course of a chase. "You can tell exactly what he is doing with his bark," said Quaintance, who retired from the DNR in December 2012.

David Walz, a DNR conservation warden supervisor, said wardens will be working in the Crandon area on Saturday and will keep tabs on the contest. He said hunters have killed wolves during the gun-deer season, thinking that the wolves were coyotes.

The state fine for unintentional killing of a wolf or other endangered species is up to $4,143, plus one-year revocation of all hunting licenses. If the killing is intentional, the fine is up to $5,500 and/or up to nine months jail, plus a three-year revocation of hunting licenses, according to the DNR.

Walz said he is not aware of wolves being shot during coyote hunting contests.

"The vast majority follow the law," Walz said. "Like anything, you have the 1% out there."
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By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) |  

Perhaps it is inevitable but it is a shame that some people are gaming out how to profit politically from the lead poisoning of the children of Flint, Michigan (pop. 99,000). In the state capital, the Establishment is trying to blame the crisis on government or bureaucracy, to reinforce the Reaganite message that government is the problem, not the solution.

In his state of the state address, Gov. Rick Snyder said that the people of Flint had been let down by their government at all levels, city, state and Federal. State workers were furious, perceiving that the governor had in effect blamed them for the debacle.

In fact, Flints water had been fine under non-colonial, elected government. It was supplied by the Detroit Water and Sewage Department from Lake Huron and was treated.

But Snyders rather arrogant state government delights in using the prerogative established in Michigan law to take over a city and set aside its elected officials. In highly racially segregated Michigan society, this measure typically entailed white politicians from the center and west of the state appointing mini-dictators to take over cities with a big African-American and working class population, with the Victorian implication that the latter couldnt properly govern themselves. [By 2013 half of Michigans African-Americans lived under an appointed Emergency Manager.]

So Snyder staged a coup in Flint and appointed a city caretaker,or Emergency Manager, one Ed Kurtz, depriving the citizens of their voting rights. And Snyders appointee decided that a little money could be saved by switching the citys water source from the Detroit Water and Sewage Dept. to the local Flint River. DWSD complained bitterly about Kurtz setting the two cities against one another. [The decision was implemented by Kurtzs successor as EM.)

[Emails just released admit that the decision was ultimately signed off on by then State treasurer Andy Dillon, but I cant imagine he initiated the policy:

Ed Kurtz and Andy Dillon were both appointees of the Governor. So I don't see how this helps Snyder too much. https://t.co/8q5W4Fbej7  Nick Krieger (@nckrieger) January 21, 2016

]

Flint River is full of highly corrosive chemicals and would have needed to have a purification plant operating for it to supply safe tap water. But since the whole policy was to save money, the small amount needed to put in water purification was not spent for that purpose. When the corrosive waters of the Flint River flowed through the citys old, lead pipes, they ate into the pipes and released lead into the drinking water.

It is really bad to drink a lot of lead. It is especially bad for children. It can affect intelligence, cognition, self-control for the rest of their lives.

Even when evidence began getting back to the state that there were high levels of lead in the bloodstreams of Flint children, nothing was done, what with all the money being saved on water and all. [The Emergency Manager called a Flint city council vote to go back to Detroit-provided water incomprehensible]

So this is a story of arrogance and then stonewalling and foot-dragging. It is a story of how democracy was set aside in favor of a kind of colonialism, where the governor appoints an unelected viceroy. It is a story of how technocrats from Lansing thought they knew what was best for locals. It is a story of Neoliberalism, of exalting the market as a golden calf that must be worshiped even if the people have to be sacrificed to it. Reducing the cost of government by appeal to market ways of saving money has been taken to the point where it sickens the people being governed; they just arent the important element of this equation.

But what is really interesting is the language around these dire mistakes. Many news reports have said with a straight face that the city of Flint switched the source of water to the Flint River. But while the Flint mayor went along with the Emergency Manager, it was Kurtz who was the decision-maker here.

The city of Flint had been overthrown in a coup and wasnt in a position to make such decisions.

Then in his address, Gov. Snyder said that Flint had been failed by government.

But government did not make the decisions here. Snyders appointee did. Elected

government of a local sort was abrogated by Snyder. Now he is blaming government for doing a bad job.

Government in fact generally does a good job, and is as efficient or more than most large corporations. Moreover, unlike the private sphere, government is typically responsive to the voters. Except where it has been set aside.

The GOP in Lansing is therefore trying to spin their own mistakes as the mistakes of big government or of the bureaucracy:

Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, R-Olive Township, used the speech as an opportunity to push for government reforms, saying in a prepared statement released after Snyders speech, Bloated, unresponsive bureaucracy does not meet the needs of our citizens.

Senator Meekhof needs to understand that Flint needs more and better government now, not less. The citys pipes have to be re-done. And its children will need special medical care and education measures for years.

What Flint needed was not a slimmer government but the right to make its own decisions via its own elections. Government was not the problem the penny-pinching of an appointed viceroy was the problem.

Government *can* be the solution to some problems, and must be in this instance.

-

Related video:

RT America: Blame game in Michigan: Flint officials try to manage water crisis
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UNESCO | (Media Services) |  

I express my deepest concerns after the destruction of the Monastery of St Elijah. It was the oldest Christian monastery in Iraq and an invaluable testimony to the rich cultural and religious diversity of the country. For 1,400 years the monastery stood as a place of worship and meditation, accepted by people of all faiths. Its destruction is yet another violent attack against the Iraqi people which confirms the crimes against humanity suffered by the Christian population, and the extent of the cultural cleansing underway in Iraq, said UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova.

Christianity was born in the Middle East, and is an integral part of the history of Iraq and the Iraqi People. Such deliberate destruction is a war crime and it must not stay unpunished. It also reminds us how terrified by history the extremists are, because understanding the past undermines the pretexts they use to justify these crimes and exposes them as expressions of pure hatred and ignorance. Despite their relentless crimes, extremists will never be able to erase history. The history of this region is known all over the world, and reminds us all that there is no pure culture. UNESCO remains committed to protecting the heritage of Iraq and leading the fight against the illicit traffic of cultural artefacts, which directly contributes to the financing of terrorism, she added.

According to several sources and media reports, the monastery of Deir Mar Elia was destroyed in August 2014 and its destruction was only confirmed recently. The monastery is named for the Assyrian Christian monk  St. Elijah  who built it between 582 and 590 A.C. It was a holy site for Iraqi Christians for centuries, part of the Middle East Chaldean Catholic community, bearing witness to the religious diversity of the region, where people of all faiths have lived together for centuries. Iraqs Christian population has dropped from 1.3 million in the early 2000s to 300,000 today.

Via UNESCO Media Services



Related video added by Juan Cole:

Luke Sheridan, Associate Press exclusive: Oldest Catholic Monastery In Iraq Is Razed
VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - January 21, 2016) - GoldQuest Mining Corp. (TSX VENTURE: GQC)(FRANKFURT: M1W)(BERLIN: M1W) ("GoldQuest" or the "Company") is pleased to report on the progress of the pre-feasibility study ("PFS") underway on its 100% owned Romero project in the Dominican Republic ("DR"). The Company selected Met-Chem Canada Inc. of Montreal to be the lead consultant, and the study continues to be on schedule for completion in Q2 2016. GoldQuest is fully funded to complete the PFS. GoldQuest discovered the Romero mineralization in 2012, and, in mid-2015, published a revised Preliminary Economic Assessment which returned after-tax economics of NPV(6%) of USD 219 million, IRR of 34%, AISC of $572/ounce gold equivalent with a payback of 2.7 years (see release of 29th April 2015).

Following the lead consultant's site visit in December 2015, the program is moving forward rapidly and efficiently. A multi-disciplinary team of consultants and contractors contributing to the PFS, include; Micon International Limited (mineral resources), Golder Associates Limited of Toronto, Ontario (underground geotechnical design), ALS Global of Kamloops, British Columbia (metallurgical processing), DoCalSa of Santo Domingo, DR (infrastructure and roads design) and Empresa de Transmison Electrica Dominicana (ETED) of Santo Domingo, DR (electrical integration with the grid).

"Met-Chem's experience in the DR coupled with engagement of marquee engineers and consultants both in the DR and internationally mean that the initial phases of the PFS are going smoothly," commented Julio Espaillat, President and Chief Executive Officer. "Comprehensive trade-off studies are in progress, and optimal site layouts and operating parameters are being developed."

GoldQuest will periodically provide updates on the progress of the PFS, as well as the ongoing exploration program covering the company's Tireo Formation project that includes concessions and applications over a 50 kilometre distance surrounding the core Romero project.

The information in this press release has been reviewed and approved by Mr. Jeremy Niemi, P. Geo., Vice President, Exploration of GoldQuest and a Qualified Person for the technical information in this press release under NI 43-101 standards.

About GoldQuest

GoldQuest is a Canadian based mineral exploration company with projects in the Dominican Republic. GoldQuest is traded on the TSX-V under the symbol GQC and in Frankfurt/Berlin with symbol M1W.GoldQuest has moved its Toronto office to 133 Richmond Street West - Suite 501, Toronto, Ontario M5H 2L3 which has reduced corporate general administration expenditures.

About Presmont

Presmont is a Canadian based boutique capital markets advisory group focused on improving the financial image of public & private companies in Canada and the U.S.A. Given our decades of experience in multiple industries our professionals are able to objectively identify undervalued companies and effectively improve their recognition within the financial community.

Forward-looking statements:

Statements contained in this news release that are not historical facts are forward-looking information that involves known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the merits of the Company's mineral properties, future drill programs and studies, and the Company's plans and exploration programs for its mineral properties, including the timing of such plans and programs. In certain cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "has proven", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "potential", "likelihood", "appears", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "at least", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "should", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved".

Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such risks and other factors include, among others, risks related to uncertainties inherent in drill results and the estimation of mineral resources; commodity prices; changes in general economic conditions; market sentiment; currency exchange rates; the Company's ability to continue as a going concern; the Company's ability to raise funds through equity financings; risks inherent in mineral exploration; risks related to operations in foreign countries; future prices of metals; failure of equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; accidents, labor disputes and other risks of the mining industry; delays in obtaining governmental approvals; government regulation of mining operations; environmental risks; title disputes or claims; limitations on insurance coverage and the timing and possible outcome of litigation. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could affect the Company and may cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, do not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. All statements are made as of the date of this news release and the Company is under no obligation to update or alter any forward-looking statements except as required under applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions that the Company believes to be reasonable, including expectations regarding mineral exploration and development costs; expected trends in mineral prices and currency exchange rates; the accuracy of the Company's current mineral resource estimates; that the Company's activities will be in accordance with the Company's public

statements and stated goals; that there will be no material adverse change affecting the Company or its properties; that all required approvals will be obtained and that there will be no significant disruptions affecting the Company or its properties.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.
Dallas, Texas, USA, 01/21/2016 /SubmitPressRelease123/

A federal judge is letting a lawsuit proceed against Oculus founder Palmer Luckey for alleged breach of a nondisclosure agreement (NDA).

In Total Recall Technologies v. Palmer Luckey et al. (N.D. Cal. Docket No. 15-cv-02281), Total Recall Technologies (a Hawaiian partnership) claims that that Luckey agreed to build 3D virtual reality glasses for the company pursuant to a written non-disclosure, exclusivity, and payments agreement.

According to Total Recall, Palmer Luckeys work was to be performed based upon the companys pending patent for a [s]ystem and method for creating a navigable, three-dimensional virtual reality environment having ultra-wide field of view.

However, the company alleges that Luckey breached this confidentiality agreement and launched a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign to build a highly immersive, wide field of view, stereoscopic headmounted display at an affordable price  a device that Luckey named the Oculus Rift.

Whether there was an enforceable nondisclosure agreement between Total Recall and Luckey that was breached remains to be seen if theres no settlement reached before trial.

Millions of dollars are at stake. Total Recall is seeking compensatory, exemplary, and punitive damages in addition to other remedies.

Dallas Technology Lawyer Mike Young believes there are two important lessons you can learn from this breach of confidentiality lawsuit.

1. Whether youre paying a hardware developer or a software developer, a professionally written contract (employment contract or independent contractor agreement) that contains confidentiality provisions is important to protect your intellectual property rights.

2. Any contract (including a confidentiality agreement) is only as good as the parties who sign it. If both parties are honest and acting in good faith, its unlikely youll end up in an expensive courtroom fight over whether misconduct occurred during performance of the agreement.

To learn more about technology contracts, go to

http://mikeyounglaw.com/ecommerce-technology-contracts/

#MikeYoungLaw #TechnologyLawyer

By Mike Young Technology Lawyer

News Provided By: Submit Press Release 123

source: http://mikeyounglaw.com/nondisclosure-agreement-oculus-rift-palmer-luckey/

Newsroom powered by Online Press Release Distribution  SubmitMyPressRelease.com

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In partnership with UC Food Observer. The UC Food Observer is your daily serving of must-read news from the world of food curated by the University of California.

Phil is the fourth generation of his family to farm on the Oxnard Plain in Ventura County (the fifth and sixth generations are on the way). Phil regards farming in this area as "a dream" and says there is nothing better for him, especially when it comes to organic farming. Phil serves on the Ventura County Farm Bureau board. He's also a member of the Los Angeles Food Policy Council. An innovator, he was part of the group that started a Farm to School program in Ventura County and is also part of a pilot program designed to develop a local food hub. Phil's true passion is farm education. For twenty-five years he has conducted farm tours with elementary, high school and college classes. He can often be found hosting agricultural delegations from all over the world.

The McGrath Family Farm is located 55 miles north of downtown Los Angeles and 25 miles south of Santa Barbara. The farm is split by U.S. 101 (a major freeway)...yes, a freeway runs through it. Eighty-five percent of the 300 acres is certified organic. Phil's 30-acre direct marketing operation consists of farmer markets, a roadside market and a CSA. Phil sells to many restaurants in Southern California. The McGrath Farm legacy in Oxnard is diverse. It started with cattle ranching (1860s to the 1920s) and has included dairy farming (up to the late 1940s). The McGraths also grew crops historically important to Ventura County, including lima beans and sugar beets, until the late 1960s. Since that time, there has been a focus on row crops.

Q: As a producer, you face many and varied challenges: water, regulations, market demand, scale and location. In your case, your location - on U.S. 101 - brings with it the additional threat of urban encroachment. Care to comment on some of these things?

Phil: All of these issues are critical to our farm right now. Water is four times more expensive than it was four years ago, if you still have access. Environmental and urban issues have restricted farming to a degree that many farmers feel very limited; we have fewer and fewer options. Market demand means most Ventura County agricultural products are exported. Because of global marketing issues, it's nearly impossible to compete with products from Mexico and South America.

Land use policy is a very critical issue for us right now. Since the fifties, we've lost over 400 acres to eminent domain from the federal, state, county and city governments. Our farm is bordered on three sides by development; we have a freeway running through the middle of it. Twenty years ago, half of our farm along the freeway was placed by the county in a development restriction with no input or choice of our own in an attempt to save farmland. This may save farmland, but it doesn't save farming or farmers.

My family has been farming here since the 1860s. Urban encroachment is a real threat to us. I have a pretty strong view on the Save Open-Space and Agricultural Resources initiatives in Ventura County (SOAR) and saving farmland.

Q: How can we save farmland?

Phil: The way to save farmland is the way it has sometimes been done in Europe and in some places on the East Coast. Development rights are bought, not taken. This way it's a win-win situation for both sides. The community maintains what it wants...and the farmer gets to keep farming and realize the value of his/her land. Our family is heavily involved with estate planning right now. Because of restrictions placed on our proposals for land divisions for the heirs, we could not do it the way we had envisioned. Our options are very limited now.

Q: You were on the vanguard of the local food movement. What was that like? What changes have you seen? What's working better for you? What's worse?

Phil: We've certainly seen more policy change for sourcing local. I am on the Los Angeles Food Policy Council (LAFPC). It is such an honor to be around 35-40 other people that set policy now in Los Angeles County and the City of Los Angeles for local food purchasing in schools and county/city agencies. The group came up with the Good Food Purchasing Procurement Initiative all throughout Los Angeles County and the city. It has now formed its own center. The group is working with large cities like Chicago, Detroit, New York and is getting other cities on board with local food procurement.

I got lucky with the growth in farmers markets in the 1980s and then in the 1990s by connecting with chefs. The chefs have elevated the local food movement to another degree. Chefs are all about making good food and stress local and in season foods. For Santa Barbara and Ventura County, local food is a no-brainer. The Ventura County Farm to School collaborative is going to be the way we get local food to kids here.

But it doesn't work that way for wholesale agriculture in the region. In Ventura and Santa Barbara counties we export so much of what we grow. It's what global marketing has evolved to. Land values and rents are astronomical here. Companies like Dole and Sunkist know where the highest markets are...and that's where our products go. It's the bottom line for the farmer here in Southern California: we need exports to survive. But I don't think it's sustainable.

With climate change and concern about the carbon footprint, with so many uncertainties in world economies, one small ripple in any of the many factors needed for global marketing and it shuts down. America imports much of its food. This needs to change. We grow clean, fair food here. It will be more expensive to the consumer in the short run. But in the long run, it will be cheaper because in your lifetime, your health care will be cheaper.

Q: What else is changing?

Phil: The international interest in local and organics is booming. Recently, I had forty visitors from China. They were agricultural commissioners and health professionals; high-ranking public officials. These visitors are interested in learning about farming organic and selling local. And what comes to mind for me is the picture of smog in Beijing that's making its way around the Internet. Every week there are visitors at my farm from all over the world. And they want health, nutrition and sustainable farming in their areas.

I'm proud to use the term "sustainable" in relationship to my farming operation. It's great we're talking about it. Everyone's got a different idea about what "sustainable" is. I like the work that Roots of Change is doing in this area. I also think that Ventura County has a lot to add to the national and international conversation about sustainability. We have generated many innovative farming practices here. We're very close to Los Angeles, yet we've sustained farming here.

Q: What about the drought?

Phil: Some land we own [leased out] hasn't been farmed in over a year. I've got a tenant telling me he can't afford the water. It's the worst drought in our history and I don't think people quite grasp this yet. The ground and water are saltier, farmers are doing every possible water efficiency technique there is...there's not much left for us to do in that respect. And it's still a huge problem. The bills are increasing and the yields are decreasing. I'm also seeing more soil diseases than I ever have. We've got more pests than ever before with new invasive species emerging. Monoculture sets this up and the drought just compounds it.

Q: What should consumers know about farming?

Phil: I'm not here to try to change any farmers' mind about what he or she is doing. I am not here to criticize. We all face similar challenges and we do whatever it takes to survive. I'm here to try to change demand. If consumers demand more locally and sustainably grown products, it will change supply. But consumers also need to be willing to pay a premium for local sustainable food. We need to know the true cost of food and how food is grown and where it is distributed.

More and more consumers are asking where they can find locally grown food. I'd love to see the food hub model become more prevalent. Farmland should be as integral to a community as a fire station or a school. Farms should be included in city planning. The idea of a food commons is appealing to me. Ventura County is so strategically placed; the county could really enhance the goal of local distribution to Southern California. I would love to see it happen here.

What is really needed is a societal change. And it's not just doing one thing, it's doing a number of things. And I think that ultimately, the biggest drivers for local and sustainable food demand will be the desire to improve health - human and environmental - and nutrition. The price of food will be more expensive in this model, but consumers will demand it be cleaner, too. And consumers will demand more equity, which means farm workers may make more money, which would be a good thing.
A different coyote in Griffith Park | Photo: Kent Wang/Flickr/Creative Commons Licens

The coyote called C-146 had only worn her radio collar for two months before she turned up dead, near a lake inside MacArthur Park. Her lifeless body was discovered soaking wet and covered in algae on December 4, and the results of her necropsy revealed what most already suspected: she died because she drowned.

While National Park Service researchers only gained but a brief glimpse into the young canid's life, the information and data she provided was still enormously revealing.

Not much is known about how LA's coyotes survive our urban jungle; the NPS only began studying LA's most urban coyotes last May, while their previous focus had been on those in the more natural landscapes of the Santa Monica Mountains.

SoCal Connected takes a look at Los Angeles' coyotes in this segment, which airs January 27.

C-146 was first captured near the Los Angeles River in what NPS biologists believed was her parents' home range. Camera trap photos revealed that her pack included two adults, presumably her parents, and two other juveniles, which were ostensibly her siblings. Newborn coyotes will stay with their parents for at least a year, sometimes longer. But just one month after she was trapped and collared, C-146 set off in search of new opportunities.

Despite her urban heritage, the young female stuck mostly to the few scraps of green space scattered across the city and especially near the L.A. River. Compared to the other coyotes that NPS researchers have tracked, she offered a different model of what life can look like for a wild animal in a mega-city like Los Angeles, said NPS biologist Justin Brown.

This camera trap photo shows either C-146 or one of her packmates. | Photo: NPS

Brown and his colleagues first trapped her in northeast L.A., though she travelled as far south as downtown by moving along the river. She survived crossing the 5 freeway, and wound up in Elysian Park. "There are lots of other coyotes in there, and you think they would have kicked her out, but she got to bounce around there for a week and a half," says Brown. It's a surprise that an animal her age would have been permitted to spend that long in a territory controlled by an unfamiliar pack.

She spent another couple weeks in another city park before finding her way to MacArthur Park, where she ultimately met her end. "She gave us a glimpse at what a young animal is forced to do in an urban environment," says Brown.

The necropsy, which was performed by the California Animal Health and Food Safety Lab in San Bernardino revealed high levels of anticoagulant rodenticides, highly toxicrat poisons that easily find their way up the food chain where they wreak havoc on our carnivorous neighbors. Over the last twenty years, nearly 90 percent of bobcats, coyotes, and mountain lions evaluated by NPS researchers have tested positive for exposure to at least one type of anticoagulant rat poison.

These toxins kill wildlife in ways you'd expect an anticoagulant to kill: internal bleeding, continuous nosebleeds, and so on. But they also suppress the animals' natural immune systems, making it hard for them to fight off other unrelated diseases like mange, which hit mountain lion P-22 hard in the spring of 2014.

Nobody knows why C-146 found herself in the lake at MacArthur Park. She might have been chasing after a tasty bird, but one haunting possibility points to yet another side effect of high levels of anticoagulants found in her system. Animals become dehydrated when exposed to those poisons, and she might have fallen in while attempting to slake her thirst. Because the lake is lined with cement, she would have had an incredibly difficult time climbing out.

If that is indeed what happened, her death falls squarely on our shoulders.

In some ways, this is what it means to be a wild animal living in the big city. "Living in an urban environment means that these animals have to learn how to deal with people," says Brown. "But we also do lots of things that make it much more difficult for animals to persist."

We can either engineer a city in spite of the animals that will still learn to exploit every available niche in our neighborhoods, or we can choose to design our neighborhoods and our homes with the well being of our non-human neighbors in mind.

And that goes beyond the obvious strategies of using alternative rodenticides and building wildlife crossings over busy highways. It's things like not cement-lining the water features that ought to be available for our wildlife. It's not leaving pet food - or unattended pets - outside, an all-too-easy buffet for a hungry coyote. It's picking up fallen fruit, securing our garbage, planting native species.

This is a vision for Los Angeles that's not hard too imagine; the unfortunate alternative is already playing out to the south while here we mourn the loss of yet another urban carnivore.
I have known Boyd Patterson since I was a teenager.

Boyd is tried and true. He has proven to be a superb husband and dad. He has class and high character.

He would make an excellent judge. He would be fair. He is a good man.

Tina Harvey



* * *

The title of Criminal Court judge is a term to which I have not usually paid any attention. The times have changed and I now feel we need to focus and concentrate on who sits on the bench in Criminal Court. We need an experienced and well prepared attorney and in my opinion Boyd Patterson is that candidate.

Boyd is an experienced prosecutor who is focused on dealing with what causes people to do things that bring them into the criminal justice system. He is well versed on gang activity having served as gang force coordinator before returning to the prosecutor's office.

I serve on a board with Boyd and observed him delivering well thought out positions on issues dealing with difficult interactions of people. Boyd is a well trained and experienced attorney having served as a Hamilton County prosecutor for 12 years. He has the unique ability to get to the basics of an argument and very professionally deliver his recommendation. He is bright without arrogance. He is able to explain his positions in terms most of us understand. So often we hear lawyers speak in the jargon of law speak and we wonder what the conversation is all about. Boyd understands we are not all lawyers.

Why am I writing this letter? I want to urge my Republican friends to help Boyd become our next Criminal Court judge. He is intelligent, articulate, familiar with criminal law, able to communicate understandably and I feel confident that those attributes will serve the community well in his ability to be both fair and firm in the administration of criminal justice. I have seen him in action and have complete confidence in his abilities.

Please make every effort to vote in the primary on March 1 and during early voting starting on Feb. 10 through Feb. 23. We all have a responsibility to elect effective folks to the Judiciary. Boyd Patterson is that person. Vote

Irv Ginsburg

Chattanooga

* * *

I have seen first-hand how a proactive, immersive, and focused devotion to fighting crime can make Chattanooga a better place. And I believe that with the right judicial leadership, our criminal justice system can positively impact young lives, create opportunity, and keep our community safe. Being a judge is not just bench workit's a calling to public service that should be carried out by someone who is passionate to lead in a positive way both on and off the bench.

Whoever wins this election will have a responsibility (and an opportunity) to make a significant impact on our communitynot just from within the courtroom but also through a knowledge of, and commitment to, our community that can only emerge through the experience and insights that come with real criminal law and community outreach experience.



Only one candidate for Criminal Court judge has the authentic capacity to serve from a position of experience as a criminal judge and (just as importantly) to lead and impact positive change by actively advancing a safer culture for Chattanooga, and that person is Boyd Patterson.

Boyd Patterson is a community builderBoyd has extensive on-the-street experience that is crucial to understanding crime. He will make an excellence judge not just in dispensing of justice, but in collaboratively building a better community.

Boyd Patterson has deep experience in criminal lawBoyd has served as a public prosecutor, he was (and still is) the lead expert on the reduction of gang violence in Chattanooga, he knows the all-important lay of the land in Chattanooga, and he has served this space as a public servant for a dozen or more years faithfully and with enthusiasm and purposefulness.

Boyd Patterson has answered a calling to fight crimeAs I said, being a criminal court judge requires a true calling (rather than an appointment grounded in connections and political aspirations). The work of a successful criminal court judge must be grounded in an authentic interest in fighting crime and in building communitiesno other candidate comes from this important point of view.

Boyd Patterson is Chattanooga's only choice for a qualified Criminal Court judgeBoyd has the passion, the deep experience, the knowledge of the community, the important social network, and the deep relationships with law enforcement that will to truly impact Chattanooga in a very powerful and positive way.

This vote is a very big deal for Chattanooga and the results if this vote will affect every member of the community in more ways than we might imagine.

I will be voting for Boyd Patterson for Criminal Court judge.

David McDonald






In a vicious cycle, Bradley County Sheriff Eric Watson said the use of methamphetamine, and now prescription drugs, drives the need for money to support these habitsthat is often satisfied by the commission of theft and burglary.

Records as far back as 2013 from the Tennessee Meth and Pharmaceutical Task Force show the number of seizures of clandestine meth labs in Bradley County fell to less than half for the year 2015.

According to figures in 2014 released by the TMP Task Force showed a steeper drop in the seizure of clandestine meth labs locally by almost 60 percent. With 2015 numbers only partially available so far, Bradley County has seen some eight labs put out of business in 2015.

Sheriff Watson says the tie between burglaries and drugs is still rock solid. Now, much of the methamphetamine is imported from outside the United States, much of it from Mexico.

The restrictions placed on the general sale of over the counter medications that contained meth precursors such as pseudoephedrine have also put a dent in the old one pot, or shake n bake home production. While law enforcement and legislative bodies continue to seek a remedy to the illegal sales of pharmaceuticals such as hydrocodone, oxycodone, xanax and others, arrests continue to be made in Bradley County for burglaries that are spurred by the need for quick cash to feed an old meth habit or a new addiction to usually legal medication, said officials.

The proof that burglaries are hand in hand with drug abuse isnt new," said Sheriff Watson. "The way we attack that problem is by communication with the public, they in turn communicate a problem to us and we work to eliminate the problem. That plan of attack is working due to the help of the folks we seek to protect. It makes a better community for all of us and Im thankful for that.










Lee Seung Gi will begin his mandatory military service on February 1, 2016. Prior to enlisting, he will release the aptly-titled track, "I'm Going to the Military."

On January 21 (KST), the actor, K-pop vocalist, and emcee released an official statement about his impending enlistment, which was published by the domestic publication, Donga.

"I will return as a real man, to thank you all for the love and support I have received, over the years," said Lee, in his official statement.

According to the report, Lee is slated to release "I'm Going to the Military" at January 21 at 12 p.m. KST.

"This song is my story, but I hope anyone who is entering the military soon and their families can relate to it," said Lee.

Recognized by casting agents and marketers for his wholesome image, the 29-year-old star debuted as a teen soloist in June 2004.

His breakout track, "Because You're My Girl," gained notoriety as the defining track of "noona romances" or relationships involving older women and younger men.

In 2007, Lee successfully transitioned from music into acting, before emerging as a leading man in the SBS weekend series, "Brilliant Legacy." He followed with starring roles in "My Girlfriend is a Nine-Tailed Fox," the alternate reality series, "The King of Hearts," "Gu Family Book," and "You're All Surrounded."

His last K-Drama appearance was a noteworthy cameo in the KBS2 weekend hit, "Producer," where he mockingly portrayed himself.

Lee previously spoke about his impending enlistment, during a wrap party for his film, "Chemistry."

"I am happy to serve," said Lee. "And I will return safe and healthy."

He is the first K-Drama star to enlist in 2016.

Other leading actors expected to join the military before the end-of-the-year include Lee Min Ho, Yoo Ah In, Jang Geun Suk, Ji Chang Wook, and Joo Wan.
Lee Min Ho is considering his Korean drama comeback, in a project that is being crafted by "My Love from the Star" and "Producer," screenwriter, Park Ji Eun.

On January 21, Starhaus Entertainment confirmed the potential casting, in an exclusive report that was released by the domestic publication, Donga.

"Lee Min Ho is positively [considering] joining Park Ji Eun and producer Ji Hyuk," said a representative for Starhaus, in an official statement.

The project is being helmed by producer-director Ji Hyuk, who previously worked with Lee on the action drama, "City Hunter." Ji is also credited with the direction of the supernatural hit, "Master's Sun" and the Lee Jong Suk medical drama, "Doctor Stranger."

Park Ji Eun joined Ji Hyuk during a KOCCA-sponsored panel at KCON 2015 in Los Angeles. During the discussion, they weighed in on their casting process and their upcoming projects.

"I create characters with specific actors and actresses, in mind," said Park, when discussing her work with Kim Soo Hyun on 'My Love from the Star' and 'Producer.'

The potential casting of Lee Min Ho has already generated buzz, as it would be his first dramatic television role since the 2013 teen series, "The Heirs."

In 2015, he successfully transitioned to the silver screen with the action noir, "Gangnam 1970" or project also recognized by the title, "Gangnam Blues." He followed the popular role with the upcoming Korean-Chinese blockbuster, "Bounty Hunters."

The report follows his recent Seoul fan event titled Minoz Mansion, which was attended by an audience of 4,000 supporters from China, Japan, Korea, and other nations.

In addition to his screen roles, his profile increased in 2015 through his successful appearance as a post-MERS spokesmodel for the Korea Tourism Organization. He is also the honorary ambassador for the 2018 Olympics.

Speculation continues to shroud the next project for the 29-year-old actor, who is expected to enlist in the military in 2016.




Here are two words of advice for organizations looking to stretch their lobbying budgets: meatloaf sandwiches. Theyre inexpensive, and, according to at least one state senator, they may be more effective than highly paid lobbyists. Last year a record $14 million was spent lobbying Nebraska lawmakers, but if you believe Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers, the best investment was the $10,000 spent on food to keep lawmakers working near the end of their session.

The way to lawmakers votes, argues Chambers, is through their stomachs. Thats why he criticizes colleagues as freeloaders and moochers for attending so many free luncheons and banquets. All of that food has been the butt of quips by state senators, who laugh that theyre paid just $12,000 per year, but the job comes with all the free lunches they can eat.

In a surgical strike against free food, the senator from Omaha has introduced a resolution calling for an end to the tradition of organizations chipping in to feed state senators as they work late nights during the waning days of the legislative session.

In politics, there is no such thing as a free lunch and the hand that feeds controls, Chambers wrote in the text of Legislative Resolution 414, which would ban organizations from bringing food to the Senators Lounge late in the session. According to Jim Otto of the Nebraska Retail Federation, who organizes the food, the cost per senator is about $3.93 per meal.

Last year, 54 lobbying firms equally split the $10,173 cost of serving about a dozen meals to lawmakers. If Chambers is on target about food buying influence, the $10,173 outlay is the best lobbying bargain under the capitol dome.

However, not everyone who bellies up to the free food agrees with Chambers that their vote can be bought for $3.93.

If a persons vote is going to be bought by a box lunch or a Jimmy Johns sandwich, thats just ludicrous, said Speaker Galen Hadley of Kearney, who gets to determine how LR414 will be handled procedurally.

We suggest moving ahead immediately with Chambers resolution. Dont hide his proposal in the cupboard until the final week of the 2016 Legislature, when the free meals begin appearing in the Senators Lounge. Gobbling down the food and then voting to kill Chambers resolution only proves his point.

The better approach might be to sandwich the debate on LR414 between two of Chambers other weighty proposals, such as his repeal of the prairie dog management act, or his bill to mint license plates to protect mountain lions.
When July 16th, 2015 happened, so many lives were changed forever. Fathers, husbands, sons, brothers, our brave troops, were lost. Five of them...four on that very day, and one who fought for his life but ultimately succumbed to his injuries a couple of days later. A Marine was shot at the recruiting office where the first attack happened, and a police officer was also shot in the course of the attacks.

Police, Fire, EMS, our first responders, many of whom are also service members, raced to the scene. A warzone greeted them, something many of them have seen before, but something none of them thought they would ever see in Chattanooga...especially just a few blocks from the police department. Carnage was everywhere. No one knew what exactly had happened, or what was to come. A city that has always been known as the Scenic City was suddenly a city trapped in terror. What so many faced that horrific day is still somewhat surreal. How had this happened here of all places? That is a question that took months to answer, and we still don't yet have all the answers.

In the aftermath of the terrorist attack fundraisers were immediately started by families, friends, citizens of Chattanooga and the surrounding areas and celebrities. Everyone wanted to help the families of the fallen five, the Chattanooga police officer who was shot in the gun battle, and the Marine who was shot at the recruiting center. A donation seemed like the best way to go.

One of the fundraisers that is helping is the National Compassion Fund, which has been around for a while, long before July 16. Many who donated to this specific fund were led to believe that the money donated to the victims of July 16 would only be the families of the fallen five, and the police officer and Marine who were shot, and perhaps the people that were trapped inside the reserve center during the gun battle, and those at the recruiting station in the first attack. So imagine how shocked so many were when it hit the media that 62 victims actually received money from the fund. And even more so when the City Council recently passed a resolution allowing the first responders to also have access to the money for the July 16 victims. Many felt outraged, and misled, and I personally don't agree with the resolution.

It takes a brave, strong soul to be a first responder...only a few can handle a first responder career. They know what they sign up for when they pursue this type of career. And yes, it can be traumatizing. Many say well, they didn't sign up for a terrorist attack. Sadly, that's the world we live in today, and as July 16 proved, terrorist attacks can indeed happen anywhere. It has unfortunately become part of the job for first responders to prepare for a terrorist attack or an active shooter.

But here's what's not being widely reported in the media about all of this: even though the city did pass a resolution allowing first responders to receive help from the National Compassion Fund, hardly any of the first responders are accepting it. They aren't lining up with their hand out waiting for their compensation. You know what they're doing? Their job. They're doing the job they signed up for. The same job they did on July 16, they're also doing today, and will do again tomorrow, and next week. Hardly any of them actually want any assistance from the National Compassion Fund. While July 16 is no doubtedly etched in their memories forever, they're focusing on the task ahead, of keeping our city and its residents safe and protected. To condemn the first responders for something they not only never asked for, but repeatedly said no thanks we don't need this, is wrong. What is also wrong are some of the citizens of Chattanooga, who took advantage of what happened on July 16, and tried to cash in on what happened, by saying they're "traumatized."

I've said it once, and I'll say it again...we might be NOOGASTRONG, and the support from the community has definitely been appreciated, but let's get one thing straight. July 16 was not an attack on our city. It was a direct attack on our military, which is entirely different. No civilians or city landmarks were targeted. Just because you live in a city that had a terrorist attack occur in it doesn't mean you yourself were personally traumatized. Many people didn't even know we had a Naval Reserve and Marine Corps Reserve Center here in Chattanooga before the attack happened...even though the Navy and Marine Reserves have been here since the 1940's, and it hasn't been kept a big secret. They've been here a long time, and have always been involved with the community.

So when you drive down Amnicola Highway and pass by the Navy Reserve Center, or the Recruiting Station on Lee Highway, and memories of the balloons and flags and signs that once decorated the hallowed ground come to you, also remember that just as they did that horrific day, our first responders are out doing their jobs, just as they would any day. Because that's how they roll.

Mariah Smith

* * *

It's sad that everyone thought the first responders were heroes on July 16 but now some folks are changing their tune. Why? Because some of our brave first responders asked for help dealing with the impact of a terrorist attack.

It's even more a sad commentary on how we view mental health in this country. While it's okay for an officer to receive donations if they were shot or physically hurt, it's not okay for officers to admit they are suffering from mental trauma or PTSD. Maybe they aren't being "man enough".

It's a difficult thing, especially for men, to admit they are suffering. Maybe we should not denigrate them and say they are "cashing in".

Everyone deals with trauma differently and it is not for us to judge them or their needs. Bottom line, our officers were heroes to me on day one and they continue to be heroes. For them to accept a little help won't change that.

Marty Knowles

Chattanooga

* * *

I too do not agree with the resolution the city passed allowing first responders to be helped by the National Compassion Fund. But it has nothing at all to do with being against them in any way. This article does nothing but sing their praises, and anyone who can't see that needs to reread the article, until you get it.

The unsung heroes of not only July 16, but also every day, are our first responders. No one is disputing that or suggesting otherwise. There are several reasons I'm against them being allowed to receive help from the National Compassion Fund: first, the commercials for this fund/fundraising effort led many to believe the money being raised was solely for the families of the fallen five. Those are the true victims of the attacks carried out on July 16. If the National Compassion Fund wanted to help others along with those families, they should have made that abundantly clear, which they did not. People feel like they were misled and taken advantage of, even lied too. And it has tainted their view of not only the fund, but of our first responders.

The second reason is, as stated in the original article, this is the job they signed up for. They knowingly persue these careers understanding that they will be put in harms way, their lives will be on the line, and they will see a not so wonderful side of humanity. They wouldn't pursue a career like this if they thought they couldn't handle it. And more power to them, I certainly couldn't do it. But can you imagine how much money would have to be raised on a regular basis to compensate a first responder whenever they become traumatized from work? Considering what they go through, they probably see and have to deal with a lot more traumatizing events than most of us.

Third, there are already policies and support systems in place to help first responders deal with what their careers force them to see. I don't know to what extent, but I know they have access to counseling, among other things, that help them deal with the traumatizing moments of their careers. Which is precisely why most of them have turned down any help from the National Compassion Fund.

Mariah Smith is correct...most of them have turned it down because they already have support systems, including counseling, in place. That comes with the job. Of course it's up to them to use it. The families of the fallen five don't necessarily have access to counseling, a support system, etc, which is why I donated to it.

To be clear, I am totally in support of first responders and everything they do, and it's clear the author of this article is supportive of them also. To suggest anyone isn't in support of them is absurd.

Jan Carlton
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U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander released the following statement on Wednesdays Senate vote to begin debate on the American Security Against Foreign Enemies Act:

Today, I voted to begin debate on legislation that expands background investigations on Iraqi and Syrian refugees hoping to enter the United States because we cannot afford to take any shortcuts with our refugee process that could jeopardize American lives. But the real focus should be for the United States to work with Europe and our other allies to defeat ISIS and stabilize these countries so millions of Iraqis and Syrians dont have to leave their homes.

U.S. Senator Bob Corker said, While I believe it is important that the United States provide assistance to those seeking protection from the brutality of ISIS and the Assad regime in Syria, there can be no shortcuts when it comes to guaranteeing the safety of the American people, said Corker. This bipartisan legislation temporarily would suspend the Syrian and Iraqi refugee program until the administration can assure the American people that we have the right systems in place to certify that those entering our country are thoroughly vetted and do not pose a security threat. To truly stem the refugee crisis, we must address it at its core and work with our allies to develop a broader strategy to counter the destabilizing forces in the Middle East.

U.S. Senator David Perdue said, "ISIS has called on its supporters to exploit refugee programs and unsecure borders to attack its enemies. This global call to action and resulting terrorist attacks have Georgians and Americans concerned about their safety and the security of our homeland. This bill helps guarantee that effective safeguards are in place to prevent radical terrorists from using the refugee program to their advantage. When we are facing such serious safety threats, it is disappointing Senate Democrats blocked this effort and put political interests ahead of national security.

The bill passed in the House of Representatives on Nov. 19 by a vote of 289 to 137.
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Part 1, The Story of the Erie

Very few nations, tribes, bands, or peoples of American Indians have been as legended and mythologized, and caught the fancy of both their fellow Native American First Nations and anthropologists throughout the Western world, as have the confederacy of tribes most commonly known, at least in the USA, as the Erie. The best graphic evidence we have comes from the Jesuit missionaries of New France in the seventeenth century, and even that is but second and third hand. Only one firsthand account, of an English trader out of Jamestown in 1632 who met some of their representatives among the Massawomeck, exists. Much of the information we have is cartographical or archaeological.

The most mention the Erie usually get is that a war started between them and the Five Nations Iroquois in 1653 during the Beaver Wars, and by 1656 it was all over and done with and the Erie were no more. The problem is that those facts contain only a smidgen of truth. Yes, the Erie were conquered and subjugated in the seventeenth century, except for those who left the region, but it was not in 1656 that all of those remaining in the north were conquered or had surrendered; in fact, the war itself lasted until 1664 and the last Erie did not surrender until 1682. But even then that was not the last of them.

The name of the Erie

The Erieronon, to use the Huron suffix, or Eriehaga, to use the Iroquois suffix, are called by a large variety of names in the Jesuit Relations of 1610-1791 and in related documents of New France from the period, including maps. Variations include Enrielhonan, Rhiierrhonnon, and Enrie, as well as Rigueronnon, Riquehronnon, Erieckrenois, and Eriegoneckkak, the latter group also versions of the name of the leading tribe of the confederacy which the Virginian trader among the Massawomeck, Edward Fleet, mangled into Hereckeenes.

The French usually called them Nation du Chat or Nation des Chats, a translation into French of the meaning of their name in Huron and other languages, people of the long-tails, about which there is a debate over whether this refers to raccoons or cougars, with solid evidence on both sides.

More properly, the Huron referred to them as the Yenresh, which would be Yenreshronon with the suffix, meaning long-tailed or long-tailed people. The Tuscarora name for them was Kenyrak. The Onondaga name for the raccoon, tsho-eragak, may be related. The Seneca, physically their closest neighbors among the Five Nations, called them the Gwageoneh. The Mohawk called them the Arrigahaga, people of Arrigha, their chief town. As a whole, the Five (later Six) Nations Iroquois also referred to them as the Otkons, or bad spirits.

Another name, possibly Onondaga, was Onnontioga. The name occurs only in the Jesuit Relations discussing the peoples of the town among the Seneca made entirely of assimilated persons named Gandougarae, where the Black Robes had their Mission of Sainte-Michel. The other two peoples inhabiting the town were the Huron and the Chonnonton (Neutrals), and since it is known positively from elsewhere in the Relations and other sources that Erie made up a large portion of the population, the Onnontioga can be none other than they.

The Dutch referred to them as the Black Minqua, their approximation of the Algonquian term, Minqua deriving from Mengwe, the name by which they and most Algonquian-speakers called the Iroquoian-speakers, meaning literally without penis. No one can say Indians dont have a sense of humor. The Lenape called them Alligewi or Talligewi. Their nearer Algonquian neighbors the Ottawa called them the Olighin.

Other names or versions of names for the Erie are Erigas, Erighek, Achawi, Kauneastekaroneah, Squakihaw, Tchoueregak, and Kahgwageono. Sometime during the eighteenth century, their Seneca name, Gwageoneh, had metamorphosed into Kahkwa, and it is under that name that much of the legending and mythologizing took place. The Tuscarora artist David Cusik is the source for the name Squakihaw, while Mohawk historian John Norton is the first literary source for the name Kahkwa.

The Seneca stories about their war with the Kahkwas which filled up much of their popular tales in the nineteenth century gave the impression to some scholars that here was a tribe previously unheard of whose nature was just waiting to be discovered. This mistake continues even today, as a couple of recent publications have made a distinction between the Kahkwa and the Erie, in spite of the fact that the first person to write of the Kahkwa, John Norton, said quite explicitly that the Kahkwa were the same as the Erie. Henry Schoolcraft picked up on this, but many others who have written on the Erie or the Kahwah have missed it completely.

Kahkwa, or the earlier version Gwageoneh, is the only way Seneca-language speakers can approximate the more common name as used by the French, since the language lacks the letter R. Interestingly, Norton also called them the Rad-irakeai-ka, and wrote that they lived in the town of Kaghkwague.

The Erie probably shared the same autonym as the Huron and the Petun: Wendat. The Black Robes (the Huron nickname for the Jesuits) wrote that the language of the Erie was nearly identical to Huron, and the Huron did not call them Attawandaron, meaning, colloquially speaking, those people who talk funny, as they did the Chonnonton (aka Neutral Nation) to their west and the Massawomeck to their southeast beyond the Erie. Attawandaron signifies an Iroquoian language but a separate dialect, while Akwanake signifies a speaker of an entirely different language altogether. For instance, the Huron called all Algonquian-speakers Akwanake, and the Cherokee as well, though the reason for that are another story.

Names on the landscape

The example which stands out most is the second of the Great Lakes from the east, Lake Erie, which the French called both Lac du Chat and Lac de Chonty, both references to the Erie. For English speakers, and some French speakers, the more common early name was Lake Okswego, apparently the Huron name. One more that appears on some late seventeenth century French maps is Lac Teiocharontiong, another native name; Jolliet called it Lac Teiocharontiong des Erie, making clear which was meant.

Less obvious are the Allegheny River, the Allegheny Mountains, and the Allegheny Plateua, all deriving from Alligewi or Talligewi, the Lenape name for the Erie and/or the Cherokee. My contention for several years has been that the two are one in the same.

In the early decades of the eighteenth century, there was likewise a town of Allegheny across the Ohio River and slightly upstream from Shannopins Town of the Lenape. It stood at the site of the later American town of Allegheny, Pennsylvania, which existed from 1788 until 1907, when it was annexed by the growing city of Pittsburgh.

What is now called the Allegheny River was considered the upper part of the great Ohio River In earlier centuries. In fact, when the Lenape called the Ohio the Alligewi-sipu or Talligewi-hanna, they meant the whole length from the headwaters of the Allegheny. Same for the Ottawa, who called it Olighin-sipu, a name which makes the transition from the Algonquian-language names for the Erie, Alligewi and Olighin, to Allegheny, even easier to see. Ohio, by the way, was the Seneca name for the whole river. An early name for the river among the colonists of the British provinces referencing the Erie was Black Mingo River.

At one time, the Lenape referred to the entire region which the Erie occupied as Alligewinek, or place of the Alligewi.

To this day, the Seneca name for Eighteen Mile Creek that enters Lake Erie at Hamburg, the location of the Kleis Site, is Koghquaga, a reference to the Kahkwa.

Their territory

Though many sources claim that their territory spread from Niagara River around the southern shores of Lake Erie to Sandusky Bay in the west and to the southeast to the Ohio River. One historian even claimed the Erie occupied the Ohio River from Beaver Creek to the Wabash River, which would be the western border of Indiana. Some have even claimed the Erie were the people who built the Fort Ancient Culture in southern Ohio.

The archaeological record does not support either of those contentions. Archaeologically, the Erie sites are identified as the Ripley Focus of the Iroquois Aspect of the Northeastern Phase of the Woodland Pattern. The sites belonging to the Ripley Focus stretch from East Aurora, NY southwest to Erie, PA, and some believe that sites within Buffalo, NY may be included as well. While realizing that the confederacys territory would not have been confined to their towns and farming plots, it would still be but a fraction of the larger claims. The probable true boundaries of the territory of the Erie were the lake on the north, the Genesee River on the east, the Allegheny River on the south, and the Grand and Mahong Rivers on the west.

Five major terminal sites have been discovered at distances of between twenty and twenty-five miles from each other, indicating a separate polity or tribe but sharing enough characteristics to signify belonging to a larger body as well. Each of these protohistorical sites contains European trade goods, is palisaded, and quite large. Within proximity to each are three to five earlier sites suggesting that within each group a single body of people migrated from one to the other. The terminal sites show no sign of several dependent villages as had been the case with earlier stages, mirroring the tribes of the Five Nations in centralizing population for defense.

From east to west, the five known terminal sites, as identified by anthropologists Marian White and William Enghlebert, are the Bead Hill Site in East Aurora, NY; the Kleis Site in Hamburg, NY; the Silverheels-Highbanks Site near Irvine on the Cattaraugus Creek Reservation; the Ripley Site in Ripley, NY; and the East 28th Street Site in Erie, PA.

There may very well be other, even larger sites as well that have not been discovered; only recently, within the past decade or so, town sites in Huron territory have been found large enough to support the French figures of a Huron population of thirty thousand at the beginning of the colonial era. The same holds true for satellite village sites connected to the central fortified towns at the five terminal sites; the Franquelin map of 1684 shows 19 v. detruits for the Ganientonga, one of the tribes of the Erie confederacy, meaning sixteen to eighteen dependent villages in addition to the one to three large palisaded towns.

Some nineteenth century accounts claim for the Erie twelve towns and twenty-eight villages, but here they are confused with the Chonnonton, the autonym for the confederacy and proto-chiefdom commonly known to Americans as the Neutral Nation.

Constituent subtribes

Of these there were four, maybe five: (1) Arrigahaga; (2) Kentaientonga; (3) Oniasontke; (4) Atrakwaeronon; (5) Takoulguehronnon.

When encountered by the French and until the destruction of their seat in 1654, the leading tribe were the Arrigahaga (Erigaronon), centered on the town of Rigue, or Arrigha, and maybe limited to it. Several of the names from contemporary accounts and maps use names to refer to the entire Erie people which more specifically refer to the people of this town: Riquehronnon, Rakouagega, Kakouagoga, Rigueronnon, Erieckrenois, Erigas, and Eriegoneckkak.

The Arrighahaga are the Kahkwa proper; Kahkwa, or Gwageoneh, derives from the Seneca language, which has no letter R, nor a letter L for that matter, and therefore cannot say Arrigha or Rigue. The earliest cartographical evidence of this name lies written on the 1680 Bernou map, which shows Kakouagoga as a nation detruite approximately where Hamburg or Buffalo lie now. The next appearance is on the 1688 Franquelin map, located in what appears to be a more southerly spot at the southeast corner of the lake in the form Rakouagega; later maps use Bernous form.

The second tribe were the Kentaientonga, or in other forms, Gentaguega, Gentaguetehronnon, Gentaientonga, and Kentayentonga. The one time the name of their central town or village is mentioned, it is given as Gentaienton. The only time they appear on a map, Franquelin in 1688, they are located on the Allegheny River, though this may not be accurate, and they are listed as formerly having had nineteen villages, which probably is accurate.

The third tribe were the Oniasontke, also written Honniasont and Honniasontkeronon, meaning, people of the place of crook-necked squashes. They first appear on the Franquelin map of 1688 on the Allegheny or Ohio River downstream from the Kentaientonga, with the notation, 2 vill destruits, but they are mentioned in Abbe Galinees journal in 1669. Their name appears on maps into the early eighteenth century.

The fourth tribe were the Atrakwaeronon, under which name they appear in the Jesuit Relation for 1652, which gives the name of their main town as Atrakwae. On the anonymous map of Nouvelle France dated 1641 (probably created by Bourdon), the tribe appears as the Akhrakvaetonon, which according to anthropologist John Steckley, last remaining speaker of the Huron language, means people of the east. They appear elsewhere under the name versions Akhrakuaeronon and Ohreokouaehronon.

A possible fifth tribe may have been the Takoulguehronnon, whose sole appearance is in a list of nations conquered by the Five Nations Iroquois in the Jesuit Relation of 1656, preceding the Gentaguetehronnon, one of the forms of Kentaientonga. The 1862 work, A Description of the Province and City of New York, gives the name of their town as Takoulgue. Anthropolgists Steckley and James Pendergast believe that the Takoulguehronnon were the same as the Atrakwaeronon, so it is clear they both believe the group to be an Erie subtribe, but the two names bear little if any resemblance.

Culture of the Erie confederacy

The Erie shared a many features of a common culture with the western Iroquois tribes and confederations: Huron, Petun, Chonnonton, Wenro, and possibly Chondake and Massawomeck. The statements of the Black Robes that the Erie spoke an identical language to that spoken by the Huron and Petun plus the fact that the Huron did not call them Attawandaron as they did the Chonnonton and the Massawomeck tells us their language was essentially Huron.

We know from various contemporary annals and journals that the Erie were led by a female chief, though probably not one holding the fanciful titles given her by the Iroquois. The same was likely true for each of the constituent tribes. The office would have been on the white or peace side of the leadership structure; as far as well can tell, the leaders in the field of war were all men. Each town and perhaps dependent village would have been self-governing, with decisions made by the larger group by concensus.

As for their religion, they probably gave homage to a number of spirits of varying degrees of significance, and believed in an overall force that gave life to all living things. This the western Iroquois shared with their eastern neighbors. Among the Huron and Petun, and probably among the Erie also, this force was called Orenda or Iarenda; among the Mohawk and Cayuga it was called Orenna or Karenna; among the Oneida it was Olenna or Kalenna; among the Onondaga and the Seneca, it was called Oenna or Gaenna.

The Orenda compares to the Nu of the Kapampangan people of the Philippines, the Mana of the Polynesians and Melanesians, the Wakonda of Siouan-speakers, the Manitou of Algonquian-speakers (though these also use the word manitou in other ways), and the Kami of Japanese aboriginals known as the Ainu. The Huron have other words for spirit, ghost, god, and soul; the Orenda is a separate concept from any of those.

They were unique among North American Indians for using poison-tipped arrows to great effectiveness during war, and perhaps hunting.

Like most other Native Americans, they tortured select prisoners for several hours or even days before burning them to death, adopting the rest or using them as slaves for a time, which was usually followed by adoption. Like their fellow Iroquioans, they also probably partook in ritual cannibalism, especially of honored enemies. Given the status in which they clearly held women, the Erie followed the practice of the Huron of avoiding the torture and burning of women which the Chonnonton and Five Nations Iroquois engaged in.

While previous each of their constituent tribes had lived in scattered villages with a large fortified town as their center of society, by the early seventeenth century, certainly by the fourth decade, most of the tribes had converged within themselves into a single larger densely palisaded town, with perhaps small hamlets outside the walls. This was almost certainly true for the easternmost subdivisions of the confederacy. The earlier pattern, however, may have held at least for the Kentaientonga, if Franquelins comment is correct.

In the decades before the Beaver Wars began in earnest, the Erie were allied militarily with the Chonnonton confederacy and with the Wenro, and also with the Mississauga. Upon the entrance of the Europeans onto the scene, they forged trade relationship with the English of Virginia through the Massawomeck and with the Dutch and the Swedes of New Netherlands and New Sweden through the Andaste (Susquehannock). Their military alliance with the Chonnonton collapsed in 1648, and in 1653 they forged a military alliance with the Andaste.

The Erie-Iroquois War

The war between the Erie and the Iroquois did not start in 1653, when the Erie attacked the Seneca, but in 1651, when the western Iroquois attacked the Atrakwaeronon and finished the job the next year. The desruction of Atrakwae may have been intended as an object lesson to a powerful neighbor. Why the Erie attacked in 1653 may have been as simple as realizing they were the next conquest after the fall of the Huron, the Petun, and the Chonnonton.

That the Erie were a large people adept at war is proven by the fact that the Onondaga, the central tribe geographically and politically, representing all the Five Nations, sought an audience with the French asking their assistance in the war against the Erie, which was apparently not going very well in 1654. Besides their poison-tipped arrows, which the Erie archers could fire at a rate of eight to ten compared to time it took for a single shot of the Iroquois with the Dutch supplied arquebuses. The Erie had these too, but not as much access to shot and powder as their antagonists from the east.

The Erie-Iroquois War did not end in 1656, despite the commentary of some of the Jesuits in letters and in Relations (a relation was an annual report to the head of the Jesuit Societys missions in New France back in Paris). Eight hundred Honniasont warriors and their families took up residence with the Andaste in 1662 to aid them in their war with the western Iroquois and their allies. The Jesuit Relation of 1664 describes the report from the Iroquois of the final defeat of the Erie that year. But it is not until 1682 that the Iroquois report was is supposedly the last group of Erie finally surrendering, a group numbering some six hundred persons.

Some of the Erie were adopted and assimilated (except for those who were tortured, burned, and eaten), but the majority of those who surrendered lived in communities with other surrenderees like those in the town of Gandougarae in Seneca territory.

The final group of surrenderees described just previously may have formed the community that lived at Mingo Flats in the current Mingo, West Virginia. That population town became the core of Crows Town on the Ohio River (now Mingo Bottom, Steubenville, OH) during the French and Indian War. The town spread across the river to Follansbee, WV, occupying both sides until the Treaty of Fort Stanwix restricted them to the right bank of the river. Its population, known to Americans as Mingo along with other Iroquoian-speakers (including a sizable number of Erie desecendants) who had earlier moved into what is now western Pennsylvania, migrated to the Ohio Country in 1774.

After their central town, Arrigha, was destroyed and much of the population killed or made captive, the Rigueronon, still with 600-700 warriors, transferred to the outskirts of Virginia, where the local tribes called them the Richahechrians. In 1656, they fought a battle against colonial rangers and a party of Pamunkey, and won. By 1670, the Rickohockans were in the mountains to the west of the colony of North Carolina.

Fate of the Erie

Joined by other northern refugees, picking up others along the way, and assimilating the remnants of the Mississippian survivors in the areas they settled, the Richahechrian-Rickohockan were initially identified on maps as three separate groups: the Tchalaka, the Kituwagi, and the Taligui. After a few decades, they were known as the Cheraqui/Cherekay/Cherokee.

Several sources report the origins of the Cherokee in the north. Some of those and others report the Cherokee establishing towns in the Upper Allegheny-Ohio Valley, in the late eighteenth century, trying to gain, or regain, a foothold in the north. According to Bishop Johannes Ettwein of the Moravian Brethren, the war between the Lenape and the Cherokee over this territory began in 1698, and that by 1710-1715 they had driven them out with the help of the Iroquois; Mooney gives the date as 1708.

This incursion can easily be understood as a desire to return to their home territory, or at least near it, on the part of the Cherokee, who were formerly Erie and Huron and Chonnonton (and Shawnee and Powhatan, according to the Moravian Brethren). It also explains the willingness of the core Iroquois, the old stock, to release its firm grasp on its dependents and allow the Lenape, Shawnee, and Mingo (descendants of Erie, Huron, and Chonnonton living among them) to settle what is now western Pennsylvania.

Descendants of the Erie survive today among the Six Nations, the Seven Nations of Canada, the Seneca-Cayuga Nation in Oklahoma, the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, and in the three tribes of the Cherokee (Eastern Band, Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, and Keetoowah Band). The Seneca-Cayuga descend from the Seneca of Sandusky who were actually Mingo, later joined by two separate groups of Cayuga. The Eastern Shawnee descend from the Mixed Band of Seneca and Shawnee formerly on the Scioto River, the Seneca portion actually being Mingo.

Chuck Hamilton

natty4bumpo@gmail.com


H&H (Health and Happiness) International Limited is looking for youths to grow together as we prepare for new business in the following ...
Police said Charles Lee Reed admitted going to the home of his employer and stealing items while the employer and his wife were away at a banquet.

Lee, 58, is charged with theft over $1,000 and aggravated burglary.

Kenny Kizzar said he and his wife noticed items missing when they arrived home on Dayton Pike on Monday night.

The next morning he said he confronted Reed about the break-in. He said he then went to where Reed was living on Blythe Ferry Road and found some of his missing items, including food, clothing and other personal items.

Reed also admitted taking a gun from the residence and selling it to Donnie Ray in Spring City for $200. The gun was retrieved with the help of law enforcement in Rhea County.


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Hey mon, you alright?

You have a blessed day.

How is your morning walk pretty ladies?

Yeah mon, no worries. Everything alright.

These stock phrases are just a few of the things I heard each and every day while staying in Negril, Jamaica. I travelled to the island to take a short vacation and also attend a destination wedding this past month. While on the island, I was pleasantly greeted by the local Jamaicans anytime I left the bed and breakfast I stayed at. I was surprised at first at how friendly the locals were  I had heard from friends to be cautious of the crime in Jamaica. Nevertheless, I always responded to the locals, asking them how they were.

A few days into my trip I was with a Jamaican driver, headed to another part of the island. I chatted with the driver, Patcha, for quite a while. I asked him about their culture  views on marriage, money, economy, etc. He was open and never held anything back. I mentioned to him that the Jamaicans were all so friendly. He kind of chuckled and asked if that was out of the ordinary for me. I told him that America was different.

I went on to tell him that I am guilty of being unfriendly at times, not intentionally, but just by habit. He didnt quite understand. I told Patcha that it isnt uncommon in America to be walking in a hallway or down a street with one other person and for neither of them to say hello to one another. Some people even say they feel lonely in a room full of people. He burst out laughing.

I started laughing too. Why do we do this? What stops us from just initiating a conversation with others? He asked why we did this aloud. I started thinking and said, Maybe it is because Americans are too stressed. We forget about other people because we are kind of on a mission each day. Patcha responded, Us Jamaicans are stressed too, we need to have food on the table every night. I bit my tongue remembering Patcha had told me earlier that many Jamaicans live in poverty. He told me that workers at some of the larger all-inclusive resorts on the island make only about ten U.S. dollars a day. Other smaller establishments tend to not pay their workers on time or abuse their power over their employees.

Clearly stress isnt the reason, so why do we do this? Why do we stray away from human contact when it is so easy to make a connection with another human? I couldnt give Patcha an answer. I have been a shy person for the majority of my life, but by no means am I scared to strike up a conversation with an individual. When I returned to the United States, I noticed myself falling into old habits, just politely smiling at the person next to me in line for coffee, but never saying hi or asking the how they were today.

I wanted to write this blog post to hold myself accountable and also challenge my readers to break the silence. Say hello to strangers. Dare yourself to give someone a compliment. Make yourself more human.

As future medical professionals, part of our responsibility is to make our patients comfortable. I will count this challenge as daily practice for my career. Ive seen many doctors put on a positive attitude for their patients, only to find them miserable outside of arms reach of a patient. What makes a stranger in the grocery store any different from a patient we are treating in the hospital?

I hope this short story will help readers see that sometimes we all need a reality check. Whatever the reason is, our culture is heading down a path of loneliness, instead of solidarity. Lets all take responsibility for this and make changes to unite one another.

Aleah Chang is a medical student. This article originally appeared in the Medical Student Press.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
Elizabeth Eckford, a teenager in high school, was just trying to attend class. It was Sept. 4, 1957 in Little Rock, Ark.

But what was documented as Ms. Eckford, a black student, pushed her way through an angry white mob on her way to Central High School, forever changed how many Americans viewed race relations, said Dr. Seth Weitz, an associate professor of history at Dalton State.

A photo of the event was taken by Will Counts of the Arkansas Democrat, which shows a white teenager, Hazel Bryan, hurling insults at Ms. Eckford. It was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1958.

While it instantly became a lasting image of the cruelty and savage nature of the Jim Crow South, the story of the pictures subjects is a fascinating, but lesser known glimpse into the human heart and mind, Dr. Weitz said.

He will explore this idea more in his presentation Little Rock 1957: A Portrait of Hate and Reconciliation as the first in a four-part series of speakers for Black History Month. Speakers will explore different aspects of Black History each Tuesday in February at 7 p.m. in the Goodroe Auditorium of Dalton State. Each event is free and open to the public. Dr. Weitz kicks off the series on Feb. 2.

There will also be a step show on Feb. 17 at 7:30 p.m.

The speaker series grew out of a desire to celebrate the achievements and history of African-Americans, while at the same time recognizing the central role African-Americans have played and continued to play in American society and history," Dr. Weitz said. My hope is that these talks will educate, enlighten, and foster interest so that in the future we can grow the program, and reach across the campus and community to further our celebration of Black History Month.

On Feb. 9, Dr. Tammy Byron, an associate professor of history at Dalton State, will speak on Somewhere a Real Bible: African American Slaves and Christian Religious Instruction in the Antebellum South.

To teach and reinforce white expectations of slaves and to assuage the guilt of holding human beings in bondage, white masters, ministers, and catechists encouraged the Christianization of American slaves in the antebellum South, Dr. Byron said. Their message was one of subordination and obedience, which slaves were expected to accept without question. In spite of this, however, African American men and women sometimes took it upon themselves to educate one another in a more just and merciful Christianity without their owners sanction.

On Feb. 16, Dr. James L. Wright, an associate professor of sociology and criminal justice at Dalton State, will speak on Assessing Mass Incarceration in America: A New Jim Crow Perspective.

I will focus on understanding Americas system of mass incarceration through the implementation of key crime and justice policy designed to control the masses, Dr. Wright said.

Wrapping up the series on Feb. 23 will be Dr. Susan Eckelmann, an assistant professor of history at UTC. Her presentation is titled Will the Colored Race Ever Be Satisfied? The Worldview of Anti-Civil Rights Teenage Youth and Politics During the Civil Rights Era.

The lecture will examine the activism and evolving political vocabulary among anti-civil rights teenage youth during the mid-1960s.

In written correspondence addressed to Governor George Wallace of Alabama, anti-civil rights teenagers conveyed their self-perception as a political minority, promoted states rights, and articulated a political agenda, she said. The moral outlook of Wallaces teenage followers helped tighten the stitches of the New Rights budding political and cultural fabric across the United States.






A SET of letters that give an insight into an Urlingford couples life in the 1920s will go under the hammer at a sale by Durrow-based Sheppards Irish Auction House next week.

A SET of letters that give an insight into an Urlingford couples life in the 1920s will go under the hammer at a sale by Durrow-based Sheppards Irish Auction House next week.

Mollis letters to her dearest Jack were found six years ago scattered and discarded in front of an Urlingford fish and chip shop. The letters are plain spoken, lively and full of detail.

All eight were written to 27-year-old Urlingford shopkeeper Jack DArcy (her husband?) while he was interned in Kilkenny Jail by the British authorities. These 91-year-old historical texts seem to emerge from the writer in a fresh and intimate way that makes them both familiar and compelling to read.

Molli is important because she is both historical observer and actor. Her hopes and worries are captured with a particular sharpness that is both immediate and homely and, as a result, are pleasant to read. Daily activities centred on The Corner House, a shop in Urlingford, are peppered with news of relatives and friends as Molli keeps the home fires burning.

Though not dated, references contained in the correspondence clearly suggest that they were written in the run-up to St Patricks Day 1921. For example, there is mention of a police District Inspector being wounded near Callan. District Inspector Hubert Leslie Baynham of the Royal Irish Constabulary was severely wounded in the neck when the West Kilkenny Flying Column ambushed him and others at Garryricken House on March 12, 1921.

The personal correspondence of Molli is a valuable primary source for historical researchers and particularly so for micro-historians. It provides an alternative historical view of the more mainstream representation of the Irish revolutionary period, a historical narrative that, like most histories, invariably excludes women and children.

What makes these letters historically valuable is that they provide, and contribute to, a personal and more candid account of the period. The daily habits of so-called ordinary people are glimpsed at. Details that often go unrecorded are brought to light, as for example, the friendly and helpful warder at Kilkenny Jail whose kindness is appreciated by Molli.

And while local Catholic priest Fr William OFarrell gave her comfort and hope, he also advised her on legal representation, recommending to her a solicitor in Kilkenny. What is significantly evident from the correspondence is that even in their absence, women continued to look after their men. Molli worried that Jack might be cold in his prison cell: more than once she offered to send him a rug. While he was incarcerated in Kilkenny, she provided him with clothing and with a laundry service. She sent him writing pads, stamps and food. Chicken, if not Jack DArcys ration of choice, was certainly Mollis choice of ration.

American poet Emily Dickinson wrote: A letter always feels to me like immortality because it is in the mind alone without the corporeal friend. There is an almost palpable timeless quality about the rescued Urlingford letters.

Molli writes to her dearest Jack that there is nothing in this world that would give me more pleasure than to see you home again and urges him to pray hard for his return while she promises to do the same.

Molli, anxious of news of his release, tells Jack that she was on the look out of a wire every day. In another letter she writes movingly to him that I am simply longing to have you home. And in yet another she sadly notes that Urlingford is just the same as ever, but very lonely.

It may be reasonable and pleasing to conclude that one-time Dublin Castle terrorist suspect Jack DArcy undoubtedly reciprocated Mollis love and affection. Otherwise, why did he collect and save her letters?

Mollis letters have been consigned to Sheppards Irish Auction House, Durrow where they are will be offered as one lot. They are estimated to make between 200 and 300. They will be auctioned on November 28.

In the same sale, a Carlow family is expected to make a welcome profit on a piece of inherited Chinese porcelain. The family made some 110,000 from the sale of a similar vase two years ago, despite the object having been initially valued at 100. The latest porcelain piece is expected to make 200,000.

Details of the three-day Dublin and Provincial sale are at www.sheppards.ie.
Every vote is a part of the decision making process that impacts all of us, said Julie Wise, Director of King County Elections. Its important to vote in every election and return your ballot as early as possible.

King County Elections has forecast a turnout of 31 percent for this election.

On special election ballots

This special election includes propositions from eight school districts:

Auburn School District No. 408

Federal Way School District Proposition No. 210

Fife School District No. 417

Mercer Island School District No. 400

Renton School District No. 403

Seattle School District No. 1

Tukwila School District No. 406

Vashon Island School District No. 402

Options for returning ballots

Voters should read and follow directions on their ballots, sign the return envelope, and get ballots back before the February 9 election day deadline.

Mailed ballots need a first-class stamp.

Voters also have several locations to return ballots without a stamp by 8 p.m. on February 9, including drop-box locations, scheduled ballot drop-off vans and the Bellevue, Renton and Seattle Accessible Voting Centers.

In-person voter registration deadline

Citizens not yet registered to vote in Washington state have until February 1 at 4:30 p.m. to register in person at King County Elections offices to vote in the February 9 Special Election:

King County Elections headquarters

919 SW Grady Way

Renton, WA 98057

Open weekdays 8:30 a.m.  4:30 p.m.

King County Voter Registration Annex

500 4 th Avenue

Avenue Room 440

Seattle, WA 98104

Open weekdays 8:30 a.m.  1 p.m. and 2 p.m.  4:30 p.m.

Questions?

Voters who dont receive a ballot by January 25 or who have questions should call King County Elections at 206-296-VOTE (8683).

###
Editor's Note: The article was updated to include comments from Li Yuanchao, Vice-President of the People's Republic of China

(Kitco News) - Concerns over Chinas slowing growth could be overblown as the country continues a historic transition of its economy, according to some of the recent comments from the 2016 World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.

Many global economic leaders remain optimistic that China will remain an important driver of the global economy and recent market volatility will prove to be temporary. The comments come after government data earlier in the week showed the Chinese gross domestic product grew by 6.9% in 2015, the slowest growth rate in 25 years.

Photo courtesy of Michael Buholzer, World Economic Forum .

However, the recent data does not highlight growing strength in the domestic economy. According to government officials, the transition to more domestic consumption from an export-based economy continues to slowly develop and evolve. During his presentation at the WEF,Fang Xinghai, director-general, International Economic Department, Office of the Central Leading Group for Financial and Economic Affairs of the People's Republic of China, said that the country is making strong progress in the development of its domestic consumption, which has grown to 52.5%, up from 49% five years ago.

We have to be patient as it is very difficult to communicate seamlessly with the market, he added.

Zhang Xin, chief executive officer and co-founder of SOHO China, also said at the forum that the recent market volatility doesnt reflect the strength in the domestic economy. There is a complete decoupling of the stock market from the real economy, he said.

Jiang Jianqing, chairman of the board, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the worlds largest financial institution, said during the forum that China has reached the point of no return and needs to continue to deepen its economic reforms.

We can no longer depend on investment; we need to rely on innovation and economic reforms to deliver the next wave of economic growth, said Jiang.

While concerns about Chinas growth potential have dominated the forum this year, Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at IHS, said, in a report Thursday that if China can stabilize its financial markets, then global conditions will become calmer. He added that Western economies shouldnt panic over current turmoil in China.

China has rattled global financial markets again, but it will probably not drag the world economy into recession. The recent China-induced financial volatility is the result of a nasty cocktail of major structural problems, slowing growth and inept policies, he said.

Thursday, Li Yuanchao, Vice-President of the People's Republic of China described Chinas economy as a new normal of steady growth.



Despite the volatility in the world economy, China still achieved a GDP increase of over $500 billion [in 2015], which is estimated to be the largest in the world, he said.



In his speech at the WEF, Li said that the government will continue its economic reforms, encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship.

By Neils Christensen of Kitco News; nchristensen@kitco.com

Follow Neils Christensen @neils_C
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By Rachel Seymour of the Kitsap Sun

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND  After the idea of a development moratorium on Bainbridge Island stalled during Tuesday's City Council meeting, the city tree protection committee has been asked to investigate ways to prevent large-scale clear cutting.

Councilman Ron Peltier brought up the idea for a moratorium on large-scale development during an earlier council meeting and called for public support of a moratorium in December before he was on the council.

Another new council member, Kol Medina, also spoke of concerns with clear cutting on the island for development, although he said he did not support a moratorium.

"There are certainly things we see going on by the book of the zoning ordinance that none of us would like, I think," he said. "How can we close some of those problems?"

Councilwoman Sarah Blossom noted that a moratorium could be the tool the city needs to stop development while regulations are changed, although she did not see any major changes in the comprehensive plan that could warrant a moratorium.

Several other council members voiced concern about a moratorium potentially have detrimental effects.

Michael Scott said he had serious questions about whether a moratorium is the right way to go.

"A moratorium is a very blunt-edged instrument," he said, "that could have far-reaching and unintended adverse consequences without a foreseeable end."

Scott noted that a moratorium could specifically have an effect on residents ability to find affordable housing.

While debates about a moratorium generate public discussion about how development is handled, Councilman Wayne Roth said the city always has been engaged in growth management.

"We are fully engaged in this and have been since the beginning of the comp plan process," he said. "We move forward on green initiatives. We are working on tree ordinances."

Public comments, like the council, were divided on the moratorium.

Developers, architects and residents in favor of more affordable housing spoke against a moratorium.

Architect Jonathan Davis said he did not support a moratorium, although he would support "the notion that really important change needs to come out of this discussion."

Supporters of the moratorium pointed to development causing pollution and affecting the island's water supply, while opposition voiced concern about rising house prices and how changing building codes was a better solution.

Blossom said she is "tired of hearing green building code is the answer to everything," and eventually suggested the tree protection committee could work on finding solutions to development concerns.

No date has been set on when the committee could present solutions to the council, and the city is working on hiring a new planning director since Kathy Cook retired in November.
New owner Nick Taylor talks about some of the different show ideas he has for the Dragonfly Cinema in Port Orchard on Wednesday. MEEGAN M. REID / KITSAP SUN

SHARE New owner Nick Taylor talks about his plans for the Dragonfly Cinema. MEEGAN M. REID / KITSAP SUN Nick Taylor (right) exits the Dragonfly Cinema in Port Orchard. MEEGAN M. REID / KITSAP SUN New owner Nick Taylor in the projection booth of the Dragonfly Cinema in Port Orchard. MEEGAN M. REID / KITSAP SUN The case at the snack counter displays the wide array of candy available at the Dragonfly Cinema. MEEGAN M. REID / KITSAP SUN

By Tad Sooter of the Kitsap Sun

PORT ORCHARD  The secret popcorn recipe has been passed. Port Orchard's Dragonfly Cinema is under new ownership.

The former owners, the Shafer family, represented by Gryphon Shafer, made the announcement this week, at the conclusion of an unorthodox sale process. Rather than take offers on the cinema, which the Shafers rescued from closure five years ago, the family put out a request for proposals, asking prospective owners to describe why they were positioned to keep the business running.

The Shafers mulled several proposals in December, eventually selecting Nick Taylor to take on the Dragonfly.

Shafer said the 33-year-old film school graduate has the experience and enthusiasm needed to sustain the independent movie house.

"I have confidence in his ability to adopt the cinema and take it to even greater heights," Shafer said.

It's an opportunity Taylor has longed for most of his life. The self-described "movie nerd" grew up in San Diego, spending many rapturous hours soaking in films at the Vogue, a historic theater that closed in 2006.

"It was my spot," Taylor said. "Some of my fondest memories are from watching movies and experiencing the joy and the thought-provoking power movies have."

Hooked on cinema, Taylor went to film school at Boston College and worked in the industry for a time. He moved to Port Orchard three years ago and naturally gravitated to the Dragonfly on Bay Street. The two-screen theater reminded him of his hometown Vogue.

"It's very warm and cozy and inviting," said Taylor, who now lives in Bremerton. "I walked in and I almost expected them to know my name."

When the Shafers' request for ownership proposals for the theater went public, Taylor wasted no time making a pitch.

New ownership won't bring sweeping changes to the Dragonfly, which previously operated as the Historic Orchard Theater. Taylor said the staff of four, including longtime manager Byron Thomas, will stay on board, ensuring a smooth transition. The Dragonfly will continue offering an eclectic mix of films, including indie flicks, classics and second runs. The popcorn recipe will be preserved.

"All the things that have made it viable so far, we don't plan on changing," Taylor said. "Gryphon has laid a pretty fantastic foundation."

Some changes might be needed, however, for the Dragonfly to survive in an increasingly challenging industry. Taylor plans to convert at least one of the Dragonfly's projectors from 35 millimeter to digital, to keep up with changing movie technology. The expensive project might require a crowd-sourced fundraising campaign, he said.

Taylor has more ideas for keeping the movie-going experience fresh for audiences. He wants to obtain a license to sell beer and wine during some shows and hopes to partner with surrounding restaurants to offer dinner-and-a-movie cross promotions.

Shafer gave Taylor all the advice he could, including tips for navigating "the often murky and treacherous waters of movie studio relations." After handing over the Dragonfly's "coveted" popcorn recipe, he bid farewell to fans of the theater.

"It has been my family's honor and privilege over the past nearly five years to serve you," Shafer wrote in the announcement. "Seeing families and groups of friends enjoy their movie theater experience has been a blessing to us."

Dragonfly Cinema is at 822 Bay St. in Port Orchard. For information, go to dragonflycinema.com or find the cinema on Facebook.
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What's the most clearly defining moment so far in the 2016 presidential race? My choice would be Republican candidate Ted Cruz's New Hampshire campaign stop last March where he demonstrated his ability to frighten small children.

"The Obama-Clinton foreign policy of leading from behind," he preached passionately to a packed room assembled by the Strafford County Republican. "The whole world's on fire!"

"The whole world's on fire?" asked a clearly concerned little girl who sitting in the front row with her mother.

The crowd chuckled. Cruz, without skipping a beat, solemnly approached the little girl and offered comfort. "The world is on fire. Yes!" he said. "But you know what? Your mommy's here, and everyone's here to make sure that the world you grow up in is even better."

Sweet. The audience applauded and a tense moment for the child, identified by news reports as 3-year-old Julie Trant with her mother Michelle, was softened. Yay.

Yet, looking back, this particular pre-campaign YouTube moment seems to have offered an amusing trigger warning: Campaign 2016 may not always be suitable for younger or more sensitive viewers.

Or to put it more bluntly: Be afraid, very afraid.

"If we must choose between them," wrote political theorist Niccolo Machiavelli, "it is far safer to be feared than loved." In that spirit, this year's front-runners in both parties seem to be telling us voters a simple message: Love me or hate me, but fear the possibility that I might lose.

Cruz's fellow Republican candidates weren't about to be outdone in their race to frighten the rest of us more than Cruz frightened the little girl in New Hampshire.

Billionaire developer Donald Trump: "Our military is a disaster."

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush: "In this administration, every weapon system has been gutted; in this administration, the force levels are going down to a level where we can't even project force."

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio: "Let me tell you, if we don't get this election right, there may be no turning back for America."

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie: "We need to rebuild our military, and this president has let it diminish to a point where tin pot dictators like the mullahs in Iran are taking our Navy ships."

Even as Christie spoke, it turned out, Iran was negotiating for the return of our ships and sailors  which, after all, were mistakenly in Iranian waters.

The GOP candidates also ignored how this country is, as President Obama said in his State of the Union address two nights earlier, "the most powerful nation on Earth. Period. It's not even close. We spend more on our military than the next eight nations combined."

But don't let that make you feel good, say the Grand Old Party's contenders. For them Trump has set a paranoid pattern, offering fewer answers than scary questions:

"There's something going on and it's bad," insisted Trump on the issue of terrorism. "And I'm saying we have to get to the bottom of it. That's all I'm saying. We need security."

In other words, don't just stand there, panic!

Only Ohio Gov. John Kasich sounded more interested in discussing actual policy and offering some problem-solving ideas. But he's still in single digits in national polls. These days, fear rules.

On the Democratic side, a different pattern shows itself. As Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has gained enough support to possibly beat Hillary Rodham Clinton in Iowa and New Hampshire, Clinton's unspoken slogan has become "No more Ms. Nice Lady."

In their final debate before the Iowa Caucuses, she attacked Sanders mercilessly for  of all things  disloyalty to President Obama. That's a smart move as they seek votes in South Carolina's primary, where Obama has 90 percent approval among Democrats.

She accused Sanders of being soft on gun control, as she has done before. She also upped the ante almost beyond belief by accusing Sanders of disloyalty, even for his mild slight criticisms of Obama's policies.

At the same time, she embraced Obama tightly enough to bring a side-eye of disapproval, I imagined, from the current first lady. Clinton has been called unlikeable by some of her fellow Democrats. At this point, maybe she would rather be feared.

Email Clarence Page at cpage@tribune.com.
Chattanooga's nationally recognized watercolorist Alan Shuptrine and New York Times best-selling author Sharyn McCrumb and will create a coffee table style book called The Serpentine Chain. They share a passion about their subjectthe land and people of the Appalachian Trail. The Serpentine Chain will be a self-published unique and upscale large format art book which will explore and celebrate the connections between the people of Appalachia and their historical and cultural counterparts in the British Isles.



"The Serpentine Chain will capture Appalachia from the standpoint of two artists, each with a story to tell, and with a kinship that can only come only from two deep and creative souls. But it is not only a bookit will be a museum exhibit of more than 60 paintings which will travel to ten museums in the U.S., numerous universities and historical institutions, and then abroad to venues in Great Britain.



"Opening at the Tennessee State Museum in June, 2017, The Serpentine Chain will celebrate the connections between our mountain folk and their cultural and historical counterparts in the British Isles. Serving as a monument to the mountain people, this art collection and soon-to-be coffee table book and documentary film will help preserve their heritage and traditions for future generations," officials said.



Visit www.alanshuptrine.com to view works by Alan Shuptrine.
<p>The Kitsap County Parks Department plans to reopen Anderson Point Park on May 21. The 66-acre South Kitsap park has been closed since late 2010.</p><p>Tristan Baurick / Kitsap Sun</p>

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By Tristan Baurick of the Kitsap Sun

SOUTH KITSAP  At long last, Anderson Point Park is ready to reopen.

The Kitsap County Parks Department has set May 21 as the day the Olalla-area parks long sandy beach will once again be accessible to the public.

The park was closed in late 2010 due to concerns about landslide dangers. Last year, the parks department began work to improve drainage and shore up slide-prone slopes along the parks main trail. The work was delayed several times due to permitting and weather-related issues.

The park covers 66 acres along Colvos Passage. It has a 2,000-foot-long beach and a wide trail that zigzags up a forested hill to a parking lot at the end of Millihanna Road.

It was popular with hikers, swimmers and sunbathers.

Residents along Millihanna have long objected to the noise, crime, trash and traffic they say the park brought to their neighborhood. Despite the parks closure, use of Anderson Point didnt cease until Millihanna residents erected a locked gate in summer 2013. The move sparked a fight with park advocates who accused the residents of privatizing a public park.

County officials recently worked out an agreement that would turn over the gates management to the parks department. Park staff will leave the gate open 6 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. daily through the spring. Hours will change in June to reflect changing daylight hours.

The county has agreed to improve Millihanna, a narrow, gravel road that nearby residents say had been damaged by park users. Roadwork will be phased throughout the year. The work will require temporary closures of Millihanna and the park.
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The Jewish Federation of Greater Chattanooga is offering an educational forum and opportunity for free genetic screening on Sunday, Feb. 21 from 1-4 p.m. at the Jewish Cultural Center, 5461 North Terrace Road.

The informational slide show, opportunity to speak with a genetic educator, and the genetic screening are free with a valid insurance card regardless of whether or not insurance covers the test.

There are two types of tests. The first is a mouth swab test for common diseases. If you have a family history of breast cancer a BRCA blood test will also be available.

Confidential test results and follow-up are part of the screening process. This opportunity is available to everyone in the community.

"Attend the slideshow and ask questions to make an informed decision," organizers said.

Common Jewish genetic diseases include Spinal Muscular Atrophy, Gaucher Disease, Cystic Fibrosis, Tay-Sachs Disease as well as sixteen others. Screening for additional genetic diseases that are not Jewish specific, will also be offered. To confirm the genetic screening you are interested in is among those offered in this screening or to RSVP for a screening, contact nxgenscreening@gmail.com.

The Jewish Federation is not suggesting that everyone has genetic screening. Rather we think it is important that the Jewish community, as well as the wider community, has the opportunity to learn about the benefits and risks. This platform makes both of those elements available for free with a current health insurance card. said Ann Treadwell, program director for the Jewish Federation.
Representatives Martin Daniel, Roger Kane, Eddie Smith and Harry Brooks, Sen. Richard Briggs, Rep. Bill Dunn and Sen. Becky Massey respond to audience questions asked by Sharon Keck Davis of the University of Tennessee College of Nursing at a legislative forum sponsored by the College of Nursing last Saturday. Among topics discussed was expanding the scope of advanced practice nurses. (CAROLE MYERS/SPECIAL TO THE NEWS SENTINEL)

SHARE Jeffery Stevens

By Kristi L. Nelson of the Knoxville News Sentinel

For more than eight years, nurse practicioner Tami Bland has provided primary care to children at a nurse-managed health clinic at Vine Middle School.

She and five other pediatric nurse practitioners handle well-checks, shots, acute illnesses, minor injuries, chronic conditions and the overall health care of some 4,000 children a year, from newborns to special-education students in their early 20s. Two-thirds have TennCare and a small percentage private insurance; the rest have no insurance at all.

See also: Tennessee Medical Association's position

If her patients are insured, Bland's name is on their card as their primary-care provider. She takes their mothers' calls at 2 a.m., helping decide whether they need to go to the emergency room. She meets families at the pharmacy.

Yet by Tennessee law, a medical doctor must sign off on Bland's patient charts and those of her fellow NPs.

See also: Tennessee Nurses Association's position

Bland likes the doctor, Pediatric Consultants' Dr. Larry Rogers, who oversees the clinic, and appreciates his commitment as well as having his expertise when needed.

But she thinks the state's requirements for doctors to be involved in the day-to-day management of NPs' patients is inefficient, expensive  and unnecessary.

Many physicians, and the Tennessee Medical Association, say it's necessary.

Tennessee is one of just 13 states that restrict the practice of Advanced Practice Registered Nurses, which include nurse practitioners, certified registered nurse anesthetists, certified nurse midwives and clinical nurse specialists. Another 16 states reduce the ability of NPs in at least one element of their practices.

The remaining 21, and the District of Columbia, allow NPs to evaluate patients, diagnose, order/interpret diagnostic tests, initiate and manage treatment  including prescribing medications  under the sole authority of the state board of nursing.

For decades, nurses and their advocates have argued for this model in Tennessee. Last February, state Sen. Becky Massey, R-Knoxville, filed a bill in the General Assembly that would have lifted restrictions on advanced practice nurses except for being able to prescribe more than one 30-day nonrefillable supply of a Schedule II or Schedule III opioid drug per patient  for that, physician collaboration would still be required. State Rep. JoAnne Favors, D-Chattanooga, sponsored its House counterpart.

But TMA instead favors what it calls a "team-based care model," with doctors as "team leaders," rather than allowing NPs to practice independently. The group supports SB0521, introduced by Sen. Joey Hensley, R-Hohenwald, and its House counterpart, which would "establish physician-led patient care teams to oversee" nurse practitioners' practices.

Summit Medical Group was an early adopter of such teams. It employs more than 150 nurse practitioners and physician assistants.

Dr. Jeff Stevens, a family practitioner at Summit's Halls Family Physicians, said he's worked with nurse practitioners since his residency. In his practice now are eight physicians and six family nurse practitioners.

Stevens said the NP he works with, Heena Patel, sees almost as many patients as he does and can handle almost anything his practice sees, although he signs off on every one of her patient charts.

"I wouldn't trade my nurse practitioner  she is dynamite," said Stevens, adding Patel has "an absolutely integral role."

But "she does not have the same level of experience, the same level of training," Stevens said. "While I don't have every answer, I've got enough clinical experience that  I know how to find the answer.  That's when you really rely on that clinical training: knowing where to look, the disease systems, the pathology, the physiology  some of the things that, frankly, the midlevel providers just don't have the training and the background to fall back on."

Stevens said the "integrated care" model  physicians working in concert with nurse practitioners, physician assistants and even behavioral health specialists, which his practice hopes to add this year  is the future of medicine.

But Bland said most people don't realize how much training advanced practice nurses have.

"We're asking for practice 'to the fullest extent of our education and training,'" she said. "We don't pretend to have the education and training a physician does.  However, a very large percentage of patients don't need that level of care all the time."

Family nurse practitioners  who make up at least two-thirds of advanced practice nurses  could fill gaps in rural and underserved areas, Bland said. An August 2015 University of Memphis study found that nearly 40 percent of Tennesseans had inadequate numbers of primary-care physicians.

Making nurse practitioners independent, the study said, could give 95 percent of Tennesseans access, although increasing insurance reimbursement, which is lower than for physicians, would be necessary.

"We're willing to go where a lot of large groups and medical practices are not willing to go," said Bland, who added that "numerous" nurse practitioners want to practice in underserved areas, but have difficulty finding physicians with whom to collaborate.

"It's time-consuming, and there's no financial incentive" for the doctors, she said.

Dr. John Hale, a Union City family practitioner who is TMA president, said part of the aim of the legislation is to make it difficult to run "pill-mills." He said the legislation is intended to define a "structured" relationship between nurse practitioners and doctors.

"This is not just a turf battle," Hale said. "We want to have good health care."

On Wednesday, Massey filed SB1979, which would create a 21-member task force to study the topic, make a report and disband next January. She expects TMA board members to discuss it this weekend.

"I think it's the reasonable solution," Massey told attendees at a Jan. 16 forum at the University of Tennessee College of Nursing. "Yeah, it puts us off another year, but it gets us to the better answer."
Chloe Grace Moretz, left, and Zackary Arthur in The 5th Wave.

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By Harry Windsor

Another week, another plucky teenage girl with the fate of the world on her shoulders, buffeted by smoldering glances from two strong, yet sensitive, young men. Adapted from Rick Yancey's 2013 novel, "The 5th Wave" stars Chloe Grace Moretz as Cassie Sullivan, a high school student whose world is upended when aliens invade. If that sounds tantalizingly like a retread of the sci-fi blockbuster that Moretz's character headlined in "Clouds of Sils Maria," the new film is both more engaging and just as generic as that movie-within-a-movie.

Cassie is the kind of girl who gets home from a party and ducks her head around her parents' door so they know she's made curfew. Her Dad (Ron Livingston) gives her an appreciative thumbs-up, and she goes to say goodnight to her little brother ("Transparent's" Zackary Arthur) by serenading him to sleep. The idyll is short-lived. Everything changed, Cassie tells us in a voiceover, when an alien craft appeared in the sky.

Soon after, an electromagnetic pulse takes out the world's power  the first phase. Next come floods, then avian flu, then a ground invasion. All this is condensed by the film into a short flashback as prelude. Cassie and her brother narrowly escape the rushing waters of a burst dam at home in Ohio, while coastal cities suffer the worst of it.

Soon the family is strapping packs to their back and abandoning their house. They lob in to a nearby campsite turned tent-city, where Cassie's father gives her a gun. "Nowhere is safe anymore," he tells her.

Before long, Liev Schreiber rolls in at the head of a phalanx of tanks. He entreats parents to put their children on buses so they can be taken away to a secure location. In the most contrived narrative transition in the film, Cassie gets off the bus when her little brother insists she find his teddy bear. She's promptly left in the dust, as the tyke wails on the back seat.

Taken to an army base and given the nickname Nugget, the boy is enlisted to fight the invaders in a squad led by his sister's old crush, Ben Parish (Nick Robinson). They're joined by Ringer, a tough cookie who was kicked out of her last unit for disciplinary issues, played with scene-stealing relish by Maika Monroe ("It Follows").

Their task of defending the planet against the imminent fifth wave is complicated by the discovery that "the others," as the aliens are called throughout, can assume human form. This wrinkle is the pic's savviest, allowing Blakeson to emphasize the personal and earthbound. There are plenty of shoot-outs in "The 5th Wave," but no interminable aerial combat.

Meanwhile, Cassie is tramping through the woods, en route to the military base to reclaim her brother. She's saved from enemy snipers by Evan Walker, a mysterious farm boy played by Alex Roe, a pretty, very earnest English actor in the Robert Pattinson-Theo James tradition. It's rare for almost all of a movie's clangers to be given to one character, but Roe gets thrown the lot. Cassie wakes up in Evan's farmhouse after having been shot, and is naturally suspicious of her benefactor. He calms her nerves by telling her, "I couldn't save my parents, but I could save you."

This middle section of the film is the saggiest, weighed down by a leaden romance that seems familiar, but it picks up again when Cassie and Ben team up to rescue Nugget from under the nose of Schreiber's conniving Colonel Vosch. In a sequence sustained seamlessly by editor Paul Rubell, the kids stick it to the adults and strike out on their own.
Nashvilles Moon Taxi will perform Saturday at the Tennessee Theatre.

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By Wayne Bledsoe of the Knoxville News Sentinel

For Moon Taxi keyboardist and Knoxville native Wes Bailey, the band's upcoming Knoxville show will be particularly special:

"You can't beat the Tennessee Theatre," says Bailey. "I'm still pinching myself."

Moon Taxi has definitely paid its dues on the way up. Bailey estimates that the group played 11 Knoxville venues before growing into the Tennessee Theatre.

"The first was Patrick Sullivan's, before I realized they weren't really a music venue. We played our first two shows there. Then there was World Grotto and a lot of other places that have closed. It's cool to look back nine years later!"

In addition, the band performed for a huge crowd on the Market Square stage and several times at the Bijou. And, just a few miles down the road, the group also performed at Bonnaroo on the Which Stage, the event's second largest stage.

"We'd never had one of those infinity crowds before, where you can't see the back row," says Bailey. "It was 30,000 people."

Moon Taxi formed when high school buddies and band mates Trevor Terndrup (guitar) and Tommy Putnam (bass) moved from Birmingham, Ala., to Nashville to attend Belmont College. There, the two met Spencer Thomson (guitar) and David Swan (drums). Swan left the group when he graduated in 2006 and was replaced by Tyler Ritter, the same year the group recorded its debut album, "Melodica." Bailey, who also attended Belmont, began sitting in with the band and officially joined the group around the time of that first album's release.

He wasn't there when the band members came up with the group name, but he says people have never tired of asking where it came from.

"We've been thinking of all lying about it and each of us telling a different story," he says. "I think they just came up with the name kind of quick. It's not too exciting of a story."

The band's new album, "Daybreaker," was released in October 2015.

"We recorded it at Blackbird Studios, which is one of the best studios in town," says Bailey. "We spent about two weeks tracking it with Jacquire King, who did the Kings of Leon record, and is a really good producer. We kind of clicked with him. He felt where we were coming from. And, more than any album we did in the past, we played more in a room, so you had that conversation between the instruments and eye contact."

Previously, says Bailey, the band recorded in the standard tracking piece-by-piece method.

"It was nice to have a month to track in the studio and overdub the next couple of weeks. And because we were playing these songs live in the studio, when we went on tour they were already kind of worked out. They arranged themselves in the studio. The new songs have been going over great and they're getting tighter and tighter with every tour and I think it's our best album yet."

As part of the album's promotion, the group performed on "Late Night with Seth Meyers" last December.

"We'd done 'Letterman' and 'Conan' before, but it had been a couple of years, so we were a little rusty on the late-night shows," says Bailey.

What was really special about it, he says, was being on the show with one-time Knoxvillian Quentin Tarantino. The band dressed in black suits as if they'd come from a scene in Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs."

"Talking Knoxville with him? That was pretty surreal."

Bailey says the band's increasing success and family responsibilities have both made touring better. The group's guitarist, Spencer Thomson, recently became a father and the group has adapted touring schedules so that he can stay home more.

"We might do 10 days on and then two weeks off and I really like that," says Bailey. "When you're home for two weeks you can get a lot more done, musically. You're not just scrambling to pay your light bill!"

And, when the band tours now, it's in a tour bus.

"When we would tour in a van, we'd finish the gig, go to a hotel room and get up the next day and drive to the next town, which was exhausting and we'd get really grumpy. Now, you go to sleep in the tour bus and wake up the next day in the city you're playing the next day."

The band manages to write songs while touring and records ideas in the bus. But, Bailey says, they also know when to spread out. Most days when the group arrives in a city they'll go separate ways for most of the time before the show.

"We give each other some important space and it does a lot for our morale. We always have issues. It's kind of like a little family and there's always a little dysfunctionality, but all of us have remained really good friends, so we've managed to make it work."

---

Moon Taxi

With: The Lonely Biscuits

When: 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 23

Where: Tennessee Theatre

Tickets: $28, www.tennesseetheatre.com
A real-life

lesson in

humanity

Charles Moulden and I were leaving Sevierville on Monday afternoon, moments after he had received the Martin Luther King Jr. Leadership Award from the Sevier County MLK committee.

This honor was bestowed on the 72-year-old native son for rising above the pain and humiliation he suffered during a 1968 ambush in the Cherokee National Forest  an attack that (1) left Moulden with a .38 caliber bullet in his leg to this day and (2) went unpunished by the justice system.

We'd hardly gotten into the flow of traffic when I glanced at the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant. Smack in the middle sat a red, rusty pickup with the Confederate battle flag stretched across its rear window.

"There's one of your buddies, Charlie," I quipped, nodding toward the truck.

Moulden turned, chuckled and slowly shook his head.

"At least you know where somebody like that is coming from," he said. "In a strange way, I say more power to him. I have more respect for that guy than somebody who'll shake my hand and pat me on the back and then walk around the corner and say, 'I can't stand those people.' "

Moulden then reiterated the same sentiment I've heard him voice so many times in the two years we've known each other: "What a prison he's in. Why would anybody want to spend their life with so much hate in their heart?"

Moulden knows whereof he speaks.

For more than a year after the shooting and the kangaroo courts that let his assailant walk free, he made no bones about it: "I hated every white person I saw."

Slowly, through his own faith and the help of friends black and white, he came around to the truth: "Hate doesn't do anything but pull you down. It'll eat you alive. You've got to let it go."

Moulden repeated those words Tuesday evening before a standing-room-only audience at Lee University in Cleveland, Tenn.

"I finally got it in my mind that only one person shot me," he said quietly, illustrating the point with his sausage-thick right index finger poking into the air.

"Nobody else. Just that one. He doesn't have to answer to me or anybody else. He has to answer to the Lord."

I watched faces of the students as Moulden continued. There was no idle texting. He had their attention like a rock star.

"Many black people suffered a lot more than I did. And many white people put their own necks on the line to help us.

"As you grow up, remember that just because one person does something evil, that doesn't mean he represents everybody else in his race or his religion."

In today's red-meat political climate, there are many who could learn this lesson. But likely never will.
Javon and JaBari: Two brothers lost in two weeks to gun violence

The family says the boys were left without resources in a city that doesn't give Black teens the tools they need to thrive.
Andrew Collins, 31, arrived at a hospital in Georgia Thursday suffering from a non-life threatening gunshot wound. He was later transferred for treatment to a local Chattanooga hospital.Police were notified at 11:30 a.m. by the local hospital that the individual had arrived suffering from the wound.Collins told police he was shot in an apartment off of Brainerd Road. Officers were sent to 3939 Manor Road, but a crime scene was not located.Collins stated he recently met a female on a dating website.He said he went to her apartment Thursday to meet with her when an unknown black male appeared in the room and shot him.Collins could provide no further information pertaining to the shooting.Chattanooga Police ask anyone with information regarding this incident to call 423-698-2525.
Howard H. Baker Jr. Federal Courthouse Tuesday, Jun. 17, 2014. (MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL)

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By Jamie Satterfield of the Knoxville News Sentinel

This fugitive brother of a former Knoxville nightclub owner may feel like a prisoner, but a judge isn't buying his claim that being unable to leave the country of Jordan without risking arrest on 16-year-old federal charges in the U.S. makes him one.

In an effort to avoid federal charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering filed in Knoxville in 2000, Samer Ghazi Bakri, brother of the former co-owner of the Cotton Eyed Joe club, turned to a legal maneuver meant for use by imprisoned defendants  a writ of habeas corpus, which is a legal demand for the release of a wrongly imprisoned inmate.

His argument, via defense attorney Doug Trant? Bakri can't leave Jordan, where he fled to avoid prosecution.

"The petitioner is restrained of his liberty because he is unable to travel outside the kingdom of Jordan even though his wife is from the United States and he has immediate family here," Trant wrote.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Clifford Shirley spent two paragraphs dispensing with the argument. Chief U.S. District Judge Tom Varlan approved Shirley's ruling last week.

"A writ of habeas corpus is only available when the petitioner is in custody or his liberty is restrained in some fashion," Shirley wrote. "The writ is directed to the individual detaining a person, ordering that individual to produce the person. In (Bakri's) case, the petitioner fled to his home country of Jordan in 1996 and remains there to this day. Accordingly, a writ of habeas corpus is not applicable in this case. This court has already concluded and (Varlan) has ruled that the defendant is a fugitive and the fugitive disentitlement doctrine prevents him from using the process of the court to dismiss this case."

Bakri and his brother, Nazif "Gingi" Bakri, learned in 1996 they were under federal money-laundering probe on charges of stealing money from their popular West Knox County nightclub and its investors and wiring the cash to Jordan.

Samer Bakri fled to Jordan. His brother stayed behind.

The pair were indicted in 2000. Bakri's brother eventually pleaded guilty to tax evasion charges and agreed to pay $1 million in restitution and back taxes.

Despite an extradition treaty between the U.S. and Jordan, Jordanian leaders insist the treaty was never ratified, and they won't enforce it. As long as Bakri is in Jordan, federal prosecutors say they can't touch him.

For the past several years, Bakri has waged a legal battle via Trant to get the federal charges dropped. He even unsuccessfully petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court.

Bakri argues that since a treaty exists on paper, the U.S. theoretically could extradite him. By failing to do so, he argues, federal prosecutors have denied him a right to a speedy trial.

Shirley, who as a magistrate judge hears the arguments and makes rulings, and Varlan, who reviews Shirley's decisions, have consistently shot Bakri down, So, too, has the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals and the nation's highest court.

Bakri remains in Jordan. The money laundering case remains on the federal court docket.
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By News Sentinel Staff

UPDATE: Aaron Zachary "Zack" Wade, the son of former Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Gary Wade, has been found safe, Sevierville police say.

The Sevierville Police Department posted to its Facebook page late Wednesday that "Zachary Wade has been located and he is safe. Thanks to everyone for your concern."

More details as they develop online and in Friday's News Sentinel.

Previous report:

Sevierville police are searching for the son of former Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Gary Wade, who has been reported missing.

Aaron Zachary "Zack" Wade, 41, was last seen at approximately 7:50 a.m. Tuesday on state Highway 66, also known as Windfield Dunn Parkway, in Sevierville. Since then, family members and authorities have been unable to contact Wade.

He was driving a silver 2003 Chrysler Pacifica with a Tennessee license plate of V98-00B.

He was reported missing Wednesday afternoon.

Authorities have spoken to Gary Wade and other family members, who are "extremely concerned," said Sevierville Police Department spokesman Bob Stahlke.

Stahlke said it was too soon to speculate on whether foul play might be involved.

"We have very little information at all," he said. "Right now, our concern is just for his general safety."

Anyone with information on Zack Wade's whereabouts is asked to call the Sevierville Police Department at 865-868-1731.

More details as they develop online.
SHARE Thomas Colburn

By Bob Fowler

OAK RIDGE  An Oak Ridge High School senior is one of 40 students named as finalists in the prestigious Intel Science Talent Search.

Thomas Colburn, 17, is the first student from the city's high school to win that status and the only Tennessee pupil attaining that recognition this year.

Thomas said he was "shocked" to be named a finalist from the 1,750 students nationwide who entered the competition. "Being named a finalist has been one of my dreams since elementary school," he said.

He will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., from March 10-16 to compete for more than $1 million in awards.

As a finalist, Thomas will receive "at least $7,500," according to the Intel Foundation and the Society for Science and the Public. The competition sponsored by the computer chip maker is the oldest event of its type, and this year is its 75th anniversary.

For two years, Thomas worked in his project, titled "Enhanced Decomposition of Plastic Waste Through Photocatalysis."

He said his passions of running and sailing were inspirations for his research. "Tennessee's beautiful trails, lakes and streams are being polluted by plastic litter that can then affect Earth's oceans. I wanted to solve this global problem to prevent the buildup of plastics in the environment."

Dr. Todd Toops from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Fuels, Engines and Emissions Research Center was Thomas' mentor. Two of Thomas' teachers in the academic area of science are Tammy Carneim and Jessica Williams.

After displaying their research and undergoing judging, the nine winners of the Science Talent Search will be announced March 15. Past winners have gone on to later win prestigious scientific awards including Nobel Prizes.

The nonprofit Society for Science & the Public has owned and administered the Science Talent Search since its inception in 1942.
A stretch of Magnolia Avenue between Jessamine and N. Bertrand streets is pictured Sunday in East Knoxville. A public hearing is being held Thursday to present details on proposed streetscape improvements for this segment of Magnolia. The proposal includes raised medians to replace the center left-turn lane; bike lanes; improved sidewalks; bus pull-offs; and streetscape amenities such as street lighting, benches and bike racks. (SAUL YOUNG/NEWS SENTINEL)

SHARE Rodericks Transmission is pictured Sunday on Magnolia Avenue in East Knoxville. A public hearing is being held Thursday to present details on proposed streetscape improvements for this segment of Magnolia. The proposal includes raised medians to replace the center left-turn lane; bike lanes; improved sidewalks; bus pull-offs; and streetscape amenities such as street lighting, benches and bike racks. (SAUL YOUNG/NEWS SENTINEL) An empty building is pictured Sunday on Magnolia Avenue in East Knoxville. A public hearing is being held Thursday to present details on proposed streetscape improvements for this segment of Magnolia. The proposal includes raised medians to replace the center left-turn lane; bike lanes; improved sidewalks; bus pull-offs; and streetscape amenities such as street lighting, benches and bike racks. (SAUL YOUNG/NEWS SENTINEL) A stretch of Magnolia Avenue between Jessamine and N. Bertrand streets is pictured Sunday in East Knoxville. A public hearing is being held Thursday to present details on proposed streetscape improvements for this segment of Magnolia. The proposal includes raised medians to replace the center left-turn lane; bike lanes; improved sidewalks; bus pull-offs; and streetscape amenities such as street lighting, benches and bike racks. (SAUL YOUNG/NEWS SENTINEL) A rendering of the city's proposed Magnolia streetscapes project. (CITY OF KNOXVILLE) Related Coverage City: Magnolia Ave. streetscape plan has public support

By Megan Boehnke of the Knoxville News Sentinel

City officials tonight will unveil final designs to transform a six-block section of Magnolia Avenue into a tree-lined picturesque street, including adding raised medians, bike lanes, improved sidewalks, lighting, benches and bike racks.

The city is asking for public input at a 5:30 p.m. meeting at the John T. O'Connor Senior Citizens' Center.

The first three-block section will likely cost between $3.5 million and $4 million, and construction could begin next year, said Dawn Michelle Foster, the city's redevelopment director. Her department will request funding for the first phase during the upcoming city budget cycle, Foster said.

The hope, she said, is that public investment will draw private development.

"We have a strong downtown core, and we wanted to make sure that folks know that as we move out of that strong core, it actually is proven that the momentum continues east and north through the city," Foster said.

The outward shift is already happening on the edge of downtown, Foster said, pointing to the Mews apartment and condo development at Central Street and Magnolia Avenue and the White Lily Flats a block south.

The streetscape project would pick up a half-mile east with Jessamine Street and continue to Myrtle Street. The entire project is slated to extend past Pellissippi State Community College's satellite campus to North Bertrand Street.

"It would be, the word I would use is encouraging, to people in the district to actually see something," said City Councilman Daniel Brown, whose district includes Magnolia Avenue. "On the east side, we're not getting enough resources, so this would be a good thing. Hopefully it will help jump-start private investment."

The project has been in discussion since before 2009, when the Knoxville City Council adopted a Magnolia Avenue corridor plan. In 2013, the city hired a design consultant to identify ways to implement recommendations from the plans.

"The mayor's goal was to find a location where public investment for infrastructure could set the stage for private investment to occur," Foster said.

The consultant offered up three stretches of Magnolia Avenue to consider: a zone near the Pellissippi State campus that also includes the YMCA and Caswell Park; a commercial zone at Cherry Street, which delivers traffic off Interstate 40; and a recreational zone that serves as a gateway to the Knoxville Zoo, The Muse and Chilhowee Park.

"We had the consultant look at those three areas to see what would be the area you wanted to start this model block section for public investment to have the improvement of the streetscape and have the opportunity for private investors to invest in the area," Foster said. "With the vibrancy of the educational/institutional zone, that section between Jessamine and North Bertrand was selected."

The redevelopment department held a public meeting last year to discuss the streetscape plan for the six-block section, and City Council members approved funding to create designs.

Along with the aesthetic upgrades, proposed improvements include replacing the center left-turn lane with raised medians and traffic signal upgrades. The city would also install new crosswalks, pedestrian signals and bus pull-offs. A two-week public comment period will follow the meeting.
<p>The crowd celebrates outside of the Supreme Court in Washington, Friday June 26, 2015, after the court declared that same-sex couples have a right to marry anywhere in the US. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)</p>

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By Richard Locker

NASHVILLE  A state legislative committee on Wednesday dealt a serious setback to a bill that attempts to block same-sex marriage in Tennessee.

The bill failed in the House Civil Justice Subcommittee, on an unrecorded voice vote in which there were more "no" votes than "yes" votes to advance the bill further in the committee system. Bills are rarely "killed" in the Legislature because under various rules, supporters could attempt to resurrect it. But the bill is as close to dead for the year as legislation gets.

After the vote, the bill's sponsor, Rep. Mark Pody, R-Lebanon, said the bill is dead.

The so-called "Tennessee Natural Marriage Defense Act" purports to declare last June's U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage in all states "void and of no effect" in Tennessee and to forbid state and local agencies and officials from "giving force or effect" to the ruling  in effect prohibiting county clerks from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

It also requires the state attorney general to defend any state or local government official against any lawsuit arising from their refusal to comply with the Supreme Court ruling. State Attorney General Herbert Slatery last summer instructed all county clerks that the Supreme Court ruling must be enforced in the state and that otherwise qualified same-sex couples cannot be denied marriage licenses.

The eight page bill consists of a seven-page preamble of 48 "whereas" paragraphs that attempt to legally justify the effort to block the Supreme Court ruling, followed by a one page of law.

For example, the second "whereas" says that "In Obergefell v. Hodges  five justices of the United States Supreme Court issued a lawless opinion with no basis in American law or history, purporting to overturn natural marriage and find a 'right' to same-sex "marriage" in the United States Constitution and the Fourteenth Amendment."

The bill is mostly based on the Tennessee Constitutional amendment ratified by voters in 2006 that declared the marriage "of one man and one woman" the only legally recognized marriage in the state, even if performed in another state.

The amendment won 81 percent of the vote but since that time, public opinions have indicated that attitudes toward same sex marriage have changed. A statewide Vanderbilt University poll conducted in November found that 52 percent of Tennessee registered voters said they "strongly" or "somewhat" oppose same-sex marriage, 32 percent "strongly" or "somewhat" support it and 14 percent neither support nor oppose.

Pody said the 2006 amendment was drafted by Tennessee lawmakers in anticipation of an eventual U.S. Supreme Court ruling in favor of same-sex marriage.

Pody, an insurance agent, asked Jeff Cobble, a lawyer from Greeneville, to present part of his case to the subcommittee. Cobble told lawmakers the dispute "is a separation of powers issue. I can tell you as a student of the Constitution  that there is nothing in federal law ever, ever, ever that gives the federal courts or the federal government constitutional jurisdiction in the field of marriage.

"I'm here to tell you that the U.S. Supreme Court decision is pure social engineering. They have acted lawlessly," Cobble said. "Do we still have states' rights or are we federal subjects. I've spoken to people who say that because of the Civil War amendments we are just federal subjects. I am here today to tell you I am not a federal subject."

Pody presented an amendment that would require every application for a marriage license to be submitted to the state Department of Health's vital records office and which would in turn tell the clerks to deny a license to same-sex couples.

The subcommittee's debate was largely over constitutional principles and federal versus state rights. Rep. Mike Carter, R-Ooltewah, said the bill is essentially an attempt at "nullification" but no other nullification attempt has succeeded. Carter said he favors a court challenge.

Chet Gallagher, who was with a group called "Courts Can't Make Laws," asked the subcommittee not to kill the bill.

"Do not kill this bill. Let it go to the floor of the House for a vote," the Lebanon, Tenn., man pleaded. "Do not let it die here. Let it go to your peers and be voted on the way its supposed to be voted on. Do not kill this bill in committee. Let it go to the floor. In the name of Jesus I'm asking you to do that."

Rep. Bill Beck, D-Nashville, tried to move the bill to a summer study but it failed for lack of a second.

David Fowler, a former state senator who now heads Family Action Council of Tennessee and who led the campaign in support of Tennessee's anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment, testified briefly before the subcommittee at the request of one of its members and said he's not sure the bill is the best way to challenge the law.

Fowler has scheduled a press conference Thursday at which he will announce details of a lawsuit being filed in state court "over the application and implications" of the Supreme Court ruling "to the continuing validity of Tennessee marriage license laws.

The full text of the House Bill 1412 is available online at http://www.capitol.tn.gov/legislation.
SHARE In this July 13, 2015, file photo, Robert Doggart arrives at the back entrance of the Joel Solomon Federal Building for his arraignment hearing in Chattanooga. (John Rawlston/Chattanooga Times Free Press via AP, File)

By The Associated Press

CHATTANOOGA (AP)  An East Tennessee man accused of planning an assault on a small Muslim community in New York has to report for mental health testing, a judge ruled.

During a hearing Tuesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan Lee agreed with government prosecutors that 64-year-old Robert Doggart needs to undergo a 45-day forensic evaluation for competency and insanity, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported.

Authorities believe Doggart spent months plotting an assault on a Muslim community outside Hancock, New York. The Sequatchie County man was arrested in April. He pleaded not guilty to one charge of solicitation to commit a civil-rights violation. He has been on house arrest ever since.

In December, Doggart's attorney Bryan Hoss asked to be removed because he doesn't think he can win the case and Doggart believes the case can be won.

Hoss said Doggart was not opposed to outpatient testing. "But he does oppose a Bureau of Prison forensic evaluation," he said.

Doggart's daughter, Terri Lee, testified Tuesday that her father has shown symptoms of mental illness for her entire life.

The judge acknowledged that Doggart hadn't violated the conditions of his probation, but still sided with prosecutors. The judge gave Doggart's daughter the option to transport her father to the federal facility.
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By Mamie Kuykendall of the Knoxville News Sentinel

A 66-year-old White Pine woman perished in a mobile home fire Wednesday that injured her 78-year-old husband.

It's unclear what started the 3 p.m. fire at 3410 Chockcherry Lane, which killed Melody Walker and injured Johnny Walker, according to White Pine Fire Chief Chad Cotter.

"When we had arson come to investigate they did not have power, they had to operate from a generator," Cotter said Thursday. "So the probable cause might have been a heater."

A man driving past the mobile home saw smoke and stopped to investigate, Cotter said.

"He was walking around the trailer and heard the man beating on the window," Cotter said. "He broke the window out and got the man out."

The White Pine Volunteer Fire Department responded to the scene, as well as Baneberry, Dandridge, and Kansas-Talbott fire departments, according to Cotter.

Johnny Walker was transported to Lakeway Hospital in Morristown for smoke inhalation treatment, Cotter said.

A dog also died in the flames, Cotter said.

More details as they develop online and in Friday's News Sentinel.
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A misguided and possibly costly gesture of defiance of the U.S. Supreme Court foundered in a Tennessee House of Representatives subcommittee on Wednesday.

A majority on the Civil Justice Subcommittee wisely voted down a bill, dubbed the "Tennessee Natural Marriage Defense Act," aimed at blocking compliance with the Supreme Court's Oberkefell v. Hodges ruling that struck down state bans on same-sex marriage.

When the Supreme Court issued its opinion last year, many Tennessee lawmakers and their constituents were outraged. After all, a state constitutional amendment overwhelmingly approved by voters and added in 2006 defined marriage as being only between one man and one woman. The court's ruling overturned that provision.

The Natural Marriage Defense Act would have declared the court's Obergefell decision void, prevented state and local officials from following or enforcing court orders contradicting Tennessee marriage laws, and required the attorney general to defend state and local government officials in any lawsuit resulting from actions taken under those laws.

In other words, the bill would have dictated that state and local officials pretend the Obergefell decision never happened.

The main premise of the bill  which delves into American legal history and cites the dissenting opinions in Obergefell  is that state governments can reject federal laws and court orders they deem illegal or unconstitutional.

This concept, called nullification, is based on states' rights and emphasizes the 10th Amendment of the Constitution, which reserves powers not given to the federal government to the states. Nullification advocates conveniently dismiss the 14th Amendment, which places conditions on state actions by requiring them to provide equal protection under the law and provide due process to all citizens.

In Cooper v. Aaron, one of the landmark desegregation cases, the Supreme Court unanimously rejected the notion that states can defy its orders. In fact, those who do so are in violation of their oaths of office. "No state legislator or executive or judicial officer can war against the Constitution without violating his solemn oath to support it," the justices wrote.

In addition to its dubious legal standing, the measure could have cost state taxpayers dearly. The General Assembly's Fiscal Review Committee estimates that passage could have placed more than $8.5 billion in federal funding at risk if the state denied mandated benefits to same-sex married couples.

The sponsor of the bill in the House, state Rep. Mark Pody, said Tuesday that passage of the bill was worth any cost. The Republican from Lebanon implored the subcommittee to keep the bill alive.

Subcommittee member state Rep. Mike Carter, R-Ooltewah, noted that nullification has never worked. He said he prefers that someone file a lawsuit to get the courts to reconsider. That strategy is unlikely to succeed unless the balance of power on the Supreme Court shifts. A constitutional amendment would be the only other option for opponents of same-sex marriage.

The U.S. Supreme Court is the nation's highest authority on the Constitution, and the justices have spoken on same-sex marriage. The state must continue to abide by the Oberkefell decision.
Broadway Shopping Center Kroger lead fuel clerk Sharon Walsh works to clean up after snow fell across the area Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016. A second system is expected to develop late Thursday into Friday, with rain and snow across east Tennessee. (AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS/NEWS SENTINEL)

3-4 inches of snow forecast for Knoxville area this weekend

Blizzard-like conditions forecast by meteorologists led the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency on Thursday to declare a Level 3 state of emergency, and to urge Gov. Bill Haslam do the same.

A major winter system was predicted to hit West Tennessee on Thursday night and move across the state into East Tennessee through Saturday.

The state has five state-level emergency declarations, ranging from Level 1 (catastrophic) to Level 5 (normal). Under Tennessee law, a state of emergency automatically occurs when the activation level is Level 3 or higher.

Freezing rain, sleet, snow and high winds may create dangerous conditions in certain areas, according to a news release from the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, which warns of possible power outages and stranded motorists.

State and military organizations are monitoring the situation, and the American Red Cross has been notified and is putting shelter staff and volunteers on alert and placing key shelter locations along interstates on standby.

Three to 4 inches of snow is likely to hit the Knoxville area this weekend, just after city of Knoxville crews spent Wednesday and Thursday plowing and salting main traffic arteries and clearing up slick spots.

Rain, snow, freezing rain and sleet are expected before 9 p.m. Friday, and snow and possible sleet will continue between 9 p.m. and 1 a.m. Saturday, with a high of 39 degrees and a low of 27.

Snow is expected Saturday before 11 a.m., with highs in the lower 30s and lows around 20. Sunday should be sunny, with highs in the lower 40s and lows in the lower to mid-20s.

(Tweet your snow photos to @knoxvillewx or @knoxnews with the hashtag #knoxwx.)

Crews spread about 650 tons of salt Wednesday when the winters first snowstorm swept into East Tennessee, dumping from 1-4 inches of snow with about 2 inches in Knox County.

The city still has an 1,800-ton stockpile of salt, and 10 triage response teams provided emergency medical services through Thursday morning, using four-wheeldrive vehicles to reach those needing help.

Knoxville Area Transit will be providing regular bus services starting at 6 a.m. Friday. Call 865-637-3000 to check on snow conditions and which routes KAT will drive. The United States Postal Service is asking everyone to keep areas around mailboxes, steps, and sidewalks clear of ice and snow, to enable quick and safe mail carrier service.

Waste Connections crews were picking up trash and recyclables for its Thursday pickup customers and for customers who could not be serviced on Wednesday. Crews discontinued pickups Wednesday afternoon when snow conditions worsened.

All Knox County government offices are expected to be open during regular hours Friday morning. Visit http:// knoxcounty.org/closed/ to check before you go.

Knox County Schools, which had canceled classes Wednesday and Thursday, called off school for Friday.

Weather and speeding Wednesday contributed to a wreck that killed a 19-year-old man and hurt his 20-year-old passenger on Solway Road. Icy roads also led to 10 other crashes, one with injury.

The National Weather Service is warning of the impact this snowfall will have on the region, causing dangerous driving conditions. Secondary roads are likely to become extremely treacherous, and residents should avoid travel unless absolutely necessary.

The National Weather Service also advises drivers to keep an extra flashlight, food and water in your vehicle in case of an emergency.

See also: The Market Square webcam

The heaviest snowfall from the storm is forecast to occur along Southwest Virginia, the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Cumberland Plateau with the highest amounts in the highest terrain. Ice accumulations of up to one tenth of an inch are possible along the Cumberland mountains.

A winter storm warning remains in effect from 1 p.m. Friday through 7 p.m. Saturday.

Extended forecast:

Friday: Rain, snow and light sleet in the morning, then rain and snow in the afternoon. Light snow and sleet accumulation up to 1 inch in higher elevations. Highs in the mid-30s with wind gusts as high as 30 mph. Chance of precipitation near 100 percent.

Friday night: Rain and a chance of light freezing rain and sleet in the evening, then snow through the night. Snow and sleet accumulation of 2-4 inches. Lows in the upper 20s. Chance of precipitation near 100 percent.

Saturday: Cloudy with snow likely in the morning, then a chance of snow in the afternoon. Snow accumulation of 1-2 inches. Highs in the lower 30s. Chance of snow 70 percent.

Saturday night: Mostly cloudy with lows around 20.

Sunday: Sunny with highs in the lower 40s.

Sunday night: Partly cloudy with lows in the lower to mid-20s.

Monday: Mostly sunny with highs in the mid- to upper 40s.

Monday night: Mostly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of rain showers. Lows in the mid-30s.

Tuesday: Mostly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of rain showers. Highs in the lower to mid-40s.

Tuesday night: Mostly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of rain and snow showers. Lows in the mid- to upper 20s.

Get weather warnings or alerts by signing up at MyKnoxnews.com, and follow @KnoxvillleWX on Twitter for Knoxville-area weather information.
U.S. Senators Johnny Isakson (R-GA) and David Perdue (R-GA) Thursday voted to override President Obamas veto of a bill passed by Congress and supported by both senators to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from implementing a federal land grab that will expose Georgia farmers, ranchers, home owners and businesses to compliance costs and new fines, said officials.

The procedural vote to advance this measure failed by a vote of 52-40.

I have fought this administrations numerous power grabs at every turn, said Senator Isakson. This Waters of the United States rule harms not only property owners, but our entire agriculture industry in Georgia, and I will continue fighting to roll it back. Federal bureaucrats should not be allowed to assert control over thousands of streams, creeks, wetlands, ponds and ditches throughout the country.

Today, I was proud to stand up for Georgia farmers, ranchers, and families and vote to override President Obamas veto of the EPAs power grab, said Senator Perdue. Since the Obama administrations overzealous EPA announced its Waters of the United States rule, Georgians have been outraged, and rightly so. Both the Senate and House acted to stop this rule, but President Obama continues to ignore the wishes of Georgians and the American people. Although our override effort was blocked by Senate Democrats, we will not stop trying to provide Americans with relief from President Obamas blatant overreaches.

The Senate passed a resolution on Nov. 4, 2015, co-sponsored by Senator Isakson and Senator Perdue, to prevent the implementation of an EPAs water rule, known as Waters of the United States, and on Jan. 13 the resolution passed the U.S. House of Representatives. Wednesday, President Obama vetoed the legislation, allowing the rule to move forward. Thursdays vote was an attempt to override that veto.
Staggering losses likely to force discount chain to abandon world's second-largest economy

By Lee Hyo-sik





Chung Yong-jin

Shinsegae Vice Chairman

emart, Korea's largest discount chain, appears to be moving to exit China after incurring huge losses over the years.

Although the company denies it will quit the world's second-largest economy, most industry analysts say the discount store operator affiliated with Shinsegae Group will probably be forced to close its mainland outlets if its business fails to turn around in a year or two.

Shinsegae Group Vice Chairman Chung Yong-jin has spearheaded emart's China venture.

The discount chain set up its first China store in Shanghai in 1997 and the number of its outlets peaked at 27 in 2010. However, the number of stores has since dwindled to eight as the company rushed to close unprofitable stores. It shut two stores in 2015 and six in 2014.

Operating losses of emart's China unit peaked at 133.7 billion won in 2010 and have since declined over the past few years. Last year, the chain is estimated to have lost about 40 billion won.

The company is widely expected not to renew the lease for the site of its first store in Shanghai, which has been losing money. The contract will expire in December. The owner of the site reportedly does not want to extend the contract, either.

However, emart's has officially said it has not decided whether to extend the contract or not.

"We still have time to think about what to do with the store," a company official said. "Nothing has been decided yet."

The official said the company intends to keep the number of its stores in China at eight.

"We are not pulling out of China. We will continue to do business there and will make every effort to make our stores profitable," he said.

He said emart had been losing money because of unfavorable market conditions for foreign retailers in China.

"We are not the only retailer struggling in China. Other foreign firms have also been losing money," the official said. "We lack buying power compared to China's home-grown retailers. Employee wages and store lease fees have been skyrocketing over the past few years. China is not an easy place to do business."

An analyst at a Seoul-based securities company said emart will probably further reduce the number of stores on the mainland because its China unit would be unable to turn around.

"Things will not likely improve for emart in China," said the analyst, who declined to be named. "The company cannot officially say it is pulling out because Vice Chairman Chung is in charge of the China venture. But sooner or later, it will have to make that difficult decision."

To make up for its struggling China business, emart is looking to establish a foothold in Southeast Asia, a rapidly growing consumer market.

In December, emart opened its first store in Vietnam and plans to open more there.

"If emart plans to become a global retailer, I think it should focus on Southeast Asia," the analyst said.
By Lee Hyo-sik





Melanie Joh, the new managing director of McDonald's Korea

McDonald's has appointed Melanie Joh to head its Korean unit, replacing outgoing Joe Erlinger, the world's largest fast-food franchise said Thursday. Joh, who will take the helm on March 1, is the first female managing director to oversee the entire operation of McDonald's Korea.

Joh, who joined the company in 2011, has been serving as a marketing VP since 2013. She has been credited for McDonald's Korea's successful marketing and customer service programs.

In 2013 and 2014, Korea was selected as one of McDonald's top 20 markets. In 2015, along with China, Asia's fourth-largest economy was categorized as one of the company's eight high-growth markets, out of 120 nations where McDonald's has a business presence.

"It's an extreme privilege to be appointed as managing director of McDonald's Korea," Joh said. "I will do my best to offer high-quality, premium food and beverages to our customers. I will continue to listen to consumers, and introduce innovative foods and services to meet customer expectations."

She earned a bachelor's degree in living art from Ewha Womans University in 1992 and a master's degree in industrial design from Korea University in 1995. In 2003, Joh received a Ph.D. from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

She began her career at LG Electronics in 1992, going on to hold key posts at Motorola and other multinational companies.

Meanwhile, outgoing director Erlinger will continue to remain in Korea, serving as chief financial officer (CFO) supervising financial affairs for the American fast-food giant's eight high-growth markets, said company officials.

The eight new markets under his control are Italy, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Spain, Russia, Poland, China and Korea.

Since last July, Erlinger has been serving as both McDonald's Korea managing director and CFO. But to more effectively handle the rising workload as CFO, he decided to devote himself entirely to the job, the officials said.

Erlinger, who joined the fast-food franchise in 2002, became the head of its Korean unit in May 2013.
Newly inaugurated Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho, left, presides over his first meeting with economic officials at the Central Government Complex in downtown Seoul, Thursday. Minister Yoo took office on Jan. 13. / Yohnap



By Yoon Ja-young

Strategy and Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho stressed reform, Thursday, at the first economic ministers' meeting he presided over since inauguration. The new minister is starting his term amid mounting obstacles both at home and abroad.

At the meeting, Yoo said the government will place its first priority on job creation, focusing on structural reform and economic innovation. He said the government will push for reform in four areas  the public, labor, financial and education sectors.

He added that it will continue driving the creative economy to secure new growth engines. "Through recovery of both domestic consumption and exports, the government will instill vitality to the economy and visibly create jobs."

The remark comes amid growing concern over external risks such as China's slowdown and plunging global oil prices. Beijing announced that its gross domestic product (GDP) grew 6.9 percent last year, failing to achieve the 7 percent mark for the first time since 1990. This is worrisome for Korea which relies on China for 25 percent of its exports.

The plunge of global oil prices, which fell to their lowest in a decade, is adding to the trouble as emerging economies are decreasing orders in shipbuilding, construction or plant sector for Korean companies.

Yoo stressed that the bills related to labor reform and those the government says will boost the economy should get approval at the National Assembly; but this is unlikely to go smoothly. The Federation of Korean Trade Unions, a major umbrella union which has been participating in trilateral talks on labor reform, announced its withdrawal from negotiations with the government and employers.

The finance minister said that the government will announce measures to promote investment in industries such as sports, the "sharing economy" and biohealth in February. It also plans to present comprehensive measures to nurture consumer goods industries in March. The government aims at nurturing cosmetics, agriculture and foods, goods for infants and fashion items, targeting most of all the Chinese consumer market.

Following the lifting of sanctions on Iran, Yoo said that the government plans to increase exports to Iran to $7.5 billion in 2017. By holding a joint economic committee meeting with Iran at the end of next month, the government hopes to strengthen cooperation with the country in fields where Korea has strength, such as the development of ports, healthcare and ICT.
By Yoon Ja-young





Kim Seung-youn

Hanwha Group chairman

After Hanwha Techwin sold part of its stake in Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), the market is wondering whether it gave up its alleged plan to acquire the country's only aircraft manufacturer. Hanwha Group says it is open to diverse options.

Hanwha Techwin recently sold 4 percent of its stake in KAI, decreasing its holdings to 6 percent.

The divestment came as a shock to the market, according to Lee Sang-woo, an analyst at Eugene Securities. "The market had been anticipating that Hanwha would take over KAI. It was expected that Hanwha would seek synergy between its traditional defense businesses and KAI as well as Techwin and Thales, which were acquired through a big deal with Samsung Group. It was totally unexpected," he said. Hanwha Techwin, which manufactures airplane components, also supplies its products to KAI.

KAI was established in 1999 by merging the financially-troubled aerospace affiliates of Samsung, Daewoo and Hyundai groups. The Korea Development Bank (KDB) is currently the biggest shareholder of KAI, with a 26.76 percent stake. Hyundai Automotive Group also holds a 10 percent stake.

Its major shareholders had signed an agreement to sell their stakes jointly, but with the expiration of the deal last December its major shareholders now can sell their stake as they want. Hanwha Techwin was the first to sell part of its stake, followed by Doosan's DIP Holdings which sold off 4.99 percent.

Some market watchers say that the selloff means Hanwha has totally given up on acquiring KAI. "It is de facto Hanwha's announcement that it will give up acquiring KAI," said Lee Jae-won, an analyst at Yuanta Securities. Previously, the market had been expecting Hanwha to seek managerial control of KAI by buying the 5 percent stake held by Doosan and part of the stake owned by KDB, according to the analyst. KDB must sell its stake following the decision by the Financial Services Commission that state-run banks should sell off non-financial subsidiaries.

"It proved that Hanwha is more interested in strengthening its engine business than acquiring KAI," Lee added. Hanwha Techwin said it sold the stake to invest in its airplane engine business.

However, some analysts say Hanwha hasn't given up. Some even speculate that Hanwha sold off its stake to pull down prices of KAI to buy it at cheaper price later. Hanwha sold its stake at 71,703 won per share, but Doosan, which followed Hanwha after five days, got only 62,500 won per share as the stock price fell. "If Hanwha hadn't moved first, it might have lost its chance. It was strategically the right choice," an analyst said.

Hanwha Group, however, said, "We've never said that we would not buy KAI or buy KAI." A spokesman for Hanwha Group added, "We sold the stake as Hanwha Techwin needed the money. If KDB officially announces a plan to sell KAI, then we will consider purchasing it."

Hanwha Group chairman's attachment to the defense industry also adds to expectation that Hanwha may end up buying KAI. Chairman Kim Seung-youn stressed in a New Year's speech that synergy should be expanded in the defense and petrochemical sectors. Hanwha's annual sales in the defense business were 2.7 trillion won following its acquisition of Hanwha Techwin and Thales, but this is still small compared to global players. As Hanwha Group started as a gunpowder business in the 1950s, the defense industry is something the chairman doesn't want to miss out on.

The selloff by Hanwha leaves KDB with fewer options, according to Lee at Yunta Securities. "Unless a new potential buyer comes along, KDB will have a problem selling its stake. It may consider selling to multiple buyers in small blocs, but this could weaken the governance structure of KAI, which the government doesn't want," he said.

While it isn't likely to be easy for KDB to sell KAI, the company is doing well. Its sales recorded 2.1 trillion won in 2014 with an operating profit of 161.3 billion won; and 2015 sales are estimated to be over 3 trillion won.
By Yoon Ja-young



The financial regulator will tighten monitoring of banks and securities companies to check whether they fully explain to retail investors the risks involving equity-linked securities (ELS).



The move comes as ELS, a hybrid fixed-income instrument based on the performance of underlying equities such as stock indices, is putting investors at greater risks due to recent steep falls on the Chinese stock market.



The Financial Services Commission (FSC) said Thursday it will prepare measures to cope with increasing losses of ELS investors.



It will also monitor the soundness of the securities companies that manage the fund financed by ELS products.



Many ELS issued in Korea last year included the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index (HSCEI) as its underlying equity. The index, comprised of major Chinese companies listed on the Hong Kong bourse, hit 14,801.94 points last May, but it has been plunging to hover around 8,000 points following the stock market crash.



The plunge made some ELS products enter a knock-in barrier where investors can lose their principal.



The regulator explained that entering the knock-in barrier doesn't mean the investors will immediately sustain losses.



"Even if an ELS enters the barrier, investors are usually guaranteed the fixed investment return if the index rises again to a certain level. As most of the HSCEI based ELS reach maturation in or after 2018, the investors won't sustain losses if the HSCEI recovers before then," an official at the FSC said.



However, if the index fails to recover on maturity, the investors will suffer losses. According to FnGuide, a stock market information provider, a total of 839.6 billion won ELS based on the HSCEI entered the knock-in barrier as of Wednesday. Some 4.7 trillion won worth of ELS will enter the knock-in barrier if the HSCEI falls below 7,000.



The financial regulator plans to strengthen monitoring the soundness of securities companies so that they won't be damaged by the expanding volatility of the HSCEI while managing the ELS funds.



It also plans to monitor whether the securities companies and banks have fully explained to investors about risks of losing principal while selling ELS products.



Complaints are increasing among ELS investors that banks and securities companies promoted the ELS products as low-risk but relatively high-return investments while it is turning out that they may lose their principal.



Lee Joong-ho, a derivative analyst at Yuanta Securities said that the ELS market should focus on transforming itself into a stable market using more diverse equities as underlying equities, instead of relying on the HSCEI. "The market needs more qualitative growth than quantitative growth. It would be able to continue growing only if it diversifies underlying equities and products," he said.




Whereas many counties are trying to bring in jobs, Hamilton County is blessed with the challenge of filling jobs, said Chattanooga 2.0 Project Leader Dr. Jared Bingham on Thursday.

During the Rotary Club meeting, Dr. Bingham explained the next steps in the big initiative to improve student success in Hamilton County and prepare students for current and future jobs.

Over the next 100 days four workgroups made up of community leaders will create three to five strategies each in terms of providing quality education and connecting students to jobs that pay a living wage.

The workgroups will focus on early childhood development, K-12, and postsecondary education.

According to recent studies, 83 percent of jobs that pay a living wage in Hamilton County require a postsecondary certificate or degree. But only 38 percent of Hamilton County residents hold these credentials.

Dr. Bingham defined a living wage as $35,000 a year.

He said the Chattanooga 2.0 report that came out in December took weeks to put together and served as a snapshot of where we are as a community.

Commissioned by the Benwood Foundation, the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, the Hamilton County Department of Education, and the Public Education Foundation, the report focused on education opportunities in the county in light of growing workforce challenges.

Dr. Bingham said Chattanooga 2.0 is a wonderful challenge for us to connect more with our community, as the purpose is to support and uplift local talent to meet economical expectations.

The initiative aims to ensure 75 percent of Hamilton County residents obtain a college degree or technical certification by 2025.

With thousands of jobs on the horizon, he spoke on both the economical and moral imperatives to see this through.

Because four out of 10 students in Hamilton County reportedly live in poverty, support is needed for their academic success. Dr. Bingham asked the audience to imagine a student coming from poverty receiving a 12-month postsecondary certification and tripling his yearly income.

The Chattanooga 2.0 vision is to reimagine how students are educated, and to equip students from early childhood on with skillsets that will enable them to obtain entry-level jobs.

It was stated that Hamilton County schools, grades K-12, are below the state average in literacy and math, and only trending down.

Furthermore, only 43 percent of Hamilton County students entering kindergarten have been in some kind of early childhood program, leaving approximately 60 percent of kindergartners who are starting out behind.

Dr. Bingham shed light on the studies showing African Americans are 33 times more likely to attend a low performing school than a white student in Tennessee; and that six high schools in Hamilton County have an average ACT score of 16 or below.

All of these studies and statistics he shared to emphasize how Hamilton County needs Chattanooga 2.0. It might not be about working harder, but about working more efficiently, he said.

He asked what the community at large should do to help bring a positive change to Hamilton County students and graduates. He then asked what would happen if the community did nothing.

Because if its not us, then who? If its not now, then when?

Dr. Bingham said many pastors are fired up about the endeavor and not pointing their fingers at anyone. As a result, a faith-based group will serve in the mix of groups that will develop action plans for early childhood, K-12, and postsecondary students over the next 100 days.

It will take hundreds of small programs pushing towards one outcome, Dr. Bingham said.

However, at the close of his speech he assured, I wake up every morning with fierce optimism for graduates.
Actor Jack Black poses like Po, the main character in the Kung Fu Panda movie franchise, during a press conference held in Yeouido, Seoul, Thursday. / Yonhap



Kung Fu Panda 3' director, actor promote latest series



By Yun Suh-young

Jennifer Yuh, the Korea-born director of the "Kung Fu Panda 3," when asked how she felt to be in Seoul, said it feels like home.

"It feels like coming home. It's hard to explain. Things like the air feel better," she said during a press conference in Yeouido, Thursday.

Actor Jack Black and director Jennifer Yuh visited Seoul to promote the film which will be released on Jan. 28.

Yuh, who made her directorial debut with "Kung Fu Panda 2" (2011), has returned after five years with her second film, the third installment in the Kung Fu Panda franchise.

"Being surrounded by people who look like me is wonderful and shopping is a lot easier. Every time, I realize how amazing this place is. Everyone is so friendly, and this time it's great to share it with Jack."

"Kung Fu Panda 3" is a martial arts comic animation film, co-produced by DreamWorks Animation and Oriental DreamWorks, a Shanghai-based studio.

This is the first time a Hollywood animation film has been co-produced with a Chinese firm.

In the third series, Po finds his biological father and visits a secret sanctuary of pandas where he meets a group of clumsy, fun-loving pandas whom he trains as Kung Fu Pandas to fight against Kai, an evil spirit that begins terrorizing China and stealing powers from kung fu masters.

The third installment is much about finding Po's identity and discovering what it means to be a panda.

"Finding who I am is a complex matter. The film is about self discovery," said Black who made a comical meditating gesture.

"I think that Po's originality is that he's an action hero but he's not the typical stereotypical action hero. Most action heroes are macho  they don't have much feelings and are tough and strong and never cry. But Po is sensitive and sweet, and I think that's a great thing for kids to see because you can be a hero and vulnerable."

H eadded, "What's more scary for Po than the egotistical villain is becoming a teacher, just like all kids are scared when they have to leave home and get a job."

Yuh said it was easy to work with Black because they knew the characters well.

"We both know the characters so well that we know what the characters will do in any situation," she said.

"Jack is a collaborator. He can come up with great ideas with what Po can do. Po is Jack in the scene. Jack understands how to spontaneously experiment with Po's performance."

Black also said working on the film didn't "feel like work."

"It was a joy to go to work every day. Jen is an amazing director and a great artist. Work didn't feel like work," he said.

When asked what her next film would be, Yuh said, she'd "love to try something action-packed."

"I love action and Korean cinema has a lot of action films going on. I'd love to try something like that."

Yuh is the first woman to direct a Hollywood animated feature film solo. With "Kung Fu Panda 2" she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

"Kung Fu Panda 3" features the voices of Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Lucy Liu, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Kate Hudson and the voices of Angelina Jolie's and Jack Black's children.
The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) Gwacheon celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. / Courtesy of MMCA



By Kwon Mee-yoo

The exhibition calendar of 2016 is packed with new programs, ranging from commemorations of Korea's top artists to a series of biennales celebrating contemporary art. Here's a guide to Korea's best art exhibitions of 2016.

Memorial exhibits

2016 marks the 10th anniversary of the death of Paik Nam-june, the father of video art. A series of exhibits are planned to honor the life and work of the media art pioneer.

"Paik Nam June Groove" at Sejong Center for the Performing Arts runs until Jan. 29 and Gallery Hyundai will hold an exhibit titled "Nam June Paik: When He was in Seoul" from Jan. 28 to April 3.





"Made in Taiwan" by Lee Wan, who will have a solo exhibit at Plateau from October 2016 to

January 2017 / Courtesy of Plateau



The Nam June Paik Art Center in Gyeonggi Province will hold a special exhibit from Jan. 29 to July 3, focusing on the expandability of Paik's works in collaboration with contemporary artists. In the second half of the year, the art center will launch "NJP Link Project" with Gansong Art Museum, combining traditional art with Paik's legacy.

The Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA) will hold an exhibit commemorating the 10th anniversary from June 14 to July 31 and open a memorial hall dedicated to Paik in July on the site of his childhood home.

SeMA also plans to organize an exhibit for the late Chun Kyung-ja, who passed away last year. The museum has a permanent collection of Chun's vibrant paintings donated by the artist herself.





A retrospective of Spanish artist Joan Miro will be held at Sejong Center for the Performing Arts from June to September. / Courtesy of Sejong Center for the Performing Arts



MMCA Gwacheon's 30th anniversary

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) celebrates the 30th anniversary of its Gwacheon branch, which has served as headquarters of the nation's flagship art museum. The MMCA first opened on the grounds of Gyeongbokgung Palace in 1969 and moved to Deoksugung Palace in 1973, before settling down in the Gwacheon building in 1986.

Last December, MMCA greeted its new director Bartomeu Mari Ribas, the first-ever foreigner to head the museum.

The exhibit commemorating the 30th anniversary of MMCA Gwacheon will be held year-round. Over 70 percent of the museum's collection of 7,782 artworks will be displayed in a contemporary context, showcasing the process of producing artwork from making and distributing to collecting and storing.





Korean media artist Paik Nam-june's "Phiber Optik" / Courtesy of Sejong Center for the Performing Arts



An architectural exhibit will shed light on Kim Tae-soo, the architect who designed the museum building. Additional projects will also be held centering on spatial transformation and the archives of the museum's research center.

The MMCA will also highlight three masters of Korean modern art who celebrate their 100th birthdays this year at MMCA Deoksugung.

The exhibit will feature one artist at a time, starting from Byun Wol-ryong and continuing to Lee Jung-seob and Yoo Young-guk. This is the first solo exhibit of Byun, who was famous in the Russian art scene in the 20th century, but often neglected in Korean art history.





Olafur Eliasson's "Gravity Stairs" / Courtesy of Leeum



Dansaekhwa boom continues

"Dansaekhwa," or the Korean monochrome movement, received attention both locally and internationally years back. The boom continues in Korea and around the world, starting this year with the "Dansaekhwa and Minimalism" exhibit at Blum and Poe Los Angeles. The exhibit sheds light on Dansaekhwa artists including Kwon Young-woo, Park Seo-bo, Lee U-fan and Ha Chong-hyun, juxtaposing their works with those of minimalist artists such as Sol LeWitt, Richard Serra and Agnes Martin.

In June, a major Dansaekhwa exhibit will be held at the Boghossian Foundation in Belgium.

In February, Kukje Gallery in Korea will hold a solo exhibit of Chung Chang-sup (1927-2011), who mainly worked with Korean mulberry paper to maximize materiality.



World-famous artists

While Korean artists make their way overseas, local art connoisseurs can enjoy the works of top international artists here.

Danish-Icelandic installation artist Olafur Eliasson will have an exhibit at Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art from this October to February 2017. The artist is known for his use of elemental materials such as light, water and air and expectations are high for what he will create for the Seoul exhibit.

Kukje Gallery will host an exhibit on French artist Jean-Michel Othoniel featuring his latest glass bead works from Feb. 2 to March 27. The gallery will offer an exhibit of British sculptor Anish Kapoor in the latter half of the year.

Plateau, Samsung Museum of Art will display the works of Chinese artist Liu Wei from April to September, while Daegu Art Museum will exhibit the works of Chinese cinematographer Yang Fudong from June to October.
By Janet Shin

Foreseeing the future and peeping into one's destiny involve a ponderous obligation and discernment. It is required to refrain from posing subjective judgments  or if it's really necessary, it has to be done with great caution.

Every life has its own beauty and it can't be disparaged or depreciated by external appearances or conventional standards of value. Nevertheless, people keep consulting fortune tellers for advice in times of trouble and uncertainty and the fortune tellers are apt to intervene in other's lives as they have to provide answers for various situations. Once they recognize the crucial impact of the fortune tellers' divulgences, consultation must be done with extreme prudence. Being a fortune teller is a fearful lifework.

In old days, the words of prophets were compared to the will of the gods. Ordinary humans were not allowed to covet their abilities and even the prophets couldn't overuse it.

While we wow some prognosticators with divine foresight, some other mischievous fortune tellers are often penalized for their reckless leakage and unrighteous conduct. People's praise of a fortune teller's clairvoyance is actually at the risk of their lives. Revealing the secrets of the universe is a dreadful mission of great importance.

I received a call from an old acquaintance at the end of last year. She used to attend my saju lectures but couldn't complete the courses. She is an alleged psychic and according to her claim, her spirit doesn't let her read books. Yet, being an avid apologist of saju and other types of Oriental teachings, she tries to meet all the famous diviners or so-called ascetics in order to get their teachings.

One day, she visited a prison to meet a great fortune teller, who was a North Korean defector imprisoned for possible intelligence gathering. He was known to have been a private fortune teller of the former leader, Kim Il-sung. My acquaintance was told that his foresight was great enough to peel his own palm to exfoliate and erase his palm lines in order to change fate, because he knew he was going to die according to his reading. This didn't sound like a well-grounded story. Anyway, she tends to be tempted by rumors and collects materials connected to occultism.

From their conversation, she learned that there was an equivalent potent fortune teller in South Korea who used to study with the North Korean and they were initiated into the secrets from the same teacher. They both were known to have the foresight to guess correctly what their clients were going to ask. At a certain hour, on a certain day of a certain month, they were expecting a client who would ask a specific question. This was said to be based upon their esoteric learning.

My acquaintance was finally able to locate the South Korean fortune teller, only to find out that he had been killed in a sudden traffic accident. And there was a story behind it. He, who was full of confidence, wrote books containing all the secrets of his readings. He thought the books were going to bring him a great deal of money but on the day the books were published, the fatal accident happened.

Actually their teacher had told them to pass down the secrets only to those who are worthy. It was not specified but his teachings warned them to be careful applying the secrets. A divine punishment was to be imposed on those who initiated it.

After all, my acquaintance managed to acquire the volume of secret methods, over 70 books. While she was unable to read them due to her own spiritual possession, she was concerned about how to handle the books.

I advised her that it was avarice for a fortune teller to write books to make money even if disguised as an act of sharing knowledge with others. So was her acquisition of the books. Fortune telling is intriguing and people may want the power of foresight. It is, however, not something that can be effortlessly and irresponsibly practiced. It rather requires discreet use and moderation.

For further information, visit Janet's website at www.fourpillarskorea.com, contact her at 010-5414-7461 or email janetshin@hotmail.com. The writer is the author of "Life's Secrets."
President Park Geun-hye said Thursday that South Korea will push for effective possible means to make North Korea pay a price for its nuclear test earlier this month.

She did not elaborate on what she meant by effective possible means. South Korea has resumed anti-Pyongyang broadcasts as part of its punishment against North Korea for its nuclear test.

The latest comments were made at a defense meeting with officials and come at the same time that the U.N. Security Council is working on a new resolution to punish North Korea for its fourth nuclear test.

Sanctions have been in place on North Korea for its three previous nuclear tests: in 2006, 2009 and 2013.

She also said there could be growing uncertainty on the Korean Peninsula as North Korea could stage provocations.

Last week, a North Korean drone briefly crossed the border before returning home after the South Korean military fired warning shots.

North Korea is also believed to have sent massive spam emails to South Korean public organizations in what could be the North's latest hacking attempt.

South Korean police said the spam emails were traced to an Internet network in northeast China that Seoul said was behind a cyberattack on South Korea's nuclear power operator in 2014.

North Korea has a track record of waging cyberattacks on South Korea and the United States in recent years, though it has flatly denied any involvement. (Yonhap)
Police took a man suspected of murdering his young son to reenact the crime scene in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province on Thursday.

The reenactment by the father, surnamed Choi, 34, and his wife took place at four sites _ Choi's former residence where the corpse was first dismembered, a public bathroom where body parts were dumped, Choi's current residence and the house of an acquaintance where the father left the corpse before the arrest.

According to police, Choi's son, 7, died a day after a two-hour assault by his father. His mother helped dispose of the body, police said. Both parents have been arrested on multiple charges, including death by assault, destruction and abandoning a corpse and charges under the Children's Welfare Act.

Parts of the body were dumped in a public bathroom, and the rest were kept for years in a freezer at the couple's home. Choi took the body parts to an acquaintance's home, Friday when police came to inspect his home. Choi was arrested the same day.

The boy died on Nov. 8, 2012, but the case had surfaced days earlier after school staff contacted Choi's wife to ask about her son's long-term absence.

Choi, who was unemployed, cared for his two children at home while his wife went to work.

Police believe high stress levels led to the crime.
By Kang Seung-woo



President Park Geun-hye said Thursday that she anticipates tensions with North Korea to escalate continuously, creating a threat to peace and security on the Korean Peninsula.



This is why South Korea must seek all possible measures to punish the North for its latest nuclear test, which was again in clear violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, she said.



Park made the remarks while presiding over a security meeting at Cheong Wa Dae. Top government officials, including the prime minister, Cabinet members, and mayors and governors, were in attendance.



"As soon as the New Year began, the North conducted its fourth nuclear test, dashing hopes of inter-Korean reconciliation and threatening peace on the peninsula," Park said.



"The government will take all available action, including U.N. sanctions, to make the North pay the price for the latest military provocation."



The Security Council has been discussing details of a new resolution to establish further sanctions against the North; and Seoul has agreed with its allies  the United States and Japan  to work together for stronger measures to be imposed.



She expressed concern that threats from the Kim Jong-un regime have become more complex and called for heightened vigilance and a swift response to them.



"While upgrading its nuclear technology, it is concentrating on developing asymmetric military capabilities, such as submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLMB). In addition, the North continues with various provocations such as cyber attacks, drones and biological or chemical weapons," she said.



"Just a single failure to prevent such threats could bring the country to a standstill, so we should remain on high alert against them."



The North conducted three SLBM tests last year in May, November and December; but it is estimated to be many years away from making the necessary technology to detonate an H-bomb.



Last week, a North Korean drone briefly crossed the border before returning home after the South Korean military fired warning shots. The repressive state is believed to have sent massive spam emails to South Korean public organizations in what could be its latest hacking attempt, as well.



Amid growing global terrorist attacks that have stretched to Asia, there are growing concerns that Korea may not be safe from terrorism. Since the Paris attacks in November that killed 130 people, the Islamic State (IS) has carried out attacks in Turkey and Indonesia.



However, the bills, aimed at better protecting the nation from possible terrorist attacks, have been gathering dust in parliament for 15 years because the opposition party is concerned about the National Intelligence Service being granted additional powers and authority.



Once again, Park urged the National Assembly  more specifically, the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea  to process the anti-terrorism bills, saying that it is urgent to establish a system to defend the nation against new types of terrorism such as cyber attacks and biological weapons.



"Although South Koreans are also possible targets for terrorist attacks, they (lawmakers) do not seem worried about the safety of the people, given that they are reluctant to pass the bills," Park said.



The President chaired the pan-government defense meeting for the third straight year, which is rare, given that her predecessors held the meetings once or twice during their administrative terms.




By Kim Hyo-jin





Lee Myung-bak

Former President Lee Myung-bak will deliver a speech on the diplomatic and political challenges faced by South Korea at a conference in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, tomorrow.



The speech will be the first time for Lee to express his opinions on pending issues since the transition of power to President Park Geun-hye in early 2013.



"Lee will give a speech during a conference hosted by the Christian group Far East Forum," said Lee Dong-kwan, his former senior presidential secretary for public affairs.

"He will mainly talk about his religious beliefs but other topics could naturally include his achievements and his views about the country's political and diplomatic situation."



The impending speech has prompted speculation that Lee will resume political activities in order to garner public support for his aides who are preparing to stand as candidates in the general election scheduled for April.



Among the potential candidates are Kim Hyo-jae, former senior presidential secretary for public affairs; former presidential chief of staff Yim Tae-hee; and the former press secretary Lee.



Former and incumbent lawmakers in the ruling Saenuri Party that are within Lee's faction include, Reps. Lee Jae-oh, Joo Ho-young and Choung Byoung-gug. They are also ready to stand as candidates in the elections. Former lawmaker and minister of health and welfare under the Lee administration Jin Soo-hee announced Tuesday that she will be a candidate.



Most of them are expected to stand as candidates in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, the ruling party's home turf where a group of loyalists to President Park Geun-hye, including outgoing Cabinet ministers and presidential aides are also seeking to be elected.



"Lee delivered his opinion to the leadership of the ruling party that his aides shouldn't be discriminated against in nominations just because of their relationship with him," a Lee aide said on condition of anonymity.



Lee's aides recently disclosed that the prosecution traced transactions in bank accounts held by a dozen former ministers and vice ministers who served under Lee, prompting speculation that the Park administration is trying to prevent Lee from resuming political activities.



The prosecution first denied the allegation, but later admitted that it did trace transactions last year while investigating a botched overseas investment project initiated by the Lee administration.



"Whatever the reason, the investigation targeting Lee's aides could be interpreted as a warning message to Lee, who could be a potential political rival of Park," former lawmaker Jin Soo-hee told reporters.
By Kim Rahn

A local court sentenced a storekeeper to one year in jail after he was convicted on a charge of professional negligence because he advised a customer with cancer to only eat powdered cereal and salt and the sick man died of brain damage.

The Seoul Central District Court found the 55-year-old man, whose name was withheld, guilty of professional negligence resulting in death.

According to the court, the unidentified patient, 49, visited the man's store in January 2014. He was given a year to live because of stomach cancer.

The storekeeper claimed the patient would recover in a month if he ate only specially-made salt and powdered cereal. He told the patient to eat 9 grams of salt and the cereal powder per day, and drink as little water as possible.

The patient bought the products for 3 million won and took them with a minimum amount of water for nine days after which he collapsed. His blood sodium level was 191 milligrams per deciliter, way over the normal levels of 135-145.

The high level of sodium damaged his nervous system and put him into a coma. He died three months later.

"The patient died a miserable death and the bereaved family has been suffering mental pain," the court said. "The defendant deserves to be punished for his treatment of the victim."
By Kim Hyo-jin





Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo

Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo is taking steps to appeal to center-right voters in an apparent bid to expand his support base before he launches a new party in February.



He is increasingly voicing conservative views on contentious political issues, while the steering committee for the new party is aggressively recruiting politicians who were formally affiliated with former President Lee Myung-bak.



The committee has criticized both the ruling Saenuri Party and the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) for their ideological biases, saying its pragmatic approach can change Korean politics.



Rep. Kim Young-hwan, vice chairman of the committee, while announcing a plan to recruit conservative politicians, said the new party, tentatively named the "People's Party," is conducting a new political experiment aimed at winning the hearts and minds of both liberal and conservative voters.



Ahn's camp is reportedly working on recruiting Park Hyung-joon, secretary-general of the National Assembly. Park is one Lee's confidants who served as a spokesman during his presidential campaign and was senior presidential secretary for public affairs in the Lee Myung-bak administration.



Many of Lee's aides have already joined Ahn's provisional party. Lee Tae-gyu, former secretary for public relations in Lee's presidential camp, is now the head of a working committee making preparations to launch Ahn's party. Included are Jeong Yong-hwa, Lee's former press secretary and Kim Bong-soo who served as chairman of the Korea Exchange (KRX) while Lee was in office.



"We're acknowledging the need to widen our political spectrum by not refraining from accepting figures from the conservative side," said an official at the preparatory committee, adding that it aims to break the shackles of the two-party political system.



Meanwhile, Han Sang-jin, co-chair of the preparatory committee was recently embroiled in a controversy for referring to late first President Syngman Rhee as the "founding father of the nation."



Rhee, whose long-term presidency includes the emergence and struggle of the pro-democracy movements, is a controversial figure because liberals disregard him as an authoritarian while conservatives credit him as a contributor who laid the foundations of the modern state.



Although Han had to issue an apology a few days later for his remark made in the face of strong criticism by bereaved families of those victimized in the April 19 uprising, a series of such political moves imprinted its conservative color on the minds of the electorate.



Rep. Ahn earlier paid respects along with Han at the gravesites of Rhee and Park Chung-hee, father of incumbent President Park Geun-hye _a contrast to that of MPK leader Moon Jae-in, who did not make such visits due to opposition voiced by liberal supporters.



Concerning economic issues, Ahn's camp also held differing views from the MPK's, adding rather conservative colors.



It voiced support for pending economic bills that would facilitate the privatization of health care and restructuring of subsidiaries by conglomerates.



When the nation's largest umbrella union Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) withdrew from the labor, management and government talks for labor market reform, Tuesday, denouncing the government for unilaterally pushing ahead with rules to bring flexibility in labor market, Ahn's camp took a different stance from that of the MPK.



While the MPK took the labor's side, it called on the FKTU to come back to the talks, saying "they should not take the importance of a social body seeking agreement lightly."



"Their strategy is clever, and at the same time natural," Yoon Tae-gon, a senior political analyst at Moa Agenda Strategy said. "They are poised to attract centrist or center-right voters while the ruling party is moving more toward the right and the MPK leaning more toward the left."
By Kim Hyo-jin





Rep. Park Jie-won

Rep. Park Jie-won of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) will announce his official departure from the party today, according to his aide, Thursday.



"After quitting the party, Park plans to work on uniting the opposition bloc without joining any particular group," said one of Park's aides.



Park is likely to stand in the general election as an independent candidate if the opposition bloc fails to be united before the April 13 elections are held, according to party officials.



Park, the de facto leader of a group of legislators who reside in the Jeolla Provinces, has denounced party Chairman Moon Jae-in for deepening factional strife between those loyal to the political legacy of late President Roh Moo-hyun and lawmakers who are not in their faction, most of whom are based in the Jeolla region.



Despite Park's departure, the rest of the Jeolla-based lawmakers are expected to be on the fence for a while because Moon announced his resignation anytime soon as they demanded.



"We will wait and see if his resignation will bring changes to the party," Rep. Kim Yung-rok, whose constituency is Haenam, South Jeolla Province, told reporters.



Park earlier said that Moon's decision came too late to revive the party's losing momentum ahead of the general election. The MPK has suffered low popularity on its traditional home turf Jeolla Provinces due to factional strife, which was aggravated in the rivalry with Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo who is preparing to launch a new opposition party with support of Jeolla-based lawmakers.



Meanwhile, Rep. Park Young-sun, party's another bigwig who has drawn attention over whether to join Ahn, announced that she will stay in the MPK.



"I will focus on bringing economic and social justice in the current position, while putting my utmost effort to reform the party," Park wrote in a Facebook post.



She vowed to help the party position itself as "strong opposition," saying Ahn's provisional party is now taking a centrist step when the public wish to have a competent opposition backing their side.



Park is expected to join the election planning committee headed by Kim Jong-in, who was recently appointed by Moon to lead the party in preparation for the general election.
Senate Education Committee Chairman Dolores Gresham (R-Somerville) Thursday filed the Tennessee Tuition Stability Act to control the exponential growth in tuition at Tennessees state colleges and universities.

Senate Bill 2306 limits tuition growth to increases in the consumer price index and locks-in tuition for entering freshmen for four years. Any increase above and beyond the CPI would require approval from at least two-thirds of the Board of Regents or the University of Tennessee's Board of Trustees.

College tuition is out of control in Tennessee and everyone knows it, said Chairman Gresham. Any college student or their family who attended a Tennessee college or university during the last decade understands all too well the problem this bill addresses.

If the present rate of tuition increases were to continue, an affordable college education would soon be out of reach for all but the most affluent Tennesseans. That is simply unacceptable. Education is the great equalizer. Affordable college education is what has enabled Tennesseans throughout history to rise and succeed, Senator Gresham continued.

Skyrocketing tuition places a barrier between middle and working class Tennesseans and success. It amounts to a tax increase on the American dream. Tennessee families keep their budgets in check by tightening their belts and keeping their priorities in order. Tennessee colleges and universities must do likewise."

Over the past 20 years, in-state tuition and required fees have increased 456 percent at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Over the same period, a family at Tennessees median household income has gone from paying 7.3 percent of their income in tuition and required fees for a four-year degree at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville to 28.7 percent today.

Under the Tennessee Tuition Stability Act of 2016, the Tennessee Board of Regents or the University of Tennessee Board of Trustees would be prohibited from increasing in-state undergraduate tuition or fees at a four-year institution above the increase in the CPI without a vote of the full board. If a proposed increase is less than the most recent annual percentage change in the CPI plus two percent, it would require a supermajority of the board voting in favor. An increase greater than two percent of CPI would require a unanimous vote.

The bill would also freeze for four years the tuition and required fees for incoming freshmen.

As a supporter of Governor Haslams Drive to 55 initiative, I believe it is imperative to address this issue now," said Senator Gresham. "Keeping college affordable is critical to reaching and ultimately exceeding that important goal.




By Lee Kyung-min



An appellate court upheld a lower court's ruling, Thursday, that a teachers' group was illegal, as determined by the Ministry of Employment and Labor, because it failed to cancel the membership of nine dismissed teachers.



The ruling, if confirmed at the Supreme Court, will confirm the removal of the 60,000-member Korean Teachers and Education Workers' Union (KTU)'s legal status, which gives it the right to mount collective action and receive government subsidies.



The Seoul High Court upheld a Seoul Administrative Court ruling that rejected the KTU's demand to have the ministry's decision to ban the union revoked. It dismissed the union's claim that the move was political oppression.



"According to Article 2 of the Teachers' Union Law, dismissed teachers cannot be union members. Only incumbent educators in elementary, middle, and high schools are eligible to join the union," the court said. "So the lower court ruling was appropriate and the ministry's decision was not against the law."



The ministry's decision did not infringe upon the legal rights guaranteed by the Constitution, the court added.



Earlier in 2014, the lower court rejected the request filed by the KTU to nullify the ministry's 2013 decision to ban the union. It said dismissed teachers can retain their union membership status only until the National Labor Relations Commission delivers a determination on their request seeking to nullify their dismissal.



The KTU appealed, but the case was put on hold after the appellate court sought a ruling by the Constitutional Court over the constitutionality of Article 2. Until that ruling was given, the ministry's move was not put into effect.



In May last year, the Constitutional Court ruled that the dismissed teachers were not eligible to be members of the KTU, in line with the administrative court ruling.



The judges said the article did not violate teachers' constitutional rights, countering the union's argument that it gravely infringed upon their labor rights. It said if the dismissed teachers were allowed to join the union, they would participate in decision making that could influence incumbent teachers' working conditions.



The KTU strongly protested the ruling, saying it would not succumb to political oppression, and appealed immediately.






By Chung Ah-young



Private kindergartens are expected to raise fees if the central government and regional education offices continue to refuse financing the free preschool program called the Nuri Curriculum.



As the subsidy was suspended beginning this month, some kindergartens and daycare centers are moving to raise their fees, while others are facing serious financial problems of being unable to pay the salaries of teachers and staff.



In 2013, the government introduced the Nuri Curriculum for all children aged three to five, as part of President Park Geun-hye's campaign pledge to strengthen the nation's responsibility for early childhood education and care.



But after putting an excessive burden on the state coffers for the expanded program, the government ordered the regional education offices to assume the burden of funding the program from 2015.



The offices have refused, however, citing they lack the money. They also claim no responsibility especially for financing daycare centers, which are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Kindergartens are under the Ministry of Education, but some municipal councils have refused to provide funds for kindergartens as well, citing fairness with daycare centers.



So far, only six of the 17 education offices nationwide have established funding. The offices in Seoul, Gwangju and South Jeolla and Gyeonggi provinces have not set aside any money for the program. Some other offices have the budget only for kindergartens while others decided to fund the program just for a couple of months.



A Seoul branch of the Korea Kindergarten Association (KKA) announced that it has notified its members and parents to prepare for the possible fee hike. The Seoul branch consists of 604 private kindergartens.



"We have informed the kindergartens and parents about the possible hike because support is being suspended beginning this month," Lee Myung-hee, president of the Seoul branch of the KKA, said.



Private kindergartens said that as most of the paydays for teachers fall between Jan. 21 and 25, they face an imminent financial shortage and may fail to pay the salaries of the teachers. At public kindergartens, teachers are public servants and the central government pays them.



The fee hike may come to 220,000 won per child which the education office used to pay.



"We are not sure whether to increase the fee right now because the amount (220,000 won) is a huge burden on parents. But if the subsidy continues to be suspended, we will have no choice," an official of a kindergarten in Seoul, said.



Some 700 parents and kindergarten directors in Gyeonggi Province waged a rally in front of the Gyeonggi Provincial Government office in Suwon, Thursday, demanding the central government, political parties and education offices solve the problem.



"Some 160 children are supposed to enroll for the new semester. But parents of some 40 children said they will not enroll them if the subsidy is not provided," a director of a private kindergarten in Gyeonggi Province said.



The heads of the 17 education offices gathered for a general assembly in Busan to discuss the issue.
An artist's concept of KF-X fighter



6 prototypes will be produced by 2021

By Jun Ji-hye

Korea officially kicked off a project to develop indigenous high-tech fighter jets, Thursday, with the goal of producing six prototypes by 2021 and completing development by 2026.

Officials from all entities involved held their first meeting at the headquarters of Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), the main contractor, in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang Province.

They are the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), the U.S. defense giant Lockheed Martin, the Indonesian Defense Ministry and Indonesia's state-run defense firm PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PTDI).

The government plans to spend 8.5 trillion won in the development of the KF-X, and an additional 10 trillion won to produce 120 jets by 2032 to replace the Air Force's aging fleet of F-4s and F-5s.

DAPA said the nation will domestically develop some 90 items necessary for the aircraft, including the active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, and electronic optics targeting pod (EOTGP), which the U.S. government earlier refused to hand over to Korea for security reasons.

"Our goal is to localize 65 percent of the components for the aircraft," DAPA said in a release.

The project will also proceed with the help of Lockheed Martin which will transfer 21 technologies used in the F-35 stealth fighter. In early December, the U.S. government approved the transfer of the technologies in a "large frame," according to DAPA.

For its part, the Indonesian government will invest some 1.6 trillion won in the project, and its defense firm will participate in the process of design and component production. The country will also be given one prototype and technology data afterward.

But concerns still remain over the possibility that the U.S. might once again refuse to approve the handover of some of the technologies requested by Seoul, as negotiations between DAPA and Lockheed officials are still ongoing to list the details, as hundreds of technical items are part of them.

DAPA head Chang Myoung-jin said earlier that negotiations will continue for the next two to three years.

In addition, some critics are still skeptical about whether the nation will be able to domestically develop the AESA radar and other integral technologies by the target deadline.

As part of efforts to manage such risks involving the multi-million-dollar project, the National Assembly established a subcommittee comprised of professors and experts in the aerospace field to consistently monitor the costs and schedule of the development process, according to DAPA.

It said in a release, "We will dispatch professional manpower comprised of DAPA and Air Force officials to KAI headquarters from the end of this month in an effort to maximize oversight."

KAI President and CEO Ha Sung-yong said, "We will concentrate all our capacity to succeed in the KF-X project and contribute to the nation's economy."

Before its official kickoff, the program had suffered a severe crisis after the U.S. government refused in April to allow Lockheed to hand over four core technologies  the AESA radar, the EOTGP, the infrared search and radio frequency (RF) jammer and the infrared search and tracking (IRST) system.

A transfer of a total of 25 technologies was included in an offset deal signed in September of 2014 with Lockheed Martin in return for Korea's purchase of 40 F-35s.

Amid growing skepticism about the feasibility of the KF-X program at the time, DAPA said that the nation could domestically develop them and the U.S. government had promised to approve the transfer of the other 21 technologies.



Follow Jun Ji-hye on Twitter @TheKopJihye
By Jun Ji-hye

The chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of South Korea, the United States and Japan are likely to meet next month to discuss the allies' joint responses to North Korea's continuous nuclear ambitions, according to Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), Thursday.

"Talks are underway between the three countries to hold a trilateral meeting next month," said a JCS official on the condition of anonymity. "The exact date and venue have yet to be determined."

Japanese media also reported that the meeting would take place next month between Gen. Lee Sun-jin, chairman of Seoul's JCS; Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of Washington's JCS; and Adm. Katsutoshi Kawano, chief of the Japan Self-Defense Forces Joint Staff.

If realized, it will be the second meeting between the three countries' top leaders in the military chain of command.

The first-ever meeting of its kind was held in July 2014 in Hawaii when the biennial U.S.-led Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC) was taking place there.

During the anticipated meeting, the three are expected to evaluative the North's Jan. 6 nuclear test and consider ways of jointly responding to the provocation militarily, including conducting joint drills.

The three are also expected to discuss whether to continue having these trilateral meetings regularly as Pyongyang has shown no signs of abandoning its nuclear ambitions.

Japan is reportedly hoping for regular meetings of the JCSs, while Korea has been reluctant to accept such meetings, considering public sentiment that stems from bitter memories of Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule and the country's wrongdoings, including the Japanese soldiers' use and humiliation of Korean women as sex slaves during the World War II.





Follow Jun Ji-hye on Twitter @TheKopJihye
Additional nuclear and missile tests would be required for North Korea to master the technology to put a nuclear warhead on a long-range ballistic missile, a recent U.S. congressional research report said.



The Congressional Research Service made the assessment in the Jan. 15 report, titled "North Korea: U.S. Relations, Nuclear Diplomacy, and Internal Situation," saying the official position of the director of national intelligence (DNI) is that the North "has not yet demonstrated the full range of capabilities necessary for a nuclear armed missile."



"Miniaturization likely would require additional nuclear and missile tests," the report said. "Perhaps the most acute near-term threat to other nations is from the medium-range Nodong missile, which could reach all of the Korean Peninsula and some of mainland Japan."



The report also noted the White House cast doubts over the North's claims of a successful hydrogen bomb test.



"The U.S. government confirmed that the underground explosion was a nuclear test, but a White House spokesman said that initial data was 'not consistent' with North Korean claims of detonating a full-fledged thermonuclear hydrogen bomb," the report said, adding that the North's three previous tests involved fission devices.



It also raised the possibility that the North could have tested a "boosted fission weapon," saying testing such a device could be the next step after testing fission weapons on the path to developing a hydrogen bomb. Boosted fission weapons would also be lighter and smaller than a fission weapon with comparable yield, it said.



The report also said the North's development of submarine-launched ballistic missiles is not considered an "imminent" threat, saying the December test of an SLBM was a "failure."



"SLBM technology is extremely difficult to develop, and the reports of testing do not indicate that North Korea's prototype ballistic missile submarines represent an imminent threat," it said.



It cited an unidentified expert on North Korean military affairs as saying, "under optimal conditions this (SLBM capability is) an emerging regional threat rather than an imminent threat. It does not represent an emerging intercontinental threat."



(Yonhap)








The South Korean government said Thursday it would not allow any direct civilian exchanges with North Korea for the time being, a punitive step against Pyongyang for its fourth nuclear test.



It's time to concentrate efforts on imposing effective sanctions on the North, said an official at the Unification Ministry that handles Seoul-Pyongyang relations.



The reaffirmation of Seoul's firm stance came after reports that the North proposed contact in China with the South's civilian organizations not before long after its Jan. 6 nuclear test, allegedly hydrogen-based.



"North Korea offered consultations on projects under way (by some South Korean aid groups)," the ministry official told reporters.



He made clear the government's disapproval of any direct inter-Korean civilian meeting at a time when the international community is discussing tougher sanctions on Pyongyang.



The inter-Korean relationship should "not be business as usual," he said, adding the North's suggestion is like "asking for shaking hands and being on good terms after a slap in the face."



In the wake of the North's nuclear test, its national commission on reconciliation reportedly sent a fax message to several South Korean humanitarian and religious groups proposing meetings in China on their projects this year.



Under South Korea's National Security Law, its nationals must receive government approval before contact with North Koreans.




By Shashi Bhasin

The way political forces have tried to reach an agreement on compensation is very surprising. To proceed forward for their political and military gains, the countries involved in outlining this so called historic deal have no emotions involved with the so-called comfort women. From the said deal it is evident that a country whose interests are prime in this zone has performed its role well without any emotional strings attached to the respected Comfort Women.

The 1965 Treaty of $800 million in economic aid and loans from Tokyo to Seoul had been a kind of business deal which included sensitive issues of the Comfort Women. Hang Xiantu's anger and expectations were very clear to her sons to keep on suing the Japanese government. She died without getting an apology.

Pak Kum-joo, (South Korea), Maria Rosa Hensen (Philippines), Zhang Xiantu (China) and Bacci (Indonesia) are some of the women who brought the issue forward for justice with very little or no achievement.

Politicians of the two countries have tried to close this deal due to certain political and economical interests but what about the affected women of China, the Philippines and Indonesia? Are they not so important for Japan's gesture and so called closure of this dark episode of their history? Why Japan proceeds for an agreement only with South Korea and not also with Indonesia, the Philippines and China? This issue must be dealt with to include all of the women affected irrespective of their nationality.

Time is running out for Japan to handle this issue responsibly and fully. These women are getting older, reducing and leaving no time for Japan to make a sincere apology. A quick response by Japan to emotionally satisfy the women who are still alive will be greatly appreciated by everybody. But if they do nothing, Japan's current politicians will also include themselves with the Japanese politicians of the past who did nothing and they will surely be questioned in the future for their delay and inaction. Japan will be remembered in history not only for the heinous crime they committed but also for the way they are dealing with it.

Shashi Bhasin is a marine engineer in Calgary, Canada, who lived in Ulsan, Jinhae and Busan from 2007-2010.
By Kim Mikyoung



When "unthinkable" events happen, they can change the course of history. The bilateral agreement reached by South Korea and Japan over "comfort women" on Dec. 28 was one such "unthinkable" event. South Korea had few incentives to resolve an issue that allowed it to exercise the moral authority of victimhood. And Japan was not shy about expressing frustration with its neighbor's criticism of Tokyo's handling of past wrongs.

So how was the agreement reached, and what does it mean?

The Japan-South Korea deal over comfort women was the work of the trilateral relationship between Japan, the United States and South Korea, out of which the United States has secured the most benefits and South Korean been left to bear most of the burden.

The primary pusher of the agreement was the Obama administration. With a rising China, the United States could no longer afford for its two major allies in East Asia to be divided. Washington has been pressuring both Japan and South Korea to make mutual concessions over lingering history problems. Obama's message was loud and clear: shake it off and move forward.

Washington has also been increasingly wary of the rising number of petitions relating to Northeast Asian politics lodged on the White House website. The Obama administration had to respond to petitions signed by over 100,000 people on territorial disputes, the establishment of statues commemorating the comfort women on U.S. soil and history textbooks. The issue is increasingly becoming a domestic as well as a diplomatic issue for the United States.

In this context, President Obama emphasized the need for Japan and South Korea to mend ties and increase cooperation during his visit to Tokyo and Seoul in 2014. Obama reiterated this message by convening a tripartite meeting in The Hague later the same year.

Japan responded quickly and decisively. During his Capitol Hill speech in April 2015, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made it very clear that Japan will support the United States in seeking to contain China. Abe made two big pledges to the American government. Japan would become a more active partner in the U.S.-Japan bilateral security relationship by enacting new national security legislation. And it would continue its conciliatory policy vis-a-vis its former victim countries in Asia. Abe assured the United States that his policy toward Japan's war history would remain unchanged from previous administrations.

Abe lived up to his pledges. The new security law was passed in early September 2015.

This revolutionary measure will reshape the scope and content of Japan's military maneuverings in the global theater. The Japanese leader also kept his promise to uphold the stance adopted in the Kono and Murayama statements. Abe extended apologies and expressed remorse over Japan's past wrongs during his 70th anniversary statement of Japan's defeat in 1945. Abe proved himself to be capable of not only "talking the talk," but also "walking the walk."

The ball was then in South Korea's court. The current Park Geun-hye administration has been swinging between Beijing and Washington since her term began in 2013. Park, who was initially known for her anti-Japanese orientation, decided to cut a deal with Tokyo on comfort women before the 50th anniversary year of the South Korea-Japan Normalization Treaty ended. The day the agreement was announced Dec. 28 was the last working day in 2015 for both South Korea and Japan.

While Abe is enjoying rosy reviews of the agreement, the Park administration is drawing fire from various domestic corners of opposition. The surviving comfort women, a total of 46 women with an average age of 89, have not contained their anger about being excluded from the negotiation process. The compensation offered by Japan, roughly $180,000 per person, is regarded as insufficient given the nature and duration of the victim's suffering.

But the real hot potato is the South Korean government's pledge to "strive to solve" the issue of relocating the comfort women statue placed by activists in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul "in an appropriate manner." This is not going to be an easy task. South Korean NGOs have voiced their dissatisfaction with the bilateral agreement and are planning to continue to hold their weekly Wednesday rally in front of the statue, as they have done since 1992. The Seoul government's efforts are bound to fall short in persuading civilian activists.

The domestic backlash will come at a hefty price for the Park administration. Domestic critics will question her government's decision to support what is seen as a last-minute trade-off between national honor and mediocre financial gains. Park's party is expected to suffer repercussions in the upcoming general elections this April. Competing against Abe to respond to U.S. pressure to come to an agreement was certainly politically costly.

In Japan, the general atmosphere is one of relief. An irreversible deal has finally been struck, and it exempts Japan's future generations from being held accountable for the sins committed by their forefathers.

The only remaining chore is the government's funding of the agreed 1 billion yen (about $8.3 million) in compensation.

More than anything, the agreement has proven that U.S. leadership is alive and well in East Asia. The agreement is a powerful reminder to China that the U.S. pivot to Asia is a viable strategy. China's ability to use the history card against Japan will lose its steam with South Korea's concession.

And collaborative efforts by China and South Korea, such as the joint application to include records relating to comfort women in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register, will be put on hold. The Obama administration has managed to send a clear message to President Xi Jinping that East Asia is still under U.S. headship.

Kim Mikyoung is an associate professor at the Hiroshima Peace Institute, Hiroshima City University. She can be reached at mkkim_33@hotmail.com.
By Donald Kirk

Donald Gregg, former U.S. ambassador to Korea, makes an astounding statement in a piece published after North Korea's fourth nuclear test. As "a very positive note," he praises "the performance of Kim Jong-un in improving the North Korean economy and downplaying nuclear threats and nuclear weapons development."

It is difficult to comprehend, in the aftermath of the latest test, how Gregg came up with quite such an observation. Gregg, who served as CIA station chief before his appointment as ambassador, compounds this craziness in the next sentence in which he states that "Kim is repairing his relations with China" while "adopting a North Korean version of strategic patience' toward us."

No doubt Kim and all the sycophants around him would love for North Korea's economy to get better, but really that is not happening while he invests more funds on producing nukes and missiles capable of carrying miniaturized warheads to distant targets. Certainly the rhetoric, far from lowering the threat level, suggests North Korea's determination to develop more and "better" nukes in hope of intimidating the U.S. into a "peace treaty" that would require withdrawal of U.S. forces while ending the U.S.-South Korean alliance.

Nor is Kim getting along better with China, which has avoided inviting him to Beijing since he assumed power after the death of his father, the long-ruling Kim Jong-il, more than four years ago. The Chinese were taken aback when they heard the all-female Moranbong troupe from North Korea would feature images of missiles and nukes in its program in Beijing last month. When high Chinese officials said they would not attend, the troupe was called home without giving a single performance.

As for Kim Jong-un making his first visit to Beijing as "supreme leader," how can the Chinese entertain him when he is clearly not open to their advice to go easy on the nuclear program? It seemed hardly coincidental that he ordered the North's fourth nuclear test three days before his 32nd birthday, just as he ordered the third test three days before what would have been his father's 72nd birthday in February 2013.

In the process, moderates have totally lost out in factional struggles inside North Korea. The latest victim was Kim Yang-gon, in charge of dealings with South Korea. His death last month in a motor vehicle "accident" was the latest in a series of similar misfortunes that have befallen those whose views did not conform with the hardliners. He had visited Beijing several times and had joined North Korea's second-ranking leader, Hwang Pyong-so, in talks with the South Koreans in Panmunjom for resolving the August mini-crisis on the DMZ.

The Chinese cannot be happy about the demise of Kim Yang-gon, just as they were upset by the fate of Kim Jong-un's uncle-in-law, Jang Song-taek, who was believed to be more or less a regent, the North's second-highest leader, until his execution in December 2013. Jang, more than anyone, had forged close relations with China on economic issues.

So what can or will the Chinese do now? They do not believe in toughened sanctions, and they probably will not significantly slow the flow of oil or food into the North, but they might manipulate funding, investment and trade.

If the Chinese do not pressure the North, as they are able to do, the United States, South Korea and Japan will have to cooperate more closely to stand up against North Korean threats. That is one more reason for China to hold North Korea in check in the interests of not just stability on the Korean Peninsula but China's power position in Northeast Asia.

All that, of course, is contrary to the thinking of Donald Gregg, who hopes Kim Jong-un, at the Workers' Party Congress in May, its first in 36 years, "will officially announce economic development as his primary goal, having established a satisfactory level of nuclear deterrence."

Incredibly, Gregg writes "such a non-threatening posture would make it easier for moderates in South Korea to reach out to the North with more confidence and enthusiasm."

Just what might be "non-threatening," however, about a "satisfactory" nuclear program? How much would a list of economic goals, as the North has often proclaimed, really mean? "Therein lies the best hope for North-South reconciliation," Gregg believes. In fact, therein lies wishful thinking at its most fatuous.

In recent years Gregg has justified North Korean nukes for "self-defense" as needed to counter American threats, but how many more tests of nukes and long-range missiles will he and Kim Jong-un deem necessary for "deterrence"? Would anyone other than a pro-North advocate find them at all "satisfactory"? Gregg might address these questions in his next rationalization for North Korea's nuclear program.

Donald Kirk, www.donaldkirk.com, has been covering the nuclear debate since North and South Korea signed their "Joint Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula" in December 1991. He is at kirkdon4343@gmail.com.
Kim Taek-soo, mechanical

engineering professor at KAIST

By Yoon Sung-won



Korean mechanical engineering expert Kim Taek-soo and his research team have developed a technology that can fix flaws in graphene production, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) said Thursday.



The KAIST professor said the new technology is expected to facilitate the use of graphene, which is considered a next-generation nanomaterial. Graphene is expected to revolutionize a wide variety of products, from flexible displays and batteries to wearable devices and even condoms.



"Our research has led to the development of original technology that can easily fix the flaws of graphene to improve its electrical and mechanical attributes," Kim said. "The technology is expected to contribute to the practical use of graphene."



Kim majored in mechanical engineering at Yonsei University and acquired master's and doctoral degrees in the same subject at Stanford University in 2006 and 2010, respectively. After completing the postdoctoral research fellow course at Stanford, he has worked as an assistant and associate professor since 2010.



He has worked to develop graphene material technologies since 2013 in a project sponsored by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.



In his academic career as a mechanical engineering expert, Kim has specialized in revealing the flaws in graphene and fixing them. He has also focused on developing thin film materials for flexible electronic devices.



Graphene is a super-strong, superconductive carbon sheet one atom thick. It has a myriad uses, as it is flexible yet stronger than steel, impermeable yet transparent, and capable of increasing battery recharge speed tenfold.



But the process of chemically synthesizing graphene has flaws that degrade its electric and mechanical attributes. To fix this flaw, Kim and his research team have developed a process of connecting graphene to a cathode and applying direct current electricity to vapor-deposit metal ions.



KAIST said the result of the research was published last Dec. 29 in the online edition of the international science journal ACS Nano.
Behind The Scenes At Logan Square's New Hopewell Brewing

By Ben Kramer in Food on Jan 21, 2016 5:30PM



Photo provided by Samantha Lee.

Somewhere, at sometime, Stephen Bossu, Samantha Lee, and Jonathan Fritz, three friends who met at the University of Illinois, decided theyd start a brewery. It may have been during a homebrewing session, a cross-country trip where they shared a two man tent between three people, or at Neptunes Brewery in Livingston, Montana, during said trip. Regardless of when and where the idea came from, Hopewell Brewing (2760 N. Milwaukee Ave.) finally opens for business come the end of January, after six years of planning.

In a city dominated by ales, Hopewell is taking a lager-centric approach. This decision comes from personal preference, admits Head Brewer Stephen Bossu (a former brewer at Brooklyn Brewery), but also because, Theres less room to hide in a lager, says Samantha Lee. If a lager is good, you know it immediately. We like that challenge.

First Lager, the first beer brewed by the company, and Endgrain Lager are on the core roster. First Lager is described as, Delightfully crisp, balancing bready malt with pronounced noble hop aroma,, while Endgrain is said to be maltier and fuller than the former, with a softer hop nose and clear auburn body. The profiles of the brews reflect the attitude of the company: minimal and focused.

Though Fritz, Lee, and Bossu value lagers, that doesnt mean theyre kicking ales to the curb. Swift IPA, 2437 Red IPA, Farm and Family Saison, are also part of Hopewells core, and expect a barleywine to come as well. These beers, while reflecting the companys minimal and focused approach, also reflect the personalities of the founders. Bossu and Lee lived in Portland for a few years, where they developed a bond with West Coast IPAs. Swift will be in that vein, with Bossu saying, I think the flavor characteristic we want to come through most is pine when pine comes through, its that bright, clean hop that you really want to taste and smell.

The 2437 Red IPA is also a nod to the Pacific Northwest, where Lee fell in love with the style. The ale uses Cascade and Sorachi hops, and the name, for those curious, comes from the number of hours (24) and minutes (37) on a Martian day.



Tanks and brewhouse. Photo provided by Samantha Lee.

Currently, Hopewell runs on a 20-barrel brewhouse system, and houses four fermenting tanks, three 40-barrel fermenters, and one 20-barrel. The reason for the lone 20-barrel? Well, we wanted to be able to make single batches, explains Bossu. We got ten taps upfront. We can have any beers we want on there, so weve always wanted to put a single batch in.

Another benefit with the 20, Lee adds, is, It allows us to do something funky. Something that were trying to test out, get feedback immediately from people.

The people are as important as the beer to Hopewell, which is why, when designing their taproom, they wanted to have a space that would be open, inviting, and bright. Its sparse, only containing white walls, oak tables, oak chairs, and the bar, but this arrangement was done to create an open atmosphere, warranting comfort, not congestion, for the drinker.

As they open, the brewery will be draft only, with their beer being available only at the taproom or at certain bars. While theyll self-distribute (and would like to do so for as long as possible) they wont necessarily limit themselves to Logan Square because theyd like to share their beer across town. The taproom itself wont stay open until later than 10 p.m. because, at the moment, they have no plans on being a late night spot. Right now, the focus is serving good beer to the people of Chicago, inviting them to come inside and have a pint or two.
By Lee Min-hyung

LS Cable & System (LS C&S), the world's top-tier cable manufacturer, has won an exclusive contract for undersea cable projects worth $100 million (120 billion won) in the U.S. and Canada.

Under the deal, the company will provide undersea cables worth $47 million to the New York Power Authority (NYPA). The project will allow LS Cable to supply cables for Lake Champlain between New York and Vermont.

The cable manufacturer also recently won a $54 million contract to provide undersea cables for Canada's eastern province of Prince Edward Island.

"LS Cable is successfully penetrating the undersea cable market in North America, based on our decade-long expertise as an extra-high voltage cable supplier to the U.S.," Yoon Jae-in, president of the company's American business unit, said.

The company said there is huge potential in the U.S., with increasing demand to replace the country's outdated power cables.

The lifecycle for an undersea cable is between 30 to 50 years.

LS Cable said the global undersea cable market is expected to be worth about 8 trillion won by 2018, a two-fold increase from 2016, amid rising demand for natural resources development and inter-country electrical grid projects.

"We have a strong foothold in the Asian market, and aim to diversify our revenue channels not just into North America, but into Europe and Africa too," an LS Cable official said.

The company recently won a $57 million contract supplying 345-kilovolt underground power transmission cables to a U.S. company.

The cable manufacturer operates Asia's largest undersea cable manufacturing facility in Gangwon Province.

The company makes power transmission cables, undersea cables and electrical components.
/Screen captured from Twitter



Controversial Italian surgeon Sergio Canavero claims Xiaoping Ren at Harbin Medical Hospital has successfully transplanted a monkey's head.

Canavero said surgeons connected the blood supply between the head and the body, but failed to connect the spinal cord. A surgeon who operated on the monkey told "The New Scientist" magazine that if the head is cooled to 15C, the animal could survive the transplant without neurological damage.

Just last year Canavero caused a media frenzy when he revealed his plan to transplant a human head, saying that if this could be done it could cure paralysis.

He claims that after working with teams in China and South Korea he is getting close, thanks to experiments on monkeys, mice and human cadavers.

While many scientists claim Canavero's experiments are untrue, many people are debating whether the procedure would be ethical, even if it were true.
Chinese investors are on the verge of securing the purchase of one of Australia's largest grain farming properties in the wheatbelt north of Perth in Western Australia (WA).

The deal between John Nicoletti, once regarded as WA's biggest grain grower, and Hong Kong-based CK Life Sciences was reportedly finalized on Thursday pending approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board.

CK Life Sciences is expected to pay close to 24 million U.S. dollars for Nicoletti's farms in the eastern wheatbelt, near Mullewa in the mid-west region of WA. At 70,000 hectares, it is the biggest single offering of freehold land in the state's history.

CK Life Sciences already holds large investments in Australian agriculture, being a majority shareholder in the Challenger Wine Trust, which has interests in a string of vineyards, and the owner of Cheetham Salt, Amgrow (farm products) and Accensi (crop protection).

Nicoletti told the Western Australia newspaper on Thursday that a string of poor harvesting seasons had left him heavily in debt, but the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) had understood his position and been very supportive through difficult times.

"If they had pulled the plug on me back in 2013, it would have been disastrous for agriculture out here. It might have seen land values drop to 49 U.S.dollars a hectare. This deal sets the land value at that close to 208 U.S. dollars/ha," he said.

Nicoletti produced about 1.2 tonnes of wheat per hectare in the harvesting season just completed, his best result for several years from farms located in low rainfall areas.

"I have tremendous people around me and while they stay with me my job is easy," he said on Thursday. "I get a lot of satisfaction from the fact we can go out and spray a paddock, put a crop in and grow wheat to feed the world."

Nicoletti will continue farming under a 10-year sale and leaseback arrangement and use the proceeds to pay off debt. The 61-year-old said he is looking forward to spending more time with his five grandchildren once the sale lifts his debt burden.

CK Life Sciences has strong links to the family of Li Ka-shing, one of Asia's richest men.
Over 60 percent of Chinese tourists plan to spend Spring Festival, the country's most important holiday, traveling abroad, according to big data statistics of Ctrip.com.

More than 60 percent of tourists' booking trips for the Spring Festival holiday are looking overseas, with more than 60 percent of them choosing 4 or 5-star hotels, the data shows.

The growing demand for top-end hotels shows a changing public attitude in China about travel as tourists increasingly focus on quality, a source from Ctrip.com said.

The data also shows that Hong Kong, Taipei and Singapore are the top-three overseas destinations for Chinese tourists, but their preferences vary when booking a hotel. Some 75 percent care more about shopping convenience in Hong Kong, while 32 percent stress children's activities available near hotels in Taipei.

Xiamen in Fujian Province, Shanghai municipality and Sanya in Hainan Province are the top choices for domestic travelers.

Ctrip.com added that nearly 35 percent of Chinese tourists are in a party of two people when traveling abroad. Some 40 percent of domestic tourists are families of three members.

Chinese tourists are more willing to spend greater time and money to enjoy their holidays due to growing disposable incomes as well as changing attitudes, it was added.
Blistering heat blanketed the Earth in 2015 like never before, making it by far the hottest year by the widest margin on record, and reflecting a continued long-term warming trend in global climate change.

Last year was the planet's warmest since modern record keeping began in 1880, boosted by a long-term build-up of greenhouse gases and a strong El Nino warming the Pacific Ocean, two major U.S. government agencies said Wednesday.

"Climate change is the challenge of our generation," Charles Bolden, head of the U.S. space agency NASA, said in a statement. "It is a key data point that should make policy makers stand up and take notice -- now is the time to act on climate."

Largest margin

A report by NASA showed that globally-averaged temperatures in 2015 shattered the previous mark set in 2014 by 0.13 degrees Celsius, noting that only once before, in 1998, has the new record been greater than the old record by this much.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which used much of the same raw temperature data, but different analyzing methods, put 2015's average temperature at 14.80 degrees Celsius, which was 0.90 degrees Celsius above the 20th century average.

"This was the highest among all 136 years in the 1880-2015 record, surpassing the previous record set last year by 0.16 degrees Celsius and marking the fourth time a global temperature record has been set this century," the NOAA report wrote.

"This is also the largest margin by which the annual global temperature record has been broken," it said.

No surprise

The announcements didn't come as a surprise, with 10 out of the 12 months last year being the warmest for their respective months on record. Only January was the second warmest January on record and April third warmest.

"You can see that we broke the record each month for the warmest month on record, except for two months," Thomas Karl, director of NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information, told reporters during a media teleconference. "That's the first time we've seen that."

Besides, the five highest monthly departures from average for any month on record all occurred last year.

Overall, record warmth was seen around the world in 2015, including Central America, the northern half of South America, parts of northern, southern, and eastern Europe stretching into western Asia, a large section of east central Siberia and regions of eastern and southern Africa.

More records

The natural El Nino event, which warms the tropical Pacific Ocean, might be partly to blame for the 2015 heat record.

Karl, however, said 2015 would have likely been a record even without El Nino. "But El Nino pushed it way over the top," he added.

Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, attributed 2015's temperatures largely to "the cumulative effect" of the long-term warming trend of our Earth, which is mainly caused by the emission of greenhouse gases from human activities into the atmosphere.

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The SLFP does not condone the continuation of the Emergency Regulations (The Public Security Ordinance) more than a day necessary

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Wild cormorants were spotted on Dianchi Lake in southwest China's Yunnan Province for first time in three decades. [Photo/yn.people.cn]

Wild cormorants have returned to Dianchi Lake in southwest China's Yunnan Province in a sign of the improved environment of what used to be one of the most polluted lakes in China.

Researchers have observed three wild cormorants in wetland around the lake, 30 years after the birds' disappearance from the area.

Their return is a result of improved biological diversity following a decade of government work to improve the lake's environment, said He Feng, one of the lake's environmental management staff.

"Lakeside farms and fishpond have been turned back into wetland and woodland," He said. The result is that the lakeside vegetation coverage has risen to about six times of what it was in 2006.

The quality of the lake's water has improved and despite being once rated as severely polluted, eutrophication has been alleviated and the fish population increased, according to He.

Cormorants have been trained by Chinese fishermen to catch fish since ancient times and are an icon of south China's river and lake scenery.Cormorant fishing is now mainly performed for tourists.
The perjury and voter fraud convictions of former Los Angeles City Councilman and state lawmaker Richard Alarcon were overturned Wednesday by a panel of appeals court justices. The 2014 convictions of Alarcon's wife, Flora Montes de Oca Alarcon, were also overturned. The legal case alleged that Alarcon did not live where he certified that he did in order to vote and run for office, and that both Alarcons lied about it. The appeal centered on a judge's instruction to the jury about how to decide whether the Alarcons met the legal definition of living in their Panorama City house, as they claimed, or in another house they owned in Sun Valley, outside Richard Alarcon's city council district.

Both Alarcons have already finished their sentences. He served 51 days of house arrest in lieu of a 120-day jail sentence, She served community service.

Richard Alarcon happened to be at City Hall today. Im just feeling grateful  grateful to all the people who never stopped believing in us, the former councilman says in the LA Times. Dakota Smith of the Daily News tweeted a picture of a relieved Alarcon. He told Smith he has no intention of running for public office again, even if a ban on elected office that came with his sentence is removed.

District Attorney Jackie Lacey's office is weighing whether to retry the Alarcons.
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Nearly 1,000 people have been displaced as Mount Egon in East Nusa Tenggara of Indonesia has spewed hot ash and toxic gas, disaster agency official said on Wednesday.

As many as 927 people living in the dangerous evacuation zone of 3 kilometers have been evacuated to safer grounds but 501 others rejected evacuation, said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman of national disaster management agency.

Over 2,000 masks have been disbursed to the villagers around the volcano in eastern Flores island to ease the impact of the eruption, he told Xinhua via phone.

Mount Egon in Sikka district has erupted on and off since December but has been over drive in recent days.

In 2008, Mount Egon volcano erupted by spewing 6-km ash column into the sky.

About 6,000 people were forced to flee homes in 2004 when the volcano erupted.

Mount Egon is one of 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia, an archipelago country situated in a quake hit zone calledthe Pacific Ring of Fire.
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Air pollution levels fell in most Chinese cities last year, environmental group Greenpeace said yesterday, but a humid and windless winter shrouded swaths of the country in choking smog, slowing improvement in the second half.

However, nearly 300 Chinese cities still failed to meet national standards for air quality in 2015, it said.

The national average concentration of PM2.5  particulate matter that can penetrate deep into the lungs  was 50.2 parts per cubic meter, exceeding the World Health Organization's guideline of an annual average of less than 10 micrograms.

China allows for a yearly average of 35 micrograms per cubic meter. None of the 366 cities in the Greenpeace survey met WHO standards.

Shanghai was among the cities where air quality worsened, with its average PM2.5 concentration increasing 3.14 percent over 2014 figures, according to Greenpeace.

"Greenpeace recommends Shanghai to implement a solid coal consumption cap target and aggressive measures to solve the air pollution problem," said Greenpeace climate and energy campaigner Dong Liansa.

In December, Beijing issued its first air pollution "red alerts" when a blanket of humid, still air trapped haze over the capital.

"Despite Beijing's choking winter of red alerts, data from 2015 clearly shows a continued positive trend in Beijing and across the country," Dong said.

Annual average levels of PM2.5 dropped by 10.3 percent last year compared with 2014, Greenpeace said in its report.

In the first half of the year, PM2.5 concentrations were down 16 percent from the corresponding 2014 period, the group reported.

Beijing's fourth-quarter pollution woes were mirrored elsewhere in northern China, where concentrations of PM2.5 were significantly higher than in 2013 and 2014, the Greenpeace report revealed.

Even so, Beijing was among the cities Greenpeace analyzed where air pollution improved overall last year. That was a sign the capital's "serious efforts" to curb pollution were paying off, Dong said.

China has worked to toughen environmental protection laws in recent years. Amended legislation took effect this month giving authorities more power to punish the companies and officials responsible for violations.

Some local authorities, including Beijing, have been trying to limit emissions and forcing polluting factories to close or move.

Beijing had 26 days of "heavy air pollution" in the final three months of last year, according to Greenpeace.

South of the capital, Baoding in the industrial heartland of Hebei Province was China's second most polluted city in 2015.

The most polluted city was Kashgar in the far western region of Xinjiang, which is often hit by dust and sand storms.

The Greenpeace report is based on Ministry of Environmental Protection data.
This article appears in the January 22, 2016 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.

Executive Order Makes Philippines

U.S. Colony in Drive for China War

by Michael Billington

[PDF version of this article]

Jan. 13The Philippine LaRouche Society chairman Butch Valdes yesterday denounced the decision by the Philippine Supreme to Court approve President Benigno (Noynoy) Aquinos treasonous deal with President Barack Obama, which turns Philippine military bases over to U.S. military occupation. The Court ruled the deal to be an executive agreement rather than a treaty, and therefore supposedly legal and constitutional, and therefore not requiring the approval of the nations Senate.

The decision creates a Constitutional crisis, since the Philippines Senate voted in December that the agreement was clearly a treaty as defined by the Constitution, and must thus be approved by the Senateawhich would likely vote to reject the criminal and suicidal agreement.

Lyndon LaRouche stated today that this agreement, if not stopped, constitutes a British recolonization of the Philippines through their agent Barack Obama. The entire process was run by Obama. It was signed during his visit to Manila in April 2014, and was intended to be approved by the Court during his visit in November 2015, but the huge opposition from the population and the Senate stalled that decision.

The agreement, called the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), will allow the United States. to deploy its most advanced air, land, and sea forces, and weaponry into Philippine military bases, despite a clear Constitutional restraint on any foreign bases on Philippine soil without Senate concurrence.

U.S. Navy/Larry Foster

The eight bases named thus far include Subic Bay and Clark Airfield (two primary U.S. bases used in the genocidal, failed U.S. war on Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia), as well as two bases on Palawan Island, a Philippine island which juts out into the South China Sea. It makes a mockery of Obamas lie that China is militarizing the South China Sea by building up artificial islands with light houses and airstrips.

LaRouche added that the indication is clear that Obama intends to start World War III.

The statement by the Philippine LaRouche Societys Butch Valdes reads:

The Final Betrayal

The Filipino people have been betrayed yet again. . . not just by a demented president, nor by prostituted legislators, but by the very institution mandated to uphold, first and foremost, the Constitution of the Sovereign Philippine Republic. Like fools and Judases, they hide behind faulty technical issues of the EDCA, twisting definitions, leaning on flimsy interpretations to manufacture their blatantly treasonous decision. Willfully blind to the true nature of the U.S. military installations inside Philippine Military Basesawhich may very possibly be silos of nuclear-armed medium/long-range rockets aimed at Chinaathese justices of the Supreme Court commit treason of the highest degree against the Filipino people. In my opinion, they have collectively sworn allegiance to a foreign occupying power which makes them moral cowards who do not deserve any iota of respect from the citizenry. The late Chief Justice, Jose Abad Santos, a true hero and patriot, turns in his grave to have these despicable characters in the same revered Halls of Justice. To consciously place 100 million Filipino lives at risk in a nuclear conflict between two super powers earns for them the worst places in hell. . . and may they live long enough to experience the resulting pain and destruction which they have caused.

EIRNS

The referenced former Chief Justice Jose Abad Santos was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines in 1941-42, and also acting President on behalf of President Manuel Quezon when Quezon went into exile in the United States after the Japanese invasion, on the advice of Gen. Douglas MacArthur. Chief Justice Santos stayed behind, but refused to capitulate to the Japanese occupiers commands. The Japanese murdered him in 1942.

The comparison of the current U.S. military occupation of the Philippines to the Japanese occupation is absolutely correct, as the Japanese target was not the Philippines itself, but China and Asia generallyas is the case also with Obama.

The people of the Philippines will have a profound response to this accurate comparison. Will the U.S. population break through their degeneration to see what Obama is doing in their name, and remove him now, before it is too late?

The British Role

The British hand in this insanity traces back to the first days of the Twentieth Century. The United States had militarily liberated the country from its four centuries of colonization under Imperial Spain in the Spanish-American War in 1898. But rather than grant the Philippines its independence after an appropriate period of tutelage and support, the United States was convinced otherwise by the British, and especially by the British agent Theodore Roosevelt, who campaigned for the U.S. Vice Presidency in 1900 on a platform of making the Philippines the first colony of an imperialist America. Teddy Roosevelt won the election, and became President within six months, due to the British assassination of President William McKinley. The Philippines thus became an American colony, and Americas decline commenced.

Only with the election of Franklin Roosevelt in 1932 did the independence of the Philippines become a reality. FDRs commitment in 1935 to grant the Philippines independence after a ten-year transition was upheld in 1946, despite the intervening hell of the War in the Pacific. Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who had lived in the Philippines as a youth when his father was Governor-General there, strongly supported independence, and went to the Philippines to build an army when the plan for independence was announced in 1935.

Now, the British imperial policy has again taken over the United States under British assets George Bush and Barack Obama. The recolonization of the Philippines will be regarded in history as a crucial moment in the process of degeneracy of the United States and the perversion of the American System.

The official Chinese government news agency Xinhua on Jan. 13 pointed to that degeneracy, writing that the deal will make the Philippines a launching pad for U.S. military intervention in the Asia-Pacific, and will only aggravate regional tensions and could push the situation to the brink of war.

mobeir@aol.com
General Motors Co. has launched a car-sharing service that lets users reserve and unlock vehicles with their smartphones.

The service, called Maven, debuted Thursday in Ann Arbor, Mich., and will initially focus on serving students and faculty at the University of Michigan. GM vehicles are to be available at 21 spots throughout the city.

Users can rent a car through a free smartphone app, which is also used to unlock the vehicle, GM said.

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The company said Maven would expand to additional cities later this year.

With the launch of our car-sharing service through Maven, the strategic alliance with ride-sharing company Lyft and building on our decades of leadership in vehicle connectivity through OnStar, we are uniquely positioned to provide the high level of personalized mobility services our customers expect, GM President Dan Ammann said in a statement.

GM and other major car manufacturers have been exploring new ways to move toward an automotive future in which substantial numbers of drivers will not own cars.

In June, Ford launched a car-sharing program that offers buyers a new way to offset the pains of ownership by tapping into what is essentially an Airbnb on wheels  letting strangers rent their cars for short periods of time. In Germany, GM previously had launched a Car-Unity app that lets owners of any brand rent their vehicles to Facebook friends or to people in the apps network.

Other companies are testing the waters.

BMW has said it plans to offer an optional equipment package for cars from its Mini brand that will help owners share their vehicles. The company hasnt detailed the technology, but it probably will give renters access to unlock and drive the cars through a smartphone app or other device.

Society and the automotive industry are undergoing radical change, said Peter Schwarzenbauer, who heads BMWs Mini and Rolls-Royce brands. So it makes sense for us to offer a car-sharing option for Mini starting in 2016.

Bob Carter, who heads Toyotas U.S. sales, says his company is gauging how car- and ride-sharing companies such as Uber will affect their business. In San Francisco, for example, we will see business models develop around access to cars but not ownership, he said.

Analysts cautioned that although GMs move is a bold one, its only another iteration in the transforming transportation industry.

The Maven launch will give GM broader reach in this dynamic atmosphere, but nobody knows which of these alternative transportation systems holds the greatest long-term potential, Kelley Blue Book senior analyst Karl Brauer said. This is why were seeing a shotgun approach coming from multiple automakers.

The launch of Maven comes days after the news that GM acquired the assets of ride-hailing company Sidecar Technologies Inc. The San Francisco company had shut down at the end of last year.

Also this month, GM invested $500 million in the ride-sharing service Lyft. The automaker will also take a seat on Lyfts board, and the two companies plan to collaborate on an Autonomous On-Demand Network that would allow users to reserve a self-driving car, much as they do with Lyft.

Separately on Thursday, GM announced its financial results for 2015. The company reported global sales of 9.8 million vehicles in 2015, representing a third straight year of growth for the Michigan-based automaker. New vehicle deliveries in North America rose 6% from a year earlier. In China, they rose 5%.

For more business news, follow @smasunaga. For automotive news, follow @MisterFleming.

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American Apparel and its ousted CEO, Dov Charney, are duking it out again.

In Delaware Bankruptcy Court on Wednesday, the two sides squared off in a battle to convince the judge that their plans are in the best interests of the Los Angeles company and its creditors.

American Apparel Inc., which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October, supports a reorganization plan that would take the company private and hand nearly 100% control to its largest bondholders. Shareholders, including Charney, would be left with nothing.

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Charney supports an investor group including Hagan Capital Group that submitted two takeover offers in recent months, including a $300-million bid that was rejected last week by American Apparels board.

The Hagan group favors returning Charney to the company. He was fired in 2014 after an investigation uncovered allegations of misuse of company funds and inappropriate behavior with employees.

Paula Schneider, who took over as chief executive last year, testified Wednesday that the board decided to reject the offer because its creditors didnt support it and it would also saddle the company with additional debt, according to Bloomberg.

Schneider said the company could be dragged into lengthy lawsuits if the takeover offer was accepted, Reuters said. But Charneys attorney questioned the review of the bid by Moelis, an investment bank that American Apparel hired to look at its strategic options, the report said.

Schneider also said that American Apparel needed a strong hand when she came aboard, lacking a more typical corporate structure or chain of command, according to media reports. She said that more than 70 people reported directly to Charney.

Charney, who was scheduled to testify Wednesday, is expected to take the stand Thursday instead.

The bankruptcy proceedings this week could represent the last real opportunity that Charney has to regain control of American Apparel. Chad Hagan, managing partner of Hagan Capital Group, said in a deposition that he does not plan to sue American Apparel or its bondholders in order to take over the company.

Im anxious, Charney told Reuters on Wednesday. I put a lot of years into this company.

Under the reorganization 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 hedge fund Monarch Alternative Capital.

American Apparels new owners will face many obstacles at the financially ailing company. American Apparel hasnt turned a profit since 2009. A year-long turnaround implemented by Schneider has failed to boost its sagging sales. In November alone, the retailer reported a net loss of $14.5 million, according to its monthly operating report.

Follow Shan Li on Twitter: @ByShanLi

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More than three-fourths of American companies in China feel less welcome than in the past and 45% say revenue is dropping or flat, a survey released Wednesday by the American Chamber of Commerce in China indicates.

The report comes amid a slowdown in the Chinese economy, which in recent decades often had been growing at 10% or more annually. But official data released this week showed that the countrys gross domestic product rose 6.9% in 2015, the slowest pace of expansion in 25 years.

Almost 500 members representing a range of industries took part in the groups 2016 business climate survey; the respondents included small, medium and large companies.

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The proportion of respondents reporting profits dropped to 64% in 2015, from 73% a year earlier. Many businesses reported serious concern about rising labor costs, and shrinking margins are causing some U.S. companies to rethink their strategies in China. Companies in the agricultural, automotive, machinery and other industrial sectors reported the biggest downturns in profits.

Since its economic reforms in the 1980s, China has attracted significant foreign investment, thanks in large part to its low wages. But in the last few years, this advantage has been disappearing fast, and companies are looking to lower-cost economies such as Vietnam and Indonesia.

One in four American companies have already moved capacity out of China or plan to do so soon, according to the chambers report. About half of those say they will move to other developing Asian economies, while a third say they intend to move capacity to North America.

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Despite the slowing economy and rising labor costs, a significant amount of confidence in the Chinese market remains. More than 50% of respondents still rank China as one of the top three investment destinations, and most indicated they are still optimistic about Chinas domestic growth potential.

Business will continue to invest in China, said James Zimmerman, chairman of the chamber, but with more calculation and caution.

The report cited regulatory challenges as the top concern of American businesses in China, with labor costs a close second.

Members report an environment that has not yet converged with the stated goals of the Chinese government to allow the market to play a decisive role in the economy [and] open the market equally to foreign companies, the report said.

The issue of inconsistent regulatory interpretation and unclear laws is on everyones mind, Zimmerman said, and we encourage Chinas leadership to make changes.

Though China has opened many sectors to at least partial foreign investment, significant restrictions remain in a large number of strategically important industries such as information communication technology. China and the U.S. are currently negotiating a bilateral investment treaty that aims to reduce the number of sectors from which U.S. companies are excluded, but progress has been slow.

Meanwhile, pending legislation on foreign nongovernmental organizations and national security is drawing concern about new restrictions on U.S. entities operations and business opportunities.

Lester Ross, the chambers vice chairman, said his group would continue to press for what he called a dynamic, open investment environment.

Nearly 80% of respondents said Chinas Internet censorship negatively or somewhat negatively affects their ability to conduct normal business operations, and 77% complained about the slowness of accessing websites outside China.

More than half the respondents also said Chinas severe air pollution has created difficulty in recruiting senior executives to work in the country.

Follow @JulieMakLAT for news from China

julie.makinen@latimes.com

Chuan Xu is a special correspondent.

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Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas & Electric and Pacific Gas & Electric are pushing back against a regulator proposal for new rules on compensating California homeowners and businesses for the solar power they produce.

The three investor-owned utilities have united in an unusual counterproposal that would be less generous to solar-panel owners than the plan that the California Public Utilities Commission is set to vote on next week.

The utilities maintain that electricity customers will continue to shoulder an undue financial burden if the PUC approves the proposed new rules on the compensation system, known as net-energy metering. In regulatory filings and a news release, Edison said the utilities see the need for a more sustainable future for all customers, not just those with solar.

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The PUC plan involves connection and usage fees for new solar power users. In addition, utilities would place new solar customers on time-of-use rates, which rise during periods of high electricity demand.

In response, the utilities have proposed a fixed rate of compensation that is lower than both the current system and the proposed PUC plan.

Currently, a solar home generating 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity a month would be credited on a dollar-for-dollar basis up to 1,000 kilowatt-hours of use. Excess power is sold to the utility at wholesale prices.

Edison did not have any figures immediately available that showed the impact of the utilities proposal on solar owners.

We still go back to the fairness argument, fairness for all of the customers in our service territory, said Robert Laffoon-Villegas, an Edison spokesman.

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But at a meeting Wednesday at the PUCs San Francisco headquarters, the utilities proposal was criticized as harmful by the solar industry and its proponents.

Simply, this proposal would gut [net-energy metering], add complexity and deter customer solar, said Mark Ferron, a former commissioner who said he was speaking as a citizen on behalf of solar. I urge you to just disregard it.

Compton City Councilman Isaac Galvan also traveled to San Francisco to defend strong compensation rules that encourage solar power at homes and businesses.

We have [government] funds and we allocate a portion of it each year so families can put solar on their roofs, Galvan said during an interview. The need is there for our community. Im a low-income person myself, and I see the benefit.

Those who backed solar also said the utilities move was a violation of protocol as the proposal came after the opportunity for submitting such information to the record had closed.

Under the proposed PUC plan set for vote next week, new solar customers would face a one-time fee for connection to the electric grid. The commission estimates that the fee would range from $75 to $150 per solar customer.

In addition, rooftop solar customers would pay a fee of 2 cents to 3 cents per kilowatt-hour for electricity used from the utility companies, no matter how much power their solar systems generate. This fee would amount to about $5 a month for the average solar user.

Current solar owners would be grandfathered in for 20 years after their systems were installed.

To go any further south toward the utilities would kill the solar industry, said Bernadette Del Chiaro, executive director of the California Solar Industries Assn.

Walker Wright, policy director for Sunrun, the nations largest residential solar company, said he believes the utilities simply havent accepted that solar owners are a fixture in the electricity industry now.

Rooftop solar, Wright said, represents the first true form of competition that the utilities have faced.

ivan.penn@latimes.com

Twitter: @ivanlpenn

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This week: The dramas Dream Catcher, Dream Boy and The Dodgers debut on area stages.

Building Madness An architecture firm accidentally hires the mafia for a construction project in Kate Danleys new 1930s-style screwball comedy. GTC Burbank, 1111-B W. Olive Ave., Burbank. Sun., next Sun., Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; ends Feb. 14. $19.50-$29.50. (800) 838-3006.

Celia, A Slave Staged reading of Barbara Seydas fact-based drama. Los Angeles Theatre, 514 S. Spring St., L.A. Today, 3 p.m. Free; $10 suggested donation. (213) 489-7402.

Four by Four New show celebrates the music of the Beach Boys, the Beatles, the Bee Gees and Motown. Soka Performing Arts Center, 1 University Drive, Aliso Viejo. Sun., 4 p.m. $39-$49. (949) 480-4278.

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New Shanghai Circus Acrobats, jugglers, etc., from China perform. Smothers Theatre, Pepperdine. Sun., 3 p.m. $10-$20. (310) 506-4522.

Pal Joey Musical Theatre West offers a staged reading of the Rodgers & Hart classic. University Theatre, Cal State Long Beach, off 7th Street between East and West Campus Drive (Parking Lot 7), Long Beach. Sun., 7 p.m. $27, $32. (562) 856-1999.

Pillars of New York Write Act Repertory presents the world premiere of Michael Antins musical about four couples struggles in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. The Brickhouse Theatre, 10950 Peach Grove St., North Hollywood. Sun., next Sun., 1:30 p.m.; Fri.-Sat., 7:30 p.m.; ends Feb. 21. $15, $20. (800) 838-3006.

Sundays of Future Past All-new sketch comedy show. Groundlings Theatre, 7307 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood. Sun., 7:30 p.m.; ends April 24. $16. (323) 934-4747.

Christine Ebersole: Big Noise from Winnetka The Tony winner sings show tunes, standards and more. Lovelace Studio Theater, Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd, Beverly Hills. Mon.-Thu., 7 p.m. $50-$75. (310) 746-4000.

Mamma Mia! Hit romantic musical built around the songs of the Swedish pop group ABBA. Pantages Theatre, 6233 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood. Tue.-Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2 and 8 p.m.; next Sun., 1 and 6:30 p.m.; ends Jan. 31. $29 and up; children under 5 not admitted. (800) 982-2787.

The Alley Cats A cappella group performs classic doo-wop tunes in this cabaret show. Carpenter Performing Arts Center, Cal State Long Beach, 6200 Atherton St., Long Beach. Wed.-Thu., 7 p.m. $43 and up. (562) 985-7000.

The Money Shot L.A. Theatre Works records Neil LaButes satirical showbiz drama for its radio program; with Eric McCormack, Jennifer Westfeldt and Amber Tamblyn. James Bridges Theater, UCLA, 235 Charles E. Young Drive, Westwood. Thu.-Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 3 and 8 p.m.; next Sun., 4 p.m.; ends Jan. 31. $15-$60; student discounts available. (310) 827-0889.

Sell/Buy/Date Tony winner Sarah Jones plays multiple roles in this new show about the commercial sex industry; for mature audiences; part of the Off Center Festival. Studio Performance Space, Segerstrom Center for the Arts, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. Thu.-Sat., 7:30 p.m. $25 and up. (714) 556-2787.

The Unauthorized Musical Parody of The Devil Wears Prada Send-up of the hit 2006 comedy set in the fashion world; Drew Droege and John Flynn alternate in the role of tyrannical magazine editor Miranda Priestly. Rockwell: Table & Stage, 1714 N. Vermont Ave., Los Feliz. Thu.-Sat., 8 p.m.; next Sun., noon; ends April 30. $20-$45. www.rockwell-la.com.

Weird on Top Improv-comedy troupe performs. Eclectic Company Theatre, 5312 Laurel Canyon Blvd., North Hollywood. Thu., 8 p.m. $10. (818) 508-3003.

Banned in Burbank: Uncle Eddys Big Time Burlesque 1940s-style show features exotic dancers, music and comedy. The Mayflower Club, 11110 Victory Blvd., North Hollywood. Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m. $30, $40.(800) 838-3006.

Dream Boy L.A. premiere of Eric Rosens drama about a romance between two teenage boys in 1970s North Carolina. Celebration Theatre @ the Lex, 6760 Lexington Ave., Hollywood. Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m., next Sun., 2 p.m.; ends March 20. $30, $35. (323) 957-1884.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum Cabrillo Music Theatre stages the classic farce set in ancient Rome, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Scherr Forum, Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks. Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2 and 8 p.m.; next Sun., 2 p.m.; ends Feb. 14. $30-$69. (800) 745-3000.

Nufonia Must Fall CAP UCLA presents this multimedia show that uses puppets, miniature sets, projected imagery and live music including turntables and a string quartet to re-create Kid Koalas wordless graphic novel about a robot who falls in love. Royce Hall, UCLA, 340 Royce Drive, Westwood. Fri., 8 p.m. $19-$49. (310) 825-2101.

A Rose by Any Other Name Terra Taylor Knudsons new solo show inspired by Shakespeares poetry. The Studio at Long Beach Playhouse, 5021 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach. Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; next Sun., 2 p.m.; ends Jan. 31. $15. (562) 494-1014.

Save to Draft A romantic triangle takes several twists and turns in David Watsons one-act comedy-drama. The Lyric-Hyperion Theater & Cafe, 2106 Hyperion Ave., Silver Lake. Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 7 p.m.; next Sun., 3 p.m.; ends Feb. 21. $20. (800) 838-3006.

War and Peace: The One Man Show Brad Griffith puts a comedic spin on Tolstoys classic novel. The Belfry Stage, Upstairs at the Crown, 11031 Camarillo St., North Hollywood. Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m. $10. (818) 849-4039.

The Aeroplane or How Low: An Autobiography (sort of) World premiere of writer-director Mitch Rosanders fantastical exploration of addiction, recovery and self-identity; for mature audiences. Loft Ensemble, 929 E. 2nd St., L.A. Sat., 8 p.m.; next Sun., 7 p.m.; ends March 6. $10, $20. (213) 680-0392.

A Cole Porter Songbook Tenor Jonathan Mack, accompanied by pianist Vicki Ray, shares songs by and stories about the legendary songwriter. Pasadena Presbyterian Church, 585 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena. Sat., 7:30 p.m. Free; donations accepted. (626) 793-2191.

The Dodgers The Vietnam draft upends the lives of members of a 1960s rock band in Diana Amsterdams new drama; with Emmy winner Eric Nelsen and High School Musicals Corbin Bleu. Hudson Mainstage Theatre, 6539 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. Sat., 3 and 8 p.m.; next Sun., 3 p.m.; ends Feb. 28. $34.99. (323) 960-7712.

Dream Catcher The discovery of Native American artifacts in the Mojave Desert disrupts a solar-energy project as well as a budding romance in Stephen Sachs new drama. The Fountain Theatre, 5060 Fountain Ave., L.A. Sat., 8 p.m.; next Sun., 2 p.m.; ends March 21. $15-$34.95; Mondays, pay what you can. (323) 663-1525.

FairyTales UnScripted Impro Theatre improvises family-friendly fables; for ages 7 and up. Lewis Family Playhouse, 12505 Cultural Center Drive, Rancho Cucamonga. Sat., 4 p.m.; next Sun. 1 p.m.; ends Feb. 14. $16, $18. (909) 477-2752.

Marys Wedding A couples burgeoning romance is cut short by WWI in Stephen Massicottes fantastical drama. Malibu Playhouse, 29243 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu. Sat., 8 p.m.; next Sun., 3 p.m.; ends Feb. 21. $10-$75. www.malibuplayhouse.org.

Red Abstract-expressionist painter Mark Rothko and his new assistant explore the meaning of art and the role of the artist in John Logans drama. South Coast Repertory, Segerstrom Stage, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. Sat., 2:30 and 8 p.m.; next Sun., 2:30 and 7:30 p.m.; ends Feb. 21. $30-$77. (714) 708-5555.

See Rock City Cast members from Rubicons 2015 production of Last Train to Nibroc reprise their roles in this 1940s-set sequel to Arlene Huttons romantic drama. Rubicon Theatre Company, 1006 E. Main St., Ventura. Sat., 8 p.m.; next Sun., 2 p.m.; ends Feb. 14. $44-$54; opening night, $95. (805) 667-2900.

Swarm Cell Two homeless women forge an alliance in a near-future dystopia in the world premiere of Gabriel Rivas Gomezs drama. Greenway Court Theatre, 544 N. Fairfax, L.A. Sat., 8 p.m.; next Sun., 7 p.m.; ends Feb. 28. $10-$30. (323) 655-7679.

Talking to Terrorists Robin Soans fact-based drama uses the actual words of terrorists, victims, politicians and others. The Art of Acting Studio, 1017 N. Orange Drive, L.A. Sat., 8 p.m.; next Sun., 7 p.m.; ends March 5. $18 in advance, pay what you can at the door. (323) 601-5310.

Cant We Talk About Something More Pleasant? CAP UCLA presents cartoonist and storyteller Roz Chast in this show based on her graphic novel about the loss of her elderly parents. Royce Hall, UCLA, 340 Royce Drive, Westwood. Next Sun., 4 p.m. $19-$49. (310) 825-2101.

Fly West Coast premiere of Trey Ellis and Ricardo Khans tap dance-inflected drama about the African American WWII fighter pilots known as the Tuskegee Airmen. Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Ave., Pasadena. Next Sun., 5 p.m.; ends Feb. 21. $25-$125. (626) 356-7529.

The School for Wives Parsons Nose stages Molieres classic 17th-century satire; for ages 12 and up. Lineage Performing Arts Center, 89 S. Fair Oaks, Pasadena. Next Sun., 3 p.m.; ends Feb. 28. Pay what you will ($5-$25). (626) 403-7667.
In the 1904 film The Misdirected Kiss, a smitten young man with eyesight problems brings flowers to his beloved. When the maid comes out moments later to arrange the bouquet, he confuses her with his love, and in a moment of passion, takes her hand and kisses it lovingly. The suitor is white; the maid, black. The comedic plot toyed with notions of racial and class propriety of that era.

It is a conceit that caught the eye of Martine Syms, a Los Angeles artist who often picks apart issues of language and representation in works that range from video to lectures to written essays to indefinable hybrids of all three.

I was thinking about this proliferation of images of black women, she explains. And I started thinking about the overarching idea of representation  of the desirability of black women. In these films, and in a lot of other popular media, on the one hand, theyre saying these woman are desirable. On the other, theyre negating it.

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Syms expounds on the topic in a performance Thursday evening at the Broad museum. Titled Misdirected Kiss, its part of a series of feminist art performances at the museum.

Previously staged at the Storm King Art Center in New Yorks Hudson Valley, the show is as much lecture as performance. Syms will talk about representations of black women as she builds a related collage of imagery on a computer. These are harvested from a variety of sources, including EBay. The whole process is projected onto a screen as she speaks.

The artists work draws heavily from all forms of culture, both high and low. Im so voracious with books, movies, TV, explains Syms, and Im always interested in the way that different cultural values are presented or, in their absence, are present.

Performance series curator Jennifer Doyle says that Syms work caught her eye because of its rather unclassifiable nature.

Its a space in between performance and poetry, and it isnt simple spoken word  a live performance of poetry, she says. Its more of a performative lecture. And I wanted to do this in the context of the Oculus Hall [at the Broad] since it feels like a lecture hall more than it does a performance space.

And, of course, theres the intriguing nature of the artists material.

Its really grounded in her thinking about gestures and composure and comportment, and the ways in which black women, in particular, experience a disciplining of ones body, ones movement, ones presence, she says.

For Syms, 27, the performance will be one of many projects debuting around Los Angeles in the first half of the year. This week, it was announced that she would be one of more than two dozen L.A. artists selected to participate in the Hammer Museums Made in L.A. Biennial, opening in June.

Next month, she will show a series of short video works at Human Resources Los Angeles, the artist-run exhibition space in L.A.'s Chinatown. And in March, she will be showing photography and installation pieces at Karma International in Beverly Hills.

Moreover, the artist runs a small art book imprint, Dominica Publishing [warning: site contains explicit language], that next month will release two titles at the L.A. Art Book Fair: Dark Pool Party by Berlin-based artist Hannah Black, and There is Nothing to Divide Us If We Do Not Exist, a collection of sci-fi poems by Sara Knox Hunter.

All of these pieces are bound together by the artists interest in representation, especially when it comes to black women.

I think of this proliferation of images  of [actors such as] Taraji Henson and Viola Davis and all of this talk about the year of the black woman,  Syms says. I think of meme images and GIFs, in which people use these womens gestures to communicate. They have a currency.

In those images, Syms also finds currency  and a story worth telling.

Misdirected Kiss, part of The Tip of Her Tongue feminist performance art series, takes place at 8 p.m. Thursday at the Broad museum, 221 S. Grand Ave., downtown Los Angeles, thebroad.org.

Find me on Twitter @cmonstah.
President Xi Jinping this week is visiting three major countries in the Middle East/North Africa region  Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iran. It is of course nothing new for China to wish to maintain good relations across a region that is an important oil supplier, but this time there is much more involved.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) and Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud inaugurate the operation of the Yasref oil refinery, a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and China's Sinopec in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Jan. 20, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

Until now, China has taken good care not to become embroiled in the volatile politics of this troubled region, maintaining good relations with both Israel and the Arab states, and restricting comments to expressing wishes for a peaceful solution to conflicts, with mutual respect for the sovereignty and core interests of all sides.

In view of the Jam the West has got itself into through a more interventionist role, it is quite understandable that China should prefer to maintain a certain distance.

But this approach is no longer compatible with China's new status in the world. So tightly are the different continents now bound together, economically and strategically, that nothing can now be regarded as "out of area." China's major international initiative, the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road , demonstrates the desire for stability through economic links rather than projecting power.

However, there are some perennially destructive security problems that have to be addressed; China's special concern is infrastructure, and turmoil and war are incompatible with this. For the necessary sustainable commercial links to be established, lasting peace is a prerequisite.

Fortunately, the restraint China has hitherto exercised gives her a unique position to play a positive role; there is no history of imperial or Cold War-based interference, and China has established a respected neutrality on the Arab-Israel issue. All this means it is excellently placed to make an effective soft-power based contribution, and to be listened to by all parties.

Though it is only 25 years since China and Saudi Arabia established diplomatic relations, trade has boomed, with China now sourcing 16 percent of her oil from Saudi Arabia and the latter providing a most attractive market for Chinese engineering and construction companies. Saudi Arabia is also a founder member of the newly opened Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

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Bryan Cranston is waiting for an elevator the morning after the Golden Globes when a woman in her early 30s approaches him holding up her iPhone.

My husband would kill me if I didnt get a picture with you, she tells him. Cranston considers the womans request. He would kill you? he says, repeating her choice of words. If you dont mind me saying so, that concerns me. Cranston obliges, as he does so often these days, his face immediately recognizable from his five-year stint playing Walter White, the high school chemistry teacher who becomes a drug lord (and relishes that decision) on Breaking Bad.

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The familiarity that people feel toward him these days has resulted in Cranstons having some hard-and-fast rules about navigating his public life. At the Globes, where he was up for lead actor in a drama for his turn as blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo in Trumbo, Cranston knew he had to leave the parties around 10:30 p.m. Thats the dividing line between people asking for a picture or autograph politely and them throwing their arms around you and talking too close, he says, adding that he returned to his Sherman Oaks home and was in bed with his wife of 26 years, Robin Dearden, shortly after midnight.

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He also extends rules from the smallest of things, like the proper way to load a dishwasher, to a deep belief that change is inevitable and the only thing you can do is have the courage to embrace the moment.

Somebody asked me the other day how I felt now that Im about to turn 60, Cranston says, the implication being, Is it sobering to be inching closer to the grave? And my answer is, Yes, it is. So dont waste any time.

He definitely has strong opinions on just about everything, says Jay Roach, who directed Cranston in Trumbo and HBOs All the Way, the upcoming adaptation of the Broadway play that features Cranston playing Lyndon Johnson. But theres zero ego with him. He just likes to mix it up. He loves a good debate.

Which made Cranston a nice fit for Trumbo, which follows the chain-smoking, prolific writer of such classic movies as Spartacus and Roman Holiday, beginning with his confrontational appearance before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947, which landed him first in prison for contempt of Congress and then on the Hollywood blacklist. Trumbos story, for Cranston, is about what happens when a government overreaches and, instead of ridding society of evil, creates an infamy of its own.

The films examination of the ways politicians play on peoples fears of the Other has obvious modern parallels, which has made the Q&A sessions following Trumbos screenings particularly lively this awards season. Donald Trumps name has come up more than once. Cranston says he believes Trumbo would have respected the Republican presidential front-runners blunt nature and his refusal to be beholden to special interests.

Oscars 2016: Full Coverage | Complete list | Snubs, surprises and reactions | Top nominee photos | Oscars are so white, again

Hes speaking what he believes, and thats to be commended, Cranston says. However, the fear-mongering he engages in doesnt offer any solutions. Look at what he said about terrorists: When we find known terrorists, weve got to go find their families and kill them. Weve got to take them out. Cranston pauses, marveling. With Trump, every type of hyperbolic, incendiary comment he makes is both refreshing in the sense of Oh, my God, I cant believe he said that and horrifying on the other end because, Oh, my God, I cant believe he just said that.

Cranston happily relates dissenting opinions offered at Trumbo events, affairs typically geared more toward promotion than discussion. When audience members grab the microphone and take issue with the movie, Cranston tells them, You know what? Youre right.

Watch Q&As with the Trumbo cast and crew  On Now 'Trumbo:' Dissecting Edward G. Robinson On Now 'Trumbo': Looking back at Dalton Trumbo's life and work On Now 'Trumbo:' Measuring patriotism and talking civil rights On Now 'Trumbo:' The blacklist and Hollywood On Now 'Trumbo:' Navigating the media landscape, past and present

And people are, Wait. What do you mean shes right? Because thats how she felt, Cranston says. I cant impose what we were trying to convey upon you. You either feel it or you dont. Thats whats so great about art. Theres no right or wrong.

Says Roach: Ive met very few people, especially in our business, who are as comfortable in their own skin as Bryan is. I think his calm, ego-less confidence enables him to be nonjudgmental and un-offendable in almost every situation. He adds that one of Cranstons favorite lines in the film comes when Trumbo tells frequent adversary John Wayne: We both have the right to be wrong.

Talking with the actor on several occasions through the years, the words he most frequently uses are lucky, fortunate and grateful. Cranston was 40 when he was cast as the bumbling dad in the sitcom Malcolm in the Middle and just past 50 when he landed Breaking Bad. Now, nearing 60, fresh off the Oscar nomination for Trumbo and a Tony win for All the Way, Cranston sums up his career in one word  fine.

I started working exclusively as an actor when I was 25 years old, and I had a good life, Cranston says. I was a journeyman actor, working here and there. And I loved it. So had that not changed for me, Id still be fine because I love what Im doing. I didnt have any projection or a need to hit some kind of plateau or end result in order to be happy. Obviously, the success enhances it. But it didnt make it.

glenn.whipp@latimes.com
In the future, 2015 will be recalled as the year of the triumphantly rebooted franchise, of Star Wars and Rocky springing back to life and, of course, Australian director George Millers stark, post-apocalyptic thrill ride, Mad Max: Fury Road, which received 10 Oscar nominations, including best picture and director. Miller, 70, spent almost 17 years  filled with unpredictable starts, stops and rebirths  trying to revive the series that stretches back to Mad Max, his late-'70s no-budget action flick starring Mel Gibson as Max Rockatansky. Now its Tom Hardy in the title role, joined by Charlize Theron as the renegade general Imperator Furiosa, Hugh Keays-Byrne as the wheezing despot Immortan Joe, and make-do war machines rumbling across a desert wasteland.

From a minimal-dialogue script written by Miller, comic-book artist Brendan McCarthy and Nico Lathouris and composed primarily of 3,500 storyboards, Fury Road churns with such nonstop invention and virtuosic filmmaking that it led to critical acclaim, grossed $375 million worldwide and, gratifyingly for Miller, passed his car park test for audiences. The best movies are ones that follow you out of the cinema, said the soft-spoken director recently while sitting in a Warner Bros. soundstage in Burbank. If Ive forgotten a movie by the time Ive gotten to the car park, then it [cant] be much of a movie.

FULL COVERAGE: Oscars 2016

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What do fans of Fury Road  released last May  tell you when they get the opportunity to talk to you?

The thing that gets me is when people show me their tattoos of Immortan Joe, Max, Furiosa, Nux. I was in Japan talking to a critic who was very, very insightful about the movie and he took me into a corner and unbuttoned his shirt. Hed gotten [Immortan Joes skull] logo tattooed on his chest. I was so taken aback.

Were you surprised by what moviegoers picked up on?

Definitely pleasing is that the film, which couldve been read as a simple chase movie, seemed to have so many resonances. The feminist [theme] I knew was there, but I didnt expect that to be picked up so potently. I didnt think that the Doof Warrior would be so popular.

You didnt see a musician in scarlet long johns playing a flame-throwing electric guitar while strapped to a speeding truck as exciting?

Id no idea. You cant make a film thats as rambunctious and wild as this and not have rigorous underpinnings to the story. [The Doof Warrior] is the bugler, the bagpipe player, the music of war that was played before there was recorded or amplified sound. For me, its just a logical part of the world.

Much has been ecstatically made of the use of practical stunts over CGI. What piece of new technology proved invaluable?

Do you know about the Edge? Its a powerful, four-wheel drive vehicle with a crane on top and a camera. Its got what I call The Three Headed Beast, a stunt driver, a crane operator or grip whos moving the crane and, behind the driver, a camera operator. Then theres me, the director, sitting in the middle with a screen in front. These guys work so closely together, its freakish. We were able to drive in and among these big battles, the camera almost skimming the ground or swooping up into the cabin and into the faces of the actors.

Will we ever see the buzzed-about silent-film version  black and white, no dialogue, just music  of Fury Road?

Not in cinemas. The best version of Road Warrior was what we called a slash dupe, a cheap, black-and-white version of the movie for the composer. Something about it seemed more authentic and elemental. So I asked Eric Whipp, the [Fury Road] colorist, Can I see some scenes in black and white with quite a bit of contrast? They looked great. So I said to the guys at Warners, Can we put a black-and-white version on the DVD? There wasnt enough room. [Itll end up] on another version with commentary and other features.

Youve said your next film will be small, quickly made, and that Tangerine, Sean Bakers indie about transgender sex workers shot entirely on an iPhone 5, inspired you. Explain.

The fact that you can use your iPhone to say something you desperately want to say is wonderful. I loved [Tangerine]. It didnt feel diminished by budget. The method of making it was perfectly matched with its subject. Ive got two stories  one of them is a bit more technically complex than the other; the other is contemporary. I dont think itll be shot on an iPhone, but it wont be big, massive cameras.

Do you have any rules for awards season?

Dont get carried away with expectations. Its like with doctors: The worst thing you can do is make optimistic prognostications. [laughs] The second thing is to remember that its great fun. Be happy that youre invited to the party. Have the best time you can.
There are a few key things to know about Kate Winslet. She holds eye contact when she shakes your hand. She makes a strong cup of tea. She strives to be rock steady for everybody. And though she was once dubbed Corset Kate for her affinity for period dramas, this English rose gamely drops the F-bomb when nothing else will do.

So its no surprise that Winslet chose her words carefully as she recounted the rigors of Aaron Sorkins 187-page Steve Jobs script, which the actor rapidly mastered in a Polish-Armenian-Russian accent.

Its  daunting, Ive got to tell you, she said over tea recently during a quick visit to Los Angeles from her home in London. You definitely have to get the brain into marathon running shape for sure.

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FULL COVERAGE: Oscars 2016

With an Oscar and six nominations before her recent 40th birthday  and her seventh nomination arriving late last week  its hard to imagine Winslet in anything but. Shes fast becoming her generations answer to Meryl Streep. And yet her Oscar-nominated and Golden Globe-winning supporting role as Joanna Hoffman, Jobs longtime confidant and marketing chief, was one she lobbied hard to get.

Winslet was still filming The Dressmaker in the Australian outback in December 2014 when she heard director Danny Boyle was about to start Steve Jobs rehearsals. Winslet didnt waste any time.

I knew they hadnt offered [the Hoffman role] to anybody, Winslet said. I just went for it. I thought, Lets see how much fun I can have with this. I got my husband to go to a wig shop and buy a few wig options. We put a short, dark-haired wig on my head. I found a few pictures of Joanna online and tried to make myself look as similar as I could.

Winslet whipped out her phone to show off the photos that she sent to producer Scott Rudin. This was not the face of Lancome. It was a no-nonsense gal with unflattering frames and a mousy brown bob. By comparison, the Joanna Hoffman on screen is red-carpet-ready.

Pretty good, right? she said. We cut that wig ourselves.

Winslets photos prompted Boyle to fly to Australia to meet her and then send her a link to Sorkins script. When she opened it on her iPad, she said, My heart just stopped.

I dont particularly like blowing too much smoke up his  because he knows how good he is, said Winslet of Sorkin, chuckling. But I have to hand it to him. [As] Jeff Daniels said, Aaron writes the way people think. For an actor, that is really a dream.

Still, so much of what Winslet brings to her Steve Jobs performance wasnt in Sorkins script. The screenwriter deliberately keeps stage direction to a minimum, which gave Winslet room to cultivate a natural demeanor with Michael Fassbender, who received a lead actor nomination last week. Boyles unconventional filming schedule helped too. Each of the three acts was shot chronologically with breaks for rehearsals before each act.

Theres one scene where [Jobs] lined up his speech on the floor and Danny said " here Winslet breaks into an Irish brogue  Would you just, for one take, get down on your knees and pick up the bits of paper? And I said, Oh, Danny! Im just a bit worried it might make her look like shes the subservient assistant. And he said, But she was that sometimes. And I was like, Yeah. Actually she was.

As Joanna, Winslet is a proxy for the audience, the character who asks us to believe in Jobs humanity, despite all the evidence to the contrary. A trained archaeologist, Hoffman was Armenian-born, raised in Poland, spoke Russian at home and moved to the U.S. as a teenager. Though she had virtually no marketing experience, Jobs handpicked her and they remained close the rest of his life.

Shes a really wonderful, warm, friendly, loyal person and she was quite different in temperament than a lot of other people around Steve, said Winslet. She actually said that a lot of her family members were like Steve.

Winslet spent hours recording her long talks with Hoffman to master her accent. She said Hoffman described Jobs as a generous, loving person. A hugger, even.

 Steve was adorable! Winslet recalls Hoffman telling her.  Lots of hugs! Lots of closeness. Sometimes I would want to put a knife through his chest, because he would make me crazy, but '"

Winslet added, She always got to see the backstage version of Steve. And in order to access that, there had to be the warmth and softness around the edges of their friendship.
The altitude. The snow. The shuttle schedule. The sprawling theater venues. The throngs of selfie-seekers.

Navigating the Sundance Film Festival can be tricky enough before you even figure out which films you want to see. But dont panic: Weve got you covered. Here are the six films you should brave the elements for in Park City this week. And if youre not headed to Utah, no need for FOMO - now you can pretend youre in the know from the comfort of sunny L.A. (without any Fear of Missing Out).

Sundance Film Festival 2016: Full coverage

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O.J. Made in America (Special Events)

Got 71/2 hours to spare? Then settle in for this ESPN docuseries that explores the rise and fall of O.J. Simpson and how his murder trial raised questions about race in America. The lengthy series is being unveiled just weeks before the premiere of a fictionalized television series about Simpson, starring Cuba Gooding Jr., on FX. But you wont need a lunch break for that one.

Goat (U.S. Dramatic)

OK, so it stars a former Jonas brother. But dont write off director Andrew Neels fraternity bro drama just because lead Nick Jonas also happens to be a pop crooner. The film, about a college student who faces abusive hazing while pledging a frat, may raise timely questions about modern-day masculinity.

Manchester by the Sea (Premieres)

Yes, his last release was Margaret  that long-delayed, troubled film whose production troubles became the stuff of Hollywood legend. But writer-director Kenneth Lonergan is trying to move past all that with his latest drama, which stars Casey Affleck as a Boston handyman who suddenly becomes the guardian of his 16-year-old nephew. Lonergan is a Sundance favorite -- his Oscar-nominated film You Can Count On Me won the festivals Grand Jury Prize in 2000.

Weiner (U.S. Documentary Competition)

This should be juicy. After his sexting scandal in 2013, politician Anthony Weiner granted documentary filmmakers access to trail him as he launched a mayoral campaign. That meant Weiners faithful wife, Huma Abedin  one of Hillary Clintons most important aides who has worked alongside the presidential hopeful for the last two decades  would also be filmed. Whether this will affect Clintons White House bid, however, remains to be seen.

Certain Women (Premieres)

Director Kelly Reichardt and actress Michelle Williams reunite for their third collaboration in this film set in the American West. Reichardt  known for her quiet, dialogue-scant style  follows the lives of various Montana women played by Williams, Laura Dern and Kristen Stewart in her latest film. The filmmakers first movie, 1994s River of Grass, is also getting a special digitally remastered screening at the fest this year.

The Birth of a Nation (U.S. Dramatic)

Actor Nate Parker wrote, directed, produced and stars in this period piece about Nat Turner, the real-life figure who led a major slave rebellion in 1831 Virginia. Parker  last seen as the hunky cop in the romance Beyond the Lights  has roots at Sundance and earned a fellowship through the festivals lab. The 36-year-old worked on the script for his directorial debut (also starring Armie Hammer and Aja Naomi King) for the better part of a decade.

1 / 39 The festival store on Main Street in Park City, Utah, during the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. (Dave Mangels / Getty Images) 2 / 39 Robert Redford, founder and president of the Sundance Institute, speaks at the premiere of Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You. (Danny Moloshok/Invision/AP) 3 / 39 Director Nate Parker, left, actors Armie Hammer, Penelope Ann Miller and Chike Okonkwo discuss The Birth of a Nation at the Deadline.com panel. (Neilson Barnard / Getty Images for Samsung) 4 / 39 Producer Laura Rister, left, actor Boyd Holbrook, writer-director Jason Lew, actors the Intervention Happy Hour at the Samsung Studio. (Neilson Barnard / Getty Images for Samsung) 5 / 39 Music composer Jay Wadley, left, and general manager of St. Regis Deer Valley Edward Shapard attend Rand Luxury Hosts cocktail reception. (Vivien Killilea / Getty Images for Rand Luxury) 6 / 39 Actress Chloe Sevigny, left, and Glamour Editor in Chief Cindi Leive attend Glamours Women Rewriting Hollywood Lunch. (Jason Merritt / Getty Images for Glamour) 7 / 39 Director Jacqueline Lyanga attends Glamours Women Rewriting Hollywood Lunch. (Jason Merritt / Getty Images for Glamour) 8 / 39 Director of Sundance John Cooper, left, director Anne Fontaine and producer Eric Altmayer attend the Agnus Dei premiere. (Nicholas Hunt / Getty Images for Sundance Film Festival) 9 / 39 Actress Kristen Stewart, left, and director and writer Kelly Reichardt at the premiere of Certain Women. (Danny Moloshok / Invision) 10 / 39 Lovesong cast members Brooklyn Decker, from left, Jena Malone and Riley Keough pose alongside director So Yong Kim and her daughter Sky Ok Gray at the premiere of the film. (Chris Pizzello / Invision ) 11 / 39 Actresses Jenny Slate, left, and Zoe Kazan pose at the premiere of Joshy. (Arthur Mola / Invision ) 12 / 39 Director Jeff Baena and actress Aubrey Plaza at the premiere of Joshy. (Arthur Mola / Invision ) 13 / 39 Kevin Smith, left, director of Yoga Hosers, and cast member Jason Mewes. (Chris Pizzello / Invision ) 14 / 39 Actors Ralph Garman, from left, Jason Mewes, Austin Butler and Justin Long at the Yoga Hosers cast party. (Evan Agostini / Invision ) 15 / 39 Director Kevin Smith with his daughter, actress Harley Quinn Smith, at the Yoga Hosers cast party. (Evan Agostini / Invision ) 16 / 39 Recording artist Questlove, left, and director Spike Lee at the Michael Jacksons Journey From Motown to Off the Wall premiere. (Valerie Macon / AFP/Getty Images) 17 / 39 Bryce Dallas Howard, director of the short film Solemates, poses before a screening of the film. (Chris Pizzello / Invision/Associated Press) 18 / 39 Actor John Krasinski walks along Park Citys Main Street during the Sundance Film Festival. (Valerie Macon / AFP/Getty Images) 19 / 39 Actor Thomas Middleditch walks along Main Street during the Sundance Film Festival. (Valerie Macon / AFP/Getty Images) 20 / 39 Actress Lorraine Toussaint on Park Citys Main Street during the Sundance Film Festival. (Valerie Macon / AFP/Getty Images) 21 / 39 Anderson Cooper on Park Citys Main Street during the Sundance Film Festival. (Valerie Macon / AFP/Getty Images) 22 / 39 Actor Matt Damon takes part in a panel discussion on the global water crisis during the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. (Chris Pizzello / Invision/Associated Press) 23 / 39 Sting performs at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. (Arthur Mola / Invision/Associated Press) 24 / 39 Actresses Kate Beckinsale, left, and Chloe Sevigny at the premiere of Love & Friendship. (Danny Moloshok / Invision/Associated Press) 25 / 39 Singer John Legend, executive producer of Southside With You, poses at the premiere of the film. (Chris Pizzello / Invision/Associated Press) 26 / 39 Southside With You writer and director Richard Tanne, left, with cast members Tika Sumpter and Parker Sawyers at the films premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. (Chris Pizzello / Invision/Associated Press) 27 / 39 Matthew Gray Gubler poses through a cardboard frame at the Trash Fire premiere. (Chris Pizzello / Invision/Associated Press) 28 / 39 Actress Maude Apatow, right, and her father, Judd Apatow, at the premiere of Other People at the Sundance Film Festival. (Danny Moloshok / Invision/Associated Press) 29 / 39 Casey Affleck, left, and Jon Hamm attend An Artist at the Table, a cocktail and dinner program benefit, in Kamas, Utah. (Nicholas Hunt / Getty Images for Sundance Film Festival) 30 / 39 Singer-songwriter Nick Jonas attends An Artist at the Table in Kamas, Utah. (Nicholas Hunt / Getty Images for Sundance Film Festival) 31 / 39 Filmmaker Kevin Macdonald, left, musican Sting, artist Cai Guo-Qiang and actor Fisher Stevens attend the Sky Ladder: The Art of Cai Guo-Qiang premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. (Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty Images for Sundance Film Festival) 32 / 39 Producer Sam Bisbee, left, actress Maude Apatow, actor J.J. Totah, actress Madisen Beaty, actor Jesse Plemons, actress Molly Shannon, director Chris Kelly, actor Bradley Whitford, actor John Early, producer Naomi Scott and actor Adam Scott attend the Other People premiere. (Jason Merritt / Getty Images for Sundance Film Festival) 33 / 39 Snowy conditions on Park Citys Main Street. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 34 / 39 Bill Hill, Sundance projection and inspection manager, wipes down film reels at the festivals print traffic room. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 35 / 39 Adrianne Jorge, left, prepares films in digital formats as Bill Hill, right, Sundance projection and inspection manager, works on a film reel at the print traffic room for the Sundance Film Festival. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 36 / 39 Moderator Sean Means; Robert Redford, president and founder of the Sundance Institute; executive director Keri Putnam; and director of Sundance Film Festival John Cooper (Valerie Macon / AFP/Getty Images) 37 / 39 Robert Redford, president and founder of the Sundance Institute, and Keri Putnam, executive director of the Sundance Institute, take part in the 2016 Sundance Film Festival opening day press conference. (Chris Pizzello / Invision / Associated Press) 38 / 39 Salt Lake Tribune film critic Sean Means, festival director John Cooper, Sundance Institute executive director Keri Putnam and actor and festival founder Robert Redford attend a press conference to open the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. (George Frey / EPA) 39 / 39 An Oscar Mayer Wienermobile passes a sign welcoming visitors during the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. (Danny Moloshok / Invision / Associated Press)

amy.kaufman@latimes.com

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Anthony Weiner movie Weiner throws a light on modern politics -- and Hillary Clinton

The political documentary is a time-honored tradition in independent film, which delights in taking news figures and reexamining them with a long lens.

But its rare that a movie about something as roilingly current as Weiner, the new documentary about fallen political hero Anthony Weiner that premiered Sunday at Sundance, makes its way to the surface.

Elyse Steinbergs and Josh Kriegmans film, which was picked up by Sundance Selects and Showtime before the festival, touches on a figure who was regularly topping the news not 30 months ago -- and whose place at the center of an election-season quick-spin-cycle feels notably current.

Equally relevant, the documentary touches on hot-button questions involving presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, on whose staff Weiners wife, Huma Abedin, serves.

Steinbergs and Kriegmans film (the latter once worked for Weiner) offers a remarkable window into the onetime congressman and New York mayoral candidate. Back in 2013, you may recall, the Democratic lawmaker seemed to put all his sexting and lewd-photograph troubles behind him and was surging in the mayoral polls when new allegations doomed his campaign.

In the film, Weiner can be seen strategizing with his staff as the political heat mounts, engaging in candid asides with Abedin (she stands by him, ambivalently) and showcasing a bowed-but-not-broken attitude in places such as the back of a campaign car, where some of the movies most intimate moments take place.

We always had known that is an incredible and fascinating character, Kriegman said at Sundance after the screening.

Weve seen countless celebrity meltdowns, added Steinberg. This was about being in the room when it happens and the humanity behind it.

The filmmakers stop short of saying they wanted to draw a sympathetic portrait. But they do say they wanted to humanize their subject -- to show a multifaceted person, which they do in spades.

Weiner can be arrogant and charming, swaggery about his views and self-deprecating about his foibles (including, sometimes, the big one). The impression one is left with is of a man whose strength is his weakness: Weiner came to prominence with his feistiness, but that trait is also his downfall, as when he yells back to a heckler at a campaign stop in a bakery in a video that soon went viral.

Weiner has some self-awareness about the consequences of his pathologies, even if it takes public humiliation to get him there. Yeah, he says quietly several times when he feels regret about what his actions have done to his family. (The filmmakers are so present -- and, often, asking questions -- that at one point Weiner comically muses to the camera about a fly on the wall, wondering if theres a species that talks too.)

One wishes more was shown on the political hit-job aspects of the story -- if Weiner did supply the bullets for his murder, there were certainly GOP leaders, turned off by his aggressive style in Congress, happy to fire the gun. And there is little about what that drove him to such frequent phone- and text-based sex in the first place, even at great expense to his career. (Weiner does at one point suggest that politicians are wired to need attention, whether of constituents or romantic partners.)

Still, the film offers great insight into the process of an election campaign in the modern media world, whether its the optics of sullen campaign strategists or the intersection of tabloidism and politics (reaching its absurd conclusion when Weiner and staff sprint through a McDonalds to avoid Sydney Leathers, one of Weiners phone paramours.)

Kriegman said he initially thought this would be a comeback story -- indeed the films first half revels in that angle -- before new revelations took it in a different direction.

At the beginning of the campaign, no one in the entire world knew what was going to happen, he said after the screening. For a while, this was a comeback story ... and then things took a turn.

And the story is ongoing. Most pertinent is the role of a conflicted Abedin, who as the scandal crests may or may not have been asked by Clinton to distance herself from Weiner in public. Though Abedin is not seen weighing in on this, the implication that she was pressed to choose between her husband and her job hangs heavily over the film, and how much it can be used by Clinton opponents will be one of the key questions as the film rolls out, beginning in May.

In fact, even the absence of a smoking gun is problematic, because it feeds into questions over whether the Clinton campaign asked that such damning material be removed.

At the screening, Steinberg said, There was no footage taken out because of pressure from Hillarys campaign, Thats just not true. Kriegman said Weiner hadnt seen the movie but that the filmmakers hoped he one day would; the comment did not directly address reports that the former congressman has asked to see it but was denied that request.

Abedin has already become a controversial figure to Republicans, who have raised questions about whether she improperly accepted money to work as a consultant while serving Clinton in the State Department. The movie, if nothing else, puts her in the spotlight -- shining a beam on a person who, like most strategists, prefers to work outside of public view.

Steinberg and Kriegman said their goal in making the film was to offer a corrective to the late-night-comedy, punch-line culture of modern politics -- Weiner is the example par excellence of this -- though ironically the movie could be used to put Weiner and his indiscretions back in just such a context.

At the end of the film, Weiner shows his flair for wry humor when he turns to the camera and asks, essentially, Why did I let you film this? The politician may still be struggling with that question. Informed viewers, however, will be grateful he did.

 Steven Zeitchik
If you want to understand the eclecticism of modern American television, you need look no further than Thursday.

The premieres of CWs DCs Legends of Tomorrow and BBC Americas London Spy mark opposite ends of a landscape grown so vast it can now comfortably accommodate a clunky but occasionally charming continuation of a comic-book franchise and a seductively fey prose poem of a British spy drama.

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At first glance, the two shows are as different as chalk and cheese (guess which ones the chalk?) but both bear traces of this eras distinctly fertile soil. Each pits humanity against tyranny, each deals with the influence of the past on the future and each employs a super team to figure it all out  action heroes in Legends, the dazzling combination of Ben Whishaw, Jim Broadbent and Charlotte Rampling in Spy.

The shows also earn a one-degree-of-separation status courtesy of Arthur Darvill, best known in the U.S. for work done on BBC America as Rory Williams, one of the Eleventh Doctors companions in Doctor Who.

This also makes his appearance as Rip Hunter in Legends funny and jarring for Doctor Who fans who we can only assume the CW is courting.

Like the DC comics character of the same name, Rip is a Time Master (as opposed to Time Lord) who needs a team of superheroes to prevent the destruction of Earth by an evil mastermind.

Created by Greg Berlanti, Andrew Kreisberg and Marc Guggenheim, the team behind Green Arrow and The Flash, Legends is to the DC universe what Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is to Marvels.

Sort of.

The Legends in question include the Atom (Brandon Routh), White (nee Black) Canary (Caity Lotz), Firestorm (Victor Garber and Franz Drameh), Hawkgirl (Ciara Renee) and Hawkman (Falk Hentschel), several of whom have appeared on Green Arrow and The Flash. Though not quite the Forgotten Heroes of the comic series, theyre not A-list either, which is one reason Rip can pull them together with minimal effort for the purposes of world-saving and high banter potential.

The plot rattles right along punctuated by dialogue that could have been lifted from The Mummy films  Thats your plan?  and distinctly graphic novel scenarios; at times all thats missing are the graphic exclamations Ker-pow and Kaboom.

Still, there is a family-hour charm among the many wooden performances and something to be said for the shows unapologetic comic book overtones. DCs Legends of Tomorrow wears its intentions, like its future tech, on its sleeve  youre either in for the ride or youre not, no character deconstruction or cinematic analysis required.

The same can mostly not be said about London Spy, at least not with a straight face.

Moody, elliptical and exquisitely performed, London Spy is post-renaissance television. Creator Tom Rob Smith taunts and tantalizes viewers with a now-you-see-it-now-you-dont plot that unfolds in languid melancholy, except when it explodes with earth-shaking revelation.

Danny (Whishaw) is a warehouse worker and party boy who, while recovering from a night on the town, encounters Alex (Edward Holcroft), a passing runner/demi-god. Alex asks if Danny is all right; Danny answers that he is always all right. Their eyes meet, love blooms and Alex runs away.

But Smith is not interested in the traditional meet-cute and this London is far more Luther than Love Actually. Danny wallows in his fug of unrealized potential and dirty dishes, propped up to a certain extent by his older friend Scottie (Broadbent), but he is clear-headed and obsessive enough to track his man down.

Alex, outwardly successful with a vaguely big job and an OCD-neat Power Flat, seems the more adult of the two, but Danny has the higher emotional IQ and the hard-earned wisdom of near self-annihilation. The two become lovers and if Danny senses that Alex is something more than a computer genius, he doesnt really care.

Until Alex is killed and all hell breaks loose, albeit in a fever-dreamy way.

With elements that evoke the death of Gareth Williams, an actual mathematician with ties to MI6, London Spy appears to take its sweet if unlikely love story through the well-traveled tunnels of British intelligence, among all the stalactites of code-breaking, treachery and fatal homophobia. But before you can say George Smiley, the tone swerves High Gothic (Rampling vaguely menacing in a creepy English manor) or street (sex toys, drugs, police). Tinker Tailor by way of Jane Eyre and maybe Trainspotting.

The increasing ubiquity of Whishaw (Spectre, Suffragette, The Danish Girl, Paddington and The Hour are just a few of his most recent credits) detracts not at all from the power of his performance. A rumpled pixie dream boy, Danny may slouch, sweat and swoon but he never surrenders. The world conspires more darkly than he ever imagined, but he is better equipped to face it than those who appear more in control.

To say that Broadbent is heartbreaking and Rampling an enigmatic marvel is to state the obvious; when the plot and tone go wandering, as they do with exasperating regularity, London Spy rests almost entirely on the astonishing ability of its cast.

Fortunately, these three could juggle seven spinning planets and a shoe if it were required to keep the story moving. Heartbreak amid the post-Cold War perils of MI6? Thats gravy, that is.

Twitter: @marymacTV


Since he joined the cast of Saturday Night Live more than a quarter-century ago, Chris Rock has made a career out of, among other things, telling uncomfortable truths about race in America.

Now the comedian is in the awkward position of hosting an Oscars ceremony which, for the second year in a row, will feature zero nonwhite acting nominees. Celebrities including Tyrese Gibson and 50 Cent have called for Rock to step aside in protest of the academys ongoing diversity problem.

#OscarsSoWhite: Full coverage of the boycott and Hollywoods reaction

Others see an opportunity for the comedian -- who in 2014 wrote a scathing essay about race and the entertainment industry for the Hollywood Reporter in which he referred to Los Angeles as a slave state -- to make a powerful statement before a massive global audience. Its so important that hes on the mic that nite, said Arsenio Hall on Twitter.

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I think it would be a heroic thing for him to step aside, but there are others that feel that he could bring light to this situation, said Rev. K.W. Tulloss, western regional director of the National Action Network. We know that hes always been a socially conscious person. We will support whatever decision he makes.

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Still, Tulloss said, the group is planning to protest the ceremony and is urging people to tune out from the broadcast on ABC, a network that has made diversity a lynchpin of its programming strategy through shows such as Fresh off the Boat and black-ish. Were going to put the pressure on the industry. We cant afford to go backwards, Tulloss said.

Neither Rock nor the shows producer Reginald Hudlin, who is also African American, responded to requests for comment. But the comedian has already addressed the controversy on Twitter, albeit in a relatively mild way, by jokingly referring to the Oscars as the white BET Awards.

 Weeks before there are any winners, we already know that only white actors will take home an Oscar in 2016.

For more clues as to how Rock might handle the issue onstage next month, one need only look at his 2005 hosting gig. That year, the Oscars were (relatively) diverse, with four black performers nominated. Its kinda like the Def Oscar Jam tonight, Rock joked in his opening monologue, during which he also complained about Hollywoods narrow approach to making films for black people:

At least they make movies for white people to enjoy. Real movies with plots, with actors, not rappers. With real names like Catch Me If You Can, Saving Private Ryan. Black movies dont have real names. You get names like Barbershop. Thats not a name, thats just a location.

Later in the show, Rock introduced a segment filmed at a Magic Johnson theater where hed gone to get out of Hollywood and talk to regular people about the movies. There he found that the African American patrons had seen virtually none of the years Oscar-bait pictures, like Finding Neverland and Million Dollar Baby, preferring movies like the Wayans Bros. White Chicks.

Of course, the Academy Awards diversity problem is nothing new.

The circumstances this year are eerily similiar to 1996, when the Oscars ceremony featured an African American host (Whoopi Goldberg) and producer (Quincy Jones) but an overwhelmingly white field of nominees. Just one black person was among the 166 nominees that year, when Mel Gibsons Braveheart was named best picture and the other top contenders included Sense and Sensibility and Apollo 13.

The controversy sparked widespread media coverage, including a People magazine cover story calling the film industrys exclusion of African Americans a national disgrace. Jesse Jackson also organized protests against what he saw as Hollywoods insitutional racism. It doesnt stand to reason that if you are forced to the back of the bus, you will go to the bus companys annual picnic and act like youre happy, he said of the Academy Awards in a 1996 interview with The Times. This impacts upon our dignity.

One major difference between 1996 and 2016? The response of the academy. Twenty years ago, the group was embarassingly defensive. The academy is probably the most liberal organization in the country this side of the NAACP, said Bruce Davis, then executive director of the academy. To say that the academy is discriminating against minorities is absurdity of the highest level.

In contrast, this week President Cheryl Boone Isaacs even issued a statement bemoaning the lack of inclusion and calling for dramatic steps to bring about much-needed diversity.

Other prominent celebrities have opted not to boycott the awards, but instead use the Oscars stage to voice their displeasure.

In 1998 Eddie Murphy, then at the height of his fame and influence, presented the Oscar for best picture to The Last Emperor (whose primarily Asian cast was shut out of the nominations, it should be noted). But before handing out the prize, Murphy recalled how hed initially wanted to decline the offer to appear at the Oscars because they havent recognized black people in the motion picture industry.

Observing that black performers win once every 20 years or so, Murphy joked that we aint due for one until about 2004, prompting nervous laughter from the audience. I just want you to know, Im going to give this award, but black people will not ride the caboose of society, and we will not bring up the rear anymore, and I want you to recognize us.

Follow @MeredithBlake on Twitter.

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Fox News cultural correspondent Stacey Dash has ignited another social media firestorm with her comments on Hollywood diversity in light of the potential boycott of this years Academy Awards.

Dash appeared Wednesday on the Fox News segment Outnumbered and stated that not only is the outrage over the Oscars ludicrous, but that in order to be truly equal, African Americans should be doing away with things that focus on celebrating black culture.

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We have to make up our minds, Dash said. Either we want segregation or integration. And if we dont want segregation, then we need to get rid of channels like BET and the BET Awards and the Image Awards where youre only awarded if youre black. If it were the other way around, we would be up in arms. Its a double standard.

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This is not the first time Dash, an actress best known for her performance in Clueless, released in 1995, has courted controversy. On a December edition of Outnumbered, Dash made a profanity-laden remark about President Obamas feelings toward terrorism and earned an unpaid, two-week suspension from Fox News for her comments.

Dash also made headlines in the wake of last years Oscars ceremony where she asserted that Patricia Arquettes acceptance speech about pay inequality was appalling, later declaring that a pay gap between the sexes doesnt exist.

Even Black History Month wasnt safe from Dashs ire. There shouldnt be a Black History Month. You know? Were Americans. Period. Thats it, the actress stated, leading host Steve Doocy to follow up with, Are you saying there shouldnt be a Black History Month because there isnt a white history month? To which Dash replied, Exactly.

Dash also took the opportunity to finger President Obama.

I Was Right Today on Outnumbered: There Should Be No Black History Month https://t.co/wJxkIzumMD via @realDonaldTrump  Stacey DASH (@staceydash) January 20, 2016

What I found astounding is that weve had a president  who is black  in office for the past eight years who gets most of his funding from the liberal elite in Hollywood, and yet there are not that many roles for people of color. How can that be?

After seeing the controversy generated online by her comments, Dash took to her blog to reiterate that her opinions were correct, sentiments that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump voiced full agreement with when appearing on Fox News later in the day.

Dash is not the only 90s-era actress speaking out against a potential Oscars boycott, as Janet Hubert, best known as the actress who originated Aunt Viv on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, offered criticism of the movement on Monday -- though for different reasons.

Follow me on Twitter at @midwestspitfire.

libby.hill@latimes.com

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Winter can be a bit nippy in Las Vegas, but its always downright frigid inside one bar along the Strip.

Minus5 Ice Bar, located in the Shoppes at Mandalay Place, has reopened after a major remodel that nearly doubled the size of the attraction.

A whopping 120 tons of ice was shipped in from Canada to create the furnishings inside the bar, where the thermostat is set at 23 degrees Fahrenheit. (In Celsius, thats minus 5; the creators are from New Zealand.)

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Sure, its colder than that right now in the Plains states. But the super-cold freeze is particularly inviting on a scorching summer afternoon in Las Vegas.

And its good cold fun. Conde Nast Traveler last year put this ice bar (and its siblings in other cities) on its list of 8 Ice Bars You Wont Believe Exist.

The bar, the benches and even the drinking glasses are all made of ice.

New custom-carved sculptures include one of the Las Vegas skyline and the Iron Throne from TVs Game of Thrones. LED lighting keeps the party vibe going.

In the makeover, bar space grew to roughly 1,300 square feet. The Mandalay Place location claims to be the largest permanent ice bar in the world, according to a company news release.

Minus5 is open 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Sunday through Thursday, and until 3 a.m. Friday and Saturday.

Guests wear heavy winter coats and gloves. The cold-weather gear is included in the $19 admission fee. For $39, you can add two cocktails.

Free valet parking comes with the package too.

Although Mandalay Place is part of MGM Resorts, the company has said that new parking fees for its hotel-casinos to be implemented this spring, will not include the shopping complex.

Info: Minus5 Ice Bar, (702) 740-5800.

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Former San Diego Mayor Bob Filner, in an interview this week, denied having sexually harassed women and claimed that his City Hall office had been bugged.

Filner stepped down in 2013 after less than a year in office and pleaded guilty to two counts of misdemeanor battery and one count of felony false imprisonment. He spent three months under house arrest and is now serving probation in Los Angeles.

Asked by the Voice of San Diego whether he was sorry, Filner blamed women for making up fantasies.

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When you look at what  I was charged with, you know, it was, really, nothing illegal and it was just an attempt of the establishment to take back their city, which they did, Filner said.

He went on to blame the media and City Atty. Jan Goldsmith for conflating the accusations in court, and said he would have fought the charges had it not been so costly.

I said there was no sexual harassment and most of the things were made up, are fantasies. And again, I have proof of all this, he said.

Neither Filner nor his attorney could be reached to elaborate on his comments.

Political consultant Laura Fink, one of the first to accuse Filner of unwanted touching, kissing or comments, said in a statement that the former mayors lack of remorse and accountability is predictable and pathetic  as is his desire to remain in the spotlight.

Bob Filner is dragging the good name and integrity of more than 20 women through the mud to try to salvage his disgraced reputation, Fink said. San Diegans paid a heavy price for his behavior. The least he could do for the victims and our city is to go away.

The fallout has included several lawsuits by women against the city, some of which have been settled.

Attorney Gloria Allred, who represented some of the victims, released a statement Tuesday night: Mayor Filner was a disgrace to his office. He wants to blame others for his downfall, but all he needs to do to find the culprit is to look in the mirror. I hope that I will never see the likes of him or anyone like him in public office again.

Filner initiated the interview with Voice of San Diego by offering his perspective on homeless veterans, a topic he has been passionate about during his political career. A former chairman of the congressional Veterans Affairs Committee, Filner criticized San Diegos handling of homeless veterans and said his absence from the mayors office had left a gaping hole in the opportunity to serve that population and other areas.

I was considered the most progressive mayor in America, and it disappeared after a year, Filner said.

He also brushed off questions about his mental health that were brought up during the legal turmoil, saying, There are no such problems.

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Later in the interview, he said he had found a bug in his office that he claimed was planted there by the city attorney. We asked the police to look at it and they didnt want to or didnt do it, he said.

Former Police Chief Bill Lansdowne disputed that claim Tuesday, saying Filners chief of staff approached him with the concern that there might be a recording device in the mayors office.

Lansdowne worked with the departments intelligence unit, hired an outside company to sweep Filners office for bugs and came up empty-handed, the former police chief said.

We had that office checked and we came back negative. They did not find anything, Lansdowne said.

The city attorneys office declined to comment on Filners claim or any other points brought up in the interview. The city is representing him in his sexual harassment lawsuits.

kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com

Davis writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Times staff writer David Garrick contributed to this report.

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed on Wednesday that a European solution was needed to resolve the current refugee crisis despite calls for capping refugee influx from her own conservatives.

While attending a conference of her Bavarian allies, the Christian Social Union (CSU), Merkel once again rejected a rapid policy change which includes setting up an upper limit on the number of refugees entering Germany.

The chancellor said she wanted to reduce the refugee arrivals "appreciably and sustainably", but reiterated that in order to achieve the goal, people should start with combating the causes of flight and find a European solution for the crisis.

"It's of utmost importance to talk to each other in such challenging times" even there are different opinions, she said, referring to the existing differences with its sister party CSU over the refugee issue.

Merkel is facing renewed pressure from her own conservatives to reduce the influx of asylum seekers arriving in Germany, after a record inflow of over 1 million last year sapped their support. The CSU has demanded a cap of 200,000 migrants a year and pushed for a quick government solution to the refugee problem.

"If Austria introduces a ceiling, there would be more refugees coming to Germany," said CSU leader Horst Seehofer.

CSU Secretary-General Andreas Scheuer believed that Germany should follow Austria to introduce a limit on the number of asylum seekers accepted.

Merkel, however, warned that the decision of Austria would add difficulties to negotiations with Turkey concerning the refugee crisis.

Germany and Turkey will hold their first intergovernmental consultations on Friday in Berlin. The refugee crisis is set to be top on the agenda.
A state legislative committee voted unanimously Wednesday to conduct a far-reaching audit of the nonprofit association that runs the Los Angeles County Fair, a review that will focus in part on executive salaries and whether the organization has drifted too far from its tax-exempt mission of promoting local agriculture.

The Joint Legislative Audit Committee action came in response to a November Los Angeles Times investigation that found the head of the L.A. County Fair Assn. had collected nearly $900,000 in total compensation in 2013. That was the fourth straight year the organization had reported financial losses, according to tax filings.

Over the years, the association has received millions of dollars in government grants and other taxpayer support. The pay and benefit packages awarded to CEO James Henwood Jr. and four of his senior managers dwarfed those of other fair executives in California, Internal Revenue Service records and state figures showed.

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The taxpayers deserve a comprehensive review of the Los Angeles County Fair Assn.'s finances and business practices to find out if public funds have been misused, Assemblyman Freddie Rodriguez (D-Pomona)  who proposed the audit  said in a statement Wednesday. Rodriguezs district includes the roughly 500-acre county-owned fairgrounds known as the Fairplex.

In an email, an association spokeswoman said the organization will cooperate with the audit as it does with all such requests.

Henwood and other executives have said their pay levels are appropriate and that the organizations red ink reflected depreciation and interest expenses, not a poor financial performance. They also have said the group remains committed to promoting agricultural interests  through, for example, a 5-acre educational farm at the Fairplex as well as vocational programs.

Rodriguez said the examination, which was approved by an 11-0 vote in Sacramento, was expected to get under way March 1 after completion of an audit ordered by the county Board of Supervisors.

We welcome the states investigation, Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich said in a statement Wednesday, adding that it would ensure that the county is receiving its fair share of the revenue generated at this venue.

The association runs a hotel and conference center, a catering company, a trailer park and other businesses at the Fairplex that have little or nothing to do with agriculture.

The annual fair has stopped featuring demonstrations by 4-H clubs and instead emphasizes carnival attractions, concerts and shopping.

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State Auditor Elaine Howle said the review would look at the associations spending of public dollars, compensation policies and accounting practices, as well as its nonprofit status.

Henwood and four members of his managerial team collected a combined $2.8 million in bonuses from 2010 to 2013, boosting their total compensation to $8.75 million, IRS records showed. During those four years, the association reported total losses of $6.25 million.

Rep. Norma Torres (D-Pomona) has asked the IRS and the state attorney generals office to launch inquiries into whether the associations tax exemption should be rescinded.

The agencies declined to comment on whether they had opened investigations.

paul.pringle@latimes.com | Twitter: @PringleLATimes

ron.lin@latimes.com | Twitter: @ronlin

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For months, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck has grappled with fighting a rise in crime across the city.

As the chief spoke about the crime increase at news conferences and gave weekly updates to police commissioners, the union that represents rank-and-file officers largely stayed out of the public discussion.

That changed Wednesday, when union officials called a rare news conference of their own and blasted Beck for his response to the rise in crime. They also sent a letter to Councilman Mitch Englander, asking him to convene public hearings to determine how officers could be better deployed across the city to drive down crime.

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Chief Beck has told you and the residents of Los Angeles that there is nothing to worry about, the letter read. Hes not telling the truth.

The move comes a week after Beck publicly recommended an officer be criminally charged in a fatal on-duty shooting, drawing harsh criticism from the union. The timing of the unions announcement Wednesday raised eyebrows among some LAPD officials, including Beck.

I find it very convenient that even though I have been talking about crime increases every week at the Police Commission and in many, many press conferences all year, that the union would find now would be the time to try to point this out, Beck said. I do find it odd and coincidental.

Craig Lally, the unions president, said Wednesdays announcement has nothing to do with the shooting. We have a difference of opinion, Lally said, but thats a whole other issue.

Union officials have long complained that there are too few officers patrolling the citys streets. On Wednesday, they pointed to two key initiatives they said were taking more officers away from patrol duties for office work or specialized assignments.

The first, they said, was last years expansion of the Metropolitan Division, an elite group of officers tasked with suppressing crime in hot spots across the city. The second comes with the implementation of the highly touted body camera program, which officials have said could take as many as 122 officers to implement and monitor.

Jamie McBride, who sits on the unions board of directors, said Beck was mismanaging the departments resources.

You can only take so many people out of patrol before theres nobody in patrol, he said.

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Beck said patrol officers served a very important function in the LAPD, but werent the departments sole way to combat crime.

After years of falling crime, LAPD officials struggled in 2015 to reduce the uptick, launching more Metro officers to high-crime areas and strengthening gang outreach and domestic violence reduction efforts. Although Beck and other top brass said they saw some progress in recent months, year-end statistics showed overall crime was at its highest point since 2009.

Last week, Beck and Mayor Eric Garcetti revealed that violent crime rose 20.2% last year compared with 2014. Property crime increased 10.7% during the same span.

Beck again defended the departments crime-fighting strategies Wednesday, saying they were coming to fruition. The chief also noted that although crime had increased in 2015, the city was still far safer than it was decades ago.

But Englander, a reserve LAPD officer who heads the councils Public Safety Committee, told The Times that he was deeply concerned by the crime increase. Englander said he would ask the City Council on Friday to schedule a special meeting for his committee to learn more from the LAPD and the union.

I want to hear directly from the chief and the department on whats working and whats not, Englander said. We need to move on this very quickly.

Follow @katemather on Twitter for more LAPD news.

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A known gang member allegedly used threats and violence to force at least seven teenage girls to commit acts of prostitution across Southern California over the last year, police and prosecutors said Wednesday.

Reginald Washington, 18, of Los Angeles was charged with seven counts of human trafficking this month after he allegedly forced the girls to serve as prostitutes in Long Beach, Los Angeles, Pomona and parts of Orange County, law enforcement officials said.

Police became aware of Washington about eight months ago, according to Long Beach Det. Ed De La Torre, who said a teenage girl located during an unrelated operation told detectives she was working for him.

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Over the next several months, police in Long Beach and Los Angeles found six additional girls ages 15 to 17 who also said Washington forced them to commit acts of prostitution, according to De La Torre.

Several of the girls said Washington used threats and violence to force them to work for him, De La Torre said.

Five of the girls were from Long Beach, and two were from Los Angeles, he said.

Los Angeles police arrested Washington in connection with an unrelated crime Jan. 14 and he was held in lieu of $300,000 bail, according to county jail records. An LAPD spokeswoman could not provide additional details about that arrest.

Washington, who goes by the street names Baby Ticc and Lunatic, was also charged with committing the trafficking offenses at the behest of a street gang, according to court documents.

De La Torre confirmed that Washington is a documented gang member, but declined to comment further.

Long Beach police are actively searching for other victims, and asked anyone with additional information to contact the citys vice unit at (562) 570-7219.

Follow @JamesQueallyLAT for crime and police news in Southern California.

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A Los Angeles County sheriffs deputy was seriously injured Thursday morning while trying to detain a man armed with a knife who had barricaded himself in a bedroom with his two young children.

The deputy, whose identity was not released, was assaulted by the suspect and suffered significant head trauma and injuries to his upper torso, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department. He was hospitalized in serious condition at Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital in Valencia.

Deputies had responded to a home in the 26700 block of Isabella Parkway in Canyon Country after a frantic woman reported she was assaulted by her husband, according to the Sheriffs Department.

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The man had barricaded himself with his two children, ages 3 and 5, and blocked off the doorway with a dresser, sheriffs officials said. Deputies persuaded the man to open his door, and he told them that he wanted to die tonight. He later dropped his knife, but would not open the door.

The deputies developed a plan to free the children and detain the man: While one deputy broke open a bedroom window, deputies inside the home forced their way through the bedrooms door.

When deputies entered the bedroom, the man immediately charged at them and attacked.

The deputy was assaulted and aggressively thrust into the wall, seriously injuring him, sheriffs officials said.

The man was detained and was also taken to the hospital for treatment of minor injuries but was later released for booking in the county jail. His identity has been withheld because of medical privacy laws. He was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence, assault on a peace officer, cruelty to children and dissuading a victim, according to the Sheriffs Department.

The children were found to be unharmed and deputies safely rescued them.

For breaking news in California, follow @MattHjourno on Twitter.



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A California ski resort wants criminal charges against a snowboarder who allegedly triggered an avalanche Friday in a closed area at Donner Summit.

Snowboarder Christian Michael Mares gained attention after a YouTube video showed him tumbling in the avalanche at the Sugar Bowl Resort in Norden, Calif. Mares, who officials said was not a resort season pass holder, was wearing a GoPro camera.

Yup, that just happened, Mares said as he struggled to move from the fall.

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Later on Facebook, he said, Luckily I swam my way to the top and didnt get buried. I def got lucky.

Resort officials said they investigated the incident and are now working with the Placer County Sheriffs Department as they seek Mares prosecution. Mares trespassed into a closed area in the resort, officials said.

The avalanche was triggered at about 12:45 p.m. after resort officials said Mares was knowingly traversing in the closed area of Percos. The area has been closed to the public since the 2010-2011 ski season and is clearly marked as off limits, the resort said.

The area, they said, was an active avalanche zone.

As such, Mares put himself, his friends, ski patrol and the skiing public at risk, the resort said in a statement.

In the past, when skiers with season passes have entered closed areas, resort management officials would pull their privileges and ban them for a period of time. But resort officials said Mares actions were far too extreme; they chose to turn the incident over to the Sheriffs Department.

The irresponsible and reckless decision to snowboard or ski in closed terrain endangers other skiers and ski patrol, and will not be tolerated, the resort said. Sugar Bowl Resort urges all skiers and riders to respect terrain closures and mountain signage for their own safety and the safety of others.

Mares took to Facebook to say the resorts account was biased and that no one from the Sheriffs Department or resort has been available to talk to him.

Resort officials said the avalanche was not connected to a recent search for missing ski instructor Carson May, who disappeared last Thursday and was not found. The search and rescue operation for May, 23, was suspended Tuesday.

For breaking news in California, follow @VeronicaRochaLA on Twitter.

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Someone needs to explain to me what benefit would come from repealing the gun industrys limited immunity from lawsuits.

Thats because Hillary Rodham Clinton isnt. She probably cant. There likely isnt much.

And while were at it, perhaps someone also could explain what good it would do to force gun owners to buy insurance.

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Clinton has been firing away at presidential rival Bernie Sanders about lawsuit immunity for gun manufacturers and dealers. Shes off target.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is looking into requiring gun owners to buy insurance for their weapons. That, likewise, seems nonsensical.

There arent many gun control proposals I dont like, as any regular reader knows:

Universal, substantive background checks for guns and ammunition? Yes.

Ban possession of ammo magazines that hold more than 10 rounds? Certainly. But government should be fair and buy back the magazines. A November ballot measure sponsored by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom would outlaw those high-capacity devices used in so many mass shootings but offer no buyback.

However, repealing lawsuit immunity and requiring insurance?

One would amount to a full-employment act for lawyers. The other would be merely a market-builder for insurers.

We should be trying to stop the carnage before there are dead bodies all over the floor, not just mopping up afterward. Shootings arent headed off by encouraging lawsuits and allowing insurance payouts after the fact.

That said, there is merit in making it easier to sue the few rogue gun dealers who carelessly  maybe even willingly  sell to suspected bad guys. Too many of those suits are dismissed. But going after the manufacturers seems pointless.

Lets back up.

In 2005, Congress passed and President George W. Bush signed the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. It absolves gun makers and dealers of legal liability when crimes are committed with their products.

Both, however, are liable for a defective product or if theyre guilty of criminal misconduct, such as knowingly selling a weapon illegally.

As Clinton keeps pointing out, the National Rifle Assn. called it the most significant piece of pro-gun legislation [to pass] in 20 years. That embrace left arguably the worst mark against the act.

Then-New York Sen. Clinton opposed the bill. Sen. Sanders, representing hunting-happy Vermont, voted for it.

Sanders last year had a good explanation: If somebody has a gun and it falls into the hands of a murderer and the murderer kills somebody with a gun, do you hold the gun manufacturer responsible?

Not any more than you would hold a hammer company responsible if somebody beats somebody over the head with a hammer.

If brakes fail on a car, causing a deadly accident, the automaker can be sued. Likewise, if a gun blows up in someones hands, the manufacturer can be held liable. But there shouldnt be a suit just because the gun works as designed and kills.

Sanders has backed off, however. Lately he mostly has been sticking up for the small mom and pop gun shop that legally sells a weapon and should not be held liable if somebody does something terrible with that gun.

The senator now is supporting an immunity repeal bill cosponsored by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank).

But Clinton, trying to flank Sanders on the left in the Democratic primaries, cited several instances during Sunday nights presidential debate when the Vermont senator has voted with the NRA.

One was when Sanders opposed the Brady Bills five-day waiting period for handgun purchases. He preferred three days  and was wrong.

Clinton is very disingenuous, Sanders said. I have a D-minus voting record from the NRA.

One thing Clinton definitely was disingenuous about? This statement: There is no other industry in America that was given the total pass that the gun makers and dealers were. As noted above, there is no total pass.

As for forcing gun owners to buy insurance, yes, its required for automobiles. But thats to cover costs of car repairs, property damage and personal injuries after accidents.

If a child accidentally shoots himself because a parent has carelessly left a weapon within reach, really, doesnt an insurance payout seem slightly sick? What would be the deductible?

When a gunshot victim is rushed to an emergency room, we dont want the receiving nurses first question to be: Did the shooter have insurance?

How many gangbangers and murderers are going buy gun insurance? Right. None.

I called Adam Winkler, a UCLA law professor and author of the book Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America.

A gun dealer can be held liable for negligence, Winkler said. But its very difficult. Removing the lawsuit immunity, he asserted, could force manufacturers to be more cautious about selling to negligent dealers.

I dont think anyone in gun control believes its a panacea, he said. But it could have an impact.

And requiring insurance, he continued, could result in policy-issuers encouraging gun owners to keep their weapons secure. But, he added, 99.9% of guns are not used in criminal activity. Requiring insurance for all might be a bit of overkill.

I asked the professor what would be the most effective way to reduce gun violence.

Universal background checks, he answered.

And take seriously what the NRA says: Enforce laws currently on the books.

Even the NRA isnt always wrong.

george.skelton@latimes.com

Twitter: @LATimesSkelton

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Isolated and framed by the raw beauty of the rugged high desert, the tiny twin towns along the Utah-Arizona border were different than most places.

Men had multiple wives, strangers were ostracized, and spiritual leaders of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints displayed a particular fondness for banishing those who failed to heed the commands of the religious sect.

When the sects leader was running from the law  wanted on suspicion of sexually assaulting underage girls he considered his wives  authorities came to believe that even the police departments in Hildale, Utah, and neighboring Colorado City, Ariz., were running interference for Warren Jeffs.

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Dear Uncle Warren, began one letter from Fred Barlow, then police chief for both towns, to Jeffs while the spiritual leader was on the move. I rejoice in the peace that comes over me when I follow the directives you sent to me.

He signed it, Your servant.

Their plan was to deny basic rights and freedoms to those non-FLDS families so they pack up and move away.  Jessica Clarke, Justice Department prosecutor

With Jeffs long ago behind bars, the government now is bearing down on Hildale and Colorado City.

In its most aggressive move yet, the government has taken the border towns to court, alleging that sect leaders traded in their Old Testament brand of justice for something more polished, but just as exclusionary.

A Justice Department civil suit, which went to trial Wednesday in a Phoenix courtroom, alleged that leaders of the towns  which make up the 10,000-person FLDS stronghold known as Short Creek  discriminated against nonbelievers by denying them water service and delaying police response to emergencies.

It the government prevails, police and government services could be handed over to a receivership that answers to the federal government, but the government hasnt said yet what relief it would seek if it wins the case.

The evidence will show the control that these men have over city officials and police officers to achieve their own objectives, the objectives of the FLDS church, Justice Department prosecutor Jessica Clarke told jurors Wednesday. Their plan was to deny basic rights and freedoms to those non-FLDS families so they pack up and move away.

In response, attorneys representing the cities say Hildale and Colorado City are victims of a deep-seated desire by the U.S. government to extinguish their religion and way of life. The cities and their shared water utility deny the allegations of discrimination, and say they have distanced themselves from Jeffs.

During turbulent times last decade, when Jeffs was tracked down, tried and convicted, the cities had different leadership, including a different chief of police. After investigations into their conduct, town police officers were decertified by the Arizona and Utah police registry agencies, then given government or church positions.

But since 2007, defense attorney Blake Hamilton said, no officers have lost their certification, and the current leadership of the towns collective police department is not accused of having done anything improper.

Hamilton told the jury of five women and seven men that the governments case rests on two faulty assumptions: that deeply religious people shouldnt hold public office and that all civic employees in the border towns are FLDS members.

Though the Justice Department has not made such broad allegations, Hamilton said, the nature of its prosecution will lead in that direction.

Its tempting to lump them all into a category as brainwashed cultists, said Hamilton, a Salt Lake City attorney. I believe [the government] is targeting people because theyre different.

The FLDS is not affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the mainstream Mormon Church, which formally banned polygamy in 1890, though plural marriages remained a custom through the 1930s, when Mormons began to excommunicate those who took multiple wives.

FLDS members seeking freedom to practice polygamy  a practice they believe guarantees their entry to heaven  founded the community of Short Creek in the 1930s in response.

Today, the towns of Hildale and Colorado City operate as independent municipalities, each with a mayor and five-member town council, though most of the land in each is held by the United Effort Plan Trust, a FLDS-controlled fiduciary collective.

Clarke said witnesses would testify that civic leaders ordered officers to follow newcomers, taking down their license plate numbers and sending information about the drivers to FLDS church security. Outsiders are followed when they enter town, then tracked by a network of cameras that were once monitored around the clock, Clarke said.

The Justice Department says it will call former church leaders, former city officials and one former chief of police. But attorneys for the towns quickly questioned the credibility of some of the prospective witnesses.

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Hamiltons primary target was a former police chief of the towns, Helaman Barlow, who has since turned against the church.

Hes a liar! Hamilton shouted. He will admit he has consistently lied to juries. He will admit that hes consistently lied to judges  and what did the government do? They gave him immunity.

Hamilton acknowledged in his opening statement that many defense witnesses will invoke their 5th Amendment rights and decline to answer attorneys questions.

In alleging fault, the government targeted public officials who they say had blurred the lines between the FLDS church and their public duties, using their position to do the bidding of their imprisoned leader while leaving enough room for plausible deniability if they were ever charged.

Though Clarke highlighted allegations of the most egregious misconduct, the case is centered on the simple difficulty of living day to day in a place where you are not wanted.

One of the primary witnesses expected to testify about such treatment is Jinjer Cooke. Her husband was raised in the FLDS faith, then left the church. When the Cookes returned to Short Creek with children, they found they were denied water, electric and sewer service.

They sued and won a $5.2-million judgment in 2014, later reduced to a $3-million payment from the insurance companies for the towns of Hildale and Colorado City. A jury decided that their complaints of discrimination held up.

The Cookes experiences will be used as evidence in the Justice Departments case. But, notably, the jury will not be told that they won their case.

nigel.duara@latimes.com

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Id never moderated a presidential debate. And it did not take long for me to recognize there was nothing I could have done to prepare for the first.

A car was burned in my yard on my farm  and Im not too happy about it, Republican hopeful Stephen Comley declared in his opening statement Tuesday night.

Comley was the first of 23 candidates to speak at a quadrennial forum at St. Anselm College for so-called lesser-known presidential hopefuls, part of a decades-old ritual in the nations first primary state where even those candidates without national name recognition are granted a chance to make their case to voters.

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For all the focus on the Donald and the Bern, on Hillary and Jeb, they are only a few of the 58 people whose names will appear on the New Hampshire primary ballot. The majority of them are like Comley, for whom the $1,000 candidacy filing fee was one of the biggest expenses of the campaign, along with the cost of coming to Manchester on a bitterly cold New Hampshire night for the debate, which gave them a chance to finally promote their platform before television cameras.

The biggest news out of the debate was that the candidate who wears a boot on his head and promises free ponies for everyone was banned. Four years ago, he stood up and glitter-bombed a fellow Democratic candidate who warned that homosexuality was a sin against nature. Vermin Supreme -- that is his legal name, now -- said God told him to make the candidate gay. The debate sponsors didnt appreciate the cleaning bill and this year told him thanks but no thanks.

One candidate vowed to bring the message of Christmas to as many people as possible. And another said he was in the race partly on the issue of dignity for white people.

What would be your follow-up question?

The event has often been labeled a fringe forum and dismissed with jokes. And to be sure, some candidates file for ballot access not for a noble purpose but for self-promotion -- such as it is, with an audience in the dozens at St. Anselm College and perhaps only hundreds watching on C-Span.

But most of the candidates who attended Tuesday were earnest participants with a desire to share their ideas on issues they feel passionate about.

Jon Adams, a Democrat from New York, says his top issue is student loans and also said hes running because he is tired of the hate-mongering, the fear-mongering and the infighting in this country. Steven Lipscomb of Santa Fe, N.M., is campaigning on behalf of what he calls a Fix It America constitutional amendment, which would seem to implement campaign finance and redistricting reform.

Republican Joe Robinson of Boston said he was running because no wealthy politician could appreciate the pain of the unemployed, underpaid middle class and says his single most important issue was to show how the Environmental Protection Agency had hurt the economy with junk science.

And then there were the lesser-knowns who argue they have a greater claim to participating in the nationally televised network debates than some of those who did. Rocky De La Fuente of San Diego has qualified for the ballot not only in New Hampshire but in 23 other states. That includes Ohio, where former two-term Maryland Gov. Martin OMalley, who has participated in all the major Democratic debates, failed to qualify.

And though they might not admit it, for some, the easy access to the New Hampshire primary is all about the experience.

The day after the debate, I was at the New Hampshire Statehouse in Concord reporting on a series of speeches to the legislature by some of the top-tier Republican candidates, and another appearance nearby by Bill Clinton on his wifes behalf. As I worked in the hallway between speeches, one of the lesser-knowns, Democrat Sam Sloan, approached me. The night before, when Id asked him what he could do to jump into the top tier of candidates, he responded by citing his experience as a chess master.

Sloan was showing his daughter around the capitol. I lost track of them after covering Bill Clintons rally. But when I saw Sloan again later, he announced with pride that they had made it inside and to the rope line after the event. Her father wont be president of the United States, but at least she shook hands with someone who was.

Memoli is a reporter in the Washington bureau.

For more campaign coverage, follow @mikememoli

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Anyone who has driven in Los Angeles knows the frustration of dealing with its broken parking meters, sparse parking spots and occasionally inane parking rules (assuming they were lucky enough to find a parking spot at all). So California Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Los Angeles) will no doubt find a lot of fans for his grandiosely named California Parking Bill of Rights.

Under Gattos reform package, cities around the state would be prohibited from ticketing motorists who park at broken meters. A 2013 state law, authored by Gatto, already covers this, but it is due to expire at the end of this year. Gattos law also bars valet-parking operators from commandeering metered parking spots, requires cities to free up parking spaces as soon as street sweeping is done (rather than having hours-long restrictions on street-sweeping days), and mandates that cities with high-tech smart meters allow the price at the meter to vary by time of day and demand for spaces.

But as reasonable as some his proposed reforms are  of course no one should be ticketed because they couldnt feed a broken meter  these rules and regulations of street parking are not issues for the state legislature. Theyre classic local issues which different cities might want to handle differently. And if problems arise, theyre best fixed by local governments. Most members of the Los Angeles City Council opposed Gattos 2013 bill restricting ticketing at broken meters, arguing he had overstepped into the realm of local lawmaking. They were right.

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Interestingly, L.A. had been ticketing at broken meters, on the dubious argument that not doing so created an incentive for motorists to break them. But the council changed that unpopular (and unreasonable) policy after the Gatto bill passed. In other words, Gatto successfully forced the citys hand.

In the last few years in Los Angeles there has been such an outcry over confusing parking regulations and increases in parking fines that Mayor Eric Garcetti created what he calls the Parking Reform Working Group, which delivered a report last year on how to reform the system. Councilman Mike Bonin incorporated a number of its suggestions into several motions that are now winding their way through council committees.

But the city needs to get moving on this. The working group was formed in June 2014 and reported back last February, yet none of its changes have been implemented to date. No wonder it seems like good politics for Gatto to declare himself the defender of drivers rights. Nevertheless, the fact remains that City Hall is the place to enact any parking reforms for city streets.

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Say youre an executive of Big Widget Inc., a manufacturing company, and the California Legislature is considering a bill that would render the widgets you make obsolete.

You hire lobbyists to make the case to legislators that your widgets are crucial to the states economy and ought to be protected. But you want to pull out all the stops because there are other well-funded interests on the other side of the proposal. So, you hire another firm to launch an online campaign called Californians For Widgets, pretending to be a coalition of regular citizens and academics worried about the loss of widget manufacturing in the state. You hire people to set up social media accounts to undermine the claims of the legislations supporters. You appeal directly to voters through advertising and mailers. Maybe you even hire a well-known former politician to tout your position.

The rule change ... would make it harder for interests to hide their lobbying activities.

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Under the current state rules, Big Widget must report the money it pays to lobby legislators directly and identify the firms it hires to do the lobbying. And it must report the total for other spending to influence  but not how it spends it. That allows Big Widget to hide its connection to the digital campaign it funded to influence lawmakers.

A proposal before the Fair Political Practices Commission Thursday would shine some light into this dark corner of the political world by requiring lobbyists, and the people and organizations that hire them, to itemize other payments of $2,500 and more. We urge the commission to adopt this rule change because, although the above scenario is hypothetical, the problem is real.

Special interests have increasingly used this catch-all category to limit disclosure of their lobbying efforts, making it near impossible for the average person to trace the nexus between them and an array of efforts to influence legislation. In 2014, nearly 70% of all lobbying money spent was reported under this category.

Western States Petroleum Assn. took advantage of this last year in the debate over a climate change bill that would have severely limited fossil fuel use in the state. In just three months, the oil industry group spent $6.7 million on lobbying  most of it in this category. The association created the California Drivers Alliance, which sounded like a grass roots group of motorists, but wasnt. We might have never known about the connection had WSPA not disclosed it on a related web site. Regardless, the campaign worked; the gasoline provision was taken out of the bill. And thats just one example. Others using this category include the California State Council of Service Employees, which reported 79% of its lobbying money in 2014 as other payments, Chevron and the California Chamber of Commerce.

The rule change wouldnt block this kind of spending, but it would make it harder for interests to hide their lobbying activities. Big Widget has the right to push its interests to lawmakers. But not to do it in secret.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
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After attending the launch ceremony of the Yasref oil refinery, China's largest investment project in Saudi Arabia, President Xi Jinping on Wednesday wrapped up his visit to the kingdom, which was lauded as "historic."

Chinese President Xi Jinping (L, front) attends the welcoming ceremony held by Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (R, front) before their talks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Jan. 19, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

Xi's two-day state visit has witnessed an upgrade of China-Saudi Arabia relations and stepped up energy cooperation between the two countries.

STEPPING UP ENERGY COOPERATION

Accompanied by Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the Chinese president attended the ceremony at the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center in Riyadh to remotely inaugurate the operation of the Yasref oil refinery, a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and China's Sinopec.

Xi said that energy cooperation between the two countries has brought tangible benefits to both peoples.

The launch of the refinery, he said, conforms to not only the Saudi national development strategy, but also China's strategy of carrying out cooperation with countries in the regions outlined in the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, a vision Xi put forward in 2013 to boost interconnectivity and common development along the ancient land and maritime Silk Roads.

As a full-conversion refinery covering 5.2 million square meters in the industrial city of Yanbu on the west coast of Saudi Arabia, Yasref plays a fundamental role in the future of Yanbu industries, the company said.

It is the first overseas refinery Sinopec has built. The two companies signed the agreement in early 2012 with a total investment of nearly 10 billion U.S. dollars. Aramco holds 62.5 percent of the stake while Sinopec holds 37.5 percent.

Energy cooperation is a key element in Xi's visit, during which the two leaders agreed to build stable long-term energy cooperation.

Meanwhile, when meeting with the head of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC), Xi said that China is willing to carry out comprehensive energy cooperation with the GCC countries and be a long-term, stable and reliable energy market for the six-member bloc.

Saudi Arabia is China's biggest foreign supplier of crude oil and biggest trading partner in West Asia. Two-way trade reached 69.1 billion dollars in 2014, growing by 230 times over that of 1990, when the two countries established diplomatic ties.

LIFTING BILATERAL TIES

Reviewing his state visit to Saudi Arabia, Xi said that he was satisfied with the fruitful outcomes, including upgrading bilateral ties and establishing a high-level steering committee for coordinating bilateral cooperation.

Xi held talks with King Salman upon his arrival on Tuesday, and the pair decided to lift bilateral ties to the comprehensive strategic partnership.

"I believe it will deepen the mutual strategic trust, lead to greater achievements in our mutually beneficial cooperation, and help facilitate and broaden our shared interests in international and regional affairs," Xi said on the upgrading of bilateral ties.

The two sides signed a memorandum of understanding on industrial capacity cooperation, agreeing to pursue cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, as well as a slew of cooperation deals covering sectors such as energy, communications, environment, culture, aerospace, and science and technology.

China and the GCC also announced that they are committed to working closely to conclude a comprehensive free trade agreement (FTA) within 2016.

During Xi's talks with King Salman, the two leaders welcomed the restart of the China-GCC FTA talks, saying they were "delighted" to see the substantive progress that has been made.

China and the GCC, which includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, began their FTA talks in July 2004, and the process was suspended in 2009.

The two countries also, in a joint statement, made clear their common stances on such regional affairs as Palestine, Syria, Yemen, counterterrorism and the building of a nuclear weapons-free Middle East.

This is the first state visit by a Chinese president to Saudi Arabia in seven years. After leaving Saudi Arabia, Xi Jinping arrived in Cairo on Wednesday for a state visit to Egypt, the second leg of his three-nation Middle East tour which will also take him to Iran.

Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation.
The contentious debate over whether President Obama has the authority to defer the deportation of millions of people living in the country illegally, and then to grant some of them temporary permission to work, will finally get the hearing it deserves before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Last year, a district court judge in Texas issued an injunction halting the presidents Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents program as well as his expansion of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, in response to a legal challenge by 26 states. Those initiatives would make more than 4 million people brought here as children, or whose children are in the country legally, eligible for three-year renewable reprieves. Now the high court says it will determine whether the injunction halting them was proper.

The lower court rulings struck us at the time as more about politics than jurisprudence. Federal laws and court precedent clearly grant the administration broad leeway to use prosecutorial discretion in enforcing immigration codes  see the Erwin Chemerinsky piece on the op-ed page for the legal argument in favor of the presidents executive actions. The federal Immigration and Nationalization Act also allows the government to authorize work permits for people who are given permission to remain in the country, a practical as well as humanitarian recognition that it makes little sense to consign people to joblessness or illegal work once they have been allowed to stay.

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We are heartened that the justices said they would look specifically at the question of whether the presidents actions violate the constitutional admonition that the president must take care that the laws be faithfully executed. In our view, that is just what he is doing in prioritizing targets for deportation.

Not only is the president on sound legal ground, but he is adopting cogent public policy that shouldnt be hamstrung by politically motivated court challenges. The battle over immigration reform is a political fight that would ideally be resolved through legislation, but it has been left to dangle because of Congress repeated failure to address it. There are solutions to the problem, but it sometimes seems that GOP leaders would rather leave the issues unaddressed and keep immigration out there as an evergreen topic to fire up conservative voters.

Oral arguments in the case are expected in April, which could lead to a decision by the end of June  just in time for the final stretch of the 2016 election cycle. The court should act quickly to blow away the smoke and affirm the presidents authority. And voters should blow away a little smoke themselves. If they want this problem fixed, they need to elect people who will address it in a serious and humane manner.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
No government prosecutes every single person who breaks the law. Limited resources make that impossible. District attorneys do not routinely take people to court for possessing small amounts of marijuana; police departments do not generally ticket drivers who speed one mile above the limit.

Is immigration enforcement any different? Does the federal government have to crack down on violations uniformly, without exception?

That, essentially, is the question before the Supreme Court, which agreed Tuesday to review the legality of President Obamas executive actions on immigration. Unless the court discovers some as-yet-unknown constitutional principle establishing that immigration law is unlike all other laws, this should be an easy one.

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Its simply impossible to kick out 11 million people, and its not desirable to separate parents from their citizen children.

About 11 million people live in the United States illegally. Each year, the federal government deports about 400,000 such individuals. In 2014, Obama sought to focus the governments deportation efforts on those who may actually pose a threat to society.

He issued an executive order stating that the government would not target individuals whose children are U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents, who have been in the United States at least since January 2010, and who do not have criminal records. The point was to avoid breaking up families and allow about 4 million people to live without fear of sudden expulsion.

Immigration authorities, Obama said at the time, will go after felons, not families. Criminals, not children. Gang members, not a mom whos working hard to provide for her kids.

As Obamas legal advisors know well, the president cannot bestow citizenship without statutory authority. What a president certainly can do, as Obama said, is prioritize, just like law enforcement does every day. As recently as 2012, the Supreme Court reaffirmed this principle.

In United States vs. Arizona, the court declared unconstitutional provisions of Arizonas controversial immigration law SB 1070, which allowed the state to detain immigrants who are in the country illegally. The court stressed that only the executive branch of the federal government may decide whether to detain or deport someone who is not lawfully present in the United States. On numerous other occasions, the Supreme Court and lower federal courts have recognized broad prosecutorial discretion to decide when to bring immigration enforcement actions.

Nor has any administration, Republican or Democrat, sought to deport every person who is illegally in the United States. For humanitarian reasons or because of foreign policy considerations or for lack of resources, the government often chooses to not deport undocumented immigrants.

Obamas action is based on exactly such concerns. It is simply impossible to kick out 11 million people, and it is not desirable to separate parents from their citizen children. Children without parents are much more likely to end up in foster care or on the streets or worse.

In 1986, President Reagan and Congress gave legal status to roughly 3 million undocumented immigrants. A year later, Reagan announced that minor children of parents granted amnesty were not subject to deportation. He did this without authorization from Congress.

In 1990, President George H.W. Bush promoted a family fairness policy that allowed an additional 1.5 million people, roughly 40% of those in the country illegally, to stay. Again, he did this without authorization from Congress. (Today, 40% of the undocumented population amounts to 4 million people, or the number Obama protected from deportation.)

The easiest option for the Supreme Court is to rule in favor of the Obama administration by dismissing the case on jurisdictional grounds. A party can sue in federal court only if it demonstrates that it has been injured. But Texas and the 25 other states that brought the lawsuit have a very flimsy argument there  the administrative costs associated with issuing drivers licenses to newly eligible immigrants. Thats just silly; the states could choose not to issue drivers licenses  thats not an explicit requirement  or they could choose to charge fees to defray the expense.

Everything about immigration policy is deeply divisive, even  apparently  the choice to let parents remain with their children. The issue before the Supreme Court, however, is not whether Obamas actions are wise or beneficial, but whether they are legal. And the answer to that is clear and long settled.

Erwin Chemerinsky is dean of the UC Irvine School of Law.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook.

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The poisoning of the people of Flint, Mich., is a failure of government at its worst, and the finger-pointing will turn into a blood sport. There already are calls for the states governor, former Gateway Computers executive and venture capitalist Rick Snyder, to resign, and some are urging criminal investigations into the motives and knowledge of those who let Flint residents, including young children at elevated risk, drink lead-contaminated water.

There is plenty of blame to go around (theres a good overview here). Snyder on Wednesday released emails connected with the crisis, and they reveal state officials utter disregard for the problems evolving in Flint. And once it was apparent the issue wasnt going to trickle away, they began calculating the political implications. One thing the emails make clear: The state governments abject failure to confront a clear crisis in a responsible, effective way.

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So why was this the state of Michigans responsibility and not that of the elected leaders of the city of Flint? Because Snyder had trumped local decision-making by installing an emergency manager under a controversial state law that allows the governor to usurp democracy. And like many issues of inequity in Michigan and nationwide, theres a racial component -- its been invoked primarily in the states poorest and blackest cities.

The undermining of democracy began in 2011, when the Michigan Legislature adopted Public Law 4 to grant the governor the power to declare a financial crisis in local governments and appoint an emergency manager to make all financial decisions -- which are the underpinnings of everything a city does. Once the manager was appointed, the elected representatives -- council members and mayors -- lost pretty much all authority to make any decisions at all. And it empowered the manager to void contracts, including those with labor unions.

Democracy didnt fail - it was stolen.

Michiganders, not surprisingly, were aghast and killed the law through a 2012 ballot initiative. The legislatures response? It passed an even more draconian version of the law and embedded a budget appropriation in it, which under Michigan law meant it could not be overturned by referendum. So the elected representatives went directly against the expressed will of the people of the state of Michigan.

And it was the emergency manager appointed under that new law in 2013, Ed Kurtz, who made the bad call in Flint that was implemented by his successor, Darnell Earley, that led to the lead poisoning of its water supply (the issue was brought to light by Curt Guyette, an investigative journalist working for the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan).

Cause and effect between the emergency manager law and the Flint crisis? Not necessarily. But among the warning signs that all was not right with Flints water were complaints by residents that it tasted funny and was causing problems. Those kinds of complaints usually end up on a mayors desk, or in public comment sessions at city council meetings, where the people who make the decisions are accountable to those who are lodging the complaints.

In Flint, the decision-maker was accountable not to the people of Flint, but to the governor who appointed him (the city remains under a state oversight board, though Snyder says he wants to return more control to the mayor).

So where is Earley, now? Snyder placed him in charge of the Detroit Public Schools, where teachers have resorted to sickouts to draw attention to the appalling physical condition of buildings and classrooms, including mold infestations, vermin, broken or inadequate heating systems and other basic maintenance problems that have been ignored. Low pay and limited raises, plus more looming state-directed reforms, have led to resignations, early retirements and a teacher shortage.

As in Flint, under the emergency manager system theres no one to be held politically accountable. Democracy didnt fail -- it was stolen.

Follow Scott Martelle on Twitter @smartelle.

Update, 4:17 a.m., Jan. 24: This post has been updated to expand and clarify the line of decision-making by the appointed emergency managers, and to add that the governor wants to return more control to the mayor.

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To the editor: I empathize with Porter Ranch residents over the nearby methane leak, but I am mystified by the lack of visuals.

During the BP oil spill, the media were full of compelling photos of dead and oil-soaked animals and beaches as well as other dreadful visuals. Yet, in the Porter Ranch articles, we read about human and animal nosebleeds, dead and dying backyard birds and a variety of other ills, but the accompanying images typically show residents in meetings or are aerial views of houses. (Porter Ranch gas leak is affecting animals too, pet owners fear, Jan. 18)

Everyone has a cellphone, so where are the compelling pictures? A woman said her horse had a nosebleed. Did she take a photo?

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I have spent 35 years doing crisis management, so I know that in lawsuits, if there are no photos, it didnt happen.

Susan M. Tellem, Malibu

..

To the editor: Thanks to The Times for writing about the frustration with our political leaders that many of us who live near the leak feel. (As Porter Ranch gas leak lingers, candidates smell a political opportunity, Jan. 18)

I left the meeting in West Hills on Friday that featured several local leaders frustrated and fed up. It was more of the same lip service from the usual politicians. They were passing the buck and clamoring for photo opportunities and sound bites. It was an obvious attempt to collect votes for the upcoming election.

They claimed to desire accountability from the eight government oversight agencies whose representatives were sitting on the panel, but their rhetoric is useless to our community unless it is backed up by action. The only action that will be sufficient for our community: Shut down the well completely.

Closing the Aliso Canyon gas storage facility is the only way to keep our community safe.

Jennifer Milbauer, Chatsworth

..

To the editor: In 1996, Erin Brockovichs law firm famously sued Pacific Gas and Electric and won a $333 million settlement for alleged carcinogenic chromium 6 water pollution in Hinkley, Calif. In 2010, a study showed that the incidence of cancer in Hinkley was actually lower than expected.

In 2003, Brockovich brought suits alleging that the oil rig near Beverly Hills High School was causing cancer among the students. In 2006, the suits were dismissed in part because the allegedly high carcinogen levels were in fact normal.

Now in 2016, Brockovich is rounding up plaintiffs in Porter Ranch to sue the Southern California Gas Co. (Erin Brockovich appeals to Porter Ranch residents as law firms push gas leak suits, Jan. 19)

After visiting the area, she said she felt kind of dizzy and a doctor told her she had what they called a chemically induced kind of bronchitis. She would not provide any documentation to support these claims.

Ultimately lawyers will make money here, and utility customers will be footing the bill and paying higher rates. Whether or not anyone is actually injured will be lost in the shuffle.

Thomas Einstein, Santa Monica

..

To the editor: I live in Chatsworth and Im getting a daily bombardment of solicitations from attorneys regarding the gas leak. I have two questions.

First, I would love to know how much the attorneys stand to make on this litigation.

Second, what is the actual degree of toxicity in the air currently as compared to the times in my own house when my wife is painting her toenails and using her hair spray?

Carl Arrechea, Chatsworth

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
The number of immigrants living in the U.S. illegally is at its lowest in more than a decade and, for the first time in years, has probably dropped below 11 million.

A new study by the Center for Migration Studies estimates that 10.9 million immigrants are living in the country without authorization. That is the lowest level since 2003 and the first time the number has dipped below 11 million since 2004.

The decline, which has been documented by previous studies as well, runs counter to the widespread image on the Republican presidential campaign trail of a rise in illegal immigration.

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GOP front-runner Donald Trump has said illegal immigration rates are beyond belief and has claimed that immigrants bringing crime and disease are just pouring across the border. Trump has pledged mass deportations and a giant border wall, while criticizing as weak his more moderate rivals, including Jeb Bush, who has proposed giving immigrants already in the country a path to legal status.

According to the report, written by a prominent former government demographics expert, illegal immigration has dropped steadily since 2008, driven in part by a large number of immigrants from Mexico returning home.

Since 2010, the number of Mexicans living in the U.S. illegally declined by about 612,000, or 9%, the report says.

The population of such Mexicans in California shrunk by about 250,000 from 2010 to 2014, the study found. The states total population of immigrants here illegally fell by 318,000 during that time.

See the most-read stories this hour >>

Although the study found declines in the number of such immigrants from South America, the Caribbean and Europe, it reported an increase in the number of immigrants crossing illegally from Central America, which has been gripped with rising violence in recent years.

Manuel Pastor, a sociology professor at USC, said the decline in the numbers of immigrants living in the country illegally can be linked to a decline in the U.S. economy and other factors. For example, lower birthrates in Mexico mean there is less competition for jobs there and less pressure to head north to find work.

Pastor said Trumps heated rhetoric about the growing threat of illegal immigration is detached from reality and partly the product of a presidential primary system in which Republican candidates must appeal to their partys most conservative -- and mostly white -- voters.

Pastor cited growing demographic anxieties among white Americans about the countrys rapidly changing racial and ethnic makeup, and said Trumps anti-immigrant rhetoric plays into that.

This is a very racialized debate, he said.

For more immigration news, follow me on Twitter: @katelinthicum

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Good morning from the state capital. Im Sacramento bureau chief John Myers, your Essential Politics host this week while Christina Bellantoni is away.

There was a time in the state Capitol when the annual State of the State speech was a big event. Sweeping policy proposals, intense media coverage, formal responses from leaders of the Legislature. In short, an address that was the California political equivalent of the State of the Union.

Notice the past tense in that previous paragraph. The times, it seems, have changed.

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Even so, Gov. Jerry Browns State of the State that he will deliver this morning at 10 a.m. is still an important moment to take stock of the governors agenda and the trajectory of the Golden State in the year to come. And few believe he will miss an opportunity to talk about his favorite topics, the states finances and his efforts on combating climate change.

We will have full coverage, starting on our new Essential Politics news feed and going from there to additional stories, text of Browns speech and more. Though most observers think the governor will offer a subdued approach, dont forget: This is the guy who handed out playing cards with his corgi on them a couple of years ago. Brown thrives on a little bit of unpredictability.

By the way, our headline this morning is a nod to the fact that in days gone by the State of the State was an evening affair, timed to be picked up live on television newscasts across California. No longer. It was former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger who nixed that tradition during the depths of the recession crisis in 2009.

TOBACCO TAX: SIGS FOR CIGS IN 2016

The next few weeks are going to be some of the most interesting when it comes to the size of Novembers statewide ballot. The conventional wisdom is that it will be a blockbuster ballot when it comes to statewide propositions, the longest in more than a decade.

And its all but certain to be a ballot that includes another effort to boost the states tobacco tax. On Wednesday, billionaire activist Tom Steyer and healthcare groups launched their drive to gather voter signatures for a $2 a pack increase in taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products.

The last time a tobacco tax was on the ballot, 2012s Proposition 29, tobacco companies spent some $47 million and eked out a narrow victory in killing the measure.

Meantime, backers of a measure to increase Californias minimum wage are finished gathering signatures on their proposal and are turning in those petitions to elections officials in the states 58 counties.

More propositions are coming, as the fall season looks to be one replete with hundreds of TV commercials and even more political mail filling mailboxes from Yreka to Calexico.

BIG DROP IN ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

The race for the Republican presidential nomination has time and again come back to the issue of illegal immigration, but new data suggests the debate has left out some key context.

Kate Linthicum reports on a new study that finds the population of those in the country without legal status has dropped below 11 million for the first time since 2004. And the decline in illegal immigration is being attributed to immigrants from Mexico returning home.

DEMOCRATS FOR THE DONALD? NOT LIKELY, SAYS POLL

One of the more fascinating narratives in political circles has been that Republican front-runner Donald Trump might attract some notable crossover votes from Democrats in the general election this fall. Or, in a similar vein, that he might push some GOP voters to hold their nose and vote Democratic.

A new poll, writes David Lauter, suggests thats more political junkie fantasy than anything else.

Among people who identify with Democrats, almost two-thirds say Trump would be a terrible president. By contrast, 56% of those who identify with Republicans say Trump would be good or great in the White House.

So cross that one off your once-in-a-lifetime narratives.

TODAYS ESSENTIALS

 House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) spent the last few days in Tanzania, where he met with Tanzanian officials, and toured aid organizations and hospitals.

 Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Menlo Park) and Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) sent a letter Wednesday asking the Federal Communications Commission to exercise its authority under existing law and require more complete disclosure of who sponsors political ads. The FCC defines the organization that claims editorial control over the ad to be the true sponsor of an ad, which Eshoo and Yarmuth say is insufficient with the rise of opaquely named super PACs. Thirty five of Californias 53-member House delegation joined more than 160 congressional colleagues in signing the letter.

 Phil Willon caught up with U.S. Senate candidates in their appearance Wednesday at a Latino voter forum in Sacramento. Two of the GOP candidates, Assemblyman Rocky Chavez (R-Oceanside) and former state party chair Duf Sundheim both sounded different notes than their national GOP colleagues on the issue of illegal immigration.

LOGISTICS

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Please send thoughts, concerns and news tips to politics@latimes.com.
In a short speech with a long view of California, Gov. Jerry Brown used his State of the State address to challenge lawmakers to better balance the cyclical nature of success and setback that has dominated state government for the better part of two decades.

The challenge is to solve todays problems without making those of tomorrow even worse, the governor said in his annual speech delivered from the Assembly chamber Thursday.

Brown, interrupted by occasional applause from legislators, touched on themes that included Californias drought and the challenges of income inequality and terrorism.

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But he purposely stopped short of proposing new state government projects, leaving the impression he was more interested in raising awareness than sparking action.

You are not going to hear me talk today about new programs, the governor said. Rather, I am going to focus on how we pay for the commitments we have already made.

That focus included not only long-term items like pensions for public employees, but also the more recent expansion of healthcare for low-income families through the Medi-Cal program and for others through the Covered California healthcare exchange.

Brown boasted that the state had wholeheartedly embraced President Obamas Affordable Care Act. This is an historic achievement, he said to applause from Democrats in the Assembly and Senate.

The speech came two weeks after Brown sent a $170.7-billion budget to the Legislature for the fiscal year that begins in July.

That spending plan acknowledges another year of better-than-forecast tax revenue  of $5.9 billion more than lawmakers had assumed last summer. The governor has asked legislators to put an extra payment of $2 billion into reserves or debt repayment rather than commit it to new programs or an expansion of existing ones.

If we are to minimize the zigzag of spend-cut-spend that this tax system inevitably produces, Brown said, we must build a very large reserve.

Whether the governor can convince more liberal Democrats in the Legislature of that path forward remains unclear.

Brown takes most of the discretionary revenues off the table, rather than investing them in critical, critical services that will help create a shared prosperity, state Sen. Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles) said.

Perhaps anticipating such criticism, the governor used his speech to tout several efforts that he said would lessen the impact of income inequality  including the new statewide minimum wage of $10 an hour and a tax credit for the working poor.

 In a short speech with a long view of California, Gov. Jerry Brown used his State of the State address to challenge lawmakers to better balance the cyclical nature of success and setback that has dominated state government for the better part of two

In the face of this growing inequality, California has not been passive, he said, arguing that the roots of the problem reach far beyond the states borders.

Even so, some Democratic lawmakers criticized Brown for not speaking to the needs of Californians like low-income seniors and those who are developmentally disabled. And others said a glaring omission was what to do about residents who increasingly are priced out of owning a home.

Weve got a housing crisis in California, and there wasnt a word about housing, state Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) said.

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Brown veered from his broad rhetoric at two specific points in his speech to urge an end to the legislative logjam over new revenues for healthcare funding and transportation  a situation created in part because his tax and fee proposals require a super-majority vote in both houses of the Legislature.

Democrats and Republicans should simply bite the bullet and agree to the new revenues, he said.

But Assembly GOP Leader Chad Mayes of Yucca Valley called it a fundamentally flawed premise to assume that new taxes were a prerequisite on either issue.

We want a seat at the table, Mayes said of negotiations over revamping an existing $1-billion tax on health insurance companies. Were going to continue to have those conversations with the administration and with Democrats in the Legislature, but the details matter.

Finding consensus on issues that extend beyond the immediate politics also remains tough in Sacramento.

The governor only briefly referred to his controversial plan to build underground tunnels to transport water around the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, and was silent on the funding troubles and political opposition facing the states high-speed rail project.

Gov. Jerry Brown delivers his State of the State address before a joint session of the California Legislature in Sacramento on Thursday. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

The lack of new proposals in the State of the State address  in contrast to grand pronouncements offered by Browns immediate predecessors  may align with the general principles of legislative leaders, who for the most part stand with the Brown administrations governing philosophy.

Theres a lot of work before us, Senate leader Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) said. It doesnt have to be driven by big policy pronouncements.

The governor seemed to acknowledge that there was plenty to keep lawmakers occupied through the end of his term in 2018 in a joke he made in the early moments of Thursdays speech.

Three more years to go, Brown said. That is, unless I take my surplus campaign funds and put a ballot initiative on the November ballot to allow four-term governors to seek a final, fifth term!

john.myers@latimes.com

Times staff writers Melanie Mason and Christine Mai-Duc contributed to this report

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Complete coverage of Gov. Jerry Browns State of the State
There was a time in the state capital when a governors advisors would labor to extend the media shelf life of a State of the State speech: issuing early excerpts full of sweeping policy ideas, creating an event that would set the tone for the year to come.

By contrast, all signs suggest Gov. Jerry Browns comments from the dais of the Assembly chambers Thursday will last slightly longer than a mid-morning coffee break at work.

Hes not really trying to market this across California, said Bill Whalen, a fellow at Stanford Universitys Hoover Institution who served as a speechwriter for former Gov. Pete Wilson.

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If recent history is any guide, Brown will deliver a no-frills State of the State thats long on general optimism but short on new ideas.

Unlike governors who brought in teleprompters to scroll through a speech replete with big policy demands, Brown generally has delivered personally written remarks with barely a glance up from his paper copy.

Jerry Brown has been very bad for the speechwriting industry and the teleprompter industry, Whalen said, joking.

The 10 a.m. speech comes at the outset of the governors sixth year in office since returning to Sacramento in 2011. And he will deliver it on the heels of a new state budget that shows a $5.9-billion growth in revenue estimates since just last summer -- the fourth consecutive year of an unexpected trend upward.

Few believe Brown will skip the opportunity, however, to preach continued fiscal prudence after years of multibillion-dollar shortfalls.

Arriving to deliver his 2014 address, the governor handed out playing cards with a small budget chart on them and the famous quote attributed to philosopher George Santayana: Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

That speech clocked in at 17 minutes. Few from Brown have gone much longer -- even his 2015 State of the State address, which was combined with his inaugural for an unprecedented fourth term.

This mornings speech no doubt faces expectations of addressing some of Californias biggest problems, including the persistent drought and the gap between the states richest and poorest residents.

Some also expect the governor to comment on climate change and Californias international reputation as a leader on policies to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

Those are familiar topics, not bold new policy proposals. In part, the downsizing of the speech may be due to Browns singular dominance under the state Capitol dome.

He has control over this Legislature, Whalen said. More than legislators would like to admit.

john.myers@latimes.com

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Brad Neal had been to Italy many times but never quite saw it the way he did last summer.

Neal joined about 30 faculty members and fellow students from Laguna College of Art + Design on a visit to the country last summer for an art education trip.

Ive never gone with an art focus, said the 69-year-old Laguna Beach resident, who retired in 2014 after working as an architect for 40 years and studies in LCADs fine-art post-baccalaureate program. I was either on business or I didnt really have any time to do anything but eat and take a couple pictures.

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I spent much more time looking at art museums on this trip, and I saw things that I never really looked at too carefully before, which was great. It made a big difference of how I looked at the country and what I took home with me.

On the three-week trip, which took the group to Rome, Venice, Florence and Ravenna, the students were required to sketch ideas in a notebook and encouraged to take photographs as they visited landmarks.

Museums, churches and historical sites like the Pantheon, Colosseum of Rome, Roman Forum, Sistine Chapel, Villa Borghese, and Medici Chapels at the Basilica of San Lorenzo were all on the groups itinerary. Their trip took place from late-May to mid-June.

The artists then transferred the sketchbook ideas into larger-scale paintings, photographs and drawings, which are being shown in an art show called the Splendor of Italy, at the LCAD Gallery through Feb. 20.

Since 1996, LCAD fine-arts professor Betty Shelton has taken about 400 students on trips to Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Holland and Belgium. She is planning a France trip for her students this summer.

She said the excursions give her students a different perspective on the art they are studying.

I think it definitely expands their world-view, said Shelton, who has been teaching at the college since 1995 and also serves as the schools post-baccalaureate chair. They see art that theyve only looked at digitally or in books, and suddenly theyre standing in front of a real Bernini statue. As artists, it totally opens their eyes.

Sam Mazzarella, a sophomore graphic-design student, said the trip was his first time abroad.

It was amazing, said Mazzarella, who has digital photography of water landmarks, including the Grand Canal and Santa Maria della Salute, printed on aluminum in the show. I had my camera with me the entire time and took thousands of photos. As a student, I had never taken any art history courses, so getting to go see everything that I would be learning in the next year was just so amazing.

Kellen Pocock, a 26-year-old LCAD senior majoring in illustration, whose contributions to the show are Italian architecture-inspired digital illustrations printed on aluminum, said going to Italy was his first experience out of the country.

He said visiting iconic buildings like St. Peters Basilica and Uffizi Gallery was like seeing the pictures in his art history textbook come to life.

Ive never been in a place where something was stone and just thousands of years old, Pocock said. Going into St. Peters Basilica, Ive never been anywhere that beautiful before. It was very artistically inspiring.

Theres no comparable feeling to standing in a building that has been there for 2,000 years. Theres nothing like that here in America. That was just a beautiful feeling, and at the same time, it was like touching time itself.

The LCAD Gallery is at 374 Ocean Ave. in Laguna Beach. It is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays. It is closed Mondays and Tuesdays. An artists reception will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. Feb. 4. Admission is free.
Zephyrus, the god of the west wind, was blowing from the direction of Texas Pass. He was the gentlest wind, telling us that spring was bringing life to the mountains.

On a June night in the Wind River Range of Wyoming, Zephyrus fed the campfire, which breathed and heaved. The moans and groans of the combustion between heat, fuel and oxygen induced a spell over those who gathered to keep warm. Exploding sparks trickled upward, casting shadows on faces wondering what the next day would bring. What was on the west side of the pass? The question was our attempt to fill the void. The next day wed see for ourselves. Life is never that simple.

We were camping in a circle surrounded by 12,000-foot peaks. It was the summer of 1977. I was telling stories about Lewis and Clark, mountain men, Native American mythology, cowboys and how to survive off the land. It was my first wilderness class and the third night of an 18-day trek. I was doing what I do best, telling stories to students around a campfire and, as Thoreau put it, Sucking up the marrow of life.

Storytellers were the first poets, and ancient cultures insisted only poets could be teachers. I wished to be a storyteller. I wanted to tell stories about adventures, or of people achieving wondrous things, or tales of miracles and monsters. Some stories have outlasted all the people who told them, and some of them have outlasted the lands in which they were created.

I opened an imaginary book and began to tell the story of Hugh Glass. I was a student of the history of westward expansion and studied Lewis and Clark to the end of the fur trade, circa 1840.

Because of my experiences, I feel a connection to Leonardo DiCaprios role of Hugh Glass in the movie The Revenant, which has been nominated for 12 Academy Awards. A revenant is a ghost-like being who returns from the dead to terrorize the living. Folklore depicts revenants as returning for a specific purpose: to enact revenge against their killers.

The Revenant has been out since Christmas. Ive seen it three times. The acting of DiCaprio, Tom Hardy as Fitzgerald, and Domhnall Gleeson as Major Ashley are ethereal. The movie depicts an era few of us understand. The Ashley-Henry brigade epitomizes the Rocky Mountain fur trapper. The hard, detailed reality of the everyday heroism of the incredible skill that kept them alive is too vast and towering for our comprehension. It wasnt until the French and Indian War that Europeans fully comprehended the brutality of the North American wilderness.

The movie is historic fiction but the writers poetic license brings magic to the screen. What we know of the story is from the recollections of Bridger, Ashley and Glass. See the movie; you will be mesmerized. The world is made up of stories, and this one is especially compelling. If you dont know history, then you dont know anything. Youre just a leaf that doesnt know its part of a tree.

Ive led wilderness expeditions for 39 years and before that a platoon of Marines. I have learned to appreciate the dynamics of people working together. The Revenant touches on many nuances of life. One in particular is the importance of character and how a lack of character destroys the basic fabric of a covenant. When you see the movie, pay attention to Fitzgerald, and youll understand that what ties the basic fabric of humankind is character.

Hugh Glass became a grizzled legend to the men he shared campfires with. He stared death down four times in one year. He showed incredible skill, endurance and courage. With those, he survived in fact as well as in legend.

--

JOE PUGLIA is a practicing counselor, a retired professor of education and a former officer in the Marines. Reach him at doctorjoe@ymail.com. Visit his website at doctorjoe.us.
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U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Wednesday defended U.S. President Barack Obama's executive actions on gun control as legal amid Republicans' fierce opposition.

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks during his meeting with Attorney General Loretta Lynch (L) and other top law enforcement officials to discuss what executive actions he can take to curb gun violence in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington January 4, 2016. [File photo/Xinhua]

"I have complete confidence that the common sense steps announced by the President are lawful," Lynch said here during her congressional hearing at the Senate Appropriations Committee panel that oversees the Justice Department.

"They are consistent with the Constitution as interpreted by the Supreme Court and the laws passed by Congress," she said.

Lynch's support for the White House came two weeks after an emotional Obama outlined new steps to curb gun violence in the country.

Those new measures are seen by many as the final-year push by Obama to fix flawed gun control policies of the country. They include expanded mandatory background checks, a new effort to clarify who should be licensed as a gun dealer, and the creation of an exemption mechanism which would allow mental health professionals to report patients who could potentially pose a threat.

Also, Lynch told U.S. lawmakers that Obama's 2017 budget would seek 80 million U.S. dollars for his gun control measures.

Obama's latest effort to curb gun violence had been met with fierce opposition from Republicans.

Speaking at Wednesday's congressional hearing, Senator Richard Shelby, chairman of the panel, said that Obama had infringed on the constitutional right of Americans to own guns and again overreached his executive branch powers.

"It's clear to me that the American people are fearful that President Obama is eager to strip them of their Second Amendment rights," Shelby said.

In the face of Republicans' condemnation, Lynch on Wednesday argued that the newest executive actions were "consistent with the Constitution."

"The actions that President Obama has described are well-reasoned measures, well within existing legal authorities, built on work that's already underway," Lynch said.

During his presidency, Obama has been confronted with more than a dozen of high-profile mass shootings, and in an interview last year, he called the failure to reform U.S. gun laws "one of the greatest frustrations" of his presidency.

"If you ask me where has been the one area where I feel that I've been most frustrated and most stymied, it is the fact that the United States of America is the one advanced nation on Earth in which we do not have sufficient common-sense gun safety laws, even in the face of repeated mass killings," Obama told BBC in an interview in July.
One day last week, Rohith Vemula was protesting his suspension from Hyderabad Center University in southern India.

The next day, the 26-year-old PhD student hanged himself, leaving behind a suicide note that read, My birth is my fatal accident.

Vemulas death Sunday has sparked an outcry and renewed a nationwide debate over the treatment of Dalits, the lowliest members of Indias ancient, stratified caste system, at the countrys institutions of higher education.

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Vemula and other Dalit student activists at the publicly funded university had clashed for months with a rival group, the student wing of Indias conservative Hindu governing party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP.

The Dalit students had held events promoting social liberalism and opposing the death penalty for a convicted terrorist. Word reached some BJP government officials, one of whom complained to the federal education ministry that the campus had turned into a den of casteist, extremist and anti-national politics.

In September, following the letter, administrators suspended Vemula and four other Dalit students. Last month, after the suspension was upheld, the students were kicked out of their dormitory and launched a hunger strike. Vemula wrote to the university vice chancellor, asking to be reinstated, but in vain.

Rohith and four other scholars were sleeping and bathing in the open, like outcasts, said Kolagani Ashok Kumar, Vemulas roommate. The university on Thursday canceled the suspensions of the other four students.

Although caste lines are slowly fading in modern India, Dalits  who were once so looked down upon they were known as untouchables  say they continue to face discrimination and abuse at Indian universities.

A survey of first-year students at the Mumbai campus of the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology in 2014 found that 56% felt discriminated against in some manner. While official statistics are not kept, students say at least 20 Dalit students at top-flight universities have committed suicide over the past decade, often following complaints of mistreatment.

At the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai, where 300 students boycotted classes following Vemulas death, student Yashwant Zagade, who is of a lower caste, said he and others are looked down upon and verbally hazed by classmates.

Even teachers taunt us, he said.

Most Dalit students come from poor families with little educational background, many having been taught in vernacular languages. A complex quota system has dramatically improved the chances of the best students to gain enrollment in universities, although they often struggle in English-language classes.

There is no effort to make them feel comfortable in our educational institutions, Zagade said. When Dalit activists demand their rights, they are branded as subversive, he said.

Indian universities tend to be bastions of the establishment, with public institutions often falling under the sway of political appointees. Last year, students at the countrys most venerable cinema school held a months-long strike to protest the selection of right-wingers with dubious filmmaking credentials to head the schools governing body.

Friends of Vemula, a second-year PhD student in life sciences, said that last July, following complaints over his activism by the BJP-aligned student group, the university stopped paying his monthly stipend of roughly $400, his main source of income. The school blamed administrative delays.

The clash escalated following the letter by a BJP government minister, Bandaru Dattatraya, who objected in particular to Vemulas stand against the hanging of Yakub Memon, who was convicted in a series of deadly bomb blasts in Mumbai in 1993.

Education Minister Smriti Irani said this week that Vemulas death was not a caste issue. But opponents have questioned why BJP leaders had gotten involved in student politics at a relatively obscure university.

After administrators opened an inquiry against Vemula and four other Dalit student activists for allegedly assaulting a member of the BJP student wing in August, senior government officials in New Delhi made multiple inquiries over months to demand the university punish them, according to media reports.

Kancha Ilaiah, an author and Dalit activist, said caste-based discrimination persists because many upper-caste Indians cannot accept a Dalit as a scholar. He added that the system of political leaders appointing university administrators makes it less likely that student complaints are given a proper hearing.

How can the vice chancellor work autonomously when the ruling party has made him in charge of the university? Ilaiah said.

In the dorm room where Vemula hanged himself, police found a long, lofty and sometimes confusing suicide note that hinted at deep psychological torment.

I am not hurt at this moment, the note read. I am not sad. I am just empty. Unconcerned about myself. Thats pathetic. And thats why I am doing this.

Parth M.N. is a special correspondent. Times staff writer Bengali reported from Chittagong, Bangladesh.

Follow @SBengali on Twitter for more news from South Asia
For 10 years, she has carried on a crusade for justice, determined to see the Russian government held responsible for the agonizing death of her husband, former spy Alexander Litvinenko.

On Thursday, Marina Litvinenko choked back tears after hearing a British judge rule that Russian President Vladimir Putin probably approved a scheme to poison her husband with radioactive polonium-210, which was slipped into his green tea during a meeting in London with two Russian agents.

Sir Robert Owen issued his 300-page report after hearing from 62 witnesses over six months and reviewing secret intelligence reports about Alexander Litvinenkos interactions with British intelligence.

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The report offers several possible motives for the killing, including Litvinenkos open criticism of Russias security agency, the FSB; his work for Britain and his close ties to leading Putin opponents such as Boris Berezovsky.

Litvinenko sought asylum in Britain in 2000 and proceeded to make a series of very personal attacks on Putin as well as damning accusations against the Russian government and the FSB.

Among them, he accused Putin in 2006 of pedophilia, allegations that the Kremlin strenuously denies. His poisoning occurred later that year. He was 43 when he died.

There was undoubtedly a personal dimension to the antagonism between Mr. Litvinenko on the one hand and President Putin on the other, Owens report says.

As he lay dying, Litvinenko had blamed Putin for his poisoning. You may succeed in silencing one man, but the howl of protest from around the world will reverberate, Mr. Putin, in your ears for the rest of your life, he had said.

Speaking outside the High Court in London on Thursday, his widow said she was very pleased that the words my husband spoke on his deathbed when he accused Mr. Putin of his murder have been proved true in an English court with a high standard of independence and fairness.

She called on British Prime Minister David Cameron to impose economic sanctions and travel bans on the Russian leader.

It is unthinkable that the prime minister would do nothing in the face of the damning findings of Sir Robert Owen, she added.

Speaking later at a news conference, she appeared tearful as she gave thanks to her legal team, the police, prosecutors and her son, Anatoly.

My son was only 12 when his father died and it was not easy for him to step forward and start to talk to the press, she said.

She added that she was aware of the pressure she was putting on the prime minister and his government by asking them to impose sanctions on Putin and others who were implicated in her husbands death.

Of course we do understand what we are asking from David Cameron, she said, adding that the easiest option would be to just ignore what Putin had done already.

Anatoly Litvinenko spoke briefly to say that life had been pretty difficult since his fathers death.

I mean, its the only life I live and sure, it hasnt been easy but  I cant compare it with anyone elses life, he said.

Alexander Litvinenko is believed to have been given tea laced with the poison during a meeting with Russian agents Andrei Lugovoy and Dmitry Kovtun at the Millennium Hotel in central London.

The report says there was a strong likelihood they were acting on behalf of the FSB and Putin probably signed off on the action.

British Home Secretary Theresa May said she welcomed the inquirys finding, describing the report as detailed, thorough and impartial.

She said the government was carefully reviewing the reports findings, which she called deeply disturbing, and announced that international arrest warrants remained in place for Lugovoy and Kovtun. Britain was imposing asset freezes on the pair, she said.

This was a blatant and unacceptable breach of the most fundamental tenets of international law and of civilized behavior, May said.

A now-familiar photo of the former spy shortly before his death, looking gaunt and wearing a hospital gown, circulated around the world and brought global attention to the story.

Russian Ambassador Alexander Vladimirovich Yakovenko was summoned to Britains Foreign Office on Thursday afternoon to meet the minister responsible for Russia, David Lidington.

The British Foreign Office called the findings of the inquiry deeply disturbing, adding that the probable involvement of the Russian state demonstrated a flagrant disregard for U.K. law, international law and standards of conduct, and the safety of U.K. citizens.

Lidington reiterated Britains demand that Russia hand over the suspects, the Foreign Office said in a statement.

Putins spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, dismissed the British inquiry as a quasi-investigation and said the Kremlin does not regard its findings as a verdict in the case. He cited the fact that a public inquiry is based on classified data of special services, unnamed special services, and that the verdict based on this ephemeral data is brought with the abundant use of the words possibly and probably, the Russian news agency Tass reported.

The case led to a major diplomatic fight between Russia and Britain. Diplomats were expelled from Britain and security and intelligence cooperation between the two countries was suspended as the Kremlin was accused of masterminding the killing.

Lugovoy said the accusations against him are absurd, according to Reuters.

A statement from Russias Foreign Ministry said the case had been politicized, adding, There was no reason to expect it to be objective and unbiased.

Marina Litvinenko expressed relief that she could now conclusively say she knew who killed her husband, even if they were not behind bars.

There was a lot of speculation that they might [have done] this, she said, referring to Lugovoy and Kovtun. Today they received a verdict and it [said] yes, these two guys definitely committed this crime.

Yes, they are walking in the streets of Moscow, she added, but ... I believe final justice when these two people will be punished will happen.

Boyle is a special correspondent. Times staff writer Alexandra Zavis in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

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Julio Alvarezs troubles with the police in Cuba started when they stopped him from selling sandwiches on the street.

Alvarez, a 35-year-old father from Cienfuegos, a city on the Caribbean islands southern coast, patted his hands together, mimicking the bread on the fish as he described his sandwiches. He sold them to supplement his $20-a-month salary as an English teacher to support his wife, daughter and mother.

You cant live on that, he said.

For five years the sandwich side business helped Alvarez and his family get by, but when the police finally shut him down, he made the same decision that thousands of other Cubans have. Instead of trying to cross the 90-mile Florida Straits to the U.S. in a raft, he chose a circuitous route that included a commercial flight from Cuba to Ecuador, with plans to travel north on a 5,000-mile route through South America to Costa Rica and on to the Texas-Mexico border.

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But since leaving the communist-ruled island, Alvarez and nearly 8,000 Cubans have found themselves waylaid in temporary shelters in Costa Rica after Nicaragua closed its border to the migrants in November. After two months of diplomatic wrangling, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico authorized an airlift to help the stranded Cuban migrants reach the U.S., but getting north remains difficult.

At a gymnasium that serves as a shelter, a white bed sheet hanging over the entrance bears a spray-painted message in Spanish: I will not let myself lose hope. Inside, simple wooden bunk beds with foam mattresses line the perimeter of the building. An American flag hangs off the top bunk of one bed. Its sunny outside, but people are lined up in a dark hallway, faces aglow from smartphone screens, elbowing for a spot on the stretch of wall with the only reliable Wi-Fi signal in the camp.

Outside, Meloni Hanzlik, a confident 13-year-old girl from Havana with hazel eyes, sits with a group of adults, jumping in to make sure shes heard. For me and my family, we left to have a better life, she said, to have a good job that pays you for the work you do, for who you are.

Hanzliks parents were professionals in Cuba: her father a veterinarian and her mother an artisan. But like so many of the people in this camp, from nurses and engineers to day laborers, they said that education and experience simply dont pay back home.

Why should my daughter stay in Cuba and study? asked Oscar Gonzalez, 38, For what? Misery?

Immigration from Cuba to the U.S. started trending up in 2009, according U.S. Customs and Border Protection, but that flow crested into a wave in 2015. A rapprochement between the U.S. and Cuba announced in December 2014 sparked fears that the U.S. would change its wet-foot, dry-foot policy, which allows Cubans to stay if they reach U.S. soil. More than 43,000 Cubans reached the U.S. during the 2015 fiscal year, a 78% jump from the 24,278 who arrived in 2014.

That jump in migration was good business for smugglers in Costa Rica until police dismantled an operation in November that specialized in Cuban migrants. With no path forward, soon masses of Cuban migrants appeared at the border demanding to cross. Costa Rica started issuing transit visas, but as the crowds grew into the thousands Nicaragua closed its border, leaving Costa Rica with more than 7,800 stranded migrants living in 38 shelters across the country.

After talks broke down with Nicaragua before Christmas, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico agreed to a plan to fly the migrants over Nicaragua and into El Salvador. From there, the migrants are bused from San Salvador, through Guatemala to the Tapachula border crossing in Mexico. The cost of the ticket  $555  includes airfare, bus fare, exit and entrance visas, food and health insurance. Once in Mexico, the migrants are given 20-day transit visas to reach the U.S., but they must do so on their own.

The first airlift Jan. 12 brought 180 migrants to the U.S. border in Laredo. More flights out of Costa Rica are expected soon.

Costa Rican Foreign Minister Manuel Gonzalez said Wednesday in a statement that the next flight carrying migrants would leave Costa Rica on Feb. 4 and that there would be two flights a week in February. Leaders met in Guatemala City to discuss the airlift.

The efforts to accommodate the migration of Cubans leaving the island for economic and political reasons stand in sharp contrast with that of Central American migrants fleeing chronic violence in their home countries.

This month, 121 Central American migrants in the U.S.  many adults and children who entered the country during an increase in migration in 2014  were detained and authorities began processing them for deportation.

Its surreal that there are governments negotiating the transit of migrants, said Juan Carlos Gomez, director of the Carlos A. Costa Immigration and Human Rights Clinic at Florida International University. How is Mexico supposed to stop some and provide transit visas to others? Theres a contradiction there.

Gomez isnt alone in thinking so. On Jan. 6, upon reaching an agreement for the legal transit of Cuban migrants through the isthmus, then-president of Guatemala, Alejandro Maldonado, railed against the perceived double standard between the efforts to protect Cuban migrants while Central Americans were turned away or deported.

The Cubans got the guarantee to reach the U.S. and what does the United States say? Bienvenidos. And the Guatemalans? They throw out! 190,000 Guatemalans in two years have been thrown out of the U.S. and Mexico, Maldonado told reporters.

The Obama administration has said several times that there are no plans to change the Cuban Adjustment Act, but this latest wave has some U.S. lawmakers, including Cuban American Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio, calling for an end to some of the federal benefits Cubans receive when they reach the United States.

Regardless of any potential loss of federal benefits or immigration preferences, Raysel Montejo, a 42-year-old veterinarian at the camp, said that Cubans would keep trying to reach the United States.

The only way you could make sure that Cubans dont wake up and leave for the United States, he said, is if you put up a big sign that says, [Cuban leaders] Fidel and Raul Castro are coming to the U.S.

Dyer is a special correspondent.
In a move that could lead to construction of more Jewish settlements, Israel plans to annex 370 acres of agricultural land in the occupied West Bank near the city of Jericho.

The land has been under Israeli control since the Six Day War of 1967 and was already being farmed by members of the neighboring Etzion settlements, which are widely considered to be illegal under international law.

Formal annexation would continue a pattern of Israeli expansion that has been condemned by the U.S. and other world powers because it dampens the prospects for creation of a Palestinian state, which they view as the best hope for a lasting peace.

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Israeli Army Radio quoted a defense ministry report describing the plan as a very sensitive issue which will likely garner harsh critique from Europe and the United States, and of course from the Palestinian Authority.

The Cabinet is expected to quickly approve the plan, which was authorized in a declaration signed Wednesday morning by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, the radio station reported.

The defense ministry and the prime ministers office declined to comment. But the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories  the Israeli military body that oversees the occupied West Bank  confirmed the plan.

It would be the largest annexation since August 2014, when Israel incorporated nearly 1,000 acres in the West Bank in response to the nearby kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers months earlier.

Palestinian leaders quickly condemned the new plan.

Israel is challenging the international will and consensus because it can, said Husam Zomlot, a senior aid to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who called for sanctions or other international action. Unfollowed international statements and resolutions do not mean much in Tel Aviv.

Saeb Erekat, a top Palestinian diplomat, told reporters the Palestinian Liberation Organization opposed the plan and would include it in a raft of objections to the United Nations Security Council on Israels settlement policy.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday denounced the move toward more settlements.

Settlement activities are a violation of international law and run counter to the public pronouncements of the government of Israel supporting a two-state solution to the conflict, Ban said in a statement.

International dissatisfaction with the Netanyahu government and its settlement policy had already been running high.

Two day before the news broke about the annexation plans, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapiro, said that Washington was concerned and perplexed by Israels settlement policy and that it raised honest questions about Israels long-term intentions.

This government and previous Israeli governments have repeatedly expressed support for a negotiated settlement that would involve mutual recognition and separation, he said. Yet separation will become more and more difficult if Israel continues to expand settlements.

Also this week European Union foreign ministers approved a resolution affirming that they do not consider the territories captured in 1967 to be part of Israel.

The Israeli government has said its settlement policy is legal under a law stating that land left uncultivated for a certain period becomes government property. It has shown little intention of stopping.

We built in the past. Were building in the present. We will build in the future, the defense minister told reporters last fall.

Political analysts said the policy is driven by the governments conservative base of support.

Netanyahu and Yaalon are playing tough guys in order to win some credit among right-wing voters, said Dror Etkes, a researcher who studies  and opposes  settlement expansion.

The last round of talks between Israelis and Palestinians on a two-state solution broke down in April 2014. Palestinians seek to form an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Violence has escalated since October, with 25 Israelis, an Eritrean and a U.S. citizen killed in stabbings, shooting and car-rammings, and at least 150 Palestinians  including 94 that Israel says were assailants  killed in Israeli military operations.

Shuttleworth is a special correspondent.

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Diplomats are expressing confidence that Syrian peace talks scheduled to begin in Geneva next week will proceed, though the start could be delayed amid a heated dispute about who will represent the fractured Syrian opposition.

The United Nations-sponsored negotiations between the Syrian government and opposition delegates are slated to begin Monday. But various officials have signaled that the process may be pushed back, albeit only for a short period.

Secretary of State John F. Kerry said Thursday in Davos, Switzerland, that the talks could be delayed by a day or two while invitations went out but that there would not be a fundamental delay.

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He met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Zurich on Wednesday and was going to talk to Saudi officials this weekend, all aimed at finding agreement on what groups should be allowed at the negotiating table.

The U.S. and Russian governments  on opposite sides of Syrias almost five-year conflict  both strongly support the Geneva initiative.

We have no intention to postpone the talks from January to February, Lavrov said in Zurich.

The Obama administration policy in Syria has evolved considerably since January 2014, when a round of Syrian peace negotiations took place in Switzerland.

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During those talks, U.S. officials maintained that Syrian President Bashar Assad must relinquish power as part of any peace process. The 2014 talks ended in acrimony.

This time around, Washington has softened its Assad must go stance, saying the Syrian leader could remain for an unspecified transition period, though he should eventually step down. In December, Kerry declared in Moscow that the United States and its allies are not seeking so-called regime change in Syria.

For the last 18 months, the chief focus of the administrations Syria policy has shifted from ousting Assad to destroying the extremist group Islamic State. The Al Qaeda offshoot has overrun vast stretches of territory in Syria and neighboring Iraq, while claiming responsibility for terrorist attacks in Paris and Beirut and for downing a Russian airliner.

Washington is also under pressure from allies in Europe to take measures to end Syrias destabilizing conflict, which has left more than 200,000 dead and caused multitudes of Syrians to flee to Europe. The continents greatest refugee crisis since World War II has caused economic, social and political strains in much of Europe.

A major obstacle for United Nations officials organizing the upcoming Geneva talks is deciding who will represent the fragmented Syrian opposition, which include radical Islamist fighters and peaceful and secular opponents of Assads government.

There is agreement that two of the major armed opposition factions  Islamic State and Al Nusra Front, the official Al Qaeda franchise in Syria  will be excluded from the talks.

But the participation of other radical Islamist groups, such as Ahrar al Sham, cofounded by an Al Qaeda operative, has not been ruled out. Militant Sunni Islamist factions dominate the armed opposition on the ground in Syria.

The dispute about who will represent the opposition in Geneva is playing out against a backdrop of foreign powers deep involvement in the complex, multi-sided Syrian conflict.

Russia and Iran have been staunch supporters of Assads government. A Russian aerial bombing campaign launched in September has helped pro-government forces turn the tide of battle in their favor across several fronts. Iranian advisors and Iranian-backed Shiite Muslim militias have bolstered the severely overstretched Syrian military.

Many in Washington hoped Iran might prove more cooperative in Syria talks as a byproduct of its compliance with a historic nuclear-arms control deal that was fulfilled Saturday. The deal led to the removal of key sanctions that have hurt the Islamic Republics economy and signaled a small thaw in U.S.-Iranian relations.

But several analysts said Iran may see the talks as a way to lock in the government ahead of any cease-fire that would then in effect force much of Assads opposition to stop fighting.

Theres no reason Irans behavior on Syria would change now, said Kenneth M. Pollack, a former government intelligence analyst who is now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. In fact, he said, Iran, depending on its internal struggle between moderates and hard-liners after the nuclear deal, may strike an even more recalcitrant position.

They may need to compensate for the deal among domestic opponents, Pollack said. Whenever a sop is given to one side, they have to give a sop to the other  and prove that regional policy goes full steam ahead.

The United States, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and other allied nations have backed various rebel factions fighting in Syria with weapons, cash and training.

Rhetoric in advance of the Geneva talks has seen Russia and Saudi Arabia at odds on whom should be invited to represent the opposition.

On Wednesday, A Saudi-backed opposition umbrella group named as its chief negotiator for the talks Mohammed Alloush, political chief of a powerful rebel faction known as Army of Islam, which holds sway in the eastern suburbs of Damascus. Moscow, however, views both the Army of Islam and Ahrar al Sham as terrorist organizations.

The Saudi-backed opposition coalition also warned that it would pull out of the talks if the U.N. accepts a Russian effort to widen the scope of the opposition delegation. Among other suggestions, Moscow seeks participation by the political opposition in Syria, even if it is tolerated by Assads government.

Another question is whether Syrian Kurdish groups that have seized territory in northern Syria will be represented at the talks.

Turkey vociferously objects to inviting the main Syrian Kurdish armed faction, viewing the group as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, which has waged a three-decade war against the Ankara government. But the Syrian Kurds have worked in concert with the U.S. aerial campaign in Syria and have been among the most effective forces against Islamic State.

Despite the many hurdles, diplomats appear confident that the talks will come off.

Staffan de Mistura, the U.N.s special envoy for Syria, downplayed the disagreements as not unusual in the run-up to such a session.

When there is a serious potential for a real negotiation, you will see everybody trying, first verbally, rhetorically, secondly militarily to take a better position, he told CNN on Wednesday. We should look at it with concern but not be impressed.... Because the Syrian people and basically everybody realizes that this [war] cannot go on.

Times staff writer Tracy Wilkinson in Washington and special correspondent Nabih Bulos in Beirut contributed to this report.

Twitter: @mcdneville

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Israel plan could lead to more Jewish settlements in occupied West Bank

After sanctions, politics in Iran are the next hurdle to better ties with U.S.

Three pardoned by U.S. in deal with Iran hope to get their lives back on track
A sale would help the Brazilian energy company reduce its refinancing needs in 2016, but low oil prices could cause delays
On 13 January Argentinas finance secretary, Luis Caputo, held his first formal meeting with representatives of Argentinas holdout bondholders in the US as part of the efforts by the new Argentine government led by President Mauricio Macri to find a solution to Argentinas long-running debt dispute. Caputo said that having arrived at an understanding with the holdouts, the Macri government would present them with a settlement proposal by 25 January. Solving the dispute with the holdouts is one of Macris main declared priorities. The dispute dates back to Argentinas 2001 default on its sovereign bonds, and it tipped the South American country into another technical default in 2014 after the previous government led by former president Cristina Fernandez (2007-2015) failed to abide by a ruling favourable to the holdouts issued by a US federal judge.

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Samsung's next generation flagships, the Samsung Galaxy S7 and the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, are teased to be released next month during the MWC 2016. The South Korean giant's next generation flagships are said to be packed with a slew of features that would make the Samsung Galaxy S7 and Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge some of 2016's most highly anticipated smartphones.

In a report with Indian Express, the Samsung Galaxy S7 and the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge are both expected to be unveiled at the upcoming Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2016 in Barcelona. There have been a handful of rumors surrounding the next generation flagships, and the latest rumors suggest that the new roster of smartphones could come with 3D Touch feature as well as an all-new "live photos" feature.

According to the website, the South Korean tech giant's next generation flagships will come equipped with a pressure-sensitive display, similar to that of Apple's 3D-Touch screens. In terms of design, the Galaxy S7 won't be drastically different from the S6.

Should rumors be believed, Samsung will also employ another Apple feature. According to Android Geeks, Samsung is working on its own version of Live Photos. However, a notable difference is that Samsung's Live Photos feature won't include sound once the picture is taken. The report added that this feature will allow users to share photos as GIFs on different social media platforms.

The report also says that the Live Photos feature is under development, and might be introduced on devices later than the Samsung Galaxy S7 or the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. It might even become part of a software update. Samsung plans to name the Live Photos feature Vivid Photo, although this is not confirmed as of yet.

The Samsung Galaxy S7 is expected to come equipped with a qHD Super AMOLED display, Snapdragon 820 or Exynos 8890 processor, packed with 4 GB RAM. It will also have a 12 MP rear cam with BRITECELL sensor, and a 5 MP selfie cam. Out of the box, the phone will run on Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

The Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge will have a triple edge curve, and will come with a 5.5-inch screen. Both phones are without a doubt going to be some of 2016's most highly anticipated phones. It will be interesting to see how Samsung will pan out these features. Rumors also said that the Samsung Galaxy S7 and the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge will be water-resistant, and will reportedly reintroduce the microSD slot, a feature that was notably absent in the Samsung Galaxy S6.

Samsung has given no official word on the upcoming flagships, so treat all rumors with a grain of salt.

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Chile takes another step towards accepting the therapeutic benefits of medical marijuana as it inaugurates the biggest cannabis farm in Latin America.

According to Reuters, the plantation is located in the small town of Colbun, located south of Santiago, about 275 kilometers from the Chilean capital.

It contains some 6,900 stalks of the previously illegal plant, and is forecasted to yield about 1.65 tons of marijuana this year within three months -- from March to May.

Organizers headed by former TV soap opera actress Ana Maria Gazmuri said that the project is aimed to help about 4,000 patients all over Chile get better through the use of medical cannabis.

"This farm will further permit people to see for themselves the reality of the plant, and what its uses are," the 'holistic' medicine advocate told Reuters.

She further emphasized the weight of this development, considering how the traditionally conservative country is now becoming more radical about the use of the addicting substance.

The inauguration of Latin America's biggest cannabis farm comes in the wake of the decriminalization of small amounts of marijuana for personal use and cultivation, approved by Congress.

Before the massive marijuana farm was established, La Florida district in the Chilean capital, housed an experimental plantation that was previously kept confidential.

According to BBC, the cannabis harvested from this was turned into oil to be used as a painkiller for some 200 cancer patients.

So far, the biggest step any country has ever taken towards the legal use of marijuana began in Uruguay, where recreational marijuana cultivation was legalized back in 2013, per a report from Sun Times.

This development was closely watched all over the world. It has even sparked similar moves from other Hispanic countries like Mexico, where limited amounts of marijuana could be cultivated legally as of November. In Columbia, President Juan Manuel Santos passed a decree that legalized medical cannabis amidst the government's stern fight against drug trafficking.

Several studies cited by Life Hack have explained the medical uses of marijuana.

According to a study published in the journal Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, the Cannabidiol or the CBD -- the component of marijuana that gets the user high -- has been found to switch off a gene known as Id-1, thereby stopping the cancer cells from spreading.

The marijuana ingredient known as tetrahydrocannabinol or THC is also found to impede the progression of Alzheimer's disease, according to a 2006 study conducted by Scripps Research Institute's Kim Janda.

Other medical benefits of marijuana include acting as a painkiller for patients with multiple sclerosis, lessening tremors of people with Parkinson's disease, controlling epileptic seizures, relieving arthritis, and many more.

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has signed a law that enforces harsher and longer sentences on acid attackers.

According to a report from BBC, perpetrators convicted of such crimes will now serve between 12 and 50 years of jail time. The enacting ceremony of the new law, which was held at the presidential palace in the capital, Bogota, was attended by some victims of acid attacks. The law was approved by the Senate last November.

Acid attacks have become a huge problem in the South American country over the past decade, the news outlet wrote. Around 100 people -- many of them women -- have been on the receiving end of acid attacks annually. Perpetrators can either be men or women, varying from angry neighbors to jealous lovers.

Santos commended the victims fighting for their rights and for new legislation.

"We don't want to see more people destroyed," the Colombian leader said at the ceremony, as quoted in BBC's report.

The new law decrees that those who "use any type of chemical agent" to hurt others will serve in prison for between 12 and 20 years, but the sentence can go up to 50 years of jail time for those who permanently disfigure their victim, BBC further reported.

In the past, acid attacks are under the physical aggression category and only have light sentences, the news outlet noted. Thus far, hardly any individuals have been convicted for acid attacks.

One of the attendees was Natalia Ponce de Leon, whom the law was named after, BBC added. She became a top campaigner after her face and other parts of her body were disfigured by sulphuric acid in March 2014. Her attacker was her neighbor, Jonathan Vega, who had an obsession on Ponce de Leon and got mad when she rejected his intentions.

"The new law helps remedy a big legal loophole and will help prevent the absurd attacks that so many of us have suffered," Ponce de Leon said, as quoted by BBC.

Acid attacks are most common in South Asia, but Colombia reported one of the highest rates per capita globally in 2012, Daily Mail reported. Since 2004, 526 women and 361 men have suffered acid attacks across Colombia, according to the country's National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences. According to women's rights groups, acid attacks survivors are usually poor women with little education and lengthy experiences of domestic violence.

The new law also aims to provide better state medical care to acid attack victims, Daily Mail added. Victims frequently go through months of reconstructive surgery and psychological therapy.

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
 Flash

China and the United States must work together to ensure a smooth transition of their relationship in the 2016 election year and pave the way for its irreversible growth in the future, a Chinese diplomat said Tuesday.

Cui Tiankai, Chinese ambassador to the United States, delivers a speech at the 2016 New Year Celebration Gala Dinner of the China General Chamber of Commerce - U.S.A. in New York, the United States, on Jan. 19, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

For the China-U.S. relationship, the good momentum brought about by the successful state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to the United States last September must be strengthened in the new year, Chinese ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai said.

He made the remarks here when addressing the 2016 New Year Celebration Gala Dinner of the China General Chamber of Commerce - U.S.A.

Cui said no country can single-handedly deal with challenges such as terrorism, financial contagion, infectious diseases and climate change in a world that is "undergoing profound changes."

The challenges "call for greater cooperation among nations ... Zero-sum game and 'winner takes all' are obsolete mindsets, and will only lead to a situation of no winner at all," Cui said.

With this global outlook, China has chosen a path of peaceful development, Cui said. "We are convinced that such a path will best serve China's development needs while bringing benefits to the international community as a whole."

"We reject the assertion that confrontation between rising and established powers is inevitable. We are confident that the so-called 'Thucydides Trap' can and will be avoided if our view of the world and our commitment to community building are shared by others," Cui said.

"It is with this in mind that China sees the need to build a new model of major-country relationship with the United States," Cui said, adding that this new model is both a long-term goal and an ongoing process, as well as both a set of guiding principles and an operational framework.

"It (the model) calls on the two countries to take a constructive and creative approach to deepen mutual trust, expand cooperation, and properly handle differences," Cui said.

He said the key features of the model of major-country relationship between the two countries "are always clear -- no conflict or confrontation, mutual respect, and win-win cooperation," despite changing situations.

Cui also said China has neither the intention nor the capabilities to challenge the leading role of the United States in the world.

"We are still a large and diverse developing country with more than 1.3 billion people. Our priorities are domestic. Our biggest ambition is better life for our people," the ambassador said.

"China recognizes U.S. interests in the Asia-Pacific. We welcome a constructive and positive role by the United States in the region," Cui said. "As President Xi jinping pointed out, the Pacific is vast enough for both China and the United States to develop."

"The Asia-Pacific should not become an arena of major power rivalry. No country, big or small, can gain anything from it. All of us should work together to make our region a bright spot of peace and stability on the world scene, and a stronger engine of growth for the global economy," he said.

Cui said China and the United States share the responsibility with the rest of the world to maintain and improve the current international order.

China's development has benefited from the current international order, he said. "We have also participated in and contributed to it as it evolves. As China grows stronger, we are ready to take up more international responsibilities and make greater contributions."

"The Belt and Road Initiative, the establishment of the Silk Road Fund, and the AIIB (Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank), which started its operation last week, are all designed for this purpose. We hope that the United States will also be our partner in these projects," Cui added.

Cui also said that in building this new relationship model, Beijing and Washington will continue to count on the support of the business communities of the two countries.

China is now the largest trading partner of the United States and provides a market worth 450 billion U.S. dollars.
Pablo Escobar's pink mansion in Miami, Florida is being demolished.

Demolition on the pink waterfront mansion in Miami Beach began on Tuesday, Associated Press reported (via Yahoo! News). The Colombian drug lord, who died in a shootout with his country's National Police in 1993, owned the property before the U.S. government seized it in 1987.

"I'm very excited to see the house of the devil disappearing right before our eyes," the property's new owner, Christian de Berdouare, told the news outlet. "This was the biggest criminal in the history of the world. I would like to be associated with something more uplifting, but nevertheless, it is a part of the city."

The four-bedroom mansion, which measured at approximately 6,500 square feet (603 square meters), was erected in 1948, the AP reported.

NY Daily News reported that he purchased the mansion for $762,500 in 1980, but a deed indicated that he only paid $10. Though the mansion was listed under Escobar's name, it's unknown whether the Medellin Cartel leader spent time in Miami Beach. U.S. authorities suspected that his men likely used the house as a hideout.

De Berdouare, who owns the Chicken Kitchen fast-food chain, was reportedly oblivious of the mansion's history before he purchased it from a private owner in May 2014 for $9.65 million, the AP noted. His wife, journalist Jennifer Valoppi, urged on having a Roman Catholic monsignor bless the property before they start building a modern home in the area.

Prior and after the demolition, the couple hired professional treasure hunters and a documentary film crew to search the property for possible connections to Escobar's cartel, the AP added. Odd holes have been discovered in floors and walls. A safe was also taken from its hole in the marble flooring before proper excavation was done, Valoppi said.

She said that former federal law enforcement officials have warned them that people might return to the mansion to steal spoils from when the Medellin Cartel was at the height of its power, the AP reported. The house had been damaged by fire and was vulnerable to break-ins after it was sold in 2014.

The seizure of Escobar's property had a huge role in the government's effort to end drug smuggling, said Mark Schnapp, an assistant U.S. attorney from 1982 to 1989, the AP wrote. He was also one of the lawyers who penned the 1986 federal indictment in Miami that identified the Medellin Cartel as an organized business venture.

Since the 1980s, seizing civil assets assisted law enforcement acts against drug cartels, the news outlet added.

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Chile might be considered one of the more conservative countries in Latin America, but on Tuesday, the country became home to the largest medical marijuana cultivation site in the region, as a 6,900-stalk farm in Colbun, a small town south of Santiago, was formally inaugurated, according to Reuters.

The massive plantation is headed by Ana Maria Gazmuri, a former soap opera star and a known supporter of holistic medicine. When fully operational, the farm, operating under Gazmuri's private foundation, is expected to produce about 1.65 tons of cannabis between March and May of this year.

The former soap opera star, however, stated that the plans were actually delayed due to the farm encountering stiff opposition from conservatives in Chile's government. Eventually, the government gave the farm the green light, which Gazmuri considers as "definitely a positive sign."

"This farm will further permit people to see for themselves the reality of the plant, and what its uses are," Gazmuri added.

The International Business Times stated that the farm is set to be partnered with a number of laboratories and universities in the area, which would be using the farm's massive output to develop cannabis-based therapies for various diseases.

The operations of the farm would be fully supervised by Chile's agricultural service, which means that the farm could operate without any fear of raids initiated by the government.

Across Chile alone, more than 4,000 patients suffering from illnesses such as chronic pain, complications related to cancer and epilepsy, would benefit from the therapeutic benefits of the controversial plant.

With the inauguration of the farm, Chile has become the latest Latin American country to adopt a more open-minded approach to the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes. Back in 2013, Uruguay became the first country to legalize the controversial plant for medicinal and recreational purposes, according to the San Francisco Evergreen News.

The legalization of cannabis has also taken huge strides last year, with a court ruling in Mexico spurring the president to field national debates about the plant's legalization in November. A decree in Colombia has been passed in December as well, allowing the legalized cultivation and sale of medical cannabis.

As for the head of the largest cannabis farm in conservative Chile, Gazmuri believes that the country is now ready for a number of important cannabis reforms.

Regarding marriage equality, regarding cannabis, regarding abortion - the majority opinion is in favor of securing these rights," she said.

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Latino children's low access to healthier food options is contributing to their high obesity rates.

A report released by Salud America! on Tuesday found that children in predominantly Hispanic neighborhoods have easier access to unhealthy food selections in cafeteria vending machines that are location within a few blocks of their schools. Dr. Amelie Ramirez, the director of Salud America!, said that schools in Latino neighborhoods don't offer healthy food alternatives.

"We're encouraging schools to do away with their vending machines, and options like that, because children are surrounded by unnecessarily high caloric food," Ramirez said, as quoted in a report from NBC News. "Also within close proximity of these schools are convenience stores and fast food restaurants that also contribute to the increase in our Latino students' weight."

Salud America!, which is based at the University of Texas, San Antonio, also found that 81 percent of high-density Latino neighborhoods have limited access to active spaces such as parks and recreation facilities, Yahoo! News reported. In addition, only 70 percent of Latinos say that their neighborhoods have safe places for children to play. Almost 40 percent of Hispanic kids are overweight or obese.

"Latino kids don't get enough exercise, so it's critical to make parks, school playgrounds, and other recreational sites safer and more accessible to help Latino kids be active and fight obesity," Ramirez said, as quoted in Yahoo! News' report.

Ramirez and her team found that even though First Lady Michelle Obama has federally mandated healthy food initiative, schools in high-density Latino neighborhoods still don't follow the guidelines. The research found that Latino-majority schools are inclined to have "weaker policies on school snacks and drinks than white-majority schools," NBC News further reported.

Controlling portion sizes, "lowering calorie intake," and "encouraging exercise" would help in combating childhood obesity rates, NBC News listed. Ramirez said controlling food consumption helps, but that effort is inadequate.

"Our food portions have increased over time as well, so there are all these extra calories," she noted, as quoted by NBC News. "In addition to the nutrition, our kids also don't have access to safe spaces for physical activity and exercise."

In order to have more recreation space for children, Salud America! recommended that communities increase the number of green space and implement safe-space initiatives, Yahoo! News added. Expanding shared-use agreements -- which are formal contracts giving residents access to a school or other public property -- can be a huge help in lowering obesity rates among Latino children. This move, however, could raise issues about liability and funding for the extra staff required to keep a playground open after hours.

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Brazil took a severe beating last year with its political scandals and the economic crisis befalling the country. However, the country's woes are far from over as the Zika virus threatens the tourism industry during two major events in the country -- Carnival and the upcoming Olympics 2016.

The Guardian reports that officials from both the tourism and Olympics industry have downplayed the entire Zika-virus outbreak in the country.

The Zika virus has become connected with as string of mental birth defects in infants whose mothers were infected by the mosquito-borne disease. Health officials sent out an alert just two weeks before Carnival, a major event in Brazil.

This year's Olympics are also scheduled to take place in Rio de Janeiro, which is a first for South America. Preparations are already underway, which have already been hampered by the country's failing economy. According to the Guardian report, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also issued a travel warning to pregnant women last week. The center advised pregnant women that traveling in the 14 countries in the Caribbean and Latin America was discouraged unless approved by a medical doctor.

Brazil expects around 500,000 foreign visitors at the Olympics 2016, which is relatively small compared to the numbers generated by Carnival.

Olympic officials assured Brazil's health ministry that they are paying attention to the warnings issued by the government. Despite this, they reported that they have seen no signs of trip cancellations or a disruption in the preparation for the Olympics, which is set on August 5.

Reuters also said that local officials say that they are taking the necessary measures in order to prevent the spread of the Zika virus as well as other mosquito-borne diseases. The officials added that these preventive measures will be enough to assure that both tourists and locals will be safe from infection.

Health authorities advise visitors who want to travel to Brazil to take precautionary measures such as using insect repellent and wearing shirts with long sleeves and pants.

Since there is no specific treatment for the Zika virus, health officials can only recommend "rest, fluids, and use of analgesics and antipyretics."

Health experts cannot explain how and why Zika has spread in Brazil. In addition, tourism events, such as the Olympics 2016 and Carnival, could potentially allow the virus to spread to other parts of the world.

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Mexico has become a tempting business venture for legal cannabis now that the legalization of medical and recreational marijuana is nearing.

Plenty of top weed entrepreneurs, such as medical marijuana growers and pot private equity companies, are considering business opportunities in the country after a Supreme Court decision hinted at the drug's legalization, Reuters reported (via Yahoo! News). Cannabis is still illegal in the Mexican market and is still being controlled by drug cartels.

"Me personally, I'm not afraid to go to Mexico," said Daniel Sparks, BioTrackTHC's head of government affairs, as quoted by Reuters. The firm is based in the United States and is a provider of marijuana supply-chain software.

Sparks said that Mexico's drug cartels would likely lose interest in a legal marijuana market, especially if it attracted respected pharmaceutical and tech companies.

"I am not so optimistic to think that a cannabis business in Mexico would not encounter opposition or violence from the cartels," he added, as reported by the news outlet. "However, their profit margins are being eroded daily, monthly and yearly by the continued expansion of medical and recreational marijuana programs in more and more U.S. states."

Cannabis private equity firm Privateer Holdings estimated that Mexico's legal medical and recreational marijuana market could be worth $1.7 billion annually, Reuters further reported.

"It shows North America ... is moving in the same direction, and that's more than just symbolic: it's indicative of what will happen at a global scale," said Brendan Kennedy, Privateer Holdings' chief executive, as quoted by Reuters. "Mexico is an interesting investment opportunity."

Products that companies could provide include marijuana plants for medical treatment, cannabis-based medicines, pot-themed social media websites, and supply-chain software, the news outlet listed. The latter is a way for regulators to track suppliers and inventory.

Mexicans, as well as President Enrique Pena Nieto, oppose the legalization of marijuana. However, the Mexican leader said that his government is open for a national debate regarding the issue. Pena Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, has submitted a bill for medical marijuana regulation, Reuters noted.

The PRI's bill only permits imported cannabis, Reuters added. That has disappointed some people, including Mexico City Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera. He argued that any legislation should encourage a domestic medical marijuana industry in the country.

Over 100,000 individuals have been killed in Mexico's drug wars in the past decade, Reuters reported. Potential U.S. and international investors chose to remain silent for fear of attracting unwanted attention from cartels. These firms could decline to operate in Mexico if it means they would be in competition with drug gangs, Kennedy added.

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Venezuela has requested an emergency meeting with its fellow OPEC producers amid collapsing oil prices.

According to five people privy with the issue, the South American nation's letter was sent to the 12 other members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, Bloomberg reported. The letter said that the slump in oil prices is causing serious repercussions on the group's most vulnerable members.

Venezuela belongs to OPEC's Fragile Five members, which also includes Algeria, Iraq, Libya, and Nigeria, Bloomberg reported from RBC Capital Markets LLC.

Venezuela has continually requested a meeting with OPEC members as falling oil prices weakens government revenue, the news outlet added. Saudi Arabia, OPEC's de facto leader, has said that it won't cut production unless non-OPEC exporters cooperate. On Jan. 17, Saudi Arabia made it known that it will maintain defending market share.

"It is not the first time and probably not the last time Venezuela will ask for an emergency meeting," Giovanni Staunovo, an analyst at UBS Group AG, said via an e-mail quoted by Bloomberg. He added that while "an extraordinary meeting would just make sense if OPEC is willing to cut," cooperation from non-OPEC nations is a requirement if Saudi Arabia were to control oil supply, the news outlet noted.

Three OPEC delegates said that an emergency meeting needs approval from all member nations, Bloomberg reported. Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies are not likely to support an unscheduled meeting.

The price of 13 crudes from OPEC countries weakened at $23.85 a barrel on Tuesday, an almost 80 percent decline since 2014 began, Bloomberg noted. According to Reuters, that price is OPEC's lowest since 2003, and could worsen this year due to the removal of sanctions on Iran.

An OPEC delegate said that "there is no change in the Gulf countries' position with their market share strategy," the news outlet reported. The next OPEC meeting is scheduled in June.

"Also none of the non-OPEC (countries) show they are willing to cooperate with OPEC for a cut. Iran also still didn't add (extra) oil to the market. So things didn't change," the delegate added, as quoted by Reuters.

Last week, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro declared a 60-day economic emergency to address the country's worsening crisis, BBC reported. If the National Assembly passes the decree, it would give Maduro broader powers to interfere in companies or limit access to currency. It could also increase taxes and impose emergency measures to pay for welfare services and food imports.

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The Zika virus seems to be slowly spreading around the globe, causing fear among individuals, especially pregnant women.

The New York Times said that as of last month, the virus has been transmitted to about 45 countries in Asia, Africa, the Americas and Pacific Islands, based on a report from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Some cases were noted in Puerto Rico, Mexico and El Salvador. Many countries have issued travel advisories, but the same report said there is no need to panic.

"There are two things that make people pay attention. It showed up where it has never been before, and it is rapidly spreading. That's because Aedes mosquitoes are widespread throughout most of Latin America and parts of the U.S.," infectious disease doctor Kamran Khan told The New York Times.

Here are a few ways to protect yourself from the Zika Virus:

1. Protect yourself from mosquito bites

The World Health Organization suggests that individuals use insect repellent, wear light-colored clothes that cover the entire body. Screens or mosquito nets can also be used.

All these precautionary measures should be taken, along with special attention to young children, the elderly and sick people.

2. Pregnant women should reconsider travel plans

NDTV explained that women who are expecting babies should avoid traveling to countries affected by the virus.

A similar CBS News report said that the mosquito-borne disease has been associated with giving birth to babies with very small heads and undeveloped brains, a condition dubbed microcephaly.

Last year, more than 3,5000 women in Brazil had babies born with the said condition.

3. Killing infected mosquitoes

According to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, the breeding grounds of these mosquitoes can be eliminated by removing stagnant water in containers, and spraying insecticides to kill them.

4. If infected with virus, avoid spreading it to others

Romper said that during the first week of infection, patients can pass the virus to others. They are advised to apply insect repellent and keep mosquitoes outside of their homes as much as possible.

5. Once infected, treat the symptoms

Zika cases, as per the Center for Health Protection, do not have symptoms, though some can experience headache, fever, rash, muscle pain, joint pain and conjunctivitis. All these symptoms should be treated as they appear, since the virus still does not have a specific vaccine or cure.

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The South American country Uruguay is slowly establishing its name with travelers, named as one of the top tourist destinations for this year.

CNN reported that the country is usually overlooked by tourists, since it is located between powerhouses Argentina and Brazil. However, Uruguay promises secrets that make it the perfect destination for travelers.

It noted that its dynamic coastline and UNESCO cultural heritage status are among the top reasons why many vacationers are encouraged to explore this prime stop in South America.

Summer is a celebrated season in Uruguay because of its pristine beaches, particularly in Punta del Este, La Barra, Manantiales and Jose Ignacio.

Punta del Diablo, as per Lonely Planet, is a major summer getaway because of its beautiful beaches.

My Adventures Across the World said beaches in the country are filled with tourists from December to February.

The travel page added that another favorite activity in Uruguay is eating "asado" (barbeque) at the Mercado del Puerto in the country's capital Montevideo.

In addition, the place is said to be a great sight for many people because of the modern buildings situated next to old buildings.

On the other hand, CNN claimed that foreigners also visit Uruguay because of its heritage sites, one being the historic quarter at the Colonial del Sacramento.

Last year, the Paisaje Industrial Fray Bentos (Fray Bentos Industrial Landscape), a meat production plant which was converted into a museum, also received a UNESCO cultural status.

This place demonstrated the meatpacking process in the South American country.

For backpackers planning to travel to Uruguay, Backpacker Advice said a lot of cheap accommodations like hostels and inns are available in major towns and cities.

Individuals can check in on these hostels for $14 to $22.

As for the transport, Intrepid Nomads noted that ferries and buses are easy modes of traveling to the country.

The same report said that a ferry to Buenos Aires to Montevideo would cost around $1370, while a bus ride from Montevideo to Punta del Diablo is around $565.

Despite this being a great tourist destination, Backpacker Advice underscored that travelers should still be alert for thieves and pickpockets.

It explained that even if the country is considered one of the safest in South America, there are still a lot of scams and con artists.

These criminals usually distract tourists as a means to get their valuables.

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The contract for the output processing in Bolivia's largest iron-ore mine was awarded to a Chinese-owned company.

Fox News Latino reported that steelmaker company Sinosteel Equipment was granted the contract for Bolivia's El Mutun mine in Santa Cruz province.

It explained the agreement was made to carry out a project, which includes the building of a steel complex at the mine, professional training of Bolivian personnel and adding more infrastructure.

As for the reason why Sinosteel was the chosen company, board members of the state-run mining company Empresa Siderurgica Mutun (ESM) Mining and Metallurgy Minister Cesar Navarro noted that the Chinese-owned steelmaker has a lot of experience and ample financial backing.

Sinosteel beat another Chinese-owned company, Henan Complant, for the El Mutun contract.

In a similar discussion, Steel Orbis noted that Bolivia previously hesitated to accept the same contractors for their previous projects.

However, the country still gave chances for these Chinese firms to submit their bids and proposals for the project.

Navarro noted that Sinosteel will ink a final contract with them soon.

"First, we hope that the [elected] company will not only deliver us the El Mutun [project], but will also let it start producing. Second, the product that the company will deliver should be commercially feasible and competitive, in other words, with ISO characteristics," the metallurgy minister said in the Steel Orbis report.

Based from their submitted proposals, Sinosteel reportedly gave an initial bid of $338 million of investment for the project, while competing companies proposed higher amounts, noting that these already included a gas pipeline and a steel pipe.

Earlier, the government of Bolivia expressed their plan of starting the project in the mine by 2019.

Prensa Latina added that the contract for the project will be formalized by next month, as per Navarro.

He said that the government and Sinosteel will agree on the international standards to be followed for the project, and maintaining the quality of the service and infrastructure.

According to Xinhua Finance, the project is aimed at producing 150,000 tons of rolled steel annually for the next 10 years.

This projection is expected to cover the demand for Bolivia's product, which is already being imported to other South American countries like Peru and Brazil.

Navarro explained that by completing the said project, the country will be able to acquire more than $230 million in savings.

For his part, ESM president Jose Alberto Padilla explained in a BN Americas write-up that the state spends the said amount on imported steel, but with the project completion, these imports will already be substituted.

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Immigration rights groups are filing a lawsuit against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of Homeland Security, and eight other federal agencies for failing to provide requested documents about a new deportation program.

The groups are suing after ICE failed to hand them any documents about the Priority Enforcement Program, or PEP, despite a request made under the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, Fox News Latino reported. The groups include the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, or NDLON, and the Immigration Justice Clinic at Cardozo Law School.

"There is a major lack of clarity and scope with the new program," Salvador Sarmiento, a spokesperson for NDLON, told Fox News Latino.

Out of all the 10 agencies that were given FOIA requests, only five documents have been provided to the immigration groups, the news outlet reported.

Sarmiento argued that the information being withheld by ICE holds great importance now that the U.S. presidential election is less than a year away, Fox News Latino wrote. The documents also have significance on the anti-immigrant rhetoric being made by presidential hopefuls such as Donald Trump.

"We represent migrant workers and day laborers - people that are the first to be deported and who have very little rights," Sarmiento said, as quoted by the news outlet. "The fact that this is a political year makes it all the more pressing that we have some transparency."

PEP was instituted by Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson as a substitute for the controversial Secure Communities program, Fox News Latino noted.

With biometric data, the new program prioritizes the deportation of detained immigrants who have been "convicted of an offense listed under the DHS civil immigration enforcement priorities, has intentionally participated in an organized criminal gang to further the illegal activity of the gang or poses a danger to national security," according to ICE's website.

Johnson has commended PEP, but activists on both sides of the immigration debate have opposed the program, Fox News Latino noted. According to immigration advocates, PEP will encourage distrust between migrant communities and law enforcement. Meanwhile, people who favor tougher immigration laws have called the program unsuccessful and a threat to community safety.

"The implementation of ICE's new Priority Enforcement Program (PEP) is a major setback to rule of law in our country," Jessica Vaughan, the Center for Immigration Studies' director of policy studies, said in August 2015. "It further scales back immigration enforcement by ICE, and it explicitly facilitates sanctuary jurisdictions in obstructing ICE efforts to take custody of criminal aliens."

This week, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it will review President Barack Obama's order on immigrant deportations, AFP reported (via Yahoo! News).

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
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Israel has approved expropriation of 380 acres of West Bank agricultural lands south of the Palestinian city of Jericho, Israel's Army Radio reported Wednesday.

Palestinian chief negotiator and Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), Saeb Erekat shows a map as he addresses journalists on January 20, 2016 in the West Bank city of Jericho during a visit to a site where Israel is moving to declare 150 hectares in the occupied West Bank as state land. [Photo/Xinhua]

According to the Army Radio, the area, part of it already overtaken by Jewish settlers in the past few years, will be announced as "state land" in the next few weeks. The seizure was recently authorized by Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, but a date for the announcement has yet to be scheduled, the Army Radio reported.

The declaration of an area as a "state land" allows Israel to announce it later as an area of Jewish settlement.

Spokespersons with the Prime Minister's Office and the Defense Ministry were not immediately available to comment for Xinhua.

The lands are situated south of Jericho, in an area designated in the 1990s' Oslo peace accords as "Area C," which is part of the West Bank under Israel's control.

The move was slammed by Peace Now, an Israeli settlement watchdog, as a "diplomatic catastrophe." The government's decision is "another step on the way to destroy the possibility for a two-state solution," the group said in a statement, accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of being dragged by far-right ministers and starting a "silence annexation of area C."

The extent of the area to be expropriated is second only to the 939 acres of lands west of Bethlehem that were announced by the government as "state land" in August 2014. The move sparked an outraged international response, with condemnations by the United Nations, the Unted States, and Europe.

Israel occupied the West Bank during the 1967 Mideast War and has been controlling it ever since, in a move condemned by the international community. The settlements are illegal under international law.
About 200 acrobats from the eccentric Spanish theater group La Fura dels Baus open the American Capital of Culture 2016 in Valdivia, Chile. Reuters described as the event as a "high-flying" acrobatic show.

In an interview with the outlet, La Fura dels Baus director Carlus Padrissa explained the highlights of show.

"What's different about La Fura performing here in Valdivia was adding the Ninth Symphony, in the street, with our images. It's possible, it was possible. Thanks to the capital that invited us, we made it possible, and it turned out well," he said in Spanish as translated by Reuters.

According to the outlet, the American Capital of Culture 2016 is a title granted every year by the International Bureau of Cultural Capitals to a city or town all over the world. This has taken place since 2000.

During the event, La Fura performed the "Novena Sinfonia de Beethoven," which their official site described as "a tribute to the brotherhood between man and nature.

The show also involved performances from musicians of the Philharmonica of the Region of Los Rios, the Choir of the Universidad Austral de Chile and the Chamber Orchestra of Valdivia, with soloists Luciana Mancini, Andrea Aguilar, Patricio Sabate and Gonzalo Tomckowiack.

The musicians performed Ludwig van Beethoven's "Symphony No. 9" as the show proceeded with four acts by gymnasts, dancers and technicians of La Fura. They were joined by local talents from the Los Rios region. A crowd of about 50,000 people in an open area in Valdivia attended.

La Fura dels Baus is famous for their acts filled with "eccentricity, innovation, adaptation, rhythm, evolution and transgression."

"Such characteristic and unique essence led the company to pioneer the reconceptualization of two of the most significant aspects of the dramatic art: the theatrical space and the public," the group's website explained.

The site further described the group to have "incessant curiosity and the need to explore new artistic trends" that helped them develop a unique style, which is now being called the "Furan language."

Aside from street performances, La Fura's style has been translated into several other genres, including cinema, opera, and large-scale performances.

This style has also captured the attention of Britons, who attended "XXX," a two-hour play that depicts "naked actors performing simulated sex acts in front of video screens depicting further explicit sexual activity" in 2003. This was featured in a past report from BBC.

The show, based on Marquis de Sade's writings, is said to "challenge boundaries of what is acceptable without a moral judgment." It is described by Riverside Studios artistic director William Burdett-Coutts as "a very, very graphic, probably the most explicit, shocking thing ever seen in a British theatre."

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Argentine President Mauricio Macri has authorized Argentina's air force to track and shoot down any illegal smuggler's aircrafts in the country. The move was done in order to crack down on drug traffickers who use Argentina as a transshipment point for cocaine, which is to be delivered to Europe.

According to a report with Wall Street Journal, Maurcio Macri's decision to implement the resolution without consulting Congress, was met with harsh criticism among his detractors. Many of Macri's critics believe that Macri's emergency decree could hurt civilians.

In a report with The Daily Mail, Macri's critics have also said that the protocol to shoot down unresponsive planes would be like a death sentence. However, Security Secretary Eugenio Burzaco said that the said protocol would only be used when drastic measures are called for.

Since Macri's term in office, he has worked overtime doing what he can to change Argentina. Macri has also promised to put a stop to drug trafficking, which has become among his top priorities once he came into power.

The country has recently become the newest drug trafficking hub. In 2014, It was reported that there was a surge in the trafficking of cocaine from Bolivia and Peru, to the United States and Europe.

Burzaco said that it was reported that there was an estimated 400 irregular flights in Argentina last year.

Telesurtv reported that the new resolution declares that drug trafficking in Argentina has become so severe that it warrants "the adoption of measures that allow for use of state resources to their full extent."

The president's critics believe that Macri's bold move could endanger the lives of civilians, calling it the "Takedown Decree." They added that Argentina could mistakenly target a civilian plane with innocent civilians onboard.

Macri's tendency to skirt over Argentina's Congress, largely controlled by supporters of his predecessor, Cristina Kirchner, has drawn concern among lawmakers. Macri's critics have since then demanded that Congress reviews his decrees.

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Latinas are commonly renowned for their beautiful hair and exotic-looking faces. Some may want to look just like them.

If you are one of those ladies who want that sultry Latina look, tips like using mayonnaise as a hair mask may not be new to you.

In fact, you may have already read a feature from the Cosmopolitan Magazine showcasing these beauty hacks that are not only effective, but are also very safe since they are supported by scientific evidence.

Another big plus about natural regimens is that you won't have to spend too much money. The effort to go to a salon or spa is also not necessary, since the materials you need can be found in your kitchen.

Smooth and Silky Hair

Mamas Latinas special feature listed a couple of neat tricks to keep your hair smooth and silky, without putting it through too many torturous procedures.

One of the more popularly known tricks comes from Venezuela. It involves using honey, olive oil, and vinegar to help smooth coarse and thick locks, without the unnecessary residue from synthetic hair products.

Dandruff Treatment

Using apple cider vinegar to rinse your hair may help with this particular dilemma.

This is because the vinegar has properties that eradicate fungus that causes dandruff, according to Miami-based dermatologist Dr. Martha H. Viera.

"Dandruff is caused by a yeast infection in your skin. The apple cider vinegar is used for its natural acidity to adjust the pH balance on the skin as close to neutral as possible," she explained to Cosmopolitan.

Aside from that, the vinegar is also known to cleanse excess chemical product residue like that left from shampoos, conditioners as well as hairsprays.

Mix two tablespoons of vinegar to a cup of water. Use it to rinse your hair after shampooing to make your locks squeaky clean.

Treatment for Nail Fungus

Another great advantage of including vinegar in your beauty regimen is that it can kill fungus found in the nails.

Simply soak the infected nails in the ingredient for five minutes, and then transfer them in a baking soda-water mixture for the same amount of time. Do this every day.

Doing this for month will help lessen, if not remove, that nasty fungus on your nails.

Exfoliating Scrub

Combine honey with olive oil and sugar to make for a wonderful, and very effective, exfoliating scrub.

Try mixing two tablespoons of brown crystalline sugar with a tablespoon each of honey and olive oil. You have yourself an exfoliating scrub that can be used on your lips, face, and even your entire body.

Skin Moisturizer

Olive oil is very popular in most kinds of cuisine, but did you know that it is also famous as a skin moisturizer in Latin America?

In fact, it is found to have intense moisturizing effects, so it can be used to treat dry skin, particularly along the cuticles around the nails.

Simply put two tablespoons of olive oil in a microwave-safe bowl and warm it up in a microwave for about 30 seconds.

Allow it to cool a little, and then soak your fingernails in it for 15 minutes. You may also massage the oil onto your skin in a circular motion to help promote moisture absorption.

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Over the past few years, Peru has been marked as an emerging market. However, it seems that the Latin American country may not stay that way, as the Morgan Stanley Capital International is looking into downgrading their economic status.

According to The Street, Morgan Stanley, the company that manages economic benchmarks, has been looking into Peru's market condition since August 2015. Unless their liquidity levels rise, Peru may be downgraded to a frontier market. This kind of movie will have a negative impact on the Peruvian market, as index funds are likely going to divest. However, until the country's status expires in June 2016, there is still hope.

So what is the difference between an emerging market and a frontier market, and why are these labels very important to Peru's economy?

According to Investopedia, emerging markets are considered "less economically developed countries," which means that, although they have a more mature market, they still do not have the strong economy of the United States or Japan. Forbes noted that emerging markets like Brazil and China, for instance, are labeled as "emerging" due to their recent fast economic growth, and potential to compete with the larger G-6 economies that include the US, Japan, UK, Germany, France, and Italy.

Frontier markets, on the other hand, are said to be even less economically developed than emerging markets. Many of them don't even have their own stock exchange. Some frontier market countries include Croatia, Tunisia, and Pakistan. These countries are very risky to invest in, as noted by the little number of investors and investment holdings that they have. Investopedia noted that most frontier markets mostly have stocks of financial, telecommunications, and consumer companies that rely on the monthly payments from their customers. More than that, they run a high currency risk, which means that they will not work well with small investors.

Forbes has a better way of identifying frontier markets --- that is, whether or not it has a Starbucks. The aggressive marketing campaign of the company ensures that they will only put up stores in robust economies, so as Forbes put it, "if it doesn't have a Starbucks, it's a frontier market."

In the case of Peru, getting downgraded into a frontier market will mean that the country is less economically developed if put in a global marketplace setting. While this can provide a good level of investment, it also carries a lot of risks that many large investors may not be willing to explore.

However, at this point, Peru has enough stocks and market liquidity that could possibly help it hold on to its spot as an emerging market. However, this has to keep up until June for them to renew their emerging market status, otherwise, a downgrade is inevitable.

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Things are looking bleak in Venezuela, with the president calling the lack of medicine an official humanitarian crisis.

This short supply of medicine is due in part to Venezuela's severe financial crisis, and now requires rapid international assistance for their citizens to power through.

Reuters reported that the Venezuelan Pharmaceutical Federation has already listed 150 medicines that have become scarce in the South American nation. This includes medicine for hypertension and cancer as well as basic drugs like prophylactics and antibiotics.

Association president Freddy Ceballos said, "The national government must accept we are in a humanitarian crisis in the health sector, with patients dying across our territory for lack of medicines."

He went on, "It's necessary to activate all mechanisms of international health assistance to solve this crisis as soon as possible."

However, despite the dire need for medicine, the socialist government of Venezuela has accused local groups of exaggerating the problem, saying that the shortage in the country is due to the "economic war" with their foes. Still, this does not change the fact that the long lines outside pharmacies constantly see people complaining about the lack of medicine and equipment.

The Guardian pointed out another problem, which is the issue of smuggling. This puts the country in an even worse situation. According to the outlet, Venezuelans from all walks of life are all trying to make ends meet through the black market, where there is illicit trade of food, medicine, and other such goods already supposedly subsidized by the state.

The government, led by president Nicolas Maduro, said that this illicit trade is becoming increasingly dangerous for Venezuela, as it is now worth over $2 billion a year, and is bleeding their country dry.

Still, Venezuelans see this as a means to an end. One woman said, "We're obliged to engage in contraband... Soldiers, teachers, engineers, doctors, dentists -- all types of professional come here to sell gasoline because salaries aren't worth anything."

Smuggling has become so bad that last year that Maduro closed off the Venezuelan borders to their neighbors, which did not actually help the country fare any better. A shopkeeper in Puerto Santander in Colombia said, "It's impossible to block the border. These are two countries which need each other, like husband and wife."

The Colombian health ministry did not respond to a request for comment amidst the pharmaceutical association's statement. Reuters noted that the socialist government is not too happy about the criticisms regarding its health care system, which was shot to the ground by former President Hugo Chavez due to his lavish spending in other investments.

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Illegal immigration in the United States has reached its all time low. A study made by the Center for Migration Studies said that today, only about 10.9 million illegal immigrants are in the country. This is the lowest number since 2003, and the first time that the number dropped to below 11 million since 2004.

The Los Angeles Times said that the decline has been ongoing since 2008, which means that despite GOP frontrunner Donald Trump's claims, illegal immigration rates are not "beyond belief."

Since 2010, the number of Mexicans living in the US without authorization has declined by nine percent or about 612,000 individuals. In California alone, the number of illegal Mexicans shrunk by about 250,000.

Unfortunately, due to rising violence and falling economies, more and more illegal immigrants are crossing from Central America.

USC Sociology professor Manuel Pastor said that the decline in the numbers of illegal immigrants has less to do with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement than the decline of the US economy, among other factors.

For example, lower birth rates in Mexico could mean less competition for jobs in their own country, therefore giving off less pressure to find work in greener pastures in the similarly struggling US.

The Pew Research Center said that in 2014, there were 11.3 million illegal unauthorized immigrants in the US, and about half of them were made up of Mexicans. These numbers have been steadily declining.

However, these immigrants are partial to some states, as only six states account for most of these numbers. Pew Research noted that these six states are California, Texas, Florida, New York, New Jersey, and Illinois.

While some see them as potentially problematic, illegal immigrants in the US make up about 5.1 percent of its labor force, with about 8.1 million either working or looking for work as of just a few years ago. Still, there are states that are more forgiving about their citizen status, with Nevada, California, Texas, and New Jersey among those with the highest numbers of illegal immigrants in their labor forces.

Pastor said that Trump's anger towards illegal immigration is "detached from reality," and is primarily a product of the upcoming elections, where he has to appeal to the Republican party's conservative, and mostly white, voters. He said that the "growing demographic anxieties" of Americans is what's scaring them into the anti-immigrant rhetoric.

In simple terms, Pastor noted that "This is a very racialized debate."

What do you think about the apparent decline in illegal immigration in the US?

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
A Simple Intervention to Help Kids Lose Weight

media@latinoshealth.com By Staff Reporter Jan 21, 2016 06:00 AM EST

An incredibly simple way of helping students lose weight was discovered in a recent report published in JAMA Pediatrics. Making water available in school cafeterias has moderately decreased overweight cases in schools.

Time reports that school cafeterias with water jet machines saw a slight but significant decrease in the BMI and overweight rates of students. The high-tech water fountains which filter and cool tap water, appeal more to students than the ordinary water fountains since they are strategically placed in cafeterias where students can easily access. More so, the machines conveniently dispense the water into cups, eliminating the need for the students to bring their own cups or water bottles.

New York City's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the Department of Education have placed the water jets in school cafeterias in 2009. This is to encourage students to increase water consumption during lunch. They also removed sugary and artificially treated drinks as well. This is part of the city's aggressive program to improve children's health.

In school with water jets, the risk of boys becoming overweight was decreased by 0.9 percent while the risk for girls is decreased by 0.6 percent. The effect is slightly greater for boys may be attributed to the fact that they drink more water than girls.

Admittedly these figures may be modest, but lead researcher Brian Elbel thinks this is significant in combating childhood obesity as reported in Philly.com.

Elbel who is an associate professor of population health and health policy at New York University School of Medicine said, "This is a small effect, but we are looking for anything that might be working for childhood obesity, and this is a low-cost intervention", Philly reports.

Elbel believes that the modest decrease in weight is the result of kids choosing water over other drinks like milk, sodas or juices. It is unlikely though that the decrease in weight is caused by the presence of water jets in schools. Rather it is the availability of water that essentially caused the change.

He also thinks this could be adapted in home by making water more available to kids instead of other drinks. "A small change at home could have a big impact," he added as reported in Philly.

The researchers collected data on more than 1,200 New York City elementary and middle schools. Of these, 483 had water jets in their cafeteria and the rest none. The water jets were estimated to cost $1,000 as noted in the study.

When milk and other sugary drinks were removed from the cafeteria, kids opted for cool water instead when it's easily available. Between milk and water, water is still very much preferred.

Elbel hopes that his data will convince New York City to include water jet machines in all of its public schools.

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Skin Cancer May Be More Deadly During Pregnancy

media@latinoshealth.com By Czarmecin Jan 21, 2016 06:02 AM EST

A new study suggested that skin cancer or melanoma may be deadlier when diagnosed while pregnant.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, found out that pregnant women with skin cancer are at higher risk of dying due to the said disease compared to women with melanoma who are not pregnant.

U.S.News reported that the study examined almost 500 women diagnosed with melanoma between 1998 and 2012. The women were 49-years old and younger. The researchers followed their health for more than two years and arrived at some conclusion.

LiveScience reported that pregnant women with melanoma or were recently pregnant were nearly seven times more likely to experience metastasis - the spreading of cancer to other parts of the body. Moreover, they are more than nine times more likely to suffer from cancer recurrence over the next 7.5 years.

"The rate of metastasis (cancer spread), recurrence and death in our findings were astounding -- as the rates were measurably higher in women who were diagnosed with melanoma while pregnant, or within one year after delivery," said lead researcher Dr. Brian Gastman, a plastic surgeon and director of melanoma surgery at the Cleveland Clinic, in a press release.

The researchers suggested that there is a possibility that the pregnancy hormones fueled the most deadly type of skin cancer. The immune system weakens when a woman is pregnant to prevent the body from rejecting the fetus.

The researchers noted that a previous research reported that the rate of melanoma is rising among women ages 20 to 40.

This new study is a reminder for women with higher risk of skin cancer to be more vigilant. Those who are at higher risk include women with a high number of moles, a history of heavy exposure to the sun or family history of skin cancer.

Gastman advised women to examine their skin for any changes and to visit a dermatologist. If a woman has a high risk of skin cancer and she gets pregnant the best thing is to see a dermatologist.

"This study demonstrated that women who are diagnosed with melanoma during pregnancy or in the post-gestation period have higher risk melanomas," said Dr. Jeffrey Farma, who is a co-director of the cutaneous oncology and melanoma program at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. Reuters shared that the medical professional was not involved in the study.

Parents are advised to limit their children's exposure to any sources of ultra violet (UV) radiation by equipping their little ones with sunblock or protective clothing. They are also encouraging parents to educate their children, especially teen girls because skin cancer is more prevalent among young women than men.

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Zika Virus USA Update: Health Officials Confirm Five Americans Infected; Includes Two Pregnant Women

media@latinoshealth.com By Ivan Menchavez Jan 21, 2016 07:33 AM EST

Zika virus has already started causing panic to some Americans as health officials confirm five cases in the country. Wall Street Journal reported the mosquito-borne virus infected five citizens already, including two pregnant women in as far north as Illinois.

Although the virus is not known to be fatal in adults, scientists have already confirmed that it can cause birth defects and miscarriage.

The two women who recently traveled to Latin America are currently under the supervision of health officials. The Illinois Department of Public Health or IDPH has already warned residents to be careful when traveling abroad.

The director of IDPH, Nirav D. Shah, M.D., J.D., said that people in the states should not worry about getting infected within the country because the virus can only be transmitted via a mosquito bite.

"But since this is a time of year when people travel to warmer climates and countries where Zika virus is found, we are urging residents, especially pregnant women, to take preventive measures when traveling in affected countries and check health travel advisories," he said.

In earlier reports, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or CDC has already issued a travel advisory for pregnant women traveling to countries that are known to have the mosquito-borne virus.

Meanwhile, the other three patients who were infected with the virus are from Florida. They all came from their vacation from Latin America before they showed symptoms of Zika.

A person who has been infected with the virus will experience fever, rash and red eyes.

Hawaii.gov reported an infant that was born in the island was confirmed by the Hawaii State Department of Health or DOH to have Zika-related condition. The baby, who appeared to have a malformed head, was immediately tested and found positive to have microcephaly.

The mother of the child is reported to have lived in Brazil in 2015 and it was during that time that the baby acquired the virus.

Dr. Sarah Park, DOH State Epidemiologist, said that what happened to the mother and her child was very unfortunate. She also emphasized the importance of the travel advisory issued by the CDC to protect Americans from acquiring the virus.

"We are saddened by the events that have affected this mother and her newborn," she said. "Mosquitos can carry serious diseases, as we know too well with our current dengue outbreak and it is imperative that we all Fight the Bite by reducing mosquito breeding areas, avoiding places with mosquitos, and applying repellant as needed."

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Skin Cancer Deadlier During Pregnancy: Study

media@latinoshealth.com By Staff Reporter Jan 21, 2016 05:30 AM EST

A US study shows that pregnant women diagnosed with skin cancer suffer a higher risk of melanomas than those women who are not pregnant.

Skin cancer is already considered to be among the deadliest diseases in the world. But pregnant women diagnosed with melanoma face higher chances of recurring disease even after treatment. They face higher risks of the tumor spreading to other tissues and organs. Also, they are five times likely to die compared to those who are not pregnant.

A US study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology observed a total of 462 women who are 49 years old or younger and who are diagnosed with melanoma between 1988 and 2012. Those women who had a follow-up of fewer than two years were excluded in the study.

According to Huffington Post, 41 out of the 462 women had been diagnosed with melanoma during their pregnancy. Compared to the group of melanoma patients who were not pregnant when they were diagnosed with melanoma, this group is five times likely to end up dying. Twenty percent of this group died from skin cancer while only 10 percent of the other group died from melanoma.

Reuters reported that 12.5 percent of the women diagnosed with melanoma while they were pregnant had their cancer returned after treatment. It is a lot higher compared to just 1.4 percent of the other group.

In the group of women diagnosed with melanoma during pregnancy, 25 percent were diagnosed with metastasis as well. On the other hand, only 12.7 percent of the other group got metastasis.

Considering the result of the study, it can easily be told that those who have been diagnosed with melanoma during pregnancy are really at a higher risk compared to those who were not pregnant while they were diagnosed.

The study was not able to determine the connection between pregnancy and higher risk melanoma. However, it is suspected that the hormonal changes that occur during women's pregnancy might have been the missing piece in the puzzle.

The authors also noted that the participants in their study might not be the perfect representative of women diagnosed with melanoma because they are all patients at one medical center, which is known to focus more on complex cases. Therefore, the result is not final. Nonetheless, it still calls for further studies on pregnancy and melanoma.

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At least 3,000 people have been killed in Russian airstrikes in Syria since Sept. 30 of last year, a Syrian monitor group reported on Wednesday.

Members of the Syrian pro-government forces pose for a picture in a destroyed building in the strategic town of Salma, in the coastal Latakia province, on January 15, 2016, following its recapture from rebel fighters. [Photo/Xinhua]

The airstrikes killed a total of 1,015 civilians, including 238 children under 18, 640 men and 137 women, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Additionally, the UK-based monitoring group said the strikes killed 893 militants with the Islamic State (IS) group and 1,141 others from various jihadi groups, including the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front.

The officials in Syria or Russia have yet to comment on the death toll.

The Russian air force has been backing the Syrian ground force with airstrikes since last September.

Government officials in Syria said the strikes were effective in curbing the expansion of the radical groups in the war-torn country.
Zika Virus Outbreak: Economy of Latin America Countries Greatly Affected

media@latinoshealth.com By Staff Reporter Jan 21, 2016 06:00 AM EST

The Zika Virus-related U.S. alert issued on Friday is expected to affect the already-poor economy of the Latin American countries, which are already experiencing a decline in tourism-generated income.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued an alert last Friday for 14 Central and South American countries and territories, namely Brazil, Guatemala, Haiti, Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Paraguay, French Guiana, Mexico, Suriname, Martinique, El Salvador, Honduras and Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The CDC has been forced to issue a warning due to the on-going Zika virus outbreak.

Zika infection is a mosquito-borne disease Signs and symptoms of this include low-grade fever, joint pain, rashes and red eyes. As of now, there is still no medication available to treat this infection.

Before the outbreak, it was expected that a million of people will go to Rio de Janeiro for the Carnival celebration in Brazil. However, after the Zika virus outbreak and the warning released by CDC, people might avoid Brazil and other Latin America countries and territories for a while.

The warning is especially but not limited for pregnant women. Pregnant women are highlighted in the alert since there is already a dramatic rise in the number of birth defects in those countries and territories. Many newborns came out with microcephalya very rare brain defect. It is suspected that this defect is linked to Zika virus, according to Madison.com.

Investigation regarding the link of the two is still going.

Tourists who are pregnant or those who are expecting to be pregnant are encouraged to avoid the countries and territories stated in the warning of CDC. On the other hand, women from the affected areas are encouraged to delay their pregnancy for at least six months while the Zika virus is still spreading.

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Opiod Overdose Death Rates Continue to Climb in Massachusetts; Targets White Males Age 25 to 44

media@latinoshealth.com By Staff Reporter Jan 21, 2016 06:12 AM EST

Opioid overdose has become the reason of death of many U.S. citizens in the past few years. Every year, the number of victims increases. Today, the Department of Public Health released a new data stating that opioid epidemic continues in Massachusetts and the number of overdosed individuals still continue to increase.

In the year 2014, there was a total of 1,099 death cases linked to opioid overdose. This is 21 percent more than the total number of cases in the year 2013 and 65 percent more than the total number of cases in the year 2012.

According to Boston Herald, data for the first nine months of the year 2015 and the number of death cases related to opioid sums up to 1,104. It is already higher than the total number in 2014 even without the last three months' record.

Due to the alarming and increasing number of death victims of opioid overdose, Marylou Sudders, the Health and Human Resources Secretary, suggested making it more difficult for the public to get these strong and powerful drugs. She also suggested that it is a great way to provide education about the side effects and dangers of the drug to the public.

According to the new data released, the most common victims of opioid overdose are white men between the ages 25 and 44 years old.

The WBUR's Common Health reported that among the 1,104 opioid overdose-related death cases in the first nine months of 2015, 76 percent of the victims were men. 791 men deaths from January 2015 to September 2015 were confirmed. A total of 82 men were aged 55 years old and above, 178 were between the ages 45 to 54 years old, 203 were in the 35 to 44 age bracket, 247 were 25 to 34 years old and 81 were between 15 to 24 years old.

It was the first time that the Department of Public Health released a demographics on the victims of these opioid overdose cases.

According to 9and10 News, Law enforcers in the counties of Oceana, Mason and Lake will start carrying a rescue kit. This rescue kit contains Naloxone, a prescription drug that can be used for treating overdose. Both officers and Deputies from the three counties have already received training on how to detect and treat different kinds of opioid overdoses.

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Chile has recently inaugurated their plantation of cannabis, which is the largest in Latin America, Reuters reports. The inauguration part of Chile's experimental plantation in a secret location somewhere in Santiago, Chile.

The small plantation became a full-blown business in Colbun after the Chilean Congress debated on the decriminalization of the medicinal cannabis. Ana Maria Gazmuri, an advocate of holistic medicine said, "This farm will further permit people to see for themselves the reality of the plant, and what its uses are."

The 6,900-stalk plantation of medical cannabis is run by several organizations coordinating with different laboratories and universities in order to develop and expand the uses of the plant. With agencies expecting some 1.65 tons of harvest from March to May, they hope to turn the venture to a medically approved therapy that will help people suffering from cancer, epilepsy and types of chronic pain.

The practice of controlled cultivation of medical cannabis has been practiced in the Latin America region for quite some time. In November, a Mexican court approved such cultivation of legal cannabis, provided that it follows the limited number of cultivation.

In December, despite Colombia fighting against drug trafficking, President Juan Manuel Santos signed a law that legalizes the use of medical cannabis saying. He said that his signature will not affect the government's fight against illicit crops and drug trafficking.

In 2013 when Uruguay first legalized marijuana, they were suddenly the focus of close monitoring around the globe. A few years later, Mexico and Colombia followed suit. In report by the Associated Press via Cannabist, Chile started cultivating their first 850 seeds of cannabis as part of their experimental program on medical cannabis.

At least 200 patients were scheduled to be the recipient of the plant's revolutionary medical capability. With Chile joining the trend of legalizing cannabis, they are also contributing the effortless use of such controlled plant. Mayor Rodolfo Carter of the La Florida District said, "We're living at a time, in Chile and the rest of the world, where it's not reasonable to close yourself to new evidence. Marijuana can provide some dignity to those who suffer."

Chile's inauguration of the 6,900-stalk plantation came on Tuesday with at least 4,000 patients seen to benefit from the medical plant. Gazmuri also said that the use of medical cannabis now joins reform issues such as marriage equality and abortion, per Reuters.
The printing of Mein Kampf was recently canceled by a Brazilian publisher due to the rising pressure from the Jewish community and various scholars.

According to Forward, Edipro, an editing firm in Brazil, decided to stop the initial printing of 1,000 copies of the book, stating that it was an old translation to Portuguese from the 1930s, and had no commentary. The book was supposed to be released late in January 2016.

Paulo Maltz, president of the Rio de Janeiro Jewish Federation and vice-president of the Brazilian Israelite Confederation, said that legal procedures are currently being considered to ban the national distribution of Mein Kampf, which was authored by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, adds Forward.

The book is Nazi propaganda and, under Brazilian law selling it is a non-bailable crime, said Osias Wurman, honorary consul of Israel in Rio. Wurman. However, he agreed with a number of major publishers in Brazil who were interested in releasing an annotated edition, claiming that people need to understand the events surrounding the Holocaust.

Laura Gasparian, the owner of Argumento bookstore, said that she plans to sell the book because it is a historic document and there is actually a demand for it. She added that Mein Kampf will not be on display, but move straight onto the shelves.

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency notes that the original manifesto consisted of 650 pages, while the annotated version has 1,000 pages, including 305 notes from an American edition and other prominent Brazilian historians.

The anti-Semitic creation had a copyright for 70 years in Germany which expired on Jan. 1, 2016. It was allowed for publishing in Brazil for the first time since World War II. Mein Kampf translates to My Struggle.

Brazilian Jews celebrated after Edipro announced that it will ban the publishing of the book.

The two biggest Holocaust-related bestsellers in history are Hitlers Mein Kampf and Anne Franks diary. Hitlers book initiated the genocide of the Jews in Europe. He committed suicide in Berlin in 1945 and it was only seven decades later that his work was allowed to be published in other countries.

Mein Kampf was first published in the 1920s and became available in Germany on Jan. 8, 2016, writes Haaretz. The book has been translated into various languages and sold millions of copies in the past several years. The expiration of the copyright means that the two books are already open in the public domain and can be used without the permission of the original publishers.
Microsoft Corp. CEO Satya Nadella announced on Tuesday that the company would donate $1 billion worth of its cloud to nonprofits, universities, and other organizations dedicated to improving human lives and preventing "another digital divide."

Much good will undoubtedly sprout from the tools Microsoft is giving away, but the company will also clearly benefit in the ongoing war of the clouds.

Microsoft will donate $1 billion in Microsoft Cloud Services to "serve the public good," as the company's blog put it on Tuesday. Over the next three years, the billion-dollar charitable initiative will provide cloud services to 70,000 non-profit organizations and NGOs across the globe.

The initiative will be carried out by the recently formed Microsoft Philanthropies organization, which will allocate the company's cloud computing resources and tools to the organizations to the tune of a billion dollars -- "measured at fair market value," of course.

Specifically, the 70,000 organizations will be given access to the company's services and products including Microsoft Azure, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Online, Microsoft Enterprise Mobility Suite, and its data analytics visualization tool, Power BI.

Preventing a New Global Digital Divide

As Nadella said in an op-ed published in the Financial Times the morning after the announcement, Microsoft's move was motivated by a concern about a possible world where "only wealthy societies have access to the data, intelligence, analytics and insights that come from the power of mobile and cloud computing," resulting in a new "digital divide."

Nadella notes that cloud computing is a powerful resource for innovation, understanding, and predictive analysis of large quantities of data -- more and more so in the increasingly device and sensor-laden, connected world.

"In September last year," Nadella wrote, giving an example of the importance of cloud computing, "the UN adopted 17 sustainable development goals to tackle some of the toughest global problems by 2030, including poverty, hunger, health and education. Data and cloud computing will play a central role in realizing those goals."

To carry out the huge philanthropic effort, the company will take a three-pronged approach. First, distribution: Microsoft will start rolling out its free cloud services and products to organizations beginning this spring. Next, the company will expand its Azure for Research program for universities -- which includes free Azure cloud storage and other resources -- by 50 percent.

Finally, Microsoft Philanthropies and the company's Business Development arm will work together with private-public partnerships to build out so-called "last mile" connections to communities without access, supplementing hardware with community training for when the cloud arrives. Microsoft says it intends to support 20 build-outs in at least 15 countries around the world by mid-2017.

Market Share and Regulatory Sway for Microsoft

For all of its incredible world-shaping potential, Microsoft's $1 billion cloud donation and the initiatives that come with it might strike the more cynically minded as oddly familiar. The announcement recalls Facebook's controversial altruistic project Internet.org, which some took to be self-serving.

Indeed, as the killjoys at Fortune pointed out, "Public-mindedness aside, part of this is probably about getting more people using Microsoft's systems as opposed to those of its rivals."

In other words, the company is stuck in second place to Amazon Web Services. Amazon got there first, currently dominates the market, has more capacity than the next 14 largest rivals combined, yet is still scaling much faster than Microsoft's best offering.

What does Microsoft do in this situation? It gives its cloud away for free, of course. And it makes sure its cloud is the first to arrive in untapped territories, teaching those communities how to use its particular software ecosystem.

"It's not surprising to see Microsoft doing that given that competitors such as Google have been very active in the nonprofit and education sector for some time and their often free services challenge Microsoft," IDC researcher George Mironescu told Fortune. "With this move, it's a way for Microsoft to be re-discovered by entities in these sectors and to get such organizations to test its public cloud capabilities."

With massive adoption and expansion through its philanthropy, Microsoft reaps another benefit, one that Nadella's (no doubt, genuine) altruism hardly cloaked in his FT piece: a larger say in the shape of regulation, negotiations, and governance surrounding the flow of data across boarders, and around the world.

Indeed, after his first four paragraphs announcing the donation, Nadella got right down to laying out elements of "a coherent policy framework with cloud computing at its heart," as he put it.

He suggests some great things: government infrastructure investments in low-cost broadband in remote areas, investment in global STEM education, and making public data transparent and available, through the cloud of course. He also called for a balance of regulation "that protects both security and privacy while enabling data to flow freely across boarders," with an emphasis on freedom of expression and the individual's right to privacy.

Along the way, Nadella also included a specific dig against the E.U. Court of Justice's recent decision invalidating Europe's "Safe Harbor" pact with the U.S., which has been used by Silicon Valley to transfer Europeans' personal data to American shores and skirt E.U. data privacy laws.

Another classic case of Sillicon Valley "philanthrocapitalism"? There are certainly some conceivable win-win scenarios in this for Microsoft. But hold off disillusionment for now and see what happens.
A new study reveals that nearly half of the almost 30 million Hispanic citizens who will be eligible to vote in the upcoming 2016 election are millennials.

According to the latest Pew Research Center report on Hispanics, a record setting 27.3 million Hispanic voters are projected to be eligible to vote in the upcoming presidential race. Among voter-aged Latinos, 44 percent are millennials, which is a higher share of young voters compared to other races: black millennials makeup 35 percent of African Americans voters, Asian millennials are 30 percent and white millennials 27 percent.

"This goes to show Latino youth is a big part of the voter story," said Mark Hugo Lopez, Pew's director of Hispanic research, reports NBC News.

The increase in Hispanic eligible voters is largely due to adult immigrants who have obtained legal status and chosen a pathway of citizenship. Pew projects that about 1.2 million Hispanic immigrants will have naturalized between 2012 and 2016. Also, Puerto Ricans who have moved to the mainland from the island increased to a record for this year's elections, states the report.

Although the number of Latino eligible voters in 2016 is 40 percent higher than in 2008, this does not necessarily mean that Hispanics will sway the presidential race. Rather, the study shows that Latinos do not typically have a high voter turnout rate. According to the report, nearly 50 percent of Hispanic eligible voters participated in the 2008 race when Barack Obama was first elected. Latino turnout then dropped to 48 percent in 2012 and to 27 percent in the 2014 midterm election. In comparison, 64 percent of white voters and 67 percent of black eligible voters cast a ballot in 2012.

The report also found that Hispanic millennials register to vote at lower rates than other millennials. Meanwhile, in 2012, just 37.8 percent of Latino millennials voted compared to "47.5 percent of white millennials and 55 percent of black millennials voted in 2012. Among Asian millennials, 37.3 percent of millennials voted," say the authors.

"This does present a number of challenges because of the relative size of the youth vote," Lopez said. However, "that doesn't mean they shouldn't be reached," he added.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew paid a visit to Puerto Rico, where he held a press conference urging Congress to take action to help alleviate the island's massive debt and humanitarian crisis.

During his first trip to the Caribbean island, Lew met with Puerto Rican officials on Wednesday to discuss ways to tackle the commonwealth's $72 billion debt.

"Only Congress can enact the legislative measures necessary for Puerto Rico to resolve this problem," he said at a news conference in San Juan. "The people of Puerto Rico are sacrificing, but unless that sacrifice is shared by creditors in an orderly restructuring, there is no path out of insolvency and back to growth."

Lew also laid out President Barack Obama's proposal to handle the crisis, which includes granting Puerto Rico's cities the ability to file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy, while providing the island with independent fiscal oversight, additional health care funding and employment incentives.

Republicans, however, have stalled on drafting a bill, arguing that they need more information about the island's financial situation. Others reject the idea of granting Puerto Rico restructuring powers because that would change the rules under which the debt was issued, they say.

Still, Lew stressed that "without congressional action, Puerto Rico will face a long and difficult recovery that could have harmful consequences for the American citizens who call the island home. That is why we have called on Congress to act without delay."

During the conference, Lew also mentioned that the U.S. territory is already defaulting on loans and struggling to balance funds between multiple creditors. Plus, the government has stopped some debt payments, leaving residents to carry the load wrought by the financial crisis.

"As predicted, creditors are filing lawsuits. Liquidity at the Government Development Bank, which provides essential banking and fiscal services to the central government, is low," he said, according to NBC News. "Tax refunds are being withheld and assets in the pension system have been sold to pay out pension bills."

Back in the States, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., has promised to work to reach a solution for Puerto Rico by the end of the quarter.

"Ryan has committed to producing a responsible solution for Puerto Rico before the end of March," his office stated in a press statement sent to Latin Post. "In order to assist the 3.5 million Americans who call this island home, Congress must pass legislation for the president to sign into law without delay."

Meanwhile, the Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA) launched a task force on Puerto Rico, which will conduct a 10-week review to study the crisis and make recommendations on how the White House and Congress can help resolve it.

"Millions of families in Puerto Rico cannot continue to suffer the inaction of our federal government," HNBA President Robert T. Maldonado said in a statement to Latin Post. "In response to this lack of action, we have convened this Task Force to provide a thorough analysis and set of proposals to address the increasingly worsening economic situation on the island."
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is still looking for a missing hard drive owned by Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik who killed 14 people last Dec. 2, 2015, in San Bernardino, California. Federal agents are also trying to crack the encryption of the suspects' cellphone that could link them to terrorists overseas, per FOX News.

The FBI's Assistant Director in Charge of the Los Angeles Field Office David Bowdich has said that both these devices will be helpful in completing the 18-minute gap in the timeline of events. It could also be helpful in finding out if there will be other attacks based on the number of ammunition found in possession of the suspects.

"As to those devices, obviously we've said from day one, the digital footprint is incredibly important for us to hopefully learn any contacts, any context, and ultimately any intent on their part. I think that's very, very important," Bowdich said.

"I'm certainly not looking past the possibility of a potential secondary attack based on the amount of ammunition they had. Based on all the seeming preparations they had made. Based on all the pipes they had inside the house that could easily have been made into pipe bombs," the assistant director added.

Authorities have gathered a lot of information since the attacks that left 14 people dead and 22 others injured. However, investigators are still looking to fill the incidents that happened from 12:59 p.m. and 1:17 p.m. timeline. The FBI asked for the public's help in filling the gap earlier in January, per the Associated Press.

The Bureau has also hired the services of OWL Cybersecurity to help unlock the codes but has gone nowhere. "Depending on the type of encryption used by the terrorists the FBI may have a very difficult, if not impossible task," Mark Turnage of OWL Cybersecurity told FOX News.

"There are commercially available encryption programs, which are all but unbreakable," he added. Authorities and politicians are urging Google and Apple to use their backdoor encryption software, but tech experts are against the idea because terrorists can easily gain access to it.

In a report by the Los Angeles Times, the suspects' friend and neighbor Enrique Marquez Jr. was arrested and accused of providing the assault rifles used in the massacre. He is also accused of planning an attack with Rizwan Farook back in 2011 and 2012.

Marquez pleaded not guilty on all of his charges saying that he has avoided contact to both suspects since 2012 when he changed his mind about the planned attacks.
Republican Governor Terry Branstad has urged his fellow Iowans to not vote for GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz. Branstad has not endorsed any other Republican candidates but opposes Cruz less than two weeks before the caucuses in the state, per the Associated Press.

The Iowa governor is not a fan of the Texas senator's plans to eliminate fuel standards that will affect the state's ethanol and biofuel industry. Many farmers in Iowa grow corn and soybean, which is the source of ethanol used in renewable fuel and biodiesel.

"We should not be supporting somebody who is opposing those things that are of critical importance to the economic well-being of our state. This would be a great way to send a strong message," Branstad said at the Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit in Altoona.

Cruz responded back by saying that farmers and people from Iowa are not "career politicians." He added, "Iowa corn farmers are frustrated with career politicians. They're fed up with politicians who make deals every day to grow government."

The 45-year-old senator is a known supporter of Texas' oil industry, a competitor of Iowa's ethanol and biodiesel business. Cruz even wrote a bill back in 2014 that will get rid of fuel standard requirements by the year 2020.

CNN noted that Gov. Branstad's son, Eric, is a member of America's Renewable Future, a group that has previously called out Cruz's Senate bill. The state of Iowa is a known for its agriculture and farming, where a lot of families are getting their income and will be affected by Cruz's current plans.

The report added that the Texas senator is leading in the recent polls from Iowa, but the word of their governor is like an endorsement for Cruz's closest competitor Donald Trump. It got worse for the Texas senator when Sarah Palin backed up Trump's campaign that could possibly alter the results of the Iowa caucuses on Feb. 1.

"It's so much fun. And so interesting. I know the governor just made a very big statement that was appreciated by many. And that was amazing, actually. And he's a respected man and when he speaks, people listen. His feelings about one of the other candidates, that's strong feelings," Trump told the Business Insider.

The billionaire businessman was present during Branstad's short speech because he is a supporter of the Iowa's ethanol and biodiesel industry. Other Republican candidates invited in the event were Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum.
"You're a piece of s--t, a fascist who abuses women, I dare you to come to Chile...coward!" This Twitter post by Jorge Traud, who is a Chilean legislator, sparked outrage toward the Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, as per Remezcla.

The tweet is in reference to the fact that Leopoldo Lopez's wife, Lilian Tinori, and his mother were asked to strip naked by the Venezuelan authorities in front of Tinori's children before they were allowed to see her husband as per Telegraph's report.

Tintori then added that she was subjected to an "intimate search" wherein she was requested to remove all her clothes upon entering the Ramo Verde military prison as Tintori and her mother-in-law went to visit Lopez along with the couple's children Manuela and Leopoldo Santiago.

Tintori then posted the embarrassing experience on Twitter, which caused a heated tension and sparked anger between Lopez's supporters and the Venezuelan government headed by President Nicolas Maduro.

In her tweet, she stated, "Yesterday in Ramo Verde they put me in a room, took away all my clothes, my bra, my sanitary towels."

She posted three consecutive tweets narrating the harassment she and her mother-in-law went through, saying, "Totally naked they made me open my legs various times."

She then added, "They did the same to Leopoldo's mother, but in the room when the children were with her. Manuela and Leopoldo Santiago saw everything."

Leopoldo Lopez was arrested for stirring up a coup against the Venezuelan government. The majority believed that he was used as a "scapegoat" by the Venezuelan President, Nicolas Maduro. As per New York Times, his arrest was a clear example of Nicolas Maduro's desperation.

Maduro is being blamed for the Venezuelan economy's downfall. As per reports, he drove the country into a "severe economic crisis" leading to ongoing problems such as currency devaluation and food shortages.

As per NY Times, instead of addressing the country's economic crisis he stirred up fights towards Colombia and Guyana to take away the blame that's being pinpointed towards his direction.

Lopez was sentenced to 14 years in prison, but he willingly surrendered himself to the authorities. When he was eventually handcuffed by the police, he stated, "These handcuffs will be removed by the Venezuelan people."

In addition to President's Maduro's lapses, CNN reported that two of the president's relatives, Efrain Antonio Campo Flores, 29, and Franqui Francisco Flores de Freitas, 30, were arrested in the United States for drug trafficking.
Sarah Palin's son, Track, was arrested recently and was charged with assault and it's all President Obama's fault. At least that's according to the former vice presidential candidate.

During a stop rally in Oklahoma while campaigning for Donald Trump, Palin took the stage and discussed her son's domestic violence arrest.

Palin said, "My son, like so many others, they come back a bit different. They come back hardened."

In what appears to be an attempt to rouse with the crowd, Palin went on to talk about her son, and how he, like other soldiers, has worked to protect and fight for the freedom and liberty of the American people.

According to TIME, her 26-year-old son spent a year serving in Iraq and is now suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which was the cause that led to his arrest. She added that the real reason Track's PTSD got worse was because apparently, the president disrespected army veterans.

Palin remarked that many of America's veteran soldiers, who had sacrificed so much for the country, are wondering if they're respected when they come back home. She said that it's a shame that veterans even have to wonder if they're respected anymore.

It should be noted that when Track was arrested, he was charged by the police for interfering with a report of a domestic violence crime and possessing a weapon while being intoxicated.

Track's girlfriend, whose name had to be redacted from reports, shared that he punched her in the face and carried an AR-15 assault rifle. She said to the police that she was afraid that Track would shoot himself with it.

Palin added that she wants a president that does not abandon these physically and mentally wounded "warriors."

As reported by Raw Story, Palin noted that it all "starts from the top." The former Alaska governor added that "it makes me realize more than ever it is now or never for the sake of America's finest that we have a commander-in-chief who will respect them."

The Obama Administration, however, did enact numerous policies that cater to the U.S. military veterans. Among them is expanding veteran's access to education or the Post 9/11 GI Bill, which the administration has implemented.

As of 2012, it has issued an approximate $17.5 billion in benefit payments for more than 710,000 veterans or eligible family members that wish to pursue higher education.

Lastly, President Obama also pushed to help military service personnel into seamlessly transitioning to the civilian life. For example, passing of tax credits for veterans, increasing hiring of these veterans in health-care related fields and prioritizing veterans into being hired in law enforcement fields.

These are just some of the bills pushed and passed by the administration for the military veterans of the United States.

But as for Palin, the president and his administration have failed to provide combat veterans with ample support and care.

For more of the Obama Administration's record for "Veterans and Wounded Warriors," please click here.
Adventure travel is on the rise and the Latin America region is the best place to start for budding adrenaline junkies. With some of the most stunning and treacherous landscapes in the world, travelers will not run out of stories and photos to share after taking on the challenges. It's difficult to narrow down the must-do adventures in Latin America, but here are some of the best experiences in the various countries.

Galapagos Island, Ecuador

Many tourists get a glimpse of the stunning island of Galapagos as one of the stops of a cruise or day trip. According to a report from CNN, this is not the way to experience this diverse and colorful archipelago.

A land-based trip to the island includes every island activity including encounters with 500-pound tortoises and blue-footed boobies, kayaking and snorkelling, and trekking to a scalding volcano caldera. For those who want a destination that few have trodden before, Ecuador's premier island is one of the best options.

Patagonia, Argentina

The vast and dramatic lands of Patagonia open up endless of opportunities for backpackers. The travelers can hike and trek to their hearts' content through the famed Paine Towers, French Valley and Grey Glacier, according to a listing from REI Adventures. Even gazing at the vistas will leave tourists breathless. With its jagged cliffs, snow-topped mountains, peaceful lakes and expansive meadows, there's not a sight like the Patagonia scenery throughout the world. There's also the cattle drive that will attract galloping horse-lovers.

Death Road, Bolivia

Why would anyone want to bike down a path dubbed Death Road? Well, the road also known as Yungas Road is one of the most popular hotspots in the country with thrill-seekers from all over the world converging here to take a spin. According to a report from BBC, the unpaved stretch of the winding road is infamous for being the site of many deaths -- an average of 300 a year during the 1990s. Huge trucks often use this avenue, making it a tight and dangerous fit for cyclists in its way.

Inca Trail, Peru

Despite the Machu Picchu being a beautiful and peaceful archaeological site, the 27-mile trek going there is an arduous one and not for the weak-hearted, according to a report from Frommers. It's one of the most popular journeys in the world, taking the hikers through Peru, past the spectacular Andes Mountain passes and culminating in the awe-inspiring ruins of the Machu Picchu.
In light of the upcoming 2016 Elections this November, several Hispanic groups have recently filed a request for Georgia County to create Spanish ballots for those who have trouble in the English language, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

However, the Gwinett County in Georgia has cast their votes rejecting the requests of two Latino rights groups voting 4-1, according to Fox News Latino. The results show that the county is not willing to change their English-language ballots for the Latino community in the U.S.

The publication reports that the two groups, the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials (GALEO) and New York's LatinoJustice, have urged that under the federal Voting Rights Act, local governments must provide alternative voting materials for Puerto Ricans who are also U.S. citizens.

The voting results last Tuesday by the Gwinnett Board of Registrations and Elections reveals that the they are not willing to amicably allow the requests. They have announced that if a court orders them to so, then that's the only time that they will comply, per another report from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

However, the Latino rights group are urging that they have already chosen to settle the matter to avoid litigation but the Gwinnett County Board failed to comply. "Unfortunately Gwinnett County chose to continue to be out of compliance with the Voting Rights Act and decided that the Puerto Rican community's voting rights should not be protected," GALEO executive director Jerry Gonzalez told Fox News Latino.

As reported by the publication, Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act protects the rights of bilingual citizens to have bilingual ballots when they are at least 5 percent of the population or 10,000 citizens. Aaccording to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are approximately 171,000 Latinos in the county.

However, the Gwinnett County Board remains to be firm in their decision pending any court order. "I think GALEO will pursue litigation," Joe Sorenson, the Gwinnett County communications director, said as quoted by the news agency. "If the court decides that GALEO was right and our decision was wrong, we will certainly change it."

Meanwhile, as the majority of the board members voted against the Latino groups' requests, one, however, was in agreement to create bilingual voting materials according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. It was reportedly Vice Chairman of the Gwinnett Elections Board Stephen Day who said that the county should comply.

Day says the Gwinnett County should have agreed since it is highly possible that the federal government may be required to create Spanish voting materials under Section 203 of the law, the publication reports.


This Dominican man is showing protesters what dedication means.

A man who goes by the nickname El Peregrino de Mogote is showing the president of the Dominican Republic that he takes road construction and protesting very seriously.

The Yamasa native, who looks to be in his 50s, decided that the only way to convince President Danilo Medina to fix a neglected road in his area is to let himself be buried, according to Remezcla.

Of course, only his body is underground. His head is left sticking out of the tiny mound he's buried in.

This Dominican man is perhaps one of the most dedicated protesters out there. Others might use common and forgettable tactics to convince the government to make changes, but El Peregrino de Mogote's decision to let himself be buried in such a way is one of the most dramatic and attention-grabbing moves to pressure the president to fix a road.

"Queremos carretera, si no va 'ber candela," a crowd chanted beside El Peregrino while he is buried.

"We are here to get the attention of competent officials, so that someone takes the reins and fixes El Mogote, now that it is in a deteriorating state" the Dominican man exclaimed to CDN.

"It's embarrassing that in the 21st century, this hardworking community is so close to a road that is in such decline," he added in protest.

As for the rest of demonstrators, they agreed with El Peregrino that the condition of El Mogote is unacceptable.

It's not the first time that a man has buried himself alive. In 2014, a California man got buried alive on a beach and in 2011, a Russian man also let himself be buried. However, these two weren't so lucky as the Dominican man in Yamasa.

The man in California was a 26-year-old college graduate who died after getting buried by mistake in a 100-feet sand tunnel he had been digging, according to the Daily Mail.

As for the Russian man, he also died after burying himself alive by mistake. According to the BBC, the Russian man convinced a friend to bury him for a night since he thought it would give him luck. The incident took place in Blagoveshchensk City in east Russia. What's more tragic was that he even prepared for the "burial" since he brought a mobile phone and a bottle of water with him inside a coffin that had holes for air pipes.
Gang members have right to bear arms too. That thought may be the one running through Gov. Chris Christie's head when he vetoed a law in his home state of New Jersey which will prevent convicted gang members from buying guns.

Despite being supported by both Republican and Democratic law makers, the bill, known as A4182, failed to get Christie's signature. The bill would have prevented convicted gang members, carjackers, or just anyone convicted of making terrorists threats from purchasing a gun in the state of New Jersey.

State Assemblyman Timothy Eustace, one of the bill's sponsors said that, "The purpose of the bill was to make New Jersey safer. We were elected to take care of the people of New Jersey," NJ.com reported.

Mashable noted that the bill was unanimously passed back in June, with no one from the either the Assembly or the Senate, voting against it.

Eustace said that Christie's presidential ambitions was the main reason why he failed to sign the bill. According to him, before the governor was running for the presidency, he has "signed reasonable legislation," but apparently, now he does not.

With a crowded GOP party, and the presidential race tightening up, Eustace said that Christie does not even care about the state of New Jersey anymore.

Christie was also called out regarding his frequent "change of heart" when it comes to policies. According to reports, before he was running for president, he used to favor immigration reform that offers undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship, but now, he's not.

Apart from that, he also called Planned Parenthood a worthy cause and even said that he would donate money himself.

But arguably the biggest shocker from the New Jersey governor's changing stance is his view on gun control, an issue that the Democrats have been advocating for. It should be noted that Christie is currently trailing in the polls, and was even criticized before regarding his "non-conservative" stance with important issues.

Before, Christie declared that he fully supports New Jersey's already tight gun control laws, but ever since he declared his intention to run for president, he began to sing a different tune.

Christie's spokeswoman Joelle Farrell just gave a "non-answer" response about the issue. According to her, "Nothing on the specific rationale for this bill, other than this with respect to the pocket veto period in general."

The governor himself has yet to directly comment regarding the issue, but for now, Tony Soprano will be very pleased.
The beach always bring a lot of and surprises and in this case, it bought a 20-inch-long venomous yellow-bellied sea snake.

A Beachgoer in San Diego, California got an interesting find when he saw a snake washed ashore at the Coronado Dog Beach. The snake, which is very uncommon in the state, has recently washed up along the shores of Southern California

When he found the snake at around 2:30 pm local time, the unidentified beachgoer alerted the life guards and placed the reptile in a bucket. However, it died just like the other snakes that washed ashore recently on the beaches of California.

According to Live Science, the yellow-bellied sea snake has been turned over to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography for further studies.

As noted, a total of six yellow-bellied sea snakes have been reported to have washed up in the state of California. These reptiles are usually found along parts of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, in addition to the western coast of Central America, Hawaii and Japan.

The bright yellow color of the snake, just like every other venomous or poisonous animal, serves as a warning to predators that they are not to be messed with.

But according to experts, despite its venom being very potent, no human deaths caused by the yellow-bellied-snake have yet to be reported because they do not pose a great threat to humans.

According to Greg Pauly, an assistant curator of herpetology at the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles, the snake's small mouth, venom and fangs are more suited to small preys like fish, instead of a fully-grown adult person. He clarified that, unless a person is suffering from a condition, its venom is not enough to kill an adult human.

Pauly said that the snake is also fairly docile, and the likelihood of a human attack is fairly low. He said, "It's rare for them to bite people, it's usually fishermen who are carelessly pulling up fishing nets," The Guardian reported.

However, he still warned that people should keep their distance if ever they come across one of these snakes.

Although quite unusual, the appearance of the yellow-bellied sea snakes on the beaches of California is not unexpected. Scientists believe that the changing temperature of the ocean caused by El Nino has led to this tropical specie to travel northward of California.

According to Yahoo! News, the Natural History Museum urged the public to report the incident to nature@nhm.org if they see a yellow-bellied sea snake and include a photo and a description of the location.
Venezuela's government has requested OPEC hold an emergency meeting due to a collapse in oil prices that has left the country's economy in dire straits, sources at the organization said Wednesday.

According to Reuters, at least four delegates from the 12 other members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries have opposed the idea of such a meeting, which would be unprecedented.

De facto leader Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries in the organization have declined proposals for similar meetings in the past.

Oil prices are at their lowest since 2008, dropping to $28 a barrel. It has had a disastrous impact on the economies of most of OPEC's members, particularly less wealthy countries like Venezuela. The problem may only get worse with the lifting sanctions on Iran.

Saudi Arabia has refused to cut production, instead opting to defend its market share against higher-cost competitors. Other members are unlikely to agree to a meeting on the matter without the support of Saudi Arabia and the other top producers.

"There is no change in the Gulf countries' position with their market share strategy," a delegate from OPEC said. "Also none of the non-OPEC (countries) show they are willing to cooperate with OPEC for a cut. Iran also still didn't add oil to the market. So things didn't change."

According to Bloomberg, Ecuador is the only country to publicly back Venezuela's proposal. President Rafael Correa said Wednesday a cut in production could support prices.

Venezuela is one of five OPEC members who are at extreme risk due to the dropping oil prices. This group, labeled the "Fragile Five," also includes Nigeria, Algeria, Libya and Iraq.

One OPEC delegate, although surprised at how prolonged the current price drop has lasted, believes prices will rise again.

"It will not be low for a very long time," he said. "If the price does fall to $20, many producers will leave the market."
A Republican-backed proposal to tighten screening procedures on refugees fleeing war from Syria and Iraq was blocked by Democrats in the Senate on Wednesday.

The bill -- which passed in the GOP-controlled House last November -- aimed to slow down the entry process of Syrian and Iraqi refugees into the United States by requiring high-level U.S. officials to clear each applicant to ensure that they posed no security risk. The White House, however, denounced the measure as untenable and President Barack Obama had promised to issue a veto if it passed both branches of Congress, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Senate Democrats narrowly blocked the legislation in a 55-43 vote. As a result, Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., failed to gain enough votes to reach the 60-vote threshold needed to proceed without congressional hurdles.

According to Republicans, the tighter screening measure is needed to prevent terror attacks on American soil carried out by the Islamic State militants and other extremist groups.

"This bipartisan bill would allow Washington to step back, take a breath and ensure it has the correct policies and security screenings in place," said McConnell before the vote, reports Reuters.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., also condemned Democrats for blocking the legislation.

"Senate Democrats are making it that much harder for us to keep Americans safe," said the House Republican leader, according to The New York Times. "Their vote is irresponsible in a time of grave threats. Even the administration's top law enforcement officials say there are gaps in our refugee program that terrorists can exploit."

However, Democrats argued that the bill was an attack on people fleeing war torn countries. They also accused Republicans of holding the vote to give GOP senators running in the 2016 presidential election an opportunity to support legislation touted as tough on security. All three candidates, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, left the campaign trail to vote for the bill.

"Over and over again, Republicans remain committed to pledging loyalty to the divisive platform they have built for Donald Trump," said Nevada Democratic Sen. Harry Reid, tying the refugee screening bill to Donald Trump's call to ban Muslims from entering the U.S.
The Colombian government and Marxist rebel group FARC have jointly requested that the United Nations oversee their coming bilateral ceasefire.

While engaging in peace talks in Havana, negotiators representing both groups said they would like the UN to send a 12-month mission to watch over their attempts at peaceful coexistence.

As the BBC reports, the UN has not yet agreed to watch over the ceasefire. Colombia and FARC, who have been successfully having peace talks for three years now, hope to reach a final peace deal by March.

Both parties maintain that having the UN oversee their ceasefire is more of a formality than a necessity. A joint statement reads, "We have decided to ask the UN Security Council to create (a mission) of unarmed observers for a period of 12 months."

Humberto de la Calle, Colombias lead negotiator, has called the joint request for UN oversight an unequivocal demonstration of the desire to end the violence.

Since negotiations between the two groups started in 2012, FARC has announced several unilateral ceasefires, and Colombia has made an effort to scale down their military operations.

Colombia's war with FARC has resulted in 220,000 casualties.

FARC recently defended themselves against charges that women in their group have been forced to undergo abortions. As previously reported, the Colombian Attorney General's Office claims to have proof of forced abortions as part of FARC policy.

Attorney General Eduardo Montealegre said, "We have evidence to prove that forced abortion was a policy of the FARC that was based on forcing a female fighter to abort so as not to lose her as an instrument of war."

According to AFP, the Colombian government has recently released 16 FARC soldiers as a gesture of goodwill. President Juan Manuel Santos' administration pardoned the soldiers on Nov. 22, 2015.
Britain's Prime Minister, David Cameron, is urging leaders of the European Union to relax trade rules with Jordan. This is because although the international community has worked hard to provide humanitarian assistance to refugees, he feels that they must offer genuine support for Syria's neighbors who carry the burden of hosting the refugees of the Syrian conflict.

The British Government website Gov.uk reported that the Jordanian government has requested that the EU relax the rules that govern Jordan exports to the EU to make it easier for Jordanian products to qualify for duty free access to European markets. The Prime Minister said that relaxing the EU trade rules with Jordan "as part of a drive to increase support for Syrian refugees and countries hosting them" would provide genuine, long-term support for the refugees of the Syrian conflict and others affected by it.

Britain and Jordan hopes that the relaxation of export rules will spur growth by creating new investments opportunities inside Jordan. This will, in turn, create job opportunities for hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees across the Middle East. Reuters reports that before the World Economic Forum in Davos, Cameron and Jordan's Queen Rania would discuss with business and political leaders what steps can be taken to promote economic opportunities in Jordan. The Prime Minister's meeting with Queen Rania be ahead of the global pledging conference for Syria and the Middle East and will be co-hosted by the United Kingdom, Norway, Germany, Kuwait and the United Nations scheduled to be held in London next month.

Cameron said that export rules relaxation will help not only Syrians and other refugees but Europe as well. He said new economic opportunities would encourage people to stay in the region and ease the refugee crisis in Europe.

Yahoo News said that Cameron will propose the idea of revising trade rules to ease entry of Jordanian products into the EU, establishing zones where investors would be required to employ Syrians. And also allowing Syrians in refugee camps to operate businesses inside the camp and trade with host communities.

Jordan currently hosts more than 600,000 Syrian refugees and is expecting that this number would rise to 1.4 million. Around four million have fled since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011.
Peter Jesper Dalhin admitted that he is working for an illegal organization that sponsored undertakings to endanger Chinas national security. The Swedish national's admission appeared in a state television in China.

According to Time, during the interview, the Swedish national said that he had toiled with Su Changlan, a women's rights activist, Xing Qingxian, Chengdu-based activist and Wang Quanzhang, who is a lawyer, all these personalities are currently detained in China. In a report from the Chinese officials, Dalhin was found to be connected to the Fengrui Law firm.

He and Wang Quanzhang started a company in Hong Kong last 2009. The organization was accused of helping the son of a fellow Fengrui lawyer cross the border and leave China illegally. Earlier this year, Wang was charged with subversion of state power as reported by Bloomberg.

He has been working for an organization called Chinese Urgent Action Working Group that takes rapid response and assist the rights of Chinese people who are in need. According to the group where he's from, it is clear that he was forced to do the admission says reports from CNN.

The organization strongly believes that accusations of criminal activity on Dalhin remains baseless. But the Chinese government is firm in believing that the Action Group receives a large amount of money overseas to train others on how to fabricate and distort information about China and report it to other overseas organization.

These reports were solidified by Dalhins confessions that his organization received $1.5 million from all over the world for the past years with half of that amount going to his pocket. He said that they were using false salary receipts to gain extra money for themselves.

Dalhin admitted that he has caused harm to the Chinese government and has hurt the heart of the Chinese people. He said that he is very sorry for what happened and apologizes sincerely for his actions.
More than 10,000 desperate refugees are trapped in Hong Kong in hopes of seeking political asylum. However, a protected rule prevents them for doing so, trapping them in the country as a result. The refugees are considered to be in "legal limbo" because of certain acts that Hong Kong is involved in.

Refugees continue to be stuck in Hong Kong due to a glitch of a political rule. While Hong Kong did not sign to the 1951 Refugee Convention that establishes refugee rights and the power to grant asylums. However, Hong Kong is bound by the Convention Against Torture act, which is an international treaty that prevents the country from kicking people out when they are in risk of torture.

These acts can affect refugee claims, and can take up to a decade to settle. Not only do the refugees need to think about these acts, but they have to keep in mind that since 1992, only 31 people have gotten protection from Hong Kong.

Some of Hong Kong's refugees are from Vietnam, Indonesia, Africa and India, and live in less-fortunate areas located in slums and in farms.

"They still don't have any legal status here in Hongkong," states Victoria Wisniewski about the refugees, an advocate, in a report by AMES Australia. Wisniewski is an activist at the Justice Centre, a local NGO that fights for refugee rights.

Wisnewski added that it could be difficult for refugees to begin a life in Hong Kong since they are not treated as citizens who are entitled to benefits and employment status.

"Technically they are treated as illegal over-stayers. They have no right to work. They have no income," added the refugee advocate.

The high influx of asylum seekers who head to Hong Kong has paved the way for racketeering and black market in unofficial asylum approvals. Hong Kong's local media states that claims are used by asylum seekers to get illegal working status.

"It's legal limbo," added Wisniewski, in a separate report by Fusion.net.
Dutch Consumetenbond, the largest consumer protection advocacy in the Netherlands, filed a lawsuit on Monday against Samsung over lack of timely updates to its smartphones. The group demands the company to start properly updating its Android phones.

The Dutch consumers' association said in the lawsuit that Samsung did not provide an update to the latest Android version. According to OS News, the Dutch watchdog had been in talks with Samsung about the update issue, but no positive outcome was reached. The Consumentenbond said they saw no other option but to file a lawsuit.

In the lawsuit, the Dutch group demands that Samsung provides two years of updates for all its Android devices, with the two year period starting at the date of sale. This means that Samsung devices introduced years ago that are still being sold should still get two years' worth of updates.

The director of the Consumentenbond, Bart Combee, said in a press release that Samsung smartphones consumers are given inadequate information about how long they will continue to receive software updates. He said that Samsung provides insufficient information about critical security vulnerabilities, such as Stagefright, in its Android phones.

Combee said that the group, which has over 500,000 members, is demanding that Samsung provide its customers with clear and unambiguous information about the issue.

In August 2015, Samsung announced to roll out Google's monthly OS security updates following the revelation of Android's massive Stagefright vulnerability. Samsung released the list of devices that are expected to receive the upgrade. Apparently, only its newest devices were on the list, and not every Galaxy phone and tablet currently in use, Neowin reported.

A research conducted by the Consumentenbond itself showed that 82 percent of Samsung smartphones sold in The Netherlands did not get updates to the most recent version of Android in the two year period. Samsung's failure to provide updates leads to all kinds of security issues and other problems.

The Consumentenbond said that Samsung is not the only manufacturer failing to provide updates, Digital Trends reported. But the Dutch group is only targetting the company due to Samsung's 80 percent marketshare in the Netherlands. The group suspects any new laws enforced after the lawsuit would be applied to all smartphone manufacturers in the country.

The Consumentenbond started in July 2015 a campaign encouraging Android manufacturers to update devices and keep customers informed on future updates and security patches. The group is now moving forward to a legal action to make sure the smartphone vendors in the country take notice.
Jan 21, 2016, 9:08am ET

GM launches 'Maven' brand for car-sharing services

The company will expand its pilot program to 100,000 residents in Ann Arbor, Michigan, before rolling out to other cities.

General Motors has confirmed plans to significantly expand its car-sharing services beyond small pilot programs.

All of the automaker's car-sharing endeavors will be wrapped into a new brand labeled Maven, evoking the Yiddish word for an expert. An earlier trial had been labeled "Let's Drive NYC," however the fresh branding now provides a unified title for all markets.

"With the launch of our car-sharing service through Maven, the strategic alliance with ride-sharing company Lyft, and building on our decades of leadership in vehicle connectivity through OnStar, we are uniquely positioned to provide the high level of personalized mobility services our customers expect today and in the future," says GM president Dan Ammann.

The 117,000 residents of Ann Arbor, Michigan, will be among the first potential new customers as GM expands availability, initially focusing on students and faculty at the University of Michigan. The company will place vehicles at 21 parking spots across the city.

Within the next few months, Maven will broaden its reach to Chicago residents in certain housing properties. The New York City program will also be made available to more potential customers in additional buildings.

Interested residents can search for and reserve vehicles via smartphone apps, which can also be used to remotely unlock the vehicle. The company has not yet detailed pricing, though the NYC pilot offered vehicles for $10 per hour with a $75 cap for a 24-hour reservation.
Tim Farron and Tom Brake have reacted to this mornings publication of the report into the nurder of Alexander Litvinenko which concluded that Andrei Lugovoi, a key ally of Vladimir Putin, and Dmitri Kovtun killed Litvinenko and that Putin probably authorised it.

Tim Farron said that those responsible must be held to account:

A UK citizen was killed on the streets of London with polonium. It was an attack on the heart of Britain, our values and our society. I call for EU travel bans, asset freezes and coordinated action to deal with those who committed this evil assassination. I have called for a new Magnitsky Law to make sure that these people are held to account for what they did. These assassins trampled over British sovereignty and we cannot let this go unanswered.

If you were wondering what Magnitsky Laws are, theyre named after Russian lawyer and fraud investigator Sergei Magnitsky, who uncovered evidence of a major theft of tax money by government officials  but was then arrested for it himself, imprisoned, beaten, and left to languish for 358 days before he died in jail at age 37. Magnitsky laws impose sanctions outside of Russia against officials who were involved in the case, such as freezing their assets or barring them from bank transactions.

Tom Brake added:

The findings of the report reveal the callous killing of a British citizen on UK soil and now we must act firmly in condemning the perpetrators of this crime. Further action against Russia is needed  travel bans and the freezing of assets Russia are the very least that these assassins deserve. Our country must send a robust message that these crimes cannot happen on our streets.

Update

Tom Brake was far from impressed with the Home Secretarys statement to the Commons today:

>We have serious concerns over what appears to be the Government passing on responsibility for what should be a unwavering response to the Russian state, who committed a barbarous and calculated assassination on the streets of London. The Home Secretary has said it is not business as usual but what shes done is effectively turned away to state sponsored terrorism in the UK. She has effectively said there will be no consequences. Why is the Home Secretary saying she will consult with the Public Prosecutor about further action? It is the Government that should make decisions on matters as important as these, not pass the buck to someone else. For a Government which is obsessed with British sovereignty when it comes to the EU, they are remarkably hesitant to assert our sovereignty in the face of a manifest and egregious intrusion on our streets by an aggressive foreign power.

He had asked her:

A slap on the wrist for Russia wont do it. President Putins heart will not miss a beat if the UK cancels a trade mission here or a cultural visit there, but it will if we expand the scope of the sanctions already in force because of Russias illegal activities in Ukraine. Will the UK Government now ban any other Russians implicated in the murder, however senior, from travelling to the UK and freeze their assets? An assault on our sovereignty, which saw a British citizen murdered on British soil in a nuclear attack, requires nothing less.

Theresa May really didnt answer the question:
Mary Gale wanted Chris Gaetzkes help in identifying invasive plants on her property. When Gaetzke visited Gales property as part of his work with the Dunn County Land and Water Conservation and the Lower Chippewa Invasives Partnership, not surprisingly he found common buckthorn, bush honeysuckle, Japanese Barberry, Oriental Bittersweet and some garlic mustard.

As he walked further into Gales property, however, he was puzzled about a big tree that he didnt recognize. Back at his office, Gaetzke learned from the National Park Service Fact Sheet that the tree was an Amur Cork Tree, a non-native from Asia that had spread out of control in the Eastern part of the U.S.

Checking further, Gaetzke found the tree is prohibited in Wisconsin, which means any cork tree has to be removed. Later while walking in Menomonies Phelan Park, Gaetzke found cork trees had significantly infested the ridge area  and had even shaded out the widespread invasive buckthorn.

Alleopathic tree

In talking about her recent discovery of a prohibited plant on her property, Gale said she is concerned about its spread and its ability to take over areas and squelch out native plants. Gaetzke indicated if nothing is done to stop this tree now, cork trees will shade out everything else. The tree is known to be alleopathic, so it will chemically suppress other plants through the soil.

Cork tree is a heavy seed producer with the seeds being carried by both birds and water. Additionally, the tree is classified as having a fast growth rate. Gale had a cork tree cut down on her property with the stump measuring 30 inches. Gale and Gaetzke counted the stumps rings at 30, making for an inch growth in diameter per year with 10- to 12-feet growth a year in height being typical. It can grow in full sun or as an understory tree in the forest, and it will accept a wide range of soil pH.

Because of Amur Cork trees ability to outcompete native trees and other vegetation, Gaetzke is eager to learn of any locations in Chippewa, Dunn, Eau Claire, Pepin or Pierce counties where the tree is growing. He asks that anyone who thinks they may have seen or have a cork tree on their property, send him pictures of the bark, the branching limbs, and the inner bark with the yellow interior exposed as well as a detailed description of the location of the tree(s).

Identification

To help in spotting cork trees, Gaetzke suggests the tree is actually easier to identify in the winter as the bark of the young trees is definitely a lighter tan color than that of other local tree species. On mature trees the outer bark is soft, corky, gray-brown and deeply furrowed and the inner bark is bright neon yellow when the corky layer is cut off.

In the growing season, the tree produces five to 11 leaflets and blooms in June. Both the male and female cork trees flower, but only the female produces berries that are green in the summer and black in the fall. Once the pictures and location of suspected cork trees are submitted to Chris Gaetzke (cgaetzke@co.dunn.wi.us, 715-231-6540), the Lower Chippewa Invasives Partnership will verify the tree identification.

Elimination

When verification of the cork tree is made, consultation will be offered to the landowner for its control. DNR has some limited suppression funds available for cork tree eradication which will be used on a cost sharing, first-come, first-served basis.

There are a variety of control techniques available. If there is a large infestation of cork trees, it is recommended to prioritize the control of the female trees which can be identified by their berries that may still be hanging on the trees.

Since this tree will resprout from a cut stump, a systemic herbicide on the stump will prevent regrowth or as an alternative, foliar spray of the young resprouts can be used. Basal bark, girdling, and hack-and-squirt techniques can be used as well.

For more assistance about identification, control techniques and information about cost sharing, contact either Chris Gaetzke or the Lower Chippewa Invasives Partnership, lcinvasives@gmail.com.
This is our story as we move around the world.
MEMBERS of the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) have deferred strike action at the University Hospital Limerick, following talks with management over non-payment for overtime work on Wednesday afternoon.

According to the IMO, strike action has been postponed to Monday, February 1, pending payments made by UHL to interns  or non-consultant hospital doctors (NCHD)  who have not been paid for overtime work since November.

The talks  between industrial relations officers and the UL Hospitals Group  were prompted by some-50 members unanimously voting in favour of strike action at the hospital over the payment issues, on Friday, January 15.

According to a spokesperson for the IMO, strike action was scheduled to begin on Monday, in the absence of a resolution during the afternoon discussions.

A spokesperson for the UL Hospitals Group said that it welcomes the positive engagement at Wednesdays meeting, adding that claims made before December 23 will be processed for payment next week, and claims between December 23 and Wednesday will processed for payment by February 8.

Going forward, a system is being put in place to ensure that future claims are processed promptly, subject to the necessary paperwork being correctly completed.

In addition, fortnightly meetings are to take place between NCHD representatives and the HR department, UL Hospitals Group, to address any issues that arise.

UL Hospitals Group greatly values the hard work done by all of our highly skilled NCHDs and looks forward to final resolution of this matter, the spokesperson stated.

IMO was unavailable to issue a full statement in relation to the meetings outcome at the time of going to print.

Speaking after the final ballot on January 15, IMO vice president John Duddy criticised the UL Hospitals Group for not paying its NCHDs for their overtime work.

Doctors take their responsibilities to patients seriously and this vote for industrial action is indicative of the level of frustration felt by doctors and the lack of respect hospital management and the HSE have for their employees.

It is no wonder that our young highly trained doctors are choosing to leave Ireland and work in other health systems that respect and value their skills.

Speaking before the final ballot, IMOs assistant director in industrial relations, Eric Young said that the NCHDs were absolutely incensed over the issue.

We had an issue with interns not being paid in April, and the issue was resolved. We were promised that it wouldnt be repeated again. And now, the following November, we have the exact same issues, where they are not being paid, he previously stated.

A UL Hospitals spokesperson said that the issue relates to NCHDs who are not rostered for overtime work, and that all rostered overtime work was being paid.
AN INQUEST has heard of the frantic attempts of a father to save his young son from Castletroy, after he stumbled over a cliff edge in county Clare and fell into the sea in May 2014.

Speaking during the inquest at Dublin Coroners Court this week, his father Patrick Hayes questioned rescue response times, following the death of his nine year old son Aaron OFlaherty.

The father and son had been visiting Black Head lighthouse north of Fanore, as Aaron wanted to see the lighthouse working, his father told the inquest. The lighthouse is approached by a path with a No Entry sign, the court heard.

The pair were on a weekend camping trip to Doolin, and had visited the lighthouse earlier that day, but returned to Black Head lighthouse as dusk was falling.

He asked me could he see the lighthouse working, thats why we went back again, Mr Hayes said.

The pair sat on the rocks looking out over Galway Bay.

As he got up he seemed to stumble toward the cliff edge. I went to grab him but he fell in, Mr Hayes said.

Aaron fell between 5m and 7m into the sea below. Mr Hayes, who trained with the Civil Defence in 2005, said he knew he could not reach him.

He was calling out to me, I realised I wouldnt have been able to swim out to him, he said. He called 999, and threw a life buoy but it did not reach his son.

A fisherman was alerted by the mans shouts, he cast out a line and the boy grabbed it.

I pulled him into the shoreline, near enough to grab him. The man went into the water and grabbed the child but a wave came in and pushed them apart, the fisherman said.

His father said he held Aaron in his hands on a number of occasions, but the waves kept breaking us apart and pushing us underwater, and his son began to struggle and was swept out to sea.

Following Mr Hayes 999 call, logged at 9.15pm, the Rescue 115 Coastguard helicopter departed Shannon airport at 9.33pm and arrived at the scene at 9.45pm, as Doolin Coastguard volunteers arrived by boat.

Aaron was airlifted to Galway University Hospital and later transferred by ambulance to Temple Street Childrens Hospital in Dublin where he died four days later.

The cause of death was irreversible brain damage due to a lack of oxygen, secondary to a drowning episode.

The coroner returned a verdict of death by misadventure.
Republican representatives from Chippewa County voiced agreement with Republican Gov. Scott Walker and his policies in the wake of the State of the State address.

Sen. Terry Moulton (R-Chippewa Falls) released a statement offering support for Walkers agenda and praise for the governors achievements.

I support Governor Walkers vision and commend his leadership to fight for the issues affecting hard-working Wisconsinites, Moulton said. Despite the slow recovery of our national economy, Wisconsins unemployment rate is the lowest it has been since March of 2001 and property taxes have been on the decline for the fourth year in a row.

Moulton went on to tout high test scores in the states K-12 schools and freezes in college tuition.

Rep. Kathy Bernier (R-Lake Hallie) gave a similar assessment touching on some of the same issues including lower taxes and unemployment.

She also discussed those issues on a more local level.

I look forward to working with the Governor to fill high-demand jobs in the Chippewa Valley, Bernier said. The governor once again highlighted Wisconsin Fast Forward and a need for job training programs. I expect we will act quickly to bolster this very successful program.

Rep. Dana Wachs (D-Eau Claire) had a different take on the picture Walker painted.

After the recent stories of jobs leaving Wisconsin, I had really hoped Governor Walker would present a bold plan to keep jobs here and attract new business to Wisconsin, Wachs said. Sadly, however, we heard more of the lack of accountability and irresponsible priorities that have become the cornerstone of his administration.

Rep. Tom Larson (R-Colfax) had not returned calls from The Herald as of Wednesday evening.
I have to speak up before my mum ends up like Osinachi - Lady cries out for help for her mum who has been suffering abuse and domestic violence
May 3, 2021, 5 PM

Cyprus 1928 set of 10 marking the 50th anniversary of British rule (Scott 114-123) is a good buy in mint never-hinged condition at around $350.

By Henry Gitner and Rick Miller

In antiquity, Cyprus was part of the Byzantine Empire. In the Middle Ages, this island in the eastern Mediterranean was a major base for the staging of the Crusades. With the defeat of the Crusaders, it came under repeated Muslim attacks until it was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1570.

Great Britain leased Cyprus from the Ottoman Empire in 1878 and it became de facto a part of the British Empire until formally being declared a crown colony in 1925.

Unrest between the Greek and Turkish elements of the population was endemic, and was brought to a head by decolonization in the late 1950s. Greek Cypriots favored union with Greece, while Turkish Cypriots favored partition of the island between the two communities. The compromise, an independent republic established in 1960, pleased neither side.

In 1974, a Greek military junta attempted to annex the island to Greece, resulting in the Greco-Turkish war, won by the Turks. The island was effectively partitioned between the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and the Greek Cypriots, who controlled the rest of the island.

One of the most attractive British Empire sets ever issued is Cyprus 1928 set of 10 (Scott 114-123) commemorating the 50th anniversary of British rule.

This is the key set of Cyprus stamps for British Empire collectors, and many of the stamps have topical appeal for collectors of archaeology, religion, architecture and coins on stamps.

The 2016 Scott Classic Specialized Catalogue of Stamps and Covers 1840-1940 values the set in unused hinged condition at $408. We think this set is a good buy at around $200 in unused hinged condition and at about $350 in mint never-hinged condition.

Most of the stamps in the set can be found at a considerable discount from Scott catalog value. But the 1 King George V stamp (Scott 123) often sells at close to catalog value.

The best way to buy the set might be to look for the best deal you can get on this high-value stamp and then fill in the rest as individual stamps or short sets.
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New Year, New Location: A Tree of Life Fellowship Expands to Houston Pastor Tony Ervin Announces Launch of Second Location and Ministry Rebranding



Contact: ThinkZILLA PR & Consulting, 888-509-1145,



HOUSTON, Jan. 21, 2016 /



"We give God all the praise and all the glory for the vision and the resources to open our new Houston location," said Pastor Ervin. "With his guidance and anointing, we will bring healing and restoration to Houston area families and continue to fulfill our mission of working to bring people to Christ while helping them understand their purpose in life."



A Tree of Life Fellowship is a prophetic, deliverance and proactive teaching ministry that helps those who seek to grow religiously to find and know God. Pastor Ervin delivers accurate prophecies that have restored families, marriages and ministries. He's also healed many from demonic oppressions and satanic strongholds.



Pastor Ervin has strong roots in Texas. He was ordained and licensed in Houston and grew his ministry by leading small group bible study and working with youth in various parts of the state. Houston is also where Pastor Ervin met his wife, First Lady LaSherrie Ervin.



"A Tree of Life Fellowship is a community led by Bible-based beliefs, and committed to carrying out a mission of love and understanding," said the First Lady. "We invite the entire Houston community to join us for worship."



A Tree of Life Fellowship's new church is located at 13155 Westheimer Road. Sunday worship is held weekly at 3:00 p.m.



For more information about A Tree of Life Fellowship and to view the ministry's new logo and website, visit



Share Tweet Contact: ThinkZILLA PR & Consulting, 888-509-1145, Press@itsthinkzilla.com HOUSTON, Jan. 21, 2016 / Christian Newswire / -- Under the leadership of Pastor Tony Ervin, Orlando-based A Tree of Life Fellowship kicks off the New Year with a new location in Houston. In addition to the second location, the ministry also debuts a new logo and website as part of the ministry's rebranding campaign. www.tree-oflifechurch.org "We give God all the praise and all the glory for the vision and the resources to open our new Houston location," said Pastor Ervin. "With his guidance and anointing, we will bring healing and restoration to Houston area families and continue to fulfill our mission of working to bring people to Christ while helping them understand their purpose in life."A Tree of Life Fellowship is a prophetic, deliverance and proactive teaching ministry that helps those who seek to grow religiously to find and know God. Pastor Ervin delivers accurate prophecies that have restored families, marriages and ministries. He's also healed many from demonic oppressions and satanic strongholds.Pastor Ervin has strong roots in Texas. He was ordained and licensed in Houston and grew his ministry by leading small group bible study and working with youth in various parts of the state. Houston is also where Pastor Ervin met his wife, First Lady LaSherrie Ervin."A Tree of Life Fellowship is a community led by Bible-based beliefs, and committed to carrying out a mission of love and understanding," said the First Lady. "We invite the entire Houston community to join us for worship."A Tree of Life Fellowship's new church is located at 13155 Westheimer Road. Sunday worship is held weekly at 3:00 p.m.For more information about A Tree of Life Fellowship and to view the ministry's new logo and website, visit www.tree-oflifechurch.org . All media inquiries should be directed to ThinkZILLA PR & Consulting/ Press@itsthinkzilla.com / 888-509-1145
NOAA's GOES-West satellite captured this photo of the winter storm on Jan. 21, 2016, at 10 a.m. EST.

A massive winter storm that is expected to bring snow and ice to the eastern United States in the next 48 hours dwarfs the central part of the country in a new satellite image.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's GOES-West satellite spotted this cloudy view of the large storm near the Gulf Coast today (Jan. 21) at 10 a.m. EST. (The satellite photo also spied a separate storm swirling over the Pacific Ocean.)

The NASA-NOAA Suomi NPP satellite captured another view of the looming winter storm yesterday (Jan. 20) at 2:30 p.m. EST, showing clouds and snow cover stretching from northern Texas into the Great Lakes states. The low-pressure system, which originated in the Eastern Pacific, is headed toward the mid-Atlantic states. The National Weather Service is warning of a potentially "crippling" snowstorm in those areas tomorrow and Saturday. [VIDEO: Watch the Developing Storm from Space]

Much of the East, from as far south as northern Georgia to as far north as New York City, is under weather alert, ranging from winter storm warnings in eastern Tennessee, Kentucky and western North Carolina to a blizzard watch in Washington, D.C, Baltimore and up the I-95 corridor through New Jersey.

"At this moment, this still looks like it's going to be northern Virginia and Maryland's most memorable snow," said David Robinson, the state climatologist of New Jersey. "A question remains just where exactly the heaviest snowfall totals will fall, just where the strongest winds will be and where the coastal flooding will be worst."

Volatile winter

The storm will track across the Tennessee Valley tonight and Friday, ultimately hitting the mid-Atlantic states Saturday, with lessening snow expected by Sunday. Storms like the one bearing down on the eastern United States typically have a band of heavy snowfall about 100 miles (161 kilometers) wide, Robinson told Live Science. North of this band, precipitation peters out, leading to low overall totals. South of this band, temperatures are warm enough that snow turns to rain.

"This is a multifaceted nor'easter, as they all tend to be, laden with strong wind and impacts on the coast and heavy precipitation of one form or another," Robinson said.

El Nino's influence may also be at play, Robinson said. The storm "fits the pattern of volatility that we often see in weather, really across the country, during an El Nino winter," he said.

The winter of 2015-2016 has so far been marked by an active storm pattern in the western United States, with unseasonably warm temperatures and unusual midwinter thunderstorms in the South. In late December and early January, the Mississippi River flooded to levels not seen since 1993, thanks to heavy snows and rainfall in the western and central parts of the country. A rare December tornado outbreak from Indiana to Alabama killed 13 people between Dec. 23 and Dec. 25.

The NASA-NOAA Suomi NPP satellite captured this view of a massive winter storm yesterday (Jan. 20) at 2:30 p.m. EST. (Image credit: NASA Goddard Rapid Response)

Meanwhile, warm temperatures made Christmas a balmy holiday for many on the East Coast. New York City experienced its warmest Christmas on record, with temperatures reaching 66 degrees Fahrenheit (19 degrees Celsius). On Christmas Eve, the mercury hit 72 degrees F (22 degrees C) at LaGuardia Airport in New York, breaking a 76-year record. The previous high temperature that day, according to NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information, was 63 degrees F (17 degrees C).

Ice, wind and floods

If volatility is a feature of El Nino winters in the United States, so is an active East Coast storm track, Robinson said.

"We have seen coastal storms aplenty during El Nino winters," he said. Those storms don't always translate to snow, though, he added. Some mid-Atlantic El Nino years have been virtually snow-free, while others have seen large snowstorms.

Regardless of snow totals, the incoming storm is likely to be a major event, meteorologists say. Forecasts predict water levels 3 to 4 feet higher than normal along the New Jersey coast down into Delaware, Robinson said, and winds could gust more than 60 mph (96.5 km/h).

Washington, D.C., and the surrounding area is under a blizzard warning, with about 24 inches (60 centimeters) of snow expected for the capital city and 24 to 30 inches (60 to 76 cm) in the western suburbs, according to the National Weather Service. Gusty winds, ice and up to a foot (30 cm) of snow are expected in Kentucky. Detailed regional weather advisories and forecaster discussions can be found at http://www.weather.gov/.

Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.
Here a tick, there a tick, everywhere a tick, tick: The critters that can carry Lyme disease are now more widespread in the U.S. than ever before, according to new research.

In the study, experts mapped the distribution of Lyme-disease-carrying ticks and found that these ticks are ranging farther north than before, and are now living in nearly 50 percent of U.S. counties.

There are two tick species that can carry the Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria that cause Lyme disease: the blacklegged tick, also known as the deer tick (Ixodes scapularis), and the western blacklegged tick (Ixodes pacificus). The bacteria can only be transmitted to people through the ticks' bites. I. scapularis is the primary carrier in the eastern U.S., and I. pacificus is the primary carrier in the far western states.

Researchers previously surveyed these ticks' distribution in 1998 and mapped the tick populations in the continental U.S. Those results showed that the ticks were present in 34 percent of U.S. counties, across 41 states.

In the new study, they looked at studies and data from state health departments, and reached out to public health officials, Lyme-disease researchers and other scientists. [Video: A Tick Bite Visualized]

For every U.S. county, the researchers evaluated whether tick populations for I. scapularis and I. pacificus were "established" or "reported." "Established" meant that there was evidence that a population of ticks was alive and well, and reproducing in the county, whereas "reported" meant that a few ticks had been spotted at some point, although not necessarily recently, the scientists said.

After evaluating data for the 3,110 counties in the continental U.S., the researchers found recorded evidence that the eastern tick, I. scapularis, is now reported or established in 1,420 counties and the western tick I. pacificus is reported or established in 111 counties. Together, the two tick species span 49 percent of U.S. counties across 43 states.

"What we saw was a pretty substantial expansion in the northeastern U.S. in the north central states," Rebecca J. Eisen, lead author of the study and a research biologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told Live Science. The ticks are also expanding farther west and east, she said.

And Lyme cases have been on the rise as well. In 1991, about 10,000 Lyme disease cases were reported in the U.S., but in 2014, more than 33,000 Lyme cases were tallied, according to the CDC. However, some of this increase may be due to more awareness of the disease and more cases being reported. Early-stage Lyme symptoms include fever, chills, joint pain and a distinctive "bull's-eye" rash at the site of the tick bite. If untreated, the disease can cause arthritis, heart palpitations, brain inflammation, and weakness of the facial muscles, the CDC says.

The map on top is from 1998, and the one below it is from 2015. Red indicates a county where I. scapularis is established, and blue indicates where it has been reported. Green indicates a county where I. pacificus is established, and yellow indicates where it has been reported. (Image credit: Entomological Society of America)

One reason for the ticks' recent range expansion may be climate change, said Ralph M. Garruto, a professor of biomedical anthropology at Binghamton University, State University of New York.

"Ticks would be able to move farther north with warmer temperatures, as severe cold and dry conditions affect tick survival," said Garruto, who was not involved in the study.

Eisen agreed, adding that climate plays a significant role in defining the western limit of the range of the blacklegged tick. "For example, it's too dry in Colorado for this tick to survive," Eisen told Live Science.

Garruto also said that human activity could be creating more hospitable environments for ticks. "There may be a lot more forest fragmentation in the Northeast due, in part, to built environments  an aspect of research we are currently looking at," he said. "Perhaps the increasing deer populations in many areas are responsible for moving [the ticks] around," as well as giving the ticks more opportunity to breed, he added.

And established tick populations can readily travel between neighboring counties, Eisen said. "A county is more likely to be colonized if its neighbor has ticks, so having ticks nearby and having woods with deer is a good indication that the tick is likely to come to a new area," she said. [The 10 Most Diabolical and Disgusting Parasites]

She noted that many ticks do not carry the bacteria that cause Lyme disease.

The new study offers "a nice summary of the distribution of tick species that have the potential to carry Lyme, but their distribution alone does not equate with Lyme disease," Garruto told Live Science. Researchers would need to know the percentage of ticks that are infected in order to speculate on whether the expansion of the ticks' range could lead to an increase in Lyme disease cases, he said.

"We really want people to be aware that risks change, and it's important to know what ticks and tick-borne disease are common in the places where you live and where you visit," Eisen said.

The findings were published online Jan. 18 in the Journal of Medical Entomology.

Follow Mindy Weisberger on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.
2015 was the warmest year since modern record keeping began in 1880, according to a new analysis by NASAs Goddard Institute for Space Studies. The record-breaking year continues a long-term warming trend  15 of the 16 warmest years on record have now occurred since 2001

It's getting hot in here; global average temperatures last year broke records, with 2015 steaming into first place as Earth's hottest year since record keeping began in 1880. Scientists have analyzed the balmy trend, and El Nino is just part of the story, they say.

Temperatures for December 2015 were especially unusual, with the highest average temperatures on land and sea surface recorded for any single month during 136 years of record keeping, according to a Jan. 20 statement by NASA and a report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Part of the explanation for the heat spike toward the year's end lies in 2015's strong El Nino, a cyclical event that moves warm water along the equatorial Pacific from west to east, triggering climate activity that can drive temperatures upward in parts of the world and contribute to some extreme weather episodes. But El Nino alone wasn't responsible for the high temperatures that prevailed throughout the year, according to Gavin Schmidt, director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in Greenbelt, Maryland.

"Last year's temperatures had an assist from El Nino," Schmidt said in the statement, "but it is the cumulative effect of the long-term trend that has resulted in the record warming that we are seeing." [Watch Earth Get Hotter  135 Years of Temperature Changes Visualized]

Global climate data analyzed independently by NASA and NOAA, and presented today, told the same story, and a familiar one: 2014, formerly the warmest year on record, lost its title once 2015 wound to a close, clocking in at 0.23 degrees Fahrenheit (0.13 degrees Celsius) warmer than its predecessor, according to the statement. This is only the second time in 136 years that a previous temperature record has been broken by such a wide margin.

And 2015 is only the latest benchmark in a warming trend that spans over 100 years, according to NASA. In the statement, officials pointed to increasing atmospheric levels of human-made emissions like carbon dioxide that drive global temperatures upward, increasing Earth's average surface temperature by 1.8 degrees F (1 degree C) since the end of the 19th century.

December 2015, blended land and sea surface temperature anomalies (in degrees Celsius) (Image credit: NOAA'S National Centers for Environmental Information)

But to what extent was El Nino responsible for a warmer-than-average 2015? From year to year, Earth's oceans and atmosphere engage in a complex dance that moves heat and moisture around the planet. Their movements follow patterns, which become visible over decades of observations. One of those recurring patterns is the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), responsible for El Nino and its counterpart, La Nina.

El Nino develops about once every five years, according to Steven Pawson, an Earth scientist and chief of the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. To track El Nino, experts look to an equatorial central Pacific zone known as the Nino 3.4 region. Warmer-than-average sea surface temperatures in this zone, calculated over months, tell scientists that El Nino conditions are active, Pawson told Live Science. When sea surface temperatures there are exceptionally warm, "that's a strong El Nino," Pawson said.

And during 2015, a strong El Nino developed, carrying warmer waters from the tropical Pacific east toward South and Central America. The warm waters engage with atmospheric circulation, generally bringing more rain to Southern California and the Gulf Coast  which we saw in 2015, Pawson said. But while El Nino delivered badly needed moisture to the U.S.'s West Coast and southern states, it brought drier than usual conditions to the Amazon, leaving it susceptible to fires toward the middle of 2016, Pawson added. [How El Nino Causes Wild Weather All Over the Globe (Infographic)]

Warmer winter temperatures in the eastern United States are also a hallmark of El Nino. "Typically, El Nino does give us a warmer-than-normal East Coast, especially in the early part of the winter," Pawson said, adding that El Nino was still likely not entirely responsible for 2015's unusually balmy winter temperatures.

And El Nino's effects weren't felt until later in 2015 anyway, Schmidt explained during the NASA/NOAA press conference. Global temperatures generally respond to a developing El Nino after four to six months, he said, while 2015's warming trend was evident from the very beginning of the year.

However, Schmidt pointed out that the last few months of 2015, with temperatures that were abnormally warm, were reacting to the current El Nino. And 2016, which is kicking off with a strong El Nino already in progress, is expected to be an exceptionally warm year, perhaps another record setter, he added.

The evidence glimpsed in warming trends over time shows that other factors are pushing global temperatures steadily higher as the years go by, Schmidt said, warning that "this will be continuing and accelerating" with increased burning of fossil fuels and carbon dioxide emissions.

And there are consequences that come with warming. Heat waves, sea-level increases and glacier loss, Schmidt said, which we are already seeing now, are directly related to global warming. And scientists expect events like these to continue into 2016 and onward, as warming continues.

It's less clear if a warming world means stronger El Nino events that would bring more extreme weather and even greater temperature anomalies to the globe, Pawson told Live Science; that's largely because El Nino occurs only about 20 times in 100 years, so it's harder to detect long-term trends that develop over time.

"There's climate change happening. There are El Ninos happening, with varying strengths. And time's going to tell if the character of El Nino is changing because of climate change," Pawson said.

Follow Mindy Weisberger on Twitterand Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.
Churches' Pro-Life Witness Grows in 2016 "Pro-Life Christians are witnessing an awakening among the American public on Sanctity of Life issues. These events are an encouraging start in advocacy and ministry to defend the most vulnerable at both ends of life." -- Chelsen Vicari, Director of IRD's Evangelical Action Program



Contact: Jeff Walton,



WASHINGTON, Jan. 21, 2016 /



Anglicans for Life

Anglican bishops are igniting pro-life work in local churches with this year's "Mobilizing the Church for Life 2016" an all-day summit on Thursday, January 21, at the Falls Church Anglican. On Friday Morning, participants will gather at Columbia Baptist Church for a time of prayer and worship led by Archbishop Foley Beach before marching together in the March for Life.



Learn more at:



Evangelicals for Life

The Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) is partnering with Focus on the Family to host an inaugural Evangelicals for Life event.



Evangelicals for Life will gather Thursday and Friday at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill. In addition to promoting the dignity and personhood of unborn babies, the conference will educate Evangelicals on issues including adoption and foster care, the effects of fatherlessness, holistic support for expecting mothers, and church-based ministry opportunities.



For more information:



United Methodist Pro-Life Service

Faithful Methodists will gather in Washington for prayer hosted by the unofficial Pro-Life caucus in the United Methodist Church. Join Lifewatch for worship and prayer at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, January 22, at the Methodist Building located at 100 Maryland Avenue in Washington, DC.



For more information:



Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod Worship Service

The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS) Life Ministry is hosting a Divine Worship service at 9 a.m. at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Alexandria, Virginia before participating together as LCMS Lutherans in the March for Life.



For more information:



The National Prayer Vigil for Life

Thousands will gather at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. for an all-night prayer vigil hosted by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Pro-Life Secretariat alongside Catholic University of America, and the National Shrine of Immaculate Conception.



To learn more, please visit



www.TheIRD.org

Share Tweet Contact: Jeff Walton, Institute on Religion & Democracy , 202-682-4131, 202-413-5639 cell, jwalton@TheIRD.org WASHINGTON, Jan. 21, 2016 / Christian Newswire / -- Tens of thousands will gather in Washington D.C. this Friday to commemorate more than 55 million unborn lives lost to abortion in the United States since 1973 as well as celebrate the sanctity of life. Before the official March for Life gets underway, several Church affiliates are hosting pro-life events in conjunction with the March.Anglican bishops are igniting pro-life work in local churches with this year's "Mobilizing the Church for Life 2016" an all-day summit on Thursday, January 21, at the Falls Church Anglican. On Friday Morning, participants will gather at Columbia Baptist Church for a time of prayer and worship led by Archbishop Foley Beach before marching together in the March for Life.Learn more at: www.AnglicansforLife.org The Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) is partnering with Focus on the Family to host an inaugural Evangelicals for Life event.Evangelicals for Life will gather Thursday and Friday at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill. In addition to promoting the dignity and personhood of unborn babies, the conference will educate Evangelicals on issues including adoption and foster care, the effects of fatherlessness, holistic support for expecting mothers, and church-based ministry opportunities.For more information: www.evangelicals.life Faithful Methodists will gather in Washington for prayer hosted by the unofficial Pro-Life caucus in the United Methodist Church. Join Lifewatch for worship and prayer at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, January 22, at the Methodist Building located at 100 Maryland Avenue in Washington, DC.For more information: www.lifewatch.org or contact Cindy Evans: cindy@lifewatch.org The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS) Life Ministry is hosting a Divine Worship service at 9 a.m. at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Alexandria, Virginia before participating together as LCMS Lutherans in the March for Life.For more information: www.lcms.org or email: tracy.quaethem@lcms.org Thousands will gather at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. for an all-night prayer vigil hosted by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Pro-Life Secretariat alongside Catholic University of America, and the National Shrine of Immaculate Conception.To learn more, please visit www.usccb.org
The Mission Society Challenges Christians to Reject Self-Rejection in 2016 Overcoming Negative Internal Messages Can Open Up Paths to Service



Contact: Ty Mays,

InChrist Communications,

770-256-8710



ATLANTA, Jan. 21, 2016 /Christian Newswire/ -- This month nearly half of all Americans will make New Year's resolutions. However, if the past is any indication of the future, only eight percent will successfully keep them. When we fail to achieve our goals, it's easy to point to external obstacles or blame a lack of willpower.



But what if the real culprit is a subtle form of self-sabotage?



Stephen Seamands, Ph.D, writes about his experience helping ministry students discover and pursue their callings in a recent issue of "Unfinished," a publication of The Mission Society. Often, Seamands writes, feelings of self-rejection and negative internal messages prevent these young people from realizing their potential.



The Mission Society's president, Max Wilkins, says, "We seek to connect those called to cross-cultural ministry with areas of need all around the world. But in order for them to pursue the calling God has placed in their hearts, they often need to learn to quiet the negative voices in their heads."



This principle applies to more than just missionaries. "Dismissing messages of self-rejection is essential for any Christian who wants to pursue God's best for their lives," Wilkins says. "The latest issue of 'Unfinished' focuses on helping Christians find their place of service in God's kingdom, and we feel Seamands' article perfectly addresses where that search must start for so many of us."



In the article, Seamands offers some practical tips for moving beyond self-inflicted limitations. The first step in overcoming negative internal messages is to address self-rejection. Seamands writes, "For the past 20 years, as I've engaged in spiritual counsel with seminary students, especially in the ministry of healing prayer, I have come to realize how deeply rooted self-rejection is in so many of us."



The power to move beyond these entrenched attitudes, according to Seamands, comes from accepting the love of God. He challenges readers, "Would you let God love youeven in those parts of yourself and your life-story you have hated and looked down upon?"



Accepting that divine love affects more than our individual spiritual health; it also plays a crucial role in our ability to love and serve others. As Seamands puts it, "Before we know God's heart of love for those to whom we are sent, don't we first need to know and experience God's love for us?"



In his article, Seamands provides several examples of Christians whose lives were transformed when they learned to reject self-rejection. And he offers readers some advice for accessing that same transformation, urging them to ask God a question.



"Ask the Holy Spirit to enable you to love yourself and those parts of yourself as God loves you. The Father calls you His beloved. It's time for you to call yourself 'beloved' too."



Seamand's article is just one of many resources The Mission Society offers to help Christians recognize and answer God's call. Visit www.themissionsociety.org to subscribe to "Unfinished" and to explore the many service options presented by The Mission Society.



Founded in 1984 in the Wesleyan tradition, The Mission Society (www.themissionsociety.org) exists to mobilize and deploy the body of Christ globally to join Jesus in His mission, especially among the least-reached peoples. The Mission Society recruits, trains and sends Christian missionaries to minister around the world. Its church ministry department provides seminars, workshops and mentoring for congregations in the United States and abroad, helping equip churches for outreach in their communities and worldwide. The Mission Society has 180 missionaries serving in 35 countries.

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The Government has been accused of blocking a local authority's bid to provide housing for its ageing population.

The claim was made at a meeting of Longford County Council last week over its attempts to draw down funding for the provision of Older Persons Dwellings (OPDs).

Councillors were told that despite a seven figure sum in capital funding having been approved last year, individual projects still have to go back to Department of Environment bosses for approval.

Cllr Martin Mulleady led the criticism and accused the coalition of deliberately blocking the Council's own attempts to meet its housing needs.

That is absolutely ridiculous, he remarked.

 What this is is a stalling process.

Its about keeping the books up, not giving the money out and stalling the ball.

Its the same with a lot of things they (government) have done over the last year and a half. They are stalling the funding thats coming into the council.

The outburst came during a motion which was tabled by Independent councillor, Mark Casey.

He said the need to OPD housing in Longford was abundantly clear, something he said needed to be impressed on Housing Minister, Paudie Coffey.

We (Longford County Council) were promised three or four houses over the last number of years and hopefully with this being an election year there will be some movement on them, said Cllr Casey.

The Lanesboro representative said such was the potential headache facing council bosses that a growing number of elderly residents were living in housing unsuited to their day to day needs.

As I see it now we (Council) have people living in inadequate housing in estates with stairs and narrow halls and what we need to do is move them to OAP houses and repopulate those houses with young families.

He also vented his fury at the level of State funding for OPD housing.

The amount of funding we have got over the last number of years has been absolutely ridiculous, he raged.

We always seem to be promised the same thing over and over again and I bet the Longford Leader are fed up announcing the couple of houses that are coming to Lanesboro.

There is not much writing in it thats for sure and there is still no sign of the funding for them.

Fine Gael Cllr Micheal Carrigy questioned some of the claims made by Cllr Casey and suggested monies could be drawn from the Council's Part V resources.

In accordance with the rules set down in the 2000 Planning Act, developers were previously required to set aside 20 per cent of all dwellings for social and affordable housing.

Councils, like Longford could also accept a payment if they didnt want to take up the offer of the units.

However, Cllr Mae Sexton vehemently rejected those calls, insisting the Council would not be left short-changed in providing OPD housing.

We will not spend that money on building OPDs, she maintained.

Its not so this Government can get off the hook and not provide this local authority with the money it needs build its local authority housing. Over my dead body will we touch the money that's in Part V.
St Mel's Cathedral will welcome The Guinness Choir with full orchestra on Sunday, March 13, as they perform one of the world's most timeless, moving and joyful pieces of music; Handel's Messiah.

The piece, which tells the story of Christ's birth, death and resurrection, premiered in 1742 in Dublin. It has since become one of Handel's best known works.

While it has become popular throughout the Advent season, it was originally intended for Easter time or Pentecost, which is ideal, as the Guinness Choir, formed in 1951, will stage their performance just before Easter.

On the night the choir will be joined by a full orchestra and soloists Sylvia O'Brien (soprano), Victoria Massey (contralto), Jeffrey Ledwidge (bass) and Andrew Boushell (tenor).

Seven hundred people attended the premiere of Handels Messiah in Fishamble Street in 1742. To accommodate this large crowd, gentlemen were requested to remove their swords, and ladies were asked not to wear hoops in their dresses. Hopefully the audience wont have to resort to such restriction in St Mels Cathedral, but as organisers are expecting a huge demand for tickets, early booking is advised.

Kindly supported by Bank of Ireland, Longford, this unmissable performance takes place on Sunday, March 13 at 8pm.

Tickets, which cost 20, are available from Backstage Theatre on 043 33 47888 or online at www.backstage.ie; from St Mels Cathedral Presbytery on 043 3346465; the Temperance Hall on 043 3349548 and Farrel & Coy, Longford on 043 3328794.
The 125th annual St.Patrick's Day dinner dance hosted by the Longford Association of Greater New York will take place on Sunday March 13 2016 at the Astoria World Manor in Astoria, New York.

This year, the prestigious Guest of Honour Award will be presented to well-known Newtownforbes native John Mahon.

The Longford lady of the year award will be presented to Dr. Margaret Fitzimons-Hagan and the Louise McKeon memorial award will be presented to Steven McInnis.

John Mahon

John Mahon is a legendary figure among the Irish in New York.

An entrepreneur and respected businessman, his is the quintessential emigrants tale of success from hard work and dedication. He left home at 14 to become a cattle dealer before moving to London where he worked in construction. He later emigrated to New York where he worked as a barman before he opened the Pig and Whistle.

He now owns 14 restaurants in New York but he never lost his love of his native county.

He is a frequent visitor to Longford and his warm welcome for Longfordians who travel to the Big Apple is renowned. In recent years he was honoured as Man of the Year by the Frances Pope Foundation, a New York based charity. His award from the Longford Association will be widely welcomed both at home and in the US.

Margaret Hagan-Fitzsimons

This year, the Longford Lady of the Year Award will go to Dr Margaret Fitzsimons-Hagan.

Dr. Margaret Fitzsimons-Hagan was born and raised in Queens, New York.

She is the eldest daughter of the late Eddie Fitzsimons originally from Springtown, Granard and Kathleen (nee Clarke) originally from New Inn, Ballyjamesduff, Co. Cavan.

She is married to Tom Hagan who hails from Ballinamuck, Longford and they live in Maspeth, New York with their children, Bronwyn, Barry, Brendan and Brogan.

Margaret is an accomplished general dentist and is very well known in the Irish community.

She is a highly regarded member of the Longford Association New York and has supported Longford events since she was a young girl going to Longford dances with her parents.

In her spare time she travels with her two youngest boys who are competitive Irish step-dancers.

She enjoys going to Ireland regularly .

Steve McInnis

The recipient of the Louise McKeon Memorial Award is Steve McInnis. Steve is the President of the New York City District Council of Carpenters and serves on a number of boards within the city including the Executive Board of the New York City Building Trades, the Executive Board of the of the New York State Democratic Party, the New York City Carpenter Labor Management Corporation and the Board of Trustees of the New York City Carpenters Benefit Fund.

Born in the Bronx and a third generation carpenter, his mother Anns parents were James Duffy from Moyne and Annie Donohue from Aughnacliffe.

The 125th Anniversary Dance marks a major milestone for the Co Longford Association of Greater New York. The dance will take place on Sunday March 13 starting with a deluxe cocktail hour at 4pm, followed with presentations to our honorees, choice dinner, open bar and dancing to the music of Celtic Cross.

Contact longford4@verizon.net, text or call 917-751-3484 or visit their websitewww.countylongfordny.com or our Facebook Page County Longford Association of Greater New York.
Its almost showtime for Backstage Youth Theatre, as they present the highly-anticipated 2016 Panto; The Glass Slipper.

With much-loved fairytale characters such as Cinderella, Prince Charming and Ella from Frozen being joined by famous Detective Sherlock Holmes and his loyal sidekick Dr Watson, theres bound to be plenty of fun and laughs at the Backstage Theatre this January.

A hugely popular highlight in the countys calendar, the Panto is selling quickly, with the weekend matinee shows already sold out. Fortunately, there are still some tickets left for the week-day shows, so dont delay in booking your tickets.

The Glass Slipper runs from Friday, January 22 - Sunday, January 24 and again from Thursday, January 28 - Saturday, January 30. Tickets cost 12/8 or 35 for a family of four.

Once the Panto finishes, Longford audiences will have another show to look forward to in One Ducks The Poor Little Boy With No Arms.

Co-written by Lanesboro native Liam Heslin, the play follows Ruby as she arrives in The Worlds Most Liveable Community, Skibberceannaigh. However, all is not as it seems.

One night, Ruby comes across a mysterious man with no arms, who tells her that the town discriminates against him and sets him arduous tasks to complete at night-time. As it turns out, the shocking treatment of her new friend is just one of the towns many secrets.

Secrecy, control and the Irish psyche are all explored in this fast-paced and physical comedy-drama which comes to the Backstage Theatre on Tuesday, February 2 at 8pm.

Tickets for both shows are now available from 043 33 47888 or online at www.backstage.ie.
Nature & Weather, Local News, Press Releases

By Long Island News & PR Published: January 21 2016

U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand, a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Charles E. Schumer, Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy today announced their bipartisan legislation to continue to support the restoration of Long ...

Long Island, NY - January 20, 2016 - U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand, a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Charles E. Schumer, Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy today announced their bipartisan legislation to continue to support the restoration of Long Island Sound passed out of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, bringing it one step closer to full Senate passage. The legislation now heads to the Senate floor, and the Senators are vowing to continue pushing until the bill is passed by the full Senate and signed by President Obama.

The Long Island Sound borders New York and Connecticut, with 9 million people living on the coast and 24 million people living within 50 miles of it. Although decades of overdevelopment, pollution, dumping of dredged materials and releases of untreated sewage have severely hurt the Sounds water quality, the Sounds economic contribution, including from sport and commercial fishing, boating, recreation and tourism, is estimated to be between $17 billion and $37 billion annually. The Long Island Sound Restoration and Stewardship Act combines two complementary water quality and shore restoration program authorizations at their previous authorization levels of $40 million and $25 million per year, respectively. This legislation also provides for additional focus, oversight and coordination of federal activities related to the restoration of Long Island Sound.

The legislation cleared a key hurdle today and is now headed to the Senate floor, said Senator Gillibrand. This bill would provide the resources necessary to restore Long Island Sound and promote environmental protection and economic development for generations to come. The Sound is one of our most valuable natural treasures and a vital economic anchor that supports thousands of local jobs. This bill makes much-needed federal investments that would help protect the long-term health of the Sound, and I will continue pushing to get it passed by the full Senate and signed into law by the President.

The beaches and waters of the Long Island Sound are a natural treasure and an economic engine for the whole region that draws families, boaters, tourists and anglers to our shores. That is why we must do everything we can to pass this legislation that will restore and protect the Long Island Sound for current and future generations said Senator Schumer.

This historic measure helps protect and preserve one of our nation's most precious and important natural treasures-- providing immense environmental and economic benefits to Connecticut and the country,Senator Blumenthal said. Im pleased that this measure to ensure the restoration of the Sound is now headed to the Senate floor, and I will continue working with my colleagues to ensure that the Long Island Sound remains one of Connecticuts most treasured and valuable resources for years to come.

Today, were one step closer to ensuring the restoration and long-term health of Long Island Sound, said Senator Murphy. The Sound is an unparalleled economic driver for Connecticut, generating billions for the state annually in tourism, fishing and boating. Its home to hundreds of diverse species of wildlife, and its 1,300 square miles of coastline are the site of happy memories for my family and countless others across the state. We have an obligation to prioritize federal investments in Long Island Sound for the millions of Connecticut families who rely on it for work and recreation each year. As this bill heads to the Senate floor, Ill be working hard with my colleagues to get it passed and signed into law.

In 1985, the EPA, in an agreement with New York and Connecticut, created the Long Island Sound Study (LISS), an office under the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) charged with advancing efforts to restore the sound and address low oxygen levels and nitrogen levels that have depleted fish and shellfish populations and have also hurt shoreline wetlands. In 1990, the Long Island Sound Improvement Actwas signed into law, providing federal dollars to advance Sound cleanup projects, including wastewater treatment improvements.

In 2006, identifying the need for increased stakeholder participation and the need to focus on coastal restoration and improved public access and education, Congress passed the Long Island Sound Stewardship Act, which provided federal dollars for projects to restore the coastal habitat to help revitalize the wildlife population, coastal wetlands and plant life. Since then, for every $1 appropriated, the LISS has leveraged $87 from other Federal, state, local and private funding sources, totaling more than $3.8 billion. This funding has enabled programs to significantly reduce the amount of nitrogen entering the Long Island Sound from sewage treatment plants by 35,000,000 lbs. per year as of 2013, compared to the 1990s. It has also restored at least 1,548 acres and protected 2,580 acres of habitat land.

The House version of the Long Island Sound Restoration and Stewardship Act, H.R. 2930, introduced by U.S. Representative Steve Israel (D-Huntington) and U.S. Representative Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley), is currently under consideration in the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the House Committee on Natural Resources. Enacting the Long Island Sound Restoration and Stewardship Actwould allow the LISS to maintain the important gains that have been made, and build on those achievements to further protect and restore the sound and watershed for future generations.
Looking to stay up to date about all of the news stories and local headlines that are important to Long Islanders? We've rounded up the top coverage for all of the important topics from multiple sources around Long Island, so you can be sure you've got the most recent update on the top stories for Long Island. Have an idea for a news story? Email us at news@longisland.com

Columnists Press Releases
The newly released 13th issue of the Islamic States English-language Dabiq magazine begins with an article praising the Dec. 2 terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California. Abu Bakr al Baghdadis propagandists note that the husband and wife responsible for the massacre not only left behind their comfortable lifestyle, but also left their baby daughter in the care of others knowing that they likely wouldnt see her again in this life.

The caliphate wants more Muslims to follow in the couples footsteps: May Allah accept the sacrifices of our noble brother Syed Rizwan Farook and his blessed wife, accept them among the shuhada [martyrs], and use their deeds as a means to awaken more Muslims in America, Europe, and Australia.

However, most of the publication is devoted to other matters. The cover story is a lengthy denunciation of the The Rafidah, or rejectionists, a derogatory term used by Sunni jihadists to describe Shiites.

And, as in past issues of Dabiq, the Islamic State repeatedly criticizes al Qaeda and the Taliban. Even the cover article is used to denounce Ayman al Zawahiri for supposedly being soft on Shiites.

Indeed, the caliphate is clearly obsessed with its jihadist rivals.

Saudi Arabias palace scholars

The Islamic State and al Qaeda both denounced Saudi Arabias mass execution of more than 40 men in early January. Many of the men sentenced to death took part in al Qaedas attempt to destabilize the Saudi kingdom from 2003 to 2006. But the authors of Dabiq argue al Qaedas response to the Saudi executions was lacking.

Zawahiri came out and criticized the apostate Saudi regime but made no mention of the evil scholars backing them, Dabiqs authors argue. Instead, Zawahiri merely advised the scholars of the Arabian Peninsula to speak out against the government.

The caliphate urges its supporters to outdo al Qaeda and attack the Saudi clerical establishment. It was already obligatory to spill the blood of these palace scholars, Dabiqs authors write, for they had apostatized years ago, defending and supporting those who wage war against Islam. After the mass execution, the reason to kill them now is even greater.

The jihadists who produce Dabiq ask: When then will the Muslims of the Arabian Peninsula wake up and act out against the apostasy of these palace scholars? They then answer their own question: Indeed, these scholars have broken their oaths with Allah and with the Muslims, just as they have targeted the religion with their lies and instigation against the people of jihad and piety.

Jihadi John

Dabiq confirms that the terrorist known as Jihadi John, who became infamous for beheading several victims on camera, was killed in a US airstrike in November 2015. The executioners real name was Mohammed Emwazi, but the Islamic State refers to him as Abu Muharib al Muhajir. Dabiq provides a short biography of his career.

Emwazi started down the jihadist path [a]round the time of al Qaedas July 7, 2005 bombings in London. He began to work with Bilal al Berjawi and Muhammad Saqr, two members of Shabaab, an official branch of al Qaeda. Both Berjawi and Saqr were killed in US drone strikes. Berjawi was a British citizen of Lebanese descent who served under some of al Qaedas most senior personnel in East Africa.

Baghdadis men are sensitive to the rivalry with al Qaeda even in telling Emwazis story. For instance, a footnote in Dabiq informs readers that Emwazis work with Berjawi and Saqr took place before Shabaab joined the war against the Khilafah [caliphate] under the leadership of Akhtar Mansour, the infamous agent of the murtadd Pakistani intelligence.

Dabiqs authors are referring to Shabaabs crackdown on defectors who attempt to join Baghdadis group or one of its provinces. Akhtar Mansour (or Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour) is the head of the Taliban. Last August, Zawahiri swore allegiance to Mansour on behalf of himself and all of the jihadists under his command, including those fighting in al Qaedas regional branches, such as Shabaab. The Islamic State frequently accuses Mansour and the Taliban of being agents of Pakistani intelligence.

The jihadists who produced Dabiq taunt Britains MI5, claiming Emwazi managed to make his way to Syria in 2012 despite the security services attempts to stop him. Here, too, Emwazis story contains an al Qaeda-related twist. The Islamic State reports that he joined Al Nusrah Front at a time when it was operating as an arm of Baghdadis Islamic State. In 2013, a rift between Abu Muhammad al Julani (who leads Al Nusrah) and Baghdadi became public. Julani refused Baghdadis attempt to command Al Nusrah and instead reaffirmed his allegiance directly to Ayman al Zawahiri. This leadership dispute evolved into a global competition between al Qaeda and the Islamic State that has raged ever since.

The Islamic State says that Emwazi joined Al Nusrah prior to [Julanis] treachery and before Julanis betrayal and nullification of his bayah [oath of allegiance] to Baghdadi. Emwazi did not follow Julani. Instead, he was supposedly among the very first to declare his disavowal of Julani. Emwazi also purportedly warned that Julani was going to become another Shaykh Sharif [Ahmed], a reference to the former head of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) in Somalia. Baghdadis jihadists accuse Shaykh Sharif of betraying the jihadists cause. Shabaab grew out of the ICU and eventually became a wing of al Qaeda.

The authors of Dabiq are, therefore, extremely sensitive to the role al Qaeda played in Emwazis career. They attempt to distance him from Shabaab and Al Nusrah, both of which remain loyal to Zawahiri to this day. In recounting Emwazis involvement in Syrias battles, the Islamic State says he fought in the provinces of Idlib and Raqqa.

He also participated in the fighting against the sahwat of Sham and was injured within the first week of the Sahwah, Dabiqs biography for Emwazi reads. The biographer adds that Emwazi sustained a gunshot wound to his back during the battle to retake Huraytan. Sahwat, or sahwa, is a reference to the awakenings. This term was once used to describe the tribal forces that rose up against the Islamic States predecessor, al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) and the Islamic State of Iraq (a political front for AQI). But the Islamic State has come to use it to describe many of the caliphates opponents, including its jihadist rivals.

Incredibly, Dabiq tries to emphasize Emwazis softer side, claiming that only those close to him knew of his mercy, kindness, and generosity towards the believers, his protective jealousy for Islam and its people, and his affection towards the orphans. His victims would tell a different a story.

The Shiites

Much of the 13th issue of Dabiq focuses on Shiites, portraying them as anything but the Sunni jihadists co-religionists. The Islamic State has deliberately targeted Shiite civilians around the globe. This is intended to be a point of contrast with al Qaeda, as Zawahiri and his subordinate commanders have ordered their fighters to refrain from targeting Shiite civilians.

In Dabiq, the Islamic State cites correspondence between Abu Musab al Zarqawi, who founded al Qaeda in Iraq, and al Qaedas senior leaders. Zawahiri wrote one of the letters cited in Dabiq to Zarqawi in 2005. In it, Zawahiri complained that Zarqawis indiscriminate targeting of Shiites was making it more difficult for al Qaeda to achieve its long-term goals.

The Islamic State uses the al Qaeda letters to highlight the Sunni jihadists differing opinions regarding attacks on Shiites. And Baghdadis men blast Zawahiris rulings on the matter.

Zawahiris policies towards the Rafidah are clearly based upon his deviant belief that they are Muslims,' the caliphates propagandists write. Baghdadis followers argue it may be true, as Zawahiri has claimed, that no Sunni Islamic state has attempted to kill off the Rafidah, but this is only because the Shiites didnt have the political power or military might that they do today. The center of this power is Iran. Therefore, according to the Islamic State, the Shiites must be targeted now.

Al Qaedas close ally, the Taliban, has also erred in its policies towards the Shiites, according to Dabiqs authors. As for the nationalist Taliban, then they are similar to [Zawahiris al Qaeda], considering the Rafidah to be their brothers and [publicly] denouncing those who target the Rafidah. The Taliban has boasted of their gatherings with the Rafidi officials of Iran, criticized UN sanctions against the Iranians, and condemned attacks on Shiites. All of these actions are deviant, according to the Islamic State.

The governor of the Khorasan province

Dabiq includes an interview with Shaykh Hafidh Said Khan, who is introduced as the governor (wali) of the Islamic States so-called Khorasan province. As is the case elsewhere around the globe, Baghdadis men in the Khorasan (a region that includes Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of the surrounding nations) often battle their jihadist rivals. And Khan uses his interview to disparage both the Taliban and al Qaeda.

The nationalist Taliban movement seeks to instigate various problems in order to wage war against the Khilafah [caliphate], Khan says. He claims that the Taliban does not rule by sharia law, but instead according to tribal customs and the desires and traditions of the people.

Khan portrays Mullah Mansour, the emir of the Taliban, as an agent of Pakistani intelligence. Mansour and his associates have strong and deep ties with Pakistani intelligence, and they live in the most important cities of Pakistan, such as Islamabad, Peshawar, and Quetta, Khan says. Mansours shura council even contains members from the Pakistani intelligence, which aids Mansour in everything he does.

Khan says the relationship between the Taliban and Pakistani intelligence was made clear after Hamid Gul, who headed Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency in the late 1980s, passed away last year. Khan points out that Mansour heaped praise on Gul and gave the greatest condolences over his death out of loyalty to Pakistani intelligence and in recognition of everything theyve done for him and for his Taliban movement.

The Islamic States governor confirms that the Taliban attacked members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) who swore allegiance to Baghdadis caliphate. Khan refers to these IMU jihadists as the Uzbek mujahid brothers who gave bayah [allegiance] to the Khalifah with sincerity. A number of the Uzbek brothers were martyred and wounded because of the Talibans criminal assault against them, and the Taliban movement increased in its tyranny and criminality by purposely killing their defenseless women and children, Khan alleges.

The Taliban admitted last summer that Mullah Omar passed away in 2013. Khan says he and others suspected that Omar was dead because they supposedly began noticing changes and deviations in the disposition of the Taliban, as well as in their deeds and official statements. He claims, for instance, that the Taliban stopped implementing sharia law in some areas.

With respect to al Qaeda, Khan makes a claim that is easily debunked. He says al Qaeda no longer has a real presence in the Khorasan apart from the presence of only a few of its members. These individuals have no ability to fight the [Islamic States Khorasan province], but spread misconceptions about the caliphate and incite the people against giving bayah [allegiance] to Baghdadis organization. Al Qaeda has collapsed in a very big way here in its center and former stronghold.

Al Qaeda clearly has a much more significant presence in Afghanistan than Khan wants people to believe. In September 2014, for example, Ayman al Zawahiri announced the establishment of al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), which operates in Afghanistan and throughout the region. In October 2015, the US military launched raids against two al Qaeda training facilities in southern Afghanistan. One of the two was nearly 30 square miles in size. The 6th issue of Dabiq, posted online in January 2015, even revealed additional details about al Qaedas significant infrastructure in the region.

Khan claims that there is no difference between al Qaeda and the Taliban, because Zawahiri pledged allegiance to Mansour. And they both ultimately fall under the authority of the Pakistani intelligence. The Islamic State continues to hammer at this theme in its propaganda, hoping that jihadists sour on the Taliban because of its ties to the Pakistani establishment.

A consistent message

The Islamic State consistently attacks the Talibans and al Qaedas jihadist credentials in Dabiq. [See, for example, LWJ reports: The Islamic States curious cover story and In Dabiq magazine, Islamic State complains about jihadist rivals in Libya.]

This is telling. If al Qaeda has been surpassed by Baghdadis organization, as many commentators assume, then why does the Islamic State spend so much ink on Zawahiris group? Obviously, al Qaeda is still a major thorn in the Islamic States side.

In fact, even as the latest issue of Dabiq was being disseminated online this week, the Islamic State made another attempt to woo al Qaedas fighters in North Africa and elsewhere. Baghdadis propagandists released a series of new messages and videos targeting jihadists in the Maghreb as part of the effort. The Islamic States anti-al Qaeda arguments in Dabiq and other publications are, therefore, part of a concerted campaign.

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.
Fighters from Shabaabs Saleh al Nabhani Battalion after the battle

Shabaab, al Qaedas branch in East Africa, has released several photos showing the aftermath of last weeks attack on an African Union base in southern Somalia. The photos add credence to the jihadist groups claim of a high body count.

In the assault last week, Shabaab said its Saleh al Nabhani Battalion launched an attack on the base, which hosted Kenyan troops. The coordinated assault began with a suicide bombing, followed by an assault team breaching the perimeter of the base. The strike left at least 60 Kenyan soldiers dead, but Shabaab later claimed killing 100 and the actual number is unknown. In the photos released by the jihadist group, over 65 bodies are shown strewn across the perimeter of the base.

Kenya initially denied its base was attacked, but a Somali official later contradicted this. The photos also show all Kenyan bodies and captured Kenyan troops, confirming that it was indeed a Kenyan base that was targeted. Another Somali official also confirmed to the BBC that 13 Kenyan troops fled the base during the battle and reached safety in a nearby village. The claims that Shabaab made of capturing over 30 vehicles and large quantities of weapons, ammunition, and military gear is also confirmed in the photo report. Most of the photos in the report are too graphic to be published at The Long War Journal.

The Saleh al Nabhani Battalion is named after the senior Al Qaeda East Africa operative of the same name. Al Nabhani was wanted by the FBI for his involvement in the 1998 US embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania before being killed by US forces in Somalia in 2009. The Kenyan jihadist was also wanted for his involvement in a 2002 strike on an Israeli hotel and an airliner in Mombasa.

Shabaab has been able to mount attacks in the region despite the presence of a large African Union mission in Somalia. The jihadist group has also launched numerous suicide assaults on heavily guarded hotels in Mogadishu last year and todays beach attack. It has also continuously targeted African Union troops in southern Somalia and has taken back some territory in the process. The jihadist group has also been able to mount attacks in the central part of Somalia and into neighboring Kenya, as well. In late November, Shabaab said its forces temporarily took control over a Kenyan town bordering Somalia.

Photos released by Shabaab. Some photos may be graphic:

The attack:

Captured Kenyan troops:

Spoils and damaged vehicles:



Caleb Weiss is a research analyst at FDD's Long War Journal and a senior analyst at the Bridgeway Foundation, where he focuses on the spread of the Islamic State in Central Africa.

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.
The Defense Department announced today that Tariq Mahmoud Ahmed Al Sawah, an Egyptian who had been held at Guantanamo since 2002, has been transferred to the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Military and intelligence officials found that al Sawah was an expert bomb maker for al Qaeda. In that role, he allegedly designed a shoe bomb that technically matches the designs of the shoe bomb used by failed suicide operative Richard Reid in December 2001, according to a leaked Sept. 30, 2008 Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) threat assessment. He also constructed a limpet mine that could sink a US naval vessel.

Normally, JTF-GTMO would have deemed a detainee with Al Sawahs background and expertise a high risk to the US, its interests and allies, while recommending that he be held in detention. But there was a twist in his story.

Al Sawah became one of the US governments most prolific sources on al Qaeda and other detainees during his time in custody. Al Sawah was so helpful, in fact, that JTF-GTMO officials recommended he be transferred out of the Defense Departments custody, even though he had compiled an extensive dossier as a jihadist in Bosnia, Afghanistan, and elsewhere.

At first, al Sawah was hostile to Guantanamo personnel, according to the leaked JTF-GTMO memo. But he became compliant and, as of 2008, continued to be a highly prolific source, who has provided invaluable intelligence regarding explosives, al Qaeda, affiliated entities and their activities.

If released, JTF-GTMO surmised, al Sawah will possibly reestablish extremist associations, but is unlikely to do so as his cooperation with the US government may serve to identify detainee as a target for revenge by those associates.

The Guantanamo Review Task Force, set up by President Obama in early 2009, disagreed with JTF-GTMOs recommendation. In its final report, dated January 2010, the task force recommended al Sawah for prosecution.

Then, in February 2015, a Periodic Review Board at Guantanamo concluded that continued law of war detention of Al Sawah was no longer necessary to protect against a continuing significant threat to the security of the United States. The PRB said it considered Al Sawahs change of ideology and renunciation of violence, as well as his status as one of the most compliant detainees at Guantanamo. Al Sawah also has health problems. The JTF-GTMO file describes him as morbidly obese, and the PRB subsequently recognized his health status.

The detainee is not in communication with extremists outside of Guantanamo and his family has committed to assist in his reintegration upon transfer, the PRB found on Feb. 12, 2015. The board recommended that he be transferred to a country with appropriate support, including adequate medical care, and be subject to appropriate security assurances.

Allegedly worked for senior al Qaeda leaders

The dossier compiled by JTF-GTMO includes references to Al Sawahs work on behalf of al Qaedas leadership.

For example, Saif al Adel, one of al Qaedas most senior officials, tasked [Al Sawah] to develop several IEDs [improvised explosive devices], including a shoe bomb similar to the one convicted terrorist Richard Reid used in a failed attempt to bring down a commercial transatlantic airliner in flight.

After the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Al Adel also instructed [Al Sawah] to construct mines to be used against US ships [al Adel] assumed were heading to harbors in Pakistan. Al Sawah designed and built four magnetic limpet mines that could be attached to the underside of a metal-hulled ship and detonated, thereby sinking the ship.

As the Washington Post first reported, US officials were initially skeptical of Al Sawahs claims regarding the magnetic limpet mines. But after Al Sawah sketched his design, the US built and tested such a device. It worked.

Saif al Adel, who was held for years in some form of detention inside Iran before being released, is still an al Qaeda leader. Last year, the group began publishing al Adels commentary online.

Al Sawah taught other al Qaeda operatives his bomb making techniques at Tarnak Farm, which was sponsored by Osama bin Laden. Al Sawah told US authorities that bin Laden had even praised him for his good work at the training camp. Al Sawah also allegedly worked with Abu Khabab al Masri, who specialized in poisons and chemical weapons. According to JTF-GTMO, Al Sawah and Al Masri would review the applications of jihadists seeking to participate in al Masris advanced training courses.

In conversations with American authorities, Al Sawah discussed his ties to another al Qaeda leader as well: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM), the chief planner of 9/11. According to the JTF-GTMO file, al Sawah told the Americans that KSM supplied money and arms to his fighting unit in Bosnia in the 1990s.

Al Sawah said that he saw KSM on several occasions between 1995 and 1999 when [KSM] came to Bosnia to recruit fighters to train and help train other fighters in Afghanistan. KSM was a close associate of senior al Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah, al Sawah added, but he did not know if KSM had ever traveled to Afghanistan.

On that last point, JTF-GTMO analysts concluded that al Sawah was being deliberately evasive. While he was a prolific source on many topics, he still wanted to mask parts of his career. It is unlikely al Sawah was unaware of KSMs extensive presence in Afghanistan, JTF-GTMO concluded.

Al Sawah told authorities that he wanted to leave Afghanistan for Bosnia prior to Sept. 11, 2001 because he heard bin Laden was planning an attack against the US.

KSM himself may have told al Sawah about the impending attacks, JTF-GTMOs analysts reasoned, and al Sawah could have been simply trying to disassociate himself from KSM, especially after the 9/11 architect was transferred to Guantanamo in 2006.

KSM was not the only Sept. 11 conspirator al Sawah had ties to either. During a Sept. 11, 2002 raid on an al Qaeda safe house in Karachi, Pakistan, al Sawahs personal identification documents, including his Bosnian passport, were found. Also captured during the raid was Ramzi Binalshibh  al Qaedas point man for the 9/11 operation.

Al Sawah provided intelligence on former detainees who have been transferred to the West, and some of them identified him during their time at Guantanamo as well.

For instance, the JTF-GTMO file indicates that David Hicks, who was transferred from Guantanamo to his home country of Australia, identified [Al Sawah] as the head instructor at the Tarnak Farm camp. Hicks reportedly told authorities that Al Sawah was exceptionally knowledgeable at fabricating and teaching explosives.

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.
Experience Carnival Like a True Venetian

Renowned their costumes that recreate the elegance of the past ages of Italys magical history, this Atelier offers costumes dating back to the 17th century all the way up to the 1920s, and will offer masqueraders the possibility to totally transform themselves for the evening of Carnevales gala event.In addition to costumes, the art of mask making will also be an option as the Bauer has reserved spaces for their guests to take part in a mask-making workshop hosted by CaMacana, one of the oldest and famous studios in Venice. These workshops allow participants to create and decorate his or her own papier-mache mask, by utilizing techniques that have been taught for more than 800 years.This way guests will have the opportunity to choose the perfect costume and the mask, to wear to Alchemy, a special event that the Bauer will host to launch this year's Carnevale. Alchemy is an evening of mystery, imagination, and grandeur, where international artists will reunite in a magical night with the sole purpose of creating an unforgettable experience. Guests are welcome to attend as magicians, scientists, suns or moons, heads of dragons, crows, a swan or the Golden Phoenix.Cost for the event: 300 Euro for the Alchemy EveningWhen: Saturday, February 6, 8:30pmWhere: The Bauer Hotel, San Marco 1459Atelier Antonia Sautter:Mask-making Ca'Macana:
Regent Seven Seas Cruises Announces $125 Million Fleet-Wide Renovation



Navigator Suite: The spacious Navigator Suite will be updated with a fresh new design, featuring a crisp and elegant look. The bedroom features the new custom-made Elite Slumber Bed, dressed in luxurious 100% cotton sateen bedding. In both the bedroom and living room, an ebony-black wooden vanity with white marble top stretches the length of the room, harmonizing beautifully with the sultry green and yellow accent furniture, draperies and new carpeting.

The spacious Navigator Suite will be updated with a fresh new design, featuring a crisp and elegant look. The bedroom features the new custom-made Elite Slumber Bed, dressed in luxurious 100% cotton sateen bedding. In both the bedroom and living room, an ebony-black wooden vanity with white marble top stretches the length of the room, harmonizing beautifully with the sultry green and yellow accent furniture, draperies and new carpeting.

Penthouse, Concierge and Deluxe Suites: The largest collection of suites onboard the ship will receive a luxurious new look. The contemporary design accentuates the spaciousness of the suites. A stunning padded leather headboard supports the Elite Slumber Bed in the bedroom and the sitting area features a plush sofa with a stylish accent table and new artwork.

The largest collection of suites onboard the ship will receive a luxurious new look. The contemporary design accentuates the spaciousness of the suites. A stunning padded leather headboard supports the Elite Slumber Bed in the bedroom and the sitting area features a plush sofa with a stylish accent table and new artwork.

Reception Area: Guests' first exposure to the renovations will take place in the completely-redesigned reception area, where contemporary and classical design elements seamlessly meet. Marble inlay flooring replete with a compass-like design and polished stone walls with metal inlays guides guests to the dark wooden reception desk. Illuminating the reception area is a gypsum diamond cut lighting fixture embedded in the oval alabaster ceiling, evoking stylish elegance.

Guests' first exposure to the renovations will take place in the completely-redesigned reception area, where contemporary and classical design elements seamlessly meet. Marble inlay flooring replete with a compass-like design and polished stone walls with metal inlays guides guests to the dark wooden reception desk. Illuminating the reception area is a gypsum diamond cut lighting fixture embedded in the oval alabaster ceiling, evoking stylish elegance.

Compass Rose : The ship's flagship restaurant will be grander and more resplendent than ever before. Throughout the spacious, 384-seat dining room are subtle geometric patterns underscored by silver leaf, pewter and antique bronze elements. A beautifully ornate silver-leaf feature wall highlights one end of the dining room, while oversized windows run along both sides of the restaurant to provide incredible ocean vistas. Grand crystal chandeliers are enhanced by recessed ceiling lights, providing a dramatic dining experience for guests seated at intimate tables ringed by sleek leather chairs adorned with swirls of celestial blue fabric.

: The ship's flagship restaurant will be grander and more resplendent than ever before. Throughout the spacious, 384-seat dining room are subtle geometric patterns underscored by silver leaf, pewter and antique bronze elements. A beautifully ornate silver-leaf feature wall highlights one end of the dining room, while oversized windows run along both sides of the restaurant to provide incredible ocean vistas. Grand crystal chandeliers are enhanced by recessed ceiling lights, providing a dramatic dining experience for guests seated at intimate tables ringed by sleek leather chairs adorned with swirls of celestial blue fabric.

La Veranda : Effortlessly chic, La Veranda will feature a fresh and airy design that is accentuated by a wealth of natural light from floor-to-ceiling windows that encircle the restaurant. Guests can enjoy casual indoor and al fresco dining with incredible ocean views, and dine from a delectable buffet for breakfast and lunch. Each evening, the restaurant transforms into an elegant fine dining restaurant, Sette Mari La Veranda, for dinner.

: Effortlessly chic, La Veranda will feature a fresh and airy design that is accentuated by a wealth of natural light from floor-to-ceiling windows that encircle the restaurant. Guests can enjoy casual indoor and al fresco dining with incredible ocean views, and dine from a delectable buffet for breakfast and lunch. Each evening, the restaurant transforms into an elegant fine dining restaurant, Sette Mari La Veranda, for dinner.

Galileo Lounge : True to its name, the Galileo Lounge on Deck 11 conveys a celestial feel, beginning with its tempered glass double-door entrance trimmed with an abstract design reminiscent of the solar system and featuring a decorative sun-shaped handle. That theme extends inside the 132-seat cocktail lounge, where a night-black oval-shaped ceiling twinkling with fiber-optic stars overlooks the inlaid wooden dance floor. Guests can be immersed in the action, or retreat to high-backed wing chairs that line the room's windows.

: True to its name, the Galileo Lounge on Deck 11 conveys a celestial feel, beginning with its tempered glass double-door entrance trimmed with an abstract design reminiscent of the solar system and featuring a decorative sun-shaped handle. That theme extends inside the 132-seat cocktail lounge, where a night-black oval-shaped ceiling twinkling with fiber-optic stars overlooks the inlaid wooden dance floor. Guests can be immersed in the action, or retreat to high-backed wing chairs that line the room's windows.

Navigator Lounge / Coffee Connection : By day, these intimate Deck 6 venues  connected by a central walkway  are bathed in natural light from a bank of windows overlooking the sea. The new design and furnishings enhance that airy look, with cream-colored fabrics on chairs and draperies, and white marble topped tables with hammered copper accents. By night, the Navigator Lounge transforms into a small night club, with a Steinway piano as the centerpiece. Adding to the elegance are leather-wrapped columns with a copper-topped capital and dark wooden base.

: By day, these intimate Deck 6 venues  connected by a central walkway  are bathed in natural light from a bank of windows overlooking the sea. The new design and furnishings enhance that airy look, with cream-colored fabrics on chairs and draperies, and white marble topped tables with hammered copper accents. By night, the Navigator Lounge transforms into a small night club, with a Steinway piano as the centerpiece. Adding to the elegance are leather-wrapped columns with a copper-topped capital and dark wooden base.

Library: The bright yet intimate library exudes comfort and charm. From its faux fireplace to cream-colored sofas resting atop a glistening marble floor, the room is reminiscent of a library found in a residential estate home. Ringing the room are dark wood book shelves encased in glass, while a glistening, copper-adorned chandelier serves as the room's glistening centerpiece. It's the ideal spot for reading and quiet reflection.



Beginning with Seven Seas Navigator this spring, the public spaces and suites to be refurbished will feature the same elegant style and indisputable attention to detail famously featured on Seven Seas Explorer, providing guests with a consistent look-and-feel, no matter which Regent Seven Seas Cruises ship they choose to sail.The two-year $125 million investment includes significant renovations of most public spaces along with a complete redesign of all categories of suites. Seven Seas Navigator, the line's most intimate ship carrying just 490-guests, will be the first to receive this luxurious upgrade, followed by Seven Seas Voyager in late 2016 and Seven Seas Mariner in the spring of 2017.Seven Seas Navigator will emerge essentially a brand new ship following the upcoming dry dock, with all suite categories, all lounges, the library, casino, boutiques, reception area, and signature restaurants Compass Rose and La Veranda having recently been completely renovated.Seven Seas Navigator is one of our most beloved ships, so it's fitting that she is the first to undergo this extraordinary refurbishment, said Jason Montague, president and chief operating officer for Regent Seven Seas Cruises. These renovations will bring a new level of elegance to the Regent Seven Seas Cruises fleet, strengthening our position as the undisputed leader in luxury cruising, operating the most luxurious ships at sea.The refurbishments on Seven Seas Navigator comprise the first phase of the $125 million renovation project. The ship's renovations will commence when it enters dry dock in Marseille, France on March 31. The project will be completed by April 13, when the ship embarks on the 10-night Flawless French Riviera voyage from Barcelona to Rome, with calls across Spain, France, Monaco and Italy.Some highlights of the upcoming Seven Seas Navigator refurbishment include:Following the dry dock, Seven Seas Navigator will spend the summer traversing the Mediterranean and late fall in South Africa. In 2017, Seven Seas Navigator will offer Navigate the World , Regent Seven Seas Cruises' first world cruise in six years. Beginning and ending in Miami, the cruise will circumnavigate the globe in 128 nights, calling on six continents, 31 countries, 62 distinct ports and exploring 29 UNESCO World Heritage sites.For more specific itinerary details or for general information about Regent Seven Seas Cruises, guests can visit www.RSSC.com , call 1.844.4REGENT (1.844.473.4368) or contact a professional travel agent.
The court finds that Apple will suffer irreparable harm if Samsung continues its use of the Infringing Features, that monetary damages cannot adequately compensate Apple for this resulting irreparable harm," the ruling said.

Apple has managed to win, at least on one side, in front of Samsung, as it has just been revealed that some Samsung devices will no longer be able to use a certain technology that was found to infringe Apple's patent.In other words, this means that the Samsung Galaxy devices which feature that technology will no longer be accessible for customers to buy on the market.So, US District Judge Lucy Koh ruled in favor of Apple in a patent infringement lawsuit against Samsung. In the lawsuit, Apple accused Samsung of infringing its technology with a series of its devices. So, the judge granted Apple a motion for permanent injunction against rival company Samsung, on the devices that are said to use the technology that infringed its patents.A series of Samsung Galaxy devices will be affected by the ban, but the impact that this will have on both the company and its customers may be much lower than what everyone may initially imagine. So, the devices that were found to infringe Apple's copyright actually are not the newest or the most popular smartphones released by Samsung.They in fact mostly include devices that are no longer available for purchases, including older smartphones that Samsung has already discontinued.Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Samsung Galaxy Note, Samsung Galaxy Note 2, Samsung Galaxy S2, Samsung Galaxy S2 Epic 4G Touch, Samsung Galaxy S2 Skyrocket, Samsung Galaxy S3, Samsung Admire and Samsung Stratosphere. Because the ruling covers older Samsung phones, numerous analysts have claimed that Apple's victory was only a symbolic one.However, it is important to point out that the most recent device that is affected by the ruling is the Samsung Galaxy S3, which the famous company released back in 2012. This device was a huge success for Samsung, but its glory was soon taken by newer models. Still, it is believed that there still are numerous S3 devices on the market that are in use by customers.Apple has been fighting for long to have Samsung's devices banned, but now when it has finally achieved this, it will most likely have no impact on its rival or its sales. The patent infringement battle between Apple and Samsung has been a long term dispute between the famous companies.The first ruling in this legal battle dates back to May 2014, when Apple actually wonin court against Samsung.However, Apple wanted more, asking for the court to ban Samsung's products that infringed its patents.Well, if Samsung has been banned from selling some of its older products, the company seems to be focused on releasing new ones. New rumors emerged on the upcoming Samsung Galaxy 7, which is actually said to come with a 12MP camera and two different processors.
MADISON  The outside temperatures were in the single digits but dozens of hearts were on fire to protect the lives of the unborn.

During the noon hour on January 12, pro-life supporters and state lawmakers gathered on the steps of the State Capitol for a Rally for Life.

The event was co-sponsored by Pro-Life Wisconsin, Wisconsin Family Action, and Wisconsin Right to Life.

The home of the states lawmaking chambers served as a backdrop to call attention to three pro-life bills with hopes both the State Assembly and State Senate will pass them before the session closes in March. They include: Assembly Bill 305/Senate Bill 260, which bans the sale and use of the body parts of aborted babies in Wisconsin.

 Assembly Bill 310/Senate Bill 237, which redirects money from the Title X grant program away from Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin.

 Assembly Bill 311/Senate Bill 238, which prohibits family planning organizations, including Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, from overbilling the state for drugs it purchases and dispenses through a Medicaid program.

The rally begins

More than 40 Wisconsin pro-life supporters, arriving in Madison from Shell Lake to Racine and everywhere in between, gathered on the Capitol steps with signs and hand-warmers in hand.

Dan Miller, state director of Pro-Life Wisconsin, thanked everyone for coming.

We are here today to speak out on behalf of the unborn, Miller said.

He called the proposed legislation by far the most powerful pro-life bills weve seen in this state for some time.

He thanked bill sponsors Representative Andre Jacque (R-De Pere), Representative Joel Kleefisch (R-Oconomowoc), Representative Duey Stroebel (R-Saukville), Representative Chris Kapenga (R-Delafield), and all the co-sponsors for their courage.

But its not over, said Miller. We are at a precipice, at a turning point in history . . . more people in these United States are pro-life than ever before.

Miller also emphasized, The great thing about being pro-life is that we know science is on our side . . . we know that life begins at conception.

Evoking the controversy over using fetal body parts for medical research, Miller said we are not opposed to ethical research . . . In fact, Christians throughout history have shown us the beauty of science, citing examples of the work of Pythagoras, Copernicus, Descartes, and Da Vinci.

Lawmakers speak

Chelsea Shields, legislative director for Wisconsin Right to Life, also thanked everyone for coming and introduced Representative Stroebel.

Stroebel said, Its great to be here and on such a cold day . . . I know how you all feel in your hearts on this issue so it wasnt that hard to come out.

We do stand for research, he added, but we do have an ethical boundary in protecting life.

Speaking about the bill to ban the sale and use of aborted baby body parts, he said, With all of our energies, with all of your friends and neighbors pushing on this issue, believing in this issue, I do believe we can make something happen here, and added now its on the shoulders of our leaders to bring it to the floor for a vote.

Matt Sande, legislative director/deputy state director for Pro-Life Wisconsin, next introduced his pro-life hero, Representative Jacque.

Sande said after the Center for Medical Progress videos were released last summer showing evidence of Planned Parenthood selling aborted baby body parts for medical research, Jacque went immediately to work to launch legislation.

Hes been working so hard ever since to get them through the State Assembly, Sande said.

Jacque said, As a state, as a society, we must stand for the sanctity of human life, particularly for the most vulnerable among us . . . we must stop Planned Parenthood.

Jacque said Planned Parenthood is literally killing our next generation and is providing no accountability for use of those dollars, given to them by the state of Wisconsin.

Representative Janel Brandtjen (R-Menomonee Falls) echoed the statements of Jacque and said, Bless you for coming. Bless you for having the ability to have a voice. We all know that the unborn do not have a voice, they dont have dollars, they dont have votes, so you being here is representative of them.

Representative Kleefisch motivated action by the concerned citizens at the Capitol, saying, People like you are the reason were able to do what we do in this building . . . if we dont say life is important from its very beginning, nothing else we do matters because every one of the bills and every one of the laws thats signed in this building affects what? The lives of the people of the state of Wisconsin.

Taking action

As the rally came to a close, Julaine Appling, president of Wisconsin Family Action, encouraged everyone to go inside the Capitol and speak with their representatives to pass the important legislation.

She emphasized the multiplied power of one: either one voice talking to a lawmaker, or going back home and talking to friends and relatives of the importance of protecting the lives of the unborn.

Dont let the momentum end, she said, urging everyone to go to the lawmakers with a respectful message.

For more information on the pro-life legislation, go to docs.legis.wis consin.gov and search for the bills mentioned earlier in this article.

For information on how to contact your state lawmakers, go to maps.legis.wisconsin.gov
FRS and Clipper to combine expertise to deliver new ferry services and open new hubs in Vancouver, Florida, and Cuba; company also plans to expand travel products

FRS has acquired a majority interest in Clipper. FRS is a global ferry and shipping group, currently operating 60 vessels in 12 countries, and carrier of more than 7 million passengers and 1.9 million vehicles last year on national and international ferry lines. Clipper, operator of Clipper Vacations, is a recognized company in the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada, offering unique regional travel experiences, including high speed Victoria Clipper ferry services from Seattle to Victoria, and Seattle to San Juan Island. With the acquisition, Clipper will expand its Canadian service with a new hub in Vancouver connecting downtown Vancouver to downtown Victoria. With Clippers support, FRS will launch a new ferry service from Florida to Cuba, pending government guidance and approval.

This is an exciting day for Clipper, as we are thrilled to join forces with another industry leader, said Merideth Tall, founder, CEO and Chair of Clipper. FRS is a company that shares our values and our vision for travel and tourism in North America, and has long-term experience in markets around the world. Combining with FRS will allow us to expand our travel products and services to provide many more options for our customers that will now include Vancouver and Cuba.

Tall will continue in her role as CEO of Clipper, and will expand the Clipper team to support this growth. She will also retain minority ownership of the company. More details regarding the new hubs in Vancouver, Florida and Cuba will be revealed in the coming weeks and months ahead. Terms of the acquisition are not being disclosed.

Clipper and its leadership team plan to leverage FRS long history of managing multi-country operation models as we launch our future growth plan. The expansion of operations to Vancouver and Cuba will further benefit both of our Canadian and American destination cities, Tall said.

Both FRS and Clipper are family-owned businesses. FRS has 150 years of experience in the operation of various ferry types and has grown from a regional passenger ferry operator to an internationally active group. FRS operates ferry routes in Europe, Northern Africa and the Middle East.

Clipper is a 30 year-old Seattle institution best known for owning and operating the Victoria Clipper ferries between Seattle, Victoria, BC and the San Juan Islands. The company is also well recognized for providing travel packages throughout Washington state, Vancouver Island, the San Juan Islands, Portland, the Canadian Rockies and more. The travel packages feature quintessential experiences in the region and offer a wide range of activities, including whale watching, zip lining, wine tasting excursions and train adventures.

By acquiring Clipper, we are expanding our presence in the North American market, bringing with us our long history of operational acumen and connection to the European tourism market, said Gotz Becker, CEO of FRS. Clipper has an impressive track record in the Pacific Northwest and Canada, and will now serve even more of the Canadian market with a new Vancouver service. With the support of Clipper, we are also thrilled to launch a new ferry service between Florida and Cuba.

When I went on a business trip with U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (Wash.) to Cuba in 2002, it opened my eyes to the possibilities of a tourism industry between our two countries, Tall said. Together with FRS, we will continue to build our role as a major presence in the tourism industry throughout North America.

Tom Norwalk, president of Visit Seattle, adds that this market development will be a benefit for tourists. By expanding its offerings in partnership with FRS, Clipper is connecting travel in a way that shows our regions visitors the best of what we have to offer. We are thrilled to see a local tourism icon like Clipper adapt and grow to meet the needs of visitors and locals alike.
The European Commission recently published Decision (C(2015)9019 final / 18-12-2015) alleging that some provisions of the Greek shipping taxation regime are in breach of EU state aid provisions and, in particular, the conditions set out in the current Community Guidelines on State Aid to Maritime Transport (SAG).

In response, the Union of Greek Shipowners issued a statement expressing its disagreement with the decision.

As the official representative of the Greek shipping sector, the Union of Greek Shipowners (UGS) has the duty to point out that there is no effective distortion of competition in the maritime field in the EU and that any fundamental changes to the institutional and fiscal framework in which the Greek shipping community is presently operating, would have unforeseeable consequences which would be detrimental not only for Greece but also for the rest of the EU as they would seriously undermine one of its most important strategic sectors which remains prominent internationally in the face of fierce competition.

During the informal investigation of the European Commission which commenced in 2012, the main arguments put forward by the Greek authorities and the UGS were based on the following facts:

That the Greek institutional shipping regime predates the State Aid Guidelines (SAG) by many years. In particular, the Greek institutional framework for shipping taxation and especially the Greek model of tonnage tax for ships was introduced in 1953 and re-established in 1975 and became more or less the precedent for the development of the SAG and of regimes in the EU and internationally. Hence, Greece is not exceptional in this respect.

The Greek maritime framework constitutes pre-accession law, which was recognized during the accession of Greece to the EEC in 1981 and has not been questioned until now and is an important part of the policy to attract inward investment in the maritime sector.

DG COMPs present investigation and decision are not the result of a formal complaint.

A large part of the Greek shipping taxation regime is underpinned by constitutional guarantees which were put in place following the overturning in 1974 of the seven-year military dictatorship in Greece.

It is significant that the 1997 Maritime SAG were not introduced in the form of an EU Directive or Regulation with a view to imposing uniformity of application across the Member States. The SAG deliberately provide a flexible soft law which can take account of the different characteristics, size and importance of shipping in the Member States and the ability and willingness of Member State governments to adopt its provisions. In this respect, they provide a framework, not a level playing field since even the levels of tonnage tax paid for vessels of the same size differ from Member State to Member State. Nevertheless, the SAG have been successful in stemming deflagging from EU registers and in meeting intense international competition for the establishment of shipping companies. It is worth noting the severe demise of the EU commercial shipbuilding industry for lack of appropriate support to deal with international competition.

The decision of the European Commission regarding the Greek shipping taxation system and its statement that it will be used as a precedent for the assessment of other EU shipping regimes will seriously disrupt the shipping sector in the EU after twenty years of successful growth without formal complaints and negligible intra-EU reflagging or re-establishment of shipping companies.

Greek shipping is engaged primarily in the bulk / tramp cross-trades worldwide which are a textbook example of free and fair competition and one of the last remaining truly entrepreneurial sectors comprising primarily small and medium sized unquoted private companies, mostly family businesses. It is important that the characteristics of this business model are understood and supported.

The European Commission must focus on the strategic, commercial and international dimension of the EU shipping industry in its diversity and its potential mobility, rather than concentrate on the nominal or juridical aspects of compliance with the letter of the SAG within the EU. Otherwise, the Commission will undermine the confidence of shipping entrepreneurs and may encourage relocation of companies outside Europe.

The Greek shipping sector has provided and continues to provide multifaceted benefits to Greece of financial, social welfare and strategic importance. As reports by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE) state, Greek shipping contributes over 7% of GDP, provides employment to 200,000 people and covers over 30% of the trade deficit. Equally important are the benefits for the European shipping (a percentage exceeding 46% of which is owned by Greek interests) and for the European maritime cluster and economy.

The Greek shipping industry was never part of the debt problems of the Greek state. On the contrary, as mentioned above, the contribution of shipping to the Greek economy and the Balance of Payments over the last 35 years has been consistently substantial and irreplaceable especially since the repatriation of Greek shipping companies which commenced in the 1980s. Moreover, it is a grave misconception that taxation of Greek shipping companies and shipowners is very low or non-existent. In fact, it has increased in recent years due to groundbreaking agreements with the Greek government to unprecedented levels and overall is probably amongst the highest shipping taxation regimes worldwide.

The UGS is concerned that the negative climate created by the Decision regarding Greece risks severely undermining one of the Greek economys primary pillars at a time of exceptionally high unemployment and urgently needed growth prospects and the EU may lose a substantial part of its fleet and maritime cluster. Such developments are not in line with the Commissions declared policy agenda for growth, employment, improved competitiveness and better regulation.
The Dutch Finance Ministry said on Thursday it was "disappointed" with an EU Commission order to do away with corporate tax exemptions for six ports, including Rotterdam, Europe's largest.



The measure puts the Netherlands at a disadvantage, the government said in a statement, calling on the Commission to ensure fair competition.



European Union regulators told Dutch authorities on Thursday to scrap a corporate tax exemption for the ports and also ordered Belgium and France to align their port taxation systems with the bloc's state aid rules.



"The Commission's decisions today regarding the Netherlands, Belgium and France make clear that if port operators generate profits from economic activities these should be taxed," European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said.



The port companies to be taxed from January 2017, are Groningen Seaports N.V., Havenbedrijf Amsterdam N.V., Havenbedrijf Rotterdam N.V., Havenschap Moerdijk, N.V. Port of Den Helder and Zeeland Seaports.



The Dutch case came about after the government passed a law in June that subjected public entities to corporate tax starting from January 2016 with the exception of the ports.



A generous Dutch corporate tax climate helps dozens of the world's largest business lower tax rates to a single digit. It has also been criticised by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation in Europe (OECD).



The Netherlands has appealed another Commission ruling, ordering it to claw back millions in tax from coffee giant Starbucks.





Reporting by Anthony Deutsch
U.S. lifts 2012 Iran sanctions against three trader companies; Kuo Oil seeks to load two Iranian fuel oil cargoes.



Kuo Oil, a Singapore-based oil trading company, is seeking ships to load Iranian fuel oil, according to a shipping broker report, now that it is finally clear of U.S. trade sanctions imposed in 2012 for trading with the country.



The United States lifted the sanctions on Saturday against Kuo, also known as Kuo International Bunkering, as part of its broader relaxation of sanctions against Iran for compliance with an agreement to curtail its controversial nuclear programme. The sanctions were handed down on Kuo in January 2012 for providing over $25 million in refined petroleum products to Iran between late 2010 and early 2011.



Now that sanctions are lifted, Kuo is seeking tankers to lift Iranian fuel oil from Bandar Abbas loading between Jan. 29 and 30 and another from Bandar Mahshahr for loading between Feb. 6 and 8, totaling 120,000 tonnes, according to a January 20 report from shipbrokers Clarksons.



While Kuo appears to have cargoes available, other shipbrokers see obstacles for Kuo's attempt to fix a vessel to load from Iranian ports because of problems with finding insurance for the ship.



"Even if Iran's sanctions have been lifted, P&I Club underwriters won't have the ability to load out of Iran until sometime later," said a Singapore-based tanker broker.



Apart from gaining insurance coverage, the broker saw no other issues that would prohibit companies from loading oil cargoes in Iran.



Kuo Oil was not immediately available to respond to requests for comment.



Sanctions on the company were lifted on the same day Iran emerged from years of economic isolation when the United Nations' nuclear watchdog ruled that the Islamic Republic had curbed its nuclear program under a deal with world powers.



Kuo Oil is a family-run trading firm with a significant presence in Singapore's oil sector.



Sanctions were also lifted from China's state-run Zhuhai Zhenrong Corp, which the U.S. State Department said was then Iran's largest supplier of refined petroleum products, as well as the now defunct FAL Oil Company Ltd, formerly an independent energy trader based in the United Arab Emirates, according to a document from the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.



In 2015, the Zhuhai Zhenrong renewed its deal with National Iranian Oil Co to buy 240,000 barrels a day of Iranian crude.



Zhuhai Zhenrong was not available for comment.





By Roslan Khasawneh
A second Poe-sized Lock is critical to the future of Michigan and the United States, declared Michigan Governor Rick Snyder in his State of the State address on January 19, and he pledged to work with Congress to build it, the Lake Carriers Association (LCA) reported.



Gov. Snyder noted that 4,000 commercial vessels transit the locks at Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. each year, but most of the tonnage goes through the Poe Lock because it can accommodate the largest and most efficient vessels. The Poe Lock is absolutely critical to our future.



What would happen if that one lock went down? the Governor continued. It would devastate Michigans economy. To be blunt, it could devastate the national economy.



A second Poe-sized lock was authorized by Congress first in 1986, and then again in 2007, but funds for the $590 million project have not been appropriated. This is something we need to work with Congress on and getting done.



The Soo Locks connect Lake Superior to the lower four Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway. Iron ore for the steel industry is the primary cargo moving through the locks. Gov. Snyder stressed the country would run out of steel if the Poe Lock failed.



Other cargos moving through the Poe Lock include western coal and limestone.



Although authorized by Congress, construction of the lock has been stalled by a flawed benefit/cost (b/c) analysis. However, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has recently agreed to re-evaluate the project. Industry is calling on the Corps to fast track the analysis. A Department of Homeland Security report on the Poe Lock forecasts dire consequences should mechanical or structural issues close the lock for a lengthy period of time.
Effective immediately, and until further notice, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) will require transiting crude oil tankers, product carrier, and chemical tankers carrying cargoes with flashpoint of less than 18 deg. C, to cool their main decks with water by means of the on-deck water sprinkler system or any other means available in order to prevent automatic activation of their pressure relief valves during transit.



The cooling of the main deck shall be performed between 1000 and 1600 hours while the vessel is underway at Gatun Lake or Gaillard Cut, or at anchor in Canal waters. However, this procedure should be stopped while the vessel is transiting through the locks or is in the vicinity of the locks, and when Canal deckhands are on board.



If this procedure fails to prevent automatic activation of pressure relief valves, it may be necessary to reduce the pressure by manually opening pressure relief valves. This shall be done only after the Master has ascertained the following:



The situation has been reported to the ACPs Canal Port Captain on duty through the pilot on board or to the Canal signal stations at Flamenco or Crsistobal when there is no pilor on board.

All necessary actions have been implemented to prevent exposing ACP personnel to vapors. Shipboard and nearby ignition sources have been controlled.

Compliance with measures described above will enhance the safety of Canal operations, as well as Canal customers, and reduce or eliminate possible disruptions in transit scheduling.



(For information about operations in Panama, contact GAC-Wilford & McKay at [email protected])



Source: Panama Canal Authority Advisory to Shipping No.A-02-2016 dated 18 January 2016


Ouch. That's about the only word we can use to sum up Wednesday's volatility, which saw many indexes globally hit new lows. Some-namely the UK's FTSE 100 and Japan's Nikkei 225-breached -20% from their prior highs when measured in local currencies, prompting shouts of "bear market!" in their home countries. Fear and gloom are everywhere. But don't give in. During corrections, it is fairly normal for some narrow benchmarks to enter "bear territory." It doesn't mean world stocks are actually in a bear market-and even after Wednesday, they aren't[i]. It just illustrates the importance of global diversification.

When the financial news sites discuss international returns, they usually cite legacy benchmarks in local currency. For UK markets, we get the FTSE 100 in sterling. For Germany, we get the DAX in euro. The Nikkei is always quoted in yen. If you're investing in those countries using any other currency, those returns aren't relevant to you, as currency translation would impact your results. For example, the Nikkei 225 is down -21.7% since 6/24/2015 in yen.[ii] In dollars, it is down less, -16.4%.[iii] Some articles will compare a bunch of benchmarks, each in their local currency. Yet any proper comparison must also account for currency moves. All are big reasons why we think much of Wednesday's sensationalism missed the target. It shunned measured analysis for eye-popping numbers.

In doing so, it also overemphasized some very small pieces of the global stock market. Indexes like the FTSE 100, Germany's DAX and the Nikkei 225 are, to varying degrees[iv], loosely fair representations of their countries' broad stock markets. But compared to global markets, they are very, very narrow. They represent blue chip stocks in countries that are 7.3%, 3.4% and 9.0% of the MSCI World Index by market cap, respectively.[v] A general rule of thumb is that the narrower the index, the wilder the ride. During corrections and "normal" bull market stretches, individual countries regularly diverge from broader global returns. Particularly those whose markets have only a few companies or sectors, like Norway, Ireland and Denmark. During this correction, some countries have held up far better than the world. Others, especially those with heavy Energy and Materials exposure, have done far worse.

Exhibit 1: Total Returns Since World Stocks' Most Recent High

Source: FactSet, as of 1/20/2016. MSCI index returns from 5/21/2015 - 1/20/2015 in USD. MSCI USA returns include gross dividends; all others include net dividends.

This is why global diversification is vital. A more market-like portfolio generates more market-like returns, usually with less expected volatility than a geographically narrow portfolio. Those jarring country-specific moves tend to cancel each other out. During this correction, Ireland's 0.16% share of the MSCI World has helped offset Norway's 0.21% share. All of these extremes meld together into the MSCI World's return, which is well within correction norms.

Now, if you're American, then the notion of investing only in one small European country might sound, well, foreign-that's because your home-country bias points to the U-S-of-A. But for investors elsewhere, it's different. Humans naturally gravitate toward the familiar, and domestic stocks are familiar. Many UK investors have an affinity for UK stocks. Many Canadians give top preference to Canadian stocks. Any investor in any country on earth is subject to this tendency, and proper diversification isn't always intuitive. Even when folks do invest globally, they might put 20%, 30%, 40% or more in their home country. In any country except the US (58.9% of the MSCI World Index), this is a huge overweight, adding risk. Not just on a country level. Small countries' sector weightings are usually quite disconnected from the world. Heavily overweighting your home country could make your sector weightings severely out of whack. The MSCI Norway, for example, is more than 40% in commodities (Energy and Materials), which have been hammered by falling oil and metals prices. Even the UK, Canada and Germany, which have much bigger markets, have some big sector divergence. British markets are severely underweight Technology and overweight Energy, Materials and Staples. Canadian markets are hugely overweight Financials, Energy and Materials. German markets have outsized Materials exposure.

Exhibit 2: MSCI UK Sector Weightings Relative to the MSCI World

FactSet, as of 1/20/2016. MSCI UK sector allocation minus MSCI World sector allocation on 1/19/2015.

Exhibit 3: MSCI Canada Sector Weightings Relative to the MSCI World

FactSet, as of 1/20/2016. MSCI Canada sector allocation minus MSCI World sector allocation on 1/19/2015.

Exhibit 4: MSCI Germany Sector Weightings Relative to the MSCI World

FactSet, as of 1/20/2016. MSCI Germany sector allocation minus MSCI World sector allocation on 1/19/2015.

Returns during this correction underscore the importance of diversification. If you're British and investing globally in sterling, your returns are probably much better than that widely cited FTSE 100 bear market (Exhibit 5). That's triply true if you're a Canadian investing globally with Canadian dollars (Exhibit 6). Home country bias might feel great when it works in your favor, but when it doesn't ...

Exhibit 5: The Correction From a British Viewpoint

Source: FactSet, as of 1/20/2016. MSCI World and MSCI UK Index returns in GBP, 4/10/2015 - 1/20/2016. MSCI World returns include net dividends; MSCI UK returns include gross dividends.

Exhibit 6: The Correction From a Canadian Viewpoint

Source: FactSet, as of 1/20/2016. MSCI World and MSCI Canada Index returns in CAD, 4/15/2015 - 1/20/2016. MSCI World returns include net dividends; MSCI Canada returns include gross dividends.

We suspect much of this commentary is cold comfort in the throes of a correction. But perspective is one of your greatest tools at times like this, when fearful headlines drive the temptation to make hasty decisions. Facts can seem cold, but facts are also friendly, and the fact that much of Wednesday's market coverage doesn't totally mesh with reality is a friendly, hopefully comforting, fact. This still has all the hallmarks of a sentiment-driven correction, and corrections often end as suddenly as they begin, sometimes for no apparent reason. The ride down is painful, but if you can separate fact from fearful headline and stay disciplined, you should be well-positioned to catch the ride back up.
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WESTFIELD - Local private equity firm Longmeadow Capital Partners has purchased venerable knife maker Lamson & Goodnow out of bankruptcy giving Lamson management hope that they'll have access to enough capital to grow the business at its new factory here.

Lamson plans to keep its factory store in Shelburne Falls and open a new one in the coming months adjacent to its new factory at 79 Mainline Drive in Westfield, president and CEO James C. Pelletier said Wednesday.

Lamson moved into 79 Mainline Drive in the summer of 2015.

He said it will take a few months to do the necessary renovations for a factory store at the site.

The purchase will result in the company taking a new name: LongCap Lamson Products LLC.

The purchase price was $1.98 million according to documents on file with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Springfield.

Founded in 1837, Lamson & Goodnow bills itself as the oldest cutlery manufacturer in the United States. But it filed for bankruptcy in 2014 citing years of mismanagement and heavy debt.

Owner James Ross Anderson came out of retirement to save the company. He brought in new managers who moved it from its historic but flood-prone and inefficient factory on the Buckland shore of the Deerfield River in Shelburne Falls.

The deal with Longmeadow Capital Partners includes some real estate in Shelburne Falls, but the majority of the factory site has already been sold to a different investor

The bankruptcy left Lamson so short of capital it had trouble buying steel, wood and other raw materials to fulfill orders, Pelletier said.

"We used whatever money we had coming in through receivables," Pelletier said. "Now, we are spending a lot of money to build up our inventory to where it needs to be. "One of the greatest things to now have is an owner who is going to financially support all the programs that we have."

The lack of inventory hurt sales, according to bankruptcy papers. The company told the bankruptcy court that sales for the year 2015 totaled $1.78 million through Oct. 15. In 2014 the sales totaled nearly $3 million.

In the interview, Pelletier said a lack of cash meant delays. And many of Lamson's customers won't place more orders until the last one is fulfilled.

Those customers run from high-end kitchen goods store Williams-Sonoma , the Swiss Army kitchen wear brand, and All-Clad cookwear.

Lamson & Goodnow's kitchen tools are used by professional chefs and are standard issue at chains like McDonald's, Burger King and Wendy's, Pelletier said.

The company has 35 employees now in Westfield and hopes to get up above 50. Pelletier wants to add sales people, engineers and managers as well as production workers to meet what he believes to be a pent-up demand.

Longmeadow Capital Partners and its managing member Richard B. Steele deferred questions Wednesday to Pelletier.

Longmeadow Capital Partners also owns Hebert Candies in Shrewsbury.

On its website, Longmeadow Capital Partners said it bought well-known Hebert Candies in 2005. Hebert was founded in 1917. Today, Longmeadow Capital Partners runs Hebert through a subsidiary called American Gourmet Group which also has a gift-basket division called Gifted Expressions.

"The synergies are obvious," Pelletier said. "We could create gift baskets that include Lamson products, like our small seafood set or a barbecue set."
Longmeadow - JGS Lifecare has named Deborah Attia, RN, Director of Hospice Services of Spectrum Home Health & Hospice Care. Attia is responsible for overseeing the daily operation of the hospice program, including supervision of the team, financial performance, and delivery of quality care, as well as providing direct care.

Attia brings 13 years of clinical experience in health care to this position. She is a registered nurse and experienced counselor. Before joining Spectrum, Attia served as the assistant director of clinical operations and RN case manager for Solamor/Life Choice Hospice/Hospice Compassus. In these roles, she oversaw quality initiatives, staff education, and hospice admissions and discharges. Prior to that, she served as a Rehab Unit Manager for Calvin Coolidge Nursing and Rehab in Northampton. She was also a skilled nursing director at Village at Waterman Lake in Greenville, Rhode Island, and gained experience in the geri-psych unit at UMMC Clinton in Clinton, MA.

Attia has an associates degree in nursing from Mt. Wachusett Community College and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology degree from Worcester State College.

She lives in South Hadley, with a self-described 'neurotic' cairn terrier.
Kevin Walsh

Trader Kevin Walsh, foreground right, works on his handheld device on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016.

(Richard Drew / Associated Press)

BOSTON - Stocks rallied a little Thursday afternoon, part of what has been a wild up - and mostly down - ride for Wall Street so far in 2016.

All this volatility can be a little unnerving, but Secretary of the Commonwealth William F. Galvin warned Thursday that investors shouldn't run on emotion and shouldn't fall for the types of scams that seem to come out of the woodwork in a down market.

Examples include Internet or phone solicitations to "put your money in a safe haven like gold", "bonds are less volatile than equities," or "you could take the same money you have in stocks and put it into an investment that will earn you twice as much!"

He issued the following statement:

"It is at times like these that fraudsters come out of the woodwork to exploit investor panic.As always make sure to fully understand any investment. And if the investment sounds too good to be true, it's probably a scam."

Galvin's office has responsibility regulating financial markets in Massachusetts:

Massachusetts investors should consider these tips:
Funder Collaborative - UB Foundation Press Release.jpg

Funder Collaborative for Reading Success seen here at a recent meeting. Standing (left to right): Sally Fuller; Irene E. & George A. Davis Foundation, Dena Hall; United Bank, Sylvia De Haas Phillips; United Way of Pioneer Valley, Ward Caswell; Beveridge Family Foundation, Kathleen Traphagen; Consultant, Gary Levante; Berkshire Bank, Jennifer Gabriel; TD Bank. Seated (left to right): Susan Wilson; Peoples Bank, Jack Dill; Colebrook Realty, Nancy Reiche; Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts, Mary Walachy; Irene E. & George A. Davis Foundation.

(photo provided)

WEST SPRINGFIELD -- The United Bank Foundation Massachusetts announced today that they will dedicate $30,000 to the Funder Collaborative for Reading Success (FCRS) to help fulfill its goal of ensuring every child in Springfield is reading at grade level by the fourth grade.



The FCRS targets its resources on Springfield children from birth to nine years old whose literacy, language and reading skills are below level for their age and/or grade level. The Funder Collaborative also supports programs that help ensure parents and guardians have the resources and guidance they need to provide a literacy-rich home environment for their children, according to a news release from United Bank Foundation Massachusetts.



FCRS invests the funding to a variety of programs and areas of focus, including family education and engagement; early education and care; out-of-school time; and summer learning programs. Their ultimate goal is to impact the language, emergent literacy and reading schools of young children in Springfield.



Based on recent statistics regarding reading proficiency and overall education, the Board members of United's Massachusetts Foundation unanimously approved the $30,000 grant. Only 40 percent of third graders in Springfield are reading proficiently as measured by the 2014 English Language Arts portion of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS).



The $30,000 from the United Bank Foundation Massachusetts, which will be granted at $10,000 for three years, is part of the pooled fund administered by the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts, a leading charitable organization in the Pioneer Valley that brings together individuals, groups and businesses to aggregate resources for charitable purposes.



This is the third year that United's Foundation has made a contribution to the Funder Collaborative.



For more information about the United Bank Foundation Massachusetts or the Bank's charitable giving programs, go to www.bankatunited.com. To learn about the Funder Collaborative for Reading Success, please visit www.readby4thgrade.com. For more about the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts see www.communityfoundation.org.
STeven Tyler, Joey Hamilton, Aerosmith

Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler, left, and drummer Joey Kramer watch the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers in an NBA basketball game.

(Amy Sancetta)

Aerosmith drummer Joey Kramer is slated to open a coffeehouse in the Bay State this spring.

Joey Kramer's Rockin & Roastin' Cafe, a 1,500-square foot business in North Attleborough, is scheduled to start slinging caffeinated beverages in April, according to the Boston Business Journal.

This will be Kramer's second coffeehouse. He opened a combined restaurant, cafe and nightclub with a similar name in Newry, Maine last year.

The cafe will sell Kramer's organic coffee line, Rockin' & Roastin', as well as breakfast sandwiches and baked goods, the Business Journal reports. Wi-Fi will be complimentary, and branded apparel as well as bags of Kramer's coffee will be sold there.

Kramer's drum kit from Aerosmith's recent world tour will be showcased at the cafe.

The location is currently hiring about 30 people, with positions available for general manager, shift managers baristas and cashiers, the Business Journal said.

Kramer's business partner and attorney, Frank Cimler, said he expects the coffeehouse to be competitive with Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts.
Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith

Will Smith, left, and Jada Pinkett Smith arrive at the Oscars on Sunday, March 2, 2014.

(AP file photo)

Days after he was chastised by a former co-star for not speaking for himself, Will Smith said on Thursday he will boycott the Academy Awards next month.

His wife, actress Jada Pinkett Smith, suggested a boycott on Saturday because of a lack of diversity among Oscar nominees, Smith, who starred in the film "Concussion," was among the African-American actors some critics felt were overlooked by the Academy.

Speaking on ABC's "Good Morning America," Smith claimed that the couple's boycott goes beyond his personal Oscars snub.

"There's probably a part of that in there but, for Jada, had I been nominated and no other people of color were... we'd still be here having this conversation," Smith said. "This is so deeply not about me."

Earlier this week, Janet Hubert, who co-starred with Smith in "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air," asked Pinkett Smith in a YouTube posting "does your man not have a mouth of his own with which to speak?"

Hubert characterized the Oscar diversity issue as trivial in light of world events.

"Girlfriend, there's a lot of [expletive] going on in the world that you all don't seem to recognize. People are dying. Our boys are being shot left and right. People are starving. People are trying to pay bills. And you're talking about some [expletive] actors and Oscars. It just ain't that deep," Hubert said.

Since Pinkett Smith suggested a boycott, director Spike Lee has stated he will not attend the ceremony on Feb. 28. There has been support on Twitter with the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite.

Host Chris Rock has received calls to step down in a show of support.
The Kalispell Chamber of Commerce hosted the Kalispell Business Agenda Luncheon on January 19 at the Red Lion. In attendance were 170 community members, business owners, and several of the valleys top leaders.

Kicking off the event was the presentation of $100,000 to Kidsports, accepted by Senator Mark Blasdel and Dan Johns, founder of the complex. The business community rallied at the Chambers Annual Banquet and Auction in November to raise funds for improvements of the important community project.

Beginning the luncheon program and referencing many of the area achievements from 2015, Joe Unterreiner, President and CEO of the Kalispell Chamber set an initial mood of success and celebration, but cautioned attendees of what the year to come may have in store.

"A few short weeks ago we were wrapping up 2015 and savoring some good news in the local economy. Now, however, is not the time to take a victory lap. There is huge upside potential, but many downside risks."

Mentioned by the president were how the area is still 2,400 jobs below marks from 2008 and that the EPA Clean Power Plan is threatening nearly 1,000 more in Northwest Montana. The Dow is off 8.2% so far this year, federal debt increasing, and the nations key international trading partners are struggling.

"A positive future will not come automatically. We must work for it. We must earn it," said the president as he turned his attention to what the Kalispell Chamber has in store for 2016.

The Chamber plans to put its greatest efforts behind just a handful of key initiatives that can make the most difference.

Planning to take a two-pronged approach, the Chamber will first join with the Montana and U.S. Chambers of Commerce and the State of Montana to challenge EPA Power Plan measures. A second step will be taken by working with local utility providers, the Governors Advisory Committee, the Governors staff, the Public Services Commission, and others to craft a state plan that minimizes the impacts to Northwestern Montana.

"Well also add a business perspective to the update of the Kalispell Growth Policy," said Unterreiner. "These plans are vital to the growth and success of our community," referencing the Core Area Plan, Downtown Plan, South Kalispell Urban Renewal Plan, Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plana and the Transportation Plan.

The Kalispell Chamber plans to further increase tourism by developing a Tourism Alliance, set to debut during the Chambers May luncheon on tourism and hospitality.

Look for the Chamber to support manufacturing and innovation by pushing for further reductions and eliminations of the business equipment tax and searching for ways to reduce workmen compensation costs. An increase in manufacturing trades scholarships is also something to look for during October: Flathead Manufacturing Month.

High on the Chambers list of to-dos is advocating a policy agenda that supports additional commercial and residential construction while streamlining the approval process and costs.

"Rest assured the Kalispell Chamber will work tirelessly to preserve the spirit of enterprise and advance an agenda of growth and prosperity."

For questions on the Kalispell Chambers 2016 Agenda, please contact Joe Unterreiner, [email protected]

To view the complete list of 2016 events for the Kalispell Chamber, click here http://www.kalispellchamber.com/wp-content/uploads/2016-Kalispell-Chamber-Schedule-of-Events.pdf

About the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce and Convention and Visitors Bureau

Since 1904, the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce and Convention and Visitors Bureau has been a leading voice in strengthening our community and the business climate, with the goal of making Kalispell and the Flathead Valley an ideal location to live and work. The Chamber consists of 700 businesses and organizations, which employ over half of the workforce in Flathead County, Montana.
by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, January 20, 2016

Campbell-Ewald must face a potential class-action lawsuit for allegedly sending unsolicited text messages as part of an ad campaign for the Navy, the Supreme Court ruled today.

The agency attempted to end the litigation by to pay $1,500 to Jose Gomez -- the consumer who brought the case and hoped to serve as class representative. The most that Gomez could have obtained as an individual was $1,500. But a class-action against Campbell-Ewald could potentially cost the company millions.

Campbell-Ewald said its settlement offer rendered Gomez's claim moot.

The Supreme Court rejected the agency's argument in a 6-3 decision. "We hold that Gomezs complaint was not effaced by Campbells unaccepted offer to satisfy his individual claim," Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote for the majority.

The dispute dates to 2010, when Gomez sued Campbell-Ewald for allegedly violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act with an allegedly "bungled" texting initiative. That law prohibits companies from using autodialers to send text ads to consumers without their written consent. The statute provides for damages of $500-$1,500 per violation.

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Gomez says in court papers that he received a text ad sent by Campbell-Ewald "even though he had never consented to receive it and was nearly 40 years old at the time -- far above the Navy-approved age range." Gomez also says Campbell-Ewald didn't verify that its list of recipients had consented to receive text messages.

The dispute drew the interest of the White House as well as numerous business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The Obama administration sided with Gomez. U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verilli argues in a friend-of-the-court brief that Gomez was entitled to pursue a class-action, although he was offered the maximum amount of damages he could receive as an individual.

But the Chamber of Commerce said consumers shouldn't be allowed to proceed with class actions when defendants offer to settle by paying the maximum amount of statutory damages. "Allowing such class actions to proliferate harms defendants and the judicial system alike, because it encourages lawsuits and discourages settlements," the Chamber argued in a friend-of-the-court brief.
by P.J. Bednarski , Staff Writer @pjbtweet, January 21, 2016

WebMD has been with us, in sickness and in health, since 1996. Without much fanfare, its a destination place for people who want to know what ails them, from young adults to older people.

Theyre just looking for different things at different times Kristy Hammam, the editor in chief, divides much of the content on WebMd into two broad categories: lifestyle and wellness, diseases and conditions.

Thats an enormous turf where WebMD is probably the best known. In 2015, monthly visitors increased 17% from the year before, to approximately 77 million as of late last year. In the third quarter last year, WebMD generated f4 billion page views.

It leaves competitors in the dust, and sometimes generates rumors. Earlier this month, WebMD had to announce it was not currently in negotiations to be acquired, after the Financial Times reported some buzz that a drug store chain or insurance company might be interested.

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Thats the power of WebMDs brand in the waiting room and on the exam table, so to speak.

Stephen L. Zatz, the president, notes, WebMD works both ends of the street. Not only is it a destination place for patients, its Medscape is the leading destination for physicians. In the most recently reported earnings call, the company said 380,000 physicians were active on the site monthly.

While WebMD has ample videos on the site, it decided last year to up its dosage, and make it more of a showcase. Now youll find videos with titles ranging from Three Things to Have in Your Freezer to How to Perform Hands-Only CPR to Perfect Your Poop Pose (done tastefully, all things considered).

The video range is deliberate: some serious, some not so. They're good drivers for advertisers, too. (Procter & Gamble's native video about incontinence, for Always, is as informative as it is subtle, unusual for that genre.)

Were in the process of creating 10 new franchise series with multiple episodes Hammam says. In just the last couple months, WebMD has produced dozens of videos, and hundreds more will join them in 2016.

Part of the reason for that, Zatz and Hammam say, is the big move of the Internet volume toward video and the role of social media in driving people to sites. Part might also be that the rate of its search query increases have slowed, as search generally has declined.

Facebooks in-feed video, Hammam in convinced, is changing the way people come to Websites, so video is a necessary tool for WebMD.

A good example of WebMDs evolving videocentric approach was WebMDs Future Of Medicine a series of reports started last year, created in conjunction with Good Morning America host Robin Roberts.

By expanding the definition of health coverage (How Your Brain Reacts to Spicy and Cold Foods and Surviving Cold Weather: What to Do if You Lose Power? are currently featured on the site) WebMD creates go-to features that can build traffic and get shares.

Those two video features dont immediately seem like naturals for a health site, but both obviously have implications. Hammam calls more broadly health-oriented stories, like a How-To Lite video on quitting cigarettes, stories that are shareable on social media, which seems to be a goal.

The move makes sense, much as print magazines are figuring out that video gets visitors in the door. Thats a driving force in our decisions, Hammam says.

pj@mediapost.com
by Steve McClellan @mp_mcclellan, January 21, 2016

Deb Freeman has been appointed chief strategy officer at Interpublics FCB Garfinkel, effective Feb. 1. In her new role, Freeman will lead strategy for the New York-based agency.

Freeman will report to Lee Garfinkel, the agencys CEO and also collaborate with FCB Global Chief Strategy Officer Nigel Jones.

Freeman was most recently executive strategy director at Grey New York. At Grey, where she worked for 10 years, she is credited with helping to drive the WPP agencys turnaround and new business success, playing a role in wins such as T.J. Maxx, Ally Financial, RadioShack, Pandora, the Whitney Museum of American Art and One World Observatory in New York, among others.

Deb is a strategic visionary who knows and understands the impact of unraveling the why behind insights and human behavior and the impact that can have on our communities, culture and the world at large, said Garfinkel.

Prior to Grey, Freeman served as a strategic brand and innovation consultant and also worked at agencies Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners and boutique firm Nick and Paul, The Brand Agency.

During her career Freeman has led strategy for brands including Coca-Cola, JetBlue and HBO.
by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, January 21, 2016

Kenshoo has released data estimating that among its clients, paid-search impressions rose 8% in Q4 2015, compared with the prior quarter, and 12% year-over-year. The company's numbers suggest that paid- search clicks rose 13% and 32%, and paid-search click-through rates rose 5% and 17%, respectively.

The Kenshoo Digital Marketing Snapshot: Q4 2015 report highlights changes in social and search advertising, and the shift in performance for marketers.

Google Product Listing Ads accounted for 26% of all paid-search impressions after accounting for only 8% last year. Mobile continued to serve as the primary growth driver in both channels, and accounted for nearly all of the 8% spend growth in paid search YoY.

"We believe 4Q search data points have been relatively strong, with growth being driven by adoption of Product Listings Ads (PLAs) and mobile growth," Raymond James Equity Analyst Aaron Kessler wrote in a research note.

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Kessler compares Kenshoo's data with RKG Merkle, which reported solid fourth-quarter growth of about 21% YoY -- as well as IgnitionOne's 4Q Digital Marketing Report, which states that Google search spend rose 18% YoY, driven by a jump in impressions and strength in shopping ads and mobile.

Marketers also spent more on social ads -- 50% YoY, driven by Facebook Dynamic Product Ads and Instagram ads, per Kenshoo's report.

Kenshoo also notes that for U.S. retailers during the 2015 holidays paid search rose 13% YoY, PLAs rose 33% YoY, mobile search rose 93% YoY, and mobile PLAs rose 11% YoY.

The analysis from Kenshoo -- search and social -- is based on five quarters of performance data from more than 3,000 Kenshoo advertiser and agency accounts across 20 vertical industries and over 60 countries, spanning Google, Bing, Baidu, Yahoo, Yahoo Japan and the Facebook Audience Network. The sample includes more than 550 billion impressions, 11 billion clicks and $6 billion (USD) in advertiser spend from Kenshoo clients.
by Erik Sass @eriksass1, January 21, 2016

National Geographic Travel

is launching another major content campaign for a tourism client with the debut of its new online hub dedicated to South Australia, the magazine announced Thursday.

Like NatGeos previous effort for Visit Florida, the content highlights adventurous experiences available to visitors to the state of South Australia. South Australian Tourism Commission joined forces with the publication for the promotion.

The content program created by NatGeoTravel, called "South Australias Adventures of a Lifetime," features articles about 30 adventure travel destinations in the state, along with photo galleries, video, an interactive map, and guides with basic information for planning a trip.

Articles describe trips to destinations including Kangaroo Island, a wildlife refuge with pristine beaches; South Australias wine district; opal mines; Australias largest lake; and a shipwreck open to divers, among others. The journeys are sorted into categories including cultural adventures, outdoor adventures, wildlife adventures, and active adventures.

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As with NatGeos regular editorial photos play a large role in bringing the locales alive, with images contributed by professional photographers Dan Westergren and Spencer Milsap. Their photos have also been featured on NatGeoTravels popular Instagram account to drive engagement with the program.

As part of the promotion, NationalGeographic.com is hosting a sweepstakes with a chance to win an adventure trip for two to South Australia. The hub features display advertising for South Australia.

Last October, NatGeo unveiled a similar content hub, called Floridas Pristine Parks, created for Visit Florida, featuring photo galleries and text about parks and natural preserves. Blogs by National Geographic photographers gave readers an inside look at their work as they document Floridas natural attractions.

The hub also offered travel tips and recommendations for additional tourism destinations near the parks, and carried display advertising linking to VisitFlorida.com, as well as links to NatGeos own branded travel service, National Geographic Expeditions.
by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, January 21, 2016

The University of San Diego's Children's Advocacy Institute is asking a federal appellate court to reconsider its recent decision upholding Facebook's $20 million "sponsored stories" settlement.

The watchdog, which is part of the law school's Center for Public Interest Law, says the settlement will empower Facebook to "capture, rearrange and republish" posts by children.

"It allows capture of their postings (including photos) by Facebook, editing, and republication to potentially large numbers of friends and strangers -- without prior consent or even notice to the child or parent," the group says in a motion for rehearing filed Wednesday with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Children's Advocacy Institute, which is bringing the motion on behalf of a parent of two underage Facebook users, argues that the settlement will affect the privacy rights of more than 10 million U.S. teens.

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The settlement, which was approved in 2013 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.

The deal 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. 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. (The company discontinued the sponsored stories program in 2014, but still allows people's names and photos to be paired with ads.)

The settlement's critics, including the Children's Advocacy Institute, argued to the 9th Circuit that the deal shouldn't have been approved. They raised a host of objections, including that the settlement would allow Facebook to violate laws in seven states, including California, that prohibit companies from using minors' names and photos in ads without their parents' consent.

A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit rejected that argument on the grounds that it's unclear whether Facebook's ad program violated California's privacy law. The judges added that the settlement offers "more protection for minors from Facebook's advertising practices than existed before."

The Children's Advocacy Institute is now asking the 9th Circuit to rehear the case "en banc" -- which would involve a hearing in front of at least 11 of the court's judges.

The watchdog says that Facebook shouldn't be able to use minor's names and photos in ads merely by inserting a "blanket waiver" in its terms and conditions. The group says the case should be sent back to Seeborg, and that new counsel should be appointed just to represent minors who use Facebook.

"It is respectfully imperative that the panel decision be reheard," the watchdog argues. "The unprecedented consequences of allowing a commercial entity to limit privacy rights of millions of children through a contract most of those children (and their parents) will not see must not be taken lightly."
It finally happened. Researchers have created a rat casino model with the aim of studying to what extent flashing lights and music  typically experienced at casinos  encourage risky decision-making. The results form a scientific basis for the lure of the glimmering lights of Vegas. Share on Pinterest Adding lights and music encouraged gambling rats to choose risky options in a so-called rat casino model. I often feel that scientific models are decades behind the casinos, says Catharine Winstanley. I dont think its an accident that casinos are filled with lights and noise. Winstanley, associate professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of British Columbia in Canada, was part of the team that conducted the study, recently published in the Journal of Neuroscience. She and colleague Michael Barrus, PhD, say that similar to other addiction disorders  such as with drugs or alcohol  gambling cues are believed to play a significant role in mediating their addictive nature. Although previous animal models of gambling behavior have involved aspects of economic decision-making, the researchers say they have not addressed the impact certain cues may have on encouraging risky behaviors. As such, the team created a so-called rat casino, in which they tested 32 male rats that gambled for sugary treats. Although the rats typically learn very quickly how to avoid the riskier options, the researchers say that adding flashing lights and sounds changed their behavior.

Fear and loathing in Rat Vegas Anyone who has ever visited a casino knows all too well the type of environment the researchers aimed to create for the rats. In his iconic novel, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Hunter S. Thompson sets the scene: Psychedelics are almost irrelevant in a town where you can wander into a casino any time of the day or night and witness the crucifixion of a gorilla  on a flaming neon cross that suddenly turns into a pinwheel, spinning the beast around in wild circles above the crowded gambling action. Winstanley says when they were designing their experiment, it seemed [] like a stupid thing to do, because it didnt seem like adding lights and sound would have much of an impact. But when we ran the study, the effect was enormous. The team found that adding lights and music to the gambling game encouraged the rats to choose disadvantageous risky options, compared with the rats that gambled without lights and music. Anyone whos ever designed a casino game or played a gambling game will tell you that of course sound and light cues keep you more engaged, but now we can show it scientifically, says Winstanley. She explains their study further in the video below:
Researchers analyzing data from the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB) have found that patients who had a cancer operation at precisely eight weeks--56 days--after the end of combined chemoradiotherapy had the best overall survival and successful removal of their residual tumors. The six-year study of almost 12,000 patients may bring clarity to doctors who have long debated the ideal waiting time between combined chemotherapy and radiation for rectal cancer and surgical removal of the cancer.

The study, published online in Journal of the American College of Surgeons in advance of print publication, investigated outcomes of 11,760 patients with advanced stage localized rectal cancer who had chemoradiotherapy and surgical treatment from 2006 to 2012. The patients had either stage II or III localized rectal cancer (stage IV is the most advanced stage). Christopher Mantyh, MD, FACS, of Duke University led the study, and its results were presented at the Southern Surgical Association meeting in Hot Springs, Virginia, in December 2015.

Colon and rectal cancers are the third most common cancers in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with about 135,000 new cases and 51,000 deaths per year.* (The CDC does not separate out colon and rectal cancers.)

Dr. Mantyh noted that this study differs from previous studies that evaluated the interval between chemoradiotherapy and surgery for rectal cancer in its sheer size; previous studies were typically smaller and involved single institutions. "Due to its size, we thought NCDB was a perfect resource to answer the question about the timing of surgery after chemoradiotherapy for rectal cancer. The data set represented all types of hospitals," Dr. Mantyh said.

NCDB, a joint program of the Commission on Cancer (C0C) of the American College of Surgeons and the American Cancer Society, captures an estimated 70 percent of newly diagnosed cancer cases in the United States and Puerto Rico from approximately 1,500 cancer programs accredited by the CoC.

Patients with many types of cancer typically have a course of combined chemotherapy and radiation treatments before undergoing surgery to remove the tumors. The treatment before the operation helps to treat surrounding tissue and shrink the tumor. The researchers set out to determine the best timing interval in terms of two key measures of success in cancer treatment: margin positivity, that is, the cancer-free zone in the tissue surrounding the cancerous tumor after it is surgically removed; and tumor downstaging, which means the amount of the tumor that is downgraded in terms of its size and penetration into surrounding tissue. Secondary outcomes the study evaluated were readmission and death rates within 30 days of hospital discharge and overall survival.

The investigators found that the median time between chemoradiotherapy and surgery was 53 days, with the actual timing ranging from 43 to 63 days. "The odd thing about the study is that when we looked at the best timing for pathological downstaging as well as margin positivity, they both arrived at exactly the same time--56 days," Dr. Mantyh said.

The study analysis divided patients into two groups: short-interval, those who underwent operations within 55 days of chemoradiotherapy; and long-interval, having had an operation 56 days or more after radiotherapy. The long-interval group was slightly older (age 59 vs. 58 years), more likely to be black (9.5% vs. 8%), treated at an academic hospital, and less likely to have private insurance (50.2% vs. 55.4%) and stage III disease (51.4% vs. 54.2%).

Moreover, extending the delay beyond 56 days between radiation and surgery did not result in a greater downstaging effect, but was associated with a higher likelihood of positive resection margins and compromised long-term survival, suggesting that longer waiting times may risk tumor regrowth. Long-interval patients also had a lower risk of returning to the hospital within 30 days after surgery with no difference in death rates in that period, but they also had worse long-term survival.

"The real significant thing we found was that long-term mortality was significantly higher after 56 days," Dr. Mantyh reported. Study results suggested longer wait times might risk tumor regrowth.

The study findings can bring some clarity to the debate among oncologists about the timing of an operation after patients complete radiotherapy. "In the global picture, there's a lot of discussion about if waiting longer for surgery is better, and if you don't wait as long there's less chance of tumor spreading, but none of it is backed up on good modeling data like we have in this study," Dr. Mantyh said. "This kind of analysis is what we need in medicine and surgery. We need to have good population based data."
Scientists from the RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences (IMS) in Yokohama, Japan, in collaboration with researchers from a number of hospitals around Japan, have found two variations in a gene called ORAI1, one of which may help explain why people of Asian descent are more susceptible to Kawasaki disease, a poorly understand ailment that mostly afflicts young children. The work was published in PLOS ONE. The etiology of Kawasaki disease, which causes inflammation of blood vessels leading to symptoms such as fever and redness of the eyes, lips, and tongue, is a mystery, because it shows seasonal variations--hinting at an infectious or other environmental cause--but is also more prevalent in children of East Asian ancestry--suggesting that there are genetic factors behind it. Kawasaki disease is normally a self-limiting condition, improving over time, but in some cases it is accompanied with potentially fatal aneurysms of the coronary arteries.

Previous studies have linked Kawasaki disease to the calcium NFAT pathway, which regulates immune function in response to calcium signals, but which is also known to be involved in the development of the cardiac and other systems. Considering this, the RIKEN-led team decided to focus their work on ORA1, a gene within a chromosomal region where a positive linkage signal has been seen in a previous genome-wide linkage study and had shown to be involved in the activation of the calcium NFAT pathway.

To identify variations that might be associated with susceptibility to the disease, the group examined the genes of 729 Kawasaki disease patients and 1,315 healthy adults. To identify variations that were most strongly associated with the disease, they then looked at variations in a further 1,813 patients and 1,097 non-patients. From these analyses, they identified a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), rs3741596, that was much more common in the patients than in the healthy controls. This SNP had not been identified in previous studies on Kawasaki, but intriguingly, it had been found from genomic studies of populations (HapMap) that the variant is common in East Asian populations, and to a lesser extent in African populations, but was very rare elsewhere. They also discovered a second, rare variation that was also highly correlated with the diseases.

According to Yoshihiro Onouchi of the IMS Laboratory for Cardiovascular Disease, who led the study, "It has been suggested that a pathway involved in the immune response is associated with Kawasaki disease, and we knew from our previous work that the calcium NFAT pathway is somehow linked to the disease. It was interesting--and makes a lot of sense--that the common variation we discovered is common in East Asia."

He continues, "These findings give added credence to the idea that the NFAT pathway is involved in the etiology of Kawasaki disease, and will help us to understand the causes and mechanisms behind it. We hope also that it could lead to treatments for the disease, which in some cases has devastating consequences."
Researchers at Mount Sinai's Tisch Cancer Institute have identified a new gene that is essential to colon cancer growth and found that inflammation in the external environment around the tumor can contribute to the growth of tumor cells. The ...
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The researchers, led by a University of Michigan Medical School neuropsychologist, said that adults who suffered trauma as children may benefit from talk therapy or other options to combat the effects.Reporting in thethe team describes what they found when they analyzed data from the Heinz C. Prechter Longitudinal Study of Bipolar Disorder based at the U-M Depression Center.They set out to see if people with bipolar disorder had more impulsive and inaccurate responses on a quick task than others without the condition, as measured on standard timed tests called a 'Go/No-Go' test. But to their surprise, they found no differences between the two groups.Instead, when they looked closer, they found a common thread running through nearly everyone with more impulsive responses.Among the more than 320 people in the study who took the tests, 134 reported a history of childhood trauma in surveys. This included physical abuse or neglect, emotional abuse or neglect, and sexual abuse. It did not include one-time traumatic events. None of the participants had active substance abuse issues, and the participants without bipolar disorder did not have other mental health conditions.Those with bipolar disorder and a history of trauma performed significantly worse on the 'Go/No-Go' test, than those with bipolar alone. But those without bipolar disorder who had a history of trauma performed just as poorly.The test measures how well a person can stop himself or herself from reacting incorrectly to rapid prompts that sometimes require a 'go' response and sometime require a person to hold back the impulse to respond ('no-go').Lead author David Marshall said, "Past research has looked at mental health conditions, including bipolar disorder, and even at memory function in people with childhood trauma, but few have looked at inhibitory control, or what some people call impulse control. Having the data from the Prechter research effort allowed us to see that a history of childhood trauma can impact the development of this key aspect of executive functioning that we need more of as we become adults, where we are required to engage in self-monitoring and goal-directed behavior."Marshall got the idea for the study after noticing that a sizable portion of the bipolar disorder patients who had volunteered for the study at U-M discussed problematic childhoods in the questionnaires that all participants fill out.The Longitudinal Study, supported by the Heinz C. Prechter Bipolar Research Fund, includes people who don't have bipolar disorder and are willing to act as comparisons for those with bipolar, so scientists can see important differences in the two populations.Marshall said, "What is intriguing about this research is that childhood trauma had an effect on impulse control that was in both groups, meaning that it is independent of bipolar illness and more strongly related to adverse childhood experiences. This substantially changes the way we think of how trauma increases risk for illnesses. There may be brain changes after trauma that act as a risk marker for development of later illnesses, including bipolar disorder. These processes are much more fluid than we previously thought."The new findings highlight the importance of continuous treatment for people diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and early detection and attention to the effects of childhood trauma on anyone. "By finding early those who may be at risk of long-term mental health effects from childhood abuse and neglect, we may be able to guide them to treatments that can mitigate these effects," Marshall says.While treatment recommendations vary, cognitive behavioral therapy - a form of talk therapy - can help even those whose childhood issues haven''t been addressed formally for years, Marshall says. The self-control and self-talk that are key to CBT could help individuals build problem-solving techniques to assist their thinking and analytic abilities.Although Marshall notes that the paper only includes a small group of people with no bipolar disorder but a history of childhood trauma, he hopes to continue assessing the question as the Prechter study continues. He and his colleagues will also watch over time as the study participants who reported childhood trauma continue to respond to surveys sent to them periodically.Source: Newswise
COLUMBUS  The projected cost for a new Columbus Area Transit building has more than doubled from the initial estimate, which has one budget-conscious city council member questioning the expense.

An update provided by North Platte-based Joseph R Hewgley and Associates, which was hired to design the 4,075-square-foot building, puts the projects estimated cost at $594,475.

The city previously budgeted $225,000 for a roughly 2,550-square-foot building using staff estimates.

I cant get my hands around $600,000, Councilman Jim Bulkley said while discussing the new cost projection. Im sorry. I cant go there.

Bulkley was the only council member to vote against a motion to put the project out for bid.

The building is designed with 3,400 square feet on the main level with indoor parking for the five Columbus Area Transit vehicles, a wash bay, restrooms and staff offices. A smaller second-floor space was added for a breakroom and training area.

I know its an expensive building, but I think its functional. We didnt ask for the best of the best of anything, said Columbus Public Property Director Doug Moore, who noted that similar public transportation facilities were recently built in other Nebraska cities.

Moore admitted he had a little bit of sticker shock when the price estimate came back, but told the council there are long-term savings that can be realized through the use of natural and LED lighting and a more efficient heating system.

Columbus Area Transit is moving from the former downtown senior center because of deteriorating conditions at that site. Vehicles are being stored at the former Gene Steffy Ford property at 14th Street and 23rd Avenue already and employees are expected to relocate soon. The city purchased the former auto dealership last year for the library/cultural arts center project.

The new CAT building would be located at the corner of 10th Street and 28th Avenue, across the street from the parks department maintenance shop.

In addition to utility efficiencies, Moore said the new space would better protect CAT vehicles  two buses, two vans and a minivan  by providing indoor parking and reduce the amount of time workers spend warming up vehicles and scraping windows.

Moore said cold-weather issues are the biggest complaints among CAT employees and can cause routes to be delayed.

CAT vehicles were parked outside before the auto dealership property was acquired.

If the project moves forward, 80 percent of the funding would come from federal dollars allocated through the Nebraska Department of Transportation.

State and federal funding cover about 80 percent of CATs operating expenses, with the remainder coming from user fees, the city and a contribution from Columbus Area United Way.

Bulkley said using federal funding for the project still costs taxpayers, its just coming from a different source.

Just because we can build, do we need to build it? he said of the project.


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A number of prominent Iranian figures from both Iran's pragmatic and ideological camps have praised Iran's actions following the January 12, 2016 capture by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of 10 American sailors in two small naval craft who strayed into Iranian territorial waters. According to them, Iran conducted itself honorably during the incident and the events that followed, and resolved the situation swiftly by means of dialogue, out of concern for the security of the Gulf.

It is likely that Tehran decided to release the sailors so as not to thwart the U.S.'s lifting of sanctions as part of the JCPOA, set for several days later, and also to rectify the negative impression of Iran in international public opinion stemming from the January 2, 2016 torching of the Saudi Embassy in Tehran and the Saudi Consulate in Mashhad.[1]

Regardless, immediately following the sailors' release, the IRGC published videos of the humiliation of the American sailors, showing them kneeling with their hands on their heads and apologizing for entering Iranian waters. IRGC deputy commander Hossein Salami even said that the sailors wept when they were captured. Basij commander Mohammad Reza Naqdi, enraged at pragmatic camp media's and officials' emphasis on the U.S. administration's expressions of gratitude to Iran for the speedy release of the sailors, warned the U.S. to beware Iran's might, and others issued a similar warning to Saudi Arabia.

Following are the major reactions in Iran to the capture of the American sailors and their release 12 hours later, along with a number of cartoons from websites affiliated with the ideological camp:

Ideological Camp Officials Mock, Warn U.S.

IRGC Deputy Commander: American Sailors Wept After Capture

On January 16, 2016, IRGC deputy commander Hossein Salami elaborated on the sailors' capture and reaction: "After World War II, no country managed to arrest American soldiers. But after [some of them] entered our territorial waters, Iranian small craft, though few in number, succeeded in surrounding them like eagles. These 10 sailors bowed their heads in submission to five or six young IRGC members.

"The U.S. has aircraft carriers with 60 fighter jets and 5,000 crew members. But [after the sailors' capture] they got into trouble, and flew their airplanes without stopping, and we heard the voice of the superpower tremble.

"Then, [our] craft quickly covered Farsi Island [where the sailors were captured], and told [the Americans] that if they made the slightest wrong move, Iran would respond decisively.

"After that, we heard the pleas of their political elements, who phoned and requested that we release their sailors. We investigated and concluded that these sailors had entered Iranian territorial waters by accident.

"After their capture, these gunslingers began to weep, but the compassion of the IRGC soldiers reassured them. The American officials apologized, and humbly acknowledged our might. Because we realized that these armed sailors had entered Iran's territorial waters accidentally, we released them, and even handed back their weapons."[2]



"Smart sailors! The capture of the gunslingers is humiliation for America and for those recently arrived in the region" Right: American boats flee waves and seek refuge with Iran; Left: Once safe, they wet themselves in fear. (Source: Tasnimnews.com, January 16, 2016)

IRGC naval commander Ali Fadavi stressed that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had demanded, in his phone conversation with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, that the sailors be released, but that "Zarif had taken a firm stand and demanded an apology for the incident."[3]

In a January 13 statement, the IRGC also stressed that the sailors had been released "after the U.S. apologized and promised not to repeat the mistake."[4] It should, however, be noted that U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said the same day: "There's no apology and there's nothing to apologize for."[5]

Iranian armed forces chief of staff Hassan Firouzabadi said that he hoped that "the incident of the boat incursion would be a lesson to the American Congress, which sets obstacles for Iran."[6]



"No words necessary." (Source: Javanonline.ir, January 13, 2016)

Iranian Expediency Council secretary Mohsen Rezaei stated that both the Saudis and the Americans needed to learn a lesson from this incident, and warned them that they "should not play with fire": "The army of a superpower was put in the hands of our IRGC forces calmly. This showed the capability of Iranian forces.

"The modern American boats are designed to confront the IRGC's fast boats. Our brothers used tactics to surround the American boats. The Americans had no choice except to surrender to us.

"Zarif should tell the Americans that they must follow military standards.

"The American soldiers were calm in the IRGC's room as world armies fear even the name of the IRGC. The pictures show that even American military men did not believe the false American propaganda - otherwise they would not be calm.

"Had the American boats attacked our island, we would have acted differently. But when they realized their mistake, we treated them humanely.

"The IRGC's encounter [with the Americans] sent several messages. The first message, to the countries of the region, is that they should not play with fire. Everyone saw that Iran could easily apprehend boats belonging to the most modern and greatest armies of the world, and that they released them [from a position of] strength.

"Our message to Saudi Arabia is not to fall onto the wrong path. It should know that powerful Iran is next to its ear [i.e. very close to it].

"America needs to know that Iran is a country that encountered American riflemen in a moral way as it [Iran] was at the peak of its power. Our message to America is very important for Iran's future, since America does not learn its lesson and wants to go from one sanction to another."[7]



"GPS, where are we? Where are we exactly?" (Source: Farsnews.com, January 13, 2016)

On January 14, Basij commander Naqdi lashed out at pragmatic camp media for stressing Secretary of State Kerry's gratitude to Iran for its swift release of the sailors. He said: "Unfortunately, after the American sailors kneeled and placed their hands behind their heads in surrender, some media in Iran, instead of highlighting the might of our soldiers, noted that the American foreign minister had thanked Iran. These media outlets want to depict the enemy as rational. But that is not the case. In fact, he [Kerry] erred in daring to express gratitude, and his soldiers erred by daring to come to the Persian Gulf."[8]

Iranian Figures Praise Iran's Conduct, Diplomacy

Foreign Minister Zarif tweeted on January 13: "Happy to see dialogue and respect, not threats and impetuousness, swiftly resolved the #sailors episode. Let's learn from this latest example."[9]

Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee chairman Ala Al-Din Boroujerdi said: "The honor and national power of Iran was presented one more time by the wise and powerful actions of the IRGC's navy. Their actions showed that Iran controls the preservation of security in the Persian Gulf, and America has to follow the rules of this game. Even though two American boats did not violate the marine borders of the Persian Gulf purposefully, the speedy and wise reaction of IRGC presented Iran's power one more time. The Islamic behavior of the IRGC brothers towards the American detainees is admirable.

"The clear message of this action to the countries of the region was that Iran feels responsible toward the security of this sensitive region, and is situated such that it can confront the great powers in this way. These [great powers] need to take notice, and must not make calculated mistakes."[10]

Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee member Hossein Naghavi Hosseini also said, on January 13, that the release of the American sailors had shown that Iran does not seek to create tension in the Gulf. The Americans and Europeans must know, he said, that in such cases, Iran acts with good intentions, as shown by the fact that the sailors were released in less than 24 hours. But, he said, if the other side does not have good intentions, they can expect a different reaction: "This showed that the IRGC navy controls the area, and does not allow any force to infiltrate Iran's borders. This incident showed Iran's might on its borders and on its waters. We don't care who we face. We will deal with any future incursion and attack so that [the perpetrators] regret such acts.

"Entering Iran's territorial waters is illegal, regardless of the reason. We released the American sailors after concluding that they had entered accidentally. This has turned into a lesson for the U.S., which must know that we will not allow anyone to enter our territorial waters. In addition, this incident has shown that the U.S. cannot influence us by raising a racket. Iran does not fear these moves, and deals with matters according to legal procedure."[11]

Hashemi Rafsanjani offered a brief comment as well, saying: "The government, Zarif, and [the] IRGC concluded this incident properly."[12]

Reformist professor Sadegh Zibakalam also praised the IRGC for its responsible and honorable actions, and for conducting direct Tehran-Washington diplomacy. He wrote in the Shargh daily on January 14: "Only a few anxious hours passed from the arrest of the 10 American soldiers to Washington's confirmation of their safe return. Happily, we saw a peaceful conclusion and honorable diplomatic conduct.

"In order to examine this further, we must compare this to the capture of the British sailors [in March 2007] during the presidency of Ahmadinejad. In this [present] incident, the IRGC showed that it is an organized and precise force in the Persian Gulf, and that it operates in accordance with international protocol. [Also] in this incident, the IRGC acted responsibly. It showed that it did not seek to exploit this matter for political propaganda. It managed the scene properly, despite the presence of American aircraft carriers, and despite the fact that not a few wished to exploit this matter for propaganda against the U.S. or against the current [Iranian] government [of President Hassan Rohani].

"This incident has shown that there is consensus among all decision-making institutions when some crisis threatens our geographic sovereignty - that is, that there is unity and coordination in matters of our national interests.

"In addition, it has shown that in such cases, direct contact with the U.S. can prevent possible misunderstanding. As in the case of what happened to the Saudi Embassy, this time too, when the sailors were arrested, John Kerry spoke to Zarif. This talk both reassured Kerry and showed him Iran's resolute position. Without such a direct phone conversation, the U.S. might have declared this move by Iran to be hostile, and even announce preparations to free the sailors. Then Iran would have responded harshly - first transferring them to Tehran and interrogating them for entering Iran's territorial waters illegally, and then deciding what to do with them. In short, this minor issue could have escalated into a serious diplomatic incident.

"In this scenario, we can only imagine the smiles on the faces of [Israeli Prime Minister] Netanyahu and Saudi officials. They would have joined the extremists in the U.S., and said that [President] Obama had been deceived by the smiles of Zarif and Rohani.

"However, in 2007, Ahmadinejad managed the entire British sailors affair on his own. At first, he said that they had entered without permission, and that the aggressors must be taught a lesson. Then-British prime minister Tony Blair sternly called for releasing the sailors, without any diplomatic [negotiation]. This was the exact opposite of the American behavior [today]. Eventually, Ahmadinejad dressed the British sailors in suits and paraded them before the amazed Iranians.

"This shows that our government is mature, and does not wish to become known worldwide from such incidents. I wish that we would have seen similar actions in the matter of the [torching of the] Saudi Embassy, that would have ensured that national interests take priority over the emotions of the moment. Therefore, Saudi Arabia should have provided answers to global public opinion for its execution of one of its unarmed critics."[13]



Photos of the captured sailors (Source: ISNA, Iran, January 14, 2016)

Endnotes:
If there is any actor whose love for making patriotic movies, and our country in general, literally is an inspiration each day, it has got to be Akshay Kumar. From playing a vigilante in Gabbar Is Back to an army officer in Holiday to going undercover as a RAW agent in Baby and now a responsible citizen whos ready to give his life for the safety of others in Airlift, Akshay Kumar has entertained us all with his choicest of films.

But now he comes back again with a video very serious, giving an important message to all of us. In this three-minute long video titled Im An Indian, in association with Being Indian, the actor urges all of us to not restrict ourselves while participating only in armchair activism and to simply be the change we want to see in the world. He also pays tribute to all the unsung heroes that our history textbooks have failed to recognise.

Have a look!
So on one hand, we have this ridiculously talented, multiple award-winning, not to forget, incredibly charming Leonardo DiCaprio who also happens to be one of the best actors in the world. And on the other, we have this aggressive, guile, a judo black belt, who also happens to be a feared Russian presidentVladimir Putin. They might seem like two totally different personalities, but in hindsight these guys have more in common than youd imagine.

 thevine (dot) com

In a recent interview with a German newspaper Welt am Sonntag, Leonardo described Putin as very, very, very interesting, before going on to declare that he would love to play him.

Turns out Putin too, in fact, appreciates Leos gumption for wildlife preservation a lot! In 2010, Putin described Leo as the real man for his willingness to attend a St Petersburg summit on the preservation of wild tigers, despite having passport issues and trouble with the bad weather.

Now this needs to happen primarily because both these men are powerful, masculine, passionate and well-sorted individuals with clear goals in life and also because of these below-mentioned reasons.

1) Leonardo has Russian roots with his two grandparents being Russian. But, moreover both of them are workaholics.

 Twitter, Flickr

I have worked like a galley slave throughout these eight years, morning till night, and I have given all I could to this work. I am happy with the results. said Putin.

I am a bit drained. I've done three films in two years and I'm just worn out. I would like to improve the world a bit. I will fly around the world doing good for the environment. said Leo.

2) Both of them are quite active on the world stage.

 Firstpost, Paramount Pictures

One for ruling an extremely important country like a boss and one for making this world a better placeboth by the means of his films and charitable work. Not to forget both of them are highly influential too.

3) Leo cares for conservation as much as Putin.

 Twitter, The Independant

Putin is a renowned animal lover. In fact Vladimir Putin with animals is one of my favourite Tumblr accounts. Leos favourite work of area includes climate change, global warming and preservation of endangered species.

4) Leo is a survivor and has no problem in surviving severe climates.

 20th Century Fox

He ate raw bison and slept in animal carcasses for crying out loud in 'The Revenant'. The cold climate of Russia will actually be a cakewalk for him.

5) They both come from modest families.

 dazedimg

Its quite humbling to know theyre just like us. Putin comes from a workers' family where both his parents were ordinary citizens. Leo, too, comes from a lower middle-class family, where he was raised without much money.

So, should Leo play Putin? Hell yeah! Cant see a better person playing Putin than him actually!
Like you, we too are impatiently waiting for the sequel to Baahubali to release this year. But what we did not expect to see was this matrimonial ad for a bride for Baahubali. Rana Daggubati, who plays Bhallala in the epic Baahubali, just posted this ad that lists down the qualities required in Baahubalis bride.

The ad promises girls that Baahubali, the 62 warrior, will help them in heavy household work. And if that wasnt funny enough, one of the email ids given is that of admin Katappa! Seems like Bhallala really wants his cousin Baahubali to get married and get busy with domestic life.

 Dharma Productions

This search for Baahubalis bride has been inspired by actor Prabhass promise to his uncle, Telugu actor Krishnam Raju, that hed get married this year. So now, not only Prabhass family, but his good friend Rana is also looking for a suitable bride for him.

 YouTube

And with that physique like that, we are sure he wouldnt face any problems getting marriage proposals from women.
COLUMBUS  When Columbus Community Hospital began operating at a new location more than a decade ago, another medical facility also opened its doors.

The Healthpark Medical Office Building was constructed right next to the hospital and houses many physicians under one roof. It has grown over the years, so much so that the original 40,000-square-foot building had to be expanded.

Last year, the new 30,000-square-foot addition was completed, increasing services offered at the location. An open house will be held for the building from 1-4 p.m. Jan. 31 for the public to view the facility and speak to medical staff and representatives.

The idea behind a medical office building isnt unique. Such buildings are fairly common in communities to provide patients with a more central location for medical providers instead of being scattered across a region.

When CCH started the process of building a new facility at 4600 38th St., doctors who were renting space at the old hospital location on 18th Street approached the hospital board about a medical office addition next door. They agreed the office would be a facility jointly owned by the hospital and physicians.

Dr. Ron Ernst, a general surgeon, was among the doctors in on the ground floor of getting Healthpark established.

The whole idea talking with the Columbus Community Hospital board was what can the hospital and community doctors do together, he said.

Healthpark opened with the hospital in 2002. Ernst said it was important for the medical office to be located by the hospital to provide advantages to physicians and patients.

It is very beneficial to both the patients and the doctors. The majority of doctors that have their offices here actually utilize the hospital in their working hours, too. We can go back and forth very easy, Ernst said.

The two buildings are connected so patients seeing a doctor in Healthpark can go to the hospital for tests or other work by walking a short distance thats enclosed.

The addition was completed early in 2015. Part of that space is occupied by Columbus Womens Healthcare, which joins a variety of other medical offerings, including Columbus Orthopedic Center, Columbus General Surgery, Linn Family Chiropractic and Columbus Otolaryngology Clinic.

Amy Blaser, vice president of physician relations at CCH, said the building has helped with efforts to recruit physicians to town, something thats been a priority for the hospital.

Its hard to recruit without space, she said.

Healthpark has provided room for growing practices and groups that have been recruited. It also serves as a location for certain specialties that arent available in Columbus. There is a clinic for visiting physicians who might come to the community on a weekly or monthly basis. Having those doctors here cuts down on the drive some patients would have to make by visiting out-of-town specialists.

We are still a smaller community so we dont have all the subspecialties. But this building allows for specialists to come in. Patients dont have to travel, Ernst said.

Physicians who are medical staff members or have an office in the building can be owners and investors in Healthpark. There currently is some open space in the building, and if it gets full, there is also land available for further expansion of the medical office.

Other physicians working out of the office cover areas such as internal medicine, dermatology, cardiology, hematology and oncology. The list of visiting physicians provide care for pain, diabetes, infectious diseases, allergies and other specialties.

Overall, Ernst said the medical office and its proximity to CCH make health care more accessible and convenient for patients.

People look to this area for their medical care, he said.
Are you a true blue Sherlock fan? So you must have seen The Abominable Bride already. Great! Now just go back to sleep and wake up only next year. Thats because according to the latest rumours, Season 4 of the highly-acclaimed BBC series featuring the worlds most famous spy is only set to release in 2017. The fourth season of Sherlock, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman in lead roles, is tentatively scheduled to air on New Years Day in 2017 with production beginning in April this year.

The announcement was made by American channel PBS President Paula Kreger. Sadly, this year well have to be content only with a special episode acting as a filler between the well-received third season and the upcoming fourth season. As for all you Cumberbatch fans, despair not. Youll be able to watch him on the big screen when Marvels Doctor Strange releases later this year.
Koby Soto, a 28-year-old law student and Guesty co-founder living in Tel Aviv, Israel, like any other person wears FitBit to monitor his heart rate, the calories burned, the number of steps he has walked, and also heartbreak.

 guesty

His FitBit was on one afternoon when he received a call from his boyfriend, a fellow law student. He told BuzFeed News, He said that were going to have to cancel, and I said Why? and he said, Things are not working as they should I said, Are you serious? Youre doing this over the phone?

Getting dumped over a call, thats a little too harsh dont you think? Anyway, he was later talking to a friend who was telling him to relax and not fret about the breakup (who says that?). Thats when he opened his FitBit heart rate monitor to prove how stressed he was feeling. And the results showed exactly that and how!

The breakup brought his heartbeat to the point that FitBit actually thought he was working out. If you see the graph, thats actually his heart rate rising from 72 beats per minute (bpm) to over 90 and then getting peaked at 118 and staying at that for the rest of the afternoon. Ouch!

@DorinManoli actually fitbit thought I was working out. Look at this pic.twitter.com/giwcw762KK  Koby (@iamkoby) January 19, 2016

His tweet has since gone viral, where people are actually reaching out to him for well-wishes and helping him stabilise his heart rate. There were others, however, who sent him moral support through their own breakup graphs.

Stay strong, dude. Weve all been there!
Indias Republic Day traditions are so routine that every aspect of the grand event is carried out exactly in the same manner, with conscious discipline and finesse, year after year. Be it the floral wreath laying ceremony at the Amar Jawan Jyoti or the unfurling of the national flag by the president, our Republic Day processions are more or less static and therefore it comes as a surprise that many of us cant recall the significance of most of the events which take place during the parade.

 BCCL

One such event which is cheered by the crowds at the parade is the 21-Gun salute given to the President of the country and the story behind this custom is quite intriguing.

21 cannons are fired at a gap of about 2.25 seconds to encompass the entire 52 second of the national anthem in three successive rounds of 7 cannons each. Vintage artillery maintained by the gunners of the elite 871 Field Regiment (SHINGO) at Delhi Cantonment is used for the event.

This custom has its origins in the 17th century when the naval forces at sea demanded an enemy to show peaceful intent by firing the ammunitions or unloading its weapons. The British warships at the time were quite hectic to operate and thus would take a lot of time to re-load or unload the weapons. Therefore, it became necessary to show peaceful intent by firing the ammunitions on-board, in symmetry, from the naval warships.

This convention of the British became a tradition over time when it came to show respect or honor the enemy. But it still doesnt answer the question as to why only give 21-gun salutes or 21-round salutes?

The answer to that question lies in the configuration of the British warships at that time. A British vessel at the time was mounted with seven weapons in accordance with the biblical significance of the number seven. So, in order to show peaceful intent, seven shells were fired in the sea from the warship. But shore weapons, which had abundant gunpowder, fired 3 shots for every shell fired by the warship and hence the 21-Gun tribute came into existence as a salutatory tradition. In time, 21 guns became the highest national honor.

In India, however, this practice seeped into our values through the British Colonial rule. In Pre-Independence era, 19 cannon and 17 cannon salutes were given to local kings and head of princely states like Jammu and Kashmir.

 BCCL

Post-Independence, apart from the Republic Day Parades, a 21 gun salute was also given to a new president as soon as he or she was sworn-in. It is also accorded to foreign head of states visiting the country. During the week long Republic Day celebrations, seven cannons are fired twice on Martyrs Day (Jan 30) as a mark of respect for those brave soldiers who laid their lives for the country.

And thus the firing of cannons or artillery, because of its historical relevance, remains an integral part of the Republic Day celebrations in India.
When war calls, Sikhs answer. With 72 Battle Honours, 15 Theatre Honours, 2 Param Vir Chakras, 14 Maha Vir Chakras, 5 Kirti Chakras, 67 Vir Chakras and 1596 other gallantry awards, the Sikh Regiment is one of the most feared units of the Indian army.

The history of the regiment spans over 154 years and numerous unparalleled stories of valor that will never be forgotten. The first battalion of the regiment was brought together just before the annexation of the Sikh Empire in 1846 by the British. A fact thats vastly believed is that the regiments heritage has its roots in the teachings and sacrifices made by the Sikh Gurus and has imbibed the fearlessness of Maharaja Ranjit Singh's Khalsa Army.

 wikimedia

 nam (dot) ac (dot) uk

The Sikh Regiment fought with extreme gallantry during the 1st and 2nd World Wars under the Royal British Army. Then came the Kargil War of 1999 and the futile mission to capture the Tiger Hill. No points for guessing, the Sikh regiment was called upon for the fatal mission. With the immaculate efforts of sepoys Rashwinder Singh, Sukhwinder Singh and Jaswinder from the 8th Sikh battalion, key heights surrounding the hill were secured and enemy fire was neutralized. Eventually, despite the extremely harsh weather conditions and unending Pakistani fire, the Hill was completely isolated from all the three directions and was soon recaptured. 10 Jawans made the supreme sacrifice during the mission and 48 others were wounded. Tiger Hill has ever since been under the Indian Armys control. This is just is one of the many wartime bravery stories from the treasure chest of the Sikh regiment.

 sputniknews (dot) com

What started from only 2 battalions is now a regiment of 19 regular infantry and two reserve battalions. We salute these men!
LINCOLN  A measure that would have required most Nebraska students to be vaccinated for bacterial meningitis failed to surmount a filibuster in the Legislature on Wednesday.

The bill (LB18) sponsored by state Sen. Bob Krist of Omaha would have required Nebraska students to be immunized for meningococcal meningitis before starting seventh grade, then get a booster shot at 16.

Hard-line conservatives and civil libertarians in the Legislature argued the vaccination is unnecessary and potentially unsafe, and that requiring it would infringe on parents freedom to choose what is best for their children.

Im disappointed, Krist said following an unsuccessful vote to end the filibuster, which effectively killed the bill for the year.

He said he sympathizes with families whose children could be exposed to the illness in classrooms, and he took issue with senators who pledged to support his measure and then didnt.

Sen. Mike Groene of North Platte, who led the opposition, has accused pharmaceutical companies of fearmongering with stories of meningitis survivors losing fingers and families losing loved ones.

Those cases are rare, Groene said Wednesday: Fewer than a dozen diagnoses of bacterial meningitis have been documented among young Nebraskans over the past 13 years. He said chances of catching bacterial meningitis are about one in a million.

And remember most cases, when they are diagnosed correctly, the old-fashioned penicillin clears it right up, he said. About one-tenth of cases result in death.

Meningitis vaccines recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention  the same ones Krists bill would have required  cost about $150. Fifteen other states mandate some form of immunization for bacterial meningitis.

But even those mandates include exceptions, as would Nebraskas, noted Sen. Robert Hilkemann of Omaha.

Krists measure would have allowed families to opt their children out if the meningitis vaccination conflicted with their religious beliefs or if a medical provider concluded it could be harmful.

Either step would have required a signed statement from a doctor or parent.

Hilkemann, a retired podiatrist, supported the bill.

But not all medical practitioners agree, said Sen. Laura Ebke of Crete, whose husband is a family physician.

Doctors and pharmaceutical companies who think the vaccine is important already have a captive audience when students get their required school physicals, Ebke said.

Its all well and good to advise. Its all well and good to recommend. Its all well and good to educate, she said. But Im not sure that its well and good to impose a mandate of this sort on the citizens of this state.

Krists bill advanced to the second of three rounds of legislative consideration in 2015 but stalled there because of the filibuster. Lawmakers took on the issue again this week but without enough support to cease debate and reach a final vote.

A cloture motion, which would have ended the filibuster, failed on a 29-14 vote. It would have needed support from 33 senators to succeed.
Were excited to announce that metalbulletin.com is now part of fastmarkets.com.

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This domain is registered at Dynadot.com. Website coming soon.
GETTY A refugee centre worker has revealed incidents of death threats and harassment by migrants

In a searing indictment of the behaviour of some refugees, the woman said her idealism has been eroded and virtually destroyed. At first she said was enthusiastic in her role of helping process tens of thousands of migrants arriving in Germany on a weekly basis. Now, she says she is disillusioned, disheartened and on the verge of quitting due to demands and sexual harrassment. She told Welt am sonntag newspaper she took on the role at the refugee centre in Hamburg last Autumn and was "overjoyed" at the thought of "helping the refugees".

GETTY Many refugees demand luxury apartments and high paid jobs

Many refugees are extremely demanding Refugee centre worker

But after a few days, she said, her enthusiasm was drained away. The woman, whose identity has been protected, said: "Of course you may not assess all refugees the same: there are many who are very friendly, happy to be here, very grateful, very willing to be integrated. "But if I am honest, working with 90 per cent of them is rather awkward and unfortunately not as I previously thought. "First of all, many of them are extremely demanding. They come to me and ask to get an apartment and a fancy car and, best of all, even a really good job for them. "If I try to explain to them that's not possible, they are often noisy or even really aggressive. "An Afghan only recently threatened to kill himself. And a few Syrians and a group of Afghans have declared they would go on hunger strike unless I would help them to move to another place.

GETTY According to the woman some of the refugees have no respect for women at all

"Some from an Arab region recently yelled at a colleague of mine: 'We decapitate you!'. "Because of these and other things, the police were called to us several times a week." She said she has also been horrified by refugees attitudes towards women. She said: "It is well known that it is mainly single men who come here - about 65 per cent, many less than 25-years-old. "And some of them do not respect women at all. They accept that we're there but they don't take us seriously at all. "If I tell them or give them a statement, as a woman they barely listen to me, dismiss it as irrelevant and just contact one of our male colleagues.

German migrant protests Tue, January 12, 2016 Thirty-one suspects, including 18 asylum seekers, are under investigation over offences including sexual assault and theft in Cologne on New Year's Eve. Far right protestors in Lepzig have rallied against refugees and German chancellor Angela Merkel. PLAY SLIDESHOW REUTERSGETTY 1 of 22 Protestors in Lepzig rally after over 100 women were sexually assualted on New Year's Eve











































"For us women they have often only scornful looks - or just intrusive. They whistle loudly, say something to one another in a foreign language, laugh. "It's really very unpleasant. It even happened that they have photographed us with their Smartphone. "They do it without asking even if one has protested. I once walked up some steep stairs and some of the men walked behind me and they were laughing the whole time and, I guess, talking about me. They shouted something at me. "Colleagues have told me similar things have happened to them. But they said that there's nothing you can do. "If they whistled at me or said something to me I said nothing to encourage them - to make them feel they can hurt me or influence me. "But that has not helped; It is even worse - honestly: especially in the last few weeks, as more and more men from North Africa, from Morocco, Tunisia or Libya are arriving here. "They were more aggressive. I could ignore them no longer - and reacted."

GETTY The worker likes working with the refugee children but can no longer put up with harassment

She said she has gone from wearing close-fitting clothes to "wide-cut trousers" and tops with high necklines. She also wears little make-up. She added she has also made mental changes, adding: "I avoid, for example, going to those places at our site where I know single men gather. "And if I do have some business there I try to get through it very quickly and smile. "But mostly I spend all day if possible in my little office. And I no longer go by train to work or back - because the other day a colleague of mine was pursued by some of the young men and harassed, even in the railway carriage. "I spare myself that and come to work in the car. "I think it's horrible that I do this and I consider it necessary. But what should I do, what would be the alternative?" The upset worker went on to claim information given by the refugees is often unreliable. She said their papers and their story regularly do not match up.

GETTY The woman, not pictured, said working at the camp has become a very unpleasant experience

She added: "For example, a resident, who came with his deportation notice to me wanted to know what would happen now. I told him he would have to leave the country. "Soon after, he went before my colleague and showed an entirely new set of documents under a different name, claiming he was this man with the different name. "He was not expelled, but only moved to another camp. "They rarely stick to things that have been agreed. They don't show up for medical appointments that have been made for them.
The Deputy Foreign Minister for International Economic Relations, Dimitris Mardas, met at the Foreign Ministry today with representatives of the textile and clothing sector. The meeting, which was aimed at expanding the potential for strengthening the extroversion of the textile and clothing sector, was also attended by Dimitris Velanis, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister.



Given that 2016 has been officially declared a Greek Year in Russia and a Russian Year in Greece, there was an in-depth consideration of the prospects for broad activation of Greek enterprises in the Russian market. More specifically, there was a discussion of issues such as the potential for the participation of Greek businesses in international exhibitions in Russia, the organization, via Foreign Ministry structures, of business visits/meetings with Russian businesses and agencies, as well as the organizations of ad hoc meetings with counterpart agencies in the Russian market.



Finally, within the framework of developing interregional cooperation, the meeting looked at the potential for wider support of Greek enterprises in international markets.
Taylor Energy President William Pecue told a gathering of industry experts and environmental advocates in Baton Rouge that the company cares "very deeply" about the environment.

"This event hits home for us," said Pecue, the last remaining full-time employee at the New Orleans-based company. "This is our community. We live here and it is very special to us."

The public meeting at an LSU research center is a requirement of a court settlement that Taylor Energy reached in September with environmental groups, which accused the company of withholding information about the leak.

In September 2004, waves whipped up by Hurricane Ivan triggered an underwater mudslide, which toppled a Taylor Energy-owned platform and buried a cluster of its oil wells under mounds of sediment.

Federal regulators believe oil is still coming out at the site. Oil slicks often stretch for miles about 10 miles off Louisiana's coast.

Taylor Energy has said nothing can be done to completely eliminate the chronic sheens. Regulators recently estimated the leak could last a century or more if left unchecked.

An Associated Press investigation last year revealed evidence that the leak is worse than the company, or government, publicly reported during their secretive response. Presented with AP's findings, the Coast Guard provided a new leak estimate that's about 20 times larger than one cited by the company in a court filing last year.

Pecue and company-hired experts are scheduled to make most of the presentations Wednesday during the daylong meeting, the first public forum Taylor Energy has hosted since the leak started more than 11 years ago.

A moderator warned the audience of several dozen people that video and audio recordings of the meeting were prohibited. The moderator also said speakers would only answer questions put in writing.

One of the first asked Pecue to explain why he believes the leak was an "act of God." Pecue declined to elaborate, citing "potential future litigation."

"I can affirmatively say that we do believe this was act of God under the legal definition," he said. "Defining why we believe this is an 'act of God event' gets into a legal definition that is not appropriate for today."

Taylor Energy, once one of the Gulf's largest operators, sold all its offshore leases and oil and gas interests in 2008. Its founder, Patrick Taylor, died in 2004. The company is led by his widow, Phyllis Taylor, a prominent philanthropist and political donor.

Environmental groups led by the New York City-based Waterkeeper Alliance sued Taylor Energy in 2012, arguing the public was entitled to know more about the company's government-supervised work.

Taylor Energy says it has spent more than $480 million on its efforts to stop the leak. Earlier this month, the company sued the federal government to recover approximately $432 million that remains frozen in a trust, reserved for leak response work.

Last year, federal authorities rebuffed the company's settlement overtures and ordered it to perform more work at the leak site.
Lynch's justification for the moves was immediately attacked by Republicans, who said the measures Obama announced two weeks ago were the latest example of actions by Obama that infringe on the constitutional right to own guns and has overreached his executive branch powers.

"The department is on notice," Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee panel that oversees the Justice Department, told Lynch. "This subcommittee will have no part in undermining the Constitution and the rights that it protects."

The partisan gulf over the modest steps taken by Obama underscored that while the GOP-led Congress is all but certain to take no action curbing firearms this election year, the battle over gun rights is one that both parties are happy to wage during the presidential and congressional campaigns.

On the campaign trail, Democratic presidential candidates have backed Obama's moves while GOP contenders have lambasted them as wilting gun rights and abusing his presidential powers.

Shelby, who arranged the hearing, is facing a conservative challenger in his March 1 Senate GOP primary. And House Republicans have said they will create a task force to study "executive overreach" by Obama and other presidents.

"I have complete confidence that the common sense steps announced by the president are lawful," Lynch told the senators. She called the moves "well-reasoned measures, well within existing legal authorities, built on work that's already underway."

Maryland Sen. Barbara Mikulski, top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, backed Lynch's remarks, saying, "We do need to change our nation's culture of violence. We do need to stop guns from getting into the wrong hands."

Obama's actions include new guidance on who the government will consider "in the business" of selling firearms  a phrase used to describe which dealers must obtain federal licenses and conduct background checks on buyers. Even those selling a few guns online or at gun shows can be required to get licenses and perform background checks, the administration said.

Other steps include hiring 230 more FBI examiners so more background checks can be run; 200 additional agents for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; federal research on gun safety technology and a request for $500 million to improve mental health programs.

Lynch said Obama's 2017 budget, to be released in February, will seek $80 million for his gun proposals, largely for the additional FBI and ATF agents.

Gun violence has grown anew as a political issue following last month's mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, in which 14 people were killed. Obama failed to push gun curbs through Congress in the months following the 2012 killings of 20 children and six educators in Newtown, Connecticut, and the GOP-led House and Senate remain opposed to restricting firearms.

As Obama has conceded, Lynch told the senators she has "no illusions that these measures by themselves will end gun violence in America." She said she hoped Congress would work with the administration on the issue  an aspiration that seems unlikely.

Government statistics show that over 30,000 Americans die from firearms wounds yearly, two-thirds of which are suicides.
"We had a big day yesterday. Yesterday was amazing in every way," Trump told supporters in Norwalk, Iowa, as he kicked off another day of campaigning with less than two weeks to go before Iowa's kick-off caucuses. "Sarah came along and she said we love what's happening. It's a movement."

But Palin, who was expected to campaign alongside her new political ally Wednesday, was a no-show at the Iowa rally. A campaign spokeswoman did not immediately respond to questions about why she was not in attendance, but said that she would appearing at a rally later in the day in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Palin, the former governor of Alaska and 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee, erupted onto the stage in Ames, Iowa, Tuesday, announcing her support for Trump and echoing his campaign's mantra that it's time to "Make America Great Again."

"No more pussy-footing around," Palin told a fired-up crowd.

The endorsement comes as Trump is locked in a dead heat with Cruz in Iowa. The two have been ramping up their attacks against one another as the Feb. 1 caucuses have neared.

In the statement announcing the endorsement, Trump's campaign described Palin as a conservative who "helped launch the careers of several key future leaders of the Republican Party and conservative movement." The statement also quoted Cruz as once saying he "would not be in the United States Senate were it not for Gov. Sarah Palin. ... She can pick winners."

Campaigning in New Hampshire, Cruz said, "Regardless of what Sarah intends to do in 2016, I will remain a big, big fan of Sarah Palin."

Palin endorsed Cruz in his 2012 Senate race and said as recently as last month that he and Trump were both in her top tier of candidates, making the endorsement a symbolic blow to Cruz.

"I think it throws a pie into Sen. Cruz's face," said Trump supporter Tim Oelschlager, 56, who was at Wednesday's event in Norwalk. "It's kind of like somebody barbequing in your backyard, setting up a tent in your backyard."

Earlier Tuesday, Cruz faced another blow to his efforts in Iowa, after the state's Republican Gov. Terry Branstad said at a renewable fuels conference near Des Moines that Iowans should reject Cruz because he supports phasing out the fuel standard. Asked if he wants to see Cruz defeated in Iowa, Branstad responded: "Yes."

Palin's endorsement speech combined the folksy charm and everywoman appeal that initially made her a GOP superstar with defiant taunting of a "busted" GOP establishment that she slammed for counting both Trump and herself out.

Palin offered her full-throated support for Trump and slammed President Barack Obama as the "capitulator in chief." Trump, she said, would be a commander in chief who would "let our warriors do their job and go kick ISIS' ass!"

She also took aim at the Republican establishment for "attacking their own front-runner" and offered a challenge to those who have suggested that Trump, whose positions on issues like gun control and abortion rights have shifted over the years, isn't conservative enough.

"Oh my goodness gracious. What the heck would the establishment know about conservativism?" she said. "Who are they to tell us that we're not conservative enough? ... Give me a break."

Trump, whose team had been touting a major, surprise announcement, praised Palin as "a friend, and a high-quality person whom I have great respect for" in a statement.

"We're going to give' em hell," he said after her speech.

Palin was a virtual newcomer to the national political arena when 2008 GOP presidential nominee John McCain named her as his running mate. She has since risen to prominence as one of the most outspoken conservatives in the party. She signed on as a Fox News commentator after resigning as Alaska's governor in 2010, a job she held until last year.

Trump and Palin did not discuss how the endorsement had come about, but Trump's national political director, Michael Glassner, previously worked for her. Trump said earlier Tuesday that he doesn't typically put much stock in endorsements, but said of this one, "I think it could very well result in votes."

GOP consultant Kevin Madden said the timing will likely help Trump crowd out Cruz's message as the Iowa caucuses approach.

"I think it helps Trump overwhelm the news cycle with Trump coverage at a critical time," he said.

Madden also said Palin's support could help shield Trump from charges that his past positions make him too liberal to be the GOP nominee, "giving Trump some rhetorical cover from a conservative validator in the eyes of many grassroots conservatives."

Palin has been expected to attend Trump's morning rally. His campaign had said she would "travel with the candidate to both events on Wednesday" and a message to supporters had touted "a very special guest" would be appearing.

Palin's oldest son, Track, was arrested earlier this week in a domestic violence case in which his girlfriend told police she was afraid he would shoot himself with a rifle. Track Palin was charged with assault, interfering with the report of a domestic violence crime and possessing a weapon while intoxicated in connection with the incident.
BAD AXE  Huron County could potentially welcome a new chain big-box store, if the pieces to the puzzle fit.

Tuesday morning, Bad Axe city manager Dale VanDeVusse received a call from a corporation interested in potentially opening a new location near Bad Axe. He announced the corporations interest later that night during a city council meeting.

We are working with Meijer Inc. trying to get city services to their site, he told the Tribune on Wednesday. (The city) would be providing options to hook up water and sewer.

Ive only had one conversation with them (Meijer Inc.), and that was Tuesday morning, he added.

On Wednesday, Frank Guglielmi, senior director of communications for Meijer Inc., confirmed Meijer is considering the Bad Axe area as a new location, and it is taking the first steps to make it possible.

We have the personal property under contract which puts a hold on the location, Guglielmi said. We are now going through a due diligence and working on terms of sewer and water.

The site under contract is located on the northwest corner of M-53 and Pigeon Road in Colfax Township.

Guglielmi said the contract was created recently and is generally good for one year. The key points he noted, and the process of moving forward, include: taking interest, obtaining a site contract, due diligence and then working through a process to determine whether the site will work.

Once everything is approved, thats when we make the decision on whether or not wed like to purchase the property, Guglielmi added.

Similar requests from realtors regarding availability of services in that general area have also occurred, according to Carl Osentoski, director of the Huron County Economic Development Corp. Osentoski said two months ago, his office received a call requesting the information.

We tracked down our information from DTE and Consumers Energy, he explained. For water and sewer services, we refer them to the city.

The information Osentoski provided to the realtor is if the site has the capacity for electrical and natural gas services in the area.

It will depend on what type of facility could go there, he said regarding what kind of business could be built on the site. Could a foundry go there? No. A big-box store? Yes.

Osentoski was unable to recall the name of the realtor because the Huron County Economic Development Corp. receives inquiries  such as Meijers request  all the time, but 99 percent of the time it never receives a response.

We provided the very basic information they (the realtor) requested, but never heard back, he said.
PIGEON  The physical appearance of the Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port Laker School Board will remain the same for 2016, but some board members will take on new roles.

The boards policy states, No office can be held for more than two terms unless the members elected by a unanimous vote.

Board members were appointed to their new positions at Monday nights meeting. The board will now appear as follows: Todd Tate, president; Heath Krohn, vice president; Mary Tait, secretary; and Duane Baur, treasurer.

At next months meeting, the board will appoint members to committee assignments for next year.

In other news, the board accepted the resignation of special education teacher Tim Blakeney. Blakeney spent 30 years with the district and recently accepted a teaching position at a middle school in Michigan City, Indiana.

With Blakeneys departure, it now leaves the district with a vacant special education position. Laker Superintendent Brian Keim said the position has been posted, but it could be filled internally. However, if filled internally it could cause a ripple effect  meaning other positions would need to be filled.

 We might also look at this as an opportunity to put a full-time, qualified sub in place to help us serve out the rest of this year, Keim said.

Board member Jeffrey Snider was concerned about a long-term substitute having an ill-effect on the students.

Its going to be a new person either way, Keim responded. So theres going to be a bit of get to know you acclimation time. If you found the right person to serve as a long-term sub, I think it would be a very positive transition.

Keim added the district would receive a better pool of candidates if it were to wait until springtime to start interviewing for the position. The replacements salary has not been factored into next years budget, but by hiring a long-term substitute the district could save some money.

The board approved for Keim and Laker Elementary principal Kathy Dickens to move forward with filling the vacancy to what best serves the children.

The board will meet next at 6 p.m. Feb. 15 in Room 205 at Laker High School.
BAD AXE  Huron County officials want to pool agencies together to create HAVEN  Huron Area Violence Elimination Network  and a child advocacy center to help reduce rising child abuse.

Those backing the HAVEN proposal say the Huron County Health Department and human services handled an average 305 complaints of child abuse and neglect in Huron County in 2015.

HAVEN would include the Huron County Child Abuse and Neglect Council, the sheriffs office, prosecutor, Department of Health and Human Services/Child Protective Services and SafePlace, a shelter for victims of domestic abuse.

And a county commissioner is looking to taxpayers to help get things started.

Commissioner Clark Elftman says Sanilac County has a 0.25 millage to fund a similar venture, and wed like to see the same thing happen in Huron County.

One mill equates to $1 for every $1,000 of taxable value on a property. If the proposed child advocacy center made it on the ballot and Huron voters approved it, the 0.25 millage rate would mean a homeowner with a house valued at $100,000 ($50,000 taxable value) would pay an extra $12.50 a year in property taxes. Officials say it would generate about $520,000, the same as the countys older citizens millage.

The proposal states a child advocacy center would:

 Address the growing/increasing need for services and provide timely critical referral services

 Reduce trauma through single interview/exam process of abused and neglected children

 Assist with prosecution of offenders

 Keep kids and families safe

 Save money

Elftman says HAVEN would also take a load off the local DHS office.

Reports of child victims of abuse and neglect in Michigan have risen every year from 27,383 in 2008 to nearly 34,000 in 2013, according to a Child Maltreatment 2012 report published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and other agencies.

Huron County seems to be following that trend: there were 118 child victims of abuse and neglect reported in 2012  more than triple the cases in 2008.

By practical measures, Huron Countys SafePlace says it helped 55 women and children escape domestic abuse by offering them sanctuary in 2014.

But the majority of the picture is missing: Elizabeth Herd, president of the Huron County CA/N Council, says only about one-third of abuse and neglect cases are reported.

Herd leads 16 other board members of the Huron County CA/N Council, one of 73 such organizations statewide. The Council is funded by a $10,000 grant matched with county contributions. The annual Roof Sit is its biggest fundraiser. With that money, a couple services the council provides include fitting newborns at Huron Medical Center with safe sleep sacks and distributing educational DVDs and other materials on shaken baby syndrome.

Thats something Id like to see more of in the county  teaching people better, more gentle ways to parent, Herd said in May 2015.

Elftman, who is also vice president of the CA/N Council, suggested last summer the county make a donation to SafePlace. However, then Board Chair John Nugent said that it may be illegal for the county to allocate money in such a way, and that it would take a voter-approved millage.

Elftman says the millage is not going to hurt that much.

Were responsible for those people, he said. You can see the need in the county for a child advocacy center. Weve got to step up and hopefully pass a millage.

Commissioner Rich Swartzendruber said he supports putting a millage request on the ballot to let residents decide if it should be supported. He said he likes the concept of putting the organizations under an umbrella to aid child abuse services.

Commissioners didnt have a defined answer as to who would run the child advocacy center, whether a public or private entity.
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.
The attack last July on a recruiting office in Tennessee has prompted the Air Force to remind commanders they may authorize qualified airmen to carry weapons on base while off duty and out of uniform. The Air Force on Wednesday said its review of "active-shooter incidents across the country" found that many ended without police intervention because someone present with a weapon stopped the shooter.

Three programs authorize commanders at all levels -- as long as they have authorization from the base commander -- to allow conceal-carry or open-carry on the installation.

"None of these programs gives the installation commander authorizations they didn't already have the authorization to do," Maj. Keith Quick, the Air Force Security Forces Integrated Defense action officer, said. "We are now formalizing it and telling them how they can use these types of programs more effectively."

The Air Force announcement did not say which incidents caused it to issue the reminder, though a spokeswoman for Air Force Headquarters in Washington, DC, said it is because of last year's attack on a recruiting station in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

In that attack -- one of at least four on recruiting offices, military installations or properties since 2008 -- a gunman opened fire on an Army recruiting office, wounding a soldier, then went to a Navy facility, where he killed four Marines and wounded a sailor.

The gunman, a Kuwait-born naturalized U.S. citizen, was shot and killed by police.

In 2010 a former Marine reservist originally from Ethiopia, who officials said had jihadist sympathies, opened fire on the Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery before being apprehended.

A year earlier an American convert to Islam killed one soldier and wounded another when he attacked a military recruiting center in Little Rock, Arkansas. The killer, reportedly angry over treatment of Muslims, was sentenced to life in prison.

In 2008 someone set off a bomb outside a Times Square, New York City, recruiting office. No one was injured and the case has remained unsolved.

The Air Force also did not release the data showing how many active-shooter incidents were stopped by someone on the scene carrying a weapon. A spokeswoman said the data came from the FBI, and cannot be released by the Air Force.

Quick said three programs established by the Air Force Security Forces Integrated Defense team enable commanders to beef up security through conceal-carry. The programs are the Unit Marshal, Security Forces Staff Arming and Law Enforcement Officer Safety Act programs.Under the Unit Marshall Program, unit commanders can have airman to train under Security Forces personnel and open-carry an M9 pistol at their duty location.

Airmen selected for UMP would be instructed in use of force, weapons retention and weapons training. The role of these airmen would be to protect themselves, their immediate work space and the people within it, Quick said.

"They are not first responders, they are not to go to the sound of fire, they are not to chase bad guys," he said. "If an active shooter happened, these members are not authorized to engage unless confronted directly by the active shooter."

Commanders also can take advantage of the Security Forces Staff Arming program, which enables SF airmen working in staff billets at the squadron, group, wing or major command levels to carry a government-issued weapon while on duty, with the approval of the installation commander.

Any Air Force security force member who has the appropriate Air Force specialty code and is current on all of their qualifications may qualify for the program. The goal is to put trained defenders in places around the base where they could immediately act in the event of an active-shooter or other threat, Quick said.

Commanders may also use the Law Enforcement Officer Safety Act, a federal law that allows law enforcement personnel -- past or present -- to carry a concealed weapon in any state for personal protection against people who may want to harm them, as long as they obey state and local firearms laws.

The law was created with the understanding that police officers make enemies throughout their careers. Before the Law Enforcement Officer Safety Act they were allowed to carry a concealed weapon in their jurisdictions, but not in other cities or states.

Quick said the Air Force now allows its members to request LEOSA credentialing.

"This affects base personnel because we have given the option to the installation commander to allow security forces members to carry under LEOSA on the installation while they are off duty," Quick said. "With installation commander's approval, I could go to the commissary on Saturday and stay armed and concealed while conducting my business on the installation and leave ... it's not for work purposes."

-- Bryant Jordan can be reached at bryant.jordan@military.com. Follow him on Twitter at @bryantjordan.
LAS VEGAS -- In the months after EOTech Inc. settled a lawsuit over defective sights, competitors say they're vying for more market share amid a shakeup in the industry.

Companies such as Trijicon Inc., based in Wixom, Michigan, and Aimpoint AB, based in Malmo, Sweden, say customers in the U.S. military and law enforcement markets are reaching out to them in large numbers to inquire about their products in the wake of EOTech's settling of a lawsuit that accused the company of knowingly selling optics that failed in extreme temperatures and humid weather conditions.

Chuck Wahr, vice president of sales and marketing at Trijicon, described it as a "watershed moment."

"Precision is very important," he said in an interview on Wednesday here at SHOT Show, the biggest trade show for the small arms industry. "People know us for those things and our military and law enforcement customers again know who we are and are helping us build a watershed moment in the marketplace as people move from less dependable solutions."

Referring to the Trijicon's recent release of a new tactical optic, the Miniature Rifle Optic, or MRO, Wahr added, "The timing of the MRO couldn't be better for us, given those conditions in the marketplace and we're harvesting a lot of share because of it."

The parent company of EOTech, defense contractor L-3 Communications Holdings Inc., based in New York, in November agreed to pay $25.6 million to settle the lawsuit. The settlement came after the optics-maker sold thousands of holographic weapons sights to infantry and special operations units that fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as law enforcement agencies and civilian consumers.

For its part, EOTech is opening up about limitations of its technology and is offering refunds to customers who aren't satisfied with the product.

"We are trying to make people whole and make sure that they are satisfied with their product," John Bailey, director of marketing for EOTech told Military.com. "I think there is a positive outlook; I think they are happy we are communicating and what we are communicating now because it took a long time for us to be able to communicate."

Bailey also sought to downplay the condition known as "thermal drift," in which the sight's point of aim is different from its point of impact. He said the condition was more noticeable in the optics during extreme temperature fluctuations -- from 73 degrees Fahrenheit to minus 40 degrees, for example.

"It is evident in really every optic," Bailey said.

Competitors disagreed.

Brian Lisankie, president of the U.S. subsidiary of Aimpoint, said his company has "never had a problem" with thermal drift even after selling more than 1 million sights to the Defense Department since 1997.

Lisankie was reluctant to comment on the case involving EOTech, but he said the Pentagon is now scrutinizing the issue.

"Military contracts are all starting to specify testing for thermal drift," he said. "We live and die by military testing standards -- always have -- and we are going to continue to do that."

Lisankie acknowledged he has never seen a shakeup like this in the optics industry and that his company is starting to see an uptick in interest from potential customers.

"Aimpoint has received a lot of requests for test and evaluation samples from a variety of federal and local law enforcement agencies as a result of this," he said.

--Brendan McGarry can be reached at brendan.mcgarry@military.com. Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com.
ATLANTIC CITY AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, N.J.  The date is Dec. 24, 1944, in the midst of World War II, and while most Americans are at home preparing for a Christmas with their families, 1st Lt. Cuno Vernal Becker, an armament officer with the Army Air Force's 836th Bomb Squadron is boarding his B-17 Flying Fortress to take part in mission No. 760  one of the largest air missions of the war.

Vern, as he was known by his family, was not originally meant to be part of that mission. But, as Air Force Chief Master Sgt. James McCloskey, Becker's great nephew, has heard the story told, Vern gave one of his enlisted members the day off for Christmas Eve and decided to man the tail gun.

It would be the last mission of Becker's life. The crew of nine was shot down that day over Aywaille, Belgium. Seven of the nine were killed in action. Two survived.

Chance Investigation

More than 70 years later, the New Jersey Air National Guard's 177th Fighter Wing is taking part in a two-week temporary duty assignment on Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany. During some down time, part of the group took off to explore Europe.

"When we were driving back from Amsterdam, we happened to drive through Belgium," McCloskey said. "As soon as we passed through Belgium, I thought about my grandmother, who passed last year. She would always tell stories about Vern. It's hard for me to be in Germany, or anywhere in Europe, and not think about my great uncle and the pictures of the war."

McCloskey said he took this opportunity to dive deeper into the history of his family, and he began to further research the events that unfolded on Christmas Eve, 1944.

"I immediately texted my dad to see if he could give me more info about Uncle Vern, and he sent me info about him and the town he went down in," McCloskey said. "I was able to narrow it down to the hamlet of Septroux in Aywaille, Belgium."

McCloskey said did not stop there  he took to the streets of Aywaille, asking the elder locals if they could recall anything from that day. The survey was unsuccessful, he said.

'A Tiny Museum'

"After we came back that day, I felt like I could have made a better effort to find out more," McCloskey said. "I decided to do some Internet searching and found a tiny museum in Aywaille dedicated to World War II called 40-45 Memories."

This led the chief to Frederic Winkin, he said, a resident of Aywaille and the curator of the museum.

"He said he knew exactly what I was talking about," McCloskey said. "Not only that, but he knew the exact location by the river where the main fuselage came down, as well as an idea of where my uncle came down in the tail section. From there, we set a date to meet up."

Now for most, this alone is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity already, but Winkin had something else planned for the chief.

"A couple days later, Frederic emailed me to say that he had one more surprise for me. He had found the man who pulled my uncle out of that plane, 70 years ago, and that he was willing to meet with me," McCloskey said. "Honestly, that made me nervous. I, a great nephew of Vern, was going to represent my whole family and meet this man."

So on Aug. 12, 2015, McCloskey, accompanied by Winkin and two 177th FW members, went to the exact location on the banks of the Ambleve River near Aywaille, Becker's B-17 came down more than 70 years prior.

Directly after, the group was taken to the home of Gaston Mean, the older Belgian who was at the crash site in 1944.

Shared Revelations

Mean, accompanied by his wife, invited the group inside, sat them down, and pulled out a hand-written letter. McCloskey said all eyes were focused on the older man while he precisely detailed what took place that day, in classic French dialect, as Winkin translated for the group.

"Since Mr. Mean was the one who found my uncle, he obviously had an emotional bond with him," McCloskey said. "He never knew what happened to my uncle after that day. He wondered if he survived or died; he wondered if he went on to have a life in America."

McCloskey then informed Mean of something that had been unknown to him for more than 70 years. Becker tragically died two days later at an allied hospital in Belgium, from injuries sustained in the crash.

"I can't put into words how much all of this meant to my family," McCloskey said. "Everyone is fascinated and touched. I get calls from different family members all the time now who want to hear the story. I wish I could tell them more. I wish they were all in that town and that living room with me."
MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan.  It was this past Christmas and the restaurant was nearly empty. Michael Hamilton, a cook, fell to the ground during his shift. The restaurant staff had no medical training and panicked, unsure of what to do.

A waitress remembered speaking with a patron, who had mentioned she was a medic, just minutes before in the lounge area.

The patron was Staff Sgt. Christina Begeal, a 22nd Medical Group aerospace medical technician, who had just happened to be relaxing in the restaurant on her night off.

The waitress rushed to Begeal and brought her into the kitchen. Upon seeing the emergency, Begeal responded immediately, aware that the victim was having a seizure.

"He couldn't talk. He couldn't move," Begeal said. "So I told him, 'If you can hear me, squeeze my hand  one for yes, two for no,' and he could do that."

She directed the two other staff members to call 911 and to help her care for the victim. They moved the victim to a safer location and treated him for shock, she said. They elevated his legs and put something soft around him. Begeal checked his pulse and his eyes for reaction to light.

At one point, Hamilton stopped breathing and Begeal gave him rescue breaths until he started breathing on his own again. Before paramedics arrived on scene, he came around.

She continued to communicate with him and asked if he had eaten any food recently or was currently on any medication, so she could relay the information to the paramedics.

"When Emergency Medical Services got there, it seemed like he was paralyzed; he was so exhausted from the seizure," Begeal said. "They loaded him in the ambulance and took him to the hospital."

At the hospital, Hamilton was evaluated, treated and released back to work.

"I didn't think what happened that day would have happened so quickly," Hamilton said. "If she hadn't been here, there would have been more questioning, more chaos and less stability."

When Begeal returned to the same restaurant a few weeks later, Hamilton approached her and thanked her for saving his life.

"I was really glad she was there to help because everybody else was frantic," he said. "She stepped up, called the shots and made me feel like everything was going to be OK."

Begeal stressed that basic care provided to a victim in the midst of waiting for paramedics to arrive is crucial and wanted to spread the message.

To emphasize the importance of bystander intervention and self-aid and buddy care, she is coordinating to teach a certified CPR course to the restaurant staff.

Every 22nd Air Refueling Wing Airman is trained in SABC, bystander intervention, basic situational awareness, and many other life-saving lessons. They are trained to employ this knowledge to help individuals during an emergency situation  anytime and anywhere it may occur.

"If someone needs a helping hand I will be there  so would any other McConnell Airmen," Begeal said. "The willingness of our Airmen to step up in so many different critical situations is what makes us the wing of choice."
On Jan. 8, six days before he closed out a 45-year Marine Corps career, his last job leading U.S. Southern Command, Gen. John F. Kelly sounded an alarm, which he must have hoped would be heard on Capitol Hill.

Kelly was asked at his final Pentagon press conference to comment on Defense Secretary Ashton Carter's Dec. 3 decision that every combat job, without exception, be opened to women who meet gender-neutral standards.

This and every decision impacting on the military, Kelly answered, should have "only one filter...Does it make us more lethal on the battlefield?"

If the answer "is, 'It shouldn't hurt,' [then] I would suggest that we shouldn't do it, because it might hurt," said Kelly. His great fear is that standards will be lowered, regardless of current promises that they won't be.

"There will be great pressure, whether it's twelve months from now, four years from now, because the question will be asked [after] we've let women into these other roles, 'Why aren't they staying...? Why aren't they advancing...? Why aren't they becoming...more senior?' And the answer...will be 'If we don't change standards, it will be very, very difficult to have any...real numbers come into the infantry or the Rangers or the SEALs.' "

Over time, lowering standards will be "the only way it'll work [for] the agenda-driven people here in Washington," Kelly said.

Attention now turns to Congress where some lawmakers, worried about readiness, hope to modify Carter's no-exception policy and will comb through individual services' implementation plans. Other members of Congress will advocate for a swift opening of all combat skills and units to women who have the physical and mental toughness for these jobs.

About 10 percent of current military positions, almost 220,000 jobs, remain closed to women, mostly in infantry, armor, reconnaissance and some special operations units. The Marine Corps was the only service to seek to exempt some front-line combat skills from gender integration. It argued mixed gender units would be less capable in ground combat, and women Marines routinely would suffer more occupation-related injuries.

Carter rejected the Corps request, saying combat effectiveness remains a priority but it can be preserved through careful implementation and adherence to tough gender-neutral standards to fill every skill.

"There will be women who can meet the physical requirements of these specialties, even as there are men who cannot," Carter said.

By law, Carter must report to Congress on plans to open units or positions previously closed to women. He also must provide analysis on how removing all combat restrictions should impact the law governing a military draft. Only male 18-year-olds now need to register with Selective Service.

Congress then will have 30 calendar days to review Carter's report, which presumably will include detailed implementation plans from Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Special Operations Command. Congress has authority to order changes if a majority of lawmakers have concerns over how opening all skills will affect readiness, unit cohesion or other issues.

Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX) and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), chairmen of the armed services committees, issued a joint statement promising a careful review, saying opening all combat positions to women will have "a consequential impact" on service members and war fighting capabilities.

Republicans, who form the majority on both committees, are said to fall into two camps: those awaiting more information and those opposed to Carter's decision. Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) said there are at least as many lawmakers like her who will fiercely oppose any delay. A retired Army National Guard officer, Duckworth lost both legs and partial use of an arm to a rocket-propelled grenade while piloting a Black Hawk helicopter in Iraq.

Of Kelly's comments, Duckworth said she's "not surprised there would be a general somewhere who would say something along these lines. But...none of the women who are going to apply [and] meet the standards to serve in these units want the units to be less capable or less deadly."

"If anything the women will fight...to make sure standards aren't lowered," added Duckworth, who serves on the armed services committee and is running for the Senate against first-termer Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.).

Duckworth recalled how she and the only other woman in her flight school "fought as hard as we could to make sure people understood we were just as good of pilots are the guys were" and sought no special treatment.

Looking back, Duckworth said, "I couldn't qualify for Ranger's school but a lot of he guys can't either. Whatever percentage of women can, even if it's two percent, let them do the job!"

In the last 14 years, 161 U.S. military women have died in Afghanistan and Iraq, and 1,016 have been wounded. Women are in combat, Duckworth said; indeed the U.S. military can't go to war without them. The question is can some women "drag a 250-pound dead weight, which is what we consider to be a fully combatequipped soldier? Can you drag your buddy to safety while continuing to fire your weapon and do your job? If you can, and you're ready to lay down your life for your country, good for you. Go do it."

The House Armed Services Committee plans a hearing on this soon. One member expected to lead the opposition is Rep. Duncan D. Hunter (R-Calif.), a major in the Marine Corps Reserve who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Last September he asked Navy Secretary Ray Mabus' to resign over his public criticism of the Corps' request for certain skill exemptions.

This month in a pair of letters to Carter, Hunter attacked Mabus' Jan. 1 order that the Marine Corps in 15 days provide a plan to move to mixed gender training of all recruits and officer candidates. Hunter said gender-segregated training is supported by "decades of scientific and individual consensus" and "everything we have come to...understand about warfare."

Mabus' "social meddling," he warned, won't strengthen Marines' ability to close with and destroy the enemy but instead "will put lives at risk."

Hunter told us he hopes to have language inserted in the defense authorization bill "to at least look at this issue more closely before making such a drastic change. And we need more members on both sides of the aisle to address this too. It can't just be the [Iraq and Afghanistan war] veterans who are taking this on."

Send comments to Military Update, P.O. Box 231111, Centreville, VA, 20120, email milupdate@aol.com or twitter: Tom Philpott @Military_Update
Air Force Gets Its Own Combat Dive Badge After Using the Navy's for Years

Air Force officials said there is a notable distinction between Navy divers and their divers, which was a key reason for...
BAY CITY, MI -- Bay City residents are joining the caravans of trucks bringing bottled water to the besieged city of Flint.

Moving trucks are going to Vehicle City to lend some muscle to distribute water and a Bay City dance studio has begun a water drive that is expected to surpass a goal to collect and deliver 100 cases of water.

Lead in Flint water citywide has resulted in local, state and federal states of emergency, with Michigan National Guardsmen distributing clean water, filters and lead testing kits to its people.

Thursday, Jan. 21, two trucks from Two Men And A Truck were set to help distribute nine pallets of canned water to Flint schools and other points, said Patti Wilson, vice president of the company's Bay City and Midland locations. They got a call from the Flint Two Men And A Truck franchise that the help was needed, she said.

So, one truck went to Flint on Tuesday to shuttle pallets of water, two headed out Thursday, and more trucks from Bay City and Midland will be in Flint on Saturday to deliver water door to door in Flint, Wilson said.

Her company plans to continue the help for Flint for at least four weeks, Wilson said.

Over at Perry Woodard School of Dance, a water drive slated for Jan. 30 already is nearing its goal of collecting 100 cases of bottled water for the people of Flint.

Jill Devendorf, of Bay City, started the effort, which began to snowball after friend Janae Kramer, an employee of the dance studio at 1403 Columbus Ave., got the business involved. Many other businesses are joining the cause, Devendorf said.

"One of our teachers helped brainstorm it, and it's up and running now," said Tony Villano, co-owner of the dance studio. The water drive culminates in a collection of water at the studio from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Jan. 30.

Devendorf said she already has almost 100 cases of water in her basement now, so, "I think we will pass that by a lot."

"Maybe we can blow Cher's donation out of the water," Devendorf joked. The entertainer Cher, who has been harshly critical of Gov. Rick Snyder over state involvement in Flint's water crisis, reportedly is sending five semitrucks loaded with bottled water to Flint.

"The residents of Flint need our help," Devendorf said.

On Jan. 30, the owners of Populace Coffee in Bay City have volunteered to rent a U-Haul truck to bring the water to the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan in Flint, Devendorf said.

Follow the "Bay City Water Drive for Flint" Facebook page and the Perry Woodard School of Dance page for updates on the campaign and word of other local businesses joining the effort.
With Tuesday night's announcement that the state of Michigan is planning on buying the 332-acre former GM Powertrain plant at Willow Run, the next phase for the site is now on the horizon.

Although plans are still being developed for what will happen with the site, Gov. Rick Snyder's plan is the first significant announcement made regarding the property in more than two years.

Since the GM plant closed in 2010, several ideas revolving around connected vehicles have been proposed and discussed, but none have come to fruition. Leaders in Washtenaw County are hopeful that Snyder's plan will take shape quickly and provide a boost to the regional economy.

But skeptics will be quick to point out the lack of action made on previous announcements revolving around connected vehicles.

Below is a timeline on those plans and what actions resulted from them.

June 2009 - As General Motors worked through bankruptcy reorganization plans, the automotive giant announced it would shutter operations at the plant in stages with the final work to be finished in December 2010.

When the announcement was made, one production line ceased operations immediately while others worked in various degrees until the closure.



December 2010 - The final 320 employees left working at the facility punch the clock for the last time as production ceases at the plant. The 5 million-square-foot plant was abandoned and went virtually unused until demolition.

2011 - RACER Trust is formed by the federal government following GM's bankruptcy filings. The trust is charged with liquidating GM's holdings and environmental cleanup of GM properties.

April 2013 - RACER announces that demolition of the plant is an option for the redevelopment of the site.

September 2013 - Walbridge Development LLC agrees to buy the majority of the 332-acre site to begin constructing a connected vehicles research facility. That work is scheduled to begin following the demolition of the former plant.

October 2013 - Demolition begins on the plant as crews begin decommissioning the site before physical demolition can begin.

October 2014 - The Yankee Air Museum buys 150,000-square-feet of space in the former plant before it's demolished to be used as part of its museum. Around this time, physical demolition of the plant is completed as cleanup and remediation efforts continue.

May 2015 - Ann Arbor SPARK announces it has been awarded a grant for $250,000 to develop a plan for the Connected Vehicles Development Center.

The grant was awarded as part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration Science and Research Park Development Grants program.



September 2015 - Two years after announcing plans to develop the site Walbridge had still begun any work or announced plans to bring the facility to life. RACER representatives decline to comment on the future of the project other than to discuss remediation efforts on the site.

Elected officials at the time say efforts are still being made to bring develop the connected vehicles research center, but cannot comment on what plans are being discussed.

January 2016 - Snyder announces a plan for the state of Michigan to buy the site from RACER and begin developing the facility.

Matt Durr is a business reporter for The Ann Arbor News. Email him at mattdurr@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter.
KALAMAZOO, MI -- People on The Move announces the new title or working role of local people moving from one paid position to another.

That includes lateral moves, promotions, new hires or people taking on significant new work assignments.

Among those making moves recently were:

RECREATIONAL SERVICES

-Kevin Wordelman has joined the Kalamazoo Nature Center, assuming the newly created position of director of people and culture. In that post, he serves as the champion for resources related to staffing and organizational culture at the nature center, including oversight of the volunteer program and management of all aspects of human resources within the organization. Wordelman was previously administrator and organizer for two large locals of the West Michigan Federation of College Educators. He has a master's degree in public administration from Western Michigan University. He is also a member of the Kalamazoo County Board of Commissioners.

REAL ESTATE

-Steven Eng has joined Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Michigan Real Estate as a real estate agent. The Kalamazoo resident is joining Berkshire Hathaway from St Louis where he has been the owner of HJ Eng Trading & Service Inc. Consulting. Eng has a master's degree in business administration from schooling in Maastricht, Netherlands. As a Realtor, he will work in the Kalamazoo, Mattawan and Richland areas.

CONSTRUCTION

-AVB Inc. recently hired Dylan Richards and Andrew Adriance as residential construction assistants. Richards has great team work experience. He was the first person hired at Warehouse Associate in Paw Paw when it opened in 2012. That team-building mentality will be beneficial as AVB assists the residential project teams with building homes. Adriance has extensive experience as an automotive technician from positions at Strictly Import Motorsports in Kalamazoo, FEMA Corporation in Portage and Whalen's Speed Research and Development in Paw Paw. At AVB he is expected to assist residential project teams with building homes.



PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

-Greg Marvin was recently promoted to division manager at HMS Companies Inc. As such, he is responsible for the management of Landlord Supply's physical location at 1312 S. Burdick St. in Kalamazoo, and the preparation of the online store soon to be released at www.landlord.supply.com. Marvin has an associate's degree from Michigan State University and he is a certified Green Industry Professional, as well as Michigan Nursery Landscaper. Kalamazoo-based HMS provides property management and screening services, as well as real estate brokerage, consulting and project management services.

HEALTH CARE

-Ashley Bays, certified physician assistant, has joined Bronson Cardiothoracic, Vascular & Endovascular Specialists. Bays has a master's degree in physician assistant studies from Western Michigan University. She has seven years of experience as a physician assistant and was most recently employed with Southwestern Michigan Emergency Services P.C. She will also be providing care at the Bronson Vein Clinic.

-Dr. Martinson Arnan has joined Bronson Neuroscience Center. He has eight years of experience in neurology and was most recently employed with Wake Forest School of Medicine. Arnan has a medical degree from Harvard Medical School in Cambridge, Mass., and completed his vascular neurology fellowship and his neurology residency at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He is board certified in neurology, vascular neurology and neurovascular ultrasound. He has a special interest in stroke care and will serve as the medical director of stroke for the Bronson Healthcare system.

-Dr. Jenna Ruple has joined Bronson LakeView Family Care - Paw Paw. She is board certified in family medicine and received her medical degree from the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Peoria, Ill. Ruple completed her family medicine residency at Memorial Hospital of South Bend, Ind.

To get moving



People on The Move announces the new title or working role of individuals moving from one paid position to another. Items should include the proper name of that person(s) and his or her new title. We also want to mention the position or job the individual most recently held.

Be advised that People on The Move is for people who live, work or are known in our readership area.



We publish head and shoulders photos of individuals when they are provided to us. They may be sent to ajones5@mlive.com. E-images should be JPEG format of at least 300 DPI.

For more information, contact Al Jones at ajones5@mlive.com.
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Switch released its latest rendering of how it plans to expand and redevelop the former Steelcase Corporate Development Center into a SuperNap data center.

(Rendering courtesy of Switch)

GAINES TOWNSHIP, MI -- Switch, the Nevada company that plans to operate a "SuperNap" data center in the former Steelcase pyramid, announced plans to power the facility with 100 percent green energy.

The company announced on Thursday, Jan. 21, that it has become a member of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the World Resources Institute (WRI) "Renewable Energy Buyers' Principles" as part of its commitment to run all of its data centers on green energy.

Switch executives said they have begun working with Consumers Energy to develop a comprehensive plan to provide power to SuperNap Michigan, the company said in a press release issued jointly with Consumers Energy.

"Since our first contact with Switch, Consumers Energy understood the importance of building new renewable generation to provide Switch with 100 percent renewable power at their SuperNap Michigan data center," said Garrick Rochow, Consumers Energy's vice president and chief customer officer.

"We are excited to partner with Switch to make the largest data center in the eastern U.S. the greenest," Rochow said.

"Sustainably running the Internet is one of the driving principles of Switch, which is why in our site selection process for an eastern U.S. SuperNap data center site, we had to find a local utility who could provide a pathway to 100 percent renewable power," said Adam Kramer, Switch executive vice president of strategy.

Switch has promised to bring 1,000 new jobs to West Michigan and $5 billion of new investment over the next 10 years in the former Steelcase Corporate Development Center, an iconic pyramid-shaped building at 4100 60th St. SE that has been empty since 2010.

The privately-held company made the commitment after Gov. Rick Snyder signed legislation exempting data centers from paying sales taxes and personal property taxes on their equipment purchases.

Earlier this month, Switch announced all of its data centers in Nevada are now powered by 100 percent renewable energy as part of its commitment to the WWF/WRI Buyers' Principles.

"When we first met with the team at WRI, we knew that our goals aligned perfectly with the Buyers' Principles, which is why Switch was excited to join," Kramer said.

"The Buyers' Principles were established to articulate the common needs of large renewable energy buyers," Kramer said.

"The goal is to spur progress on increasing access to renewable energy and to add the perspective of large entities who intend to go green or who have already gone green, such as Switch, to the future of the U.S. energy and electricity system."

Joining the Buyers' Principles is a continuation of the commitments

Switch made to sustainability over the last two years, the company said. During the 2015 National Clean Energy Summit 8.0 in Las Vegas, Switch became the first data center provider to join the American Business Act on Climate Pledge.

Jim Harger covers business for MLive/Grand Rapids Press. Email him at jharger@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter or Facebook or Google+.
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Students at Freeman Elementary School help unload a delivery of water bottles donated by Lanice Lawson, a Davison resident who started a GoFundMe.com page to raise money to bring bottled water to Flint kids on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2015,

(Danny Miller | MLive.com)

LANSING, MI -- The Flint area may have the most attention as lead levels are tested at schools, homes and buildings there, but the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality is monitoring eight locations -- including three schools -- across the state for reportedly high lead levels.

The schools currently being monitored are Dimondale Elementary School in Eaton County's Dimondale; Ogemaw Heights High School in Ogemaw County's West Branch; and Faith Community Christian School in Ionia County's Belding.

According to EPA standards, if concentrations of lead come back at more than 15 parts per billion in more than 10 percent of tests, then additional corrective actions are required.

The state DEQ provided MLive

of noncommunity water supplies -- those that serve a group of people who return regularly -- currently addressing a lead action level exceedance. Besides the schools, the list included a restaurant, ady care and chemical company.

When a supply exceeds the lead action level it must notify its customers, according to the DEQ. Additionally, it must take steps to reduce the lead such as proposing a corrosion control plan and conducting additional monitoring. Water supplies cannot be removed from the list until they fall below the lead action level in two consecutive six-month monitoring periods.

In Flint, where city residents are being advised not to drink the water due to a corrosion of pipes that are leaching lead into the drinking water supply, a fixture at one school tested at more than six times the federal limit at 101 parts per billion.

At other schools the state is monitoring, the exact lead levels were not released.

West Branch-Rose City Area Schools Superintendent Phil Mikulski said that Ogemaw Heights High School is on the list because a drinking fountain had elevated levels in 2012 or 2013. The district has since taken steps to remediate that.

"We removed some equipment, and the equipment was our issue. In particular it was a drinking fountain here at Ogemaw Heights," Mikulski said.

The district also instituted a flushing system to keep water safe. Since they took action the school has had its water tested every six months with favorable results, Mikulski said.

At Faith Community Christian School in Belding, principal Kim Borbeson said that two little-used faucets tested just over actionable levels. One was in a staff area and another was a hand-washing sink in the kitchen.

"It wasn't anything with our regularly used water or sinks. No students were exposed to it," Borbenson said. "But it was an issue."

The school notified parents and put signs above the fixtures saying to run the water for two minutes before drinking it.

Just such a sign recently raised alarms at Glencarin Elementary School in East Lansing, which was tested Jan. 11 and is not on the DEQ-provided list. According to a letter sent to parents, district administration was notified of a sign above a faucet at the school that read "flush this faucet for five minutes each day before drinking to reduce lead levels to acceptable health limits."

The sign is believed to date back to the 1980s or '90s, according to a letter sent to parents. In an initial test before flushing that faucet recorded lead levels at 37 parts per billion - more than twice the actionable level. However, after flushing for two minutes the lead level was nearly undetectable, the letter states.

The district is replacing the pipes leading to that fixture.

"The District's first priority is the safety of students, staff, and visitors. Please note the Principal at Glencairn Elementary and Central Office administration took immediate action when they became aware of this situation," read a letter from East Lansing Public Schools Superintendent Robyne Thompson.

Holt Public Schools Superintendent David Hornak said Dimondale Elementary School had two samples that tested above normal in 2015. The district took corrective action immediately.

"Anything that we were asked to do we did, and then we went above and beyond," Hornak said.

Currently the school has deactivated all of its drinking fountains and put up office-style water coolers for students to refill their water bottles at. Hornak is hopeful that the next round of testing will show these measures worked.

The DEQ and governor's office did not immediately return calls for comment on this story.

Emily Lawler is a Capitol reporter on MLive's statewide Impact Team. You can reach her at elawler@mlive.com, subscribe to her on Facebook or follow her on Twitter: @emilyjanelawler.
Pittsfield_Pipeline.jpg

A map showing the pipeline's route through Pittsfield Township.

(Courtesy of Wolverine )

Editor's note: The story has been been updated to show that it isn't clear whether the new pipeline will be built within the existing 50 foot right of way.

The Michigan Public Services commission has approved a plan for a pipeline that will carry up to 90,000 barrels of refined petroleum through southeast Michigan daily.

The Wolverine Pipe Line Company asked the commission in early 2015 to approve the 35-mile Detroit Metro Access Pipeline that will stretch from Freedom Township to storage facilities in Romulus. It will be the final link between southeast Michigan and Chicago-area refineries, and be built next to another Wolverine line already in service.

Wolverine spokesperson Tom Shields said construction is expected to begin this summer and the pipeline will be operational in late 2016.

"There is a demand for additional gasoline and diesel fuel in the the Detroit metropolitan area. This new pipeline will be able to bring gasoline products into southeast Michigan from refineries in the Chicago market," Shields said.

Pittsfield Township voiced strong opposition to the project. While the pipeline will run through agricultural land in much of Washtenaw County, including Lodi, Freedom and Ypsilanti townships, it begins to travel under or near residential areas in Pittsfield.

The pipes are built underground, but 25-foot easements on either side are needed to allow truck access and for safety reasons. Trees must be cleared because the company uses planes to fly over its lines to monitor for leaks or other issues.

Part of residents' concern is the expanded right of way Wolverine requested. The right of way around the current pipe is 50 feet. That will be expanded to 75 feet once the second line is in place. The township asked Wolverine to work within the current 50-foot right-of-way if the second line is built, and Supervisor Mandy Grewal said Wolverine will do so in Pittsfield Township only.

But on Thursday afternoon a Wolverine spokesman said that wasn't true, and the company will try to work with individual property owners. He added that 75 feet is often needed to safely build and operate the pipelines. A December 15 letter sent to the township from Carl Meyer, Michiana Land Service's CEO, states that the pipe will be built within the "existing right of way," but does not specify the dimensions. That company is installing the pipeline.

"Pittsfield Township, in partnership with our residents, opposed the second pipeline because of the potential negative impact on the safety and environment of our community. Further, our request had been that if they did build the second pipeline they do so within the existing right of way," Grewal said.

Township officials also previously said the pipeline doesn't offer any common good to its residents.

In May, the Pittsfield Township Board of Trustees passed a resolution expressing its opposition to the project. But it doesn't hold the authority to block the line's construction.

Shields said the installing the pipeline within the existing right of way will address many of the township's concerns.

"Since we are building the new pipeline in the same right-of-way where our existing pipeline already operates, there should be no change in property values by adding a second line. We are working closely with property owners to minimize the impact of the new line and any inconvenience that will be caused during the construction period," he said

The Public Services Commission held several public hearings on the proposal before issuing its order.

Shields said the line is being built because of increased supply through measures such as fracking and to meet increased demand in the Detroit area. By comparison, transporting the same volume by truck would require 425 round trips per day, Shields said.

Wolverine is a Portage-based pipeline transportation service company. Its 67 employees help operate more than 630 miles of active pipelines connecting refineries in Illinois, Indiana and Michigan.

The company has had one spill, which happened around 1999 at its Jackson station. Shields previously said the spill was cleaned up without injury or permanent damage to the environment.

"The Detroit Metro Access Pipeline will be designed to meet or exceed all applicable federal and state regulatory requirements for new pipelines," Shields said.

Tom Perkins is a freelance reporter for The Ann Arbor News.
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The Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity house at 920 Baldwin Ave. in Ann Arbor on Nov. 11, 2015.

(Ryan Stanton | The Ann Arbor News)

The Ann Arbor city attorney's office has released its findings after investigating complaints about a University of Michigan fraternity's nuisance behavior.

The includes complaints from neighbors about alleged loud partying, screaming, drunken behavior and empty cups and beer bottles littering the property.

The two-page report delivered to the City Council this week indicates the city and its police department have fielded several dozen complaints about the Alpha Sigma Phi house at 920 Baldwin Ave. in just the last year alone.

"The difficulty with this situation lies in the fact that neighbors are in close proximity to a fraternity house in a residential setting, and the members of that house and their guests have demonstrated an excessive disregard of city regulations and the neighbor's quietude over the past couple years," the report states.

In 2015, there were 53 calls for service for 920 Baldwin Ave., and 38 of them were for noise complaints, the report indicates.

The report doesn't indicate how many tickets were issued.

City Attorney Stephen Postema provided a copy of the report to council members Tuesday night.

The council called for the investigation back in November, directing the city attorney's office to look into the complaints reported by neighbors.

Senior Assistant City Attorney Tom Kent led the investigation.

"The vast majority of complaints against 920 Baldwin have been initiated by neighbors most directly affected by the noise and behavior of the fraternity," the report states, noting the president of Alpha Sigma Phi has been in direct contact with the city attorney's office about the situation.

"He expressed some recognition of the problem, and there does appear to be some contrition and willingness to correct behavior on his and the fraternity's part," the report states. "He has also contacted the city to arrange for his fraternity to do community service work in Triangle Park."

Alpha Sigma Phi's now-former president Tom Allen, a public policy junior, defended his fraternity at the November council meeting when neighbors showed up to speak out about what they characterized as excessive partying and drunken behavior. Allen rejected the notion that the fraternity was being a bad neighbor.

He said the fraternity had received "at most five tickets" from the city in the previous calendar year and an investigation by the city was unwarranted.

"Alpha Sigma Phi is not like other fraternities," he said. "We had the highest GPA on campus last fall. Our previous president won president of the year. We were awarded best risk management of the year by the university."

Allen said on Wednesday his term as president ended at the end of last semester. He referred comment to Brian Klein, the fraternity's new president.

Klein said Wednesday night, from the fraternity's standpoint, things are moving in a positive direction following the investigation.

"Hopefully we're on the right track to restoring a good relationship with our neighbors and the rest of our community. We'll continue to prove that our presence is beneficial and not a nuisance," Klein said.

"The report claims we've had upwards of 40 noise complaints, but it's only come down to about 10 percent of those ever resulting in tickets, and it's kind of like the boy who cried wolf," he said. "The stigma surrounding our and other fraternities' presence on campus is wildly incorrect, and we're hoping to show that."

Council Member Stephen Kunselman, D-3rd Ward, brought forward the resolution to investigate the fraternity. It was his final meeting before leaving office.

"This is an opportunity for this body to actually say enough is enough with the party culture that has gotten out of control in our community," he said.

As of December, Kent requested the 15th District Court judges remove noise tickets from the first-offender docket. In other words, those who receive a misdemeanor noise ticket will not be able to automatically avail themselves of the opportunity to plead to a reduced noise civil infraction ticket with a $175 fine.

Instead, Kent will review each case independently to determine whether to offer a reduced plea or enhance the fine for the civil infraction.

"We're going to watch it for a little while longer and then provide an update to you before any further decisions are made," Postema told council Tuesday night.

Toward the end of 2015, many noise tickets issued to 920 Baldwin and other problem campus houses were resolved for $300-$500 per noise ticket, and in one case a student pled to a misdemeanor, the report states.

The city attorney's office plans to continue to evaluate noise tickets case by case, taking into consideration the number of service calls to the property, repeat offenders, cooperation with law enforcement in breaking up large gatherings, and other mitigating or aggravating circumstances that exist.

"This would mean, for the time being, leaving noise infractions off the first-offender docket," the report states. "Also, it is the city's intention, as another tool to deter this behavior, to authorize misdemeanor charges against owners of nuisance properties as appropriate. Hopefully, this measure will cause the property owners themselves to take a more active role in the management and care of their properties."

Additionally, the city attorney's office plans to collect data from the Ann Arbor Police Department and undertake periodic reviews of 920 Baldwin to determine if and when more aggressive legal action needs to be considered, such as the filing of a civil nuisance lawsuit against the property.

The report notes Kent has sat on a U-M Law Enforcement Collaborative Committee as a city representative for the past year.

The committee meets once per month on campus and is charged with identifying efforts that can be undertaken cooperatively between the university and the city to address alcohol-related incidents on campus.

The city intends to maintain a presence on the committee and share information about problematic houses within and outside the Greek system at U-M so the university is aware and can assist with addressing those problems.

Ryan Stanton covers the city beat for The Ann Arbor News. Reach him at ryanstanton@mlive.com.
An inmate killed in Saginaw Correctional Facility last week was a Brighton man, according to a report by the Livingston Daily.

Jason Nathaniel Turnbull, 23, was strangled to death on Jan. 13 at the Saginaw Correctional Facility, according to reports by The Saginaw News.

Turnbull was found unresponsive after a fight with his cellmate, the News reported.

Turnbull was serving a minimum of 10 years in prison for third-degree criminal sexual conduct in Livingston County, records show. He was also serving lesser sentences for fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct.

This was the second death at the facility in less than a two years.

Darcie Moran covers cops and courts for MLive and The Ann Arbor News. Email her at dmoran@mlive.com or follow her on Twitter @darciegmoran.
Photo gallery: U-M Campus Fall 2014

Pedestrians walk through campus at the University of Michigan.

(The Ann Arbor News File Photo)

From July 2014 to June 2015, the University of Michigan received 172 reports of sexual misconduct ranging from sexual assault -- including rape -- to stalking, an increase of 34 percent from the same timespan one year earlier.

The data, released today by the university, shows that in 2013-14, there were 129 sexual misconduct reports filed.

Of the 172 reports filed in 2014-15, 97 were concerns about sexual assault, 43 involved concerns about sexual harassment, 17 involved stalking, seven involving retaliation, and 15 were categorized as "other."

U-M officials said that 78 of the 172 reports filed were determined "not to fall within the scope of the university's policy." They said some reports included behavior that, even if proven, would not constitute sexual misconduct, behavior committed by an individual unaffiliated with the university, and unfounded instances that were reported by third parties.

An additional 66 reports went to the review panel. Reports are sent to the review panel when the person who files the report declines to participate in an investigation. Of those reports, 55 were closed, nine resulted in other action taken to address underlying concerns, and two matters proceeded to investigation.

There were a total of 29 investigations in FY '15, which ended June 30, 2015.

Investigations concluded a total of 11 policy violations occurred, representing 10 cases. Sanctions were issued in seven of those cases, university officials said. Three cases are still underway in the sanctioning and appeals process.

The university report said they respond to sexual misconduct complaints by providing confidential support and other resources to all parties involved; taking interim measures to provide for the safety and well-being of the parties involved, including separation in academic and living situations; review by a panel of faculty and staff that offers varying perspectives and advice to the Title IX coordinator; conducting an investigation, producing a report of its findings and issuing sanctions; and offering the opportunity to appeal the investigation findings or sanctions, among other things.

"We are encouraged that the university's education efforts related to sexual misconduct are positively impacting students, faculty and staff," said Anthony Walesby, associate vice provost for academic and faculty affair, and senior director of OIE.

Walesby, who also serves as the university's Title IX coordinator, added: "We believe that the increase in reports is the result of enhanced awareness on campus of these issues and how to report concerns."

Jeremy Allen is a reporter for The Ann Arbor News. Follow him on twitter at @JeremyAllenA2. Contact him at 810-247-4625 or jallen42@mlive.com.
BAY CITY, MI -- A 22-year-old Wayne County man who made the trek north to Bay County to pilfer property from unlocked vehicles has received a probationary sentence.

Bay County District Judge Dawn A. Klida on Wednesday, Jan. 20, sentenced Ulises Alvarado Jr. to eight months' probation. During those eight months, Alvarado is to submit to two random drug and alcohol tests per month, attend at least 18 outpatient substance treatment sessions, and pay $1,015 in court fines and costs.

His driver's license is also suspended for six months. The judge gave him credit for one day served in jail.

Alvarado in December pleaded guilty to two counts of breaking and entering a vehicle less than $200 and one count of possession of marijuana, all misdemeanors. In exchange, the prosecution dismissed one count of larceny from a vehicle, a five-year felony.

The previous month, Alvarado's 23-year-old codefendant, Ruben E. Guevara, accepted the same plea offer.

The duo's charges stem from incidents that occurred early the morning of Wednesday, Nov. 4, when Bay County sheriff's deputies responded to the area of German and Knight roads in Portsmouth Township after a resident called 911 to report a suspicious vehicle. The vehicle in question, a black 2003 Saturn, had been parked with its engine running in front of a home, the caller told dispatchers, according to court records.

Deputies found the Saturn parked on the north side of German Road, its engine running but with no occupants, court records show. A short time later, Guevara and Alvarado walked to the scene on foot. The duo told police they were visiting an aunt in Hampton Township and were heading to Dearborn, but got lost and stopped to go to the bathroom, court records show.

Deputies noticed apparent footprints in wet grass and followed them to a driveway, where two GMC Yukons were parked, their doors ajar, court records show. The Yukons' owner told police a phone charger, a Zune, a purse, some money, credit cards, a driver's license, checkbook, and a work bag were missing, court records show.

Deputies found some of the items in a patch of nearby weeds, court records show.

Deputies also discovered another parked vehicle, a 2005 Jeep Liberty, had been gone through with a DVD player, a purse and checkbook stolen, court records show.

Interviewed by police, Guevara and Alvarado gave different first names for the aunt they claimed to be visiting, and they could not recall her surname or address, court records show. Police also found marijuana in their vehicle, court records show.

Deputies arrested the two men.

Klida is to sentence Guevara at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 27.
The second of two cats found in a vacant house at 1409 Leng St. in Bay City. sits at the Bay County Animal Control on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016 in Bay City. (Nicole Hester | The Bay City Times)

BAY CITY, MI -- The second of possibly three cats trapped inside a vacant Bay City house has been rescued.

Bay County Animal Control officers on the morning of Thursday, Jan. 21, returned to the house at 1409 Leng St. in the city's Banks District to check a live trap they left inside they previous day. Inside the trap, they found a black cat, the second one they've retrieved in the house in as many days.

The first cat is a bobtail, black-and-white longhair. Both cats were taken to the Animal Control shelter. Thursday morning, the first cat was taken from the shelter by the Humane Society of Bay County, with plans that it be sterilized and vaccinated. Humane Society President Jeannie Wolicki-Nichols said the group plans to do the same with the second cat on Friday.

The first cat was docile and friendly, Wolicki-Nicholas said, while the black cat is more timid and feral, according to Animal Control Director Michael J. Halstead.

The first cat, dubbed "Whiskers" by Wolicki-Nichols, is a male believed to be about 6 years old. He weighs 11 pounds and a veterinarian who inspected him believes he was born with his tail stubby, as opposed to it having been cut.

Becky Wenzel, who lives next door to the two-story Leng Street house, told The Times the residence has been unoccupied since about July. Property tax records show it is owned by Wells Fargo, based out of Fort Mill, S.C.

Recently, heavy winds knocked out the glass of a basement window. On Wednesday, Jan. 13, crews repaired the window, Wenzel said. That Sunday, Wenzel and her husband drove by the house and noticed cats in the living room window, she said.

"We tried the doors, but the doors were locked and we couldn't get them out," Wenzel said. In all, Wenzel saw three cats. A third cat, described by Wenzel as having an orange and white coat, presumably remains inside the home. Halstead said his officers reset the live trap Thursday morning after retrieving the black cat.

After first spotting the cats, Wenzel called Wells Fargo and the institution's asset company maintaining the property, but was told it could take up to seven days for them to extricate the cats.

"I said, 'They could die by then. They've already been in there four or five days,'" Wenzel said. "I was so worried about them."

Wenzel then called the Humane Society, which relayed the information to Animal Control. The agency was able to get permission from Wells Fargo to enter the house, Wolicki-Nicholas said.

"If it hadn't been for her coming forth, nobody would know," Wolicki-Nichols said. "Thank goodness we have people like that."

Animal Control officers first entered the home and set the live trap on Tuesday, Jan. 19.

Wenzel has said she is willing to temporarily house the cats until a permanent owner can be found. Wolicki-Nichols on Thursday dropped off an insulated cat shelter to Wenzel.

The Humane Society is planning a workshop in February to teach people how to construct such a shelter, Wolicki-Nichols added.
BAY CITY, MI -- A 25-year-old Bay City man is facing a felony charge that he stalked a younger woman for a lengthy period.

A 23-year-old woman called police Thursday, Dec. 10, to report she had been the victim of stalking. The woman told Michigan State Police troopers that she had been receiving text messages from a person she believed to be Alexander J. Newsham, whom she had a personal protection order against since March. She has had issues with Newsham since 2014 and he was on probation for violating the PPO, court records show.

The number sending the text messages had a Florida area code, court records show. The woman emailed the trooper the offending text messages.

"Your make up looks horrible, maybe you should just take it off and stop it," reads one message. The woman responded by asking the sender his or her identity. "God," the texter responded.

"So you should prolly listen. Enless you want to be smited, covered in a sea of locusts, and internal fire, eternal demnation. Which you should prolly just prepare for anyways, because as god I know you dont honor your mother. And thats a pretty heft sin their child. except Jesus christ as your lord and savior, because he gave his life for you, you know. So you prolly start adhereing to your mothers wishes, and also stop dressing like you work the night shift on woodward ave."

The text messages went on to tell the woman to read her Bible, go to church, follow the Ten Commandments, and repent for her sins, court records show.

Police visited Newsham's parents' house. The man's father said he had kicked his son out of his home previously for making threats against him. At one point, Alexander Newsham asked his dad if he wanted to know what bleach tastes like, he told police.

The father went on to say his son refuses to get help for his issues and should be on medication, but refuses to take it. He told police he previously bought his son a bus ticket to Florida to stay with family, adding that if he was going to be homeless, he could be so someplace warm.

On Dec. 16, the same alleged victim told police she had received several more messages, though they were now originating from a local number, court records show.

On Dec. 28, police went to Newsham's aunt's house and encountered him. He initially denied any knowledge of the odd texts received by the woman.

"I asked Alexander why he was texting her knowing that (she) has a PPO against him," the trooper wrote in his report, contained in court records. "Alexander shrugged his shoulder and said he does not have a reason why, he just does."

Newsham added he uses a Google Play app to send the texts, court records show.

Authorities issued a warrant for Newsham's arrest on Wednesday, Jan. 13. By Jan. 19, he was in police custody and the same day, Bay County District Judge Timothy J. Kelly arraigned him on one count of aggravated stalking. The charge is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Bay County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Nancy E. Borushko spoke on the people's behalf at the arraignment.

"This is someone he has fixated upon," she said. "There have been roadblocks put in his way ... and he continues to seek her out. The defendant doesn't comply with court orders, that being a PPO and probation conditions, and he continues to torment the victim."

Borushko asked the judge to set Newsham's bond at $75,000 cash-surety.

Kelly said he read the police report and text messages. "They are disturbing to a reasonable reader," he said, before granting Borushko's bond request.

Newsham is to appear for a preliminary examination at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 2.
BAY CITY, MI -- Don't let those vast expanses of new ice on the Saginaw River and Saginaw Bay fool you.

Ice conditions are not yet ready for prime time fishing.

Here's a Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory National Ice Center graphic from Jan. 19, 2016.

"There's not much ice out there," said Gerrud Klumpp, fishing gear salesman at Frank's Great Outdoors near Bay County's Linwood.

While there's ice as far as you can see in recent days on Saginaw Bay, he said, the few who have tested the ice on foot say most of it is new ice, about 1 1/2 to 2 inches thick.

That's definitely not enough to support a snow machine or all-terrain vehicle, Klumpp said. And pretty dicey even if you are on foot in places such as the Saginaw River, he said.

"That river can be pretty goofy," with varying ice thickness, Klumpp said. But, "There are some brave souls out there on the river." Klumpp said he's not setting foot on the new ice until it builds more thickness.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources advises on its ice fishing page that a minimum ice thickness of 4 inches is needed to support a person on foot.

Ice stretches from shore to shore on the Saginaw River to downtown Bay City and at the U.S. Coast Guard Station Saginaw River several miles downstream, but the river has been frozen for only a few days.

Coast Guardsmen were on the ice of their boat slip along the river practicing ice rescues Wednesday, Jan. 20, on the Saginaw River. The ice is so thin that the Coast Guard has not yet taken out its ice rescue airboat for fear of it breaking up the new ice, said Executive Petty Officer Zachary Hamilton.

In fact, the ice is so new that the Coast Guard will make its first check of ice conditions in area marinas this coming weekend, said Bosun's Mate First Class Aaron Gilray.

Klumpp said the scuttlebutt among ice fishermen has near-shore ice that formed earlier this year running 5-6 inches thick. He advises anyone wondering about local ice conditions to call Frank's Great Outdoors to see what fishermen have been reporting.

Bottom line, Klumpp said, is be careful. "Even if it's 3 feet thick, I always say there's no such thing as safe ice."
BAY CITY, MI -- A Bay City man accused of having a stolen firearm is heading back to trial less than a year after being released from prison.

The trial of Justin J. Palmer, 23, is to begin with jury selection the morning of Tuesday, March 1.

Bay County Circuit Judge Joseph K. Sheeran is to preside.

Palmer is charged with single counts of concealing and receiving a stolen firearm, carrying a concealed weapon and felony firearm. The first two charges are punishable by up to 10 years and five years in prison, respectively, while the felony firearm count carries a mandatory maximum prison stint of two years, to be served consecutively to any other sentence.

The Michigan Department of Corrections discharged Palmer on April 10, 2015. A Bay County judge in April 2011 sentenced him to 23 months to five years in prison on a conviction of unlawfully driving away a motor vehicle. In August, Palmer was arraigned in Bay County District Court on charges of domestic violence and assault and battery, but bench warrants were issued for him in those cases in September when he failed to appear for scheduled hearings.

Palmer's most recent charges stem from an incident that occurred the evening of Tuesday, Dec. 15. Police responded to Palmer's residence in the 700 block of South Farragut Street, after Bay County Central Dispatch advised them Palmer allegedly had a gun and was involved in an altercation. Upon arrival, officers saw two bondsmen had Palmer handcuffed and lying on the lawn, court records show.

The bondsmen told police Palmer was on bond and that they were looking for him as he failed to appear for a court hearing. They had received a tip that Palmer had a gun and was in the area. The two bondsmen detained Palmer as he exited his house and was getting into a vehicle, which was driven by a woman, court records show. With Palmer cuffed, the bondsmen searched him and found a semiautomatic 9mm Smith & Wesson pistol in the right-front pocket of his sweatshirt, court records show.

The gun was loaded with 10 rounds, according to court records. Police found an additional 9mm magazine in the vehicle. The handgun had been reported stolen on Nov. 24, court records show.

Palmer had a centimeter-long cut above his right eye, sustained in his scrap with the bondsmen, according to court records. Officers took him to McLaren Bay Region hospital for treatment. While they waited for a doctor, Palmer repeatedly told the officers one of the bondsman was lucky, as he (Palmer) should have killed him, court records show.

Police arrested the 17-year-old woman driving the car on discovering she was wanted on a contempt of court warrant. Police also found marijuana in her car, court records show.

At his arraignment on Dec. 16, Palmer said he "never knew those guns were stolen." He then went on to beg and plead for District Judge Mark E. Janer to release him on bond so he could be present for the birth of his first child.

Janer read aloud Palmer's juvenile record, which includes adjudications for retail fraud, resisting and obstructing police, malicious destruction of property, larceny in a building and multiple counts of breaking and entering a motor vehicle. His adult record, which Janer also read aloud, includes convictions of resisting and obstructing police, brandishing a firearm in public, unlawfully driving away a motor vehicle and furnishing contraband to prisoners.

When Janer set Palmer's bond at $75,000 cash-surety, the defendant began sobbing and removed his shirts as he bemoaned his state. Jail staff removed Palmer from the room.
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[January 21, 2016] Gurnet Consulting Wins Excellence in Project Management Award by Ocean State Project Management Institute

Gurnet Consulting, a trusted provider of Strategy Development and Project Execution services, today announced The Wireless Classroom Initiative, a project sponsored by the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) and managed by Gurnet Consulting, has been honored by Ocean State Project Management Institute (OSPMI) as the winner of the industry's highest achievement-the 2015 OSPMI Excellence in Project Management Award. "Highly complex projects, like this one, require adept management of multiple stakeholders, effective communications, and talented project leaders," said Shepperd Luce, President of Ocean State Project Management Institute. "By leveraging an integrated set of industry expertise, strong project management practices and technology, Gurnet Consulting successfully executed a mission-critical initiative that drastically improved Rhode Island's educational landscape. Ocean State Project Management Institute commends Gurnet Consulting and the entire project team for these results. We are honored to name them the 2015 OSPMI Recognition for Excellence in Project Management Award winner." At the inception of the project, less than 23 percent of Rhode Island's classrooms had any kind of wireless network access. Today, over 98 percent of public school classrooms have state-of-the-art wireless access available for teachers and students. The project involved over 350 schools in 57 districts and was finished on schedule and 15 percent under budget. Leadership, agility, communication, risk mitigation, and the management of complex conditions an requirements are the hallmarks of any mission-critical project. The $20 million Wireless Classroom Initiative was critical for RIDE to execute its educational improvement initiatives and to participate in the Federal Race To The Top program, a $4.35 billion United States Department of Education contest created to spur innovation and reforms in state and local districts' K-12 education.



The Recognition for Excellence in Project Management Award honors organizations and individuals whose passion, talent and expertise exemplify the project management profession. Eligible projects must demonstrate superior performance in project management practices, exceptional organizational results, and a positive impact on society. Receiving the Project Recognition for Excellence in Project Management Award is of significant importance to the Rhode Island-based consultancy, since Gurnet Consulting was able to apply its industry-leading FlexPMO service to the project. FlexPMO's integrated set of on-demand expertise, globally-recognized standards, and best-in-class project portfolio management technology enabled the successful delivery of the initiative.

"The Wireless Classroom Initiative has laid the foundation for future generations of Rhode Islanders to compete in the global economy," said Martin J. King, Founder and CEO of Gurnet Consulting. "This was a fantastic opportunity to work with great people, on a great project, for a great cause. Special thanks go to our project team and RIDE colleagues. We are deeply honored to receive this award." ABOUT GURNET: Gurnet Consulting specializes in strategy development and execution through superior program and project management services. Since 2008, the firm has led the execution of $650M worth of technology initiatives with a 95 percent client satisfaction rating. Customers range from Fortune 1000 to mid-market industry leaders throughout North America. Industries include Finance, Banking, Healthcare, Retail, Insurance, Hospitality, Manufacturing and Government. To learn more, please visit their website at www.gurnet.com. ABOUT OCEAN STATE PROJECT MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE: With more than 2.9 million professionals working in nearly every country in the world, The Project Management Institute (PMI) is the world's leading not-for-profit professional membership association for the project, program and portfolio management profession. PMI's local chapter, Ocean State PMI, has over 525 members and represents the project management profession in Southeast New England including eastern Connecticut, Rhode Island and Southeast Massachusetts. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160121005785/en/

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21.01.2016 LISTEN

She has become a regular feature on television, moderating a show which has instantly become one of the highly rated by professionals within the content creation industry and admired by lovers of quality television content in Ghana.

Law Express, is a social service program designed to educate the general public on the operation of the law and the constitution of the Republic of Ghana in an easy to understand manner.

Airing every Sunday on Metro TV between 6.30  7.30pm, Nuhela Seidu and her team of lawyers deliberate on carefully selected and relevant law topics which applies in our everyday life.

Nuhela Seidu is a lawyer and an entrepreneur with a passion to bring change to her society and people around her. Her philosophy in life is deeply rooted in the principles of justice, self-empowerment and loyalty.

A young private legal practitioner, she was called to the bar after successfully graduating from the Ghana School of Law with a BL Qualification. She obtained her LLB Qualification from the University of Ghana, Legon.

Prior to becoming a lawyer, Ms. Seidu pursued her passion, broadcasting, from her undergraduate days at the University of Ghana, where she studied Sociology and Political Science for her Bachelor of Arts Degree.

I was born in the Upper West regional capital, Wa, where I spent my early years. I had a humble beginning as a member of a family that placed premium on humility and respect. My father was a respected person within the community and wouldnt compromise on his childrens education for anything, she revealed.

Nuhela attended Aggrey Memorial Senior High School in Cape Coast where she served as the Studies Prefect in her final year. It was during her senior high school education when she discovered her passion for broadcasting.

After senior high school, she got admission into the University of Ghana for her first degree. There, she got involved in several extra-curricular activities which included broadcasting  radio and television.

For over a decade, she has worked with some of the formidable media networks in the country including the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, Choice FM, Metro TV before establishing Ghana News Link, a full scale Marketing Communications Company.

My hobbies are cooking and reading. I am also a music person and open to all genres of music. To talk about experiences in life, I have once been a teacher at the basic level, a moment I cherish a lot due to my ability to impact on the lives of some young people. I served as a mentor to several of them who I kept contact with in order to guide them.

About Law Express, she said the main motivation for introducing this initiative was my personal philosophy in life. We have witnessed a growing number of people resorting to wrong ways of resolving issues due to ignorance and sometimes a perception that the legal system is expensive. It was important to sensitize the citizenry about their rights and how the laws operates.

Ms. Seidu revealed that she has received very positive feedback about the program with some people emailing her to talk about how the series have helped them made the best decisions.

Her final words were I entreat everyone to make a date with us on Law Express every Sunday on Metro TV at 6.30pm to learn more about the law and how it could be applied in situations they find themselves.
Introducing emerging American rapper and producer Asante  real name David Asante-Danso  with his brand new single titled War, and accompanying music video, which will make a statement of his coming.

Taken from his forthcoming Rap Asantehene EP which will be released later this year, War.

The 'War' song was produced by Big Fest which is a really conscious effort from the multi-talented hiphop artist.

I want people to be aware of my coming and that is basically what this song does. The lyricism and rendition of the content of this track in itself pretty much sums up my capabilities and what am bringing to the table, Asante said.

Directed by Ulysse Prom, the video for War, is an excellently crafted music video.

Asante also slammed the current crop of hiphop / hiplife artistes for lack of meaningful lyrics in their songs.

Asante threw a challenge to event organizers to give his the chance to show them what hes capable of.

Watch out for a new single from Asante featuring a top notch artiste in some weeks to come.

Twitter: @asante_hene

Facebook: asante

Instagram: @asante_hene

YouTube link:

Soundcloud link: https://soundcloud.com/asante1/war
Sorry, we can't find the content you're looking for at this URL.
Mali deposited its TFA instrument of acceptance with the WTO Secretariat on 20 January. On the same day, Mali deposited its instrument of acceptance for the 2005 Protocol amending the WTO's Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).

Mali is the 68th WTO member to ratify the TFA. The Agreement will enter into force once two-thirds of the WTO membership has formally accepted the Agreement.

Concluded at the WTO's 2013 Bali Ministerial Conference, the TFA contains provisions for expediting the movement, release and clearance of goods, including goods in transit. It also sets out measures for effective cooperation between customs and other appropriate authorities on trade facilitation and customs compliance issues. It further contains provisions for technical assistance and capacity building in this area.

In addition to Mali, the following WTO members have also accepted the TFA: Hong Kong China, Singapore, the United States, Mauritius, Malaysia, Japan, Australia, Botswana, Trinidad and Tobago, the Republic of Korea, Nicaragua, Niger, Belize, Switzerland, Chinese Taipei, China, Liechtenstein, Lao PDR, New Zealand, Togo, Thailand, the European Union (on behalf of its 28 member states), the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Pakistan, Panama, Guyana, Cote d'Ivoire, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Kenya, Myanmar, Norway, Viet Nam, Brunei, Ukraine, Zambia, Lesotho, Georgia, Seychelles, and Jamaica.

The TFA broke new ground for developing and least-developed countries in the way it will be implemented. For the first time in WTO history, the requirement to implement the Agreement was directly linked to the capacity of the country to do so. In addition, the Agreement states that assistance and support should be provided to help them achieve that capacity.

A Trade Facilitation Agreement Facility (TFAF) was also created at the request of developing and least-developed country members to help ensure that they receive the assistance needed to reap the full benefits of the TFA and to support the ultimate goal of full implementation of the new agreement by all members. Further information on TFAF is available atwww.TFAFacility.org.

Implementation of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement has the potential to increase global merchandise exports by up to $1 trillion per annum, according to the WTO's flagship World Trade Report released on 26 October. Significantly, the Report also found that developing countries will benefit significantly from the TFA, capturing more than half of the available gains.

The World Trade Report 2015 is availablehere. More information on the WTO and trade facilitation is available atwww.wto.org/tradefacilitation.

The 2005 Protocol Amending the TRIPS Agreement makes permanent adecisionon patents and public health originally adopted in 2003. That decision, adopted in the form of a waiver, was intended to make it easier for poorer countries to obtain cheaper generic versions of patented medicines by setting aside a provision of the TRIPS Agreement that could hinder exports of pharmaceuticals manufactured under compulsory licences to countries that are unable to produce them.

Once two-thirds of members have formally accepted the Protocol, the amendment to the TRIPS Agreement will take effect in those members and will replace the 2003 waiver for them. For each of the remaining members, the waiver will continue to apply until that member accepts the amendment and it takes effect.

Mali is the 13th African member to formally accept the Protocol and the 8th least-developed country from Africa to do so.
20.01.2016 LISTEN

Cape Coast, Jan. 20, GNA - The Central Region Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) of the Ghana Police Service last year recorded 729 cases of road accidents as against 1,034 cases in 2014 indicating 30 percent reduction.

Chief Superintendent of Police Felix Kwasi Cosmos, Regional MTTU Commander who disclosed this to the Ghana News Agency in Cape Coast on Tuesday, said in 2013, a total of 2,000 cases of road traffic crashes were recorded resulting in more than 287 deaths in the Region.

He said the figure however reduced to 1,034 crashes and 205 deaths respectively with 1,191 persons sustaining various forms of injuries in 2014.

He said last year, out of the number of cases recorded a total of 129 people died while 811 sustained various degrees of injuries.

Chief Superintendent Cosmos said 460 of the cases involved commercial vehicles, while 467 were private. He said 109 of the cases were fatal with pedestrian knock downs reduced from 264 in the previous year to 141 last year.

He observed that human errors, such as speeding, over loading and reckless driving continued to be the major causes of road traffic crashes in the Region.

According to him, the MTTU together with the Road Safety Commission had achieved the significant reduction because of the rigorous educational campaign they embarked on to ensure that the laws were enforced.

He said although the number had gone down, the figures were still alarming and more needed to be done to further bring the figures down.

He cautioned drivers and other road users to observe road signs and abide by road traffic rules and regulations to prevent road accidents.

GNA
Ho, Jan. 20, GNA - Wednesday's demonstration by organized labour in red and black apparels in Ho took some people by surprise as they asked who must have died.

The black and red apparels, associated with mourning in Ghana, were chosen by the leadership of labour to express the effects of the hikes in utility tariffs and fuel prices on the public.

Some bystanders taking the procession of demonstrators for a funeral cortege out of curiosity approached some known faces among the demonstrators to find out whether an acquaintance or an important person has died.

A roasted plantain seller who thought the demonstration was by teachers only, however, acquiesced with the demonstration when it was explained to her that it was a demonstration by workers against high utility and fuel prices.

She said the high electricity tariff had generated a misunderstanding between her uncle and a niece who he had accused of buying less than the usual amount of money given to recharge their pre-paid unit.

GNA
20.01.2016 LISTEN

Takoradi, Jan. 20, GNA - More than 500 members of the Organised Labour in the Western Region on Wednesday took part in a three-hour demonstration in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis, to demand reduction in utility tariffs, petroleum prices and removal of the energy levy.

The protesters clad in red converged at the Takoradi Jubilee Park at 0800 hours and marched through the principal streets of Takoradi to Sekondi and ended up at the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) amidst brass band music.

Mr. Solomon Asiedu, Chief Director of the RCC, received the petition on behalf of the Regional Minister and assured them that it would be delivered to the Minister who would forward it to the President for the necessary action.

More than 50 police personnel provided security for the demonstrators, which made the exercise peaceful.

Some of the protesters waved placards with inscriptions: 'Mr. President, reduce the utility tariffs now,' 'Ghanaians are crying and suffering,' 'NHIS is collapsing', 'Reduce fuel prices', 'We shall answer you in 2016 Elections', among others.

Mr. Ellis Ankomah, Regional Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) who presented the petition on behalf of the Organised Labour, told the media in a separate interview that the leadership of Organised Labour would meet with the Government Thursday, January 21 to discuss the various demands made by Ghanaian workers.

He said the outcome of the meeting would determine the next line of action.

GNA
21.01.2016 LISTEN

In 2009, President Barack Obama visited Ghana and delivered a powerful speech to an audience made up of Parliamentarians, government officials and other important dignitaries. Obama in his speech stated that Africa does not need strongmen but strong institutions. Seven years down the line and most African leaders have failed to heed the call of the President of America. The story from most African countries is nothing to write home about. Bad governance, unbridled corruption, bad policy decisions and unpatriotic acts on the part of some public servants continue to hinder the development process of the continent.

Ghanas fourth republic is about 24 years and most Ghanaians are yet to enjoy the real benefits of democracy. The country has chalked some progress in the areas of press freedom, human rights, independence of the judiciary and some developments in the various sectors of the economy, these success stories are nonetheless very insignificant when we compare it to the level of wastage, pillage and bad policy decisions made by people who have been placed in high authority.

The transition from a military government to a civilian rule in 1992 was a welcome relief to most Ghanaians who believed in the path of democratic governance. The development resulted in the liberalisation of the media space, investment in the Ghanaian economy by investors who felt the country was safe to invest in, more donor support from our donor partners and also goodwill from western democracies. The regime by then also engaged in certain acts which was a blot on the democratic path that we have chosen. Human rights abuses such as the famous identification hair cut carried out at the seat of government, the turning of a taxi by the bodyguards of the former president, sh*t bombing of press houses which were perceived to be critical to the government were some of the few challenges. Ghanaians also had the shock of their lives when a supposed investor in rice production swindled our government through the negligence of some of our ministers.

The arrest and prosecution of some of these government officials by the subsequent government made Ghanaians to develop some high hopes for the Kuffour administration, but the administration also failed Ghanaians through certain decisions and acts of corruption by some elements in his government. The controversy that surrounded the sale of Ghana Telecom and inability of the government of the day to convince Ghanaians with that decision, the hotel waa waa incident and the flagrant disregard of value for money on expenditures related to the Ghana at 50 celebrations are just a few of the challenges that confronted President Kuffours a administration.

President Mills was a good man but failed Ghanaians with his style of leadership, the inability of the old professor to ward of opportunistic characters in his government led to the cold war between him and the founder of his party. The payment of fictitious judgement debts to cronies and the failure of his government to continue certain key projects started by President Kuffour painted his government in a very bad light.

Under the leadership of President Mahama, Ghanaians have witnessed certain actions of his government which have called to question the statement made by President Obama during his historic visit to Ghana. The wrongful payments or excess payments made to some organisations, bad policy decisions of public officers and the inability of the President to sanction some of his appoints who have engaged in certain acts of corruption goes a long way to reinforce the weaknesses in our system.

Quite recently it was reported in the newspapers that a public servant and head of an institution signed a bad contract which resulted in the country losing millions of cedis. The officer in question asked Ghanaians to forgive him, as to whether the government is pursuing the case to retrieve our money is also a different story. The Brazil saga which was exposed by the good works of the Justice Dzamefe commission also revealed how weak our systems were. The failure of the President to punish the culprits also reinforces the perception of most Ghanaians who think that the President is not tackling issues of corruption with all the seriousness it deserves.

There have been occasions where government had authorised that excess payments made to certain companies be retrieved, the current rebranding case which led to the resignation of the transport minister and the authorisation of by the government for the company involved to refund the excess money to government shows a certain loose ends in our public administration. Why will institutions of state engage in acts that are tainted with fraud? Why will public officials deliberately engage in corrupts acts and apologise to Ghanaians after they have been exposed by the media? What prevents the government from applying the laws in some of these cases instead of asking these companies to come out with payment plans of excess money paid to them? Why will a government shield its appoints who have engaged in certain acts that brings the name of the government into disrepute?

Answers to these questions may be found in the way our political parties have funded most of their programmes during elections. Most of these businessmen and government appointees are major financiers or belong to the kitchen cabinet of the president and because of the roles they play in ensuring that their parties win elections, it becomes difficult to sanction them whenever they go astray.

What Ghanaians need under this fourth republic are institutions that will work in the interest of the citizens and not politicians. We need a vibrant media which will continuously expose the ills of our society, a nationalistic legislature which will think of the country first before their political parties and a credible judicial system that will enforce the rules and punish government and public officials who dissipate our resource on themselves and their families.

Mustapha Jimah.

[email protected]
As conflicts and crises in Africa took a more complex turn in recent years, there has been a devastating upsurge of violence against women and girls. The abduction of 200 Chibok girls from a school in northern Nigeria by Boko Haram militants in April 2014 remains a tragic case in point. So has the sexual violence being used as a weapon of war in Cameroon, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), South Sudan and Sudan, among others.

Women and girls are singled out as targets by terrorist and extremist groups, who abduct them and use them as suicide bombers or sex slaves. Although women generally despise war, their bodies have become the new battlefields. Worse still, they are not consulted on issues of peace and nation-building, according to Zainab Hawa Bangura, the special representative of the UN secretary-general on sexual violence in conflict.

In Africa women play important roles as custodians of culture and nurturers of families, yet in times of conflict they are not represented at the peace negotiating table or in community reconstruction efforts. According to UN Women, a UN body that promotes womens empowerment and gender equality, women constitute fewer than 10% of peace negotiators globally and only 3% of signatories to peace agreements.

Many experts believe that leaving women out of peace and security processes hinders communities from finding long-lasting peace. In times of conflict, womens vulnerabilities and unique needs are often forgotten during negotiations, which in turn limits the effectiveness of both peace and security agreements, and humanitarian responses.

Fifteen years ago the international community recognized the importance of womens participation in creating the conditions for permanent peace. On 31 October 2000, the UN Security Council adopted the landmark resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, which acknowledged the critical role women could play in preventing and resolving conflicts, negotiating peace, participating in peacekeeping and in humanitarian response and post-conflict peacebuilding.

Among other things, the resolution calls for women to participate fully in all efforts to maintain and promote peace and security. The resolution also requires the UN to solicit and take into account all viewpoints on gender issues in order to increase the role of women in all peace and security activities. It also requires all parties at war to take special measures to protect women and girls from gender-based violence, particularly rape and other forms of sexual abuse.

Despite these requirements, UN Women says the percentage of women in peace talks has stagnated at single digits since the resolution was passed. The results have had a devastating impact on womens lives: over half the worlds maternal deaths occur in conflict and fragile countries; about half of out-of-school children of primary school age live in conflict areas; and girls net enrolment rate in primary education is 17 points below the global rate. In these conflict areas, the risk of sexual violence, child marriage and HIV infection has increased since 2000.

UN Women wants urgent action to increase womens active participation in peace and security matters. This anniversary must mark that threshold moment where words become action, says Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the head of UN Women.

The resolution was passed on the eve of International Womens Day in 2000 after extensive stonewalling by some members, recalls Anwarul Chowdhury, a former permanent representative of Bangladesh to the UN, who was the president of the UN Security Council at the time.

As the world marked the resolutions fifteenth anniversary in October, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched the global study on resolution 1325, carried out to determine how it has been implemented since its inception. According to the study, Preventing Conflict, Transforming Justice, Securing the Peace, the resolution has had a remarkable impact on womens participation in all areas of peace and security. I have highlighted womens leadership in peacebuilding as a priority. I have asked 15% of all peacebuilding funds to be devoted to advancing gender equality and womens empowerment, said the secretary-general during the launch of the report. We have made some advances but we must do much more, and we must do it faster.

Achievements in Africa

Several African countries have embraced resolution 1325, and 16 states now have relevant national action plans in place. The African Union (AU) has also made significant efforts to integrate commitments to the idea of women, peace and security into its own security, crisis-response, human rights and peacebuilding efforts. The organization trains women as peace mediators, election observers and gender advisers.

In January 2014 the AU appointed its first special envoy for women, peace and security. Bineta Diop helped coordinate Africas efforts in implementing 1325. Since her appointment, Ms. Diop has worked closely with the UN, touring conflict areas in Africa. In the Central African Republic, the plan is to dedicate funding to support womens participation in the forthcoming elections, rule-of-law reform and transitional justice mechanisms.

At the same time, both the AU and the UN have increased the number of women military and police officers in peacekeeping missions, which has in turn improved the reporting of sexual assaults. They have also set up units that provide protection to civilian victims of abuse. Similar units that shelter victims of gender-based violence also exist in Somalia and the Darfur region of Sudan. In Rwanda, Liberia and the DRC, the UN provides support to survivors of gender-based violence.

Challenges

Despite impressive efforts on the ground, there are still challenges when it comes to women, peace and security in Africa. Ten years after resolution 1325, the DRC went through a horrific conflict in which hundreds of women were raped. Horrified by the magnitude of the situation, the then-UN special representative for sexual violence in conflict, Margot Wallstrom, described the country as the rape capital of the world.

The recent cases in South Sudan have compounded the reality that indeed progress has been slow and that women continue to bear the brunt of violence during times of war, and unfortunately even during times of peace, said Ms. Diop, the AU envoy, speaking at a high-level meeting held at UN headquarters recently.

Moreover, the lack of time-bound targets for achieving the goals of the resolution may have slowed action, as countries were not under pressure to beat a set deadline. Also not spelt out was how countries would monitor and evaluate women, peace and security initiatives to provide evidence of progress. Reporting mechanisms through the Security Council or [a] watch list of countries failing to meet the resolutions objectives were not established, said Namibias deputy prime minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah during Africa Week, last October.

Where is the money?

Despite some progress, gaps in the implementation of resolution 1325 persist in Africa, in part because of lack of funds. We have made some advances, but we must do much more, and we must do it faster, Mr. Ban told reporters at the launch of the global study, which was commissioned by the UN Security Council.

The study found that unpredictable and insufficient funding, lack of data analysis on gender issues and also lack of technical expertise on gender, attitudinal obstacles, and insufficient mapping of needs in planning and budgeting have harmed the long-term effectiveness of interventions for peace and security, humanitarian causes and development.

The most immediate solution is to divide the funding pie more equitably, says Africa Development Bank (AfDB)s special envoy on gender, Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi. It is important to expand the funding pie for women, peace and security so that gender is not seen as a zero-sum game.

The AfDB has since established a fundthe Global Acceleration Instrument for Women, Peace and Security (GAI-WPS)to provide flexible rapid support to governments and organizations responding to emergencies. The GAI-WPS aims to raise $100 million between 2015 and 2020, Ms. Fraser says.

The way forward in Africa

Meanwhile, Ms. Diop is urging countries to create national action plans on implementing 1325. So far only 16 countries have action plans. Where are the rest? she asks, adding that monitoring of and reporting on the implementation of the resolution was also not systematic. She emphasizes the need to regularly remind countries of their commitments and accountability.

African countries can also look into information sharing and documenting good practices, regional training, as well as monitoring and reporting on progress in the implementation of the resolution.
For several years, experts from the three largest trading blocs in Africa  the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the East African Community (EAC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA)  were locked in intense negotiations over a free trade agreement whose aim is to bring about a unified and liberalized single market. The talks finally bore fruit on 10 June 2015 when 26 African countries signed the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) agreement in Cairo, Egypt.

Under this agreement, all the 26 countries, with a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of about $1.3 trillion and a population of 565 million, will merge into a common market and eliminate tariff lines and trade barriers. The participating countries will benefit from liberalized intra-regional trade, which is expected to boost the flow of goods and services. When implemented, the free trade area will constitute about half of Africas GDP, half of its population and will cover a combined landmass of 17 million square kilometres, about the size of Russia.

At the moment, however, only three of Africas eight regional economic communities are participating in the TFTA. Non-participating economic blocs include the Arab Maghreb Union, the Economic Community of West African States, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, the Economic Community of Central African States and the Community of Sahel-Saharan States. For now, these blocs are not participating in this new initiative for political and economic reasons. The Abuja Treaty of 1995 signed by 51 African countries mandates all regional economic communities to join the group by 2017 in anticipation of an African Economic Community by 2028.

The conditions [to form the TFTA] have never been better, says Sindiso Ndema Ngwenya, the secretary-general of COMESA. We have improved governance, and the very fact that we withstood the global financial crisis of 2008 attest to sound macroeconomic policies. This is what is giving us resilience, he told Africa Renewal in an interview.

The benefits of the free trade area are numerous. It has the potential to increase economies of scale [which are the cost advantages that can be derived from size of a market and production] through integration, will increase demand for the regions goods and services and make the region more attractive to foreign investments, says Jason Kapkirwok, senior director of TradeMark East Africa, an African non-profit company that supports trade growth in East Africa. This would in turn create more jobs and catalyze technology transfer.

Trade between African countries, as a share of the continents total trade has hovered at 10-12% for decades, but some experts argue that the actual figure is much more than that because a big part of the continents trade is conducted informally and at times across porous borders where its not recorded. The proportion in Europe and Asia, by contrast, is close to 60%.

Leading the tripartite

South Africa and Egypt, two of Africas biggest economies in terms of manufacturing and services, are the main forces driving the TFTA, followed by Kenya and Mauritius. Angola, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ethiopia could also play key roles in fostering the regions economy as they are expected to absorb a large share of the regions exports while supplying cheaper inputs such as electricity, petroleum, gas and other raw materials.

Even as the bigger economies take advantage of the opportunity of an expanded and liberalized market, less advanced economies could also benefit from the TFTA. For example, countries in the EAC, such as Kenya and Uganda, have the most advanced customs union, which they will be expected to deploy to increase the pace and depth of integration.

However, experts caution against high expectations of the TFTA because of existing hurdles that may slow down its implementation. For instance, the current low level of intra-regional trade in Africa could impede attempts to boost trade volume within the single market. In addition, some countries have overlapping memberships in the regional economic blocs, leading to incoherent national trade policies. Also, there are varying levels of socioeconomic development across countries, particularly in industrial, infrastructure and energy sectors, making it difficult for some participating countries to implement the agreement as speedily as others.

Further, economies represented in this and other trade agreements are dominated by agricultural production; the UN Conference on Trade and Development notes that the narrowness of African production and export structures and relative dependence on primary commodities are inhibiting factors to the boosting of intra-regional trade in Africa.

Open trade with a country with very different economic characteristics will yield predictable results  however, for African farmers, opening to trade with their similarly agricultural neighbours is a fraught prospect. When considering increased trade between two agriculturally dominant African countries, it is not immediately apparent which country will have the comparative advantage in its existing agricultural production  this uncertainty stunts regional economic integration.

Experts have argued that there is a lack of political will in some countries to implement the TFTA agreement. Already, not all participating countries have ratified the agreement, although they have until the end of the year to do so. Even South Africa, one of the most influential within the block, along with Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique and Zambia, have yet to sign the TFTA, which must be ratified by two-thirds of the participating countries before it comes into force by the expected date  January 2016.

Even if two-thirds of the countries do not ratify the agreement, Mr. Ngwenya, the COMESA official, says the ball will keep rolling. In the event that not all the 26 countries sign the tripartite, we shall use the principle of variable geometry in terms of implementation, because those that are ready must move on. If we allow one or two countries that are not ready to hold up the process, then we will never move. The principle of variable geometry means that members from an integration scheme will be flexible enough to adopt different speeds to make progress.

A major sticking point for many undecided countries is the TFTAs elimination of trade taxes, which serve as a major supplier of domestic revenue. The TFTA requires all countries to open up their markets to duty-free imports, which could spell some revenue loss. To this point, the TFTA includes phased reduction of tariffs, specifically the immediate liberalization of just 63% of tariff lines, to address such revenue losses.

Overall, there are many enticing elements in the TFTA. By harmonizing policies on trade, movement of business persons and industrial and infrastructure development, the agreement will expand the market for goods and services and subsequently promote greater intra-regional trade. Mr. Kapkirwok hopes that all forms of trade barriers such as import and export restrictions will eventually be eliminated.

Africa on international trade scale

While the TFTA may accomplish its goal of an expanded market for countries in the single trading bloc, Africa still needs to be more prominent in the international trade arena, says Mr. Kapkirwok. Africa should implement prudent macroeconomic policies and regulatory reforms, he says, and countries should embrace good governance and establish competent institutions.

Currently, massive infrastructure deficit impedes trade and development, according to Mr. Kapkirwok, and underscores the need for Africa to understand properly the international markets, and to build better trade facilitation and services programmes across all the regional economic communities.

Overall, the hope is that TFTAs success will strengthen one of Africas ambitions  the establishment of a single market.
That President Mahamas recent reshuffle exercise is wrongly timed and uncalled for is an understatement. It is wrongly timed because 2016 is an election year with elections just ten months away. Realistically, any minister who has been nominated by the President now for appointment has only six months to make an impact against the background of the President and his Governments 2016 lame duck status.

The Governments lame duck status stems from the fact that every election has some element of uncertainty regarding its outcome. Therefore to appoint new ministers within the context of the Governments lame duck status and expect them to make any positive impact in performance is unrealistic and ill advised.

President Mahama and his advisors should as a matter of positive strategy desist from looking beyond 2016 in any decisions that they take especially in this election year. This is due to the fact that the impression that one gets with this untimely reshuffle is that it is premised on a high level of complacency regarding the outcome of election 2016. There is obviously a case to be made for optimism, but some level of measured optimism should also be factored into executive decisions that are taken in election years.

A proper mindset therefore for government is to presume that there is a fresh mandate to be secured from Ghanaians in November 2016 by competing candidates in the election, a mandate that has to be secured with prudent election year decision making among other factors.

Any decision of Government that has a tendency to destabilize the executive arm of government such as a massive reshuffle of ministers in January 2016 of an election year is ill advised. In this regard therefore President Mahamas reshuffle of last year should have been his last before the 2016 election.

The current reshuffle is uncalled for not only because of its timing but also for its likely negative impact on delivery of government services in a critical year. The reality on the ground is that public servants in Ghana generally adopt a wait and see attitude to government ministers and officials, especially from June of every election year to the election date. This is largely due to the uncertainties that naturally accompany the outcome of elections. These new ministers therefore have very little opportunity to make an impact. Sticking with existing ministers under the circumstances is therefore politically prudent unless in extraordinary cases that call for change of ministers regardless of timing. The reshuffle which has been presented on account of flexing of executive power also gives a perception of unpredictability and instability of Government going into an election, when the perception of the incumbent government should be that of stability.

The other aspect that a reshuffle presents is its effect on the party front. It engenders pockets of dissatisfaction and dissullionment on the front of the Presidents party on the part of party members allied with reshuffled ministers, chiefs, localities and even communities that are attached to these ministers who are likely to feel aggrieved and dissatisfied by their reshuffling especially in an election year.

In totality therefore, President Mahamas recent reshuffling exercise is an unnecessary headache that he has visited on himself, his government and the NDC in an election year. The exercise connotes some level of complacency which in terms of strategy is not politically prudent. He should have his eyes on the ball of November 7, 2016, and let that guide his decisions and note that election year reshuffles can be politically and strategically imprudent and should be avoided at all cost.

God bless our Homeland Ghana,

Long live President Mahama.

Mensah Dekportor (Hamburg Germany)

Email: [email protected]
21.01.2016 LISTEN

We members of the National Democratic Congress, Germany Chapter wish to react to a statement released by one faceless supposed former coordinator of the Lordina Foundation in the Brong Ahafo Region by name Hajia Barakisu Amadu. The statement is not only false but extremely uncivilized, distasteful and malicious. It has been well calculated to tarnish the image of the first family of our land. Such statements must be condemned by all Ghanaians who want Ghana and our politics to be devoid of such attitude and language that negatively portray our culture as uncivilized.

All well meaning Ghanaians should ignore that false article trending. This is because the authors of the article, Hajia Barakisu and Tony Kaufmann are faceless. Hajia Barakisu is said to be the founder of the Brongkyempim Mma Fekuo in Europe. She is reported to have addressed the citizens of Brong Ahafo in Dortmund, Germany over the weekend.

We want to state here that there is no known person by name Hajia Barakisu who is a member of Brongkyempim Mma Fekuo in Europe and let alone the founder. She is not known in Germany neither is she known in the United Kingdom. The first chairman of Brongkyempim Mma Fekuo in Europe was Nana Okrah Gyemfi who is presently resident in Bremen. Nana has confirmed on authority that there was no such person and let alone a meeting in the name of the union in Dortmund. There is no Brongkyempim Mma Fekuo in Dortmund and so the members there attend meetings in Oberhausen. Also there was no such meeting held in Dortmund and even in Bielefeld, Mulhiem or Essen in this New Year as confirmed by Mr. Samuel Ntiamoah(017640371623). Further checks from other city executives, Mr. Appiah-Koran (Munich-017673989373), Dr. Yaw Prince Agyeman and Mr. George Nyarko(Berlin-01773398198) indicated that the so called hajia Barakisu is faceless and not known.

Our checks from T-Mobile Telecom to enable us get to know the ownership of the contacts provided proved that the contacts were fake and unassigned. In Germany, there is no single telephone line that is not registered and therefore tracing a line is the easiest thing that can be done.

This article is therefore said to be the brain works of some treacherous and mischievous dark minds that have an agenda to ditch the hard earned reputation of the first family. The Lordina Foundation has touched lives and continues to transform lives in very rural and even urban centers. We have the belief that the good works of the foundation speaks and is been felt by the marginalized and no amount of bad reportage can change it. Its sad that we are allowing desperation to set into our politics and we are throwing away civility to the dogs.

The good people of Ghana are entreated to ignore the story and treat it with all the contempt that it deserves. In other words it should be taken with a pinch of salt. Remember, truth will always stand.

Long live Ghana

Jerome Kpan

German Chapter Secretary

+4915210246793
21.01.2016 LISTEN

I dont know what motivated the decision by the operators of Peacefmonline.com to publish the resignation letter of Dr. Kwabena Donkor, the former so-called Power Minister a little over two weeks after the fact (See What Ex-Power Minister Said in His Resignation Letter Ghanaweb.com 1/16/16). Very likely, the former Power Minister wanted to opportunistically paper over the widely known fact that he had become unpopular by the end of December when he reportedly tendered his resignation to Mr. Julius Debrah, the Chief-of-Staff of President John Dramani Mahama.

We are quite well aware of this fact because for weeks, rumors were making the rounds that some highly placed officials in the Mahama cabinet, including the President himself, to be certain, had been pressuring Dr. Donkor to vacate the portfolio that was specially created for him, after he had publicly bragged that he could end Dumsor, or the perennially erratic power-supply crisis in the country within the temporal span of exactly 12 months if he was afforded the chance and the privilege of doing so by the President.

I vividly recall wondering at the time about his expertise and laughing off his rather oversized promise as that of an exuberant man who was too sure of his own self-importance to be taken seriously. I knew this because Dr. Donkor clearly seemed to be making all the wrong judgment calls.

For instance, instead of turning to such technologically advanced countries as the United States, Canada, Britain, France and Germany, among a remarkable number of others, which had globally distinguished themselves as net producers of energy, Dr. Donkor had decided to flirt with Turkey, a NATO-allied country that was, nevertheless, much closer in level of development to Third World economies like Ghana than most of the leading Western-European nations.

Then also, revelations that the AMERI Group deal, in which a firm located in Dubai, UAE, had been contracted to play the parasitic role of middleman in the supply of some 10 thermal power-generating turbines, had been badly brokered did not reflect creditably on the caliber and/or competence of the Power Minister.

For example, some two investigative reporters from a Norwegian newspaper called VG had been widely reported to have published an expose indicating that introducing the AMERI Group into a contract that could have been directly brokered with General Electric (GE), the manufacturers of the turbines, could have cost Ghana only about half of the $ 510 million that the contract was widely alleged to have been worth at the prevailing market price.

Well, in his resignation letter, at least the version that was published by Peacefmonline.com and Ghanaweb.com, Dr. Donkor clearly seemed to be bragging about the scandalous AMERI Group racket as one of his major achievements as Power Minister.

It is also significant to highlight the fact that it was only about a couple of months to the end of his patently lackluster tenure that Dr. Donkor appeared to have seen the proverbial light, when he announced his intention of attending a meeting in Washington, DC, with some of Americas foremost energy producers in order to find a definitive solution to Dumsor. The meeting was supposed to take place sometime between the end of January 2016 and February of the same year. As matters stand presently, it clearly appears that Dr. Donkors Washington confab is highly unlikely to materialize.

It is also not clear why it took him so long to arrive at this elementarily commonsensical decision vis-a-vis the possibility of initialing a contract with the best of experts and producers in the field.

What may well have hastened Dr. Donkors departure from the Power Ministry, in all likelihood, had to do with his contradictory back-and-forth with Dr. Edward Omane-Boamah, the Communications Minister, over precisely when the so-called load-shedding regime of Dumsor would be effectively ended.

Well, I dont begrudge Dr. Donkor his earnest appeal for President Mahama to appoint him to another cabinet portfolio in order to enable serve His Excellency and the people of Ghana.

I just personally do not think that Dr. Donkor creditably acquitted himself well enough to be looking forward to another cabinet portfolio anytime soon.

*Visit my blog at: kwameokoampaahoofe.wordpress.com Ghanaffairs
Ghanas foremost president Kwame Nkrumah would have rejected the two ex-detainees of the Guantanamo Bay, who are currently residing in Ghana, his daughter Samia Nkrumah believes.

Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby will be living in the country for the next two years following an agreement between Ghana and the US. Government has been assuring Ghanaians the two ex-detainees of Yemeni origin pose no threat to the country as their activities will be closely monitored.

Samias assertion is in sharp contrast with Nkrumahs former secretary K.B Asante, who had told Starr News earlier the Osagyefo would have accepted the two Yemenis.

I dont think people understand the issues. Its a pity that the problem has not been properly explained to Ghanaians and that many people have forgotten what happened some 10 years ago in America and what happened in Guantanamo Bay I was with Kwame Nkrumah, if we had been faced with a situation like this, he wouldve allowed them to come subject to certain questions and understanding with the Americans, the elder statesman said.

Speaking on Starr Chat with host Bola Ray on Wednesday, the flagbearer hopeful of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) said it is not everyone who worked with my father think like him.

She added: Nkrumah stood against any kind of control. He rejected the IMF condition for a loan.

In another development, the former chairperson of the CPP scored the John Mahama-led administration zero when asked to rate his performance.

It has not delivered, Samia stated. This is why we need to replace it and need an alternative. The failure is not specific only to this administration. And that is simply because we have abandoned economic planning and submitted ourselves to prescription which does not work. It has not worked for others and it will not work for us.
The Accra Regional Police Command has commended the organisers and participants in yesterday's demonstration over the Energy Sector Levies Act 2015 and the hikes in electricity and water tariffs for being law-abiding.

'We wish to thank the public, especially the organisers and leadership of organised labour, for their level of comportment and co-operation,' the regional command said in a statement, adding 'We are grateful to all and sundry for such level of orderliness.'

The statement, signed by the Accra Regional Police Commander, Commissioner of Police Dr George Akuffo Dampare, said the demonstration which was attended by over 3,500 protestors, began at the

Obra Spot, near the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra and ended at the Black Star Square peacefully.

Although the police noted that a full assessment and evaluation of the entire exercise was yet to be completed, the police described the exercise as peaceful.

Public order management

'The police can state that the demonstration was well-organised and conducted within the tenets of the public order management.'

Future demonstration organisers have therefore, been urged to emulate the example of the leadership of organised labour by working with the regional command to ensure the utmost maintenance of law and order.

The protestors included workers from the public sector who were joined by members of OccupyGhana, a pressure group, to march through some principal streets of Accra carrying placards and spotting red attire and bands as part of the nationwide protest against the prevailing economic conditions in the country.

A number of police personnel were deplored to provide protection and control the crowd but the police have indicated that the protestors were cooperative.
A deranged cat killer will serve hard time after admitting Wednesday to brutally beating and then burning a stray kitty outside his Bronx home.

Ernesto Bailey, 32, pleaded guilty in Bronx Supreme Court to savagely smashing the cat against the wall and running it over with a shopping cart outside his E. 182nd St. apartment on July 25, 2014.

He then wrapped the doomed and defenseless animal in a blanket, doused it in lighter fluid and set it on fire, witnesses who viewed the security video told police.

Supreme Court Judge William Mogulescu agreed to sentence Bailey to one year in jail, in exchange for the feline felons plea to one count of aggravated animal cruelty.

Cat-loving activists, who had nicknamed the fallen feline Kitty Doe and tailed Bailey at every court appearance, said one year behind bars was not nearly enough for such sickening depravity.

I wish I could tell you that justice had been served, but Im so demoralized, said one advocate, Roberto Bonelli.

I cant believe he only got one year in jail. He set a cat on fire!

Fellow frustrated feline lover Lisa Bandelli-Virgona also voiced her contempt.

If he did this to a baby, he wouldnt have even been out on bail, she said.

State law would have allowed a judge to sentence Bailey to up to four years in prison on the animal cruelty charge, as a class E felony, though he could also have got off with probation.

As part of his plea, Bailey must register on an animal abuse database for the next five years. He also waived his right to appeal the conviction.

He was taken away in handcuffs on Wednesday to start doing time before his sentencing date of Feb. 9.
Sad as it may be because the issue is being politicised, the two freed and relocated GITMO detainees to Ghana, need our help. What is Ghana saying, that she cannot accept them because they are dangerous? Dangerous to whom, Ghanaians because they are living in Ghana? Much as it is proper for any country to be security conscious and protect their citizens, it helps better if the truth is faced squarely. So let us attempt facing the truth here; more so when such pardons are common and widespread.

Well firstly if is not the downfall or incompetence of president Mahama we are seeking to trumpet then we should not be so worried about his seemingly suppressed and unilateral decision in a security affair like this witness/detainee relocation business. After all in our government with an incumbent-majority Parliament, what the President wants, he gets; and is it not for same security that our budget for the Ghana Armed Forces not discussed in Parliament!

Secondly if they are dangerous so should be kept in the USA, how helpful will it be to Ghanaians who are trooping daily to the US for economic asylum? Would they rather prefer to be bombed in the US than in Ghana, to want the detainees kept in the US, which is the preferred target of the Islamic extremists?

Thirdly what is the fairness in rejecting two detainees out of hundreds shared among fifty-five other countries? Would holier-than-thou Ghana, after the rejection continue to seek the usual budgetary support and other donations from the US do we not think that they also have other problems those monies can help manage? If so, then is Ghana not saying that she is just a fair-weather friend of the USA?

Fourthly, if these two were guilty of the crimes they were charged with, what would stop the US from prosecuting them to give them life or death sentences; and if they are not as dangerous as charged, then why should Ghana be afraid of them? If we are to perceive these GITMO graduates as dangerous then US deserves credit for being this concerned even about their adversaries' welfare!

Fifthly, why the insistence that they should be sent to their own country when intelligence reports show that the place is not safe for them presently. When there is a problem in a home between spouses, are children in that family not taken out of that home and cared for by the Department of Social Welfare in safe houses or homes of other relatives till the problems are sorted out?

The sixth point is that, even if they were that dangerous or involved in the 9/11 attack, is it not possible that they could have given information essential to the Global Village through the US to warrant their protection as witnesses? If on the contrary they have not revealed anything at all, but have gained a simple pardon which is not strange even in Ghana politics, it should appropriately go with such protection arrangements as safe houses shelter domestic violence victims.

On why the relocation was not discussed extensively, I wonder how extensive critics would like a case of a relocated abused spouse for example, discussed! If a person given protection should be discussed and exposed thoroughly through parliamentary and public discussion, then what type of protection is that person getting?

Also in the case of monetary consideration/award that critics are pushing, if the US, according to their Embassy is taking the bill for the upkeep of the GITMO detainees in Ghana, what is the point in insisting to know how much etc when we all generally are never comfortable with publicising our salaries which are even directly from the national coffers!

Unfortunately, the numerous complaints intended to show the incompetence of the President is rather revealing the critics' subjective stance; whereas facing facts of the case is more expected. The Islamic extremists need not come from outside Ghana to create problems for us because Islam has enough of adherents here to create troubles by themselves. After all the 9/11 attack in the US was committed when these were probably living outside the US, would they need to be in Ghana then in order to plan an attack in our present Internet-ready world, considering that some compatriots voluntarily joined the ISIS which in far away Asia recently!

If at all let us hope and pray and work towards teaching them our Ghanaian tolerance and hospitality so they would spread these virtues in Yemen their home country sooner, as Ghanaians refocus on more damaging activities of our own compatriots.
A delegation of USA Congressmen led by Chairman Ed Royce was received by H.E Erastus Mwencha, Deputy Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC), on 17 January 2016 at the headquarters of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The meeting took place in the presence of Dr. Anthony Mothae Maruping, AUC Commissioner for Economic Affairs and Mr. Bam from the Department of Peace and Security of the AUC and Ambassador Susan D. Page is the U.S. Charge d' Affaires to the African Union.

Welcoming the Chairman Ed Royce along side ranking member of Congress, Hon. Eliot Engel and other eminent members of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the USA Bipartisan Congress at the AU Headquarters, Deputy Chairperson Mwencha said the visit is another eloquent testimony of the importance the USA attaches to AU-US strategic partnership.

The Deputy Chairperson reminded Chairman Royce of his meeting at the U.S Congressional International Conservation Gala in Washington, DC and the pleasure he had to present to him on September 18, 2013, the Teddy Roosevelt International Conservation Award, in honor of his longstanding commitment to Africa's partnership with the United States, and to the sustainable management of Africa's tremendous natural wealth. Worth recalling that, Chairman Royce is a strong advocate of wildlife conservation.

Deputy Chairperson further conveyed his gratitude to members of Congress for the bipartisan support that Africa has enjoyed over the years within the U.S Congress, including the period of struggle for independence. He highlighted the longstanding ties that link Africa to the United States and the contributions made by the Legislative Branch to the economic growth and development of the continent exhibited through various initiatives focused on agriculture, trade, health and the fight against the Ebola epidemic.

The AUC Deputy Chairperson commended the members of Congress for their support in the extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) for ten years, while underscoring that in order for Africa to take advantage of this preferential trade program, it needs to transform its economies through industrialization and production of more competitive products for exports. The effective and strategic implementation of the AGOA Legislation and the provision of the appropriate and targeted technical assistance and trade capacity to AGOA eligible countries. The main challenge we have to meet today is how AGOA develops its full potential as an engine of intra-regional integration noted the Deputy Chairperson. He explained that the AGOA was efficiently used as an instrument for Africa to leapfrog in terms of skills development, technological advancement and job creation. In this regard, the Deputy Chairperson underscored the need to sustain the cooperation with the U.S. Congress with the view to support AGOA countries in developing utilization strategies, in accordance with the legislation, among others.

Issues of peace, prosperity and stability, in the continent, health, wild life conservation, climate change , women and girls education, and the skill revolution were also raised during the discussion as well as the strides made by Africa in the areas of democracy, governance, human rights and regional economic integration, under the leadership of the AU Commission. In this vein, Deputy Chairperson Mwencha highlighted the aspirations of Africa for next fifty years and the alignment and convergence between Agenda 2063 and UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. The AU is looking forward to working with the United States, as one of our key strategic partners, to mobilize sustained support for Africa's strategic framework for transformational development, underlined the AUC Deputy Chairperson.

Given that the visit of the US Congressmen came at the time when the Commission is bracing up ahead of the 26th AU Summit scheduled for 21-31 January 2016, Deputy Chairperson Mwencha seize this opportunity to inform the Congressional delegation on the Summit theme on human rights with a particular focus on the rights of women, and that important commitments and decisions will be taken on a wide range of issues.

The US Congressmen expressed satisfaction on the existing cooperation ties between the USA and Africa in the different sectors of development. They underscored the willingness of their Government to strengthen the ability of the African Union to maintain peace and security; realize democracy and governance across the Continent as well as create new market opportunities, implement regional infrastructure, and support in building productive capacities in Africa.

The head of the US delegation, Chairman Royce, informed the AUC Deputy Chairperson that their visit is as a follow-up of the visit of US President Obama to the African Union Headquarters last year. He indicated that the strong partnership between the African Union and the United States holds so much promise for a more fruitful and productive relationship and that this will continue to develop as both parties engage actively on areas of mutual interest and concern.

Chairman Royce underscored the need to further promote and reinforce the cooperation between the African Union and the U.S. on peace and security, democracy and governance, economic growth, trade and investment and the promotion of opportunity and development.
H.E. Dr. Aisha Laraba Abdullahi, Commissioner for Political Affairs of the African Union Commission met with a delegation of Sudanese Women representing the National Group for Human Rights in Sudan.

The Commissioner for Political Affairs welcomed the delegation and thanked them for visiting the Department of Political Affairs (DPA) of the African Union Commission (AUC). Dr. Abdullahi briefed the delegation on the work and the mandate of the DPA and its efforts to promote democracy, good governance and human rights on the continent. She further indicated that the Heads of State and Government declared 2016 as the Year of Human Rights with Particular Focus on the Rights of Women.

The Head of the Sudanese Women Delegation briefed the Commissioner for Political Affairs on the negative impact of the sanctions imposed on Sudan by the United States of Africa since 1997. She further added that the sanctions have resulted in myriad of humanitarian and human rights violations with a large impact on the development of the Sudanese people particularly in the health and education sectors. In an increasingly globalized world which relies on technology and the access to new research and studies, it is fair to state that the advances on education, literacy and health have been reversed in the past two decade as a direct result of these unjust sanctions.

The Head of the Sudanese Women Delegation also added that Educational losses has increased, mostly amongst girls, due to the deteriorating economic and living conditions thus resulting in a serious violation of their right to education under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and all covenants and conventions, including the CEDAW and the Maputo protocol for the Rights of Women in African. She also added that People and Women in Sudan also face health challenges as a result of these sanctions. Statistics show an increase in the maternal mortality rate in addition to cancer patients. This is due to the lack of access to life-saving medicines or necessary machines or machine parts needed for early detection and treatment. The inability to import life-saving drugs and machines is itself a violation to the right of life or health.

H.E. Dr. Aisha L. Abdullahi, Commissioner for Political Affairs of the African Union Commission received a statement from the Sudanese Women Delegation requesting the African Union to condemn the U.S. Sanctions on Sudan by issuing a strong Declaration during the forthcoming 26th Assembly of the Union, which is to take place on 30-31 January 2016 here in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Dr. Abdullahi also assured the delegation of the support of the African Union to the Sudan and the Sudanese People and promised to share the Statement with the relevant entities including the High Panel for Sudan.
With the Horn of Africa continuing to face a multitude of crises from recurrent cycles ofconflict to natural disasters, affecting millions of people, the EU has announced 77million in humanitarian aid for the region in 2016.

The Horn of Africa region is hosting some 1.7 million refugees. More than half a millionlive in Kenya.

EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Christos Stylianides,made the announcement during his visit to Kenya today, where he visited the Dadaabrefugee camp, the largest in the world, hosting over 350 000 people.

"Today I travelled to Dadaab, where the first Somali refugees found shelter from conflictand hunger 25 years ago. I witnessed the immense needs of families whose lives havebeen changed forever. These people rely on our humanitarian assistance. I was alsotouched by the hospitality shown by the Kenyan people. No country can cope alone withthe provision of essential services to so many refugees. We need to strengthen theresilience of both forcibly displaced populations and host communities"

Out of the 77 million announced today, 17 million will go towards life-saving andemergency aid for the most vulnerable in Kenya. This will include food, health care,water, sanitation and hygiene, shelter, protection and education in emergencies.

Background

A significant number of people in the Horn of Africa are affected either by forceddisplacement, or by food insecurity and malnutrition  or in many cases, both. The regionis also home to some 1.7 million refugees, mostly from South Sudan and Somalia.

The 77 million in EU humanitarian aid announced today for 2016 will help respond to themost pressing needs of the displaced populations, in the areas of nutrition, health, waterand sanitation, shelter and protection. It will also help improve disaster preparedness andresilience.

With 29 million, Somalia will be the main aid recipient, followed by Ethiopia (25 million)and Kenya (17 million).

Kenya is one of the main recipient countries for refugees in the region and in Africa. Ithosts close to 600 000 refugees. 183 000 of these have sought refuge in Kakuma,located in the northwest of the country. The majority come from neighbouring SouthSudan and Somalia. Refugees in Kenya predominantly depend on humanitarianassistance, as they are not allowed to work for a living.

In addition, over 1 million people, mostly in arid regions, are food insecure. The situationis expected to worsen following the extreme weather phenomenon 'El Nino' currentlyaffecting the region.

Last month, the EU announced 79 million in assistance for the Greater Horn of Africa,including Kenya, to help deal specifically with the consequences caused by El Nino.
21.01.2016 LISTEN

Two concerned Ghanaians have dragged the Attorney General and the Minister of the Interior to the Supreme Court over the two ex-Guantanamo Bay inmates currently cooling off in Ghana.

The plaintiffs, Margret Banful and one Henry Nana Boakye, want the Supreme Court to declare that the harbouring of the two detainees in the country by President John Mahama is far in excess of his powers under the 1992 Constitution, therefore making it unconstitutional.

The plaintiffs are praying the court for an order directed at the Minister of the Interior for the immediate removal and return of the two suspected Al-Qaeda foot soldiers from Ghana to the United States.

It may be recalled that the Mahama administration, early January, announced that Ghana would for the next two years host the suspected terrorists who were previously being held at the Guantanamo Bay in Cuba by the United States, stating that they are 'low risk' former detainees.

It has been stated that Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef, 36, and Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby, 34, are being offered humanitarian assistance in Ghana under a deal signed by the Mahama administration and the US authorities.

It has turned out that the two detainees are hardcore terrorists whom the US is looking for a place to dump.

According to a US security report, Mohammed Bin Atef was a fighter in Osama Bin Laden's former 55th Arab Brigade and he is an admitted member of the Taliban.

It said he trained at al-Farouq, the infamous Al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan, participated in hostilities against US and Coalition forces, and continues to demonstrate his support of Osama Bin Laden and extremism.

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However, the decision which has already sparked a huge controversy in the country has compelled the two to seek judicial interpretation of the action of President Mahama.



Reliefs

The suit filed by De Medeiros & Associates, lawyers for the plaintiffs, is asking the court for a declaration that on a true and proper interpretation of Article 75 of the Constitution, the president by agreeing to host the two in the country required the ratification by an Act of Parliament or a resolution of Parliament supported by the votes of more than one-half of all the members of the House.

The plaintiffs further want the Supreme Court to state that the president, per the same Article of the Constitution and his failure to obtain the necessary ratification, acted unconstitutionally.

The lawyers further stated that on a true and proper interpretation of Article 58 (2) of the 1992 Constitution, the president is under an obligation to execute and maintain the anti-terrorism Act of 2008 (Act 762) and the Immigration Act of 2000 (Act 573).

The plaintiffs, aside cost for court expenses and counsel fees, also want the court to declare that on a true and proper interpretation of Chapter 5 of the Constitution, the president, by holding the two detainees under restricted conditions without a court order, is breaching their fundamental human rights.

By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson

[email protected]


21.01.2016 LISTEN

The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) has interdicted 19 of its staff following investigations by the Bureau for National Investigations (BNI) into alleged fraud at the Authority.

The decision was taken after management of NHIA had received a formal communication from the BNI relating to the said investigations.

Those interdicted include Alex Odoi Nartey, Deputy Chief Executive, Finance & Investment; Gustav Cruickshank, Director, Internal Audit; Perry Nelson, Director, MIS; Rudolf Zimmerman, Director, Financial Accounting; Joseph Annor, Senior Manager, Provider Payment Directorate and Enoch Affanyi, Database Administrator  all at the head office.

Others are Isaac Afari, the District Manager at Asutifi; Edward Nkrumah, District Manager at Dormaa; Patrick Kuagbenu, District Manager at Sunyani; Rafat Dawud Ali, District Manager at Jaman North; Kwaku Asare, Snr. M&E Officer at the Volta Regional Office and Peter Kwasi Sarpong, District Manager, Tain.

Taminu Ahmed, District Manager, Pru; Mohammed Mahmud, District Accountant, Tamale Municipal; Abdul Rahman Abdulai, District Accountant, Asutifi; Elvis Kwadwo Baah, District Accountant, Dormaa; Daniel Beyinuu, District Accountant, Kintampo South; Yaw Simon Gokah, District Accountant, Ashaiman and Richard Denteh, District Accountant, Pru, were also interdicted.

A memo to the staff indicated, This administrative action, as prescribed by the Conditions of Service and Collective Agreement, is part of due process as the above-mentioned staff continue to assist in investigations.

It has been decided that management communicates this development to staff as a means of ending the rumour mongering and unnecessary speculations that accompany such activity, and to urge all staff to concentrate on working hard to ensure the sustenance of the scheme.

Management wishes to advise staff to uphold the highest professional standards in the conduct of official business.

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The Bureau of National Investigations launched an investigation into some alleged financial malfeasance at the Authority leading to the arrest of the former Chief Executive of the NHIA, Sylvester Mensah, early this year.

Armed security officers from the bureau earlier stormed his house on the eve of New Year in search of the former NHIA CEO, who had been accused of making false claims, in an apparent move to arrest him but ended up leaving without him because he was not at home.

Although the former CEO has not been interdicted, an Accra Financial and Economic Court issued an order for his accounts to be frozen following an ex-parte application filed by the Financial Intelligence Centre.

The NHIA has come under pressure from health insurance providers following delay in the payment of claims by the Authority. The providers recently threatened to withdraw their services to card-bearing patients if their monies were not paid.

According to them, the NHIA owes them over GH600 million in seven months arrears.

However, the Authority has said plans are in place to settle all outstanding payments.

By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri


21.01.2016 LISTEN

MANAGEMENT of the Koforidua Polytechnic in the New Juaben Municipality of the Eastern Region has imposed a GH191 utility levy on each student to enable the school settle its utility bills, DAILY GUIDE has gathered.

The decision has reportedly been met with stiff opposition from the Students' Representative Council (SRC).

However, a press statement signed by the Registrar of the Polytechnic, Nii Mensah Livingston, indicated that the levy will take effect on 15th February, 2016.

It is now the responsibility of the Polytechnic to pay its utility bills. In connection with this, it has become expedient to inform students to come to terms with the situation and corporate with the institution in paying the bills, the statement said.

According to the statement, the decision was taken by the council in December to save the institution from the power cut harassments witnessed last year.

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The Council at the 97th meeting held on the 16th of December 2015, approved GH191 per head as utility fee for students to pay towards the settlement of the Polytechnic's utility bills. In this regard, our valued students are informed and expected to pay GH191 per head as utility fees for students during the 2015/2016 2nd semester registration exercise which begins on 15th February, 2016. It is important to note that payment of the fee will be made concurrently with the payment of the 2nd semester, it indicated.

The Koforidua Polytechnic suffered a series of power cuts last year due to its inability to pay its electricity bills.

But the Students' Representative Council of the institution has threatened to resist payment of the levy.

FROM Daniel Bampoe, Koforidua


President Ali Bongo Ondimba of Gabon and President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria

21.01.2016 LISTEN

CAIRO, Egypt, 21 January 2016, -/African Media Agency (AMA)/- President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria and President Ali Bongo Ondimba of Gabon will be some of the key speakers at the Africa 2016 investment forum, hosted by HE President of Egypt, H.E. Abdel Fateh El-Sisi.

The two-day meeting in Sharm el Sheikh, will bring together over 800 high level government and business leaders to discuss projects and ventures across a range of sectors. Day one will see African Heads of States sharing their views on a range of topics in the opening Presidential Roundtable discussion.

Speaking ahead of the forum, Ambassador Dr. Hazem Fahmy, the Secretary General of the Egyptian Agency of Partnership for Development (EAPD) was keen to highlight the need for greater regional collaboration: "We are delighted that President Ali Bongo of Gabon and President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria have accepted our invitation to attend this special forum. We need greater economic engagement to accelerate trade and investment throughout Africa.

We have considerable expertise and know-how in some important areas such as healthcare and logistics. Others have a comparative advantage in agriculture. We need to collaborate more in order to find solutions to common challenges. And the engagement of these two important African, and global, leaders will help make this a reality."

The private sector will be well represented at the forum, with several business leaders confirming their participation. Emphasising the broad corporate and institutional presence, Ashraf Salman, Minister of Investment for Egypt said: "We have some excellent board and executive level delegates joining us in Sharm el Sheikh. Among them are Dr. Benedict Oramah, President of Afreximbank and Dr. Ahmed Heikal, Chairman and Founder, Qaala Holdings in Egypt. Chris Kirubi, the Chairman of Haco Tiger Brands in Kenya will be joined by Karim Awad, the Co-CEO of EFG Hermes, from the UAE. We expect very fruitful and lively discussions, based on their unique insights and real experiences.

18 investment promotion agencies (IPAs) from across Africa have undertaken to showcase the wide range of national and regional commercial opportunities that are available in their respective countries as well as small, medium and large scale projects seeking investments.

Heba Salama, who heads COMESA's Regional Investment Agency, was delighted to see so many IPAs confirm their attendance: "This unique gathering will show that Africa is truly open for business. We have made massive strides in improving the investment climate throughout the continent. With so many IPAs present, investors will find out for themselves the endless opportunities across many sectors."

Africa 2016 will be held in Sharm el Sheikh on the 20th and 21st of February. It is a by invitation event, but interested parties can find out more and register interest on the official website www.businessforafricaforum.com. This forum is being billed as the biggest investment event to take place in Africa this year.

For more information visit www.businessforafricaforum.com
The Mayor of Kumasi Kojo Bonsu has described calls for his arrest by some of his assembly members as ugly noises.

Some of the assembly members, whom Bonsu labeled as greedy and gluttons have raised eyebrow over the cost of the state-of-the-art Rattray Park in Kumasi.

The aggrieved assembly members raised the red flags after it came out that the plush project cost the assembly $4.4 million. They have alleged misappropriation of funds and diversion of funds meant for priority projects in the metropolis.

Accordingly, Bonsu has called on the media to disregard the desperate calls from the agenda - seeking handful of members whose mission is to sacrifice the collective interest of the metropolis to satisfy the interests of their pay masters.

Speaking on behalf of the Mayor at a press conference in Kumasi, his spokesperson, Samuel Gyamfi, indicated that the Mayor is prepared to face any forensic probing body regarding all expenses pumped into the recreational park.

According to the incensed assembly members, the Mayor spent beyond the approved budget as far as the Rattray Park is concerned.

They are therefore seeking a breakdown of the expenditure on the park and account for revenue accrued from its operations.

Gyamfi said the aggrieved assembly members constitute just 5% of the assembly hence their motive is mischievous.

There was never any act of financial impropriety in the construction of Ghanas premier park, the Rattray Park has become the preferred destination for relaxation for the people of Kumasi and beyond.

In fact its the envy of many under the Kojo Bonsu administration and must be embraced with both hands.

The mayors spokesperson said the assembly followed all due processes permitted by law in expending funds on the project.

It is not strange, it is not illegal, and it is not criminal for an institution of state to exceed its budget because of fluctuations and unanticipated variations which always happen. But we are saying that in exceeding our budget we followed the due process of the law. We followed the Procurement Act; we followed the Financial Administration Act - our accounts are there. Our internal audit department is auditing it, the Auditor General will audit it and a report will be forwarded to the august House of Parliament for further scrutiny, Gyamfi stressed.
Attention: African people,

Greetings my African people.

This message is for independent thinking Africans. For Africans who can think for themselves. For Africans devoid of crowd mentality. This part contains revelations into why we the African people are gradually losing our languages, our culture, and who we are as a people. And also how western education control what we should and shouldn't know.

But, before I begin, let me tell you a little about crowd mentality or what Fela Anikulapo Kuti called "Follow Follow" mentality.

Fela Anikulapo Kuti

What is Follow-Follow?.

Ancient Greek philosopher Socrates taught his students that the pursuit of truth can only begin once they start to question and analyze every belief that they ever held dear. If a certain belief passes the tests of evidence, deduction, and logic, it should be kept. If it doesn't, the belief should not only be discarded, but the thinker must also then question why he was led to believe the erroneous information in the first place.

Not surprising, this type of teaching didn't sit well with the ruling elite of Greece. Many political leaders throughout history has always not liked the independent thinking masses. No wonder Socrates was tried for subversion and for "corrupting the youth". He was then forced to take his own life by drinking poison. It's never easy being an independent thinker!.

Today, the powers that be may simply label such people as extremists, terrorist, or paranoid.

This article is no opinion piece. Rather, it is information opening up buried facts that when carefully read will show you the evil grip on Africa by western education and it's attendant intellectual slavery of Africans.

Of course, there're some of us Africans who have fallen under the hypnotic spell of western powers whom they worship as God. Because these group of Africans are unable to think for themselves, there's no amount of truth that can sway them from their preconceived position. They may even deny something they see with their own eyes.

These groups of people are victims of a psychological affliction known as the lemming effect, a product of western intellectual slavery.

Lemmings are small stupid animals that dart around in forests. This animal is known to be extremely stupid, such that they follow each other to their deaths and into dangers like fire or traps. Lemming hood is an innate psychological phenomenon, present in common people, as well as the most sophisticated and educated elites. Its what Fela Anikulapo Kuti called "follow follow" mentality.

Lemming hood effect is psychological. As such, no social class is immune to its evil effect. A university professor could be a lemming, just as much as a fashion obsessed teenager. One blindly follows the latest trendy hypothesis while the other blindly follows the latest trendy clothing style.

The power to fit in with one's social class can be irresistible. To a human lemming, the logic behind an opinion doesn't count as much as the power and popularity behind an opinion. Humans, like lemmings, behave the same way.

It is this lemming effect that makes the entire continent of Africa lose their sense of judgment, all at the same time. For lemmings, denial is a basic psychological defense mechanism used to not only shield themselves from unpleasant realities, but also to reassure themselves that they still fit within the acceptable range of opinion held by their peer group.

I will continue to try to open the closed minds of my fellow Africans to free us from our self-imposed blindness, but it's not easy. The chains of ideological conformity have too strong a grip on my fellow Africans, and breaking them is a difficult task. With the limited resources at my disposal, it is next to impossible to compete with western lemming-masters (the same old slave masters). Nevertheless, I will continue to speak in my little ways, at least lay the foundation upon which the truth might one day rise in future.

If you're among the "follow follow" group described above, you'll not like what you're about to read, because it questions even your education. But, if you're an independent thinking fellow, I invite you to come in with open mind and join me let's explore the subject "intellectual slavery" something that holds a deadly grip on Africa. Its very deadly because intellectual slavery is the only way western powers ensure neo-colonialism never die.

There are those among us (like myself, Kwame Nkumah, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, and few others) who do have the courage and intellectual capacity to break free of the shackles of lemming hood (western intellectual slavery) and accept the truth when it is presented.

Many years ago, people like Fela Anikulapo Kuti noticed the lemming hood syndrome in African leadership and society and has constantly warned Africans against the habit of follow follow or lemming hood. But, Africans has refused to heed to the warnings of those whove seen the light, and today the consequence of our action is producing bad fruits.

One of the bad fruit is my inability to find native keyboards in shops.

My search for native keyboard.

I have a project I want to execute, the project requires writing in native African languages like; Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, Efik, Fulani, Bini, Zulu, Bantu, e.t.c. I cannot do the project without writing in native African languages. But, problem is the native keyboards are no way to be found. For 2 years the project has been suspended, because I couldnt find the required native keyboards. As I speak, I'm still looking for an Igbo keyboard, Yoruba keyboard, Hausa keyboard, e.t.c to no avail. Ive been to different shops and markets, but came back empty-handed. And nobody knows where I could buy them.

Surprisingly, I discovered I can easily buy Arabic keyboards, French keyboards, Spanish keyboards, Chinese keyboards, German keyboards, even Russian keyboards. I felt sad upon this realization, and as a scientist I began asking questions. Then, I came up with some hypothesis and I decided to research it, because I wanted to know Why.

Why is it easier to buy an Arabic keyboard in Africa?.

Why is it easier to buy a French keyboard in Africa?.

Why is it easier to buy an English keyboard in Africa?.

Most importantly, Why are Africans themselves not worried, even when a Chinese man coming to Africa for the first time bothers?.

Why does a Korean man coming to Africa for the first time worry about the above questions, when Africans themselves do not bother?.

I will let you know the answer, if you keep reading.

Most Chinese, Koreans, and Japanese people visiting Africa for the first time are of the impression they will not be able to find keyboards or computers in other languages. They assume because we Africans are a unique people, we will therefore have our own writing symbols, different than English, French, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese. They get shocked when they get here for the first time only to discover we have nothing unique, technologically, intellectually. They discover weve imported everything we use from them. At that point, they begin seeing us as simpletons and people without intellectual capabilities, because they can see for themselves why we were enslaved and colonized for too long. They then wish they were the one that also colonized us, and that we all were speaking Chinese or Korean to avoid language barrier, since the British and French enjoy such privilege. Therefore, they look-down on us and start belittling us.

Below is a conversation between an Indian living in Africa and his brothers. This conversation ensued when the expatriate told his brothers he wanted to come to India for holidays.

For your information, this is generally the reason foreign experts into Africa do not respect Africans. They see us as people who do not have intellectual capabilities of our own. So, in case youre one of those working in offices and complaining about how Indians, Koreans, Chinese, e.t.c disrespect you, the above is the real reason, though theyll not say it. They may still respect you though, but before they start respecting you, you must have personally proved to them over the months/years that youre indeed an intelligent person. Once they know this, they will begin respecting you unreservedly.

Why native keyboards cannot be found in our shops.

My findings reveal that Africa is in a new covert form of slavery called intellectual slavery.

Intellectual slavery is different than the slavery suffered by our ancestors centuries ago, but it is more dangerous. It is more dangerous because it turns us Africans into self-replicating robots creating more slaves by ourselves. The slavery suffered by our ancestors in the past was mostly physical than mental. But that wasnt the end. It was mostly physical because, if you were caught youll be the only person to suffer. But, in intellectual slavery, if youre caught youll catch many other slaves. As I explained in part 2, there exist modern forms of slavery; such as technological slavery, economic slavery. But, intellectual slavery is the worst form of slavery.

What is intellectual slavery?.

Intellectual slavery is the state of being bound to academic servitude by someone controlling the knowledge base of such academic pursuit. Intellectual slavery is targeted at academia in Africa and other third world countries. Its goal is to totally control what is knowable by a person or a group of people via satellite entities. Intellectual slavery didnt begin today; its just that its such a silent killer. It is so silent that nobody see it. Intellectual slavery was encoded in colonial model of education to limit what we Africans can know, and how to know it. Western education was created to indoctrinate the minds of Africans to think in a particular way only beneficial to the same old colonial masters. Therefore, one of its resultant effect is to stop us from questioning our system of education itself!. It also stops African scholars and students from questioning established western theories. It belittles your mind and stops you from challenging western scholarly views, ideals, values, e.t.c. More than a slave not owning his/her body, intellectual slavery have a deadly grip on the mind of Africans, and other third world countries for that matter. Intellectual slavery is targeted at students, pupils, elites, scholars, educationists, intellectuals, from third world countries. This makes it very dangerous as it has the potential of doing more damage to a people in the long run. Western powers through intellectual slavery have installed the wheel driving neo-colonialism and left. And to keep this wheel turning, it is being oiled by African teachers, scholars, elites, educationists. That is, it literally have us expanding neo-colonialism forever, all by ourselves.

Just in case you still dont get it, let me give you an example of the fruits of intellectual slavery in simple practical terms.

Names of parts of the body in English



As you can see above, you can comfortably name parts of the body in English language, and those of us from Francophone countries would comfortably do same with ease in French.

But, wait a minutes!. Can you name the parts of the body in your native language?.

Name the parts of the body in your native language

When you try naming the parts of the body in your native dialect you would discover you suddenly find it hard to write, even to name. My research shows 99% of "educated" Africans cannot name, and write parts of the body in their own native languages!. My people, that's intellectual slavery at work!!!. Western education have stripped you of your innate power to know your own self!.

Another example I can give you is this. What do you call Click, Download, Upload, Database, Website, Homepage, in your native language?.

I can bet these words have no native words in your language, because we don't create knowledge in Africa. Rather, we just copy what whiteman say. And therefore, we call it what whiteman call it. It happens in Anglophone and Francophone countries as well. Knowledge creation has been outsourced to western nations. Therefore, they control what we should know and what we shouldn't know. If this's not intellectual slavery, I don't know what is!.

Yet, another example I can give is the scenarios below.

(i). You want to write a letter to your mother or father who lives in the village, but instead of writing him/her in your native language you still wrote in English. Why writing a letter to your mother or father in English?.Answer: intellectual slavery.

(ii). Why writing a letter to your mother in English?. Doesnt your mother speak your own language?. If yes, why?.Answer: intellectual slavery.

(iii). Is there anybody is your village that doesnt speak your native language?. If no, why speaking English and jotting down notes in English in your village meeting in Abuja?.Answer: intellectual slavery.

The above tests and scenarios are clear samples to prove the manifestation of intellectual slavery,but Im not done yet.

I will give more examples later, on how intellectual slavery affects even the so called highly educated people in Africa, like; Wole Soyinka. And it bothers me so much that thiss happening all over Africa, in both Francophone and Anglophone countries.

But, it's not like that in Japan, it's not like that in Russia, it's not like that in China, it's not like that in Korea. In these countries every educated person can name parts of the body in their native language, they can also tell you the meaning of download, upload, website, homepage, database, in their various native languages. I'll tell you why it's not like that in those countries, if you keep reading.

Back to my search for native keyboard.

I went to the market the other day at Ikeja, and I asked a shop keeper about the native keyboard. He replied me sayingnobody buys it, that's why we don't sell it. He then went on to ask me; what are you doing with it anywhere?.

I wish you were there to see the expression of disdain on his face, because I asked for a native keyboard. I was so annoyed by that question, and I just looked at him, shook my head and walked away.

But, this continues to worry me and I keep asking more questions.

Why are we not aware were in a new form of slavery?.

Why are we not aware were being gradually re-colonized?.

At least our ancestors knew they were in slavery and they rebelled against slavery. Our fathers in the 50's and 60's also knew they were being colonized and they fought for their freedom.

So, why are we not putting up a fight against intellectual slavery?. Is it because it seems harmless?. Well, it is just as harmless as the disease cancer in its early stage. It takes many years to mature to deadly sickness!.

Why intellectual slavery appear harmless.

What is it about intellectual slavery that makes it apparently innocuous?. What makes intellectual slavery appear harmless?.

Intellectual slavery seems harmless because we begin acquiring it from school. It begins right from the first day little boy Kunle start learning A is for Apple, instead of A is for Akwa (Akwa is Igbo for egg). It begins right from the day little Kunle begins learning B is for Bell, instead of Bis for Boli (Boli is roasted plantain).

Kunle goes to school



Two years later, little boy Kunle comes back from school and runs into the waiting arms of the happy mother and father, and the father asks little Kunle; what did you study in school today?.And little Kunle replies; Pussy cat, pussy cat where have you been. Ive been to London to look at the queen.

Youve been to London?

To look at the queen?.

Really?.

This is not education!. Because, English is not the standard for learning!.

Why couldnt little Kunle go to Ife?.

Why couldnt little Kunle go to look at the Ooni?.

Unfortunately, nobody ask these questions. Nobody ask questions because the western education we acquire makes us a classic case of "the more you look, the less you see". Instead the happy mother and father, a product of same brainwashing colonial education inherited from Britain and France, claps their hands for little Kunle, beaming with joy because they assume little kunle is acquiring knowledge, when in reality little Kunle have just began the preliminary task of learning how to un-learn what makes him an African.

Three years later, little Kunle, if hes smart would have established knowledge on how to recite the English alphabet, but without learning how to read the Yoruba alphabet. He doesnt even have any idea its possible to recite in other African languages, like Igbo, Hausa, Efik, Bini, Ibibio, Igala, Zulu, Bantu, e.t.c. As a matter of fact, these other languages are hidden from him by his teachers. Our scholars, elites, intellectuals, educationists, turn a blind eye, because they too are a product of same brainwashing colonial education inherited from Britain and France. They have no idea the same education little Kunle is receiving is also subliminally telling him that English language, views, ideals, value system, is superior to that of our native Africa.

What African educationists fail to understand is that by bombarding the minds of our little children with those sorts of words and images, theyre also subliminally teaching them western values, as well as imposing feelings of inferiority complex on them. Example; that London and the queen are more valuable than Ife and the Ooni of Ife.

Therefore, right from kindergarten and primary school we start learning how to un-learn our African value system in exchange for western values. This happens no matter what subject you study in school.

We go to school in Africa to literally give up what makes us African, and then assume an inferior foreign identity. In the process, we abandon our native African language and ideals in pursuit of what, and who were not. Therefore, the same education we pursue, then becomes the same education that is eroding our native languages. The same education we pursue, then becomes the same education that is silently destroying our cultures and who were as a people.This is the reason I could not find our native keyboard in the market!. We have destroyed our languages via western education. Therefore, keyboard in our native languages is completely useless. Why?. Because, you cannot eat your cake and have it!.

It is not like that in China!.

It is not like that in Korea!.

It is not like that in Japan!.

It is not like that in Russia!.

It is not like that in Iran

Even Indonesians and Malaysians have grown up.

It is no longer like that in Indonesia!.

It is no longer like that in Malaysia!.

It is no longer like that in most countries of the world, except in African countries!.

Let me warn us Africans that education does not mean speaking English fluently. Let me warn us that education does not mean speaking French fluently. Because, if education means speaking English and French fluently, that would mean that Japanese people are not educated, that would mean Russians are not educated, that would mean Koreans are not educated, that would mean Chinese are not educated, that would mean Germans are not educated.

Let me warn us that education does not mean acquiring or holding bogus certificates, because I have none, and I can square up with any scholar/intellectual any place on earth!.

Education means the schooling of the mind (whatever the subject), but according to the value system of a given society. How and what to learn, or not to learn, will depend on the value system of a given society not upon a standard set in Europe or America. Otherwise, our scholars and educationists will keep doing this copy and paste in our schools. You do not copy and paste in education, rather you create knowledge, and you keep on discovering and refining what would be more valuable for the education of people in your own country. African scholars, intellectuals, educationists should stop being like a car running on the engine of a different car. Like a Mercedes Benz running on Volkswagen beetles engines. Let me explain what I mean here with this bitter leaf analogy.

Bitter leaf



Every African knows what bitter leaf is called in our various native languages. Therefore, in a Botany class for example; theres no need teaching an African child what British man or French man call bitter leaf, unless in pure English class. That an English man calls bitter leaf scientific name "Vernonia" will not add anything meaningful to the childs concept of bitter leaf. The best way to have a child understand and conceptualize the subject is call it and teach it with the name given to it by the society, and the education would be more meaningful to the child. For example; when I checked the semantics of bitter leaf in my native Igbo language, I found out it is more intuitive in my native dialect than in English. Bitter leaf in my native language is called Olugbo and it literally interprets as Olu (that bitters) + gbo (from early) or just early.

The semantics includes the following.

(i). That bitters from early.

(ii). Bitter from creation.

(iii). Born to be bitter.

(iv). Bitter from the beginning.

(v). Always bitter.

That is how it should be!. Because, any knowledge acquired this way will naturally be with you, and youll not need to cram to answer questions on it in an exam.

We can of course study the plant's properties ourselves. That's what true education is all about.

You don't need any white man's opinion to study the plants and leaves in your village, unless you're comparing your findings. Knowing the botanical name or what white man call it; is brainwashing fake education installed by Britain and France to control what Africans should know, what we shouldn't know, how to know it, how not to know it, e.t.c. Thereby, they control the world of African scholarship millions of miles across the ocean, removing African view point, culture, history, intellectual contribution, e.t.c. This is intellectual slavery, and that's why Africa is where we're today.

If you're not an independent thinker, you may not understand what I'm talking about. But, many years ago, Lord Kwame Nkrumah noticed the problem Im talking about. Nkrumah knew there was a big problem with the model of education in Africa, and he knew exactly what needed to be done. He knew the model of education throughout Africa needed to be overhauled, but he didn't have a lot of time to change education in Africa for good, before he was blackmailed out of office by western powers. He just had enough time to win our political freedom, but not enough time to fight for other things.

Lord Kwame Nkrumah

Nkrumah observed that colonial missionary schools curriculum was Euro-centric, and that it carefully excluded African religion, culture, and history. After noticing this, he said ''under such a system of education the youth of Africa is not prepared to meet any definite situations of the changing community except those of the clerical activities and occupations for foreign commercial and mercantile concerns".

And he concluded by saying "any educational program which fails to furnish criteria for the judgment of social, political, economic, and technical progress of the people it purports to serve has completely failed in its purpose, and has become an educational fraud".

Therefore, if our curriculum and system of education in Africa is giving priority to western value system and ideals, though it's still education, but it's no longer the education of an African mindset. This is why people like Wole Soyinka, even though he is educated, lacks the ability to contribute to the literary development of his own native Yoruba language. This is why people like Ms. Chimamanda Adichie is writing for the west, instead of writing in our native Igbo language.

Chimamanda Adichie



(American author)

Real Americanah

Western education have stripped her of her innate powers to contribute to the development of our own native Igbo language!. But, William Shakespeare, the great English writer invented more than 2,000 words and lots of phrases for his own English language. I will make this point clearer later.

But, let me tell you something.

Wole Soyinka would have still been a great writer, if he wrote in Yoruba language!. If Soyinka wrote in Yoruba language he would still have been an outstanding writer, and he would have still won a nobel prize in literature!.

Chinua Achebe would have still been a great writer, if he wrote in Igbo language!.

Ms. Chimamanda would have still been a great writer, if she wrote in Igbo language!.

Can people win noble laureates writing in their native language?.

The answer is Yes.

I was able to make a chart of all nobel prize in literature winnings by country. See below.

List of nobel prize winners in Literature, Countries & Language.

The different countries and languages above proves theres no level you cant get to, even if you write in your native language. Hundreds of authors have won noble prize in literature writing in their native languages.

To be specific, books written in the following languages has won nobel prize in literature; German, Spanish, English, French, Swedish, Italian, Russian, Polish, Danish, Norwegian, Chinese, Greek, Japanese, Arabic, Bengali, Czech, Finnish, Hebrew, Persian, Hungarian, Icelandic, Occitan, Portuguese, Serbo-Croatian, Turkish, Yiddish.

Thousands of authors in world write in their native languages before translating and publishing in English or French or to other languages. Writing in your native language naturally gives you more power. As a matter of fact, Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, Chimamanda, would have been bigger and better writers, if they had studied Igbo and Yoruba respectively, and wrote in our native languages. Sadly, they could not do that because the monster called intellectual slavery stood on their way.

Please, take a second look at the chart above. There's something I want you to know that the west don't want third world countries to know. You may enlarge it by clicking on it.

If you look closely at the chart, youll see theres a correlation between education in native language and wealth. Example; you can see that countries with authors writing in their native languages are wealthy nations with GDP more than that of African countries.

On the other hand, you can see clearly that theres a correlation between western education and poverty. The nations with authors writing in languages other than their native languages, are all poor nations (I underlined them in red), they are also the same nations that suffered slavery or and colonialism. Therefore, without mincing words, its safe to say; western education makes Africa and other third world countries poor.

What has language got to do with education?.

From the beginning of mankind, people naturally had need to communicate themselves. Therefore, different societies naturally developed the language suitable for them to communicate themselves.The name of any language that evolved in each society, also later became the name of that society or tribe. Example; people that spoke Igbo became known as Igbo, people that spoke Yoruba became known as Yoruba, people that spoke Hausa became known as Hausa, people that spoke Zulu became known as Zulu, people that spoke English became known as English, people that spoke Dutch became known as Dutch, people that spoke French became known as French, e.t.c.

Interchangeably, the name of each tribe or society that evolved, also became the name of their language. Example; a tribe from Japan became simply known as Japanese, and a tribe that evolved in Korea simply became known as Korean, a tribe that evolved in China became known as Chinese.

As you can see, you cannot separate language from a tribe or culture, neither will you separate a tribe or culture from a language. If you manage to separate a tribe from their language, you will destroy their culture in the long run. Thats why language is the center of any culture. Thats why language is the center of any civilization. No language no culture!. No language no society!.

If you destroy the language of a people, you'll destroy who they're in the long run. This's because the DNA of a culture is written in and with it's language. Therefore, the easiest way I can get you to understand anything is to speak to you in the same native (natural) language you grew up speaking. In your mothers tongue!.

Have you ever watched a TV program made in your native language?. Have you ever listened to a radio program in your native language?.

Have you ever listened to news on TV in your native language?.

Have ever listened to news on radio in your native language?.

Do you know that feeling of clarity?.

Do you know that feeling of completeness of understanding?.

Do you know that feeling of being heart-to-heart with the newscaster?.

Thats what native language does!.

Whether it is listening to news or learning in school, native language naturally does the same thing for you. It helps you understand better!.

If you learn in school in your native language; youll get that same feeling of clarity from the teacher. Thiss why kids in countries like Japan, Korea, China, learn faster. They learn faster because, most of their comprehension problem has already been solved to a large extent by their native language. Thiss explained in details in part 2.

Speaking to you in your native language is the most natural way I could get you to conceptualize complicated ideas without leaving you confused, especially difficult scientific principles. Native language is a natural capital, not just for easy communication but also for learning. If something is difficult to explain (like scientific concepts), the most natural way to get you understand it is to explain it to you in your native language. Therefore, teaching you in school in your native language will boost your innate power to learn. Again, this is because, the DNA of any culture is written in and with its language. If you destroy the language of a people, that culture will collapse over time. Thats why if you live too long in a particular country, you will gradually and subconsciously develop and adopt their way of behavior. In fact, if you live too long in a country you will gradually start losing your own culture in favor of your host's country, especially if you have no community in that country who speak your own language. This initially manifest as feeling of home sick for a new visitor, until he/she out-grow it and begin the gradual accumulation of the host's culture.

Due to the fact we Africans place priority on English language and French in our schools, we also subconsciously adopt western ideals and value system and lifestyles in our own lands. Yes, thats how powerful a language could be!.

A friend of mine, who have lived in Togo republic for 20 years, speaks Ewe (their local language) very fluently and he believes Togo is the best place on earth to live. Hes married there and unable to leave Togo.

Another brother who have lived in the USA for 30 years believes thats the best place to live on earth.

Yet, another friend has lived in Russia for 18 years. He now speak Russian very fluently, and he said he have no plans of leaving Russia, despite the extreme cold weather there. Anytime this friend of mine comes to Nigeria, he behaves like a foreigner. In fact, when he comes its like he will start learning how to behave like a Nigerian again. He cant even stay in Nigeria for over a week, otherwise hell become home (Russia) sick.

All these are possible because the culture of those countries have sunk deep into them through their native languages that they speak. It would be easier for them to leave those countries, if they didnt speak their language. Language ties you to a land and makes you become part of that culture, thats why some countries wouldnt mind giving you citizenship, if you speak their language fluently. After all, you have become one of them!.

Unfortunately, it doesn't matter whether you acquire the knowledge of speaking the language of others in your country or in their country. The moment you make a foreign language a priority in your life, it's only a matter of time before you also start behaving like those who own the language.

Think of the powerful influence a language could have on an individual as the same as the influence a job could have on a person or group of people. If you take up a police job, within weeks you'll start behaving like a police man. If you become a doctor you'll start behaving like a doctor in a matter of time. If you become a politician, you'll start behaving like a politician pretty soon. If you become a journalist, within months you'll start behaving like a journalist. The list goes on. Language have the same effect of on an individual or group of people over time.

Back to topic

The effect of intellectual slavery is very adverse, and it looks at no faces. Everybody is a victim.

Emir of Kano, HRH Sanusi Lamido Sanusi once said Every African is a victim of colonialism. That's very true!.

Intellectual slavery is one of the tools of neo-colonialism. It is modern slavery and everybody is a victim. Its like the black-hole, nothing escapes it. From the lowest man in the streets of Africa to presidents, everybody is a victim.

Even Wole Soyinka is a big victim, because as I said, nobody escapes it.

Wole Soyinka



(Nobel prize in "English literature" winner)

No award won in Yoruba language

Though, Wole Soyinka has won noble prize in English literature but he have not written a single book in his own native Yoruba language, neither will he ever be able to do so. Western education makes him incapacitated, powerless, and unable to contribute to the literary development of his own native Yoruba language, even if he wanted.

But, as I said earlier, William Shakespeare invented lots of words for the English people. CLICK HERE to view some of them. He also invented these phrases. CLICK HERE to view some of them. More words, phrases and their meaning courtesy of Shakespeare. CLICK HERE to view. Shakespeare clearly left an eternal mark on his own English language.

Unlike William Shakespeare, our African authors have no impact whatsoever on our native languages. Their contributions has been stolen via western education, and they don't even know it!.

What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul?.

This is because western education was created to do exactly that. It was created to strip him of his intellectual powers to contribute to education in his village, since the British know most people in his village are not English speaking. That is, if you want to be like him, you must first un-learn your African language and learn the English literature!. This is why if Soyinka suddenly finds himself in the midst of villagers in his community, he suddenly becomes a dummy unable to transfer his knowledge to them. Whereas, if Soyinka were to travel to the United Kingdom, theres no village, town, city, or Island that he wouldnt be able to communicate his knowledge to. Thiss exactly, what Kwame Nkrumah meant by education serving western mercantile interests. Your education becomes only useful to serving western interests.

But, of what use is your education, when you lack the ability to transfer your knowledge to people in your village?.

What western education want is to have monopoly over all weve learnt in school. What they want is to make our knowledge only valuable to western concerns. What they want is to have our education stuck with us unable to use it to solve real life problems. What they want is; if youre an African CHEMIST, youll be a chemist only on paper. What they want is; if youre an African PHYSICIST youll be a physicist only on paper.

The resultant effect of this, is that it creates elitism in Africa, which helps widen the gap between the rich and poor in Africa. I explained this in more details in the part 2.

Western education was not created for our own good. Rather, it was created by colonial powers out of their selfish interest to raise few African elites who will act as conduits for further exploitation of Africa and its resources.

Though the whiteman is no longer in Africa to officially execute colonialism, but by pursuing western model of education in our schools, we now act as self-replicating robots, sustaining, nurturing, and expanding colonialism and intellectual slavery, all by ourselves.Sadly, this was the original purpose the colonialists wiped out our traditional form of education and introduced their brand of education into Africa. Incredibly, education in Africa is still perfectly serving its original purpose, many years after the so called independence. Its so sad.

Just in case youre still not aware of the impact of intellectual slavery on Africa and African scholars, let me make it clearer below with an Example.

Imagine a British man came to Nigeria to study Yoruba language. He then wrote a book using Yoruba. Who do you think would benefit more from such book?.Answer: Yoruba people.

This our imaginary British man would have helped the literary development of Yoruba language, no matter how little. He would have coined so many Yoruba words that would sound half-English and Half-Yoruba, thereby helping enrich the Yoruba language in the long run. Why?. Because, a language naturally expand or start dying when it interacts with another language.

Imagine Chimamanda Adichie wrote all her books in Igbo language. Who do you think would benefit more from her books?.

Answer: Igbo people.

She would have helped coin native Igbo words for; Click, Download, Upload, e.t.c. Igbo language would have been enriched by her.

Imagine Chinua Achebe wrote all his books, say; in Hausa language. Who do you think would benefit more from his books?.

Answer: Hausa people.

He would have helped Hausa language as stated above.

Imagine Wole Soyinka wrote all his books, say; in Bini language. Who do you think would benefit more from his books?.

Answer: Bini people.

He would have helped coin native Bini words for; Database, Website, Homepage, e.t.c.

Other languages like; Japanese, Chinese, Russian, Korean, e.t.c have native names for; Click, Download, Upload, Database, Website, Homepage. But, we don't because nobody works for the literary development our our native languages.

Note that Soyinka or Chimamanda would not have woken up one morning and start making-up those words. Rather, they themselves would have needed those words to express themselves in their books. And in the process, they would've naturally invent new words to enrich our various native languages. We the people will in turn read their books and start using those words in daily life. Thats the way it is in Japan, China, Korea, German, e.t.c. Their writers, scholars keeps enriching their languages, perpetually.

You may ask; who will buy the book?.

This question exactly mirrors the question I was asked by the shop keeper, when I went looking for the native keyboard. The shop keeper asked; what are you doing with the keyboard?.

Let me tell you the answer to these questions.

It is because we accepted western education; hook, line, and sinker, thats why our languages got destroyed, in the first place. Our languages got destroyed because instead of our schools demanding a Credit in our native languages, our schools require a credit in English language instead. Thats why, you cant find people who can read their books.

Therefore, it is because we have destroyed who we are as a people, thats why we have no big writers in our native languages.

It is because we have destroyed our languages (through western education) thats why we dont have such big native authors, in the first place.

And, its ultimately because of the above reasons that nobody uses keyboards made in our native languages. Therefore, this is ultimately the reason I could not find our native keyboard in shops.

I could not find the keyboard, because we the African people are still running on the minds of slaves, and have placed priority on English and French language in our schools and in society.

I could not find the keyboard, because were submissive to western intellectual control. And thats why Africa is backwards, and keeps being used and re-used.

The way I see things going, if something is not done to restructure education throughout Africa as a matter of continental emergency, Africa will be re-colonized in the next 40-50 years. History will repeat itself!. If education is not restructured all over Africa as a matter of urgency, we will get to a point of no-return within 30 years, and into everlasting western control.

Other countries of the world know this fact, and they fought it off, through real education.

Thats why it is not like that in Korea!.

Korean Keyboard



Thats why it is not like that in China!.

Chinese Keyboard



Thats why it is not like that in Russia!.

Russian keyboard



Thats why it is not like that in Japan!.

Japanese keyboard



Thats why it is not like that in Iran.

Iranian Keyboard (Persian)



Thats why it is not like that in Saudi Arabia

Arabic keyboard



The above countries knows exactly what Im talking about, and this blog gets a lot of visitors from them. A Chinese professor emailed me from China and he asked me; does Africans understand your message?. Because, if they do, Africa will suddenly awake and will totally disconnect from imperial control like we did in China centuries ago.

Guess what?.

I also found out that any country that knows, or is trying to do something about what Im saying, have some sorts of friction or have had some sort of friction with western nations in the past. Why?. Because, they dont want you to be FREE!.

If you go to Japan, China, Russia, Iran, Korea, youll see that their scholars publish their books in their own native languages, first, because they value their languages like independent people should. They also learn in school in their native languages.

If you go to the above countries youll see their keyboards are in every store, because they value their languages like independent people should. They also learn in school in their own native languages, and their native keyboard industry will never die.

Africans should pay priority attention to our languages in schools.

Were no longer in slavery, for Gods sake!.

We are Africans!. We are not Europeans!.

We are Africans!. We are not Americans!.

Or, are we dumber than our ancestors, such that we cant get over mental slavery?. Our ancestors would have thought by now we would have kicked anything resembling slavery out of Africa.

Our forefathers in the 50s and 60s would have thought by now we would have kicked anything resembling colonialism out of Africa.

Indeed, its possible to kick out any resemblance of slavery and colonialism out of Africa. Other civilizations have proved its possible. Were not the only people that were colonized. China was once partly colonized by Japan, Britain, and a host of other parasites. But, China like many other Asian countries, have learnt their lessons. If you go to China today, theres no trace of Japan or British past in their country. China so much kicked Japan out, so much that its almost a crime for a Chinese to marry a Japanese.

Im not preaching hatred though, but just stating the facts. I particularly love Japanese people. Japan is the real world power, if Japan was as big as China, they would have remained the No.1 world power forever. Even the US wouldnt have come close to their might.

If you go to Japan, you'll find abundant keyboards in Japanese.

If you go to Korea, you'll find abundant keyboards in Korean.

If you go to Arab nations, you'll find abundant keyboards in Arabic.

If you go to Russia, you'll find abundant keyboards in Russian, e.t.c.

Asians have realized their mistakes and have restructured their system of education, placing priority to their native languages in schools. Even Malaysians, Indonesians, Indians that used to be as stupid as we are, have learnt from their mistakes and has woken up from their slumber. If you go to these countries you'll see they pay priority attention to their native languages in schools. And you can as well buy keyboards in their native languages over there.

We Africans should make a U-turn. We need to jettison English language and French in our schools, because English and French in our schools is silently destroying our languages, its silently destroying our cultures, and who we are. English and French in our schools is a disaster!.

Whatever you do, always remember that;

English language is not a standard for learning!.

French language is not a standard for learning!.

If English or French is the standard for learning, how come Japanese people understood physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics on their own?.

If French is the standard for learning, how come Koreans understood sciences and built technological wonders without speaking French?. How come the Japanese built technological wonders and went to the moon on their own terms, in their own native language?.

Because Japanese people learn on their own terms in their native language, a Japanese scholar/intellectual using his native language will be better able to transfer his/her knowledge to anybody in his village, whereas an African scholar will find it difficult doing the same. Thiss simply because therere no native words to discuss scholarly works in Africa. This is explained in more details in part 2.

We need to pay priority attention to the development of our native African languages in schools and society, because everything we do in English language, including this message, is only advancing English language to the detriment of our native languages. I have to use English because Im also a victim, unfortunately. But, at least, I understand my problem, and Im working my way out of the mess.

The reason I could not find keyboards in our native African languages is because we have killed our native languages by ourselves (through western education). We Africans seems to be fine-tuned for eternal stupidity. This includes scholars, intellectuals, educationists, celebrities, presidents, ministers, governors, everybody. But, I won't be part of it. If nobody cares to take action or help me take action, Ill either hang myself or pursue German or Japanese citizenship next year. I will never be a slave in my own Africa land!.

Unless we pay priority attention to our native African languages in schools, students for example; will not be able to conceptualize science subjects like Biology, chemistry, Physics, Mathematics. I addressed the impact of intellectual slavery on science education in Africa on the part 2.

We cannot continue to consider ourselves as free people, when in reality we're entangled in new forms of slavery; intellectual slavery, technological slavery, economic slavery. Intellectual slavery has gotten so deep in Africa that some African mothers and fathers prohibit their children from speaking their own native language at home. What a shame!.

To free themselves, Malaysians, Indians, Singaporeans, Indonesians, went as far as refining an old Japanese system of mathematics that uses the principle of the abacus, and have had them introduced to schools in brand names such as CMA and UCMAS.

UCMAS for example; have proved so effective in solving mathematics that even western nations are copying UCMAS from Asia. So, as you can see, when we stop this slave mentality and develop a system of education as it suits us, even western nations will copy us.

Watch video

UCMAS: an alternative way of solving mathematics invented by Asians

Watch video

CMA: an alternative way of solving mathematics invented by Asians

National schools in Asia and Asia Pacific teach in their native languages, except in Singapore and few other private schools that teach it in English. Most of their lessons are done in native languages, but I was able to find some of the given mathematics lessons recorded in English. The point here is that Asians have created knowledge as it suits them. That's exactly what education should be. You create knowledge and knowledge-base as it suits your society, not copy and paste.

Final notes.

Please, don't get me wrong when I say Soyinka or Chimamanda. This's not about Soyinka or Chimamanda, but about the machinery of intellectual slavery, installed by Britain and France, and which is killing our languages, and who we are as Africans. Unfortunately, we remain too blind to see the impact, even when there're under our noses.

Education of a nation must not be copying or imitating what and how the west learn. We do not have to mirror education from the view point of western nations. We Africans must create a system of education where we choose what we want to learn, how we want to learn, what we ought to use as examples, what we ought to use as references, what we ought to use as historical references, e.t.c. In order to begin real learning, we must jettison the old system of education and curriculum inherited from Britain and France, otherwise, we will keep running round in circles forever worshipping white people as the custodians of knowledge.

Intellectual slavery have adverse impact on Africa. The impact on Africa as one Mr. C. Tsehloane Keto noted is that "The world of Africans and descendants of Africans and the world of scholarship about them is still the only one at the end of the Twentieth Century that retains a 'colonial' signature whereby experts and authorities outside African communities control knowledge creation and exceed experts inside those communities. This does not apply to Europe, Asia or the Americas. This has led to an unfortunate predilection among Africans to concede expert knowledge to outsiders. African people have tended in the past to surrender the right to academic self affirmation to others, thereby accepting conclusions of a Eurocentric framework that have assigned a permanent peripheral role to the Africa centered perspective in the world's growing knowledge industry. Indeed, many of the 'authorities' who study and write about the African world and exercise great influence over the outside world's perception of Africa and Africans, the understanding of its value priorities, the vision of its future and the capacity to define its very essence for insiders and outsiders alike, often are not burdened with the knowledge of single African or African derived language."

Bob Marley said Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, cause none but ourselves can free our mind. Yet, we Africans keep sinking deeper and deeper into the abyss of colonial traps set for our ancestors many years ago by white people.

Even fishes in the sea are increasingly learning how to escape the fishermans fishing net. Rats are increasingly getting wiser and evading traps set for them at home. Yet, Africans are unable to dig themselves out of poverty of mind. We've gotten so stupid that even white people are rhetorically asking themselves; when will Africans be wise?.

I have a lot I still want to say, but let me stop here in order not to make it too long to read. In part 2 we shall discus how all these cause poverty in Africa.

Note: I have been writing about this and similar issues for some time now. Should anybody feel strongly against my opinion, I'm ready for a one-on-one live debate on radio with such a person. But, it must be a live broadcast and should last at least 2 hours to enable me say what I want to say. This challenge is open to "anybody" in Africa.

Written by Africason.

Africason is a musician and a die-hard believer in Africa.

Twitter: @African_School

e-School: www.AfricanSchool.org

Facebook: facebook.com/AfricanSchool

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21.01.2016 LISTEN

The science of archaeology, paleontology, and genetics has all proved beyond any doubt that human life originated in Africa. They have all shown that the first humans that ever lived have lived in Africa. See using DNA to trace human origin and migration. Then, click through 1-19 to learn.

Yet, western movies, books, continue to present Adam and Eve as whites. Hollywood and cinemas continue casting bible characters as whites!

How could Adam and Eve be white, when human life began in Africa?.

Adam and Eve, or whoever was the first human on earth (whether by evolution or creation) must have looked like a typical African man and woman.

And, since Adam and Eve had children, it follows that their children must have been blacks also. Adam begot Seth, Seth begot Canaan, e.t.c.

Noah must have been a blackman, Moses must have been a blackman, down to Jesus the messiah. Again, note that this is the conclusion of science, not my conclusion. Humanity originated in Africa, and from here we traveled to Arabia, Europe, Asia, South and North America, Australia.

What this means is that blacks have been on everywhere on this planet long before the emergence of any other race. This is why I think those who do racism are fools, because theres only one race on earth; BLACKMAN. Every other race is just an offspring of blackman.

But, science aside, therere also multiple biblical verses proving some of these claims. For example, See Jesus Christ was a blackman.

Both the Torah and Bible said Noah had 3 sons, namely; Ham, Shem, Japheth. Genesis 9: 20-27.

Later, Ham grew up, married and had 4 sons, namely; Cush, Mizraim, Phut, Canaan. Genesis 10: 6. Also referenced in 1 Chronicles 1:8.

The map below shows ancient names of northern Africa, Europe, and middle east region.

Above were the ORIGINAL names of these lands. And you can clearly see African presence in the bible. But, in order to whitewash the bible, European scholars had to rename MIZRAIM to Egypt and CUSH also renamed Ethiopia or Nubia. This was done to conceal the true identity of the blackman (Ham) who was later to have Judah (Jews)/Jesus Christ/Hebrews as his descendants.

For clarity, below is a map representing Noah's 3 sons and the lands they possessed.

Map of north, east Africa with ancient and current names, and part of Arabia

Judah (Jews)/Jesus Christ/Hebrews were later to become the descendants of Ham, the black man.

The question is not whether ancient Hebrews and biblical characters were blacks, its not even up for debate because theres overwhelming evidence for that, both in science and the bible itself. The question we should be asking is; why was black history stolen?.

Who stole black history?. Why was black history stolen?.

You would expect black people to be asking the above questions. But, no, we dont ask such questions. Instead, youll hear blacks asking questions like; does it matter if Adam and Eve were blacks?. Others will ask; does it matter if Jesus was black?.

The brainwashing and subduing of black people began the moment our history was stolen by Rome. It was from then on that blacks were brainwashed to believe the white supremacist mindset that have got us thinking whites are the "be all and end all". From then on white supremacists and brainwashing Euro-centric education started coining new worlds to make us hate ourselves. Words and phrases that were coined and still being coined to humiliate the black race includes; black day, blackguard, black sheep, black mood, black widow, blackmail, black money, blacklist, black Thursday, black marketeer, blackhead, blackball, black market, black out, black death, black maria, black knight, black Monday, black spot, black economy, black ice, black look, black magic, black mark, black ops, blackout, blackjack, black hole, blackleg, black Wednesday, blackboard jungle, black eye, black mass.

Basically, everything bad was to be associated with blackman/satan. While words like; White lie, white magic, white list, e.t.c were associated with goodness/whiteman. You see, the hatred against the black race is DEEP rooted in their gene and consciousness!.

Black people have no idea the history of a people will determine whether their present would be that of confidence or subdued. For example; if youre not too bright of your history, itll also make you feel subdued in the present.

It therefore, follows that if youre proud of your history, itll also make you confident and proud of your present.

Are you proud of Martin Luther King?. YES.

Are you proud of slavery?. NO.

Most magnificent black history was deleted from the history books within the 14th century in the renaissance period in Europe. And, by erasing proud black history from the history books, Rome for example assumed the custodians of Christs legacy ever since, when in fact the Roman empire was an enemy of Jesus Christ during his time on earth. Herod was a Roman king of Jerusalem and Pontius Pilate was the Roman governor during Jesus's days. They both sentenced Jesus to death.

As you can see, Rome have no right of credit to Christs legacy!. They had a hand in his death!.

How could your enemy become your best friend after you die?. Yet, thiss exactly what happened in the case of Jesus Christ and the roman empire!!!.

Associating Rome to Jesus Christ is like giving right of inheritance to an assassin that killed you!.

This is why when you research it, youll discover it is overwhelmingly clear that the ethnicity of Jesus was grossly distorted to fit the perspectives of Europe.

All the credit that shouldve been given to black people is now instead being erroneously given to Rome who actually facilitated the killing of Jesus Christ. By so doing, blacks have lost out on Christs heritage and the pride that wouldve come with it as our blood brother.

So, today who lay claim to Jesus Christs legacy?. ROME.

Who doesnt?. T.D Jakes.

Recently, I heard T.D. Jakes talking what he knows nothing about by suggesting ancient Jews and Hebrews were not blacks. What nonsense!. The only prove he have according to him is that heve been preaching for 32 years. Heve been preaching Roman indoctrination for 32 years, without caring to investigate his history or and what science have to say about the origin of mankind.

I've just released these two songs; (1). The lost history, (2). Jesus Christ was a Blackman. These songs seek to re-engineer the minds of black people in order to restore confidence and the birth right of Blackman. If you're a regular to this blog you'll know this is not the first song I have done. But, this song is special as it addresses a very important issue concerning the black race.

Slavery wasn't just physical. Slavery was also mental and in order to achieve mental slavery, one of the mischievous thing white people did was that they made sure historical characters associated with greatness were renamed to white people. When the Napoleon army conquered Egypt in 1789 AD, he went as far as destroying artifacts and structures suggesting black civilization in Egypt.

Even till today, historical black characters are still being cast in Hollywood movies as white people. Till today, historical blacks are still being presented in books and magazines as white people.

Despite, Pythagoras studying mathematics in Africa many centuries before Isaac Newton, Blackman gets no credit for the invention and development of mathematics. Instead, western scholars treat Pythagoras as a myth, simply because he said he studied mathematics in Africa.

Despite, both the science of genetics and archaeology proving conclusively that human life began in Africa, western establishments continue to present Adam and Eve as white people. Example; Jehovah's witness continue to draw Adam and Eve as whites on their international watchtower and Awake magazine. Hollywood also continues to cast them as whites.

How could Adam and Eve be white, when the first humans lived in Africa?.

You see, history is full of blunders against the black race, and education, movies, books, continue to be used as instruments of mental slavery. Blackman has been schemed out of his own history!.

As a result, white man subconsciously considers blackman as an inferior race that contributed nothing or lacks the capability to contribute to the world's development, when in reality blackman created the world. Blackman on the other hand subconsciously accepts the reality history has placed upon him. The effect becomes inferiority complex on the part of blackman, and superiority complex for whiteman. This is what is fueling racism!.

Black people must reclaim our position on this earth, cause the truth is blackman created the world!. If we do not take action, one million years in future, someone is going to teach our children in school that Martin Luther King was a whiteman!.

If we do nothing now, someone is going to teach our descendants that Nelson Mandela was a whiteman!.

You might find this funny, but it's not funny at all. Rather, it's something to be sober about.

. Jesus Christ is already successfully presented as a white man.

. Hannibal is already being successfully presented as white king.

. Adam and Eve is already successfully presented as whites.

. Europe is already being successfully presented as origin of education when in fact the first university on earth was in Mali, Africa.

. Bill Gates is already successfully presented as the richest man ever lived, when Mansa Musa of Mali is the wealthiest man ever lived.

. Sumerians has already successfully been presented as inventors of mathematics, when in fact their ancestors studied mathematics in Africa.

. Credit has already been successfully given to Europe for sciences, when in fact it took deep knowledge of Physics, geometry, and mathematics, to build the Egyptian pyramids.

. Credit has already been given to a Mungo Park as the discoverer of the river Niger, when in fact Mungo Park employed the services of Africans to shows him the routes to the river Niger. The list is endless.

Modern man (homo sapiens) migrated or exodused out of Africa about 60,000 to Arabia, Eurasia, Australia, Brazil and the Americas, e.t.c. Science confirms a massive exodus of people out of Africa. The bible also stated the same!. The bible stated in the whole book of Exodus that there was indeed a massive exodus of people in and out of Africa up till the end of the ice age. The bible characters remains the same people that exodused out of Africa, and their descendants!. The so called Jews were Africans migrating in mass in and out of Africa due to climate change!. Please see research on African migration "out". See another research on African migration "in". It kept happening that way for a long time, until the world climate stabilized and people were able to live in a permanent location and was able to begin farming during the neolithic period.

There were severe and erratic climatic change happening then, such that sometimes it would rain a whole month non-stop and people would be terrified as it seems the whole earth was inundated with water, as recorded in the story of Noah, only to give way to severe drought and famine as recorded in the story of mosses and the children of Israel (Africans). All these recorded in the bible.

If not for the innate humble attitude of the black race, we could have as well broadcasted ourselves as God as we populate the world. Had we done this the issue of racism against the Blackman wouldn't be here today. White people would've simply believed that we are God. How else would they know were not?.

The root of racism is that whites think of blacks as inferior. The real reason a white police man will shoot an unarmed blackman is because he thinks we're not as human as he is.

We can change all these by re-engineering the minds of the black race with raw facts of science and history showing that we actually created the world!. I've already started this project by recording these two songs.

Unfortunately, I do not have the resources to get the song heard worldwide, cause I'm an independent recording artiste not with a record label. Neither, am I in the radio or media where I could get it heard.

Check iTunes or Amazon MP3 for (1) the lost history (2) Jesus Christ was a blackman. I sang about these things. Artiste name: Africason.

Should you know anybody in the media passionate about black issues, have them get this song heard worldwide.

Freedom begins in the mind.

Watch video!.



Whited-Out: The Erased History of Black people.

Written by Africason.

Africason is a musician and a die-hard believer in Africa.

Twitter: @African_School

e-School: www.AfricanSchool.org

Facebook: facebook.com/AfricanSchool

Find my songs on iTunes: Artiste name: Africason
[B]Archie Hesse[/B]

21.01.2016 LISTEN

The Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems Limited (GhIPSS) says it is in the process of acquiring more Point of Sales devices (PoS) to further promote and encourage the use of e-zwich cards for transactions.

The move is to help reduce the use of fiscal cash for purchases and push the agenda of making the Ghanaian economy a 'cash-lite' one.

Speaking to a cross-section of the media in Accra, Archie Hesse, Chief Executive Officer, GhIPSS, said the inadequate number of PoS partly account for the low usage of e-zwich cards to pay for goods and services.

Last year, the total value of transactions recorded on the e-zwich platform reached GH922.3 million, representing more than 238 percent increase over the 2014 transaction value of GH272.7 million.

Mr Hesse attributed the increase partly to the use of the e-zwich for the payments of allowances for National Service Personnel, beneficiaries of the Livelihood Empowerment against Poverty (LEAP) and the payment of caterers under the National School Feeding Programme.

Mr Hesse said discussions were far advanced with some remittance companies to allow direct transfer of remittance onto individual beneficiary e-zwich cards.

When this is done you can directly receive remittances onto your e-zwich card. This will do away with the usual bottlenecks associated with receiving remittances from abroad, he said.

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He said his outfit would this year focus on the adoption of the numerous payment platforms it had rolled out.

To further encourage the use of the e-zwich cards, he said GhIPSS would engage the government to ensure that beneficiaries of the Youth Employment Agency (YEA), as well as the Controller and Accountant-General's Department (CAGD) are paid via the e-zwich platform.

GhIPSS is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) incorporated in May 2007 with a mandate to implement and manage interoperable payment system infrastructure for banks and non-bank financial institutions in Ghana.

In line with its mandate, GhIPSS has implemented and currently manages the National Switch and Biometric Smart Card Payment System, e-zwich and the Cheque Codeline Clearing (CCC) and Automated Clearing House (GACH) systems.

GNA


21.01.2016 LISTEN

Opportunity International Savings and Loans Limited, (OISL) has significantly supported the education sector in Ghana.

The company has given to the education sector over GH20.69 million in the past eight years.

OISL believes strongly that quality education is of paramount importance because lack of education is directly linked to poverty.

Kwame Owusu-Boateng, CEO of OISL said, Given the level of literacy in the country, Opportunity International Savings and Loans Limited finds it necessary to fund the education sector in its bid to reduce poverty and improve access to employment.

Literacy rate in Ghana is 71.5 percent, which implies 28.5 percent of the population aged 15 and over cannot read and write, he stated.

In view of the low literacy rate, he said Opportunity International is helping to alleviate the barriers to education through funding and capacity-building to the schools.

On his part, Nathan Byrd, the Global Head of Education Finance of Opportunity International said, As the public sector in sub-Saharan Africa and other regions continue to struggle with funding for expanding and improving education, the private sector offers a clear, effective sustainable solution.

The Opportunity International's model is enabling locally owned private schools to help low-wage earners educate their families and transform their lives through affordable education.

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It is also stimulating the economy in a direct and effective way and acting as a critical catalyst to improving literacy rates while breaking the cycle of poverty.

Support To Schools

The Savings and Loans Company has disbursed a total amount of GH20.69 million to the education sector in various ways.

GH16.06 million was disbursed directly to improve private schools.

A total of 441 schools, 2,302 pupils from the primary and secondary schools and 945 students from tertiary institutions have benefited from Opportunity International's education loans.

A Business Desk report


Nii Osah Mills

21.01.2016 LISTEN

The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources Nii Osah Mills with his deputy Hon. Kwabena Mintah Akandoh on Friday, 15th January, 2016 paid a days working visit to Obuasi.

The Minister held series of close door meetings with Executives of Anglogold Ashanti, Obuasi Municipal Assembly and Small Scale Miners Association.

In a press briefing, Honorable Osah Mills told media men that the purpose of the visit was to acquaint themselves (the Ministry) of the relationship that exist between Anglogold Ashanti, Obuasi Municipal Assembly and the Small Scale Miners in Obuasi.

He, again revealed that the Ministry was aware of the demonstrations by the Small Scale Miners in the latter part of last year which was basically about their access to lands for mining activities .This he opined formed the basis of their visit.

The Minister reiterated the fact that Anglogold Ashanti (A.G.A) is shedding a total of 275 square kilometer which constitutes about 60% of their total concessions to the Government of Ghana and until the processes are finally concluded, the Mining giant still remains the custodian of the leased land.

Hon. Osah Mills who did not give any timeline to resolve the impasse said the Ministry will take steps to engage various stakeholders, to which he posited will demand a lot more work to be done to come out with a firm conclusion.

The Minster of Lands and Natural Resources further appealed to the executives of the Small Scale Miners Association to stop demonstrating and have trust in authorities to bring a permanent solution to the issue at hand.

Hon. Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, the Deputy Minister of Land and Natural Resources assured the various stakeholders that the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources is duty bound to ensure that a win-win resolution is brought to the matter.

He promised that the doors of the Ministry are always opened to petitions from aggrieved members of the community and did not mince words in re-echoing the fact that, the Ministry is committed to bring a lasting solution to the impasse.

On his part, the chairman of the Small Scale Mines Association of Obuasi, Mr. Kofi Adams thanked the Minister for his visit and was hopeful that the government will stick to its words to intervene in the matter. He however debunked the notion that his group and its members are not registered and are operating illegally.

The Municipal Chief Executive for Obuasi, Hon. Richard Ofori Agyemang Boadi told Media men that the presence of the Minister and his entourage in Obuasi is a vindication that the Municipal Assembly is committed in its quest to resolve the impasse.

A representative of the Regional Co-ordinating Council, Officers of the Obuasi Municipal Assembly, Executives of Small Scale Miners Association and the Media were all present.
21.01.2016 LISTEN

Over-confidence is bad but confidence is good; over-confidence is a product of a pretentious and fooled mind. Over-confidence begets bragging. And bragging usually begets regrets. Bragging is a disguise worn by shallow minds and attention seekers. They specialize in creating mountains out of molehills. When it backfires, bragging can be forlorn.

Be honest, do you brag? What about? Okay, if you dont brag, look around and tell me what you see. Havent you seen that bragging is fast becoming a culture? People, in their desperate bid to create a larger than life perception about themselves, brag with careless abandon. Braggers are everywhere. Even social media platforms have been hijacked by these cacophonous creatures. I shall deal extensively on their social media madness on a later encounter.

History is littered with stories which are capable of making the proudest man humble. I choose to use one example of such true stories as a background for this piece. Have you ever heard of the famous ship, Titanic, which sank en-route her voyage from the British city of Southampton to the American city of New York? Ahh! Hundreds of millionaires tousled to secure tickets for the cruise. Those who couldnt secure tickets cursed their luck.

Somewhere around 1911, engineers working on the luxury ship declared that, the captain can, by simply moving an electric switch, instantly close the doors throughout, practically making the vessel unsinkable. It was nicknamed the unsinkable because it was equipped with the most sophisticated safety gadgets. On the day of the ill-fated journey, a crew member reportedly bragged to a passenger that, not even God can sink the Titanic.

The eleven storey high ship sailed on April 15, 1912, precisely at 11:40pm while the occupants were carousing even as the ship was on course, the ship was struck by an iceberg, and three hours later, it sank carrying down with her one thousand, five hundred and three men and women. Down beneath the waves sank the notable gentlemen and their glittering ladies on a cold ill-fated night.

Till date, the question still being asked is: Did God sink the Titanic? Remember, a crew member seemingly dared God by bragging that, not even God can sink the Titanic.

As I contemplate on the Titanic catastrophe, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) jumps into my thinking. Dear, like the Titanic, NPP is also very huge. It is regarded as the largest opposition political party in Ghana. Today, merely twenty four years after it was formed, the party is seemingly on the brink of death. The party is seemingly sinking in the murky waters of Ghanaian politics.

And how did the NPP get to this point? I must stress that almost all of the partys problems are self-inflicted. For almost a decade under Akufo-Addo, adulterated brand of democracy was forced down the throats of its members. They couldnt spit out the poisonous watery. They suffered so much in silence. When some mustered enough courage to grumble, he felt emboldened and continued pooh-poohing on their collective integrity.

Under his rein, NPP election became a do-or-die affair. Akufo Addo misruled and foisted himself as an emperor over his party. He handpicked stooges as party officials and even had the effrontery to withhold the resources of constituencies whose leaders were not willing to kiss his ass. When he violated common sense by running for a third term bid, Akufo Addo being Akufo Addo imposed Freddy Blay on the party as National Chairman. Till now, the sham called suspension which produced Blay as Chairman ranks the party as one of the most flawed judicial exercises in the world. Even the benefactor, Blay, later attested to it.

The sins of Akufo Addos leadership are unraveling, and they may not yet hear the worst. The party was serially raped, and minus deific intervention, they may not recover swiftly, not this era of unity foisted on intimidation and abject fear.

For eight long years, NPP moved in circles. They were invariably plotting their fall when the likes of Paul Afoko were pushed out of office by those who thought that they were god. When aggrieved constituency officers started dissenting to what others referred to as unlawful, the bigwigs cared less about the situation by refusing to put their house in order. Even Akufo Addo did come out to say that the party is passing through a purging period, and that he was ready to crush those he considered spies within the folk. They claimed that those distressed were the bad eggs. He mocked them by doubting their chances of upstaging the mighty NPP. Ouch! How wrong was he! In his utter ignorance, he forgot that Miss Karma is a bitch. Has he forgotten so fast, the lesson late Mills thought him in the 2008 polls? How about little John Mahama, three months old JM and his ede bee K3k3? I thought experience learning not to repeat same mistakes in life?

Like the crew member, who bragged that not even God could sink the Titanic, NPPs former National Chairman, Peter McManu, opened his mouth too wide when he bragged about his partys invincibility and declared near-immortal longevity in the obsessive quest to rule Ghana forever in May, 2007.

Instead of being remorse in consonance with the suspended national officers, Obiri-Boahene opted for the absurd. His words: Nana Addo will rule Ghana, whether they like it or not, and Dr Bawumia will take over from Nana Addo. He subsequently told members to freely exit from the party because there was no fence wall around the party, if they were not happy about decisions of the party.

Obiri-Boahenes statement wouldnt have mattered much if they party was behaving sanely. When a party with a seemingly insane modus operandi vows to rule at all cost, that statement was like a curse. All round the country, multitudes were licking their wounds.

In Ashanti Region, Volta Region, Brong Ahafo and Norhern Region, same maladies which were rife at the national level were replicated. Instead of mobilizing positively for the polls, they were busily bragging how those regions is NPP regions. They also bragged that if elections are conducted a hundred times, they would record landslide victories in most constituencies, forgetting that 2008 and 2012 was branded with same psychosis and while the masses were pondering on such declarations, elections arrived. Guess what! Humble persons were installed instead of being elected. When the braggarts complained, they were told to go to hell. And they went to hell. That hell is the election petition.

Make no mistake; this brief is not NPPs autopsy report. They are all aware of these things and I need not flog the dead horse any further. But let me point to the fact that, that person who made himself a ready figure for the kidnapping of the peoples franchise should not still be parading himself royally if they are a courageous entity. Instead of apologizing for the heinous crimes perpetrated during that shambolic suspension, his hirelings bragged from the Hilltop about a so-called party structures mandate.

In a nut shell, the NPP came, saw and failed to conquer. Yes, in a democratic system of governance, the masses are unconquerable. But NPP shot itself in the foot by displaying antics which are totally alien to democracy.

All in all, life is full of lessons. Experience, they say, is the best teacher. No doubt, NPP has fallen, but the challenge is for them to look inwards and correct some anomalies. The party has been pushed to a corner. Minus court litigations, NPP is in charge of Ashanti and Eastern. The onus lies on the leaders of these regions to lead the people well, and prove to the world that their party has repented. If this is done, the party will prove to the world that they are like the Greek mythical bird Phoenix which consumes itself in flames to be reborn a new from its ashes. Yes, the NPP can be a born again party. However, if they do otherwise, it will just confirm the doomsday assertion that the NPP is a modern day titanic.
21.01.2016 LISTEN

Eric Amoateng

It seems the troubles of Eric Amoateng, the former Nkoranza North Member of Parliament who was jailed in the US for exporting heroine into that country keep increasing by the day.

The Amoma Royal House members are up in arms against his plan to mount the Amoma stool again when he returned from the US where he served a ten  year jail term.

It will be recalled that Nana Amoateng who was the chief of Amoma abdicated the stool and slaughtered a sheep at the Nkoranza Omanhene's palace to seal everything before going into active politics. He contested the Nkoranza North Parliamentary seat and won convincingly. Barely one and half years after being sworn in as a parliamentarian, Amoateng traveled to the US and was arrested for possessing heroine, a banned substance in the US.

He was tried with his accomplice, Nii Adjei and jailed in the US. When he returned to his hometown he clandestinely went to the stool room to perform some rituals which infuriated the elders of the town because when he returned from the US he did not see the courtesy to consult the elders before entering the stool room.

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In his absence a new chief was nominated and so when Amoateng laid claim to the stool he willingly abdicated, the people became angry and caused the lawyer of the family, Nana Obiri Boahen to write to warn him against any attempt to go near the stool because constitutionally and traditionally, an ex-convict cannot be a chief in Ghana.

In the latest development, Mr. Amoateng has threatened to celebrate the Yam Festival of the people of Amoma but the stool elders have petitioned the Kintampo Municipal Police Commander to stop him, warning that if the police fail to stop him they will take the law into their own hands.

In an exclusive interview with DAILY GUIDE, Mr. Kaakyire an uncle of Amoateng said what is most annoying is that since Amoateng returned from jail he has refused to meet with the family members, not to talk about the circumstances that led to his time in prison.

As at the time of filing this report the Amoma township was very tense and anything can happen if the security agencies failed to take proper action to restore peace in the town.

FROM Eric Bawah, Amoma


21.01.2016 LISTEN

The ECOWAS Community Development Programme (ECOWAS-CDP) media network has condemned the killing of over 20 people in a terrorist attack at the Splendid Hotel and the Cappuccino cafe at Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso last Friday.

The network described the attack on the innocent citizens, staff and guests as barbaric and uncalled for.

A statement, jointly issued by the Chairman of the sub-regional network, Francis Asamoah Tuffour and Chairperson of the Ghana Chapter, Mrs. Hannah Awadzi, termed as worrying, the havoc and atrocities that terrorists and insurgent groups are causing to innocent people and countries.

The statement said the sophisticated nature by which crime is committed globally in recent times, calls for total collaboration by individuals, groups and stakeholders to deal with.

Terrorism, atrocities and other heinous crimes, have taken the center stage in the world; an affront to human rights and this requires that we all join forces with the security agencies to stem the act before it gets out of hand, the statement said.

The situation, the statement noted, demands vigilance on the part of all to report or help arrest suspicious characters.

The network also cautioned shadow parties and interest groups who could best be described as spoilers to refrain from influencing or aiding the

perpetrators with weapons and money for their selfish

interests to the detriment of innocent lives killed, maimed or force(d) out of their homes, villages or countries without thinking of the repercussions.

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Apart from putting fear into the lives of people, the act slows development in the affected communities and countries.

The network expressed its condolences to the relatives of those who lost their lives in the Burkina Faso attack, and those affected in the Mali, Nigeria and Cameroon attacks and wished the injured speedy recovery.

It urged civil society and faith based organisations and other

stakeholders to canvas against such acts while entreating institutions, hotels, border posts and the security agencies to intensify their operations.
Cameroonian authorities must immediately and unconditionally drop all charges against three journalists accused of failing to disclose information and sources, Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders said on the eve of their trial before a military court.

Journalists Baba Wame, Rodrigue Ndeutchoua Tongue, and Felix Cyriaque Ebole Bola are due to appear before a military court in Yaounde tomorrow. They are the first journalists charged for the crime of non-denunciation to be tried in a military court.

The journalists had been investigating a story about allegations of collusion between elements of the security forces and a leader of an armed group from Central African Republic that had been accused of previously attacking a town in the east of Cameroon. They were charged with failing to share information that could harm national security.

Charging journalists for abiding by the ethical standards of their profession is a violation of the right to freedom of expression, and a worrying development in Cameroon, said Stephen Cockburn Amnesty International West and Central Africa Deputy Regional Director.

If convicted, the three journalists could be sentenced to jail terms between one and five years and/or a fine between 50,000 to 5 million CFA (approximately US$832 - US$8,325).

Having received documents about the alleged affair, the journalists had written to the police to get more information. Receiving no reply they abandoned the investigation and did not publish the story.

They were originally charged in October 2014 under Article 107 of Cameroons Criminal Code, and placed under judicial control, registering with the police each week and prevented from publishing in the media. The journalists deny they uncovered any information that could undermine security and say they wish to protect their sources.

Cameroons Criminal Code should be reformed in conformity with international standards to protect freedom of expression and the confidentiality of sources. The public have a right to information and national security must not be used as a pretext to stop journalists from doing their job, said Clea Kahn-Sriber, Reporters Without Borders Africa Desk Manager.

Cameroon has ratified both the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, both of which provide protections for journalists and their sources.
21.01.2016 LISTEN

Maame Kumasi speaking

A 90-year-old well-known card bearing member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Ashaiman Constituency has advised the party's supporters in the municipality to vote against President John Dramani Mahama in the 2016 general elections.

The woman, Margaret Adongo alias Maame Kumasi, who was rendered homeless together with some residents at Lebanon Dam Site after a demolition exercise by the Ashaiman Municipal Assembly (ASHMA), said the NDC do not deserve to win this year's elections to inflict more hardship on Ghanaians.

Speaking to DAILY GUIDE, the frustrated NDC woman indicated that I have witnessed several political administrations in Ghana but have not seen a political party which is unsympathetic like this current NDC.

She therefore called on residents of Ashaiman and Ghanaians in general not to vote for NDC again 'to propagate its wicked and heartless style of administration.

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I voted for Rawlings, I did not sleep outside under President Kufour, I never slept outside under President Mills, why should I sleep outside under President Mahama?

I voted for Mahama in the last elections, I will not vote for him again. I have Voters ID card and membership card of NDC but I will not vote for Mahama, Maame Kumasi, who wept uncontrollably noted.

According to her, the husband used her pension to build the house at the location where the assembly deemed it illegal.

DAILY GUIDE has gathered that some members of the NDC in Ashaiman, after the statement of the aggrieved party member, raised funds to secure a plot of land at Zenu in the Kpone-Katamanso District of Accra to put up a house for her.

Some residents of the area, whose houses were also demolished, are planning to demonstrate against the assembly and government for assisting only the NDC woman.

From Vincent Kubi, Lebanon


Recognizing the huge untapped potential in their economic cooperation, Russia and Africa have taken steady efforts in raising the level of trade and business promotion over the past few years.

Russia is now aiming to increase trade with Africa than before.

Our Moscow correspondent, Kester Kenn Klomegah, interviews Lyubov Demidova, deputy chairperson of the Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Moscow Region, who hinted the reviewing of the Russia-Africa business, pointed out the achievements and challenges for 2015 and the highlight the vision for 2016.

Interview excerpts follow:

Q:How would you describe the current economic cooperation and business partnerships between Russia and African countries?

A: At the regional level of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Moscow region, the cooperation can be assessed as insufficiently active compared to those capabilities possessed by Russia and the countries of the African continent. Our country has great economic potential, which just needs to be used. I hope that the Regional Council for the Development of Relations with African countries (abbreviated RCDRA) will serve as a good mechanism for the development of fruitful cooperation in various fields.

Q: Do you think the crisis can boost interest of potential Russian industries and companies to swift to the African region? Is that really the case for these two years?

A: Russia has a large scientific and technical potential, and the Moscow regional region also is historically developed as an industrial and scientific center and has good opportunities to develop their export potential. I would not want to associate the crisis in the West and in Europe with the development of relations between Russia and African States.

In our opinion, cooperation between our country should not depend on third parties, and should develop independently for the benefit of peoples of our States. The primary task of RCDRA is to make the cooperation as comfortable, convenient and safe for both parties. To that end, Regional Councils are developing special mechanisms to check on partner's reliability.

To put a time frame is absolutely impractical. It all depends not only on Russia but also on African States, and for its part, the Council will make every effort to establish large-scale, long-term and mutually beneficial cooperation and hopefully we will meet the some positive results on the part of African States. In some areas we will be able to cooperate fast enough, and some other areas will require years of hard work to get effective and positive results.

Q:In your expert view, what are the key challenges and problems facing Russian companies and investors that wanted business operation in Africa?

A:The main obstacle is insufficient knowledge of the economic potential, on the part of Russian entrepreneurs, the needs and business opportunities of the African region. This is exactly what RCDRA plans to help members of the business community of all countries to address issues for effective and mutual economic cooperation.

Q:On the other hand, why the presence of African companies on the Russian market is still extremely low? Why trading in Russia is not attractive to African exporters?

A:I think African companies in Russia face the same problems similar to that of the Russian companies face in Africa. On the question of activities, African companies on the Russian territory, in our opinion, is also associated with inadequate knowledge about business practices (rules and regulations) in Russia, local demand, opportunities for the development of commercial activity on both sides. We hope that our future advice will help to better build business confidence for the African entrepreneurs and potential exporters to the Russian market.

Q: Under the circumstances, what should be done to improve the present situation? What are your suggestions as an expert on Africa at the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry?

A: The most promising option for solving the problem of intensification of bilateral contacts is the practical work to establish links between individual companies, business associations from both sides, which will gradually accumulate positive experience of working together, to understand the capabilities and needs of each other leading to the development of the economy both with Russian and with the African side.

Given the relevance for this stage of cooperation between African countries and Russia, obtaining practical experience, it was decided to create RCDRA at Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Moscow Region) and the beginning of practical work at the level of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Moscow Region), like business associations, on the basis of which the main social organization in the Moscow region, Business Russia, OPORA Russia.

In addition, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the Moscow Region covers almost all the municipalities of the Moscow Region, and in the aggregate, the largest Chamber in the system of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Russia. We look forward to working closely with the diplomatic community of African States accredited in Russia. This collaboration will definitely accelerate and bolster the process of rapprochement between businessmen of Russia and Africa.
Two years after their houses were demolished by the Tema Development Corporation, disgruntled residents of Agyei Kojo, are back on the land, chanting and demanding the return of the land.

The residents are marking two years of their eviction which rendered them homeless. In red and black attire, the residents sang and shouted on the same land that used to house them but which has now been taken over by weeds.

They say they are tired of 'perching' with family and friends and want their lands back.

The Tema Development Corporation (TDC) accused the residents of encroaching on the land meant for other development projects.

In January 2014, the TDC supervised the first demolition exercise that rendered the residents homeless. Not even the intervention of the Tema West MP Irene Naa Torshie Addo was enough to stop the TDC from going ahead with the demolition.

According to Joy News' Joseph Opoku Gapko who interviewed the residents, the TDC began some development projects, including the building of roads on the disputed land shortly after the demolition exercise two years ago but the project has come to a standstill.

Gakpo said the once vibrant residential area has been reduced to an isolated vicinity taken over by weeds.

There is, however, one wooden structure and a UNDP tent occupied by a family.

The former residents who returned on Thursday are demanding compensation for their demolished properties and a return of the land.

They say the land was illegally taken away from them.

According to them, four former tenants of the land have died out of shock from the demolition with two others becoming mentally unstable.

"We are still in the wilderness. Our lands have been stolen," one of the residents said.

The TDC is yet to comment on the new development.
Widespread human rights violations and abuses have been committed in South Sudan by all parties to the conflict since December 2013, including hundreds of extra-judicial killings, enforced disappearances, sexual violence, forced recruitment and indiscriminate attacks against civilians, according to a UN report published today. The report, by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), shows that very few places in areas of conflict have been safe, as the parties have intentionally attacked traditional safe havens, such as places of worship, hospitals and, from time to time, United Nations bases. These attacks reveal a shocking disregard for civilian life, the report says, with an increasing number of armed groups and communities being involved in the violence. From the middle of 2015, a new pattern emerged, particularly in the central and southern counties of Unity State, with entire villages being burned down, food crops destroyed and livestock looted. There are indications that this may have been a deliberate strategy by the government or the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) aimed at depriving civilians of any source of livelihood with a view to forcing their displacement, says the report. The report documents at least 280 cases of conflict-related sexual violence, including gang-rape, sexual slavery and forced abortion. There has also been sharp increase in child recruitment, with at least 13,000 to 15,000 child soldiers, recruited mainly, but not solely, by opposition forces, as of December 2015.

Despite the severity of the human rights and humanitarian law violations perpetrated by both sides to the conflict, there are no tangible accountability mechanisms beyond the rhetoric of the main belligerents, says the report. Accountability must be a fundamental element of the ongoing peace process. I hope that this report, by showing how the conflict has impacted the lives of ordinary South Sudanese, will inform the emerging processes aimed at the implementation of the IGAD-facilitated Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (ARCSS) that was signed by the parties in August 2015, said Ellen Margrethe Loej, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for South Sudan and head of UNMISS. It is time to end the cycle of impunity that has allowed these violations to occur and embrace a brighter future of sustainable peace for all South Sudanese, she added. The constant attacks on women, the rape, enslavement and slaughter of innocents; the recruitment of thousands upon thousands of child soldiers; the deliberate displacement of vast numbers of people in such a harsh and poverty-stricken country -- these are abhorrent practices that must be halted, said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein. Accountability and justice sound like empty words in such a bleak landscape, but they are essential if South Sudan is to come out of this terrible period, Zeid added. The current regional and international peace efforts offer some hope that this perpetual cycle of bloodshed and misery can be brought to an end, and I urge all sides to negotiate in good faith.
With hundreds of Burundian refugees continuing to cross into Tanzania daily, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is doubling its efforts to ensure they receive vital life-saving assistance.

Thousands of families, many with young children, are living in close quarters, stretching available resources to the limit, said Andreas Sandin, operations coordinator, IFRC, eastern Africa. Aid agencies are doing what they can to provide the basic necessities, but with new people arriving daily, we need to ramp up our activities quickly. To do so, we need the continued support of our partners, which is why we are asking for increased attention to be paid to this unfolding crisis.

With a plan to assist 250,000 refugees, the IFRC has increased its Emergency Appeal in Tanzania from 2.1 million Swiss francs to 5.2 million Swiss francs. To date, the Appeal is 29 per cent covered. Additional funding will allow the IFRC, working with the Tanzania Red Cross Society, to expand on existing activities which focus on providing access to improved health care, clean water and sanitation, and epidemic prevention for refugees in the Mtendeli and Nyaragusu camps.

When you have so many people living in such close quarters and in poor hygiene conditions, outbreaks of disease such as malaria and cholera become threats. It would not take much for an outbreak to run rampant through the camps or extend into host communities, said Dr Adinoyi Adeiza, IFRC health coordinator, Africa region. With the current heavy rainfall, we are continuing to distribute mosquito nets and raise awareness about proper hygiene throughout the camps.

More than 232,000 people have fled Burundi since violence erupted in April 2015 before the election. Most have sought refuge in neighbouring countries, with 123,382 coming to Tanzania. Thousands moved into the Nyaragusu camp which, for the past 18 years, has been home to 65,000 Congolese refugees. The arrival of new refugees has stretched resources at the camp, originally built for 50,000 people, leaving the existing community also struggling to access services.

For the past nine months, staff and volunteers with the Tanzania Red Cross Society have been on the frontline of the response, providing health services in Nyarugusu camp, including a 150-bed hospital with surgical services, hospital annex and health posts to support the Burundian refugees.

The IFRC has also launched emergency operations in Rwanda, where more than 77,000 Burundians have fled.
Via The New Yorker: The Crisis in Flint Goes Deeper Than the Water. Excerpt:

Last July, after more than a year of public complaints about the drinking water in Flint, Michiganwater so pungent and foamy that a local pastor had stopped using it for baptismsreporters were calling the states Department of Environmental Quality.

The response from the department was of limited urgency. In an internal e-mail to colleagues, a spokeswoman, Karen Tommasulo, wrote, Apparently its going to be a thing now.

The D.E.Q. tried to stop the water from becoming a thing, partly by downplaying concerns. A memo from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency warned that the citys use of a new water source was exposing the public to unsafe levels of lead, but Brad Wurfel, the departments lead spokesperson, told a reporter, Let me start hereanyone who is concerned about lead in the drinking water in Flint can relax.

Even after a group of Virginia Tech researchers found unsafe levels of lead, Wurfel disputed the importance of the findings because, he wrote, the group specializes in looking for high lead problems. They pull that rabbit out of that hat everywhere they go. He added that dire public health advice based on some quick testing could be seen as fanning political flames irresponsibly. Residents of Flint concerned about the health of their community dont need more of that.

As it turns out, the residents of Flint needed much more of that. The states inept response is now a full-blown national scandal. President Obama has declared an emergency in Flint, making available five million dollars in federal assistance.

Much of the blame falls on Governor Rick Snyder, who acknowledged, on Tuesday, that he had run out of excuses. I am sorry; we will fix this, he said, in his State of the State address. He thanked the whistle-blowers, and promised to seek millions more in state funds for bottled water, health care, and infrastructure fixes.

Facing calls for his resignation, he told the people of Flint and elsewhere, You deserve accountability. You deserve to know that the buck stops here, with me. Most of all, you deserve to know the truth.

In his speech, Snyder promised to release his e-mails from 2014 and 2015, which may fill in some details of how he lost his way. Snyder, an accountant who ran on the slogan One Tough Nerd, was a first-time candidate when he won in 2010, in a Republican wave that also elected Governor Scott Walker in Wisconsin.

He preached pragmatism and austerity, calling himself Americas token-CPA governor, and, as recently as this spring, he talked of a possible Presidential run.

His image as a technocrat is, for the moment, finished. He acknowledged this week that Flint is tantamount to his Hurricane Katrina.
Alban Bagbin

21.01.2016 LISTEN

The Majority leader in Parliament Alban Bagbin is urging members of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) to be vigilant on elections day in order to retain the party in power.

According to him, regardless of what the party does in government to improve the lot of Ghanaians, lack of vigilance on voting day can cost them the elections.

Speaking at a party workshop in Koforidua in the Eastern region Thursday, the Nadowli-Kaleo MP said signals are clear that 2016 will not be an easy year.

...Lets be very careful about what we say or what we dont say. Because speech is not only words...It is very important to our winning the elections, but the only effective instrument to winning elections is vigilance.

You can make the laws, you can put the systems in place, you can do everything but if you are not vigilant you cannot win the elections. You dont win elections through the Electoral Commission and courts never win elections for anybody, he said.

Bagbin also assured members of the party that the parliamentary caucus of the party will work to maintain their numerical strength over the opposition in the upcoming elections.

Ghana goes to the polls to elect a president and parliamentarians in November. Political watchers say the presidential race is a straight contest between President John Mahama and the New Patriotic Partys Nana Akufo-Addo, who is making a third attempt at the Presidency.
21.01.2016 LISTEN

Bolgatanga (Ghana) - He loves his tradition as an African but he has given his life to Jesus Christ. He is an African royal by birth but a christian soldier by choice. Now caught in-between tradition and personal Christian faith, he must make a choice, even when he is given no options.

Such is the dilemma of Clement Ananvuraborigo A - Ugidima of Bongo Beo, in the upper east region of Ghana who is under extreme pressure to denounce his christian faith and embrace the African traditional rituals that characterizes the chieftaincy of his people.

As a university graduate from the university of professional studies in Accra, Ghana, Clement Anavuraborigo A - Ugidima finds it an imposition and a violation of his rights to be named by his village clan heads as automatic heir to the throne of his village chieftaincy which has been made vacant by the death of the former chief Naba Aduko Abirigo.

Atule Aboka, is a king maker of Bongo Beo. He insists that Clement A - Ugidima has no choice but to embrace the rituals and traditional religious sacrifices that is part and parcel of making him the village chief. 'He (Clement) has been chosen by the gods, not us. School or no school, he will be our chief. Forget about his church. Tradition was here before church', he stated adamantly.

In a couple of weeks, the coronation is scheduled to take place. Clement who says he worships at the charismatic light house chapel international church, is certain that he does not want to go through with the traditional rituals. ' I am a christian, a born again one. I cannot be both a Christian and an African traditionalist. I 'd rather leave my home town and go somewhere than to denounce my Christian faith to become a traditional chief. I will never do that', he insists.

Ghana is a secular state in the West African sub-region with the freedom to worship guaranteed by its 1992 constitution. It will however appear that the traditional king makers regard their traditional norms over and above the constitutional guarantees of religious freedoms.

Chieftaincy here cannot be practically seperated from African traditional religion and its associated rituals.

Lawyer Nasara George, is a Ghanaian legal practioner who has come across this sort of cases severally. 'This boils down to personal decision on the part of the victim. It is a matter of personal faith. The constitution recognizes the freedom of worship or the right to choose any religion. But it also recognizes the chieftaincy institution and its cultural traditions and norms as part of the local government system. The individual involved must choose to succumb to tradition or reject it but there are traditional and local societal consequences in rejecting it'.

One must be careful in this situation', he suggests.

Atule Aboka does not mince words on the traditional consequences of rejecting the throne in the name of Christianity. ' when you have been chosen by the gods to become the chief, you cannot reject it unless you want to be at war with the gods of our land. You cannot reject the gods and live on their land peacefully. They will be angry and you cannot hide, not even in Accra'.

In this ensuing dilemma and clash of civilizations, the law don't seem to offer much help to the young educated Clement Ananvuraborigo A - Ugidima.

It remains to be seen how he can keep his christian faith intact in the face of the adamant and dominant traditional society in which he finds himself.

Will Clement Anabvuraborigo A - Ugidima become a traditional chief against his own will and christian values or will he remain a christian and risk suffering the consequences of the wrath of his village gods and clan heads?
The Members of the Women In Maritime in Africa (WIMAfrica) took part in the AU 8th Gender Pre-Summit on 2016 African Year of Human Rights, with Particular Focus on the Rights of Women.

Under the Presidency of H.E Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Chairperson of the AUC, the 2016 Gender Pre-Summit is jointly organized by the AUC Directorate of Women, Gender and Development; the Gender is My Agenda Campaign (GIMAC), and AU partners from 17th to 20th January 2016 at the African Union Commission headquarters.

More than 50 Delegates from Angola, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Mozambique, Nigeria -African Shipowners Association- and Togo represented WIMAfrica at this Pre-Summit.

WIMAfrica Delegation was conducted by Mrs Teresa Geremias from the Republic of Mozambique, Acting President representing Mrs Rosa Sobrinho from the Republic of Angola, President of WIMAfrica.

Belonging to a sector long time managed by men, the members of WIMAfrica participated in the Conference to express a strong message on the key role of women in Africa blue economy and to encourage the Assembly to pay closer attention to the maritime domain in Africa and its capacity in term of job creation, Fleet development, tremendous natural resources, and wealth creation, at this decisive moment where Africa is implementing its continental long term development program: Agenda 2063.

The Women in Maritime in Africa wanted to meet with their sisters from other domain and discuss how they can contribute in synergy to the wellbeing of African Citizens.

[Description: Description: WIMA5] In margin of the Pre-Summit, WIMAfrica members held their bi-annual general meeting not only to take stock of the progress made so far since last meeting on 25th July 2015, during the Launch of the Decades of Seas and Oceans in Africa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; but also to work on the way forward particularly the Memorandum of understand between the African Union and WIMAfrica.

Mrs Mahawa Wheeler, the newly appointed Director of the AU Directorate of Women and Gender (WGD) was invited by the members of WIMAfrica to introduce each other, to express the support of WIMAfrica to the Chairperson of the African Union Commission through the Director and to talk about the way forward as well as a closer collaboration in reaching the goals of Africans but particularly the goals of African women.

During this introductory session, H.E. Madam Antonia Florbela de Jesus Rocha Araujo, Secretary of State for Legal Affairs and Judiciary to the Presidency of the Republic of Angola invited alongside with the Director of the AU WGD, expressed her joy to take part in this gathering and encouraged this initiative on Maritime which is considered as a key sector in her country.

In return, Mrs Wheeler expressed her enthusiasm to have WIMAfrica on board and promised to keep the momentum in collaborating with them as key partners in the Maritime domain.
Abuja (AFP) - Several high-profile Nigerians are facing charges as part of a drive against corruption but there are concerns the government is settling old political scores and flouting due process.

President Muhammadu Buhari has vowed to recoup what he said were "mind-boggling" sums of public money stolen under previous administrations to fulfil a campaign pledge to end graft.

This week, the government claimed just 55 people stole more than $6 billion between 2006 and 2013, leaving Nigeria in the lurch as its economy struggles due to the global oil price slump.

But it is former national security advisor Sambo Dasuki who has become the key figure in the anti-corruption campaign.

The former army colonel is accused of looting billions of dollars that were aimed at buying weapons and equipment for troops fighting Boko Haram Islamists.

Cash is alleged to have been diverted instead to members of former president Goodluck Jonathan's Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to fund his failed re-election campaign.

Dasuki was granted bail last month but has been kept in custody without access to his legal counsel as he awaits the start of three trials, his lawyer Joseph Daudu told a court in Abuja on Wednesday.

Dauda said the detention was a "brazen affront" to the judiciary and the judge agreed.

"I don't see how I can be conducting a criminal trial without the presence of the accused person," said judge Adeniyi Ademola. "You can set a dangerous precedent as it is."

- Old habits? -

Dauda later claimed Buhari was reverting to his old autocratic habits from his days as military ruler in the 1980s.

"He (Buhari) emphasised he was a changed man, open to democratic principals. But interfering with the court system, trying to find your own rule of law, is not good," he told AFP at his office.

"It makes the outcome suspect."

Prosecutor Oladipo Okpeseyi, however, denied any impropriety. "The federal government has obeyed every order made in respect of this case. We are not acting illegally in any way whatsoever," he said.

But Buhari's own comments about Dasuki and two other cases involving the pro-Biafra activist Nnamdi Kanu and the Shiite Muslim leader Ibrahim Zakzaky have rung alarm bells.

He told reporters in December the men should be kept in custody because they had committed "atrocities" against the government -- despite none of them having been tried and convicted.

Kanu was arrested in October. He was granted bail in December but remains in secret police custody, pending a trial on "treasonable felony" charges.

Zakzaky was detained after a military raid on the headquarters of his Islamic Movement of Nigeria that it is claimed left hundreds dead. It is not clear whether he has been charged with any offence.

- 'Nothing to fear'? -

Buhari was voted into power in 2015 after vowing to stamp out corruption and usher in a new democratic era free from bitter partisanship.

He won over sceptics by preaching forgiveness and pledged an impartial war on graft in the interest of political harmony.

"President Jonathan has nothing to fear from me," Buhari said in his acceptance speech last April. "Let's put the past behind us, especially the recent past."

But with the prosecution of Dasuki  a powerful member of Jonathan's administration -- the former head of state could yet be dragged into the case.

"The national security advisor will normally carry out the instructions of his president," Dasuki's other lawyer Ahmed Raji told AFP.

"You cannot talk about this matter without talking about President Jonathan."

- Witch-hunt? -

Buhari's anti-corruption zeal has been widely praised and seen as much-needed but political analyst Chris Ngwodo said "it just has to be conducted in the right way".

"Corruption will be beaten by straightening institutions, not by disregarding them," he added.

Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is casting an ever-widening net to bag corrupt officials in Africa's most populous nation and leading economy.

But few charged with siphoning public funds have had their day in court and with most accused or subject to investigations being PDP members, the party has accused Buhari of conducting a witch-hunt.

Prominent PDP supporter and media magnate Raymond Dokpesi has been charged in the Dasuki case along with the party's spokesman Olisa Metuh. who appeared in court recently in handcuffs.

That so many PDP figures have been arrested risks stoking tensions in a country where partisan loyalty frequently erupts into deadly violence.

"Securing actual convictions of these people, that is the real litmus test of the anti-corruption campaign," Ngwodo said.
The closing of the 8th African Gender Pre-Summit on 2016 African Year of Human Rights, with Particular focus on the Rights of women at the AU headquarters on Wednesday 20 January 2016, was marked by high moments after the adoption of the final communique.

The over 400 women worldwide with participation from 45 African countries reiterated their commitment to ensure that the recommendations stipulated in the Addis Ababa Communique on women and youths development be fully domesticated and implemented by their respective governments. Two children (a boy and a girl) presented a poem at the closing ceremony, calling on the women leaders and decision makers to honour their promise as they endorse the final communique so as to paved the way for the younger generation to find a more prosperous and peaceful Africa, free of wars, hunger, disease, poverty and conflicts. The two kids handed over a symbolic key to the representative of the AUC Chairperson, H.E Dr. Aisha Abdullahi, urging her to transmit the message of the youths to H.E Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, to use the key to unlock all the difficulties and challenges Africa may face, while opening more opportunities for the youths under Agenda 2063. On a different note, two African Women Professors received the African Union Kwame Nkrumah Scientific Awards during the event.

Addressing participants on behalf of the AUC Chairperson, Commissioner Abdullahi, expressed her gratitude to all delegates during the period of the Gender Pre-Summit and said she believes that the communique adopted during this Summit will achieve the main goals of the gender devlopment which is to mobilise women around common continental issues, and to ensure that gender remain high on the AU Agenda.

She congratulated all the Women and Gender Ministers following the successful outcome of their Specialised Technical Committee (STC). As said in the Opening session, we must ensure that we focus on the mobilization of women from all works of live, to participate in the implementation of Agenda 2063, in its entire dimension. The Commissioner underlined.

The Commissioner joined all delegates to congratulate the two African Union Kwane Nkrumah Scientific Awards; Laureates for the Regional Awards for Women namely Professor Merzouk Hafida from Algeria representing the North region, and Professor Yalemtsehay Mekonnen, from Ethiopia, representing the Eats Region. She highlighted the importance of Science, Technology and Innovation as valuable opportunities to empower women. Reiterating the overarching continental AU Agenda 2063, this lays emphasis on Science, Technology and Innovation as tools for achieving continental development goals. It further advocates for An Africa where development is people driven, unleashing the potential of its Women and Youth among others. We must be the change we want to see, Change Agents, transformers and not conformers the Commissioner concluded. (See Complete speech of the AUC Chairperson delivered by Commissioner Abdullahi on the AU Website: www.au.int ).

Recognising and congratulating the two laureates of the AU Kwame Nkrumah Scientific Awards, H.E Martial De Paul Ikounga, Commissioner for Human Resources Science and Technology (HRST) noted that the prestigious Award is a holistic and deliberate measure taken by the AU Commission to maintain science and technology at the top of Africa's development, cooperation and political agenda.

The Commissioner further urged Member States, Regional Economic communities and key stakeholders to promote and support the great participation of African citizens particularly women to be interested in achieving the goals of this award, so as to involve them in Africa's sustainable development. In his closing remarks Commissioner De Paul Ikounga thanked all Regional Economic communities which continue to serve as fundamental pillars for regional development and the EU that have been great partners all through since the launch of the prestigious Nkrumah Scientific Awards.

H.E Amb. Gary Quince Head of Delegation of the European Union to the African Union commended the commitment of the African Union to solemnly support gender equality on the continent. Ambassador. Gary underscored the importance of prioritising science and technology and continuous involvement of women as it is a key pillar for development. Further stressing that the EU is already a great partner of the AU and they will continue to support AU's Africa development agenda while maintaining the existing good cooperation ties.
A trade delegation from the state of North Dakota is visiting Cairo for the first time for two days of meetings with prospective business partners and government officials. The delegation will explore possible expansion of U.S. trade and investment opportunities with Egypt in certain fields.

Two American agricultural companies, Healthy Oilseeds and JM Grain, are participating in the trade mission, which is led by the Commissioner of the North Dakota Department of Agriculture, Doug Goehring, and the Executive Director of the North Dakota Trade Office, Dean Gorder.

Mr. Goehring noted: Egypt has tremendous business potential, and we are visiting Cairo to look into opportunities both for trade and potential future investments here.

The North Dakota delegation, along with representatives from the Embassy's Foreign Agricultural Service, is meeting with Egyptian companies in the agricultural sector to explore business opportunities. They are also meeting with officials in the ministries of Agriculture, Electricity and Energy, Industry and Trade, and Petroleum to discuss Egyptian and U.S. collaboration and investment in Egypt's agriculture and energy sectors.
21.01.2016 LISTEN

Christian Pressure Group Movement For Kingdom Image has given the Deputy General Secretary of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Koku Anyidoho seven days to apologise to the Catholics Bishop Conference or face the wrath of God.

Koku Anyidoho has accused the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference of politicising the Ghana Governments decision to host two former inmates of the maximum security Guantanamo Bay detention centre; Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby.

I know these Bishops to be full of common sense, but when they see and hear anything that has to do with the President, then they leave their common sense and start to complain. They should watch it and stop those trivial issues they are coming up with because I know they are just doing politics with it, he asserted.

In a press statement signed by the Public Relations Officer of the movement, Rev. Daniel Osei Budu, the group said: We are not going to sit and watch the likes of Koku Anyidoho to drain our spiritual fathers and mentors because of power. The group believe it's time we demonstrated the power of God unto some politicians and use them as escape goats to others who and fond of insulting great men of God

Read full statement below

The Christian Pressure Group Movement For Kingdom Image after its second look at the ill and unspeakable words of insult and arrogance with which the deputy general secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Koku Anyidoho responded to the Catholics Bishop Conference comment about the reception of the two Guantanamo bay prisoners we as a group want Koku Anyidoho to come out on the same platform he used to insult these men of God to retract and render an unqualified apology to the catholic bishops conference with seven days (7) or face the destruction of God.

We are hereby calling on him to do so within seven days to avoid the unpardonable wrath of our God to wash him from the earth because if the children of God speak God can do anything.

The group have observed with great concerns that if a citizen mentions something amount to treason against politicians immediately BNI comes to arrest but men of are made to go through pain and tribulation in the hands of many politicians without reason.

.

We are not going to sit and watch the likes of Koku Anyidoho to drain our spiritual fathers and mentors because of power.

The group believe it's time we demonstrated the power of God unto some politicians and use them as escape goats to others who and fond of insulting great men of God.

There are several instances in the bible where the saints prayed and caused heaven to act and destruction occurred. According Revelations chapter 8 we will prove Koku Anyidoho that his deputy general secretary position is nowhere near priesthood.

The seven spirits of our God are ready for him if he fails to apologise and retract his filthy words filled with pride God is going to strike at him and if God makes him dumb we will see the mouth he will use to insult men of God.

As ruler King Nebuchadnezzar fooled and turned animal ate grass and lived in the bush so shall it be in this country if Koku Anyidoho takes our warning for a joke.

Thank you

Long Live our Ministers of God

Long live MFKI

Long live Ghana.


Accra, Jan 21, GNA - The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) is to collect a total GHa245.5 million in tax liabilities, which have accumulated since 2003, from six institutions.

The institutions are the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Volta River Authority (VRA), Ghana Water Company Limited, Tema Oil Refinery, Ghana Heavy Equipment and West African Drilling Services.

These institutions have not settled their tax liabilities at the Large Tax Payers Office for some years despite the provision of 134 (2d) of the Internal Revenue Act (Act 592) which states that a person assessed shall pay the tax due within 30 days from the date of service of notice from assessment.

Consequently, Mr George Blankson, the Commissioner of GRA, was invited to appear before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament on Wednesday to explain why the Authority had allowed such gargantuan debt for years.

Mr Kwaku Agyeman Manu, the Member of Parliament of Dormaa Central, is chairing the Committee, which is considering the 2012 Auditor-General's Department Report, which captured the tax irregularity.

Members on the Committee demanded an update of the indebtedness of the institutions from the GRA Commissioner, but he could not readily provide answers.

He said the Authority had managed to retrieve some of the debt and expressed the commitment to retrieve all the monies from the institutions.

The Committee also probed into a 2.3 million tax exemption given to 10 Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) to deliver petroleum products without proper documentation.

Members also expressed concern about exemption given without due recourse to Parliament because the legislature was the only institution mandated by law to grant tax exemption.

'Nobody in GRA grants tax exemption. I have never granted anyone tax exemption and I want that to be on record,' Mr. Blankson said and added that his outfit was only given documents to the effect that the OMCs had been exempted from paying taxes.

Also, the law makers expressed displeasure over 60 traders who had evaded taxes (Value Added Taxes) equivalent to about GHa70.8 million.

They blamed the GRA for its failure to utilize the institutional and legal means available to it to retrieve the monies and allowed the outstanding debts to be sustained.

Mrs. Mona Quartey, Deputy Minister of Finance came to the rescue of the GRA and told the Committee that the traders had paid GHa69 million, leaving a balance of GHa1 million.

She said the Ministry would assist the GRA to address such infractions to ensure that all tax payers honoured their tax liabilities on time.

It also came to light at the Committee's deliberations that a stock taking at the Customs Division in Kumasi revealed that one Opel Astra vehicle was missing from state warehouse.

Interestingly, there was no police report on the incident, the A-G's report said.

The Committee urged the Authority to conduct full investigations into the matter and impose sanctions accordingly.

GNA
A senior lecturer at Ashesi University, Dr Lloyd Amoah, has said government has become full of itself and groping.

"Look at their lifestyle: they live in luxury, they live off our taxes, they have become arrogant making very very bad mistakes. Making a mistake is not good, let alone making a bad one," Dr Amoah told Ekow Mensah-Shalders on the Executive Breakfast Show (EBS) on Class 91.3fm Thursday 21 January 2016.

Dr Amoah was reacting to the industrial action by Organised Labour to force government to review utility tariffs, taxes, and petroleum prices downwards.

He said issues confronting Ghanaians and workers are critical and the TUC's actions must force the government to act.

He said the nation was grappling with "low standards of living" coupled with "high cost of living" hence "many people cannot make ends meet".

"Strangely enough, those, who hold power, are not listening to the concerns of the people, who put them in the position in which they are, and, so, I think the TUC strategically has the advantage. They should go for the jugular," the academic continued.

According to Dr Amoah, the TUC's industrial action is important "because government has not shown good faith and, so, in my calculation, I think that the strike will be critical".

He said leaders of the TUC should be the ones calling the shots at the moment.

In his view: "The general mood in our republic is one of discontent, one of displeasure". He said union leaders must respond to the discontent by sticking to their plan. "They should stick to that and really get the government squeezed, it's important," he added.
The Police have shot two people, including someone they described as a murder suspect, dead at Nmai-Dzorn in Accra.

The police said the two were shot after they resisted attempts to have them arrested at about 1:30am on Thursday, Accra-based Joy FM reported.

At a news conference Thursday morning, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Greater Accra Regional Police Command, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Afia Tenge, claimed that the two, Adisha Bagaje and Joseph Adjei, attacked the police team that went to arrest them with 'machetes, knives and other offensive weapons'.

According to ASP Tenge, when the police officials realised that their lives were in danger, one of them, Sergeant Adorye opened fire on the two men, injuring them.

She said the two later died at the hospital.

ASP Tenge added that Sergeant Adorye had been detained by the police pending investigations into the matter.
WHO has published Zika virus infection  Guyana, Barbados and Ecuador. Excerpt:

Between 14 and 15 January 2016, the National IHR Focal Points (NFP) for Guyana, Barbados and Ecuador notified PAHO/WHO of cases of Zika virus infection.

Guyana

On 14 January, the NFP for Guyana reported the first laboratory-confirmed case of locally-acquired Zika virus infection in the country. The case is a 27-year-old female from Berbice, Region 6, with onset of symptoms on 1 January.

Samples of the patient were collected on 4 January and sent to the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) laboratory in Trinidad and Tobago for testing. The case was confirmed by polymerase-chain reaction (PCR) (viral genome detection).

Barbados

On 15 January, the NFP for Barbados reported the first 3 laboratory-confirmed cases of locally-acquired Zika virus infection in the country. None of the cases had a history of travel.

Samples of the patients were sent to the CARPHA laboratory for testing. The cases were confirmed by PCR (viral genome detection).

Ecuador

On 15 January, the NFP for Ecuador reported 2 laboratory-confirmed cases of locally-acquired Zika virus infection in the country. As of 16 January, a total number of 6 cases had been reported  2 of the cases were locally-acquired while the remaining 4 cases were imported (3 from Colombia and 1 from Venezuela).

Samples from all cases were collected and sent to the National Public Health and Research Institute in Guayaquil for laboratory testing. All cases tested positive by PCR (viral genome detection) for Zika virus and negative for dengue and chikungunya.
In an interview with Al Jazeera Englishs flagship current affairs show, UpFront, MIT professor emeritus Noam Chomsky - a long-standing critic of US foreign policy and overseas interventions - said he supported U.S. air strikes against ISIL.

Im not an absolute pacifist, he said. I think there are times when the use of military force defensively is legitimate.

"Defending the Kurds against the ISIL attacks, yes, thats legitimate, he added, explaining that the "Kurdish areas of Syria" constitute a "fairly decent society" which "certainly merit support" from the US air force.

Chomsky condemned the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who in a public address criticised "so-called intellectuals" like Chomsky for supporting Kurdish separatists, and invited the MIT professor to visit Turkey.

In the interview, Chomsky, who has accused the Turkish government of carrying out a terrorist war against the Kurds in the past, called the Turkish president a murderer in relation to the Turkish armys military offensive against Kurdish rebels in the countrys southeast.

Chomsky was asked whether he supported the Kurdish PKK and asked to address their acts of violence against Turkish civilians.

They have carried out attacks on civilians, yes, he said. I'm not saying we should give military aid to the PKK. On the other hand, if we are interested in attacking ISIS, and saving the Yazidi, and saving the Kurds, we cant say we are going to attack them.

Theres plenty of evils in the world, but we have to deal with the world as it exists, he added. If you want to defend the Kurds, you cannot be attacking the Kurds.

Discussing the spat between Presidents Erdogan and Putin following the shooting down of a Russian jet in Turkish airspace, Professor Chomsky said: That's the kind of thing that could set off a major war. And what were the consequences? The consequences were as expected, that Russia greatly increased its military forces in the region, put in advanced missiles, sent a missile cruiser. I mean, you dont play games like that.

On the subject of the pro-Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, Chomsky was asked by host Mehdi Hasan whether it was a "mistake" for BDS campaigners to target Israeli artistic, cultural and educational institutions, too.

I think it is, he said. Just as I do not suggest boycotting Harvard University and my own university, even though the United States is involved in horrific acts.

Chomsky distinguished between those BDS campaigns "aimed at the occupied territories, the "kind that I support," and "actions against Israel itself, which he dismissed: "You might as well boycott the United States.

UpFront, hosted by Mehdi Hasan, broadcasts on Fridays at 19.30 GMT, after which it will be available at www.aljazeera.com/upfront. Follow UpFront on Twitter @AJUpFront.

Watch preview

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Cairo (AFP) - A bomb blast killed six people, including three Egyptian policemen, when a team of officers on Thursday raided an apartment in Cairo suspected to be a militant hideout, police said.

The explosion in the capital's Al-Haram district, near the pyramids, came ahead of Monday's anniversary of the 2011 revolution that ousted longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

"Six people have been killed in the blast, including three policemen. The others include a civilian and two unidentified men," a police officer told AFP.

Fifteen other people were wounded.

Security officials said the impact of the explosion damaged part of the residential building housing the apartment.

The neighbourhood of Al-Haram has witnessed several attacks and gunfights since the overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

It is known to house many sympathisers of Morsi and used to be regular venue for clashes between his supporters and security forces in the aftermath of his ouster by then army chief and now President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

The district also houses several hotels inhabitated by tourists visiting Cairo given its proximity to the pyramids.

On January 7, a gang of youths hurled fireworks and fired birdshot at police guarding a hotel in the area where Arab Israelis were staying.

No-one was hurt but the interior ministry said at that time that unknown assailants had gathered outside the hotel and carried out the attack.

Militants have regularly attacked policemen and soldiers since the army toppled Morsi.

The Cairo bombing comes after gunmen killed five policemen late Wednesday when they attacked a checkpoint in the North Sinai town of Al-Arish.

The Islamic State group's Egyptian affiliate, the Sinai Province, claimed that attack.

The Sinai Province is spearheading an insurgency against security forces in the region, and has carried out deadly attacks in North Sinai as well as in other cities including Cairo.

Jihadists say their attacks are in retaliation for a brutal government crackdown targeting Morsi's supporters that has left hundreds dead and thousands imprisoned.
Tripoli (AFP) - Oil facilities in northern Libya were set ablaze Thursday as the Islamic State group launched fresh attacks to seize key export terminals, renewing concerns over the jihadists' growing influence.

Fighting broke out at dawn in the Ras Lanouf region, which along with the nearby Al-Sidra facility is one of the country's main oil export hubs, said the National Oil Corporation (NOC).

"Storage tanks filled with crude have caught fire," it said, adding that nearby high-voltage power lines and electrical towers had also been downed.

"The situation in Ras Lanouf is catastrophic for the enviroment," it said in a statement.

State news agency LANA reported that IS militants were behind the attack and that the storage tankers belonged to Harouge Oil Operations.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack, but Mohamad al-Manfi, the spokesman for NOC in the east, said the jihadists had "fired rockets at the oil tanks".

"Five tanks belonging to the Harouge company are still on fire. Firefighters are at the site trying to extinguish the blaze," Manfi told AFP late Thursday.

"But we don't have sufficient means to put out the fire," he added, describing the situation as a "disaster".

The company has 13 storage tankers with a combined capacity of 6.5 million barrels at its site about nine kilometres (six miles) from the port of Ras Lanouf.

- 'Destroying Libya's future' -

IS, a growing power in strife-torn Libya, has in recent weeks launched repeated attacks from its base in the city of Sirte on facilities in the "oil crescent" along Libya's northern coast.

Libya sits on estimated oil reserves of 48 billion barrels, the largest in Africa, but production has plummeted since the country descended into chaos following the 2011 ouster of Moamer Kadhafi.

Analysts have warned that IS seizures of major oil facilities would be a crippling blow to Libyan authorities and a major boost for the jihadist group.

Western governments have expressed fears over the attacks.

"Another attack on #Libya's oil installations in Ras Lanuf. #Daesh are destroying Libya's future economic recovery," Britain's ambassador, Peter Millett, said on Twitter, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

Foreign powers have been pushing for a long-delayed political deal to resolve the political paralysis in Libya that has allowed IS to thrive.

A national unity government was formed on Tuesday under a UN-brokered deal aimed at ending political divisions that have seen the country torn between rival administrations and parliaments.

But it was unclear how much support the new government commands, especially among Libya's myriad armed groups, and whether it would be able to exert any authority.

The UN envoy to Libya, Martin Kobler, on Thursday renewed an appeal for the country's political forces to stand together.

"Once again Libya's resources under terrorist attack in Ras Lanouf. Political process must urgently catch up (with) military developments," he wrote on Twitter.

- 'Perfect chaos' -

The unity government, headed by Fayez al-Sarraj, has not yet been approved by either of the country's rival parliaments.

Libya's internationally recognised government and parliament are operating out of the country's east after being forced out of Tripoli by a rival administration in mid-2014.

Efforts to form a fully functioning government have been given added urgency by fears IS is building a new stronghold in Libya, just across the Mediterranean from Europe.

The jihadist group has carried out a wave of attacks in Libya, including a suicide truck bombing on a police school in the city of Zliten earlier this month that killed dozens.

As in areas under its control in Syria and Iraq, the group has committed atrocities in Libya, including execution-style murders of its opponents.

Photographs posted online by the group in Sirte on Thursday showed the executions of four men shot in a public square for theft, blasphemy, heresy and belonging to forces loyal to the recognised government.

Meanwhile, the EU's counter-terrorism coordinator said IS's military losses in Syria and Iraq may prompt some of its leaders to relocate to Libya where they will face less pressure.

"There, for the time being, it's the perfect chaos they like," Gilles de Kerchove told AFP, in reference to Libya.
Accra, Jan. 21, GNA - President John Dramani Mahama is chairing a co-chair a Forum on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development on the sidelines of the on-going World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

A statement from the Flagstaff House Communications Bureau to the GNA said the Davos event, which would be attended by world leaders, would launch the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Advocacy Group appointed only this week by the United Nations Secretary General.

It said the event would set the tone for a strong level of global engagement for the SDGs and the Group's future activities.

The statement said President Mahama and Prime Minister Erna Solberg of Norway are co-chairing the 16-member SDG Advocacy Group, put together to support the Secretary-General's efforts to generate momentum and commitment to achieve the SDGs by 2030.

It said President Mahama left Accra on Wednesday, January 20 and would return on Friday, January 22.

Ms Hanna Serwaa Tetteh, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, accompanied the President.

GNA
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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

 No upfront costs  When you set up an IVA, there are no upfront costs whatsoever. This means that you can put a debt solution in place today without spending a penny

 You have a finishing line  Do you feel like there will be no end to your debt problems? With high interest costs and charges, the balances of your credit accounts may not reduce as you need them to. With an IVA you will become totally debt free at the completion of the IVA (usually 5 years). You can use this as an opportunity to change your financial life, for good

 Confidential  Your IVA is not advertised in the London Gazette or local newspaper. It is your decision whether you would like to disclose it to other people or not

 No more contact from creditors  When you are in an IVA, your creditors will no longer have the right to contact you or refer the debt on to debt collectors/bailiffs. This is a great benefit for most people as it will take away the stress caused by constant calls/texts/emails and home visits

 Stay in your house  Unlike some debt solutions, an IVA will allow you to stay in your current home. This is even the case if the property has a mortgage or is owned outright

 Your pension  An IVA does not have an impact on your pension. You will not have to surrender your pension or withdraw money from it to pay into your IVA

Risks of an IVA

Here is a list of the cost common disadvantages of an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA):

Equity Release  If you own your property and it has value, you may be asked to release the equity in the property

Credit Rating  If you have a perfect credit rating, this will be damaged and you will not be allowed to take out more debt whilst in an arrangement

You must keep up with repayments  If you do not keep up with your monthly repayments, there is a risk you will be made bankrupt

Who qualifies for an IVA?

There is no office guidelines to who qualifies for an IVA. It is a legally binding, Government legislation designed to help all people. Generally speaking, insolvency practitioners (IP) will look at your situation if they think the IVA proposal they submit is beneficial to both yourself (the debtor) and your creditors. This often restricts people to a certain criteria which you will have to meet:

Over 5000 worth of unsecured debt You must have 2 or more creditors of 2 or more lines of credit Must live in England, Wales or Northern Ireland Must be insolvent Must be willing to pay at least 70 per month into their IVA Must have some type or types of regular income

What debts can I include in an IVA?

You can include a wide range of unsecured debts within your IVA. These include:

Credit card debt/credit cards

Loans/loan debt

Payday loans

Council tax arrears

HMRC debt

Overpaid benefits

Catalogues

Gas and electricity arrears

Overdrafts/overdraft debt

Water arrears

Income tax arrears

Debts to friends and family

Other unsecured debts

Note: If you are a resident of Scotland, you will need to apply for a Scottish Trust Deed (legally binding). Speak to our advisors for Scottish Debt Advice.

What debts cant be included in an IVA?

Secured loans

Your mortgage (if you still live in the house)

Car finance (if you still have the car)

Rent arrears for your current property

Court fines/Police fines

Hire purchase arrears (if you still have the product)

Log book loans (if you still have the vehicle that the debts are secured on)

Student loans

Other secured debts

What does I.V.A stand for?

IVA stands for Individual Voluntary Arrangement. It is a formal way to consolidate your debts into one affordable monthly repayment, resulting in the debtor becoming debt free at the end of their payments.

Can I apply for an IVA online?

Use the IVA Calculator to check your eligibility Prepare your IVA proposal and apply for your IVA. When your IVA is accepted, your creditors can no longer contact you. Pay 60 low monthly payments. After 5 years, you are out of your IVA and completely debt free.

Will an IVA affect my employment?

In most occupations, your credit rating or credit scoring is not a factor and it may never have been checked in the past, it may also be likely that it is not checked in the future either.

There is no law to tell you that you must advise your employer that you have entered an IVA or that you owe money. They will not be notified by your insolvency practitioner. If you wanted to keep it a private matter, in most cases this would be absolutely fine. With some roles such as financial advisors, solicitors or bank workers it may make up part of your contract to advise them of changes like this. In these situations we would advise to inform your employers of your intentions before you enter into any arrangements. This way there will be no nasty surprises for you later down the line. More often than not, we find that your employer would not be concerned by your IVA and that it would not affect your employment status. An IVA is a formal solution and could affect some employments, such as if you were a solicitor or accountant for example. We would always recommend that you receive approval from your employers that your job isnt affected before you sign up for anything.

Will an IVA impact my partner?

There are certain situations where you may not want to involve your partner at all in your IVA proposal due to personal reasons. Insolvency Practitioners are very aware of these circumstances and can operate solely via telephone and email and at your convenience, so rest assured that your matters can be kept completely private.

If the debts which you are looking to place into your IVA are in joint names, then this would be different. Your IP would look to place all of your debts into an IVA, including joint debts therefore you would have to inform your partner of your plans.

If your debts are solely yours, then there would be no negative impact on your partner, their credit score would remain unaffected and they would not be entered onto any registers or be tainted in any way.

Will an IVA affect my credit score/credit file?

Whilst you are in your arrangement, you will not be able to get any credit. An IVA will stay on your credit file for 6 years, so 12 months after a typical IVA. When this time has passed and your monthly payments have ended, you will be able to rebuild your credit rating.

What proof will I need to apply for an IVA?

Proof of ID  Passport/driving license/birth certificate/utility bills/national insurance identification/credit agreement Bank statements  3 months bank statements with all transactions displayed Proof of income  3 months payslips/P60/proof of benefits

How long does it take to set up an IVA?

Your initial call will only last around 5-10 minutes. The IVA process will be explained to you and you will be told what further information you will need to provide to proceed with your IVA proposal. Once you have returned the required information, an IVA will usually take between 7-14 days to get into place. You will be protected from creditors within this time, your advisor will provide you with documentation via email.

How long does an IVA last?

Most IVAs will last for a length of five years. The i v a will remain on your credit file for a period of six years and is placed on the Insolvency Register for that period. You can work out what date it will be removed from your credit file, it will be six years from the start date of the IVA term. So if the IVA started on 1 January 2000, it should be removed from your credit file six years from that date, which would be 1 January 2006. When you apply for an individual voluntary arrangement your Insolvency Practitioner (IP) will tell you if you qualify for an IVA, how long it lasts, how much it costs and provide you with any other debt advice which you may need.

How much will debt advice cost for an Individual Voluntary Arrangement?

The advice cost for individual voluntary arrangements is free of charge. Your I.V.A company will tell you if you qualify for an IVA. They will talk to you about your different debts, provide you with free debt advice and check if your creditors are likely to approve your proposal for your IVA for debt.

How does an IVA affect your life?

By taking out an IVA you may affect your overall financial position. You will not be allowed to take out credit for 6 years. You will struggle to get a mortgage or remortgage your existing property. It also may affect any future increase in earnings or windfalls you may receive, as these will need to be paid to your insolvency practitioner. Your insolvency practitioner will take control of your debts for this period, they will deal with all of your creditors and this is legally binding. That means you will not be allowed to take out any more debts whilst in the IVA.

Once the plan is completed, any debts which you accrue will be managed by yourself. Your ability to take out further debts in the future will not be impacted once the IVA has completed.

What is the IVA protocol?

The I.V.A protocol is a voluntary set of guidelines which your Insolvency Practitioner (IP) can sign up for which improves the efficiency of Individual Voluntary Arrangements. When you apply for debt advice, it is important that you understand the steps of the debt solution, so you can decide whether or not the solution is the best one for your circumstances.

How do I know if creditors will accept my IVA?

Generally speaking, most creditors will approve voluntary arrangements for unsecured debt. But some debts can not be included within one formal debt solution. Your Insolvency Practitioner will tell you how likely it is that your creditors will be willing to accept your proposal, based on the voting creditors.

Can I pay in one lump sum?

There are occasions when you may be eligible for a debt solution which is payable in a one off lump sum as a final settlement to your creditors. This is usually when the money is being gifted from some one else, or you have received inheritance or a windfall for example. With a one-off lump sum payment, the advice is usually the same as when you normally apply for an IVA. You wouldnt have to make regular payments into the solution, your IP can provide you with more advice on one off lump sum solutions for your debts. Your IP will provide you with more advice on the debt IVA and explain what is IVA to you.

Who regulates the debt industry?

At present the debt industry is not regulated. Some Insolvency Practitioners offices choose to sign up to the Insolvency Practitioners Association (IPA) or register with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). You can contact the IPA using the contact details or email address on their website. Your creditors do not regulate the debt industry and your creditors will not be able to impact any decisions which the IPA or FCA make. In our experience, the regulators will take assertive action on any advisers or businesses which do not comply with their strict codes of practice. To check if a person is regulated by the FCA, enter their name into the search box in the FCA website.

Should I use a debt charity?

There are thousands of companies which provide debt help in the UK. You may be looking for an alternative to a private company. You should know that charities usually pass their fee charging products to sister companies which charge fees and disbursements, just like private companies. So what you initially thought was a good option, on further analysis could be different to what you originally thought. Charities do have their part to play though. They can help you if you have a problem with your bank accounts, maintenance arrears, living costs, credit reference agencies, child support arrears, bankruptcy, assets, accountancy issues, mortgages, creditor issues, insurance providers, mobiles, your bank account, rates arrears, PAYE contributions or if you want to work out your expenditure. They can make sure that you speak to an adviser or supervisor and look at proposals to offer your lender. A petition has started with the possibility of a debate in parliament about how charities represent themselves and their services.

Which charities help with debt?

You can contact Money Advice Service, National Debtline, Step Change, Shelter or a combination of the three. Charities are particular useful for a low debt level under 1,000. If the debt is high (such as a debt value of 10,000 or more) you would usually seek an assessment from a professional adviser. If you do decide to use a charity to guide you, make sure you check their charity number and the registration number on their website to make sure you are content that their team can answer your questions in the right ways. A lot of clients of charities have a minimum debt level which does not meet the basis for an IVA, so you could always chat to a charity that is happy to act on your behalf for low debt levels.

Although an I.V.A could be the answer to your debt problem, its important to understand the monthly payment so call us on our free phone number. Anyone customers can receive expert feedback on their rights from debt charities, if they cant help they will usually point you in the director of firms which help with IVAs.

We are homeowners, will lenders see my proposal differently?

In some cases yes. In the majority of cases, if you are a homeowner you will not need to remortgage or take out any additional finances that will effect your property. You will need to sign a additional restrictions which remove your ability to take out additional credit tied to your property, which is something that is restricted once you are in an i.v.a. There are exceptions to this, such as when you have a lot of equity in your property/properties. If you own half of a property and another party owns the other half, only your equity will be affected.

If you are landlord and you are in a position of equity, your IP may review your trading position or business to make sure the figures in question are in order. This is usually the case if you have two or more properties, as sometimes the equity can be used to form a repayment to your creditors. But this usually depends on the amount of value built up in your properties.

Banks and building societies will not change the terms of your mortgage as long as a contribution is still being made for the duration of your arrangement. Your mortgage payments will be added to your expenses and accounted for within your budget, as long as you can provide evidence that you can afford to continue to make payments into your mortgage for duration of the plan.

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interview Iran entering oil market may trigger geo-political tensions: IEA Fatih Birol, Executive Director, International Energy Agency (IEA) says Iran's production will compensate for the decline in the US output and may lead to geo-political tensions among major oil producers.
Sometimes, a brief comment can trigger a deluge of thoughts and images, and such was the case when Bob Baffert said of American Pharoah at the Longines World's Best Racehorse Award Jan. 19 in London, He showed the beauty of racing.

It was an innocent comment, but it struck a chord. And that is why you will read the word beauty repeatedly throughout this column. That is who and what American Pharoah was all about.

I have written numerous columns about American Pharoah and recaps of his Triple Crown victories, as have dozens of other racing writers. We have all attempted throughout the year to pinpoint just what it was that made this extraordinary colt so special  his brilliance, the fluidity of his magnificent stride, his machine-like qualities, his amiable and often times affectionate personality, his historic sweep of the Triple Crown and completing the first ever Grand Slam of racing in the Breeders Cup Classic, his amazing marketability, and his overall allure that made him one of the most popular horses of all time. If ever a horse was born to make history and become an iconic figure it was American Pharoah.

But all in all, when you really think about it, what will endure forever is the legacy that Baffert bestowed upon him with just a few words  he showed the beauty of racing. Not his own beauty in the sense of a Secretariat, but a beauty of the spirit that was felt more than it was seen. American Pharoahs beauty was reflected in the many pilgrimages from all over the world just to see him, or more so to feel him.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is God's handwriting.

And people did not lose the opportunity to see the beauty of American Pharoah, whether it was driving hundreds of miles or flying from all parts of the country to watch him race or journeying half way around the world from as far away as Australia just to photograph him. One cannot help but see beauty in the hordes of star struck fans reaching out to touch him or the lucky ones who got to pet him or kiss him or feed him carrots or just have their picture taken with him. It was beauty that was written on their faces.

Was the true beauty of the Belmont Stakes the vision of American Pharoah storming down the stretch and into history or the joyous pandemonium that broke out all over Belmont Park and in the homes of millions across the country? It was a moment of pure unadulterated euphoria that had been building up for 37 years. I believe it was that scene, played out on such a grand scale, which best depicted the beauty of American Pharoah and the beauty of racing..

Was the true beauty of the hundreds of thousands of photographs taken of American Pharoah the images themselves  whether action shots, head shots, or tender moments --or the looks on the faces of the photographers as they realized they had captured this equine giant in all his magnificence for posterity and the joy those photos brought to so many people.

These are just some of the scenes that portrayed the beauty for which American Pharoah will be remembered and the beauty he brought to the Sport of Kings.

Beauty also was the volumes of eloquent and passionate words written about him, both professionally or in letters and poems and blogs. I refer to another literary giant, Edgar Allen Poe, who said, I would define, in brief, the poetry of words as the rhythmical creation of Beauty. Even Poe knew that true beauty is felt more than seen.

So, thanks to Baffert, we have unlocked the one word that best describes this equine phenomenon.

Physical beauty, as we know it, in most cases diminishes over the years. Even the most beautiful racehorses become swayback and lose that near-perfect conformation and glistening, dappled coat. But the transcendental beauty that was American Pharoah will retain its artistry and elegance for all time.
Demand for oil in China is expected to grow 3% this year. So in theory Iran could take the market share of whatever growth in oil demand comes out of China.

The ink is barely dry on lifting the international sanctions on Iran and already companies are moving in to tap its market.

The case is compelling. Iran has the worlds largest natural gas reserves, a population of 80 million and a US$400 billion economy.

The Australian Financial Review reports that already German automaker Daimler has announced a joint agreement to build Mercedes-Benz trucks inside the country.

Its a crowded door leading into Iran at the moment.

All this is especially bullish for Europe

Irans $50 billion upgrade bill

Iran has closer trade and diplomatic ties to Europe than the US.

For example, Iran used to account for 13% of Peugeot sales before sales were suspended in 2012. And dont forget the money to upgrade the domestic Iranian airline industry. Now Iran has already agreed to buy 114 planes from European company Airbus. The order is a mix of new and used jets.

Thats just a start.

Iran estimates it needs 500 planes in total to overhaul its fleet. Irans existing fleet is 25 years old. This is part of the reason its safety record is so terrible. 1200 people have died in crashes since 1980. In total, the bill for 500 new planes could hit US$50 billion.

As of now, theres a question mark over whether the country can afford that. But even a half or a quarter is still a huge order for the airline industry.

Of course, a lot of what Iran can and cant afford depends on the direction of the oil price.

Iran will now add another 500,000 barrels of crude oil exports a day to the global supply. Although this addition is already built into prices.

But Iran wants its market share back. Thats especially true supplying one place in particular  China.

A simple market shift or something more?

Saudi Arabia is the biggest exporter of oil to China.

Demand for oil in China is expected to grow 3% this year. Thats about 300,000 barrels a day. So in theory Iran could take the market share of whatever growth in oil demand comes out of China.

The question is then which country will China chooses to import its oil from?

Now, heres a warning. Im no oil expert. But I do study the rent of natural resources. Ill get to that in a moment.

Statistics in the Wall Street Journal this week show that Chinas import sales from Saudi Arabia were only up 2.1% last year. But they went up 28% for Russia.

That looks significant to me. China could be propping up Russian exports to help it withstand the pressure of the low oil price  and unite against US financial warfare and NATOs encirclement of Russia.

Both China and Russia are looking to develop a trade framework outside the US dollar.

The US shale revolution is flooding the world with oil. The US seems happy to see this smash Russia because its economy is almost entirely dependent on oil and gas.

The geopolitics of oil

Perhaps the US is even happy to see Saudi Arabia under pressure. But dont be under any illusions about the fragile state of Saudi Arabia  in terms of money anyway.

The potential partial float of Saudi Aramco  the State owned energy firm  revealed just how deep the Saudi energy treasure chest is.

The valuation for the entire company is 10 trillion US dollars. Thats astronomical. Its 12 times the largest non-state oil and gas firm Exxon Mobile.

Its also interesting to note that Chinese President Xi Xingping is actually doing a tour of Saudi Arabia and Iran this week.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Xingping is there to seek promises theyre committed to regional stability after the diplomatic clash over the Saudi execution of prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.

Now this is interesting.

Could we at last be seeing a world power make a genuine attempt to create some sort of peace?

Conventional opinion would have you believe that religion is causing all the problems in the Middle East. But this is only half the story. And it is not the most important half.

This is what you need to know to understand geopolitics.

You need to know who is collecting the oil wealth. Because they will do everything in their power to hang on to it.

The classical economists called the value of natural resources above their cost of extraction economic rent.

Its the return you get without having to work

In this case, its the return the Saudis get for owning the oil

So have a look at this map. A cartographer and adjunct master professor at the US Air Force Special Operations School/Joint Special Operations University in Florida called M. R. Izady created it.



Source: Dr. Michael Izady at Columbia University,

Gulf2000, New York Click to enlarge



Its a map of where the Middle East oil is, by religion. And national boundaries overlay it. According to The Intercept:

What the map shows is that, due to a peculiar correlation of religious history and anaerobic decomposition of plankton, almost all the Persian Gulfs fossil fuels are located underneath Shiites. This is true even in Sunni Saudi Arabia, where the major oil fields are in the Eastern Province, which has a majority Shiite population. As a result, one of the Saudi Royal familys deepest fears is that one day, Saudi Shiites will secede, with their oil, and ally with Shiite Iran. This fear has only grown since the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq overturned Saddam Husseins minority Sunni regime, and empowered the pro-Iranian Shiite majority. Nimr himself said in 2009 that Saudi Shiites would call for secession if the Saudi government didnt improve its treatment of them.

Nimr is the cleric I mentioned above. His execution sparked the current confrontation between the two regimes.

The Saudis cut off his preaching  at the neck.

The ruling Saudi government does what all ruling governments do: stamp out any sign of independent thinking

There is after all, control of that vast oil rent to protect. It keeps the House of Saud in astonishing luxury.

Theyre not alone. The rent of land and natural resources drives practically all of the worlds behaviour.

To learn more about how you can see and understand the world differently  and to accurately forecast economic behaviour as a result  go here.

Best wishes,

Callum Newman

From the Port Phillip Publishing Library

Special Report: You probably already sense that stocks might be in for another bumpy ride in 2016. But that doesnt have to mean that you have to miss out on making great money. Because, according to small-cap analyst Sam Volkering, certain stocks could rise hundreds of percent no matter what happens in the next 12 months. In this special report, Sam reveals the simple principle behind that success. And youll also discover his top three small-cap picks for 2016, which could bring you gains as high as 338% over the next 12 months. (more)
The chronicle of a life split between urban Manhattan and rural Montana.
Retirees are being thrown to the retail wolves  left to fend for themselves as soon as they walk out the door on the last day of work. While workers in the accumulation stage of retirement saving are treated with kid gloves, once you have access to your pension pot it is all hard sell and product pushing.

When you are saving for retirement, all the information you receive is done with a light touch. It is gentle, low cost and takes advantage of inertia, says Nigel Aston, head of defined contribution for State Street Global Advisors. But once you retire you are thrown to the retail wolves. The industry is in your face, heavy handed, high charge and advice driven.

Aston says that this approach may have suited the old guard; those retiring before April last year before pension freedoms activated, but it was not suitable for the masses.

Before last year, 90% of retirees bought an annuity. The only people who had to navigate the post-retirement world of investment were the 10% who could afford a good adviser, he said. Now, only 10% of people buy an annuity at retirement, and the remaining 90% are ill-equipped to deal with the onslaught. The industry needs to adapt to the new breed of customer. Aston said that the post-retirement needed to better match pre-retirement  a gentle attitude, where doing nothing still gets you results, with a mass-mentality of being all in it together. He cites Target Date Funds  which allow pension scheme members to stay invested post retirement, with money managed in a pool alongside other individuals who retired the same year  as one example of the industry getting it right. I dont think we will ever get to a point where everyone will be able to, or even want to make major investment decision for themselves, he said. It is not right for people to have to DIY retirement investing, they should be able to easily outsource to a professional. Technology Lags Product Innovation Dan Kemp, speaking the Morningstar Perils in Pensions debate this week said that even where financial services had innovated to help meet the needs of investors in retirement, technology was restricting their impact. Kemp, who is chief investment officer of Morningstar Investment Management said that online investment platforms were not set up to pay income monthly to investors  something particularly needed in retirement. We run multi-asset portfolios with the income investor in mind, but without the platforms putting the distribution channels in place we are unable to deliver the yield to investors, he said. How can product providers innovate if the infrastructure does not keep up?
"The first victory we can claim is that our hearts are free of hatred. Hence we say to those who persecute us and who try to dominate us: You are my brother. I do not hate you, but you are not going to dominate me by fear. I do not wish to impose my truth, nor do I wish you to impose yours on me. We are going to seek the truth together. THIS IS THE LIBERATION WHICH WE ARE PROCLAIMING."

Oswaldo Jose Paya Sardinas (2002)
PHH & Radian Stock Buybacks; Ocwen Settlement; Redwood Shutters Portion of Conventional Conforming Biz

Underwriters will want to know that IBISWorld has identified the top ten sectors with expected rapid growth price in 2016. Legal services are expected to see an increase next year, as roughly 66 percent of revenue generated by industries in legal services comes from business and corporate clients. Cybercrime and fraud will tick prices up 3.3 percent and employment law services should rise 3.2 percent in 2016. Turning towards the construction sector, the cost of plastering and drywall services should rise 7.7 percent next year, along with painting services and landscape architecture and design services at a 5.9 percent and 3.4 percent increase, respectively.

PHH announced the completion of its $100 million buyback program, announced on Nov. 4, 2015. The company repurchased 6.35 million shares at an average price of $15.75. $150 million remains on the company's $250 million repurchase authorization, which will be outstanding until year-end 2016. The company noted that the decision on whether to repurchase additional shares will be based on regulatory developments, the company's capital structure, liquidity position, and other potential uses of cash including investments in growth. The pace of the buyback was quicker than we had modeled. However, because of the weak results we forecast in 4Q15 and in 1H16, the quicker pace has a limited effect on our EPS estimates but is more accretive to book value than our forecast because of the repurchase price.



Ocwen agreed to pay a fine for $2 million settling yet another legal issue. "The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Ocwen misstated its profits in parts of 2013 and 2014 by using asset values provided by a Cayman Islands firm that former Chairman Erbey also ran, rather than an independent company, as it had stated." A note from the company stated, "The terms include that Ocwen, without admitting or denying liability, will pay a $2.0 million civil money penalty and consent to the entry of an administrative order. As previously disclosed in the Company's SEC 10-Q filing in October 2015, Ocwen has reserved funds for payment of this settlement...'We are pleased with the resolution of this U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) investigation. As previously disclosed in our October 2015 SEC 10-Q filing, funds have already been reserved to address this settlement. Ocwen remains committed to full compliance with all legal and regulatory requirements and will continue to fully cooperate with regulators on any matter brought to its attention.'"



Recall that the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) issued a final rule revising its regulations governing Federal Home Loan Bank Membership. This final rule adopts several provisions including, but not limited to preventing the circumvention of the statute's membership restrictions by ineligible entities by defining the term "insurance company" to exclude captive insurers. I mention this because the residential lending business is very aware of these companies and any news that directly impacts residential Real Estate Investment Trusts.



Since the start of the year REIT stocks are down (aren't all stocks down due to global worries about dragging economies?): Invesco -11%, Annaly -6%, Two Harbors -20%, for example. In fact lots of mortgage-related stocks are down since January 1, bucking the thinking that another refi boom will help bottom lines, and hopefully no one out there has their entire 401(k) in Nationstar or Stonegate stock.



This comment includes Redwood Trust. This year, which is less than three weeks old, has seen RWT -20%, down over 6% yesterday alone. Redwood plans to restructure its conforming loan operations by discontinuing the acquisition and aggregation of conforming loans for resale to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and instead "focus on direct conforming-related investments in mortgage servicing rights and risk-sharing transactions" while maintaining its approvals with the agencies. Redwood also plans to implement a workforce reduction, which primarily impacts employees engaged in and supporting the Company's residential mortgage loan business. The reduction represents approximately 15% of the company's fixed compensation expense at December 31, 2015 and a headcount reduction of 25%.



"Redwood's conforming business activities utilize less than 5% of the Company's capital, while its investment portfolio, which utilizes 85% of the Company's capital base, continues to exhibit strong credit performance and remains a steady and growing source of income." "Our conforming loan purchase and sale operations generated a pre-tax loss of $10 to $11 million in 2015 or a loss of $7 to $8 million on an after-tax basis based on our preliminary full-year 2015 results. This included interest and fees of approximately $12 million associated with $5.2 billion of loan purchases, and operating expenses of approximately $22 million," said Christopher Abate, Chief Financial Officer.



So Redwood announced that it will restructure its operations by discontinuing the acquisition of conforming loans for resale to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This business reduced EPS by $0.10 a share in 2015. The restructuring will also free up $45 million of capital. The company noted that it will focus on direct conforming-related investments in mortgage servicing rights and risk-sharing transactions. RWT's announcement is not surprising given the competitive correspondent lending market. But it remains to be seen how the company will now participate in GSE credit-risk-sharing transactions.



MI companies are certainly interested in risk sharing developments, so let's see what they've been up to lately.



MGIC has published its operating statistics for December. New notices dropped 10.5 percent YoY but increased 19.9 percent MoM and cures of 5,258 were down 13.7 percent MoM. The cure ratio did decline to 79.7 percent from 110.7 percent in November. The ending delinquent inventory of 62,633 was up 0.3 percent MoM from 62,445 compared to a 2.7 percent decline in November. Ending delinquent inventory was down 21.6 percent YoY and paid claims increased 0.9 percent MoM versus a drop in November of 11.9 percent. Net rescissions and denials rose to 81 from 63 the month prior and new insurance written equaled $3.3 billion in December, up from $3 billion in November.



Radian announced a $100 million repurchase program. The authorization is effective immediately, may be transacted through a 10b5-1 plan, and will expire on December 31, 2016. The repurchase program is about 4% of the market cap. As of 3Q15, RDN had $710 million of holding company liquidity. In December, the company contributed $375 million to Radian Guaranty and an affiliate to comply with PMIERs, bringing holding company liquidity down to $335 million. The company also has roughly $250 million in debt maturities coming due in 2H17.



Arch MI has published its winter 2016 Housing and Mortgage Market Review, reporting that the likelihood of home prices to decline nationwide over the next two years is 6 percent although oil & natural gas producing states are at a higher risk due to declines in energy prices. This includes states like North Dakota, Wyoming, West Virginia, Texas and Alaska. North Dakota had the highest Arch MI Risk Index due to the 2.9 percent decline in employment over the past year and home prices are estimated to be overvalued by 20 percent. Texas has the top five riskiest MSA's with a 26-36 percent chance of house prices declines in several areas.



Its MBS business wasn't mentioned, but Barclays will cut about 1,000 jobs in investment banking worldwide and close its cash equities business in Asia as new Chief Executive Jes Staley wields the axe in a bid to reduce costs and boost returns.



Keeping with related news U.S. Treasuries, and other fixed-income securities like MBS, had another good day Wednesday. Not that anyone cares about our economic data anymore, but we continue to receive news that our economy is NOT zooming along: consumer price indices for December missed expectations while the housing starts/building permits data were mixed. Housing starts were less than expected but building permits were higher - although quickly explained away by noting the entire gain was due to a 62% jump in the Northeast and that was likely due to a change in tax or building codes



Today, as the East Coast girds its collective loins for "stormzilla," Initial Jobless Claims came in +10k to 293k, the highest in quite some time, versus the prior week. And the January Philadelphia Fed was "-3.5". We closed our benchmark 10-year Wednesday at 1.98% and this morning it is hovering around that level with agency MBS prices unchanged.



Jobs and Announcements

Speaking of growth, Arch Mortgage Insurance is actively seeking a passionate and enthusiastic sales representative for the South Texas territory to join its dynamic sales team! "If you are an experienced, results-driven sales professional in the mortgage industry with strong contacts in Texas and a proven record of developing and implementing sales strategies to expand and sell new business, apply today at resumes@archmi.com. Arch Mortgage Insurance is the U.S. based mortgage insurance division of Arch Capital Group Ltd., a leading insurance and reinsurance specialty lines underwriting company operating through its subsidiaries located worldwide. We are committed to our employees and offer competitive compensation, valuable benefits and an energized culture of talented professionals!"



AmeriSave Mortgage Corporation is expanding its Traditional Retail and Consumer Direct channels in the first quarter of 2016 and has an immediate need for Retail Loan Officers and Producing Sales Managers in Georgia, North Carolina, Florida, California and Michigan and Call Center Loan Originators in Atlanta, Charlotte, Detroit and Louisville. For retail LOs "we foster a culture that promotes teamwork with access to Senior Leadership and Underwriting teams, have an aggressive non-bank lender compensation plan with a guaranteed monthly forgivable draw and purchase leads provided daily, a dedicated full service Marketing Department with company provided personal website, and in-house Processing, Underwriting, and Closing. Call Center LOs are "invited to leverage our progressive technology platform and lead generation machine. AmeriSave is willing to provide training and licensure for candidates in Call Center positions with Mortgage Sales Experience." NMLS ID #1168; applicants should contact Jason Hultgren, SVP.



And do you want to work for a company that is not only expanding but is TRID ready? Assurance Financial, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is hiring branch managers and MLOs in Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, Arkansas, North Carolina and South Carolina. The company has a 15-year history of closing loans on time and is not letting TRID interrupt that record. Paul Peters, CMB, Sales Recruiting Manager, reports that Assurance has closed several hundred loans under TRID without any significant delays. For more information, contact Paul Peters (225-239-7948) or visit www.LendTheWay. com.



In related news Hammerhouse, LLC has launched its 6th Annual Survey for Mortgage Leaders and Producers. The 32-question survey focuses on the "Six Core Components"- Business, Leadership, Culture, Operations, Technology, and Geography. "With our 6th survey, we will continue to analyze year over year trends relative to the concerns, needs and wants of the life blood of this industry: YOU, the Leaders and Producers. Additionally, we will home in on what creates alignment and the right Model Match for long term performance and retention. The results will be posted on March 31st. Participation is free, takes about 3 minutes, and respondents will be entered in the raffle for a free iPad. Click here to take the survey.



In personnel changes, congratulations are due to Bill Beckmann, President and Chief Executive Officer of MERSCORP Holdings, Inc. and Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc., on his appointment by the MBA to the leadership role of Chairman of the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization (MISMO).



And congrats to Bela Donine who Impac Mortgage Corp. announced is rejoining Impac as Executive Director of Channel Development for the Company's AltQM product line and will report to Bill Ashmore, president. Bela will be responsible for the positioning and growth of the AltQM programs in the mortgage marketplace, the refinement of the Company's AltQM strategies and goals, cultivate existing key customer relationships, identify new business opportunities, oversee the development of AltQM training curriculum, content and approach and work with various Impac Committees specific to AltQM.
Rates Head Back Toward Long Term Lows

Mortgage rates fell today, bringing them back in line with the lowest levels in more than 2 months and very near the best levels since late April 2015. The surprisingly strong performance so far in 2016 is primarily due to a much weaker performance in risk assets like stocks and oil prices. As investors sell stocks and oil, they are buying safer-haven assets like Treasuries and mortgage-backed-securities (MBS), which have much less price volatility than stocks. When investor demand increases for MBS, mortgage rates fall.

The average lender is easily back into the "high 3's" when it comes to conventional 30yr fixed quotes for top tier scenarios. The only question is whether that means 3.75% or 3.875%. With today's improvements, quite a few lenders moved back down to to 3.75%. They don't necessarily represent a majority just yet, but it's getting to be a closer call.

Naturally, everyone wants to know if rates can continue to fall. Everyone wanted to know this last week as well. Clearly, rates can continue to fall, but no one knows for sure if they will. Lock if you like the rate you're looking at. If you hold out for further improvements, set yourself a limit as to how much you'd be willing to lose before being forced to lock and make the necessary game-plan with your loan officer.



Loan Originator Perspective

"Stocks slumped further today, and funds flowed into bonds. Mortgage pricing improved around 25 bps, a nice day for us. The benchmark 10 year US Treasury note is now yielding just under 2%, and the longer we hold at/below those levels, the better the outlook for rates. That being said, if equities launch a 3% rally, pricing will suffer. Those within 15 days of closing should certainly lock, those further out need to discuss their risk tolerance and pricing options with their loan originator to make an informed decision." -Ted Rood, Senior Originator

"If there was ever a good day to lock today looks to be it. I may be putting my foot in my mouth by saying this but I do not see rates improving further in the next 30 days. Longer term I do see rates improving but if you are closing in 30 days or less lock in and take all risk off the table." -Manny Gomes, Branch Manager, Norcom Mortgage



Today's Best-Execution Rates

30YR FIXED - 3.75 - 3.875%



FHA/VA - 3.5%



15 YEAR FIXED - 3.125%



5 YEAR ARMS - 2.75 - 3.25% depending on the lender



Ongoing Lock/Float Considerations

The Fed finally hiked on December 16th. The baseline implication would be steady pressure toward higher interest rates, but there's been "a catch" so far in 2016
VIVA CUENCA!

My mission in publishing this blog is first to provide a living history of my settlement and life in Cuenca, and to provide myself and the reader with a journal account delineating my reasons for why I have chosen to settle in Cuenca. Second, the posts are my way of staying in contact with family and friends back in the states, and to provide them with an understanding of a country and culture that most North Americans have little knowledge and awareness. Third, the blog is open to one and all who wish to compare and contrast the experiences of expat bloggers living in Cuenca, so that you can determine whether or not from your perspective Cuenca is an appropriate move for you. Fourth, my blog provides another example of how expats view and interpret life in Cuenca. Ecuadorians and Cuencanos who may read this blog are especially invited to post comments that may enhance all expats understanding and appreciation of Cuneca and its people, or to correct any misinterpretations in my assumptions and perceptions of Cuencano culture. Finally, I hope I can convey the feeling of love and appreciation that grows within me each passing day for this heavenly city nestled in the Andes and its very special people.


Thanks to crashing oil prices, Texas will send far less of its money in the coming years to transportation than it originally expected  a difference of hundreds of millions of dollars, state Comptroller Glenn Hegar told lawmakers Wednesday.

But the Republicans overarching message? Dont panic.

For the 2016 budget year, which started in September, Texas is pouring $1.1 billion in oil and gas severance taxes into the State Highway Fund. That was based on collections from the previous year.

But with oil prices plummeting, those transfers are expected to tumble to a total of $594 million in fiscal 2017 before bobbing up to $740 million the next year, Hegar told the House Select Committee on Transportation.

Such transfers are triggered by a proposition voters approved in 2014 that reroutes a portion of petroleum severance taxes from the states Rainy Day Fund into the highway fund.

There are a lot of people hyperventilating with concern. I thought about going around with brown paper bags, Hegar told the committee.

On Wednesday, per-barrel prices of West Texas crude were hovering around $26  less than half its value when Hegar started his job a year ago and what seemed like a light-year away from early 2014s days of $100 oil.

Still, Hegar stuck to the sky-is-not falling message that he has frequently pushed since being sworn into office.

This slowdown, he said, will look nothing like the 1980s, when banks shuttered and Texas bureaucrats literally scurried across the revenue-processing floor in search of forgotten mailbags of cash.

Were a much more diverse economy than we were in the 1980s, he said. Texas is ranked across the board as one of the best places to do business.

Of tapping the Rainy Day Fund to pay for transportation, Hegar said, Its not a guaranteed reliable source of funding. Its going up. Its going down.

But long-term economic trends still look positive, he said.

Though the drilling downturn has eaten a chunk out of state sales tax collection, Hegar still expects the highway fund to get a boost from some of that revenue.

In approving Proposition 7 last fall, Texans allowed officials to send a portion of state sales and use taxes to the highway fund, along with some motor vehicle sales and rental tax collections  but only if each meets a certain threshold.

On the sales and use side, any collections above $28 billion would be routed to transportation  up to $2.5 billion  beginning in 2017. On the motor vehicle side, 35 percent of those collections would flow to the fund beginning in 2015, once that revenue eclipses $5 billion.

Texas is still on track to transfer $2.5 billion in 2018, Hegar said. And he expects a $375 million transfer from motor vehicle sales and rental taxes in 2020  based on current data.

Barring some global economic collapse, were going to hit those numbers, he said.
Midland continues to rack up the accolades for the citys small-business environment, despite its gradual increase in unemployment numbers. The unemployment rate increased by 1 percent in the 12 months leading up to November 2014. Currently its 3.4 percent -- the highest in over two years, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

While the increase has been noteworthy -- especially to the thousands oilfield workers laid off in the past year -- the state of the citys economy remains salient to online small business and personal finance services.

Earlier this month, the online financial service company NerdWallet gave Midland the eighth spot in a ranking that analyzed local business environments in 181 metropolitan areas in the U.S. The analysis reviewed the number of small businesses per 100 residents, the percent of population between 25 and 34 --so-called millennials -- the percentage of the population with a higher education, and number of local dollars given for small-business loans.

With nearly 17 percent of the local population between 25 and 34, Midlands strongest point was its concentration of millennials, coming in at third just after Austin and Fairbanks, Alaska.

The citys weakest category, however, was the number of small business loans it distributes to qualified and diverse business enterprises in the local economy. Having distributed a little more than $6.7 million in small-business loans per 100,000 residents, Midland ranks 111 of the 181 cities analyzed.

Local companies that have benefited from the small-business loan program, which was allocated by the Midland Development Corp., include Susies South 40 Confections. Owner Susie Hitchcock-Hall was granted a $35,000 loan in 2005 to hire new employees and upgrade equipment in order to meet the demands of her product, according to a previous Reporter-Telegram report.

Now, the candy-making company ships confections to customers across the globe.

Three of the top 10 cities (including Midland) offer costs of living below the national average, NerdWallet said in a summary. By reducing living and office space costs, entrepreneurs have more cash to invest in their growing businesses.

Midland also ranked No. 10 in its median income, $52,261-- the highest in Texas. But it ranked low, No. 123 in the percentage of the population with a bachelors degree or higher (25.5 percent).

In November, the online e-commerce website PayPal ranked Midland No. 3 in top economies for small- and medium-size business markets in the nation by measuring payment volume through the website between 2014 and 2015.

A robust small and medium business sector can be diversified across industries and supports all business owners, not just those involved in the oil industry, Katie Ochieano, merchant marketing specialist with PayPal, said in a previous Reporter-Telegram article. This, in turn, helps cushion the entire economy when certain sections falter.
BAGHDAD (AP)  Two powerful Shiite militias are top suspects in the abduction of three Americans last weekend in a southern neighborhood of the Iraqi capital, an Iraqi police commander and a Western security official in Baghdad said Thursday.

The Americans were abducted in Dora, a mixed neighborhood that is home to both Shiites and Sunnis, on Saturday. It was the latest in a series of brazen high-profile kidnappings undermining confidence in the Iraqi government's ability to control state-sanctioned Shiite militias, which have grown in strength as Iraqi security forces battle the Islamic State group.

Two Shiite militias  Asaib Ahl al-Haq and Saraya al-Salam  were likely behind the attack, the Iraqi and Western official told The Associated Press on Thursday.

"Nobody can do anything in that neighborhood without the approval of those militias," the police commander said. The Western security official confirmed that Iraqi and U.S. intelligence assessments had narrowed down the suspects to those the two groups.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.

One of the militias named as a suspect is backed by Iran, a key ally of Iraqi Prime Minister Hayder al-Abadi's government.

Al-Abadi said on Thursday that he doubts that there is an Iranian link to the kidnapping, adding "we don't know if they have been kidnapped... they just went missing."

The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad has confirmed that several Americans are missing and said they are working with Iraqi authorities to locate them.

Speaking at Davos, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that he was working with Iraq on the issue. He said he had also been in touch with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to request help. He said Zarif had replied that he would do what he can, but that he had no "immediate knowledge whatsoever" about the incident.

Baghdad authorities said the three Americans were kidnapped from a "suspicious apartment" without elaborating, and have provided no other details. There has been no claim of responsibility.

The identities of the three were not made public and the two officials  the Iraqi commander and the Western official  did not elaborate on the investigation that is underway.

Another Iraqi intelligence official told the AP this week that from the Dora neighborhood the Americans were taken to Sadr City, a vast and densely populated Shiite district to the east, and there "all communication ceased."

Lt. Gen. Abdul-Ghani al-Asadi, commander of Iraq's elite counter-terrorism forces, told AP that his men are aiding in the search effort, which he said is focusing on "certain areas" of the capital Baghdad. He declined to give a more specific location.

Following the dramatic collapse of the Iraqi security forces in the summer of 2014, Shiite militias filled the vacuum, growing more powerful militarily than the country's own security forces. They are some of the most effective anti-IS forces on the ground in Iraq, and also run security in many Baghdad neighborhoods.

The Iraqi government-allied militias are now officially sanctioned and known as Popular Mobilization Committees.

But many trace their roots to the armed groups that battled U.S. troops after the 2003 invasion and kidnapped and killed Sunnis at the height of Iraq's sectarian bloodletting in 2006 and 2007. In the fight against IS, human rights groups have accused them of abuses targeting Sunni civilians, charges denied by militia leaders.

Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Iranian-backed and one of the most powerful Shiite militias operating in Iraq, has repeatedly spoken out against the presence of U.S. forces in Iraq in the fight against IS. Saraya al-Salam is run by Iraq's influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr whose Mahdi militia often battled with US forces between 2003 and 2011.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has struggled to balance the power and popularity of the Shiite militias with the government's dependence on the U.S.-led coalition's contributions to the fight against the Islamic State.
Over the years, tenacity became one of Dallas Smiths favorite words. Its spirit and force reflected his character and resolve as a stellar aviator, faithful family man, enterprising businessman and dedicated law-enforcement officer.

No matter what, he really loved Midland and favored the term tenacity to accentuate his perseverance, said Donna Smith, his wife of 23 years.

He is very driven (to excel). He made the effort to master everything he wanted to do. Thats kind of what he lived by  never quit. He was a straight-shooter and a good shooter, Smith said.

Characterizing her late husband as a young 73, Smith, 56, said, He never would have considering retiring.

The former Midland County sheriff, who died last week in a plane crash in Glasscock County, owned Deep Water Resources, an oilfield equipment company.

Whatever task he undertook, he gave it all his best and did a great job, said state Rep. Tom Craddick, who flew with Smith when Craddick was campaigning for speaker of the House of Representatives in 2002.

Dallas was a straight shooter, a very good friend, a real friend, Craddick said.

Dallas Lee Smith Jr. settled in Midland in the 1960s initially as a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper. He learned to fly in Midland and eventually earned an airline transport pilot certificate.

He was a great guy and a great aviator and a tremendous asset to the community, said fellow aviator Ole Olsen, a Midland-based Southwest Airlines pilot and former aerobatic pilot.

Smiths death came as a terrible loss to Midland, especially to the aviation community, Olsen said.

Smith left Midland on Jan. 14 at the controls of a 1960s-vintage, single-engine, 108-horsepower Piper Colt. He was heading to visit Connie Edwards on his ranch south of Big Spring. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash.

I cant imagine what happened, Donna Smith said. I dont know if we ever will know.

Smith was hailed as an outstanding pilot who was certified to fly a variety aircraft  from World War II-era planes to Learjets.

Dallas flew the airplane as if he was part of the airplane, said Midland pilot Charles Spence. Thats how great he was. He was one of the best pilots I ever flew with, probably the top two or three.

He checked everything thoroughly, made sure everything was working right, Spence said in recalling his flights with Smith.

One of those flights occurred in the early 2000s when Spence joined Smith, who was piloting a Learjet carrying World War II ace Chuck Yeager to Midland from California for a Commemorative Air Force function.

Smiths death is a shock to the local aviation community, said pilot Earl Erdmann, who preceded Smith as chairman of the Midland International Air & Space Ports Planning and Development Board. Smith also was chairman of the Permian Basin Airport Regional Board.

Smith was an awesome guy, another Ole Olsen, unbelievable (in their aviation expertise), said Erdmann, 58. He is probably one of the safest pilots (ever).

Erdmann described Smith as conscientious and meticulous not only in his pre-flight inspection and in flying, but also in working on aircraft as an airframe and power-plant mechanic. Smith rebuilt a 1944 P-51D Mustang that he bought in 1978 with Robb Satterfield and Aaron Giebel, Erdmann said.

Mark Henry Dettman, former Midland prosecutor and county attorney, recalled the time he spent with Smith when the latter was sheriff between 1977 and 1984.

We were both kind of persistent workers, said Dettman, a law-enforcement chaplain.

Dettman said his one regret was not taking a ride in the Mustangs jump seat.

Dallas always offered me a ride in the Mustang, and I never took him up on it, he said.

But a young Donna Strickland did. After dating for 10 years, she married Smith in 1993.

We could rock-and-roll in (the Mustang) pretty well, she said. And I loved it  the wild (aerobatic) ride. He was trying to impress me. And I was impressed. He did understand flying. He did understand mechanics, Smith said.

Robb Satterfield taught Dallas how to fly the P-51 and how to fly aerobatics, she said.

While working on the Mustang, Smith was trying to fix something but couldnt figure it out, Dettman said. He needed the schematics and manuals from the manufacturer, North American Aviation. The records remained classified from World War II, but Dettman helped Smith obtain them through the Freedom of Information Act. Smith, in turn, shared the records with P-51 owners nationwide.

Before that, everybody was working in the dark, Dettman said.

Dettman said he has enjoyed working with the Midland County Sheriffs Office under the command of Smith and his successor, Sheriff Gary Painter.

Theres no doubt Dallas modernized the Sheriffs Office, Dettman said.

Smith instituted substantial pay raises for his deputies; called for pay bonuses for academic degrees, especially in law-enforcement; required physical fitness and working knowledge of criminal laws; and sent deputies to the FBI academy, according to previous Reporter-Telegram articles.

The Sheriffs Office is not here to have a sheriffs posse or a rodeo or have a bunch of good old boys standing around the courthouse chewing tobacco, Smith was quoted as saying.

In Smiths last meeting with the county commissioners, they cited his ingenuity, creativity and straightforwardness.

Over the years, you had made such improvement away from the good-old-boy concept, Commissioner C. DeWayne Davis told Smith. You dont tell a man how to run his department. I have nothing but accolades and commendations for you and your staff, Davis said in a previous Reporter-Telegram article.
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP)  A World War II veteran will travel to Australia to reunite with his wartime girlfriend after more than 70 years apart.

Norwood Thomas, 93, of Virginia Beach will travel to Adelaide, Australia, next month to reunite with 88-year-old Joyce Morris, The Virginian-Pilot (http://bit.ly/1T4yu0o) reported.

Thomas told Morris that he would love to see her again in person when the two recently spoke via Skype. During their two-hour video reunion, the two recalled their time together when they met in England, a few months before he parachuted into Normandy with the 101st Airborne Division.

After the war had ended, the two went their separate ways. Morris has since lost much or her vision and currently resides in Australia. Thomas has also health problems and lives on a fixed income in Virginia Beach.

After their story went public two months ago, more than 300 people made donations online to help the two rekindle their romance. Others mailed checks directly to Thomas' house. About $7,500 has been donated thus far, according to the newspaper, which also reports that Air New Zealand has made arrangements to send Thomas and his caretaker son, Steve, to Australia free of charge.

Thomas said he was stunned by the generosity.

"I'm numb," he said. "I have no idea what my emotions are going to be once we meet face to face."

Thomas and Morris are expected to spend Valentine's Day together.

___

Information from: The Virginian-Pilot, http://pilotonline.com
Flamingo to Open in Jakarta

UK-based consumer and cultural insight agency Flamingo is opening its eight office next month, this time in Jakarta, Indonesia. The new operation will be headed by Adri Reksodipoetro, who was previously MD of the firm's APAC hub in Singapore.



Flamingo was founded in 1997 by Kirsty Fuller and Maggie Collier and acquired by media and marketing holding group Omnicom a decade later. As well as offices in London, the company operates from Mumbai, New York, Sao Paulo, Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo.



The new office will draw on the expertise and resources of the APAC team to service local Indonesian clients, as well as international clients looking to conduct projects in Indonesia. Before joining in 2012, Reksodipoetro (pictured) was Research Director at Hall & Partners; AD, Qual Specialist Group at TNS; Senior Researcher, Multi-country Studies at TNS Healthcare; and Senior Researcher at Prompt Research in Indonesia. He will be supported by former Flamingo Singapore exec Widad Jamil, and new recruit Tamy Rinaldi.



Fuller comments: 'Indonesia has the fourth largest population and one of the fastest growing economies in the world, and demand for Flamingo's services in Indonesia has increased significantly in the past few years. Our local presence will aim to bring our international expertise and point of view to Indonesia'.



Web site: www.flamingogroup.com .




Image taken from the Times of Oman

Well of course by now you probably all have read the news that the ROP have had a policy change in the way it's handling issuing of employment visas.The news broke last night when the Times of Oman posted an update which confirmed that if you leave your job, you can't come back to work in Oman for two years - even if you have a NOC.Immediately the first thing that comes to my mind is quite simply.... but what if I'm already here in Oman and want to change my job?Well the last time I did that, I had to fly to Dubai and back - thus technically leaving Oman. The reason I had to do this was simple: even though I had a NOC (this was back when you didn't even need a NOC, but I had gotten one anyway) my old employer had me down as a painter, and my new employer had me down as a decorator. Not really, but similar analogies - and anyway this meant that I couldn't transfer my visa as planned as it was for a new job description.This meant that they couldn't (wouldn't) transfer my visa, it meant I had to cancel my visa and leave Oman (and then return). Which means that given this new policy from the ROP, basically everyone here who changes jobs will be unable to now, because they'll have to do that return flight to Dubai (or somewhere else outside of Oman).And so here comes the bit that makes me scratch my head:If an employer has agreed to release an employee, and another employer has agreed to employ that same employee, and they've signed a NOC, and the new employer has a valid labour clearance for this person - what on earth do the ROP care about this?I'm sure there is a perfectly good reason for this, but I honestly can't think of it at the moment.The only thing this appears to do is get rid of expatriates who want to change their jobs here in Oman. The argument that it will reduce the number of expats in Oman is nonsensical because an employer with a valid clearance will simply employ another expat instead.So following that thought, what does the ROP have against expats who are already living and working here? Is it a veiled threat to make people not change jobs? I can't believe so.I hope we get a bit of clarification because this just doesn't make any sense at all!\Update:Well it seems that the Oman Observer today have learned a new piece of the puzzle and they posted this story Essentially, if the authorised representatives of both companies are present at the ROP office, confirming there is no objection to the release of the employee, the ROP will still allow the transfer and issue a new visa.Apparently this is because there have been a number of fake NOC's in the past.Now, I happen to know that this certainly wasn't the case earlier this month when an employer I know had arranged to have his PRO, and his new employee's old PRO visit the ROP at the same time to sign the NOC and allow the new transfer and they were rejected. This week.So... whats next?!le fin.
The secret is finally out! On Monday (Jan. 18), during an episode of Love & Hip Hop: New York, reality star Tara Wallace revealed she is pregnant by her on-again, off-again boo Peter "Gunz" Pankey. Shortly after making the announcement, Wallace took to her personal Instagram account to flaunt her baby bump. Not everyone was excited about the news. That same day, Amina "Buddafly" Schmahl questioned the pregnancy, thus starting a Twitter beef with Wallace.

During episode six of the popular VH1 reality show, Wallace sat down with celebrity therapist, Dr. Jeff, to breakdown her roller coaster relationship with Pankey. Wallace and Pankey have been romantically linked for over a decade and currently share two sons together.

While admitting she's finally ready to move on from the tumultuous relationship, there was something else on her mind. She revealed she's five months pregnant with Pankey's baby. Rumors began circulating in March about Wallace and Pankey expecting another child together, but until earlier this week, the allegation remained a speculation. The news comes shortly after Schmahl announced she was pregnant again with Pankey's baby, but ultimately decided to terminate it.

Embracing her public revelation, Wallace took to social media to show off her baby bump. Wallace posted an image of her holding her baby bump. She was pictured naked, covered in gold shimmer. A snippet of her maternity shoot also made its way to social media, showing Wallace wearing lingerie, a cover-up, and fur.

Although she received positive responses toward her pregnancy announcement, there was one person in particular who wasn't interested: Schmahl. Schmahl, who's currently in a rocky relationship with her estranged husband Pankey, accused Wallace of being a "liar" and questioned how she didn't realize she was pregnant for five months.

Wallace fired back at Schmahl, accusing her of only marrying Pankey for citizenship and becoming romantically involved with a taken man. The women continued to go back and forth, throwing small digs at each other.

A photo posted by Taranasha Wallace (@iamtarawallace) on Jan 18, 2016 at 5:39pm PST

#PressPlay : #TaraWallace at her pregnancy shoot #LHHNY A video posted by The Shade Room (@theshaderoominc) on Jan 18, 2016 at 6:12pm PST

Tension between this infamous love triangle is at an all time high and now that a new pregnancy has been added into the mix, things are bound to go down hill from here.

Check out the subliminal tweets Schmahl and Wallace posted below:

Who the hell is 18 weeks pregnant and doesn't know it??........ Only a fucking liar .  Amina (@Aminabuddafly) January 19, 2016

I married a man that acted like a single man. Which made me believe he was single. Call it stupid.  Amina (@Aminabuddafly) January 19, 2016

Plus if I'm married for citizenship then why am I still married????? Been had my papers  Amina (@Aminabuddafly) January 19, 2016

There is no greater liar than 1 pretending 2b married out of love! Convincing urself ur marriage is real and not 1 for CITIZENSHIP!  Taranasha Wallace (@IAMTARAWALLACE) January 19, 2016

I don't argue on social media but the nerve of some people! I can't! Marry a single man next time!  Taranasha Wallace (@IAMTARAWALLACE) January 19, 2016

From the looks he still acts single!!!  Taranasha Wallace (@IAMTARAWALLACE) January 19, 2016

Whether I found out at 18, 8, or 1 week I was keeping my baby. No one can make me do anything.  Taranasha Wallace (@IAMTARAWALLACE) January 20, 2016

 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
With Lady Gaga's long anticipated follow-up to Artpop on the horizon, Elton John just revealed that he will be writing music for her upcoming album, slated for release at as yet unnamed date in 2016. Gaga already has a Golden Globe win and a nomination for an Oscar to add to her list of credentials this year. The Golden Globe was for her turn as the Countess in American Horror Story: Hotel and the Oscar nomination was for the song she penned with Diane Warren, "Til It Happens to You," featured in the recent documentary profiling campus rape entitled The Hunting Ground.

"I'm working with Gaga tomorrow," John said this past Tuesday to Zane Lowe on a Beats 1 radio interview as reported by NME. "I've heard two songs, which are killer. They're just great songs. It's like back to the early stuff of hers - like 'You and I' and the Bruce Springsteen one as I always call it, 'Bad Romance."

Lowe later confirmed that the collaboration is, in fact, happening in a Twitter post.

This is not the first time that the two have worked together, in the past, they collaborated on the Gnomeo & Juliet soundtrack and on the Muppets Thanksgiving episode.

John did offer some criticism in his interview and said that he believes 2013's Artpop should have never been made.

"It was not a good album and I think she would admit that," he said to Lowe. "Then in the midst of that, she did three things which were kind of amazing. She did the whole tour and album with Tony Bennett, which did amazingly well. She sang the Julie Andrews tribute at the Oscars, which everybody loved. And she was on American Horror Story."

Recently, Linda Perry accused Gaga of not writing the song that she was nominated for at the Oscars, "Til It Happens to You," but almost immediately retracted her accusations. The series of tweets where she accused Warren and Gaga of mutually benefiting by giving the pop-star false writing credit on the song have sense been deleted. In the tweets, Perry asserted that Gaga's star power would give the two a push towards winning Best Original Song at the Oscars but has since apologized.

 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Sia is arguably the hottest songwriter in the music industry right now. Shes written for the likes of Katy Perry and Rihanna, and her song Alive, which appeared on new album, This Is Acting, was famously scrapped by Adele. Many would agree that Sias rendition of the tune was for the best. Now, the ever reluctant pop-star and songwriter is set to have her latest song Angel By The Wings featured in the new film, The Eagle Huntress.

The film is based on the life of 13-year-old Aisholpan, who was a Mongolian girl that aims to be the first woman eagle hunter, battling the boys in 2,000 years of a male-dominated eagle hunting society. The Eagle Huntress takes place in the Altai Mountains, a ridge of peaks in Northwestern Mongolia and is the first effort at a feature documentary from director Otto Bell. The film is executive produced by Morgan Spurlock of the 2004 documentary Super Size Me.

Im incredibly grateful that Sia took the time to write and record this very special song, the films director Otto Bell said in an interview with Billboard. Its a wonderful vote of confidence for our documentary. I could not have imagined a more fitting, timeless piece of music for the film - its such a beautiful girl power anthem!

The Sundance Film Festival team noted that The Eagle Huntress, not only explores the life of a young girl striving to pursue her passion and break down gender barriers in a very traditional culture, but also provides an engaging glimpse into the lives of this remote community, as they balance their traditional lifestyle with the modern world.

A recent song that Sia debuted off of her upcoming album, This Is Acting, slated for a Jan. 29 release, was One Million Bullets. She released the audio version on Youtube on Nov. 26 to introduce the song. One Million Bullets was decidedly more subdued than preceding single Alive, but was still rich with Sias signature throaty vocals over a more chilled out beat and melody.

 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Weezer has announced its plans to release its 10th LP, The White Album, on April 1. But, if that's not enough for you, the "Do You Wanna Get High?" band has offered up one odd, exclusive pre-order item: a trip with Rivers Cuomo to the Galapagos Islands. Seriously.

On Weezer's web store, there's a pre-order option for the "Weezer Experience Bundle." In addition to typical pre-order items like a T-shirt, hat, crewneck sweatshirt and a Weezer Frisbee, for $25,000 (and travel expenses for Cuomo) fans will be able to take a Greyhound bus to the Galapagos with Cuomo, "where you'll stay only for a limited time."

If that weren't strange enough for you (how can one take a bus to an island?), there are some curious parameters for this trip, as you search for the "elusive White-cheeked pintail." You will be named "King of the World for a day" for one, and you will also be able to "sing 'The British Are Coming' with Rivers in the Galapagos but replace every lyric about 'old king George' to 'lonesome George.'"

There's no indication whether or not this is, in fact, a real pre-order package, but one can put the bundle in your cart and a note says that management will reach out about the details of the trip.

The White Album will officially be released on April 1. The album, led by singles "Do You Wanna Get High" and "Thank God for Girls" is Weezer's 10th studio effort and the band's first release since 2014's Everything Will Be Alright in the End.

 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Scandal creator Shonda Rhimes and legendary sitcom producer Norman Lear .have teamed up for a documentary series on economic and social inequality in the U.S.

The series, called America Divided, is set to air on Epix in the fall.

The intention is to examine the imbalances in the U.S. and how they affects citizens -- including celebrities.

"This series cuts to the heart of the inequality crisis, exploring life-and-death struggles around the economic, social, and political divide," Rhimes and Lear said in a statement. "Our aim is to expose the damage extreme inequality inflicts on all Americans, reveal its systemic causes, and celebrate real-world heroes fighting for solutions."

Executive producers include rapper and activist Common, who will also front one of the part in the series. America Ferrera, Amy Poehler, Zach Galifianakis, Jesse Williams and Lear himself will also appear and/or front their own pieces.

Common will explore his hometown, Chicago, and its criminal justice scandals, and Lear will investigate New York's housing crisis.

"Addressing the ramifications of inequality is hugely important to me," Common said in a statement. "The more we explore the subject and build a dialogue around the issues, the more we can do to create change."

Lear, who recently called himself a "bleeding-heart conservative," addressed provocative topics like racism, poverty, abortion and unemployment as the producer of sitcoms such as All in the Family, The Jeffersons, Sanford & Sons, Good Times and One Day at a Time in the 1970s.

"You will not f- with my Bill of Rights, my Constitution, my guarantees of political justice for all," he said. "But does my heart bleed for those who need help and aren't getting the justice that the country promises them and the equal opportunity the country promises? Yes."

Lear will be honored this year by the National Association of Television Program Executives with the Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award. And Rhimes will receive the 2016 Norman Lear Achievement Award from the Producers' Guild this month.

In a statement, Rhimes said: "The promise of the American dream was a united country where everyone is treated equal. That promise has clearly been broken; all you have to do is look around to see that our reality has been built on the back of inequality," she said. "It's my hope that this series will inspire audiences to be part of a change that leads us into a stronger, more equal future."

Rhimes appeared on PBS's Finding Your Roots Tuesday evening, along with Maya Rudolph and Keenen Ivory Wayans. Watch a clip below.

 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
In 2014, Lora Kelly of Carlisle was in Washington, D.C. to receive the Courageous Patient Award for her year-long battle against pancreatic cancer. Back then, she said she would fight to survive and planned on helping others.

I dont want to leave my family, she said. I want to do the work that I am called to do on this earth, and right now I feel very strongly that this is a big part of what I am supposed to do.

More than two years later, Kelly is cancer free and fulfilling the dream she planned. With the help of a fellow cancer survivor, she has started a support group.

Were just meeting and trying to bring joy and positivity and uplifting stories to this journey, she said.

The group is for pancreatic patients and their caregivers. They meet the second Thursday of every month. More than a dozen people have joined.

Its someone to talk to thats been going through the same thing that I went through. They can understand, said Jan Kenyon, a pancreatic cancer survivor.

It was a good idea, said Bruce Gronkiewicz, a pancreatic cancer survivor. Someone has to get the ball rolling. She took it on her shoulders, got things going, so we are moving ahead.

Kelly didnt stop there. She is helping the organization that recognized her for her fight against pancreatic cancer.

I have started the Central Pennsylvania chapter for the National Pancreas Foundation, she said.

The first local event will feature Dr. Christopher Wolfgang from Johns Hopkins, a world-renowned surgeon, who will talk about pancreatic cancer detection and treatment.

The meeting will be held at Dr. Reningers office in Camp Hill. He also treats patients with pancreatic cancer

What were trying to do is just raise awareness about seeking out experts who specialize in pancreas cancer, not just for their expertise but for the institutions expertise as well, said Dr. Chip Reninger of Hematology/Oncology Consultants of Pennsylvania.

Kelly hopes spreading the word about this deadly disease will help save others.

It does not have to be bleak. It does not have to be terrifying. Nobody needs to traverse this alone, she said.

The event will be held Monday, Jan. 25 from 5:30-7 p.m. at Hematology Oncology Consultants of Pennsylvania on Erford Road in Camp Hill. Attendees should RSVP to Lora Kelly at 717-440-1706. The support group will also meet right after the event.
When she's not busy twirling on somebody's last nerve, former Miss USA and current Real Housewives of Atlanta star Kenya Moore is putting pen to paper and writing a memoir of her life. The former pageant queen has a way of pushing her fellow castmates' buttons on a regular basis on the show, but in the first released pages of her book, titled Invisible, readers will be able to feel Moore's tangible pain as she discusses her difficult past with her estranged mother.

RHOA viewers have seen Moore struggle with her relationships with her parents for a few seasons now. This season especially, Moore has battled inner demons as she tries to reconcile with her mother and build a relationship with the woman she says abandoned her, and then reconcile with herself that the relationship that she desires will probably never happen. Two episodes ago, Moore even had film crews follow her to knock on her mother's door and demand that she open it, only to have Moore's mother deny her entrance, thus causing Moore to finally come to the realization that it's time to call it quits.

In the book, Moore describes a phone call that took place between she and her mother when she was 4 years old: "I was trembling. I held my breath. I listened. There it was again, the sweet melodic quality of her voice. It was mild and soothing," Kenya wrote. "When she spoke, she did not yell or scream. Instead, she released the words in a steady, easy manner. 'I am not your mother. You can never call me your mother and you can't come over here anymore.' A burning sensation started in the pit of my stomach, rose to my throat and pushed up until it burst out of my dreamy eyes as tears. These same dreamy eyes that always looked up to her in adoration now wept. They wept for the dreams that would never come to fruition. All I remember was that burn and the hot tears on my cheeks."

According to Moore, she started writing down her memories years ago, but she was only now finding the courage to complete the project. The reality star took to Instagram to thank her fans for their support and introduce the first 40 pages of her story. Read those pages here.

I AM NOT INVISIBLE It's hard to express how I really feel sometimes so I write. I started my memoir years ago but found it difficult to complete. As a thank you for all your love and support from my difficult and often painful journey with my family I want to share the first chapters with my loyal fans and friends. Thank you for your compassion, kindness and love. Here is the link: http://bit.ly/kminvisible A photo posted by Kenya Moore (@thekenyamoore) on Jan 11, 2016 at 5:48am PST

 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Primavera Sound has unveiled its star-studded 2016 lineup. Those who will headline the 16th edition of the Barcelona festival include Radiohead, who are returning to touring for the first time since 2012, LCD Soundsystem on their reunion tour, Sigur Ros, Tame Impala, The Shadow Puppets, Air, Brian Wilson performing Pet Sounds, PJ Harvey, Pusha T and many more.

The lineup is over 150 artists deep and is packed with quality from top to bottom. The top of the lineup is stacked with the above names and others like Beirut, Animal Collective, Vince Staples, Moderat, Deerhunter, Drive Like Jehu, Explosions in The Sky and Dinosaur Jr.

There is wide variety on the lineup, ranging from hip-hop to electronic to indie to various forms of rock.

Hip-hop will be represented by a small, but well-traveled acts on the festival circuit like Pusha T, Vince Staples, Action Bronson, Freddie Gibbs, Jay Rock and Ho99o9.

Electronic music will be headed by Moderat, who will be touring with a brand new album out in the spring, as well as Hudson Mohawke, Floating Points, Maceo Plex, DJ Koze, Evian Christ and others.

There are plenty of rock & indie acts like Titus Andronicus, Beach Slang, Beach House, Neon Indian, Ben Watt Band featuring Bernard Butler, Black Lips, Daughter and many more.

Primavera Sound will take place mainly in the Parc del Forum of Barcelona from Wednesday June 1 to Saturday June 4. Tickets are on sale now via the Primavera Sound website starting at 175. Check out the complete lineup below and you may want to think about booking your trip to Barcelona.

(Photo : via Primavera Sound)





 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Actor Will Smith plans to join wife Jada Pinkett Smith in boycotting the 2016 Oscars next month. On Thursday (Jan. 21), Will spoke candidly during an interview with ABC's Good Morning America co-anchor Robin Roberts about his feelings towards the predominantly white nominees and explains how he plans to be a part of the solution toward diversifying Hollywood.

After Jada and director Spike Lee both announced they would not be attending the 88th annual Academy Awards due to lack of diversity, many fans and media outlets were eager to hear how Will would respond.

The 47-year-old Concussion star revealed he thoroughly discussed the topic with his wife, ultimately admitting that if he took part in the Oscars it would give people the impression that he was okay with everything that is going on.

"My wife's not going. It would be awkward to show up with Charlize Theron," Will joked with Roberts about hitting the Oscar red carpet with a different woman on his arm.

Will, who was out of the country when his wife made her public Facebook announcement, was blown away when he heard Jada's words. He knows how passionate Jada gets about certain things that happen in our community and later admitted he felt proud to be married to her after listening to the whole video. The fight to explore diversity in Hollywood goes much further than the Oscars, according to Will.

America is a melting pot of races, cultures, religions, and customs and Will believes the industry should reflect that. He also stated there's separatism and bias in Hollywood that needs to be addressed. Will wants people of all backgrounds to look at both the small and big screen and be able to see themselves.

Will hopes to one day leave the industry in better form than it was when he first entered it. He views his relationship with the industry as a multi-interracial marriage, admitting divorce is not an option. According to former Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star, if everyone is willing to work together, diversity could easily be achieved.

"For me, at its best, Hollywood represents and then creates the imagery for that beauty," Will said. "But for my part, I think that I have to protect and fight for the ideals that make our country and make our Hollywood community great. So when I look at the series of nominations of the Academy, it's not reflecting that beauty."

 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
if we know something Nick cannon, it is that he never misses a chance to create beautiful moments with his children. Recently, it was no different when he took a trip to
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Silver Spring Township is in the midst of a month-long period of due diligence to determine if the partially demolished Bell Tavern is as historically significant as some people believe and is structurally sound enough to be saved.

Preliminary research by township staff indicates the stone structure at 7089 Carlisle Pike may not be the building where an Anti-Federalist meeting was held on July 3, 1788 that supposedly had an influence on the development of the U.S. Bill of Rights.

The township engineer could provide an opinion by the end of this week on whether the building could be salvaged, Township Solicitor Sean Shultz said Wednesday.

Township officials met Monday with representatives of Triple Crown Corporation, the Lower Paxton Township-based company that was demolishing the building to make way for future development, Shultz said.

Triple Crown has agreed to halt demolition for roughly a month to give township staff time to pursue the facts on the true history of the building and its prospects for preservation.

Everything they have done so far has been voluntary, Shultz said of Triple Crown. He said the township has no legal recourse to penalize the company for the partial demolition, nor can the township compel Triple Crown to preserve the building or to cover up the interior, which is now exposed to the elements.

A major snow event could arrive in the area by Friday. Shultz has been told the engineer for Triple Crown believes the building is structurally sound enough to weather the storm. The township has suggested the company use tarps to protect the interior.

The township engineer conducted an initial assessment of the building and found it would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to rebuild the walls and stabilize its structure from damage caused by the partial demolition, Shultz said.

As part of their due diligence, township staff members reached out to the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia to seek information on the role the Bell Tavern may have played in the framing of the U.S. Bill of Rights.

Historians at the center have advised township staff that while the Bell Tavern may have had significance in the Anti-Federalist movement in Pennsylvania, it is not exactly the birthplace of the Bill of Rights, Shultz said. The real threshold question for us is whether the stone building is the Bell Tavern.

Based on the only facts we have now, it appears the stone structure that is being demolished may not be the Bell Tavern where the Anti-Federalist meeting took place, Shultz added. He cited two sources that support this conclusion.

The one is a letter in which Gen. George Gibson of Carlisle described to his nephew the 1788 Stony Ridge Convention that was attended by Anti-Federalists seeking to reform the Constitution.

The letter states the convention was held in a small log tavern kept by Tom Bell and located on a stony ridge about five miles east of Carlisle, Shultz said. He added, based on photographs of the damage, there is nothing to suggest the partially demolished stone building on the Carlisle Pike enclosed a log structure.

An 1872 map by F.W. Beers and Company shows evidence of two structures on the Bell tract. The township believes one structure may be the stone building in question while the other structure is now missing from the landscape west of the stony ridge near the Appalachian Trail. The two sources call to question whether the missing structure on the 1872 map could be the small log tavern mentioned in the Gibson letter.

The possibility exists the stone building may occupy the same footprint as the log structure. If that is the case, the township supervisors would have to decide whether what that means exactly in any negotiations with Triple Crown to preserve the stone building, Shultz said.

The township is more interested in understanding the facts, he added. We want to make sure we do not get swallowed up into the spin. The fate of the Bell Tavern has become national and even international news since word first surfaced of its historical significance.

The township, on being informed of this potential, issued an immediate stop-work order, which Triple Crown honored. A review of the townships cultural resources and historic building listings found no mention of the Bell Tavern, so the order was rescinded. For now, Triple Crown has opted not to follow through with the demolition.

The company followed the correct protocol in applying for a demolition permit, Shultz said. The township did not pressure them to suspend the demolition. Instead the two parties are discussing ways to preserve the structure if it can be proven the building is both structurally sound and of historical significance.

Even then, there is no guarantee the stone building will be preserved, because it sits on private property owned by Triple Crown and the company has every right, under township law, to demolish it.

Any effort to preserve the building would have to be the subject of negotiations between Triple Crown and the township. It is a freedom of choice on their part, Shultz said. In large part is it in their hands over what they are willing to do.

He added that while it may be desirable to preserve structures as old as the stone building, the township needs to be sure of its historical significance before tax dollars are spent.

Meanwhile, the matter was not included during a public input portion of Silver Spring Townships Board of Supervisors meeting Wednesday night, according to an attendee.
Ciara Meyer was the victim of a gunshot.

Officially, she was shot when her father got in a front-door confrontation with a constable.

The family doesnt blame the constable for protecting himself from Donald Meyer who had a rifle, but the family does feel Ciara was victimized by a system that failed her.

They say they repeatedly notified Children and Youth agencies (first Dauphin County then Perry County) about instability in the house. The agencies, they say, didnt listen and returned Ciara to that instability.

Dauphin County Commissioner George Hartwick, who oversees human services, says child safety is the top priority when making those decisions, but he says research shows the more a child is moved, the more likely he or she will struggle. So yes, there is a premium put on keeping children in their homes.

The best-case scenario would be with the parents or kin, Hartwick said. To ensure that future trauma is not created as a result of a kid already going through things that they didnt ask for.

But not every parent is a best-case scenario.

She has a lot of drug problems and she wasnt fit to be around in the house, Lisa Snyder said of her daughter.

Snyder had custody of her two grandsons because her daughter struggled with addiction. She says Dauphin County Children and Youth threatened her if she didnt bring the boys to their mother.

They want the children to be around a drug addict, a drunk, even if theyre still using? No. No, why would you do that? Snyder asks.

Snyder has since adopted the boys, ages 8 and 3. Theyre hers now, but Lisa is still bitter about her encounters with Dauphin County CYS.

They have people in there who are not qualified. They may have a college degree but they have not worked with drug addicts. Why would you put a child with a drug addict for a visit? Snyder said.

Hartwick says reports of abuse have skyrocketed while funding from the state has not kept pace. He says more money is needed.

To stop the high level of turnover that has occurred because of the extraordinarily high caseloads, very intense work and generally low pay for people who are required to have a Masters degree, Hartwick said.

But others insist money is not the biggest problem.

Ive been doing this a long time, Dennis, and Im fed up with watching preventable deaths of children, Carlisle Attorney Jason Kutulakis said.

Kutulakis was on the Governors Task Force on Child Protection, which pushed more than 20 new laws onto the books. He bristles when he hears the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services suggest that child protection is handled at the county level and that its purpose is oversight and guidance.

Its a cop out to say were just a licensing forum, Kutulakis said. Thats garbage.

Kutulakis says billions of dollars are spent on child welfare in Pennsylvania. The money is there, he says, but the training and leadership at the state level is not. He insists taxpayers are not getting their moneys worth.

While heartbroken to see stories like Ciara Meyers, Kutulakis said he hopes the loss of a 12-year-old girl will be a catalyst.

It is the high-profile cases that make change like Sandusky or the deaths of children.
It is wicked to place political ...
Dozens of homeless people in Daytona Beach will now have somewhere warm to sleep -- at least for a while.

On Wednesday, the city commission said a temporary shelter will be open for the next 90 days to house about 50 homeless people on Beach Street. Some business owners are behind the idea and will even use their own money to help pay for the shelter.

My first $100 donation that will go directly to the Salvation Army, said business owner Tom Myers.

Myers is one of several Beach Street merchants who plan to donate money. His hope is to get housing first for the homeless.

This week, the city was able to move 12 homeless people into the Salvation Army shelter. However, many business owners like David Stamey who would like to donate money cant afford it.

Stamey, owner of Art, Jewelry Design, said the homeless are driving his customers away. He offered up a recent incident as proof.

I said, sir, I'm trying to wait on this customer, and he said, cmon give me some money, Stamey said. And I said, sir, youre going to have to leave. And that customer didnt feel really comfortable about it and shes never been back in since.

The city commission hopes it can help alleviate some of Stameys stress with a temporary Salvation Army shelter that will cost almost $6,000 a week to operate. A grant will help pay for some of that cost.

The shelter is only temporary though. The council passed a motion Wednesday to ask the county to give them an offer in writing, and negotiate the terms of funding a permanent shelter.

Stamey is still worried that this process of going back and forth between the city and county will take too long.

Get something done, you know? Help the people that need to be helped and give a little bit of relief to the business owners, said Stamey.

The county plans to meet Thursday morning. County leaders will talk about putting the homeless in a temporary lot in Daytona Beach.
Asked/Answered is a weekly feature for reader-submitted questions. Follow the blog online at www.cumberlink.com:

What is the status of the proposed Hardees restaurant in Middlesex Township?

Restaurant Management Corporation received conditional land use approval at the end of October and is awaiting approval from PennDOT and the EPA, according to Mark Carpenter, zoning officer for Middlesex Township.

The restaurant, which includes a more than 2,000 square-foot building and a drive-thru, is planned to be built in the first block of Army Heritage Drive, across the street from Sheetz off Trindle Road.

Land development plans for the Hardees restaurant were originally submitted for review in June.

Carpenter said approval from PennDOT to realign and widen the intersection to include a right turn lane and a stormwater discharge permit from the EPA were the biggest conditions still outstanding on the project.

He was hesitant to give a projected completion date for the Hardees but said he was hopeful that all of the preplanning would be complete sometime in the spring.

Crews have been digging along Claremont Road for several weeks, what are they doing?

The digging is part of a fiber optics project being completed by the Shenandoah Telecommunications Company  also known as Shentel  according to Carpenter.

He said the company is running 3,200 feet of fiber optics from its cell tower site in North Middleton Township to help boost signal reliability.

Shentels wireless division provides digital wireless service to portions of a four-state area covering the region from Harrisburg, York and Altoona in Pennsylvania, to Harrisonburg, Virginia as a Sprint PCS Affiliate, according to the companys website.

The thing is everybody wants to carry little computers in their pockets everywhere and the reception isnt that good, so theyre trying to build their network to make it more reliable, Carpenter said. The main thing is it is fiber optic for mobile wireless.

Given the progress of the work so far, Carpenter estimated the project would be completed within the next two weeks.

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State Attorney Jeff Ashton, who is known for his prosecution of the Casey Anthony trial, on Thursday announced he has filed paperwork to run for re-election as the top law enforcement official in Orange and Osceola counties.

So far he is unopposed.

"I'm very proud of the work we have done over the past three years to bring the office into the 21st century," Ashton said in a statement. "But our work is not done. Our office must evolve as criminals to find new ways to commit crimes."

As of Thursday morning, Ashton had no challengers in his pursuit of re-election.

Since getting elected in 2012, Ashton has tried six cases in his three years and is seeking funding and approval of a $1.3 million technological makeover of the office that will eventually allow it to go paperless.

"I have some of the best attorneys in the state," Ashton continued. "We have decreased our acquittal rate significantly because we have given our attorneys the tools to succeed and made them responsible for charging decisions."

Last summer, Ashton admitted to using the website AshleyMadison.com out of curiosity.



AshleyMadison.com is a website that encourages married people to cheat on their spouses. Last year, hackers exposed a long list of users, which included people with government-related email addresses.

In an interview Thursday, Ashton denied being involved in any extramarital affair. In an email to News 13, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said no criminal investigation was opened into Ashton.



Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs did request an investigation into whether any county employee used taxpayer time or resources to access the AshleyMadison site, but as a constitutional employee, Ashton was not inlcuded in that investigation. The investigation found nothing inappropriate.



"That was a difficult time for all of us," Ashton said. "I think the important thing that people saw in that is that we were very open about it. ... You know, my wife and I are dealing with the issue, but the biggest thing I think the public saw was that two days after that, I was back in the courtroom fighting for the victims of a murder case  a death penalty case."

Ashton was elected in 2012 after serving 30 years as a prosecutor in the Ninth Judicial Circuit. He was the first attorney in the country to use DNA evidence in the courtroom, according to his re-election news release.

His run for re-election comes at a time when the state of Florida is faced with revamping the current death sentencing procedure, following the Supreme Court ruling that Florida's death-penalty system is unconstitutional. Ashton said he will not stop pursuing the death penalty for capital cases and will work with the legislature to fix the procedure.

Its smarter right now to delay those cases until we find out what the Florida legislature does, Ashton said.

He said he will not stop pursuing the death penalty for capital cases and will work with the legislature to fix the procedure.

Thats one of the things that were working on right now  in fact Ill be traveling to Tallahassee on Monday for meetings, he said. [I have] great confidence that we will leave this session with a new death penalty statute.

Ashton added that he will look to the legislature for more funding to create additional positions in his office to work on domestic violence and human trafficking cases.



This is the best job Ive ever had, Ashton said. Its very challenging, but it combines all the things I like to do and allows me to lead a great band of lawyers in this effort and I just love it.
COLLEGE STATION - A further strengthening of the current El Nino will likely mean wetter-than-normal conditions continue into spring, according to Dr. John Nielsen-Gammon, state climatologist and Regents Professor at Texas A&M University, College Station.

Theres the possibility that this El Nino, although its already pretty strong, is actually going to strengthen a bit more because of the wind patterns in the Pacific Ocean, Nielsen-Gammon said. You can think of the tropical Pacific as a giant bathtub, and the winds blow the warm water typically over toward the far west end.

When those winds weaken and even reverse, thats what causes El Nino. The winds bring the warm water over to the east, toward South America. And recently weve had an increase in those west to east winds. Thats going to reinforce the effects of El Nino.

As for summer conditions, long-range predictions are always a gamble, he said. But there is some evidence that the current super-strong El Nino will be followed by its counterpoint, a strong La Nina that could mean next winter will be dry.

Eventually, as the winds change, the warm water is going to slosh back, Nielsen-Gammon said. About half of the moderate-to-strong El Ninos switch over to La Ninas. They basically overshoot the average conditions. It takes several months. The Pacific Ocean is a pretty big bathtub.

This means the wet winter is going to more than likely continue for another few months, with elevated chances of rain through May, especially in the northern part of Texas, he said.

Summer in Texas is always a roll of the dice or a flip of a coin, but next winter is almost certainly not going to be as wet as this winter has been. It could be a dry winter if La Nina does develop this fall, Nielsen-Gammon said.

AgriLife Extension district reporters compiled the following summaries:

Panhandle: Wet and cold conditions prevailed since the first of the year. Scattered snow cover remained in some areas. Winter wheat was doing reasonably well in most locations. Some cotton was left in fields due to wet conditions, stalling harvesting. Yield grades were expected to be lower due to the snow and moisture. Producers were planning for the spring planting season. In Deaf Smith County, total cattle losses from the recent snowstorms were still being calculated, but individual producers lost from five head to hundreds. The high losses were generally associated with dairy producers. Livestock producers were supplementing cattle on rangeland and wheat pasture.

South Plains: Winter storms brought moisture but made conditions difficult for producers. More snow in fell in Floyd County, but it didnt stay long. Soils were extremely saturated from a December blizzard. Winter wheat looked good. In Hale County, wet and cold conditions were particularly challenging for producers with livestock. In Swisher County, weeks after the winter storm Goliath, large snowdrifts had still not melted. More than 95 percent of the cattle that were roaming after the storm were accounted for, but death losses were expected to be high. Wheat planted in September fared well and was benefiting from the slow melt. Later-planted wheat was lost due to high winds. Cochran County moisture levels were good with the additional moisture from the recent snow. All fall crops were harvested, and producers were preparing for spring planting. Pastures and rangeland were in good condition. Daytime temperatures in Lubbock County were mild for this time of year  67 degrees on Jan. 14. However, there were still many snowdrifts left from the earlier blizzard. Wheat continued to recover from the snowpack and cold nighttime temperatures. In Garza County, temperatures were moderate with highs in the 60s earlier in the week. Later in the week, highs dropped to the 40s and nighttime lows were in the upper 20s. Most cotton was harvested, but a few producers were not able to complete their harvest before the return of wet conditions. Rangeland and pastures were mostly in good to excellent condition for this time of year. Mitchell County producers were still harvesting cotton. There was still a lot of cotton on the ground, however. The Scurry County cotton harvest was expected to be finished soon.
Associated Press Writer

Sometime soon in the tiny east Texas community of Hooks, pastor Tim Mason plans to talk to his all-black congregation at Cedar Grove Baptist Church about the power of forgiveness and redemption.

His words will come from his family's own wrenching experience of racial violence.

Mason's older cousin, Charles Eddie Moore, and a friend, Henry Hezekiah Dee, were brutally slain by Ku Klux Klansmen in rural southwest Mississippi on May 2, 1964. The two black 19-year-olds were abducted, beaten and tossed into a muddy Mississippi River backwater while the Klan pursued false rumors that black people were stockpiling weapons during a time of strict racial segregation.

This past week in Jackson _ 43 years later and more than 100 miles away from the abduction site in Meadville _ reputed Klansman James Ford Seale was convicted on one count of conspiracy and two counts of kidnapping. The charges were tied to the attacks on Dee and Moore, whose badly decomposed partial corpses were found more than two months after the teenagers disappeared.

Federal prosecutors said there is no time limit on bringing charges in a kidnapping case in which a victim dies. Attorneys for Seale, 71, say he'll appeal the conviction. His sentencing is set for Aug. 24, and he faces life in prison.

The government's star witness was confessed Klansman Charles Marcus Edwards, 73, who was granted immunity from prosecution. Besides revealing details of what happened to Dee and Moore, Edwards surprised courtroom spectators one day by apologizing to the victims' families.

"I can't undo what was done 30 years ago and I'm sorry for that. I ask for y'all's forgiveness for my part in this crime," said Edwards from the witness stand while jurors were out of the courtroom.

Moore's older brother, Thomas Moore of Colorado Springs, Colo., and Dee's older sister, Thelma Collins of Springfield, La., said later that they forgive Edwards. Collins said she also forgives Seale; Thomas Moore said it might be a while before he can do that.

"It's been a long journey," said Thomas Moore, an Army veteran who pushed authorities for years to reopen the long-ignored case.

Mason, who sat through most of the two-week trial, said few people in his church knew his cousin had been killed by the Klan until Seale was arrested on the federal charges in January.

Mason lives in Tyler, Texas, and commutes about 250 miles roundtrip, twice a week, to his church just outside Texarkana. He said he plans to talk to the 60-member congregation soon about the deaths of his cousin and his friend, and about the trial and Edwards' apology.

"I will tell them that, as a matter of position, my siblings and I have forgiven James Seale. We also have forgiven Charles Edwards," Mason, 59, said during a break in the trial.

This was the latest of nearly two dozen civil rights-era cold cases that prosecutors across the South have revived since the early 1990s. Seale's trial came at the same time Congress is considering setting aside $100 million to create a Justice Department unit to investigate unsolved racially motivated crimes that occurred before 1970.

Religion permeated the trial.

Prosecutors showed jurors a Klan constitution that included an oath of "Christian militancy" to fight Satan's "malignant forces." Members had to swear to keep all activities of the white supremacist group a secret.

Although Seale has long denied any connection to the Klan, Edwards testified they both belonged to a Klan chapter, or "klavern," led by Seale's late father. Edwards said he remained loyal to the Klan vow of secrecy until 2006, when prosecutors gave him the choice of accepting an immunity deal or going to jail.

Edwards said he is a longtime deacon at Bunkley Baptist Church, a position he held even while he was active in the KKK. He testified about his own part in the attacks on Dee and Charles Eddie Moore that started in Franklin County _ a rural, heavily wooded area where the Klan ran rampant decades ago.

Mason and his twin brother, Tom Mason, grew up in Franklin County, where their parents were sharecroppers and raised pigs. They lived a few miles from Thomas and Charles Eddie Moore, and the cousins spent summers together, fishing and occasionally swimming in a creek. They got to know Dee when all the black high schools in the county were consolidated in the early 1960s.

Tom Mason now lives in Azusa, Calif., near Los Angeles, where he works as an estimator for Southern California Edison. Like his twin, he said he forgives Edwards and Seale.

"Our parents always taught us that you cannot hate, no matter how much you are hated," Tom Mason said. "This was based on their belief in Christ."

Edwards said he, Seale and other Klansmen abducted Dee and Charles Eddie Moore near an ice cream stand in Meadville and took them to the nearby Homochitto National Forest to ask them about the gun rumors. Edwards said Seale pointed a sawed-off shotgun at the teenagers while Edwards and others used tree branches to whip them until the young men said _ falsely _ that weapons were being stored in a black church, Roxie First Baptist.

Edwards testified that he was the one who told other Klansmen they should question Dee. He said he suspected Dee might be in the Black Panthers because the young man had spent time in Chicago and often wore a black bandanna over his hair. Friends and relatives testified that the soft-spoken Dee covered his hair because it was straightened, or "processed," to resemble the styles of James Brown or Elvis Presley.

Edwards and Seale were arrested in November 1964 on state murder charges in the deaths of Dee and Charles Moore. Federal prosecutors now say the state charges were dropped because local law enforcement officers in 1964 were in collusion with the Klan.

Tim Mason, the pastor in east Texas, said he forgives Seale even without Seale asking for the blessing.

"For him to ask for forgiveness," Mason said, "he has to admit that he committed the atrocities."
Mexico is the No. 2 export market for U.S. goods. In 2014 the U.S. exported more than $75.5 billion in goods by truck to the entirety of Mexico. PortstoPlains Alliance Corridor connects Mexico with Texas and beyond. Three border crossings serve the PortstoPlains Alliance Corridor: Del Rio/Acuna; Eagle Pass/Piedras Negras; and Laredo/Nuevo Laredo. These three crossings will be referred to as the PTP crossings. The data summarized below all address movement by truck.

The PTP crossings accounted for more than $28.5 billion in exports to Mexico from the nine states in the
The war on working class Americans

Dear Editor:

According to the Pew Research Center, the American middle class is shrinking. At the same time, the numbers at the bottom and the top are growing.

Through the 1970s, middle class meant affordable housing, education, health care, a secure job, and a pension. Today, many are a paycheck away from housing and food insecurity. College means debt. Healthcare out-of-pocket costs continue to rise. Pension security now requires investment expertise.

Changing Congress is a necessary first step toward a solution. In Pennsylvania, this means replacing Sen. Pat Toomey with retired three-star Admiral and Congressman Joe Sestak.

Their differences on two issues make the case. Housing and higher education are among the biggest expenses Americans face.

Affordable housing is a Pennsylvania and national concern. The National League of Cities says, There is an irreplaceable role for the federal government in addressing our nations housing needs, through funding housing programs at current or increased levels. HOME Investment Partnerships and funding for the National Housing Trust Fund are answers. Joe Sestak supports them. Sen. Toomey does not.

Higher education remains the shortest path from poverty to income security and the middle class. Again, Congress can help keep college affordable. Improving wages, increasing Pell Grants, reauthorizing Perkins Loans, and lowering long-term student loan costs are positive steps. Joe Sestak supports them. Sen. Toomey does not.

This pattern repeats across the range of issues that affect middle income and all working families. Joe Sestaks vision is of a better future for all American workers and their families. Sen. Toomeys record in the Senate shows that he looks only to the future of his supporters in the Club for Growth. On Nov. 8, Pennsylvanians can support working Americans by voting for Joe Sestak and sending Toomey back to the private sector.

Mark Lafer

State College


The ability to attract talent from around the world gives American companies a powerful competitive advantage over their peers abroad. Image source: Thinkstock.

One of the greatest competitive advantages American companies have over their foreign counterparts is that the United States attracts the best and brightest people from around the world to live and work here.

America is like Goldman Sachs in this regard. Or Amazon.com. Or Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet.

These companies don't need to advertise to attract talent; incredible people come to them. This is why America's immigration policy is so important to entrepreneurs and executives like:

Mark Zuckerburg, the founder and CEO of Facebook

Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft

Marissa Mayer, the CEO of Yahoo!

With this in mind, I went through a couple dozen of the biggest companies on the S&P 500 by market capitalization to see if any of them were founded or currently led by immigrants. A meaningful percentage of them were, including the following five current and former CEOs, in addition to a co-founder of one of America's greatest technology company:

Google's CEO Pichai Sundararajan (India)

Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella (India)

Pepsico 's chairperson and CEO Indra Nooyi (India)

's chairperson and CEO Indra Nooyi (India) Pfizer 's CEO Ian Read (Scotland)

's CEO Ian Read (Scotland) Intel 's former CEO Andrew Grove (Hungary)

's former CEO Andrew Grove (Hungary) Alphabet's co-founder Sergey Brin (Russia)

The circle broadens considerably if you include second- and third-generation immigrants as well. In the bank industry, for instance, which I follow closely, doing so would capture one of the best bankers in the United States (and probably the word): JPMorgan Chase's CEO Jamie Dimon, who's paternal grandfather immigrated to the United States from Greece in 1921.

Dimon helped the government not once, but twice during the financial crisis. He agreed to acquire Bear Stearns in March 2008 at the behest of the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury Department. Six months later, he oversaw the acquisition of Washington Mutual, one of the biggest depository institutions in the country.

Had it not been for JPMorgan Chase's assistance, it isn't unreasonable to assume that Washington Mutual might still be a ward of the state today. At the very least, it wouldn't have fallen into such capable hands as Dimon's and JPMorgan Chase's.

In this way, the United States' ability to attract talent from elsewhere translates into a robust competitive advantage for American companies. This boosts their sales and expands their margins relative to competitors abroad.

This is one reason (among many) I believe investors can be confident about buying shares of American companies, even in times like today, when the market is hemorrhaging because of concerns abroad. The people running these businesses are among the best and brightest in the world. If anyone can figure out how to operate in challenging times, they'd be (and are) at the top of that list.

The $15,978 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook

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The article 5 CEOs Who Immigrated to the United States originally appeared on Fool.com.

Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. John Maxfield owns shares of Facebook. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Alphabet (A and C shares), Amazon.com, Facebook, and PepsiCo. The Motley Fool recommends Intel and Yahoo!. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days . We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy

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Because there's a day to celebrate everything now, January 21 marks National Cheese Lover's Day.

It may be a pseudo-holiday, but cheese is delicious. There's scientific evidence that people are kind of addicted to the coagulated stuff.



So you know you probably want to eat something gooey or melty today, but why settle for a cheese pizza or a cheeseburger? How "gouda" would that be?

Click through the gallery for 24 cheesy dishes at San Antonio restaurants that go beyond the pizza, the burgers and  gasp!  even the nachos.

RELATED: 11+ cheesecakes to try in San Antonio

And if you think everything is "cheddar" with those fundamental cheese dishes, keep clicking to see where you can grab the best nachos, cheeseburgers and pizza in the Alamo City.

RELATED: 10 best bowls of mac and cheese in San Antonio

Staff writers Julie Cohen and Edmund Tijerina contributed to this report.

mbrown@mysa.com

Twitter: @merrisa_brown
IRBIL, Iraq  The Obama Administration and the Vatican condemned the Islamic State group Wednesday for razing Iraqs oldest Christian monastery, a 1,400-year-old structure that survived assaults by nature and man for centuries before it was deliberately destroyed by extremists.

At the United Nations, UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova said reducing St. Elijahs monastery in Mosul to a field of rubble was malicious and misguided.

Despite their relentless crimes, extremists will never be able to erase history, said Bokova, who called the demolition a war crime. It also reminds us how terrified by history the extremists are, because understanding the past undermines the pretexts they use to justify these crimes and exposes them as expressions of pure hatred and ignorance.

St. Elijahs monastery on the outskirts of Mosul was a place of worship recently for U.S. troops, who worked to restore it. In earlier centuries, generations of monks tucked candles in the niches and prayed in the cool chapel. The Greek letters chi and rho, representing the first two letters of Christs name, were carved near the entrance.

In his office in exile in Irbil, Iraq, the Rev. Paul Thabit Habib, 39, stared quietly at before- and after-images of the monastery that once perched on a hillside above his hometown of Mosul. Shaken, he flipped back to his own photos for comparison.

I cant describe my sadness, he said in Arabic. Our Christian history in Mosul is being barbarically leveled. We see it as an attempt to expel us from Iraq, eliminating and finishing our existence in this land.

The Islamic State group, which broke from al-Qaida and now controls large parts of Iraq and Syria, has killed thousands of civilians and forced out hundreds of thousands of Christians, threatening a religion that has endured in the region for 2,000 years. Along the way, its fighters have destroyed buildings and ruined historical and culturally significant structures they consider contrary to their interpretation of Islam.

Those who knew the monastery wondered about its fate after the extremists swept through in June 2014 and largely cut communications to the area.

Now, St. Elijahs has joined a growing list of more than 100 demolished religious and historic sites, including mosques, tombs, shrines and churches in Syria and Iraq. The extremists have defaced or ruined ancient monuments in Nineveh, Palmyra and Hatra. Museums and libraries have been looted, books burned, artwork crushed  or trafficked.

A big part of tangible history has been destroyed, said Rev. Manuel Yousif Boji. A Chaldean Catholic pastor in Southfield, Michigan, he remembers attending Mass at St. Elijahs almost 60 years ago while a seminarian in Mosul.

These persecutions have happened to our church more than once, but we believe in the power of truth, the power of God, said Boji. He is part of the Detroit areas Chaldean community, which became the largest outside Iraq after the sectarian bloodshed that followed the U.S. invasion in 2003. Iraqs Christian population has dropped from 1.3 million then to 300,000 now, church authorities say.
Two West Texas cafeteria ladies lost their jobs last week when photos were sent to their school district of the women taking leftover fruit that the school's policy requires to be thrown out home from work.

Director of Communications for Ector Country Independent School District said two workers at Murry Fly Elementary School in Odessa were terminated on Jan. 15 when Facebook photos sent to the district revealed they had violated a code of ethics agreement they signed upon hiring which forbids taking food home.
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HUNTSVILLE  Richard Allen Masterson, a two-time convicted burglar condemned for the 2001 murder of a professional Houston female impersonator, was executed here Wednesday night. He was the first Texas killer to be put to death this year.

The lethal dose of pentobarbital was administered after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected multiple petitions seeking reviews of issues involved in his case. Masterson was pronounced dead at 6:53 p.m.

Masterson, 42, was sentenced to die for the strangulation-robbery of 35-year-old Darrin Honeycutt. Honeycutt's nude body was found in his Montrose apartment days after his murder. Masterson contended that Honeycutt, whom he had met at a Montrose nightclub, died accidentally as the pair engaged in sex.

READ THIS: Masterson's case got the pope's attention

Lawyers for Masterson asked the high court to review such issues as the impact of a trial court judge's failure to advise jurors they could convict Masterson of the lesser charge of felony murder  an offense that could have resulted in an extended prison sentence, but not death. They also asked the court to review a lower-court's rejection of the claim that a Harris County medical examiner misinterpreted results of Honeycutt's autopsy, testifying that the man had died of strangulation and giving short shrift to the possibility that he died of natural causes.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles rejected a petition for clemency that raised many of the same claims.

In an interview two weeks before his scheduled execution, Masterson said that he felt "pretty good."

"I'm ready to find out the outcome one way or the other," he said. "It's been a long road."

FIGHTING FOR MASTERSON'S LIFE: Lawyers blamed medical examiner

Masterson's execution was the first of nine scheduled in Texas within the first six months of 2016.

According to court documents, Masterson strangled Honeycutt, then stole his car to flee the state.

Masterson, though, said Honeycutt died accidentally as the result of sex play that involved applying pressure to the man's throat.

When it became apparent that Honeycutt was in medical distress, Masterson said, he panicked and fled.

"With my criminal record, what was I supposed to do?" he said. Masterson had served time for burglaries in Texas and Georgia.

He later was arrested in Florida, and confessed to Houston police as they escorted him back to Texas.

Lawyers for Masterson unsuccessfully argued that the confession came as a result of profound depression Masterson suffered as a result of withdrawal from addictive drugs.

In earlier court proceedings, judges with the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals noted that Masterson had complicated his lawyers' jobs by testifying during the punishment phase of his trial that he likely would be violent in prison. "Future dangerousness" is one of two special questions jurors must answer affirmatively before assessing the death penalty.

When asked by a prosecutor if he felt jurors should sentence him to death, Masterson responded they would do so "if they're following the law."

While in prison, he petitioned the court to drop his appeals.

Masterson's lawyers contended those actions also came as a result of their client's depression, and noted that he retracted his request to the court when he was prescribed an anti-depressant medication.
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The madam of a brothel that operated in Houston's East End for years was sentenced to life in federal prison Wednesday for her role as the leader of an international sex-trafficking ring that forced women and girls into prostitution.

Hortencia "Tencha" Medeles, 70, was convicted during a trial last year that exposed operations at Medeles's three building complex on Telephone Road.

PROSTITUTION STING: Houston Police officer among 19 charged in prostitution bust

A cantina was located downstairs, and hidden doorways and staircases led to a brothel upstairs where 17 rooms were rented out for sex.

Read about the disturbing scene that has remained frozen in time after the brothel was shut down in Dane Schiller's first person account on HoustonChronicle.com.

The number of men to come through there is staggering, with records presented in court showing rooms were rented out 64,296 during a 19 month period ending in 2013. That is far more people than it would take to fill Minute Maid Stadium's nearly 41,000 seats.

Medeles was sentenced by U.S. District Judge David Hittner.

THE BACKGROUND: Raids against sex trafficking ring land 13 behind bars

Houston is a major hub for sex trafficking due to its size, proximity to the border and large immigrant population.

The ring was built on the backs of women and teenagers who were smuggled into the United States from Mexico and Central American by smooth talking pimps who promised them love and marriage.

When they got to Houston, however, they were beaten, raped and threatened that they as well as their families back home would be killed if they did not perform or tried to escape.

"These girls came to the U.S. looking for their American dream, but instead they found their American nightmare," Assistant U.S. Attorney Ruben Perez told jurors during Medeles's trial. "It took guts for those girls to come here before you and tell you what happened to them."

THE TRIAL: Woman comes face to face with accused sex trafficker

At least 40 people have been prosecuted in connection with the brothel or other sex trafficking rings that are related to the case against Medeles. One man, Alfonso Diaz Juarez, remains a fugitive and is on the run from a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to his capture.

"What occurred here was absolutely modern day slavery," said Special Agent Shauna Dunlap, of the FBI's Houston Division. " These women and young girls were forced to commit unspeakable acts in deplorable conditions inside this cantina, and others," she continued. "The longer Diaz-Juarez eludes justice, the greater the chance more women may be victimized."

The FBI asks that persons with information about trafficking to contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373- 7888.

See the above photo gallery for an exclusive look inside the remains of Medeles's brothel and cantina.
Catholic Charities and Caritas Legal Services will host their first legal clinic of the year beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Shrine of St. Padre Pio, 3843 Bulverde Parkway.

The Ask-A-Lawyer walk-in legal clinic is free, offered on a first-come, first-served basis. It is put on in collaboration with St. Marys University School of Law.
More than 120 suspects drew felony charges of driving drunk with a child under the age of 15 years old in 2015, according to the Bexar County District Attorney's Office.

In total, law enforcement officers in Bexar County arrested 125 people in 2015 for allegedly drinking and getting behind the wheel with kids in the car.
FBI agents on Thursday returned to the Converse home of an alleged pimp already in custody and arrested his father as part of a national crackdown on sex trafficking of minors.

In October, Melvin Lee Sullivan Deams, 20, was among 153 alleged pimps arrested as part of Operation Cross Country IX, which rescued 149 victims. Four juvenile girls, ages 15 and 16, were rescued from Deams' alleged operation, authorities said. At the time, court records said Deams kept most of the money the teens made from being prostituted on Backpage.com.
A Corpus Christi teacher who was convicted of having sex with a 17-year-old student and pleaded no contest to an affair with another has sued the first student for recording their sexual encounter.

The New York Daily News reported Tanya Ramirez, a 31-year-old former teacher and coach at King High School, claims in a lawsuit that the student caused her emotional distress by filming them during sex in 2014, sharing the video with friends and allowing it to be posted to YouTube.
San Antonio could see a brief spat of freezing temperatures Saturday morning following a cold front expected hit the area Thursday.

National Weather Service Meteorologist Bob Fogarty said the front is expected to bring gusting winds to the region on Thursday that will likely contribute to particularly chilly temperatures on Friday and Saturday mornings.
The deportation of Central Americans via recent raids throughout the country should have shamed this country.

And apparently it did.

After the raids prompted widespread objections, the Obama administration announced it was expanding its refugee program to allow more Central Americans to enter the country.

This represents an acknowledgment that the issue is one of people fleeing their countries under conditions akin to war and deprivation.

That makes the Central American cases a refugee problem, in other words, rather than purely a problem of undocumented immigration.

Solving the problem with law enforcement alone was always a narrow approach. Thats because the system that produced these raids  121 people seized in three states, including Texas  failed to allow for adequate protections.

Yes, the targeted migrants went through a process, but advocates for immigrants credibly say that more often than not, they were pushed through the system without representation and without much knowledge on how to pursue legitimate claims.

These refugees were given due process, but not in a fashion that would pass any smell test.

Immigrant advocates attempted to dissuade the Obama administration from pursuing these deportations but were unsuccessful.

The administration claimed that it needed to do this if earlier executive actions on immigration are to be enforced.

Those executive actions, however, are stalled in federal court until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on a case in which Texas and other states challenged the orders that would allow up to 5 million undocumented immigrants to remain in the country with permission to work.

The high court decided on Tuesday that it will hear that high-stakes immigration case this spring.

No, there is no requirement that undocumented immigrants in detention get legal representation. One expert told the Dallas Morning News that only about a quarter of Central Americans fleeing here as families had attorneys.

The asylum process is complicated, and immigrants are unlikely to successfully navigate it without an attorney.

These people are fleeing gang crime, the lack of rule of law and economic dysfunction in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. El Salvadors murder rate recently jumped 70 percent, surpassing Honduras as one of the most dangerous nations in the world.

Migrants tell of children forced to join gangs or die, law enforcement that turns a blind eye for a variety of reasons, including corruption, and people killed as a matter of course.

The United States will now allow as many as 9,000 migrants from these three countries to come here as refugees. They will be processed in third-party countries, giving some hope even to anti-immigrant groups that this could put a dent in the inflow  estimated at 100,000 since 2013.

Many of the migrants have been unaccompanied minors or part of a family.

This program, however, must not be allowed to become another means of warehousing migrants who deserve refugee status. These claims should move as quickly as possible.

An earlier influx of Central American migrants seeking refugee status prompted a program directed at children who could prove they had parents already in the United States. But few were processed.

This new initiative must do better. Its launch is an indication that President Barack Obama intends, in his last year of office, to do something about his reputation as deporter in chief.

And this is a good thing.
How it was done wasnt pretty, but now that Congress has lifted the 40-year ban on exporting most U.S. crude oil, Texas oil producers should get on board.

Well, as much as possible given that there is a glut in global oil.

Tucked inside the omnibus spending bill  passed in this fashion because Congress cant seem to pass spending bills for each federal department the normal way anymore  was a measure eliminating the ban.

The president doesnt have a line-item veto, so he had to approve the entire package or invite yet another budget crisis. So, despite concerns that this lifting of the ban gives short shrift to the need for the nation to continue feeding its petroleum reserve  and other concerns about other additions to the bill  the bill survived.

The ban made sense when it was approved some 40 years ago. The Arab oil embargo of the 70s made it clear that U.S. dependence on foreign oil couldnt continue. That meant nearly every drop produced here had to stay here, though petroleum-derived products could still be sold abroad.

And then fracking  otherwise known as hydraulic fracturing  revolutionized production in the U.S., and domestic supplies spiked. Then global oil prices plummeted, affecting domestic prices as well. Boom suddenly became bust in Texas and elsewhere in the oil-producing USA.

Unfortunately, this lifting of the ban comes as the world is awash in oil. But there was an important principle involved. It simply made no sense not to allow U.S. oil to compete globally  no more than it would be to disallow competition for any of the other products the nations businesses produce.

U.S. oil producers should be thinking long term in any case. And long term, when oil prices rise and stabilize, more markets will equal more jobs in Texas, including in the Eagle Ford Shale.

Which is not to say that U.S. producers shouldnt start competing now.

The omnibus spending bill also contained renewal of tax credits for wind and solar generation. This, too, is good news for Texas. The state is not just rich in oil hidden in its shale, but rich in wind and, usually, sun.

When it comes to energy, things are looking up for Texas in the long run.
Last week the Manitoba Progressive Conservative party announced a detailed plan to help improve openness in government and restore the trust of Manitobans that has been lost over the past several years with their government.

None of these commitments replace the fundamental importance of electing a government that is committed to openness and ethical behavior in government but each of them are important. For example, we have committed to empowering the Conflict of Interest Officer for the Legislature to conduct investigations and provide reports. This seems like a fairly basic and straight forward provision but one that has been lacking in Manitoba under the NDP.

Currently, if a resident of Manitoba or another elected official wants to have a complaint of conflict of interest investigated about a Member of the Legislature they have to go to the court. The current Conflict of Interest officer is not allowed to either take or to investigate complaints. This is in contrast to every other Legislature in Canada. And it is 16 years after a Law Reform Commission report recommended giving the Conflict of Interest Officer the power to investigate.

Going further, the announcement committed to providing more access to government information. Already, other provinces in Canada have moved to an open government model where they make available online government information that is not private or confidential in an easily accessible form. For example, Alberta through its Open Government initiative posts thousands of pieces of government information ranging from labour statistics to traffic collision reports to export figures. This is data that government collects, is not confidential, but can be helpful to industry or researchers if provided in the public domain in an easily accessible way.

Other commitments that we have made are related to strengthening democracy. Our proposal would require that if a seat in the Legislature was vacant, because of a resignation for example, the vacancy would generally have to be filled within six months. In the past, the NDP have left seats open for a year, leaving thousands of Manitobans unrepresented in the Manitoba Legislature when important matters such as budgets were being debated and voted upon. Most other provinces also require by-elections for vacant seats to be held within six months.

Another commitment that was made by the Progressive Conservative Caucus is to ensure that government advertising adheres to rules of being non-partisan. Millions of taxpayers dollars have been spent by the NDP on government ads that seem to have little purpose other than to promote the NDP government. If the NDP wants to promote their party with funds that they have voluntarily collected through donations that is certainly legitimate, but it is not when using government dollars funded through taxes.

These are just a few of the commitments that were announced. You can find the entire Open Government document online at pcmanitoba.com.
Posted on 01/21/2016, 8:30 am, by Farmscape.Ca

A member of Manitoba Porks Executive Committee says, by keeping the lines of communication open among Manitoba and mid-western U.S. pork producers the misconceptions and misunderstandings that can lead to problems can be avoided.

A delegation representing Manitoba took part in the 2016 Minnesota Pork Congress which wrapped up yesterday as part of a trade advocacy mission.

Rick Prejet, a member of Manitoba Porks Executive Committee, says its important to keep the lines of communication open.

We had a breakfast meeting with a number of people from the Minnesota Pork committee and etceteras and some government officials. There were a lot of questions about from health all the way through to Country of Origin Labelling, Transportation and such. It was a pretty broad general discussion we had there. Theyre interested in understanding some of the risk there might be with Canadian hogs going down there, the risk of what our supply is going to be doing in the future, especially with COOL.

People are wondering if were going to go crazy expanding our hog herd in western Canada and those kinds of questions. Its just really a communication clarification on everything there. Again, its amazing, through all the discussions we kind of go, yea we are all in the same boat here kind of thing. Again, its a matter of explaining what were doing, how were doing it, why were doing it and taking away all the rumors and demystify the whole thing of pork production in western Canada so they can fully understand what were doing, where were coming from.

Prejet says the main goal of the effort is to keep the lines of communication open so when issues do come up phone calls can made to talk things out and hopefully avoid some of the issues weve had between the U.S. and Canada.

He says for the most part those problems are the result of misunderstandings or misconceptions so the goal is to make sure things are clear, that people understand what were doing in Canada, why were doing it, the issues we have and what we have in common.
Opposition candidate of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Tsai Ing-wen on 16 January 2016 won a landslide victory in Taiwan's presidential election, making her the island's first female president.

Tsai's commanding victory brings to power DPP, which supports Taiwan's formal independence from China, a red line for Beijing, which claims the island as its territory.

Her victory brings the biggest mandate ever won by a DPP president. It is the second-ever victory for the DPP since Taiwan split with China in 1949.

In the 2016 general elections, DPP led by Tsai emerged victorious with 56 percent of the total vote share. She defeated Eric Chu of the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) Party that secured 31 percent vote share. Chu also made the announcement of quitting as KMT head. Taiwan's Premier Mao Chi-kuo also resigned.





About Tsai Ing-wen

 Born on 31 August 1956 in Taipei, Taiwan, Tsai graduated from the College of Law, National Taiwan University in 1978. She obtained a Master of Laws at Cornell University Law School in 1980 and then a Ph.D. in law at the London School of Economics in 1984.

 Upon her return to Taiwan, she taught law at Soochow University School of Law and National Chengchi University both in Taipei, Taiwan.

 She served as consultant for the Mainland Affairs Council and the National Security Council.

 She also led the drafting team on the Statute Governing Relations with Hong Kong and Macau.

 In 2000, she was given the high-profile appointment of chairperson of the Mainland Affairs Council.

 She joined the DPP in 2004.

 She was subsequently nominated by the DPP to be a candidate in the 2004 legislative election and was elected as a legislator-at-large.

 On 26 January 2006, she was appointed to the post of vice president of the Executive Yuan.

 She was elected and assumed DPP chairpersonship in 2008, following her party's defeat in the 2008 presidential election.

 She ran for New Taipei City mayorship in the November 2010 municipal elections but was defeated by another former vice premier, Eric Chu (KMT).

 In April 2011, she became the first female presidential candidate of a major party in the history of the Republic of China.

 She was defeated by incumbent Kuomintang candidate Ma Ying-jeou in the 5th direct presidential election in 2012.





Comment

 In 1949, KMT nationalists formed their own government in Taiwan after Mao Zedong's communists took power in Beijing.

 Therefore, China sees the island as a breakaway province, which it has threatened to take back by force if necessary.

 The KMT Party has ruled Taiwan for almost past 70 years and has overseen improved relations with China in recent times.

 Tsai's landslide victory marks a defeat for not only the pro-unification ruling party KMT but also China.


By Lambert Strether of Corrente.



TPP/TTIP/TiSA

The ability to make policy and to enforce it at the national level is essential to combat the slide towards plutocracy, under which society is controlled by the wealthiest citizens [HuffPo]. Hmm. [Hums an old tune, The Internationale]. Usefully, however, the article includes links to the following two studies:

Who Has Benefited Financially from Investment Treaty Arbitration? An Evaluation of the Size and Wealth of Claimants (PDF) [Gus Van Harten and Pavel Malysheuski, SSRN]. From the abstract:

We collected data on the size and wealth of the foreign investors that have brought claims and received compensation due to ISDS. Our main findings are that the beneficiaries of ISDS, in the aggregate, have overwhelmingly been companies with more than USD1 billion in annual revenue  especially extra-large companies with more than USD10 billion  and individuals with more than USD100 million in net wealth. ISDS has produced monetary benefits primarily for those companies or individuals at the expense of respondent states. Incidentally, we also found that extra-large companies success rates in ISDS, especially at the merits stage, exceeded by a large margin the success rates of other claimants. It was evident that ISDS has also delivered substantial monetary benefits for the ISDS legal industry.

Investment Treaties and the Internal Vetting of Regulatory Proposals: A Case Study from Canada [Gus Van Harten and Dayna Nadine Scott, SSRN].

The TPP features a ban on the ability of member countries to establish restrictions on data transfers [The Tyee]. [Some] TPP countries appear to have  obtained additional privacy assurances from the U.S. For example, a TPP side letter between the U.S. and Australia features a U.S. promise to extend any privacy commitments in other trade agreements to Australia. Moreover, the same side letter promises to work to extend privacy protections to Australian data held by the U.S. government. Wait, what? Side letters? Can we read them?

Latin American marches against TPP (map) [Participaccion].

2016

Money

Unhappy Anniversary: How Anthony Kennedy Flooded Democracy With Sewer Money' [Joe Conason, National Memo]. I didnt know Kennedys family history. Ugh.

Policy

During his landmark Georgetown University address, Bernie did much more than explain the meaning of democratic socialism. Quoting both Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Bernie openly recognized that there can be no liberty without economic security  the very thing that has been denied to millions of Americans by an increasingly oppressive oligarchy. Our political revolution is the answer to a system that denies liberty to so many [LA Progressive]. Put Bernie Sanders Medicare For All To The Test With This Online Healthcare Calculator [Inquisitr (KatieBird)]. The calculator itself. Clinton-Sanders battle puts spotlight on Amtrak gun rules [The Hill]. Presumably, there will be no gunz in the Quiet Car? I dont care so much about checked luggage.

The Trail

The G.O.P. establishment is at a disadvantage against outsiders across nearly every dimension of primary strength, even on the matters where the establishment usually has an edge, like fund-raising, media coverage and support from moderate voters in blue states [New York Times]. Whats even more remarkable is that the partys weakness comes when it would seem to have tremendous incentives to coalesce behind a single mainstream option. Rarely, if ever, has a party faced such a credible threat from true outsiders, and yet the Republican establishment is both split and on the sidelines. GOP Strategist: Trump Supporters Are Single Men Who Masturbate To Anime' [Reuters]. Truly the party of stupid: Real single men masturbate to hentai, not anime [ducks, as Japan experts in the readership start throwing objects]. Seriously, though. Thats what the Republican establishment thinks of their base, and theyre refreshingly open about it, arent they? The Democratic establishment would want to have a conversation, but the hate is the same. Palin Links Sons Arrest to PTSD, Obama Policies [military.com]. She went on to criticize the GOP establishment as well as Obamas foreign policies. Ya know, if I were living in a flyover state in a town where the mill closed, and the only jobs were at Hefty Mart, and the only exit was the military, and my child went to Iraq or Afghanistan and came back maimed and broken  and here comes the truth that must never be spoken and perhaps has never been said  from a war the Beltway elites lost, Id be mightily pissed off at the Republican establishment and Obama too. And I would have every right to be. But looking through Palins words, theres sometimes more to her teleprompter-free, shoot-from-the-hip speaking style than meets the ear [Independent Journal]. [On paper, her speech] resembles chiasmus, a Hebrew form of parallelism where phrases are repeated in an a-b-b-a pattern. With examples. The important point is that many parts of America hear that style of phrase-making from the pulpit every Sunday morning. Limbaugh explained, the glue sticking conservatives together is virulent opposition to the left and the Democrat Party and Barack Obama. And I, for the life of me, dont know whats so hard to understand about that [Politico]. Atrios has been saying the same thing in different words for years. Whats interesting is that conservative glue is a lot like progressive' glue,' only compounded out of different class and cultural markers. Trump on Cruz: He said with him being a Canadian citizen, Oh, I didnt know that. How did he not know that? Then he said with the loans, Oh, I didnt know that. Smart guy. He doesnt know that? Yeah, thats worse than Hillary, when you think about it [Politico]. Well-crafted! Bill Clinton, according to a source with firsthand knowledge of the situation, has been phoning campaign manager Robby Mook almost daily to express concerns about the campaigns organization in the March voting states, which includes delegate bonanzas in Florida, Illinois, Ohio and Texas [Politico]. In other words, the Big Dog doesnt believe in the South Caroline firewall any more than I do  or Bernie does, since hes got the financial muscle from small contributors to keep going til the convention (especially if the Clintons keep helping him fundraise by smearing him). I seem to have repressed the fact thast Clinton supported debunked conservative abstinence programs: More on Hillary Clinton's unimpeachable record on reproductive rights: pic.twitter.com/Vu7iznwlfU  Amber A'Lee Frost (@AmberALeeFrost) January 20, 2016 Should the Largest LGBT Organization Really Have Endorsed Hillary Clinton? [Teen Vogue]. Behind Lena Dunhams Hillary Clinton Campaign Looks: How a New Generation Is Reinventing Political Style [Vogue]. Before speaking with Iowan HRC supporters over a four-day stop, the Girls creator and actress and her stylist, Shirley Kurata, began devising customized Hillary monogrammed frocks and knits from a network of knitwear designers. Inspired by vintage silhouettes, centuries-old campaign paraphernalia, and, of course, the pantsuit savant herself, Kurata tells us how the patriotic looks all came together. And with the election just heating up, there is no telling whats up Dunhams Hillary-emblazoned sleeve next. Im no fashionista, but Id rate this look close, but no cigar. Then again: Im With the Headband: An 80s Accessory Favorite Makes a Chic Comeback [Vogue]. PolitiFact is calling out Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz for her claim that her partys presidential debate schedule was designed to maximize the opportunity for voters to see our candidates [The Hill]. The fact-checking website on Wednesday rated Wasserman Schultzs statements false, calling her defenses very disingenuous.' Wait, what? Thats the DNC chair youre talking about! Srsly? Clintons Bizarre Attack on Her Husbands 1992 Credentials to Be Elected Commander in Chief [Angry Bear]. This is someone whose husband was elected president in 1992 with government experience only as governor of Arkansas, against a sitting president who also attended military funerals, in his capacity as Commander in Chief, and who was a former CIA chief.

Stats Watch

Jobless Claims, week of January 16, 2016: Jobless claims may have already hit their lows, at least thats the emerging trend for initial claims which posted a sizable 10,000 rise in the January 16 week to a much higher-than-expected 293,000. This is the highest reading since July [Econoday]. But continuing claims arent yet confirming any slowing in the jobs market. But: The four week rolling average of initial claims are 4.4 % lower (degradation from the 4.8 % for last week) than they were in this same week in 2015 [Econintersect]. And: Possible bottom and now moving higher [Mosler Economics].

Philadelphia Fed Business Outlook Survey, January 2016: The factory sector continues to slow this month though, in good news, the rate of contraction is flattening out [Econoday]. And this is the clear theme from this report, that the factory sector may be beginning to level out following a very flat 2015. Huh? How is level out different from already flat This is clear? And: In contraction, but noisy and sentiment-based [Econintersect].

Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index, week of January 17, 2016: Losses in the stock market arent yet depressing the consumer [Econoday].

Shipping: Rail contraction continues (with coal and grain backed out) [Econintersect].

Swaps: This year has been had for rockers in their 60s, anyone with assets in the ground or in the stock market or those who believed the Fed would be initiating a series of rate hikes in 2016 [Across the Curve]. Followed by verbiage so arcane I hesitate to quote it. Readers?

Last year was the most profitable ever for short sellers, by one measure. And 2016 is starting off even better for bears [Bloomberg].

Todays Fear & Greed Index: 17, Extreme Fear (previous close: 9) [CNN]. One week ago: 17 (Extreme Fear). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed).

Health Care

[UnitedHealthCare Group, the nations largest insurer] lost $720 million on the newly established ObamaCare exchanges last year, according to a much-anticipated earnings report released Tuesday. About one-third of those losses are due to advance recognition of 2016 losses, the company said [The Hill]. By mid-2016 we will determine to what extent, if any, we will continue to offer products in the exchange market in 2017, [CFO David] Wichmann said during a conference call with investors.

Police State Watch

Baltimore police use of force policies essentially advise officers to shoot to kill. https://t.co/XbC5xOhZW6 pic.twitter.com/jI5aehBDrh  Samuel Sinyangwe (@samswey) January 20, 2016

From the Police Use of Force project.

Water

Snyder Concedes Flint is His Katrina, a Failure of Leadership [National Journal]. And as a first step

No joke, the entire first email released by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder is redacted. pic.twitter.com/RzPif77UET  Kyle Feldscher (@Kyle_Feldscher) January 20, 2016

Governors Emails Show Debate Over Blame for Flint Water [AP]. Note the phrase emergency manager doesnt appear in the story. Heres a link to the emails.

It was only after Flint residents organized their own campaignattracting experts and activists and national mediathat the state acknowledged the scale of the problem [The New Yorker]. Interesting comparison to Charleston, West Virginia, when Freedom Industries (love the name) polluted the Elk River with ten thousand gallons of PPH and MCHM a mile upstream from the largest water-treatment plant in West Virginia. So, Im long bottled water.

Tonko: Water main break symptom of national problem [Troy Record]. Water mains are so 19th Century. Idea: Have Amazon deliver bottled water with their new drones! All we have to do is dedicate 200 vertical feet of airspace to them, over the entire continent. Problem solved!

Concerned citizens pack Hoosick Falls water hearing [Albany Times-Union]. Residents in this factory village packed the high school Thursday night to learn more about a dangerous chemical that contaminated their water system and stoked fears about whether its caused what many believe is a high rate of unusual and aggressive forms of cancer.

City: Carlyle, Mountain Water officials should appear in court to discuss sale  [Missoulian (diptherio)]. Carylle sold the water company to a Canadian firm, Liberty Utilities of Algonquin Power and Utilities Corp. The only reasonable inference from Algonquin/Libertys glaring disregard of the Montana legal system is that they plan to pillage Mountain Water assets, including cash assets, with intent to defraud the city, read the brief. Thus, injunctive relief is appropriate. (Whenever you see a company with Freedom or Liberty in their name, put your hand on your wallet, or clutch your purse.)

Gaia

Almost every group [in canine genetics] has a different origination hypothesis [New York Times]. [M]any researchers find it much more plausible that dogs, in effect, invented themselves.

Wartsila To Design Worlds Biggest Krill Fishing Factory Vessel for Antarctic Waters [gCaptain (guurst)]. What could go wrong?

Guillotine Watch

How the Kochs Tried (and Failed) to Discredit Reporter Jane Mayer After She Exposed their Empire [Democracy Now!].

Class Warfare

Bank Leader Sounds Warning: Culture Message Isnt Filtering Down [Bloomberg]. Since none of the crooks in charge were jailed? Could that be it? (And note the proliferation of the word leader, which dissolves all functional distinctions between offices, as we saw in the Timess Davos coverage.)

Disturbing images of the mold, mushrooms, and bullet holes in Detroits schools that led to teachers massive sickout' [Business Insider]. Neoliberal privatization end game.

Why George Ingle Finch, an Australian climber from the 1920s, deserves to be far better known than he is [The Economist, Onwards and upwards].

Trump is right now busy chasing the Mexicans, T.K. Kurien, the chief executive officer of Indian information-technology services firm Wipro Ltd., said in an interview at the Swiss mountain resort, where the World Economic Forum meets this week. But after he finishes with the Mexican story, I am pretty sure hell train his guns on us' [Bloomberg].

News of the Wired

Linux Foundation quietly drops community representation [Matthew Garrett]

UK Government Voice Encryption Standard Built for Key Escrow, Surveillance [On the Wire].

Weibo Shows Us What a 10,000-Character Twitter Might Look Like [New York Magazine].

Hold my beer while I tweet this number:

Supercomputer identifies largest known prime number consisting of 22,338,618 digits. https://t.co/IKZ4CbIM38 pic.twitter.com/YDthORRB00  ABC News (@ABC) January 21, 2016

The 10K character limit will help a little. But not much!

While stories such as Beauty and the Beast and Rumplestiltskin were first written down in the 17th and 18th century, the researchers found they originated significantly earlier. Both tales can be securely traced back to the emergence of the major western Indo-European subfamilies as distinct lineages between 2,500 and 6,000 years ago, they write [Guardian]. Analysis showed Jack and the Beanstalk was rooted in a group of stories classified as The Boy Who Stole Ogres Treasure, and could be traced back to when eastern and western Indo-European languages split  more than 5,000 years ago. Beauty and the Beast and Rumpelstiltskin to be about 4,000 years old. A folk tale called The Smith and the Devil was estimated to date back 6,000 years to the bronze age.

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Readers, feel free to contact me with (a) links, and even better (b) sources I should curate regularly, and (c) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi are deemed to be honorary plants! See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here. And heres todays plant (PP):

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If you enjoy Water Cooler, please consider tipping and click the hat. Winter has come, I need to buy fuel, keep the boiler guy and a very unhappy and importunate obstreperous plumber happy, and keep my server up, too.
By Adriana Kocornik-Mina, Guest researcher, Alterra  Wageningen UR; Thomas McDermott, Lecturer at the School of Economics and Principal Investigator at the Environmental Research Institute, University College Cork; Guy Michaels, Associate Professor in the Department of Economics, LSE; and Ferdinand Rauch, Associate Professor at the Department of Economics, University of Oxford. Originally published at VoxEU

During the past couple of months alone, floods have displaced 100,000 people or more in Kenya, in Paraguay and Uruguay, and in India, as well as more than 50,000 people in the UK. And rising sea levels due to climate change loom. This column assesses the risk and the challenges for policymakers. It details the effects of flooding in cities around the world, showing that economic activity is concentrated in low-elevation urban areas, despite their much greater exposure to flooding. And worryingly, economic activity tends to return to flood-prone low-lying areas rather than relocating.

Extreme rainfall during December 2015 resulted in widespread flooding across northern England, Scotland and Ireland. The cost of this particular period will potentially exceed $2 billion (Bounds 2015). An important policy question is therefore: Why are so many people hit by flooding, particularly in locations that are repeatedly inundated?

The recent events in the UK and Ireland are just one example of a major global problem. According to media reports collated by the Dartmouth Flood Observatory (2014), from 1985-2014 floods worldwide killed more than 500,000 people, displaced over 650,000,000 people, and caused damage in excess of $500 billion. Other datasets tell of even greater impacts  according to the International Disaster Database (EM-DAT, see Guha-Sapir et al. 2015), in 2010 alone 178 million people were affected by floods and total losses exceeded $40 billion. To these direct costs we should add longer-term costs due to the disruption of schools, increased health risks and disincentives to invest.

Imperative to understand

So it seems important to understand why so much is lost to floods. One might argue that the risks of floods are balanced by gains from living in flood-prone areas. But as Kydland and Prescott (1977) show, flood plains tend to be overpopulated, because the cost of building and maintaining flood defenses is often borne by governments and not by private developers. This problem is in fact worse than you might think, because the costs of flood recovery are also often borne by government and NGOs. This situation creates potential for misallocation of resources, and forces society to answer difficult distributional questions.

In a recent working paper (Kocornik-Mina et al. 2015), we examine how prevalent it is for economic activity to be concentrated in flood-prone areas, and whether cities adapt to major floods by relocating economic activity to safer areas.

Large-Scale Urban Floods

In our empirical analysis we study the impact of large-scale urban floods. We use new data from spatially disaggregated inundation maps of 53 large floods, which took place from 2003-2008. Each of these floods displaced at least 100,000 people, and taken together the floods affected 1,868 cities in 40 countries around the globe, mostly in developing countries. Figure 1 shows the locations of the large flood events included in our analysis. We study the local economic impact of the floods using satellite images of night-lights at an annual frequency.

Figure 1. Map showing the locations of worlds cities, including those affected by our sample of large flood events

Notes: City sizes are inflated in order to make them visible on a map of the entire world. Smaller dots correspond to cities not affected by any of the floods in our sample. The number of floods in the legend refers to the number of years from 2003-2008 during which each city was affected by a flood that displaced a total of 100,000 people or more.

Our data show that the global exposure of urban areas to large-scale flooding is substantial, with low-lying urban areas flooded much more frequently. Globally, the average annual risk of a large flood hitting a city is about 1.3% for urban areas that are more than 10 metres above sea level, and 4.9% for urban areas at lower elevation. In other words, urban areas that are less than 10m above sea level face an average annual risk of about one in 20 of being hit by a large flood. Of course, this average masks considerable variation across locations. Local flooding risk results from a complex combination of local climate, permeation, and topography, among other factors. Some urban areas  even if located at low elevation  will flood rarely, if ever. At the other extreme, some urban areas flood repeatedly. In our sample, about 16% of the cities that are hit by large floods are flooded in multiple years.

We also find that even though low-lying areas are more likely to flooded, they concentrate a higher density of economic activity, as proxied by night-light intensity. This disproportionate concentration of economic activity in low elevation areas is found even for areas that are prone to extreme precipitation, where the risk of large scale flooding is highest.

When we analyse the local economic impact of large floods, we find that on average they reduce a citys economic activity as measured by night time lights by between 2% and 8% in the year of the flood. Recovery, however, is relatively quick  lights typically recover fully within a year of a major flood, even in the hardest hit low-lying areas. This pattern of recovery is illustrated in Figure 2 for the case of Hurricane Katrina, which hit the city of New Orleans in 2005. We note, however, that New Orleans is unusual in our sample, because it is much richer (and much better lit) than most of the flooded cities.

Figure 2. Inundation and light intensity maps for Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans

Notes: Panel A shows a detail from one of the inundation maps associated with Hurricane Katrina, concentrated on the area around the city of New Orleans. The map displays in red and pink the areas that were inundated during the flooding. Panels B, C and D show the average annual light intensity in 2004, 2005, 2006 respectively, for the city of New Orleans. There is a notable dimming of lights city-wide in 2005. In Panel D a recovery of light intensity is apparent.

Our finding that economic activity recovers after floods even in low-lying areas suggests that there is no significant adaptation, at least in the sense of a relocation of economic activity away from the most vulnerable locations. With economic activity fully restored in vulnerable locations, the scene is sadly set for the next round of flooding.

A possible motivation for restoring vulnerable locations is to take advantage of the trading opportunities  and amenity value  offered by waterside locations. But we find that economic activity is fully restored even in low-elevation locations that do not enjoy the offsetting advantages of being near a river or coast.

Our results are also robust to restricting our sample to cities with at least some areas more than 10 metres above sea level. This means that there is no movement to higher ground in the aftermath of large floods even within cities where such movement is possible.

Cities That Dont Adapt

One exception to our general finding that cities do not adapt in response to large floods can be found in the subset of recently populated parts of cities (those that had no night lights in 1992). We find that in these recently populated urban areas, flooded areas show a larger and more persistent decline in night-light intensity, indicating a stronger relocation of economic activity in response to flooding. This may be because in these newer urban locations flood risk was under-appreciated and the floods led to updating, or it may be because these newer areas had fewer past investments, so moving away was less costly.

Conclusions

Our findings are important for a number of reasons.

 First, the trend towards increased urbanisation around the world, and especially in poor regions, is still ongoing. As urbanisation progresses, it is important to know whether cities adapt and their populations avoid dangerous areas. Our results suggest that flooding poses an important challenge for urban planning because adaptation away from flood-prone locations cannot be taken for granted, even in the aftermath of large and devastating floods.

 Second, floods disproportionately affect poor countries. Given the scale of human devastation and its potential to affect the formation of human capital (for example, disruptions to education or damage to peoples health), this is an important issue for growth and development. Specifically, planning and zoning laws and their enforcement are weak in developing countries. Consequently, slums and other informal urban settlements tend to develop on cheap land with poor infrastructure, which includes flood-prone land. More than 860 million people live in flood-prone urban areas worldwide. Annual increases of 6 million a year were observed between 2000 and 2010. Our finding that low-elevation areas concentrate much of the economic activity, even in poor urban areas with erratic weather patterns, highlights the tragedy of the recurring crisis imposed by flooding.

 Third, global warming, and especially rising sea levels, are expected to further exacerbate the problem of flooding in many of the worlds cities.

 Fourth, recovery assistance after flooding is an important part of international aid. Our findings suggest that in some circumstances, part of the aid and reconstruction efforts should be targeted at moving economic activity away from the most flood-prone areas, in order to mitigate the risk of recurrent humanitarian disasters.

 Finally, our results are relevant for discussions of the costly effects of path dependence (Bleakly and Lin 2012, Michaels and Rauch 2013). Our findings suggest that cities and the parts of cities that are built in flood-prone areas may be locking in exposure to flood risk for a long time.

See original post for references
Evidence grows for giant planet on fringes of Solar System Nature

Into the wood: Americas first modern tall timber building rises in Minneapolis Minnesota Post (Chuck L).

US bull market era on borrowed time FT

Markets Panic Incongruent With Economic RealityFor Now WSJ

One Gallon of Milk Is Now Worth About Two Gallons of Oil: Chart Bloomberg. Good thing the market is composed of rational actors. Otherwise, we might really be in trouble.

Why Are Corporations Hoarding Trillions? NYT

Red-Hot Property Markets Cool as Rich Investors Retrench WSJ

Property investors highly exposed to interest rate rises Macrobusiness

Lagarde wins backing for new IMF term FT. That was fast.

Todays Slaves Often Work For Enterprises That Destroy The Environment NPR

Davos

Imperial Collapse Watch

Julian Assange will be questioned at Embassy of Ecuador in London over Sweden sex attack allegations Telegraph

Syraqistan

China?

Greece?

Italys Lending Recovery at Risk as Renzi Bad Bank Plan Stalls Bloomberg

2016

Oregon governor calls on feds to act against armed group AP. Of course, if #BlackLivesMatter occupied a lemonade stand, the DHS Fusion Center switchboard would light up like a Christmas tree, and SWAT teams and armored vehicles would be on the scene in a heartbeat. #JustSaying.

Where has this Barack Obama been? If Obama had governed like this in 2009, hed be a transformational, historic president Rick Perlstein, Salon. Opportunity utterly squandered. I mean, who could have predicted that the party that shut down the government and impeached a sitting President over a ******* wouldnt accept the proffered right hand of bipartisan fellowship? Either Obama is a fool, or he wasnt acting in good faith (as Perlstein assumes he was). And Obamas not a fool.

Flint Water

Class Warfare

Inter-group violence among early Holocene hunter-gatherers of West Turkana, Kenya Nature. I.e., war.

Antidote du jour:

See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here.
BIOFIN: Biodiversity Finance Initiative

The abbreviation BIOFIN was in news in the third week of January 2016 as the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change held the first national stakeholder consultation meeting on the BIOFIN (Biodiversity Finance Initiative).

The meeting was organized to understand the BIOFIN project and to seek professional inputs from experts of various fields in strengthening the biodiversity conservation efforts in the country.



BIOFIN is a global partnership seeking to address the biodiversity finance challenge in a comprehensive manner. Its purpose is to mobilise resources for biodiversity and sustainable development across the world.

Features of BIOFIN

 It helps countries to scale up their efforts and achieve the 20 Aichi Targets defined in the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Strategic Plan for 2011-2020.

 It was launched by the United National Development Programme (UNDP) in October 2012.

 Its focus is on building a sound business case for increased investment in the management of ecosystems and biodiversity, with a particular focus on the needs and transformational opportunities at the national level.

 It works along two main axes-Globally-led development of a new methodological framework and adaptation and implementation of this framework at national level.





 BIOFIN is managed by the UNDP Ecosystems and Biodiversity Programme and supported by the European Union and the Governments of Germany, Switzerland, Norway and Flanders. The Global Environment Facility is a further partner financing parallel in-country projects.

 As of January 2015, BIOFIN's total budget is 28 million US dollars and the total number of core participating countries is 29.

 While discussions are ongoing in several countries to formally join, the following 19 countries are already fully engaged: Botswana, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Fiji, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Philippines, Seychelles, South Africa, Thailand, Uganda and Zambia. Further countries can be supported as additional resources are leveraged.


When you think youve seen everything imaginable in the shameless category, count on someone in finance to reach a new low.

The latest example comes from Davos. Private equity billionaire, Blackstones Steve Schwarzman is famed for his spending ($6 million 60th birthday party) and verbal excesses (comparing a proposal to end the carried interest tax loophole that made him super rich as opposed to merely rich to Hitler invading Poland). But those have either been to gratify his outsized ego or to defend his money machine. And although extreme, Schwarzman is hardly alone. In fact, Wall Street throwing tantrums over even small-potatoes threats to its profits is part of the new normal.

But Schwarzman at Davos has revealed himself to be utterly out of touch. His remarks in a Bloomberg interview:

Whats remarkable is the amount of anger, whether its on the Republican side or the Democratic side. Bernie Sanders to me is almost more stunning than some of the stuff going on on the Republican side, How is that happening, why is that happening? What is the vein in America that is being tapped into across parties thats made people so unhappy? Thats something you should spend some time on.

For someone whose major business consists of investing in real-economy businesses, thats an astonishing admission of cluelessness. Schwarzman is undeniably a fine actor; you have to be to get to the top of his heap. Yet his tone of voice, as well as the cluelessness of his remarks, say he is genuinely perplexed. Havent people like him managed to create the best of all possible worlds? Why doesnt everyone see that?

Read his statement again, or listen to the segment. What is the veinthat is being tapped intothat is making people so unhappy? has a bizarre lack of agency. And it also suggests that the the unhappiness is somehow being created or cultivated aso opposed to is a long-standing, genuine sentiment that has finally found political outlets. As Clinton said, Its the economy, stupid. Yet Schwarzman blandly intimates that populists on both sides of the aisle have managed to stir up such malcontent. Something must have failed on the messaging front.

And thats before getting to the fact that his remarks confirm what clued-in Americans know well: the top wealthy lead lifestyles that are so disconnected from the rest of the public that they are dangerously out of touch. And elites who think they can remove themselves from the societies on which their lifestyles depend at no risk are kidding themselves. Despite their greater ability to put themselves at a class remove, the considerable interdependencies of our modern world means they cant achieve real independence. They need chips, medical care, food, and other necessities. Yes, in an extreme scenario, they might be able to lay up supplies to last for years against the scenario that some of the more paranoid, like Pierre Omidyar, are worried about, that of an uprising. But most of them hope to live longer than that.

Their best protection for the 0.1% is more engagement in the societies that have provided them with their lucre, and on which they ultimately depend, as much as theyd like to deny that. Yet most of them conceive the whole point of winning as circulating only in the most exclusive circles and being able to treat everyone else as inferiors. You can see that in Schwarzmans interaction: he cant refrain from giving the Bloomberg reporter an assignment to figure out why the natives are restless. But hes a big part of the problem, if not the problem. Exactly how many jobs and even companies have been lost, and wages and pensions have been cut, to fatten his bank account? Does he truly not get it, or does he somehow think that if people like him say the right thing, the anger will go away? Hes not going to get the caliber of information he needs to penetrate his bubble even if he were to hire someone to investigate. Guys like Schwarzman are incapable of getting past their preening self-regard, and that blindness puts them at risk.
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WASHINGTON  Imagine a governor of a large state deciding to cut costs and appointing a staff of bureaucrats who change the water supply for 100,000 people to save money but don't bother to have it treated properly for contaminants. For more than a year the people drink dangerous water without knowing it.

When doctors start seeing signs of lead poisoning, which causes behavioral problems and learning disabilities in children and kidney disease in adults  problems that can last for generations  questions begin to be asked. At first, the state officials ignore the results and deny there's a problem.

Local churches and charities trying to supply bottled water to terrified parents who can't afford to buy it run out. People who can afford to buy bottled water can't find it. For a while the governor hopes it will just all go away.

But then the national media swoops in and finds chaos. Finally, the National Guard begins distributing free water and filters. And finally, the governor takes his head out of the sand, requests aid from the federal government he despises and admits the state, which caused the problem, can't fix it. And even then, people are having a hard time finding and getting the water, filters and lead test kits they need.

Michigan. Flint. Gov. Rick Snyder. Ongoing crisis.

The cows were acting crazy, losing hair, showing grotesque malformations and dying, and nobody could figure out why. And then people began putting two and two together and realized a huge chemical company had bought land nearby for a landfill for its factory. The company and government studies said the farmers didn't know how to take care of cows. Only after a courageous lawyer pursued the case did he learn that a little-known and dangerous chemical, perfluorooctanoic acid, often called C8, had been dumped in the landfill and was being improperly dumped into local water tables providing drinking water for 70,000 people. For 40 years secret research had shown damage to and cancer in animals and that high levels of C8 infected local factory workers.

Parkersburg, West Virginia. DuPont. Lawyer Rob Bilott. The Environmental Protection Agency charged DuPont with concealing knowledge of C8's toxicity and presence in the environment. DuPont was fined $16.5 million but did not admit liability. Eventually, the EPA learned that C8 was showing up in the general public through Teflon-coated pans and in the air and water. C8 is now found all over the world, and 60,000 similar chemicals remain unregulated.

In Porter Ranch, California, residents fear a gas leak from a Southern California Gas Co. well is making them sick. Movie-famous activist Erin Brockovich insists that after being in a home in the area for 10 minutes, she got a case of some kind of chemically induced bronchitis. Lawsuits are pending. House values are said to be plummeting. At this point there are only questions, no answers.

Every state and nearly every community confronts controversies over environmental protection and jobs and dangers to health and habitat. Sometimes the hysteria is unfounded. But environmental activists are no longer widely ridiculed as "tree huggers" and "bunny counters."

Nonetheless, Republican presidential candidates are on a different page.

Donald Trump wants to cut the EPA. "What they do is a disgrace." He says climate change is a hoax.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush wants to repeal EPA's strictures on clean air and clean power.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz voted against protecting ocean, coastal and Great Lakes ecosystems. He said climate change is a pseudoscientific theory.

Carly Fiorina wants to weaken the EPA.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee thinks climate change is unproven.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich says environmental policy making should be left to the states and local communities.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio wants to leave environmental protection up to businesses, not the government.

Votes have consequences.
Naples resident Donald Miller spoke to about 90 people at the Collier County Museum on Jan. 20 about his recent book, "Lafayette: His Extraordinary Life and Legacy." His presentation was filmed by C-SPAN for the networkas television show, aAmerican History.a Alexi C. Cardona/Staff

SHARE The cover photo of Donald Miller's book, "Lafayette: His Extraordinary Life and Legacy."

By Alexi C. Cardona

Donald Miller has at least 50 books about Marquis de Lafayette in his Naples home.

The local author recently published his own book on the man known as "The Hero of the Two Worlds," an aristocrat and military officer who fought for the 13 colonies in the American Revolutionary War and was a key figure in the French Revolution.

Miller presented his book, titled "Lafayette: His Extraordinary Life and Legacy," to about 90 people at the Collier County Museum on Wednesday. C-SPAN filmed the presentation for the network's television show, "American History."

Born in Chavaniac in south central France, Lafayette's father was killed by the British in Germany when he was a year old and his mother died when he was 11. By his early teens, he was commissioned an officer of the French Royal Army.

Lafayette supported the American fight for independence and sought to play a role in it.

"He had a canine need for recognition," Miller said. "He had a big ego, as most leaders do. He was rather brave."

Miller discussed Lafayette's relationship with George Washington, his deep love of America and dedication to civil rights and liberty.

"He was a Democrat with a lowercase 'd,'" Miller said. "He understood that people deserved to live in freedom."

The author also shared fun facts about the military officer. Lafayette enjoyed broiled chicken and one of his favorite desserts was dates.

Miller, a Pittsburgh native, earned his bachelor and master degrees in art history from the University of Pittsburgh. He spent two weeks in France to conduct research and visit historical sites. It took him 12 years to research and write the book and another two to find a publisher and agent.

Frank Derango, a Naples resident who read the book and attended the lecture, said he was impressed with the storytelling.

"I'm a history buff and I was impressed with the quality of the storytelling," he said. "I felt like I was right there with him."
SHARE Kayla Goodman is seen with her music teacher from Lely High School, Lederian Townsend. She was the first Lely student to be picked for the All-State concert since 2004. Submitted photo Kayla Goodman is seen with her family -- sister Madisyn, mother Kristen and father Dennis -- during the Florida Music Education Associationas All-State Concert. She was one of 29 Collier County students selected. Submitted photo

By Alexi C. Cardona

Music has brought out the best in Kayla Goodman.

The shy Lely High School sophomore started playing the recorder in third grade and moved on to the clarinet in middle school. She doesn't like the light to be shined on her, but she's confident in her music skills and is learning to accept compliments. She wants to help other students realize their potential. Her stutter used to make her hesitant to talk to people. Now, she talks openly about her love of the clarinet, her hopes for the future and her fears.

"She wasn't that same kid a couple of years ago," said Kristen Goodman, Kayla's mom. "She works really hard, loves her music and just wants to help other kids."

Kayla has been taking private lessons with Paul Votapek of the Naples Philharmonic and was recently accepted to the philharmonic's Youth Orchestra.

"The clarinet is a fun and satisfying instrument to play," she said. "It's got this deep, resonating, woody sound."

Kayla's practice and hard work landed her a spot on the Florida Music Education Association's All-State Concert this past weekend. She's the first Lely High student to qualify for all-state since 2004.

"It tells me that what we're doing is working," said Lederian Townsend, director of bands at Lely High. "We have one of the best music students in the state right now."

FMEA offers annual conferences for music teachers and hosts all-state bands, choruses and orchestras for students throughout the state. Twenty-nine Collier County middle and high school music students were selected to participate in the concert.

From Jan. 13 to Jan. 16, thousands of music students converged in Tampa to rehearse for the concerts and perform with university conductors from around the country.

"Being selected to a Florida All-State Ensemble is a tremendous honor, as the top instrumentalists and vocalists in all schools compete for a very limited number of spots in these fantastic groups," said Gregory Turchetta, executive director of communications and community engagement for Collier County Public Schools. "We are extremely proud of all our talented musicians in our school district."

Auditions for All-State are held in the fall. To audition, students are recorded playing their instruments or singing. The recordings are then sent to one of the component organizations of the FMEA--the Florida Bandmasters Association, Florida Orchestra Association or Florida Vocal Associationthen to university professors and professional musicians to be evaluated.

The night before the audition, Kayla aired out her clarinet and the reed became too dry to play. She used a marching reed as a backup. She wasn't sure if she'd be accepted because she messed up the last arpeggio of her song.

"I dwelled on that for a while," Kayla said.

Kayla was sick at home the day she found out she had been accepted.

"She was in her room sleeping and I burst in and woke her," her mother said. "We were so excited."

Kayla was confident in her performance at the All-State concert and told her mom she is considering auditioning for a national concert in Texas.

"All these experiences have given her a lot of confidence and opened her to do different things," Goodman said. "We want her to grow as a musician and student and go toward her dreams."

- - -

The 29 Collier County students that were selected for All-State are:

Tallulah Bowden, Gulfview Middle School

James Popper, North Naples Middle School

Malena Sellen, Barron Collier High School

Ryan Garry, Gulf Coast High School

Kayla Goodman, Lely High School

Julianna Gregory, Naples High School

Lindsey Haerle, Gulf Coast High School

Luvan Gato, Golden Gate High School

Anna Mazzone, North Naples Middle School

Alessandra Bonavita, North Naples Middle School

Yasmeen Julemiste, Cypress Palm Middle School

Gabrielle Gabbard, North Naples Middle School

Connor Stanley, Cypress Palm Middle School

Molly Sirvatka, Gulf Coast High School

Amanda Stanley, Palmetto Ridge High School

Sarah Stanley, Palmetto Ridge High School

Crysten Repetti, Palmetto Ridge High School

Serena Zepeda, Oakridge Middle School

Colin Gerlach, North Naples Middle School

Lucy Bowden, Gulf View Middle School

Panos Dimaras, Pine Ridge Middle School

Taylor Curry-Stokes, Golden Gate High School

Zoe Fernandez, Golden Gate High School

Alex Felipe, Naples High School

Katherine Lee, Barron Collier High School

Noelle Torres, Gulf Coast High School

Serena Votapek, Gulf Coast High School

Kerri Davis, Gulf Coast High School

Ian Fales, Gulf Coast High School
SHARE Keegan Morgan, 5, of Marco Island, gets his face painted at the third annual Pirate Day at the Marco Island Historical Museum on Jan. 24, 2015. The event featured the popular face paint station along with pirate-themed arts and crafts. (Carolina Hidalgo/Staff) Gemma Pearl

1. Friday: Gema Pearl performs

Grammy nominated recording artist Gema Pearl will be performing a concert to benefit the Lupus Foundation of Florida on Jan. 22 at Rose Auditorium, Marco Island Historical Museum.

Marco Island resident Gema Pearl was forced to cancel her "Red Blooded American Girl" tour last year when she was diagnosed with the disease. Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease for which there is no cure. Of the 1.5 million Americans that have Lupus, 90 percent are women. Awareness, early diagnosis and various treatments are key to managing it's effects.

Gema Pearl's performance with her all-star band (featuring producer/bassist Lee Brovitz) promises to be an exciting evening of musical prowess that you won't forget. Tickets are $25 and available at Horizons By The Sea Realty, Marco Office Supply or by calling Southstar Multimedia at 239-285-9000.

2. This weekend: Member's outdoor art show

The Marco Island Center for the Arts' 2016 kickoff member's outdoor art show will be Saturday, Jan. 23.

The show will feature an outdoor display by many of the Center's artist members. All of the artists and their work will be on display from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. The public is invited.

Not only does the show present an opportunity to purchase wonderful art, but also a chance to talk with the artists. In addition to the painters, sculptor and photographers, members of Marco Island Writers will be on-site to discuss, sell and autograph their books. There is no admission charge. Marco Island Center for the Arts is located at 1010 Winterberry Drive, Marco Island.

Information: marcoislandart.org.

3. Saturday: Pirate Day at the Historical Museum

The Marco Island Historical Museum is hosting Pirate Day from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 23.

To this day, tales of swashbucklers, buried treasure and the marauding pirates that pestered the Spanish sea captains during the 1600s abound in Southwest Florida. The Marco Island Historical Museum invites families and children of all ages to join in a fun-filled afternoon on the high seas. This free event will feature pirate-themed arts and crafts, face painting and treasure hunts, guaranteed to make this a friendly adventure into Florida's past for the whole family.

The Marco Island Historical Museum is located at 180 S. Heathwood, Marco Island. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free and the site is handicapped accessible.

Information: visit colliermuseums.com or call 239-642-1440.
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By Jessica Lipscomb of the Naples Daily News

A Collier County man was arrested Tuesday in connection with child sex crimes, while a woman he was living with was arrested on suspicion of failing to obey a Department of Children and Families directive to keep him away from her children.

Mario Nelson Santos, 47, faces two felony counts of sexual battery on a child younger than 12 and one felony count of lewd lascivious molestation on a child under 12. Dinora Aviles, 31, faces a charge of child neglect without great bodily harm.

The Collier County Sheriff's Office began investigating in December 2011, when a child said she had been molested and raped by Santos. Deputies said they found forensic evidence at the child's home that corroborated her story.

After receiving evidence back from a state crime lab in April 2012, a detective found Santos in his truck and asked if he could ask Santos a few questions. According to court records, Santos "turned around and began walking away briskly," breaking into a run and eventually losing the detective.

A Sheriff's Office spokeswoman said the detective originally assigned to the case suspended it in late 2012 "after repeated attempts to locate and interview the suspect were unsuccessful." The case was not reopened until November when the Sheriff's Office learned DCF had discovered a photo of Santos inside Aviles' house with one of her children on Halloween.

After discovering the photo, detectives developed probable cause for Santos' arrest and submitted a request for a warrant to the State Attorney's Office, the spokeswoman said. Collier County Judge Jim McGarity signed off on the warrant Dec. 9, setting bonds at a total of $3 million.

Deputies with the warrants bureau located Santos on Tuesday while doing surveillance on Aviles, who they observed dropping off a child at day care. Deputies pulled over her car minutes later but said that as soon as the car stopped, both Aviles and Santos ran from the vehicle. Both were caught, handcuffed, put in separate patrol cars and taken to jail.

Aviles later said she ran because she didn't want to leave her kids alone if she was going to be arrested. She acknowledged that she had been ordered by DCF not to have Santos around her and her children but said he had been around her children at least three times in the last year. Arrest reports show Aviles has twice been arrested on child neglect charges after leaving her children unattended in a vehicle in 2006 and at her home in 2008.

In interviews with deputies, Santos denied being around the children and would not speak to the photograph depicting him with the child.

DCF spokeswoman Natalie Harrell said the children involved have been sheltered and are in the department's custody.
By Jessica Lipscomb of the Naples Daily News

Detectives are investigating after an unoccupied Collier County Sheriff's Office patrol vehicle was shot at Thursday morning at a North Naples apartment complex.

The vehicle, a so-called "ghost car" that has subdued insignia to blend into traffic, was parked at the Bermuda Isles complex at Vanderbilt Beach and Livingston roads. The deputy assigned to the vehicle said he saw it undamaged around 3 a.m. and found two gunshots in the front passenger door when he returned to the vehicle around 1 p.m.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call the Sheriff's Office at 239-252-9300. Callers can also make an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-780-8477 (TIPS).
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By Associated Press

GAINESVILLE  A Gainesville man has been sentenced to 270 days in jail after pleading no contest to an aggravated animal cruelty charge in the beating death of his puppy.



The Gainesville Sun reports that Meldwige Gregoire, 25, was also sentenced Wednesday to 42 months of probation and ordered to take anger management classes.



Gregoire was arrested in June on the charge after an Alachua County Animal Services' investigation.



Police say Gregoire and his girlfriend adopted the 4-month-old pit bull mix June 11 from Animal Services. Gregoire returned the puppy's remains June 13 to Animal Services and told staff that it died in its crate.



Gainesville Police Department Detective Victoria Young said in an arrest report that a veterinarian ruled the cause of death as multiple blunt force trauma to the head.


Douglas Dieck of Ryan Companies explains the plan for the proposed charter school to a gathering of Golden Gate Estates residents Wednesday. Photo by Melhor Leonor/Staff

By Melhor Leonor of the Naples Daily News

Dozens of Golden Gate Estates residents expressed frustration Wednesday over a planned charter school in their area, arguing the school doesn't belong in their rural residential area and complaining about a development process that doesn't require their approval.

"There was zero regard for the community in this project," resident Stephen Greenberg said of the school planned at the intersection of Immokalee Road and 8th Street Northwest, west of Wilson Boulevard.

Because charter schools are considered public under Florida law, the area's land code does not require conditional use permits to build. In contrast, private developments would need to come before the Collier County commissioners for approval.

Developers of Collier Charter Academy need only obtain approval from county staff, but are required to hold a public meeting to hear neighborhood input.

Douglas Dieck, who works for the development firm Ryan Companies, presented a tentative plan to the audience of more than 70 people for the combined elementary and middle school at the Immokalee Road site.

Developers are proposing access to the school from 8th Street Northwest on Immokalee Road, which does not exist now. The only way to access the parcel now is through 25th Avenue Northwest, the road that would carry construction traffic to the site until access from Immokalee Road is built.

Karen Wood, who lives close to the site, said 25th Avenue Northwest is a quiet residential road not meant for construction traffic.

"You're impacting our kids who are standing out there on bus stops," Wood said.

Residents asked developers to hold off on construction until the access from Immokalee Road is built. But leaders of the project wouldn't commit to the request. They did agree to take off the table a plan to connect the schools internal throughway to 25th Avenue Northwest after construction is over, which residents staunchly opposed.

County Commissioner Tim Nance, who represents the area, added the look and feel of the proposed building also doesn't fit in Golden Gate Estates.

"This is a rural residential area. People that move here move here because of the woodlands environment. Clearly what you are presenting here does not fit here at all. This is a building that fits in metro Dade County," Nance said.

Charter Schools USA was approved by the Collier County School Board in June, and is slated to become Collier's sixth charter school.

Next year, Collier Charter Academy would open as a Kindergarten through sixth-grade school and fill an estimated 661 seats. By its fifth year, it expects 1,145 students and approximately 80 faculty. Right now, the largest charters in Collier currently enroll about 700 students.

Before a lively crowd, Dieck said project leaders intend to work with the community to minimize impact and announced three information sessions open to the public in the coming months.

Still, many residents walked out of Wednesday's meeting expressing frustration over what they say is a "done deal."

"If we're treating this like a public school, I should be able to go before my school board members and say, 'We're not grooving with this.' Here we can't do that," Greenberg said.
In tis file photo, Dennis Ohl, of Cologne, Germany, keeps cool as he floats in the Gulf of Mexico at Naples Beach near Downtown Naples on Thursday, November 5, 2015. (Scott McIntyre/Staff)

SHARE In this file photo, Cody Jones and his girlfriend Patty Kulak take a break from kayaking while enjoying the beach in Naples Saturday morning, September 5, 2015. Photo by Darron R. Silva/Special to the Daily News

By Eric Staats of the Naples Daily News

Naples was hot in 2015  and not just run-of-the-mill, melt-walking-to-the-car, burn-your-feet-on-the-sand hot.

Last year was the hottest on record, with the average temperature hitting 77.7 degrees Fahrenheit, a full degree above the previous record set in 2007 and 1946, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration figures dating to 1944 show.

NOAA records dating back to 1892 show Fort Myers tied its hottest year on record with an average temperature of 77 degrees Fahrenheit, also reached in 1990.

So chill out on these forty-something mornings lately.

"It's been hot, no doubt about that," National Weather Service meteorologist Andrew McKaughan said.

And Southwest Florida's thermometer isn't broken.

NOAA and NASA announced Wednesday that 2015 was by far the hottest year on Earth in 136 years of record keeping.

NOAA said 2015's temperature was 58.62 degrees Fahrenheit (14.79 degrees Celsius), passing 2014 by a record margin of 0.29 degrees. That's 1.62 degrees above the 20th-century average. NASA, which measures differently, said 2015 was 0.23 degrees warmer than the record set in 2014.

Scientists blame a combination of El Nino and increasing man-made global warming.

Michael Mann of Pennsylvania State University said a strong El Nino, like this year's, can add about a third of a degree of warming to Earth's temperature.

"Records will happen during El Nino years due to the extra warming boost they provide," Mann said in an email. "That boost of warmth however sits upon the ramp of global warming."

El Nino, a warming of the Pacific Ocean that is credited with triggering atmospheric conditions that suppress Atlantic hurricanes, also moves the jet stream across the U.S. further north, blocking winter blasts from making it as far south as Florida.

Combine that with record warm sea surface temperatures and Florida is one of only four states  along with Oregon, Washington, and Montana  to make 2015's hottest on record list, NOAA climatologist Jake Crouch said.

"South Florida really drove the rest of the state," he said.

Although 2015 is now Earth's hottest on record, it was the fourth time in 11 years that Earth broke annual marks for high temperature.

"It's getting to the point where breaking a record is the norm," Texas Tech climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe said. "It's almost unusual when we're not breaking a record."

And it's likely to happen this year, too. NASA scientists and others said there's a good chance that this year will pass 2015 as the hottest year on record, thanks to El Nino.

"2015 will be difficult to beat, but you say that almost every year and you get surprised," said Victor Gensini, a meteorology professor at the College of DuPage outside of Chicago.

(The Associated Press contributed to this story.)
The World Health Organisation (WHO) on 14 January 2016 declared West Africa free from Ebola outbreak. The decision was taken by the WHO as all known chains of transmission have been stopped in Liberia, which was worst affected among all the nations in the region.

The declaration came 42 days (two 21-day incubation cycles of the virus) after the last confirmed patient in Liberia tested negative for the disease 2 times.



Since its outbreak in December 2013 in the region, Liberia was worst hit as it killed 4809 people in the country. And, the region as a whole saw around 11000 deaths due to the outbreak.

Apart from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea were the other two most affected nations in the region. They were declared Ebola free in November 2015 and December 2015 respectively.

In the case of Liberia, the country was first declared free of Ebola transmission in May 2015, but the virus was re-introduced twice since then, with the latest flare-up in November.
District 5 Commissioner Tim Nance listens during a Collier County Commission meeting at the Collier County Manager building in Naples, Florida on Tuesday, June 23, 2015. Calvin Mattheis/Staff)

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By Maria Perez of the Naples Daily News

Collier County leaders assured members of the Immokalee Community Redevelopment Agency advisory board on Wednesday that they are working to address the community needs.

Commissioner Tim Nance and County Manager Leo Ochs attended the meeting nearly two months after a hostile exchange between Tim Durham, Collier's executive manager for corporate business operations, and advisory board member Frank Nappo. The clash highlighted the frustration of many in Immokalee who argue the county ignores the community.

"I don't want anybody to think that myself, the other commissioners, or the county staff don't care about Immokalee," Nance said at the meeting held next to Lake Trafford pier, which some in Immokalee want repaired. "That's just not OK. And to say that is hurtful and it's not true."

Nance said the county spends more money in Immokalee than what the community, one of the poorest in Collier, pays in property taxes.

"Immokalee is a recipient of money from the city of Naples," he said.

Over 41 percent of the population in Immokalee lives below the poverty level, compared to 14 percent in Collier County, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. While the median value of owner-occupied housing units in Collier is $261,300, in Immokalee the number goes down to $73,600.

He said the funds available to spend in Immokalee are not enough to meet all the needs.

Bernard Barnhart, former president of the Immokalee Chamber of Commerce, complained about the more than $1.5 million in gaming fees paid by the Immokalee Seminole Casino to Collier County, which aren't being spent in Immokalee. He said the community's roads are impacted by the traffic the casino creates.

"You are just saying that you are looking for money. You are out there fighting for money. You are out there looking for money for our community. And I believe that, but we have money right there in the casino that we can't even get," Barnhart told Nance.

Ochs explained the gaming compact revenue funding has been put aside to fund special economic development projects that could be located anywhere in the county.

"If the casino was in Naples, you think that money would have been put aside? Probably not," Barnhart said.

Nappo said Immokalee is all for economic development, but the community has issues that need to be solved, like creating an evacuation route west of State Road 29 and building other infrastructures.

"We desperately need sidewalks," he said.

Nance said he is confident the county will get funding to start an agribusiness accelerator in Immokalee, and that they are working hard to get more projects done in the area by the Florida Department of Transportation, including the improvement of sections of State Road 29. Danny Gonzalez, president of the Immokalee Chamber of Commerce, asked the county to also promote Immokalee among companies out of the county in their economic development efforts.

After the meeting, Ochs said he was satisfied with the meeting.

"I thought it was constructive," he said.
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Wayne Fuller, Naples

Not funny

I must assume recent letters praising President Obama were in jest. To insinuate that he might be the greatest president ever is so absurd, it isn't even funny.

Before voting in November, let's remember what he and his administration have done and represent:

1. The Democratic Party and Socialism are closely linked  big government, control of everything and everybody. It hasn't worked anywhere else; why think about it here? Neither Hillary Clinton nor the Democratic National Committee chair could answer this any differently.

2. The administration will not enforce the federal law to block money to sanctuary cities.

3. Allowing refugees not vetted (with possible terrorist ties) into our country. If you had 1,000 jelly beans in a jar with only 10 poisoned ones in it, would you eat any before the bad ones were removed? Same idea.

4. He says ISIS is contained  (reports say information on this was altered to make it look true).

5. Obamacare  "you can keep your doctor and insurance, period." The huge Obamacare package (most of which was political favors) was pushed through in the last minute.

6. Benghazi. Of course, Clinton says "what difference does it make?"

7. Clinton's scandal-ridden e-mail trail, currently involving the FBI. Great presidential material.

8. The push to get together a "nuke" deal, even if it was a bad deal, which it was.

9. His statement that the "nuke" deal would give us 24/7 access to any Iranian military site or ground inspection  wound up 30 plus days and Iran's agreement to do so. A great leader?

10. Obama comments in error on three racial events, never admits being wrong, nor apologizes, but apologizes for his belief in America being responsible for worldwide problems.
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Robert Jenkins, Naples

The best?

As I watched the GOP debate in South Carolina, I was again aghast.

Are these really the best and brightest this nation has to offer?

There was obviously no central point on governance, just who could sink the lowest in detail of what they believed "some" wanted to hear. Ohio Gov. John Kasich spoke with intelligence and in a true American spirit.

Those with absolutely no mathematical chance to win the presidency spoke the loudest with disgusting bursts of indignity. So if Donald Trump wins the primaries, is there a snowball's chance he'd win the general? No, absolutely not.

I once belonged to the Republican Party. I withdrew as it has become a shadow of what it once was. If 2016 goes again to the Democratic nominee, it will be a generation of Democratic control.

As many as three Supreme Court justices will be named in the first term alone. With that comes an ideology for at least another generation.

Wake up Republicans. You're sawing a limb while sitting on the wrong side of history.
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John Koepke, Naples

Will it be?

Is it time for revolution?

Which group in America will revolt first? Which one will march down Main Street with rifles, knives and pitchforks at the ready? Which will be the first to hoist signs of protests demanding recognition and resolution of their causes?

Will it be:

The voters who have been disenfranchised by shrewd manipulation of gerrymandering?

Taxpayers drained by politicians at every turn demanding another tax increase to pay for egregious waste, duplication and nepotism?

Minorities realizing the futility of reaching accords, then seeing failure of implementation?

The elderly fighting for control of their dignity and freedom in an environment of reduced appropriations?

The handicapped and disadvantaged who are always the first victims of budget paralysis?

Our military and police who feel unappreciated and dismissed protecting citizens?

The frustrated public irritated by the failure of officials to enact term limits or deal with massive debt problems?

The oppressed of every color and creed objecting to the blatant hypocrisy of the influential and powerful?

Traditionalists frustrated by an agenda that they believe destroys the history and traditions of their culture?

Women realizing they offer real solutions to improve conditions yet thwarted by the closet miscreants?

The young recognizing the enormous deficit is a serious threat to their future?

Victims of violence witnessing a disinterested legal system heavily weighted toward the perpetrators?

Pensioners recognizing the halls of power are lined with invertebrates incapable of compromise?

Parents who believe the system focusing on self-indulgent priorities rather than educating the youth?

Or finally, will there be outrage? Because the leaders cleverly distract, offering circuses and carnivals?
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Rob McKelvie, Fort Myers

Values and vision

In his final State of the Union address, President Obama confirmed American values, celebrated his victories, and offered us a challenging vision for the future.

Our values include equal rights for all, liberty and justice for all, and a fair opportunity for all.

The president proudly celebrated victories despite scorched-earth opposition of Republicans who put power and party ahead of the country's best interests. Despite having broken the U.S. economy, Republicans refused to help fix it, knowing that presidents get blamed for bad economies.

Many of us still don't have the financial security we need to feel satisfied with things as they are today, partly as a result of Republicans holding the economy hostage, and partly because of the ongoing technological and structural changes in the labor market and globalization. The president's vision for our future acknowledged more work needed to be done to help workers and families cope with change, and emphasized four major areas that need to be addressed for a better America:

1. How to give everyone a fair shot at opportunity and security in the new economy.

2. How to make technology work for us and not against us.

3. How to keep America safe and lead the world without having to be its policeman.

4. How to make our politics reflect what's best in us and not what's worst in us.

Hopefully the next president will be effective in addressing these key questions. I believe a Democratic one would, but a Republican one wouldn't.
With leases to four businesses including the new Goldfarbs General Store that will offer a weekly farmers market, Royal Palm Square office park is nearly 100 percent full occupancy, announced Steven Goldfarb, president of the west coast division of Royal Palm Companies LLC, the propertys owner and operator. Located at 1400 Colonial Boulevard, there is approximately 144,000 square feet leased, including leases that are signed but not moved into yet.



The latest businesses new to Royal Palm Square are:

 Goldfarbs General Store: This 5,800-square-foot destination in Suite 35 is a farm co-op that focuses on offering the best of Florida-grown farm products, including meat, produce and fresh-baked bread, as well as handmade crafts and other items such as honey, jellies and even bar soap. The co-op -- something new to this area -- will feature an innovative approach to buying the best of locally grown, fresh farm offerings, including subscriptions for a weekly basket of the best locally grown farm products. A state-of-the-art certified kitchen also will be available for rent by the hour to support new entrepreneurs as they grow. The space is being decorated and designed to mimic the interior of a large old log cabin in the mountains, and will double as a rentable venue suitable for a variety of events. The store will be open most days from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.



 George John Salon is relocating from College Parkway to the 1,779-square-foot Suite 62. The luxury boutique specializes in all aspects of hair design, and nail and skin care. Many of the products used are organic, 100 percent vegan, infused with nutrients, and free of sodium, salt and sulfates, making them easy on the environment and healthy for customers.



 Southwest Florida Regional Planning Council has taken the 4,964-square-foot space in Suite 1 on the first floor. The council works across six counties to protect and improve the character of the physical, economic and social worlds we share for the benefit of future generations.



 Living Vine Wellness Life Transformation Studio has moved into the 800-square-foot Suite 18. The company promotes a holistic approach to weight loss and well being.



 Amicron has signed a lease for 1,511 square feet in Suite 50 and is expected to be open to the public by March. The firm will conduct small-group computer training sessions focusing on Microsoft software products.



What a wonderful turnaround weve had since taking over the property just more than a year ago, said Goldfarb. This is a major accomplishment in any commercial property endeavor. With millions of square feet of vacant office and retail space in the local market place, we are so proud of our staff and thankful to our community for the great response. We think this project has been unparalleled in terms of the speed and quality of lease up  this is an obvious reflection on the nearly flawless execution by our entire team.



Royal Palm Companies purchased the office park in October 2014 and has invested millions of dollars in renovations from top to bottom -- from landscaping the courtyards and enhancing the numerous water features and manmade streams, to repairs on individual suites and exterior walkways.



Royal Palm Square is home to an eclectic list of businesses  from a Spanish-language radio station to real estate brokers, a coffee shop, restaurants, healthcare businesses, professional services companies, a dance company, and a design house serving the ballroom dance world with international clientele, among others.



Contact Royal Palm Square at 239-225-0041, online at www.rpscenter.com.
The national law firm of Quarles & Brady LLP announced that Laura M. Holm, a partner in the firms Naples office, presented to the Real Estate Group of the Collier County Bar Association on Planning with LLCs under the New Florida Limited Liability Company Act at the groups January luncheon. Attorneys attending the presentation were eligible to receive CLE credits.



The new Florida LLC Act significantly changes the way Florida limited liability companies operate and are governed. The law is intended to make Florida a more attractive place to organize and operate an LLC. It modernizes the existing law, which was initially adopted more than 30 years ago and contains a quilt-work of amendments made over the years, making it more difficult to understand and comply with than comparable statutes in many other states. While eliminating much of the uncertainty that exists in some parts of the prior law, the new law emphasizes the importance of the operating agreement and provides businesses and their advisers with a significant degree of flexibility in designing management structures, capital and profit participation schemes, and other features unique to their objectives and circumstances.



Holm leads the Florida Business Law Practice Group of Quarles & Brady. She has significant experience in a wide variety of complex legal transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, Securities Exchange Act reporting and compliance matters, private equity and venture capital investments, joint ventures, recapitalizations, going private transactions, private placements, and equity and debt offerings as well as general corporate matters. She regularly represents public companies with respect to all of their corporate transactions and compliance programs, and she effectively serves as their outside general counsel.



Holm is listed in The Best Lawyers in America, has been named to South Floridas Top Lawyers Legal Guide since 2010 and has been listed in Florida Trends Legal Elite for Corporate/Business Law. She received her law degree from the University of Chicago Law School and her undergraduate degree, magna cum laude, from Amherst College.



Quarles & Brady LLP is a full-service law firm with more than 475 attorneys practicing from offices in Naples and Tampa, Fla.; Phoenix and Tucson, Ariz.; Chicago, Ill; Indianapolis, Ind.; Madison and Milwaukee, Wis.; and Washington, D.C. The firm provides an array of legal services to corporate and individual clients, which range from small entrepreneurial businesses to Fortune 100 companies. More information about the firm may be found at www.quarles.com, and on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.
Collier Child Care Resources (CCCR) will hold a symposium, Meeting the Motor Needs of All Children, on Tuesday, Feb. 2 from 6:00-8:00 p.m. at Hodges University, 2647 Professional Circle, Naples.



Keynote speaker, Dr. Julia Harper, PhD, MS, OT/L, nationally recognized for her work with therapists and children, will address the detection and remediation of neuro-developmental delay in children with specific coordination and movement concerns and/or learning difficulties. Harper will offer educators, pediatric therapists and others a better understanding of the neurological issues faced by children with developmental disabilities such as autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), auditory processing disorder, and dyslexia. Harper will focus on how to support all children in acquiring motor skills, while supporting those students who require additional attention.



Cost is $40; CEUs available 0.2; and a certificate given upon completion. To register, please visit www.collierchildcare.org or email alexv@collierchildcare.org for more information.



CCCRs mission is to provide high quality early childhood care, education and resources to children, families and early learning professionals in Collier County. Our organization currently serves approximately 275 children annually through our three child development centers: NCEF Early Childhood Development Center, and A Step Up Child Development Centers located at Golden Gate and Immokalee High Schools operated through CCCR. At NCEF Early Childhood Development Center, 75 percent of the children who attend are from low-income, working families and receive partial financial assistance through CCCR. Of the children enrolled 60 percent live at or below the Federal Poverty Line. A Step Up Child Development Centers focus on children of teen mothers by offering free valuable child care and parenting classes while they continue their high school education; this allows for a better future for them and their child, without worry of needing to pay for childcare. We also offer training workshops for early learning professionals and an early childhood conferences once a year. In 2014, we served over 1,750 people with training and educational resources.










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Clonmel is now very much an integral part of the incredible success story of Eishtec.

The company set up operations in Clonmel in October to cover one client, putting in place a back up support call service in place for a UKbroadband provider setting out a 200 job target.

At the official opening of the Eishtec operation in Clonmel last Friday, the company announced it had exceeded that target and are still recruiting.

250 are now employed by Eishtec at the Clonmel site in Ard Gaoithe.

The modern facility provides an impressive working environment located adjacent to the Boston and Abbot plants.

Clonmel employees provide back up support services for a UK broadband client.

The Waterford based customer service solution provider started trading in Waterford in May 2011 with just nine employees, and currently employs 1700 people across its sites in Waterford, Wexford, Craigavon and now Clonmel. Eishtec provides services to leading Irish & UK brands.

The Clonmel plant was officially opened last Friday by Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly.

The official opening was attended by Minister of State Tom Hayes, Deputies Mattie McGrath and Seamus Healy Mayor of Clonmel Pat English, Tipperary County Council chairman Seamus Hanafin and local public representatives.

Head of Broadband Operations and Training at Eishtec, Deirdre Phelan, said Eishtec had already exceeded the 200 target set out in October when the company announced its arrival in the town.

Ms Phelan said they expected to reach 300 employees in Clonmel by the middle of this year.

When we arrived in this building in October it was just a shell. We are all very proud of what has been achieved in Clonmel since then and we are going from strength to strength, she said.

Minister Alan Kelly paid tribute to all those involved in the phenomenal growth of Eishtec.

He described the arrival of Eishtec in Clonmel as another very good day for the town and said the presence of another dynamic company associated with such growth and quality was a massive boost for the town of Clonmel.

The Minister said Eishtec clients expect a quality service and that is what is provided by Eishtec employees in Clonmel and other locations.

Eishtec is an amazing story of rapid growth. It has overshot its target of 200 jobs by fifty already and planned to take on more, said Minister Kelly.

The company, he said, had experienced an impressive volume of growth and that was down to the performance of management and the employees.

This success story, he said, was down to the determination and vision of the owners who saw an opportunity and went for it.

Minister Tom Hayes said throughout his political career it always gave him great satisfaction to see job opportunities created in local communities.

This, he said, gave people the option to stay living in their own communities where they grew up and went to school and communities were a better place because of it.

He was very proud to be at Hotel Minella days after the Eishtec announcement to see hundreds of people queue up for interviews to secure a position in Eishtec.

Minister Hayes said it was fantastic for the Clonmel and wider catchment area to have so many opportunities to be employed in their own locality.

People want to live and work in this beautiful part of the country and Eishtec are to be applauded for giving people jobs in their own communities, he said.

He paid tribute to the people who established the company a short few years ago and said their courage and vision had a huge impact on so many families in Clonmel and in the south east.

Heather Reynolds, owner and Operations Director, said - We are pleased to announce the opening of our new site in Clonmel. We have chosen Clonmel because of the large pool of talent available and the regions great tradition of customer service in the telecommunications sector. Furthermore we continue to recruit vigourously in order to meet our plans for 2016.

Staff come from South Tipperary and Waterford communities and towns with a variety of experience across all industries from retail, hospitality, contact centers and manufacturing, as well as people looking to get back into employment.

At Eishtec, we run an intensive training programme to ensure that everyone is equipped with the skills required to enable them to support our customers and clients.

Eishtec is continuing to recruit in order to meet customer demand and interested people can visit the careers page on the company website www.eishtec.com .

The available positions are a mix of full time and part time roles and might suit mothers or fathers wishing to return to the work place, or students looking to work their way through college, as well as those who want to start a new career.
Ocwen Financial Corp. will pay $2 million to settle charges that it misstated its financial results in valuing complex mortgage assets, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Wednesday.

The SEC launched an investigation against Ocwen last year, alleging the Atlanta mortgage servicer misled investors by claiming it had independently valued certain mortgage assets, said Michael Osnato, chief of the SEC enforcement division's complex financial instruments unit.

Ocwen had instead relied on a related third-party for valuing the assets, Osnato said in a statement. The third-party's methodology deviated from fair-value measures and later was proved to be flawed, the SEC found.

As a result, Ocwen misstated its net income over four quarters, from the last three quarters of 2013 to the first quarter of 2014, Osnato said.

The SEC's investigation also found that Ocwen failed to prevent conflicts of interest involving the company's former executive chairman, William Erbey, who played a dual role in many related party transactions. New York regulators forced Erbey, Ocwen's founder, to step down as part of a $150 million settlement.

Erbey was required to recuse himself from transactions with related companies in which he also held leadership roles. But Ocwen had no written policies or procedures on recusals, and the practice was basically inconsistent and ad hoc. Erbey was able to approve a $75 million bridge loan to Ocwen from a related company, where he also served as chairman, the SEC found.

"Ocwen's filings led investors to believe the company was valuing complex mortgage assets using [Generally Accepted Accounting Principles] rather than relying on a related company's accounting methodology," Osnato said in a statement. "Ocwen released inaccurate financial statements because its internal controls were inadequate and its audit committee failed to scrutinize whether the methodology was an appropriate way to measure fair value."

Ocwen said it was pleased to resolve the SEC investigation.

"Ocwen remains committed to full compliance with all legal and regulatory requirements and will continue to fully cooperate with regulators on any matter brought to its attention."
Steven Abrahams, Deutsche Bank AG's head of U.S. mortgage bond and securitization research, is leaving this month after almost six years at the bank as it pulls back from those markets, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

Abrahams is joining Brian Egnatz, former head of HSBC Holdings Plc's investment portfolio, to start an asset management firm geared toward commercial-bank clients, said the people, who asked not to be named without authorization to speak.

Deutsche Bank spokeswoman Amanda Williams declined to comment. Abrahams said he couldn't comment when reached by telephone. Egnatz didn't respond to messages seeking comment.

Abraham's departure is the latest example of a mortgage bond executive leaving the sell-side to start up new ventures. Scott Gimpel, a former top mortgage-bond strategist at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, left RBS in 2014 to start the data and analytics firm Webbs Hill Advisors LLC with former RBS trader Daniel O'Connor. The pair continued an employee exodus from RBS as Britain's largest state-owned lender scaled back its securities arm.

Abrahams is a former executive of housing company Freddie Mac. He joined Deutsche Bank in 2010 from Citadel Investment Group and was previously a senior managing director at Bear Stearns Cos.

His departure is the latest in a growing number of Deutsche Bank employees trained in U.S. mortgage securities who have departed as the bank follows co-chief executive officer John Cryan's strategy to exit from capital-intensive businesses. Deutsche Bank is promising shareholders a boost in profitability by reducing headcount by as many as 9,000 by 2018.

"This will be the bank's first full-year loss since 2008, and it is sobering," Cryan said in a Jan. 20 note to employees posted on the bank's website. "We expect the next two years to consist of hard work, burdened by the costs of restructuring the bank and making much-needed investments."

At least 10 traders, including two managing directors, separated from the bank's agency mortgage bond unit in December, with only a dozen remaining, people with knowledge of the matter said.

They included Manish Kumar, a head of trading who led the bank to the top ranking for collateralized-mortgage obligations in 2012 and 2013; traders Kendrick Croasmun and Peter Gall; and Song Yang, an analyst in Abraham's research group. Kumar, Croasmun, Gall and Yang confirmed their departures.
DEAR HARRIETTE: My father has horrible time management. This has affected birthdays, trips and family reunions. My family is always a little harsh on each other and tells it how it is, so his lateness is brought up when he forces everyone to wait around for hours. He then gets irrationally angry. We try to make a joke out of this because he never apologizes for missing flights or dinners. He is inconsiderate, and when we try to get together, I think we have the right to berate him a little. My fathers fits after we mention his tardiness usually start fights. I doubt hell change his ways, but I just want him to apologize for being inconsiderate to everyone who actually showed up on time. Is there anything we can say to get him to be punctual?  Late Dad, Memphis, Tennessee

DEAR LATE DAD: Now is a time when you must practice acceptance. You know how your father is. He is consistent. While his behavior is rude, it is also a fact. You and your family may want to consider planning your activities differently. Since your father is unreliable, plan with the expectation that he will be late, but that you will no longer wait. So if you are having a group dinner at a home or a restaurant, begin at the time that it is scheduled. If he arrives hours late, he will have to fit into the flow of the event. You can tell him that dinner will be at 7. If he arrives at 9, he is welcome to join you for dessert. If he misses a flight, tell him he will have to join the group later because you will fulfill your scheduled activities with or without him.

The point is, you dont need to berate him. You need to live your lives. Instead of putting your lives on hold waiting for his arrival, flip the script.

DEAR HARRIETTE: I went out of my way to send my friends birthday presents this year. We have just gone off to college, so I wanted to make everyone feel remembered by me. When it rolled around to my birthday, I received nothing but a handful of Happy Birthday! texts. I was so annoyed, I didnt respond to a few. I spent about $20 on each gift through purchasing, packing and shipping. I know other friends forgot about my birthday altogether, because they apologized to me a few days later. I sent out over a dozen packages and did not even receive a card from these people. Should I forgive them or realize they dont care about me?  Brushed-Off Birthday, Baltimore

DEAR BRUSHED-OFF BIRTHDAY: Ever heard the saying, You shouldnt give to receive? Your effort to remember your friends fondly was lovely. It would have stayed lovely had you not attached invisible strings. That you went the extra mile to send them gifts does not mean that they thought about doing the same. You acknowledge that it was a big effort on your part. Not making a big deal of your birthday does not mean that they love you less. It means they didnt think to do that. Forgive them for not being you, and accept their love in the ways that they offered it. In the future, if you want to create closer connections as you grow up and live your lives, invite them to do something together. If everybody agrees to a plan, you stand a better chance of harvesting favorable results.

DEAR HARRIETTE: Yesterday, my mother called me to tell me she had organized a family vacation. I knew we would go on a family vacation sometime this summer, but she called me with hotel rooms already booked! The timing is horrible for me, and I do not want to go. I would be sharing a hotel room, so the room would have to be booked regardless. I have already tried apologizing to her and telling her I cannot go because of the timing, and she refused to accept my refusal. I told her I was sorry, but was not aware of how quickly and surreptitiously this would be set up and booked. She called me selfish and said since I do not have a real reason to not go, I would be attending. I head off to college a few days later, and I need to get ready. She knows this. Somehow, I need her to remember the priority. What should I do?  Too Busy to Get Away, Syracuse, New York

DEAR TOO BUSY TO GET AWAY: Show some compassion along with clarity. Remind your mother of the to-do list that you have created to prepare for school, and point out that you need those few days leading up to heading off for school to complete it. Tell her you had hoped to have her help with the list, but if she must go, you understand. To be responsible, you feel strongly that you cannot vacation when you should be prepping for college.

Lifestylist and author Harriette Cole is president and creative director of Harriette Cole Media. You can send questions to askharriette@harriettecole.com or c/o Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106
(NaturalNews) In his 2010 book,, Richard Clarke -- a national security expert for several presidential administrations and the nation's first cyber security czar -- warned that the country's Internet-based, electronically controlled infrastructure was at risk.He said then that both state and non-state actors had developed the capability to hack into U.S. government and private-sector systems and cause a level of destruction never before seen.Now, years later -- and after the U.S. government has spent hundreds of billions of dollars on defending the country -- experts are still warning that the nation's cyber-connected infrastructure, and especially U.S. power grids, remains vulnerable.As reported by the, the House cybersecurity chairman warned recently that hackers for nation-states like Iran, North Korea, China and others could potentially launch attacks at power grids, Wall Street financial centers and the federal government's various systems.Thefurther reported:That legislation was passed in mid-December, before House and Senate members left town for the holidays."The attack on Sony is the latest high-profile example of the growing danger of the cyber threat, and it won't be the last," said the Pennsylvania lawmaker."American businesses, financial networks, government agencies and infrastructure systems like power grids are at continual risk," he continued. "They're targeted not just by lone hackers and criminal syndicates, but by well-funded nation-states like North Korea and Iran. A lack of consequences for when nation states carry out cyberattacks has only emboldened these adversaries to do more harm."Meehan co-authored the National Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Protection Act. It was passed in a bipartisan fashion, along with a measure strengthening the federal government's cybersecurity workforce."The attack on Sony shows the dire need to upgrade our cyber defenses [NB: reports now indicate a company insider may actually have been responsible for the Sony attack, but that should not diminish the very real danger that hackers pose to U.S. infrastructure]. We need to ease the sharing of threat information between government and the private sector and strengthen our ability to prevent and respond to attacks," said Meehan, who added: "Congress took important steps last week by passing bipartisan legislation that builds our cyber defense capabilities -- it's time for those bills to be signed into law and implemented."As to who was possibly responsible for Sony,reported:We are very confident that this was not an attack master-minded by North Korea and that insiders were key to the implementation of one of the most devastating attacks in history."Smaller states like Iran and North Korea may indeed present hacking threats to the U.S., but China and Russia present larger ones:-- In October,reported that the FBI had issued a warning to private-sector businesses and industries that Chinese hackers were in the midst of a long-running campaign to illicitly obtain data from U.S. companies and government agencies."These state-sponsored hackers are exceedingly stealthy and agile by comparison with the People's Liberation Army Unit 61398... whose activity was publicly disclosed and attributed by security researchers in February 2013," said the FBI in its alert-- Russia actually poses a bigger cyber threat.also reported in October that Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, the nation's spy chief, said he worries more about Moscow than Beijing."I worry a lot more about the Russians," Clapper said during an intelligence forum at the University of Texas in Austin. His comments came on the heels of a major hack of financial giant J.P. Morgan's computer networks, which was traced to Russian hackers (though it wasn't clear if they were connected to the government).
Study affirms that even low levels of heavy metals are dangerous

Sources of cadmium range from contaminated foods to certain children's toys

(NaturalNews) Research conducted at the Milken Institute School of Public Health (Milken Institute SPH) at George Washington University has found that exposure to the heavy metal cadmium wreaks havoc on cells, making them age faster and, in turn, accelerating the onset of health complications. The study, which was the largest ever to assess the way cadmium impacts parts of DNA which rest on the ends of chromosomes -- called telomeres -- was published in theTelomeres help preserve the functioning of chromosomes, acting as a protective "barrier" that helps protect the genetic code and, ultimately, helps keep overall health in tact. The longer they are, the more they aid in the process. Shorter ones, however, are an indication that health setbacks are more likely to kick in. While shortening of telomeres is a part of the normal aging process, toxins such as cadmium can render cells unable to divide and, eventually, quicken the development of chronic diseases."We looked at heavy metals in this study and found a strong association between exposure to low levels of cadmium and telomere shortening," said Ami Zota, ScD, MS, an assistant professor of environmental and occupational health at Milken Institute SPH. "Our findings suggest that cadmium exposure can cause premature aging of cells. And they add to other evidence indicating this heavy metal can get into the bloodstream and trigger kidney disease and other health problems."For the study, Zota and her colleagues examined the blood and urine samples taken from over 6,700 adults who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) for a few years. The telomere lengths of these participants were measured, followed by a measurement of cadmium in the samples. When the adults were broken up into fourths based on the levels of cadmium discovered in the bloodstream, it was discovered that those in the highest cadmium group had telomeres that were approximately 6 percent shorter than those in the lowest group."People with the highest cadmium exposure had cells that looked on average 11 years older than their chronological age," Zota said, adding that even people in the highest group of exposure still had very tiny amounts of metal in their bloodstream. "This study adds to evidence suggesting that no level of exposure to this metal is safe."Cadmium is a toxic heavy metal, which the World Health Organization (WHO) considers a "major public health concern," linking it with a host of health problems from respiratory issues and cancer to cardiovascular disease. According to Zota, those who are commonly exposed to cadmium usually are ones who inhale tobacco smoke, reside near industrial sites and consume fruits and vegetables grown in contaminated soil.WHO reports that "Food constitutes the main environmental source of cadmium for non-smokers" and that "Some crops, such as rice, can accumulate high concentrations of cadmium if grown on cadmium-polluted soil."Perhaps what comes to mind for many people are the numerous warnings about rice from China. At one time fairly recently, the Food and Drug Administration of Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, discovered that 8 out of 18 samples of rice tested from restaurants and canteens had cadmium levels exceeding national limits.Exposure to cadmium involves more than just food, tobacco and industrial site proximity; recent findings have uncovered that it lurks in some popular children's toys.In a report called "Toxic Tidings," Senator Jeff Klein (D-Bronx) expressed an increased sense of urgency in passing the Child Safe Products Act. Details of the report, which were made public around the 2014 holiday season, mentioned that common children's toys such as pencil cases decorated with Spongebob Squarepants and Dora the Explorer, as well as a Hello Kitty ring set, tested positive for cadmium and cobalt. In this instance, the findings were mainly discovered at various New York dollar stores.More details about the cadmium and telomere length study, titled "Associations of Cadmium and Lead Exposure With Leukocyte Telomere Length: Findings From National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1999-2002," can be found here (1) http://www.eurekalert.org (2) http://www.who.int (3) http://www.nytimes.com (4) http://www.nydailynews.com (5) http://aje.oxfordjournals.org
(NaturalNews) In early November, Chino Valley, Arizona, residents Marie Snow and Cori Gunnels made a discovery which they said frightened them. According to published reports -- and there were few -- they witnessed what appeared to them to be 50- to 60-foot long "raindrops," which were "solid" in nature, falling in clusters from the sky after seeing a C-130 military transport plane and two escort aircraft fly overhead.As reported by the news website, the pair were of the mind to gather some samples of the fibrous material, which was found in stringy blotches clinging to fences, plants and other structures throughout the bucolic landscape of the region, to have them examined by experts, with the hope of figuring out what it was that was dropped from the sky. Snow, the website reported, even decided not to touch the strands with her bare hands, and collected them on white pieces of paper.Not long after, Snow decided to contact her local news station, KPHO, a CBS affiliate, and asked them to investigate her discovery. A few days later, the station sent a reporter, Greg Argos, to look into Snow's finding and get her story, including the part where the fibrous material appeared to be distributed overhead from a military transport aircraft."However, what happened after CBS 5 interviewed Snow may shock you,"reported.The roughly three-minute video piece produced by KPHO reported Snow's details and included some quotes from her regarding her discovery. The report noted that the fibers gathered by Snow, which were "thicker than a spider web" and "very strong," were taken by the station to Grand Canyon University's Forensic Science Lab for testing.According to the report, Melissa Beddow, director of the university's forensic science program, tested the substance samples under "40 times magnification." Though at first the samples stumped her, she eventually concluded that they were likely "biodegradable gauze" from "nearby cattle farms." She said they were comprised of "a mixture of wheat, gluten, flour and bacitracin, an antibiotic."As further reported by, that conclusion did not satisfy the curious:On Nov. 22, Snow contacted IntelliHub's Shepard Ambellas for another attempt at finding out what to do next, since the Chino Valley resident remained unconvinced of the local media's findings. Ambellas said he advised the same thing DiCicco did: Get some independent testing done.Snow and Gunnels sent several of the fibrous samples to a credible laboratory located in Redding, Calif.The work order for the samples numbered "14K0279" was dated Dec. 4, 2014, the order numbered "14K0683" was dated Dec. 2, 2014. They both came with this guarantee: "All analysis were performed under strict adherence to our established Quality Assurance Plan." Both said that "solid" "fibers" were submitted by "Marie Snow" for "general testing.""Astonishingly, both tests concluded that both samples indeed tested positive for three metal analytes, 'Aluminum,' 'barium' and 'strontium,' three substances commonly known by dedicated researchers to be found in persistent contrails, i.e. chemtrails and or geoengineering, terraforming operations as pointed out by investigative researcher, activist, Rosalind Peterson, Agriculture Defense Coalition, in Shade the Motion Picture,"reported.But the rest of the mainstream media has thus far ignored the story -- and, for that matter, most all other "chemtrail" stories, unless they are attempting to discredit the notion or the sources bringing the issue to the public's attention.You can -- and should -- read the fullreport here You can see
Tech companies had full knowledge of NSA Internet data collection program

'Government is damaging our future'

Pyrrhic victory against the Obama regime

(NaturalNews) A senior lawyer for the National Security Agency(NSA) recently admitted that his employer essentially gets help from some top media and technology companies to violate the Fourth Amendment protections of millions of Americans.The lawyer, Rajesh De, who is the general counsel for the NSA, said recently that U.S. tech firms were completely aware of the agency's surveillance and widespread data collection, as reported by Britain'snewspaper.De said that all communications content and associated metadata scooped up by the agency under a 2008 law governing (and permitting) such surveillance took place with the full knowledge of the tech companies. He said that is true both for "Prism," an Internet-based data collection program, and the "upstream" collection of all communications moving online.Asfurther reported:The story regarding the Prism program was broken in June byand, based on documents leaked to them by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. At the time nearly all of the tech companies who were listed as taking part in the program - Yahoo, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook and AOL - cried foul and claimed they had no knowledge about the NSA's massive surveillance or giving the agency access to customers' data. Indeed some of the companies , including Apple, claimed they had never even heard of the termreported.But, as De explained, "Prism was an internal government term that as the result of leaks became the public term. Collection under this program was a compulsory legal process, that any recipient company would receive."Following the hearing De said that Internet service providers are also aware of the surveillance and even receive legal directives regarding the spy agency's collection of communications data - not directly from the companies themselves but rather across the Internet, under the authority of Section 702 of the Act.Following the initial disclosure in the press about the existence of Prism, there was an outcry in technology circles as companies launched in-depth public relations efforts aimed at calming their customers and reassure them of their privacy and data security. In addition, the companies were able to lobby the Obama administration successfully to give them more leeway in disclosing both the volume and type of data requests issued them by the federal government.In recent days the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, said he phoned Obama to voice his concerns about "the damage the government is creating for all our future."reported that tech companies did not respond to De's revelations.The paper further reported:The ultrasecret FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) court ostensibly oversees spy agency and federal law enforcement agency surveillance requests, but critics of the process say the court is essentially a rubber stamp.Still, under concessions won from the Obama administration, tech companies can now discloses the range of FISA-related court orders they receive, in bands of one thousand, and that would presumably include any court orders issued under the authority of Section 702."Passed in 2008, Section 702 retroactively gave cover of law to a post-9/11 effort permitting the NSA to collect phone, email, internet and other communications content when one party to the communication is reasonably believed to be a non-American outside the United States,"reported.NSA reportedly stores all data received via Prism for five years and communications that are scooped directly from the Internet for two.Sources:
Mother told of agency intervention after the fact

"She's been there since day 1, through everything, every surgery. I look up to her for that. I love her. She's the best person in my life"

Governor calls for review of Illinois Department of Child and Family Services

(NaturalNews) A Missouri mother has been accused of medical child abuse after requesting a second opinion regarding her 17-year old son's medical care. Isaiah Rider, who suffers from neurofibromatosis, a rare condition causing tumors on the nerves, was told he could no longer see his mother following a surgery at Luries Children's Hospital in Chicago, Illinois."One day I woke up, and I was surrounded by a bunch of doctors, and they told me that I wasn't allowed to see my mother anymore," said Rider in a YouTube video he made after being placed in foster care following his release. "I was shocked. I was shocked."Their story began when he and his mother, Michelle, traveled to Chicago from their home in Missouri to visit specialists recommended by his Kansas City doctors. Rider underwent surgery at Luries hospital but his condition did not improve. He remained in severe pain, suffering from hours-long tremors in what was left of his amputated leg, prompting his mother to request he be transferred to another facility for a second opinion. This resulted in the intervention of Child Protective Services (CPS) in Chicago, which immediately seized custody of Rider, leaving no time for goodbyes.Offended by Michelle's audacity to question the hospital's care, CPS was called without warning, seizing custody of Rider on April 15 and prohibiting any contact between the teenager and his mother. It would be 24 days before they saw each other again.At the time, Rider says he was so drugged up that he had no idea what was going on. He was reportedly told "his excruciating pain was all in his head," according to, and that he wasn't allowed to see his mom again, or return to his girlfriend, friends or school back home.Documents obtained by reveal the hospital's allegations, including that the mother moved Rider from hospital to hospital, disagreed with doctors' advice and demanded powerful sedatives to his relieve pain.Rider disputes allegations that his mother mistreated him; in fact he worships her love and care.Michelle, who is a veteran hospice nurse, told KMBC, "I did not want nor did I at any time request that Isaiah have heavy medications. It was quite the opposite as heavy narcotics did not appear to be helping at all."When Rider was fit to be released, Luries hospital placed him in a foster home in a rough part of Chicago, where the teenager says he feared for his life and had a gun pulled on him twice.Eventually Rider was transferred to foster care in Missouri, where he lived with his grandparents, however, for reasons unknown he was taken involuntarily by ambulance back to Chicago again on December 6. post on a Facebook page created in support of Rider and his family's ordeal, states that he's allowed no visitors, except for his grandma, and is "IN PAIN."Updated Dec. 8, the post accuses the hospital of treating Rider like a prisoner, causing him unnecessary "emotional suffering." The update continues:There are three upcoming court dates set on Dec. 9, 11, and 15 in Chicago to settle the Rider's custody battle. A peaceful protest was held on Dec. 9 outside the Cook County Juvenile Court, allowing the public to express their support since they aren't allowed in the courtroom.Illinois State Governor Pat Quinn ordered a top state advisory committee to address problems at the Department of Children and Family Services, responding to recently exposed "severe problems" at state-funded residential care centers for abused and neglected children."The recent revelations regarding some residential youth centers in Illinois are alarming and unacceptable," Quinn said. "They must be addressed immediately."
Numerous studies point finger at neonics

The growing case for a ban

(NaturalNews) As the European Union considers whether to lift restrictions on three pesticides in the neonicotinoid family, it would do well to consider the phenomenon, known to Canadian beekeepers, in which bees start dying in droves shortly after corn planting season."Once the corn started to get planted our bees died by the millions," said beekeeper Dave Schuit in summer 2013, as reported byThat spring, Schuit lost 600 hives containing 37 million bees. The same year, Canadian farmer Gary Kenny said that eight of the 10 beehives that he kept on his property died shortly after his neighbors planted corn in their fields. Genetically modified (GM) corn is widely planted in Canada , but because the bee deaths occurred just after planting, the corn plants are not likely to blame for this particular die-off. Instead, beekeepers believe the cause is that the corn seeds were pre-treated with neonicotinoids. Air seeding causes neonicotinoid dust to fly off the seeds and into the air, drifting across the landscape.In one study, researchers from American Purdue University examined the bees that died or were dying as part of the spring 2013 die-off. "Bees exhibited neurotoxic symptoms, analysis of dead bees revealed traces of [the neonicotinoids] thiamethoxam/clothianidin in each case," they wrote. "Seed treatments of field crops (primarily corn) are the only major source of these compounds."A local Pest Management Regulatory Agency investigation also pointed to the same cause, concluding that corn seeds treated with those neonicotinoids "contributed to the majority of bee mortalities.""The air seeders are the problem," said Paul Wettlaufer, a local farmer and director of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture.Neonicotinoids are "systemic pesticides." They are applied to the seeds prior to planting, and then taken up into every tissue of the plant, including leaves, seeds, pollen, flowers and nectar. This makes them highly lethal not just to agricultural pests, but to all insects, and even birds that visit the plants for any reason."Large scale prophylaxic use [of neonicotinoids] in agriculture, their high persistence in soil and water, and their uptake by plants and translocation to flowers ... put pollinator services at risk," concluded one international research study.Not only pollinators are threatened. Two major studies in 2015 found that the pesticides have widespread, dangerous effects on entire ecosystems. One, published in the journal, found that neonicotinoid use was causing bird populations to crash. This is likely caused by both direct poisoning and by devastation of their invertebrate food sources.Meanwhile, an analysis by the the Task Force on Systemic Pesticides, of 800 separate studies, concluded that even when used according to manufacturer guidelines, neonicotinoids wreak havoc on "non-target" species such as earthworms, insects, aquatic invertebrates and even lizards and fish. The pesticides are "likely to have a wide range of negative biological and ecological impacts," the task force wrote.In 2013, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) placed a two-year ban on the use of three neonicotinoids, citing a likely risk to bees. The EFSA has now launched a new study to review that policy, with results expected in January 2017.Yet the evidence for a ban on neonicotinoids is even stronger now than it was two years ago. Even the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been forced to admit that the chemicals devastate pollinators. The agency recently announced the findings of field trials, finding that even very low level use of neonicotinoids (25 parts per billion in plant pollen and nectar), caused measurable drops in populations of honeybee hives.Researchers believe that neonicotinoids damage bee brains, specifically the ability to process information related to orientation and direction.
'The time is now,' Whole Foods announced in 2013

Consumer hesitations mount as 2018 draws near ... Let's remain hopeful



(NaturalNews) Time has a funny way of creeping up on us. We know that all too well when birthdays and various anniversaries come up, sometimes surprising us with "where has the time gone?" thoughts. Well, we imagine it's going to be about the same for Whole Foods Market. After all, 2018, the year in which they declared that all of their GMO products would be labeled accordingly, is coming up fast. Sure, it's two years away, but blink, and it'll be here before you know it.Will they deliver on their promise, which they announced to Max Goldberg of Living Maxwell in this 2013 video , during Natural Products Expo West?One can only hope that they do.After all, it's no secret that GMOs are part of the horrible food and chemical violence saga that creates an unstable environment, and ultimately wreaks havoc on the health of the planet and its inhabitants. Ongoing clashes have ensued  and continue to rage  primarily involving health-conscious consumers, the biotech industry and the government. It's safe. It's not. Natural News readers and those in the know about their health are well-aware that it's the latter. There's nothing natural, healthy and safe about Franken-foods , period.Of course, one can't mention GMOs without also thinking of the various consumer efforts to push for GMO labeling standards, as part of our right to know what we're ingesting. Enter the likes of California's Proposition 37 and Washington State's Initiative 522, also known as "The People's Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act," which strongly influenced labeling decisions through the years.Indeed, in the announcement covering the 2013 Whole Foods announcement to Goldberg, Whole Foods president A.C. Gallo said that Proposition 37, as well as their concerns over alfalfa GMO technology discussions that were surfacing at the time, spurred their labeling decision. At the same time, Gallo also explained that customers had played a significant role in their decision. They had made it very clear that GMO labeling was important to them, and weren't shy in making their disappointments known either. "The time is now," Gallo said in the 2013 interview with Goldberg.And so it came to be that Whole Foods made their "commitment to full GMO transparency " known. Co-CEO Walter Robb also told Goldberg in that same interview that "within five years, all the products in our stores  U.S. and Canada  that may contain GMOs or do contain GMOs will be labeled as such ." He went on to add that "... it'll take a lot of work and thought ... to achieve this goal."Yes. Yes, it will. But it's a necessary move that will make all of that hard work and planning worthwhile. And it's one we truly hope does come to fruition.Unfortunately, it's easy to feel somewhat hesitant about their 2018 promise. When you look back at some of their questionable actions  including news that surfaced about how the company actually trained their workers to lie when customers asked about GMOs in their stores  it's understandable that health-conscious people are standing by, wondering if Whole Foods will really have all of their products properly labeled. Will it happen?Then there have been other debacles, including their involvement in false advertising, and instances in which they've treated elderly people like violent criminals. You may recall that a New Jersey Whole Foods Market interrogated a 70-year-old woman who simply forgot to have her cheese rung up. Convinced that she was a kind of evil cheese thief, the woman was swiftly questioned, had her picture taken, and was even banned from the store. The person in charge of their actions towards her has since been let go, and of course, the store issued a statement about the "unfortunate incident," which occurred in October 2015.Still, it all doesn't paint a great picture of the popular chain.But, as the saying goes, onward and upward. Let's try to look past these events with a positive mind set, and eagerly await what 2018 has in store for Whole Foods.(1) LivingMaxWell.com (2) NaturalNews.com (3) NaturalNews.com (4) NaturalNews.com
The charge of the antihydrogen atom can be inferred from the charge anomalies of the antiproton and positron. The charge anomaly of the antiproton is known from spectroscopic measurements8,10 on antiprotonic helium, , and is parts per billion (p.p.b.) with a confidence level of 90%, where is the antiproton charge. The charge anomaly of the positron8,9,11 is less well known: , where is the positron charge (no confidence level given, but assumed here to be 1), determined by measurements of the positron cyclotron frequency and the positronium Rydberg constant. Assuming charge superposition, we can therefore combine these two anomalies to infer an indirect experimental bound of on the charge Qe of antihydrogen. This bound is much looser than the direct experimental bounds for normal-matter atoms; however, the methods used to set these normal-matter bounds generally use macroscopic quantities of atoms and so are unsuitable for studies of antihydrogen, of which only approximately 1,000 antiatoms have been trapped and detected1,2,3,4.

The earliest direct experimental limit on the charge of antihydrogen, |Q| < 0.02, came from the observation12 that Lorentz forces were insufficient to deflect an energetic (momentum of 1.94 GeV c1) beam13 of antihydrogen atoms away from a detector. A much more precise bound, Q = (13  11  4) p.p.b. (1 confidence level), was recently determined5 by searching for a static-electric-field-induced shift in the average position of antiatoms confined in the ALPHA-I antihydrogen trap at CERN. This shift was measured by recording the position along the electric-field axis as the antiatoms were released from the trap by turning off the trapping magnetic fields.

The precision of this static shift measurement was limited by the magnitude of the applied electric fields, and by statistical and systematic issues related to accurately measuring small deflections. The sensitivity of the charge measurement can be enhanced by using stochastic (that is, randomly time-varying) electric fields5,14,15. Under the influence of such fields, a putatively charged, trapped antihydrogen atom would experience small, stochastic energy kicks. On average, the antiatom would gradually gain enough energy from these kicks to escape the shallow potential well in which it was trapped. This process can be modelled as a random walk similar to Fermi acceleration16. By searching for the loss of antiatoms caused by these stochastic electric fields, we set a new limit on |Q|.

Our measurement was performed on antihydrogen atoms confined in the ALPHA-2 trap at CERN. This trap uses a minimum-magnetic-field (minimum-B) configuration to trap the antiatoms. Schematics of the trap and fields are shown in Fig. 1a and b, respectively. The magnetic minimum is formed by mirror and octupole magnetic coils. Antihydrogen atoms whose magnetic moments are oriented antiparallel to the trap magnetic fields are attracted to the magnetic minimum at the trap centre; for our fields, which are of the order of 1 T, the depth of the antihydrogen potential well is E well = 0.54 K, where E well is measured in temperature units.

Figure 1: Experiment schematic. a, Electrode structure of the ALPHA-2 trap, showing the approximate positions of the mirror and octupole coils. The particle detector (not shown) surrounds the octupole. (The vertical scale has been expanded for clarity.) b, Magnetic field on the axis (z) of the atom trap showing the axial magnetic potential well induced by the mirror fields. c, A snapshot of the applied stochastic electric-field potential  at several radii r as a function of z. On wall indicates the wall of the Penning trap; on axis indicates the axis of the trap (r = 0). The purple brackets indicate a typical travel distance and potential change experienced by an antiatom with 0.1 K of axial energy in 1 ms. Full size image

The general methods by which we trap antihydrogen are described elsewhere1,2,3,17, but briefly, antihydrogen atoms are created by first trapping separate cold plasmas containing several million positrons and several tens of thousands of antiprotons. The positrons come from a radioactive sodium source18, and the antiprotons are generated by CERNs Antiproton Decelerator (AD). Antiatoms are formed by three-body recombination when these two plasmas are mixed using autoresonance19,20 in the trap interior. Approximately 0.01% of the roughly ten thousand atoms created in each 1-s-long mixing interval are sufficiently cold to be trapped. The antiatoms are detected by releasing them from the trap by turning off the trap magnetic fields. A three-layer silicon vertex detector (SVD) surrounding the trap is used to detect, locate and time the resulting antiatom annihilations21. The detector and its associated multivariate analysis22,23,24 (MVA) software can detect approximately 82% of the antiatoms that annihilate in the trap.

To generate the stochastic electric field necessary for our measurement, we impose the electric potential shown in Fig. 1c on the trap by biasing the trap electrodes. We make this potential, and the associated electric field, vary stochastically by repeatedly changing the bias on the electrodes from that shown in Fig. 1c to its negation. We use N = 84,900 transitions, which, altogether, last 114.9 s in each experimental cycle (see Fig. 2). The interval between transitions averages 1 ms, but is randomized for reasons that are discussed later.

Figure 2: Stochastic drive potentials. a, Time structure of the stochastic drive potential repetitions. The potential is non-zero within the first 1.698 s of each repetition. The fifty repetitions are separated by 2.298 s. bd, Snapshots of the typical time histories of the measured potentials applied to different electrodes; insets illustrate details of the transitions. Note that the time intervals between transitions vary stochastically. Full size image

Each of the potential transitions would non-adiabatically perturb the kinetic energy of a charged antiatom; as noted above, these kicks correspond, approximately, to a random walk in energy. To model this process, we need to estimate the average potential change subsequent to each of the transitions. Measurements using our first trap, ALPHA-I3, showed that the energy of the trapped antiatoms is roughly distributed2,5,25,26 as a high-temperature, three-dimensional (3D) Maxwellian distribution truncated near E well . The typical energy of the component of motion along the trap axis is therefore about 0.1 K, which corresponds to a travel distance of about 30 mm in 1 ms. From the purple brackets shown in Fig. 1c, we see that an antiatom possessing this axial kinetic energy would experience a potential change of   100 V in 1 ms, although there are substantial uncertainties in this estimate due to variations in the potential over the volume of the trap, the distribution of kinetic energies and the potential changes arising from radial motion. A simple energy-diffusion model predicts that an antiatom with a putative charge Qe would gain energy of about . Consequently, the antiatom would gain roughly enough energy to escape from a trap of depth E well if

Evaluating this equation using our experimental parameters yields However, equation (1) assumes that the antiatom starts with zero initial kinetic energy. Prior measurements indicate that the average antiatom starts with more than half the energy it needs to escape; thus, the bound on |Q| is probably lower.

Stochastic acceleration requires an element of randomness in the relation between the frequency of the driving-potential inversions and the frequencies of the antiatom orbital oscillations. Trajectory simulations (see, for example, figure 6 in ref. 15) demonstrate that the orbits in the unforced system are generally not regular and do not have a fixed frequency. In many cases, these variations in orbital frequency would make even a strictly periodic driving potential act stochastically. However, some orbits have long-lasting periods of regular motion, and antiatoms in these orbits might not be accelerated by the driving potential. As proposed in ref. 15, we introduce sufficient stochasticity into the system by a random modulation, with a uniform distribution and a standard deviation of 0.2 ms, of the time interval between potential transitions. (This variability is visible in Fig. 2bd.) Simulations14,15 show that it is not necessary or beneficial to randomize the voltage levels between which the electrode potentials switch.

To bound |Q|, we alternated between two experimental protocols, each with four phases. The first protocol involved stochastic trials, in which we (1) trapped antihydrogen, (2) subjected any trapped antihydrogen to the stochastic potential variations described above, (3) allowed any antiatoms remaining after the stochastic phase to escape by turning the confining magnetic fields off, and then (4) counted the number of antiatoms that thus escaped using the silicon vertex detector. The second protocol involved null trials, which were performed in strict alternation with the stochastic trials, and were identical to them in all respects, except that the potentials were set to zero during phase (2). Thus, in both types of trials we attempted to hold the antiatoms for the same time (114.9 s) after phase (1). Assuming that the underlying initial antihydrogen trapping rate and all other systematic effects are the same in the stochastic and null trials, a statistically significant difference between the number of antiatoms detected after these trials would imply the existence of a non-zero Q being acted upon by the oscillating electric fields of the stochastic trials. (As discussed in Methods, known polarization and polarizability effects are negligible in the current experiment.)

The results of executing both protocols ten times are presented in Table 1. We observed no differences in the number of antiatoms released in phase (3) between the two protocols, which suggests that the chargeif anyof antihydrogen is below that required to escape from the trap, (based on the analytic estimate given above). This rough estimate can be made more robust and precise by simulating the dynamics of the antiatoms and using a proper statistical analysis. (Events detected during phase (2) are compiled in Extended Data Table 1 and discussed in Methods, and are compatible with cosmic rays.)

Table 1 Results of the stochastic and null trials Full size table

We use simulations1,2,5,15,25,26 that model the experiment closely, including detailed models of the trap fields and stochastic timing, and realistic initial conditions validated by previous experiments. The simulations begin by mimicking the initial mixing of the two plasmas and subsequent relaxation periods. We model the null trials by propagating the antiatoms in the electric-field-free trap for a further 114.9 s. We model the stochastic trials by assigning the antiatoms a putative Q, and propagating them in the presence of the stochastic electric fields for this same 114.9 s. For each value of Q studied, we launch 1,000 antiatoms.

For each simulated Q, we determine the survival probability s by calculating the ratio of the number of antiatoms that survive the stochastic simulations to the number that survive the null simulations; the results are shown in Fig. 3. Because the stochastic drive reverses direction every half-cycle, it is unbiased on average; consequently, s depends on the magnitude of the charge |Q|, but not on its sign.

Figure 3: Survival probability. Simulated survival probability s as a function of |Q| for the stochastic trials. The blue crosses are the number of antiatoms surviving at the given |Q| value divided by the number of antiatoms surviving at Q = 0 (the null simulation). The orange band of varying thickness is the 1 confidence region from a Bayesian fit to this simulation data; see the Supplementary Information for further explanation. Full size image

Although it is clear from Fig. 3 that the bound on |Q| set by our experiment will be in the neighbourhood of 1 p.p.b., it is not immediately clear exactly what s and, hence, what |Q| to assign from this figure and the data in Table 1. We might begin by setting a threshold of s = 0.5; however with a per-trial antiatom observation rate of r  24/20 = 1.2, the probability that 12 (what we observed) or more antiatoms would have survived in 10 trials with s = 0.5 is only 0.02 assuming Poissonian statistics. Clearly, our data will support setting the threshold at some larger value of s. Furthermore, our limited data set only provides an estimate for r. This suggests that a Bayesian methodology, in which r is treated as a nuisance parameter, would be useful for finding a more precise limit on |Q|.

In Methods we present a simple Bayesian analysis that suggests that s > 0.79 and that the corresponding bound on |Q|, found by inverting the curve in Fig. 3, is |Q| < 0.59 p.p.b. However, this analysis ignores systematic uncertainties; fortunately, our experiment is relatively insensitive to these uncertainties. For example, the analytic expression given in equation (1) shows that uncertainties in  (or in the magnitude of the electric field |E|) affect our bound on |Q| linearly. Because these fields are known to within approximately 1%, uncertainties in  have a negligible effect compared to that of our statistical uncertainties. Similarly, uncertainties in the magnitude of the magnetic field |B| contribute to uncertainties in |Q| through its linear dependency on E well . Because E well depends on the mirror and octupole fields approximately linearly, and because both are known to within approximately 1%, these effects are unimportant. Details of the magnetic field structure beyond the maximum and minimum are similarly unimportant because they do not affect the trap depth. Simulations show that s is not greatly influenced by changes in the volume from which the antiatoms are initially launched.

All of the data were taken over adjacent half-shifts, separated by 16 h, at CERNs AD facility. We are not aware of any mechanism that could have substantially altered the observation rate r in synchronization with the strict alternation of the stochastic and null trials. Likewise, this alternation makes the measurement robust against failures of the detector system. Nonetheless, we performed extensive tests27 of the detector performance to confirm that there were no substantial failures or performance degradations (see Extended Data Fig. 1). The expected number of cosmic rays incorrectly identified as antiatoms is 0.07 for each of the two sets of ten trials; this has a negligible effect on our bound on |Q| (see Supplementary Information).

Simulations do reveal a small dependence of s on the initial energy distribution of the antiatoms. Two distributions that bound our preferred, truncated Maxwellian distribution were studied for our previous apparatus ALPHA-I. Although we have good evidence to rule out these bounding distributions5,25,26, their impact on the measurement reported here is discussed in Supplementary Information. With an additional, even smaller correction arising from the statistical error in the Monte Carlo simulation, our bound degrades to |Q| < 0.71 p.p.b. at a 68.3% (1) confidence level. This bound represents a 20-fold improvement on the best previous bound5.

Given that the charge anomaly of the antiproton8,10 is bound at below 0.7 p.p.b., our result, combined with the assumption of charge superposition, limits the charge anomaly of the positron to 1 p.p.b. (1), a 25-fold improvement on the best previous bound8,9. By modestly increasing the potentials, holding the antiatoms for longer times and cooling the antiatoms28, we expect (see the scalings in equation (1)) to be able to improve the antihydrogen charge bound by several orders of magnitude15; these realizable improvements exceed those that could be obtained by the previously used static-electric-field shift methodology5.
If you find yourself in Stockholm with some time to spare for a piece of science history, I recommend making a short visit to the village of Ytterby on the nearby island Resaro. It is still possible to visit the abandoned and refilled mine that was the birthplace of four rare-earth elements, whose names all derive from Ytterby: yttrium, erbium, terbium and ytterbium.

The village's scientific story started in 1789 in a quarry, which at the time produced quartz for ironworks and feldspar for the porcelain industry, when Carl Axel Arrhenius  a young lieutenant in the Swedish army with a keen interest in minerals acquired during his time at the Royal Mint's laboratory  discovered a black piece of stone among the leftover gangue. The peculiar black mineral, first presumed to be tungsten, was shipped off to Arrhenius's friend Johan Gadolin, a chemistry professor at the Royal Academy of Turku in Finland (known in latin as Regia academia aboensis).

Credit:  KIYOSHI TAKAHASE SEGUNDO / ALAMY Gadolin identified that the mineral 'ytterbite' (which would later be renamed gadolinite in his honour) contained the oxide of a new rare-earth element1. The Swedish chemist Anders Gustaf Ekeberg subsequently confirmed these findings and named the oxide yttria2. Elemental yttrium, in an impure form, was first isolated in 1828 by Friedrich Wohler by passing chlorine gas over the gadolinite mineral to form anhydrous yttrium chloride (YCl 3 ), which was in turn reduced to yttrium using potassium3. In 1843, Carl Gustaf Mosander discovered that yttria was in fact a mixture of a number of metal oxides, which he separated into three parts: yttria (containing yttrium oxide, Y 2 O 3 ), erbia, and terbia4. In the end, the black mineral found by Arrhenius was shown to contain oxides of eight rare-earth metals  erbium, terbium, ytterbium, scandium, thulium, holmium, dysprosium, and lutetium. In the 1920s, element 39 saw a change in its symbol, when Y replaced the older Yt in the periodic table.

Along with above-neighbour scandium in group 3 of the periodic table, yttrium is chemically similar to the lanthanides and together they form the rare-earth elements. This means that, in the same manner as the lanthanides, yttrium is produced by separation from a mixture of oxides in ores such as monazite sand and bastnasite. It can then be purified by the preparation of yttrium fluoride, and its subsequent reduction with calcium metal.

Yttrium has a silver-metallic luster and is relatively stable in air. Again, like the lanthanides, it usually exists as a trivalent ion, Y3+, and is abundant as yttrium oxide (Y 2 O 3 ). It has many isotopes, with mass numbers ranging from 79 to 103, but the naturally occurring element consists of only one stable isotope, 89Y.

Organic chemists are very familiar with trivalent yttrium complexes, which are used as Lewis acid catalysts for a wide range of reactions. For example, a recent highly enantioselective ring-opening reaction of aziridines was catalysed by a bimetallic yttrium complex5.

Element 39 also serves in various optical devices, through yttrium aluminate garnets (YAGs). In these materials, a small portion of the yttrium atoms have been replaced by lanthanides, introducing lattice strains that change the optical properties of the material. For example, cerium-doped YAGs (Ce:YAGs) are used as phosphors in combination with blue light emitting diodes (LEDs). Blue radiation from the LED 'bleeding' through a Ce:YAG phosphor is down-converted to a yellow emission, which in turns combines with the LED's blue radiation to produce white daylight-like light. Other devices include the so-called Nd:YAG lasers that are commonly used both in medical and industrial applications.

Yet perhaps the most important impact of yttrium has been its role in the discovery of high temperature superconductors  those materials with no electrical resistance. In 1986, Bednorz and Muller discovered superconductivity in a lanthanum-based cuprate perovskite material (La 2 CuO 3 ) at a temperature of 35 K, for which they were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics the following year6. Also in 1987, physicists in the United States found that yttrium-based Y 1.2 Ba 0.8 CuO 4 (often referred to as YBCO) was superconducting at 93 K  a temperature increase of practical importance as this is above the boiling point of liquid nitrogen (77 K), which makes it a practically feasible cooling temperature7. The discovery invigorated research efforts in the quest for superconductivity at even higher temperatures  ideally, above room temperature, though this has remained elusive.
When you mention tuna, most minds probably swim to the ubiquitous cans of the fish, or maybe a delectable piece of sashimi decked out with roe and wasabi.

But when Stanford biology professor Barbara Block contemplates tuna, her mind goes to images of bluefin tuna  the massive, speedy fish that regularly traverse oceans in a single year.

Over a lifetime they might travel tens of thousands of miles, Block said, flanked by California's Monterey Bay.

Block is warning that the bluefin, once thought to be incredibly bountiful, is now facing peril because of decades of overfishing.

Some 80 percent of bluefin caught are used in sushi  a single fish possibly reaching 900 pounds and fetching upwards of $100,000, making them incredibly valuable. After years of fishing, scientists caution the worlds current bluefin population is only four percent of what it once was.

Theres concern in our global oceans that the biodiversity of tuna is being reduced to such levels that we may not be able to recover the fish, Block said.

This week, Block was part of a unique symposium in Monterey where 200 scientists, policy makers and fishery managers gathered for a first-of-its kind think tank on the future of bluefin tuna.

Over three days the group pondered the science, worldwide fishing quotas and how disparate nations will have to band together to stem the bluefins steady march toward peril.

We have academic colleagues all sitting in the same room from around the world, Block said, trying to sort out what are the best tools we can use to make sure bluefin have a future on our planet.

One of the issues with the bluefin is their penchant for international travel, roaming across vast physical boundaries and economic zones.

Researchers said because their journeys put them in various countries with conflicting science and policies, there is little consensus on how to set fishing quotas that would stabilize the bluefin numbers.

Bluefin is a global fish, they travel the global path, Block said. And so we have to work as nations to solve the problem.

That means pledging more money to fund bluefin studies, according to researchers, though gathering that data is notoriously challenging because of the speed and distance the fish travel.

One of the biggest problems with these tuna though is we dont have good scientific data to make a plan for recovery, said Julie Packard, executive director of the Monterey Bay Aquarium where large bluefin swim in massive aquariums.

Fishing industry officials in some countries have expressed interest in lowering catch limits in order to sustain bluefin populations. Brian Jeffries of Australias Tuna Association said its in fishermens own interest to catch fewer fish in exchange for longevity.

People are interested in supporting their families and communities for the longer term, Jeffries said in Monterey, where he was attending the Bluefin Futures Symposium. By far the best way to do that is often to reduce the quota, make the fish sustainable.

Adjacent to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Stanford University operates the Hopkins Marine Station research facility, which includes the only U.S. facility devoted to studying bluefin. Block said her team is a world pioneer in the development of electronic tagging for bluefin.

So what were trying to do is inspire people to do a better job with the modern tools of science, Block said during a break from the meetings, and apply it to bluefin now and make sure they have a future in our oceans long after were gone.
The first of several public hearings on proposals to reform the San Francisco Police Departments use-of-force policies kicks off on Thursday, in the wake of the shooting death of 20-year-old Mario Woods, who was killed in December by police.

Some want to arm officers with Tasers and stun guns in light of the fatal officer-involved shooting captured on video.

At a hearing Thursday morning dedicated to de-escalation practices at the Board of Supervisors Rules Committee, Supervisor Malia Cohen said: Tasers still kill people. Im not interested in arming law enforcement with another tool that could harm a person even though it is considered a non-lethal weapon. Im looking to ensure officers have crisis intervention training, know how to deal with folks with mental breaks. 

Cohen said there have been 37 officer-involved shootings since 2007  all deemed justified. Several supervisors have called the departments use of force policies outdated, they havent changed since 1995.

The president of the San Francisco Police Officers Association Marty Halloran said that more than 150 officers showed up Wednesday night in support of Chief Greg Suhr, who has come under attack following the Woods shooting. Halloran said officers are open to alternative uses of force, adding that if police had been armed with Tasers, Woods might still be alive.

There are many alternative less lethal force options available and they POA has already offered suggestions to the department and to the Police Commission, Cohen said. These alternative forms of less lethal [force] must have a sound policy and procedure in place before they can be deployed and they must not put my members into a risky situation where they could be seriously injured.

The first hearing will start at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Third Baptist Church at 1399 McAllister St. The next hearing is set for Jan. 26 at the Bayview YMCA at 1601 Lane St. The next is set for Jan. 27 at an unscheduled location.
Family members and friends of two University of California, Santa Cruz students swept out to sea this week held an emotional vigil Wednesday.

Authorities say the college students, Shireen Ahsan, a 19-year old from Palo Alto, and 25-year old Solaiman Nourzaie, of San Jose, were on a rock jutting into the ocean at Bonny Doon Beach in Santa Cruz County about 5 p.m. Monday when they were struck by a wave. The 22-hour search covered 46 square miles before it was suspended Tuesday, officials said.

The friends and family of the two UC Santa Cruz students gathered on a cliff at Bonny Doon Beach Wednesday to mourn for their loved ones. The vigil was held, first of all, to remember and honor the outstanding students, both members of the school's Muslim Students' Association.

"I'm devastated," said Agha Ahsan, Shireen's father, adding that the vigil was a "great comfort."

Family /friends of UCSC students swept to sea at #BonnyDoon #Beach hold vigil overlooking where it happened pic.twitter.com/1opHlecZil  RobertHanda (@RHandaNBC) January 20, 2016

Large crowd gathers on #BonnyDoon Beach cliff for #vigil just starting for two students swept away Monday pic.twitter.com/Wf0ljlG5QN  RobertHanda (@RHandaNBC) January 20, 2016

Family members also pointed out El Nino is stirring up ocean conditions and urged others, especially young people, to be extra cautious.

"You have to be careful," Ahsan said.

Now that the official search has been called off, Ahsan said his family is mulling what to do next.
Fifty million people are in the path of a massive, "perhaps crippling" winter storm that could dump up to 2 feet of snow on parts of the East Coast over the weekend, according to the National Weather Service.

As of Thursday afternoon, 80 million people in 15 states were under winter weather watches, warnings or advisories, NBC News reported. In preparation, airlines were canceling fights, shoppers snapped up snow supplies and food and officials urged the public to stay safe when the snow hits.

The National Weather Service warns of heavy snow across the northern mid-Atlantic region, including Baltimore, Washington and Philadelphia. Snow will likely begin Friday evening and could continue for up to 36 hours.

The heaviest snow is forecast for areas west and southwest of Washington, D.C., which could receive 18 to 24 inches of snow. That would make it the second largest snowstorm in the capital's history.

"I'm told that it is only the second such time in recent history where this much snow in a single event has been forecasted," D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said at a news conference Thursday. The district's Metro system will be shut because of the storm; an area bishop told Catholics in his parish that they weren't obliged to come to Sunday Mass.

"I've lived in D.C. most of my life, and I don't know that I have ever lived through a forecast like this," Bowser said.

Philadelphia, meanwhile, could see more than a foot of snow, while New York City and Long Island could receive 8 to 10 inches. Wind gusts could reach 50 mph, reducing visibility to zero and causing power outages and coastal flooding.

National Weather Service Director Louis Uccellini called the storm a "relatively rare event" that could cost $1 billion and paralyze the east coast at a media briefing Thursday.

"We're seeing everything line up for a major storm system affecting the eastern third of the country," Uccellini said.

Uccellini, who wrote a two-volume textbook on northeast snowstorms said it was unusual for weather prediction models to be in such consensus.

"To have this level of consistency... We're living in interesting times. I haven't seen it," Uccellini said. "I would suggest that people pay attention to this system."

In the areas where blizzard conditions are possible, travel will be limited or impossible, the weather service warned. The strongest winds and potentially life-threatening conditions are expected Friday night through Saturday night.

Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and Washington, D.C. have declared states of emergency ahead of the storm, along with 21 counties in Georgia.

All major airlines have issued travel waivers allowing passengers to rebook flights to avoid the storm. Affected airports vary by airline but include cities in Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia all the way up the coast to New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

American Airlines is canceling the bulk of its flights in the Northeast. At its Charlotte hub, all 654 American flights are canceled for Friday. Flight cancellations will take effect at the three Washington and Baltimore area airports Friday afternoon, while flights through New York's three airports will be canceled Saturday afternoon.

The National Weather Service has issued a blizzard warning for Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, Maryland. Winter storm warnings are in effect for parts of North Carolina, Indiana, Kentucky, Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Arkansas. Blizzard watches have been issued for New Jersey and New York, while Mississippi is under a winter storm watch.

Uccellini said the storm is developing as predicted over the South Central U.S. The system has already brought ice and freezing rain to Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky and North Carolina, which could also see heavy snow in the west, according to Gov. Pat McCrory. The icy mixture will affect some 7 million people and threaten the area's infrastructure.

Coastal flooding is a major concern in Delaware and New Jersey, with predicted wave heights of up to 15 or 20 feet, according to the National Weather Service. Uccellini said strong winds paired with lunar tides could pose lingering problems along the shoreline. When asked Thursday if New York City's subway system could be in danger of flooding, Uccellini would only say, "Were not there yet in terms of our forecast."

The storm is expected to miss much of New England. Meteorologist Tom Hawley of the National Weather Service in Gray, Maine, said the storm's path could shift but right now "all indications are that it will not amount to much" in the region.
Once again, Ibrahim Parlak and his supporters, say they are literally fighting for his life.

Parlak is the Kurdish immigrant who migrated to the Chicago area in 1991, starting a restaurant which soon became a favorite dining spot in Harbert, MIchigan.

He became a favorite too. The quiet man who said he had to flee violence and oppression in his native Turkey, was quickly embraced by the summertime crowds on the Michigan shore, as well as permanent residents of the sleepy communities along the Red Arrow Highway.

Parlak admitted a messy past, where as part of the Kurdish minority, he was accused by Turkish authorities in connection with a 1987 border skirmish where two soldiers were killed. He admitted he had been in the area, but denied involvement.

And the United States government believed him, granting Parlak asylum in 1992, in a letter where they stated, "It has been determined you have established a well founded fear of persecution upon return to your homeland."

For twelve years, Parlak thrived, raising a daughter and becoming what his community called a model citizen. Then in 2004, at the height of post 9/11 fright, the bottom fell out, when he was arrested by Immigration authorities, accused of lying on a green card application about his Turkish past.

"I didn't do anything wrong," he told NBC 5 in a jailhouse interview in August of 2004. "I don't know why I am here."

Parlak said his attorney had checked two boxes wrong on a form--that what the Department of Homeland Security called deception, was a simple clerical error.

But even now, Parlak speaks of his love of America, and his belief that federal authorities will eventually stop their pursuit.

"Yes, I got treated unfairly by some government office," he said Wednesday. "That just not what America is about."

Parlak's many supporters, Democrats and Republicans alike, have rallied around him. Congressmen and a Senator floated private bills to keep him in the U.S. For eleven years he managed to stave off removal.

But now Parlak's fight has resumed with new fury. Just before Christmas, immigration authorities came calling again. Turkey had agreed to take him. And the U.S. delivered a simple message: we're sending you back.

"I'm in a ground hog movie," Parlak said Wednesday. "You know, you wake up every morning, and it just starts all over and over and over."

At a packed gathering at Parlak's Cafe Gulistan, Republican Congressman Fred Upton outlined a new effort to request recognition that Parlak would face torture if he was returned to his native Turkey. He said he had been joined in that effort by Democrat Jan Schakowsky of Chicago.

"It's just stunning to me that they would waste so much time, going after a respectable citizen," Upton said. "Why are we spending money and everything else, going after an innocent man who wants to live in this country and raise his family--just crazy!"

Parlak's attorney Robert Carpenter of Chicago says the current government action against his client has a deadline of March 22, barring success with Upton's effort.

"I believe his life would be in jeopardy," Carpenter told NBC5. "The government could then remove him to Turkey where he would likely be tortured or killed."

The Department of Homeland Security's Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement offered little comment on Parlak's case.

"ICE is presently conducting a review of Mr. Parlak's case," the agency said in a statement. "Therefore, his removal is not imminent. Mr. Parlak is, however, subject to periodic reporting requirements."

Observers agree that over the last eleven years, the tremendous bipartisan support of community members and lawmakers has probably spelled the difference in keeping Parlak in America, during a fight which has spanned two White House administrations. Over 30,000 people have signed an online petition.

"It's insanity, gone crazy," says friend Martin Dzuris, a conservative Republican who has supported Parlak from the beginning. "He is an American. He is representative of our values."

Upton agreed, telling the Secretary of Homeland Security in a letter, that Parlak "has embodied the epitome of what all immigrants who come to our nation aspire to achieve."

"We want to build a strong, proud country," said Upton. "He believes in the American dream. He's done it. And to send him back to face torture, maybe death, shouldn't happen."

For his part, Parlak says he still sees past the current dispute, when he can finally seek the U.S. citizenship which has always been his dream.

"Of course," he said. "That will be the day to celebrate!"


Gov. Bruce Rauner on Thursday announced he will support a Democratic pension reform proposal in what appeared to be his biggest show of bi-partisanship yet, but Democractic leaders quickly shot down claims of an agreement.

Rauner, alongside Illinois Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno and House Minority Leader Jim Durkin, made the announcement during a 10:30 a.m. press conference, saying he would back a plan proposed by Democratic Senate President John Cullerton.

The pension reform bill was previously passed in the Senate, but Rauner now says he will work with Cullerton to amend the bill and move it forward.

"We believe strongly that President Cullertons bill, with the wording picked properly, will be constitutional," Rauner said.

Cullerton did not appear at the press conference Thursday, but said the plan the governor outlined is not what the two discussed.

"It's not my plan," he said in a statement. "It goes beyond what we discussed and beyond what I support."

The proposal would allow public workers a choice of reduced benefits, giving them the option of keeping their pension benefits without a guarantee of certain health care or keeping their health benefits with a lower retirement plan.

Central to the Cullerton model is that future salary increases are part of the employee election, and that to ensure the proposal passes Constitutional muster current law must be changed to make the employees election permanent," Rauner said in a statement.

Rauner said he believes the proposal has potential, unlike Mike Madigan's reform bill, which was declared unconstitutional by Supreme Court last year.

"We apparently still have a fundamental disagreement over the role of collective bargaining in this process, in the sense that I think collective bargaining should continue to exist and the governor does not," Cullerton said.

Cullerton said he hopes to work with the governor to clarify these issues and appreciates "just how far he's moved away from his original pension reform ideas."

But this is not my plan, not the plan we discussed this morning, and it does not have my support, he added.

Rauner said administration lawyers have spent weeks negotiating the language of the proposal with Cullerton's staff.

We hope the Senate President still supports this agreed upon model, originally developed by his office," he said in a statement after the news conference. "If he no longer supports it, we urge him to immediately introduce new pension reform legislation that he thinks will be approved by the Supreme Court, and the governor will be open to considering it. Now is the time to act.

Late Thursday, Rauner's office gave NBC Chicago the following statement: "Perhaps the governor was not as precise in his word selection as the Democrats would have liked. To be clear, the governor agrees with the Senate President that the only labor law revisions that are necessary are those modest ones that ensure that employers shall not be required to bargain over compensation or benefits affected by President Cullerton's changes, the impact of those changes, or the implementation of those changes. This is what the governor was trying to say. We agree. Let's move forward to get pension reform done."
The Afghan reporters recognized the voice threatening them with death on the Islamic State group's local radio station. It was a former colleague, who knows their names and where they work.

The threats were made during a discussion program on "Voice of the Caliphate," an elusive radio station operated by one of the extremist group's newest affiliates. The so-called Khorasan Province has battled Afghan forces and the Taliban alike, carving out an enclave in Nangarhar, a rugged eastern province bordering Pakistan.

It has adopted the media strategy of its mother organization in Syria and Iraq, including the production of grisly, professionally made videos showing battles and the killing of captives. But in impoverished Afghanistan, where few have access to the Internet, radio could prove more effective at recruiting fighters and silencing critics.

The group is actively targeting other media outlets to prevent them from competing with its chilling broadcasts. Militants bombed a building housing two radio stations in the provincial capital, Jalalabad, in October, and attacked the local offices of the independent Pajhwok news agency and Voice of America in July.

The menacing broadcast in mid-December, in which a former local radio broadcaster called on reporters to either join IS or risk being hunted down and killed, could be heard across Jalalabad.

"It is a great concern for us because he knows all the journalists who are working locally," said Shir Sha Hamdard, chairman of the Journalists' Union of Eastern Afghanistan.

"He also knows that as journalists we do not take sides and that our only weapon is the pen. We've tried to talk to representatives of IS to make sure they know this but we haven't been successful," he said. He and other Jalalabad-based reporters asked that The Associated Press not name the IS broadcaster for their own safety.

IS radio can be heard across Nangarhar on an FM frequency for 90 minutes a day in both the Pashto and Dari languages. Programs include news, interviews, vitriol against the Afghan government and the Taliban, recruitment propaganda, and devotional music in multiple languages.

The message is clear: the Afghan government is a doomed "puppet regime" of the Americans. The Taliban are a spent force hijacked by Pakistan. The caliphate is coming.

"Soon our black flag will be flying over the (presidential) palace in Kabul," an announcer crowed in a recent broadcast.

The IS affiliate "is against everything  free media, civil society, education, all of which they say are secular, un-Islamic," said Haroon Nasir, a civil society activist in Nangarhar. He said the message likely resonates among young men in impoverished rural areas, where after nearly 15 years of war many have soured on both the U.S.-backed government and the Taliban.

In those areas  which make up most of Afghanistan  Internet access is spotty at best, and computers and smartphones are a luxury. Just 10 percent of Afghanistan's 30 million people have access to the Internet.

But nearly everyone has a radio.

A 2014 study by Altai Consulting found that 175 radio and 75 television stations had been set up since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that toppled the Taliban  which had one radio network and banned television. Wind-up radios that operate without electricity or even batteries have been widely distributed since then.

IS militants are believed to use mobile broadcasting units and cross back and forth along the porous border with Pakistan, making them difficult to track. The National Directorate of Security, the Afghan intelligence agency, did not respond to requests for comment.

Hazrat Hussain Mashriqiwal, the spokesman for the Nangarhar police chief, said "Voice of the Caliphate" broadcasts had been banned and were rarely picked up, especially in Jalalabad.

But residents tell a different story. Jalalabad shopkeeper Janat Khan said IS radio is popular chiefly due to its novelty. "Most people are listening to them because they want to know about Daesh and its strategy," he said, referring to the extremist group by its Arabic acronym. "The preachers are strong, their message is clear  they talk against the Taliban and against (President Ashraf) Ghani's government."

Although IS and the Taliban both want to impose a harsh version of Islamic rule, they are bitterly divided over leadership and strategy, with the Taliban narrowly focused on Afghanistan and IS bent on establishing a worldwide caliphate.

The U.S. State Department recently added the IS Afghan affiliate to its list of foreign terrorist organizations. It said the group emerged in January 2015 and is mainly made up of disenchanted former Taliban fighters.

Over the last six months the group has taken over four Nangarhar districts, where it has imposed the same violent interpretation of Islamic law championed by the IS group in Syria and Iraq, including the public execution of alleged informers and other enemies. In August, students at Nangarhar University staged a pro-IS demonstration. Security forces swooped in to make arrests and have since cracked down on campus activism nationwide.

As the group has expanded its reach, its media strategy has grown more sophisticated and more brutal.

"They have not only made every attempt to promote themselves through all mediums from mainstream media to social media, but they have also resorted to coercing tactics to force local media to publish their news and follow their agenda," said Najib Sharifi, director of the Afghan Journalists' Safety Committee.

"In areas where the government cannot provide sufficient security, media might resort to compromising their editorial independence out of fear  something that could make media turn into the propaganda machinery of Daesh."
A Bridgeport, Connecticut, man accused of murdering his mother and father for money pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder Wednesday.

Kyle Navin, 27, of Bridgeport, is accused of shooting and killing his parents, Jeffrey and Jeanette Navin, of Easton.

The couple was reported missing on Aug. 4 and their bodies were found in December in the yard of a vacant home in neighboring Weston, which their son had visited before, the property owner told police.

Jeffrey Navin, 56, was president of J&J Refuse in Westport, while Jeannette Navin, 55, was a school aide in Weston.

Kyle Navin is accused of shooting his mother inside his truck and shooting his father in the basement of the Bridgeport home his parents bought him.

Court documents provide details on the police investigation and what led to authorities filing charges.

Police said they received an anonymous tip on Aug. 20, days after his parents disappeared, that Kyle Navin had been thrown out of a back-pain treatment program because he was using heroin, which police confirmed with the pain clinic, according to the warrant for Kyle Navin's arrest.

A confidential witness later told investigators Kyle Navin had been buying $140 worth of heroin a day, and between $300 and $600 a day in the weeks prior.

Kyle Navin, who had been in federal prison since his Sept. 8 arrest on a separate weapons violation, was charged with two counts of murder and murder with special circumstances.

During a previous court appearance for an arraignment, Kyle Navin's attorney, Eugene Riccio, asked the public to reserve judgment.

"It's not a trial, and I think experience has taught all of us that we have reserve our judgment about these situations until all of the facts are known, and I'm asking that that be done," Riccio said.

Police have said they believe he killed his parents for money.

A few days before she vanished, his mother told a friend the couple planned to cut Kyle Navin out of their will, sell their trash-hauling business and leave their son without any financial support from the family, according to an affidavit from police.

Jeanette Navin told a longtime acquaintance her relationship with her son had been "very tempestuous" and she suspected Kyle Navin of abusing drugs, according to the affidavit. She also confided that she and her husband had bought Kyle Navin a house, but he was failing to pay the mortgage and taxes.

Months prior, in May, Kyle Navin allegedly discussed his intentions in text messages with his girlfriend, who has also been charged in connection with the case. According to the warrant for his arrest, Kyle Navin said they needed to "figure out the best way to take (his parents) down whether it is get some money out of them somehow (expletive) him at the business the house something."

Then, in July, he mentioned a plan to "solve every single problem and give us a wealthy amazing life," according to the warrant. Later in the conversation, he allegedly wrote, "Wipe out the infection and get $ for life. It's perfect plan."

Kyle Navin's text messages also came into play the day his parents disappeared. According to police, Jeffrey Navin texted his son Aug. 4  right before he vanished  saying he would not go home until he knew his wife was OK. He also allegedly asked if Kyle Navin hurt his mother.

"No absolutely not. Why would you think," Kyle Navin responded, according to the affidavit.

"I go home and get framed for murder," Jeffrey Navin replied.

"Oh stop," Kyle Navin texted back.

Soon after the exchange, the couple's cellphones went inactive. Five days later, authorities found their pickup truck with a shattered window in a Westport commuter lot.

Police interviewed the couple's younger son, Taylor, as part of the investigation. When they told him Kyle Navin was a person of interest, Taylor Navin, who lives in Mississippi, allegedly responded, "When I heard my parents were missing I thought to myself, 'They either went on vacation, or my brother did something to them,'" according to the warrant.

Kyle Navin has pleaded not guilty to the separate charge of possession of a firearm by an unlawful user of a controlled substance.

Navin is due back in court on Feb. 24.
Southbound Red Line trains headed toward 95th were being rerouted Thursday afternoon after a worker was injured on the tracks, authorities said.

The Chicago Fire Department said a worker fell from a ladder at North and Clybourne and was transported in fair-to-serious condition.

The Chicago Transit Authority initially said Red Line trains were standing at North/Clybourn due to a sick customer.

Trains headed toward 95th were later being rerouted to the elevated tracks between Fullerton and Cermak-Chinatown. By 1:15 p.m., trains were returning to their normal routes, the transit agency said.
Make-A-Wish Connecticut is teaming up with NBC Connecticut for the 3rd annual Miles For Smiles campaign. Donate your unused airline miles and make a childs travel wish come true!

Its Thursday, January 21, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Participating programs include United, Delta, American, Southwest and JetBlue.

Viewers can call the NBC Hotline at (877) 847-3030 to donate miles or click here to donate now! Cash donations will also be accepted throughout the day on January 21 as well.

Help make Connecticut childrens wishes come true and donate those unused airline miles!
For a buyer, they are quite a package of real estate: Nine buildings in the heart of busy Kenmore Square, Boston, on an acre and a half of land, home to the Boston University bookstore, a post office, retail and restaurants.

And, by the way, they're also home to perhaps the most recognized symbol of Boston's skyline: the 60-foot-high, winking and blinking Citgo sign that has loomed over Fenway Park's Green Monster since 1965.

BU has owned the cluster of buildings since the 1960s and concluded now is a good time to put them up for sale.

Gary Nicksa, BU's senior vice president of operations, said in an interview Thursday afternoon: "We thought this would be a great opportunity, since the market has been very strong, to look at selling the properties we've acquired over time ... Really, it's to take that investment back out of the commercial property and put it into the teaching and research."

It's hard to predict what the buildings could fetch. They're in varying condition and mostly 6 or 7 stories -- but it's extraordinary for a full acre and a half site right next to an MBTA hub to come on the market. At $500 a square foot for the structures, the buildings alone, totalling a little over 330,000 square feet, could generate $160 million for BU's endowment.

Of course, anyone who knows Kenmore Square would worry: What happens to the Citgo sign?

"Absolutely, it's an icon," said John Ward, a lifelong Boston resident. It's iconic in its capacity. It truly is."

"If it's taken away, I'll feel so bad," said Kyabaggu Denis, a molecular biologist from Uganda studying at BU's School of Medicine. He's relied on the sign to bring sense to Boston's nutty geography. "It's helped me with the orientation of this whole place. Whenever I get lost, I get on the wrong bus," Denis said, "I'll look for the Citgo sign."

Nicksa feels confident any buyer will relish keeping the Citgo sign -- as a landmark, as a promotion for the building, and as a source of income in its own right. "It's a very valuable thing," Nicksa said. "It's not only an iconic presence in Kenmore Square but we lease the air rights, the rooftop, to Citgo. It's very valuable to them. We think a new owner will find it similarly valuable."


A lieutenant in the Bridgeport Fire Department who was accused of threatening to kill a Southington High School teacher has entered into a family violence education program.

Police took Gregory R Daly, 42, of Southington, into custody after he allegedly sent a text message threatening to kill the teacher, prompting a modified lockdown at Southington High School, DePaolo Middle School, Flanders Elementary School, Hatton Elementary School, Kennedy Middle School, Derynoski Elementary School and Plantsville Elementary School until police determined that there was no threat to any of the schools.

Daly, who had no prior record, has a severe drinking problem, according to prosecutors who said the victim had safety concerns and thought Daly posed a danger and needed help for anxiety and depression. Prosecutors said he has a history of violence and "poses a danger to others."

A judge issued a protective order and ruled that Daly cannot have guns or ammunition.

Daly, a married father of two and a small business owner, was with the Bridgeport Fire Department for 16 years when he was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation into his arrest.
President Vladimir Putin "probably" personally approved a plot by Russia's FSB security service to murder ex-agent Alexander Litvinenko, a British judge said Thursday, NBC News reported.

After a six-month public inquiry, judge Robert Owen said that he is certain Litvinenko was given tea laced with a fatal dose of polonium-210 at a London hotel in November 2006. The one-time KGB agent who fled to Britain in 2000 and became a vocal critic of Putin had predicted that Russia would assassinate him and accused Putin on his deathbed of ordering his killing.

Litvinenko's body was so radioactive that the autopsy was conducted by medics in protective clothing and he was laid to rest in a lead-lined casket.

Two Russians, Andrei Lugovoi, and Dmitry Kovtun, were previously identified by British prosecutors as having carried out the killing. Both deny it, and Moscow refuses to extradite them. British Home Secretary Theresa May announced asset freezes on the two men.
If you sell baked goods in Wisconsin that were made in a home kitchen, you could go to prison. That is why a nonprofit has filed a lawsuit on the behalf of three farmers who feel the law is unconstitutional.

Homemade pickles, salsa, jams and jellies can be sold to consumers at farmers' markets and other venues without a license in the state. But, muffins, bread and other baked goods like cookies need to be made in a commercial kitchen, which is subject to inspections and fees.

If you do sell such goods, you may face a fine of up to $1,000 or six months in jail.

The Institute for Justice has filed the lawsuit on behalf of Lisa Kivirist of Browntown, Kriss Marion of Blanchardville and Dela Ends of Brodhead. The organization said "the ban cannot be justified."

"Wisconsins home-baked-good ban has nothing to do with safety and everything to do with politics and protectionism. Commercial food groups, like the Wisconsin Bakers Association, have lobbied to keep the ban in place in order to protect themselves from honest competition," said Erica Smith, the lead attorney on the Wisconsin baked goods case.

Smith said outfitting a commercial kitchen can cost approximately $40,000 to $80,000. She added that renting space in an existing commercial kitchen can cost more than $1,000 a month.

Dave Schmidt, executive director of the Wisconsin Bakers Association, said he wouldn't be opposed to citizens in Wisconsin selling baked goods so long as they were following the same procedures as stores that sell goods.

"No I wouldn't be opposed to it at all as long as they were still operating under the same regulations as brick-and-mortar stores, but if they weren't then yes," Schmidt said.

A proposal to allow the sale of baked goods without a license has failed to pass in the Legislature in previous years. One such bill that would limit earnings to less than $7,500 a year passed in the state's Senate on Tuesday. However, SB 330 also known as the "Cookie Bill," still has to make it through the Assembly.

The Wisconsin attorney general's office, which represents the state in court, told NBC Chicago Wednesday they are still reviewing the complaint.
Lawyers for "affluenza" teen Ethan Couch say he could be headed home to North Texas within the next few weeks, in time for a hearing on whether to transfer him to adult court.

Couch's attorneys said in a statement released Wednesday that, as they understood it, his counsel in Mexico was filing paperwork to terminate the ongoing Mexican immigration proceedings, which would result in his return to the United States within a few weeks.

American attorneys Scott Brown and William Reagan Wynn said they anticipate Couch will be present at the proceedings in the 323rd Judical District Court and that any transfer ordered by that court would take effect on his 19th birthday in April.

His first hearing on the matter was delayed because his mother, Tonya Couch, was not properly notified of the hearing.

Eighteen-year-old Couch was serving 10 years of probation for a drunken driving crash that killed four people in 2013 when he fled to Mexico with his mother. The two were captured last month and his mother was deported to the U.S., but Couch remains detained in Mexico City.

Couch's attorneys invoked an "affluenza" defense during his trial for the deadly crash, blaming their client's privileged upbringing for his irresponsible actions. The condition is not recognized as a medical diagnosis by the American Psychiatric Association, and its invocation drew widespread ridicule.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving launched an online petition to demand that Couch's case be moved to adult court.

Couch's mother, who was released from jail last week, has been charged with hindering the apprehension of a felon and could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

Letter from Ethan Couch's Attorneys

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In four weeks, Juarez will welcome Pope Francis during his trip to the Mexico-U.S. border that's expected to last 10 hours.

Officials expect millions of visitors to cross the boarder from El Paso for the Feb. 17 papal visit.

"In anticipation of an influx of border crossers, we are going to increase staffing as well as increase the hours of operation in our ports of entry," said Ruben Jauregui, Customs and Border's Protection's Field Operations.

Jauregui said they're preparing for an unprecedented number of travelers the week of Pope Francis's visit.

"All passenger operations at the Bridge of the Americas will remain open," Jauregui said. "The only area that's going to close is the commercial lot at the Bridge of the Americas."

Even though all passenger lanes at the Bridge of the Americas will be open, officials in Juarez recommend not taking that route if you're going to see the Pontiff.

"It's not recommended to take that bridge because it's going to be very near to one of the events where the pope is going to be and because of the security of the pope," said Oscar Luis Acosta, chief of transit, city of Juarez. "It's better to take the other ports."

Acosta said people should be ready to do a lot of walking.

"All of the people that will see the pope will have to walk at least one mile, so everybody has to expect that," he said. "Everybody has to be patient."

Acosta said people should plan to be in Juarez at least one day before the pope's visit.

Several streets are scheduled to be shut down for 24 hours, including Avenida Tecnologico, which is the main stretch of the pope's route.

"So you have to expect to not be able to cross from east to west on that street because that's the main street that divides Juarez, but everybody will be able to see the pope on that route," Acosta said.

CBP officials said there's no way of predicting how long it will take to get back into the U.S., but they do recommend to check their website for wait times that day.
A newly released independent report examining Airbnb rental trends is slamming hosts in select major U.S. cities, including San Diego, for running "illegal hotels" and making hundreds of thousands of dollars on the side.

The independent report by Dr. John ONeil, professor and director of the Center for Hospitality Real Estate Strategy at Penn State University, looks at AirBnB activity in 12 major U.S. cities, including San Diego. On Wednesday, the report was released by The American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA). Airbnb is a website where people can list, find and rent short-term vacation spots.

"Airbnb suggests that its hosts are largely using the platform to make some additional money on the side. It states that 'a typical listing earns $5,110 a year, and is typically shared less than four nights per month," the report says.

However, it goes on to slam an alarming trend with respect to two overlapping hosts and multiple unit operators who are renting out two or more units, and full-time operators renting out their unit(s) for 360 days or more a year.

An Airbnb spokeswoman told NBC 7 San Diego the information in the report is false and that this study shows that the hotel industry gets what it pays for, which in this case is a specious study intended to mislead and manipulate.

Some residents in San Diego's Pacific Beach, a popular destination for vacation rentals, have become fed up with short-term vacation rentals like the ones Airbnb offers.

The controversy basically is whether it's appropriate to have mini motels spring up in what were otherwise normal residential communities, said Phil Rath with Preserve Our Communities. And that's really expanding for a lot of reasons and causing a lot of problems for people who live in those neighborhoods and have lived there for a long time.

More and more people who own homes in single-family neighborhoods rent out rooms and houses for just days at a time through sites like Airbnb, Rath said.

People who happen to live next door to a house that's been converted into a mini motel have to live with these damages and have no recourse whatsoever to make it stop, Rath said.

The report found that multi-unit operators who rent out their units for more than 360 days a year make up one large part of the generated revenue from the site. Hosts who rent it out for smaller periods of time, like 180 days or more, generate the second chunk of major revenue, according to the report's findings.

The neighborhoods in this area, a lot of the people do not want vacation rentals in the area, said Pacific Beach resident Shelley Doty. As a homeowner I can see their point. As a vacationer who uses these types of rentals, I love them.

Doty said she has used a similar vacation rental site in her travels abroad, but as a homeowner in Pacific Beach, she is hesitant.

It is actually a little frightening because you don't know are they supposed to be there, Dot said. Are they going to be breaking into the house? Are they going to be partying every night or just a normal vacation?

Rath is one of many working on a future city ordinance proposal that would put restrictions on owners of vacation rentals.

The rules really haven't caught up with the reality of what's happening in our neighborhoods, Rath said.

In addition to San Diego, the report also looked at New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Miami, Houston, Dallas, Phoenix, San Antonio, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
Surveillance video captured images of suspected mail theft on two different occasions, putting residents in the West Hollywood building on alert Tuesday.

In the video captured at the apartments in the 300 block of South Sherbourne Drive, two women can be seen acting casually as they approach the mailboxes with what appears to be a counterfeit postal key.

As the women scoop up their belongings, one sees a plant and decides to stuff that in her purse too.

It was the missing plant that prompted the manager, Scott Ward, to review the security footage.



"When I saw them take the plant, I thought, 'Boy, they really blew it,' because I really wouldn't have known that they were here," Ward said.

He filed a report with the United States Postal Service.

"The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, a federal law enforcement agency, is investigating those incidents," the Postal Service said in a statement to NBC4.

Ward put up a poster warning his tenants that thieves may be on the prowl, but last weekend, the poster was gone.

He checked the video again, and this time he saw a man with a key looting the mailbox. The video showed the man, with a Chihuahua in tow, going inside to try to find packages.

"I think the dog is kind of a cover," Ward said.

Ward said other apartments have reported theft, but it's hard to know how often it happens.

Ward said the stolen plant it's not even a real plant; it's plastic.

Ward said he plans to file a police report that he hopes could lead to an investigation of mail theft, which is a federal offense.
What's wrong with being confident?

That's not just a lyric from Demi Lovato's hit song, but apparently, a constant thought going through her mind when faced with critics who choose to feel some type of way about her sexier look.

The singer, who stuns on the cover of Allure's latest issue, opens up about the hurdles of owning her newly found confidence around those who start to judge it, and the change to her features Disney requested of her when she was a child star.

"I'll have people who are like 'Stop talking about it,' but this summer I started wearing sexier stuff, and I got some hate for that, like, 'You've changed,'" she tells the mag.

"It's like, What's wrong with being confident enough to wear this?" [[365953751,C]]

Lovato, who has been very open about her struggles with body image in the past, continued, "I've never felt as confident in my skin as I do today. A year ago, on tour, almost every inch of my body was covered by clothing, and it was because I was hiding behind so many layers.

"Once I started feeling better about myself, I felt better about showing more skin. I have insecurities about my arms, so to wear a tank top on stage is extremely liberating for me, and uncomfortable sometimes. It's also a statement, like, 'Hey, watch out. You're no longer getting the insecure Demi that you've been getting for the past couple of years. I mean business now.'"

Lovato, 23, also opened up about an incident with Disney that caused her to change something about herself early on in her career.

"I signed with Disney Channel when I got 'Camp Rock,' and I had a gap between my two front teeth," she explained. "They were like, 'Would you be willing to fix it?' I wish today that I hadn't, because my gap was really cute." [[238904721,C]]

The brunette beauty admits that she still has her tough days, but those closest to her, like boyfriend Wilmer Valderrama, help her overcome the low points.

"Wilmer is that person," she tells Allure, and added that best friend Marissa is another. "Sometimes I'll isolate a little bit. I won't reply to people's text messages, or I'll just distance myself from everyone unintentionally, and she's the first one to call me out on it. It's because I'm going through something. I'm stressed or depressed."

And when it comes to her enviable relationship with the actor, Demi confesses, "I don't want to alienate my love life from the public, because it's such a huge part of who I am. It's a balancing act. I can't always let people in as much as they feel like they deserve to be let in."

For more of Lovato's interview, grab the February issue of Allure.

PHOTOS: Demi Lovato &Wilmer Valderrama's Cutest Pics

PHOTOS: Demi Lovato's Best Looks
NYPD cops did their best cowboy impressions Thursday afternoon, wrangling a bovine that escaped a slaughterhouse and ran through the streets in Queens.

Officers in Jamaica say they cornered a cow in a parking garage at 165th Street after it escaped earlier in the day.

DNAinfo reports that the bovine was set to be slaughtered Friday at Archer Halal Live Poultry, but had other plans, slipping out of the facility and going on the run.

Several observers on social media, including the NYPD, chronicled the chase. [[366124801, C]]

"Just in case you're wondering: there is cow on the loose in Jamaica, Queens," tweeted J. Peter Donald, an NYPD spokesman.

The wayward steer was returned to the slaughterhouse after it was lassoed by police, DNAinfo reports.

Yes, you heard right! Cow on the loose-Jamaica Queens.All Officers safe.No injuries.Thank you all for your patience. pic.twitter.com/A1kGV85fUP  NYPD 103rd Precinct (@NYPD103Pct) January 21, 2016

[NATL] Unbelievable Animal Stories: Dog Befriends Abandoned Baby Giraffe
Maldives former president, who was imprisoned over a year ago after a trial condemned as "mockery," reunited Thursday with his wife and the human-rights lawyers advocating his release, NBC News reported.

The current government of the island nation gave Mohamed Nasheed permission to travel to London for spinal surgery just days after attorney Amal Clooney, in an exclusive interview with NBC News, made the case for sanctions to win his freedom.

Clooney, who is married to activist actor-director George Clooney, and her co-counsel Jared Genser, greeted Nasheed, 48, at London's Heathrow Airport.

"I feel strange and uncertain. Just two days ago I was in solitary. And now I'm able to be free, at least right now," said Nasheed, who served three years as president after winning the Maldives' first democratic elections. He left office in what he says was a gunpoint coup and what the government claims was a voluntary resignation.
The state office that investigates misconduct by lawyers argued Wednesday that Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane waited too long to object to Justice Michael Eakin's participation with four other justices in suspending her law license last fall.

The Office of Disciplinary Counsel argued in an 18-page response that the justices should deny Kane's request to lift her suspension over Eakin's role, and noted the decision by the five justices at the time was unanimous.



"Justice Eakin neither cast the deciding vote nor authored the final order," wrote Disciplinary Counsel Harriet Brumberg. "To the extent that this court finds that Justice Eakin should not have participated in the consideration of (the) petition, Justice Eakin's participation was 'mere surplusage.'"



Kane's lawyers have argued that Eakin, a Republican, should have recused himself because of his involvement in an email scandal involving government officials that first became public last year. Kane's lawyer, Jim Mundy, said Wednesday she only has to demonstrate the appearance of impropriety in Eakin's vote that put her on temporary, indefinite suspension.



"This doesn't look right," Mundy said. "I think we met that standard."



The high court voted in September to suspend Kane, six weeks after she was charged with perjury and other criminal violations for allegedly leaking secret grand jury material and lying about it under oath. That case, in suburban Philadelphia, is pending.



Shortly afterward, Kane, a Democrat, submitted hundreds of emails to the courts and ethics agencies that she said showed Eakin had used a state computer to exchange racially offensive messages and misogynistic pornography with friends using a private email account he maintained under a pseudonym.



That disclosure prompted ethics charges against Eakin before the Court of Judicial Discipline and his suspension from the bench. A pretrial hearing in Eakin's case is scheduled for Thursday in Harrisburg.



Defendants must make timely requests if they want to seek a judge's recusal, Brumberg wrote.



"Where the jurist's possible bias is known to a party and that party fails to promptly alert the jurist of that fact, the objection is waived and the party may not offer the objection as a basis to invalidate the judgment," Brumberg told the court.



Brumberg said Kane knew about Eakin's possible bias at least since late 2014, when he was first linked to the email scandal. By the time of Kane's Aug. 6 arrest, he had long been cleared by the Judicial Conduct Board.



"Her belated assertion of bias is lacking in sincerity," Brumberg said.



Mundy countered that Eakin had an obligation to raise the issue.

"It's the justice himself who should know his bias and recuse himself," Mundy said. "We've said, 'you've had the accuser being tried by the accused.'"



In similar cases, the state Supreme Court has made its decision based on the court filing, Mundy said, but the justices could also order the parties to participate in oral argument before ruling on Kane's law license.

Kane has said she plans to seek a second four-year term in the November election. The state Senate is considering whether to remove her from office over concerns that she can't do the job properly without a valid law license. Kane has insisted that the license suspension has had little effect on her day-to-day management of the office.
Seven street dogs from Puerto Rico are getting a second chance at life thanks to a new partnership between two dedicated organizations.

The Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) has teamed up with Sato Dream Home, an organization dedicated to rescuing and saving abused and abandoned dogs from Puerto Rico.

The Pennsylvania SPCA has always been dedicated to utilizing all of our resources in order to save the lives of animals in need, Jerry Buckley, PSPCA CEO, said.

The dogs arrived in Philadelphia Tuesday night and already have local sponsors. The dogs were then put into 14-day quarantine at the SPCA where they will not have any contact with other shelter animals. After all health checks are complete, the dogs will be available for adoption.

Sato, a Puerto Rican slang term, refers to a mixed-breed dog. Sato Dream Home rescues dogs from areas where they are frequently abandoned, including beaches where there is no food or fresh water. Spaying/neutering dogs is not a common practice in the area, leading to thousands of street dogs throughout Puerto Rico.
As we inch closer and closer to the weekend, the music scene is our knight in shining armor, so to speak, offering some respite from the humdrum of our work week. On Friday, the House of Blues has two cool shows, with Grizfolk in the Voodoo Room while the Adicts tearing things up in the main concert hall. Meanwhile the Kickback --- whose debut was produced by Spoon's Jim Eno -- rock out at Soda Bar. Local guys the Bertos play at Tower Bar after a very long hiatus, and Big Head Todd & the Monsters bring their own flavor of college rock to the Belly Up. Last but certainly not least, Hot Water Music frontman and the dude behind many of the Revival Tours, Chuck Ragan, returns to the Casbah. With locals Pall Jenkins and Mike Pope as support, this is definitely your chance to see the gentler side of these gents.

Thursday, Jan. 21:

Chuck Ragan accompanied by Todd Beene on pedal steel, Pall Jenkins, Mike Pope @ Casbah

Grizfolk, Max Frost @ House of Blues (Voodoo Room)

The Adicts, Hard Fall Hearts @ House of Blues

Big Head Todd & the Monsters, Mike Doughty @ Belly Up

The Bertos, Detached Objects @ Tower Bar

The Kickback, Quiet Company, Velvet Club @ Soda Bar

DJ Ikah Love @ Bar Pink

Nick Kroll @ Balboa Theatre

The Hideout Hop, with DJ Tec and Friends @ The Hideout

Doncat, Nate Hess @ Sycamore Den

Mike Officer @ Park & Rec

Bearcon @ Lestat's

Jeff Berkley, Veronica May @ Java Joe's

Some Kind of Lizard, Garden Echo, Grenda, Chill Pill, Lady Indigo @ The Merrow

Gio & Diamond @ Croce's Park West

Wildside @ Humphrey's Backstage Live

A Tribute to Stevie Wonder, with the Casey Hensley Band @ The Loft

Open Jam Session @ Winston's (6-9 p.m.)

Squa, Madd Joker, Oscar Goldman, Micah @ Winston's

Cosmic Gate @ Omnia

Bass Tribe @ Kava Lounge

Nathan James @ Tio Leo's

PsydeCar, DJ Reefah, TRC SoundSystem @ Gallagher's Irish Pub

The Cold Threat, Death Surf @ Boar Cross'n

Rosemary Bystrak is the publicist for the Casbah, the content manager for DoSD, and writes about the San Diego music scene, events and general musings about life in San Diego on San Diego: Dialed In. Follow her updates on Twitter or contact her directly.
A new form is being used at San Diego Superior Court that some defense attorneys say is unconstitutional.

It allows law enforcement and probation officers to check a defendants digital information anytime, day or night, with or without a search warrant, and with or without reasonable cause, according to the document obtained by NBC 7.

Some members of San Diegos legal defense community say attorneys did not have a say in the creation of the new waiver.

Our attorneys showed up and were told by judges there was a new form, a waiver of the Fourth Amendment rights and the new rights provided by the Electronic Privacy Act, said Frank Birchak with the Office of the Public Defender, San Diego. Our attorneys were surprised. Our office was surprised. We had no notice this was coming.

On January 1, a state law took effect requiring law enforcement to obtain search warrants before seizing and analyzing anyones electronic property and its contents.

Birchak said the waiver essentially reverses the new law. According to the form, if signed, a defendant would consent to handing over cell phones, computers, gaming consoles, passwords, fingerprints and information required to gain access into any of the aforementioned devices of social media accounts.

Birchak believes the form, in its current form, is unconstitutional.

The breadth is why its so concerning. The fact that it doesnt restrict things and doesnt say things found ago cant be used against you, he said.

A spokesperson with San Diego Superior Court told NBC 7, before the digital privacy law took effect January 1, the Court was contacted by the District Attorneys office on behalf of Probation and County Counsel. They had concerns about the new laws impact on judges abilities to exercise discretion in Fourth Amendment waiver cases. Hence, the Court developed the document.

Realizing the misinterpretation by some, the Court made it clear to judges on January 6th that as with other conditions of probation, judges are to use their discretion as to whether a particular person in a specific case should be ordered to consent to warrantless searches of their electronic devices as a condition of their probation, spokesperson Karen Dalton wrote.

She continued, Prior to January 1, 2016, it was generally understood in the criminal system that when a criminal defendant agreed to a warrantless search as a condition of probation (a "4th waiver"), the property subject to search included a probationer's phones and computers.

Birchak said the form isnt just signed by those on probation, but also by some who have not been convicted.

NBC 7 also reached out to the San Diego County District Attorneys Office. A spokesperson replied through e-mail, We are complying with orders of the court. Even though there is a difference of opinion among opposing parties, we expect it to be clarified and decided by the appellate courts.

Currently, the Court is listening to concerns from the defense community and reviewing the waiver. Both sides told NBC 7 they feel hopeful theyll reach a resolution. The waiver is expected to be challenged in court.
U.S. Navy Petty Officer First Class Dan Layug was sentenced Thursday to more than two years in prison for accepting cash, travel and a "bucket list" of video games and gadgets from a foreign defense contractor in exchange for providing classified information.

Layug faced a maximum sentence of five years in prison for his role in a widespread bribery ring involving U.S. naval officers and executives with a Signapore-based company that provided logistics services to the Navy.

U.S. District Judge Janis Sammartino sentenced the naval officer to 27 months in prison, telling him his crime put the Navy and the country at risk. He also ordered Layug to pay $15,000 in restitution to the Navy.

According to a federal officer in court, Rear Admiral Jonathan A. Yuen, the head of the supply systems command, spoke at the sentencing about the impact of this offense.

The admiral said the defendant betrayed the Navy, and the wider corruption scandal he was a part of caused widespread changes in how the supply part of the Navy operates. Those changes were ordered by Navy Secretary Ray Mabus.

Federal prosecutors allege that Leonard Francis, owner and CEO of Glenn Defense Marine Asia (GDMA) and his cousin, Alex Wisidigama, overcharged the Navy for more than $20 million in services.

They claim GDMA enlisted Navy personnel to send the company classified ship schedules.

Layug was assigned to the U.S. Navy Fleet Logistics Center in Japan.

He pleaded guilty in May 2014 to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery after admitting that he sent a "bucket list" to the contractor and accepted a $1,000 a month allowance, plus luxury hotel stays for himself and others in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Thailand.

Among the items he asked for, and received, were an iPad 3, a Nikon digital camera, a Blackberry, a VAIO computer, a PSP gaming unit and a Wii gaming unit, prosecutors said.

Layug essentially sold his honor for an iPad 3, and in doing so he put the U.S. Navy at risk of embarrassment, exploitation, attack or worse," U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy said in a written release.

Francis, known as "Fat Leonard," pleaded guilty to federal charges of bribery and conspiracy to commit bribery.

Francis and his co-conspirators exchanged luxury travel, prostitutes, lavish meals, top-shelf alcohol, designer handbags, fountain pens, Kobe beef, Spanish suckling pigs and Cuban cigars for ship assignments and other confidential military information.

Navy Capt. Daniel Dusek admitted to one count of conspiracy of bribery after he was relieved of command on USS Bonhomme Richard.

U.S. Navy Cmdr. Jose Luis Sanchez accepted a plea deal, in which he said he accepted $100,000 cash, entertainment, travel and prostitutes from Francis for proprietary Navy information.

Retired Navy Lt. Cmdr. Edmond A. Aruffo admitted to his role in the scandal in July 2014. He said he worked for GDMA and used letterhead from several Japanese vendors to send the Navy inflated invoices.

Alex Wisidagama, a GDMA company manager and Francis cousin, admitted in court to conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government.

Senior Navy criminal investigator John Beliveau II said he used his law enforcement training to help Francis avoid detection. Francis paid him with envelopes of cash and travel to Virginia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines.

Commander of Carrier Strike Group 7 on USS Ronald Reagan Rear Admiral Michael Miller received a letter of censure along with Rear Admiral Terry Kraft, who was commanding officer on the same ship, and Rear Admiral David Pimpo, who once served as supply officer of the aircraft carrier. The letter is seen as a career-ending development for the officers.

Navy lieutenant commander Todd Dale Malaki pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery after admitting to taking gifts from GDMA starting in 2006 with a deluxe room at the Grand Hyatt Singapore. He twice accepted envelopes with Singapore dollars equivalent to $1,500 and the services of a prostitute after visiting a karaoke club in Malaysia.

Paul Simpkins, a former contracting officer for the Navy and Navy commander Michael Vannak Khem Misiewicz, have pleaded not guilty to alleged involvement.

Navy investigators and attorneys with the Department of Justice have said there are more targets involved in the bribery ring.

Layug was ordered to surrender to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons on April 1.
Serra Mesa residents who noticed a man taking pictures of children in the neighborhood soon found out the man was a convicted sex offender who had failed to register with police.

When San Diego Police spoke with Daniel Lackey, he initially told them he was a transient. Officers said they soon uncovered that Lackey, 56, was a registered sex offender who was living in the neighborhood but had failed to report it.

Lackey was convicted in 1991 of a sex crime involving a minor, according to the City Attorneys Office. As part of his sentence, he was required to report his address with the state.

On Tuesday, Lackey was found of failing to register as a sex offender and faces a year in jail when hes sentenced March 4.


Prosecutors pursuing sex-assault charges against Bill Cosby say he wants special treatment in trying to have the case thrown out even before the first evidence hearing.

In a response to Cosby's motion to dismiss the case, suburban Philadelphia prosecutors alleged that Cosby may have been "committing similar crimes for decades and getting away with it, all over the country, using his celebrity and fortune to avoid the consequences."

Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele also said Wednesday that there was no valid agreement to never prosecute the comedian, as a former prosecutor claimed. Former District Attorney Bruce Castor is expected to testify next month for the defense that he made the deal to persuade Cosby to testify in the accuser's 2005 civil lawsuit.

Common Pleas Judge Steven O'Neill has scheduled a Feb. 2 hearing on the defense motion to dismiss the criminal case. Cosby has not yet entered a plea, and his lawyer did not immediately return a call for comment Wednesday. In his deposition, Cosby called his feelings toward the accuser "romantic" and their encounter that night in January 2004 consensual.

Steele argued that Castor maintains he granted Cosby immunity "via a press release," but said that fell far short of a court-approved immunity agreement. He noted that the press release quoted Castor as saying he could revisit the decision later if the need arose.

"Such a need did arise, but not until July 2015, when a federal judge  over defendant's objection  made portions of his civil deposition public for the first time," Steele wrote. "This new evidence, as well as the resulting public claims by numerous women that defendant had also sexually assaulted them, triggered a renewed investigation."

Cosby also acknowledged in the deposition that he had gotten quaaludes in the 1970s to use as a seduction tool, another factor Steele said he weighed as he considered charges.

The case marks the first time that Cosby has ever faced criminal charges despite years of accusations that he had drugged and molested women.

Both Cosby and his accuser say he gave her wine and three blue pills. The key question is whether she consented to the sexual activity that followed and what the pills contained. Cosby has said they were Benadryl pills, but her lawyers believe they were something stronger that left her semi-conscious.

Cosby, though, has described her as a willing participant in what he called a "petting" session that included digital penetration. She went to police a year later, near home in Toronto, and said she had been drugged and violated.

Cosby, now 78, settled her civil lawsuit after giving four days of often-combative deposition testimony in 2005 and 2006. His testimony, released last year, includes admissions that the long-married family values advocate had had a series of affairs with young women.

Steele also argued Wednesday that the hearing on the motion to dismiss is premature. He said the rules in Pennsylvania call for such motions to be filed only after a preliminary hearing. O'Neill scheduled the hearing in place of the preliminary hearing that had been set for the same day before a magistrate.

Steele also objected to defense efforts to disqualify his office because the Cosby case was an issue in his fall campaign against Castor. Steele called any comments he made during the campaign "straightforward."
As 1 inch of snow snarls streets across the D.C. area with a possible blizzard on the way, several districts have canceled and delayed classes Thursday.

Here's what officials said Wednesday night about their expectations for the remainder of the week. For the latest information, see the News4 School Closings page.

D.C. Public Schools: Schools will be delayed two-hours Thursday. Students will be dismissed at 12:15 p.m. Friday for the end of the term. The office of Mayor Muriel Bowser will determine whether classes will be delayed or canceled Monday. Check here for updates.

Calvert County Public Schools: The decision to delay or close schools will be made by 5 a.m. of the relevant day, the district's website says. Check here for updates.

Charles County Public Schools: Executives will meet Thursday to determine the school schedule. The superintendent will make the final say. The decision whether to delay or cancel classes will be made by at least 5 a.m. of the relevant day. Check here for updates.

Fairfax County Public Schools: Schools will be closed Thursday. "We're looking to give as much advance notice as we possibly can for our parents and for our students," assistant superintendent Jeff Platenberg said earlier Wednesday. The size of the county -- more than 400 square miles -- complicates the decision, officials say in a video on weather-related closures. Check here for updates.

Fredericksburg City Public Schools: Classes will begin two hours late Thursday. If FCPS opts to close schools Monday, the decision will be announced by at least 5 a.m. the relevant morning. Check here for updates.

Loudoun County Public Schools: The district will decide soon whether to delay or cancel classes. Whether to reschedule planned sporting events and standardized tests is under consideration. Check here for updates.

Montgomery County Public Schools: Montgomery County schools will be delayed two-hours Thursday. Check here for updates.

Prince George's County Public Schools: School officials announced that schools would be delayed two-hours Thursday, but later decided to cancel class. School will also be closed Friday for a preplanned teacher work day. If PGCPS opts to close schools Monday, the decision will be announced by 5 a.m. that day. Check here for updates.

Prince William County Public Schools: Classes Thursday are canceled. "As soon as we have a good level of confidence, we're going to notify the community what the plans are," spokesman Phil Kavits said earlier in the day. Check here for updates.

Spotsylvania County Public Schools: Classes will start two hours late Thursday. Check here for updates.

Stafford County Public Schools: Classes will be closed Thursday. Check here for updates.

St. Mary's County Public Schools: Schools are on a two-hour delay Thursday. Check for updates.
The commander-in-chief was stuck in traffic Wednesday night like the rest of drivers.

President Barack Obama's motorcade was delayed as 1 inch of snow crippled traffic in the D.C. area -- which does not bode well for a region expecting as much as 2 feet of snow starting Friday.

White House pool reporters following Obama from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland after 7 p.m. Wednesday watched as the president's motorcade slipped on the snow-covered roads. At several points, the motorcade even hit the curbs. Navigating the snow-slicked roads took the motorcade drivers more than an hour to get back to the White House at about 8:40 p.m. -- a trip that should have taken 25 minutes. White House pool reporters spotted at least three crashes along the way.

While the incident is over for Obama, who returned from Detroit, the rest of the District continued to grapple with the storm, with more action in store starting Friday.

Storm Team4 predicted about an inch of snow would fall after 6 p.m. While this usually isn't enough for a Winter Weather Advisory, the warning went out for drivers to stay off the road until midnight because of low temperatures.

Statewide, Virginia troopers responded to more than 100 crashes, including a fatal accident in Bedford County.
Major airlines are canceling flights and notifying passengers of delays ahead of the blizzard expected to hit the D.C. area starting Friday. The potentially historic storm could dump nearly 2 feet of snow on the region.

United tweeted the airline suspended all flights departing from Washington Dulles International Airport and other mid-Atlantic airports starting 4 p.m. Friday. Flights out of Dulles are expected to resume Sunday, depending on conditions at the airport. Check your flight status online. Travelers departing from a long list of affected cities Friday through Sunday can accept a travel voucher for changing their flights, the company wrote on Facebook.

Southwest Airlines issued a travel advisory, warning customers about possible flight disruptions from Thursday through Sunday.

Customers can reschedule their tickets or travel standby (within 14 days of their original travel date) for domestic Southwest flights leaving from Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI), Washington Dulles (IAD) and Reagan National (DCA) between Friday and Sunday. For any canceled flights, customers may request a refund.

"We have not canceled any flights at this time and we do not have any predictions on the number of flights that may be affected," said Southwest spokesman Brian Parrish via email according to according to USA Today. "We will continue to monitor the storm and make operational adjustments, if necessary, over the next few days."

Delta released a similar statement, stating that they will refund flights that are canceled or significantly delayed between Friday and Sunday. For travelers wishing to change their flights even if they haven't been canceled, Delta will also allow one-time changes to tickets for no fee if the rescheduled travel begins no later than Jan. 27.

Several other airlines have all released similar options, offering travelers a refund or a rescheduling due to the storm.

"We want to give our customers plenty of time to make decisions about their travel plans," said United Airlines spokeswoman Maddie King, USA Today reported.

American Airlines provides relaxed change fee policies and contact information for trip changes on their website. They have started canceling flights into and out of various airports on the east coast, including D.C. airports. American Airlines tweeted, "We've canceled flights across the Northeast US".

JetBlue's website says travelers may rebook their flights for travel through Jan. 29 for no extra charge and that customers may request a refund for canceled flights.

Frontier will waive flight change fees, according to their website, but the origin and destination must be the same and the travel must be completed by the end of January. Customers may opt for a refund if their flight is canceled.
A call to take a serious look at a $15-an-hour minimum wage for Boston workers got Mayor Martin J. Walsh some of the most passionate applause he head at his State of the City Address Tuesday night.

We'll take the conversation about inequality one step further, Walsh said. We'll bring workers and employers together in a task force to study a $15-an-hour minimum wage for the city of Boston."

If youd think employers would be immediately and reflexively opposed, youd be surprised that in interviews Wednesday afternoon, key business leaders were not.

Taking a thoughtful, analytical look at it isn't a bad idea," said Jim Rooney, CEO of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. Its a good idea to study something like that. It's an initiative that has taken hold in a number of other cities." While most employers in Boston are paying well over $15 an hour, Rooney said, and some hospitals have recently moved to guarantee that as a minimum, Rooney anticipated it could have the most visible impact in the retail and hospitality sectors.

Jon B. Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, represents store owners who have some of the biggest concerns but was relieved at Walshs thoughtful and measured approach. I'm glad that he wants to have a discussion, and not just go off a cliff with an immediate increase, Hurst said.

One major issue is specific to retailers. We have the old Blue Law that we require stores to pay time and a half pay on Sunday, and that doesn't exist in other states, and it also doesn't exist for other industries," Hurst said. If you go to $15, on Sundays, the minimum wage would be $22.50 for a 15-year-old bagging groceries. What does that do for the price of groceries? What does that do to the profitability of those stores? Can they even afford to be open?"

Hurst said that in Boston especially, Theres also a real societal problem if we want, particularly, our inner-city youth to have jobs, we need to make sure that we havent priced them out of those jobs.

Business leaders are also concerned about the prospect of having varying minimum wages in Boston and other communities and the state as a whole, especially if it winds up disadvantaging Boston employers who have to compete with nearby businesses in Quincy, Dedham, Revere, Watertown, or other communities, or creating expensive complexity for national chains with workers in multiple municipalities.

Its tricky because, geographically, Boston is so small, Rooney said. We are a regional economy so having one set of rules in Boston is difficult rather than having it statewide or regionally."

Walsh, speaking Wednesday to NBC News in Washington, where he was attending the U.S. Conference of Mayors winter meeting, said he appreciates the concept of a $15 minimum wage raises many questions. The task force is really going to look at all the issues around it and hopefully we'll see what happens, take the next steps from there," Walsh said. Any move to a Boston-specific minimum wage would require approval by the full state Legislature and governor.
As the temperature falls, the concern is growing for the homeless population in Portland, Maine.

Mark Swann, Director of the Preble Street shelter, worries the number of people sleeping outside in the cold is growing. In October, Preble Street staff counted 88 people sleeping in camps or on the streets in Portland. Swann said that number is double what they counted last year.

Thats more people sleeping outside than weve ever seen, in many, many, many years, said Swann.

Its difficult to get an accurate count, but Swann worries many of them will stay outside in the cold winter months. He said some people refuse, or are reluctant to come to the shelter due to mental health issues, drug addiction, or even pride.

There can be paranoia about coming in and putting your name down on a sheet of paper, said Swann. Its complicated stuff.

But he wants to encourage everyone to come out from the cold, even if the shelters are full. He said they will work to find everyone a place to stay who needs it.

The kind of weather we are experiencing right now  people can die, said Swann. We are redoubling our efforts in terms of street outreach.

Roger Goodoak sees the problem firsthand. He is the founder of the Maine Homeless Veterans Alliance, a nonprofit that collects donated items and delivers them to the homeless wherever they are.

Youve got to walk a quarter of a mile into the woods to sometimes to find these people, said Goodoak.

As a veteran who was once homeless himself, Goodoak said he always encourages the homeless to stay at the shelter  but he said sometimes they refuse.

I cry, he said. Theres nothing you can do.

Swann said the trend is troubling, but he hopes it will call attention to the need to address homelessness at the local, state, and federal level.

Its not okay to have a city the size of Portland, Maine that has between four and five hundred people every single night sleeping on the floors of these crowded shelters, or sleeping outside, he said.

Both Preble Street and the Maine Homeless Veterans Alliance accept donated goods, such as gloves, hats, coats, socks, and toiletries.
Vermont's commissioner of financial regulation outlined business concerns lawmakers may want to keep in mind as the State Senate considers allowing the creation of new storefronts and lounges to legally sell small amounts of recreational marijuana in Vermont to adults 21 or over, with tight regulations.

Susan Donegan told the Senate Finance Committee that theoretical pot shops may have to be cash or check-only. There are legal uncertainties with credit and debit cards, she noted, because the Feds see marijuana very differently than how Vermont is thinking about handling it.

"Marijuana is illegal at the federal level," Donegan pointed out.

Most insurance companies do not want to deal with marijuana sellers either, Donegan cautioned, so insurance rates on new businesses would likely be quite high.

But in a reversal of an earlier theory, Donegan said Wednesday that banks should feel comfortable opening accounts with pot retailers. She told lawmakers on the committee that the FDIC appears to be turning its head a bit, and is guaranteeing deposits of customers who are authorized by individual states as marijuana retailers.

"As late as this morning, the issue is evolving," Donegan told the panel, after a discussion with the FDIC. "I guess they read the Federal Deposit Insurance Act and they saw there was no prohibition against insuring the account."

The committee also dialed long-distance, to hear from states that already legalized marijuana through licensed retailers.

"Any investor or financier also has to go through a criminal background check the same way an applicant [for a retail license] does," Rick Garza of the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board told the panel by phone.

"When you are trying to get new businesses in the state, you have to educate them how to pay the taxes and contribute to the tax base," said Larson Silbaugh of the Colorado Legislative Council. There is an education component to this.

Even though it was the Senate Finance Committee considering the business questions, all eyes are really on the Senate Judicial Committee. That is the committee that will decide to advance any legislation. The committee vote is scheduled for January 29, committee chairman Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington County, said earlier this week.
Just over a third of likely Republican primary voters support Donald Trump, according to a joint CNN, WMUR and University of New Hampshire poll released Wednesday.

The poll placed Trumps support at 34 percent, a 20 percent lead over runner up Sen. Ted Cruz, at 14 percent. The poll found Sen. Marco Rubio and Jeb Bushs tied for third place, at ten percent. Sen. Rand Paul and Governors Chris Christie and Tom Kasich were tied for fourth with 6 percent support.

You can read the full results here.
Bishop of Norwich welcomes outcome of Primates meeting

The Bishop of Norwich has welcomed the outcome of the Anglican Communion Primates meeting earlier this week, which ended in a commitment to walk together, maintain conversation, restore relationships and rebuild trust, as well as a rebuke for the Episcopal Church in the United States over the matter of celebrating same-sex marriages. Keith Morris reports.


Norwich cathedral launch for Reuben's Font

Blogger Reuben Coe, who writes stories about travel, fitness and his life with Down's Syndrome, recently paid a visit to Norwich Cathedral to see how his personally designed typeface - Reuben's Font - is being put to use to help promote cathedral events for families and young people.
Large contract manufacturer Foxconn has bid to take over ailing Sharp for its display business and manufacturing know-how, according to news reports.

Sharp, which has had to take the help of banks frequently, is said to be set to consider a review of a competing offer from the Japanese government-backed Innovation Network Corporation of Japan, which could be favored because of the government's interest in keeping the company in local hands and protecting jobs.

Foxconn, which assembles products for a number of companies including Apple, has bid 625 billion yen (US$5.3 billion), according to The Wall Street Journal, while Bloomberg said the offer was slightly lower at about 600 billion yen, both quoting people familiar with the matter. The company could not be immediately reached for comment.

+ ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD See last year's M&As in the tech industry +

Sharp has been a household brand in Japan and includes among its creations the "Hayakawa mechanical pencil," named after the company's founder and developer of the device, Tokuji Hayakawa. Propelling pencils are still referred to in the country as "Sharp pens."

After reports surfaced recently of the possible sale of its LCD panel business as well as on the possible investment from Innovation, Sharp said last week nothing had been decided yet, and it continues negotiations with other companies regarding "fundamental structural reforms" of its LCD panel business.

Foxconn does not plan to replace Sharps top management, a move that could reassure Japanese officials who are worried about a foreign takeover bid, WSJ said. The Taiwanese company has previously shown interest in investing in a 10 percent stake in Sharp.
Brian Krebs, author of the Krebs on Security blog, has made a name for himself by exposing some of the most dangerous characters in the cybercrime underworld. And he has paid a price for doing so, including being the target of a SWAT attack.

Several years ago, Krebs also incurred the wrath of a Ukrainian hacker, Sergey Vovnenko, who responded to the unwanted publicity Krebs provided him by trying to frame the journalist for heroin possession.

Krebs writes on his blog:

When I first became acquainted with Vovnenko in 2013, I knew him only by his many hacker names, including Fly and Flycracker, among others. At the time, Fly was the administrator of the fraud forum thecc[dot]bz, an exclusive and closely guarded Russian language board dedicated to financial fraud and identity theft. After I secretly gained access to his forum, I learned hed hatched a plot to have heroin sent to my home and to have one of his forum lackeys call the police when the drugs arrived. I explained this whole ordeal in great detail last fall, when Vovnenko initially was extradited from Italy to face charges here in the United States. In short, the antics didnt end when I foiled his plot to get me arrested for drug possession, and those antics likely contributed to his arrest and to this guilty plea.

Vovnenko has pleaded guilty to a number of cybercrimes and is facing a mandatory minimum of two years behind bars  it could be longer  as well as fines.

Krebs will go on doing what he does, which is provide some of the best security journalism  and practical advice -- found anywhere on the Internet. By doing so he will undoubtedly continue to put himself at risk of retribution by the criminal class. The public should be thankful for his work.

Welcome regulars and passersby. Here are a few more recent buzzblog items. And, if youd like to receive Buzzblog via e-mail newsletter, heres where to sign up. You can follow me on Twitter here and on Google+ here.
Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

Sunshine along with some cloudy intervals. High 64F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

A few clouds. Low 39F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.
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).
A man from Thailand has been hospitalized in Taiwan after having arrived there infected with Zika virus, an agent thought to be associated with brain-damaging birth defects in infants.

The 24-year old man is the first imported case of Zika virus infection to be identified in Taiwan among 50,000 samples that have been collected by the Taiwan Centers for Disease control (CDC) since 2003.

The man was stopped by a quarantine officer at Taoyuan International Airport after having set off temperature scanners and is now being held for observation at a local hospital.

The Zika virus spread rapidly throughout Central and South America during the second half of 2015 and sporadic imported cases from countries in these areas have been reported in the U.S, Canada and Europe. In 2013 and 2015, imported cases of infection were identified in Cambodia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Maldives and Indonesia.

The Taiwan CDC is going to list Zika virus infection as a Category II Notifiable Infectious Disease. This will mean doctors in Taiwan are required to report any suspected cases of Zika virus infection to the CDC within 24 hours.

The Taiwan CDC is also raising the travel notice level for Central and South America, as well as six countries in Southeast Asia. Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and the Maldives will be on a "watch" list, while Central and South America and the Caribbean will remain at the "alert" level.

Director of the Epidemic Intelligence Center at Taiwans CDC, Liu Ting-ping, says that the man had already experienced symptoms such as fever and headache when he was in Thailand on January 9th.

He also had a headache before boarding his plane in Bangkok and was detained at the airports fever- screening station. Specimens were collected from the man, which showed he was negative for dengue virus, following which, his sample was handed to the Taiwan CDC laboratory for further testing. Those tests revealed that he had Zika virus. Currently, the infected man is stable and recovering.

The main routes of transmission for Zika virus are through mosquitoes (which also carry dengue fever and yellow fever), blood transfusion and transmission from mother to child during pregnancy. There is no vaccine or cure available to protect against the disease and the best form of prevention is protection against mosquito bites.

Researchers increasingly suspect that Zika virus infection is linked to rises in cases of the neurological disorder microcephaly, which affects the cranium and brains of newborns. The problem has been of particular concern in Brazil, where the number of suspected cases rose to 3,893 by January 16th from 3,530 just 10 days previously.

The Taiwan CDC advises that pregnant women postpone any visits to areas affected by the virus and also urges any other travellers to such areas to ensure they take measures to protect against mosquito bites. Examples of precautions travellers can take include wearing long-sleeved, light colored clothing and applying mosquito repellent to any body areas that are exposed.
Tiny deviations in the body's cells can sometimes have severe consequences. Researchers from Berlin have discovered why cells from patients suffering from the rare muscular disease myotubular myopathy cannot function properly. Through the paper published in Nature, it has become clear how a dynamic cellular process essential to muscle development and function is regulated by means of minute changes of certain membrane lipids.

If a child is born with myotubular myopathy, the most severe form of centronuclear myopathies (also called XLCNM), it is barely able to breathe independently. The muscles are atrophied, the newborn lies limp in its mother's arms and is too weak to feed. Babies with this rare muscular disease might not survive the first few months of their lives. The group of Volker Haucke from the Leibniz Institute for Molecular Pharmacology (FMP) and Freie Universitat (FUB) in Berlin, in collaboration with the laboratories of Jocelyn Laporte from the Institut Genetique Biologie Moleculaire Cellulaire (IGBMC) in Strasbourg and Carsten Schultz at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, has been researching what goes wrong in this disease at the molecular level - and has now come across a general organizational principle in cells.

Up to now, it has been known that this hereditary disease involves a defect in the gene MTM1, as a result of which muscle fibers do not function normally. The gene codes for an enzyme that is specialized in cleaving phosphate groups from the heads of certain membrane lipids called phosphoinositide phosphates (PIPs) but how this leads to disease was unknown. PIPs are used by the cell to tag its compartments and to regulate the transport of substances. "The cell is a very dynamic system, which one can imagine as a metropolis in which the people move back and forth," explains Volker Haucke. "Depending on the occasion, the people change their clothes - if you put on a dress coat, to some extent you assume a different identity than if you come along in jeans and sweatshirt, and you won't be let in to the opera in pyjamas. In a similar manner, the compartments and transport vesicles within cells are constantly putting on different PIPs and thus change their identity." Each PIP consists of a fat-soluble tail that is anchored in the membranes of the cell compartments, and a water-soluble head that protrudes from the membrane. The head can be loaded with phosphates at different sites, the phosphate groups are detached by enzymes and attached at other sites. This is a minimal change that takes place in a flash, yet it is unmistakably read by the cell. Thus, for example, if a phosphate group tags a certain position, it is clear that a transport container is supposed to be transported into the interior of the cell; if the phosphate tag is different, it migrates to the outer cell membrane, docks there, and unloads its freight to the outside.

Genetics & Genomics eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today

This kind of transport comes to a halt in XLCNM patients, as could be shown by Katharina Ketel from the Haucke group with intricate experiments and high-resolution images from inside the cell. The cause of the disease is a defect in MTM1, an enzyme that removes phosphate groups from the PIPs and only works in co-operation with another enzyme that attaches a phosphate group to another site on the head. This clarifies how dynamic processes in cells are directed and illustrates how studying a rare genetic disease can discover an essential molecular mechanism for our cells to function properly. "In healthy cells, phosphate groups are never randomly removed from PIPs, because a cell compartment would then suddenly be left completely without an identity - that would be equivalent to a loss of memory. The compartment would no longer know where it's from and where it's supposed to go," explains Volker Haucke. "By adding synthetic PIPs with a certain code, we were able to alter the transport of containers, demonstrating that conversion of PIP identity really is the problem in XLCNM patient cells," adds Carsten Schultz.

"In XLCNM patients, some of the transport containers that were originally supposed to convey proteins to the cell surface get stranded inside the cell because a phosphate group cannot be removed from a certain PIP," says Jocelyn Laporte, an expert in XLCNM and contributor to the study. "In muscles, this may mean that proteins necessary for their formation, integrity, and function do not get to the right place in the cell." In their experiments in cell culture, the FMP researchers were able to restart the transport with a certain active substance. This might be a starting point for the development of drugs for treating this severe and currently incurable hereditary disease.
Singularity University (SU), a benefit corporation focused on empowering leaders to leverage exponentially growing technologies to tackle the world's greatest challenges, and BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) (NYSE: BDX), a leading global medical technology company, have established a collaborative relationship where BD will leverage SU's expertise, innovation space, tools and inspiration to create new growth opportunities for healthcare and BD.

BD will amplify its legacy of pioneering new solutions to address global healthcare challenges. BD plans to create a number of startup opportunities each year by establishing teams of BD associates to accelerate the creation of new, effective and safe solutions that will address some of the world's most pressing health needs. As part of BD and SU's work together, these challenges will be defined and evaluated, with the overall focus on combining medical technology with information technology to make medical devices smarter and improve clinical decision making. Initially, the program will address topics under the theme of digital health.

"We are very excited about this new approach to innovation, and this collaboration with Singularity University further strengthens BD's long-standing commitment to ensure new medical technology solutions can reach every patient around the world who needs them most," said Dr. Ellen Strahlman, executive vice president of R&D and chief medical officer at BD. "Through our shared commitment with Singularity University to leverage the power of exponential technologies to address humanity's grand challenges, together we have a unique and powerful opportunity to design and develop a new era of healthcare solutions."

BD joins Singularity University's corporate partners that include Lowe's Companies, Inc., Harman International Industries, The Coca-Cola Company and Bayer Healthcare at SU Labs, an innovation community where large organizations, startups, nonprofits, governments and universities connect to apply exponential technologies and leverage SU's tools and methods to identify, incubate and accelerate big ideas aimed at solving the world's important challenges. BD has also announced the hiring of an entrepreneur-in-residence, who will lead the daily efforts with the entrepreneurial community at the SU campus in Silicon Valley while working in close collaboration with senior management at BD's corporate technology facility in Research Triangle Park, N.C.

Genetics & Genomics eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today

"As we aim to fight large scale, global problems here at Singularity University, we realize the importance of providing the entrepreneurs and companies at the forefront of these issues with a unique kind of international community," said Rob Nail, CEO and associate founder, Singularity University. "By combining a deep understanding of powerful tools like artificial intelligence, computing, genomics, robotics and design thinking, with deep innovation expertise and connections to corporations, governments, academia, nonprofits and investors, we provide partners such as BD an opportunity to do things differently, innovating like a startup outside of their own company's walls to create transformative new business opportunities."

Albert Lauritano, director of strategic technology partnerships, BD Technologies said, "Singularity University's ability to assemble and rapidly mobilize talent, coming from diverse cultures, education and experiences, to address the global challenges we face, has inspired BD. We will use our presence on the SU campus as our 'startup garage', building on existing processes and expert networks, to drive BD innovation and growth by establishing global teams of BD associates to tackle critical healthcare needs in a very hands-on way, which is SU's trademark."

While BD has incubated many companies and initiatives within BD, the relationship with SU marks a new frontier in working outside of the company's walls. Teams of BD associates will work together with SU faculty, staff and partners to develop and test business models and prototypes before presenting their ideas to BD's executive team for further advancement.
Wetzlar, Germany. The research and consulting company Frost & Sullivan has recognized Leica Microsystems newly acquired Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) company Bioptigen of Morrisville, North Carolina, USA, as a technology leader and pioneer of the North American ophthalmic imaging industry. The Frost & Sullivan Award ceremony took place January 13, 2016 in San Diego, USA.

Bioptigen offers the world's only hand-held OCT solution approved by the FDA for use as an aid in the diagnosis of physiological and pathologic conditions of the eye.

In their appraisal, Frost & Sullivan calls attention to the value represented in Bioptigens OCT solutions: Frost & Sullivan recognizes the enormous value addition Bioptigens Envisu Spectral Domain (SD)-OCT platform brings to ophthalmic imaging.

Particularly emphasized are the highly customizable imaging solutions for pre-clinical and clinical applications. Bioptigen is offering hand-held OCT imaging capabilities bringing OCT directly to the patient.

Quick and sensitive real-time OCT imaging minimizes the challenges of comprehensive eye examinations with supine and non-compliant patients, such as infants and children. Bioptigen offers the world's only hand-held OCT solution approved by the FDA for use as an aid in the diagnosis of physiological and pathologic conditions of the eye.

Leica Microsystems is honored that Bioptigen has been selected for the Frost & Sullivan Award. It is tangible proof of the Bioptigen teams dedication to creativity, innovation, and the constant exploration of growth potential in the vision healthcare market. Markus Lusser, President of Leica Microsystems.

Bioptigen develops and manufactures innovative OCT systems and software and provides products for clinical as well as translational research applications globally. Bioptigen currently markets the Envisu OCT for pediatric ophthalmic imaging applications, and a family of OCT imaging products for vision science research.

Notably, in December 2015, the company received FDA clearance for EnFocus, an innovative OCT ophthalmic imaging solution to upgrade surgical microscopes with intrasurgical OCT capabilities directly integrated in the light path of the microscope. Bioptigen was acquired by Leica Microsystems in 2015.
From An IIT Aspirant to IS Recruiter, Tracing the Journey of A 24-Year-Old Varanasi Man Now in the NIA's Net
Chitrangda's character in 'Inkaar' who comes across a suave boss (Arjun Rampal) who harasses her within the confines of office space.
Gabbar Singh: One of the biggest hits of South cinema this year Telugu movie had ace actor Pawan Kalyan playing the lead role of 'Gabbar Singh'in it. Gabbar Singh: One of the biggest hits of South cinema this year Telugu movie had ace actor Pawan Kalyan playing the lead role of 'Gabbar Singh'in it.
Its not easy to categorize Julianna Barwicks music.

Theres so much to her songs that even attempting to feels like youre taking away from the cinematic and emotive beauty of it.

Even Barwick herself struggles with this idea.

I never actually know how to accurately describe my music or how to classify it, she said on a phone call from Brooklyn last week. Ive heard a few different ideas. Its been classified as anything from new age to indie to classical to choral-based music. I think its just kind of somewhere in between all of those genres.

The fluid nature of her style is exactly what inspired Nathan McGlothlin to book Barwick for a performance at the Academy Center of the Arts on Friday as part of its Indie Music Series.

I feel like [someone] like a Julianna Barwick is the perfect missing link, he said. Its the kind of event that can stand in a gap and it can reach out with its left hand and grab the indie rock kids that want to go to Lynchstock, and it reaches out with its right hand and grabs the people who are into really stylized vocal performances, like what you would see at an opera. Its a really good marrying of those two kinds of things.

The Louisiana-born, now Brooklynbased musician  who has garnered attention from NPR and The New York Times and was commissioned by Radiohead to remix the bands track Reckoner in 2010  developed her own distinctive style a decade ago when she borrowed a friends guitar pedal and began looping music.

Although she had recorded tracks before and even played electric guitar for some shows, Barwick said she didnt fall in love with the process of making music until she started improvising her loops.

Countless tracks and live shows later, Barwick finds herself between projects. Her third studio album, Nepenthe, which came out in 2013, has run its course and her next record, on which she is currently working, has yet to be released.

Barwick builds her music with loops, layers of her voice and the occasional instrument. Its all unplanned and created on the spot during recording. Even when she goes into a studio, she said, she doesnt come in with a specific idea.

Her songs meander, filling the space and taking the listener on a journey across emotions and, with the release of Nepenthe, across continents.

It marked a change in many of her processes. Instead of creating the record alone in her home, Barwick flew to Reykjavik, Iceland, and worked with musician and producer Alex Somers (Sigur Ros). And, for the first time, one of Barwicks albums featured other artists, including the string ensemble Amiina, Mum guitarist Robert Sturla Reynisson and a choir of teenage girls.

Theres less instrumentation focus and more vocal focus, said McGlothlin, who played the record at Speakertree Records when it first came out. Its full but its void of so many things that you would be accustomed to hearing in more ethereal music or more ambient music.  Its really all about her voice. 

Since Nepenthe, Barwicks success has only continued to grow. In the last year alone, she performed with the Flaming Lips and Philip Glass at Carnegie Hall, toured in Japan, and played piano for Yoko Ono in August during two shows at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Just saying it out loud, I cant believe that it happened because Im not a piano player, she said. And out of all the piano players in New York City  its just surreal. That was a biggie. Between Carnegie and playing piano for Yoko, unless I get a tour opening up for Bjork and put out a record with Thom Yorke this year, I dont know how thats going to be topped.

And then theres the new album, which has taken much of her attention.

While Barwick said she has come to appreciate collaboration more than she ever believed she would, she has returned to what she calls her hermit-y roots for the new project, producing it herself on her computer.

It's kind of a rainbow of different cities, weather, people, the musician said. It's just absolutely all over the place, from upstate New York to Asheville, North Carolina, to Lisbon, Portugal  I recorded it all over the place.
Friday Closings and Cancellations:

The Bedford County Health Department and the Amherst County Health Department are closed.

The Health Departments in the City of Lynchburg, Campbell County, and Appomattox County are scheduled to open on a 2-hour delay at 10 a.m.

All Roanoke and Southwestern Virginia Red Cross blood drives are canceled.

Lynchburg City Schools are closed.

Appomattox County schools are closed.

Amherst County schools are closed.

Bedford County schools are closed.

Campbell County schools are closed.

Nelson County schools are closed.

Liberty Christian Academy is closed.

James River Day School is closed.

Virginia Episcopal School will be on a late start schedule, with classes beginning at 9:35 a.m.

Classes at Liberty University are canceled.

Lynchburg College is closed.

Randolph College classes are canceled.

Sweet Briar College is closed.

Central Virginia Community College's day and evening classes are canceled.

Town of Bedford offices are closed.

Thursday Closings and Cancellations:

The main Lynchburg Public Library is closed. It will be open tomorrow normal hours, 9:30 to 5:30. The branch library located in City Hall is open today until 5:30.

Amazement Square is closed.

Lynchburg City Schools are closed.

Amherst County Schools are closed.

Appomattox County Schools are closed.

Bedford County Schools are closed.

Campbell County Schools are closed.

Nelson County Schools are closed.

Timberlake Christian Schools are closed.

Liberty University has cancelled classes.

Sweet Briar College has cancelled classes.

Lynchburg College is closed.

Randolph College is closed.

Central Virginia Community College will be closed for day and evening classes.

All health departments in the Central Virginia Health District are closed.

The Share the Parks meeting scheduled for Thursday, February 13 at 6:00 p.m. has been rescheduled to Thursday, February 27 at the Lynchburg Public Library Meeting Room, 2315 Memorial Avenue.

The Amherst County school board meeting scheduled for Thursday has been rescheduled for Monday at 6 p.m. The Superintendent will present the Superintendents Proposed FY15 School Operational Budget then.

In Altavista, the town bus will not be running until noon on Thursday, when the situation will be reevaluated. Trash collection in the town will also be delayed a day to Friday.

Other Cancellations:

The African dinner scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 15 at E.C. Glass has been postponed to Sunday March 9, at 5:30 p.m. in the E.C. Glass cafeteria.

Wednesday Closings and Cancellation:

The Lynchburg Circuit Court and Clerk's Office will close at 2:30 p.m. today, according to an email from Circuit Court Clerk Eugene C. Wingfield.

All Parks and Recreation activities and classes will be cancelled for Wednesday evening.

Amherst County Public Schools were closing at mid-day Wednesday.

Appomattox County schools were closing at 1 p.m.

Bedford County Public Schools were closing two hours early, as were Campbell County schools.

Lynchburg schools closed for the entire day Wednesday.

At Liberty University, classes were ending at 4 p.m.

Classes at Lynchburg College were ending at 2 p.m.
UPDATE 5:05 p.m.: A winter storm warning goes into effect at midnight for Lynchburg and most of Virginia, and City Manager Kimball Payne has declared a state of emergency for the city of Lynchburg, which will allow the city to request state or federal resources.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency for the commonwealth earlier today.

Forecasters are calling for 18 to 24 inches of snow in the city through Saturday afternoon. As much as three feet could fall along the Blue Ridge, where some areas are under a blizzard warning.

In Lynchburg, nonessential city government offices, such as those that do not provide public safety, snow removal or 24-hour services, will be closed Friday.

If we get the amount of snow that has been predicted, travel will be treacherous, Payne said in a press release. We are telling our residents to stay home if at all possible and therefore, it makes sense to have our employees do the same in those offices that are not critical to our emergency response. The fewer people out on the roads, the better.

Late fees or fines that accrue during the closing will be forgiven.

Closures include: all City Hall departments; parks and recreation including all community centers; Lynchburg Museum; Lynchburg Public Library; Lynchburg Department of Human Services; Concord Turnpike Convenience Center; and Lynchburg Community Market.

Lynchburg is included in a winter storm warning that begins at midnight on Thursday, according to the National Weather Service office in Blacksburg.

The storm, which formed out of a low pressure system over Texas, will begin dropping snow near Boone, North Carolina at about midnight, said NWS Meteorologist Lauren Craft.

After that, its just going to slowly move up, Craft said.

The storm, which is fueled with wet air from the Gulf of Mexico, is expected to swing close to the Atlantic Ocean, picking up more saturated air.

This stuff that its using from the gulf is going to get precipitated out before it reaches us, so its going to have to get additional moisture, Craft said.

Skies Friday morning will be cloudy and temperatures will be in the low to mid 20s when snowfall begins, Craft said. Were not expecting snow to reach the Lynchburg area until 8 a.m. or 9 a.m.

Between 4 and 8 inches of snow is expected to fall in the Lynchburg area during the day as highs stay below freezing, topping out at about 26 degrees.

An additional 7 to 11 inches of snow are expected to fall Friday night, as temperatures hold steady near 25, the NWS forecast said. Northeast winds of about 14 mph and gusts as high as 23 are expected.

On Saturday, an additional 3 to 7 inches of snow are expected as temperatures reach near 30 and winds of between 11 and 13 blow, with gusts as high as 21 mph.

Snowfall is expected to wrap up on Saturday night, but skies will remain cloudy and lows will fall to near 21.

Update 12:30 p.m.: Officials in Bedford County are busy preparing for the expected snowfall charging batteries, and making sure vehicles and generators are fueled up and ready.

Theres extra preparation going on Thursday, especially as they stay in close communication with state agencies and the National Weather Service, but Bedford is in good shape, said Jack Jones, chief of the Bedford County Department of Fire and Rescue.

A lot of it is in place already because we run a 24/7 operation, he said.

With tough road conditions, emergency personnel will have trouble responding to homes, even though all Bedford County first-responder vehicles have chains, he said.

If theyre sick now or dont feel well, get to the doctor today, Jones said.

--Chris Cioffi

Earlier: A forecast issued by the National Weather Service early Thursday morning predicts most of the Lynchburg area can expect 18 to 24 inches of snowfall accumulation over the next few days.

Southern parts of Campbell County are in a forecast area of 12 to 18 inches. The forecast range is for Thursday evening through Saturday evening.

Lynchburg received one-tenth of an inch of snowfall in Wednesday's dusting, according to the National Weather Service's daily climatological report.

Between 12 a.m. Wednesday and 12 a.m. Thursday, state police responded to 767 traffic crashes and 392 calls for disabled vehicles.

That's nearly four times as many traffic crashes state police handled the day before--200.

One of those was a multi-vehicle crash in Bedford County that resulted in a fatality. It happened at 5:54 p.m. in the 100 block of Bunker Hill Road and involved three vehicles.

Police said they are unsure whether the crash was weather-related.

"The bulk of the crashes began in SouthWest Virginia Wednesday morning due to the very first wave of snow coming through. The second wave then impacted Western Virginia along the I-81 corridor by mid-afternoon, and made its way to Northern Virginia by 5:30 p.m.," state police said in a news release Thursday morning.

State Police said two troopers had close calls while investigating crashes on icy northern Virginia roads.

Police said troopers' shifts were extended Wednesday night to keep up with a surge of calls on icy roads.

Police say one trooper was hit by a van while investigating a crash on Interstate 495 in Fairfax County. Officials say it's not considered weather-related since the van swerved to avoid a car coming into its lane. The trooper was had minor injuries.

Another trooper was investigating a crash on Interstate 95 in Prince William County early Thursday when police say his vehicle was struck by an out of control vehicle, but the trooper wasn't injured.

Meanwhile, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe has issued a state of emergency for the upcoming winter storm.

Thursday's declaration authorizes state agencies to assist local governments in response to the storm, which is expected to dump up to 2 feet of snow in parts of the state and bring strong winds.

McAuliffe says in a statement that residents should "take the threat of this storm seriously." He says that includes travel disruptions and possible power outages.

He says transportation crews are treating roads before the storm hits.

Lynchburg Public Works Street Supervisor Anthony Johnson said Wednesday that preparation already has fallen into place.

Were ready with all the equipment, he said.

Johnson said traditionally when the forecast calls for more than 6 inches of snow, outside contractors are called in to help move the snow out of the city, on top of the 40 to 45 snow plow operators per 12 hour shift.
First look - JMS returns to Thor as the Thunder God prepares to battle Thanos in Death Notes special

Thor visits Thanos' past and future with a host of all-star creators
PM: Current situation requires a rethink of objectives, strategy

Addressing the opening ceremony of the TT Energy Conference at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Port-of-Spain, the Prime Minister said, The fall in prices is significant but not unique. According to Rowley, a 2014 World Bank policy note indicated that over the last 30 years, there have been five other episodes of price declines of more than 30 percent over a seven month period which all coincided with major changes in the global economy and world markets.

He identified these as the 1985-1986 price collapse; the 1990-1991 and 2001 weakened situation following US recessions; the 1997-1998 Asian Crisis and the 2008-2009 Global Financial Crisis.

Focusing on the 1985-1986 collapse, Rowley said the challenge for TT emerging from such a scenario, is that the approach for adjustment in 1986 may well be insufficient. He continued, This will force us to rethink the mix of initiatives and in addition to the usual macroeconomic measures, we will require a rethink of economic objectives and strategy. The Prime Minister said, The issue will now become rapid reconfiguration of our energy industry while accelerating our thrust to diversify our economy. Rowley stated that, postponement of deepwater exploration on which we pin our hopes for increases in petroleum reserves means continued depletion of our oil and gas reserves and contemplation of a TT with reduced reliance on oil and gas. He cited one of the successes of the 1986 experience as, the drive to develop indigenous energy entrepreneurship. Rowley said the lease operatorships and farmout initiatives allowed the return of idle oil wells to production by local independent oil producers.

Saying this resulted in indigenous firms being able to contribute to increasing oil production for the first time and it was hailed as a success at that time, Dr Rowley asked, The critical question is can we find these entrepreneurs today? The Prime Minister said the 1985-1986 price collapse is also important to this country because, this price collapse marked one of the most painful adjustment periods for the TT population. Stating this episode remains, etched in the minds of all those of us who experienced it, Dr Rowley said, The population deemed the required measures harsh and the IMF (International Monetary Fund) became a dreaded expression. He added that many citizens still remember reduction in government expenditure (including several subsidies); a ten percent reduction in wages; hurried divestment of State Enterprises and the erosion of a large stock of foreign exchange as some of the characteristics of that collapse.

Saying all keen observers of the energy industry know that cycles of price increases and falls represent the hallmark of the oil business, Rowley said, In spite of this fact, the downturns tend to take us by surprise when we get carried away with the euphoria of abundant revenues. The Prime Minister told his audience, We may want to consider the scenario of whether or not the current situation marks the first energy transition of the 21st Century.

Should it emerge that the producers of unconventional oil replace OPEC as the swing producer in the international oil market, given the shorter life cycle of unconventional oil, producers like TT can face an extended period of low oil and gas prices and prolonged adverse circumstances. Observing it is easy to become caught up in the need to survive in times of economic difficulty, Dr Rowley said corporate social responsibility should not be treated in a casual manner.

He said while fence line communities need to adjust their expectations of the operating communities, those communities cannot be ignored, and the same applies to the environment, which cannot be sacrificed, in the thrust to cope with our current condition since this will be the proverbial scorpions tail that will sting us and deplete our pockets in the future.
Brooks: Good move to reclaim idle resources

The announcement was made on Monday by Energy Minister Nicole Olivierre during the 2016 Energy Conference at Hyatt Regency, Port-of-Spain.

In the current circumstances, this country can ill-afford to have recoverable resources remaining in the ground.

Therefore, whenever contractual arrangements permit, idle resources will be returned to the State and re-tendered for exploration and/or development.

To this end, these blocks, subject to contract, will be reclaimed by the State for failure by the contractor to adhere to the stipulated obligations, Olivierre stated.

In addition, a Fiscal Review Committee will be appointed.

The minister said its mandate is to elicit and evaluate proposals for further stimulation of development and exploration activity, including of prospective acreage on land and marine areas which are currently not economical. Speaking with Business Day shortly after the minister delivered her speech, Brooks said the decision to reclaim idle resources was absolutely a good move for TT.

In the context of falling oil production and natural gas shortages, we absolutely need to put acreage to work. This is one of several strategies and policy initiatives that the Government has to pursue to ensure that the curtailments/shortages and as well the fall in oil production, are reversed. This also plays directly into our revenue position as a country, so absolutely its required. Regarding the role of State-run energy companies such as NGC, Brooks noted that they have been working closely with the ministry.

What were increasingly trying to do is to co-ordinate strategy and our policy positions. Thats being done in the context of the overall Gas Master Plan, which is also going to inspire some industry discussion in the very near future, Brooks told Business Day.

During her speech, the Energy Minister noted that a review of the work programmes of energy companies operating in TT has revealed that a number of them have deferred drilling activity to 2017. The exceptions include EOG Resources, bpTT and BHP Billiton, who have stated their commitment to carrying out drilling programmes this year.

We are all eagerly anticipating the commencement of BHPs deep-water exploration programme, Olivierre shared.

Speaking specifically about onshore oil exploration, the minister said State-owned Petrotrin is expected to take the lead in increasing production.

Petrotrin is vitally important to the national interest. Petrotrin will not, cannot and must not be allowed to fail. I have mandated the Board of Petrotrin to arrest the decline and aggressively pursue increased production. The minister declared that in spite of budgetary constraints, Petrotrin is expected to drill 20 wells on its land acreage in addition to undertaking approximately 50 workovers. The company is also expected to drill three wells in its Trinmar acreage in the South West Soldado field. Additionally, from the Lease Operators, Farm-Out and Incremental Production Service Contracts (IPSC) programme, an additional 32 wells are scheduled to be drilled and an estimated 74 work-overs.

In the short term we must seek to arrest the decline in our onshore production. Operators must look at innovative and proven ways to maximize production using low cost strategies and technologies.

Greater co-operation between oil companies may be required in these times of low oil price to help minimise cost. Olivierre added, Sharing data and technologies may be strategies that need to be adopted to optimise costs of drilling and production. We must also ensure that we are using all the means at our disposal to improve worker safety, drilling, completion and workover practices. A call for more Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) studies to be done, in order to increase recoverable reserves percentages, was also made by the minister.

The low cost environment should allow us to come up with innovative ways for operators and the services sectors to work together for the benefit of all stakeholders. We look forward to the support of all parties to be able to address this decline in production as a matter of urgency. In keeping with her focus on maximising TTs returns from its energy exports, Olivierre asked what had happened to an arrangement by which the upside of netbacks from the sale of liquefied natural gas (LNG) was to be shared 50-50 between the LNG partners and the Government of TT for cargo diversions.

TTs netbacks from commercial pricing arrangements for liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments are tied to destinations in the United States.

The netbacks from these have been below the actual market price applicable to the true destination of our cargo. Is it that the LNG partners are now diverting cargoes to South American markets in a transfer pricing arrangement to avoid sharing the upside? Olivierre asked.

Hence the decision to review all existing LNG marketing agreements and to implement new negotiated arrangements which are structured to ensure that the commercial arrangements are equitable to all parties. According to the site www.

investopedia.com, the term Netback refers to a summary of all of the costs associated with bringing one unit of oil to the marketplace, and all of the revenues from the sale of all the products generated from that same unit.
A new beginning in 2016

Criminal elements have become emboldened to a disconcerting degree. Only last year, amidst a gang war in Enterprise in Central Trinidad, television footage showed what appeared to be civilian men cradling guns as they patrolled the streets.

This has unfortunately become the norm in some communities, which are under siege.

While the Polices commitment to increased patrols in hotspot communities must offer a level of comfort, it is perhaps cold comfort, as the TTPS has itself admitted that criminal elements are becoming increasingly brazen. One would therefore hope that the eventual outcome of the intensified exercises would be more evidence-gathering that would support criminal prosecutions.

It is obvious that we cannot continue this way, though the road ahead will not be an easy one.

The country currently faces very challenging economic times as a result of falling world prices for our energy exports. The country must now accelerate efforts for institutional transformation, diversification and encouraging investments in the non-energy sector. While this sector is largely concentrated in a few areas and already subject to high security measures as dictated by the international firms, this is not as often the case for non-energy investments. An unstable crime situation could therefore prove to be a deterrent to new investments.

The Police Service for years has been faced with low levels of confidence from the public, poor intelligence-gathering and inadequate or unsuitable equipment and technology. Anti-crime activities such as joint patrols by the Police/ Defence Force patrols, more stop and search activities and roadblocks be continued to help to instil a greater sense of confidence in the citizenry. The detection rate for serious crimes remains at an unacceptably low level, still hovering at 23 percent as of October 2015.

The TT Chamber recognises that it is an extremely difficult role that the security services must play, and in this regard the TT Chamber stands ready to lend support and assistance in whatever way we can.

In closing we would like to briefly return to the topic of fireworks, which each year seem to be getting fiercer in all areas to the distress of many elderly or ill persons, children and animals. As a thought, would it not make sense that communities arrange for approved areas and times (for example utilising playing fields) and encourage persons to gather there to show off their fireworks during times of celebration? This should encourage community interaction and allow for supervision of those using the fireworks. We are sure that other citizens have good ideas also; what is required most of all is the will to solve the problems.
Businesses showcase products, services at Energy Conference

Whether this was related to the economic downturn Trinidad and Tobago is experiencing and/or to low oil prices, no one could say for sure but several exhibitors said even with less foot traffic, having a presence at the conference was important to their businesses.

This is the third year that Benca Solutions Limited (Bencas) has had a booth at the conference. The company is the authorised dealer for Bentley software in the Caribbean. Bentley provides architecture and engineering software solutions.

Bencas Marketing Representative, Carolyn Bermudez, told Business Day the main benefit of being here is that we make a lot of contacts during our software demonstrations and this exposure has led to meetings with potential clients at our offices in Fernandes Business Centre.

Regarding the number of visitors to the Benca booth on Monday, Bermudez said its been much quieter than last year. Hopefully well get more visitors on Tuesday and Wednesday as people get the time to (browse) the exhibits.

Similar sentiments were expressed by External Relations Officer at Repsol Exploration and Production TT Limited (Repsol), Cherril Pereira.

Weve been exhibiting here from the inception of the conference and theres definitely been a drop in the number of attendees. Its usually so busy, especially on day one, that we cant keep up but not this year.

Whether foot traffic is heavy or moderate, Pereira said its important to have a presence at the Energy Conference because not only is Repsol a member of the host; the Energy Chamber of TT, but the company uses its interactions with delegates to inform the public about its presence in TT.

We dont do downstream in TT, just upstream. So having a booth is about branding, publicity, its about highlighting what we do that the general public doesnt necessarily get to see.

Asked if these interactions have led to new business, Pereira told Business Day, Im sure the networking has, in some way, led to new business because we channel visitors contact information to the relevant persons within Repsol.

Over at the bpTT booth, Drilling Engineer Navin Solomon explained why the company chose to produce a five-minute 3D virtual reality video about its Juniper project here in TT.

Our immersive experience (video) showcases the details about the sub-sea technology involved in Juniper; bps first sub- sea project. The video takes you through the process. In onshore drilling, where you put a well head and get a pipeline that takes the oil/gas to wherever you want it while in shallow water, you put a platform down and then you can put a rig on there to access the reserves underwater.

What we do differently with sub-sea, because were in deeper waters, its uneconomical to put a platform there. So we use a floating drilling package to drill the wells and then tie back those wells essentially to an existing platform. All the architecture that supports the wells is at the bottom of the ocean, Solomon explained.

US $2.1 billion has been invested in the project and once operational, it will produce natural gas from the Corallita and Lantana fields located 50 miles off the south-east coast of Trinidad. A production capacity of approximately 590 million standard cubic feet per day, gas from Juniper will flow to the Mahogany B hub via a new ten kilometre in-field flowline.

Asked what visitors to bpTTs booth should take away from the experience, Solomon said, One of the things bp is committed to is investing in TT; they could have put their money in another country but here we are doing sub-sea for the first time. I think its key to developing reserves in TT and for future projects
TT must explore viable regional markets

She urged members of the business community in attendance, not to see the coming year as a year of strife and hardship but as one for opportunity and a chance to see what can and should be done.

An emotional Gopee-Scoon said it was a wakeup call and she urged the business sector to answer it with patriotism, supporting the country in every which way. After regaining her composure the minister said she was surprised that she would be moved by being patriotic. She continued, But you do really have to support us, and support your country and to stay loyal, invest in Trinidad, pay all of your taxes, buy local, eat local. Also speaking at the seminar were the president of AMCHAM, Ravi Suryadevara, who talked about The New Economic Reality  Imperatives for Competitiveness; economist Dr Ronald Ramkissoon on Policy Options to Stimulate Growth; tax expert Angelique Bart on Taxation, Government Revenue and Its Impact on Business and Ronald Carter, chief executive officer of JMMB Investments on Investment Outlook and Investing in Turbulent Times.

Earlier in her feature address, the minister said Government is committed to creating a framework in which this country can effectively, efficiently and equitably increase revenues, lower expenditure and meet the demands of an ever-changing global economy.

She spoke at length about the Governments fiscal and policy measures to increase revenues and reduce expenditure as well as measures intended to increase inflows of foreign exchange through trade and investment with regional and international partners.

Gopee-Scoon said traditional revenue streams are severely constrained and there is a need to implement measures which will increase Government income while not preventing firms from investing and expanding, especially small and mediumsized businesses, and which do not negatively affect citizens of the country especially the most vulnerable.

She said this country needed to improve its competitiveness, referring to Trinidad and Tobagos standing of 89 out of 140 in the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI). According to the minister, the countrys biggest problem in this area was poor work ethic in the labour force which she said was a personal responsibility that each worker should take. She identified corruption and inefficient Government bureaucracy crime and theft as other problems.

For far too long we have known and have even been complicit in creating and promulgating these problems, however with high energy prices a thing of the past, they no longer can be taken lightly and at the foundation of competitiveness is productivity and the importance of producing more in terms of quality and quantity with less. According to the minister, education and training were essential to improving the countrys work ethic and the Government intended to continue to institute programmes to exploit the talent and build the skills and knowledge of the people of the country as well as provide opportunities for training and recruitment of new graduates and those now entering the labour force.

Gopee-Scoon said there are several opportunities in the region: Panama and the Dominican Republic are expected to expand by 6.1 percent and 5.4 percent respectively this year while Nicaragua; Bolivia; Guatemala; Paraguay and Peru show positive growth rates ranging between 3.8 percent and 4.2 percent. She said it is time that Trinidad and Tobago do everything possible to make use of the opportunities relating to these valuable export markets.

She added that the Government is reviewing requests for bilateral agreements with countries like Chile and arrangements with old partners like Canada. She also noted that the softening of relations between the US and Cuba could see an increase in demand from that country for a wide range of products as the economy opens up and Trinidad and Tobago is strengthening its Trade Facilitation Office there.

She added that the ministry is strongly considering the establishment of commercial trade facilitation offices in Guyana to service the Guyana and Surinamese markets and in the Dominican Republic to serve that country and neighbouring Haiti. She said a note to this effect will shortly be submitted to Cabinet for approval.

The Government also intends to develop the software design and applications industry and one of its landmark projects is the implementation of a nationwide broadband network to nurture a knowledge-based society. She said the Government is working with the Inter- American Development Bank (IDB) to position Trinidad and Tobago as a world-renowned location for the global provision of information technology enabled services modelled after the Uruguayan experience.

She said the Government will work with the Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers Association (TTMA) to lead a domestic resurgence in manufacturing because the manufacturing sector is a very viable option for further diversification.

She said manufacturing generates about ten percent of the countrys national income and is central to its diversification thrust. She said Trinidad and Tobago has long been the manufacturing hub of the region and has been able to attract buyers for its products from all corners of the globe and exports of locally manufactured goods are a key earner of foreign exchange.

She added that there has been a resurgence of manufacturing in several countries and the outsourcing model is switching to reshoring.
Chutney free before 9 pm

However, patrons must be inside the venue by 9 pm to benefit from the offer.

The Chutney Soca Monarch celebrates its 21st anniversary this year and the theme this year is The Cooler Monarch  which allows patrons to also bring their coolers in before 10 pm. The show starts at 9 pm. Raymond Ramnarine and Dil-E-Nadan will be doing a special concert performance at the finals in what is expected to one of the best productions for Carnival 2016, said a media release.

Twenty Chutney Soca artistes will perform at the final in two categories: Traditional and Chutney Soca.
$6M drug bust in Central

At about 10 am, officers in Freeport had cause to intercept a vehicle and during a search, found a pistol with one round of ammunition. Three persons in the vehicle were arrested and appeared in court yesterday, charged with possession of an illegal firearm. Another firearm was found hours later in Felicity.

This one had three rounds.

Officers of the Central Division Task Force executed a search warrant on the occupants of a house where they discovered 16 kilos of cocaine. Two persons including a man and woman, were arrested, charged with possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking and were due to appear in court yesterday. Police officers also went to Ramkalawan Road in Freeport, where they executed another search warrant and three kilos of cocaine were found.

The person occupying that house was arrested, and a warrant has been issued for the other occupants of the house. Later, during the exercise, officers in Felicity searched another area where they found three kilogrammes of marijuana, which police officers said is worth $120,000.

Snr Supt Forde, head of Central Division said the success of these officers was made possible by a collaboration between citizens and police officers of the Central Division.

Citizens of the Central Division have expressed confidence in the police service, and have decided to share with us about the illegal activities. As the head of the Central Division, I would like to personally thank the citizens of the Central Division who hold their trust in us, and who have shared information with us said Forde.
Carmona, Chinese haggle over Taiwan

Carmona did not give a yes or no reply to the request to influence the region, but said TTs recognition of the One China Policy (which rejects Taiwans separate existence) has stood the test of time and had been proven repeatedly.

The hot topic of Taiwan was initially raised by Carmona in his welcoming remarks, relating that TT had originally been the only country to endorse the One China Policy under the astute leadership of TTs first prime minister Dr Eric Williams.

The topic was later taken up by Chen towards the end of the 45 minute session that included a photo opportunity and talks initially dominated by the usual diplomatic niceties. Chen said that on January 16, the Taiwan General Election was won by the Liberal Democratic Party, a strong advocate of Taiwans independence from China, but that China will not deviate from its One China Policy and will oppose Taiwans independence and two Chinas. He sought Carmonas help. We know Trinidad and Tobago is an influential country in the whole Caribbean region, said Chen. We hope your country will continue to speak to the One China Principle and your country may exert its positive influence in the wider Caribbean region and support the peaceful development of the cross straits relationship (the straits referring to the seas between China and Taiwan). President Carmona replied, Well, I can assure Your Excellency that we have withstood the test of time in relation to the One China Policy. And we will continue to do so, as we have displayed time and time again. He then paid tribute to China President Xi Jinping, (whose June 2013 visit to TT he fondly recalled) for declaring affirmative philosophies and practical action at the recent COP 21 Climate Change Conference in Paris.

President Carmona then sought Chinas help. I speak on behalf of the Caribbean region, not only Trinidad and Tobago, began Carmona.

But we are in fact suffering from the ravages of coastal erosion and as small island developing states, it is in fact a monster that beckons...tidal and coastal erosion.

I know you have the expertise and also the necessary possible funding to assist us, not only in Trinidad and Tobago but (also) in the Caribbean region, to fight that battle. President Carmona recalled President Xis advocacy of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) as a forum to interact with China. Chen said the next China-CELAC forum will unite Chinas links with various nations. Chen said, I hope that you will harness your influence in the region to support China-CELAC cooperation. Earlier Chen said China-TT annual trade is US$460 million, up 14 percent in 2005. He vowed to support more people-to-people exchanges, the Confucius Institute, scholarships to TT nationals, medical services and training, economic and social development, Chinese tourists to TT and a mutual visa exemption.
Tourism Baseline Survey launched

The Ministry of Tourism is committed to making the industry a primary source of foreign exchange, revenue, job opportunities and economic opportunities for Trinidad and Tobago.

As we tackle, head-on, the economic challenges related to falling oil prices, we must acknowledge and embrace the limitless potential (of) the tourism industry...

We do not have the time, we do not have the money and I certainly dont have the energy, Cudjoe declared, to continue to operate by voops, vaps or vieke- vie. I believe that once and for all, our tourism strategy must be guided by findings, not feelings. The minister was addressing members of the TSC and other industry stakeholders at the launch of the TSC, whose full title is the Standing Committee for the Strategic and Sustainable Development of Tourism, held at the ministrys offices, Tower C, International Waterfront Centre (IWC), Wrightson Road, Port-of- Spain.

The 15-member TSC is chaired by Dr Acolla Lewis-Cameron, Head of the Deparment of Tourism Management Studies, University of the West Indies (UWI).

Other members include the Tourism Ministrys Permanent Secretary, Cecilia Greaves-Smith, an administrator from the Division of Tourism and Transport, Tobago House of Assembly, Chairman of the Tourism Development Company (TDC), Dennise Demming as well as the General Managers of the Airports Authority of TT and the Port Authority of TT.

However additional TSC members would be co-opted as we go along, Cudjoe explained, depending on the business of the committee. The collated results of the TBS are expected to be ready at the end of September 2016.

The minister said the findings will enable the ministry to scientifically determine the existing contribution of the tourism sector to the national economy and to further develop policies and programmes to improve the sectors overall contribution to gross domestic prodcut (GDP).

The results will also be shared with tourism operators so that they may improve their product offerings and be better positioned to attract repeat visitors while attracting the interest of new visitors.

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US Military Really Didn't Want

You to Know What's in New

Washington Post Investigation
(Newser)  A cat that went missing from its military family has been found four years later, and now he's prepping for a possible plane ride home to be reunited. Hemiso named because owners Jennifer and Robert Connell first found him under their car hood in 2009disappeared in 2011 after the family moved from their North Carolina home to a Marine Corps base, the AP reports. Robert had been deployed, and Hemi apparently missed him. "He kept looking for my husband and couldn't find him," Jennifer Connell says. "And one day he got out, and we were never able to find him."

Although the "heartbroken" Connells tried to track Hemi down, they were never able to, and eventually they ended up moving to North Dakota when Robert got a job there as a train engineer. Then, last week, a North Carolina animal shelter called: A woman had found Hemi "hanging around her house," per the AP, and the shelter was able to find the Connells through Hemi's microchip. The family has set up a GoFundMe account to pay for Hemi to either fly home with their former babysitter, who works for an airline, or for the family to drive back to NC to pick him up. Any extra cash will go to the animal shelter that called them, Jennifer Connell says. (This cat was reunited with its owner after seven years.)
(Newser)  The CEO of a PR firm representing many popular musiciansincluding Of Montreal, Killer Mike, GZA, and D'Angelohas stepped down amid allegations of sexual misconduct and sexual assault from numerous women. New York Magazine reports the allegations against Heathcliff Berru of Life and Death PR started earlier this week, when Amber Coffman of the band Dirty Projectors tweeted that Berru groped her butt and bit her hair at a bar a number of years ago. "Dudes overlook it and keep hiring him," Coffman tweeted. Her tweets were followed by similar accusations from nine other women, including musicians Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast and Yasmine Kittles of Tearist. Kittles claims after Berru held her down on a couch and forced her to touch his penis, her band's manager told her to "get over" it.

Less than a day after Coffman's tweets, Berru resigned as CEO, New York Magazine reports. "Life or Death has a zero tolerance policy for the type of conduct alleged in todays online postings," a company statement reads. But, according to the Los Angeles Times, the damage may already be done, as multiple artists have severed ties with Life or Death following the accusations. Berru responded to the claims on Tuesday with a statement blaming drug and alcohol addiction, LA Weekly reports. "I am deeply sorry for those who I have offended by my actions and how I have made certain women feel," the statement reads. Berru says he'll be checking into rehab. Coffman calls his statement a "half-assed apology." (Read more sexual assault stories.)
(Newser)  Norwood Thomas' reunion with his wartime girlfriend was incredible, but it came with one major drawback: "I can't take you in my arms and give you a squeeze," the 93-year-old World War II vet told Joyce Morris, 88, during a Skype call in November. "Well, we've got to get on that then," she replied, per the Virginian-Pilot. A lot had changed since the pair last set eyes on each other in England, a few months before Thomas took part in the D-Day landings. When the war ended, he returned home and wrote to Morris, asking her to marry him. She thought he was already married and refused. Both then married other people, with Morris settling in Adelaide, Australia, and Thomas in Virginia Beach, Va. Morris, since divorced, tracked Thomas down after finding an article about him going skydiving for his 88th birthday, but a reunion seemed like a pipe dream. Some 300 generous donors changed that.

After becoming engrossed in the couple's story, Barbara McDonald started a GoFundMe page to raise money for a trip. "Normally you read about this stuff in fictional books, you don't ever see this in real life," she told WTKR. Readers pooled $7,500, but the donations weren't enough to get Thomaswho is battling prostate cancer and living on a fixed incomeand his caretaker son to Adelaide. Then Air New Zealand stepped in. The airline is offering first-class airfare for Thomas and his son to visit Australia next month so the pair can finally be together againand on Valentine's Day, no less. "I'm numb," Thomas tells the Virginian-Pilot. "I have no idea what my emotions are going to be once we meet face to face." "What would you do if I could give you a little squeeze?" Thomas asked Morris in November. "We could always do with a hug, can't we?" she answered. "Whatever age we are." (Read more uplifting news stories.)
(Newser)  A Utah man is facing multiple felony charges after allegedly getting into nearly two dozen car accidents on purpose in order to collect the insurance money, KSL reports. Navid Monjazeb is accused of causing 22 crashes in and around Salt Lake City between 2010 and 2015, collecting $56,000 in insurance money in the process. "He's an opportunistic person, looking for opportunities to crash his vehicle into others or to position his vehicle in such a manner that he puts himself in a blind spot," ABC4 Utah quotes the director of the state's fraud division. According to the AP, the state launched a six-month investigation into Monjazeb after an insurance company noticed a pattern. On Tuesday, he was charged with 12 counts of insurance fraud and declared "a significant danger to the public," KSL reports.

After causing a crash, authorities say Monjazeb would try to intimidate his victims into paying him cash for the damage or signing a pre-written statement saying they were at fault, KSL reports. "He got out screaming that I had hit him and caused this huge accident," one victim tells ABC4. "You just assume that it's your fault because you're the one changing lanes." KSL reports it's unclear if Monjazeb ever got cash from his victims. And the AP notes he's only been charged in cases where investigators believe his car was damaged prior to the crash. According to ABC4, authorities say Monjazeb "would rig [his] vehicles so they'd fall apart when hit." He also allegedly damaged his car further following accidents to increase the insurance payout, KSL reports. He's facing charges of reckless endangerment in addition to insurance fraud. (Read more insurance fraud stories.)
(Newser)  Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has, as promised, released hundreds of pages of emails relating to Flint and its water crisisand while there may not be anything in them that will cost him his job, members of his administration will have questions to answer about what appears to be a slow and seemingly dismissive approach to lead contamination in the city's water supply. Highlights from the emails, per the Detroit Free Press and the Guardian:

"Once the city connects to the new system in 2016, this issue will fade in the rearview," an aide predicted in a Feb. 1 memo.

The same memo mentions the pipe corrosion that was later found to be responsible for lead contaminating the city's water supply, dismissing it as an aesthetic problem. "Discoloration is not an indicator of water quality or water safety, but we recognize that nobody likes it," the aide wrote.

"I can't figure out why the state is responsible except that (then-treasurer Andy) Dillon did make the ultimate decision so we're not able to avoid the subject," then-chief of staff Dennis Muchmore wrote in a Sept. 25 email in which he called the issue a "political football" that those in Flint were trying to dump on the state.

The next day, Muchmore wrote that while Flint's water "certainly has occasional less than savory aspects like color," the "anti-everything" group was looking at lead contamination and "Flint people respond by looking for someone to blame."

In an Aug. 31 email from a state employee to EPA officials obtained by the Guardian separately from the Snyder emails, the employee says Flint probably wasn't paying much attention to the contamination because the "city has bigger issues on their agenda right now."

Not many of the emails came from Snyder himself, who wasn't legally required to make them public. He has said that he tackled the problem aggressively when it was revealed how serious it was. In later emails, the Republican governor demands daily updates on the Flint situation until recommendations such as the distribution of water filters have been implemented, the Free Press notes. President Obama addressed the issue when he visited Michigan on Wednesday, the New York Times adds. "The notion that immediately families were not notified, things were not shut downthat shouldnt happen anywhere," he said in a CBS interview that will air Sunday. (Read more Flint, Michigan stories.)
(Newser)  The GOP's 1996 nominee for president is worried that Ted Cruz might get the nod in 2016and he thinks Donald Trump could be the only candidate who can stop him. Bob Dole tells the New York Times that he questions Cruz's allegiance to the party, and he believes the GOP will suffer "cataclysmic" losses in state and congressional races if Cruz is on the ticket. "I don't know how he's going to deal with Congress," the former Senate majority leader says. "Nobody likes him." Trump, however, could probably work with Congress because he's "got the right personality and he's kind of a deal-maker," Dole says.

Dole tells the Times that he strongly supports Jeb Bush and also likes Marco Rubio and Chris Christie, but Trump seems to be the only candidate strong enough to stop Cruz. Hillary Clinton would be a "pretty easy target" in the general election if the GOP has the right candidate, but she'll "win in a waltz" if the opposition is Cruz, he warns. In a CNN interview Wednesday night, Trump agreed that Cruz would have a hard time making deals with Congress, the Hill reports. "Everybody dislikes him. I mean, he's a nasty guy that everybody dislikes," he said. Trump doubled down on his argument that Cruz's birthplace makes him an unsuitable nominee, saying: "He's got a very big problem because he was born in Canada." (In 2012, Dole warned against voting for Newt Gingrich.)
(Newser)  Scientists working on the shores of Lake Turkana in Kenya have uncovered a grisly scene: the bodies of 27 people, killed around 8,000BC. Experts say the spot, called Nataruk, may be the first to reveal evidence of a massacreor perhaps even warbetween two nomadic hunter-gatherer groups, one of which triumphed while the other was vanquished. Twelve complete skeletons and 15 partial ones show men, women, and children were attacked with clubs, spears, arrows, and some other weapon with embedded stone blades, per the New York Times. They suffered nasty injuries, including crushed skulls, and were found where they fell. One man was hit twice in the head with arrows or spears and once in the knee with a club. A pregnant woman died via a blow to the head; scientists found the skeleton of a fetus preserved in her belly.

"That scale of deathit can't be an individual murder or homicide amongst families," a study author tells Live Science. The site shows "before we have settled life, groups were competing over resources," he adds, per the BBC. The groups may have fought over food. As there were no remains belonging to children over 6, the victors may have also taken older children captive. "There's no other find like it," a researcher says of the site; an earlier site in Sudan shows evidence of violence between groups, but they were likely more sedentary. Unnatural obsidian found at Nataruk suggests the attackers traveled some distance, but one expert argues the groups may have been fairly settled. "It may be jumping the gun to call this 'war'" given that there are no "fortifications, villages built in defensible locations, specialized weapons of war, [or] artistic or symbol depictions of war," he adds. (Scientists recently found 13,800-year-old rock art.)
(Newser)  A British judge declared a remarkable thing Thursday: Vladimir Putin is "probably" a murderer. The finding came after an inquiry into the high-profile death of former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko, who was fatally poisoned in 2006. Judge Robert Owen said he's certain that two Russian agents laced Litvinenko's green tea with polonium-210 inside a London hoteland that the mission "was probably approved" by Putin himself and the head of Russia's FSB spy agency (the successor to the KGB), reports the New York Times. Litvinenko accused Putin from his deathbed, but this appears to be the first time an official inquiry has linked the Russian president to the slaying, notes the AP. Russia, not surprisingly, isn't buying it. "We regret that a purely criminal case has been politicized and has darkened the general atmosphere of bilateral relations," says a rep for the Russian foreign ministry.

Britain launched the inquiry at the urging of Litvinenko's widow, who welcomed the findings and called on the UK to issue sanctions on Russia and place a travel ban on Putin, reports the BBC. That seems unlikely, though Britain says it will now freeze the assets of Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun, the two men accused by British police of the killing. Moscow refuses to extradite them. The judge cited a number of possible motives, including Russia's belief that Litvinenko betrayed Moscow by working with British intelligence. He also cited the "highly personal attacks" by Litvinenko on Putin before the agent's death, including Litvinenko's clam that Putin was a pedophile, reports the Independent. "It hardly needs saying that the allegations made by Mr Litvinenko against President Putin in this article were of the most serious nature," wrote the judge. "Could they have had any connection with his death?" Read his full report here. (Read more Alexander Litvinenko stories.)
(Newser)  Authorities say they've found some sign of the 2-year-old boy who disappeared in Tennessee a week ago while walking with his grandmother and sister. "We have some leads that we have recovered" in the woods behind his grandparents' home, Madison County Sheriff John Mehr said Wednesday, per the Jackson Sun. He wouldn't say what evidence was found, but he believes Noah Chamberlin is nearby. The search for the toddler was to continue Wednesday evening, but it will go on without volunteers due to severe weather. "It's dangerous out there. In those hills, it's really muddy, and it's frozen overnight," a fire chief says. "It's just so slick you can hardly walk through there." The Sun reports there are also large sinkholes in the search area. But "we're not going to stop," another sheriff says. "We still believe he's out there."

The search area now includes some 1,000 acres in Pinson. "We've expanded further out, and brought them back into the center area and rechecked the whole area," the fire chief says, though the search could slow in the coming days. "With the weather that's coming in, supposedly, by Friday, we'll have to scale back the search," says Mehr, noting some equipment may be needed to respond to dangerous winter storm conditions. Mehr also shot down an apparent rumor that Noah's family was involved in his disappearance; Tucson News Now reports Noah's father was previously in trouble for drugs. "We have thoroughly vetted all of that," Mehr said. The family are "good citizens." A pastor who spoke with the family told Fox13 that "they're still very hopeful, still very faithful, they believe Noah is going to be found." (Read more missing child stories.)
(Newser)  A suicide car bomber rammed the gates of a restaurant near a beach in Somalia's capital before gunmen fought their way into the building in an attack claimed by an Islamic extremist group that killed at least three people on Thursday, a police official said.The assailants may have taken some hostages inside the Liido Seafood restaurant, which is popular with Mogadishu's elite and government officials, Capt. Mohamed Hussein said. "The operation (to dislodge the attackers) is ongoing now. The (attackers) are still inside and fighting our troops," Hussein said from the scene of the attack as gunfire rang out in the background. He said he had counted at least three bodies outside the restaurant. An unknown number of people are still trapped inside the restaurant, he said.

Islamic extremist group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the Mogadishu attack, in a broadcast on its online radio late Thursday. Witnesses said that gunmen shouted "Allahu akbar," the Arabic phrase for "God is great," and entered the restaurant from the direction of the beach as clients, sitting behind razor wire, watched the seashore. "They randomly fired at the people sitting near the beach before entering the restaurant," said witness Ahmed Nur, who was strolling along on the shoreline when the attack happened. Despite being pushed out of Somalia's major cities and towns, al-Shabab continues to launch deadly guerrilla attacks across the Horn of Africa country, including one last week on Kenyan peacekeepers. African Union troops, government officials, and foreigners are frequently targeted. (Read more Somalia stories.)
(Newser)  A Kent State University professor is being investigated by the FBI over possible connections to ISIS, the Akron Beacon Journal reports. While the university isn't commenting on the investigation, the Cleveland Scene alleges history professor Julio Pino was possibly suspected of recruiting for the terrorist organization. Pino tells the Beacon Journal it's probably his record on Middle East issues while at Kent State that ran him afoul of the FBI. Over the past 14 years, Pino eulogized a suicide bomber in the school paper, criticized US policy in the Middle East in multiple letters to the editor, was questioned by the Secret Service over his beliefs, shouted "death to Israel" during a lecture by a one-time Israeli diplomat, and blamed the deaths of 1,400 Palestinians on "academic friends."

Pino, a former Fulbright Scholar, also once took a paid six-week trip to the United Arab Emirates to learn Arabic, leading to the firing of his department head, the Scene reports. Furthermore, Fox News found a post on what appears to be Pino's Facebook page "praising Osama bin Laden and urging al-Qaeda fighters to merge with the black-clad terror army," as the network puts it. The university has not suspended Pino, as he is tenured. "We find Prof. Pinos comments reprehensible & counter to our core values," the university's president tweets. "He does not speak on behalf of @KentState." Pino himself tells the Beacon Journal he's done nothing wrong and has no connection to ISIS, and adds, "As they say, 'Haters gonna hate.'" (Read more Islamic State stories.)
George Clooney's wife Amal Alamuddin made it clear that she is serious in her job as a UN human rights lawyer and being considered as celebrity is just one of the perks of being married to an A-list actor.

In an interview at the Today show via New Zealand Herald, the London-based lawyer lauds celebrities who use their fame in informing the public of the causes they believed in but personally, she never considered herself one of them.

"I think it's wonderful that celebrities would choose to use their time or energy or the spotlight that they have to raise awareness about these causes. I don't really see myself in the same way because I'm still doing the same job that I used to do before. If there's more attention paid for whatever reason to that, then I think that's good. I think there is a certain responsibility that comes with that. I think I'm exercising it in an appropriate manner by continuing to do this kind of work and engaging with the media on issues that I think are important," she said.

Alamuddin's recent case is in her support for former leader Mohamed Nasheed, who was dragged behind bars last year for alleged involvement of terrorism and the arrest of a chief judge in 2012.

Last year, the human rights lawyer had a bad experience in going to the country when one of her colleagues was stabbed. Thus, in her recent meeting at the White House, she is discussing the sanctions of such crimes with the US government.

"Democracy is dead in the Maldives. I mean, literally, if there were an election now, there would be no one to run against the president. Every opposition leader is either behind bars or being pursued by the government through the courts," she said.

In response to Alamuddin's campaign for Mohamed Nasheed, Maldives Foreign Minister Dunya Maumoon issued a separate statement contradicting the lawyer's statement that democracy has seized to exist in Maldives.

"My appeal to the rest of the world is to have a good understanding and not be persuaded purely by charm-filled Amal Clooney when she goes and gives some of these stories," Maumoon said as mentioned in Design and Trend.

Meanwhile, George Clooney issued a similar opinion with his wife, Amal Alamuddin. This time, he is talking about 'branding' and being labelled as 'celebrity' while promoting his recent movie Our Brand is Crisis, wherein he stars alongside with Sandra Bullock, Enstarz reported.

"I don't think if people as commodities. I don't think of Sandy or myself or any actor in the film as a brand. But maybe I'm just hopeful..." he said.
Lupita Nyong 'o joins other Hollywood celebrities who decry this year's list of Oscar nominees saying it is predominantly White.

"I am disappointed by the lack of inclusion in this year's Academy Awards nominations. It has me thinking about unconscious prejudice and what merits prestige in our culture," she wrote on Instagram as mentioned in a report from NBC News.

The Twelve Years A Slave actress further stressed that art should function as a reflection of the diversity that the modern world has.

"The Awards should not dictate the terms of art in our modern society, but rather be a diverse reflection of the best of what our art has to offer today."

Earlier, other stars like George Clooney condemned the lack of representation among African and Black American celebrities in the award's ceremony.

"We need to get better at this. We used to be better at it," the A-list actor said as quoted by BBC.

Director Steve McQueen, Selma's David Oyelowo, Idris Elba also had their share of opinions as they express that this Oscars has overlooked diversity and racism.

Jada Pinkett-Smith, who stars in the movie Concussion, also posted a video on Facebook calling others to boycott the 2016 Oscars.

"Maybe it's time we pull back our resources and we put them back into our communities, and we make programs for ourselves that acknowledge us in ways that we see fit, that are just as good as the so-called mainstream," she said.

The issue on diversity is said to have started and has been proliferated in social media with the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite and has been gaining popularity since more and more actors joined the cause, NY Daily News said.

In a previous survey conducted by LA Times via BBC, it was found out that among the 5,100 voters for the Oscars include nearly 94% Caucasian with only 2% for Black voters and 2% for Latinos. It was also found out that Caucasians and male members make up most of the Academy's 15 branches.
An official United Kingdom inquiry into the death of former Russian spy, Alexander V. Litvineko, who defected to Great Britain, reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin and the head of the country's spy service most likely approved the murder plans.

The report, which was published Thursday and chaired by former British High Court judge Robert Owen, found "strong circumstantial evidence" that ties the murder of Litvineko to the highest levels of the Russian government. After leaving Russia for the UK, Litvineko was publicly critical of the Russian leadership.

"Litvinenko made repeated highly personal attacks on President Putin, culminating in (an) allegation of pedophilia in July 2006," the 328-page report wrote.

Owen also noted that Russia most likely viewed Litvineko as a traitor.

The report accused two Russian agents of killing Litvineko in 2006 by lacing his tea with a radioactive toxin known as polonium-210. The men, Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kouvtun, had met Litvineko at the Pine Bar of the Millennium Hotel in London right before Litvineko fell ill. He died three weeks later at the age of 43.

Owen stated that even though it is highly probably that the two men poisoned Litvineko, it is possible that Lugovoi and Kouvtun were just following orders and did not understand how polounium-210 worked.

The report added that after the killing, Putin's positive attitude and treatment toward Lugovoi could suggest "that the Russian state approves of Mr. Litvinenko's killing, or at least that it wishes to signal approval for it."

Following this report, British home secretary Theresa May announced that Britain will be freezing the assets of Lugovoi, who is a member of the Russian Parliament, and Kouvtun. Lugovoi has commented on the report, calling it "absurd."

He added to Interfax news agency according to USA TODAY that the accusations "once again confirm London's anti-Russian position and the blinkered view and unwillingness of the British to establish the true cause of Litvinenko's death."

Kouvtun stated that he will not comment until he has finished reading the entire report.

Maria Zakharova, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman in Moscow, stated, "We regret that the strictly criminal case has been politicized and has darkened the general atmosphere of bilateral relations. Certainly, we need some time to thoroughly analyze the contents of this document, after which we will issue our detailed review."

Litvinenko's wife, Marina, was happy to hear the report's findings.

"I am of course very pleased that the words my husband spoke on his death bed when he accused Mr. Putin of his murder have been proved true," she said quoted by NBC News. "If you commit this crime, in the end you will face justice."

The inquiry in Litvinenko's death was ordered in 2014 at the request of Marina and several British lawmakers. Throughout the investigation, Owen spoke with 62 witnesses, analyzed official secret intelligence information and used his own ties with the spy agencies to gather more information.

To read the full report, click here.
China will be investing $18 billion into rebuilding Egypt, a decision that will surely help the country's economy rebound.

The agreements were signed on Thursday during Chinese President Xi Jinping's Middle East tour stop in Cairo, Egypt, which marked the first time in more than 10 years that a Chinese President has visited Egypt. The meeting took place a few days prior to the anniversary of the uprising against former leader Hosni Mubarak on Jan. 25, 2011.

"China supports Egypt's efforts to maintain stability, develop the economy and improve livelihoods, and ... play an even greater role in international and regional affairs," President Xi said, according to China's foreign ministry reported by Reuters.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi welcomed China's involvement, stating that he is proud of his relationship with President Xi. The economic growth in Egypt has been stalled since 2011 when political turmoil scared off foreign investors and tourists. During these past few years, Egypt's economy relied heavily on Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The 21 agreements include several development projects involving electricity and transportation as well as infrastructure plans. One of these projects will be the Suez Canal.

President Xi also detailed his plans for the region.

Per Reuters:

"China would dedicate $15 billion in special loans to boost industrial production in the region, $10 billion in trade credit for joint energy projects and another $10 billion in soft loans, Xi said.

China would also set up funds with the UAE and Qatar worth a total $20 billion to invest in conventional energy. It will extend its contracts to buy oil from the region and dedicate $300 million to helping train police, Xi said."

President Xi's tour, which began in Saudi Arabia, will end in Iran.
In the wake of the Zika virus threat and detections in the US, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has issued new guidelines for pregnant women.

ABC News reports that the new guidelines require doctors to determine from pregnant women if they have travelled to countries where the virus has been reported to cause disease. Besides recommending postponing travel to countries witnessing an outbreak, the CDC has also asked all pregnant to get tested if they have travelled to these countries.

"Because there is neither a vaccine nor prophylactic medications available to prevent Zika virus infection, CDC recommends that all pregnant women consider postponing travel to areas where Zika virus transmission is ongoing," the agency said while warning women to take adequate precautions against mosquito bites.

Though a relatively mild virus compared to dengue and chikungunya, also spread by the Aedes mosquitoes, the virus is a threat to pregnant women and their unborn fetuses as it causes microcephaly. The condition results in children being with smaller heads and neurological problems.

According to The New York Times, the outbreak is the worst in Brazil but CDC has warned of travel to Colombia, El Salvador, French Guiana, Gautamela, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay and Puerto Rico as well.

Most infected people do not show symptoms, which include fever, rash and joint pain. When present, the symptoms usually resolve in a week. However the virus can cross the placental barrier and infect the fetus.
Portland Community College's new program, Whiteness History Month: Context, Consequences and Change, has been heavily criticized mainly by conservatives since it was announced, forcing the school's interim president, Sylvia Kelley, to post a statement defending it.

In the statement uploaded on Wednesday, Kelley explained that the program's goal is to discuss the "master narrative of race."

The statement says:

"The Project seeks to challenge the master narrative of race and racism through an exploration of the social of whiteness. Challenging the master narrative of traditional curriculum is a strategy within higher education that promotes multicultural education and equity. ...

We view this project as part of a larger national conversation around race and social justice on America's college campuses. As Oregon's largest post-secondary educational institution, it is our responsibility to help continue this courageous conversation. We understand that this will be challenging and uncomfortable work, yet we have made a commitment in our strategic plan to take intentional action to advance diversity, equity and inclusion -for all we serve."

People who were critical of this program accused the school of promoting shame onto white people. The American Conservative stated that the program should be called "white hatey month."

The program was stared by the college's Diversity Council, which described the month-long event as a "bold adventure" designed to analyze "race and racism through an exploration of the construction of whiteness, its origins and heritage."

The college added that the project "seeks to inspire innovative and practical solutions to community issues and social problems that stem from racism."

The program is scheduled to start in April.
New Delhi:

With the arrest of four persons with suspected ISIS links from Manglour in Uttarakhand, Delhi Police has claimed to have unearthed a terror plot to target the ongoing Ardh Kumbh Mela at Haridwar, particularly trains heading there and some strategic locations in the national capital.



The suspects, identified as Akhlaq ur-Rehman, Mohammed Osama, Mohammed Azim Shah and Mehroz were arrested from Manglour town in Uttarakhands Haridwar district yesterday and produced in a court here today which sent them to 15 days police custody, Special Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Arvind Deep said.



The four suspects were tracked down with inputs from a central intelligence agency. They had planned to carry out terror attacks at the Ardh Kumbh mela, trains heading towards Haridwar passing through Roorkie and some strategic locations in Delhi, Deep said.



According to sources, the suspects were allegedly in contact of a former Indian Mujahideen operative, who later went for training in Syria and is presently believed to be a key member of Ansar-ut Tawhid fi Bilad al-Hind (AuT) which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).



One of the suspects, Akhlaq, is also being questioned in connection with the attacks at Pathankot. Meanwhile, their involvement in all possible networks, including the AuT-ISIS, is being verified, the source said.



The suspects have been booked under provisions of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.



Special Commissioner Arvind Deep refused to comment on the outfit which the suspects belong to but said, The national capital faces threat until the entire module is busted.



Delhi was put on high alert and security was stepped up earlier this month after the Special Cell received input about the presence of some Jaish-e-Mohammed key members in the city two days after the attack at Pathankot.



On Monday, two persons with suspected al Qaeda links were detained from Mewat in Haryana. However, Delhi Police Special Cell has so far claimed to have arrested only one.



Senior officials have also reviewed the security today in view of upcoming Republic Day celebrations, an official added.

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New Delhi:

With Amit Shah set to be re-elected as BJP president the process for election to the top party post got underway on Wednesday following issuance of notification of the poll schedule.



Nominations for the post of party president would be accepted on January 24 and scrutiny will take place the same day. The election, if required, would be held on January 25.



Shahs tenure at the helm of the party is ending on January 23 and he is likely to be re-elected unopposed, party sources said.



If re-elected, this would be the first full tenure for Shah as he is now completing the remnant of the three-year term of Rajnath Singh, who left the post after joining the Union Cabinet. Shah took over as the BJP President on July 9, 2014.



The nominations for the election to the post of BJP President would be accepted on January 24 between 10 AM and 1 PM at the party headquarters on Ashok Road. The scrutiny and withdrawal of nominations would take place between 1 PM and 1:30 PM and, if necessary, the election will be held on January 25 between 10 AM and 2 PM, Returning Officer for the election Avinash Rai Khanna said.



Party sources said BJP already has 20 state presidents in place and the process for electing five more state unit chiefs is underway.



As per BJP constitution, which was amended in 2013 during Nitin Gadkaris tenure, a person can be elected BJP President for two terms.



Sources said the RSS has backed Shah for a full term after Prime Minister Narendra Modi put his weight behind his long-time loyalist.



The party presidents election in BJP is normally unopposed. Last time senior party leader Yashwant Sinha had expressed his willingness to contest but later decided against it.

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New Delhi:

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal visited the University of Hyderabad on Thursday and met the students and family members of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula who committed suicide.

Addressing the students at the university, Kejriwal slammed HRD minister Smriti Irani, saying: "Smriti Irani ji spoke one lie after another, she tried to create controversy over Rohith's caste."

"Shameful that a union minister used words like 'extremist, casteist and anti-national' in his letter," he added.

Rohith was a very bright student. He was Dalit but he did not come from reserved quota, he came on merit. When such bright students have to commit suicide, I think it is a shame on the entire nation and society, he said.

Kejriwal had earlier demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi sack HRD Minister Smriti Irani and Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya. He had also sought an apology from the PM to the nation over Rohith's suicide, questioning the ministers interference in the internal affairs of the institution.

Rohith was among five research scholars who were suspended by the University in August last year over an alleged assault case.

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New Delhi :

Just a simple spelling mistake led this 10-year-old Muslim pupil being interviewed by British police.

The primary school boy who lives in Lacashire meant to write he lived in a terraced house but mistakenly wrote terrorist house in his English class.

Without realising that it was just a normal spelling mistake made by the boy, his teachers reported the boy to the police. The teachers thought it their duty to report the incident under 2015 Counter-Terrorism and Security Act, which states that teachers are obliged to alert the authorities to any suspected terrorist behaviour.

British police grilled the boy the following day and examined the family laptop for any evidence of extremism.

The boys family were left shocked at the incident and one of the members even thought of it as a joke initially. Later, his family demanded an apology from the school authorities and police.

You can imagine it happening to a 30-year-old man, but not to a young child, she told the BBC. If the teacher had any concerns it should have been about his spelling.

They shouldnt be putting a child through this. Hes now scared of writing, using his imagination said one of the boys cousin.

The school hasnt commented anything post the incident. Though the Lancashire police said in a statement that the situation was handled by a PC and social services and that anti-terrorism police were not called in.

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New Delhi :

Akshay Kumar and Nimrat kaur starrer Airlift is set to release tomorrow.The Indian war thriller is directed by Raja Krishna Menon. The movie is based on the worlds biggest air evacuation carried out by India in 1990.

On August 2, 1990 Iraq at the order of Sadam Hussein invaded Kuwait leaving millions of people stranded. At that time, Kuwait had become home to close 1,70,000 Indians who found their lives under threat. The Iraqi army was looting the country and people suffered numerous atrocities at the hand of their soldiers.

Not much is known about the operation but here are some of the facts to go through before you head to watch out the next release Airlift:

-Soon after the invasion began, the Iraqi army took over the city. The Kuwaiti royal family managed to escape to Saudi Arabia and left other people homeless and stranded.

-The biggest airlift in the world history ever was not an easy task for India. It had to evacuate 1,70,000 Indians, who were not even ready to leave what they had worked for so hard. It wasnt that easy for them to leave the country as they didnt have valid travel papers. Their employers used to hold on their passports once they landed in Kuwait. And those employers had either fled the country or were dead.

-Some of the big Indian businessmen got together to oversee the evacuation of the huge Indian contingent from war-torn Kuwait.

-Indian government systematically flew over 488 Air India commercial flights into a war zone to evacuate all 1,70,000 Indians and safely bring them back home.

-The year this evacuation took place India was not a stable economy itself like today. Financial trouble, heavy dependency on crude oil was all what our country was grappling with.

-This evacuation operation began on August 14, 1990 and continued for almost 2 months and finally came to an end on October 11.

-This massive operation is also recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records and is also regarded as the most successful evacuation ever carried out by any country in the history.

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New Delhi:

BSFs camel contingent will continue to march in the ceremonial Republic Day parade here after all.



In an afterthought, the contingent of camels caparisoned in rich bridal attire and silver bracelets jingling has been finally called in to march down the Rajpath, keeping alive the 66-year-old tradition of the countrys main parade on January 26.



With less than a week to go for the national event, the iconic contingent today took part in dress rehearsals for the first time after it was made to skip the same exercise on January 17 and 18.



The four-footed contingent, colourfully bedecked, are a major attraction at the parade every year.



Officials said the Border Security Force authorities were informed yesterday evening by the Ministry of Defence to mobilise their squad and participate in the drill at the Rajpath today morning.



The camel contingent today participated in the dress rehearsals for the first time. The squad has been here for the last about three months but no intimation for participating in the rehearsals for January 26 parade were made earlier. It skipped the scheduled and notified rehearsals held on January 17 and 18, the officials said.



The 90-camel contingent, 54 with troops and the rest with band personnel, first became part of this national festival celebration in 1976 after it replaced a similar squad of the army which had been participating in the Republic Day parade since it first took place in 1950.



The BSF is the only force in the country to have these majestic and elegantly dressed four-legged animals for both operational and ceremonial duties.



They are used by BSF personnel for patrolling along the Thar desert running along the Indo-Pak International Border in Rajasthan.



The contingent had been the intrinsic part of the parade at the Rajpath every January 26.



The contingent has been practising at other facilities till now and it can surely give its best by putting its best foot forward in the last few days before January 26, officials said.



According to tradition, the lead camel contingent on Republic Day showcases smartly dressed and large-moustached and armed BSF border guards, the second follows with bandsmen in beautiful multi-colour dresses on the back of the camels playing martial music.



The camel contingent may also now be included in the Beating the Retreat ceremony to be held on January 29 where they stand on the ramparts of the North and South Blocks on Raisina Hill, officials said.

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Jaipur:

With literary heavyweights like Canadian poet and novelist Margaret Atwood, author Ruskin Bond, US photographer Steve McCurry, Harvard historian Niall Ferguson and Stephen Fry from Britain, the famed Jaipur Literature Festival begins today amid tight security.

The annual five-day jamboree, one of the largest free literary festivals in the world, which has lined up over 222 participants has been held at the 17th century Diggi Palace ever since its inception in 2006.

Police have made elaborate security and traffic regulation arrangements to manage the heavy crowd and ease subsequent traffic congestion.

Even before it began the event witnessed a hint of controversy with the Rajasthan High Court today hearing a PIL that sought for a change in the venue, directed the state government to submit within a week a report on arrangements made for the festival.

A huge crowd turnout and resulting traffic snarls witnessed in the venue over previous years prompted the plea.

Last year a session by the former President A P J Abdul Kalam attracted the largest crowds and festival organisers had to close entry to the venue.

According to Jaipur police commissioner Srinivas Rao Janga elaborate security arrangements have been made for the Festival for which the permission has already been granted.

We have made all arrangements for the security. Special arrangements for traffic regulation are also in place, Janga told PTI.

Meanwhile, writer and historian William Dalrymple, who is a co-director of the Festival along with Namita Gokhale, said he hopes to see more coverage on literature this year.

I hope literature gets more coverage this year than the cooked up controversies, he said.

From an impressive line up of speakers, Dalrymple said he looks forward to sessions by the big poster authors including Margaret Atwood, who would deliver this years keynote address besides Thomas Piketty, Stephen Fry, David Grossman and Niall Ferguson.

Im looking forward to the dust up between Shashi Tharoor and Niall Ferguson on the Empire and Anthony Sattins session on Young Lawrence. Of the more offbeat things, I look to hearing Cyprian Broodbank, the archaeology professor from Cambridge talking about Neanderthals, Irving Finkel talk about the Noahs Arc, the White Mughals author told PTI.

The Jaipur festival itself will be hosting two Caribbean writersKei Miller, who won the Forward prize for poetry and Booker prize winner Marlon James.

Apart from Caribbean literature, JLF also promises a great deal of history and partition literature, which according to Dalrymple is a reflection of what is being published the most.

Last year in September, a series of purported emails were leaked between author Aatish Taseer and Dalrymple. In the exchange, Taseer has allegedly refused an invitation to the JLF because Dalrymple did not take note of Taseers latest novel, The Way Things Were, which has just been recently released in the United States.

Reacting to that controversy, Dalrymple said, We invite the greatest authors in the world, most come and some dont.Thats up to them and I respect it. Some authors hate literature festivals, there is no diktat that you must appear in Jaipur.

We have the greatest authors in the world; the greatest minds of the world from Harvard, Cambridge, Oxford, Yale, the Booker winners, the Sahitya Akademi winners, the Nobel winners, he said.

The line-up of prominent speakers at the 2016 edition of JLF include Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramaniam, Israeli author David Grossman, Bosnian American author Aleksandar Hemon, Irish author Colm Toibin, and Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion Secretary Amitabh Kant.

Not just the writers, the festival will see giants from a plethora of backgrounds including Mahatma Gandhis grand daughter Tara Gandhi Bhattacharjee, French economist Thomas Piketty, lyricists Javed Akhtar and Gulzar, British archaelogist Cyprian Broodbank, Philogist Irving Finkel, photographer Steve McCurry and more.

Amongst prominent Indian authors are Anuja Chauhan, former Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid, Alka Saraogi, Ashok Vajpeyi, Harish Trivedi, Urvashi Butalia, Jerry Pinto, Anjum Hasan, Ila Arab Mehta and Madhav Hada.

A total of 18 new titles are set to be launched during the festival such as Kanishk Tharoors Swimmer among the Stars, The Ballad of Bant Singh and The Tears of the Rajah by Ferdinant Mount.

Bollywood too shall have a fair share of representation at the literary gathering, with director-producer Karan Johar revealing snippets of his life, while discussing his biography An Unsuitable Boy.

BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha will be seen in a talk about his biography, Anything But Khamosh: The Shatrughan Sinha Biography on January 25.

Kanhaiya Lal Sethia Award for Poetry, Shri Dwarka Prasad Agarwal Award For Upcoming Hindi Writer and Oxford Bookstore Book Cover Prize are some of the awards to be given out during the course of the festival.

As a part of ZEE JLFs ongoing partnership with Rajasthan Tourism, two evening events have been organised at the Amber Fort and the Albert Museum.

Piya Behrupiya, an adaptation of Shakespeares Twelfth Night will be performed at The Albert Museum on January 22 at celebration of the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare.

Noted actor-playwright Girish Karnad will read his works during Time and the Indian Imagination at Amber Fort, on January 23 followed by Sufi music by Mir Mukhtiyar Ali.

We are delighted to bring some of the best music, theatre and poetry and showcase these against the backdrop of over a 1000 years of Indian architecture and heritage in Rajasthan, Sanjoy Roy, Festival Producer said.

The literary festival will regale audiences with an elaborate line-up of music acts.

Book Mark, a two-day parallel event in its third year now, will bring together publishers, agents, rights holders and literary content producers from across the world from Jan 21-22 at the Narain Niwas Palace here.
New Delhi :

Mumbai comes one more step further in attaining gender equality. Soon after the launch of pink auto rickshaws for women, now the city will have radio cabs run by the LGBT members.

A city based community organisation, Humsafar Trust, along with Wings Travels launched the initiative on Wednesday.

The first batch of five drivers will have two transgenders and three gay men commandeering cabs in the next three months.

This can be seen as a stepping stone in attaining gender equality and empowering the LGBT community. This will also help in generating employment opportunities for the otherwise deprived community.

According to Arun Kharat, founder and director, Wings Travels, We have openings for nearly 1,500 LGBT members in Mumbai under the programme. We are aiming to turn it a pan-India scheme.

This might come as a revolutionary approach to uproot the evils and stereotypical thoughts about this community.

To generate acceptance towards their sexual orientation, this step can prove to be of seminal importance when it comes to LGBT rights.
Coimbatore:

The second national conference of All India Brahmins Association beginning here from January 23, will appeal to the state govenrments to strictly follow the reservation guidelines of 50 per cent, as ordered by the Supreme Court.



Tamil Nadu and Karnataka were not following the Apex Coiurt ruling of 50 per cent reservation, instead sticking with 69 per cent reservation in education and employment fields, Ramasundaram, District president of the Association, told reporters here today.



The two-day conference will appeal these governments to implement the Court order, so that other sections of the society also benefit, he said, adding that the association has already filed a petition in this regard in the Supreme Court.



It will also appeal the Centre to expedite the construction of Ram Temple at Ayodhya, he said, adding that the Centre should also celebrate the Samadhi day of Adi Shankara, as spiritual day and declare a holiday.



Ramasundaram said that the association has already requested the State Government to take steps to remove the statues of E V Ramasamy Periyar, which were illegally constructed in front of Chidambaram and Srirangam temples.



The conference will also appeal the Centre to confer Bharath Ratna on T V Rama Subba Iyer, the founder of Tamil daily, Dinamalar, who was also a freedom fighter and also build a memorial at his birthplace in Nagercoil, Ramasundaram said.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
London:

The royal corridors of Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth IIs home, which is usually the preserve of paying visitors or guests, can now be seen through a new virtual reality tour.

The queens primary residence can be accessed via a new video uploaded on the British Monarchy YouTube Channel as part of a larger Google Expeditions Pioneer programme.

The palace will be the first UK landmark to feature in a related virtual field trip intended for schoolchildren around the world.

For schoolchildren, Buckingham Palace is one of the most iconic, magical buildings in the world. Were terrifically excited that, thanks to the virtual reality potential of Google Expedition, children, their teachers and families can visit the palace wherever they live, said Jemima Rellie, director of content and audiences at the Royal Collection Trust which has collaborated with Google for the project.

Virtual reality is really something. Its a game-changer. It is entirely different. It is the most physically immersive experience you can get without actually being at the palace. Its not going to replace a visit, but if you are unable to get to the palace, it is the best alternative out there, she said.

Using a special app and a cardboard stereoscopic viewer and smartphone, pupils from selected countries will be guided through the palaces grand entrance, up the grand staircase, through the throne room, picture gallery, green drawing room, ballroom and white drawing room.

The Buckingham Palace tour is one of 150 such tours on the free app available to 500,000 pupils who have signed up so far in schools across the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Denmark and Sweden.

Other countries are to be included as the project expands this year. The photos for the tour were taken last week with a 16-camera rig placed in a circle.

The general public can access the 360-degree tour via the YouTube Video Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gen0NgJjry4.

Visitors can stand at the bottom of the grand staircase and, although not able to move, have an almost complete view of the architectural wonder dating back to the early 18th century.
New Delhi:

Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar is delighted to announce that his upcoming movie Airlift has been cleared for release in Middle East.



Airlift, which is based on massive evacuation of Indians from Kuwait during the 1990 invasion by Iraq, will be released across 70 screens.



The Khiladi actor announced the news on micro-blogging site Twitter. His tweet says:

Delighted 2 inform fans of #Airlift in UAE that our film has been cleared for release.Its releasing across 70 screens in d Middle East today  Ranjit Katiyal (@akshaykumar) January 21, 2016

Airlift that stars Akshay Kumar in patriotic avatar once again will release on coming Friday in India.



Directed by Raja Krishna Menon, the film also stars Nimrat Kaur and Purab Kohli in the lead roles.

For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Moscow:

Russian President Vladimir Putin probably approved the killing of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko who died in a hospital here in 2006 from radioactive poisoning, a British inquiry concluded today in a damning report, triggering a diplomatic row with Moscow.

43-year-old Litvinenko, a former agent in the Russian federal security service (FSB) or secret police, died days after being poisoned with radioactive polonium-210 which he is believed to have drunk in a cup of tea.

The finding by Robert Owen, a retired High Court judge, in a 328-page report represented by far the most damning official link between Litvinenkos death and the highest levels of the Kremlin.

While he lay dying in a London hospital bed, Litvinenko had pointedly told Scotland Yard that the Russian President had given the orders for his killing.

There is a strong probability they were acting on behalf of the Russian FSB secret service, the inquiry found.

Two Russian men, Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun, have been accused of his murder. They deny killing him.

Owen said that taken as a whole the open evidence that had been heard in court amounted to a strong circumstantial case that the Russian state was behind the assassination.

But when he took into account all the evidence available to him, including a considerable quantity of secret intelligence that was not aired in open court, he found that the FSB operation to kill Litvinenko was probably approved by [Nikolai] Patrushev [head of the security service in 2006] and also by President Putin.

At the time of his death, Litvinenko was working for the British intelligence service MI6 and also for Spanish intelligence, passing on information on Russian organised crime networks and their links to the Kremlin. Litvinenko was due shortly to become a star witness in a number of trials.

British Prime Minister David Camerons official spokeswoman said Downing Street was taking the findings extremely seriously and that the Prime Minister found them extremely disturbing.

The spokeswoman said: The conclusion that the murder was authorised at the highest levels of the Russian state is extremely disturbing. It is not the way for any state, let alone a permanent member of the UN Security Council, to behave.

Regrettably, these findings confirm what we and previous governments already believed.

The spokeswoman said measures taken against Russia in 2007 remained in place, adding: In the light of the inquirys findings, we are considering what further action we should take.

In Moscow, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, We regret that a purely criminal case was politicised and darkened the general atmosphere of bilateral relations.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
London:

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange will be questioned by Swedish authorities at his Ecuadorean embassy hideout here, where he is holed up since June 2012 after being wanted in Sweden over allegations of rape and sexual assault.

Ecuadors President Rafael Correa confirmed that a deal has been struck with Swedish prosecutors that will see Assange face questions over allegations he sexually assaulted two women, without having to leave the diplomatic building.

President Correa said the Swedish authorities will submit questions to Ecuadorian officials, who will then quiz Assange about them, UK media reports said.

Assange, an Australian national, sought political asylum at the embassy in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden as he feared being transported to the US to be quizzed over the activities of WikiLeaks that caused considerable harm to the US foreign policy interests.

Assange, 44, is wanted for questioning in Sweden over sex assault allegations against two women, which he has always denied.

Negotiations began in June last year between Ecuadors acting foreign minister Xavier Lasso and the Swedish justice ministrys international affairs chief Anna-Carin Svensson.

An Ecuadorian government statement had indicated a deal in December 2015: The agreement, without any doubt, is a tool that strengthens bilateral relations and facilitates, for example, the execution of such legal actions as the questioning of Assange, isolated in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
London:

Worries over a British exit from the European Union weighed on participants at the World Economic Forum today, with Frances prime minister warning that it would be a tragedy that could prove an inspiration to populists around the region at a time when many countries are contending with massive numbers of refugees.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said hes in no hurry to hold a referendum on his countrys future in the EU, if a deal on his reform proposals doesnt emerge at a summit of European leaders in February. But he insisted that his aim is to secure Britains future in a reformed EU, a stance that he says is the best outcome for both sides.

If theres a good deal on the table, I will take it, he told an audience of mainly business leaders in the Swiss ski resort of Davos. But if there isnt the right deal, Im not in a hurry. I can hold my referendum any time up until the end of 2017. And its much more important to get this right than to rush it.

One of the major tenets of the manifesto of Camerons Conservative Party, which won a governing majority in last Mays general election, was a pledge to hold a referendum on Britains future in the EU by the end of 2017 after a renegotiation process.

Britains future in the EU is set to be the main discussion point a summit of the EUs 28 leaders on Feb. 18-19. The thinking until very recently was that an agreement would emerge then, paving the way for a referendum in the summer.

The refugee crisis that has engulfed Europe over the past few months as people leave conflict zones, notably from Syria, has raised worries that a deal may not be achieved in time for one thing a referendum date will need time to legislate.

Many European issues are up in the air at the moment, including what to do with the Schengen Agreement that allows borderless travel across much of the continent.

Cameron laid out his four reform proposals, which he insisted were not outrageous asks. He said he wants to hard-wire competitiveness into the EUs DNA, make sure non-euro countries like Britain arent discriminated by the 19 EU countries that use the euro currency, get Britain out of the idea of an ever-closer union and curbs on migration and benefits.

Since joining what was then known as the European Economic Community in 1973, Britains membership has often been strained. Over the past few years, a groundswell of opinion in the country thinks exiting the EU is the best option, especially at a time when many of its members are getting closer together, notably with the creation of the euro currency. In last Mays election, the U.K. Independence Party, which aims to get Britain out of the EU, won 4 million, or just under 13 percent of the total. Many supporters of Camerons Conservatives would likely vote for Brexit too whatever deal emerges.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Washington:

The scientist who claims to be about to carry out the first human head transplant by next year says that he has successfully done the procedure on a monkey in China.

Maverick neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero said he tested the procedure in experiments on monkeys and human cadavers.

The monkey head transplant was carried out at Harbin Medical University in China, Canavero told New Scientist.

The monkey survived the procedure without any neurological injury of whatever kind, he said, but that it was killed 20 hours after the procedure for ethical reasons.

Canavero says that the success shows that his plan to transplant a humans head onto a donor body is in place.

He says that the procedure will be ready before the end of 2017 and could eventually become a way of treating complete paralysis.

I would say we have plenty of data to go on, Canavero told the science magazine.

Its important that people stop thinking this is impossible. This is absolutely possible and were working towards it.

The team behind the work has published videos and images showing a monkey with a transplanted head, as well as mice that are able to move their legs after having their spinal cords severed and then stuck back together, The Independent reported.

Fusing the spinal cord of a person is going to be key to successfully transplanting a human head onto a donor body. The scientists claim that they have been able to do so by cleanly cutting the cord and using polyethylene glycol (PEG), which can be used to preserve cell membranes and helps the connection recover.

It is not the first time that a successful transplant has been carried out on a monkey. Head transplant pioneer Robert J White successfully carried out the procedure in 1970, on a monkey that initially responded well but died after nine days when the body rejected the head.

The newly-revealed success is likely to be an attempt to help generate funds for the ultimate aim of giving a head transplant to Valery Spriridonov, the Russian patient who has been chosen to be the first to undergo the procedure.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
ANSONIA  Chalk it up to teenage insensitivity, ignorance or impudence.

But an Ansonia High School student sparked a federal investigation when he substituted ISIS for the United States of America during the morning Pledge of Allegiance.

Local police did not charge the 15-year-old boy with a crime, but turned the matter over to the Department of Homeland Security, said Ansonia police Lt. Andrew Cota.

ISIS is the term often used for the Islamic State terrorist group also known as ISIL.

The incident occurred before the Christmas break, Cota said.

The boy, who was not identified by police because he is a juvenile, is no longer at the high school. He has been assigned to classes in a modular building that is part of the Robert E. Zuraw Administration Center on Grove Street.

John R. Williams, a New Haven-based civil rights lawyer, believes everyone overreacted in the incident  which is exactly what the terrorists want us to do.

He said the student should have been sent to the principals office, been given a stern lecture and maybe a couple of hours of detention.

To call the cops and Homeland Security is really out of line, Williams said.

Homeland Security referred comment to the FBI, which did not immediately respond Wednesday. The U.S. Attorneys office declined comment on the incident.

Ansonia Police Chief Kevin Hale said the matter is closed as far as the department is concerned.

He said a person may have First Amendment rights to free speech and to use the word ISIS, but that doesnt mean you can yell fire in a crowded movie theater.

Cota said in a release Thursday, The Ansonia Police received a complaint from the Ansonia High School Administrators on October 9 of 2015. The SRO completed a report and we forwarded it off to Homeland Security as we would with any case that we feel needs to be brought to their attention. We are no longer investigating this matter. The allegation is that the male was allegedly making pro ISIS statements during the Pledge of Allegiance. As this is a juvenile matter there is no much information there is no other information being released.

Mayor David Cassetti described the behavior as an isolated incident, and he said parents should not be concerned.

The mayor said his teenage daughter, Jennifer, who attends Ansonia High, was neither kept home nor missed school as a result of the incident.

School officials and Board of Education members referred all comment to Floyd Dugas, their Milford-based lawyer.

Dugas said the school took the action they deemed appropriate out of an abundance of caution. He said federal privacy laws prevent him from commenting further.

The youths mother, whose name is being withheld by Hearst Connecticut Media, chastised the school for taking such action during a recent Board of Education meeting. Her remarks were recorded on tape and transcribed into the boards minutes, both of which were reviewed by Hearst.

Several attempts to contact her were unsuccessful Wednesday.

The mother, in addressing the Board of Education, said her son was not taken out of school because of discipline or ill behavior (but) because the principal ... was allowed to be irrational and make an impulsive decision.

She maintained on the recording that her son did not breach any of the codes of conduct, did not misbehave; the thing that he was alleged was not even founded. It was not true.

She said that if it had been founded, it was also an exercise ... of his ... rights to be able to say what he needs to say. He never threatened anybody, he never harmed anyone ...

She further claimed her son was removed from Ansonia High School because the educational environment ... became hostile.

She repeated that while her son has never been aggressive, hostile, disrespectful, a threat to anyone in a school environment, (the issue) is now pushed through the federal investigation.
I am writing to express my dismay and disgust with the current regulations regarding the sale of Tesla, all electric autos, in Connecticut. (The News-Times, Jan. 17)

Our pandering, business-unfriendly Governor has supported the archaic auto dealership regulations at the expense of state residents and business opportunities.

Dealers, headed up by a dealer selling primarily foreign built vehicles, have successfully lobbied against any change in regulations that would allow the sale of Tesla electric vehicles in Connecticut. (Teslas are made 100 percent in the USA.) This means that anyone wanting to purchase a Tesla, all electric, no emissions vehicle must travel to New York, New Jersey or another state to make the purchase.

At a time when droves of good paying jobs are leaving the state  need I say GE?  this special interest only Governor has sided with the dealer lobby to prevent Teslas from being sold in Connecticut.

Tesla wants to open several showrooms in Connecticut, employing close to 100 high-tech folks initially. Who is opposing this?

There are currently about 1,000 Connecticut owners of Tesla vehicles. These vehicles generate zero emissions and considerable revenue for local towns. The cars sell for close to $100,000, so the grand list impact is significant. Yet the dealer lobby-owned legislature refuses to allow the cars to be sold in Connecticut. Why?

The franchise dealer system is almost 100 years old, isnt it time for a change? Especially when the archaic system is costing Connecticut jobs, revenue dollars and not improving air quality.

The immediate effect of this self-serving lobbying is clear  no Teslas will be sold in Connecticut.

The long term and immeasurable effect is that high-tech, good-paying jobs in other industries will not even give Connecticut a second look. The departure of GE and the general atmosphere, created by special interests with short-term mentalities, has resulted in low pay, service industry jobs becoming the only work available. Connecticuts cost of living and tax burden put those workers at poverty level incomes.

Connecticut will  or already has  lost substantial opportunities for our highly skilled workers. Folks at Electric Boat, Sikorsky and similar manufacturing facilities have seen work go to more technology friendly states.

Do you think that Tesla would have any interest in moving a car assembly plant, battery manufacturing facility, or spacecraft fabrication operation to Connecticut when they cannot even sell their products in the state?

Stupid is, as stupid does, and we are currently doing some really stupid things. Lets wise up and start being smarter by fixing this Tesla sales question.

As far as Tesla investing in Connecticut, they have already invested in Tesla Supercharging stations on Interstates in Connecticut. Stations are located on both I-95 and the Merritt Parkway.

While Connecticut bills itself as range competent, a comment regarding the location/availability of electric vehicle charging stations, it has discriminated against the most advanced, designed from the ground up, highest performing, all electric vehicle  the Tesla.

They are ignorantly denying Connecticut residents access to the leading edge technology in electric vehicles. Adding insult to injury, anyone going through the hoops and rings set up by Connecticut to actually purchase a Tesla, is denied the $3,000 state clean air vehicle tax credit. Reason: The tesla costs too much! Really  stupid is as stupid does.

Bob McGarrah is a resident of Brookfield and the owner of a Tesla.
Kristie Colon, the ex-wife of Gravity Payments CEO Dan Price, has written a blog post in which she stands behind the domestic abuse allegations initially described during a TEDx talk last year, and claims she was silenced in the wake of an ensuing storm as the University of Kentucky ultimately decided to retract and delete the footage.

Onstage during the talk, which was about how writing can be harnessed to overcome trauma, Colon says she felt both brave and afraid in the same moment as she read from her journal about instances when Price threw, punched, slapped, body-slammed and waterboarded her throughout the course of their seven-year marriage.

But after the existence of the TEDx talk was reported by Bloomberg before it had even been published by the university, a media firestorm started to brew. Price, who had shot to national acclaim after raising the minimum salary at his credit card processing startup to $70,000, told Entrepreneur at the time that the abuse allegations were completely false. Neither Price nor a representative for Gravity Payments was immediately available for comment.

Related: Video Containing Allegations Dan Price Abused His Ex-Wife Won't Publish and Has Been Deleted

Phrases like potential defamation lawsuit and disgusting things claimed were being texted, emailed and phoned in to me, Colon writes on her blog. Basically, it was an introverts worst nightmare. She also describes being misrepresented in the press and watching people lie, omit, speculate, and bully.

Consequently, I shut down, she writes. I quit talking because all I could see was cruelty on the other side. Sure, some people could write their own origin myth, but I couldnt even tell my truth to a small group of people without other people losing their minds.

Despite shutting down for two months, however, Colon, who declined to comment for this story, says she is now seeking to own the truth of what happened to her in order to exorcise her demons and potentially help other trauma survivors -- though, to be fair, she still speaks of the experience with a decided vagueness. The story of my marriage and my dads death [Colons father committed suicide when she was six years old] are only a piece of the story thats shaped me, she writes.

Colon also notes on her blog that, while she was initially sent a link to the now-deleted TEDx talk, she didnt secure a copy since she was told it was for viewing purposes only. The University of Kentucky told Entrepreneur last month that it had deleted its copy. A report in Geekwire claims that Gravity Payments may have access to one of the few remaining copies of the video, citing emails obtained through a public records request between the university and Prices press reps.

Related: Dan Price Says Reports He Abused His Ex-Wife Are False

Related:

Dan Price's Ex-Wife Stands By Domestic-Abuse Allegations in Latest Blog Post

Video Containing Allegations Dan Price Abused His Ex-Wife Won't Publish and Has Been Deleted

Dan Price Says Reports He Abused His Ex-Wife Are False



Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
The issue: Drunken driving deaths would seem to be declining, at least slightly, in Connecticut, according to newly released federal data. The number of fatal accidents involving alcohol went from 41 percent in 2013 to 39 percent in 2014. Even so, 97 of the 248 traffic deaths with drivers who had blood alcohol levels 0.008 or more is higher than the national average of 31 percent and puts the state at the fifth highest in the country for such deaths. What concerns us, aside from the obvious fact that the dont drink and drive message needs to be heeded by more, is that the numbers could be skewed. The reality could be much worse. That is because the state reported blood results for only 54 percent of drivers involved in fatalities. The problem is not new.

What we said: Heres the problem by the numbers: Under state law, the chief medical examiners office is required to test a blood sample from any driver who dies in a motor vehicle accident. ...Something is wrong and it starts with the chief medical examiners office.
Thanks to a small loophole, folks whose finances are contributing to the nations $1.2 trillion in total student loan debt might not have to ante up.

More than 7,500 people, owing roughly $163 million in student loans, have applied to have their debt waived in the last six months. The majority claim their schools deceived them with false promises of job placement and high paying positions, according to an article from The Wall Street Journal.

The surge comes after the U.S. Department of Education agreed to cancel nearly $28 million in debt for 1,300 former students from Corinthian Colleges after it was liquidated in bankruptcy and closed. During the case, multiple prominent lawmakers supported students claims in a letter urging the court to rule in their favor. After the decision, department officials indicated more students were likely to be granted forgiveness as well.

Related: The Changing Economics of Student-Loan Debt: How to Pay It Off and Startup

The legal dispute is the direct result of a law included in an 1994 version of the Higher Education Act, which introduced borrower defenses. Though it was meant to be temporary, it was eventually forgotten and left untouched by legislators.

Notwithstanding any other provision of State or Federal law, the Secretary shall specify in regulations which acts or omissions of an institution of higher education a borrower may assert as a defense to repayment of a loan made under this part, the legislation reads.

A segment relating to the policy is also still included at the end of forms for the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program:

In some cases you may assert, as a defense against collection of your loan, that the school did something wrong or failed to do something that it should have done. You can make such a defense against repayment only if the schools act or omission directly relates to your loan or to the educational services that the loan was intended to pay for, and if what the school did or did not do would give rise to a legal cause of action against the school under applicable state law. If you believe that you have a defense against repayment of your loan, contact your servicer.

As college enrollment increased and loaning companies allegedly took advantage of students, activists from movements such as the Debt Collective started to take a closer look at the issue. The group teamed with former Corinthian students, which is when the long-dormant law was discovered.

Because of the snaffu, the Department of Education assigned a special master for borrower defense, Joseph Smith, to provide a summary and analysis of legislation and events in a series of reports.

The unfortunate reality is that some colleges, including certain career colleges, have used abusive practices to prey on students, Smith says in the first report.

The effort coincided with federal education department undersecretary Ted Mitchells goal to hold career colleges accountable for giving students what they deserve -- a high-quality, affordable education that prepares them for their careers.

We just dont know the potential scope, Mitchell says in an article in The Wall Street Journal. This is new territory for us.

Despite an effort to provide insight on the issue, debate surrounds the laws potential application, because the department says it's overly vague. For instance, Smiths report states the law doesnt specify what proof is needed to prove the school committed fraud or any wrongdoing.

Nonetheless, most lawmakers agree reimbursement could possibly be received if students have been defrauded. In that case, the long-forgotten law could end up costing the government billions of dollars before all is said and done.

For that reason, Steve Rhode, a consumer debt expert known as the Get out of Debt Guy, writes in a Huffington Post blog post that he expects the loophole to be closed quickly.

In fact, negotiations started last week involving the education department, students, schools and lenders to create a set of clear rules. For example, when the department can go after institutions to get student-loan-funded tuition money back will be a part of the discussion.

But even with an ongoing discussion, officials are still struggling to understand the laws possible implications or what the bill would eventually look like.

Related:

Does a Short-Term Loan Ever Make Sense for Your Business?

What a 1990 Chevy Pickup Truck Purchase Taught Me About Raising Capital

Loophole May Let Some People Off the Hook for Their College Loans



Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
I learned one of the most valuable startup leadership lessons right after finishing my undergrad education at Virginia Tech -- 20 years before I realized just how valuable it was.

In 1991, I was getting ready to start my first job and went to get my pickup truck tuned up. I brought it to the dealer and had plenty of time to kill in the dealers lot. I roamed around the lot while my truck was getting serviced and spotted a brand-new, full-size Chevy pickup backed up to the lots fence. LAST 90, SAVE BIG $$ was written in soap on the trucks dusty windshield. I took a peek in the window to what was a definite work-truck interior -- vinyl seats, stick shift, crank windows and no air conditioning. Its going price was $14,500. I was in no way looking to buy that day -- my truck was in fine shape -- but I started wondering how desperate the dealer was to sell off his last 1990 model.

Related: 7 Ways to Bootstrap Your Business to Success

Sure enough, the salesman saw me checking out the truck. I told him what I was willing to pay, which got a good laugh out of him. But after some back and forth, we finally settled on my original offer of $7,500.

Before I even finished my victory dance -- it got better. It turned out that Chevy was offering a $1,000 rebate for new college grads, and I walked out the door that day paying $6,500 for the last 1990 model and did indeed SAVE BIG $$ just like the soap sign promised. So, how do you get a brand new truck for less than half the asking price? I was -- pun intended -- in the drivers seat of my negotiation.

How did this experience help me while trying to secure funding for a startup company a couple years ago? It taught me to look for opportunities before I thought it was the right time, and more importantly, before we really needed it. Its paradoxical: Youre more likely to get what you want when it isnt something you imminently need.

Here are my top five things that I think are helpful to know, based on my experience, when raising capital.

1. The best time to raise funding is when you dont need it.

When your back is against the wall, and youre just trying to pay your employees, you are less likely to have leverage in a negotiation, because you and the investor both know that youll run out of cash if you dont take the offer.

For subsequent funding rounds, paint a good picture of your long-term growth to investors. Youll have a better idea of when youll need funding and can start preparing long before you really need it. Be conservative with your cash / burn estimates to give your company room to grow in between rounds of funding without needing to seek an emergency round.

Related: 7 Investor Questions Startup Entrepreneurs Need to Know How to Answer

2. Do your homework.

Look through potential venture capital (VC) firms portfolios to make sure they specialize in or at least work with companies similar to your own. You dont want to go to a business-to-business (B2B) technology software firm and pitch a consumer product. Warm introductions can also make all the difference. If youre able to get connected to VCs or friends of VCs, you have a better shot of getting your foot in the door.

Keep investors close when youre not seeking funding by sharing company milestones and news. Maintaining and growing investor relationships will make it that much easier to connect when a funding round is in the near future.

3. Pick a VC that will complement your startups weaknesses.

Each VC firm has its own strengths and specializations. As a startup CEO, its important that you look closely at your companys strengths and weaknesses so you can find a firm that complements those. If you need help building out a senior team, make sure that a VC can help introduce you to talent. If you need help scaling a sales and marketing team, some firms help with this better than others. Seeking a VC firm that can turn your weakness into a strength will create a more beneficial partnership for both parties.

4. If you have a strong logo slide, dont wait to share it.

Pitching to a room of venture capitalists is intimidating enough on its own, but pitching to a room of inattentive and distracted VCs is an even greater challenge. I was presenting to one firm where most of the attendees were checking their phones, looking out the window and genuinely uninterested in my presentation -- until I shared our growth slide.

When these VCs saw how our revenue was growing with the addition of some blue-chip companies as customers, their interest was captured. Dont hold onto this trump card if you have it -- kick off your presentation with strong logos and growth information so you have VCs attention from the get-go.

5. You can never start selling too early.

This is especially true for companies past their first investment, but if you have a product thats ready to go to market, getting customers behind that product can mean all the difference. You can have the best idea in the world, but without customers-- it doesnt mean all too much. Dont worry about having a seasoned team of salespeople before selling. If your product is ready, it will essentially sell itself.

There are no guaranteed ways to run a company, secure funding or ensure success. Most times, youll feel like youre on a never-ending rollercoaster. But if youre able to be the buyer more often than the seller, create a partnership with your investors, and keep your focus on long-term growth. Your ride will be much tamer and more fruitful in the end.

Related: Raising Money? Kick High When Pitching Venture Capitalists.

Related:

What a 1990 Chevy Pickup Truck Purchase Taught Me About Raising Capital

7 Investor Questions Startup Entrepreneurs Need to Know How to Answer

5 surefire ways to attract investments



Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved


Frankly, I rarely agree with Mike Rounds on any issue. His behavior as Governor was appalling to me. Even so, I just got an e-mail from his office. I am not sure of his facts here or other factors which may apply, but this seems to make sense. I will appreciate any of your comments. Below is text of e-mail.

Senate Democrats Putting Politics Ahead of National Security January 20, 2016 Today, I voted in favor of H.R. 4038, the American Security Against Foreign Enemies (SAFE) Act, which would have enhanced the procedures for vetting refugees coming to the United States from Syria and Iraq. While this legislation received overwhelming support when it passed the House last November, it failed to receive enough Democrat support to be brought up for debate in the Senate. The United States has a long tradition of welcoming refugees into our country. However, we cannot compromise our national security in doing so. First and foremost, we must keep Americans safe at home. ISIS members have already shown they are willing to infiltrate countries posing as refugees. Until officials are able to process the large number of refugees expected with a high degree of confidence, we should not be allowing this group of refugees in to our country.





I would not be surprised if there is more to this story, but here it is anyway. Democrats should not let political correctness stand in the way of common sense. It makes no sense to spend $BILLIONS on military and defense, and then let millions of undereducated, culturally alien, people walk across our borders.



****Stay tuned even if Republican music is alien to your senses--- Doug Wiken
TORONTO, Jan. 21, 2016 /CNW/ - Known worldwide for exceptional quality, breathtaking design and ongoing innovation in both features and materials, BLANCO Canada announces the largest line-up of new products in its history. Being added to the selection of premium kitchen sinks, faucets and accessories for which Blanco is already famous are:

BLANCO IKON  The world's first apron front sink made of the natural granite composite material - SILGRANIT, with all its strength, durability and beauty. BLANCO IKON is available in three popular SILGRANIT colours: Anthracite, Cafe and White, and also features a unique floating sink accessory.

BLANCO URBENA  Awarded a prestigious Red Dot Design Award in 2015, the slim, modern lines of BLANCO URBENA offer the ultimate in sophisticated design, function and beauty along with the variety of nine finishes perfectly coordinating with BLANCO SILGRANIT kitchen sinks.

BLANCO ARTONA  Gentle curves distinguish this stunning new kitchen faucet collection, which includes main kitchen, bar/prep faucets and soap dispensers. Exclusively from BLANCO, this faucet family is offered in nine finishes coordinating with SILGRANIT colours.

BISCUIT  the latest addition to the BLANCO SILGRANIT colour palette, is a warm off-white available for SILGRANIT kitchen sinks, and in SILGRANIT match and dual finish options for Blanco kitchen faucets. Biscuit supersedes the discontinued Biscotti colour.

BLANCO LEXA  This SILGRANIT sink collection offers a generous, integrated drainboard and equal-size double-bowl sinks that make it the perfect fit for larger kitchens. BLANCO LEXA will be available in five colour choices (White, Metallic Gray, Cinder, Cafe and Anthracite).

BLANCO DIAMOND U 2 Low Divide  A SILGRANIT sink large enough to fit pots, pans or baking trays, and which has a convenient, user-friendly low divide. This model is available in all seven SILGRANIT colours (White, Biscuit, Truffle, Metallic Gray, Cinder, Cafe and Anthracite).

BLANCO PERFORMA U Bar  An addition to the very popular, design-oriented PERFORMA collection, the BLANCO PERFORMA U Bar is available in on-trend colour choices, such as Truffle, Metallic Gray, Cinder, Cafe and Anthracite.

Colour additions - A large selection of existing BLANCO SILGRANIT kitchen sinks and colour-match / dual finish faucets receive expanded colour options for enhanced design flexibility.

About BLANCO

Family-owned since 1925, BLANCO has consistently elevated the standards for luxury sinks, faucets and decorative accessories. Its history begins with a team of 30 loyal employees producing copper galvanized parts in Oberderdingen, Germany. In 2014, BLANCO made its 50-millionth sink, and in 2015 marked its 90th anniversary worldwide. Proud of its European heritage and award-winning German engineering, BLANCO is recognized globally for the design leadership, attention to detail and superior craftsmanship found in its handcrafted STEELART sinks, in the natural warmth and beauty of SILGRANIT, and in the elegant artistry of BLANCO kitchen faucets.

SOURCE BLANCO Canada Inc.

Image with caption: "BLANCO ARTONA  Gentle curves distinguish this stunning new kitchen faucet collection, which includes main kitchen, bar/prep faucets and soap dispensers. Exclusively from BLANCO, this faucet family is offered in nine finishes coordinating with SILGRANIT colours. (CNW Group/BLANCO Canada Inc.)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160121_C8961_PHOTO_EN_603142.jpg

Image with caption: "BLANCO URBENA  Awarded a prestigious Red Dot Design Award in 2015, the slim, modern lines of BLANCO URBENA offer the ultimate in sophisticated design, function and beauty along with the variety of nine finishes perfectly coordinating with BLANCO SILGRANIT kitchen sinks. (CNW Group/BLANCO Canada Inc.)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160121_C8961_PHOTO_EN_603179.jpg

Image with caption: "BLANCO IKON  The worlds first apron front sink made of the natural granite composite material - SILGRANIT, with all its strength, durability and beauty. BLANCO IKON is available in three popular SILGRANIT colours: Anthracite, Cafe and White, and also features a unique floating sink accessory. (CNW Group/BLANCO Canada Inc.)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160121_C8961_PHOTO_EN_603144.jpg

Image with caption: "BLANCO SILGRANIT colour palette (CNW Group/BLANCO Canada Inc.)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160121_C8961_PHOTO_EN_603148.jpg

Image with caption: "BLANCO Canada Inc. (CNW Group/BLANCO Canada Inc.)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160121_C8961_PHOTO_EN_603146.jpg

For further information: Edyta Drutis, Senior Marketing Manager, BLANCO Canada, T: 905-494-2415, C: 647-824-9611, [email protected], www.blancocanada.com
Unique event showcases the Science Centre through the eyes of the Toronto Instagram community

TORONTO, Jan. 21, 2016 /CNW/ - As part of Canada's Road to 2017, today the Ontario Science Centre collaborated with Instagram to host #EmptyOntarioScienceCentre, an exclusive event for Toronto Instagrammers to capture the wonder of the Science Centre before its doors opened to the public. Minister of Science Kirsty Duncan and more than 35 local Instagrammers participated in the event, using the hashtags #EmptyOntarioScienceCentre and #Roadto2017 to document their experience.

Since 1969, the Ontario Science Centre has played  and continues to play  a vital role in Canadian science, culture and community, welcoming more than 50 million through its doors for a variety of interactive, free-choice learning experiences. This #empty event also marked the Science Centre's presence on Instagram (@OntarioScienceCentre), providing the Science Centre with yet another opportunity to engage with visitors  and followers  near and far.

Leading up to Canada's 150th anniversary, Instagram will work with landmark institutions across Canada like the Ontario Science Centre to host #empty events. The goal is to bring people together around photography and celebrate the beauty of Canada through the lens of the arts, culture and digital media. The result: a special exhibit that will feature photographs showcasing leading Canadian cultural institutions, including the Ontario Science Centre, through the eyes of the Canadian Instagram community.

QUOTES

Dr. Maurice Bitran

CEO, Ontario Science Centre

"We are delighted to welcome Instagram and the Minister of Science to the Ontario Science Centre. Art and science derive from the same source  human creativity. The #EmptyOntarioScienceCentre event, as part of #Roadto2017, brings together art and science through Instagram and the artistic eyes of its practitioners. We have welcomed 50 million visitors since we opened our doors in 1969, and we hope to reach as many people through digital technologies such as Instagram."

The Honourable Kirsty Duncan

Minister of Science

"Science events are great opportunities for Canada's young people to get out and explore the exhibits of scientific and cultural institutions across our country. Institutions like the Ontario Science Centre perform an important function in society by encouraging youth engagement with science. The Government of Canada encourages more young Canadians, especially young women, to explore the world of science and to choose exciting, dynamic careers in STEM fields."

Kevin Chan

Head of Public Policy, Canada, Facebook

"Instagram is delighted to collaborate with the Ontario Science Centre on the #roadto2017, celebrating Canada's 150th birthday through the lens of Instagrammers. We are excited that the Minister of Science will be participating in the celebration of this centennial building while promoting the importance of science and science education."

SELECT INSTAGRAM POSTS FROM #EMPTYONTARIOSCIENCECENTRE EVENT

https://www.instagram.com/p/BAzkZOQgFur/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BAzfy7Lr0at/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BAzhF2wuEYi/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BAzgMpyofzG/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BAz24PqO5lg/

SOURCE Ontario Science Centre

Image with caption: "The Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science, explores the wonders and limits of the human body in The AstraZeneca Human Edge exhibition hall during todays #EmptyOntarioScienceCentre event, a collaboration between the Ontario Science Centre and Instagram. (CNW Group/Ontario Science Centre)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160121_C2888_PHOTO_EN_603637.jpg

Image with caption: "Dr. Maurice Bitran, CEO, Ontario Science Centre, and the Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science, at the #EmptyOntarioScienceCentre event, a collaboration between the Ontario Science Centre and Instagram to celebrate the Road to 2017. (CNW Group/Ontario Science Centre)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160121_C2888_PHOTO_EN_603639.jpg

For further information: Media contacts: Anna Relyea, Director, Strategic Communications, 416-696-3273 | c: 416-668-1967, [email protected]; Jefferson Darrell, Media Relations Officer, 416-696-3154, [email protected]; Andrea Mus, Media Relations Officer, 416-696-3191 | c: 416-895-5482, [email protected]
Sen. Eyinnaya Abaribe (PDP Abia South) on Wednesday in Abuja, berated the 2016 budget and called on President Muhammaduu Buhari to withdr...

Sen. Eyinnaya Abaribe (PDP Abia South) on Wednesday in Abuja, berated the 2016 budget and called on President Muhammaduu Buhari to withdraw it and go back to the drawing board.Abaribe while making contributions during the consideration of the budget, said the proposal was faulty on many grounds and could not be implemented at it was.He said that predication of oil benchmark at 38 dollars per barrel when the crude oil price had fallen below 30 dollars per barrel made the budget unrealistic.Abaribe faulted the government for increasing spending by 30 per cent based on borrowing.Mr President, my colleagues, this budget is indeed unique. After the budget presentation, the finance minister has never come to explain the details of the budget as it is normally done.It is a budget of change I agree, but it is a change in the wrong direction. I say it is a change in the wrong direction because it says that it is based on zero budgeting requiring all expenses to be fully justified.Mr President, a budget that increases spending up to 30 per cent based solely on borrowing, in what way are we justified? That is the question we want to ask the people who brought this budget.We know what is going on in the global economy: this budget is predicated on an oil benchmark of 38 dollars per barrel and I can now say that with oil being 28 dollars today, this budget is dead on arrival.The job of the opposition is to help the government to get its priorities right, so I want to please urge this government to withdraw this budget and go back to the drawing board, he said.The senator also faulted the adjustments made in the budget as well as allocation for spending in the Aso Rock Villa, saying that it was too exorbitant.He said that the adjustments rather than reduce spending in areas where they were not necessary only spread it into different offices.Mr President, a budget that moves domestic spending within Aso Villa from N580 million to N1.7 billion cannot be a budget of change.We were told that in the revised budget there was an adjustment due to error, we agree but what has happened is that up to N7 billion were moved from buying vehicles and spread to offices.It also increased the spending that is due to renovations within the Villa.They are going to renovate the Villa with N3.9 billion: what else do you want to renovate there that Nigerians will see in the Year 2016? he asked.However, in his contribution, Sen. Ahmed Lawan (APC Yobe North) blamed the previous administration for the lack of funds due to the embezzlement witnessed in previous governments.He said that this was the 17th budget he would be debating as a legislator and noted that not more than 40 per cent implementation was achieved in the last 16 years.The proposal before us is the first budget where the executive has deemed it necessary to give ordinary Nigerians genuine hope.N500 billion allocated for school feeding and social SAFTEY NET is commendable.It is time to say oil should not continue to play dominant role as we have suffered economically and politically: it is time to diversify this economy.The direction of the executive is the way to go. `That is, we should make every effort to have the real sector-agric mining and manufacturing.The budget deserves the support of everyone, including my colleagues on the other side. When we were in the opposition we supported the PDP, they should support us, he said.
Bill Gates and Alhaji Aliko Dangote yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with seven Norths governors to eradicate polio ...

Bill Gates and Alhaji Aliko Dangote yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with seven Norths governors to eradicate polio and other diseases.The governors of Kaduna, Sokoto, Yobe and Borno entered into the agreement for the first time, while Kano and Bauchi governors had partnered Gates and Dangote under the auspices of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Dangote Foundation.Speaking at the event attended by six governors; United States Ambassador to Nigeria James Entwistle; Alhaji Aliko Dangote; Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Saad Abubakar III; Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Umar Garbai Elkanemi; Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammad Sanusi II, among others, Gates said his foundation was committed to polio eradication.He said the foundation, in partnership with the Dangote Foundation and Kano as well as Bauchi states, had achieved results.Entwistle said the U.S. government would support both foundations to end vaccine-preventable child deaths.He said under the partnership, they would help Sokoto State to increase and sustain high immunisation coverage.The envoy hailed the state governments, saying: This occasion demonstrates the willingness and commitment of your governments and organisations to tackle the challenges to achieve these goals.Dangote urged the Federal Government to work with the states to provide routine, new vaccines and other items.Speaking on behalf of the governors, Kaduna State Governor Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai said although immunising a child should be simple, across the country, the health system was not invested with the capacity to provide routine services at a high standard.He, however, hoped the partnership would reverse the trend.El-Rufai thanked Gates and Dangote for the partnership extended to the states.
A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Wednesday ordered that the Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu, be rem...

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Wednesday ordered that the Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) Nnamdi Kanu, be remanded in Kuje prison pending his trial for treason.The presiding judge, Justice John Tsoho, gave the order after listening to applications filed by counsel to the Department of State Services (DSS) and Kanu on the matter.Kanus counsel, Chuks Muoma (SAN), had argued that the accused person be remanded in prison custody away from the DSS cell.He said his client had been kept incommunicado for the three months he stayed in the DSS custody.He asked the court to send the accused person to prison so that his family could have access to him.The DSS counsel, Mohammed Diri, however, prayed the court to keep Kanu in the agency custody for security reasons.The judge later ruled that the defendant be kept in Kuje prison.
The Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mr. Peter Jack has been asked to proceed on inde...

The Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mr. Peter Jack has been asked to proceed on indefinite suspension over what was described as misconduct.The suspension takes immediate effect from 20/01/2016.In a statement by the Special Assistant on Media to the Minister of Communications, Victor Oluwadamilare, the suspension became imperative on the strength of deluge of petitions regarding several alleged wrong doings in NITDA and subsequent preliminary findings of an Investigative Committee set up by the Ministry.These petitions against the embattled NITDA DG bothers on illegal employments not approved by the appropriate authority and procurements carried out in direct contraventions of laid down rules and procedure unknown to Civil Service administration in Nigeria.Other infractions identified by the Investigative Committee made up of three senior Ministry officials include unauthorised illegal recruitment of additional staff totalling 245 within a spate of seven months.According to the statement, other findings by the committe include: as at 29th May, 2015, NITDA only had a staff complement of 74, but from May, 2015 to 31st December, 2015, additional 245 staff were employed in questionable circumstances despite clear instruction from the Ministry directing suspension of employment in the Agency.These disclosure were deduced from the records provided by Mr Jack, although he was unable to provide concrete information on whose authority he embarked on the massive recruitment and who granted him the authority for officials to be seconded to NITDA from other MDAs, the statement added.On the alleged financial misdemeanour, the Committee opined that the situation in the Agency would require a more detailed professional auditing of NITDAs finances to determine the true state of the financial health of the Agency.Consequently, the DG has been Asked to. Vacate office so as to allow for further independent investigations of his stewardship in the last three years.
The former governor of Zamfara State, Ahmed Sani Yerima, will be arraigned today by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other offenses...

The former governor of Zamfara State, Ahmed Sani Yerima, will be arraigned today by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other offenses Commission, ICPC, today for allegedly scamming former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the federal government, promising to supply 50,000 metric tones of grains without delivering the goods after receiving payment for same.Similarly, the anti-graft agency in a charge sheet also accused the former governor, who amputated the wrist of a thief for stealing a goat, of diverting over N1 billion meant for the repair of collapsed Gusau Dam and the compensation of those to be displaced by the project for other purposes.In a charge sheet prepared by the commission, which is to be executed in the High Court of Zamfara State today, the former governor, who is also a member of the All Progressives Congress, APC, representing Zamfara State in the the senate, was also alleged to have proposed to sell some grains to the federal government without providing same after he had been paid.The 19-count charge against the former governor also alleged that he used his position as the state governor between 2003 and 2007 to confer corrupt advantage to his associates.The 19 count charge read, among others: That you Ahmed Rufai Sani on or about November, 2006 whilst being the Governor of Zamfara State at Gusau within the jurisdiction of this court did commit an offence of spending money allocated for one project on another to wit: out of N 1,000,000,000 (one billion naira) additional budgetary allocation ZamfaraState House of Assembly allocated for the repair of collapsed Gusau dam and settlement of the victims of the said dam which was obtained through bank loan you spent the sum of N20,000,000 (twenty million naira) purportedly on assistance to INEC and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under section 22 (5) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000.That you Ahmed Rufai Sani on or about October 2006 whilst being the Governor of Zamfara State at Gusau within the jurisdiction of this court did commit an offence of spending money allocated for one project on another to wit: out of N1,000,000,000 (one billion naira) additional budgetary allocation Zamfara State House of Assembly allocated for the repair of collapsed Gusau dam and payment of compensation to the victims of the said dam which was obtained through bank loan you spent the sum of N10,000,000 (ten million naira) purportedly on donation and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under section 22 (5) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000.That you Ahmed Rufai Sani on or about October 2006 whilst being the Governor of Zamfara State at Gusau within the jurisdiction of this court did commit an offence of spending money allocated for one project on another to wit: out of N1,000,000,000 (one billion naira) additional budgetary allocation Zamfara State House of Assembly allocated for the repair of collapsed Gusau dam and payment of compensation to the victims of the said dam which was obtained through bank loan you spent the sum of N43,008,000 (forty three million and eight thousand naira) purportedly on surveillance of guests and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under section 22 (5) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000.That you Ahmed Rufai Sani on or about November 2006 whilst being the Governor of Zamfara State at Gusau within the jurisdiction of this court did commit an offence of spending money allocated for one project on another to wit: out of N 1,000,000,000 (one billion naira) additional budgetary allocation ZamfaraState House of Assembly allocated for the repair of collapsed Gusau dam and payment of compensation to the victims of the said dam which was obtained through bank loan you spent the sum of N21,450,000 (twenty-one million four hundred and fifty thousand naira) purportedly on settlement of publication equipment and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under section 22 (5) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000.Count 5That you Ahmed Rufai Sani on or about November 2006 whilst being the Governor of Zamfara State at Gusau within the jurisdiction of this court did commit an offence of spending money allocated for one project on another to wit: out of N 1,000,000,000 (one billion naira) additional budgetary allocation ZamfaraState House of Assembly allocated for the repair of collapsed Gusau dam and payment of compensation to the victims of the said dam which was obtained through bank loan you spent the sum of N64,332,734 (sixty four million three hundred and thirty two thousand seven hundred and thirty four naira) purportedly on sponsorship of government officials to hajj and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under section 22 (5) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000.Count 6That you Ahmed Rufai Sani on or about November 2006 whilst being the Governor of Zamfara State at Gusau within the jurisdiction of this court did commit an offence of spending money allocated for one project on another to wit: out of N 1,000,000,000 (one billion naira) additional budgetary allocation ZamfaraState House of Assembly allocated for the repair of collapsed Gusau dam and payment of compensation to the victims of the said dam which was obtained through bank loan you spent the sum of N32,646,286 (thirty two million six hundred and forty six thousand two hundred and eighty six naira) purportedly on settlement of accommodation and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under section 22 (5) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000.Count 7That you Ahmed Rufai Sani on or about November 2006 whilst being the Governor of Zamfara State at Gusau within the jurisdiction of this court did commit an offence of spending money allocated for one project on another to wit: out of N 1,000,000,000 (one billion naira) additional budgetary allocation ZamfaraState House of Assembly allocated for the repair of collapsed Gusau dam and payment of compensation to the victims of the said dam which was obtained through bank loan you spent the sum of N15,800,000 (fifteen million eight hundred thousand naira) purportedly on furniture allowance and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under section 22 (5) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000.Count 8That you Ahmed Rufai Sani on or about November 2006 whilst being the Governor of Zamfara State at Gusau within the jurisdiction of this court did commit an offence of spending money allocated for one project on another to wit: out of N 1,000,000,000 (one billion naira) additional budgetary allocation ZamfaraState House of Assembly allocated for the repair of collapsed Gusau dam and payment of compensation to the victims of the said dam which was obtained through bank loan you spent the sum of N29,200,000 (twenty nine million two hundred thousand naira) purportedly on purchase of 2000 Nanfang motor cycles and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under section 22 (5) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000.Count 9That you Ahmed Rufai Sani on or about October 2006 whilst being the Governor of Zamfara State at Gusau within the jurisdiction of this court did commit an offence of spending money allocated for one project on another to wit: out of N1,000,000,000 (one billion naira) additional budgetary allocation Zamfara State House of Assembly allocated for the repair of collapsed Gusau dam and payment of compensation to the victims of the said dam which was obtained through bank loan you spent the sum of N23,859,692 (twenty three million, eight hundred and fifty nine thousand, six hundred and ninety two naira) purportedly on payment to automobile company and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under section 22 (5) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000Count 10That you Ahmed Rufai Sani on or about October 2006 whilst being the Governor of Zamfara State at Gusau within the jurisdiction of this court did commit an offence of spending money allocated for one project on another to wit: out of N1,000,000,000 (one billion naira) additional budgetary allocation Zamfara State House of Assembly allocated for the repair of collapsed Gusau dam and payment of compensation to the victims of the said dam which was obtained through bank loan you spent the sum of N14,000,000 (fourteen million naira) purportedly on payment of auditing of account and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under section 22 (5) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000.Count 11That you Ahmed Rufai Sani on or about October 2006 whilst being the Governor of Zamfara State at Gusau within the jurisdiction of this court did commit an offence of spending money allocated for one project on another to wit: out of N1,000,000,000 (one billion naira) additional budgetary allocation Zamfara State House of Assembly allocated for the repair of collapsed Gusau dam and payment of compensation to the victims of the said dam which was obtained through bank loan you spent the sum of N14,170,000 (fourteen million one hundred and seventy thousand naira) purportedly on ramadan feeding and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under section 22 (5) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000.Count 12That you Ahmed Rufai Sani on or about October 2006 whilst being the Governor of Zamfara State at Gusau within the jurisdiction of this court did commit an offence of spending money allocated for one project on another to wit: out of N1,000,000,000 (one billion naira) additional budgetary allocation Zamfara State House of Assembly allocated for the repair of collapsed Gusau dam and payment of compensation to the victims of the said dam which was obtained through bank loan you spent the sum of N14,530,000 (fourteen million five hundred and thirty thousand naira) purportedly on purchase of four 406 Peugeot and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under section 22 (5) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000.Count 13That you Ahmed Rufai Sani on or about October 2006 whilst being the Governor of Zamfara State at Gusau within the jurisdiction of this court did commit an offence of spending money allocated for one project on another to wit: out of N1,000, 000,000 (one billion naira) additional budgetary allocation Zamfara State House of Assembly allocated for the repair of collapsed Gusau dam and payment of compensation to the victims of the said dam which was obtained through bank loan you spent the sum of N36,000,000 (thirty six million naira) purportedly on settlement of leave grant for teachers and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under section 22 (5) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000.Count 14That you Ahmed Rufai Sani on or about November 2006 whilst being the Governor of Zamfara State at Gusau within the jurisdiction of this court did commit an offence of spending money allocated for one project on another to wit: out of N 1,000,000,000 (one billion naira) additional budgetary allocation ZamfaraState House of Assembly allocated for the repair of collapsed Gusau dam and payment of compensation to the victims of the said dam which was obtained through bank loan you spent the sum of N46, 591,692.24, (forty six million, five hundred and ninety one thousand, six hundred and ninety two naira, twenty four kobo) purportedly on school feeding and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under section 22 (5) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000.Count 15That you Ahmed Rufai Sani on or about February 2007 at Gusau within the jurisdiction of this court whilst being the Governor of Zamfara State did make a statement vide a letter dated 6th February 2007 captioned  OFFER FOR SALE OF EXCESS GRAINS to the President Federal Republic of Nigeria Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in the course of the exercise of the duty of his office that Zamfara State Government had stock of about 100,000 metric tones of assorted grains in silos and stores out of which 50, 000 metric tons could be sold to the Federal Government of Nigeria which was to your knowledge false and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 22 (1) (a) and punishable under section 68 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000Count 16That you Ahmed Rufai Sani on or about May 2007 at Gusau within the jurisdiction of this court used your position as the Governor of Zamfara State to confer corrupt advantage upon your associate to wit: awarding consultancy services to Development Management System Ltd for the supply of 50, 000 metric tons (200,000 bags) of grains by Zamfara State Government to the Federal Government with the agreement to pay 10 % i.e. N161million of the total cost of N1,610,000,000 (one billion, six hundred and ten million naira) to Development Management Ltd as consultancy fee but for which only 9,181.89 metric tons (91, 818 bags) were supplied and for which you paid Development Management Ltd N91,840,000 (ninety one million, eight hundred and forty thousand naira) whereas Development Management Ltd was entitled only to N29,565,685.80 (twenty nine million, five hundred and sixty five thousand, six hundred and eighty five naira eighty kobo) thus overpaid her the sum of N62, 274,315 (sixty two million, two hundred and seventy four thousand, three hundred and fifteen naira) and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000Count 17That you Ahmed Rufai Sani, Alhaji Hashim A. Dikko and Development Management Ltd on or about May 2007 at Gusau within the jurisdiction of this court did conspire to commit an offence of using office for gratification to wit: Ahmed Rufai Sani on or about May 2007 used his position as the Governor of Zamfara State to award consultancy services to Development Management System Ltd for the supply of 50, 000 metric tons (200,000 bags) of grains by Zamfara State Government to the Federal Government with the agreement to pay 10 % i.e. N161million of the total cost of N1,610,000,000 (one billion, six hundred and ten million naira) to Development Management Ltd as consultancy fee but for which only 9,181.89 metric tons (91, 818 bags) were supplied and for which Development Management Ltd was paid N91,840,000 (ninety one million, eight hundred and forty thousand naira whereas Development Management Ltd was entitled only to N29,565,685.80 (twenty nine million, five hundred and sixty five thousand, six hundred and eighty five naira eighty kobo) thus overpaid her the sum of N62, 274,315 (sixty two million, two hundred and seventy four thousand, three hundred and fifteen naira) and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 26 (c ) and punishable under section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000Count 18That you Ahmed Rufai Sani on or about April 2007 at Gusau within the jurisdiction of this court used your position as the Governor of Zamfara State to confer a corrupt advantage upon your associate to wit: awarding contract for the transportation of 50, 000 metric tons of grains (200,000 bags) to HAD Nigeria Ltd to be supplied by Zamfara State to the Federal Government at the total cost of N1,610,000,000 (one billion, six hundred and ten million naira) with the agreement to pay N444, 040,000 (four hundred and forty four million, forty thousand naira) to HAD Nigeria Ltd as contract sum but for which only 9, 181.89 metric tons (91,181 bags) were transported and for which HAD Nigeria Ltd was paid N98 million (ninety eight million naira) whereas she was entitled only to N81,042 525 (eighty one million forty two thousand five hundred and twenty five naira) thus overpaid her the sum of N16, 957,472 (sixteen million, nine hundred and fifty nine thousand four hundred and seventy two naira) and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000Count 19That you Ahmed Rufai Sani and HAD Nigeria Ltd on or about April 2007 at Gusau within the jurisdiction of this court did conspire to commit an offence of using office for gratification to wit: Ahmed Rufai Sani on or about April 2007 used his position as the Governor of Zamfara State at Gusau, Zamfara State to award a contract for the transportation of 50, 000 metric tons of grains (200,000 bags) to HAD Nigeria Ltd to be supplied by Zamfara State to the Federal Government at the total cost of N1,610,000,000 (one billion, six hundred and ten million naira) with the agreement to pay N444, 040,000 (four hundred and forty four million, forty thousand naira) to HAD Nigeria Ltd as contract sum but for which only 9, 181.89 metric tons (91,181 bags) were transported and for which HAD Nigeria Ltd was paid N98 million (ninety eight million naira) whereas she was entitled only to N81,042 525 (eighty one million, forty two thousand five hundred and twenty five naira) thus overpaid her the sum of N16, 957,472 (sixteen million, nine hundred and fifty nine thousand, four hundred and seventy two naira) and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 26 (c) and punishable under section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000.
The National Chairman of the Social Democratic Party, Chief Olu Falae, on Thursday said he was ashamed to be linked with a former Nation...

The National Chairman of the Social Democratic Party, Chief Olu Falae, on Thursday said he was ashamed to be linked with a former National Security Adviser, Col Sambo Dasuki (retd), and the $2.1bn arms scandal.Falae, who spoke on the scandal during the National Executive Council meeting of SDP in Abuja, said he would open up next week on the controversial N100m that he collected from the former chairman, Board of Trustees, Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Tony Anenih, and silence the blackmailers.The money is said to have been part of the $2.1bn meant for the procurement of weapons for the fight against Boko Haram.Falae, however, said the last time he saw Dasuki was in 1987, when he was Secretary to the Government of the Federation, during the administration of ex-President Ibrahim Babangida.He said, For people to even mention my name in connection with Dasuki, I feel ashamed for Nigerians to even say such a thing. It is wicked and a sin against God. I am sure they know that what I am saying is the truth; that there was no connection between SDP or myself with Dasuki.We did not take any money from Dasuki. The money sent to us was by the PDP based on the exchange of letters between us, which establishes the contract.Some people are still writing spurious nonsense but I intend to address the press sometimes next week, probably in Lagos, to tell my story so everybody can hear and the blackmailers can shut up forever.I said this because I cant come here without addressing this issue, so that you you know what you take home. We are very proud of the way we have handled this matter.He expressed confidence that the SDP would overcome what he described as a campaign of calumny by certain forces to discredit its leadership.He added, I have said so several times and I will say so now that as a believer in God, I did not collect even one naira from Col. Dasuki. Not just that, I have had absolutely no feelings whatsoever, with Col. Dasuki.I think the last time I saw Col. Dasuki must have been in 1987 when he was ADC to General Babangida and I was Secretary to the Federal Government of the Federation.So we worked together, that was on 1987. That is 29 years ago. So, ladies and gentlemen, please, put your mind at rest. I have nothing to do with Dasuki. I took no money from Dasuki.The N100m they are talking about, it was the money sent by the PDP to your party, SDP, following our endorsement of their presidential candidate.
Barcelona star Lionel Messi and his fathers trial for tax fraud will begin on May 31 at a court in Barcelona, a regional superior court ...

Barcelona star Lionel Messi and his fathers trial for tax fraud will begin on May 31 at a court in Barcelona, a regional superior court said Wednesday.Messi and his father Jorge have been charged with tax fraud for allegedly failing to declare 4.16 million euros ($4.69 million) in taxes related to his image rights between 2007 and 2009 through front companies in Belize and Uruguay.The pair are accused of ceding the players image rights to the companies in order to avoid declaring money made from lucrative deals with sponsors in Spain.Public prosecutors had asked for the case against the Argentine player to be dropped as they considered the alleged fraud was carried out by his father, who has managed his sons affairs since he was a child.But in October 2015 the judge in charge of the case rejected the request, writing in a court filing that there are rational signs that the criminality was committed by both accused parties.Lawyers acting on behalf of the tax office have asked for both defendants to be slapped with prison sentences of 22 and a half months.Both father and son have denied the accusations and instead blamed a former financial advisor.Jorge Messi made a voluntary corrective payment of five million euros in August 2013 which is expected to mitigate any sentence.Even if convicted it is unlikely that either Messi or his father would enter prison as jail terms of less than two years are usually suspended for first time offences in Spain.The trial will run until June 3, the Catalan Superior Court of Justice said in a statement, which means it will not interfere with Barcelonas committment since La Liga and the Champions League will have wrapped up by then.But it could complicate Messis participation in the three-week centenary Copa America which gets underway on June 3, although Argentinas first match is on June 6.Messi earlier this month won a record Ballon dOr for the worlds best player after helping Barcelona to a treble last season of the Champions League, La Liga and the Spanish Cup.Last month Messi and his father were cleared of separate allegations relating to charitable friendlies played in 2012 and 2013 after a judge heard testimony from an Argentine businessman who organised the matches.The player had been investigated in that case to see if he had failed to declare to the tax man any revenue made from taking part in a series of friendlies in Mexico, Colombia, the United States and Peru.
The acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Mustafa Magu on Wednesday declared that the fight aga...

The acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Mustafa Magu on Wednesday declared that the fight against corruption will be holistic and unsparing.Magu, however, assured that the process will be open and transparent.He also promised to discharge his responsibility in the EFCC with the fear of God, in the national interest and strictly observing the rule of law.Magu, who spoke during a working visit to Vintage Press, Publishers of The Nation newspaper, said he has been trying to mobilize the support of all Nigerians as stakeholders in the fight against corruption.He praised the management and editorial team of The Nation, saying the paper has come to stay among the builders and molders of the nation.Within a space of nine years, your brand has joined the league of shapers of our society by your incisive and sometimes, explosive reporting. I must say that as an agency which believes in vigorous expression of its mandate, the EFCC is at home with your style of reporting and the candour of your esteemed columnist, he said.Magu said he is mobilizing support, opinions, ideas and strategies that are necessary to move the anti-graft effort forward.We need more support, it is about Nigeria, not an individual, the fight is for everybody, from the media we have to go to the grassroots we will take it to children in the schools, we have to tell the children that corruption is bad, tell them why there is no chair in the classroom.We will sensitize everybody to the evil of corruption, we need to let people know that corruption is bad because some people dont seem to know, Magu said.
Due to the steady decline in oil revenue, the Federal Government is currently under pressure to resort to a Sukuk Bond for funding the w...

Due to the steady decline in oil revenue, the Federal Government is currently under pressure to resort to a Sukuk Bond for funding the widening budget deficit.Sukuk is a financial certificate, similar to the traditional government bond, but complies with Sharia, Islamic religious law.The Debt Management Office, DMO, and Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, are collaborating in an effort to issue the Nigerian sovereign Islamic bonds this year.Details of the expected revenue from the bond is not yet disclosed but officials said they expect significant bridging of the 2016 budget deficit which has exceeded the initial N2.2 trillion estimate.According to DMO issuing a sovereign Sukuk will attract significant amounts of affordable capital from the Gulf countries and other established Islamic markets around the world into Nigeria.Third country to issue Sukuk in W-AfricaThough Nigeria would be the third West African country to issue Sukuk after Senegal and Cote d Voire, Osun State had rolled out USD62 million Sukuk in 2013.Because the traditional bond comes with interest paying structure which is not permissible under the Islamic financial system, the issuer of a Sukuk bond would sell the certificate to an investor group, who then rents it back to the issuer for a predetermined rental fee.PIC. 6. PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI, ADDRESSING A JOINT SESSION OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY AT THE PRESENTION OF THE 2016 APPROPRIATION BILL IN ABUJA ON TUESDAY (22/12/15). 7805/22/12/2015/JAU/BJO/NANFILE: PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI, ADDRESSING A JOINT SESSION OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY AT THE PRESENTION OF THE 2016 APPROPRIATION BILL IN ABUJA ON TUESDAY (22/12/15).The issuer also makes a contractual promise to buy back the bonds at a future date at par value.Islamic bonds are structured in such a way as to generate returns to investors without infringing Islamic law that prohibits interest.Sukuk represents undivided shares in the ownership of tangible assets relating to particular projects or special investment activity.The Sukuk option in federal government finance will be coming in addition with other unconventional budget funding strategies of the President Muhammadu Buharis first budget.Unconventional funding strategiesOther unconventional funding strategies include plans to raise N350 billion from recoveries of stolen funds in the on-going anti-graft war.The 2016 budget financing plan, according to a finance ministry source, envisages significant revenue from blocking leakages expected to yield over N1.0 trillion during the 2016 fiscal year.The breakdown of the revenue side of the budget shows several unconventional sources of funding for the budget.Key among them includes a revenue optimising measure expected to be complemented by initiatives meant to reduce wastage of public funds such as the recently established Efficiency Unit meant to identify and eliminate wasteful spending, duplication and other inefficiencies across Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs.Waste reduction initiativesOther waste reduction initiatives include engagement of costing experts to scrutinize the 2016 budget proposals with a view to further improving efficiency. Also, government intends to extend the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System, IPPIS, to all MDAs in order to maintain a lean payroll.With a projected revenue of N3.86 trillion in the face of dwindling crude oil receipts, government estimates that oil revenues contribute N820 billion of the total revenue; non-oil revenues, comprising Company Income Tax, CIT, Value Added Tax, VAT, Customs and Excise duties, and Federation Account levies, are expected to contribute N1.45 trillion; while independent revenues are expected to contribute N1.51 trillion through the enforcement of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007 and public expenditure reforms in all MDAs.Independente revenuesIn addition, the government intends to significantly improve the collection and remittance of independent revenues from government agencies with the full implementation of the Treasury Single Account, TSA.A finance ministry source who said that the budget breakdown would answer all the posers raised by critics of the budget, explained that the delay in putting the budget together as well as the errors recently corrected were as a result of the difficulties in balancing Nigerians expectations with realities on ground.
The leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra and founder of Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, whose arrest sparked a wave of protests by suppor...

The leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra and founder of Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, whose arrest sparked a wave of protests by supporters in Nigerias southeast, pleaded not guilty in court on Wednesday on treason charges. Nnamdi Kanu last month refused to enter a plea when he was first charged with treasonable felony, arguing he had no confidence in the then trial judge.But at a hearing before a new judge in the federal high court in Abuja on Wednesday, he denied a six-count indictment and was remanded in custody until a bail application on January 25. The prosecution alleges Kanu and others at large in Britain between 2014 and last year called for some southern states to secede from Nigeria to form an independent Republic of Biafra.The call was made on Radio Biafra, of which Kanu is director, and was done with (the) intention to levy war against Nigeria, according to the charge sheet. He was also charged with managing an unlawful society, unlawful possession of firearms and concealing an import of a radio transmitter. Kanu, who also heads the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) group, was arrested by the Department of State Services, DSS, in October when he arrived in the country from London, where the radio station is based.He has emerged as the new face of the campaign for a separate Biafran state, nearly 50 years after a previous unilateral declaration of independence sparked a brutal civil war. The conflict from 1967 to 1970 left some one million people dead, many from starvation and disease, as Nigerian troops blockaded the fledgling Republic of Biafra.IPOB supporters have held a series of protests across the country in recent months to demand his release and voice their calls for a breakaway state for the southeastern Igbo people. On December 17, IPOB said five campaigners were killed during celebrations after the high court in Abuja ordered Kanus release on bail. The authorities in Abuja, however, have refused to release him, leading to fresh protests.
Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, on Wednesday described as unfounded and malicious the allegation that he called for the hanging of ...

Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, on Wednesday described as unfounded and malicious the allegation that he called for the hanging of the Director of Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu.Okorocha in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, said the report published in the social media was a mere attempt to malign his image ahead of the 2019 general election.The statement reads:The attention of the Imo State Government has once again been drawn to another fictitious allegation in the social media claiming that the state Governor had called for the hanging of Mr. Nnamdi Kanu leader of the Indigenous people of Biafra (IPOB).Governor Okorocha does not know Nnamdi Kanu. He reads about him on the pages of newspapers like every other Igbo man or Nigerian. Whether he lives or dies, does not have any value to add to Governor Okorochas life including his politics. So one begins to wonder why Governor Okorocha should call for his hanging.If he dies, will Okorocha become Director of Radio Biafra or IPOB leader? You ask again, whether one million Nnamdi Kanu could constitute any threat to Okorocha in anyway. The answer is obviously No. Then what is Okorochas interest in Kanus death or life that he would call for his hanging.The elements behind this latest moonlight tale also claimed that the Imo Governor had made the call on January 15, 2016 in a meeting with what they called Igbo Elders Forum.They did not mention the venue of the said meeting or those at the meeting. Incidentally, the same January 15, 2016 (Friday) was the day the Governor travelled out of the country for a brief vacation.
For the second time in a few days. PDP spokesman, Chief Olisa Metuh was dragged to another court hearing today Jan. 21 in handcuff...

Metuh dragged to court in handcuffs, a few days ago

For the second time in a few days. PDP spokesman, Chief Olisa Metuh was dragged to another court hearing today Jan. 21 in handcuffs. He's reportedly being arraigned for destroying EFCC evidence. Metuh allegedly tore his written statement on Jan. 14th.The PDP and human rights groups had kicked against his handcuffing describing it as a ploy to mortify the opposition spokesman, saying that his case does not border on security threat.The anti-graft agency maintained that the said statement would have been vital to its prosecution of the criminal case pending against Metuh before the Federal High Court.It said that Metuh, by his action, committed an offence contrary to sections 166 and 326 of the Penal Code Act.Meantime, Justice Ishaq Bello has adjourned hearing on Metuhs bail application till Monday.The Judge however queried why the EFCC failed to incorporate the current charge to the one already pending before the FHC.It will be recalled that Justice Abang had on Tuesday, granted Metuh bail to the tune of N400million.
Rivers State Police Command said it had arraigned 10 suspected pro-Biafran protesters at the Magistrate Court in Port Harcourt, the state...

Rivers State Police Command said it had arraigned 10 suspected pro-Biafran protesters at the Magistrate Court in Port Harcourt, the state capital.State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Ahmad Mohammad, disclosed that the suspects were arrested between January 16 and 18, 2016, were taken to court on Wednesday.Mohammad explained that the suspectes were arraigned before Magistrates Courts 7 and 14 on a two counts of criminal conspiracy and treasonable felony.He identified the suspects as Onu Ifeanyi, Prinace Onwazor, Princewill Anyanywu, Sunday Egbim and Uzoma Onyegbu.Others, according to the state police spokesman, are Chigozie Moses, Chukwudi Enyidau, Anthony Ochuel, Enam David Okon, and Friday Nwahiri (all males).A statement signed by Mohammad and issued in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, read, Ten suspected pro-Biafra protesters arrested between 16-18/01/2016 has on Wednesday 20/01/2016 been arraigned before Magistrates Courts 7 and 14 in Port Harcourt on a two counts of criminal conspiracy and treasonable felony.He added that the suspects were arrested on their way to Port Harcourt to allegedly engage in an act that could undermine public peace.Mohammad disclosed that that the suspects were expected to appear in court again after the cases against them were adjourned till Thursday and January 28, 2016.The PPRO warned that the Command would not allow any person to violate the laws of the country by engaging acts that would breach the peace in the state.The Command wishes to further re-emphasise that it will not stand idly and allow any person or group of persons to violate the laws of country by engaging in conducts that are perilous to public peace and order as well as the lives and property of other law abiding citizens, Mohammad stressed.
President Muhammadu Buhari has said that telecommunication companies operating in Nigeria must adhere to the rules and guidelines of the...

President Muhammadu Buhari has said that telecommunication companies operating in Nigeria must adhere to the rules and guidelines of the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, noting that registration of all mobile phone users without exception will help security agencies to pre-empt terrorist attacks.Speaking at an interactive forum with members of the Nigerian community in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, President Buhari urged telecommunications companies not to place their desire for huge profits above the security needs of the nation.He called on all stakeholders to work in unison to halt terrorism in the country and assured members of the Nigerian community in Abu Dhabi that his administration will deal decisively with the seeming resurgence of oil theft, vandalism of pipelines and insecurity in the Niger Delta.The oil thieves and abductors are a less problematic target. We will re-organise and deal with them. In the face of our new economic reality of dwindling oil prices, there are a number of things we can really do without to preserve our economy.We must develop the capacity to feed ourselves and we should be spending our resources on real development projects, not luxuries, President Buhari said.Pledging that more persons who abused the public trust would be exposed and brought to justice soon, President Buhari maintained that his government was committed to re-establishing former standards of accountability and probity in the management of public funds which were jettisoned under past administrations.The President appealed for more patience and understanding from Nigerians as his administration takes steps to safeguard the economy from the shock of falling oil prices.
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In you, O Lord, do I take refuge;

let me never be put to shame!

In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;

incline your ear to me, and save me!



Be to me a rock of refuge,

to which I may continually come;

you have given the command to save me,

for you are my rock and my fortress.

Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,

from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.

For you, O Lord, are my hope,

my trust, O Lord, from my youth.

Upon you I have leaned from before my birth;

you are he who took me from my mother's womb.

My praise is continually of you.

I have been as a portent to many,

but you are my strong refuge.

My mouth is filled with your praise,

and with your glory all the day.

Do not cast me off in the time of old age;

forsake me not when my strength is spent.



For my enemies speak concerning me;

those who watch for my life consult together

and say, God has forsaken him;

pursue and seize him,

for there is none to deliver him.

O God, be not far from me;

O my God, make haste to help me!

May my accusers be put to shame and consumed;

with scorn and disgrace may they be covered

who seek my hurt.



But I will hope continually

and will praise you yet more and more.

My mouth will tell of your righteous acts,

of your deeds of salvation all the day,

for their number is past my knowledge.



With the mighty deeds of the Lord God I will come;

I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone.

O God, from my youth you have taught me,

and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.



So even to old age and gray hairs,

O God, do not forsake me,

until I proclaim your might to another generation,

your power to all those to come.

Your righteousness, O God,

reaches the high heavens.

You who have done great things,

O God, who is like you?



You who have made me see many troubles and calamities

will revive me again;

from the depths of the earth

you will bring me up again.

You will increase my greatness

and comfort me again.

I will also praise you with the harp

for your faithfulness, O my God;

I will sing praises to you with the lyre,

O Holy One of Israel.

My lips will shout for joy,

when I sing praises to you;

my soul also, which you have redeemed.



And my tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long,

for they have been put to shame and disappointed

who sought to do me hurt.


From left, 19-year-old Wesley Davis and 20-year-old Jockquaren Van Norman are two of the four suspects named Wednesday (Jan. 20) in New Orleans special grand jury indictment alleging their participation in the robberies of three Uptown restaurants and bars last fall.
Amid New Orleans violence, volunteers try to keep the peace
Three held in Uptown business robberies as suspect surrenders; one at large
Toddler's accidental shooting death is one of 6 gun accidents in the state in 2016: Jarvis DeBerry
The federal government plans to pour $125 million into the fight against a mysterious disease that has ravaged corals in Florida and much of the Caribbean, and now poses a dire threat to the treasured reefs off the Louisiana and Texas coasts.
Last November, a regional conference in Guyana focused on abolishing the death penalty, which many Caribbean territories - including The Bahamas - want to keep on the books.





Sponsored by the European Union (EU), the conference went completely unnoticed here. The main conclusion was that, although capital punishment did not deter crime, public support for it was closely linked to fear.





As our murder rate rises to ever more "frightening" levels - which the authorities seem helpless to deal with - it is easy to see why ordinary citizens want to strike back. There is a strong sense that criminals are undermining our society.





Former cabinet minister Leslie Miller recently excoriated the Chief Justice for pointing out that - under current law - it would take a massacre before the death penalty could be carried out here. Miller is one of a growing number of Bahamians who have had close relatives or friends murdered in recent years. He dismissed the judge's comment as "ridiculous and stupid" because it sent the wrong message to criminals.





"It's sad that the courts are upholding the view that you have to have a massacre to consider you to be eligible for the death penalty. We must fight fire with fire. We have to wipe them out. It's either them or us," Miller said in typical bombastic style.





Another politician who has lost a close relative to crime is Democratic National Alliance chief Branville McCartney. And he has been equally insistent on the need for executions. "How many more must die," he said recently, "before lawmakers do what is necessary to protect the public?"





Fundamentalist preachers are even more unyielding. Consider this comment from Bishop Walter Hanchell: "As we can see from scriptures, the penalty for murder is death ... state killings should and must be resumed in order to rid the community of wicked persons, who have lost their right to live in our society."





But all of these comments amount to spitting in the wind. There is a global trend towards abolition of the death penalty.





Today, nearly 2/3 of all the countries in the world no longer execute people.





Many CARICOM nations retain capital punishment on the books, but judges - whether at the Privy Council in London or the Caribbean Court in Trinidad - have gradually made the penalty almost impossible to carry out.





The last executions in the region were carried out in St Kitts and Nevis (2008), the Bahamas (2000) and Trinidad and Tobago (1999). In St Kitts, the number of murders increased in the year following the 2008 execution. In Trinidad, after an appeals court determination limiting executions, the murder rate fell.





Multiple studies have shown that while capital punishment does not deter crime, it does run the risk of executing innocent people. And abolitionists argue that the death penalty is often used in a disproportional manner against the poor and minority groups.





As lawyer Dion Hanna has pointed out: "It's very easy to convict someone under our legal system who may be innocent, and there is no redress, unless you have public campaigns to overturn a decision, and we don't have that kind of culture in the Bahamas. So the death penalty really is a dangerous weapon in the hands of the legal system."





According to a 2007 study by the United Nations and the World Bank, the causes of high crime rates in our region include the easy availability of guns, urban chaos, income inequality, and the prevalence of gangs, organised crime and drug trafficking.





As the South African court which abolished the death penalty in 1995 said: "We would be deluding ourselves if we were to believe that the execution of ... a comparatively few people each year ... will provide the solution to the unacceptably high rate of crime ... The greatest deterrent to crime is the likelihood that offenders will be apprehended, convicted and punished. It is that which is presently lacking in our criminal justice system."





Delegates at the Guyana conference called on Caribbean countries to formalise the unofficial moratorium on the death penalty that currently exists and respect international human rights laws. They argued that public opinion in favour of executions was not a major obstacle to achieving this.





"Public support for the death penalty does not necessarily mean that (it) is right," an EU statement said, pointing to historical precedents where gross human rights violations had the support of a majority of the people, but were condemned vigorously later on. In dealing with crime, it was seen as far more important to strengthen the judicial system, while advancing public education on the issue of punishment.





One of the top speakers at the Guyana conference was Navnit Dholakia, who was born in Africa and educated in India before emigrating to Britain in the 1950s. He is a member of the UK All Party Parliamentary Committee on Abolition of the Death Penalty. "Do we follow public opinion or do we lead?" Dholakia said in Guyana. "What do we mean when we talk about public opinion? Do politicians go around asking for a referendum on every issue ... the answer is no." Change, he said, can only happen if governments take the lead.





The last time this issue was officially addressed in the Bahamas was in 2011, when the Ingraham administration amended the law to define just what crimes would be eligible for the death penalty. They include killing a uniformed officer or judge, and killing during a rape, robbery, kidnapping or act of terrorism.





But the consensus among judges and legislators is that hanging is over here.





We have a current de facto abolition of the death penalty, and it would be much better if politicos and religious leaders restrained themselves from pandering to public fears and talking nonsense. Common sense should tell us that a handful of executions following years of delay (from a handful of convictions) will have no meaningful effect, particularly on those we would most like to be deterred - like gangsters.





Fixing the justice system is much more important than imposing the death penalty.





Source: Bahamas Tribune, January 20, 2016




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.
The Indonesian government's decision to execute eight individuals for drug-related crimes last April led to condemnation of our country from governments and human rights advocates from around the world. Despite insisting at the time that the executions were essential to fighting a growing "drug crisis" in the country, government officials later said they would be focusing on improving the country's economy before moving forward with more executions.





Recently, however, government officials have backtracked once again, indicating that they would continue to carry out executions this year.





In an open letter released on Monday and addressed to Minister for Politics, Law and Security Affairs Lahut Panjaitan, numerous human rights and justice advocacy groups - including Amnesty International, the Community Legal Aid Institute (LBH) and KontraS (the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence) - criticise the government's decision to backtrack once again on their death penalty policy. They refer specifically to Attorney General M Prasetyo's statements in December that executions will resume in 2016.





The letter asks that the government put an end to executions, arguing that there are "systemic flaws in the administration of justice in Indonesia" and "violations of fair trial" that amount to government-endorsed human rights violations.





Many such violations of justice are noted in the letter, include not providing proper legal assistance to death row prisoners and the improper application of the death penalty to individuals who may have mental illnesses or be underage. It also notes that drug offenses do not rise to the threshold of serious crimes deserving of the death penalty as defined by the 1976 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, in which Indonesia is a signatory.





The letter's cosigners argue that only remedy to these injustices would be for Indonesia to place a moratorium on further executions and to establish an independent body to monitor the human rights of prisoners and ensure they receive a fair trial.





You can read the full text of the open letter below:





Mr. Luhut Panjaitan,

Coordinating Minister for Politics, Law and Security Affairs

Coordinating Ministry for Politics, Law and Security Affairs

Jl. Merdeka Barat No. 15,

Jakarta Pusat 10110

Indonesia

18 January 2016

Dear Minister,

Indonesia's authorities must end executions and abolish the death penalty.

We are writing to you on the issue of the application of the death penalty in Indonesia. It has been a year since your administration resumed executions in Indonesia on 18 January 2015, after a 4 year hiatus, despite strong protests from human rights organizations and the international community.

Our organizations are concerned despite your public announcement in November 2015 that Indonesia government would suspend any executions in near future the Attorney General has recently announced that further executions will be carried out in 2016. As there continues to be serious concerns about violations of fair trial and other human rights in the use of the death penalty in Indonesia we ask for your immediate intervention to address these issues. In particular, we urge you to ensure all death sentences are reviewed by an independent and impartial body, with a view to their commutation.

Research findings by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komisi Nasional Hak Asasi Manusia, Komnas HAM)[3] and additional independent research carried out by Amnesty International, ICJR (Institute for Criminal Justice Reform), and other human rights organizations, point to systemic flaws in the administration of justice in Indonesia and violation of fair trial and other international safeguards that must be strictly observed in all death penalty cases:

Defendants in the cases under analysis did not have access to legal counsel from the time of arrest and at different stages of their trial and appeals; they were subjected to ill-treatment while in police custody to make them "confess" to their alleged crimes or sign police investigation reports.

Prisoners were brought before a judge for the first time when their trials began, months after their arrest.

In several cases involving foreign nationals, particularly those convicted of drug-related offences, the authorities failed to correctly identify or verify the identity of the prisoner and notify relevant country representations of the arrest. The authorities also failed to provide translation and interpretation to those prisoners who could not understand Bahasa, whether they were foreigners or Indonesian nationals.

The death penalty continued to be used extensively for drug-related offences, even though these offences do not meet the threshold of the "most serious crimes", the only category of crimes for which the death penalty can be imposed under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Indonesia is a state party, pending its abolition.

In addition, despite the clear prohibition under international law concerning the use of the death penalty against persons who were below 18 years of age or have a mental or intellectual disability, credible claims put forward by prisoners in relation to their age and mental illness were not adequately investigated by the authorities and have resulted in the unlawful imposition of the death penalty and, in at least 1 case, execution. While Indonesian law requires that all births be registered, in practice many people do not undergo this process, making the determination of one's age particularly challenging. This, coupled with a lack of legal assistance, increases the risk that persons who were below 18 when the crime was committed are exposed to the death penalty. Additionally, defendants and prisoners are not regularly and independently assessed, which can result in mental disabilities remaining undiagnosed and prisoners not being afforded the care and treatment they might need.

Research findings also show that in some cases prisoners did not receive legal assistance when appealing against their conviction or sentence, or did not even submit an appeal application because they were not informed by their lawyers of their right to do so.

Furthermore, the execution of some death row prisoners went ahead even though the Indonesian courts had accepted to hear their appeals. The announcement by President Joko Widodo in December 2014 and February 2015 that he would not grant clemency to any individuals convicted of and sentenced to death for drug-related crimes and information relating to some clemency rejections cast doubts on the meaningful exercise of the President's constitutional power to grant clemency and the country's compliance with the ICCPR.

As of today, 140 countries are abolitionist in law or practice. 3 more countries - Fiji, Madagascar and Suriname- became abolitionist for all crimes in 2015 alone and the Parliament of Mongolia adopted a new Criminal Code at the end of last year, removing the death penalty as possible form of punishment under the laws of the country. The resumption of executions in Indonesia have not only set the country against its international obligations, but also against the global trend towards abolition of the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.

Our organizations reiterate our calls on the government of Indonesia to establish a moratorium on executions as a first step towards abolition of the death penalty. Pending full abolition, we urge you to immediately establish an independent and impartial body, or mandate an existing one, to review all cases where people have been sentenced to death, with a view to commuting the death sentences or, in cases where the procedures were seriously flawed, offer a retrial that fully complies with international fair trial standards and which does not resort to the death penalty.

This letter is co-signed by the following organizations:

Amnesty International

Elsam (Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy)

HRWG (Human Rights Working Group)

ICJR (Institute for Criminal Justice Reform)

Imparsial (the Indonesian Human Rights Monitor)

KontraS (the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence)

LBH Masyarakarat (Community Legal Aid Institute)

Migrant Care

PKNI (Indonesian Drug User Network)

YLBHI (Indonesia Legal Aid Foundation)





Source: coconuts.co, January 20, 2016




Zika is known to occur within equatorial belt from Africa to Asia

Houston: Mosquito-borne Zika virus has begun cropping up in the US as Florida and Illinois, for the first time, have respectively recorded three and two cases of the disease which has caused birth defects in Latin America, according to health officials.

A Hawaiian newborn was confirmed by the health officials last week as the first case in the US.

He was born with microcephaly, a Zika-associated condition involving a malformed skull and brain. Texas has also recorded its cases.

A traveller returning from El Salvador in November fell ill with fever, rash and joint pain. Following a month-long testings and investigations, it was confirmed that he had brought the virus into the country.

The mother likely had Zika infection when she was residing in Brazil in May 2015 and her newborn acquired the infection in the womb. Neither the baby nor the mother are infectious and there was never a risk of transmission in Hawaii, Hawaii health officials said in statement yesterday.


Jesse was a great guy and a soldier, not merely a statistic

When you work in the news business in your hometown, as I have for more than a decade, you often end up writing about people you've known many years. This can be a joy, but there's been a few times when tragedy made it a whole different matter.

Sgt. Jesse Tait enjoying one of his favourite pastimes  playing the bagpipes. Supplied photo.

When you work in the news business in your hometown, as I have for more than a decade, you often end up writing about people you've known many years.



This can be a joy, but there's been a few times when tragedy made it a whole different matter.



Nearly a year ago, on Jan. 22, 2015, the body of 34-year-old Sudbury-born soldier Sgt. Jesse Tait was recovered from the Kaministiquia River near Thunder Bay, after going missing from Canadian Forces Base Shilo in Manitoba. No foul play was suspected.



A veteran of both the Bosnia-Herzegovina and Afghanistan conflicts, Jesse left behind his wife, Katrina, his young sons, Lochlan and Watson, his mother, Jocelyn, and sister, Meredith.



Just a month older than I am, Jesse was in the same grade as me at Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School.



His death was a blow, especially as it was shortly after the death of my 37-year-old cousin Christina, who passed away of natural causes in December 2014. I could barely bring myself to write the news brief announcing his death.



I got to know Jesse in our Grade 11 outdoor education class, when he ate some what-should-have-been inedible, mouldy beef jerky I'd made for a class project, probably just to make me laugh.



Because that's just how Jesse was  a kind, extremely energetic guy who would do just about anything to make other people laugh.



Jesse, a member of the 2964 Walden Irish army cadet corps as a teen, excelled at biathlon, and was also a talented bagpiper, a pastime he continued into adulthood. But I remember when he was just learning how to play the instrument.



As a teen, I teased him about practising in the grocery store parking lot. He also attempted to play the bagpipes one time with the Lo-Ellen concert band, of which I was a member, with mixed results.



Jesse was fond of wearing a kilt to class, a garment I can personally report he also wore to our OAC grad dance. I can picture his smiling face as we partied like it was 1999 (because it was).



We met again a couple more times in recent years, when I interviewed him for Northern Life about his military career.



I wrote about when he was named the One Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group (OCMBG) top combat soldier for 2005, and when he was deployed to Afghanistan in 2008.



My parents, Drs. Bob and Brenda Ulrichsen, have practised dentistry and optometry, respectively, in Copper Cliff for many years. The Tait family are among their patients, and they'd known Jesse since he was a kid.



My dad has been learning to play the bagpipes for the last couple of years. Knowing this, Jesse's mom, Jocelyn, recently loaned my dad Jesse's bagpipes, asking that he play them once in a while. My dad, and I, were stunned and honoured that she'd trust our family with the instrument.



A lot of information has come out lately about the number of Canadian soldiers who have died from suicide.



The Globe and Mail recently reported that 17 serving military members took their lives in 2015. Sixty-two have died from suicide after returning from Afghanistan.



These are stark statistics. Many have blamed the deaths on inadequate mental health programs available to combat veterans, a troubling accusation given what we ask soldiers to do and what that forces them to experience.



But to the people who knew him, Jesse wasn't a statistic. Let's remember that sunny-natured kid who grew up to be a father, soldier, musician and all-around great guy.



Heidi Ulrichsen is Northern Life's associate content editor.
Government should tread carefully with pot legalization: health unit

With the federal government's plans to legalize marijuana in motion, the Sudbury and District Health Unit has proposed those plans should follow a public health approach to reduce any health and societal harms associated with marijuana use.

A new website, MarijuanaMedInfo.ca, aims to provide Canadians with unbiased scientific information and the latest news on medical marijuana. Supplied photo.

With the federal government's plans to legalize marijuana in motion, the Sudbury and District Health Unit has proposed those plans should follow a public health approach to reduce any health and societal harms associated with marijuana use.



While the health unit has acknowledged the health risks associated with marijuana use are significantly lower than those tied to tobacco or alcohol, the federal government should ensure regulations are in place to make sure the drug is not abused.



Brenda Stankiewicz, public health nurse with the Sudbury and District Health Unit, said smoking marijuana damages the lungs, and like cigarettes, can lead to lung cancer or bronchitis.



Numerous studies have also linked early marijuana use, especially in teenage years, to increase a person's risk of developing a severe mental illness like schizophrenia.



There has been a positive association between the use of cannabis and an increased likelihood of mental illnesses, especially with people who have a pre-existing vulnerability, she said.



Like alcohol, marijuana can also impede a person's ability to drive, said Stankiewicz.



If you're going to use marijuana please don't get behind the wheel, she said. It is a cause of many collisions.



Jurisdictions that have already legalized marijuana, such as the state of Colorado, have also faced some unexpected complications.



Stankiewicz said there have been reported cases in Colorado of people eating too many pot brownies at one time, leading to toxicity.



When people eat a marijuana-laced brownie they may have one, and then have a second, she said.



Stankiewicz said the government would need to keep marijuana out of the hands of children and youth, and set strict guidelines for any marketing materials.



Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne has suggested the LCBO could handle the sale of marijuana, since it already has the infrastructure and expertise in place for alcohol sales.



Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has appointed MP Bill Blair to lead the government's efforts to legalize marijuana.



Blair, who was formerly chief of the Toronto Police Service, has said he supports legalization as a way to restrict marijuana access to children and deal with the societal and health problems it can cause.



Our intent is to legalize, regulate and restrict, Blair told the Globe and Mail. There needs to be reasonable restrictions on making sure that we keep it away from kids, because I think that is very much in the public interest. We also have to ensure that the social and the health harms are properly managed and mitigated, and that can be done through regulation.
A group of four young Sudburians are heading to Lesvos, Greece at the end of the month to volunteer with a humanitarian organization assisting the flood of refugees arriving on the island's shores.

A group of four young Sudburians are heading to Lesvos, Greece at the end of the month to volunteer with a humanitarian organization assisting the flood of refugees arriving on the island's shores.Kaycee Belanger, Sarah Hargan, Marissa Connolly and Taylor Williamson, all aged 24, will be volunteering with Lighthouse Refugee Relief for a month starting Jan. 31.The registered NGO works with refugees , many of them fleeing the civil war in Syria, who put ashore at a dangerous, rocky spot near a lighthouse on Lesvos after crossing the treacherous Aegean.The organization also runs a refugee camp, giving those waiting to be admitted to Greece a temporary place to stay.Belanger, who returned home to Sudbury last month after working as a teacher in England, said she's heard so much about the Syrian refugee crisis, and wanted to do something hands-on to help.We're going to be on the beaches, helping them, she said. We'll be making sure everybody gets off safely, and dealing with injuries, providing them with food and warm blankets and taking them into the camps.Before they head out, though, Belanger and her friends are trying to raise $5,000 to purchase supplies they can give to the refugees, such as tents, sleeping bags and baby carries.Some of the supplies will be purchased in Greece, and they'll bring others along with them.The group is paying its own way over to the country, so 100 per cent of the donations will go to the refugees.We're giving them supplies that they can actually use to make their journey as comfortable as possible, Belanger said.Could you imagine, you're walking hundreds of kilometres with all of these children, and you're holding your toddler? ... Having baby carriers is really useful in making their journey easier.The friends are holding a fundraising evening at Alexandria's Restaurant on Jan. 22 (Friday) starting at 6 p.m. A $20 cover includes live music by Chicks With Picks and free appetizers.For more information, search for Good Music  Good Food  Good Cause // Sudbury Supporting Refugees on Facebook.If you can't attend the fundraiser, but still wish to donate, search for Sudbury Donates to Refugees on the crowdfunding website www.youcaring.com
Mumbai: All set for the release of her first biopic titled Neerja, actress Sonam Kapoor along with her film team met Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for a personal interaction.

Sonam, will be seen essaying the role of Neerja Bhanot, a 23-year-old flight attendant, who became the youngest Ashoka Chakra award winner in India. The Ram Madhvani film tells the untold story of the flight attendant who saved 359 passengers at the cost of her life on board Pan Am 73, which was hijacked by Libyan terrorists in Karachi.

"'Neerja' is a special film. Sonam met the chief minister regarding her the film last night," sources said.

Sonam Kapoor sits down for a chat with the Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis.

A few pictures from their meeting made their way online, all thanks to Member of Parliament Poonam Mahajan. The MP shared a few pictures that she captioned: Enjoyed interacting with the team behind #Neerja along with the hon. CM of Maharashtra @Dev_Fadnavis ji

Sonam Kapoor and team 'Neerja' with the Maharashtra CM Devendra FadnavisThe film, which also has veteran actress Shabana Azmi as Sonams mother, is scheduled to release on February 19.
$600 K grant helps launch centre for learning disabilities

Thanks to a $600,000 grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation a new organization called the Northern Ontario Centre for Learning Differences will provide support for the parents and educators of students who face challenges with learning.

Sudbury MP Glenn Thibeault; Kevin McCormick, chair of the Northern Ontario Centre for Learning Differences board; Niilo Saari, a volunteer with the Ontario Trillium Foundation; Ron Lessard, executive director of the Learning Disabilities Association of Sudbury; and Mary-Liz Warwick, interim executive director of the Northern Ontario Centre for Learning Differences, celebrated a $600,000 grant to help launch the centre and expand services already offered in Sudbury to other parts of northeastern Ontario. Photo by Jonathan Migneault.

Thanks to a $600,000 grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation a new organization called the Northern Ontario Centre for Learning Differences will provide support for the parents and educators of students who face challenges with learning.



The grant will be spread out over three years to support the centre's expansion to Sault Ste. Marie, North Bay and Timmins.



Mary-Liz Warwick, the centre's interim executive director, said she hopes to have resource facilitators in all three cities by April 2016.



Often, when you're a parent with a child who has a learning disability you feel very alone, Warwick said. The parent support is one of our key programs.



A report from Ontario's Ministry of Education said there are almost 8,000 students in English-language school boards in northeastern Ontario who have been identified with a learning disability.



To help more of those children and their families the Northern Ontario Centre for Learning Differences will expand on the resource facilitator program the Learning Disabilities Association of Sudbury offers locally.



All of us in the organization are committed and passionate, said Ron Lessard, the association's executive director. We really care about meeting with families and helping them succeed.



The Northern Ontario Centre for Learning Differences will host a teleconference Wednesday evening with 30 families from across Northern Ontario, to help them navigate the different resources available to help parents and their children navigate learning supports.



Dr. Todd Cunningham, a psychologist from the University of Toronto, and specialist on learning difficulties, will facilitate Wednesday's teleconference.



The Northern Ontario Centre for Learning Differences head office will be housed at Huntington University, and it hopes to expand to satellite offices in North Bay, Timmins and Sault Ste. Marie by April.



Every student has the right to an education and the right to learn in a way that best suits their learning style, said Kevin McCormick, president and vice-chancellor of Huntington University, and chair of the Northern Ontario Centre for Learning Differences' board.
13 homicides in long-term care the 'tip of the iceberg'

The 13 homicides found to have been committed in long-term care homes in 2013-2014 are just the "tip of the iceberg," says the coroner who chaired the committee that wrote the report.

The Sudbury and District Health Unit has declared a flu outbreak at Pioneer Manor. File photo.

The 13 homicides found to have been committed in long-term care homes in 2013-2014 are just the "tip of the iceberg," says the coroner who chaired the committee that wrote the report.



But Ontario's Ministry of Health and Long-Term care says it's taking the necessary action to address the issues raised in the report released last October, a report that described the extent of violence in long-term care homes across the province.



The Geriatric and Long-Term Care Review Committee 2013-14 Annual Report, issued by the Office of the Chief Coroner for Ontario, looked at 45 deaths in long-term care homes during that period, and found 13 cases classified as homicides.



Dr. Roger Skinner, a regional supervising coroner and chair of the committee that wrote the report, later described those 13 cases as only the tip of the iceberg, because most altercations between residents at long-term care facilities don't result in death, but are often reported as accidents when a resident is injured.



In July 2014, a resident at Finlandia Village's Hoivakoti Nursing Home died in hospital after falling in the dining hall and suffering a head injury after striking the wall.



The fall happened after a minor disagreement with another resident, but police determined it was an unintentional accident.



Long-term care experts say the majority of altercations involve residents with some form of dementia.

To address the issue, the province says it is investing $44 million per year into its Behavioural Supports Ontario (BSO) initiative.



Through the initiative, more than 600 personnel across Ontario have been trained to identify triggers and address challenging behaviours that may result in harm.



These BSO units are administered through a combination of teams in our long-term care homes and through mobile teams that service long-term care homes, said Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care spokesperson Mark Nesbitt in an email to NorthernLife.ca. In addition, the lon-term-care sector has received over $20 million to provide staff training in resident safety and to advance the quality of care residents receive.



Nesbitt said the ministry also launched Ontario's Dementia Strategy Expert Panel in July 2015 to develop a provincial dementia strategy.



To ensure the Coroners recommendation is addressed, the ministry has asked the Dementia Strategy Expert Panel to specifically examine the issue of resident-on-resident violence, he said. We have consulted with the Chief Coroner to ensure this approach satisfies his recommendations and he is fully supportive of this approach.



But NDP health critic France Gelinas said there has not been a sufficient government response to the coroner's office report on long-term care homes.



The issue of violence in our long-term care homes has to be addressed, she said.



Although all long-term care homes in the province have access to the Behavioural Supports Ontario mobile teams, not all have in-house staff who are part of the program, and only eight have behavioural support units, designed specifically for residents with behavioural issues.



Sudbury's Pioneer Manor does have seven staff members  three registered practical nurses and four health care aids  who are trained through Behavioural Supports Ontario, but does not have a behavioural support unit.



They help provide services for our residents that have more complex responsive behaviours, said Kim Pelkman, Pioneer Manor's manager of therapeutic services.



Pelkman said Pioneer Manor has been involved with Behavioural Supports Ontario since 2012.



The seven staff members are trained to identify verbal, physical and repetitive behaviours associated with risk, and to mitigate the potential for violent behaviour.



Sometimes it's something as simple as noise in the dining room setting someone off, Pelkman said.
Cybercrime is mushrooming, police say

Greater Sudbury Police, like forces across the world, are being forced to deal with an explosion of new types of crime being committed online, says Chief Paul Pedersen.

The Sudbury Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) reminds parents that they have an important role to play ensuring their children use the Internet safely. Supplied photo.

Greater Sudbury Police, like forces across the world, are being forced to deal with an explosion of new types of crime being committed online, says Chief Paul Pedersen.



And like they have in the past, he said police have to scramble to catch up with criminals who can change much quicker. In the 1920s and 1930s, for example, gangsters had machine guns when most police officers had six-shot revolvers.



Our business is becoming increasingly more complex, Pedersen said Wednesday at the Greater Sudbury Police Services Board meeting.



Today, financial crime is flocking online. In the 1930, Pedersen said the FBI famously asked a criminal named Willie Sutton why he robbed banks. He replied, 'because that's where the money is.'



Where's the money today? It's online, Pedersen said. Who's in charge of policing the cyberworld?  If we don't do it, then who will?



Young people are particularly vulnerable, he said, to online predators.



They trick young people into exposing themselves, or worse, to meet (with them), Pedersen said. And today's iPhone has more computing power than all of NASA had during the moon landing.



Insp. Dan Despatie said cybercrime is expected to triple in the coming years, and police forces have to have a paradigm shift in their approach to deal with it. Unlike traditional crime, online crime is largely invisible, and local people can be victimized by crooks a continent away.



That's a fundamental change in how we're going to have to approach this, Despatie said. That's the way of the world now. Cybercrime is global. Things are moving faster than we can keep up.



Email scams, child exploitation and identity theft are just a few of the new sorts of challenges police face. Technology is either used as a target  hacking and malware for example  or it's used as an instrument for new offences -- such as cyberbullying and email scams.



Sudbury is far from immune, Despatie said. The top nine cities in Canada that are targets of online criminals are in Ontario, and Sudbury is sixth on that list.



Provincially, police are focusing on strategies to protect children from sex abuse and exploitation on the Internet. It's a problem with a global reach, with a local impact.



We are not immune to what is taking place across the ocean, or up Highway 17, he said.



Sgt. Blair Ramsay, who head's up Sudbury's cybercrime unit, says their primary focus is also on protecting children as well as online criminal harassment.



His unit often acts as a resource for investigating officers who aren't sure how to properly investigate new technological devices.



It's tough for our investigators to be all at the same level, when it comes to technology, Ramsay said. So with our unit, we do a lot of helping. You have to wrap your mind around what sort of info you need to get from the devices.



With young people, sexting has become a major issue, something that's extremely difficult to monitor with so many young people getting cellphones  some as young as five or six.



Sexting is a completely new area of investigation in the last five or six years, he said. It's not something that's going to stop. It's going to get worse.



He cited the Ashley Madison scandal, in which people from across the world who signed up to the site are now being blackmailed. With the list easily available on the Internet, people are being contacted directly and threatened.



We've had one case here in Sudbury so far, Ramsay said, and he's sure there's more people out there who have been victimized.



There's also dating website scams, where two people get into a video chat  then one tells the other to pay up, or they'll publish the video of their private chat. Seniors are also targeted by email scams. In one case, an older woman told him she was tricked and was ready to send money to someone overseas via Western Union.



Western Union told her, no ma'am, this is a scam, Ramsay said. Good on them ... (But) I've heard of people sending hundreds of thousands of dollars overseas with Western Union. It's very sad.



Police have begun several initiatives to try an address online crime, he said. They're developing a training program with several groups to combat child exploitation. They're also training more officers in how to fight internet-specific crime.



And Despatie said parents can play a big role in keeping their kids safe.



Monitor your child's online activity, he said. We want parents to know what their children are doing online.



Even when they're just playing Xbox, he said they can be chatting with a predator.



People also should never click on links in emails unless it's from a safe sender.



It comes back to what police have said for years  if something sounds too good to be true, it is."



Things are evolving. We have to change our policing strategies.



Board Chair Frances Caldarelli said she was almost the victim of a scam herself several months ago. She got a call from her bank questioning a transaction.



They wanted to know if I really wanted to send $8,000 to someone in South America, she said.



She didn't know anyone there and certainly wasn't sending anyone money.
Mumbai: There are only handful of celebrities who are daring enough to bare it all on the big screen but Vir Das has bravely attempted it in his upcoming film Mastizaade. The actor mustered up the courage to shoot a scene completely naked. Yes you read it right! Not to worry, though, his modesty was covered up with blurred boxes.

Vir shared the new promo and wrote, "Yes, Nanga hoon! Yes, Darr laga. Nahin, extra paise Nahin mile :-) "

The video has Vir making out with a blond beauty when he realizes that her husband is home. Vir decides to jump out of the window and is later seen running on Bandstand in Mumbai. Vir jogging in the buff shocks a lot of fellow runners, who ask him why he is running naked and he has some hilarious replies.

Watch the promo here.

Slated to release on January 29, Mastizaade also stars Tusshar Kapoor and Sunny Leone. The film is directed by Milap Zaveri and will see Sunny essaying a double role.
Human resource development minister Smriti Irani made a determined attempt last Wednesday to douse the fire caused by the tragic suicide of Rohith Vemula, a research scholar at the University of Hyderabad. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that she will be able to contain the ugly fallout resulting from the incident.

This is partly due to the fact that political leaders, particularly those who have a score to settle with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, are frenetically fishing in the troubled waters of the University of Hyderabad. Whether it is Rahul Gandhi or Arvind Kejriwal, Rohiths suicide seems a wonderful opportunity to present a caricatured picture of the Bharatiya Janata Party as an organisation wedded to archaic, reactionary and exclusionary politics. Like in the Dadri lynching incident, the politicians enjoy the backing of a section of the intelligentsia that feels cut off from the power structure. The media, having quite rightly smelt a big story centred on yet another embarrassment for the Modi government, has also jumped in with its usual quota of reportage and sensationalism.

In such an emotionally charged environment it is difficult  if not impossible  to maintain a sense of detachment. The absence of a polemical thrust in any commentary on the issue is almost certainly prone to being interpreted as either an apology for the government or even a defence of caste prejudice. The epidemic of political correctness that has infected almost every democratic society globally is yet another factor that has marred the expression of alternative opinions.

These occupational hazards notwithstanding, it is worthwhile looking at the Hyderabad incident for what it reveals of some socio-political currents.

First, it is apparent that in the past 18 months or so, student politics in India is becoming extremely ugly. This is not because politics has suddenly entered the campuses in a virulent form. Politics or, more accurately, deliberations on national and international affairs, has always been a feature of campus life.

Indeed, it was far more marked in the late-Sixties and early-Seventies when the Naxalite movement and Jayaprakash Narayans total revolution triggered turbulence and disruption. Subsequently, in 1989-90, the kerfuffle over the Mandal Commission led to a mood of confrontation and bitterness. Compared to those expressions of student unrest, what we have been witnessing in recent months appears remarkably localised and tame.

Yet there are two features of campus turbulence that are relatively new. To begin with, the issues that have created disturbances in campuses appear to be increasingly detached from the concerns of the wider society. Whether it the prolonged agitation over the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan to head the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), the beef festival in Hyderabad or the never-ending battles involving the students and administration of Jadavpur University in Kolkata, the themes of student unrest very rarely find reflection outside the campus. In short, in the centres of unrest, the gulf between town and gown is becoming extremely sharp.

What is, however, reassuring is that most educational institutions are remarkably disinterested in the issues that preoccupy the minds of student activists. In the vocabulary of intellectualism, careerism is a pejorative term because it suggests self-centredness and a desire for personal advancement.

To my mind, however, it indicates a heartening sense of focus and a desire to use the years spent in the campus as a stepping-stone to a more fruitful working life. This does not mean students are less aware of their environment today than they were in the Sixties.

It merely indicates that India is inching forward to becoming more and more an opportunity society and this, in turn, is focusing the mind of students. The expansion of private universities with strong career-centric focus has helped the process. It has also sent out strong signals to policymakers that, along with spread, education in India must also focus purposefully on quality. Alas, this is not on the agenda of activists who are still travelling down the road of ideological and identity politics.

Secondly, there is a disturbing drift towards intolerance in some Indian campuses. Almost every month brings to the fore a fresh incident involving clashes between rival groups of students on issues as varied as a film on Muzaffarnagar, a meeting on the hanging of Yakub Memon and a speech by some individual with very definite views.

What underpins these disruptions and controversies is a belief that the campus is a centre for fostering certitudes rather than nurturing enlightenment through scepticism. Again, this seems a larger global trend  witness the ideological rigidity that has become the hallmark of Western universities.

To mind, both the Left and the Right are equally guilty of promoting a closed mind approach. The Left has traditionally been dogmatic and an enemy of intellectual pluralism but this infection is entering into the Right as well.

What is needed is a conscious move in which university authorities must also play a role to discourage the tendency of those who should know better to tar those who profess different viewpoints with unsavoury labels such as anti-national, casteist or fascist. It speaks volumes about our democratic values when faculty members of a publicly-funded university oppose an invitation to the Prime Minister to address a convocation.

Such values serve as an encouragement to students to use strong-arm tactics to uphold a flawed monopoly of the truth.

In the coming weeks, the bouts of recrimination over the death of a sensitive soul unable to cope with a vitiated campus environment will play out. However, if we are to do justice to his memory, it is imperative that some heed is paid to addressing some of the factors that brought about this tragedy.
Last February, Wal-Mart announced that it would raise base employee wages for 500,000 workers to $9 an hour last year

New York: The vast majority of Wal-Mart's US employees will get raises as part of the world's largest retailer's previously announced commitment to invest in its workforce as it faces pressure from labor-backed groups and seeks to retain workers in a tighter labor force.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on Wednesday said more than 1.2 million US hourly workers will get wage increases on February 20. The company, which is the largest US private employer with 1.4 million total workers, also said it will provide free, basic short-term disability to full-time hourly workers. And it will start allowing workers to accrue paid time off as they earn it.

The moves mark the biggest changes Wal-Mart has made in its efforts to offer better wages and benefits to its workers.

Last February, Wal-Mart announced that it would raise base employee wages for 500,000 workers to $9 an hour last year, with plans to move it to $10 per hour, next month. The company also said new entry level workers hired after Jan. 1, 2016 would start at $9 per hour, but move to at least $10 an hour after completing a six-month training program. Then last June, Wal-Mart said it would raise starting wages for more than 100,000 US department managers.

In total, Wal-Mart's CEO Doug McMillon said in October that last year's investment in wage increases, along with improved training, cost $1.2 billion. McMillon also said the company expects to pump $1.5 billion in to its workforce this year, although at the time he did not give details of other raises and perks to be offered.

As a result of the latest pay increase taking effect next month, the average full-time hourly wage at Wal-Mart stores will be $13.38, up from $13. For part-time workers, the hourly wage will be $10.58, up from $10. Last year, before the changes, the average full-time hourly wage was $12.85 and $9.48 for part-time. Wal-Mart declined to provide the average hourly wages for Sam's Club workers.

Those wages for Wal-Mart stores are still below the $14.95 average that hourly retail workers in a non-supervisory role earn, according to government data that includes people who work at auto dealers and other outlets that would likely pay more than discounters like Wal-Mart. But Wal-Mart's entry level pay is above the $9.26 average hourly pay for cashiers and low level retail sales staff, according to the Hay Group's survey of 140 retailers with annual sales of $500 million. The survey was conducted last summer.

Wal-Mart's moves have met some criticism. Wal-Mart's initial pay triggered complaints from workers who felt that the raises weren't spread out evenly. Many of the new employees were getting increases in pay, making their pay closer to other workers who had been at Wal-Mart for a long time. The company acknowledged Wednesday that some employees were upset.

"We did hear from some associates who did feel left out last time, but we specifically did it to reward associates in a fair, consistent and transparent way," said Wal-Mart spokesman Kory Lundberg.

Here are more details of Wal-Mart's plan:

Workers who are already earn more than $10 per hour will receive an annual pay increase in February rather than waiting until the anniversary date.

The company is also raising the starting rate of its non-entry level hourly pay bands. So specialists like deli sales associates will make between $10.50 and $18.81 per hour, up from $9.90 to $18.81. Workers at or above their pay band maximum will automatically move up to the new minimum.

Workers who are at or above their maximum pay band will get a one-time lump sum payment equal to 2 percent of their annual pay.

Starting March 5, full-time workers can carry up to 80 hours of paid time leave from year to year. That number will be 48 hours for part-time workers. Any unused hours at the end of the year above the limits will automatically be paid to hourly workers in the first paycheck every February. Previously, workers would just lose those days if they hadn't taken them.

Wal-Mart is offering a short-term basic disability plan for workers who need to be away for an extended time. Effective Jan. 1, the plan will pay 50 percent of a worker's average weekly wage, up to $200, for up to 26 weeks.

Wal-Mart is also enhancing its short-term disability plan, which now will cost less than the company's prior voluntary plan and provide more coverage. Workers will receive up to 60 percent of their average weekly wage with no weekly maximum for up to 26 weeks. Prior to that, the figure was 50 percent.
Premiership intensity will hit the Titans a fortnight early with Sam Burgess set to play his first game of rugby league in close to 18 months in a trial game on the Gold Coast next month.

The trial between the Titans and Rabbitohs at Pizzey Park in Burleigh on February 20 will be the final hit-out for both teams prior to Round 1 and it is appearing more and more likely that it will mark Burgess's return to the famous South Sydney colours.

With speculation that Burgess will be a withdrawal from the World All Stars team to play the Indigenous All Stars on February 13  and thus also miss the Charity Shield against the Dragons the same night  the 2014 Clive Churchill Medal winner is expected to rip in to a Titans forward pack that will feature a couple of familiar faces.

Eddy Pettybourne and Chris McQueen both played alongside Burgess for extended periods at South Sydney and Pettybourne said that his presence would certainly bring an extra level of intensity to the final match of the pre-season.

"It will be good. It's always a good game against Souths, especially because that's where I grew up and it will be good competition," said Pettybourne, who played three seasons with Burgess from 2010-2012.

"It will be good to see Sam get out there and play footy, it'll be awesome.

"He was always having a good laugh with the boys, always happy and always positive. He's a good fella and can't wait to see him at Pizzey Park.

"He always wants to win but at the same time he always wants to have fun as well. He's a tough competitor and a good player as well and brings a lot for the Rabbitohs.

"Every game is intense but with him being back I guess it would be [more intense]."

The last major trial game that Burleigh Bears hosted was between the Titans and Broncos in 2012 and club CEO Damian Driscoll has no doubt that they will see a similar crowd to the 7,000 that turned up on that occasion.

"Souths have a massive following in the south-east so we believed it would be a sell-out anyway even if it was Sam's second game back but the fact that it will be his first game back will only add to the occasion," Driscoll said.

"I read in one of the Sydney papers that we don't have any grandstands at Pizzey Park but there is plenty of seating available as well as areas on the hill that people really seem to enjoy.

"With some discounts on offer for pre-sales we've sold more than 1,000 tickets already and I'm sure it will be a full house come kick-off at 5pm on February 20."

Pettybourne averaged between 40-50 minutes in 21 games for the Titans last season and with his late footwork at the line shapes as one of the Titans' danger men through the middle in 2016.

In order to take full advantage of tiring defenders he knows that he has to play bigger minutes himself and that means laying a stronger base during the pre-season.

"That's my goal at the moment, to get a spot and play longer minutes with the less interchanges," said the 27-year-old.

"The dummy-halves can play a bit more and that's why we've got to get those 'kays' in our legs, to last a bit longer.

"We've just got to see how we go and see what the staff wants to do with all the boys in the top 17."

Click here for tickets to the Titans v Rabbitohs trial on February 20.
The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday against a Dyer dentist accused by the state of false advertising.

In 2013, the Indiana State Professional Licensing Agency and Indiana State Board of Dentistry ordered that Dr. Irfan Atcha's license be placed on indefinite probation and he be fined $3,000 for deceptive advertising. Atcha appealed to Marion County Superior Court, which overturned those agencies' decision.

While the appeals panel agreed with the lower court that Atcha was not required to list all the dentists in his practice in his ads, it ruled that the state has constitutional authority to restrict false and misleading commercial speech.

The appeals court sent the matter back to the dental board for a reassessment of Atcha's penalty.

"Because the First Amendment ... is at the heart of the matter, I fully expect that we will seek a review of the appellate court decision by the Indiana Supreme Court," said Frank Recker, one of Atcha's lawyers.

Atcha started practicing in Indiana in 2006, purchasing an existing Dyer dental office. His advertising claims subsequently drew complaints from other area dentists to the state, which filed a complaint with the dental board.

The appeals panel agreed with the dental board that Atcha's advertising implied specialization in implant dentistry and did not state that the services were being provided by a general dentist. The appellate court also agreed that Atcha's claim that dentures and dental adhesives are poisonous was misleading.

"It appears to be intended to persuade people with working dentures to undergo an implant procedure which may not be necessary," the opinion reads.

The court stated that while commercial speech is protected by the First Amendment, it receives less protection than other types of expression.

"We appreciate that the Indiana Court of Appeals has upheld the authority of the licensing agencies to hold accountable licensed health professionals so that consumers are protected and are not misinformed by false and misleading advertising claims," said Bryan Corbin, a spokesman for the Indiana attorney general's office.
CHICAGO  Moving a business to Indiana can result in big cost savings, Secretary of Commerce Victor Smith told a crowd Wednesday at the Real Estate Publishing Group's Commercial Real Estate Forecast in Chicago's Loop.

How big?

Hoist Liftruck, which recently relocated its forklift manufacturing operations from Bedford Park to East Chicago, told Smith it expected to save $1,000 a year per worker on workman's compensation costs alone.

"Do the math," Smith said. "With 500 workers, figure out how much accumulated cash that would add to a balance sheet over a decade. That's generational money."

Indiana currently has the second lowest workman's comp expenses in the nation but should have the lowest next year, after Indiana paid $320 million into it, he said.

Smith, the Northwest Indiana Forum and other local economic development officials spoke at a private luncheon, which was attended by dozens of developers, site selectors and commercial real estate brokers. They had just listened to Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner and others at the conference event itself, which attracted hundreds of real estate developers from all over Chicagoland.

Valparaiso Chamber of Commerce President Rex Richards talked up his city, highlighting how it recently won Google's eCity award, landed a $270 million Pratt plant, and has $2 million in cash reserves.

"(Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner) talked earlier about how he was trying to build that culture," Richards said. "Well, we've been living that culture."

A common knock on Indiana is that it doesn't have anything, but Valparaiso has industrial property within city limits that's represented by major firms, including NAI Hiffman and Jones Lang LaSalle, Richards said.

Last year was a record year for economic development in Indiana, Smith said. More than 320 companies decided to expand in or relocate to Indiana, pledging to invest $4.79 billion and hire 26,555 workers over the next few years. The state also hit a peak in private-sector employment with more than 2.6 million jobs.

"I'm happy to say at the end of last quarter we hit that mark, and more Hoosiers are working than any time in our 200-year history," Smith said.

The state's economic development agency, the Indiana Economic Development Corp., is now being pickier about which jobs it tries to attract. Smith said the goal is to lift Indiana's average income, which the U.S. Census Bureau says ranks as the 39th lowest nationally.

Indiana is no longer offering state incentives to companies that offer wages like $7.86 an hour or $9.72 an hour, but it stresses its friendly business climate and low tax rates still make it cheaper to do business here, Smith said.

"We are intentionally doing that to try to lift the average wages for Hoosiers and bring in a higher level of investment," Smith said.

The IEDC courts advanced manufacturing to build on Indiana's legacy as a blue-collar state where the percentage of the workforce working in manufacturing leads the nation. But the state economic development group has been working to build up sectors such as aerospace, orthopedics and information technology. Roughly 27 percent of IEDC-incentivized projects last year were in IT, and the cloud computing company Salesforce now has its second largest office in the world in Indianapolis.

"We're very aggressively going after those markets," Smith said. "People from Indiana tend to be fairly modest ... We use third-party data, show the effect on the balance sheets and let the facts talk for themselves."
Eric Brant, co-director of Valparaisos Chicago Street Theatres production of The Lieutenant of Inishmore, has film buffs of a certain taste in mind when it comes to his production of the acclaimed black comedy.

This is very much like The Hateful Eight or Pulp Fiction or Fargo goes to Ireland, he said. I think people who are fans of that kind of genre, like I am, will love this play.

Running Jan. 29 through Feb. 13, Inishmore is the story of Mad Padraic, an enforcer with the Irish National Liberation Army in the early 1990s who returns to his homeland island after the death of his cat. Chaos and hilarity ensue once Padriac finds out the cause of his cats demise and the revenge he seeks for his beloved pet.

Inishmore was penned by U.K. playwright and screenwriter Martin McDonagh, whose credits include the Tony Award Winning Beauty Queen of Leenane and The Cripple of Inishmaan, and the Oscar-nominated In Bruges. Inishmore made its Broadway debut in 2006 and was nominated for a Best Play Tony.

Like Beauty Queen and Cripple of Inishmaan, McDonagh writes (in Inishmore) these conversations are about nothing, but they drive who these characters are, said Brant, who is directing Inishman with Daena Sisk. Then he manages to work in some out-of-the-blue, shock and awe moments, and as an audience member, youre left going my gosh. They just did that on stage?

Tom ONeil plays Padraic in Chicago Streets staging of Inishmore and is joined onstage by David Pera as his son, Donny; Kevin Perry as young Inishmore resident Davey; and Stephanie Meyer as Daveys sister, Mairead.

This is like our opportunity to do an action movie, Brant said. Or one of those kind of pulp crime stories.

Due to adult language and situations, The Lieutenant of Inishmore is recommended for mature audiences.

Next up for Chicago Street Theatre is the family friendly Nancy Drew: Girl Detective, scheduled to open March 4.

FYI: The Lieutenant of Inishmore will be performed at 8 p.m. Jan. 29-30, Feb. 5-6 and Feb. 11-13 and 2:30 p.m. Feb. 7 at Chicago Street Theatre, 154 W. Chicago St., Valparaiso. Tickets are $20 adults, $17 students, seniors and groups of 10 or more. Call (219) 464-1636 or visit CHICAGOSTREET.ORG
Skaters Jamie Duenas and Olivia Oltmanns are happy to be bringing the story of Frozen to life as part of the hit touring production Disney on Ice Celebrates 100 Years of Magic.

Duenas stars as Anna and Oltmanns takes on the role of Elsa in the skating segment dedicated to Frozen during the newest Disney on Ice show to hit town.

Disney on Ice Celebrates 100 Years of Magic continues to Jan. 24 at Allstate Arena in Rosemont and will then be presented Jan. 27 through Feb. 7 at Chicagos United Center.

The show, presented by Stonyfield YoKids Organic Yogurt, features more than 50 characters and 14 stories told in vignettes during the production.

Host Mickey Mouse definitely makes an appearance throughout the show with his friends Donald Duck, Minnie Mouse and Goofy. Other characters starring in the cast include Snow White, Rapunzel, Cinderella, Ariel, Tiana and more.

Disney stories in the mix include Aladdin, Frozen, Finding Nemo, and Beauty and the Beast.

Its a great family environment. I never expected it to be this way, said Olivia Oltmanns, who is celebrating her first year with the Disney on Ice company. Its a big change from competitive skating. Im enjoying it, she said.

Its so special to go out there every night and see thousands of little girls dressed as Elsa, Oltmanns said. The skater said she did see the movie Frozen multiple times and enjoyed it.

The show, she said, is quite magical, especially for the kids in the audience who get the opportunity to see all their favorite characters.

Anna is a dream role for me to skate, said performer Duenas. The characters fun personality, she said, is interesting to portray.

I love the message of the Frozen story, Duenas said, adding the strength of the tie between the two sisters is admirable.

Duenas said the Disney on Ice company is a wonderful place to work.

We really are each others family, Duenas said, about the bond the cast of skaters has.

FYI: Disney on Ice Celebrates 100 Years of Magic will be performed through Jan. 27 at Allstate Arena in Rosemont and Jan. 27 through Feb. 7 at United Center in Chicago. Tickets start at $20. Visit ticketmaster.com or call (800) 745-3000.
INDIANAPOLIS  Indiana's seven hunting preserves, where Hoosiers can shoot an unlimited number of deer, sheep and goats kept in a fenced area, soon could be subject to state regulation.

Senate Bill 109, co-sponsored by state Sen. Jim Arnold, D-LaPorte  whose district borders the Backwoods Preserve in Plymouth  aims to bring order to what currently is an unsupervised industry after state courts last year concluded that prior regulations were invalid.

The legislation, which passed the Republican-controlled Senate 29-19 and now goes to the Republican-controlled House, puts the State Board of Animal Health, instead of the Department of Natural Resources, in charge of licensing and inspecting the hunting preserves, which must enclose at least 100 acres.

It also requires individuals who shoot a deer at a hunting preserve to pay a $150 license fee to the state. Shooting a goat or sheep would require an $80 license.

The measure also prohibits shooting animals remotely using a computer-fired weapon.

Arnold said he recently visited the Plymouth preserve, which charges between $2,250 and $9,990 for a guided, multi-day deer hunt on its land, and said it was like a trip into the woods and not just shooting deer kept behind a fence.

"Some people that come from the urban areas don't have the opportunity, access or availability to go out and hunt, so they utilize these places," Arnold said. "We have an opportunity to put some standards on these preserves."

But state Sen. Mark Stoops, D-Bloomington, who voted against the legislation, said it only encourages the development of more "canned hunting," and lawmakers should instead ban the practice.

"How are we doing this in the state of Indiana?" Stoops asked. "I don't think anybody would call this hunting."
DOLTON | Police are seeking a missing Dolton teenager who is known for bouts of depression, according to a news release.

Austin Battle, 19, was last seen March 19 at Sibley Boulevard and Burnham Avenue in Calumet City. Battle is 5 foot 11 inches tall and was last seen wearing a gray hoodie, blue jeans and black boots.

Battle made a call to his father that night asking to be picked up from that location, the release states. That was the last time anyone heard from him. When the father went to pick him up, Battle was nowhere to be found.

Battles cellphone records indicate there has been no activity since that last call made to his father. Dolton police also contacted the Cook County coroner's office, which had no possible matches or results.

The police are asking for assistance from the public in locating him. Battle is a graduate of Thornridge High School. He also attended South Suburban College and is known for having bouts of depression.

Anyone with information about Battle is asked to contact Cmdr. Harry Blaundin at the Dolton Police Department at (708) 841-2533 or (708) 201-3211.
A man was arrested Thursday in connection with the homicides of a 23-year-old Lake Central High School graduate and a 38-year-old man Tuesday in Manatee County, Fla.

Dwayne E. Cummings, 38, was charged with two counts of armed kidnapping in the deaths of Jordan Finlon, 23, and Karl Tuxford, said Dave Bristow, spokesman for the Manatee County Sheriff's Office. Murder charges against Cummings were pending.

A second man wanted for questioning also was arrested Thursday, but he has not been charged in connection with the homicides, Bristow said. The investigation is ongoing.

The deaths of Finlon and Tuxford appear to be drug-related, police said.

Finlon, of Bradenton, Fla., was a 2011 graduate of Lake Central High School and a native of Crown Point, a Facebook page indicates.

Tuxford was found shot to death Tuesday afternoon in his vehicle in the 1100 block of Eighth Avenue East in Bradenton, according to a sheriff's office news release.

Finlon was found dead about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday on the side of Bishop Harbor Road in northern Manatee County, Bristow said.

An autopsy to determine Finlon's cause of death was scheduled for Wednesday but the results were not being released, he said.

Finlon's last public Facebook post Jan. 13 suggested she had fallen on hard times.

The post reads she had nowhere to stay for the night, and that her boyfriend was in jail on a theft charge.

The Facebook thread said she was trying to get into a drug treatment and rehabilitation center Jan. 14, but that the intake process was lengthy.
HAMMOND | A former dental insurance administrator was sentenced to seven years in federal prison Friday for stealing more than $1 million from clients.

Jonathan Hogge also faces $254,425 in restitution after pleading guilty in 2009 to 11 federal counts of conspiracy, mail fraud and wire fraud.

Hogge, the husband of a Munster dentist, was president of a firm called My Smart Benefits, which administered more than 1,100 dental insurance plans in more than 35 states, Hammond federal court records show.

The government shuttered My Smart Benefits in 2003.

Prosecutors say Hogge used money meant for claim reimbursements to pay bills, buy Anthony's Cafe in Highland and purchase a home in San Diego.

Hogge ultimately transferred $2.1 million of client funds into other accounts, causing a net loss of $1.12 million, court records show.

Hogge was ordered to report to prison May 11. His Highland-based attorney J. Michael Katz said he thought, "under the circumstances, the court tried to be fair in giving the government less than what they asked, and giving me less than what I asked for."

Prosecutors had asked for a 27-year sentence, while Katz had asked for five years of probation.

Katz said a decision has not yet been made on whether to appeal the sentence.
U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., has called on the government contractor operating the Veterans Choice program in Northwest Indiana to fix the delays that have left many Region veterans waiting long periods of time for health care appointments.

In December, The Times reported that several Northwest Indiana vets were having trouble accessing the Veterans Choice program, which is supposed to allow veterans to seek care from local providers when the Veterans Affairs office can't see them within 30 days or 40 miles. The vets reported being put on hold for excessive amounts time and not having their calls returned by the contractor, Health Net Federal Services.

"I am concerned by reports indicating Hoosier veterans are having trouble accessing services through phone lines administered by your company," Donnelly wrote Wednesday to Health Net President Billy Maynard, citing the recent Times article.

"I understand Health Net Federal Services is working to overcome these issues. We share the goal of implementing an effective Choice Program, and I am committed to working with you to ensure that Hoosier veterans receive the timely and quality assistance they deserve."

Donnelly asked the Arlington, Va.-based company for the average hold time for Hoosier veterans trying to schedule appointments, the average total call time and what it is doing to reduce the waits and ensure that calls aren't disconnected. The managed care provider in 2013 signed a five-year, $5.1 billion contract with the federal government to coordinate community-based care for veterans.

"To serve veterans utilizing Veterans Choice, we are adding resources, including a new customer service center and customer service agents, and we continually refine both our operations and our training," said Brad Kieffer, a spokesman for Health Net Federal Services. "We appreciate Congressman Donnelly's support for the Veterans Choice program and the veterans who have so honorably and selflessly served our country, and we will promptly respond to his request."

Donnelly was among those who supported the 2014 Choice Act, which was designed to alleviate the long waiting lists for veterans seeking care at VA facilities. But the number of veterans waiting more than 30 days for an appointment has actually grown since the law was implemented. Northwest Indiana vets have to go to the outpatient VA facility in Crown Point for routine care and the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center on Chicago's West Side for anything beyond that.

"The Choice Act, as I've seen it, is almost a complete failure," said Dan Orlich, a disabled Vietnam veteran who lives in Portage.

"When you call in there, they take your information and they tell you they're going to call you back. Most people don't hear back in 30 days. A lot of money's being spent, and nothing's getting done."

"It's a shame we veterans are being treated as second-class citizens," he said.

Carlos Villarreal, an Iraq War vet from Hobart who told The Times of waiting months for an MRI to assess his nerve damage from a mortar attack, said he received calls from VA officials after the article ran. He subsequently got approved for 15 physical therapy sessions near his home in Hobart. He's still waiting on the MRI, however.

"It's overdue," Tom Pappas, a Portage veteran and activist on veterans' issues, said of the potential fixes to the Choice program. "These problems have been here since this whole thing started."
SCHERERVILLE  The pungent smell of smoke hung in the air Wednesday at Stan's Auto Salvage, but a blanket of snow covered most visible signs of a blaze that consumed more than an acre of the yard Tuesday and burned through the night.

Chip Lukasik, whose father started the Schererville business in 1961, said the fire "ruined a good night for at least 100 firefighters."

"It's just an unfortunate situation for everyone involved," Lukasik said, as he stood behind a counter in the business's office Wednesday afternoon.

He said firefighters did "an excellent job" by containing the fire and preventing it from spreading to any of the buildings on the property at 7967 Wicker Ave. He was encouraged by the outpouring of support he's received, he said.

The fire burned numerous smashed vehicles, officials said. Its cause remained under investigation Wednesday, Assistant Schererville Fire Chief Robert Patterson said.

Lukasik said the fire was called in by a passer-by on Alexander Street, which runs behind the business to the east. Several employees were on scene at the time, but they learned about it from emergency crews, he said.

Patterson said firefighters were called to the business about 7:20 p.m. and found a large fire.

Obviously with a fire like this, where you have cars stacked on top of cars, you get air pockets and it creates flares, Patterson said. We were trying to get out to spots where you cant even get a vehicle.

Patterson said there was one hydrant on the property near the main office, but the site is so large, it was not sufficient to battle the blaze. Several departments brought tanker trucks to the scene, which were used to relay water to the blaze in the field, he said.

That always takes time, but once we got everything set up, it worked beautifully, Patterson said.

Ladder trucks assisted in hard-to-reach areas of the property, he said.

Morgan Olson, of St. John, and Hayden Karstensen stood at the south end of the parking lot at Drenths Highway Garage about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, looking out across a field as the fire burned in the distance.

They said they heard periodic booms and saw sparks as firefighters moved in truck after truck to douse the flames. A front loader appeared to be moving cars away from the flames but stopped after one explosion, they said.

Lukasik said he had been stockpiling the smashed vehicles while waiting for steel prices to rise. Tariffs recently placed on imported steel haven't yet led to much of a rise in prices for scrap metal, he said.

Employees drain all of the gas and oil and remove batteries from vehicles before they're smashed. Any explosions or sparks could have resulted from burning airbags or fumes that remained after the draining of fluids, he said.

Lukasik, who runs the business with his brother Pat Lukasik and son Dan "Boone" Lukasik, said employees keep the yard clean.

"We try to abide by all the rules and just be good neighbors and good people," he said.

In addition to buying salvaged vehicles, Stan's operates a 24-hour towing service and contracts with Munster, Dyer, Schererville, St. John and Lake County.

Lukasik said the last major fire at the property was about 35 years ago, when the body shop burned. The body shop was closed eight or nine years ago, he said.

Fire crews from St. John, Lake Hills, Highland, Munster, Crown Point, Lake Ridge, Merrillville, Cedar Lake, Lowell and Crete Township all assisted in fighting the fire, Patterson said.

No firefighters were injured battling the blaze.

With the conditions last night with the cold and snow, its wonderful to know everyone went home safely, he said. It was a tough fire, but everyone did a great job.

Crews remained on scene until around 4 a.m., Patterson said, tending to flare ups at the scene. Schererville firefighters were called back to Stans later Wednesday morning when a few vehicles flared up again, he said.

The loss estimate is unclear, because the vehicles were all slated for scrap, he said.
VALPARAISO | Porter County commissioners on Tuesday discussed two separate issues: the demolition of a former bakery building in the area of Ind. 49 and U.S. 30 and a new animal shelter at Sunset Hill Farm County Park.

Valparaiso is interested in taking possession of the former Natural Ovens Bakery dome building and removing it, with the goal of redeveloping the site and placing it back on tax rolls, attorney Patrick Lyp said.

The building was constructed about 10 years ago by Natural Ovens, which later fell into bankruptcy with a different owner and has back taxes totaling $1.4 million, Lyp said. Commissioners are involved because the Valparaiso property is scheduled for an October tax sale.

The building has been vacant for an unknown number of years and has problems with water and mold, Lyp said.

Valparaiso is interested in footing the estimated $350,000 bill to tear down the building and prepare the site for new development, Lyp said.

After receiving a favorable reaction from commissioners, Lyp said he would be back with a proposal after the tax sale. He wants to give a private entity a shot at purchasing the site before it is turned over to the city.

Board of Commissioners President John Evans, R-North, voiced interest in seeing a guarantee by the city to demolish the structure.

In other business Tuesday, Evans was granted permission by his fellow commissioners to approach the Porter County Parks Foundation about the potential of donating land for a new animal shelter at the northwest corner of Sunset Hill Farm County Park in Liberty Township.

The site, located at the southeast corner of U.S. 6 and Meridian Road, is desired because of its central location, Evans said.

Porter County Commissioner Laura Blaney, D-South, said the site also offers the benefit of being located along the busy U.S. 6 corridor.

The county will need 3 to 4 acres for the project, she said.
VALPARAISO  Overall crime reports fell 12 percent last year in the city.

Police Chief Michael Brickner is pleased with the drop and the low amount of violent crime in Valparaiso, but cautioned these numbers fluctuate year to year.

What he is more concerned about is officer performance.

"We're excelling in that area," Brickner said.

There are no internal investigations under way stemming from resident complaints and a small random survey done last year resulted in favorable ratings for officers.

A big part of this is the result of the department engaging in the community and making itself accessible to the public, Brickner said. Residents also are encouraged to take ownership of their neighborhoods.

The three crime report categories with the largest decreases last year are assaults resulting in injury (23, down from 44 last year), motor vehicle thefts (25, down from 36 last year) and general thefts (443, down from 506 last year), according to the Police Department.

Burglary reports were up from 55 to 67 last year, according to the department. Valparaiso was part of a countywide burglary spree, which officials believe was broken with the December arrest of a South Haven man.

The number of rape reports also rose from zero to five last year, but has fluctuated in the low digits over the years, according to the department.

The intersections with the largest number of accident reports last year include the roundabout at Calumet, Vale Park and Roosevelt Avenue (82), LaPorte Avenue and Ind. 49 (63) and the Lincolnway and Sturdy Road roundabout (29).
Our Hoosier legal system gives rapists potential power over their victims via threat of parental rights petitions.

A pending bill in the Indiana House would end that repugnant stipulation of Indiana law if approved by the Legislature and signed by the governor.

Support and passage for this bill, sponsored by Rep. Hal Slager, R-Schererville, should be automatic. However, past attempts at similar legislation have been derailed by debates over marital rape and other issues.

In 2016, the Indiana Legislature can and should make it right.

House Bill 1064 would establish a process to terminate parental rights of alleged rapists who father children with their victims  even if perpetrators aren't convicted of rape.

When writing the legislation, Slager weighed statistics showing less than 5 percent of all rapes result in a conviction.

Under Slager's plan, rape victims can petition civil court judges to terminate attackers' parental rights using a lower standard of "clear and convincing evidence" of rape.

As preposterous as it sounds, current Indiana law allows rapists to claim parental and custodial rights for children conceived in rape. This also potentially allows rapists to use the the threat of petition for parental rights to convince victims not to testify or agree to leniency, Slager said.

It's a sickening prospect that shouldn't stand in the Hoosier state or anywhere in American society.

Slager's bill also contains a stipulation that would make rapists responsible for child support payments, even if their rights are terminated by the proposed law.

Anyone attacking women in this manner should be kept on the financial hook without having the opportunity to infect the lives of mother or child.

The House Judiciary Committee approved the measure last week, and it could get a vote by the full House as soon as today.

The full Legislature has a duty to do all it can to protect any victims of such horrific crimes. And if the bill passes, Gov. Mike Pence has a duty to sign it into law.
Now that apartheid no longer exists in South Africa, Mr. Fugard said, ''The Island'' has ''become a much more general statement about the question of political prisoners.''

In London (where the current production was presented at the Royal National Theater in 2000 and again at the Old Vic in 2002), Mr. Fugard said: ''The press made the point that the play had not dated because it was about political prisoners and, God knows, there are enough of them in the world at this time. You can talk about Guantanamo Bay or about what Saddam Hussein does to prisoners on his side but there is resonance on both sides of the fence.''

Putting on theater in prison may seem inconsequential. But seeing Mr. Kani and Mr. Ntshona perform ''The Island'' in 2001 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington made me recall informal performances I had seen in a South African jail where I was briefly held after observing a protest demonstration in Johannesburg in 1992.

Like the characters in ''The Island,'' the several hundred black men I shared a cell with refused to be dehumanized by the squalor of their conditions. First, they sang, joining their voices in rough and vital renditions of protest songs they had grown up with. Then they danced, hopping to the relentless beat of a step known as the Toyi Toyi. In a recent documentary film about the significance of South African protest music, ''Amandla! A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony,'' a white former South African police officer recalls the fear he felt when he saw throngs of black demonstrators dancing this simple step. In jail in South Africa, I sensed that the officers who guarded us also felt intimidated by the performance they saw through the bars.

It was a demonstration of solidarity that unified the prisoners into what seemed like a single organism of shared opposition to the system that gave the guards their jobs, their power and their identities. Even if they did not hear the scatological insults directed against them, or pretended not to hear, the guards could not help but know that the rhythms of protest were undiminished by conditions meant to silence them.

As the only white man in the cell, I was surprised to be invited to join in and exhilarated by the energy of people whose actions were animated by unwavering faith in the justice of their cause.

After hours of song and dance, one exhausted man asked if we could take a break. A voice in the crowd shouted back: ''Why should we be quiet? We can do anything we want. We're in jail!'' The man yelled ''We're in jail!'' as if it were a cry of emancipation. The men had used songs, dances and jokes to transform the prison into a place of freedom. Outside the jail, the invisible bars of apartheid restricted their every move, but inside they could do whatever they wanted, and what they wanted was to proclaim their right to be free. It was so intoxicating that when the guards asked if I wanted to leave the cell, I declined. Why would anyone want to leave a celebration like that to enter a grim world of soldiers with guns and drooling police dogs?
I dont produce propaganda art, he said. Im more interested in the poetic than the didactic.

On that gray May day in the East End, Mr. Shonibare was trying to decompress after directing a weeklong photo shoot that involved 25 live snakes, 14 nude models, 6 pigs and 2 lambs heads. Inspired by Dante, Arthur Miller, Gustav Dore and the financial crisis, the shoot was a work in progress, Willy Loman: The Rise and Fall, which seeks to depict what happens after the death of the salesman. (Hint: Its hellish.)

At the same time Mr. Shonibare was preparing for a trip to Jerusalem, where he is a guest curator at the Israel Museum. He was granting an hours-long interview, interrupted periodically by his plumber  Do you happen to know where the stopcock is, mate?  and he was evaluating the oysters for inclusion alongside a peacock with gilded beak in a 19th-century dinner party installation at the Newark Museum.

Im juggling a few things, yeah, said Mr. Shonibare, who in contrast to his bold and lavish work, is disarmingly gentle and restrained in person.

Because of a condition that left him partially paralyzed, Mr. Shonibares head lists to the right, as if being tugged there by a few of his jaunty dreadlocks. This often makes it look as if he were cocking his head to see things more clearly. But that impression is misleading because, as Arnold L. Lehman, director of the Brooklyn Museum, put it, his is the sure gaze of a visionary artist: Hes able to juggle so many different ideas so brilliantly and to express them in such an immensely appealing and extraordinarily visual way.

Mr. Shonibare is not without his critics in England. The London Evening Standard, for instance, has called his focus on cultural identity labored, repetitive and a little last decade. But his work is consistently requested for exhibition and purchase by museums around the world, according to his dealers, and he is rarely without a significant show or commission. The Brooklyn exhibition is his most comprehensive to date. Organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, it will travel in November to the Museum of African Art of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. From July to January Mr. Shonibares dining room installation will be displayed at the Newark Museum.
We just call him Brooklyn man, Janet Hong, the exhibitions project manager, said with a laugh.

Taken together, the parade of faces could be seen as a retro equivalent to Crown Fountain in nearby Millennium Park, which mesmerizes visitors with its shifting video close-ups of some 1,000 contemporary Chicagoans of all ages, races and ethnicities, projected on two 50-foot-tall glass towers.

The exhibition really shows the incredible diversity of human beauty, said Jen Feasal, an industrial electrician from Lansing, Mich., who had come to the museum specifically to see the new show. She was particularly moved, she added, by the bust of Ota Benga, a Congolese man who was displayed for a time in the Bronx Zoo under the label African Pygmy; he committed suicide in 1916.

Asked how she felt about people who might skip the darker stories told by the wall texts and just get lost in the fascinating faces, Ms. Wali said it was understandable. She turned to a bust of Nobosodrou, a Mangbetu woman from what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo.

I could just look at her all day, Ms. Wali said. Shes just so beautiful.
A Pennsylvania prosecutor on Wednesday hit back at efforts by lawyers for Bill Cosby to have the criminal charges against Mr. Cosby dismissed, describing their claim that a former district attorney made a promise not to prosecute the entertainer a decade ago as meritless.

Only a judge may issue an order granting immunity in Pennsylvania, the prosecutor, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele, said in court papers.

Mr. Cosbys lawyers had asked the court last week to dismiss the sexual assault charges because, they said the former district attorney, Bruce Castor, had agreed in 2005 not to prosecute the entertainer.

Mr. Castor had decided there was insufficient evidence to charge Mr. Cosby, who had been accused by Andrea Constand, a Temple University staff member, of drugging and molesting her at his Pennsylvania home in 2004. Mr. Castor had hoped, according to an email he wrote that was filed as an exhibit Wednesday, that a non-prosecution agreement would convince Mr. Cosby to testify freely under oath during a subsequent civil case brought by Ms. Constand, and possibly increase her chances of prevailing.
Its hard not to care about a character played by Ben Whishaw, an actor whose nimble intensity has enlivened roles from Richard II, in The Hollow Crown cycle, to Q in the Bond movies. But during BBC Americas London Spy, a five-episode mini-series (beginning on Thursday) thats a loopy mix of love story and conspiracy thriller, you may find yourself managing it for long stretches.

Mr. Whishaw is Danny, a young warehouse worker and clubgoer who falls for Alex, a secretive hunk with a genius for numbers. Something bad happens to the hunk, which spurs Danny to seek the truth, which, in turn, spurs the plot to spiral out in increasingly implausible and overheated ways. Exhibiting an intuitive and altogether unexpected knack for investigatory work, Danny takes on the police, the various MIs (5 and 6 are mentioned) and a scary woman played by Charlotte Rampling in full ice queen mode. Mr. Whishaw, meanwhile, tenses up, tamps down his natural expressiveness and does a lot of meaningful staring.

Written by the novelist Tom Rob Smith and directed by Jakob Verbruggen (The Fall), London Spy is a mood piece, set in a blue-and-gray London and taking long, dawdling detours between plot twists. This might have worked if the mystery elements had been more coherent and interesting, but Mr. Smith gives more attention to the relationship between vagabond Danny and uptight Alex (Edward Holcroft), which is meant to be improbable but registers as opaque and artificial.

Theres also a metaphor floating around involving the world of espionage and the world of the closeted gay man, both based on lies and deception. This shows some promise in the opening episode, before the mystery kicks in  its interesting that the reasons for Alexs reticence, which could stem from his sexuality or his vocation, cant be sorted out. But the comparison just gets more labored and obvious across the shows five hours, and it culminates in a revelation about Alexs work that flies past implausible and lands on lunatic.
American men, you love to fight, a supporting female character observes in the very male dark-comic thriller Mad Dogs, whose 10-episode first season debuts Friday on Amazon Prime.

Shes not wrong, as judged by televisions continuing fascination with middle-aged male bellicosity. In HBOs coming Vinyl, testosterone and cocaine fuel a 1970s record executive through a midlife and career crisis. Showtimes Wall Street drama, Billions, treats money as expression of male potency; its a show so macho that its alpha-dog hedge-fund wizard, Axe, shares a name with a body spray.

In Mad Dogs, male angst goes on holiday. Four American men travel to Belize to visit a wealthy college pal, Milo (Billy Zane), for a 40-somethings-gone-wild getaway at his lavish oceanside villa. Theres an aggressive edge to his invite, a determination to show how much better hes done than his friends: the cautious financial planner Cobi (Steve Zahn), the irresponsible Lex (Michael Imperioli), the family man Gus (Romany Malco) and the embittered Joel (Ben Chaplin).

Milo has done well, but he hasnt done much good. His money comes from underworld connections, and his guests are soon drafted into a feud between him and a local crime lord. A bit like Billy Bob Thorntons Lorne Malvo in Season 1 of Fargo, Milo is an instigator, goading his friends into joining him to prove that theyre still men. Wheres the fire in your belly? he demands.
While the rest of the family moved to the ground floor, Michel camped out with soldiers in the attic. I will never forget the smell of the Wehrmacht, the compound of tobacco and boot polish, he wrote. For me this was the fragrance of happiness.

His school performance improved, and he enrolled in the Sorbonne, where, entranced by the philosopher Gaston Bachelard, he took a degree in philosophy and law. Four years of German philosophy at the University of Tubingen followed. But when he returned to France in 1949, he failed the philosophy exam that would have certified him as a university teacher.

With an academic career beyond reach, he began producing radio and television programs and writing literary journalism. He was, for a time, the press agent for a new radio station, Europe 1. He was fired after four years but landed on his feet, becoming the literary director of Editions Plon, a large publishing house.

In the meantime, he began working on the novel that would become Ogre, his attempt to deal with Germany and World War II in fictional terms. Fascinated by the idea of the Nazi regime as a devourer of children, especially in the Hitler Youth, he created an ambiguous French protagonist who combined the attributes of the medieval child murderer Gilles de Rais, Goethes predatory Erl King and, paradoxically, St. Christopher, who according to legend transported the infant Jesus across a swollen river.

The scope and the complexity of the novel caused him to put it on the shelf while he completed Friday. It took me 15 years to reconcile fiction and philosophy using myths as a vehicle, he told the reference work World Authors.

The novelist Raymond Queneau read Friday in manuscript at the prestigious firm Gallimard and urged it on his fellow editors. The firms investment earned dividends when Mr. Tournier went on to collect prizes and, in 1972, join the jury of the Prix Goncourt. He returned to Friday and produced a simpler version, published in English in 1973 as Friday and Robinson: Life on Speranza Island. Marketed to young readers, it sold in the millions.
Such calumny and slow-brewing hatred are an essential backdrop for the events that The Yid describes. The novel begins with a middle-of-the-night raid on the apartment of Solomon Levinson, a longtime actor with the Moscow State Jewish Theater. This is a routine event for the 25-year-old Russian officer in charge of rounding up Levinson. But the young man, Lieutenant Sadykov, is unaccustomed to theatrical behavior. He has been expecting the cliched Jew that Russian propaganda has made so familiar.

Have you seen old Yids creaking down the street, going wherever it is they go, carrying mesh bags and, in their pockets, rolled up newspapers? With the pigmentation of youth wiped off their faces, they still look dark, bird-like, bleached angels ready to fly to God, or the Evil One? This is what Sadykov expected, not the natty old fellow in the ascot who bows ceremoniously, his left hand resting on a cane, his right making a slow, ceremonious spiral on the way to the floor. It may be 2:37 a.m., but Levinson exclaims, Dear friends, welcome! What should have been a perfunctory hauling away becomes a garrulous encounter that ends with two blades protruding from Sadykovs back. Levinson always did pirouette well and know his way around daggers.

Enter the next major cast member. His timing is stagily perfect, since Levinson needs help out of this jam. Levinson has a dead officer in his apartment and a Black Maria  the menacing vehicle in which he was to be hauled away to prison  parked outside. And who arrives to conspire with him? Friedrich Robertovich Lewis, a black American originally named after Frederick Douglass. But given a Yiddish nickname of iffy accuracy, he still prefers Yiddish a lot more than the lynching talk he heard growing up in Omaha. And he can curse in Yiddish much more creatively than Levinson can. These two waste a lot of time wishing each other plagues and ailments before figuring out how to make that Soviet corpse and car go away.

The group of principals grows, as The Yid follows the broad structure of a three-act play. Soon there is a core group determined to stop the deportation and pogrom that could become Stalins last gift to Russian Jews. Its members will change the course of history. But how? Since Mr. Goldberg enjoys a good philosophical detour, he fills the story with characters like Kogan, a surgeon who lost his medical credentials a year earlier when Stalins regime claimed to uncover a terrorist plot by Jewish doctors planning to murder good Russian citizens. (This humiliation really happened.) Kogan thinks about political-historial epidemiology and wonders whether Stalinism will subside when Stalin finally does.

Well strike tonight! the characters declare en masse at the end of Act II. Because, sure enough, The Yid is about Stalins worst enemy as well as his favorite prey. Mr. Goldberg fuses these characters and all that they suggest to Stalin  Paul Robeson for Lewis, Anna Akhmatova for one of the books women  into one hellish vision to haunt that dictator during his last hours on earth. So he gets one last gift, too.
SAN JUAN, P.R.  On his first official visit to the commonwealth, the Treasury secretary, Jacob J. Lew, said the financial crisis on the island was deepening and he urged Congress to act quickly to give the government the power it needs to restructure all of its debt.

The people of Puerto Rico are sacrificing, he said in a news conference Wednesday here in San Juan. But unless that sacrifice is shared by creditors in an orderly restructuring, there is no path out of insolvency and back to growth.

Mr. Lew met with Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla and senior Puerto Rican legislators, as well as leaders from business, labor and civic groups. He said he believed there was still time to restore growth on the island, but the longer the process took, the harder it would be.

He spoke as Puerto Rican lawmakers were pondering whether to authorize a separate restructuring plan for about $9 billion worth of debt on the books of the islands big, troubled public utility, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, known as Prepa.
Viacom cut the annual pay for its executive chairman, Sumner M. Redstone, by 85 percent during the 2015 fiscal year, the company disclosed on Wednesday, in the face of growing questions about whether Mr. Redstone, an ailing 92-year-old, should continue in his role at the company.

Mr. Redstone, who controls about 80 percent of Viacoms voting stock, was paid $2 million in the 2015 fiscal year, down from $13 million the previous year. Viacom said in a statement that while Mr. Redstones salary was unchanged, he became ineligible to receive a bonus starting in the 2015 fiscal year. The company did not say why.

Viacom, whose businesses include the television networks MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon, as well as the Paramount Pictures film studio, took the unusual step of releasing the pay information for Mr. Redstone and the companys chief executive, Phillipe P. Dauman, in advance of the filing of its proxy statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is expected later this week.

Viacom has come under fire in recent months from shareholders and activist investors. Both groups have questioned Mr. Redstones position at the company after a former companion of his filed a lawsuit describing him as a living ghost and challenged his mental competence.
Wilkes Bashford, a clothier whose eponymous emporium is famous for having dressed affluent, elegance-conscious San Franciscans for the last half-century, died on Saturday at his home in San Francisco. He was 82.

The cause was prostate cancer, said his brother and only immediate survivor, Bruce.

Mr. Bashford established his store as a high-end mens shop near Union Square in 1966, a counterintuitive business move perhaps with hippiedom on the rise, though it rapidly paid off. He added womens wear in 1978 and moved the store to its current location, in a seven-story townhouse nearby at 375 Sutter Street, in 1984.

Known for a keen antenna regarding emergent fashions for the well-heeled, Mr. Bashford described the stores sartorial aesthetic as bold conservative; it was often given credit for being among the first retailers to feature Italian designer labels like Versace, Armani and Zegna.

If critics sniffed at the store as unhip  Much of the mens wear is the stuff of a bygone Fitzgeraldian era, Cintra Wilson wrote in The New York Times in 2009  its defense was that good taste and the highest standards have always been and always will be cool.
Its Harry Chapin going into Cat Stevens into the Beatles into James Taylor into Bob Marley, and then around 10, 11 oclock, Jay Z and Guns n Roses escalating the whole vibe, Stratis Morfogen said on a recent evening.

Mr. Morfogen, a restaurateur, was describing the intended ambience of his new venture, Jue Lan Club, an upscale Chinese restaurant that quietly opened last month in the old Church of the Holy Communion on West 20th Street, in the Flatiron district. The building was once home to the notorious nightclub Limelight, which closed in 2001.

Vibe dining, Mr. Morfogen said, is the vision. I wanted really cool music. I wanted lyrics. I dont like these other places that call it vibe dining, where its just a drumbeat and techno music.

He was sitting downstairs in the Salon, one of seven dining rooms at the club, each with its own identity. The Salon has a bar and a few booths and is meant to be a hangout. I ripped off all the tablecloths, Mr. Morfogen said, to make the room more casual. Other than the restaurateurs wife and young children, who were in the next booth, no one else was in the room. Unless you counted the ghosts.
Today, a retired British High Court judge named Robert Owen published a 328-page report on the 2006 death in London of Alexander Litvinenko, a former agent of Russias Federal Security Service, the F.S.B. Nine years after Litvinenko went bald and wasted away in a London hospital bed, from poisoning with a rare radioactive isotope, Owens report found that there was strong circumstantial evidence of Russian state responsibility and that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and the head of the F.S.B. likely sanctioned the murder.

Its a salacious tale of revenge and espionage, straight out of a John le Carre novel: an F.S.B. man turned whistleblower meets in a posh London hotel with his former colleagues, who slip polonium 210 into his green tea. Investigators find a clump of debris laced with the radioactive stuff in a sink drainpipe a few floors above, near where one of the F.S.B. men was staying. The other suspected assassin gave Litvinenkos wealthy benefactor, the banished oligarch Boris Berezovsky, a T-shirt that said, nuclear death is knocking your door [sic].

And yet, in Russia the report merited little more than a yawn. Immediately, the familiar reactions kicked in. Putins spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said the report wasnt of any interest to the Kremlin and, in a pointed turn of phrase, expressed regret that the report only poisoned relations between Russia and Britain. Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, called the findings politicized, and a report on the main evening-news program on Russias Channel One hinted that the British killed two key witnesses in the case. The British, in turn, said they would freeze the assets of Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun, the two former F.S.B. agents accused of poisoning Litvinenko. Theresa May, the British home secretary, said that the Russian ambassador to London was summoned for a talking-to.

All of this changes exactly nothing. Relations between Russia and Britain could hardly have been worse before the report was released, and Lugovoi and Kovtun havent been to London in ages  not since the British police fingered them in Litvinenkos murder and sought their extradition, which Russia has flatly refused. Lugovoi now has immunity as a member of the Russian Parliament, as well as a medal from Putin for service to the nation. The murder itself took place nine years ago, and since then, the sordid details have become endlessly familiar. Even the le Carre comparison has become a nauseatingly common cliche, bandied about endlessly since Litvinenkos death.
Ettore Scola, a Golden Globe winner and five-time Oscar nominee who was considered among the great directors and screenwriters of Italian cinema, died on Tuesday in Rome. He was 84.

He had been in a coma since Sunday, RAI state radio said in announcing his death.

Mr. Scolas death leaves a huge void in Italian culture, the Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi, said, praising him for his portrayals of Italy, its society and the changes it went through in the last half of the 20th century.

The more than 40 movies Mr. Scola directed over 40 years were emblematic of the mix of caustic satire and farce for which Italian films became known. Many unfolded against a factual backdrop as he struggled to come to grips with history.

Over the last 20 years, Mr. Scola has staked out his own particular terrain in the Italian cinema, Stephen Harvey, co-curator of a 1988 exhibition of Mr. Scolas films at the Museum of Modern Art, wrote that year in The New York Times.
To some of the workers at the Hunts Point Produce Market in the Bronx, it is a familiar sight: a nun or two darting around the concrete loading docks every Wednesday. Sister Elisabeth Anne, 76, has been making the weekly trip to the large industrial market for more than 35 years to pick up food for the older adults at the residence where she lives and works.

On Wednesday, she squeezed fruits  a persimmon here, a Minneola there  as she crossed items off her grocery list. She greeted the workers warmly on her way to stopping at more than a dozen businesses that call the market home. By the time she was done, the van she came in was filled with hundreds of pounds of produce  all donated by companies that have come to expect her visit  that will help feed those who live at Queen of Peace Residence in Queens Village.

Whats for dinner, Sister? Michael DArrigo, a vice president at the wholesale produce company DArrigo Brother s Company of New York, said as Sister Elisabeth Anne sampled a cherry from a display.

Sister Elisabeth Anne remembers the first time she was told to go to the market and solicit donations. It was 1979 and it was not easy, she said.
Amtrak officials on Wednesday provided the most detailed public account yet for the projected costs of building a new Hudson River rail tunnel and improving other critical parts of the rail infrastructure in the New York region.

The project, known as the Gateway program, has been championed by Anthony Foxx, the federal transportation secretary, who on Wednesday visited the deteriorating rail tunnel that runs between New York and New Jersey.

In a presentation to Mr. Foxx, Amtrak officials said the entire project could cost as much as $23.9 billion, with the largest share of about $7.7 billion going toward building the new Hudson tunnel and repairing the existing tunnel. The project includes a host of other elements, including expanding Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan at an estimated cost of $5.9 billion, and replacing rail bridges in New Jersey.

The project gained momentum last year after Mr. Foxx raised concerns about the existing century-old tunnel, which has two tubes and needs repairs because of damage from Hurricane Sandy. After a contentious debate over how to pay for the tunnel project, federal and state officials agreed to split the costs and to create a corporation within the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to oversee the plans.
Dr. David H. Newman seemed to have it all: an impressive post in emergency medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital, a prominent and growing public presence as an expert in health care reform, a wife who is a doctor, two young sons, and a gracious home in the New Jersey suburbs.

So when he was arrested on Tuesday and charged with sexually abusing two patients under his care in the emergency room, the reaction from his wide circle of colleagues was disbelief.

Ive gotten a whole bunch of frantic emails from around the world saying: Whats going on? How could this be? said Dr. Jerome Hoffman, a professor emeritus of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, who has known Dr. Newman for more than a decade. Everyone is saying: David? This doesnt make any sense.

Dr. Newman, 45, has been accused of drugging, groping and masturbating on a female patient and groping another in episodes several months apart, the authorities said.
One of Mayor Bill de Blasios leading supporters in New Yorks Orthodox Jewish community failed to appear in court this week to begin a 15-day sentence on a previously undisclosed conviction for misdemeanor sexual abuse, and a warrant has been issued for his arrest.

The supporter, Ari Noe, of Borough Park, Brooklyn, was found guilty in 2013 of sexual abuse and attempting forcible touching stemming from a 2012 encounter he had with a woman at a bar on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Mr. Noes sentence had been delayed while he appealed the verdict, which was upheld in March.

Last year, Mr. Noe, the chief executive of an outdoor advertising company, introduced Mr. de Blasio to an Israeli entrepreneur, Baruch Eliezer Gross, who agreed to sponsor the mayors two-day visit to Israel in October. Mr. Gross covered at least $25,000 in expenses for Mr. de Blasio and his aides on the trip, which Mr. Noe attended as well.

Mr. de Blasios aides said on Wednesday that the mayor learned only this week of Mr. Noes trial and conviction, which was reported by NY1. We are deeply troubled by this news, and have zero tolerance for sexual assault, a de Blasio spokesman, Dan Levitan, said.
A Chinese-born executive accused of helping to funnel more than $800,000 to a top United Nations official pleaded guilty to bribery on Wednesday, the second guilty plea in a week in the governments continuing investigation of corruption at the United Nations.

The defendant, Shiwei Yan, was charged last fall in a broad graft case that also included defendants like the official, John W. Ashe, an Antiguan diplomat who served for a year as president of the United Nations General Assembly, and Ng Lap Seng, a billionaire real estate developer who is based in Macau.

Another defendant, Heidi Hong Piao, pleaded guilty last week to bribery, money laundering and other charges and has agreed to cooperate with the federal investigation, records show.

Ms. Yans plea did not include an agreement that she would cooperate, one of her lawyers, Isabelle A. Kirshner, said after the hearing.
Parents of 13 current and former students of Success Academy filed a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights with the federal Education Department on Wednesday, accusing the charter school network of discriminating against students with disabilities by denying them accommodations and in some cases pushing them out.

Success Academy is a high-achieving network of 34 charter schools in New York City known for its students high test scores and its strict disciplinary policies. Its critics have long asserted that Success pushes out underperforming or difficult students, which the network denies.

The complaint described how students with disabilities were repeatedly suspended or made to repeat grades and how administrators in several cases urged parents to remove their students from the school. The complaint asserted that Success repeatedly violated federal law by not offering students with disabilities alternative instruction when they were suspended, and not holding hearings to determine if the behavior leading to the suspensions was caused by their disabilities and whether additional services were needed.

The parents were joined in the complaint by the citys public advocate, Letitia James; Councilman Daniel Dromm; the Legal Aid Society; and several other organizations that provide free legal services.
Republicans attributed the delay in the confirmation to scheduling issues, and announced late on Wednesday afternoon that a vote on Ms. DiFiores nomination would take place on Thursday.

Still, the timing and political backdrop of the delay was curious. Republicans in Albany have been irritated by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomos repeated nominations of his fellow Democrats to the court, including Ms. DiFiore, a former Republican who switched parties nearly a decade ago in Westchester. Nominations to the top court have dragged on past legal deadlines on several occasions, including Ms. DiFiores, which was supposed to have been voted on by the end of 2015, when former Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman retired.

Just two minutes after the Senate adjourned without a vote on Ms. DiFiore, the governors office announced the nomination to the Court of Appeals of Michael J. Garcia, a Republican who previously served as a United States attorney for the Southern District of New York under President George W. Bush. Mr. Garcia would replace Judge Susan Phillips Read, a Republican who stepped down in August.

The Court of Appeals met for two weeks earlier this month, but the lack of two judges has already had an effect: Gary Spencer, a court spokesman, said there were some appeals that could not be argued because recusals had made a five-person quorum impossible. Two appeals were removed from the January calendar, Mr. Spencer said, and 29 others cannot be put on a judicial calendar until we have more judges.

One case that has already been argued will need to be reheard after the five sitting judges were unable to come to a four-person consensus, a requirement for any decision.
Updated 9:23 a.m.

Good morning on this brightening Thursday.



The service dog had been New Yorks official state dog for only 17 days when the working dog threatened to steal the title.

There might appear to be little difference between the two, and, in fact, there is. (Working includes service dogs, and other canine occupations, such as wildlife and livestock protection.)

Our states official symbols, largely unknown to many New York residents, are first introduced and voted on by the State Legislature, and signed into law by the governor, as he did for service dogs. Time will tell if hell do the same for working dogs.

While few might dispute the worthiness of service or working dogs to officially represent the Empire State, we were left wondering about other official state symbols.
It was a vision to beguile many New Yorkers: an all-but-forgotten island in Long Island Sound that a noisy city would transform into its most tranquil park. And there was a concurrent vision for the families of the dead long buried there, on Hart Island: a cemetery now run like a prison would become a place to freely mourn.

But at a City Council hearing on Wednesday on a bill to transfer jurisdiction over the islands 101 acres from the Department of Correction to the parks department, there was opposition by all the city agencies affected. In the end, the vision came to seem more like a dream than a quick solution to years of criticism and litigation over Hart Island and its role as the citys only potters field.

The parks department does not want it. The operation of a public cemetery falls well outside of the agencys expertise and available resources, Matt Drury, director of government relations for the department, testified. It is fair to estimate that any renovation of the island to allow use for the general public could cost upwards of tens of millions of dollars.

Last year, 1,137 bodies went to Hart Island for mass burials, transported from the medical examiners morgues several times a week throughout the year, weather and tides permitting. Seven or eight inmates from Rikers Island are taken there by ferry to do the shoveling, under the supervision of five correction officers and a captain. Burial plots are long trenches, dug by bulldozer, where 150 adults or 1,000 infants are placed in plain pine boxes.
Kayla Medinas apartment in Harlem, where she lives with her infant son, Kayden, is simple and small. He crawls around their living room floor, his interest shifting among his toys. He will turn 1 in April; Ms. Medina turned 21 this month.

The young mother is entering the new year with some complications. She is unemployed. Her sons father is present, she said, but they recently broke up. She wants to apply to college and find a job. But Ms. Medina is not dwelling on these concerns. She feels more confident about her future than she has in years.

Until the New York City Housing Authority secured a subsidized apartment for her last year, Ms. Medina was struggling through New Yorks foster care system. Before that were troubles with her biological family. She sees the apartment as a blank slate.

All I ever wanted was to be in my own place, she said as Kayden sat in her lap, gnawing on her cellphone. Now no one tells me what to do.
SCARSDALE, N.Y.  A 58-year-old woman was fatally stabbed on Wednesday inside her home in this Westchester County village, the authorities said. A man who also lived in the home, possibly the womans husband, was detained by the police, officials said.

Scarsdale police officers were called to the house at 50 Lincoln Road shortly after 10 a.m. about a woman who had been seriously injured, the police said. The woman, whose name was not immediately released, died, and investigators were treating the case as a homicide, Capt. Thomas Altizio of the Scarsdale Police Department said in a statement.

The man who was taken into custody, a 61-year-old whose name was also not immediately released, was being questioned by investigators on Wednesday night, the police said.

The authorities, citing the continuing investigation, disclosed little about the circumstances surrounding the womans death. Still, police officials sought to reassure local residents in a suburban area where violent crime is rare.
Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders dont agree on much. Nor do the Black Lives Matter movement, the Occupy Wall Street protests and the armed ranchers who seized public lands in Oregon. But in the insurgent presidential campaigns and in social activism across the spectrum, a common thread is people angry at the way this country is no longer working for many ordinary citizens.

And theyre right: The system is often fundamentally unfair, and ordinary voices are often unheard.

Its easy (and appropriate!) to roll ones eyes at Trump, for a demagogic tycoon is not the natural leader of a revolution of the disenfranchised. But the populist frustration is understandable. One of the most remarkable political science studies in recent years upended everything rosy we learned in civics classes.

Martin Gilens of Princeton University and Benjamin I. Page of Northwestern University found that in policy-making, views of ordinary citizens essentially dont matter. They examined 1,779 policy issues and found that attitudes of wealthy people and of business groups mattered a great deal to the final outcome  but that preferences of average citizens were almost irrelevant.

In the United States, our findings indicate, the majority does not rule, they concluded. Majorities of the American public actually have little influence over the policies our government adopts.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court gave an important victory to regular Americans, ruling that companies may not avoid class-action lawsuits by offering to buy off the individual plaintiffs before they can establish a class of similarly harmed people.

The 6-to-3 decision was a surprising break from a long line of extremely pro-business and anti-class-action rulings by the five conservative justices, led by Chief Justice John Roberts Jr.

Class-action suits are a critical type of litigation that allows people with relatively small claims to band together to hold corporations liable for wrongdoing. A single lawsuit by one individual is often not worth a lawyers time, even if a company has violated the rights of large numbers of people. Thats why its crucial to allow all those harmed to seek the same relief in a single suit.

Obviously, companies want to evade such litigation at all costs, and with the help of sympathetic justices they have devised all sorts of ways to do that. Over the last decade, the courts conservatives have consistently made it harder for consumers and workers to vindicate their rights, either by increasing the requirements for bringing a class action or by eliminating the option altogether through strict arbitration clauses.
As a political journalist, you never forget the first time you stop just covering a politician and start identifying with her. The first time you wed your high-minded vision of what politics should be to a real candidates perishable breath.

My first time arrived in 2008. It lasted only a short while. Her name was Sarah Palin.

Let me explain. That spring, in between the Republican primary and the fall campaign, my friend Reihan Salam and I had published a book called Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream.

As the title suggests, we were calling for the G.O.P. to change, but not to moderate in the way that a lot of centrist pundits favored, returning to a Rockefeller-Republican model of fiscally prudent social liberalism. Rather, we thought the partys opportunity (and the countrys) lay in a kind of socially conservative populism, which would link the family-values language of the religious right to an economic agenda more favorable to the working class than what the Republicans usually had offered.

Unfortunately this message conspicuously lacked a tribune in 2008. Mike Huckabee flirted with populism in the primary but never fleshed out an agenda, and the eventual nominee, John McCain, was an honor and country candidate who didnt care much about economic policy.
To the Editor:

Re Justices to Hear State Challenge on Immigration (front page, Jan. 20):

This is how our constitutional republic works and has pretty much worked for more than two centuries: The three branches of government keep one another in check and balance. Sometimes they act in accordance with one another, but much more often in tension, as has been the case for the last seven years.

If President Obamas efforts to overhaul immigration rules by executive action are found to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, the proposed Deferred Actions for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents, or DAPA, program goes nowhere.

Then the need for Congress to do something, anything, on immigration reform becomes even more obvious. That may be a good thing in the long run, if it spurs Congress into action.

At least President Obama can say that he tried and failed on immigration reform. Thats more than most elected members of Congress can claim  whatever sort of policy he or she may support.
Gov. Matt Bevin of Kentucky is dismantling the states highly successful exchange on which people buy private health insurance policies or enroll in Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. His shortsighted and pointless show of defiance against the Obama administrations health care reforms could harm thousands of people in Kentucky, who may fall between the cracks as the state shifts their coverage from its own exchange, known as Kynect, to the federally run exchange at HealthCare.gov.

If Mr. Bevin, a Republican, wanted to take a stand against cooperation with the federal government, he picked an odd way to do it. He is shutting down an independent state program and turning instead to the federal government to run the exchange. While the federal website appears to be working well, the transition to a different system could cause problems.

Image Gov. Matt Bevin of Kentucky Credit... Timothy D. Easley/Associated Press

The Kentucky exchange has made it extremely easy for people to enroll in a plan appropriate for them. If someone tries to sign up for private insurance but is judged by the exchange to be poor enough to qualify for Medicaid, the application is forwarded to Medicaid, which enrolls the person. If someone tries to sign up for Medicaid but is deemed ineligible by that program, the application is forwarded to the exchange for enrollment.
Sarah Palin is really falling apart.

Trumps candidacy, it has exposed not just that tragic, the ramifications of that betrayal of a transformation of our country, but too, he has exposed the complicity on both sides of the aisle that has enabled it, O.K.? Palin told the crowd at her big announcement endorsing Donald Trump.

The man himself was standing next to her, with a half-smile. Hard to tell if it was self-satisfaction or the look someone might get when trapped at a dinner party next to a stranger whos describing how she met President William Henry Harrison in a past life.

Even though Palin seemed to have a script, it didnt help. He is from the private sector, not a politician. Can I get a hallelujah? Where in the private sector you actually have to balance budgets in order to prioritize, to keep the main thing, the main thing, and he knows the main thing, she continued.

Got that? Its been quite a while since the world outside the Tea Party has checked in on Sarah Palin, but I think its safe to say there hasnt been a whole lot of personal growth. The absolute high point of her rather long, rambling address was the moment when she complained that the United States pays for Middle Eastern squirmishes.
EVER since I became a conservative as a teenager growing up in the city of Flint, Mich., Ive heard again and again from Republican leaders about their commitment to minorities and the poor. Even today, we are told that conservative solutions exist for persistent poverty, for joblessness, for the masses of people, like those in my hometown, who live lives of quiet despair. House Speaker Paul Ryan has been especially eloquent on this point. If only Republicans would get a chance to prove it.

That chance has arrived in a big way. Unfortunately, my party is not taking it.

For those not following this news  that is, largely my fellow conservatives  my hometown has been poisoned. For the last 18 months, the citys water supply has been contaminated with lead and iron. This was the result of a decision to use the Flint River for the citys drinking water until the city could hook up to a new water authority.

What began coming out of the tap was brown and smelled and caused some people to lose their hair or break out in rashes. Flint River water was so corrosive that it was leaching away lead in older pipes and contaminating the water. The health consequences of this may affect children, in particular, for the rest of their lives.

But very few people outside Flint cared, including the elected officials and public employees who, as part of their jobs, were supposed to care. Paid to care.
IN his vitriolic dissent last June from the Supreme Courts same-sex marriage decision, Justice Antonin Scalia accused the majority of having carried out a judicial putsch. Justice Scalia should know. He and his four conservative colleagues were then in the process of executing one themselves.

On June 30, four days after handing down the marriage decision, Obergefell v. Hodges, the court announced that it would hear a major challenge to the future of public-employee labor unions. That case, Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, was argued last week. As was widely reported, the outcome appears foreordained: the court will vote 5 to 4 to overturn a precedent that for 39 years has permitted public-employee unions to charge nonmembers a fair-share fee representing the portion of union dues that go to representing all employees in collective bargaining and grievance proceedings. As the exclusive bargaining agent, a union has a legal duty to represent everyone in the unit, whether members or not; the fee addresses the problem of free riders and the resentment engendered by those who accept the unions help while letting their fellow workers foot the bill.

The stakes are obviously high for the millions of workers and thousands of contracts covered by these arrangements in the 23 states that now permit them. If the court accepts the argument that the mandatory fees amount to compelled speech in violation of the objecting employees First Amendment rights, public-employee unions would forfeit hundreds of millions of dollars in dues revenue. New York and 20 other states filed a brief in support of California, which is defending its fair-share system, to argue that these provisions are important to ensuring a stable collective-bargaining partner with the wherewithal to help devise workplace arrangements that promote labor peace.

I want to focus here, however, not on the implications the Friedrichs case holds for the public workplace, but on what it means for the Supreme Court. Actually, I couldnt express my concern better than Justice Stephen G. Breyer did last week when he questioned Michael A. Carvin, the lawyer for the 10 California teachers who are challenging the states labor law. Justice Breyer was referring to the compromise at the heart of the 1977 precedent, Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, that Mr. Carvin was asking the court to overrule. The court in that case upheld the constitutionality of the fair-share fee as long as it was limited to the unions collective-bargaining expenses and did not subsidize the unions political or other nonchargeable activities.
As The New York Times reported in October:

All along, through months of complaints from residents of this city about the peculiar colors and odors they said were coming from their faucets, the overriding message from the authorities here was that the water would be just fine.

And not only did the city not respond quickly, according to Guyettes reporting, it artificially suppressed finding on lead levels, and when the federal Environmental Protection Agency offered to help remedythe problem, city officials apparently declined the help.

The damage done by this misguided decision, and the callous apathy on the part of officials to quickly admit their error and work expeditiously to correct it, displays a staggering level of ineptitude, if not criminal negligence.

Lawsuits are sure to spring up by the thousand. Its not clear whether anyone will be held criminally responsible, but it is highly likely that civil suits for damages could be successful, so much so that they could bring the state to its knees.

The possible damage seems almost incalculable and one can imagine that a jury would find that the monetary damages should match.

I have not stopped thinking about Flint since November, and now the story has gained new urgency as it has become a cause celebre and entered the national political debate.

Bernie Sanders has called for the resignation of Gov. Rick Snyder of Michigan, saying in a statement:

There are no excuses. The governor long ago knew about the lead in Flints water. He did nothing. As a result, hundreds of children were poisoned. Thousands may have been exposed to potential brain damage from lead. Governor Snyder should resign.
Ted Cruz says his uncompromising purity as a conservative crusader helped propel him to the top of the Republican presidential field. But his history suggests that when the cameras are off, a different Mr. Cruz emerges.

Last week, voters learned that Mr. Cruzs 2012 Senate campaign, in which he railed against Wall Street bailouts, was financed more by loans from Goldman Sachs and Citibank than by the family piggy bank, as he touchingly claimed on the stump.

To that, heres another tale of two Teds: Mr. Cruz, the Senate candidate, running as a conservative champion of tort reform in Texas while Mr. Cruz, the lawyer, quietly reaped more than $3 million while defending record-setting personal injury awards.

Mr. Cruz helped write George W. Bushs 2000 campaign position paper, arguing for imposing limits on tort lawsuits. He worked in the Bush administration for two years, but by 2003, Mr. Cruz was appointed to be the Texas solicitor general, defending the states laws, including Texas tort reform law, whose limits are among the strictest in the nation.
Californias attorney general is investigating Exxon Mobil on whether the company lied to the public and shareholders about the risks of climate change, and whether the companys statements over the years constitute violations of securities laws and other statutes.

The investigation is similar to one started in November by the New York attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, for which the company has already produced thousands of documents.

Mr. Schneiderman, calling climate change the defining issue of our time, applauded the action taken by Kamala D. Harris, the attorney general.

Just like any other publicly traded company, these energy giants have an obligation to ensure that their disclosures to investors of known and reasonably likely risks are truthful and not misleading, and to disclose to the public the risks associated with their products, he said.
Among the most anticipated titles in competition at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, kicking off today and running through Jan. 31 in Park City, Utah, is The Free World, an atmospheric drama from first-time filmmaker Jason Lew. The film stars Boyd Holbrook as a man wrongfully imprisoned for a grisly crime he didnt commit who, upon his release, meets an equally scarred woman (played by Elisabeth Moss of Mad Men) who again turns his life upside down. The two actors and friends are no strangers to Sundance  Holbrook first attended in 2011 with the drama Higher Ground, directed by Vera Farmiga, and Moss made her first trip in 2013 for the Sundance Channel series Top of the Lake. Here, they share a few things theyve learned along the way.

Prepare to be bummed (or outraged... or both).

Few aspects of the Sundance experience are more dependable than a slate of films with harrowing themes. Those planning to catch the premiere of The Free World might be wise to brush up on another case involving miscarried justice: Netflixs hit docuseries Making a Murderer. I love that show, Moss gushes. If Steven Avery didnt do it, its so incredibly unlucky what happened to him. I dont think he did it, and I dont think Brendan did it either. Adds Holbrook, I want to think the cops did it, because youre talking about $36 million that the state wasnt going to pay, and thats a lot of money. People get pretty creative, you know?

Give debut directors a chance.

We had high hopes for Jason and we obviously liked his script, but then actually being on the set, he was one of the best directors that Ive ever worked with, says Moss of the 34-year-old Lew. There was a lot of focus on not having a lot of people around, because scenes of loneliness and solitary confinement are very prevalent in the film. Jason was right there with us, and he was so supportive.

Want a film in Sundance? Take risks.

Not only did Holbrook put on weight for his role, but he also had to learn Arabic (his character converts to Islam). I was so engaged in this project, and I believe in it so much. But youre also thinking, Am I going to look like an idiot on-screen? he says.
You could almost say he had a lifetime of being continually rediscovered, says Margit Erb, the director of the Saul Leiter Foundation. Leiter, who died in 2013, just shy of his 90th birthday  had a varied seven-decade career, and gained his most significant recognition in the last years of his life, with the 2006 publication of his book Early Color. I think his rise back to fame was because people just couldnt help stumbling over and over him, and realizing that the world needed to know him, Erb says.

Now, with Saul Leiter: Retrospective, a new show opening at the Photographers Gallery in London this Friday, Leiters work comes back into focus. The photographer was astonishingly prolific: though he moved to New York in 1946 to become a painter, he found success as a prominent fashion photographer, one of a trio  alongside Richard Avedon and Hiro  who dominated the pages of Harpers Bazaar in the 1960s. For a period, he was well known, but his interest in magazine work eventually waned. I think he just didnt have a taste for it any more  to be pushed around, says Erb. His studio closed in 1981, due to a failure to pay his taxes, and there followed a very quiet time through the 80s and early 90s.

Then his luck changed again. Since he first arrived in New York, Leiter had been documenting street life in black and white, intriguing the eye with his use of obstructions, blurred movement and half-concealed details. In 1992, his work came to the attention of the curator Jane Livingston, who included him in her New York School: a group of noteworthy midcentury photographers, including Robert Frank and Diane Arbus, with a film noirish vision of the city.

Leiter was also a pioneer of color photography: He developed a distinctive, dreamy style that played with shallow depths of field and a vibrant palette. Erb argues that these images are closely related to his love of painting. You can see influences of abstract expressionism in his color work, she says. This painterly aesthetic didnt find acclaim until much later in his life, when Early Color was finally published. He has become a powerful cinematographic inspiration, too; the filmmakers Todd Haynes and Sam Mendes have both cited his influence on their work.
Every mother is Greta Garbo to her children, at least upon occasion. The woman you were closest to in the world, the one who weaned and wiped you, could suddenly seem so ravishingly remote it was scary. What was really on her mind those nights she tucked you into bed, deliciously lipsticked and perfumed for an evening out?

Such is the enigma who presides over Our Mothers Brief Affair, Richard Greenbergs untethered play about unmoored lives, which opened on Wednesday night at the Samuel J. Friedman Theater, starring a marvelous Linda Lavin. Her name is Anna, and while she has a way of wearing a Burberry trench coat with a certain je ne sais quoi, this Long Island housewife would be few peoples idea of a glamorous sphinx.

But to the twins she gave birth to and reared in a state of otherwise-engaged preoccupation, Anna is a tantalizing unknown, especially as she nears death. Who was she? asks her son, Seth (an anxiously neutral Greg Keller), as the play begins. Seth works as an obituary writer but cant begin to sum up this particular life.

He gropes for the words and comes up with one of those sparkling gems that Mr. Greenberg delivers with such gratifying frequency. We should think of Seths mother as we might of Julie Andrews: Tundra or hearth? Its impossible to tell. One look at Ms. Lavins face  amused and rueful, resigned and impatient at the same time  and you know exactly what he means.
Not everyone has been sympathetic to the teachers protest. There is no excuse for the illegal teacher strikes that have closed dozens of schools in the past week, an editorial in The Detroit News said last week.

On Wednesday, the Detroit Public Schools sought a temporary injunction against more than two dozen teachers in response to the sickouts, arguing that they had deprived students of access to education.

Michelle Zdrodowski, a spokeswoman for Detroit Public Schools, said in a statement, These ongoing illegal actions chosen by teachers represent an extreme disservice to the more than 44,790 students and their families who today lost another day of instruction and were again inconvenienced or caused to lose wages due to these closures.

Many state legislators from outside Detroit have balked at having the state take on the school districts substantial debts. Yet they are hesitant to allow the district to continue on a path to insolvency, given the level of urgency.

Theyre in a dire crisis level, said Camille Wilson, an associate professor of education at the University of Michigan,. On one hand, the state has a tremendous amount of responsibility to help with some financial relief, given that theyve managed and controlled part of the system for many years now. On the other hand, I think the local people and the citizens should be allowed to play a role as well.

Last week at the Charles L. Spain school in Midtown, where Ms. Aaron teaches, staff members pointed out their buildings deterioration. In the gym, the air was filled with a stifling, moldy smell. The floors were buckled and partly ripped out, revealing a damp, black substance underneath.
A judge has rejected prosecutors request to force a Baltimore police officer to testify against three of his colleagues facing charges in connection with Freddie Grays death. Baltimore Circuit Judge Barry Williams denied Marylands motion on Wednesday. Prosecutors indicated this month for the first time that they wanted Officer William G. Porter to testify against all five of the colleagues charged along with him in connection with Mr. Grays death. Previously, they had indicated they wanted his testimony against only two of them: Officer Caesar R. Goodson Jr. and Sgt. Alicia D. White. Officer Porters trial ended with a hung jury. An appeals court is reviewing an order mandating that Officer Porter testify against Officer Goodson, who was driving the van carrying Mr. Gray to jail. Mr. Gray died of injuries received in the van. Officer Goodsons and Sergeant Whites trials have been postponed pending the appeals court decision.